Archive Magazine 1995/ARCHIVE95.iso/text/products/volume_06/issue_05

Text File | 1995-02-16 | 41KB | 805 lines

Å   A3010 digital joystick software Ö At last the A3010 joystick ports can
start being used properly! The Leading Edge have just released a
software package which allows the digital joystick ports on the A3010 to
be used correctly. The A3010 öJoymasterò enables the built-in joystick
ports to be used with games not specifically written to support Acornæs
Joystick Standard. It allows custom design of joystick and keyboard
controls, and includes a unique ömappingò feature which allows a
joystick to emulate keystrokes or mouse controls. In practice, this
means that it should work with just about any game written for the
Archimedes as well as having the capability to work in the desktop. Also
included with the package are several pre-defined joystick mappings
designed to work with many of the more popular games. The Archive price
is ú28. For those of you still in the dark about joysticks and the
supporting software and hardware, we hope to be giving some help in next
monthæs Archive.
6.5
Å   A3020/A4000 Econet upgrade Ö HCCS have beaten Acorn to it Ö they now
have an AUN-compatible Econet upgrade available for the A3020 and A4000
for ú39 +VAT (ú43 through Archive). There is an Econet cable sold
separately for ú10 +VAT (or ú11 through Archive).
6.5
Å   ABC of Art is a set of clipart drawn using Artworks and available in
Artworks or Draw format. The first in the series has nine illustrations,
Aborigine, AC_Cobra, Acorn, Aeroplane, Aerosol, Alsatian, Arches, Arrows
and a letter A. The price is ú8 inclusive from J Jeffery, Tideways,
South Road, Bream, Somerset  TA8 2SE.
6.5
Å   A Beginneræs Guide to Wimp Programming Ö Martyn Fox has written a 180-
page book which sets out to explain wimp programming (in Basic) from the
very beginning. The price is ú14.95 from Sigma Press or ú14 through
Archive. If you want a disc to save you typing in all the programs
yourself, you have to write direct to the author and send ú3.95. The
name and address is given in the book.
6.5
Å   Aldebaran Ö This new game mentioned last month is now available
through Archive for ú32.
6.5
Å   Ancestry upgrade Ö Minerva have produced a new version of Ancestry
which, amongst other things, allows on-screen preview of the sideways
print mode. Also, the key-disc copy-protection system is no longer used.
Send your master disc plus a cheque for ú11.75 to Minerva.
6.5
Å   An Eye for Spelling is an educational program providing a visual
approach to spelling. It contains 3,500 words which are aimed at
children in the 5Ö11 year age range and are grouped according to letter
patterns. An Eye for Spelling is ú35 +VAT (including a site licence)
from ESM or ú38 through Archive.
6.5
Å   Arc Embroidery price drop Ö Techsoftæs computer embroidery package
(see review on page 61) has dropped in price from ú749.95 +VAT to
ú699.95 +VAT. (This may be because they now have competition Ö see page
7.)
6.5
Å   Archive Monthly Program Discs Ö We get asked, fairly regularly, about
the Archive monthly program discs. Basically, all they consist of is any
programs and data files that are referred to in the magazine plus any
other bits and pieces that come our way. We sometimes use the disc to
send out updated versions of PD software, we try to put on it updates of
the ArcScan magazine data for Archive (Shareware 7) and, in future, we
will try to fit on the updates to the Archive Words Discs for Hints &
Tips and Products Available, i.e. the text of that monthæs H & T and
Products Available columns in Edit format. The discs are ú2 each. You
can buy them individually or the whole of the current year for ú24 Ö I
realise that this is not a discount, but ordering them in advance is a
convenience for you and extra admin for us!
6.5
Å   Archive Monthly Program Disc Index Ö If you want to know what the
monthly program discs actually contain, the most up-to-date list we have
is an Edit format index which appears on the Archive Products Available
Words Disc (ú2) Ö see opposite.
6.5
Å   Archive Words Discs Ö A number of people have asked if we can supply
Archive magazine in machine readable format. Thus far I have resisted
the pressure for copyright reasons. However, I recently created some
Edit files of the text of all the Archive magazines that were created on
the Archimedes Ö i.e. from Archive 4.5 onwards. (Prior to that they were
produced on Apple Macs.) I have found it extremely helpful to be able to
load up one file of text containing all the words of, say, volume 5
(2.6Mb of text!) and search through for some reference or other. These
files are now permanently on my pinboard. I have therefore decided to
release these files for sale on disc. They are:
6.5
Wordsáá4.5 Ö 4.8   ú2
6.5
Wordsáá4.9 Ö 4.12   ú2
6.5
Words  5.1 Ö 5.6   ú2
6.5
Words  5.7 Ö 5.12   ú2
6.5
Words  6.1 Ö 6.4*   ú2
6.5
Please note the licence conditions of these discs Ö they are only for
sale to those people who already own copies of the magazines to which
they refer. We are not asking for proof of purchase but are trusting
your honesty. The alternative to this licence condition would be to sell
the discs for, say, ú5 each to make them comparable with the cost of
buying the magazine but this we did not want to do. N.B. If you want the
back issues of the actual magazines, they are all still available at
special prices: Vols 1Ö4 at ú22 and Vols 1Ö5 at ú25.
6.5
á*Volume 6 will have to be on three discs (assuming we continue to
generate these 80-page issues!) as there is too much text, even when
compressed, to fit onto two discs. Volume 5 just squeezes onto two discs
in compressed format.
6.5
N.B. The Edit files are so large that you need a 2Mb machine to un-
compress the files from the individual discs. If you then want to
combine, say, all of volume 5, you will need a 4Mb machine.
6.5
Å   Archive Products Available Compilation. This goes right back to the
very beginning of Archiveæs life because we took the trouble, for our
own purposes, to go back to the issues that were produced on the Mac to
collect all this information. We find it very useful to have all this
information in a single file. If we want to know, for example, if there
has ever been a product that dealt with electronic circuit analysis, we
just load up this file and search for the appropriate words. Also
included on the disc are lists of the contents of the Shareware,
Careware and Archive monthly program discs in Edit format. This disc
costs ú2 from Archive.
6.5
Å   Archive Hints & Tips Compilation. This is another extremely useful
compilation for anybody who uses an Archimedes machine Ö I donæt know
why we didnæt think of doing it before! These discs contain all the
Hints & Tips columns plus some of the specialist hints & tips columns
like Impression, First Word Plus, RISC-OS 2 and RISC-OS 3. As with the
Products Available Compilation, it goes right back to the beginning of
Archive. The way we envisage them being used is that you load them into
Edit, search for the word(s) you are looking for, identify which
magazine contains the hint you want, then go and look it up in the
actual magazine. These Edit files contain no formatting and the sections
that were transferred from the Apple Mac may contain inaccuracies and
some program segments are missing, so please refer to the original text
in the magazine. These discs are ú6 each.
6.5
They are:
6.5
Hints  Vols (1 Ö 4)   ú6
6.5
Hints  Vols 5 & 6   ú6
6.5
Hints  Vols (1 Ö 6)   ú10
6.5
(The Hints 1Ö6 disc is only recommended for use on machines with 2Mb or
more as it will not un-compress into a 1Mb machine.)
6.5
Å   Archive Shareware & Careware Compilations Ö We have just realised that
those who own removable drives might wish to get hold of PD software in
bulk! We have therefore produced two compilation removable discs. All
the Archive Shareware discs (over 40 all together) have been put onto
one 42M cartridge. This disc is ú75. All the Archive Careware discs (19
so far) have also been put onto a single 42M cartridge. The cost is ú100
and, of this, ú75 covers the cost of the media plus duplication and ú25
goes to charity.
6.5
Å   Artroom CD-ROM Ö Matt Black have produced a CD-ROM version of their
Image Club clipart library (Archive 5.11 p2). For ú295 +ú2 p&p (no VAT),
you get over 4,000 clipart images, all in EPS format, that can be loaded
directly into ArtWorks.
6.5
Å   BookMaker Ö BookMaker is a DTP program that allows teachers and pupils
to produce storybooks. It allows you to manipulate text and graphics and
its features can be tailored by the teacher to the age and ability of
the pupils. The price is ú49.95 +VAT from RESOURCE for a single user
licence. This price includes the BookWorm application which allows
BookMaker books to be replayed a page at a time or as an animation.
6.5
Å   BookStore is an educational program aimed at children in Key Stages 1
& 2. It provides a framework for children to write, store and retrieve
book reviews. BookStore costs ú39.50 +VAT (including a site licence)
from ESM or ú43 through Archive.
6.5
Å   Careware 18 Ö Atomwide have released the software for their VIDC
Enhancers into the public domain. We have made it available on Careware
18 and added various other utilities for monitors. (We hope to have the
VIDC Enhancer hardware on sale again soon.)
6.5
The rest of the disc contains: iconbar mode number display, extended
screen modes for the Sony CPD-1402, mode 108 which provides 1024╫448
pixels & 16 colours @ 59Hz, mode 112 for the Acorn AKF18 m/s monitor,
VIDC enhancer modules for NEC 3D, tweaked PC emulator modes for NEC 3D,
extended screen modes (76-102) for NEC 3D, mode creation and editing for
pre-A5000s with AKF18, module for modes 0-15 for use on an A410 with an
AKF18 monitor, alternative to Atomwideæs VIDC enhancer software. The
price is ú5 from Archive.
6.5
Å   Careware 19 Ö This disc contains a range of utilities for graphics
file conversion (much of which used to be on Careware 13) and some
statistics software. The price is ú5 from Archive.
6.5
Graphics utilities consist of the latest versions of: !CGM->Draw (2.60),
!Draw->CGM (1.10), !Draw->EPS (1.10), !Draw->Met (1.00) (Draw to OS2
Metafiles), !Dxf-CGM (1.00), !Plotter (1.30) which allows drawfiles to
be plotted to a SketchMate A4 plotter, !Creator (1.13) which converts
sprites to GIF, TIFF, AIM and PBM and !Translator (6.45) which converts
various graphics filetypes to sprites.
6.5
The suite of stand-alone statistical utilities written in Basic consists
of: Transfer to/from PipeDream/Edit/ASCII text, graph drawing/plotting,
histograms, area under curve, half-life calculation, mean, deviation &
variance calculations, T-tests, regression analysis, linear regression,
F-test, Wilcoxon signed rank test, Mann-Whitney U-test, Spearman
correlation, chi▓, Fisher exact test, Kruskal-Wallis, Friedman, sample &
survival stats, covariate analysis, one-way independence tests, two-way
independence test, Altman-Bland test, predicted & PC calculation.
6.5
Å   Choices is an educational utility that allows students to do a wide
range of activities by selecting images. Preferences can be expressed as
well as giving right answers. It uses still or moving images, sprites or
drawfiles and allows jigsaws to be made. Teachers can modify existing
activities (four discs of resources are included) or create their own
activities. The price is ú35 +VAT from Widgit Software.
6.5
Å   ClearView hypertext utility (mentioned in Archive 5.8 p2)  has dropped
in price to ú29.95 inc VAT from DEC_dATA.
6.5
Å   Clipart Ö Software42 have three discs of clipart on offer at ú15 per
disc, inclusive. They are 1ÖElectronics, 2ÖAnimals and Birds, 3ÖPeople.
6.5
Bright Ideas have produced eleven discs of clipart: 1ÖGeneral,
2ÖTransport, 3ÖCostumes, 4ÖEntertainment, 5ÖBugs to Slugs, 6ÖRoad Signs,
7ÖSports Equipment, 8ÖSports Figures, 9ÖDinosaurs, 10ÖSymbols, 11ÖTools.
These discs are ú8 +VAT each from Desktop Projects.
6.5
Å   Courses, various Ö The ARM Club are arranging various courses on
topics such as music, games, teaching for teachers(!), Impression,
PipeDream, Squirrel, Genesis. For details, contact Dr Nick Evans, 19
Woodberry Way, Londoná N12 0HE.
6.5
Å   Craftshop 1, Craftshop 2, Jigsaw and Jiglet from 4Mation have all come
down in price. Each is now ú19.95 +VAT from 4Mation or ú22 through
Archive.
6.5
Å   Cyborg the arcade-style, multi-location adventure game from Alpine
Software (mentioned in Archive 6.3 p3) is now available through Archive
for ú24.
6.5
Å   DDE Pascal upgrade Ö Acorn have upgraded their (PD) DDE Pascal to
version 4.10. The main changes are that several bugs have been fixed,
forward function declarations now work, range checking on assignment has
been added, the optimiser has been improved, the predefined type ÉErroræ
has been renamed ÉOS_Erroræ as ÉErroræ caused name clashes with some
programs and Éinputæ and Éoutputæ can now be used explicitly without
declaring them in the program header (except when compiling with -ISO).
6.5
If you want the updated version you can either buy another copy of
Careware 17 at ú5 or send your old Careware 17 back with a donation to
charity and we will upgrade it for you.
6.5
Å   Desktop Folio Ö ESM have reduced the price of their word-processor/DTP
package to ú64 +VAT (ú70 through Archive). A site licence is available
from ESM for ú180 +VAT. They also now have five curriculum packs for use
with Desktop Folio. The subjects are: World War II, Christmas, Space,
Maths and Editors. The latter is a set of material for anyone designing
newspapers, magazines, etc. These packs are ú22.50 +VAT each (including
a site licence) from ESM.
6.5
Å   Eizo prices up Ö As from February 1st, the price of Eizo monitors has
risen slightly. The 9060 has gone up to an Archive price of ú550, the
F550 to ú980, the F750 to ú1650, the T560iT to ú1500, and the T660iT to
ú2100.
6.5
Å   Expanded keyboard Ö Northwest SEMERC have produced an expanded
keyboard for use on Archimedes computers. It works with A300, A400,
A540, A3000, A4000 and A5000 (although the A3000 needs an interface unit
fitted inside the computer). The keyboard comes complete with a
perforated steel key guard which enables users with poor motor control
to rest their hands thus avoiding unwanted key-presses. For those who
find multiple key-presses (e.g. <ctrl-V>, etc) difficult or impossible,
there is an electronic control which allows Ésticky keysæ to be used,
i.e. <shift>, <ctrl> or <alt> can effectively be held down while another
key is pressed Ö all with single key-presses.
6.5
Å   Fades is an addition to Silica Software Systemsæ art package, Flare.
It adds a carousel facility to allow you to build up a rolling display
of Flare pictures or other sprites. The complete pack of Flare + Fades
is ú29.30 (or ú22 for education) and the upgrade to add Fades is ú7 if
you send your original disc back to Silica.
6.5
Å   Gestalt 2: Money & Shopping is an educational program from Basing
Educational Software. This desktop application is aimed at primary and
special needs and allows pupils to deal with coins and notes to exact
quantities and to deal with rounding up. The price is ú30 +VAT from
Basing.
6.5
Å   Gestalt Number is a set of six educational programs for primary and
special needs pupils dealing with counting, number recognition,
sequencing, categorization, number bonds and multiplication. The price
is ú50 +VAT from Basing Educational Software.
6.5
Å   Grannyæs back! Ö Those who remember Grannyæs Garden from the BBC B
days will be pleased to hear that 4Mation have re-released it as a 4-
disc set for the Archimedes. The plot is the same but it has all new
graphics. Grannyæs Garden is ú24.50 +VAT (ú27 through Archive) and there
is a site licence (ú49 +VAT) and a Grannyæs Garden Resource Pack (ú10
+VAT) also available from 4Mation.
6.5
Å   HiVision Digitiser Ö HCCS have produced a colour digitiser in their
Vision range that digitises at 508 line ╫ 720 pixel. You will need 2Mb
minimum to run the software and 4Mb is recommended. The A3000 version
(internal) is ú129 +VAT (ú145 through Archive), the A3000 version
(external) is ú142 +VAT (ú160 through Archive), the standard podule
version (A300/400/5000) is ú129 +VAT (ú145 through Archive), the
MicroPodule version is also ú129 +VAT (ú145 through Archive).
6.5
Å   Ixion Ö This is a futuristic 3D adventure game from Software42. The
price is ú25 inclusive from Software42.
6.5
Å   Joysticks interface Ö Magnetic Image have produced (yet another)
joystick interface. However, this is unique in that it has four digital
joystick ports and supports joysticks with a second fire button Ö
something that other interfaces donæt do. The package consists of a
software module and a hardware dongle for the printer port which has a
trailing lead to the four-port interface box. This dongle is a Éthrough
connectoræ allowing you to connect the printer at the same time and it
has a switch to allow you to select between the printer and the joystick
interface. There is even a second fire button for each port in case your
existing joystick doesnæt have one. As with all joystick interfaces,
there are some games that just donæt support joysticks and it is worth
checking before you buy games. Price is ú34.95 from Magnetic Image.
6.5
Å   Kepler is Spacetechæs satellite orbital predication software. This
RISC-OS application costs ú29.50 inc VAT from Spacetech.
6.5
Å   KidPix is an art package aimed at children in Key Stages 1 & 2. This
costs ú37.50 +VAT from ESM or ú41 through Archive.
6.5
Å   Label Printer is a utility from Software42 for designing labels using
sprites and drawfiles and printing them onto tractor-feed mounted
labels. The price is ú15 inclusive from Software42.
6.5
Å Linguist is a computerised foreign language dictionary currently
containing 18 languages: Afrikaans, Cornish, Chinese, Danish, Dutch,
Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Irish, Italian,
Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Welsh. Linguist
consists of a dictionary, a quiz/game and an Éautomatic dictionary look-
upæ which allows you to drop a text file onto it and, by doing a trans-
literation, it will give you a vague idea of the textæs content although
it will obviously not be a proper translation of the text.
6.5
Linguist is available from Bits æn Bytes for ú30 inc VAT. This includes
all 18 languages and more are currently being added Ö the price includes
a free upgrade to the new languages as and when available.
6.5
Å   Masterfile 3 Ö Risc Developments have released a new version of their
long-standing database in Archimedes format. The price is ú49 +VAT from
Risc Developments.
6.5
Å   Mitre Software Ö Owners of DiscTree and/or TimeWatch need to know that
Mitre Software has ceased trading. However, until 30th June 1993, you
can get your software upgraded to make it RISC-OS 3 compatible free-of-
charge. To do this, send your original system disc together with an
S.A.E. to the address at the back of the magazine.
6.5
Å   My World 2 Ö This is an upgraded version of the application produced
by Northwest SEMERC which allows children to manipulate drawfiles. New
screens include Goldilocks and an improved version of Teddy screen for
infants as well as Make a Town for juniors. Secondary school students
can use My World for Electronics pictures and to investigate Pythagorasæ
theorem. For Key Stage 3 foreign language students, there is Dessin and
Grandeur. New functions include screen-linking for story-telling,
rotate, re-size and flip objects, and pop-up windows for access to
further libraries. It costs ú28 +VAT and there are over 18 My World
resource packs available. The original, simpler version of My World is
still available at ú18 +VAT from NW SEMERC.
6.5
Å   Noot is an animation package for education from 4Mation. It is
particularly aimed at pre-school, infant and junior to provide öa
stimulating environment for language developmentò. The price is ú45 +VAT
(ú48 through Archive) for a single user. Additional key-discs at ú10
+VAT and a site licence at ú90 +VAT are available from 4Mation.
6.5
Å   Parish Magazine is a clipart and text collection from DEC_dATA. It
consists of three discs of clipart plus a disc of the full text of the
King James Version of the New Testament. The price is ú19.95 inc VAT
from DEC_dATA.
6.5
Å   PenDown Etoiles Ö the French version of Longman Logotronæs educational
word-processor is available now. Intended to complement the 5 year
Etoiles French course from the BBC and Longman, it is aimed at Key
Stages 3 and 4 for Modern Foreign Languages. It includes a 72,000 word
French dictionary. The price is ú54 +VAT from Longman or ú58 through
Archive. Longman also do a site licence for ú330 +VAT and there is an
upgrade licence for PenDown and PenDown Plus licence holders.
6.5
Å   Perspectives Ö Techsoft have produced a new 3D design package which
allows wireframe drawings to be created in any of three orthographic
windows, the result being displayed in the fourth window. It can
instantly change from 1st to 3rd angle. The pictorial view can be
isometric, oblique or perspective and the perspective view can be
rotated and zoomed. There is also a special stereo viewing mode for use
with the special glasses provided and the view can be rotated to allow
you to view the object from any direction. Perspectives is ú45 +VAT from
Techsoft for a single copy or ú75 +VAT for an educational site licence.
6.5
Å   PlayBack is Risc Developmentsæ mouse recording software. It allows you
to create demonstrations of programs that run in the desktop. PlayBack
costs ú19 +VAT from Risc Developments.
6.5
Å   Podd Ö This well-known character from the BBC educational world has
now made it into Archimedes format. This is a language-development
program aimed at Key Stages 1 & 2 Ö and itæs also good fun! Podd is
ú27.50 +VAT (including a site licence) from ESM or ú30 through Archive.
6.5
Å   POEM Embroidery System Ö Commotion have produced a computer embroidery
system based on the same POEM500 personal embroidery machine as used by
Techsoft. Commotionæs price, including öPoetryò software is ú699.95
+VAT. Poetry accepts sprites and drawfiles but also has its own built-in
art package. (The software is ready now, but not the manual. We will
review it when it does become available.)
6.5
Å   PowerRouter is an add-on to Silicon Visionæs ArcPCB. It takes an
ArcPCB design in öratæs nestò form and generates a multi-layer routed
design using ö100% rip-up re-tryò techniques. The price is ú195 incVAT
from Silicon Vision. (ArcPCB is ú125 inc VAT.)
6.5
Å   PrimeWord Ö Minerva have released their new word processor aimed at
educational users. It is a font-based wordprocessor with spelling
checker and dictionary. It can import graphics into the text and the
package is configurable to make it suitable at different levels within
the school. The price is ú59 +VAT (or ú64 through Archive) or ú236 +VAT
for a site licence from Minerva.
6.5
Å   QuickShow Ö This is an Éeasy-to-useæ slide show presentation and video
titling package from Desktop Projects Ltd. The price is ú25 +VAT from
Desktop Projects.
6.5
Å   QuickSound Ö Desktop Projects Ltd have produced a utility for handling
sound samples. It allows you to load, play, convert and resave samples.
It takes Armadeus and Tracker samples and can produce modules for use in
other applications. You can also apply special effects to the sound
samples. The price is ú10 +VAT from Desktop Projects.
6.5
Å   QuickTile Ö This utility, also from Desktop Projects Ltd, allows you
to print posters from drawfiles and sprites. It works with any RISC-OS
application and will automatically generate crop marks on the individual
sheets that make up the whole poster. The price is ú25 +VAT from Desktop
Projects.
6.5
Å   Repton is back Ö So now we are up to Repton 4! Superior Software have
just released ÉEgo: Repton 4æ which provides 30 levels of play and, on
each level, you have to build up a jigsaw puzzle of a famous person or
place by collecting pieces scattered around the level. The price is
ú24.95 from Superior or ú23 through Archive.
6.5
Å   Satpack 1 is a satellite orbit prediction package from Unilab. The
price is ú20.23 +VAT from Unilab.
6.5
Å   ScreenPlay is Widgit Softwareæs framework program to help children
create animated stories incorporating pictures, text and sound. It is
aimed for primary use and also for older pupils (or adults) with
learning difficulties. The main pack consisting of an introductory demo
disc, a story disc, a resources disc and a severe learning difficulties
disc costs ú35 +VAT from Widgit. They also have a training video for
teachers which can be hired for 5 working days for ú2 +VAT or purchased
for ú10.50 +VAT.
6.5
Å   SCSI cards for CDROM use Ö We said last month that the Leading Edge
SCSI cards all had CDFS built-in. This wasnæt quite true. The CDFS is
supplied on disc and is not in ROM as it is on, say, the Morley SCSI
card. You have to load the CDFS from disc within your boot file.
6.5
On the subject of CDFS, you should note that all new Morley SCSI podules
will contain the CDFS in ROM and the price remains as it was Ö ú160 for
the uncached one and ú220 for the cached one. Anyone who has an existing
Morley SCSI card can get a new ROM from Morley for ú15 +VAT.
6.5
Å   Sherston Software Ö From now on, we will be selling the educational
programs produced by Sherston Software. Here is a list of those that we
have already mentioned and/or reviewed in the magazine:
6.5
Title                       Archive Price   Reference
6.5
Arcventure Romans   ú32   6.3   p2
6.5
Arcventure Egyptians   ú32
   4.9   p2
6.5
Christmas AllSorts   ú18
   5.3   p49
6.5
Crystal Rain Forest   ú43
   6.2   p58
6.5
Food for Thought   ú18   6.2   p3
6.5
Graph-IT   ú21   5.12   p63
6.5
Help3   ú9   6.2   p3
6.5
Hilighter   ú49   6.5   p71
6.5
Split an Image   ú18   5.11
   p30
6.5
Viewpoints   ú43   4.11   p52
6.5
There are four other Archimedes packages which Sherston produce (and
which we will be selling) that havenæt yet had a mention in Archive.
6.5
Animated Numbers is for children aged 3 Ö 6 and has three activities
illustrating the numbers 1 to 10. The price is ú23 through Archive.
6.5
Badger Trails is a multimedia simulation about badgers. As well as the
computer program, the pack includes a video showing the discovery of a
badger sett and the setting up of a hide to observe the badgers. The
price is ú38 through Archive.
6.5
Connections is designed to support infant maths and number work and is
aimed at 5 Ö 8 year olds. Children simply have to alter the contents of
each window to make the connections true. The price is ú30 through
Archive.
6.5
Splash is an art package specifically designed for young children. (This
should not be confused with Splosh from WECC Ö which is also an art
package for young children!) The price is ú22 through Archive which
includes a free site licence.
6.5
Å   Special Needs Trackerball Ö Northwest SEMERC have now produced a
trackerball which will give access to mouse-controlled software for
people with poor motor control. It includes a guard to act as a hand-
rest for the user to avoid unnecessary ball spin or button pressing.
There are also special buttons to produce double-click and drag effects.
The price is ú269 +VAT from NW SEMERC.
6.5
Å   Spheres of Chaos, the inter-galactic shoot-æem-up game from Matt Black
as mentioned in Archive 6.1 p3, is now available through Archive for
ú23.
6.5
Å   Snippet 2 Ö The new version of 4Mationæs Snippet (see 5.12 p37) has a
new price Ö ú37.50 +VAT from 4Mation or ú40 through Archive.
6.5
Å   Splosh is an art package specifically designed for young children Ébut
with features for everyoneæ. The introductory price from WECC is ú19
+VAT which includes a free site licence.
6.5
Å   Talking books Ö Sherston have just released the first of their Talking
Books series Ö Naughty Stories. These feature recorded human speech and
allow the children to move from page to page listening to the story at
the click of a button. They can even ask the computer to repeat words
they are unsure of. The first three stories are: Billy the Bothersome
Bully, Doris the Dotty Dog and Edwinaæs Energetic Elephant. They are
ú9.95 +VAT each or ú11 through Archive.
6.5
Å   Teletext adaptor software Ö With the new teletext franchise for ITV
and Channel 4, the multitasking teletext software from Ivoryash Ltd no
longer works 100% because of the change of format. Existing customers
can receive a free upgrade by returning the original disk and a stamped
addressed label to Ivoryash Ltd. The current price for new customers is
ú25 inc VAT and p&p.
6.5
Å   Through the Dragonæs Eye is a Look and Read Adventure from Longman
Logotron. It is intended to link with the BBC Schoolsæ Television
program of the same name. The price is ú24 +VAT through Longmans or ú26
through Archive.
6.5
Å   Time-Traveller are ESMæs history packs aimed at children in Key Stage
2. There are currently five packs at different prices Ö Britain since
the 1930s and The Victorians are ú32.50 +VAT each from ESM or ú35
through Archive, Trade & Industry and Medieval Realms are ú39.50 +VAT
each from ESM or ú43 through Archive and the fifth pack is Time
Traveller Personal which is basically a shell into which you can put
your own history Ö local history or whatever. It comes with a sample
data disc for history from 1891 to 1990. This costs ú37.50 +VAT from ESM
or ú41 through Archive. The price of each pack includes a site licence.
6.5
Å   TOM the Computer Simulator Ö This is a computer simulator for use in
Computer Science or Electronics courses. It is a desktop application
that allows you to simulate a processor with 48 bytes of memory. You
program it by poking machine code instructions into the various
locations and watch the program counter and accumulator as your program
runs. This application costs ú29.95 +VAT (or ú99.95 for a site licence)
from Keylink Computers.
6.5
Å   Ultimate Expansion System Ö This is an expansion system for ALL Acorn
32-bit computers. It is such an important new product that I have
devoted a whole article to it Ö see page 11.
6.5
Å   Vanguard Clipart Volume 1 Ö This is a önew kind of design resource for
DTP usersò from Matt Black. It consists of 50+ images designed to be öas
versatile and attention-grabbing as possibleò. As well as the images on
disc, you get a 12-page booklet with an index of the clipart plus design
ideas, hints & tips, etc for getting the most out of Impression,
Artworks, Draw, etc. This first disc has images relating to öfantasy,
tools and stationaryò (sic). The price is ú14.99 + ú2 p&p (no VAT) from
Matt Black.
6.5
Å   WolfPack Ö This is a flight simulation game from Software42 set in
World War 3. The price is ú20 inclusive from Software42.
6.5
Å   Wordz Ö Colton Softwareæs new wordprocessor (as described in the
PipeLine-Z column this month Ö see page 21) is now in stock. The price
is ú99 + VAT (or ú105 through Archive).
6.5
Å   Xword is a desktop crossword puzzle program from David Ramsden. It
includes 50 cryptic puzzles for you to solve plus some rudimentary (his
word) programs for entering and editing your own puzzles (maximum 20 ╫
20 letters). Send ú5.95 to David Ramsden at 7 Chevet Lane, Wakefield
WF2 6HN.
6.5
Review software received...
6.5
We have received review copies of the following: Ancient Greece, Arcade,
ArcTrack, Bright Ideas Clipart, Chatter, Choices, Drop Rock, Ego: Rep
ton4, Fantasy + Fiddles & Drums (SmArt files), Flare + Fades, Impact,
Ixion, Label Printer, Landmarks Ö Civil War, Linkword (Spanish), PenDown
Etoiles, Perspectives, Picture It!, Precision, Punctuate, QuickShow,
QuickTile, SatPacká1, Soapbox, Software42 Clipart, Splosh, SpySnatcher,
The Puddle and the Wardrobe, ThinkLink, Through the Dragonæs Eye, Tiles,
Whale Facts, WindowEd, Wolfpack, Xword, Yes Chancellor II.ááA
6.5

6.5
The Ultimate Expansion System?
6.5
Paul Beverley
6.5
This isnæt really a review as such Ö more an extension of the Products
Available column. However, I feel that the subject, HCCSæs Ultimate
Expansion System, is so important that it is worthy of a separate
article.
6.5
The two problems
6.5
(1)ááWe have had quite a few queries recently from subscribers whose
Archimedes computers are full with four podules. They ask whether anyone
makes an expansion box that will allow them to have more than four
podules on an A300/400/540/5000. The answer, sadly, is Énoæ. The reason
is that the electronics of the podule interface will not tolerate cables
of more than a few cm in length.
6.5
(2)ááAnyone thinking of buying one of Acornæs latest batch of computers
Ö A3010, A3020 or A4000 Ö will be only too aware of one major limitation
that these three computers share. They can only take one single internal
mini-podule and, unlike the old A3000, cannot take an external podule.
6.5
How, you may ask, could Acorn make what seems to be such a short-sighted
design decision? Well, the story is that they were hoping that third
party suppliers would produce a range of add-ons that use the bi-
directional parallel port (or the serial port). Then the single internal
podule could be used for a SCSI interface which would give access to a
whole range of other (albeit more expensive) devices.
6.5
So, when we are advising cusomers about buying, for example, a DTP
system, we offer an economy system using a BJ10ex inkjet printer and,
say, an A4000 or even an A3010. However, as soon as the customer thinks
in terms of a Laser Direct printer, the price shoots up and not just by
the difference in price between the two printers. Laser Direct is not
available as a mini podule, so you need a machine, like the A5000, that
will take standard-sized podules... ...or that used to be the case...
6.5
The solution
6.5
HCCS have made the most of the increased electronic miniaturisation
available these days and introduced the ÉMicroPoduleæ. Standard Euro
card-sized podules are about 17cm ╫ 10cm, minipodules are 16cm ╫ 7cm,
while the new MicroPodules are only 8cm ╫ 5cm Ö slightly smaller than a
credit card. This means you can mount two MicroPodules side-by-side onto
a standard-size podule and up to three MicroPodules side-by-side on a
minipodule.
6.5

6.5
The MultiPodules
6.5
HCCS are making carrier podules which they have called ÉMultiPodulesæ.
The MultiPodule for the A300/400/540/5000 computers (part number: K3410)
costs ú39 +VAT (ú43 through Archive) and takes, as I have said, two
MicroPodules.
6.5
For the A3010, there is an entry-level MultiPodule (K3110) at ú41.70
+VAT (ú46 through Archive) which provides a user port and allows the
connection of two MicroPodules.
6.5
If you want a hard drive in your A3010, you can have a minipodule that
will fit two MicroPodules and carries a 20Mb IDE drive and a user port
(K3132) for ú271.49 +VAT (ú303 through Archive) or with a 30Mb drive
(K3133) for ú297.02 +VAT (ú330 through Archive) or with a 60Mb drive
(K3136) for ú399.15 +VAT (ú445 through Archive).
6.5
As soon as you expand a MultiPodule by adding a hard drive or a
MicroPodule, you ought really to add a power supply and fan. If you buy
a hard drive version, as above, the power supply and fan are included as
part of the package. If you need to buy them separately, they come as
K3150 which will cost ú30 +VAT (or ú33 through Archive).
6.5
The A3020 and A4000 have space internally for an IDE hard drive, so
there is no need to use up valuable podule space. For these computers,
there is a MultiPodule (K3210) which will take up to three MicroPodules
and has a user port as well. It costs ú39 +VAT or ú43 through Archive.
6.5
(There will also be an A3000 version of this which is an identical
podule but you need an extension cable to enable it to fit properly with
the A3000æs existing cabling.)
6.5
The MicroPodules
6.5
The success of this venture depends on the number of different
MicroPodules available. HCCS themselves have started to produce their
own range of MicroPodules and are obviously going to be producing more.
However, they are also talking to other third-party suppliers with a
view to licensing other podules for production at MicroPodule size.
6.5
HCCS MicroPodules
6.5
There are four HCCS MicroPodules that can, at the time of writing, be
classed as ÉProducts Availableæ. The SCSI MicroPodule costs ú99 +VAT
(ú110 through Archive) and is an 8-bit interface which includes CDFS as
standard so, as well as using it to access hard drives, including
removables, you can access CD-ROM drives. This isnæt a 16-bit interface
but unless you are dealing with large SCSI drives, the speed of data
transfer is going to be limited by the drive and not the interface. You
can run Acorn Replay through one of these podules, although only at 12
frames per second.
6.5
The Colour Vision Digitiser MicroPodule costs ú79 +VAT (ú88 through
Archive). This is the standard resolution Vision Digitiser (see Archive
5.12 p43 and 6.2 p23).
6.5
The HiVision Digitiser MicroPodule costs ú129 +VAT (ú145 through
Archive). This is a colour digitiser that digitises at 508 line ╫ 720
pixel. (You will need 2Mb minimum to run the software and 4Mb is
recommended.)
6.5
The Laser Express MicroPodule costs ú249 +VAT (ú278 through Archive).
This provides the hardware and software needed to link directly to a
Canon LBP4 laser printer that has a video interface fitted.
6.5
Starter Packs
6.5
If you want to buy a MicroPodule but donæt want a hard drive, you will,
as I have said, need a power supply and fan. To keep the initial cost
down, HCCS are doing three Starter Packs as follows (each consists of
the MicroPodule plus a power supply and fan):
6.5
The HiVision Starter Pack (K3140) is ú149 +VAT (ú166) through Archive.
The Laser Express Starter Pack (K3141) is ú269 +VAT (ú300) through
Archive and the SCSI Starter Pack (K3142) is ú119 +VAT (ú133) through
Archive.
6.5
Podules under development
6.5
During the course of 1993, HCCS are hoping to release MicroPodules for:
Analogue input (almost ready and priced at ú29 +VAT or ú32 through
Archive), MIDI/Sound Sampler, Serial, Ethernet and Colour video out
(which will be useful for output to video recorders or large display
monitors).
6.5
Third-party MicroPodules
6.5
HCCS are currently in discussions with Computer Concepts about the
production of MicroPodule versions of Laser Direct and ScanLight. HCCS
are also hoping to find a company who could make a PC MicroPodule.
6.5
Not all standard-size podules will squash down onto a MicroPodule Ö it
depends on the chip count, of course. However, there should, hopefully,
be a number of other interfaces appearing in MicroPodule format over the
coming months.
6.5
The implications
6.5
A number of important implications occur to me as I consider HCCSæ
innovative podule project:
6.5
A300/400/540/5000 computers could (in theory at least) have up to eight
podules. I say Éin theoryæ firstly because there arenæt eight different
podules available yet. Secondly, for most of us, it isnæt a case of
starting from scratch. We already have a number of standard-size
podules, so adding various MicroPodules mounted on MultiPodules isnæt
quite such a clear option for financial reasons Ö but in a new
machine... !
6.5
A3000 owners can also benefit from these new systems. There is no
reason, as far as I can see, why any of the boards originally intended
for A3010/3020/4000 shouldnæt be used in an A3000.
6.5
Schools will, I think, be particularly pleased to see HCCSæ new
developments. The fact that a user port is available as well as various
MicroPodules is a great plus Ö the ability to link to concept keyboards,
interfacing boxes, etc comes, therefore, at no extra cost and without
taking up a podule slot. The combination of user port and multiple
serial ports means that these interfaces are ideally suited for special
needs applications. Also, being able to move MicroPodules around between
machines, including between standard-size podules and minipodules will
make life much easier because of the increased flexibility. (They are
also considerably easier to get in and out than minipodules!)
6.5
If you own an A3010, you donæt have to use a MultiPodule with an IDE
internal drive. You could, instead, buy a three-way MultiPodule and use
one of your three MicroPodule slots for a SCSI interface. Then you could
put an external SCSI drive onto the computer Ö perhaps bigger and faster
than the IDE drives.
6.5
Conclusion
6.5
Am I over-stating the importance of MicroPodules? Only time will tell
and it will obviously depend on how well other podule manufacturers pick
up on the idea.
6.5
I think that Acorn should be extremely grateful to HCCS Ö the increased
flexibility provided by MicroPodules makes A3010, A3020 and A4000
computers much more attractive and can only serve to increase their
sales, albeit occasionally at the expense of the sale of an A5000.ááA
6.5