System Devices  -  System device viewer

by Alex Hayward

This application requires RISC OS 3.1 or later.

SysDevices provides a simple way of opening directory viewers onto the various system devices available in RISC OS 3. These are vdu:, rawvdu:, netprint:, null:, pipe:, devices: and the various printer ports (#null, #parallel, #serial and #user). For good measure the program can also open Wimp$Scrap, and the System and Library directories.

SysDevices is run in the usual way by double-clicking on its icon in a directory viewer. An icon is installed on the icon bar. Clicking Menu over this icon opens a menu with three options. Info and Quit perform their usual functions.

The third option is Open, which leads to a submenu listing all the devices described above. The entry for printer: leads to a further submenu containing the four named printer ports plus a writable entry to allow you to enter any other port number. Choosing one of the menu options opens a directory viewer onto the chosen device.

This can be useful for a number of purposes. For example, to send a file to the parallel port, copy it as Parallel, open devices: and drag the file to devices:$. To delete a locked file without having to change its access details, Shift-drag it into null:$. To print ASCII text files without loading the printer driver you can drag them to printer:.

The ability to see quickly inside Wimp$Scrap can be useful if a program terminates because of a hardware error and saves files there. To see inside !System normally requires a few mouse clicks (especially on a Risc PC), as does the current library; SysDevices does it from a single menu option.

Copyright  RISC User 1995
