Archive Magazine 1996/ARCHIVE_96.iso/text/products/volume_7

Text File | 1995-06-25 | 217KB | 3,973 lines

Å    105Mb removable drive for A5000 Ö Just after last monthæs magazine
went to the printers, we discovered that there is an IDE version of the
105Mb SyQuest removable drives. This means that you donæt need a SCSI
podule Ö it can use the built-in IDE interface. Not only that, but the
drives themselves are cheaper than the SCSI equivalent Ö ú455 instead of
ú490. Also, they will fit inside the A5000 and are user-fittable Ö no
soldering needed, just a screwdriver and enough technical common sense
to follow the fitting instructions.
7.1
These drives are not quite as fast as the SCSI version but they are up
to 20% faster than the A5000æs own 80Mb drive and up to 40% faster than
the 40Mb version.
7.1
To show just how much cheaper these drives are than existing SyQuests, I
have worked out the costings of a drive plus 200Mb of data storage and a
drive plus 400Mb of storage. These are Archive VAT-inclusive prices.
7.1
    Drive type    200Mb    400Mb
7.1
    42Mb    ú710    ú1085
7.1
    84Mb    ú750    ú950
7.1
    105Mb    ú530    ú680
7.1
This costing has been done on the assumption that you already have a
SCSI podule. If not, you have to add ú160 to the costing for the 42Mb
and 84Mb versions but not the 105Mb as it is an IDE drive. (If you want
the faster SCSI 105Mb drive, just add ú35 to the above costings.
7.1
Å    Acorn Pocket Book pricing Ö The lower price of the Acorn Pocket Book
is being maintained for a little longer. They are currently available
through Archive for ú200. Similarly, the special price on Schedule (ú19
through Archive) is also being maintained and I think that there is
going to be a special offer on the A-Link Ö see the Price List for
details (if they arrive in time).
7.1
Å    Almanac Ö Stallion Software Ltd have released a new version of
Almanac. Existing users can have a free upgrade by sending their old
disc to Stallion. The new version includes full support for 3D, larger
icons, import/export, extendable notes, multiple telephone/fax numbers
and support for FaxPack.
7.1
Å    Alpine Adventure Collection Ö Alpine Soft-ware have released a games
compilation including two of their original games, Cops and Plague
Planet, plus one new one, Kidnapping Ö can you rescue your father, the
famous scientist, who has been kidnapped? All three games come as a
single compilation at ú15 +VAT from Alpine Software.
7.1
Å    Archive BBS on line! Ö With some invaluable help from Paul Welbank of
StarNet BBS (0603-507216), we have got the Archive Bulletin Board up and
running Ö well, sort of! It tends to be a bit fragile, so please report
any teething troubles you find and also let us know what features you
would like to see added. Give it a ring on 0603-766585.
7.1
Å    Archive Hints & Tips Ö Matthew Hunter, who has been helping out at
Norwich Computer Services over the summer has converted the whole of the
Archive Hints & Tips data into Knowledge Organiser II format. This means
that you can search through the data much more easily and quickly,
looking for different topics, themes and/or words. This version will
only work on machines with 2Mb RAM or more but you do not need to own KO
II to run this application. It comes with full instructions and costs
ú12 inclusive to Archive members. Those who have bought the original
Hints & Tips discs may return them for an upgrade for ú2.
7.1
Å    Archive words discs on removable Ö We have now made all the Archive
words discs available on removable hard drives. On either a 42Mb, 84Mb
or a 105Mb, you can have all the words from Archive 4.5 up to the
current issue plus separate files for Hints & Tips and Products
Available. The 42Mb disc version is ú85, 84Mb is ú110 and 105Mb is ú85.
7.1
Å    ARM3á+áfpa deal Ö We have managed to get some better pricing on the
ARM3 + fpa combination. We can now offer the two together with the fpa
installed and tested for ú235. If you have an old ARM3 for part
exchange, you will only need to send us a cheque for ú175.
7.1
Å    Assembler Help Ö Stallion Software Ltd has now produced Assembler Help
(using Strong-HLP). This stand-alone program gives help for assembly
language programmers. It includes help on ARM instructions, FP
instructions, assembler directives, variables, macros, instruction
formats and instruction speeds. Assembler Help costs ú15.95 +VAT from
Stallion Software Ltd.
7.1
Å    Blood Sport is a martial arts game from Matt Black featuring ten
deadly opponents, each with a unique fighting style. Blood Sport costs
ú12 inclusive of VAT and carriage from Matt Black.
7.1
Å    CD-ROM drives Ö Morley Electronics now have two öRevolutionò CD-ROM
drives available, an economy version for ú299 +VAT and a high
specification one, the Revolution Pro, for ú499 +VAT (ú350 and ú575
through Archive, respectively). Both the drives are fully multi-session
and PhotoCD compatible but the Revolution Pro is capable of data
transfer rates of over 300Kb/s.
7.1
Å    Creator II Ö Alpine Software have produced an updated version of their
game-creating program. The new version is ú49 +VAT from Alpine and
registered users of Creator can upgrade for ú20 +VAT. New features
include scroll text for demo writing, bar graph facility for displaying
energy, shield levels, etc, tiled backgrounds for memory saving, and it
now handles multi-level games. The new version comes on three discs with
a 100 page manual.
7.1
Å    Event is a diary system produced by ExpLAN for the Archimedes. It
takes up very little space on the Archimedes and will talk to Schedule
on the Pocket Book and Agenda on the Psion 3. Event costs ú24.95
inclusive from ExpLAN.
7.1
Å    Ethernet Card Ö Digital Services are the latest company to announce an
Ethernet expansion card for Acorn machines. The new card is now shipping
in quantity and has apparently been designed to provide maximum possible
bandwidth on thin Ethernet systems. It incorporates two features which
are claimed to be unique: the computeræs CMOS RAM may be password
protected, thus preventing unauthorised personnel from tampering with
the configuration and, secondly, the NetGain for Ethernet client
software is included in the ROM. The latter enables fast application
loading when used in conjunction with the NetGain server pack. Currently
the card is available to fit A3000, A3020 and A4000 and is priced at
ú139 +VAT from Digital Services.
7.1
Å    Illusions Disc Magazine Ö Virtuality disc mag-azine and Illusions disc
magazine have merged to form a single larger magazine. New prices for
the bimonthly magazine are: 1 issue ú2.50, 3 issues ú7.50, 6 issues
ú14.50.
7.1
Å    Impression tutorial Ö Illusions Disc Magazine have published a 10-part
Impression tutorial on disc. The disc also contains some colour and b&w
clipart to be used within the tutorial. This costs ú9.95 inclusive from
Illusions Disc Magazine.
7.1
Å    JPEG Shareware disc Ö Stuart Bell has put together a Shareware disc
with the latest versions of various JPEG applications. It contains:
!FYEO, version 1.02; !Jewel, version 0.04; !JFIF, version 26th June
1993; !JPEGinst to install !JPEGit, version 1.11A, i.e. the PD version;
!JView, version 0.07; djpeg (Keith Sloanæs implementation), file dated
18 Nov 1991; !ChangeFSI, version 0.90a; JPEG-FAQ Ö a text file pulled
off Usenet and headed öJPEG image compression: Frequently Asked
Questionsò. This is available as Archive Shareware Disc 51.
7.1
Å    Keyboards on special offer Ö If your keyboard is getting a little
unreliable, (e.g. CapsLock problems) then you can try cleaning it. (See
page 32 for details.) If the problems persist, it might be worth
thinking of replacing it with a brand new keyboard. We have managed to
get hold of about ten brand new Acorn keyboards (as supplied with A5000)
and can sell them at a special price of ú95 instead of the normal price
of ú123. If you want to buy a new Acorn mouse at the same time you can
buy keyboard plus mouse for ú130.
7.1
Å    Keystroke is a new desktop utility which allows you to perform a range
of desktop activities, including using existing desktop programs like
Impression by just pressing keys. We mentioned it last month but forgot
to say that it is available for ú29.95 inclusive from Quantum Software.
It is now also available through Archive for ú28. (See the review on
page 21.)
7.1
Å    Kimæs Game Ö There is now a computer version of the familiar parlour
game which took on a new meaning in The Generation Game! Kimæs Game from
Le Computer offers öhours of fun for all the familyò for ú25 inclusive
of VAT and p&p.
7.1
Å    Lexicon 2 Ö Stallion Software Ltd have rel-eased a new version of
Lexicon. Existing users can have a free upgrade by sending their old
disc to Stallion. The new version includes cloze testing, vocabulary
testing and 3D-look. Russian, French and German versions are available.
7.1
Å    Lingo Master Ö This is described by its author, Nigel Caplan, as öa
unique shareware program which allows anyone to learn any language at
any level for just ú5 registrationò. The aim of the pro-gram is to help
you with your vocabulary storage and learning. It allows you to enter
vocabulary (it comes with 2,000 words in three languages) and then tests
you on that vocabulary. You can get an unregistered version for ú1 or
register for ú5 or get a full site licence for ú10 from Nigel Caplan, 33
Alwoodley Lane, Leeds, LS17 7PU.
7.1
Å    Memory madness Ö There is a general rise in the price of memory at the
moment and supply is getting difficult on some items. In particular, the
A3020/A4000 2Mb upgrades will not be available until early October and
we think they will be about ú95 instead of the current ú70. We do have
two 2Mb upgrades left in stock but will only sell them with A4000
computers. The A3000 1-2Mb upgrade is now ú70 and the 1-4Mb is ú140.
7.1
Å    Morley hard drives Ö Morley Electronics have extended their range of
hard drives up to 500Mb. New Archive prices are as follows:
7.1
       Size (Mb)    Internal    External
7.1
    40    ú320    ú400
7.1
    80    ú400    ú480
7.1
    120    ú490    ú570
7.1
    240    ú700    ú780
7.1
    330    ú780    ú860
7.1
    500    ú1100    ú1180
7.1
Å    Phases α la Franτais Ö There is now a French version of the popular
Phases WP/DTP package. Phases α la Franτais costs ú24 (+ú3 p&p) +VAT
from NW SEMERC.
7.1
Å    Print, design and bureau service for Acorn computer users. Alternative
Publishing in Glasgow are offering various services to Archimedes users
who need to get their DTP output professionally typeset and printed.
Contact Majid Anwar at Alternative Publishing for more details.
7.1
Å    Replay DIY Ö Irlam Instruments can provide you with the means of
creating your own computer movies. Replay DIY consists of a single-width
podule plus software. You need an ARM3, at least 2Mb of RAM (4Mb for
preference) and a fast hard disc to run it. (The new version of the
A5000 would be ideal!) Plug in a video camera and you can start to
record live sequences Ö or pre-record and digitise from a video
recorder. Remember though that it chews up an awful lot of disc space Ö
about 20Mb/minute! The software then compresses this down to about
4.5Mb/minute. Replay DIY costs ú250 +VAT from Irlam Instruments or ú285
through Archive including carriage.
7.1
(Is anyone already using Replay DIY? Would anyone be prepared to give us
their views and/or hints & tips regarding its use?)
7.1
Å    Resultz is here! Ö Colton Softwareæs new spreadsheet that links in
with their wordprocessor, Wordz is now available. (See PipeLineZ for de-
tails, on page 45.) It costs ú119 +VAT or ú125 through Archive. (If you
buy it direct from Colton before 15th October, the price is only ú119
inc VAT Ö Archive will match the offer until the same date.)
7.1
Å    RISCáOS 3 special offer coming to an end Ö Acorn have said that the
special offer on RISCáOS 3 (i.e. ú49 instead of ú89) has been extended
up to the end of October but that the A5000 version (ú29) will be
discontinued forthwith. We still have a few of each in stock.
7.1
Å    Scanlight price drop Ö With the coming of the Scanlight Video 256 (see
Products Available last month) there has been a small drop in price of
the Scanlight 256. This has now dropped to an Archive price of ú215. The
A3000/4000 version stays at ú225.
7.1
Å    Scanlight Plus A4 discontinued (sort of!) Ö CC are having problems
getting hold of the sheetfeeders for their A4 Scanlight scanners. They
still have the scanners (ú325) and these are going to be available,
öwhile stocks lastò. We have some of the A3000 version available,
normally ú325, but we will sell them (to clear stocks) ú285 Ö cf the A5
version at ú225.
7.1
Å    Schedule re-scheduled!!!! Ö Once again, please accept our apologies
(on behalf of Acorn) to the dozens of you who are sitting waiting for
Schedule for the Acorn Pocket Book. The delivery date has slipped back
and Acorn are now saying that they will be coming to us in the week
commencing 17th September.
7.1
Å    Stokke Wing chairs Ö We have sold quite a few of the chairs we
mentioned last month but are having difficulty importing more. The ones
available from stock at the moment are beech and rosewood (not teak) and
the cover colours available are black, navy blue, light blue, red,
beige, green, plum or dark grey. They cost ú320 each.
7.1
Å    StrongEd from Stallion Software is öa fast, compact and powerful
editor that supports editing multiple files and throwbackò. Strong-Ed is
written in assembler and occupies less than 200Kb of RAM. It costs
ú25.70 +VAT from Stallion Software.
7.1
Å    Tales of Lore is a dungeon style games program in which you, the
goodie, are fighting against the bad guys and solving various puzzles
along the way. This game runs on all 1Mb RISCáOS 3 machines and is
available from UK Software for ú29.95 inclusive.
7.1
Å    Vigil Ö If you find debugging your multitasking programs a chore,
Vigil from Rhein-gold Enterprises should be rather helpful to you. It
allows you to see what is going on inside your program while it is
running, i.e. the state of its memory, variable, etc. Vigil costs ú24.95
inclusive from Rheingold or ú23 through Archive.
7.1

Products Available
Å    A4000S upgrade pack Ö Following the Cumana/SEMERC collaboration in
producing the A4000S package which enables overlay keyboards, switch
boxes, control equipment and turtles to be connected to the computer as
well as offering further expansion for SLCD, MIDI, SCSI and IDE, they
have released a hardware and software pack. This pack will upgrade a
standard A4000 to the A4000S. The upgrade comprises the EMU base board
and seven 1.6Mb floppies of software, ready for transfer to the hard
disc. The total cost is ú119 +VAT. A number of Acorn dealers have been
on SEMERCæs special needs training courses so if you want expert advice,
ring Acornæs special needs department and ask them who your nearest
trained dealer is.
7.2
Å    Acorn PC cards Ö The Acorn PC386 and PC486 cards for the A3020 and
A4000 have been dropped in price by ú50 and the combined prices of
A4000/PC card systems has dropped by more than ú100. The new RRP for the
1Mb 386 board is ú225 +VAT, ú425 +VAT for the 4Mb 486. (Archive prices
are ú255 and ú480 respectively.) The software has also been updated to
improve interaction between RISC OS and DOS/Windows when they are run
simultaneously.
7.2
Å Acorn PC cards 2 Ö The enhanced software is available to existing
owners free of charge by returning the original Acorn PC Card software
and Windows driver where supplied, along with your name and address in
an envelope clearly marked öPC Card Upgradeò to Customer Services, Acorn
Computers Limited, Acorn House, Vision Park, Histon, Cambridge, CB4 4AE.
7.2
Å    AI CD-ROM Ö The Network Cybernetics Corporation has announced the
release of this CD through Lambda Publications. A large assortment of
software related to Artificial Intelligence and other topics is included
along with the text of research papers and tutorials, in a variety of
formats. Specific topics include Expert Systems, Neural Networks,
Genetic Algorithms, Fuzzy Logic, Linguistics/Natural Language, Robotics,
Virtual Reality, Artificial Life/Evolution Simulations, Machine Vision,
Prolog, Lisp/XLisp. Executables for some machines are included, as is
the source code so that programs can be recompiled on new platforms. The
cost is ú80 per disc + p&p from Lambda Publications.
7.2
Å    AppFS Ö The network application from Angelsoft has been increased in
price from ú100 + VAT to ú130 + VAT. A full site licence is still
included in the price.
7.2
Å    ART20 is a sprite-based art package which brings öfine art facilities
to the Archimedes at a fraction of the price of other recent art
packagesò. Painting is done outside the desktop but with easy return to
an unaltered desktop. ART20 costs ú60 inclusive from Tekoa Graphics. An
education site licence costs ú120 inclusive.
7.2
Å    Aztecs Ö This educational adventure from Sherston Software includes
resource materials such as posters, help cards and challenge cards. The
aim is to survive in Aztec times, learning as much as possible about the
Aztec people. It can be used as the centre piece to a class topic, or
simply on its own. The price is ú39.95 + VAT from Sherston or ú37
through Archive.
7.2
Å    Cars Ö Maths in Motion Ö This is a very interesting educational Grand
Prix simulation program. It is aimed at both young children and adults
and has ömany educational opportunitiesò covering percentages,
multiplication, division, simple geometry, scale drawing, modelling,
probability, ratios, strategy and logical thinking. This is available
from Cambridgeshire Software House (note the new address in the
Factfile) for ú49.95 +VAT and carriage.
7.2
Å    Computer Holidays Ö PGL Adventure, the well-known activity holiday
company, are offering IT Advantage holidays for 8 to 13 year olds in
1994. These holidays, to be held at PGLæs Marchant Hill centre in
Surrey, will combine computing (using all Acorn equipment!) and various
adventure activities. Contact PGL for more details Ö and tell them you
read about it in Archive magazine!
7.2
Å    Explorer Ö A new National Curriculum teaching aid designed to enhance
project work on the Solar System. It is a game where the player (or
players, as group involvement is recommended) must explore all planets
in the solar system with the aid of probes. During exploration, the
children will have to discover a variety of facts about the planets and
their moons. It is produced by Alpine Software at ú30 +VAT.
7.2
Å    First Steps in Programming Acorn RISC OS Computers Ö A companion book
for öA Beginners Guide to WIMP Programmingò, and also by Martyn Fox, it
is aimed at people who have only just purchased an Acorn machine and
have no experience of programming, or are finding it difficult. Basic is
used and a full reference section is included for VDU and PLOT codes and
for keywords. The price is ú14.95 + p&p from Sigma Press or ú15 through
Archive.
7.2
Å    Formula Fun Ö A four player top view driving game over several
different courses from Mystery Software. All four players are shown on
screen simultaneously and is compatible with the new Four joystick
interface. The price is ú14.99 inclusive from Mystery Software.
7.2
Å    IBM Keyboard and Mouse Interface Ö Supplied by the Serial Port for ú89
+VAT, it allows you to connect a PC keyboard and mouse to your
Archimedes. Any standard PC/AT keyboard can be used as well as a variety
of PC keyboard devices including barcode scanners, magnetic card readers
and PC 3-button serial or bus mice. The Acorn mouse can also be
connected. The interface also allows up to 4 Atari-style joysticks to be
connected. Each can be programmed to emulate any key or combination,
making it compatible with all games. There is no Joystick control
software needed. Software supplied allows key mappings for PC keyboard
scan codes to Archimedes keys, with different mappings for modifier keys
(e.g. shift).
7.2
Å    James Pond 2 Ö RoboCod Ö This conversion is the sequel to James Pond
but is said to have many improvements and new features to make it
enjoyable even for those who played the original. It is available from
GamesWare (the conversion was done by Eclipse) for ú25.99 inc VAT or ú24
through Archive.
7.2
Å    Keyboard Trainer Ö No, itæs not a typing tutor but Minerva Softwareæs
new music program. It is öan exciting new way of learning how to play
the electronic keyboard and to read musicò. The program requires a 1Mb
RISCáOS computer with Midi interface and will work with the Yamaha PSS
and PSR keyboards with Midi, plus most of the popular Midi keyboards and
synths. This costs ú69.95 +VAT from Minerva or ú87 through Archive.
7.2
Å    KlienFS Ö This is another compression utility, for any Acorn machine
with RISC OS 3 (since it uses the Squash module). It offers a full
filing system, and creates files like those produced by the squash
application. This means that compressed files are readable even if you
do not have the KlienFS. The fact that it is a filing system, however,
means that it offers a far more user-friendly interface than using
Squash. The price is ú17.95 inclusive from PTW Software.
7.2
Å    Laser Direct prices slashed!!! Ö Over ú350 off the price of the Laser
Direct Hires 8, plus a free copy of Impression 2 is what I call öprices
slashedò! Computer Concepts are really trying to attack the Mac market
in a big way. This is shown by the range of new DTP products mentioned
in the Acorn World 93 preview on page 9 but they are also doing this
special offer on Laser Directs. The Hires 8 is now selling for ú1099 +
ú15 carriage +VAT or ú1280 through Archive including carriage. The Hires
4 is ú799 + ú10 carriage +VAT or ú925 through Archive including
carriage. The free Impression offer is also available through Archive
but only up to 31st December 1993.
7.2
Å    Ludwig van Beethoven Overture, Egmont Ö Angelsoft Educational have
produced an electronic book concerned mainly with the Egmont overture.
It also contains background information on Beethovenæs life and works.
It was created using the ÉGenesisæ application, so pages can be printed
out as permanent records, and if you have a CD-ROM drive and the correct
CD, the musical pieces can be played. The pupils can be tested by using
the enclosed !BeetQuiz which asks questions based on the information.
The cost is ú25 +VAT from Angelsoft.
7.2
Å    More Naughty Stories Ö The second volume of Sherston Softwareæs
Talking Books entitled öMore Naughty Storiesò is now available for ú9.95
+VAT for individual stories or ú47.75 +VAT for the set of six. The
titles are Bobby the Boastful Bird, Clarence the Clumsy Cat, Derekæs
Dopey Dinosaur, Gordonæs Groovy Granny, Lucy the Little Liar and
Tasminæs Terrible Tantrums. The set of six is ú55 through Archive.
7.2
Å    Morpheus Ö As indicated by the name this is a morphing package,
costing ú34.95 inc VAT from Oregan Software Developments or ú33 through
Archive. Morphing first leapt into public consciousness in the Michael
Jackson video öBlack and Whiteò (although that was certainly not the
first time it was seen). It is a method of changing one image into
another but, unlike a simple fade, more account is made of the contents
of the image through the definition of a grid. The package will work on
256 colour sprites (including 256 shades of grey) or 24-bit clear files
(as produced by Translator), multitasking on the desktop, and supports
Acorn Replay. This will be reviewed next month.
7.2
Å    Nexus Junior Ö An important networking solution for schools, or any
other small installation of Acorn machines has been released by SJ
Research. The package includes four Nexus Junior expansion cards, a
Nexus Junior router, cables and software. It is aimed at locations
where, currently, software is loaded from local hard drives or floppies
but a more centralised system is wanted. Up to four machines, one of
which must have a hard drive can be connected through one router box.
The machine with the hard drive acts as a server, and the hard drive
appears to all machines as if it were resident locally as a read-only
drive. This means that files are protected from accidental deletion, and
only one machine needs to be updated with new software. Any files
produced locally can be saved to floppy to allow pupils to keep their
own work. Currently, there is a special introductory price of ú399 +VAT
for the four-computer pack, or ú599 including a visit to have the system
installed and an on-site training course. (Nexus Junior is also
available through Archive. Please ring for details.)
7.2
Å    Notes Ö Those of you who use sticky notes to keep track of your life
will be pleased to know that, thanks to the Really Good Software
Company, they are now available for your Archimedes. They can be stored
within the Notes application or put on discs as free-standing
applications. As well as being used as a notepad, there is a facility to
attach notes to specific files, causing them to be displayed when the
file is loaded or run. The cost is ú9.95 inclusive from RGSC.
7.2
Å    Observess Ö The first Expert System shell for the Acorn RISC OS
machine. It is fully desktop compatible and incorporates an IF ... THEN
... rule structure with up to three conditions. Support for percentage-
based certainty factors on facts and rules, and single or multiple
recommendations based on the certainty factors. The price is ú20 (no
VAT), or ú2 (refundable on purchase of the full version) for a
demonstration run-time system, from Rebecca Shalfield.
7.2
Å    Pocket Book special SPECIAL offer Ö Having extended the Pocket Book
special offer of ú199.99 up until 31st December, Acorn are now doing a
very special Acorn World 93 price of ú149.95. If you want one at this
price, you have to come to the show Ö we will have them available on the
Norwich Computer Services stand. (It would be worth ringing us to
reserve one as soon as possible. Ed.)
7.2
Å    PowerPad Ö This is a hardware modification which plugs into the
printer port of any Acorn 32-bit machine to give one or two joy-pads.
There are 6 fire buttons and a four-way thumb control pad, and software
is included to enable it to support the Acorn Joystick standard or
emulate keys for those games which do not know about joysticks. The
price is ú29.99 inc VAT for the single pad. The two pad price has not
yet been fixed and can be purchased from GamesWare.
7.2
Å    ProArtisan 2 Ö Clares have now released version 2 of ProArtisan at
ú135 inc VAT. It has a range of new features including texture brushes
(rattan, basket, dimple, slate, stone, canvas, etc) and special effects
such as smudge, dopple (Pointilist technique), smear and diffuse. There
is a special upgrade price from Clares of ú67.50 if you return your copy
of an earlier Artisan program or ú87.50 if you return to them any other
art package costing ú35 or more. The Archive price is ú120.
7.2
Å    Quark Ö A new shoot-em-up game from Oregan Software Developments,
priced at ú24.95 or ú23 through Archive. Features include one or two
players, 16 zones, 8 stereo soundtracks and öslippery smooth scrollingò.
7.2
Å    Revolution Ö Two new CD-ROM drives from Morley Electronics. Both are
compatible with all CD discs for RISC OS and DOS format (the latter
through emulation) as well as Kodak Photo CD. They are also fully
multisession and the cheaper of the two, Revolution, costs ú299 +VAT +
carriage from Morley or ú355 through Archive. If you want data transfer
rates of over 300Kb/s then Revolution Pro is ú439 +VAT + carriage from
Morley or ú510 through Archive.
7.2
Å    Rephorm Ö Another morphing package, this time from Oak Solutions. It
can create Ace film files as used by Projector (which is also supplied)
and Splice which can be used to edit films produced. Other features are
non-linear motion and colour control, options for fades and wipes and
support for 16 and 24-bit images. The price is ú49.95 + ú2 p&p and VAT
or ú56 through Archive.
7.2
Å    Schedule for the Pocket Book Ö Err, yes... it is now actually
available and the special price of ú19 through Archive has been extended
up to the end of December 1993. Sorry for the delay but öthe first ones
produced failed quality controlò.
7.2
Å    Sound Advice Ö The new 24-track sequencer for the Archimedes produced
by The Really Small Software Company was reviewed last month in the
Music Column (7.1 p50). Stewart Watson was obviously quite impressed, so
we have decided to sell it through Archive for ú38.
7.2
Å    Tales of Lore Ö This game, recently released by UK Soft, has already
had a price change, the current RRP is ú24.95 inc VAT.
7.2
Å    The Missing Dinosaur Bone Ö An educational adventure game in which the
children aim to find the stolen exhibit of the title. Language and
mathematical puzzles offer challenges to be overcome, all of which are
based around the Éliving thingsæ theme. Digitised images and sprites are
used to enhance the software. Also included in the package is an
ÉAnimals & Habitatsæ resource disc with sprites of 80 animals and 10
habitats created with !Paint, a teachers guide, a curriculum activity
booklet, user guides and two activity sheets. The cost is ú25 +VAT from
Angelsoft Educational.
7.2
Å    The Tudors Ö This set of two clipart discs contains 50 draw format
files. It covers several aspects of Tudor Life, including monarchs and
people, buildings, furniture, ships, punishment, weapons, musical
instruments. It costs ú15 +VAT from Angelsoft Educational.
7.2
Å    Twilight Ö Recently upgraded by the Really Good Software Company, this
package is designed as an enhanced version of the RISC OS 3 screen
protector. Instead of a blank screen, any of 17 different effects can be
displayed to prevent damage to the monitor screen. As well as activating
after a certain time, blanking can be manually induced, and to restrict
access to your machine while you are away, a password can be entered,
without which the blanker cannot be disengaged. Two versions are
available, a demo for ú5 or the full program for ú14.95 inclusive (the
demo cost is deductible if you decide to upgrade to the full version).
7.2
Å    Xenon 2 Ö Another product released by GamesWare/Eclipse, this shoot-
em-up has had great success on other formats and features a soundtrack
from öBomb the Bassò. The retail price is ú25.99 of ú24 through Archive.
7.2
Å    X-Stitch Designer Ö Version 3 of this package has now been released in
Archimedes format. It has many features including move and copy,
reflection, rotation, half stitch and backstitch. The cost is ú36 inc
VAT from IL-Soft.
7.2

Å    105Mb SyQuest drives Ö Because of larger than expected price drops,
A5000 owners can now have a 105Mb removable drive for under ú400!
SyQuest have just cut the prices of their 105Mb mechanisms with the
result that we can take ú60 off the prices of all our 105Mb drives. The
SCSI external drives are now ú510, the SCSI internal drives are ú430 and
the IDE version is now ú395. These prices include one cartridge plus
cables but the SCSI prices do not include a SCSI interface. (If you
donæt already have a SCSI interface, we recommend the Morley uncached
interface at ú160 through Archive.)
7.3
(I do apologise to those of you who have recently bought these drives
but I did deliberately set the profit margins as low as I dared in
anticipation that the prices might drop Ö but I could not have foreseen
such a large price drop and, in any case, I couldnæt have set a negative
profit margin! Ed.)
7.3
Å    A5000 4Ö8Mb Upgrades Ö You can now upgrade the new 33MHz A5000
computers (ALB32 and ALB35) from 4 to 8Mb. The Archive price is ú470.
They are self-fit upgrades provided you have a little bit of technical
know-how Ö no soldering is involved, just chip extraction and insertion.
7.3
The 4Ö8Mb upgrade is also available for the old 24MHz A5000s (ALB22 and
ALB25) but the computer needs to come back to us for the upgrade to be
done. This is because the MEMC chip has to be removed and a socket
fitting in its place before the upgrade can be inserted. The price,
including two-way carriage is ú545.
7.3
Å    Academy Television CD-ROMs Ö A new series of educational CD-ROMs has
been released, including Science Series I: The Elements (ú130),
Directions 2000: French/íEn Marcha! Spanish (ú140 each, including a
microphone recording system), and the Environment Series I: Water
(ú130). You need to add ú5 p&p to these prices, plus VAT.
7.3
Å    Acorn AKF50 Ö The latest Acorn monitor handles all screen modes up to
SVGA. It has a 0.28mm dot pitch tube and is built in the UK by
Microvitec PLC. When purchased separately, the price is ú374, and if
purchased with a computer (in place of an AKF18) a surcharge of ú75 is
made. (More details are given at the end of Stuart Bellæs article about
monitors on pages 9Ö12.)
7.3
Å    Acornæs Education Cash-back offer Ö Until 24th December, Acorn are
making a ú100 cash-back offer on sales of the new 33MHz A5000 computers
to educational establishments. Schools and colleges can buy any number
of A5000s and, after the purchase is complete, Acorn will send schools a
cheque for ú100 for each A5000 computer purchased.
7.3
Å    Anglia Television CD-ROMs Ö Five more educational CD-ROMs are
currently available from Anglia TV. ÉUnderstanding the Bodyæ and
ÉCastlesæ (ú40 each) are self-contained library discs including stills,
video sequences, vector graphics animations and text written for the 11-
14 age group. ÉCountries of the Worldæ and ÉCounties of Britainæ (ú40
each) are for use with Angliaæs Key system Ö Key Plus, Key Note or Key
Calc can be used. Finally, É19th Century Biographiesæ (ú25) is the first
Key Plus datafile to be released on CD and features over 250
biographies. Discounts are offered for multiple purchases, and site
licences are available.
7.3
Å    ARM3 special price Ö We have got hold of some ARM3s without fpa socket
and are selling them off (öwhile stocks lastò, as they say) at ú145
instead of ú185 inclusive. Ring the Norwich Computer Services office if
you are interested Ö please donæt just send in a cheque as there are
only a few available Ö ring first and we will put one aside if they are
still available.
7.3
Å    Armlock is a RISCáOS software-only utility that prevents unauthorised
access to CMOS RAM or designated files/directories on the hard disc. The
CMOS settings are protected by password so that only the system manager
can make amendments.
7.3
The hard disc is also password protected although, unlike other security
systems, the hard disc does not have to be partitioned into read-only
and writeable areas. File attributes are utilised to grant or revoke
access to files or directories for public users. ÉExecute-onlyæ allows
users to run applications but not to copy them, thus effectively
preventing software theft.
7.3
Armlock also provides a facility to back-up the protected areas in a
compressed form to a series of floppy discs, (or other transfer medium),
thus allowing identical Armlock hard disc configurations to be created
on further machines.
7.3
Armlock costs ú35 +VAT single user or ú135 +VAT for a ten-user licence
pack from Digital Services or ú38 and ú145 respectively through Archive.
7.3
Å    AudioWorks Ö One of the Computer Conceptsæ products released at Acorn
World 93 was AudioWorks. It can handle a variety of sound files
(MicroSoft WAVe, Armadeus, DataVox, SoundTracker and RawData formats)
for playback from the standard Archimedes speaker, or advanced audio
boards like CCæs own Lark, which can also record samples.
7.3
8 bit, 12 bit, 16 bit, linear signed, linear unsigned, VIDC logarithmic,
m-law logarithmic, mono and stereo samples are all supported. There are
several display modes for the waveform display and the sound output can
be shown using the real-time spectrum analyser and oscilloscope
displays. An additional utility for playing back from hard disc in the
background with various effects is also provided. The price is ú49 +VAT
from CC or ú53 through Archive.
7.3
Å    BJC-600 Ö The Canon BJC-600 is the A4 version of the popular BJC-800
colour printer. Four colour CMYK inks are used for the best full
spectrum of colours, including real black, in resolutions up to 360 dpi.
öThe high quality colour results that you can get on plain paper mean
lower running costs than other colour inkjet printers.ò The price ú529 +
ú10 carriage +VAT from CC or ú633 through Archive. (If you get your
calculator out, you will find that there is no discount on the CC price.
This is because CC only give a very small dealer discount so we cannot
offer any discount to subscribers. Sorry.)
7.3
Anyone who saw the output of these new printers at Acorn World 93 will
confirm that they are very impressive, especially when you consider the
pricing compared with other colour printers.
7.3
Å    BJC-600 Turbo Drivers Ö The Computer Concepts range of Turbo Drivers
now includes one for the BJC-600 (currently the only printer driver
available for it!). It is designed to take advantage of the 24-bit
printing which more and more packages are now supporting. The software
requires RISC OS 3.1 or later, and a minimum 4Mb RAM is recommended. The
price is ú49 +VAT from CC or ú53 through Archive.
7.3
Å    Buzz is a new games label Ö actually, it is the budget arm of
Krisalis. They have just re-released some older titles at ú9.99
inclusive each. Titles are Swiv, Revelation, Jahangir Khan Squash, Mad
Professor Mariarti and Manchester United.
7.3
Å    CD-ROM 6 Pack Ö A late release at the show, this CD-ROM drive (a
pioneer DRM-604X) marketed by Computer Concepts, uses Pioneeræs
ÉQuadraspinæ Technology to rotate the disc at four times normal speed,
giving a sustained 614 Kb/second transfer rate. It also has a six-disc
magazine and autochanger allowing it to do the job of six separate
drives. The package includes the drive and controller software. It will
work on any Archimedes with an Acorn-compatible SCSI interface, although
it is aimed at networked schools and high-end professional users. CD-ROM
6 costs ú999 +VAT +carriage from CC or ú1150 inclusive through Archive.
7.3
Å    ColourCard Gold is based on the original Wild Vision/Computer Concepts
ColourCard. It keeps the large screen resolutions and fast redraw
speeds, but now also allows the 32,000 colour screen modes to be used on
the desktop (the 24 bit modes are not (yet?) desktop compatible) at
resolutions of up to 800╫300 or 576╫400. RISC OS 3.1 is needed and users
of older machines (A300/400) should ensure that their machine has a
genlock header fitted. An A3000 version is available, but requires a
special fitting kit so it is important to specify, when you order, which
machine you are using. The new Colourcard Gold costs ú249 (+ú6 carriage)
+ VAT from Wild Vision or Computer Concepts or ú280 inclusive through
Archive.
7.3
Å    Creator II Ö The new version of Alpine Softwareæs arcade game designer
has been released, with many changes, resulting from usersæ feedback. A
tiled mode of operation is now available to create large background
sprites. Square tiles can be used to build up the background. Further
additions make it easier to use and improve the final result. The price
is ú49 +ú1.50 p&p direct from Alpine Software or ú55 through Archive.
Upgrades from any previous version of Creator (1.xx) can be obtained for
ú20 +VAT Ö return both your old Creator discs to Alpine Software.
7.3
Å    Crystal Maze Ö Based on the Chatsworth Television program for Channel
4, this game features a mix of puzzles and action and has been released
exclusively to the Acorn Market. It costs ú39.95 inclusive from Sherston
Software or ú37 through Archive. (See the review on page 47.)
7.3
Å    Dinosaur Discovery Ö This is actually a new version of a game
originally written for the BBC Micro in 1985 by Jacaranda. This new
version is by 4Mation and makes use of the improved graphics facilities
of the Archimedes. The purpose is to follow the notes given in the diary
of a professor to find, and then incubate, a brontosaurus egg. Various
tasks must be completed and problems solved. The single user version is
ú27.50 +VAT (ú30 through Archive) and the site licence is ú64.64 +VAT
(ú70 through Archive). Schools may take advantage of a 28 day trial
period before buying the software from 4Mation. Individuals may obtain a
demo version by sending a blank disc directly to 4Mation.
7.3
Å    Ergo-Keyboards Ö Released by Castle Technology, these keyboards are
compatible with the Acorn keyboard, including the mouse socket and the
reset button. They have industry standard 102 key PC layout and hardware
keyboard mouse emulation. The price is ú99 +carriage+VAT direct from
Castle Technology.
7.3
Å    Eizo F560iW is a 17ö flat-screen monitor (not Trinitron) with a higher
specification than the F550iW. It is quoted as 1280╫1024 and has a dot
pitch of 0.26mm. (The F550iW is 1024╫768 and 0.28mm.) Unless you intend
to get a colourcard, it would probably not be worthwhile getting a 560
instead of a 550 as the extra resolution would hardly be noticeable. (I
havenæt seen them side-by-side so this is based on supposition.) If you
compare the F560iW with the T560iT (Trinitron) then you get a monitor of
comparable resolution for ú270 less (ú1590 cf ú1320) but you donæt get
the better brightness and increased colour saturation of the T560iT.
7.3
Å    Eizo F780iW is a 21ö flat-screen monitor (not Trinitron) with a
somewhat higher specification than the F760iW. It is quoted as 1664╫1200
and has a dot pitch of 0.26mm. (The F760iW is 1280 ╫1024 and 0.31mm.) If
you want the ultimate in monitors for use with a colourcard (or the
ARM700 machine!) then this is it. The Archive price is ú3,300 including
VAT and carriage Ö rather more than the F760iW at ú1,990 Ö but it would
certainly be a öfuture-proofò purchase!
7.3
Å    FireWorkz Ö The integrated spreadsheet, graphing and wordprocessing
package from Colton Software is now available. Effectively, this is a
merging of Resultz and Wordz and the integrated nature has the advantage
that, instead of creating a separate table and including it into the
wordprocessor, the wordprocessor can have Éliveæ data. The wordprocessor
features a style editor, button bar for frequently used functions,
spelling checker (55,000 word) and WYSIWYG display. The spreadsheet can
have background or manual recalculation, includes a custom function
macro language and access to a full range of charts. Import and export
functions include Wordz, Resultz, PipeDream, ASCII text, CSV, Lotus 1-2-
3 and RTF text. The price is ú169 +VAT (ú185 through Archive) but there
is a special launch price (valid to the end of 1993) of ú149 +VAT (ú165
through Archive). Upgrades from Wordz and Resultz are available from
Colton.
7.3
Å    Flossy the Frog is an interactive adventure for under eights, released
at Acorn World 93 by 4Mation. Features include point and click movement
and investigation. Animations are also included and more than one can
occur at a time. It is designed to provide reading opportunities,
although it is not necessary to be able to read to use the software, and
it also teaches simple problem solving. The price is ú24.50 +VAT from
4Mation or ú27 through Archive. Schools can take advantage of the Étry
before you buy schemeæ from 4Mation.
7.3
Å    Haunted House is a desktop adventure game using a similar interface to
ÉThe Wimp Gameæ. This new offering from 4th Dimension sets you
collecting all the antiques from an old house, at the owneræs
instruction, although he declines to come with you. At least 2Mb of RAM
is required and there are enhancements for ARM3 machines. Animations
enhance the game, in which 99.5% of the graphics are scanned. The price
is ú25.95 or ú24 through Archive.
7.3
Å    Home Computer Minefield Ö After a legal challenge by Commodore UK,
Acorn Computers have withdrawn their öHome Computer Minefieldò video.
They will be moving on to the next stage of their free video campaign
which involves a detailed guide for parents on the educational use of
computers.
7.3
Å    Inkmun refills Ö System Insight have released a range of specialist
refill kits for some of the latest inkjet printers, including the CLC10,
BJC800, Epson Stylus 800 and Deskjet 1200. Refills are specifically
designed for each of the printers, the ink being matched to that of the
original cartridge manufacturer, and contained in a concertina-style
bottle eliminating syringes and sharp needles. As well as the Égreenæ
aspect, refilling is Éat least 50%æ cheaper. Prices start at ú14.98
including VAT and first class postage for two complete refills. As a
special offer to Archive readers, System Insight are offering a 10%
discount on any Inkmun Refill Kit on all postal and telephone orders (a
maximum of five kits per customer) if you quote reference öArchive
Magazine RB20ò when ordering.
7.3
Å    Jumble Fun Ö This is a game for pre-school and special needs from
Honormead Software Solutions costing ú15.95 +VAT (including site
licence). It can be used in conjunction with switches or touch window.
Level one is a jigsaw and level two a picture jumble. Additional discs
with further topical jigsaws are available, or pictures can be imported
from Scribble, 1st Paint or scanned/digitised images.
7.3
Å    Medieval and Gothic Fonts Ö This font pack (reviewed in Archive 6.12
p77) from the Datafile has now been updated to include full character
sets, and the quality of drawing has also been improved. The pack
therefore now consists of four discs rather than three. The price
remains the same and existing users can upgrade by sending ú2 to cover
costs. You do not need to return any discs.
7.3
Å    Midi add-on to Acorn I/O podule Ö This module is no longer available.
There are plenty of other Midi interfaces available but users of the I/O
podule will no longer be able to save a podule slot in this way.
7.3
Å    Navigator Ö Topologika have produced a content-free software pack to
develop navigation and mapping skills. Maps can be displayed on screen
and students can navigate around them in various different ways: compass
directions, compass bearings, O.S. references, latitude and longitude,
Éturtlingæ based on turns and moves and vectors (moves relative to your
current position). The pack comes with six ready-to-use activities on
disc, manual and teachersæ notes for ú45 +ú2.50 p&p +VAT or ú52 through
Archive. (N.C. key stages 2 to 4, Geography, Maths and History.)
7.3
Å    Noddyæs Playtime is produced by The Jumping Bean Company. The
materials relate to the National Curriculum in Key Stage 1. English,
Maths and Science are covered with eight special learning programs,
Railway Station (memory game), N & B Works (observational activity),
Chimney House (musical fun), Noahæs Ark (jigsaw puzzle), Farm Yard
(animal matching), Market Place (letter recognition), Post Office
(counting) and Police Station (maze game) which are linked together by a
driving program. Also included is a full art package whose features
include picture colouring, electronic Éfuzzy feltsæ, freehand drawing
with pens, spraycans and fill patterns. The software is RISC OS 3
compatible but 2Mb of memory is required. The site licence cost is ú49
and the single user version is ú25.99.
7.3
Å    Opening Doors on IT Capability Ö This sounds like the title of a book
but actually it is a series of öcomputer-based learning resourcesò from
the Calderdale Curriculum Support Team. The packages are integrated
collections of text and graphics file, tutor notes and student
activities. Packs available so far include Using Objects 1 (KS2/3
History, Technology Ö ú20), Using Pictures 1 (KS2/3 History Ö ú15),
Limestone Scenery (KS3/4 Geography Ö ú40), Impressionism (KS2/3 Art Ö
ú40). The prices include VAT Ö more details from Tim Scratcherd at
Calderdale Curriculum Support Team.
7.3
Å    RISC OS 3 Laser Direct Drivers Ö The long awaited Laser Direct Drivers
are now available from Computer Concepts, giving full compatibility with
the RISC OS 3 !Printers application. Free upgrades are available to
existing LD owners.
7.3
Å    Scribble is an easy-to-use art package aimed at pre-school and special
needs. The program can be tailored to meet the individual needs of the
user. The touch window screen is also supported. Topical support packs
are also available including ÉThe Farmæ, ÉSpaceæ, ÉDinosaursæ,
ÉChristmasæ, and ÉMiscellaneousæ. Pictures can be imported and exported
into other applications. The cost is ú29.95 +VAT from Honormead Software
Solutions and includes a site licence.
7.3
Å    Squirrel 2 Ö Digital Services have announced a major upgrade to their
popular Squirrel database. Squirrel 2 has 38 separate enhancements over
the previous release versions including data compression, the ability to
store sprites, drawfiles and text on the backdrop, spreadsheet format
editing, subset updating and many others. A new graphing module is also
included. The new price is ú139 +VAT or ú150 through Archive.
7.3
Existing users can upgrade to version 2 for ú25 +VAT or ú35 +VAT
including a revised manual. Upgrades are only available from Digital
Services.
7.3
Å    TCP/IP release 2 Ö There is now a new version of TCP/IP which has been
produced to take account of the various new network interface cards
available. The new price is ú399 +VAT or ú420 through Archive. This
price includes a site licence.
7.3
Users of version 1 may upgrade to version 2 by sending a cheque for
ú59.95 (inc VAT) to Acorn Direct Ö or ring 0933Ö279300 for more details.
7.3
Å    WordWorks Ö This package from Computer Concepts is supplied with the
new Impression packages (neither of which is yet available). However, it
is a separate application and has been released on its own to assist
users of all word processors (although it is more integrated with
Impression). It combines the functions of a desktop Thesaurus and a
complete English dictionary with explanations. It is also possible to
use it as an inverted dictionary Ö for example, you could find all words
whose explanation includes the word Éusefulæ. Once a word has been
chosen, it can be transferred to your wordprocessor to save you typing
it again. WordWorks uses licensed thesaurus and dictionary data from
Collins, so you can be sure that the information is up-to-date, accurate
and of the highest quality. The price is ú39 +VAT  from CC or ú43
through Archive.
7.3

Å    A5000 special offer extended Ö Archiveæs öChristmas Special Offerò on
the new A5000s has been extended. Until January 31st, you can buy one of
the new 30MHz A5000s and get a ú100 software voucher to use against any
purchase of software from NCS either at the same time as the computer or
in the future. The 2Mb/HD80 is ú1499 (carriage free) and the 4Mb/HD160
is ú1699. Add ú75 if you want an AKF50 monitor instead of an AKF18.
7.4
(N.B. We have unlimited stocks of these computers Ö well, Acorn have Ö
this is not a pre-ARM700 stock clearance but a sales incentive scheme to
encourage you to buy A5000s because the launch of the ARM700 is looking,
I think, more like 3rd or 4th quarter 1994.)
7.4
Å    (Another) A5000 special offer Ö We have got hold of some more of the
older 25MHz A5000s and are selling them without monitors at ú950 (inc
carriage, cf the Beebug price of ú1008.15). These are 2Mb computers with
80Mb hard drives. We only have a limited number available so please ring
to check stocks before ordering.
7.4
Å    Aggressor Ö Macho Edition Ö This is an upgraded version of the
original shoot æem up game from Matt Black although it is now released
as a budget game at ú14.99 +p&p from Matt Black or ú15 through Archive.
(See the review on page 43.)
7.4
Å    Archive monthly program disc Ö On the disc this month, we have some
extra, useful utilities: !Convert by John Winters converts DOS->text and
Text->DOS, which DOSFS doesnæt do; !OnTime by Mark Godwin allows you to
keep track of how long you have spent on line to a BBS; !OpenDir by Mark
Godwin opens application directories by dragging rather than shift-
double-clicking; !SeraPara, again by Mark Godwin, sends incoming data
from the serial port direct to the parallel port so that, for example,
you can print from the Pocket Book to a printer without disconnecting
the printer from the Archimedes, i.e. you only need an A-Link and not a
Parallel Link as well.
7.4
Also, on the disc, in the Psion3 directory, is a Psion Series 3
Emulator. This is not a RISC OS application, and requires the PC
Emulator or a PC Card and there are certain conditions for its use. It
is a Series 3 Emulator not a Pocket Book emulator, therefore there will
be some differences. The OPL Compiler is included so you can write
software without needing to spend ú65 on the compiler Ö although it
rather defeats the object of it being a portable computer! For what it
is worth, it is there for your use.
7.4
Chris Johnson has sent us the latest version of his application called
!Text>Draw which solves the problem noted by Richard Hallasæ last month
(Archive 7.3 p68) of getting kerned text into Draw.
7.4
Finally, there is an Elite cheat Ö see Hints & Tips on page 50. The
Archive monthly discs cost ú2 each (or ú20 for twelve Ö a full year).
7.4
Å    Birds of War Ö 4th Dimensionæs latest release is a flight simuator for
2Mb Archimedes computers. It provides 192 missions with over 50 aircraft
types. There are 10 Mb of data including 86,000 words of briefing text
for the missions. These are compressed onto six discs but they say an
ARM3 hard drive computer is the ideal configuration. Birds of War costs
ú34.95 from 4th Dimension or ú32 through Archive.
7.4
Å    Bitfolio Cartoon Graphics Ö LOOKSystems have done another conversion
for the Archimedes. This time it consists of 100 full colour cartoon
characters. The 3.2Mb of images are in drawfile format, not scanned as
sprites. LOOKSystems sells them for ú30 inc VAT and the Archive price is
ú28.
7.4
(The fun part about it is that the same collection is available for PC
and Mac users but they have to pay ú60 for exactly the same graphics!!)
7.4
Here are some sample cartoons Ö none of them bear any resemblance to any
member of the Norwich Computer Services staff, especially not the
editor!
7.4
Å    Braille tuition Ö The Dorton IT Support Centre have produced a program
called DotTest for those undertaking the Birmingham braille course but
it is equally suitable for those wishing to practise or improve their
braille. It can be used with the standard keyboard configured by the
program to use the six home keys and the space bar to mimic a braille
keyboard or an adapted Perkins Brailler plugged into a user port. The
program costs ú25 from Dorton IT Centre.
7.4
Å    Chemical Modeller Ö SSERCæs molecular modelling software (version 3.3)
is now öfully mouse compatibleò. It has been improved in many of the
ways suggested by David Kent in his review in Archive 6.4 p55. It costs
ú52.50 +VAT from SSERC.
7.4
Å    DP Font Library Ö Dalmation Publications are selling a set of fonts
(101 in all) at öa price nearly everyone can affordò. The cost is ú19.95
inclusive of p&p from Dalmation Publications.
7.4
Å    EasyFont Ö Fabis Computing have produced a font management system
which allows you to choose a selection of fonts simply by clicking in a
window. EasyFont costs ú25 (+ú1 p&p) +VAT from Fabis Computing.
7.4
Å    Fonts Discs Ö Three discs of display fonts (seven families of fonts on
each disc) are now available from Fabis Computing, each disc costing ú5
+VAT.
7.4
Å    Grannyæs Garden goes European Ö 4Mation have produced some modern
language versions of their popular Grannyæs Garden program. It is now
available in French, German and Italian. Each costs ú24.50 +VAT from
4Mation or ú27 through Archive.
7.4
Å    ImageMaster from David Pilling is a new image processing program
allowing format conversion and image acquisition from scanners via Twain
(see below). ImageMaster reads and writes TIFF, JPEG, PCX, PBM, Clear,
sprite, BMP, GIF and MTV. It can handle images bigger than memory by
using virtual memory techniques. It works with 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 24 and
32-bit per pixel images. ImageMaster has a whole range of facilities for
processing and manipulating images and is supplied with Trace, D2Font
and Snapper (screen capture program). ImageMaster costs ú30 inclusive
from David Pilling or ú28 through Archive.
7.4
Å    Impression II/Publisher special offer Ö Archive are doing a special
offer on Impression II. The normal Archive price is ú180 but öwhile
stocks lastò we are selling them at ú120. If you want to upgrade to
Impression Publisher when it becomes available, the upgrade will cost
just ú29 +ú3 p&p +VAT =ú37.60 from Computer Concepts. The RRP of
Impression Publisher is ú169 +VAT = ú198.58 so by buying a cheap copy of
Impression II you can get a copy of Impression Publisher for ú157.60 Ö
quite a good saving. We only have a limited number of copies at this
price so please do not send a cheque without ringing to reserve a copy
first.
7.4
Å    Lexique / Wortgut Ö These are French to Eng-lish and German to English
dictionaries produced by Fabis Computing. Features include groups and
sub-groups of GCSE topics, search and edit, add your own words, language
lists printed as required. Each dictionary costs ú20 +VAT from Fabis
Computing.
7.4
Å    Night Sky is Clares Microsæ new astronomy program. It allows display
of the night sky at any time from anywhere on earth, gives information
about each star, shows constellation boundaries, sun, moon and planets,
works in real or accelerated time, shows lunar and solar eclipses and
occulations, and deep sky objects can be shown e.g. nebulae, clusters
and galaxies. Night Sky costs ú79.95 inc VAT from Clares or ú74 through
Archive.
7.4
Å    Phaethon Ö A new game from a new software house: System Interrupt.
öDrive your space orb along hazardous terrains at breath-taking
velocity! Take corners and jump gaps at an unwise speed! Employ your
full manual capacity upon the solution of fiendish puzzles! Play the
game!ò, says the System Interrupt press release. Phaethon (apparently
pronounced öfaith-onò) is ú25.95 from System Interrupt or ú24 through
Archive. (Never mind the press release, read the review on page 19 from
which you will gather that Andrew Rawnsley rather likes Phaethon Ö and I
can vouch for the fact that Andrew has no connection, financial or
otherwise, with System Interrupt! Ed.)
7.4
Å    Psion 3A Ö As mentioned last month, we are going to be stocking the
new Psion 3A. The pricing will be ú269 for the 256Kb version and ú329
for the 512Kb. The only problem is that there are only limited supplies.
If you know somewhere that has them in stock then I suggest you buy one
while you have the chance(!) but if not, place an order with us and we
will put you in the queue and hold your cheque until we get supplies.
7.4
Å    Rhapsody 3 is now available. New features include guitar chords, quick
edit panel, hairpins & phrasing, auto bar checking, etc. Stewart Watson
has reported on the extra features in this issue Ö see page 12. Rhapsody
3, which requires 2Mb RAM, costs ú99.95 inc VAT from Clares or ú92
through Archive. There is an upgrade offer from Rhapsody 2 to 3 which
costs ú48 inc VAT from Clares although this offer is limited to 31st
December 1993.
7.4
Å    Scientific Graphics Collection CD-ROM Ö This provides a huge database
of scientific graphics material. It contains all the material from the
15 discs of graphics produced separately by SSERC as well as a Draw
Practical Guide in electronic format. The CD-ROM contains around 9,000
files with a total of 330Mb of data covering chemistry, physics,
biology, technology, IT and computing. It costs ú150 +VAT from SSERC.
7.4
Å    Shareware 21 Ö The Archimedes Image Manager on Shareware 21 has now
been updated to the latest version (AIM3) which includes instant loading
of (grey) sprites, manipulation of selected area, no restriction on
image format, better compliance with RISCáOS, better menu structure,
improved query box and help function, histograms savable as drawfiles.
This is a disc-only version but if you want a version complete with
manual, it is distributed by Lindis International. Shareware 21 is ú2
through Archive.
7.4
Å    Small Ö Another new company on the Archimedes games scene is Virgo
Software. Their first offering is called Small. It is a 3D maze
adventure game in which you have been shrunk to microscopic size and
have to wander the labyrinthine realm of your mind. Small costs ú24.95
from Virgo Software or ú23 through Archive.
7.4
Å    TCP/IP 2 single user Ö Acorn have realised that making TCP/IP 2
available only as a site licence at ú399 was not too user-friendly. They
have therefore decided to make it available with a single-user licence
for ú99 +VAT (ú105 through Archive).
7.4
Å    T-shirts, sweatshirts and mugs Ö If you are interested in putting your
own designs onto T-shirts, sweatshirts and mugs, Tekoa Graphics will
take your designs on Archimedes floppy disc in Artworks, Draw or sprite
format and transfer them to the required medium. Prices depend on
quantity but one-off prices are ú13 for T-shirts, ú16.70 for sweatshirts
and ú6 for mugs dropping to ú6, ú9.70 and ú4 each respectively for 25 or
more. (No VAT as T.G. are not VAT registered.)
7.4
Å    Twain is an image acquisition standard for easy communication between
image capturing devices and software applications. It has been
implemented on Mac and PC and has now been brought to RISCáOS machines
by David Pilling. Basically, Twain does for scanners what RISCáOS
printer drivers do for printers. The only version currently available is
for the HP ScanJet but versions for the Canon scanner (ScanLight
Professional) and the Epson scanners are on their way. The ScanJet
version is ú20 inclusive from David Pilling or ú19 through Archive.
7.4

Å    10 out of 10 French Ö The latest in 4th Dimensionæs 10 out of 10
educational series gives help with learning French. It provides
öchallenges to reinforce facts stated in AT 3 and 4 of the National
Curriculumò. It is aimed mainly at Key Stages 3 and 4 but öthe numerous
parent and teacher customisation options make the software suitable for
all children who are learning the French language.ò 10 out of 10 French
costs ú25.95 inclusive from 4th Dimension or ú24 through Archive.
7.5
Å    10 out of 10 Maths Ö Statistics Ö Another of 4th Dimensionæs 10 out of
10 programs for mathematics is on statistics. It covers ömajor areas of
National Curriculum AT5ò including data handling, probability, charts,
graphs, averages, interpretation, observations, surveys, estimation and
words. 10 out of 10 Maths (Statistics) costs ú25.95 inclusive from 4th
Dimension or ú24 through Archive.
7.5
Å    Another new Acorn monitor Ö Acorn have now discontinued the AKF18 and
are providing instead the AKF52 which should be available by the
beginning of February. They call it a direct replacement although it has
a slightly larger dot pitch Ö 0.42mm cf 0.39mm for the AKF18. (The AKF50
is 0.28mm.) However, it will display all the Acorn screen modes unlike
the AKF30 and 40 which are limited to modes 0-17, 24 and 44-46. The
price is ú299 inc VAT. (Archive price ú300 inc carriage.)
7.5
Å    Archive monthly program disc Ö As well as the support files for the
PipelineZ and Magpie/Genesis Columns the disc contains an index of the
AI CD-ROM as reviewed on page 42.
7.5
Also, Christopher Jarman, a handwriting expert and author of the review
of Letter on page 30 has sent in two fonts that he has produced. He is
happy for them to be used in the public domain and freely distributed.
We have put them on the monthly program disc for you to use.
7.5
This is the Jarman font. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
7.5
This is the Jarman oblique font. The quick brown fox jumped over the
lazy dog.
7.5
This is the Quiltalic font. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy
dog.
7.5
This is the Quiltalic oblique font. The quick brown fox jumped over the
lazy dog.
7.5
Finally, we will put on the disc an update of the ArcScan data for
volumes 6 and 7 (to issue 3) of Archive.
7.5
Å    Audioworks provides a complete suite of sound editing functions in one
application. It is compatible with a whole range of sound files
(MicroSoft WAVe, Armadeus, DataVox, SoundTracker and RawData formats).
In addition to playing back from the standard Archimedes speaker, the
software can sample from and playback to more advanced audio boards,
such as the Eagle MultiMedia card. AudioWorks supports 8 bit, 12 bit, 16
bit, linear signed, linear unsigned, VIDC logarithmic, m-law
logarithmic, mono and stereo samples. Features include: accurate
waveform display with instantaneous zoom; a utility for playing back
from hard disc in the background with various effects; on-screen real-
time spectrum analyser and oscilloscope displays; full background
operation; multiple channel and multiple sample operations. Audioworks
costs ú49 +VAT from Computer Concepts or ú55 through Archive.
7.5
Å    Basic Programmeræs Toolkit Ö Beebug have produced a set of utilities
to aid the process of writing programs in Basic. It includes: program
printer, program formatter, SWI name / number converter, program
analyser, program cruncher, program differentiator, desktop front end
for the Help command, program monitor, procedure library manager and a
library of Basic routines. The Basic Programmeræs Toolkit costs ú15.28
+ú2 p&p +VAT from Risc Developments (ú12.72 +ú2 for Risc User
subscribers).
7.5
Å    Carnage Inc. Ö From the same programmers as Pandoraæs Box comes
Carnage Inc. which is an isometric adventure game. öFrom dazzling fire-
fights to ingenious puzzles, Carnage Inc. will test your reflexes as
well as your mind.ò The price is ú25.95 from The 4th Dimension or ú24
through Archive.
7.5
Å    Colour scanners Ö Irlam Instruments supply a range of colour scanners
for use with Archimedes computers. The software, Proi-Mage (pronounced
Épro-imageæ!) is a desktop application which can be used with a range of
different scanners and supports a wide range of file formats including
industry standard ones. The image is built up on screen as the scan
proceeds and the software multitasks so you can get on with other jobs
while you wait. Sprite output is in monochrome, 16-grey, 256-grey and
256-colour and dithering can be turned off for line art or colour
printing.
7.5
The first scanner supported is the Sharp JX-100 as used in the Risc
Developmentsæ Spectra scanner costing ú549 +VAT (reviewed in Archive
6.11 p62). The Irlam version, including the software, is ú449 +VAT (ú520
inc VAT through Archive). This uses an RS232 serial interface and will
work with all the newer computers: A5000, A3010, A3020 and A4000. If you
have one of the older computers, you need an interface board costing ú69
+VAT (ú80 through Archive) which goes in a standard podule slot. The
scanning area is 100mm ╫ 160mm and it scans at 200 dpi.
7.5
If you want an A4 scanner, there is the Epson GT-6500 at ú875 +VAT
(ú1000 inc VAT through Archive) or the Epson GT-8000 at ú1195 +VAT
(ú1,380 through Archive). As well as having the larger scanning area,
these scanners are faster than the JX-100, partly because they use the
bi-directional parallel port. (Again, older Archimedes computers need
one of the interface boards at ú80 through Archive.) The scanners are
300dpi and 400 dpi, respectively, and have a number of extra features
and options which justify the extra cost. The GT-8000 has a SCSI
interface, so it can be operated at even higher speeds with an
appropriate SCSI interface Ö not all of them work properly with
scanners!
7.5
**STOP PRESS**
7.5
Irlam say they now have a colour hand scanner available Ö we will put
details on the Price List if we can get them in time.
7.5
Å    Cowboys & Indians Ö If you are wanting to make a comic book involving
cowboys and indians then Matt Black have a new clipart pack just for
you. Their Vanguard Graphics Pack 2 (Cowboys and Indians) contains two
discs of coloured drawfiles and a manual giving hints suggesting how you
could create your own comic strips. This pack is aimed at teachers and
parents of 4 Ö 12 years olds and costs ú15 +ú2 p&p from Matt Black.
7.5
Å    DeskEdit 3 Ö Risc Developments have updated DeskEdit again. The price
remains the same at ú31.95 inc VAT or ú30 through Archive. New features
include a 20-entry desktop debugging window, an independent scrolling
window, 20 new invisible markers, a powerful function locator, extended
info on template files, sprites, modules, PCK image files and Basic
programs, an input filter to normalise files coming from foreign
environments and an automatic file backup creator. If you have DeskEdit
1 or 2 and want to upgrade to 3, it will cost you ú9.95 and ú5.88
respectively inc VAT from Risc Developments.
7.5
Å    Desktop Thesaurus new version Ö Risc Developments have expanded their
thesaurus to include antonyms. The new version recognises over 17,450
keywords and contains around 200,000 alternative words. Existing users
may upgrade free-of-charge by returning their original disc with S.A.E.
(or ú2 to cover p&p) to Risc Developments. The price remains at ú19
+ú1.70 p&p +VAT from Risc Developments or ú23 inclusive through Archive.
7.5
Å    Easy C Ö Risc Developments have produced an öeasy-to-useò C
development system. It is a fully RISCáOS compliant application which
provides a WIMP front end for driving the compiler and linker. The
compiler conforms to the latest ANSI standard (although it has not been
validated). It is claimed to be unique in having an integrated ARM
assembler. Easy C is supplied with a library of ANSI functions and
RISCáOS functions. It is compatible with DeskLib, the freeware library,
and it has a library management facility to allow users to create and
maintain their own libraries. Easy C costs ú49 +ú2.70 carriage +VAT from
Risc Developments or ú56 through Archive.
7.5
Å    Explorer is an educational program from Alpine Software which will
help with project work on the solar system and space travel. Aimed at
Key Stages 3 and 4, it costs ú30 +VAT from Alpine Software or ú33
through Archive. For more details, see the review on page 78.
7.5
Å    Grannyæs Garden is now available on CD-ROM! Cumana and 4Mation have
combined to produce this new multimedia version of this popular
educational program. It costs ú29.95 +VAT or ú33 through Archive.
7.5
Å    Heimdall is a Viking adventure game from Krisalis. In this five-disc
game, you follow the Viking warrior Heimdall in his growth from a small
boy to a great warrior. It includes some splendid 3D animations and
realtime combat. Heimdall costs ú29.99 inclusive from Krisalis or ú28
through Archive.
7.5
Å    Kerner Ö Design Concept have produced a utility that can convert your
existing outline fonts to the new RISCáOS 3 format, adding kerning
information. It costs ú15 inclusive from Design Concept. With it, at no
extra cost, they are also supplying Kern-All. The aim of this is to
force all applications, even those which do not currently do so, to use
kerning.
7.5
Å    KleinFS Ö PTW Software are marketing KleinFS, a compression filing
system with many öunique featuresò including the ability to support
networks, allowing users to log-on and log-off. KleinFS costs ú17.95
incVAT from PTW Software.
7.5
Å    Magic Pockets is a scrolling arcade adventure program written by the
Bitmap Brothers and distributed by Renegade at ú25.99 inclusive or ú24
through Archive. It boasts öbonus games, secret rooms, loads of power-
ups, stacks of levels, heaps of weapons and swarms of intelligent
nastiesò.
7.5
Å    Materials, Components & Techniques is the latest in Anglia
Televisionæs series of KEY datafiles. ÉMaterialsæ provides numerical and
textual information about common materials and then the ÉComponentsæ,
ÉToolsæ and ÉJoiningæ datafiles each include a graphic field which
presents a diagram relevant to the record being displayed. Materials,
Components & Techniques costs ú22 +VAT from Anglia Television.
7.5
Å    Mouse-tamer Ö NW SEMERC have produced an aid for younger children or
those with a physical handicap. It is called the SEMERC Mouser and it
allows you to disable any combination of the three mouse buttons thus
simplifying the use of some programs for users with limited motor
control. It also has switch inputs for those for whom even the mouse is
a non-starter. The SEMERC Mouser costs ú47 +ú5 p&p +VAT from NW SEMERC.
7.5
Å    Music Box Ö Topologika have released an educational music program for
primary schools which aims to help the children investigate rhythm,
pitch, harmony and composition. No technical musical skills are needed
but the purpose of the package is to develop transferable musical skills
and it is aimed at AT 1 and 2 at Key Stages 1 and 2 of the National
Curriculum. Music Box is configurable to the needs of the child and
comes complete with a range of support material in printed form and on
disc. Music Box costs ú35 +VAT for a single user licence (ú38 through
Archive) and there are site licences available from Topologika: primary
ú60, secondary ú70 and teacher training licence ú105, all +VAT.
7.5
Å    Sylvia Layne is here at last! The Exotic Adventures of Sylvia Layne
from 4th Dimension is now available for ú25.95 or ú24 through Archive.
It is a scrolling arcade adventure with 50 frame/sec animations and five
layers of vertically scrolling parallax and can be loaded onto hard
disc.
7.5
Å    Talking Rhymes Ö Topologika have produced a set of four nursery rhymes
in both words and pictures which can be set up as jigsaw puzzles for
youngsters to solve. When the jigsaw is complete, the rhyme is spoken
out using digitised speech and a rewarding animation sequence is played.
The complexity of the jigsaws is configurable to suit the age and skill
of the child. The four rhymes are: Humpty Dumpty, Georgie Porgie, Little
Miss Muffet and Little Jack Horner but a further pack of four will be
released later in the year. Talking Rhymes (Pack 1) costs ú40 +VAT for a
single user licence (ú44 through Archive) and there are site licences
available from Topologika: primary ú65, secondary ú75 and teacher
training licence ú110, all +VAT.
7.5
Å    Ultimate Expansion System Ö HCCS now have available a micropodule for
the CC Scanlight 256. It comes in various forms, with and without the
scanner head, as a micropodule on its own or as a Starter Pack including
a multipodule plus PSU and as a combined Starter Pack with either the
Vision colour digitiser or the HiVision colour digitiser. The Archive
prices are as follows:
7.5
ScanLight 256 Micropodule + Scanner Ö ú261
7.5
ScanLight 256 Micropodule only Ö ú114
7.5
ScanLight 256 Starter Pack Ö ú342
7.5
ScanLight 256 + Colour Vision S.P. Ö ú420
7.5
ScanLight 256 + HiVision S.P. Ö ú455
7.5
Å    Wimp Programmeræs Toolkit upgrade Ö Beebug have updated their Wimp
Programmeræs Toolkit to version 3. It now contains fifteen applications
to assist in the developing and debugging of Wimp programs. New features
include Basic procedure and function analyser, wimp poll mask number
generator, program to calculate icon, window and menu flags, Basic
variable lister, pointer icon locator, new template file browser and a
library of wimp applications and procedures. There is also a new 56-page
manual. Prices are ú21.95 inc VAT (or ú7.95 as an upgrade) through
Beebug or ú17.95 and ú4.95 respectively for Risc User subscribers.

Å  Acorn Access is an important new AUN networking product. It is
described as an öentry-level plug and playò networking product. If you
have Acorn computers (RISCáOS 3.1 with 2Mb+) in reasonably close
proximity, you can buy an Access Pack for each one, connect them
together and you will be able to share hard disc and printer facilities
between the computers. Each pack consists of an Ethernet card plus
appropriate drop-leads, T-connectors and thru-connectors to link the
computers together, and the Access software. This allows you to export
hard discs and printers so that they can be accessed by other computers
on the network. It requires no fileserver software or hardware and
therefore has no management overheads Ö no special knowledge is needed
to run it Ö indeed the installation Émanualæ is a single A4 sheet and
the operating instructions are on another A4 sheet. However, you can
link it into an existing Level4 fileserver if you want to do so.
7.6
This is an extremely easy system to set up allowing up to about twenty
machines to be linked together over a distance of up to 185m. Acorn
recommend sharing one hard disc between about five or six machines and
it is possible, say, to share three or four hard discs between fifteen
machines on the same network segment. The hard discs can be shared on
the basis of Éprotectedæ or Éunprotectedæ, i.e. read-only or read/write
so you can prevent things being deleted if you choose! The schools that
have acted as test sites for Access have been extremely pleased with it,
particularly it terms of easy of installation and easy of use.
7.6
We havenæt got any pricing information at present but if it arrives in
time, we will put it in the Membersæ Price List.
7.6
Å  AUN Fileserver Level 4 release 3 is now available. This includes
Application Accelerator (see above) and !Gateway which enables two-way
access between two Ethernet networks of between two different cabling
systems such as Ethernet and Econet. Again, we are still waiting for
confirmation of pricing but I guess that the price will probably stay at
ú399 +VAT or ú430 through Archive. The upgrade for release 1 or 2 to
release 3 is Éhoped to be about ú100æ.
7.6
Å  Application Accelerator is another new AUN networking product from
Acorn. It is an application server which allows applications to be made
available to client machines on a read-only basis about four times as
fast as through the Level 4 Fileserver. However, Accelerator can export
any accessible directory or filing system and is not just limited to a
fileserver. For example, if it is put on an AUN gateway machine, it can
make a shared filing system accessible from both sides of the gateway.
If you have an application server using NFSFiler (from TCP/IP), you can
make this available to clients without them having to use NFSFiler.
Accelerator is compatible with TCP/IP (release 2) and Level 4 Fileserver
(release 3).
7.6
Å  ArcFS2 Ö This is now being distributed by Vertical Twist and the price
has been increased to ú24.99 inc VAT or ú23 through Archive.
7.6
Å  ArcSimp III Ö Mijas Software have now released version 3 of their
RISCáOS compliant electronic simulation package. Its facilities include
digital circuit simulation, analogue circuit simulation, control system
design and mechanical system simulation. It comes in two forms: a
National Curriculum study version at ú55 +VAT (site licence ú150) and a
Professional Design & Research version costing ú105 +VAT (site licence
ú300).
7.6
Å  ArtWorks 1.5 Ö This new version of ArtWorks provides support for 24-
bit sprites. It includes new TIFF file loaders and a fast-load feature.
The price remains at ú169 +VAT from Computer Concepts or ú180 through
Archive.
7.6
Å  ArtWorks 1.5 on CD Ö This includes all of the clipart from the Clipart
CD, the new version of ArtWorks plus all the ArtWorks fonts. The price
remains at ú169 +VAT from Computer Concepts or ú180 through Archive.
7.6
Å  ArtWorks Clipart CD Ö Computer Concepts are selling a CD which
consists of an ArtWorks file viewer plus over 800 ArtWorks example
pictures. It also has a demo version of AudioWorks with example audio
files and dozens of 24-bit photographs. The ArtWorks Clipart CD costs
ú19 from Computer Concepts or ú21 through Archive. (The clipart on this
CD is the same as is included on the CD version of ArtWorks.)
7.6
Å  ArtWorks Made Easy by Ann Rooney is published by Dabs Press. As the
title suggests, this is aimed at the Artworks beginner and takes the
reader step by step through its various features and draws attention to
the principal differences between Artworks and Draw. Artworks Made Easy
costs ú14.95 from Dabs Press or ú15 through Archive inclusive of p&p.
(Books, being heavy are expensive to post.)
7.6
Å  Basic WIMP Programming is a new book by Alan Senior published by Dabs
Press. It enables you to learn how to program the WIMP environment using
Basic. To assist program development, the book gives many example
programs which are designed to be easily adapted and expanded for your
own applications. An extensive library of procedures and functions is
also provided to simplify the program writeræs task. The price of ú16.95
includes a disc of programs, procedures and functions. This is available
through Archive for ú17 inclusive of p&p.
7.6
Å  BearSheet is a ösimple yet sophisticatedò spreadsheet from ERIC
(Education Resources in Computing). It consists of two spreadsheet
programs aimed at different educational levels, does bar and pie charts,
line and scatter graphs and costs ú29.95 inc VAT from ERIC with a
network version at ú59.90 inc VAT.
7.6
Å  BearWords is a wordprocessor/DTP package also from ERIC consisting of
three separate WPs at different levels from elementary to advanced
level. It is also concept keyboard compatible. BearWords costs ú42.95
inc VAT from ERIC and a network version is available from them at ú85.90
inc VAT.
7.6
Å  Bodywise is an animated database of the human body from Sherston
Software. It provides an exploration of the human body for top juniors
and lower secondary pupils Ö just point and click the body-part they
want to know about and watch it work! (The mind boggles! Ed) There is a
setup option which allows teachers to choose which systems are available
to the children and to turn on or off the explanations and animations of
the sexual organs. Bodywise is fully RISCáOS compliant and all
illustrations and text can easily be saved or transferred to other
applications. The package comes with user manual, a booklet of ideas for
classroom use, two sets of Body Search cards and a set of study sheets.
Bodywise costs ú39.95 +VAT from Sherston Software or ú44 through
Archive.
7.6
Å  Brilliant special needs software Ö Brilliant Computing have produced
some more software for special needs children.
7.6
FacePaint allows the children (or you!) to create hundreds of silly
faces with different noses, eyes, ears, hair, hats, etc. Fill in a
Éfeatures chartæ from an eye-witness report and then create your own
identikit picture. FacePaint is ú30 +VAT from Brilliant Computing.
7.6
Look & Listen consists of five mini video games to develop basic road
safety skills. It uses the stereo sound and comes with a free pair of
headphones. It can be used with mouse, keyboard, touch screens or simple
switch. Look & Listen costs ú25 +VAT from Brilliant Computing.
7.6
Sound Stuff consists of five games using a library of 24 sounds and
matching pictures. Find the sound to match the picture, use the stereo
facility to find where the sound is coming from, or play the matching
pairs game. It uses real recorded speech and can be used with mouse or
touch screen and comes with a free pair of headphones. Sound Stuff costs
ú25 +VAT from Brilliant Computing.
7.6
Å  CD-Net is a CD-ROM filing system for AUN. The idea of it is to
overcome some of the limitations imposed by existing hardware and
software. It allows CD-ROMs to be accessed either by special retrieval
software designed for a particular CD-ROM or through a CDFiler. CD-Net
is designed in such a way that, with öappropriate hardwareò, it is even
possible to run Replay movies over the network. CD-ROMs have to be
specifically licensed to be accessed through CD-Net. There are currently
eight titles being licensed but more will be available over the next few
months. A CD-Net Trial Pack costs ú39.95 +VAT from PEP Associates.
7.6
Å  Celtic Clipart disc Ö This includes borders, panels, chains, motifs
and some hints on altering the graphics for your own use. It costs
ú10.99 (no VAT) and is available from: Glyn Howells, Sicar Uchaf,
Brongest, Newcastle Emlyn, Dyfed, SA38 9ET.
7.6
Å  Cistercian Abbeys is a Genesis application that uses graphics, plans,
maps and a database to explore medieval monastic life. Cistercian Abbeys
costs ú45 +VAT from Oak Solutions or ú50 through Archive.
7.6
Å  Clipart & educational resource files Ö a range of clipart and
educational resource files are available from DEC_dATA at prices ranging
from ú3 to ú13 +VAT per set. New ones include Famous Buildings, Hand
Tools and Military Aircraft each ú7.95 +VAT and The Party, Wedding and
Anniversary Collection, a two-disc set at ú14 +VAT. There is also an
Impression Style Resource Disc at ú7.95 +VAT which includes borders,
decorative drawfiles, map of the UK, masks, office symbols and sport
pictures and an Artworks Resource Disc at ú8.95 +VAT which includes
decorative motifs, moulds for the envelope tool, drawings of gears and
stars, moulds for the perspective tool and a good number of sample
files.
7.6
Å  Colour HandáScanner Ö We now have information on Irlamæs hand scanner
as mentioned briefly in Products Available last month. This is an A5
scanner producing 24-bit colour output or 256 grey levels. Resolution is
from 100 to 400 dpi. The scan area is selectable up to just over 4
inches (about 10.5 cm). It has monochrome, 16 grey, 256 grey and 256
colour sprite support. The 24-bit formats include Clear files and
compressed JPEG. Brightness adjustment is done by control on the scan
head and gamma correction and sharpness are adjustable in software. A
version that will work in A3000/3010/3020/4000 machines is in the
pipeline but, at the moment, you need a computer that will take a
standard podules. The Irlam 24-bit Colour HandScanner costs ú359 +VAT
+carriage from Irlam or ú425 through Archive.
7.6
We had a look at this scanner at the BETT Show and it is VERY
impressive. The output has to be seen to be believed. We have put a few
sample scans on this monthæs program disc.
7.6
Å  Colour scanner correction Ö When I mentioned Irlamæs Proi-Mage
software and Epson scanners, I misquoted the scanning resolution. The
Epson GT-6500 (ú1000 inc VAT through Archive) actually scans at
600d.p.i. and is even capable of going to 1200d.p.i. while the Epson GT-
8000 (ú1,380 through Archive) scans at 800d.p.i. and is capable of going
up to 1600d.p.i.!
7.6
Å  Conjugez! Ö This is a software tool from Creative Curriculum Software
for helping you learn French verbs and is applicable right from early
learners of French up to A level and beyond. Conjugez! has 3,500 verbs
built into sets of data files in a range of nine appropriate levels. The
education site licence version also has a utility for adding more verbs
and editing the existing datafiles. Conjugez! is ú24.95 +VAT for a
single user or ú89 +VAT for a site licence from Creative Curriculum
Software.
7.6
Å  Cumana CD-ROM price increases Ö There have been various price rises on
CD-ROMs. The new Archive prices are as follows:
7.6
Creepy Crawlies Ö ú100
7.6
Dictionary of the Living World Ö ú175
7.6
Grooves Ö ú25
7.6
Image Warehouse Ö ú59
7.6
All four of the above Ö ú180£
7.6
Space Encyclopedia Ö ú44
7.6
World of Number
7.6
   Number Games & Short Tasks Ö ú89
7.6
   Perspectives Ö ú89
7.6
   Picture Gallery Ö ú89
7.6
   Who Stole the Decimal Point? Ö ú89
7.6
£Yes, I know thatæs only ú5 more than Dictionary of the Living World on
its own but they say itæs a special offer price, so who are we to argue!
7.6
Å  Cycloids Ö GamesWare have taken over this Software 42 game. The plot
features a unicycle-riding clown whose job it is to save the world! It
features 256-colour cartoon graphics and comical sound effects. Cycloids
costs ú19.99 from Gamesware or ú19 through Archive.
7.6
Å  Desktop Screenturtle Ö Topologika have produced a desktop version of
their easy-to-learn turtle graphics program. It offers a range of Logo
features but always with the aim of making it accessible for the younger
users Ö aimed at 8 to 13+ year olds. The new version has Émany new
featuresæ including a toolbox plus drag and drop loading of screens and
word sets. You can also switch off the need for numbers after commands.
This Éno numbersæ input mode works in conjunction with scaling options
for distance and direction and means that younger children neednæt worry
about numbers bigger than 10. Desktop Screenturtle costs ú45 +VAT or ú49
through Archive. An upgrade from the original version is available at
ú10 +VAT from Topologika.
7.6
Å  DrawPlot upgrade Ö Oak Solutions have upgraded DrawPlot, their HPGL
compatible plotter utility which works, for example, on the Roland CAMM
series. It now supports Graphtec plotters and work is under way on
Plotmate A3M and A4M plotters. DrawPlot allows you, simply and quickly,
to plot, cut or engrave drawings from drawfiles. CAMM1 cutters and CAMM2
millers can be driven in the same way as an HPGL plotter and DrawPlot
can be used, for example, to produce vinyl signs.
7.6
DrawPlot is part of their Draw Print & Plot package, which costs ú30
+VAT from Oak Solutions or ú33 through Archive.
7.6
Å  Eagle M2 Ö The Eagle M2 multimedia card provides 12-bit stereo
sampling and playback at CD rate (44.1kHz), full Midi capability, 24-bit
colour and greyscale still frame digitising, Acorn Replay movie capture
and Eidos real-time movie capture. It has S-VHS and composite video
input, line level audio input and output as well as audio out through
the computer speaker or headphone socket. This is an impressive array of
facilities to have on a single-width podule and the price is impressive
too: ú299 + p&p +VAT (ú358.37) from Wild Vision or ú340 through Archive.
It needs 4Mb and RISCáOS 3.1 and, for Replay movie capture, an A5000 or
A540 with at least 4Mb is recommended.
7.6
David Lenthall has started a series about audio sampling (see page 43) Ö
and he will be mentioning this and other offerings on the Acorn audio
front next month. Ed.
7.6
Å  Exploring Nature is a CD-ROM version of Usborneæs First Book of
Nature. It is targeted at primary and early secondary and aims to keep
up the Usborne tradition of öa very colourful presentation style with
hundreds of beautifully drawn picturesò. The basic approach is to let
children emulate the process of scientific discovery by doing a
simulated field trip on which they ömeasureò such things as temperature
and sunlight, and collect or öphotographò things they find. They can
then study from themed books or look up references in a nature
dictionary. From their collected information, the children can write up
a report or transfer pictures and data to other applications to collate
it further or make a special presentation of their work. Exploring
Nature comes with a teacheræs pack providing explanatory notes, user
guide and National Curriculum linkages. Exploring Nature costs ú120 +VAT
from Hampshire Microtechnology Centre.
7.6
Å  Fortran 77 Ö Intelligent Interfaces distribute a Fortran 77 compiler
and a desktop front-end for Fortran 77. The compiler itself is supplied
with linker, symbolic debugger (ASD) and utility library and costs ú99
+VAT or ú110 through Archive. The front-end, !Fortran77, enables Fortran
programs to be compiled, linked and executed in the RISCáOS desktop
environment. It is supplied with DrawF, Graphics, SpriteOp, Utils and
Wimp libraries and costs ú25 +VAT or ú28 through Archive.
7.6
The compiler was originally distributed by Acorn as the Acornsoft
Fortran 77, release 2, compiler but Intelligent Interfaces have made a
number of changes: the compiler can now be installed anywhere in the
useræs directory structure, the User Guide has been completely re-
written, a Utility Library is included, the symbolic debugger
(previously distributed with the Acorn Software Developeræs Toolbox) is
included with its own user guide, a command to compile and link in a
single operation has been added and instructions on how to use the
linker in Acornæs DDE are given.
7.6
Å  Fonts (low cost) 1 Ö Tekoa Graphics have produced their first pack of
low-cost fonts. They are offering 25 outline fonts for under ú1 a font.
They are suitable for use with RISCáOS 2 and 3 although they do not
contain any auto-kerning data. The fonts (including the number in each
family) are as follows: Academy (2), Bengal (4), Bookmark (4), Chaucer
(medium italic only), Garland (4), Matrix (a fancy font), Moscow (a
Cyrillic font), Optimist (4) and Paladin (4). They are mainly serifed
fonts and are ömostly inspired by (but slightly different from)
industry-standard typefacesò. Fonts Pack One costs ú20 +ú2.75 p&p from
Tekoa Graphics (no VAT as not registered). (See Richard Hallasæ review
next month Ö it wouldnæt fit in this month.)
7.6
Å  Fonts (low cost) 2 Ö The Datafile have renegotiated their licence
agreement with ITC of New York and URW of Hamburg. The result is (a)
lower prices for professional fonts and (b) a Pick æn Mix service so
that you can buy just the fonts you want from a list of 33 families,
totalling 100 weights. The fonts seem to be of very high quality. (See
Richard Hallasæ review next month.) For more details, contact The
Datafile or see the advert on page 20.
7.6
Å  F.R.E.D. Ö The 3D adventure game which was reviewed in Archive 7.1
p24, is now available through Archive at ú19.
7.6
Å  Go-Go! Ö This is a simple turtle graphics program from NW SEMERC for
teaching number, geometry and logic to special needs, primary and
secondary pupils. This is a full RISCáOS multitasking package providing
a range of activities whose simplicity or complexity can be set by the
teacher. It includes a wide variety of ready-made scenes and pointers to
which the pupil must give instructions in order to move it around the
screen to a particular goal. Reward sounds can be programmed to play
when a particular task is completed. A map, ordnance survey symbols and
an on-screen ruler and protractor are provided for taking accurate
measurements. The price of the two-disc set for Go-Go!, including a
curriculum guide with more ideas, is ú40 +ú3 p&p +VAT from NW SEMERC.
7.6
Å  Grannyæs Garden CD-ROM! Cumana and 4Mation have combined to produce a
new multimedia version of this popular educational program. The CD-ROM
version has enhanced graphics so that you can take advantage of higher
screen resolutions if they are available. It also has music and sound
effects together with a narrated introduction to the story by 4Mationæs
own Mike Matson. It costs ú29.95 +VAT or ú33 through Archive.
7.6
Å  Hard drive price drops Ö The prices of Mac hard drives (which work
well on Acorn using most of the SCSI cards currently available) have
dropped recently. The price drops are as follows:
7.6
  170Mb internal ú310 ÖÖ> ú260
7.6
  170Mb external ú440 ÖÖ> ú390
7.6
  525Mb internal ú790 ÖÖ> ú580
7.6
  525Mb external ú910 ÖÖ> ú710
7.6
  1Gb internal ú1040 ÖÖ> ú850
7.6
  1Gb external ú1170 ÖÖ> ú980
7.6
We also have a new drive: a 2Gb external at ú1390.
7.6
Remember though that with Acornæs existing range of Archimedes
computers, the maximum amount of memory that can be handled as a single
logical drive is 512Mb, so the 1Gb would have to be partitioned as two
512Mb drives and the 2Gb drive would take up all four drives possible on
a SCSI interface, leaving no room for a SCSI-type backup device!
7.6
(It would be a reasonable guess that these bigger drives will be more
easily handled on any new range of machines that Acorn might launch in
the future. Ed.)
7.6
A suitable SCSI interface would be a Morley uncached SCSI card (ú160)
for the 170Mb drive and a cached SCSI card (ú220) for the larger drives.
Below about 200Mb, the cache does not make a lot of difference to the
speed.
7.6
Å  Hawk V9 MkII Ö Wild Visionæs Hawk colour digitiser used to be
available in two forms: standard and öhardware ditheredò but the
standard version has now been deleted and the hardware dithered version
has been reduced from ú269 to ú199. This version allows you to have a
live display window in the desktop where the grabbed video picture is
displayed with full dithered colours. It also has a special mono format
useful for preparing material for monochrome DTP work. It comes with
fully RISCáOS compliant software providing an öextensive range of image
scaling and enhancing optionsò allowing sprites produced to be dragged
straight into whatever desktop applications you are using. The price is
now ú199 +ú6 carriage +VAT from Wild Vision or ú229 through Archive.
7.6
Å  Help for dyslexics Ö A new book has been published which has been
sponsored by Acorn Computers and the British Dyslexia Foundation.
Computers and Dyslexia is edited by Dr Chris Singleton and aims to give
an overview of the best in current technology and educational practice
of help to those suffering from dyslexia which apparently affects about
4% of the population. Computers and Dyslexia is published by the
Dyslexia Computer Resource Centre, University of Hull, Hull, HU6 7RX.
200pages, price ú10.95, ISBN 1 898862 00 1.
7.6
Å  High-density floppy disc interface Ö At last, owners of A310/4x0/540
computers can use 1.6Mb floppies and be compatible with the newer
machines. Risc Developments have produced an interface plus software to
allow you to interface to a high-density floppy drive and use F-format
Acorn floppies as well as 1.44Mb and 1.2Mb PC formats. You can buy it
with or without an HD drive unit and it has a set of link jumpers
allowing configuration for operation with a wide range of drive types.
It costs ú119 +VAT for the interface or ú159 +VAT for the interface plus
an HD floppy drive. For A310 to fit one of these drives internally,
there is a special fascia plate costing an extra ú30 +VAT.
7.6
Å  ImageBank from Irlam Instruments is a way of getting 10Mbytes of
colour scans onto a single floppy! It uses standard JPEG image
compression to allow 8-bit and 24-bit images to be archived. One major
advantage of it is that it provides the user with a thumbnail sketch of
each picture in a directory-type display so that you can easily select
the image you want. This can then be decompressed by double-clicking on
it. Images can be exported in JPEG, 24-bit Clear file, 256 colour sprite
or the new 15 and 32-bits per pixel sprites. A cut-down version is also
supplied so that your images can be distributed/sold or shown as
examples to other people. The complete package including the full and
the cut-down versions of ImageBank costs ú25 +VAT from Irlam Instruments
or ú28 through Archive.
7.6
(This monthæs program disc contains some colour scans from Irlamæs new
hand colour scanner presented via the ImageBank reader software.)
7.6
Å  Impression Style is CCæs exciting new WP/DTP package. For ú99 +VAT,
you get facilities which are comparable with Impression II and many of
the facilities are in fact superior to the older (more expensive)
package. We hope to have a review of Impression Style before too long
but suffice it to say that its features include: integrated thesaurus
and dictionary, auto-section and paragraph bulleting, numbering and re-
numbering, full support for 24-bit images, graphics filter with TIFF
loaders, new interactive text ruler system and styles. Impression Style
costs ú107 through Archive.
7.6
Impression upgrades: Impression Junior and Impression II owners can
upgrade to Style for ú29 +VAT through Computer Concepts. Then when
Impression Publisher is released, Impression Style owners and Impression
II owners will be able to upgrade for ú29 +VAT, again through Computer
Concepts. (Many people feel that the extra facilities of Style make it
worth upgrading once from II to Style and then again from Style to
Publisher. Ed.)
7.6
Å  Inkjet Refills Ö For some time now, we have been intending to ögo
greenò(!) by stocking inkjet refills. We have now arranged a deal with
Quill Marketing in Norwich to stock InkMun refills which seem to have a
good reputation for quality and reliability. (However, if you try them,
perhaps you would report back so that we can check that they really are
as good as they seem.)
7.6
The cost savings involved are quite marked. For example, buying HP black
cartridges at ú21 each would give you the same amount of ink as a pack
of two refills costing only ú15. Prices are as follows:
7.6
Hewlett Packard 500/510/500C/550C/310
7.6
(and JP150)
7.6
Black standard Ö 2 refills Ö ú15
7.6
Black high capacity Ö 2 refills Ö ú20
7.6
Cyan standard Ö 2 refills Ö ú15
7.6
Magenta standard Ö 2 refills Ö ú15
7.6
Yellow standard Ö 2 refills Ö ú15
7.6
Triple colour 9 refills (3 each colour) Ö ú30
7.6
Canon BJ10
7.6
Black Ö 2 refills Ö ú15
7.6
Cyan Ö 2 refills Ö ú15
7.6
Magenta Ö 2 refills Ö ú15
7.6
Yellow Ö 2 refills Ö ú15
7.6
Canon BJ200
7.6
Black Ö 2 refills Ö ú15
7.6
Cyan Ö 2 refills Ö ú15
7.6
Magenta Ö 2 refills Ö ú15
7.6
Yellow Ö 2 refills Ö ú15
7.6
Canon BJC600
7.6
Black Ö 3 refills Ö ú15
7.6
Triple colour 9 refills (3 each colour) Ö ú30
7.6
Canon BJC800
7.6
Black Ö 2 refills Ö ú21
7.6
Cyan Ö 2 refills Ö ú21
7.6
Magenta Ö 2 refills Ö ú21
7.6
Yellow Ö 2 refills Ö ú21
7.6
I think these are likely to be the most popular ones which is why we
have been able to work out special prices on them. If you have other
printers for which you want refills, let us know and tell us the sorts
of quantities you are likely to want during the course of a year, say,
and weæll see what we can work out with Quill Marketing.
7.6
Å  IT in the Real World is a Genesis application that looks at the
applications and effects of IT in real life. It is aimed at Key Stage 3
and relates to IT capability levels 3 to 8. The IT in the Real World
pack includes information and worksheets and costs ú30 +VAT from Oak
Solutions or ú33 through Archive.
7.6
Å  Ixion Ö The 3D adventure game (see review on page 32 last month) is
now available through Archive at ú19.
7.6
Å  Keyboards Ö If your keyboard is beginning to get a bit unreliable or
if you just want something of better quality (and cheaper!) than the
Acorn replacement keyboards then Castle Technologyæs Ergo-Keyboards seem
a good bet (see Brian Cowanæs review on page 49). These keyboards are
compatible with the Acorn keyboard, including the mouse socket and the
reset button. They have industry standard 102 key PC layout and hardware
keyboard mouse emulation. (We also suspect that any new Acorn computers
will have standard PC keyboards, so you can get used to the slightly
different PC layout ready for the new machines!) The price is ú99 + ú10
carriage +VAT (ú128.08) direct from Castle Technology or ú120 through
Archive.
7.6
(Because Brianæs review was so positive, we reckoned there would be a
good number of people wanting to try these new keyboards so we have
arranged a special bulk purchase with Castle Technology and can offer
them at the introductory price of ú105 inclusive Ö 18% discount. To take
advantage of this special price, please place your order a.s.a.p.
Thanks.)
7.6
Å  Keyboards for A3000 Ö If your A3000 keyboard is beginning to get a bit
unreliable Castle Technologyæs Ergo-Keyboards can now be attached to an
A3000. The price of the A3000 Ergo-Keyboard, including interface, is
ú129 + ú10 carriage +VAT (ú163.33) direct from Castle Technology or ú155
through Archive.
7.6
(We have arranged a bulk purchase of these keyboards and can offer them
at the introductory price of ú135 inclusive Ö 18% discount. To take
advantage of this special price, please place your order a.s.a.p.
Thanks.)
7.6
Å  Langdale is described by Creative Curriculum Software as öa massive
resource of materials to Key Stage 3 geographyò. It provides OS maps,
diagrams, aerial and ground photographs, data, statistics, charts and
sounds all relating to Langdale in the Lake District. It consists of
eight applications on CD-ROM for ú149 +VAT including a site licence. Two
of the applications, Stickle Project and River Project are available as
separate stand-alone applications on disc for ú89 +VAT each for those
not having access to CD-ROM. Each price includes manual and teaching
materials as well as the CD-ROM or discs.
7.6
Å  Laser printers Ö At the suggestion of Andrew Rawnsley last month (page
23) we have worked out a Écheapæ alternative to Laser Direct HiRes 4
(Archive price ú925). If you get a Écheapæ Laserjet-compatible laser
printer and buy the CC HP TurboDriver (ú53 through Archive) you donæt
need to pay as much as ú925. It wonæt be as fast but if you want the
quality of output that a laser offers, itæs a way of doing so for a
lower price. You can, of course, get a copy of Computer Shopper, or
whatever, and find the cheapest Laserjet-compatible available but if you
want a Égood nameæ printer to get the reliability then we would be happy
to supply either the Epson EPL-5000 at ú630 (ú680 with TurboDriver) or
the Panasonic KX-P4410 at ú560 (ú610 with TurboDriver). These prices are
inclusive of VAT and carriage. They both have 0.5Mb RAM (expandable),
will cope with envelopes and thin card and have paper trays taking 150
and 100 sheets respectively and run at 6ppm and 5ppm respectively.
7.6
(Readers have suggested other laser printers that they have used: Dave
Walsh uses an Oki400e and, with only 0.5Mb RAM, it seems to cope with
all but the most complex drawfiles. It has a straight paper path to take
heavier paper and envelopes, gives good quality output and is reasonably
cheap to run.)
7.6
Å  Lemmings II Ö The Tribes Ö Krisalisæ latest Lemmings extravaganza is
now available. It is truly amazing what they can get those tiny little
animals to do! There is now a huge range of new and exciting Lemmings
types to try out and many new levels to test your ingenuity and stretch
your patience. Lemmings II is ú29.99 from Krisalis or ú28 through
Archive.
7.6
Å  Little Smalltalk Ö A full-blown Smalltalk environment would cost over
ú500 but if you want just to experiment with the concepts of object-
oriented programming, David Pillingæs Little Smalltalk (as mentioned in
Acorn User February 1994) is a good start. Little Smalltalk costs ú5.99
from David Pilling or ú6 through Archive inc p&p.
7.6
Å  Maths Card Ö To help with the teaching of maths at Key Stages 1 & 2,
Creative Curriculum Software have produced Maths Card. Its aim is to
help you produce well laid out maths question sheets quickly and easily
as drawfiles ready for printing. It allows you to set up questions on
addition, subtraction, multiplication and division while controlling
things such as the occurrence of carrying figures, sign left or right,
etc. It also covers decimals, fractions, weight and length, and allows
the use of magic squares using Units to HTU. Maths Card costs ú49 +VAT
from Creative Curriculum Software.
7.6
Å  MidiMax is Wild Visionæs Acorn-compatible Midi card. It has on-board
FIFO buffering to allow reliable operation at maximum data rates. The
standard Midi In, Out and Thru connectors are provided as well as a
second Out connector to ease the interfacing of multiple devices.
MidiMax costs ú69 +p&p +VAT (ú88.12) from Wild Vision or ú83 through
Archive.
7.6
Å  My World 2 + 2 Ö NW SEMERC have produced a large pack of resources
based on their framework package, My World 2. Originally designed with
special needs in mind, My World 2 + 2 can be used by öpeople of all ages
and abilities across many fields of learning and recreationò. It
provides four discs of resources including alphabet jigsaws, an easy
writing screen, sentence building, picture building activities, kitchen
planning, pattern-making from shapes, DIY dinosaurs, solitaire,
draughts, town planning, pattern making, weather maps and charts. My
World 2 + 2 costs ú39 +ú3 p&p +VAT from NW SEMERC.
7.6
Å  Oak Recorder II Ö This product has now been taken over from Oak
Solutions by Solent Computer Products Ltd and sells at ú39.95 +VAT.
7.6
Å  Oak Solutions price drops Ö A large number of Oak Solutionsæ software
products have been reduced in price (since they moved into their new
premises Ö address in Factfile at the back of the magazine). The new
Archive prices are as follows:
7.6
  Arclight Ö ú50
7.6
  Euclid Ö ú55
7.6
  Splice Ö ú33
7.6
  Tween Ö ú33
7.6

7.6
  WorraCAD Ö ú77
7.6
  KiddiCAD Ö ú50
7.6

7.6
  Oak Logic Ö ú77
7.6
  Oak PCB Ö ú77
7.6
  Ancient Egypt Ö ú50
7.6
  Castle Life Ö ú50
7.6
  Saxon Life Ö ú50
7.6
  ClassPrint LD Ö ú77
7.6
  ABC Compiler Ö ú77
7.6
  Cambridge Pascal Ö ú77
7.6
Å  Oxford Reading Tree Stage 2 Talking Stories Ö Sherston Software and
Oxford University Press have combined to produce öan exciting and
motivating way of consolidating vocabulary and learning to read at Stage
2ò. Anyone who has seen Sherstonæs Naughty Stories and More Naughty
Stories will appreciate the value of this team-up with OUP. This pack of
six stories by Roderick Hunt is animated with Alex Brychtaæs
illustrations and Hannah Gordon is the narrator. The cost is ú39.95 +VAT
from Sherston Software or ú44 through Archive.
7.6
Å  PenFriend Ö This is a öpredictive typerò from Design Concept. What
that means is that, as you type, it offers you suggestions of what word
you might be typing. You can then avoid typing the whole word and just
click the mouse or press a function key to select from the list of words
that PenFriend offers you. You can have your own sets of commonly used
words so that it can guess more quickly what word you are typing.
PenFriend costs ú25 +VAT from Design Concept.
7.6
Å  Pocket Book offer extended again Ö Acornæs offer on Pocket Books and
Schedule has been extended again Ö this time to 31st March 1994. The
Pocket Book is therefore still ú200 (instead of ú250) through Archive
and Schedule is ú19 instead of ú49. The Class-pack of 11 Pocket Books
plus an A-Link plus Mains Adaptor is on offer at ú1699.50 +VAT or ú1950
inclusive through Archive.
7.6
Å  Pocket Ethernet Adaptor Ö Atomwide are now offering an Ethernet
adaptor that works on any of the Acorn Computers that have a
bidirectional parallel port (A4, A3010, A3020, A4000, A5000). It is easy
to install and remove and therefore offers a degree of adaptability not
offered by the normal Ethernet podules Ö and, of course, it saves a
podule slot. It is currently only available as a 10base2 interface but a
10baseT version is under development. The Pocket Ethernet Adaptor costs
ú199 +VAT from Atomwide or ú225 through Archive. It is fully IEEE 802.3
compliant, has a 64Kb local buffer memory and offers a transfer rate of
200Kbps peak.
7.6
Å  PocketFS2 Ö The new A-Link software which was reviewed briefly last
month (p71) is now available as an upgrade for existing A-Link owners.
Send ú9.95 (inc VAT & p&p) plus the original A-Link floppy disc to Acorn
Direct in Wellingborough. This offer lasts until the end of April 1994.
7.6
Å  Primary Information Management System (PIMS) is a package produced by
Longman Logotron and Acorn Computers to provide a ready-to-use system
that will handle pupil and staff records, budgeting and accounts,
maintenance, insurance and inventory. It stores individual records
relationally, not hierarchically, giving flexibility in retrieving the
data to put straight into reports such as pupil assessment sheets, class
lists and registers. For those schools already using SIMS (the school
secondary version) all data can be transferred directly into PIMS. The
package includes an A4000 or A5000 computer with SVGA (AKF50) monitor,
inkjet printer, software, hotline support, start-up consumables,
training, delivery, installation and on-site maintenance for an all-
inclusive price starting from ú1,999 +VAT (for the A4000 version) or ú16
a week using the Acorn Options rental scheme.
7.6
Å  PrimeSolver Ö The latest in Minerva Softwareæs öPrimeò series aimed at
education in the primary and lower secondary sector is PrimeSolver. This
is described as öa creative and practical problem solving system for
entertainment purposes whilst being highly educational at the same
timeò. (I had a look at it at BETT and it certainly seemed to be a lot
of fun!) It is basically a way of creating simulations and solving
mechanical puzzles using real-life mechanics of ropes, pulleys, cogs,
engines, pipes, etc. There are almost 60 tools provided to solve various
puzzles, 16 of which are provided with the pack although you can design
your own puzzles with the design mode provided. PrimeSolver costs ú79.95
+VAT from Minerva or ú88 through Archive. There are primary and
secondary site licences available for ú120 and ú320 +VAT from Minerva
Software.
7.6
Å  Pro-Drivers from Oak Solutions Ö Despite what we said last month about
Oak Solutions (Ace) Pro-Printer Drivers no longer being sold (sorry for
the confusion!) they are still very much available. What is more, they
have come down in price making them more competitive than the CC
TurboDrivers. The Ace Pro-Drivers for Canon LBP 4/8, HP compatibles and
Epson ESC-P2 compatibles are now ú35 +VAT each or ú39 through Archive
and if there is an Acorn driver (RISCáOS 3) for your printer then you
can use the Standard Pro-Driver which is only ú15 +VAT or ú17 through
Archive.
7.6
Å  Report Writer from Creative Curriculum Software is a package for the
production of individual reports and assessment sheets using National
Curriculum statements of attainment. It gives easy access to all the
National Curriculum statements which can then be transferred into any
other RISCáOS application. You can add words, phrases and sentences from
within datafiles to produces your reports. A single user version of
Report Writer (for KS 1/2 or KS 3/4) costs ú49 +VAT. You can also buy
upgrade packs to increase the numbers of users and/or get other Key
Stage data discs, manuals, etc Ö contact Creative Curriculum Software
for full details.
7.6
Å  Repro is a professional tool from Oak Solutions which allows the user
to manipulate the exact translation of colours from screen to paper. It
gives complete control over screen size, screen angles, gamma
correction, grey balance and black removal. Multiple palettes can be
defined so that differences caused by various types of printer or paper
can be minimised. You can also use the system to produce special effects
such as tweaking a colour to make it more vivid or enlarge halftones to
show individual colour spots. Repro can also produce colour separations
in various forms. It costs ú50 +VAT from Oak Solutions or ú55 through
Archive.
7.6
(This product only works with Acornæs new RISCáOS printer drivers... but
they arenæt ready yet. Ed.)
7.6
Å  RF design software Ö Steve Hunt has developed a number of applications
which will be of interest to both professional and amateur RF design
engineers. They include a filter designer, a receiver noise figure/
intercept point analysis tool, an inductance Éready-reckoneræ and a
Smith Chart design aid. For more details, contact Steve Hunt at 21 Green
Street, Milton Malsor, Northampton, NN7 3AT (0604-858090 after 7 pm).
7.6
Å  RISCáOS 3 Ö First Steps is another new book by Anne Rooney, again
aimed at the beginner. It replaces, but is considerably bigger (at
around 500 pages long) than, the popular Archimedes First Steps. It
provides an introduction to Acorn RISCáOS 3 computers, dealing with each
topic in considerable depth. It also provides up-to-date information
about developments such as CD-ROM, multimedia and special needs
provision. RISCáOS 3 First Steps costs ú14.95 from Dabs Press or ú15
including p&p through Archive.
7.6
Å  Seelinks are educational packages from ESM. The first, Seelinks Ö
Ourselves, is aimed at children in Key Stages 1 & 2 and provides
material for data handling to enable the children to collect and analyse
data about themselves. This pack costs ú32.50 +VAT (including a site
licence) from ESM or ú36 through Archive.
7.6
The second pack is Seelinks Ö Transport and is aimed at children in Key
Stage 2. It uses the subject of transport to develop skills in the data-
handling area. Transport costs ú39.50 +VAT (including a site licence)
from ESM or ú44 through Archive.
7.6
Å  Sibelius 7 is the much-acclaimed öexpert system for music engravingò.
If you are wanting to produce printed music, it seems that Sibelius 7
has all the facilities you could possibly want. The full package costs
ú760 +VAT but, for non-professional users, there is a special offer
price of ú485 +VAT. We hope to have a review of this amazing package
fairly soon.
7.6
Å  Sibelius 6 is an education version of the full professional music
notation program, Sibelius 7. It has a simplified user interface but it
can still handle complex orchestral scores, all traditional musical
notation and a wide range of contemporary notation, Midi input and
output etc. Sibelius 6 costs ú160 +VAT from Sibelius Software.
7.6
Å  Soundcard Ö This is a 16-bit sound sampling board from Irlam
Instruments. it samples at a wide range of frequencies including CD and
DAT standard. You can record and replay sound directly to and from hard
disc. The Soundcard costs ú299 +VAT from Irlam Instruments or ú330
through Archive.
7.6
(More details will be given about this and the next product in David
Lenthallæs two-part article about digital audio. See page 43.)
7.6
Å  Super Sound Expansion System Ö Expressive Software Products have
produced a podule which provides high quality sound output from the
Archimedes. It contains synthesizer chips with 170 different wavetable
instrument sounds which are sampled from the original instruments. The
output, which is 16-bit CD-quality sound, is fed to an external box
which provides a standard jack output with volume control as well as
Midi, phono and mini-jack outputs. All you then need is your favourite
Midi music package and you are all set to produce CD-quality music.
Super Sound Expansion System costs ú249 +VAT from Expressive Software
Products.
7.6
Å  Talking Computer learning materials Ö Longman Logotron have published
materials to be used with Talking Pendown which are said to make
ölasting improvements in reading, writing and short term memoryò. It has
been tested on 68 children aged between 7 and 14 with serious reading
and memory difficulties and the results obtained were öimpressiveò. The
materials cost ú29 +ú3.53 p&p from Longman Logotron and Talking Pendown
costs ú64 +VAT (or ú69 through Archive) for a single user licence or
ú190 +VAT or ú330 +VAT for a site licence (primary or secondary
respectively).
7.6
Å  The Civil War is the latest in Anglia Televisionæs series of Key Plus
datafiles. It enables students to study the English Civil War of the
17th Century, focussing mainly on events in England and Wales but also
including information and illustrations from Scotland and Ireland. The
datafiles, which are accompanied by a 24-page photocopiable A4 booklet,
include information on 150 battles and skirmishes including information
from the latest research, a Key Plus Map system to help in searching the
data, a case study of the Parliamentary Garrison at Chadfield in
Wiltshire and biographies of many of the principal leaders of the War.
The Civil War Key Plus pack costs ú22 +VAT from Anglia Television.
7.6
Å  Time Detectives Ö The Victorians Ö This is a new adventure-back-in-
time from Sherston Software written by Simon Hosler, author of Crystal
Rain Forest. It begins when three local children mysteriously disappear
in the sleepy seaside town of East Heston and pupils, taking on the role
of a reporter for the local newspaper, are given the task of trying to
track them down. The package focuses on the changes since the Victorian
era in öan original and entertaining wayò. The package includes useræs
manual, a teacheræs book with ideas for classroom use, a catalogue of
Victorian artefacts together with sets of work and information cards to
be used in conjunction with the program. The Victorians costs ú39.95
+VAT from Sherston Software or ú44 through Archive.
7.6
Å  Twain image acquisition software (see Archive 7.4 p4) is now available
for the Canon scanner (ScanLight Professional) and the Epson GT
scanners. They cost ú20 inclusive from David Pilling or ú19 through
Archive.
7.6
Å  Ultimate Expansion CD-ROMs Ö There are now two CD-ROM drives available
that work with the HCCS Ultimate Expansion System. Both are Acorn
Replay, multi-session and PhotoCD compatible. Each includes an interface
in the form of a micropodule for plugging into an Ultimate multipodule.
The single speed drive (150 Kb/s) is ú229 +VAT or ú265 through Archive
and the dual speed drive (300 Kb/s) is ú289 +VAT or ú335 through
Archive.
7.6
Å  Ultimate Expansion System Ö There are also some new (sadly, higher)
prices for HCCS Ultimate Expansion System Starter Packs. We have
therefore changed the Archive prices as follows: The SCSI Starter Pack
has increased to ú114. The HiVision Starter Pack has been withdrawn and
replaced by a Colour Vision Starter Pack at ú182. The Midi + HQ Sound
Sampler Starter Pack has been withdrawn and replaced by a Midi Starter
Pack at ú114.
7.6
Å  XLisp Ö This is a version of Common Lisp with object oriented features
(as mentioned in Acorn User February 1994). It is available from David
Pilling at ú5.99 or ú6 through Archive inc p&p.
7.6
Å  Xword Ö Panda Discsæ crossword puzzle generator/solver program
(reviewed last month on page 59) has had some of Roger Kingæs
suggestions implemented and the price has dropped to ú39.95 inclusive. A
site licence is now ú95.
7.6

Å  A5000 with larger drives Ö The 4Mb A5000 now has a 210Mb drive
instead of a 160Mb drive and the price has not changed Ö still ú1699 inc
VAT.
7.7
Å  Acorn Access Ö The plug-and-go Ethernet system from Acorn, was
described in Archive last month. The prices have now been finalised.
There are three versions: AEH70 for A5000 and older computers that take
standard size podule, AEH71 which is plug-in version for A3020/4000
(i.e. it does not take up the podule slot) and AEH 72 for the A3000
which is an internal mini-podule. They are all the same price Ö ú145
+VAT or ú162 through Archive.
7.7
Å  Acorn Level 4 Fileserver Ö The price of the new version has now been
set at ú399 +VAT or ú430 through Archive. The upgrade from earlier
versions is available from Acorn Direct in Wellingborough for ú99 +VAT
if you send the original disc.
7.7
Å  Advantage is a new spreadsheet for education from Longman Logotron.
It aims to provide, at a budget price, all the key features to perform
straight forward calculations, data analysis and basic charting. Its
range of öintuitive and easy-to-use functions include: advanced point
and click user interface with button chart, formulae produced by typing
= and then clicking and dragging cells as required, print-to-fit
allowing the sheet to be fitted automatically onto the appropriate page
size, display of data as pie, area, column, line and scatter charts.
Advantage costs ú49 +VAT for single user (ú55 through Archive) or ú120
and ú190 for primary and secondary site licences (ú132 and ú207 through
Archive).
7.7
Å  ArcFax 1.10 Ö A new version of ArcFax (original version reviewed in
Archive 6.5 p65) is now (just about) available. Extra features include:
two dimensional data compression (i.e. sends faxes faster); Twain
compliant which allows material to be scanned in directly; supports
class 8 voice modems which allows the computer to act as an answering
machine and a fax switch; it can merge faxes, hold and release, auto-
print, auto-forward faxes; it has log file window, direct send/receive
with call option, caller ID support, call-barring, debug display, auto-
send after time and one call multi-fax capability. ArcFax 1.10 costs ú35
from David Pilling or ú33 through Archive. (David admits that 1.10 is
still not 100% robust, so you may still wish to buy the 1.09 version
which costs on ú22 through Archive and upgrade later through David for
ú12 plus your original disc Ö this includes a new manual.)
7.7
We have at last got round to sorting out a suitable fax modem to sell
through Archive and are stocking (and using!) the World Port 14,400 (see
page 6) so you can now buy a complete system with modem, software and
cable, knowing that they will all work together! Ed.
7.7
Å  Augusta Course Ö A new course is now available for Virtual Golf. 4th
Dimension have released Augusta in which öball flight and performance
are accurately compensated to simulate local atmospheric conditions.ò
This costs ú16.95 from 4th Dimension or ú16 through Archive.
7.7
Å  Bitfolio Graphics Ö LOOKSystems have renegotiated their licence on
Bitfolio Graphics (see the review on page 7) and have reduced the price
from ú30 to ú20 inclusive through Archive. The conclusion to the review
is that they are övery good valueò and that was when the reviewer
thought that the price was ú30!
7.7
Å  BCPL compiler Ö The ARM Club have the source code of a BCPL compiler
that was released into the public domain about 6 months or so ago. This
disc costs ú1 from the ARM Club.
7.7
Å  Canon printer prices down Ö Canon have reduced the prices of their
three mono inkjets. The new Archive prices, with (and without)
TurboDriver, are: BJ10SX ú255 (ú215), BJ200 ú320 (ú280), BJ230 ú390
(ú350). The BJ10SX is the replacement for the BJ10EX. It is faster in
text mode but basically the same as the EX.
7.7
Å  CardShop Ö This is a design application produced by Clares Micro
Supplies and is aimed at younger children. It allows them to design
greetings cards for Christmas, birthday, Easter, Motheræs Day, etc. You
can create and manipulate your card containing both pictures and text,
print out and construct an envelope including a row of Éstampsæ.
CardShop doesnæt generate a single finished product but a series of
items that require cutting out / assembly and possibly colouring Ö this
is to give the children a wider range of associated activities. It comes
complete with a range of images, sprites and borders for you to use.
CardShop costs ú24.95 inclusive from Clares or ú23 through Archive.
7.7
Å  Coloured toner for LBP4/8 Ö We have had requests for colour toner
cartridges for laser printers. We looked into it and although Canon say
they donæt recommend the use of colour toners in mono printers (even
though they do in photocopiers Ö draw your own conclusions!) there is
one supplier in the States who does them. They are not cheap and the UK
importer admits that the colours are limited in range and not wonderful
in quality! All the coloured toner cartridges are ú120 each instead of
around ú80 for black. For the LBP4, the only colour is brown but it is
apparently a good strong colour but for the LBP8 there is Green, Blue,
Red and Brown (of these, the red is said to be the least effective).
Weæll put them on the Archive Membersæ Price List but if we get no
interest this month, we will take them off again. (If anybody does try
them, perhaps they would write and tell us how good they are. Thanks.
Ed.)
7.7
Å  David Pilling software Ö Several items produced by David Pilling are
no longer available and have been removed from the Archive price list.
Also, all the programs that were ú6 have gone up to ú10. Even so, we
still feel that they are very good value for money.
7.7
Å  Design Processor from Oak Solutions is an öintegrated design
environmentò aimed at Key Stages 3 and 4 for öIT Design & Makingò. It
has three distinct levels of entry. The first is a suite of CAD-type
packages and related applications, the second is a Design & Technology
database to inform pupils about components and processes and the third
is a database concept which includes not only components and design
elements but also complete projects. Design Processor currently covers
areas including Food, Electronics, Environments and Packaging but the
cost of a site licence for Design Processor, ú900 +VAT, includes three
yearsæ worth of updates to the system. Payments can be made by
instalments Ö details from Oak Solutions.
7.7
Å  EdScheme Ö Lambda Publications have had to end their offer of a free
copy of the EdScheme software with each copy of the Schemeræs Guide Ö it
was too much of a bargain! However, they are prepared to offer a free
book with each copy of the software. Send them a cheque for ú45 with the
order and your Archive subscription number. This represents a saving of
ú17.50.
7.7
Å  Eizo monitors Ö A new 17ö Eizo monitor, the F552, has appeared as a
replacement for the F550iW. Although it is virtually the same price
(ú1080 through Archive) and has the same display quality, it has several
advantages over the older monitor. On-screen display is used to simplify
the adjustments by providing a menu-driven display complete with help
function. In standby mode, it has a lower power consumption than the
F550. It has a MoirΘ pattern control to reduce the interaction between
the computeræs dot pattern and the monitoræs dot pattern. Finally, it
uses intelligent switching between inputs. This means that you can have
two computers connected to the monitor at the same time and whichever is
providing a signal gets displayed. Eizo also say that it has been
designed for even better reliability than the F550. (I would say thatæs
a bold claim as I have never known an F550 to go wrong! Ed.)
7.7
Å  Ergo Keyboards Ö The special offer we had last month of Ergo
keyboards at ú105 instead of ú120 is continuing for another month
because the volume of orders for them is so high. When the volume of
orders drops, they will have to go back to ú120. The feedback we have
had about them so far has echoed Brian Cowanæs comments last month (page
49). One point to note about these keyboards is that, unlike standard
Acorn keyboards, the Ergos work properly on the A4 portable computers.
7.7
Also, Castle have produced an A3000 adaptor (ú40 +VAT from Castle
Technology) which allows the standard Ergo keyboards to be connected to
the A3000 via the mouse connector. It includes a small circuit board
that has to be fitted inside the A3000 but it needs no soldering.
7.7
Finally, Castle are also now able to supply foreign keyboards for 13
different countries Ö details from Castle Technology.
7.7
Å  Fortran 77 Ö Intelligent Interfaces are now able to distribute
Acornæs !SrcEdit with the Fortran compiler. This means that the
throwback facility will now be available to all purchasers of the
compiler. The Fortran77 compiler costs ú99 +VAT from Intelligent
Interfaces or ú110 through Archive and the desktop front-end,
!Fortran77, costs ú25 +VAT or ú28 through Archive.
7.7
Å  Genesis Project + Genesis Professional Ö These new versions of
Genesis are now available (well they should be, by the time you get this
magazine) from Oak Solutions. Both have been developed to take full
advantage of the colour cards now available and the önewly announced
VIDC chipò. They are based on a 24-bit colour model and can represent
over 16 million colours. Both can deal with a range of data types
including Artworks files, Replay films and even .BMP files from the
Windows environment. There are various other new features which Paul
Hooper will deal with in his column but one of the most important is the
increase in loading speed Ö öup to ten times fasterò.
7.7
Genesis Project costs ú50 +VAT (ú55 through Archive) and Genesis
Professional costs ú120 +VAT (ú132 through Archive). There are upgrades
available through Oak Solutions: Genesis/Genesis Plus to Project ú35
+VAT, Genesis/Genesis Plus to Professional ú90 +VAT and Genesis II to
Professional ú60 +VAT.
7.7
Å  I/O card Ö Intelligent Interfaces have produced a 16-bit I/O card for
the Archimedes. It provides two separate 16-bit input/output ports, each
port being programmable as either input or output, and each with two
handshake lines. More details are given in the review on page 71. The
16-bit I/O card costs ú200 +p&p +VAT from Intelligent Interfaces or ú230
through Archive.
7.7
Å  KernPlus is PTW Softwareæs kerning data editor. It allows you to
generate RISCáOS 3 fonts by providing an automatic algorithm for quick
conversion of old RISCáOS 2 fonts as well as a manual facility for
editing the kerning data. The price is ú15 which includes VAT, site
licence and free upgrades to new versions of the software.
7.7
Å  Landscapes is a PhotoBase CD from Longman Logotron with more than
2000 high quality colour photographic images illustrating aspects of the
natural and man-made environment. The images cover topics including
architecture, economic activity, infrastructure, geography and nature.
Landscapes costs ú49 +VAT or ú54 through Archive.
7.7
Å  Larger Ö This is a pinboard program with lots of extra features
beyond the one supplied with RISCáOS 3. It has a virtual desktop (hence
the name, Larger, I presume) to give you more desktop space, backdrop
organisation and enhanced iconisation controls. It costs ú10 inclusive
from Warm Silence Software and comes with unlimited free upgrades (on
receipt of a disc and SAE each time). Larger will work on a floppy-disc
system but is really intended for use with a hard disc.
7.7
Å  PC card software upgrade Ö Acorn have released PC Card software with
enhancements that now make it easier to run DOS or Windows software
simultaneously with RISC OS. Existing owners of Acorn PC cards and
A4000/PC card systems can obtain the enhanced software free of charge by
returning the original Acorn PC card software disc, and Windows driver
where supplied, along with their name and address in an envelope clearly
marked ÉPC card upgradeæ to: Customer Services, Acorn Computers Ltd,
Acorn House, Vision Park, Histon, Cambridge CB4 4AE.
7.7
Å  PinPoint 2 Ö This new version of Longman Logotronæs well-established
database program now has two new question types, one for holding
pictures or sound data and a calculated field type which allows
questions to be defined which fill themselves in from other information
entered elsewhere on your form. The import of information is öfaster,
easier and more flexibleò. For example, it can import a CSV file and
create a form for you automatically. PinPoint 2 has dispensed with the
graphics analysis workbench Ö instead, all the statistical and graphing
options work directly from the table view. There are more chart types,
together with crosstab analysis and more powerful statistical analysis
tools. Pinpoint 2 costs ú99 +VAT from Longman or ú108 through Archive
for a single user or ú400 +VAT (ú435 through Archive) for a site
licence.
7.7
Å  PinPoint Datafiles Ö Longman Logotron have a series of datafiles for
use in education. They are: Solar System (KS 3/4), Food Glorious Food
(KS 2/3), Junior Olympics (KS 2/3), 1851 Census (KS 3/4), Dinosaurs (KS
2/3), Animal Kingdom (KS 2/3), Second World War (KS 3/4), Kartei
(German) (KS 3/4). Each is ú12 +VAT from Longman Logotron.
7.7
Å  Plot Ö Clares have released what they describe as öthe most flexible
data manipulation and presentation package yetò. It provides a range of
facilities from simple pie and bar charts to illuminated surface plots
and will plot functions as well. For the advanced user, it can do linear
regression, least squares and curve fitting plus calculus operations öat
the click of a mouseò. Features include: scatter graphs, spherical
graphs, cylindrical graphs, surface plots, ternary diagrams; Cartesian,
parametric, polar, Lissajous, 3D Cartesian, cylindrical, spherical and
surface functions; graphs can be merged and intercepts calculated to
solve simultaneous equations; SID file import. Plot costs ú79.95
inclusive from Clares or ú74 through Archive.
7.7
Å  Plotter is a graphic plotting application for the Pocket Book. It
plots mathematical functions such as Cartesian and polar functions,
inequality graphs and coordinate pairs. It can be used in conjunction
with Calc, providing a specialist graphical calculator. It comes on SSD
and costs ú29.95 +VAT or ú34 through Archive. A class pack of 11 copies
costs ú299.50 +VAT or ú335 through Archive.
7.7
Å  Removable drive prices cut (again) Ö The prices of the 105Mb 3╜ö and
the 45Mb 5╝ò removable drives have dropped quite substantially this
month. The A5000 105M SCSI is down to ú390, with the IDE version at
ú360. The external SCSI 105Mb drives are now ú470.
7.7
(I know this is tempting fate, but since I started using the 105Mb
removables in October Ö thatæs five months using them all day, every day
Ö I havenæt had a single data error! Ed)
7.7
The 45Mb (external) drives are down to ú370 and the cartridges to ú70.
7.7
(As a matter of interest, when we first sold the 45Mb removables in
October 1990, they were ú680 Ö and the previous month, one company was
selling them at ú749 +VAT = ú880! Ed.)
7.7
Å  Spooler Ö Clares Micros have produced a desktop print spooler which
allows you to print to disc so that you can continue working as the
printing is done in the background. It will even allow you to start
doing other work while the print-to-disc part of the operation is in
progress. You can queue documents ready for printing and change the
number of copies quite easily. Spooler costs ú15 inc VAT from Clares or
ú14 through Archive. There is a site licence available for ú30 inc VAT
(ú28 through Archive).
7.7
Å  SPOT image data Ö Spacetech are making data available from the SPOT
land-mapping satellite at very low prices Ö to educational
establishments only Ö in the form of a CD-ROM containing 50 images. Some
scenes are full-size (60km square) and down to 10 metre resolution while
others are sub-scenes selected for geographical interest and relevance
to the Geography syllabus. Because some of the images are very large
(50Mb+), SpaceTech have written an application called PDSmap to simplify
the extraction of full-resolution image data or to view the whole image
at reduced resolution. PDSmap costs ú19.50 +VAT and the CD-ROM is
ú139.50 +VAT to education only, i.e. only for non-commercial use. There
are various package prices available from SpaceTech for this and other
data on CD-ROM Ö write to them for full details.
7.7
We asked last month for a replacement for the now discontinued Morley
Teletext adaptor and here it is...
7.7
Å  Teletext expansion card Ö Design IT have just produced TeleView
Hardware, the first Teletext expansion card designed specifically for
the Archimedes. The software provided is a fully RISCáOS compliant
application called !TeleCFax which allows you to select channels, hold
pages or reveal hidden text, etc. Pages can be saved as sprites, BBC
mode 7 screens or as Écleanæ ASCII text where any graphics have been
filtered out. It is also possible to create script files to
automatically download pages and you can even set the computeræs time
via Teletext. !TeleCFax will also correctly display pages received in
foreign languages including German, French and Swedish.
7.7
There are two variants of the card. The first will receive teletext only
and costs ú145 +VAT (or ú165 inclusive through Archive). The second is
ú159 +VAT (or ú180 through Archive) and provides connections for
composite video and sound suitable for Éwalkmanæ headphones. This allows
you to listen to the TV, use a digitiser to grab live images or use the
computer to record TV programmes to a video recorder that will not
normally receive TV signals.
7.7
The TeleView hardware is a half-width card suitable for use in the A310,
A4xx and A5000 computers. A version for the A3000 is also available
although at the time of writing the versions for the A3010, A3020 and
A4000 series are not yet ready. The system is fully compatible with both
RISCáOSá2 and RISCáOSá3. A version of the TeleCFax software for use with
Morley Electronics adapters is also available for ú25 +VAT (ú28 through
Archive).
7.7
Teletext serving for Econet, AUN and Access networks will be available
öin a couple of monthsò.
7.7
Å  WordSquare Ö This program from David Pilling allows word squares to
be solved and generated at random or from a given list of words. It is
supplied with a 200,000 word dictionary. Multiple/user defined
dictionaries can be added and dictionaries can be edited or browsed and
words added. The dictionaries are compatible with Ovation. You can save
the word square as a drawfile and the words as text. WordSquare costs
ú10 inc VAT through Archive.
7.7
Å  World Port 14,400 fax/data modem Ö We are now stocking a fax/data
modem that can provide a öone-stop shopò way into getting fax facilities
on your Archimedes. The WorldPort 14,400 fax/data modem is actually a
pocket-sized modem so you could operate it from batteries and use it
with an A4 Portable but it comes with a mains power pack so you donæt
have to worry about batteries running out in the middle of a long fax!
The modem is compatible with V22 bis, V23, V32, V32 bis, V54, Bell 103,
Bell 212A, MNP and the fax facility is compatible with TIA/EIA-578
(Class 1 Asynchronous), V17, V29, V27 ter and V21. To the average end-
user (like Ed!) this just means that it sends and receives faxes (using
ArcFax ú22 or ArcFax 1.20 ú33 Ö see above) and you can log on to various
bulletin boards at up to 14,400 and down to 1200/75 (V23) with
appropriate software. (I use ArcComm but Hearsay or ArcTerm are equally
suitable.) The complete modem pack costs ú270 through Archive and this
includes two 9V alkaline batteries, fax software and modem software for
using it on an MS-DOS PC and an AT compatible cable. The AT cable is no
good for the Archimedes and the plugs are sealed so you would have
difficulty modifying it. An Archimedes lead costs ú13 through Archive.
7.7
(To be honest, the reason we got going on fax modems is that I have
moved my office upstairs at 96a and was getting very fed up with running
up and down stairs to send faxes so I picked this modem on the basis of
price and features and have been extremely pleased with it. The system
with ArcFax works beautifully in that I send a fax and if the number is
engaged, ArcFax tries again later while I get on with my work Ö it all
happens in the background. Ed.)
7.7

Å  Acorn RiscáPC Ö Details of Acornæs new generation computers are given
in the Special Archive Supplement that you will have received with this
issue of Archive. If you have a friend, colleague, etc who you think
would like to know about this new range of computers (which represents
such a major change in Acornæs philosophy), just phone the Archive
office and give us their name and address and we will be happy to send
them a copy of the Archive Supplement. The sooner people find out about
Acornæs new generation machines, the better.
7.8
öHow can I get a RiscáPC?ò Ö Ah, now you are asking! If you look at the
RiscáPCæs specification, upgradability and price, it doesnæt take much
working out to realise that demand is going to outstrip supply by orders
of magnitude Ö well, it will be unless Acorn have also made a MAJOR
change in their production policy! They will be ramping up production as
fast as possible to cope with demand and they are talking about having a
production capability of öseveral thousand units per monthò but,
realistically, the only thing to do is to choose a supplier (and
hopefully, many of you will choose NCS!) send in a cheque or give us
your credit card number as soon as possible and wait (im)patiently in
the queue.
7.8
Å  Acorn RiscáPC Ö Archive special offer (1) Ö As a special (limited)
offer to Archive subscribers, we are offering a free ARM700 upgrade to
the first purchasers of a RiscáPC from Norwich Computer Services. What
this means is that when we send you the computer, we will enclose a
voucher and will let you know when the ARM700 upgrades become available
(current ETA is Autumn æ94). You will then be able to send your ARM610
processor card back to us with the voucher and we will send you an
ARM700.
7.8
Å  Acorn RiscáPC Ö Archive special offer (2) Ö As an alternative special
(limited) offer to Archive subscribers, we are prepared to supply the
first RiscáPCs on credit card without making our normal 3% service
charge. (We have to pay 5% to Visa!) This means that you can simply
leave your credit card number with us until your place in the queue
comes up. We will then supply the computer and debit your card and you
donæt have to worry about when to transfer money to your current account
from your deposit account (or sell those Acorn shares!), or whatever.
7.8
Å Acorn Risc PC memory upgrades Ö Because the new Risc PC uses standard
SIMM memory packages, we can buy them from Mac or PC suppliers and get a
reasonable price. For example, if you have a 2Mb Risc PC, you can buy a
4Mb SIMM through Archive for ú150 and end up with a 6Mb computer (i.e.
the existing 2Mb SIMM is in one slot and the 4Mb goes in the other). The
8Mb SIMMs are ú300 each, the 16Mb SIMMs are ú640 and the 32Mb SIMMs are
ú1350. We havenæt yet found a supplier of 64Mb or 128Mb SIMMs but we
will in due course! (These are all VAT-inclusive Archive subscriberæs
prices.)
7.8
Å  Ancient Egypt Ö Chalksoft have produced a package designed to help
with National Curriculum in History Key Stage 2. Through journeys back
along a time track, children (aged 7Ö11) visit seven important times/
locations and learn about aspects of life in Ancient Egypt. There are
factfiles at each location, activities to tackle on-screen and a quiz to
test knowledge. The cost is ú25 +VAT from Chalksoft.
7.8
Å  CDFS and PhotoCD upgrade Ö Cumana tell us that the upgrade to their
CD-ROM filing system, that makes it PhotoCD compatible, is now
available. The cost of the upgrade depends on what system you have got,
so the best bet is to contact Cumana who will send you a four-page
leaflet about how to upgrade.
7.8
Å  ClickArt Education Image Pack is the first of a series of licensed
conversions from a leading US company supplying clipart for PC and Mac
markets. For ú65 plus ú2 p&p (no VAT) from Matt Black, you get 2,000
full-colour drawfiles in forty categories from Animals to Zodiac. The
pack includes a printed index and Hugh Eagleæs !PickAPic image-finder
application to aid the location of images.
7.8
Å  Diggers Ö This is a game of cunning, money-making and subterranean
adventure. Diggers has 33 levels to explore, encourages you to break the
Zargon bank and comes with öa sophisticated Zargon Guide Bookò. Diggers
costs ú29.99 from Millennium Interactive Ltd or ú28 through Archive.
7.8
Å  DrawChanger is an application from DEC_dATA which lets you edit the
colour and line attributes of existing drawfiles. You can change a
drawfile to monochrome, to negative, lighten/darken it, tint it,
recolour even a single graduated file, thicken all thin lines, change an
objectæs attributes without going through umpteen menus, create anti-
aliased sprites larger than memory, create thumbnail sprites, etc.
DrawChanger uses an icon-based method of building filters that allow
many other effects to be achieved. The ability to batch-process files
and use the OLE transfer system with Impression Style & Publisher are
also included. The price is ú34 +VAT from DEC_dATA.
7.8
Å  Equate is a mathematical graph-plotting program from PTW Software. It
claims to provide Éevery facility requiredæ at GCSE and A-Level
Mathematics. Its features include: up to 32 equations on each graph,
Cartesian, parametric or polar graphs, auto or manual range setting,
zoom in and out, trace function to obtain coordinates, plot a tangent or
calculate a gradient at any point and an intersect function to find all
possible intersections of two equations. Equate costs ú15 inclusive from
PTW Software and this includes an unlimited site licence.
7.8
Å  Maths Circus from 4Mation is a collection of twelve puzzles, each
with five levels of difficulty, and 24 activity sheets and suggestions
for away-from-the-computer activities. The overall aim is to help
children develop their problem-solving skills and although the problems
are ömathematicalò in that they require reasoning, they are not drill-
and-practice exercises. The level? Well, 4Mation say that the simplest
levels can be used by pre-school children while the hardest may give
even the teachers a difficult time! Maths Circus costs ú27.50 +VAT (ú30
through Archive) for a single user copy or ú55 +VAT (ú60 through
Archive) for a site licence.
7.8
Å  Minerva price drops Ö Minerva software have reduced the prices of
some of their software. Home Accounts is now ú34.95 inc VAT (ú33 through
Archive), Ancestry is ú59.95 inc VAT (ú56 through Archive), Desktop
Office is ú69.95 inc VAT (ú65 through Archive) and Keyboard Trainer is
ú69.95 inc VAT (ú65 through Archive).
7.8
Å  NStore 4.0 is the latest version of HS Softwareæs National Curriculum
record-keeping package. It has been ögreatly enhancedò and updated with
all the SATs from Levels 1 to 10. It now has report-writing facilities
to allow you to comment on a childæs performance under a whole range of
headings. NStore 4.0 costs ú44.95 inc VAT from HS Software, and existing
users can upgrade for ú16.95 inc VAT.
7.8
Å  Payroll Manager v3.0 is now available for the new financial year 94/
95. The upgrade fee is ú25 inclusive but, for recent purchasers, the
upgrade is free. Simply return your disc and a cheque to Silicon Vision.
7.8
Å  PC Card improvements Ö Aleph One have increased the specification AND
reduced the price of their 486 cards for Archimedes computers. The
processors are now 486SLC with clock speeds 25MHz or 50MHz, the memory
is upgradable to 16Mb (initially supplied as 4Mb). The card has an
interface for a Élocalæ IDE drive and an optional very-high-speed serial
I/O chip (16550-compatible) and a second serial port. The card has a
custom ASIC which handles the interface to the Archimedes which
increases the I/O speed and gives very high performance from the 50MHz
cpu chip. The Windows driver software is now included in the price and
supports 800╫600 pixel screens in 16 colours. There is also some network
driver software which has been field-tested on Netware 3.11 and Windows
for Workgroups 3.0. This is available at ú25 +VAT per card with
discounts and site licences for multiple cards Ö details from Aleph One.
If you want to buy your own SIMMs memory (72pin SIMM ╫32 or ╫36, 70nS),
you can buy the board without memory. Prices inc VAT are:
7.8
                                     Aleph One      Archive
7.8
486/50MHz (0Mb)  ú529  ú510
7.8
486/25MHz (0Mb)  ú439  ú420
7.8
486/50MHz (4Mb)  ú719  ú695
7.8
486/25MHz (4Mb)  ú629  ú605
7.8
Å (more) PinPoint Datafiles Ö Longman Logotron have produced some more
datafiles for use in education. They are: The Victorians (KS 2/3),
Festivals (KS 2/3), Diet & Nutrition (KS 3/4) and Far Away Places (KS 3/
4). Each is ú12 +VAT from Longman Logotron.
7.8
Å  RiscView Ö This is a stand-alone template editor for RISC OS
applications based on the S-Base template editor. RiscView comes in two
versions, RiscView which will only load and save standard template files
and is intended as an alternative to !FormEd, and RiscView Professional
which will also load and save a new template format. The Professional
version includes provision for styles which act on icons, so that you
need only change the style, rather than all the icons that use it.
RiscView costs ú9 (ú19 for a site licence) and comes with a textfile
manual while RiscView Professional costs ú29 (ú69 for a site licence)
and includes a printed manual. The upgrade from RiscView to Professional
is ú20 (ú50 if you have a site licence) and a demo disc is available for
ú1. All prices include p&p (no VAT applicable). Orders and cheques
should be sent to Simon Glass, PO Box 834, Landbeach, Cambridge, CB4
4DG.
7.8
Å  Schema 2 Ö The upgraded version of Schema from Clares Micros adds
various new features including: ability to read Advance files and import
SID files, improved memory use and speed, simpler method for applying
effects to the sheet, better date and time handling, improved graphics,
definition of Ébigæ cells for justified text over a number of lines,
live-linked graphs, data transfer through clipboard as in Advance.
Schema 2 costs ú135 inc VAT from Clares or ú125 through Archive.
7.8
Å  Sensible Soccer Ö It is long-awaited, I agree, but at last it is
here. Sensible Soccer offers Cup & League tournaments, 100 European
teams, design your own cup tournament, one or two-player action,
intelligent passing, new season team information, new back-pass rule,
red and yellow cards plus suspension and enhanced goal-keeping. Sensible
Soccer costs ú25.99 from Sensible Software or ú24 through Archive.
7.8
Å  Taxan 1095 price drop Ö The 20ö Trinitron multisync monitor (1095
Plus LR) from Taxan has dropped in price and is now available at ú1995
through Archive. This has a dot pitch of 0.30mm and would be suitable
for the RiscáPC running at 1600╫1200 pixel resolution.
7.8
Å  Technical Clipart Collection Ö PTW Software have produced a clipart
disc for just ú7.50 inclusive which consists of Chemistry clipart,
electronic circuit symbols and PCB symbols.
7.8
Å  The Spoken Word Ö This was published last year by Wyddfa Software but
there are now two Extra Pictures Packs at ú12 each and an Overlay Pack
(for Concept Keyboard use), also at ú12 inclusive. The Spoken Word is an
educational package aimed at National Curriculum AT1 and 21 at Level 1.
It aims to encourage an understanding of the spoken word and to
stimulate an interest in reading. The child can produce bright pictures,
the colours being shown with their written names, and different objects
can be selected from their written names and/or from an outline drawing.
The computer responds aloud by naming both the chosen colour and the
object. The software costs ú22 inclusive from Wyddfa Software.
7.8
Å  TouchWindow from RESOURCE is an input device placed over the video
screen. It has a 1024╫1024 resolution Ö just point at the screen. It has
all sorts of uses, especially in educational applications, providing an
easy way, for example, to interact with multimedia systems. TouchWindow
costs ú279 +VAT from RESOURCE.
7.8
Å WorldPort14.4 fax modem Ö We have found another suitable fax/data
modem which is even cheaper than the portable one we mentioned last
month. It has the same specification except that it doesnæt work from
batteries Ö but it costs ú245 through Archive instead of ú270. Also,
contrary to what I said last month, the cable supplied with the modem
will work on A5000 and later computers although not with pre-A5000
computers (i.e. A540 and A300, A400 series computers). It should work
with a RiscáPC Ö but I havenæt got one yet, so I canæt actually try it!
7.8

Å  10 out of 10 again Ö Two more 10 out of 10 educational packages from
4th Dimension are 10 out of 10 Spelling, aimed at all ages of children,
and 10 out of 10 Dinosaurs. Each costs ú25.95 inclusive from 4th
Dimension or ú24 through Archive.
7.9
Å  105/44/88Mb removable drives price drop Ö Once again, the SyQuest
removable prices are dropping. The new inc VAT prices are as follows:
7.9
105Mb 3╜ö External (SCSI) Ö ú450
7.9
105Mb 3╜ö Internal (SCSI) Ö ú370
7.9
105Mb 3╜ö Internal (IDE) Ö ú340
7.9
88Mb 5╝ö External Ö ú500
7.9
44Mb 5╝ö External Ö ú360
7.9
If you want to fit a 3╜ö removable into a RiscáPC, it will go straight
into the spare 3╜ò bay on the ACB45 but on ACB15 and 25, it will have to
go in the spare 5╝ö bay. (We can supply a fitting kit, costing ú30.)
7.9
The buying price of 105Mb cartridges are fairly constant the 44Mb and
88Mb cartridge prices have risen. However, we have, so far, managed to
maintain the same Archive prices of ú70 a disc for 105/44Mb and ú100 a
disc for 88Mb.
7.9
Å  270Mb removable drives are here at last! Well, at least the SCSI
version is. The prices are very good compared with the 105Mb version:
7.9
270Mb 3╜ö External (SCSI) Ö ú570
7.9
270Mb 3╜ö Internal (SCSI) Ö ú490
7.9
Extra 270Mb 3╜ö cartridges Ö ú90
7.9
With every SyQuest drive that has ever been launched, the prices has
initially been high and has, by stages, dropped to their current, very
reasonable, prices. I have therefore is to set the Archive prices of the
270Mb drives, initially, with an extremely low profit margin. If, as I
suspect, the buying prices drops over the next two or three months, I
will be able to maintain the price setting. If, however, the buying
price does not drop, I will have to put the Archive price back up rather
than down. The aim is to encourage people to buy now rather than waiting
for the price to drop before buying.
7.9
The new high capacity drives are, as expected, even faster than 105Mb
drives although we have only done qualitative tests so far. More
importantly, the 270Mb drives will read and write the 105Mb cartridges.
7.9
We havenæt been able to get the IDE versions yet, but, with the extra
speed of the 270Mb drives, it is probably well worth going for the SCSI
version.
7.9
Å  Acorn Assist Ö There are new conditions for Acornæs scheme for
teachers/students/anybody-with-any-connection-with-education to buy a
computer. There is a points scheme, depending on what you buy, that
allows you Éfreeæ software, there is a referral scheme for when you
persuade a friend to buy an Acorn computer and there are various ways of
paying, as follows:
7.9
1.  Cash/cheque
7.9
2. Credit card (including 3% surcharge as per normal NCS terms)
7.9
3.  0% finance spread over six months, with a 10% deposit
7.9
4.  ú50 a month on any computer system, spread over the appropriate
payment period. Minimum deposit ú50. Repayment period varies, e.g. on 16
months the loan advanced would be ú731.12, 25 months ú1,090.49 loan
advanced, and 36 months ú1,484.95. (ú1,485 is the maximum loan available
by this method.)
7.9
5.  Low cost finance spread over 24 months, with a 10% deposit. 13.75%
APR (1.08% per month), minimum loan ú700. To calculate the monthly
payment you can expect to pay:
7.9
  a) loan advanced = purchase price less deposit ááááá(minimum 10%
deposit)
7.9
  b) loan advanced multiplied by 0.051441 gives áááááyour monthly
repayment rate with PPP ááááá(Payment Protection Plan).
7.9
  c) loan advanced multiplied by 0.047520 gives áááááyour monthly
repayment rate without PPP.
7.9
If you have any queries, or need further information, please call us on
0603-766592 and we will be pleased to help.
7.9
Å  Aleph One PC Cards Ö If you already have an Aleph One PC card, you
can still take advantage of the faster clock-doubled 486 processors.
Upgrades are available from First SMT Ltd, priced as follows. From 386
to 486 is ú107, from a 386 or 486 to the clock-doubled 486 is ú166. If
you have not taken advantage of the Fast PAL announced last year, that
can also be fitted for ú19.50, which includes an upgrade to the Windows
drivers software if you already have it. If you do not have the software
but wish to purchase the latest version, the price is ú29.38. All prices
include VAT and return carriage to a UK mainland address. First SMT can
be contacted on 0462Ö483360.
7.9
Å  Angelsoft have released two applications, Tudor Monarchs and
Beethoven Egmont. Tudor Monarchs is a Magpie browser with information on
topics such as The War of the Roses, Elizabeth I, The Spanish Armada and
William Shakespeare. The package costs ú20 +VAT and includes a site
licence. There is also a companion set of four discs containing 94
drawfiles designed to support a project on the Tudors. This costs ú15
+VAT but if you purchase both the cost will be ú30 +VAT. The second
application is a Genesis browser designed to be used as a resource for
pupils undertaking music at GCSE. The analysis section deals with the
Egmont overture in some detail and there is a large amount of background
information on Beethovenæs life and works. If you have the appropriate
CD and a CD-ROM drive, the musical examples can be played from the CD.
The price is ú25 +VAT.
7.9
Å  AppFS Release 3 Ö The latest version of the network software AppFS is
now available. It is fully compliant with AUN 3 and will work alongside
the Level 4 Fileserver, even on the same machine, and with the Level 4
software in single-tasking mode. Upgrades are available Ö öIf you
ordered AppFS after January 1st 1994, you should either contact
Angelsoft or your supplier for a free upgrade. If you ordered AppFS
before that date, there is a small charge of ú10 to upgrade via
Angelsoft. This charge is purely administrative. We want everyone who
has purchased AppFS to benefit from the improvements. It is quite in
order, therefore, for sites to pass the upgrade on to other sites,
providing of course, they have all purchased a previous release. It is
worth contacting your dealer or local ÉAcorn in Education Centreæ to see
if they have a copy.ò
7.9
Å  Calc Ö This well-established RISCáOS compatible spreadsheet is on
special offer. The normal price is ú25.95 but from 1st May to 1st
September, it is available from Circular Triangles for just ú15. Site
licences are similarly reduced to ú30 and ú40 for educational and non-
educational establishments.
7.9
Å  CCæs CD-ROM Ö Computer Concepts have announced the launch of a baby
brother for their 604X CD-ROM drive Ö the Pioneer DRM 602X, a double
speed six-disc drive which will give a sustained 300 Kb/s. The other key
feature is the built-in six-disc magazine and autochanger Ö in other
words, this drive does the job of six separate CD-ROM drives. With the
number of CD-ROM titles rapidly increasing, the 602X is a simple and
cheap alternative to wasting time swapping discs or buying more drives.
It is ideal for networks, since it allows six discs to be available on
the network from just one drive unit. The DRM-602X is multi-session
PhotoCD compatible and can also play standard audio compact discs. For
added security, the magazine can be locked into the drive. The price
from Computer Concepts is ú499 + carriage +VAT (ú598.07). With single
drives costing ú300 and more, the six-disc capability of the 602X makes
this good value for money.
7.9
The DRM-602X is suitable for any model of Acorn RISC computer with an
Acorn compatible SCSI interface, running the new CDFS 2.2 (upgrades can
be obtained from SCSI board suppliers). The package includes the drive
and CC drivers, full user manual, audio and power cables, DOS/Windows
and Mac drivers and a free copy of Computer Conceptsæ ArtWorks clipart
CD (containing over 700 examples of work created in ArtWorks, dozens of
24bpp photographs, a demo version of AudioWorks and some sample audio
files).
7.9
Å  CD Franτais Ö Oak Solutions have released a new CD-ROM based package
aimed at teaching French in schools. Developed jointly by Oak Solutions
and a team from the EdIT centre in Leeds, the applications includes over
fifty interactive French activities, including a scene at a ferry
terminal where pupils have to identify which vehicle is being requested
to board, and a cafΘ scene where pupils have to provide the correct food
items ordered by customers. It is based around the popular Tricolore
course but has been designed to be used with any course, and can be used
individually or in groups. Originally intended for Key Stages 3 and 4,
CD Franτais can be used successfully at a number of levels. The price is
ú95 including teachersæ notes and site licence.
7.9
Å  Chemistry Set CD-ROM Ö This new CD from Cumana is a library of
chemical experiments and molecular structures. Designed for pupils aged
10+, the focus is on Key Stages 3 and 4, although it is also suitable
for use in higher education, including first year university. It
includes over 350 video clips of key chemical experiments and processes,
and covers periodicity and group properties, competition and replacement
reactions, gas preparations, and test and qualitative analysis. The
effects of heating, distillation, salt preparation, electrolysis and
chromatography are also examined, along with a demonstration of the
effects of radioactive emissions. The package also includes a 500
compound database, over 400 interactive 3D molecular structures, giant
molecules and giant ionic lattices and text covering each elementæs
history, uses, hazards, manufacture and properties. The price is ú99
+VAT
7.9
Å  Claresæ software price drop Ö Clares Micros have dropped the prices
of some of their software. The new (inc VAT) prices and Archive prices
are as follows:
7.9
Serenade  ú99.95  ú93
7.9
Render Bender II   ú49.95  ú47
7.9
Illusionist  ú49.95  ú47
7.9
Titler  ú99.95  ú93
7.9
Knowledge Organiser II  ú79.95  ú74
7.9
Vox Box  ú49.95  ú47
7.9
Fervour  ú19.95  ú19
7.9
Å  Colourfun Ö Smart DTP has produced a collection of pictures for young
children, supplied in Draw format, so that they can be used in many
different ways. Two versions of each picture are supplied Ö an outline
and a coloured version. Colourfun is aimed at use within primary/nursery
schools and for home use. It is available now at ú14.95 inclusive.
7.9
Å  Ethernet interfaces Ö Digital Services have released a new set of
Ethernet interfaces which are available as AUN cards or Access cards,
costing ú139 +VAT or ú149 +VAT respectively, and a bridge card which
will filter traffic and prevent unnecessary data passing between
networks. Since the computer need not be dedicated, it costs
considerably less than specialist hardware. The 10Base2 version is
available, and a 10baseT version is planned. Interfaces are available in
standard 16-bit and 8-bit mini expansion card version, although the
bridge is only available as a standard card. The NetGain client software
is in EPROM on the card, which increases the speed of the network and
places a smaller load on the fileserver. The cards have been tested with
networks which integrate Acorn Level 4, SCO UNIX and Novell 3.11. Using
NFS, Acorn files may be stored on UNIX or Novell servers.
7.9
Å  Easy C Ö Risc Developmentsæ C programming system has been upgraded to
include a source level debugger. It supports source and object level
debugging, stack trace, breakpoints, conditional breakpoints, single-
stepping, variable monitoring, memory editing and profiling amongst
other features. The compiler is driven from a WIMP front end, and
includes a Make facility, throwback support, and integrated assembler.
The cost is now ú59 +ú2.70 carriage +VAT. Existing users can upgrade for
ú10 +ú1.70 carriage +VAT, or users of the C Development System can
upgrade for ú15 +ú2.70 +VAT. To qualify for an upgrade you need to
return your original program disc to Risc Developments with your order.
7.9
Å  Eizo 21ö monitors Ö There are some changes taking place in the Eizo
21ò monitor range. The F760-iW (ú1990) with a 0.31mm dot pitch is going
to be replaced by a 0.28mm dot pitch version at ú2150. So if you want
one of the cheaper ones, ring us to see if we still have any available.
Personally, I think the higher resolution is worth the extra ú160.
7.9
Also, the extra high resolution 21ö (F780iW) with a 0.26mm dot pitch is
coming down in price to ú3000 through Archive.
7.9
Å  Electronic Circuit Development contains over 200 pieces of clipart
for producing schematic diagrams of electronic circuits and PCB layouts.
Smart Graphics 1 costs ú14.95 inclusive from Smart DTP.
7.9
Å  Equate from PTW Software has been designed for use by teachers and
pupils up to GCSE and A-Level. Multiple graph drawing is supported for
comparisons, export facilities (Draw and Paint) and full control over
graph style allow Equate to be used as a teaching aid, or for individual
project work. The price is ú17.95, which includes postage, VAT,
unlimited site licence, upgrade path and technical support.
7.9
Å  Free TV Ö Now hereæs an offer! If you buy an A3010 computer from
Norwich Computer Services (well, from any Acorn dealer actually, but I
hope youæll buy from us!) you can have a Éfreeæ colour TV to go with it.
öThere must be a catch!ò Well, yes, there is, sort of. Having bought the
computer, you get the Éfreeæ TV by taking out a CoverPlus three-year
extended warranty on the TV and paying for delivery by Group4 Security.
So, a Éfreeæ 14ö Sharp Colour TV (rrp ú189.99) with remote control,
Scart socket and cable plus the 3-year warranty will cost you ú89.50 +
ú9.50 +VAT = ú116.33 and a Éfreeæ 20ò Bush Colour TV (rrp ú299.99) with
remote control, Teletext, Nicam stereo, sleep timer, on-screen info,
Scart socket and cable plus the 3-year warranty will cost you ú149.50 +
ú9.50 +VAT = ú186.83. Mind you, if you want a TV and a computer, you
could do worse.
7.9
Å  Genesis Professional Ö The latest update to the Genesis package from
Oak Solutions replaces earlier versions and has many new features. The
menu structure has been simplified. For example, the style of a frame is
now controlled by a dialogue box, enabling all the style settings to
altered at once. Master pages can be set up and stored in a library so
that you can use them later without needing to start from scratch, and
Object Linking and Embedding is supported. More data types are
supported, including ArtWorks, Replay, and Windows .BMP and .WAV files.
There is support for 24-bit colour and for the new deep-colour sprites.
The speed with which pages are loaded has been increased significantly.
The script language has been extended with new keywords, global
variables can be accessed from any page in an application and script
editing can be done easily in Edit via OLE. Many of the features which
were only available in past versions from the script language can also
be accessed with the mouse from the new linking dialogue box.
Applications written on the Archimedes can also be used in Windows, or
on the Apple Macintosh versions, so anyone planning on using Genesis for
commercial purposes would be well-advised to purchase the Software
Developersæ Toolkit which includes Genesis Professional, Genesis for
Windows, Genesis for the Macintosh and the rights to distribute the
Genesis browser runtime system without paying royalties.
7.9
Software Developersæ Toolkit costs ú800 +VAT and Genesis Professional
costs ú120 +VAT (ú130 through Archive) but there are upgrades to
Professional from earlier versions Ö ú60 +VAT from Genesis II and ú90
+VAT from Genesis or Genesis Plus. Until the end of May (which doesnæt
give you long!) Oak are doing a special offer of öupgrade from any
Genesis for ú40 +VATò Ö Hurry, hurry!
7.9
Å  GridPro Ö This is 4Mationæs latest release and it enables you to
produce a variety of grids and patterns very easily. (See examples
overleaf. Why overleaf? If I put the picture on this page, this bit of
text all goes over onto the next page!!!) Itácould have a variety of
uses ranging from Maths investigations in Primary Schools to
professionals who need specialised grid formats. GridPro costs ú37.50
+VAT (ú41 through Archive) for a single user or ú75 +VAT (ú41 through
Archive) for a site licence.
7.9
Å  Hard Disc Companion Ö A new version of Risc Developments Hard Disc
Companion software has been released. It incorporates new restore
facility, which operates like a normal filer displays, allowing single
or multiple files to be retrieved simply by dragging to the required
destination. The software is faster, has support for removable hard
drives and has many other minor improvements. The cost is ú45 +ú2.70
carriage +VAT (or ú52 through Archive). Existing users can upgrade for
ú5 +ú1.70 carriage +VAT, or ú15 +ú2.70 +VAT for owners of version 1. To
upgrade, you should return your original program disc to Risc
Developments.
7.9
Å  Hewlett Packard printers Ö The HP range of printers has changed
again, The Deskjet 520 gives 600 by 300 dpi with HP Resolution
Enhancement Technology, the Deskjet 560C gives the same resolution, in
colour, with both black and colour cartridges loaded at once to remove
the need to switch between them. Prices are ú300 for the 520, and ú560
for the 560C.
7.9
Å  IDE hard disc upgrades for A3010 Ö Castle Technology are now doing
hard drives for A3010 from 30Mb up to 240Mb at prices starting from ú120
+VAT. They also have a 3-day fitting service available for ú20 +VAT.
7.9
Å  Impression Borders Discs Ö Fabis Computing now have four sets of
borders for use with Impression. Impression Borders, Pack One and Pack
Two each contain 120 borders, aimed at more general use. The other two
sets contain 80 specialist borders each and are thematically related Ö
öOld English Tile Designsò and öChinese Lattice Designsò. Each of the
packs costs ú9.99 inc. VAT.
7.9
Å  LandBuild is a 3D fractal landscape program from Software42 now sold
by The ARM Club for ú10 with no VAT because they are not VAT registered.
7.9
Å  Mathematical Adventures Ö Two new products from Sherston Software Ltd
are Space City and Sea Rescue. Space City involves getting a rescue
shuttle to the city but there are likely to be serious consequences.
While playing the game, they will also learn about angles. Sea Rescue
also involves a mission of mercy and aims to teach the players about
fractions. Space City and Sea Rescue cost ú26.95 +VAT each from Sherston
or ú29 through Archive.
7.9
Å  Maths Resources Discs Ö Smart DTP have produced three discs of
resources for educational users. These are images produced by practising
teachers aimed at GCSE, A-Level and Key Stage 1 for discs 1, 2 and 3
respectively. The Maths Resources Discs each cost ú9.95 inclusive from
Smart DTP. This price includes a site licence.
7.9
Å  Number Tiles from Topologika helps implement mathematics across Key
Stages 1 and 2 by developing a combination of skills: visual
discrimination, understanding of number progression and basic
arithmetic, logical thinking and the ability to solve mathematical
problems. Number Tiles costs ú30 +VAT for a single user licence (ú33
through Archive) and there are site licences available from Topologika:
primary ú55 +VAT, secondary ú70 +VAT.
7.9
Å  Photodesk Ö Spacetech have produced a fully-featured art and photo-
retouching application to take advantage of the RiscáPCæs capabilities.
All operations are carried out at Éstudio qualityæ in 24-bit colour
using virtual memory techniques, so that you are not limited to the size
of the computeræs memory for handling very large colour images. Each
painting tool can be used to apply any of the effects so that there is a
huge range of operations that are possible. All the popular image
formats are accepted such as TIFF, clear, sprite, PhotoCD, as well as
drawfiles which can be used as Ésilk screensæ for stencilling and other
effects when loaded into the 256-level mask channel attached to each
photo. Photodesk can be used with Éall current graphics extension
hardwareæ and, of course, uses 24-bit colour if used on the RiscáPC.
Photodesk from Spacetech costs ú169.95 +VAT (ú199.75) or ú185 through
Archive.
7.9
I saw Photodesk being demonstrated at the Harrogate show and it was
quite staggering to see what it could do. Admittedly, I have never seen
the Mac application, Photoshop, and I was told by an editor of one of
the other Acorn magazines that Photodesk Écouldnæt compare with
Photoshopæ. (Spacetech say that Photodesk does É80% of what Photoshop
does but is a lot faster and much more versatileæ.) But you have to
remember that (a) the screen update on the RiscáPC is an order of
magnitude faster than on the Mac version and (b) Photoshop has a list
price of ú725 +VAT Ö although you can get a Éfreeæ copy if you buy a
colour scanner for ú1100 +VAT(!), and (c) according to our local Mac
Centre, the absolute minimum computer configuration that they would
recommend for using Photoshop is a Quadra 650 with 17ö monitor costing
over ú2,200 +VAT Ö more than the top-end RiscáPC with 17ò monitor at
ú2,100 +VAT.
7.9
I do hope Acorn are telling the world about this sort of thing and doing
so quickly because this huge advantage will only last until native Power
Mac versions of this sort of software become available. Mind you, Adobe
are apparently starting again from scratch with the programming of
Photoshop rather than just trying to convert the code across piecemeal
to their RISC processors.
7.9
Å  Pressure sensitive graphics tablet Ö Two professional quality
graphics tablets have been launched for the Acorn Range by Eesox and
Vaughan Allanson, an A5 version and an A4+ (12ö╫12ò). Both of these are
based on Wacom Tablets and use a cordless, batteryless, pressure-
sensitive stylus, and may also be used with a cordless four button
öpuckò. They connect to the Archimedes via the serial port. Being
pressure sensitive adds a new dimension to graphics work. For example, a
spray-can could change density with pressure and a special tool for
ArtWorks is available to produce fluid lines of varying width. The
tablet can, of course, be used to emulate the functionality of the mouse
and so can be used to augment the mouse, or completely replace it. The
prices of currently available (excluding postage and VAT) are A5 tablet
and stylus ú399, A4+ tablet, stylus and puck ú549, ArtWorks pressure
tool ú29. Larger sizes are available on request. For further details,
contact Vaughan Allanson on 0638Ö578597.
7.9
Å  Repro Ö Oak Solutions have produced a package which gives far more
control over colour printouts than previously available. It offers
control over screen size, and angles, gamma correction, grey balance and
black removal. It allows you to edit the palette used by the !Printers
application so that you can match the printout colours to those you get
on screen Ö correct matching for mode 15 (i.e. the default 256 colour
desktop palette) is included. The features can also be extended by
adding libraries of Basic functions to provide alternative routines for
defining dot patterns and colour calibration.
7.9
Å Sibelius 6 is an education version of the full professional music
notation program, Sibelius 7. It has a simplified user interface but it
can still handle complex orchestral scores, all traditional musical
notation and a wide range of contemporary notation, Midi input and
output, etc. It has been updated recently to provide Éblock textæ for
writing extra verses of lyrics, new instruments including brass band
instruments, reorganisation of Étransfersæ with some new ones (e.g.
guitar chords), new options for transposing, alignment of objects into
rows/columns using the ctrl key, new improved version of OpusII music
fonts, faster overview window, improved positioning of slurs and
articulation marks, improved operation with CC TurboDrivers, improved
exporting to ArtWorks. Coming soon are a new, more friendly copy
protection system (without using a key disc) and edition 2 of the
manual. Sibelius 6 costs ú160 +VAT from Sibelius Software and is now
available through Archive for ú175.
7.9
Å  Sibelius 7 Ö the much-acclaimed öexpert system for music engravingò
has been updated. It now has all the new features of Sibelius 6 plus new
instruments, over 180 new symbols, various new lines, enhanced text
styles, many new house-style options, new choice options, Éeraseræ
(white-out box) to assist notating incipits, ossias, presces and
responses and certain modern scores. Coming soon are a new, more
friendly copy protection system (without using a key disc) and edition 3
of the manual. The full package costs ú795 +VAT but, for non-
professional users, there is a special offer price of ú499 +VAT.
Sibelius 7 is now available through Archive for ú545.
7.9
Å  Smart Borders 2 & Smart Borders+ are two packs of special borders for
use with the Impression range of products. Each costs ú14.95 inclusive
from Smart DTP but Smart Borders+ comes either in ArtWorks format or in
drawfile format.
7.9
Å  Smart Graphics Pack 1 is a collection of over 200 drawfiles covering
animals, fun, music, maps & flags, nature, flowers, sport, people and
miscellaneous. Smart Graphics 1 costs ú14.95 inclusive from Smart DTP.
7.9
Å  Smart Resources 2 is a collection of over 300 items of lineart
covering arrows, borders, corners, drop capitals, rules, symbols,
flashes, speech and think bubbles and miscellaneous. Smart Resources 2
costs ú14.95 inclusive from Smart DTP and is available in either
ArtWorks or drawfile format.
7.9
Å  Smart Works is a two-disc set of materials for ArtWorks users. It
provides resources in the form of moulds and paths, a range of example
files, support for the ArtWorks User Manual and extras such as a
keystrip, fact card, font poster, printer test sheet and colour table.
Smart Works costs ú9.95 inclusive from Smart DTP.
7.9
Å  Tele-Card from XOB is a standard Acorn format expansion card which
carries tuning and decoding circuitry to allow the reception of
television signals and display of Teletext pages. As well as delivering
decoded teletext pages directly into the computer, it can supply audio
and video signals suitable for feeding into domestic entertainment
systems, video recorders, video digitisers and many computer monitors.
With a suitable cable and switch, it may be possible to use your
computer monitor as a supplementary television when not being used as a
data display.
7.9
Tele-Card comes with a multi-tasking desktop user interface for the
selection and display of Teletext pages directly off-air. The software
supports Level I Teletext services, the normal domestic standard but,
since some organisations are experimenting with Level II Teletext
services, the hardware is designed to allow for reception of these when
they become available.
7.9
The documentation supplied details the low level calls which allow the
enthusiast or specialist to write their own software to directly talk to
the card.
7.9
Teletext serving software can be purchased as an optional extra to allow
a single computer to serve Teletext to an entire Acorn AUN network. This
is based on our servers currently in use in many institutions with
Morley and Acorn adaptors, but is a modified version to take advantage
of the improved facilities offered by our purpose-designed card.
7.9
Tele-Card with single-user software costs ú144 +VAT, the Network Serving
software costs ú154 +VAT and the Tele-Card with the Network software
purchased together costs ú274 +VAT. (Prices through Archive are: ú165,
ú172 and ú305 respectively.)
7.9
Å  User/Analogue interfaces Ö HCCS have introduced some new cards which
provide user and analogue ports for all Acorn machines. The A3000/4000
type is ú39 +VAT (ú45 through Archive) and the A5000/RiscáPC type is the
same price.
7.9
Å  WimpGEN Ö This is a new application authoring package which allows an
applicationæs user interface to be built up, allowing you to concentrate
on the main application code rather than the interface. The whole
process of windows, dialogue boxes and menu structures can be done
interactively. The price is ú99.95 inc VAT from Silicon Vision.
7.9
Å  Wing chairs Ö The special Ékneelingæ type office chairs we advertised
in Archive 6.12 have been selling steadily ever since. The prices of
most of the Stokke chairs has just gone up but, thankfully, the Wings
have stayed the same price Ö ú320. (Before you say how expensive that
is, please read my Étestimonyæ in 6.12 about how good they are and how
they have helped my bad back Ö which is why I am selling them.) The
colours of material and types of wood keep changing. Currently, we can
get natural beech, rosewood and black frames with material covers in
black, charcoal, grey (darkish), navy, wine (Éplummyæ), red, beige and
brown.
7.9
Å  Worldport 14400 fax/modem Ö Since last month, US Robotics have
dropped the price of their Sportster Fax/modem. The new Archive price is
ú230 including VAT and carriage. (Add ú13 for a modem lead if using pre-
A5000 computers because the supplied lead only works with A5000 and
later computers.) Add ú33 for ArcFax 1.10 and you have a fully working
fax system. (The portable version is still ú270 through Archive.)
7.9
Å  Z88 Link Software Ö The Really Good Software Company have produced a
new piece of software to make the link between a Z88 and an Archimedes
computer much easier. Z-Link II works with RISCáOS 3.1 or later and
costs ú24.95 inclusive from RGSC. They also do a serial cable for a
further ú9 inclusive.
7.9

Å  A5000 is no more Ö Acorn have officially stated that the A5000 is no
longer in production and that they have no stocks left. We have one left
(2Mb/210Mb 33MHz) without monitor for ú990.
7.10
Å  Acorn mice galore Ö We have now managed to buy a total of 250 Acorn
mice at special prices and, öwhile stocks lastò they are available to
Archive subscribers at ú20 each (normal price ú40). This makes them
cheaper than Claresæ mice at ú30 which arenæt as reliable as the
Logitech Acorn mice. Also, since replacement mouse cables are ú11
(Digitech) and ú13 (Logitech) it makes it hardly worthwhile re-tailing
mice!
7.10
Å  Around the World in 80 Days is designed for upper primary school
pupils and will introduce them to a range of geographical skills
including grid references, longitude and time zones, latitude, contours,
bearings etc, all presented within an adventure as wicked Wiley Windbag
tries to thwart the efforts of the global travellers Freddie and Francis
Fogg (Phileas Foggæs children?). Around the World in 80 Days costs
ú39.95 +VAT from Sherston software or ú44 through Archive.
7.10
Å  CDFS-FSCSI upgrade Ö If you upgrade your Acorn SCSI card to CDFS 2.2
by buying the Acorn upgrade, you also now get a copy of PhotoView. This
is an application that allows Kodak PhotoCDs to be viewed and used as a
resource in other applications. The price has risen slightly to reflect
the provision of the new software. It now costs ú41 inclusive through
Archive.
7.10
Å  Graphics Loaders Ö With the greater range of graphics available to
the Acorn machines in different formats, Computer Concepts have released
a disc of graphics loaders. These cover PhotoCD, JPEG, Clear and an
enhanced TIFF loader. The Graphics Loaders disc costs ú39 +VAT from
Computer Concepts or ú43 through Archive.
7.10
Å  Impression Publisher Ö This is now shipping from Computer Concepts
although there is quite a backlog of orders. This new version of
Impression provides a range of new features with the professional user
in mind. Irregular shaped frames will be useful to many users and the
range of controls for colour work will be particularly welcome and
reinforce its position as the leading DTP package for Acorn machines. We
hope to have a review shortly which will give details of the new
facilities. Impression Publisher costs ú169 +VAT or ú180 through
Archive.
7.10
Å  James Pond2+ Ö James Pond 2 has had almost 500 new screens and new
tunes added to become James Pond 2+ ! You can upgrade from Gamesware for
ú7.99 if you send them proof of purchase. The normal retail price
remains at ú25.99 or ú24 through Archive.
7.10
Å  Keystroke version 3 Ö This new version offers much more compatibility
with CCæs products, provides a slow demonstration mode and önumerous
extras that have been added at customersæ requestò. Also, it is fully
RiscáPC-compatible. The upgrade costs ú4.95 inclusive from Quantum
Software.
7.10
Å  Logix is a suite of applications from Silicon Vision, allowing
students to design and simulate logic circuits. Features include
multiple tailored libraries, fully hierarchical operation, custom design
of circuits and casings, built-in LEDs and displays for feedback,
switches and push buttons for logic input, drawfile saving of circuits
and simulations. Logix costs ú99.95 +VAT (or ú109 through Archive) and a
site licence for twenty machines is ú300 +VAT from Silicon Vision.
7.10
Å  Magnetoids Ö Oregan Developmentsæ latest game is a 3D space battle
game. It features variable light sourced vector graphics, Acorn and RTFM
joystick support, enhanced ARM 3 mode and hard disc installation.
Magnetoids costs ú24.95 from Oregan Developments or ú23 through Archive.
7.10
Å  Morley SCSI upgrade Ö There is now an upgrade for the Morley 16-bit
SCSI cards to make it compatible with RiscáPC and also to provide the
latest CDFS and a PhotoCD viewing application. The other improvement is
in the formatting / partitioning / installation software which is now
easier to use and has password protection to prevent unauthorised
formatting or alteration of the SCSI configuration. The upgrade is only
available from Morley Electronics and costs ú35 inclusive.
7.10
Å  Ovation price drop and special offer Ö There is no sign yet of an
Ovation 2 but Ovation 1 is being given a sales boost. The price has been
dropped to ú69 +p&p +VAT (ú67 through Archive) and if you buy it before
the end of August, you will get free copies of Desktop Thesaurus and a
book called öGetting into Ovationò.
7.10
Å  Photo-retouch software Ö This month sees the release of two more
photo-retouch packages for the Acorn machines. They are PhotoTouch at
ú79.95 inclusive from Oregan or ú75 through Archive and Digital Artsæ
Picture at ú99 +VAT or ú108 through Archive. We hope soon to have
comparative reviews of these two packages with Photodesk from Spacetech,
which costs ú185 through Archive.
7.10
Å  ProArtisan 2 CD Ö Clares have updated ProArtisan so that it will
handle PhotoCD images and have made the whole thing available on a CD
for ú169.95 or ú158 through Archive. You can upgrade from ProArtisan 2
direct from Clares Micros for ú29.95 inclusive.
7.10
Å  Professional full colour scanning service Ö T-J Reproductions, who
provide a full Acorn disc-to-print bureau facility, now have full colour
drum scanning facilities. Existing users of T-Jæs imagesetting and litho
printing services can take advantage of this complimentary service of
scanning images at up to 5,000 dpi in four colour format Ö presumably
using SyQuest removable hard discs to transfer the massive files
produced!
7.10
Å  Psion3a Ö We are now stocking the Psion3a Personal Organisers. The
256Kb version is ú269 and the 512Kb version is ú329.
7.10
Å  Rephorm update Ö Oak Solutions have updated Rephorm for the RiscáPC,
providing support for 15-bit and 24-bit sprites. They have also
introduced a number of other improvements including OLE support, Clear
file conversion and swap start and end frames. The price remains at ú50
+VAT from Oak Solutions or ú55 through Archive and an upgrade path is
available Ö just send your master disc plus ú15 +VAT to Oak Solutions
for the latest version.
7.10
Å  Repro Ö Oak Solutionsæ printer driver control utility was described
last month on page 7 but, unfortunately, we forgot to mention the price!
It costs ú50 +VAT from Oak Solutions or ú55 through Archive.
7.10
Å  RISCáOS 3 Style Guide Ö This is now available from stock through
Archive for ú10 inclusive.
7.10
Å  RiscáPC with no monitor Ö Acorn have announced a öno-monitorò option
for the RiscáPC. If we supply a monitor-less computer to an
öenthusiastò, Acorn will allow us to supply it at ú250 +VAT off the
normal price. So if you want to order a RiscáPC without a monitor, just
deduct ú294 off the basic price. This offer only applies to individual
Acorn öenthusiastsò (but you donæt have to wear an anorak to prove it)
and not to schools, colleges or businesses, presumably. (Mind you, we
havenæt yet had the official conditions of this offer from Acorn yet.)
7.10
Å  RiscáPC VRAM price drop Ö We have managed to reduce the RiscáPC VRAM
prices: 1Mb is now ú130, 2Mb is ú200 but the 1Ö2Mb upgrade is still
ú110.
7.10
Å  RiscáPC SIMM price drop Ö With increasing volume of sales, we have
been able to get better pricing for the RiscáPC SIMM memory as follows:
7.10
4Mb SIMM: ú150 ÖÖ> ú145
7.10
8Mb SIMM: ú300 ÖÖ> ú265
7.10
16Mb SIMM: ú640 ÖÖ> ú590
7.10
32Mb SIMM: ú1350 ÖÖ> ú1225
7.10
Å  Speedball II Ö Take control of Brutal Deluxe, the worst team in
Speedball history, and turn them into champions. You can play a knock-
out competition against progressively tougher teams and there is a Cup
option played over four two-leg rounds but the main challenge is in the
full league. Brutal Deluxe begins in division two with their aim being
to achieve promotion and then win the title. You can choose to manage
the team, buy and sell players and let the computer handle events on the
pitch. Speedball II costs ú25.99 from Krisalis or ú24 through Archive.
7.10
Å  Stunt Racer Extra Tracks Ö For all you keen Stunt Racers, here is a
compilation of new tracks and scenery to keep you playing for many happy
hours! Stunt Racer Extra Tracks costs ú19.95 from 4th Dimension or ú19
through Archive.
7.10
Å  Top quality fonts at less than 60p per font? LOOKsystems are doing a
special summer promotion so that we can sell their 100 Monotype Fonts
pack (full price ú95) for just ú59.
7.10
Å  Toshiba CD-ROM driver Ö If you want to run Toshiba CD-ROMs in
multisession mode, e.g. with PhotoCD, you will need a special driver.
This is available as part of the SCSI upgrade for Morley 16-bit SCSI
interfaces (see above) but is also available as a separate soft-loadable
driver for use with other SCSI cards. This costs ú25 inc VAT from
Morley.
7.10
Å  WimpGEN Ö This is a new application-authoring package which allows an
applicationæs user interface to be built up, allowing you to concentrate
on the main application code rather than the interface. The whole
process of creating windows, dialogue boxes and menu structures can be
done interactively. The price is ú99.95 inc VAT from Silicon Vision or
ú93 through Archive.
7.10
Å  World Development Database Ö CWDE Software are releasing a version of
its World Development Database in general format (as well as in existing
Key Plus and Grass database formats) thus making it possible to use the
data with whatever database you already use. The information provides
social and economic statistics on 129 countries in CSV and text format.
This costs ú35 +VAT from CWDE Software.
7.10

Å  105Mb removable hard drivesáÖáWe have made a special purchase of a
number of 105Mb removable drives which can be used for A5000 or RiscáPC.
These are brand new, fully guaranteed drives but are only ú270 (normal
price ú340) including fitting kit and including one cartridge Ö while
stocks last! Please ring the NCS office to book one rather than just
sending a cheque.
7.11
Å  270Mb removable hard drivesáÖáWe can now get the IDE version of the
270Mb removables. There are internal versions for both the A5000 and the
RiscáPC and each is ú490. This includes fitting kit and one cartridge.
Extra cartridges are ú90 each.
7.11
Å  Acorn standard resolution monitorsáÖáThe AKF30 and the AKF40 are now
out of production. There are some stocks left but they may have all gone
by the time you read this. The AKF52 multisync is now the minimum
standard (VGA) monitor that Acorn supply.
7.11
Å  Acorn Enthusiastsæ Scheme Ö Acorn have agreed to allow öEnthusiastsò,
who have a special reason for doing so, to order a RiscáPC without a
monitor at ú294 off the full with-monitor price. To do this, you must
first fill in a special form giving details of your reasons for wanting
a computer without a monitor and to register as an Acorn Enthusiast.
Acorn say that Enthusiasts will be given Épriority informationæ and that
there may be Éspecial offersæ and Élimited edition literatureæ available
to them. These special forms are available from the NCS offices.
7.11
If you want to register as enthusiast even though you donæt want a
monitor-less RiscáPC, we can send you a form if you send us an SAE.
7.11
Å  Apollonius PDT Ö Oak Solutions have announced a fully parametric CAD
package, allowing the user to specify relationships between elements in
the drawing so that any change updates all the elements automatically.
It also features an Éintelligentæ toolbar which provides a large number
of features based on eight basic tools, which vary in precise function
according to context. The price is ú150 +VAT from Oak Solutions or ú165
through Archive. (ú75 +VAT as an upgrade from Oak Solutionsæ Parametric
Design Tool).
7.11
Å  Calendar Ö Kudlian Soft have released Calendar, a package intended
for primary education with the purpose of producing wall calendars. It
is intended to be very easy to use, with a WYSIWYG display, and uses the
RISC OS outline fonts and printer drivers to produce high quality
results in several formats. It also allows pupils to include their own
pictures. The pack costs ú25 +VAT including a site licence for primary
schools, or ú40 +VAT for secondary schools.
7.11
Å  Calligraph A4-1200 Ö Following on from their high resolution A3
printer, Calligraph have released a direct drive, A4, 8ppm laser printer
capable of true 600 ╫ 600 dpi resolution and up to 1200 dpi horizontal
resolution through software enhancement. The software provided can
handle variable screen density and gamma correction, as well as a draft
printing mode and OPI-like virtual sprites (which leave large scans on
disc until print time). The A4-1200 can be driven entirely from the
computer, including all status and menu option information which would
normally be on the printer itself. It also emulates an Epson FX80. The
single bin version is available at ú999 +VAT, and the dual bin version
is ú1149 +VAT (ú1140 and ú1315 through Archive).
7.11
Å  CD-ROM for RiscáPCáÖáCumana are now selling an IDE CD-ROM 300iA drive
for RiscáPC. It is a caddy-less drive (i.e. you cannot operate the
computer in tower mode as the discs will fall off the tray!) but the
drive comes complete with an audio mixer so that the CD-ROM sound can be
combined with the computeræs own sound and output through the computeræs
own sound socket. Also included are the ProArtisan 2 Clipart CD and a
PhotoCD disc with sample pictures. The price is ú249 +VAT + carriage
from Cumana or ú290 through Archive.
7.11
Å  CD-ROM for RiscáPCáÖáMorley Electronics have two internal CD-ROMs for
the RiscáPC, both SCSI devices. The 4101 is a caddy-less version (i.e.
you cannot operate the computer in tower mode as the discs will fall off
the tray!) and costs ú249 +VAT + carriage from Morley or ú290 through
Archive. The 3401 has a caddy and is slightly faster than the 4101 (330
Kb/s cf 300 Kb/s) and costs ú349 +VAT + carriage from Morley or ú400
through Archive. (Both require SCSI interfaces, e.g. the Morley uncached
SCSI card at ú160 through Archive.)
7.11
Å  Classcardz Ö Colton software have launched resource packs which take
the user through the first steps in document processing and creation of
spreadsheets with the companyæs popular programs Wordz and Resultz. The
packs are ú20 each from Colton, and consist of sets of A4 laminated
cards which can be photocopied for classroom use.
7.11
Å  Colton Software price drop Ö Colton have announced some price
reductions on the Éz familyæ of programs: Wordz is now ú59 +VAT (ú64
through Archive), Resultz has been reduced from ú99 to ú79 +VAT, (ú88
through Archive) and Fireworkz has been reduced from ú149 to ú99 +VAT
(ú110 through Archive), with site licences discount also available from
Colton Software.
7.11
Å  Commodore64 conversionsáÖáXL.C.US Software are planning to provide a
picture and sound sample transfer service between Archimedes and
Commodore 64 machines. For details, contact Jonathan Hunt at 21 Green
Street, Milton Malsor, Northampton, NN7 3AT.
7.11
Å Design Processor update Ö Oak Solutions are working on a new version
of their Design Processor to be packaged with OakPCB, DrawPlot, Genesis
Professional and Apollonius PDT, due out in September. The new version
will be ú1200 (it used to be ú900) for a site licence and regular
upgrades but the price increase will not affect existing users or those
who purchase Design Processor before September.
7.11
Å  First Page Ö Longman Logotron have released a new easy-to-use DTP
package. First Page is capable of multiple columns, headlines and
captions, and can import PenDown and PenDown Plus files maintaining
layout and styles. In addition, it has its own basic word processing
facilities. Illustrations can be included both as separate images and as
frame backgrounds. FirstPage costs ú49 +VAT for a single user or ú140
and ú190 +VAT respectively for primary and secondary site licences. The
Archive prices are ú54, ú155 and ú208 respectively.
7.11
Å  FlashbackáÖáThis new release from US Gold is another port from the
Amiga/PC markets. It is a graphic adventure, which was widely acclaimed
for the innovative techniques used in production. The character
animation was produced by filming athletes, to give very accurate
movement Ö the character you play has 681 animation frames to himself.
The plot involves having your memory wiped after your latest invention
identifies the presence of hostile aliens on Earth. All you have to help
you is a message from yourself, explaining what has happened, and then
it is up to you to explore.  Sections of the game are linked with öCine
Sequencesò which are short, non-interactive sections to add to the feel
of the game.
7.11
Å  HQ Tracker Ö Mycroft Software have released a low-cost alternative to
SoundTracker, based around their PlayModule relocatable module and
intended for use in adding sound effects and music to usersæ software.
The system is intended to be more extendable than its competitors, and
comes with a converter for soundtracker files. HQ-Tracker is ú25 from
Mycroft Software with a special price of ú20 to people who mention
Archive when ordering.
7.11
Å  Idek Iiyama monitorsáÖáThese new monitors are now available in both
17ö and 21ò sizes. The prices are ú734 (ú440 with RiscáPC) and ú2144
(ú1850 with RiscáPC) respectively. As you can see from the
specifications opposite, the 17ö monitor is a slightly higher
specification than the Acorn 17ò monitor and it works out slightly
cheaper provided you class as an Acorn Enthusiast (see above). Our
subjective view, having had the two monitors side by side is that there
is little to choose between them in terms of display quality or
programmability. The only real difference apart from the price is that
the AKF85 comes with a 12-month on-site warranty whereas the Idek
monitor has a three-year return-to-base warranty, i.e. itæs guaranteed
for three years but you have to pay to get it shipped back to Idek Ö
they fix it and send it back to you.
7.11
As regards the 21ö, we are very impressed with this one. It is, in our
view, better than the Eizo F780iW costing several hundred pounds more!
It has a very easy-to-use control tray that slides out from the front of
the monitor and allows you to adjust all the various parameters and save
that particular mode definition. The 20ò Taxan doesnæt have quite such
good definition but it has the advantage of being a Trinitron tube and
yet is ú150 cheaper.
7.11
(As soon as I can afford it, I shall be buying an Idek 21ö and a
RiscáPC. This will make production of Archive an order of magnitude
easier. Ed.)
7.11
Å  IFEL 8Mb RAM upgrades Ö A5000 and A3000 machines may now be upgraded
to 8Mb by means of a new upgrade from IFEL, for ú259 +VAT for the A5000
or ú249 +VAT for the A3000. However, IFEL recommend their fitting
service (ú50 +VAT for 4Mb machines) since the upgrade requires removing
the surface-mounted MEMC. A300 and A400 series upgrades will follow.
7.11
Å  ImageFS is a RISC OS 3 image filing system (similar to that used for
PC partitions) which allows transparent loading of a number of image
formats RISC OS-legally Ö including TIFF, BMP and PICT. The images are
converted to sprites on the fly, and the software supports deep sprites
and a number of dithering options. ImageFS is available for ú34.95 +VAT
from Alternative Publishing Ltd.
7.11
Å  Landmarks Ö Microworld Invasion and Pinpoint Datafile Ö Britain since
the 1930s are new educational programs from Longman Logotron aimed at 9-
13 year-olds. They are designed to complement the BBCæs Landmarks
history series to be broadcast in Autumn 1994. Prices are ú24.95 +VAT
and ú12 +VAT from Longman Logotron (ú27 and ú13 respectively through
Archive), with versions for the IBM PC and site licences also available.
7.11
Å  Lark Ö Wild Visionæs 16-bit audio sampling and play-back card for all
the Acorn machines is now available. It can sample and playback in
stereo and sample up to 48kHz, and features MIDI connection and on-board
filtering. The Lark A16 is ú199 +VAT + carriage or ú225 through Archive.
7.11
Å  Lenses & Light is a pack from Anglia Television for the Key Plus
database and the Key Calc spreadsheet. It covers eye testing, shadows,
polarisation, single and double lenses, microscopes and telescopes with
background information and worksheets for photocopying provided. Lenses
& Light costs ú22 +VAT from Anglia Television.
7.11
Å  Premier Manager Ö Gremlin Graphics Ltd, the makers of Zool, have
released a game for those who prefer their football as most of us get to
see it: from the sidelines. Starting in the Vauxhall Conference League,
up to four players can simultaneously work on their teams, investing
their money on the grounds and their players in the hopes of bringing in
the sponsors and the fans. The game features five divisions, cup
competitions, match highlights, full ground sponsorship, complete
results service, weekly fax data on match reports, transfer news and
player information and complete interaction with other team managers.
Available for ú25.99 from Gremlin or ú24 through Archive.
7.11
Å  Sound FX #2 Ö Alpine Software have released another disc of sound
effects for Creator, Creator II or UltraSonic. The effects are grouped
under the headings of VOCAL_1, VOCAL_2, TREK, WeirdFX and Weapons. The
disc is ú5 from Alpine Software.
7.11
Å  Tekkie CD Ö Emerald Publishing have produced a CD that contains the
RISC OS 3 PRMs. Not only that, but it also contains the Style Guide,
Basic Guide, Desktop C, Assembler and DDE guides, all for the same price
as the paper version of the PRMs Ö ú99 +VAT. (See the review on page
61.)
7.11

Products Available
7.12
Å  Archive mousematsáÖáWe are having some top quality Archive mousemats
made for us. They will have antistatic plastic tops with non-slip rubber
base Ö none of your flimsy cloth-top mousemats these! The rather
tasteful design features the Archive logo and the Norwich Computer
Services logo and the cost is ú5 each including p&p.
7.12
(These shouldnæt really be in Products Available because they arenæt
going to be ready until the end of September. Still, you can place your
orders with confidence Ö they arenæt vapourware. Paul Beverley, MD of
Norwich Computer Services, assured our Archive reporter, öThe software
is virtually finished Ö just one or two bugs to be ironed out Ö we have
to make sure, of course, that there are no viruses on it. Also, weære
waiting for the manuals to be printed.ò)
7.12
Å  Archive PD discsáÖáIt was in July 1988 (yes, six years ago!) that
Archive launched its first disc of PD software. At that stage, the PD
discs were a first in the Archimedes world and we feel they performed a
very useful function in the early days of Archimedes computers and
software. However, we have reached a point where Archive PD, by and
large, has outlived its usefulness.
7.12
We have decided to transfer all our PD material over to APDL (address in
Factfile). So if you want any of the programs and applications we have
published in the past, please contact APDL. However, there are a number
of programs that are still very popular and things like the Archive data
for the Arcscan database are being maintained as a set of Archive PD
discs. (We are dropping the Shareware and Careware names altogether.)
The discs still available at ú2 each are:
7.12
Å  Archive Utils 1áÖá(was Careware 18) Ö VIDC enhancer software (2
versions), iconbar mode number display, modes for Sony CPD-1402, modes
for Acorn AKF18, various modes and modules for NEC 3D, mode creation and
editing for pre-A5000s with AKF18.
7.12
Å  Archive Utils 2áÖá(was Careware 19) Ö !CGM Ö>Draw, !DrawÖ>CGM,
!DrawÖ>EPS, !AiEps Ö>Draw !DrawÖ>Meta, !DXFÖ>CGM, !Translator, !Creator
(sprites to GIF, TIFF, AIM, PBM), utility to output drawfiles on
SketchMate A4 plotter.
7.12
Å  Archive Utils 3áÖá(was Shareware 7) Ö Disc database of Archive
magazine plus ArcScan data files for Archive magazine.
7.12
Å  Archive Utils 4áÖá(was Shareware 51) Ö JPEG utilities 1 Ö !ChangeFSI,
version 0.90a; !FYEO, 1.02; !Jewel, 0.04; !JFIF, 26th June 1993;
!JPEGinst to install !JPEGit, 1.11A, i.e. the PD version; !JView, 0.07;
djpeg (Keith Sloanæs implementation), 18 Nov 1991; JPEG-FAQ Ö a text
file pulled off Usenet and headed öJPEG image compression: Frequently
Asked Questionsò.
7.12
Å  Archive Utils 5áÖá(was Shareware 52) Ö JPEG utilities 2 Ö !FYEO2 (see
June JPEG column) sample NASA images plus a Éthumbnailsæ file with
postage stamp-sized previews of the other available files.
7.12
Å  Archive Utils 6áÖáHard drive utilities including SyQuest 105Mb fix
for A5000/RiscáPC.
7.12
Å  Archive Utils 7áÖáAcornæs new printer drivers !Printers 1.22.
7.12
Å  Barcode generatoráÖáKang Software have produced a RISCáOS application
that generates drawfiles of barcodes in a variety of formats: EAN-13,
EAN-8, ISSN, ISBN and BIC. Within these formats, there is also a variety
of other options. The software costs ú85 (no VAT) which compares very
favourably with PC equivalents costing of the order of ú150 +VAT.
7.12
Å  BetsiáÖáAnother winner from 4Mation. This time it is a historical
adventure aimed at 7 Ö 12 year-olds studying the Tudor period. Betsi is
a dog who, having been evicted from the royal hunting kennels for being
too soft, is looking for someone to provide her with a comfortable home
where she will be loved. During her travels, she meets all manner of
folk from different backgrounds, sees the interiors of various
buildings, hears some of the things that people were concerned about at
that time, and welcomes opportunities to be a good citizen.
7.12
Betsi costs ú34.50 +VAT (or ú38 through Archive). A site licence costs
ú69 +VAT (or ú75 through Archive).
7.12
Å  CC takes overáÖáComputer Concepts have taken over distribution of all
Wild Vision products so that WV can concentrate on development work. One
effect of this is a reduction in the discount given to dealers. This has
had to be reflected in a reduction in Archive membersæ discounts on WV
products.
7.12
Å  Celtic clipart 2áÖáGlyn Howells has produced a second disc of celtic
clipart including borders, panels, chains, crosses and motifs. As with
disc 1, this costs ú10.99 inclusive, or you can get both of them
together for ú18.99. (There is no VAT as Glyn is not VAT registered.)
They are available from: Glyn Howells, Sicar Uchaf, Brongest, C N Emlyn,
Dyfed, SA38 9ET.
7.12
Å  Flashback Ö We gave details of US Goldæs new game last month (page 4)
but forgot to tell you the price. Flashback costs ú27.99 or ú26 through
Archive. (See the review on page 27.)
7.12
Å  GoldilocksáÖáThis is a Genesis application from Oak Solutions
ödesigned to introduce young children to IT skills through a
professionally produced audio CD and high quality visual interpretation
of the traditional fairy tale.ò While the child is using the program,
its use of the various options is recorded so that the teacher can see
how the child is progressing. Goldilocks comes on floppy discs with an
audio CD and a pack of photocopiable resources and costs ú40 +VAT from
Oak Solutions or ú44 through Archive.
7.12
Å  Impression manual extrasáÖáIf you are an Impression user who makes
frequent use of the manual, H B Humpidge has just the thing for you! The
pack includes a quick reference guide with keyboard shortcuts (arranged
by function), a printed keystrip, a set of divider cards for the manual,
some self-adhesive binder strips, about 50 sheets of paper to put your
own notes in the manual, two thick card ends to help preserve the
integrity of the manual and a pack of ring reinforcements for those
pages that get over-used and fall out Ö he seems to have thought of
everything! This comes in three forms: Impression II ú6, Impression
Publisher ú7.50 and a special version for those who have upgraded from
Impression II to Publisher ú6. These are all available from H B
Humpidge, 2AáKingsley Park Grove, Sheffield, S11 9HL. If you just want
the quick reference guide and the keystrip, they are available for
ú1.50.
7.12
Å  I/O card alternativeáÖáRiscáPC owners, in particular, will be pleased
to hear that there is now an alternative to Acornæs dual-width I/O card
in single-width format. Paul Fray Ltd have produced a card which
provides all the functionality of the Acorn card, except the Midi add-
on. So it provides user port, analogue port and 1MHz bus. Advantages of
this newer card, apart from it taking up only one slot, are that it has
an improved interface that makes it work more reliably with faster
systems and it has a socket to take a user-programmed EPROM (128Kb ╫ 8).
These cards are available from Paul Fray Ltd for ú129 +VAT or ú144
through Archive.
7.12
Å  Izzy & Lizzy in The PlaygroundáÖáTopologika have released a version
of their popular Freddy Teddy title, ÉThe Playgroundæ. The idea is that
it allows the program to be used with older children as Izzy and Lizzy
are trendy young children (Izzy looks to me as if heæs wearing ÉCatsæ!)
as opposed to the teddy bear which appeals to younger children. If you
already have The Playground, you can obtain Izzy and Lizzy from
Topologika by sending them ú10 +VAT + ú1 p&p (ú12.75) and quoting the
serial number of your copy of The Playground. Otherwise, you can buy The
Playground in a combined format for ú25 +VAT + ú2.50 p&p (ú31.88) from
Topologika or ú29 through Archive.
7.12
Å  JPEG Disc number 2áÖáI said in the JPEG Column last month that the
new JPEG Shareware disc was number 51. Actually, that was the number of
the first JPEG Shareware disc the new one is, yes, youæve guessed it,
number 52! It contains FYEO2 (as mentioned in the June JPEG column, p19)
plus some of the best of the NASA images sent in by Philip Draper plus
added a Éthumbnailsæ file with postage stamp-sized previews of Philipæs
other files. (Actually, we have just scrapped the Archive Shareware
discs, so this has become Archive Utils disc 5.)
7.12
Å  MacFSáÖáMacFS is a filing system for RISCáOS 3.1 or later which will
read and write Mac SuperDrive (1.44Mb) floppies, external hard discs,
magneto-opticals and SyQuests. It costs ú99 +VAT from Computer Concepts
or ú108 through Archive.
7.12
Å  PD on CD-ROM Ö The Datafile have produced a CD-ROM containing 265 Mb
of PD, freeware and shareware material, clipart, games, utilities,
music, graphics, magazines, games demos, languages, !Earthmap,
Gutenburg, classic demos and educational software. PD-CD costs ú30
inclusive from The Datafile or ú28 through Archive.
7.12
Å  Professional full-colour scanning service Ö We mentioned last month
that T-J Reproductions were providing a full Acorn disc-to-print bureau
facility and now have full-colour drum-scanning facilities.
Unfortunately, we quoted their fax number instead of their phone number.
The corrected version is (hopefully!) in the Factfile at the back of the
magazine.
7.12
Because of the huge files produced by these high resolution colour
scans, T-J are looking into offering a file replacement service. What
they would do would be to scan the image at low resolution (and send you
a copy) as well as at high resolution (which they would store for later
use). You could then prepare your document with the low-res image, send
it to T-J who would then substitute the hi-res image. This is similar to
OPI except that OPI will only work with Impression Publisher whereas
this service would be available to users of Style as well. If you are
interested, get in touch with T-J and tell them to what extent you might
use the service. That will help them to gauge whether it is going to be
worth the setting-up costs.
7.12
Å  Scanlight ProfessionaláÖáCC have dropped the price of their greyscale
A4 flatbed scanner to ú499 +VAT. However, they are not giving any dealer
discount anymore so they will no longer be available through NCS.
7.12
Å  Supersound expansion systemáÖáIn Archive 7.7 p39, David Lenthal gave
details of Audio Dynamicsæ 16-bit digital audio SuperSound Expansion
System. The SSES1600 provides 128 instruments + 49 percussion sounds,
Midi in, out and thru, and software which plays Midi files and sample
files. The board also has line output on two phono sockets and a 3.5mm
stereo socket plus headphone output on ╝ö jack socket. SSES1600 costs
ú299 +VAT from Audio Dynamics or ú335 inclusive through Archive.
7.12
Å  öTechnology for Secondary MathematicsòáÖ There will be a day
conference for maths teachers at Oundle School, Peterborough on Monday
3rd October 1994. It will cover Macs and PCs as well as Acorns but it is
presented öin association with Acorn Computers Ltd and Mathematics in
Education and Industryò. Details from Douglas Butler, Head of
Mathematics, Oundle School, Oundle, Peterborough, PE8 4EN (0832-273444).
7.12
Å  The Acorn Companion, written by Geoff Love, is a guide to using Acorn
computers and software. It is aimed at öthe average classroom teacher or
non-specialist IT coordinator who needs to know enough to use the
computer, solve any problems they encounter and keep things running
smoothly but doesnæt want to spend every waking hour pawing through
jargon-filled manuals.ò It costs ú9 inclusive from NW SEMERC.
7.12
Å  The Time MachineáÖáThe latest desktop adventure game from Gordon Key
is The Time Machine. This is a game for all Acorn machines with 2Mb or
more, has five discs, 3Mb+ of sprites, 80 sampled sounds plus music. It
seems to be a sequel to Haunted House. At least, you are the same
employee of Acorn Antiques but the action starts as you leave the shop
to break out of the boredom, go for a long walk, decide you need a leak
and espy a blue portaloo in the distance... The Time Machine costs
ú25.95 from 4th Dimension or ú24 through Archive.
7.12
Å  Tiles French SupplementáÖáBrain Games have released a supplement to
their Tiles program which gives 223 French crosswords to play on their
Tiles package. The supplement requires Tiles version 3.29 or later.
Tiles and the French Tiles Supplement each cost ú19.75 (no VAT) to which
you add ú4.50 per machine for site licences for each package.
7.12