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Brainsoft are offering an RS423 connecting lead plus software for £14 which allows you to transfer programs, data files, w/p files etc from a BBC to the Archimedes. This is done “by turning the BBC into a disc drive controlled from the Archimedes”! 1.2 Video Digitiser 1.2 Those of you who went to the PCW Show would have seen the impressive demonstrations that Mike Harrison was doing of his Archimedes digitiser which Watford Electronics are marketting. The basic resolution is 512 x 256, in 64 grey levels, though you can go up to 512 x 512 on a station ary object. The speed depends on the resolution, but at 512 x 256 it does approximately 10 frames/second and 128 x 128, 25 frames/second. The low level software driver will be in ROM and will include frame grabbing, previewing, scaling, rotation, X/Y flip, negative and pseudo- colour images, printer dumps and data compression. These will all be available via OS commands and SWI calls, so programs can be written in BASIC or other languages with access to these facilities. Price is “around the £200 mark” and availability is “hopefully the first week in November”. 1.2 Logo 1.2 Logo devotees will be interested to know of two ways of getting Logo going on the Archimedes. The first is LOGOsoft’s Master Logo. It will run under the 6502 emulator and is available now. Ring Chris Squire on 01-891-0989 for more details. 1.2 For a Logo that will make best use of Archi-medes’ amazing processing speed, you will have to wait for Logotron’s Archimedes Logo which uses full native ARM mode. 1.2 Lindy Beveridge, Logotron’s PR agency, writes: “The arrival of Acorn’s Archimedes is excellent news for Logo users, and Logotron, whose Logo is the standard for British school with over 50,000 users, now supplies it to run on the Archimedes, taking full advantage its high speed process ing power. Schools already using Logotron Logo will be perfectly at home with the new software but will notice a considerably enhanced performance. 1.2 Archimedes Logo has all the features of a mainframe Logo. It is the most powerful debugging environment for Logo with a workspace of potentially up to 16 Mbytes, the largest Logo workspace on a microcomputer. There is a 132 column editor with 1024 x 1024 pixel graphics resolution. Documentation for the new Logo indicates ways in which Logo users can benefit from the power of the Archimedes. 1.2 The first generation of 8-bit educational computers was never able to do full justice to the potential of Logo because of limited memory space and relatively slow processors. “These restrictions have limited the take-up of Logo, but things will change rapidly when people see Logo on the Archimedes”, says Logotron’s technical director, Christopher Roper. The Archimedes Logo was developed jointly by Acorn and Logotron so that it is functionally compatible with Logotron Logo and has all the characteristic extensions. 1.2 For further information, please contact Wendy Frazer on 0223 323656.” 1.2 (Ed: I was a bit suspicious of the 1024 x 1024 pixels and asked Logotron to confirm it. They said that it was done by re-programming the VIDC controller and obviously was using a multi-sync monitor. They said that Archimedes Logo should be available in full release version in “four to six weeks” from now, which would make it the end of November or the beginning of December.) 1.2 Computer Concepts’ Wordwise Plus is now available for the Archimedes − working under the emulator. £29 (+VAT) for the complete package and £10 (+VAT) for an up-grade for those who already have the ROM version for the BBC. (See the separate article.) 1.2 It’s not strictly Archimedes, but you may be interested to know that Intelligent Interfaces who produced the IEEE interface podule that we mentioned last month, have now launched an ARM second processor for the BBC micro. For £999 +VAT you get a 6.6MHz RISC chip with 4MBytes of RAM. The Twin Editor and BBC BASIC are supplied with it. For more details, contact Mr N Ray of Intelligent Interfaces, on 0789 415875. 1.2 We have a pre-release version of Artisan from Clares Micros − it’s a very impressive art package using the WIMP environment. It has tremen dous potential and looks as if it should come up to the standard of some of the Apple Macintosh art software, but we are not going to review it until we get the full release version. It is difficult to give a fair review when a number of the features are still missing. 1.2 • Those who are used to using our own Continuous Processing ROM with Wordwise Plus will be pleased to know that it is now available in disc form. The facilities are those of CP-ROM3, not CP-ROM2. We are making it available for £8 as an up-grade (i.e. if you already have CP-ROM 2 or 3) and as a new purchase for £18 including manual. 1.3 • The Inter Series software (-WORD -SHEET and -CHART) from Computer Concepts is now available but only on ROM, so you will need a back-plane and a ROM-podule before you can get started. CC are producing their own ROM podule (see below). If you already have any of the Inter-ROMs, you can up-grade them to the Archimedes versions for £11.50 per ROM but this can only be done directly through CC, not through the Archive magazine. 1.3 • Computer Concepts’ ROM podule is to have 8 slots, like the Acorn equivalent, but instead of having only two slots for RAM and the other six slots for ROM, each of the eight slots can contain either RAM or ROM and there will be an optional battery back-up available. The unit will come with a ROM filing system so that ROM images can be loaded and saved and any RAM on the board can be used as a RAMdisc. Price: £49.95+VAT, (7.5% discount if bought through Archive.) availability “December” − probably around Christmas. 1.3 • A true Archimedes word-processor! Clares Micros have produced Imagewriter. Price £29.95 (£27.50 through the magazine) and it should be available by the time you receive this magazine. We will review it a.s.a.p. 1.3 • APL Interpreter − One of our readers tells us that a “free” APL interpreter will soon be available for the Archimedes. Anyone interested should get themselves put on the mailing list for the project, stating that they are using an Archimedes and, when it is available, they will be informed of the exact cost of disk and copying (of the order of a few pounds). They should write to:- I-APL Ltd, 2 Blenheim Road, St Albans, AL1 4NR. The interpreter is designed for educational use, but does follow the ISO standard. 1.3 • Acorn Languages − The full release versions of C, LISP and PROLOG are all available now and PASCAL and FORTRAN77 should be available by the time you get this magazine. A version of KERMIT is being tested at the moment and should be available at £49 + VAT at the beginning of January. 1.3 You need to be aware however that none of the compiled languages comes with an editor. Acornsoft supply an editor separately − TWIN which can also be used as a BASIC editor by using keywords TWIN or TWINO. The editor, which is used almost exclusively by Acorn’s own software engineers, costs £29 plus VAT in its pre-release version, but Acorn have not yet decided what their up-grade policy is going to be when the full release version of TWIN becomes available. Acorn say that the present version is perfectly adequate for preparing source code files for the various compilers; it’s just that the new version will make better use of the capabilities of the Archimedes. 1.3 • Text processor/editor for compiled languages. An alternative to TWIN is to be produced by Tubelink for ‘probably’ £19.95. Further details from Tubelink. 1.3 • Advanced Statistical software − An extremely impressive looking software package has been produced by Serious Statistical Software. The package contains so many different facilities, none of which means anything to me, that I won’t even attempt to give a summary. If you know what “variation inflation factors” and the “Nelder-Mead algorithm” are then this package is probably for you! Price £150, but they will give 7.5% discount if you quote your Archive number. We are intending to do a full review of this in a later issue of Archive. 1.3 • Contex Computing have released a range of programs for the Archimedes. These are upgraded versions of the original BBC programs, making use of the superior speed and facilities of Archimedes. (Upgrades are available for existing users.) They include: Bank Manager (£25) for handling personal finance including a range of different accounts, credit accounts, transfers, cash flow, bank reconciliation, reports, foreign currency and lots more, Business Utilities (£12) which works with Manager and adds trials balance and spreadsheet analysis, suitable for self-employed businessmen and professionals, Typing Tutor (£15), Easy Reader (£12.50) (I’ll have to get Tim to review it!) and Madlibs (£12.50), “a hilarious game which also teaches English grammar.” Contex will give 10% discount to Archive readers if you quote your membership number when you order direct from them. 1.3 • RESOURCE, the educational software publishers are to publish a set of utilities to allow programmers to identify and cure problems in converting software to run under the 6502 emulator. For example, “BBCrun” creates an environment in which some “illegally” programmed software will operate as if on a standard BBC or Master. They are also doing a Versatile Interface Podule which will allow sampling of analogue data (up to 60kHz) via two A to D converters. 32 digital interface lines are also available on this system. To work with this is EARS, a dual channel digital recording system which can use the VIP to sample sounds and then play them back through the computer’s audio system. 1.3 RESOURCE are also working on an up-date of their best selling “DROOM” − mathematical “adventure” type software for junior through to secondary pupils. 1.3 • Another art package has been published − Arctist from Fairhurst Instruments Ltd. − needs 1 Meg of ram but only costs £19.95. We’ll try to get a comparative review done of that and Artisan. 1.3 • Éand a drawing package − Pineapple Software have released their DIAGRAM II drawing package. It has been up-graded for the Archimedes. Again, we’ll get this reviewed as soon as we can. • The first desktop publishing package for the Archimedes! That is the claim of LTS Ltd, and no other company has yet informed Archive of a similar package being available. Newsmaster has 34 fonts in sizes from 8 to 60 point with a variety of typefaces. Over 170 dotmatrix, inkjet and laser printers are supported. The cost is just £60+VAT but it needs 1Mbyte of ram and Acorn’s IBM emulator which suggests that it might not be as fast as one might hope on an Archimedes. When we get a review copy, we’ll let you know how good it really is. 1.4 • Heraldry program. As requested in the HELP section last month, there is a program for heraldry − written for BBC, but being up-dated for Archimedes. Details from Northern Educational Software. 1.4 • Abracadabra − a series of self contained procedures and function for use with the LIBRARY function of BBC BASIC V. The first disc will be available in January − more details from Abacus Training. 1.4 • Election 1987 is a series of data files and associated programs giving you access to the results of the last parliamentary election. Details from Abacus Training. 1.4 • The Programmer’s Reference Manual is now available − two volumes, as mentioned in the last issue and we have been able to arrange a discount so we can make it available to Archive subscribers for £28 including post & packing. The manual comes shrink wrapped with what is euphemi sticly referred to as an ‘Addendum’ − 5 pages of addenda and 13 pages of corrigenda! Be warned that it will take you some considerable time if you want to go through the manual making the actual corrections. It does have an index − indeed you get two copies of it − one in the back of each volume − that makes life easier. The bad news is that the index only gives a page number and doesn’t tell you which volume. You have to remember that volume 2 starts at page 355. 1.4 Norwich Computer Services is now an Acorn dealer, so we will be stocking some of the smaller items of Acorn hardware and software. We can offer 7.5% discount to members as with other things we sell, but please ring to confirm if you are not sure whether we stock a given item. 1.5 • CC ROM Podule £53 (Full price: £56.35) or £63 (£68.94) with battery back-up. (Should be available by the time you get this magazine!) 1.5 • Back Plane (£44.85 — £42 now available through Archive) 1.5 • I/O Podule (£90.85 — £84 now available through Archive) 1.5 • IFEL Electronics have produced their own backplane for two podules — £35.65 inc VAT. 1.5 • BBC to Archimedes Conversion Utilities. If youÕve got some precious BBC programs that you are trying to get working on the Archimedes, help is at hand. RESOURCE are marketing a whole suite of programs (written by Acorn software engineers) to help you get your BBC programs working properly under the 6502 emulator. Price: £15.95. 1.5 • Teletext and TV Adapter. Solidisk are launching a programmable TV tuner with Teletext adapter for the Archimedes which is on special offer until the end of March at £79.95 inc VAT and carriage. (Normal price £103.) TheyÕve sent us one to have a look at, so weÕll let you know what we think next month. 1.5 • Brainsoft have now released a new improved version of their Archimedes-BBC link package. The new package will access ADFS on the BBC end as well as DFS and the Archimedes desktop has a ÔBig BenÕ clock and a 40-function scientific calculator. Then as an optional extra, for just £5, you can have a text editor for use with compilers. It will allow you to edit 2,000 lines of text, and have two windows open on the text at the same time. The basic software is only £8, £14 with the RS423 lead, but add £5 to either price for the editor. We now have a phone number — see Factfile at the back of the magazine. 1.5 • Beebug have also released a BBC to Archimedes link which also works on both DFS and ADFS but which has a 3 metre cable instead of a 1 metre cable and “more sophisticated software” according to a comparative review in RISC User magazine. 1.5 • CCD Computer Services are offering three new pieces of Archimedes software: A graphics library for Fortran (£49.50), a text editor for compiled languages with full screen editing, an editing command language and access to the operating system, handling 5,000 lines of text (£19.50), and a printer buffer module (£12.50). 1.6 • Font Designer − an editor for BBC fonts on the Archimedes. (N.B. 8 x 8 characters, not fancy fonts) For £8.95, APL Software send you an editor, manual and 15 sample fonts including scientific symbols. We’ve got a review copy and it looks quite good − you can invert, flip, rotate, shift, angle, copy etc − all mouse-driven. 1.6 • Archimedes Logo is here! Logotron have released their full Archimedes version of Logo (i.e. it does not run under the 6502 emulator). It is claimed to be over 10 times faster than BBC Logo, will use all Archi medes graphics modes plus a 1024 x 960 pixel graphics resolution mode. It gives program control over error handling so that the level of help offered by error messages can be adjusted to suit students’ needs, it supports the FPU and has a multiple screen turtle control mode. For £60 you get reference manual, tutorial manual and example files. (Note that extension modules written in 6502 code will NOT be compatible. Logotron say that various Archimedes extension modules will appear during 1988.) 1.6 • 4096 colour screen dump for Integrex 132 colour ink jet printer. Musbury Consultants (!) have produced a screen dump which will cope with the full 4096 colours that Archimedes can generate. A full screen takes about 4 minutes to dump and the results are quite impressive from the samples they sent us − even the aspect ratio is correct − circles are circular! The full price is £30 but they are prepared to offer a discount through Archive magazine, so if you send your orders in to us, you only need send £25. 1.6 • Maths MoviesÉ Manchester Polytechnic has made some computer ‘movies’ to help students appreciate the subtleties of things like fourier transforms. The transforms of moving two-dimensional shapes are calculated and re-played as slowly or as quickly as you like − up to 5 frames a second. Each disc, costing £10, consists of two movies, each of 21 frames, of specific moving objects, e.g. growing squares, rotating bars and grid patterns. The programs need a 1M machine and each disc comes with a text file explaining the theory of the transform and special points to note with the particular movies. For a full list of movie discs, write to Dr J Slater, Dept. of Maths & Physics, John Dalton Building, Manchester Polytechnic, Manchester. 1.6 • Although not specifically for Archimedes, those of you with an Archimedes and perhaps a BBC and who are rich enough to own TWO printers(!) will like to know about a “Cross Switch” by Data Switches available from Datastore in Bromley. It has a single switch which swops over the two printers between the two computers. It costs £66.95, but presumably you would also need to buy two Centronics-Centronics cables to link to each of the printers. 1.6 • Graphics Library. Micro Studio are launching a three disk set of colour graphics pictures for inclusion in programs or for use with Artisan or GraphicWriter. This first set of disks (£21.95) should be available by the time you read this and others will become available through the year. The sample disc they sent had some very good animal pictures and a few others that were very clever but a number of the others were what I would call ‘idiosyncratic’, amongst which I would include the head of a gentleman with a black beard and horns against a red background! (To be fair, there was also a picture of Jesus, breaking bread!) 1.6 • Database Management System − Flying Start II (“Records, Files, Lists and Labels in an Instant”) is now available from Mitre Software to work on the Archimedes (using the PC emulator). Price £69.95. 1.6 • “Desktop Games” is the title of the first offering from Gem Elec tronics who specialise solely in Archimedes and aim to produce “quality software at sensible prices”. For just £5.95 inclusive, you get Mastermind, Sliding Block Puzzles and Solitaire as add-ons to your desktop. All three have different levels of difficulty and you can use your own pictures (created with Artisan, Paint etc) with SBP. 1.6 Even if you don’t really want the games, it might be worth the £5.95 to get the other utility that comes with it which enables you to enter *- commands from within the desktop! 1.6 • CJE Micros have a disc interface for an external 5.25“ drive − £30, quite neat, says one reader, has link settings so that you can swop the internal and external drive identities, i.e. make the 5.25” drive into drive 0 − very useful with the PC emulator for running protected software. 1.6 • Ace Computing are about to launch ‘Euclid’, their 3-D graphics animation system. (End of March, hopefully.) The idea is to provide ARM code routines which a relatively inexperienced programmer could access from within BASIC. Objects can be built up from a library of simple geometric shapes. Re-drawing, from the sample we’ve seen, is extremely fast (written in ARM code) so that you could get smooth animation of simple shapes, zooming in and out and rotating around, even without using shadow screens. It will come with a basic library of shapes and users are encouraged to share the shapes they generate with other Euclid users. Details from Tony Cheal at ACE Computing. 1.6 • Computer Concepts ROM Podule We haven’t actually got any ROMs to put in it yet, but what we are getting excited about is the RAM filing system which allows you to do all sorts of useful things. 1.6 The RAM filing system is like the ADFS in many ways though obviously you cannot use *DRIVE, *FORMAT, *TITLE, *VERIFY, etc) − you can, however, have directories, you can *COPY things and you can put your favourite utility programs in it. It’s great! 1.6 To copy between the ADFS and RFS, for example, you might say: 1.6 *COPY ADFS:$.file RFS:$.file 1.6 For me, the best facility is being able to have all my own special little programs in the RFS so that they are always available − as if they were in the LIBRARY directory on the current disc except that they are always available even when you change discs. To set it up you have to set the ‘filepath alias’ so that the Archimedes looks in the RFS as well as the ADFS library for files. You might think that you would therefore have to set this up every time you switch on the machine − perhaps by using a disc with a special boot file. Not a bit of it! 1.6 You can set the Archimedes to boot up in the RFS by altering the configuration. The RFS boot program can then set up the filepath alias (and other aliases that you use regularly or function key definitions) and then return to the ADFS and continue as though nothing had happened. That way you can have your RFS library and your own aliases permanently installed as if they were part of the operating system. So even when you do a <ctrl-break>, say after *configuring something, it restores all your aliases and function key definitions! 1.6 The ROM podule with battery-backup is £63 to Archive members and the 32k ram chips are £9.50 each (128k chips are not currently available.) The podules are becoming available, but demand is far out-stripping supply, so all dealers are being strickly rationed. If you want one, send in your order and we’ll hold onto your cheque until we can supply them. 1.6 • Artisan Support Disc. Clares’ have just released a support disc for Artisan users. Amongst other things, it provides 6 extra fonts, extra colour fill patterns, an editor for changing the colour patterns on the monochrome printer dumps, printer dumps for Integrex 132 and Epson EX800, JX80, Fujitsu DL3400 and Star LC10 colour printers and a module which provides a way of merging pictures (including a fastload module) − you can make up a very impressive Artisan “slide-show” − and you get four new sample screens to impress your friends. (In stock and available through Archive for £18) The Integrex screendumps are very impressive as visitors to the Manchester M.U. Show will be able to testify, especially when printed on the special paper which Clares Micros can supply for £5 per 25m roll. 1.7 • New version (1.5a) of Arctist available − still at £19.95 (£18 through Archive). Now has the following extra features: Select colour & tint from palette or an area on-screen (i.e. re-select an existing colour), finish a line or ray by pressing space then restart elsewhere without re-selecting the function, select a new colour while still in a function, fill a given colour area with a new tint level, block move straight or EOR overlap, clear screen to a selected colour, delete text from the keyboard, make use of twin drives, rotate through palettes, select a new palette. 1.7 107 1.7 This new version is available as a FREE UPGRADE to existing users (Acorn, please note!). There are also Econet and hard-disc versions available − telephone Fairhurst Instruments for details. 1.7 107 1.7 • 5.25“ disc drive Interface. All you ever wanted to do with a 5.25” disc drive on the Archimedes from CJE Micro’sÉ Firstly an interface cable for £30. Then there is a link-swapping switch for £8 that will allow the external drive to be :0 (or, more importantly, A: on MS.DOS). Then there’s a Drive Select Translation Cable for an extra £9 which allows you to leave the links on the external drive set to zero (so you can swap the drive over with another computer, e.g. a BBC) and still have it accessed from the Archimedes as if it were drives 1 and 2 (or there is a version that makes it 2 and 3). If you can’t work out what you need from that lot, give CJE a ring! Then there is some software for £15 that allows you to read (but not write) DFS discs using the Archimedes − much easier than trying to use the RS423 interface − particularly useful for those who want to trade in their BBC’s for an Archimedes! (All these prices are including VAT) 1.7 107 1.7 • Art-Worker (£5) from MacSoft is a “creative art program” providing a spray brush for creating mode 15 (256 colour) pictures. 1.7 107 1.7 • Mode Converter + Serial Data Transfer System. (£13 + VAT) from M & M Computers provides a way of getting all those favourite screen-shots (or other files for that matter) across from the BBC to the Archimedes. Once across, the mode converter will allow you to transfer screens from one mode to another so that, for example, 16 colour BBC pictures can have a bit more colour added. (M & M are moving into new offices, so for information, please contact the author, Alan Barclay at 7 Porthill Court, Aberdeen, AB1 1DU.) 1.7 107 1.7 • Architext − a text editor from HopeSoft for use with C Pascal, Fortran, assembler and BASIC programming − £19.90. We have a review copy though it is “not the final version” but you can get a demo version which allows you to do everything except save files for just £3.50 (refundable when you buy the full program). Architext uses the mouse but not the WIMP environment to make it “fast and full of facilities, but easy to use.”) 1.7 107 1.7 • Backgammon on your desktop − Maximum have released a desk accessory version of the popular board game, backgammon with save, load, wind and re-wind facilities for just £9.50. You can play the computer or the computer can plays itself! 1.7 107 1.7 • AutoSketch (£79 + VAT) − a new precision drawing package for machines with 1Mbyte upwards is object-oriented with lines, arcs, circles and curves of different colours and line types which can be assigned to any of ten drawing layers. Text of any size can be added and objects can be measured and dimensioned automatically. It has full zoom facilities, is mouse driven and works with a whole range of printers and pen-plotters. You can add pictures to your own symbol library and then paste them into other drawings. For more details, contact Michael Page at Acorn (Fulbourn Road). 1.7 107 1.7 • New Adventure Game − Bush Rescue £21 +VAT from 4Mation Educational Resources. An educational adventure program set in Aust-ralia − very appropriate in Bicentennial year! 1.7 107 1.7 • What a bind! Archive PVC binders (£5.50 each) are now in stock. I’m very pleased with them − they are strongly made and look very smart on the bookshelf. The binding system is such that even with only six or seven magazines they stay in place without any trouble. 1.7 107 1.7 “If you order 500 binders at a time”, he said, “they work out a lot cheaper.” IÊworked out the cash flow OK, but I didn’t think about the storage! They arrived today in thirty huge boxes! So if you’re thinking of buying one “sometime”, can I urge you to buy it now? Please!?? 1.7 * SigmaSheet from Minerva is claimed to be 200 times faster than Intersheet, Lotus 123 and Logistix and capable of handling over 7 times the size of Lotus 123. It should be available off-the-shelf by the time this magazine gets to you. The full price £69.95, Archive price £64. We hope to be able to review it next month. 1.8 • Two new games, also from Minerva are: Hoverbod and Missile Control, £14.95 each. They should be able “in May”. More details next month. 1.8 • A screendump for 24-pin printers (LQ800 and LQ1000) available from Abacus Training. The dump utilises the triple density graphics mode to produce a picture of 1280 x 1024 dots which comes out at about 7.5“ x 5”. This was written by Mark Sealey and Gerald Fitton, two of our contributors, and is being made available to Archive subscribers for £5. (Or £3.50 if you send a formatted disc.) 1.8 • U-Connect from Magenta Research − a general purpose comms package, exclusively WIMP driven, providing various terminal emulations plus a selection of file transfer protocols: X-modem, Kermit and CET for Prestel. Will run on 305‘s, but “1 Mbyte preferred”. £59.95 inclusive. We’ve been promised a review copy, so we hope to report on this in a future issue. 1.8 • ArcTerm − a free downloadable program from Hugo Fiennes on his bulletin board on 0458 476081. (How do you get it if you haven’t got a comms program for your Archimedes?) 1.8 • PipeDream (alias View Professional) is being launched for the Archimedes by Colton Software at £99 + VAT “from May 19th”. Pipedream is an integrated suite of software: word-processing, spreadsheet + database. More details from Robert Macmillan on 0954 211472. 1.8 • Database of Educational Software and Addresses. This database, already well-established on Viewstore, FIND, Supastore and KEY for the BBC B and Master series is now available (well, it said it should be by mid May) on System Delta Plus for the Archimedes £20 from Nick Evans, PO Box 55, Grimsby, DN32 0QB. Educational orders welcome. 1.8 • Fast action arcade game: QUAZER very colourful, very fast, several levels of skill, but basically just shooting up the on-coming enemy hordes (My kids like it!) £8.95 from J Rockey, Brecklands, Broad Oak, Shrewsbury, SY4 3AH or send S.A.E. for information. 1.8 Hardware, Software & Documentation Available 1.9 • Trackerball Adapter. Pineapple Software have produced an interface to enable owners of the Marconi trackerball to use this device on the Archimedes computer. The adapter has a user port type connector on one end and a 1 metre cable with a mouse plug on the other. The cost is £13.95 + VAT. 1.9 • 3D CAD / Animation system from Silicon Vision. They are offering a 3D wire-frame Graphics Development System for £19.95 − “ideal of games and simulations”. (Special price of £17.95 for Archive members − see advert on page ????. Order from Silicon Vision but quote your Archive member ship number.) Also under development are, Super-Dump a “near-plotter quality” graphics dump program and 3D Solids Design and Animation system. These are due for release “at the end of June” and users of the simpler system can up-grade for the price difference between the two packages. 1.9 • CADVISE − Computer Aided Design VISualisation Extended can be used to build up a library of 3D shapes. It comes with standard shapes and these can be ‘welded’ together to make composite shapes. Hidden line removal and perspective views available. £59.95 (or £37.95 for education) from Academic Software. 1.9 • Euclid 3D programmable graphics animation package. Provides a module which can be called from BASIC or machine code programs to produce orthogonal or perspective drawing with hidden line removal etc etc. £45 from ACE Computing. 1.9 • ArcTFS − a “free text” database allowing you to cross-reference, file and collate blocks of text of any size − getting away from the fixed data formats of more ‘conventional’ databases. This is a more powerful version of an existing program for the Atari ST. (Reviewed in June edition of ST World) Sounds ideal for anyone trying to handle lots of text − it can even store text in 1st Word Plus format as well as pure ASCII text and they are hoping to add other WP’s to the list. £29.95 from “Texellence” − should be available by the time you read this. 1.9 • ArcDFS (yes, confusing, isn’t it?) from Computer Spares Ltd is a(nother) 5.25” disc interface but this one comes with software to read (but not write) DFS discs. We saw it at the M.U.Show and it looks really well made and has a power outlet (as per BBC micro) so that you don’t have to have a disc drive drive with a built-in power supply unit. The cost is £55.20 for single drive version, £57.50 for the dual drive version but you can subtract £3 if you don’t need the dummy back-plate, i.e. you are going to put it along side an existing podule. 1.9 • Presenter − a presentation graphics package for £24.95 from Lingenu ity, the software division of Lindis International Ltd. It uses the WIMP environment to display line, bar and pie charts, in colour or grey-scale (useful for printer-dumps to produce OHP’s). Data can be entered manually or imported from other programs (spreadsheets & databases) and the output can then be used in other packages such as Artisan, Graphic- Writer and 1st Word Plus. (I saw a development version of Presenter a few weeks ago and it looked very impressive. I hope we may have one for review before long. Ed.) 1.9 • Servo Control package from Jansons. Use the printer port to control up to four servos. For £29.95, you get a small hardware interface (you supply the servos), a software module, an interactive instruction manual and a test environment to make sure all the servos are working properly. 1.9 • ArcImEd − an art package with a difference, £24.95 from Jansons. If you are writing programs that involves drawing lots of diagrams on the screen, then this program is a must! (My words, not Jansons − we saw it at the Micro User Show. Ed.) Draw a picture in the usual mouse-driven, art-package sort of way then at the click of a button, it saves it as a BASIC program! That program can then be used as a procedure in another program to draw the picture as and when required. It could save you hours in the development of certain types of programs. 1.9 • Modula-2 and FORTH. Two new language implementations, Modula-2 (£89.95) and RISC FORTH (£69.95) are now available from Blue Grey Software. See the advert on page ??????. 1.9 • Expansion Podule − a single width podule complete with a pre-decoded podule interface providing an area on which small to medium-sized electronics projects can be constructed. This will allow 8-bit memory mapped and/or interrupt driven (IRQ and FIQ) hardware interfaces to be developed very rapidly. Available “late July” either as a bare p.c.b. or fully populated with the interface chips. For further details, contact Atomwide Ltd (0689) 38852. (Dealer enquiries only, ring 01-543-2349.) 1.9 • Buffer Podule − a single width podule allowing you to extend the full bus to devices outside the machine. You can connect simple and external podules via a ribbon cable, (but not MEMC podules because of speed limitations). Still under development but should be ready “in a month or so”. For more details, contact Simon Brise of SGB Computer Services, 140 Disraeli Road, Putney, London, SW15 2DX. (01−874−5675) 1.9 • Archimedes SpellMaster is here! It checks at over 10,000 words/minute and you can store your user dictionary(ies) in battery-backed ram so that you don’t need to load and save them on disc every time you use the computer. The bad news is that on the Acorn ROM board it runs at only about 2,000 words/minute. At the moment it only works on ArcWriter and Inter-Word, but it can be accessed from BASIC and/or ARM code and since it is written in relocatable module form, it should not be difficult to link it in with other software. 1.9 Compared with BBC Spell-Master, it has extra speed on its *-commands − e.g. the ANAWORD program which I wrote to find as many words as possible from permutations and combinations of various letters works 2.7 times as fast as on the Master 128. 1.9 Extra commands − when you are checking the text, if it finds an unknown word you get five options, three as before: ignore word, correct the word or add it to the dictionary, but you can also now browse the dictionary in order to select the right word or get it to guess what the word might be. 1.9 It also has extra *-commands, so as well as *FUZZY (i.e. give me a word that sounds like...) and *ANAGRAM and *CHECK, there are other commands such as *TYPO which is the equivalent of the guessing facility and *USERTOFILE and *FILETOUSER which can be used for converting ASCII word lists into dictionaries and vice versa. 1.9 Free Utilities Disc. If you buy SpellMaster through Archive you get a free disc which contains, as well as a number of utility programs, a ‘word-games’ dictionary − we can’t call it a ‘Scrabble’ dictionary but that’s what we use it for. One of the utilities allows you to “catch” the words that are output by the various *-commands. (We used it to catch the words given by *CHECK * − i.e. the whole of the dictionary − it produced a file of 580k − all that, as well as the programs, is squeezed into a 128k ROM. Clever, huh?!) Another utility allows you, amongst other things, to do the Daily Express “Target” word game without any thinking! (No, we don’t take the Express!!) 1.9 • Colour Dump for Canon Colour Ink Jet printer is available now from Musbury Consultants £30 (£25 through Archive). 1.10 • 4-slot backplanes for the 300 series!!!! Available (by the time you get this) from Computerware, 55 Romulus Court, Brentford Dock, Justin Close, Brentford, Middlesex for only £59.95 (including fan). (£2.50 off if you quote your Archive subscription number!) 1.10 • New improved 24-pin screen dump. Now this is what I like to hearÉ Abacus Training have responded to (constructive) criticism from early users of their 24-pin screen dump and have implemented some of their suggestions. The new version, will now dump all or part of the screen, has an optional left margin and allows 1, 2 or 3 passes to increase the blackness of the image, if required. To get an up-grade, early users can send £1.50 for a new disc OR send back the old disc in a Jiffy bag and get the upgrade free of charge. (For new purchasers, the price is still £5.00.) 1.10 • Professional CAD Software — Oak Professional Software have produced a “fully interactive parametric CAD package” for the Archimedes. The Oak PDT (Parametric Design Tool) runs on Archimedes with 1 Mbyte or more. It has a huge range of features and is also a “low cost” package at only £295 (+VAT?). For more information, ring 0532-502615 1.10 • Sound & Graphics Demo from Clares — only £7.50 for a two-disc set with some VERY impressive demonstrations that show off the Archimedes to very good effect. (At that price, thereÕs no dealer discount, so youÕll have to get it directly from Clares.) 1.10 • Facsimile for the Archimedes from Computer Concepts. Based around Computer Concepts own 9600 bps modem podule, you can transfer data to and from group 2 and 3 FAX machines anywhere in the world. Available in three versions: FAX PACK 1, modem and software only £499+VAT, FAX PACK 2, including a 200 dpi scanner, £799+VAT and FAX PACK 3, with a flat-bed 300 dpi grey scale scanner “over £1100 + VAT”. Release “summer 1988 subject to BABT approval”. 1.10 • Archive Shareware Disc The long-awaited(?) Archive Shareware Disc is here! The disc contains 771k of demos and other programs. These include: the new LIFE program — this has a higher resolution and runs at just about the same speed; a new version of the mandelbrot program — this includes a gallery function; a ‘European Geography’ program — all you wanted to know about the European countries with sprites to match. There are also several compacted screen shots, a beautiful mandelbrot screen, and some smaller demos. Many thanks to all the various contributors. Price £3. 1.10 Hardware, Software & Documentation Available 1.11 • GammaPlot released − Minerva Systems have now released their GammaPlot package at £69.95. (£64 through Archive.) It supports 6 main graph and chart types and has extensive art facilities which can be used to enhance the charts or can be used on their own as an art package to rival many of the others currently available. (Review in next month’s magazine, hopefully.) 1.11 • System Delta Plus Reference Manual now also available from Minerva at £29.95. (£27 through Archive.) 1.11 • 3-D Spreadsheet (Now there’s a concept to grapple with!) Matrix 3, £95 + VAT from Cambridge Microsystems is a three-dimensional scientific spreadsheet, 10,000 rows by 10,000 columns by 100 pages − cells can even contain programs as well as straightforward arithmetic, trig, hyper bolic, logical and stats functions. 1.11 • Assembly Language Programming − A Dabhand Guide to assembly language, specifically written for the Archimedes − £14.95 (£13.50 through Archive.) − See review on page ????. 1.11 • Four podule slot backplane for the A300 series is now available from Computerware. 1.11 • 16 bit Parallel I/O Expansion Card from Intelligent Interfaces provides high speed data I/O on two 16 bit (each splittable into two 8 bit) TTL data ports with full facilities for handshaking. Also has four 16 bit counter/timers. Software provided for both high level and low level programmers. 1.11 • Dual RS423 Interface Expansion Card also from Intelligent Interfaces provides two extra RS423 serial I/O ports complete with software support. 50 to 38,400 baud independent speed settings for input and output. Uses standard 9 pin D-type connectors. 1.11 • OVID Toolkit Module from P. Taylor Software. £15 for a module containing memory editor, disc editor, shift, fill, compare and find commands. 1.11 • ArcTFS − free-form text filing system is now First Word Plus compat ible, i.e. it can output text in First Word Plus format and can also take in ASCII text from any source. 1.11 • Plague Planet − Text adventure game from Alpine Software, £11.95 inclusive, with over 250 locations and more than 1000 messages and many objects to find and manipulate. (Watch out for ALPS − Adventure Language Programming System − also from Alpine Software. Write your own adventure programs. £28.95 inclusive for disc and 36 page user manual. Available late August.) 1.11 • Screen Compressor program available (by 10th August) from Stream Software. It can compress any mode to typically one third of its original size in about one third the time of an OS save routine. Price £6.95, cheques payable to “D.Jackson”. 1.11 • Arc-PCB − A program for design and draughting of multi-layer printed circuit boards with facilities such as auto-routing, zoom, pan etc. Output either to a plotter or Epson compatible printer. Demo disc £5 (refundable), full package £195, both inclusive of VAT and p & p from Silicon Vision Ltd. 1.12 • Weather Satellite Decoding Podule −This new podule from Spacetech decodes and displays information from weather satellites giving 84 grey scales and 256 colour palette. Software allows weather animation and includes some digital signal processing and image processing. Full package £259.95 inclusive. Send for a demo disc for £5 (refundable). Also available soon is a utilities disc including more advanced image processing (£35). Spacetech also sell the receivers and antennae that you will need to complete the system. 1.12 • Image Processing on Public Domain. Delft University have produced an image processing package and have made it available on public domain. It was originally produced on the Atari but has now been ported across to the SUN and the Archimedes. Facilities, amongst others, include contrast and edge enhancement and all are available through the user-friendly WIMP environment. The package has been developed in co-operation with Eeckhorn Computers B.V. and the local dealer, E.C.D. in Delft. More details from Eeckhorn on telephone 31-15-569365, or through ECD, Voldersgracht 25-26, 2611 E V Delft, Holland. (We have a copy if you want to send us a disc, but the documentation is too long to copy.) 1.12 • More colours for Leonardo! − Beard Technology’s Leonardo, the mode 12 art package has now been up-dated to a 256 colour version. For only £2 more than the original version (£19.50 instead of £17.50) you also get a font generator and a printer dump routine − in addition to the impres sive array of facilities of the mode 12 version, e.g. full zoom facilities, undo (and re-do!) option, compressed screen save format as well as the usual line, circles, ellipses, rectangles, triangles, fill, airbrush, etc. − See the review of Leonardo 12 on page 28. (We hope to have a review of Leonardo Plus next month.) 1.12 • Arctist Plus from Fairhurst Instruments (£19.95 or £5 as an up-grade) available “mid-September”. Extra features wil include: mouse snap to grid, information bar, first colour to second colour, grab a frame (with Watford Digitiser), true circle, shaded spheres and rectangles, magnify area, reduce area, load new fonts, bold, underline and shadow. 1.12 • Pax 256 Colour Art Package − Julian Rockey of Quazer fame has turned his hand to artwork. All the usual art facilities including rubber- banding, zoom, undo, anti-aliased fonts. £15.95 inclusive. 1.12 • Pipedream Demo Disc − £4.95 inclusive from Colton Software − demo disc so that will give you the flavour of Pipedream. The £4.95 is recoverable when you buy Pipedream itself. (£5 including p & p through Archive, Pipedream £105) 1.12 • Archimedes Utilities from P.R.E.S. − A low priced toolkit package with facilities such as hard disc backup, memory allocation map, continuous compacter, screen mode table generator, file-type lister and module interrogator. 1.12 • Another 4-slot backplane (two, in fact). Firstly there is one from Atomwide at £49.00 +VAT without a fan or £59 +VAT with a fan (+£5 carriage per order) and secondly, IFEL Electronics are selling one with a fan for £58.95, including VAT & UK postage. IFEL has an upgrade scheme for those of you who already have a 2-way backplane and they also offer a discount of 95p for Archive members quoting their membership number. The 4-slot backplane mentioned briefly last month from Computer ware is available at £59.95 including the fan. This includes UK postage, but they aren’t VAT registered, so there is no VAT to add. (Computer- ware are also planning to release a 20 Mbyte hard disc podule for £399.95 in mid-October.) 1.12 • Personal Accounts Package / Shares System. Ian Hamilton is selling a pair of programs which can be used separately or together for single or multiple users. They provide personal accounts and a shares system to hold information about shares and unit trusts. The share system also has the facility to record buy and sell transactions to build up a share portfolio. (£15 or £12 if ordered before Christmas.) 1.12 • Genlock Card. Atomwide, in addition to their 4-slot backplane and prototyping expansion podule (£15 for a bare p.c.b. and £35 fully constructed − see Archive 1.9, page 3) also produce a genlock card for £175 + VAT. Lock your Archimedes video onto any other (mono) video source. 1.12 • More gamesÉ Alerion − Arcade Action game − £14.95 from Dabs Press, bears certain similarities to Quazer, scrolling shoot-up-the-aliens type game − a bit slower but more colourful than Quazer, my boys say − noisier than Quazer, say I!. Orion from Minerva (£14.95) air to air combat interceptor − shoot up the aliens before it’s too late. Freddy’s Folly from Minerva − £14.95 − a battle between Sir Freddy and yourselves. You are trying to defend your castle while he tries to bomb you from his fleet of balloons. (Well, it’s a ‘different’ scenario!) “Lots of fun for all the family.” 1.12 • Archimedes Librarian. Micro Librarian Professional is a library management program from Micro Librarian Systems who have had a system running on the Master 128 for some time now. This is an up-graded program using the full Archimedes features, not just the same program transferred onto a 3.5“ disc. The basic price is £300, but for a further £200, the software can be customised to suit individual library’s needs. 1.12 • DOC Professional (Database, Organisation, Charts) is a database written by a German firm, BSG − Digitale Illustrationen, with alterna tive text in English, German or French. The cost is £31.60 including postage and packing. (I think these facts are correctly interpreted from their press release!) 1.12 • Desktop Enhancer − an impressive array of extra facilities to bolt onto the desktop − reviewed on page 40. Available from Mitre Software for £29.95 inc VAT. 1.12 ‘WIMP Template Editor’ 1.12 Write your own programs using the WIMP environment without having to understand all those complicated SYS commands that Adrian Look has been trying to explain to us for the last ‘n’ months. This is a program which uses the WIMP environ-ment to allow you to design WIMP layouts. You then just load them into your own programs. It includes windows, (pop-up) menus, palette editor and sprite editor. 1.12 Acorn have given us a ‘nearly working’ version and we are in the process of knocking it up into shape. The idea is to release it as public domain software probably at the usual Archive disc price of £3. 1.12 • RISC Forth − Blue-Grey Software seems to have disappeared, but RISC Forth has been taken on by Silicon Vision Ltd who are now it sole distributors. The price has unfortunately gone up to £99.95. 2.1 • PCB layout software − Silicon Vision Ltd are doing a P.C.B. design system for £195 inc VAT with full auto-routing, rats nesting, surface mount capability, 0.001 inch resolution, 32“ x 32” max board size, on- line help, fast zoom, pan and re-draw. Test and silkscreen are also included with variable line, pad, text and grid sizes, parts libraries, block move, copy, rotate, mirror and delete options. It supports Plotmate, Graphtec and all HP-GL compatible plotters. It also includes a hi-res hard copy for Epson compatible printers. It can be run from hard disc and/or Econet. 2.1 There is now also an Entry-level version of this software which has all the features of the full version except the auto-routing. The price of the entry-level version is £99.95 inclusive. 2.1 • BASIC Compiler − Dabs Press are close to launching their ABC (Archi medes BASIC Compiler) written by Paul Fellows − for £99 inclusive, you get the compiler, a 40 page user guide and a disc of sample programs. It will compile BASIC programs either into absolute code or as a relocat able module and it will allow you to implement star commands. The claims for speed increase are that generally it is up to ten times faster than interpreted BASIC but obviously this doesn’t apply where programs are making heavy use of disc access or operating system commands since the speed of such calls will remain unchanged. 2.1 • Spreadsheets − If you are trying to make up your mind which spread sheet would best suit your needs, Gordon Taylor has written a very good comparative review in Personal Computer World, October 1988, page 182. He looks in detail at four spreadsheets; Logistix, Matrix-3, PipeDream and SigmaSheet (all of which can be purchased through Archive.) 2.1 • A410’s − No, don’t get too excited, they are not actually “available” as such yet, but I thought you would like to know the prognosis. Top managers inside Acorn tell me that they are going to be ready “next year” and “hopefully as early as possible in the year”, but they cannot make any promises because of lead times on components and because various elements of the development and testing are not finished yet. 2.1 • PC Emulator up-grades − Beebug are saying that if you send your 1.09 version, they will up-grade it to 1.20 for just £3 compared with Acorn’s £15, though this latter includes the up-dated manual. (Well, if Beebug are doing it, why shouldn’t we? Feel free to send your PC disc to us for up-grading at £3 a go! Ed.) 2.1 • Repton3 − yes, it is being done (in native mode) for the Archimedes, and it should be released by Superior Software at the end of October, i.e. it should have been released by the time you read this! 2.2 • Inter Series on Disc!!! − Computer Concepts have bowed to pressure from various quarters and are now selling Inter-Word, Inter-Sheet, Inter-Chart and Spell-Master on disc. (£29, £29, £19 and £39 respec tively, all + VAT, cf £39, £39, £25 and £51.30 for the ROM versions.) They still work under the emulator and there is no ROM-LINK facility as there is on the BBC micro versions. (Archive prices are £30, £30, £20 and £41 inclusive of VAT + p&p.) 2.2 • Desktop Enhancer Enhanced! − The new version has options to copy read only files during backup and to boot floppy disc from the FDD icon menu. Mitre Software have also added a utility to change the machine con figuration without <ctrl-break>. Existing users can return their discs with an S.A.E. for a free up-grade. (Other software houses, please note!) (Available through Archive for £27.) 2.2 • Pro-Artisan − Should be available from Clares Micros soon though at the time of going to press, we’re still waiting. “Probably mid NovemberÉ”. 2.2 • Artisan Gallery Discs − Clares now have three discs at £6 each or (£15 for the set) each containing nine Artisan pictures. (Only available from Clares as no dealer discount is available.) 2.2 • Pipedream SpellCheck should be available from Colton Software at the beginning of November, price £49.45 (£45 through Archive.) 2.2 • Colour Convertor − Lingenuity’s single width podule (£169.95 +VAT) − converts the Watford digitiser into full colour! Hardware controls of both contrast and saturation of the separate colours. Controlling software is mouse driven and allows you to save a picture, scale it or set the parameters for the hardware controls. They hope it will be available by 11th November. (£185 fromArchive) 2.2 • Control Panel (£14.95 + VAT) − Lingenuity are also producing a WIMP driven control panel with on-screen help which will allow you to set up the configuration of your machine including loading standard configura tions from disc for use with your various applications. (£16 from Archive) 2.2 • Xample Story − the presentation graphics package from Holland, mentioned in last month’s review from the PC Show (page 7) is now being distributed by Lingenuity. 2.2 • AIM the Image processing package from Delft University, mentioned in the September issue is now also being distributed by Lingenuity. They are providing the disc and the documentation (see the review on page 52) at cost price which will be “about £6” and this includes a pound which will be sent to the Delft University students. 2.2 • BASIC Compilers − the two new BASIC compilers, one from Dabs Press at £99.95 inclusive and the other from Silicon Vision also at £99.95 should both be ready by the time you read this. We hope to have a comparative review next month. (Both will be available through Archive at £92.) 2.2 • Links to Psion Organiser − XOB have written ARCPERX which runs under the 6502 emulator and uses the 1MHz bus on the I/O podule to link up to a Psion Organiser. 2.2 • DFS utilities − CJE Micros do a DFS utilities disc for £20 inclusive which allows you to read and write and format DFS discs from the Archimedes − it will even read dual catalogue discs. 2.2 • Multi-syncs galore − Solidisk Technology have several multi-sync monitors for the Archimedes. If you want colour, there’s the Quadram at £300 or the TVM/MD11 at £329 but if you want the high resolution but aren’t worried about having colour, they have two grey scale multi- syncs, NEC and TVM, both £159. All the monitors mentioned are 14“ and to all the prices you need to add VAT and carriage. (I haven’t seen any of them ‘in the flesh’, so we’d welcome comments from anyone who has.) 2.2 • Relational Database − ‘Reporter’ (£39.95) from Minerva Systems extends the power of System Delta Plus − a fully relational report-writer with averaging, totalling etc. Should be available by the time you get this magazine. (£37 through Archive) 2.2 • Mailshot & Label printing − ‘Mailshot’ (£39.95) from Minerva Systems also extends the power of System Delta Plus − print sticky labels or do your mailmerge from your database, “advanced date handling includes conversion of numbers to words!” (£37 through Archive) 2.2 • Drawing Board − £59 inc. Another innovative program from Jansons who produced ArcImEd, the art package that generates program listings. It’s a drawing packagedesigned for dot matrix printers. On demonstration it looked very impressive. See the advert on page 9 for a sample of the output. 2.2 • Two new games from GEM Electronics − Word Up Word Down − “a new concept in word games featuring a 3D game board”! and Startrader, “a large scale space adventure game”. Each is £17.95 inclusive and if you buy them both, you get their Desktop Games (£5.95) free! 2.2 • Arckey − a keystrip flip-over holder from Ian Copestake − self adhesive clear plastic allows you to stick your keystrips together into a ‘book’. 2.2 • Crossword puzzles − you can now get puzzles from the Times and the Sun newspapers on computer with help offered if you need it. Akom Ltd are offering Times puzzles for £16.95 and Sun puzzles for £15.95. (Also available for BBC micro.) 2.2 • New Archimedes bulletin board − if you have got tired of waiting for Eureka!, why not give ARC-port a ring on 0252−737065, 300/300 or 1200/ 75, 8n1. It’s run on an Archimedes and is open Mon − Friday 6.00 p.m. to 8.00 a.m. + 24 hrs at weekends. 2.2 • New Archive Shareware Disc − (though I think, according to Ken Biddle’s definition, we should call it PD! Ooops!) Shareware Disc 2 will be ready by the time you read this. £3 as usual. I’ll try to put more details on the Order Form of what is on it. 2.2 Review Software Received... 2.2 Apart from reviews already written we have received review copies of the following software: Ovid Toolkit Module, Akom Crossword puzzles, Cobra (like the BBC snake game that eats things and gets longer) from Richard Millican, Plague Planet from Alpine Software, Shares and Accounts from Ian Hamilton. 2.2 • Repton 3 is here! Well, just about − it should be available before Christmas. We have the pre-release version of John Wallace’s adaptation of the ever popular BBC celebrity. The Archimedes version, which runs in mode 9, has four different tunes and an ‘off’ option(!), it runs 25% faster than the BBC version and it has a very useful extra feature of allowing you to save the position you have reached so that if you have just negotiated a difficult bit, you don’t have to go back to the beginning if you get killed. There is also an editor so that you can design your own screens (16 colours) and your own men. It’s called Repton 3 because you’ve got three of the Repton stories in one: The Life of Repton, Around the World in 80 Screens and Repton through Time. All the passwords are different from the BBC ones as are the competition codes, so it’s start from scratch time for all you BBC Reptonians. £19.95 from Superior Software. (£18 through Archive.) 2.3 • Jet Fighter − Minerva’s latest games program £14.95 (£14 through Archive) − “Alone on a forgotten planet, you must defend yourself against all-comers whilst, aided by your jet powered back-pack, you re- build your broken rocket ship, then fuel it and take off to the next level.” 2.3 • PacMania − At last, the only game I ever spent time playing on the BBC − PacMan − has now been converted to the Archimedes. Grandslam’s PacMania (£19.95 or £18 through Archive) is a 3D version where you can, amongst other things, jump over the monsters! (Needs 1 Mbyte minimum.) 2.3 • Home Accounts − £49.95 from Minerva (£46 through Archive) is their first application that will run under RISCOS in single or multi-tasking modes. Designed to keep club or home finances, it will control multiple bank accounts, credit cards or building societies and does automatic posting of standing orders and transfers of funds between accounts. It includes budgeting and cashflow forecasts, provides a full analysis and even warns of bank charges or overdraft situations. Also includes simple bank reconciliation. N.B. this is self-standing software and not an add- on to System Delta Plus as is the case with the Business Accounts software. (See small ads if you need a copy of Business Accounts.) 2.3 • Clares’ Alphabase − This has rather got for-gotten, but it is a perfectly respectable database for the Archimedes at £49.95 (£46 through Archive.) We have a copy for review if anyone is interested. 2.3 • Software Developer’s Toolbox from Acorn contains a Symbolic Debugger and a set of utilities working in C, Pascal, Fortran 77 or BASIC: Common − lists the most common words in a list of files, Dbug − machine code debugger for use with multiple languages, Diff − compares two files and lists their differences, Grope − searches files for a given pattern, Libfile − manipulates library files, Link − links object files and libraries to form an image file, Amu − controls compilation of multiple sources in large programs, Memtest − tests the application memory of the machine, Objlib − lists the symbols in a library file, Shell − allows BASIC to be used as a command language, Squeeze − compresses image files to conserve disc space, Wc − counts characters, words and lines in a file. Acorn price £199 + VAT, Archive special price (while stocks last) £130 2.3 • Nine discs of programs − We’ve had a list of nine program discs at £5.99 each from David Pilling, P.O.Box 22, Thornton Cleveleys, Black pool, FY5 1LR. (Buy four, get one free!) They are: EMACS programmers/ text editor, Micro Spell, Fortune Cookie, XLISP, C Toolkit, Kermit, Chess, Cross Star, File Tools. 2.3 • PD−PROLOG − A public domain version of PROLOG is available from The Advisory Unit, Endymion Road, Hatfield, Herts, AL10 8AU. It works under the PC emulator, so just send them a formatted MS-DOS disc along with a return envelope and postage. 2.3 • Extended Precision from within BASIC. − EpBAS from Abacus Training allows you to use all 27 floating point uniop & binops from within BASIC. You can get 19 significant figure precision in BASIC and use numbers from 10^−4931 to 10^+4931. Extended precision numbers are stored in BASIC strings or Ep registers. EpBAS is £30 inclusive and comes with examples on disc e.g. 2 x 2 determinant, the square root of 2 as 2*SIN (ATN(1)) and the solution of a triangle. 2.3 • Maths Co-Processor − No, not available yet, but I thought you’d like an up-date. The latest target is 2nd quarter ‘89 and the price is still quoted as ‘between £500 and £1000’. 2.3 • ArVis Videographics Expansion − Video Electronics Ltd have a range of products for the Archimedes: a PAL encoder board, a video Controller board and a very exciting looking Videographics podule. The podule extends the display capabilities of the Archimedes from 256 to 32000 colours and is complete with a built-in real-time colour digitiser and a 384 kbyte x 16 bit video framestore. It also combines the digitised video images with live video and the normal Archimedes graphics output for professional videographics applications. Video Electronics sent us some very impressive screen shots of digitised images. 2.3 • Colour Converter improved − Lindis Inter-national have added some extra software for their colour converter. This is in addition to the original software and registered users will automatically be up-graded. There is now “error correction dith-ering” which allows the simulation of 256,000 colours and a mode 12 facility to allow you to import digitised pictures into Artisan or First Word Plus. (The colour converter basically takes a colour signal from a recorder or a camera, splits it up into the three colour elements and allows you to feed each colour separately through to the Watford digitiser. The three digitised images can then be superimposed to give the colour picture. Matthew Treagus will be reviewing it in due course.) 2.3 • Yet another art package − Pax is a 256 colour art package from Z & Z Software, price £15.95. 2.3 • Cobra − a snake-eating-up-the-bits game for the Archimedes, £6 from Richard Millican 10 Stokesay, Bidston, Birkenhead, L43 7PU. 2.3 • RISC OS − next month we will be giving a lot more detail about the RISC OS 2.0, but you are now able to place advance orders for £33 inc. VAT + £3.00 p&p. (We can’t say exactly how much it will be for overseas customers because we don’t know how heavy it will be, but I estimate that you will have to add £10, £12 or £15 postage, depending on the postal area, instead of £3.) If you want to place an advanced order, place send a separate post-dated cheque (April 1st 1989!) which we will hold until we have the RISC OS packages ready to send out to you. Remember that after an initial period, the price of RISCOS will revert to the full £56.35 + postage. 2.3 • Euclid up-grade now available − Euclid, the 3D graphics package has been up-graded and registered users will get a free up-grade. New features include lighting effects and the ability to colour objects by selecting from a range of colours in a colour wheel. The viewing of scenes from different angles has been simplified as have the methods of constructing scenes and there is a new help facility. (Euclid costs £45 from ACE comp-uting or £42 from Archive.) 2.3 • Wimp Template Editor has been delayed a little but should be ready by the time you read this. Adrian has been making sure that it is compat ible with RISC OS, rather than having to up-date it later. 2.3 Review Software Received... 2.3 Apart from reviews already being written we have received review copies of the following software: Alpha-Base from Clares (months ago someone offered to do a review though nothing came of it), Cobra from Richard Millican, Extended Precision in BASIC from Abacus, Floating Point Assembler from Abacus, Ovid Toolkit module, Pax, 256 colour art package from Z & Z Software, P.R.E.S. Archimedes Utilities. 2.3 Shareware Concept Takes off! 2.3 Since the early days of Archive, we’ve been intend-ing to get going on setting up the Shareware concept but it’s never really taken off until now. We did do the graphics demo disc fairly early on and then the first Shareware disc, both of which are valuable in their own way, but this latest Shareware disc really is in a different league. Last month, I wasn’t exactly sure what we had available to put on it − all I knew was that there was quite a bit of it. When Adrian presented me with the finished disc, I was certain that it would be well worth £3 of anyone’s money. Just look at the list below and you’ll see what I mean. I’m not saying that all the programs are wonderfully well written, though some certainly are, but if just one of the major programs is of use to you, it’s well worth £3. 2.3 More of the same, please! 2.3 So what we want now is more of the same! It is in everyone’s interests (apart from the commercial software houses − Sorry chaps!) to generate and distribute more of these Shareware discs. So if you have a program or programs that you have written that are at least reasonably good, send them in. Also, if you take one of the existing programs and add various new facilities to it or improve others, send it in and we can put the modified program on a later disc. If the program needs documen tation, please send it as a readme file with the program. 2.3 Here is a list of what is on the discs that we currently have available. 2.3 Graphics Demo Disc − 49 graphics demo programs plus “MenuMaster” − a program which allows you to add in your own demos, and edit the order in which the programs are run, including repeating some demos and making the demo into a complete loop. 2.3 Shareware Disc N¼ 1 − MenuMaster with 7 more graphics demo programs plus Life, Mandelbrots, European Geography, Structured Directory Lister. 2.3 Shareware Disc N¼ 2 − DFS reader, backup and archiver. Nine more graphics demos, 256 colour Sprite Editor, CMOS ram Editor, Disc Copier, LQ printer Font Definer, Matrix Functions, Memory Mappings & Vector Listings, BASIC Fast Screenload, Connect Four, Mastermind, Solitaire and Star Trek. 2.3 Monthly Program Discs 2.3 We are still getting requests to organise a monthly program disc subscription. The position is, as I think we said in an earlier issue, that we will accept pre-payment for any number of program discs at £3 each, so you can pay for 3 at a time, 6 at a time, 10 at a time or pay for the next 5 years’ discs all at one go if you really want to! I’m afraid we just do not have time to formalise it into a disc subscription and I think that at £3 (compared with A&B’s £7, Acorn User’s £50 for 12 and RISC User’s £5.25) you are getting good value for money. 2.3 • Arc Trivia − £24.95 from Moray Computing (or £23 from Archive) − 7,000 questions and an editor to allow you to add your own specialised questions, works on 1Mbyte machines upwards. 2.4 • MS-DOS Shareware Disc − Ken Biddle is compiling a Shareware disc for Archimedes MS-DOS users, so if you send him (through the Archive office) an MS-DOS formatted 3.5“ disc with return packing and postage, he will send you a copy free of charge. 2.4 • ABC Version 2 − Dabs Press have now done a version 2 of their Archimedes BASIC Compiler. The up-grade is free of charge to existing users and includes a new user guide. Should be ready by mid January. Includes double & extended precision floating point variables, RETURN is now implemented, Local error handling and various other changes. 2.4 Review Software Received... 2.4 Apart from reviews already written we have received review copies of the following software: Word Up Word Down and Star-Trader from Gem Elec tronics, version 1.01 of Extended precision in BASIC from Abacus. 2.4 • Acorn Languages − Release 2 of Fortran 77, Iso-Pascal and ANSI-C are all available now from Acorn at the same price as before − £99 + VAT (or through Archive at £99 inclusive). If you already have release 1 and want an upgrade, send the original disc (just the disc and not all the documentation) with a cheque for £30 to Acorn Direct, Studland Road, Kingsthorpe, Northampton, NN2 6NA. (N.B. This offer is only open until April 1st 1989.) (N.B.2 The symbolic debugger, which forms part of the Software Developers Toolbox, will only work with release 2 languages.) 2.5 • Arc P.C.B. from Silicon Vision Ltd. is now NOT going to be available in the cheaper non-auto-routing version. It is however still available as the full package at £195 (£170 inc. through Archive). 2.5 • Arcade 3 Compilation from Clares Micros £14.95 (£14 through Archive). This consists of Mazey Man (a derivative of Snapper), Bounce-a-Ball (an Arcanoids game like breakout) and Zarcon Invasion. We have a review copy and it looks good value except that it does not, at the moment, work on computers that have a Computer Concepts ROM podule installed. (I’ve asked Dave Clare and Charles Moir to see if they can sort it out!) 2.5 • Arcendium from Dabs Press £14.95 (£14 through Archive). Draughts, Reversi, 4 in a row and Backgammon. Play against the computer or some- one else. We’ve got a copy for review − looks good. 2.5 • Archway from Simtron is a set of tools for handling the WIMP environ ment. For £79.95 inc VAT, you will get 4 x 800k unprotected discs and a 300 page ring bound User Guide, although it is not actually available yet. Version 1.1 for RISC-OS “will be available in May” and will be 5 discs and will cost £99.95. 2.5 • Bumper Pack 2 − £19.95 from HS Software − five entertaining English and Number games plus a complete package of programs for designing, solving and printing your own crosswords (includes 20 ready-made crosswords). The games are suitable for children 5 − 12 and the crosswords package is also suitable for adults. (RISC-OS compatible) 2.5 • Digi-Sim − from Musbury Consultants will be available “mid-February” costing “round about £45”. (Archive will be stocking it, ring to confirm price and availability.) It consists of a program that simulates different logic circuit elements including an unlimited (really?!) number of gates. Circuits are made by dragging gates onto the screen and then wiring them up using the mouse and pointer. When the circuit is completed, the diagram is animated, wires change colour to indicate the logic level on them, LED’s glow red, 7-segment displays change to reflect their logic inputs. Also included is a logic tutorial program. 2.5 • EpBAS − Extended Precision in BASIC (see Archive 2.3, page 2). Abacus Training have responded to suggestions for improving their software for extended precision within BASIC. Version 2.00, which is still £30, is available for existing users on a free disc-for-disc upgrade and gives extra functions such as factorial, binomial coefficient, hypotenuse (i.e. square root of the squares of two numbers − particularly useful for crunching complex numbers as in Mandelbrots), hyperbolic and inverse hyperbolic functions, degrees to radians and vice versa. 2.5 • Extended Pipedream? Aarow Software have set up an impressive sounding system for the small business user (or big private user?) of Pipedream to keep track of letters, send mailshots etc at the press of just a few buttons. £23 inclusive. For more details, contact Graham Hobson, 0705 511056. (We are hoping to get someone to try it out.) 2.5 • Fireball − Arcade game from Go-dax Entertain-ment £19.95 (£18 through Archive). Basically a “brickout” type game but with 100 screens to get through! Eight different colours of bricks with different points scores plus five special types of bricks that do different things. You can edit the screens and change the order in which they appear. The bricks also throw out different types of bonus objects which you can use if you can catch them without missing the ball. 2.5 • First Word Plus Extended Dictionary − 80,000 words plus specialised supplementary dictionaries, only £6.95 inclusive from Science Frontiers. 2.5 • Fish − Adventure game from Magnetic Scrolls, £24.95 (£23 through Archive). Review next month. 2.5 • GreyDumps from Musbury Consultants, £15, (£13 through Archive) is a graphics tone dump for Epson FX80 or compatible printers. 2.5 • Hearsay upgrade − version 1.06 of Hearsay includes, amongst other things, the possibility to edit the call bands (this is of particular use to those who are not BT subscribers, i.e. those outside the UK) and improved modem initialisation on start-up. Call Beebug for the cost of the upgrade − “Should be about £5”. 2.5 • Hyperbook from Logotron (of Logo fame) is an on-screen book- researchers tool £49 + VAT. It allows you to read specially prepared books on screen (with prices varying from £10 to £25) and to create indexes, glossaries and cross-references. 2.5 • Macro Assembler Version 2 from Wingpass Ltd (£49.95) takes ARM assembly language files and produces AOF files for linking with similar files from high level compilers. 2.5 • Numerator, also from Logotron, is a maths teaching package, £69 + VAT, which aims to tackle pupils’ conceptual difficulties by the use of construction models on screen. 2.5 • Oak Computers have various new goodies for Archimedes users − a 20“ hi-res multi-sync monitor (£1495), a 47 Mbyte winchester upgrade for the 440, a range of external winchester drives (20, 40 or 47 Mb at £300, £499 and £599 respectively) and an interface for their PDT allowing the import and export of DXF and HPGL files and the export of IGES files (£149). 2.5 • PipeDream under RISC-OS − contrary to reports from Bruce Smith in A & B Computing, Pipedream does work under RISC-OS. There is no need to up- grade beyond the current 2.0 version. 2.5 • SolidCAD − 3D draughting system £49.95 (inc VAT & carriage) from Silicon Vision (£46 through Archive). Allows drawings to be done in 3 elevations with a 3-D projection to aid visualis-ation. Realtime Solids modeller, which includes SolidCAD, allows animation of objects created by SolidCAD. £89.95 (£79 through Archive). 2.5 • System Delta Plus Version II (System Delta Plus Plus?). This new version (£79.95 inc VAT or £69 through Archive) will now work on RISC-OS and has ‘many up-dated features’ and they have improved the manual. Minerva say, “Existing System Delta Plus users need not worry as a disc will be provided to enable them to run the current version of SDP with the new RISC-OS.”, but there is no mention of the cost. Version II will be released when existing stocks expire, anticipated date − end February 1989. 2.5 • Thundermonk − the latest games offering from Minerva should be available by the end of February, £14.95 (£14 through Archive). Sounds from the press release like a maze game but one in which you can cheat by walking through walls! 2.5 • Timetabler − the latest “serious” offering from Minerva should be available by the end of February. No price set as yet. It will “reduce the time spent on preparing school, college and university timetables from weeks to minutes. It is unbelievably fast and powerful, taking around 10 minutes to produce the timetable for the largest school in England!” 2.5 Review Software Received... 2.5 Apart from reviews already written, we have received copies of the following software: Bumper Pack 2, Arcade 3, Arcendium and Fish. 2.5 The Order Form growsÉ 2.5 There is more and more software and hardware available now for the Archimedes, and a lot of it is available through Archive at a discount. 2.5 We are working on a deal to offer Computerware hard disks. The prices should be finalised by the time we print the order form (which goes to the printers a week after the magazine itself) so check the order form for prices and availability. Overseas Archivists should note that we have been told that the drives, having been imported from the States, must not be re-exported. However, you can buy the podule separately and it comes with all the metal-work for mounting the drive. All you then need to do is to buy a bare 3.5“ drive from your local suppliers. 2.5 • A305 owners! The half Mbyte up-grades are now available. They are in stock at the distributors, so we should be able to get them at two days notice. (£159 through Archive) 2.6 • Ancestry − £79.95 inc VAT from Minerva Software. (£70 through Archive) On screen display of your family tree, ‘zoom in’ to see more details about a specific person, comprehensive reporting facilities including sideways printout of the family tree. Includes a demo file with a 19 generation tree of English kings and queens. 2.6 • ANSI C problems − There are 2 bugs in the library of release 2 ANSI C from Acorn. This only applies to issue 1 and is corrected on issue 2. Look at the release notes and check the second line of the title. If it says “Release 2: Issue 2” you’ve got no problems but if it just says “Release 2” you need to send the disc back to Customer Services at Fulbourn Road and they will replace it f.o.c. 2.6 • “Archimedes Operating System − a User Guide” a book by Alex and Nic van Someren covering both Arthur and RISC-OS. £14.95 (£13.50 through Archive). There is also a disc containing all the programs listed in the book plus various extra utilities. If you buy the book and the disc from Dabs, it will cost £21.95. (Archive sell the disc separately for £8.50) Review on page 45. 2.6 • Arc-DFS − Users of Richard Averill’s Arc-DFS utilities (Shareware 2) may like to know that they can get updated versions of the software including an on-line manual by sending a blank formatted disc and £3 “as a handling and development charge” to Richard at 28 Crichton Road, Carshalton, Surrey, SM5 3LS. (Richard is just doing GCSE’s, so I suspect he would appreciate your support!) 2.6 • Art Nouveau − an impressive new art package at £42.50 from CAL Ltd (£39 through Archive) with facilities rivalling Pro-Artisan but at about one quarter the cost. (Review on page 17) 2.6 • Cheat it Again, Archie − Cheat your way to success on some of those frustrating Archimedes games that you can’t quite conquer. Allows you to cheat “most of the available Archimedes games”. £11.95 from Impact Software (£11 from Archive) 2.6 • Computerware Hard Drives and Podules − Computerware now do a range of drives − 20 & 40 M internal and 20, 40 and 60M external. The podules allow one internal and one external drive. (Access times, for the technically minded are 40 ms on the 20M drives and 28 ms on the 40M drives. The systems are fully Acorn compatible and come complete with utility software. The drives are available through Archive at the following prices (incl. VAT & carriage): podule only, £240; 20M & podule, £390; 40M & podule, £680; external drives w/o podule but with p.s.u. 20M, £335; 40M, £485; 60M £740. 2.6 • DP’s PD software list grows − David Pilling has added two more to the current list of 10 public domain program discs: Disc 11 Small Talk, comes complete with C source code, Disc 12: The World, a digitised outline of the world’s continents and islands, complete with Pascal source code and some suggested student assignments. Discs are £5.99 each, buy four and get one free. 2.6 • Graphics tablet − Mike Harrison writesÉ I’ve just written a module to allow a graphics tablet to be used instead of a mouse, which is wonderful for graphics applications like Artisan and Autosketch. The module emulates all mouse calls, and so works with any mouse driven software which doesn’t use the serial port. The tablet used is the Genius GT-1212 12x12 inch tablet with 4 button puck, which Watford are selling for £225 + VAT. The perform-ance and accuracy is as good as many other tablets costing twice as much. This will shortly be available as a package of Tablet, Software and special lead for £249 + VAT. 2.6 • PC shareware − Contex Computing have several discs of PC Shareware which they are distributing at £7.50 per disc. It has all been checked and works OK on the Archimedes under the PC emulator. 2.6 • Shareware Disc 4 is now available. (Well, it should be by the time you read this!) I don’t know exactly what will be on it, but I’ll try to put some info on the back of the order form. 2.6 • Sigma Sheet Upgrade − If you are having problems trying to print text across the screen where it loses characters between columns then Minerva will give you a FREE upgrade if you send your disc back to them. 2.6 • Silicon Vision’s BASIC compiler RiscBASIC should be ready by the time you read this. (£99.95 or £89 through Archive) 2.6 • FilmMaker − £79.95, also from Silicon Vision is available now. Animated 3D scenes with real-time calculation. Supplied with a library of scenes and a database of flightpaths. (£69 through Archive) 2.6 • Gate Array Design Teaching System − £89.95, also from Silicon Vision for teaching silicon chip design. (£79 through Archive) 2.6 • Studio 24 Plus Version 2 is being prepared and will be available around Easter at £149. Full technical details from E.M.R. Users of version 1 will be able to up-date, through E.M.R., for the difference in price between the two versions. 2.6 (Note that you can use Studio24 Plus without a midi instrument, inputting tunes from the keyboard and playing them with the Archimedes’ own (limited) range of sounds or with the sounds available with SoundSynth and/or Creations. − We hope to review Studio 24 Plus next month.) 2.6 • HandiMusic − Music for handicapped folk to play − details from E.M.R. 2.6 • Archimedes A205??? − The growing rumours of a new ‘Amiga basher’ are fueled again this week by a detailed report in the Times Educational Supple-ment, which largely concurs with other details circulating at the moment. The main points are: 2.7 • Aimed for junior schools who can’t afford current Archimedes prices (which are going up anyway!) 2.7 • 1Mb expandable to 2Mb 2.7 • Would include a user port, for things like Concept Keyboard 2.7 • Around £500 − £700 (+VAT) 2.7 • One box, with a disc drive at the side 2.7 • Will run under RISC-OS 2.7 I suspect that by the time this magazine gets into your hands there will be some more definite news. Give Eureka a ring for the latest news. 2.7 • Archimedes Prices Rise − The prices of all the Archimedes computers went up on 1st April. So, anyone wanting to save money by getting RISC- OS “free” by waiting until after 1st April is in for a disappointment. Instead of paying £36 for the up-grade, you will have to fork out an extra £74 for the basic A310 without a monitor. All the other prices have gone up too but, at the time of writing (March 27th) we don’t know all the other prices. (This does point up the importance of Eureka Bulletin boards. The news of the price rises was given on both Eureka I and Eureka II in early March.) 2.7 • Archive Index Disc − Yes, we too have found it a real nuisance not to be able to find a particular hint or article when we want it, so in response to a Help plea, Jim Poll, Paul Hobbs and Alex Hopkins have come up with an Archive Index on disc − two in fact − one of them is self- standing and the other is a set of data files that runs under Beebug’s ArcScan program. (You can get a copy of ArcScan from Beebug by buying their RISC User special disc which costs £13.16 or £12.50 to R.U. members.) The Archive index is being distributed as Shareware disc N¼7 and costs £3. 2.7 • Computerware hard discs for export? − I’m afraid that, as we said in the magazine a couple of months ago, we cannot export the Computerware hard drives because they are imported from the U.S. under a special licence agreement. We can, however, export the podules and they include all the metalwork for mounting a standard off-the-shelf ST506 3.5“ hard drive, which you could buy locally. The cost of the podules without VAT but including postage and insurance is £215 to Europe (£221/£223/£224 to the other areas of the world). If you have a 4-slot backplane as well, it comes to £264 for Europe and £270/£273/£275 for the rest of the world. 2.7 • Euclid 3-D graphics package − Ace Computing has now produced a new multi-tasking RISC-OS-only version with several added features, £70 inc VAT. Then there is Mogul, a “film-making” add-on allowing Euclid’s 3-D objects to be added in a animated sequence to ‘scenery’ created in an artwork package. Mogul is available to registered Euclid users for £20 inc VAT. 2.7 • Hard discs − The Archive price of the Computerware 40M internal drive (with podule) has dropped from £680 to £590, inclusive. This is because the price of drives is very much dependent on the quantity you buy and, now that the sale of 40M drives is beginning to catch up on 20M’s, Computerware have been able to get a better price which they have passed on to us. (Even at £590, the price of the internal 40M drive is high compared to the 40M external. The reason for this is that the external one is a 5.25“ drive which would not fit inside the computer but which is rather cheaper to buy than the 3.5”.) 2.7 • Watford Hard Drives − During April, Watford will be selling their new 40M hard disc plus podule for £499 + (£7? carriage) + VAT = £582 which just beats Computerware’s price of £590 inclusive through Archive. However, after April, their price goes up to £525 (£611 inclusive) so the Computer-ware 40M drive will then be cheaper. 2.7 • Image Processing − Wild Vision’s new Hawk V10 system, starting from £650 + VAT, provides “affordable, high-performance image processing”. It captures, stores and displays four separate images − 256x256 by 8-bits with 256 levels of grey scale − in real-time and totally independent of the host machine, leaving the computer to do the complex calculations needed for fast image processing. Col-our can be achieved by doing separate scans for red, green and blue. The board uses a separate monitor to display the video and the controlling software is in a ROM on the board. (See picture below.) 2.7 • Mornington Crescent − Following my comments last month about the Mornington Crescent game, Mike Cook has sent us what is, admittedly, a text-only BBC implementation but it runs on the Archimedes. I’ve tried to play it and have found it to be such a good implementation that I cannot beat it. However, it does look as if he is playing under the rather unusual “Cringleford Conventions” and no explanation of these is given, so anyone not used to playing that particular convention may not be able to get very far with it. Anyway, for what it is worth, we’ve put it on the program disc for free distribution. Mike is not making any charge, but if you do find the program useful, perhaps you would give an appropriate donation to charity. (How about someone combining Mike’s algorithm with the Underground map from Shareware N¼3? It would give it tremendous visual impact. Any offers?) 2.7 • Ram upgrade for A305 − It has been impossible to get these upgrades for almost a year now through the official Acorn channels. I heard a rumour that some were coming available, but when I enquired at the distributor level, they were pessimistic − some even said it was “discontinued”. I consulted Acorn and was told by an Acorn spokeswoman that “this product has been discontinued”, “Surely not?!?!”, “I will checkÉ yes, definitely”, “You can’t do that!!!”. Then after a bit of telephoning and stirring, they decided that I had been misinformed and that in fact they are in stock at the warehouse ready to go out to distributorsÉ well, there were actually 30 sets of chips available! Anyway, to cut a long story short, we are still waiting for upgrades we have ordered through the official channels but have found an alternative source and I have about 10 sets IN STOCK − £159 each. (I suggest you telephone to confirm their availability before sending cheques.) Stop Press!! 4 sets of genuine Acorn 0.5 meg upgrades have just arrived!! 2.7 • ScanLight − Computer Concepts’ 200 dots per inch scanner (£449 + VAT) (£490 inc VAT and carriage through Archive) is the scanner part of their Fax Pack (which won’t be available before May). If you buy the scanner, it will enable you to scan pictures for inclusion in your programs as sprites or in your documents using First Word Plus or whatever or into PAINT or other art packages. (Or in Impression − CC’s DTP package which is also scheduled for May-ish.) 2.7 The scanner is A4 width and can be supplied with an optional sheet feeder (£150 + VAT) (£165 through Archive) which makes it easier to avoid a skewed picture. The controlling software, which is included in a ROM on the controller board, is WIMP based and allows scanning in monochrome (best for text) and half-tone (best for pictures). The image can be viewed in mono or 16 level grey scale and the pictures can be edited a pixel at a time using up to 999% zoom magnification. (We actually have a Scan Light here in the office. It is very easy to set up and quite fun to use. We’ll try to do a review in due course.) 2.7 (People have asked about whether the Fax Pack could be used in place of an ordinary modem since it runs at up to 9600 baud. The bad news is that the modem is synchronous whereas those used for accessing Prestel or whatever are asynchronous so they can only talk to similar devices. The good news is that when the Fax Pack receives a signal, it tries to interrogate the sender to see if it too is a CC Fax Pack. If it is, it exchanges a few pleasantries and then it can be used for straight file transfer between the two computers. 2.7 • Scorewriter from EMR, £499 + VAT provides high quality music output to a laser printer. You can produce bar lines, multiple staves, clefs, ties, accidentals and lots of other things I have never even heard of! The music is transcribed by creating a text file using letters for the notes and all sorts of symbols for the timings and other marks. It sounds a bit laborious to create the scores − it isn’t WYSIWIG, though you can do on-screen previewing. The output is very impressive − you would think it was “proper” printed music. We haven’t been able to get a system to review (not even to borrow one to try on our LaserWriter) but the sample of output we were sent looked good. (We are not quoting an Archive price, but if you want one, let us know and we will see what we can do.) 2.7 • Shareware 5 disc is now available which consists of lots of music for the Welcome disc Music Editor. There is classical, modern and even some greek music. 2.7 • Shareware 6 disc is not going to be far behind. It is specifically a disc for users of First Word Plus and contains things like printer drivers etc. 2.7 • Teletext Adaptor − Solidisk have improved the software for their Teletext Adaptor and they will send you an up-date if you send your disc back. Unfortunately, judging by the comments we’ve had so far, although it is a bit better than it was, there are still problems. Solidisk have been informed of the problems and are, hopefully, looking into them. 2.7 • Yes, Chancellor − a business simulation program in which you run the British economy! £17.50 + 50p p&p from Topologika. Uses the PC emulator. (Also available from the same stable are ‘Countdown to Doom’, ‘Acheton’, ‘Philosopher’s Quest’ and ‘Kingdom of Hamil’ on a single 3.5“ MS-DOS disc (£19.95 + £1 p& p) and ‘Giant Killer’ using BBC emulator (£19.50) and ‘Return to Doom’ (£17.50) on MS-DOS.) 2.7 • BASIC V manual − For those of you who have ordered the new A400/1 series machines, you will find that you have a language called BASIC in your computer but that you have no documentation for it! Acorn have now produced a separate BASIC V manual which you can buy for £19.95 (or £19 from Archive including p & p). This is in stock at the Acorn warehouse even though, at the time of writ-ing, the 400/1 computers are not available. 2.8 • DIGIT Image Analysis Software (manual, 3.5“ disc and connecting lead) £150 from the Institute of Ophthalmology. DIGIT is used for the accurate measurement of objects traced on a high resolution Summagraphics Bit Pad 2 digitiser tablet (£405 + VAT). Video screens captured with the Watford Video Digitiser may also be measured with a screen cursor controlled by the Archimedes mouse or the tablet. DIGIT is simple to use and performs all the functions of expensive image analysis systems costing many thousands of pounds for a minimum system cost of about £1,500. 2.8 • DiscTree − Search and save utility for RISC-OS from Mitre Software (£49.95 or £44 through Archive) allows hard disc users to archive and restore files and provides search facilities to find those lost files that you put on the hard disc some-where! There is a review on page 24. (Desktop Enhancer users can get a 20% discount on DiscTree when purchased direct from Mitre Software by simply returning their DTE master disc with a cheque for £39.95. Send it direct to Mitre, NOT to Archive.) 2.8 • Noah Paint Professional − 256 colour art package from GMA in Hamburg. Instructions are written in English! We have one available for review, so if the reviewer thinks it is good, we could stock it and offer it at a discount. From GMA, it costs £129 +VAT. 2.8 • Paul Hobbs’ shareware disk which we mentioned in Archive has now been updated to include RISC-OS versions of the Video Tape Indexer and Cassette Inlay Printer and he now has a second disk which will have the ARCSCAN modifications and indexes for Archive plus a RISC-OS version of the ‘PhoneBook’ program from an early Archive Shareware disk. This is available for £1.50 plus a blank formatted disk as was the first disk. The first disk incidentally also contains extensive BASIC library files including one for the WIMP manager as requested by somebody in Archive 2.6. The applications, even if they are not of any interest in them selves, are based around a common skeleton program and between them they demonstrate how existing programs can be adapted to run under the WIMP manager. 2.8 • R140’s at Archive prices? If anyone is inter-ested in buying one or more of the new Acorn Unix machines (list price £2949 plus VAT) at Archive discount prices let us know (by letter, phone or via Eureka II) and we will see what we can arrange. 2.8 • Shareware Summary − Here is a list of all the different Shareware discs that are now available. Shareware N¼0 − Originally called the “Graphics Demo Disc” − 49 graphics demo programs plus “MenuMaster” − a program which allows you to add in your own demos and edit the order in which the programs are run. 2.8 Shareware N¼1 − MenuMaster with 7 more graphics demo programs plus Life, Mandelbrots, European Geography, Structured Directory Lister. 2.8 Shareware N¼2 − DFS reader, backup and archiver, 9 graphics demos, 256 colour Sprite Editor, CMOS ram Editor, Disc Copier, LQ printer Font Definer, Matrix Functions, Memory Mappings & Vector Listings, BASIC Fast Screenload, Connect Four, Mastermind, Solitaire and Star Trek. (Cost £4.50) 2.8 Shareware N¼3 − Epson printer setup, Underground map update, CMOS editor update, System Delta to FWPlus mailshot, Audio tape inlay printer / database, Videotape database, File transfer with a Liberator, Monitor test pattern generator, Contours Demo, Graphics Demo, VTR count-down clock, “ARC” file compressor / decomp-ressor, Flip Game, Night Shooter, Let Drop. 2.8 Shareware N¼4 − BBC font character editor, Bird watcher’s database, 3D Mandelbrots (BASIC), Graphical shape transformations, 8 “pretty patterns” programs, Hidden line graph plotting, FWPlus printer driver editor, File transfer and sorting utility, Patience, Golf. 2.8 Shareware N¼5 − 51 pieces of music, some classical, some modern, for the Music Editor. 2.8 Shareware N¼6 − Full of utilities etc for First Word Plus − some new items but mainly a compilation of all the items previously available through the monthly program discs. 2.8 Shareware N¼7 − A disc database of Archive magazine plus data files for Archive, Risc User and Beebug for use with the ArcScan Database available from Beebug. 2.8 Shareware N¼8 is a single game “YAIG” − Yet Another Invaders Game from Bj¿rn Fl¿tten in Norway. We decided it was good enough to stand as a single disc − in any case, it occupies over 600k of disc space. (Works only on 1 Mbyte+ machines.) 2.8 Shareware N¼9 contains various graphics demos and examples of computer graphics, several file utilities (EXALL, disc tree printer, filetypes and ‘filedo’ utilities and a disc recoverer), mode 15 to mode 12 converter, palette converter (Arthur to RISC-OS), NEC printer utilities, two fast fade programs as requested in Archive 2.6 p 22, System Delta export utility, ADFS disassembler (Arthur only), bank account manager and three games: 3D breakout, bowls and roller ball. 2.8 Shareware N¼10 contains Address book database (WIMP based), 4096 colour selector, expenses manager (WIMP based), Reversi game, Star Trek game, a simple 3D volume of rotation program and 29 astronomical programs from Dr P. Duffet-Smith’s book ‘Astronomy with your personal computer’, converted for Archimedes by Mr D. Fagandini. 2.8 Shareware N¼11 contains 6 concerti in Maestro form, one each from Messers Beethoven, Chopin, Grieg, Liszt, Mozart and Schumann. 2.8 Disc copier − There was some confusion caused by an advert we put in some of the major magazines which referred to the disc copier on Shareware N¼2 as a ‘disc editor’. Sorry about that. If you want a disc sector editor, there is one on the program disc Volume 1 N¼ 6. The disc copier is for allowing you to do backups of discs that have some sectors damaged so it can be used for recovering duff discs as long as the duff sector is not part of a directory. It could also be used to make a backup copy of commercially protected discs to allow you to keep a backup copy in a safe place. 2.8 • Vietnamese fonts − Ian Copestake Software now has Vietnamese fonts for use with First Word Plus on the Archimedes. 2.8 Review Software Received... 2.8 Apart from reviews already written we have received review copies of the following software: Noah Paint Professional. (In case you are wondering why so little of the software actually reviewed in Archive appears on this monthly list of what is available, that is because I advertise them on Eureka II and they usually get snapped up before the magazine goes into print.) 2.8 2.8 A 2.8 • A410/1, A420/1 and A440/1 − The new range of Archimedes has been announced (I use that word advisedly!) which has the re-styled case, the new p.c.b. and is said to run 10% faster. The 410/1 (£1199 +VAT) has 1 Mbyte upgradable to 4. It has the hard disc controller hardware but no hard disc and has a four-slot backplane as standard. The 420/1 (£1699 +VAT) has 2 Mbytes and an internal 20 Mbyte drive. (i.e. it is equiva lent to the existing A440 less 2 Mbyte of RAM.). Finally, the A440/1 (£2499) has 4 Mbyte RAM and a 50 Mbyte internal drive. (These prices do not include a monitor.) 2.8 • ARM3 chip for Archimedes / R140 − Here is an interesting press release which I reproduce in full.... 2.8 New Acorn Processor to upgrade existing Arcs 2.8 With the announcement by VLSI Technology Inc of Acorn Computer’s new ARM processor, colloquially known as ‘ARM3’, comes news of an upgrade kit for existing Archimedes 300- and 400- series and R140 computers. 2.8 Cambridge-based Aleph One Ltd says it will supply a small circuit board which replaces the ARM2 processor with an ARM3 and control circuitry for “a few hundred pounds” available from “the middle of the year”. This may be fitted in seconds using a simple tool provided as part of the kit. 2.8 The ARM3 processor is based on the same RISC microprocessor core as the current ARM2 but adds 4 Kbytes of very fast ‘cache’ RAM and bus synchronization circuitry. This allows the processor to spend much of its time running from its local cache memory but still allows external memory access at the usual speed when necessary. Standard upgrades are expected to run the processor core at 24 MHz, with 48 MHz available when supplies permit. 2.8 Tests prove that the ARM3 is fully ARM2 software compatible (both RISC OS and Unix run unmodified) and typically offers a factor of two to three speed improvement over ARM2, occasionally reaching a factor of five. In particular, the reduction in memory bandwidth used by the processor means that high resolution graphics modes which have slowed ARM2 systems, affect the processor considerably less. This makes ARM3 upgrades particularly useful in graphics-intensive applications, notably RISC OS and X Desktop. 2.8 ~~~~~~END~~~~~~ 2.8 I checked with Aleph One Ltd and they said that although they hadn’t actually been able to get a chip to try out their new board, their claims were based on work done on evaluation samples within Acorn. The speed increase is particularly noticeable on graphics-intensive tasks since Acorn have written the RISC-OS graphics routines so that they can run within the 4k of cache ram on the chip itself. 2.8 The speed increases refer to the 24 MHz chips and clearly, the 48 MHz chips (when the silicon becomes available) will provide even more speed increase though not another factor of two since the whole process is limited by the speed of the main ram. Because the speed increase is very dependent on the type of application, they say they are prepared to run speed tests on any software that people want to send them, though obviously they cannot do so until they actually have the chips available from VTI to try it out on. If you are interested, contact Aleph One Ltd on 0223-811679. 2.8 • Atelier − A new art package (£99.95) from Minerva available week beginning 29th May. 2.8 • Desktop Publishing − There are two packages that we know of that are under development. Computer Concepts’ ‘Impression’ is said to be “available some time in the summer” and Acorn’s own DTP package should be “some time in June” and will cost “round about £150 +VAT”. 2.8 • GraphBox − from Minerva Software is, to quote their press release, 2.8 “an impressive multitasking data presentation package. There are twenty different types of graph to suit varying data and presentation require ments. Data entry is in spreadsheet form or may be dragged between other programs such as Arc Edit or Draw. It is fully multi-tasking. Many graphs may be plotted on one axis or in monochrome if desired. 2.8 Chart and graphs include: Scatter (with Error Bars), Line (with Error Bars), Bubble, Polar Scatter, Stacked Area, Cumulative Area, Bar, Wire Surface, 3D Bar, Stacked Bar, Percentage Bar, Horizontal Bar, Horizontal 3D Bar, Horizontal Stacked Bar, Horizontal Percentage Bar, Pie, Surface, Polar Line 2.8 The X, Y or Z axes may be linear, logarithmic, squared or a function of your choice. All mathe-matical functions are accepted as input including COS, SIN, RAD, ACS, LN, etc. Integrates with ALL suitable RISC-OS applications e.g. spreadsheets, databases, DTP, CAD, etc. or load data from CSV, TSV, ASCII and other files.” 2.8 • Ibix the Viking − A new game (£19.95) from Minerva available week beginning 22nd May 2.8 • Mach Technology are advertising, in a double page colour spread in A & B Computing (i.e. over £1,000 worth of advertising!), four major new products: Hyperbase (£49.95) an advanced database which supports cards and stacks containing textual and graphical data in any combination; Modula-2 compiler (£89.95) − an optimising compiler based on Wirth’s 4th edition definition; Mach BASIC (£39.95) − a BASIC compiler with “full BASIC V support” which “correctly handles dynamic scoping, local variables and arrays unlike the competitors”. Their claim is that it is “the fastest compiler on the market”; 20Mbyte hard disc and podule (£249) − no, that’s not a typing error, the advert does say £249 and that is inclusive of VAT though carriage is extra. All the other prices are inc VAT and p&p. 2.8 It is strange that this is the first that we have heard of this company offering four such major products at such amazingly low prices. I have not yet managed to find anything out about the availability of the products as I only got the magazine yesterday and it is now bank holiday weekend, but I will try to find out and put it on the Order Form which goes to the printers a few days later than the magazine. 2.8 • Timewatch from Mitre Software is a time management tool costing £29.95 and which should be available “late May”. It manages appointments, includes a day-to-day notebook and allows the management of a ‘To Do’ list for tasks. For the forgetful, details of anniversaries, birthdays etc can also be entered. You can organise the timing and duration of appointments and it keeps track of ‘ongoing’ and ‘overdue’ tasks. It will do searches of the data and, of course, allow you to print out the data in various ways. It is RISC-OS only, but allows you to import data from Arthur diary files. 2.8 • Programmers’ Reference Manual (version 2) − Available “some time in August”, say Acorn. 2.8 • Acorn Selling off old stock of A440’s − Does anyone want one of the old style A440’s (with 20 Mbyte drive)? Acorn are doing them at a special price, so we can sell them for £2750 (inc VAT & carriage). That price includes colour monitor and RISC-OS. (Remember that the new 440/ 1’s with 50 Mbyte drives cost £3391 without a monitor.) Let us know fairly quickly if you want one. I don’t think they have got vast stocks of the things. 2.9 • BASIC Compilers − We now have both Risc BASIC from Silicon Vision and Dabs Press’ ABC version 2 in stock, though no sign yet of Mach Technol ogy’s offering. 2.9 • CLabel − A label and ticket printing utility for just £6.95 from Z & Z Software. 2.9 • Film-Maker − The interactive 3D animation system, £79.95 from Silicon Vision is now in stock. (£69 through Archive). 2.9 • Geoscan − a computer database and program on world development for A310 and up. Gives information in the form of text, tables, maps, graphs and diagrams about 100 countries of the world. Suitable for geography, economics and general studies in schools and colleges from middle and lower secondary upwards. Costs £45 inc VAT and p&p from Passkey Marketing. 2.9 • Golf Game − Holed Out! − A new game from 4mation has just come into stock − a 3D animated golf game offering match or stroke play, 14 clubs, 4 skill levels, left or right handed players, variable wind speeds, digitised sound etc, etc. Reviewed in last month’s A & B Computing as ‘Game of the Month’. (See also page 38) (£19.95 or £18 through Archive) 2.9 • Hard Drives for the new 400 series machines including cables and metalwork − Computerware drives are available through Archive: 20 Mbytes for £230 (inc VAT & carriage) and 40 Mbytes for £420. 2.9 • Ibix the Viking − £19.95 from Minerva (£18 through Archive) is “more than just a game”. It is basically a maze game along the lines of Hoverbod and Thundermonk but it has three completely different levels. Young children can play it at the beginners’ level, then there is a harder level for the more adventurous and finally an editor level in which you can create your own mazes and your own characters. Hence the break in the tradition of all Minerva’s games costing £14.95. 2.9 • Integrex Screen Dump from Musbury Consultants now has a quarter size dump as well as all the other sizes. If you have an older version which does not have a copy of this dump, send your disc back to Musbury and they will up-date it f.o.c. (N.B. This does not apply to the Canon dump because the Canon printer does not have the extra graphics mode necessary.) 2.9 • Newsmaster 2, from LTS, £60 + VAT, improves on their original DTP package (though it still works through the PC emulator) by allowing screens to be imported from other programs such as Lotus 1-2-3 and PC Paintbrush. It also has improved printing quality. 2.9 • PrintMaster − Also available from LTS is PrintMaster, £40 +VAT, for designing posters, long banners, headed stationery, calendars, greetings cards etc. It has ten fonts, displayable in 5 styles, 11 different borders and 120 clip art graphics plus a graphics editor for creating your own pictures. 2.9 • Numerator − Maths learning package for Logotron Ltd is now available in a newer, bigger, better etc format which is Arthur and RISC-OS compatible. £69 or a site licence for £250. 2.9 • PAL programmer from Atomwide − A single width podule with its own separate power supply is provided with software to allow you to compile and program all the commonly used 20 and 24 pin PAL devices. £199 +VAT +£2.50 carriage (or £220 through Archive). 2.9 • RAM upgrade for 410/420 − Technomatic have ram chips in stock at £180 + VAT + carriage per 1 Mbyte. All you have to do is open up the computer and plug in the chips (the right way round!) − couldn’t be easier. 2.9 • RISC-OS versions of CCD software are now available: Fortran Libraries, £49.50 (reviewed Archive 1.8 p 20 and 1.9 p 22), Xed Text Editor, £19.50 (Archive 1.9 p 23) and Printer Buffer Module £12.50 (Archive 2.1 p 30). They also have a new product: C to Fortran Interface Tools which facilitates conversion of programs between the two languages, £34.50. (All prices inclusive of VAT & p&p.) 2.9 • ScanLight − 200 d.p.i. A4 width hand held scanner with podule and software − works under Arthur or RISC-OS. Ideal for use with graphics, art and DTP programs. Now in stock at £449+VAT + carriage or £495 inclusive through Archive. 2.9 • Science Frontier 40 Mbyte Hard drives: For 310’s there is a podule plus drive plus cables etc £621, for new 410’s there is a drive plus cables plus metalwork for £435.85 and if you just want a bare drive to replace an existing one, i.e. without cables or metalwork, they charge £419.75. (Prices are inclusive of VAT and carriage.) The drives in each case are 35 ms Fujitsu drives and the podules are Acorn’s own. They are available from G.E.S. Computer Supplies in Aberdeen and are, at the time of writing, available from stock. 2.9 • Sound Samplers from Armadillo − Armadillo now do a range of sound samplers, starting from the A448 (£135 +VAT +carriage or £150 inc. through Archive) which is an 8-bit mono sampler with a maximum sample rate of 41 kHz. It has its own software allowing for loading, saving, editing, sampling and playback. The sampling and playback can be controlled through BASIC, Assembler, or C via system calls. Then there is the A448b which is a stereo version of the A448 which also includes a new WIMP software package, “Highnote”. (£160 +VAT +carriage or £180 inc. through Archive.) If you want to add a MIDI port, in, through and out, you can choose the A448m (£190 +VAT +carriage or £210 inc. through Archive). Finally, if you want 16-bit sampling (CD quality) with the HighNote software, 44kHz sampling rate with 4 times over-sampling on playback, Midi in, through and out, you need the A616 − a snip at £1150 +VAT +carriage! (or £1290 inc. through Archive.) Finally, there is fast fourier transform software which performs a 256 point FFT in just 10 ms! Spectra Fourier Analysis package cost £60 +VAT +carriage (or £66 inc. through Archive). 2.9 • Voice Generator − MJD Software are preparing a WIMP based voice generator allowing you to create your own voices either by editing sampled waveforms or by combining waveforms, amplitude envelopes and pitch envelopes etc etc. No price given. Details from Mark Davis on 01−567−4284. 2.9 • Wingpass Assembler − There is now a version 2.06 which clears one or two floating point bugs. However, the main reason for issuing it was that the changes that Acorn made in the latest version of their linker output file created an incompatibility with relocatable modules as reported by Tom Crane last month (Archive 2.8 p 41). You can get the new version by sending your Release Disk back to Wingpass and they will replace it free of charge. 2.9 Review Software Received... 2.9 Apart from reviews already written we have received review copies of the following software: CLabel, and Clares’ Arcade 3 2.9 • A3000 − the new BBC Microcomputer − Acorn say that they have already had orders for 3,000 machines including 500 from Durham L.E.A. On Acorn’s past performance, and since I doubt that they will be planning to make more than a few thousand before the end of the year, this does not bode too well for the average man-in-the-street getting hold of one beforeÉ well, what do you think? Christmas? Or is that being too hard on Acorn? We’ve ordered a couple from the distributors and will obviously shout fairly loudly when they arrive. Acorn say that there will be a “limited number” of machines available in June, but these are being offered to L.E.A.s on a “5 maximum per L.E.A.” basis. They say that “full production” is due to start in July. 2.9 • Atelier, £99.95 (or £85 through Archive) is a 256 colour art package complete with animation − Peter Clements who is doing a review for A & B says it is very, very impressive and thinks that it is even better than Pro-Artisan (and cheaper!). In particular, he says that the range of different fill routines is outstanding. Availability? Well, it may be ready by the time you read this. Please ring if you are interested. 2.9 • Mach Technology Ltd update − Further to the item on page 4 of the May magazine about ultra cheap drives and other software from Mach Technol ogy, I gather from them that the drives advertised at £249 are firstly not inclusive of VAT − the advert was a little confusing on this issue. The actual cost is thus £286.35 plus carriage − still very cheap! Secondly, they are 65 millisecond drives and thirdly they are external drives, boxed with p.s.u., attached by cable to an internal podule. There is at present no connector for a second hard drive, either internal or external, but Mach Technology say they are going to do upgrades later. 2.9 Having said all that, they are offering a range of drives, 20, 30 and 40 Mbyte, all external, all including podule at prices up to £399 +VAT. They said they would send me a sample drive at the begin-ning of May but I haven’t had one yet − obviously I will let you know as soon as possible whether they are as good value as they seem. In fact I rang them today and they are still not available for sale. They hope they will be available “in a week or so”. 2.9 Mach Technology also said that the other three items of software, the Database, Modula-2 and Mach BASIC compiler were “ready for shipping”. However, we haven’t actually received any of them yet. They are now saying (24th May) that Hyperbase should be “two or three days”, Mach BASIC should be “about a week or so” but Modula-2 is “a bit further off”. 2.9 They are also promising other exciting products. Firstly there is an MS- DOS podule with an 80286 processor and 640k of ram. This will be available for £299 inc VAT. Secondly they are promising memory upgrades for the 300 series computers − £391 for upgrade to 2 Mbytes and £598 for upgrade to the full 4 Mbytes. 2.9 • Structural Analysis − Neale Smith has taken a 2D structural analysis program written for the BBC by Dr David Brohn and converted it and enhanced it on the Archimedes. This is to be marketed in the near future, but in the meantime, enquiries should be sent to Neale Smith, 13 Paddock Wood, Prudhoe, Northumberland, NE42 5BJ. 2.9 • Studio 24 Plus Version 2 will be available later in the year and will be an upgrade for existing customers, handling data from version 1.0. It will retailing at approx £149.00. It will support Render Bender pictures during playing and various other animation techniques, from realtime notation to video, using SMPTE timecode from the EMR SMPTE podule if required for serious film and art work with music. Other features include full multitasking control and extra edit pages, music keyboard recorder function control. A professional version is also being prepared called MegaStudio with unlimited tracks and up to 8000 Midi channel control via one cable on the EMR MINI (Musical Instrument Network Interface) expansion podule. 2.9 About to be launched is the VuMusic program (which creates patterns from Midi data via Acorn or EMR interfaces and can be run as a stand-alone or within Studio 24 Plus V2.0. Price £19.95 inc VAT. The EMR Sampler 8 podule is now available − sample sounds for inclusion in SoundSynth − £99 inc VAT. Also imminent is a versatile program called Rhythm Box that uses grid edit pages for making up to 8 internal sounds per bar (made with SoundSynth or from Creations disks) − each bar can use different sounds and tempo changes as well as pitch and rhythm patterns to form a complete song. Price £29.95 inc VAT. 2.9 • RISC-OS price rise!! − We do now, at last, have RISC-OS in stock. Indeed, we can get as many as we want so you can send in your orders. However, please note that the price is due to increase at the end of June to £69 + VAT (£70 through Archive). Yes, I know that, by the time you read this, the deadline will be past, but we have bought in some stocks at the old price (£36). As they have gone, however, the price will have to go up to £70. 2.10 • A305 RAM Upgrades down in price − The price of 1/2 Mbyte RAM upgrades for the A305 has come down from £159 to £130. The reason for this is to clear the existing stocks that I have got. Because it was impossible to buy them for months, I assumed there would be lots of people waiting to buy them so, to get a better price, I bought lots of them. Now I can’t get rid of them! So to avoid cash-flow problems I’m having to sell them off at a loss. We’ll even fit them f.o.c. if you can call in to the office! 2.10 • A410’s, A420’s or A440’s anyone? − I have now managed to get hold of some A410’s (I think the supply must be improving!) but no A420’s and A440/1’s are even further off. However, I do have 20M and 40M upgrade drives for the A410 and upgrade RAM in stock (which has now gone down in price, see below!), so I can make up various configurations for you, at the following VAT and UK carriage inclusive prices: (and each comes with a voucher for £100 worth of free software) 2.10 A410 + 2M + 20M drive (i.e. an A420) £1780 2.10 A410 + 4M + 20M drive £2160 2.10 A410 + 2M + 40M drive £1980 2.10 A410 + 4M + 40M drive (i.e. an A440) £2360 2.10 Add £60 for the M version (i.e. with the PC emulator) and/or £230 for an Acorn colour monitor. If you want to include a multisync monitor (Eizo 9060S or N.E.C. 3D) , add £535 to the prices above. 2.10 • A410/420 RAM Upgrades down in price − The price of 1 Mbyte RAM upgrades for the A410/20 has come down from £205 to £185. 2.10 • ArcComm − New comms software from BBC Enterprises. £29.95 (or £28 through Archive) offers videotext and scrolling terminals with Hayes, DTI or manual modems. (RISC-OS only). 2.10 • Atelier − the Minerva art package (£85 through Archive) is now available. It will allow you to create 256-colour graphics and claims 370 effects, including 60 shades of black and white, rotate and distort, texture mapping, air brush simulation and the ability to create perspective, light and shade. 2.10 • Careware N¼ 1 − Since my comments in last month’s magazine we have received enough good software to set up Careware N¼1. It contains: Othello game, LabelPrinter, “Make” utility, Calendar, Headstand module (= turn the screen upside down!), Sliding Block puzzles, ‘Simon’ game, plus lots of simple games programs and graphics demos, e.g. Biorhythms etc. The cost is £6 so that £3 is divided between the three charities mentioned on page 7 last month. 2.10 Stop Press: Matthew reckons he will have Careware N¼2 ready by the time you read this and also Shareware N¼12 and also a RISC-OS update disc which we will do as Shareware N¼13. This will contain programs that have been on previous Shareware or program discs but which have been updated (and, in some cases, improved) to run under RISC-OS. If these are ready in time, I’ll put information on the back of the Price List. 2.10 • DTP from Acorn is here! (Well, in limited quantity, anyway − sounds a familiar story.) At last, a full function DTP taking text and graphics from various sources and outputting the resulting document to a range of printers from cheap 9-pin DM printers to high-performance laser printers. The price is £149 + VAT (£145 through Archive). 2.10 • Euclid update − A RISC-OS version of Euclid 3-D modelling and animation system is now available for just £70 inc VAT (or £60 through Archive.) Registered Euclid users can upgrade through Ace Computing for £25. Euclid “attachments” available include Mogul (£20) which allows the production of films of moving objects, Projector (free) − a PD projector for Mogul films and Splice (£30) − a full function version of the Projector program allowing single frame editing, film splicing, sound tracks etc. 2.10 • First Fonts (Maths/Scientific) is now available for 9-pin printers and also for the H.P. LaserJet and DeskJet. There’s no need to specify the printer because the different drivers are all in the one package, still at £19 +VAT (£20 through Archive). 2.10 • Hard Drives now Exportable − Computerware have now found a supply of hard drives on which there are no re-export restrictions, so we can supply complete hard drive systems to any part of the world. The costs for overseas customers of buying podules only, was given in the April issue, page 2. If you want to buy a complete drive system, take the prices on the current price list, divide by 1.15 to subtract VAT. Then European customers should add £20 for carriage and those further afield should write or ring for a quotation for the cost of carriage. 2.10 • MewSoft programs are now fully RISC-OS compatible − Faxfile Manager for the owner of a personal organiser, Forms Manager combining large size and standard text with lines boxes and grids, standard and sideways A4 and Fancy Labeller which gives (8) fancy fonts and (20) fancy frames. Each program is £27.90 inc p&p. 2.10 • Micro-Librarian ‘Professional’ (version 3.0) £300 from Micro-Librarian Systems is a suite of over 30 integrated programs which can easily be transferred to hard disc. A training/demo disc with sample catalogue and readership is available for £5. 2.10 • Modems down in price! − The prices of the two 2400 baud modems that we sell through Archive have been reduced thanks to two eagle-eyed readers who found better sources for us. The Miracle WS3000 is down by £40 to £350 and the Amstrad SM2400 is down by £30 to £235. 2.10 • Monthly program discs − “What’s on the program discs” is a question I get asked fairly frequently, so here is a summary of the story so far: 2.10 Volume One 2.10 1−6: Arthur 1.2 desktop accessories, findfile, *commands and structured directory listing. 2.10 7: RS423 patch (v1.24), FastRM updates, Mandelbrot screens, Life update 2.10 8: Tunes for the Music Editor 2.10 9: Phone number database 2.10 10: FWP printer drivers (Canons + Kaga), Mode conversion programs, Mandelbrot program 2.10 11: Desktop accessories, more FWP printer drivers (Citizen & Kaga Taxan 120), Partial renumber program, Beebug’s PD ‘Arc’ compression prog-ram, hard-disc boot program, more screen shots 2.10 12: Another FWP printer driver (Star Gemini 10xi), Alerion & GammaPlot screen shots, Hard Disc backup program, ‘The Gig’ animation demo 2.10 Volume Two 2.10 1: Freddy’s Folly, Leonardo, & Orion screenshots 2.10 2: Speeding up the ARM, FWP printer driver generator program, a new window system?, Fractal landscape screen shots 2.10 3: FWP IBM fonts 2.10 4: FWP printer driver (HP-DeskJet), Musical Mandelbrots, Quazar screen shots 2.10 5: ArcTerm v3.09, Serial Fix v1.24, Logistix examples, Mandelbrot Sprites 2.10 6: FWP & Pipedream titbits, more compression programs, Artisan example screen shots, fade routines 2.10 7: Repton utility, screen loading programs, FWP fonts (NEC) and font designer 2.10 8: More tunes, Hard disc backup update 2.10 9: RISC-OS disc copier, RISC-OS window demo, new BASIC error messages, full list of Repton passwords, BASIC timing program. 2.10 The other question I get is, “Is there a program disc subscription? Or one for the Shareware/Careware discs for that matter?” The answer is basically that at £3 each, (unchanged since Archive started nearly two years ago) we cannot really discount them. What we can do is to accept pre-payment for discs. As long as you state clearly what you want, we can just prepare some pre-printed address labels and will send you a reminder when we send out your last pre-paid disc. 2.10 • News for NewsMaster users! − For those people using NewsMaster, the desktop publishing package that runs under the PC Emulator, MGA Microsystems are selling some additional Art Galleries. They also have a graphics editor and a whole load of other goodies. They have a compre hensive catalogue available on request. 2.10 • RISC-OS Companion − Software Solutions have launched a set of RISC-OS utilities disc, which enhance the facilities offered by the desktop. The utilities adhere to the RISC-OS user interface guidelines and so provide consistency between applications. The disc includes utilities such as a terminal emulator, changing filetypes, a note pad, the bin (as on the Apple Mac), additional star commands, file conversion programs for View, Wordwise, First Word Plus and !Edit. The disc costs £49.95 + VAT (site licences are available). 2.10 • SPARK − David Pilling, who originally wrote the Beebug file compressor utility called ARC, has now extended and improved it. It now works under RISC-OS and is very simple to use − just drag the file in question onto the SPARK icon on desktop iconbar. The disc costs £5.99 and is available direct from David Pilling. 2.10 • Z88’s down in price − Cambridge Micros have dropped the price of the Z88 computer so we can now offer it for just £240 instead of £280. (When comparing prices, remember that our price includes VAT and carriage.) 2.10 • Review Software Received... Apart from reviews already written. we have received review copies of the following software: •Structural Analysis from VisionSix (needs a qualified engineer to review it), •EpBAS(*) from Abacus Training − Extended precision from BASIC, •Geoscan − an educational database and program on world development and •Faxfile, •Forms Manager, and •Fancy Labeller from MewSoft (see above). 2.10 (*I think I may have already sent an older version of this to someone but if I have, I can’t remember who! − If I have, there’s an updated version for you and, if not, someone else can have a go!) 2.10 • A3000 − Acorn’s new machine will be on sale for the first time at the 1989 BBC Acorn User show. The doors will open at Alexandra Place on 21st July, visitors will be offered instant 0% finance and a special carry- away service. To take advantage of this offer, you must first sign up with any exhibitor displaying the machine. Once this is done, you will be able to pick up your A3000 from a giant pantechnicon lorry which will be parked outside. The 0% finance option (underwritten by Acorn) can be obtained from Mercantile Credit, who will be at the show. (Norwich Computer Services will be at the Show, stand 93A, but we will not be involved in 0% finance selling. Ed.) 2.10 • A3000 products − PRES are launching several new products to compliment the A3000, some of which will appear at the 1989 BBC Acorn User Show. One of the products is a plinth (costing around £20Ê−Ê£30), which has been produced because the design of the new machine does not allow a monitor to rest on top of it. If desk space is tight, the machine can be stored under the plinth and slides out only when needed. You can also buy a plinth which can contain a Winchester hard drive and one or two floppy disc drives (either two 3.5 inch drives or one 3.5 inch drive and one 5.25 inch drive). PRES have also turned their attentions to A3000 expansion cards − they have designed a case for the external expansion port so that Archimedes cards can be used without any alterations. In addition, the company is in the process of producing an extra board which will allow up to four extension cards (mini podules) to be fitted. 2.10 • Adventure games − Topologika will be launching compilations of adventure games for the Archimedes. The games were originally written on the BBC for Acornsoft and are being expanded and re-released in ‘native’ Archimedes code. Two compilations will be available at the BBC Acorn User Show. The first contains “Countdown to Doom”, “Return to Doom” and “Philosopher’s Quest” at £19.95; and the second contains “Kingdom of Hamil” and “Acheton” also at £19.95. Topologika will also be launching a brand new title at the show. It is based on the plays of William Shakespeare and it is claimed that you don’t have to be an expert to play it. The game is called “AVON” and will sell at £19.95. 2.10 • ARM-Tracker − 8-channel sound sequencer from The Serial Port for producing music suitable for insertion into games and demos, or just for your own listening. Mouse-driven front end includes VU meters, spectrum analyser, pattern display and timecounter. 2.10 • Dabs Press are bringing out 3 new productsÉ 2.10 • ABC65 is an Archimedes-to-6502 cross com-piler, running on the Archimedes. It will convert programs written in BBC BASIC V into stand alone 6502 machine code that can be run on any BBC Microcomputer. It will sell at £69.95 inc VAT and includes 2 discs and a 150-page user guide. 2.10 • ABC Dynamic Extensions, priced at £49.95 inc VAT, provides utilities which extends Dabs Press’ Archimedes BASIC Compiler. It comes with a user guide and includes three programs: Library Maker, Cross Referencer and Profiler. 2.10 • Instigator provides extension to the Archimedes operating system. It is a module which contains over 80 star commands which extend and simplify existing features of both Arthur 1.2 and RISC-OS. The main features are: single command windows, command archiving, a file finder, colour palette utilities, a file compressor, a comprehensive line editor, an internal clipboard, memory manipulation facilities and a screen dumper. It is supplied with a 120 page user guide and will cost £49.95 inc VAT. 2.10 • Disc copier (as yet un-named) from The Serial Port − “The most powerful bit copier available for the Archimedes”. It is claimed to be able to copy almost any Archimedes/PC/ST discs. 2.10 • DTP from AVP − The new multi-tasking RISC-OS version of Pixel Perfect from AVP will be on demonstration at the Acorn User Show. It is “the only DTP package for the Archimedes written specifically with the school user in mind.” 2.10 • DTP from Beebug − Joining the DTP race are Beebug, whose new package is to be on demonstration at the Acorn User Show. 2.10 • External Expansion Boxes − SGB Computer Services will be producing external expansion boxes with PSU, linked to the Archimedes via a buffer card. They hope to offer a 10 watt version, supporting either 3 single or 3 double podules and a 25 watt version, supporting up to 5 single width podules or 3 double width podules. This will allow the A300 and A400 series to have 4 to 8 slot and the A3000 2 (1 mini, 1 standard size) to 6 slots. They are planned for release in early August. 2.10 • Graphics Tablet from Watford Electronics − launch price £259 including tablet, leads and soft-ware which allows mouse-based applications to be run from the tablet. The pointer is moved over the 12“ x 12” tablet via a four button puck with trans-parent lens with cross hairs. Three buttons emulate the normal mouse buttons and the fourth is used for special effects. 2.10 • Holed Out − More courses are being made available for Holed Out − harder than the existing courses. Impact are going to be releasing two packages, each with two courses, but each will be a complete Holed Out package in itself and they will only cost £16.95 (£16 through Archive) instead of £18.95 which is what the original Holed Out costs. 2.10 • Mach Technology Update − Further to the comments in last month’s magazine, the latest word from Mach Technology (22nd June) is that nothing is actually ready for shipping yet, but many of the products are “nearly ready to go out”. 2.10 • Pipedream3 from Colton Software(£169.05) is due to be launched at the Acorn User Show. This is a fully RISC-OS version and includes lots of extra features: •many documents loaded at once (to one copy of PipeD ream), each in separate window •slot protection •natural recalculation with optimised minimal recalculation •external references between several loaded files for 3-D modelling •iteration •optional splitting/ joining of line on carriage return, delete •inclusion, display and printing of pictures generated by other applications •Z88 filing system provided to load and save files directly to Z88 via serial port. (This requires the PC LINK II EPROM fitted to the Z88 and a Z88-Archimedes leadand it also requires serial port upgrade if used with Archimedes A3000) •Built-in Spelling Checker (93,000 words) •Multi-tasking User Interface •Files loaded by double-clicking PipeDream icons in directory viewer or dragging file to PipeDream icon •Drag files to/from other windows, including Edit, Acorn DTP •Automatic context-sensitive dynamic help system •extra “thousands” display format, i.e. 1,234,567.89 instead of 1234567.89 •extra spreadsheet functions: atn2, rand, round, month- days, dcounta. 2.10 • Presenter II − an upgraded version of Lingen-uity’s Presenter will be available at the BBC Acorn User Show. It works under RISC-OS and includes greater choice of chart options, 3D pie charts and a larger data area. It will retail at £39.95 + VAT and existing owners of Presenter can obtain an upgrade for £14.95. 2.10 • Presenter Story has been designed to cater for most professional presentation requirements. It was developed by X-AMPLE Technology in Holland and will be distributed by Lingenuity at the BBC Acorn User Show. It includes features such as a logo editor, business graphics, charts, histograms, anti-aliased fonts with various styles and a variety of screen scrolling features. It is claimed that screens can be prepared quickly and altered easily to allow for last minute changes. It supports a screen resolution of 640 x 256 pixels in 16 colours (i.e. mode 12) and will retail at £199.95 + VAT. 2.10 • RISC-OS P.R.M. − Rumour has it that the new RISC-OS PRM will be available late in the 3rd quarter. It is expected to consist of four volumes, totalling 1400 pages. 2.10 • Scanner − a hand-held scanner for £149 from Watford Electronics − up to 400 d.p.i., 4“ wide. RISC-OS software allows cropping and scaling to any size including stretching in X and Y directions separately, colour tinting, X and Y flip, edge detection which turns solid objects into outlines, selective directional copying allowing features like lines or text to be made thicker or thinner. 2.10 • Scanner − a hand-held scanner for “under £200 inc VAT” from Beebug is to be on demonstration at the Acorn User Show. 2.10 • SCSI Interface and Real Time Digitiser − Lindis International (alias Lingenuity) are planning to produce a hard disc drive interface (approx. price £199.95 + VAT) and a real time digitiser which allows for frame grabbing (approx. £699.95) 2.10 • Armadeus sound sampling software from Clares Micros, as described in Archive 2.9, page 17, is now available − £79.95 or £70 through Archive. 2.11 • Careware Discs N¼s 2 and 3 are now available at £6 each − N¼2 includes: Asteroids, Maxgammon (a commercially available backgammon game now donated to the public domain), Fractal curves, Desktop Calendar, ARM disassembler, Disc editor (ADFS & MS-DOS), Icon for BASIC editor, BASIC program compressor. N¼3 includes: Breakout, Fruit machine, 3D O&X’s, Forth language, Hard Disc backup, Graphical file dump, ‘Examine ’ for MS-DOS, and (another) Icon for BASIC editor. 2.11 • Shareware Discs N¼s 12 and 13 are also now available at the usual £3 each. We abandoned the idea of doing a specific RISC-OS update disc and decided instead to slot them in amongst the other excellent programs. (N.B. These two discs are RISC-OS only.) Those programs with a (u) are upgrades of previous programs. So N¼ 12 contains: Descent to Xeer, Rubik’s cube, *settype and *stamp files from the desktop, BASIC compressor (u), Sinclair QL disc reader, Calculating your central heating requirements, Making cassette inlays (u), Test your floppy drive speed, Address book (u). N¼s 13 contains: Utilities: (another) Hard disc backup, Rubik’s clock, Interrupt module (u), Dustbin, Outline processor, Mandelbrots (u), Video database (u), Calendar, Golf (u). (Other programs for later Careware/Shareware discs include: Fourier transform movie, Labyrinth, Fortune Cookies, Astronomy (u). Check the price list to see if we’ve got Shareware N¼14 done yet!) 2.11 • Colour Dump for LC10 − Musbury Consultants have added to their range of colour dumps by providing one for the Star LC10. The cost is £30 (or £25 through Archive) and it provides three sizes of dump: 7.6“ x 6”, 9.45“ x 7.6” and 19“ x 15.2”. 2.11 • Graphics Library from Micro Studio comes in two formats, one for First Word Plus and one for use with Acorn’s new DTP package. Either set costs £17.25 inc VAT and p&p. Also available is a colour graphics library at £19.95 for use with any RISC-OS application. 2.11 • SCSI Hard discs − Two suppliers (at least) are providing SCSI interface cards for the A310 and the A3000: Oak Computers and Lingenuity (Lindis International). Prices of the Lingenuity drives are as follows (all excluding VAT): A3000 card only: £149; A310 card only: £199; A3000, 20 Mbyte (external) + card: £475; A310, 45 Mbyte (internal) + card: £499. (They will quote for other sizes. Please ring them for details.) 2.11 Oak Computers quote a wider range: For the A310 you can buy a controller card with an internal drive: 20Mb: £375, 45Mb: £495 or 70Mb: £895. You can also add one of their external drives: 20 Mb: £435, 45 Mb: £555, 70 Mb: £955, 100 Mb: £1350, 200 Mb: £1750, 330 Mb: £2300. For the A3000, you can buy a card on its own for £199 or alternatively, you can buy a controller together with an external drive, the prices being £100 more than the straight external drives you would use with the A310, e.g. 20 Mb: £535, 45 Mb: £655, 70 Mb: £1055 etc. If you would prefer to have a controller card and an external drive for the A310, or for a 400 series machine, for that matter, the prices are exactly as for the A3000: £535, £655, £1055 etc. 2.11 If you want any of these drives, either from Oak or Lingenuity, we can supply them to Archive members at a discount. If you are interested, give us a ring and we’ll work out some details. 2.11 Any of the SCSI drives quoted for the 310 could be used in the 410, though you would still need the SCSI podule since he existing disc controller is for ST506 standard hard drives. Similarly, they can be added to 420/440 machines but you must obviously use the external drives. The advantage of using SCSI drives is that you can have up to four different hard drives on the one system each up to 512 Mbyte capacity! (“Oh, I use an A410 with 2 Gigabytes of hard disc storage.” How’s that for one-up-man-ship!) The other advantage of SCSI is that you can daisy-chain other devices on it such as tape-streamers and video discs (once the software is written to control them). Also, Oak computers claim that SCSI drives are faster than ST506, but until we have done our disc tests, we cannot substantiate that claim. 2.11 • Termulator from Intelligent Interfaces is a terminal emulator providing VT52, VT102, VT202 and Tektronics Graphics terminals for £59 + VAT. 2.11 • “ARM Assembly Language Programming” by Pete Cockerell. Yes, I know this was the very first ARM book available and that it was on the market even before the Archimedes itself and, yes, I know it is now out of print. However, Bookmark Publishing Ltd have taken it on from M.T.C. (alias Computer Concepts) and are revising it and up-dating it by putting in more details about ARM 3 and RISC-OS. Price £13.95, due for release in September. (Yes, I know that it should be in the Forthcoming Products section, but this is the only entry this month, so I cheated.) 2.11 • A420/1 and A440/1 down in price − No, Acorn have not dropped their prices, but because of the dramatic fall in prices of the ram for A400/1 series, we are able to buy 410/1’s and make up 420 and 440 equivalents. So, if you buy an A410 from us at £1380 (and get £100 free software with it!) you can have extra ram fitted in it at £150 per Mbyte and a hard disc for £215, £400 or £500 for 20M, 40M or 47M respectively. (The 47M is the same one that Acorn put in their A440/1 and call a 50M drive − it actually formats at about 47.6 Mbyte.)/np212/n So a 420/1 equivalent would cost you £1745, and a 440/1 equivalent £2330, compared with Acorn’s own prices of £1954 and £2874, and we can make up any combination of drive and/or ram, remem-bering that RISC-OS only recognises 1, 2 or 4 Mbytes of ram. Please ring to check the price before ordering because the price of the ram will, I suspect, fall even further. 2.12 (If you want to buy a PC emulator at the same time as your up-graded 410, add £60, if you want an Acorn monitor, add £230 or if you want an Eizo 9060S multi-sync monitor, add £525.) 2.12 • Acorn DTP Advanced User Guide − Emerald Publishing have released an advanced user guide with a disc of examples providing useful formats you can adapt for your own needs. Book on its own: £14.95, with disc £18.90. (£17 through Archive) 2.12 • Animations discs − Clares Micros have released discs of the winning entries in our Render Bender Competition! For £10, they will supply you with four discs, each containing one animation, three from Brian Trott and one from A.Weir. Each disc also contains the RB script so that you can see how the effects have been achieved. We have only seen one of them: Brian Trott’s Soldiers and that is superb. Dave Clare could not sort out between the two entries but awarded one Armadeus package to each of them. 2.12 • C Front End − Mitre Software Ltd have produced “C-Front”, £19.95 (or £18 through Archive) which allows the user to choose the options and then to compile by simply dragging it to the application. 2.12 • Econet applications produced jointly by Software Solutions and XOB − Disc Sharer allows users of BBC Micros and Archimedes to access transparently the hard disc of another Archimedes across Econet. Printer Spooler accepts files from up to 24 stations and queues them to the printer. Remote Logon allows users to access their Archimedes floppy or hard drive from another machine on Econet whilst retaining full ownership of all files and directories. 2.12 • First Word Plus book − Norfolk TVEI Unit have published a First Word Plus Study Guide with acc-ompanying disc. Packs of 10 guides: £19.50, top-up packs of 5 guides: £9.25, Discs: £10, Single copy with disc: £10. This is meant to be a self-study guide with examples available on disc for you to work on. (ISBN−1−85526−005−0) (There is no dealer discount, so Archive will not be stocking this book.) 2.12 • Keyword − Dynamic Word Finder from Swift Software − 10,000 synonyms and antonyms with nearly 1,000 main subject headings. Fully RISC-OS multi-tasking software for finding that word you need but can’t quite think of. 2.12 • Prototyping Cards − Following the success of the articles by Alex van Someren in the August and September issues of Acorn User (pages 88 and 61 respectively) we are now stocking Atomwide’s Archimedes Prototyping Expansion Card (APEC). It includes a fully buffered expansion interface with provision for a variety of sizes of EPROM or RAM devices for support software and optional interrupt circuitry and over half the area of the board is covered with plated through square pads for adding your own circuitry. It comes in three formsÉ a bare card with a 2764 ROM for £27 (fully inclusive Archive price), a fully built and tested board with a 2764 ROM (£38) and a fully built and tested board with a 6264 RAM and a disc of utility software (£40) . Several demonstration circuits are also provided with the board. 2.12 • Shareware 14 contains Arctist Plus, a 256 colour art package which was donated to the public dom-ain by Nigel Stuart. It works under RISC-OS and Arthur 1.2. 2.12 Check the price list for the latest additions to the Shareware range. These will include some or all of the following: a fourier transforms movie, fortune cookies, astronomy programs, a map of the world, more maestro tunes, hypertext and several utilities & graphics demos. 2.12 • Low Price RISC-OS in stock!! − At the time of writing, we still have a few low price RISC-OS’s (£36 in UK) but when they are gone, the price will have to go up to £70. 2.12 Review Software Received... 2.12 Apart from reviews already written, we have received review copies of the following software: Acorn DTP Advanced Guide and Disc, First Word Plus Study Guide and Disc. 2.12 • Clares’ DTP package, “Tempest”, was originally scheduled for Septem ber, but Clares are now saying that the specification has been modified and so they cannot give a date for availability. 2.12 • Clares’ Primary WP package is a first word processor for primary schools developed in con-junction with Derbyshire LEA. The cost is £39.95 inclusive and it was originally scheduled for release in September, but Clares say that the specification has been modified and so they cannot give a date for availability. 2.12 • External Hard & Floppy Drives & Adaptors for A3000 − Akhter Computers Ltd is offering a range of hard and floppy drives for attaching to your A3000 − 20 or 50 Mbyte with optional 5.25“ floppy fitted into a metal monitor stand. Also available are 5.25” and 3.5“ external drives and a 5.25” / 3.5“ adaptor. These will be available in a couple of weeks time. 2.12 • Interdictor − flight simulator from Clares £34.95 (£30 through Archive) should be available in a couple of weeks time. 2.12 • Knowledge Organiser is a free-form text database from Clares £59.95 (£50 through Arch-ive) which is a “much enhanced” version of ArcTFS (see Archive 1.12 p 48). It should be available in a couple of weeks time. 2.12 • Mach Technology say that their 286 board is at least two weeks away, the BASIC compiler (which now has a higher spec) is a few weeks away, their hard discs are being shipped now (they are sending us one next week − I will put details on the price list if it arrives in time) and Hyperbase is about one week away from being ready to ship out. (This information was obtained by a telephone call on 30th August 1989. It required the use of a modem automatically re-dialling the number every 30 seconds for approximately 3 hours, so if you don’t get through first time, don’t give up − you will get through in due course!) 2.12 • Memory upgrades for A310? − No, sorry, none are actually available yet. The companies we know of who are actively working on them are, in alphabetic order, CJE Micros, Computerware, Mach Technology and Watford Electronics. CJE are hoping to have theirs available by the end of September. It will be a soldered-in job, fitted by CJE themselves, prices being £385 and £650 for 2 and 4 Mbyte, inclusive of fitting and return to the customer (inc VAT). Mach Technology say their ram boards are going to be available next week some time, the prices being £340 and £520 (+ VAT) though there is a plan to drop the prices to £299 and £399 to reflect the falling price of ram. Neither Computerware nor Watford Electronics could give a definite availability, but both are working hard to get them out as soon as possible. 2.12 • RISC-OS Programmers Reference Manuals − The latest indication I can get from Acorn is that it will be several volumes, available “in September” and will cost “£79 + VAT”. (I thought there was no VAT on books!) 2.12 • ABC Extras Package − for use with version 2 of the ABC compiler, provides a crossreferencer, a library maker and a profiler and trace package. £49.95 from Dabs Press or £45 through Archive. 3.1 • Accounts & Invoices − Two programs that have been available for some time, but only just come to light are Apricote Studios’ two packages, The Account Book £27.95 and The Invoice Program £27.95 (buy them together for £49.95). These programs offer purchase and sales, VAT and trial balances etc and invoicing and statements for up to 700 customers with 100 stock presets. 3.1 • Archway up in price − Archway (RISCOS version) from Simtron has now gone up in price to £99.95 (Archive price £85) 3.1 • Arcol − MultiUser 256 colour Art Package from TAP Consortium £50 + VAT for single user or £250 + VAT for a site licence. Yes, another art package, but from what I saw of it at the Econet Conference, it looks impressive. It is configurable to whatever system you want to use including being fully networkable and it has some interesting features designed for people who are concerned with real applications of an art package rather than just using it to draw pretty pictures. This is born out by the inclusion of such features as the ability to produce colour separations. 3.1 • ArcTrivia £24.95 (£23 through Archive) is now available in a new version with 7,000 questions. Registered users may get an upgrade free of charge by returning their old disc plus a blank disc to Moray Micro Computing. 3.1 • Careware 4 (£6 but remember that all the £6 goes to charity now, not half of it as before − see Comments on page 14) contains an excellent animation produced on Euclid/Mogul by Malcolm Banthorpe, a serial link to BBC micro, !BIN − an application to allow you to drag files onto the icon bar for deletion, !PCdir − a desktop application which converts files to and from MSDOS, 3D adventure game, screen blanking routine, WP file conversion routines, function key strip printer and some more tunes for use with Maestro. 3.1 • Shareware 15, available now, contains lots of bits and pieces: 16 graphics demos, two !Draw fonts, six !Maestro tunes, 17 sampled voices and improvements for using View. 3.1 • Shareware 16, available now, contains (another) 256colour art package, link to Psion organiser and the latest version of the YAIG game which works in the overscan mode giving much greater screen area in which to play. 3.1 • Central Heating Calculator − D.J.Holden has produced a commercial version of his central heating calculator program that appears on the Shareware 12 disc. It has several extra facilities and bug fixes. For further details he can be contacted at 29 Knighton Park Road, Sydenham, London, SE26 5RN. (01−778−2659) 3.1 • Genlock for the A3000 − Wild Vision now have a genlock card available for the A3000 for just £199 plus VAT. It is a mini podule that fits inside the A3000. 3.1 • Caption Generator − Chromatext is a flexible caption generator from Wild Vision allowing 35 screens of video titles in various colours, fonts and sizes to be stored for overlaying on video as and when required. 3.1 • LC10 Typefaces − Ian Copestake Software have created a brand new collection of typefaces for the LC10 printer − 7 typefaces are avail able, £9.90 each (inc VAT etc) or £24 for three (and introductory offer) or all seven for £44. Specify computer, wordprocessor and disc format when ordering. (N.B. These are not the outline fonts for Acorn DTP that Ian is planning to offer later in the year.) 3.1 • MicroTrader, the integrated accounts package for small businesses from Meadow Computers is now RISCOS compatible and has a whole host of new and improved features still at £200 + VAT including telephone support service. 3.1 • New Noah Paint − Noah Paint (as reviewed in Archive 2.11 p 56) from GMA Hamburg, has been updated and has had a new manual written for it and will now be known as Noah Professional Paint. The Noah Paint 16 has been released at only £10 + VAT. 3.1 • Noah Tools #1 for just £10 + VAT from GMA Hamburg has !FastROM to speed up the MEMC, !ReBoot to call a hard reset, !WatchDog to give BASIC editor access from desktop, a trashcan (a bin in UK terminology), mouse controls via the keyboard, accessing filetypes, !Shell is a brand new CLI gives CLI history and editing etc, IFF Loader to load IFF pictures, BigScreen to emulate a 20“ monitor on a multisync (= an overscan mode?), and finally a VT100 emulation. (Look out for Noah Tools #2, also £10, which is on the way, said to have a “Reassembler” (disassembler?), NoahTree = Disctree, Filefinder like grep in Unix, RISCOS changer which changes normal BASIC programs into applications and possibly a multiple copy program. Also in the pipeline are Noah Games# which will be £15 each, the first of which will be a version of “tetris”.) 3.1 • Pipedream Extended Dictionary £6.95 from HJH Software (Archive £6.50) provides 156k of user dictionary that includes most words that you will require even in quite highbrow documents. 3.1 • Programmers’ Reference Manuals − The new P.R.M.’s are here! Four volumes plus a separate index for just £79.95. There is a rumour of an upgrade for owners of the old manuals − £55 plus the two front covers of the old PRM, but I can’t get anyone to confirm or deny the rumour. The Archive price is £75 − not as much discount as usual because this price includes carriage and the manuals are extremely heavy. 3.1 • RISCOS Mogul for RISCOS Euclid − £20 inc VAT from Ace Computing (£18 through Archive). See Malcolm Banthorpe’s review on page 50 for more details. 3.1 • Transputer Addons for Archimedes − Gnome Computers Ltd have developed a new programming environment for use on the Archimedes based on the Inmos Transputer Development System (TDS). The hardware is based around three plugin boards: a Link Adaptor (£200) allowing communication with an external transputer system at 10 or 20 MHz, a TRAM Motherboard (£250) which provides similar facilities but also houses up to 4 TRAMs which allows Archimedes to act as a standalone TDS, and the Transputer Baseboard which houses a T4 or T8 transputer and 1 to 8 Mbytes. (Boards with 2 Mbytes of RAM and a 20 Mhz T425 or T800 are £875 and £995 respectively.) The software consists of a Server Program (£200) which, with the Archimedes high speed screen and disc handling, gives an overall performance of 2 to 3 times that of a midrange PC. It can also support versions of C, Fortran and Pascal compilers (£750 each). 3.1 • WordPower now PD − Ian Copestake Software have now made WordPower, the wellestablished wordprocessor that started life on the BBC Micro, a PD program available for just £5. It is a full working version that works on the Archimedes and is complete with documentation. 3.1 • Acorn C Compiler Release 3 is now available. It includes a RISCOS library; support for developing desktop applications, relocatable modules and programs using overlays; enhanced development tools; a 500 page manual with many examples (also on disc) and 4 reference cards. The compiler costs £149 ex VAT to first time buyers (£145 inc VAT through Archive), £70 (inc VAT) for Release 1 owners and £50 (inc VAT) for Release 2 owners. This does not include postage and packing which is charged at £5.20. To obtain an upgrade you must return the original disc (NOT the complete package) along with a cheque, postal order or official order made payable to ‘Acorn Direct’ and send it to Vector Services Ltd. 3.2 • Adventure Creator − Alpine Software have now released an Archimedes version of their Adventure Language and Programming System ALPS (£32 plus £1 p&p), which allows you to create your own adventures. The program requires at least 1Mbyte and comes with an 800k disk, a 28 page introductory guide and a 42 page reference guide. 3.2 • PRM upgrades − if you own the old PRM’s, you can obtain an upgrade by sending the covers of the old manuals with £50 and £5.20 p&p to Vector Services Ltd. 3.2 • Cambridge International Software have launched three new products for the Archimedes market: ‘Confusion’ (£9.95) a breakout game with a difference, the rules are never the same; ‘Pro Copier’ (£9.95) a disc sector copier for professional backups of your business applications; ‘Super Creations 1/2/3’ (£9.95) consists of two discs containing instrument sounds which can be used for your own programs or games. (We have tried on a number of occasions to get in touch with CIS to check availability but be so far had no success.) 3.2 • Concept Keyboards for the Archimedes − Sherlock Rehab Data of Norway have produced software which allows the use of Concept Keyboards with the Archimedes. 3.2 • DeltaCat Mouse Eliminator − Voltmace have a joystick for the Archi medes which simply replaces the mouse − £29.95 or £28 through Archive − works a treat with Interdictor flight simulator! 3.2 • Desktop Games − Anonymouse have produced six desktop games on two discs. The first contains onearmed bandit, Reversi and a Pelmanism game. The second disc contains Pontoon, a memory game and Yahtzee. Each disc costs £10 or you can buy both discs for £15 (prices include VAT and p&p). 3.2 • DIGIT − the image analysis software DIGIT is no longer available from the Institute of Ophthalmology. However, copies can still be obtained from Dr B.P.Haynes at 31 Priory Gardens, Berkhamstead, Herts, HP4 2DS. Tel: (0442) 872092. The software is now supplied as RISCOS applications and the prices are as before i.e. DIGIT package for 2d measurement £150, 3DIGIT for 3D reconstruction £50, GRAPHDATA for reading graphs £30. The packages can be used with the Watford video digitiser or Wild Vision chromalock for measuring video pictures or with the Summagraphics Bit Pad 2 digitiser tablet for measuring photographs, graphs and drawings. 3.2 • DiscTree − Mitre Software launched a second release of their DiscTree software (£49.95 inc VAT). One of the main features of the update is a ‘compressed file output’ which reduces the number of floppies that are required for backup. The ‘TreeViewers’ have also been enhanced to include: filer type facilities such as auto update on the creation/ deletion of a directory and copying/saving of files; improved display appearance with the ability to create a display on any subdirectory and not just the root; and directory management options (delete and copy). Existing owners should note that they are entitled to an upgrade free of charge. 3.2 • EType − Impact Software / 4th Dimension have released a new driving game based on an EType Jaguar. It boasts digitised sounds and graphics for 5 different courses. The courses contain other cars, oil spills, road works, trees, rocks, billboards, policemen, etc. (See review on page 49.) 3.2 • Fun School 2 − Database Direct have produced a new series of edu cational programs for the Archimedes. There are three packs: the under 6’s, 68 year olds and over 8’s. Each pack comes with eight programs, a badge and detailed instructions. The computer itself monitors the child’s progress. The skill level − initially set by the parents − is automatically adjusted to suit the child’s ability. 3.2 • LinCAD − Linear Graphics have now finished their 2D CAD package for the Archimedes. (£150 + VAT) See the show report for more details. 3.2 • Lingenuity’s A300/A400 internal SCSI hard drives are now in full production. They supply 5 sizes of hard drive: 20M (40 ms Seagate) at £375, 49M (40ms Seagate) at £499, 75M (18ms Rodime) at £799, 105M (18ms Rodime) at £839 and 217M (18ms Rodime) at £1249 (all prices exclude VAT). Lingenuity say that parts of the SCSI software have been licensed directly from Acorn, so there should be no problems with compatibility. (See page 10.) 3.2 • MEMC1a upgrade − on its own, the MEMC1a chip costs £79.95 inc VAT and can be obtained from your local Acorn Dealer. It is also supplied as a free upgrade with the Floating Point Podule or the Acorn SCSI card. The upgrade is on a one chip per card basis and will only be supplied if your computer doesn’t already have a one e.g. if a school wants to share a FPE between say 10 machines then it will have to buy 9 extra MEMC’s. 3.2 • Noah Paint 16 − GMA have reworked their 16 colour art package, which now includes a new manual (on disc). Some of the facilities it now provides are: a magnifier, brushes, 3D aids, colour palette manipula tions and stats, grid lock, cross fade and links to the Watford digitiser. The price is £10 ex VAT. 3.2 • PlaneDraft − new prices − following the comments made in Archive 3.1 p42, Vision Six have now revised their prices for this Structural Analysis package: £375 for the frame analysis only (was £475), £200 for truss only (was £250), £250 for grid only (was £325), or £700 for all three (was £875). They have also said that the points mentioned in the review will be implemented as improvements in the near future. 3.2 • Quest − an established BBC database application now converted to Archimedes. It is readily available from the Advisory Unit for Microtechnology in Education, Hatfield at £30 (site licence). 3.2 • RAM prices down again − we’ve had yet another drop in the price of the ram for A400/1 series computers. It has gone down from £210 to its present price of £120. This means we can sell a 420/1 equivalent for £1715 and a 440/1 equivalent for £2240. These prices include £100 of free software. (Compare this with Acorn’s own prices of £1954 and £2874 for 420/1 and 440/1.) 3.2 (If you want to buy a PC emulator at the same time, add £60; if you want an Acorn monitor, add £230; if you want an Eizo multisync monitor, add £525. 3.2 • RFS Filer for RISCOS − the Data Store have produced a RISCOS utilities disc that includes a module which will allow the Computer Concepts ROM/ RAM board to be accessed from the desktop just like an ADFS disc. (If you only want the RFS Filer, we have a module written by CC that does this. If you send us a blank 800kformat disc, we will give you a copy.) 3.2 • Shareholders’ offer − Acorn have formulated a special offer for shareholders in the Acorn Computer Group plc which consists of a reduced purchase price on the Acorn range of computer systems. Full details will be sent with the halfyear results but the reductions are estimated to be between £70 and £420 on the Archimedes range. 3.2 • Watford Graphics Tablet − Watford’s new graphics tablet is now available from stock − Archive price £305. 3.2 • Word Power Shareware − Word Power was mentioned in last month’s products available section. Since then, Ian Copestake Software have pointed out that the software is in fact shareware and not public domain. The difference being that the user is expected to pay on registration. The price being £41.40 inc. per copy (less any initial costs). For this you get a manual, function key strip and technical support from the author. 3.2 • Acorn Assembler (£199 + VAT or £195 through Archive) comprises three programs plus a manual; Aasm which assembles files for immediate execution, ObjAsm which assembles files into Acorn’s AOF format and Linker which links AOF files. 3.3 • Allin Boxing from Dabs Press complete with its digitised grunts and groans is now available for £14.95 (£14 through Archive). 3.3 • ALPS System and Cops from Alpine Software which were mentioned last month (3.2 p 2 and 3.2 p 4) are now available through Archive for £29 and £18 respectively. 3.3 • C Front (release 2) from Mitre Software now supports release 3 of Acorn ANSI C. Users can receive a free upgrade of Cfront by returning their original master disc to Mitre Software. 3.3 • Clares’ Artisan Update − the 256 colour art package ProArtisan has been reduced in price to £99.95 inc VAT (through Archive £85) and Artisan 2 is now available from stock £59.96 in VAT (through Archive £55). Existing Artisan owners can upgrade to Artisan 2 by sending just their original disc and £30 to Clares (or £28 through Archive). 3.3 • Computer Concepts Upgrades − the InterROM series along with SpellMas ter now work under RISCOS and a free upgrade is provided by Computer Concepts. Just send back your Archimedes ROMs or discs to Computer Concepts and they will upgrade them for you. 3.3 • Disc Utilities from The Data Store (see Archive 3.3 p 32) is now available through Archive for £15. Soon to be available is FontFX (£10 through Archive) which uses Acorn’s Outline Font Manager to construct !Draw paths of antialiased text. The text can be drawn around various shapes e.g. straight lines, circles, arcs and can be rotated, scaled, shadowed, etc. This allows you to produce sophisticated text shapes that can be loaded into applications such as !Draw, Impression, Acorn DTP, etc. 3.3 • EType Designer is now available at £16 from Archive − design your own courses with custom obstacles, etc. 3.3 • External Dual 3.5“ drives for the A3000 are available from Morley Electronics for £125 + VAT or through Archive for £135. The plugin upgrade is easy to install and does not require a separate PSU as the drives draw their power from the A3000. 3.3 • Fireball II − Cambridge International Software will be releasing this game in a games ‘minipack’ after Christmas. The game offers digitised sounds and all sorts of extra bat’n’ball functions such as mirror, snake, laser, etc. Until then, the game can be obtained for £8.50 from the author, Simon Heather, at Mayfield House, Bunbury, Cheshire, CW6 9SY or telephone (0829) 260476. 3.3 • Fun School 2 from Database Software comes in three versions: under 6’s, 6 − 8’s and Over 8’s. Each has eight different educational games for just 3.3 • G.A.Herdman Educational have a whole range of educational programs, long established in the BBC/Master market, which have now been made available in completely rewritten form making full use of RISCOS. They range in price from £9.99 to £39.99 and include titles such as Household Electricity, Advanced Chemistry Assessment, Atomic Theory Plus, Advanced Organic Chemistry II, Advanced Inorganic Chemistry II, Advanced Physical Chemistry II, Periodic Table, Periodicity 1 & 2. Send them an s.a.e. for full details. 3.3 They are also working on a product called DTP_ Images which is disc full of images, specifically designed for the education market, which will supplement Acorn’s own DTP examples disc. 3.3 • Holed Out Designer − Now you can design your own golf courses and so never get tired of playing Holed Out. £18.95 from Impact or £18 through Archive. 3.3 • Jigsaw from 4mation Educational Resources (£29 + VAT) consists of 16 full screen pictures (featuring artwork from Rodkey Matthews and David Cowell) which can be jumbledup into a jigsaw by a rather clever program. It offers various degrees of difficulty from great big pieces which are all orientated in the correct direction to lots of little pieces all higgledypiggledy. 3.3 • MacroAssembler from Wingpass (£47 through Archive) produces AOF files and is easy to use to create relocatable modules. This assembler has several special features which make it ideal for use with C language programs. 3.3 • Memory Upgrades for A3000 from Morley Electronics − 1M & 3M upgrades are now available (£150 and £415 plus VAT). The boards are easy to install as they plug into the standard RAM expansion sockets provided and offer full compatibility with all Acorn software. We have managed a very special deal with Morley and can offer them at £140 and £395 inc VAT and carriage. 3.3 • Memory Upgrades for A3000 − CJE Micros have a 1M upgrade for the A3000 at £165 (Archive price). They are also working on a 3M upgrade and will, in due course, be offering a tradein on the 1M version. 3.3 • Memory upgrades for A305 − SPEM in Italy has produced a 2M upgrade that can be fitted into an A305 or an upgraded A305. Basically, it plugs into the sockets used by the second half Mbyte of ram on the main p.c.b. In addition it requires a couple of tracks cutting on the underside of the p.c.b. and a couple of wires soldering onto it. It is not for the fainthearted and, needless to say, fitting it will void your warranty. SPEM are offering it at a special price to Archive subscribers in Italy − Lire 750.00 or, to other European Archive subscribers, £299.99. 3.3 • MultiStore, Minerva’s long awaited fully relational database system, is now in stock. It is multitasking and handles multiple files open at once and has lots of interesting features. The price is just £299 inc VAT. (£250 through Archive) 3.3 (Many of you have protested against Minerva’s policy of copy protecting their discs and some have even said that, on principle, they would not buy any of Minerva’s products. It may be of interest to you to know that MultiStore is not, as far as we can see, copy protected and it can be backedup using the standard *BackUp command.) 3.3 (We have a review copy of MultiStore, but before you all write in, offering to do the review and get your free review copy, I should say that we need someone who really knows about databases and who is already familiar with System Delta Plus, Alphabase and also Pipedream 3, preferably, so that we get a better overview of what is available and how MultiStore compares with the opposition. MultiStore is an extensive package and we want to do justice to it in the review.) 3.3 • New language compiler − Cambridge Pascal is now available from Dabs Press for £79.95 (£70 through Archive). This is a comprehensive version of Pascal with many extras for use on the Archimedes, including access to star commands and SWI’s, compilation of relocatable modules, desktop compatible, full dynamic string handling, local error handling and random access files. 3.3 • The Datafile of Educational Software and Addresses is now in its sixth edition. It offers 4370 records of software titles and over 1000 addresses of agencies likely to be of interest to the educational computer users. For more details contact Nick Evans, PO Box 55, Grimsby, DN32 0QB or phone (0472) 77215 (evenings and weekends only). 3.3 • Worra PCB and Worra CAD have now been rewritten to take full advantage of the RISCOS window environment. The packages are available from Oak Computers and each costs £49.95 inc VAT (or £46 through Archive). 3.3 • Worra Plotter will allow HPGL compatible plotters to plot draw files. The package allows you to configure the pen speed, plotter size, pen configuration and size/offset of the drawing. It costs £29.95 inc VAT from Oak Computers (or £27 through Archive). 3.3 • 32M Archimedes for just £7? − Well, no, don’t get too excited − we’re talking about a library of routines suitable for linking into programs developed in C which provide up to 32M of virtual memory (assuming you have that much disc space to play with). It is said to be ideal for uses where large quantities of data have to be processed, e.g. image processing. However, moving data to and from virtual memory has to be performed by the routines provided. The cost is £7 from DT Software. 3.5 • A3000 Interface for 5.25“ drives − Dudley Micro Services have designed an interface (price £39.95) specifically for the A3000, for connecting one or more 5.25” (or 3.5“) drives to an A3000. They sent us one to look at and it consists of connectors to the p.c.b. and the internal drive linked by a ribbon cable out through the back of the computer to a freestanding plastic box containing the interface. External drives have to be linkselected internally as drives 1 and 2 since the internal drive remains drive 0. A link on the interface allows for older disc drives that do not provide a ‘ready’ signal. 3.5 • ARM 3 upgrade from Gnome Computers − These are now available though in rather short supply as they are having difficulty with supply of the ARM3 chips. They cost £495 + VAT direct from Gnome, but they cannot give us any discount until supply improves so they will not be available through Archive just yet. They are cheaper than the Aleph One upgrade, even at Archive discount prices, but we have not had a look at one yet to be able to compare them. 3.5 • BBC software upgraded − RESOURCE have upgraded many of their BBC titles so that they run on the Archimedes without having to use the BBC emulator and, in some cases, the graphics have been improved: Castle Pack (£21.95), Cateby Manor (£27.50), DIYbase (£27.50), Forge (£38.50), Leisure Unlimited (£29.95), NEA Case Study (£16.50) and Software Tools (£16.50). 3.5 • Caverns is a new arcade adventure game that has been recently released by Minerva Software. It not only requires flying skill and shooting accuracy but various puzzles must also be solved if the game is to be completed. The game consists of 15 levels, each with a playing area of approximately 16 times the size of the screen. It costs £17.95 inc VAT or £17 through Archive. 3.5 • CraftShop 1 and 2 (£29 + VAT each) are two very impressive new educational packages from 4mation each of which contains two programs. As they say in their blurb, describing them is not easy, so they provide a free demo disc − just send them a blank disc and an S.A.E. 3.5 CraftShop 1: ‘Patterns’ allows you to use repeated, rotated, reflected, scaled and translated simple shapes to create interesting patterns and pictures. ‘Stitching’ − imagine the traditional curve stitching (nail & thread pictures), convert it onto the screen in full colour and extend the idea into 3D with rotation. 3.5 CraftShop 2: ‘Tiling’ is used with Acorn’s !Paint application to create repeated patterns across the screen (sounds a bit dull, but it certainly is not!). ‘Embroider’ allows you to create embroiderylike patterns in various colours with ready made ‘stitches’ or DIY ‘stitches’ to produce quite fascinating patterns. 3.5 All CraftShop designs can be used with JigSaw and also Snippet and Poster when available (see below). 3.5 • DTP Images 1 & 2 are two discs of !Draw line drawings, pixel based !Paint items and video digitised images for £8.99 per disc or £14.99 for the two. Send to G.A.Herdman Educational Software for more details. 3.5 • Educational Software from Northern Micromedia − Firstly, they have a primary word processor called Stylus. The Mk 1 version of this, which is a conversion of the BBC Micro program, is available now for £15 and Mk 2, which will add dictionary, choice of fonts, etc should be available in summer 1990. 3.5 They also do a range of educational programs for various levels: ‘All About Me’, £11 (age 4+), ‘Camping’, £15.20 (913), ‘Crossword Callup’, £12.80 (all ages), ‘Funfair’ for basic numeracy, £18.80 (7+), ‘Pip Goes to the Moon’, £12.80 (5+), ‘What’s It To You’ − decision making, £14 (11+) and ‘Yellow Brick Road’, £16.50 (79). (Add VAT to all prices.) We hope to have review copies of some or all of these titles, so if anyone is interested in doing any of the reviews, please write to the Archive Editor and indicate your area of interest and your expertise. 3.5 • Fortran User Interface Development System − called ‘Interacter’ from Interactive Software Services is a subroutine library which enables software developers to combine ease of use with portability. There are versions for VAX/VMS, Unix, Prime, IBM PC and Archimedes. Full details from I.S.S. 3.5 • Genesis − Software Solutions’ new educational database is now available in full release form. The prices are £99.99 for noneducational and £69.95 + VAT for education when purchased direct from Software Solutions. The Archive price is £85. 3.5 • Integrex have inks for their 132 printer that can be printed onto paper and the result transferred to fabric. The final pattern is waterproof. TAP Consortium had some nice pieces of textile printed in this way on show at BETT. 3.5 • Mindwarp − £14.95 from Future Software is a new shootemup game written by Richard Millican. It consists of over 40 levels, increasing in difficulty. If you are lucky, you may catch a piece of a dying alien craft which can help you in various ways such as extra fire power, speed, lives and so on. 3.5 • Outline Fonts − Acorn have made their outline fonts available separately as font packs. (They are included in DTP packages but if you can’t aford the DTP prices, you may still need the outline fonts.) There is a Font Starter Pack which contains Trinity, Homerton and Corpus for £45 + VAT (£47 through Archive) and a separate New Hall pack, also £45 + VAT (£47). (Acorn DTP at £145 through Archive supplies all these fonts plus Selwyn.) 3.5 • Ram for A410/1 is down in price yet again! This time it has dropped to £80 per Mbyte. Also, we are now also selling individual chips at £12 just in case one gets mangled as you are trying to insert it! It is not an easy task to insert the chips without bending the legs as they are the socalled zigzag chips, not the more common, and sturdier, dualinline packages. 3.5 • Spare parts for 310’s − Some of you with the older 310’s and 305’s are beginning to have worn out mice (call the R.S.P.C.A.!) and worn out disc drives. If you know that they are now defunct and you simply want to replace them, we can supply replacements. The mouse at £55 is just a straight plugin replacement, but the disc drive obviously needs a bit of technical knowledge to fit it. The old drive has to be removed, the front fascia of the new drive has to be taken off as it is not needed and the drive then has to be mounted into the metal cradle that the old one occupied. You may need to adjust the position of the drive to line it up with the slot in the front fascia, but this should not prove too difficult. At £70 for the drive, it is certainly cheaper than buying Acorn’s own replacement drive. 3.5 Another alternative is to find someone to repair the existing drive. Bedford Technical Engineering (see Factfile), who are part of Granada Rental and Retail Ltd, will repair the 3.5“ drives for £20 plus parts. If the heads are duff, since it would cost more to replace them than buying a new drive, they offer a “service changeover” i.e. a refurbished but guaranteed drive for £45 + VAT. 3.5 • Studio 24 Plus version 2 is available now − £169 inclusive. (Not £149 as originally stated by EMR.) The new version is multitasking and adds extra features including DM printouts, midi keyboard remote control and onscreen notation during record and playback. If you have version 1, you can update it by sending the disc back to EMR with a cheque for £71.50 (£69 + £2.50 p&p). The bad news is that EMR say that they will not sell Studio 24 Plus Version 2 to dealers “at the moment” so if you want it straight away, you will have to pay full price direct to EMR. 3.5 • Video overlays on A3000 − Wild Vision have extended their range of genlock and video overlay cards to include the A3000. Chroma 220, 235 and 250 boards at £155, £199 and £355 respectively (+ VAT + carriage) provide a range of hardware options, all in minipodule format. (Archive prices are £165, £210 and £375.) The three boards are equivalent to the well established Chroma 320, 335 and 345 for the 310 and 400 series machines at £155, £295 and £395 respectively. (£165, £315 and £420 through Archive) 3.5 Chromatext software (£39.95 + VAT or £42 through Archive) provides video titling and XAT video utilities package (£79 + VAT or £84 through Archive) provides a wide range of software for the video producer including test card, leader clock, realtime clock, horizontal title scroll, etc. Also includes overscan modes for full screen use. 3.5 • A3000 5.25“ interfaces − It is possible to fit some of the 5.25” interfaces that were designed for the A300/400 series machines into an A3000, but the mechanical arrangement is never ideal. Watford and Dudley Micro Supplies now do interfaces specifically for the A3000. I have not yet seen the Watford one. The Dudley Micros one is OK except that it consists of an external plasic box with cables coming out between the back plate and top plate of the computer which might cause the cables to be cut into by the metal backplate. 3.6 • A3000 Analogue Port/User Port − Schools, amongst others, will be pleased to hear that Morley Electronics are now selling a minipodule for the A3000 which includes a user port and an analogue port manufactured to Acorn’s specification and fully compatible with the old BBC Micro in terms of the OSBYTE commands. What is more, it has a connector for I2C devices which opens up all sorts of possibilities for interfacing to various other devices. The price is £69 + VAT or £72 through Archive. 3.6 • A3000 external 3.5“ drive from Morley Electronics. These are now available from stock at the Archive price of £125. They are not, as we first thought, dual drives. It consists of an interface and a single 3.5” drive in a dual box. You take the internal drive out of the computer, install the interface instead of it and put the drive into the external box making it into the dual drive as shown in Morley’s advert! Sorry for the confusion but this arrangement is better, if you think about it, since it gets away altogether from the Amigastyle sideentry drive. A question was raised about preserving the warranty, but since the drives are supplied to Morley by Acorn I don’t see that there should be any problem. 3.6 • A3000 memory prices falling − We have arranged a special price for Archive subscribers for memory upgrades for the A3000. The 1M and 3M upgrades are £125 and £350 respectively including VAT and carriage. (The make of ram depends on what supplies we can get at the time − could be Computerware, Morley or Watford, but at that price, who’s complaining?!) Note though that this is a limited offer, while stocks last. There are strong rumours of a rise (yes, a rise!) in the price of ram over the next few months. 3.6 • Acorn Midi Software updates − Acorn have improved and added features to the software on their three Midi products: A3000 user port & midi podule, A300/400 midi podule and the midi addon to the I/O podule. The new software will be going into all the podules currently in production but the new ROMs and manuals are available for existing owners as upgrades with product codes AKA 54, AKA55 and AKA56 respectively at prices of “around £10, £15 and £12 respectively”. 3.6 • I/O podule software improved − If you buy the AKA56 upgrade to the software for the midi addon to I/O, you will find that the new ROM contains improved code for the I/O itself. If you have experienced problems with the I/O card, such as problems with interrupt handling, this ROM at “around £12” should solve the problem. 3.6 • Another ARM3 board − A third manufacturer is producing ARM3 upgrades − Watford Electronics. The good news is that at £349 +VAT, the price is somewhat lower than Aleph One’s price of £599 +VAT. The board is similar to the one produced by Aleph One and again needs the MEMC1a upgrade fitting to A310’s and old A440’s, but Watford will supply the MEMC1a upgrade with the ARM3 for £49 +VAT. The bad news is that, as with Gnome Computers’ ARM3 board, they are not yet available in quantity. Aleph One do not seem to have the same supply problem but no doubt the cheaper versions will become more numerous. 3.6 • Archimedes First Steps − At last, a beginners’ book about the Archimedes. £9.95 from Dabhand Computing (£9 through Archive). See the review on page 17 for details 3.6 • Best of Archive BBS downloads − Shareware 19 is now available. It features some of the best programs downloaded from the Archive BBS. It includes the following: home accounts application, hypertext based application, scientific calculator, dustbin, two file utilities, disassembler, RS423 downloader, othello, space invaders, a text adventure, and little desktop demo. Thanks, Karen! 3.6 • Best of SID downloads − Shareware 20 is now available It is the first of a series of discs of the best programs that can be downloaded Acorn’s SID database. Thanks to Phil Colmer! 3.6 It contains four demos, two games (battleship & solitaire), Arcterm 3.11, FormEd, DFStoADFS, ModeExtend, Sparkplug, Trash, VDUsaver, keyboard=mouse utility, plus four C utilities. At least two more ‘Best of SID’ discs will follow shortly. STOP PRESS Sharewares 21 & 22 ready − No spare space here, so see page 60 for details! 3.6 • Faster and cheaper ARM3’s from Aleph One − (perhaps that should read “faster OR cheaper”). ARM3’s are now available at 30MHz, instead of 20MHz as earlier versions, at the same price of £595 + VAT. (£650 through Archive) While stocks last, the 20MHz version will be available at £495 +VAT from Aleph One. If you want your 20MHz version upgrading to 30MHz, Aleph One will replace the chip and the clock for you for £50 +VAT (thus making a 20MHz chip available for someone else!) Don’t get too excited though − you will find that upgrading from 20 to 30 MHz does not give a further 50% speed increase. From figures which Aleph One gave me, it looks more like about 28% in mode 0 or 25% in mode 27. If you are not sure what speed your chip is, the crystal on the p.c.b. is 40MHz for the 20MHz chip and 60 for the 30MHz chip. Also, the chips that are capable of running up to 30MHz are black as opposed to the slower versions which are grey with a purple middle. Electronics experts amongst you may be tempted to try speeding your chips above the quoted rates and you will probably find that they will still work. However, at higher temperatures they may begin to malfunction, so you trade off speed against reliability. 3.6 (For the PCminded among you, the Norton index rises from 1.0 on an 8MHz ARM2 to 3.2 on a 20MHz ARM3.) 3.6 Sadly, the ARM3’s are not compatible with the Acorn f.p.u. This is not bad design on Aleph One’s part but just because of the different pinouts of the ARM2 and ARM3. So, if you want speed increase for doing calcula tions, you have to choose which is going to be better for the sort of work you are doing. In order to help you judge which will be best, Aleph One provide a program speed testing service. You can send them a typical program on a disc and they will run it with and without the ram cache on the ARM3 so that you can judge the likely speed increase. In order to help Aleph One provide that service without too much hassle on their part, they lay down certain specifications about the program to be tested. If you are interested, send them an S.A.E. for a specification sheet. 3.6 • Confusion over Confusion − Confusion from Cambridge International Software is the same program as Fireball II as reviewed by Dave Bilsby last month, page 41. It is available now through Archive for £10. 3.6 • Modem prices down − We’ve managed to do a better deal on the two modems we sell. The SM2400 modems is down from £235 to £210 and the WS3000 V22bis from £350 to £310. Modem cables, which were proving very difficult to get hold of, are no problem now because we are getting them made locally using better quality cabling and sockets at the same price of £10. 3.6 • Outlines Fonts − Ian Copestake Software are due to release sets of outline fonts for use with RISCOS. Symbol sets for mathematics and languages will be included. See the advertisement on page 48 for more details. 3.6 • PD software − A couple of new sources of Archimedes PD software have come to our notice. The first is Sandie the Walrus, alias Alexander Goh, who has just published his first PD disc. It contains FWPlus file converter, RISCOS application maker, Babyblues, Battleships, ChangeFSI (from Acorn), scientific calculator, Projector (from Ace), horizontal text scroller, Settype, Solitaire, StickyBD, Soundtracker and Wanda. This first disc is available now from Sandie the Walrus, 12 Mornington Road, Radlett, Herts, WD7 7BL. 3.6 Also, Peter Sykes has set up a huge catalogue of PD software: 38 straight Archimedes discs at £2.50 each plus 15 PC emulator PD discs at £3 each. Send an S.A.E. for a list to: Peter Sykes, 96 Lanehouse Road, Thornaby, Cleveland, TS17 8EA. 3.6 • Pipedrivers from Ian Copestake Software enhance your ability to control a printer from Pipedream and make scientific and foreign language wordprocessing a possibility. They provide symbol sets and different typefaces for a range of printers. Contact Ian for further details. 3.6 • TEX for the Archimedes − Donald E Knuth’s text formatting program TEX is now available on the Archimedes, including the A3000. It allows complex mathematical and scientific texts to be tpeset and printed on a range of printers. TEX is available from TooLs GmbH for £99 (£69 for education). The also have various typefaces available for different printers. Send to TooLs GmbH for details. 3.6 • Trivial Pursuit − Domark have now released their Trivial Pursuit game, £29.95 (£27 through Archive). It’s the real thing with TP board and animated question master. See review on page 41. 3.6 • Watford ram prices down − The price of the ram upgrades for the A300 series have gone down to £285 and £499 (+VAT) for the 2M and 4M upgrades respectively. (Note that the 2M board is not directly upgradable to 4M.) The price of their A3000 boards has also fallen to £129 and £349 (+VAT) for +1M and +3M respectively. (But see the special offer price on page 2.) 3.6 Important note: In the next few months, the price of ram is very likely to be going back up again due, so I am lead to believe, to surcharges levied by the E.E.C. on Japanese imports. If you are waiting for the prices to go down further before you buy your upgrades, you may get caught out. I cannot make any guarantees that they won’t drop further, but I would very much doubt it. This applies to all memory upgrades. 3.6 • Z88 A Dabhand Guide − £14.95 from Dabs Press (£14 through Archive). See the review on page 60. (In case you are wondering why we deal with Z88 when we say we are a ‘pure’ Archimedes magazine, it is because we consider the Z88 to be a peripheral to the Archimedes!) 3.6 Products to come 3.6 • DTP packages from Beebug and Clares. Beebug are saying that their “Ovation” should be ready in two to three weeks (i.e. third week in March at the latest) and Clares say their “Tempest” will happen at the beginning of April. 3.6 • Hypercards abound − another new “hypermedia” system has been announced by Relational Engineering. InterLink at £99.95 inclusive allows you to combine text and images in a card format, different cards being linked by clicking on the relevant part of the visible card. For more details, see the advert on page 5. 3.6 • Tabs − a new 3D design tool with a difference, from TAP Consortium, is due for launch in May. It provides a 2D edit window and a 3D view, continuously updated. The new idea is that, having created your object, the computer ‘unfolds’ it to provide you with a 2D sheet from which you can make up a model of the object in cardboard or whatever. Like Arcol, their 256 colour art package, Tabs will be fully networkable and will be sold either on a oneoff basis or with a site licence. 3.6 • 1 Gigabyte Tapestreamer! − Oak Computers are now selling a 1Gbyte (1000 Mbyte) Tapestreamer for just £3999 + VAT (£4030 inclusive from Archive). For more details, see the SCSI Column on page 20. 3.7 • A480’s are here! − By the time you read this it should be possible to buy from Atomwide (£850 + VAT) or through Archive (approx £890 inclu sive) a 4 to 8 Mbyte upgrade for A440’s and A440/1 (or upgraded 410’s and 420’s). The reason that 300 series computers are excluded is that it uses the coprocessor slot on the backplane to get at all the necessary address lines. One board therefore plugs into the backplane and the other connects to the existing MEMC socket. The board should be low consumption because it uses eight 4Mbit chips to provide the extra 4 Mbytes instead of the thirtytwo 1Mbit chips making up the existing 4 Mbytes. The boards are “right way up”, unlike some other memory upgrades, as this aids air flow and reduces the likelihood of overheating. 3.7 • Better Multisync at lower price − Eizo used to supply a lowradiation, low static multisync monitor (the 9060SZ) at about £40 more than the 9060S. They have now discontinued the 9060S and brought the price of the SZ down to the same price. Also, because of larger quantities that we are now buying, we have been able to increase the discount. The 9060SZ is now available at £530 (or £510 if you buy it at the same time as an A410 or A3000). 3.7 • Careware N¼6 contains Application maker, Scientific calculator, StickyBD, Sparkplug, Desktop utilities, Wordpro <−> FWPlus converter, RFSmod for CC ROM podule, 17 Maestro files (ancient & modern), Hangman (very graphic!), Connect 5 (oneupmanship?) & Polymos (based on ancient chinese game). 3.7 • Shareware N¼7 updated − Thanks to Eric Ayers, Shareware 7 is now updated to volume 3, issue 6. Also, the data is now compatible with Arcscan II (£17 through Archive). We will put the data on this month’s program disc and on the Archive bulletin board. We cannot update old Shareware 7 discs free of charge because of the huge amount of admin involved if several hundred readers sent their discs in for update. Either send us a donation to charity when you send in your old S/W7 for updating, or just order a new S/W7 at £3 − hardly an excessive charge if you add up the cost of the disc plus postage and packing plus an admin charge! 3.7 • Shareware N¼18 − (which I forgot to mention last month) contains various !Draw files containing 3 drawn fonts and a number of coloured pictures, several demo programs, space battles, rocks (asteroids), Maestro files (classical & modern) and Imperial College’s HOPE language interpreter. 3.7 • Shareware N¼23 − contains SoundTracker with tunes, Address book, File loading utility, Text printer, SetType, Sparkplug, Using View on RISCOS, Pelmanism, Connect 4, 3 demos: Baby blues, Scrolling text & Bouncing Bars. 3.7 • Cheaper ST506 drives for A410 − We are now stocking Oak Computers ST506 drives for 400/1 series computers. They are slightly slower access speeds (28 ms) than the Computerware ones (22 or 24 ms) but also slightly cheaper: £210, £330 and £410 for 20M, 40M and 47M respectively as compared to £230, £420 and £510. 3.7 • Colour Digitiser from Wild Vision − a new colour digitiser including “FastGrab” software is now available from Wild Vision at an introductory price of £339 +VAT (or £360 inclusive through Archive). We have had a look at it and it seems very impressive especially at the introductory price. This price is to be reviewed at the end of April. More details are available in the comment column on page 13. 3.7 • More DTP Images − G.A.Herdman Educational Software are increasing their range of discs of images for use in DTP to five at £8.99 each or various discount prices for different numbers of discs. 3.7 • GINO is here! − Fortran users will be pleased to hear that Intelligent Interfaces have produced GINO (£750 + VAT) in the form of three modules: GINO−F 3D which is a library of over 200 usercallable Fortran subrou tines including basic line and arc drawing, characters and symbols, colour, line styles, full 3D transformations, windowing, projections and viewing; GINOGRAF which provides advanced facilities for producing graphs, histograms and pie charts by simple automatic call instructions or more complex and flexible routines; and GINOSURF which displays 3D data as contour maps or surface views with hidden line removal. 3.7 • Impression with no dongle? − In response to popular demand, Computer Concepts have decided that it will release an educational network version of Impression that does not require a dongle. This version will be licenced to the particular school and will only run on their networked machines. (This is separate from, but complementary to, the existing offer of conventional ‘dongled’ Impressions where schools buying 10 or more copies pay only £60 + VAT per copy.) 3.7 • Last days of Doom − £19.95 (or £19 through Archive) from Topologika − over 150k of text and 218 ‘rooms’. This is the third part of Peter Killworth’s Doom adventure trilogy. 3.7 • Maps of the World − £29.95 (inc VAT & carriage) (£28 through Archive) from Micro Studio is a graphics library pack for the Archimedes featuring over 150 maps of various countries of the world. 3.7 • Personal Accounts − a new program from Apricote Studios at just £14.95 is aimed at individual or club accounts. It features multiple bank accounts, direct debits and a range of editing and searching facilities. The number of entries is limited only by memory capacity e.g. 1 Mbyte A3000 would give you over 20,000 entries. (If it is as good as their Account Book program or their Invoice Program then I suspect they have underpriced it at £14.95. I hope to have a review copy soon.) 3.7 • Prices down again! − In line with our general policy of keeping prices down as much as possible, Norwich Computer Services have reduced the prices of binders, for example, by a whole 50p!!! Seriously though, what we have done is to try to make things simpler for ourselves (and for you) by making all our prices multiples of £1. This means that most of the items on the price list that were £n.50 are now £n. 3.7 • Rotor − Getting in a Spin − a new game from a new supplier, Active Sales, is available for £24.99 (or £23 through Archive). Active are not new to the games scene having started on Amiga and ST but are now to moving into the Archimedes area. Their first offering is a very intricate looking space maze game, a little like Caverns from Minerva Software. 3.7 • VIDC enhancer from Atomwide (£30 +VAT or £35 through Archive) is a hardware modification which increases the speed of the clock on the VIDC so that you can increase the amount of information displayed on the screen. Basically it will give you a range of extra modes in 2, 4 or 8 colours, up to the same resolution as the high res mono output on the A400 series machines. 3.7 • !Works #1 − Jim Markland has produced a prgrammers’s toolbox to enable you to output DXF files compatible with !Draw. These files can be read by humans(!), merged, editted etc and ported across to other computers. £10 from Jim Markland. 3.7 • A3000 Technical Manual − Acorn have produced a manual for the A3000 which includes full circuit diagrams including the User port/Midi I/O podule and various other bits of hardware and interfacing information (£29.95 from Acorn or £28 through Archive). It consists of an A4 ring binder with 32 pages of text plus all the various physical and circuit diagrams, some of which are in separate plastic folders. 3.8 • A400 series prices reduced − Acorn have reduced the prices of the A410, A420 and A440/1 as well as the A3000. Also, if you are thinking of an upgraded 410, note that we now sell Oak Computers’ ST506 drives which are cheaper than the Computerware equivalents. Acorn’s new prices and the upgraded 410 equivalents (all including VAT) are as follows: 3.8 Acorn Our Acorn Our 3.8 Old New equiv. Educ. equiv. 3.8 A3000 746 689 − 574 − 3.8 A410/1 1379 1264 − 1034 − 3.8 A420/1 1954 1724 1530 1466 1304 3.8 A440/1 2874 2414 1860 2053 1634 3.8 The Archive prices include £50 worth of free software of your choice with an A3000 and £100 worth of free software with a 410. 3.8 (If you want an Acorn monitor at the same time, add £230 and if you want an Eizo 9060SZ lowradiation, multisync monitor at the same time, add £510.) 3.8 • A410 ram upgrades − The threatened price rise has not come − 410 ram is still only £80/Mbyte and if you buy it fitted into an A410, it is only £70/Mbyte as reflected in the Archive prices for upgraded 410’s quoted above. 3.8 (Note that an Archimedes can only have 1, 2 or 4 M of ram, not 3. So, if you order “2M of ram for a 410”, we will presume you mean that want a further 2M to add to your already upgraded 2M computer.) 3.8 • Apocalypse − 3D space shootemup game from 4th Dimension which also requires some brain power − £29.95 (or £28 through Archive). 3.8 • Archive Monthly Program Discs − To reiterate for the benefit of new members of Archive, these are available at £3 each. There is one each month and, although there is no disc subscription as such, you can order them in advance. So you could send in, say, £18 and ask for the next six program discs starting from Volume 3, issue 8, or whatever. When we send out the last disc for which you have prepaid, we put in a note to that effect. 3.8 What is on the discs? Well, to be frank, the contents is very variable. If there are any listings in the magazine, whether in main articles or in Hints & Tips, they will be put on the disc. Then, if any of the contributors send in sample files, we include those. For example, Gerald Fitton has included a lot of examples that readers have sent in of applications of Pipedream. Then, if there are other public domain programs or demos we have lying around, we may stick a few of those on it. So, sometimes it represents exceptional value at £3 but at others less so. Unfortunately, we haven’t really got the time to ensure that the standard is maintained at a constant level, so it’s up to you to decide if it is worth paying £3 a month in advance or if it’s better to wait and see what the magazine says is on the disc. 3.8 • Brainsoft MultiI/O podules − Unfortunately there has been a problem with the supply of the Brainsoft I/O podules. Technomatic who are now, we understand, the sole agents for Brainsoft, do not seem able or prepared to give us any discount. We will therefore be unable to supply them. 3.8 • Bug Hunter / Moon Dash − Two in one games from Minerva. Bug Hunter is an animal going round various rooms trying to pick up objects and drop them on top of a variety of insects. Moon Dash is a variation on space invaders. £17.95 or £17 through Archive. 3.8 • Careware N¼7 − contains all sorts of utilities such as Keith Sloan’s new improved !PCDir 1.00, for transfering files between Archimedes and MSDOS, !FontEd, !Chars, Sprite <−> GIF, Amiga/ST/MacPaint −> Sprite, Draw −> Metafiles, 12 BBC fonts, Batch file printer driver, Printer buffer, Z88 link, File utilities, Desktop BASIC module, Jot pad, Application examiner, Lowmemory screen mode and various other bits and pieces. 3.8 • ChangeFSI − Acorn have changed the status of the graphics application, ChangeFSI. After releasing it into the public domain including putting it as a free download on SID, Acorn have now decided that it is no longer public domain! I’m not sure whether they expect the hundreds of people who already have the program to destroy their copy, but they say it is now no longer to be distributed on our Shareware discs. We have complied with their request and replaced it on Shareware 21 with !Translator written by John Kortink which is, so I am told, as good as ChangeFSI anyway. (John reckons it is better, but I suspect he may be biassed.) 3.8 • Colour Video Digitiser − MicroEye 1A is a new colour video digitiser with multitasking software from Digithurst, a large company who produce digitisers for a wide range of computers. There is a version for the A400/1 series at £400 + VAT and one for the A3000 series at £495 + VAT. Note though that the software requires 2M ram minimum, so it could not be used on an unexpanded A310. Also available is Picture Book (£99 +VAT) which is a database for pictures and text. 3.8 • DIY hard discs for A410 − If you have an A410 and would like to put a hard disc in it, you should realise that you already have the hard disc controller hardware. Thus, all you need is a suitable ST506 hard drive, some metalwork, screws and a pair of cables. (The HFORM program is on the RISCOS Support Disc.) Drives can often be bought, from various sources, more cheaply than through Archive, so if you want to go down that route, we can sell a hard disc mounting kit for £19 which consists the metalwork, screws and a pair of cables. You should note, of course, that doing it this way is a little risky in that it may be difficult to get support if it doesn’t work properly when you have set it up. 3.8 • Geoscan (version 3) − A teaching aid for GCSE and A level. It consists of (1) a booklet of worksheets and ideas for more worksheets and (2) a wimp based database of 100 countries with 80 items of data on each. Information is presented in charts and diagrams and can be subjected to various statistical calculations. Geoscan is £45 from Passkey Marketing. 3.8 • Integrex colour dump − D.W.Brown has produced a colour dump for the Integrex colour printer which is claimed to have a better colour gradation than the one supplied with ProArtisan. He will supply this for £17 inc p&p. He also has an enhanced version which allows a colour to be picked off the screen and printed out with varying shades. The required shade can then be selected and your range of shades can be stored on disc for repeated use. Using this facility, you can “fine tune” your colour dump. This version is £25 inc p&p. (D.W.Brown, 2 Westend Villas, Westend Parade, Gloucester, GL1 2RY. 0452−417697.) 3.8 • JOYsticks!!! − If you pass 18 Mile End Road and see a flag flying over the building it’s because, after months of frustration, we now have joysticks in stock. We were getting a few joysticks at a time and maintaining a back order list of, at times, up to 50 customer’s orders, but Voltmace have finally provided us with a reasonable volume of their Deltacat Mouse Eliminator joysticks. 3.8 According to my two games consultants, Tim and Jonathan Beverley, several games, most notably Interdictor and Rotor, are much easier to play when using a joystick. Voltmace joysticks are now available from stock at £28. 3.8 • Maddingly Hall − Adventure game from Minerva £14.95 (or £14 through Archive). “Murder, mystery and intrigue in this text and graphics adventure. Bertie Hall, a single young man with a reluctance to work, is running short of money. In an attempt to solve his problems, he arranges to visit rich Aunt AgathaÉ ” 3.8 • Maths Pack 1 − HS Software have produced Maths Pack 1, ‘a totally new concept in educational software’ for just £11.95. Designed for National curriculum key stage 1, age 5 − 7 years. 3.8 • Pineapple Digitiser now available for A3000. The popular Pineapple colour digitiser can now be operated on the A3000 by buying their convertor kit − basically a metal housing plus a 12V power supply − for £65 + VAT. (The software supplied with the digitiser has also been improved by adding powerful noise reduction and outline drawing facilities.) 3.8 • Price cuts − Various items on the Archive Price List have come down in price as a result of getting better bulk discounts on behalf of subscribers: Computerware’s hard disc podules for A310 (including metalwork and cables) are now available for £220. Panasonic printers: the 9pin, KXP1081’s are now down to £175 and the 24pin KXP1124’s are down to £275. Morley’s A3000 memory boards are down in price − 1M is now £110 and 3M is £330. If you have a 1M Morley board and want to upgrade it to 3 M, just send it back to us with a cheque for £220. (Remember, all the Archive prices include VAT and UK carriage.) 3.8 • RISCOS upgrades − If you are still using the Arthur operating system and want to upgrade to RISCOS, we still have a number of upgrades available. The full price is £36 but to clear the stocks, we will sell them at half price (£18). 3.8 • Serial Link to BBC − Ivoryash Ltd have produced a true RISCOS serial link to BBC Micro. It installs as a disc icon on the icon bar and thereafter is accessible as any other filer under RISCOS. Good value at only £9 for the software on its own. If you buy it with a serial lead, it costs £20. (Both prices include VAT and p&p.) 3.8 • Shareware 24 is now available. It contains two applications − bar chart generator and a simple database, two games − ballroom blitz and ladybird, some 16bit soundtracker music, various utilities including desktop options for *Copy *Wipe and *Count, desktop options for Epson LX printer, a desktop printer text spooler and screen modes 20 and 21 for NEC 3D multisync monitor. 3.8 • Shareware 25 is a Maths Disc compiled by our own Brian Cowan partly from his own work and partly from contributions from readers. 3.8 It contains various programs: Numerical integration, Simpson’s rule, Solution of polynomial equations, Cubic splines and interpolation, Primes, Series, Puzzles, FFT: BASIC, FFT: Assembler, Function plotter, Extended precision calculator, Recurring decimals, Superfast 3d surface plotter with movable views, Frequency and time response of linear circuits, Pole zero plots. 3.8 It also has a number of BASIC functions and procedures which you could include in your own programs: Beta function, Binomial coefficients, Elliptic integrals, Error function, Complementary error function, Factorial, Gamma function, Logarithmic gamma function, Polynomial interpolation, Simpson’s rule integration, Trapezoidal integration, Write# in ASCII form, Hyperbolic functions and inverses, Complex arithmetic and functions, Polar to rectangular conversion and Matrix operations: transposition, identity matrix, determinant, solve linear equations, inverse matrix, decomposition, displaying arrays and complex matrix operations. For anyone needing mathematical applications, this is a very good £3 worth! Thanks to Brian and all the contributors. 3.8 • Splice − a film editor from Ace Computing (£30 or £25 through Archive) allows you to examine and edit a film, frame by frame. If used in conjunction with any art package, e.g. !Paint, it can allow you to make simple cartoons by drawing each frame. 3.8 • Talisman − A new game from Minerva. Looks like variations on a theme of Thundermonk. £14.95 or £14 through Archive. 3.8 • The Olympics − 4th Dimension’s new Olympics program is available now at £19. It consists of two discs and includes Diving, Shooting, Javelin, Swimming, Canoeing and Pole Vault! 3.8 • Tween − from Ace Computing (£30 or £25 through Archive) produces films from Draw files. It uses techniques similar to Mogul and generates a film by calculating intermediate frames from a set of key positions. 3.8 • Video Enhancer from Atomwide (£35 through Archive) is a hardware addon which increases the speed of the VIDC clock so that higher resolution modes can be displayed in colour. It can produce up to 1024 x 640 or 1280 x 480 in up to 16 colours. Since the sound is generated by the VIDC, one side effect is that when the enhancer is used, the pitch of all sound goes up a perfect fifth! This is no problem as you can switch the higher speed clock on and off by using a toggle switch. It can alternatively be software switchable but this involves removing the main p.c.b. and soldering it, so it should only be undertaken by an Acorn component level service centre. If you are prepared to have it hardware switched, you can fit the board yourself with a Philips screwdriver and a bit of common sense. The enhancer comes with a disc providing various new modes you can use though, of course, the enhanced displays can only be viewed on multisync monitors. (Atomwide tell us that these higher resolution modes do not show up very well on the Taxan 770, but are excellent on the Eizo 9060.) 3.8 • CAST1 − Cash Book program from Soft Rock Software (£29.95 inc p&p) for use by individuals or small companies. Up to 10 cash books, analysis in 26 ‘columns’, cheque payments, VAT analysis, analysis codes, etc. 3.9 • DTP Images price change − The DTP images discs from G.A.Herdman are now available for a standard price of £8.99 for one disc or £7.49 per disc if more than one are ordered at the same time. 3.9 • Easiword − “A true RISCOS” word processor from Minerva for £39.95 (£36 through Archive) with all the usual features (except a spelling checker) plus the ability to select screen display between 30 and 132 characters across the screen and large characters for use by the visually impaired. Documents can be previewed on the screen. It should be available by the time you read this − the press release of 17th May said it would be available at the end of May. 3.9 • FlexiFile − Minerva have now produced another multitasking database in response to customer requests: aimed at small business, education and home hobbyists. It will apparently be available “at the end of May” at the “low price” (their words, not mine!) of £149.95 (£130 through Archive). 3.9 • ManatArms − A new animated arcade adventure game for 4th Dimension, £19.95 (or £19 through Archive), written by the author of U.I.M. 3.9 • Monitors galore − We now have an extended range of monitors for the Archimedes. In the medium resolution range: in addition to the Acorn 14“ at £250 we have the Microvitec Cub 3000 14” (also £250) of similar screen quality but in a rectangular metal case − much easier to stand your mugs of coffee on (!) − and it comes complete with video and audio leads so that the sound can be amplified by the monitor. (The minus side, in my view, is its styling − it’s the same design of box as the Cub monitors for the old BBC range but in a cream colour to tone in with the Archimedes. So the dark surround of the glass tube, which is covered by the moulding in the Phillips monitors, stands out and changes the whole look of the thing. Also minus is the fact that the metal case tends to resonate if the volume is turned up. Well, it does on the one we tried. Also, the audio plugs, as wired by Microvitec, caused distortion. You need to modify them by adding two 1k resistors to join the stereo channels into the mono input. We will modify the leads for you at no extra cost.) 3.9 Also medium resolution is the Phillips CM8833 (£280) which is physically similar to the Acorn monitor but it comes with a separate composite video input − useful for direct video work − and stereo speakers. 3.9 For higher resolution work, we have two new multisyncs on our list, the Oak 20“ colour monitor (£1550) which makes such a difference to the effective use of the computer − you can spread your applications windows around the screen and work on them much more easily. 3.9 To make use of the hires mono output of the 440 or 400/1 series computers, we have the Eizo 21“ mono − paper white, flat screen at £1050. 3.9 • Shareware 26 − contains: Desktop phone book, PCB designer, Player for Maestro tunes (uses less memory and so plays the huge tune files on S/W 11 that hitherto have had to be played using the old ‘Arthur’ version of Maestro), Voices and tunes for Maestro, Desktop file access editor, Program to display Draw files, Text adventure game. 3.9 • Stop Press − A Viewdata editor is now available for the Archimedes. £30 + VAT from the Advisory Unit in Hatfield. 3.9 • Teletext Adaptor − Ground Control are offering a Telextext adaptor for the Archimedes for £60 inc VAT. (See Richard House’s article in Archive 3.7 p 43.) The hardware bears a striking similarity to the UTA1 as supplied by SCML (Solidisk) but the software has been completely rewritten by a different programmer. It works under Arthur but on RISCOS it is multitasking. If you already have a Solidisk BBC Teletext adaptor, Ground Control will sell you the new software plus an Archimedes lead for £25 inc VAT. (If anyone buys the new software, do let us know how good it is. Ed.) 3.9 • Teletext Server for Econet − XOB have developed RISCOS multitasking software to work with the Morley Teletext Adaptor to allow BBC’s, Archimedes and A3000’s on a network to download Teletext pages from the one adaptor. The software alone costs £87 +VAT or with the adaptor for £205. 3.9 • The Art Machine is the name of a “major art exhibition/workshop at the McLellan Galleries, Glasgow from 2nd June to 26th August. Topologika will be selling the “Art Machine” Software pack at the exhibition for £19.95 (or £29.95 after the close of the exhibition). The pack consists of five concept keyboard driven programs on maths and art: Fractal Trees, Snowflakes, Cyclic Story, Patterned Tiles, Moving Squares. 3.9 • Z88 Link − Dudley Education Computer Centre have produced a Z88 link that does not require a chip at the Z88 end (and presumably doesn’t require you to have PipeDream to provide you with the Z88 filing system module at the Archimedes end). The software on its own is £18 and combined with a lead, £26. The lead on its own is £10. They do a network licence for £54. (All prices are exclusive of VAT and carriage.) 3.9 • 1M / 4M upgrades for A3000 − Atomwide are getting into the A3000 memory upgrade market. They are doing a bare p.c.b. (costing £35 through Archive) which has eight sockets into which you plug the memory chips. If you want a 1M upgrade, you use a standard 410/1 memory upgrade (£70 through Archive). The Archive price for a populated 1M board is £100. If you want to make a 4M upgrade, you use the larger 4M by 1 bit chips (HM514400ZP−8) instead of the 1M bit chips. At the moment, these are about £350 for a set of eight but the price is dropping. So, the current Archive prices are £100 for the 1M upgrade and £375 for the upgrade to 4M. (The prices of the Morley upgrades are currently £105 and £285 but note that the Atomwide boards are 4 layer boards and only have 8 chips compared to the Morley’s 24 chips. This reduces the current consumption and comes closer to Acorn’s tight specifications for memory upgrades.) If you buy the 1M Atomwide board from us and then wish to upgrade, simply return the board and we will exchange the chips at the current rate. Remembering that the prices of both sets of chips are still falling, it would be worth contacting us before either ordering a 4M board or sending a 1M board for upgrading. 3.10 • A3000 ram prices down again − The Morley A3000 ram boards are now down to £105 and £285 for the 1M and 3M boards respectively. 3.10 • A3000 SCSI drives − Due to overstocking, we have a few 20M and 80M Oak A3000 SCSI drives with podule at very special prices of £520 and £920 respectively. The normal Archive prices are £560 and £970, and the Oak prices are £615 and £1100. (Please ring before ordering to check availability.) 3.10 • A310 upgrades from Computerware are down in price a little: £370 and £575 through Archive for the 2M and 4M respectively. Those prices include fitting by Computerware themselves; they include collection and return delivery by overnight carrier and a free MEMC1a upgrade (normal price £74). 3.10 • A310 memory upgrades − D.I.Y. A310 memory upgrades from Protokote Ltd are now available. The 1M boards are £345 +VAT and 3M boards are £510 +VAT. (£375 and £570 respectively through Archive.) They, too, will take the larger OS ROMs (if they ever appear!) though it does require track cutting and soldering to implement it which should only be done by an Acorn Componentlevel Service Centre. Also, it looks as if it would not be possible to fit an ARM3 upgrade with it, unlike the Computerware one. You don’t actually need to fit a MEMC1a to get either upgrade working, but it is our opinion that fitting either memory upgrade will shorten the life of the old type MEMC’s. 3.10 • Acom − A full multitasking comms package for only £29.95 (inc VAT) from ECD in Delft, Holland. (£28 through Archive) It has various terminal emulations: rawVDU, ANSI, Viewdata, VT52, VT100 and VT220 as well as a Viewdata editor. (See Comment Column for more details.) 3.10 • Another new monitor − We have now added the Eizo16“ colour multisync (9070SZ) to our list of monitors (£880 including a free VIDC enhancer). It is very similar to the 9060SZ (14” − £520), so is the extra 2“ worth the extra cost? Well, having actually used it, I would say it certainly is. In fact, if you were thinking of getting an Oak 20” monitor (£1550) it would be well worth looking at the 9070 first since, at virtually half the price, it offers comparable resolution and takes up somewhat less desk space. 3.10 The 9070 is a standard IBM type monitor and can therefore also be used on computers other than the Archimedes whereas the 9060 comes specially adjusted to the Archimedes’ output. If you try the 9070 on a standard Archimedes you will find that it does not work in anything other than the multisync modes but with the VIDC enhancer added to your computer it works in all the normal modes as well as the extra modes provided with the enhancer. You will find too that you can leave the enhancer switched on all the time as it even works in the lower modes with the higher VIDC clock speed. Mind you, you will have to switch the enhancer off for applications where the pitch of the sound is important since the enhancer raises the pitch somewhat. I am going to be using the 9070 for DTP work on the magazine in future, I think, rather than splashing out on an Oak 20“. 3.10 • ArVis video products − Video Electronics Ltd have a range of video products for the Archimedes: ArVis video controller & genlock podule (£279 for PAL or £295 if SVHS is also required), Videographics expansion card (£877) for colour digitisation and framestore, ArVis PAL encoder (£139). Send to them for technical information or send them £5 for a demo disc. (All prices are exc VAT.) 3.10 • Cheaper Joysticks − Bulk buying of the Voltmace joysticks has enabled us to reduce the price from £28 to £25. 3.10 • Computerware drives down in price − The ST506 drives produced by Computerware are now almost as cheap as the (slower) Oak Computers’ drives. See the Price List for details. 3.10 • Escape from Exeria is an escape from the caves game for just £2.95 from Soft Rock Software. 3.10 • First Word Plus special deal − We have ended up with rather a lot of copies of First Word Plus in stock so, “while stocks last”, as they say, we are offering it at £75 (Acorn’s full price is £92). 3.10 • Genesis special deal − We have ended up with rather a lot of copies of Genesis in stock so, “while stocks last”, as they say, we are offering it at £75 (Software Solutions’ full price is £100). 3.10 • Herewith the Clues! − A Dennis Wheatley murder mystery from Actual Screenshots. £23 through Archive. 3.10 • Laser Direct is here! − Computer Concepts’ new laser printer mentioned in last month’s Forthcoming Products is now available. Well, a small number have been shipped out of which I have just one for sale at £1080. We’ve tried it out and it does seem very much faster than the Apple LaserWriter NTII (PostScript) laser we use normally. The quality is, as far as we can see, identical (at about 1/3 of the price!). We hope to have some detailed comments on it next month in the DTP Column. 3.10 • MultiFS − allows you to access MSDOS, Atari DOS and BBC DFS disc from the desktop. £36 from Arxe Systems Ltd. (See advert on page 15.) 3.10 • Ovation − the professional DTP system from Beebug Ltd is now avail able. For £99 +VAT (£105 through Archive) you get wordprocessor and DTP rolled into one. It comes with four full outline fonts. We hope to get a review copy soon, so keep your eyes on the DTP Column. 3.10 • Panasonic SheetFeeders & Ribbons − We now sell cutsheet feeders for KXP1124 printers at £125. Also, ribbons for Panasonic KXP1124 printers (which had been proving difficult to get hold of) are now also available at £11 each. 3.10 • Pendown II − Schools’ wordprocessor from Longman Logotron is now available in a prerelease version of the Primary version for £39 + VAT (£42 through Archive) with a free upgrade to the full Primary version when it is released “in September”. The secondary school version with spelling checker and other extra features is due in January 1991. 3.10 • Poster from 4mation is now available. It provides facilities for taking !Draw files and combining them together with text to produce “interesting” effects for displays, posters, etc. Images can be stretched, squashed and twisted. Poster comes either without any fonts for those who have already bought some outline fonts, or with a selection of about 20 fonts. The prices are £64 and £89 respectively plus VAT or £68 and £93 inclusive through Archive. 3.10 • Presenter II / Graphbox / PipeDream 3 Hotlink. There are now upgrades available for Presenter II and Graphbox which allow them to be dynami cally linked to PipeDream 3. The idea is that, as you change the data in the Pipedream spreadsheet, the graph of the data is replotted automati cally without further intervention from the user. Contact Lingenuity or Minerva for more details. (See also PipeLine Column on page 31 for details of the PipeDream upgarde necessary to run it.) 3.10 • Shareware Outline Fonts − Shareware discs 27, 28 and 29 are now available each with a batch of outline fonts. Each disc also has !FontEd and !Chars on it. Shareware 27 has 6 headline fonts, 8 script fonts, 12 serif fonts and 4 symbol fonts. (30 in total) Shareware 28 has 38 sansserif fonts and Shareware 29 has 30 serif fonts. These fonts are not hinted and so will not be quite as effective at very small sizes on a dotmatrix printer though at larger sizes they are indistinguishable from more expensive commercially available fonts. Note that, to use them, you need Acorn’s font manager which is available with Acorn DTP, Impression or Acorn’s Font Starter packs. 3.10 • Slideshow − £14.95 inclusive from 628 Software turns your computer into an electronic projector by allowing you to display consecutively a number of mode 12 or mode 15 full screen sprites with a range of different transitions. 3.10 • Stig of the Dump and The Worst Witch have now been upgraded to Archimedes versions. £19 and £22.50 +VAT respectively from Sherston Software. (£21.50 and £25 after 31/7/90) Both relate to English AT1 & 2 but Stig of the Dump is for 913 year olds and The Worst Witch for 710’s. 3.10 • !Store from LCI Software (£4.99 + 75p p&p) is a utility which stores certain system variables which enable the computer to know how to run various files which you may have on your (hard) discs. It stores the RMA sprites which are used to give icons for the various filetypes from different applications which you may have. 3.10 • Superior Golf is well named! For £19.95 (£18 through Archive) you get six courses (3 at 18 holes plus 3 at 9 holes) plus a driving practice range and a course and hole editor. It has a lot more features than Holed Out including onscreen map and range indication as well as club selection with distances quoted (all of which are on paper with Holed Out). The driving is done with a power meter similar to Holed Out but then you have to catch it on the swing meter to avoid hooking or slicing the ball. The other immediately obvious difference is that putting is done with the same 3D view as driving whereas Holed out gives a bird’s eye view of the green. 3.10 • Watford ARM3’s available − We are now stocking the 30MHz Watford ARM3 upgrades. Although the supply is intermittent, we do have a couple in stock at the moment. For comparison with the Aleph equivalent, see the Comment Column on page 11. Also available are ARM3 upgrades from SPEM in Italy. More details later. 3.10 • 42M removable hard drives − Oak Computers are now selling a 42M removable SCSI drive for £1185 + VAT (£1190 inc VAT through Archive) including a SCSI podule. Remove the data cartridge for security reasons or for portability from machine to machine or for durability in transit. Extra 42M cartridges cost £99 + VAT (£105 through Archive). These are true hard drives, not the slow “Bernoulli” type. More details in the SCSI Column on page 43. 3.11 • 512M SCSI drive − Oak Computers are now selling a 512M external SCSI drive for £4085 + VAT (£3990 inc VAT through Archive) including a podule. This is actually a 640M drive but Acorn’s software can only access 512M per logical drive − but see SCSI Column on page 43. 3.11 • A3000 memory prices down again. Morley boards are down to £100 and £265 for the 1M and 3M respectively and Atomwide are down to £90 and £365. The Atomwide 3M board has not gone down in price as much as we had hoped, as the price of the 4M bit chips is still staying fairly high at the moment. 3.11 • A3000 memory boards − Computerware have now entered the A3000 memory board market with one which uses the same (excellent) philosophy as Atomwide. The idea is that it has 8 chips only. If you want a 1M upgrade, you put eight 1M bit chips in (same chips as A410/1 memory upgrade at £60/Mbyte) but if you want a total of 4Mbytes in your machine, you use eight 4M bit chips. (Sadly, it does not give you a total of 5Mbytes because the internal 1Mbyte is disabled − the existing MEMC can only address 4Mbytes of ram.) The current Archive prices are £35 for the unpopulated board, £90 if it is populated with 1Mbyte and £365 with 4M. 3.11 • A310 memory upgrade prices are not falling at the moment except that we have some Watford boards we are selling off: 1M at £290 and 3M at £490. Ring if you want either of them. 3.11 • A410 memory prices down again − A410 − We have now got the price of the memory upgrade ram for A410’s down to £60 per Mbyte. 3.11 • Alien Invasion − Alien Images, Dabs Press’ games software arm has produced an Archimedes version of the classic space invaders game. The game play is identical to the original black & white game that I used to play on my 2k Acorn Atom but there are 1,000+ levels, a sprite editor, speed control, etc. £14.95 from Dabs or £14 through Archive. 3.11 • ArcComm is back − After several months of being unobtainable, ArcComm communications package is back. It has some new features and a new price of £29 + VAT (£31 through Archive). Tim Saxton is having a look at it and I hope to have his comments in next month’s magazine. 3.11 • ArcLaser − A direct rival to Computer Concepts’ Laser Direct is now available at £899 (+VAT + P&P) compared with CC’s £999 +VAT. It uses the same Qume laser engine, so the difference is in the podule hardware and the driving software. We hope to do a direct comparison soon. The price was £799 but that was only an introductory price so when you add carriage (£12.15 + VAT) you get a total of £1047.82 which is getting pretty close to the allinclusive Archive price of £1080 for Laser Direct. Unfortunately, Calligraph will not give sufficient dealer discount (unless I buy 10 at a time!) to offer a discount through the magazine so you will have to order direct from Calligraph. 3.11 • CadMust − Complete design system for digital and analog circuits. CadMust Schematic provides schematic diagram drawing and CadMust PCB gives a PCB layout facility. Both are available from USARC in Amsterdam. 3.11 • ChangeFSI − A new RISCOS version is available from Wild Vision for £22 + VAT. Their press release says that Acorn “has decided against placing this program in the public domain and it is being distributed under licence from Acorn.” 3.11 • Deeva from Calderglen Computers Ltd is a sideways scrolling ‘shootemup’ program for £19.95 inc VAT. 3.11 • EPROM Programmer − Racing Car Computers have produced an EPROM programmer for the Archimedes including multitasking interface software. It costs £149.95 inc VAT, handles standard CMOS & NMOS ROMs from 2716 to 27512 and is available in two forms: an external box with its own p.s.u. that communicates at 19,200 baud via the serial port and a parallel version at the same price which takes the form of a podule with a ZIF socket on the end of a ribbon cable. They are also doing adaptor boards that will allow it to program microcontrollers. 3.11 • Fan speed controller − Ray Maidstone, who has been investigating the idea of slowing down the fans on Archimedes computers to reduce the noise to an acceptable level, has come up with a circuit board which does just that. It fixes onto the fan powersupply connector and sits at such an angle that it also acts as an airflow deflector to ensure that the air which is drawn in actually goes to the parts of the board that need cooling. He has used temperature probes to research all this, so it isn’t just a madcap scheme. He will be selling them by the time you read this. For more details, contact Ray Maidstone, 421 Sprowston Road, Norwich NR3 4EH. 3.11 • Hostages from Superior Software, £19.95 (£18 through Archive) is an action graphics adventure aboutÉ hostages. 3.11 • Inertia − A new game from 4th Dimension £19.95 (or £18 through Archive). Explore two huge, colourful landscapes in your highly sensitive craft negotiating ramps, jumps and various hazards. Includes two soundtracks. 3.11 • Interactive Video − British Nuclear Forum have produced three interactive video discs for use with the Archimedes. One of them has won a ‘Nebbie’ award. (It’s an award from an international interactive video disc organisation in Lincoln, Nebraska.) The idea is that you control the video by clicking on the screen with a mouse and the Archimedes controls the video disc. I played with an Apple Mac version of this sort of thing at the Science Museum in Amsterdam when I was there on my hols. It was great fun and has a lot of educational potential but until it gets going there is no incentive for producers to do the videos and until there are some videos there’s no market for the video controllers! 3.11 • Jiglet from 4mation is a junior version of Jigsaw at only £29+VAT (£30 through Archive). Aimed at younger Archimedians, it gives a choice of 16 pictures made up into 4, 6, 9 or 12 piece jigsaws. 3.11 • Memory Magic is a game from Cambridge International Software based on an Indian game where you have to remember the contents of a dish having seen it for a certain length of time. (Kim’s game, we used to call it.) The price is £15.95 (£15 through Archive) and it is due for release at the All Formats Fair on August 4th. 3.11 • MicciMouse is a mouseandicon driver front end for the Pineapple Digitiser, providing facilities for monitoring, capturing, manipulating and arranging images. The basic version is available for £4 from Chessfield Software. An enhanced version with much more comprehensive facilities is available for £21, also from Chessfield. 3.11 • MicroDrive − a golf simulator (yes, another one!) from Cambridge International Software. Full 3D view, no power meter but a full use of mouse keys to control the swing. The price is £19.95 (£18 through Archive) and it is due for release at the All Formats Fair on August 4th. 3.11 • NStore − National Curriculum recordkeeping and reporting for primary schools from HS Software (£24.95) stores records on all the Statements of Attainment from levels 1 to 6. Provides various facilities for graphs, level summaries, ranking, etc. 3.11 • Ovation demo disc − for £5 from Beebug Ltd, you can get a demo disc of their new DTP package, Ovation. It’s probably worth having anyway, even if you don’t want to buy Ovation because on it are Acorn’s Outline Font Manager and a couple of Beebug fonts. The cheapest way to get the font manager otherwise is to buy Acorn’s Font Starter pack at £47! The fonts and the manager can then be used with !Draw (free) and FontFX (£10) to very good effect for ultracheap semiDTP. 3.11 • Shareware 31 − now available containing an editor for use with C, graph plotter, desktop magnifier, quacking good demo, funny mouse pointer, ‘Secret Garden’ adventure, Taipei Chinese game, BASIC program compressor, DFS reader, complete DOS filing system, BASIC access from desktop, computer shutdown from desktop. 3.11 • Shareware 32 − now available containing a whole load of lineart from various sources plus various utilities: sprite to GIF, sprite to TIFF, !Translator, Teletext to sprite, sprite mode converter, util to display info on screen modes, Impression key shortcuts, convert spooled text for Acorn DTP, Textonly printer driver, keystrip for !Draw, palettes to improve LC10 and Integrex colour output quality. 3.11 • Snippet from 4mation is a screens workshop for £29+VAT (£30 through Archive). It provides loading, saving, printing, carouselling, etc of screens. It can add borders, change colours and do special effects. 3.11 • WorraCad, Oak Computers’ precision CAD system, is here at last − well, it will be by the time you read this. Oak have gone through several rewrites of this software in order to really get it right as far as importing and exporting via multitasking are concerned. It will work properly with Draw, Paint, Impression, Euclid, Genesis, PipeDream, etc. It is objectoriented and uses floating point arithmetic to 18 signifi cant figures. It has tools for generating geometric constructions such as tangents and normals, and other facilities including hatching, dimensioning, scaling, mirroring and rotating. Even with all these features, it will run on an unexpanded A3000. From what I saw of it at the Econet Conference, it is a very impressive piece of software and, in my view, grossly underpriced at £75 + VAT (£80 through Archive). Mind you, they say that this is an “introductory price” although they give no indication of when it will be going up in price. The only bit of bad news, some would say, is that it uses a dongle (identical to the Impression dongle). If you have already got Impression, you can either put the two dongles together or send them back and get a single dongle that will work with both pieces of software. 3.11 • XRun is a yet another vertically scrolling shootemup program from XFM Software (£9.95). It is described as having “20kHz sampled sounds, excellent graphics 18 levels, multiple powerups etc.” Having tried out a review copy, it is very similar to YAIG on Shareware 16. XFM are offering a ‘special price’ to Archive readers of £7.95 − just quote your subscription number. 3.11 • A3000 memory prices down again − Atomwide’s 1 to 4M A3000 upgrade is now down to £355. We now also have Computerware memory boards available at the same price as the Atomwide ones: £90 and £355. These are the same format with just 8 chips, as Acorn prefer, providing either 1M or 4M by using different chips. (With the 4M chips, you don’t end up with 5M, unfortunately, as one of the four megabytes just duplicates the internal ram.) 3.12 • A3000 memory prices down again (part 2) − The Morley 1 to 2 M boards are now down to £90 and the 1 to 4M upgrade boards are on special offer, while stocks last, at £240. To upgrade from a Morley 1M board to a 3M, it is still just the difference in price: £240 − £90 = £150. Send in your old 1M board with a cheque for £150 and we will upgrade it for you.) 3.12 • A3000 VIDC enhancers − Atomwide have now redesigned the VIDC enhancer so that it will fit into the A3000 as well as A300/400 series machines. If you have a multisync monitor, it is well worth thinking of getting a VIDC enhancer at £35. 3.12 • A310 memory upgrade price drop − Computerware’s memory upgrades have dropped in price. The 1 to 2M upgrade is now £360 and the 1 to 4M upgrade is £540. Despite what we put in last month’s issue, these upgrades will continue to be available from us either as Computerware upgrades or from another company, as yet undecided. The new company will take over all the guarantee commitments of Computerware and, in any case, we at N.C.S. will give a personal guarantee to cover the full 12 months. 3.12 • ARM3 price drop − Aleph One have dropped the price of their 30 MHz ARM3 upgrade to £495 +VAT. We can now sell them for £520 inc VAT (compared to the Watford ARM3s at £460). 3.12 • CASA − Computer Aided Structural Analysis of 2D frames is available from Vision Six. The entry level version at only £150 +VAT copes with up to 32 members and 32 nodes and will run on a 1M machine. The full version is £600, needs somewhat more memory, and has a capacity only limited by the amount of memory (which could be up to 8M, don’t forget, with Atomwide’s 4 to 8M upgrade). 3.12 • DataSweet − a suite of desktop applications written especially to develop children’s data handling skills. Each application may be used to explore data handling techniques from basic graph drawing to full database searches and spreadsheet calculations. The whole ‘DataSweet’ has been written with the National Curriculum guidelines on data handling in mind. For further information, contact Hampshire Microtech nology Centre on 0705−378266. 3.12 • Desktop Office − is a very impressive looking package from Minerva which combines, in the multitasking environment, database, wordproces sor, spreadsheet, graphs & charts and communications packages. This looks to be excellent value at only £129.95 inc VAT (£120) through Archive. 3.12 • Minerva price reduction − Not surprisingly, with the launch of Desktop Office, Minerva are reducing the prices of GammaPlot & SigmaSheet to £49.95 (£46 through Archive). 3.12 • Memory chips for Willi Langhans’ upgrade − Those who sent an S.A.E. for the plans of Willi Langhans’ D.I.Y. memory upgrade may wish to know that we can supply the memory chips at £70 per Mbyte (8 chips). 3.12 • Monitor leads − We now sell extralong (1.2 m) monitor cables (£15) for use with Acorn or Philips monitors. They also have a connection for sound so that you can amplify the Archimedes’ sound and have manual control over the volume. 3.12 • Nevryon − £19.95 from the 4th Dimension (£18 through Archive) is a fast action sideways scrolling shoot ’em up game. Two discs, 256 colour graphics, 4 channel stereo, 6 pieces of stereo music, 6 levels of “true parallax scrolling” and an “amazing array of weaponry for maximum destruction”! 3.12 • Personal Accounts Special Edition − Apricote Studios have done a new multitasking version of their Personal Accounts especially for the A3000 and Archimedes. New features include: Automatic standing orders and forecast ahead, budgeting, 10 bank/credit accounts online at the same time, calculator, usable for clubs or nonVAT businesses. The new price is £24.95 or £23 through Archive. If you bought the earlier version, you can upgrade for the difference in price and your old files are com pletely compatible. Return your old disc to Apricote (not to Archive) with a credit card number or cheque for £10. 3.12 • Redshift − an impressive fastscrolling (vertical) arcade game from Minerva (£17.95 or £17 through Archive). 3.12 • Removable hard drives − The Electric Scribe Co. Ltd are selling a removable hard drive for the Archimedes. It’s basically the same mechanism as the Oak drive but only costs £749 +VAT though this does not include a SCSI podule. See the SCSI Column on page 12 and the advert on page 13 for more details. 3.12 • Shareware 30 − Although we mentioned Sharewares 31 and 32 last month, we seem to have omitted to mention Shareware 30 which contains various soundtracker modules plus a soundtracker test program. 3.12 • Careware 8 also got missed out of the honourable mentions. It contains a ‘Primary’ word processor, yet another 256 colour art package, desktop ‘Life’, graphics demos, mouse patience, bat’n’ball game with a differ ence, ‘peggity’ game, various Maestro files, FWPlus file conversion, autodisc formatter, disc label designer, line editor module, movable icon bar, 01 to 071/081 conversion, RMA manager. 3.12 • Tabs − the 3D model making software from TAP Consortium is now available in its fullrelease version. This software allows you to create models on screen and then get the computer to print out an exploded view of the model which can be used to cut out and make a 3D model. (We have a review version and need someone working in an educational CDT environment to try it out. You would need to have access to a Plotmate A3M or HGPL compatible plotter.) 3.12 • WorraCAD − a mistake on the Price List last month gave the price as £70 − it should have been £80, sorry! Oak’s own price is £75 +VAT = £86.25. For more details, see the advert on page 22. 3.12 • Tiny Logo is a new implementation of Logo from Topologika and is aimed at young children. Some of the facilities can be disabled if required to make it less confusing for younger users. The pack includes Tiny Draw, a mouse/icon controlled painting package for infants and lower juniors. The price is £29.95 or £28 through Archive. 4.1 • 5.25“ disc drive interface − Digital Services produce a podule floppy disc drive interface which provides a rather more easily fitted interface than any that we’ve seen so far. £35 +VAT or £38 through Archive. 4.1 • 600 d.p.i. 8 page per minute laser printer for only £1399 + VAT (£1490 inclusive through Archive). Computer Concepts have released their new 600 d.p.i. version of the Laser Direct. It is a modified LBP8 laser printer engine with a board which fits into the Archimedes, just like the 300 d.p.i. Qume version. This printer, because it is modified specifically for the Archimedes, cannot be used on other computers. If you want to have a printer than can be used on both the Archimedes and other computers, you can get an LBP4 (which is, admittedly, half the printing speed of the LBP8) and use CC’s interface board and software which can be bought separately for £350 + VAT (£370 through Archive). 4.1 • A3000 ram prices down again − The 4M Atomwide and Computerware ram upgrades have dropped in price to £320. These are the ones which adhere to Acorn’s guidelines about the numbers of memory chips in an A3000 ram board. 4.1 • Acorn price drops − Certain of the Acorn podules have dropped in price: Ethernet card is now £250, the floating point podule is £500 and the SCSI card is £250 (+VAT in each case). 4.1 • Archimedes Annual Service Kit − Acorn recommend that you change the batteries on your Archimedes (this does not apply to A3000’s) once a year. That may be a bit over cautious but if your computer is two years old, I would definitely change the batteries since spurious configura tion changes can occur which you may not notice and which could cause you all sorts of hassle. Also, having had a few A310’s back for memory upgrades and having seen the state of the fan filters, I would also recommend changing the filter every so often. The trouble is, alkaline batteries come in packs of four and you only need two and have you tried asking your local dealer for a replacement fan filter recently?! What we have put together is an Archive Service Kit − two batteries plus a fan filter for £2. 4.1 • Archimedes Learning Curve Launched − For the same price as an A420 (new price £1299 + VAT) you can now get an Archimedes Learning Curve pack. This is not to be confused (some hope!) with “The Learning Curve” hereinafter called “the A3000 Learning Curve”. The software that comes with the Archimedes Learning Curve is the same as with the A3000 Learning Curve (DR DOS, PC emulator, Genesis and First Word Plus) but with the addition of Acorn DTP. Also included in the new pack are the introductory video and a copy of “Your Child and the National Curriculum” again as included in the A3000 Learning Curve pack. Please note that neither Learning Curve includes a monitor. This has to be purchased separately. All the software is carefully laid out on the 20M drive. 4.1 • Archimedes Price drops − The prices of the A420 and A440 have dropped to £1299 and £1699 +VAT respectively (£1493.85 and £1953.85). Also, the new Archimedes Learning Curve which has recently been launched adds to the complication since it sells at the same price as the straight 420! If you want a 420, it is best to buy the Archimedes Learning Curve from us at £1490 and get the Learning Curve software free as well as a £100 Archive software voucher. If you want a more powerful machine, we can swap the 20M drive for a 40M or a 47M drive for £210 or £290 respec tively and we can upgrade the memory to 4M for £120. If you want the 20M drive replaced with a SCSI drive instead of an ST506 drive we can allow you £120 off the price of the SCSI drive. So, for example, you could have it with a 45M SCSI by adding £405 or an 80M by adding £630. 4.1 So, if you want a Learning Curve 440 equivalent, it will cost you £1490 + 290 (drive upgrade) + 120 (memory upgrade) = £1900 which works out cheaper than Acorn’s own A440 price without the extra software. If you really don’t want the software then you can buy an upgraded A410 from us for £1260 + £180 (3M ram) + £390 (47M drive) = £1830 and so you save yourself £70. If you are thinking of buying an Archimedes Learning Curve or an upgraded A440 Learning Curve, note that the software is supplied on the hard disc, not on separate floppies, so I don’t know how you stand legally if you are thinking of selling the software on to someone else. I suspect that it may be a breach of the licencing agreement under which Acorn sell you the software. 4.1 • Arclight − an extremely fast multitasking ray tracing package for Euclid users. It is now available for £50 inclusive from Ace Computing (£46 through Archive. 4.1 • ARM3 upgrade − Aleph One have improved their ARM3 upgrade and reduced the price again. It is now on a board just 50mm x 60mm and stands only about 6mm above the ARM 2 chip socket so that there should be no more problems of incompatibility with anything. They have achieved this amazingly small size by using surface mount components throughout. The price hasn’t shrunk in quite the same proportion as the size(!) but it is down to £449 +VAT or £460 through Archive. (See Comment Column on page 13.) It also means that if you can find someone who owns a surface mount rework station, you could, in theory, replace the ARM2 on an A3000 with an 84 way socket and then put in an ARM3 upgrade. 4.1 • ARM3 upgrade − CJE Micros are now also selling ARM3 upgrades for the A300/400 computers. The upgrade has two extra features to make it stand out from the opposition. Firstly, the ARM3 is in a sub assembly so that it can be replaced when other ARM chips and/or floating point units become available and secondly, though the chip is run at 30MHz, you can buy a “Super Booster” which will increase the speed to “34, 36, 38, 40É MHz”. (See Comment Column on page 14.) The prices are £500 (inc VAT) for the upgrade and £34.50 for each Super Booster. The ARM3 itself will be available through Archive for £465 but the Super Boosters are only available through CJE Micros. 4.1 • Ballarena − the first game from the French Archimedes software house, Eterna. At £19.95, it is an all action arcade type game with some excellent background music. 4.1 • Business Accounts from Minerva − For £99.95 (inc VAT) each, you can buy modules for Minerva’s new business accounts system: Stock manage ment, Order processing and invoicing, Sales ledger, Purchase ledger and Nominal ledger. If you want all five modules, they can be bought for £399.95 (inc VAT). (Archive prices are £90 and £350 respectively.) Although these are revamped programs, they are not, I gather, multitasking. 4.1 • Careware Disc 9 − Fast Julia and Mandelbrot generator, desktop fractals, 3D ray traced Julia and Mandelbrot sets. 4.1 • Computerware A310 memory upgrades are still available through Archive despite Computerware’s demise. We have a few in stock at the moment. 4.1 • Datavision is Silicon Vision’s relational database management system consisting of label printing, reporting, wordprocessing and mailmerging facilities in one integrated environment. It costs £149.95 from Silicon Vision or £130 through Archive. 4.1 • Dust − Educational software house, Resource have produced a new mathematics program called, Dust. It is designed for upper junior and lower secondary age children. On an “eyecatching journey through the solar system” you are faced with various mathematical puzzles. It is set up as 10 chapters with supplementary activities and a teacher’s guide. The price is £30.50 +VAT (or £22.50 if you buy 10+) or £32 inclusive from Archive. 4.1 • EdScheme Lisp Compiler − Lambda Publications have produced a Lisp incremental compiler for the Archimedes for just £37.50. It has been recommended to us by Mr A Angus of Blyth, Northumberland as a good selfstudy course in computer science when combined with Abelson & Sussman’s “Structure & Interpretation of Computer Programs”. 4.1 • Financial Accountant from Silicon Vision provides order processing, invoicing, sales ledger, purchase ledger, nominal ledger, cash book, stock management, reporting, VAT analysis, trial balances and profit analysis all in one package. It costs £275 from Silicon Vision or £245 through Archive. 4.1 • Flexifile − Minerva’s latest offering in the database area is now available at £149.95 inclusive (or £130 through Archive). It is a “simple to use, multitasking, relational database”. 4.1 • Gate Array Design & Teaching system provides an introductory course for teaching silicon chip design including array design, cell design and a tutorial on IC design. The price is £149.95 from Silicon Vision or £130 through Archive. 4.1 • !Help − The Teacher’s Guide to the Archimedes from Sherston Software reviewed last month (page 40) has gone up in price from £4.95 to £7.95. 4.1 • Impression II − should be available by the time you read this. The price is £169 + VAT or £175 through Archive. It will take some time to clear the backlog of orders, so please be patient. 4.1 • Interdictor II is now available from Clares Micros at £34.95 (£32 through Archive). When compared to Interdictor I, it has better landscaping, the flight simulator is much improved, there is a new game scenario, a greater variety of enemy targets and a computer analysis of the state of the plane in flight. It is not an upgrade of Interdictor I but is a completely new product with, sadly, no upgrade path. 4.1 • Jetstream from Digital Services is a 30M tapestreamer at a very reasonable price − £599 + VAT or £640 through Archive. It is not a SCSI device but consists of a podule, to which the streamer is connected, and front end software driven from an icon on the icon bar. It has the added advantage that the podule can also be used as a 5.25“ external disc drive interface. The streamer itself takes either 20M or 30M tapes and can back up drives larger than the tape size by using multiple tapes. It runs at 1.5Mbyte/minute, i.e. 13 minutes to back up a 20M drive or half an hour to backup a 45M drive. 4.1 (This is a somewhat slower, but rather cheaper, alternative to the Oak 60M tapestreamer at £1100. However, if it is a SCSI drive you want to backup, a 42M removable drive at £680 is a much better alternative as it can be used as an ordinary drive as well as being used for backup purposes.) 4.1 • Join the Jet Set! − ZCL Ltd are launching a package aimed very aggressively at the games market. They are putting together an A3000 and a high quality TV modulator with Interdictor, Superior Golf, Trivial Pursuits and Euclid for £650 +VAT. (£710 through Archive.) A great idea for a Christmas present! 4.1 • Joystick Interface − You can now use your favourite joysticks from Amiga, Atari or whatever, on the Archimedes. This interface fits into the Econet connectors on the Archimedes or A3000 and has special software which allows you to use two joysticks to run applications that were intended to be mouse or keyboard based. (Fitting such a joystick interface will, of course, void your warranty.) These are available from RTFM Software in Jersey for £34.99 inclusive. 4.1 • Laser Direct and ArcLaser supplies − We can now supply toner cartri dges (£75) and replacement drum sets (£95) for the Laser Direct and ArcLaser. 4.1 • MCP is a lighting and special effects management system designed for discos, etc. It can handle up to 512 channels on a single core cable with 1 to 5kW dimmers with an easytouse management system run from an Archimedes. This system is available from S.P.E.M. in Torino, Italy. 4.1 • Mouse splitter from Voltmace − If you are fed up with having to unplug the joystick and plug your mouse back in again after the kids have been playing games on the computer, here is the answer! Voltmace have produced a simple switch box into which both the mouse and the joystick can be plugged. A toggle switch then selects which is active at any time. This will save a lot of hassle and will remove the liklihood of a broken mouse or joystick plug caused by continued plugging and unplugging. For A3000 owners, this is particularly useful − I don’t think Acorn could possibly have found a more awkward place to put the mouse socket, do you?! The only problem for A3000 owners is that, at least on the sample switch box I was sent, the cable is so thick that the computer won’t sit properly on its feet! I have told Voltmace about this and am hopeful that they will use a thinner cable in future. These boxes are £19.95 inclusive (or £18 through Archive). 4.1 • Office Tools is a combination of Silicon Vision’s packages: Datavi sion, ShareHolder, Financial Accountant and the Presentation System. It costs £375 from Silicon Vision or £320 through Archive. 4.1 • !Orrery is Spacetech’s latest application. As I am sure you all know(!), an orrery is a device (originally mechanical) for displaying the solar system showing the orbitals of all the planets. This appli cation allows you to view the solar system with an accurate backdrop of stars and zoom in and out and to look at it from different places both within and outside the solar system. £95 +VAT from Spacetech. (More information on page 55.) 4.1 • PipeMania comes to the Archimedes − Entertainment International have now transferred Pipemania, the well known Amiga/Atari/Spectrum etc game, onto the Archimedes. You have to direct the pipework around the screen before the slime reaches the last piece of pipe you have laid! £23 through Archive. 4.1 • Removable SCSI hard drives − we are now stocking MicroNet 42M removable SCSI drives as well as the Oak ones. These drives are considerably faster than the Cumana 20M removable drives and are about the same speed as the standard Oak fixed SCSI drives. Indeed, in the higher resolution modes, they are faster! The Archive price for a drive without a podule, but including the cables and one 42M cartridge is £680 inc. VAT and the spare cartridges are £80 each. If you buy it with an Oak SCSI card, it comes out at £870. More details in the SCSI Column on page 47. 4.1 • Rhapsody is Clares’ new music notation package supporting Midi input and output, editing and printing of musical scores. The price is £49.95 or £46 through Archive. See the comments on page 43. 4.1 • RoboLOGO is Silicon Vision’s own version of Logo providing 3D movement of an onscreen robotic figure (no hardware turtle equivalent, I’m afraid). This package costs £99.95 from Silicon Vision or £90 through Archive. 4.1 • Schema − Clares have taken over Acorn’s multitasking spreadsheet, Schema, and it is now available for £129.95 inclusive or £110 through Archive. It sounds extremely powerful but we haven’t yet got a review copy. As well as the normal spreadsheet functions, it also has some graphical output − bar, line, area and pie. 4.1 • ShareHolder is Silicon Vision’s share management system for the small investor which will allow you to automate your portfolio. It costs £195 from Silicon Vision or £160 through Archive. 4.1 • Shareware Disc 33 − is a music disc with twenty tunes for Maestro, three utilities and seven tunes for soundtracker, a computerised metronome and a midi monitor. The soundtracker utilities are: one which separates samples and songs from soundtracker modules, one which plays a soundtracker module and one which allows the user to control the way in which the module is played. 4.1 • Shareware Disc 34 − contains !Draw+ (a much improved version of !Draw), 38 lineart draw files, a converter to change outline fonts into bitmap fonts, a screen mode info module, a converter from !Paint 256 colour numbers (0255) to RGB values, a PipeDream to Impression conver ter, an update to !PrinterPS, a pound printer utility and PrintUtils for FX80. 4.1 • Shareware Disc 35 − contains a desktop cassette inlay printer, a packet radio program, a desktop front end for Wingpass Assembler, a desktop dustbin, a desktop find file, a routine which converts BASIC programs into application code, a desktop disassembler, a desktop front end for Acorn’s Squeeze utility, an iconbar clock and some files relating to a geothermal energy project (explained in the Help!!! Section on page 16). 4.1 • Silicon Vision price rises. Unfortunately, Silicon Vision has felt the need to increase the prices of much of their Archimedes software. The new prices, including VAT, are as follows, the Archive prices being in brackets after each one. 4.1 ArcPCB £195 (£160) 4.1 Realtime Solids Modeller £195 (£160) 4.1 Solid CAD £149.95 (£130) 4.1 FilmMaker £99.95 (£90) 4.1 Solids Render £149.95 (£130) 4.1 RoboLOGO £99.95 (£90) 4.1 Gate Array Design System £149.95 (£130) 4.1 Super Dump £29.95 (£28) 4.1 RiscBASIC Compiler £149.95 (£130) 4.1 RiscFORTH Compiler £149.95 (£130) 4.1 SuperPlot £39.95 (£37) 4.1 ShareHolder £195 (£160) 4.1 Datavision £149.95 (£130) 4.1 Financial Accountant £275 (£230) 4.1 Office Tools £375 (£320) 4.1 • Solids Render is Silicon Vision’s multitasking raytracing software which works with their FilmMaker to produce animations. Can be used to raytrace the output from SolidCAD and Realtime Solids Modeller. The price is £149.95 from Silicon Vision or £130 through Archive. 4.1 • SuperDump is printer driver from Silicon Vision for use with Epson compatible printers. Images can be scaled, positioned and previewed before printing. This package costs £29.95 from Silicon Vision or £28 through Archive. 4.1 • SuperPlot is a plotter driver from Silicon Vision which supports HPGL, Graphtec, Watanabe and Plotmate plotters amongst others. It is compat ible with all of Silicon Vision’s graphics packages. It costs £39.95 from Silicon Vision or £37 through Archive. 4.1 • Taxan 14“ multisync monitors − new to the price list this month is Taxan’s new 795 colour monitor with the flat screen Trinitron tube. Anyone who saw it on display will agree that the quality is even better than the Eizo 9060SZ (.28mm dot pitch). This is partly due to the closer dit pitch (.26mm) and partly due to the new Trinitron technology tube. The Archive price is £590 inc VAT and carriage. Note, however, that this monitor, unlike the Eizo 9060SZ will not work in modes 17 and below unless a VIDC enhancer (£34 through Archive) is fitted to the computer. (See the Hardware Column on page 21 for further comments.) 4.1 • Taxan 20“ multisync monitors − also new to the price list this month is Taxan’s 20” colour monitor, the Taxan Multivision 970. It is a BIG monitor with .31mm dot pitch which, on a 20“ screen represents very high resolution. The Archive price is £1690 inc VAT and carriage. The price includes a free VIDC Enhancer. 4.1 • !Works Tools #1 (£10) from Jim Markland Software explains the DXF format of !Draw files, has some BASIC utilities and allows you to incorporate your own vector graphics in DTP. 4.2 • !Works Tools #2 (£30) is a contouring application for surface modelling. It outputs MTV polygons, DXF, sprite and Euclid format files. 4.2 • 3.5“ best quality branded discs from Archive are now down to £13 for 10 or £60 for 50. 4.2 • A3000 Ram board prices down. Atomwide 1M £80, 4M £275, Morley 1M £80, 4M £255. 4.2 • Amazing Ollie is one of Storm Software’s first educational programs for the Archimedes. It is aimed at children aged 4+ and covers number recognition, counting, adding, maze solving and handeye coordination. £13.95 +VAT or £15 through Archive. 4.2 • Astro is a set of interactive programs from Topologika for exploring space. It is aimed at upper primary and secondary school students. The price is £19.95 or £18 through Archive. 4.2 • AutoLoaders − We have now managed to get a working system for formatting and copying Archimedes discs. It attaches to a standard Archimedes computer (even an old 310 will do) via a 5.25“ interface and a serial lead. You can put 50 discs in at a time which it either feeds out to a main output hopper when copied or into a reject bin if the disc does not verify properly. If anyone is interested in buying one, we can supply them, including software, leads etc for £2,300 + VAT (£2,645). If we could buy more than one at a time, we would be able to get discount from the suppliers, so let us know if you are interested. 4.2 • Base5 DBMS is a suite of BASIC V functions and procedures designed to implement database programs. Currently it is only ‘RISCOS compatible’ but soon it will be fully multitasking. For a list of the features, see the advert on page 14. The price is £69 (no VAT) from Base5 or £5 for a demonstration disc refundable on purchase of the full system. 4.2 • BugHunter in Space − is the sequel to Bug Hunter’s adventures on earth. £17.95 from Minerva or £17 through Archive. 4.2 • Careware N¼10 − The latest Careware disc which is now available includes three educational games: Mathematical invaders, maze game with questions on English, History, Geography, Maths and Science and a hangman type game. The other items on the disc are a bridge hand lister, solitaire game, 6 puzzles and a rubik cube program. 4.2 • Chocks Away is 4th Dimension’s new flight simulator. You are the pilot of a biplane with various missions to fly. Alternatively you can have twoplayer dogfights. £24.95 or £23 through Archive. 4.2 • Coffee is a role play package from Storm Software, aimed at children aged 9 − 15. It brings in elements of maths, geography, history, english, science and environmental studies. The price £27.95 +VAT or £29 through Archive. 4.2 • Drop Ship is an arcade game from 4th Dimension in which you have to pilot your spaceship around through various scenes with a range of nasties trying to put an end to your life. It is very reminiscent of Rotor from Arcana Software. Price £19.95 or £18 through Archive. 4.2 • Honeypot is Resource’s “imaginative and enjoyable approach to primary technology”. The pack contains three story books, an A3 picture book, a photocopiable teacher’s book and two computer programs; one allows children to “walk” down Honeypot Lane, the centre of the imaginary village; the other enables children to combine their own text with pictures. £44.25 from Resource or £42 through Archive. 4.2 • Kaptain Konflict − “the ultimate combat experience” in which you “face enemy soldiers, take the buildings, blow up the installations”. £19.95 from Calderglen Computers. 4.2 • Ollie the Octopus Sketchpad is an art package from Storm Software, again aimed at children aged 4+ and is also £13.95 +VAT or £15 through Archive. 4.2 • PAL Colour encoder − Pineapple Software have produced a colour encoder for the Archimedes which takes the standard RGB output from the computer and encodes it into a composite signal. This means that you can take the output into any VTR that has a composite input and record the output from the computer or you could use it to drive a colour monitor that has a composite input. The cost is £69 +VAT. 4.2 (N.B. For the nontechnical readers, this is not a modulator, i.e. it is not intended to provide a TV type signal. We have been asked by a number of people if we know where they can get a TV modulator but we don’t. However, there must be some around as ZCL are providing them with their JetSet packs − see last month’s Products Available column. Ed.) 4.2 • Personal Accounts 2 − Apricote Studios have now produced version 2 of their Personal Accounts package. It is fully multitasking, has a bigger description space, you can save reports as a text file instead of immediately printing them, a notepad window has been added and there are a number of other smaller improvements. (See the review on page 54 and the advert on page 5.) The price has changed because Apricote Studios are now VAT registered. The Account Book and The Invoice Program are now £34.95 each (£32 through Archive) or if you buy them both at the same time, they are only £59.95 (£59 through Archive). 4.2 • Price changes − The new Computer Concepts 600 d.p.i. Laser HiRes has gone up in (Archive) price from £1490 to £1560 because CC didn’t include the price of the toner cartridge when they did their costing and, obviously, you can’t supply the laser printer without one. These printers are now available from stock. (Check the Price List insert to see if we have any available on special offer at the moment.) 4.2 • ProText 5.0 is the first offering into the Archimedes market from Arnor Ltd. It is a mature wordprocessor currently available for IBM, Atari and Amiga, now ported across onto the Archimedes. At £149.95 inc VAT (or £135 through Archive) it offers a wide range of WP and mailmerge facilities, including a 110,000 word dictionary and has a programming language (which, as a Wordwise Plus devotee, I will be interested to see). It is due to be released before this magazine is printed. 4.2 • Pysanki is yet another new offering from 4th Dimension. This is an arcade game reminiscent of a space age version of Repton though it seems more sophisticated. Price is £19.95 or £18 through Archive. 4.2 • Shareware N¼36 is now ready. It contains various applications: 3D graph plotter, Cash book and Stock control. Two music related programs: Soundtracker module fixer and a Midi recorder. The rest of the programs come under the heading of utilities: Hard disc backup (also does SCSI), File filter, Font availability manager, File type guesser, VIDC mode info, Desktop wastebin, ANSI terminal escape sequence emulator module, Improved communications enhancer module, Module disassembler. 4.2 • Sprite files galore − Micro Studios have produced three packs of sprite files on different subjects − World Wildlife, Prehistoric animals and History: Costume. They cost £19.95 each (inc VAT) or £18 through Archive. (Micro Studio are working on !Draw versions of many of these sprites − the !Draw version of an allosaurus which they put on an examples disc for us was very impressive and must have taken ages to create.) 4.2 • TCP/IP Protocol Suite from Acorn Computers provides file manipulation, terminal access and electronic mail in a mixed network environment; Econet, Ethernet, Sun NFS etc. It is available as a single user package for £228.85 (£195 through Archive) or a site licence for £1144.25 (£995 through Archive). There is also a Programmer’s Pack for £50 (£48 through Archive) which provides the information needed for programmers wanting to access the software at different levels. 4.2 • The WIMP Game is another excellent game from the 4th Dimension. It is a fully multitasking application so you could have it on your desktop while you were also doing some other work! Basically, it is an image based adventure game starting in a darkened lounge, the aim being to progress from being an Acorn Atom owner to owning an R200 workstation. Price £19.95 or £18 through Archive. 4.2 • A3000 20M SCSI drives drop from £560 to £390. No, that’s not a printing error, Oak have lopped £170 off the (Archive) price of their A3000 20M SCSI drives. The full details are given in the SCSI Column on page 15 but basically, these are full spec, autoparking drives in external metal case for just £390 inc VAT and carriage. 4.3 • Annual Service Kits − We have had to put the price of annual service kits up because fan filters are more expensive than we thought and so are the batteries − or rather there isn’t much discount available by buying batteries in quantity. What we have done is to put the price up to £3 each but if you buy other goods at the same time, you only need pay £2. This reflects the cost of postage and the fact that if someone’s order consists of a single service kit, the admin costs are (propor tionately) much higher. 4.3 • Arcscan III − Beebug have now produced a multitasking RISCOS version of Arcscan at £14.95 (member’s price) or £18.95 for nonmembers. There is an upgrade from Arcscan 2 at £4.75. All prices inc VAT. 4.3 • ARM3 upgrades galore. The first is from from ZCL Ltd. At £399 +VAT, it is the cheapest we’ve seen so far, but as we haven’t had a chance to look at it yet, we cannot say how it compares with the others. Beebug have also produced one, also at £399 +VAT but again, we haven’t seen one. 4.3 • Careware 11 − This contains an Apple IIe emulator written by Benoit Gilon of the Paris Archimedes User Group. Due to copyright, it is not a stand alone emulator, which means that you will have to get copies of the ROM images yourself. The disc contains a ReadMe file that explains how you obtain these. The emulator provides the following features: NCR/ GTE 65C02 processor, language card, 80 column display, 128 kbyte memory model, mousetext characters, lores/mixed/page2 display modes, keyboard access through the use of Ôsoftswitches’, monitor bell subroutine emulation and disk drive with DOS 3.3 and ProDOS 8 compatibility. 4.3 • Chocks Away2 − (Wow! That was quick! Chocks Away 1 was only announced last month.) 4th Dimension have produced a new version of Chocks Away with even smoother graphics and new scenery. The Mark 2 edition is being supplied now instead of Mark 1 and anyone wanting an upgrade (free of charge!) should send their Pilot’s Flying Manual with their name and address direct to 4th Dimension (not to Archive). The manual will be returned together with a disc to convert their existing program to the new version. All black box recordings and high scores may be maintained in the conversion. 4.3 • CIS Utilities is a twodisc set of utilities including ProCopier, screen blanker, file encryption and a utility for compiling certain BASIC commands into assembly language plus many others plus some free games. £16.95 from Cambridge International Software or £16 through Archive. 4.3 • Crisis is a mazetype adventure ‘with a difference’. £29.95 from Cambridge International Software or £27 through Archive. 4.3 • DataKing is an information retrieval and display system from Shenley Software. (i.e. database package + chart drawing). It is designed for children working under the National Curriculum and incorporates three levels of operation allowing it to be used at all four key stages − children aged five to sixteen. The idea is to provide a package that will run in a “fairly consistent way” on the various different environ ments encountered in schools − BBC/Master, Archimedes/A3000 and RM Nimbus. It is available in five different formats: Archimedes (inc Econet), BBC/Master standalone, BBC/Master Econet, Nimbus standalone and Nimbus network. If you buy the software in just one format, it costs £49 (no VAT) but then if you want additional formats, they are £15 each if bought at the same time. The cost includes a site licence. 4.3 • DataTrans is data translation program from Shenley Software, costing £18. It allows you to take data from one format and convert it to another − formats include CSV, DataKing, Key, Quest, TAB, ViewStore, etc. 4.3 • Drummer is a percussion sequencer for Midi. It is “easy to use” and comes with some ready made track sequences and can be used with other music programs. £19.95 from Cambridge International Software or £18 through Archive. 4.3 • FormChem is a library of !Draw files containing nearly 300 organic chemistry fragments together with a wide range of organic chemistry structural fragments. Form_Chem is £14.99 from G.A.Herdmann Educational Software. 4.3 • Genesis II is due for launch at the BETT Show in January. (Yes, I know this is supposed to be Products Available, but I think Genesis II is an extremely important new product for the Archimedes so I am breaking my usual rule.) New features will include data compression and the ability to add Armadeus sampled sounds − brilliant for, say, modern language work. The text handling facilities have been greatly improved as have the database aspects of Genesis I. Probably the most important change is the script language. In Genesis I, this just allowed simple page description and linking but now it is upgraded to a general purpose programming language allowing the user to develop complete RISCOS applications without having to understand the complexities of the window manager. (Ian Lynch is hoping to transfer his loyalties from DTP to start a Genesis Column in the new year.) Genesis II will be £99.95 (+VAT) for education users or £149.95 inc VAT for the rest of us. (£130 through Archive) 4.3 • InterClock from XOB is an allinone Econet interface but it includes clock and terminator thus reducing the need for separate boxes, leads and power supplies. Along with it are EcoFace and EcoTerm which are a standard Econet interface and one with a builtin terminator. The idea is that all you would need would be one computer with an InterClock, one with with an EcoTerm and the rest with EcoFaces. Prices are £89.50, £46 and £39 respectively. These are exVAT education prices. 4.3 • International Hangman − MicroAid have produced a RISCOS version of hangman which has the interesting extra ingredient of having sets of words in 25 different languages as well as English. The price is £10.75 +VAT. 4.3 • MahJong Patience is played using MahJong tiles − the object of the game being to remove matched pairs until you clear the board. It sounds easy but it apparently requires skill and patience and is very addictive. £19.95 from Cambridge International Software or £18 through Archive. 4.3 • MiniPack 5 is a threedisc set compilation: Fish (adventure), Fireball II (breakout type game) and Pon. £29.95 from Cambridge International Software or £27 through Archive. 4.3 • More MicroDrive courses − for £14.95 (£14 through Archive) Cambridge International Software are selling a pair of new courses for MicroDrive. 4.3 • Powerband is 4th Dimension’s latest offering. At £24.95 (£23 through Archive) it is an impressive looking Formula 1 simulation. It should be available by the time you get this magazine. (Their Break147 snooker game has gone back to the drawing board and is now scheduled for March 1991.) 4.3 • Prism is a new art package from Barry Christie, author of Art Nouveau. It is not just a RISCOS version of Art Nouveau but “goes far beyond it in its capabilities”. It is distributed by XOB and costs £61.20 +VAT for a single user or £200 for a site licence. 4.3 • Risc User Arc Omnibus Games − seven original games for just £12.95: Dominoes, Ogre’s Lair, Pick a Pair, BallonMan, Amaze, Cribbage and Moric. 4.3 • Risc User Special Disc Volume 3 − a host of applications, utilities and games for just £12.95. (The advert in Acorn User implies that these prices are inclusive, but Mike Williams tells me that you are supposed to add 60p p&p and then add VAT. To save you money, if you order it using the voucher in the December Acorn User, I believe they Beebug will be obliged to supply it at the price specified.) 4.3 • RISCOS front end for Morley Teletext Adaptor £15 inc VAT. Ivoryash Ltd have developed a program to give a multitasking display for the Morley Teletext Adaptor. 4.3 • RISCOS printer Drivers − Ace Computing now produce a range of RISCOS printer drivers: HP PaintJet, Canon PJ1080A and Epson JX compatible (e.g. LC10, XB24 colour, Citizen Swift24 colour) each at £15. Then there is Integrex at £5 and ColourCel at £25. 4.3 • RiscType V2 − this is a full typing course from Cambridge Interna tional Software − it even includes sound effects if required! It costs £19.95 (£18 through Archive). 4.3 • SCSI software improved − New improved SCSI software from Oak Computers for their 16 bit SCSI interfaces is now available. £10 +VAT from Oak or £11 inclusive through Archive. (See SCSI Column on page 15 for more details.) 4.3 • Supersound Creations is a fourdisc set of relocatable modules of sound samples. £17.95 from Cambridge International Software or £17 through Archive. 4.3 • Toolbox 1 is a disc from Type Mismatch containing seven RISCOS compatible applications for £14.95 (no VAT). They are screen blanker, wastebin, doodle, dual column BASIC program lister, desktop window designer, password access to desktop, password access to files and directories. 4.3 • VoiceBuilder from MJD Software is a facility for creating new sound voice modules for use with other packages such as Maestro and Rhapsody. (For more details, see the advert on page 16) £19.95 + £1.50 post & packing. 4.3 • A3000 SCSI drives − In line with the trend for lower drive prices as the volume of sales increase, Oak Solutions (was Oak Computers) have produced a range of A3000 external drives 20M, 45M and 80M at £349, £449 and £649 respectively (plus £10 p&p + VAT). The Archive prices are £390, £490 and £690 respectively. These drives are slightly slower than their 310/410 equivalents, but not markedly so for the difference in price. These are their, delightfully named, Worra Winnie drives. 4.4 • A310 RAM upgrades − We have decided to stop stocking A310 ram upgrades because we have not really got the staff to cope with all the work of doing the upgrades. If you want an A310 RAM upgrades, contact Avie Electronics on 0603−416863 and talk to Alex or Atomwide on 0689−838852 and talk to Martin. 4.4 • ArcMonitor is a machine code monitor from Cambridge International Software. It takes the form of a relocatable module, but with mouse control, and implements all the ARM instruction set as well as the four processor modes. The screen layout has five windows for: disassembly & memory dump, commands, help, program output and processor information. We haven’t seen it yet, but it sounds very impressive. £24.95 from CIS or £23 through Archive. 4.4 • BBC Emulator improved − Acorn have produced a new version of the BBC emulator which also provides utilities to help you to transfer and develop 4.4 • Bulk Disc copier − We have found a new autoloader which will attach to the Archimedes computer. Now you can copy discs at a rate of 40 per hour. This new Xpress autoloader comes from Mission Six in the States and, when linked up to an Archimedes using our new bit copying software, allows fast and easy disc duplication. Although it is a superior autoloader, we are being offered better discount by the importers, providing we can sell sufficient, so we can offer the whole bundle including interface, cables, autoloader and software for the same price of £2,300 +VAT. The same autoloader unit can be used to copy 5.25“ discs as well as 3.5” − just change the drive − it takes less than a minute. 4.4 • Expansion box for the A3000 − Wild Vision have produced a box which will hold two full width or three half width podules. The box is £139 + VAT. (I saw the unit and would advise readers to check whether it is now fitted with anything to fix it firmly to the A3000 case. In the prototype I saw, the box was held to the A3000 purely by the pins of the Euroconnector. I moved the computer backwards and forwards on the table two or three times and the expansion box worked loose. Ed.) 4.4 • Freddy Teddy is really ready! − Topologika have produced the first of their educational packs for the very young. It is aimed at developing concepts of colour matching, colour sequencing, counting, comparison and visual discrimination. The pack contains three programs in which Teddy visits a bakery, works in a factory, goes on a balloon journey and does acrobatics on a skateboard! It also comes with a story book. The price is £19.95 from Topologika or £19 through Archive. 4.4 • MeasureIT is an interface box with a user guide and either primary or secondary based software for £64.50 from Resource. Also included are two temperature sensors, a light level sensor and a push switch. 4.4 • Multiple modes on the Archimedes. GL Consulting Ltd have produced a utility to provide a wide range of screen modes such as SVGA, XGA, 8514/ A etc. The introductory price of the package is just £7.50. Details from Martin Thorpe at GL Consulting. 4.4 • OCR is here − the various Archive subscribers who have asked whether there is any optical character recognition software available will be pleased to know that Irlam Instruments have a system running that will allow you to convert monochrome sprites into text files. The system is written in machine code for speed and is fully trainable for use with a wide range of fonts. Available now from Irlam for £????? or through Archive for £??????. 4.4 • Shareware 37 is now available. It consists mainly of utilities: disc free space monitor, BASIC editor starter, find file, help, application launcher, current directory setter, text editor (like TWIN), system variable editor, font handling module, a list of the characteristics of virtually every known hard drive (ST506, SCSI etc.), alternative alphabet provider, faster PC emulator screen updates and a WIMP interface manager module. This latter utility is very powerful and worthy of further explanation. It is a module that helps programmers implement colourful and pleasant graphical user interfaces for WIMP based applications. It provides additional validation string commands which allow programmers to design WIMP applications that look and feel like Computer Concepts Impression, to provide interactive help, to control other icons and to control pointer shapes. Acorn are obviously impressed with the idea since, even though it is a PD program, they have given Simon Huntington, the author, an official SWI chunk number and even allowed him to use the WIMP_ prefix. As well as the interface manager module, Shareware 37 contains the full documentation, a typical C application and a modified version of !FormEd. 4.4 • Shareware 38 is now available. It contains three applications − desktop address book, desktop graph plotting with best fit and a BASIC curve plotting program; two games − chain (a twoplayer strategy game and tetris; plus seven utilities: clipboard for text icons, outline font fixer (so that !FontEd can read them), desktop calendar, draw file italiciser, application launcher, screen mode switcher and a font folder switcher. 4.4 • Tools is the latest graphics library pack from Micro Studios. £19.95 or £18 through Archive. 4.4 • TV adaptor − various folk have been asking about the availability of PAL TV adaptors for the Archimedes. They are now available through Norwich Computer Services at £35. 4.4 • TwinWorld from Cygnus Software is an impressive arcade style adventure with lots of baddies to avoid or kill, doors to unlock, tunnels to explore etc. The graphics and sound are very good indeed. In fact, Micro User gave it a 10 rating on all counts in its review last month. The price is £19.95 from Cygnus or £18 through Archive. 4.4 • Archway2 is here at last. Simtron’s Wimp programming software has now appeared in its mark II format. It has so many features that you’ll have to ask Simtron to send you a descriptive leaflet. The price is £99.95 + £5 postage from Simtron or £90 through Archive. 4.5 • ArcMonitor − ArcMonitor, Cambridge International’s machine code monitor program has gone up in price from £24.95 to £29.95 (£28 through Archive). 4.5 • ArcPinball − Shibumi Software have produced a pinball machine on your screen for just £24.95 or £23 through Archive. It claims to be the closest computer simulation to the real thing. It has various backdrops and music tracks. One nice feature is the video snatches which appear at appropriate points during the action. 4.5 • ArcTerm7 from The Serial Port is a full-featured comms package for just £79.95 (£75 through Archive) from “the comms guru” Hugo Fiennes. It offers TTY, ANSI, VT52, VT102 and Viewdata terminals with X, X-1k, Y, Y- g, Z and J modem protocols as well as Kermit, SEAlink, MNP2 and Vasscom. Other features include 100-number phone directory, call logging, script language and macro keys. 4.5 • Bengali and Punjabi outline fonts − Hampshire Microtechnology Centre have produced outline fonts for Punjabi and Bengali characters. These can be used with Impression, Poster, PenDown, Draw etc. Each language font is on a separate disc for £20 per disc plus £1 post & packing. Also on each disc is a file containing a printout of the font plus a keyboard overlay in Draw and Poster format. 4.5 • Blowpipe from The Serial Port is a “totally awesome horizontal shoot ’em up game” with 5 levels of “meteoric mega-action” and 2.5M of 256- colour graphics with 15 pieces of 4-channel stereo music all compressed onto two 3.5“ discs for just £19.95 (£19 through Archive). 4.5 • Capsoft Disc N°1 − This disc contains various drawn fonts, borders, frames etc for use in DTP and !Draw. Useful for creating dropped capitals, posters etc. Send £6 cheque to B.J. Thompson, 8 Oldgate Avenue, Weston-on-Trent, Derbyshire, DE7 2BZ. 4.5 • Careware Nº 12 − The latest in our series of charity discs is Careware Nº 12 which contains HU-Prolog. A review of this appears on page ????. (We have raised over £35,000 for charity through Archive magazine during the last couple of years. Well done all who have contributed!) 4.5 • CJE ARM3 − There has been a bit of a problem with the software that was shipped with the early CJE ARM3’s. Basically, it bore a remarkable similarity to the software written by Nick van Someren for the Aleph One ARM3. About the only thing that had been changed was the copyright string! However, CJE and Aleph One have settled out of court and Nick is donating a proportion of the compensation money to charity. CJE are re- writing their control software and so, if you have a CJE ARM3 and the modules on the disc are dated September/October 1990, contact CJE for details of how to get your free, legal version of the software. 4.5 • Decibel Attenuator Circuit − By any other name, this is a fan slower- downer. If you are fed up with the noise of the fan on a 310, 410, 420 or 440 Ray Maidstone has come to your rescue. He has produced an electronic speed control board (user-fittable) for just £18 +VAT (£20 through Archive). He has done careful temperature measurements to check whether effective cooling takes place at lower fan speeds and the evidence shows that you don’t have to suffer Concord-type noises any longer! 4.5 • Desktop Folio from E.S.M. should be ready by the time you get this magazine. For £90 +VAT (£95 through Archive) you get the long-awaited, much-trialled, school-oriented “word-processor, desktop and interactive publisher”. 4.5 • Dongle Dangle − We are now stocking dongle dangles for Computer Concepts’ Impression dongles at £5. If your computer goes back against a wall, you probably find that the extra distance the dongle plus printer lead sticks out is a nuisance. The dongle dangle is a short flexible extension cable which will allow the dongle and printer lead to... yes, dangle... down behind the computer. It should also work for the WorraCAD dongle. 4.5 • DTP Seeds is a book of ideas for DTP − £8.45 from 4mation or £8 through Archive. This book has 100 pages of sample DTP output to show what can be done using the DTP facilities available on the Archimedes. It is not specific to one DTP package but gives general ideas about the sort of impressive output you can produce with good DTP techniques. 4.5 • Educational materials − G.A.Herdmann Educational offer a free catalogue of materials for DTP, electronics, educational games, advanced chemistry, data-logging, assessment and CAL. Just send them an S.A.E. 4.5 • Equasor − For those who need to put scientific equations in their Impression text, Computer Concepts’ Equasor is what you need − £56.35 or £52 through Archive. 4.5 • Expression-PS − For those preparing Impression output for printing on PostScript devices including professional typesetters, Computer Concepts have produced a utility program (£23 from CC or £21 through Archive). This provides such facilities as control over screen density and screen angle, provides a selection of different screen designs, allows output on a variety of new page sizes, provides negative output and automatic font name conversion from Acorn to PostScript names. 4.5 • File Handling for All is the title of a new book from David Spencer and Mike Williams of Beebug Ltd. It aims to offer an extensive and comprehensive introduction to the writing of file handling programs with particular reference to BASIC. It applies to the BBC Micro as well as the Archimedes. The cost is £9.95 plus postage from Beebug. There is also a supporting disc for £4.75. 4.5 • Giant Killer from Topologika is a maths adventure game. It includes calculator games, number patterns, tessellations, map work, topology, time/space and logical puzzles. It is a well-established product that has only just come to our notice and sells for £19.95 or £18 through Archive. Also available is the Giant Killer Support disc at £17.50 (£16 through Archive) which is a disc of Giant Killer puzzles in graphical form. 4.5 • Investigator II − The Serial Port have an improved disc utility program providing sector level disc utilities allowing the accessing of discs where other methods fail. £27.95 from The Serial Port or £26 through Archive. 4.5 • Iron Lord − Another game ported across from the Amiga by Cygnus Software. It is a medieval adventure which also has arcade action and wargaming. The price is £19.95 from Cygnus or £18 through Archive. 4.5 • Landmarks − Longman Logotron have released the first two titles in this series which is aimed to complement the Landmarks Schools’ TV series. Landmarks Egypt and Landmarks Second World War provide text and graphics data which pupils can interrogate. The packs are £19 +VAT each. (£20 each through Archive.) 4.5 • Mad Professor Mariarti − This is a maze-type game from Krisalis Software where you have to travel around through five laboratories avoiding being killed by nasties, and solving puzzles in order to complete all 100 screens. Sounds familiar? Maybe, but our two boys (aged 10 and 12) have been hooked on it for days. £19.95 or £18 through Archive. 4.5 • Magpie is a multi-purpose program aimed at primary and middle schools for doing project work. It can be used to combine pictures, text and sound samples and can even be used as a simple DTP medium using Acorn outline fonts. Magpie is £54 +VAT from Longman-Logotron or £57 through Archive. 4.5 • Mental Maths is Cambridge International’s new mental arithmetic pack for £19.95 (or £18 through Archive) It is designed to work in with the National Curriculum attainment targets but “makes learning and practis ing mental arithmetic fun”. 4.5 • MicroNet removable hard drives − The speed increases and the price falls! The average access time of the MR45 drives is not 25 milliseconds as previously stated but 20 milliseconds. Not astounding news, true, but the really good news is that we are now buying in big enough quantities to go direct to the importer and can therefore get an even better price. We have now brought down the price of the basic drive from £650 to £595 including VAT & carriage and, with an Oak podule, to £795. With the Lingenuity podule, it is £775. 4.5 • OCR from Irlam is still “not quite ready” − about three weeks. The cost will be £159 +VAT or £165 through Archive. 4.5 • P.I.P.P. − Cambridge International Software’s Professional Integrated Project Planner is now available in four versions for primary, middle and secondary schools and for teachers’ and resources centres. The cost of each package is £49.95 or £46 through Archive. 4.5 • PowerBand version II − 4mation are offering a free upgrade to Mark II − just return your two discs to them (not us). This new version clears up one or two minor bugs (as they say!), has lots of improvements to all aspects of the original game, allows the skill level of opponents’ cars to be individually set, allows the number of opponents in Fun and Game modes to be set between 2 and 11 and allows you to adjust your own skill level. 4.5 • Revelation is an education-based art package from Longman Logotron (£76 +VAT or £80 through Archive.). It has been created with particular emphasis on facilities for taking images from other sources such as digitisers, scanners or video frame-grabbers and processing them to create totally new pictures. 4.5 • Show Page − For anyone interested in learning about PostScript and for those wanting to handle PostScript files from other computers, Computer Concepts have produced a PostScript compatible interpreter which runs in the RISC-OS environment (minimum memory 2M). The price is £149 +VAT or £155 through Archive. 4.5 • Square Route − At last a slightly different game − well, I’ve never seen it before. It has 250 levels and all you have to do in each level is “turn the right number of white squares into red”. Simple? Not exactly, you have to use your brains. When you have completed all 250 levels(!) you get a special number which will allow you to send off for a further 250 levels for just £6.99. The game is not copy protected (making hard disc operation easy) but has an embedded serial number to enable its producers, Computereyes, to prosecute those who breach copyright. The price is £19.95 from Computereyes or £18 through Archive. 4.5 • Tracker is a music sequencing package for producing your own sound- tracker module for use in your own programs. £49.95 from The Serial Port or £46 through Archive. 4.5 • VIDC enhancer & Taxan 795 − People using Taxan 795 monitors may like to know that Atomwide have produced a new module for use with their VIDC enhancer. This is a free upgrade if you send them a disc plus some stamps. 4.5 • Worldscape from The Serial Port is an emulation game in which you try to control the ecological balance of the world. You build cities, power stations, search for coal and oil, plant forests etc and see what the effect is on the ozone layer, temperature, pollution, sea levels etc. The price is £19.95 or £19 through Archive. 4.5 • X_Image is an image format conversion utility for PC compatibles (!!) which will convert from Acorn sprite format to TIFF and other PC image formats. Needs files on a PC format disc (using, say, !PCDir from Careware Nº7) and only costs £10 from Foster Findlay Associates. 4.5 • Data cartridges for tapestreamers − We have found a better source of data cartridges for tape-streamers and can do the 60M cartridges for £23 and the 150M cartridges for £26. The tapes for the 1 Gbyte tapestreamer which we advertise at £45 each are, apparently, just ordinary 2 hours DAT tapes that you could buy from W.H.Smiths’ or such-like for £8 or 9 and then formatted. It takes about 4 hours to format which is why Oak charge so much for them. 4.6 • DataStore Utility Disc 2 − A second disc of utilities is now available for £14.95 inc VAT or £14 through Archive. It contains: A desktop backdrop with a difference, a desktop toolbox window, a disc indexing program, a file activity monitor showing exactly which files are currently open, a list of BT phone code and areas, a utility which collects sprite name, system variables etc and enables you to set up your computer quickly at switch-on, a viewdata frame display utility, a utility that will replace your desktop A icon with an animation(!), an on-line manual utility and a fun demo. 4.6 • Disc magazine − A.S.T.E. Syracuse is an Archimedes disc magazine produced on an amateur basis. With the first issue, costing £4.99, you get a total of three discs; one containing the magazine itself and then two discs of PD software. The organisers, B Browne and A Kells, insist that it is not, as some magazine reports have said, a PD library. 4.6 • DTP (and other) utilities − A newly formed company, Design Concept, has 11 utilities mainly intended for DTP users at various prices from £1 to £2 each. We haven’t got space to detail them all here but it includes things like a shading facility for !Draw, a way of printing out all the fonts you have got, a converter from X-window bitmap fonts and a converter which stipples a colour image to two colours. Write to Design Concept for a full list. We hope to get review copies soon. 4.6 • Educational management software − Cogent Software have produced two packages for educational establishments. The first, Monitoring and Reporting, provides facilities for recording, analysing and reporting on students’ performance. The basic price of the package is £400 for a secondary school, £200 for a middle school or £150 for primary or special schools. There are additional text files for different subject areas at £50 or £65 each. The second package, Curriculum Auditing, allows you to cross-reference the experiences the pupils are given with the skills, knowledge and concepts outlined in the school’s curriculum. The pricing for this is similar to the first package. Also available from Cogent Software are optical mark readers which tie in with the management packages. 4.6 • Educational software − Chalksoft, well known for its educational software on various computers including the BBC Micro has now turned its attention to the Archimedes. Titles available include: Puncman, programs 1 to 7, (ages 7 to 15+) cover various aspects of english; Spelling − week by week (ages 6 to 14+); Reversals (ages 8 to 14+) help with the problems of d/b, p/q etc; House of Numbers (ages 6 to 13) covers maths for key stage 2; First Words & Pictures and Words & Pictures (ages 3 to 7+) concentrate on early words, matching them with pictures; Letters & Pictures (ages 6 to 8+) introduces word building skills; Numbers & Pictures (ages 4 to 6+); Maps & Landscapes (ages 9 to 14); Keyboard player, music for ages 8 to adult; Note Invaders, a musical game for ages 7 to adult and Mark Master for secondary or tertiary administration. 4.6 • Flight Path − a simulation from Storm Software aimed at 9 year olds + sets you up as the pilot of an airliner (and owner of the company) and gets you to fly the plane and run the company. It brings in aspects of maths, geography, english, science and history. Available now in Archimedes format for £36.95 inc VAT or £32 through Archive. 4.6 • Fonts galore − A newly formed company, Design Concept, has 8 innova tive new fonts for sale at ‘silly’ prices (my word, not theirs); £1.50 per font plus £2 carriage. If you want to see the sort of things they are offering, have a look at the advert on page 17. We haven’t actually got the fonts for review yet but we’ll let you know what we think when we’ve seen them. Apparently, they are designed from scratch using FontEd and include “proper hinting of the characters”. 4.6 • Genesis I to II upgrade − If you want to upgrade from Genesis I to II, all you need to do is to send your Editor disc to Oak Solutions with a suitable cheque or official order and they will send you a complete new pack. The cost of the upgrade is £34.95 + VAT for education users or £59.95 for non-education folk. Please do not send it to Norwich Computer Services. 4.6 • High speed SCSI drives − One of the advantages of SCSI is that, at the moment, “everybody is doing it” − and that means all the more commonly used computers whose names I will refrain from using. High volume production, of course, means lower prices such as we have achieved by using removable drives that were being sold into the Apple Mac market. In the same way, we have managed to find some extremely cheap and extremely fast fixed 48M drives produced by ZCL who are also selling them into the Atari and Commodore markets and for PC’s − there, I’ve said it! 4.6 They are actually 52M drives that format to about 48.6M; they have an average access time of 17ms and run at up to 1,000 Kbytes/sec (yes, 1Mbyte/sec) using an Oak SCSI interface. The “alternative test” that we use (copying a large directory with many files) takes under 7 secs. These compare with about 600 Kbytes/sec and 9.3 secs for a standard Oak 45M drive but I haven’t got any of the new HS or Worrawinnie Oak drives in stock to test for comparison. (They will be coming into stock tomorrow, but the magazine has to be at the printers tomorrow(!) so I will put the results on the Price List.) The prices are £520 for an internal 48M drive with podule and £590 for an external. 4.6 The internal drives look identical to Oak’s drives but the external drives come in a strange-looking, yukkie brown colour, extremely compact metal case with no cooling fan. The drive is mounted on its side and sits in a metal cradle made of white plastic coated metal rods (a bit like a plate rack!) to stop it falling over. Still, when you look at the price, it has to be worth considering, and if you are worried about quality (which I have to confess, I am slightly) they are guaranteed for years. This Archive price comparison my help you see if it is worth considering these drives as compared with the “zero-defect” policy and known good customer relations policy of Oak Solutions. The prices include Oak podule, VAT and carriage and the figures in brackets are the price per Mbyte. 4.6 Internal drives 4.6 Worrawinnie 45M £440 (£9.78) 4.6 High Speed 40M £520 (£13.00) 4.6 ZCL 48M £520 (£10.83) 4.6 External drives A300/400 4.6 Worrawinnie 45M £490 (£10.89) 4.6 High Speed 40M £720 (£18.00) 4.6 ZCL 48M £590 (£12.29) 4.6 External drives A3000 4.6 Worrawinnie 45M £490 (£10.89) 4.6 High Speed 40M N/A 4.6 ZCL 48M £590 (£12.29) 4.6 • Midnight Graphics’ Tracer − Now you can turn your sprites into !Draw files with this impressive utility from Dabhand Computing. The potential for DTP and improving scanned pictures is tremendous. We hope to have a review very soon. The price is £59.95 from Dabhand or £56 through Archive. 4.6 • MultiStore II − Minerva have released a new version of MultiStore (still £250 through Arc-hive) which features improved packaging and a new style ring binder and box “which give the package a much more professional image”. Exist-ing users can get an upgrade to the new software (but not the new packaging!) at a cost of £11.75 for the two new discs. MultiStore II has a new file format but, to overcome this problem, Minerva provide a transfer utility so that you can convert your old files to the new format. Minerva say, “The changes to MultiStore will not be immed-iately apparent to end users but some will notice an increase in speed”. 4.6 • NStore II − HS Software have released a new version of NStore2, their National curriculum record keeping package, still £29.95 inc VAT. Existing users can get an upgrade to the new software by returning their original disc to H.S. with a cheque for £5.00. NStore II has had many new facilities added in the light of ideas and suggestions made by teachers and advisors using the original package. These include improved ranking and alpha sorting, improved printing options, transfer of class data between discs and block data entry for groups of Statements of Attainments. Subject specific versions for secondary schools can be obtained containing levels 1 to 10 in a particular core subject. Science is available now and Maths and English are due in April. 4.6 • PD library − Westbourne Services have just started a PD library for the Archimedes. The discs are £1.50 each. Westbourne Services will supply a sample disc and catalogue for £1. 4.6 • Structural analysis of 2D frames − Civil engineers will be pleased to see that the power of the Archimedes has been harnessed to provide structural analysis of 2D frames and grids. Vision Six have two programs for each − an entry level (£150 +VAT each) allowing up to 32 items and a full version (£450 +VAT for frames and £300 +VAT for grids) where the number of items is only limited by the available memory. There is a discount if you buy both a frames and a grids program at the same time. “Never knowingly undersold” − Vision Six say that if you can find a better or even equivalent piece of software sold commercially for ANY micro at a lower price, they will refund the difference! 4.6 • ‘Two’ productivity tools − Ian Copestake Software has produced TWO − Task and Window Organiser which consists of various utilities to help you keep your desktop tidy and to set up various tasks more quickly and easily plus a number of other bits and pieces of applications. This is especially aimed at schools. £19 + VAT or £60 +VAT for a site licence. 4.6 • A540 fan quieteners − Ray Maidstone has now designed fan quieteners for the A540 but they are unfortunately not user-fit devices. Contact Ray on 0603-407060 for more details. 4.7 • ALPS Compression Disc − Alpine Software have released a sprite compression utility which can compress mode 12 sprite down to something like 30% of their original size. Mode 15 sprites are compressed even more − some down to as low as 6% of their full size but, on average, around 25%. The application which is only available from Alpine Software is £19.95 inclusive (post free). 4.7 • Atomwide high speed drives − Atomwide are doing some new SCSI drives. The first is a high speed (17 ms) 48M Quantum Pro drive. The prices are £540 for an internal drive and £620 for an external drive. The other drive is the Connor 100M drive as supplied in the Acorn A540. These are also, we think, 17ms drives and are available for £740 (internal) or £840 (external). (More details in the SCSI Column on page 9.) 4.7 • Atomwide removable drives − Atomwide are also doing some 42M removable SCSI drives. They use exactly the same drive mechanism as the MicroNet drives and they work out a little cheaper. (But with the extra VAT, you’re back to the number you first thought of!!) The prices are now £795 and £595 with and without Oak podule respectively, or £775 with Lingenuity podule. (More details in the SCSI Column on page 9.) 4.7 • Children’s pictures − Micro Studio have produced a new library pack of draw and paint files − over 150 in all − aimed at children. The new pack, at £19.95 inclusive, has pictures of animals, toys, people, shapes and objects and signs. 4.7 • Colour screen conversion − Human Computer Interface Ltd have produced a piece of software called Colour Screen»Mac which will convert colour & monochrome images between the Macintosh and the Archimedes or Windows 3.0 on the IBM PC. The cost is £95 plus £2.50 p&p +VAT. They also do an Archimedes to Mac connecting cable for £20 +VAT. 4.7 • Concept Designer from Longman Logotron enables the user to create and use overlays on a Concept Keyboard and even has an emulator so that you can develop software for use with a CK without having one attached to the computer. The price is £24 +VAT from Longman Logotron or £26 through Archive. 4.7 • Diet Manager − Yes, for the weight-conscious Archimedes owners, here is a multi-tasking application that will allow you to keep track of all those calories (and proteins and fats). This program from MEWsoft, priced £27.90 inclusive would also be useful in schools for health education. 4.7 • Draw format lineart − Southern Printers have produced the first of their lineart discs. The price of this first disc is just £5.50 inclusive. They are aiming to keep the price down to a level which should deter copying since lineart does tend to ‘migrate’ very easily from computer to computer! For more details, see the review on page 41. 4.7 • !Draw Help − After the success of Sherston Software’s !Help companion to the Archimedes, they have now produced one for !Draw. This package consists of a 96 page tutorial book plus a disc full of clip art plus a !Draw quick reference card. The package is available for £15.95 (no VAT). 4.7 • Fast array sorting routines − Avisoft have produced a set of fast ARM code shell sort routines. Contact Martin Avison for more details. Address in Factfile. 4.7 • First enhancement − Serious Statistical Software have announced a new context sensitive online help system for their ‘First’ statistical software package. This upgrade is just £25 (no VAT). The cost of the full ‘First’ package is still £150. 4.7 • Hawk V12 video framestore is the latest product from Wild Vision. At £1990 +VAT (+£5 carriage) it provides a very powerful image processing and analysis system for the Archimedes. This double width podule can store up to four images, 512 x 512 in 256 grey levels. 4.7 • PD library − Westbourne Services have just started a PD library for the Archimedes. The discs are £1.50 each. Westbourne Services will supply a sample disc and catalogue for £1. (We mentioned this last month but lost the address. Sorry!) 4.7 • Midnight Graphics Draw Clip Art − Set one, six discs full for just £29.95 +VAT. 4.7 • Taipei 2 − The first offering from Black Sheep Software is an updated version of the Mah Jong patience game, Taipei, released originally on Shareware Nº 31. Black Sheep have responded to criticisms of the original version voiced in Micro User and Archimedes World and have added some extra features. The price is £9.95 inclusive from Black Sheep. 4.7 • Viewpoints − an interactive environment for the Archimedes from Sherston Software. Aimed at school children, it allows them to use a map and explore the village, seaside, surrounding countryside and even under water. As they wander, they can stop and see if there is anything of interest and can take snapshots of what they see. They can also zoom in and take a better look at things. Viewpoints contains all sorts of starting points for various types of written and oral work and includes geography and mapping skills as well as information storage and retrieval skills. The Viewpoints Database is £35 +VAT from Sherston Software. 4.7 • !VoiceBuilder − MJD Software’s multi-tasking RISC-OS application designed to work alongside Maestro, Rhapsody etc to create new voices. Libraries of waveforms and envelopes are provided and can be manipulated freely. The software, which is MIDI compatible, allows control of attack, looping, release phases etc. After creation, the modules can be immediately accessed from BASIC or other languages or from other applications. 4.7 • Arachnid is a real-time programming environment from Paul Fray Ltd (based on Spider for the BBC B). For £100 +VAT, you get a detailed manual with tutorial section plus a program which can be used to respond to external events such as switch closures, perform various timing tasks and control external events via whatever I/O ports you have installed on your computer. (Paul Fray Ltd’s phone number was wrongly quoted last month − it should be 0223-441134.) 4.8 • Conform − NorthWest SEMERC have produced a concept keyboard overlay generator. The main criterion of the software writers was that the package should be easy to use so it should be ideal in the primary sector of education. The price is £15 +VAT. 4.8 • Freddy Teddy’s Adventure − Topologika’s Freddy Teddy is off on his adventures again. After his first trips released under the program name “Freddy Teddy”, he is off again under the title, “Freddy Teddy’s Adventure”. For £19.95 +VAT (£21 through Archive) you get a storybook and a disc which provide counting games and puzzles that encourage logical thought and help children gain confidence in using their Archimedes computer. 4.8 • My World − This is an application produced by NorthWest SEMERC which allows children to manipulate Draw files. It is said to be “unlike any educational software on the market”. It costs £15 +VAT and comes with 20 example files to get users started. Simple Stuff Sampler (£7.50 + VAT) is also available and provides a further 17 screens to be used with My World. 4.8 • Primary WP − NorthWest SEMERC have produced a RISC-OS word-processor called Phases#2 aimed at primary schools. It comes with its own outline fonts, various sample documents, a keystrip and a double-ended manual − one end starts as the User Guide and the other end as Starting to Use Phases#2 and the two books meet in the middle. The price is £15 + £2.50 p&p plus VAT. Also available at £7.50 +VAT each are two Phases Support packs − The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Phases Borders Disc 1. 4.8 • Shareware disc Nº39 − this contains a number of items of educational interest and also some utilities: Algorithms (sorts, pattern matching, routing, etc), A-level Chemistry tutorial, Draw files summarising the RISC-OS applications, Compound interest and RPI calculators, BASIC FN’s to help plot graph axes, BASIC V mathematical FN’s, Depth of field and flash calculators for photography, Desktop backdrop, Disc copier (updated from S/w 2), Compacted screen sequence creator, Desktop file utilities, Converter from IBM WFN to outline fonts, Floating point calculator, SoundTracker -> Rhapsody converter, Desktop !Help provider. 4.8 • Speech! − Superior Software have given the Archimedes a voice called Speech! for just £19.95 (£19 through Archive). It uses the standard sound interface leaving the computer free to do other things. No extra hardware is needed. You can vary the pitch, speed, volume and voice either directly or through your own programs. You can even sing the words over a 4 octave range! It also comes with a program that will allow you to change the dictionary yourself. 4.8 • Speech!! − DT-Talk is an allophone based speech synthesizer which can synthesise any word in the English language. It integrates with the computer’s own sound system and can therefore be used alongside other sounds and music. It is available for £15 +VAT from Atomwide. 4.8 • Speech!!! − A third speech system is also now available from PEP Associates. This again links in with the sound system and can be programmed by the user. It uses phonemes to generate words (don’t ask me if that’s the same as being allophone based!) and is available for £25. It is called PEP Associates SpeechSystem but why they didn’t call it PEP Talk, I’ll never know! They have given us a public domain demonstration which we have put on this month’s program disc. 4.8 (All three speech systems have been sent to a reviewer, so watch (or listen to) this space..) 4.8 • Spreadsheet MkV − Contex Computing have released a low-priced RISC-OS compatible spreadsheet for just £15 +VAT. This is an initial price − early purchasers will get a printed manual, while stocks last. Thereaf ter, it will be available as a disc file. 4.8 • 3D Chess − MicroPower have now released their new chess program and it’s in 3D. I don’t know how good a game it plays but the 3D display is very impressive. £19.95 from MicroPower or £19 through Archive. 4.9 • Animynd Life is a version of John Conway’s Mathematical game, Life. It has a wide range of features allowing you, for example, to load and save patterns, randomize, single step, set up various parameters etc. It comes with a library of around 70 shapes, some of which are quite fascinating to watch, and costs £20 from R.R. Thomas, 9 Oughtonhead Way, Hitchin, Herts. SG5 2JZ. 4.9 • Archimedes for the Anxious is a book by Alison Tyldesley published by RESOURCE, price £4.95. It is a “very-beginners’ guide” to the Archimedes “written in plain English” including explanations about using Draw and PenDown. 4.9 • Archive Mugs − We have just ordered some special pottery mugs for Archive subscribers. They are from the same company that did the promotional mugs for Acorn Computers and those who have seen the mugs they produced for Acorn will know that they are good quality. The design is basically the Archive logo from the front of the magazine in black and reflex blue on a white mug. They cost £3 each + £1 p&p, or £10 for four + £2 p&p. 4.9 • ArcComm 2 is now available from Longman Logotron. This is a fully RISC-OS compatible comms package costing £54 +VAT or £59 through Archive. It supports a range of different modems, has many different file transfer protocols and terminal types. It also has an extended procedure language which makes it very easy to, say, automatically log on to a bulletin board or to Telecom Gold and download mail and upload messages or files. (I am using it myself and finding it very good. Peter Gaunt, the author, is available on Arcade BBS, 081−654−2212, and was very helpful in getting ArcComm 2 working with my slightly odd WS3000. Ed) 4.9 • Arcventure − is an archaeological expedition into Roman Times. It is a simulation in which pupils take part in an archaeological dig with all sorts of interesting ‘finds’ to be made. £29.95 from Sherston Software. 4.9 • Boogie Buggy − Looks like a fascinating new game from 4th Dimension. You have to navigate a bug-like creature around the screen in an effort to neutralise the power of an evil monster lord without, yourself, being damaged beyond repair. From the advertising blurb, the graphics look good and it claims to be “the first quality game to use the entire screen”. £24.95 from 4th Dimension or £23 through Archive. 4.9 • Broadcast Loader − Educational Econet users will be pleased to hear about Acorn’s new ‘Broadcast Loader’ which greatly reduces the time taken for a class of pupils to receive the same file(s) which they request from the fileserver. A site licence costs £69 +VAT from Acorn or £75 through Archive. Acorn say it is “complementary to Acorn’s Econet and Level-4 File Server” and that it is “independent of the type of fileserver in use” and also that it is “compatible with Level-2, Level-3 and Nexus”. 4.9 • Chocks Away ‘Extra Missions’ from 4th Dimension is now available at £19.95 (or £19 through Archive). It provides you with 26 additional missions to fly, 6 of which are reconnaissance missions. 4.9 • Clares Replacement Mouse − Has you mouse shuffled off the mortal coil? You could buy an Acorn mouse (through Archive) for £56, but Clares have one for sale at £32 inc VAT (£29 through Archive). 4.9 • Cross-32 Meta Assembler − Baildon Electronics have recently released, under licence to Universal Cross Assemblers, Cross-32 which will allow you to assemble programs from a wide range of microprocessors and micro- controllers. It can be driven from RISC-OS or from the command line. The rrp is £175 +VAT and it is available through Farnell Electronic Components. 4.9 • DrawAid is a utility costing just £10 from Carvic Manufacturing which allows you to create Draw files of complex shapes that have repeating patterns. It provides you with an environment which will allow you to use BASIC to generate your patterns. 4.9 • Guardians of the Labyrinth is a new maze-based adventure game − £3.49 from Soft Rock Software. It has ten user selectable mazes with the ability to load and save your game position. 4.9 • House of Numbers − an educational program with three levels of difficulty aimed at children aged 6 to 13. It is centred around a maths adventure/puzzle program. £22 +VAT from Chalksoft Ltd or £24 through Archive. 4.9 • I/O Box 3000 − Unilab have produced an interface box that plugs in the back of the A3000 and provides three user ports, an analogue port and a 1 MHz bus. One of the user ports has been put on a connector with the same number of pins as the printer port on the BBC Micro for backwards compatibility with hardware designed to hang on a BBC. The cost is £77.58 +VAT. 4.9 • !MapIT claims to be the first Genesis II application. !MapIT, costing £32 from HM Associates, analyses the IT requirements of the National Curriculum. The National Curriculum identifies IT as a cross curricular skill which must be delivered as an integral part of all ten statutory subjects to all pupils aged from 5 to 16 and !MapIT enables you to examine the contribution that IT can make to these ten subjects. !MapIT uses, and is distributed with, the Genesis II browser so you do not need to have Genesis II to use !MapIT. 4.9 • PenDown Outline Fonts Disc − Longman Logotron have now released a disc of outline fonts, ostensibly for use with PenDown but which can be used with any application capable of dealing with outline fonts. There are 12 fonts − all what you might call fancy fonts − for £18 +VAT or £19 through Archive. 4.9 • Pre-formatted Discs − We are now doing a service of selling pre- formatted discs. These are basically the same bulk-pack disc that we use for our Shareware and Careware discs, so you can see the quality. The prices including VAT & p&p are 10 for £10, 50 for £45 and 100 for £80. 4.9 • Removable SCSI Drives − The prices of the MR45 removable SCSI drives have dropped even further! We’ve been able to take a further £40 off the price bringing it down to £755 with an Oak SCSI podule and £555 without (or £735 with a Lingenuity podule) and the spare 42M cartridges are now down to £75 each. (We are now on top discount rate with the importers, so apart from changes in the dollar exchange rate, the prices should now be stable.) 4.9 • Sellardore Tales − is an ‘easy read’ adventure game for slow learners, priced £24 +VAT from Sherston Software. It covers National Curriculum English AT2. 4.9 • Shareware Nº40 − contains a simple card based database (ADFS only), desktop ARM code disassembler, 256-level greyscale picture editor, desktop optical character recognition, Blackjack for up to 4 players, Connect4 (2 player or player vs computer), single player high/low card game, horse racing game, sliding block puzzles, screen saver utility, desktop Mandelbrot generator plus a number of utilities: set the access status of files, file type guesser, simple calculator, various desktop file utilities in one program, German key caps, desktop reset button, extra desktop star commands, Fahrenheit <−> Celsius converter, desktop volume control. 4.9 • Training Courses − (I suppose you could say that these are “Products Available”.) Acorn’s Training Centre is offering a new series of training courses for applications programmers. The titles are, “Programmers’ Introduction to C”, “Introduction to Application Programming” and “Advanced RISC-OS Application Programming”. More details from the Acorn Training Centre. 4.9 • !X Terminal − Gnome Computers have produced software that will turn your Archimedes into a terminal to any type of remote workstation working under X 11. It supports TCP/IP over both Econet and Ethernet, can provide support for up to eight independent X screens and includes network security through DES encryption. !X costs £199 +VAT. 4.9 • A4 paper trays − We can now get hold of spare A4 paper trays for the Laser Direct (Qume) at £66, the Laser Direct Hi-Res (Canon LBP8) at £54 and the Canon LBP4 at £57. It makes life much easier not to have to keep taking headed note paper and plain paper in and out of paper trays − just pull out one tray and replace it with another. This includes putting A5 paper in an A4 paper tray which is explained in the Hints & Tips on page 8. 4.10 • A4 flatbed scanner GT-4000 − Clares have produced an interface and software support to run an Epson GT4000 from an Archimedes computer. The main features are: 50 to 400 d.p.i., 24 bit colour, 256 grey scales, max size 214 x 295 mm, uses serial and bi-directional Centronics interface, full RISC-OS application. The prices are £1799 +VAT for the full system or £715 + VAT for the software and interface board if you already have the GT4000 scanner. (£1955 and £660 respectively through Archive.) 4.10 • A3000 Special Access − Acorn are now providing a package based on the A3000 with Special Needs users in mind. It consists of an A3000 upgraded with serial port and Morley User/Analogue ports, a disc of utilities to facilitate access to the computer for physically disabled users and people with visual impairment, Special Needs overview booklet and a copy of the Special Needs Computing Handbook. You can buy it without a monitor (£679 +VAT) or with an Acorn monitor and a PRES stand (which allows the computer to move about independently of the stand) for £899 +VAT. There is a special price for registered charities or those who are registered disabled − £695 and £953.50 respectively including VAT. Applications forms for these special prices should be available for your local dealer − Archive also has forms and can supply these SA packs. 4.10 • Arc Recorder − Oak Solutions have produced a very cheap system for sound sampling (£29.95 +VAT or £33 through Archive). It consists of a hand held condenser microphone linked to the computer via the printer port(!) and software that generates samples in Armadeus file format. It is also designed to link in with Genesis II and comes with a support module to allow samples to be used within Genesis applications. 4.10 • ARCticulate − The current spate of Archimedes speech generators continues.. 4th Dimension have produced an “animated speech synthesiser” which includes, as well as voices, four faces that speak the words! It can read text files and word processor documents and can be used within your own programs. £24.95 from 4th Dimension or £23 through Archive. 4.10 • ARM3 price drop − There seems to be a bit of price war going on with ARM3’s and so we’ve been able to bring down the price of the Aleph One ARM3 to £420 inc VAT. 4.10 • Careware Nº13 − We have put Jonathan Marten’s improved Draw program, !DrawPlus which was reviewed last month, page 19, as the major item on Careware 13. We have made it a DTP type disc by adding the latest versions of !CGM −>Draw (v2.1) and !Translator (v6.45) and two utilities to convert the other way: !DrwCgm (v1.0) which converts Draw files to CGM files and !Creator (v1.13) which converts sprite files into GIF, TIFF, AIM, PBM files. There is also some Draw clip art: under the heading of biology are 4 week old & 8 week old embryos, digestive system, ear, paramecium, respiratory system, resuscitation, teeth; under the heading of people are cobbler, eskimo, footballer, girl reading, girl riding, magician, painter, singer; and then the rest... bed and breakfast, house, King George V battleship, long ship, Pink Panther, snowman, tree. 4.10 • ClassROM is a new networking product from Oak Solutions. Anyone trying to run an Econet system with Archimedes computers will realise the problem of a class full of pupils trying to load, say, Impression all at the same time. Oak Solutions’ solution(!) is to provide a box to attach to each, or as many as possible, of the Archimedes on the network. This box looks, to the user, like a read-only ROM. In fact, it is a 20M (or bigger if you prefer!) SCSI hard drive which can only be read by them but which can be written to, via the Econet, using special software which, presumably, only the network manager would have access to. You can use this software to put whatever files and applications you want onto whichever stations you want. So, while the kids are out of the way, you could load up various applications onto different stations so that they would be ready at the start of the day for the pupils to use. The pupils would save their data either on their own floppies or via the Econet on the file-server. There is no limit to the number of stations on the network that can have a ClassROM installed and so as you expand (well, as money becomes available) you could add ClassROM’s to more and more of the Archimedes so that fewer stations would have to load their applications via the network. Prices are £150 (+VAT) for the management software plus £344 for each 20M classROM unit or £445 for the 45M version. Archive prices (inc VAT) are £160, £375 and £485 respectively. 4.10 • Creator − Alpine Software have produced a program to enable you to create your own arcade game. It comes with an object designer, a screen designer, a path designer, an event manager and a run-time system. You also get a collection of sprites and sound samples to incorporate in your own games. The price is £38.95 from Alpine Software or £36 through Archive. 4.10 • Digital Storage Oscilloscope − Armadillo Systems Ltd have produced a digital storage oscilloscope using the Archimedes to do the capture, processing and display of the data. It comes in single and dual input formats priced at £323.10 and £445.50 +VAT respectively. The inputs are 1Mohm, 30 pF, 30MHz, 5V to 10mV with a resolution of 256 steps on channel 1 and 128 on channel 2. This system makes good use of the processing power of the Archimedes to give a range of ways of interpret ing and displaying the data collected. 4.10 • Fine Racer − Race your buggy around various circuits avoiding various obstacles, picking up various bonus points which can be converted into things to upgrade your car provided you come in the first three in the race itself. Oh, and watch out for Mad Max who drives like a maniac. Produced by Eterna in France and marketed in this country by Vector Services. Price £19.95 inc VAT. 4.10 • Imagine is not just another art pack − Topologika refer to their new product as a design pack because it has applications right across the curriculum. It has a twin-screen facility and built-in maths facilities and an on-line help facility. The price is £39.95 inc VAT or £37 through Archive. Separately available are packs of images for £9.95 +VAT each including Pirates, Victorians and Romans. 4.10 • Impression Business Supplement − Computer Concepts have produced a set of utilities which make Impression II into a powerful business/profes sional DTP system. The supplement includes Expression-PS (also available separately), a mail-merge utility, a sort utility for use with the merge program plus four loader modules: RTF (as used with Microsoft Word on PC and Mac), WordPerfect, PipeDream and WordStar. The price is £49 +VAT or £53 through Archive. 4.10 • MiG29 − a new flight simulator from the originators of Interdictor − SIMIS. For full details of this, see the review on page 24. The price is £40.85 inc VAT or £38 through Archive. 4.10 • New PC Emulator is (almost!) here! − A press release of 19/6/91 confidently predicted the release of the new PC Emulator on 21st June. It’s not actually available yet as I write (2/7/91) but it should be in “about three weeks”. Version 1.6 of the emulator allows you to return to your desktop and find it intact and, on machines with 2M or more, it can run concurrently with RISC-OS within the multi-tasking environment. DOS files can be accessed directly from RISC-OS and it provides “full CD-ROM support via CDFS and MSCD extensions”. It is supplied with MS-DOS 3.3 including a mouse driver and has an emulation of the Intel 8087 maths co-processor which increases floating point calculations by a factor of fourteen. The emulator runs in CGA, EGA or MDA graphics modes with partial support for VGA for software, such as Windows 3, which accesses the video hardware directly. The price is the same as the old emulator, £99 plus VAT or £96 through Archive, and there is an upgrade for existing users for £29 (+VAT presumably) and as soon as we know how you can get the upgrade, we will let you know. (I suggest you check the back of the Price List which is printed later than the magazine itself.) (See the screenshot below.) 4.10 • PrimeArt is Minerva’s new 256 colour art package aimed at primary and special needs children. Amongst other things, it allows sprites to be pasted into a picture, has tailorable menus and allows text of any available font to be used. The cost is £79.95 +VAT or £87 through Archive. 4.10 • Removable drive prices down again − This time it’s the Atomwide removable drive with the high power fans − they are now down to £555 inc VAT or £755 with an Oak podule. 4.10 • Rhapsody II is available now for £61.95 inc VAT (or £57 through Archive) and there is an upgrade through Clares for £15.50 inc VAT − just send the original disc back (not the packing) to Clares. The main extra features of Rhapsody II are: drag notes from panels onto the score, MIDI thru and MIDI beat added, multiple MIDI ports supported, MIDI program changes possible within the score, capture notes in step time directly onto stave, octave transposition, transcribe triplets, block re-tail, improved sprites for better printout, formatted scores can be exported in Draw format to a new program called ScoreDraw which will allow professional quality printouts. (ScoreDraw will be available “later this year”.) 4.10 • Swedish Impression − If you want a Swedish version of Impression 2.1, contact Information Technology Services, Sjötullsg. 3, 602 27 Norrköping, Sweden (11−127758, fax 11−126545). Most programs on the Applications Discs are also available in Swedish, as is PipeDream 3. 4.10 • Wonderland is an impressive new adventure game occupying four floppies (which can be loaded onto hard disc). It is based on Alice in Wonderland and runs in its own (non-RISC-OS) window environment. It costs £32 through Archive. 4.10 • UltraSonic Sound System − Alpine Software claim this to be the only fully RISC-OS compliant, multi-tasking sound and music system. It produces music files that are compatible with Creator, their new Arcade Games Designer − see overleaf. It comes with an application to convert samples from various formats as well as Soundtracker files into its own format. It also comes with a PD playback application to play UltraSonic files and a disc of almost 150 sampled instrument sounds. The price is £30 from Alpine Software or £28 through Archive. 4.10 • Arc Recorder − Hybrid Technology have produced a very cheap system for sound sampling (£27.95 + £5 p&p +VAT). It consists of a microphone with a switch and desk stand linked to the computer via the printer port and desktop software that generates samples which can immediately be used in other desktop applications. (This is NOT the same product as produced by Oak Solutions despite the same name.) 4.11 • Cartoon collection is the title of a four disc set of cartoon type paint format clipart from Micro Studios. The price is £19.95 or £18 through Archive. 4.11 • DeskJet 500 − We’ve had so many good reports from readers about the HP DeskJet 500 printer that we’ve worked out a special deal with our distributors. We can offer them to Archive subscribers at £395 inc VAT & carriage. 4.11 • Econet test box − ALSystems have produced an Econet test box which should greatly reduce the time and effort needed to rectify faults on Econet networks. It can detect broken cables, short circuits, cross- connected cables. It measures cable resistance. It has LED’s for monitoring clock & data signals, a terminator tester and a filestore clock test facility. The price is £75 +VAT (+£2.35 p&p). 4.11 • Eizo 9080i utility − If anyone has an Eizo 9080i and wants to use it on the Archimedes, GL Consulting Ltd produce a utility for just £10 which makes it possible. For more details, see the 9080i review on page 39. 4.11 • JISys is a journal indexing system (also available for IBM and BBC B) which allows you to create your own journal article database. It allows search & retrieval and cross-referencing. It has an on-line manual, password for data protection and will cope with an index of up to 10,000 articles and authors. The price is £75 inclusive from KAS Software. 4.11 • LBP4 laser printers − There was a huge response to the special offer last month on LBP4 laser printers (on the back of the Price List). We had bought two printers from the distributor on their end of year clearance but these were sold by about 10.00 a.m. on the day after the magazines left this office! We could have sold them several times over that day and the next. The good news is that, because of all the interest, we’ve been able to arrange a semi-permanent special deal with the distributor. We can now sell the LBP4 with an extra 1Mbyte ram (useful when not using the Laser Direct interface) for just £875. This price does not include the 250 sheet paper feed tray, but the printer already has a 50-sheet tray, so it’s not essential. If you do want a paper feed tray at the same time, add £90 (instead of the normal price of £105). 4.11 When you add the CC Laser Direct interface at £380 to the LBP4 at £875, you get £1255 (my arithmetic was £100 out last month!) which is not that much more than the cost of the 300 d.p.i. Laser Direct Qume and as well as having the advantage of 600 d.p.i., you get a printer that will run on other computers and can even be connected via the serial or parallel interfaces (all standard on the LBP4) to other computers − or indeed to the same computer. You can then use the front panel switches to select which interface you use. This is useful if you want to use the printer in direct printing mode from, say, First Word Plus or from Basic. 4.11 So, by comparison, why should anyone want to pay £1560 for the LBP8 Laser Direct since it can only be used with the Archimedes and not on other computers? Well, it is faster in terms of pages per minute (8 instead of 4) even though the page preparation time will be the same on both. Secondly, it looks to me to be a more robust printer which could be useful, say, in a school situation. 4.11 The third point is that it has a straighter paper path. The LBP4 has an S-shaped paper path feeding into an output hopper but you can open a flap and make it C-shaped though it doesn’t then go into the hopper. The LBP8 on the other hand normally has a C-shaped path. (This is useful because it drops the sheets face down so that page 1 of a multi-page document is at the top of the pile when you take it out of the hopper.) If you fold out the catch tray at the opposite end to the input tray, you get a completely straight paper path, if you are printing onto labels or card so there is less chance of jamming and if you are printing acetates, there’s less danger of them getting curled up. The advantage of the S-shaped path though is that the printer is more compact as a result. (See diagrams opposite.) 4.11 Paper trays are a little confusing with the LBP4 but I think I have got it sorted out now. Provided, as standard, with the printer is an integral tray which takes about 50 sheets at a time. As an alternative, you can buy a paper feed unit and cassette (Archive price £105). This forms a base under the printer and takes a removable paper cassette which carries about 250 sheets of paper. You can also get spare cassettes for the paper feed unit so that you can have different types of paper in different cassettes. (Archive price £57) 4.11 • Mandelbrot Set − Explore Mandelbrot sets in mode 15 with this C program which goes to magnifications of 100 million. Partial or completed sets can be saved and re-loaded. The price is £12.95 inclusive from KAS Software. 4.11 • PC Connect − DT Software have produced an interesting new piece of kit for the Archimedes. It consists of a podule plus a board to go in a PC (or compatible) plus the appropriate high speed interconnection. The idea is that the two computers can then share peripherals including comms, printers and hard drives and you can even run the PC from the Archimedes’ keyboard. The cost is just £169.95 +VAT. 4.11 • PC Emulator upgrade − To get your PC emulator upgraded to version 1.60 which we mentioned last month, you need to send the PC emulator disc to Acorn Direct in Wellingborough with a cheque made payable to ‘Acorn Direct’ for £34.08 (£29 + VAT). However, Learning Curve owners can get a free upgrade! If you talk to the dealer from whom you bought your A3000 or Archimedes Learning Curve, he should have a form you can fill in and send, with serial number and proof of purchase, to Acorn Direct and they should send you a free upgrade to 1.60. (However, as I write (19/7/91) it hasn’t actually appeared as a stock item!) 4.11 • Panasonic printers − The KXP1124 printer has now been superseded by the KXP1124i which we can sell at an Archive price of £299 inc VAT & carriage. We still have a couple of the older KXP1124’s which we can sell at £235. (The Archive price was £281.) 4.11 • Saloon Cars is here! 4th Dimension’s new racing simulator is available now − Archive price is £23. 4.11 • SCSI hard drive price drop − The prices of most of the Oak Computers hard drives has dropped − see the Price List for full details. There will also be some big reductions to clear existing stock. These are listed on the back page of the Price List. 4.11 • Shareware Nº41 − Under the heading of ‘education’ are an animation of a four stroke engine, a control language for use in GCSE and a biology program relating to Mendelian inheritance. There is a floating point assembler Basic library and a desktop assembler test bed. The range of utilities includes: a comms utility, a utility which reads BBC tapes via an RS423 link to a BBC micro, a converter between ArcText, DOS, VAX and FWP files, a disc cataloguer, an Edword- ASCII converter, a utility that displays the current filing system, a filetype guesser and a desktop file loader. Finally, there is a superb golf game which, on its own, makes the disc worth the £3. 4.11 • STEbus interface − Intelligent Interfaces have produced an interface which allows the connection of up to four STEbus interfaces to fitted to be an Archimedes computer (only 2 on an A300 series or 3 on an A540) providing access to a wide range of I/O devices including A/D, D/A, parallel I/O, serial I/O, networking interfaces, stepper & servos controllers etc, etc. The interface costs £495 +VAT. 4.11 • 4M upgrades for A310 − Over the last few months, we have had a lot of very positive feedback from readers about the I.F.E.L. memory upgrades for the A310 and so we decided to have a look at them ourselves with a view to stocking them. (We have in the past stocked other A310 memory upgrades but stopped because of the difficulties we experienced.) We are very happy with the quality of the I.F.E.L. upgrades and have therefore arranged a deal with them so that we can offer the 4 M memory upgrade to members for £350. This includes the cost of collecting the computer from your home (or place of work), installing and testing the upgrade and returning the computer to you, hopefully within a couple of working days. The upgrade is soldered in which minimises the risk of things working loose in transit (which was the problem that we had with the other upgrades). I.F.E.L. do also sell a plug-in D.I.Y. type of upgrade but that is NOT the one that we are supplying. 4.12 If you want to have ROM sockets that take the larger RISC-OS ROMs, we can fit them for you. However, we do not advise plugging these sockets into the existing sockets because you are then back to the potential problems we had before. What we will do is to desolder the old sockets and solder in the new ones. This is labour intensive and increases the cost of the ROM upgrade to £35 but it will give you a much more reliable end result. 4.12 • A3000 ARM3 upgrade − Aleph One and Atomwide are now offering an ARM3 upgrade for the A3000. It involves desoldering the ARM2 and fitting a socket that will take the ARM3 board − a technically difficult task as the A3000 uses so-called surface-mount components. Don’t worry, Atomwide collect your computer, do the upgrade, test it and return it to you all for £399 +VAT. 4.12 • A4 flatbed scanners − DT Software have produced an interface and software to run an Epson GT4000 (or GT-6000) from an Archimedes computer. The main features are: 25 to 400 (or 600) d.p.i., 24 bit colour, 256 grey scales, full RISC-OS application. The prices are £1299 +VAT for the GT4000 or £1699 +VAT for the GT6000. This includes software and the interface board. (These prices compare rather favourably with Clares GT4000 with interface for £1799 +VAT. The list price for the GT4000 is £1499, so DT’s is a very good price.) 4.12 • Acorn Desktop C and Acorn Desktop Assembler − Acorn is releasing major upgrades to its C and Assembler programming development software which integrate the software development tools into the RISC-OS desktop. 4.12 Each package contains “all the tools needed for software development in that language for debugging, editing program source, generating object code, managing the construction of applications from multiple source files and using support utilities.” 4.12 Hardware requirements: You need at least 2M of RAM to run the desktop language products. For professional development, a hard disk is advised and it is required if you wish to use both products together. 4.12 Upgrades: Existing owners of previous language products can upgrade through Vector Services as follows (the prices include postage and packing): 4.12 inc VAT 4.12 C release 3 to Desktop C £85 £99.87 4.12 C release 2 or 1 to Desktop C £105 £123.87 4.12 Assembler to Desktop Assembler £75 £88.12 4.12 Software Developers Toolbox 4.12 to Desktop Assembler £75 £88.12 4.12 To obtain your upgrade, you should send to Vector Services: 4.12 − your name and address 4.12 − your original disc (disc 1 only for C release 3, the utilities disc for the Software Developers Toolbox.) 4.12 − a cheque or postal order, made out to “Acorn Direct” for the inc VAT price indicated above. 4.12 The offer expires 31st December 1991. 4.12 • ARCtist − The 4th Dimension have produced a 256 colour RISC-OS compatible art package for just £24.95 (£23 through Archive). The package includes several hundred kbytes of clip art. (This has no link with the original program of the same name − one of the original art packages produced for the Archimedes.) 4.12 • ArcRecorder(s) − The sound sampler produced by Oak Solutions (which is now called ‘OakRecorder’) is available in small quantities though not yet enough to match the demand. Hybrid Technology’s offering will be available within a few days, possibly by the time you read this, I don’t know what sort of quantities they are producing, but I doubt whether they will be able to meet initial demand as this is proving to be a very popular product. The important question is how do the two products compare? It does look as if Hybrid Technology’s software is more extensive but all we have to go on at the moment are the manufacturers’ claims! As soon as we have a review copy of either (or both) we’ll get something into print. 4.12 • ARM3 prices down again − Aleph One have reduced the price of their ARM3 upgrade to £389 + VAT (£459) so we have been able to bring the Archive price down to £390 inc VAT. 4.12 • BlastOn − Another offering from Eterna − a shoot-em-up game with what Micro User reckons are “good graphics and sound, making a professional- looking package”. £19.95 from Eterna or £19 through Archive. 4.12 • Break 147 / SuperPool is out at last and it’s very impressive. You have a complete 3D view of the table which you prowl around studying the options for your next shot. Once you take your position for the shot, you line up the direction plus the point on the ball which you are going to strike for your stun shot or to screw the cue ball back for your next shot etc. You can play against other humans or the computer by arranging tournaments. There is action replay so you can see what went wrong (or right) with your last shot. The referee speaks the score and tells you when you have fouled or have a touching ball etc. £24.95 from the 4th Dimension or £23 through Archive. 4.12 • Bubble Fair − This is the latest offering from Eterna. I haven’t been able to find out much about it yet except that it has 72 levels, 3 tunes, 256 colour overscan screen, challenges and bonuses! The price is £19.95 from Eterna or £19 through Archive. 4.12 • Design Concept Fonts price increase. Design Concept have increased the range of their decorative fonts (see Archive 4.8 p53 for a review) to 14 and have extended and improved some of the original ones and they have put up the price from £1.50 per font to £2.50 − but that’s still incredibly cheap! Site licences are available for £5 per font. The other related software that Design Concept produce has also been improved and updated. (No VAT is charged as Design Concept are not VAT registered.) 4.12 • Einstein − Ace Computing have produced an all-in-one multi-dimensional design and animation package for just £120 +VAT (£125 through Archive). It presents a “highly consistent world for 2, 3 or 4 dimensional graphic design” (!) and claims to be “the first product for the Archimedes which allows interactive manipulation of Bezier surfaces”. The press release talked about using Bezier surfaces to produce such things as car body shells, which was fine, but when it talked about “4D Bezier hypervolumes” I gave up trying to understand it. I suggest you contact Tony Cheal at Ace for further details but it certainly sounds impressive! 4.12 • FaxScan − Keeping up their reputation for innovative design ideas, Spacetech have taken advantage of Amstrad’s ability to produce cheap volume products to provide a versatile add-on for the Archimedes. If you have an Amstrad FX9600T (now discontinued) or an FX9600AT fax machine, Spacetech can sell you an interface which plugs into the Econet space in the A3000 or Archimedes and links to the serial interface on the Amstrad fax. Spacetech’s software then enables you to use the fax as a 200 d.p.i., sheet-fed scanner and, by adding a standard parallel printer cable, to send faxes direct from the desktop so that output from DTP, Paint or Draw can be faxed without having to print it − a time saver for those with dot-matrix printers and a revolution for those without. You can even use the fax machine as an Epson compatible 216 d.p.i. printer! The interface and software costs £99.50 +VAT. If you buy it with the FX9600AT, which is a fax and an answering machine, the total price, including carriage and one year’s on-site maintenance, is just £490.75 +VAT. 4.12 (See what I mean about innovation! We are trying to make this available through Archive, so check the Price List for prices, assuming we get it organised by the time we have to go to press.) 4.12 • Hawk V9 software upgrade − Wild Vision are offering an upgrade to their Hawk V9 colour video digitiser. For £29.90 inc VAT, you can get a new ROM, a new version of !FastGrab which incorporates the !ChangeFSI routines and a new manual. ChangeFSI is available separately from Wild Vision for £22 +VAT. This is the new desktop version. 4.12 • Landmarks − Two more Landmarks packages have appeared from Longman- Logotron: Rain Forest and The Victorians. £19 each (+ VAT) from Logotron or £21 through Archive. 4.12 • Master Break is a snooker style trivia quiz for 1 to 4 players. It has over 2,000 questions on science & nature, pop music, geography, sports & pastimes, arts & history. £19.95 from Superior or £19 through Archive. 4.12 • RenderBender II − Clares now have a RISC-OS compliant version of their RenderBender package at £135 (inc VAT) or £120 through Archive. It has a new front end which allows you to draw the scenes (a bit like !Draw) before converting into 3D by the ray-tracer part of the package (which can work in multi-tasking mode). There is also an animator included and you can animate manually by in-betweening or by assigning formulae to the objects. 4.12 • Rhapsody II − Clares have released version two of their their music system, Rhapsody. Full details are given in the review on page 56. The upgrade price is £15.50 (inc VAT) from Clares (only) and the full package is £61.95 from Clares or £57 through Archive. 4.12 • SCSI Drives − Continuing what has become a well-established Archive tradition (!), we have worked some better prices on SCSI drives − most notably on removable drives. It’s a long story involving various contacts with U.S.A. but the bottom line is that we are now able to offer two alternatives on removables and some good prices on external fixed hard drives. 4.12 Removable drives − We now offer a choice between the Atomwide removable drive and a “Mac-type” drive. Both are the same price − £525 inc VAT & carriage and this includes one 42M cartridge and a data cable (please specify podule type). If you want an Oak podule with the drive, add £200 or for a Lingenuity A3000 podule, add £160. 4.12 So what is the difference between the drives? Firstly, the Mac-type drives are “Mac shaped” − 10“ x 10” and 2½“ high (to sit underneath a Mac computer) whereas Atomwide’s drives are 6” wide, 4“ high and 10” deep − much better suited to putting alongside the Archimedes computer. The second difference is that the Mac drives are plastic cased whereas Atomwide use metal cases. Finally, Atomwide have used a more powerful fan and placed it square on at the back of the drive unit whereas the Mac drives, being flat, have the fan by the side of, and at right angles to, the drive unit. They point downwards so the positioning of these drives is more critical. 4.12 External fix hard drives − We have found a supply of fixed hard drives (from a company called Frog Systems!) that are very competitively priced. The only disadvantage I can see is that, like the Mac removable drives, they are the “wrong” shape − i.e. 10“ x 10” and 2½“ high − and therefore take up more desk space than those drives specifically designed for the Archimedes. If you buy one of these drives as a first drive (i.e. with a podule) there is a certain price advantage but if you already own a podule and just want a second drive, the price advantage is huge. For example, we sell Oak’s 100M Worrawinnie drive (their economy version) at £630 without a podule whereas the 100M Mac drives are only £470 and are slightly faster! The 200M Frog at £730 compares well with the 100M High Speed Oak drive at £700. More details are given in the price comparison chart below. (WW = Oak WorraWinnie, HS = Oak High Speed, AW = AtomWide.) Firstly, Archive prices including an Oak podule.... 4.12 WW HS Frog AW 4.12 20M 395 490 4.12 45M 500 530 4.12 50M 600 620 4.12 65M 560 4.12 80M 615 4.12 100M 730 800 670 790 4.12 200M 1030 1200 930 4.12 300M 1900 1390 4.12 640M 2500 1790 4.12 1000M 2390 4.12 If you look at the prices without podule, i.e. for those of you looking for a second SCSI drive, the differences in price are more marked.... 4.12 WW HS Frog AW 4.12 20M 295 290 4.12 45M 400 330 4.12 50M 500 420 4.12 65M 360 4.12 80M 515 4.12 100M 630 700 470 590 4.12 200M 930 1100 730 4.12 300M 1800 1190 4.12 640M 2400 1590 4.12 1000M 2190 4.12 The other advantage of the Frog drives when compared to the Worrawinnies is that they have dual connectors at the back which makes daisy-chaining easier and they also have a push-button ID setting which aids setting up when you have a number of different drives. (The Worrawinnies don’t have any SCSI connector on the back. For cheapness, they just have a cable coming out of the back with an IDC connector on the end − i.e. to plug straight into the Oak podule.) 4.12 We have done some speed tests on the 100M drives so that you can relate speeds to prices. The first is the raw data transfer rate in kbytes/ second. The Oak HS and the Atomwide are the same because they are using the same Quantum drive mechanism. The Worrawinnie is only tentative because Oak are changing the type of drive they use so this information will be out-of-date by the time you read it! 4.12 mode WW HS Frog AW 4.12 0 ?650? 1170 884 1170 4.12 15 ?650? 1156 884 1156 4.12 21 ?530? 735 286 735 4.12 We also did our other speed test where we copy the contents of the Applications 2 disc (i.e. lots of files) from one directory on the drive to another. We have in the past quoted these as the time in seconds but to make it easier to judge the speeds we have divided the time into the total data copied (420k) to give a rate in kbytes/second. 4.12 mode WW HS Frog AW 4.12 0 ?42? 70 56 70 4.12 15 ?40? 65 53 65 4.12 21 ?36? 51 36 51 4.12 The Frog drives run at about 80% of the speed of the higher speed drives in modes 0 and 15 and 70% in mode 21. (This suggests that they have a smaller ram cache and so cannot “take up as much slack” as the other drives when the computer is busy updating the screen.) 4.12 • Top Banana − “Join the frantic fruit fight to save the planet.” A company called, simply, “Hex” has joined the Archimedes games fraternity with this arcade style game which boasts four worlds, three level parallax scrolling in 256 colour mode. The sound is “solid sampled cyber-mixed” and the graphics use colour sampled video. It comes in “ecologically friendly packaging” and includes a free loose-fit T-shirt. What more could you want for just £25.99 or £24 through Archive? 4.12 • World Championship Squash − Play club level or championship level squash without even a single bead of sweat on your forehead! Play against the computer or another human being. Various options including ball speed and type of competition − knock out or ladder. The price is £25.99 from Krisalis Software or £24 through Archive. (“Available 6th September”, they say.) 4.12 • Zelanites the Onslaught − MicroPower have entered the Archimedes games world with their first game which follows the basic formula of space invaders with variations similar to Arcadians where the baddies come sweeping down at you from the midst of the hoards tracking across the screen and working their way down towards you. There are also various bonuses to be had by shooting other objects which make their way across the top of the screen. Finally, there are a number of different objects which you can catch as they fall from the sky. These offer some positive helps such as extra shooting power or a protective umbrella but don’t catch them all − some are distinctly unhelpful such as one which makes the controls operate the wrong way round! The price is £24.95 inc VAT or £23 through Archive. 4.12 • A5000, the New Archimedes Machine − At the Acorn User Show, Acorn will be launching, and actually selling, the new ARM3 based Archimedes computer, the A5000. It is such an exciting product that we have dedicated a complete supplement to explaining all about it. 5.1 The basic facts are: 5.1 • 25MHz ARM3 processor (giving 13 MIPs) 5.1 • Fast (12 MHz) 2M memory expandable to 4M 5.1 • Bundled with Acorn multisync monitor 5.1 • 1.6M floppy capable for reading (intelligently) all the Acorn formats and also the 720k and 1.44M PC formats 5.1 • 40M internal IDE hard drive 5.1 • RISC-OS 3 operating system 5.1 • Unit starting price, including m/s monitor and hard drive £1499 +VAT (£1761) 5.1 (No, that’s not a misprint − it really is less than £1800!) This looks like a real winner especially when you take that price into account. Well done Acorn! All they have to do now is produce lots of them − and quickly! 5.1 • A5000 Learning Curve − For an extra £38, you can buy an A5000 Learning Curve (£1799 inc VAT) which gives you PC Emulator (1.6), DR-DOS 5.0, Genesis Plus, First Word Plus, Acorn DTP, Pacmania and Lemmings plus a two-hour tutorial on two audio cassettes and a Home Computing magazine. 5.1 • A410/420/540/R260 price drops − The A440 has been discontinued but the A410 and A420 are still available and their ex-VAT prices have been dropped by £200 to £899 and £1099 respectively (£1049 and £1284 inc VAT). The A540 and the R260 Unix machine have each been dropped by £500 to £2495 and £3495 respectively (£2925 and £4088 inc VAT). 5.1 (The A3000 price is unchanged at £599 +VAT.) 5.1 • Acorn badged printer − Also to be launched at the A.U. Show is a JP150 inkjet printer with an Acorn badge. The cost is £276 inc VAT when bought with an A3000 or A5000. 5.1 • 85M Removable drives − We are now stocking the new Syquest 88M removable drives in Mac-type external cases. I have been trying one out and they seem fine. They run at 900 kbytes/second (cf the 42M removables at 580 k/sec). The formatted capacity is 84.7 Mbytes. The drives cost £690 and spare cartridges are £140 each. (More details on page 21.) 5.1 • A310 memory upgrades − IFEL have improved the deal they are offering us on their 4M ram upgrades so we can now do it for £320 inclusive. It is worth remembering that, as we say in our adverts, “price isn’t everything”. In other words, you can buy memory upgrades at less than £320 even including fitting plus carrier collection and delivery but it may not necessarily be a good buy. From our experience, plug-in type upgrades which use the ROM sockets are generally OK, but if your computer is one of those where problems do occur, the money saving may well not be worth it in the long run. We believe that the soldered-in variety are the best bet. 5.1 Also, you will see adverts claiming “MEMC1a not needed”. We do not think this is a good idea. Again, from our experience, most computers probably will get away without fitting the MEMC1a on these upgrades but some can cause problems and the problems may only become obvious when some other hardware is added to the computer. For example, we had an A310 returned with a SCSI hard drive which, apparently, would not work properly. Our engineer, Ray Maidstone, eventually discovered that, although there was a problem with the SCSI drive, the whole thing was compounded by interaction with the memory board. This had been fitted some time ago and had worked properly even without a MEMC1a. However, with the addition of the SCSI drive, the combination would not work properly without a MEMC1a. Although neither the memory upgrade nor the SCSI controller apparently needed a MEMC1a on its own, we found that the combination most definitely did. 5.1 Beware, too, of cheap DIY upgrades. If they work, that’s great, but we have had more than one computer which Ray has had to spend quite a long time on to find what was wrong. Often it was not due to bad soldering − with many, it was a fault revealed by doing the upgrade. Whatever the cause, it works out to be a very expensive way of getting a cheap upgrade! 5.1 • Archimedes Disc Rescue − No longer should “Broken Directory” or “Bad Free Space Map” strike terror into your hearts, even if it is on the root directory of your 100Mb SCSI hard drive! LOOKsystems have produced their Archimedes Disc Rescue package which allows you to repair your discs quickly and easily. The programs work with both hard drives and floppy discs on most Archimedes filing systems such as ADFS, SCSI, IDE, etc. The package includes three utilities, which will repair and recover files, directories and disc maps by selecting the appropriate filing system and drive number or by dragging the ailing file or directory onto the icon bar. There is also a sophisticated disc editor, for more confident users, allowing you to navigate around, edit and repair discs. (It is even possible to edit some non-Archimedes formats such as DFS and IBM.) The programs are accompanied by a manual that includes a disc repair primer and an explanation of the Archimedes’ disc formats. It costs £35 inclusive of p&p (no VAT) from LOOKsystems. 5.1 • Bit-Mapped Fonts − Wyddfa Software has produced a family of four bit- mapped fonts. Anwen medium, bold, italic and upright. They cost £3 each or £9 for all four. These are not outline fonts and so you do not need to have a copy Acorn’s outline font manager. However, the printout is not as good as with outline fonts. 5.1 • Capsoft Disc Nº2 − A disc full of Draw files for just £9 from Capsoft (B J Thompson). It has a number of drawn fonts for poster and display purposes and frame borders for DTP use. See page 53 for a review. 5.1 • Careware Disc 14 − consists of !FarBeyond which is Tetris with a colourful twist, !PolySaw which is a desktop polymos, an interactive hyper cube, the classic game of life, Mandelbrot generator, caret blinker module, !CheckTemp which displays info on WIMP template files, an HP Deskjet 500 setup utility, an Epson FX printer emulator, a Basic program compressor, a word wrapped printer utility for text files, a Lempel-Zev-Welch compression utility and some easy FNs to produce Draw files from Basic. 5.1 • Christmas Allsorts is a collection of Christmas oriented Draw files from Sherston Software. The price is £16.95 +VAT. 5.1 • Clip Art / Line Art − Some new discs of clip art are available this month from G.A. Herdman and Southern Printers. Contact them for details. 5.1 • Compression − Computer Concepts are releasing a new utility which uses Lempel-Zev-Welch (LZW) compression to load and save files in compressed format “five to ten times as fast as other utilities such as !Spark”. This should not be confused with the LZW utility on the Careware 14 disc (see above) which is only a set of SWI calls for use within a program environment. It is a full desktop filing system so it operates with all RISC-OS applications directly. This costs £49 +VAT or £53 through Archive. This means that for just £53, you can effectively double the capacity of your hard disc − which has to be good value for money even with the falling drive prices mentioned below. 5.1 (We have just got hold of a copy and it looks as if loading and saving times are never more than 50% more than uncompressed filing and file size savings can be as much as 80% on sprites, 70% on Drawfiles and even text files go down by 50%. Programs, however, are not compressed at all and the utility doesn’t even bother to try. One disadvantage is that it takes up about 200k of RAM which may not be too helpful for those with only 1Mbyte! A de-compressor is also provided which can be freely distributed, so you can send compressed files to other people and they will be able to un-compress them.) 5.1 • Enter the Realm − The 4th Dimension has extended its games list to include Enter the Realm which is due to be released at the Acorn User Show. This is an arcade style game with 6 layer full parallax scrolling, sampled sound & speech, 16 colour graphics with 256 colour screens to set the scene. It has a story line that runs throughout the game, you have various weapons, pickups, monsters, interactive characters to interrogate, buildings to enter, scoreboard etc. The price is £24.95 or £23 through Archive. 5.1 • FaxScan − SpaceTech’s Faxscan which turns an Amstrad FX9600T or FX9600AT fax into an Archimedes scanner is now available through Archive (see Archive 4.12 p3). The interface on its own is £110. Please check that your fax has a label underneath saying “FX2”. If it says “FX1” you have a very early model and will need a different version of the interface − but it still costs £110. The complete package of FX9600AT + interface + printer cable is £570. Remember that what you get for is a plain paper fax that will also send faxes straight from the computer without having to print them out, a plain paper copier, an Epson compatible printer, an answering machine, a telephone and a 200 dpi scanner with sheet-feeder! 5.1 • Fireball II Extra − The popular Archimedes “Breakout” type game, Fireball II has now been re-released with a few extra features including an editor but with 180 “fiendishly difficult” screens to complete. The price is down from £24.95 to £14.95 from Cambridge International Software or £14 through Archive. 5.1 • First Impression − At last, there is some help with Impression (as well as Archive magazine)! Stephen Ibbs, a lecturer at Bilston Community College, has produced “First Impression” − a tutorial package for Impression II. It consists of 250 pages in a ring binder looking remarkable similar to the Impression ring binder and contains 13 tutorial chapters and 11 appendix chapters plus a couple of floppy discs with example documents and templates. First Impression contains reminders, hints & tips and self-assessment tasks. The cost is £29.95 from Stephen’s company, “Word Processing” or £28 through Archive. Both include p&p. 5.1 If you want even more help, Stephen is offering a distance learning package from Bilston College which is intended for those who cannot attend normal college classes and wish to study at home. The course will be £35 (plus the cost of the tutorial guide) and is suitable for all ages. 5.1 More details of First Impression are given in the review on page 17. 5.1 • Fun & Games − HS Software has provided us with three games in one, under the title “Fun & Games”. It is aimed at helping 5 to 9 year olds on National Curriculum Maths and English. “Coconuts” helps children with sequencing and devising and repeating patterns. In “Burger Boy”, you have to help make up orders for a fast food take-away. This covers a range of skills including reading, matching, sequencing, auditory and visual memory and addition to 10 and beyond. Finally there is “Tidy” in which you help Emma and her pet parrot to tidy her bedroom. This again helps with a range of skills. Fun & Games costs £19.95 from HS Software or £18 through Archive. 5.1 • Guitar Chord & Piano Keyboard outline fonts − Dalmation Publications have produced two specialist outline fonts at £5.50 each (£10 for both). ‘Guitar’ makes it easy to produce chord windows for a range of stringed instruments and ‘Piano’ provides a chord box creator for keyboards in general. 5.1 • Hi-Fi Sound Upgrade Module − Ray Maidstone has produced a plug-in unit with flying leads to connect to an external amplifier. It bypasses the high-pass filter circuit and so gives a much clearer sound than the straight output. The unit is user-fittable and comes with full instruc tions. The price is £24.80 from Ray Maidstone or £23 through Archive. 5.1 • Karaoke Performer − EMR are launching a karaoke system that will work with any cassette player and any Archimedes computer. Each set consists of 6 professional backing tracks on audio cassette for just £10 + £1.50 p&p +VAT. The text of the song scrolls in various ways on the screen in sync with the audio. The control program also allows a separate graphics program or video controller to be used to make original backgrounds during the performance. A free graphics animation is provided with each set. Over 90 sets are already available from 50’s to 80’s hits and featured artists. EMR also sell a Karaoke unit with echo microphone, mixer and amplifier + speaker system to compliment the Karaoke Performer costing £69 inc VAT. 5.1 • Laser Direct HiRes4 − Computer Concepts are now producing a 600 dpi laser printer for “under £1000” (plus VAT). They are using the very popular Canon LBP4 and combining it with their Laser Direct interface for just £999 +VAT (£1,100 through Archive). All the comments we have made about this combination in earlier issues apply but the price has now dropped, thanks to Computer Concepts, from £1,255 to £1,100. HiRes4 has an Epson emulation (128 grey-level printing), Econet & Nexus network options, PC (and other) compatibility via the serial & parallel interfaces and a 1-year on-site maintenance is included. This will help to keep Archimedes DTP as the most affordable and effective DTP system available on any computer system (especially when combined with the new A5000!) 5.1 Just think about it..... A5000 + Impression + HiRes4 gives you 600 dpi DTP for just £1760 + £180 + £1100 = £3040 (= £2587 ex VAT). Remembering that the A5000 has ARM3 and 40M drive, you have a very powerful system. The only thing you might want to add is another 2M ram. 5.1 For a professional flatbed 300 dpi scanner (see below), add £990 + £200 for a SCSI interface or buy a SCSI drive and use the interface. 5.1 Surely, that’s an unbeatable system! Will someone with contacts in the outside world (well, outside Acorn) please tell them about this system? 5.1 • Pandora’s Box − Another of 4th Dimension’s games to be released at the Acorn User Show is Pandora’s Box which combines classic puzzles and arcade action. It uses isometric 3D graphics. The game play is basically that the beast has escaped from Pandora’s box and has to be captured and returned from whence he came before he does untold damage to mankind. The price is £24.95 or £23 through Archive. 5.1 • Penguin lovers should go to the Colton Software stand (59) at the Acorn User Show. Don’t ask me why. Rob Macmillan says it’s serious! 5.1 • Scanlight Professional − A flatbed scanner offering 300 dpi 256 greyscale scanning. It uses the SCSI interface (which many people are already using for hard drives), white-light scanning for accurate grey- level scans and enhanced Scanlight software which includes scan selected region, full grey-map control of brightness and contrast, instant image rotate by any angle, sampling options to reduce Moire patterns, image enhance options such as blurring, sharpening, etc. The price is just £899 +VAT or £990 through Archive. 5.1 • Scanlight special offer − For a limited time, we are offering Scanlight Seniors (both A3000 and A300/400) for £380 instead of £434 (CC’s full price is £468.82). This is only while stocks last. Also, we still have some of the Scanlight Juniors (mono) at £189 (cf CC’s price of £220.07). 5.1 • SCSI drives prices down − The drives we introduced last month are selling well and we’ve managed to reduce the prices. We have also now extended the range to include internal drives. When they are supplied to us, they come with metalwork and cables suitable for the Apple Macin tosh. However, the prices are so good that it is worthwhile buying new metalwork to make them fit properly into the Archimedes. Part of the pricing table we included last month is repeated so that you can see the improvements in pricing. Also, Oak Solutions have changed their pricing. Some of their drives have also decreased in price. (20M drives are no longer available through N.C.S.) 5.1 EXTERNAL drives WITH podule 5.1 WW HS Frog AW 5.1 45M 500 520 5.1 50M 560 620 5.1 65M 550 5.1 80M 565 5.1 100M 695 760 620 790 5.1 200M 1060 1180 870 5.1 300M 2100 1290 5.1 640M 2850 1690 5.1 1000M 2290 5.1 If you look at the prices without podule, i.e. for those of you looking for a second SCSI drive, the differences in price are more marked.... 5.1 EXTERNAL drives WITHOUT podule 5.1 WW HS Frog AW 5.1 45M 400 320 5.1 50M 460 420 5.1 65M 350 5.1 80M 465 5.1 100M 595 660 420 590 5.1 200M 960 1080 670 5.1 300M 2000 1090 5.1 640M 2750 1490 5.1 1000M 2090 5.1 INTERNAL drives WITH podule 5.1 WW HS Frog AW 5.1 45M 405 490 5.1 50M 470 535 5.1 65M 520 5.1 80M 450 5.1 100M 570 660 590 700 5.1 200M 995 1090 840 5.1 Again, the prices without podule, show a more marked difference.... 5.1 INTERNAL drives WITHOUT podule 5.1 WW HS Frog AW 5.1 45M 305 290 5.1 50M 370 335 5.1 65M 320 5.1 80M 350 5.1 100M 470 560 390 500 5.1 200M 895 990 640 5.1 • Stop Watch − G.A.Herdman has produced a twin timer stop watch working in the desktop. It has a large display suitable for class viewing using either Porterhouse fonts from Applications Disc 1 or the outline font, Trinity for better effect. It also has a lap-timer and will give a count down with audible warning. It displays hours, minutes and seconds to 0.01s and 100 hours. £19.99 + £1.50 p&p from G.A. Herdman. 5.1 • Three new games are due to be released by Krisalis at the Acorn User Show: Lemmings which, in other computer formats, won a “Game of the Year” award, Chuck Rock which according to the advert in Acorn User, includes “parolex scroll” (Sorry, I couldn’t resist that − but even my spelling’s not purfect!) and Manchester United Europe which takes that club into European knockout competitions with both management decisions to make and arcade action matches to play. Each game is £25.99 or £23 through Archive. 5.1 • Turbo Type is a typing tutor from Cambridge International Software Ltd. It features an on-screen keyboard during all exercises, digitised sounds, large text option, exercise editor, metronome for improved typing rhythm and has four levels of exercises: beginners who can practise subsets or the complete keyboard, intermediate for typing easy sentences, advanced for difficult sentences and short paragraphs and numeric for those wanting to practice the numeric keypad. TurboType is £24.95 from Cambridge International or £23 through Archive. • Acorn Desktop Assembler − Acorn have released a new version of their well established Assembler − this time, it has a fully RISC-OS compliant front end. It comes with two versions of the macro assembler, ObjAsm which assembles programs into object (runable code) and AAsm which assembles programs that can be run and debugged. It also includes Acorn’s Desktop Development Environment. 5.2 The DDE includes a range of four interactive tools − DDT for debugging executable images files, FormEd which is an improved version of the template editor, Make which is a new desktop application for construct ing programs from their sources and SrcEdit, a text editor derived from Edit with some new features for constructing program sources. There is also a wide range of Non-interactive tools: AMU − a compact alternative to Make, Common − a utility to find the most common words in a file, DecAOF − a utility for examining AOF files output by the compiler or assembler, DecCF − a utility for examining chunk files, Diff − a text file comparison tool, Find − a tool for finding text patterns in the names or contents of sets of files, Link − a tool for constructing usable modules, programs, etc LibFile − a tool for constructing general purpose (library) routines, ObjSize − a utility to measure the size of an object file, Squeeze − a tool to compress finished programs so they take less space on the disc and WC − a text file word and character counter. 5.2 The price of the Desktop Assembler, including DDE, is £175 from Acorn or £155 through Archive. 5.2 • Acorn Desktop C − Acorn’s new version of the C language now also works in the desktop and comes with the same range of debugging tools as the Desktop Assembler. Desktop C consists of the C compiler itself (a full implementation of the 1989 ANSI standard), plus CMHG which allows you to write modules in ANSI C, ToANSI which converts source C programs from the PCC style to ANSI C, ToPCC which converts source C programs from the ANSI C style to PCC plus the utilities of the Desktop Development Environment as listed above. The price is £269 from Acorn or £240 through Archive. 5.2 • Adventure Playground − Storm Software’s latest offering consists of two explorations for children aged 6 to 9 that aim to “develop a wide variety of educational skills: planning, decision making, logical thinking, memory and strategy”. The price is £19.99 from Storm Software or £19 through Archive. 5.2 • Air Supremacy − Superior Software’s new simulation allows you to choose between aircraft, ground or sea combat forces as the battle progresses. Level one is set in Europe in 1918 with biplanes and tanks, Level 2 is 1944 in the Pacific with fighter aircraft and gunboats, level 3 is 1991 with jet aircraft and desert tanks and level 4 is set in 2150 with futuristic aircraft and rapid attack hovercraft. £24.95 from Superior Software or £23 through Archive. 5.2 • Alexander is a remote sensing application from Lindis UK (a.k.a. Lingenuity) allowing you to interpret and manipulate satellite images. Facilities include averaging and gaussian filters for smoothing, Laplace and median filters for image enhancement, four types of classification and several different display options. The software on its own costs £764 (£650 +VAT), a multi-user licence costs £2,350 (£2,000 +VAT) or buy it bundled complete with an A5000 at just £2525 (£2149 +VAT) or as a package with an A540 + Eizo 9070 for £4752 (£4044 +VAT). 5.2 (Taking £1761, the list price of an A5000, away from £2525 shows that the first bundled deal gives you the software for just... err... £764! Taking £764 away from the second bundled price of £4752 shows that the A540 and Eizo 9070 would cost you £3988. However, the Archive price for the A540 & monitor is £2930 + £850 = £3780 so you could save yourself £208 by buying the software from them and the computer from us and get a £200 software voucher which we give with every A540!) 5.2 • Bambuzle − a puzzle game from Arxe Systems involves trying to fill a series of “pods” with four balls each of the same colour from a selection of different balls provided at each level. Getting the right balls into the right pods is another matter − and you are working against the clock! The price is £19.95 from Arxe or £19 through Archive. 5.2 • Cartoon Collection is a set of four discs full of cartoon type chracters in Paint format from Micro Studios. The price is £19.95 or £19 through Archive. 5.2 • Charity Part Exchange − A number of people have asked us recently if we do part exchange on computers − I think it might have something to do with the coming of the A5000! Anyway, the answer has, so far, been “no”. However, we have just had an idea.... 5.2 For a limited period, we are going to try offering part exchange on A310’s, A3000’s and A400 series computers plus hard drives and monitors. What we will then do is to refurbish the machines and make them available at cost to registered charities (and possibly also to schools if enough become available). 5.2 So, for example, we can offer £300 off the price of, say, an A5000 in return for your A3000. We will get Ray Maidstone to refurbish the A3000 and then make it available to charities for, say, £350 +VAT (which we unfortunately have to add and pass on to the government − unless anyone can see a legal way round it) which comes to £411 − rather less than the full price of £695. 5.2 However, if you felt able to accept a bit less than the offered discount then we could reduce the price that a charity would have to pay. 5.2 What about warranty? − We would offer a six-month warranty on the refurbished machines although, given that we would be doing all this at cost, it would be on the basis that the charity would be responsible for getting the computer to us, we would repair or replace it and send it back at our expense. 5.2 How much will you offer? − Well, we have to reserve the right to change the amount being offered (or withdraw the scheme altogether if it’s costing us too much) but, initially, we can offer... 5.2 A310 £200 5.2 A3000 £325 5.2 A3000 (2M) £350 5.2 A3000 (4M) £400 5.2 A410 £450 5.2 A410 (2M) £470 5.2 A410 (4M) £510 5.2 Colour monitor £80 5.2 Multisync monitor £120 * 5.2 ST506 hard drives £5 (per 10M) 5.2 ST506 controller £25 5.2 SCSI hard drives £10 (per 10M) 5.2 SCSI controller £40 * 5.2 * This applies only to certain types of monitor and controller. It has to be entirely at our discretion. 5.2 (These figures are based on what one of our rivals is offering. It’s slightly less, but then it is in aid of charity.) 5.2 What about other add-on hardware? − Other hardware will be treated on its merits. Because we are doing this at cost, we will have to be sure that we will be able to sell the items that you are offering us − otherwise, we are going to be out of pocket. 5.2 What about all my data? − If you want to keep your hard drive and/or computer so that you can transfer all your data, you can pay for the new computer, have it delivered and then, up to one calendar month after the purchase, return the old computer/drive to obtain your part-exchange money. 5.2 • Cheap computers?! − Acorn have recently re-launched their UK Teach ers’, Academics’ and (now also including) Students’ Support Scheme. The offer is a discount of £100 off the price of an A3000 Learning Curve pack with monitor and stand (£899 inc VAT) or £200 off the price of an A5000 Learning Curve pack, which includes the hi res monitor (£1599 inc VAT). 5.2 This offer is available to teachers and academics (as before) but now Acorn have extended it to full-time students in F.E. or H.E. whether they are doing study or research. It also applies to teaching support staff such as advisors, advisory teachers, inspectors and technicians in schools and teachers’ centres. The term “academics” includes those in teaching or research in teaching hospitals, medical schools etc. 5.2 Application forms are available from N.C.S. or your local Acorn dealer and we would be happy to supply the computer(s) for you so that you can benefit from our technical back-up service. There is an “assisted credit scheme” for teachers and academics (but not students) but this is not available through N.C.S. 5.2 • Chequered Flag − Cambridge International Software’s racing car simulation program has 4 race tracks, 3 levels of difficulty, design your own car, manual or automatic gearbox, mirrors and you have single races or can take part in a World Championship series. £24.95 from C.I.S. or £23 through Archive. 5.2 • Chuck Rock − is a parallax scrolling arcade game from Krisalis. Travel around throwing rocks at appropriate things and picking up others. The price is £25.99 from Krisalis or £24 through Archive. 5.2 • !CL is a multi-tasking communications link with the Psion organiser. It gives remote file access, print to file or printer, send or receive Psion file etc. Available for £25 from Mark Godwin, 13 Prestbury Close, Blackpole Village, Worcester WR4 9XG. 5.2 • CNC Designer for millers − Techsoft now have software available for translating drawings created in Draw or in their own Designer package into G and M codes for CNC millers. This adds to the software they already have (though not previously mentioned here) for the control of CNC lathes. 5.2 • Control Logo − Longman Logotron have now finished their control Logo for the Archimedes. It uses the same keywords as the BBC version and allows you to control outputs and sense inputs and also has the facility to regulate the power of outputs. It also adds extra primitives that exploit the processing power of the Archimedes. The cost is £22 +VAT from Longman Logotron or £24 through Archive. 5.2 • Converta-Key − An alphabetic overlay for your keyboard which allows children to use a keyboard set out in alphabetical order. This new program from Triple R Education, the educational “arm” of the 4th Dimension, works with other software as well as their own. It comes with a range of introductory programs such as Hangman, Quizmaster, Anagrams, Memory Master, Find It and Speed-type. The cost is £19.95 from Triple R or £19 through Archive. 5.2 • Creator Support − Alpine Software have produced a number of products to help those who are using their arcade games designer package, Creator. The Creator Support Disc, £19.95, provides various utilities for games writers − sprite compressor, mode converter, sprite to Creator object converter, background build up, plus an application to allow Creator games to run in mode 9 for extra speed and to release more memory. Sprite Library Disc 1, £5 provides sprites of various animated characters and building blocks suitable for backgrounds. The Sound Effects Disc 1, £5 is self-explanatory. Alpine are also now producing a quarterly magazine called Alpine Express, £1.20 for three issues, but free to registered Creator or ALPS owners. 5.2 • Data Word − This is a database, from Triple R Education, aimed at use within the National Curriculum. It works just like a card index but is flexible enough to use it as a word processor. The cost is £19.95 from Triple R or £19 through Archive. 5.2 • DeskEdit − Risc Developments (a.k.a. Beebug) have produced a multi- purpose text editor − all that !Edit should have been − with facilities for use with Basic and C programming. £24.95 from Risc Developments Ltd. 5.2 • DIY VIDC Enhancer − Atomwide have just released a new version of their long established VIDC Enhancer. (For the record, they invented it and others have copied their idea!) The hardware hasn’t changed, but the software includes a modes editor. You can now load up any mode module that is in memory and edit it to suit your monitor − even if it’s just shoving it a bit to the right or to the left − and then save it as a new module, customised to your needs. The new enhancer package is £25 +VAT from Atomwide or £28 through Archive. If you have the Atomwide enhancer (and NOT any of the copied versions) you can send your original modes disc plus a cheque for £5 to Atomwide (NOT to us, please) and they will send you a new disc and manual. 5.2 • DrawAid − This application, which allows you to create Draw files from within Basic programs, was reviewed in Archive 5.1 p57. Since then, Carvic Manufacturing have (a) added extra features and a tutorial, (b) corrected the bug that was reported and (c) moved from Cambridge to the North of Scotland! The price of DrawAid is still £10 and the address of Carvic Manufacturing is given in the Factfile at the back of the magazine. 5.2 • EasiWriter − When does a word-processor become a DTP package? Icon Technology, who produced EasiWriter, refer to it as “more than a word- processor” − and it certainly is. It allows text in columns, insertion of Draw files, sprites and FWPlus files, has spell-checking and auto- hyphenation, styles for emphasis, paragraph definition and setting structure. N.B. It needs 2M to run on an Archimedes. (I have many happy(?) memories of Icon Technology’s “MacAuthor” on my Apple Mac in the very early days. Icon Technology certainly know what document processing is all about.) It costs £150 +VAT or £160 through Archive. 5.2 • Elite is here! − Hybrid Technology have just launched Elite on the Archimedes. At last, the all- time best selling computer game has come to the Archimedes which, I am sure, will do justice to this very popular and addictive game. The Arcade bulletin board (081−654−2212) already has an area specifically dedicated to discussions about Archimedes Elite. The price is £39.99 from Hybrid or £37 through Archive. 5.2 • Ethnic Borders is the intriguing title of a disc of 43 decorative Poster borders from 4Mation. The cost is £10 +VAT or £11 through Archive. The title is derived from the fact that many of the designs are based on Maori art. 5.2 • Fun School 3 − Database Educational Software have produced “six stunning educational programs that will help to develop many skills including number and word skills at your child’s own pace”. Their Fun School 2 was the biggest selling educational package ever with, they claim, over 150,000 UK sales. Fun School 3 comes in three complete sets of six programs each for under 5’s, 5’s to 7’s and over 7’s. Each set is £24.99 from Database or £23 through Archive. 5.2 • Hawk V9 price drop. Wild Vision’s Hawk V9 digitiser has now dropped in price to £199 +VAT. It comes with fully RISC-OS compliant software providing an “extensive range of image scaling and enhancing options” allowing sprites produced to be dragged straight into whatever desktop applications you are using. 5.2 • Illusionist − Clares new 3D graphics package that enables you to create “any object of any colour, illuminate it with coloured light or spot lights and render it in any 256 colour mode”. Features include 3D editor, materials editor, anti-aliasing, saving in compressed or clear formats, compressed formats being compatible with Pro-Artisan, Render Bender II and Titler. The price is £99.95 from Clares or £89 through Archive. 5.2 • Lemmings which, in other computer formats, won a “Game of the Year” award is now available on the Archimedes from Krisalis Software. Having played it, I can see why it was an award winner. The scenario is that a whole pile of little animals are entering the screen and have to be guided to a safe haven before they fall off into something nasty. Sounds a bit boring but I’m not a games freak and I found it absolutely fascinating trying to work out how to get through each level. It costs £25.99 from Krisalis or £24 through Archive. 5.2 • Manchester United Europe is a football simulation from Krisalis which takes you into European knockout competitions with management decisions to make and arcade action matches to play. The price is £25.99 or £24 through Archive. 5.2 • Memory upgrade for A5000 − Atomwide are just about to launch a memory upgrade for the A5000. There is no definite price yet (but check on the Price List which is printed later) but it will provide 4M for less than £140 (the price of the Acorn 2 to 4M upgrade board) and it will be upgradable to 8M by plugging in an extra MEMC and memory chips. 5.2 • Money Matters − This is a suite of programs to teach currency facts. It is based on the circus theme and is suitable for “tots to teens”. It aims to teach children all about British coins and ways of tendering money. At a more advanced level, it is designed with specific National Curriculum attainment targets in mind. The cost is £19.95 from Triple R or £19 through Archive. 5.2 • Picture Book − A set of four educational games for children (no age specified, but young, presumably) from Triple R Education. It consists of an electronic version of an ABC book, an introduction to spelling, a counting program and a ‘snap’ game. The cost is £19.95 from Triple R or £19 through Archive. 5.2 • PinPoint is a “new generation database” from Longman Logotron. Clearly aimed at education, it provides DTP like facilities for creating and publishing multiple page forms. It has a WYSI-WYG data entry system, a table browser, statistics generation and graphical analysis, all of which can be combined to produce reports based on data entered. The cost is £99 +VAT from Longman or £105 through Archive. 5.2 • Pirate is a swash-buckling adventure from Chalksoft for children aged 8 to 14. Steer your ship through uncharted waters coping with problems, exploring passing ships. Logic, strategic thinking and map-making skills are developed. It is aimed at Geography and Maths at Key Stage two. The price is £23 from Chalksoft. 5.2 • Repair work − Ray Maidstone, our repair expert nearly passed out when I showed him a list of charges being suggested by one of our rivals who have just opened a repair service. (e.g. the cost of repairing a basic A3000 including “up to one hour’s labour” is £65 + parts + carriage + VAT.) I won’t tell you his exact comments but I will paraphrase them as, “Gosh, that sounds a little bit expensive − I wish I could earn £65 an hour. Please tell your subscribers to send their computers, drives, monitors etc to me and I will charge on the basis of how much work I actually do on each one.” 5.2 So, there you have it, the Archive Repair Service is born! If you have something that needs repairing, drop us a line or give us a ring and we’ll see what we can arrange for you. 5.2 • Replacement mouse − Clares are selling a mouse for the Archimedes which has “tactile micro-switches, opto-mechanical sensors, high resolution (290 tpi) and two direction sensors per axis to provide a stable mouse pointer”. However, the best recommendation for it, as far as I can see, is that it works and is about half the price of the Acorn one! It costs £32 from Clares or £30 through Archive (cf £56 for the Acorn replacement mouse.) (Actually, I didn’t find it too good as the buttons are not separate “islands” − the whole of the front edge of the mouse is “continuous button”. There is nowhere to rest your middle finger when you are not using it and I found I got accidental <adjust> clicks occurring − but to save £26, it may be worth it.) 5.2 • ScoreDraw form Clares is a utility that takes a Rhapsody II score and converts it to a Draw file. The cost is £61.95 from Clares or £57 through Archive. A sample printout is shown below. 5.2 • SCSI controllers − Morley Electronics have two new SCSI controller cards available. They are both 16-bit interfaces for speed and one has an added RAM cache, again to speed it up more. The prices are £149 and £199 +VAT respectively. The A3000 versions have to be external to the computer and are cased in metal, so they are £169 and £219 respectively. The Archive prices are £160 and £220 for A400/540/5000 and £180 and £240 for A3000. 5.2 We have done some speed tests to compare it with the Oak SCSI interface. We tested it on an A3000 with an ARM2 processor connected to an Atomwide 100M high speed Quantum drive. We did the raw file loading speed test, our “better test” where we copy the contents of a directory containing all the files on Applications Disc 2 and the same test but using the contents of Applications Disc 1. The results are shown in the review article about SCSI versus IDE on page 19. 5.2 • SCSI drives − We are also now supplying Morley’s 40M and 100M SCSI drives. The Archive prices are £350 and £560 respectively for internal drives and £435 and £620 respectively for A3000 drives. These prices include a non-cached board because, as suggested by the timings of the SCSI boards mentioned above, it hardly seems worth the extra £50 to have the cached version. (Morley have done some comparative tests of their boards against Oaks and say that for larger drives, 200M+, their cached board “leaves Oak board standing”.) 5.2 With the proliferation of SCSI drives that we now sell and the various SCSI interface options it has all got a bit complicated so let me try to simplify things a bit. (Actually, the best bet is to ring us up, tell us what sort of thing you are looking for, and we will advise you what options there are.) 5.2 A3000 drives are the simplest in some ways because they have to be external drives. In the 40 to 50M range, the Morley 40M is the cheapest at £435 but then if you want something a bit faster and a bit bigger, the Frog 45M with the Morley interface comes out at £480. This is an external interface but if you want to, or have to, have an internal interface, it has to be the Lingenuity one which is the same price as the Morley one but is a bit slower being only an 8-bit interface. If you want the fastest in this range, you would have to go for the Atomwide 50M drive with a Morley external interface at a total of £585 (£425 + 160). 5.2 If you want a 100M drive for your A3000, it works out that the Frog external 100M plus Morley interface is the cheapest at £580 (£420 + £160). For a faster drive, you could choose the Atomwide 100M plus Morley interface at £755 (£595 + £160). 5.2 If you want an internal drive for an A310 or A410, the cheapest is, again, the Morley 40M at £350 followed by the Oak Worrawinnie 45M at £405 and the Frog 45M with Morley interface at £430. At 100M internal, the cheapest is the Frog with a Morley interface at £530 (£390 + £140) followed by Morley’s own 100M at £560 and Oak’s Worrawinnie at £570. For higher speed, you could go for Oak’s HS drive at £660 or Atomwide’s 100M with Morley interface at £645 (£505 + £140). 5.2 If you want an external drive for an A310 or A400 series machine (or an A5000!) because you can’t fit an internal drive, there is a similar range as for the A3000 but at slightly different prices because of the different costs of the interfaces. In the 40 to 50M range, the Morley 40M is the cheapest at £425 but then if you want something a bit faster and a bit bigger, the Frog 45M with the Morley interface comes out at £460. If you want the fastest in this range, you could choose between the Atomwide 50M drive with a Morley interface at a total of £565 (£425 + £140) and the Oak HS 50M at £560. 5.2 If you want a 100M drive, the Frog external 100M plus Morley interface is the cheapest at £560 (£420 + £140). For a faster drive, you would have to go to the Atomwide 100M plus Morley interface at £735 (£595 + £140). 5.2 If you are unhappy about the “unproven” nature of the Morley software interface and prefer the extremely stable Oak software then you will need to add £40 to the price of an A3000 podule and £60 for an internal podule on other the machines. 5.2 • Search & Rescue is a role play program for children aged 9+. An emergency at sea is reported and, as Coastguard, it is your task to coordinate the actions of lifeboats and helicopters. It brings in elements of Maths, Geography, English, History and Science. The price is £33.50 from Storm Software or £31 through Archive. 5.2 • Sesame Street Crayon is a computer colouring book. Lots of pictures for you to colour by clicking on the colour you want and clicking on the area you want to fill. The result can then be printed on a colour printer. It comes in two varieties, Numbers Count and Letters for You, which gives a clue to the fact that these programs also have an education content − rather like Sesame Street TV programme. Each pack is £19 through Archive. 5.2 • Sky Hunter is a computer program linked to BBC’s new TV series starting in January 1992 − Look and Read. Sky Hunter is a peregrine falcon and the children’s job is to catch some crooks who intend to sell Sky Hunter illegally. To catch them, you have to solve various problems along the way. This program, aimed at 7 to 9’s costs £24 +VAT from Longman Logotron or £26 through Archive. 5.2 • Statistical software − If you need to do statistical analysis then FirstJR is a cut down version of Serious Statistical Software’s package, First. FirstJR costs £49 with a school site licence for £140. 5.2 • Step by Step Videos − Pedigree Films have produced a set of four videos to help you with using the A3000 and other Archimedes computers. They are £14.95 each (£14 through Archive). Up & Running (80 mins), Text Processing (70 mins), Data Handling (55 mins) and Art & Graphics (55 mins). 5.2 • Target Maths − This is a suite of four programs designed with specific National Curriculum attainment targets in mind. Eliminator helps in learning tables; NumberFax shows factors, odd and triangular numbers etc; Scale Factor helps in reading linear scales and, at higher level, improve arithmetic skills; Slider is a computer version of snakes and ladders. The cost is £19.95 from Triple R or £19 through Archive. 5.2 • The Font Book from Dalmatian Productions is a user guide for fonts on the Archimedes range of computers. This 100+ page book comes complete with a disc of outline fonts and decorative draw files for just £10.50 inclusive − cheques payable to T. Richards. 5.2 • The Public Key − This magazine which promotes interest in Public Key Cryptography has had to increase its charges as the initial levels were not realistic to cover costs. Issue 1 and issue 2 each cost £3 (£4 from EEC and £5.50 elsewhere). The disc containing the cryptography program is £6 (£7 from EEC and £8 elsewhere). The complete package of two issues plus disc is £11 (£13 from EEC and £17 elsewhere). Cheques (in dollars or pounds sterling) should be made payable to George Foot. 5.2 • Tower of Babel − an interactive 3D strategy game involving an interconnecting network of towers, platforms and lifts. You have to take control of robot spiders and program them to solve problems and puzzles and interact with various other creatures. Alternatively, realtime control is available for instantaneous reaction to the game’s develop ments. £24.99 from Cygnus Software or £23 through Archive. 5.2 • VoxBox − This is a supporting package to Rhapsody II, Maestro and other music packages. It allows you to play scores, provides percussion sounds, converts sound samples into Archimedes voices and allows you to digitally synthesize voices by drawing waveforms or harmonics. The price is £61.95 (inc VAT) from Clares or £57 through Archive. 5.2 • Waterloo − This successful simulation from Atari, Amiga & PC’s is now available on the Archimedes. The author, Dr Peter Turcan, seems to have enjoyed doing the transfer. It has 3D perspective pictures of the battlefield, sounds of canon and an English language parser to interpret the orders that you, the commander-in-chief give to your subordinate officers. The cost is £24.95 plus £1 p&p from Turcan Research Systems and for that, you get a disc, full manual and a colour map of the terrain and the initial dispositions of the armies. 5.2 • 4th Dimension game fix − If you are having problems running any of the Fourth Dimension games, it is probably because they are trying to get a quart into a (1M) pint pot. To make things easier, Fourth Dimension have produced a configuration saver program which is available FREE from them (not from N.C.S.!). 5.3 • A5000 memory upgrades − Atomwide now have memory upgrades available for the A5000. The 2 to 4M upgrade is £130 through Archive and the 4 to 8M is £470. This latter upgrade requires the MEMC to be taken out and a socket put in its place − definitely not a DIY job, unlike the 2 to 4M which can be undertaken by any sensible, technically minded person. The price of the 4 to 8M upgrade includes two-way carriage. 5.3 • A5000 1FD − the 1M floppy disc version of the A5000 (a “Product not- Available”!) We said (quoting Acorn, by the way!) that the version of the A5000 with 1M RAM, no hard drive and no monitor version would be available in January. They are now saying that they will be available “in small quantities only during the first quarter of 1992”. Rumour has it that they will only be selling them to VARs (Value Added Resellers − companies who sell complete systems with an Archimedes at the centre) and not releasing them to the general public. So those of us who want to supply a real “quality” system with an Eizo monitor and a SCSI drive will have to wait for several months to come. Well, not quite.... 5.3 • A5000 monitor upgrade − A growing number of people are feeling that the Acorn multisync monitor does not do justice to the quality of the computer, so we are now offering the Eizo 9060SZ as our recommended alternative. It provides a dot pitch of 0.28mm instead of 0.38mm and better linearity. If you want an Eizo 9060, just add £200 to the price as quoted with the Acorn monitor. So that means we have some spare multisyncs.... 5.3 • A3000 monitor upgrade − As a spin off from the offer above, we have some Acorn multisync monitors for sale that would be ideal for use with the A3000. At £310 inc VAT, they are only £60 more than the Acorn standard resolution monitor but allow you to go into the higher resolution modes unavailable to users of standard resolution monitors. 5.3 • A5000 IDE hard disc upgrades − We can now supply a 100M second internal IDE drive for the A5000 for £380. This is a fast drive (as IDE’s go!) and fits under the floppy drive. 5.3 • Acorn printer sheet-feeder − Acorn are hoping to have, “fairly soon”, a sheet-feeder unit for their inkjet printer. It should be available by the time you read this − but ring before ordering, just to check! The price is £69 +VAT or £77 through Archive. 5.3 • Archivist is an “easy-to-use” database from Oregan Developments. Designed in accordance with LEA guidelines, it is “ideal for education”. The price £24.95 inclusive or £50 for an additional site licence from Oregan Developments. 5.3 • ARM3 prices down (and up!) − After dropping the price of their ARM3 upgrades to £199, Watford Electronics have put the price back up to £249 saying that it was only an “Acorn User Show Special Offer Price”. Aleph One have just brought their price down to £249 +VAT. (£280 through Archive) The A3000 ARM3 upgrades are now £249 + £35 fitting charge or £340 through Archive. As I write, the CJE ARM3 is still available at £199 +VAT or £225 through Archive. 5.3 • Bonjour de France is a series of four Genesis applications on 9 floppy discs for use in teaching French at Key Stages 3 and 4. The cost including a teacher’s guide and over 100 worksheets is £95 +VAT from Oak Solutions or £103 through Archive. 5.3 • CalcSheet − Trail Software have produced a RISC-OS compatible spreadsheet called CalcSheet which is aimed particularly at users with 1M computers and floppy drives. Features include keyboard short-cuts, 1000 columns by 9999 rows, 80 built-in functions, graphing facilities, timed auto-save and macro facilities including a learn option. The price is £99 +VAT or £520 +VAT for a site licence. A demo disc is available from Trail Software for £5, deductible from the purchase cost of the software itself. 5.3 • Cataclysm (not ‘Catalysm’ as in all the big glossy adverts) is a new arcade game from 4th Dimension. You have to avoid the inundation of your spaceship by adjusting valves, pumps etc within a given time limit. Watch out for the pressure valves, dissolving blocks and filters. £24.95 from 4th Dimension or £23 through Archive. 5.3 • Chameleon is a utility for doing quick and easy colour changes to Draw files. It provides a range of 16 and 256-colour palettes, including a 256 level grey scale, and allows selection and changing of colours from each palette. It also has an HSV (hue, saturation, value) palette. Chameleon is £25 +VAT from 4mation or £27 through Archive. 5.3 • Colour printer drivers − Ace Computing have added to their wide range of RISC-OS printer drivers one for the new Deskjet 500C sheet-fed colour inkjet printer. The price from Ace is £15 inc VAT and p&p. 5.3 • Glimpse is described by Sherston Software as the simple way to find a clip art file. It allows you to view a miniature version of the file in a filer window. Files can be loaded directly from a Glimpse window into Draw, Paint or any RISC-OS application. The price is £8.50 +VAT from Sherston. 5.3 • Grievous Bodily ’ARM is another game from the 4th Dimension stable. It is an arcade style game involving beating up some drug-smuggling baddies using your expertise in kicking and punching and using weapons picked up along the way. £24.95 from 4th Dimension or £23 through Archive. 5.3 • Hilighter is Sherston Software’s new text and graphics presentation package. It allows you to display information in a RISC-OS window and have it linked so that users can explore the information provided. The price is £45 +VAT from Sherston. 5.3 • Holed Out Compendium − Fourth Dimension have released a version of HoledOut that consists of HoledOut, Extra Courses 1, Extra Courses 2 and HoledOut Designer − all in one pack for £24.95 or £23 through Archive. 5.3 • J − The language J is now available for the Archimedes. Version 3.4 is available from I-APL for £17.00 + £2 p&p. This includes A Dictionary of J and Tangible Math rewritten in J. 5.3 • Notate is a music composition program from Longman Logotron aimed, as you might guess, at educational users. Its range of facilities includes up to eight staves, synthesised and sampled sounds, accidentals and repeats, auto-checking of note length relative to bar space remaining, chord facility, configurability for different levels of user, auto transposition, Midi file input and output and direct playing on Midi instruments. The price is £57 +VAT or £64 through Archive. 5.3 • Oak PCB for RISC-OS − Oak Solutions now have a PCB layout and schematic design package available for just £150 +VAT (£160 through Archive) or there is an educational price, including a site licence, for £120 +VAT. Facilities include four copper layers, automatic generation of drilling and solder resist layers, automatic movement of tracks if components are moved, hard copy via RISC-OS drivers or via a supplied HPGL driver, comprehensive parts library for both PCB and schematics. 5.3 • Polyglot is a foreign language character generator which provides fast and easy access to foreign language character sets when using RISC-OS applications. £19.95 from Risc Developments. (Although it has the same address as Beebug Ltd, they ask us to make clear that this is a separate company.) 5.3 • Recall is Sherston Software’s database designed with National Curriculum in mind. The price is £39.95 +VAT from Sherston. 5.3 • Revelation 2 is the CD-ROM edition of Longman Logotron’s education- based art package (£119 +VAT or £125 through Archive.). Revelation was created with particular emphasis on facilities for taking images from other sources such as digitisers, scanners or video frame-grabbers and processing them to create totally new pictures. Revelation 2 adds various extra features including extra colour mixing, colour processing, image effects (sharpening and dithering) and extra fill options. 5.3 It also comes in a CD-ROM version for £139 +VAT or £145 through Archive. 5.3 • SmArt Suite is a linked graphics system from 4mation. When you load a picture, different parts of it can be changed by selecting from a menu. The package which is £55 +VAT (or £59 through Archive) comes with over 24 files on subjects including cars, shops, churches, maps of Britain. Also available, as separate products, are discs on the subjects of Leisure, Heraldry, Faces, Fashion, Homes, Trees and Gardens and Dinosaurs. These discs are £16 each +VAT or £18 through Archive. SmArt Filer is an application for those who wish to create their own sets of SmArt files − £35 +VAT or £38 through Archive. 5.3 • Teletext Adaptor Front End − The RISC-OS front end (written by Geoff Titmuss) for the Morley Teletext Adaptor was mentioned 12 months ago in Products Available but it is now available through The Really Good Software Company at a price of £29.95. 5.3 I have had a play with it and would say that Geoff’s software brings a new lease of life to the adaptor. It is a full multi-tasking RISC-OS application and the Teletext screen appears in a RISC-OS window. Just click on any of the numbers in the window and that Teletext page appears in due course. Best of all, you can flick back to any of the previous ten pages you have been looking at. This means that if you want, say, the television programmes, you can select page 601 and get on with some other work while the three screens making up that page are loaded, then select 602, then 603 and finally 604. Then you can look at any of the TV program pages at the click of a mouse button. One other extra feature is that you can set your computer’s internal clock from the Teletext clock, at the click of a mouse button. (See the review on page 27.) 5.3 • Touchtech 3000 is an infra red touch screen for the Archimedes from Microvitec which fits onto their Cub 3000 monitor. At £300 +VAT, it comes with a suite of nine programs to develop colour recognition, finger painting, simple addition, shape recognition etc for the teaching of very young or special needs children. 5.3 • Yes Chancellor 2 − Chalksoft have now released an Archimedes version of their economic simulation package, Yes Chancellor. You are in the hot seat at Nº 11 Downing Street and have to keep the UK economy from collapsing. You have, amongst other things, to set taxes, control interest rates, do wage bargaining and deal with membership of the European ERM. This simulation is aimed at adults and economics students and includes an information booklet written by a former Senior Official of the Inland Revenue. The price is £23 +VAT or £25 through Archive. 5.3 • A5000’s back in stock − The stock situation on A5000’s seems to change weekly. Anyway, as I write (2/1/92) we have both A5000 Learning Curves and straight A5000’s without Learning Curves in stock. No, sorry, not the A5000 1FD (1M no hard drive version). We have some on order but we gather that Acorn are not releasing any for the foreseeable future. As far as we know, Acorn are only supplying them to VARs (Value Added Resellers), i.e. companies who buy them and add their own software and hardware etc which they then sell as a complete system. 5.4 We can help you in customising by (a) offering alternative monitors e.g. we supply an Eizo 9060S for £200 above the price including the Acorn multi-sync (b) offering a second additional internal 100M IDE drive for £380 (having tested that it is compatible with the Acorn IDE interface − see comments on page 12) and (c) offering £100 in part exchange on a Conner 40M IDE drive (i.e. replace the 40M with 100M for £280) but this offer is at our discretion as we don’t want to end up with lots of 40M IDE’s we can’t get rid of. Also, we can offer (subject to availability) a second additional internal 40M IDE drive for £120 (the extra is to account for extra cabling and labour) but I won’t put this on the Price List − it’s complicated enough already. If you are interested, give us a ring. So, based on a Learning Curve pack, here are the combined prices... 5.4 2M 4M 8M 5.4 A5000 (40M) £1799 £1929 £2399 5.4 A5000 (40M + 40M) £1919 £2049 £2519 5.4 A5000 (100M) £2079 £2209 £2679 5.4 A5000 (40M + 100M) £2179 £2309 £2779 5.4 then add £200 if you want an Eizo 9060S instead of an Acorn m/s or £270 if you would prefer a Taxan 795 or £460 for an Eizo 9070 (16“) or £910 if you want an Eizo T560i 17” Trinitron (see below for details). 5.4 • A5000 Technical reference manuals − Acorn have produced a technical reference manual for the A5000 which consists of about 40 pages of text plus 9 A1-size drawings including assembly diagrams, circuit diagrams and component layouts. The price is £65 from Acorn or £62 through Archive. (They are in stock now.) 5.4 • Atomwide 200M SCSI drives − The 200M Pro Quantum drive mechanisms that Oak Solutions use in their High Speed drives are now available from Atomwide in their own boxes. I am using one on my A540 and it is noticeably faster than the 100M Conner in the A540 itself. (1350 kbytes/ sec cf 790 k/sec) The prices, through Archive, are £705 for an internal drive and £795 for an external. (These prices are without podule.) 5.4 • Careware and Shareware Four new discs of PD software are available this month: 5.4 Careware 15 is ‘religious’ clip art: dove, lion, lamb, fish, sheep, spring lamb, whale, holly, Santa, snowman, snowflakes, tree, 14 different crosses, handshake, open hands, praying hands, anchor, bible, censor, crown of thorns, handbell, pulpit, scroll, baptism, boy praying, person kneeling, nun, bishop, singers, robed figure, Bede, Coverdale, Tyndale, Wycliffe, church yard, lighthouse, Westminster, helmet, inri scroll, signpost. 5.4 Careware 16 has clip art images from ILEA designed to promote “positive images” of people of different races, gender, ages and disabilities. 5.4 Shareware 42 has twilight, sun and moon rise/set calculator, gravity simulator, various blank sheets for personal organiser, clipart (includes typewriter plus sprites of car, crash, masks, town crier, tanks, policeman, poundsign, scissors, scouts symbol, world map), desktop Pacman game, draughts, Escape from Exeria, Guardians of the Labyrinth, various desktop patterns, wall paper designer(?), address label database, desktop backdrop, “approximate” clock, current directory set utility. 5.4 Shareware 43 is a DBK raytracer with demo files. (Members’ prices are £6 for Careware and £3 for Shareware.) 5.4 • ChartWell is a sophisticated graph and chart package from Risc Developments. It provides horizontal and vertical bar charts, line graphs, pie charts, scatter diagrams and polar plots. £29.95 from Risc Developments Ltd. (Although it has the same address as Beebug Ltd, they ask us to make clear that this is a separate company.) 5.4 • Cumana SCSI interfaces − Cumana have now released three SCSI inter faces: 16 bit internal for A310/400/5000, 16 bit external for A3000 and 8 bit internal for A3000. The prices are £151, £161 and £130 respec tively (+VAT). One major plus of these interfaces is that they include CDFS so you won’t need to pay for an upgrade to the software if you buy a CD-ROM system. (We have one of each for evaluation, so we hope to check whether, for instance, they will work with Computer Concepts’ ScanLight Professional. A report will, hopefully, appear next month.) 5.4 • Eizo T560i monitor − If you want a really top-notch 17“ monitor for the Archimedes, this is it! It’s a Trinitron tube with 0.26mm dot pitch which, on a 17” monitor is very fine and it has the advantage of the flat Trinitron tube. However, the best part about it is that it is (extremely) intelligent. It is microprocessor controlled so what you do is to teach it any new mode you want to use. With a push button control, you can adjust brightness, H size, V size, H position, V position, side pin (to cut out pincushion distortion), trapezoidal (again alters the shape of the screen), H static convergence and V static convergence. Then having adjusted each of those parameters for that particular screen mode, it remembers them so that when the same signal appears again, the monitor says, “Ah, I know that mode” and displays it exactly as you had adjusted it. Then you can switch to another mode you use commonly and adjust that to get optimum use of the screen. 5.4 The price? Oh, yes, the price... “only” £1240 inc VAT and carriage! Is it worth it? Well, I’m using one at the moment and it is certainly very impressive but for me personally, the extra £450 over the Eizo 9070 would be difficult to justify. This is partly because I use the same mode 99.9% of the time, so having to re-adjust the screen when going from mode to mode doesn’t worry me. Also, the T560i, like the Taxan 875, can’t quite cope with mode 102 (1152×448) and so you have to use mode 106 (1088×448) i.e. 6% fewer dots across the screen. Still, if you change modes a lot and especially if you want to use the same monitor on different types of computer and want the extra resolution then the T560i is for you. 5.4 (I’ve got one of the new Microvitec 20“ autoscan (microprocessor- controlled) monitors on order, so I’ll let you know how I get on with that − the Archive price is likely to be £1590.) 5.4 • Flight Sim Toolkit − Simis Ltd have released a flight simulator editor for just £44.95 inc VAT or £42 through Archive. It allows you to produce your own flight simulations by using a ground editor, a 3D shape editor for objects like trucks, planes, etc, an aircraft model editor which controls the plane’s flying characteristics and, finally, a cockpit editor. 5.4 • Freddy Teddy is back − Topologika have released a third in the Freddy Teddy series for infants. This time Freddy Teddy is in The Playground. The Playground is £29.95 +VAT, which includes a free site licence, or £32 through Archive. 5.4 • Hard Disc Companion II − Risc Developments’ update of their hard disc backup program is now available for £45 +VAT. It is faster than the original and has many new features including backup to hard drive as an alternative to floppies, backup certain filetypes only or ignore certain filetypes. It can also be used for backing up networks. (Their adver tisements claim that it is “the best selling hard disc backup program” but I doubt whether, at £45+VAT, they could possibly have sold as many as Shareware 36 which, at £3, has a hard disc backup as one of its many programs and utilities.) 5.4 • Hearsay II − Beebug’s new comms package is now fully multi-tasking. £75+VAT from Beebug or £82 through Archive. See the review on page 34 for more details. 5.4 • Morley prices drop − The Morley SCSI disc drives have dropped in price and the 40M drives have been replaced by 50M. The new prices are given on the price list but are summarised here in comparison with various other drives. Atomwide (AW) and Frog drives come without podule and so can be paired with Oak, Morley uncached (Mu/c) or Morley cached (Mc) podules. The figures in italic are high speed drives. 5.4 EXTERNAL drives (with podule) 5.4 WW HS Frog Frog Frog AW AW AW Mrly Mrly 5.4 Oak Mu/c Mc Oak Mu/c Mc Mu/c Mc 5.4 45M 500 520 460 510 5.4 50M 560 620 560 610 435 485 5.4 65M 550 490 540 5.4 80M 565 5.4 100M 695 760 620 560 610 790 730 780 570 620 5.4 200M 1060 1180 870 810 860 995 935 985 5.4 300M 2100 1290 1230 1280 5.4 640M 2850 1690 1630 1680 5.4 1000M 2290 2230 2280 5.4 5.5 5.4 INTERNAL drives (with podule) 5.4 WW HS Frog Frog Frog AW AW AW Mrly Mrly 5.4 Oak Mu/c Mc Oak Mu/c Mc Mu/c Mc 5.4 45M 405 490 430 480 5.4 50M 470 535 475 525 360 410 5.4 65M 520 460 510 5.4 80M 450 5.4 100M 570 660 590 530 580 700 640 690 570 620 5.4 200M 995 1090 840 780 830 905 845 895 5.4 • Prophet − Apricote Studio’s combined Stock Control, Invoicing and Accounts program is called “Prophet”. (I’m sure there is a good reason for the name though it escapes me at the moment unless it relates to the biblical quote, “and behold, he shall make a great prophet”!) The price is £169.95 from Apricote or £157 through Archive. If you already have either Account Book or Invoice Program, you can get the full package for £69.95 from Apricote and if you have both, it will cost you just £39.95. 5.4 • ScanLight prices drop − With the coming of the ScanLight Professional, Computer Concepts have dropped the price of the A4 Scanlight to £399 +VAT with sheetfeeder and £299 without. (Archive prices are £435 and £325 respectively.) They have also dropped the Price of ScanLight Junior (not the 256 version) to £129 +VAT or £140 through Archive. There is also an upgrade to the software which offers improved grey-map control using a bezier curve along with simpler brightness and contrast controls. It now also includes image enhancement functions such as sharpening. CC claim that ScanLight is the only scanner software that offers realtime greyscale dithering of images to produce near photo graphic on-screen representations. This software upgrade will be available to all existing ScanLight owners free of charge. 5.4 N.B. ScanLight Professional only works reliably with certain SCSI controller boards − Acorn, Morley and Lingenuity. In some cases, it works OK with the Oak SCSI board and CC are actively trying to get it so that it works consistently with Oak boards. However, they are NOT working on any others because they are not Acorn compatible. It does NOT work with the TechnoSCSI board. ScanLight Professional is available through Archive at £970 inc VAT or £1070 with a SCSI podule. 5.4 • ScreenTurtle − Topologika’s latest release is a “friendly” turtle graphics program called ScreenTurtle. It uses a parser so that if it doesn’t know the command you type in, it guesses! It has on-screen interactive help and it ‘ticks’ commands that it likes. As well as the standard Logo features, it has absolute directions, “BEARING” and “HEADING”, as well as positive and negative Cartesian co-ordinates. To extend turtle graphics into the realm of art, there is a turtle generated colour FILL as well as a mouse controlled PAINT. The price is £39.95 +VAT from Topologika or £43 through Archive. 5.4 • Software from Germany − There is a thriving Archimedes software industry in Germany. One example of this is Klein Computers from Ruesselsheim, near Frankfurt. They have developed five items of Archimedes software: MouseRecorder (£25) for creation of demos, BestForm (£49) which is a formula-editor for DTP, 2D/3D FunctionPlotter (£20) which includes Drawfile output, G-Draft (£49) a CAD package and HD- Backup (£10) which includes other disc utilities. All these prices exclude VAT which, presumably, would be charged by customs on entry to UK, though small items are often ignored, I think. Klein computers would prefer a Eurocheque written in DM (but who, in the UK, uses Eurocheques? even in 1992!). (A demo of BestForm appears on the monthly program disc.) 5.4 • TinyLogo/TinyDraw is now available from Topologika in a new version (at the same price of £29.95 +VAT or £32 through Archive) which includes adjustable shapes, colours preserved on export, undo, error checking, 3 pencil thicknesses etc. An upgrade for existing users is available for £5 +VAT (+ £1.50 p&p) if you send back your old disc plus proof of purchase to Topologika (not to Archive). 5.4 • !Transfer is a new utility which will allow you to transfer text from any icon in any RISC-OS application to any other. This has many applications − for example, you could grab a name and address from a database and drag it straight into a wordprocessor. !Transfer is just £8.95 from Apricote Studios or £8 through Archive. 5.4 • Typestudio is Risc Developments new text effects package which allows you to draw and edit text, save in Draw or internal formats, print using RISC-OS drivers and add or remove effects. These effects include moulding to shapes, flowing along lines, shadowing, slanting, 3D and mirroring. All this for just £45 +VAT. 5.4 • A5000 floppy drive extension cables − Ray has made up some extension cables (£18 each) so that you can have a socket at the back of your A5000 to plug an external floppy drive into without going inside the box each time you want to connect and disconnect. Note that these are not electronic buffers. Acorn say they don’t need to be buffered although, in view of the problems noted in the Comment Column on page 9, it might be good to have an interface. That’s not for buffering but to provide a degree of flexibility over the various control lines used by different types of drives − not all floppy drives are recognised if they are just plugged straight into the socket. 5.5 • A5000 availability − We still cannot get enough A5000’s, especially the Learning Curve version − well, they come in fits and starts. Acorn have said that their will be more available in mid-February so, if you want an A5000, I suggest you send in a cheque to book your place in the queue. 5.5 • Acorn Publishing System − Acorn have launched a DTP bundle comprising a 4M A540, Eizo 9060S monitor, and Computer Concepts HiRes 8 printer, Scanlight Professional flatbed scanner (300 d.p.i. 256 grey levels), Impression II, Equasor and the Impression Business Supplement. All for £4995 +VAT = £5869. The price of these products separately is £6196 even at Archive discount prices. 5.5 (I know what you are thinking, “Why use an A540? Why not an A5000?”. Part of the reason is that, being realistic, to make good use of a 300 d.p.i., 256 grey level scanner, 4M of ram is hardly going to be enough and, officially, the A5000 is only a 4M machine. Also, the Acorn multi- sync may be cheap but it’s not realistic to think of using it for a system of this calibre. So, now that Atomwide are shipping their 8M upgrades for the A5000, what would an 8M system cost using each computer. Adding £315 for a 4M upgrade to the A540 gives £6182. Compare that with making it up with a 2M A5000 plus £590 for a 2−8M upgrade including replacing the 40M IDE with a 100M high speed SCSI and the Acorn multisync with an Eizo. That would cost you, at Archive prices, £5935. For the extra £247, you gain the ability to go up to 16M but you lose the ability to use 1.6M floppy discs and, at present, access to RISC-OS 3, though that will soon (?) be available for A540 costing in the region of £100 thus increasing the difference to approx. £347.) 5.5 • Acorn SCSI card / Syquest removable drive solution − Those of you who have had problems running the 42M and 84M Syquest removable hard drives on the A540, (i.e. on the latest version of the Acorn SCSI podule), will be pleased to know that we have a fix which seems to work OK. Acorn are working on a “proper” fix − they have been for some considerable time now − but at least this will allow you to use the removable drives. If you want a copy of the software patch that Adrian has written, just send us a blank, formatted disc and a small donation for our charity pot and we’ll send you a copy. 5.5 • Aleph One ARM3 prices down (again!) − Aleph One have now joined CJE Micros in providing ARM3 upgrades at £199 +VAT (£225 through Archive). 5.5 • Atomwide SCSI drives − The prices of Atomwide drives has decreased this month and the range has been extended to 400M. This is good news because they use the fast, high quality, Pro-Quantum drives which seem to be about the best drives around at the moment. I am using a 200M Pro- Quantum as my main drive and, as I have said before, it is ffffast! They are the same drives that Oak use for their High Speed range but the 100M and 200M now work out cheaper, even with the Oak SCSI boards. The prices are.... 5.5 50M Internal − £285 5.5 100M Internal − £395 5.5 200M Internal − £685 5.5 400M Internal − £1055 5.5 50M External − £370 5.5 100M External − £485 5.5 200M External − £775 5.5 400M External − £1145 5.5 Add £200 to each for an Oak SCSI podule so that you can compare prices with the Oak HS range. 5.5 • BibleMaster − Many readers have asked if there is a computer version of the bible available for the Archimedes. I have looked around for ages and found nothing. (Does anyone know different?) So, I am breaking with my normal rule of not supplying PC products! BibleMaster is a new computerised bible for PC compatibles, which works under the PC emulator provided you have at least 4M free in your PC partition. It is based on the New International Version and is sold by Hodder & Stoughton for £49.95 inc VAT (£45 through Archive). You can look at two passages at the same time, export text to disc for inclusion in word-processed material (but check the copyright situation first!) and you can keep and edit a verse list for study purposes. It has over half a million cross references and an on-line help facility. 5.5 • !Bulletin is a bulletin board communication system from XOB for use over Econet networks. It provides the usual bulletin board services including electronic mail, special interest groups and closed user groups. This fully RISC-OS compliant software runs on any Archimedes, supports up to 1,500 users and comes with a site/network licence for £67 from XOB. 5.5 • CableNews is Lingenuity’s new frame-based presentation system. It allows you to prepare presentations from sprites and draw files and with text using outline fonts. The price is £169 +VAT from Lingenuity with educational prices and site licences also available. 5.5 • CalcSheet − Following comments from a reviewer, (the review was never published) Trail Software has removed CalcSheet from sale with immediate effect. Any customers who are unsatisfied with the product can have a full refund from Trail Software. 5.5 • CoCo is a control language for the Archimedes produced by Commotion. For £49.95 +VAT, it provides a RISC-OS environment control language that will allow you to operate an interface device with switch inputs and outputs as well as motors with variable power and direction control. Lego UK have adopted CoCo for use with their InterfaceA. 5.5 • Concept keyboard − Northwest SEMERC have produced the Oldham Overlay Keyboard (a concept keyboard by any other name). This A3 board with 128 switches costs £166.67 +VAT from NW SEMERC. There is an optional switch input (£50 +VAT) to allow special needs switches to be connected for people with severe physical difficulties. 5.5 • Detour is a file manipulation utility to enable you to overcome problems with software written to run on a specific filesystem, drive or directory. It can be used for a number of purposes including acting as a virus protector. The price is £19.95 inc VAT from Electronic Solutions. 5.5 • DrawPlus update − This has now been updated to version 2.10. It includes some minor bug fixes and is compatible with the A5000. The updated version has been put onto Careware Disc 13. Existing Careware 13 owners can send their discs back for update − a further small charity donation would be appreciated but is not obligatory. 5.5 • DTP For All − Bruce Goatly’s new book has just been published by Wileys / Sigma. It costs £12.95. For details, see the review on page 22. 5.5 • Electronic Bible − Here’s the ultimate(?) add-on for your Archimedes. A pocket-sized electronic bible (smaller than a personal organiser) with LCD display and full ASCII keyboard that contains the whole of the bible − both old and new testaments − plus concordance and thesaurus. It allows you to look for the occurrence of multiple words − you could find, say, all the places where the words “Jesus” and “Pharisee” occurred in the same verse or within a couple of verses (you choose) − this is much more powerful than a straight concordance. The Electronic Bible has a serial link, so we are working on a cable and software to allow the output to be fed into an Archimedes. Electronic Bible costs £250 from Hodder & Stoughton or £235 through Archive and the link will soon be available for £25, we hope. 5.5 • Ethernet card for A3000 − Atomwide are now marketing an Ethernet card for the A3000 at £229 +VAT (or £255 through Archive). It can be used with thin Ethernet cabling and Acorn’s TCP/IP or AUN software to provide cost-effective networking to mainframes, minis etc. This is an internal 8-bit podule but a 16 bit standard podule version for use on thick or thin Ethernet will also be available in a couple of weeks time. The price will be the same as the A3000 version. 5.5 • FastType − Micro Guide have published a typing tutor under the title FastType. It is a fully RISC-OS complaint application. It is also supplied with a disc of PD special needs software as the author is continuing to develop FastType particularly for those with special needs. The cost is £19.95 inclusive from Micro Guide. 5.5 • Floating point accelerator − DT Software have harnessed some PC hardware − an 80287XL FPA − to improve the speed of the Archimedes floating point functions. It comes on a single podule and, in software terms, is linked in to where the floating point emulator normally resides. It has the great advantage (unlike the Acorn FP co-processor) of being ARM3 compatible. The 80287XL is, apparently, almost equivalent to an 80387 and it runs at 37 MHz. (A 60MHz version is under develop ment!) It provides 3 to 4 times speed increase on multiply on an A540 and even better improvement on lesser machines. Trig and transcendental functions show an even more marked improvement. The price is £174.95 inc-luding VAT from DT Software or £165 through Archive. 5.5 • Geoscan the world geography database has been updated to take account of some of the changes that have taken place in world geography recently(!) and has also had various new features added including !Geobrief which contains background information on over 200 countries and territories. This is in a common text format which allows for easy inclusion in WP / DTP work by students. There is also an application which allows students to print out the main information in various ways to a standard dot-matrix printer. The price for the new version of Geoscan is £45 from Passkey Marketing or £42 through Archive. 5.5 • Good Impression − is a book of layouts, designs and graphics which can be created with Impression. It costs £26.95 from ‘Word Processing’ or £25 through Archive. For more details, see the review on page 47. 5.5 • Helix Basic is a “fully functional Basic V language interpreter” designed to allow “anyone, whatever their programming experience to write professional RISC-OS compliant multi-tasking programs.” Quite a claim! The price is £99.95 inc VAT from Craddock Computer Systems. 5.5 • Insight is a data-logging package from Longman Logotron. It provides the software interface for data-logging interfaces such as Sense and Control, LogIT and Philip Harris. It allows data to be taken in either at very high speed or on a “time-lapse” basis and provides analysis and display of the received data. The price is £69 +VAT from Longman Logotron or £75 through Archive. 5.5 • James Pond, the fishy special agent, is now available. This is an arcade adventure with a “green” slant and a degree of humour. £25.99 from Krisalis or £24 through Archive. 5.5 • Key Author − a multi-media Presentation System produced by ITV Schools division. It aims to provide a multi-media system that links in with their Key Plus database system. The cost depends on the type and size of establishment purchasing it from an individual user at £55 and a (<150 pupil) primary school at £65 to a (>800 pupil) secondary at £180 and a FE/HE college at £450. 5.5 • Mah Jong, The Game − Mah Jong Patience has been out for quite a while now but here is the proper Mah Jong game. You have to pit your wits against three other players, all of whom are the computer playing a “no holds barred” game. This implements the Western rules of Mah Jong, not the original Chinese rules. The cost is £22.50 from Cambridge Interna tional Software or £21 through Archive. 5.5 • MatchMaker seems to be the ultimate in interfacing for special needs applications. It will allow “any switch to... operate any Archimedes program”. Quite a claim, but Matchmaker itself contains a sophisticated micro-processor system and has its own 20 × 4 character LCD display. This is available for £850 +VAT from SRS Systems Ltd. 5.5 • PC emulator upgrades (listen carefully, please, while I try to explain... ) There are two upgrade products to allow you to obtain the 1.7 version of the PC Emulator, one for MS-DOS users (“the AKA48 PC Emulator 1.7 upgrade”) and one for DR-DOS users, i.e. those who bought a Learning Curve pack (“the AKA45 PC Emulator 1.7 + DR-DOS 5.00 upgrade”). 5.5 Who should upgrade? It’s only really users of A5000’s (since 1.6 doesn’t work on RISC-OS3) or those with versions before 1.6 that need to upgrade. 5.5 How much does it cost? For MS-DOS users, the AKA48 costs £17.62 inc VAT if you already have 1.6 or £34.07 if your version is earlier than 1.6. For DR-DOS users, the AKA45 which includes an upgrade from 3.41 to 5.00, costs £45.82. 5.5 Where do I get it from? You can only get your upgrade by mail order (though they do accept official orders from educational establishments) from Acorn Direct in Wellingborough. 5.5 What do I have to send? Send a cheque payable to ‘Acorn Direct’ (or official order) with your PC Emulator disc to Acorn Direct, (not us!). If you have version 1.6, send the “small PC Emulator (CGA) disc”. For AKA48 (MS-DOS) do NOT send your MS-DOS disc. For AKA45 (DR-DOS) you must send your DR-DOS registration number. 5.5 How long does the offer last? You must upgrade before 27th March 1992. 5.5 If there is anything you don’t understand, please DON’T ring Norwich Computer Services but address your queries to Acorn Customer Services on 0223−245200. 5.5 • PC expansion card − (breaking the normal rules about only mentioning products that are actually available now) Aleph One’s 386 PC expansion card should be available by the end of February at £495 +VAT (or £545 through Archive). It is claimed to offer between 10 and 20 times the speed of the software emulator alone (though that is presumably comparing with a non-ARM3 machine). It uses a 386SX compatible micropro cessor and has 1M of ram upgradable to 4M and occupies a single half- width podule. In operation, it is just seen as an extension to the original PC emulator but it does allow very rapid, almost single key switching between the PC environment and RISC-OS. We saw it operating at the BETT Show with Flight Simulator running at a very respectable speed. (Watford Electronics were also supposed to be showing their PC card at the BETT Show but potential customers were told that it would be available “soon” but that they were unable actually to demonstrate it.) 5.5 • Printer drivers − We are going to be stocking Ace Computing’s printer drivers including their latest one for the Deskjet 500C colour printer. They are £16 +VAT each or £17 through Archive. Printer drivers available are Deskjet 500C, Paintjet, Epson JX and compatibles (inc Star LC10, XB24 and Citizen Swift-24 with colour ribbon), Canon PJ 1080-A and ColourCel. 5.5 • Removable SCSI drive prices down − The prices of the removable drives and cartridges have dropped again this month. The 42M drives are now under £500 − well, £495 − but that includes VAT and carriage. The extra 42M cartridges are now £70. The 84M drives are down to £680 and the extra cartridges to £120. 5.5 • Shareware Disc 17 update − Acorn have now released a RISC-OS Extras Extras disc which we are distributing as Shareware Disc 17. The disc contains the latest printer drivers, modules, etc (version numbers shown below) along with a virus killer and protection module. If you already have Shareware 17, send it in for an update but we would be grateful for a small donation to charity to accompany it. Thanks. 5.5 Modules: Econet 5.48, Hourglass 2.02, IRQUtils 0.12, NetFiler 0.24, NetFS 5.53, NetPrint 5.30, NetStatus 2.01, SoundScheduler 1.13, VGAModes 1.45; printer drivers: !PrinterDM 2.46, !PrinterIX 2.46, !PrinterLJ 2.46, !PrinterPS 2.46; system: !Scrap 0.53, !SysMerge, !System 0.52 which includes Clib 3.75, Colours 0.52, FPEmulator 2.80, MessageTrans 0.06, WimpUtils 0.04; utilities: BigDelete, FSVersion, SetStation; virus kit: !Killer 1.17, VProtect 1.06. 5.5 • Twilight is a screen saver program with a difference from The Really Good Software Company. It is multi-tasking so that applications that are running can continue even after the screen has been switched off. It also has password facilities and a hot-key combination that sends your screen to sleep instantly. The price is £29.95. 5.5 • Want a dirt cheap A540?! − You may have seen adverts for A540’s at £1999 +VAT (£2349); well, we know a man who can sell you one for even less! Seriously though, if you are interested in a new A540, we may be able to get one for you at (just) under £2000 inc VAT. They won’t be covered by Acorn warranty because they are already several months old (although unused and boxed) but we would cover them with our own NCS warranty. Give us a ring if you are at all interested. 5.5 • A3000 spares − A company that uses A3000 motherboards has a fair number of A3000 cases, power supplies and keyboards sitting around gathering dust. We can sell them at about half the normal spares price, i.e cases £15, p.s.u.’s £24, keyboards £18. Give me a ring if ineterested. 5.5 • 3D Construction Kit is Domark’s new program for creating 3D anima tions. Design your own house and “walk through it” even before it’s built or build and fly your own plane. The price is £49.99 inc VAT (£46 through Archive) which includes an instructional video cassette. (See Comment Column on page 20.) 5.6 • A400 series discontinued − Acorn have decided, not surprisingly, to cease production of the A400 series computers. There are still some machines available and there may be some bargain prices around, especially for A420s. If the price is right, you could throw away the 20M drive and put in a decent-sized SCSI drive. (For example, we have one A410, 4M with 40M ST506 drive available at £1190. Give us a ring if you are interested.) 5.6 • Bible Base − This is a RISC-OS compliant package using a PD version of the King James Bible. It comes on six floppy discs and can be run from hard disc. It is £12 inc p&p from Bernard Veasey, 24 Drift Road, Nyetimber, Bognor Regis, West Sussex PO21 3NS. 5.6 • CD-ROM − Cumana have reduced the price of their CD-ROM from £399 to £299. The ROM drive has an average access time of 350 ms and a data transfer rate of about 150 kbytes/sec. (There are apparently a number of Archimedes-specific CDs under development including an encyclopaedia from PEP Associates which was being demonstrated at the BETT Show.) 5.6 • David Pilling’s program discs − Over the months, we have mentioned David Pilling’s excellent series of discs of Archimedes software. Despite the fact that they are so good, we have not, in the past, stocked them. The trouble is that they are so cheap (£5.99 each) that it’s impossible for us to give a discount on them and still cover our costs. However, there has been so much demand that we have decided to sell them at £6 each so that you can have the convenience of being able to order them from Archive alongside other items without having to make a separate order. If you only want David’s discs, it is obviously better to go direct to him, especially if you want several discs because, if you buy four discs at a time, you get one free. We cannot operate that offer. We have decided to stock the most popular discs. (The numbers in brackets are references to Archive reviews or comments.) 5.6 EMACS (2.6 p36 + 3.3 p11) − The classic text editor. A multiple buffer/ document editor with built-in programming language. Comes complete with manual, online tutorial and several programs. Includes full working C source code. 5.6 MicroSpell − 43,000 word spelling checker, MicroSpell is a spell checker for EMACS but works with other applications, too. It can also be loaded as a module to provide continuous spell checking while you type and instant access to the dictionary with *spell command. 5.6 Chess − (4.9 p59 + 4.12 p25) Play Chess on the RISC-OS desktop. Fully RISC-OS compatible version of chess. Computer will think of its next move, whilst you use other programs. Many features; load and save games, edit board, computer play, step through game, algebraic notation, on screen clocks, undo move, save game setup, print games etc. 5.6 CrossStar − Wimp based crossword puzzle solver. Fully RISC-OS compliant, desktop based crossword puzzle solver. Includes over 200,000 words. Saves completed grids as Draw files for use in DTP etc. Solves inter locking clues. Multiple/user defined dictionaries. Dictionaries can be edited or browsed through. Add new words to dictionary. 5.6 Spark (3.4 p22) − File archiver for RISC-OS which lets you keep files and directories in archive files in a compressed form. It will unpack zip, zoo, lzh, tar (both UNIX and Archimedes), Compress and arc (SEA, PK and Archimedes) files from IBM PC’s or other systems. It can also create PC compatible arc files. Spark can code and decode, uucode, atob (CET+) and FCET files. DES data encryption gives password protection of files. (Bonus items on the disc include !BackDrop which lets you stick files onto the desktop background, some PD applications, the old ‘arc’ and over 1M of nice colour pictures.) 5.6 MTV Raytracer − Database driven raytracing renderiser (mentioned in Brian Cowan’s review of Scientific Software on page 55) which will convert a geometric description of a scene into a 3D raytraced image that can be saved as a sprite. All reflections and shadows in the scene are calculated to give life-like pictures. Primitives − spheres, cones/ cylinders, polygons and patches. Demo images, database files, C source code, instructions and background info. 5.6 StarChart − Boldly go with a RISC-OS multitasking program that uses a database of 9,000 stars etc to produce star maps. Also calculates the positions of the planets and shows them on the maps. Star maps are in the form of Draw files and can be imported into !Draw or other applications. 5.6 NovaPaint − Extensive 16 colour paint package. Features: easy to use; primitives (lines, curves, circles, ellipses, triangles, rectangles, etc.); tools (user-defined brushes, airbrush, auto-shader, colour fills, colour-cycling brush-es/rectangle drawing, etc.); palette tools (define graduated palettes, compress palette, colour mixing); effects (pixel average, area squash/stretch/distort/rotate, sphere wrap, cylinder wrap, ‘blob’). Plus the Fontmaster two-tone font system (including a font editor and 23 fonts as well as bold, shadowed, underline and italic styles); undo function. Pictures can be saved as sprites or in a special compressed format (which can be used outside NovaPaint), 8x zoom at which level fills, lines, triangles etc. can be drawn as well as pixel- level editing. All drawing options can use ‘transparent’ colour to achieve irregular area copies etc; help facility and manual. 14 demo pictures. 5.6 Panorama − Draw the World (5.5 p26) − 180,000 coordinates outlining the lakes, rivers, continents, state boundaries, etc of the world and a program that can produce Draw files from them. You can make your own maps of any part of the world and then use them in DTP etc. Includes the positions of nearly 1,000 cities. Does simple, cylinder, Mercator and perspective projections. Can be used from a single floppy disc and requires no setting up. 5.6 ArcFS (5.5 p59) − Compressed Filing System, ArcFS is a filing system using the powerful LZW data compression algorithm. It allows files to be saved in much less disc space. Because it is a true read/write filing system, programs can be used in the normal way. So you can press <F3> to save files back to the filing system and Impression documents can be loaded by dragging or double clicking. Compatible with all normal filing systems. Offers a choice of compression method. Files can be encrypted for security. Can also read Spark and PC format archive files. Space saved depends on file type e.g. sprites may use only 10% of normal. 5.6 Trace (5.4 p61 + Comment Column, page 25) − Trace takes sprites and turns them into Draw files. Sprite format clip art is cheap and plentiful and you can make your own with a scanner. Draw format clip art is expensive and has to be painstakingly drawn by hand. Sprites take up lots of valuable disc space. Draw files are smaller. Sprites cannot be scaled easily. If you try to make them bigger, they develop jagged edges. Unlike some trace programs, Trace will work with colour sprites. Tracing is not magic − not all sprites will give good results. 5.6 • Deskjet 500 Colour printer drivers. Both Ace Computing and Risc Developments now produce printer drivers for the Deskjet 500 Colour. Ace Computing’s driver costs £16 +VAT or £17 through Archive and Risc Developments’ costs £15 +VAT. 5.6 • Desktop C and Desktop Assembler upgrades − It is still possible to upgrade your old version of C or assembler to the desktop version which includes the DDE. All you do is send the original disc plus an appropri ate cheque to Acorn Direct at Wellingborough. The inc VAT costs are as follows: 5.6 C release 3 to Desktop C £99.87 5.6 C release 2 to Desktop C £123.37 5.6 C release 1 to Desktop C £123.37 5.6 Assembler to Desktop Assembler £88.12 5.6 Software Developer’s Toolbox 5.6 to Desktop Assembler £88.12 5.6 • Dreadnoughts is the second wargame product for the Archimedes from Turcan Research Systems Ltd. The author, Dr Peter Turcan, obviously enjoyed converting Waterloo to the Archimedes and has followed it with this simulation which allows you to fight the sea battles of the First World War − seven different scenarios are provided. The price is £34.95 from Turcan Research Systems and there are two extra scenario discs at £16.95 each − Ironclads which includes various battles from Japanese- Chinese and Russo-Japanese conflicts and Bismark which provides six scenarios from the Second World War. 5.6 • Eizo monitors − Sadly, in their wisdom, Eizo have discontinued the 9070 16“ monitor. There is now a big gap between the 14” 9060SZ (£530) and the T560i (£1240). If you are looking for a monitor, turn to the Comments Column on page 21 where I have given my personal views about various multisync monitors. Ed 5.6 • EMR are continuing to produce new music based programs and hardware as well as producing updates to their existing products. Studio24 Plus is now up to version 3 (£249 inc VAT), Scorewriter PMS has been updated (£499 inc VAT) as have RhythmBox II (£29.95 inc VAT) and SoundSynth II (£49.95 +VAT). There are now eight Creations sound sample discs at two for £17 +VAT. MicroStudio is an interactive recording studio for home or school music teaching (£79 inc VAT). It allows you to learn the left and right hand parts whilst following the music on screen. Symphony Music Library and Modern Music Library consist of several discs of music, for use with EMR music systems, costing between £3 and £15 inc VAT. Storybook is an educational program that allows you to play and/or produce your own stories with animated pictures and sampled sounds (£59 + VAT). Extra stories are available at £39 +VAT a set. Mister Sound Recorder is a tool for young children to allow them to record and replay their own voices and sound around them. (£15 inc VAT) DreamWave is “the only complete synthesizer for the Archimedes”, providing internal sound creation for use with Maestro and other programs (£39.95 inc VAT). Orpheus is a sophisticated voice editing system for Midi instruments (£29.95 inc VAT). Karaoke Performer allows you to link a cassette recorder to your computer and have a sing-along session. The words are given in a scrolling display and the words are highlighted in case you lose your place! Sets of six songs cost £19.95 inc VAT per set. VuMusic II allows you to play back music from a Midi system or one of the other EMR programs along with user generate sprites (£39.95 inc VAT). If you just want to play the music, you can use Music Player (£19.95 inc VAT). Midi Analyser is a utility for Studio24 Plus which monitors data received on the Midi interface with printout if necessary (£19.95 inc VAT). !SXFS is a system exclusive filing system that provides simple recording and playback of any system exclusive data from Midi instrument (£9.95 inc VAT). WFS to module sample converter is a utility that converts EMR waveforms to relocatable modules (£9.95 inc VAT). Sound Tracker to EMR waveform converter is a utility that removes sound sample data from Sound Tracker files and converts them to EMR waveforms (£9.95 inc VAT). The Midi4 Acorn SWI emulator allows EMR’s Midi4 interface to be used with Acorn’s standard SWI calls (£6.95 inc VAT). Maestro File Converter changes Maestro files to Studio24 / MicroStudio format (£9.95 inc VAT). RhythmBox Converter changes RhythmBox note data to Studio24 / MicroStudio format (£9.95 inc VAT). 5.6 EMR also has a range of hardware add-ons. As well as their Sampler 8 and Midi4, they now produce SMPTE which is a full spec SMPTE to Midi control expansion card at £129.57 +VAT, A3000 Multi-Interface which provides Midi, sound sampler, analogue and user port at £79 +VAT and A3000 Expansion Tower which allows A3000s to connect up to 5 standard half- width podules and has space for a hard drive. The tower costs £260 +VAT. 5.6 • FAXPACK − Computer Concepts, after a long gestation period, have finally given birth to their FaxPack which is their internal fax card for Archimedes computers including the A5000 (fitted externally on an A3000). Instead of printing your fax and then putting it through a conventional fax machine where it is scanned and digitised, you can, from your own application, “print” (FaxPack just appears as a printer driver) straight to a fax interface and off down the telephone line. This avoids the time, trouble and cost of having the intermediate paper copy. If you don’t have a laser printer, this represents a considerable time saving as you can send complex graphical images without waiting for them to print out first. 5.6 This is a fully multi-tasking application, even allowing faxes to be received in the background while you get on with other tasks. You can communicate with other machines that have a FaxPack interface and transfer files using the LZW compression algorithm to reduce transmis sion times. (Equivalent speeds can be as much as 20k baud.) 5.6 The fax interface has auto-dial or manual modes and uses tone or pulse dialling. It offers 9600 bps operation with fall back to 7200 and 4800 bps, compatible with all Group 3 fax machines. It will auto-answer, and you can set the number of rings before answering. 5.6 It comes with a name and address utility program which allows you to auto-dial the phone numbers directly from the phone book. 5.6 The price? Oh yes, it costs £299 +VAT (+£10 carriage) or £345 through Archive. 5.6 • Junior Database is a RISC-OS compliant database aimed at the edu cational environment − for children aged six and upwards. The emphasis is on good layout and ease of use. It has colour graphics and a hot- linked personal tutor (sounds like fun!). Junior costs £53 +VAT from Iota Software or £57 through Archive. 5.6 • Good Impression − A book of layouts, graphics and designs for Impression. Sincere apologies to Stephen Ibbs about our review last month (p47) in which Robert Chrismas said that it only had about 100 pages. In fact it has 207 pages! Good Impression is numbered in chapters, not consecutively through the whole book and what I suspect happened was that Robert counted the pages by counting the pieces of paper making up the book, forgetting that there are two pages on each piece of paper! Sorry if we have mislead you − personally, I think that Good Impression is very reasonably priced at £25 through Archive. 5.6 • Image Outliner is Iota Software’s offering on the sprite to Draw file conversion front. It works in full 256 colours and is fully multi- tasking. The price is £79 +VAT or £85 through Archive. 5.6 • Image Scan is an overhead image scanning system from Iota which uses the latest CCD technology with rotating mirror and lenses. Being an overhead system. it can be used for items that are not flat (see the picture below) or are delicate and cannot have a hand scanner dragged over them. It comes in modular form, so you can buy the different components as finance allows. The basic black and white scanner costs £399 +VAT (£450 through Archive). Then, to speed up the communication with the computer, there is a fast parallel card costing £99 +VAT (£110 through Archive). If you want to expand to colour, the upgrade kit including colour head and software costs £149 +VAT (£165 through Archive) and a lighting unit is available to provide even illumination of the objects being scanned. This costs £92 +VAT (£105 through Archive). 5.6 • Junior PinPoint is a version of Longman Logotron’s “new generation database”, PinPoint, aimed at primary schools. It has a reduced set of facilities and a simplified user interface. It is intended for use at Key Stages 1 & 2. The cost is £24 +VAT from Longman or £26 through Archive. 5.6 • PAL colour decoder − Pineapple Software have produced a PAL colour decoder. This allows an Archimedes monitor to be used as a TV set (by using a video recorder as a tuner) or as an S-VHS TV monitor. The decoder also acts as an S-VHS adaptor for the Pineapple Digitiser (or any other digitiser that requires R, G, B and sync signals). The price is £79 +VAT. 5.6 • Pineapple digitiser software − Pineapple have released a new version of the software for their colour digitiser. This comes as a free upgrade to owners. It provides the facility to capture a sequence of frames − the fastest is up to every third frame − and it could be used for time- lapse camera work. There is also a replay facility with variable replay speed. 5.6 • PC 386 Card − Aleph One has launched its PC expansion card for the Archimedes. This remarkable single-width podule works in conjunction with the PC Emulator (v1.6 or greater), and provides a 20 MHz Intel 80386SX-compatible PC in a window (or, if you prefer, full-screen) with VGA, EGA, CGA or MDA graphics − truly two computers in one! It is fitted with a bi-directional parallel port and an RS232 serial port, and comes with 1M RAM as standard. The card can be upgraded to 4M RAM and can optionally be fitted with an Intel 80387SX floating-point processor. The basic price for the 1M version is £495 +VAT; the 4M version is £625 +VAT and the floating point processor costs another £99 +VAT. Archive prices are £545, £680 and £110 respectively. 5.6 • Smart Art! − 4Mation have launched yet more packs in their SmArt series. Each costs £16 +VAT from 4Mation or £18 through Archive. SmArtoons has twelve characters, two backgrounds and a suggestions file and is aimed at the creation of animations and cartoons. Aliens consists of lots of different aliens. Look SmArt has a number of animal faces and human faces with a whole range of facial expression. The existing packages, Leisure, Homes and Faces are now also available in French and German (£16 per language per pack +VAT or £18 through Archive). Finally, they now have a Modern Languages pack covering words associated with meals and looking at items on a supermarket shelf. This two disc set which has all the words in each of nine modern languages (French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian, Hebrew and Greek) costs £20 +VAT or £22 through Archive. 5.6 • Special Needs Trackerball − Northwest SEMERC, in collaboration with Penny and Giles, have produced a trackerball for the Archimedes for use by people with poor motor control or learning difficulties. It is more rugged than the conventional trackerballs and has special functions such as the ability to simulate “double-clicking” (a difficult task for some special needs users) by a single key press. Dragging, which also causes difficulty, is made easier with a single key. Special keys are also provided to allow movement to be limited to up/down or left/right only − particularly useful for navigating your way through menus (which the able-bodied sometimes find difficult!). The ArcTracker, as it is called, costs £269 +VAT from Northwest SEMERC. 5.6 • Split an Image is Sherston Software’s latest offering. For £19.95 +VAT, you get around 100 draw files of cartoons of “the rich and famous” − could be quite useful with the forth-coming general election! 5.6 • TouchType is a typing tutor from Iota Software Ltd. Chris Drage in Acorn User described as “the definitive typing tutor for the Archimedes”. It costs is £49.95 from Iota or £46 through Archive. 5.6 • Touch window from Lindis is a transparent membrane that fits over the monitor and provides a resistive matrix of 256 × 256 points to provide a touch screen effect. Put it on the table and it becomes a concept keyboard. Put it over a picture on the table and it can be used for tracing. The price is £235 +VAT which includes driver software, cables and p.s.u. 5.6 • Widgit Software has produced a number of programs aimed at primary and special needs areas. Screenplay (£35 +VAT) allows you to produce simple animations and stories by adding foreground pictures onto a background, adding text titles and sound. You can add animation or you can create exercises for the pupils to do using the collages that you have produced. Gridit (£30 +VAT) is a flexible program designed to develop spatial awareness, early number skills and logical thinking. It is versatile enough to be used for those with severe learning difficulties and also right up to children at Key Stage 2. Blob 1 and Blob 2 (£18 +VAT each) are two programs centred around a friendly little character called “Blob” and are aimed at developmentally very young children. They operate from single key / switch inputs. Count with Blob (£20 +VAT) is a range of early number activities for infant and nursery level children. 5.6 • Aliped − A multi-directional scrolling game from Alien Images / Dabs Press in which you wander around a castle trying to shake off the spell that has been cast upon you by the evil step-mother of a fair princess. The price is £14.95 from Dabs Press or £14 through Archive. 5.7 • Budget DTP − is a new book from Roger Amos, published by Dabs Press at £12.95 (£13 inclusive through Archive). It shows how you can use Draw and Edit to do DTP on Archimedes computers (RISC-OS 2 only) without going to the expense of buying a DTP package. Chapters include, What is DTP?, Draw in depth, Edit in depth, The font system, Page layout, etc. 5.7 (I was amused to see that although “the author’s text was prepared using !Edit and !Draw”, the book was produced “using an Apple Mac DTP system”. Ed.) 5.7 • Charm − This compiled language with assembler, linker, editor, tutorial, two games (including source code) was mentioned by David Wild in his Languages Column (Archive 4.11 p34). It now has a desktop shell from which to run the utilities. The program is distributed by David Pilling and is now available through Archive at £6. 5.7 • Colony Rescue − This new adventure game from Alien Images / Dabs Press is set in 2143 AD when the universe has started to contract, causing the innermost galaxies’ fine balance to be upset. Their only chance is you in your humble rescue ship! The price is £14.95 from Dabs Press or £14 through Archive. 5.7 • Desktop Publishing on Acorn Computers − This booklet which I offered free of charge two months ago is finally in print. I am sorry that it has taken so long to produce but once I got started on it, it grew and grew. I employed two consultants to give their expertise in comparing Acorn systems with Mac and PC and the resulting document is 20 pages long! The evidence as to the superiority of Acorn systems over Macs, pound for pound, is quite staggering. If you know anyone who is interested in setting up a DTP facility, let us know and we’ll send them a copy of the booklet. I have reproduced part of the booklet in this month’s magazine because I think it is important information. (See pages 69.) 5.7 (I offered the booklet free of charge and will stick to that offer if you are seriously interested in buying a DTP system. However, if all subscribers asked for a free copy just because it was free, it would cost me a couple of thousand pounds. So, if you felt you could contrib ute to the cost, I would be most grateful. The cover price is 75p, but 50p would just about cover the printing and postage.) 5.7 • Grievous Bodily ’ARM − Fourth Dimension’s latest offering is a “brutal, uninhibited arcade beat ’em up” game. The excuse for the punch up is that you are trying to save the city from an evil scientist who is making vast amounts of cheap illegal narcotics and you have to ‘get him’ in order to save the city from his grip! £24.95 from 4th Dimension or £23 through Archive. 5.7 • Newton − Longman Logotron have produced another package extending the use of their Logo language. Newton enables pupils to study the concept of forces. You can give your turtle mass, apply forces to it and see how it behaves. You can also explore frictionless surfaces, bouncing balls and collisions. The cost is £19 +VAT from Longman Logotron or £21 through Archive. 5.7 • (another) PC Emulator upgrade − Version 1.8 of the Acorn PC Emulator (AKA70), which incorporates support for VGA graphics and Expanded memory LIM 3.2, will be released on April 21st 1992. The RRP remains the same at £99 +VAT (or £96 inc VAT through Archive). 5.7 The product includes the new version of the emulator, MS-DOS3.30, a revised manual and MS-DOS CD-ROM extensions (MSCDEX 2.20). You can configure the emulator to use VGA support, which allows you to run DOS applications which make use of VGA. This includes many of the range of CD-ROM titles listed in the NCET CD-ROM scheme for schools. 5.7 The memory requirements of version 1.8 when running without VGA support are the same as version 1.7. You can run DOS applications in single- tasking mode only in 1M but to use both multi-tasking and single-tasking modes, you need 2M or more. 5.7 When configured to use the VGA support, some applications may need more than 2M to run in multi-tasking mode, but will still run in single- tasking mode. This includes the CD-ROM titles for which you need 4M, if you want to run them in multi-tasking mode. 5.7 There will be an upgrade to 1.8 (AKA71) for existing owners of the PC Emulator available from 1st June (sic) until 1st September 1992. It will contain the 1.8 PC Emulator and manual only, with no CD-ROM extensions or DOS disc; users retain their current DOS disc. 5.7 The price for upgrading to 1.8 is £9 +VAT from version 1.6 or 1.7 and £29 +VAT from a version earlier than 1.6. This upgrade is available for all existing owners of the PC Emulator, whether originally supplied with MS-DOS or DR-DOS. 5.7 There is a special upgrade offer for Educational institutions which are using version 1.6 or 1.7. This allows institutions to purchase one unit of the upgrade for £9 and copy the disc to replace all their units of 1.6 and 1.7. 5.7 The PC Emulator 1.8 manual (AKJ35) is available separately at £8 (no VAT payable). 5.7 • PDSview − Spacetech have produced a package which allows access to data from NASA’s Planetary Data System available on CD-ROM. The viewer allows you to enhance images, use false colour or construct true multi- spectral colour images, to make “movie” sequences as well as examine features such a volcanoes or to make 3D projections of the surface of planets. The package is fully RISC-OS compliant and the PC Emulator is not required to run the package. PDSview forms a powerful image processor in its own right. PDSview is £99.50 +VAT (£108 through Archive) and this includes a disc full of sample images. If you have a CD-ROM, you can then buy a two-disc sampler set of some 1,500 images which includes various views of volcanoes and views from a range of spacecraft including Voyager, Nimbus, Landsat, NOAA, etc. The sampler set costs £40 +VAT (or £44 through Archive). The main database of images − 26,000 in all(!) − comes on 12 CDs and covers the complete Voyager mission. This costs £200 +VAT (or £220 through Archive). 5.7 • RISC-OS 3 printer driver − A5000 owners will be pleased to hear that Ace Computing have now done a RISC-OS 3 printer driver for the HP Deskjet 500C. It will also work on the HP PaintJet and the PaintJet XL. The price is £18.80 inc VAT from Ace or £17 through Archive. 5.7 • Starch − An arcade action game from Alien Images / Dabs Press set in a launderette! Harry and Dave are working through the night trying to clear the backlog of unfinished washing. (Doesn’t exactly sound an exciting scenario but Ed’s two sons, aged 11 and 13, certainly enjoyed playing with the review copy of the game.) The price is £14.95 from Dabs Press or £14 through Archive. 5.7 • Titler − Clares Micros have released their new video titling and presentation package called Titler. For £149.95 inc VAT (£135 through Archive) you get two packages − Titler itself which you use to combine input from Artisan2, Artisan, Illusionist and RenderBender II and add titles in various fonts to create screens for display − and Sequencer to combine the screens together with special effects such as fade, wipe, scroll, etc. It also takes input from Tracker and Armadeus. Link it with a genlock system and you can create professional standard video-titling. 5.7 • Vidi-Archimedes − A video digitiser for the Archimedes from Rombo Productions. For £149 +VAT, you get a digitiser that can grab frames from moving video at 320 × 256 pixels in 16 grey shades and can replay frames at 10 per second. If you work from a still video image, you can use the built-in electronic filters to build up a full colour image at up to 640 × 256 in 256 colour. 5.7 • A5000 CD-ROM offer − Acorn are offering to education (yes, education, only, I’m afraid) a “complete A5000 CD-ROM system” for £1799 +VAT. This consists of an A5000 (not Learning Curve), 40M IDE, 4M ram (not 2M), Acorn multisync monitor, Cumana CD-ROM drive and SCSI interface, a pair of mains powered stereo speakers, seven CD-ROM discs (Hutchinson Encyclopedia, Revelation 2, Space Encyclopedia, Times and Sunday Times Sampler, Illustrated Holy Bible, Illustrated Works of Shakespeare, Sherlock Holmes), PC Emulator 1.8, !CD Player to play audio CDs, Cumana SCSI utilities, ChangeFSI, three CD caddies, mouse mat, Access to Cumana CD-ROM hotline, £25-off voucher for a year’s subscription to NERIS, £30 voucher for a year’s subscription to The Times and Sunday Times CD (RISC-OS version). This package will be available through Archive. (An A3000 upgrade version to add on to an existing A3000 is said to be “available 1 July” and will be £599 +VAT.) 5.8 I have been down to Acorn to look at this system and it looks very exciting, especially when you compare it to the offerings for Mac, PC and Nimbus, etc. It seems to be another area, like DTP, where Acorn could shine because of the high power/price ratio of the A5000. We really need someone to write something for Archive about it. The trouble is that, unlike DTP, I make no claim to be an expert on it. Any offers? Ed. 5.8 • Archimedes Open Day − The University of Sussex is having an Open Day on 2nd July to demonstrate the use of the Archimedes in the teaching of Mathematics and Statistics. Contact Dr D.R.Robinson on 0273−606755 for details. 5.8 • Base5 programs − There are now two more programs to add to the Base5 database management system. They are AdMaths which is an advanced mathematics and statistics package and Mailmerge which is a flexible mailmerge system allowing the merging of information from different databases. The prices are £25 and £10 respectively but there is no VAT payable on them. (Base5 itself costs £69.) 5.8 • Cheap A540’s − We can still get hold of a few of the cheap (but brand new) A540’s that we mentioned last month. They will be £1925 inc VAT and carriage each. (Beebug still have three available, they tell me, at £1875 − yer pays yer money...) We also have a couple of ex-demonstration A540’s. These have been reconditioned and have a full 12 months’ warranty. These cost £1725 inclusive. 5.8 • Chameleon upgrade − 4mation have produced a new version of Chameleon which has “lots of new features including fountain fills”. The new price is £37.50 +VAT (or £41 through Archive) and the old program is no longer available. The upgrade from the old version is £12.50 +VAT but is only available direct from 4mation. 5.8 • ClearView − A new hypertext application is available from DEC_dATA. It allows you to display, search, cross-reference and print text files. The application costs only £10. There are two ClearView files available − Columbus’ First Voyage (£6.95) aimed at primary and lower secondary and Scientists and Inventors (£8.95) which contains the biographies of over 300 scientists and inventors. There is also a version of ClearView that allows you to compile your own files. This costs £50 from DEC_dATA. 5.8 • Clipart − Primary Education Services are producing large amounts of clip art on a whole range of subjects aimed especially at primary education but useful for anyone interested in the particular subject. The discs are £5 each (+ VAT) or £4.50 each if you order 4 or more discs at once. Add £1.50 for postage and packing. The subjects currently available are as follows (most are single discs but those which are two- disc sets are marked with a super-scripted 2): Pets, Farm Animals, Wildcats, Birds of Prey, Pond Life2, The Body, The Circulatory System, The Human Skeleton, Man in Space, Leicestershire2, Sikhism, Mecca and Medina, Diwali, Chinese New Year, Christmas, The Romans, The Vikings and The Greeks. 5.8 • Colour scanning and printing − BirdTech are offering services of colour scanning using a Sharp JX100, laser printing using a Laser Direct 600 d.p.i. and colour printing using a Deskjet 500C. 5.8 (The leaflet that BirdTech sent us was very impressive − it was in colour but it was crystal clear, laser quality. The technique used is simple but very effective. The coloured parts − a big bold title and a logo − were printed on the DJ500C and the main text was printed separately on the laser printer. The overall effect made you think it was done on a colour laser printer. It wasn’t until you looked carefully at the colour parts that you realised they were not such high quality as the main text.) 5.8 • Datapower − SterrySoft has produced a new database for schools use. Its capacity is 960 records with up to 24 fields. It uses a 24 field by 24 record spreadsheet type display and has a range of editing and reporting facilities. The cost is £29.95 (no VAT). 5.8 • Desktop Thesaurus − Risc Developments have produced a desktop thesaurus which is fully RISC-OS compliant. You can type in the word you want to check or you can “save” it from an editor or DTP package into the thesaurus window and it will offer you various alternatives. £19 +VAT from Risc Developments. 5.8 • Diction is a RISC-OS compliant dictionary program from New Era Software. It has a 6,000+ word dictionary and costs £15 (no VAT) from New Era. This price includes a site licence. 5.8 • Dictionaries for German, French and Spanish − New Era Software have produced fully defined G.C.S.E. dictionaries in three European langu ages. These are RISC-OS compliant programs and costing £25 each (no VAT) from New Era. This price includes a site licence. 5.8 • Digitising tablet − Techsoft have just produced a new digitising tablet with a 12“ × 12” active area. It comes with both a stylus for freehand work and a puck-type pointer with cross-hairs for accurate work. The software is a sophisticated mouse emulation program so that the tablet can be used with any applications software. The price is £175 +VAT. 5.8 • Eizo F550i − Eizo UK have just produced another new monitor that looks as if it might be a replacement for the now discontinued 9070. It is the F550i. The basic facts are: 17“, 0·28mm dot pitch, flat screen (but not Trinitron), microprocessor controlled, Archive price £890 inc VAT & carriage. It will need a VIDC enhancer (£28) if used with A300/400/3000 computers or an enhancer modes disc (£5) if used with A540 or A5000. I am using one at the moment and am extremely pleased with it, especially the microprocessor control which makes it much easier to use when changing from mode to mode. Once set up in the different modes that you use, there is no need to make any adjustments to the size, position or shape of the display. The display is so clear that I can display the whole of the double page spread of this magazine and still see the words clearly enough to edit the text − well, not clearly enough to want to do a lot of editing at that magnification, but it is possible which it certainly wasn’t on the 9060 or the 9070. 5.8 We also stock the Eizo T560i which is 17“ but 0.25 mm dot pitch and uses a Trinitron tube. The members’ price is £1240. Putting the two side by side, it seems to have exactly the same resolution as the F550i but the T560i’s colours are much more saturated and there is a much greater range of brightness available. 5.8 • Floptical drives − Morley Electronics are the first company (to the best of our knowledge) to implement the new floptical drives on the Archimedes. These are very high density (20M) floppy drives that use optical techniques to give accurate enough tracking to achieve the high packing density. The same drives will also read, write and format 720k and 1.44M floppy discs. This is an advantage to non-A5000 owners as it adds 1.44M to the list of disc formats they can read. Morley are working on the suppliers of the flopticals in order to get information that will allow them to write software to read and write all the Acorn formats. The flopticals could then be used as a replacement for a standard floppy drive. 5.8 The drives are available now and sell at Archive prices of £625 for the external drive, £475 for the internal (which can also be fitted by a dealer or a competent DIYer into an A5000 as a second drive), £685 for an external drive plus a podule and £570 for an internal drive plus a podule. Each drive comes with one floptical disc. Extra discs cost £35 each or £165 for a set of 5. These are SCSI devices, so IDE owners will need to buy a separate SCSI podule. 5.8 Owners of existing Morley SCSI podules need a software update which can be obtained from Morley for £10 +VAT. Owners of other SCSI podules will have to replace their card with a Morley one because you cannot have two SCSI podules in a computer at once and none of the other podules, as yet, will support the flopticals. (We have asked Oak Solutions about the situation but have not, as yet, had any response. Lindis UK say that they do not, currently, have any plans to write suitable software so that they can be run from their SCSI interfaces. Acorn are, I would guess, unlikely to extend their SCSI software to include flopticals.) We hope to have a floptical drive for testing purposes in the next few days, so we will give further reports next month. 5.8 • G-Draft − is a 2D CAD program which can output to HPGL plotters or dot matrix printers via files in Draw format that are passed to the RISC-OS printer driver. It is fully RISC-OS compliant and offers a range of features including automatic dimensioning, 8 layer drawings, HPGL input, symbols can be input from or output to disk libraries, etc. The price is £80 excluding VAT but including postage from G-Soft in Germany. 5.8 • Graphics & font packs − Logan Interactive have produced a series of fonts and graphics packs: Bullets (highlighting symbols) £8.95, Liner (family of 4 fonts) £24.95, Sunshine (decorative font) £8.95, Railway mapping symbols (2 fonts + graphics) £24.95, Transport 1 (transport pictograms − 1 font + graphics) £16.95 and Transport 2 (route diagram symbols − 1 font + graphics) £16.95. Here is a sample of Transport 1: a f g h m y . 5.8 • Inkjet refills and cheap inkjet cartridges are available from a company called HCS (not HCCS of Acorn fame) on 0800−252−252. 5.8 • Interacter 1.60 − The Fortran user interface/graphic subroutine library, Interacter is available from Interactive Software Services. It is a subroutine library which allows menus, forms, text windows and high resolution graphics to be added to Fortran software in a system independent manner. It is available for RISC-OS, RISC-iX, DOS, DEC VAX/ VMS, PRIMOS and various other Unix systems. The RISC-iX version costs £950 +VAT for a two-developer licence (or £570 +VAT for education). A single user RISC-OS licence costs £195 +VAT (£146.25 +VAT for education). 5.8 • MicroDrive World Edition − Cambridge International Software have produced a version of their well-established 3D golf simulator with seven courses covering English parkland, Spanish riviera, US lakeside, US pine forest, Caribbean, Scottish links and Portuguese coastal. £29.95 from CIS or £27 through Archive. 5.8 • National Curriculum Planner and Database − New Era Software have produced a database and a planner for those having to plough their way through the administration involved with the National Curriculum. NCPlanner is aimed at the task of recording National Curriculum assessments and NCBase is used to generate progress charts. The two programs together cost £25 or £40 inclusive of site licence and automatic upgrades. 5.8 • PinPoint upgrade − Longman Logotron have issued an upgrade to their PinPoint database. The extra facilities, including horizontal bar and line charts and extra options for many of the existing features, is free of charge to existing owners. All registered users of PinPoint should have received their free upgrades by the end of April. 5.8 • Precision is a RISC-OS compliant reading program produced by New Era Software and aimed at special needs students. It has facilities for learning, testing and recording and uses a limited number of selected words. You can also include pictures if you wish and it costs £20 (no VAT) from New Era including a site licence. 5.8 • PrimeArt upgrade − PrimeArt from Minerva will now work in mode 21 and has new features including support for concept keyboards, sticky menus and brush latching. The upgrade costs £10 +VAT from Minerva. The PrimeArt package is £79.95 +VAT or £87 through Archive including a primary or special needs site licence. 5.8 • PrimeArt display kit − Minerva now produce a program to allow you to create a rolling demo of PrimeArt pictures just by dropping the files into a directory. The price is £12 +VAT from Minerva. 5.8 • Science control software and hardware − SterrySoft produces a control box (£19.95) and three applications packages (£9.95 each). The control box connects up to an analogue port (not standard on Archimedes but available as an add-on podule) and provides inputs that can be used for temperature sensors, pendulum recording and car-on-ramp type experiments. 5.8 • !SFXM − This is Cambridge International Software’s new sound effects maker. In software, you combine oscillators, noise generators, envelope generators, pulse generators, low-pass and high-pass filters, multi pliers, sample and hold, variable delays, echo and reverb, etc to create interesting new sounds. Apart from the fun aspect and applications where sound effects are needed, I can see this being used in education as a way of investigating the effects of some of the fundamental components such as filters, delays, etc. The price is £39.95 from CIS or £37 from Archive. 5.8 • Supermarket is a RISC-OS compliant program produced by New Era Software and aimed at special needs students. It is a simple simulation of a supermarket and comes in five different languages under the names Supermarket, Archfarchnad, Supermarkt, Supermarché and Supermercado. The programs are £10 each from New Era (no VAT) including a site licence but if you buy more than one at a time, the first one costs £10 and extra languages are then £8 each. 5.8 • Swiv − Krisalis have ported their Atari/Amiga etc game, Swiv, onto the Archimedes. Fly a helicopter gunship or drive an armoured jeep and... ...well, blow everybody up, I suppose! The cost is £25.95 or £24 through Archive. 5.8 • Tapestry software − SterrySoft has produced a program that will allow you to design tapestry on a 50 × 40 grid in 8 colours with two styles of stitch. Designs can be saved for later use and colour printed. The cost is £9.95 (no VAT). 5.8 • Virus watch − Pineapple Software have introduced a new service for all Archimedes owners to combat the growing threat of viruses. The service will operate as follows: 5.8 1) On payment of a small annual registration fee (£24 + VAT), customers will receive a disc containing details of all known Archimedes viruses together with software developed under licence from Acorn Computers Limited, which will render all of the known viruses ineffective. Further discs will be sent out to customers during the year as more viruses become known and, in the case of any particularly damaging virus, an immediate innoculation disc will be sent to all customers. 5.8 2) Pineapple will act as a central point for collecting information about new viruses. Any Archimedes users who suspect they have suffered the effects of a new virus (i.e. one that is not cured by Pineapple’s latest release of software) should send full details to Pineapple. 5.8 3) In extreme circumstances (if all else fails!), they will offer an ‘on site’ cure to customers, although the cost of this will have to be arranged on an individual basis. 5.8 Pineapple would like to stress that they are not trying to make a profit out of the warped pleasure that some people seem to get from creating these viruses − hence the charge which, it is estimated, will just about cover the running of the service. 5.8 Unfortunately, judging from the experiences of PC users, viruses are here to stay but Pineapple think they may at least be able to help control the problem even though it is unlikely that it can ever be completely eliminated. 5.8 • A5000 drives − If you prefer to keep your podule slots free and want a second large hard drive for your A5000, as well as the 120M drive at £380, we now have a 240M drive at £675 and a 420M drive at £1150. These can be fitted in the space underneath the floppy drive. 5.9 • A5000 2M memory upgrades − Atomwide now have a non-expandable 2M upgrade for the A5000 at £89 +VAT (or £100 through Archive). It is vertical mounting and is therefore easier to fit than the expandable 2M upgrade (£130 through Archive) since you don’t have to remove the floppy drive and hard drive. 5.9 • !BBCLink − Turing Tools have produced a “pre-compiling link editor” for BBC Basic. The idea is that Basic compilers normally do not recognise the LIBRARY function, so BBCLink enables you to call routines that are not in the actual code to be compiled, just as long as the routines exist in other sources referred to within the file. This brings the idea of object-oriented programming within reach of the Basic programmer. !BBCLink is £39 for a single user, £229 for a commercial site licence, £189 for an educational site licence and there is a demo version for £5, refundable on purchase of the full version. (There is no VAT as Turing is not VAT registered.) 5.9 • BirdTech scanning and printing − The phone number we gave last month for BirdTech’s scanning and printing service was wrong. With apologies, it should have been 0263−70669. 5.9 • Careware 17 should be ready by the time this magazine goes to press, possibly even 18 as well. See the Price List for details. 5.9 • CD-ROM upgrade for Acorn SCSI cards − Acorn have released an upgrade to enable their SCSI cards to be used to run CD-ROMs. The software is the same for both versions of the Acorn SCSI card but for owners of the earlier AKA30 cards, there is a simple board modification to be made. The AKA31 has a link change instead. The price of the software and instructions is £19.95 +VAT or £22 through Archive. 5.9 • Design Concept’s fonts − Design Concept are continuing to increase their list of outline fonts. The latest additions are Chinese and Katiyo − both English characters but the former in a Chinese style. (See page 63 for a review of some the earlier fonts and programs.) For a free catalogue, write to Design Concept. 5.9 • Direct Laser Printers − Calligraph now have a wide range of direct drive laser printers (i.e. the same sort of thing as the Laser Directs). Bottom of the range is a Qume (300 d.p.i., 6 p.p.m.) at £899 + VAT (Archive price £990). Then there is a 600 × 300 d.p.i., 4 p.p.m. Canon at £969 + VAT (Archive price £1080). This is the equivalent of the Computer Concepts’ Laser Direct LBP4 except that the CC version goes up to 600 × 600, not just 600 × 300 d.p.i. The next one up is the equiva lent of CC’s LBP8 − ArcLaser 600-8 is a Canon 8 p.p.m. printer offering 600 × 400 d.p.i. for £1399 +VAT (Archive price £1560). If you are looking for an even faster printer with a dual bin facility then the new ArcLaser 600-12 is a Qume laser printer offering 600 × 300 d.p.i. at 12 p.p.m. (Archive price £1560). 5.9 Calligraph also have a cheap laser printer with a deep paper tray that is ideal for network use − ArcServer is a 300 d.p.i., 8 p.p.m. Taxan printer and comes complete with network spooler software for £1069 + VAT (Archive price £1180). 5.9 • DrawPrint & Plot is Oak Solutions’ updated version of their WorraPlot ter. DrawPrint is a tiling program for outputting Drawfiles in sizes up to A0 on A4 sheets. DrawPlot is a RISC-OS driver for HPGL plotters. The files it produces can be transferred to PC format discs and sent to cutting or plotting bureaux for the final product to be produced. The price is £39.95 +VAT or £43 through Archive. 5.9 • Eizo 17“ monitors − I have now had several hours of practical experience of using the various Eizo 17” monitors. The newest one I have been looking at is the T560iT which is a higher spec version of the T560i. It has an anti-reflective coating on the screen and has achieved the MPR II standard. It also has lower electrostatic emission character istics so that it complies with the more stringent Swedish TCO regulations. It is, therefore, more expensive than the T560i − £1360 at Archive prices compared with £1240, so is it worth paying £120 for the extra “T” ?! 5.9 The advantage of the anti-reflective coating is that you won’t find yourself having to angle the monitor to avoid reflections from strip- lights or other strong light sources. If you are definitely always going to be working in a low ambient light level, then the only advantage would be the higher safety standards. However, being realistic, most of us will, on occasions, find ourselves with some sort of bright light causing reflections. I would say that if you can justify paying £1240 for a monitor, it would be false economy not to stretch the extra £120 for the T560iT at £1360. 5.9 So, how does the T560iT compare with the F550i? Is it worth the extra £470? (£1360 − £890) First of all, I must say that the F550i is an excellent monitor and anyone moving up from a 14“ monitor of any type will see a significant improvement. With all three 17” monitors, the micro-processor control makes them so much more user-friendly. They can be set up in each of the modes you use to give the optimum display using every last millimetre of the screen (except in modes 12 & 15 which are half height and three-quarters width, though none the less very usable). 5.9 What then do you get for the extra £470? The first advantage of the T560iT’s Trinitron tube is that you get a brighter screen. I found I had to run the F550i at full brightness all the time and when the sun was bright (in England, in May?!?!) I really could have done with a bit more brightness. This is particularly noticeable with Impression because it uses a white background. The problem with the F550 is that, if you try to make the whole screen white, it really cannot cope and it goes a little grey. To see this effect, create a new blank document and increase the magnification to give you a complete white screen. Size it down to a couple of inches square, put the pointer over the top right hand corner of the window ready to open it out to full screen size and cover the rest of the screen with a couple of A4 envelopes. Watch the square of white in the top lefthand corner of the screen as you click the mouse to open the window to full size and you will see the drop in brightness. I also tried this with the Trinitron tube and couldn’t see any change in brightness. 5.9 The other difference between the two tubes is the colour saturation. This is clearly seen if you put up, say, the test card from Atomwide’s VIDC modes disc. (You will need this disc or a VIDC enhancer to use any of these monitors.) If you have two computers and can put the two monitors side by side, you will see a definite difference in the intensity of the colours. The F550 colours are more pastel, if that’s the right word. 5.9 In defence of the F550i which, as I have said, is an excellent monitor at £890, I have always found the non-Trinitron tubes less tiring to use than the Trinitrons (well, the Taxan 795 which is the only Trintron I had tried prior to the T560i). This could well be because the display is not as bright or colourful and is therefore more restful. Also, the Trinitron tubes do have a couple of dark shadow lines across the screen which would never be seen on a television with a constantly moving display but, with a steady white background, these dark lines can be clearly seen. Having said that, the lines are a lot less obvious on the larger tubes than on the 14“ ones and, in use, I haven’t found the T560iT at all tiring to use. Because I use it all day, every day, I think I can justify the extra cost and will be sticking with the T560iT. 5.9 • Epson emulation − We have managed to find an Epson emulation for the Acorn JP150 printer. The cost is £98 through Archive. It means that any recalcitrant software that insists on printing to an Epson printer can be used with the Acorn JP150 printer. This is likely to be particularly useful with the PC Emulator. 5.9 • Flopticals’ price down − Just after the last magazine went to the printers, Morley dropped the prices of their floptical drives. The new Archive prices are as follows: 20M external £490, 20M external + podule £580, 20M external + cached podule £630, 20M internal floptical drive £400, 20M internal + podule £490, 20M internal + cached podule £540. The 20M discs are £29 each or five for £115 (= £23 each). Note that, at present, the Morley podules are the only SCSI podules that will support the floptical drives. Also, currently, the drives will not read any of the Acorn formats, only 720k and 1.44M MS-DOS formats. 5.9 • Keynote is the primary version of the KeyPlus database, aimed at children at Key Stages 1 & 2. It is produced by the education department at Anglia Television and costs £27.50 +VAT for an individual copy with site licences between £30 and £250 depending on the size of the establishment from <150 pupil primary schools to FE and HE colleges. 5.9 • KiddiCAD − Oak Solutions have a 3-D building block program − a bit like building with Lego but in 3-D. The object can be viewed from any position and any angle. You can build blocks into sub-assemblies, save them and then use them to build up an even bigger model. Views of the models can be printed with standard RISC-OS printer drivers. (£69.95 +VAT or £76 through Archive.) 5.9 • Le Monde à Moi − This is a skills development package designed to stimulate spoken and written French in children from 9 years upwards. Based on a set of pictorial scenes, there is a range of sorting, matching and sentence construction tasks that can be done. The price is £15 +VAT from Northwest SEMERC. 5.9 • Graph_IT is Sherston Software’s graph drawing software aimed specifi cally at schools. “It has been designed to produce professional looking graphs quickly, accurately and easily, without having to master a complicated spreadsheet or database package.” The graphs can be saved as Graph_IT files or as Draw files, so that the output can be used with other WP or DTP packages. The price is £19.95 +VAT from Sherston Software and this includes three fonts: Junior, Montclair and Tabloid. 5.9 • Italian disc magazine − Raffaele Ferrigno tells us that there is now a disc-based Archimedes magazine in Italy. Apparently it is bimonthly and it is free! More details from Raffaele Ferrigno at Via Andrea d’Isernia 16, 80122 Napoli, Italy. 5.9 • Nº62 Honeypot Lane is a new program from Resource aimed at primary school work in a whole range of subjects. It is based round the idea of exploring and discovering the routines and relationships that exist within a household through a year. The price is £29.95 for a single user and £74.95 for a site licence. 5.9 • Pesky Muskrats − This new game from Coin-Age Ltd bears certain resemblances, in the basic game strategy at least, to Lemmings. The difference is that you are trying to kill all the Pesky Muskrats instead of saving them. The price is £25.99 or £24 through Archive. 5.9 • ScreenTurtle is Topologika’s easy-to-learn turtle graphics program. It is a fully RISC-OS compatible program and offers a range of Logo features but always with the aim of making it accessible for the younger users − aimed at 8 to 13+ year olds. The price is £39.95 + VAT or £44 through Archive. 5.9 • Shareware 44 − “Fortran Friends”, compiled by D.J. and K.M. Crennell, contains: a desktop tool allowing compilation, linking and execution; fast binary input/output, callable from Fortran; thirty-three graphics routines emulating Basic commands, e.g. CALL LINE(IX1,IY1,IX2,IY2); forty-four Sprite_Op routines; eleven utilities, e.g. J = IGET() which simulates Basic’s GET command; a general SWI calling routine; fifty-one wimp routines + some utilities; utilities to create Draw files for ‘path’ and ‘text’ objects; utilities to plot a line graph through a set of X,Y points; various algorithms, originally part of the ACMToms; Fortran applications − using SpriteOps for manipulation of objects made of spheres, using wimp routines to display polyhedra from pre-stored datafiles; advice for converting a Basic program to Fortran; list of reported bugs in Fortran77 release 2; list of commercial suppliers of libraries callable from Fortran; list of bulletin boards accessible from JANET. 5.9 • Shareware 45 − contains: typing tutor, address book and label printer, easy-to-read font for children, modes 20 & 21 for Acorn multisyncs, Draw options object killer, menu screen grabber, sprite & draw file previewer, clipart including: Body − brain, eyeball, eyes, germ, hand, inner ear, nervous system, skin1, skin2, skull/brain; chemical equip ment: beaker, bunsen, distillation, conical flask, separation funnel; General: blast furnace, tap; Pond: beetle, pike; Transport: glider, lorry1, lorry2, plane. 5.9 • Shareware 46 − contains: Basic compressor & cross referencer, module information utility, regular expression finder (for cross referencing), File/directory lister for RISC-OS and PC partitions, simple assembler, desktop ‘filer’ utility. 5.9 • Shareware 47 − contains: desktop keystrip, selective disc backup, a utility to make ‘plinth’ sprites, (another different) typing tutor, desktop eyes, orbital mechanics simulation, four dimensional cube display, three games: !Bang − desktop bomb squad, Inertia screen designer and !Zoo − a guessing game / expert system. 5.9 • Squirrel update − Digital Services have produced a new version of their Squirrel database. Version 1.10 has a huge range of new features − I have a list of features 2½ pages long which I do not intend to try to summarise! All registered Squirrel owners will get their upgrades free of charge and the end user price has not changed − still £140 through Archive. 5.9 • The Crystal Rain Forest − Sherston Software have produced a new educational adventure game. The scenario is that you have to help the King of Oglo who has been poisoned by some evil tree-fellers. To save him, you have to find some magic crystals hidden deep in the forest. The adventure is intended to be both a starting point for conservation and nature work and also a fun way to teach children how to use Logo. All the puzzles encountered are related to Logo and are presented in a structured manner so that pupils learn about Logo almost without realising it − well, that’s what Sherston claim! The price is £35 +VAT from Sherston Software. 5.9 • The Public Key − Issue 3 of The Public Key is now available. This is the magazine specialising in public key cryptography. For more details, see the advert on page 10. 5.9 • Vector − 4Mation’s new drawing package, Vector, is now available at £85 +VAT (£92 through Archive). Written by Jonathan Marten (of DrawPlus fame), it has a range of new features including replication of images, masking of objects (so that parts of one object will “show through” another object), radiation (replication + rotation), path-merging, interpolation, new path patterns, etc, etc. (See comparative review on page 13 − but a full review will follow as soon as it is ready.) A demo version of Vector is included on the monthly program disc. 5.9 • X-fire − yet another all-singing, all-dancing, shoot-em-up arcade game from 4th Dimension. The price is £24.95 or £23 through Archive. 5.9 • Acorn Portable − The new Acorn portable computer is here! Turn to page 5 for full details. 5.10 • Animals − The latest offering in 4Mation’s set of SmArt files is Animals which provides nine animals with various backdrops to put them on and a set of ideas for their use. The price is £16 +VAT from 4Mation or £18 through Archive. 5.10 • ARM3 prices down − CJE Micros have again dropped the price of their ARM3 upgrade − this time to £169 +VAT or £195 through Archive. Aleph One are maintaining their price of £199 +VAT on the basis of their belief that it is a technically superior product. We are making a slight concession to CJE’s price drop and reducing the Archive price of the Aleph One ARM3 to £215. (The A3000 version remains at an Archive price of £285 including 2-way carriage.) 5.10 • Banner − Kudlian Soft have produced a RISC-OS compliant banner-maker which uses outline fonts and RISC-OS printer drivers to create banners. You can either print them on fanfold paper along the length of the paper, or on page-based printers such as Deskjets or Laser Directs, ready to fix together to make up a composite banner. The price is £15 +VAT or £17 through Archive. 5.10 • BasShrink − After the review in Archive 5.8, Architype have modified, improved and enhanced their Basic program compressor and produced BasShrink 2.14. 5.10 • Calligraph 600 d.p.i. laser − Calligraph are now selling a (true) 600 d.p.i. A3 size, 8 p.p.m. direct drive laser printer, the TQ-1200. This is true 600 d.p.i. and, with image enhancement, can give a simulated 1200 d.p.i. (In the same way, the CC Laser Directs are really 300 d.p.i. but with image enhancement give a simulated 600 d.p.i.) The TQ-1200 has a 250 sheet paper cassette, can handle paper sizes from A6 to A3 and has a 150 sheet multi-purpose feeder option which enables it to take envelopes, transparencies, labels and also paper plates and Plazer plates. You can also add an extra 250 sheet paper cassette for dual bin use or for heavy network use. The output is VERY impressive. I am hoping to do some blow-ups next month to show the difference between 300/600 d.p.i. printing and 600/1200. The price is £4995 +VAT from Calligraph or £5650 through Archive. If you want to use it at full resolution, I guess you will need a machine with at least 8M of RAM. 5.10 (• Carewares 17 & 18 − There has been a delay in the production of the two Careware discs we mentioned last month, so this is to say that Carewares 17 and 18 are NOT available yet.) 5.10 • CSVtoText − This application was written, initially, to solve the problem of getting PinPoint output in CSV format and converting it into a sensible format for putting into Impression. However, it can be used for any such conversion from CSV to text. The price from Architype Software is £9 for business, secondary or tertiary education and £5 for home, primary, infant or junior schools. (A PD version of CSVtoText is included on this month’s program disc.) 5.10 • Eizo 9070’s − Yes, that does say “9070”. Eizo have found a number of the very popular 16“ monitors that they discontinued in favour of the new F550i. The rrp was £899 +VAT (£1056). We sold them at an Archive discount price of £790 inc VAT (rrp’s on monitors are never very realistic!) and can offer these monitors at £690. However, if you want one, you will have to move fast − indeed they may all be gone by the time this gets into print. 5.10 • ExcellonDrill − Anyone using ArcPCB and having access to an Excellon automatic drilling machine will be pleased to hear that Silicon Vision have produced a driver to enable you to create drill files. The price is £75 +VAT from Silicon Vision. 5.10 • Floating point co-processor − If you want a 387SX floating point co- processor for the Aleph One 386 card, they are available for £108 through Archive. 5.10 • Gods − This is an arcade game converted from the Atari by Krisalis. As Hercules, you have to search the depths of an ancient city in search of immortality. The game boasts 15 different weapons systems plus 20 potions and power-ups plus a host of intelligent monsters. The price is £25.99 from Krisalis or £24 through Archive. 5.10 • Interface podules for A3000 − Commotion now sell two interface podules for the A3000. The original user/analogue port podule at £49.95 +VAT is now joined by a user/analogue/midi port podule at £79.95 +VAT. 5.10 • Nebulus − Another arcade game from Krisalis. This one involves destroying giant towers that someone has built in the sea. You start off in your mini-sub and try to demolish the towers without getting wiped out yourself. The price is £25.99 from Krisalis or £24 through Archive. 5.10 • Ovation 1.3 − By the time you read this, Risc Developments should have released an update to Ovation. This will now include mail-merge, pamphlet printing, rotating pictures, First Word Plus importing and a Thesaurus hotlink. The price is still £99 +VAT or £110 through Archive. 5.10 • Removable hard drives − There has been another drop in the price of the removable hard drives. The 42M drives are now down to £455 inc VAT (cf Morley’s 42M at £499 +VAT) and the 84M down to £670 inc VAT (cf Morley’s 84M @ £699 +VAT). The cheapest we could find elsewhere for the 42M drives was £449 +VAT = £527, so we are still keeping Archive’s prices well below the competition. 5.10 • RISC-OS Turbo Driver for BJ10ex − This is the first in a series of new printer drivers produced by Computer Concepts. The idea is that they use CC’s FastText rendering technique developed for the Laser Directs and now benefiting users of other printers. They print up to three times as fast as the standard Acorn printer drivers. The driver for the BJ10ex is the first of a series and provides half tone printing in up to 128 grey levels as well as plain text printing in any font style, portrait or landscape. The drivers come bundled with twelve Acorn outline fonts plus the Acorn outline font manager. The software plus lead costs £49 +VAT (£53 through Archive) or you can buy it with the printer for just £249 +VAT (or £275 through Archive). 5.10 • ScanLight Junior 256 − After a long delay due to difficulty of supply, the ScanLight Junior 256 scanners are available again. Supplies are a little bit limited because the demand is so high but, as of today, I can say that they are actually “in stock”. There is also a price drop. ScanLight 256 is now £199 +VAT or £225 through Archive. 5.10 • Toner cartridges for Telethon − Are you wondering what to do with those used toner cartridges? Surely, they should be able to be re- cycled? Well, they can and you can make some money for the ITV Telethon fund-raising marathon. The EcoCare Group will give about £3 to £4 per cartridge to charity. If you live in East Anglia, they will collect the cartridges from you − just ring 0263−513553 to arrange collection. Otherwise, you can send your old cartridges to us and they will collect them from here. 5.10 • SPECIAL DEALS − One of the three Acorn distributors is closing down and is selling off Archimedes hardware and software. For example, Prolog-X, which sold at £179, is available for £25. Marconi Trackerballs (normally £56) are £35. PrimeArt (was £87) is £25 and Numerator (was £80) is £25. For a full list, see the extra sheet in the Price List. 5.10 • Analogue simulation package − Mijas Software have produced a general purpose ‘analogue’ simulation package called ArcSimp. It provides integrators, summers, function generators, trig functions, etc and will allow you to model all sorts of different systems. ArcSimp costs £50 including VAT and p&p from Mijas and they also sell a demonstration version for £5 refundable against a purchase of the full system. 5.11 • Archimedes Basic Compiler (ABC) − Oak Solutions, who now distribute the ABC compiler, have produced a version 3. This is a re-presented version with extra facilities and sells at £99.95 +VAT or £105 through Archive. We hope to have a review of it in due course. 5.11 • Castle Life − Oak Solutions have produced a package to allow children to explore a mediæval castle, using plans and views to plan and execute their own “visit”. The material relates to History Key Stage 3 and Technology Attainment Target 5. Two discs, one manual and twelve worksheets cost £50 +VAT from Oak Solutions. 5.11 • Clipart by the volume − 23 volumes of clip art from Image Club Graphics of Canada which were originally only available on Macs and PCs are now available in Archimedes Draw format. Matt Black (that’s the name of the company) sells the 23 volumes for £29.95 each. A full catalogue is available from Matt Black for £7.95 inc p&p. 5.11 • Clipart on CD-ROM − APA Multimedia have produced “The Really Useful CD-ROM Vol. 1” at £49 +VAT which contains “megabytes of clipart in Draw and sprite format” plus some sound samples. 5.11 • DrawBook − A great help for those doing budget DTP is Emerald Publishing’s DrawBook. It allows you to combine drawfiles, one for each page, to create a book. The order and contents of the book can be edited and it also enables headers and footers to be printed on each page. The cost is £15 +VAT or £16 through Archive. 5.11 Landmarks − Longman Logotron have just released another two in their Landmarks series of educational information packages. They are “Aztecs” and “Columbus” and each costs £24 +VAT or £26 through Archive. 5.11 • My Town/Village is a resources pack (£7.50 +VAT) for use with the My World Package (£15 +VAT) from NW SEMERC. It includes a range of pictorial scenes depicting towns and villages through the centuries. 5.11 • Multiple CD-ROMs − Cumana have reduced the price of their “6-pack” CD- ROM drives to £1499 +VAT. These provide six drives that can be used on a network, all 6 drives being accessible simultaneously. 5.11 • PenDown Plus − A new version of PenDown has been released (£79 +VAT or £85 through Archive). Extra features include a new 65,000 word diction ary with check-as-you-type, font find-and-replace, table editing, mailmerge and address database. 5.11 • Portable trackerball − (Ed’s wish in last month’s “A4” article has come true!) PEP Associates have converted the Logitech Trackman Portable − a serial trackerball − to work on the serial port of the new A4 (and presumably also the A5000, though that is less relevant). You can buy the full package including carrying case, various cables and adaptors and the A4 software for £95 inclusive or for £45 you can get just the software and the trackerball (with, presumably, a cable to connect to the A4). If you already have a Trackman Portable, you can buy the software on its own from PEP for £19. 5.11 • Professional Tools Pack 1 − Electronic Solutions have produced a set of RISC-OS utilities for £14.95 +VAT. These include monitor protector and data security program, colour enhancement software, animated generic ARM3 control software, module protector utilities, key-activated utilities and utility manager, multisync monitor emulator, system speed controller and a fix for RISC-OS 2’s “FileCore in use” bug. 5.11 • Prolog is back! − Keylink Computers Ltd have produced a version of Prolog for the Archimedes (2M or more). It costs £69.95 +VAT and uses the standard Edinburgh text. It comes with a 120+ page manual with a large amount of background information. 5.11 • Risc Basic Compiler − Silicon Vision have produced a version 3 of their Risc Basic Compiler which also links in with Acorn’s DDE. It sells at £149.95 inc VAT or £135 through Archive. We hope to have a review of it in due course. 5.11 • Saloon Cars De-Luxe − Fourth Dimension have now produced a de-luxe version of Saloon Cars. For £34.95 (£33 through Archive) you get a range of new and improved features. They have taken into account the fact that some people have hard discs (onto which it can be installed), more than 1M and ARM3. In other words, on more powerful machines you will be able to get more detail and/or speed. 5.11 • SolidCAD release 5 is now available from Silicon Vision. It has a bigger manual, a module for high speed animation, SuperPlot driver, SuperDump driver, 24bit RGB output, high speed rendering (claiming to be “the fastest rendering package”), drawfile output, etc. £149.95 inc VAT from Silicon Vision. 5.11 • The Last Ninja − In another series of battles against evil, you have to use swords, nunchakus and shiraken stars to rescue the stolen scrolls of Ninja. You also have to solve some devious puzzles in over 140 “action-packed screens”. The Last Ninja costs £24.95 from Superior or £23 through Archive. 5.11 • ThinkSheet − In the very early days of Archive, I asked for an ideas processor for the Archimedes. Having got used to using one on the Mac, I felt I was missing out. At last there is one available. Fisher Marriott Software have had a Nimbus and PC version available for a while but have now released a fully RISC-OS compatible version for the Archimedes. ThinkSheet allows you to enter text, organise it, search through it and reorganise it to your heart’s content − all in the RISC-OS environment. Then you can export your text to a WP or DTP package. Facilities are also provided for transferring information to and from ThinkSheets on Nimbus and PC. The price is £39 +VAT from Fisher-Marriott and £89 +VAT for a school site licence. 5.11 • Training galore! − Several companies are now offering training courses for end-users. Broad Oak Computers in Bishops Stortford (0279− 718767) do courses on Impression, Squirrel, Schema, FWPlus, Artisan, Pendown and the PC Emulator. They charge £50 +VAT per day. They also do a correspon dence course on BBC Basic V. Acorn Computers in Cambridge (0223−214411) do courses on Impression, Squirrel, Schema, PC Emulator, PinPoint, Vector, PipeDream, Revelation and Magpie, plus more general ones on the Learning Curve software and one on Graphics, Animation and Video. They charge £49 +VAT per day. Minerva software in Exeter (0392− 426160) do courses on Archimedes Awareness, Draw/Edit, Atelier, MultiStore/ Flexifile, Desktop Office, Impression and TimeTabler. They charge £60 +VAT per ½ day, £110 per full day or £150 per full day depending on the course. 5.11 Interestingly, they all say that the most popular courses are the general introductory ones and the ones on Impression. Does anyone know of other companies doing such courses? Do any of them cover other applications such as Ovation? 5.11 • 12 new Acorn computers!!!!! Yes, this month, Acorn have launched twelve new computers as well as some other new products. Actually the twelve are variants of four new computers (A3010, A3020, A4000 and Acorn Pocket Book) and the A5000. Here are brief details but for full technical details, see the enclosed supplement. 5.12 • A3010 Family Solution is based on the exciting new A3010 computer and is aimed at the home user. The A3010 uses an ARM250 processor which gives it 50% more processing power than the current A3000. For £499 inc VAT you get a computer that will connect to either a TV or a standard resolution monitor or a multisync monitor. It has two joystick inter faces (Atari switched-type), 1M RAM, upgradable to 2M, and comes with a game (Quest For Gold), a wordprocessor (the new version of Easiword − see below) and an audio training tape. 5.12 • A3010 Learning Curve uses the same computer as the Family Solution but is upgraded to 2M of RAM and is bundled with more software and comes complete with an Acorn AKF40 monitor. For £799 inc VAT, in addition to Easiword and Quest For Gold, you get a set of Genesis applications and PCSoft (PC Emulator, by any other name, but now with DR-DOS 6). 5.12 • A3020 is also an ARM250-based computer. However, in place of the TV modulator it has an interface for an IDE hard drive and, in place of the two joystick ports, there is space for networking circuits, either Econet or Ethernet. The basic A3020 has 2M (upgradable to 4M) and comes with an AKF40 monitor (see below) for £749 +VAT (£880) or £799 +VAT (£939) with an AKF18 multisync monitor. There is also a 4M version with a 60M internal IDE drive (which does not take up the mini-podule slot). This costs £899 +VAT (£1056) with the AKF40 or £949 +VAT (£1115) with the AKF18 multisync. (The exVAT education prices of the A3020 computers are all £100 less than the end user prices.) 5.12 • A4000 − The A4000 is basically an A3020 in a metal case but with a larger (80M) hard drive. The A4000 looks very much like a ‘slim-line’ A5000. Like the A3020, it takes just one internal mini-podule. With an AKF40 standard resolution monitor, it costs £949 +VAT (£1115) or with an AKF18 multisync, it costs £999 +VAT (£1174). The exVAT educational prices of the A4000 are £100 less than the end-user prices. 5.12 • A4000 Home Office − This is a package aimed at the serious home user and consists of an A4000 system, an advanced wordprocessor (EasiWriter II from Icon Technology) and Desktop Database from Iota Software. With an AKF40 monitor, it costs £999 +VAT (£1174) or with an AKF18 multisync, it costs £1049 +VAT (£1233). 5.12 • A5000 prices DOWN (and drive sizes UP!) The A5000 is now available in two formats: the 2M/HD80, similar to the current A5000 but with 80M drive instead of 40M at £1399 +VAT (£1644) and the 4M/HD120 with 4M of RAM and a 120M hard drive for £1599 +VAT (£1879). (The education prices are £1199 and £1399 +VAT respectively.) The A5000 Learning Curve version is £1699 inc VAT and is based on the 2M/HD80 version. These computers are still supplied with the AKF18 multisync monitor although some dealers (including N.C.S.) may be persuaded to trade in an AKF18 against a more expensive multisync monitor. 5.12 • A5000 hard-drive-less computers − There are now two A5000 computers available without hard drives (but with AKF18 multisync monitors). The A5000 ES has an Econet interface and 2M of RAM and costs £1299 +VAT. The A5000 NS has an Ethernet interface and 2M of RAM and costs £1399 +VAT. (The education prices of these two computers are £1199 and £1299 +VAT respectively.) 5.12 • Acorn Pocket Book − Acorn have launched a pocket-sized computer (developed in co-operation with Psion and bearing a remarkable similar ity to the Psion Series 3). These will have an Archimedes link with software that will make the Pocket Book appear as a filing system on the host computer. The cost is £249.95 inc VAT. 5.12 • AKF40 monitor − Acorn have launched a new monitor aimed particularly at the A3010 and A3020 computers. It is functionally the same as the new AKF17 standard resolution monitor with stereo sound output but it has a tilt and swivel stand. The A3010 and the A3020 are not as deep as the A3000, so the monitor can be self-standing, behind the computer. 5.12 • AUN Level 4 Fileserver − The new version of Acorn’s Fileserver incorporates the Acorn Universal Networking software. The price is £399 +VAT. 5.12 • 10 Out of 10 Maths is the first of a new series of educational programs from Triple R, the educational arm of Fourth Dimension. Each of the 10 out of 10 packages, including 10 Out of 10 Maths, consists of six educational games. Each package will have two manuals − one for the teachers and one for the pupils. Also, each will come with three sets of graphics, the idea being that they are designed to appeal to different age groups. This package covers areas of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, percentages, estimation, units and powers. The software also includes a scoring system so that teachers can see how the pupils are progressing. The price is £25.95 from Fourth Dimension or £24 through Archive. 5.12 • 2067 BC − “A wacky arcade caper, set in a weird era where just about anything can and will happen. As Terrance Pterodactyl, you’re challenged to complete your missions to resume life as you know it in 2067 BC.” This new game from Oregan Developments costs £16.95 (no VAT). 5.12 • Analogue simulation package − Mijas Software has produced a general purpose ‘analogue’ simulation package called ArcSimp. It provides integrators, summers, function generators, trig functions, etc and will allow you to model all sorts of different systems. ArcSimp costs £50 including VAT and p&p from Mijas and they also sell a demonstration version for £5 refundable against a purchase of the full system. 5.12 • Colorgraf 0516 is an 8-pen A3 plotter for £295 (no VAT). It is HPGL compatible, so as long as you have an appropriate driver such as DrawPrint & Plot, it represents a very cheap plotting option. It can use cheap felt-tip pens (e.g. a box of 50 for £2.99 from Asda). These plotters are being imported from Czechoslovakia by O G Brown, 2 Westend Villas, Westend Parade, Gloucester GL1 2RY. If you want to do a screen- dump, software is available from the same source for £35 (no VAT). 5.12 • Cyber Chess − Fourth Dimension have added chess to their long list of games for the Archimedes. This is a RISC-OS compliant, 3D simulation version − with 2D as an option. It implements full chess laws including en passant, underpromotions and the 50/75 move rule. Cyber Chess is £49.95 from Fourth Dimension or £46 through Archive. 5.12 • Desktop Office version 2 − This is a slightly updated version of Desktop Office from Minerva with a few extra features. The main change is that it also includes a copy of the new Easiword as well as the Wordwise Plus look-alike that version 1 contains. The price is £99 +VAT or £108 through Archive. 5.12 • Easiword version 2 − The original Easiword was a multi-tasking Wordwise Plus look-alike and the new version is a First Word Plus look- alike. The price is £59 +VAT or £64 through Archive. 5.12 • Geordie Racer − This software from Longman Logotron is based on the popular BBC School TV series, “Look & Read : Geordie Racer” which is due for its next broadcast in Spring 1993. The TV programmes are aimed at young readers aged 7 − 9 years and the software is an adventure game designed to improve their reading skills. The price is £24 +VAT or £26 through Archive. 5.12 • Grid Algebra − This is the first Archimedes package produced by the Open University Centre for Mathematics Education. It provides a dynamic visual approach to algebra for primary and secondary level teaching. The program relates horizontal and vertical movements over a grid to the four basic operations of number. Algebraic expressions are generated by journeys made over the grid. The price is £25 inc VAT from the O.U. 5.12 • Molecular modeller − Arachne Software are producing a molecular modelling package which, when completed, will sell at around £50. In the meantime, if anyone wants a demonstration disc, they are available from Arachne for £5 refundable against a purchase of the full package. 5.12 • Nevryon II − This is an upgrade of the original Nevryon shot-em-up game from the Fourth Dimension. The main enhancement is the two-player mode so that you can work together to defeat the aliens. The price is £19.95 from Fourth Dimension or £19 through Archive. 5.12 • PlayBack − Risc Developments have produced a real-time mouse and keyboard recording and replay system called PlayBack. A PD version of PlayBack is also supplied which can be distributed freely to allow others to replay the sequences you have recorded. The price is £19 + VAT from Risc Developments. 5.12 • RISC-OS 3 is now available for all Acorn Risc-based computers. The full upgrade will cost £89 inc VAT but, until mid-1993, it will be available at the special price of £49 inc VAT (£50 through Archive including postage because the manuals are so very heavy). For this, you get a set of ROMs, fitting instructions, new Applications Discs and the full RISC-OS 3 documentation and 3.10 Release Notes. 5.12 Owners of A305, A310 and A440 (not A440/1) will need larger ROM sockets fitted. These are available as a dealer upgrade for £30 inc VAT. 5.12 Schools (or anyone else for that matter!) wanting large numbers of RISC- OS 3 upgrades can buy a 10-station set for £399 inc VAT. This includes one set of discs, one set of documentation and ten sets of ROMs. 5.12 A5000 owners can get an upgrade from RISC-OS 3.00 to 3.10, the latest release, for £19 inc VAT. This includes the ROMs and the 3.10 release notes − a 40 page document giving the extra features of RISC-OS 3.10. 5.12 (Knowing what happened when RISC-OS 2 was released, I suggest you send a SEPARATE cheque just in case demand outstrips initial supply. We will hold your cheques in the order in which they arrive and send out the upgrades in strict order. Archive readers are the first to know about this upgrade, so you can be at the head of the queue if you send a cheque straight away.) 5.12 • Saloon Cars De-Luxe Extra Courses Volume 1 − 4th Dimension have now added an extra courses disc to their De-Luxe Saloon Cars game. It costs £19.95 or £18 through Archive. (N.B. Saloon Cars Deluxe does not work on Archimedes computers using Taxan 795 monitors.) 5.12 • ScanLight Professional − A new version of ScanLight Professional is now available. It utilises a new model of scanner and although it will be functionally the same, an A4 flat-bed 300dpi SCSI device, it has a number of advantages. It is only a little bigger than actual A4 size and it operates marginally faster than the previous model. Most importantly, it is cheaper than its predecessor! This new version is £595 +VAT (£665 inc VAT through Archive). It should work with all SCSI cards, provided the manufacturers have followed all Acorn’s guidelines. (It has been successfully tested with Oak, Acorn, Morley and Lingenuity cards.) N.B. This scanner can produce images over 8M in size, so you need to think carefully about what type of machine you are going to use with it. 5.12 • SCSI hard drives − We have another supplier for Mac SCSI hard drives that work out cheaper than their Archimedes equivalents. (The price advantage of the Mac drives from Frog Systems has decreased so we have stopped selling them.) 5.12 Internal External Access 5.12 40M £230 £320 20ms 5.12 100M £375 £465 17ms 5.12 180M £500 £590 17ms 5.12 400M £890 £980 14ms 5.12 650M − £1340 14ms 5.12 1000M − £1760 14ms 5.12 All the drives come with 5-year warranty except the 40M drives which have 2 year warranty. 5.12 • Shareware 48 − The latest Shareware disc is Acorn’s Pascal for use with their Desktop Development Environment. Full details are on page 41. 5.12 • Silicon Vision prices drop − Silicon Vision has decided that “to encourage higher volume sales” it is dropping the price its Archimedes software. The new prices, including VAT, are as follows, the Archive prices being in brackets after each one. 5.12 ArcPCB £125 (£116) 5.12 Solid Tools £275 (£255) 5.12 Solid CAD £99.95 (£93) 5.12 FilmMaker £79.95 (£74) 5.12 Solids Render £99.95 (£93) 5.12 RoboLOGO £49.95 (£46) 5.12 RiscBasic Compiler £99.95 (£93) 5.12 RiscFORTH Compiler £99.95 (£93) 5.12 SuperPlot £24.95 (£23) 5.12 SuperDump £24.95 (£23) 5.12 ShareHolder £125 (£116) 5.12 Datavision £99.95 (£93) 5.12 These prices supersede the ones we reported last month (which came from an earlier Silicon Vision press release). 5.12 • Talking Pictures is “A colouring book that talks” from Wyddfa Software (£20 inc VAT). This RISC-OS compliant package is a colouring book with digitised speech aimed at encouraging language development in the under fives. 5.12 • Vector 1.02 is now available. This includes the missing text-to-path feature that RISC-OS 2 users need. It also allows corrupted drawfiles to be loaded and provides automatic creation of mask substitutes which, unlike Vector’s own masks, are renderable by other applications. Existing users can upgrade free of charge by returning their Vector Applications disc to 4Mation. 5.12 • Vision Digitiser is a very low-priced video digitiser from H.C.C.S. − £49 +VAT or £55 through Archive. For more details, see the review on page 43. 5.12 • 1.6Mb Drives for pre-A5000 computers − Arxe Systems have produced an interface called the Alpha Dual Card. This is a 16 bit SCSI controller plus a PC standard high density controller. This uses its own filing system called QuadFS, functionally identical to ADFS. The controller used also supports 4Mb drives and a future upgrade will provide support for 3.2Mb ADFS and 2.88Mb DOS discs. The card is available in three versions with optional external cases for A3000: SCSI Only £89, High Density Only (inc 2Mb drive) £159 (or £109 without the floppy drive), Both SCSI and High Density (inc 2Mb drive) £209. (All prices are ex VAT.) 6.1 • A3010/3020/4000 memory upgrades − We can now get hold of memory upgrades for the new computers at the following prices: 1 − 2 Mb for the A3010 is £50, 1 − 4 Mb for the A3010 is £175, 2 − 4 Mb for the A3020 and A4000 is £100. 6.1 • A4 Trackerballs − Those (relatively few!) people who have got hold of an A4 Notebook may be looking for a trackerball alternative to the mouse. Two have come to our notice so far. The first is a serial port mouse from PEP Associates. This comes with special software because it uses the serial port instead of the mouse port. 6.1 The other is a hardware modified Genius trackerball from Atomwide. Both types clip onto the side of the A4 and can, with practice, be operated single-handedly but the Genius one uses the mouse socket and so does not need special software. It is available from Archive for £58. See Brian Cowan’s comments about this on page 65. 6.1 • Acorn Ethernet Card III is the new version of the Acorn Ethernet card. This is improved in various ways and is cheaper! The new price is £149 +VAT or £162 through Archive. 6.1 • Ancient Egypt − Oak Solutions have produced a package to allow children to investigate life in the time of the Pharaohs. The material relates to History Key Stage 2 and Technology AT 5. The package costs £50 +VAT from Oak Solutions or £55 through Archive. 6.1 • ArcFAX − There is a new generation of modems that can connect to fax machines as well as sending data as normal. David Pilling has capital ised on this and produced ArcFAX which enables one of these modems to be used as a computer-controlled fax. The software costs £23.96 from David Pilling. (See Price List for Archive price.) 6.1 • Archive magazine special deal − Most of the back issues of the Archive magazine are stored on the first floor of 96a Vauxhall Street (i.e. above my head as I write!) and we are getting concerned about the structure of the building. As you can see from the picture opposite, we need to get rid of a few back copies of Archive. Seriously, one or two cracks are beginning to appear in the walls and it has been suggested that we should reduce the load on the upper storey. We are therefore offering special deals on bundles of Archive magazines: Volumes 1 − 5 for £25 and Volumes 1 − 4 for £22. There are one or two issues that we are getting low on, so we cannot guarantee that you will get every single issue. None have run out yet but if you want to be sure of a full set, send your money in straight away. Also, if we do run out of any of them, we will give a 50p token for each one that is missing. This is definitely not ‘vapourware’ − there will be no waiting − I can per sonally guarantee that they are “in stock now”! 6.1 • Artworks is here!!!! − It has been a long time coming but it was most definitely worth the wait. Artworks is in stock now at £169 +VAT (or £180 through Archive). This would be good value if all you got was the Artworks program but included in the package are 14 discs full of fonts and clip-art. This includes a staggering 220 outline fonts. (You can tell your PC friends that the screen display is five times faster than CorelDraw on a 486-50 PC!) For a full review, see page 33. 6.1 • Battle of the Somme is a multimedia presentation focussing on the events that occurred around 1st July 1916. The main package is £95 +VAT from Oak Solutions and there is a Laservision video disc with 35 minutes of video and 60 minutes of audio which, if bought at the same time is £50 +VAT. 6.1 • CableNews is Lingenuity’s presentation package. It was used to create the presentation graphics for the launch of Acorn’s new machines in August. It costs £149 +VAT for a single user (£160 through Archive), £420 +VAT for a site licence for up to ten users, £676 +VAT for up to thirty users and £575 +VAT for a commercial distribution licence. 6.1 • Canon BJ10ex price drop − The distribution price of the BJ10ex has just dropped slightly and CC have echoed that in the retail price of their Turbo-driven BJ10ex’s. The Archive price has dropped from £275 to £260. (Actually, I have just pensioned off the 23(sic)-pin Panasonic 1124 dot matrix printer I was using at home and swapped it for a BJ10ex. I am very impressed with both the speed and the quality of the new printer and the reduced size is very helpful with a restricted desk space. If I was doing work at home, I always used to save it on disc and bring it to work to print out − not any more!) 6.1 • Canon Colour Printers in stock − The Computer Concepts colour printers are now available from stock. They are Canon BJC800 printers with CC’s own Turbo-Driver software that makes them work very effectively with the Acorn RISC-OS computers. Sadly this is a monochrome magazine but I can assure you that the output is very impressive − see the review on page 45 for more details. The price, including the Turbo Driver software and lead is £1895 +VAT (£2,100 through Archive). The ink cartridges are also available: cyan, magenta and yellow are £22 each and black is £17. The Turbo Driver software plus printer lead is available separately for £99 +VAT (£105 through Archive). 6.1 • Chaos is a new game from Matt Black. It is a shoot-’em-up game with the usual enemy ships and mutants but it has a competitive edge. You can have player versus player or, with the appropriate interface, you can have up to four players at once. Chaos is £25 (no VAT) from Matt Black. 6.1 • Chartwell 1.1 − Risc Developments have released an updated version of their graphs and charts pack offering various new features including negative values in bar charts, more flexible handling of data limits and easier labelling and titling. The price is still £29.95 inclusive from R.D. and the upgrade is free for existing users. 6.1 • DeskEdit2 was released on 1st October by Risc Developments. This has various enhancements including Basic renumber, Basic indenter, program mer’s calculator and throwback. The price is £31.95 inc VAT and there is an upgrade for £9.95 inc VAT. 6.1 • DrawPlus version 2·20 is now available. This supports all of the objects used by RISC-OS 3 Draw (including transformed text and sprites) as well as some Vector objects. Text-to-path works under both operating systems (ROM and disc fonts) and interpolation is available for path objects. Upgrades are available in the usual way. 6.1 • EasiWriter II − Icon Technology have upgraded their EasiWriter document processor with extra features such as mailmerge and single key case conversion. The price is still the same: It costs £150 +VAT or £160 through Archive. 6.1 • Freddy Teddy strikes again! − In ‘The Puddle and the Wardrobe’, Freddy gets in a muddle and steps in a puddle. While helping him out, pre- readers and early readers will be encouraged in visual discrimination, logical thinking, sequencing, comparison and memory − and they will have fun too, I trust. The Puddle and the Wardrobe costs £29.95 +VAT from Topologika or £32 through Archive. 6.1 • Fun School 4 has now appeared. (What do you mean, you haven’t finished Fun School 2 yet?!) It comes in the usual three age levels: Under 5’s, 5’s − 7’s and 7’s − 11’s. They are £24.99 each from Database Publi cations or £23 through Archive. 6.1 • IEEE488 interface − Anyone wanting to link an Archimedes to existing IEEE488 instruments will be interested in Intelligent Interfaces’ IEEE488 interface which comes, complete with software, for £299 +VAT or £325 through Archive. 6.1 • Imagery − Palette Studio have created a new image-creation tool which takes over where Paint leaves off. It provides 256 colour painting and image processing with support for outline fonts. Imagery contains various tools for creating artwork from scratch or for processing existing pictures captured by digitisers or scanners. It costs £89.95 inc VAT from Palette Studio. 6.1 • Language and literacy for Special Needs − The Xavier Educational Software Ltd at the Department of Psychology, Bangor University now has four packages for the Archimedes. Soapbox (£35 +VAT) links spelling patterns and vowel sounds by using sampled speech, Punctuate (£32 +VAT) helps with punctuation, ThinkLink (£30 +VAT) aims to help with reading, memory, classification and sequence and ArcSpell 1 and 2 (£29.50 +VAT each) provide a wide range of programs to help the dyslexic pupil. 6.1 • Magpie − Longman Logotron’s multimedia package, Magpie, now includes facilities for Acorn Replay and CD audio. The upgrade is free to registered users and the price remains unchanged at £59 +VAT from Longman-Logotron or £64 through Archive. 6.1 • Mapper Series software − This has nothing to do with geography but is edIT Software’s name for their new range of topic-based IT software for primary schools. The packs currently available are Bodymapper, Weather mapper and Homemapper. These are £44.95 +VAT each with site licences at £89.90 +VAT (up to 5) and £134.85 +VAT (5+). There are also French versions of each of these packs, at the same price each, and other language versions are being developed. (EdIT also sell a range of measuring equipment to go with the mapper packs.) 6.1 • MicroSpell 3 − David Pilling has produced a stand-alone desktop spelling checker with a 200,000 word dictionary for just £5.99 (or £6 through Archive). Owners of MicroSpell 1 or 2 can have a free upgrade by returning their discs to David. 6.1 • Network technical support − SJ Research have published a technical support hotline number which people can use if they have technical questions about networking matters. This line goes straight to the engineers without going through the SJ Research switchboard. The number is: 0223−414532. 6.1 • Oh no! More Lemmings! − For those insomniacs who are gluttons for more punishment, there are now over 100 more Lemmings levels available for you as ‘Oh no, More Lemmings’. The price is £19.95 Krisalis or £18 through Archive. You need the original Lemmings disc to play the new levels − it is not a stand-alone package. 6.1 • PaySYS is a payroll system from KAS Software (also available for BBC/ Master) costing £75. 6.1 • PC Emulator documentation − The manual for the 1.8 version of the PC Emulator is available separately at £8 through Archive. 6.1 • Polyominoes are now part of the National Curriculum and so Topologika have provided three programs which deal with various aspects such as tessellation, pentominoes and hexominoes. Polyominoes costs £29.95 +VAT from Topologika or £32 through Archive. 6.1 • Portable is the name of a subscription magazine all about the A4 Notebook and associated products. It costs £15 for six issues. Contact Ned Abell, ‘Weatherpost’, Hollywell Lane, Bayton Common, Kidderminster. 6.1 • Printer drivers for Canon LBP printers − Ace Computing now have a printer driver (£16 +VAT or £17 through Archive) for the Canon LBP range of printers working through the standard ports (serial or parallel). This is important because it makes the Laser Direct HiRes4 printer usable on the A3010, A3020 and A4000 computers, albeit without the high speed of the Laser Direct interface which will not fit in these newer computers. You could, for example, sit an LBP4-LD between an A5000 and an A4000, the one being connected via the video link and the other by a parallel port cable, and switch between the two by using the printer’s front panel. 6.1 • ProDrivers are Ace Computing’s enhanced RISC-OS 3 printer drivers. They provide full 24-bit half-toned and dithered output, an application to print automatically to file and then from file to printer as a background task, and a CMYK colour separation package. This can be used, for example, to provide full colour prints on mono printers (like ICS’s ColourSep − see the article last month on page 34 and the comments this month on page 17) or to enhance the black output from a Deskjet 500C. ProDrivers are £40+VAT from Ace or £44 through Archive. (Upgrades are available from Ace for £25 +VAT.) 6.1 • Removable drives prices DOWN again − Once again, the prices of removable drives have dropped. The 42Mb drives have dropped slightly from £455 to £445 but the 84Mb drives have dropped more dramatically from £670 to £590. The 42Mb cartridges have also dropped by £5 to £65. We are selling more and more of these drives and are finding that the number of drives returned because of faults is getting less despite the increased numbers so it looks as if some of the earlier unreliability problems have been overcome. However, don’t be deceived, these are OPEN hard drives and so CANNOT be as reliable as the fixed hard disc systems. If portability is important or if you are just using them for backup purposes, they are, in my view, the best thing since sliced bread! 6.1 • RS423 serial interface − Intelligent Interfaces produce a dual RS423 serial interface on a single half-width podule for the Archimedes. It costs £199 +VAT or £220 through Archive. 6.1 • Saxon Life − Oak Solutions have produced a package to allow children to follow the Saxon invasion of Britain. The material relates to History Key Stage 2. The cost is £50 +VAT from Oak Solutions or £55 through Archive. 6.1 • Sound Lab software − Oak Solutions have produced some more advanced software for use with their Oak Recorder. Sound Lab allows samples to be turned into relocatable modules and provides a real-time display with a spectrum analyser and a simple oscilloscope. The price is £14.95 +VAT or £18 through Archive. 6.1 • SparkFS − David Pilling has produced a full filing system for compressed files. It reads and writes files compressed in a wide range of formats: SEAarc, PKarc, Zip, Tar, Spark, BtoA/AtoB, Boo, FCET and UNIX Compress. In addition, there are nine more formats that it will read but not write. SparkFS is £23.96 from David Pilling. (See Price List for Archive price.) It is also available from David as an upgrade from Spark and/or ArcFS. You can have £5.99 off the price for each program. Send him both discs and you need only pay £11.98. 6.1 • Special Access Pack − When you buy an Acorn computer, you can buy, at the same time, a Special Needs pack for £99 +VAT (£105 through Archive). This includes a hardware expansion card to enable you to link to various interface units, a disc of special software to provide assistance in various ways and a copy of a resource book for special needs. For partially-sighted users, there is a coupon to enable you to get a free audio tape of the manual. 6.1 • StartWrite − (nothing to do with children’s shoes) Icon Technology have produced a word processor ‘for the younger generation’ called StartWrite. The price is £49 +VAT or £53 through Archive. 6.1 • Text-to-Braille − Royal London Society for the Blind has produced an Archimedes application that converts ASCII text files to a Grade 2 Braille file that can then be output to a suitable Braille printer. The application costs £25 from the Dorton IT Centre, Dorton House, Seal, Sevenoaks TN15 0ED. (0732−61477) (0732−63363) 6.1 • Tiles is the first offering from a new educational software company called Brain Games. It is a crossword game which is aimed to teach a variety of skills: strategy, vocabulary, foreign languages, spelling and arithmetic. The English version is £19.75 and extra language discs will be available in due course, starting with French and German, hopefully before Christmas. 6.1 • TV Fun and Games − HS Software have produced a three-game set of programs aimed at 5−9 year olds covering areas of the National Curricu lum including Maths, English, Science and Geography. The price is £22.95 from HS or £21 through Archive. 6.1 • VISYS is a video cataloguing system from KAS Software (also available for IBM PC) costing £75. 6.1 • Whale Facts − This is a multimedia database from Topologika about... whales! It includes sound samples and pictures for you to print out yourself. Whale Facts costs £29.95 +VAT from Topologika or £32 through Archive. 6.1 • Wortgut is a German/English dictionary from New Era Software costing £25 (no VAT). 6.1 • 10 out of 10 English − Another of Triple R’s educational packages is now ready. This package consists of six games said to cover ‘ten essential areas of English and aims to reinforce the traditional values of the language’. Children’s progress is monitored automatically, so you can see how they are getting on! The price is £25.95 from Fourth Dimension or £24 through Archive. 6.2 • 486 card − Aleph One have released a 486 card for the Archimedes at the same price as the old 386, £495 +VAT (£545 through Archive). The price of the 386 card has dropped to £395 (£440 through Archive). The memory upgrade to 4M is £110 through Archive as is the numeric coproces sor. There is now some special Windows driver software for £25 +VAT (£28 through Archive). This uses the Archimedes CPU as a graphics co- processor for the PC, accelerating Windows displays ‘by up to 20 times’. The driver software is free to all existing owners − contact Aleph One. 6.2 • A4 Trackerball − The trackerball for the A4 Notebook that PEP Associates are producing was mentioned last month but we now have some pricing information. If you already own a Trackman Portable, you can buy the cables to connect it to the A4 and the necessary software from PEP for £19 + VAT. If you want the trackerball as well as the software and cables, it will cost you £45 + VAT and for the full pack, which includes carrying case plus a whole load of connectors and adaptors for use with other PCs, it will cost you £95 + VAT. 6.2 • Acorn Assist is the title of Acorn’s latest scheme to help teachers, lecturers, educational support staff and those in full-time further education. Anyone in that category can buy: 6.2 A3020 (2M FD) + AKF40 monitor £780 6.2 A3020 (2M FD) + AKF18 monitor £830 6.2 A4000 Home Office (2M HD80) + AKF40 £1049 6.2 A4000 Home Office (2M HD80) + AKF18 £1099 6.2 A5000 L’ng Curve (2M HD80) + AKF18 £1499 6.2 A4 Notebook (4M HD60) £1799 6.2 JP150 printer (until 31/12/92) £210 6.2 (All prices include VAT.) 6.2 If you would like any of these, ring us and we will send you an application form. Get your school/college/etc to stamp it and send it in with a cheque for the required amount and we will put you in the queue and supply a computer as soon as possible. 6.2 (We have A5000s in stock but all the other computers are still in very short supply, so if you want one, I suggest you get a cheque into us as soon as possible.) 6.2 • Ancient Greece − Chalksoft have produced a package designed to help with National Curriculum in History − CSU5 for Key Stage 2. With it, you can ‘visit’ seven important times/locations and learn about life in Ancient Greece. The cost is £25 + VAT from Chalksoft. 6.2 • ArcFS2 − Software42 have produced an update to the compression filing system ArcFS. The price is £20 with no VAT because Software42 are not VAT registered. 6.2 • ArcTrack is a RISC-OS compliant satellite tracking program. Features include simple updating of keplers (with elements from the packet network), multiple satellites and multiple footprints, constant display of satellites in range and time of next AOS or LOS. ArcTrack is available for £20 inc VAT from Amsat-UK. 6.2 • BibleMaster − At last, Hodder and Stoughton have released their (PC Emulator version) BibleMaster program in two versions: The New Interna tional Version is £35 (£32 through Archive) and the version with both Good News and NIV is £60 (£55 through Archive). 6.2 • CADet is Minerva Software’s new CAD program. It includes a multitask ing plotter driver and has ‘many features not normally found in a CAD package at this price, including on-the-fly snaps for ease of accurate drawing’. The price is £149 + VAT from Minerva or £160 through Archive. 6.2 • Canon BJC800 colour printer price drop. These amazing new A3 colour printers, reviewed last month (p45) have dropped in price from £2,100 to £1,800 − still a lot of money, but you get a lot of printer! 6.2 • ColourCard is Computer Concepts’ graphics accelerator card. It provides higher resolution graphics with less flicker (i.e. higher refresh rates) than an unaided Archimedes and, by using a secondary video frame-store, uses less processor time for the display leaving more processor power for the Archimedes to use on, say, improving the redraw speed of your art package. In 16 and 256 colour screen modes, all the colours are selectable from 16 million hues so that, for example, scanned images can be seen on screen in 256 true grey levels. The card costs £249 (+£6 carriage) + VAT from Wild Vision or Computer Concepts or £280 inclusive through Archive. 6.2 • DBEdit is 4Mation’s new multitasking desktop Basic editor − which also edits Obey, Command and Text files. The program is written in machine code for speed. It operates on Basic programs in tokenised form, making it possible to edit programs of more than 500 Kb on a 1 Mb machine. The price is £30 + VAT from 4Mation or £33 through Archive. 6.2 • DTP and Programmers’ Utilities is a disc of utilities for DTP and programming(!) from Software42. The price is £15 with no VAT because Software42 are not VAT registered. 6.2 • Engineering software − Richard Fallas & Associates have produced a range of software for (civil) engineering applications. Storm provides a modified rational method of stormwater analysis. Highway offers horizontal alignment design of roads, straights, arcs and transition spirals plus hierarchical networks of spurs. Vertcur is concerned with the vertical alignment design of roads. Plotwise provides control of plotfile output to allow pausing, tracing, partial re-plots, etc. Other programs and PipeDream spreadsheets are also available. For full details, ring or fax Richard Fallas on 0296−770555. (These applications complement the programs for structural analysis of 2D frames and grids from Vision Six.) 6.2 • Enigma is a compression filing system with security facilities from Electronic Solutions. The cost is £59.95 + VAT. 6.2 • Eureka − Longman Logotron’s spreadsheet application is due to emerge from its long gestation period at the end of October, so it should be a ‘product available’ by the time you get this magazine. Features include over 150 built-in functions, graphs and charts on-screen styles with box shading and colours, multiple sheets with file linking, user defined functions and function macros plus import and export facilities in a wide range of formats. The price is £119 + VAT or £130 through Archive. Site licences are also available. 6.2 (It sounds as if we shall have to have a Eureka-Line to complement PipeLine. If anyone can think of a better name and/or is prepared to have a go at editing the column, please let me know. Ed.) 6.2 • Food for Thought is a four disc set of clipart with a food-related theme. It comes complete with full documentation about using Draw − indeed, one of the discs contains a tutorial. The price is £16.95 + VAT from Sherston Software. 6.2 • Helix Basic is back − PDK Technologies have taken over Helix Basic from Craddock Computing and it is available again now for £99.95 inc VAT or £92 through Archive. 6.2 • Help3 consists of a tutorial manual, a disc and a quick reference card. The aim of the package is to introduce people to using the Archimedes computers in general and RISC-OS 3 in particular. The price is £9.95 (no VAT) from Sherston Software. 6.2 • Joysticks and utilities are available from Electronic Solutions. If you want to use different types of joysticks with the Archimedes then contact them for full details. 6.2 • LandBuild is a 3D fractal landscape program from Software42. The price is £15 with no VAT because Software42 are not VAT registered. 6.2 • Mac CD-ROM drives − As with the Syquest drives and, more recently, fixed SCSI hard drives, we have gone to Apple Mac suppliers for CD-ROMs. The ones we have found are relatively speedy Chinon drives at £480 inc VAT. These can be run on Morley or Acorn SCSI cards by using CDFS/FSCSI (£22 through Archive) or on Oak SCSI cards by buying their new ROMs. The good news is that these drives come with four free CD-ROMs − the bad news is that they are in Mac format so, unless someone has some suitable software, you cannot actually use them! 6.2 • Memory upgrades for A3010/20/4000 − We now have stocks of all the memory upgrades for the new computers. A3010 1−2Mb is £50, A3010 1−4Mb is £175, A3020 2−4Mb is £100 and A4000 2−4Mb is also £100. 6.2 • MicroDrive Designer − CIS’s MicroDrive now has a course designer. (You’d be amazed how many people think MicroDrive is a car racing game!) You can create your own courses from scratch or edit existing golf courses. The price is £39.95 from CIS or £37 through Archive. (I have a review which I hope to fit in next month − I just couldn’t fit it in this time.) 6.2 • PipeDream Books − Two books to help you with PipeDream are now available from Colton Software. The first is Getting Started with PipeDream 4 (for spreadsheets and charts). This costs £3.95 from Colton. The second book which includes a disc is a Teacher’s Introduction to Spreadsheets using PipeDream 4. This is £5.95 inc VAT from Colton Software. 6.2 • Revelation imagePro is Longman Logotron’s name for their successor to Revelation2. New features include: load drawfiles onto page, colour- shift enhanced, marks and tools menus amalgamated, new grey-shift dialogue, improved image processing and various other improvements based on user feedback. The price is £139 + VAT or £150 through Archive. Site licences are also available. 6.2 • RISC-OS 3.1 − The supply of RISC-OS 3.1, even after two months, is still VERY poor, particulary the A5000 version. This is presumably because Acorn think it more important to concentrate on those who are still using RISC-OS 2. At the Acorn User Show, I (and quite a few Archive subscribers!) made some strong comments to Acorn about the way they were favouring those dealers who buy directly from them over those who, like N.C.S. have to buy through a distributor. I don’t know if it has done any good, but in the last week or so, the supply has improved slightly, so most of you should, I hope, have your RISC-OS 3.1s before Christmas. (STOP PRESS: See inside front cover for latest situation.) 6.2 • Shareware and Careware prices down − We have decided to drop the price of Shareware and Careware discs and also the monthly program discs. Because of the large amount of money raised for charity by the Careware discs (around £10,000 per year) we are only dropping the price from £6 to £5 but the Shareware and monthly program discs are dropping to £2 each. This is done on the basis that, generally, people buy two or more discs at a time. So, although selling one disc at £2 hardly covers costs, selling two or more at a time is more viable. We decided it was too complicated to have different prices for one-off purchases, so it will be a straight £2 per disc from now on. 6.2 (Those who have purchased monthly program discs in advance will be granted one extra disc for every two they have outstanding, excluding this month’s disc. So, for example, if you are booked up for all of volume 6, There is no need to do anything about this − it will happen automatically and you will be informed when your last disc is being sent out to you.) 6.2 • SmArt files − Two more SmArt files are available from 4Mation for use with their SmArt Filer software. They are Fiddles and Drums − which is exactly what it says − and Fantasy which has dragons, wizards, trolls, etc. Each pack is £16 + VAT from 4Mation or £18 through Archive. 6.2 • Spell no longer ‘Micro’ − David Pilling’s spelling checker, now version 3, has changed its name from MicroSpell to just Spell. The price is still £6 through Archive. For a comparative review, see page 19. 6.2 • TableMate is a table-making utility which takes data in CSV, SID or its own data format and allows you to lay it out neatly. It is particu larly useful with Impression Junior which doesn’t have its own table facilities. The price is £21 (no VAT) from Dalriada Data Technology. 6.2 • Tasker allows you to convert any non-WIMP application so that it multitasks on the Archimedes. The cost is £34.95 + VAT from Electronic Solutions. 6.2 • VGA monitor utilities are available from Electronic Solutions for £9.95 + VAT. These utilities are designed to allow you to get the most out of your VGA monitor and maximise compatibility with applications and games which usually only accept standard monitors and multisyncs. 6.2 • WindowEd is a multi-document template editor for RISC-OS. Features include: up to eight template files in memory at once; windows, icons and sprites can be grabbed from other applications; ‘toolbox’ allows you to move, scroll and resize windows that do not have the necessary gadgets; timed auto-save; full support for Interface module for 3D effects. The application comes with utilities: Hotspot to magnify area around the mouse pointer; wastebin; Mouselock which locks the mouse to X or Y axes; Command which allows *commands to be executed from within the desktop. The whole package, including documentation, is available from Armen Software for £35 including VAT and carriage or £32 through Archive. 6.2 • A4 Notebooks − At last, we have cleared all the back orders of A4 Model II’s and can now supply them direct from stock. However, the A4 Model I’s, the hard drive-less version, are still on what we call the RSN list − available ‘real soon now’! 6.3 • Ace colour ProDriver − Ace have produced a version of their ProDriver for the Hewlett Packard DJ550C colour printer. The price is £47 inc VAT from Ace or £44 through Archive. 6.3 • Acorn AKF17 monitors − Acorn have some AKF17 standard resolution monitors that they are trying to get rid of. They are brand new monitors as supplied with the A3000’s. They don’t have a tilt-and-swivel stand but otherwise they are functionally similar to the newer AKF30’s and 40’s. The price will be £150 including VAT and carriage from Archive. 6.3 • Acorn Pocket Books − Acorn have changed their policy about Pocket Books. Non-educational dealers are now going to be allowed to sell them. In fact, we have several Pocket Books in stock. 6.3 • Acorn Pocket Book accessories − Acorn say that the Pocket Book accessories will be available at the end of November, i.e. before this magazine is published. However, I suggest you ring us to check avail ability before sending orders. The items that we know about are: A-Link at £46, parallel printer link at £28, 128Kb RAM disc at £74, 256Kb flash disc at £65, 512Kb flash disc at £111, OPL Editor at £65 and the mains adaptor at £15. All these are VAT inclusive Archive prices. 6.3 • Arcventure II − The Egyptians − Sherston Software have released their educational package aimed at 2nd and 3rd year juniors who are studying Egypt. The children join a simulated archaeological dig to see what they can find buried beneath the sand. The price is £29.95 +VAT from Sherston. 6.3 • Automatic embroidery − TechSoft UK Ltd have produced a system which combines a Poem 500 computer controlled embroidery machine and Archi medes software called, Arc Embroidery. The system allows images created as Draw files to be embroidered directly onto a variety of materials (cotton cloth, felt, denim, jersey, etc) in an area up to 90 × 90mm and with a variety of user-definable stitches such as satin, ribbed, zig- zag, etc. The user can also control pattern size, stitch length, fill density, fill direction, etc. The software even prompts the user for thread changes as required. The price, including the software, is £749.95 + VAT. 6.3 • Battery-Pack for BJ10ex − If you are using a BJ10ex with an A4, you can make the printer portable too by buying a battery-pack costing £46 through Archive. This is trickle-charged from the normal power supply and allows the printer to be completely free-standing. 6.3 • Budget games − Arcade is a set of four RISC-OS arcade games costing £5.95 (no VAT) from David Ramsden, 7 Chevet Lane, Wakefield, West Yorkshire WF2 6HN. Drop Rock is a Repton-type game from Soft Rock Software for £3.49 (no VAT). Winds of Change is ‘an Archimedes album’ for £1.99 (no VAT) also from Soft Rock Software. 6.3 • Canon BJ200 − Canon have now produced an updated version of their BJ10ex − the BJ200. This is functionally similar to the BJ10ex but faster − and it includes a cut sheet feeder as standard. Computer Concepts are producing a version of their Turbo-Driver software for it. The price of the software will be £49 +VAT from CC or £53 through Archive. The printers themselves are available from Archive for £340 inc VAT. 6.3 • CD-ROM mastering − EESOX offer a low-cost CD-ROM mastering service. The cost can be as low as £150 for the first master and £50 for successive copies. These masters can then be used for mass production later, if required. 6.3 • CD Simulator is a package to simulate the operation of a CD-ROM to help you in creating and testing your own CD-ROMs. The software costs £129 +VAT also from EESOX. 6.3 • Colour cards − Two more colour cards are now available. SpeedGraph is produced by Evolution Trading Ltd in Switzerland (available through MAPS Ltd in the UK) and costs £350 (DM 950, sFr 900) all inclusive. It provides 1024 × 768 in 16 colours (chosen from 4096) and up to 800 × 600 in 256 colours (restrictively chosen from 4096) and up to 1024 × 768 in 4096 colours for the display of static pictures. StateMachine G8 Plus is £249 +VAT (a recently reduced price) offers 1280 × 1024 in 4 colours, 1152 × 900 in 4 colours and 1152 × 848 in 16 colours on monitors that offer a 64 kHz or greater line rate. For professional work, StateMachine also offer the G8 Professional which provides 768 × 576 CCIR PAL. This costs £349 +VAT. 6.3 (At the Computer Shopper Show, CC put one of their cards in my A540. It gave me, amongst other modes, 1600 × 600 in 16 colours on my Eizo T560iT with the computer still going at full speed. That will make a huge difference when it comes to laying out the magazine. I can’t wait to get a production model. Ed.) 6.3 • Colour driver upgrade − Risc Developments have an upgrade to their 500C driver which will also now work with the DJ550C colour printer. The price is £15 + VAT + £2 carriage from Risc Developments. 6.3 • Courses galore − Broad Oak Computers have extended their range of computer courses. They now offer BBC Basic V Programming, C Programming, Impression II, Pendown, Pipedream, Schema and WIMP Programming in BBC Basic. 6.3 • Cyborg is an arcade-style, multi-location adventure game in which you don your cybertronic exo-skeletal suit(!) and face the terrors of an unknown planet. The price is £25.95 + £1 postage from Alpine Software. 6.3 • Eureka NOT available − We said last month that Eureka was ‘due to emerge from its long gestation period at the end of October’. This was based what Longman Logotron’s press and telephone advice. However, they are now saying that they can ‘see no reason why you should not have it before Christmas’. We will NOT be mentioning Eureka again until it really is a ‘Product Available’! 6.3 • Fervour is an action game from Clares. You roll a ball along intricate pathways with holes to be avoided and bonuses to be picked up en route − each level must be done within a set time limit. You can even create your own levels. The price is £24.95 from Clares or £23 through Archive. 6.3 • Guardian (version3) is a virus killer that is ‘capable of killing all known Archimedes viruses’. This is available free of charge from Digital Phenomena and is also on this month’s program disc. A technical support and advice service is also provided free of charge on a Viewdata system (7E1) on 0705−871531. 6.3 • HP Deskjet550C colour printer − Hewlett Packard have produced an improved colour printer based on their popular DJ500C. The DJ500C has a carriage that takes a single cartridge, either a black cartridge or a colour one. The disadvantage of this is that if you are using the colour cartridge, blacks come out a muddy colour. (It is possible to get round this by using colour separation software but it means changing cartri dges and passing the paper through the printer twice.) 6.3 The new 550C, however, has both a black cartridge and a colour cartridge on the carriage. With appropriate driver software (such as Ace’s ProDriver mentioned above), the colour cartridge will automatically be used for the coloured bits while the black cartridge is used for the blacks − so the blacks really are black. The Archive price of the 550C is £590. (The Archive prices of the other HP Deskjet printers have been reduced. The DJ500 mono is now £380 and the DJ500C is £480.) 6.3 • Impact the Database is Circle Software’s new database which has mailmerge links to Impression. It also provides direct data import and export, simple data selection filters, multiple indexing and label printing. The price is £58.69 inc VAT from Circle Software. 6.3 • IronMask − Turing Tools have produced a password-controlled file security system for RISC-OS machines. Files shielded by IronMask are immune from RISC-OS filing operations − they cannot be opened, run, copied, moved, deleted or renamed. The price is £59 (no VAT) from Turing Tools. 6.3 • LinkWord is ‘a new concept in language learning’ from Minerva. It is based on (human) memory techniques to enable you to learn a new language ‘2 to 3 times faster than conventional methods’. It is available in three languages − French, German and Spanish and costs £39.95 +VAT per language from Minerva or £44 through Archive. 6.3 • Masterfile 3 − Risc Developments have released a new version of their Masterfile database so that it is now RISC-OS compliant. The price is £49 + VAT + £2 carriage from Risc Developments. 6.3 • Monitor stands − We have found a source of monitor stands for A3010 and A3020 computers − in the appropriate colours. They include a slot at the right for the floppy drive and on the left to enable you to get at the reset button. They cost £20 each through Archive. 6.3 • NetView is a network utility program that allows an Archimedes station to view the screen of another BBC, Master or Archimedes on the network. The price is £34.99 (no VAT) from Sanjay Pattni, Flat 11, 86 Ifield Road, London SW10 9AD. 6.3 • New titles from G.A.Herdmann Educational are Chemical Spectra at £19.99 (no VAT) and DTP Images discs 12 and 13 at £8.99 each (no VAT) which consist of clipart for science teachers. 6.3 • Populous − Krisalis’ latest arcade adventure game for the Archimedes, Populous, is now available. The price is £29.99 from Krisalis or £28 through Archive. 6.3 • Rhythm-Bed is a full-blown drum sequencer from Clares costing £49.95 or £46 through Archive. Percussion tracks can be built up on screen, played by the application through the Archimedes’ own sound output or on a MIDI instrument. The percussion sequence can also be transferred into other applications such as Rhapsody. 6.3 • RISC-OS 3.10 − If you remember, Acorn’s Managing Director said (or implied) on 26th October that Acorn would be fulfilling all our back orders of RISC-OS 3.1 for RISC-OS 2 machines within three weeks. We are happy to say that we have now had enough to fulfil all back orders. (However, this does NOT apply to RISC-OS 3.1 for A5000 users − these are still in short supply.) We have a few left as free stock but it might be better to ring to enquire about availability before sending in an order because demand continues to out-strip supply. 6.3 • Sound Engineer is EMR’s application for handling sound samples. It provides envelope shaping, full use via MIDI, re-pitching, etc. Sounds can be played through its control panel, via a keyboard window or through a MIDI instrument. Its features include threshold recording, cut & paste, auto-looping, 3D FFT printout, direct disc playback, harmonic wave generation plus spectrum analyser, oscilloscope and amplitude displays. The cost is £59 +VAT from EMR. 6.3 • TextAid is a set of utilities for manipulating text. It can be used alongside other RISC-OS packages and provides user-definable macros, conversion between CSV, TSV and text. It also has the ability to insert printer control-codes. It costs £9.95 inclusive from Rheingold Enterprises. 6.3 • Aldebaran − In this new game ‘that shows what the Archimedes is capable of’, you explore twelve fractal planets, fight off various enemies and save a star from destruction. It is produced by Evolution Trading in Switzerland and is available in the UK through MAPS Ltd for £34.90 inc VAT. 6.4 • Aleph One PC card under £400 − While stocks last, we have some Aleph One 386 1Mb PC podules for £395 due to over-stocking just before the 486 appeared on the scene! (We are having to sell these at a loss!!) 6.4 • Archive price rise − As we said last month, the price of the Archive annual subscription (12 issues) is increasing from £17 to £19 as from 1st February 1993. All subscriptions received before that date will be honoured even if they are not actually due. The new overseas rates are £26 for Europe, Australia/N.Z., etc £37 and the rest of the world £34. 6.4 The Technical Help Service is also going to be increasing from £10 a year to £15 a year. However, this is to reflect the fact that we are installing a dedicated Technical Help Hotline. The main NCS phone line is usually fairly busy, so we will issue THS users with a special confidential phone number which they can ring to get solutions to their technical problems. We are hoping the line will be open by the end of January and all holders of a current THS subscription will then receive a letter informing them about the new service. 6.4 • Atomwide VIDC enhancer − Atomwide have stopped producing their VIDC Enhancer and have released the VIDC Plus software into the public domain. This is now available as Careware Disc 18 (£6 to subscribers − see below). We have also been given permission by Atomwide to get another company to make them for us (in any case, the enhancers and hope to have some VIDC enhancers made up shortly. This will allow us to fulfil existing orders and to continue to supply enhancers in future. 6.4 • BBC Acorn User Show − In April 1993 (15th − 17th) Safesell Exhibi tions, who have been responsible for the London Acorn User Shows, will be organising an Acorn User Show in Harrogate at the International Exhibition Centre. This has come out of the fact that the London exhibition has been taken over by Acorn themselves and will, from 1993, be The World of Acorn. We hope that Norwich Computer Services will be represented at both exhibitions. 6.4 • Careware Disc 18 − This disc contains the public domain version (1.61 16-Mar-92) of Atomwide’s VIDC Plus software. This supports a host of monitors giving a wide range of extra modes for all A-series computers. There are two versions of the software on the disc: 6.4 The A540/A5000 version does not need any additional hardware and supports the following monitors: Eizo 9060, Eizo 9070, Eizo F550i, Eizo T560i, HP-D1187, MicroHL, PanaSync, Quadram (AKF 18), Taxan 1095, Taxan 770, Taxan 775, Taxan 795, Taxan 875, Taxan 970. 6.4 The A400/A3000 version must have the Atomwide VIDC enhancer hardware to support the following monitors: Eizo 9060, Eizo 9070, HP-D1187, MicroHL, PanaSync, Quadram (AKF 18), Switcher, Taxan 1095, Taxan 770, Taxan 775, Taxan 795, Taxan 875, Taxan 970. 6.4 • Chatter is 4Mation’s new comms package. This is a full RISC-OS compatible program providing ANSI, Viewdata and Teletel display protocols, and Campus 2000, X, Y and Z-modem transfers. The price is £37.50 from 4Mation or £35 through Archive. 6.4 • Desktop Tracker − This is Leading Edge’s RISC-OS compatible version of their Tracker software which allows you to enter your own music and sounds, and also to play existing Tracker music of which there is a lot available in PD libraries. If you have a Midi interface, you can play the tracker tunes through a Midi instrument. Desktop Tracker is £69 inc VAT from Leading Edge or £63 through Archive. 6.4 • EFF fonts − There is now a range of over 500 RISC-OS 3 fonts available from EFF. They have also dropped the price of their RISC-OS 2 fonts by 30%. The new fonts have automatic kerning so that, for example, the word “AWAY” transferred into RISC-OS 3 fonts would automatically come out as “AWAY”. 6.4 • Eureka! − I have a real live copy of Eureka in my hands. It is available NOW. 6.4 • Game Maker’s Manual − For those who want to write their own games for the Archimedes, this new book will provide some of the basics to get you started. The price is £14.95 from Sigma Press or £14 through Archive. 6.4 • Games galore − There are various games for the Archimedes that we have missed out on along the way. The following have now been added to the Archive games list: 6.4 Black Angel, the 3D space combat simulation from 4th Dimension is £32 through Archive. 6.4 Chopper Force, the 3D futuristic helicopter simulation from 4th Dimension is £32 through Archive. 6.4 Galactic Dan is a 3D arcade adventure combat game from 4th Dimension and is £24 through Archive. 6.4 Gribbly’s Day Out is an arcade action game from CoinAge. This is £24 through Archive. 6.4 Krisalis Compendium which includes Mad Professor Mariarti, Terramex, Pipemania and Revelation (the game, not the art package!). This is £28 through Archive. 6.4 Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 the driving game from Krisalis with a Turbo Esprit or Lotus Elan is £24 through Archive. (This is currently making life a misery for the adults of the Beverley household − “If you don’t come for lunch now I shall switch the so-and-so computer off!”) 6.4 Omar Sharif’s Bridge is a bridge game from Krisalis including on-line help for £28 through Archive. 6.4 • Hawk V9 Mk II − Wild Vision have produced a new version of their well- established Hawk V9 digitiser. It is now a single width podule which saves a podule slot (Mk I was a dual width podule). The software has been upgraded to offer a live display window in the desktop. The grabbed video picture is then displayed with full dithered colours. There is also a special mono format useful for preparing material for monochrome DTP work. It comes with fully RISC-OS compliant software providing an “extensive range of image scaling and enhancing options” allowing sprites produced to be dragged straight into whatever desktop appli cations you are using. The price is now £269 +VAT from Wild Vision or £305 through Archive. 6.4 • IDE internal drives − Yes, we’re finally succumbing to pressure to stock internal IDE hard drives for the A3000 (and A3010). We want to assess which we consider to be good enough quality and low enough power consumption to be a reasonable risk for putting into a computer without a fan. If readers have a drive they would like to recommend from their own experience, let us know. If suppliers would like us to consider their IDE drives, they too should get in touch with us to arrange a loan of one of their units for assessment. 6.4 • Joystick interface − The new Leading Edge Joystick Mk2 is now available. It plugs into the printer port and takes two Amiga/Atari type joysticks. With the software provided, it claims to be able to be used with “virtually any piece of software”. It includes a switch so that the interface does not have to be removed in order to use the printer port as normal. (I tried it with an Artworks and an Impression dongle hanging off the back and they worked fine.) It is compatible with all Acorn 32- bit computers and with RISC-OS 3.1. The price is £38 through Archive. 6.4 • Landmarks Civil War − The latest in Longman Logotron’s series of Landmarks packages is Civil War. The price is £24 +VAT from Longman Logotron or £26 through Archive. 6.4 • Midi Tracker − This software from Leading Edge allows you to play existing Tracker music, of which there is a lot available in PD libraries, through a Midi interface to a Midi instrument. It gives you the ability to add keyboard setups, several being pre-defined. Midi Tracker is £19 inc VAT from Leading Edge or £18 through Archive. 6.4 • Midi Interface − This is Leading Edge’s Midi interface. It has Midi in and out, conforms to Acorn’s Midi standard and is cheap! Midi Interface is £42 inc VAT from Leading Edge or £40 through Archive. The other advantage/disadvantage is that it does not take up a podule slot but uses the Econet interface. The Midi in and out sockets are on short flying leads that plug into the Econet socket. 6.4 • Midi Sampler Interface − This is a combination of a Midi interface (as above) and an audio sampler. Again, it has Midi in and out on flying leads and an audio plug for the sound input. It can sample up to 50 KHz. (If you are wondering who would want to sample frequencies that high, Leading Edge assure me that someone is using one of these samplers for his research into bat sounds!) The Midi Sampler Interface is £94 inc VAT from Leading Edge or £88 through Archive. 6.4 • Picture it! − This is an object-oriented drawing package aimed at education. It takes drawfiles as objects and allows pupils to make drawfile pictures by combining the objects and then colouring them, arranging them and even animating them. The price is £29.95 +VAT for a single user or £49.95 +VAT for a site licence from Appian Way Software. They also do topic disks at £8.50 +VAT each. These include buildings, ships, birds, clothes (4 volumes), mini-beasts (2 volumes), dinosaurs, transport and Christmas. You can, of course, make up your own sets of objects from any source of drawfile clipart. 6.4 • SCSI cards and drives − We are now stocking Leading Edge’s SCSI cards plus their 80Mb SCSI drive solutions for the different Acorn 32-bit computers. 6.4 For A300/400 there are 80Mb drives with standard podules: Internal 8-bit £405, internal 16-bit (i.e. a faster interface) £460, external (which has its own p.s.u.) 8-bit £555, 16-bit £605. 6.4 If you just want the SCSI card, the 8-bit version is £105 and the 16-bit version is £145. 6.4 For A3000 owners, there is a Hardbox which is an 80Mb drive in a metal box with its own p.s.u. that attaches to the external interface. This is available as 8-bit at £485 and 16-bit at £530. There is also an 8-bit Turbo external version at £605. This uses a separate external cased drive with its own p.s.u. which links via a cable to an internal 8-bit interface. The interface has extra hardware that makes it rather faster than the standard 8-bit SCSI interface − though not as fast as the 16- bit interface. 6.4 If you just want a SCSI card, the internal A3000 8-bit version is £105, the external A3000 8-bit version is £115 (including case) and the 16-bit external version is £155 (including case). The 8-bit internal turbo version is also £145. 6.4 There is also a special version of the 8-bit internal (non-turbo) SCSI card which includes a User Port. This is £150. This is particularly useful for schools, for example, where they want to use something like a concept keyboard or an interface box as well as having a hard drive. 6.4 Another option for A3000 owners is to buy an empty hardbox with its own p.s.u. You then buy your own SCSI interface (not necessarily a Leading Edge one) and a 3½“ SCSI hard drive and put it all in the hardbox. This costs £125 for the box and p.s.u. 6.4 N.B. ALL Leading Edge SCSI cards are CD-ROM compatible, i.e. they do not need any extra software, whether in ROM or on disc, in order to connect to CD-ROMs. (The 16-bit card is £145 which, if you need to use CD-ROM compares very favourably with the Morley 16-bit card at £160 plus £22 for the CDFS filing system.) 6.4 • SpySnatcher is Topologika’s latest addition to their range of classic text adventures. Your job is to help MI7’s chief, known as ‘Z’, to unearth a ‘mole’. The price is £15 inc VAT from Topologika. (Send to Topologika for their free Adventure Games catalogue.) 6.4 • TechWriter − Icon Technology’s TechWriter builds on their successful EasiWriter wordprocessor and adds mathematical typesetting with the addition of a fully integrated WYSIWYG equation editor. The price is £250 +VAT from Icon or £270 through Archive. 6.4 • A3010 digital joystick software − At last the A3010 joystick ports can start being used properly! The Leading Edge have just released a software package which allows the digital joystick ports on the A3010 to be used correctly. The A3010 “Joymaster” enables the built-in joystick ports to be used with games not specifically written to support Acorn’s Joystick Standard. It allows custom design of joystick and keyboard controls, and includes a unique “mapping” feature which allows a joystick to emulate keystrokes or mouse controls. In practice, this means that it should work with just about any game written for the Archimedes as well as having the capability to work in the desktop. Also included with the package are several pre-defined joystick mappings designed to work with many of the more popular games. The Archive price is £28. For those of you still in the dark about joysticks and the supporting software and hardware, we hope to be giving some help in next month’s Archive. 6.5 • A3020/A4000 Econet upgrade − HCCS have beaten Acorn to it − they now have an AUN-compatible Econet upgrade available for the A3020 and A4000 for £39 +VAT (£43 through Archive). There is an Econet cable sold separately for £10 +VAT (or £11 through Archive). 6.5 • ABC of Art is a set of clipart drawn using Artworks and available in Artworks or Draw format. The first in the series has nine illustrations, Aborigine, AC_Cobra, Acorn, Aeroplane, Aerosol, Alsatian, Arches, Arrows and a letter A. The price is £8 inclusive from J Jeffery, Tideways, South Road, Bream, Somerset TA8 2SE. 6.5 • A Beginner’s Guide to Wimp Programming − Martyn Fox has written a 180- page book which sets out to explain wimp programming (in Basic) from the very beginning. The price is £14.95 from Sigma Press or £14 through Archive. If you want a disc to save you typing in all the programs yourself, you have to write direct to the author and send £3.95. The name and address is given in the book. 6.5 • Aldebaran − This new game mentioned last month is now available through Archive for £32. 6.5 • Ancestry upgrade − Minerva have produced a new version of Ancestry which, amongst other things, allows on-screen preview of the sideways print mode. Also, the key-disc copy-protection system is no longer used. Send your master disc plus a cheque for £11.75 to Minerva. 6.5 • An Eye for Spelling is an educational program providing a visual approach to spelling. It contains 3,500 words which are aimed at children in the 5−11 year age range and are grouped according to letter patterns. An Eye for Spelling is £35 +VAT (including a site licence) from ESM or £38 through Archive. 6.5 • Arc Embroidery price drop − Techsoft’s computer embroidery package (see review on page 61) has dropped in price from £749.95 +VAT to £699.95 +VAT. (This may be because they now have competition − see page 7.) 6.5 • Archive Monthly Program Discs − We get asked, fairly regularly, about the Archive monthly program discs. Basically, all they consist of is any programs and data files that are referred to in the magazine plus any other bits and pieces that come our way. We sometimes use the disc to send out updated versions of PD software, we try to put on it updates of the ArcScan magazine data for Archive (Shareware 7) and, in future, we will try to fit on the updates to the Archive Words Discs for Hints & Tips and Products Available, i.e. the text of that month’s H & T and Products Available columns in Edit format. The discs are £2 each. You can buy them individually or the whole of the current year for £24 − I realise that this is not a discount, but ordering them in advance is a convenience for you and extra admin for us! 6.5 • Archive Monthly Program Disc Index − If you want to know what the monthly program discs actually contain, the most up-to-date list we have is an Edit format index which appears on the Archive Products Available Words Disc (£2) − see opposite. 6.5 • Archive Words Discs − A number of people have asked if we can supply Archive magazine in machine readable format. Thus far I have resisted the pressure for copyright reasons. However, I recently created some Edit files of the text of all the Archive magazines that were created on the Archimedes − i.e. from Archive 4.5 onwards. (Prior to that they were produced on Apple Macs.) I have found it extremely helpful to be able to load up one file of text containing all the words of, say, volume 5 (2.6Mb of text!) and search through for some reference or other. These files are now permanently on my pinboard. I have therefore decided to release these files for sale on disc. They are: 6.5 Words 4.5 − 4.8 £2 6.5 Words 4.9 − 4.12 £2 6.5 Words 5.1 − 5.6 £2 6.5 Words 5.7 − 5.12 £2 6.5 Words 6.1 − 6.4* £2 6.5 Please note the licence conditions of these discs − they are only for sale to those people who already own copies of the magazines to which they refer. We are not asking for proof of purchase but are trusting your honesty. The alternative to this licence condition would be to sell the discs for, say, £5 each to make them comparable with the cost of buying the magazine but this we did not want to do. N.B. If you want the back issues of the actual magazines, they are all still available at special prices: Vols 1−4 at £22 and Vols 1−5 at £25. 6.5 *Volume 6 will have to be on three discs (assuming we continue to generate these 80-page issues!) as there is too much text, even when compressed, to fit onto two discs. Volume 5 just squeezes onto two discs in compressed format. 6.5 N.B. The Edit files are so large that you need a 2Mb machine to un- compress the files from the individual discs. If you then want to combine, say, all of volume 5, you will need a 4Mb machine. 6.5 • Archive Products Available Compilation. This goes right back to the very beginning of Archive’s life because we took the trouble, for our own purposes, to go back to the issues that were produced on the Mac to collect all this information. We find it very useful to have all this information in a single file. If we want to know, for example, if there has ever been a product that dealt with electronic circuit analysis, we just load up this file and search for the appropriate words. Also included on the disc are lists of the contents of the Shareware, Careware and Archive monthly program discs in Edit format. This disc costs £2 from Archive. 6.5 • Archive Hints & Tips Compilation. This is another extremely useful compilation for anybody who uses an Archimedes machine − I don’t know why we didn’t think of doing it before! These discs contain all the Hints & Tips columns plus some of the specialist hints & tips columns like Impression, First Word Plus, RISC-OS 2 and RISC-OS 3. As with the Products Available Compilation, it goes right back to the beginning of Archive. The way we envisage them being used is that you load them into Edit, search for the word(s) you are looking for, identify which magazine contains the hint you want, then go and look it up in the actual magazine. These Edit files contain no formatting and the sections that were transferred from the Apple Mac may contain inaccuracies and some program segments are missing, so please refer to the original text in the magazine. These discs are £6 each. 6.5 They are: 6.5 Hints Vols (1 − 4) £6 6.5 Hints Vols 5 & 6 £6 6.5 Hints Vols (1 − 6) £10 6.5 (The Hints 1−6 disc is only recommended for use on machines with 2Mb or more as it will not un-compress into a 1Mb machine.) 6.5 • Archive Shareware & Careware Compilations − We have just realised that those who own removable drives might wish to get hold of PD software in bulk! We have therefore produced two compilation removable discs. All the Archive Shareware discs (over 40 all together) have been put onto one 42M cartridge. This disc is £75. All the Archive Careware discs (19 so far) have also been put onto a single 42M cartridge. The cost is £100 and, of this, £75 covers the cost of the media plus duplication and £25 goes to charity. 6.5 • Artroom CD-ROM − Matt Black have produced a CD-ROM version of their Image Club clipart library (Archive 5.11 p2). For £295 +£2 p&p (no VAT), you get over 4,000 clipart images, all in EPS format, that can be loaded directly into ArtWorks. 6.5 • BookMaker − BookMaker is a DTP program that allows teachers and pupils to produce storybooks. It allows you to manipulate text and graphics and its features can be tailored by the teacher to the age and ability of the pupils. The price is £49.95 +VAT from RESOURCE for a single user licence. This price includes the BookWorm application which allows BookMaker books to be replayed a page at a time or as an animation. 6.5 • BookStore is an educational program aimed at children in Key Stages 1 & 2. It provides a framework for children to write, store and retrieve book reviews. BookStore costs £39.50 +VAT (including a site licence) from ESM or £43 through Archive. 6.5 • Careware 18 − Atomwide have released the software for their VIDC Enhancers into the public domain. We have made it available on Careware 18 and added various other utilities for monitors. (We hope to have the VIDC Enhancer hardware on sale again soon.) 6.5 The rest of the disc contains: iconbar mode number display, extended screen modes for the Sony CPD-1402, mode 108 which provides 1024×448 pixels & 16 colours @ 59Hz, mode 112 for the Acorn AKF18 m/s monitor, VIDC enhancer modules for NEC 3D, tweaked PC emulator modes for NEC 3D, extended screen modes (76-102) for NEC 3D, mode creation and editing for pre-A5000s with AKF18, module for modes 0-15 for use on an A410 with an AKF18 monitor, alternative to Atomwide’s VIDC enhancer software. The price is £5 from Archive. 6.5 • Careware 19 − This disc contains a range of utilities for graphics file conversion (much of which used to be on Careware 13) and some statistics software. The price is £5 from Archive. 6.5 Graphics utilities consist of the latest versions of: !CGM->Draw (2.60), !Draw->CGM (1.10), !Draw->EPS (1.10), !Draw->Met (1.00) (Draw to OS2 Metafiles), !Dxf-CGM (1.00), !Plotter (1.30) which allows drawfiles to be plotted to a SketchMate A4 plotter, !Creator (1.13) which converts sprites to GIF, TIFF, AIM and PBM and !Translator (6.45) which converts various graphics filetypes to sprites. 6.5 The suite of stand-alone statistical utilities written in Basic consists of: Transfer to/from PipeDream/Edit/ASCII text, graph drawing/plotting, histograms, area under curve, half-life calculation, mean, deviation & variance calculations, T-tests, regression analysis, linear regression, F-test, Wilcoxon signed rank test, Mann-Whitney U-test, Spearman correlation, chi², Fisher exact test, Kruskal-Wallis, Friedman, sample & survival stats, covariate analysis, one-way independence tests, two-way independence test, Altman-Bland test, predicted & PC calculation. 6.5 • Choices is an educational utility that allows students to do a wide range of activities by selecting images. Preferences can be expressed as well as giving right answers. It uses still or moving images, sprites or drawfiles and allows jigsaws to be made. Teachers can modify existing activities (four discs of resources are included) or create their own activities. The price is £35 +VAT from Widgit Software. 6.5 • ClearView hypertext utility (mentioned in Archive 5.8 p2) has dropped in price to £29.95 inc VAT from DEC_dATA. 6.5 • Clipart − Software42 have three discs of clipart on offer at £15 per disc, inclusive. They are 1−Electronics, 2−Animals and Birds, 3−People. 6.5 Bright Ideas have produced eleven discs of clipart: 1−General, 2−Transport, 3−Costumes, 4−Entertainment, 5−Bugs to Slugs, 6−Road Signs, 7−Sports Equipment, 8−Sports Figures, 9−Dinosaurs, 10−Symbols, 11−Tools. These discs are £8 +VAT each from Desktop Projects. 6.5 • Courses, various − The ARM Club are arranging various courses on topics such as music, games, teaching for teachers(!), Impression, PipeDream, Squirrel, Genesis. For details, contact Dr Nick Evans, 19 Woodberry Way, London N12 0HE. 6.5 • Craftshop 1, Craftshop 2, Jigsaw and Jiglet from 4Mation have all come down in price. Each is now £19.95 +VAT from 4Mation or £22 through Archive. 6.5 • Cyborg the arcade-style, multi-location adventure game from Alpine Software (mentioned in Archive 6.3 p3) is now available through Archive for £24. 6.5 • DDE Pascal upgrade − Acorn have upgraded their (PD) DDE Pascal to version 4.10. The main changes are that several bugs have been fixed, forward function declarations now work, range checking on assignment has been added, the optimiser has been improved, the predefined type ‘Error’ has been renamed ‘OS_Error’ as ‘Error’ caused name clashes with some programs and ‘input’ and ‘output’ can now be used explicitly without declaring them in the program header (except when compiling with -ISO). 6.5 If you want the updated version you can either buy another copy of Careware 17 at £5 or send your old Careware 17 back with a donation to charity and we will upgrade it for you. 6.5 • Desktop Folio − ESM have reduced the price of their word-processor/DTP package to £64 +VAT (£70 through Archive). A site licence is available from ESM for £180 +VAT. They also now have five curriculum packs for use with Desktop Folio. The subjects are: World War II, Christmas, Space, Maths and Editors. The latter is a set of material for anyone designing newspapers, magazines, etc. These packs are £22.50 +VAT each (including a site licence) from ESM. 6.5 • Eizo prices up − As from February 1st, the price of Eizo monitors has risen slightly. The 9060 has gone up to an Archive price of £550, the F550 to £980, the F750 to £1650, the T560iT to £1500, and the T660iT to £2100. 6.5 • Expanded keyboard − Northwest SEMERC have produced an expanded keyboard for use on Archimedes computers. It works with A300, A400, A540, A3000, A4000 and A5000 (although the A3000 needs an interface unit fitted inside the computer). The keyboard comes complete with a perforated steel key guard which enables users with poor motor control to rest their hands thus avoiding unwanted key-presses. For those who find multiple key-presses (e.g. <ctrl-V>, etc) difficult or impossible, there is an electronic control which allows ‘sticky keys’ to be used, i.e. <shift>, <ctrl> or <alt> can effectively be held down while another key is pressed − all with single key-presses. 6.5 • Fades is an addition to Silica Software Systems’ art package, Flare. It adds a carousel facility to allow you to build up a rolling display of Flare pictures or other sprites. The complete pack of Flare + Fades is £29.30 (or £22 for education) and the upgrade to add Fades is £7 if you send your original disc back to Silica. 6.5 • Gestalt 2: Money & Shopping is an educational program from Basing Educational Software. This desktop application is aimed at primary and special needs and allows pupils to deal with coins and notes to exact quantities and to deal with rounding up. The price is £30 +VAT from Basing. 6.5 • Gestalt Number is a set of six educational programs for primary and special needs pupils dealing with counting, number recognition, sequencing, categorization, number bonds and multiplication. The price is £50 +VAT from Basing Educational Software. 6.5 • Granny’s back! − Those who remember Granny’s Garden from the BBC B days will be pleased to hear that 4Mation have re-released it as a 4- disc set for the Archimedes. The plot is the same but it has all new graphics. Granny’s Garden is £24.50 +VAT (£27 through Archive) and there is a site licence (£49 +VAT) and a Granny’s Garden Resource Pack (£10 +VAT) also available from 4Mation. 6.5 • HiVision Digitiser − HCCS have produced a colour digitiser in their Vision range that digitises at 508 line × 720 pixel. You will need 2Mb minimum to run the software and 4Mb is recommended. The A3000 version (internal) is £129 +VAT (£145 through Archive), the A3000 version (external) is £142 +VAT (£160 through Archive), the standard podule version (A300/400/5000) is £129 +VAT (£145 through Archive), the MicroPodule version is also £129 +VAT (£145 through Archive). 6.5 • Ixion − This is a futuristic 3D adventure game from Software42. The price is £25 inclusive from Software42. 6.5 • Joysticks interface − Magnetic Image have produced (yet another) joystick interface. However, this is unique in that it has four digital joystick ports and supports joysticks with a second fire button − something that other interfaces don’t do. The package consists of a software module and a hardware dongle for the printer port which has a trailing lead to the four-port interface box. This dongle is a ‘through connector’ allowing you to connect the printer at the same time and it has a switch to allow you to select between the printer and the joystick interface. There is even a second fire button for each port in case your existing joystick doesn’t have one. As with all joystick interfaces, there are some games that just don’t support joysticks and it is worth checking before you buy games. Price is £34.95 from Magnetic Image. 6.5 • Kepler is Spacetech’s satellite orbital predication software. This RISC-OS application costs £29.50 inc VAT from Spacetech. 6.5 • KidPix is an art package aimed at children in Key Stages 1 & 2. This costs £37.50 +VAT from ESM or £41 through Archive. 6.5 • Label Printer is a utility from Software42 for designing labels using sprites and drawfiles and printing them onto tractor-feed mounted labels. The price is £15 inclusive from Software42. 6.5 • Linguist is a computerised foreign language dictionary currently containing 18 languages: Afrikaans, Cornish, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Welsh. Linguist consists of a dictionary, a quiz/game and an ‘automatic dictionary look- up’ which allows you to drop a text file onto it and, by doing a trans- literation, it will give you a vague idea of the text’s content although it will obviously not be a proper translation of the text. 6.5 Linguist is available from Bits ’n Bytes for £30 inc VAT. This includes all 18 languages and more are currently being added − the price includes a free upgrade to the new languages as and when available. 6.5 • Masterfile 3 − Risc Developments have released a new version of their long-standing database in Archimedes format. The price is £49 +VAT from Risc Developments. 6.5 • Mitre Software − Owners of DiscTree and/or TimeWatch need to know that Mitre Software has ceased trading. However, until 30th June 1993, you can get your software upgraded to make it RISC-OS 3 compatible free-of- charge. To do this, send your original system disc together with an S.A.E. to the address at the back of the magazine. 6.5 • My World 2 − This is an upgraded version of the application produced by Northwest SEMERC which allows children to manipulate drawfiles. New screens include Goldilocks and an improved version of Teddy screen for infants as well as Make a Town for juniors. Secondary school students can use My World for Electronics pictures and to investigate Pythagoras’ theorem. For Key Stage 3 foreign language students, there is Dessin and Grandeur. New functions include screen-linking for story-telling, rotate, re-size and flip objects, and pop-up windows for access to further libraries. It costs £28 +VAT and there are over 18 My World resource packs available. The original, simpler version of My World is still available at £18 +VAT from NW SEMERC. 6.5 • Noot is an animation package for education from 4Mation. It is particularly aimed at pre-school, infant and junior to provide “a stimulating environment for language development”. The price is £45 +VAT (£48 through Archive) for a single user. Additional key-discs at £10 +VAT and a site licence at £90 +VAT are available from 4Mation. 6.5 • Parish Magazine is a clipart and text collection from DEC_dATA. It consists of three discs of clipart plus a disc of the full text of the King James Version of the New Testament. The price is £19.95 inc VAT from DEC_dATA. 6.5 • PenDown Etoiles − the French version of Longman Logotron’s educational word-processor is available now. Intended to complement the 5 year Etoiles French course from the BBC and Longman, it is aimed at Key Stages 3 and 4 for Modern Foreign Languages. It includes a 72,000 word French dictionary. The price is £54 +VAT from Longman or £58 through Archive. Longman also do a site licence for £330 +VAT and there is an upgrade licence for PenDown and PenDown Plus licence holders. 6.5 • Perspectives − Techsoft have produced a new 3D design package which allows wireframe drawings to be created in any of three orthographic windows, the result being displayed in the fourth window. It can instantly change from 1st to 3rd angle. The pictorial view can be isometric, oblique or perspective and the perspective view can be rotated and zoomed. There is also a special stereo viewing mode for use with the special glasses provided and the view can be rotated to allow you to view the object from any direction. Perspectives is £45 +VAT from Techsoft for a single copy or £75 +VAT for an educational site licence. 6.5 • PlayBack is Risc Developments’ mouse recording software. It allows you to create demonstrations of programs that run in the desktop. PlayBack costs £19 +VAT from Risc Developments. 6.5 • Podd − This well-known character from the BBC educational world has now made it into Archimedes format. This is a language-development program aimed at Key Stages 1 & 2 − and it’s also good fun! Podd is £27.50 +VAT (including a site licence) from ESM or £30 through Archive. 6.5 • POEM Embroidery System − Commotion have produced a computer embroidery system based on the same POEM500 personal embroidery machine as used by Techsoft. Commotion’s price, including “Poetry” software is £699.95 +VAT. Poetry accepts sprites and drawfiles but also has its own built-in art package. (The software is ready now, but not the manual. We will review it when it does become available.) 6.5 • PowerRouter is an add-on to Silicon Vision’s ArcPCB. It takes an ArcPCB design in “rat’s nest” form and generates a multi-layer routed design using “100% rip-up re-try” techniques. The price is £195 incVAT from Silicon Vision. (ArcPCB is £125 inc VAT.) 6.5 • PrimeWord − Minerva have released their new word processor aimed at educational users. It is a font-based wordprocessor with spelling checker and dictionary. It can import graphics into the text and the package is configurable to make it suitable at different levels within the school. The price is £59 +VAT (or £64 through Archive) or £236 +VAT for a site licence from Minerva. 6.5 • QuickShow − This is an ‘easy-to-use’ slide show presentation and video titling package from Desktop Projects Ltd. The price is £25 +VAT from Desktop Projects. 6.5 • QuickSound − Desktop Projects Ltd have produced a utility for handling sound samples. It allows you to load, play, convert and resave samples. It takes Armadeus and Tracker samples and can produce modules for use in other applications. You can also apply special effects to the sound samples. The price is £10 +VAT from Desktop Projects. 6.5 • QuickTile − This utility, also from Desktop Projects Ltd, allows you to print posters from drawfiles and sprites. It works with any RISC-OS application and will automatically generate crop marks on the individual sheets that make up the whole poster. The price is £25 +VAT from Desktop Projects. 6.5 • Repton is back − So now we are up to Repton 4! Superior Software have just released ‘Ego: Repton 4’ which provides 30 levels of play and, on each level, you have to build up a jigsaw puzzle of a famous person or place by collecting pieces scattered around the level. The price is £24.95 from Superior or £23 through Archive. 6.5 • Satpack 1 is a satellite orbit prediction package from Unilab. The price is £20.23 +VAT from Unilab. 6.5 • ScreenPlay is Widgit Software’s framework program to help children create animated stories incorporating pictures, text and sound. It is aimed for primary use and also for older pupils (or adults) with learning difficulties. The main pack consisting of an introductory demo disc, a story disc, a resources disc and a severe learning difficulties disc costs £35 +VAT from Widgit. They also have a training video for teachers which can be hired for 5 working days for £2 +VAT or purchased for £10.50 +VAT. 6.5 • SCSI cards for CDROM use − We said last month that the Leading Edge SCSI cards all had CDFS built-in. This wasn’t quite true. The CDFS is supplied on disc and is not in ROM as it is on, say, the Morley SCSI card. You have to load the CDFS from disc within your boot file. 6.5 On the subject of CDFS, you should note that all new Morley SCSI podules will contain the CDFS in ROM and the price remains as it was − £160 for the uncached one and £220 for the cached one. Anyone who has an existing Morley SCSI card can get a new ROM from Morley for £15 +VAT. 6.5 • Sherston Software − From now on, we will be selling the educational programs produced by Sherston Software. Here is a list of those that we have already mentioned and/or reviewed in the magazine: 6.5 Title Archive Price Reference 6.5 Arcventure Romans £32 6.3 p2 6.5 Arcventure Egyptians £32 4.9 p2 6.5 Christmas AllSorts £18 5.3 p49 6.5 Crystal Rain Forest £43 6.2 p58 6.5 Food for Thought £18 6.2 p3 6.5 Graph-IT £21 5.12 p63 6.5 Help3 £9 6.2 p3 6.5 Hilighter £49 6.5 p71 6.5 Split an Image £18 5.11 p30 6.5 Viewpoints £43 4.11 p52 6.5 There are four other Archimedes packages which Sherston produce (and which we will be selling) that haven’t yet had a mention in Archive. 6.5 Animated Numbers is for children aged 3 − 6 and has three activities illustrating the numbers 1 to 10. The price is £23 through Archive. 6.5 Badger Trails is a multimedia simulation about badgers. As well as the computer program, the pack includes a video showing the discovery of a badger sett and the setting up of a hide to observe the badgers. The price is £38 through Archive. 6.5 Connections is designed to support infant maths and number work and is aimed at 5 − 8 year olds. Children simply have to alter the contents of each window to make the connections true. The price is £30 through Archive. 6.5 Splash is an art package specifically designed for young children. (This should not be confused with Splosh from WECC − which is also an art package for young children!) The price is £22 through Archive which includes a free site licence. 6.5 • Special Needs Trackerball − Northwest SEMERC have now produced a trackerball which will give access to mouse-controlled software for people with poor motor control. It includes a guard to act as a hand- rest for the user to avoid unnecessary ball spin or button pressing. There are also special buttons to produce double-click and drag effects. The price is £269 +VAT from NW SEMERC. 6.5 • Spheres of Chaos, the inter-galactic shoot-’em-up game from Matt Black as mentioned in Archive 6.1 p3, is now available through Archive for £23. 6.5 • Snippet 2 − The new version of 4Mation’s Snippet (see 5.12 p37) has a new price − £37.50 +VAT from 4Mation or £40 through Archive. 6.5 • Splosh is an art package specifically designed for young children ‘but with features for everyone’. The introductory price from WECC is £19 +VAT which includes a free site licence. 6.5 • Talking books − Sherston have just released the first of their Talking Books series − Naughty Stories. These feature recorded human speech and allow the children to move from page to page listening to the story at the click of a button. They can even ask the computer to repeat words they are unsure of. The first three stories are: Billy the Bothersome Bully, Doris the Dotty Dog and Edwina’s Energetic Elephant. They are £9.95 +VAT each or £11 through Archive. 6.5 • Teletext adaptor software − With the new teletext franchise for ITV and Channel 4, the multitasking teletext software from Ivoryash Ltd no longer works 100% because of the change of format. Existing customers can receive a free upgrade by returning the original disk and a stamped addressed label to Ivoryash Ltd. The current price for new customers is £25 inc VAT and p&p. 6.5 • Through the Dragon’s Eye is a Look and Read Adventure from Longman Logotron. It is intended to link with the BBC Schools’ Television program of the same name. The price is £24 +VAT through Longmans or £26 through Archive. 6.5 • Time-Traveller are ESM’s history packs aimed at children in Key Stage 2. There are currently five packs at different prices − Britain since the 1930s and The Victorians are £32.50 +VAT each from ESM or £35 through Archive, Trade & Industry and Medieval Realms are £39.50 +VAT each from ESM or £43 through Archive and the fifth pack is Time Traveller Personal which is basically a shell into which you can put your own history − local history or whatever. It comes with a sample data disc for history from 1891 to 1990. This costs £37.50 +VAT from ESM or £41 through Archive. The price of each pack includes a site licence. 6.5 • TOM the Computer Simulator − This is a computer simulator for use in Computer Science or Electronics courses. It is a desktop application that allows you to simulate a processor with 48 bytes of memory. You program it by poking machine code instructions into the various locations and watch the program counter and accumulator as your program runs. This application costs £29.95 +VAT (or £99.95 for a site licence) from Keylink Computers. 6.5 • Ultimate Expansion System − This is an expansion system for ALL Acorn 32-bit computers. It is such an important new product that I have devoted a whole article to it − see page 11. 6.5 • Vanguard Clipart Volume 1 − This is a “new kind of design resource for DTP users” from Matt Black. It consists of 50+ images designed to be “as versatile and attention-grabbing as possible”. As well as the images on disc, you get a 12-page booklet with an index of the clipart plus design ideas, hints & tips, etc for getting the most out of Impression, Artworks, Draw, etc. This first disc has images relating to “fantasy, tools and stationary” (sic). The price is £14.99 + £2 p&p (no VAT) from Matt Black. 6.5 • WolfPack − This is a flight simulation game from Software42 set in World War 3. The price is £20 inclusive from Software42. 6.5 • Wordz − Colton Software’s new wordprocessor (as described in the PipeLine-Z column this month − see page 21) is now in stock. The price is £99 + VAT (or £105 through Archive). 6.5 • Xword is a desktop crossword puzzle program from David Ramsden. It includes 50 cryptic puzzles for you to solve plus some rudimentary (his word) programs for entering and editing your own puzzles (maximum 20 × 20 letters). Send £5.95 to David Ramsden at 7 Chevet Lane, Wakefield WF2 6HN. 6.5 Review software received... 6.5 We have received review copies of the following: Ancient Greece, Arcade, ArcTrack, Bright Ideas Clipart, Chatter, Choices, Drop Rock, Ego: Rep ton4, Fantasy + Fiddles & Drums (SmArt files), Flare + Fades, Impact, Ixion, Label Printer, Landmarks − Civil War, Linkword (Spanish), PenDown Etoiles, Perspectives, Picture It!, Precision, Punctuate, QuickShow, QuickTile, SatPack 1, Soapbox, Software42 Clipart, Splosh, SpySnatcher, The Puddle and the Wardrobe, ThinkLink, Through the Dragon’s Eye, Tiles, Whale Facts, WindowEd, Wolfpack, Xword, Yes Chancellor II. A 6.5 6.5 The Ultimate Expansion System? 6.5 Paul Beverley 6.5 This isn’t really a review as such − more an extension of the Products Available column. However, I feel that the subject, HCCS’s Ultimate Expansion System, is so important that it is worthy of a separate article. 6.5 The two problems 6.5 (1) We have had quite a few queries recently from subscribers whose Archimedes computers are full with four podules. They ask whether anyone makes an expansion box that will allow them to have more than four podules on an A300/400/540/5000. The answer, sadly, is ‘no’. The reason is that the electronics of the podule interface will not tolerate cables of more than a few cm in length. 6.5 (2) Anyone thinking of buying one of Acorn’s latest batch of computers − A3010, A3020 or A4000 − will be only too aware of one major limitation that these three computers share. They can only take one single internal mini-podule and, unlike the old A3000, cannot take an external podule. 6.5 How, you may ask, could Acorn make what seems to be such a short-sighted design decision? Well, the story is that they were hoping that third party suppliers would produce a range of add-ons that use the bi- directional parallel port (or the serial port). Then the single internal podule could be used for a SCSI interface which would give access to a whole range of other (albeit more expensive) devices. 6.5 So, when we are advising cusomers about buying, for example, a DTP system, we offer an economy system using a BJ10ex inkjet printer and, say, an A4000 or even an A3010. However, as soon as the customer thinks in terms of a Laser Direct printer, the price shoots up and not just by the difference in price between the two printers. Laser Direct is not available as a mini podule, so you need a machine, like the A5000, that will take standard-sized podules... ...or that used to be the case... 6.5 The solution 6.5 HCCS have made the most of the increased electronic miniaturisation available these days and introduced the ‘MicroPodule’. Standard Euro card-sized podules are about 17cm × 10cm, minipodules are 16cm × 7cm, while the new MicroPodules are only 8cm × 5cm − slightly smaller than a credit card. This means you can mount two MicroPodules side-by-side onto a standard-size podule and up to three MicroPodules side-by-side on a minipodule. 6.5 6.5 The MultiPodules 6.5 HCCS are making carrier podules which they have called ‘MultiPodules’. The MultiPodule for the A300/400/540/5000 computers (part number: K3410) costs £39 +VAT (£43 through Archive) and takes, as I have said, two MicroPodules. 6.5 For the A3010, there is an entry-level MultiPodule (K3110) at £41.70 +VAT (£46 through Archive) which provides a user port and allows the connection of two MicroPodules. 6.5 If you want a hard drive in your A3010, you can have a minipodule that will fit two MicroPodules and carries a 20Mb IDE drive and a user port (K3132) for £271.49 +VAT (£303 through Archive) or with a 30Mb drive (K3133) for £297.02 +VAT (£330 through Archive) or with a 60Mb drive (K3136) for £399.15 +VAT (£445 through Archive). 6.5 As soon as you expand a MultiPodule by adding a hard drive or a MicroPodule, you ought really to add a power supply and fan. If you buy a hard drive version, as above, the power supply and fan are included as part of the package. If you need to buy them separately, they come as K3150 which will cost £30 +VAT (or £33 through Archive). 6.5 The A3020 and A4000 have space internally for an IDE hard drive, so there is no need to use up valuable podule space. For these computers, there is a MultiPodule (K3210) which will take up to three MicroPodules and has a user port as well. It costs £39 +VAT or £43 through Archive. 6.5 (There will also be an A3000 version of this which is an identical podule but you need an extension cable to enable it to fit properly with the A3000’s existing cabling.) 6.5 The MicroPodules 6.5 The success of this venture depends on the number of different MicroPodules available. HCCS themselves have started to produce their own range of MicroPodules and are obviously going to be producing more. However, they are also talking to other third-party suppliers with a view to licensing other podules for production at MicroPodule size. 6.5 HCCS MicroPodules 6.5 There are four HCCS MicroPodules that can, at the time of writing, be classed as ‘Products Available’. The SCSI MicroPodule costs £99 +VAT (£110 through Archive) and is an 8-bit interface which includes CDFS as standard so, as well as using it to access hard drives, including removables, you can access CD-ROM drives. This isn’t a 16-bit interface but unless you are dealing with large SCSI drives, the speed of data transfer is going to be limited by the drive and not the interface. You can run Acorn Replay through one of these podules, although only at 12 frames per second. 6.5 The Colour Vision Digitiser MicroPodule costs £79 +VAT (£88 through Archive). This is the standard resolution Vision Digitiser (see Archive 5.12 p43 and 6.2 p23). 6.5 The HiVision Digitiser MicroPodule costs £129 +VAT (£145 through Archive). This is a colour digitiser that digitises at 508 line × 720 pixel. (You will need 2Mb minimum to run the software and 4Mb is recommended.) 6.5 The Laser Express MicroPodule costs £249 +VAT (£278 through Archive). This provides the hardware and software needed to link directly to a Canon LBP4 laser printer that has a video interface fitted. 6.5 Starter Packs 6.5 If you want to buy a MicroPodule but don’t want a hard drive, you will, as I have said, need a power supply and fan. To keep the initial cost down, HCCS are doing three Starter Packs as follows (each consists of the MicroPodule plus a power supply and fan): 6.5 The HiVision Starter Pack (K3140) is £149 +VAT (£166) through Archive. The Laser Express Starter Pack (K3141) is £269 +VAT (£300) through Archive and the SCSI Starter Pack (K3142) is £119 +VAT (£133) through Archive. 6.5 Podules under development 6.5 During the course of 1993, HCCS are hoping to release MicroPodules for: Analogue input (almost ready and priced at £29 +VAT or £32 through Archive), MIDI/Sound Sampler, Serial, Ethernet and Colour video out (which will be useful for output to video recorders or large display monitors). 6.5 Third-party MicroPodules 6.5 HCCS are currently in discussions with Computer Concepts about the production of MicroPodule versions of Laser Direct and ScanLight. HCCS are also hoping to find a company who could make a PC MicroPodule. 6.5 Not all standard-size podules will squash down onto a MicroPodule − it depends on the chip count, of course. However, there should, hopefully, be a number of other interfaces appearing in MicroPodule format over the coming months. 6.5 The implications 6.5 A number of important implications occur to me as I consider HCCS’ innovative podule project: 6.5 A300/400/540/5000 computers could (in theory at least) have up to eight podules. I say ‘in theory’ firstly because there aren’t eight different podules available yet. Secondly, for most of us, it isn’t a case of starting from scratch. We already have a number of standard-size podules, so adding various MicroPodules mounted on MultiPodules isn’t quite such a clear option for financial reasons − but in a new machine... ! 6.5 A3000 owners can also benefit from these new systems. There is no reason, as far as I can see, why any of the boards originally intended for A3010/3020/4000 shouldn’t be used in an A3000. 6.5 Schools will, I think, be particularly pleased to see HCCS’ new developments. The fact that a user port is available as well as various MicroPodules is a great plus − the ability to link to concept keyboards, interfacing boxes, etc comes, therefore, at no extra cost and without taking up a podule slot. The combination of user port and multiple serial ports means that these interfaces are ideally suited for special needs applications. Also, being able to move MicroPodules around between machines, including between standard-size podules and minipodules will make life much easier because of the increased flexibility. (They are also considerably easier to get in and out than minipodules!) 6.5 If you own an A3010, you don’t have to use a MultiPodule with an IDE internal drive. You could, instead, buy a three-way MultiPodule and use one of your three MicroPodule slots for a SCSI interface. Then you could put an external SCSI drive onto the computer − perhaps bigger and faster than the IDE drives. 6.5 Conclusion 6.5 Am I over-stating the importance of MicroPodules? Only time will tell and it will obviously depend on how well other podule manufacturers pick up on the idea. 6.5 I think that Acorn should be extremely grateful to HCCS − the increased flexibility provided by MicroPodules makes A3010, A3020 and A4000 computers much more attractive and can only serve to increase their sales, albeit occasionally at the expense of the sale of an A5000. A 6.5 • 2067BC − This arcade adventure game from Oregan Developments’ which was reviewed in Archive 6.4 p31 is now available through Archive for £18. 6.6 • 16 bit per pixel upgrade for G8 Plus − With the introduction of the 16 bpp Replay de-compressor from Acorn, State Machine have released an upgrade for their G8 colour card that allows full animation compatibility in the new 32768 true colour modes. 6.6 As well as offering a variety of animation-compatible true colour modes, 24 bpp clear files can be loaded which are converted and displayed automatically by a new !TrueView application. !TrueView allows panning and scaling of images larger than the screen and will cope with all formats of clear files. 6.6 Along with !TrueView, the new !ARMovie application licensed from Acorn Computers Ltd is included along with some sample clear files. 6.6 This upgrade allows 25 frames per second animation in true colour at medium resolutions. The new modes available are 576×424, 800×300 and a 50 frames per second update, 384×288, which can be double buffered for flicker free animation. With this upgrade, 16 bpp digitisers will be able to offer high quality real time preview modes without dithering. 6.6 The upgrade is available when purchasing the G8 card for an extra £30 +VAT. As a special offer to existing G8 users, the 16 bpp upgrade is available for £20 +VAT including p&p and new software. 6.6 A further enhancement to the G8 allows all TV broadcast modes (modes 12, 13, etc) to be displayed at full-size on any monitor. All G8 cards now include this feature as standard and any existing users of the G8 that require full screen TV broadcast modes (e.g. to play Interdictor on VGA monitors) can be upgraded for £10 +VAT including return postage. Note that this upgrade is included with the 16 bpp upgrade. 6.6 • Amateur radio software − Steve Hunt (G3TXQ) has a selection of amateur radio software available for the Archimedes. A morse tutor, an antenna designer, frequency prediction and filter design programs are available on a compilation disc priced £9.95 (inc VAT and p&p). For details, send an S.A.E. to Steve Hunt, 21 Green Street, Milton Malsor, Northampton NN7 3AT. 6.6 • Archivist − Oregan Developments’ data management system is now up to version 4.7. Extra features include store/display sprites, drawfiles and text, play Symphony/Maestro/Tracker files, Impression Impulse link, Specific label printer and enhanced reports generator. Anyone with version 4.00 or later can upgrade free of charge from Oregan by returning their registration cards. Anyone with an earlier version can upgrade for £5 direct from Oregan. Archivist is now available through Archive for £32. 6.6 • ArtWorks Viewer − This software allows ArtWorks files to be viewed on Archimedes computers that don’t have ArtWorks installed. Since it can be distributed without charge, it is an ideal way of passing on ArtWorks files. The images can be loaded using the ArtWorks Viewer and, furthermore, they can be examined in more or less detail by zooming in and out. The Viewer is now included in the ArtWorks package and a free copy can be obtained on request by calling Computer Concepts. 6.6 • Balloons + The Zoo is Freddy Teddy’s latest adventure encouraging children with counting and addition. It costs £30 +VAT from Topologika or £33 through Archive. 6.6 • Broadcast Loader − This product is no longer available as its facilities are contained as standard in the new operating system, RISC- OS 3.1. 6.6 • CASA update − There is now a RISC-OS 3.1 version of CASA (Computer Assisted Structural Analysis). Because of the different way that RISC-OS 3 handles integers, it needed a re-write of the software, the result being that the program now needs a minimum of 2Mb to run it. Please note also that CASA is available only from W. C. Smith & Associates and NOT from Vision Six Ltd. (Only the name has changed − the address remains the same.) 6.6 • Christmas Adventure − (Slightly unseasonal, sorry!) Help Father Christmas to find his map and ensure that the children get their presents. This adventure game from Storm Educational Software is aimed at children aged 5 to 8 and should help them in reading, mapping, memory work and decision-making. The price is £25.99 from Storm or £24 through Archive. 6.6 • ColourCard updates − In my comparisons of the Colourcard and the G8Plus (Archive 6.4 p27), I said that I preferred the 25Hz screen update speed which the G8 offered despite the fact that this slightly reduced the processor speed. Well, CC have now released a free software update for the ColourCard which gives users the option to configure the screen update speed to 25Hz, rather than the default 12Hz. This software-only upgrade is available free on request from both Computer Concepts and Wild Vision (but not from Norwich Computer Services). 6.6 Another development of the ColourCard is a new (external) A3000 version of the board. This is now available as an option at the time of purchase or as an upgrade kit for existing owners. Wild Vision say that it can be fitted by the individual but that a number of people may prefer to have a local dealer do the fitting. If you have an existing card and want to fit it onto an A3000, the fitting kit can be obtained from Wild Vision for a handling charge of £8.50 +VAT. This applies to boards that say “Issue 2” on them but if you have one of the very early Issue 1 boards, you will have to return it to Wild Vision for updating and the handling charge will be £10 +VAT. 6.6 • Concept keyboard − Northwest SEMERC have now produced an A4 version of the Oldham Overlay Keyboard (a concept keyboard by any other name). This A4 board is an exact scaled down version of the A3 board so that overlays can be reduced or enlarged on a photocopier for use on either keyboard. The educational price of the A4 keyboard is £115 +VAT from NW SEMERC. 6.6 • Curves software pack − This is a set of eleven programs from Topologika aimed at junior and middle school children but it also enables GCSE students to explore complex curves and loci. The pack includes the programs and a 90-page book entitled Curves. It contains an audio tape with stories and other educational material and a 48-page activities book. The complete pack costs £40 +VAT from Topologika or £43 through Archive. 6.6 • Digital Symphony − This is a Soundtrack Editor from Oregan Developments which is said to be fully Amiga compatible. Its features include built-in sample editing, standard musical notation display, 40 special effects, importing of Maestro and OctaMED files, fully Midi compatible, CD quality sample playback rate, track size only limited by memory size, flexible cut/paste options and global search/replace/ exchange. Digital Symphony costs £49.95 all inclusive from Oregan Developments or £48 through Archive. 6.6 • Eizo 340iW − Eizo have just launched an excellent new monitor which can be used on the Archimedes computers. It is a flat screen, 15“ monitor with electronic control − just like the more expensive 17” Eizos (F550i and T560iT). This means you can program it to get the best size, position, shape, etc for each of the different modes you use. It has the same dot pitch as the 9060 − 0.28mm − which means that the screen in made up of more dots and therefore gives a better resolution. I have tried it with a G8Plus graphics card and I can display (in the 1600 × 600 dot mode) a double page A4 spread, such as the Archive magazine and read and edit the text perfectly well! 6.6 There are two other improvements of this monitor over its predecessors (apart from its more ‘modern’ styling). Firstly, the power cable and the video cable are in a recess under the back of the monitor so they don’t stick out and add that extra 2 or 3 inconvenient inches to the depth of the monitor. Secondly, Eizo have introduced a power-saving feature (that’s the ‘W’ in the model name). If you use a normal software screen- blanker, this will reduce consumption to about 80% but then if, after 3 minutes, the monitor sees that there is still no (blue) signal coming from the computer, it shuts down to a standby mode which reduces power to about 10%. Then after a user-selectable time (5 to 60 mins) it drops further to a 7% power consumption level. Then as soon as you touch the mouse or keyboard and restore the video output, the monitor comes back to its normal display. 6.6 The price? Oh yes, I nearly forgot. For the extra 1“ in screen size, plus electronic control, plus power saving, you only have to pay £120 more than the 9060, i.e. its Archive price is £670 inc VAT and carriage. 6.6 • Fanfold paper for inkjets − Following a request for any company that supplied fanfold paper for use on inkjet printers, Mike King of Guernsey came up with Inmac Ltd of Runcorn, Cheshire. (Phone 0928−579000, Fax 0800 611116) Apparently they supply fanfold paper in the following sizes: 280 × 210 (£16.90), 305 × 210 (£17.90), A4 (£19.95). The prices are per 1,000 sheets but do not include carriage. 6.6 • Faxpack − CC have finally implemented the long-awaited FaxPack file transfer and answering machine features. The new software also includes an option to transmit faxes through the Mercury Network, for users who already subscribe to Mercury. The software and EPROM upgrade is available free on request. (Computer Concepts will do the upgrade if customers feel nervous about changing the EPROM themselves.) 6.6 (I’ve just had a thought! How many Archive contributors have got FaxPacks? If I set one up out-of-hours, you could file-transfer articles to me. If you are an Archive contributor and would be interested in doing that, perhaps you would let me know. Thanks. Ed.) 6.6 • Look and Listen − This is a series of five educational programs from Brilliant Computing aimed at encouraging children to be more aware when crossing the road. It appears that a fundamental requirement of safe road use is an awareness of sound, which direction it is coming from and if it is an incoming or an outgoing source. These games use the high quality stereo sound output of the Archimedes to develop sound discrimination and awareness. The price is £25 +VAT from Brilliant Computing. 6.6 • Numerator Workcards − This is a FREE 54-page A4 workbook for use with Numerator. It provides a set of activity sheets providing ideas for using Numerator in the classroom from beginners to more advanced users. Registered Numerator users may obtain a free copy by ringing the Longman Logotron sales desk on 0223−425558. 6.6 • Masterfile 3 − Risc Developments’ database is now available through Archive for £54. 6.6 • Myth of Moby Dick − This is an adventure game with maths, geography and language elements. It is suitable for special needs as well as mainstream pupils. The cost is £30 +VAT from Topologika or £33 through Archive. 6.6 • PipeDream price drop − PipeDream3 is now £79 +VAT (£85 through Archive) and PipeDream4 is £129+VAT (£140 through Archive). 6.6 • Round the World Yacht Race − This is an extensive project package from Storm Educational Software based around a computer program but with program guide, study notes, flow chart and a map of the prevailing winds and currents. It is aimed at 9+ year olds and develops skills in science, maths, geography, science & technology and encourages role play. The price is £34.99 from Storm or £32 through Archive. 6.6 • Smart Alex − Brilliant Computing have produced an interesting educational program in which children can ‘talk’, via the keyboard, to Alex (who can be male, female, caucasian or coloured), encouraging them to talk about feelings, emotions and expressions. The price is £25 +VAT from Brilliant Computing. 6.6 • Smudge the Spaniel − This consists of three educational programs from Storm Educational Software aimed at Maths and English for children aged 4 to 8 years. This involves early learners in counting, reading, writing and ordering. One of the programs reinforces addition and subtraction and should encourage language development. The programs have options to suit a range of ages and abilities. The price is £25.99 inclusive from Storm or £24 through Archive. 6.6 • Squish − This is a transparent sprite compactor designed for use with existing applications. It is aimed at publishers who are running out of disc space or want to speed up sprite loading. This is designed for use by software developers or “technically aware” users. For more details, contact Ian Sowden of Honeypot. 6.6 • Stock Pack − Topologika have produced a content-free stock control and simple accounting pack aimed at education − secondary or F.E. levels. Handle 450 products and 250 customers − and make sure you get the VAT correct. This costs £40 +VAT from Topologika or £43 through Archive. 6.6 • Teletext on AUN networks − XOB have produced a version of their Teletext serving software which is AUN compatible. It runs from a Morley Teletext adaptor and provides Teletext access to all machines on the network, Ethernet or Econet, across bridges and through gateways. The cost of the site licence is £154 +VAT from XOB. 6.6 • TextAid − Rheingold Enterprises’ utilities for manipulating text which can be used alongside other RISC-OS packages has grown in scope and (slightly) in price. It is now £12.95 inclusive from Rheingold Enterprises or £12 through Archive. (We have a long and favourable review which we hope to fit in next month’s magazine. It does seem to offer a wide range of facilities − which is why we have added it to the Archive Price List. Ed) 6.6 • The Spoken Word − This is a new educational package from Wyddfa Software aimed at National Curriculum AT 1 and 21 at level 1. It aims to encourage an understanding of the spoken word and to stimulate an interest in reading. The child can produce bright pictures, the colours being shown with their written names and different objects can be selected from their written names and/or from an outline drawing. The computer responds aloud by naming both the chosen colour and the object. The software costs £20 inclusive from Wyddfa Software. 6.6 • Ultimate Expansion Confusion − HCCS’s Ultimate Expansion System is very impressive but a little confusing to work out what’s what. We didn’t help by introducing a couple of mistakes into the information we gave. (Our excuse is that the article was produced at very high speed after the BETT Show.) First of all, we got the pricing of the Starter Packs wrong on the Price List − that wasn’t too difficult to spot because the prices of the micropodules were quoted as being identical to the Starter Packs. The Archive prices were correct in the article, viz: HiVision Starter Pack £166, Laser Express Starter Pack £300 and SCSI Starter Pack £133. 6.6 However, what the article did get wrong was the description of what you actually get in a Starter Pack. i.e. you get the micropodule plus a power supply and fan, as stated, but you also get the multipodule to put it onto − so it really is very good value for money (although HCCS say these are introductory prices). If you take the SCSI podule, for example, and add up the micropodule plus multipodule plus p.s.u., it comes to an Archive price of £110 + £43 + £33 = £186. Compare that to the Pack price of £133 and you see that you get a £53 saving! 6.6 Please note too that you MUST tell us which model of computer you are putting the podules into as the Starter Packs are different for A3000, A3010, A3020, A4000 and ‘the rest’. Also, because there are so many different permutations and combinations, we cannot guarantee to hold them all in stock, so the turn-around for orders may not be up to our usual (hopefully high) standard. If you are in a rush, you will have to forego the Archive discount and go direct to HCCS. 6.6 • Used floppy discs − We have a large number of used floppy discs, some of which have hardly ever been used, e.g. PD discs that had the wrong label on. We have reformatted them and are making them available for charity at £20 for 50 discs. 6.6 • Ace Printer Drivers − To clarify the situation about the different drivers available, here is a list of the two types, Standard and ProDriver, with notes on which work on RISC-OS 2 and 3. The Pro-Drivers work on RISC-OS 3 only. 6.7 Ace RISC-OS Standard Printer Drivers 6.7 (Archive price £17 each) 6.7 Canon PJ1080A (RISC-OS 2 only) 6.7 Canon LBP4/8 (RISC-OS 3 only) 6.7 ColourCel (RISC-OS 2 only) 6.7 Epson JX compatible (RISC-OS 2 only) 6.7 Epson ESC-P2 (RISC-OS 3 only) 6.7 HP DJ500C/550C/PaintJet (RISC-OS 2 & 3) 6.7 Ace RISC-OS 3 ProDrivers (RISC-OS 2 only) 6.7 (Archive price £44 each) 6.7 Canon LBP4/8 6.7 Epson ESC-P2 6.7 HP DJ500C/550C/PaintJet 6.7 Shell for Acorn printer drivers (ProDriver A1 upgrade) (Archive price £27) 6.7 (Epson ESC-P2 refers to Epson’s newest printer code standard so it applies to Epson’s latest printers such as the Stylus 800. It is downwards compatible so it can be used with all Epson compatible printers within the limitations of the facilities of each given printer.) 6.7 • Advance is Acorn’s new integrated software suite. It runs on RISC-OS 3.1 machines (1Mb or more) and provides word-processor, spreadsheet, database and graphs package. The WP has some DTP-like facilities as well as the usual WP facilities, including a 60,000 word spell-checker, and can, of course, take output from the other programs in the suite. 6.7 Advance is aimed particularly at education and Acorn have involved some educationalists in the development of the suite. (You may see a certain similarity between these programs and existing applications because Advance was a joint effort between CC, Clares, CRM, Iota and Acorn.) 6.7 The pricing is fairly complex. The single user version is £99 +VAT (£105 through Archive), the site licence for primary schools is £199 +VAT (£215 through Archive) and the secondary school site licence is £499 +VAT (£520 through Archive). By Acorn’s definition, primary includes special needs schools but all other schools, including middle schools, will have to pay the secondary school price. 6.7 Acorn also do an Off-site Disc Pack for £99 +VAT (£105 through Archive). This is a set of ten key discs, allowing pupils and staff to use Advance on their computers at home. However, it may only be purchased by schools with a licence. 6.7 • Badger Trails price increase − Sherston Software have increased the price of Badger Trails from £35 to £39.95 +VAT. The Archive price is now £44. 6.7 • Budget games − David Ramsden’s Arcade, which is a set of four RISC-OS arcade games costing £5.95 (no VAT), is now also available as four separate games at £1.99 each from David Ramsden, 7 Chevet Lane, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, WF2 6HN. The games are Chomper, Intruders, RockSmash and Armageddon. 6.7 • Bulletin is a bulletin board system from XOB for use over Econet. It provides the usual bulletin board services including electronic mail, special interest groups and closed user groups. This fully RISC-OS compliant software runs on any Archimedes, supports up to 1,500 users and comes with a site/network licence for £69 +VAT from XOB or £75 through Archive. 6.7 • Dabhand Guide to Impression − Anne Rooney has written a 400+ page guide to Impression with 23 chapters attempting to cover all aspects of using Impression from getting Impression installed on your computer to the finer points of using the Impression Business Supplement. It costs £14.95 through Dabs Press or £15 (including postage) through Archive. 6.7 • DrawHelp − This isn’t a new product but it is a helpful introduction to Draw, produced by Sherston Software. As we are now stocking their products, it is available through Archive for £15. (£15.95 through Sherston.) It was written for the RISC-OS 2 version of Draw but serves as an introduction to the RISC-OS 3 version as well, even though it doesn’t cover the newer features. 6.7 • Epson Stylus 800 − A new inkjet printer has been released by Epson. It seems comparable with the Canon BJ200 but the ink doesn’t seem to run as much on cheap paper so it gives a crisper printout. It can be driven from standard RISC-OS drivers but, for best effect, use the Ace Pro- Driver. The Archive price is £330 or £370 if bought with the Pro-Driver. This compares with the Canon BJ200 at £355 on its own or £393 with the CC Turbo-Driver. 6.7 • FirstLogo − Longman Logotron have produced a version of Logo for use with primary schools children. It aims to provide an environment where children can experience computer-based problem-solving as required by the National Curriculum. The price is £24 +VAT from Longman Logotron (or £26 through Archive) for a single user or £72 +VAT (£78 through Archive) for a primary site licence. 6.7 • Graphics on the ARM − This is a new book by Roger Amos − a 400+ page guide to various aspects of graphics on the Archimedes range of computers. It covers such things as fonts, Draw, Vector, 3D graphics, Paint, art packages, image processing, ray-tracing, animation and mathematical and abstract graphics. It costs £14.95 through Dabs Press or £15 (inc postage) through Archive. 6.7 • HCCS 16-bit SCSI cards − HCCS sell a 16-bit SCSI card which includes full support for CD-ROM. These cost £99 +VAT or £110 inclusive through Archive. 6.7 • IronMask 2.0 Multi-User Edition − IronMask 2.00 is a major upgrade of Turing Tools RISC-OS file security system, providing password-controlled access to important files and directories. IronMask 2.0 supports up to 63 PIN identified users plus an administrative superuser. The superuser is identified at installation and is responsible for adding and removing subsequent users. Any signed-on user has the ability to “shield” or “unshield” files by means of a private key. Shielded files are completely inaccessible to file-handling operations until they are unshielded using the original key. Automatic time-out guards an unattended IronMask session from opportunist entry. 6.7 IronMask 2.0 Multi-User Edition is available from Turing Tools for £65 (inclusive) for installation on one computer or £195 (inclusive) for unlimited use on a single site. Educational site licences are available at a discount, available by individual arrangement. 6.7 IronMask 1.2 continues to be available as IronMask 1.2 Personal Edition, at the reduced price of £49 inclusive. IronMask 1 customers can upgrade to IronMask 2.0 for £10 on application to Turing Tools. 6.7 • Memory upgrades down − HCCS have reduced the prices of their memory upgrades for the new A3000/4000 computers. A 1Mb upgrade for the A3010 is now just £35 inc VAT through Archive and the 2Mb upgrades for A3020/ 4000 are £70 inc VAT through Archive. 6.7 • MIDI files − A company called Words & Music has translated a large number of MIDI files into Archimedes format. There are three volumes of classical music, one of ragtime music and one of drum tracks. The discs are £10.95 each (no VAT) or you can buy all five discs for £48.75. 6.7 • NetChat − NetChat is a network communication system providing machine to machine interaction over Acorn networks. Amongst other things, it allows users to communicate with each other by a conferencing system which provides for simultaneous conversations between several users. Messages may be typed directly into a ‘conversation window’ or pre- prepared text files may be sent by simply dragging them onto the NetChat icon. The core NetChat module also allows files, applications and complete directories to be passed between machines even in the absence of a fileserver. 6.7 There are also facilities that allow the keyboard of one machine to control directly a remote machine or to allow operating system commands to be sent to a remote machine, permitting modules and programs to be run on one machine from another machine. You can also get a snapshot view of another computer’s screen. To show the realtime interaction, there is an Othello game played by users on different machines. 6.7 A site licence for NetChat costs £84 +VAT or £92 through Archive. 6.7 • NetManage − A new piece of software has appeared from Australia which will be of great help to Network Managers. NetManage, from Suitable Software, is a network management tool for use on AUN over Econet or Ethernet. It allows you to create and maintain user password files on Acorn’s Level 3, Filestore and Level 4 fileservers. The price is £50 (no VAT) from Suitable Software in the U.K. or $125 in Australia. 6.7 • On-site warranty − Acorn offer on-site service and warranty on all their new computers: A3010, A3020, A4000 and A5000. You can choose 1- year or 3-year warranties and the cost depends on the type of computer and whether or not it has a hard drive. The Acorn monitor you purchased at the same time is included in the warranty. These warranties have to be purchased at the time of purchase of the computer or within 30-days thereafter. The prices are: 1-year A5000 − £39.95 (£37 through Archive), 1-year A3010/3020/4000 £29.95 (£28 through Archive), 3-year A5000 − £79.95 (£74 through Archive), 3-year A3020HD and A4000 £59.95 (£60 through Archive) and 3-year A3010 and A3020FD £49.95 (£46 through Archive). 6.7 • Optima is NW SEMERC’s new hypermedia database. It allows users to link words, pictures and sounds so that you can create talking books, branching stories, adventures and viewdata systems. It costs £18 +VAT from NW SEMERC. 6.7 • Parallel port SCSI adaptor − Atomwide have produced a SCSI adaptor which plugs into the bidirectional printer port of the new machines. The price is £49.95 +VAT (£55 through Archive). See Hardware Column on page 55 for details. 6.7 • Phases 3 − NW SEMERC have released the latest version of their RISC-OS word-processor for children aged 5 upwards. With its extra facilities, Phases 3 still only costs £18 +VAT. 6.7 • Pocket Book / Psion 3 products − We have increased our range of products for the Pocket Book and reduced the prices of some of the memory products. 6.7 Acorn Archive 6.7 Parallel Link £29.95 £28 6.7 RAM Disc 128Kb £79.95 £74 6.7 RAM Disc 512Kb − £138 6.7 RAM Disc 1Mb − £278 6.7 Flash Disc 128Kb − £37 6.7 Flash Disc 256Kb £69.95 £65 6.7 Flash Disc 512Kb £119.95 £93 6.7 Flash Disc 1Mb − £185 6.7 Flash Disc 2Mb − £278 6.7 OPL Editor £69.95 £65 6.7 Mains Adaptor £14.95 £15 6.7 • RiscCAD Junior is a 2D draughting system which provides a wide range of draughting facilities, all working in the RISC-OS environment. The Junior version of RiscCAD is available now for £80 +VAT from Davyn Software. A Professional version should be available by the time you read this and will cost £130 +VAT. 6.7 • S-Base is Longman Logotron’s exciting new database. It is not just a straight database but has a database language called S (what else?) which allows you to write your own procedures and mini-programs using an Edit-like editor for program editing. S-Base comes with a template editor, with Draw-like tools for creating the layout of your databases. It can handle a range of data types including integer, FP, string, date, time and you can even define your own data types. It can also handle large objects like sprites or Replay files. The personal version costs £99 +VAT (£105 through Archive) and the developer’s version costs £199 +VAT (£215 through Archive). With the developer’s version, you can create databases which can be compiled and then, once compiled, can be run independently of S-Base. The resultant databases cannot be edited but they come with a royalty-free version of the S runtime system, so you can give away or sell the database as you wish. 6.7 (We are hoping to use S-Base to create an all-singing, all-dancing database for the Archive office and we hope to install it on the network as soon as the S-Base network version becomes available! We are certainly going to need an S-Base Column in Archive. Is anyone interested in running it for us? Ed) 6.7 • Serenade is a desktop MIDI sequencer from Clares. It provides 16-track record and playback, keyboard capture, transpose, quantise, full editing facilities, guitar chord input, etc. Serenade costs £135 inc VAT or £125 through Archive. 6.7 • SideShow is a video-titling package from Computer Concepts distributed with the Wild Vision Chroma-Genlocks. It functions around Draw and thereby acts as a medium for overlaying drawn objects, sprites and/or text onto video. It offers sequencing of screens with blanking, looping and scrolling. It will not be sold as a stand-alone package but existing owners of Chroma-Genlock boards can upgrade their ChromaText software free of charge through Wild Vision if they do so before 30th June 1993. The Chroma-Genlock package costs £259.68 including VAT and carriage or £240 through Archive. 6.7 • SyQuest removable drives − There is now an alternative version of the SyQuest 84Mb removable drive. The older versions would read 42Mb discs but could not write them but the new drives can read and write both sizes of discs. This is a great bonus to anyone who is likely to want to exchange data between sites. The new drives will cost £670 instead of £590 for the older version. 6.7 • Teletext on AUN networks − XOB’s Teletext serving software, mentioned last month, is now available through Archive for £169. 6.7 • Ultimate Expansion expansion − The range of HCCS’s Ultimate Expansion system is increasing − and dropping in price. There is now a User Port/ Analogue Port Starter Pack for £79 +VAT (£88 through Archive). The A3010 20M Ultimate 2-slot multipodule has dropped from £303 to £250 (Archive price) and the 60M Ultimate 2-slot multipodule has dropped from £445 to £335 (Archive price). The SCSI starter Pack has dropped from £133 (Archive) to £100 and the Archive price of the SCSI micropodule has dropped from £110 to £77. 6.7 • WordSearch − If you want to make up a word-square (words hidden in various directions within a matrix of letters) then Davyn Software can make life easier for you. For £17 +VAT, they offer WordSearch which takes an Edit file of words and creates a word-square for you. 6.7 • 10 Out of 10 Early Essentials − Following on from 10/10 Maths and 10/ 10 English, 4th Dimension have produced 10 out of 10 Early Essentials which is for the under 7’s and provides programs that develop concepts of shape and colour, numbers, alphabet, science, tables and bonds, logic, algebra, time, properties and words. All this for only £25.95 or £24 through Archive! 6.8 • Acorn Multimedia Expansion Unit − This is a metal unit containing a CD-ROM drive but with space for a second drive unit. It comes either with or without a SCSI interface and the interface is either an 8-bit internal podule for A3000/4000 machines or a 16-bit standard-width podule for other Archimedes computers. The prices are £599 +VAT with a SCSI interfaces and £499 +VAT without. (The dealer margin on these is very small, so the Archive prices are not discounted − £590 and £705 including VAT and carriage.) 6.8 If you have your own SCSI card, you need to be sure that it has the CDFS included and that it is at least version 2.13. Also, this version of CDFS need RISC OS version 3.10 or later. 6.8 The cabling on the unit is long enough to put it alongside the computer or you could put it on top of or underneath the computer, subject to a maximum loading of 16kg. 6.8 The unit will take two internal SCSI devices. One of them must be a 3½“ unit, entirely enclosed, and the other a 5¼” half-height unit with an external fascia or a 3½“ in a 5¼” cradle. Having an external fascia allows for the use of removable media such as SyQuests or magneto- optical devices although some of the MO units are physically too long to fit in the case. 6.8 If you want a power amplifier for the sound output, this can also be fitted internally. 6.8 You should note, however, that the internal p.s.u. will only have enough spare capacity for ONE unit in addition to the CD-ROM, i.e. one extra drive or a power amplifier. Also, if you add an extra unit, you will need to fit a fan − for which space and fitting points are provided. 6.8 • Acorn Options − This is a scheme by which schools and colleges can obtain Acorn computers on a rental scheme. Capital expenditure is tight, so this scheme provides a way of getting hold of the latest in computer technology without large up-front payments. Acorn Authorised Education Dealers such as Norwich Computer Services can supply Acorn computer equipment and the educational establishments pay a quarterly rental over three or five years. At the end of that period, it may be possible for schools to maintain title of the equipment but the terms have still to be finalised. In any case, considering the rate at which technology moves on, it might be better to think in terms of a three or five year replacement cycle for computers. It is also possible to add more equipment to the rental scheme as the years go by. For more details, ring Norwich Computer Services’ education hot-line. 6.8 • Archive binders − More price rises, I’m afraid! The latest batch of binders have gone up in price, so we are now having to charge £6 each. (Does anyone know of a manufacturer we can try who might be cheaper? Ed.) 6.8 “These binders are too small!” We have been told that, with the ever- increasing thickness of the Archive magazines, people are having difficulty fitting them into the binders! Admittedly, it is getting more difficult to fit them in but it is often because people are not fitting them correctly. The idea is that only the front and back magazines have their rods fitted into the holes. The other ten rods should be put into the slot. The only reason they have so many holes is so that you can use different holes during the course of the year as the binder fills up. 6.8 • Archive Monthly Program Discs − For the benefit of new-comers to Archive, let me explain about the monthly program discs. These discs contain any of the data which contributors send in each month that are relevant to their articles. For example, last month we included a list (contributed by Rob Brown) of items of software that were or were not compatible with RISC OS 3. If there is not much material that needs to go on the disc, in a given month, we try to find some PD software or some other useful information that we can add ourselves. 6.8 If there is a particular month’s disc that you want to buy, they are available at £2 a disc. You can order these discs in advance, again at £2 each or at £20 for a full year, i.e. 12 discs. 6.8 • ArtSchool − This is a painting program for new computer users. Drawing tools can be temporarily excluded by a teacher or parent using a separate program so that the user is not confused by too many icons. It has a built-in help facility and, for the more advanced user, the 256 colour modes can be used with graduated fills and cycling colours. The price is £29.95 inc VAT from Micro Studio or £28 through Archive. 6.8 • BattleChess from Krisalis Software is a chess game with a difference. As well as being able to play chess against a human opponent or against the computer, you get the benefit of some very impressive animation sequences when a piece is taken. The price is £25.99 inc VAT from Krisalis or £24 through Archive. 6.8 • Careware and Shareware − This month we have two new Careware discs and three new Shareware discs. The graphics conversion utilities on Careware 19 have grown somewhat so that the statistics routines have had to be transferred onto Careware 20. If you want an update of Careware 19, just send the old disc back. 6.8 Careware 20 − SkyView v1.01 is an excellent ‘sky simulation’ program by Nigel Hawkes for use by the naked eye astronomer. Any part of the night sky can be examined and information is available on most celestial objects. Also on the disc is the suite of stand-alone statistical utilities written in Basic by Bob Richards, listed in Archive 6.5 p4 as being part of Careware 19. 6.8 Careware 21 consists of clipart produced by Steve and Anne Bruntlett − various drawfiles on a religious theme plus some scanned drawings. 6.8 Shareware 48 is a demo version of !G-Draft 1.0, a 2D CAD package including various example CAD drawings and some symbol libraries. 6.8 Shareware 49 has various graphical demos in Basic, a suite of desktop utilities, some Draw utilities for PCB layout work, a ‘presentation’ utility to display multiple drawfiles in succession, a desktop utility to calculate ‘best-fit’ data, an excellent 2D graphing tool allowing multiple graphs to be built up using text file data, a useful desktop mathematics/learning tool covering bar graphs, Euclidean algorithms, factorization, fractions, greatest common divisor, least common multiple and prime number search. 6.8 Shareware 50 contains ProTrack and associated files from Gil Damoiseaux & Bernard Jungen. This utility allows SoundTracker and ProTracker files to be played. It includes several facilities for monitoring and modifying the tunes. 6.8 • Christian clipart − Ian Gooding has a range of about 30 discs of Christian clipart in sprite, drawfile and Artworks formats. The discs are £7.99 each plus £2.50 p&p per order. For a full catalogue, write to Ian Gooding, 18 Larksfield, Covingham, Swindon, SN3 5AD. 6.8 • Courses Galore − You can now combine computer training courses with some site-seeing in a beautiful part of the U.K. − the Norfolk Broads. Norwich Computer Services is going to be putting on some training courses here in Norwich. You can choose the type and price of your own accommodation from a list (which we will provide) of hotels and guest houses as well as camping and caravan sites. 6.8 We are hoping to start this summer, but what we need to know fairly urgently, is: 6.8 (1) What subjects should we cover? Applications such as Impression, PipeDream, PinPoint, PenDown, Vector, Squirrel, S-Base, PC Emulator, Revelation, Magpie, etc? Beginners courses, e.g. Introducing RISC OS? Programming, e.g. BBC Basic V or C or WIMP Programming? 6.8 (2) How long should the courses be and when? e.g. mid-week or weekend? How about a Bank Holiday weekend with course work on Saturday and Monday, leaving Sunday as a day of rest? 6.8 Tell us what you want and we will see what we can arrange for you. 6.8 • DataPower, Iota Software’s new ‘easy-to-use’ database, is available now. It is RISC OS compliant, uses outline fonts and has features which include unlimited length of field, unlimited number of fields in a record, unlimited number of views of a database, has multi-line text field-type which accepts an unlimited amount of text. It offers mailmerge and WYSIWYG labelling. It offers a range of graphing facilities and can be used over a network. The price is £149 +VAT (£160 through Archive) for a single user, £347 +VAT (£375 through Archive) for a site licence for up to 10 machines and £599 +VAT (£650 through Archive) for an unrestricted site licence. 6.8 • Double-life ink cassettes − We are now stocking double-life black ink cassettes for the Deskjet 500s. Standard cassettes are £18 and double- life are £25. (We haven’t tested them, so we cannot guarantee that “double” actually means what it says!) 6.8 • Eizo prices up again − Because of the strength of the Yen against the Pound, monitor prices are going up again. The 9060SZ is now £600 (these are also in short supply), the F340i-W is £720, the F550i-W is £1020, the T560iT is £1560 and the T660iT is £2260. The Taxan 795 has also gone up in price to £640. 6.8 • Ethernet interfaces − EtherLan 100 is an A3000 version of i³’s EtherLan 200 interface. The EtherLan 100 costs £220 +VAT although there are educational prices. Ring i³ for details. 6.8 • FontWay is a font managing application from XOB (which works only with RISC OS 3.10 onwards). This allows you to set up pre-selected sets of fonts and add and subtract fonts easily. It also gives you a font- viewing window. It costs £16 +VAT from XOB or £18 through Archive for a single user licence. A site licence is £64 +VAT from XOB or £72 through Archive. 6.8 (Keeps your eyes peeled for an extremely powerful font filing system that should be available soon from another software house. It even allows you to drop an Impression or Artworks document, for example, into its window and it will automatically select and load the fonts needed! It sounds too good to be true! Ed.) 6.8 • Karma − We have had some enquiries recently about the progress of Karma. We are extremely sorry to have to report the death of one of the two programmers, Rick Delarre, in a motorcycle accident recently. We do not yet know how this will affect the future of the project but if we get any further news, we will let you know. We would like to express our sincere condolences to Rick’s family and friends. 6.8 • Knowledge Organiser 2 − Clares have released an updated version of their Knowledge Organiser which is a free-form text database. Clares describe it as being “relational” and say that the search engine is “more powerful than any yet seen”. The price is £99.95 inc VAT or £93 through Archive. 6.8 I have had a chance to play with KO II and am writing a review of it for the magazine. It seems to be an extremely versatile and powerful application and I am hoping to use it to create and distribute an Archimedes hints & tips database. Clares are providing us with a licence so that we can distribute the read-only version of KO II with the hints & tips database − watch this space! Ed. 6.8 • Microvitec Cubscan 1440 − Microvitec have now produced a 14“ multisync monitor aimed at the Archimedes market. It has the same resolution as the Eizo 9060 with dot pitch of 0.28mm and scans from 15 to 40 kHz but it is rather cheaper. The Eizo 9060 has just gone up to £600 whereas the Cubscan 1440 will sell at an Archive price of £480. The scanning range is slightly higher at 40kHz compared to the 9060’s 38.5 kHz but it shouldn’t make much practical difference. It also has the advantage over the 9060 of having electronically control picture positioning. It senses the different signals that come in and sets up the screen to a preset position which you can program into it. These presets only apply to the size and position of the picture and not to the huge range of parameters that can be preset on all the Eizo monitors from the F340iW upwards. 6.8 If it costs £120 less than a 9060 and has electronic position control, are the days of the 9060 numbered? Well, we put the Cubscan 1440 next to a 9060 to compare them. First of all, although the dot pitch is supposed to be the same, the 9060 is definitely clearer when viewing small text and secondly, we feel that the styling of the Cubscan leaves a lot to be desired − but that is obviously a lot more subjective than the picture clarity. Also, the control of the Cubscan has no audible or tactile feedback − you just press a button and watch the screen shrink or grow. Is the 9060 worth £120 more? Hmmm, it’s difficult to say − I think it is too much of an individual decision to make any general pronouncement about it. 6.8 • NetChat − This is a real-time electronic mail and peer-to-peer file- space sharer, mentioned last month as being available from Archive for £92. What we forgot to say was that it was produced by XOB − sorry about that! 6.8 • NetGain for Ethernet − Digital Services have launched a new product that speeds up loading times on Level 4 Fileservers using Ethernet. Data rates can be increased markedly and application loading times correspondingly reduced. This costs £200 for the server pack and the first ten machines. Additional 10 station packs are £100 +VAT from Digital Services. 6.8 • North Sea is the latest curriculum datafile from Anglia Television. For £22 +VAT, you get a 28-page workbook and a datafile disc. This is for use with KeyPlus version 2.5 or later. 6.8 • PassMan IV − This is XOB’s password management software. It provides facilities on Level IV fileservers to view and set users’ passwords, boot option, free space, etc. PassMan IV costs £49 +VAT from XOB or £54 through Archive. 6.8 • PC386/486 cards for A3020/4000 − Acorn are now selling PC cards for the A3020 and A4000 computers. The costs are £275 +VAT (£310 through Archive) for the 1Mb PC386 and £499 +VAT (£560 through Archive) for the 4Mb PC486 card. (In case you are wondering, these cards are supplied to Acorn by Aleph One − there is still no sign of the long-lost Watford Electronics’ PC card.) The 486 price includes the Windows driver software which speeds up Windows applications. 6.8 • !Perform − This is a utility, normally supplied with Clares’ VoxBox, which allows up to twelve Rhapsody scores to be played in sequence. Clares have very kindly released it into the public domain and it is available on this month’s program disc. 6.8 • ProCAD − This is the professional version of Minerva’s CADet 2D draughting package. Facilities include multiple drawings, fast zoom and pan, 32 layers, BS308 automatic dimensioning, ruled line and graphic fills, user-designed symbols, multiple line types, four plottable fonts, bill of material type reports, roll-back undo, on-the-fly snaps, import/ export of DXF, advanced construction tools, CSV import, multitasking plotter driver. The single user price is £495 +VAT (£535 through Archive) and a site licence for up to 30 machines is £1580 +VAT from Minerva. 6.8 • QuickType is a touch-typing tutor that allows the teacher to set up exercises tailored to the pupils rather than being limited to the exercises specified by the programmer. This costs £32 +VAT from XOB or £35 through Archive. A site licence is £99 +VAT from XOB or £108 through Archive. 6.8 • RemoteFS is now available. Atomwide’s inter-computer communication software was described by Brian Cowan last month (Archive 6.7 p55). It is now available for £49 +VAT or £53 through Archive. For that price, you get the software plus a serial lead and a parallel lead although you should remember that the parallel lead will only work on the newer computers with the bidirectional parallel port (A5000/4000/3020/3010). The serial cable will work on all Archimedes computers although the A3000 must have a serial port upgrade fitted (£21 through Archive). 6.8 • Removable drive price up − The price of 42Mb removable drive has followed the general upward trend of imported goods. The new Archive price is £485. The cartridges are still £75 each and the 84Mb drives remain at the price stated last month of £590 for the standard drive and £670 for the enhanced version that writes as well as reads the 42Mb cartridges. 6.8 • Sherston software prices up − There has been a small across-the-board rise in prices of all Sherston’s software. New prices are as per the Archive Price List. 6.8 • SimCity − Krisalis Software have produced an Archimedes version of this famous city-simulation game. It is claimed to be the best-selling computer game ever with sales in excess of half a million copies worldwide! The price is £34.99 inc VAT from Krisalis or £32 through Archive. 6.8 • SUMthing − From the same author as Droom and Dust comes SUMthing, a maths program with a difference. Thee six different programs in the pack involving placing numbers in order, number sentences, reading numbers, digital roots and number bonds. It can be set up for the individual’s particular level within National Curriculum levels 2 to 4 and the pupil’s work is recorded for the teacher to check later. It is aimed at Maths AT2 & 3 at Key Stage 1 & 2. It costs £19.95 +VAT from RESOURCE or £22 through Archive. 6.8 • SuperMon II is XOB’s Network Manager’s utility which allows you to monitor and control remote stations. It lists logged-on users and stations, opens any directory on the network, has a digital clock, calculator, protect facility. With it you can log off selected stations, halt and restart stations, view and/or blank remote station’s screens, send text messages, force commands on remote machines and zap (irreversibly!) software running in a remote machine. SuperMon II is £89 +VAT from XOB or £98 through Archive. 6.8 • Switch − This is a new game from Soft Rock Software (whose motto is “software on a shoestring”!) costing just £3.49 inclusive. It is “best described as an on-going puzzle”. From the description, it sounds like a glorified Tetris. 6.8 • TechnoDream is here − What was going to be Nevryon 2 has now appeared as TechnoDream published by Superior Software. The price is £24.95 or £23 from Archive. 6.8 • Topographer − Dave Clare writes, “Due to the tragic death of Ricky Delarre, Clares Micro Supplies have delayed the release of Topographer. The Clares team found working with Ricky a very rewarding experience. He was a very professional programmer who took a pride in his work. 6.8 Topographer was literally hours away from being finished. It is a reflection of Ricky’s popularity that his colleague, Ian Robinson, has immediately stepped in to complete Topographer so that it can be released as a fitting tribute to Ricky. 6.8 He will be missed by all at Clares, and his death is a great loss to everyone in the Acorn world as well as to his family and his wife, Jayne.” 6.8 • A3000 rechargeable batteries − There seems to have been a world shortage of A3000 rechargeable batteries. They are needed because some of these batteries do fail in course of time. We have some available now at £7 each. 6.9 • A3000 cases − We also have a few complete A3000 plastic cases − upper and lower parts − but with no sticky labels on them. They are available from Archive, while stocks last, for £20 per complete case. 6.9 • A3020 Discovery Pack − Acorn have just launched a new computer package aimed at Primary schools. The idea is to provide a system that teachers can plug in, switch on and go! It includes software pre-installed on the hard drive, instructions for beginners to RISC OS and curriculum material and guidance on classroom use. The idea is that even teachers who consider themselves complete beginners or who are currently only familiar with BBC Bs and Masters can have confidence to get started with a 32-bit system and the best and most up-to-date software. 6.9 The package consists of an A3020 with hard drive plus Acorn’s Advance (WP/spreadsheet/database/graphing − see the review on page 33); Sherston’s Crystal Rainforest which is an adventure simulation and Logo application (see 6.2 p58); Longman’s Magpie multimedia authoring system (see 6.5 p71) incorporating Acorn’s Replay full motion video utility; two primary fonts and an application to re-size the mouse pointer. There is also a Magpie application installed on the hard drive which introduces the user to the Discovery system and to Acorn’s education support network. It includes a couple of Replay video clips. 6.9 The pack also includes teacher support materials which introduce the software and offer practical advice to teachers on integrating IT into standard classroom activities. The guide includes project frameworks and examples of children’s work produced using the software in the Discovery Pack. It also includes appendices covering the National Curriculum in England and the Scottish 5−14 Curriculum, mapping the software in the Pack to curriculum targets. 6.9 You also get a heat-sensitive mouse mat which reveals hidden pictures (the mind boggles!), an audio training tape introducing the desktop environment and the use of the operating system, a two-year academic wall-planner, a copy of the educational software/hardware directory and vouchers giving discounts on educational software and peripherals from eight companies who specialise in primary education. 6.9 The price is £1149 +VAT = £1350 including a standard resolution monitor but as an introductory offer, Archive subscribers can have a multisync monitor instead for an extra £30. 6.9 • A5000 fan quietener − If you are fed up with the noise of the A5000 fan, here is the answer. There is now an A5000 version of Ray Maidstone’s famous fan quietener. They are £21 through Archive. 6.9 • A540 RAM price down − The bad news is that Atomwide are no longer supplying 4Mb RAM upgrades for the A540 (they were much cheaper than Acorn’s version). The good news is that Acorn have dropped the price of their RAM upgrade. They are now £299 inc VAT or £280 through Archive. 6.9 • Acorn Education Directory − Acorn and APA Multimedia have combined to make the Education Directory available as a CD-ROM. The directory gives a listing of the huge range of software and hardware available for Acorn 32-bit computers. The CD-ROM costs £29 +VAT from APA Multimedia Ltd and this price includes a site licence. 6.9 • Acorn Multimedia Units − Just to say that although they were supposed to be available when we mentioned them last month, they didn’t quite make it. Anyway, we now have them in stock. 6.9 • Acorn multisync monitors − To clear stocks, we are selling Acorn AKF18 multisync monitors at £270. (We sold quite a lot of them last month but still have a few left − give us a ring if you are interested.) 6.9 If you want to buy a multisync at the same time as an A3010, A3020 or A4000, you can have it for the price of standard resolution monitor (again, while stocks last). 6.9 To use the AKF18 with pre-A5000 computers, we advise using a VIDC enhancer (available once again through Archive − see page 10) and the software on Careware 18. 6.9 • Almanac − This is a Desktop Organiser from Stallion Software. It features dairy events, anniversaries, job scheduler, correspondence logging, address book, linking between entries and filtering. Almanac costs £60 (+£2 p&p) +VAT from Stallion Software. 6.9 • Annual Service Kit − I thought it would be good to remind owners of A310/410/420/440 machines about changing fan filters and batteries. There are two reasons for the reminder. The first is that I have just discovered that if your batteries give up the ghost, when RISC OS 3 tries to start up, it will fail the start-up test and you will think your computer has suffered some terminal illness. Secondly, Acorn have just increased the dealer price of the fan filters by 273% (yes, the new price is 3.73 times the old price)! So when our current stock is finished, we will have to increase the price of the annual service kits (fan filter + batteries) from £3 to £6! (I think it would be better to buy the batteries from your local shop and vacuum your existing fan filter and wash it in a mild soapy solution. Ed.) 6.9 • Archive Arcscan files − Readers may not be aware that if you have a copy of ArcScan III from Beebug (£14 through Archive) you can buy a copy of our Shareware Disc 7 which has the (virtually) up-to-date files for the six volumes of Archive magazine. These files have been prepared faithfully, month by month for many years now by Eric Ayers, one of our longer-standing Archive readers. Thanks very much, Eric! 6.9 We have been asked why we don’t put the ArcScan files on the monthly program disc every month. This is partly because Eric needs time to prepare them. The magazine is finalised and goes to the printers on a Tuesday, the Price List is finished and goes to the printers on the Thursday, (I collapse in a heap on Friday) and the magazine goes out to subscribers on the Tuesday so there isn’t a lot of time to get the ArcScan files prepared! We do put updates on the monthly disc every now and then when there is enough space. However, at any time, you can send in your Shareware 7 disc and have it updated with the latest Arcscan files − a pound for admin would be appreciated but isn’t obligatory. 6.9 • ArcScan III − Risc Developments’ database now has datafiles for all Acorn’s manuals, including the RISC OS 3 PRM and also Acorn’s DDE and the Fortran compiler documentation. ArcScan III is £12.81 +VAT or £14 through Archive. 6.9 • Arcventure III − The Vikings − Sherston Software have released their educational package aimed at 7−11 year olds who are studying the Vikings. The children join a simulated archaeological dig at Coppergate in York (Jorvik). The price is £31.95 +VAT from Sherston or £35 through Archive. 6.9 • ARM3 price drop − We still have some of the ARM3’s (for the pre-A5000 computers) that do not have a socket for a floating-point accelerator chip so we are selling them off at £180 each (while stocks last). If you want one fitted into an A3000, it costs £265 but that includes the cost of collecting your computer, removing the ARM2, mounting a socket, putting in the ARM3 and sending it back to you. 6.9 • AutoCopy − Anyone having to copy large numbers of discs will be pleased to hear about Look System’s latest product − AutoCopy. This is a multitasking application for use with our Xpress autoloaders (see overleaf for special offer) or the new budget autoloaders (also see overleaf) or with the Ventuno copiers that we used to supply. It will copy a large range of disc formats, e.g. DFS, ADFS, MS-DOS, etc. 6.9 There are four copy modes which allow AutoCopy to cater for a wide variety of disc duplicating needs. These are source copying (one master disc, many copies), backup copying (many master discs, many copies), image copying (one disc image, many copies) and batch copying (many disc images, many copies) − a disc image is a copy of a master disc which has already been read into memory or stored on another medium such as a hard drive. If required, disc images can be compressed when memory is limited. 6.9 When discs are copied, they are formatted, copied and verified in a single pass to improve the speed of throughput. However, if quality assurance is the most importance factor, discs can also be verified in a second pass. 6.9 If required, Archimedes disc ID’s can be updated and user functions that are written in Basic can also be added to extend AutoCopy’s facilities. The AutoCopy software costs £350 from LOOKsystems. 6.9 (A text file of the complete specification of AutoCopy is included on the monthly program disc.) 6.9 • Auto-loading Disc Copier − Any day now (we hope!) we will be getting a new budget-price auto-loading disc copier. The price is less than half the price of the Xpress copier that we have been selling for several years now. Admittedly, it will only handle 3½“ discs but if you don’t need to copy 5¼” discs, you can save yourself over a thousand pounds! The price is just £1150 inc VAT through Archive compared with £2750 for the Xpress copier (but see the special offer below). This price includes (a) software to enable it to run on a PC compatible computer, (b) single-tasking software for use with Archimedes computers and (c) a serial cable to connect it to an Archimedes computer. 6.9 If you want to run it on an A5000, you really need a floppy drive extension cable (£18) as the cable is a bit too short to plug directly into the socket on the main p.c.b. If you only want to copy up to 800Kb Archimedes and 720Kb PC formats, you can run it on one of the old Archimedes machines (A310/410/420/440/540) but you will need an extra hardware interface and cable costing £50 through Archive. If you do want to copy 1.6Mb and 1.44Mb (PC) formats and you don’t want to tie up an A5000, it will be possible to use an A3010/3020/4000 but it needs some work doing on the auto-loader software and maybe even a bit of a fiddle on the hardware but we haven’t finalised this. (If you are interested, ring us and we’ll let you know how far we have progressed with it.) 6.9 The single-tasking software allows you to do basic copying but if you want multitasking software with all sorts of batch copying facilities then Auto-copy from LOOK Systems is £350. (LOOK Systems works in the same office building as Norwich Computer Services − although there is no financial link between the two companies (!) − so we can dispatch AutoCopy at the same time as the autoloader if you send one cheque for £350 made out to LOOK Systems and another to Norwich Computer Services for £1150 plus whatever interface/cable you want.) 6.9 • Autoloader special offer! £1,000 off! − We have an auto-loader in stock that is six months old although it is virtually unused. It was returned by a customer because of the length of time we took to develop the interface that it needs to be able to work with one of the older Archimedes computers (i.e. pre-A5000). With the coming of the ‘half- price’ Autoloaders (see above), we suspect that this Xpress copier would be difficult to sell at or even near full price! We have decided to cut our losses and sell it at £1750 instead of the full £2750. This is a complete price including cables, interface and single-tasking software. This autoloader can also copy 5¼“ discs if a suitable drive is purchased (costing £320 through Archive). 6.9 • Axis − This is a shoot’-em-up game set in a maze filled with tanks, gun emplacements and end-of-level bonuses. In later levels, there are ‘cloaked’ tanks, electric fences and other hazards that make finishing the game quite a puzzle. It costs £24.99 inclusive from TBA Software. 6.9 • BASIC VI manual − Acorn have now reprinted the BASIC manual but have included features relating to BASIC VI. The Archive price is £20 including p&p. 6.9 • BBC Master128 is no more! − Acorn say they have ceased production of the Master128 because of rising costs and difficulty of supply of certain parts. Acorn still have some in stock which should provide enough to supply orders for a few months to come. 6.9 • Blood Sport − Matt Black have produced a budget-priced game (£9.99 +£2 p&p, no VAT) which will appeal to “fans of the beat-’em-up genre”. It is a martial arts simulation for one or two players. 6.9 • CardMania is a two-disc pack from C.I.S. with four card games − Gin Rummy, Chinese Patience, Two-pack Clock Patience and Cribbage. It costs £19.95 from C.I.S. or £18 through Archive. 6.9 • Careware disc pricing − Because of increase in costs of overheads, we have reluctantly had to increase the amount that we charge for admin on Careware discs. This means that of the £5 which you pay, £2 (less the VAT) goes towards admin leaving £3 to send to charity. Hitherto, we have effectively been subsidising the charity payments by only taking out £1 of the £5. 6.9 The amounts raised for charity through Careware and charitable sales of secondhand equipment through Archive have been 1989/90 − £19,625, 1990/ 91 − £17,847 and 1991/92 − £13,005. In our 1992/93 year, we have so far raised £11,781 but the accounting year runs to the end of June. 6.9 Our grateful thanks go to Archive subscribers from the various charities that have benefitted over the last few years. 6.9 Don’t forget that if you have old Archimedes hardware or software that we can sell for charity, all you have to do is send it in to the Archive office. Thanks. 6.9 • CD-ROM drives − Cumana have launched a new CD-ROM drive which has a double-speed mode and is able to handle multi-session PhotoCDs. The 600 series drives offer an average access time of 295 ms and a maximum data transfer rate of 307 Kb/s. Its 256Kb buffer enhances the performance of the drive. It also comes with software to play audio CDs. The price is £429 +VAT to education (education price through Archive is £515 inc VAT & carriage) or £609 +VAT to the end user (£590 inclusive through Archive). 6.9 (The Chinon standard speed drives we have been selling for a while now are on offer at the moment at £420 inclusive through Archive.) 6.9 • Chemistry is a budget package for Chemistry teachers from a new software house called PTW Software. For £15 inclusive, the package includes a site licence. The contents of the package are a screen font which includes subscripted numbers as used in chemical formulae, 150Kb of drawfile clipart and an application which is based around the periodic table of the elements. 6.9 • Christian clipart − We mentioned Ian Gooding’s Christian clipart last month and it drew quite a lot of interest. Ian has extended the range a bit further. The titles available at present: (1) Christmas Story; (2) Christmas Symbols; (3) Easter − story of death & resurrection, symbols of new life; (4) Harvest; (5) Christian Symbols − the rest of the church year; (6) Money, Poverty & War; (7) Environment − pollution, factories, forests; (8) Mission & World Scene − missionary, global and Third World issues; (9) Baptist History & Membership; (10) Apologetics − questions & sceptical views, proofs for God; (11) Evangelism; (12) Lifestyle − vices and virtues, stress and the rat-race; (13) Banners − pictures with blank areas for text, billboards, animals, people; (14) Borders; (15) Editorial Flair − pencils, telephones, sissors, arrows, stars; (16) Illuminated Letters; (17) Adults & Youth; (18) Children & Families; (19) Celebration − parties of all kinds, food, fun; (20) Music − instruments, players, singers, musical notes; (21) Leisure − outings, sport, gardening & flowers; (22) Weddings; (23) OT Stories − from Adam to Amos; (24) NT Stories − Gospels and Acts; (25) NT Parables & Sayings; (26) Bible Maps − Holy Land, Temple; (27) History, Prophecy & Bible Study − charts, outlines, fulfilments, Bible books; (28) OT Background & Archaeology; (29) NT Background & Archaeology; (30) Sideliners − figures who shout messages from the sidelines, speech bubbles; (31) Good News Bible OT stories from the Books of Moses; (32) GNB OT stories from rest of OT; (33) GNB NT stories up to Holy Week; (34) GNB NT stories from Holy Week through Acts; (35) GNB texts from the OT, each text with illustration; (36) GNB texts from NT, each text with illustration. The clipart is in sprite, drawfile and Artworks formats. The discs are £7.99 each plus £2.50 p&p per order. For a full catalogue, write to Ian Gooding, 18 Larksfield, Covingham, Swindon, SN3 5AD. 6.9 • Compose World − This is described by its publisher, Expressive Software Products, as a musical exploration program. Phrases of music are represented by pictures or words and these phrases can then be built up, block by block. It is Midi compatible and can be used by all ages from 5 upwards. It includes a phrase editor so that you can build up music from note level − although no musical notation appears anywhere. Compose World costs £48 +VAT from ESP. This price includes a site licence. 6.9 • CSVtoText − This application (which was reviewed last month on page 71) has been updated and improved as a result of user feedback. Also, the rights to the program have been transferred to Dabhand Computing who will be selling it at £15 +VAT. 6.9 • Dragonball − This is an Arkanoid look-alike from TBA Software. It is said to retain the look-and-feel of the arcade game. It costs £15.99 inclusive from TBA Software. 6.9 • DTP booklet (free!) − The report that Archive commissioned into the relative merits of Macs, PCs and Archimedes computers for doing DTP is still available free of charge to subscribers − or indeed to anyone who is interested! In the year since it was first published, the prices have changed quite a bit so we have printed an update to the comparative prices table and include that as an extra sheet in the booklet. Because the comparison is of general interest, I have printed a copy of it in this issue − see page 15. 6.9 • EMU for Acorn machines − Cumana have launched a new multiple interface for A3000/3010/3020/4000 computers. The Expandable Multi-Use interface is designed to allow seven different interfaces to be connected to the single mini-podule expansion slot. The baseboard, which comes complete with user port, can be upgraded to accommodate IDE, Midi, analogue, SCSI and Cumana’s own Companion interfaces. The baseboard and user port costs £51.02 +VAT (educational price £49 +VAT) from Cumana. 6.9 • E-Numix is a mathematical strategy game for one or two players, specially designed to aid and enhance the manipulation and processing of numerical equations and calculations. It involves a ‘Scrabble©’-like board. You are given a random set of numbers in each turn and, playing either against the computer or another player, you have to gain control of the board and obtain the highest possible score. E-Numix costs £24.95 from C.I.S. or £23 through Archive. 6.9 • Foundation Calligrapher − This is a writing tutor package from Design Concept for use in primary schools. The idea is that it illustrates on the screen the motions required for each letter to be formed. It takes place slowly enough for the children to copy the motions. It uses a special font designed for the ‘Foundation of Writing: LetterForms’ Scheme. Foundation Calligrapher costs £15 from Design Concept and requires at least one member of the Foundation font family to be available, costing £8. (Carriage on all orders is £2. No VAT is charged.) 6.9 • Full Phase is the latest in a series of Phases packages from Northwest SEMERC’s. It is a talking wordprocessor (the speech can be switched off!) enabling young pupils to combine text and graphics. Talking WP has been shown to be a very powerful tool, particularly in helping children with dyslexia. Full Phases includes a word list facility so that children can pick up words from a list on screen and place them in their text. The word lists are editable by the teacher or parent. It can also be used with an Oldham Overlay Keyboard. Full Phases is available from Northwest SEMERC for £28 +VAT +p&p. 6.9 • Genup Lite − This application from APA Multimedia allows you to compile your Genesis applications to become “fast, small, network compatible and fully indexed”. It consists of a compiler and run-time code, a fast indexer allowing users access to the Genup Lite ‘Supersearch’ facility, example applications and !Bookmark − a utility allowing users to mark resources for later use. Genup costs £79 +VAT from APA Multimedia Ltd. There is an education price of £49 +VAT and they also do site licences. 6.9 • GreyHawk is a grey-scale video digitiser aimed at DTP users. Most colour digitisers can only provide 16 or 64 grey-levels but this dedicated grey-scale digitiser produces full 8-bit (256 grey level) images. It makes use of CC’s ScanLight Plus software with all the image manipulation that it provides. The real-time screen display is in 16- grey levels but ColourCard (or G8/16) owners can display the full 256 grey levels and Impression II users can get simulated 256 grey levels by using enhanced graphics (dithering). The half-width podule has a BNC input socket and takes signals from any PAL composite source. The GreyHawk digitiser costs £99 (+ £6 carriage) +VAT from Wild Vision or £115 through Archive. 6.9 • Guardian Professional − Digital Phenomena who launched a PD virus protector called Guardian3 (available on Archive program disc 6.3) have now produced a commercial version with a range of extra utilities including a disc sector editor. Even with all the extra utilities, it is still only £9.95 (inclusive) from Digital Phenomena. They also do an educational site licence for £24.95. 6.9 • Humanoids & Robotix − Remember Defender on the BBC Micro? Or Minerva’s Orion on the Archimedes? Well, C.I.S. have produced a Defender look- alike called Humanoids. 6.9 Robotix, on the other hand is a shoot-’em-up, with you in the middle of the screen being attacked from all directions by various robot-like creatures. 6.9 The two come together on one disc for £19.95 from C.I.S. or £18 through Archive. 6.9 • Image Animator − This application from Iota Software allows you to drop sprites or drawfiles onto a film window, frame by frame, until you have a complete cartoon. You can edit sections of the cartoon, splice it, etc. The price is £69 +VAT or £75 through Archive. A site licence version is available for £199 +VAT or £210 through Archive. 6.9 • Image Gallery − This is a CD-ROM with over 1,100 high quality colour images, each stored twice, at full size and at reduced size to allow quick previewing of the images. The images cover a wide range of subject including transport, animals, plants, people and buildings. The disc comes with Archimedes search and retrieval software to aid you in finding the picture you want. The price is £45 +VAT from Eesox. 6.9 • KeyCount − Anglia Television have produced a spreadsheet/graphs package for use in primary schools. It comes complete with a disc of example sheets to show the possibilities within the classroom of a spreadsheet application. It is linked with the Key-series and Keynote datafiles can be loaded straight into KeyCount. It costs £32.50 +VAT from Anglia Television. They also have a range of site licence prices. 6.9 • Killerbugs is a space-invaders look-alike from C.I.S. The graphics and sound effects are very good. The price is £19.95 from C.I.S. or £18 through Archive. 6.9 • Landmarks Elizabeth I − Longman Logotron have released another of their Landmarks history series. This time it’s Elizabeth I. The price is £24 +VAT from Longman Logotron or £26 through Archive. 6.9 • Mac SCSI drives − The pricing on SCSI drives fluctuates rather a lot but currently we can do the following drives, listed below. (The prices in brackets include Morley SCSI podule − uncached for drives up to 200M and cached for 560Mb and 1Gb. You can compare prices with the Morley drives below.) 6.9 80Mb Internal − £260 (£420) 6.9 120Mb Internal − £340 (£500) 6.9 200Mb Internal − £460 (£620) 6.9 560Mb Internal − £840 (£1060) 6.9 1000Mb Internal − £1040 (£1260) 6.9 80Mb External − £390 (£550) 6.9 120Mb External − £470 (£630) 6.9 200Mb External − £590 (£750) 6.9 560Mb External − £970 (£1190) 6.9 1000Mb External − £1170 (£1390) 6.9 These are all fast, good quality drives so they represent very good value for money. 6.9 We also have one 245Mb external Atomwide drive available for £650. 6.9 • MineHunt − This is a game for the PocketBook! (The first one?) Identify the squares that are clear or contain a mine. MineHunt is available for £5 inclusive from Dawes Computer Consultants Ltd. 6.9 • Mini Expansion Adaptor − Pineapple Software have produced an interface that provides a 16-bit external podule slot for A3000/3010/3020/4000. On the A3000, it gives you a second external connector and on the others it will allow A3000-type external podules to be fitted. You should note that it only provides access to the 8-bit bus not the full 16-bit bus. Pineapple say, “There are a number of products that will only run on the A3000 by using the external socket, and this new card will enable most, if not all, of those products to work with the newer range of computers.” 6.9 • Monthly Program Disc − Although I try to put a list of the contents of the monthly program disc on the Price List, I thought it might be useful to mention each month what was on last month’s disc! So, on the May disc (6.8) were: (1) PipeLine Column files, (2) ROM speed test programs, (3) Perform − Rhapsody file player, (4) SmoothM − a utility for mouse movement averaging for use in art packages and (5) some modified toolsprites and high resolution icon sprites. 6.9 • Morley SCSI drives − There has been some re-pricing of the Morley SCSI drives. These come complete with SCSI interface. 6.9 40Mb Internal − £340 6.9 80Mb Internal − £510 6.9 240Mb Internal − £740 6.9 40Mb External − £430 6.9 80Mb External − £590 6.9 240Mb External − £810 6.9 • Parallel port SCSI adaptors − Atomwide have produced a second version of their parallel port SCSI adaptor. Their Mono/SCSI interface (£55 through Archive) simply provides a SCSI interface through a bidirectional parallel port (i.e. A3010/3020/4000/5000 and A4) but does not allow for using a printer or a dongle on the same port. The newer Printer/SCSI interface which is £79 +VAT from Atomwide or £83 inclusive through Archive, has two connectors, one for SCSI and one giving the through connections needed for a printer. This also means that you can connect a dongle in series with the printer connector − which was a major frustration with the earlier Mono/SCSI interface. Another first for Atomwide! (See the File Transfer article on page 55 for more details. Ed.) 6.9 • Payroll Manager − Silicon Vision have produced a RISC OS application to handle payroll functions including the latest budget changes. Features include weekly/monthly wages, book or percentage values, wage slips, cash breakdown, P14/P60, pension deduction, holiday pay, selection for tables A, B or C, etc. The price is £99.95 inc VAT from Silicon Vision. 6.9 • Photopia is an image processor from C.I.S. It allows you to manipulate 256-colour images (not 16-colour) and offers such features as colour swap, solarize, negative, convert to 64-colour, convert to B&W, colour invert, brightness, saturation and contrast control, greyscale, anti- alias, wash, pixellate, linear fade, radial fade, mirror (X and Y), 180° rotate, ripple effect and more besides. It costs £14.95 from C.I.S. or £14 through Archive. At that price, it represents an excellent introduction to image graphics. 6.9 • PrimeWord − Minerva have launched a font-based RISC OS wordprocessor aimed at the primary school market. It is configurable so that it can be used at a range of different levels and can handle multiple documents and multiple views per document. Frequently used commands and features are accessed directly via a button bar. PrimeWord costs £60 +VAT from Minerva (£65 through Archive) and there is a primary site licence for £90 +VAT (£100 through Archive) and a secondary site licence for £240 +VAT (£265 through Archive). 6.9 • Real McCoy 4 − The Fourth Dimension have released the fourth of their Real McCoy series of games compilations. This one contains Grievous Bodily ’ARM, Galactic Dan, X-Fire and Cataclysm. It costs £34.95 inc VAT from the Fourth Dimension or £32 through Archive. 6.9 • Revelation 2 price drop − The price of Revelation 2 has dropped to £76 +VAT or £82 through Archive. The CD-ROM version is £99 +VAT or £107 through Archive. The price of Revelation ImagePro is £139 + VAT or £150 through Archive. It was the ImagePro version that was reviewed by Gabriel Swords last month but Revelation 2 includes a very large proportion of the features of the ImagePro version, so for just over half the price, it is well worth considering. 6.9 • RISC OS 3 Programmer’s Reference Manuals are here! − The long-awaited RISC OS 3 PRM’s are now available from stock at Norwich Computer Services. The full price is £99 (zero VAT) but they are so heavy that the Archive discount is more than swallowed up in carriage charge. The Archive price therefore is £100 inclusive of carriage. 6.9 The manual has been totally restructured to take account of the differences between programming for RISC OS 2 and RISC OS 3 and is now over 3,000 pages long − almost double the size of the original PRM. 6.9 The manual is contained in four bound volumes plus an additional index volume. They are ‘perfect’ bound, not ring bound, sadly! They are held in a cardboard library case so that they will be self-standing on your bookcase or shelf − if it’s strong enough to take the weight − 7.2kg! It will also include a newly revised RISC OS Style Guide, available from the autumn. (Those who buy the new PRM before this date will be sent a copy of the Style Guide as soon as it is available.) 6.9 As an added bonus, Acorn we have included many programming examples in the text, and there are also detailed sections describing ways to exploit the various aspects of programming for RISC OS. 6.9 • RISC OS 3 Programmer’s Reference Manual as an upgrade − Upgrades for existing owners of the RISC OS 2 PRM are available for £59, plus £4 postage and packing, from Vector Services. Cheques should be made payable to “Acorn Direct” and the index front cover of the old manual only should be sent as proof of ownership of the RISC OS 2 version. 6.9 • Sea, Trade & Empire is Anglia Television’s latest set of curriculum datafiles for use by schools who are using Key, Keynote or KeyPlus. It is aimed at History Key Stage 3, Britain 1750 to 1900 and costs £22 +VAT from Anglia Television. 6.9 • Serpents is an arcade action game with over forty levels of “non-stop arcade action, some easy, some tricky and some positively mind-bending with a combination of speed and puzzle elements.” It bears some resemblance to Pacman but the object you direct around the maze is a worm-like being of variable length and it has to eat or be eaten by other similar animals. Serpents costs £19.95 from CIS or £18 through Archive. 6.9 • Small Steps is a package from Resource aimed at primary and special needs. It breaks down each National Curriculum attainment target in Small Steps and helps you with its administration and record-keeping. The first pack is available now: English, Maths and Social Development levels 1, 2 and 3. It costs £99 +VAT for a single user and £199 +VAT for a site licence. A second pack covering History, Geography, Technology, Music and Art at the same levels is in preparation. It will cost £49 +VAT for a single user or £99 +VAT for a site licence. 6.9 • SongBook is a set of original and educational songs from EMR based on their Storybook sets. These are aimed at 3 to 10 year olds and special needs pupils. Each set of five songs costs £24.95 +VAT from EMR. 6.9 • SuperSnake is another budget arcade game. It is an up-to-date version of the ever-popular snake game. It has 20 levels for you to cope with and even has a two-player option so that you can pit your wits against a friend instead of the computer. SuperSnake costs £4.99 inclusive from Digital Phenomena. 6.9 • Talking PenDown is our second talking wordprocessor this month. PenDown, which is well known in the education world, is now available with speech facilities added. The complete package, which needs no extra hardware, costs £64 +VAT or £69 through Archive. Existing PenDown users can upgrade for £32 +VAT by contacting Longman Logotron directly (site licences can be upgraded for £64 +VAT). 6.9 • Taxan 789 − Thanks to Mike Lane (see Comment Column on page 50) the Taxan 789 has been brought to our notice as a good monitor to use with a G8/16 or a ColourCard. It has a dot pitch of 0.28mm (same as 9060 and Cubscan 1440) but its frequency scanning range is 30 to 60 kHz, which means that it can cope with some of the higher resolution 256 colour modes that the other monitors can’t manage. Also, it is cheaper! The Archive price is £440 (cf £600 and £480 for the 9060 and 1440 respectively). 6.9 • The Hacker − This is the only currently available competitor to Games Wizard. This software from Doggysoft allows you to change the number of lives, find passwords and so on. It sounds as if it needs a bit of technical know-how to use for creating your own cheats but it comes with ready-made cheats for well over fifty games. It costs £5 inclusive from Doggysoft (but cheques should be made payable to “A Clover”). 6.9 • Time-Traveller are ESM’s educational history packs. The latest one to be released is aimed at children in Key Stage 3. It is entitled The Making of the United Kingdom and covers 1500 to 1750. It costs £39.50 +VAT from ESM or £43 through Archive. The price includes a site licence. 6.9 • Topographer is the latest release from Clares. It is an innovative piece of software that allows you to draw 2D maps in Ordnance Survey style and then create a 3D picture of the terrain viewed from any position − sounds a wonderful aid for geography teaching amongst other things. The price is £79.95 inc VAT or £75 through Archive. 6.9 • Training courses − Minerva are now offering a one-day Artworks training course at their training centre for £110 +VAT. 6.9 (We haven’t had much response to our offer of putting on courses here in Norwich. Unless we hear from you soon, we’ll have to drop the idea. You can phone in your requests if you prefer.) 6.9 • VIDC Enhancers − Put the flag out! We now have stocks of VIDC enhancers again so that A310/410/420/440 owners can have some improved video modes and can use monitors that don’t run down to the low frequencies that mode 12, etc use − e.g. Eizo F340iW, F550iW and T560iT or Taxan 795, 789, etc. We have been able to keep the price down to £28 but that does not include the software that runs them. That has been put into the public domain by Atomwide and we have put it on Careware disc 18 which costs £5 (of which £3 goes to charity). 6.9 • WIMP Programmer’s Toolkit is Risc Developments’ collection of twelve programs for the development and debugging of Wimp programs. It now includes Acorn’s FormEd program supplied under licence. It costs £19.95 inc VAT from Risc Developments. 6.9 • WIMP Programming for All is the title of a relatively new book (but now revised to relate specifically to RISC OS 3) from Risc Developments written by Lee Calcraft and Alan Wrigley. It costs £12.95 and there is a disc at £4.95 which contains all the programs listed in the book. 6.9 • Woodland is a CD-ROM from APA Multimedia. It has “thousands of pages of detailed information” including sounds samples, which provides an exploration of British woodlands and their bird, animal and plant life. It is optimised for use across networks and comes with a network site licence. Woodland costs £150 +VAT from APA Multimedia Ltd. 6.9 • Woodland Junior is a floppy-disc version of Woodland from APA Multimedia. It is installable onto hard disc and requires 6Mb of free space. It costs £79 +VAT from APA Multimedia Ltd and is upgradable to the full version. There is an education price of £49 +VAT and they will also do site licences. 6.9 • Words Disc − The Archive Words Disc for issues 6.5 − 6.8 is now available, price £2. 6.9 • Zool is a new arcade game from Gremlin Graphics. Zool is, apparently, a Ninja of the Nth dimension who is “an interstellar cosmos dweller, quicker than a flash and sharper than the seven samurai”! Whatever he is, Zool is certainly the “game of the moment” in the Beverley household. (I used to think we only had two children but the average number of children in the house at the moment is about four or five and the power-amplified Zool-assisted output of the Archimedes sound system has to be heard to be believed!) Zool costs £25.99 from Gremlin Graphics or £24 through Archive. 6.9 • 1st Paint − Keyboard Technology have produced an art package aimed at Primary Schools. 1st Paint has all the normal art drawing functions you would expect, including access to a picture library, editable colour palette and a choice of eight patterns and eight picture stamps. 1st Paint costs £35 +VAT from Keyboard Technology. 6.10 • A3010 IFEL upgrade − IFEL have produced a 4Mb upgrade for the A3010. This costs £107 +VAT from IFEL or £120 through Archive. 6.10 • A3010/3020/4000 Technical Reference Manual − This is now available and in stock. It includes a full system description, parts list, network interface specifications and circuit diagrams for all the computers. This costs £29.95 from Acorn or £33 including carriage through Archive. (N.B. Despite the price of this compared with the A4 TRM, it actually contains a much larger amount of information. The contents of the A4 TRM weighs about 600g whereas the A3010etc TRM weighs over 2½kg!) 6.10 • A4 Technical Reference Manual − The TRM for the A4 is now available and in stock. It includes a full system description, parts list, monitor adaptor cable specifications, expansion bay details and circuit diagrams including main pcb and Econet pcb. This costs £65 from Acorn or £64 including carriage through Archive. 6.10 • A4000S − Acorn and Northwest SEMERC have combined to release a system for special needs based on the A4000. The hardware is extended with a Cumana EMU expansion unit and a user port, and there is software pre- installed on the hard drive: Phases #3, My World, Choices, GridIT and Screenplay plus clipart including pictures and symbols for keyboard overlays. The education price of the A4000S is £899 +VAT including an AKF18 multisync monitor. There is an upgrade pack available for existing A4000 owners costing £119.50 +VAT. 6.10 • A5000 improvement − The 4Mb/120Mb version of the A5000 has been increased in specification at no extra cost. It now has a 160Mb hard drive and the price remains at £1599 +VAT (£1879 through Archive). 6.10 • Amazing Maths − This is a competitive educational program from Cambridge Software House. It is based on mental maths work and provides practice on number bonding, multiplication, division, addition and subtraction. It is concept keyboard and touch screen compatible. The price is £19.95 +VAT from CSH. 6.10 • Archimedes Disc Rescue − Anyone who has been “rescued” by LOOKsystems’ package will be able to testify to its value but you really need to buy it before things go wrong − think of it as an insurance policy. It was reviewed by Mike Allum in Archive 6.1 p23 and Gareth Long is working on a more in-depth review at the moment which we hope will be published soon. Archimedes Disc Rescue costs £35 inc VAT through LOOKsystems and is now available through Archive for £33. 6.10 • Archive Monthly Program Disc − This month it contains: material from Genesis/Magpie Column, two JPEG applications, PipelineZ bits, C multi- threading demo, ARM cache on-off application, “How to write for Archive” document plus some Artworks material if it arrives in time. 6.10 • Archivist Professional − This data management system from Oregan Developments’ has been upgraded again, this time as ‘Archivist Professional’. This now offers a card index for text, figures, graphics and sound. The cards will also accommodate complete text files, limited only by computer or disc memory and these, like the graphics and sound, are stored in the file as resources which can be exported into other applications. Selections of cards with a common theme can be compiled into subsets. The price is £44.95, with a site licence available at £50, and upgrades from version 4 at £10 and version 2.4 at £15. 6.10 • Artworks Renderer − If anyone is developing an application and wants to allow it to display and print Artworks files, you can get a copy of the Artworks rendering software, plus documentation, from Computer Concepts. (Artworks has currently sold over 5,000 copies plus over 100 site licences!) However, before you publish an application using CC’s software, you have to obtain a licence from them. There will usually be no charge for this licence, especially where the application promotes or supports the use of Artworks but they reserve the right to set a charge for the licence or to withhold the licence altogether, at their discretion. For example, I doubt that they would grant a licence to someone using it to help them write an art package! 6.10 CC are also preparing documentation (currently 250 pages and rising!) on how to implement further Artworks modules (see David Wild’s comments last month, p22). This will cost you £10 +VAT for the necessary source code plus the manual as an Impression document on disc. 6.10 • Auto-loading disc copier − We gave information last month about the new budget (3½“ only) auto-loading disc copier. The copier costs £1150 inc VAT and comes with very basic software. The LOOKsystems’ AutoCopy software is multitasking, very sophisticated and easy-to-use but it costs £350. However, we have worked out a deal whereby you can buy the two together for £1350 instead of £1500, i.e. the software is almost half price. This is fortunate because we have realised that the single- tasking software that comes free with the auto-loader only works on the pre-A5000 computers and doesn’t seem to work properly on RISC OS 3! 6.10 • Canon BJ200 price drop − Canon have reduced the price of the BJ200 (some HP prices went up last month!) so that the BJ200 on its own is now £340 through Archive and the BJ200 with TurboDriver is available at £380 through Archive. (The BJ200 is actually cheaper if bought directly from CC. This is because they buy in such large quantities. However, they won’t give any dealer discount on this particular model − or the BJ230. Their price, including the TurboDriver, is £335 inc VAT & carriage.) 6.10 • Canon BJ230 − Canon have also just released an A3-sized printer similar to the BJ200 and not much higher in price. The BJ230 on its own costs £390 through Archive and the BJ230 with TurboDriver is available for £430 through Archive. (The BJ230 is actually cheaper if bought directly from CC. Their price, including the TurboDriver, is £387 inc VAT & carriage.) 6.10 • Canon BJC800 price drop − Canon’s A3-sized colour printer is now available for £1650 through Archive or £1700 including the CC TurboDriver and lead. 6.10 • C User Group − C programmers may be interested to know that the C User Group UK is forming a sub-group to concentrate on issues relating to C users in the Acorn world. Membership of the parent group is £12 (or £5 for students) and an extra £5 for membership of the Acorn sub-group. Contact Bob Docker, 4 Lexfield House, 75 Highbury New Park, London, N5 2EY. 6.10 • Darryl the Dragon is a new problem-solving adventure program for younger users (key stages 1 & 2). If you enjoyed Granny’s Garden, you will love Darryl the Dragon. Darryl has caught a cold and lost his fiery breath which, being a good dragon, he uses to cook his food, warm his bed at night and toast marshmallows for his friends. Will you help him to collect the things he needs to make his breath flame again? The single-user version is £19 +VAT (£21 through Archive) and a primary site licence costs £39 +VAT (£42 through Archive). There is also a set of Activity Sheets available from 4Mation for £10 +VAT. 6.10 • DBEdit upgrade − 4Mation have produced an enhanced version of DBEdit incorporating many of the suggestions of existing users. The version remains at £30 +VAT (£33 through Archive) and existing users can upgrade free of charge by sending their master disc back to 4Mation. The new version contains a ReadMe file with documentation for the extra features. 6.10 (They don’t ask for an S.A.E. or paddibag but since they are offering a free upgrade, I think it would be a nice gesture. It would show that we appreciate their generosity and encourage them to continue that policy! Ed.) 6.10 • !DrawPaint − In response to the plea for an easy way of converting a drawfile into a sprite, the Derbyshire Support Centre for IT (DESCIT) has told us about !DrawPaint. It is an application that loads onto the iconbar. It allows you to drag a drawfile onto it and it provides a spritefile icon for dragging to a filer window or straight into another application. This utility costs £10. Send cheques payable to “Derbyshire County Council” to Pam Winn at DESCIT. 6.10 • Fast PC Emulator − A new product has just come on the market to compete with Acorn’s PC Emulator. The Faster PC Emulator is hand-coded in ARM assembler and claims to offer the following advantages: faster graphics handling, more accurate sound implementation, support for some Tandy video modes (useful for games), on-line configuration modifications allowed. (It sounds almost too good to be true when you think of the man-hours of work Acorn have put into their Emulator over the years!) The cost is £19.95 including p&p. Send your cheque (made payable to D.J.Lawrence) to: !FasterPC, 33 High Street, Farnborough, GU14 6ES. N.B. It requires an Acorn ARM computer running RISC OS 2 or 3, minimum 2Mb RAM and MS DOS or DR DOS. 6.10 (We have a copy for evaluation and it looks as if it should be thought of as a ‘second string to your bow’ rather than as a complete replacement for Acorn’s PC Emulator − but perhaps I shouldn’t pre-judge it before the full review. Ed.) 6.10 • Fonts galore − Monotype’s quality typefaces, previously available on other computer systems, are now available for the Archimedes. LOOKsystems are supplying these fonts for Acorn RISC OS computers and have just released their first pack of 100 fonts for £95 (inc VAT, UK postage paid). 6.10 Adrian Look, explains, “The PC and Mac platforms have just experienced ‘the TrueType revolution’ − type foundries can supply typefaces in TrueType format and thus avoid using Adobe PostScript with its accompanying royalties. As a result, font prices have fallen dramatically with TrueType fonts costing less than a tenth of their PostScript equivalents. 6.10 These changes have made it much more viable to convert fonts into RISC OS format. By releasing Monotype fonts, we will transform the range and quality of typefaces that are available for the Archimedes... and they will be better value for money!” 6.10 Fonts include: Goudy Text, Lombardic Capitals, Bembo, Poliphilius, Blado, Dante, Goudy Old Style, Janson, Baskerville, Garamond, Platin, Platin Expert, Century Old Style, Century Expanded, News Gothic, Rockwell, Arial, Gill Sans, Braggadocio, Headline, Matura, Mercurius Script, Neographic, Onyx, Palace Script, Pepita, Perpetua, Swing, 20th Century, Zeitgeist Cameo. 6.10 The fonts are supplied in either RISC OS 2 or 3 format including scaffolding and kerning pairs (RISC OS 3 only). Skeleton lines are not yet provided but will soon be available as a free upgrade. 100 Monotype fonts (Pack 1) will cost £95 from LOOKsystems or £90 through Archive. 6.10 • F.R.E.D. − This is a new arcade game from Software42, said to be “the ultimate arcade puzzle game”. F.R.E.D. costs £20 from Software42. 6.10 • Gemini is a matching pairs game from Cambridge Software House. It has three levels of difficulty and you can put in your own sprites to make up your own games. It is touch screen compatible and costs £29.95 +VAT from CSH. 6.10 • HP Deskjet 510 − The HP Deskjet 500 has been replaced by the DJ510. It is basically the same except that it is faster in text mode (which most Acorn printer drivers don’t use anyway!). Still, it works out cheaper than the DJ500 − partly because we have found a cheaper supplier. The Archive price is £360 instead of £390. You can run it with the Acorn printer drivers but for extra speed and improved features (on RISC OS 3.1) use the Ace PROdriver (£44) or the new TurboDriver mentioned below (£53 including cable). 6.10 • HP Deskjet 1200C − Hewlett Packard have just released an A3 colour inkjet printer which works out somewhat cheaper than the Canon BJC800, currently priced at £1650. The Archive price is £1390 inclusive. You would be well advised to run it on RISC OS 3.1 and buy an Ace PROdriver (£44) or the new TurboDriver mentioned below (£53 including a printer cable). 6.10 • HP ‘Portable’ Deskjet 500 − Hewlett Packard have just released a portable Deskjet printer, presumably to rival the Canon BJ10ex (and the new 10sx). All I have been able to find out about it so far is the price. We can sell it without sheet-feeder for £300 or with a sheet- feeder for £350. 6.10 • HP Laserjet 4L − You can now get a 300 d.p.i. laser printer for £670 inc VAT and carriage. Hewlett Packard have recently launched the Laserjet 4L. You can run it with the Acorn printer drivers but for extra speed and improved features, on RISC OS 3.1, use the Ace PROdriver (£44) or the new TurboDriver mentioned below (£53 including a printer cable). 6.10 • IronMask 2.1 − IronMask 2.1 is an upgrade of Turing Tools RISC OS file security system, in response to users’ comments. IronMask 2.0 customers can upgrade to IronMask 2.1 by returning their master disc to Turing Tools. 6.10 • Jackbox is a jack-box version of Holdfast’s Joypad computer keypad (see below). It provides switch inputs via ¼“ jack sockets for each for the cursor and fire buttons equivalent to the Joypad. It has a standard Atari style digital joystick connector and can be used with the Leading Edge Joystick Interface (£38 through Archive). The Jackbox costs £25 +VAT from Holdfast Computing. 6.10 • Joypad is a computer keypad which is “friendlier and tougher than a mouse”. It is particularly designed for children and special needs users. It has a standard Atari style digital joystick connector and can be used with the Leading Edge Joystick Interface (£38 through Archive). The Joypad costs £21.27 +VAT from Holdfast Computing. 6.10 • My First Words − This is an “innovative way of helping children to read” from Cambridge Software House. It aims to help 4 to 7 year-olds to make up and print their own sentences. It is content-free (i.e. you can put in whatever words you want to use) but comes set up with sample files from the GINN 360 reading scheme as used by many primary schools in the U.K. The price is £29.95 +VAT from CSH. 6.10 • Multimedia Encyclopedia − Hutchinsons have now released the full RISC OS version of their encyclopedia CD-ROM. This now includes over 1,500 photographs plus illustrations, maps and textual data and over 250 sound clips. It has over 25,000 articles, thousands of cross-references and hundreds of tables all classified under six headings: Aspects of Society, History, The Arts, Places, Life Sciences and Science & Technology. It is published by Attica Cybernetics Ltd and is priced at £149 (+£5 p&p) +VAT. 6.10 • Numero 62 is a multi-language version of Nº62 Honeypot Lane from Resource aimed at primary school work in a whole range of subjects. It is based round the idea of exploring and discovering the routines and relationships that exist within a household through a year. At the press of a key you can switch between English, French, German or Spanish. Numero 62 is £35 +VAT from Resource or £38 through Archive. 6.10 • PAL + SVHS encoder − Pineapple produce an adaptor that takes the RGB output from the Archimedes and creates a PAL encoded signal. There is also a socket so that you can have a normal RGB monitor connected at the same time. These are £69 +VAT from Pineapple or £75 through Archive. There is also a version that has an SVHS output as well as the PAL output. This can be very useful if you’ve got a TV or video with an SVHS socket. This version is £79 +VAT from Pineapple or £86 through Archive. 6.10 • Paradroid 2000 is Coin-Age’s conversion of the Amiga game of the same name. It is a droid-based shoot ’em up with a certain amount of strategic thinking needed to enable you to complete each level successfully. The price is £25.99 from Coin-Age or £24 through Archive. 6.10 • Pre-formatted 1.6Mb discs − For the benefit of floptical owners, we are offering pre-formatted 1.6Mb discs − £17 for 10. (This is because Morley flopticals can read and write 1.6Mb discs but not format them.) 6.10 • re-Print − (This is a product coming in September.) T-J Reproductions are offering some help for professional and semi-professional designers using Archimedes and trying to “interface” with commercial printers. T-J are producing re-Print which is part magazine, part reference manual, part training guide and part DTP support group. This is being set up as a result of T-J Reproductions’ experience of running a DTP bureau for Archimedes users. The annual cost will be £68 (zero VAT) from T-J Reproductions (£58 if received by 31st July). It may be that you have something to offer − if so, get in touch with them and start the mutual support going as soon as possible. 6.10 • Sand Harvest − This is a computer-based role-play simulation for geography and IT at key stages 3 & 4. In it, you experience the difficulties of life in the Sahel. The three roles to be played are nomad, government officer and villager. The cost of Sand Harvest, including teacher’s and pupil’s guides, is £68.15 (inclusive) for a single-user version and £103.40 for a site licence from CWDE Software. 6.10 • ‘Say-it’ language tutors − Bits ’n’ Bytes are producing a series of discs for different languages aimed to provide language listening practice. Each disc has digitised speaking of the words in the given language and you have to say which of four possible translations is correct. You can choose whether the foreign word is just spoken or also appears in written form on screen. We have so far seen !Dis-le (French, two discs), !Dilo (Spanish) and !Sprich (German) but there are others including !Gong-che (Chinese!) and all of them are being distributed by Bits ’n’ Bytes on a shareware basis. Write to them for full details. (Readers in the Netherlands and Germany, may like to know that they also have an English-Dutch version and an English-German version.) 6.10 • Symbol Collection − Widgit Software have released a collection of 1,000 drawfile symbols comprising most of the Rebus Glossary which can be used to provide pre-reading aids for early learners or literacy aids for adult learners with special educational needs. The Symbol Collection costs £25 +VAT from Widgit Software. 6.10 • Taxan 789 LR monitor (again!) − We have tried out the 14“ Taxan 789LR (LR just stands for low radiation) at Mike Lane’s suggestion and it does indeed work very well with the State Machine colour cards. (We haven’t yet had a chance to try it on the CC Colourcard but we’re pretty sure it will be OK.) In a mode like 1024×768, it is very clear and very noticeably better than the Acorn multisync and even the Eizo 9060 looks a little fuzzy by comparison. The 9060, despite being rather more expensive) does not go up to such high horizontal frequencies as the 789 and so it cannot manage 256 colour modes at some of the higher resolutions. 6.10 If you try to push up to 1152×848 (16 colours) or 1152×424 (256 colours), the 789 displays it OK but it is obviously beyond the resolution of the tube and so the quality suffers. If you reckon that the picture is 260mm wide (measured) and the dot pitch is 0.28mm, that suggests about 900 dots horizontally so there is a limit to what you can expect the monitor to do. Certainly, although you can display the 1600×600, 16-colour mode, it isn’t very enjoyable to use because the monitor obviously is working beyond its capabilities. 6.10 Still, at £440 for the monitor + £280 for a G8 or ColourCard (or £314 for G16), the Taxan 789LR represents a very cost effective way of getting a significant improvement to the video output of the Archimedes. The next step better would be the 15“ Eizo F340iW at £720 and the improvement in display quality, though noticeable, is not that significant for the extra £280. The main difference is that you get a wider range of adjustments and that it is micro-processor controlled, so you don’t have to keep fiddling with the controls − this is a very significant factor if you are someone who changes modes a lot. 6.10 If you want higher resolutions, you really have to go up to 17“ or 20”. I am hoping to try out some of the Taxan 17“ and 20” monitors so that I can compare them with the Eizos whose prices have gone up so much recently − Taxan’s prices actually went down on 1st June! 6.10 If you want to use the Taxan 789LR without a colour card, A310/3000/410/ 420/440 owners will need a VIDC enhancer (£28), Careware 18 software (£5) and a 15/9-pin adaptor (£12) as the computer is 9-pin and the monitor has a fixed lead with a 15-pin plug. So the total is £440+28+5+12 = £485. Owners of A5000/3010/3020/4000 won’t need the VIDC enhancer or the adaptor but they will need the Careware 18 software, i.e. £445 total. The A540 doesn’t need the VIDC enhancer either but it does need the Careware 18 software and the 15/9-pin adaptor, i.e. £457 total. 6.10 If you want to use a Taxan 789LR with a colour card, all you need is the monitor and the card. There is no need for any extra adaptors, etc. Remember, too, that the colour cards are standard size podules and therefore will not fit in A3000/3010/3020/4000 although they will work on the A3000 if you have an external case to put it in. 6.10 (By the way, we still have one or two Acorn multisync monitors for sale at £270. The same applies as for the Taxan 789 in terms of VIDC enhancers and adaptors. In fact, strangely enough, the plastic cases of these two monitors, all except for the screen surround, are identical − it must have come from the same case manufacturer and been made in the same mould!) 6.10 Although I have waxed lyrical about the Taxan 789, you need to be aware that it is only monitors like the Eizo 9060 and the Microvitec 1440 that will work properly with all games. The reason is that they have a frequency range that goes down low enough not to need a colour card or a VIDC enhancer to increase the frequency. Some games use ‘illegal’ poking of the video controller to increase their speed and those that do so will not work on the colour cards and some of them won’t work with a VIDC enhancer either. 6.10 • Turbo Driver range grows − Computer Concepts have launched two more in their series of TurboDrivers for improving the quality and speed of printer drivers for RISC OS 3. The Hewlett-Packard TurboDriver can be used with Deskjet, Deskjet Plus, Deskjet 500, the new Deskjet 510 and the colour printers: Deskjet 500C and 550C (also, presumably, the new DJ1200C). This also includes a version for Laserjet printers. CC claim “initial tests show that the TurboDrivers print and return control anything between three to ten times faster than either the Acorn drivers or the Ace PROdrivers” (Quite a claim! We are going to have to get someone to check it out for us! Ed.) 6.10 The second new TurboDriver is for the Epson Stylus 800. This one is claimed to return control to the user “five times faster than the Ace PROdrivers”. 6.10 The new TurboDrivers will handle full 24-bit colour separations and offer “PostScript-like control over half-tone screens, i.e. programmable screen types and screen angle, screen density, etc. The drivers cost £49 +VAT from Computer Concepts or £53 through Archive. (N.B. They require RISC OS 3.1 or later and 2Mb RAM minimum.) 6.10 • TV Adaptor − Acorn sell an adaptor that will take the RGB output from an Archimedes and produce a UHF signal that you can plug straight into the aerial input of a TV. The quality of the signal is obviously limited by converting the signal to UHF but if a TV is all you have then it is very useful. The TV adaptor is £59 +VAT from Acorn or £65 through Archive. 6.10 • Vector upgrade − 4Mation have now released Vector version 1.1 which has a number of extra facilities added at the request of existing users. The upgrade is £10 +VAT from 4Mation if you send back your Vector application disc. Extra features include: graphics level control (controls the amount of detail shown on screen), auto-save options, more mask options, text-to-path on multiple objects, rotate/skew/scale/ transform about origin, overlay lines, auto layers and keyboard short- cuts. The price of the new version remains the same − £85 +VAT or £92 through Archive. 6.10 • Viking Library − Widgit Software have produced a resource pack comprising over 250 symbols, with their accompanying words, to help children read and write about Vikings. It costs £12.50 +VAT from Widgit and is for use with their language, communication and literacy package, From Pictures to Words, which costs £35 +VAT from Widgit. 6.10 • Virtual Golf is Fourth Dimension’s new golf game. “No more power meters − you control the swing by moving the mouse.” Gordon Key’s latest golf game is based on the Wentworth course and has features including: up to four players, strokeplay, matchplay, six tournaments, animated course maps, auto-caddy, replays, game-saving, course viewing options, practice options and driving range. This new game costs £34.95 from Fourth Dimension or £33 through Archive. 6.10 • World Development Database − This database provides social and economic statistics on 129 countries in computerised form for use with either KeyPlus or Grass databases. The pack includes geography and maths coursework material. It costs £30 +VAT for the KeyPlus version and £25 +VAT for the Grass version and is produced by CWDE Software. 6.10 Products Available 6.11 • 10 Out of 10 Maths (Algebra) is the second maths pack from Triple R, the educational arm of Fourth Dimension. This package covers patterns, sequences, formulae, graphs, equations, inequalities and symbols. It covers Curriculum Attainment Target 3 (Algebra) and has material and levels suitable for children aged 6 to 16 on Key Stages 1 to 4. The price is £25.95 from Fourth Dimension or £24 through Archive. 6.11 • £50 off the Pocket Book price − During the summer, Acorn are offering £50 off the price of the Pocket Book. So you can buy a Pocket Book from Archive for just £200. The educational package consisting of eleven Pocket Books plus an A-Link is £1699.50 +VAT. (£1990 inc VAT through Archive.) Both these offers last until 30th September. What is more, Acorn have created the ‘missing link’! The almost universal comment about the Pocket Book is “Why no diary?!” and so... 6.11 • Acorn Schedule is a new application on SSD ROM for the Pocket Book. It includes a diary, personal organiser, calendar and timetable. The normal price will be £49.95 inc VAT but there is a special introductory price of £19.95 (£19 through Archive) until 30th September. 6.11 • !AppFS is a network application which speeds up the delivery of applications to the users. A site licence costs £100 +VAT from Angelsoft Educational although it is going up to £130 +VAT on 1st September. 6.11 • Astro upgrade − Topologika have released version 2 of Astro. This is a set of interactive programs for exploring Earth in Space, i.e. it deals with the solar system, seasons, the moon, comets, spacecraft, etc. Astro 2 costs £37.50 +VAT including p&p or £41 through Archive. The upgrade from 1 to 2 costs £8.50 +VAT including p&p from Topologika. 6.11 • CD special prices − Cumana are offering CDs at special prices up to the end of December 1993. Their World of Number discs aimed at Key Stages 3 & 4 are all £59 +VAT + carriage each (£66 through Archive): Number Games & Short Tasks, Perspectives, Picture Gallery and Who Stole the Decimal Point? The four-disc set of Creepy Crawlies, Dictionary of the Living World, Grooves and Image Warehouse is £149 +VAT + carriage (£164 through Archive) and the Space Encyclopedia is £39 +VAT + carriage (£44 through Archive). 6.11 • Champions is a games compilation package from Krisalis. It consists of World Class Leader Board (golf), Manchester United, World Championship Squash and World Championship Boxing Manager. This compilation costs £29.99 from Krisalis or £28 through Archive. 6.11 • ColourBurst from State Machine is a full CCIR PAL, television and video recorder compatible graphics card. A new facility of the ColourBurst is the ability to display a full interlaced overscan TV mode. This is double the vertical TV resolution currently attainable with the Archimedes. ColourBurst could therefore be very useful where access to a large TV type monitor is available. 6.11 ColourBurst provides all of the facilities of the G16 while adding: larger desktop modes, larger ArtWorks and TrueView preview modes (with 1Mb of on-board memory the desktop can be previewed in up to 1152×848 in 256 colours and ArtWorks can use the 800×600 16 bit per pixel modes); direct recording to video; on-line broadcasting in 256 colours at 768×576 and other resolutions (the optional PAL genlock expansion allows the ColourBurst to be synchronised to any external RGB, PAL or S-Video source); an on-board expansion system to allow various options to be added without taking up any more expansion slots. The options to be available during July include: A simple sync genlock, an RGB bandwidth limiter, a composite PAL and S-Video encoder, a full PAL genlock expansion and an internal RGB video switch for the A540 and A5000. 6.11 ColourBurst costs £475 including VAT & carriage or £440 through Archive. 6.11 • Demon’s Lair − This is Fourth Dimension’s new isometric arcade adventure. A friendly dragon has been chained up by an evil demon and you and your people are being terrorised by all sorts of nasties. Your job is to destroy the demon and free the people before their supply of food runs out. Demon’s Lair is £25.95 from Fourth Dimension or £24 through Archive. 6.11 • DrawAid − This application, which allows you to create drawfiles from within Basic programs (reviewed in Archive 5.1 p57) has now been upgraded to version 2. The new version has been speeded up and now allows the use of outline fonts. It is fully multitasking on RISC OS 3.1 and can produce multiple drawfiles from a single Basic program. Further enhancements include additional drawing procedures, procedures to handle sprites and to input data from CSV files. Extended colour facilities have also been added allowing definition of any of 16 million colours in the drawfile. The application comes with fifty varied examples ranging over topics such as barcode production, gear wheel drawing and the plotting of mathematical functions. 6.11 Carvic Manufacturing have increased the price from £10 to £12(!) (no VAT) It seems to be excellent value at that price. DrawAid 1 users can receive a complete new package of DrawAid 2 by returning their master disc plus £6 to Carvic. 6.11 • Eizo monitor prices rising again − We have just been told by Eizo UK that the prices of their monitors are going up again on 1st August although they don’t say by how much. So if you are thinking of buying an Eizo monitor, I suggest you get on the phone to Norwich Computer Services a.s.a.p. 6.11 • Electronics magazine database − M. Kay has produced a set of ArcScan data files covering four electronics magazines for the three years Jan 1990 to Dec 1992. This covers Practical Electronics, Everyday Electronics, Maplin Electronics and Everyday with Practical Electronics. Send a cheque for £5 to Mike Kay, 69 Cobnar Road, Woodseats, Sheffield, S8 8QD. 6.11 • Ethernet interfaces − Risc Developments’ Ethernet cards are all now available. They are doing an A3000 mini-podule version for 10base2 (£139 +VAT) and an A5000 half-width podule (£139 +VAT) which also has a connector for 10base5. There are also internal Ethernet interfaces (10base2) for the A3020/4000 so that the minipodule slot is still free for other purposes (£159 +VAT). If you are looking at using 10baseT, twisted pair Ethernet, Risc Developments have a standard podule version (A5000 etc) which is also £139 +VAT. 6.11 • Eureka 2 is now available. It is said to have “over 100 enhancements and exciting improvements over the first release”. All registered users will receive a free upgrade and the price remains at £119 + VAT or £130 through Archive. When Chris Johnson gets his upgrade copy, I expect he will be able to fill us in with a few details. 6.11 • Floating point accelerator − At long last, the FPA is available and in stock at Norwich Computer Services. The price is £99 +VAT or £107 through Archive. It can be fitted as standard into A5000s but the only other users who can take advantage of it at the moment are owners of ARM3 upgrades that have an FPA socket on them and owners of the later issue A540s which have an FPA socket on the processor card. Owners of older A540s (like me) can get a a free upgrade done by “your local Acorn dealer” (good news!) but the upgrade board won’t be available until the autumn (bad news!). Brian Cowan has done some initial tests on the FPA in his Hardware Column on page 18 and made some technical comments about it. Also, if you want more technical information, you can get a 62-page data booklet through Vector Services (Acorn Direct) in Wellingborough for £10 inclusive. 6.11 • Gothic and Medieval Fonts and Decoration − The Datafile have released a three-disc set of fonts and artwork. It consists of five outline fonts plus some Draw fonts plus some Draw clipart for decoration purposes. The pack costs £31.50 inclusive from Datafile. 6.11 • HP Deskjet 1200C − (I’ll try to get it right this month...) Hewlett Packard have just released an A4 (NOT A3!) colour inkjet printer. The Archive price is £1390 inclusive. The advantage over the 550C is that it runs at roughly twice the speed and offers a 600×300 dpi enhanced mode. It has 2M RAM as standard, upgradable to 26Mb! It is also fully Laserjet AND PostScript (Apple) compatible − the parallel Centronics interface is standard but others are available as options. For Archimedes use, you would be well advised to run it on RISC OS 3.1 and buy an Ace PROdriver (£44) or the new TurboDriver (£53 including a printer cable) when it is available. 6.11 • Imagine upgrade − Topologika have released version 2 of their art and maths pack, Imagine. Imagine 2 has three gallery discs and includes a free site licence. It costs £47.50 +VAT including p&p or £51 through Archive. The upgrade from 1 to 2 costs £11 + VAT including p&p from Topologika. 6.11 • Krisalis Collection is an arcade games compilation package from Krisalis. It consists of Mad Professor Mariarti, Revelation, Terramex and PipeMania. This compilation costs £29.99 from Krisalis or £28 through Archive. 6.11 • Letters is an educational package from Oak Solutions aimed at Key Stage 1 English. It provides a fun way for children to learn their alphabet. It costs £45 + p&p +VAT from Oak Solutions. 6.11 • Midi / User / Analogue interfaces − Morley Electronics have introduced some new cards which provide a Midi interface as well as the user and analogue ports. They are still selling their user/analogue card (minipodule) for A3000 series computers (£49 +VAT or £53 through Archive) but now they have a minipodule that has Midi (in, out and through) as well as user and analogue (£57 +VAT or £62 through Archive). If you want a standard podule version, the analogue/user port is one half-width podule (£49 +VAT or £53 through Archive) and the Midi add-on for it (£35 +VAT or £38 through Archive) is a separate half-width podule linked by a cable. It can be placed above or by the side of the other podule for flexibility. 6.11 • Oak Logic is Oak Solutions’ new package designed to allow logic circuits to be designed and tested on screen before being made. When you have created your circuits with logic gates, inputs and outputs plus astables and indicator lamps, you can watch the logic states change and generate a truth table. Oak Logic is £99.95 + carriage + VAT from Oak Solutions or £110 through Archive. 6.11 • OakPCB − The latest version of Oak Solutions’ PCB and schematic design software supports up to four-layer boards plus solder mask and drilling layers, it allows tracks to intelligently attach themselves to pads, it uses outline fonts and allows import and export of drawfiles. The new version of WorraCAD is £99.95 + carriage + VAT from Oak Solutions or £110 through Archive. 6.11 • Oak Recorder 2 − Oak Solutions have upgraded their Oak Recorder. The new version includes the SoundLab software sold separately for users of the old Oak Recorder for £19.95 +p&p +VAT (£22 through Archive). The other two improvements are a better microphone and the fact that the microphone is plugged into a socket so that other sound sources can plug into the interface ready for sampling. The price of Oak Recorder II is £39.95 + carriage +VAT or £48 through Archive. 6.11 • PhotoLib − Matt Black are now selling the PhotoLib CD which contains over 4,000 colour photographs in compressed J-PEG format. The CD contains pictures with a whole range of different themes and there are also CDs of pictures on individual themes. PhotoLib CD costs £299 from Matt Black (no VAT). 6.11 • Pocket Book/Series 3 goodies − There is now a wealth of programs and add-ons available for the Pocket Book and Psion 3 computers. Some of these applications have been around for some months (bear in mind that the Series 3 has been around for some two or three years now). Useful books include First Steps in Programming the Psion Series 3, Serious Programming on the Psion Series 3, Introduction to Using the Psion Series 3 and Graphics Programming on the Psion Series 3. Software includes a Spell Checker & Thesaurus (OK, so the Spell Checker isn’t much use, but this includes a 100,000 word dictionary and 660,000 synonym thesaurus!), the Berlitz Interpreter which translates over 28,000 words between English, French, Spanish, German and Italian, Personal Accounts & Expenses, Professional Finance (interest rates, IRR, depreciation) and Finance Pack 3, Psion Chess, Games Pack 1 (seven arcade games), Games Pack 2 (six strategy games), Games Pack 3 (five assorted games), Series 3 Tools (an excellent suite of utilities to help manage your computer) and Time Base Solo which helps to schedule your time. Finally, there is an excellent black aluminium desk stand which tilts the Pocket Book/Series 3 forward making the screen easier to read and the keyboard more accessible. Please contact us for prices and further details. Also note that, as yet, it is not guaranteed that all of these programs will work on the Pocket Book. 6.11 • Pocket Book Assistants − A company called Portable Software have produced a range of software ‘assistants’ to the Series 3 range: Timing Assistant helps you plan, time, record and enjoy how your time is spent (their sales pitch, not mine!); Banking Assistant puts you in control of your business, private or international cash flows; Text Assistant lets you assemble documents without lots of typing (basically, it consists of a suite of libraries of predefined styles and sentences to allow you to build up letters and documents easily); Sales Assistant is a small business or mobile trader’s dream − order processing and customer care on a Pocket Book! Finally, there is Data Assistant which is provided with all of the previous assistants, except Banking Assistant. This is a suite of utilities to extend the built-in data filing system. Again, contact us for further details and prices. 6.11 • Primary Nature is an educational package from Oak Solutions aimed at Key Stage 2 Science covering hedgerows, pond life and food chains. It costs £45 + p&p +VAT from Oak Solutions. 6.11 • ProSheet − Silicon Vision have produced an affordable spreadsheet aimed at education. ProSheet has all the standard spreadsheet functions plus statistics, trig and Boolean functions. It has a hot-linked graphing facility with 3D graphs with rotate and tilt options. Other features include fixed and FP numerics, calculator pad and outline font support even on an individual cell basis. It works on a 1Mb machine. ProSheet costs £39.95 +VAT or £44 through Archive. At last, it looks as if we have an economically priced, full-function spreadsheet. 6.11 • S-Base Developer Plus is now available, as is S-Net Server. S-Base Developer Plus (£299 +VAT or £325 through Archive) allows the user to develop and compile applications into stand-alone programs which then do not require S-Base. They can run as single user applications or, when loaded into S-Net, can be served to multiple users over a network. S-Net licences are available for business (£600 +VAT or £650 through Archive) and education (£299 +VAT or £325 through Archive). 6.11 • Sleuth, Risc Developments’ economy OCR program should be available by the time you read this. The program is ready but the packaging isn’t quite finished − it should be finished by the end of July. The cost is £49 +VAT + £2 carriage from Risc Developments. (Sleuth was previewed in May Acorn User and commented on in Archive 6.8 p15 and 6.9 p50. We hope to have a full review as soon as it is available.) 6.11 • Special needs keyboard − Special Access Systems have produced an expanded keyboard for computer users with poor motor control. The keyboard has a nylon-coated steel case which acts as a keyguard. It has a built-in LCD display which enables the user to program the keyboard’s special functions including key delays, sound effects and ‘sticky keys’ for producing those awkward key combinations which we so easily take for granted, e.g. <shift-alt-,> for a ‘×’ character. The keyboard costs £475 + p&p + VAT from Special Access Systems. 6.11 • Turbo Drivers (RISC OS 3.1) − CC have just sent us the first fully RISC OS 3.1 compatible Turbo Driver. This is the Canon driver which will cope with BJ10, BJ20, BJ200, BJ230, BJ300, BJ330 and BJC800. (At the time of writing, the HP drivers are still not ready − I said they were last month − sorry to mislead you. I will let you know when they are ready. There seem to be one or two technical problems.) 6.11 • User / Analogue / Econet interface − Risc Developments have produced a card that provides a user port and an analogue port on A3000/4000 machines. The cost is £44.95 +VAT. It has an optional Econet interface which brings the price to £79.95 +VAT. This means that, in an A3020 or an A4000, a standard Ethernet interface could be added to the machine thus making it into a gateway between the two network standards. There is an A5000 version of this board but, because of lack of space on the backplate, the Econet is provided as a cable to connect to the existing Econet connector. The prices are the same as for the A3000 versions. Both interfaces include a boot ROM for AUN so that there is no need to run AUN up from disc at switch-on. 6.11 • Video Splitter − If anyone wants to have more than one monitor running on an Archimedes computer then a company called Scene Double have just the thing for you. These splitters, which are UK manufactured, have a very wide bandwidth and will easily cope with the output even from a colour card. It is an external box with its own power supply and has a cable to link into the back of the computer. It has outputs which can then feed into four different monitors or other video devices. We have had one in the office to try and it works fine. The Scene Double splitter costs £299 +VAT or £325 through Archive. 6.11 • Visual Backup is Dabhand Computing’s hard disc backup program. It aims to make the backup process as interactive as possible, most operations being based around a directory tree viewer. Visual Backup costs £49.95 inclusive from Dabhand Computing or £46 through Archive. 6.11 • WordBank − Topologika have released an application which lets you ‘collect’ words, and their meanings, in English, Welsh, French or German. You can display your word sets alongside your story in your own WP or DTP application, click on a word and it is inserted into your story. Wordbank costs £25 +VAT + p&p from Topologika or £30 through Archive. 6.11 • WorraCAD upgrade − Oak Solutions have updated WorraCAD in various ways including giving it a new icon-based user interface and also support for ellipses. It maintains it high accuracy, its ability to produce drawings larger than A0 and can export in Draw format. The new version of WorraCAD is £99.95 + carriage + VAT from Oak Solutions or £110 through Archive. 6.11 • Acorn have moved − Acorn Computers’ new address is Acorn House, Vision Park, Histon, Cambridge, CB4 4AE. The telephone numbers all remain unchanged − switchboard: 0223−254254 and fax is on 0223−254262. Vision Park is appropriately named as the place from which Acorn will be delivering their new ‘Vision for the Future’... watch this space! 6.12 • Alpha-Sound from Xavier Educational Software Ltd (£29.50 +VAT) helps children with their letter/sound correspondence and alphabet sequencing. Sampled speech is used throughout and the teacher has control over the selection of letters and sounds. It provides printed report sheets for some tasks. 6.12 • ARM3 upgrade upgrades! − If you have got an ARM3 upgrade without an fpa socket, we are prepared to do a part-exchange on your old ARM3. There isn’t much of a market for second-hand ARM3’s without fpa socket, but we are prepared to offer £60 off your old ARM3 against one of the new ones. If anyone then wants to buy these second-hand ARM3’s we will sell them at £75. (We have to add VAT to the £60, = £70.50, before we add anything for admin and postage.) The part-exchange price for the ARM3 + fpa would therefore be £185 + £107 − £60 = £232. 6.12 • Artworks and Impression are available in a new dongle-less version for network use. It now works with all the new Ethernet cards including i³, Beebug and Digital Services as well as Acorn, Atomwide, Oak and SJ Nexus cards that they worked with previously. 6.12 • Back trouble? − Anyone who has back trouble and is doing a reasonable amount of computer work should consider buying a decent chair. For over five years now, I have been using a Stokke Wing chair − see opposite. In fact, I have two − one in the office and one at home. I’m always singing their praises to people who visit me. I find that if I ever have to use a conventional office chair for any length of time, I get back-ache whereas I can (and do) sit on my Wings (so to speak!) for hours on end without tiring. 6.12 “If they are so good, why don’t you sell them?” someone said to me recently. Why indeed?! So, I have made an arrangement with an importer (they are Scandinavian chairs − you might guess!) and I can sell them for £320 inclusive. They have a five-caster base so you can move around easily and a gas-lift mechanism so that you can adjust the height for the best position relative to your monitor and keyboard. The chairs are extremely robust and the material with which they are covered is very good quality. The one I use in the office is just beginning to wear a bit thin on one side of the knee-pad after over four years of constant use. 6.12 I’m so confident that you will be pleased with them that I will give you a full refund if you buy one and find you don’t like it. You may feel that £320 is a lot of money for a chair but as far as I am concerned, it is a kind of insurance policy − keeping my back in good condition − and I’m prepared to pay for that. I can say from personal experience that they are very long-lasting but in any case, they come with a five-year guarantee (although this does not apply to the covering material). 6.12 The Wing chairs come in natural beech, rosewood and teak and the covers are available in black, blue, brown, red, cream or grey. 6.12 • CIS prices − The special offer that we had last month for some of the Cambridge International Software packages has finished but C.I.S. have had a general price drop. New prices are as follows: 6.12 Serpents £10 6.12 KillerBugs £10 6.12 Humanoids & Robotics £10 6.12 CardMania £10 6.12 MicroDrive II £19 6.12 MicroDrive Designer £19 6.12 Mah Jong £10 6.12 Crisis £10 6.12 FireBall II £10 6.12 Chequered Flag £10 6.12 TurboType £19 6.12 Sound-FX Maker £19 6.12 Photopia £23 6.12 E-Numix £10 6.12 Mental Maths & Memory Magic £10 6.12 • DataPower is Iota’s new database for RISC OS computers. Amongst other features, it has support for ArtWorks files, so that they can be stored directly in a database file. All pictures stored using DataPower (including drawfiles and sprites) are compressed ‘on the fly’, so storing them in a database file saves you disc space. Datapower costs £149 from Iota or £160 through Archive. Site licences are available from Archive at £375 for up to 10 machines and £650 for more than 10 machines. 6.12 • Diet Manager (updated) − For the weight-conscious Archimedes owners, this multitasking application will allow you to keep track of all those calories (and proteins and fats). It also gives information about energy, carbohydrates, fibre, vitamins and minerals contained in individual foods, complete meals or diets. This updated program from MEWsoft costs £55 inclusive. 6.12 • Eizo monitor pricing − It wasn’t a ploy to get you to buy monitors quickly, honestly! Eizo did say that the prices were going to be increased on 1st August. They then said they were trying to avoid raising prices. Now they are saying that there will be “a number of changes in our price list from the 1st September.” All I can do is report to you what they are saying. 6.12 • FontDir − LOOKsystems’ font filing system, as mentioned several times already in Archive, has reached the stage that the program is ready but the full documentation has still to be written. Brian Cowan has a pre- release version and has reviewed it − see page 13. When it is released, the price will be £35 inc VAT from LOOKsystems or £33 through Archive. 6.12 LOOKsystems are not predicting when the manual will be ready, so anyone desperate to get hold a copy of FontDir can have a pre-release copy, as supplied to Brian Cowan, by sending £33 to Archive. We have arranged with LOOKsystems that we supply this on the understanding that (1) it only has limited documentation, (2) the full documentation will be supplied free of charge by LOOKsystems as and when it is ready, (3) until the full package is available, you must not contact LOOKsystems for technical assistance − if Adrian is too busy answering technical calls, the manual will never get written anyway! 6.12 • Forms Suite Plus allows you to combine large size and standard text with lines boxes and grids. You can include drawfiles and sprites into your form and the resultant form can be saved as a drawfile for inclusion in DTP packages, etc. Forms Suite Plus costs £55 inc p&p from MEWsoft. 6.12 • Frontier 2000 − “Two thousand years of history for 8 year olds to adult”. Cambridge Software House have produced a simulation/resource package for history that could be useful in the primary classroom, in the secondary school or in the home. There is a disc version for £95 +VAT (which needs a 2Mb computer) and a CD-ROM version for £175 +VAT which is bigger and better with more paper resources as well as more computer data. The CD-ROM plus the disc version are available as one pack for £195 +VAT. 6.12 • Hatchback is a new utility from 4Mation. It allows you, simply and easily, to add various types of cross-hatching, striping and patterning into drawfiles. Hatchback costs £35 from 4Mation or £38 through Archive. 6.12 • Keystroke is a new desktop utility which allows you to perform a range of desktop activities, including using existing desktop programs like Impression by just pressing keys. For example, at a single keystroke you can call up Impression master pages and go straight to the master page you want to edit. You can add auto-save to those applications that lack it. You can even make up your own button bar. It comes with example files of keystroke definitions for Filer, Paint, Draw, DrawPlus, TypeStudio, Vector, WorraCAD, Ovation and Impression amongst other. Keystroke is available from Quantum Software. (This software was brought to our attention by a subscriber, Richard Skemp, who thinks it is “simple, powerful and very useful”.) 6.12 • Mac removable drives − The 42Mb and 84Mb removable drives have had a major drop in prices this month. The 42Mb has dropped from £485 to £410 and the 84Mb has dropped from £670 to £550! (This is the drive that will read and write both the 42Mb and the 84Mb cartridges.) The prices include cables (please specify podule type) and one cartridge. The 42Mb cartridges stay at £75 but the 84Mb cartridges go down from £120 to £100. This price drop has probably been precipitated by the arrival of... 6.12 • New 105M 3½“ removable drives − There is now a 3½” removable drive from the same manufacturer (SyQuest) as the well-established 5¼“ units. The new drives have a formatted capacity of 105Mb. We have had a brief opportunity to try one and they seem to be much faster than even the 84Mb drives. Here is a summary of the quoted specification plus our own observations (in italics): 6.12 42Mb 84Mb 105Mb 6.12 Size 5¼“ 5¼” 3½“ 6.12 Speed (rpm) 3,200 3,200 3,600 6.12 Ave access (ms)20 20 15 6.12 Buffer size (Kb) 8 32 64 6.12 Transfer rate (Kb/s) 590 900 1370 6.12 “File copy” test (Kb/s) 45 47 60 6.12 Max power (W) 28 28 6 6.12 Ave power (W) 13 13 3.5 6.12 Cartridge weight (g) 183 183 79 6.12 Drive price (ext) £410 £550 £570 6.12 Media £75 £100 £75 6.12 Cost/Mb £1.79 £1.19 71p 6.12 As you can see, the price of the 105Mb drives is very similar to the 84Mb drives and the media, as well as holding slightly more data per disc, are somewhat cheaper (£75 compared with £110) and especially so when you works out the price per Mb (71p cf £1.19). 6.12 The internal units look like being £490 each and they fit perfectly into a normal second floppy drive slot. This mean that owners of A5000s can put one in the second floppy drive slot − a wonderfully neat solution for anyone who is looking for more data storage (who isn’t?!) and/or who is concerned about backup of their existing drive and/or data security in, say, a school environment. A310/A400/A540 owners could also install an internal 105Mb removable although only as an alternative to the internal hard drive. Also, you would have to hack a hole in the fascia of your computer. (I have three spare two-slot fascias available for £10 each, if anyone wants them but I am using the fourth one for my own A540! Ed.) 6.12 The other significant comparison between the 5¼“ and the 3½” removables is that the smaller drives only take a maximum of 6W power compared with 28W for the larger ones. Anyone who has, like me, felt nervous at the temperature that their removable cartridges reached on a hot summer’s day, should be well pleased with these new drives − and the external units don’t need ‘wind tunnel’ sized cooling fans! 6.12 These drives really look superb. When you see them, you really cannot believe that such a small unit could hold so much data and be so fast. Obviously, as these are new devices, I cannot say anything about the long-term reliability but the manufacturer claims the same “mean time between failures” (100,000 hours) as for the older drives. 6.12 “What about magneto-optical drives? They are 3½“ and hold 128Mb and the discs are cheaper!” The trouble with optical drives is that they can only manage 675Kb/s on reading and about 250Kb/s on writing (cf 1,370Kb/ s on both) and the average access time is only about 40ms (cf 15ms). Also, although the discs would cost about £40 each (cf £75), the drives themselves would cost about £1,100 instead of £570. 6.12 “They look very nice and I would like to buy one but will the price drop five minutes after I have bought it? The 42Mb drives were £680 when you first sold them!” No, I don’t think it will, not for a few months, anyway. The thing is that I am gambling that the buying price will be dropping at least a little, so what I have done is to set the Archive price as low as I dare, allowing only a very small profit margin. That way, I can hopefully sell larger numbers initially and then, if the buying price does drop a little, it will bring it back to a more realistic profit margin. I cannot (sadly!) predict the future, but my guess is that it will be several months before the Archive price will drop. On the other hand, if I get several early orders, I might be able to force the buying price down a bit − in which case, everyone will get the resultant lower selling price. So, if you are prepared to have a go with one of these new drives, send in your order as soon as possible − I will wait a week or so, to see what other orders I get and whether I can, as a result, reduce the price. 6.12 I shall certainly be going over to using them myself. For the last six months, I have had to carry two 42Mb cartridges back and forth every day − one isn’t enough and I didn’t feel I could justify the cost of going to 84Mb. However, the step up in size/speed/convenience ratio that these new drives represent is certainly worthwhile for me. I will obviously let you know how I get on with them. 6.12 (Many thanks to David Bower, one of our subscribers, for bringing these exciting new drives to our attention. Ed.) 6.12 • Pictogram is a program from KudlianSoft that teaches children the use of graphs for representing data. This is aimed at Key Stage 1 data- handling. The datafiles it uses are compatible with DataPlot in DataSweet. Pictogram costs £20 +VAT from KudlianSoft but this price includes a site licence. 6.12 • RemoteFS no longer comes with both serial and parallel cables as standard. You have to choose which type you require. The Archive prices are Serial £53 and Parallel £53 but if you do want both, you can have Serial + Parallel for £64. 6.12 • RISC OS 3.1 upgrades − Acorn have now withdrawn the A5000 RISC OS 3.1 upgrade. (They have already sold several times as many copies of this upgrade as A5000s with RISC OS 3.0!) The only upgrade available now is the full upgrade (Archive price £50 inc carriage) which includes manuals and has the software on two 800Kb discs instead of one 1.6Mb disc. 6.12 • ScanLight Video 256 − This is a greyscale scanner and video digitiser, combined on a single card − what a good idea! It combines the Computer Concepts ScanLight 256 scanner (5.4 p30) and the Wild Vision GreyHawk video digitiser (6.9 p7) on one single-width expansion card. The scanner is a 400 dpi, 256 grey level scanner and the digitiser offers real-time greyscale video digitising from any video source with quarter screen real-time previewing. 6.12 The individual products will continue to be available and upgrades are possible from either the scanner or digitiser to the combined ScanLight Video. Upgrade pricing and details are available from Computer Concepts or Wild Vision. The new ScanLight Video costs £220 + VAT + carriage or £245 through Archive. 6.12 • Sleuth − Risc Developments’ OCR program, Sleuth, is in stock now. We hope to have a review of it fairly soon. The price is £49 +VAT from Risc Developments or £54 through Archive. 6.12 • Stunt Racer 2000 − In the year 2037, the world of motor sport has developed somewhat. Will your driving skills match up to the demands of the 16 courses across a variety of terrains doing jumps and loop the loops? 4th Dimension’s new racing game works on 1Mb machines and will install onto a hard disc. Stunt Racer 2000 costs £34.95 from 4th Dimension or £32 through Archive. 6.12 • Soapbox from Xavier Educational Software Ltd (£35 +VAT) links spelling patterns and vowel sounds by using sampled speech. As each word is pronounced, the consonant pattern is emphasised by highlighting and contrasts are made between words with short and long vowel sounds. 400 words are included but you can add your own words by using a sound sampler such as the Oak Recorder. 6.12 • Sound Advice − This is a new 24-track sequencer for the Archimedes produced by The Really Small Software Company. It includes support for both Midi and the internal sound system allowing up to 32 internal sounds in a song. It is pattern-based with the number of patterns limited only by memory. It runs on a 1Mb Archimedes and costs £39.95 inclusive from TRSSC with an education price of £31.95. 6.12 • The Dungeon − 4th Dimension have produced a new 3D adventure game which works on 2Mb machines and will install onto a hard disc. The plot is that you have fallen through a hole into a subterranean world inhabited by all sorts of weird and wonderful creatures, most of whom need to be avoided or fought. It has an option for ARM3 machines to benefit from improved smoothness of animation. The Dungeon costs £34.95 from 4th Dimension or £32 through Archive. 6.12 • Turbo drivers − Computer Concepts have said that their Turbo Drivers for the HP Deskjet, Deskjet Plus, Deskjet colour and Laserjet 2, 3 and 4 are definitely now available. Their Epson Stylus 800 Turbo Driver is also available now. 6.12 • Word Library is a program from KudlianSoft that provides a small window containing a list of words which, when clicked upon, can be entered into any desktop application which accepts text. This can be used up to secondary level and is particularly useful within modern languages. Word Library costs £20 +VAT from KudlianSoft but this price includes a site licence. 6.12 • 105Mb removable drive for A5000 − Just after last month’s magazine went to the printers, we discovered that there is an IDE version of the 105Mb SyQuest removable drives. This means that you don’t need a SCSI podule − it can use the built-in IDE interface. Not only that, but the drives themselves are cheaper than the SCSI equivalent − £455 instead of £490. Also, they will fit inside the A5000 and are user-fittable − no soldering needed, just a screwdriver and enough technical common sense to follow the fitting instructions. 7.1 These drives are not quite as fast as the SCSI version but they are up to 20% faster than the A5000’s own 80Mb drive and up to 40% faster than the 40Mb version. 7.1 To show just how much cheaper these drives are than existing SyQuests, I have worked out the costings of a drive plus 200Mb of data storage and a drive plus 400Mb of storage. These are Archive VAT-inclusive prices. 7.1 Drive type 200Mb 400Mb 7.1 42Mb £710 £1085 7.1 84Mb £750 £950 7.1 105Mb £530 £680 7.1 This costing has been done on the assumption that you already have a SCSI podule. If not, you have to add £160 to the costing for the 42Mb and 84Mb versions but not the 105Mb as it is an IDE drive. (If you want the faster SCSI 105Mb drive, just add £35 to the above costings. 7.1 • Acorn Pocket Book pricing − The lower price of the Acorn Pocket Book is being maintained for a little longer. They are currently available through Archive for £200. Similarly, the special price on Schedule (£19 through Archive) is also being maintained and I think that there is going to be a special offer on the A-Link − see the Price List for details (if they arrive in time). 7.1 • Almanac − Stallion Software Ltd have released a new version of Almanac. Existing users can have a free upgrade by sending their old disc to Stallion. The new version includes full support for 3D, larger icons, import/export, extendable notes, multiple telephone/fax numbers and support for FaxPack. 7.1 • Alpine Adventure Collection − Alpine Soft-ware have released a games compilation including two of their original games, Cops and Plague Planet, plus one new one, Kidnapping − can you rescue your father, the famous scientist, who has been kidnapped? All three games come as a single compilation at £15 +VAT from Alpine Software. 7.1 • Archive BBS on line! − With some invaluable help from Paul Welbank of StarNet BBS (0603-507216), we have got the Archive Bulletin Board up and running − well, sort of! It tends to be a bit fragile, so please report any teething troubles you find and also let us know what features you would like to see added. Give it a ring on 0603-766585. 7.1 • Archive Hints & Tips − Matthew Hunter, who has been helping out at Norwich Computer Services over the summer has converted the whole of the Archive Hints & Tips data into Knowledge Organiser II format. This means that you can search through the data much more easily and quickly, looking for different topics, themes and/or words. This version will only work on machines with 2Mb RAM or more but you do not need to own KO II to run this application. It comes with full instructions and costs £12 inclusive to Archive members. Those who have bought the original Hints & Tips discs may return them for an upgrade for £2. 7.1 • Archive words discs on removable − We have now made all the Archive words discs available on removable hard drives. On either a 42Mb, 84Mb or a 105Mb, you can have all the words from Archive 4.5 up to the current issue plus separate files for Hints & Tips and Products Available. The 42Mb disc version is £85, 84Mb is £110 and 105Mb is £85. 7.1 • ARM3 + fpa deal − We have managed to get some better pricing on the ARM3 + fpa combination. We can now offer the two together with the fpa installed and tested for £235. If you have an old ARM3 for part exchange, you will only need to send us a cheque for £175. 7.1 • Assembler Help − Stallion Software Ltd has now produced Assembler Help (using Strong-HLP). This stand-alone program gives help for assembly language programmers. It includes help on ARM instructions, FP instructions, assembler directives, variables, macros, instruction formats and instruction speeds. Assembler Help costs £15.95 +VAT from Stallion Software Ltd. 7.1 • Blood Sport is a martial arts game from Matt Black featuring ten deadly opponents, each with a unique fighting style. Blood Sport costs £12 inclusive of VAT and carriage from Matt Black. 7.1 • CD-ROM drives − Morley Electronics now have two “Revolution” CD-ROM drives available, an economy version for £299 +VAT and a high specification one, the Revolution Pro, for £499 +VAT (£350 and £575 through Archive, respectively). Both the drives are fully multi-session and PhotoCD compatible but the Revolution Pro is capable of data transfer rates of over 300Kb/s. 7.1 • Creator II − Alpine Software have produced an updated version of their game-creating program. The new version is £49 +VAT from Alpine and registered users of Creator can upgrade for £20 +VAT. New features include scroll text for demo writing, bar graph facility for displaying energy, shield levels, etc, tiled backgrounds for memory saving, and it now handles multi-level games. The new version comes on three discs with a 100 page manual. 7.1 • Event is a diary system produced by ExpLAN for the Archimedes. It takes up very little space on the Archimedes and will talk to Schedule on the Pocket Book and Agenda on the Psion 3. Event costs £24.95 inclusive from ExpLAN. 7.1 • Ethernet Card − Digital Services are the latest company to announce an Ethernet expansion card for Acorn machines. The new card is now shipping in quantity and has apparently been designed to provide maximum possible bandwidth on thin Ethernet systems. It incorporates two features which are claimed to be unique: the computer’s CMOS RAM may be password protected, thus preventing unauthorised personnel from tampering with the configuration and, secondly, the NetGain for Ethernet client software is included in the ROM. The latter enables fast application loading when used in conjunction with the NetGain server pack. Currently the card is available to fit A3000, A3020 and A4000 and is priced at £139 +VAT from Digital Services. 7.1 • Illusions Disc Magazine − Virtuality disc mag-azine and Illusions disc magazine have merged to form a single larger magazine. New prices for the bimonthly magazine are: 1 issue £2.50, 3 issues £7.50, 6 issues £14.50. 7.1 • Impression tutorial − Illusions Disc Magazine have published a 10-part Impression tutorial on disc. The disc also contains some colour and b&w clipart to be used within the tutorial. This costs £9.95 inclusive from Illusions Disc Magazine. 7.1 • JPEG Shareware disc − Stuart Bell has put together a Shareware disc with the latest versions of various JPEG applications. It contains: !FYEO, version 1.02; !Jewel, version 0.04; !JFIF, version 26th June 1993; !JPEGinst to install !JPEGit, version 1.11A, i.e. the PD version; !JView, version 0.07; djpeg (Keith Sloan’s implementation), file dated 18 Nov 1991; !ChangeFSI, version 0.90a; JPEG-FAQ − a text file pulled off Usenet and headed “JPEG image compression: Frequently Asked Questions”. This is available as Archive Shareware Disc 51. 7.1 • Keyboards on special offer − If your keyboard is getting a little unreliable, (e.g. CapsLock problems) then you can try cleaning it. (See page 32 for details.) If the problems persist, it might be worth thinking of replacing it with a brand new keyboard. We have managed to get hold of about ten brand new Acorn keyboards (as supplied with A5000) and can sell them at a special price of £95 instead of the normal price of £123. If you want to buy a new Acorn mouse at the same time you can buy keyboard plus mouse for £130. 7.1 • Keystroke is a new desktop utility which allows you to perform a range of desktop activities, including using existing desktop programs like Impression by just pressing keys. We mentioned it last month but forgot to say that it is available for £29.95 inclusive from Quantum Software. It is now also available through Archive for £28. (See the review on page 21.) 7.1 • Kim’s Game − There is now a computer version of the familiar parlour game which took on a new meaning in The Generation Game! Kim’s Game from Le Computer offers “hours of fun for all the family” for £25 inclusive of VAT and p&p. 7.1 • Lexicon 2 − Stallion Software Ltd have rel-eased a new version of Lexicon. Existing users can have a free upgrade by sending their old disc to Stallion. The new version includes cloze testing, vocabulary testing and 3D-look. Russian, French and German versions are available. 7.1 • Lingo Master − This is described by its author, Nigel Caplan, as “a unique shareware program which allows anyone to learn any language at any level for just £5 registration”. The aim of the pro-gram is to help you with your vocabulary storage and learning. It allows you to enter vocabulary (it comes with 2,000 words in three languages) and then tests you on that vocabulary. You can get an unregistered version for £1 or register for £5 or get a full site licence for £10 from Nigel Caplan, 33 Alwoodley Lane, Leeds, LS17 7PU. 7.1 • Memory madness − There is a general rise in the price of memory at the moment and supply is getting difficult on some items. In particular, the A3020/A4000 2Mb upgrades will not be available until early October and we think they will be about £95 instead of the current £70. We do have two 2Mb upgrades left in stock but will only sell them with A4000 computers. The A3000 1-2Mb upgrade is now £70 and the 1-4Mb is £140. 7.1 • Morley hard drives − Morley Electronics have extended their range of hard drives up to 500Mb. New Archive prices are as follows: 7.1 Size (Mb) Internal External 7.1 40 £320 £400 7.1 80 £400 £480 7.1 120 £490 £570 7.1 240 £700 £780 7.1 330 £780 £860 7.1 500 £1100 £1180 7.1 • Phases à la Français − There is now a French version of the popular Phases WP/DTP package. Phases à la Français costs £24 (+£3 p&p) +VAT from NW SEMERC. 7.1 • Print, design and bureau service for Acorn computer users. Alternative Publishing in Glasgow are offering various services to Archimedes users who need to get their DTP output professionally typeset and printed. Contact Majid Anwar at Alternative Publishing for more details. 7.1 • Replay DIY − Irlam Instruments can provide you with the means of creating your own computer movies. Replay DIY consists of a single-width podule plus software. You need an ARM3, at least 2Mb of RAM (4Mb for preference) and a fast hard disc to run it. (The new version of the A5000 would be ideal!) Plug in a video camera and you can start to record live sequences − or pre-record and digitise from a video recorder. Remember though that it chews up an awful lot of disc space − about 20Mb/minute! The software then compresses this down to about 4.5Mb/minute. Replay DIY costs £250 +VAT from Irlam Instruments or £285 through Archive including carriage. 7.1 (Is anyone already using Replay DIY? Would anyone be prepared to give us their views and/or hints & tips regarding its use?) 7.1 • Resultz is here! − Colton Software’s new spreadsheet that links in with their wordprocessor, Wordz is now available. (See PipeLineZ for de- tails, on page 45.) It costs £119 +VAT or £125 through Archive. (If you buy it direct from Colton before 15th October, the price is only £119 inc VAT − Archive will match the offer until the same date.) 7.1 • RISC OS 3 special offer coming to an end − Acorn have said that the special offer on RISC OS 3 (i.e. £49 instead of £89) has been extended up to the end of October but that the A5000 version (£29) will be discontinued forthwith. We still have a few of each in stock. 7.1 • Scanlight price drop − With the coming of the Scanlight Video 256 (see Products Available last month) there has been a small drop in price of the Scanlight 256. This has now dropped to an Archive price of £215. The A3000/4000 version stays at £225. 7.1 • Scanlight Plus A4 discontinued (sort of!) − CC are having problems getting hold of the sheetfeeders for their A4 Scanlight scanners. They still have the scanners (£325) and these are going to be available, “while stocks last”. We have some of the A3000 version available, normally £325, but we will sell them (to clear stocks) £285 − cf the A5 version at £225. 7.1 • Schedule re-scheduled!!!! − Once again, please accept our apologies (on behalf of Acorn) to the dozens of you who are sitting waiting for Schedule for the Acorn Pocket Book. The delivery date has slipped back and Acorn are now saying that they will be coming to us in the week commencing 17th September. 7.1 • Stokke Wing chairs − We have sold quite a few of the chairs we mentioned last month but are having difficulty importing more. The ones available from stock at the moment are beech and rosewood (not teak) and the cover colours available are black, navy blue, light blue, red, beige, green, plum or dark grey. They cost £320 each. 7.1 • StrongEd from Stallion Software is “a fast, compact and powerful editor that supports editing multiple files and throwback”. Strong-Ed is written in assembler and occupies less than 200Kb of RAM. It costs £25.70 +VAT from Stallion Software. 7.1 • Tales of Lore is a dungeon style games program in which you, the goodie, are fighting against the bad guys and solving various puzzles along the way. This game runs on all 1Mb RISC OS 3 machines and is available from UK Software for £29.95 inclusive. 7.1 • Vigil − If you find debugging your multitasking programs a chore, Vigil from Rhein-gold Enterprises should be rather helpful to you. It allows you to see what is going on inside your program while it is running, i.e. the state of its memory, variable, etc. Vigil costs £24.95 inclusive from Rheingold or £23 through Archive. 7.1 Products Available • A4000S upgrade pack − Following the Cumana/SEMERC collaboration in producing the A4000S package which enables overlay keyboards, switch boxes, control equipment and turtles to be connected to the computer as well as offering further expansion for SLCD, MIDI, SCSI and IDE, they have released a hardware and software pack. This pack will upgrade a standard A4000 to the A4000S. The upgrade comprises the EMU base board and seven 1.6Mb floppies of software, ready for transfer to the hard disc. The total cost is £119 +VAT. A number of Acorn dealers have been on SEMERC’s special needs training courses so if you want expert advice, ring Acorn’s special needs department and ask them who your nearest trained dealer is. 7.2 • Acorn PC cards − The Acorn PC386 and PC486 cards for the A3020 and A4000 have been dropped in price by £50 and the combined prices of A4000/PC card systems has dropped by more than £100. The new RRP for the 1Mb 386 board is £225 +VAT, £425 +VAT for the 4Mb 486. (Archive prices are £255 and £480 respectively.) The software has also been updated to improve interaction between RISC OS and DOS/Windows when they are run simultaneously. 7.2 • Acorn PC cards 2 − The enhanced software is available to existing owners free of charge by returning the original Acorn PC Card software and Windows driver where supplied, along with your name and address in an envelope clearly marked “PC Card Upgrade” to Customer Services, Acorn Computers Limited, Acorn House, Vision Park, Histon, Cambridge, CB4 4AE. 7.2 • AI CD-ROM − The Network Cybernetics Corporation has announced the release of this CD through Lambda Publications. A large assortment of software related to Artificial Intelligence and other topics is included along with the text of research papers and tutorials, in a variety of formats. Specific topics include Expert Systems, Neural Networks, Genetic Algorithms, Fuzzy Logic, Linguistics/Natural Language, Robotics, Virtual Reality, Artificial Life/Evolution Simulations, Machine Vision, Prolog, Lisp/XLisp. Executables for some machines are included, as is the source code so that programs can be recompiled on new platforms. The cost is £80 per disc + p&p from Lambda Publications. 7.2 • AppFS − The network application from Angelsoft has been increased in price from £100 + VAT to £130 + VAT. A full site licence is still included in the price. 7.2 • ART20 is a sprite-based art package which brings “fine art facilities to the Archimedes at a fraction of the price of other recent art packages”. Painting is done outside the desktop but with easy return to an unaltered desktop. ART20 costs £60 inclusive from Tekoa Graphics. An education site licence costs £120 inclusive. 7.2 • Aztecs − This educational adventure from Sherston Software includes resource materials such as posters, help cards and challenge cards. The aim is to survive in Aztec times, learning as much as possible about the Aztec people. It can be used as the centre piece to a class topic, or simply on its own. The price is £39.95 + VAT from Sherston or £37 through Archive. 7.2 • Cars − Maths in Motion − This is a very interesting educational Grand Prix simulation program. It is aimed at both young children and adults and has “many educational opportunities” covering percentages, multiplication, division, simple geometry, scale drawing, modelling, probability, ratios, strategy and logical thinking. This is available from Cambridgeshire Software House (note the new address in the Factfile) for £49.95 +VAT and carriage. 7.2 • Computer Holidays − PGL Adventure, the well-known activity holiday company, are offering IT Advantage holidays for 8 to 13 year olds in 1994. These holidays, to be held at PGL’s Marchant Hill centre in Surrey, will combine computing (using all Acorn equipment!) and various adventure activities. Contact PGL for more details − and tell them you read about it in Archive magazine! 7.2 • Explorer − A new National Curriculum teaching aid designed to enhance project work on the Solar System. It is a game where the player (or players, as group involvement is recommended) must explore all planets in the solar system with the aid of probes. During exploration, the children will have to discover a variety of facts about the planets and their moons. It is produced by Alpine Software at £30 +VAT. 7.2 • First Steps in Programming Acorn RISC OS Computers − A companion book for “A Beginners Guide to WIMP Programming”, and also by Martyn Fox, it is aimed at people who have only just purchased an Acorn machine and have no experience of programming, or are finding it difficult. Basic is used and a full reference section is included for VDU and PLOT codes and for keywords. The price is £14.95 + p&p from Sigma Press or £15 through Archive. 7.2 • Formula Fun − A four player top view driving game over several different courses from Mystery Software. All four players are shown on screen simultaneously and is compatible with the new Four joystick interface. The price is £14.99 inclusive from Mystery Software. 7.2 • IBM Keyboard and Mouse Interface − Supplied by the Serial Port for £89 +VAT, it allows you to connect a PC keyboard and mouse to your Archimedes. Any standard PC/AT keyboard can be used as well as a variety of PC keyboard devices including barcode scanners, magnetic card readers and PC 3-button serial or bus mice. The Acorn mouse can also be connected. The interface also allows up to 4 Atari-style joysticks to be connected. Each can be programmed to emulate any key or combination, making it compatible with all games. There is no Joystick control software needed. Software supplied allows key mappings for PC keyboard scan codes to Archimedes keys, with different mappings for modifier keys (e.g. shift). 7.2 • James Pond 2 − RoboCod − This conversion is the sequel to James Pond but is said to have many improvements and new features to make it enjoyable even for those who played the original. It is available from GamesWare (the conversion was done by Eclipse) for £25.99 inc VAT or £24 through Archive. 7.2 • Keyboard Trainer − No, it’s not a typing tutor but Minerva Software’s new music program. It is “an exciting new way of learning how to play the electronic keyboard and to read music”. The program requires a 1Mb RISC OS computer with Midi interface and will work with the Yamaha PSS and PSR keyboards with Midi, plus most of the popular Midi keyboards and synths. This costs £69.95 +VAT from Minerva or £87 through Archive. 7.2 • KlienFS − This is another compression utility, for any Acorn machine with RISC OS 3 (since it uses the Squash module). It offers a full filing system, and creates files like those produced by the squash application. This means that compressed files are readable even if you do not have the KlienFS. The fact that it is a filing system, however, means that it offers a far more user-friendly interface than using Squash. The price is £17.95 inclusive from PTW Software. 7.2 • Laser Direct prices slashed!!! − Over £350 off the price of the Laser Direct Hires 8, plus a free copy of Impression 2 is what I call “prices slashed”! Computer Concepts are really trying to attack the Mac market in a big way. This is shown by the range of new DTP products mentioned in the Acorn World 93 preview on page 9 but they are also doing this special offer on Laser Directs. The Hires 8 is now selling for £1099 + £15 carriage +VAT or £1280 through Archive including carriage. The Hires 4 is £799 + £10 carriage +VAT or £925 through Archive including carriage. The free Impression offer is also available through Archive but only up to 31st December 1993. 7.2 • Ludwig van Beethoven Overture, Egmont − Angelsoft Educational have produced an electronic book concerned mainly with the Egmont overture. It also contains background information on Beethoven’s life and works. It was created using the ‘Genesis’ application, so pages can be printed out as permanent records, and if you have a CD-ROM drive and the correct CD, the musical pieces can be played. The pupils can be tested by using the enclosed !BeetQuiz which asks questions based on the information. The cost is £25 +VAT from Angelsoft. 7.2 • More Naughty Stories − The second volume of Sherston Software’s Talking Books entitled “More Naughty Stories” is now available for £9.95 +VAT for individual stories or £47.75 +VAT for the set of six. The titles are Bobby the Boastful Bird, Clarence the Clumsy Cat, Derek’s Dopey Dinosaur, Gordon’s Groovy Granny, Lucy the Little Liar and Tasmin’s Terrible Tantrums. The set of six is £55 through Archive. 7.2 • Morpheus − As indicated by the name this is a morphing package, costing £34.95 inc VAT from Oregan Software Developments or £33 through Archive. Morphing first leapt into public consciousness in the Michael Jackson video “Black and White” (although that was certainly not the first time it was seen). It is a method of changing one image into another but, unlike a simple fade, more account is made of the contents of the image through the definition of a grid. The package will work on 256 colour sprites (including 256 shades of grey) or 24-bit clear files (as produced by Translator), multitasking on the desktop, and supports Acorn Replay. This will be reviewed next month. 7.2 • Nexus Junior − An important networking solution for schools, or any other small installation of Acorn machines has been released by SJ Research. The package includes four Nexus Junior expansion cards, a Nexus Junior router, cables and software. It is aimed at locations where, currently, software is loaded from local hard drives or floppies but a more centralised system is wanted. Up to four machines, one of which must have a hard drive can be connected through one router box. The machine with the hard drive acts as a server, and the hard drive appears to all machines as if it were resident locally as a read-only drive. This means that files are protected from accidental deletion, and only one machine needs to be updated with new software. Any files produced locally can be saved to floppy to allow pupils to keep their own work. Currently, there is a special introductory price of £399 +VAT for the four-computer pack, or £599 including a visit to have the system installed and an on-site training course. (Nexus Junior is also available through Archive. Please ring for details.) 7.2 • Notes − Those of you who use sticky notes to keep track of your life will be pleased to know that, thanks to the Really Good Software Company, they are now available for your Archimedes. They can be stored within the Notes application or put on discs as free-standing applications. As well as being used as a notepad, there is a facility to attach notes to specific files, causing them to be displayed when the file is loaded or run. The cost is £9.95 inclusive from RGSC. 7.2 • Observess − The first Expert System shell for the Acorn RISC OS machine. It is fully desktop compatible and incorporates an IF ... THEN ... rule structure with up to three conditions. Support for percentage- based certainty factors on facts and rules, and single or multiple recommendations based on the certainty factors. The price is £20 (no VAT), or £2 (refundable on purchase of the full version) for a demonstration run-time system, from Rebecca Shalfield. 7.2 • Pocket Book special SPECIAL offer − Having extended the Pocket Book special offer of £199.99 up until 31st December, Acorn are now doing a very special Acorn World 93 price of £149.95. If you want one at this price, you have to come to the show − we will have them available on the Norwich Computer Services stand. (It would be worth ringing us to reserve one as soon as possible. Ed.) 7.2 • PowerPad − This is a hardware modification which plugs into the printer port of any Acorn 32-bit machine to give one or two joy-pads. There are 6 fire buttons and a four-way thumb control pad, and software is included to enable it to support the Acorn Joystick standard or emulate keys for those games which do not know about joysticks. The price is £29.99 inc VAT for the single pad. The two pad price has not yet been fixed and can be purchased from GamesWare. 7.2 • ProArtisan 2 − Clares have now released version 2 of ProArtisan at £135 inc VAT. It has a range of new features including texture brushes (rattan, basket, dimple, slate, stone, canvas, etc) and special effects such as smudge, dopple (Pointilist technique), smear and diffuse. There is a special upgrade price from Clares of £67.50 if you return your copy of an earlier Artisan program or £87.50 if you return to them any other art package costing £35 or more. The Archive price is £120. 7.2 • Quark − A new shoot-em-up game from Oregan Software Developments, priced at £24.95 or £23 through Archive. Features include one or two players, 16 zones, 8 stereo soundtracks and “slippery smooth scrolling”. 7.2 • Revolution − Two new CD-ROM drives from Morley Electronics. Both are compatible with all CD discs for RISC OS and DOS format (the latter through emulation) as well as Kodak Photo CD. They are also fully multisession and the cheaper of the two, Revolution, costs £299 +VAT + carriage from Morley or £355 through Archive. If you want data transfer rates of over 300Kb/s then Revolution Pro is £439 +VAT + carriage from Morley or £510 through Archive. 7.2 • Rephorm − Another morphing package, this time from Oak Solutions. It can create Ace film files as used by Projector (which is also supplied) and Splice which can be used to edit films produced. Other features are non-linear motion and colour control, options for fades and wipes and support for 16 and 24-bit images. The price is £49.95 + £2 p&p and VAT or £56 through Archive. 7.2 • Schedule for the Pocket Book − Err, yes... it is now actually available and the special price of £19 through Archive has been extended up to the end of December 1993. Sorry for the delay but “the first ones produced failed quality control”. 7.2 • Sound Advice − The new 24-track sequencer for the Archimedes produced by The Really Small Software Company was reviewed last month in the Music Column (7.1 p50). Stewart Watson was obviously quite impressed, so we have decided to sell it through Archive for £38. 7.2 • Tales of Lore − This game, recently released by UK Soft, has already had a price change, the current RRP is £24.95 inc VAT. 7.2 • The Missing Dinosaur Bone − An educational adventure game in which the children aim to find the stolen exhibit of the title. Language and mathematical puzzles offer challenges to be overcome, all of which are based around the ‘living things’ theme. Digitised images and sprites are used to enhance the software. Also included in the package is an ‘Animals & Habitats’ resource disc with sprites of 80 animals and 10 habitats created with !Paint, a teachers guide, a curriculum activity booklet, user guides and two activity sheets. The cost is £25 +VAT from Angelsoft Educational. 7.2 • The Tudors − This set of two clipart discs contains 50 draw format files. It covers several aspects of Tudor Life, including monarchs and people, buildings, furniture, ships, punishment, weapons, musical instruments. It costs £15 +VAT from Angelsoft Educational. 7.2 • Twilight − Recently upgraded by the Really Good Software Company, this package is designed as an enhanced version of the RISC OS 3 screen protector. Instead of a blank screen, any of 17 different effects can be displayed to prevent damage to the monitor screen. As well as activating after a certain time, blanking can be manually induced, and to restrict access to your machine while you are away, a password can be entered, without which the blanker cannot be disengaged. Two versions are available, a demo for £5 or the full program for £14.95 inclusive (the demo cost is deductible if you decide to upgrade to the full version). 7.2 • Xenon 2 − Another product released by GamesWare/Eclipse, this shoot- em-up has had great success on other formats and features a soundtrack from “Bomb the Bass”. The retail price is £25.99 of £24 through Archive. 7.2 • X-Stitch Designer − Version 3 of this package has now been released in Archimedes format. It has many features including move and copy, reflection, rotation, half stitch and backstitch. The cost is £36 inc VAT from IL-Soft. 7.2 • 105Mb SyQuest drives − Because of larger than expected price drops, A5000 owners can now have a 105Mb removable drive for under £400! SyQuest have just cut the prices of their 105Mb mechanisms with the result that we can take £60 off the prices of all our 105Mb drives. The SCSI external drives are now £510, the SCSI internal drives are £430 and the IDE version is now £395. These prices include one cartridge plus cables but the SCSI prices do not include a SCSI interface. (If you don’t already have a SCSI interface, we recommend the Morley uncached interface at £160 through Archive.) 7.3 (I do apologise to those of you who have recently bought these drives but I did deliberately set the profit margins as low as I dared in anticipation that the prices might drop − but I could not have foreseen such a large price drop and, in any case, I couldn’t have set a negative profit margin! Ed.) 7.3 • A5000 4−8Mb Upgrades − You can now upgrade the new 33MHz A5000 computers (ALB32 and ALB35) from 4 to 8Mb. The Archive price is £470. They are self-fit upgrades provided you have a little bit of technical know-how − no soldering is involved, just chip extraction and insertion. 7.3 The 4−8Mb upgrade is also available for the old 24MHz A5000s (ALB22 and ALB25) but the computer needs to come back to us for the upgrade to be done. This is because the MEMC chip has to be removed and a socket fitting in its place before the upgrade can be inserted. The price, including two-way carriage is £545. 7.3 • Academy Television CD-ROMs − A new series of educational CD-ROMs has been released, including Science Series I: The Elements (£130), Directions 2000: French/¡En Marcha! Spanish (£140 each, including a microphone recording system), and the Environment Series I: Water (£130). You need to add £5 p&p to these prices, plus VAT. 7.3 • Acorn AKF50 − The latest Acorn monitor handles all screen modes up to SVGA. It has a 0.28mm dot pitch tube and is built in the UK by Microvitec PLC. When purchased separately, the price is £374, and if purchased with a computer (in place of an AKF18) a surcharge of £75 is made. (More details are given at the end of Stuart Bell’s article about monitors on pages 9−12.) 7.3 • Acorn’s Education Cash-back offer − Until 24th December, Acorn are making a £100 cash-back offer on sales of the new 33MHz A5000 computers to educational establishments. Schools and colleges can buy any number of A5000s and, after the purchase is complete, Acorn will send schools a cheque for £100 for each A5000 computer purchased. 7.3 • Anglia Television CD-ROMs − Five more educational CD-ROMs are currently available from Anglia TV. ‘Understanding the Body’ and ‘Castles’ (£40 each) are self-contained library discs including stills, video sequences, vector graphics animations and text written for the 11- 14 age group. ‘Countries of the World’ and ‘Counties of Britain’ (£40 each) are for use with Anglia’s Key system − Key Plus, Key Note or Key Calc can be used. Finally, ‘19th Century Biographies’ (£25) is the first Key Plus datafile to be released on CD and features over 250 biographies. Discounts are offered for multiple purchases, and site licences are available. 7.3 • ARM3 special price − We have got hold of some ARM3s without fpa socket and are selling them off (“while stocks last”, as they say) at £145 instead of £185 inclusive. Ring the Norwich Computer Services office if you are interested − please don’t just send in a cheque as there are only a few available − ring first and we will put one aside if they are still available. 7.3 • Armlock is a RISC OS software-only utility that prevents unauthorised access to CMOS RAM or designated files/directories on the hard disc. The CMOS settings are protected by password so that only the system manager can make amendments. 7.3 The hard disc is also password protected although, unlike other security systems, the hard disc does not have to be partitioned into read-only and writeable areas. File attributes are utilised to grant or revoke access to files or directories for public users. ‘Execute-only’ allows users to run applications but not to copy them, thus effectively preventing software theft. 7.3 Armlock also provides a facility to back-up the protected areas in a compressed form to a series of floppy discs, (or other transfer medium), thus allowing identical Armlock hard disc configurations to be created on further machines. 7.3 Armlock costs £35 +VAT single user or £135 +VAT for a ten-user licence pack from Digital Services or £38 and £145 respectively through Archive. 7.3 • AudioWorks − One of the Computer Concepts’ products released at Acorn World 93 was AudioWorks. It can handle a variety of sound files (MicroSoft WAVe, Armadeus, DataVox, SoundTracker and RawData formats) for playback from the standard Archimedes speaker, or advanced audio boards like CC’s own Lark, which can also record samples. 7.3 8 bit, 12 bit, 16 bit, linear signed, linear unsigned, VIDC logarithmic, m-law logarithmic, mono and stereo samples are all supported. There are several display modes for the waveform display and the sound output can be shown using the real-time spectrum analyser and oscilloscope displays. An additional utility for playing back from hard disc in the background with various effects is also provided. The price is £49 +VAT from CC or £53 through Archive. 7.3 • BJC-600 − The Canon BJC-600 is the A4 version of the popular BJC-800 colour printer. Four colour CMYK inks are used for the best full spectrum of colours, including real black, in resolutions up to 360 dpi. “The high quality colour results that you can get on plain paper mean lower running costs than other colour inkjet printers.” The price £529 + £10 carriage +VAT from CC or £633 through Archive. (If you get your calculator out, you will find that there is no discount on the CC price. This is because CC only give a very small dealer discount so we cannot offer any discount to subscribers. Sorry.) 7.3 Anyone who saw the output of these new printers at Acorn World 93 will confirm that they are very impressive, especially when you consider the pricing compared with other colour printers. 7.3 • BJC-600 Turbo Drivers − The Computer Concepts range of Turbo Drivers now includes one for the BJC-600 (currently the only printer driver available for it!). It is designed to take advantage of the 24-bit printing which more and more packages are now supporting. The software requires RISC OS 3.1 or later, and a minimum 4Mb RAM is recommended. The price is £49 +VAT from CC or £53 through Archive. 7.3 • Buzz is a new games label − actually, it is the budget arm of Krisalis. They have just re-released some older titles at £9.99 inclusive each. Titles are Swiv, Revelation, Jahangir Khan Squash, Mad Professor Mariarti and Manchester United. 7.3 • CD-ROM 6 Pack − A late release at the show, this CD-ROM drive (a pioneer DRM-604X) marketed by Computer Concepts, uses Pioneer’s ‘Quadraspin’ Technology to rotate the disc at four times normal speed, giving a sustained 614 Kb/second transfer rate. It also has a six-disc magazine and autochanger allowing it to do the job of six separate drives. The package includes the drive and controller software. It will work on any Archimedes with an Acorn-compatible SCSI interface, although it is aimed at networked schools and high-end professional users. CD-ROM 6 costs £999 +VAT +carriage from CC or £1150 inclusive through Archive. 7.3 • ColourCard Gold is based on the original Wild Vision/Computer Concepts ColourCard. It keeps the large screen resolutions and fast redraw speeds, but now also allows the 32,000 colour screen modes to be used on the desktop (the 24 bit modes are not (yet?) desktop compatible) at resolutions of up to 800×300 or 576×400. RISC OS 3.1 is needed and users of older machines (A300/400) should ensure that their machine has a genlock header fitted. An A3000 version is available, but requires a special fitting kit so it is important to specify, when you order, which machine you are using. The new Colourcard Gold costs £249 (+£6 carriage) + VAT from Wild Vision or Computer Concepts or £280 inclusive through Archive. 7.3 • Creator II − The new version of Alpine Software’s arcade game designer has been released, with many changes, resulting from users’ feedback. A tiled mode of operation is now available to create large background sprites. Square tiles can be used to build up the background. Further additions make it easier to use and improve the final result. The price is £49 +£1.50 p&p direct from Alpine Software or £55 through Archive. Upgrades from any previous version of Creator (1.xx) can be obtained for £20 +VAT − return both your old Creator discs to Alpine Software. 7.3 • Crystal Maze − Based on the Chatsworth Television program for Channel 4, this game features a mix of puzzles and action and has been released exclusively to the Acorn Market. It costs £39.95 inclusive from Sherston Software or £37 through Archive. (See the review on page 47.) 7.3 • Dinosaur Discovery − This is actually a new version of a game originally written for the BBC Micro in 1985 by Jacaranda. This new version is by 4Mation and makes use of the improved graphics facilities of the Archimedes. The purpose is to follow the notes given in the diary of a professor to find, and then incubate, a brontosaurus egg. Various tasks must be completed and problems solved. The single user version is £27.50 +VAT (£30 through Archive) and the site licence is £64.64 +VAT (£70 through Archive). Schools may take advantage of a 28 day trial period before buying the software from 4Mation. Individuals may obtain a demo version by sending a blank disc directly to 4Mation. 7.3 • Ergo-Keyboards − Released by Castle Technology, these keyboards are compatible with the Acorn keyboard, including the mouse socket and the reset button. They have industry standard 102 key PC layout and hardware keyboard mouse emulation. The price is £99 +carriage+VAT direct from Castle Technology. 7.3 • Eizo F560iW is a 17“ flat-screen monitor (not Trinitron) with a higher specification than the F550iW. It is quoted as 1280×1024 and has a dot pitch of 0.26mm. (The F550iW is 1024×768 and 0.28mm.) Unless you intend to get a colourcard, it would probably not be worthwhile getting a 560 instead of a 550 as the extra resolution would hardly be noticeable. (I haven’t seen them side-by-side so this is based on supposition.) If you compare the F560iW with the T560iT (Trinitron) then you get a monitor of comparable resolution for £270 less (£1590 cf £1320) but you don’t get the better brightness and increased colour saturation of the T560iT. 7.3 • Eizo F780iW is a 21“ flat-screen monitor (not Trinitron) with a somewhat higher specification than the F760iW. It is quoted as 1664×1200 and has a dot pitch of 0.26mm. (The F760iW is 1280 ×1024 and 0.31mm.) If you want the ultimate in monitors for use with a colourcard (or the ARM700 machine!) then this is it. The Archive price is £3,300 including VAT and carriage − rather more than the F760iW at £1,990 − but it would certainly be a “future-proof” purchase! 7.3 • FireWorkz − The integrated spreadsheet, graphing and wordprocessing package from Colton Software is now available. Effectively, this is a merging of Resultz and Wordz and the integrated nature has the advantage that, instead of creating a separate table and including it into the wordprocessor, the wordprocessor can have ‘live’ data. The wordprocessor features a style editor, button bar for frequently used functions, spelling checker (55,000 word) and WYSIWYG display. The spreadsheet can have background or manual recalculation, includes a custom function macro language and access to a full range of charts. Import and export functions include Wordz, Resultz, PipeDream, ASCII text, CSV, Lotus 1-2- 3 and RTF text. The price is £169 +VAT (£185 through Archive) but there is a special launch price (valid to the end of 1993) of £149 +VAT (£165 through Archive). Upgrades from Wordz and Resultz are available from Colton. 7.3 • Flossy the Frog is an interactive adventure for under eights, released at Acorn World 93 by 4Mation. Features include point and click movement and investigation. Animations are also included and more than one can occur at a time. It is designed to provide reading opportunities, although it is not necessary to be able to read to use the software, and it also teaches simple problem solving. The price is £24.50 +VAT from 4Mation or £27 through Archive. Schools can take advantage of the ‘try before you buy scheme’ from 4Mation. 7.3 • Haunted House is a desktop adventure game using a similar interface to ‘The Wimp Game’. This new offering from 4th Dimension sets you collecting all the antiques from an old house, at the owner’s instruction, although he declines to come with you. At least 2Mb of RAM is required and there are enhancements for ARM3 machines. Animations enhance the game, in which 99.5% of the graphics are scanned. The price is £25.95 or £24 through Archive. 7.3 • Home Computer Minefield − After a legal challenge by Commodore UK, Acorn Computers have withdrawn their “Home Computer Minefield” video. They will be moving on to the next stage of their free video campaign which involves a detailed guide for parents on the educational use of computers. 7.3 • Inkmun refills − System Insight have released a range of specialist refill kits for some of the latest inkjet printers, including the CLC10, BJC800, Epson Stylus 800 and Deskjet 1200. Refills are specifically designed for each of the printers, the ink being matched to that of the original cartridge manufacturer, and contained in a concertina-style bottle eliminating syringes and sharp needles. As well as the ‘green’ aspect, refilling is ‘at least 50%’ cheaper. Prices start at £14.98 including VAT and first class postage for two complete refills. As a special offer to Archive readers, System Insight are offering a 10% discount on any Inkmun Refill Kit on all postal and telephone orders (a maximum of five kits per customer) if you quote reference “Archive Magazine RB20” when ordering. 7.3 • Jumble Fun − This is a game for pre-school and special needs from Honormead Software Solutions costing £15.95 +VAT (including site licence). It can be used in conjunction with switches or touch window. Level one is a jigsaw and level two a picture jumble. Additional discs with further topical jigsaws are available, or pictures can be imported from Scribble, 1st Paint or scanned/digitised images. 7.3 • Medieval and Gothic Fonts − This font pack (reviewed in Archive 6.12 p77) from the Datafile has now been updated to include full character sets, and the quality of drawing has also been improved. The pack therefore now consists of four discs rather than three. The price remains the same and existing users can upgrade by sending £2 to cover costs. You do not need to return any discs. 7.3 • Midi add-on to Acorn I/O podule − This module is no longer available. There are plenty of other Midi interfaces available but users of the I/O podule will no longer be able to save a podule slot in this way. 7.3 • Navigator − Topologika have produced a content-free software pack to develop navigation and mapping skills. Maps can be displayed on screen and students can navigate around them in various different ways: compass directions, compass bearings, O.S. references, latitude and longitude, ‘turtling’ based on turns and moves and vectors (moves relative to your current position). The pack comes with six ready-to-use activities on disc, manual and teachers’ notes for £45 +£2.50 p&p +VAT or £52 through Archive. (N.C. key stages 2 to 4, Geography, Maths and History.) 7.3 • Noddy’s Playtime is produced by The Jumping Bean Company. The materials relate to the National Curriculum in Key Stage 1. English, Maths and Science are covered with eight special learning programs, Railway Station (memory game), N & B Works (observational activity), Chimney House (musical fun), Noah’s Ark (jigsaw puzzle), Farm Yard (animal matching), Market Place (letter recognition), Post Office (counting) and Police Station (maze game) which are linked together by a driving program. Also included is a full art package whose features include picture colouring, electronic ‘fuzzy felts’, freehand drawing with pens, spraycans and fill patterns. The software is RISC OS 3 compatible but 2Mb of memory is required. The site licence cost is £49 and the single user version is £25.99. 7.3 • Opening Doors on IT Capability − This sounds like the title of a book but actually it is a series of “computer-based learning resources” from the Calderdale Curriculum Support Team. The packages are integrated collections of text and graphics file, tutor notes and student activities. Packs available so far include Using Objects 1 (KS2/3 History, Technology − £20), Using Pictures 1 (KS2/3 History − £15), Limestone Scenery (KS3/4 Geography − £40), Impressionism (KS2/3 Art − £40). The prices include VAT − more details from Tim Scratcherd at Calderdale Curriculum Support Team. 7.3 • RISC OS 3 Laser Direct Drivers − The long awaited Laser Direct Drivers are now available from Computer Concepts, giving full compatibility with the RISC OS 3 !Printers application. Free upgrades are available to existing LD owners. 7.3 • Scribble is an easy-to-use art package aimed at pre-school and special needs. The program can be tailored to meet the individual needs of the user. The touch window screen is also supported. Topical support packs are also available including ‘The Farm’, ‘Space’, ‘Dinosaurs’, ‘Christmas’, and ‘Miscellaneous’. Pictures can be imported and exported into other applications. The cost is £29.95 +VAT from Honormead Software Solutions and includes a site licence. 7.3 • Squirrel 2 − Digital Services have announced a major upgrade to their popular Squirrel database. Squirrel 2 has 38 separate enhancements over the previous release versions including data compression, the ability to store sprites, drawfiles and text on the backdrop, spreadsheet format editing, subset updating and many others. A new graphing module is also included. The new price is £139 +VAT or £150 through Archive. 7.3 Existing users can upgrade to version 2 for £25 +VAT or £35 +VAT including a revised manual. Upgrades are only available from Digital Services. 7.3 • TCP/IP release 2 − There is now a new version of TCP/IP which has been produced to take account of the various new network interface cards available. The new price is £399 +VAT or £420 through Archive. This price includes a site licence. 7.3 Users of version 1 may upgrade to version 2 by sending a cheque for £59.95 (inc VAT) to Acorn Direct − or ring 0933−279300 for more details. 7.3 • WordWorks − This package from Computer Concepts is supplied with the new Impression packages (neither of which is yet available). However, it is a separate application and has been released on its own to assist users of all word processors (although it is more integrated with Impression). It combines the functions of a desktop Thesaurus and a complete English dictionary with explanations. It is also possible to use it as an inverted dictionary − for example, you could find all words whose explanation includes the word ‘useful’. Once a word has been chosen, it can be transferred to your wordprocessor to save you typing it again. WordWorks uses licensed thesaurus and dictionary data from Collins, so you can be sure that the information is up-to-date, accurate and of the highest quality. The price is £39 +VAT from CC or £43 through Archive. 7.3 • A5000 special offer extended − Archive’s “Christmas Special Offer” on the new A5000s has been extended. Until January 31st, you can buy one of the new 30MHz A5000s and get a £100 software voucher to use against any purchase of software from NCS either at the same time as the computer or in the future. The 2Mb/HD80 is £1499 (carriage free) and the 4Mb/HD160 is £1699. Add £75 if you want an AKF50 monitor instead of an AKF18. 7.4 (N.B. We have unlimited stocks of these computers − well, Acorn have − this is not a pre-ARM700 stock clearance but a sales incentive scheme to encourage you to buy A5000s because the launch of the ARM700 is looking, I think, more like 3rd or 4th quarter 1994.) 7.4 • (Another) A5000 special offer − We have got hold of some more of the older 25MHz A5000s and are selling them without monitors at £950 (inc carriage, cf the Beebug price of £1008.15). These are 2Mb computers with 80Mb hard drives. We only have a limited number available so please ring to check stocks before ordering. 7.4 • Aggressor − Macho Edition − This is an upgraded version of the original shoot ’em up game from Matt Black although it is now released as a budget game at £14.99 +p&p from Matt Black or £15 through Archive. (See the review on page 43.) 7.4 • Archive monthly program disc − On the disc this month, we have some extra, useful utilities: !Convert by John Winters converts DOS->text and Text->DOS, which DOSFS doesn’t do; !OnTime by Mark Godwin allows you to keep track of how long you have spent on line to a BBS; !OpenDir by Mark Godwin opens application directories by dragging rather than shift- double-clicking; !SeraPara, again by Mark Godwin, sends incoming data from the serial port direct to the parallel port so that, for example, you can print from the Pocket Book to a printer without disconnecting the printer from the Archimedes, i.e. you only need an A-Link and not a Parallel Link as well. 7.4 Also, on the disc, in the Psion3 directory, is a Psion Series 3 Emulator. This is not a RISC OS application, and requires the PC Emulator or a PC Card and there are certain conditions for its use. It is a Series 3 Emulator not a Pocket Book emulator, therefore there will be some differences. The OPL Compiler is included so you can write software without needing to spend £65 on the compiler − although it rather defeats the object of it being a portable computer! For what it is worth, it is there for your use. 7.4 Chris Johnson has sent us the latest version of his application called !Text>Draw which solves the problem noted by Richard Hallas’ last month (Archive 7.3 p68) of getting kerned text into Draw. 7.4 Finally, there is an Elite cheat − see Hints & Tips on page 50. The Archive monthly discs cost £2 each (or £20 for twelve − a full year). 7.4 • Birds of War − 4th Dimension’s latest release is a flight simuator for 2Mb Archimedes computers. It provides 192 missions with over 50 aircraft types. There are 10 Mb of data including 86,000 words of briefing text for the missions. These are compressed onto six discs but they say an ARM3 hard drive computer is the ideal configuration. Birds of War costs £34.95 from 4th Dimension or £32 through Archive. 7.4 • Bitfolio Cartoon Graphics − LOOKSystems have done another conversion for the Archimedes. This time it consists of 100 full colour cartoon characters. The 3.2Mb of images are in drawfile format, not scanned as sprites. LOOKSystems sells them for £30 inc VAT and the Archive price is £28. 7.4 (The fun part about it is that the same collection is available for PC and Mac users but they have to pay £60 for exactly the same graphics!!) 7.4 Here are some sample cartoons − none of them bear any resemblance to any member of the Norwich Computer Services staff, especially not the editor! 7.4 • Braille tuition − The Dorton IT Support Centre have produced a program called DotTest for those undertaking the Birmingham braille course but it is equally suitable for those wishing to practise or improve their braille. It can be used with the standard keyboard configured by the program to use the six home keys and the space bar to mimic a braille keyboard or an adapted Perkins Brailler plugged into a user port. The program costs £25 from Dorton IT Centre. 7.4 • Chemical Modeller − SSERC’s molecular modelling software (version 3.3) is now “fully mouse compatible”. It has been improved in many of the ways suggested by David Kent in his review in Archive 6.4 p55. It costs £52.50 +VAT from SSERC. 7.4 • DP Font Library − Dalmation Publications are selling a set of fonts (101 in all) at “a price nearly everyone can afford”. The cost is £19.95 inclusive of p&p from Dalmation Publications. 7.4 • EasyFont − Fabis Computing have produced a font management system which allows you to choose a selection of fonts simply by clicking in a window. EasyFont costs £25 (+£1 p&p) +VAT from Fabis Computing. 7.4 • Fonts Discs − Three discs of display fonts (seven families of fonts on each disc) are now available from Fabis Computing, each disc costing £5 +VAT. 7.4 • Granny’s Garden goes European − 4Mation have produced some modern language versions of their popular Granny’s Garden program. It is now available in French, German and Italian. Each costs £24.50 +VAT from 4Mation or £27 through Archive. 7.4 • ImageMaster from David Pilling is a new image processing program allowing format conversion and image acquisition from scanners via Twain (see below). ImageMaster reads and writes TIFF, JPEG, PCX, PBM, Clear, sprite, BMP, GIF and MTV. It can handle images bigger than memory by using virtual memory techniques. It works with 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 24 and 32-bit per pixel images. ImageMaster has a whole range of facilities for processing and manipulating images and is supplied with Trace, D2Font and Snapper (screen capture program). ImageMaster costs £30 inclusive from David Pilling or £28 through Archive. 7.4 • Impression II/Publisher special offer − Archive are doing a special offer on Impression II. The normal Archive price is £180 but “while stocks last” we are selling them at £120. If you want to upgrade to Impression Publisher when it becomes available, the upgrade will cost just £29 +£3 p&p +VAT =£37.60 from Computer Concepts. The RRP of Impression Publisher is £169 +VAT = £198.58 so by buying a cheap copy of Impression II you can get a copy of Impression Publisher for £157.60 − quite a good saving. We only have a limited number of copies at this price so please do not send a cheque without ringing to reserve a copy first. 7.4 • Lexique / Wortgut − These are French to Eng-lish and German to English dictionaries produced by Fabis Computing. Features include groups and sub-groups of GCSE topics, search and edit, add your own words, language lists printed as required. Each dictionary costs £20 +VAT from Fabis Computing. 7.4 • Night Sky is Clares Micros’ new astronomy program. It allows display of the night sky at any time from anywhere on earth, gives information about each star, shows constellation boundaries, sun, moon and planets, works in real or accelerated time, shows lunar and solar eclipses and occulations, and deep sky objects can be shown e.g. nebulae, clusters and galaxies. Night Sky costs £79.95 inc VAT from Clares or £74 through Archive. 7.4 • Phaethon − A new game from a new software house: System Interrupt. “Drive your space orb along hazardous terrains at breath-taking velocity! Take corners and jump gaps at an unwise speed! Employ your full manual capacity upon the solution of fiendish puzzles! Play the game!”, says the System Interrupt press release. Phaethon (apparently pronounced “faith-on”) is £25.95 from System Interrupt or £24 through Archive. (Never mind the press release, read the review on page 19 from which you will gather that Andrew Rawnsley rather likes Phaethon − and I can vouch for the fact that Andrew has no connection, financial or otherwise, with System Interrupt! Ed.) 7.4 • Psion 3A − As mentioned last month, we are going to be stocking the new Psion 3A. The pricing will be £269 for the 256Kb version and £329 for the 512Kb. The only problem is that there are only limited supplies. If you know somewhere that has them in stock then I suggest you buy one while you have the chance(!) but if not, place an order with us and we will put you in the queue and hold your cheque until we get supplies. 7.4 • Rhapsody 3 is now available. New features include guitar chords, quick edit panel, hairpins & phrasing, auto bar checking, etc. Stewart Watson has reported on the extra features in this issue − see page 12. Rhapsody 3, which requires 2Mb RAM, costs £99.95 inc VAT from Clares or £92 through Archive. There is an upgrade offer from Rhapsody 2 to 3 which costs £48 inc VAT from Clares although this offer is limited to 31st December 1993. 7.4 • Scientific Graphics Collection CD-ROM − This provides a huge database of scientific graphics material. It contains all the material from the 15 discs of graphics produced separately by SSERC as well as a Draw Practical Guide in electronic format. The CD-ROM contains around 9,000 files with a total of 330Mb of data covering chemistry, physics, biology, technology, IT and computing. It costs £150 +VAT from SSERC. 7.4 • Shareware 21 − The Archimedes Image Manager on Shareware 21 has now been updated to the latest version (AIM3) which includes instant loading of (grey) sprites, manipulation of selected area, no restriction on image format, better compliance with RISC OS, better menu structure, improved query box and help function, histograms savable as drawfiles. This is a disc-only version but if you want a version complete with manual, it is distributed by Lindis International. Shareware 21 is £2 through Archive. 7.4 • Small − Another new company on the Archimedes games scene is Virgo Software. Their first offering is called Small. It is a 3D maze adventure game in which you have been shrunk to microscopic size and have to wander the labyrinthine realm of your mind. Small costs £24.95 from Virgo Software or £23 through Archive. 7.4 • TCP/IP 2 single user − Acorn have realised that making TCP/IP 2 available only as a site licence at £399 was not too user-friendly. They have therefore decided to make it available with a single-user licence for £99 +VAT (£105 through Archive). 7.4 • T-shirts, sweatshirts and mugs − If you are interested in putting your own designs onto T-shirts, sweatshirts and mugs, Tekoa Graphics will take your designs on Archimedes floppy disc in Artworks, Draw or sprite format and transfer them to the required medium. Prices depend on quantity but one-off prices are £13 for T-shirts, £16.70 for sweatshirts and £6 for mugs dropping to £6, £9.70 and £4 each respectively for 25 or more. (No VAT as T.G. are not VAT registered.) 7.4 • Twain is an image acquisition standard for easy communication between image capturing devices and software applications. It has been implemented on Mac and PC and has now been brought to RISC OS machines by David Pilling. Basically, Twain does for scanners what RISC OS printer drivers do for printers. The only version currently available is for the HP ScanJet but versions for the Canon scanner (ScanLight Professional) and the Epson scanners are on their way. The ScanJet version is £20 inclusive from David Pilling or £19 through Archive. 7.4 • 10 out of 10 French − The latest in 4th Dimension’s 10 out of 10 educational series gives help with learning French. It provides “challenges to reinforce facts stated in AT 3 and 4 of the National Curriculum”. It is aimed mainly at Key Stages 3 and 4 but “the numerous parent and teacher customisation options make the software suitable for all children who are learning the French language.” 10 out of 10 French costs £25.95 inclusive from 4th Dimension or £24 through Archive. 7.5 • 10 out of 10 Maths − Statistics − Another of 4th Dimension’s 10 out of 10 programs for mathematics is on statistics. It covers “major areas of National Curriculum AT5” including data handling, probability, charts, graphs, averages, interpretation, observations, surveys, estimation and words. 10 out of 10 Maths (Statistics) costs £25.95 inclusive from 4th Dimension or £24 through Archive. 7.5 • Another new Acorn monitor − Acorn have now discontinued the AKF18 and are providing instead the AKF52 which should be available by the beginning of February. They call it a direct replacement although it has a slightly larger dot pitch − 0.42mm cf 0.39mm for the AKF18. (The AKF50 is 0.28mm.) However, it will display all the Acorn screen modes unlike the AKF30 and 40 which are limited to modes 0-17, 24 and 44-46. The price is £299 inc VAT. (Archive price £300 inc carriage.) 7.5 • Archive monthly program disc − As well as the support files for the PipelineZ and Magpie/Genesis Columns the disc contains an index of the AI CD-ROM as reviewed on page 42. 7.5 Also, Christopher Jarman, a handwriting expert and author of the review of Letter on page 30 has sent in two fonts that he has produced. He is happy for them to be used in the public domain and freely distributed. We have put them on the monthly program disc for you to use. 7.5 This is the Jarman font. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. 7.5 This is the Jarman oblique font. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. 7.5 This is the Quiltalic font. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. 7.5 This is the Quiltalic oblique font. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. 7.5 Finally, we will put on the disc an update of the ArcScan data for volumes 6 and 7 (to issue 3) of Archive. 7.5 • Audioworks provides a complete suite of sound editing functions in one application. It is compatible with a whole range of sound files (MicroSoft WAVe, Armadeus, DataVox, SoundTracker and RawData formats). In addition to playing back from the standard Archimedes speaker, the software can sample from and playback to more advanced audio boards, such as the Eagle MultiMedia card. AudioWorks supports 8 bit, 12 bit, 16 bit, linear signed, linear unsigned, VIDC logarithmic, m-law logarithmic, mono and stereo samples. Features include: accurate waveform display with instantaneous zoom; a utility for playing back from hard disc in the background with various effects; on-screen real- time spectrum analyser and oscilloscope displays; full background operation; multiple channel and multiple sample operations. Audioworks costs £49 +VAT from Computer Concepts or £55 through Archive. 7.5 • Basic Programmer’s Toolkit − Beebug have produced a set of utilities to aid the process of writing programs in Basic. It includes: program printer, program formatter, SWI name / number converter, program analyser, program cruncher, program differentiator, desktop front end for the Help command, program monitor, procedure library manager and a library of Basic routines. The Basic Programmer’s Toolkit costs £15.28 +£2 p&p +VAT from Risc Developments (£12.72 +£2 for Risc User subscribers). 7.5 • Carnage Inc. − From the same programmers as Pandora’s Box comes Carnage Inc. which is an isometric adventure game. “From dazzling fire- fights to ingenious puzzles, Carnage Inc. will test your reflexes as well as your mind.” The price is £25.95 from The 4th Dimension or £24 through Archive. 7.5 • Colour scanners − Irlam Instruments supply a range of colour scanners for use with Archimedes computers. The software, Proi-Mage (pronounced ‘pro-image’!) is a desktop application which can be used with a range of different scanners and supports a wide range of file formats including industry standard ones. The image is built up on screen as the scan proceeds and the software multitasks so you can get on with other jobs while you wait. Sprite output is in monochrome, 16-grey, 256-grey and 256-colour and dithering can be turned off for line art or colour printing. 7.5 The first scanner supported is the Sharp JX-100 as used in the Risc Developments’ Spectra scanner costing £549 +VAT (reviewed in Archive 6.11 p62). The Irlam version, including the software, is £449 +VAT (£520 inc VAT through Archive). This uses an RS232 serial interface and will work with all the newer computers: A5000, A3010, A3020 and A4000. If you have one of the older computers, you need an interface board costing £69 +VAT (£80 through Archive) which goes in a standard podule slot. The scanning area is 100mm × 160mm and it scans at 200 dpi. 7.5 If you want an A4 scanner, there is the Epson GT-6500 at £875 +VAT (£1000 inc VAT through Archive) or the Epson GT-8000 at £1195 +VAT (£1,380 through Archive). As well as having the larger scanning area, these scanners are faster than the JX-100, partly because they use the bi-directional parallel port. (Again, older Archimedes computers need one of the interface boards at £80 through Archive.) The scanners are 300dpi and 400 dpi, respectively, and have a number of extra features and options which justify the extra cost. The GT-8000 has a SCSI interface, so it can be operated at even higher speeds with an appropriate SCSI interface − not all of them work properly with scanners! 7.5 **STOP PRESS** 7.5 Irlam say they now have a colour hand scanner available − we will put details on the Price List if we can get them in time. 7.5 • Cowboys & Indians − If you are wanting to make a comic book involving cowboys and indians then Matt Black have a new clipart pack just for you. Their Vanguard Graphics Pack 2 (Cowboys and Indians) contains two discs of coloured drawfiles and a manual giving hints suggesting how you could create your own comic strips. This pack is aimed at teachers and parents of 4 − 12 years olds and costs £15 +£2 p&p from Matt Black. 7.5 • DeskEdit 3 − Risc Developments have updated DeskEdit again. The price remains the same at £31.95 inc VAT or £30 through Archive. New features include a 20-entry desktop debugging window, an independent scrolling window, 20 new invisible markers, a powerful function locator, extended info on template files, sprites, modules, PCK image files and Basic programs, an input filter to normalise files coming from foreign environments and an automatic file backup creator. If you have DeskEdit 1 or 2 and want to upgrade to 3, it will cost you £9.95 and £5.88 respectively inc VAT from Risc Developments. 7.5 • Desktop Thesaurus new version − Risc Developments have expanded their thesaurus to include antonyms. The new version recognises over 17,450 keywords and contains around 200,000 alternative words. Existing users may upgrade free-of-charge by returning their original disc with S.A.E. (or £2 to cover p&p) to Risc Developments. The price remains at £19 +£1.70 p&p +VAT from Risc Developments or £23 inclusive through Archive. 7.5 • Easy C − Risc Developments have produced an “easy-to-use” C development system. It is a fully RISC OS compliant application which provides a WIMP front end for driving the compiler and linker. The compiler conforms to the latest ANSI standard (although it has not been validated). It is claimed to be unique in having an integrated ARM assembler. Easy C is supplied with a library of ANSI functions and RISC OS functions. It is compatible with DeskLib, the freeware library, and it has a library management facility to allow users to create and maintain their own libraries. Easy C costs £49 +£2.70 carriage +VAT from Risc Developments or £56 through Archive. 7.5 • Explorer is an educational program from Alpine Software which will help with project work on the solar system and space travel. Aimed at Key Stages 3 and 4, it costs £30 +VAT from Alpine Software or £33 through Archive. For more details, see the review on page 78. 7.5 • Granny’s Garden is now available on CD-ROM! Cumana and 4Mation have combined to produce this new multimedia version of this popular educational program. It costs £29.95 +VAT or £33 through Archive. 7.5 • Heimdall is a Viking adventure game from Krisalis. In this five-disc game, you follow the Viking warrior Heimdall in his growth from a small boy to a great warrior. It includes some splendid 3D animations and realtime combat. Heimdall costs £29.99 inclusive from Krisalis or £28 through Archive. 7.5 • Kerner − Design Concept have produced a utility that can convert your existing outline fonts to the new RISC OS 3 format, adding kerning information. It costs £15 inclusive from Design Concept. With it, at no extra cost, they are also supplying Kern-All. The aim of this is to force all applications, even those which do not currently do so, to use kerning. 7.5 • KleinFS − PTW Software are marketing KleinFS, a compression filing system with many “unique features” including the ability to support networks, allowing users to log-on and log-off. KleinFS costs £17.95 incVAT from PTW Software. 7.5 • Magic Pockets is a scrolling arcade adventure program written by the Bitmap Brothers and distributed by Renegade at £25.99 inclusive or £24 through Archive. It boasts “bonus games, secret rooms, loads of power- ups, stacks of levels, heaps of weapons and swarms of intelligent nasties”. 7.5 • Materials, Components & Techniques is the latest in Anglia Television’s series of KEY datafiles. ‘Materials’ provides numerical and textual information about common materials and then the ‘Components’, ‘Tools’ and ‘Joining’ datafiles each include a graphic field which presents a diagram relevant to the record being displayed. Materials, Components & Techniques costs £22 +VAT from Anglia Television. 7.5 • Mouse-tamer − NW SEMERC have produced an aid for younger children or those with a physical handicap. It is called the SEMERC Mouser and it allows you to disable any combination of the three mouse buttons thus simplifying the use of some programs for users with limited motor control. It also has switch inputs for those for whom even the mouse is a non-starter. The SEMERC Mouser costs £47 +£5 p&p +VAT from NW SEMERC. 7.5 • Music Box − Topologika have released an educational music program for primary schools which aims to help the children investigate rhythm, pitch, harmony and composition. No technical musical skills are needed but the purpose of the package is to develop transferable musical skills and it is aimed at AT 1 and 2 at Key Stages 1 and 2 of the National Curriculum. Music Box is configurable to the needs of the child and comes complete with a range of support material in printed form and on disc. Music Box costs £35 +VAT for a single user licence (£38 through Archive) and there are site licences available from Topologika: primary £60, secondary £70 and teacher training licence £105, all +VAT. 7.5 • Sylvia Layne is here at last! The Exotic Adventures of Sylvia Layne from 4th Dimension is now available for £25.95 or £24 through Archive. It is a scrolling arcade adventure with 50 frame/sec animations and five layers of vertically scrolling parallax and can be loaded onto hard disc. 7.5 • Talking Rhymes − Topologika have produced a set of four nursery rhymes in both words and pictures which can be set up as jigsaw puzzles for youngsters to solve. When the jigsaw is complete, the rhyme is spoken out using digitised speech and a rewarding animation sequence is played. The complexity of the jigsaws is configurable to suit the age and skill of the child. The four rhymes are: Humpty Dumpty, Georgie Porgie, Little Miss Muffet and Little Jack Horner but a further pack of four will be released later in the year. Talking Rhymes (Pack 1) costs £40 +VAT for a single user licence (£44 through Archive) and there are site licences available from Topologika: primary £65, secondary £75 and teacher training licence £110, all +VAT. 7.5 • Ultimate Expansion System − HCCS now have available a micropodule for the CC Scanlight 256. It comes in various forms, with and without the scanner head, as a micropodule on its own or as a Starter Pack including a multipodule plus PSU and as a combined Starter Pack with either the Vision colour digitiser or the HiVision colour digitiser. The Archive prices are as follows: 7.5 ScanLight 256 Micropodule + Scanner − £261 7.5 ScanLight 256 Micropodule only − £114 7.5 ScanLight 256 Starter Pack − £342 7.5 ScanLight 256 + Colour Vision S.P. − £420 7.5 ScanLight 256 + HiVision S.P. − £455 7.5 • Wimp Programmer’s Toolkit upgrade − Beebug have updated their Wimp Programmer’s Toolkit to version 3. It now contains fifteen applications to assist in the developing and debugging of Wimp programs. New features include Basic procedure and function analyser, wimp poll mask number generator, program to calculate icon, window and menu flags, Basic variable lister, pointer icon locator, new template file browser and a library of wimp applications and procedures. There is also a new 56-page manual. Prices are £21.95 inc VAT (or £7.95 as an upgrade) through Beebug or £17.95 and £4.95 respectively for Risc User subscribers. • Acorn Access is an important new AUN networking product. It is described as an “entry-level plug and play” networking product. If you have Acorn computers (RISC OS 3.1 with 2Mb+) in reasonably close proximity, you can buy an Access Pack for each one, connect them together and you will be able to share hard disc and printer facilities between the computers. Each pack consists of an Ethernet card plus appropriate drop-leads, T-connectors and thru-connectors to link the computers together, and the Access software. This allows you to export hard discs and printers so that they can be accessed by other computers on the network. It requires no fileserver software or hardware and therefore has no management overheads − no special knowledge is needed to run it − indeed the installation ‘manual’ is a single A4 sheet and the operating instructions are on another A4 sheet. However, you can link it into an existing Level4 fileserver if you want to do so. 7.6 This is an extremely easy system to set up allowing up to about twenty machines to be linked together over a distance of up to 185m. Acorn recommend sharing one hard disc between about five or six machines and it is possible, say, to share three or four hard discs between fifteen machines on the same network segment. The hard discs can be shared on the basis of ‘protected’ or ‘unprotected’, i.e. read-only or read/write so you can prevent things being deleted if you choose! The schools that have acted as test sites for Access have been extremely pleased with it, particularly it terms of easy of installation and easy of use. 7.6 We haven’t got any pricing information at present but if it arrives in time, we will put it in the Members’ Price List. 7.6 • AUN Fileserver Level 4 release 3 is now available. This includes Application Accelerator (see above) and !Gateway which enables two-way access between two Ethernet networks of between two different cabling systems such as Ethernet and Econet. Again, we are still waiting for confirmation of pricing but I guess that the price will probably stay at £399 +VAT or £430 through Archive. The upgrade for release 1 or 2 to release 3 is ‘hoped to be about £100’. 7.6 • Application Accelerator is another new AUN networking product from Acorn. It is an application server which allows applications to be made available to client machines on a read-only basis about four times as fast as through the Level 4 Fileserver. However, Accelerator can export any accessible directory or filing system and is not just limited to a fileserver. For example, if it is put on an AUN gateway machine, it can make a shared filing system accessible from both sides of the gateway. If you have an application server using NFSFiler (from TCP/IP), you can make this available to clients without them having to use NFSFiler. Accelerator is compatible with TCP/IP (release 2) and Level 4 Fileserver (release 3). 7.6 • ArcFS2 − This is now being distributed by Vertical Twist and the price has been increased to £24.99 inc VAT or £23 through Archive. 7.6 • ArcSimp III − Mijas Software have now released version 3 of their RISC OS compliant electronic simulation package. Its facilities include digital circuit simulation, analogue circuit simulation, control system design and mechanical system simulation. It comes in two forms: a National Curriculum study version at £55 +VAT (site licence £150) and a Professional Design & Research version costing £105 +VAT (site licence £300). 7.6 • ArtWorks 1.5 − This new version of ArtWorks provides support for 24- bit sprites. It includes new TIFF file loaders and a fast-load feature. The price remains at £169 +VAT from Computer Concepts or £180 through Archive. 7.6 • ArtWorks 1.5 on CD − This includes all of the clipart from the Clipart CD, the new version of ArtWorks plus all the ArtWorks fonts. The price remains at £169 +VAT from Computer Concepts or £180 through Archive. 7.6 • ArtWorks Clipart CD − Computer Concepts are selling a CD which consists of an ArtWorks file viewer plus over 800 ArtWorks example pictures. It also has a demo version of AudioWorks with example audio files and dozens of 24-bit photographs. The ArtWorks Clipart CD costs £19 from Computer Concepts or £21 through Archive. (The clipart on this CD is the same as is included on the CD version of ArtWorks.) 7.6 • ArtWorks Made Easy by Ann Rooney is published by Dabs Press. As the title suggests, this is aimed at the Artworks beginner and takes the reader step by step through its various features and draws attention to the principal differences between Artworks and Draw. Artworks Made Easy costs £14.95 from Dabs Press or £15 through Archive inclusive of p&p. (Books, being heavy are expensive to post.) 7.6 • Basic WIMP Programming is a new book by Alan Senior published by Dabs Press. It enables you to learn how to program the WIMP environment using Basic. To assist program development, the book gives many example programs which are designed to be easily adapted and expanded for your own applications. An extensive library of procedures and functions is also provided to simplify the program writer’s task. The price of £16.95 includes a disc of programs, procedures and functions. This is available through Archive for £17 inclusive of p&p. 7.6 • BearSheet is a “simple yet sophisticated” spreadsheet from ERIC (Education Resources in Computing). It consists of two spreadsheet programs aimed at different educational levels, does bar and pie charts, line and scatter graphs and costs £29.95 inc VAT from ERIC with a network version at £59.90 inc VAT. 7.6 • BearWords is a wordprocessor/DTP package also from ERIC consisting of three separate WPs at different levels from elementary to advanced level. It is also concept keyboard compatible. BearWords costs £42.95 inc VAT from ERIC and a network version is available from them at £85.90 inc VAT. 7.6 • Bodywise is an animated database of the human body from Sherston Software. It provides an exploration of the human body for top juniors and lower secondary pupils − just point and click the body-part they want to know about and watch it work! (The mind boggles! Ed) There is a setup option which allows teachers to choose which systems are available to the children and to turn on or off the explanations and animations of the sexual organs. Bodywise is fully RISC OS compliant and all illustrations and text can easily be saved or transferred to other applications. The package comes with user manual, a booklet of ideas for classroom use, two sets of Body Search cards and a set of study sheets. Bodywise costs £39.95 +VAT from Sherston Software or £44 through Archive. 7.6 • Brilliant special needs software − Brilliant Computing have produced some more software for special needs children. 7.6 FacePaint allows the children (or you!) to create hundreds of silly faces with different noses, eyes, ears, hair, hats, etc. Fill in a ‘features chart’ from an eye-witness report and then create your own identikit picture. FacePaint is £30 +VAT from Brilliant Computing. 7.6 Look & Listen consists of five mini video games to develop basic road safety skills. It uses the stereo sound and comes with a free pair of headphones. It can be used with mouse, keyboard, touch screens or simple switch. Look & Listen costs £25 +VAT from Brilliant Computing. 7.6 Sound Stuff consists of five games using a library of 24 sounds and matching pictures. Find the sound to match the picture, use the stereo facility to find where the sound is coming from, or play the matching pairs game. It uses real recorded speech and can be used with mouse or touch screen and comes with a free pair of headphones. Sound Stuff costs £25 +VAT from Brilliant Computing. 7.6 • CD-Net is a CD-ROM filing system for AUN. The idea of it is to overcome some of the limitations imposed by existing hardware and software. It allows CD-ROMs to be accessed either by special retrieval software designed for a particular CD-ROM or through a CDFiler. CD-Net is designed in such a way that, with “appropriate hardware”, it is even possible to run Replay movies over the network. CD-ROMs have to be specifically licensed to be accessed through CD-Net. There are currently eight titles being licensed but more will be available over the next few months. A CD-Net Trial Pack costs £39.95 +VAT from PEP Associates. 7.6 • Celtic Clipart disc − This includes borders, panels, chains, motifs and some hints on altering the graphics for your own use. It costs £10.99 (no VAT) and is available from: Glyn Howells, Sicar Uchaf, Brongest, Newcastle Emlyn, Dyfed, SA38 9ET. 7.6 • Cistercian Abbeys is a Genesis application that uses graphics, plans, maps and a database to explore medieval monastic life. Cistercian Abbeys costs £45 +VAT from Oak Solutions or £50 through Archive. 7.6 • Clipart & educational resource files − a range of clipart and educational resource files are available from DEC_dATA at prices ranging from £3 to £13 +VAT per set. New ones include Famous Buildings, Hand Tools and Military Aircraft each £7.95 +VAT and The Party, Wedding and Anniversary Collection, a two-disc set at £14 +VAT. There is also an Impression Style Resource Disc at £7.95 +VAT which includes borders, decorative drawfiles, map of the UK, masks, office symbols and sport pictures and an Artworks Resource Disc at £8.95 +VAT which includes decorative motifs, moulds for the envelope tool, drawings of gears and stars, moulds for the perspective tool and a good number of sample files. 7.6 • Colour Hand Scanner − We now have information on Irlam’s hand scanner as mentioned briefly in Products Available last month. This is an A5 scanner producing 24-bit colour output or 256 grey levels. Resolution is from 100 to 400 dpi. The scan area is selectable up to just over 4 inches (about 10.5 cm). It has monochrome, 16 grey, 256 grey and 256 colour sprite support. The 24-bit formats include Clear files and compressed JPEG. Brightness adjustment is done by control on the scan head and gamma correction and sharpness are adjustable in software. A version that will work in A3000/3010/3020/4000 machines is in the pipeline but, at the moment, you need a computer that will take a standard podules. The Irlam 24-bit Colour HandScanner costs £359 +VAT +carriage from Irlam or £425 through Archive. 7.6 We had a look at this scanner at the BETT Show and it is VERY impressive. The output has to be seen to be believed. We have put a few sample scans on this month’s program disc. 7.6 • Colour scanner correction − When I mentioned Irlam’s Proi-Mage software and Epson scanners, I misquoted the scanning resolution. The Epson GT-6500 (£1000 inc VAT through Archive) actually scans at 600d.p.i. and is even capable of going to 1200d.p.i. while the Epson GT- 8000 (£1,380 through Archive) scans at 800d.p.i. and is capable of going up to 1600d.p.i.! 7.6 • Conjugez! − This is a software tool from Creative Curriculum Software for helping you learn French verbs and is applicable right from early learners of French up to A level and beyond. Conjugez! has 3,500 verbs built into sets of data files in a range of nine appropriate levels. The education site licence version also has a utility for adding more verbs and editing the existing datafiles. Conjugez! is £24.95 +VAT for a single user or £89 +VAT for a site licence from Creative Curriculum Software. 7.6 • Cumana CD-ROM price increases − There have been various price rises on CD-ROMs. The new Archive prices are as follows: 7.6 Creepy Crawlies − £100 7.6 Dictionary of the Living World − £175 7.6 Grooves − £25 7.6 Image Warehouse − £59 7.6 All four of the above − £180† 7.6 Space Encyclopedia − £44 7.6 World of Number 7.6 Number Games & Short Tasks − £89 7.6 Perspectives − £89 7.6 Picture Gallery − £89 7.6 Who Stole the Decimal Point? − £89 7.6 †Yes, I know that’s only £5 more than Dictionary of the Living World on its own but they say it’s a special offer price, so who are we to argue! 7.6 • Cycloids − GamesWare have taken over this Software 42 game. The plot features a unicycle-riding clown whose job it is to save the world! It features 256-colour cartoon graphics and comical sound effects. Cycloids costs £19.99 from Gamesware or £19 through Archive. 7.6 • Desktop Screenturtle − Topologika have produced a desktop version of their easy-to-learn turtle graphics program. It offers a range of Logo features but always with the aim of making it accessible for the younger users − aimed at 8 to 13+ year olds. The new version has ‘many new features’ including a toolbox plus drag and drop loading of screens and word sets. You can also switch off the need for numbers after commands. This ‘no numbers’ input mode works in conjunction with scaling options for distance and direction and means that younger children needn’t worry about numbers bigger than 10. Desktop Screenturtle costs £45 +VAT or £49 through Archive. An upgrade from the original version is available at £10 +VAT from Topologika. 7.6 • DrawPlot upgrade − Oak Solutions have upgraded DrawPlot, their HPGL compatible plotter utility which works, for example, on the Roland CAMM series. It now supports Graphtec plotters and work is under way on Plotmate A3M and A4M plotters. DrawPlot allows you, simply and quickly, to plot, cut or engrave drawings from drawfiles. CAMM1 cutters and CAMM2 millers can be driven in the same way as an HPGL plotter and DrawPlot can be used, for example, to produce vinyl signs. 7.6 DrawPlot is part of their Draw Print & Plot package, which costs £30 +VAT from Oak Solutions or £33 through Archive. 7.6 • Eagle M2 − The Eagle M2 multimedia card provides 12-bit stereo sampling and playback at CD rate (44.1kHz), full Midi capability, 24-bit colour and greyscale still frame digitising, Acorn Replay movie capture and Eidos real-time movie capture. It has S-VHS and composite video input, line level audio input and output as well as audio out through the computer speaker or headphone socket. This is an impressive array of facilities to have on a single-width podule and the price is impressive too: £299 + p&p +VAT (£358.37) from Wild Vision or £340 through Archive. It needs 4Mb and RISC OS 3.1 and, for Replay movie capture, an A5000 or A540 with at least 4Mb is recommended. 7.6 David Lenthall has started a series about audio sampling (see page 43) − and he will be mentioning this and other offerings on the Acorn audio front next month. Ed. 7.6 • Exploring Nature is a CD-ROM version of Usborne’s First Book of Nature. It is targeted at primary and early secondary and aims to keep up the Usborne tradition of “a very colourful presentation style with hundreds of beautifully drawn pictures”. The basic approach is to let children emulate the process of scientific discovery by doing a simulated field trip on which they “measure” such things as temperature and sunlight, and collect or “photograph” things they find. They can then study from themed books or look up references in a nature dictionary. From their collected information, the children can write up a report or transfer pictures and data to other applications to collate it further or make a special presentation of their work. Exploring Nature comes with a teacher’s pack providing explanatory notes, user guide and National Curriculum linkages. Exploring Nature costs £120 +VAT from Hampshire Microtechnology Centre. 7.6 • Fortran 77 − Intelligent Interfaces distribute a Fortran 77 compiler and a desktop front-end for Fortran 77. The compiler itself is supplied with linker, symbolic debugger (ASD) and utility library and costs £99 +VAT or £110 through Archive. The front-end, !Fortran77, enables Fortran programs to be compiled, linked and executed in the RISC OS desktop environment. It is supplied with DrawF, Graphics, SpriteOp, Utils and Wimp libraries and costs £25 +VAT or £28 through Archive. 7.6 The compiler was originally distributed by Acorn as the Acornsoft Fortran 77, release 2, compiler but Intelligent Interfaces have made a number of changes: the compiler can now be installed anywhere in the user’s directory structure, the User Guide has been completely re- written, a Utility Library is included, the symbolic debugger (previously distributed with the Acorn Software Developer’s Toolbox) is included with its own user guide, a command to compile and link in a single operation has been added and instructions on how to use the linker in Acorn’s DDE are given. 7.6 • Fonts (low cost) 1 − Tekoa Graphics have produced their first pack of low-cost fonts. They are offering 25 outline fonts for under £1 a font. They are suitable for use with RISC OS 2 and 3 although they do not contain any auto-kerning data. The fonts (including the number in each family) are as follows: Academy (2), Bengal (4), Bookmark (4), Chaucer (medium italic only), Garland (4), Matrix (a fancy font), Moscow (a Cyrillic font), Optimist (4) and Paladin (4). They are mainly serifed fonts and are “mostly inspired by (but slightly different from) industry-standard typefaces”. Fonts Pack One costs £20 +£2.75 p&p from Tekoa Graphics (no VAT as not registered). (See Richard Hallas’ review next month − it wouldn’t fit in this month.) 7.6 • Fonts (low cost) 2 − The Datafile have renegotiated their licence agreement with ITC of New York and URW of Hamburg. The result is (a) lower prices for professional fonts and (b) a Pick ’n Mix service so that you can buy just the fonts you want from a list of 33 families, totalling 100 weights. The fonts seem to be of very high quality. (See Richard Hallas’ review next month.) For more details, contact The Datafile or see the advert on page 20. 7.6 • F.R.E.D. − The 3D adventure game which was reviewed in Archive 7.1 p24, is now available through Archive at £19. 7.6 • Go-Go! − This is a simple turtle graphics program from NW SEMERC for teaching number, geometry and logic to special needs, primary and secondary pupils. This is a full RISC OS multitasking package providing a range of activities whose simplicity or complexity can be set by the teacher. It includes a wide variety of ready-made scenes and pointers to which the pupil must give instructions in order to move it around the screen to a particular goal. Reward sounds can be programmed to play when a particular task is completed. A map, ordnance survey symbols and an on-screen ruler and protractor are provided for taking accurate measurements. The price of the two-disc set for Go-Go!, including a curriculum guide with more ideas, is £40 +£3 p&p +VAT from NW SEMERC. 7.6 • Granny’s Garden CD-ROM! Cumana and 4Mation have combined to produce a new multimedia version of this popular educational program. The CD-ROM version has enhanced graphics so that you can take advantage of higher screen resolutions if they are available. It also has music and sound effects together with a narrated introduction to the story by 4Mation’s own Mike Matson. It costs £29.95 +VAT or £33 through Archive. 7.6 • Hard drive price drops − The prices of Mac hard drives (which work well on Acorn using most of the SCSI cards currently available) have dropped recently. The price drops are as follows: 7.6 170Mb internal £310 −−> £260 7.6 170Mb external £440 −−> £390 7.6 525Mb internal £790 −−> £580 7.6 525Mb external £910 −−> £710 7.6 1Gb internal £1040 −−> £850 7.6 1Gb external £1170 −−> £980 7.6 We also have a new drive: a 2Gb external at £1390. 7.6 Remember though that with Acorn’s existing range of Archimedes computers, the maximum amount of memory that can be handled as a single logical drive is 512Mb, so the 1Gb would have to be partitioned as two 512Mb drives and the 2Gb drive would take up all four drives possible on a SCSI interface, leaving no room for a SCSI-type backup device! 7.6 (It would be a reasonable guess that these bigger drives will be more easily handled on any new range of machines that Acorn might launch in the future. Ed.) 7.6 A suitable SCSI interface would be a Morley uncached SCSI card (£160) for the 170Mb drive and a cached SCSI card (£220) for the larger drives. Below about 200Mb, the cache does not make a lot of difference to the speed. 7.6 • Hawk V9 MkII − Wild Vision’s Hawk colour digitiser used to be available in two forms: standard and “hardware dithered” but the standard version has now been deleted and the hardware dithered version has been reduced from £269 to £199. This version allows you to have a live display window in the desktop where the grabbed video picture is displayed with full dithered colours. It also has a special mono format useful for preparing material for monochrome DTP work. It comes with fully RISC OS compliant software providing an “extensive range of image scaling and enhancing options” allowing sprites produced to be dragged straight into whatever desktop applications you are using. The price is now £199 +£6 carriage +VAT from Wild Vision or £229 through Archive. 7.6 • Help for dyslexics − A new book has been published which has been sponsored by Acorn Computers and the British Dyslexia Foundation. Computers and Dyslexia is edited by Dr Chris Singleton and aims to give an overview of the best in current technology and educational practice of help to those suffering from dyslexia which apparently affects about 4% of the population. Computers and Dyslexia is published by the Dyslexia Computer Resource Centre, University of Hull, Hull, HU6 7RX. 200pages, price £10.95, ISBN 1 898862 00 1. 7.6 • High-density floppy disc interface − At last, owners of A310/4x0/540 computers can use 1.6Mb floppies and be compatible with the newer machines. Risc Developments have produced an interface plus software to allow you to interface to a high-density floppy drive and use F-format Acorn floppies as well as 1.44Mb and 1.2Mb PC formats. You can buy it with or without an HD drive unit and it has a set of link jumpers allowing configuration for operation with a wide range of drive types. It costs £119 +VAT for the interface or £159 +VAT for the interface plus an HD floppy drive. For A310 to fit one of these drives internally, there is a special fascia plate costing an extra £30 +VAT. 7.6 • ImageBank from Irlam Instruments is a way of getting 10Mbytes of colour scans onto a single floppy! It uses standard JPEG image compression to allow 8-bit and 24-bit images to be archived. One major advantage of it is that it provides the user with a thumbnail sketch of each picture in a directory-type display so that you can easily select the image you want. This can then be decompressed by double-clicking on it. Images can be exported in JPEG, 24-bit Clear file, 256 colour sprite or the new 15 and 32-bits per pixel sprites. A cut-down version is also supplied so that your images can be distributed/sold or shown as examples to other people. The complete package including the full and the cut-down versions of ImageBank costs £25 +VAT from Irlam Instruments or £28 through Archive. 7.6 (This month’s program disc contains some colour scans from Irlam’s new hand colour scanner presented via the ImageBank reader software.) 7.6 • Impression Style is CC’s exciting new WP/DTP package. For £99 +VAT, you get facilities which are comparable with Impression II and many of the facilities are in fact superior to the older (more expensive) package. We hope to have a review of Impression Style before too long but suffice it to say that its features include: integrated thesaurus and dictionary, auto-section and paragraph bulleting, numbering and re- numbering, full support for 24-bit images, graphics filter with TIFF loaders, new interactive text ruler system and styles. Impression Style costs £107 through Archive. 7.6 Impression upgrades: Impression Junior and Impression II owners can upgrade to Style for £29 +VAT through Computer Concepts. Then when Impression Publisher is released, Impression Style owners and Impression II owners will be able to upgrade for £29 +VAT, again through Computer Concepts. (Many people feel that the extra facilities of Style make it worth upgrading once from II to Style and then again from Style to Publisher. Ed.) 7.6 • Inkjet Refills − For some time now, we have been intending to “go green”(!) by stocking inkjet refills. We have now arranged a deal with Quill Marketing in Norwich to stock InkMun refills which seem to have a good reputation for quality and reliability. (However, if you try them, perhaps you would report back so that we can check that they really are as good as they seem.) 7.6 The cost savings involved are quite marked. For example, buying HP black cartridges at £21 each would give you the same amount of ink as a pack of two refills costing only £15. Prices are as follows: 7.6 Hewlett Packard 500/510/500C/550C/310 7.6 (and JP150) 7.6 Black standard − 2 refills − £15 7.6 Black high capacity − 2 refills − £20 7.6 Cyan standard − 2 refills − £15 7.6 Magenta standard − 2 refills − £15 7.6 Yellow standard − 2 refills − £15 7.6 Triple colour 9 refills (3 each colour) − £30 7.6 Canon BJ10 7.6 Black − 2 refills − £15 7.6 Cyan − 2 refills − £15 7.6 Magenta − 2 refills − £15 7.6 Yellow − 2 refills − £15 7.6 Canon BJ200 7.6 Black − 2 refills − £15 7.6 Cyan − 2 refills − £15 7.6 Magenta − 2 refills − £15 7.6 Yellow − 2 refills − £15 7.6 Canon BJC600 7.6 Black − 3 refills − £15 7.6 Triple colour 9 refills (3 each colour) − £30 7.6 Canon BJC800 7.6 Black − 2 refills − £21 7.6 Cyan − 2 refills − £21 7.6 Magenta − 2 refills − £21 7.6 Yellow − 2 refills − £21 7.6 I think these are likely to be the most popular ones which is why we have been able to work out special prices on them. If you have other printers for which you want refills, let us know and tell us the sorts of quantities you are likely to want during the course of a year, say, and we’ll see what we can work out with Quill Marketing. 7.6 • IT in the Real World is a Genesis application that looks at the applications and effects of IT in real life. It is aimed at Key Stage 3 and relates to IT capability levels 3 to 8. The IT in the Real World pack includes information and worksheets and costs £30 +VAT from Oak Solutions or £33 through Archive. 7.6 • Ixion − The 3D adventure game (see review on page 32 last month) is now available through Archive at £19. 7.6 • Keyboards − If your keyboard is beginning to get a bit unreliable or if you just want something of better quality (and cheaper!) than the Acorn replacement keyboards then Castle Technology’s Ergo-Keyboards seem a good bet (see Brian Cowan’s review on page 49). These keyboards are compatible with the Acorn keyboard, including the mouse socket and the reset button. They have industry standard 102 key PC layout and hardware keyboard mouse emulation. (We also suspect that any new Acorn computers will have standard PC keyboards, so you can get used to the slightly different PC layout ready for the new machines!) The price is £99 + £10 carriage +VAT (£128.08) direct from Castle Technology or £120 through Archive. 7.6 (Because Brian’s review was so positive, we reckoned there would be a good number of people wanting to try these new keyboards so we have arranged a special bulk purchase with Castle Technology and can offer them at the introductory price of £105 inclusive − 18% discount. To take advantage of this special price, please place your order a.s.a.p. Thanks.) 7.6 • Keyboards for A3000 − If your A3000 keyboard is beginning to get a bit unreliable Castle Technology’s Ergo-Keyboards can now be attached to an A3000. The price of the A3000 Ergo-Keyboard, including interface, is £129 + £10 carriage +VAT (£163.33) direct from Castle Technology or £155 through Archive. 7.6 (We have arranged a bulk purchase of these keyboards and can offer them at the introductory price of £135 inclusive − 18% discount. To take advantage of this special price, please place your order a.s.a.p. Thanks.) 7.6 • Langdale is described by Creative Curriculum Software as “a massive resource of materials to Key Stage 3 geography”. It provides OS maps, diagrams, aerial and ground photographs, data, statistics, charts and sounds all relating to Langdale in the Lake District. It consists of eight applications on CD-ROM for £149 +VAT including a site licence. Two of the applications, Stickle Project and River Project are available as separate stand-alone applications on disc for £89 +VAT each for those not having access to CD-ROM. Each price includes manual and teaching materials as well as the CD-ROM or discs. 7.6 • Laser printers − At the suggestion of Andrew Rawnsley last month (page 23) we have worked out a ‘cheap’ alternative to Laser Direct HiRes 4 (Archive price £925). If you get a ‘cheap’ Laserjet-compatible laser printer and buy the CC HP TurboDriver (£53 through Archive) you don’t need to pay as much as £925. It won’t be as fast but if you want the quality of output that a laser offers, it’s a way of doing so for a lower price. You can, of course, get a copy of Computer Shopper, or whatever, and find the cheapest Laserjet-compatible available but if you want a ‘good name’ printer to get the reliability then we would be happy to supply either the Epson EPL-5000 at £630 (£680 with TurboDriver) or the Panasonic KX-P4410 at £560 (£610 with TurboDriver). These prices are inclusive of VAT and carriage. They both have 0.5Mb RAM (expandable), will cope with envelopes and thin card and have paper trays taking 150 and 100 sheets respectively and run at 6ppm and 5ppm respectively. 7.6 (Readers have suggested other laser printers that they have used: Dave Walsh uses an Oki400e and, with only 0.5Mb RAM, it seems to cope with all but the most complex drawfiles. It has a straight paper path to take heavier paper and envelopes, gives good quality output and is reasonably cheap to run.) 7.6 • Lemmings II − The Tribes − Krisalis’ latest Lemmings extravaganza is now available. It is truly amazing what they can get those tiny little animals to do! There is now a huge range of new and exciting Lemmings types to try out and many new levels to test your ingenuity and stretch your patience. Lemmings II is £29.99 from Krisalis or £28 through Archive. 7.6 • Little Smalltalk − A full-blown Smalltalk environment would cost over £500 but if you want just to experiment with the concepts of object- oriented programming, David Pilling’s Little Smalltalk (as mentioned in Acorn User February 1994) is a good start. Little Smalltalk costs £5.99 from David Pilling or £6 through Archive inc p&p. 7.6 • Maths Card − To help with the teaching of maths at Key Stages 1 & 2, Creative Curriculum Software have produced Maths Card. Its aim is to help you produce well laid out maths question sheets quickly and easily as drawfiles ready for printing. It allows you to set up questions on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division while controlling things such as the occurrence of carrying figures, sign left or right, etc. It also covers decimals, fractions, weight and length, and allows the use of magic squares using Units to HTU. Maths Card costs £49 +VAT from Creative Curriculum Software. 7.6 • MidiMax is Wild Vision’s Acorn-compatible Midi card. It has on-board FIFO buffering to allow reliable operation at maximum data rates. The standard Midi In, Out and Thru connectors are provided as well as a second Out connector to ease the interfacing of multiple devices. MidiMax costs £69 +p&p +VAT (£88.12) from Wild Vision or £83 through Archive. 7.6 • My World 2 + 2 − NW SEMERC have produced a large pack of resources based on their framework package, My World 2. Originally designed with special needs in mind, My World 2 + 2 can be used by “people of all ages and abilities across many fields of learning and recreation”. It provides four discs of resources including alphabet jigsaws, an easy writing screen, sentence building, picture building activities, kitchen planning, pattern-making from shapes, DIY dinosaurs, solitaire, draughts, town planning, pattern making, weather maps and charts. My World 2 + 2 costs £39 +£3 p&p +VAT from NW SEMERC. 7.6 • Oak Recorder II − This product has now been taken over from Oak Solutions by Solent Computer Products Ltd and sells at £39.95 +VAT. 7.6 • Oak Solutions price drops − A large number of Oak Solutions’ software products have been reduced in price (since they moved into their new premises − address in Factfile at the back of the magazine). The new Archive prices are as follows: 7.6 Arclight − £50 7.6 Euclid − £55 7.6 Splice − £33 7.6 Tween − £33 7.6 7.6 WorraCAD − £77 7.6 KiddiCAD − £50 7.6 7.6 Oak Logic − £77 7.6 Oak PCB − £77 7.6 Ancient Egypt − £50 7.6 Castle Life − £50 7.6 Saxon Life − £50 7.6 ClassPrint LD − £77 7.6 ABC Compiler − £77 7.6 Cambridge Pascal − £77 7.6 • Oxford Reading Tree Stage 2 Talking Stories − Sherston Software and Oxford University Press have combined to produce “an exciting and motivating way of consolidating vocabulary and learning to read at Stage 2”. Anyone who has seen Sherston’s Naughty Stories and More Naughty Stories will appreciate the value of this team-up with OUP. This pack of six stories by Roderick Hunt is animated with Alex Brychta’s illustrations and Hannah Gordon is the narrator. The cost is £39.95 +VAT from Sherston Software or £44 through Archive. 7.6 • PenFriend − This is a “predictive typer” from Design Concept. What that means is that, as you type, it offers you suggestions of what word you might be typing. You can then avoid typing the whole word and just click the mouse or press a function key to select from the list of words that PenFriend offers you. You can have your own sets of commonly used words so that it can guess more quickly what word you are typing. PenFriend costs £25 +VAT from Design Concept. 7.6 • Pocket Book offer extended again − Acorn’s offer on Pocket Books and Schedule has been extended again − this time to 31st March 1994. The Pocket Book is therefore still £200 (instead of £250) through Archive and Schedule is £19 instead of £49. The Class-pack of 11 Pocket Books plus an A-Link plus Mains Adaptor is on offer at £1699.50 +VAT or £1950 inclusive through Archive. 7.6 • Pocket Ethernet Adaptor − Atomwide are now offering an Ethernet adaptor that works on any of the Acorn Computers that have a bidirectional parallel port (A4, A3010, A3020, A4000, A5000). It is easy to install and remove and therefore offers a degree of adaptability not offered by the normal Ethernet podules − and, of course, it saves a podule slot. It is currently only available as a 10base2 interface but a 10baseT version is under development. The Pocket Ethernet Adaptor costs £199 +VAT from Atomwide or £225 through Archive. It is fully IEEE 802.3 compliant, has a 64Kb local buffer memory and offers a transfer rate of 200Kbps peak. 7.6 • PocketFS2 − The new A-Link software which was reviewed briefly last month (p71) is now available as an upgrade for existing A-Link owners. Send £9.95 (inc VAT & p&p) plus the original A-Link floppy disc to Acorn Direct in Wellingborough. This offer lasts until the end of April 1994. 7.6 • Primary Information Management System (PIMS) is a package produced by Longman Logotron and Acorn Computers to provide a ready-to-use system that will handle pupil and staff records, budgeting and accounts, maintenance, insurance and inventory. It stores individual records relationally, not hierarchically, giving flexibility in retrieving the data to put straight into reports such as pupil assessment sheets, class lists and registers. For those schools already using SIMS (the school secondary version) all data can be transferred directly into PIMS. The package includes an A4000 or A5000 computer with SVGA (AKF50) monitor, inkjet printer, software, hotline support, start-up consumables, training, delivery, installation and on-site maintenance for an all- inclusive price starting from £1,999 +VAT (for the A4000 version) or £16 a week using the Acorn Options rental scheme. 7.6 • PrimeSolver − The latest in Minerva Software’s “Prime” series aimed at education in the primary and lower secondary sector is PrimeSolver. This is described as “a creative and practical problem solving system for entertainment purposes whilst being highly educational at the same time”. (I had a look at it at BETT and it certainly seemed to be a lot of fun!) It is basically a way of creating simulations and solving mechanical puzzles using real-life mechanics of ropes, pulleys, cogs, engines, pipes, etc. There are almost 60 tools provided to solve various puzzles, 16 of which are provided with the pack although you can design your own puzzles with the design mode provided. PrimeSolver costs £79.95 +VAT from Minerva or £88 through Archive. There are primary and secondary site licences available for £120 and £320 +VAT from Minerva Software. 7.6 • Pro-Drivers from Oak Solutions − Despite what we said last month about Oak Solutions (Ace) Pro-Printer Drivers no longer being sold (sorry for the confusion!) they are still very much available. What is more, they have come down in price making them more competitive than the CC TurboDrivers. The Ace Pro-Drivers for Canon LBP 4/8, HP compatibles and Epson ESC-P2 compatibles are now £35 +VAT each or £39 through Archive and if there is an Acorn driver (RISC OS 3) for your printer then you can use the Standard Pro-Driver which is only £15 +VAT or £17 through Archive. 7.6 • Report Writer from Creative Curriculum Software is a package for the production of individual reports and assessment sheets using National Curriculum statements of attainment. It gives easy access to all the National Curriculum statements which can then be transferred into any other RISC OS application. You can add words, phrases and sentences from within datafiles to produces your reports. A single user version of Report Writer (for KS 1/2 or KS 3/4) costs £49 +VAT. You can also buy upgrade packs to increase the numbers of users and/or get other Key Stage data discs, manuals, etc − contact Creative Curriculum Software for full details. 7.6 • Repro is a professional tool from Oak Solutions which allows the user to manipulate the exact translation of colours from screen to paper. It gives complete control over screen size, screen angles, gamma correction, grey balance and black removal. Multiple palettes can be defined so that differences caused by various types of printer or paper can be minimised. You can also use the system to produce special effects such as tweaking a colour to make it more vivid or enlarge halftones to show individual colour spots. Repro can also produce colour separations in various forms. It costs £50 +VAT from Oak Solutions or £55 through Archive. 7.6 (This product only works with Acorn’s new RISC OS printer drivers... but they aren’t ready yet. Ed.) 7.6 • RF design software − Steve Hunt has developed a number of applications which will be of interest to both professional and amateur RF design engineers. They include a filter designer, a receiver noise figure/ intercept point analysis tool, an inductance ‘ready-reckoner’ and a Smith Chart design aid. For more details, contact Steve Hunt at 21 Green Street, Milton Malsor, Northampton, NN7 3AT (0604-858090 after 7 pm). 7.6 • RISC OS 3 − First Steps is another new book by Anne Rooney, again aimed at the beginner. It replaces, but is considerably bigger (at around 500 pages long) than, the popular Archimedes First Steps. It provides an introduction to Acorn RISC OS 3 computers, dealing with each topic in considerable depth. It also provides up-to-date information about developments such as CD-ROM, multimedia and special needs provision. RISC OS 3 First Steps costs £14.95 from Dabs Press or £15 including p&p through Archive. 7.6 • Seelinks are educational packages from ESM. The first, Seelinks − Ourselves, is aimed at children in Key Stages 1 & 2 and provides material for data handling to enable the children to collect and analyse data about themselves. This pack costs £32.50 +VAT (including a site licence) from ESM or £36 through Archive. 7.6 The second pack is Seelinks − Transport and is aimed at children in Key Stage 2. It uses the subject of transport to develop skills in the data- handling area. Transport costs £39.50 +VAT (including a site licence) from ESM or £44 through Archive. 7.6 • Sibelius 7 is the much-acclaimed “expert system for music engraving”. If you are wanting to produce printed music, it seems that Sibelius 7 has all the facilities you could possibly want. The full package costs £760 +VAT but, for non-professional users, there is a special offer price of £485 +VAT. We hope to have a review of this amazing package fairly soon. 7.6 • Sibelius 6 is an education version of the full professional music notation program, Sibelius 7. It has a simplified user interface but it can still handle complex orchestral scores, all traditional musical notation and a wide range of contemporary notation, Midi input and output etc. Sibelius 6 costs £160 +VAT from Sibelius Software. 7.6 • Soundcard − This is a 16-bit sound sampling board from Irlam Instruments. it samples at a wide range of frequencies including CD and DAT standard. You can record and replay sound directly to and from hard disc. The Soundcard costs £299 +VAT from Irlam Instruments or £330 through Archive. 7.6 (More details will be given about this and the next product in David Lenthall’s two-part article about digital audio. See page 43.) 7.6 • Super Sound Expansion System − Expressive Software Products have produced a podule which provides high quality sound output from the Archimedes. It contains synthesizer chips with 170 different wavetable instrument sounds which are sampled from the original instruments. The output, which is 16-bit CD-quality sound, is fed to an external box which provides a standard jack output with volume control as well as Midi, phono and mini-jack outputs. All you then need is your favourite Midi music package and you are all set to produce CD-quality music. Super Sound Expansion System costs £249 +VAT from Expressive Software Products. 7.6 • Talking Computer learning materials − Longman Logotron have published materials to be used with Talking Pendown which are said to make “lasting improvements in reading, writing and short term memory”. It has been tested on 68 children aged between 7 and 14 with serious reading and memory difficulties and the results obtained were “impressive”. The materials cost £29 +£3.53 p&p from Longman Logotron and Talking Pendown costs £64 +VAT (or £69 through Archive) for a single user licence or £190 +VAT or £330 +VAT for a site licence (primary or secondary respectively). 7.6 • The Civil War is the latest in Anglia Television’s series of Key Plus datafiles. It enables students to study the English Civil War of the 17th Century, focussing mainly on events in England and Wales but also including information and illustrations from Scotland and Ireland. The datafiles, which are accompanied by a 24-page photocopiable A4 booklet, include information on 150 battles and skirmishes including information from the latest research, a Key Plus Map system to help in searching the data, a case study of the Parliamentary Garrison at Chadfield in Wiltshire and biographies of many of the principal leaders of the War. The Civil War Key Plus pack costs £22 +VAT from Anglia Television. 7.6 • Time Detectives − The Victorians − This is a new adventure-back-in- time from Sherston Software written by Simon Hosler, author of Crystal Rain Forest. It begins when three local children mysteriously disappear in the sleepy seaside town of East Heston and pupils, taking on the role of a reporter for the local newspaper, are given the task of trying to track them down. The package focuses on the changes since the Victorian era in “an original and entertaining way”. The package includes user’s manual, a teacher’s book with ideas for classroom use, a catalogue of Victorian artefacts together with sets of work and information cards to be used in conjunction with the program. The Victorians costs £39.95 +VAT from Sherston Software or £44 through Archive. 7.6 • Twain image acquisition software (see Archive 7.4 p4) is now available for the Canon scanner (ScanLight Professional) and the Epson GT scanners. They cost £20 inclusive from David Pilling or £19 through Archive. 7.6 • Ultimate Expansion CD-ROMs − There are now two CD-ROM drives available that work with the HCCS Ultimate Expansion System. Both are Acorn Replay, multi-session and PhotoCD compatible. Each includes an interface in the form of a micropodule for plugging into an Ultimate multipodule. The single speed drive (150 Kb/s) is £229 +VAT or £265 through Archive and the dual speed drive (300 Kb/s) is £289 +VAT or £335 through Archive. 7.6 • Ultimate Expansion System − There are also some new (sadly, higher) prices for HCCS Ultimate Expansion System Starter Packs. We have therefore changed the Archive prices as follows: The SCSI Starter Pack has increased to £114. The HiVision Starter Pack has been withdrawn and replaced by a Colour Vision Starter Pack at £182. The Midi + HQ Sound Sampler Starter Pack has been withdrawn and replaced by a Midi Starter Pack at £114. 7.6 • XLisp − This is a version of Common Lisp with object oriented features (as mentioned in Acorn User February 1994). It is available from David Pilling at £5.99 or £6 through Archive inc p&p. 7.6 • Xword − Panda Discs’ crossword puzzle generator/solver program (reviewed last month on page 59) has had some of Roger King’s suggestions implemented and the price has dropped to £39.95 inclusive. A site licence is now £95. 7.6 • A5000 with larger drives − The 4Mb A5000 now has a 210Mb drive instead of a 160Mb drive and the price has not changed − still £1699 inc VAT. 7.7 • Acorn Access − The plug-and-go Ethernet system from Acorn, was described in Archive last month. The prices have now been finalised. There are three versions: AEH70 for A5000 and older computers that take standard size podule, AEH71 which is plug-in version for A3020/4000 (i.e. it does not take up the podule slot) and AEH 72 for the A3000 which is an internal mini-podule. They are all the same price − £145 +VAT or £162 through Archive. 7.7 • Acorn Level 4 Fileserver − The price of the new version has now been set at £399 +VAT or £430 through Archive. The upgrade from earlier versions is available from Acorn Direct in Wellingborough for £99 +VAT if you send the original disc. 7.7 • Advantage is a new spreadsheet for education from Longman Logotron. It aims to provide, at a budget price, all the key features to perform straight forward calculations, data analysis and basic charting. Its range of “intuitive and easy-to-use functions include: advanced point and click user interface with button chart, formulae produced by typing = and then clicking and dragging cells as required, print-to-fit allowing the sheet to be fitted automatically onto the appropriate page size, display of data as pie, area, column, line and scatter charts. Advantage costs £49 +VAT for single user (£55 through Archive) or £120 and £190 for primary and secondary site licences (£132 and £207 through Archive). 7.7 • ArcFax 1.10 − A new version of ArcFax (original version reviewed in Archive 6.5 p65) is now (just about) available. Extra features include: two dimensional data compression (i.e. sends faxes faster); Twain compliant which allows material to be scanned in directly; supports class 8 voice modems which allows the computer to act as an answering machine and a fax switch; it can merge faxes, hold and release, auto- print, auto-forward faxes; it has log file window, direct send/receive with call option, caller ID support, call-barring, debug display, auto- send after time and one call multi-fax capability. ArcFax 1.10 costs £35 from David Pilling or £33 through Archive. (David admits that 1.10 is still not 100% robust, so you may still wish to buy the 1.09 version which costs on £22 through Archive and upgrade later through David for £12 plus your original disc − this includes a new manual.) 7.7 We have at last got round to sorting out a suitable fax modem to sell through Archive and are stocking (and using!) the World Port 14,400 (see page 6) so you can now buy a complete system with modem, software and cable, knowing that they will all work together! Ed. 7.7 • Augusta Course − A new course is now available for Virtual Golf. 4th Dimension have released Augusta in which “ball flight and performance are accurately compensated to simulate local atmospheric conditions.” This costs £16.95 from 4th Dimension or £16 through Archive. 7.7 • Bitfolio Graphics − LOOKSystems have renegotiated their licence on Bitfolio Graphics (see the review on page 7) and have reduced the price from £30 to £20 inclusive through Archive. The conclusion to the review is that they are “very good value” and that was when the reviewer thought that the price was £30! 7.7 • BCPL compiler − The ARM Club have the source code of a BCPL compiler that was released into the public domain about 6 months or so ago. This disc costs £1 from the ARM Club. 7.7 • Canon printer prices down − Canon have reduced the prices of their three mono inkjets. The new Archive prices, with (and without) TurboDriver, are: BJ10SX £255 (£215), BJ200 £320 (£280), BJ230 £390 (£350). The BJ10SX is the replacement for the BJ10EX. It is faster in text mode but basically the same as the EX. 7.7 • CardShop − This is a design application produced by Clares Micro Supplies and is aimed at younger children. It allows them to design greetings cards for Christmas, birthday, Easter, Mother’s Day, etc. You can create and manipulate your card containing both pictures and text, print out and construct an envelope including a row of ‘stamps’. CardShop doesn’t generate a single finished product but a series of items that require cutting out / assembly and possibly colouring − this is to give the children a wider range of associated activities. It comes complete with a range of images, sprites and borders for you to use. CardShop costs £24.95 inclusive from Clares or £23 through Archive. 7.7 • Coloured toner for LBP4/8 − We have had requests for colour toner cartridges for laser printers. We looked into it and although Canon say they don’t recommend the use of colour toners in mono printers (even though they do in photocopiers − draw your own conclusions!) there is one supplier in the States who does them. They are not cheap and the UK importer admits that the colours are limited in range and not wonderful in quality! All the coloured toner cartridges are £120 each instead of around £80 for black. For the LBP4, the only colour is brown but it is apparently a good strong colour but for the LBP8 there is Green, Blue, Red and Brown (of these, the red is said to be the least effective). We’ll put them on the Archive Members’ Price List but if we get no interest this month, we will take them off again. (If anybody does try them, perhaps they would write and tell us how good they are. Thanks. Ed.) 7.7 • David Pilling software − Several items produced by David Pilling are no longer available and have been removed from the Archive price list. Also, all the programs that were £6 have gone up to £10. Even so, we still feel that they are very good value for money. 7.7 • Design Processor from Oak Solutions is an “integrated design environment” aimed at Key Stages 3 and 4 for “IT Design & Making”. It has three distinct levels of entry. The first is a suite of CAD-type packages and related applications, the second is a Design & Technology database to inform pupils about components and processes and the third is a database concept which includes not only components and design elements but also complete projects. Design Processor currently covers areas including Food, Electronics, Environments and Packaging but the cost of a site licence for Design Processor, £900 +VAT, includes three years’ worth of updates to the system. Payments can be made by instalments − details from Oak Solutions. 7.7 • EdScheme − Lambda Publications have had to end their offer of a free copy of the EdScheme software with each copy of the Schemer’s Guide − it was too much of a bargain! However, they are prepared to offer a free book with each copy of the software. Send them a cheque for £45 with the order and your Archive subscription number. This represents a saving of £17.50. 7.7 • Eizo monitors − A new 17“ Eizo monitor, the F552, has appeared as a replacement for the F550iW. Although it is virtually the same price (£1080 through Archive) and has the same display quality, it has several advantages over the older monitor. On-screen display is used to simplify the adjustments by providing a menu-driven display complete with help function. In standby mode, it has a lower power consumption than the F550. It has a Moiré pattern control to reduce the interaction between the computer’s dot pattern and the monitor’s dot pattern. Finally, it uses intelligent switching between inputs. This means that you can have two computers connected to the monitor at the same time and whichever is providing a signal gets displayed. Eizo also say that it has been designed for even better reliability than the F550. (I would say that’s a bold claim as I have never known an F550 to go wrong! Ed.) 7.7 • Ergo Keyboards − The special offer we had last month of Ergo keyboards at £105 instead of £120 is continuing for another month because the volume of orders for them is so high. When the volume of orders drops, they will have to go back to £120. The feedback we have had about them so far has echoed Brian Cowan’s comments last month (page 49). One point to note about these keyboards is that, unlike standard Acorn keyboards, the Ergos work properly on the A4 portable computers. 7.7 Also, Castle have produced an A3000 adaptor (£40 +VAT from Castle Technology) which allows the standard Ergo keyboards to be connected to the A3000 via the mouse connector. It includes a small circuit board that has to be fitted inside the A3000 but it needs no soldering. 7.7 Finally, Castle are also now able to supply foreign keyboards for 13 different countries − details from Castle Technology. 7.7 • Fortran 77 − Intelligent Interfaces are now able to distribute Acorn’s !SrcEdit with the Fortran compiler. This means that the throwback facility will now be available to all purchasers of the compiler. The Fortran77 compiler costs £99 +VAT from Intelligent Interfaces or £110 through Archive and the desktop front-end, !Fortran77, costs £25 +VAT or £28 through Archive. 7.7 • Genesis Project + Genesis Professional − These new versions of Genesis are now available (well they should be, by the time you get this magazine) from Oak Solutions. Both have been developed to take full advantage of the colour cards now available and the “newly announced VIDC chip”. They are based on a 24-bit colour model and can represent over 16 million colours. Both can deal with a range of data types including Artworks files, Replay films and even .BMP files from the Windows environment. There are various other new features which Paul Hooper will deal with in his column but one of the most important is the increase in loading speed − “up to ten times faster”. 7.7 Genesis Project costs £50 +VAT (£55 through Archive) and Genesis Professional costs £120 +VAT (£132 through Archive). There are upgrades available through Oak Solutions: Genesis/Genesis Plus to Project £35 +VAT, Genesis/Genesis Plus to Professional £90 +VAT and Genesis II to Professional £60 +VAT. 7.7 • I/O card − Intelligent Interfaces have produced a 16-bit I/O card for the Archimedes. It provides two separate 16-bit input/output ports, each port being programmable as either input or output, and each with two handshake lines. More details are given in the review on page 71. The 16-bit I/O card costs £200 +p&p +VAT from Intelligent Interfaces or £230 through Archive. 7.7 • KernPlus is PTW Software’s kerning data editor. It allows you to generate RISC OS 3 fonts by providing an automatic algorithm for quick conversion of old RISC OS 2 fonts as well as a manual facility for editing the kerning data. The price is £15 which includes VAT, site licence and free upgrades to new versions of the software. 7.7 • Landscapes is a PhotoBase CD from Longman Logotron with more than 2000 high quality colour photographic images illustrating aspects of the natural and man-made environment. The images cover topics including architecture, economic activity, infrastructure, geography and nature. Landscapes costs £49 +VAT or £54 through Archive. 7.7 • Larger − This is a pinboard program with lots of extra features beyond the one supplied with RISC OS 3. It has a virtual desktop (hence the name, Larger, I presume) to give you more desktop space, backdrop organisation and enhanced iconisation controls. It costs £10 inclusive from Warm Silence Software and comes with unlimited free upgrades (on receipt of a disc and SAE each time). Larger will work on a floppy-disc system but is really intended for use with a hard disc. 7.7 • PC card software upgrade − Acorn have released PC Card software with enhancements that now make it easier to run DOS or Windows software simultaneously with RISC OS. Existing owners of Acorn PC cards and A4000/PC card systems can obtain the enhanced software free of charge by returning the original Acorn PC card software disc, and Windows driver where supplied, along with their name and address in an envelope clearly marked ‘PC card upgrade’ to: Customer Services, Acorn Computers Ltd, Acorn House, Vision Park, Histon, Cambridge CB4 4AE. 7.7 • PinPoint 2 − This new version of Longman Logotron’s well-established database program now has two new question types, one for holding pictures or sound data and a calculated field type which allows questions to be defined which fill themselves in from other information entered elsewhere on your form. The import of information is “faster, easier and more flexible”. For example, it can import a CSV file and create a form for you automatically. PinPoint 2 has dispensed with the graphics analysis workbench − instead, all the statistical and graphing options work directly from the table view. There are more chart types, together with crosstab analysis and more powerful statistical analysis tools. Pinpoint 2 costs £99 +VAT from Longman or £108 through Archive for a single user or £400 +VAT (£435 through Archive) for a site licence. 7.7 • PinPoint Datafiles − Longman Logotron have a series of datafiles for use in education. They are: Solar System (KS 3/4), Food Glorious Food (KS 2/3), Junior Olympics (KS 2/3), 1851 Census (KS 3/4), Dinosaurs (KS 2/3), Animal Kingdom (KS 2/3), Second World War (KS 3/4), Kartei (German) (KS 3/4). Each is £12 +VAT from Longman Logotron. 7.7 • Plot − Clares have released what they describe as “the most flexible data manipulation and presentation package yet”. It provides a range of facilities from simple pie and bar charts to illuminated surface plots and will plot functions as well. For the advanced user, it can do linear regression, least squares and curve fitting plus calculus operations “at the click of a mouse”. Features include: scatter graphs, spherical graphs, cylindrical graphs, surface plots, ternary diagrams; Cartesian, parametric, polar, Lissajous, 3D Cartesian, cylindrical, spherical and surface functions; graphs can be merged and intercepts calculated to solve simultaneous equations; SID file import. Plot costs £79.95 inclusive from Clares or £74 through Archive. 7.7 • Plotter is a graphic plotting application for the Pocket Book. It plots mathematical functions such as Cartesian and polar functions, inequality graphs and coordinate pairs. It can be used in conjunction with Calc, providing a specialist graphical calculator. It comes on SSD and costs £29.95 +VAT or £34 through Archive. A class pack of 11 copies costs £299.50 +VAT or £335 through Archive. 7.7 • Removable drive prices cut (again) − The prices of the 105Mb 3½“ and the 45Mb 5¼” removable drives have dropped quite substantially this month. The A5000 105M SCSI is down to £390, with the IDE version at £360. The external SCSI 105Mb drives are now £470. 7.7 (I know this is tempting fate, but since I started using the 105Mb removables in October − that’s five months using them all day, every day − I haven’t had a single data error! Ed) 7.7 The 45Mb (external) drives are down to £370 and the cartridges to £70. 7.7 (As a matter of interest, when we first sold the 45Mb removables in October 1990, they were £680 − and the previous month, one company was selling them at £749 +VAT = £880! Ed.) 7.7 • Spooler − Clares Micros have produced a desktop print spooler which allows you to print to disc so that you can continue working as the printing is done in the background. It will even allow you to start doing other work while the print-to-disc part of the operation is in progress. You can queue documents ready for printing and change the number of copies quite easily. Spooler costs £15 inc VAT from Clares or £14 through Archive. There is a site licence available for £30 inc VAT (£28 through Archive). 7.7 • SPOT image data − Spacetech are making data available from the SPOT land-mapping satellite at very low prices − to educational establishments only − in the form of a CD-ROM containing 50 images. Some scenes are full-size (60km square) and down to 10 metre resolution while others are sub-scenes selected for geographical interest and relevance to the Geography syllabus. Because some of the images are very large (50Mb+), SpaceTech have written an application called PDSmap to simplify the extraction of full-resolution image data or to view the whole image at reduced resolution. PDSmap costs £19.50 +VAT and the CD-ROM is £139.50 +VAT to education only, i.e. only for non-commercial use. There are various package prices available from SpaceTech for this and other data on CD-ROM − write to them for full details. 7.7 We asked last month for a replacement for the now discontinued Morley Teletext adaptor and here it is... 7.7 • Teletext expansion card − Design IT have just produced TeleView Hardware, the first Teletext expansion card designed specifically for the Archimedes. The software provided is a fully RISC OS compliant application called !TeleCFax which allows you to select channels, hold pages or reveal hidden text, etc. Pages can be saved as sprites, BBC mode 7 screens or as ‘clean’ ASCII text where any graphics have been filtered out. It is also possible to create script files to automatically download pages and you can even set the computer’s time via Teletext. !TeleCFax will also correctly display pages received in foreign languages including German, French and Swedish. 7.7 There are two variants of the card. The first will receive teletext only and costs £145 +VAT (or £165 inclusive through Archive). The second is £159 +VAT (or £180 through Archive) and provides connections for composite video and sound suitable for ‘walkman’ headphones. This allows you to listen to the TV, use a digitiser to grab live images or use the computer to record TV programmes to a video recorder that will not normally receive TV signals. 7.7 The TeleView hardware is a half-width card suitable for use in the A310, A4xx and A5000 computers. A version for the A3000 is also available although at the time of writing the versions for the A3010, A3020 and A4000 series are not yet ready. The system is fully compatible with both RISC OS 2 and RISC OS 3. A version of the TeleCFax software for use with Morley Electronics adapters is also available for £25 +VAT (£28 through Archive). 7.7 Teletext serving for Econet, AUN and Access networks will be available “in a couple of months”. 7.7 • WordSquare − This program from David Pilling allows word squares to be solved and generated at random or from a given list of words. It is supplied with a 200,000 word dictionary. Multiple/user defined dictionaries can be added and dictionaries can be edited or browsed and words added. The dictionaries are compatible with Ovation. You can save the word square as a drawfile and the words as text. WordSquare costs £10 inc VAT through Archive. 7.7 • World Port 14,400 fax/data modem − We are now stocking a fax/data modem that can provide a “one-stop shop” way into getting fax facilities on your Archimedes. The WorldPort 14,400 fax/data modem is actually a pocket-sized modem so you could operate it from batteries and use it with an A4 Portable but it comes with a mains power pack so you don’t have to worry about batteries running out in the middle of a long fax! The modem is compatible with V22 bis, V23, V32, V32 bis, V54, Bell 103, Bell 212A, MNP and the fax facility is compatible with TIA/EIA-578 (Class 1 Asynchronous), V17, V29, V27 ter and V21. To the average end- user (like Ed!) this just means that it sends and receives faxes (using ArcFax £22 or ArcFax 1.20 £33 − see above) and you can log on to various bulletin boards at up to 14,400 and down to 1200/75 (V23) with appropriate software. (I use ArcComm but Hearsay or ArcTerm are equally suitable.) The complete modem pack costs £270 through Archive and this includes two 9V alkaline batteries, fax software and modem software for using it on an MS-DOS PC and an AT compatible cable. The AT cable is no good for the Archimedes and the plugs are sealed so you would have difficulty modifying it. An Archimedes lead costs £13 through Archive. 7.7 (To be honest, the reason we got going on fax modems is that I have moved my office upstairs at 96a and was getting very fed up with running up and down stairs to send faxes so I picked this modem on the basis of price and features and have been extremely pleased with it. The system with ArcFax works beautifully in that I send a fax and if the number is engaged, ArcFax tries again later while I get on with my work − it all happens in the background. Ed.) 7.7 • Acorn Risc PC − Details of Acorn’s new generation computers are given in the Special Archive Supplement that you will have received with this issue of Archive. If you have a friend, colleague, etc who you think would like to know about this new range of computers (which represents such a major change in Acorn’s philosophy), just phone the Archive office and give us their name and address and we will be happy to send them a copy of the Archive Supplement. The sooner people find out about Acorn’s new generation machines, the better. 7.8 “How can I get a Risc PC?” − Ah, now you are asking! If you look at the Risc PC’s specification, upgradability and price, it doesn’t take much working out to realise that demand is going to outstrip supply by orders of magnitude − well, it will be unless Acorn have also made a MAJOR change in their production policy! They will be ramping up production as fast as possible to cope with demand and they are talking about having a production capability of “several thousand units per month” but, realistically, the only thing to do is to choose a supplier (and hopefully, many of you will choose NCS!) send in a cheque or give us your credit card number as soon as possible and wait (im)patiently in the queue. 7.8 • Acorn Risc PC − Archive special offer (1) − As a special (limited) offer to Archive subscribers, we are offering a free ARM700 upgrade to the first purchasers of a Risc PC from Norwich Computer Services. What this means is that when we send you the computer, we will enclose a voucher and will let you know when the ARM700 upgrades become available (current ETA is Autumn ’94). You will then be able to send your ARM610 processor card back to us with the voucher and we will send you an ARM700. 7.8 • Acorn Risc PC − Archive special offer (2) − As an alternative special (limited) offer to Archive subscribers, we are prepared to supply the first Risc PCs on credit card without making our normal 3% service charge. (We have to pay 5% to Visa!) This means that you can simply leave your credit card number with us until your place in the queue comes up. We will then supply the computer and debit your card and you don’t have to worry about when to transfer money to your current account from your deposit account (or sell those Acorn shares!), or whatever. 7.8 • Acorn Risc PC memory upgrades − Because the new Risc PC uses standard SIMM memory packages, we can buy them from Mac or PC suppliers and get a reasonable price. For example, if you have a 2Mb Risc PC, you can buy a 4Mb SIMM through Archive for £150 and end up with a 6Mb computer (i.e. the existing 2Mb SIMM is in one slot and the 4Mb goes in the other). The 8Mb SIMMs are £300 each, the 16Mb SIMMs are £640 and the 32Mb SIMMs are £1350. We haven’t yet found a supplier of 64Mb or 128Mb SIMMs but we will in due course! (These are all VAT-inclusive Archive subscriber’s prices.) 7.8 • Ancient Egypt − Chalksoft have produced a package designed to help with National Curriculum in History Key Stage 2. Through journeys back along a time track, children (aged 7−11) visit seven important times/ locations and learn about aspects of life in Ancient Egypt. There are factfiles at each location, activities to tackle on-screen and a quiz to test knowledge. The cost is £25 +VAT from Chalksoft. 7.8 • CDFS and PhotoCD upgrade − Cumana tell us that the upgrade to their CD-ROM filing system, that makes it PhotoCD compatible, is now available. The cost of the upgrade depends on what system you have got, so the best bet is to contact Cumana who will send you a four-page leaflet about how to upgrade. 7.8 • ClickArt Education Image Pack is the first of a series of licensed conversions from a leading US company supplying clipart for PC and Mac markets. For £65 plus £2 p&p (no VAT) from Matt Black, you get 2,000 full-colour drawfiles in forty categories from Animals to Zodiac. The pack includes a printed index and Hugh Eagle’s !PickAPic image-finder application to aid the location of images. 7.8 • Diggers − This is a game of cunning, money-making and subterranean adventure. Diggers has 33 levels to explore, encourages you to break the Zargon bank and comes with “a sophisticated Zargon Guide Book”. Diggers costs £29.99 from Millennium Interactive Ltd or £28 through Archive. 7.8 • DrawChanger is an application from DEC_dATA which lets you edit the colour and line attributes of existing drawfiles. You can change a drawfile to monochrome, to negative, lighten/darken it, tint it, recolour even a single graduated file, thicken all thin lines, change an object’s attributes without going through umpteen menus, create anti- aliased sprites larger than memory, create thumbnail sprites, etc. DrawChanger uses an icon-based method of building filters that allow many other effects to be achieved. The ability to batch-process files and use the OLE transfer system with Impression Style & Publisher are also included. The price is £34 +VAT from DEC_dATA. 7.8 • Equate is a mathematical graph-plotting program from PTW Software. It claims to provide ‘every facility required’ at GCSE and A-Level Mathematics. Its features include: up to 32 equations on each graph, Cartesian, parametric or polar graphs, auto or manual range setting, zoom in and out, trace function to obtain coordinates, plot a tangent or calculate a gradient at any point and an intersect function to find all possible intersections of two equations. Equate costs £15 inclusive from PTW Software and this includes an unlimited site licence. 7.8 • Maths Circus from 4Mation is a collection of twelve puzzles, each with five levels of difficulty, and 24 activity sheets and suggestions for away-from-the-computer activities. The overall aim is to help children develop their problem-solving skills and although the problems are “mathematical” in that they require reasoning, they are not drill- and-practice exercises. The level? Well, 4Mation say that the simplest levels can be used by pre-school children while the hardest may give even the teachers a difficult time! Maths Circus costs £27.50 +VAT (£30 through Archive) for a single user copy or £55 +VAT (£60 through Archive) for a site licence. 7.8 • Minerva price drops − Minerva software have reduced the prices of some of their software. Home Accounts is now £34.95 inc VAT (£33 through Archive), Ancestry is £59.95 inc VAT (£56 through Archive), Desktop Office is £69.95 inc VAT (£65 through Archive) and Keyboard Trainer is £69.95 inc VAT (£65 through Archive). 7.8 • NStore 4.0 is the latest version of HS Software’s National Curriculum record-keeping package. It has been “greatly enhanced” and updated with all the SATs from Levels 1 to 10. It now has report-writing facilities to allow you to comment on a child’s performance under a whole range of headings. NStore 4.0 costs £44.95 inc VAT from HS Software, and existing users can upgrade for £16.95 inc VAT. 7.8 • Payroll Manager v3.0 is now available for the new financial year 94/ 95. The upgrade fee is £25 inclusive but, for recent purchasers, the upgrade is free. Simply return your disc and a cheque to Silicon Vision. 7.8 • PC Card improvements − Aleph One have increased the specification AND reduced the price of their 486 cards for Archimedes computers. The processors are now 486SLC with clock speeds 25MHz or 50MHz, the memory is upgradable to 16Mb (initially supplied as 4Mb). The card has an interface for a ‘local’ IDE drive and an optional very-high-speed serial I/O chip (16550-compatible) and a second serial port. The card has a custom ASIC which handles the interface to the Archimedes which increases the I/O speed and gives very high performance from the 50MHz cpu chip. The Windows driver software is now included in the price and supports 800×600 pixel screens in 16 colours. There is also some network driver software which has been field-tested on Netware 3.11 and Windows for Workgroups 3.0. This is available at £25 +VAT per card with discounts and site licences for multiple cards − details from Aleph One. If you want to buy your own SIMMs memory (72pin SIMM ×32 or ×36, 70nS), you can buy the board without memory. Prices inc VAT are: 7.8 Aleph One Archive 7.8 486/50MHz (0Mb) £529 £510 7.8 486/25MHz (0Mb) £439 £420 7.8 486/50MHz (4Mb) £719 £695 7.8 486/25MHz (4Mb) £629 £605 7.8 • (more) PinPoint Datafiles − Longman Logotron have produced some more datafiles for use in education. They are: The Victorians (KS 2/3), Festivals (KS 2/3), Diet & Nutrition (KS 3/4) and Far Away Places (KS 3/ 4). Each is £12 +VAT from Longman Logotron. 7.8 • RiscView − This is a stand-alone template editor for RISC OS applications based on the S-Base template editor. RiscView comes in two versions, RiscView which will only load and save standard template files and is intended as an alternative to !FormEd, and RiscView Professional which will also load and save a new template format. The Professional version includes provision for styles which act on icons, so that you need only change the style, rather than all the icons that use it. RiscView costs £9 (£19 for a site licence) and comes with a textfile manual while RiscView Professional costs £29 (£69 for a site licence) and includes a printed manual. The upgrade from RiscView to Professional is £20 (£50 if you have a site licence) and a demo disc is available for £1. All prices include p&p (no VAT applicable). Orders and cheques should be sent to Simon Glass, PO Box 834, Landbeach, Cambridge, CB4 4DG. 7.8 • Schema 2 − The upgraded version of Schema from Clares Micros adds various new features including: ability to read Advance files and import SID files, improved memory use and speed, simpler method for applying effects to the sheet, better date and time handling, improved graphics, definition of ‘big’ cells for justified text over a number of lines, live-linked graphs, data transfer through clipboard as in Advance. Schema 2 costs £135 inc VAT from Clares or £125 through Archive. 7.8 • Sensible Soccer − It is long-awaited, I agree, but at last it is here. Sensible Soccer offers Cup & League tournaments, 100 European teams, design your own cup tournament, one or two-player action, intelligent passing, new season team information, new back-pass rule, red and yellow cards plus suspension and enhanced goal-keeping. Sensible Soccer costs £25.99 from Sensible Software or £24 through Archive. 7.8 • Taxan 1095 price drop − The 20“ Trinitron multisync monitor (1095 Plus LR) from Taxan has dropped in price and is now available at £1995 through Archive. This has a dot pitch of 0.30mm and would be suitable for the Risc PC running at 1600×1200 pixel resolution. 7.8 • Technical Clipart Collection − PTW Software have produced a clipart disc for just £7.50 inclusive which consists of Chemistry clipart, electronic circuit symbols and PCB symbols. 7.8 • The Spoken Word − This was published last year by Wyddfa Software but there are now two Extra Pictures Packs at £12 each and an Overlay Pack (for Concept Keyboard use), also at £12 inclusive. The Spoken Word is an educational package aimed at National Curriculum AT1 and 21 at Level 1. It aims to encourage an understanding of the spoken word and to stimulate an interest in reading. The child can produce bright pictures, the colours being shown with their written names, and different objects can be selected from their written names and/or from an outline drawing. The computer responds aloud by naming both the chosen colour and the object. The software costs £22 inclusive from Wyddfa Software. 7.8 • TouchWindow from RESOURCE is an input device placed over the video screen. It has a 1024×1024 resolution − just point at the screen. It has all sorts of uses, especially in educational applications, providing an easy way, for example, to interact with multimedia systems. TouchWindow costs £279 +VAT from RESOURCE. 7.8 • WorldPort14.4 fax modem − We have found another suitable fax/data modem which is even cheaper than the portable one we mentioned last month. It has the same specification except that it doesn’t work from batteries − but it costs £245 through Archive instead of £270. Also, contrary to what I said last month, the cable supplied with the modem will work on A5000 and later computers although not with pre-A5000 computers (i.e. A540 and A300, A400 series computers). It should work with a Risc PC − but I haven’t got one yet, so I can’t actually try it! 7.8 • 10 out of 10 again − Two more 10 out of 10 educational packages from 4th Dimension are 10 out of 10 Spelling, aimed at all ages of children, and 10 out of 10 Dinosaurs. Each costs £25.95 inclusive from 4th Dimension or £24 through Archive. 7.9 • 105/44/88Mb removable drives price drop − Once again, the SyQuest removable prices are dropping. The new inc VAT prices are as follows: 7.9 105Mb 3½“ External (SCSI) − £450 7.9 105Mb 3½“ Internal (SCSI) − £370 7.9 105Mb 3½“ Internal (IDE) − £340 7.9 88Mb 5¼“ External − £500 7.9 44Mb 5¼“ External − £360 7.9 If you want to fit a 3½“ removable into a Risc PC, it will go straight into the spare 3½” bay on the ACB45 but on ACB15 and 25, it will have to go in the spare 5¼“ bay. (We can supply a fitting kit, costing £30.) 7.9 The buying price of 105Mb cartridges are fairly constant the 44Mb and 88Mb cartridge prices have risen. However, we have, so far, managed to maintain the same Archive prices of £70 a disc for 105/44Mb and £100 a disc for 88Mb. 7.9 • 270Mb removable drives are here at last! Well, at least the SCSI version is. The prices are very good compared with the 105Mb version: 7.9 270Mb 3½“ External (SCSI) − £570 7.9 270Mb 3½“ Internal (SCSI) − £490 7.9 Extra 270Mb 3½“ cartridges − £90 7.9 With every SyQuest drive that has ever been launched, the prices has initially been high and has, by stages, dropped to their current, very reasonable, prices. I have therefore is to set the Archive prices of the 270Mb drives, initially, with an extremely low profit margin. If, as I suspect, the buying prices drops over the next two or three months, I will be able to maintain the price setting. If, however, the buying price does not drop, I will have to put the Archive price back up rather than down. The aim is to encourage people to buy now rather than waiting for the price to drop before buying. 7.9 The new high capacity drives are, as expected, even faster than 105Mb drives although we have only done qualitative tests so far. More importantly, the 270Mb drives will read and write the 105Mb cartridges. 7.9 We haven’t been able to get the IDE versions yet, but, with the extra speed of the 270Mb drives, it is probably well worth going for the SCSI version. 7.9 • Acorn Assist − There are new conditions for Acorn’s scheme for teachers/students/anybody-with-any-connection-with-education to buy a computer. There is a points scheme, depending on what you buy, that allows you ‘free’ software, there is a referral scheme for when you persuade a friend to buy an Acorn computer and there are various ways of paying, as follows: 7.9 1. Cash/cheque 7.9 2. Credit card (including 3% surcharge as per normal NCS terms) 7.9 3. 0% finance spread over six months, with a 10% deposit 7.9 4. £50 a month on any computer system, spread over the appropriate payment period. Minimum deposit £50. Repayment period varies, e.g. on 16 months the loan advanced would be £731.12, 25 months £1,090.49 loan advanced, and 36 months £1,484.95. (£1,485 is the maximum loan available by this method.) 7.9 5. Low cost finance spread over 24 months, with a 10% deposit. 13.75% APR (1.08% per month), minimum loan £700. To calculate the monthly payment you can expect to pay: 7.9 a) loan advanced = purchase price less deposit (minimum 10% deposit) 7.9 b) loan advanced multiplied by 0.051441 gives your monthly repayment rate with PPP (Payment Protection Plan). 7.9 c) loan advanced multiplied by 0.047520 gives your monthly repayment rate without PPP. 7.9 If you have any queries, or need further information, please call us on 0603-766592 and we will be pleased to help. 7.9 • Aleph One PC Cards − If you already have an Aleph One PC card, you can still take advantage of the faster clock-doubled 486 processors. Upgrades are available from First SMT Ltd, priced as follows. From 386 to 486 is £107, from a 386 or 486 to the clock-doubled 486 is £166. If you have not taken advantage of the Fast PAL announced last year, that can also be fitted for £19.50, which includes an upgrade to the Windows drivers software if you already have it. If you do not have the software but wish to purchase the latest version, the price is £29.38. All prices include VAT and return carriage to a UK mainland address. First SMT can be contacted on 0462−483360. 7.9 • Angelsoft have released two applications, Tudor Monarchs and Beethoven Egmont. Tudor Monarchs is a Magpie browser with information on topics such as The War of the Roses, Elizabeth I, The Spanish Armada and William Shakespeare. The package costs £20 +VAT and includes a site licence. There is also a companion set of four discs containing 94 drawfiles designed to support a project on the Tudors. This costs £15 +VAT but if you purchase both the cost will be £30 +VAT. The second application is a Genesis browser designed to be used as a resource for pupils undertaking music at GCSE. The analysis section deals with the Egmont overture in some detail and there is a large amount of background information on Beethoven’s life and works. If you have the appropriate CD and a CD-ROM drive, the musical examples can be played from the CD. The price is £25 +VAT. 7.9 • AppFS Release 3 − The latest version of the network software AppFS is now available. It is fully compliant with AUN 3 and will work alongside the Level 4 Fileserver, even on the same machine, and with the Level 4 software in single-tasking mode. Upgrades are available − “If you ordered AppFS after January 1st 1994, you should either contact Angelsoft or your supplier for a free upgrade. If you ordered AppFS before that date, there is a small charge of £10 to upgrade via Angelsoft. This charge is purely administrative. We want everyone who has purchased AppFS to benefit from the improvements. It is quite in order, therefore, for sites to pass the upgrade on to other sites, providing of course, they have all purchased a previous release. It is worth contacting your dealer or local ‘Acorn in Education Centre’ to see if they have a copy.” 7.9 • Calc − This well-established RISC OS compatible spreadsheet is on special offer. The normal price is £25.95 but from 1st May to 1st September, it is available from Circular Triangles for just £15. Site licences are similarly reduced to £30 and £40 for educational and non- educational establishments. 7.9 • CC’s CD-ROM − Computer Concepts have announced the launch of a baby brother for their 604X CD-ROM drive − the Pioneer DRM 602X, a double speed six-disc drive which will give a sustained 300 Kb/s. The other key feature is the built-in six-disc magazine and autochanger − in other words, this drive does the job of six separate CD-ROM drives. With the number of CD-ROM titles rapidly increasing, the 602X is a simple and cheap alternative to wasting time swapping discs or buying more drives. It is ideal for networks, since it allows six discs to be available on the network from just one drive unit. The DRM-602X is multi-session PhotoCD compatible and can also play standard audio compact discs. For added security, the magazine can be locked into the drive. The price from Computer Concepts is £499 + carriage +VAT (£598.07). With single drives costing £300 and more, the six-disc capability of the 602X makes this good value for money. 7.9 The DRM-602X is suitable for any model of Acorn RISC computer with an Acorn compatible SCSI interface, running the new CDFS 2.2 (upgrades can be obtained from SCSI board suppliers). The package includes the drive and CC drivers, full user manual, audio and power cables, DOS/Windows and Mac drivers and a free copy of Computer Concepts’ ArtWorks clipart CD (containing over 700 examples of work created in ArtWorks, dozens of 24bpp photographs, a demo version of AudioWorks and some sample audio files). 7.9 • CD Français − Oak Solutions have released a new CD-ROM based package aimed at teaching French in schools. Developed jointly by Oak Solutions and a team from the EdIT centre in Leeds, the applications includes over fifty interactive French activities, including a scene at a ferry terminal where pupils have to identify which vehicle is being requested to board, and a café scene where pupils have to provide the correct food items ordered by customers. It is based around the popular Tricolore course but has been designed to be used with any course, and can be used individually or in groups. Originally intended for Key Stages 3 and 4, CD Français can be used successfully at a number of levels. The price is £95 including teachers’ notes and site licence. 7.9 • Chemistry Set CD-ROM − This new CD from Cumana is a library of chemical experiments and molecular structures. Designed for pupils aged 10+, the focus is on Key Stages 3 and 4, although it is also suitable for use in higher education, including first year university. It includes over 350 video clips of key chemical experiments and processes, and covers periodicity and group properties, competition and replacement reactions, gas preparations, and test and qualitative analysis. The effects of heating, distillation, salt preparation, electrolysis and chromatography are also examined, along with a demonstration of the effects of radioactive emissions. The package also includes a 500 compound database, over 400 interactive 3D molecular structures, giant molecules and giant ionic lattices and text covering each element’s history, uses, hazards, manufacture and properties. The price is £99 +VAT 7.9 • Clares’ software price drop − Clares Micros have dropped the prices of some of their software. The new (inc VAT) prices and Archive prices are as follows: 7.9 Serenade £99.95 £93 7.9 Render Bender II £49.95 £47 7.9 Illusionist £49.95 £47 7.9 Titler £99.95 £93 7.9 Knowledge Organiser II £79.95 £74 7.9 Vox Box £49.95 £47 7.9 Fervour £19.95 £19 7.9 • Colourfun − Smart DTP has produced a collection of pictures for young children, supplied in Draw format, so that they can be used in many different ways. Two versions of each picture are supplied − an outline and a coloured version. Colourfun is aimed at use within primary/nursery schools and for home use. It is available now at £14.95 inclusive. 7.9 • Ethernet interfaces − Digital Services have released a new set of Ethernet interfaces which are available as AUN cards or Access cards, costing £139 +VAT or £149 +VAT respectively, and a bridge card which will filter traffic and prevent unnecessary data passing between networks. Since the computer need not be dedicated, it costs considerably less than specialist hardware. The 10Base2 version is available, and a 10baseT version is planned. Interfaces are available in standard 16-bit and 8-bit mini expansion card version, although the bridge is only available as a standard card. The NetGain client software is in EPROM on the card, which increases the speed of the network and places a smaller load on the fileserver. The cards have been tested with networks which integrate Acorn Level 4, SCO UNIX and Novell 3.11. Using NFS, Acorn files may be stored on UNIX or Novell servers. 7.9 • Easy C − Risc Developments’ C programming system has been upgraded to include a source level debugger. It supports source and object level debugging, stack trace, breakpoints, conditional breakpoints, single- stepping, variable monitoring, memory editing and profiling amongst other features. The compiler is driven from a WIMP front end, and includes a Make facility, throwback support, and integrated assembler. The cost is now £59 +£2.70 carriage +VAT. Existing users can upgrade for £10 +£1.70 carriage +VAT, or users of the C Development System can upgrade for £15 +£2.70 +VAT. To qualify for an upgrade you need to return your original program disc to Risc Developments with your order. 7.9 • Eizo 21“ monitors − There are some changes taking place in the Eizo 21” monitor range. The F760-iW (£1990) with a 0.31mm dot pitch is going to be replaced by a 0.28mm dot pitch version at £2150. So if you want one of the cheaper ones, ring us to see if we still have any available. Personally, I think the higher resolution is worth the extra £160. 7.9 Also, the extra high resolution 21“ (F780iW) with a 0.26mm dot pitch is coming down in price to £3000 through Archive. 7.9 • Electronic Circuit Development contains over 200 pieces of clipart for producing schematic diagrams of electronic circuits and PCB layouts. Smart Graphics 1 costs £14.95 inclusive from Smart DTP. 7.9 • Equate from PTW Software has been designed for use by teachers and pupils up to GCSE and A-Level. Multiple graph drawing is supported for comparisons, export facilities (Draw and Paint) and full control over graph style allow Equate to be used as a teaching aid, or for individual project work. The price is £17.95, which includes postage, VAT, unlimited site licence, upgrade path and technical support. 7.9 • Free TV − Now here’s an offer! If you buy an A3010 computer from Norwich Computer Services (well, from any Acorn dealer actually, but I hope you’ll buy from us!) you can have a ‘free’ colour TV to go with it. “There must be a catch!” Well, yes, there is, sort of. Having bought the computer, you get the ‘free’ TV by taking out a CoverPlus three-year extended warranty on the TV and paying for delivery by Group4 Security. So, a ‘free’ 14“ Sharp Colour TV (rrp £189.99) with remote control, Scart socket and cable plus the 3-year warranty will cost you £89.50 + £9.50 +VAT = £116.33 and a ‘free’ 20” Bush Colour TV (rrp £299.99) with remote control, Teletext, Nicam stereo, sleep timer, on-screen info, Scart socket and cable plus the 3-year warranty will cost you £149.50 + £9.50 +VAT = £186.83. Mind you, if you want a TV and a computer, you could do worse. 7.9 • Genesis Professional − The latest update to the Genesis package from Oak Solutions replaces earlier versions and has many new features. The menu structure has been simplified. For example, the style of a frame is now controlled by a dialogue box, enabling all the style settings to altered at once. Master pages can be set up and stored in a library so that you can use them later without needing to start from scratch, and Object Linking and Embedding is supported. More data types are supported, including ArtWorks, Replay, and Windows .BMP and .WAV files. There is support for 24-bit colour and for the new deep-colour sprites. The speed with which pages are loaded has been increased significantly. The script language has been extended with new keywords, global variables can be accessed from any page in an application and script editing can be done easily in Edit via OLE. Many of the features which were only available in past versions from the script language can also be accessed with the mouse from the new linking dialogue box. Applications written on the Archimedes can also be used in Windows, or on the Apple Macintosh versions, so anyone planning on using Genesis for commercial purposes would be well-advised to purchase the Software Developers’ Toolkit which includes Genesis Professional, Genesis for Windows, Genesis for the Macintosh and the rights to distribute the Genesis browser runtime system without paying royalties. 7.9 Software Developers’ Toolkit costs £800 +VAT and Genesis Professional costs £120 +VAT (£130 through Archive) but there are upgrades to Professional from earlier versions − £60 +VAT from Genesis II and £90 +VAT from Genesis or Genesis Plus. Until the end of May (which doesn’t give you long!) Oak are doing a special offer of “upgrade from any Genesis for £40 +VAT” − Hurry, hurry! 7.9 • GridPro − This is 4Mation’s latest release and it enables you to produce a variety of grids and patterns very easily. (See examples overleaf. Why overleaf? If I put the picture on this page, this bit of text all goes over onto the next page!!!) It could have a variety of uses ranging from Maths investigations in Primary Schools to professionals who need specialised grid formats. GridPro costs £37.50 +VAT (£41 through Archive) for a single user or £75 +VAT (£41 through Archive) for a site licence. 7.9 • Hard Disc Companion − A new version of Risc Developments Hard Disc Companion software has been released. It incorporates new restore facility, which operates like a normal filer displays, allowing single or multiple files to be retrieved simply by dragging to the required destination. The software is faster, has support for removable hard drives and has many other minor improvements. The cost is £45 +£2.70 carriage +VAT (or £52 through Archive). Existing users can upgrade for £5 +£1.70 carriage +VAT, or £15 +£2.70 +VAT for owners of version 1. To upgrade, you should return your original program disc to Risc Developments. 7.9 • Hewlett Packard printers − The HP range of printers has changed again, The Deskjet 520 gives 600 by 300 dpi with HP Resolution Enhancement Technology, the Deskjet 560C gives the same resolution, in colour, with both black and colour cartridges loaded at once to remove the need to switch between them. Prices are £300 for the 520, and £560 for the 560C. 7.9 • IDE hard disc upgrades for A3010 − Castle Technology are now doing hard drives for A3010 from 30Mb up to 240Mb at prices starting from £120 +VAT. They also have a 3-day fitting service available for £20 +VAT. 7.9 • Impression Borders Discs − Fabis Computing now have four sets of borders for use with Impression. Impression Borders, Pack One and Pack Two each contain 120 borders, aimed at more general use. The other two sets contain 80 specialist borders each and are thematically related − “Old English Tile Designs” and “Chinese Lattice Designs”. Each of the packs costs £9.99 inc. VAT. 7.9 • LandBuild is a 3D fractal landscape program from Software42 now sold by The ARM Club for £10 with no VAT because they are not VAT registered. 7.9 • Mathematical Adventures − Two new products from Sherston Software Ltd are Space City and Sea Rescue. Space City involves getting a rescue shuttle to the city but there are likely to be serious consequences. While playing the game, they will also learn about angles. Sea Rescue also involves a mission of mercy and aims to teach the players about fractions. Space City and Sea Rescue cost £26.95 +VAT each from Sherston or £29 through Archive. 7.9 • Maths Resources Discs − Smart DTP have produced three discs of resources for educational users. These are images produced by practising teachers aimed at GCSE, A-Level and Key Stage 1 for discs 1, 2 and 3 respectively. The Maths Resources Discs each cost £9.95 inclusive from Smart DTP. This price includes a site licence. 7.9 • Number Tiles from Topologika helps implement mathematics across Key Stages 1 and 2 by developing a combination of skills: visual discrimination, understanding of number progression and basic arithmetic, logical thinking and the ability to solve mathematical problems. Number Tiles costs £30 +VAT for a single user licence (£33 through Archive) and there are site licences available from Topologika: primary £55 +VAT, secondary £70 +VAT. 7.9 • Photodesk − Spacetech have produced a fully-featured art and photo- retouching application to take advantage of the Risc PC’s capabilities. All operations are carried out at ‘studio quality’ in 24-bit colour using virtual memory techniques, so that you are not limited to the size of the computer’s memory for handling very large colour images. Each painting tool can be used to apply any of the effects so that there is a huge range of operations that are possible. All the popular image formats are accepted such as TIFF, clear, sprite, PhotoCD, as well as drawfiles which can be used as ‘silk screens’ for stencilling and other effects when loaded into the 256-level mask channel attached to each photo. Photodesk can be used with ‘all current graphics extension hardware’ and, of course, uses 24-bit colour if used on the Risc PC. Photodesk from Spacetech costs £169.95 +VAT (£199.75) or £185 through Archive. 7.9 I saw Photodesk being demonstrated at the Harrogate show and it was quite staggering to see what it could do. Admittedly, I have never seen the Mac application, Photoshop, and I was told by an editor of one of the other Acorn magazines that Photodesk ‘couldn’t compare with Photoshop’. (Spacetech say that Photodesk does ‘80% of what Photoshop does but is a lot faster and much more versatile’.) But you have to remember that (a) the screen update on the Risc PC is an order of magnitude faster than on the Mac version and (b) Photoshop has a list price of £725 +VAT − although you can get a ‘free’ copy if you buy a colour scanner for £1100 +VAT(!), and (c) according to our local Mac Centre, the absolute minimum computer configuration that they would recommend for using Photoshop is a Quadra 650 with 17“ monitor costing over £2,200 +VAT − more than the top-end Risc PC with 17” monitor at £2,100 +VAT. 7.9 I do hope Acorn are telling the world about this sort of thing and doing so quickly because this huge advantage will only last until native Power Mac versions of this sort of software become available. Mind you, Adobe are apparently starting again from scratch with the programming of Photoshop rather than just trying to convert the code across piecemeal to their RISC processors. 7.9 • Pressure sensitive graphics tablet − Two professional quality graphics tablets have been launched for the Acorn Range by Eesox and Vaughan Allanson, an A5 version and an A4+ (12“×12”). Both of these are based on Wacom Tablets and use a cordless, batteryless, pressure- sensitive stylus, and may also be used with a cordless four button “puck”. They connect to the Archimedes via the serial port. Being pressure sensitive adds a new dimension to graphics work. For example, a spray-can could change density with pressure and a special tool for ArtWorks is available to produce fluid lines of varying width. The tablet can, of course, be used to emulate the functionality of the mouse and so can be used to augment the mouse, or completely replace it. The prices of currently available (excluding postage and VAT) are A5 tablet and stylus £399, A4+ tablet, stylus and puck £549, ArtWorks pressure tool £29. Larger sizes are available on request. For further details, contact Vaughan Allanson on 0638−578597. 7.9 • Repro − Oak Solutions have produced a package which gives far more control over colour printouts than previously available. It offers control over screen size, and angles, gamma correction, grey balance and black removal. It allows you to edit the palette used by the !Printers application so that you can match the printout colours to those you get on screen − correct matching for mode 15 (i.e. the default 256 colour desktop palette) is included. The features can also be extended by adding libraries of Basic functions to provide alternative routines for defining dot patterns and colour calibration. 7.9 • Sibelius 6 is an education version of the full professional music notation program, Sibelius 7. It has a simplified user interface but it can still handle complex orchestral scores, all traditional musical notation and a wide range of contemporary notation, Midi input and output, etc. It has been updated recently to provide ‘block text’ for writing extra verses of lyrics, new instruments including brass band instruments, reorganisation of ‘transfers’ with some new ones (e.g. guitar chords), new options for transposing, alignment of objects into rows/columns using the ctrl key, new improved version of OpusII music fonts, faster overview window, improved positioning of slurs and articulation marks, improved operation with CC TurboDrivers, improved exporting to ArtWorks. Coming soon are a new, more friendly copy protection system (without using a key disc) and edition 2 of the manual. Sibelius 6 costs £160 +VAT from Sibelius Software and is now available through Archive for £175. 7.9 • Sibelius 7 − the much-acclaimed “expert system for music engraving” has been updated. It now has all the new features of Sibelius 6 plus new instruments, over 180 new symbols, various new lines, enhanced text styles, many new house-style options, new choice options, ‘eraser’ (white-out box) to assist notating incipits, ossias, presces and responses and certain modern scores. Coming soon are a new, more friendly copy protection system (without using a key disc) and edition 3 of the manual. The full package costs £795 +VAT but, for non- professional users, there is a special offer price of £499 +VAT. Sibelius 7 is now available through Archive for £545. 7.9 • Smart Borders 2 & Smart Borders+ are two packs of special borders for use with the Impression range of products. Each costs £14.95 inclusive from Smart DTP but Smart Borders+ comes either in ArtWorks format or in drawfile format. 7.9 • Smart Graphics Pack 1 is a collection of over 200 drawfiles covering animals, fun, music, maps & flags, nature, flowers, sport, people and miscellaneous. Smart Graphics 1 costs £14.95 inclusive from Smart DTP. 7.9 • Smart Resources 2 is a collection of over 300 items of lineart covering arrows, borders, corners, drop capitals, rules, symbols, flashes, speech and think bubbles and miscellaneous. Smart Resources 2 costs £14.95 inclusive from Smart DTP and is available in either ArtWorks or drawfile format. 7.9 • Smart Works is a two-disc set of materials for ArtWorks users. It provides resources in the form of moulds and paths, a range of example files, support for the ArtWorks User Manual and extras such as a keystrip, fact card, font poster, printer test sheet and colour table. Smart Works costs £9.95 inclusive from Smart DTP. 7.9 • Tele-Card from XOB is a standard Acorn format expansion card which carries tuning and decoding circuitry to allow the reception of television signals and display of Teletext pages. As well as delivering decoded teletext pages directly into the computer, it can supply audio and video signals suitable for feeding into domestic entertainment systems, video recorders, video digitisers and many computer monitors. With a suitable cable and switch, it may be possible to use your computer monitor as a supplementary television when not being used as a data display. 7.9 Tele-Card comes with a multi-tasking desktop user interface for the selection and display of Teletext pages directly off-air. The software supports Level I Teletext services, the normal domestic standard but, since some organisations are experimenting with Level II Teletext services, the hardware is designed to allow for reception of these when they become available. 7.9 The documentation supplied details the low level calls which allow the enthusiast or specialist to write their own software to directly talk to the card. 7.9 Teletext serving software can be purchased as an optional extra to allow a single computer to serve Teletext to an entire Acorn AUN network. This is based on our servers currently in use in many institutions with Morley and Acorn adaptors, but is a modified version to take advantage of the improved facilities offered by our purpose-designed card. 7.9 Tele-Card with single-user software costs £144 +VAT, the Network Serving software costs £154 +VAT and the Tele-Card with the Network software purchased together costs £274 +VAT. (Prices through Archive are: £165, £172 and £305 respectively.) 7.9 • User/Analogue interfaces − HCCS have introduced some new cards which provide user and analogue ports for all Acorn machines. The A3000/4000 type is £39 +VAT (£45 through Archive) and the A5000/Risc PC type is the same price. 7.9 • WimpGEN − This is a new application authoring package which allows an application’s user interface to be built up, allowing you to concentrate on the main application code rather than the interface. The whole process of windows, dialogue boxes and menu structures can be done interactively. The price is £99.95 inc VAT from Silicon Vision. 7.9 • Wing chairs − The special ‘kneeling’ type office chairs we advertised in Archive 6.12 have been selling steadily ever since. The prices of most of the Stokke chairs has just gone up but, thankfully, the Wings have stayed the same price − £320. (Before you say how expensive that is, please read my ‘testimony’ in 6.12 about how good they are and how they have helped my bad back − which is why I am selling them.) The colours of material and types of wood keep changing. Currently, we can get natural beech, rosewood and black frames with material covers in black, charcoal, grey (darkish), navy, wine (‘plummy’), red, beige and brown. 7.9 • Worldport 14400 fax/modem − Since last month, US Robotics have dropped the price of their Sportster Fax/modem. The new Archive price is £230 including VAT and carriage. (Add £13 for a modem lead if using pre- A5000 computers because the supplied lead only works with A5000 and later computers.) Add £33 for ArcFax 1.10 and you have a fully working fax system. (The portable version is still £270 through Archive.) 7.9 • Z88 Link Software − The Really Good Software Company have produced a new piece of software to make the link between a Z88 and an Archimedes computer much easier. Z-Link II works with RISC OS 3.1 or later and costs £24.95 inclusive from RGSC. They also do a serial cable for a further £9 inclusive. 7.9 • A5000 is no more − Acorn have officially stated that the A5000 is no longer in production and that they have no stocks left. We have one left (2Mb/210Mb 33MHz) without monitor for £990. 7.10 • Acorn mice galore − We have now managed to buy a total of 250 Acorn mice at special prices and, “while stocks last” they are available to Archive subscribers at £20 each (normal price £40). This makes them cheaper than Clares’ mice at £30 which aren’t as reliable as the Logitech Acorn mice. Also, since replacement mouse cables are £11 (Digitech) and £13 (Logitech) it makes it hardly worthwhile re-tailing mice! 7.10 • Around the World in 80 Days is designed for upper primary school pupils and will introduce them to a range of geographical skills including grid references, longitude and time zones, latitude, contours, bearings etc, all presented within an adventure as wicked Wiley Windbag tries to thwart the efforts of the global travellers Freddie and Francis Fogg (Phileas Fogg’s children?). Around the World in 80 Days costs £39.95 +VAT from Sherston software or £44 through Archive. 7.10 • CDFS-FSCSI upgrade − If you upgrade your Acorn SCSI card to CDFS 2.2 by buying the Acorn upgrade, you also now get a copy of PhotoView. This is an application that allows Kodak PhotoCDs to be viewed and used as a resource in other applications. The price has risen slightly to reflect the provision of the new software. It now costs £41 inclusive through Archive. 7.10 • Graphics Loaders − With the greater range of graphics available to the Acorn machines in different formats, Computer Concepts have released a disc of graphics loaders. These cover PhotoCD, JPEG, Clear and an enhanced TIFF loader. The Graphics Loaders disc costs £39 +VAT from Computer Concepts or £43 through Archive. 7.10 • Impression Publisher − This is now shipping from Computer Concepts although there is quite a backlog of orders. This new version of Impression provides a range of new features with the professional user in mind. Irregular shaped frames will be useful to many users and the range of controls for colour work will be particularly welcome and reinforce its position as the leading DTP package for Acorn machines. We hope to have a review shortly which will give details of the new facilities. Impression Publisher costs £169 +VAT or £180 through Archive. 7.10 • James Pond2+ − James Pond 2 has had almost 500 new screens and new tunes added to become James Pond 2+ ! You can upgrade from Gamesware for £7.99 if you send them proof of purchase. The normal retail price remains at £25.99 or £24 through Archive. 7.10 • Keystroke version 3 − This new version offers much more compatibility with CC’s products, provides a slow demonstration mode and “numerous extras that have been added at customers’ request”. Also, it is fully Risc PC-compatible. The upgrade costs £4.95 inclusive from Quantum Software. 7.10 • Logix is a suite of applications from Silicon Vision, allowing students to design and simulate logic circuits. Features include multiple tailored libraries, fully hierarchical operation, custom design of circuits and casings, built-in LEDs and displays for feedback, switches and push buttons for logic input, drawfile saving of circuits and simulations. Logix costs £99.95 +VAT (or £109 through Archive) and a site licence for twenty machines is £300 +VAT from Silicon Vision. 7.10 • Magnetoids − Oregan Developments’ latest game is a 3D space battle game. It features variable light sourced vector graphics, Acorn and RTFM joystick support, enhanced ARM 3 mode and hard disc installation. Magnetoids costs £24.95 from Oregan Developments or £23 through Archive. 7.10 • Morley SCSI upgrade − There is now an upgrade for the Morley 16-bit SCSI cards to make it compatible with Risc PC and also to provide the latest CDFS and a PhotoCD viewing application. The other improvement is in the formatting / partitioning / installation software which is now easier to use and has password protection to prevent unauthorised formatting or alteration of the SCSI configuration. The upgrade is only available from Morley Electronics and costs £35 inclusive. 7.10 • Ovation price drop and special offer − There is no sign yet of an Ovation 2 but Ovation 1 is being given a sales boost. The price has been dropped to £69 +p&p +VAT (£67 through Archive) and if you buy it before the end of August, you will get free copies of Desktop Thesaurus and a book called “Getting into Ovation”. 7.10 • Photo-retouch software − This month sees the release of two more photo-retouch packages for the Acorn machines. They are PhotoTouch at £79.95 inclusive from Oregan or £75 through Archive and Digital Arts’ Picture at £99 +VAT or £108 through Archive. We hope soon to have comparative reviews of these two packages with Photodesk from Spacetech, which costs £185 through Archive. 7.10 • ProArtisan 2 CD − Clares have updated ProArtisan so that it will handle PhotoCD images and have made the whole thing available on a CD for £169.95 or £158 through Archive. You can upgrade from ProArtisan 2 direct from Clares Micros for £29.95 inclusive. 7.10 • Professional full colour scanning service − T-J Reproductions, who provide a full Acorn disc-to-print bureau facility, now have full colour drum scanning facilities. Existing users of T-J’s imagesetting and litho printing services can take advantage of this complimentary service of scanning images at up to 5,000 dpi in four colour format − presumably using SyQuest removable hard discs to transfer the massive files produced! 7.10 • Psion3a − We are now stocking the Psion3a Personal Organisers. The 256Kb version is £269 and the 512Kb version is £329. 7.10 • Rephorm update − Oak Solutions have updated Rephorm for the Risc PC, providing support for 15-bit and 24-bit sprites. They have also introduced a number of other improvements including OLE support, Clear file conversion and swap start and end frames. The price remains at £50 +VAT from Oak Solutions or £55 through Archive and an upgrade path is available − just send your master disc plus £15 +VAT to Oak Solutions for the latest version. 7.10 • Repro − Oak Solutions’ printer driver control utility was described last month on page 7 but, unfortunately, we forgot to mention the price! It costs £50 +VAT from Oak Solutions or £55 through Archive. 7.10 • RISC OS 3 Style Guide − This is now available from stock through Archive for £10 inclusive. 7.10 • Risc PC with no monitor − Acorn have announced a “no-monitor” option for the Risc PC. If we supply a monitor-less computer to an “enthusiast”, Acorn will allow us to supply it at £250 +VAT off the normal price. So if you want to order a Risc PC without a monitor, just deduct £294 off the basic price. This offer only applies to individual Acorn “enthusiasts” (but you don’t have to wear an anorak to prove it) and not to schools, colleges or businesses, presumably. (Mind you, we haven’t yet had the official conditions of this offer from Acorn yet.) 7.10 • Risc PC VRAM price drop − We have managed to reduce the Risc PC VRAM prices: 1Mb is now £130, 2Mb is £200 but the 1−2Mb upgrade is still £110. 7.10 • Risc PC SIMM price drop − With increasing volume of sales, we have been able to get better pricing for the Risc PC SIMM memory as follows: 7.10 4Mb SIMM: £150 −−> £145 7.10 8Mb SIMM: £300 −−> £265 7.10 16Mb SIMM: £640 −−> £590 7.10 32Mb SIMM: £1350 −−> £1225 7.10 • Speedball II − Take control of Brutal Deluxe, the worst team in Speedball history, and turn them into champions. You can play a knock- out competition against progressively tougher teams and there is a Cup option played over four two-leg rounds but the main challenge is in the full league. Brutal Deluxe begins in division two with their aim being to achieve promotion and then win the title. You can choose to manage the team, buy and sell players and let the computer handle events on the pitch. Speedball II costs £25.99 from Krisalis or £24 through Archive. 7.10 • Stunt Racer Extra Tracks − For all you keen Stunt Racers, here is a compilation of new tracks and scenery to keep you playing for many happy hours! Stunt Racer Extra Tracks costs £19.95 from 4th Dimension or £19 through Archive. 7.10 • Top quality fonts at less than 60p per font? LOOKsystems are doing a special summer promotion so that we can sell their 100 Monotype Fonts pack (full price £95) for just £59. 7.10 • Toshiba CD-ROM driver − If you want to run Toshiba CD-ROMs in multisession mode, e.g. with PhotoCD, you will need a special driver. This is available as part of the SCSI upgrade for Morley 16-bit SCSI interfaces (see above) but is also available as a separate soft-loadable driver for use with other SCSI cards. This costs £25 inc VAT from Morley. 7.10 • WimpGEN − This is a new application-authoring package which allows an application’s user interface to be built up, allowing you to concentrate on the main application code rather than the interface. The whole process of creating windows, dialogue boxes and menu structures can be done interactively. The price is £99.95 inc VAT from Silicon Vision or £93 through Archive. 7.10 • World Development Database − CWDE Software are releasing a version of its World Development Database in general format (as well as in existing Key Plus and Grass database formats) thus making it possible to use the data with whatever database you already use. The information provides social and economic statistics on 129 countries in CSV and text format. This costs £35 +VAT from CWDE Software. 7.10 • 105Mb removable hard drives − We have made a special purchase of a number of 105Mb removable drives which can be used for A5000 or Risc PC. These are brand new, fully guaranteed drives but are only £270 (normal price £340) including fitting kit and including one cartridge − while stocks last! Please ring the NCS office to book one rather than just sending a cheque. 7.11 • 270Mb removable hard drives − We can now get the IDE version of the 270Mb removables. There are internal versions for both the A5000 and the Risc PC and each is £490. This includes fitting kit and one cartridge. Extra cartridges are £90 each. 7.11 • Acorn standard resolution monitors − The AKF30 and the AKF40 are now out of production. There are some stocks left but they may have all gone by the time you read this. The AKF52 multisync is now the minimum standard (VGA) monitor that Acorn supply. 7.11 • Acorn Enthusiasts’ Scheme − Acorn have agreed to allow “Enthusiasts”, who have a special reason for doing so, to order a Risc PC without a monitor at £294 off the full with-monitor price. To do this, you must first fill in a special form giving details of your reasons for wanting a computer without a monitor and to register as an Acorn Enthusiast. Acorn say that Enthusiasts will be given ‘priority information’ and that there may be ‘special offers’ and ‘limited edition literature’ available to them. These special forms are available from the NCS offices. 7.11 If you want to register as enthusiast even though you don’t want a monitor-less Risc PC, we can send you a form if you send us an SAE. 7.11 • Apollonius PDT − Oak Solutions have announced a fully parametric CAD package, allowing the user to specify relationships between elements in the drawing so that any change updates all the elements automatically. It also features an ‘intelligent’ toolbar which provides a large number of features based on eight basic tools, which vary in precise function according to context. The price is £150 +VAT from Oak Solutions or £165 through Archive. (£75 +VAT as an upgrade from Oak Solutions’ Parametric Design Tool). 7.11 • Calendar − Kudlian Soft have released Calendar, a package intended for primary education with the purpose of producing wall calendars. It is intended to be very easy to use, with a WYSIWYG display, and uses the RISC OS outline fonts and printer drivers to produce high quality results in several formats. It also allows pupils to include their own pictures. The pack costs £25 +VAT including a site licence for primary schools, or £40 +VAT for secondary schools. 7.11 • Calligraph A4-1200 − Following on from their high resolution A3 printer, Calligraph have released a direct drive, A4, 8ppm laser printer capable of true 600 × 600 dpi resolution and up to 1200 dpi horizontal resolution through software enhancement. The software provided can handle variable screen density and gamma correction, as well as a draft printing mode and OPI-like virtual sprites (which leave large scans on disc until print time). The A4-1200 can be driven entirely from the computer, including all status and menu option information which would normally be on the printer itself. It also emulates an Epson FX80. The single bin version is available at £999 +VAT, and the dual bin version is £1149 +VAT (£1140 and £1315 through Archive). 7.11 • CD-ROM for Risc PC − Cumana are now selling an IDE CD-ROM 300iA drive for Risc PC. It is a caddy-less drive (i.e. you cannot operate the computer in tower mode as the discs will fall off the tray!) but the drive comes complete with an audio mixer so that the CD-ROM sound can be combined with the computer’s own sound and output through the computer’s own sound socket. Also included are the ProArtisan 2 Clipart CD and a PhotoCD disc with sample pictures. The price is £249 +VAT + carriage from Cumana or £290 through Archive. 7.11 • CD-ROM for Risc PC − Morley Electronics have two internal CD-ROMs for the Risc PC, both SCSI devices. The 4101 is a caddy-less version (i.e. you cannot operate the computer in tower mode as the discs will fall off the tray!) and costs £249 +VAT + carriage from Morley or £290 through Archive. The 3401 has a caddy and is slightly faster than the 4101 (330 Kb/s cf 300 Kb/s) and costs £349 +VAT + carriage from Morley or £400 through Archive. (Both require SCSI interfaces, e.g. the Morley uncached SCSI card at £160 through Archive.) 7.11 • Classcardz − Colton software have launched resource packs which take the user through the first steps in document processing and creation of spreadsheets with the company’s popular programs Wordz and Resultz. The packs are £20 each from Colton, and consist of sets of A4 laminated cards which can be photocopied for classroom use. 7.11 • Colton Software price drop − Colton have announced some price reductions on the ‘z family’ of programs: Wordz is now £59 +VAT (£64 through Archive), Resultz has been reduced from £99 to £79 +VAT, (£88 through Archive) and Fireworkz has been reduced from £149 to £99 +VAT (£110 through Archive), with site licences discount also available from Colton Software. 7.11 • Commodore64 conversions − XL.C.US Software are planning to provide a picture and sound sample transfer service between Archimedes and Commodore 64 machines. For details, contact Jonathan Hunt at 21 Green Street, Milton Malsor, Northampton, NN7 3AT. 7.11 • Design Processor update − Oak Solutions are working on a new version of their Design Processor to be packaged with OakPCB, DrawPlot, Genesis Professional and Apollonius PDT, due out in September. The new version will be £1200 (it used to be £900) for a site licence and regular upgrades but the price increase will not affect existing users or those who purchase Design Processor before September. 7.11 • First Page − Longman Logotron have released a new easy-to-use DTP package. First Page is capable of multiple columns, headlines and captions, and can import PenDown and PenDown Plus files maintaining layout and styles. In addition, it has its own basic word processing facilities. Illustrations can be included both as separate images and as frame backgrounds. FirstPage costs £49 +VAT for a single user or £140 and £190 +VAT respectively for primary and secondary site licences. The Archive prices are £54, £155 and £208 respectively. 7.11 • Flashback − This new release from US Gold is another port from the Amiga/PC markets. It is a graphic adventure, which was widely acclaimed for the innovative techniques used in production. The character animation was produced by filming athletes, to give very accurate movement − the character you play has 681 animation frames to himself. The plot involves having your memory wiped after your latest invention identifies the presence of hostile aliens on Earth. All you have to help you is a message from yourself, explaining what has happened, and then it is up to you to explore. Sections of the game are linked with “Cine Sequences” which are short, non-interactive sections to add to the feel of the game. 7.11 • HQ Tracker − Mycroft Software have released a low-cost alternative to SoundTracker, based around their PlayModule relocatable module and intended for use in adding sound effects and music to users’ software. The system is intended to be more extendable than its competitors, and comes with a converter for soundtracker files. HQ-Tracker is £25 from Mycroft Software with a special price of £20 to people who mention Archive when ordering. 7.11 • Idek Iiyama monitors − These new monitors are now available in both 17“ and 21” sizes. The prices are £734 (£440 with Risc PC) and £2144 (£1850 with Risc PC) respectively. As you can see from the specifications opposite, the 17“ monitor is a slightly higher specification than the Acorn 17” monitor and it works out slightly cheaper provided you class as an Acorn Enthusiast (see above). Our subjective view, having had the two monitors side by side is that there is little to choose between them in terms of display quality or programmability. The only real difference apart from the price is that the AKF85 comes with a 12-month on-site warranty whereas the Idek monitor has a three-year return-to-base warranty, i.e. it’s guaranteed for three years but you have to pay to get it shipped back to Idek − they fix it and send it back to you. 7.11 As regards the 21“, we are very impressed with this one. It is, in our view, better than the Eizo F780iW costing several hundred pounds more! It has a very easy-to-use control tray that slides out from the front of the monitor and allows you to adjust all the various parameters and save that particular mode definition. The 20” Taxan doesn’t have quite such good definition but it has the advantage of being a Trinitron tube and yet is £150 cheaper. 7.11 (As soon as I can afford it, I shall be buying an Idek 21“ and a Risc PC. This will make production of Archive an order of magnitude easier. Ed.) 7.11 • IFEL 8Mb RAM upgrades − A5000 and A3000 machines may now be upgraded to 8Mb by means of a new upgrade from IFEL, for £259 +VAT for the A5000 or £249 +VAT for the A3000. However, IFEL recommend their fitting service (£50 +VAT for 4Mb machines) since the upgrade requires removing the surface-mounted MEMC. A300 and A400 series upgrades will follow. 7.11 • ImageFS is a RISC OS 3 image filing system (similar to that used for PC partitions) which allows transparent loading of a number of image formats RISC OS-legally − including TIFF, BMP and PICT. The images are converted to sprites on the fly, and the software supports deep sprites and a number of dithering options. ImageFS is available for £34.95 +VAT from Alternative Publishing Ltd. 7.11 • Landmarks − Microworld Invasion and Pinpoint Datafile − Britain since the 1930s are new educational programs from Longman Logotron aimed at 9- 13 year-olds. They are designed to complement the BBC’s Landmarks history series to be broadcast in Autumn 1994. Prices are £24.95 +VAT and £12 +VAT from Longman Logotron (£27 and £13 respectively through Archive), with versions for the IBM PC and site licences also available. 7.11 • Lark − Wild Vision’s 16-bit audio sampling and play-back card for all the Acorn machines is now available. It can sample and playback in stereo and sample up to 48kHz, and features MIDI connection and on-board filtering. The Lark A16 is £199 +VAT + carriage or £225 through Archive. 7.11 • Lenses & Light is a pack from Anglia Television for the Key Plus database and the Key Calc spreadsheet. It covers eye testing, shadows, polarisation, single and double lenses, microscopes and telescopes with background information and worksheets for photocopying provided. Lenses & Light costs £22 +VAT from Anglia Television. 7.11 • Premier Manager − Gremlin Graphics Ltd, the makers of Zool, have released a game for those who prefer their football as most of us get to see it: from the sidelines. Starting in the Vauxhall Conference League, up to four players can simultaneously work on their teams, investing their money on the grounds and their players in the hopes of bringing in the sponsors and the fans. The game features five divisions, cup competitions, match highlights, full ground sponsorship, complete results service, weekly fax data on match reports, transfer news and player information and complete interaction with other team managers. Available for £25.99 from Gremlin or £24 through Archive. 7.11 • Sound FX #2 − Alpine Software have released another disc of sound effects for Creator, Creator II or UltraSonic. The effects are grouped under the headings of VOCAL_1, VOCAL_2, TREK, WeirdFX and Weapons. The disc is £5 from Alpine Software. 7.11 • Tekkie CD − Emerald Publishing have produced a CD that contains the RISC OS 3 PRMs. Not only that, but it also contains the Style Guide, Basic Guide, Desktop C, Assembler and DDE guides, all for the same price as the paper version of the PRMs − £99 +VAT. (See the review on page 61.) 7.11 Products Available 7.12 • Archive mousemats − We are having some top quality Archive mousemats made for us. They will have antistatic plastic tops with non-slip rubber base − none of your flimsy cloth-top mousemats these! The rather tasteful design features the Archive logo and the Norwich Computer Services logo and the cost is £5 each including p&p. 7.12 (These shouldn’t really be in Products Available because they aren’t going to be ready until the end of September. Still, you can place your orders with confidence − they aren’t vapourware. Paul Beverley, MD of Norwich Computer Services, assured our Archive reporter, “The software is virtually finished − just one or two bugs to be ironed out − we have to make sure, of course, that there are no viruses on it. Also, we’re waiting for the manuals to be printed.”) 7.12 • Archive PD discs − It was in July 1988 (yes, six years ago!) that Archive launched its first disc of PD software. At that stage, the PD discs were a first in the Archimedes world and we feel they performed a very useful function in the early days of Archimedes computers and software. However, we have reached a point where Archive PD, by and large, has outlived its usefulness. 7.12 We have decided to transfer all our PD material over to APDL (address in Factfile). So if you want any of the programs and applications we have published in the past, please contact APDL. However, there are a number of programs that are still very popular and things like the Archive data for the Arcscan database are being maintained as a set of Archive PD discs. (We are dropping the Shareware and Careware names altogether.) The discs still available at £2 each are: 7.12 • Archive Utils 1 − (was Careware 18) − VIDC enhancer software (2 versions), iconbar mode number display, modes for Sony CPD-1402, modes for Acorn AKF18, various modes and modules for NEC 3D, mode creation and editing for pre-A5000s with AKF18. 7.12 • Archive Utils 2 − (was Careware 19) − !CGM −>Draw, !Draw−>CGM, !Draw−>EPS, !AiEps −>Draw !Draw−>Meta, !DXF−>CGM, !Translator, !Creator (sprites to GIF, TIFF, AIM, PBM), utility to output drawfiles on SketchMate A4 plotter. 7.12 • Archive Utils 3 − (was Shareware 7) − Disc database of Archive magazine plus ArcScan data files for Archive magazine. 7.12 • Archive Utils 4 − (was Shareware 51) − JPEG utilities 1 − !ChangeFSI, version 0.90a; !FYEO, 1.02; !Jewel, 0.04; !JFIF, 26th June 1993; !JPEGinst to install !JPEGit, 1.11A, i.e. the PD version; !JView, 0.07; djpeg (Keith Sloan’s implementation), 18 Nov 1991; JPEG-FAQ − a text file pulled off Usenet and headed “JPEG image compression: Frequently Asked Questions”. 7.12 • Archive Utils 5 − (was Shareware 52) − JPEG utilities 2 − !FYEO2 (see June JPEG column) sample NASA images plus a ‘thumbnails’ file with postage stamp-sized previews of the other available files. 7.12 • Archive Utils 6 − Hard drive utilities including SyQuest 105Mb fix for A5000/Risc PC. 7.12 • Archive Utils 7 − Acorn’s new printer drivers !Printers 1.22. 7.12 • Barcode generator − Kang Software have produced a RISC OS application that generates drawfiles of barcodes in a variety of formats: EAN-13, EAN-8, ISSN, ISBN and BIC. Within these formats, there is also a variety of other options. The software costs £85 (no VAT) which compares very favourably with PC equivalents costing of the order of £150 +VAT. 7.12 • Betsi − Another winner from 4Mation. This time it is a historical adventure aimed at 7 − 12 year-olds studying the Tudor period. Betsi is a dog who, having been evicted from the royal hunting kennels for being too soft, is looking for someone to provide her with a comfortable home where she will be loved. During her travels, she meets all manner of folk from different backgrounds, sees the interiors of various buildings, hears some of the things that people were concerned about at that time, and welcomes opportunities to be a good citizen. 7.12 Betsi costs £34.50 +VAT (or £38 through Archive). A site licence costs £69 +VAT (or £75 through Archive). 7.12 • CC takes over − Computer Concepts have taken over distribution of all Wild Vision products so that WV can concentrate on development work. One effect of this is a reduction in the discount given to dealers. This has had to be reflected in a reduction in Archive members’ discounts on WV products. 7.12 • Celtic clipart 2 − Glyn Howells has produced a second disc of celtic clipart including borders, panels, chains, crosses and motifs. As with disc 1, this costs £10.99 inclusive, or you can get both of them together for £18.99. (There is no VAT as Glyn is not VAT registered.) They are available from: Glyn Howells, Sicar Uchaf, Brongest, C N Emlyn, Dyfed, SA38 9ET. 7.12 • Flashback − We gave details of US Gold’s new game last month (page 4) but forgot to tell you the price. Flashback costs £27.99 or £26 through Archive. (See the review on page 27.) 7.12 • Goldilocks − This is a Genesis application from Oak Solutions “designed to introduce young children to IT skills through a professionally produced audio CD and high quality visual interpretation of the traditional fairy tale.” While the child is using the program, its use of the various options is recorded so that the teacher can see how the child is progressing. Goldilocks comes on floppy discs with an audio CD and a pack of photocopiable resources and costs £40 +VAT from Oak Solutions or £44 through Archive. 7.12 • Impression manual extras − If you are an Impression user who makes frequent use of the manual, H B Humpidge has just the thing for you! The pack includes a quick reference guide with keyboard shortcuts (arranged by function), a printed keystrip, a set of divider cards for the manual, some self-adhesive binder strips, about 50 sheets of paper to put your own notes in the manual, two thick card ends to help preserve the integrity of the manual and a pack of ring reinforcements for those pages that get over-used and fall out − he seems to have thought of everything! This comes in three forms: Impression II £6, Impression Publisher £7.50 and a special version for those who have upgraded from Impression II to Publisher £6. These are all available from H B Humpidge, 2A Kingsley Park Grove, Sheffield, S11 9HL. If you just want the quick reference guide and the keystrip, they are available for £1.50. 7.12 • I/O card alternative − Risc PC owners, in particular, will be pleased to hear that there is now an alternative to Acorn’s dual-width I/O card in single-width format. Paul Fray Ltd have produced a card which provides all the functionality of the Acorn card, except the Midi add- on. So it provides user port, analogue port and 1MHz bus. Advantages of this newer card, apart from it taking up only one slot, are that it has an improved interface that makes it work more reliably with faster systems and it has a socket to take a user-programmed EPROM (128Kb × 8). These cards are available from Paul Fray Ltd for £129 +VAT or £144 through Archive. 7.12 • Izzy & Lizzy in The Playground − Topologika have released a version of their popular Freddy Teddy title, ‘The Playground’. The idea is that it allows the program to be used with older children as Izzy and Lizzy are trendy young children (Izzy looks to me as if he’s wearing ‘Cats’!) as opposed to the teddy bear which appeals to younger children. If you already have The Playground, you can obtain Izzy and Lizzy from Topologika by sending them £10 +VAT + £1 p&p (£12.75) and quoting the serial number of your copy of The Playground. Otherwise, you can buy The Playground in a combined format for £25 +VAT + £2.50 p&p (£31.88) from Topologika or £29 through Archive. 7.12 • JPEG Disc number 2 − I said in the JPEG Column last month that the new JPEG Shareware disc was number 51. Actually, that was the number of the first JPEG Shareware disc the new one is, yes, you’ve guessed it, number 52! It contains FYEO2 (as mentioned in the June JPEG column, p19) plus some of the best of the NASA images sent in by Philip Draper plus added a ‘thumbnails’ file with postage stamp-sized previews of Philip’s other files. (Actually, we have just scrapped the Archive Shareware discs, so this has become Archive Utils disc 5.) 7.12 • MacFS − MacFS is a filing system for RISC OS 3.1 or later which will read and write Mac SuperDrive (1.44Mb) floppies, external hard discs, magneto-opticals and SyQuests. It costs £99 +VAT from Computer Concepts or £108 through Archive. 7.12 • PD on CD-ROM − The Datafile have produced a CD-ROM containing 265 Mb of PD, freeware and shareware material, clipart, games, utilities, music, graphics, magazines, games demos, languages, !Earthmap, Gutenburg, classic demos and educational software. PD-CD costs £30 inclusive from The Datafile or £28 through Archive. 7.12 • Professional full-colour scanning service − We mentioned last month that T-J Reproductions were providing a full Acorn disc-to-print bureau facility and now have full-colour drum-scanning facilities. Unfortunately, we quoted their fax number instead of their phone number. The corrected version is (hopefully!) in the Factfile at the back of the magazine. 7.12 Because of the huge files produced by these high resolution colour scans, T-J are looking into offering a file replacement service. What they would do would be to scan the image at low resolution (and send you a copy) as well as at high resolution (which they would store for later use). You could then prepare your document with the low-res image, send it to T-J who would then substitute the hi-res image. This is similar to OPI except that OPI will only work with Impression Publisher whereas this service would be available to users of Style as well. If you are interested, get in touch with T-J and tell them to what extent you might use the service. That will help them to gauge whether it is going to be worth the setting-up costs. 7.12 • Scanlight Professional − CC have dropped the price of their greyscale A4 flatbed scanner to £499 +VAT. However, they are not giving any dealer discount anymore so they will no longer be available through NCS. 7.12 • Supersound expansion system − In Archive 7.7 p39, David Lenthal gave details of Audio Dynamics’ 16-bit digital audio SuperSound Expansion System. The SSES1600 provides 128 instruments + 49 percussion sounds, Midi in, out and thru, and software which plays Midi files and sample files. The board also has line output on two phono sockets and a 3.5mm stereo socket plus headphone output on ¼“ jack socket. SSES1600 costs £299 +VAT from Audio Dynamics or £335 inclusive through Archive. 7.12 • “Technology for Secondary Mathematics” − There will be a day conference for maths teachers at Oundle School, Peterborough on Monday 3rd October 1994. It will cover Macs and PCs as well as Acorns but it is presented “in association with Acorn Computers Ltd and Mathematics in Education and Industry”. Details from Douglas Butler, Head of Mathematics, Oundle School, Oundle, Peterborough, PE8 4EN (0832-273444). 7.12 • The Acorn Companion, written by Geoff Love, is a guide to using Acorn computers and software. It is aimed at “the average classroom teacher or non-specialist IT coordinator who needs to know enough to use the computer, solve any problems they encounter and keep things running smoothly but doesn’t want to spend every waking hour pawing through jargon-filled manuals.” It costs £9 inclusive from NW SEMERC. 7.12 • The Time Machine − The latest desktop adventure game from Gordon Key is The Time Machine. This is a game for all Acorn machines with 2Mb or more, has five discs, 3Mb+ of sprites, 80 sampled sounds plus music. It seems to be a sequel to Haunted House. At least, you are the same employee of Acorn Antiques but the action starts as you leave the shop to break out of the boredom, go for a long walk, decide you need a leak and espy a blue portaloo in the distance... The Time Machine costs £25.95 from 4th Dimension or £24 through Archive. 7.12 • Tiles French Supplement − Brain Games have released a supplement to their Tiles program which gives 223 French crosswords to play on their Tiles package. The supplement requires Tiles version 3.29 or later. Tiles and the French Tiles Supplement each cost £19.75 (no VAT) to which you add £4.50 per machine for site licences for each package. 7.12 • 200Mb Syquest removables − Syquest have released a new 200Mb 5¼“ removable hard disc. The new drive can read and write the old 44Mb and 88Mb format cartridges as well as its own 200Mb format, and offers a speed and size advantage over the older drive types while maintaining backward compatibility. The drive comes with one free cartridge and, as with all removable drives, it has an effectively infinite storage capacity by simply replacing the cartridge. The external SCSI version which can be used on any Acorn machine with a SCSI interface costs £570 through Archive, the internal version (which is only really of interest to Risc PC owners) is £490. Each comes with one cartridge and extra cartridges cost £90 through Archive. 8.1 • Acorn Enthusiasts’ Scheme − We stated in Archive last month that Acorn were going to allow “Enthusiasts”, who are not actually ordering a Risc PC to register as such. However, they have decided that this scheme will be launched properly at Acorn World 94. 8.1 • Alpha Tracks − Silicon Vision have released a new Electronics Teaching Course based on the ArcPCB design software, combined with the Unilab/ Testbed Alpha System modules. Designed by teachers, the system allows students to explore electronics prototyping and computer aided design of the PCB on any RISC OS machine. The design can be output to Artwork for PCB production or directly onto copper clad boards with a plotter using spirit-based pens for direct etching in Ferric Chloride solution. The course has been designed for use with students or teacher training from Key Stage 3 (age 13+), and includes notes and assignment sheets intended to minimise teacher participation. The price is £75 +VAT from Silicon Vision. 8.1 • Archiboard − Supreme Software have officially launched Archiboard, a ‘network Email and conferencing system’. The system has been developed over the last four years and is aimed at educational users. By means of client software (provided), users can log on to the central server, and there leave mail messages for each other, contribute to conferences and use the server as a means of transferring files. The system is quick to set up in its default state, and is highly configurable by means of text files and a script language − plug-in modules can be used to add to functionality. Working across Ethernet and Econet (without the need of a file server), Archiboard also provides for connection to FidoNet™ and Internet to extend Email facilities world wide. The Network version of Archiboard is available from Supreme Software fo £89 (£79 to educational establishments) + £2 U.K. postage. Supreme Software Ltd. can be contacted at (0603) 745077. 8.1 • ArcPCB range expands − Silicon Vision have expanded their range of electronic design automation tools. ArcPCB version 1.9, for digital PCB layout, is now priced at £99.95. ArcPCB professional version 3.3 at £195 is aimed at both analogue and video PCB layout. ArcPCB Schematics version 5.2, at £275, is for combined Schematic and PCB layout. PowerRouter v1.6 at £59.95 provides full 100% rip-up retry routing. GerberPLOT v2.1 for Photoplotting and ExcellonDRILL v2.1 for NC drilling, both at £39.95, are also available from Silicon Vision. All these prices exclude VAT. 8.1 • “Autumn windfall on A3020s” − Acorn are doing a special promotion on A3020s during September and October. For every A3020 that schools buy from Authorised Education Dealers, Acorn will give the school (or college) a £50 cash-back. Buy the computer(s), fill in the form(s), send them to Acorn before 30th November and, within 28 days, Acorn will send you your £50 cash-back(s). 8.1 • CD-Net − Cumana have taken over the CD-Net software from PEP Associates, reviewed in the June issue of Archive. The system provides fast access to a number of CDs across an AUN or SJ Nexus network, using a two-stage cache (utilising both RAM and hard disc) to allow multiple users access to a number of CD-ROMs, often faster than if the drive were local to the machine. CD-Net is now priced at £150 +VAT & delivery from Cumana. 8.1 • CD-ROM networking − To complement their CD-Net software, Cumana have launched a tower of six Panasonic SCSI CD-drives. Multi-session, double speed and PhotoCD compatible, the tower is priced at £1499 +VAT. Cumana feels that single drive units with automatic disc changing are not suitable for large network use where several users may wish to access different CD-ROMs, and this tower is their solution. 8.1 • CD-ROMs − From our survey of “who is selling what for RISC OS computers?”, the following CD-ROM titles have come to light: “Art in the National Curriculum (KS 1 & 2)” (AVP) − resources related to topics and artists in the N.C., aimed to contain a number of images not readily available in the home or classroom environment. “The Horizon Report” (Hampshire Microtechnology Centre) − resources from the combined efforts of over forty Hampshire schools and colleges investigating the uses of multimedia for sharing and presenting information, covering topics such as ‘IT in the high street’, ‘Rainforests’ and ‘Hitler’. With the “Karaoke Macbeth” (Animated Pixels Publishing Ltd − available from Cumana) you can choose your favourite part or parts from the Scottish play and read them yourself or with your friends, with the other parts read for you; other plays will follow. “Kingfisher Children’s Micropedia” (ESM) − reference resource for Primary children, containing 1,300 entries accessed alphabetically or by topic, and the package comes with curriculum activity ideas. “Land and Air: Environmental Series” (Interactive Learning Productions and Academy Television) − an analysis of environmental issues using data from governmental sources. “Picturebase − Victorian Britain” (AVP) − materials relating to Victorian times and their relation to the present day. “Semerc Treasure Chest” (NW Semerc) − huge library of resources for key stages 1, 2 and 3. “Oxford Reading Tree” and “Sherston Naughty Stories” (Sherston) − both popular RISC OS talking books are available on CD-ROM. “Woodland Birds” (APA Multimedia Ltd) is a subset of the Woodland CD, and contains details of approx. 50 birds and their calls. 8.1 • Colour printing bonanza − For those who want high quality colour printing, there are two new ink jet printers on the market. Integrex, who have provided colour printers to the Acorn market for years, have released the Colourjet 600, capable of 300×600dpi and of emulating the HP Deskjet 500C. The printer comes with suitable RISC OS 3.1 printer drivers and costs £239 +VAT from Integrex. The second new printer is an offering by Epson − the new Stylus Color (sic). This printer is capable of 720×720dpi on suitable coated paper, offering a substantially improved picture when compared to most ink-jet printers which have only half the resolution. It can also produce 360dpi on normal paper. Unfortunately, at the time of writing there is no RISC OS printer driver for it which can produce more than 360dpi, although one is being worked on. The Stylus Color has an r.r.p. of £639 +VAT and is available through Archive for £590 inclusive. 8.1 • DiskCat update − Oregan Developments have released a new version of their automated disc cataloguing system. The new version has many enhanced features and is compatible with the Risc PC. The package is now £19.95 inc VAT from Oregan. Existing users can upgrade for £5 with the return of their original discs to Oregan. 8.1 • Duplex − Mijas Software have produced a shareware application designed to enable full duplex printing of a wide range of DTP documents on a Hewlett Packard (or equivalent PCL emulation) Laserjet printer that has a full duplex option. The program is on the monthly program disc but for a registered copy plus manual, send £10 (cheque or PO) to Mijas Software. 8.1 • Earth Warp − This is a program from Longman Logotron based on the BBC’s Look and Read, Earth Warp series for 7-9 year olds. It costs £24 (+VAT +p&p) from Longman Logotron or £27 through Archive. 8.1 • EPROM programming and emulation − Octopus Systems of Ipswich have launched new control software to enable the Dataman Softy S3 and S4 EPROM programmers to be controlled from the RISC OS desktop via the serial port. Files can be programmed into an EPROM or the system can be used as an emulator with a flying header plugged into an EPROM socket. This aids software development as it enables new software to be downloaded and used immediately, without programming a new EPROM every time. The control software and lead costs £39 +VAT from Octopus Systems who also offer a fast EPROM programming service from Acorn format discs. 8.1 • Game On! − The ARM Club have released a new application for the Risc PC to help all those users whose games do not work on the new machine. Game On! allows games such as Chuck Rock, Saloon Cars Deluxe, Chocks Away, Gods, Lemmings and SWIV to work on the new machine, together with applications such as FasterPC, Tracker, Coconizer and Digital Symphony. A database is included showing which products have been tested for compatibility with and without Game On! The price is just £10 fully inclusive from The ARM Club. 8.1 • Idek Iiyama have a new 21“ monitor which will be in full production by the end of September. The MT-9121 uses a Diatron tube (Trinitron look-alike) with a 0.30mm dot pitch and handles line rates of between 23.5 and 92kHz, with frame rates between 50 and 160Hz. The monitor can support a 200MHz dot clock, allowing displays of up to 1600×1200 at 72Hz or 1280×1024 at 80Hz with better convergence, distortion and contrast than the other Idek Iiyama 21” monitors. The controls are available from an on-screen menu using a remote control! The idea is that you sit back in your usual operator position when making adjustments rather than being forced to be within arm’s reach of the front of the monitor. The MT-9121 has the usual range of controls, and also features auto power down and a motorised tilt-and-turn stand. It is priced at £1649 +VAT from Idek or £1884 through Archive. 8.1 • Idek Vision Master17 − We have been able to improve the price of the Idek Iiyama 17“ monitor. It is now available through Archive at £694 inc VAT and carriage or £400 extra if bought on the Acorn Enthusiasts’ Scheme with a Risc PC. 8.1 • Letraset fonts − The Datafile have announced a reduction in the price of their packs of Letraset and URW fonts. Their Pick ‘n’ Mix service now charges £5 for the first weight and all others £3 each plus £1.50 p&p inc VAT, with a minimum order of £20. This offer does not apply to their ITC fonts (which are still £7.50 for the first weight and £5 for others +VAT). The Datafile aim to release a new font pack each month now that they have access to more fonts from other companies. 8.1 • Longman Logotron CD-ROMs − Longman Logotron are now distributors of software by the American multimedia company 7th Level and sole distributors of the UK-based Software Toolworks. New packages include Photobase Decades, which contains around 2,500 images per CD-ROM, each illustrating historical events and everyday life of one decade from 1920 to 1960; the discs can be bought separately or as a set in Acorn and PC formats. The Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia is now available on a single CD-ROM capturing all 21 volumes, and containing 33,000 articles. The Multimedia World Atlas, designed for both home and school, features 350 maps and 1000 high resolution colour photographs, including video and audio clips for selected countries and 300 topics of information for every country. Prehistoria spans 500 million years of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. Finally, TuneLand is an ‘interactive musical cartoon’ for children of 3 years and up, enabling the children to direct the action in eight screens and with 60 animated cartoon characters and objects; the CD-ROM can also be used as a normal audio CD, with 43 well- known nursery rhymes and tunes. Educational users ordering from Longman’s catalogue before Christmas are offered a free CD-ROM worth £49. 8.1 • Look! Hear! − Sherston Software have recently announced their first series of talking topics aimed at infants. The series uses digitised human speech and animations to bring the information to life, and the first volume covers Land Transport, Dinosaurs, The Seaside, Pets, Homes and The Body. Each pack includes two discs, a guide for parent or teachers and worksheets for use at home and at school. Each pack is £11.95 +VAT from Sherston Software, or all of Volume One (six packs) may be purchased at £59.75 +VAT. The six pack is available through Archive for £65. 8.1 • Morph − A new morphing packing is now available for Acorn machines. Mycroft Software have released Morph which can work in single or multi- tasking mode, handles from 16 greys up to 24-bit colour images, supports OLE, allows colour and movement control during morphing, has manual or automatic mesh creation and allows output of single frames or groups of frames. Morph costs £15 all-inclusive from Mycroft Software. 8.1 • OakPCB II − Oak Solutions have updated their design processor package. New features include improvement of the user interface, options to align tracks at 45 degree intervals, and improved facilities for attaching tracks to pads. PCBDrill, a utility which allows automatic creation of circuit boards on Roland CAMM2 and CAMM3 and on Boxford milling machines, is included. The user interface is still based on Draw for ease of use. The package can handle boards of up to four layers, and comes with extendible libraries for PCB and schematic work. OakPCB II costs £70 +VAT from Oak Solutions (or £76 inc VAT through Archive), and upgrades cost £35 +VAT inc p&p from Oak Solutions only. 8.1 • Paper Saver − is a new product from PTW Software for network use. The package works with any network shared printer driver, allocating page quotas to individuals, groups or classes and limiting the amount of printing which they can do. Transparent in operation, the software will help reduce the problem of individuals printing unauthorised output which may make running costs for the printer excessive. The package costs £17.95 inclusive from PTW Software. 8.1 • Pocket Book II − If the Pocket Book was a cut-down Psion Series 3, the Pocket Book II is a Psion 3a plus some!!! The details are on page 11 but basically, there are two versions: 256Kb for £269.95 and 512Kb for £329.95 inc VAT. (£270 and £330 through Archive including carriage!) 8.1 • Product UNavailable − Basic WIMP Programming by Dabs Press which had such a good review last month is sadly now out of print! Has anyone got a copy they DON’T want that they would be prepared to send us for the charity sales? (You could put it in the Small Ads if you can’t afford to give it away − the second hand value has probably risen!) 8.1 • Professional colour scanning − Computer Concepts have a new ‘Professional Colour Scanner Pack’ consisting of a Canon colour flatbed scanner with drivers and PhotoDesk by Spacetech, which CC considers to be the application best matched to the scanner. The scanner itself, the IX-4015, is an A4 24-bit device capable of 800dpi, or 1200dpi in monochrome, and is noted by CC as being particularly fast, and can be connected to all fully Acorn compatible SCSI cards. The drivers are specially customised for it and include full Twain support. The package, including SCSI cable, is available from Computer Concepts for £749 + £10 p&p + VAT. 8.1 • Risc Developments Ltd − The publisher of Risc User, Acorn Action and Beebug magazine (which ceased publication in April this year) and developers of Acorn hardware and software, ceased trading on 8th August 1994 and went into voluntary liquidation. The reason for the liquidation was stated to be “losses associated with the production of our Beebug magazine”. Adrian Calcraft, director of Risc Developments said, “We are very sorry to have to take this action which has been brought about by the high costs of finishing the Beebug magazine.” 8.1 The Acorn dealership company, Beebug Ltd, under its directors Sheridan Williams and Adrian Calcraft is continuing to trade. Adrian Calcraft added, “Beebug Ltd are not greatly affected by the closure and will take over the products from Risc Developments, including the Risc User magazine. Customers will be supplied and supported as previously” Risc Developments’ press release also stated that, “Beebug will be at the Acorn World exhibition in force and will be demonstrating some new products and enhancements to existing software.” 8.1 We have not yet been able to find out whether Acorn Action is to continue but Beebug said they were going to honour the £100,000+ worth of pre-paid Risc User subscriptions, so existing Risc User subscribers should not lose out. 8.1 • Sibelius 6 and 7 − Sibelius Software now have site licence prices available. The basic single-user prices are Sibelius 6 at £159 +VAT (£175 through Archive), Sibelius 7 (for amateurs, schools, etc) £499 +VAT (£545 through Archive), and Sibelius 7 (for professional users) £795 +VAT (£865 through Archive). If you need a site licence, there is one for Sibelius 6 at £636 +VAT (£691 through Archive) with a special price for primary schools of £318 +VAT (£345 through Archive). There is also a site licence on Sibelius 6 which includes a single copy of Sibelius 7 (good thinking!!). This costs £999 +VAT or £1085 through Archive. 8.1 • Tabby graphics tablet − The Tabby graphics tablet (previously only available on PC and Atari machines) has now been made available for RISC OS 3 Acorn machines, and plugs into the serial port. The price is £68.08 +VAT +delivery from First Computer Centre, with special prices available to Schools and Colleges. 8.1 • Teletext adapters − Octopus Systems, the new Acorn dealer in Ipswich, is selling Ground Control adapters with enhanced control software. These external adapters can be used with any Acorn desktop computer including the A3010, A3020 and A4000, but not the A4. The new software supports page cacheing and automatic keyword searching of pages, as they are received. Only a few of these adapters are available, and the adapter with software costs £130 +VAT from Octopus Systems. 8.1 • The Times Table − Hazelnut Specialist Educational Software have produced some multimedia software aimed at providing a fun way to learn your tables − from ×2 to ×12. Six discs and an explanatory leaflet will cost you £30 + £2.50 p&p (no VAT) from Hazelnut Software. 8.1 • Trellis − a new adventure interpreter from Soft Rock Software, using the TScript adventure description language designed for text-based adventures and intended to provide an easy way for people to write their own adventure games. Trellis costs £7.99 inclusive from Soft Rock Software. 8.1 • Windows 3.1 − If you need Windows 3.1, we can supply it for £110 inc VAT or, if you don’t mind an OEM version, we have one for £70. 8.1 • 16-bit audio card − Expressive Software Projects have launched the first stage of their 16-bit Minnie audio card for the Risc PC. Priced at £69.95 +VAT, the card provides output via the internal speaker or the headphone socket on the Risc PC. The software provided with the package can handle playback from a number of sources. Later this year, the second half of the package, providing MIDI synthesizer and MPC support for the PC Card will be available, at £39.95 +VAT. 8.2 • A4 colour scanner − Irlam Instruments have now added the Canon IX4015 A4 flatbed colour scanner to their range of scanners using their Proi- Mage software. This is a 400 dpi scanner that interpolates to 1200 dpi in greyscale, taking only 20 seconds for full colour A4 scan. This high speed is possible because it uses a SCSI interface. The scanner and software costs £699 +VAT including the software and leads (£765 through Archive). If you don’t already have a SCSI interface, that would be extra, e.g. a Morley uncached card at £160 through Archive. 8.2 • Acorn Advantage − This isn’t a product as such but Acorn’s latest marketing campaign. Never-the-less, it provides opportunities that Archive subscribers might want to take up. It is a membership scheme, designed to build a mutually beneficial partnership between Acorn, school teachers and parents. The teachers start the process by registering with Acorn as Advantage agents (although I’m sure they won’t call them “agents”!). This won’t cost them anything but simply means that whenever they buy Acorn equipment for their school, they clock up “points” for the school. Parents can also help in this because if they buy an Acorn computer (from a participating Acorn dealer such as NCS!), they will be given points that they can allocate to a school of their choice. The school can amass these points (a bit like the Tesco scheme) and use them to “buy” equipment from an educational resources catalogue which Acorn provide to the school. 8.2 Once teachers are registered on this scheme, they can ask Acorn to send them as many “concerned parent” packs as they want and give them to all the pupils to take home, thus encouraging parents to buy Acorn computers and earn points for the school. If you are a teacher and want to join, just ring the Advantage Helpline on 0181-673-5455 and ask for a teacher pack. Teachers registered on the scheme also get personal benefits including discounts on national events, training and conferences, regular free reports on educational and IT issues, magazine subscriptions and educational directories. 8.2 Basically, it seems to be a “no-lose” situation. Teachers gain by getting free perks and free information, parents who buy Acorn computers get a system that will allow their children to do educationally valid tasks at home and, at the same time, help the school with points, so they don’t lose anything, and schools gain by getting free educational resources. Oh, and Acorn don’t lose either because people buy their computers! 8.2 • Acorn Desktop Guide is aimed to fill the niche between tutorials and manuals. The Norfolk Information Technology Team have produced this booklet as a reference for new users first learning their way around the desktop. 28 ring-bound cards cover basic use of the desktop, icons, mouse, keyboard, discs and printing. The guide is available from Norfolk Educational Press at £6.95 all-inclusive (cheques made payable to Norfolk County Council). 8.2 • Acorn Early Years pack − Acorn have launched a new computer pack for the A3010 aimed at parents with primary age children. The Early Years Pack consists of a 2Mb A3010 with no monitor so you can use whatever screen you like − you can even use your existing TV for the absolute minimum budget version. There is a range of software available with it and the total price is £499 inc VAT. 8.2 The software packs are: 8.2 Talking Start-Write (Icon Technology) − a fully-featured, although simple to use, word-processing package. It uses outline fonts and allows the incorporation of pictures into the text. It can also talk the words as they are typed, providing reassurance that they have been typed correctly. 8.2 Explore with Flossy the Frog (4Mation) − a graphical adventure where the user is in control of what actually happens. The delightful pictures encourage questions, and the different objects in the pictures all have different effects and actions. 8.2 Mouse in Holland (4Mation) − In a similar vein to Flossy the Frog, it allows the user to explore the life of Martin Mouse, who lives in a windmill. With many scenes including the Dutch countryside, canalside Amsterdam and an art gallery, as well as inside the windmill, the graphics encourage the user in terms of an overall goal of finding fruit, cheese and moles! 8.2 Doris the Dotty Dog (Sherston) − This is a talking story with still pictures and animations. It can be used by a parent with a child who is not yet reading or by a child on their own to develop their reading and vocabulary − individual words may be spoken if they are not known. 8.2 Gemini (Cambridgeshire Software House) − This is a computer version of pelmanism with many different card sets making it suitable either for very young children who can recognise shapes with only a few cards, or for older children who can identify more complex pictures. 8.2 Amazing Maths (Cambridgeshire Software House) − In this package you have to find your way through a maze while being asked arithmetic problems by the computer. The parent can set the difficulty of the questions asked, both in terms of the numbers used and the operations (add, subtract, multiply and divide) that are available. This can then be used to reinforce mathematical skills from simple addition (as one stage on from counting) to providing the whole range of numerical operations. 8.2 Paint Pot (Emerald Publishing) − By dipping into the paint pot, you can learn how to use the !Paint program. The book (and accompanying disc) is written so that it can either be used by a parent encouraging their child, or by an older child who can read themselves. Simple examples of many of the facilities of paint are given as drawings of real objects. There is also a library of animals and sea creatures that can be used to build a jungle scene or an undersea picture. Ideas for projects using Paint are also provided − and this keeps children fascinated for hours, with no risk of spilling poster paint on the settee! 8.2 • Acorn Publisher is a new subscription magazine for the Acorn world. It will cover all aspects of publishing on Acorn computer systems, including electronic publishing and multimedia. The aim will be to promote the Acorn platform as a high quality professional system capable of addressing a large proportion of the needs of professional publishers and designers, as well as catering for a more popular user base. A second aim will be to raise the standard of publishing based on Acorn systems. 8.2 The new magazine will be A4 in size, printed on quality paper with full colour cover and mixed colour/mono contents. The magazine is entirely edited and produced on an Acorn Risc PC, and aims to be an example of all that is possible on an Acorn system. 8.2 The magazine will be published every other month with the first issue scheduled for publication on 10th October this year. Subscriptions are £24.95 in the UK, £28.95 in Europe and £32.95 elsewhere. 8.2 For further information contact Mike Williams at Akalat Publishing on 01582-881614. 8.2 • Advanced file server − Datathorn are launching a Motorola-based “Super Server”. This high speed network system allows a number of platforms, especially RISC OS, Apple Macintosh and PCs, to use the same server, and a server can support up to 200 computers. Further information and demonstrations are available from Datathorn. 8.2 • Autograph is a teaching package designed to help in the understanding and illustration of many aspects of mathematics seen at both GCSE and A- level, covering a very wide range of topics. Autograph costs £90 inclusive (no VAT) from Eastmond Publishing. A site licence costs £180. (It was reviewed in Archive 7.12 p77.) 8.2 • CartridgeMate − How would you like to have an inkjet cartridge refilling system that just involves putting the cartridge in a box and pressing a button − no plastic gloves, no ink spilt on the table, etc? Well, if you have a printer that takes Hewlett-Packard 51626A high capacity cartridges, you can − more or less. I haven’t tried the system yet but it looks extremely simple and easy-to-use. The system plus two 38ml ink tanks costs £36 through Archive and the extra 38ml tanks are £22 for a box of two. 8.2 • Clicker is a new piece of software from Crick Computing. It provides an on-screen overlay keyboard, with facilities for speech in software. The program displays a grid of configurable size on screen, in which can be placed words. Clicking on a cell can then enter the contents into a word processor, for example, or provide a link to other grids for a hierarchical structure. Cells can also contain function and editing keys. Switch Clicker is a special access version of Clicker for users who are unable to use a mouse, allowing switch users access to the RISC OS desktop, and providing all the facilities of Clicker together with the special facilities. Clicker costs £35 +VAT, including a site licence for up to five machines, and Switch Clicker is £75 +VAT, from Crick Computing. 8.2 • DEC_dATA are increasing the prices of their Primary Education Services products to £11.16 inc VAT for single disc collections, and £22.32 inc VAT for double disc collections. New collections of clipart from PES are Soccer, Beowulf, Farming Then and Farming Now. DEC_dATA are also providing a resource disc for Impression Publisher, including a number of backgrounds, borders, motifs, forms, graphic borders, helpfiles and masks. The Impression Publisher Resource Disc is £12.95 inc VAT. Other new products include a collection of over 50 cartoons in drawfile format for £9.34 inc VAT, and for Acorn World 94, The Normans − a set of pictures relating to the Norman invasion and Norman life in Britain. 8.2 • Digital Phenomena have a number of titles available. LabelBase is a professional database aimed specifically at printing labels simply, priced at £49.95, or £199.95 for a site licence. WordSearch is a utility for generating word searches, taking the required words, arranging them randomly and filling in the gaps with random letters. WordSearch costs £9.95. Disc Commander, at £29.95, offers a disc sector editor and recovery utility, backup, search facilities, archive reading, disc protection, network use and advanced virus protection; a shareware version offering only the virus protection facilities is available for £5. Rune Seeker, at £4.99, is a fantasy puzzle game. ESP, at £14.95, generates ‘Zener’ cards to test your psychic skills, and will analyse the results for you. Finally, !Gematria is a numerology package which will produce a four-page analysis of a personality based on an individual’s name and date of birth, intended both for entertainment and for serious research. !Gematria is £9.95 from Digital Phenomena. (All prices are inclusive.) 8.2 • Dis-le − the computerized speaking French tutor has now been updated to version 3.0. The upgrade is available from Mike Smith (used to be Bits ‘N’ Bytes). 8.2 • DTP clipart − G.A.Herdman Educational, have increased their range of DTP clipart to 20 discs. Also, Map_Chem, a resource of spider diagrams and reaction pathways in draw format, is now available at £69.99 +p&p for all four discs. Digital Thermometers is a plug-in system for the analogue port (so the I/O interface is required), and is available for £39.99 for a two-probe system or £32.99 for a single probe. A range of educational games, assessment packages and products aimed at various parts of the Physics and Chemistry courses up to A-level standard are also available. (VAT not applicable.) 8.2 • Education 2000 − Matt Black has a new pack of clipart consisting of 2,000 drawfile images on 8 discs with a user guide and visual index, a quick reference card and a copy of Hugh Eagle’s PickAPic imagefinder program. The cost is £65 +£2 p&p (inc VAT) from Matt Black. 8.2 • Evacuation is an educational compilation from Northern Micromedia designed to teach today’s primary children about the evacuation which took place during the second world war. It covers the evacuation itself, food and rationing, and includes a package which produces fax-style print-outs of chronological events to which the children must respond. A full catalogue of their educational software is available from Northern Micromedia. 8.2 • Impression upgrades − There has been some confusion over the cost of upgrade paths between the various versions of Impression. We said in this magazine (7.6 p9) that owners of Impression II could upgrade to Style for £29 +VAT through Computer Concepts. This is correct. Then we reported that “when Impression Publisher is released, Impression Style owners and Impression II owners will be able to upgrade for £29 +VAT.” However, that meant that owners of Impression Style who had previously owned Impression II could upgrade at that price. New purchasers of Impression Style wanting to upgrade to Impression Publisher will have to pay CC £70 +VAT. In fact, the £29 upgrade was an introductory offer and it now costs £49 +VAT to upgrade from II to Publisher. (There is also a p&p charge of £3.53 to add.) 8.2 (As a now very satisfied user of Impression Publisher, I can say that I think it is worth every penny of the upgrade price − see page 18 for details. Ed.) 8.2 (Editor then dons sales hat and says... We have found three copies of Impression II in our stock room so if anyone wants Publisher on the cheap, they can buy Impression II at a special price of £60 and then get it upgraded by CC. The total cost is then just over £130 − a real bargain! Ed.) 8.2 • InTouch is a concept keyboard program aimed at the early stages of children’s cognitive development. The package was designed originally for children with severe learning difficulties and there are many aspects that are appropriate to other phases of mainstream education. InTouch offers opportunities for activities such as picture/symbol/ colour/object/number recognition, matching and sequencing as well as a scanning communication aid (using one or two switches) all of which can be enhanced with sound samples. InTouch costs £40 +VAT from Hampshire Microtechnology Centre. 8.2 • L’Ensouleiado Software have a number of languages programs, including new versions of French Verb, Spanish Verb and German Verb, packages which allow practice of tenses as far as the A-level standard, for the Acorn and BBC machines, at £20 +VAT each. Voyage! takes students through an interactive sequence for holiday-booking and letter-writing, aimed at those with a few years’ experience in French. Gute Reise! is a follow-up to German Holiday, and is a companion to Vivent les Vacances! and ¡Viva España!, aimed at GCSE level. Allons!, ¡Vamos! and Komm Mit! are three suites of programs aimed at the early stages of language learning. A full catalogue of over 20 language programs is available from L’Ensouleiado Software. 8.2 • Micro languages − LCL’s range of home educational software has now expanded to include new versions of Micro French, Micro German and Micro English which will follow the approach used in their Micro Spanish program and have interactive speech on disc. They also have a range of maths courses available. 8.2 • Micro Librarian Systems are now up to release 4.2 of Micro Librarian Professional, a librarian assistant package. To complement the package, they also have Magicat − a pre-entered catalogue of 150,000 common school books, an ‘acquisitions and budget control module’, Photocheck − a system which allows storage of digitized pictures of borrowers as a security check, a self-service utility and a barcode reader. In addition, search facilities can be made available from other machines (including PCs and BBC Masters) linked by the serial port to the Acorn machine on which the librarian software is run; this is in addition to the search facilities offered by the package running directly on the host machine. There is also a Junior Librarian package aimed at primary schools, packaged with a barcode reader, and there is a corresponding junior version of Magicat containing 40,000 books common to libraries of schools for the ages of 5-13. MLP4 is £495, Magicat is £180 and the barcode reader is £375; Junior Librarian is £395 +£5 carriage and its version of Magicat £90, from Micro Librarian Systems. These prices do not include VAT. 8.2 • A Mouse In Holland − 4Mation have released A Mouse In Holland, a piece of interactive fiction full of animations and sound effects. The software contains over 3000 words of text, but the ability to read is not a requirement. A Mouse In Holland costs £29.50 +VAT or £33 through Archive for a single user or £59 +VAT or £65 through Archive for a site licence version. 8.2 Betsi, A Mouse in Holland and Explore with Flossy the Frog are also now available in high resolution versions (mode 28) on newer 2Mb machines, either at the time of purchase or at £4.99 inc VAT as an upgrade from 4Mation. 8.2 • Mouse in Holland − 4Mation’s latest program for the young ones is part of Acorn’s Early Years Pack (details above) but is available separately for 8.2 • Oak Recorder 3 − Solent Computer Products have announced the latest incarnation of their Oak Recorder, a sound sampler which plugs into the bi-directional parallel port on the later Acorn machines (A5000 and later). Sampling at 8-bit accuracy and from 7kHz up to 32kHz on a Risc PC with VRAM, the hardware includes a uni-directional microphone. The updated software now allows output to a number of file formats, conversion and manipulation of the sample, and filtering, all under button-bar control. Oak Recorder 2 is still available for users of machine without the bi-directional parallel port. Oak Recorder 3 is priced at £44.95 +£3 carriage +VAT from Solent, with educational discounts and upgrade paths available. 8.2 • Optical Professional from Neurotron Software, provides optical character recognition, including features such as reading of text out loud (with a speech synthesizer), a multi-column mode, automatic spell- checking, and multitasking operation, the package is said to be twice as fast (300 wpm on a 25MHz ARM3) as other leading OCR packages. Optical Professional can cope with italic and kerned text, and foreign characters, and can learn outline fonts in under 10 seconds. Accuracy is claimed to be between 98% and 100%. Optical Professional is available at £119 +£2 carriage +VAT from Neurotron Software, or £59 +£2 for the standard version of Optical. Site licences are also available. 8.2 • Personalised CD-ROMs − Eesox are offering to produce a CD-ROM for only £60 +VAT, as a special offer lasting until 31st October. The company have also announced a special network version of their CDFAST package, which uses cacheing to radically speed up the access of CD ROMs over networks, available for £130 +VAT. 8.2 • PLink − This is a RISC OS compliant application to allow users of Amstrad NC100s to transfer text to any Acorn RISC OS machine. PLink costs £32 +VAT for a single user (including a lead) and £64 +VAT for a site licence (including four leads) from Hampshire Microtechnology Centre. 8.2 • Softcrete is a new application from the Really Good Software Company which allows users to encrypt their software to protect it from piracy. The encryption system allows the software to be tied to a specific machine using the unique machine ids on later systems, to a password held in CMOS RAM, or to a password which the user must type in each time the program is to be used. The package is aimed at programmers and teachers who may wish to limit the machines on which a package may be run. Softcrete is £24.95 inc VAT from the Really Good Software Company. 8.2 • SoftTeach have two new educational products for Acorn machines. MakeIT allows art drawn by students to be made into cards, stamps and envelopes, aimed at the Christmas market, and costs £35 for a school site licence. Class Lists is a class management utility for teachers, and costs £15. SoftTeach have a number of other educational titles. 8.2 • Stika Designer − Techsoft now sell CAD design software with a driver for the Roland Stika vinyl cutter giving output that can be used for signs, labels, screen-printing etc. The CAD package can cope with both sprites and drawfiles because the Stika can work in two modes − bit image cutting and vector cutting. The software on its own costs £75 +VAT and, as a limited offer, Techsoft are selling the cutter and software together for £165 +VAT − mention Archive when ordering. 8.2 • Studio 24 − Pineapple Software have joined the ranks of 24-bit paint packages with Studio 24. The package will continue to be developed, with the promise that future upgrades will be free to registered users. Studio 24 is £125 +VAT from Pineapple − demo discs are also available for £5. (This should not be confused with Studio 24 Plus from EMR which is a music sequencer package!) 8.2 • Supersound Expansion System for A3/4000 − Audio Dynamics have released a new member of their Supersound Expansion System range, this one being for the A3000/4000 series. The SSES1700mc has the same features as the SSES1600, except that the output box will be optional. The card has a stereo 3.5mm jack and a MIDI interface, and an interface for a sampler upgrade. A user port has also been included. The SSES1700mc is £199 +VAT from Audio Dynamics. 8.2 • Swimming 2.0 − CD Sports Ltd have an interactive multimedia package intended to teach swimming, water safety and survival skills by means of animations and games. The package costs £25.52 +VAT with site licences available. 8.2 • Starspell Plus is a package aimed at primary and junior school, incorporating 134 letter patterns and over 1600 common words (which can be changed) to take an integrated approach to language and spelling. It has been recommended by the British Dyslexia Association and also by Educational Psychologists and Advisory Teachers, the package is available for a number of platforms at £19 +VAT from Fisher-Marriott, with site licences available. 8.2 • TableMate 2 − Dalriada Data Technology have released the updated version of their table creation application. Additional features over the version that is bundled with Impression Style & Publisher include: full colour handling, wordwrapping, drawfiles inside cells, insertion and deletion of multiple rows or columns, cut and paste editing, variable rule-off widths and a multiple document editor. Tablemate 2 costs £32.50 inclusive, a primary licence costs £40 and a secondary one is £70, all inclusive. 8.2 • Talking Stories − Wyddfa Software have four new talking stories about Gwen, the lovable, mischievous bear, Gwen’s Nose, Gwen’s Tummy, Gwen goes to School and Gwen at the Fair. These are £20 each inclusive or £50 for all four. 8.2 • Twain Drivers − David Pilling is releasing Twain scanner drivers for the Nikon Coolscan, a 2700dpi 35mm slide/colour negative SCSI bus scanner, and for the Mustek Paragon and Microtek Scanmaker II A4 3-pass colour flat bed SCSI bus scanners. The drivers are £20 each, or £35 with ImageMaster, including VAT and carriage from David Pilling. 8.2 • UK School Internet Primer is a new book aimed at explaining the truth behind all the recent hype about the internet. Aimed especially at school and teachers, the book is also good reading for the general enthusiast. The book is available for £8.50 from Koeksuster Publications. 8.2 • Vision 24 − HCCS have launched a 24-bit real-time video digitizer, the Vision 24, capable of 254 lines by 720 pixels and priced at £99 +VAT, or an extra £40 +VAT for a version capable of 508 lines. A 254 line digitizer can be upgraded later, and discounts are available on earlier Vision products. A3000/3010/3020/4000 internal, A300/400/5000/ Risc PC internal and MicroPodule versions are available, with the external A3000 version £20 more expensive. A JPEG compression/ decompression utility is supplied with the package. 8.2 • Words and Music have expanded their range of Midi files for the Archimedes. These include three more ‘Classic Collection’ volumes, and ‘Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier’. These collections are available for £10.95 +£1 p&p each from Words and Music. 8.2 • XOB upgrades − XOB have announced an upgrade to their SuperMon software to allow the network managing software, previously limited to Econet, to be used on other AUN networks. They have also announced TimeCord, a product intended to ease the recording of time spent on tasks in professions where charging of fees is based on time spent, when that time may be fragmented, and in situations where work-load is being monitored. Finally, Adventurers’ Computer Kingdom is a multi-user network adventure game, and an upgrade has now been released to allow this to run on AUN networks rather than just Econet. 8.2 Products (still) Available 8.2 In our trawl through Acorn’s list of “companies that produce things for Acorn machines” we have brought to light various products that we didn’t know about. Some of them have been out for a while so they are not necessarily new products available. 8.2 • Avanti is a training authoring system from Westland Systems Assessment, which helps structure and create multimedia interactive training presentations. The program outputs Basic V code, which can then be hand-tailored if features beyond the capabilities of the original are required. 8.2 • Computer Tutorial Services has a number of educational and specialised programs available for the Acorn range. For more information, please contact CTS. 8.2 • Contex Computing have a number of Acorn packages, including educational reading tutors, a typing tutor, and Bank Manager financial software. Contex Bank Manager is £25, typing tutor £19 and Easy Reader and Madlibs (a grammatical game) are £12.50 each − p&p extra. (Slight snag − their phone number is ‘unobtainable’ so I can’t check if these are inc or ex VAT. Ed.) 8.2 • Dixon & Dixon, the business software manufacturers, have a package called Flyprint costings £40 inc VAT, aimed at easy production of leaflets in any size or quantity. The company also has a keyboard emulator, which provides a window containing a view of the keyboard; clicking on keys is equivalent to the key being pressed on the keyboard. Control, shift and caps keys can be toggled on or off to allow full keyboard flexibility. The keyboard emulator is £12 inc VAT from Dixon & Dixon. 8.2 • G-TABS Time and Billing System − Gartside Neville Ltd. have a package for the Psion series 3a (and Pocket Book II, presumably) which provides a system for recording time and expense data. The system allows for reviewing, summarizing, back-up and printing, as well as data transfer via the serial link. 8.2 • Hampshire Microtechnology Centre produce a huge range of educational materials for use with Acorn computers. Guides include: Using Hard Discs in the Primary Classroom, PipeDream user notes, Impression II and Junior, RISC OS 3, Draw, Paint & Edit, ArcTerm7, Intro to A3000, A5000, Parents’ Support Pack. Curriculum resource materials include: PipeDream cooking recipe datafiles, Nature pack (KS1&2), Introduction to !Sparkle (control software), Planning and tracking IT in the Curriculum, English 11 − 18, Geography KS2&3, Food Technology KS3, Datacapture work cards, Control Technology at KS1&2, Control Technology at KS3, Art & Design. 8.2 Also available from HMTC are: Linguatext, a text manipulation package for modern language teachers; Granville, a French holiday simulation; Move it!, mechanical movement at KS2&3; Ezekiel, a draw-based DIY skeleton; Con-Text, a program to create concept keyboard overlays; Con- Verse, a program to put sound on concept keyboard overlays; Nutrients, a diet analysis package; Bridges, a technology-led package (KS2&3) supporting a cross-curricular approach to learning; Knowledge Station, an application that allows you to explore knowledge in a carefully structured way and Writing for a Purpose which uses Knowledge Station as a means of studying different genres of writing. 8.2 • In House Publishing are providing key stage science assessment and homework packs in both reproduction master form and in Impression form so that materials can be modified ‘in house’ if necessary. Assessment reproduction masters (printed in 600dpi monochrome) are £25.50 each, with homework packs for key stage 3 £20.50 each for the masters. The corresponding colour Impression DTP files are £38.50 and £35.50 each. 8.2 • Micro Studio have a range of clipart on different topics. Ones we haven’t mentioned before include: Transport Graphics Library (£29.95), Designer’s Graphics Pack (£19.95), Drawfile Mazes (£19.95), Seashore Guide (£19.95), Science Graphics Pack (£29.95), Illustrator Graphics Pack (£19.95), Greetings Pack (£19.95), Decorated Alphabet (£19.95), Nature Graphics Pack (£19.95), DTP Library Pack (£29.95) and Military History (£19.95) − all prices are inclusive of VAT. 8.2 • Primrose Publishing have a range of language programs under the Tick- Tack title. These cover topics such as beginners language, general use, business use, travel and tourism and job-hunting. By use of control codes, the packages provide common phrases, and cover up to 30 languages (in the case of the business pack). Training and multi-lingual e-mail packages are also available. Prices from Primrose Publishing. 8.2 • Reduce − Codemist Ltd are now on release 3.5 of the Archimedes version of Reduce, the interactive algebraic manipulation package, aimed at mathematicians, scientists and engineers. The package is based on Codemist’s own LISP, and is a standard on other platforms, coming with a number of additional utilities. Reduce itself is capable of ‘expansion and ordering of polynomial and rational functions, substitutions and pattern matching in a wide variety of forms, automatic and user controlled simplification of expressions, calculations with symbolic matrices, arbitrary precision integer and real arithmetic, facilities for defining new functions and extending program syntax, analytic differentiation and integration, factorisation of polynomials, facilities for the solution of a variety of algebraic equations, facilities for the output of expressions in a variety of formats, facilities for generating optimised numerical programs from symbolic input, and dirac matrix calculations of interest to high energy physicists.’ 8.2 • Selective Software have a range of educational software: Little Red Riding Hood is a two-part problem-solving adventure for children aged 5 to 8 (£15); Number Zoo is a first number program for ages 3 to 6 (£14); Cinderella is a “magical adventure” for 4 to 7 year olds based on the well-known fairy tale (£17); Shylock Gnomes is a mathematical adventure for ages 10 to 15 (£17); Don the Professor is a four-disc set of mathematical software for Key Stages 2 & 3 covering number, algebra, shape and space, and data-handling (£19 single user, £49 site licence); SportsDay & SportsPeople are two separate programs at £22.50 each that help with administration of a school sports’ day, the first deals with teams competing against one another and the second is for named athletes competing as individuals. Add £2 p&p +VAT to all the prices. 8.2 • Special Access Systems have a range of keyguards aimed to help users with hand tremor. They are available for Acorn machines previous to the A3010 for £36 +VAT +p&p, and also for PC keyboards. They also sell expanded programmable keyboards for the earlier Acorn machines and AT compatibles, at £475 +VAT +p&p. Discounts are available for bulk purchase. 8.2 Products Unavailable 8.2 • ISO Pascal Extensions − Due to the discontinuation of Acorn’s ISO Pascal, Smith & Wiggins have ceased to provide this product. 8.2 • PD-CD Nº1 not available − not from NCS. We have discovered that the first PD-CD from the Datafile contains some ‘soft-porn’ JPEG images. We were not aware of this when we said they would be available through Archive. Dave McCartney of the Datafile said he hadn’t really registered the nature of the JPEG images and would not be including any such images on future PD-CD discs. 8.2 • 10 out of 10 Driving Test − Learn, revise or test your knowledge of the essential facts of driving with this program from 4th Dimension. There are six categories of trivia questions about road signs and driving knowledge or you can try the thousands of questions in the suite without using the games. 10 out of 10 Driving Test costs £25.95 inclusive from 4th Dimension or £24 through Archive. 8.3 • 24-Bit Digitiser − Irlam instruments have produced a very high quality multimedia capture tool − the 24i16 offers 24-bit image capture and 16-bit sound sampling. The board is available for £359 +VAT with a 512Kb framestore or £399 +VAT with a full 1Mb framestore. 8.3 • 105Mb SCSI SyQuest removable drives − One of our suppliers is currently over-stocked on these drives and the cartridges and is selling them off until his stock levels are somewhat reduced. We can sell the 105Mb SCSI internals for £290 (normally £370), the external 105Mb drives for £350 (normally £450) and the spare cartridges are currently £55 each (normally £70). This applies while his stocks last, so please ring if you are interested in one. All prices are inclusive of VAT, carriage and fitting kit (where necessary) and each drive includes one cartridge. 8.3 • 270Mb SCSI SyQuest removable drives − We have just found a new supplier of 270Mb SyQuest drives who is giving us better prices. We can now sell the 270Mb SCSI internals for £420 (was £490) including one cartridge, the external 270Mb drives for £490 (was £550) and the spare cartridges are currently £70 each (was £90). All prices are inclusive of VAT, carriage and fitting kit (where necessary) and each drive includes one cartridge. 8.3 • ABC of Art is a set of clipart drawn using Artworks and available in Artworks or Draw format. The series has reached H, i.e. there are eight so far and there will be new discs released roughly every two months. The price of each disc is £6 inclusive from ABC Art. 8.3 • ACB15/25 second slices − Owners of single slice Risc PCs will be pleased to hear that we have second case slices available from stock at £116 each. As well as the actual case slice, you get the extra length fitting pins, a four-way backplane and a brand new power supply to increase the loading capacity of your computer. This means that you will then be able to fit up to four expansion cards, an extra 5¼“ storage unit − such as a CD-ROM drive − and an extra 3½” storage unit such as a 105 Mb or 270 Mb removable drive unit. (The 105Mb SCSI internals are on special offer at the moment at £290 including one cartridge, and the spare cartridges are currently £55 each − see above.) 8.3 • Apple FS from Oregan allows Apple Macintosh floppy discs to be read from and written to on an Acorn computer. Both high and low density floppy formats are supported although not the original variable-speed floppy format and not, as yet, SCSI hard drives. AppleFS costs £59.95 inc VAT from Oregan Developments. 8.3 • Aries – a new games compendium from Gamesware, including Hamsters (arcade adventure), Quizmaster (quiz!), Blowpipe (arcade/shoot ’em up) and Square Route (puzzle), giving a range of game types. The price is £29.95 from Gamesware or £28 through Archive. 8.3 • Archive mousemat − The new mousemats are here! I hope that some of you will have been able to pick one up at Acorn World 94 but, if not, they are available from NCS for £5 each. They have antistatic plastic tops with non-slip rubber base. The actual design of the mat is shown overleaf. 8.3 Reports from the thousands of Archive subscribers who got a new one are generally good. Some say it makes their mouse go faster although I can’t quite see how that can be. Some, however, say that their mouse slips on these mats so, be warned, if your mouse is one of those with a plasticised (cream-coloured) ball, these mats are not for you! (Alternatively, you could buy one and use it with one of the new Acorn mice that we still have in stock at £18 each!) 8.3 • Artworks Clip-Art CD 2 Computer concepts have released the second clipart collection containing the best entries from their Artworks competition. In addition to Artworks files, there are some 24-bit sprites and TIFF images. The Clip-Art CD 2 costs £19 +VAT from CC. 8.3 • Back trouble? − Anyone who has back trouble and is doing a reasonable amount of computer work should consider buying a decent chair. For over six years now, I have been using a Stokke Wing chair (see below) − two, in fact − one in the office and one at home. I’m always singing their praises to people who visit me. If I ever have to use a conventional office chair for any length of time, I get back-ache whereas I can (and do) sit on my Wings (so to speak!) for hours on end without tiring. 8.3 “If they are so good, why don’t you sell them?” someone said to me a year or so ago. Why indeed?! I have made an arrangement with an importer (they are Scandinavian chairs as you might guess!) and I can sell them for £320 inclusive. They have a five-caster base so you can move around easily and a gas-lift mechanism so that you can adjust the height for the best position relative to your monitor and keyboard. The chairs are extremely robust and the material with which they are covered is very good quality. The one I use in the office is just beginning to wear a bit thin on one side of the knee-pad after over four years of constant use. 8.3 I’m so confident that you will be pleased with them that I will give you a full refund if you buy one and find you don’t like it. You may feel that £320 is a lot of money for a chair but, as far as I am concerned, it is a kind of insurance policy − keeping my back in good condition − and I’m prepared to pay for that. From personal experience, I can say that they are very long-lasting but in any case, they come with a five- year guarantee (although this does not apply to the covering material). 8.3 The chairs have been improved since the pictures opposite were taken. They now have an adjustment of the knee-pad to allow for different leg lengths! 8.3 The Wing chairs come in natural beech, rosewood or black and the covers are available in black, navy blue, red, beige, wine, brown, charcoal or dark grey. 8.3 (The money-back guarantee is a genuine offer. In fact, I have one that has come back! It’s rosewood with beige covers and, if anyone is interested, I can offer it at £290 as I cannot now say that it is brand new. Ring the NCS office if you are interested.) 8.3 • Blinds − Quantum Software have released their pinboard-type application, Blinds, which allows users to group applications, files, directories etc in a convenient way on blinds of any size, which can be brought up at the click of a mouse button. The blinds can also be set to appear whenever an application is run, and the icons on the blinds can be given long names rather than just file names. Blinds costs £19.95 (no VAT) from Quantum or £20 inclusive through Archive. 8.3 • Bubble Help − David Pilling has an alternative to Acorn’s interactive help application, !Help. Bubble Help 2 provides help actually at the mouse pointer rather than in a window somewhere on the screen (if you can remember where you put it!) and uses outline fonts to make it easier to read. What is more, it only costs £5 inclusive, direct from David Pilling. 8.3 • Caxton Press from Newman College is a newspaper simulation for primary children. It is designed to be bright, colourful and enjoyable to use and yet simple enough for young children to understand quickly. It allows them to lay out and edit single A4 pages of material in newspaper format. Caxton Press is a RISC OS compatible application costing £30 +VAT from Newman Software Ltd and this includes full site and network licence, i.e. it can be used anywhere on a single school site. 8.3 • CD-ROM Drives from Cumana − In a single stroke, Cumana have extended, renamed and simplified the choice of their CD-ROM drive products. The comprehensive range now consists of the following (all prices are ex VAT): 8.3 Oscar − Parallel port driven dual-speed, drawer-loading drive for computers with a bi-directional parallel port. Cumana supply these for £229. 8.3 Bravo − Dual-speed, drawer-loading available with either parallel port or SLCD (podule or mini-podule) interface and providing audio mixing with the computer’s sound. £299. 8.3 Victor − High performance SCSI drives, with a choice of drives from dual-speed drawer-loading (£299) through caddie-loading (£399) up to magazine-loading, quad-speed autochangers (£499 to £1995) and 6 drive units (£1499 to £1999). 8.3 Indigo − The 300iA drive which is driven by the Risc PCs built-in IDE interface and offers audio mixing with the Risc PC’s sound. (£249 or £199 without audio mixing) 8.3 NCS stock the Indigo audio drive for £290 inclusive and a selection of the other drives. See the price list for details. 8.3 • EasyFont 3 is Fabis Computing’s improved font management system. New features include a new user interface, a font filing system and font compression (up to 40%). Easy Font 3 costs £35 inc VAT (£34 through Archive) or £10 inc VAT to owners of Easy Font 2 from Fabis. 8.3 • Educational CD-ROM software − Academy Television have produced “Science II: Materials”, “Environment II: Land & Air” and “World War II: Global Conflict” on CD-ROM. Each is £130 +VAT from Academy Television. 8.3 • Education CD-ROM titles − Nelson Multimedia, a new division of school book publishers Thomas Nelson, have launched a range of CD-ROM learning and resource titles covering a wide cross-section of the curriculum. The Science titles include Elements, Materials, The Environment, Inventors and British Birds. Humanities CDs include Aspects of Religion, The Physical World, World War II. French and Spanish language packs are available and there are primary resources including a reading scheme and an introduction to history. Packs vary in price from £99 +VAT to £150 +VAT with some resource CDs at £35 +VAT. Full details and prices from Nelson Multimedia. 8.3 • E-Type2 – For the racers among you, Fourth Dimension have released a sequel to the original E-Type, which now features better graphics and a two-player option. You now have to contend with police speed traps and bad weather to complete your race. For those of you who get bored with driving all day, you can at least switch to the pursuit track, arming your car(s) with lasers and oil spills. When you get bored with the six tracks provided, you can use the included track generator to add your own courses. The game costs £34.95 from Fourth Dimension or £33 through Archive. 8.3 • Formula Two Thousand (FTT) is a high speed 3D futuristic racing game new from TBA software. The speed is quite terrifying and this is their first game to show off their TAG 3D game engine. FTT costs £24.99 inc VAT from TBA or £24 through Archive. 8.3 • Formulix is Computer Concepts’ successor to Equasor. It allows simple construction and editing of complex formulae for use within documents in Impression or other word processing/DTP programs. Formulix supports OLE, so an embedded formula can be edited within Style, Publisher or other OLE compliant software. Formulix costs £49 +VAT from CC or £55 through Archive. 8.3 • Grasshopper is a RISC OS compliant “introductory” spreadsheet from Newman College. Although it is described as introductory, it never-the- less looks quite sophisticated − for instance, it has 20 mathematical functions and allows multiple selections of areas. Grasshopper costs £30 +VAT from Newman Software Ltd and this includes full site and network licence, i.e. it can be used anywhere on a single school site. 8.3 • IGLib Fortran graphics libraries for Intelligent Interfaces’ Fortran 77 users. The libraries provide access to the extra graphics capabilities of the Risc PC. IGLib is available from Intelligent Interfaces and costs £30 inc VAT +£4 p&p. 8.3 • Impression Publisher Plus − Computer Concepts have released an extended version of Publisher providing extra features which may be needed by people involved in professional use of the Acorn computers for publishing. These features include support for named colours (which can be imported from Artworks) and the OPI standard, allowing documents containing graphics to be kept to more practical sizes whilst retaining the quality at the image setting stage. Publisher Plus also supports Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) and Desktop Colour Separation (DCS) file formats. It costs £299 +VAT (£330 through Archive) or £130 +VAT for registered Publisher users from CC. 8.3 • Language programs − Primrose Publishing have a clever system for use with foreign languages. The idea is that you have a database of sentences provided for you that are written correctly in whatever language or languages the pack uses (over 30 languages are covered to varying degrees). You select your sentence, it is typed automatically into your WP or DTP application and you can then edit it in whatever way you wish. The Tick-Tack range includes programs for beginners (Junior Pen-Friend), for general use (Pen-Friend), for business use and for travel and tourism. There is even one for job-hunting called “Tick-Tack CV”! Prices start at £75 +VAT for Junior Pen-Friend in a single language plus English to £401 +VAT for Travel/Tourism Tick-Tack in a combined pack with English/French/German/Spanish & Italian. Site licences are double the single-user prices. 8.3 (I would like to get a couple of reviews done as these sound very interesting. I therefore need a language teacher to assess them from an educational standpoint and a “keen beginner” who has perhaps done a bit of language learning and wants to take it further. The review could then include the views of the two people. Any offers, anyone? Ed.) 8.3 • Lemmings/Oh No! More Lemmings – Not really a new game, but the Risc PC version is now available for £29.95 direct from Krisalis, or £29 through Archive. It contains both games in one pack, and allows you to play them on the RISC OS desktop, both at the same time if you find them too easy individually! 8.3 • Look! Hear! Talking Topics for Infants, Volume One is from Sherston Software who have built upon their Talking Stories series with this collection of non-fiction titles. The topics include The Body, Dinosaurs, Homes, Land Transport, Pets and The Seashore. Each topic has animated illustrations with sound effects and talking text that responds to the children’s actions. Activity cards are provided for each topic. The complete Volume One of the Look! Hear! Talking Topics is available from Sherston for £59.75 +VAT (£67 through Archive) or £11.95 +VAT for individual topics from Sherston. 8.3 • Map Importer – This allows the conversion of Ordnance Survey Digital Map Data into Drawfiles ready for use in a large number of RISC OS applications. During conversion, alterations can be made, to remove railways, for example. The program is only available to educational establishments, and is priced at £29.95 for a single user copy, £45 for a primary site licence, or £120 for a secondary site licence. Prices exclude VAT and p&p. 8.3 A copyright licence is required for schools who are not covered by the Local Authority Service Level Agreement. Ordinance Survey Digital Map Data can be obtained under licence from their Digital Sales Department (01703-792773). 8.3 • Movie Magic − This MPEG decompression card has been developed by Wild Vision as part of the Online Media Set-Top Box project. The card gives the facility for decompression very high quality video images (much better than VHS cassette technology) from CD-ROM in real time. The number of film titles currently available on CD-ROM format is currently small and is limited to the obvious money-makers, but this should increase. Movie Magic costs £249 +VAT from Computer Concepts or £285 through Archive. 8.3 • Network Solutions is a new company that has been established to take over Oak Solutions’ networking products and services. Network Solutions will develop Oak’s ClassNet software and provide a support service for Oak’s existing network customers. Network Solutions are at 2 The Borough, Aldreth, Haddenham, Ely, Cambs CB6 3PJ. Phone or fax 01954- 212083. 8.3 • News Bulletin from Newman College is a RISC OS compatible application which allows you to produce electronic ‘magazines’ consisting of sets of pages of text which can be displayed in sequence or called up as required. News Bulletin costs £25 +VAT from Newman Software Ltd and this includes full site and network licence i.e. it can be used anywhere on a single school site. 8.3 • Oxford Reading Tree − Stage 3 Talking Stories − Sherston Software have extended their Oxford Reading Tree Stories to Stage 3. The pack contains six new stories using the Talking Stories format successfully used by Sherston in their Naughty Stories and Stage 2 Oxford Reading Tree products. Stage 3 Talking Stories costs £39.95 +VAT for a single user version or £45 through Archive. 8.3 • PaperSoft is a new software house providing a range of templates for pre-printed stationary. Each template has a predefined page with frames set up for common business forms and documents. Templates are also available for fun/personal documents. Each pack includes a set of pre- printed papers and the templates in Impression or Artworks format. Ovation and First Page/Pendown formats will follow. The business papers pack costs £29.95 inc VAT. Fun and label packs are available at between £5.95 and £14.95 from PaperSoft. 8.3 • Playdays – Based on the popular BBC TV series, it includes 13 educational games, involving counting, spelling, reading, logic, memory, coordination, and reasoning. It features the favourite characters from the series and comes with a teachers/parents pack. The cost is £25.99 from Skillsware/Gamesware or £25 through Archive. 8.3 • Picture Builder from Newman College is an art package for primary children − from reception upwards. It allows them to create pictures using shapes that can be coloured, stretched, rotated, reflected, etc. The program is not RISC OS compatible, i.e. there is no exit to the desktop. Picture Builder costs £20 +VAT from Newman Software Ltd and this includes full site and network licence i.e. it can be used anywhere on a single school site. 8.3 • PIMS – Longman Logotron’s popular Primary Information Management System is now available as a stand-alone package − previously it has only been possible to purchase it with the required hardware. It is an integrated package, running on a single Acorn Computer, to handle pupil and staff records, budgeting and accounts, maintenance, insurance and inventory. An Evaluation Pack is available, directly from Longman Logotron, for £20 +VAT, which is redeemable against the full version. The full version costs £399 +VAT and, if purchased before BETT ’95, will include free maintenance until January 1996. Minimum requirements are RISC OS 3, 4Mb, and a hard drive. 8.3 • RiscBasic, the Basic compiler from Silicon Vision has been upgraded to version 3.15. New features include the FPA instruction set, on-line hints & tips and better optimisation all round. RiscBasic costs £79.95 +£3 p&p +VAT or £92 through Archive. Upgrades for existing users are available from Silicon Vision. 8.3 • RISC OS PRM Volume 5 − For Risc PC owners or others interested in the inner workings of RISC OS 3.5, Acorn have now released the extra information as a fifth volume of the PRMs. Volume 5 costs £29.95 or £30 through Archive including p&p. 8.3 • SimCity 2000 – The follow up game to SimCity offers many more features, and improved graphics. You now get a isometric 3D view rather than a plan view and there are far more building types. As well as electricity you have to keep water supplies connected and maintain underground connections. In stead of just counting your votes, you also receive reports from your officials and can even read the local papers. Unlike the earlier game, you can no longer build a nuclear power plant in 1930, but have to wait until 1957 and its ‘invention’, adding more to the game. The Risc PC version is available now at £39.95 from Krisalis, or £38 through Archive. The version for earlier machines costs £33 through Archive. 8.3 • Simon the Sorcerer – This is a new (8Mb!) graphical adventure game from Gamesware, (released last year on the PC platform), and it is something that has been missing from the Acorn games market. Rather than being an arcade adventure, this game uses a simple point and click interface to explore rooms, pick up items and so on. There is a distinct humour throughout the game − various nursery rhymes crop up in unexpected, and subtly different ways, and talking with the other characters is always entertaining. The price is £39.95 from Gamesware, or £38 through Archive. 8.3 • SmartCD+ – The SmartCD package has now been released by the ARM Club. It interfaces with CDFS to offer full control over your Audio CDs. It will remember the title and tracks on each CD, automatically detecting which one is in the drive, and your preferred playlist. It can also split tracks across a cassette for use in the car or personal stereo, and will even generate the cassette inlays. The price is £10, fully inclusive, from the ARM Club. 8.3 • StarFighter 3000 from FedNet Software is an up-to-date “Chocks Away” type program providing you with 108 missions to fly, weapons to buy and credits to win. Starfighter 3000 costs £29.95 from Fednet Software or £29 through Archive. (See the review on page 25.) 8.3 • TalkWrite − This is described by its supplier, Resource, as “the friendly wordprocessor”. It has been designed for ease of use and is usable from reception class up to year 9 as well as for special needs use. It is fully RISC OS compliant, has a toolbar, a 50,000 word dictionary and a wordlist from which users can select words to put into their text. As the name implies, it also has the ability to speak as you type or speak letters, words or sentences. TalkWrite costs £59.95 +VAT from Resource for a single user (£67 through Archive), £149.95 +VAT for a primary licence and £240 +VAT for a secondary licence. 8.3 • TV Tuner is a podule from Wild Vision/Computer Concepts allowing TV signals to be received. With the use of a digitiser card, TV pictures can be received and displayed on the desktop. The TV Tuner is available with Teletext software which provides the ability to capture and store the data displayed across several pages. The TV Tuner is £89 +VAT or £159 +VAT with the Teletext software from Computer Concepts. 8.3 • TypeTutor – This is a new typing tutor from the ARM Club, which includes support for the Risc PC keyboard as well as the standard Archimedes layout. Windows showing the keyboard, next key to press, which fingers to use, and a scoreboard can each be optionally displayed on screen. The manual includes elementary exercises, and exercise files are also included. The price is £10, fully inclusive from the ARM Club. 8.3 • Utility Discs – The ARM Club’s utility discs have been updated to make them fully compatible with the Risc PC. Each disc costs £5, or if you need an upgrade send back your original disc, without packaging or manual together with 50p for postage. Desktop Utilities 1: Command control for desktop use of command line utilities, and workspace for four independent desktop areas, each with its own mode and palette. Desktop Utilities 2: GraphTask for task windows with graphical support, FreeMap for analysing the free space on a disc, WindOpen for demonstrating desktop applications, and PrintCtrl for flexible printer control. Graphical Utilities: Broadcast display images at Broadcast resolution for a TV or CGA monitor, and interlaces on multiscan monitors. CTEnhance provides better dithering and Mirror is an aid for drawing symmetrical drawing. Finally, Programmers’ Utilities: CPU load monitor, SWI statistics application, along with a collection of useful modules and utilities. 8.3 • Versatile is a 2D pattern generator allowing the construction of a wide variety of patterns and tessellations based on mathematical principles. Versatile costs £45 +VAT or £180 +VAT for a site licence from Oak Solutions. 8.3 • Voyage of Discovery − Sherston Software have produced a science adventure program for 9 to 13 year-olds. The year is 2055 and the mission is to deliver a package from earth to the captain of the Spaceship Discovery within three days somewhere out in deep space. (Next day delivery is only guaranteed this side of Jupiter apparently, so three days is quite normal!) Children taking on the challenge will meet various problems and puzzles in which they will have to deal with many aspects of electricity and magnetism including magnets, compasses, simple circuits, fuses, circuit diagrams, electromagnets and motors. Voyage of Discovery is by Mark Vanstone, of ArcVenture fame and costs £31.95 +VAT from Sherston Software or £36 through Archive. 8.3 • VTX2000 Sound Card − VTI (previously known as Vertical Twist) have launched a high quality sound card containing the Kurtzweil chip set as used in Kurtzweil’s keyboard instruments. These chips provide 700 voices providing a versatile sound module inside your Acorn. The card also provides an Acorn compliant Midi interface and is General Midi compatible. The Kurzweil chips are 32 voice polyphonic and include DSP for effects and post-processing. The sound is 16-bit, 44.1kHz, and output in high quality stereo. The card costs £399 +VAT from VTI. 8.3 • WimpGEN − Silicon Vision’s application-authoring package has reached version 2.06. The new version has a range of new features but the price remains at £79.95 + £3 p&p +VAT from Silicon Vision or £93 through Archive. 8.3 • Wolfenstein 3D – This new game from Powerslave Software was the forerunner of Doom/Doom II which have taken the PC games world by storm. Fast texture-mapped graphics and lots of atmosphere as you explore a Nazi castle, collecting enough firepower to start your own Guns ’r’ Us by the end – be warned it is not a game for the squeamish! The price is £29.95 from Powerslave or £29 through Archive. 8.3 • World War II (disc 1 and disc 2) (ILP and Academy Television) − Disc 1 (Global Conflict) gives an overview of causes and significant events of the War using archive film footage from the National Archives of America, an index, glossary and hypertext links. Disc 2 (Sources and Analysis) contains source material resources, archive photos, newsreel and film footage personal diaries, pamphlets and case studies. RRP £130 +VAT each disc, Archive price £147 each disc. A 8.4 • 10/10 Driving Test – Six games designed to make learning and revising the essential facts of driving fun. You can choose which areas you wish to work on, and progress at your own speed. You can also use the questions from the games outside of the game environment if you just want to test your knowledge. The price is £25.95, from Ten out of Ten, or £24 from through Archive. 8.4 • Acorn Desktop C and Assembler − The copies of Acorn’s C and Assembler packages we had on special offer last month all went very quickly. Those who were disappointed may be interested to know that Acorn have now dropped the standard prices of these items. They are now: Desktop C £149.95 inc VAT (or £138 through Archive) and Desktop Assembler £99.95 inc VAT (or £92 through Archive). 8.4 (As a special offer up to 31st December only, those who tried to get the really cheap offer copies can order them at £120 and £80 respectively. Ed.) 8.4 • Acorn Risc PC PC486 Cards (almost!) − The latest news on the PC card is that the first 500 will be built as evaluation cards in Q1 1995. The first cards will be shipped to press, key dealers, educationalists and customers starting in January. (Does Anyone know what defines a ‘key’ customer?) Acorn has committed to produce 10,000 cards and anticipates any order backlog will be fulfilled by the end of Q1 1995. The cards will use the TI 486 SXL chip running at 33MHz. (Watch out for the flags flying over 96a Vauxhall Street! Ed.) 8.4 • APDL Clipart CD Number 1 − This contains nearly 500Mb of sprites, Artworks files and drawfiles. Most is black and white clipart of reasonable size to give clear printout for DTP purposes. These are placed in directories divided by subject, and there are directories on Animals, Cartoons, History, People, DTP (borders, corners, decorations, etc), Places, Religion and Transport. There are also over 580 256-colour sprites covering a variety of subjects. The CD also contains CC’s Artworks Viewer and the Earthmap application. The price is £28 inclusive (no VAT) from APDL or £28 including VAT from Archive. 8.4 Introductory special offer − £25 from APDL or Archive on orders received up to 31st December 1994. 8.4 • Archiboard IAP – The Supreme Software Systems’ BBS Software Archiboard (which we use to run Archive BBS) now has Internet support. The range of packages has been increased, starting from the entry level version at £50, giving full BBS functionality. A network version which, in addition, allows access to the BBS from another machine over an AUN network is £89. These can be purchased with the Internet Access Package (IAP) which includes a year’s access to the Internet via Demon Internet Ltd. The Entry level version is £200, and the network version is £240. Postage is £2 within the mainland UK, £5 elsewhere. Full details and site licence details are available from Supreme Software Systems. (VAT not applicable.) 8.4 • Archive indexes? − Several readers have asked recently whether we produce annual indexes to the Archive magazine. The answer is that we used to do so but felt that, for the huge amount of work involved, they were not really worthwhile, especially as there are electronic alternatives. 8.4 I personally have to refer to old articles very frequently and find the ArcScan database and the Archive words discs invaluable... 8.4 • ArcScan Data − For many, many years Eric Ayers has faithfully generated the ArcScan data month by month and this is available on Archive Utilities Disc Nº 3 for £2. When there is space on the monthly disc, we put on an update to this data. ArcScan itself costs £14 through Archive. 8.4 • Archive Words Discs − For those of you with 4Mb+ machines, the Words Discs form an alternative and very effective way of searching for that elusive reference that you are sure you have read somewhere in Archive. Just load up the appropriate file into Edit and search for the relevant word or words. Each disc is £2 and contains the words from four magazines. (There is so much information that you can’t fit five magazines on an 800Kb disc even though it is just the text and no diagrams!) If you have a machine with a fair amount of memory, you can join these text files together and search two or three volumes at a time − which is very helpful, I find. (What would make my life complete would be if someone would write a search routine that had two words as input and looked for occurrences of one word appearing within x-number of bytes of an occurrence of the other word. Any offers, anyone?) 8.4 • Archive Utility Disc 8 – This is the RISC OS 3.1 Upgrade Disc. There are new versions of !Alarm (2.61), !Calc (0.53), !ChangeFSI (0.95), !Chars (1.17), !PrintEdit (0.38), !T1ToFont (1.26) and a couple of utilities to select and deselect the 3D desktop. All applications now check the 3D bit in CMOS ram and load the 3D templates if appropriate. Previously, this was done via !NewLook. Unfortunately, they cannot be installed into the Apps icon on the iconbar, but will need to be loaded from disc. This disc is available from Archive for £2. 8.4 • Bitfolio Clipart − LOOKsystems have two more packs each with 100 drawfile cartoons. The first “More Cartoons” is a general selection and the second “Xmas Collection” is more specifically festive − holly, reindeers, Santas, penguins, turkeys, TV, presents, booze, etc. These cost £20 each from LOOKsystems or £20 through Archive. 8.4 (The Xmas Collection also contains a strange cartoon of a baby surrounded by some men in fancy dress − has anyone got any idea what that has got to do with Xmas? Ed.) 8.4 • Chess II − David Pilling’s popular Chess program has been updated with a choice of 2D or 3D boards, save game as sprite, drawfile or text, rotate board, show hint, easy play-level setting, replay last move, show history in continuously updated window, display possible moves for pieces, improved game play, RISC OS printer driver support. Chess II is £16 either from David Pilling or through Archive. Upgrade from Chess I by sending old disc plus £10 to DP (not to NCS). 8.4 • Clan Acorn ’94 − This is a club designed to bring the people who use Acorn Computers together with those designing and making them. All members will receive a membership card with a unique number offering Clan members exclusive offers and information from Acorn. 8.4 The first offer will be the chance to take out an Acorn Visa credit card. Then members will have the opportunity to obtain Acorn’s C++ and the new developer toolkit at a special price. Third parties are also working with Acorn to provide multiprocessor capabilities for Risc PC computers and connectivity kits to allow users to access the Internet. 8.4 Members will also receive information about projects and technologies, opportunities to acquire appropriate early releases and beta-releases, discounts on current products and a chance for end users to give Acorn input on new developments. 8.4 Life membership of the Clan is £15 which includes a promotional pack of Acorn merchandise. To join Clan Acorn, contact Acorn Direct (Vector Services) on 01933-279300 and ask for an application form to be sent to you. 8.4 • DrawWorks – a suite of five programs to increase the power of Acorn’s standard Draw application. DrawExtra allows you to control the defaults for Draw, increase the undo buffer size, and gives a new buttonbar with features missing from the Draw toolbox, including Zoom, Save and Print. DrawInfo gives details of the size, number of objects and so on of a drawfile. DrawKern allows the kerning of font within drawfiles. DrawMerge takes several objects and merges them to create a single path, making interesting patterns, and some strange effects − some clipart is included to demonstrate. DrawScrunch distorts draw files as if they had been drawn on a “piece of scrunched up paper.” The price is £15 inclusive from iSV Products. 8.4 • Eidoscope – The Eidos home video editing system is now available. To use it, you will need a Risc PC (minimum 4Mb) fitted with an Eagle M2 card. Features include easy to use control panel; real time edits, mixes and wipes; Full video/audio synchronisation; Imports sprite animations; single frame export; 12.5 frames per second @ 160×120 pixels and 32,000 colours. Full screen playback is possible, and the files are fully compatible with other Acorn packages. The package can be purchased for £169 +VAT from Computer Concepts or £185 through Archive. 8.4 • EMR products − Anyone wishing to get hold of any of EMR’s music products should contact Le Computer in Chelmsford who will be handling them in future. 8.4 • Eureka 3 − Longman Logotron have released version three of their spreadsheet package. Amongst the enhancements are: easy interchange with Lotus and Excel, easy linking of spreadsheets with Impression, triple toolbar, improved graphics support and background printing. Eureka 3 costs £99 +VAT or £110 through Archive. Site licences are available: £240 +VAT for primary and £400 +VAT for secondary (£265 and £440 through Archive). Upgrades are available through Longman Logotron: £29 +VAT for single user and £99 +VAT for S/L. 8.4 • Fonts − A new Acorn font company has been formed by Adrian Look of LOOKsystems and Dave McCartney of The Datafile. The first two offerings from The Font Company Ltd, as it is called, were Letraset Digital Typefaces (29 typefaces for £35 inclusive), and URW Typeface Library (75 typefaces for £75 inclusive). These are highly professional font conversions from well-established font companies, Letraset and URW. These font packs are available through Archive for £34 and £72 inclusive of p&p. 8.4 The very latest release is a huge range of Monotype Classic Fonts giving you access to hundreds of top quality fonts at Acorn-level pricing − rather less than PC or Mac users would have to pay! There are eight packs of fonts, each with between 50 and 60 faces and each costing £60 inclusive from the Font Company or £58 through Archive. If you would like a full listing of these eight Font Packs, so that you can select the fonts you would like, give the Font Company a ring. 8.4 • Heavy mouse balls – Weighing in at four times the weight of the standard mouse ball, these fit neatly into the Acorn mouse, giving it a more positive response. They are available from Oak Consultants for £3 including postage, packing and VAT. 8.4 (Message to Oak Consultants: Sorry but we have lost your address! Anyway, that means you get two mentions in Archive because we’ll have to put it in again next month and put your address in the Factfile. Ed.) 8.4 • In Ancient Egypt Times – This is a range of materials in printed and disc form for the study of Ancient Egypt. You will need a copy of KeyNote or Key Plus data handling packages to use the disc information. Topics include Gods and Pyramids, the Nile and Farming, Everyday Life, and Modern Discovery. Text can be converted to Hieroglyphics, and the text and graphics in the package can be exported for use in children’s own projects. The price is £17 +£2.50p&p +VAT from Anglia Television. 8.4 • iSV 100 outline fonts – A new pack of 100 RISC OS 3 format fonts, in 36 separate families has been launched by iSV Products. Both book and display fonts are included in the pack and all fonts include the full latin 1 character set, scaffold lines and automatic kerning data. The price is £40 inclusive. 8.4 • iSV Font Designers’ Toolkit 2.5 – This is made up of four applications for designing fonts. Font Catalogue is used for creating printed font catalogues, with on-screen WYSIWYG display of printed results. FontKern allows you to edit the kerning information of RISC OS 3 fonts, and even convert RISC OS 2 fonts to RISC OS 3. FontTrix allows the generation of font families from one master font. Oblique, Mirror Semibold and many more weights can all be generated quickly, viewed, and made available to other applications. Finally, iSVMetric allows editing of a font’s metric data, to tighten character widths, for example. The pack price (including a free copy of FontED, Acorn’s font editing program) is £30 inclusive. 8.4 • Ladakh – A geography information pack containing parallel datafiles for families and life in the United Kingdom and Ladakh (Northern India). Records of 200 children are provided, half from a Tibetan village, and half from three schools in the UK. Accommodation, travel, eating habits, pets and many other fields can be compared, and a print pack helps teachers with ideas and worksheets. The price is £15 +£2.50p&p +VAT from Anglia Television, and you will need a copy of KeyNote or Key Plus data handling packages. 8.4 • Laser printers − Computer Concepts are no longer able to supply any direct drive laser printers because Canon have discontinued both the LBP4 and the LBP8 and have not yet replaced either of them with anything suitable. This leaves Acorn users with two alternatives... 8.4 − Calligraph direct drive lasers − If you want an A4 direct drive laser, Calligraph do a 1200 dpi single bin Sharp printer at £999 +VAT (£1150 through Archive) and a dual bin version at £1149 +VAT (£1290 through Archive). If you can afford to go to A3, they do a 1200 dpi Toshiba TQ- 1200 at £4995 +VAT or £5575 through Archive. These printers all do 8 pages/minute. Toner for the Sharp is £120 through Archive (estimated 15,000 pages), the drum kits are £135 through Archive (estimated 30,000 pages), and the toner and drum for the Toshiba are £85 (5,000 pages) and £475 (20,000 pages) respectively through Archive. 8.4 − Standard laser printers − We have selected a couple of the best non- direct-drive laser printers which can be driven from Acorn’s own printer drivers or CC’s Turbo Drivers. The Panasonic KXP4410 is a 5 ppm, 300 dpi, 0.5Mb laser of proven pedigree which costs £570 (or £620 with a Turbo Driver) through Archive and the Epson EPL5600 is the latest 6 ppm, 600 dpi laser which has 2Mb RAM as standard and yet only costs £820 (or £870 with a Turbo Driver) through Archive. In between these two is the Epson EPL5200 which is a 6 ppm, 300 dpi laser with 0.5Mb RAM (expandable) and costs £650 (or £700 with a Turbo Driver) through Archive. All three of these laser printers come with a 12-month on-site warranty. 8.4 • MacFS Light − Computer Concepts are now offering a floppy-only version of MacFS at £49 +VAT (£55 through Archive). If you want to read and write SCSI devices such as removable hard drives then you will need the full version at £108 through Archive. MacFS Light needs an Acorn machine with high density floppy drive (i.e. A5000 or later) and RISC OS 3.1 or later. (The price now compares favourably with AppleFS from Oregan, which is also floppy-only, at £58 through Archive.) 8.4 • PipeEd for PipeDream – A new teaching pack designed to help teach first time users of PipeDream. The pack includes two sets of A4 cards – teacher and student sets, written as a series of nine lessons, each around ninety minutes, to introduce the ways in which PipeDream can be used. The teaching notes are detailed, giving topics for discussion, and describing the tasks to be completed. The Student pack briefly outlines each of the tasks, and includes a disc containing all the tasks for the lessons. It can also be used at home or in the office − it is not limited to education. The packs are available for £25, extra teacher packs may be purchased at £10, and student packs at £15. 8.4 • Pocket Book II Programmer’s Guide − (No, don’t get too excited, it’s not available yet − that was just to get you to read this paragraph!) Until the proper PB II Programmer’s Guide is available, the best you can do is to get a copy of the Psion 3a Programmer’s Guide which is available by sending a cheque for £6 (made out to Psion UK Ltd, I presume) to Customer Services, Psion UK Ltd, 85 Frampton Street, NW8 8NQ or ring them on 0171-262-5580. 8.4 • PrimeMover − Minerva’s new release is claimed to be “the first real- time animation program for the Acorn platform”. It allows you to create animation from sprites and, once the animation is created, it can easily be changed by simply clicking and dragging with the mouse. It allows you to trim and/or mask your sprites and to reverse them horizontally or vertically. PrimeMover costs £69.95 inc VAT from Minerva or £66 inclusive through Archive and will run in 1Mb but 2Mb is recommended. 8.4 • ProArtisan 24 − Clares have launched their 24-bit art package, ProArtisan 24. It costs £169.95 inc VAT (or £155 through Archive) and there is an upgrade through Clares of £49.95 from PA2 or from “ANY other art package” for £85 inc VAT. Site licences are available at £499 +VAT for primary and £699 +VAT for secondary. 8.4 • Risc Disc CD – This is a new CD-ROM aimed at Risc PC owners. Contents include utilities (programming, DTP, disc, desktop), Replay movies, Photo CD images, JPEG images, Artworks files, drawfiles, PC animation players (AVI, FLI and MPEG), MPEG movies, as well as demonstration software from many Acorn software houses. The price is £19.95 from Uniqueway Ltd, or £19 through Archive. 8.4 • Rosie & Jim Talking Activity Packs − For young infants who are fans of TV’s Rosie & Jim programme, Sherston Software have produced the first two of their talking activity packs: “Duck loses his Quack” and “Jim gets the Sneezes”. These allow early or non-readers to enjoy the company of Jim & Rosie and all their friends. Click on the pictures and words and hear the digitally-recorded voices of Rosie and Jim speak from the computer. Each pack costs £10 +VAT from Sherston or £12 including p&p through Archive. 8.4 • Scrabble for the Archimedes/Risc PC − My favourite game is here at last! US Gold have finally released Scrabble for Acorn computers and, not surprisingly, it’s excellent. You can play against each other or against the computer − or get the computer to play against itself, although it’s so fast you could do with an ‘action replay’ facility. You can set the level of vocabulary and ingenuity that the computer uses when it is playing against you, so you can use it to build up your own level of skill. In the practice mode, every time you play, if it thinks it could have done better, it suggest dozens of alternatives that you could have played and shows you how many more points you could have got (but doesn’t allow you to go back and have your go again. Drat! The manual (which I have had to photo-enlarge from A5 to A4 because the type is so small) lists all the permissible two letter words (105 in all) and the gameplay uses them all to very high-scoring effect, sometimes. The trouble is that when you then play “real” Scrabble with your friends and relations at Christmas, you won’t be too popular. You score 22 points with “AYE” as in the illustration and they will challenge it. They won’t be too impressed when you say that “NA” is the Scottish way of saying “no” and that “AY” means “always” or, for that matter that “OO” is wool (Scots), “DA” is a heavy Burmese knife and “AI” is a three-toed sloth! They will probably refuse to play with you any more − still, at least you’ll be able to play against the computer! 8.4 Scrabble costs £27.99 + p&p from US Gold or £27 through Archive. 8.4 • SCSI II interfaces − The Cumana SCSI II interfaces are now available at £199 +£7.50 carriage +VAT from Cumana or £235 inclusive through Archive. A cable for connection to external drives is available through Archive for £27. This has the new SCSI II connector on one end and an Amphenol (Centronics) on the other end. For connection to internal drives, a standard IDC cable is all that is needed. 8.4 • Shoemaker-Levy CD-ROM – This is the Network Cybernetics Corporation’s CD-ROM title SL9: Impact ’94. It contains hundreds of images, movie sequences and technical information related to the July 1994 collision of the periodic comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, and the planet Jupiter. Stills are stored as JPEG, GIF and TIFF, video sequences as MPEG and FLI/FLC. The technical information is stored as ASCII or PostScript. Unfortunately, the viewer applications are all for PCs or Macs, but with ChangeFSI and Edit, the stills and texts are accessible on RISC OS machines, and there are PD MPEG and FLI/FLC players available. The price is £25 including postage from Lambda Publications. 8.4 • TextEase – This is a new presentation package for letters, posters, notices and so on. Features include a button bar for the frequently used functions, and dynamic text. The prices is £25 from Ivoryash limited, and a demo disc is available for £2. 8.4 • UK Schools Internet Primer − Koeksuster Publications have produced a book to provide information, mainly aimed at schools, on how to use Internet and what facilities are available through Internet. This costs £9.95 + p&p from Koeksuster or £9 inc p&p through Archive. For more details, see the review on page 24. 8.4 • AI CD-ROM − Release 3 of this CD (reviewed in Archive 7.5 p42) is now available from Lambda Publications. They offer an upgrade to existing users who return the release 2 disc and so they now have a small number of these release 2 discs available for £25 inclusive. 8.5 • Basic AOF − This application from Oregan Developments allows the built-in Basic assembler to export assembled code in a format suitable for linking with object files from the Acorn C compiler, and anything else supporting AOF. This costs £39.95 inclusive from Oregan or £38 through Archive. 8.5 • Cannon Fodder − New from Krisalis Software, this is a conversion from the Amiga game by Sensible Software. You control a group of infantry running around various second world war battlefields shooting the enemy, destroying supply depots and so on. The game has an ELSPA rating of 15+, and so is not suitable for young children. The price is £25.99 or £24 through Archive. 8.5 • CD Server from Digital Services allows CD-ROM drives to be shared across a network − each client appears to have its own drive connected. By cacheing data in memory, and on the host machines hard disc, high performance is achieved allowing multiple replay or MPEG sessions on the same network. IBM CDs are accessible as well as Acorn Format, even through the PC Emulator or a PC Card. The software is licensed by network, not station, but you will need to check that you are not breaking copyright on the CDs that you are sharing. The software is available for £199 +VAT, with 32-bit SCSI card and internal double speed CD-ROM drive for £599 +VAT. If you need an external CD-ROM drive, the price will be £699+VAT. 8.5 • Complete Animator − A new animation package from Iota Software aimed at all levels of experience, supplied with a 30 minute tutorial video as well. The many features include, sound, text, stamps, ghosting, rotoscoping, editing, backgrounds and flipbook printing are all built in. The cost is £99 + £3 p&p, inc VAT from Iota software or £98 through Archive. 8.5 • Dune II − The Battle for Arrakis has speech, artificial intelligence, 9Mb of compressed graphics, 30 battle zones and over 20Mb of source material compressed onto 7 floppies. It runs on RISC OS 2/3, is hard drive installable and needs 2Mb RAM. Dune II costs £34.99 from Eclipse or £33 through Archive. 8.5 • Floopy − This is a 40-screen game from Soft Rock Software costing, currently, £3.49, in which you must collect either ice creams, apples or workmen’s helmets whilst avoiding various creatures. (A new version is planned which will make it Risc PC-compatible.) 8.5 • Formulix − Unfortunately, we got the price wrong for CC’s Formulix package. What we gave you was the upgrade price from Equasor, i.e. £49 +VAT (only through CC). The full price is £69 +VAT from CC or £76 inclusive through Archive. (For those who bought Formulix from us at £55, we wouldn’t ask for an extra payment as it was our own mistake but perhaps you might feel moved to make a donation to your favourite charity?) 8.5 • Image Factory − This Australian Company has produced a wide range of clipart in Artworks or Draw formats. Current collections are meadow (bee, crow, frog, ladybird, lily, mouse, rabbit and sitting rabbit, the Artworks version also includes the fox); Flight (Wright Brothers “Flyer”, Sopwith Camel, Supermarine Spitfire, BAC VC10, Hawker Harrier, Westland Lynx, Concord, Shuttle Columbia); Big Cats (Black Panther, Cheetah, Leopard, Lion, Ocelot, Tiger); The Art of Walter Briggs (Dolphin, Falcon, Leopard, Beetle, Train, Cyborg, Linford Christie). They are available in the UK from Pineapple Software in Artworks format £10 each, £11 for The Art of Walter Briggs, Flight and Meadow are also available in draw format for £15 each. (All prices are inc VAT.) 8.5 • Landmarks Microworlds: The War Years − Set in the small village of Westerleigh, this educational package allows pupils to visit the village at various times between 1938 and 1945. Building interiors and objects can be examined and the inhabitants can be asked simple questions, so pupils can experience life as it was lived then. As well as the software, the package also includes a set of resources for use in the classroom. The price is £25.50 +VAT for single user, or £75.00 + VAT for a site licence from Longman Logotron. 8.5 • Landmarks PinPoint Datafile: Looking at the World − Data sheets for 195 countries covering population and environmental information are included in this data file. Birth rates and life expectancy statistics, land area, average rainfall, temperature, daylight hours and other climatic details are available. They are available from Longman Logotron for £14 + VAT for single user, or £36 +VAT for a site licence, but note that a copy of either PinPoint, or Junior Pinpoint is needed to use the files. 8.5 • MathsGen − Creative Curriculum Software have released an entry-level program for generating maths worksheets. Ideal for parents and teachers wishing to give children maths practice. Any number of worksheets and answer sheets can be designed, covering addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Full presentation control is given, no typing or computation is needed. The price is £12.95 + VAT, orders placed at BETT ’95 or before the end of January 1995 will qualify for the special launch price of £9.95 +VAT. 8.5 • Maths Odyssey − A mathematical adventure set in ancient Greece. The game involves finding mathematicians who will ask you mathematical questions, giving you tokens if you are successful. If you complete the adventure, you will be admitted to the brotherhood of mathematicians. The cost is £42 +VAT from Computer Tutorial Services Ltd. 8.5 • MultiGen − The high band Genlock adaptor from Sonamara Computer Video has dropped in price to £399.95 including VAT. It supports resolutions of up to 640×480 in up to 256,000 colours, with simultaneous RGB, S- video and composite video outputs and S-video and composite video inputs. Features of the external unit include under/overscan options, freeze frame, fade, computer to video, genlock, overlay, mix and it supports both PAL and NTSC. All leads are included for connections between the unit, the computer, monitor and video. Until Easter ’95, the MultiGen/Titler bundle will still be available at £428.87 inc. VAT from Sonamara. 8.5 • Musketeer Pack − A complete desktop solution, the Musketeer Pack contains the full versions of the Schema 2 spreadsheet, Impression Style WP/DTP package and the DataPower database package, all for £249 +VAT from Iota Software, or £199 +VAT as an upgrade from Acorn Advance. 8.5 • Nucleus − A high performance fileserver from Digital Services. Rather than running over ADFS, the server has its own filing system which provides better facilities for fileservers, allowing larger hard discs (up to 16Gb) larger directories and larger files, as well as improved space accounting. Additional file attributes allow files to have the execute-only bit set so that applications can be run, but not copied, deleted or moved. Shared writable areas are also possible so a file or directory can be made available to any other group of users. Workgrouping allows clients to establish shared areas without the need for system manager interaction. Cacheing increases the speed (up to 6 times faster than Level 4), and the multi-threaded design means simultaneous requests are handled quickly. Users details can be updated individually or in batch mode to change space allocations, privileges etc. Prices start from £199 + VAT for a 10 station licence from Digital Services. 8.5 • Otteryl − This is Cherisha’s Software’s statistics-based program for the National Lottery. They offer “no guarantee that your success rate... ...will be increased” but they claim that it will lessen the likelihood of picking numbers that are rarely or frequently chosen and avoid those common patterns that hundreds of other people may also have chosen thus lowering your winnings, should you win. Otteryl costs £3 inclusive from Cherisha Software. 8.5 • Pineapple Software − The Canon IX4015 24-bit scanner is now also available from Pineapple Software. It comes complete with David Pilling’s Twain and Imagemaster package. Support for the scanner will also be built into Pineapple’s retouching software Studio 24. The pack is £599 + VAT, or you can include Studio 24 for an additional £80 +VAT. (You will require a SCSI card to use the scanner.) 8.5 • Reptile − This is an application from Kudlian Soft, aimed at education, that allows the user to create and manipulate tiles based on either square, triangle or hexagon, using draw-objects to give high quality printouts. It costs £30 +VAT from Kudlian Soft (including a primary school site licence) or £60 +VAT for a secondary school licence. (£33 and £66 through Archive.) 8.5 • Revolution Quad Speed − a new version of the Morley Revolution Pro Caddy CD-ROM systems has been released, with a quad speed drive mechanism (around 600Kb/s), for connection to a SCSI card. The internal Risc PC version is £349 +VAT +carriage, (£405 inclusive through Archive) and the external version is £399 +VAT +carriage (£470 through Archive). 8.5 At the same time, they have reduced the price of the Revolution dual speed drives to £189 +VAT + carriage. (£230 inclusive through Archive.) 8.5 • Sleuth 2 OCR − a professional version of Sleuth OCR with improved accuracy (over 99% with good quality images) and support for more typefaces − normal, bold, italic and bold italic weights of virtually all popular typefaces are supported. The converted text can be exported as ASCII or Rich Text Format. Multi-column text and graphics are handled, by converting the text in a sensible order and ignoring graphics. Alternatively, the order of zones can be set manually. ‘Guided editing’ highlights the likely mistakes in the converted text. The images can be scanned directly from a Twain scanner. Upgrades from the original version are available for £49 +VAT through Beebug, and the full package is available for £99 +VAT (£110 through Archive). The original version is still available for £59 +VAT (£65 through Archive). (The pricing in the review last month was completely wrong. Sorry!) 8.5 • Soft Rock Software − Currently, there are two special offers of Soft Rock Software packages. Offer one contains the five budget games Escape from Exeria, Guardians of the Lanyrinth, Drop Rock, Switch and Floopy along with Trellis (the Adventure Interpreter) in a bundle for £19.99, a saving of over £5. Offer two is for Risc PC owners and comprises the above package squashed onto two discs, for £13.99. These offers are only available directly from Soft Rock Software. 8.5 Review software received... 8.5 We have received review copies of the following: •BasicAOF (u), •Floopy (g), •MouseTrap (u), •Otteryl (u/g?), •RepTile (e). 8.5 • PaperOut enables EBs to be used on Acorn (RISC OS) compatible computers. The package offers all the facilities that would normally be available if the disc was used on a Discman, plus the exporting of text and graphics to other applications such as word processors. RRP £49.95 +VAT, Archive price £57. 8.5 • Adaptor ring for using EBs with a CD caddy. RRP £2.99 +VAT, Archive price £4. 8.5 • Concise Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus − Comprehensive guide to the English language: most authoritative English dictionary combined with a complete and systematic thesaurus, offering instant access with over 150,000 electronic cross-references. RRP £29.99 +VAT, Archive price £34. 8.5 • Hutchinson Guide to the World − Contains over 5,500 entries and over 500 maps, providing geographic, economic and up-to-date political information on places all over the world, accompanied by entertaining and informative quotations about places from famous explorers, poets, writers and scientists. RRP £29.99 +VAT, Archive price £34. 8.5 • Chambers Science and Technology Library − Over 13,000 electronic cross-references to three other Chambers reference books. 45,000 definitions and 650 articles. RRP £29.99 +VAT, Archive price £34. 8.5 • The Earth Guide: An Environmental Handbook − Drawing on the database of the World Resources Institute, this disc gives environmental information from countries around the world, together with contacts for organisations and guidance for ‘green’ business. RRP £29.99 +VAT, Archive price £34. When purchased with PaperOut, RRP is £74.95 +VAT, Archive price £86. 8.5 • Listen and Read (Pocket Information) − simplified stories, to help children learn to read. RRP for each volume £39.99 +VAT, Archive price £45. 8.5 Volume 1 − John Wyndham, Jane Austen, Kipling and others 8.5 Volume 2 − John Buchan, Arthur Conan Doyle and Charlotte Bronte 8.5 Volume 3 − Bram Stoker, Jack London, Thomas Hardy 8.5 Volume 4 − John Wyndham and Jane Austen 8.5 Volume 5 − Charles Dickens and Raymond Chandler 8.5 • Collins Gem Electronic Food File (Collins/SEPC) − from five Collins Gem guides, it contains calorific and nutritional information on thousands of foods, an encyclopaedic listing of natural and artificial food additives, plus guides to freezing and microwaving food. RRP £29.99 +VAT, Archive price £34. 8.5 • CIA World Fact Book (Quanta Press) − produced each year by the Central Intelligence Agency, this world almanac contains detailed social, economic, geographic and political units worldwide. RRP £29.99 +VAT, Archive price £34. 8.5 • Hutchinson Gallup Info (Helicon) − With over 700,000 words, hundreds of illustrations, charts and tables, this is a comprehensive collections of facts in over forty topics in the following sections: technology, business, arts, fashion, sport, famous people. RRP £29.99 +VAT, Archive price £34. 8.5 CD-ROM Titles 8.5 Some CD-ROMs may require a site licence for use on a network for which you may be charged extra. 8.5 • 19th Century Biographies (Anglia Television) − Over 250 biographies of scientists, politicians, writers, artists and a few less reputable characters from the 19th Century. Includes photographs from the world- renowned Hulton Deutsch Collection. Requires KeyNote 2.0 software. RRP £25 +VAT, Archive price £28. 8.5 • Acorn Replay Videoclip: Collection One (Acorn Computers) − A collection of Acorn Replay movies and seven classical audio sequences. Contains an interactive introduction to RISC OS 3 and demonstrations of other RISC OS software. RRP £10 +VAT, Archive price £11. 8.5 • Art in the National Curriculum − KS 1 & 2 (AVP) − Reference collection providing resources relating to topics and artists in the National Curriculum. Particularly concentrates on images which are not readily available in school or home environment. Topics include: traditional costumes, animals and plants in different time and culture, the human face painted by artists through the ages. RRP £75 +VAT, Archive price £86. 8.5 • ArtWorks CD (Computer Concepts) − Contains the ArtWorks software plus all the clipart from the Clipart CD and all the ArtWorks fonts. RRP £169 +VAT, Archive price £180. 8.5 • ArtWorks ClipArt CDs 1 & 2 (Computer Concepts) − Each ClipArt CD (No.1 for 1993 and No.2 for 1994) contains an ArtWorks file viewer and at least 650 ArtWorks example pictures and high quality 24bpp photographs. ClipArt No.2 includes over 100 photos, taken by professionals, of subjects such as abstract images, scenery, etc. RRP £19 +VAT each, Archive price £21 each. 8.5 • Aspects of Religion (Interactive Learning Productions) − Considers the beliefs, forms of worship, scriptures, artefacts, festivals, people, religious communities and places of worship of each religion. Section 1: Contemporary Issues − core religious beliefs and ethics are described and explained in the context of modern living and pressing global events. Designed to encourage debate. Section 2: Personal View − brings to life beliefs and practices of the world’s faith through a series of interviews. A resource for Religious Education GCSE and A Level, General Studies and Modern Studies. RRP £130 +VAT, Archive price £149. 8.5 • Bitfolio 6 (Management Graphics Ltd) − 2,000 images in 25 categories providing support for specific UK-related subject areas. Full colour images are drawn rather than scanned so they can be ungrouped and edited easily, and enlarged or reduced without pixelation. Clipart categories include Anatomy, Borders and Backgrounds, Communications, Defence, Education, Food and Drink, Maps and Flags of the World, Nature and Transport. RRP £49.95 +VAT, Archive price £56. 8.5 • British Birds (ILP and British Library) − Produced in association with RSPB and British Library, contains hundreds of full colour images of British birds. Includes motion video (Acorn Replay), bird calls and songs, hypertext, a map facility for analysis of geographical factors, a quiz to test your knowledge and materials relating to the National Curriculum. RRP £150 +VAT, Archive price £173. 8.5 • Cars − Maths in Motion (Cambridgeshire Software House) − Cross- curricular simulations which can be used at Key Stages 2, 3 and 4. Subjects covered include language, science, geography, design, technology, maths, art and life skills. The program is accompanied by resource files which include worksheets, crossword puzzles, word searches, anagrams, track plans and teacher support material. There are several features on the disc, one of which allows you to design and race around a Grand Prix circuit. RRP £49.95 +VAT, Archive price £56. 8.5 • Castles (Anglia Television) − Resource for history curriculum on both primary and secondary education. Focusing mainly on medieval castles all over Britain plus vector graphics, video clips and animations. This disc is self-contained and does not require any Key product. 4Mb RAM required. When used with the Key Plus database system (see entry below) extra map facilities are accessible. RRP £40 +VAT, Archive price £45. 8.5 • CD Français (ILP) − Self-contained resource of 60 activities using spoken French, selected from Tricolore 4A and 4B. Disc is accompanied by teacher’s notes and photocopiable worksheets. RRP £95 +VAT, Archive price £109. 8.5 • Changing Times (News Multimedia International) − 15,000 articles and 1,000 pictures taken from the Times newspaper over its 200 year history. Original reports on major events in world history include the French Revolution, American Civil War and World Wars 1 and 2. More general themes such as Trade and Industry, Technology and Women’s Rights are also covered. RRP £125 +VAT, Archive price £143. 8.5 • Chemistry Set (New Media) − Interactive library and encyclopedia of chemical experiments, molecular structures and information. Focuses on KS 3 and 4 of New Attainment Target 3 and the bio-molecular aspects of the NAT2. Access to over 350 video sequences of key chemical experiments and processes; database of 500 compounds; over 400 full motion 3-D molecular structure; 1,000 text items. RRP £149.95 +VAT, Archive price £173. 8.5 • Counties of the British Isles (Anglia TV) − Allows students to create detailed maps, supplied by Bartholemew, of the counties and regions of Britain. The level of detail shown on each map can be controlled by students as individual features can be switched on or off. The results of students’s work can be exported into their own work area on the computers. Requires KeyNote 2.0 or some other Key product. RRP £40 +VAT, Archive price £45. 8.5 • Countries of the World (Anglia TV) − 74 interactive maps in Key Plus map format which enables students to use the latest type of vector mapping. Each map comes with a range of material and a legend which allows map features to be turned on or off, e.g. road contours and national boundaries. Maps can be printed out. Also contains a sample file of over 70 photographs from all over the world. The information can also be used in conjunction with Key Plus and Key Note datafiles. Requires KeyNote 2.0 software or some other Key product. RRP £40 +VAT, Archive price £45. 8.5 • Creepy Crawlies (Media Design Interactive) − Spiders, beetles and bugs can be studied using text, narrative, still photos and moving images. Family trees and guided tours are also featured. Not Risc PC compatible. RRP £49 +VAT, Archive price £56. 8.5 • Dictionary of the Living World (MDI) − Database of life on Earth containing around 3,000 text articles supplemented with over 1,000 colour and black and white pictures and 100 animal sounds animations which illustrate various biological processes. Not Risc PC compatible. RRP £49 inc VAT, Archive price £47. 8.5 • Directions 2000: French (ILP and Academy Television) − Aimed at 11+ age group and includes more than 2 hours of spoken language supported by thousands of coloured images and graphics. Curriculum notes and worksheets are included to aid lesson preparation. For use at Language Key Stages 3 and 4. RRP £140 +VAT, Archive £160. 8.5 • ECCTIS (subscription) (ECCTIS 2000) − Information on about 100,000 education and training courses at universities and colleges of further and higher education in the UK. Users answer a set of questions to identify the type of course required and the database then displays details of those courses which match the specifications. All necessary details about each course are given, including entry requirements, course structure and contact plus address and telephone number of the establishment offering the course. RRP £180 +VAT, Archive price £207. 8.5 • En Marcha: Spanish (ILP and Academy Television) − Details as for Directions 2000: French (see above). For use at Language Key Stages 3 and 4. RRP £140 +VAT, Archive price £160. 8.5 • En Route: French (ILP and Academy TV) − Designed to complement the highly successful multimedia course Route Nationale, En Route, but can be used alongside any beginners’ French material. Authentic materials and wide choice of activities. Ten chapters, concentrating on topics such as pets, food and mealtimes, town and directions, time, transport, weather and holidays. Integrated assessment which includes video and audio. RRP £140 +VAT, Archive price £160. 8.5 • Environment Series 1: Water (ILP and Academy Television) − A highly interactive CD-ROM guide to all aspects concerning the environment and water. Includes 17 detailed case studies, 1,000 images with maps, audio, text and extensive film footage supplied by Yorkshire TV. Students can investigate water usage and its implications throughout history and look at case studies of environmental issues such as dolphins, fishing and Thames Barrier. RRP £130 +VAT, Archive price £149. 8.5 • Environment Series 2: Land and Air (ILP and Academy Television) − In- depth analysis of global environmental issues using information drawn from experts in industry and government, and covering topics such as natural disasters, climate change, air quality, food or famine, depletion of natural resources, conservation, etc. RRP £130 +VAT, Archive price £149. 8.5 • Flying Boot CD-ROM: Max and the Machines (ILP) − Max and the Machines is the first of a series based on Nelson’s Flying Boot reading scheme. Supports early reading skills and provides an excellent introduction to the IT skills necessary to use interactive media. Can be used individually or with groups/whole class. For the primary age range. RRP £70 +VAT, Archive price £80. 8.5 • Frontier 2000 (Cambridgeshire Software House) − A computer-based simulation covering the history of the Border region from 43AD to 1991. Specific areas of study include Hadrian’s Wall, map reading, and the Civil War. The disc contains text, maps, photographs, audio and Replay sequences and is supported by a resource pack that includes a video, an audio cassette, colour brochures, curriculum guide material and even a genuine piece of Roman timber! CD version has many extras over the disc- based software − timeline is 35,000 words long, several Replay files and over 100 historic photographs, etc. RRP for CD, manual and resource pack £109.95 +VAT, Archive price £126. RRP for CD and manual only £79.95 +VAT, Archive price £92. 8.5 • Garden Wildlife (Anglia Television) − Resource for Primary science education. Focusing on familiar creatures and locations, it makes the link between the school field, garden local park and understanding the creatures that live there, with close-up photography and video clips from Anglia’s ‘Survival’ cameras. This disc is self-contained and does not require any Key product. 4Mb RAM required. RRP £40 +VAT, Archive price £45. 8.5 • Goldilocks (Leeds EdIT Centre) − Bright and cheerful version of the well-known children’s story and includes tasks and interactive activities. Accompanied by graphics, text, sound and worksheets. RRP £39.95 +VAT, Archive price £45. 8.5 • Granny’s Garden (Cumana) − Produced by 4Mation, this old favourite is now offered with Acorn Replay and all the magic of modern technology: enhanced audio, animations and graphics. Interactive adventure for children of varying ages. RRP £29.95 +VAT, Archive price £34. Resource Pack RRP £15 +VAT, Archive price £16. 8.5 • Horizon Project (Hampshire Microtechnology Centre) − These resources are a result of a project involving over forty Hampshire schools and colleges who examined the use of multimedia for sharing and presenting information. Their findings were used to present their work to other students and cover a range of topics, including “IT in the High Street”, “Rainforests” and “Hitler”. The disc represents an example of children being able to learn from other children and their experiences. RRP £19.95 +VAT, Archive price £22. 8.5 • Hutchinson Multimedia Encyclopedia 1992 (Attica Cybernetics) − Updated multimedia version of the book, containing sound, pictures and text. 27,000 text articles, 2,500 photos, illustrations and maps; over 8,000 hyperlinks and over 250 sound recordings. Users can browse through the contents or select a particular subject from the index. A simpler way of accessing a topic is to enter a keyword and the retrieval software will do the search for you. RRP £49.95 +VAT, Archive price £56. 8.5 • Illustrated Holy Bible (Animated Pixels) − Complete text of the King James Bible together with over 100 illustrations. Facilities include full word search, picture slide-show and bookmark options. RRP £23 +VAT, Archive price £26. 8.5 • Illustrated Works of Shakespeare (Animated Pixels) − All of Shakespeare’s plays, poems and sonnets. Instant searches can be made on the entire text using simple search facilities. Features include illustrations for major scenes and a bookmark facility. RRP £23 +VAT, Archive price £26. 8.5 • Image Warehouse (Media Design Interactive) − Clipart disc of over 350 high-quality images, saved as RISC OS sprites. They are compatible with most DTP packages. Not Risc PC compatible. RRP £39.99 inc VAT, Archive price £38. 8.5 • Introduction to the Environment (ILP) − Three packages introducing specific environmental issues. Each is supported by a 28-page photocopiable booklet that include practical activities, ideas for project work and assessment sheets. RRP £35 +VAT each, Archive price £40 each: 8.5 Pack 1: Dwindling Resources − How key natural resources of water, forests, oil and coal have been used over the last 200 years and the effect this has had on the environment. 8.5 Pack 2: Climate Change − Explore the facts and theories of global warming and climatic change. 8.5 Pack 3: Conservation − Case studies of world famous national parks, used to illustrate the benefits and difficulties of conserving wilderness, wild areas and threatened species. 8.5 • Inventors and Inventions (ILP and Academy Television) − 2,000 still and moving images helping you explore the history of inventors and inventions from the earliest time to the present day. Includes colour and mono images, animated drawings, audio commentary, video and sound effect for pupils studying history, science and technology. RRP £150 +VAT, Archive price £173. 8.5 • Journeys into History (ILP and Academy Television) − Covers a variety of topics included in Key Stages 2 and 3 of National Curriculum (History). Pupils explore Hadrian’s Wall, hear about St Cuthbert’s life, meet a Victorian family and investigate aspects of the Industrial Revolution. Features include notepad, interactive glossary, search save and print facilities, ideas section. RRP £99.99 +VAT, Archive price £114. 8.5 • Karaoke Shakespeare (Animated Pixels) − Choose a role from the play and whilst you read the lines from the screen, the other parts will be read for you. It can be used by a single person reading one part or by a number of people taking on each of the roles. RRP Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream: £49 +VAT each, Archive price £56 each. 8.5 • Key Plus (Anglia Television) − Software required for use of some of Anglia TV’s CD-ROM titles. RRP £60 +VAT, Archive price £68. 8.5 • Kingfisher Children’s Micropedia (ESM) − Reference resource for primary-aged children. 1,300 entries which can be accessed via an A-Z finder or through topic groupings. All pictures and data can be printed out and the disc is accompanied by curriculum activity ideas. RRP £90 +VAT, Archive price £102. 8.5 • Langdale Primary (Creative Curriculum Software) − A study of the Langdale Valley area of the Lake District using OS maps, diagrams, aerial and ground photographs, statistics, charts and sound. Not only can users tread the paths and see the views, but they can also see behind the scenes using the resources and applications provided. RRP £99 +VAT, Archive price £114. 8.5 • Living Poetry (Animated Pixels) − Text of over 1,500 poems by 200 different poets, including Hardy, Keats, Milton and Wordsworth. 99 of the poems are accompanied by versions read by actors. Illustrations of the poems plus biographies of the poets are also included. RRP £49 +VAT, Archive price £56. 8.5 • Map Skills (Pebbleshore Information Services) − Complete pack to support the teaching of the main elements of the Map Skills part of National Curriculum Geography, Key Stages 1-3 and parts of the short course in geography at Key Stage 4. Topics include grid references and following a route on an OS map. As well as the disc, the package includes two OS maps (Plymouth and Telford), students’s worksheet and teachers’ notes. RRP £49.95 +VAT, Archive price £56. 8.5 • Oxford Reading Tree Talking Stories (Sherston) − Six interactive talking book stories from reading scheme for Key Stage 2 pupils. RRP £39.95 +VAT, Archive price £45. 8.5 • Photobase: Decades (5 discs) (Longman Logotron) − The 1960s, ’50s, ’40s, ’30s and ’20s. Each disc in the series contains almost 2,500 photographs from the famous Hulton Deutsch picture library. Databases have powerful searching facilities, including keyword indexing and free text searching. RRP £49 +VAT each, Archive price £55. 8.5 • Photobase: Landscapes (Longman Logotron) − Database of over 2,000 high quality colour photographs and images illustrating aspect of the natural and man-made environment. Topics include architecture, history, geography, science, technology and nature, using images from around the globe. RRP £49 +VAT, Archive price £55. 8.5 • Photobase: Science (Longman Logotron) − Over 1,000 high-quality photographic illustrations selected to cover important topics in the National Curriculum for Science. Topics such as earth science, geology, human biology and native plants are covered. RRP £49 +VAT, Archive price £55. 8.5 • Photobase: The Victorians (Longman Logotron) − Nearly 2,500 photographs and engravings taken from the famous Hulton Deutsch picture library. Topics cover people’s lives: great reformers of the time such as Lord Shaftesbury, events like The Great Exhibition, pictures of the Royal Family and Victoria herself. There are also many images reflecting the great industrial changes of the time, such as steam power and the growth of the railways, agriculture and mass production in factories and their impact on living and working conditions. RRP £49 +VAT, Archive price £55. 8.5 • PhotoLib (Matt Black) − A huge library of over 4,000 24-bit colour photographs on one CD. RRP £299 +VAT, Archive price £345. 8.5 • Physical World (ILP) − Understanding of the physical world, processes that have formed it and the ways in which people interact with their physical environment. Divided into three sections: Features and Processes (biosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere), Natural Hazards, People and their Environment. RRP £130 +VAT, Archive price £148. 8.5 • ProArtisan 2 (Clares) − Advanced image processing package which enables graphics to be altered or drawn from scratch (a library of images is included). Allows display and manipulation of Photo CD images and Cumana’s Photo Album Volume 1 Photo CD (collection of 82 images) forms the second disc in this set. The pack also includes ProArtisan 2 on floppy disc for use independent of the CD drive. RRP £136 +VAT, Archive price £155. 8.5 • Really Useful CD-ROM Volume 2 (APA Multimedia Ltd) − Contains over 1,000 colour and mono images such as animals, cars, boats, landscapes and scenery; high quality sound samples including a French revision section; dozens of games, utilities and mini-films; special needs facilities. (Supersedes the Really Useful CD-ROM volume 1). RRP £49 +VAT, Archive price £55. 8.5 • Science Series 1: Elements (IPL and Academy Television) − Interactive CD-ROM divided into two cross-referencable sections: the Periodic Tale and Atomic Structure of the elements. An introduction to the periodic table, atomic structure and radioactivity. Topics include the periodic table, groups and divisions, atoms and atom building, radioactive decay and isotopes. The disc uses video, animation and text in its explanations, plus interactive features such as an atom-builder (students construct their own atoms). Also includes a complete set of workcards and curriculum notes. RRP £130 +VAT, Archive price £148. 8.5 • Science Series 2: Materials (IPL and Academy Television) − Interactive database of 150 materials as diverse as toothpaste, iron and butter, giving insights into their occurrence, extraction, production, history, applications and composition. Features experiments, quizzes, colour images, audio, graphics and video clips. RRP £130 +VAT, Archive price £148. 8.5 • Semerc Treasure Chest (NW Semerc) − Includes thousands of pictures, symbols, sound samples and speech files which can easily be accessed and retrieved by learners (including special needs). Pictures and sound can easily be extracted for use in other applications. The sixty topic areas include vehicles, foods, animals, birds, Aztecs, Romans, Victorians and dinosaurs. RRP £69 +VAT, Archive price £78. 8.5 • Sherlock Holmes on a disc (Animated Pixels) − The complete text from all sixty detective stories, together with full colour illustrations and utilities, including a bookmark facility. RRP £23 +VAT, Archive price £25. 8.5 • Sherston Naughty Stories (Sherston) − Twelve stories, including Doris the Dotty Dog, Terry’s Tricky Trainers, Bobby the Boastful Bird and Lucy the little Liar, for Key Stage 1 and 2. Each story comprises clearly displayed text which the user can choose to have read to them and animated illustrations with optional sound effects. This includes the individual story books that are supplied with each disc. RRP £79.95 +VAT, Archive price £91. 8.5 • Space Encyclopedia (Animated Pixels) − RISC OS CD-ROM disc on space, includes Acorn Replay. Fully indexed and easy retrieval. RRP £39 +VAT, Archive price £44. 8.5 • SSERC Graphics Collection (Scottish Schools Equipment Research Centre) − Science and technology graphics, data, programs and applications in abundance. 330Mb for use in chemistry, physics, biology, technology, computing and information technology. Graphics of 227 molecules, each in up to 18 different model representations and drawfiles of gears, sprockets, washers and tubes. File format includes drawfile, sprite and DXF file and the price includes a site licence. RRP £99 +VAT, Archive price £114. 8.5 • Tekkie Disc (Emerald Publishing) − Acorn’s technical documentation on CD-ROM. RRP £99 +VAT, Archive price £108. 8.5 • Times and the Sunday Times (News Multimedia International) − Full text from each final edition of two of the most famous newspapers in the world. Articles are arranged in familiar sections such as home and foreign news, business, sport, etc and access is easy via a keyword- search facility. Information can be refined by setting a date range or by marking a selection. RRP £175 +VAT, Archive price £200. 8.5 • Times and the Sunday Times (News Multimedia International) − Individual, abridged editions covering January to December for the following years: 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993. RRP £89 +VAT, Archive price £100. 8.5 • Times and the Sunday Times Sampler (News Multimedia International) RRP £50 +VAT, Archive price £54. 8.5 • Understanding the Body (Anglia Television) − Resource for secondary science curriculum with over 500 pictures, 50 video clips, 150 graphics and thousands of pages of text: Introducing humans, Cells and tissues; Organs and organ systems, Reproduction and genetics. Worksheets for teachers and students are available on the disc and can be printed out. RRP £40 +VAT, Archive price £45. 8.5 • Usborne’s Exploring Nature (Hampshire Microtechnology Centre) − Contains many drawings of flora and fauna, natural life processes, animal behaviour and key natural habitats. An activity-based exploration which will help children towards a greater understanding and appreciation of the plants and animals around them. A classroom and library resource for all primary and middle schools. RRP £125 +VAT, Archive price £142. 8.5 • Woodland (APA Multimedia Ltd) − Multimedia exploration of British woodland covering birds, trees, plants, animals, fungi and minibeasts. Key Stage 2 and above. RRP £75 +VAT, Archive price £85. 8.5 • World of Number Series (Cumana) − NCC approved CD-ROM series, published by New Media, to meet Mathematics Key Stage 3 and 4. Contains these four titles at RRP £79 +VAT each, Archive price £88 each: 8.5 Number Games − Seven puzzles which must be solved by groups of students through discussion of calculation and reasoning. It tackles number patterns, symbolisation and a broad range of strategic skills required by the National Curriculum. 8.5 Perspectives − Four on-screen windows enable users to look at information from different perspectives in video, graphics and data. Curriculum support for graph sketching and interpretation by linking the abstract to reality also included. 8.5 Picture Gallery − Collection of photographs together with simple software drawing tools which support the curriculum areas of angle, ratios, scale, percentages and estimation. 8.5 Who stole the decimal point? − Adventure game in which a series of mathematical problems must be solved in order to complete the story. This module supports a wide range of attainment. 8.5 • Advance upgrade − Acorn Advance has been upgraded: It is no longer copy-protected so that installation is quicker, the spreadsheet size has been increased from 5,000 to 10,000 and it is now fully Risc PC- compatible. The upgrade is done through Acorn Direct and costs £29.95 (single user), £39.95 (primary site licence), £49.95 (secondary) − all prices inc VAT. Send cheque or credit card information to Acorn Direct along with proof of purchase. For the single user, this means sending your program disc (not the data discs) and for site licence owners, sending your licence agreement. The upgrade offer lasts only until 30th June 1995. 8.6 We have two copies of the current version of Advance in stock (drat!), so if anyone wants to buy one, they are available at £50 each. If you upgraded them through Acorn Direct, you would only pay a total of £79.95 instead of the normal Archive price of £105. 8.6 • Aleph One PC podules – The PC cards for pre-Risc PC have benefited from the price cuts in the PC market. A bare 50MHz card costs £399 +VAT from Aleph One and a 25MHz version costs £339 +VAT. The cards then need standard SIMM memory to be added. 8.6 • All New Talking Animated Alphabet − Sherston’s BBC Micro product, The Animated Alphabet, has been updated for the Archimedes and Risc PC. Using the same speech technology as the Talking Stories, the pack features three activities dealing with visual and aural letter discrimination and letter recognition. Children can see a letter changing into an object which starts with the same sound, whilst hearing the letter’s sound. All New Talking Animated Alphabet costs £29.95 +VAT from Sherston or £33 through Archive. 8.6 • Arcturus – a new game from Oregan Software involving piloting a spinning craft across numerous landscapes, avoiding nasties and collecting goodies. The cost is £24.95 from Oregan or £24 through Archive. See the review on page 49. 8.6 • Canon BJC4000 – Computer Concepts have released the Canon BJC4000 colour inkjet printer, bundled with a special version of their latest Version 4 TurboDriver software. Unlike the BJC600 the printer has two cartridges, a high speed mono, approximately twice as fast as the BJ200, and offers resolutions of up to 720dpi using interpolation. A colour cartridge allows 360dpi colour output. The price is £445.32 inclusive from CC. 8.6 • CD-Net2 − Cumana have upgraded their CD-ROM server for Acorn networks. New features include predefined settings for most CD-ROM titles, which can be reconfigured if desired. Changes to the discs loaded in the server will be reflected by the clients so the users know which are available. PC discs for DOS and Windows are also now supported, which can be run via the PC Emulator or PC second processor card. The performance has improved since the original version and Acorn AUN/Access, SJ Research Nexus, Oak ClassNet and TCP/IP are all supported. CD-Net 2 costs £175 +VAT from Cumana, registered users of CD- Net 1.50 or later qualify for the free upgrade path. 8.6 • CD-ROM drives − Two new CD-ROM drives are now available from Eesox. The Silver 2 is a 2.4 speed drive which, say Eesox, is in some tests almost as fast as some quad speed drives (360Kb/s) because of the fast (220ms) access time and the 256Kb internal cache. The main thing about it is the very keen price − £195 inclusive through Archive for the Risc PC internal version and £280 for the external version. If you want a quad speed drive, their Gold drive (600Kb/s + 225ms access time) is a caddy-loading drive at £360 for an internal (Risc PC) drive and £440 for an external drive through Archive. 8.6 These are SCSI devices, so you need a computer with a SCSI interface. (We suggest the Morley uncached card at £160, or the cached version at £220 or the Cumana SCSI II at £235 plus £27 for a SCSI II cable if using it with an external drive.) 8.6 • Chair prices rising − If you are thinking of buying a Wing chair, now is the time because, apparently, the prices are increasing in March. The Stokke Wing chair (see Archive 8.3 p4) is currently £320 inc VAT and carriage through Archive. 8.6 • Clicker Plus − The updated version of Crick Computing’s Clicker package can now handle colour graphics and symbols as well as sound and text. An on-screen keyboard displays a number of cells. when a cell is clicked, the word or picture is inserted into the word processor in use. Speech can also be used so children can hear their choice. An upgrade from Clicker is £20 +VAT, the full Clicker Plus package is £55 +VAT from Crick Computing. 8.6 • Concept Keyboard Support Pack − A collection of datafiles and overlays for use with the Concept Keyboard, based on ideas from teachers of Key Stages 1 and 2. Topics include Myself, Weather, Direction Giving, Sequencing, Alphabet, Keyboard, Colours, Shapes, Sizes, Seed Growth, Number Bonds and Coins. A number of blank A3 and A4 overlays are also supplied. The price is £20 +VAT from Hampshire Micro Technology Centre. 8.6 • Conjuguez − The Conjuguez package from Creative Curriculum Software has been revised and there are now three versions. Conjuguez! comes with 800 verbs in seven levels from beginner to GCSE level and costs £16.98 +VAT. Conjuguez Plus covers from beginner to A-level with 3500 verbs and costs £25.49 +VAT. Owners can upgrade from Conjuguez to Conjuguez Plus at a later date. Conjuguez Education has all the features of Conjuguez Plus, with an additional facility to add more verbs to those supplied, allowing the student to progress beyond A-level. The price is £39 +VAT for a single user version, or £89 +VAT for a site/network licence from Creative Curriculum Software. 8.6 • Easy C++ − Beebug have released Easy C++ the first native RISC OS C++ compiler. Using a similar interface to Easy C, the complexities of compiling and linking are reduced, although there is a command line interface if you need the additional control. The software is supplied with the standard C and C++ (iostream) libraries. Easy C++ is £99 +VAT (£110 through Archive), the upgrade from Easy C is £49 +VAT. Easy C is still available for £59 +VAT (£67 through Archive). 8.6 • HeartBeat − This is a package of heart monitoring hardware and software produced by VTI and Health Care Technology as part of the CardioSport range. A receiver plugs into the serial port and a transmitter is strapped onto the chest. The software allows heart information to be recorded and can analyse the calorific burn rate, maximum and minimum heart rate and so on. Results can be displayed in graph or table forms. The cost is £99 +VAT from VTI. 8.6 • Heavy mouse balls – Weighing in at four times heavier than the standard mouse ball, these fit neatly into the Acorn mouse, giving it a more positive response. They are available from Oak Consultants for £3 including postage, packing and VAT. (I have put this entry in again because we now have the address of Oak Consultants. Ed.) 8.6 • Holy Bible − ExpLAN are just finalising the licence agreements on their Holy Bible software, a multimedia package using electronic texts from around the world. High quality graphics, multiple versions, fast searches, read-only commentaries, user-created notes, cross-referencing. The base pack comprises Authorised Version and Strong’s Concordance at £70 +VAT for the single user version, and £199 +VAT for a site licence. Additional full modules are: NRSV with study notes (CUP), REB with educational resources (CUP), Russian with Cryllic fonts (Licht in Ostern). These are available for an additional £45 +VAT each and the NIV Anglicised (Hodder) is an additional £25 +VAT. Carriage is also extra. (Archive prices are £80, £225, £52 and £28 respectively through Archive.) 8.6 • Junior Insight – This is a new data-logging application from Longman Logotron to assist in experiments for Key Stages 2 and 3. It is capable of display and capture of analogue or digital data at a user-specified sample rate. Results can be displayed as tables or graphs, and the graphs may be overlaid so comparisons can be made. Analysis options can calculate the gradient of a slope or the area under a curve. It is compatible with interfaces such as Unilab, Sense and Control, LogIT, SenseIT and the Philip Harris hardware. A single user version costs £29 +VAT. 8.6 • Lots More Fun & Games − HS Software have produced a set of three games aimed at 5 to 9 year olds. Dataday teaches the days of the week and months of the year in sequence. Spot the Blot involves visual perception and discrimination skills and Gwyn’s World involves shape recognition and fractions. Lots More Fun & Games costs £22.95 from HS, or £22 through Archive. 8.6 • MathMania − In this educational game from Topologika Software, children have to help the teacher escape from a maze, answering questions on Number, Time, Measurement, Angles, Shape & Space. Questions can be at four difficulty levels, the first two corresponding to Key Stage 2, and levels 3 and 4 to Key Stages 3 and 4. There are also five puzzles which occur at the end of a maze before the player can move on to the next, more difficult, maze. The price is £25 +VAT (£28 through Archive), site licences are an additional £25 for primary and £40 for secondary (£28 and £45 through Archive). 8.6 • Meteosat RISC consists of a CD-ROM and Acorn software to run it. The CD is produced by the European Space Agency and contains 23000 images from the geostationary Meteosat satellite. There is an infra red image of the whole Earth taken each day from 1986 to 1991. In addition, there is one image per month in visible light and assorted extra images of water vapour and snow storms. The software supplied includes !Meteosat to access the pictures in date order, !Palmake to edit the displayed colours, and !SpMovie to create an animation showing weather development. The package is available from Musbury Consultants for £30 inclusive. Note that you must specify if you are using a Risc PC because an enhanced set of applications are supplied. 8.6 • Non-Designer’s Design Book − This book by Robin Williams has absolutely nothing to do with Acorn computers! However, it is really an excellent guide showing how to make the best use of those DTP facilities that most of us possess yet few of us (including me) have been trained to handle. It explains the basic principles of page layout, using fonts, etc, in such a way that (a) it is easy to understand and (b) it is memorable. This means that you actually put into practice the things that you have read. (See Mark Howe’s review, on page 23) The price is £13 inc p&p. 8.6 • Oak Recorder Update − Both versions of the Oak Recorder sound sampler, supplied by Solent Computer Products, are now being shipped with the latest version of the SoundLab software, which features a button bar for ease of use, amplifying, fading, echo, filtering and can convert between a number of different formats. Oak Recorder 2 for earlier systems costs £39.95 + £3 p&p +VAT, Oak Recorder 3 for machines with a bidirectional parallel port (i.e. A5000 or later) costs £44.95 + £3 +VAT. 8.6 • OMR Supplement − A new extension to the Iota DataPower database allows the database to read Optical Mark Reader forms. It will read DRS SOS files, which describe where to look on the OMR form for data, and from it creates a DataPower database ready for use. The completed forms can then be read directly from the completed forms into the Database ready for analysis, assuming you have the necessary reader. Possible uses include assessment, end of year reports, attendance reports and multiple choice examinations. The supplement costs £99 +VAT from Iota Software, and you will need a copy of DataPower if you do not already have it. Optical Mark Readers start at £2000 from DRS. 8.6 • Picture Point – This package, aimed at Key Stage 1 pupils, to introduce them to data handling. Children can perform surveys with a simple point-and-click interface. The survey can then be displayed graphically as a bar chart, pie chart or a pictogram. When clicked on, the graphs will actually speak to explain the relationship between the numbers on the graph. The data can be exported into Junior pinpoint or spreadsheets. The single user version costs £29 +VAT from Longman Logotron or £32 through Archive. 8.6 • Printer Port Sampler − VTI have released a new version of their printer port sound sampler, capable of sampling simultaneously from line as well as mic inputs for mixing sound sources. A microphone is supplied with the package, along with the Sonor sample editing software. The price is £44.95 +VAT. 8.6 • PublishArt − Smart DTP have produced a clipart resource pack featuring designs for use in DTP packages rather than drawings or pictures. Included are QuickPapers, highlights, page layout, patters, stencils symbols and backdrops. The price is £29.95 inclusive. 8.6 • Rainbow Multimedia – This is a new picture-based multimedia package from Longman Logotron. It is designed to assist development of a child’s writing, language and object recognition skills and enables pictures, animation, video, text, speech, music and sounds to be combined to produce interactive books. Rainbow Multimedia costs £29 +VAT +p&p from Longman Logotron or £33 through Archive. 8.6 • Report Writer − After the review last month (8.5 p70), Creative Curriculum Software’s report-writing software is proving particularly popular amongst teachers and lecturers, so we have decided to stock it at £56 inclusive. 8.6 • ReSound − NW Semerc have produced a printer port sound sampler which can sample from the supplied microphone or from other sources via the line input. It is supplied with software to allow editing of the captured samples. The price is £42 +VAT from NW Semerc. 8.6 • RISC OS 3.1 Style Guide − This product has been available and then not available... but now it is available again − £10 inc p&p through Archive. 8.6 • Speech II − Superior Software have upgraded their speech synthesizer. It now has an extra 3,500 words, improved speech quality, improved word editing facility for special words, interactive help support, is hard disc installable, has accented characters, foreign language support – a German extension is available − and the new Speech module can be used directly with Talking PenDown and Full Phases to give much improved speech. The upgrade from Speech costs £10 inclusive, £15 if you want German Speech. Single user copies are £29.95 inc VAT or 34.95 for German Speech and site licences are available from Superior Software. 8.6 • Spelling Book − This is designed to assist pupils (aged 4+) with their writing when using a word processor and to help them learn spellings. The software allows words to be input into any multitasking word processor or DTP package, dictionary maintenance is simple, and a wide selection are supplied. These include basic words, and sets for the common National Curriculum topic areas. A quiz section is also provided which allows the dictionaries to be used in missing letter type games. The price is £39 +VAT for a single user version, or £89 +VAT for a site licence, from Creative Curriculum Software. 8.6 • TableCalc − This spreadsheet, for RISC OS 3.1 or later, supports interactive help, point and click expression definitions and full OLE support for Impression Publisher. It can export Draw and CSV files, supports 24-bit colour and multiple text styles. The price is £30 + £1.50 from iSV Products. 8.6 • Talking Clocks − Any user with RISC OS 2 or later can use this package which encourages children to examine clocks, learning to read and set them. Clocks can have hand or digital faces and speak the time when clicked on. There are four parts ‘Say the time’ allows the player to build up a sentence to speak the time shown on the clock, ‘Set the Clock’ teaches children to set the clock to a time given in words, ‘Match the Clocks’ requires a clock to be set to the same time as a second clock and for ‘How much Time?’, the child needs to calculate the time difference between two clocks. The package records children’s work which can then be printed out and most tools are configurable. It is available from Topologika Software for £35 +VAT (or £39 through Archive) for a single user licence. A primary site licence costs £60 +VAT or a secondary licence costs £75 +VAT from Topologika. 8.6 • Talking Stories − Sherston have released a third set of their Talking Stories, based on popular stories from the Oxford University Press ‘Oxford Reading Tree’ scheme, as used in many schools. The stories, read by actor Richard Briers, are Floppy’s Bath, The Baby-sitter, The Water Fight, Kipper’s Balloon, Spots! and Kipper’s Birthday. The price is £39.95 +VAT (£45 through Archive) for the single user version − site licences are also available. 8.6 • Treasure Chest − Thousands of pictures, symbols and sound effects in !Draw, !Paint and Photo sequences for use in the National Curriculum. Sections include food, history, languages, natural world, objects, people, places and symbols. The price is £69 +VAT from Northwest SEMERC. 8.6 • Trees − This CD-ROM resource contains pictures and descriptions of the native trees of the British Isle. Produced with the assistance of the British Tree Council, the disc also includes photographs, diagrams of twigs, details of the ecology of trees, and the uses to which trees are put. A single user version costs £40 +VAT from Hampshire Micro- Technology Centre. 8.6 • Trip − This admin package simplifies the organisation of school trips, including the tracking of pupil payments. The price is £14.95 +VAT from Creative Curriculum Software. 8.6 • Vision 24 − The Vision and HiVision colour digitisers from HCCS have been replaced by the Vision 24 range of 24-bit digitisers. 254-line version is £99 +VAT, the 508-line version is £139 +VAT and a later upgrade from 254 to 508-lines is £49 +VAT. 8.6 • Werewolf Utility Discs − Werewolf Software have produced two utility discs for the Acorn range. Disc 1 contains ArmCache, CacheOff, CacheOn, NewIcons, NewTools, ResetMem, ResetMode, ResetPal, ResetScr+, ResetSnd+, ResetSysF, Runner+, UnRunner+, WWSHelp and costs £6. Disc 2 contains Counter, MakeHelp, PasteUp, Rubbish, Shutter, SpriteUtils, STPlayer, VATCalc, WWSHelp and costs £7. If you purchase both discs the price is £12, or a compilation disc, featuring the best applications from both discs costs £10, Prices include VAT, but postage is 50p extra. 8.6 • Woodland Birds CD − This is a large reference database from Creative Curriculum Software containing photographs, bird songs and calls, along with text, maps and other data. Aimed at Key Stages 2, 3 and 4, it costs £49 +VAT (single user) or £99 (site licence). It is a dual format CD and can be used on RISC OS or a Windows-based machine. 8.6 Product not going to be available! 8.6 • Ion Camera − Atomwide have asked us to point out that while they have been using, and recommending a still video camera, contrary to popular belief, they do not, and will not be, selling it as a product since it is only compatible with NTSC television formats. 8.6 • Acorn C/C++ − Acorn are planning to release their new C/C++ development environment in mid-March. In fact, the package allows programming in C, Assembler, and C++ as well as having a number of supporting tools. C++ support is provided by CFront version 3.0. Also included is the Toolbox replacement to RISCOS_Lib, which allows simple design and implementation of your application’s user interface. This can be tested without needing to write any code. The cost is £249.95 inc VAT or £230 through Archive. Owners of Desktop C or Desktop Assembler can buy C/C++ for £205 including carriage from NCS. Send your original Desktop C or Desktop Assembler discs with your order, please. 8.7 • Acorn Risc PC Sound Card − The 16-bit Sound Card is designed to exploit the digital audio capabilities of VIDC20. It enables the Risc PC to generate near CD-quality sound output via the headphone socket. Previous VIDC1a sound formats are supported in order to provide backwards compatibility with existing RISC OS software, and there is support for the new 16-bit linear and compressed ADPCM formats. The pack includes: a stand alone sample player is provided to play back digital samples; extensions to Replay are included to extend the capabilities of the Replay system to include 16-bit linear ADPCM; a range of quality samples designed to demonstrate the new audio system. The Sound Card costs £59.95 +VAT or £68 through Archive. 8.7 • Big Bang − From Psycore, the creators of Top Banana, comes this new adventure into “the strange and beautiful”. The complete game comes on either a single 1.6Mb disc or two 800Kb discs for £14.95 (inclusive). Please state which type of disc you require and make cheques payable to Psycore when ordering. 8.7 • Calligraph direct drive lasers − Calligraph have brought the price of an A3 1200 dpi direct drive laser printers down to under £3,000 inc VAT. They now do a cut-down version of the TQ-1200 called the A3-1200 which only costs £2450 +VAT (£2,800 through Archive). The only things that the TQ-1200 has extra to the A3-1200 are a paperfeed unit that takes odd sizes of paper, a high temperature controller that enables the printer to cope with plate-making and the PostScript RIP software (see below). These printers do 8 pages/minute at A4 size and 4 ppm at A3. 8.7 • Calligraph PostScript RIP − In conjunction with Rapport Ltd, Calligraph have produced a Level 2 PostScript compatible interpreter which will allow any of their direct drive lasers to preview and print PostScript files. If you have a Calligraph Qume or Taxan printer, you can get a version of the software limited to 300 dpi and a new interface card which has various extra features over your old one (which presumably you just throw away). These new cards are also Risc PC compatible. This costs £250 +VAT from Calligraph or £285 through Archive. 8.7 The other Calligraph printers already use the more up-to-date card, so all you need is the RIP software. This, however, has enhanced features appropriate to these more versatile printers and is the same price as the other version − £250 +VAT from Calligraph or £285 through Archive. 8.7 Technically, the software offers full implementation of RT halftone screening and TLA screening, giving any combination of screen angle, frequency and spot shape; any resolution supported by your printer including non-square; preview in Draw format (256 grey & 24-bit RGB) and sprite format (16 grey levels up to 150dpi); selectable paper sizes; colour spaces − grey, RGB, CMYK and CIE based; font types 0 (composite), 1 (hinted) and 3 (user definable); JPEG, LZW and CCITTFAX image compression filters and full support for PostScript Resource Management. 8.7 • CDFast − Eesox have updated their CDFast and NetCDFast packages which give performance increases on CD-ROM drives, stand-alone, and over a network respectively. It has two modes of operation, minimum memory requiring 8Kb to work for an 18-40% performance increase, or enhanced mode requiring 36Kb for a 30-55% increase. The cost is £25 +£2 p&p +VAT (£30 through Archive) for the stand-alone version, and £130 + £2 p&p +VAT (£148 through Archive) for the network/site licence version. 8.7 • Celtic Clipart Disc 3 − The third disc in Glyn Howells’ Clipart collection is now available. The discs are £10.99 each, £18.99 for two, or £24.99 for all three (cheques payable to Glyn Howells). All files are in draw format and discs 1 and 3 also contain hints files. 8.7 • Clips Round the Year − This is the name for the service offered by our own Christopher Jarman who seeks to provide “high quality realistic art, drawn by an artist who uses the computer, not just a computer buff who does some art!” Christopher can do first-rate illustrations to order, or any kind of DTP design back-up you want. If you want a new magazine cover or a set of invoices with your own logo, give him your requirements. He will also do outline fonts designed to order. Prices are by negotiation, but he will often exchange for software. Send £5 (inc. p&p) for a sample disc containing 18 original Artworks files, plus A/W viewer. Cheques payable to “C. Jarman”. 8.7 • Colour Dye-sublimation − Spacetech have announced a new colour printing system which has continuous tone output at 200dpi. This is not as low as it might sound, especially when you consider that an 800 dpi ink jet printer would only achieve 100dpi at 64 levels of greyscale. In fact, the package, which uses Photodesk as a printer enhancer, gives a virtual resolution of 800 dpi by anti-aliasing, which is only possible on continuous tone printers. The package is currently reduced to £995 +VAT and includes a Primera printer, refill kit, Photodesk and the printer drivers. After the Acorn User Spring show, the price will rise to the normal £1215 +VAT. You can print from other packages, such as Artworks, but you need to have Photodesk since it features as part of the printer driver mechanism. 8.7 • Ethernet Design and Installation Guide − This book is now available from Acorn, it aims to assist with setting up an Ethernet network. The price is £20 inclusive from Acorn or NCS. 8.7 • Expandable SIMMs − It is now possible to buy two sizes of SIMM memory cards (4Mb and 16Mb) which are upgradable to twice the size by adding extra chips. The Archive prices are: 4Mb £155 (cf non-upgradable 4Mb at £145), 4-8Mb upgrade pack £155, 16Mb £535 (cf non-upgradable 16Mb at £490), 16-32Mb upgrade pack £535. There is no upgradable 8Mb SIMM, I fear, and the standard 8Mb SIMM has gone up in price to £295. 8.7 (When the Risc PC first came out, we talked about the possibility of taking SIMMs in part-exchange when people wanted to upgrade. We have looked into this and regret that we don’t feel able to offer this service. We are suggesting that people use our Small Ads column to sell their smaller SIMMs.) 8.7 • Exploring Nature − (as recommended by Andrew Flowerdew in this month’s CD-ROM Column) This CD contains many drawings of flora and fauna, natural life processes, animal behaviour and key natural habitats. An activity-based exploration which will help children towards a greater understanding and appreciation of the plants and animals around them. This is a classroom and library resource for all primary and middle schools. The RRP was £125 +VAT but this has recently been reduced and it is now available through Archive for £88. 8.7 • Fireworkz Pro − Colton have now added Recordz, the database, to their Fireworkz suite and have also added some improvements to the other parts of the package. This is now called Fireworkz Pro. The package integrates the Wordz wordprocessor, Resultz spreadsheet and Recordz, and allows documents to contain ‘live’ spreadsheets and charts, which automatically update when you change the data. The package requires RISC OS 3.1 or later and at least 2Mb of RAM. As Fireworkz Pro and Recordz use Iota Software’s DataPower engine, they can access DataPower files and use the DataPower server on a network. Fireworkz (i.e. without Recordz) is still available at £99 +£5 carriage +VAT from Colton (£110 through Archive) and Fireworkz Pro costs £149 +£5 carriage +VAT from Colton (£165 through Archive). 8.7 Upgradez: You can upgrade to Fireworkz Pro through Colton from: Wordz − £89, Resultz − £69 PipeDream4 − £99 or PipeDream3 − £124, all plus £5 carriage +VAT. 8.7 • Fly the Atlantic − This is the first activity pack designed to be used with Topologika’s Navigator software and is written by a real airline pilot. Children must follow the flight plan and instructions from Air Traffic Control. The pack is accompanied by a comprehensive booklet with details of bearings, distances and locations of points on the route. There is a special introductory price of £15 +VAT +£2.50 p&p (£19 through Archive), which includes a free site licence. 8.7 • Heavy mouse balls – Just to make it clear, these heavy-weight mouse balls only fit Logitech mice. The Digitec mice used on A310/440 and some of the A400/1 machines have slightly smaller balls, so check that you have got a Logitech mouse before ordering your heavy ball. (The mice that NCS sell at £22 are Logitech/big ball mice!) These mouseballs are available from Oak Consultants for £3 including postage, packing and VAT. 8.7 • Hermes − Base5 Technical Graphics describe this as “a Desktop Messenger & Interpreter”. It has facilities for text transfer & file interpretation, graphic file loading, activity recorder, window capture, desktop monitor, flexible event timer, automatic paragraph numbering, and features over 300 commands. It is available direct from Base5 for £25 (no VAT). 8.7 • Impressive − Quantum Software have provided an enhanced button bar for use with Computer Concepts Impression range. It is capable of doing several actions from one mouse click, so that, for example, switching of the text repel feature of a frame can be done with ease. If you are learning to use Impression, you can make Impressive show you how it is creating the desired effect. Example features include Fit to Frame, move frame by any amount, rotate graphic, colour frame, border colour, colour text and so on. The price is £9.95 inclusive from Quantum software or £10 through Archive. 8.7 • i-TV − This package from Irlam Instruments is a television tuner, teletext decoder and NICAM stereo sound, all on a single width expansion card. It features a crystal controlled, full band tuner, with channel and teletext selection on the desktop. Composite video out is provided for connecting to video digitisers, VCR’s etc. to allow single frames or movies from the television signal. External video and stereo audio can be fed in and switched (using software) to the output. Package of hardware and software costs £199 +£3.50 p&p +VAT or £230 through Archive. 8.7 • Laser printers − We still don’t have any direct drive lasers for the Acorn machines other than the Calligraph ones. However, we have added the HP Laserjet 4L to our price list. It is a 300 dpi printer running at 4 pages a minute, has 1Mb RAM and costs £670 inclusive through Archive. We recommend the use of an HP Turbo Driver at £53 to improve speed and flexibility of the printout. 8.7 • Maths Odyssey − Computer Tutorial Services Ltd have produced an educational adventure which allows children to relate to the historical roots of some of the theorems and ideas they have to learn within the National Curriculum. Maths Odyssey costs £42 +VAT from Computer Tutorial Services. 8.7 • Mentor − This is a new educational package from Appian Way, and is designed to bring a number of historical resources to the classroom, including documents, photos, maps, cartoons and diagrams. Each title includes more than 100 sources, both text and picture, with comprehensive indexing facilities. Technical terms can be looked up in the glossary, and each source’s background comments can be viewed. Teachers and pupils can add their own sources and notes to personalise the system, adding local sources, for example. The Mentor Edit program can change and re-index existing resources, or create a completely new one. Currently available resources are “The Third Reich”, “1914-18: The Western Front” and “Medieval Realms” Each topic disc costs £39.50 +VAT +p&p, and can be upgraded to a site licence for an additional £10 +VAT. Until the end of March, the price is £35 +VAT +p&p. Mentor Edit costs £49.50 for a single user and the site licence is an additional £35 +VAT. 8.7 • OPL Manual for Pocket Book II − From February, the OPL programming manual for the Pocket Book II will be available through Acorn Direct. Send a cheque for £12.95 (including post and packaging) to Acorn Direct. 8.7 • PD-CD 2 − The Datafile have produced a second CD of PD material for RISC OS machines (including Risc PC). This costs £30 inclusive from The Datafile or £29 through Archive. 8.7 • Repair services − If you have Acorn equipment that needs repairing, we have two companies here in Norwich that we can recommend. Avie Electronics has been advertising fixed-price Acorn repairs for the last few months. So, for example, if you have a dead A3000 then, whatever the fault is, Avie will fix it for you for £39 inc VAT. (Return carriage is £9.99 inc VAT.) See their advert on page 11 for details of the different prices on offer. Avie do not repair printers. Repair Zone (alias Ray Maidstone) will repair a wide range of computer and peripheral equipment including “other” computers (I can’t bring myself to mention Amigas, Ataris and such-like). They will give a quotation, if required, or work on the basis of “we’ll give you a ring if it’s going to cost more than (say) thirty quid to fix.” 8.7 • Risc PC Extended Warranty − Acorn have released details of the extended warranty scheme. For an extra 6% of the purchase price of your machine you can extend the on-site warranty to 3 years. The warranty only covers (and you only pay for) the Acorn segments of the system − the base unit, Acorn monitor, mouse and keyboard. Any expansion cards, printers, or non-Acorn monitor is not covered. 8.7 • Scrabble price − On the last price list, Scrabble was priced at £33. This was a mistake − the correct price was £27 as mentioned in the magazine. If anyone purchased it at £33, please let us know − humble apologies for that! 8.7 • Special Needs Organiser − This is a PC package which has been ported to the Acorn platform and enables the user to manage the special needs in your school. You can keep track of pupils, provide updates and reminders for staff, and keep your LEA up to date. The price is £64.95 +p&p +VAT for a primary licence, and £80 +p&p +VAT for a secondary licence from PC Business Solutions Ltd. 8.7 • Special Needs Trackerball − Northwest SEMERC have revised their trackerballs and are adding versions for the PC and Apple Macintosh. Acorn versions are now £89 +VAT, or £109 +VAT if you want the version with a key guard. 8.7 • Text To Braille − The Dorton IT Support Centre has released version 3 of its text to braille translation program. The program will accept any ASCII text file (including those imported from CD-ROM and the PC) and will output a fully contracted Grade 2 Braille file which can be subsequently sent to a suitable braille embosser. The braille output can be customised for grade changes for example, and French, German and Spanish braille codes are also supported. The price is £30, and an upgrade from version 2 costs £5. 8.7 • Turbo Driver and Laser Direct Spoolers − This new package from Computer Concepts allows network printing to take advantage of the Turbo Driver or Laser Direct systems, and is compatible with any AUN network including Econet. The package includes a printer cable, spooler software, and a site licence for the printer driver software which may be copied onto as many machines on the network as required. The system works on all RISC OS 3.1 or later computers, although they need at least 2Mb of RAM (4Mb for 600 dpi laser direct printing). The price is £149 +VAT. 8.7 Review software received... 8.7 We have received review copies of the following: •Cannon Fodder (g), •CDFast (u), •Hermes (u), •Talking Stories 2 (e). 8.7 Acorn Replay Starter Kit − Not really a new product, but new to Archive is this package from Acorn. It includes a CD containing sample videos, stills and examples of multimedia applications, plus AREncode which allows you to compress your own films or add/change the accompanying soundtracks. There are also two manuals: the user guide, which has details of the software supplied, and ‘A Guide to Desktop Multimedia’ with advice on creating your own multimedia applications, shooting video, locating material as well as tips on layout and style, etc. 8.8 Archive BBS closing − Sadly, we have decided that we cannot justify the cost of keeping the Archive BBS running for the very few people who are using it. If you want to send messages to us, leave articles, small ads, etc, then please either use email (PBeverley@arcade.demon.co.uk) or log onto Arcade BBS (0181−654−2212 − user number 21) which Paul accesses a couple of times a week or Archiboard Central (01603-744231) which, if people use it, I will also check reasonably regularly. Keith Marlow has also kindly agreed to put the Archive Monthly Disks on Archiboard Central. So if you need anything in a hurry, give Archiboard a ring on 01603-744231. 8.8 AVP Picturebase CDs − This range of multimedia resources has been enlarged to cover additional topics. Each disk, containing video, sound images and text is controlled by database software, allowing the user to customise their own encyclopedia. Grouped appropriately for National Curriculum use, disks currently available are Britain Since 1930, Victorian Britain, The Era of the Second World War, The First World War and its Consequences, English Architecture, World Habitats, UK Habitats, Expansion, Trade and Industry, Earth and Atmosphere which are all £99 +VAT for a single user copy (£115 through Archive). Also, there are two art-based disks, Art in the National Curriculum and Impressionism up to the Twentieth Century which are available at £75 +VAT for a single user copy (£86 through Archive). 8.8 Buttons − A simple application launcher and hard disk protection system for classroom use. It has a window which opens when the machine starts up, before any other windows. Listed in the window are the applications necessary; single clicking will load the task. Other actions can also be linked, so the same click could, for example, also load the printer driver and open a work directory. The hard drive is protected by either removing the hard drive icon or limiting its use (for example, it could open the work directory rather than the disk root). Other areas of the hard disk are only accessible via Buttons, so that hidden applications can be loaded. The price is £24.95 +VAT for a single user licence and £75 +VAT for a site licence, from Lindis International. 8.8 CD-Circle − Last month we had a review of CD-Circle (p68) but we didn’t give the address of the producers, Desktop Laminations. We have corrected that in this month’s Factfile at the back of the magazine. 8.8 CD drivers − VTi have released four drivers for SCSI and IDE drives − Sony CDU55-S and CDU-55E, Toshiba 3401, 5201 and 4101, NEC SCSI drives and Wearnes CDD-120 series (IDE drives). The drivers cost £19 +VAT each from VTi. 8.8 ClassRom upgrade − Oak Solutions’ ClassRom products are now supplied by Network Solutions, who have announced the upgrade to version 1.28. Additional features are CMOS RAM protection and restoration (also prevents factory resets), optional machine protection via password, two physical drives can now be seen as two ClassRom partitions, as well as being able to partition single drives. Support for the Risc PC is now also available. Existing ClassRom cards can be upgraded for £15 +VAT. The upgrade consists of a new EPROM, updated ClassRom software and manual. The upgrade is also available for Oak Ethernet cards (ClassNet). 8.8 Cross Stitch − iSV Products has launched XStitch, a cross stitch design package for RISC OS. Any sprite can be used as input, to produce a full cross stitch pattern, using up to 64 colours from 512 named industry- standard thread colours. The design can be saved as a drawfile for importing into DTP packages, as a colour or black and white design. A wide variety of materials are supported, automatic conversion of sprite colours to named colours, automatic calculation of finished design size, definable background colour and over 10,000 stitches per pattern. The price is £21.50 including p&p from iSV or £20 through Archive. 8.8 Cumana Bravo − This CD drive comes in two variants − the first connects via the computer’s bi-directional parallel port and is therefore not suitable for the A3xx/4xx/5xx or the A3000. The second uses an SLCD interface available as a standard podule or an SLCD upgrade for an EMU interface card. The drive is a double speed, draw loading device and has a built-in audio mixer so that the computer and CD sound are combined, so both are available through the same headphones or speakers without needing to swap cables. Either type costs £254.47 +VAT + p&p or £300 through Archive. If you do not have an EMU card fitted to your machine, the drive, EMU board and EMU upgrade will cost £297 +VAT + p&p or £350 through Archive. 8.8 Cumana Indigo − The Indigo CD drive is an internal drive for the Risc PC. The 300iA is supplied with an IDE interface and therefore does not need an additional interface. It is also supplied with an audio mixing board to allow computer and CD sound to be merged. The cost is now £211.91 +VAT + p&p or £250 through Archive. 8.8 (There is a problem here in that the board requires the same sound connection on the pcb as the Acorn/ESP 16-bit sound upgrade. If you want to use both, you will need a small adaptor board for which Cumana are charging £10 +VAT, although, it is possible that they may be supplied f.o.c. with the drive if you need it.) 8.8 Cumana Oscar − The Oscar CD drive is an external, double-speed device which connects to the computer’s bi-directional parallel port (so it is only suitable for use with the Risc PC, A5000, A3010, A3020, A4000 and A4 models). A second CD drive or a printer can be daisy-chained via a through-connector, so you do not lose use of the parallel port. The price is £211.91 +VAT + p&p, or £250 through Archive. 8.8 Cumana Victor − These CD drives require a SCSI interface to work, and there are a large number of options available. Stand-alone drives start at £299 +VAT + p&p. Auto-changer drives are also available with double and quad-speed 6-disk versions as well as an 18-disk quad-speed drive. For situations where the time taken to change between disks is unacceptable (for example, on a network) multi-drive units are available with six separate mechanisms. 8.8 Cumana SCSI cards − The price of the Cumana SCSI cards has now dropped. The SCSI II card is now £169.36 +VAT + p&p or £200 through Archive. (Remember that you need the SCSI II cable if you wish to attach external devices − £27 through Archive.) The original SCSI I podule is now £84.26 +VAT + p&p from Cumana. 8.8 Datasafe Tapestreamer − i³ have released a tapestreamer package, which includes software for backing up over networks for both Acorn and PC machines. The system needs a bi-directional parallel port, so you do not need a SCSI card (although you will need a A3010, A3020, A4000, A5000, A4 or a Risc PC). Software is supplied for both Acorn and PC compatible systems so dual platform schools do not need to buy a backup system for both machines. The price is £430 + p&p +VAT or £505 through Archive. 8.8 DMI / PowerWAVE − Audio Dynamics have a new range of audio cards. The DMI (Dual MIDI Interface) card has two independent Midi interfaces (each with an in and out connection) The PowerWAVE board is an upgrade to the DMI cards and contains a 32 channel Ensoniq general Midi synthesizer with 128 instrument and 49 percussion sounds, removing the need to have external sound modules. The 30 range are for computers with a mini- expansion card (A3000, A3010, A3020, A4000), the DMI 30 card is £74 +VAT or £85 through Archive, the PowerWAVE 30 is £182.97 +VAT or £215 through Archive. The 50 range will be for computers with a standard size podule, and have the added benefit of an optional 16-bit sampler port on the same card, and should be available shortly − prices will be announced. Or, to save the complication(!) order them from Archive for £36, £40 and £36 respectively. 8.8 Droom Trilogy − This set of educational adventure games from Resource has been upgraded with music, enhanced graphics and easier to read text, and all three titles will run on the Risc PC. The characters in the games pose various problems for the pupils to solve, particular emphasis being placed on developing skills in mathematics and logical thinking. The games are Dragon Droom (£30), Dragon Droom’s Revenge (£34) and StarDust (£30). Upgrades from an earlier version, £10 per package. Primary and Secondary site licences are also available. To those prices, add VAT and 4% of the order price for p&p − minimum £1.50. 8.8 Eesox Gold CD drive − Eesox can no longer get the style of CD drive they were using as their Gold drive and have replaced it with a caddy-less drive. This means that you cannot use it in the “tower” mode. However, it is faster − 4.4 speed with an access time of 150ms compared with 4 speed and an access time of 225ms. The price is unchanged at £360 inclusive for an internal (Risc PC) drive and £440 for an external drive through Archive. 8.8 Full-colour poster printing − Acorn have added an A0 colour poster printer to its range of pre-press products − the NovaJET III large- format inkjet printer. Acorn has combined its Risc PC-based Publishing System with the NovaJET III to provide the Acorn Poster Publisher, a complete poster creation and printing system for “under £11,000”. 8.8 The NovaJET uses European standard CMYK inks, operates at 300×300 dpi and is suitable for producing everything from simple text and line art to colour proofs, graphic design visuals as well as short-run, full- colour posters up to A0. Acorn have specifically developed one of the standard Risc PC printer drivers to increase the speed and enhance the colour calibration for the NovaJET III. 8.8 The system will be targeted at large retailers, corporate publishers, quick printers and commercial printers. In addition to marketing the complete solution, Acorn will offer individual printers to existing Acorn users. So, if you already have a Risc PC and would like a 14Mb NovaJET III printer plus driver, we can sell you one through Archive. The cost would be about £7,500 +VAT. Let me know if you are interested! 8.8 Acorn’s press release says that “initial tests with Risc PC have shown significant improvements in both speed and quality compared to the results achieved when the NovaJET is driven by a Mac or PC” and talks about “photographic quality images”. Having seen the output, I would agree and can say that it is nothing less than stunning. I’ll bet it eats up the ink but that will be nothing compared to the cost of getting posters printed commercially. To give an example of the speed, the NovaJET can produce an A1-format, photographic quality poster in approximately 20 minutes. 8.8 This is actually a very significant announcement because it is another example of something you can do on Acorn machines that can’t be matched on other platforms, i.e. it’s an example where someone would buy a Risc PC in order to run the application. 8.8 If you want to run one of these printers to use with a Mac or a PC, you would need to have a separate computer entirely dedicated to driving the printer (probably a Pentium or a ‘Big Mac’ of some sort) so the cost of that would probably be £15−16,000. Also, you would have to use networking to throw PostScript at it from your separate design station. This means that, to run it, you need (a) about twice as much money as using an Acorn and (b) someone with networking expertise because the task, even in networking terms, is not a simple one. With the Acorn solution, the printer is (almost) just like any other printer attached to your workstation computer − there’s no need to have someone with specialist knowledge of networking and/or PostScript to run it. 8.8 I say “almost” because there is the issue of colour calibration. The resultant colour does depend to a great extent on the type and quality of paper used. Acorn provide preset calibration files for a number of standard types of paper but if you choose to use different paper, you will need to go through a calibration procedure. 8.8 For further information, please contact Simon Woodward, Publishing Manager at Acorn Computers on 01223-254460. 8.8 Hazelnut CD − Hazelnut have released a CD which includes all three of their multimedia learning packages. Times Tables: 12 disks covering 2× to 12× tables, 132 different animations, text and sound (disk price £30); Number Bonds, £15 − three disks covering addition and subtraction bonds up to 10, plus two worksheets (disk price £15 for all three, or £5 each); and a new release, Tell Time with four disks covering hours, half-past and quarters (disk price £20). Any of the above can be bought as separate packages (add £2.50 p&p) or all three on one CD costs £50 + £1.50 p&p. (No VAT as Hazelnut are not VAT registered.) 8.8 Lambda 16 − The Irlam 16-bit sound sampler/player on a standard expansion card. The included software controls the settings for the card, and sampling is via a simple-to-use tape recorder-style interface. The card has stereo line-in phono connectors, 3.5mm Mic, 16-bit stereo line-out (3.5mm jack), variable input gain and line-out volume. Stereo and mono file formats are supported, in 16 or 8-bit, from a wide range of sampling rates, from 5.51kHz to 48.0kHz. It integrates the standard sound system, allowing the computer’s sound to be sampled or the 16-bit and VIDC outputs to be mixed. The introductory price, including expansion card and sampling software, lead and manual, is £99 + £3.50 p&p +VAT or £118 through Archive. Tsunami, the sound editing software, is not yet ready, but when it is, a joint package will be available for £159 + p&p +VAT (standard Tsunami price will be £99 + p&p +VAT). The samples created can, however, be edited using other packages such as !AudioWorks in the meantime. 8.8 Landmarks: PinPoint data file Ancient Civilisations − Information in this datafile covers eleven civilisations, such as the Egyptians, Aztecs and the Romans. A number of activity sheets are included, focusing on historical and geographical aspects, covering river valleys, landmarks, leaders, Egyptian writing and numbers, beliefs and customs, and also a quiz. To use the data, you will need either Junior PinPoint or PinPoint. This costs £14 +£3 p&p +VAT from Longman Logotron. 8.8 Landmarks: Victorian Era − New to Longman Logotron’s Landmarks series of TV tie-in educational software, the Victorian Era allows children to investigate English village life at various times between 1780 and 1880. The effects of the agricultural and industrial revolutions, represented by the arrival of a mill, canal and railway, can be seen, showing both the impact on the people, and the changes to the village itself. A top- down view of the village is used to discover information about the scene. Worksheets are also included. This costs £25.50 +£3 p&p +VAT from Longman Logotron. 8.8 Mechanisms CD − This graphical demonstration of mechanical theory and practice is ideal for maths, technology and physics. Suitable for use on either an Acorn Computer or a Windows machine, the price is £49 +VAT (single user) and £99 +VAT (site licence) from Creative Curriculum Software. (£57 and £115 through Archive respectively.) 8.8 PC card for Risc PC − Acorn say... “Initial stock is expected during April with a steady ramp-up in production during the next few months. If you have already purchased a Risc PC, you are entitled to buy a PC card for £99 +VAT (£116.32) within the next three months. After that time, the price will be £199 +VAT if purchased separately.” Presumably, it will be £99 if actually with a Risc PC. 8.8 The problem which NCS now have is that there is no discount on the PC cards − Acorn are charging us £99 +VAT which means that we are making a loss on every PC card we sell, especially when you take into account the admin and the cost of postage and packing. We’re not asking for sympathy or any extra cash but just that you bear with us as we handle the huge backlog of orders. In particular, may we ask you NOT to keep ringing us up. We will send the cards out to you as soon as we possibly can, and we will let you know in the magazine where we are up to by saying things like “we have so far supplied all PC cards ordered before May 13th 1994” or whatever. Also, we’ll put that information on the ansaphone so that you can ring up out of office hours and find out what is happening. 8.8 One other problem is that some of you sent cheques which are now more than six months old! They will have to come back to you to have the dates changed. Thanks, in advance, for your cooperation. 8.8 Pocketbook leather cases − Network Solutions can now supply leather carrying cases for the Acorn Pocketbook and Psion Series 3. The student holster is a padded case with a belt loop, for £12.20. The Executive, a wallet style case, holds the Pocketbook and up to two PCMCIA cards, and costs £22.20. Finally, the storage card holds up to six PCMCIA cards (but not the Pocketbook itself) for £17.00. Carriage at £1.50 per order and VAT need to be added to the above prices. 8.8 Risc PC Acorn Access − The price has changed on the Acorn Access card for the Risc PC. The new price is £140 through Archive. However, it isn’t actually available yet as there are still various issues to be resolved about Ethernet revisions, etc. In the meantime, we can get a Risc PC Access look-alike from Atomwide which will cost £150 through Archive. 8.8 Risc PC case expansion − If you want to expand your Risc PC to three or four slices (i.e. to take six or eight expansion cards), they are now available through Archive. To upgrade an ACB15/25 to two slices, as previously, costs £116, to three slices costs £316 and to four slices £352. If you already have a two-slice machine then to go to three slices will cost £257 and to four slices £316. 8.8 SAS2 − Morley Electronics have updated their SAS backup software. It has been completely rewritten for enhanced performance and offers a flexible and easy-to-use system. Timed backups, either using a proprietary format or the Unix standard TAR format can be configured and data can be compressed using the RISC OS 3 !Squash application. A Log file is saved to aid restoration, allowing individual or multiple files/directories to be restored. Possible target devices include SCSI tape streamers, hard drives, removable hard disks and floppy disk drives. The cost is £99 +VAT from Morley or £110 through Archive (or £49 +VAT for an upgrade from version 1 from Morley). 8.8 TeleText Turbo − XOB have a new version of their TeleCard Network software. The TeleText Turbo can capture and distribute eight live and eight local services from each of up to six TeleCards. Data is cached at the server, so access, even from a remote client, is regularly quicker than a teletext television. The cache is updated automatically so each page will, on average, be no more than a few seconds out of date or, if desired, the client can request that pages are grabbed directly off air. A viewdata editor is supplied to permit the setting up of local services for departments, for example. The server can coexist with other servers, such as level 4. The Card and software costs £299 from XOB. The standard network version of the telecard is now available for £190. The Teletext Turbo software costs £169. 8.8 Tesco scheme starts again − The Tesco Computers for Schools scheme starts again on 24th April and runs up to 2nd July. Schools requiring additional packs or with enquiries about the scheme can contact the Schools’ Helpline on 0171-580-9370 or send an email to ‘computers_for_schools@entity.e-mail.com’. With Tesco’s recent acquisition of over fifty William Low stores, the scope of participation is extended in Scotland. 8.8 VerbMaster-French − This is a multitasking verb management and learning application, which supports a range of tenses and features automatic conjugation of regular verbs, easy entering of irregular verbs, addition of new tenses, and production of printed verb tests and verb tables. The supplied version includes a help file and a selection of conjugated verbs. The registered version has additional verb files, along with text-only and Impression DDF format versions of the manual for printing. Registration of VerbMaster costs £7.50 single-user, or £15 for a site licence, and will offer a discount on VerbMaster-German when it is available. Unregistered versions are available from APDL and other PD libraries or direct from the author Nigel Caplan. 8.8 VZap − The shareware virus killing software from Digital Phenomena has just been updated, although the price remains at £5. New features include redesigned windows (using NewLook), and suspicious !Boot files are no longer deleted, but suspicious lines are commented out for later inspection. Automatic virus elimination is available and there are, if required, free upgrades and support for registered users. It can scan all known filing systems with a single click, and it prevents known viruses from loading. 8.8 World War II on the Home Front Another in the set of Anglia Television’s Key datafiles, this CD contains a number of resources. A large selection of photographs from the Hulton Deutsch Collection which illustrate the period between 1938 and 1947 are included, along with their own historical text, with captions often written by the photographers and additional comments from today’s perspective. The price is £40 +VAT or £45 through Archive. 8.8 Review software received... 8.8 We have received review copies of the following: •CDFast (for Networks) (u), •Garden Wildlife CD (e), •More Stage 2 Talking Stories (e), •PicturePoint (e), •Rainbow Multimedia (e), •PIMS (Primary Management System) (e), •TableCalc (u), •Talking Animated Alphabet (e), •VerbMaster (French) (e). Products Available 8.9 Acorn price reductions − Acorn have dropped the prices of some of their computers and peripherals as follows: 8.9 A4 portable £1996 −−> £1521 8.9 A3020 Floppy (2Mb) £843 −−> £703 8.9 A3020 HD80 (2Mb) £1019 −−> £880 8.9 Risc PC 2/210Mb + 17“ monitor £1938 −−> £1761 8.9 Risc PC 5/210Mb + 17“ monitor £2114 −−> £1937 8.9 Risc PC 9/420Mb + 17“ monitor £2466 −−> £2290 8.9 OPL Editor £65 −−> £46 8.9 Schedule £19 −−> £15 8.9 Plotter £34 −−> £24 8.9 Floating Point Accelerator £116 −−> £57 8.9 Acorn Replay Starter Kit − This includes a CD containing sample videos, stills and examples of multimedia applications, plus AREncode which allows you to compress your own films or add/change the accompanying soundtracks. There are also two manuals: the user guide, which has details of the software supplied, and ‘A Guide to Desktop Multimedia’, with advice on creating your own multimedia applications, shooting video, locating material, as well as tips on layout and style, etc. This costs £41 inclusive through Archive. (Repeat entry because we forgot the price last month!) 8.9 Almost Logo − The Advisory Unit have updated their popular turtle graphics program. The suggestions for changes have come from teachers throughout the UK who have been using the program in schools. New features include easier creation of new procedures and teacher control of step sizes to adjust the amount the turtle moves for a single unit. The package will drive both Valiant and Jessop floor turtles, and all commands can be supplied using a concept keyboard. Single user price is £25 +VAT, site licence £75 +VAT, from the Advisory Unit. 8.9 Application compression − Partis Logistics offer a service for software developers enabling approximately 100% more data to be stored on a floppy for distribution. If required, copy protection systems can also be added. Prices start from £250 per master disc. 8.9 ArcShare − ArcShare is an application for Microsoft Windows which allows a PC to connect to an Acorn Access network, and requires only a standard PC network card to operate. Fast Ethernet transfers are supported and it offers automatic file-typing of data. Files of any size can be transferred, and a simple FileManager style front end makes it easy to understand. Arcshare can be called up from the file manager. 8.9 Files and directories can be created or deleted on the Acorn, from the PC. Files can be copied from any position on the Acorn to any position on the PC. CD-ROM, floppy drives, IDE and SCSI drives on the Acorn can be accessed directly. The price is £79 +VAT from KCS Premier. 8.9 Brother laser printer − Following a good report from one of our subscribers, Steve Godfrey, we have added a new laser printer to our price list. The Brother HL660 is a 600×600 dpi printer with 2Mb RAM and it runs at 6 pages per minute. Steve says that it works very well with the Laserjet4 definition file on !Printers 1.28 and he is very pleased with it. The Brother HL660 is available through Archive for £650 inc VAT and carriage. 8.9 Budget games − If you enjoyed Space Invaders and Rocket Raid on the Beeb, you’ll enjoy two budget games from Generation Design. RoboCatch is Space Invaders with scenery. You don’t get 3D graphics or a CD’s worth of sound, but this is a budget game... it only costs £7.99 (no VAT − they’re not registered) and it comes on two discs! You get nine zones, with five sub-levels, to complete. To gain points, you blow-up the aliens, then catch their cargo. Along the way, you can get ‘power-ups’ which increase your score and status. Overall, this isn’t a game to last you a lifetime, but the bombs do blow you up... and you do actually get annoyed when you fail to beat your last high score. 8.9 In Caves of Confusion, you control a rocket flying horizontally through a cave. In your path are obstacles which have to be avoided or blown up. There are four increasingly harder levels. There’s lots of fun, explosions and frustration, and all for £6.99 from Generation Design. 8.9 BurnOut − Oregan Developments have just released a new race game called BurnOut − a racing game like no other. Driving on tracks that have more in common with roller coaster rides than conventional race tracks, you must pit your skill and reflexes against five other dune-buggy drivers. You have twenty drivers to choose from, and ten different dune buggies. Racing takes place on an island split into ten areas with different scenery, such as woodland, beach, desert, canyon, town, mountains and coastal port. Each area has a number of tracks, three on the first area, rising to ten on the hardest. To qualify for the next race, you must finish in either 1st, 2nd or 3rd place. Tracks are constructed not only on the ground, but also on scaffold, logs, over or through canyons, and through water. BurnOut features arcade-style intro sequences with stereo music and sound effects playing simultaneously during gameplay. BurnOut costs £24.95 inc VAT from Oregan Developments or £23 through Archive. 8.9 CineWorks CD − The new CineWorks video editing package from Oregan is supplied with a sample CD. The CD is available separately, as a demonstration of the product’s capabilities. The price is £19.95, which is refundable against a purchase of CineWorks, when it is available. 8.9 Digital Symphony CD-ROM − Oregan have produced a CD-ROM containing 500Mb of Digital Symphony tunes, as well as hundreds of samples for use in creating your own music. The RRP is £29.95 from Oregan, or £28 through Archive. 8.9 Digital Symphony upgrade − Oregan have upgraded Digital Symphony to ensure compatibility with the Risc PC. 8.9 EasyFont 3 upgrade − Easy Font 3 from Fabis Computing has been upgraded to accept fonts automatically from Zenta Multimedia’s new Font Emporium CD and the new iSV font pack. Anyone wishing to upgrade should return their original disc to Fabis with two first class stamps. 8.9 Ethernet Design and Installation Guide − This guide book from Acorn aims to help you through the stages necessary to set up an Ethernet network using Acorn equipment by giving you the information you need to discuss your plans with network specialists so that they can design and build the network you require. It is for network managers intending to install an Ethernet network, either a new network, replacing a slower system, or extending an existing network. It does not teach you how to design or install the network yourself. The price is £20 through Archive. 8.9 Fast IDE Interface − RapIDE Risc PC, 32-bit DMA-based Interface for the Risc PC. The Interface provides vastly increased throughput over the Risc PC motherboard. Using alternative drives it is possible to achieve reading speeds in excess of 8Mb per second using 32-bit direct memory access. It provides two IDE ports, allowing up to four devices to be connected, including IDE CD-ROMs. RapIDE Risc PC Interface costs £99 +VAT +£5 p&p, from Yellowstone Educational Solutions. 8.9 Faster Risc PC 486 cards − Aleph One have limited supplies of their variants of the PC processor card for the Risc PC. Currently Cyrix 486DX2/66 or DX40 processors are available. The cards co-exist with ARM610, 700 and 710 processors and, like the Acorn PC card, share the Risc PC memory and peripherals. The DX2/66 costs £399 +VAT and the DX40 costs £349 +VAT from Aleph One. 8.9 Geordian protection systems − Geordian Systems have two products to protect developers from computer piracy. Geordian Lock allows developers to protect their own software using a keydisc system. Geordian Installer offers the ability to protect software which has been installed to a hard disc by ensuring that it will only run off the hard disc to which it has been installed (although the software can be freely moved on that hard disc). If the user needs to move the software to a different medium, the software can be uninstalled and reinstalled to a different drive. Contact Geordian Systems for details. 8.9 Insight 95 − Acorn are putting on a residential conference for head teachers, department heads, IT coordinators and anyone involved in planning or implementing educational IT strategies. The conference includes two days of training; four 90 minute sessions on the first day, and three on the second day. Topics include, planning and implementing IT strategies, training in the use of Acorn RISC OS computers, software and network systems, and use of popular RISC OS packages from third parties. There are almost 100 sessions to choose from, covering a wide range of packages at different levels. 8.9 The conference is being held at the Hinckley Island Hotel on Friday 14th and Saturday 15th July. The cost is £499, but bookings received before 26th May 1995 qualify for a reduced price of £249 +VAT (£292.58 inclusive). The price includes all meals plus accommodation for the night of the 14th July. 8.9 For those unable to attend, Acorn offer a range of courses at their training centre in Cambridge. 8.9 Details can be obtained from The Insight 95 Administrator at Acorn. 8.9 MacroLife − Macrolife is a desktop version of the famous game of life, invented by the British mathematician John Conway in 1970. It displays a scrollable window onto a Life plane, or grid, onto which you can place patterns of cells and watch how they evolve. ‘Life’ is a fascinating game in which patterns of cells on a two-dimensional plane evolve, according to a simple rule. Despite its simplicity, Life patterns can behave like living organisms, moving, growing and even − theoretically, at least − reproducing and evolving. 8.9 A copy of the full program can be obtained by sending a cheque for £8 to Chris Taylor, 7 Prideaux Place, London WC1X 9PP. If you are on the net, he can email you a copy (without the printed manual) for £7. Chris will then donate four pounds to Motivation, a charity which designs inexpensive wheelchairs and organises their production using local materials in countries which cannot afford commercial models. 8.9 Money Manager − This is a new accounts package from Wynded Software, designed for home or business use where there is the need to store all financial transactions in an orderly way. Often only a simple mouse selection is needed, although keyboard shortcuts are available as you grow more accustomed to using the package. Capable of storing up to 500 transactions in each month (6,000 in a 12 month data file). Easy-to-use reporting facilities are included, allowing the specification of which accounts should be used. Reports can then be exported to almost any wordprocessor or DTP package. 8.9 NetReader − NetReader, from Digital Phenomena, is an off-line reader for Usenet messages downloaded from Internet Conferences. The package is shareware (£10 registration fee). Private and newsgroup messages are supported; message files should be in “#! rnews” format. Facilities include auto expiry of messages, and automatic signatures. 8.9 NoticeBoard − A new version has just been released by The Really Good Software Company. Notice Board is the electronic display system which enables sequences of poster-like displays to be run on unattended monitors. The advanced version of NoticeBoard has an improved front-end for easier page setup, and an option to use fades between pages whilst the program is running. Current users can obtain an upgrade by returning their existing disc to RGSC. The new version is £35 inclusive. 8.9 NStore 4D − H.S. Software have updated their National Curriculum record- keeping package. Automated report writing has been added, and the package includes the latest (1995) level descriptions in all the subjects, for both primary and secondary. NStore 4D costs £44.95 inclusive, and includes a manual and two program discs, sufficient for six classes of 36 children. Additional program discs for use in the same school are available for £3 each. 8.9 Upgrades are available for existing users (£4.70 from version 4.0, £16.95 from version 3.0 − you need to return your program disc, or quote your disc registration number when ordering). 8.9 Outline fonts from iSV − iSV aim to produce a new item each month. Among some of their latest releases are two outline fonts packs (277 and 298). The fonts are mostly PD versions from the USA. iSV have converted them, added scaffold lines and kerning data, and packaged them for the Acorn market. Many of the letters have been re-drawn and missing ones included. In pack 298, there are 39 families, each with Regular, Oblique, Condensed, Condensed Oblique, Extended, Extended Oblique (about 273 fonts). Pack 277 contains 14 families with about 120 fonts. The packs cost £25 each, or £45 for the two, from iSV Products − p&p £1.50. 8.9 Plantwise − Those who have seen the quality of Sherston’s Bodywise software will be pleased that their next offering, Plantwise, is now available. “Plantwise allows pupils to explore all aspects of plant life in highly intuitive and informative ways.” It covers the major part of the National Curriculum requirements for green plants as organisms at both KS2 and KS3, and can be tailored to present easier or harder text as required. The pack includes search cards, experiment sheet, user’s manual and a guide to using the software in the classroom. Plantwise costs £44.95 +VAT from Sherston or £50 through Archive. 8.9 Rocket for your Pocket − ExpLAN have created a set of spreadsheet datafiles for the Acorn Pocket Book and Psion 3/3a computers, for use in Science, Maths and Technology. When used in conjunction with a Payloader rocket, it enables pupils to track the rocket’s flight using a hand-held protractor device, and calculate the height with the Pocket Book. The datafiles contain formulae to calculate the average height from multiple readings, filter out erroneous measurements, calculate the burn-time for a given engine and calculate the thrust and acceleration. The payload carried can be varied, and a graph of mass against height can then be plotted. Further details from ExpLAN. 8.9 Spelling Book − Spelling Book, from Creative Curriculum Software, is aimed at users from 4 years old and upwards, provided they need help with their spelling! It integrates with any word processor on every Acorn 32-bit computer and is easy to configure and use. 8.9 It is not a spell checker, but rather, a computerised spelling book. When activated, dictionaries are instantly integrated in alphabetical order. Dictionaries responding to curriculum needs can be simply and quickly created, and a number of preset dictionaries are supplied with Spelling Book. Also included on the disc are three spelling games: Wordsearch, Fireworks and Art Gallery. Single user £39 +VAT; site licence £89 +VAT. 8.9 Textease templates − PaperSoft Ltd have just produced a selection of templates for use with Textease. The first two selections contain 100+ templates for Paper Direct Business Papers and 40+ templates for Paper Direct Fun/Theme Papers (they cost £24.95 and £14.95 inclusive, respectively). For label printing, there are templates for Avery laser, and Avery b&w and colour inkjet labels (the laser label templates cost £14.95, the inkjet labels cost £7.95). Finally, there are templates for Avery’s indexing system. The template disc includes precision software for each of the IndexMaker and ReadyIndex sheets, and for each number of divisions (5, 6, 10 and 12). Label and Index discs also contain a small clipart library of useful label and indexing icons. 8.9 Trip − This package from Creative Curriculum Software has been designed to provide assistance with the organising of school visits at home and abroad. It is a purpose-designed database application for the trip organiser, which can also be used to illustrate, for educational purposes, the practical use of a database. Trip handles all the accounts relating to a school visit − deposits, staged payments, special prices, payment for optional activities, etc. It also stores all personal details required − emergency addresses, dates-of-birth − and records items received, (passport, medical information, etc). It costs £14.95 +VAT from CCS. 8.9 VersaTile − VersaTile, from Dial Solutions, is a tiling program designed to encourage students of any age to explore geometry. The aim of the software is to allow investigation of 2D shapes with the minimum of restrictions, yet to utilise the computer’s power to provide a dramatic increase in accuracy and productivity over conventional paper, pencil and scissor techniques. It is a flexible tool that allows tiles to be drawn easily and manipulated in a similar way to moving shapes around on a table. VersaTile comes on two discs, and includes Oak Solutions’ !DrawPlot and !DrawPrint, plus a disc of examples. 8.9 VersaTile costs £45 +VAT for a single user, £100 +VAT for a primary school licence and £200 +VAT for a secondary licence from CCS. 8.9 VideoTrak − This new release from the Really Good Software Company should be welcomed by video enthusiasts keen to get their video collection organised. Once details have been entered into VideoTrak, you can browse through the catalogues and easily locate any film by title, actor, director, etc. With all categories fully cross-referenced, just selecting, for example, an actor’s name will provide a list of all his or her films, with instant access to detailed information on individual films and which tape they are on. VideoTrak costs £15 inclusive from RGSC. 8.9 Wing chair pricing − The kneeling chairs that we have been recommending (see Archive 8.3 p4) are going up in price to £340. However, I have one in stock (black base with grey upholstery) at £290. Give us a ring if you are interested − first come, first served. 8.9 Review software received... 8.9 We have received review copies of the following: •CDFast (for Networks) (u), •Macrolife (e), •Money Manager (u), •More Talking Stories (e), •NoticeBoard (m), •Outline fonts from iSV (u), •Spelling Book (e), •Trip (e), •Textease Templates (u), •VersaTile (e), •VideoTrak (u) •Vzap (u). 8.9 e=Education, b=Business, bk=Book, c=Comms, g=Game, h=Hardware, l=Language, m=Multimedia, u=Utility, a=Art. Acorn PC cards − Acorn say that they have now distributed all of the first 10,000 Risc PC 486 PCcards and that there won’t be any more available now until August. If you are still waiting for one, the only option we can offer is to supply an Aleph One version at cost. The DX40 is £406 and the DX2-66 is £466 (i.e. £290 and £350 respectively if you have already paid for your Acorn card), but this does NOT include a copy of DOS. (N.B. We can only sell at this price to those already on the waiting list.) 8.10 Ancestry II − Minerva have updated Ancestry, based on feedback from users. Features of particular interest are import and export of GedCom data, variable field lengths and linking of text files. Ancestry II is also fully multitasking. The price is £99.95 inc VAT or £95 through Archive. Registered users of Ancestry should have received details of a special upgrade offer. 8.10 Bell-ringing simulator − John Harrison has developed a program called Strike which is designed to help develop bell-ringing listening skills − basically a self-teaching aid for bell ringers presented in the form of a game. This costs £15 inclusive from John, and £10 of that goes to restoration work. You’ve heard of shareware, freeware and careware, well, this is belfryware! Send cheques to John at 2 Murdoch Road, Wokingham, RG40 2DA. 8.10 CD-ROM Mastering − Eesox are continuing to offer a CD-ROM mastering service, costing £60 +VAT. Data can be submitted on 650Mb magneto- optical disc, or SCSI or IDE hard disc. Most jobs can be turned around within 24 hours. As an added incentive, anyone purchasing an Eesox CD- ROM drive will receive a voucher giving a 50% discount on the production of a CD-ROM. 8.10 Celebration − A collection from Clares Micro Supplies of four applications on the theme of celebrations. Banner can be used to create both horizontal and vertical display banners using outline fonts, draw and sprite files. Calendar is designed for monthly or yearly calendars − a number of formats and languages can be used. Certify will produce personalised certificates with the names being entered individually or from a text file for multiple names. Giftwrap allows the creation of wrapping paper, as well as other pattern creation and textile design. A single user version costs £34.95 including VAT. A site-licence, covering an unlimited number of machines within the named site is available for £82.25 inclusive. 8.10 Cine Works − Oregan Developments have produced a sophisticated 32-track video mixing and editing studio, combined with 16-track audio capabilities. Video clips may be mixed together using a variety of transitions which are typically found in professional video editing environments. Transitions range from standard wipes and fades, to more adventurous central zooms and mosaic cuts. Full vision correction controls are provided so that Replay and MPEG clips may have their brightness, colour and contrast adjusted at any time after they have been captured, and even varied throughout the clip. The price from Oregan Developments is £159.95 inclusive or £152 through Archive. 8.10 Composition − This is a new art package for the Risc PC which enables object-based operations to be carried out on bit map images. Each image is treated as an object and effects applied appropriately. Features include image processing options, tints, shadowing, gamma and colour curve correction, sprite trimming, mask editing, rescaling and distortion, OLE of sprites to other applications, fully adaptive anti- aliasing of text using outline fonts, import of sprites, clear, JPEG, TIFF, TGA, PCX, PBM, BMP, PhotoCD, Draw and Artworks files, export of Composition format (retaining effects and features) or sprite, JPEG, Clear, TGA or PBM formats. The price from Clares is £169.95 including VAT (or £158 through Archive) and special offers are available for users of ProArt24, and other art packages − contact Clares for details. 8.10 Digital Darkroom − A new company, based in Kent, the Digital Darkroom offers a conversion service for Acorn Computers. Colour slides or negatives can be produced from sprites and drawfiles images − especially useful for presentations. A single slide costs £7.50, but orders for larger quantities will be considerably lower (20 or more will cost no more than £3.50 per slide). Regular users will also be offered a preferential rate. Documents, film and video taped images can also be transferred to Acorn format files. Quality of such images will be dependent upon the source quality. 8.10 Digital Symphony Masterpieces 8.10 Collection − We mentioned this CD-ROM last month but, unfortunately, got the price wrong. It costs £24.95 inclusive from Oregan Developments or £24 through Archive. 8.10 DTP book − Following the success of Robin Williams’ book on DTP design (“The Non-Designer’s Design Book”) we got hold of a copy of “The Mac is not a Typewriter” to which she refers several times in NDDB. Although, as the title suggest, the book is aimed at the Mac market, there is very little that is different on the Acorn machines, and I have prepared a supplement sheet to go with it so that it can be used for those using Acorn machines for DTP. Here’s what the official blurb about it says... 8.10 “The Mac is not a Typewriter” by Robin Williams is one of the most popular Mac books ever sold (over 300,000 now in print). It covers the top twenty things you need to know to make your documents look clean and professional: em dashes, curly quotes, spaces and indents, white spaces, etc. It’s a primer that novices can pick up quickly, and that pro’s can keep going back to. It is the winner of the 1991 Benjamin Franklin Award, Computer Book Category. 8.10 My view, for what it is worth, is that it’s another excellent book by Robin Williams. I have to admit that it it can’t compare with NDDB in terms of value for money (£10 including p&p through Archive cf £13 for NDDB) but, to be fair, NDDB is exceptional. So I would still say that The Mac is not a Typewriter is well worth the cost and, to support my claim, I will again make the same offer of a complete money-back guarantee if it is returned within 14 days. I know I’m on a winner there because, out of the hundreds of copies of NDDB we have sold, we haven’t had a single one returned. 8.10 Graphing and Charting − As mentioned in last month’s !Help column, Chris Johnson has released his collection of graph and function plotting applications. The applications are Graphdraw, ChartDraw, Multiplot, FnPlotter, Surface, 3DFnEdit and Text>Draw. The price is £4 inclusive, direct from Chris Johnson, 7 Lovedale Grove, Balerno, Edinburgh, EH14 7DR. 8.10 iSV Product Guide − iSV have produced issue 3 of their product guide, containing details and samples of nearly 600 RISC OS 3 fonts, along with information regarding their software products. The product guide is free and a demo disc is available for £2, both direct from iSV. 8.10 NetMail − An extension to Archiboard, this package offers a consistent WIMP front end to email and news groups within a school. It is designed to operate over any AUN compliant network, allowing email and conference articles to be retrieved from the Archiboard server. Due to the consistent interface, information can be retrieved from Internet, FidoNet or the local system in the same way, so staff and pupils do not need to learn separate systems. MIME support is also included, which allows files to be attached to messages for sending via any of the networks, although the recipient will need MIME support to extract the message. (MIME clients are available for most platforms including Mac, PC and Unix workstations.) Prices start from £80 +VAT + p&p from Supreme Software Solutions. 8.10 Network Cybernetics VR 8.10 CD-ROM − Lambda Publications can now supply this CD-ROM which holds a collection of virtual reality, telepresence and computer simulation development tools. Included are virtual reality development tools and sources, VR hardware interfacing source code and documentation, VR & simulation research papers and conference reports, simulation packages for many different fields of science, simulation development tools and sources, 3-D modelling utilities, development tools and sources, and a collection of 3-D object data in several file formats. The CD costs £65 including p&p and is supplied on 30 days evaluation. Existing customers and Archive readers can purchase it for £45.50. 8.10 Oxford Talking Infant Atlas − Sherston Software have released an updated version of their Oxford Infant Atlas, aimed at Key Stage 1 Geography. The software features optional labels for country, places and other geographical features, quiz questions to ask children to identify geographic features, sampled human speech for all sentences, place names and labels, along with animations and sound effects. The price is £20 +VAT for a single user version (or £22 through Archive) and an accompanying paperback atlas is available from Sherston for £2.80. 8.10 Patience Addict − Creative Curriculum Software have released a collection of twenty patience games, including one and two pack games, of varying levels of difficulty and complexity. The single user version is £12.73 +VAT. 8.10 Plantwise − Sherston Software have produced an interactive graphical database designed for 9−14 year olds, similar to their earlier database, Bodywise, with the addition of an interactive experiment section. Included in the pack are three discs, a set of experiment cards, a set of question cards, a user guide, and a booklet showing how to use Plantwise in the classroom. It costs £44.95 +VAT from Sherston Software or £50 through Archive. 8.10 Purple Software − A range of products from Purple Software is available now for the Psion series 3 and Acorn Pocket Book range. There are currently five products: DataView (£59.95), an enhanced database with table view, sorting, label printing and mail merge; File Manager (£39.95), for extra control of files, directories and SSD’s; FloChart (£49.95), a free-form flow chart designer; OrgChart (£49.95), a free- form organisation chart designer; DrawIt (£49.95) an object-based drawing package. 8.10 RecordZ − The database section of FireworkZ pro is now available as a stand-alone database from Colton Software. The price is £99 +VAT or £110 through Archive. 8.10 Report − This is a program for hard-pressed, report-writing teachers. It has been designed as a tool to speed up the process of writing reports, by inserting often used phrases and comments into a sentence. The writer reckons that the whole report-writing process can be speeded up by a factor of 10. The price is £14.95 for a single user or £29.95 for a site licence. Until August, there is a special launch price of £9.95 and £19.95 respectively. A demo version is available for £1 (refundable on ordering) or by sending a stamped addressed envelope and disc requesting it. Report is available from: Robert Lytton, 7 Helmsley Drive, West Park, Leeds, LS16 5HY. (The demo version is on this month’s program disc.) 8.10 Sibelius showroom − Sibelius 7 now has a dedicated London high-street showroom at Turnkey, 114-116 Charing Cross Road, WC2H 0DT (0171-379- 5148) (0171-379-0093). The new showroom gives customers the opportunity to compare Sibelius on the Risc PC with a 486 PC running Windows software so that they can judge for themselves which is best! 8.10 SOS − Save our Squirrels!! − Denis Bastaple, a former director of Digital Services Ltd, bought out the rights to Squirrel and other software when DSL went into voluntary liquidation. Squirrel, Armlock, Netgain (Econet and Ethernet), Waiter, Digistore and Archway are now all available from, and fully supported by, DSL Supplies. 8.10 Studio 24 has had some major updates and the new version will be available very soon. The full price is £199, or £189 through Archive. The upgrade for existing users will be FOC through Pineapple Software. 8.10 TableMate 3 − Dalriada Data Technology have raised their comprehensive table-making application to version 3, which incorporates some worthwhile improvements and is available from Dalriada for £32.50 inclusive. Anyone who bought TableMate 2 on or after 1 March 1995 may upgrade to version 3 for £2.50, otherwise the upgrade from v2 costs £5. Send your remittance and original disc to Dalriada. Upgrade from earlier versions is currently £10-£20, depending on the variant (e.g. as bundled with Impression). Contact Dalriada for an upgrade price. 8.10 New features include: button bar similar to Style or Publisher, use of desktop interactive help with button bar, OLE to !Draw, Formulix etc, simple spreadsheet, right & left justified and centred text, import & export of CSV files, automatic addition of quotes for headers in CSV files, vertical ruler, vertical tab (top, middle or bottom of cell), vertical joining/splitting of cells, multiple rule-offs between columns and/or rows, reorganised menus, currency character control, £ default, colour picker RGB, HSV, CMYK, more Impression compatible keystrokes with the option of using the old TableMate2 ones. 8.10 Technology and Design CD-ROM − NW SEMERC has set up this CD-ROM to make pupils at Key Stages 2 and 3 think about technology and design in everyday life. The CD isn’t just confined to the Design and Technology department, but can be used in Maths, English, Geography and History. Everything is based on the town of ‘Skegton’, with pupils seeking ways of improving the daily life of its inhabitants. The Technology and Design CD-ROM is available from Northwest SEMERC, price £49 +VAT. 8.10 Teletext+ − Octopus Systems, who purchased the remaining stock of Ground Control Teletext adaptors, have announced a new version of the controlling software, which incorporates a number of new features. Frequently used pages are cached on disc, thereby improving response times. Sub pages are also cached, so you no longer need to wait for the page you just missed to come round again. Keywords can also be searched for to find important information automatically; the search can take place over all pages or just on likely pages, so you can search for a particular television programme, for example. Pages can be exported as teletext, sprite or plain text formats. The software upgrade for existing Ground Control teletext cards is £39, including p&p and VAT. If you would like the teletext hardware as well as the software, the package is £165 inclusive, while stocks last. 8.10 TEX and LATEX for RISC OS − A new implementation of the powerful typesetting language TEX, complete with the latest version of LATEX and lots of other goodies is now available for RISC OS computers. It has been ported from the world of Unix by Mark Sinke in Holland, and is coordinated in this country by Robin Watts at Oxford University. It is freely available by ftp from ftp.comlab.ox.ac.uk in the directory /tmp/ Robin.Watts/TeX, or from good PD libraries. 8.10 UK Habitats − This new resource CD-ROM from AVP Picturebase gives details of a number of habitats in the UK. The aim is to give an understanding of the variety of living things, and of the way they survive and compete for resources. Habitats covered include Deciduous Woodland, Urban, Farm Land, Sand Dune, Fresh Water, Salt Marsh, Sand and Mud, Roadside and Hedgerow. The single user educational price is £99 +VAT or £150 +VAT including a site licence from AVP. 8.10 World Data for primary schools − The Centre for World Development Education (CWDE) have now released the World Development Database for use in primary Schools. This is the result of a collaboration with Sheffield Hallam University who produced the Database Project book included with the pack. The book includes ideas for data handling in English, Geography, Mathematics and Science at Key Stage 2. The User Handbook contains practical information about the datafiles and fields. The large amount of data in the original version is retained, but a SlimWorld file has been added with easy-to-understand field names. Acorn and PC versions are available, with data in KeyPlus/KeyNote (Anglia), CSV and Text formats for import into most databases. A single user pack includes a User Handbook, a Database Project book, the World Bank’s “Development Data Book”, supplemental 1991 Data Sheet and data disc, and costs £25 +VAT. A class set containing all the above, reproducible data disc and two extra Data Books, is available for £45 +VAT from CWDE. 8.10 World Habitats − This is another CD-ROM in the AVP Picturebase series, containing pictures, written text and spoken word, covering the world’s major habitats. Comparisons can be made by choosing elements from different modules. Possible uses include covering impact of human activities on environmental systems, the occurrence and effects of natural hazards, and the need for management and conservation of fragile habitats. Habitats included are Mountain, Alpine, Desert, Mediterranean, Tropical Mountain, Savanna, Polar and Temperate Forest. The single user educational price is £99 +VAT or £150 +VAT including a site licence from AVP. 8.10 Review software received... 8.10 We have received review copies of the following: •CineWorks (pre- release) (m), •Composition (a), •Graphs & Charts (eu), •Report (e), •Strike (ge),•Textease Templates (u). 8.10 8.11 ARM RISC Chip: A Programmer’s Guide − This book, by Alex van Someren and Carol Atack, examines the ARM RISC processor, and support chips, in particular the ARM6 core. It gives details of the instruction set, both integer and floating point, and covers many other topics essential for assembly language programming. The price is £24.95 or £25 through Archive (including p&p). More information is available on page 2 8.11 CD-ROMs from Anglia Multimedia − Anglia Multimedia have released three CD-ROMs aimed at the 11−14 age group. The three titles are: ‘Industrial Revolution’, ‘Understanding Energy’ and ‘Castles’. The CDs use a full range of multimedia techniques − there are video clips and animation, hundreds of photographs, vector graphics, scanned images, text and audio clips. 8.11 The Castles CD contains information on over 150 castles in the British Isles and Ireland, including all the English Heritage sites. Building a castle, attacking a castle and defending a castle are all part of one of the chapters on the disc. Another chapter takes you to Chirk Castle in the time of Edmund Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, where you meet castle guides who explain their role and their life. They are mostly real characters − based on the account rolls of Chirk. 8.11 The principal themes of ‘Industrial Revolution’ are Transport, Agriculture, Industry and People. The disc allows you to visit the homes of rich and poor, introduces inventors and industrialists, demonstrates traditional techniques and explores the highways, railways and canals which allowed the Industrial Revolution to take place. 8.11 Understanding Energy examines the different sources of energy we have at our disposal, looking at how they have been used in the past and how they might be developed in the future. It provides a comprehensive introduction to the Science, History, Technology and Geography of energy. It addresses the understanding of energy under four main headings. ‘What is energy?’ is approached in the first section; the second answers the question ‘How do we get our energy supplies?’; the third question is, ‘Who uses what?’ and the fourth deals with, ‘Future energy decisions’. 8.11 Understanding Energy costs £50 +VAT (£56 through Archive). Castles costs £40 +VAT (£45 through Archive) and the Industrial Revolution costs £110 +VAT (£122 through Archive). Schools that already have licences for the Key Plus database system can purchase this CD for £90 +VAT from Anglia Multimedia. 8.11 CD-Tracker − This package is a database and playing utility for (audio) CDs from Werewolf Software. The database facilities are available on any machine and allow you to make a record of your CDs, and which tracks are on which disc. The data can also be exported to/from a wide range of databases (including the ARM Club’s SmartCD). On machines which have a CD-ROM drive fitted, it is also possible to use the program to control the drive to play your CDs in a favourite order, shuffled or just individual tracks. The price is £12.72 + £1 p&p from Werewolf Software. A demo disc is also available which can be downloaded from Arcade BBS (file: CDdemo), or by post from Werewolf Software. (Either send them a jiffy bag, return postage and an 800Kb disc, or £1 to cover DD disc and postage.) 8.11 Disc repair − LOOKsystems have just launched a free Disc Repair Advice Service and also a ‘No Fix, No Fee’ Data Recovery Service. These are based on LOOKsystems’ expertise built up on their Archimedes Disc Rescue software (£35 inc VAT). Since 1991, this has saved 1000’s of discs and gigabytes of data. 8.11 The free telephone technical help is offered to all of its registered users and has talked many anxious customers through the repair and recovery process. LOOKsystems are now offering their extensive expertise free of charge by launching a new telephone help line. If you have just lost some important data or your hard drive has been taken ill, you can call them on 01603-748253 and they will help you to diagnose the problem and explain whether it is possible to retrieve your data or not. 8.11 The ‘no fix, no fee’ data recovery service is a fixed fee service which costs £10 inc VAT for floppy discs and £50 inc VAT for hard disc drives. As the name suggests, if the disc cannot be repaired or any useful data recovered, LOOKsystems will waive their fee and return the disc. However, this fee does not include carriage in either direction. 8.11 So, for example, anyone sending floppy discs to be repaired should also send the same number of blank formatted discs onto which the data can be recovered, an SAE for all of the discs to be returned and a separate £10 cheque for each disc − this is so you only pay for the discs that are recovered. Hard disc owners should call LOOKsystems to discuss the problem in detail before sending any equipment. 8.11 DMI/PowerWAVE 50 − The Audio Dynamics soundcards are now available for machines with standard sized podules as well as mini podules (see Archive 8.8 p4). The DMI 50 (Dual Midi Interface) costs £85, DMI 50 − S, including sampler costs £164. The PowerWAVE 50 includes wavetable daughter board with 32 channel Ensoniq general Midi synthesizer with 128 instrument and 49 percussion sounds, removing the need to have external sound module. This costs £199, and the PowerWAVE 50−S, with sampler, costs £249. All those prices exclude carriage and VAT. Archive prices are £97, £187, £227 and £284, respectively, inclusive. 8.11 Finance Manager − A new accounting application for RISC OS designed for personal, home or club accounting. It will run on any machine with RISC OS 3 or later, with at least 2Mb of RAM. Features include unlimited accounts, transactions, automatic payments (standing orders etc), drag and drop import/export, and backup/restore facilities, statement production, transaction analysis, automatic filing, fast data entry, inter-account transfer, powerful categorization of transactions, forecasting and budgeting. The price is £29.99 inclusive direct from Solloway Software, and a demonstration disc is also available. 8.11 FPA11 − Acorn have now released the FPA11 Floating Point Accelerator chip for use with the A5000 and A540. The chip has a maximum clock rate of 33MHz (cf the earlier FPA10 which was 25MHz). The new chip will work in machines with a 25MHz clock rate, although there is no advantage in doing so, over using the FPA10. For users with 33MHz versions of the A5000, however, you will gain the 30% performance increase. 8.11 Acorn quote a peak throughput of 6Mflops, and an average of 4Mflops for a range of calculations. It conforms with IEEE 754-1985 for single precision arithmetic and, for double or extended precision, has an accuracy of ± 2 units in the least significant place of the mantissa. The price is £99 +VAT. If you require additional technical information, a 62-page data booklet is available from Acorn Direct/Vector Services for £10 including p&p. 8.11 Hermes − Base5’s “desktop messenger & interpreter” was reviewed last month, page 59. It can do so many different things that it is difficult to know how to describe it, or who might want to buy it. It got a good review, so we have decided to sell it through Archive even though Base5 is not VAT registered (i.e. we lose 17½% straight away if we sell it at the same price they do). Then, again, because it has such a range of features that might be used in all sorts of different ways, we didn’t know how to categorise it for the price list, so we put it under both Productivity Tools and Programming. 8.11 Hermes has facilities for text transfer and file interpretation, graphic file loading, activity recorder, window capture, desktop monitor, flexible event timer, automatic paragraph numbering and features over 300 commands. It is available direct from Base5 for £25 (no VAT) or through Archive at £25 including VAT. 8.11 iSV Font Offer − iSV are currently running a summer offer on their two RISC OS font packs, totalling over 550 fonts. When purchased together, the packs cost £36.50 including carriage (£15 less than the usual price). 8.11 IT in the Primary School − This is a new curriculum planning resource written by teachers for teachers, governors and parents. As the new National Curriculum orders come into effect many teachers are asking the question, “What should my children be doing with IT?” The new orders seem to be written to hide the answers. This new 24-page booklet (text also supplied on disc) provides realistic targets at three key primary school points − the end of KS1, mid KS2 and end of KS2. 8.11 A practical progression through Word Processing, Data Handling, Control, Modelling and Monitoring, enables teachers to check children’s performance and plan routes through cross-curricular themes and topics, while others, who may simply wish to work with IT as a subject in its own right, will also find the book helpful. The IT in the Primary School booklet and disc cost £10 (no VAT) from Topologika. 8.11 LjDuplex − Mijas Software have updated their Duplex printing of Impression booklets on HP duplex laserjets. If you are using this, you should send a disc direct to Mijas Software to receive the upgrade. If you have not already registered, you should do so at the same time. 8.11 PicturePoint − Longman Logotron have now launched PicturePoint on CD. It is a data-handling package for infants, and includes colourful pictures and talking graphs. A number of projects are included, using pictures relating to birthdays, journeys, fruit, transport, weather and pets. An example project is a pet ownership survey, where pupils find out about which class members own what type of pets, and display graphs to see the information collected. The graphs are updated live, promoting an understanding of the relationship between the information and what it represents. The graphs can also ‘speak’ the data at a click of the mouse. The program has two sections − the collector enables pupils to collect and display the information by clicking on one of a number of images, and the designer application enables teachers to create projects using their own pictures and sounds. 8.11 PicturePoint will run on any Acorn RISC OS computer with CD-ROM drive and 2Mb RAM. The cost is £29 +VAT and a site licence costs £90 +VAT (£33 and £100 respectively through Archive). 8.11 PocketBook II price drop − Acorn have dropped the price of the Pocket Book II palm-top computers. The RRP is now £205 +VAT for the 256Kb version, and £255 +VAT for the 512Kb version. The PocketBook II class pack, containing ten 256Kb versions, a parallel link for printing, and a desktop link for connecting Pocket Books to a desktop machine costs £2049 +VAT. (There is also a special deal of an eleventh Pocket Book II if a set of 10 is bought before 30th September 1995. Ring NCS for details of this and deals on 20+ Pocket Books.) 8.11 Postmaster for RISC OS − Rapport Limited have just launched a new PostScript Level II RIP (Raster Image Processor) called PostMaster. Like other PostScript RIPs, it is available for DOS and UNIX, but it was co-developed on Acorn machines and is therefore not just a port of a DOS application. PostMaster gives PostScript to any RISC OS application, and allows Acorn machines to drive high end professional printing devices such as image setters. For more information contact Rapport Limited. 8.11 Risc PC TRM − The Risc PC Technical Reference Manual is now available for £29.95 (no VAT) or £30 inc p&p through Archive. 8.11 SIMMs for Risc PC − The price of SIMMs for the Risc PC is, shall we say, variable. Because of this, we have to keep our prices, if anything, a little on the high side. (The same applies to hard drives.) So when you are thinking of buying, it may be worth ringing up first and checking if the pricing can be improved at all at the time of purchase. 8.11 Smudge the Scientist − This is a first science program for 4-8 year olds from Storm Educational Software. It comes on three discs covering Life and Living, Decay, Electricity, Magnets, The Weather and Floating and Sinking. Three work books are also included to help the teacher support the program with classroom activities. The price is £45.99 inc. VAT from Storm or £44 through Archive. 8.11 SnapHappy − This utility from Dial Solutions enables animations to be made using any desktop application. An area of an application’s window can be marked and, at a keypress or mouse click, the next frame in the animation can be grabbed. Any application can be used to produce the animation since the frame is grabbed off the screen, although obviously the most suitable applications are those which allow you to use graphics, such as Draw, or Paint. SnapHappy costs £20 +VAT or £80 +VAT for a site licence from Dial Solutions. 8.11 SoundLab update − Solent Computer Products, who took over the Oak Recorder System from Oak Solutions have updated the SoundLab software. Sound processing now includes a reverse option, which can be applied to all or part of a sample, and samples can be merged from the clipboard to another sample, starting at any point. The toolbox buttons can be displayed in a choice of sizes for easier use by young children, or when using large screen modes. Two new utilities are also provided, an oscilloscope program which is written in Basic and demonstrates the use of the SWIs provided, and a RISC OS application to convert Armadeus format sound files to or from PC WAV format. Existing users who wish to upgrade should return their discs to Solent, together with a cheque for £5 +VAT. 8.11 The Theodore Set − This selection of fonts and clipart from the Datafile is the first in the Engravers collection by Tony Nash. The collection aims to allow documents to be produced in the style of 18th and 19th century engravers. The price is £27.50 including p&p and VAT. 8.11 Topologika catalogue − A new catalogue of Topologika’s educational software is available free of charge − just write, ring or fax them for a copy. 8.11 ViVID − iSV have released this high-resolution emulator for older Acorn machines. ViVID requires a VIDC enhancer and a true multisync monitor. It offers work areas up to 2048×1234 in 16 colours, up to 1472×1070 in 256 colours via a mode selection utility similar to a Risc PC. All resolutions also support 16 level greyscale and extended 4 colour dithering. The price is £11.50 inclusive. 8.11 Products Available 8.12 Archive CD − Jumping unashamedly on the bandwagon, NCS has now released an Archive CDROM! The contents are as follows... 8.12 − Archive Impression Files − all of the Archive magazines from 4.5 (the first one to be done on Acorn machines rather than Macs) up to and including this one (8.12). 8.12 − Archive Words discs, again from 4.5 to 8.12 − these are text files of all the articles in those magazines so you can search through for that elusive article (or was it just a hint?) that you remember reading in Archive... somewhere! 8.12 − Archive Products Available file − the text of all the Products Available columns in all the Archive magazines right back to Volume 1, Issue 1! (“Did anyone ever produce a program for Acorn machines to count hen’s teeth?”) 8.12 − Archive Monthly Program Discs right from Volume 1 to the present issue. It’s quite fun looking back at some of the ‘amazing programs’ we published nearly eight years ago! 8.12 − Archive Utility Discs all eight discs as detailed in section 28 of the Price List. 8.12 − Archive Hints & Tips Discs − the text of all the hints and tips ever published in Archive, right back to the days of good old Arthur (the OS before RISC OS). 8.12 − Archive Glossary − a glossary of almost 300 technical Acorn-related words, with over 9,000 words of explanation as to what they all mean. 8.12 − Archive PD Discs − Lots of the old ‘Careware’ and ‘Shareware’ discs that we used to distribute. 8.12 − Archive Multimedia Swap Shop − Paul Hooper has sent us all the best multimedia applications/binders that he has collected. 8.12 − PLUS a special guest appearance of the oldest-established Archive author, who has written articles in every single Archive magazine (barring about two in the first volume) for eight solid years. 8.12 Our very own Gerald Fitton has sent us sample discs for his three disc subscriptions: Z-Line for users of Fireworkz, PipeLine for users of PipeDream and ILine for users of Style, Publisher and P-Plus. 8.12 The Archive CD-ROM costs £15 inc VAT to non-subscribers or £12 to subscribers. 8.12 As a special launch offer, we will make it available for £8 if purchased at the same time as renewing your subscription. This is a special offer strictly until Friday 15th September only. (You may take advantage of this offer by renewing your subscription now, even if it is not due until later in the year. You may even avoid an increase in the subscription rate by doing so!) 8.12 AudioManager − CD Circle have produced an 8-bit mono sound card which plugs into the parallel port of the Risc PC to offer sound facilities to the PC card. The kit includes the dongle with through-printer facilities (which supports all known dongles), combined speaker and microphone with battery holder input/output/9v power socket and touch button high/low volume control. Also included is a Windows Voice and Icon enhancement feature and the Microsoft Home CD Sampler, with previews of over 55 programs and 8 Windows games. Windows and 8Mb of memory allocated to the PC card, are required to use the package. The price is £85 inclusive, or £70 to CD Circle members. 8.12 Big Ben Club Open Day − The Dutch Acorn Computer User Society, the Big Ben Club, will be holding their 13th annual open day on Saturday September 23rd. The event will be held at the Community Centre, “De Kiekmure”, Tesselschadelaan 1, at Harderwijk between 10 and 4. Admission is free to club members, Hfl. 7,50 to non-members. More information can be obtained by contacting Big Ben Club, P.O.Box 1189, 6801 BD Arnhem, The Netherlands. A bulletin board is also available on (31) (0)20- 6631849, and a fax machine on (31) (0)70-3663194. 8.12 Canon printers − Canon have changed their range of bubblejet printers by revising earlier printers and adding of some entirely new products. 8.12 BJC70 − Portable colour and mono printer, 360 dpi in colour, 720 dpi with smoothing in mono − £310. 8.12 BJ-200ex − Mono, 360 dpi (720 dpi with smoothing) − £260. 8.12 BJC-4000 − Colour and mono, 360 dpi colour, 720 dpi mono with smoothing − £320. 8.12 BJ-600e − Colour and mono, four separate colour ink wells, 360 dpi in colour, 720 dpi in mono, with smoothing − £445. 8.12 These printers will work with Acorn !Printers 1.28c, although some resolutions may not be available (the BJC600 driver does not support the 720×360 dpi mode, for example). For additional speed, the Canon Turbodriver also supports all the above printers, although again some resolutions may not be available. Add £45 to the above prices if you would like a Turbo Driver as well as the printer, which includes a special printer cable. If you plan to use the Acorn drivers, and do not have a printer cable, we can supply a standard cable for £10. 8.12 Cross Stitch − iSV Products’ cross-stitch design package allows sprites to be used as input, to produce a full cross-stitch pattern, using up to 64 colours from 512 named industry-standard thread colours. The design can be saved as a drawfile for importing into DTP packages, as a colour or black and white design. It gives support for a wide variety of materials, and provides automatic conversion of sprite colours to named colours, automatic calculation of finished design size, definable background colour and over 10,000 stitches per pattern. The price is £21.50 including p&p from iSV or £20 through Archive. 8.12 DEC_dATA on WWW − DEC_dATA now have their brochure on the World Wide Web, including product information and prices of Acorn Clipart and multimedia products. The URL is ‘http://www.zynet.co.uk/decdata/’. The DEC_dATA e-mail address is at info@decdata.zynet.co.uk. 8.12 Digital Darkroom 2 − This is a TransGraphic viewer from Desktop Laminations, supplied with a version of TransPCD which will read Kodak and all Corel Professional PhotoCD-ROMs. Facilities include variable size thumbnails and slideshow. It will recognise other Transloaders, such as TransTiff supplied with Impression. DL also produce a set of loaders to use with this application − see below. The price is £45 inclusive, or £35 for members of the CD Circle. 8.12 Fire & Ice is a game which has already received good reviews from other platforms, notably Atari and Amiga. Now it’s been converted for the Archimedes by Paul Chapman and is available from Renegade at £25.99 (£24 through Archive). For more details, see the review on page 40. 8.12 Font Trix PRO − This package from iSV is an enhanced version of the Font Trix application supplied with their Font Designer’s Toolkit. It will load RISC OS 2, 3 and Base0 outline fonts, make real outline fonts (rather than transformed versions), will auto-adjust kern-pairs, make new styles, load and save transformations, has automatic shifting of scaffold lines and can repair faulty scaffolding, and can adjust skeletons and bounding boxes, etc. The price is £25 (+£1.50 p&p) from iSV (or £24 through Archive), or £15 (+£1.50 p&p) for owners of the Font Designer’s Toolkit. 8.12 Game On! Release 2 − The ARM Club have released a new version of their Game On! software, which allows many non-Risc PC compatible programs, particularly games, to work on the Risc PC. The new version has a redesigned front end and database for improved speed and ease of use. New features include support for both RISC OS 3 and 3.1 mode extension modules, and a method for preventing games reducing the font cache to zero. Support is included for more games than the earlier releases, as well as other applications such as 65Host, Satcom, and some music module players (such as trackers) are also supported. The database has been updated, with all games tested for compatibility with and without Game On installed. The price is £15 inclusive from the ARM Club, or £5 to upgrade from the earlier release. 8.12 Indigo CD-ROM drives − Cumana have dropped the prices on their Dual- Speed Indigo CD-ROM drives for the Risc PC, the CAA300i is £125 +VAT +p&p or £150 through Archive, the CAA300iA (with audio mixer) is £175 +VAT +p&p or £205 through Archive. The range has been extended with two quad-speed variants, the CAA340i (£199 +VAT +p&p − £235 through Archive) and the CAA340iA (£249 +VAT +p&p − £290 through Archive), which make use of the IDE/ATAPI interface and do not need an additional controller card. Alternatively, the CXX441(£199 +VAT +p&p − £235 through Archive) is a quad-speed SCSI drive − if you do not already have one, you will also need a SCSI card to use it. 8.12 Loaders/Savers for Impression − This is a set of extensions to Style (3.06 or later), Publisher (4.04 or later) and Publisher Plus (5.04 and later). When installed, they give extended facilities for importing and exporting Rich Text Format (RTF) files (as used by Microsoft Word and the Acorn PocketBook) and WordPerfect 5.1 files, which will be of great help to people who regularly need to exchange files with other platforms. It is important to note that it will only transfer the text, and most style/effect information, but not graphics or some text formatting information (such as multiple columns and page size details, which are handled differently on Impression). Two other utilities are also included which set up translation tables for fonts and characters, so you can configure the way in which transferred documents appear. The RTF Loader/Savers cost £29 +VAT +p&p from CC or £34 through Archive. 8.12 MacroLife − This is an excellent multitasking version of Conway’s Game of Life that allows for huge life planes which can be viewed at any scale and scrolled around in a window while it’s running. MacroLife has now reached version 1.8 and is now RISC OS 2 compatible, faster to load and even uses a little less memory. The full program can be obtained by sending a cheque for £8 to Chris Taylor at his new address, 32 Burghley Court, Great Holm, Milton Keynes, MK8 9EL (01908-569556). Four pounds of that will be donated to the charity, Motivation. (See the review on page 35.) 8.12 Magpie CD-ROM − Longman Logotron have released a new ‘value added’ version of Magpie, their multimedia application. It is supplied with ready-to-run projects created by existing users, and a wide range of samples, clipart, and sound samples. Magpie allows pupils to create multimedia projects by combining a variety of resources, including words, pictures, video and sound on the same ‘page’ of an electronic book, using simple drag and drop techniques. The single user version costs £59, a primary site licence £190 and a secondary licence £330. Registered Magpie users can upgrade to this latest version for half price. All prices are exclusive of VAT and postage. (£69, £215 and £370 respectively through Archive) 8.12 Movie FS − Warm Silence Software have updated and renamed their extensions to Replay, allowing it to playback films and samples not normally supported. File formats include Video for Windows (.AVI), QuickTime (.MOV), Animator Pro (.FLI), and WaveForms (.WAV). The price is £26.42 (no VAT, including p&p). 8.12 Online Magazine − This is yet another Acorn magazine that is produced “by enthusiasts for enthusiasts” to refute our claim in the advertising blurb we have been sending out lately. Online Magazine has been going for four years now as “a publication for (hopefully) light, humorous and basically easy reading about Acorn related products. It is a decidedly ‘supplemental’, non-technical publication (as much as is possible with the subject matter) aimed at teachers and school technicians.” says John Hughes, Co-Editor. John is co-editing because John Hammell, the Founding Editor is in and out of hospital for horrific-sounding operations to his legs following a terrible road accident some years ago. Hope things are soon improved, John! 8.12 The issues of Online Magazine that John sent to me are all 50 − 60 pages A5, mostly filled with articles although there are a few adverts. It seems quite good value at £17 for 12 issues. Send cheques, made out to ‘Online Magazine’ to John Hughes, 74 Kilbagie Street, Kincardine, Fife, FK10 4QX. 8.12 PickAPic − Hugh Eagle now has an updated version of his PickAPic clipart viewer and organiser available. It should be available from PD libraries, including APDL. Textual descriptions can now be included, and pictures can be displayed much more quickly, by storing thumbnails of the images in a special directory. 8.12 Portfolio − A new presentation package from Warwickshire Educational Computing Centre (WECC). The package will produce a slideshow from a directory of images (including Sprite and Draw, in normal and Squashed formats) and a number of foreign formats, including Windows BMP and JPEG. Display is full screen, in whatever screen mode is selected at the time, and control can be automatic, manual or by script file. To start a display, simply drag a directory of images to the PortFolio icon on the iconbar. Sounds can also be associated with screens. A companion program, Gallery, allows multiple images to be printed eight to a page, including the full filename if desired. The prices are £25 (Single user and primary Site Licence) and £29 (secondary Site Licence) for Portfolio, and £15 (S/U and primary S/L) and £25 (Secondary S/L) for Gallery. 8.12 Printers 1.28c − We are now able to supply the latest version of Acorn’s printer manager !Printers. It is supplied with two discs, and paper documentation, so the price is £5 to cover duplication and p&p. 8.12 Proteus − Cumana have released a combination drive, which integrates a quad speed CD-ROM drive, and a 650Mb rewritable disc, which can be formatted and partitioned in the same way as any SCSI hard disc. The removable discs are housed in a permanent plastic case, like a floppy disc. The access time is 165ms, and the average transfer rates are between 518 and 1141 Kb/s. The drive needs a SCSI interface to operate, and is available in internal (£549 +VAT +p&p, or £635 through Archive) and external (£699 +VAT +p&p, or £805 through Archive) versions. 8.12 Risc PC 486 cards − At the time of writing, projected availability of the PC cards for the Risc PC is still set at the end of August. The special price of £99+VAT will end after 31st August, unless the card is purchased with a Risc PC. After that time, anybody who is not purchasing a Risc PC will have to pay the full price of £199+VAT. If you have been holding off placing an order until the cards are more freely available, then you need to order as soon as possible, and certainly before 31st August. (We gather that the new batch of PC cards are the same as existing cards, i.e. they do not yet have any enhanced capabilities.) 8.12 Technology & Design (NW SEMERC) − This package allows pupils to carry out a design brief for something within a fictional town, covering the community, the environment, at home, at play, at school and recreation, using a large number of Acorn Replay and photographic images. The price is £59 +VAT +p&p, and the package requires My World 2. 8.12 Three Little Pigs (Tempest Publishing) − For children just starting to read, this package aims to develop numeracy skills, as well as literacy, and an awareness of their environment. It comprises an interactive talking story and the characters and themes appear in a set of related activities. The price is £25.49 +VAT +p&p, or £31 through Archive. 8.12 Trans-Graphic Loaders − A new set of graphics loaders for use with Artworks, Style and Publisher, Ovation Pro and Digital Darkroom 2 (see above). The Trans loaders are produced in conjunction with Computer Concepts. The pack includes translators for BMP/DIB files, GIF (including conversion of attached text), Windows ICO files, PCX and WPG files. The price is £45 inclusive from Desktop Laminations (£35 to members of the CD Circle). 8.12 Review software received... 8.12 We have received review copies of the following: •extASM assembler and AOF utility (lu), •Strike (e), •Portfolio (e). 8.12