The WROCC Newsletter
WROCC members receive a copy of our monthly newsletter, The WROCC. Produced in A5 format, it contains articles on RISC OS and its software, hints and tips, information about the subjects covered in our meetings, and much more.
Copies are produced in PDF format: members can download them from the this page, or have copies emailed to their inbox as soon as they are published. In addition to a ‘one page per A5 sheet’ version, a ‘two-up on A4’ version of each issue is available to help those who prefer to print their copies out for reading.
If you’re not a member but would like to see what you’re missing, a selection of older issues are free to download further down the page.
In October 2023, we take a look at using the PlingStore to distribute software, a Club member tells of his return to BASIC programming, and there’s an investigation into a strange bug involving command line aliases. We also look at a number of software titles, including the recent port of the Porklike game to the platform, using ConvImgs to make JPEGs which display correctly on RISC OS 4.02, and some hints and tips for using NetFetch efficiently.
In the September 2023 issue, we report on our August meeting, when Andy Marks from RISCOSbits demonstrated a number of products in the RISC OS FAST range. Chris Hall continues his ‘hatstand’ project for the Compute Module 4 by using RiscPCB to design a dedicated interface board, and we also look at accessing files stored in X-Files on a RISC OS 5 system. Consideration is given to the question of whether the A3000 could have been the games machine of the early 1990s, and we have an update on progress towards the switch-off of analogue phone lines in the UK.
The August 2023 issue looks both forward and back. We reflect on the past 40 years of the Club, on 28 years of service from an out-going committee member, and on what might have been if Acorn had only managed to capitalise on the game of Zarch back in 1987. Looking forward, Chris Hall continues his investigation into the Compute Module 4 with a project to create a ‘hatstand’ board for adding a real time clock and fan control, while there are also some hints for users wishing to Configure the Zap text editor for different filetypes.
In July 2023 we investigate how RISC OS establishes the correct date and time on start-up, and the ways that this can go wrong. Our short series on using LanMan98 concludes with a look at setting up Samba on Linux, and we have a summary of Mark Stephens’ presentation about using RISC OS alongside MacOS at our June meeting. There’s a look at using OmniDisc to configure the disc drives on the iconbar and a round-up of software releases including CherryBomb. Finally, we report on the results of the Charity Stall at the Wakefield Show in 2023, and look forward to a date in 2024.
In the June 2023 issue, we have a deep-dive into configuring Windows 7 and 10 (and possibly 11) to cooperate with LanMan98 on RISC OS. One of our members reviews their new RISC OS FIRE machine, and we reveal the result of the competition to find the Club a new logo. There’s also a round-up of news about the platform, with a quick look at the developers’ Zoom meet-ups and some recent software releases.
Indexes
An index of the articles found between issues 6.1 and 40.12 of the newsletter has been produced by John Arthur and Kev Smith, and can be downloaded here as a PDF document. Volume 6 coincided with the release of RISC OS, and prior to that the newsletter was mainly short hints and tips.
The Wakefield Back Catalogue
Relaunched following the completion of Volume 40 of The WROCC in April 2023, the thirteenth edition of The Wakefield Back Catalogue contains PDF copies of the Club’s monthly newsletters going from The WROCC and Awake right back to the very first “hints & tips” sheet handed out at the April 1983 meeting.
The new compilation contains around 440 issues and is available as a download in these more ‘virtual’ times. It costs £7.50 for non-members, whilst members can buy it for the discounted price of £5.00. To order your copies, complete the Order Form and send it back to us. Contact us if you have any questions.
The WROCC Guide to Networking
Starting in late 2009, the Club has been publishing a series of articles on networking in the newsletter. Two years on, we’ve turned them into a stand-alone guide to the subject of networking RISC OS systems.
Each part of the guide is available in a 20 page A5 printed booklet for £3.00 including P&P, or in PDF form for £1.50. To order your copies, complete the Order Form and send it back to us. Contact us if you have any questions.
By April 2010 there had been enough articles published to create the first 20 page A5 booklet; launched at the 2010 Wakefield Show, this covers the basics of setting up a network that contains RISC OS machines and is available for purchase to members and non-members alike.
The guide introduces us to networking and how to configure IP addresses on a home network, as well as how to make sure that DNS is working correctly. We look at sharing an internet connection, configuring ShareFS and using Samba to view RISC OS files on Windows.
Launched in April 2011 at the Wakefield Show, Part 2 of the WROCC Guide to Networking continues where Part 1 left off and looks at file transfer and the RISC OS firewall.
We cover the use of File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and LanManFS to access files stored on Windows, using Sunfish to read files from Linux over NFS and Moonfish to view RISC OS files on Linux. There’s consideration of how filetype mappings work on network filing systems, and details of how to configure the RISC OS Six firewall.
Free samples
Here are some old back-issues of The WROCC, which can be downloaded in PDF format to give an idea of what the newsletter is about. More recent issues are available to members at the top of the page.
The files can be viewed on RISC OS using PDF, which is maintained by Chris Gransden: recent versions (3.00.1.21 or later is required to view the newsletter correctly) can be downloaded for free from www.riscos.info/index.php/PDF.
In the June 2014 issue, the newsletter carried a report of the 2014 Wakefield Show and details of what RISC OS Open had to say at the event. There was a report of the May meeting, where several members looked at interfacing things to a Raspberry Pi, a review of Sine Nomine Software’s RiscOSM mapping software and a guide to changing the iconbar icons used by Uniprint.
Alongside a report on the new risc/pi website, the August 2013 issue of the newsletter reported on the July Meeting’s talks including the options for printing from RISC OS and Peter Richmond’s experiences using RISC OS on the Raspberry Pi. There was also a guide to getting RISC OS up and running on a Pandaboard.
The January 2013 issue of the newsletter contained a report of the December meeting and included the Christmas Quiz questions for readers to try out for themselves. We looked at the inside story of creating the Back Catalogue CDs, and had a preview of the 2013 Wakefield Show. Some of our members looked at using David Pilling’s SyncDiscs for scripting automatic backups and Snapper for taking screenshots. There was also a quick look at NetSurf’s early Javascript progress.
In December 2012 the newsletter reported on the previous month’s visit from Mike Cook, where he had demonstrated his RFID-based music sequencer, some Raspberry Pi-based hardware projects and the ‘Spoonduino’. In his final article, the late Colin Sutton described the Super Hi-Vision equipment used to bring the London Olympics to the big screen in Bradford, we took a look at an early version of RISC OS on the Raspberry Pi, and discussed what was required to connect a modern LCD monitor to a RiscPC.
Contributing
If you would like to contribute to The WROCC, you can find details how to do it – including the file formats that we can accept – in our guide to Contributing to The WROCC. We accept items for publication from both members and non-members, and all are eligible for our annual Contributors’ Award.
