Archive Magazine 1996/ARCHIVE_96.iso/text/products/volume_4

Text File | 1995-06-25 | 118KB | 2,224 lines

Å   Tiny Logo is a new implementation of Logo from Topologika and is aimed
at young children. Some of the facilities can be disabled if required to
make it less confusing for younger users. The pack includes Tiny Draw, a
mouse/icon controlled painting package for infants and lower juniors.
The price is ú29.95 or ú28 through Archive.
4.1
Å   5.25ö disc drive interface Ö Digital Services produce a podule floppy
disc drive interface which provides a rather more easily fitted
interface than any that weæve seen so far. ú35 +VAT or ú38 through
Archive.
4.1
Å   600 d.p.i. 8 page per minute laser printer for only ú1399 + VAT (ú1490
inclusive through Archive). Computer Concepts have released their new
600 d.p.i. version of the Laser Direct. It is a modified LBP8 laser
printer engine with a board which fits into the Archimedes, just like
the 300 d.p.i. Qume version. This printer, because it is modified
specifically for the Archimedes, cannot be used on other computers. If
you want to have a printer than can be used on both the Archimedes and
other computers, you can get an LBP4 (which is, admittedly, half the
printing speed of the LBP8) and use CCæs interface board and software
which can be bought separately for ú350 + VAT (ú370 through Archive).
4.1
Å   A3000 ram prices down again Ö The 4M Atomwide and Computerware ram
upgrades have dropped in price to ú320. These are the ones which adhere
to Acornæs guidelines about the numbers of memory chips in an A3000 ram
board.
4.1
Å   Acorn price drops Ö Certain of the Acorn podules have dropped in
price: Ethernet card is now ú250, the floating point podule is ú500 and
the SCSI card is ú250 (+VAT in each case).
4.1
Å   Archimedes Annual Service Kit Ö Acorn recommend that you change the
batteries on your Archimedes (this does not apply to A3000æs) once a
year. That may be a bit over cautious but if your computer is two years
old, I would definitely change the batteries since spurious configura
tion changes can occur which you may not notice and which could cause
you all sorts of hassle. Also, having had a few A310æs back for memory
upgrades and having seen the state of the fan filters, I would also
recommend changing the filter every so often. The trouble is, alkaline
batteries come in packs of four and you only need two and have you tried
asking your local dealer for a replacement fan filter recently?! What we
have put together is an Archive Service Kit Ö two batteries plus a fan
filter for ú2.
4.1
Å   Archimedes Learning Curve Launched Ö For the same price as an A420
(new price ú1299 + VAT) you can now get an Archimedes Learning Curve
pack. This is not to be confused (some hope!) with öThe Learning Curveò
hereinafter called öthe A3000 Learning Curveò. The software that comes
with the Archimedes Learning Curve is the same as with the A3000
Learning Curve (DR DOS, PC emulator, Genesis and First Word Plus) but
with the addition of Acorn DTP. Also included in the new pack are the
introductory video and a copy of öYour Child and the National
Curriculumò again as included in the A3000 Learning Curve pack. Please
note that neither Learning Curve includes a monitor. This has to be
purchased separately. All the software is carefully laid out on the 20M
drive.
4.1
Å   Archimedes Price drops Ö The prices of the A420 and A440 have dropped
to ú1299 and ú1699 +VAT respectively (ú1493.85 and ú1953.85). Also, the
new Archimedes Learning Curve which has recently been launched adds to
the complication since it sells at the same price as the straight 420!
If you want a 420, it is best to buy the Archimedes Learning Curve from
us at ú1490 and get the Learning Curve software free as well as a ú100
Archive software voucher. If you want a more powerful machine, we can
swap the 20M drive for a 40M or a 47M drive for ú210 or ú290 respec
tively and we can upgrade the memory to 4M for ú120. If you want the 20M
drive replaced with a SCSI drive instead of an ST506 drive we can allow
you ú120 off the price of the SCSI drive. So, for example, you could
have it with a 45M SCSI by adding ú405 or an 80M by adding ú630.
4.1
So, if you want a Learning Curve 440 equivalent, it will cost you ú1490
+ 290 (drive upgrade) + 120 (memory upgrade) = ú1900 which works out
cheaper than Acornæs own A440 price without the extra software. If you
really donæt want the software then you can buy an upgraded A410 from us
for ú1260 + ú180 (3M ram) + ú390 (47M drive) = ú1830 and so you save
yourself ú70. If you are thinking of buying an Archimedes Learning Curve
or an upgraded A440 Learning Curve, note that the software is supplied
on the hard disc, not on separate floppies, so I donæt know how you
stand legally if you are thinking of selling the software on to someone
else. I suspect that it may be a breach of the licencing agreement under
which Acorn sell you the software.
4.1
Å   Arclight Ö an extremely fast multitasking ray tracing package for
Euclid users. It is now available for ú50 inclusive from Ace Computing
(ú46 through Archive.
4.1
Å   ARM3 upgrade Ö Aleph One have improved their ARM3 upgrade and reduced
the price again. It is now on a board just 50mm x 60mm and stands only
about 6mm above the ARM 2 chip socket so that there should be no more
problems of incompatibility with anything. They have achieved this
amazingly small size by using surface mount components throughout. The
price hasnæt shrunk in quite the same proportion as the size(!) but it
is down to ú449 +VAT or ú460 through Archive. (See Comment Column on
page 13.) It also means that if you can find someone who owns a surface
mount rework station, you could, in theory, replace the ARM2 on an A3000
with an 84 way socket and then put in an ARM3 upgrade.
4.1
Å   ARM3 upgrade Ö CJE Micros are now also selling ARM3 upgrades for the
A300/400 computers. The upgrade has two extra features to make it stand
out from the opposition. Firstly, the ARM3 is in a sub assembly so that
it can be replaced when other ARM chips and/or floating point units
become available and secondly, though the chip is run at 30MHz, you can
buy a öSuper Boosterò which will increase the speed to ö34, 36, 38, 40╔
MHzò. (See Comment Column on page 14.) The prices are ú500 (inc VAT) for
the upgrade and ú34.50 for each Super Booster. The ARM3 itself will be
available through Archive for ú465 but the Super Boosters are only
available through CJE Micros.
4.1
Å   Ballarena Ö the first game from the French Archimedes software house,
Eterna. At ú19.95, it is an all action arcade type game with some
excellent background music.
4.1
Å   Business Accounts from Minerva Ö For ú99.95 (inc VAT) each, you can
buy modules for Minervaæs new business accounts system: Stock manage
ment, Order processing and invoicing, Sales ledger, Purchase ledger and
Nominal ledger. If you want all five modules, they can be bought for
ú399.95 (inc VAT). (Archive prices are ú90 and ú350 respectively.)
Although these are revamped programs, they are not, I gather,
multitasking.
4.1
Å   Careware Disc 9 Ö Fast Julia and Mandelbrot generator, desktop
fractals, 3D ray traced Julia and Mandelbrot sets.
4.1
Å   Computerware A310 memory upgrades are still available through Archive
despite Computerwareæs demise. We have a few in stock at the moment.
4.1
Å   Datavision is Silicon Visionæs relational database management system
consisting of label printing, reporting, wordprocessing and mailmerging
facilities in one integrated environment. It costs ú149.95 from Silicon
Vision or ú130 through Archive.
4.1
Å   Dust Ö Educational software house, Resource have produced a new
mathematics program called, Dust. It is designed for upper junior and
lower secondary age children. On an öeyecatching journey through the
solar systemò you are faced with various mathematical puzzles. It is set
up as 10 chapters with supplementary activities and a teacheræs guide.
The price is ú30.50 +VAT (or ú22.50 if you buy 10+) or ú32 inclusive
from Archive.
4.1
Å   EdScheme Lisp Compiler Ö Lambda Publications have produced a Lisp
incremental compiler for the Archimedes for just ú37.50. It has been
recommended to us by Mr A Angus of Blyth, Northumberland as a good
selfstudy course in computer science when combined with Abelson &
Sussmanæs öStructure & Interpretation of Computer Programsò.
4.1
Å   Financial Accountant from Silicon Vision provides order processing,
invoicing, sales ledger, purchase ledger, nominal ledger, cash book,
stock management, reporting, VAT analysis, trial balances and profit
analysis all in one package. It costs ú275 from Silicon Vision or ú245
through Archive.
4.1
Å   Flexifile Ö Minervaæs latest offering in the database area is now
available at ú149.95 inclusive (or ú130 through Archive). It is a
ösimple to use, multitasking, relational databaseò.
4.1
Å   Gate Array Design & Teaching system provides an introductory course
for teaching silicon chip design including array design, cell design and
a tutorial on IC design. The price is ú149.95 from Silicon Vision or
ú130 through Archive.
4.1
Å   !Help Ö The Teacheræs Guide to the Archimedes from Sherston Software
reviewed last month (page 40) has gone up in price from ú4.95 to ú7.95.
4.1
Å   Impression II Ö should be available by the time you read this. The
price is ú169 + VAT or ú175 through Archive. It will take some time to
clear the backlog of orders, so please be patient.
4.1
Å   Interdictor II is now available from Clares Micros at ú34.95 (ú32
through Archive). When compared to Interdictor I, it has better
landscaping, the flight simulator is much improved, there is a new game
scenario, a greater variety of enemy targets and a computer analysis of
the state of the plane in flight. It is not an upgrade of Interdictor I
but is a completely new product with, sadly, no upgrade path.
4.1
Å   Jetstream from Digital Services is a 30M tapestreamer at a very
reasonable price Ö ú599 + VAT or ú640 through Archive. It is not a SCSI
device but consists of a podule, to which the streamer is connected, and
front end software driven from an icon on the icon bar. It has the added
advantage that the podule can also be used as a 5.25ö external disc
drive interface. The streamer itself takes either 20M or 30M tapes and
can back up drives larger than the tape size by using multiple tapes. It
runs at 1.5Mbyte/minute, i.e. 13 minutes to back up a 20M drive or half
an hour to backup a 45M drive.
4.1
(This is a somewhat slower, but rather cheaper, alternative to the Oak
60M tapestreamer at ú1100. However, if it is a SCSI drive you want to
backup, a 42M removable drive at ú680 is a much better alternative as it
can be used as an ordinary drive as well as being used for backup
purposes.)
4.1
Å   Join the Jet Set! Ö ZCL Ltd are launching a package aimed very
aggressively at the games market. They are putting together an A3000 and
a high quality TV modulator with Interdictor, Superior Golf, Trivial
Pursuits and Euclid for ú650 +VAT. (ú710 through Archive.) A great idea
for a Christmas present!
4.1
Å   Joystick Interface Ö You can now use your favourite joysticks from
Amiga, Atari or whatever, on the Archimedes. This interface fits into
the Econet connectors on the Archimedes or A3000 and has special
software which allows you to use two joysticks to run applications that
were intended to be mouse or keyboard based. (Fitting such a joystick
interface will, of course, void your warranty.) These are available from
RTFM Software in Jersey for ú34.99 inclusive.
4.1
Å   Laser Direct and ArcLaser supplies Ö We can now supply toner cartri
dges (ú75) and replacement drum sets (ú95) for the Laser Direct and
ArcLaser.
4.1
Å   MCP is a lighting and special effects management system designed for
discos, etc. It can handle up to 512 channels on a single core cable
with 1 to 5kW dimmers with an easytouse management system run from an
Archimedes. This system is available from S.P.E.M. in Torino, Italy.
4.1
Å   Mouse splitter from Voltmace Ö If you are fed up with having to unplug
the joystick and plug your mouse back in again after the kids have been
playing games on the computer, here is the answer! Voltmace have
produced a simple switch box into which both the mouse and the joystick
can be plugged. A toggle switch then selects which is active at any
time. This will save a lot of hassle and will remove the liklihood of a
broken mouse or joystick plug caused by continued plugging and
unplugging. For A3000 owners, this is particularly useful Ö I donæt
think Acorn could possibly have found a more awkward place to put the
mouse socket, do you?! The only problem for A3000 owners is that, at
least on the sample switch box I was sent, the cable is so thick that
the computer wonæt sit properly on its feet! I have told Voltmace about
this and am hopeful that they will use a thinner cable in future. These
boxes are ú19.95 inclusive (or ú18 through Archive).
4.1
Å   Office Tools is a combination of Silicon Visionæs packages: Datavi
sion, ShareHolder, Financial Accountant and the Presentation System. It
costs ú375 from Silicon Vision or ú320 through Archive.
4.1
Å   !Orrery is Spacetechæs latest application. As I am sure you all
know(!), an orrery is a device (originally mechanical) for displaying
the solar system showing the orbitals of all the planets. This appli
cation allows you to view the solar system with an accurate backdrop of
stars and zoom in and out and to look at it from different places both
within and outside the solar system. ú95 +VAT from Spacetech. (More
information on page 55.)
4.1
Å   PipeMania comes to the Archimedes Ö Entertainment International have
now transferred Pipemania, the well known Amiga/Atari/Spectrum etc game,
onto the Archimedes. You have to direct the pipework around the screen
before the slime reaches the last piece of pipe you have laid! ú23
through Archive.
4.1
Å   Removable SCSI hard drives Ö we are now stocking MicroNet 42M
removable SCSI drives as well as the Oak ones. These drives are
considerably faster than the Cumana 20M removable drives and are about
the same speed as the standard Oak fixed SCSI drives. Indeed, in the
higher resolution modes, they are faster! The Archive price for a drive
without a podule, but including the cables and one 42M cartridge is ú680
inc. VAT and the spare cartridges are ú80 each. If you buy it with an
Oak SCSI card, it comes out at ú870. More details in the SCSI Column on
page 47.
4.1
Å   Rhapsody is Claresæ new music notation package supporting Midi input
and output, editing and printing of musical scores. The price is ú49.95
or ú46 through Archive. See the comments on page 43.
4.1
Å   RoboLOGO is Silicon Visionæs own version of Logo providing 3D movement
of an onscreen robotic figure (no hardware turtle equivalent, Iæm
afraid). This package costs ú99.95 from Silicon Vision or ú90 through
Archive.
4.1
Å   Schema Ö Clares have taken over Acornæs multitasking spreadsheet,
Schema, and it is now available for ú129.95 inclusive or ú110 through
Archive. It sounds extremely powerful but we havenæt yet got a review
copy. As well as the normal spreadsheet functions, it also has some
graphical output Ö bar, line, area and pie.
4.1
Å   ShareHolder is Silicon Visionæs share management system for the small
investor which will allow you to automate your portfolio. It costs ú195
from Silicon Vision or ú160 through Archive.
4.1
Å   Shareware Disc 33 Ö is a music disc with twenty tunes for Maestro,
three utilities and seven tunes for soundtracker, a computerised
metronome and a midi monitor. The soundtracker utilities are: one which
separates samples and songs from soundtracker modules, one which plays a
soundtracker module and one which allows the user to control the way in
which the module is played.
4.1
Å   Shareware Disc 34 Ö contains !Draw+ (a much improved version of
!Draw), 38 lineart draw files, a converter to change outline fonts into
bitmap fonts, a screen mode info module, a converter from !Paint 256
colour numbers (0255) to RGB values, a PipeDream to Impression conver
ter, an update to !PrinterPS, a pound printer utility and PrintUtils for
FX80.
4.1
Å   Shareware Disc 35 Ö contains a desktop cassette inlay printer, a
packet radio program, a desktop front end for Wingpass Assembler, a
desktop dustbin, a desktop find file, a routine which converts BASIC
programs into application code, a desktop disassembler, a desktop front
end for Acornæs Squeeze utility, an iconbar clock and some files
relating to a geothermal energy project (explained in the Help!!!
Section on page 16).
4.1
Å   Silicon Vision price rises. Unfortunately, Silicon Vision has felt the
need to increase the prices of much of their Archimedes software. The
new prices, including VAT, are as follows, the Archive prices being in
brackets after each one.
4.1
ArcPCB   ú195   (ú160)
4.1
Realtime Solids Modeller   ú195
(ú160)
4.1
Solid CAD   ú149.95   (ú130)
4.1
FilmMaker   ú99.95   (ú90)
4.1
Solids Render   ú149.95   (ú130)
4.1
RoboLOGO   ú99.95   (ú90)
4.1
Gate Array Design System   ú149.95
(ú130)
4.1
Super Dump   ú29.95   (ú28)
4.1
RiscBASIC Compiler   ú149.95
(ú130)
4.1
RiscFORTH Compiler   ú149.95
(ú130)
4.1
SuperPlot   ú39.95   (ú37)
4.1
ShareHolder   ú195   (ú160)
4.1
Datavision   ú149.95   (ú130)
4.1
Financial Accountant   ú275
(ú230)
4.1
Office Tools   ú375   (ú320)
4.1
Å   Solids Render is Silicon Visionæs multitasking raytracing software
which works with their FilmMaker to produce animations. Can be used to
raytrace the output from SolidCAD and Realtime Solids Modeller. The
price is ú149.95 from Silicon Vision or ú130 through Archive.
4.1
Å   SuperDump is printer driver from Silicon Vision for use with Epson
compatible printers. Images can be scaled, positioned and previewed
before printing. This package costs ú29.95 from Silicon Vision or ú28
through Archive.
4.1
Å   SuperPlot is a plotter driver from Silicon Vision which supports HPGL,
Graphtec, Watanabe and Plotmate plotters amongst others. It is compat
ible with all of Silicon Visionæs graphics packages. It costs ú39.95
from Silicon Vision or ú37 through Archive.
4.1
Å   Taxan 14ö multisync monitors Ö new to the price list this month is
Taxanæs new 795 colour monitor with the flat screen Trinitron tube.
Anyone who saw it on display will agree that the quality is even better
than the Eizo 9060SZ (.28mm dot pitch). This is partly due to the closer
dit pitch (.26mm) and partly due to the new Trinitron technology tube.
The Archive price is ú590 inc VAT and carriage. Note, however, that this
monitor, unlike the Eizo 9060SZ will not work in modes 17 and below
unless a VIDC enhancer (ú34 through Archive) is fitted to the computer.
(See the Hardware Column on page 21 for further comments.)
4.1
Å   Taxan 20ö multisync monitors Ö also new to the price list this month
is Taxanæs 20ò colour monitor, the Taxan Multivision 970. It is a BIG
monitor with .31mm dot pitch which, on a 20ö screen represents very high
resolution. The Archive price is ú1690 inc VAT and carriage. The price
includes a free VIDC Enhancer.
4.1

Å   !Works Tools #1 (ú10) from Jim Markland Software explains the DXF
format of !Draw files, has some BASIC utilities and allows you to
incorporate your own vector graphics in DTP.
4.2
Å   !Works Tools #2 (ú30) is a contouring application for surface
modelling. It outputs MTV polygons, DXF, sprite and Euclid format files.
4.2
Å   3.5ö best quality branded discs from Archive are now down to ú13 for
10 or ú60 for 50.
4.2
Å   A3000 Ram board prices down. Atomwide 1M ú80, 4M ú275, Morley 1M ú80,
4M ú255.
4.2
Å   Amazing Ollie is one of Storm Softwareæs first educational programs
for the Archimedes. It is aimed at children aged 4+ and covers number
recognition, counting, adding, maze solving and handeye coordination.
ú13.95 +VAT or ú15 through Archive.
4.2
Å   Astro is a set of interactive programs from Topologika for exploring
space. It is aimed at upper primary and secondary school students. The
price is ú19.95 or ú18 through Archive.
4.2
Å   AutoLoaders Ö We have now managed to get a working system for
formatting and copying Archimedes discs. It attaches to a standard
Archimedes computer (even an old 310 will do) via a 5.25ö interface and
a serial lead. You can put 50 discs in at a time which it either feeds
out to a main output hopper when copied or into a reject bin if the disc
does not verify properly. If anyone is interested in buying one, we can
supply them, including software, leads etc for ú2,300 + VAT (ú2,645). If
we could buy more than one at a time, we would be able to get discount
from the suppliers, so let us know if you are interested.
4.2
Å   Base5 DBMS is a suite of BASIC V functions and procedures designed to
implement database programs. Currently it is only ÉRISCOS compatibleæ
but soon it will be fully multitasking. For a list of the features, see
the advert on page 14. The price is ú69 (no VAT) from Base5 or ú5 for a
demonstration disc refundable on purchase of the full system.
4.2
Å   BugHunter in Space Ö is the sequel to Bug Hunteræs adventures on
earth. ú17.95 from Minerva or ú17 through Archive.
4.2
Å   Careware N╝10 Ö The latest Careware disc which is now available
includes three educational games: Mathematical invaders, maze game with
questions on English, History, Geography, Maths and Science and a
hangman type game. The other items on the disc are a bridge hand lister,
solitaire game, 6 puzzles and a rubik cube program.
4.2
Å   Chocks Away is 4th Dimensionæs new flight simulator. You are the pilot
of a biplane with various missions to fly. Alternatively you can have
twoplayer dogfights. ú24.95 or ú23 through Archive.
4.2
Å   Coffee is a role play package from Storm Software, aimed at children
aged 9 Ö 15. It brings in elements of maths, geography, history,
english, science and environmental studies. The price ú27.95 +VAT or ú29
through Archive.
4.2
Å   Drop Ship is an arcade game from 4th Dimension in which you have to
pilot your spaceship around through various scenes with a range of
nasties trying to put an end to your life. It is very reminiscent of
Rotor from Arcana Software. Price ú19.95 or ú18 through Archive.
4.2
Å   Honeypot is Resourceæs öimaginative and enjoyable approach to primary
technologyò. The pack contains three story books, an A3 picture book, a
photocopiable teacheræs book and two computer programs; one allows
children to öwalkò down Honeypot Lane, the centre of the imaginary
village; the other enables children to combine their own text with
pictures. ú44.25 from Resource or ú42 through Archive.
4.2
Å   Kaptain Konflict Ö öthe ultimate combat experienceò in which you öface
enemy soldiers, take the buildings, blow up the installationsò. ú19.95
from Calderglen Computers.
4.2
Å   Ollie the Octopus Sketchpad is an art package from Storm Software,
again aimed at children aged 4+ and is also ú13.95 +VAT or ú15 through
Archive.
4.2
Å   PAL Colour encoder Ö Pineapple Software have produced a colour encoder
for the Archimedes which takes the standard RGB output from the computer
and encodes it into a composite signal. This means that you can take the
output into any VTR that has a composite input and record the output
from the computer or you could use it to drive a colour monitor that has
a composite input. The cost is ú69 +VAT.
4.2
(N.B. For the nontechnical readers, this is not a modulator, i.e. it is
not intended to provide a TV type signal. We have been asked by a number
of people if we know where they can get a TV modulator but we donæt.
However, there must be some around as ZCL are providing them with their
JetSet packs Ö see last monthæs Products Available column. Ed.)
4.2
Å   Personal Accounts 2 Ö Apricote Studios have now produced version 2 of
their Personal Accounts package. It is fully multitasking, has a bigger
description space, you can save reports as a text file instead of
immediately printing them, a notepad window has been added and there are
a number of other smaller improvements. (See the review on page 54 and
the advert on page 5.) The price has changed because Apricote Studios
are now VAT registered. The Account Book and The Invoice Program are now
ú34.95 each (ú32 through Archive) or if you buy them both at the same
time, they are only ú59.95 (ú59 through Archive).
4.2
Å   Price changes Ö The new Computer Concepts 600 d.p.i. Laser HiRes has
gone up in (Archive) price from ú1490 to ú1560 because CC didnæt include
the price of the toner cartridge when they did their costing and,
obviously, you canæt supply the laser printer without one. These
printers are now available from stock. (Check the Price List insert to
see if we have any available on special offer at the moment.)
4.2
Å   ProText 5.0 is the first offering into the Archimedes market from
Arnor Ltd. It is a mature wordprocessor currently available for IBM,
Atari and Amiga, now ported across onto the Archimedes. At ú149.95 inc
VAT (or ú135 through Archive) it offers a wide range of WP and mailmerge
facilities, including a 110,000 word dictionary and has a programming
language (which, as a Wordwise Plus devotee, I will be interested to
see). It is due to be released before this magazine is printed.
4.2
Å   Pysanki is yet another new offering from 4th Dimension. This is an
arcade game reminiscent of a space age version of Repton though it seems
more sophisticated. Price is ú19.95 or ú18 through Archive.
4.2
Å   Shareware N╝36 is now ready. It contains various applications: 3D
graph plotter, Cash book and Stock control. Two music related programs:
Soundtracker module fixer and a Midi recorder. The rest of the programs
come under the heading of utilities: Hard disc backup (also does SCSI),
File filter, Font availability manager, File type guesser, VIDC mode
info, Desktop wastebin, ANSI terminal escape sequence emulator module,
Improved communications enhancer module, Module disassembler.
4.2
Å   Sprite files galore Ö Micro Studios have produced three packs of
sprite files on different subjects Ö World Wildlife, Prehistoric animals
and History: Costume. They cost ú19.95 each (inc VAT) or ú18 through
Archive. (Micro Studio are working on !Draw versions of many of these
sprites Ö the !Draw version of an allosaurus which they put on an
examples disc for us was very impressive and must have taken ages to
create.)
4.2
Å   TCP/IP Protocol Suite from Acorn Computers provides file manipulation,
terminal access and electronic mail in a mixed network environment;
Econet, Ethernet, Sun NFS etc. It is available as a single user package
for ú228.85 (ú195 through Archive) or a site licence for ú1144.25 (ú995
through Archive). There is also a Programmeræs Pack for ú50 (ú48 through
Archive) which provides the information needed for programmers wanting
to access the software at different levels.
4.2
Å   The WIMP Game is another excellent game from the 4th Dimension. It is
a fully multitasking application so you could have it on your desktop
while you were also doing some other work! Basically, it is an image
based adventure game starting in a darkened lounge, the aim being to
progress from being an Acorn Atom owner to owning an R200 workstation.
Price ú19.95 or ú18 through Archive.
4.2

Å   A3000 20M SCSI drives drop from ú560 to ú390. No, thatæs not a
printing error, Oak have lopped ú170 off the (Archive) price of their
A3000 20M SCSI drives. The full details are given in the SCSI Column on
page 15 but basically, these are full spec, autoparking drives in
external metal case for just ú390 inc VAT and carriage.
4.3
Å   Annual Service Kits Ö We have had to put the price of annual service
kits up because fan filters are more expensive than we thought and so
are the batteries Ö or rather there isnæt much discount available by
buying batteries in quantity. What we have done is to put the price up
to ú3 each but if you buy other goods at the same time, you only need
pay ú2. This reflects the cost of postage and the fact that if someoneæs
order consists of a single service kit, the admin costs are (propor
tionately) much higher.
4.3
Å   Arcscan III Ö Beebug have now produced a multitasking RISCOS version
of Arcscan at ú14.95 (memberæs price) or ú18.95 for nonmembers. There is
an upgrade from Arcscan 2 at ú4.75. All prices inc VAT.
4.3
Å   ARM3 upgrades galore. The first is from from ZCL Ltd. At ú399 +VAT, it
is the cheapest weæve seen so far, but as we havenæt had a chance to
look at it yet, we cannot say how it compares with the others. Beebug
have also produced one, also at ú399 +VAT but again, we havenæt seen
one.
4.3
Å   Careware 11 Ö This contains an Apple IIe emulator written by Benoit
Gilon of the Paris Archimedes User Group. Due to copyright, it is not a
stand alone emulator, which means that you will have to get copies of
the ROM images yourself. The disc contains a ReadMe file that explains
how you obtain these. The emulator provides the following features: NCR/
GTE 65C02 processor, language card, 80 column display, 128 kbyte memory
model, mousetext characters, lores/mixed/page2 display modes, keyboard
access through the use of ╘softswitchesæ, monitor bell subroutine
emulation and disk drive with DOS 3.3 and ProDOS 8 compatibility.
4.3
Å   Chocks Away2 Ö (Wow! That was quick! Chocks Away 1 was only announced
last month.) 4th Dimension have produced a new version of Chocks Away
with even smoother graphics and new scenery. The Mark 2 edition is being
supplied now instead of Mark 1 and anyone wanting an upgrade (free of
charge!) should send their Pilotæs Flying Manual with their name and
address direct to 4th Dimension (not to Archive). The manual will be
returned together with a disc to convert their existing program to the
new version. All black box recordings and high scores may be maintained
in the conversion.
4.3
Å   CIS Utilities is a twodisc set of utilities including ProCopier,
screen blanker, file encryption and a utility for compiling certain
BASIC commands into assembly language plus many others plus some free
games. ú16.95 from Cambridge International Software or ú16 through
Archive.
4.3
Å   Crisis is a mazetype adventure Éwith a differenceæ. ú29.95 from
Cambridge International Software or ú27 through Archive.
4.3
Å   DataKing is an information retrieval and display system from Shenley
Software. (i.e. database package + chart drawing). It is designed for
children working under the National Curriculum and incorporates three
levels of operation allowing it to be used at all four key stages Ö
children aged five to sixteen. The idea is to provide a package that
will run in a öfairly consistent wayò on the various different environ
ments encountered in schools Ö BBC/Master, Archimedes/A3000 and RM
Nimbus. It is available in five different formats: Archimedes (inc
Econet), BBC/Master standalone, BBC/Master Econet, Nimbus standalone and
Nimbus network. If you buy the software in just one format, it costs ú49
(no VAT) but then if you want additional formats, they are ú15 each if
bought at the same time. The cost includes a site licence.
4.3
Å   DataTrans is data translation program from Shenley Software, costing
ú18. It allows you to take data from one format and convert it to
another Ö formats include CSV, DataKing, Key, Quest, TAB, ViewStore,
etc.
4.3
Å   Drummer is a percussion sequencer for Midi. It is öeasy to useò and
comes with some ready made track sequences and can be used with other
music programs. ú19.95 from Cambridge International Software or ú18
through Archive.
4.3
Å   FormChem is a library of !Draw files containing nearly 300 organic
chemistry fragments together with a wide range of organic chemistry
structural fragments. Form_Chem is ú14.99 from G.A.Herdmann Educational
Software.
4.3
Å   Genesis II is due for launch at the BETT Show in January. (Yes, I know
this is supposed to be Products Available, but I think Genesis II is an
extremely important new product for the Archimedes so I am breaking my
usual rule.) New features will include data compression and the ability
to add Armadeus sampled sounds Ö brilliant for, say, modern language
work. The text handling facilities have been greatly improved as have
the database aspects of Genesis I. Probably the most important change is
the script language. In Genesis I, this just allowed simple page
description and linking but now it is upgraded to a general purpose
programming language allowing the user to develop complete RISCOS
applications without having to understand the complexities of the window
manager. (Ian Lynch is hoping to transfer his loyalties from DTP to
start a Genesis Column in the new year.) Genesis II will be ú99.95
(+VAT) for education users or ú149.95 inc VAT for the rest of us. (ú130
through Archive)
4.3
Å   InterClock from XOB is an allinone Econet interface but it includes
clock and terminator thus reducing the need for separate boxes, leads
and power supplies. Along with it are EcoFace and EcoTerm which are a
standard Econet interface and one with a builtin terminator. The idea is
that all you would need would be one computer with an InterClock, one
with with an EcoTerm and the rest with EcoFaces. Prices are ú89.50, ú46
and ú39 respectively. These are exVAT education prices.
4.3
Å   International Hangman Ö MicroAid have produced a RISCOS version of
hangman which has the interesting extra ingredient of having sets of
words in 25 different languages as well as English. The price is ú10.75
+VAT.
4.3
Å   MahJong Patience is played using MahJong tiles Ö the object of the
game being to remove matched pairs until you clear the board. It sounds
easy but it apparently requires skill and  patience and is very
addictive. ú19.95 from Cambridge International Software or ú18 through
Archive.
4.3
Å   MiniPack 5 is a threedisc set compilation: Fish (adventure), Fireball
II (breakout type game) and Pon. ú29.95 from Cambridge International
Software or ú27 through Archive.
4.3
Å   More MicroDrive courses Ö for ú14.95 (ú14 through Archive) Cambridge
International Software are selling a pair of new courses for MicroDrive.
4.3
Å   Powerband is 4th Dimensionæs latest offering. At ú24.95 (ú23 through
Archive) it is an impressive looking Formula 1 simulation. It should be
available by the time you get this magazine. (Their Break147 snooker
game has gone back to the drawing board and is now scheduled for March
1991.)
4.3
Å   Prism is a new art package from Barry Christie, author of Art Nouveau.
It is not just a RISCOS version of Art Nouveau but ögoes far beyond it
in its capabilitiesò. It is distributed by XOB and costs ú61.20 +VAT for
a single user or ú200 for a site licence.
4.3
Å   Risc User Arc Omnibus Games Ö seven original games for just ú12.95:
Dominoes, Ogreæs Lair, Pick a Pair, BallonMan, Amaze, Cribbage and
Moric.
4.3
Å   Risc User Special Disc Volume 3 Ö a host of applications, utilities
and games for just ú12.95. (The advert in Acorn User implies that these
prices are inclusive, but Mike Williams tells me that you are supposed
to add 60p p&p and then add VAT. To save you money, if you order it
using the voucher in the December Acorn User, I believe they Beebug will
be obliged to supply it at the price specified.)
4.3
Å   RISCOS front end for Morley Teletext Adaptor ú15 inc VAT. Ivoryash Ltd
have developed a program to give a multitasking display for the Morley
Teletext Adaptor.
4.3
Å   RISCOS printer Drivers Ö Ace Computing now produce a range of RISCOS
printer drivers: HP PaintJet, Canon PJ1080A and Epson JX compatible
(e.g. LC10, XB24 colour, Citizen Swift24 colour) each at ú15. Then there
is Integrex at ú5 and ColourCel at ú25.
4.3
Å   RiscType V2 Ö this is a full typing course from Cambridge Interna
tional Software Ö it even includes sound effects if required! It costs
ú19.95 (ú18 through Archive).
4.3
Å   SCSI software improved Ö New improved SCSI software from Oak Computers
for their 16 bit SCSI interfaces is now available. ú10 +VAT from Oak or
ú11 inclusive through Archive. (See SCSI Column on page 15 for more
details.)
4.3
Å   Supersound Creations is a fourdisc set of relocatable modules of sound
samples. ú17.95 from Cambridge International Software or ú17 through
Archive.
4.3
Å   Toolbox 1 is a disc from Type Mismatch containing seven RISCOS
compatible applications for ú14.95 (no VAT). They are screen blanker,
wastebin, doodle, dual column BASIC program lister, desktop window
designer, password access to desktop, password access to files and
directories.
4.3
Å   VoiceBuilder from MJD Software is a facility for creating new sound
voice modules for use with other packages such as Maestro and Rhapsody.
(For more details, see the advert on page 16) ú19.95 + ú1.50 post &
packing.
4.3

Å   A3000 SCSI drives Ö In line with the trend for lower drive prices as
the volume of sales increase, Oak Solutions (was Oak Computers) have
produced a range of A3000 external drives 20M, 45M and 80M at ú349, ú449
and ú649 respectively (plus ú10 p&p + VAT). The Archive prices are ú390,
ú490 and ú690 respectively. These drives are slightly slower than their
310/410 equivalents, but not markedly so for the difference in price.
These are their, delightfully named, Worra Winnie drives.
4.4
Å   A310 RAM upgrades Ö We have decided to stop stocking A310 ram upgrades
because we have not really got the staff to cope with all the work of
doing the upgrades. If you want an A310 RAM upgrades, contact Avie
Electronics on 0603Ö416863 and talk to Alex or Atomwide on 0689Ö838852
and talk to Martin.
4.4
Å   ArcMonitor is a machine code monitor from Cambridge International
Software. It takes the form of a relocatable module, but with mouse
control, and implements all the ARM instruction set as well as the four
processor modes. The screen layout has five windows for: disassembly &
memory dump, commands, help, program output and processor information.
We havenæt seen it yet, but it sounds very impressive. ú24.95 from CIS
or ú23 through Archive.
4.4
Å   BBC Emulator improved Ö Acorn have produced a new version of the BBC
emulator which also provides utilities to help you to transfer and
develop
4.4
Å   Bulk Disc copier Ö We have found a new autoloader which will attach to
the Archimedes computer. Now you can copy discs at a rate of 40 per
hour. This new Xpress autoloader comes from Mission Six in the States
and, when linked up to an Archimedes using our new bit copying software,
allows fast and easy disc duplication. Although it is a superior
autoloader, we are being offered better discount by the importers,
providing we can sell sufficient, so we can offer the whole bundle
including interface, cables, autoloader and software for the same price
of ú2,300 +VAT. The same autoloader unit can be used to copy 5.25ö discs
as well as 3.5ò Ö just change the drive Ö it takes less than a minute.
4.4
Å   Expansion box for the A3000 Ö Wild Vision have produced a box which
will hold two full width or three half width podules. The box is ú139 +
VAT. (I saw the unit and would advise readers to check whether it is now
fitted with anything to fix it firmly to the A3000 case. In the
prototype I saw, the box was held to the A3000 purely by the pins of the
Euroconnector. I moved the computer backwards and forwards on the table
two or three times and the expansion box worked loose. Ed.)
4.4
Å   Freddy Teddy is really ready! Ö Topologika have produced the first of
their educational packs for the very young. It is aimed at developing
concepts of colour matching, colour sequencing, counting, comparison and
visual discrimination. The pack contains three programs in which Teddy
visits a bakery, works in a factory, goes on a balloon journey and does
acrobatics on a skateboard! It also comes with a story book. The price
is ú19.95 from Topologika or ú19 through Archive.
4.4
Å   MeasureIT is an interface box with a user guide and either primary or
secondary based software for ú64.50 from Resource. Also included are two
temperature sensors, a light level sensor and a push switch.
4.4
Å   Multiple modes on the Archimedes. GL Consulting Ltd have produced a
utility to provide a wide range of screen modes such as SVGA, XGA, 8514/
A etc. The introductory price of the package is just ú7.50. Details from
Martin Thorpe at GL Consulting.
4.4
Å   OCR is here Ö the various Archive subscribers who have asked whether
there is any optical character recognition software available will be
pleased to know that Irlam Instruments have a system running that will
allow you to convert monochrome sprites into text files. The system is
written in machine code for speed and is fully trainable for use with a
wide range of fonts. Available now from Irlam for ú????? or through
Archive for ú??????.
4.4
Å   Shareware 37 is now available. It consists mainly of utilities: disc
free space monitor, BASIC editor starter, find file, help, application
launcher, current directory setter, text editor (like TWIN), system
variable editor, font handling module, a list of the characteristics of
virtually every known hard drive (ST506, SCSI etc.), alternative
alphabet provider, faster PC emulator screen updates and a WIMP
interface manager module. This latter utility is very powerful and
worthy of further explanation. It is a module that helps programmers
implement colourful and pleasant graphical user interfaces for WIMP
based applications. It provides additional validation string commands
which allow programmers to design WIMP applications that look and feel
like Computer Concepts Impression, to provide interactive help, to
control other icons and to control pointer shapes. Acorn are obviously
impressed with the idea since, even though it is a PD program, they have
given Simon Huntington, the author, an official SWI chunk number and
even allowed him to use the WIMP_ prefix. As well as the interface
manager module, Shareware 37 contains the full documentation, a typical
C application and a modified version of !FormEd.
4.4
Å   Shareware 38 is now available. It contains three applications Ö
desktop address book, desktop graph plotting with best fit and a BASIC
curve plotting program; two games Ö chain (a twoplayer strategy game and
tetris; plus seven utilities: clipboard for text icons, outline font
fixer (so that !FontEd can read them), desktop calendar, draw file
italiciser, application launcher, screen mode switcher and a font folder
switcher.
4.4
Å   Tools is the latest graphics library pack from Micro Studios. ú19.95
or ú18 through Archive.
4.4
Å   TV adaptor Ö various folk have been asking about the availability of
PAL TV adaptors for the Archimedes. They are now available through
Norwich Computer Services at ú35.
4.4
Å   TwinWorld from Cygnus Software is an impressive arcade style adventure
with lots of baddies to avoid or kill, doors to unlock, tunnels to
explore etc. The graphics and sound are very good indeed. In fact, Micro
User gave it a 10 rating on all counts in its review last month. The
price is ú19.95 from Cygnus or ú18 through Archive.
4.4

Å   Archway2 is here at last. Simtronæs Wimp programming software has now
appeared in its mark II format. It has so many features that youæll have
to ask Simtron to send you a descriptive leaflet. The price is ú99.95 +
ú5 postage from Simtron or ú90 through Archive.
4.5
Å   ArcMonitor Ö ArcMonitor, Cambridge Internationalæs machine code
monitor program has gone up in price from ú24.95 to ú29.95 (ú28 through
Archive).
4.5
Å   ArcPinball Ö Shibumi Software have produced a pinball machine on your
screen for just ú24.95 or ú23 through Archive. It claims to be the
closest computer simulation to the real thing. It has various backdrops
and music tracks. One nice feature is the video snatches which appear at
appropriate points during the action.
4.5
Å   ArcTerm7 from The Serial Port is a full-featured comms package for
just ú79.95 (ú75 through Archive) from öthe comms guruò Hugo Fiennes. It
offers TTY, ANSI, VT52, VT102 and Viewdata terminals with X, X-1k, Y, Y-
g, Z and J modem protocols as well as Kermit, SEAlink, MNP2 and Vasscom.
Other features include 100-number phone directory, call logging, script
language and macro keys.
4.5
Å   Bengali and Punjabi outline fonts Ö Hampshire Microtechnology Centre
have produced outline fonts for Punjabi and Bengali characters. These
can be used with Impression, Poster, PenDown, Draw etc. Each language
font is on a separate disc for ú20 per disc plus ú1 post & packing. Also
on each disc is a file containing a printout of the font plus a keyboard
overlay in Draw and Poster format.
4.5
Å   Blowpipe from The Serial Port is a ötotally awesome horizontal shoot
æem up gameò with 5 levels of ömeteoric mega-actionò and 2.5M of 256-
colour graphics with 15 pieces of 4-channel stereo music all compressed
onto two 3.5ö discs for just ú19.95 (ú19 through Archive).
4.5
Å   Capsoft Disc N░1 Ö This disc contains various drawn fonts, borders,
frames etc for use in DTP and !Draw. Useful for creating dropped
capitals, posters etc. Send ú6 cheque to B.J. Thompson, 8 Oldgate
Avenue, Weston-on-Trent, Derbyshire, DE7 2BZ.
4.5
Å   Careware N║ 12 Ö The latest in our series of charity discs is Careware
N║ 12 which contains HU-Prolog. A review of this appears on page ????.
(We have raised over ú35,000 for charity through Archive magazine during
the last couple of years. Well done all who have contributed!)
4.5
Å   CJE ARM3 Ö There has been a bit of a problem with the software that
was shipped with the early CJE ARM3æs. Basically, it bore a remarkable
similarity to the software written by Nick van Someren for the Aleph One
ARM3. About the only thing that had been changed was the copyright
string! However, CJE and Aleph One have settled out of court and Nick is
donating a proportion of the compensation money to charity. CJE are re-
writing their control software and so, if you have a CJE ARM3 and the
modules on the disc are dated September/October 1990, contact CJE for
details of how to get your free, legal version of the software.
4.5
Å   Decibel Attenuator Circuit Ö By any other name, this is a fan slower-
downer. If you are fed up with the noise of the fan on a 310, 410, 420
or 440 Ray Maidstone has come to your rescue. He has produced an
electronic speed control board (user-fittable) for just ú18 +VAT (ú20
through Archive). He has done careful temperature measurements to check
whether effective cooling takes place at lower fan speeds and the
evidence shows that you donæt have to suffer Concord-type noises any
longer!
4.5
Å   Desktop Folio from E.S.M. should be ready by the time you get this
magazine. For ú90 +VAT (ú95 through Archive) you get the long-awaited,
much-trialled, school-oriented öword-processor, desktop and interactive
publisherò.
4.5
Å   Dongle Dangle Ö We are now stocking dongle dangles for Computer
Conceptsæ Impression dongles at ú5. If your computer goes back against a
wall, you probably find that the extra distance the dongle plus printer
lead sticks out is a nuisance. The dongle dangle is a short flexible
extension cable which will allow the dongle and printer lead to... yes,
dangle... down behind the computer. It should also work for the WorraCAD
dongle.
4.5
Å   DTP Seeds is a book of ideas for DTP Ö ú8.45 from 4mation or ú8
through Archive. This book has 100 pages of sample DTP output to show
what can be done using the DTP facilities available on the Archimedes.
It is not specific to one DTP package but gives general ideas about the
sort of impressive output you can produce with good DTP techniques.
4.5
Å   Educational materials Ö G.A.Herdmann Educational offer a free
catalogue of materials for DTP, electronics, educational games, advanced
chemistry, data-logging, assessment and CAL. Just send them an S.A.E.
4.5
Å   Equasor Ö For those who need to put scientific equations in their
Impression text, Computer Conceptsæ Equasor is what you need Ö ú56.35 or
ú52 through Archive.
4.5
Å   Expression-PS Ö For those preparing Impression output for printing on
PostScript devices including professional typesetters, Computer Concepts
have produced a utility program (ú23 from CC or ú21 through Archive).
This provides such facilities as control over screen density and screen
angle, provides a selection of different screen designs, allows output
on a variety of new page sizes, provides negative output and automatic
font name conversion from Acorn to PostScript names.
4.5
Å   File Handling for All is the title of a new book from David Spencer
and Mike Williams of Beebug Ltd. It aims to offer an extensive and
comprehensive introduction to the writing of file handling programs with
particular reference to BASIC. It applies to the BBC Micro as well as
the Archimedes. The cost is ú9.95 plus postage from Beebug. There is
also a supporting disc for ú4.75.
4.5
Å   Giant Killer from Topologika is a maths adventure game. It includes
calculator games, number patterns, tessellations, map work, topology,
time/space and logical puzzles. It is a well-established product that
has only just come to our notice and sells for ú19.95 or ú18 through
Archive. Also available is the Giant Killer Support disc at ú17.50 (ú16
through Archive) which is a disc of Giant Killer puzzles in graphical
form.
4.5
Å   Investigator II Ö The Serial Port have an improved disc utility
program providing sector level disc utilities allowing the accessing of
discs where other methods fail. ú27.95 from The Serial Port or ú26
through Archive.
4.5
Å   Iron Lord Ö Another game ported across from the Amiga by Cygnus
Software. It is a medieval adventure which also has arcade action and
wargaming. The price is ú19.95 from Cygnus or ú18 through Archive.
4.5
Å   Landmarks Ö Longman Logotron have released the first two titles in
this series which is aimed to complement the Landmarks Schoolsæ TV
series. Landmarks Egypt and Landmarks Second World War provide text and
graphics data which pupils can interrogate. The packs are ú19 +VAT each.
(ú20 each through Archive.)
4.5
Å   Mad Professor Mariarti Ö This is a maze-type game from Krisalis
Software where you have to travel around through five laboratories
avoiding being killed by nasties, and solving puzzles in order to
complete all 100 screens. Sounds familiar? Maybe, but our two boys (aged
10 and 12) have been hooked on it for days. ú19.95 or ú18 through
Archive.
4.5
Å   Magpie is a multi-purpose program aimed at primary and middle schools
for doing project work. It can be used to combine pictures, text and
sound samples and can even be used as a simple DTP medium using Acorn
outline fonts. Magpie is ú54 +VAT from Longman-Logotron or ú57 through
Archive.
4.5
Å   Mental Maths is Cambridge Internationalæs new mental arithmetic pack
for ú19.95 (or ú18 through Archive) It is designed to work in with the
National Curriculum attainment targets but ömakes learning and practis
ing mental arithmetic funò.
4.5
Å   MicroNet removable hard drives Ö The speed increases and the price
falls! The average access time of the MR45 drives is not 25 milliseconds
as previously stated but 20 milliseconds. Not astounding news, true, but
the really good news is that we are now buying in big enough quantities
to go direct to the importer and can therefore get an even better price.
We have now brought down the price of the basic drive from ú650 to ú595
including VAT & carriage and, with an Oak podule, to ú795. With the
Lingenuity podule, it is ú775.
4.5
Å   OCR from Irlam is still önot quite readyò Ö about three weeks. The
cost will be ú159 +VAT or ú165 through Archive.
4.5
Å   P.I.P.P. Ö Cambridge International Softwareæs Professional Integrated
Project Planner is now available in four versions for primary, middle
and secondary schools and for teachersæ and resources centres. The cost
of each package is ú49.95 or ú46 through Archive.
4.5
Å   PowerBand version II Ö 4mation are offering a free upgrade to Mark II
Ö just return your two discs to them (not us). This new version clears
up one or two minor bugs (as they say!), has lots of improvements to all
aspects of the original game, allows the skill level of opponentsæ cars
to be individually set, allows the number of opponents in Fun and Game
modes to be set between 2 and 11 and allows you to adjust your own skill
level.
4.5
Å   Revelation is an education-based art package from Longman Logotron
(ú76 +VAT or ú80 through Archive.). It has been created with particular
emphasis on facilities for taking images from other sources such as
digitisers, scanners or video frame-grabbers and processing them to
create totally new pictures.
4.5
Å   Show Page Ö For anyone interested in learning about PostScript and for
those wanting to handle PostScript files from other computers, Computer
Concepts have produced a PostScript compatible interpreter which runs in
the RISC-OS environment (minimum memory 2M). The price is ú149 +VAT or
ú155 through Archive.
4.5
Å   Square Route Ö At last a slightly different game Ö well, Iæve never
seen it before. It has 250 levels and all you have to do in each level
is öturn the right number of white squares into redò. Simple? Not
exactly, you have to use your brains. When you have completed all 250
levels(!) you get a special number which will allow you to send off for
a further 250 levels for just ú6.99. The game is not copy protected
(making hard disc operation easy) but has an embedded serial number to
enable its producers, Computereyes, to prosecute those who breach
copyright. The price is ú19.95 from Computereyes or ú18 through Archive.
4.5
Å   Tracker is a music sequencing package for producing your own sound-
tracker module for use in your own programs. ú49.95 from The Serial Port
or ú46 through Archive.
4.5
Å   VIDC enhancer & Taxan 795 Ö People using Taxan 795 monitors may like
to know that Atomwide have produced a new module for use with their VIDC
enhancer. This is a free upgrade if you send them a disc plus some
stamps.
4.5
Å   Worldscape from The Serial Port is an emulation game in which you try
to control the ecological balance of the world. You build cities, power
stations, search for coal and oil, plant forests etc and see what the
effect is on the ozone layer, temperature, pollution, sea levels etc.
The price is ú19.95 or ú19 through Archive.
4.5
Å   X_Image is an image format conversion utility for PC compatibles (!!)
which will convert from Acorn sprite format to TIFF and other PC image
formats. Needs files on a PC format disc (using, say, !PCDir from
Careware N║7) and only costs ú10 from Foster Findlay Associates.
4.5

Å   Data cartridges for tapestreamers Ö We have found a better source of
data cartridges for tape-streamers and can do the 60M cartridges for ú23
and the 150M cartridges for ú26. The tapes for the 1 Gbyte tapestreamer
which we advertise at ú45 each are, apparently, just ordinary 2 hours
DAT tapes that you could buy from W.H.Smithsæ or such-like for ú8 or 9
and then formatted. It takes about 4 hours to format which is why Oak
charge so much for them.
4.6
Å   DataStore Utility Disc 2 Ö A second disc of utilities is now available
for ú14.95 inc VAT or ú14 through Archive. It contains: A desktop
backdrop with a difference, a desktop toolbox window, a disc indexing
program, a file activity monitor showing exactly which files are
currently open, a list of BT phone code and areas, a utility which
collects sprite name, system variables etc and enables you to set up
your computer quickly at switch-on, a viewdata frame display utility, a
utility that will replace your desktop A icon with an animation(!), an
on-line manual utility and a fun demo.
4.6
Å   Disc magazine Ö A.S.T.E. Syracuse is an Archimedes disc magazine
produced on an amateur basis. With the first issue, costing ú4.99, you
get a total of three discs; one containing the magazine itself and then
two discs of PD software. The organisers, B Browne and A Kells, insist
that it is not, as some magazine reports have said, a PD library.
4.6
Å   DTP (and other) utilities Ö A newly formed company, Design Concept,
has 11 utilities mainly intended for DTP users at various prices from ú1
to ú2 each. We havenæt got space to detail them all here but it includes
things like a shading facility for !Draw, a way of printing out all the
fonts you have got, a converter from X-window bitmap fonts and a
converter which stipples a colour image to two colours. Write to Design
Concept for a full list. We hope to get review copies soon.
4.6
Å   Educational management software Ö Cogent Software have produced two
packages for educational establishments. The first, Monitoring and
Reporting, provides facilities for recording, analysing and reporting on
studentsæ performance. The basic price of the package is ú400 for a
secondary school, ú200 for a middle school or ú150 for primary or
special schools. There are additional text files for different subject
areas at ú50 or ú65 each. The second package, Curriculum Auditing,
allows you to cross-reference the experiences the pupils are given with
the skills, knowledge and concepts outlined in the schoolæs curriculum.
The pricing for this is similar to the first package. Also available
from Cogent Software are optical mark readers which tie in with the
management packages.
4.6
Å   Educational software Ö Chalksoft, well known for its educational
software on various computers including the BBC Micro has now turned its
attention to the Archimedes. Titles available include: Puncman, programs
1 to 7, (ages 7 to 15+) cover various aspects of english; Spelling Ö
week by week (ages 6 to 14+); Reversals (ages 8 to 14+) help with the
problems of d/b, p/q etc; House of Numbers (ages 6 to 13) covers maths
for key stage 2; First Words & Pictures and Words & Pictures (ages 3 to
7+) concentrate on early words, matching them with pictures; Letters &
Pictures (ages 6 to 8+) introduces word building skills; Numbers &
Pictures (ages 4 to 6+); Maps & Landscapes (ages 9 to 14); Keyboard
player, music for ages 8 to adult; Note Invaders, a musical game for
ages 7 to adult and Mark Master for secondary or tertiary
administration.
4.6
Å   Flight Path Ö a simulation from Storm Software aimed at 9 year olds +
sets you up as the pilot of an airliner (and owner of the company) and
gets you to fly the plane and run the company. It brings in aspects of
maths, geography, english, science and history. Available now in
Archimedes format for ú36.95 inc VAT or ú32 through Archive.
4.6
Å   Fonts galore Ö A newly formed company, Design Concept, has 8 innova
tive new fonts for sale at Ésillyæ prices (my word, not theirs); ú1.50
per font plus ú2 carriage. If you want to see the sort of things they
are offering, have a look at the advert on page 17. We havenæt actually
got the fonts for review yet but weæll let you know what we think when
weæve seen them. Apparently, they are designed from scratch using FontEd
and include öproper hinting of the charactersò.
4.6
Å   Genesis I to II upgrade Ö If you want to upgrade from Genesis I to II,
all you need to do is to send your Editor disc to Oak Solutions with a
suitable cheque or official order and they will send you a complete new
pack. The cost of the upgrade is ú34.95 + VAT for education users or
ú59.95 for non-education folk. Please do not send it to Norwich Computer
Services.
4.6
Å   High speed SCSI drives Ö One of the advantages of SCSI is that, at the
moment, öeverybody is doing itò Ö and that means all the more commonly
used computers whose names I will refrain from using. High volume
production, of course, means lower prices such as we have achieved by
using removable drives that were being sold into the Apple Mac market.
In the same way, we have managed to find some extremely cheap and
extremely fast fixed 48M drives produced by ZCL who are also selling
them into the Atari and Commodore markets and for PCæs Ö there, Iæve
said it!
4.6
They are actually 52M drives that format to about 48.6M; they have an
average access time of 17ms and run at up to 1,000 Kbytes/sec (yes,
1Mbyte/sec) using an Oak SCSI interface. The öalternative testò that we
use (copying a large directory with many files) takes under 7 secs.
These compare with about 600 Kbytes/sec and 9.3 secs for a standard Oak
45M drive but I havenæt got any of the new HS or Worrawinnie Oak drives
in stock to test for comparison. (They will be coming into stock
tomorrow, but the magazine has to be at the printers tomorrow(!) so I
will put the results on the Price List.) The prices are ú520 for an
internal 48M drive with podule and ú590 for an external.
4.6
The internal drives look identical to Oakæs drives but the external
drives come in a strange-looking, yukkie brown colour, extremely compact
metal case with no cooling fan. The drive is mounted on its side and
sits in a metal cradle made of white plastic coated metal rods (a bit
like a plate rack!) to stop it falling over. Still, when you look at the
price, it has to be worth considering, and if you are worried about
quality (which I have to confess, I am slightly) they are guaranteed for
years. This Archive price comparison my help you see if it is worth
considering these drives as compared with the özero-defectò policy and
known good customer relations policy of Oak Solutions. The prices
include Oak podule, VAT and carriage and the figures in brackets are the
price per Mbyte.
4.6
Internal drives
4.6
Worrawinnie 45M   ú440   (ú9.78)
4.6
High Speed 40M   ú520   (ú13.00)
4.6
ZCL 48M   ú520   (ú10.83)
4.6
External drives A300/400
4.6
Worrawinnie 45M   ú490   (ú10.89)
4.6
High Speed 40M   ú720   (ú18.00)
4.6
ZCL 48M   ú590   (ú12.29)
4.6
External drives A3000
4.6
Worrawinnie 45M   ú490   (ú10.89)
4.6
High Speed 40M   N/A
4.6
ZCL 48M   ú590   (ú12.29)
4.6
Å   Midnight Graphicsæ Tracer Ö Now you can turn your sprites into !Draw
files with this impressive utility from Dabhand Computing. The potential
for DTP and improving scanned pictures is tremendous. We hope to have a
review very soon. The price is ú59.95 from Dabhand or ú56 through
Archive.
4.6
Å   MultiStore II Ö Minerva have released a new version of MultiStore
(still ú250 through Arc-hive) which features improved packaging and a
new style ring binder and box öwhich give the package a much more
professional imageò. Exist-ing users can get an upgrade to the new
software (but not the new packaging!) at a cost of ú11.75 for the two
new discs. MultiStore II has a new file format but, to overcome this
problem, Minerva provide a transfer utility so that you can convert your
old files to the new format. Minerva say, öThe changes to MultiStore
will not be immed-iately apparent to end users but some will notice an
increase in speedò.
4.6
Å   NStore II Ö HS Software have released a new version of NStore2, their
National curriculum record keeping package, still ú29.95 inc VAT.
Existing users can get an upgrade to the new software by returning their
original disc to H.S. with a cheque for ú5.00. NStore II has had many
new facilities added in the light of ideas and suggestions made by
teachers and advisors using the original package. These include improved
ranking and alpha sorting, improved printing options, transfer of class
data between discs and block data entry for groups of Statements of
Attainments. Subject specific versions for secondary schools can be
obtained containing levels 1 to 10 in a particular core subject. Science
is available now and Maths and English are due in April.
4.6
Å   PD library Ö Westbourne Services have just started a PD library for
the Archimedes. The discs are ú1.50 each. Westbourne Services will
supply a sample disc and catalogue for ú1.
4.6
Å   Structural analysis of 2D frames Ö Civil engineers will be pleased to
see that the power of the Archimedes has been harnessed to provide
structural analysis of 2D frames and grids. Vision Six have two programs
for each Ö an entry level (ú150 +VAT each) allowing up to 32 items and a
full version (ú450 +VAT for frames and ú300 +VAT for grids) where the
number of items is only limited by the available memory. There is a
discount if you buy both a frames and a grids program at the same time.
öNever knowingly undersoldò Ö Vision Six say that if you can find a
better or even equivalent piece of software sold commercially for ANY
micro at a lower price, they will refund the difference!
4.6
Å   ÉTwoæ productivity tools Ö Ian Copestake Software has produced TWO Ö
Task and Window Organiser which consists of various utilities to help
you keep your desktop tidy and to set up various tasks more quickly and
easily plus a number of other bits and pieces of applications. This is
especially aimed at schools. ú19 + VAT or ú60 +VAT for a site licence.
4.6

Å   A540 fan quieteners Ö Ray Maidstone has now designed fan quieteners
for the A540 but they are unfortunately not user-fit devices. Contact
Ray on 0603-407060 for more details.
4.7
Å   ALPS Compression Disc Ö Alpine Software have released a sprite
compression utility which can compress mode 12 sprite down to something
like 30% of their original size. Mode 15 sprites are compressed even
more Ö some down to as low as 6% of their full size but, on average,
around 25%. The application which is only available from Alpine Software
is ú19.95 inclusive (post free).
4.7
Å   Atomwide high speed drives Ö Atomwide are doing some new SCSI drives.
The first is a high speed (17 ms) 48M Quantum Pro drive. The prices are
ú540 for an internal drive and ú620 for an external drive. The other
drive is the Connor 100M drive as supplied in the Acorn A540. These are
also, we think, 17ms drives and are available for ú740 (internal) or
ú840 (external). (More details in the SCSI Column on page 9.)
4.7
Å   Atomwide removable drives Ö Atomwide are also doing some 42M removable
SCSI drives. They use exactly the same drive mechanism as the MicroNet
drives and they work out a little cheaper. (But with the extra VAT,
youære back to the number you first thought of!!) The prices are now
ú795 and ú595 with and without Oak podule respectively, or ú775 with
Lingenuity podule. (More details in the SCSI Column on page 9.)
4.7
Å   Childrenæs pictures Ö Micro Studio have produced a new library pack of
draw and paint files Ö over 150 in all Ö aimed at children. The new
pack, at ú19.95 inclusive, has pictures of animals, toys, people, shapes
and objects and signs.
4.7
Å   Colour screen conversion Ö Human Computer Interface Ltd have produced
a piece of software called Colour Screen╗Mac which will convert colour &
monochrome images between the Macintosh and the Archimedes or Windows
3.0 on the IBM PC. The cost is ú95 plus ú2.50 p&p +VAT. They also do an
Archimedes to Mac connecting cable for ú20 +VAT.
4.7
Å   Concept Designer from Longman Logotron enables the user to create and
use overlays on a Concept Keyboard and even has an emulator so that you
can develop software for use with a CK without having one attached to
the computer. The price is ú24 +VAT from Longman Logotron or ú26 through
Archive.
4.7
Å   Diet Manager Ö Yes, for the weight-conscious Archimedes owners, here
is a multi-tasking application that will allow you to keep track of all
those calories (and proteins and fats). This program from MEWsoft,
priced ú27.90 inclusive would also be useful in schools for health
education.
4.7
Å   Draw format lineart Ö Southern Printers have produced the first of
their lineart discs. The price of this first disc is just ú5.50
inclusive. They are aiming to keep the price down to a level which
should deter copying since lineart does tend to Émigrateæ very easily
from computer to computer! For more details, see the review on page 41.
4.7
Å   !Draw Help Ö After the success of Sherston Softwareæs !Help companion
to the Archimedes, they have now produced one for !Draw. This package
consists of a 96 page tutorial book plus a disc full of clip art plus a
!Draw quick reference card. The package is available for ú15.95 (no
VAT).
4.7
Å   Fast array sorting routines Ö Avisoft have produced a set of fast ARM
code shell sort routines. Contact Martin Avison for more details.
Address in Factfile.
4.7
Å   First enhancement Ö Serious Statistical Software have announced a new
context sensitive online help system for their ÉFirstæ statistical
software package. This upgrade is just ú25 (no VAT). The cost of the
full ÉFirstæ package is still ú150.
4.7
Å   Hawk V12 video framestore is the latest product from Wild Vision. At
ú1990 +VAT (+ú5 carriage) it provides a very powerful image processing
and analysis system for the Archimedes. This double width podule can
store up to four images, 512 x 512 in 256 grey levels.
4.7
Å   PD library Ö Westbourne Services have just started a PD library for
the Archimedes. The discs are ú1.50 each. Westbourne Services will
supply a sample disc and catalogue for ú1. (We mentioned this last month
but lost the address. Sorry!)
4.7
Å   Midnight Graphics Draw Clip Art Ö Set one, six discs full for just
ú29.95 +VAT.
4.7
Å   Taipei 2 Ö The first offering from Black Sheep Software is an updated
version of the Mah Jong patience game, Taipei, released originally on
Shareware N║ 31. Black Sheep have responded to criticisms of the
original version voiced in Micro User and Archimedes World and have
added some extra features. The price is ú9.95 inclusive from Black
Sheep.
4.7
Å   Viewpoints Ö an interactive environment for the Archimedes from
Sherston Software. Aimed at school children, it allows them to use a map
and explore the village, seaside, surrounding countryside and even under
water. As they wander, they can stop and see if there is anything of
interest and can take snapshots of what they see. They can also zoom in
and take a better look at things. Viewpoints contains all sorts of
starting points for various types of written and oral work and includes
geography and mapping skills as well as information storage and
retrieval skills. The Viewpoints Database is ú35 +VAT from Sherston
Software.
4.7
Å   !VoiceBuilder Ö MJD Softwareæs multi-tasking RISC-OS application
designed to work alongside Maestro, Rhapsody etc to create new voices.
Libraries of waveforms and envelopes are provided and can be manipulated
freely. The software, which is MIDI compatible, allows control of
attack, looping, release phases etc. After creation, the modules can be
immediately accessed from BASIC or other languages or from other
applications.
4.7

Å   Arachnid is a real-time programming environment from Paul Fray Ltd
(based on Spider for the BBC B). For ú100 +VAT, you get a detailed
manual with tutorial section plus a program which can be used to respond
to external events such as switch closures, perform various timing tasks
and control external events via whatever I/O ports you have installed on
your computer. (Paul Fray Ltdæs phone number was wrongly quoted  last
month Ö it should be 0223-441134.)
4.8
Å   Conform Ö NorthWest SEMERC have produced a concept keyboard overlay
generator. The main criterion of the software writers was that the
package should be easy to use so it should be ideal in the primary
sector of education. The price is ú15 +VAT.
4.8
Å   Freddy Teddyæs Adventure Ö Topologikaæs Freddy Teddy is off on his
adventures again. After his first trips released under the program name
öFreddy Teddyò, he is off again under the title, öFreddy Teddyæs
Adventureò. For ú19.95 +VAT (ú21 through Archive) you get a storybook
and a disc which provide counting games and puzzles that encourage
logical thought and help children gain confidence in using their
Archimedes computer.
4.8
Å   My World Ö This is an application produced by NorthWest SEMERC which
allows children to manipulate Draw files. It is said to be öunlike any
educational software on the marketò. It costs ú15 +VAT and comes with 20
example files to get users started. Simple Stuff Sampler (ú7.50 + VAT)
is also available and provides a further 17 screens to be used with My
World.
4.8
Å   Primary WP Ö NorthWest SEMERC have produced a RISC-OS word-processor
called Phases#2 aimed at primary schools. It comes with its own outline
fonts, various sample documents, a keystrip and a double-ended manual Ö
one end starts as the User Guide and the other end as Starting to Use
Phases#2 and the two books meet in the middle. The price is ú15 + ú2.50
p&p plus VAT. Also available at ú7.50 +VAT each are two Phases Support
packs Ö The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Phases Borders Disc 1.
4.8
Å   Shareware disc N║39 Ö this contains a number of items of educational
interest and also some utilities: Algorithms (sorts, pattern matching,
routing, etc), A-level Chemistry tutorial, Draw files summarising the
RISC-OS applications, Compound interest and RPI calculators, BASIC FNæs
to help plot graph axes, BASIC V mathematical FNæs, Depth of field and
flash calculators for photography, Desktop backdrop, Disc copier
(updated from S/w 2), Compacted screen sequence creator, Desktop file
utilities, Converter from IBM WFN to outline fonts, Floating point
calculator, SoundTracker -> Rhapsody converter, Desktop !Help provider.
4.8
Å   Speech! Ö Superior Software have given the Archimedes a voice called
Speech! for just ú19.95 (ú19 through Archive). It uses the standard
sound interface leaving the computer free to do other things. No extra
hardware is needed. You can vary the pitch, speed, volume and voice
either directly or through your own programs. You can even sing the
words over a 4 octave range! It also comes with a program that will
allow you to change the dictionary yourself.
4.8
Å   Speech!! Ö DT-Talk is an allophone based speech synthesizer which can
synthesise any word in the English language. It integrates with the
computeræs own sound system and can therefore be used alongside other
sounds and music. It is available for ú15 +VAT from Atomwide.
4.8
Å   Speech!!! Ö A third speech system is also now available from PEP
Associates. This again links in with the sound system and can be
programmed by the user. It uses phonemes to generate words (donæt ask me
if thatæs the same as being allophone based!) and is available for ú25.
It is called PEP Associates SpeechSystem but why they didnæt call it PEP
Talk, Iæll never know! They have given us a public domain demonstration
which we have put on this monthæs program disc.
4.8
(All three speech systems have been sent to a reviewer, so watch (or
listen to) this space..)
4.8
Å   Spreadsheet MkV Ö Contex Computing have released a low-priced RISC-OS
compatible spreadsheet for just ú15 +VAT. This is an initial price Ö
early purchasers will get a printed manual, while stocks last. Thereaf
ter, it will be available as a disc file.
4.8

Å   3D Chess Ö MicroPower have now released their new chess program and
itæs in 3D. I donæt know how good a game it plays but the 3D display is
very impressive. ú19.95 from MicroPower or ú19 through Archive.
4.9
Å   Animynd Life is a version of John Conwayæs Mathematical game, Life. It
has a wide range of features allowing you, for example, to load and save
patterns, randomize, single step, set up various parameters etc. It
comes with a library of around 70 shapes, some of which are quite
fascinating to watch, and costs ú20 from R.R. Thomas, 9 Oughtonhead Way,
Hitchin, Herts. SG5 2JZ.
4.9
Å   Archimedes for the Anxious is a book by Alison Tyldesley published by
RESOURCE, price ú4.95. It is a övery-beginnersæ guideò to the Archimedes
öwritten in plain Englishò including explanations about using Draw and
PenDown.
4.9
Å   Archive Mugs Ö We have just ordered some special pottery mugs for
Archive subscribers. They are from the same company that did the
promotional mugs for Acorn Computers and those who have seen the mugs
they produced for Acorn will know that they are good quality. The design
is basically the Archive logo from the front of the magazine in black
and reflex blue on a white mug. They cost ú3 each + ú1 p&p, or ú10 for
four + ú2 p&p.
4.9
Å   ArcComm 2 is now available from Longman Logotron. This is a fully
RISC-OS compatible comms package costing ú54 +VAT or ú59 through
Archive. It supports a range of different modems, has many different
file transfer protocols and terminal types. It also has an extended
procedure language which makes it very easy to, say, automatically log
on to a bulletin board or to Telecom Gold and download mail and upload
messages or files. (I am using it myself and finding it very good. Peter
Gaunt, the author, is available on Arcade BBS, 081Ö654Ö2212, and was
very helpful in getting ArcComm 2 working with my slightly odd WS3000.
Ed)
4.9
Å   Arcventure Ö is an archaeological expedition into Roman Times. It is a
simulation in which pupils take part in an archaeological dig with all
sorts of interesting Éfindsæ to be made. ú29.95 from Sherston Software.
4.9
Å   Boogie Buggy Ö Looks like a fascinating new game from 4th Dimension.
You have to navigate a bug-like creature around the screen in an effort
to neutralise the power of an evil monster lord without, yourself, being
damaged beyond repair. From the advertising blurb, the graphics look
good and it claims to be öthe first quality game to use the entire
screenò. ú24.95 from 4th Dimension or ú23 through Archive.
4.9
Å   Broadcast Loader Ö Educational Econet users will be pleased to hear
about Acornæs new ÉBroadcast Loaderæ which greatly reduces the time
taken for a class of pupils to receive the same file(s) which they
request from the fileserver. A site licence costs ú69 +VAT from Acorn or
ú75 through Archive. Acorn say it is öcomplementary to Acornæs Econet
and Level-4 File Serverò and that it is öindependent of the type of
fileserver in useò and also that it is öcompatible with Level-2, Level-3
and Nexusò.
4.9
Å   Chocks Away ÉExtra Missionsæ from 4th Dimension is now available at
ú19.95 (or ú19 through Archive). It provides you with 26 additional
missions to fly, 6 of which are reconnaissance missions.
4.9
Å   Clares Replacement Mouse Ö Has you mouse shuffled off the mortal coil?
You could buy an Acorn mouse (through Archive) for ú56, but Clares have
one for sale at ú32 inc VAT (ú29 through Archive).
4.9
Å   Cross-32 Meta Assembler Ö Baildon Electronics have recently released,
under licence to Universal Cross Assemblers, Cross-32 which will allow
you to assemble programs from a wide range of microprocessors and micro-
controllers. It can be driven from RISC-OS or from the command line. The
rrp is ú175 +VAT and it is available through Farnell Electronic
Components.
4.9
Å   DrawAid is a utility costing just ú10 from Carvic Manufacturing which
allows you to create Draw files of complex shapes that have repeating
patterns. It provides you with an environment which will allow you to
use BASIC to generate your patterns.
4.9
Å   Guardians of the Labyrinth is a new maze-based adventure game Ö ú3.49
from Soft Rock Software. It has ten user selectable mazes with the
ability to load and save your game position.
4.9
Å   House of Numbers Ö an educational program with three levels of
difficulty aimed at children aged 6 to 13. It is centred around a maths
adventure/puzzle program. ú22 +VAT from Chalksoft Ltd or ú24 through
Archive.
4.9
Å   I/O Box 3000 Ö Unilab have produced an interface box that plugs in the
back of the A3000 and provides three user ports, an analogue port and a
1 MHz bus. One of the user ports has been put on a connector with the
same number of pins as the printer port on the BBC Micro for backwards
compatibility with hardware designed to hang on a BBC. The cost is
ú77.58 +VAT.
4.9
Å   !MapIT claims to be the first Genesis II application. !MapIT, costing
ú32 from HM Associates, analyses the IT requirements of the National
Curriculum. The National Curriculum identifies IT as a cross curricular
skill which must be delivered as an integral part of all ten statutory
subjects to all pupils aged from 5 to 16 and !MapIT enables you to
examine the contribution that IT can make to these ten subjects. !MapIT
uses, and is distributed with, the Genesis II browser so you do not need
to have Genesis II to use !MapIT.
4.9
Å   PenDown Outline Fonts Disc Ö Longman Logotron have now released a disc
of outline fonts, ostensibly for use with PenDown but which can be used
with any application capable of dealing with outline fonts. There are 12
fonts Ö all what you might call fancy fonts Ö for ú18 +VAT or ú19
through Archive.
4.9
Å   Pre-formatted Discs Ö We are now doing a service of selling pre-
formatted discs. These are basically the same bulk-pack disc that we use
for our Shareware and Careware discs, so you can see the quality. The
prices including VAT & p&p are 10 for ú10, 50 for ú45 and 100 for ú80.
4.9
Å   Removable SCSI Drives Ö The prices of the MR45 removable SCSI drives
have dropped even further! Weæve been able to take a further ú40 off the
price bringing it down to ú755 with an Oak SCSI podule and ú555 without
(or ú735 with a Lingenuity podule) and the spare 42M cartridges are now
down to ú75 each. (We are now on top discount rate with the importers,
so apart from changes in the dollar exchange rate, the prices should now
be stable.)
4.9
Å   Sellardore Tales Ö is an Éeasy readæ adventure game for slow learners,
priced ú24 +VAT from Sherston Software. It covers National Curriculum
English AT2.
4.9
Å   Shareware N║40 Ö contains a simple card based database (ADFS only),
desktop ARM code disassembler, 256-level greyscale picture editor,
desktop optical character recognition, Blackjack for up to 4 players,
Connect4 (2 player or player vs computer), single player high/low card
game, horse racing game, sliding block puzzles, screen saver utility,
desktop Mandelbrot generator plus a number of utilities: set the access
status of files, file type guesser, simple calculator, various desktop
file utilities in one program, German key caps, desktop reset button,
extra desktop star commands, Fahrenheit <Ö> Celsius converter, desktop
volume control.
4.9
Å   Training Courses Ö (I suppose you could say that these are öProducts
Availableò.) Acornæs Training Centre is offering a new series of
training courses for applications programmers. The titles are,
öProgrammersæ Introduction to Cò, öIntroduction to Application
Programmingò and öAdvanced RISC-OS Application Programmingò. More
details from the Acorn Training Centre.
4.9
Å   !X Terminal Ö Gnome Computers have produced software that will turn
your Archimedes into a terminal to any type of remote workstation
working under X 11. It supports TCP/IP over both Econet and Ethernet,
can provide support for up to eight independent X screens and includes
network security through DES encryption. !X costs ú199 +VAT.
4.9

Å   A4 paper trays Ö We can now get hold of spare A4 paper trays for the
Laser Direct (Qume) at ú66, the Laser Direct Hi-Res (Canon LBP8) at ú54
and the Canon LBP4 at ú57. It makes life much easier not to have to keep
taking headed note paper and plain paper in and out of paper trays Ö
just pull out one tray and replace it with another. This includes
putting A5 paper in an A4 paper tray which is explained in the Hints &
Tips on page 8.
4.10
Å   A4 flatbed scanner GT-4000 Ö Clares have produced an interface and
software support to run an Epson GT4000 from an Archimedes computer. The
main features are: 50 to 400 d.p.i., 24 bit colour, 256 grey scales, max
size 214 x 295 mm, uses serial and bi-directional Centronics interface,
full RISC-OS application. The prices are ú1799 +VAT for the full system
or ú715 + VAT for the software and interface board if you already have
the GT4000 scanner. (ú1955 and ú660 respectively through Archive.)
4.10
Å   A3000 Special Access Ö Acorn are now providing a package based on the
A3000 with Special Needs users in mind. It consists of an A3000 upgraded
with serial port and Morley User/Analogue ports, a disc of utilities to
facilitate access to the computer for physically disabled users and
people with visual impairment, Special Needs overview booklet and a copy
of the Special Needs Computing Handbook. You can buy it without a
monitor (ú679 +VAT) or with an Acorn monitor and a PRES stand (which
allows the computer to move about independently of the stand) for ú899
+VAT. There is a special price for registered charities or those who are
registered disabled Ö ú695 and ú953.50 respectively including VAT.
Applications forms for these special prices should be available for your
local dealer Ö Archive also has forms and can supply these SA packs.
4.10
Å   Arc Recorder Ö Oak Solutions have produced a very cheap system for
sound sampling (ú29.95 +VAT or ú33 through Archive). It consists of a
hand held condenser microphone linked to the computer via the printer
port(!) and software that generates samples in Armadeus file format. It
is also designed to link in with Genesis II and comes with a support
module to allow samples to be used within Genesis applications.
4.10
Å   ARCticulate Ö The current spate of Archimedes speech generators
continues.. 4th Dimension have produced an öanimated speech synthesiserò
which includes, as well as voices, four faces that speak the words! It
can read text files and word processor documents and can be used within
your own programs. ú24.95 from 4th Dimension or ú23 through Archive.
4.10
Å   ARM3 price drop Ö There seems to be a bit of price war going on with
ARM3æs and so weæve been able to bring down the price of the Aleph One
ARM3 to ú420 inc VAT.
4.10
Å   Careware N║13 Ö We have put Jonathan Martenæs improved Draw program,
!DrawPlus which was reviewed last month, page 19, as the major item on
Careware 13. We have made it a DTP type disc by adding the latest
versions of !CGM Ö>Draw (v2.1) and !Translator (v6.45) and two utilities
to convert the other way: !DrwCgm (v1.0) which converts Draw files to
CGM files and !Creator (v1.13) which converts sprite files into GIF,
TIFF, AIM, PBM files. There is also some Draw clip art: under the
heading of biology are 4 week old & 8 week old embryos, digestive
system, ear, paramecium, respiratory system, resuscitation, teeth; under
the heading of people are cobbler, eskimo, footballer, girl reading,
girl riding, magician, painter, singer; and then the rest... bed and
breakfast, house, King George V battleship, long ship, Pink Panther,
snowman, tree.
4.10
Å   ClassROM is a new networking product from Oak Solutions. Anyone trying
to run an Econet system with Archimedes computers will realise the
problem of a class full of pupils trying to load, say, Impression all at
the same time. Oak Solutionsæ solution(!) is to provide a box to attach
to each, or as many as possible, of the Archimedes on the network. This
box looks, to the user, like a read-only ROM. In fact, it is a 20M (or
bigger if you prefer!) SCSI hard drive which can only be read by them
but which can be written to, via the Econet, using special software
which, presumably, only the network manager would have access to. You
can use this software to put whatever files and applications you want
onto whichever stations you want. So, while the kids are out of the way,
you could load up various applications onto different stations so that
they would be ready at the start of the day for the pupils to use. The
pupils would save their data either on their own floppies or via the
Econet on the file-server. There is no limit to the number of stations
on the network that can have a ClassROM installed and so as you expand
(well, as money becomes available) you could add ClassROMæs to more and
more of the Archimedes so that fewer stations would have to load their
applications via the network. Prices are ú150 (+VAT) for the management
software plus ú344 for each 20M classROM unit or ú445 for the 45M
version. Archive prices (inc VAT) are ú160, ú375 and ú485 respectively.
4.10
Å   Creator Ö Alpine Software have produced a program to enable you to
create your own arcade game. It comes with an object designer, a screen
designer, a path designer, an event manager and a run-time system. You
also get a collection of sprites and sound samples to incorporate in
your own games. The price is ú38.95 from Alpine Software or ú36 through
Archive.
4.10
Å   Digital Storage Oscilloscope Ö Armadillo Systems Ltd have produced a
digital storage oscilloscope using the Archimedes to do the capture,
processing and display of the data. It comes in single and dual input
formats priced at ú323.10 and ú445.50 +VAT respectively. The inputs are
1Mohm, 30 pF, 30MHz, 5V to 10mV with a resolution of 256 steps on
channel 1 and 128 on channel 2. This system makes good use of the
processing power of the Archimedes to give a range of ways of interpret
ing and displaying the data collected.
4.10
Å   Fine Racer Ö Race your buggy around various circuits avoiding various
obstacles, picking up various bonus points which can be converted into
things to upgrade your car provided you come in the first three in the
race itself. Oh, and watch out for Mad Max who drives like a maniac.
Produced by Eterna in France and marketed in this country by Vector
Services. Price ú19.95 inc VAT.
4.10
Å   Imagine is not just another art pack Ö Topologika refer to their new
product as a design pack because it has applications right across the
curriculum. It has a twin-screen facility and built-in maths facilities
and an on-line help facility. The price is ú39.95 inc VAT or ú37 through
Archive. Separately available are packs of images for ú9.95 +VAT each
including Pirates, Victorians and Romans.
4.10
Å   Impression Business Supplement Ö Computer Concepts have produced a set
of utilities which make Impression II into a powerful business/profes
sional DTP system. The supplement includes Expression-PS (also available
separately), a mail-merge utility, a sort utility for use with the merge
program plus four loader modules: RTF (as used with Microsoft Word on PC
and Mac), WordPerfect, PipeDream and WordStar. The price is ú49 +VAT or
ú53 through Archive.
4.10
Å   MiG29 Ö a new flight simulator from the originators of Interdictor Ö
SIMIS. For full details of this, see the review on page 24. The price is
ú40.85 inc VAT or ú38 through Archive.
4.10
Å   New PC Emulator is (almost!) here! Ö A press release of 19/6/91
confidently predicted the release of the new PC Emulator on 21st June.
Itæs not actually available yet as I write (2/7/91) but it should be in
öabout three weeksò. Version 1.6 of the emulator allows you to return to
your desktop and find it intact and, on machines with 2M or more, it can
run concurrently with RISC-OS within the multi-tasking environment. DOS
files can be accessed directly from RISC-OS and it provides öfull CD-ROM
support via CDFS and MSCD extensionsò. It is supplied with MS-DOS 3.3
including a mouse driver and has an emulation of the Intel 8087 maths
co-processor which increases floating point calculations by a factor of
fourteen. The emulator runs in CGA, EGA or MDA graphics modes with
partial support for VGA for software, such as Windows 3, which accesses
the video hardware directly. The price is the same as the old emulator,
ú99 plus VAT or ú96 through Archive, and there is an upgrade for
existing users for ú29 (+VAT presumably) and as soon as we know how you
can get the upgrade, we will let you know. (I suggest you check the back
of the Price List which is printed later than the magazine itself.) (See
the screenshot below.)
4.10
Å   PrimeArt is Minervaæs new 256 colour art package aimed at primary and
special needs children. Amongst other things, it allows sprites to be
pasted into a picture, has tailorable menus and allows text of any
available font to be used. The cost is ú79.95 +VAT or ú87 through
Archive.
4.10
Å   Removable drive prices down again Ö This time itæs the Atomwide
removable drive with the high power fans Ö they are now down to ú555 inc
VAT or ú755 with an Oak podule.
4.10
Å Rhapsody II is available now for ú61.95 inc VAT (or ú57 through
Archive) and there is an upgrade through Clares for ú15.50 inc VAT Ö
just send the original disc back (not the packing) to Clares. The main
extra features of Rhapsody II are: drag notes from panels onto the
score, MIDI thru and MIDI beat added, multiple MIDI ports supported,
MIDI program changes possible within the score, capture notes in step
time directly onto stave, octave transposition, transcribe triplets,
block re-tail, improved sprites for better printout, formatted scores
can be exported in Draw format to a new program called ScoreDraw which
will allow professional quality printouts. (ScoreDraw will be available
ölater this yearò.)
4.10
Å   Swedish Impression Ö If you want a Swedish version of Impression 2.1,
contact Information Technology Services, Sj÷tullsg. 3, 602 27
Norrk÷ping, Sweden (11Ö127758, fax 11Ö126545). Most programs on the
Applications Discs are also available in Swedish, as is PipeDream 3.
4.10
Å   Wonderland is an impressive new adventure game occupying four floppies
(which can be loaded onto hard disc). It is based on Alice in Wonderland
and runs in its own (non-RISC-OS) window environment. It costs ú32
through Archive.
4.10
Å   UltraSonic Sound System Ö Alpine Software claim this to be the only
fully RISC-OS compliant, multi-tasking sound and music system. It
produces music files that are compatible with Creator, their new Arcade
Games Designer Ö see overleaf. It comes with an application to convert
samples from various formats as well as Soundtracker files into its own
format. It also comes with a PD playback application to play UltraSonic
files and a disc of almost 150 sampled instrument sounds. The price is
ú30 from Alpine Software or ú28 through Archive.
4.10

Å   Arc Recorder Ö Hybrid Technology have produced a very cheap system for
sound sampling (ú27.95 + ú5 p&p +VAT). It consists of a microphone with
a switch and desk stand linked to the computer via the printer port and
desktop software that generates samples which can immediately be used in
other desktop applications. (This is NOT the same product as produced by
Oak Solutions despite the same name.)
4.11
Å   Cartoon collection is the title of a four disc set of cartoon type
paint format clipart from Micro Studios. The price is ú19.95 or ú18
through Archive.
4.11
Å   DeskJet 500 Ö Weæve had so many good reports from readers about the HP
DeskJet 500 printer that weæve worked out a special deal with our
distributors. We can offer them to Archive subscribers at ú395 inc VAT &
carriage.
4.11
Å   Econet test box Ö ALSystems have produced an Econet test box which
should greatly reduce the time and effort needed to rectify faults on
Econet networks. It can detect broken cables, short circuits, cross-
connected cables. It measures cable resistance. It has LEDæs for
monitoring clock & data signals, a terminator tester and a filestore
clock test facility. The price is ú75 +VAT (+ú2.35 p&p).
4.11
Å   Eizo 9080i utility Ö If anyone has an Eizo 9080i and wants to use it
on the Archimedes, GL Consulting Ltd produce a utility for just ú10
which makes it possible. For more details, see the 9080i review on page
39.
4.11
Å   JISys is a journal indexing system (also available for IBM and BBC B)
which allows you to create your own journal article database. It allows
search & retrieval and cross-referencing. It has an on-line manual,
password for data protection and will cope with an index of up to 10,000
articles and authors. The price is ú75 inclusive from KAS Software.
4.11
Å   LBP4 laser printers Ö There was a huge response to the special offer
last month on LBP4 laser printers (on the back of the Price List). We
had bought two printers from the distributor on their end of year
clearance but these were sold by about 10.00 a.m. on the day after the
magazines left this office! We could have sold them several times over
that day and the next. The good news is that, because of all the
interest, weæve been able to arrange a semi-permanent special deal with
the distributor. We can now sell the LBP4 with an extra 1Mbyte ram
(useful when not using the Laser Direct interface) for just ú875. This
price does not include the 250 sheet paper feed tray, but the printer
already has a 50-sheet tray, so itæs not essential. If you do want a
paper feed tray at the same time, add ú90 (instead of the normal price
of ú105).
4.11
When you add the CC Laser Direct interface at ú380 to the LBP4 at ú875,
you get ú1255 (my arithmetic was ú100 out last month!) which is not that
much more than the cost of the 300 d.p.i. Laser Direct Qume and as well
as having the advantage of 600 d.p.i., you get a printer that will run
on other computers and can even be connected via the serial or parallel
interfaces (all standard on the LBP4) to other computers Ö or indeed to
the same computer. You can then use the front panel switches to select
which interface you use. This is useful if you want to use the printer
in direct printing mode from, say, First Word Plus or from Basic.
4.11
So, by comparison, why should anyone want to pay ú1560 for the LBP8
Laser Direct since it can only be used with the Archimedes and not on
other computers? Well, it is faster in terms of pages per minute (8
instead of 4) even though the page preparation time will be the same on
both. Secondly, it looks to me to be a more robust printer which could
be useful, say, in a school situation.
4.11
The third point is that it has a straighter paper path. The LBP4 has an
S-shaped paper path feeding into an output hopper but you can open a
flap and make it C-shaped though it doesnæt then go into the hopper. The
LBP8 on the other hand normally has a C-shaped path. (This is useful
because it drops the sheets face down so that page 1 of a multi-page
document is at the top of the pile when you take it out of the hopper.)
If you fold out the catch tray at the opposite end to the input tray,
you get a completely straight paper path, if you are printing onto
labels or card so there is less chance of jamming and if you are
printing acetates, thereæs less danger of them getting curled up. The
advantage of the S-shaped path though is that the printer is more
compact as a result. (See diagrams opposite.)
4.11
Paper trays are a little confusing with the LBP4 but I think I have got
it sorted out now. Provided, as standard, with the printer is an
integral tray which takes about 50 sheets at a time. As an alternative,
you can buy a paper feed unit and cassette (Archive price ú105). This
forms a base under the printer and takes a removable paper cassette
which carries about 250 sheets of paper. You can also get spare
cassettes for the paper feed unit so that you can have different types
of paper in different cassettes. (Archive price ú57)
4.11
Å   Mandelbrot Set Ö Explore Mandelbrot sets in mode 15 with this C
program which goes to magnifications of 100 million. Partial or
completed sets can be saved and re-loaded. The price is ú12.95 inclusive
from KAS Software.
4.11
Å   PC Connect Ö DT Software have produced an interesting new piece of kit
for the Archimedes. It consists of a podule plus a board to go in a PC
(or compatible) plus the appropriate high speed interconnection. The
idea is that the two computers can then share peripherals including
comms, printers and hard drives and you can even run the PC from the
Archimedesæ keyboard. The cost is just ú169.95 +VAT.
4.11
Å   PC Emulator upgrade Ö To get your PC emulator upgraded to version 1.60
which we mentioned last month, you need to send the PC emulator disc to
Acorn Direct in Wellingborough with a cheque made payable to ÉAcorn
Directæ for ú34.08 (ú29 + VAT). However, Learning Curve owners can get a
free upgrade! If you talk to the dealer from whom you bought your A3000
or Archimedes Learning Curve, he should have a form you can fill in and
send, with serial number and proof of purchase, to Acorn Direct and they
should send you a free upgrade to 1.60. (However, as I write (19/7/91)
it hasnæt actually appeared as a stock item!)
4.11
Å   Panasonic printers Ö The KXP1124 printer has now been superseded by
the KXP1124i which we can sell at an Archive price of ú299 inc VAT &
carriage. We still have a couple of the older KXP1124æs which we can
sell at ú235. (The Archive price was ú281.)
4.11
Å   Saloon Cars is here! 4th Dimensionæs new racing simulator is available
now Ö Archive price is ú23.
4.11
Å   SCSI hard drive price drop Ö The prices of most of the Oak Computers
hard drives has dropped Ö see the Price List for full details. There
will also be some big reductions to clear existing stock. These are
listed on the back page of the Price List.
4.11
Å   Shareware N║41 Ö Under the heading of Éeducationæ are an animation of
a four stroke engine, a control language for use in GCSE and a biology
program relating to Mendelian inheritance. There is a floating point
assembler Basic library and a desktop assembler test bed. The range of
utilities includes: a comms utility, a utility which reads BBC tapes via
an RS423 link to a BBC micro, a converter between ArcText, DOS, VAX and
FWP files, a disc cataloguer, an Edword- ASCII converter, a utility that
displays the current filing system, a filetype guesser and a desktop
file loader. Finally, there is a superb golf game which, on its own,
makes the disc worth the ú3.
4.11
Å   STEbus interface Ö Intelligent Interfaces have produced an interface
which allows the connection of up to four STEbus interfaces to fitted to
be an Archimedes computer (only 2 on an A300 series or 3 on an A540)
providing access to a wide range of I/O devices including A/D, D/A,
parallel I/O, serial I/O, networking interfaces, stepper & servos
controllers etc, etc. The interface costs ú495 +VAT.
4.11

Å   4M upgrades for A310 Ö Over the last few months, we have had a lot of
very positive feedback from readers about the I.F.E.L. memory upgrades
for the A310 and so we decided to have a look at them ourselves with a
view to stocking them. (We have in the past stocked other A310 memory
upgrades but stopped because of the difficulties we experienced.) We are
very happy with the quality of the I.F.E.L. upgrades and have therefore
arranged a deal with them so that we can offer the 4 M memory upgrade to
members for ú350. This includes the cost of collecting the computer from
your home (or place of work), installing and testing the upgrade and
returning the computer to you, hopefully within a couple of working
days. The upgrade is soldered in which minimises the risk of things
working loose in transit (which was the problem that we had with the
other upgrades). I.F.E.L. do also sell a plug-in D.I.Y. type of upgrade
but that is NOT the one that we are supplying.
4.12
If you want to have ROM sockets that take the larger RISC-OS ROMs, we
can fit them for you. However, we do not advise plugging these sockets
into the existing sockets because you are then back to the potential
problems we had before. What we will do is to desolder the old sockets
and solder in the new ones. This is labour intensive and increases the
cost of the ROM upgrade to ú35 but it will give you a much more reliable
end result.
4.12
Å   A3000 ARM3 upgrade Ö Aleph One and Atomwide are now offering an ARM3
upgrade for the A3000. It involves desoldering the ARM2 and fitting a
socket that will take the ARM3 board Ö a technically difficult task as
the A3000 uses so-called surface-mount components. Donæt worry, Atomwide
collect your computer, do the upgrade, test it and return it to you all
for ú399 +VAT.
4.12
Å   A4 flatbed scanners Ö DT Software have produced an interface and
software to run an Epson GT4000 (or GT-6000) from an Archimedes
computer. The main features are: 25 to 400 (or 600) d.p.i., 24 bit
colour, 256 grey scales, full RISC-OS application. The prices are ú1299
+VAT for the GT4000 or ú1699 +VAT for the GT6000. This includes software
and the interface board. (These prices compare rather favourably with
Clares GT4000 with interface for ú1799 +VAT. The list price for the
GT4000 is ú1499, so DTæs is a very good price.)
4.12
Å   Acorn Desktop C and Acorn Desktop Assembler Ö Acorn is releasing major
upgrades to its C and Assembler programming development software which
integrate the software development tools into the RISC-OS desktop.
4.12
Each package contains öall the tools needed for software development in
that language for debugging, editing program source, generating object
code, managing the construction of applications from multiple source
files and using support utilities.ò
4.12
Hardware requirements: You need at least 2M of RAM to run the desktop
language products. For professional development, a hard disk is advised
and it is required if you wish to use both products together.
4.12
Upgrades: Existing owners of previous language products can upgrade
through Vector Services as follows (the prices include postage and
packing):
4.12
      inc VAT
4.12
C release 3 to Desktop C   ú85
ú99.87
4.12
C release 2 or 1 to Desktop C   ú105
ú123.87
4.12
Assembler to Desktop Assembler   ú75
ú88.12
4.12
Software Developers Toolbox
4.12
  to Desktop Assembler   ú75
ú88.12
4.12
To obtain your upgrade, you should send to Vector Services:
4.12
áÖááyour name and address
4.12
áÖááyour original disc (disc 1 only for C release 3, the utilities disc
for the Software Developers Toolbox.)
4.12
áÖááa cheque or postal order, made out to öAcorn Directò for the inc VAT
price indicated above.
4.12
The offer expires 31st December 1991.
4.12
Å   ARCtist Ö The 4th Dimension have produced a 256 colour RISC-OS
compatible art package for just ú24.95 (ú23 through Archive). The
package includes several hundred kbytes of clip art. (This has no link
with the original program of the same name Ö one of the original art
packages produced for the Archimedes.)
4.12
Å   ArcRecorder(s) Ö The sound sampler produced by Oak Solutions (which is
now called ÉOakRecorderæ) is available in small quantities though not
yet enough to match the demand. Hybrid Technologyæs offering will be
available within a few days, possibly by the time you read this, I donæt
know what sort of quantities they are producing, but I doubt whether
they will be able to meet initial demand as this is proving to be a very
popular product. The important question is how do the two products
compare? It does look as if Hybrid Technologyæs software is more
extensive but all we have to go on at the moment are the manufacturersæ
claims! As soon as we have a review copy of either (or both) weæll get
something into print.
4.12
Å   ARM3 prices down again Ö Aleph One have reduced the price of their
ARM3 upgrade to ú389 + VAT (ú459) so we have been able to bring the
Archive price down to ú390 inc VAT.
4.12
Å   BlastOn Ö Another offering from Eterna Ö a shoot-em-up game with what
Micro User reckons are ögood graphics and sound, making a professional-
looking packageò. ú19.95 from Eterna or ú19 through Archive.
4.12
Å   Break 147 / SuperPool is out at last and itæs very impressive. You
have a complete 3D view of the table which you prowl around studying the
options for your next shot. Once you take your position for the shot,
you line up the direction plus the point on the ball which you are going
to strike for your stun shot or to screw the cue ball back for your next
shot etc. You can play against other humans or the computer by arranging
tournaments. There is action replay so you can see what went wrong (or
right) with your last shot. The referee speaks the score and tells you
when you have fouled or have a touching ball etc. ú24.95 from the 4th
Dimension or ú23 through Archive.
4.12
Å   Bubble Fair Ö This is the latest offering from Eterna. I havenæt been
able to find out much about it yet except that it has 72 levels, 3
tunes, 256 colour overscan screen, challenges and bonuses! The price is
ú19.95 from Eterna or ú19 through Archive.
4.12
Å   Design Concept Fonts price increase. Design Concept have increased the
range of their decorative fonts (see Archive 4.8 p53 for a review) to 14
and have extended and improved some of the original ones and they have
put up the price from ú1.50 per font to ú2.50 Ö but thatæs still
incredibly cheap! Site licences are available for ú5 per font. The other
related software that Design Concept produce has also been improved and
updated. (No VAT is charged as Design Concept are not VAT registered.)
4.12
Å   Einstein Ö Ace Computing have produced an all-in-one multi-dimensional
design and animation package for just ú120 +VAT (ú125 through Archive).
It presents a öhighly consistent world for 2, 3 or 4 dimensional graphic
designò (!) and claims to be öthe first product for the Archimedes which
allows interactive manipulation of Bezier surfacesò. The press release
talked about using Bezier surfaces to produce such things as car body
shells, which was fine, but when it talked about ö4D Bezier
hypervolumesò I gave up trying to understand it. I suggest you contact
Tony Cheal at Ace for further details but it certainly sounds
impressive!
4.12
Å   FaxScan Ö Keeping up their reputation for innovative design ideas,
Spacetech have taken advantage of Amstradæs ability to produce cheap
volume products to provide a versatile add-on for the Archimedes. If you
have an Amstrad FX9600T (now discontinued) or an FX9600AT fax machine,
Spacetech can sell you an interface which plugs into the Econet space in
the A3000 or Archimedes and links to the serial interface on the Amstrad
fax. Spacetechæs software then enables you to use the fax as a 200
d.p.i., sheet-fed scanner and, by adding a standard parallel printer
cable, to send faxes direct from the desktop so that output from DTP,
Paint or Draw can be faxed without having to print it Ö a time saver for
those with dot-matrix printers and a revolution for those without. You
can even use the fax machine as an Epson compatible 216 d.p.i. printer!
The interface and software costs ú99.50 +VAT. If you buy it with the
FX9600AT, which is a fax and an answering machine, the total price,
including carriage and one yearæs on-site maintenance, is just ú490.75
+VAT.
4.12
(See what I mean about innovation! We are trying to make this available
through Archive, so check the Price List for prices, assuming we get it
organised by the time we have to go to press.)
4.12
Å   Hawk V9 software upgrade Ö Wild Vision are offering an upgrade to
their Hawk V9 colour video digitiser. For ú29.90 inc VAT, you can get a
new ROM, a new version of !FastGrab which incorporates the !ChangeFSI
routines and a new manual. ChangeFSI is available separately from Wild
Vision for ú22 +VAT. This is the new desktop version.
4.12
Å   Landmarks Ö Two more Landmarks packages have appeared from Longman-
Logotron: Rain Forest and The Victorians. ú19 each (+ VAT) from Logotron
or ú21 through Archive.
4.12
Å   Master Break is a snooker style trivia quiz for 1 to 4 players. It has
over 2,000 questions on science & nature, pop music, geography, sports &
pastimes, arts & history. ú19.95 from Superior or ú19 through Archive.
4.12
Å   RenderBender II Ö Clares now have a RISC-OS compliant version of their
RenderBender package at ú135 (inc VAT) or ú120 through Archive. It has a
new front end which allows you to draw the scenes (a bit like !Draw)
before converting into 3D by the ray-tracer part of the package (which
can work in multi-tasking mode). There is also an animator included and
you can animate manually by in-betweening or by assigning formulae to
the objects.
4.12
Å   Rhapsody II Ö Clares have released version two of their their music
system, Rhapsody. Full details are given in the review on page 56. The
upgrade price is ú15.50 (inc VAT) from Clares (only) and the full
package is ú61.95 from Clares or ú57 through Archive.
4.12
Å   SCSI Drives Ö Continuing what has become a well-established Archive
tradition (!), we have worked some better prices on SCSI drives Ö most
notably on removable drives. Itæs a long story involving various
contacts with U.S.A. but the bottom line is that we are now able to
offer two alternatives on removables and some good prices on external
fixed hard drives.
4.12
Removable drives Ö We now offer a choice between the Atomwide removable
drive and a öMac-typeò drive. Both are the same price Ö ú525 inc VAT &
carriage and this includes one 42M cartridge and a data cable (please
specify podule type). If you want an Oak podule with the drive, add ú200
or for a Lingenuity A3000 podule, add ú160.
4.12
So what is the difference between the drives? Firstly, the Mac-type
drives are öMac shapedò Ö 10ö x 10ò and 2╜ö high (to sit underneath a
Mac computer) whereas Atomwideæs drives are 6ò wide, 4ö high and 10ò
deep Ö much better suited to putting alongside the Archimedes computer.
The second difference is that the Mac drives are plastic cased whereas
Atomwide use metal cases. Finally, Atomwide have used a more powerful
fan and placed it square on at the back of the drive unit whereas the
Mac drives, being flat, have the fan by the side of, and at right angles
to, the drive unit. They point downwards so the positioning of these
drives is more critical.
4.12
External fix hard drives Ö We have found a supply of fixed hard drives
(from a company called Frog Systems!) that are very competitively
priced. The only disadvantage I can see is that, like the Mac removable
drives, they are the öwrongò shape Ö i.e. 10ö x 10ò and 2╜ö high Ö and
therefore take up more desk space than those drives specifically
designed for the Archimedes. If you buy one of these drives as a first
drive (i.e. with a podule) there is a certain price advantage but if you
already own a podule and just want a second drive, the price advantage
is huge. For example, we sell Oakæs 100M Worrawinnie drive (their
economy version) at ú630 without a podule whereas the 100M Mac drives
are only ú470 and are slightly faster! The 200M Frog at ú730 compares
well with the 100M High Speed Oak drive at ú700. More details are given
in the price comparison chart below. (WW = Oak WorraWinnie, HS = Oak
High Speed, AW = AtomWide.) Firstly, Archive prices including an Oak
podule....
4.12
   WW   HS   Frog   AW
4.12
20M   395      490
4.12
45M   500      530
4.12
50M      600      620
4.12
65M         560
4.12
80M   615
4.12
100M   730   800   670   790
4.12
200M   1030   1200   930
4.12
300M      1900   1390
4.12
640M      2500   1790
4.12
1000M         2390
4.12
If you look at the prices without podule, i.e. for those of you looking
for a second SCSI drive, the differences in price are more marked....
4.12
   WW   HS   Frog   AW
4.12
20M   295      290
4.12
45M   400      330
4.12
50M      500      420
4.12
65M         360
4.12
80M   515
4.12
100M   630   700   470   590
4.12
200M   930   1100   730
4.12
300M      1800   1190
4.12
640M      2400   1590
4.12
1000M         2190
4.12
The other advantage of the Frog drives when compared to the Worrawinnies
is that they have dual connectors at the back which makes daisy-chaining
easier and they also have a push-button ID setting which aids setting up
when you have a number of different drives. (The Worrawinnies donæt have
any SCSI connector on the back. For cheapness, they just have a cable
coming out of the back with an IDC connector on the end Ö i.e. to plug
straight into the Oak podule.)
4.12
We have done some speed tests on the 100M drives so that you can relate
speeds to prices. The first is the raw data transfer rate in kbytes/
second. The Oak HS and the Atomwide are the same because they are using
the same Quantum drive mechanism. The Worrawinnie is only tentative
because Oak are changing the type of drive they use so this information
will be out-of-date by the time you read it!
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mode   WW   HS   Frog   AW
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0   ?650?   1170   884   1170
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15   ?650?   1156   884   1156
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21   ?530?   735   286   735
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We also did our other speed test where we copy the contents of the
Applications 2 disc (i.e. lots of files) from one directory on the drive
to another. We have in the past quoted these as the time in seconds but
to make it easier to judge the speeds we have divided the time into the
total data copied (420k) to give a rate in kbytes/second.
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mode   WW   HS   Frog   AW
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0   ?42?   70   56   70
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15   ?40?   65   53   65
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21   ?36?   51   36   51
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The Frog drives run at about 80% of the speed of the higher speed drives
in modes 0 and 15 and 70% in mode 21. (This suggests that they have a
smaller ram cache and so cannot ötake up as much slackò as the other
drives when the computer is busy updating the screen.)
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Å   Top Banana Ö öJoin the frantic fruit fight to save the planet.ò A
company called, simply, öHexò has joined the Archimedes games fraternity
with this arcade style game which boasts four worlds, three level
parallax scrolling in 256 colour mode. The sound is ösolid sampled
cyber-mixedò and the graphics use colour sampled video. It comes in
öecologically friendly packagingò and includes a free loose-fit T-shirt.
What more could you want for just ú25.99 or ú24 through Archive?
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Å   World Championship Squash Ö Play club level or championship level
squash without even a single bead of sweat on your forehead! Play
against the computer or another human being. Various options including
ball speed and type of competition Ö knock out or ladder. The price is
ú25.99 from Krisalis Software or ú24 through Archive. (öAvailable 6th
Septemberò, they say.)
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Å   Zelanites the Onslaught Ö MicroPower have entered the Archimedes games
world with their first game which follows the basic formula of space
invaders with variations similar to Arcadians where the baddies come
sweeping down at you from the midst of the hoards tracking across the
screen and working their way down towards you. There are also various
bonuses to be had by shooting other objects which make their way across
the top of the screen. Finally, there are a number of different objects
which you can catch as they fall from the sky. These offer some positive
helps such as extra shooting power or a protective umbrella but donæt
catch them all Ö some are distinctly unhelpful such as one which makes
the controls operate the wrong way round! The price is ú24.95 inc VAT or
ú23 through Archive.
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