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1995-02-16
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• 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