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Archive Magazine 1995
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issue_05
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1995-02-21
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Å Acorn Languages Ö Release 2 of Fortran 77, Iso-Pascal and ANSI-C are
all available now from Acorn at the same price as before Ö ú99 + VAT (or
through Archive at ú99 inclusive). If you already have release 1 and
want an upgrade, send the original disc (just the disc and not all the
documentation) with a cheque for ú30 to Acorn Direct, Studland Road,
Kingsthorpe, Northampton, NN2 6NA. (N.B. This offer is only open until
April 1st 1989.) (N.B.2 The symbolic debugger, which forms part of the
Software Developers Toolbox, will only work with release 2 languages.)
2.5
Å Arc P.C.B. from Silicon Vision Ltd. is now NOT going to be available
in the cheaper non-auto-routing version. It is however still available
as the full package at ú195 (ú170 inc. through Archive).
2.5
Å Arcade 3 Compilation from Clares Micros ú14.95 (ú14 through Archive).
This consists of Mazey Man (a derivative of Snapper), Bounce-a-Ball (an
Arcanoids game like breakout) and Zarcon Invasion. We have a review copy
and it looks good value except that it does not, at the moment, work on
computers that have a Computer Concepts ROM podule installed. (Iæve
asked Dave Clare and Charles Moir to see if they can sort it out!)
2.5
Å Arcendium from Dabs Press ú14.95 (ú14 through Archive). Draughts,
Reversi, 4 in a row and Backgammon. Play against the computer or some-
one else. Weæve got a copy for review Ö looks good.
2.5
Å Archway from Simtron is a set of tools for handling the WIMP environ
ment. For ú79.95 inc VAT, you will get 4 x 800k unprotected discs and a
300 page ring bound User Guide, although it is not actually available
yet. Version 1.1 for RISC-OS öwill be available in Mayò and will be 5
discs and will cost ú99.95.
2.5
Å Bumper Pack 2 Ö ú19.95 from HS Software Ö five entertaining English
and Number games plus a complete package of programs for designing,
solving and printing your own crosswords (includes 20 ready-made
crosswords). The games are suitable for children 5 Ö 12 and the
crosswords package is also suitable for adults. (RISC-OS compatible)
2.5
Å Digi-Sim Ö from Musbury Consultants will be available ömid-Februaryò
costing öround about ú45ò. (Archive will be stocking it, ring to confirm
price and availability.) It consists of a program that simulates
different logic circuit elements including an unlimited (really?!)
number of gates. Circuits are made by dragging gates onto the screen and
then wiring them up using the mouse and pointer. When the circuit is
completed, the diagram is animated, wires change colour to indicate the
logic level on them, LEDæs glow red, 7-segment displays change to
reflect their logic inputs. Also included is a logic tutorial program.
2.5
Å EpBAS Ö Extended Precision in BASIC (see Archive 2.3, page 2). Abacus
Training have responded to suggestions for improving their software for
extended precision within BASIC. Version 2.00, which is still ú30, is
available for existing users on a free disc-for-disc upgrade and gives
extra functions such as factorial, binomial coefficient, hypotenuse
(i.e. square root of the squares of two numbers Ö particularly useful
for crunching complex numbers as in Mandelbrots), hyperbolic and inverse
hyperbolic functions, degrees to radians and vice versa.
2.5
Å Extended Pipedream? Aarow Software have set up an impressive sounding
system for the small business user (or big private user?) of Pipedream
to keep track of letters, send mailshots etc at the press of just a few
buttons. ú23 inclusive. For more details, contact Graham Hobson, 0705
511056. (We are hoping to get someone to try it out.)
2.5
Å Fireball Ö Arcade game from Go-dax Entertain-ment ú19.95 (ú18 through
Archive). Basically a öbrickoutò type game but with 100 screens to get
through! Eight different colours of bricks with different points scores
plus five special types of bricks that do different things. You can edit
the screens and change the order in which they appear. The bricks also
throw out different types of bonus objects which you can use if you can
catch them without missing the ball.
2.5
Å First Word Plus Extended Dictionary Ö 80,000 words plus specialised
supplementary dictionaries, only ú6.95 inclusive from Science Frontiers.
2.5
Å Fish Ö Adventure game from Magnetic Scrolls, ú24.95 (ú23 through
Archive). Review next month.
2.5
Å GreyDumps from Musbury Consultants, ú15, (ú13 through Archive) is a
graphics tone dump for Epson FX80 or compatible printers.
2.5
Å Hearsay upgrade Ö version 1.06 of Hearsay includes, amongst other
things, the possibility to edit the call bands (this is of particular
use to those who are not BT subscribers, i.e. those outside the UK) and
improved modem initialisation on start-up. Call Beebug for the cost of
the upgrade Ö öShould be about ú5ò.
2.5
Å Hyperbook from Logotron (of Logo fame) is an on-screen book-
researchers tool ú49 + VAT. It allows you to read specially prepared
books on screen (with prices varying from ú10 to ú25) and to create
indexes, glossaries and cross-references.
2.5
Å Macro Assembler Version 2 from Wingpass Ltd (ú49.95) takes ARM
assembly language files and produces AOF files for linking with similar
files from high level compilers.
2.5
Å Numerator, also from Logotron, is a maths teaching package, ú69 + VAT,
which aims to tackle pupilsæ conceptual difficulties by the use of
construction models on screen.
2.5
Å Oak Computers have various new goodies for Archimedes users Ö a 20ö
hi-res multi-sync monitor (ú1495), a 47 Mbyte winchester upgrade for the
440, a range of external winchester drives (20, 40 or 47 Mb at ú300,
ú499 and ú599 respectively) and an interface for their PDT allowing the
import and export of DXF and HPGL files and the export of IGES files
(ú149).
2.5
Å PipeDream under RISC-OS Ö contrary to reports from Bruce Smith in A &
B Computing, Pipedream does work under RISC-OS. There is no need to up-
grade beyond the current 2.0 version.
2.5
Å SolidCAD Ö 3D draughting system ú49.95 (inc VAT & carriage) from
Silicon Vision (ú46 through Archive). Allows drawings to be done in 3
elevations with a 3-D projection to aid visualis-ation. Realtime Solids
modeller, which includes SolidCAD, allows animation of objects created
by SolidCAD. ú89.95 (ú79 through Archive).
2.5
Å System Delta Plus Version II (System Delta Plus Plus?). This new
version (ú79.95 inc VAT or ú69 through Archive) will now work on RISC-OS
and has Émany up-dated featuresæ and they have improved the manual.
Minerva say, öExisting System Delta Plus users need not worry as a disc
will be provided to enable them to run the current version of SDP with
the new RISC-OS.ò, but there is no mention of the cost. Version II will
be released when existing stocks expire, anticipated date Ö end February
1989.
2.5
Å Thundermonk Ö the latest games offering from Minerva should be
available by the end of February, ú14.95 (ú14 through Archive). Sounds
from the press release like a maze game but one in which you can cheat
by walking through walls!
2.5
Å Timetabler Ö the latest öseriousò offering from Minerva should be
available by the end of February. No price set as yet. It will öreduce
the time spent on preparing school, college and university timetables
from weeks to minutes. It is unbelievably fast and powerful, taking
around 10 minutes to produce the timetable for the largest school in
England!ò
2.5
Review Software Received...
2.5
Apart from reviews already written, we have received copies of the
following software: Bumper Pack 2, Arcade 3, Arcendium and Fish.
2.5
The Order Form grows╔
2.5
There is more and more software and hardware available now for the
Archimedes, and a lot of it is available through Archive at a discount.
2.5
We are working on a deal to offer Computerware hard disks. The prices
should be finalised by the time we print the order form (which goes to
the printers a week after the magazine itself) so check the order form
for prices and availability. Overseas Archivists should note that we
have been told that the drives, having been imported from the States,
must not be re-exported. However, you can buy the podule separately and
it comes with all the metal-work for mounting the drive. All you then
need to do is to buy a bare 3.5ö drive from your local suppliers.
2.5