To put things simply VirtualRPC-SA has only one purpose, to allow a Windows PC with an Intel (or equivalent) processor to run RISC OS (which was designed for ARM processors). This means that users can run RISC OS programs on a PC. VirtualRPC-SA can run in a window, like other programs, or can run in "full screen" mode. When running in "full screen" mode the Windows PC looks and feels just like an Acorn computer. VirtualRPC-SA faithfully re-creates the hardware of an Acorn computer in software, and runs a genuine version of RISC OS 4.02 (supplied under an agreement with RISCOS Ltd).
VirtualRPC-SA does not need any hardware to be added to your PC. You simply need to install VirtualRPC-SA to your computers hard disc. Once you have done this double clicking on the VirtualRPC-SA icon will load RISC OS.
Once you have installed VirtualRPC-SA on your PC (Normally in C:/Program Files/VirtualAcorn/VirtualRPC-SA) you can load VirtualRPC-SA by double clicking on it in the normal way. VirtualRPC-SA is supplied completely set up and ready to run. Those who are familiar with RISC OS may well remember having to spend time setting up the configuration of the computer so it would boot correctly. With VirtualRPC-SA this is not necessary. Once you double click on the VirtualRPC-SA icon the program will start and RISC OS will be booted.
The picture above shows RISC OS just starting its Boot sequence. Once the Boot sequence has started you will see the desktop welcome banner, and a couple of seconds later the RISC OS desktop will appear.
VirtualRPC-SA can either start up in a Window (as shown above) or full screen. If your copy starts in full screen then you can always go back to using it in a window by pressing ALT and ENTER on the keyboard together.
You are now ready to use RISC OS and run RISC OS programs. However if you are not familiar with RISC OS we strongly suggest that you have a look at the Interactive RISC OS user guide supplied with Virtual RPC. This contains a complete HTML version of the original RISC OS user guide with an easy to use front end. Simply click on something in the RISC OS desktop (that appears in your browser window) to see what it does. To read the entire manual click on the Guide icon on the middle left of the backdrop.
The Windows mouse pointer is usually white, and the RISC OS one is blue. It can become very confusing having two pointers on screen, so we recommend that when using VirtualRPC-SA in a window you turn off the Windows pointer. This can be done easily by clicking the Windows pointer on the "disable pointer" button on the VirtualRPC-SA tool bar.
You can turn the Windows pointer back on by pressing ALT and ENTER together on the keyboard.
Windows only uses two mouse buttons for most operations, RISC OS uses three buttons. For this reason we strongly recommend that you use a three button mouse with VirtualRPC-SA. The three RISC OS mouse buttons have names and are referred to in the RISC OS user guide by these names.
The "SELECT" button behaves in the same way as the left mouse button does under Windows.
The "MENU" button behaves in the same way as the right mouse button does under Windows. For those that have not used RISC OS before it may be worth swapping the Menu and Adjust buttons around so that a right click produces a menu in the same way as Windows.
The "ADJUST" button behaves in a quite different way. In fact you can use RISC OS without ever touching the ADJUST button, but this button does have a lot of uses. As a simple example double clicking on a folder icon to open that folder with SELECT will just open the new folder window. Double clicking with ADJUST will open the new folder window and also close the old one. ADJUST can also be used when scrolling windows. Clicking SELECT on a scroll arrow will move the contents of a window in the same direction as the arrow, just like Windows. However clicking ADJUST will move the contents of the window in the Opposite direction.
As another example if you close a window in RISC OS by clicking on the close button (A cross like Windows, but top left of the window instead of top right) with SELECT the window closes. If you click with ADJUST then the window closes, but any parent window (usually up one folder in the tree) will open. If you hold down SHIFT and click ADJUST then your original window stays open and its parent will open on top of it.
This may all seem a little confusing for those used to Windows, but it does make a great deal of sense, and navigating a folder structure is made much easier.
VRPC manual - draft number 150.001 10th May 2006