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      1 Readme for RISC OS port of SDL
      2 ==============================
      3 
      4 This document last updated on 2nd Februrary 2006
      5 
      6 This is a RISC OS port of the Simple Direct Media Layer (SDL) by Alan Buckley with contributions from Peter Naulls.
      7 
      8 Details of the SDL can be found at http://www.libsdl.org.
      9 
     10 The source code including the RISC OS version can be obtained from:
     11 
     12 http://www.libsdl.org.
     13 
     14 Pre built libraries and many games and applications compiled for RISC OS using this library can be downloaded from The Unix Porting Project at http://www.riscos.info/unix/.
     15 
     16 This is released under the LGPL see the file COPYING for details.
     17 
     18 
     19 Compiling applications under RISC OS
     20 ====================================
     21 
     22 Add -ISDL: for the C compiler flags if you include the files in the SDL directory. e.g. #include "SDL/SDL.h"
     23 Add -ISDL:SDL for the C compiler flags if you include the files directly. e.g. #include "SDL/SDL.h"
     24 
     25 Add -LSDL: -lSDL to the link stage of compilation.
     26 
     27 For example, to compile the testbitmap.c sample you could use:
     28 
     29 gcc -ISDL:SDL -LSDL: -lSDL testbitmap.c -otestbitmap
     30 
     31 
     32 RISC OS port of SDL runtime information
     33 =======================================
     34 
     35 Runtime requirements
     36 --------------------
     37 
     38 This library currently needs a minimum of RISC OS 3.6. The source code for the library (and a lot of the programs built with it) also need long file names.
     39 
     40 To use the audio you also need 16 bit sound and to have installed the DigitalRender module by Andreas Dehmel version 0.51 available from his
     41 web site: http://home.t-online.de/~zarquon
     42 This is loaded when needed by UnixLib.
     43 
     44 Note: As most programs ported from other OSes use high resolution graphics and a memory back buffer a machine with a StrongARM processor and 1 or 2MB of VRAM (or a better machine) is recomended.
     45 
     46 
     47 RISC OS runtime parameters
     48 --------------------------
     49 
     50 Several environmental variables have been defined to make porting programs easier (i.e. By setting these variable you do not need to have source code differences between OSes).
     51 
     52 They are all defined on an application basis.
     53 
     54 The <appname> used below is found as follows:
     55 1. Use the name of the program unless it is !RunImage
     56 2. Check the folder specification for the folder !RunImage is run from. If it is a folder name use that name, otherwise if it is an environmental variable of the form <XXX$Dir> use the value of XXX.
     57 
     58 The variables are:
     59 
     60 SDL$<appname>$TaskName
     61 
     62 The name of the task for RISC OS. If omitted then <appname> is used for the task name,
     63 
     64 SDL$<appname>$BackBuffer
     65 
     66 Set to 1 to use a system memory back buffer for the screen in full screen mode. Some programs on other systems assume their is always a back buffer even though the SDL specification specifies this is not the case. The current RISC OS implementation uses direct writes to the screen if a hardware fullscreen is requested.
     67 
     68 Set to 2 to use an ARM code full word copy. This is faster than the standard back buffer, but uses aligned words only so it is possible (but unlikely) for it to corrupt the screen for 8bpp and 16bpp modes.
     69 
     70 Set to 3 to use a RISC OS sprite as the back buffer. This is usually the slowest for most SDL applications, however it may be useful in the future as Sprite acceleration is added to various hardware that runs RISC OS.
     71 
     72 SDL$<appname>$CloseAction - set the action for the close icon. Again as programs don't match the specification you can set this to 0 to remove the close icon from the main window for applications where this does not affect the program.
     73 
     74 
     75 RISC OS SDL port API notes
     76 ==========================
     77 
     78 Current level of implementation
     79 -------------------------------
     80 
     81 The following list is an overview of how much of the SDL is implemented. The areas match the main areas of the SDL.
     82 
     83 video - Mostly done. Doesn't cover gamma, YUV-overlay or OpenGL.
     84 Window Manager - Mostly done. SetIcon/IconifyWindow not implemented.
     85 Events - Mostly done. Resize and some joystick events missing.
     86 Joystick - Currently assumes a single joystick with 4 buttons.
     87 Audio - Done
     88 CDROM - Not implemented.
     89 Threads - Done
     90 Timers - Done
     91 
     92 Thread support can be removed by defining DISABLE_THREADS and recompiling the library.
     93 
     94 SDL API notes
     95 -------------
     96 
     97 This section contains additional notes on some specific commands.
     98 
     99 SDL_SetVideoMode
    100   On RISC OS a fullscreen mode directly accesses the screen. This can be modified by the environmental variable (SDL$<appname>$BackBuffer) or by using the SDL_SWSURFACE flag to write to an offscreen buffer that is updated using SDL_UpdateRects.
    101   Open GL is not supported so SDL_OPENGL and SDL_OPENGLBLIT flags fail.
    102   SDL_RESIZEABLE and SDL_NOFRAME flags are not supported.
    103 
    104 SDL_SetColors
    105   In a wimp mode the screen colours are not changed for a hardware palette instead the RISC OS sprite colour mapping is used to get the best matching colours.
    106 
    107 SDL_CreateCursor
    108    Inverted colour is not supported.
    109 
    110 SDL_WM_ToggleFullScreen
    111    Currently this won't work if the application starts up in Fullscreen mode.
    112    Toggling to fullscreen will only work if the monitor is set up to support the exact screen size requested.
    113 
    114 SDL_EnableUNICODE
    115    Unicode translation used here is only really accurate for 7 bit characters.
    116 
    117 SDL_NumJoysticks/JoystickName etc.
    118    Hardcoded to expect only 1 joystick with 4 buttons if the Joystick module is loaded.
    119 
    120 SDL_GetTicks
    121    Timer used has only a centisecond accuracy. This applies to other time related functions.
    122    
    123 SDL_Delay
    124    Modified to poll keyboard/mouse during the delay on the event thread.
    125 
    126 
    127 Notes on current implementation
    128 -------------------------------
    129 
    130 Keyboard and mouse are polled so if too long a time is spent between a call to SDL_PumpEvents, functions that use it, or SDL_Delay events can be missed.
    131