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1995-06-25
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• 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