Historic launch issue of Martin Hansen's monthly webzine

Issue N°. 1

 
Editorial : I miss drobe.co.uk

I miss drobe.
It's not been updated for over a month.
For a news website the lack of activity suggests that all is not well. It's rumoured that seven articles sit on editor Chris Williams' desk. They await his magic touch and polish before being posted on-line. Alas, Chris is complaining of a lack of time and desire to continue with drobe.
Enter RISC OS CODE dot COM.
The intention is to take the pressure off Chris. And to reassure that on-line reporting of RISC OS is not going to die. Not without a fight, at any rate. How RoC, this site, develops will depend upon whether or not drobe returns.
Whatever.
Setting up the site has been fun.
I hope it provides a little light entertainment.

June 2008

 !Tet-Risc = Tetris (Ha, ha !)

 Tet-Risc is a delightful game that has lessened productivity at the RoC office quite considerably over the last week. It is a clone of the classic 1980s game, Tetris. Tet-Risc has been written especially for RISC OS computers by Shaun Lindsley. It is FREE and you can download it from his website HERE.
Use the left/right cursor keys to move sideways, and Z & X to rotate. It runs very nicely on my Iyonix. With 'Zap' loaded too, Tet-Risc loses the input focus. This is very bad: It is Tet-Risc that should grab the focus and never let it go.

WordChain is software to design or solve Lewis Carroll's famous Doublets word puzzles. WordChain featured on drobe at the start of the year. If you missed it, you can still read the article HERE and download the FREE software from HERE.
The RoC team thought that readers would enjoy using the software to solve some Doublets or 'WordLadders' as they are sometimes called. Consequently, for your pleasure, we've gathered together a page of puzzles awaiting solution HERE .

We present our current favourite puzzle to the right, in which Blair gets turned into Brown. Now then, what can you turn Brown into ?

A new RISC OS website has been launched by RISC OS enthusiasts Oliver Bell and Tommy Durham. They've called the venture 'New Century'. Access it from HERE . For seasoned RISC OS hands an attractive desktop theme in pastal blue & grey will be of interest. RoC particularly liked the 'marketing' page telling newcomers what RISC OS is. I must confess that I did not know that the Spice Girls wrote some of their songs on a Risc PC. I'm trying to decide if this is something to shout or keep quiet about. 

The older amongst us may recall that in 'the good old days' computer magazines carried listings of program code. These (don't laugh) readers were expected to type in. In Acorn User (now Qercus) these were printed on yellow paper.
To the right is RoC's very own 'Yellow Pages'. You are urged to type in the BBC BASIC instructions.
What does it do ?
Well, on RISC OS 4 & 5, each left click of the mouse advances the counter once. On RISC OS 6 (flavours 4i2 & 4i4) it advances the counter twice. This is what is known in the trade as 'a BUG'.
Press <Escape> to exit.