Archive Magazine 1995/ARCHIVE95.iso/text/products/volume_06/issue_10

Text File | 1995-02-16 | 25KB | 451 lines

Å    1st Paint Ö Keyboard Technology have produced an art package aimed at
Primary Schools. 1st Paint has all the normal art drawing functions you
would expect, including access to a picture library, editable colour
palette and a choice of eight patterns and eight picture stamps. 1st
Paint costs ú35 +VAT from Keyboard Technology.
6.10
Å    A3010 IFEL upgrade Ö IFEL have produced a 4Mb upgrade for the A3010.
This costs ú107 +VAT from IFEL or ú120 through Archive.
6.10
Å    A3010/3020/4000 Technical Reference Manual Ö This is now available and
in stock. It includes a full system description, parts list, network
interface specifications and circuit diagrams for all the computers.
This costs ú29.95 from Acorn or ú33 including carriage through Archive.
(N.B. Despite the price of this compared with the A4 TRM, it actually
contains a much larger amount of information. The contents of the A4 TRM
weighs about 600g whereas the A3010etc TRM weighs over 2╜kg!)
6.10
Å    A4 Technical Reference Manual Ö The TRM for the A4 is now available
and in stock. It includes a full system description, parts list, monitor
adaptor cable specifications, expansion bay details and circuit diagrams
including main pcb and Econet pcb. This costs ú65 from Acorn or ú64
including carriage through Archive.
6.10
Å    A4000S Ö Acorn and Northwest SEMERC have combined to release a system
for special needs based on the A4000. The hardware is extended with a
Cumana EMU expansion unit and a user port, and there is software pre-
installed on the hard drive: Phases #3, My World, Choices, GridIT and
Screenplay plus clipart including pictures and symbols for keyboard
overlays. The education price of the A4000S is ú899 +VAT including an
AKF18 multisync monitor. There is an upgrade pack available for existing
A4000 owners costing ú119.50 +VAT.
6.10
Å    A5000 improvement Ö The 4Mb/120Mb version of the A5000 has been
increased in specification at no extra cost. It now has a 160Mb hard
drive and the price remains at ú1599 +VAT (ú1879 through Archive).
6.10
Å    Amazing Maths Ö This is a competitive educational program from
Cambridge Software House. It is based on mental maths work and provides
practice on number bonding, multiplication, division, addition and
subtraction. It is concept keyboard and touch screen compatible. The
price is ú19.95 +VAT from CSH.
6.10
Å    Archimedes Disc Rescue Ö Anyone who has been örescuedò by LOOKsystemsæ
package will be able to testify to its value but you really need to buy
it before things go wrong Ö think of it as an insurance policy. It was
reviewed by Mike Allum in Archive 6.1 p23 and Gareth Long is working on
a more in-depth review at the moment which we hope will be published
soon. Archimedes Disc Rescue costs ú35 inc VAT through LOOKsystems and
is now available through Archive for ú33.
6.10
Å    Archive Monthly Program Disc Ö This month it contains: material from
Genesis/Magpie Column, two JPEG applications, PipelineZ bits, C multi-
threading demo, ARM cache on-off application, öHow to write for Archiveò
document plus some Artworks material if it arrives in time.
6.10
Å    Archivist Professional Ö This data management system from Oregan
Developmentsæ has been upgraded again, this time as ÉArchivist
Professionalæ. This now offers a card index for text, figures, graphics
and sound. The cards will also accommodate complete text files, limited
only by computer or disc memory and these, like the graphics and sound,
are stored in the file as resources which can be exported into other
applications. Selections of cards with a common theme can be compiled
into subsets. The price is ú44.95, with a site licence available at ú50,
and upgrades from version 4 at ú10 and version 2.4 at ú15.
6.10
Å    Artworks Renderer Ö If anyone is developing an application and wants
to allow it to display and print Artworks files, you can get a copy of
the Artworks rendering software, plus documentation, from Computer
Concepts. (Artworks has currently sold over 5,000 copies plus over 100
site licences!) However, before you publish an application using CCæs
software, you have to obtain a licence from them. There will usually be
no charge for this licence, especially where the application promotes or
supports the use of Artworks but they reserve the right to set a charge
for the licence or to withhold the licence altogether, at their
discretion. For example, I doubt that they would grant a licence to
someone using it to help them write an art package!
6.10
CC are also preparing documentation (currently 250 pages and rising!) on
how to implement further Artworks modules (see David Wildæs comments
last month, p22). This will cost you ú10 +VAT for the necessary source
code plus the manual as an Impression document on disc.
6.10
Å    Auto-loading disc copier Ö We gave information last month about the
new budget (3╜ö only) auto-loading disc copier. The copier costs ú1150
inc VAT and comes with very basic software. The LOOKsystemsæ AutoCopy
software is multitasking, very sophisticated and easy-to-use but it
costs ú350. However, we have worked out a deal whereby you can buy the
two together for ú1350 instead of ú1500, i.e. the software is almost
half price. This is fortunate because we have realised that the single-
tasking software that comes free with the auto-loader only works on the
pre-A5000 computers and doesnæt seem to work properly on RISCáOS 3!
6.10
Å    Canon BJ200 price drop Ö Canon have reduced the price of the BJ200
(some HP prices went up last month!) so that the BJ200 on its own is now
ú340 through Archive and the BJ200 with TurboDriver is available at ú380
through Archive. (The BJ200 is actually cheaper if bought directly from
CC. This is because they buy in such large quantities. However, they
wonæt give any dealer discount on this particular model Ö or the BJ230.
Their price, including the TurboDriver, is ú335 inc VAT & carriage.)
6.10
Å    Canon BJ230 Ö Canon have also just released an A3-sized printer
similar to the BJ200 and not much higher in price. The BJ230 on its own
costs ú390 through Archive and the BJ230 with TurboDriver is available
for ú430 through Archive. (The BJ230 is actually cheaper if bought
directly from CC. Their price, including the TurboDriver, is ú387 inc
VAT & carriage.)
6.10
Å    Canon BJC800 price drop Ö Canonæs A3-sized colour printer is now
available for ú1650 through Archive or ú1700 including the CC
TurboDriver and lead.
6.10
Å    C User Group Ö C programmers may be interested to know that the C User
Group UK is forming a sub-group to concentrate on issues relating to C
users in the Acorn world. Membership of the parent group is ú12 (or ú5
for students) and an extra ú5 for membership of the Acorn sub-group.
Contact Bob Docker, 4 Lexfield House, 75áHighbury New Park, London, N5
2EY.
6.10
Å    Darryl the Dragon is a new problem-solving adventure program for
younger users (key stages 1 & 2). If you enjoyed Grannyæs Garden, you
will love Darryl the Dragon. Darryl has caught a cold and lost his fiery
breath which, being a good dragon, he uses to cook his food, warm his
bed at night and toast marshmallows for his friends. Will you help him
to collect the things he needs to make his breath flame again? The
single-user version is ú19 +VAT (ú21 through Archive) and a primary site
licence costs ú39 +VAT (ú42 through Archive). There is also a set of
Activity Sheets available from 4Mation for ú10 +VAT.
6.10
Å    DBEdit upgrade Ö 4Mation have produced an enhanced version of DBEdit
incorporating many of the suggestions of existing users. The version
remains at ú30 +VAT (ú33 through Archive) and existing users can upgrade
free of charge by sending their master disc back to 4Mation. The new
version contains a ReadMe file with documentation for the extra
features.
6.10
(They donæt ask for an S.A.E. or paddibag but since they are offering a
free upgrade, I think it would be a nice gesture. It would show that we
appreciate their generosity and encourage them to continue that policy!
Ed.)
6.10
Å    !DrawPaint Ö In response to the plea for an easy way of converting a
drawfile into a sprite, the Derbyshire Support Centre for IT (DESCIT)
has told us about !DrawPaint. It is an application that loads onto the
iconbar. It allows you to drag a drawfile onto it and it provides a
spritefile icon for dragging to a filer window or straight into another
application. This utility costs ú10. Send cheques payable to öDerbyshire
County Councilò to Pam Winn at DESCIT.
6.10
Å    Fast PC Emulator Ö A new product has just come on the market to
compete with Acornæs PC Emulator. The Faster PC Emulator is hand-coded
in ARM assembler and claims to offer the following advantages: faster
graphics handling, more accurate sound implementation, support for some
Tandy video modes (useful for games), on-line configuration
modifications allowed. (It sounds almost too good to be true when you
think of the man-hours of work Acorn have put into their Emulator over
the years!) The cost is ú19.95 including p&p. Send your cheque (made
payable to D.J.Lawrence) to: !FasterPC, 33 High Street, Farnborough,
GU14 6ES. N.B. It requires an Acorn ARM computer running RISC OS 2 or 3,
minimum 2Mb RAM and MS DOS or DR DOS.
6.10
(We have a copy for evaluation and it looks as if it should be thought
of as a Ésecond string to your bowæ rather than as a complete
replacement for Acornæs PC Emulator Ö but perhaps I shouldnæt pre-judge
it before the full review. Ed.)
6.10
Å    Fonts galore Ö Monotypeæs quality typefaces, previously available on
other computer systems, are now available for the Archimedes.
LOOKsystems are supplying these fonts for Acorn RISC OS computers and
have just released their first pack of 100 fonts for ú95 (inc VAT, UK
postage paid).
6.10
Adrian Look, explains, öThe PC and Mac platforms have just experienced
Éthe TrueType revolutionæ Ö type foundries can supply typefaces in
TrueType format and thus avoid using Adobe PostScript with its
accompanying royalties. As a result, font prices have fallen
dramatically with TrueType fonts costing less than a tenth of their
PostScript equivalents.
6.10
These changes have made it much more viable to convert fonts into
RISCáOS format. By releasing Monotype fonts, we will transform the range
and quality of typefaces that are available for the Archimedes... and
they will be better value for money!ò
6.10
Fonts include: Goudy Text, Lombardic Capitals, Bembo, Poliphilius,
Blado, Dante, Goudy Old Style, Janson, Baskerville, Garamond, Platin,
Platin Expert, Century Old Style, Century Expanded, News Gothic,
Rockwell, Arial, Gill Sans, Braggadocio, Headline, Matura, Mercurius
Script, Neographic, Onyx, Palace Script, Pepita, Perpetua, Swing, 20th
Century, Zeitgeist Cameo.
6.10
The fonts are supplied in either RISC OS 2 or 3 format including
scaffolding and kerning pairs (RISC OS 3 only). Skeleton lines are not
yet provided but will soon be available as a free upgrade. 100 Monotype
fonts (Pack 1) will cost ú95 from LOOKsystems or ú90 through Archive.
6.10
Å    F.R.E.D. Ö This is a new arcade game from Software42, said to be öthe
ultimate arcade puzzle gameò. F.R.E.D. costs ú20 from Software42.
6.10
Å    Gemini is a matching pairs game from Cambridge Software House. It has
three levels of difficulty and you can put in your own sprites to make
up your own games. It is touch screen compatible and costs ú29.95 +VAT
from CSH.
6.10
Å    HP Deskjet 510 Ö The HP Deskjet 500 has been replaced by the DJ510. It
is basically the same except that it is faster in text mode (which most
Acorn printer drivers donæt use anyway!). Still, it works out cheaper
than the DJ500 Ö partly because we have found a cheaper supplier. The
Archive price is ú360 instead of ú390. You can run it with the Acorn
printer drivers but for extra speed and improved features (on RISCáOS
3.1) use the Ace PROdriver (ú44) or the new TurboDriver mentioned below
(ú53 including cable).
6.10
Å    HP Deskjet 1200C Ö Hewlett Packard have just released an A3 colour
inkjet printer which works out somewhat cheaper than the Canon BJC800,
currently priced at ú1650. The Archive price is ú1390 inclusive. You
would be well advised to run it on RISCáOS 3.1 and buy an Ace PROdriver
(ú44) or the new TurboDriver mentioned below (ú53 including a printer
cable).
6.10
Å    HP ÉPortableæ Deskjet 500 Ö Hewlett Packard have just released a
portable Deskjet printer, presumably to rival the Canon BJ10ex (and the
new 10sx). All I have been able to find out about it so far is the
price. We can sell it without sheet-feeder for ú300 or with a sheet-
feeder for ú350.
6.10
Å    HP Laserjet 4L Ö You can now get a 300 d.p.i. laser printer for ú670
inc VAT and carriage. Hewlett Packard have recently launched the
Laserjet 4L. You can run it with the Acorn printer drivers but for extra
speed and improved features, on RISCáOS 3.1, use the Ace PROdriver (ú44)
or the new TurboDriver mentioned below (ú53 including a printer cable).
6.10
Å    IronMask 2.1 Ö IronMask 2.1 is an upgrade of Turing Tools RISCáOS file
security system, in response to usersæ comments. IronMask 2.0 customers
can upgrade to IronMask 2.1 by returning their master disc to Turing
Tools.
6.10
Å    Jackbox is a jack-box version of Holdfastæs Joypad computer keypad
(see below). It provides switch inputs via ╝ö jack sockets for each for
the cursor and fire buttons equivalent to the Joypad. It has a standard
Atari style digital joystick connector and can be used with the Leading
Edge Joystick Interface (ú38 through Archive). The Jackbox costs ú25
+VAT from Holdfast Computing.
6.10
Å    Joypad is a computer keypad which is öfriendlier and tougher than a
mouseò. It is particularly designed for children and special needs
users. It has a standard Atari style digital joystick connector and can
be used with the Leading Edge Joystick Interface (ú38 through Archive).
The Joypad costs ú21.27 +VAT from Holdfast Computing.
6.10
Å    My First Words Ö This is an öinnovative way of helping children to
readò from Cambridge Software House. It aims to help 4 to 7 year-olds to
make up and print their own sentences. It is content-free (i.e. you can
put in whatever words you want to use) but comes set up with sample
files from the GINN 360 reading scheme as used by many primary schools
in the U.K. The price is ú29.95 +VAT from CSH.
6.10
Å    Multimedia Encyclopedia Ö Hutchinsons have now released the full
RISCáOS version of their encyclopedia CD-ROM. This now includes over
1,500 photographs plus illustrations, maps and textual data and over 250
sound clips. It has over 25,000 articles, thousands of cross-references
and hundreds of tables all classified under six headings: Aspects of
Society, History, The Arts, Places, Life Sciences and Science &
Technology. It is published by Attica Cybernetics Ltd and is priced at
ú149 (+ú5 p&p) +VAT.
6.10
Å    Numero 62 is a multi-language version of N║62 Honeypot Lane from
Resource aimed at primary school work in a whole range of subjects. It
is based round the idea of exploring and discovering the routines and
relationships that exist within a household through a year. At the press
of a key you can switch between English, French, German or Spanish.
Numero 62 is ú35 +VAT from Resource or ú38 through Archive.
6.10
Å    PAL + SVHS encoder Ö Pineapple produce an adaptor that takes the RGB
output from the Archimedes and creates a PAL encoded signal. There is
also a socket so that you can have a normal RGB monitor connected at the
same time. These are ú69 +VAT from Pineapple or ú75 through Archive.
There is also a version that has an SVHS output as well as the PAL
output. This can be very useful if youæve got a TV or video with an SVHS
socket. This version is ú79 +VAT from Pineapple or ú86 through Archive.
6.10
Å    Paradroid 2000 is Coin-Ageæs conversion of the Amiga game of the same
name. It is a droid-based shoot æem up with a certain amount of
strategic thinking needed to enable you to complete each level
successfully. The price is ú25.99 from Coin-Age or ú24 through Archive.
6.10
Å    Pre-formatted 1.6Mb discs Ö For the benefit of floptical owners, we
are offering pre-formatted 1.6Mb discs Ö ú17 for 10. (This is because
Morley flopticals can read and write 1.6Mb discs but not format them.)
6.10
Å    re-Print Ö (This is a product coming in September.) T-J Reproductions
are offering some help for professional and semi-professional designers
using Archimedes and trying to öinterfaceò with commercial printers. T-J
are producing re-Print which is part magazine, part reference manual,
part training guide and part DTP support group. This is being set up as
a result of T-J Reproductionsæ experience of running a DTP bureau for
Archimedes users. The annual cost will be ú68 (zero VAT) from T-J
Reproductions (ú58 if received by 31st July). It may be that you have
something to offer Ö if so, get in touch with them and start the mutual
support going as soon as possible.
6.10
Å    Sand Harvest Ö This is a computer-based role-play simulation for
geography and IT at key stages 3 & 4. In it, you experience the
difficulties of life in the Sahel. The three roles to be played are
nomad, government officer and villager. The cost of Sand Harvest,
including teacheræs and pupilæs guides, is ú68.15 (inclusive) for a
single-user version and ú103.40 for a site licence from CWDE Software.
6.10
Å    ÉSay-itæ language tutors Ö Bits ænæ Bytes are producing a series of
discs for different languages aimed to provide language listening
practice. Each disc has digitised speaking of the words in the given
language and you have to say which of four possible translations is
correct. You can choose whether the foreign word is just spoken or also
appears in written form on screen. We have so far seen !Dis-le (French,
two discs), !Dilo (Spanish) and !Sprich (German) but there are others
including !Gong-che (Chinese!) and all of them are being distributed by
Bits ænæ Bytes on a shareware basis. Write to them for full details.
(Readers in the Netherlands and Germany, may like to know that they also
have an English-Dutch version and an English-German version.)
6.10
Å    Symbol Collection Ö Widgit Software have released a collection of
1,000 drawfile symbols comprising most of the Rebus Glossary which can
be used to provide pre-reading aids for early learners or literacy aids
for adult learners with special educational needs. The Symbol Collection
costs ú25 +VAT from Widgit Software.
6.10
Å    Taxan 789 LR monitor (again!) Ö We have tried out the 14ö Taxan 789LR
(LR just stands for low radiation) at Mike Laneæs suggestion and it does
indeed work very well with the State Machine colour cards. (We havenæt
yet had a chance to try it on the CC Colourcard but weære pretty sure it
will be OK.) In a mode like 1024╫768, it is very clear and very
noticeably better than the Acorn multisync and even the Eizo 9060 looks
a little fuzzy by comparison. The 9060, despite being rather more
expensive) does not go up to such high horizontal frequencies as the 789
and so it cannot manage 256 colour modes at some of the higher
resolutions.
6.10
If you try to push up to 1152╫848 (16 colours) or 1152╫424 (256
colours), the 789 displays it OK but it is obviously beyond the
resolution of the tube and so the quality suffers. If you reckon that
the picture is 260mm wide (measured) and the dot pitch is 0.28mm, that
suggests about 900 dots horizontally so there is a limit to what you can
expect the monitor to do. Certainly, although you can display the
1600╫600, 16-colour mode, it isnæt very enjoyable to use because the
monitor obviously is working beyond its capabilities.
6.10
Still, at ú440 for the monitor + ú280 for a G8 or ColourCard (or ú314
for G16), the Taxan 789LR represents a very cost effective way of
getting a significant improvement to the video output of the Archimedes.
The next step better would be the 15ö Eizo F340iW at ú720 and the
improvement in display quality, though noticeable, is not that
significant for the extra ú280. The main difference is that you get a
wider range of adjustments and that it is micro-processor controlled, so
you donæt have to keep fiddling with the controls Ö this is a very
significant factor if you are someone who changes modes a lot.
6.10
If you want higher resolutions, you really have to go up to 17ö or 20ò.
I am hoping to try out some of the Taxan 17ö and 20ò monitors so that I
can compare them with the Eizos whose prices have gone up so much
recently Ö Taxanæs prices actually went down on 1st June!
6.10
If you want to use the Taxan 789LR without a colour card, A310/3000/410/
420/440 owners will need a VIDC enhancer (ú28), Careware 18 software
(ú5) and a 15/9-pin adaptor (ú12) as the computer is 9-pin and the
monitor has a fixed lead with a 15-pin plug. So the total is
ú440+28+5+12 = ú485. Owners of A5000/3010/3020/4000 wonæt need the VIDC
enhancer or the adaptor but they will need the Careware 18 software,
i.e. ú445 total. The A540 doesnæt need the VIDC enhancer either but it
does need the Careware 18 software and the 15/9-pin adaptor, i.e. ú457
total.
6.10
If you want to use a Taxan 789LR with a colour card, all you need is the
monitor and the card. There is no need for any extra adaptors, etc.
Remember, too, that the colour cards are standard size podules and
therefore will not fit in A3000/3010/3020/4000 although they will work
on the A3000 if you have an external case to put it in.
6.10
(By the way, we still have one or two Acorn multisync monitors for sale
at ú270. The same applies as for the Taxan 789 in terms of VIDC
enhancers and adaptors. In fact, strangely enough, the plastic cases of
these two monitors, all except for the screen surround, are identical Ö
it must have come from the same case manufacturer and been made in the
same mould!)
6.10
Although I have waxed lyrical about the Taxan 789, you need to be aware
that it is only monitors like the Eizo 9060 and the Microvitec 1440 that
will work properly with all games. The reason is that they have a
frequency range that goes down low enough not to need a colour card or a
VIDC enhancer to increase the frequency. Some games use Éillegalæ poking
of the video controller to increase their speed and those that do so
will not work on the colour cards and some of them wonæt work with a
VIDC enhancer either.
6.10
Å    Turbo Driver range grows Ö Computer Concepts have launched two more in
their series of TurboDrivers for improving the quality and speed of
printer drivers for RISCáOS 3. The Hewlett-Packard TurboDriver can be
used with Deskjet, Deskjet Plus, Deskjet 500, the new Deskjet 510 and
the colour printers: Deskjet 500C and 550C (also, presumably, the new
DJ1200C). This also includes a version for Laserjet printers. CC claim
öinitial tests show that the TurboDrivers print and return control
anything between three to ten times faster than either the Acorn drivers
or the Ace PROdriversò (Quite a claim! We are going to have to get
someone to check it out for us! Ed.)
6.10
The second new TurboDriver is for the Epson Stylus 800. This one is
claimed to return control to the user öfive times faster than the Ace
PROdriversò.
6.10
The new TurboDrivers will handle full 24-bit colour separations and
offer öPostScript-like control over half-tone screens, i.e. programmable
screen types and screen angle, screen density, etc. The drivers cost ú49
+VAT from Computer Concepts or ú53 through Archive. (N.B. They require
RISCáOS 3.1 or later and 2Mb RAM minimum.)
6.10
Å    TV Adaptor Ö Acorn sell an adaptor that will take the RGB output from
an Archimedes and produce a UHF signal that you can plug straight into
the aerial input of a TV. The quality of the signal is obviously limited
by converting the signal to UHF but if a TV is all you have then it is
very useful. The TV adaptor is ú59 +VAT from Acorn or ú65 through
Archive.
6.10
Å    Vector upgrade Ö 4Mation have now released Vector version 1.1 which
has a number of extra facilities added at the request of existing users.
The upgrade is ú10 +VAT from 4Mation if you send back your Vector
application disc. Extra features include: graphics level control
(controls the amount of detail shown on screen), auto-save options, more
mask options, text-to-path on multiple objects, rotate/skew/scale/
transform about origin, overlay lines, auto layers and keyboard short-
cuts. The price of the new version remains the same Ö ú85 +VAT or ú92
through Archive.
6.10
Å    Viking Library Ö Widgit Software have produced a resource pack
comprising over 250 symbols, with their accompanying words, to help
children read and write about Vikings. It costs ú12.50 +VAT from Widgit
and is for use with their language, communication and literacy package,
From Pictures to Words, which costs ú35 +VAT from Widgit.
6.10
Å    Virtual Golf is Fourth Dimensionæs new golf game. öNo more power
meters Ö you control the swing by moving the mouse.ò Gordon Keyæs latest
golf game is based on the Wentworth course and has features including:
up to four players, strokeplay, matchplay, six tournaments, animated
course maps, auto-caddy, replays, game-saving, course viewing options,
practice options and driving range. This new game costs ú34.95 from
Fourth Dimension or ú33 through Archive.
6.10
Å    World Development Database Ö This database provides social and
economic statistics on 129 countries in computerised form for use with
either KeyPlus or Grass databases. The pack includes geography and maths
coursework material. It costs ú30 +VAT for the KeyPlus version and ú25
+VAT for the Grass version and is produced by CWDE Software.
6.10