23/04/90
Every Acorn Archimedes and BBC A3000 computer is supplied with a !System
Application on the Apps1 disc, or hard disc. Within !System are stored a
number of modules which various applications such as !Paint, !Edit and !Draw
all share. The modules in !System extend the operating system and once
loaded may be accessed by any application needing them. The first !System
application 'seen' by RISC OS, can then be accessed by any applications that
need to load any of the modules. The modules which Acorn supply are
CLib(Shared C Library), FPEmulator(Floating Point Emulator) and
Colours(Colour Translation Module). Since the release of the original
Application disc one there have been numerous updates of the !System
Application. Acorn have allowed third parties to incorporate !Systems with
their software packages. Acorn have also released a new !System Application
on the RISCOS extras disc(Please refer to BBC Acorn User January 1990 issue
of details on how to obtain a copy of the RISC OS extras disc).  The !System
Application is structured as follows:

                      !System
                         |
        -----------------|----------
        |      |         |         |
      !Run   !Boot   !Sprites   Modules
                                   |
                         --------------------
                         |         |        |
                       CLib     Colours  FPEmulator

With all these different !System directories available it can become
confusing as to which !System you should be using. The modules are written
however to be compatible with earlier versions, and all that need be done is
to ensure that you use the latest versions of each module. The best way to
determine this is to check the date stamps on the modules.

You enter the !System Application by holding down SHIFT while doubling
clicking on the !System Application and then enter the directory Modules by
doubling clicking on this directory. It is then possible to click with with
middle button of the mouse over the window which contain the CLib, Colours
and FPEmulator modules and by moving across the menu to the right of the
word Display another menu will appear. The top three options will be Large
icons, Small icons and Full info. By clicking on Full info, information
regarding the files in that window will appear including the date when the
files were created. If you check these dates against the dates in any other
!System Application directories you may have, you can then see which is the
latest version of the !System Application and ensure that all the copies you
have on all discs are the same, thus causing less confusion in the future
when undoubtedly newer versions will be released. Please note that third
parties have also included some of their own modules into the !System
Application so be careful not to delete these.

When using the !65Host application from the RISC OS extras disc it is
possible to create mini applications that boot themselves at the same time
as starting !65Host. This has proven to be extremely useful for educational
users who are booting BBC software into 65Host from networks. If you would
like a copy of an application note explaining how to do this please send an
A4 SAE to our Customer Services Department.

We have a number of enquiries with regard to the new version of the PC
Emulator and DR DOS. 

DR-DOS represents an alternative operating system to MS-DOS. The product,
developed in the UK by Digital Research, is claimed to be effectively 100%
applications software compatible with MS-DOS 3.3. The operating system
includes a built-in Help system which will be of value in the Learning Curve
product.

The PC Emulator version 1.33 has undergone a minor upgrade to 1.34 to
accommodate operation with DR-DOS (as supplied with the Learning Curve
package). Both versions of the PC Emulator continue to be compatible with
MS-DOS version 3. Speed of performance and applications compatibility are
essentially the same with either operating system or PC Emulator version.
There is a small loss in workspace of around 25Kbyte with DR-DOS due to the
added Help feature.

People who wish to use their Archimedes or BBC A3000 systems for use with
Open University courses will be pleased to hear that the PC Emulator has now
been approved by the Open University for their computing courses in 1990.
Course details are available from the Open University.