Below is a list of links to the various sections on this page.
Every time I load VirtualRPC-SA it starts in 800 x 600, how do I make it start in 1024 x 768 or another resolution?
The screen mode for VirtualAcorn is set in the !Boot sequence. To change the default screen mode simply double click on the !Boot application in the root of the HardDisc4 directory. The RISC OS configuration window will open. Now click on the Screen icon. You can now select the default resolution and number of colours. Once you are happy with your choices click on the Set button.
Note that VirtualRPC-SA now supports screen modes up to 8Mb in size under RISC OS 4, this allows you to select resolutions up to 1600 x 1200 in full 24 bit colour. For best performance we recommend that you run VirtualRPC-SA in 32,000 colour screen modes.
How can I run RISC OS with more memory?
In order to add more memory you will need to edit the relevant model file, for example C:\Program Files\VirtualAcorn\VirtualRPC-SA\Models\Arm7 RISC OS 4 (JIT)\Model.cfg. Load this file into a text editor such as NotePad. You will see that the file contains human readable configuration options. Find the part of the file that reads:
[RAM] base=0x10000000 size = 16m [RAM] base=0x14000000 size = 16m
You can see that by default VirtualRPC-SA has two banks of 16Mb. You can increase each bank up to 64Mb, for example:
[RAM] base=0x10000000 size = 64m [RAM] base=0x14000000 size = 64m
Would give RISC OS 128Mb of memory. Note that you should never configure RISC OS to use more than 50% of the RAM in your PC. If your PC has 128Mb of RAM then you can configure RISC OS to use 64Mb of total memory (2 x 32Mb). If you have 256Mb of RAM then you can configure RISC OS to use up to 128Mb. The more RAM you configure the longer it will take VirtualRPC-SA to load and start.
If you want to have more memory available to RISC OS on all three processor models you will need to alter all three model files.
I have some old Acorn Format Disc (ADF) images made by ArcDisc, how can I read these on VirtualRPC-SA?
This can be done very easily, simply double click on the !Boot application in the root of the HardDisc4 directory. The RISC OS configuration window will open. Now click on the Floppies icon. Increase the number of floppy discs to two and click on the Set button. You will receive a warning message that "Changing the number of discs is potentially dangerous", Cancel this message and a 2nd RISC OS floppy icon will appear on the RISC OS icon bar. This 2nd floppy is not connected to the PCs internal floppy drive but instead will read ADF Image files. Switch VirtualRPC-SA to a window, and click on the floppy icon on the VirtualRPC-SA toolbar at the top of the Window. Now navigate to the ADF file that you want to open and double click on it. Now return to RISC OS and click on the new floppy icon and you will see the disc image.
Can I get VirtualRPC-SA to read DVDs?
RISC OS is not supplied with DVD support - however you can read a DVD in the PCs DVD ROM drive. Note however that VirtualRPC-SA will not be able to "see" the correct filetype of some files, unless they have a DOS extension.
To configure DVD reading load VirtualRPC-SA, then press ALT and ENTER to switch it onto a window. Now go to the Tools menu, and click on the Options entry. The VirtualAcorn options window will now open, click on the HostFS tab to open the HostFS options. You can now type in the name of your DVD drive into the Path: entry. For example.
D:\.
Note the full stop (.) at the end of the line. Now type in a name for this drive in the Mount option, for example we use the name DVD. Now click on the Add button, you will see the new drive appear in the list below HardDisc4. Now click on Apply then on OK. Now quit and re-load VirtualRPC-SA. A new drive icon will appear on the icon bar. This new drive will allow you to read the contents of a DVD.
I have a network of RISC OS machines connected to a PC file server using LanMan98. Can I get VirtualRPC-SA to access the RISC OS files/programs stored on the server?
Yes. Firstly you need to ensure that the PC with VirtualRPC-SA installed is networked to the file server, and can access the file servers hard disc drive. Now all you need to do is add a new HostFS mount that points to the directory on the servers hard disc that contains the RISC OS files.
For example let us suppose that the servers hard drive is drive G on our local PC, and that all the RISC OS files are in a directory called RISCOS (G:\riscos). Load VirtualRPC-SA, then press ALT and ENTER to switch it onto a window. Now go to the Tools menu, and click on the Options entry. The VirtualAcorn options window will now open, click on the HostFS tab to open the HostFS options. You can now type in the name of your RISC OS server directory into the Path: entry. For example.
G:\riscos
Now type in a name for this drive in the Mount option, for example Server. Now click on the Add button, you will see the new drive appear in the list below HardDisc4. Now click on Apply then on OK. Now quit and re-load VirtualRPC-SA. A new drive icon will appear on the icon bar. This new drive will allow you to read the RISC OS directory on the server. All RISC OS filetypes will be kept intact. Applications can now be run directly from the server and files can be saved in the servers directory.
Can VirtualAcorn products write out CDs using the CD Writer in my PC?
Yes, but you will need some third party UDF CD formatting program on the PC, for example PacketCD(tm) from CeQuadrat, or DirectCD(tm) from Roxio. Most CD Writers are supplied with a UDF disc formatter. Note that the CD Writing built into WindowsXP is not suitable. You should also be aware that although the CDs created on VirtualAcorn can be read back on VirtualAcorn correctly (using either a CD Writer or a normal CD-Rom drive) files and applications can only be read on a "real" RISC OS computer if they are archived using ArcFS, SparkFS or ZipEE.
So how do I set up the CD Writer?
Lets us suppose your CD Writer is drive E on the PC. Load VirtualRPC-SA, then press ALT and ENTER to switch it onto a window. Now go to the Tools menu, and click on the Options entry. The VirtualAcorn options window will now open, click on the HostFS tab to open the HostFS options. You can now type in the name of your CD Writer into the Path: entry. For example.
E:\.
Note the full stop (.) at the end of the line. Now type in a name for this drive in the Mount option, for example we use the name CDWriter. Now click on the Add button, you will see the new drive appear in the list below HardDisc4. Now click on Apply then on OK. Now quit and re-load VirtualRPC-SA. A new drive icon will appear on the icon bar. This new drive will be the CD Writer.
How do I write to a CD then?
Firstly you need to format the CD under Windows. If you are running VirtualAcorn then quit it. Then put a blank CD in the CD writer and close the drive. Provided you have the correct software a window will open in Windows asking what you want to do with the CD. You will need to format the CD for reading and writing, as well as provide a name for the CD. Once you have done this the CD will be ready for reading and writing. Depending on the version of Windows you are using you may need to drag a small file of some sort, using Windows, to the CD before VirtualAcorn will be able to read/write to it.
Once you have formatted the CD, and dropped a file on it, you can load VirtualAcorn. When you click on the CDWriter drive icon a normal RISC OS filer window will open. You can now drag files into this filer window and they will be copied to the CD. You can also delete files from the CD (although you won't recover the space used on the CD), as well as rename files, and load applications directly from the CD. Note that if you want to read the CD on a "real" RISC OS computer then you should use an archiving program such as ArcFS/SparkFS/ZipEE otherwise the "real" RISC OS computer will not be able to read the filetypes of files.
VirtualRPC-SA now supports an emulated ADFS (Acorn Disc Filing System) hard disc format. This provides RISC OS with its own internal IDE disc filing system that supports one or two hard discs. An emulated ADFS hard disc is an area of the PCs hard disc that RISC OS sees as an ADFS hard disc. In general use we recommend that the HostFS filing system is used in preference to ADFS for two reasons. Firstly HostFS uses the Windows filing system and is much faster, secondly both Windows and RISC OS can "see" a HostFS hard disc. ADFS hard discs are seen as large files by Windows and it can do nothing with them. For example a 200Mb ADFS disc image would be seen by RISC OS as a 200Mb IDE hard disc. Windows would simply see it as a 200Mb data file. This type of emulation is called an Image Filing System (IFS).
However some applications (such as Sibelius) need to be installed to a machine that boots from a filecore filing system such as ADFS. If you wish to install Sibelius you will need to enable ADFS.
VirtualRPC-SA will now boot from the IDEDisc4 disc image, rather than from HostFS. This new ADFS::IDEdisc4 drive can now be used by RISC OS the same as any other hard disc.
VRPC manual - draft number 150.001 10th May 2006