Support for fetch & display on RISC OS |
This is a temporary page to support information provided in a recent issue of Archive, the Subscription Magazine for RISC OS Users.
These notes support the article in Archive explaining how to set up Fresco to fetch and display foreign files, specifically Portable Document Format (.pdf) automatically. They provide the extra information needed to fetch and display Microsoft Word, Zip and PostScript files which are frequently encountered on the internet. One may be sent them as e-mail attachments or fetch them from ftp or web sites.
This page does not rehearse the explanations given in the Archive article which I hope all RISC OS users have as subscribers. It provides the information about file types, and the entries for the relevant files (viz. runables, mimemap, and !boot).
Foreign file types and RISC OS equivalents
These are some of the file types one can fetch and display. This information may be needed to set the files mimemap and runables.
| Foreign file type |
Extension |
RISC OS
file name |
RO
file hex |
| Microsoft Word |
.doc |
MSWord |
ae6 |
| PostScript |
.ps |
PoScript |
ff5 |
| Encapsulated PostScript |
.eps .ps |
PoScript |
ff5 |
| Zip |
.zip |
Archive |
ddc |
| n.b. SparkFS can decompress many other types as well as Zip |
| Runables
The file runables is a text file that can be found, or created, in the !Fresco directory as explained in the Archive paper.
The hex values for RISC OS file types seen in this figure include those that help Fresco to recognize those which I want it to send for display after fetching. Those marked on this image are (ae6) MSWord, (ddc) Zip [Archive], (ff5) PoScript and (adf) Adobe Portable Document Format (pdf) which are the few mentioned on this page.
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Mimemap
Apply the same principles described for fetching and displaying pdf files. The mimemap file can be found at !InetSuite.Internet.Files.MimeMap. It is probable that most of these lines will already exist. If not, add them as they appear in mine. I have added a text file that can be downloaded and the relevant lines copied if that makes it easier.
Click here to download the text file to aid alteration of Mimemap.
It will be noted that some forms of compressed files other than Zip all able to be fetched and opened if SparkFS has been seen.
!boot entries to help the filer ‘see’ appropriate applications
Dependent upon the version of RISC OS and user preference an appropriate application must be seen for the fetched files to be displayed. Among other methods one can open the folder holding the application, park it in the Apps folder or use the wonderful ‘Look at …’ feature of RISC OS 4. I tend to use the !Boot file in the Tasks folder.
In recent versions of the OS the !boot file will be found at !Boot/Choices/Boot/Tasks/!Boot. I have added the entries to mine by loading it in a text editor (e.g. !Edit, !StrongEd) and then dragging the application to it while holding down <select> and dropping it after Filer_Boot .
I must apologize to users of the beloved RISC OS 2. My memories of this are a bit dim, but I did use a !boot file with that so the filer could ‘see’ appropriate applications. I think it was simply a Desktop (fea) or Obey (feb) file in the root directory which contains the addresses of the !boot files of the necessary applications. (This may be wrong. I am getting old!) Again, simply drag the !boot file of the application to the obey file whilst holding down <select>. It might look something like the figure below.
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