|
|
|
How do I read Frobnicate ? RISC OS You can read either the PDF version or the Ovation(Pro) version. To read the OvationPro versions,
simply unpack the file from the archive (we recommend
SparkFS) and double-click to load it into
OvationPro. The OvationPro versions (issues 20 onwards) contain JPEGs, so if you are using OvationPro on an older (pre-RiscPC) machine, please ensure that you have the JPEG compatible SpriteExtend loaded. This is supplied as two modules, JPEGRender and JPEGMsgs. You may experience difficulties loading some issues into low-memory machines. 8Mb is a suggested minimum. One of the more recent issues contains a few small PNGs. This probably won't be visible on the many RISC OS machines. Obviously PNG use will be kept for times when JPEG introduces too many artefacts and the picture is too large for a high quality setting. By way of example, the OPL Yes/No dialogue in issue 29 is a JPEG at 100% quality. It is the sort of thing that could be PNGed, however as it was small, the 100% JPEG didn't yield a big file so JPEG was used. If you get a message from OvationPro (for issues 22 onwards) saying that the "Arial" font cannot be located, simply instruct OvationPro to substitute and then resave the file. This has crept in as a lot of Windowsy things seem to 'default' to Arial. It is, therefore, referenced in the file, but it is not actually used - and can be safely ignored . Windows You can read either the PDF version or the Ovation(Pro) version. To read the OvationPro versions,
simply unpack the file from the archive using something like
WinZip. Ensure the file extension is .dpd (for older versions)
and then double-click to load OvationPro for Windows with the
issue ready to be read. Earlier versions (1-19) are Ovation
(original) documents, so require the extension .opd
and not .dpd. Please note also that many of the older
versions are actually Spark archives (regardless of the
.zip extension) so you may need to extract them on a RISC OS
machine. OvationPro is only available for RISC OS and Microsoft Windows at this time, so you will need to read the PDF version. All issues since issue 20 are available in PDF format.
How is the PDF generated? Issues 20 to
23 were generated under RISC OS 3.70. OvationPro printed to a
generic PostScript 2 device, the data of which is saved to disc.
Using ps2pdf and GhostScript 7.04, this is turned
into a PDF file. Issues 24 and 25 were generated under Windows98SE using CutePDF and Ghostscript 7.06... It appears (to me) to have a strange idea of the scaling of a document, and occasional text issues (italics too large, messed up alignment...), though in its defence it created the PDF in just a few minutes (on a 466MHz processor). :-) Issues 26 onwards have been created using the Office One PDF Manager (based upon the Amyuni driver). This is supposed to support such things as variable 'quality' levels for images as well as making it a web-friendly PDF that may be viewed as it is downloaded...only the driver seems to be very quirky and fails completely when setting up these options... I persist with it in default mode (non-download-friendly & high-quality) as the output is, generally, not much larger than the CutePDF version and - in its benefit - it doesn't mess up the text like CutePDF did!
Why do you create Frobnicate? This is answered in the Editor's Notes of issue 20.
No more Frobnicate? You're kidding? What am I going to do!? Readership has been
dwindling, I have other commitments, and it actually takes quite a
bit of time to put together each issue. So with all of this in
mind, I feel that issue 30 is the time to draw a line under
Frobnicate. I am a bit sad about this decision, yes, but I
feel it is better to make a definitive decision once and for
all.
You're a total freak! That's probably quite true, but that isn't a question...
Are YOU a Newbie? What computers do you use? All absolutely cutting-edge stuff! RISC OS #1: Acorn RiscPC
700; ARM710, RISC OS 3.70, 32Mb RAM, 1Mb VRAM, 2Gb IDE and SCSI CD-R
4X, 10baseT ethernet. Old PC: Acer TravelMate
514TXV (no backlight!); Celeron 466MHz, Windows 98SE, 64Mb RAM,
2.5Mb VRAM, about 4.5Gb IDE. Much of one issue was written on an Acorn A4 laptop; ARM3 at about 25MHz, 4Mb RAM, 640x480 mono LCD, and 80Mb harddisc! Also used, for writing articles "on the road" is an Acorn PocketBook II (256Kb RAM, 128Kb SRAM SSD), using PsiWin 2.33 to translate Psion Word files to RTF for importing into OvationPro . There are not many DrawFiles in newer editions of
Frobnicate because I do not use my RiscPC to generate the
draw diagrams. Oh no, I use Archie on the PC. An exercise
in pain, perhaps? :-)
What do I do if a DrawFile font error occurs? This
happens in OvationPro for Windows if the font mapping is
incorrect. OvationPro can reflow the
text on-the-fly, but cannot (yet?) do this for DrawFile
content. There are two ways around this. The first, quit OvationPro and then reload it. In the Misc menu, click on Font manager and ensure it is set to Map. Then try to reload the issue. The other way is more a bodge than a fix, but it is quick. The OvationPro document appears to have 'vanished', but if you look you'll see a set of menus on-screen. Press ^G (or look to the Page menu for Goto page), and tap in the number of the next page. It'll appear. You can continue reading...
What should I do about font/graphics errors in older issues? There is nothing much you can do really - the font errors will be because a specific RISC OS font is referenced which has no equivalent under Windows (an example would be MDA1 which would be like the VGA OEM font, only that isn't a TrueType font so it cannot be used...). You could try altering the font mapping to a 'similar' font, but your mileage may vary... As for graphics errors, the only problem you are likely to encounter here is missing diagrams and logos. This is because the diagram/logo in question is an ArtWorks drawing - and there is no ArtWorks renderer available for Windows, thus OvationPro cannot display the drawing!
What happened to "The Wrap Party" in issue 23? It, along with the Hacker diary, was a victim of space, or rather, lack of space. All
new issues are created to always be a multiple of 4 pages.
This allows you to make a 'pamphlet' version of Frobnicate,
which I refer to as "FrobLite"! It could be worthwhile clicking the Set button (not Print!) at this point, and ensuring the print margins are all okay. Then, reopen the print window and click Print... You're on your own now, but if you've never done this before, ensure only one piece of paper is loaded in the printer. Different printers accept the paper in different ways. My preference (with the Lexmark) is to feed in a single sheet at a time, and turn each sheet over and reinsert it with the blank side up. With the DeskJet 540, the same is done only this time the printed side is up as this printer turns the paper internally. Missed a sheet? Printed the same side twice? Don't panic! You don't need horrible maths to work out what to do to get the right pages to print. Oh no. D'you see that Print sheet button? Click that and you can choose any of the double-page spreads, front or back sides, and print them directly.
What happened to the summer 2005 issue? Basically, I
need broadband access. The website (this!)
has to be updated, as well as uploading the OvationPro version
and the PDF version - the upload could easily run to six
megabytes. That isn't a lot, but if you are trying with a 28k8-56k
modem on noisy country phone lines, you can understand the process
could be rather time-consuming. For what it's worth, I did enjoy a nice glass or two (or three...) of wine on the proper 10th anniversary. :-)
What fonts are used? With one exception (something like issue 6?), the following fonts are used:
The aliasing under Windows is:
These have been chosen because RISC OS and Windows always ship with the respective fonts.
Why doesn't this look correct in my browser? The first thing to consider is that this site "looks best" in Internet Explorer, or something that offers very similar capabilities (Firefox, Opera, etc). It is a sad fact that RISC OS browsers don't make the grade these days, though things should be workable with Fresco and Oregano, despite partial/broken support for the <font> attribute. The other, more serious, reason for incorrect output is that this site was designed using Micro Application's "Votre Site Web", which is fundamentally broken in loads of ways - this is discussed in issue 24. (congratulations, I've found something more screwed up than FrontPage!)
Will older issues be available as PDFs? Issue #1 is available as a PDF. There are no plans for other issues at the moment, but I'm sure it'll happen eventually...
I have the original issue #1 file and it doesn't look like your PDF, why? Basically because in order
to get the layout and formatting exactly correct, I would have to
load it up on an Acorn machine. I did not have the inclination to
monitor-swap or whatever, so I loaded it under OvationPro for
Windows, and tidied up various aspects of the automatic
conversion. I don't recall if SwissB (like Arial) was used as the
body font. I figure it must have been as I have an alias for Paladin
(like Times) and it didn't appear as that... I have also made minor
tweaks to the sprite files while converting them to JPEG.
I sent you an email but you never replied, why?
You'll notice I'm giving out my more 'personal' email address (MerseyMail).
This is because several of you were emailing me at BushInternet and those
messages were never arriving, or were arriving in 'bits'.
Over to you...
If you have a question - don't hesitate to ask! |
To do this,
open the printer options window and choose the Pamphlet
format. Ensure that you are printing
All pages, too.