Archive Magazine CD 1995/Archive Magazine CD 1995.iso/text/products/volume_06/issue_09

Text File | 1995-02-16 | 37KB | 688 lines

•    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