Archive Magazine 1995/ARCHIVE95.iso/text/products/volume_08/issue_07

Text File | 1995-03-10 | 16KB | 283 lines

Å  Acorn C/C++ Ö Acorn are planning to release their new C/C++
development environment in mid-March. In fact, the package allows
programming in C, Assembler, and C++ as well as having a number of
supporting tools. C++ support is provided by CFront version 3.0. Also
included is the Toolbox replacement to RISCOS_Lib, which allows simple
design and implementation of your applicationæs user interface. This can
be tested without needing to write any code. The cost is ú249.95 inc VAT
or ú230 through Archive. Owners of Desktop C or Desktop Assembler can
buy C/C++ for ú205 including carriage from NCS. Send your original
Desktop C or Desktop Assembler discs with your order, please.
8.7
Å  Acorn RiscáPC Sound Card Ö The 16-bit Sound Card is designed to
exploit the digital audio capabilities of VIDC20. It enables the Risc PC
to generate near CD-quality sound output via the headphone socket.
Previous VIDC1a sound formats are supported in order to provide
backwards compatibility with existing RISC OS software, and there is
support for the new 16-bit linear and compressed ADPCM formats. The pack
includes: a stand alone sample player is provided to play back digital
samples; extensions to Replay are included to extend the capabilities of
the Replay system to include 16-bit linear ADPCM; a range of quality
samples designed to demonstrate the new audio system. The Sound Card
costs ú59.95 +VAT or ú68 through Archive.
8.7
Å  Big Bang Ö From Psycore, the creators of Top Banana, comes this new
adventure into öthe strange and beautifulò. The complete game comes on
either a single 1.6Mb disc or two 800Kb discs for ú14.95 (inclusive).
Please state which type of disc you require and make cheques payable to
Psycore when ordering.
8.7
Å Calligraph direct drive lasers Ö Calligraph have brought the price of
an A3 1200 dpi direct drive laser printers down to under ú3,000 inc VAT.
They now do a cut-down version of the TQ-1200 called the A3-1200 which
only costs ú2450 +VAT (ú2,800 through Archive). The only things that the
TQ-1200 has extra to the A3-1200 are a paperfeed unit that takes odd
sizes of paper, a high temperature controller that enables the printer
to cope with plate-making and the PostScript RIP software (see below).
These printers do 8 pages/minute at A4 size and 4 ppm at A3.
8.7
Å Calligraph PostScript RIP Ö In conjunction with Rapport Ltd,
Calligraph have produced a Level 2 PostScript compatible interpreter
which will allow any of their direct drive lasers to preview and print
PostScript files. If you have a Calligraph Qume or Taxan printer, you
can get a version of the software limited to 300 dpi and a new interface
card which has various extra features over your old one (which
presumably you just throw away). These new cards are also RiscáPC
compatible. This costs ú250 +VAT from Calligraph or ú285 through
Archive.
8.7
The other Calligraph printers already use the more up-to-date card, so
all you need is the RIP software. This, however, has enhanced features
appropriate to these more versatile printers and is the same price as
the other version Ö ú250 +VAT from Calligraph or ú285 through Archive.
8.7
Technically, the software offers full implementation of RT halftone
screening and TLA screening, giving any combination of screen angle,
frequency and spot shape; any resolution supported by your printer
including non-square; preview in Draw format (256 grey & 24-bit RGB) and
sprite format (16 grey levels up to 150dpi); selectable paper sizes;
colour spaces Ö grey, RGB, CMYK and CIE based; font types 0 (composite),
1 (hinted) and 3 (user definable); JPEG, LZW and CCITTFAX image
compression filters and full support for PostScript Resource Management.
8.7
Å  CDFast Ö Eesox have updated their CDFast and NetCDFast packages which
give performance increases on CD-ROM drives, stand-alone, and over a
network respectively. It has two modes of operation, minimum memory
requiring 8Kb to work for an 18-40% performance increase, or enhanced
mode requiring 36Kb for a 30-55% increase. The cost is ú25 +ú2 p&p +VAT
(ú30 through Archive) for the stand-alone version, and ú130 + ú2 p&p
+VAT (ú148 through Archive) for the network/site licence version.
8.7
Å  Celtic Clipart Disc 3 Ö The third disc in Glyn Howellsæ Clipart
collection is now available. The discs are ú10.99 each, ú18.99 for two,
or ú24.99 for all three (cheques payable to Glyn Howells). All files are
in draw format and discs 1 and 3 also contain hints files.
8.7
Å  Clips Round the Year Ö This is the name for the service offered by
our own Christopher Jarman who seeks to provide öhigh quality realistic
art, drawn by an artist who uses the computer, not just a computer buff
who does some art!ò Christopher can do first-rate illustrations to
order, or any kind of DTP design back-up you want. If you want a new
magazine cover or a set of invoices with your own logo, give him your
requirements. He will also do outline fonts designed to order. Prices
are by negotiation, but he will often exchange for software. Send ú5
(inc. p&p) for a sample disc containing 18 original Artworks files, plus
A/W viewer. Cheques payable to öC. Jarmanò.
8.7
Å  Colour Dye-sublimation Ö Spacetech have announced a new colour
printing system which has continuous tone output at 200dpi. This is not
as low as it might sound, especially when you consider that an 800 dpi
ink jet printer would only achieve 100dpi at 64 levels of greyscale. In
fact, the package, which uses Photodesk as a printer enhancer, gives a
virtual resolution of 800 dpi by anti-aliasing, which is only possible
on continuous tone printers. The package is currently reduced to ú995
+VAT and includes a Primera printer, refill kit, Photodesk and the
printer drivers. After the Acorn User Spring show, the price will rise
to the normal ú1215 +VAT. You can print from other packages, such as
Artworks, but you need to have Photodesk since it features as part of
the printer driver mechanism.
8.7
Å  Ethernet Design and Installation Guide Ö This book is now available
from Acorn, it aims to assist with setting up an Ethernet network. The
price is ú20 inclusive from Acorn or NCS.
8.7
Å  Expandable SIMMs Ö It is now possible to buy two sizes of SIMM memory
cards (4Mb and 16Mb) which are upgradable to twice the size by adding
extra chips. The Archive prices are: 4Mb ú155 (cf non-upgradable 4Mb at
ú145), 4-8Mb upgrade pack ú155, 16Mb ú535 (cf non-upgradable 16Mb at
ú490), 16-32Mb upgrade pack ú535. There is no upgradable 8Mb SIMM, I
fear, and the standard 8Mb SIMM has gone up in price to ú295.
8.7
(When the RiscáPC first came out, we talked about the possibility of
taking SIMMs in part-exchange when people wanted to upgrade. We have
looked into this and regret that we donæt feel able to offer this
service. We are suggesting that people use our Small Ads column to sell
their smaller SIMMs.)
8.7
Å Exploring Nature Ö (as recommended by Andrew Flowerdew in this monthæs
CD-ROM Column) This CD contains many drawings of flora and fauna,
natural life processes, animal behaviour and key natural habitats. An
activity-based exploration which will help children towards a greater
understanding and appreciation of the plants and animals around them.
This is a classroom and library resource for all primary and middle
schools. The RRP was ú125 +VAT but this has recently been reduced and it
is now available through Archive for ú88.
8.7
Å  Fireworkz Pro Ö Colton have now added Recordz, the database, to their
Fireworkz suite and have also added some improvements to the other parts
of the package. This is now called Fireworkz Pro. The package integrates
the Wordz wordprocessor, Resultz spreadsheet and Recordz, and allows
documents to contain Éliveæ spreadsheets and charts, which automatically
update when you change the data. The package requires RISC OS 3.1 or
later and at least 2Mb of RAM. As Fireworkz Pro and Recordz use Iota
Softwareæs DataPower engine, they can access DataPower files and use the
DataPower server on a network. Fireworkz (i.e. without Recordz) is still
available at ú99 +ú5 carriage +VAT from Colton (ú110 through Archive)
and Fireworkz Pro costs ú149 +ú5 carriage +VAT from Colton (ú165 through
Archive).
8.7
Upgradez: You can upgrade to Fireworkz Pro through Colton from: Wordz Ö
ú89, Resultz Ö ú69 PipeDream4 Ö ú99 or PipeDream3 Ö ú124, all plus ú5
carriage +VAT.
8.7
Å  Fly the Atlantic Ö This is the first activity pack designed to be
used with Topologikaæs Navigator software and is written by a real
airline pilot. Children must follow the flight plan and instructions
from Air Traffic Control. The pack is accompanied by a comprehensive
booklet with details of bearings, distances and locations of points on
the route. There is a special introductory price of ú15 +VAT +ú2.50 p&p
(ú19 through Archive), which includes a free site licence.
8.7
Å Heavy mouse balls ù Just to make it clear, these heavy-weight mouse
balls only fit Logitech mice. The Digitec mice used on A310/440 and some
of the A400/1 machines have slightly smaller balls, so check that you
have got a Logitech mouse before ordering your heavy ball. (The mice
that NCS sell at ú22 are Logitech/big ball mice!) These mouseballs are
available from Oak Consultants for ú3 including postage, packing and
VAT.
8.7
Å  Hermes Ö Base5 Technical Graphics describe this as öa Desktop
Messenger & Interpreterò. It has facilities for text transfer & file
interpretation, graphic file loading, activity recorder, window capture,
desktop monitor, flexible event timer, automatic paragraph numbering,
and features over 300 commands. It is available direct from Base5 for
ú25 (no VAT).
8.7
Å  Impressive Ö Quantum Software have provided an enhanced button bar
for use with Computer Concepts Impression range. It is capable of doing
several actions from one mouse click, so that, for example, switching of
the text repel feature of a frame can be done with ease. If you are
learning to use Impression, you can make Impressive show you how it is
creating the desired effect. Example features include Fit to Frame, move
frame by any amount, rotate graphic, colour frame, border colour, colour
text and so on. The price is ú9.95 inclusive from Quantum software or
ú10 through Archive.
8.7
Å  i-TV Ö This package from Irlam Instruments is a television tuner,
teletext decoder and NICAM stereo sound, all on a single width expansion
card. It features a crystal controlled, full band tuner, with channel
and teletext selection on the desktop. Composite video out is provided
for connecting to video digitisers, VCRæs etc. to allow single frames or
movies from the television signal. External video and stereo audio can
be fed in and switched (using software) to the output. Package of
hardware and software costs ú199 +ú3.50 p&p +VAT or ú230 through
Archive.
8.7
Å  Laser printers Ö We still donæt have any direct drive lasers for the
Acorn machines other than the Calligraph ones. However, we have added
the HP Laserjet 4L to our price list. It is a 300 dpi printer running at
4 pages a minute, has 1Mb RAM and costs ú670 inclusive through Archive.
We recommend the use of an HP Turbo Driver at ú53 to improve speed and
flexibility of the printout.
8.7
Å  Maths Odyssey Ö Computer Tutorial Services Ltd have produced an
educational adventure which allows children to relate to the historical
roots of some of the theorems and ideas they have to learn within the
National Curriculum. Maths Odyssey costs ú42 +VAT from Computer Tutorial
Services.
8.7
Å  Mentor Ö This is a new educational package from Appian Way, and is
designed to bring a number of historical resources to the classroom,
including documents, photos, maps, cartoons and diagrams. Each title
includes more than 100 sources, both text and picture, with
comprehensive indexing facilities. Technical terms can be looked up in
the glossary, and each sourceæs background comments can be viewed.
Teachers and pupils can add their own sources and notes to personalise
the system, adding local sources, for example. The Mentor Edit program
can change and re-index existing resources, or create a completely new
one. Currently available resources are öThe Third Reichò, ö1914-18: The
Western Frontò and öMedieval Realmsò Each topic disc costs ú39.50 +VAT
+p&p, and can be upgraded to a site licence for an additional ú10 +VAT.
Until the end of March, the price is ú35 +VAT +p&p. Mentor Edit costs
ú49.50 for a single user and the site licence is an additional ú35 +VAT.
8.7
Å  OPL Manual for Pocket Book II Ö From February, the OPL programming
manual for the Pocket Book II will be available through Acorn Direct.
Send a cheque for ú12.95 (including post and packaging) to Acorn Direct.
8.7
Å  PD-CD 2 Ö The Datafile have produced a second CD of PD material for
RISCáOS machines (including RiscáPC). This costs ú30 inclusive from The
Datafile or ú29 through Archive.
8.7
Å  Repair services Ö If you have Acorn equipment that needs repairing,
we have two companies here in Norwich that we can recommend. Avie
Electronics has been advertising fixed-price Acorn repairs for the last
few months. So, for example, if you have a dead A3000 then, whatever the
fault is, Avie will fix it for you for ú39 inc VAT. (Return carriage is
ú9.99 inc VAT.) See their advert on page 11 for details of the different
prices on offer. Avie do not repair printers. Repair Zone (alias Ray
Maidstone) will repair a wide range of computer and peripheral equipment
including öotherò computers (I canæt bring myself to mention Amigas,
Ataris and such-like). They will give a quotation, if required, or work
on the basis of öweæll give you a ring if itæs going to cost more than
(say) thirty quid to fix.ò
8.7
Å  Risc PC Extended Warranty Ö Acorn have released details of the
extended warranty scheme. For an extra 6% of the purchase price of your
machine you can extend the on-site warranty to 3 years. The warranty
only covers (and you only pay for) the Acorn segments of the system Ö
the base unit, Acorn monitor, mouse and keyboard. Any expansion cards,
printers, or non-Acorn monitor is not covered.
8.7
Å  Scrabble price Ö On the last price list, Scrabble was priced at ú33.
This was a mistake Ö the correct price was ú27 as mentioned in the
magazine. If anyone purchased it at ú33, please let us know Ö humble
apologies for that!
8.7
Å  Special Needs Organiser Ö This is a PC package which has been ported
to the Acorn platform and enables the user to manage the special needs
in your school. You can keep track of pupils, provide updates and
reminders for staff, and keep your LEA up to date. The price is ú64.95
+p&p +VAT for a primary licence, and ú80 +p&p +VAT for a secondary
licence from PC Business Solutions Ltd.
8.7
Å  Special Needs Trackerball Ö Northwest SEMERC have revised their
trackerballs and are adding versions for the PC and Apple Macintosh.
Acorn versions are now ú89 +VAT, or ú109 +VAT if you want the version
with a key guard.
8.7
Å  Text To Braille Ö The Dorton IT Support Centre has released version 3
of its text to braille translation program. The program will accept any
ASCII text file (including those imported from CD-ROM and the PC) and
will output a fully contracted Grade 2 Braille file which can be
subsequently sent to a suitable braille embosser. The braille output can
be customised for grade changes for example, and French, German and
Spanish braille codes are also supported. The price is ú30, and an
upgrade from version 2 costs ú5.
8.7
Å  Turbo Driver and Laser Direct Spoolers Ö This new package from
Computer Concepts allows network printing to take advantage of the Turbo
Driver or Laser Direct systems, and is compatible with any AUN network
including Econet. The package includes a printer cable, spooler
software, and a site licence for the printer driver software which may
be copied onto as many machines on the network as required. The system
works on all RISC OS 3.1 or later computers, although they need at least
2Mb of RAM (4Mb for 600 dpi laser direct printing). The price is ú149
+VAT.
8.7
Review software received...
8.7
We have received review copies of the following: ÅCannon Fodder (g),
ÅCDFast (u), ÅHermes (u), ÅTalking Stories 2 (e).
8.7