Archive Magazine 1995/ARCHIVE95.iso/text/products/volume_06/issue_04

Text File | 1995-02-16 | 12KB | 226 lines

Å   Aldebaran Ö In this new game Éthat shows what the Archimedes is
capable ofæ, you explore twelve fractal planets, fight off various
enemies and save a star from destruction. It is produced by Evolution
Trading in Switzerland and is available in the UK through MAPS Ltd for
ú34.90 inc VAT.
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Å   Aleph One PC card under ú400 Ö While stocks last, we have some Aleph
One 386 1Mb PC podules for ú395 due to over-stocking just before the 486
appeared on the scene! (We are having to sell these at a loss!!)
6.4
Å   Archive price rise Ö As we said last month, the price of the Archive
annual subscription (12 issues) is increasing from ú17 to ú19 as from
1st February 1993. All subscriptions received before that date will be
honoured even if they are not actually due. The new overseas rates are
ú26 for Europe, Australia/N.Z., etc ú37 and the rest of the world ú34.
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The Technical Help Service is also going to be increasing from ú10 a
year to ú15 a year. However, this is to reflect the fact that we are
installing a dedicated Technical Help Hotline. The main NCS phone line
is usually fairly busy, so we will issue THS users with a special
confidential phone number which they can ring to get solutions to their
technical problems. We are hoping the line will be open by the end of
January and all holders of a current THS subscription will then receive
a letter informing them about the new service.
6.4
Å   Atomwide VIDC enhancer Ö Atomwide have stopped producing their VIDC
Enhancer and have released the VIDC Plus software into the public
domain. This is now available as Careware Disc 18 (ú6 to subscribers Ö
see below). We have also been given permission by Atomwide to get
another company to make them for us (in any case, the enhancers and hope
to have some VIDC enhancers made up shortly. This will allow us to
fulfil existing orders and to continue to supply enhancers in future.
6.4
Å   BBC Acorn User Show Ö In April 1993 (15th Ö 17th) Safesell Exhibi
tions, who have been responsible for the London Acorn User Shows, will
be organising an Acorn User Show in Harrogate at the International
Exhibition Centre. This has come out of the fact that the London
exhibition has been taken over by Acorn themselves and will, from 1993,
be The World of Acorn. We hope that Norwich Computer Services will be
represented at both exhibitions.
6.4
Å   Careware Disc 18 Ö This disc contains the public domain version (1.61
16-Mar-92) of Atomwideæs VIDC Plus software. This supports a host of
monitors giving a wide range of extra modes for all A-series computers.
There are two versions of the software on the disc:
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The A540/A5000 version does not need any additional hardware and
supports the following monitors: Eizo 9060, Eizo 9070, Eizo F550i, Eizo
T560i, HP-D1187, MicroHL, PanaSync, Quadram (AKF 18), Taxan 1095, Taxan
770, Taxan 775, Taxan 795, Taxan 875, Taxan 970.
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The A400/A3000 version must have the Atomwide VIDC enhancer hardware to
support the following monitors: Eizo 9060, Eizo 9070, HP-D1187, MicroHL,
PanaSync, Quadram (AKF 18), Switcher, Taxan 1095, Taxan 770, Taxan 775,
Taxan 795, Taxan 875, Taxan 970.
6.4
Å   Chatter is 4Mationæs new comms package. This is a full RISC-OS
compatible program providing ANSI, Viewdata and Teletel display
protocols, and Campus 2000, X, Y and Z-modem transfers. The price is
ú37.50 from 4Mation or ú35 through Archive.
6.4
Å   Desktop Tracker Ö This is Leading Edgeæs RISC-OS compatible version of
their Tracker software which allows you to enter your own music and
sounds, and also to play existing Tracker music of which there is a lot
available in PD libraries. If you have a Midi interface, you can play
the tracker tunes through a Midi instrument. Desktop Tracker is ú69 inc
VAT from Leading Edge or ú63 through Archive.
6.4
Å   EFF fonts Ö There is now a range of over 500 RISC-OS 3 fonts available
from EFF. They have also dropped the price of their RISC-OS 2 fonts by
30%. The new fonts have automatic kerning so that, for example, the word
öAWAYò transferred into RISC-OS 3 fonts would automatically come out as
öAWAYò.
6.4
Å   Eureka! Ö I have a real live copy of Eureka in my hands. It is
available NOW.
6.4
Å   Game Makeræs Manual Ö For those who want to write their own games for
the Archimedes, this new book will provide some of the basics to get you
started. The price is ú14.95 from Sigma Press or ú14 through Archive.
6.4
Å   Games galore Ö There are various games for the Archimedes that we have
missed out on along the way. The following have now been added to the
Archive games list:
6.4
Black Angel, the 3D space combat simulation from 4th Dimension is ú32
through Archive.
6.4
Chopper Force, the 3D futuristic helicopter simulation from 4th
Dimension is ú32 through Archive.
6.4
Galactic Dan is a 3D arcade adventure combat game from 4th Dimension and
is ú24 through Archive.
6.4
Gribblyæs Day Out is an arcade action game from CoinAge. This is ú24
through Archive.
6.4
Krisalis Compendium which includes Mad Professor Mariarti, Terramex,
Pipemania and Revelation (the game, not the art package!). This is ú28
through Archive.
6.4
Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 the driving game from Krisalis with a Turbo
Esprit or Lotus Elan is ú24 through Archive. (This is currently making
life a misery for the adults of the Beverley household Ö öIf you donæt
come for lunch now I shall switch the so-and-so computer off!ò)
6.4
Omar Sharifæs Bridge is a bridge game from Krisalis including on-line
help for ú28 through Archive.
6.4
Å   Hawk V9 Mk II Ö Wild Vision have produced a new version of their well-
established Hawk V9 digitiser. It is now a single width podule which
saves a podule slot (Mk I was a dual width podule). The software has
been upgraded to offer a live display window in the desktop. The grabbed
video picture is then displayed with full dithered colours. There is
also a special mono format useful for preparing material for monochrome
DTP work. It comes with fully RISC-OS compliant software providing an
öextensive range of image scaling and enhancing optionsò allowing
sprites produced to be dragged straight into whatever desktop appli
cations you are using. The price is now ú269 +VAT from Wild Vision or
ú305 through Archive.
6.4
Å   IDE internal drives Ö Yes, weære finally succumbing to pressure to
stock internal IDE hard drives for the A3000 (and A3010). We want to
assess which we consider to be good enough quality and low enough power
consumption to be a reasonable risk for putting into a computer without
a fan. If readers have a drive they would like to recommend from their
own experience, let us know. If suppliers would like us to consider
their IDE drives, they too should get in touch with us to arrange a loan
of one of their units for assessment.
6.4
Å   Joystick interface Ö The new Leading Edge Joystick Mk2 is now
available. It plugs into the printer port and takes two Amiga/Atari type
joysticks. With the software provided, it claims to be able to be used
with övirtually any piece of softwareò. It includes a switch so that the
interface does not have to be removed in order to use the printer port
as normal. (I tried it with an Artworks and an Impression dongle hanging
off the back and they worked fine.) It is compatible with all Acorn 32-
bit computers and with RISC-OS 3.1. The price is ú38 through Archive.
6.4
Å   Landmarks Civil War Ö The latest in Longman Logotronæs series of
Landmarks packages is Civil War. The price is ú24 +VAT from Longman
Logotron or ú26 through Archive.
6.4
Å   Midi Tracker Ö This software from Leading Edge allows you to play
existing Tracker music, of which there is a lot available in PD
libraries, through a Midi interface to a Midi instrument. It gives you
the ability to add keyboard setups, several being pre-defined. Midi
Tracker is ú19 inc VAT from Leading Edge or ú18 through Archive.
6.4
Å   Midi Interface Ö This is Leading Edgeæs Midi interface. It has Midi in
and out, conforms to Acornæs Midi standard and is cheap! Midi Interface
is ú42 inc VAT from Leading Edge or ú40 through Archive. The other
advantage/disadvantage is that it does not take up a podule slot but
uses the Econet interface. The Midi in and out sockets are on short
flying leads that plug into the Econet socket.
6.4
Å   Midi Sampler Interface Ö This is a combination of a Midi interface (as
above) and an audio sampler. Again, it has Midi in and out on flying
leads and an audio plug for the sound input. It can sample up to 50 KHz.
(If you are wondering who would want to sample frequencies that high,
Leading Edge assure me that someone is using one of these samplers for
his research into bat sounds!) The Midi Sampler Interface is ú94 inc VAT
from Leading Edge or ú88 through Archive.
6.4
Å   Picture it! Ö This is an object-oriented drawing package aimed at
education. It takes drawfiles as objects and allows pupils to make
drawfile pictures by combining the objects and then colouring them,
arranging them and even animating them. The price is ú29.95 +VAT for a
single user or ú49.95 +VAT for a site licence from Appian Way Software.
They also do topic disks at ú8.50 +VAT each. These include buildings,
ships, birds, clothes (4 volumes), mini-beasts (2 volumes), dinosaurs,
transport and Christmas. You can, of course, make up your own sets of
objects from any source of drawfile clipart.
6.4
Å   SCSI cards and drives Ö We are now stocking Leading Edgeæs SCSI cards
plus their 80Mb SCSI drive solutions for the different Acorn 32-bit
computers.
6.4
For A300/400 there are 80Mb drives with standard podules: Internal 8-bit
ú405, internal 16-bit (i.e. a faster interface) ú460, external (which
has its own p.s.u.) 8-bit ú555, 16-bit ú605.
6.4
If you just want the SCSI card, the 8-bit version is ú105 and the 16-bit
version is ú145.
6.4
For A3000 owners, there is a Hardbox which is an 80Mb drive in a metal
box with its own p.s.u. that attaches to the external interface. This is
available as 8-bit at ú485 and 16-bit at ú530. There is also an 8-bit
Turbo external version at ú605. This uses a separate external cased
drive with its own p.s.u. which links via a cable to an internal 8-bit
interface. The interface has extra hardware that makes it rather faster
than the standard 8-bit SCSI interface Ö though not as fast as the 16-
bit interface.
6.4
If you just want a SCSI card, the internal A3000 8-bit version is ú105,
the external A3000 8-bit version is ú115 (including case) and the 16-bit
external version is ú155 (including case). The 8-bit internal turbo
version is also ú145.
6.4
There is also a special version of the 8-bit internal (non-turbo) SCSI
card which includes a User Port. This is ú150. This is particularly
useful for schools, for example, where they want to use something like a
concept keyboard or an interface box as well as having a hard drive.
6.4
Another option for A3000 owners is to buy an empty hardbox with its own
p.s.u. You then buy your own SCSI interface (not necessarily a Leading
Edge one) and a 3╜ö SCSI hard drive and put it all in the hardbox. This
costs ú125 for the box and p.s.u.
6.4
N.B. ALL Leading Edge SCSI cards are CD-ROM compatible, i.e. they do not
need any extra software, whether in ROM or on disc, in order to connect
to CD-ROMs. (The 16-bit card is ú145 which, if you need to use CD-ROM
compares very favourably with the Morley 16-bit card at ú160 plus ú22
for the CDFS filing system.)
6.4
Å   SpySnatcher is Topologikaæs latest addition to their range of classic
text adventures. Your job is to help MI7æs chief, known as ÉZæ, to
unearth a Émoleæ. The price is ú15 inc VAT from Topologika. (Send to
Topologika for their free Adventure Games catalogue.)
6.4
Å   TechWriter Ö Icon Technologyæs TechWriter builds on their successful
EasiWriter wordprocessor and adds mathematical typesetting with the
addition of a fully integrated WYSIWYG equation editor. The price is
ú250 +VAT from Icon or ú270 through Archive.
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