Archive Magazine 1996/ARCHIVE_96.iso/text/products/volume_9

Text File | 1996-08-28 | 295KB | 5,106 lines

Products Available
9.1
20/20 credit Ö Up to Christmas, Acorn are offering a very generous
credit scheme for buying computers. Basically, if you are buying a
computer and a monitor, you can have 20 monthsæ interest free credit.
There are limitations, of course, and these are: (1)áthe minimum deposit
is 10%, (2)áthe maximum loan is ú1485, (3)áthis offer cannot be combined
with any other Acorn offer, such as Clan Cash-Back or Special Purchase
without monitor.
9.1
So what does this offer mean in practice? The box below gives some
examples.
9.1
As you can see, once you are buying something costing more than about
ú1600, you are onto the maximum loan figure, so the more you buy from
there upwards, the more the deposit. i.e. (Deposit = Full Price Ö ú1485)
and the repayments are ú74.25 per month.
9.1
This scheme is a good one for several reasons. (1) It does not cost you
a penny. (2) It does not cost NCS a penny because, unlike previous
interest free schemes, Acorn are covering the full cost of the finance.
(Thank you, Acorn!) (3) It will allow people who havenæt saved up enough
money yet to buy their computer now rather than waiting. (4) It will
allow others, who have the money now, to buy a bigger monitor, or other
peripherals, or more software or whatever. This can save money in the
long run and it is more convenient to have peripherals fitted and tested
by NCS rather than doing it yourself later.
9.1
N.B. The Acorn 20/20 scheme only lasts until
9.1
31st December 1995.
9.1
A4 scanners Ö The Epson GT6500 is now obsolete and has been replaced by
the GT8500 with 30-bit colour and 400 dpi optical resolution and the
GT9000 which also has 30-bit colour but an optical resolution of 600
dpi. The prices are ú599 +VAT and ú699 +VAT respectively plus ú12.50
+VAT carriage from Irlam Instruments or ú710 and ú830 inclusive
respectively, through Archive. In each case, the Irlam software is for
either parallel or SCSI connection, although the scanners have both
types of interface. Please specify which you require when ordering.
9.1
Acorn Pocket Book II (1Mb) Ö There is now a 1Mb version of the Pocket
Book II which costs ú285 +VAT or ú335 through Archive inc p&p. The 256Kb
version is still available at ú205 +VAT (ú240 through Archive) but it
looks as if the 512Kb version may be on its way out.
9.1
Acorn RiscáPC 700 & A7000 Ö People have been asking about the
availability of the new computers. Since the RiscáPC 700s computers
became available in mid-August, there has been no difficulty in supply,
except for the ACB76 (10Mb with CD-ROM) and, in any case, most
purchasers prefer to have the Eesox quad speed CD-ROM instead of Acornæs
dual speed drive, since it only costs ú40 more (ú170 cf ú130), and it
and the ACB75s are available from stock.
9.1
The A7000s are more of a problem. The 2Mb versions are beginning to be
available in limited quantities but the 4Mb versions are said to be
available at öthe end of the yearò! Apparently they are having problems
sourcing the 4Mb memory chips.
9.1
If you want to buy one of the new Iiyama monitors (see below) with a
RiscáPC, as an alternative to the Acorn monitors, Acorn have provided a
scheme for you to do this. Just ask us for a form, fill it in and send
it back to us with your order. (This does not apply if you are buying on
the 20/20 scheme. Sorry!)
9.1
Alsystems SCSI 2 card Ö An alternative to the established Cumana SCSI 2
interface is Alsystemsæ Power-Tec giving up to 5Mb/sec data transfer
through podule slots 1 or 2 in a Risc PC (up to 2Mb/sec on ARM3
machines). The card has built-in CDFS v2.21, Kodak Photoview and DAT
tape streamer driver, plus a number of valuable performance and
operating features, including the ability to read from one device while
concurrently writing to another, auto-termination, auto-spindown and
password protection. The price is ú175 + carriage +VAT from Alsystems,
or ú205 through Archive.
9.1
Archive CD Ö This is still available at the special price of ú8 if
ordered with a subscription renewal, provided this is done before 15th
September. (Thatæs the date we set last month but the magazine only goes
out on the 12th, so weæd better make it Friday 22nd September Ö which is
my birthday anyway!!) The CD-ROM seems to have been well received and
people are finding it contains some extremely useful information. Having
it all on one CD is a bonus. There are one or two minor technical
hitches that have come to light Ö these are dealt with in Hints & Tips
on page 17.
9.1
ARM710 upgrades Ö (Still no ARM700s yet but...) If you have an old
RiscáPC 600 and want to upgrade to an ARM710, you can do so for the
promised ú100 +VAT (well, sort of). What you have to do is get it from
Acorn Direct in Wellingborough (address and phone number in Factfile)
for ú146.88 (thatæs ú125 +VAT). Then, when (if) you send them the old
ARM610 card back, they will refund you ú29.38 (ú25 +VAT). Some may
prefer to keep the old processor card, just in case... !
9.1
Atomic Software have released two scientific programs. Elements is a
Periodic Table like youæve never seen Ö it will need someone with a big
brain to review it! Itæs a database containing the latest information,
in graphical form, on all the elements and their isotopes up to element
110. It contains information on boiling points, melting points, highest
valency, isotropic purity and atomic weight (to name but a very few!).
Nuclides is a graphical database containing information on the 2400+
isotopes of elements, or nuclides; both stable isotopes and radioactive
isotopes, displayed on a Serge chart.
9.1
To use the programs you will need a machine with at least 2Mb RAM, mode
31 capability (for Elements) and mode 20 or 39 for Nuclides, i.e. a
multisync monitor is essential. Elements and Nuclides can be bought
together for ú14.95 or separately for ú9.95 each, from Atomic Software.
9.1
CD-ROMs from Anglia Ö The Art Store Ö Looking at Animals CD brings
together a collection of paintings and sculptures from over forty art
galleries and museums around Britain and the Republic of Ireland. The
images range from lap-dogs to lion skins, domestic animals to exotic
wildlife. As well as the pictures, there are nearly 150 activity sheets
for use in the classroom; and a museums and galleries guide giving
details of the pictures contributed, opening times, detailed location,
and other related pictures in the collections. This CD costs ú50 +VAT
from Anglia or ú55 through Archive.
9.1
British Isles from the Air brings the best of the Aerofilms collection
to CD-ROM. The 230 photos cover a wide range of natural and man-made
features, with some of the photos going back to 1919. Designed initially
for the classroom, the selection of photography has already been well
received on a wider front. For users of the Key Plus database system,
the photographs are also duplicated in that format, together with
references for the powerful mapping facilities which Key Plus offers.
This CD costs ú40 +VAT from Anglia or ú45 through Archive.
9.1
Chroma Genlock Ö Wild Visionæs Chroma-Genlocks allow you to overlay and
record to video any computer graphics. You can overlay colour graphics
from the computer onto a colour video signal to create exactly the
result you want. The combined output can be recorded to video or
displayed on a video-compatible monitor.
9.1
Chroma Genlock expansion cards are supplied as a package with Sideshow
and Overlay software. Sideshow acts as a flexible medium for taking
text, draw objects and sprites in drawfiles and overlaying them, either
as full screen or selectively, onto video. It provides scaling,
sequencing, looping, screen blanking and scrolling. Overlay is the
utility which controls the overlay and interlace status of the desktop.
The package costs ú149 +ú6 p&p +VAT from Computer Concepts or ú175
through Archive. (Itæs important to state which computer itæs going into
when ordering.)
9.1
Cine Works Ö Oregan Developments have updated their video mixing and
editing studio program to version 1.03. New facilities include support
for multiple ARMovie sound tracks, improved AVI support, MPEG video
encoding and audio support, WAV audio export, new transitions and video
filters, timeline colour coding, improved YUV rendering and improved
trigger interface. Upgrades are free to registered users. The price from
Oregan Developments remains at ú159.95 inclusive or ú152 through
Archive.
9.1
ClickArt Animals & Nature Pack Ö from Matt Black is a collection of 150
high-quality images for education and DTP users. In addition to the 150
drawfile images supplied on four floppy discs, thereæs also a collection
of over 120 drawfile silhouettes (normally costing ú29.95) given away
free! And, to help ClickArt users manage their collection of clipart,
Matt Black have thrown in a copy of Hugh Eagleæs freeware application
PickAPic. PickAPic features include fast loading of saved images and
thumbnails and presentation of thumbnails in filer style windows.
9.1
The images in the Animals & Nature pack are not compressed, making them
easier and faster to load from floppy disc. The pack costs ú35 +ú2 p&p
in UK and Europe (ú4 to the rest of the world). All of Matt Blackæs
ClickArt packs come with a free school site licence.
9.1
FaxModems Ö US Robotics have re-priced their modems. The WorldPort
14,400 portable is now ú190 inclusive through Archive and the non-
portable Sportster has dropped to ú160. There is now also non-portable
28,800 baud Sportster at ú250 through Archive. This is a V34 fax/data
modem, with VFC capability, MNP4/5 data compression and error detection,
class 1 and class 2.0 fax support.
9.1
They all come with PC cables and PC software. The cables are OK for
A5000 computers and later but if you have a pre-A5000 computer, you will
need a special cable costing a further ú13. In terms of Acorn software,
our recommendation would be ArcFax (ú33) for providing fax facility and
Hearsay II (ú82) for access to bulletin boards etc. These two packages
work well together with the modems. We use them in the office and so are
able to give advice in setting them up.
9.1
(Weæll make some recommendations for software for accessing the Internet
once weæve sorted it out ourselves!)
9.1
Guardians of the Greenwood is an eco-fantasy on a single CD-ROM, aimed
at the 9Ö14 age range at home and school. The story is a simple one:
industrial development by ÉHawk Enterprisesæ is threatening the
Greenwood and its inhabitants. Crinkle, the heroine of the story, sets
out to save the forest from destruction... with assistance from the
forest folk, and a bit of magic, she is able to save the environment,
etc. There are 30,000 words of narration; a talking dictionary providing
definitions and examples of usage of over 500 difficult words found in
the program; thereæs sampled music, speech and sound effects, plus
graphics and animations. Thereæs also an adultæs guided tour to help
parents and teachers familiarise themselves with the program.
9.1
Guardians CD costs ú49.50 +VAT (p&p is free) from 4Mation, ú56 through
Archive.
9.1
High Risc Racing Ö a plan-view car racing game from a new(ish) company
to the Acorn market Ö Modus Software who were recognised as one of the
countryæs most promising enterprises, when they were a Scottish National
finalist at the 1995 LiveWire awards. Their first product is an arcade-
style game Ö a plan-view car racing game called High Risc Racing. Itæs
compatible with all RISC OS 2+ machines with 2Mb or more of memory, is
hard-disc installable and sells at ú25 inclusive of p&p from Modus
Software.
9.1
High speed Internet access Ö Intelligent Interfaces have responded to
usersæ demands to remove the computer-modem communication bottleneck by
introducing their new dual high speed serial interface card for Acorn
computers. This provides two additional RS232 compatible serial
interfaces, with standard 9-pin D¡type connectors, capable of
communicating at baud rates from 50 to 230,400 including 9,600, 19,200,
38,400, 57,600 and 115,200 baud. The software includes Block Drivers to
enable the use of Hearsay II, ArcFax, ARCterm 7, the Internet Starter
Kit, etc. The card can be used in any computer with a backplane and
requires RISC OS 3.1 or later. The dual high speed serial interface card
is available from Intelligent Interfaces for ú149 +VAT + carriage or
ú175 through Archive.
9.1
Iiyama VisionMaster monitors Ö Four new monitors have arrived this month
from this company that has gained such a high reputation in such a short
space of time. (NCS has not sold any other monitors, apart from Acorn,
since taking on the Idek Iiyama range of monitors!) There are two 17ö
and two 21ò monitors and they replace the existing models which are now
no longer available.
9.1
The final figure in each column is the extra that you have to pay if you
are buying one of these monitors as an alternative to the Acorn 14ö
(AKF60) monitor. Weáhave special forms for you to fill in if you want to
do this Ö ask us for an ÉAcorn Special Purchaseæ form.
9.1
InterTalk allows access to both electronic mail and news, locally and
via the Internet. You can create local newsgroups for general discussion
and information, and to make your views known throughout the world. The
administrator or single user decides the choice of sites that the
individual may talk to, and controls the costs of wide area networking
ownership. At a later date, a World Wide Web browser will be added
(hopefully before the end of the year Ö maybe sooner) and for those who
bought InterTalk before the browser was available, there will be a free
upgrade. There are two versions of InterTalk, a single-user version and
a multi-user version, priced at ú79 +VAT and ú299 +VAT respectively, or
ú88 and ú330 through Archive.
9.1
Land, Sea & Air is the second of a series of interactive strategy
simulations from UK Software. The object of the game is to achieve a
high total profit over 15 and 30 years. This is achieved by identifying
concentrations of passengers and commodities, then taking them to where
they are required. You do this by building stations and tracks, then
designing routes for your trains to take. To ensure that your trains go
to the correct destinations, you have at your disposal a timetabling
system which enables you to schedule your trains with their cargo and
routes. You have the opportunity to start an Airline, a shipping line or
even a football team Ö you can even make a take-over bid for your
competitors (before they get you!). Land, Sea and Air works on all 2Mb
RISC OS machines, except the Risc PC, and costs ú19.95 inc. from
UKáSoftware.
9.1
LIVE Accessory Pack Ö Longman Logotron have released the complete plug-
in-and-go solution to recording and analysing information collected from
experiments in and around the classroom. Pupils can now collect data
with Longman Logotronæs LIVE interface box, control and analyse
experiments with the Junior Insight program, and access and monitor data
from different sources with the new LIVE accessory pack. The pack
comprises a range of sensors measuring light, temperature and sound, and
an extension cable which makes it possible to collect data on field
trips and in other situations where it is difficult to locate the
computer close to the data source. The LIVE accessory pack for Acorn
users is ú45 +VAT (single user). The LIVE interface box costs ú99 +VAT
and Junior Insight is ú44 +VAT. The complete kit is available at ú178
+VAT for a single user.
9.1
Merlin Ray Tracer Ö Merlin is a program which allows you to create
images using a technique called ray-tracing, where each pixel is
affected by light sources, shadows, reflection, refraction etc. Merlin
offers an excellent 3D editor (until now Acorn machines have only had
textual script files with which you are meant to Édescribeæ your scene),
a texture/material editor and, of course, a ray-tracer. Its features
include texture-mapping, Phong and Gouraud shading, anti-aliasing,
polygons-into-lines, transparency, mist/fog, different classes of light-
sources, various cameras and the ability to import Draw and DXF
(professional CAD) files, and it is designed with ease-of-use in mind.
Merlin costs ú100á+ ú6 p&p + VAT from Evolution Computer oráú120
inclusive through Archive. (Merlin was reviewed in Archive 8.11 p9.)
9.1
Mission Control: Crystal Rain Forest 2 Ö Sherston Software are launching
a sequel to their much acclaimed package. This new package is an
adventure in its own right but it is aimed at control technology at Key
Stage 2. Mission Control costs ú44.95 +VAT or ú50 through Archive.
9.1
Oak SCSI cards Ö IFEL have limited quantities of the Oak SCSI card
available. Although somewhat dated, they are a popular interface and
compatible with a wide range of SCSI 1 devices (check with Jim
Nottingham about your specific combinations). The price from IFEL is
ú99+VAT. Ifáyou want CDFS v2.20 individual on the card, the price is
ú124 +VAT. Existing users of Oak cards can obtain CDFS v2.20 upgrades
direct from IFEL for ú25 +VAT.
9.1
OmniClient Ö This is designed to make the business of connecting RISC OS
machines to PC, UNIX and Apple networks as simple and cost-effective as
possible. It is a software-only solution, so no additional hardware is
required, which enables the sharing of hardware and software including
hard discs, printers, JPEGs, MPEGs and text files Ö all on the same
physical Ethernet network. It supports the use of NTServer, LanManager,
Windows for Workgroups, Windowsá95 and NFS as well as RISC OS solutions
such as Level 4 and Acorn Access, all through a single software
interface. It allows the transfer of data to Éselectedæ servers and
retrieval when required Ö this includes RISC OS applications. Files can
be simultaneously shared with RISC OS, PC and Apple machines, and
OmniClient provides a Éwhole-site networkæ for mixed environments.
OmniClient happily co-exists with all other Acorn networking solutions
and a site licence costs ú249 + VAT or ú275 inclusive through Archive.
If you are a lone Acorn computer user trying to link onto alien
networks, you can buy a single user copy of OmniClient from ANT Ltd for
ú50 +VAT or ú56 through Archive.
9.1
More (Stage 3) Talking Stories Ö Sherston have released another set of
their Talking Stories, based on popular stories from the Oxford
University Press ÉOxford Reading Treeæ scheme, as used in many schools.
The stories, narrated by Sinead Cusack, include Kipper the Clown,
Strawberry Jam, The Jumble Sale, At the Seaside, Kipperæs Idea and The
Snowman. More Talking Stories costs ú40 +VAT (ú45 through Archive) for
the single user version Ö site licences are also available.
9.1
Padlock Ö Base5 Technical Graphics have produced a desktop security
manager aimed mainly at schools and small businesses. Facilities include
password-controlled access, access privileges by group allocation, user
privileges set by supervisor, anti-theft protection for selected
applications, independent access control of directories, applications
and files, blanket cover of files by filetype, automatic user log
available to Supervisor, and optional additional anti-hacking
safeguards. The application comes in two versions: Padlock at ú49
inclusive from Base5 (no VAT) and Padlock Junior at ú15 inclusive, which
contains the main features of Padlock but not all, and does not include
the programmeræs documentation for the ÉSecureæ module which is at the
heart of the system.
9.1
Pop-up Cards is a novel idea from Southern Printers. Itæs a do-it-
yourself card-making package with designs for pop-up cards, front and
back type cards, and folded cards. Two compressed discs contain ready-
made templates that can be loaded into any package that takes drawfiles.
Once printed, the templates can then be cut out and assembled to produce
a variety of greetings cards. Coloured paper or card can be used to
brighten up cards printed on mono printers Ö there are even black and
white outlines for children to colour in, instead of using the coloured
examples. The pack comes with the two discs, an instruction manual with
ideas for using the designs, and a manual showing the designs contained
on the discs.
9.1
Pop-Up Cards costs ú14 or 24 for an educational site licence (fully
inclusive) from Southern Printers. Also available is a disc of the line
art drawings only for ú6.
9.1
Quad speed ATAPI CD-ROM drives Ö Eesox now have quad speed CD-ROM drives
available which are suitable for the RiscáPC and the A7000. They cost
ú145 + VAT + p&p from Eesox or ú170 inclusive through Archive.
9.1
RISCáOS 3.1 Ö Those of you who having been waiting to get hold of copies
of RISCáOS 3.1 will be pleased to know that, after several months delay,
some have come through. Not a lot, and we havenæt fulfilled all the back
orders yet but we are hopeful. Also, the way it is being sold has now
changed in that you can (will be able to!) buy the documentation
separately for ú25 inc p&p and the chip sets for ú35 per set through
Archive with discounts for bulk orders (3+) bringing the cost down
towards ú30 per set. So, the one-off set, including the documentation,
which was ú89 is now ú60 through Archive.
9.1
RSDFS Ö Remote Serial Disc Filing System is a program from ARMed Forces
which is designed to allow you to access the contents of the disc drives
on one computer from another. (It is ideal if you have just bought a
RiscáPC and are thinking, öI donæt fancy using floppy discs to get all
my files and applications across onto this new machine!ò Ed.) It is a
versatile system that allows the user easy access to remote file
resources in a variety of ways. You can link two machines, network up to
5 slaves and 1 server and view the hard drives of certain bulletin
boards, but this requires the more advanced version. The standard
version, which allows you to link two computers together, costs ú38 from
ARMed Forces or ú38 through Archive. (There is no discount because ARMed
Forces is not VAT registered, so we lose 17.5% of the ú38!) If you need
a serial lead to link the two machines, these cost ú12 through Archive.
The advanced version costs ú66 from ARMed Forces.
9.1
SchoolServer Ö The Acorn SchoolServer provides a complete fileserver
solution to meet schoolsæ networking needs, with the capability to
consolidate curriculum and administration networks. It uses a powerful
RISC-based (PowerPC, not ARM!) hardware server, offering high
performance, reliability and expansion capability, that comes supplied
with Microsoft Windows NT software, offering the latest in advanced
server software.
9.1
The Acorn SchoolServer can also be supplied with Acorn OmniClient which
is unique in offering the advantages of integrated networking in a mixed
environment of RISC OS, Apple Mac, PC and UNIX-based network stations,
and gives a consistent user interface to Acorn and other network
servers. There are two variants of the hardware and each can come with
or without OmniClient. The REPs are: ú5199 for the AS500 with OmniClient
and ú5099 without, ú7999 AS1000 with OmniClient and ú7899 without. The
SchoolServer is only available through Acorn Education Agents, i.e. not
from NCS.
9.1
Simon the Sorcerer Ö Taking advantage of the CD-ROM medium, Gamesware
have employed professional actors to bring speech to the game. Taking
the role of Simon is Chris Barrie of Red Dwarf fame. Simon the Sorcerer
is now available on CD, priced ú45.99 inc VAT from Gamesware or ú42
through Archive.
9.1
Sound upgrades (for RiscáPC) Ö For owners of existing RiscáPCs who want
SoundBlaster capabilities, there is a program available that will allow
you to play .WAV files. This will give you much of the functionality you
need, especially for CD¡ROMs. This is available free on the Acorn ftp
site but if you donæt have Internet access and have already bought a
sound upgrade from NCS, send a blank formatted disc and weæll send you a
copy. Otherwise, please send in an order for it to NCS with ú2 to cover
admin.
9.1
There will be, say Acorn, öa chargeable upgrade available in Novemberò
that will allow the use of Midi synthesis files which should then allow
PC games, etc, to be fully functional in terms of sound.
9.1
Twain Ö David Pilling has now produced Twain drivers for Agfa Arcus Plus
and the UMAX Vista S6 and S8 scanners. These are ú19 each through
Archive or ú53 if bought with ImageMaster.
9.1
VerbMaster-French Ö Version 1.10 of this Shareware aid to learning
French verbs is now available. New features include a variety of
configuration options for schools, the ability to Éturn offæ tenses and
some brief grammar text notes to accompany each tense. In addition, the
subjunctive mood has been added and many of the criticisms expressed in
Archiveæs review have been addressed, including a clearer, more user-
friendly test verb screen. For full details, an unregistered version
(ú1) or the full registered version (ú7.50), please contact: Nigel
Caplan, 33 Alwoodley Lane, Leeds, LS17 7PU.
9.1
Review software received...
9.1
We have received review copies of the following: ÅArtáStore Ö Looking at
Animals CD (e), ÅElementsáand Nuclides (e), ÅLand, Sea & Air CD (e),
ÅPop-up cards (he), ÅRemote Serial Disc Filing System, ÅVerbMaster
German (e), ÅVistamusic-3 (e).
9.2
10/10 at half price Ö All the 10 out of 10 products are currently on
offer through Archive for just ú12 each (rrp ú24.95). Subjects
available: Maths (Algebra) (6-16), Maths (Geometry) (6-16), Maths
(Number) (6-16) Maths (Statistics) (6-16), Essential Maths (5-12),
English (6-16), French (8-16), German (8-16), Essential Science (5-12),
Dinosaurs, Driving Test, Early Essentials (3-7), Junior Essentials (5-
11), Spelling (under 9).
9.2
Acorn Education Agency Ö Several schools are asking whether they can
still go on buying computers through NCS, despite Acornæs new Agency
scheme. There are two answers to that, both a qualified yes. First of
all, yes, you can buy computers from us at NCSæs own educational
discount prices. However, our discount prices are about 6% more than the
prices you would pay if you went direct to Acorn. Secondly, if you want
memory upgrades, CD-ROMs, etc, etc added to your computers, you can buy
from Acorn at their educational prices but have them delivered to NCS.
We will then install and test the extra bits and pieces and send the
computers on to you. Even if we have to make a fitting charge and a
carriage charge, it would still work out cheaper than buying the whole
system from us.
9.2
ANT Internet Suite Ö ANT Limited plans to launch its Internet Suite at
the Acorn World 95. The suite provides an easy-to-use integrated set of
programs including a full-featured World Wide Web browser, electronic
mail and Usenet news program, and FTP file transfer. Visitors to ANTæs
stand (80) will be able to buy copies, and there will be some special
offers for Internet users.
9.2
Archive (Internet) Glossary Ö We have created a glossary of Internet
terms which has now reached 12 pages (6,000+ words) long. (This is in
addition to our original glossary of 19 pages and 11,000+ words!) These
two glossaries are available on a disc in Impression, RTF and pure text
form costing ú5 through Archive. If you prefer a paper version, you can
buy a copy of the Archive Glossary Booklet. This is an A5 photocopied
booklet also costing ú5 through Archive. We have deliberately not
printed the booklet because it has to change so rapidly to keep abreast
with new terminology. The disc version is cheaper for us to produce but
is the same price because the price includes a free upgrade service Ö
just send the disc back at any time with a self-addressed adhesive label
and weæll update the disc for you.
9.2
(To increase the effectiveness of the Archive Glossary, please let me
know if there are any missing definitions, or if you disagree with any
of the definitions? Thanks Ed.)
9.2
ARM710 upgrades Ö Now that NCS is an Acorn Centre of Technology, we have
been given permission to sell the ARM710 upgrade(!). The cost through
Archive is ú147, with a credit note for ú30 if you return the old ARM610
processor card (or ú117 if you send the ARM610 with the order). We have
the ARM710 processors in stock, so the turnaround time should be quite
short if you want to save hassle by sending in your ARM610 card with the
order.
9.2
Bible Picture Library CD-ROM Ö Christian Computer Art have released
version 2 of their CD-ROM, containing over 3000 monochrome bit-map
pictures illustrating the Bible, and including all the pictures from the
Good News Bible. The pictures are all scanned at between 300-400 dpi and
are free of any known copyright (except for pictures from the Good News
Bible). A Thumbnail program is included to make viewing easier. Bible
Picture Library costs ú49 +VAT, p&p included. Copies are available on a
30-day trial period.
9.2
CD-ROM drives from Eesox Ö If you want a parallel port CD-ROM drive,
Eesox have improved the speed of their existing Bronze drives (ú205
through Archive) by 35%, to around 290 Kb/s. They have also added a
Bronze Elite drive to their range. This is a quad speed drive giving
over 500Kb/s data rate (<180ms seek time + 256Kb cache) and costs
ú254.47 +VAT from Eesox or ú299 through Archive.
9.2
Parallel port driver Ö Eesox have also developed a parallel port driver
that will allow their Bronze drives to work on PC compatibles. This
costs ú19.99 inc VAT from Eesox.
9.2
Parallel port conversion kits Ö If you have a SCSI CD-ROM drive and also
want to use it via a parallel port, Eesox can provide a special
conversion kit consisting of an adaptor cable and driver software. This
costs ú30 +VAT from Eesox or ú35 through Archive. This conversion kit
works with most SCSI CD-ROM drives. (Eesox also do a PC version at the
same price but this is not available through Archive.)
9.2
N.B. The quad speed Gold ATAPI drives mentioned last month (ú170 through
Archive) only work on the new RiscáPC and A7000, i.e. RISCáOS 3.6 or
later.
9.2
Chris the Bat is a CD-ROM from the Department of Theology and Religious
Studies at the University of Wales. In the story, Chris (the Bat) is
concerned to save his home, an old church condemned to demolition. With
the help of the church mice, they set off to find parts of a treasure
map that they think will save the building. On the journey, they learn
that real treasure is not what they thought and thereby save the church
but lose the building! The program consists of up to 900 full colour
photographs and various interactive games that test pupilsæ
understanding of the material studied. The program explores three
Christian denominations, as well as some of the parables of Jesus Ö itæs
aimed key stage 2/3.
9.2
Version 2 of Chris the Bat and another title, Christian Celebrations
(Key Stage 3), will be available in October from: Rev Michael Morris,
Computers & RE Project, University of Wales, Lampeter, Dyfed, Wales SA48
7ED, price ú55 +VAT.
9.2
Clipart CD Ö The second clipart CD from David Holdenæs APDL is being
made available as we go to press. It is similar in concept to the first
CD, but is all new, with nothing repeated, and has an on-disc viewing
program. The price of the new CD is ú24.50. But, if you have a copy of
the first CD, and are going to the Acorn Show, bring it with you and
Dave will give you a special price for volume 2. Dave also promises to
have at least one PD CD ready for the show, priced at ú19.50.
9.2
Creative Curriculum Software has several new releases. Language Master
builds on the successful concept of ÉSpelling Bookæ which was launched
earlier this year. Language Master does not replace Spelling Book but
provides easy and instant access, from any Acorn Word Processor/DTP
package, to your own lists of words and phrases. User configurable into
any one of four different languages Ö English, French, German and
Spanish Ö this powerful package is suitable for all ages. Language
Master is ú49 (single user), ú89 for a 10-user licence or ú199 for a
site/network. When Report Writer was first released, it was considered
to be a very flexible pupil reporting system. Now, with the new National
Curriculum, Report Writer has been completely redesigned to make it
suitable for reporting on any topic Ö not just for use in Education!
Report Writer (single user) is ú39 (without the new National
Curriculum), ú89 for a 10-user licence or ú199 for a site/network. The
new National Curriculum is ú10 when purchased at the same time as Report
Writer, or úl5 purchased separately. Easimenu is a new Menu System which
allows any Hard Disc RISC OS computer to be set up with a tailor-made
menu. Very easy to use and designed for Primary Schools and on networks
in particular, EasiMenu is only ú14.95 (single user) or ú39 for a site
licence. Magic Maths is a package for learning mental arithmetic and is
designed for Primary School and home use (and for some adults!). Magic
Maths (single user) is ú25.49 or ú89 for a site/network licence. All
prices are ex VAT.
9.2
Fast IDE Interface Ö RapIDE from Yellowstone Educational Solutions is a
32-bit DMA-based interface for the Risc PC. The interface provides
vastly increased throughput. Using alternative drives it is possible to
achieve reading speeds in excess of 8Mb per second with 32-bit direct
memory access. It provides two IDE ports, allowing up to four devices to
be connected, including IDE CD-ROMs. The RapIDE interface costs ú99
+VAT, +ú5 p&p per order.
9.2
Front_end allows users with learning difficulties to load their own
programs easily. Used in place of the desktop, it allows users to type
in their name and be shown only the programs and files they use, without
the need to work their way down a complicated directory structure.
Front_end will also help to prevent accidental messing up of your hard
disc. Requires RISC OS 3 or above. A single users licence costs ú29
+VAT, from NW SEMERC.
9.2
Hard drive price shake-up Ö Two factors are affecting the supply of hard
drives. For fixed hard drives, the coming of memory-hungry Windowsá95
has meant that it is almost impossible to buy a drive less than 500Mb.
The good news is that the 1Gb SCSI drives are now the same price as
340Mb drives were 12 months ago and 4Gb drives are almost as cheap as
1Gb drives were then. The new prices are given in the Price List
Supplement. There is also now a 1Gb IDE internal drive at under ú300 inc
VAT, carriage, fitting kit, and full fitting instructions!
9.2
On the removable drive scene, the much heralded (but not yet quite
available) 135Mb removable drive is affecting the prices of the other
removable drives which have all dropped quite markedly this month. See
the price list for details. The new 135Mb drives when they come
(possibly November) will be completely incompatible with any of the
other drives but have the advantage of being somewhat cheaper. Prices
arenæt fixed yet but it looks as if an external SCSI drive will be about
ú290 inclusive through Archive (cf ú450 for the 270Mb), an internal IDE
will probably be about ú250 (ú370 for 270Mb) and the cartridges about
ú20. If you are just using the removable for backup, the lower price per
Mb of the media is helpful although with hard drives now being 500Mb
minimum, 135Mb is beginning to look a bit small as a backup medium!
Also, if, like me, you want to use them for carrying transient data
around, the speed of the 270Mb drives and the fact that you have more
data on each cartridge will make the 135æs less attractive.
9.2
HTMLEdit is the first commercial, Internet Web Page Authoring System for
Acorn machines. Similar packages have been available for Windows and
Unix for some time, but Acorn owners have been forced to struggle with a
standard text editor. R-Compæs package has been distributed thus far via
the Internet, but the fully packaged version will be available for the
first time at Acorn World. Priced at just ú30 (no VAT) inc p&p, HTMLEdit
represents good value for professional Web Page creation, and is well
within the reach of the home user. ShortCuts, also from R¡Comp, is a
totally new release for the show. This suite of utilities permits
automation of repetitive tasks, such as loading applications, opening
work directories, viewing the contents of discs, and many more. Designed
primarily for ease of use, a flexible short cut editing tool allows the
creation of batch jobs via drag and drop. Several other time-saving
utilities are included, and the whole package retails at ú15 (no VAT)
inc p&p. R-Comp will be on stand 40 at the show.
9.2
InterLink from Liquid Silicon allows the transfer of files and
applications between 32-bit Acorn computers via a serial and or/parallel
link. It is particularly useful for transferring lots of small files or
for transferring large files which will not fit on a floppy disc, e.g.
colour scans, PhotoCD images and Replay files. The parallel cable
versions offer faster rates than serial, though serial cables can run to
over 50 metres in length. A talk option is also included which allows
messages to be passed between the two machines.
9.2
InterLink requires RISC OS 3.10 or later. A300, 400, 500 and the A3000
can only transmit through the parallel port, and so to receive files,
the serial option will have to be used (you can send files via parallel
and receive via serial, hence the option to buy both versions at once).
The prices (inc VAT and p&p) are: Serial 2m ú29.95; 5m ú31.95; 10m
ú35.95. Parallel 2m ú31.95; 5m ú35.95; 10m ú42.95. Serial + parallel 2m
ú43.90; 5m ú49.90; 10m ú60.90.
9.2
Padlock = WatchDog Ö The PadLock application mentioned last month (p7)
has been renamed. This is because an application of the same name
already exists (produced by ICS). Neither Acorn nor Archive knew of the
pre-existing product but, nonetheless, Base5 have changed their product
name to WatchDog, and the Junior version becomes WatchPup!
9.2
Physics Tutor from Kinetic Computing, is a very easy-to-use, but
powerful teaching and revision aid aimed at pupils studying for GCSE
Physics exams. It has a multiple choice format and most questions relate
to a specific statement in the current NEAB syllabus. There are a total
of 270 questions, and students are given the opportunity to re-attempt
all the questions they have answered incorrectly. Also available are
Biology and Chemistry versions in the same vein.
9.2
Physics Tutor will work on all RISC OS computers with a hard disc, 1Mb
of RAM and running RISC 3.0 or later. Site licence: ú120 for each
subject, with all three available for ú250. The individual price on a
stand alone computer is ú25 for each subject or ú49 for all three.
9.2
SENstore is a program designed to help take the burden out of writing
individual education plans for special needs children. It lets you
create a report with up to five different report headings and 15
different topic headings of your choice, simply by clicking the mouse.
It comes with over 750 comments about Strengths, Weaknesses, Targets,
Action Plans, Monitoring, Review and Assessment, across a wide range of
subjects. Itæs easy to alter these or add your own, and you can store up
to 3,750 comments on a hard disc or 1.6Mb floppy disc. SENstore costs
ú34.95 (or ú5 for a working demo version) from NW SEMERC.
9.2
Speak is a software speech system which allows you to listen to text
files. Text may be spoken continuously, or a word or clause at a time.
Various talk-as-you-type options are provided, and simple editing may be
performed while the text is being spoken. The Speak speech system is
already being used within third party educational software, and can be
found in a number of products, including Clicker, Writing with Symbols,
TalkWrite and Talking TextEase. The Speak module and its data takes
about 150Kb, and will run on any Acorn RISC computer. Itácontains a
comprehensive pronunciation dictionary, as well as an exceptions editor.
It costs ú19.50 inclusive, or ú1.50 for a demo version from NW SEMERC.
9.2
Textease 2 and Talking Textease Ö For creative productivity, ease of use
is far more important than functionality and there is no DTP package
easier to use than Textease which has now reached version two. The new
version allows text to be rotated (and still be edited), JPEG support on
RISC OS 3.60, drag and drop editing, Object Linking & Embedding (OLE),
an ellipse tool, arrow heads on lines, customisable button bar. Talking
Textease is the same as Textease with the addition of an extra button on
the button bar to make it start talking Ö highlighting each word as it
is spoken. There is also an option to talk as you type. Textease version
2 costs ú49 +VAT from Softease and Talking Textease is ú65 +VAT or ú55
and ú73 through Archive.
9.2
Touch IT is a touch screen from SEMERC. It is a robust infra-red touch
screen that fixes firmly over the front of 14ö monitors using strong
adhesive anchor pads. The user simply has to touch the computer screen
to play a game etc. This eliminates the complications of using the
keyboard, mouse or switches, allowing users to commit their attention to
the task in hand. The Touch IT comes with a driver disc to allow it to
emulate the mouse. This makes the mouse pointer follow your finger as
you move it around the screen, so you can use the Touch IT with any
software that normally uses the mouse. It fits most 14ò Acorn monitors
(not metal-cased Microvitec ones) Ö you can ring SEMERC if you have
anything unusual. Touch IT costs ú229 +VAT.
9.2
Trellis Adventure Interpreter has been upgraded by Soft Rock Software.
The major change is the addition of graphics. Trellis now displays a
drawfile along with each location in the game, a facility which has been
added thanks to Acornæs drawfile rendering module. The new version is
supplied on two 800Kb discs and, after December 31st, will be priced at
ú8.99 including p&p. Until then, the price will be held to ú7.99.
Existing users of the present version will be sent free upgrades.
9.2
TV splitter cables Ö A complete and inexpensive range of splitter cables
is now available from Eastmond Publishing Ltd (see 8.11 p29). Designed
in association with Acorn Computers, they allow any Acorn computer and
monitor to be connected to a classroom TV. The leads come with stereo
audio link and cost between ú13.50 and ú17.50 (depending on type) +VAT
and p&p.
9.2
Worldæs Weather CD-ROM Ö This CD-ROM from Anglia Multimedia focuses on
the National Curriculum at Key Stage 3, in Geography and Science. The
Worldæs Weather disc offers four principal sections, dealing with
Processes in the Atmosphere, Changing Seasons, Weather and Climate, and
Life in Different Climate Zones. Each section offers the student the
chance to dig more deeply into the subject, with the aid of photographs,
drawings, video and animation sequences. At all stages, text and images
can be extracted from the disc for students to use in their own project
or exam work. The Worldæs Weather costs ú50 +VAT or ú56 through Archive.
9.2
Review software received...
9.2
We have received review copies of the following: ÅBible Picture Library
CD (ae), ÅChris the Bat (e), ÅChristian Celebrations (e), ÅGuardians of
the Greenwood CD (e), ÅSpeak (e), ÅTrellis (u), ÅVistamusic-3 (music
package for the non-keyboard player).
9.2
Products Available
9.3
A4 portables Ö Due to popular demand and to satisfy outstanding orders,
Acorn is building a further 400 or so A4 portables. In addition, Acorn
has made spare part provision to support the product for three years.
However, this will be the final build of the A4 and is the final
opportunity for customers to purchase the portable. The A4s are now
available at the special price of ú1350 inclusive through Archive. A 3-
year extended warranty is available for a further ú150. The A4 is 4Mb
RAM, 80Mb HD and comes with Acorn PC Soft and MS DOS as standard.
9.3
Statement from Acorn... Acorn is continuing to research and develop
notebook portable technology, recognising that there is a requirement
for desktop equivalent notebooks in education, in small numbers, as a
specialist resource. However, there are currently no plans to market a
successor to the A4 until the price of colour screen technology comes
down and the performance of notebook battery technology improves to
allow use of long lasting, long battery life portable product that
education needs.
9.3
Acornæs success with the Pocket Book has demonstrated that palmtop
technology offers a tremendous growth opportunity for the application of
portable IT in education. The Pocket Book performs most of the functions
that a Notebook system is typically used for, but at a fraction of the
cost, and with the advantages of greater portability and longer battery
life.
9.3
Acorn prices Ö At the introduction of the Acorn Education Agency scheme,
Acorn severely reduced the discount offered to non-Agency dealers. What
we were not told at the time was that the same discounts were applied to
ALL Acorn products including software. As a result, virtually all
Archive prices for Acorn equipment have had to rise, in some case above
r.r.p. because the prices we quote include carriage. Otherwise, we would
end up selling things like manuals and software at a loss because they
are so heavy and the p&p is so high. (Is there any other computer
company that sells software to dealers at the same, tiny, discount as
they do hardware?!)
9.3
ACross is a crossword program from Kudos Computing. It uses a dictionary
of answers and clues, plus a pattern-matching engine, to create fully
symmetrical random crosswords. The program has been designed in a
modular fashion to allow additional dictionaries of clues and answers to
be added later. The dictionaries themselves have been graded for
different ability levels and Kudos will be monitoring usersæ feelings
about the grading to ensure the methods they employ are fair. The first
dictionary supplied, Quick 1, is based around short answers of 3 to 6
letters and a grid size of 3 to 11 squares; difficulty levels are hard,
medium and easy. ACross costs ú24.99 inclusive plus ú1.50 p&p.
9.3
ANT Internet Suite Ö This is an integrated set of programs and utilities
to make Internet access easy for Acorn computer users. It includes:
Dialler Ö an easy-to-use setup utility to get on line without any fuss.
Fresco Ö a fast and powerful World Wide Web browser which fully
implements HTML 2.0, supports forms, HTML 3.0 and Netscape extensions,
and gives you access to mail, FTP and Gopher direct from the web. Marcel
Ö an advanced electronic mail and Usenet news program for sending and
receiving text and program files, and reading and posting news articles.
It features support for SMTP and POP3 as well as MIME and IMAP
protocols. FTP Ö file transfer for uploads and downloads from remote
computers. Utilities Ö search and set up utilities including Ping. All
the programs work together in a consistent and interface-compliant
manner. The price for the professional version will be ú99 +VAT from
ANT.
9.3
ARM700 upgrades Ö By all accounts, it looks as if this is a product that
will NOT be available. The pressure on ARM Ltd is to produce faster and
better non-floating point processors, so the next ARM upgrade is likely
to be an 810, although we donæt yet know when that will be coming. If
you are waiting for an ARM700, you can either have a credit or take an
ARM710 which is virtually the same price as the ARM700 was going to be.
Give us a ring if you are not sure what to do and want further advice.
9.3
ATAPI CD-ROM drives Ö (This isnæt a Product Available but I thought this
was the best place to put this comment to draw attention to it.) As I
understood it from an article in Computer Shopper, the point of ATAPI
(as on the new RiscáPC 600/700s) is that you can have a CD drive as well
as two hard drives. So this is what we have been telling everyone they
can do with their new RiscáPC! However, Acornæs Technical Support
Department assures me that they can only have two devices Ö two hard
drives OR the hard drive and a CD drive. That means you have to go to
SCSI for a second hard drive if you want to use an ATAPI drive. Sorry
for creating confusion!
9.3
If you want to use the CD-ROM that is currently sitting on your shelf,
you could buy a RapIDE32 IDE interface costing ú119 + ú5 p&p +VAT from
Yellowstone Educational Solutions Ö see Products Available for details.
This allows you to use four IDE devices in addition to the two provided
by the Acorn interface. They hope too that it will soon support
removable media.
9.3
Audio mixing card Ö This allows the older models of Risc PC (ACB15,
ACB25, ACB45) to take the audio output from a CD-ROM drive and channel
it through the computeræs internal sound system. It works happily with
or without the 16-bit Éminnieæ sound card and also has a gain control to
allow you to set the volume of the CD to best match the rest of the
sound system. The Archive price is ú44 inclusive.
9.3
Bible Picture Library CD-ROM for use on RISC OS machines, mentioned in
Archive 9.2, is available for ú49 inclusive from: Ian Gooding, 18
Larksfield, Covingham, Swindon, SN3 5AD Ö a CD on 30 day trial is also
available from the same address.
9.3
BJC4000 cartridges Ö When the ink runs out on your new BJC4000, the
first thing to do is buy some new ink tanks. These are available through
Archive at ú7 for a black ink tank and ú17 for the colour tank. When
youæve done so many sheets (the manual suggests 5,000, I think), they
say you should replace the printhead, so you would buy a Éblack
cartridge plus printheadæ for ú28 through Archive and a Écolour
cartridge and printheadæ for ú40.
9.3
BJC600 special price Ö One company still has supplies of the BJC600
which we can sell (while stocks last) for ú370. The BJC600 Éonlyæ does
360╫360dpi while the 600e (at ú430) does 720╫360dpi.
9.3
Doodle from SEMERC is a new musical painting package. It provides
nursery and reception children, as well as special needs students, with
a simple introduction to Paint-type programs. The program uses twenty
four colours, and comes with a thin and thick pencil tool and a fill
tool. Each colour is associated with a different sound which plays low
if the colour is placed towards the bottom of the screen, and goes
higher as you move up the screen. Pictures are saved as Paint files and
can be printed or placed into other software packages. Doodle also works
with SEMERCæs new Touch IT touchscreen. Doodle costs ú20 +VAT from
SEMERC.
9.3
Freddy Teddy from Topologika has a new title in the series called
Directions. Freddy has to find his way to various places in his town.
Movement is around a map using either up/down/left/right commands, or
Logo-like inputs such as turn left/right/forward/backwards. Children are
given a list of five destinations, chosen at random, which Freddy must
visit. Each place provides a simple animation to watch, and at the end
thereæs a certificate to fill in showing what happened at each location.
Directions is aimed at Key Stage 1, is available for all Acorn computers
and costs ú20 +VAT +ú2.50 p&p from Topologika or ú25 through Archive.
9.3
HolyBible is now also available in Greek, Hebrew and the Good News
Version. The GNB module costs ú45 +VAT or ú51 through Archive. The Greek
and Hebrew modules cost ú25 +VAT each or ú28 through Archive, and the
Greek and Hebrew fonts ú20 +VAT or ú22 through Archive. Output from the
Hebrew Old Testament can be output to Impression and Easiwriter Pro
although only in the latter can it be edited (because Hebrew is right-
to-left reading!).
9.3
Iiyama 21ö monitors Ö One customer drew our attention to the fact that
the specifications of the two Iiyama 21ò monitors are almost identical
except that one is 3kg heavier and costs ú100 more! The 0.30mm aperture
grille of the 21 Pro is about equivalent to the 0.27mm dot pitch of the
21 FST, so what is the difference in practical terms? Having talked
Iiyama, they say that the 21 FST is the better of the two in terms of
crispness of text display and the 21 Pro is better in terms of colour
definition. So, you pays your money... the 21 FST is ú1490 and the 21
Pro is ú1590 through Archive.
9.3
(We havenæt had a chance to look at the new 17ö Iiyama yet but we have
seen the new 17ò Pro Diatron monitor in action on a RiscáPC and it is
really excellent. If you put it alongside the Acorn 17ö, you can
certainly see the difference Ö it is a noticeably clearer and crisper
display, as visitors to the NCS stand at Acorn World 95 will be able to
attest. Ed.)
9.3
Mechanisms is the first CD-ROM in the Technology Series from Creative
Curriculum Software. It took two years to develop and contains over 1000
pages of information. Drawing on examples from the home, industry and
history, Mechanisms uses pictures, photos, diagrams and overlays to
display the material. To accompany the CD-ROM, Creative Curriculum
Software supply an educational Resource Pack which includes suggested
project work. Mechanisms costs ú69 +VAT for a single user version and
ú99 +VAT for a site/network licence. (ú79 and ú115 respectively through
Archive.) Both versions include the Resource Pack and come on a dual
format CD-ROM.
9.3
Occasion is a diary and personal organiser for RISC OS machines from
ExpLAN Software. It provides a calendar, diary, address book, phone book
and notebook and can be used by a single user or across a network. The
calendar can be set to any year from 1970 onwards and acts as the access
for the diary. Clicking on any day opens the diary page in one (or both)
of two formats, either a listing of the events for a single day split
into birthdays, anniversaries, reminders and appointments, or
appointments for a week at a time. The address book can assign names and
addresses to six definable categories, and the print facility can be
used for producing labels as well as pages for inclusion in a paper
diary. The phone book includes two diallers, either via DTMF tones on
the machineæs speaker, or via the serial port and a modem. The notebook
incorporates a text editor for writing short items of text. One of
Occasionæs major features is its ability to cross-update information
between Acornæs Schedule, running on a Pocket Book, or Agenda on a Psion
Series 3; data can be loaded into Occasion from either, and then
transferred to the other.
9.3
Occasion comes in two variants: Family Occasion operates on a single
desktop with cross updating to multiple Pocket Books and costs ú69.95
inclusive or ú67 through Archive. A second variation, Gala Occasion,
operates on networked computers and so costs more. For full details
about Gala, ExpLAN suggest you talk to them first to see if itæs
appropriate for your needs.
9.3
PC Card Cooler Ö If you are worried about the high temperature of the PC
card in your RiscáPC, the new PCáCard Cooler, costing ú21 from Repair
Zone is what you need. It consists of a fan which is attached to the
card, draws its power from the connectors on the main circuit board and
creates a continuous blast of air over the surface of the 486 chip. It
reduces the working temperature of the chip quite considerably.
9.3
If you would like to order a PC Card Cooler, send a cheque for ú21,
payable to öRepair Zoneò, either to the NCS office (and we will pass it
on) or direct to Repair Zone.
9.3
PC Cards from Acorn Ö Acorn are producing two faster PC co-processor
cards for the Risc PC. One is to be a 486DX2-66 and will retail for ú249
+VAT and the other is to be a 486DX4-100 and will be ú299 +VAT. Both of
these cards will have socketed processors so that you can upgrade them
at a later date. The current word from Acorn is that they will be
available by the end of November. Whenever they do become available, we
expect to sell them for ú293 and ú351 respectively, regardless of
whether they are bought with or without a computer.
9.3
Pentium class PC card Ö Aleph One are producing a Pentium class PC co-
processor card for the Risc PC. It uses the new Gemini 2 ASIC and the
processor is a Cyrix 5x86 running at 100MHz. This costs ú549 +VAT from
Aleph One or ú645 through Archive.
9.3
PC Exchange Ö This is a means of directly transferring text, graphics
and other data between the drag and drop environment of RISC OS and the
Windows clipboard. It consists of a RISC OS application which displays a
window showing the contents of the Windows clipboard as file icons which
you can drag in or out to wherever you like, and a Windows program öthe
inside manò to watch over the clipboard. ASCII text is automatically
translated between PC and Acorn format and sprites are also converted to
and from Windows Bitmaps on the fly. PC Exchange is ú26 inclusive from
NCS.
9.3
!PCx86 update Ö This is (currently) version 1.91 of the Risc PC co-
processor card software. It now supports SoundBlaster emulation for the
playback of .WAV files (sound samples) and also passes MIDI information
on to any MIDI synthesizer that you might have such as a PowerWAVE or
ESPæs exciting new software-only MIDI synthesizer which should be
available in time for next monthæs Archive. !PCx86 can be obtained from
Acornæs ftp server   (ftp://ftp.acorn.co.uk/pub/riscos/releases/pccard/
pcx86.arc) or, if you prefer to have printed documentation, it is
available for ú10 from NCS.
9.3
Pocket Book II Ö The 512Kb Pocket Book II has finally been withdrawn and
replaced by the 1Mb version at ú335 inc VAT through Archive. The 256Kb
version (ú241 through Archive) is stilláavailable.
9.3
RiscáPC extended warranties Ö A more flexible approach to extended
warranties has now been adopted by Acorn. The cost is, simply, 3% of the
purchase price of the computer and its Acorn-badged upgrades per extra
year of warranty, i.e. to extend the warranty to three years (two extra)
is 6% and to extend it to five years (four extra) is 12%.
9.3
SENstore is a program designed to help take the burden out of writing
individual education plans for special needs children. It lets you
create a report with up to five different report headings and fifteen
different topic headings of your choice, simply by clicking the mouse.
It comes with over 750 comments about Strengths, Weaknesses, Targets,
Action Plans, Monitoring, Review and Assessment, across a wide range of
subjects. Itæs easy to alter these or add your own, and you can store up
to 3,750 comments on a hard disc or 1.6Mb floppy disc. SENstore costs
ú34.95 (or ú5 for a working demo version) from HS Software.
9.3
Sibelius version 3 Ö The new version of Sibelius should be available by
the time you read this (ömid-Novemberò). The two main enhancements are
ÉFlexi-timeæ which allows you to use a Midi keyboard to enter music into
the computer in real time, and standard Midi file conversion so that
files can be transferred to Sibelius from other music programs.
9.3
Sibelius is also now available in three configurations with increasing
functionality (and increasing price!) Ö Sibelius 6, Sibelius 7 Student
and Sibelius 7 Professional. The prices are as follows (Archive prices
in brackets):
9.3
Sibelius 6 Ö ú179 + VAT (ú200)
9.3
Sibelius 7 Student Ö ú495 + VAT (ú550)
9.3
Sibelius 7 Professional Ö ú888 + VAT (ú990)
9.3
Site licences are also available although the new prices are not fixed
as yet. Ring the NCS office if you are interested in a site licence.
9.3
Speak is a software speech system which allows you to listen to text
files. Text may be spoken continuously, or a word or clause at a time.
Various talk-as-you-type options are provided, and simple editing may be
performed while the text is being spoken. The Speak speech system is
already being used within third party educational software, and can be
found in a number of products, including Clicker, Writing with Symbols,
TalkWrite and Talking TextEase. The Speak module and its data takes
about 150Kb, and will run on any Acorn RISC computer. Itácontains a
comprehensive pronunciation dictionary, as well as an exceptions editor.
It costs ú19.50 inclusive, or ú1.50 for a demo version from Jonathan
Duddington (address in Factfile).
9.3
Spobbleoid is the latest offering from Fourth Dimension and (so they
say!) carries an EC health warning Ö ÉThis game is highly addictive: Do
not start a game when you are restricted by timeæ!!! Apartáfrom the
usual Fourth Dimensional humour, Spobbleoid has 72 levels, set over 12
action zones; 2.5 Mb of visuals; 8 channel stereo FX, including 11
original soundtracks; a level designer where you can create your own
mayhem; and 50 fps action with three parallax scrolling, mixed by Graeme
Richardson. The game features a chap called Spobbleoid, a small robotic
orange, whose mission is to save Earth from the evil alien Pepperpots;
their aim is to steal all the edible things from earth. Your job is to
help Spobbleoid by collecting all of the objects on every level and
splat all the monsters on the way. Spobbleoid costs ú29.95 from Fourth
Dimension or ú28 through Archive.
9.3
The Big Picture is an image-processing package from Longman Logotron
that takes full advantage of the excellent graphics offered by the
RiscáPC, while remaining accessible to owners of single MByte machines.
With The Big Picture, it is possible to create and edit images in 16.7
million colours and print on any sized paper, even posters. Big effects
can be created on modest machined using The Big Pictureæs virtual memory
system. Images, including photographs and video stills, can be captured,
retouched and altered with the Big Picturesæs graphics capability. It
supports JPEG, PhotoCD, GIF, TIF, sprites, and Clearfiles. It can also
accept drawfiles which it translates into bit-images.
9.3
The Big Picture costs ú69 +VAT from Longman Logotron or ú77 through
Archive. For existing users of Revelation ImagePro, it is possible to
upgrade to the Big Picture by sending Longman Logotron the ImagePro
program disc and a cheque for ú37 inclusive. A site licence upgrade
costs ú84.60.
9.3
Timebase from Widget Software is a program for recording how much time
you spend on particular projects. Using the built-in clock of the Psion
3a/Pocket Book II, you can record how much time you spend on a job,
input the hourly rate you charge, then get a print out of how much to
bill clients. Timebase allows you to charge at different rates,
depending on what it is you are doing; it will even give you a summary
of work in progress telling you how much you would get if you billed
someone today. Timebase is for use on the Psion 3a/Pocket Book II and
costs ú49.95 inclusive for the floppy disc version or ú69.95 for SSD.
9.3
World Development Database from Worldaware Software has been updated.
The new edition has 20 more countries (bringing the total to 149)
including the Énewæ European countries. The data comes in several
formats, including CSV and Key Plus, and covers such things as: economy,
environment and health, population growth, school enrolment, access to
safe water, etc. The User Handbook has Key Stage 3 and 4 geography and
mathematics course-work, with teachersæ notes and photocopiable
worksheets. The World Development Database is available for ú35 as a
single user set, consisting of User Handbook, the Worldæs Bankæs
Development Data Book. The Environmental Data Book, and data disc. The
ú68 site licence pack includes extra Data Books and a copiable disc.
These are available from Worldaware Software.
9.3
Talking Calculator from Wyddfa Software is a large add and subtract
calculator for Key Stage 1 which uses sampled sounds to teach basic
numbers and number skills. Using the mouse and pointer, children select
numbers and operations to help them with their sums. The computer
displays the numbers as apples or coloured pencils, and speaks them at
the same time. Teachers can choose from four ranges of numbers, and so
vary the size, and hence the difficulty, of the sums that can be input.
Talking Calculator costs ú16 inc VAT from Wyddfa Software.
9.3
Review software received...
9.3
We have received review copies of the following: ÅACross (g), ÅAPDL DTP2
CD (aeu), ÅAPDL PDCD 1&2 (aeu), ÅMechanisms CD (e), ÅSpobbleoid (g),
ÅTalking Stories (Gwen goes to School and Gwenæs Nose) (e), ÅTrellis
(u), ÅVistamusic-3 (music package for the non-keyboard player).
9.3
Products Available
9.4
Alone In The Dark Ö (Alex Card says) This is a fine conversion of a
classic graphical adventure game, the first part of the now finished
trilogy from the PC scene. It has superb 3D polygon graphics and
brilliant atmospheric sound effects. Alone in the Dark costs ú34.99 from
Krisalis or ú33 through Archive.
9.4
Anglia Multimedia now have 20 educational CD-ROMs in their collection.
Two of their more recent titles are Vikings and Seashore Life.
9.4
Vikings takes the user back a thousand years to the sights and sounds of
Viking village life, as recreated by the York Archaeological Trustæs
Jorvik Centre. Characters in the Viking village all speak to explain
their lives and surroundings. Warfare and day-to-day life, craft skills
and husbandry are all brought to life through audio, still photography,
animations and video. The saga of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer illustrates
how the Viking people recorded their own history, and a multiplicity of
maps show Viking origins and their settlement in the British Isles.
Toáassist teachers understand the benefits of CD¡ROM in the classroom,
the disc contains a range of information sheets and worksheets, with
ideas for pupils to follow through.
9.4
Seashore Life, aimed at children in the 7Ö11 range, is the follow-up to
Garden Wildlife, and shows children the range of animals and plants to
be found around the British coastline. All the principal text is
included as sound files and there are video clips from Angliaæs Survival
programmes. For classroom use, Seashore Life is supported with a range
of fifteen activity sheets which help children gain the maximum benefit
from the disc. Making the lighthouse your base, you can choose to learn
about animal classification, or watch videos and animations on TV.
9.4
Both discs are available for Acorn machines, but they work also on Macs
and PCs. They cost ú40 +VAT or ú45 through Archive.
9.4
Anagram Genius is a program to create your own anagrams. It produces
multi-word anagrams and tries to make them relevant to the subject. Each
anagram is individually scored to select, say, the best five hundred.
Searching is very quick, allowing long names, or even short phrases, to
be processed in a very short time Ö short or medium length texts can be
searched in just a few seconds. Options within the program allow the
user to choose between male, female or inanimate phrases; satire,
flattery or normal; with subject matter being political, business or
computer-related. There is a function to allow vulgar words or dropped
ÉHæs to be used. Include with Anagram Genius is a Features application
which allows the user to disable certain functions on the master disc,
making it more suitable for younger children. Anagram Genius costs
ú19.95 from the 4tháDimension or ú19 through Archive.
9.4
Ancestry II is the long awaited follow-up to Ancestry, the RISC OS
genealogy program from Minerva. The software is essentially a database
of individual personsæ records, some linked by partnership of birth
records, to build up the genealogical information. The program has been
redesigned to take full advantage of the RISC OS desktop with
flexibility and ease of use very much to the fore. Files may include any
number of variable length fields which may contain simple text, dates,
sprites, drawfiles, scanned images or almost anything the user wishes to
record. Data can be viewed and printed in a wide variety of ways, or
exported to other applications. Among its features are: unlimited file
and record size; DTP-style control over record layout; tiled output of
large reports; export in Draw and text files; import and export in
GEDCOM format; full colour output; WYSIWYG for all reports and
printouts; a wide range of tree displays including descendants and
ancestors. Ancestry II comes supplied with a data file containing
information on 19ágenerations of the British Royal Family, and costs
ú99.95 inc VAT or ú95 through Archive.
9.4
Ant Internet Suite Ö This suite including email, Web browser, Usenet,
ftp and a terminal emulator (as used by the Archive Editor!!) is now
available from NCS for ú115 inclusive. (ú99 +VAT from Ant Ltd.)
9.4
Archive price rise Ö With the rising cost of paper, etc, we have
decided, reluctantly, to raise the price of a yearæs Archive
subscription from ú22 (UK) to ú25. The overseas rates also rise by ú3
each. This rise will take effect from 31st January 1996, so you have a
month or so to renew at the old rate if you wish.
9.4
ArcTerm7 Ö This well-established terminal software package (originally
from The Serial Port) is now available from Atomwide at ú78 +VAT or ú87
inclusive through Archive.
9.4
Arm Club CD-ROM Ö The Arm Club have put together their best PD and
Shareware collection onto a single CD-ROM disc. Itæs available from them
for ú19.50 fully inclusive.
9.4
CD-Seven CD-ROM drives Ö We have found a source of CD drives that will
take seven CDs at a time. The CDs are fed in one at a time and they can
be selectively ejected one at a time. These are external SCSI 2 devices,
and there are two speeds available, dual and quad. (Nothing surprising
so far, but the staggering thing is the price...) The dual speed seven-
CD drive is only ú350 (including SCSI 2 cable, case, Eesox SCSI driver,
delivery and VAT) and the quad speed is only ú435. If you compare this
with the Eesox speed single CD drives (dual ú205, quad ú250), you can
see that a seven-CD drive costs less than the price of two single CD
drives!
9.4
The technical specs for the two drives are: data transfer rate 300/
600Kb/s (sustained) and 1500/2800Kb/s (burst), buffer memory 64/128Kb,
access time 380/350ms, and both drives are fully PhotoCD compatible.
9.4
CD Tracker Ö This CD player/database was reviewed last month (page 77).
Unfortunately, the pricing was given as ú12.72 but it did not say that
this does not include VAT. The full price is therefore ú14.95 (+ú1 p&p).
However, because the review was so favourable, Werewolf software have
agreed to offer a special price to Archive subscribers of ú12.72 (+ú1
p&p) inclusive for two weeks following this issue, i.e. until 31st
December 1995 (Christmas post permitting!).
9.4
Command Ship Ö Due to diminishing supplies of natural resources, the
Stellar Mining Corporation despatch the deep space mining ship
Andromeda, Time is short and new mining fields must be established and
old ones brought back on-line. öA superb mix of arcade action, logic
puzzles and top quality graphicsò, say TBA Software. Command Ship costs
ú24.99 from TBA or ú24 through Archive.
9.4
Cumana products (NOT now available) Ö During November, Cumana Ltd went
into administrative receivership, hoping to find a buyer to rescue the
company. Sadly, this was not possible and so they have had to close
down. We are selling off all our Cumana hardware cheaply and will do
what we can to help should anyone with Cumana hardware have problems
within the warranty period.
9.4
For CD-ROM drives, Eesox provide us with excellent drives and service
and for SCSI 2 cards, there is Alsystemsæ Powertec card. Cumanaæs
ProTeus drives have been very popular and, fortunately, we have managed
to find a second source of these drives. See below under PD drives.
9.4
Cyber Ape Ö An ape is taken from the jungle and sent to a research lab
for experimentation. The experiments endow him with human-like abilities
such as walking upright. He also gains greater intelligence, which may
or may not be a human-like ability! He escapes and is determined to make
his way home. Cyber Ape is a platform game costing ú19.99 from TBA
Software or ú19 through Archive.
9.4
Darkwood Ö Eclipse have produced öa spooky new 3D graphical adventure
gameò. Talk to the other inhabitants of Darkwood and solve the puzzles
along the quest. The six-disc set needs 2Mb or more and RISCáOS 3.1 or
higher and costs úú24.99 or ú23 through Archive.
9.4
Dazzle is a drawing and painting package from SEMERC, designed for use
in the classroom on all Acorn computers. It can be easily tailored to
suit the individual requirements of Key Stage 1, 2 and 3 learners and is
also suitable for use by children with special needs. Dazzle provides a
palette of 10 to 16 million colours and has a wide range of drawing and
painting features, including: pencil, paint brushes, and fixed objects
like stars, triangles, circles, polygons etc. The line thickness of
fixed objects can be defined separately. Special effects can be created
using the diffuser brush, the tint brush and the water brush. Dazzle
allows the user to create pictures from scratch or use images already
created using a video digitiser, scanner or from Photo CD. A Choices
features allows teachers to restrict or alter the availability of tools,
colours and the size of tool icons. Dazzle costs ú40á+áVAT for a single
user and ú80 + VAT for a site licence.
9.4
Empire Soccer Ö This is Empire Interactiveæs challenger to Sensible
Soccer. Thirty-two national teams, battle it out on the soccer pitch and
youære their only hope! Our reviewer, Andrew Clover, says that it excels
in its graphics and wins over Sensible Soccer by a whisker. The controls
allow you to kick, pass, apply aftertouch, head the ball, tackle, heel
and use overhead kicks easily. Empire Soccer is available from Magnetic
Image at ú25.99 inclusive or ú25 through Archive.
9.4
ESP Software Midi synthesizer Ö This is a software only Midi synthesizer
developed by ESP and comes with a full General Midi set of instruments
providing 128 melodic and 50 percussion instruments. An application is
provided to allow you to select the instruments that are loaded and re-
map them onto Midi program numbers if required. You can balance the
quality of sounds against the number of notes it can play simultaneously
and configure the amount of memory to use for cacheing samples after
which instruments are loaded from disc as and when they are needed. The
synthesizer is designed to work on any RISC OS machine although best
results will be achieved if you have 16-bit sound capability. It will
work alongside applications such as Sibelius to give full playback
without the need for a Midi keyboard or other expensive hardware. For
those people with PC cards in their Risc PCs, this is important, as the
latest version of the PCx86 software supports SoundBlaster sound sample
playback and passes on any Midi files to your Midi card or software Midi
synthesizer! So this product completes the jigsaw to give full
SoundBlaster support. It costs ú39.95 +VAT from ESP or ú45 through
Archive.
9.4
Fist Lore Ö Is, as the name implies, a straight-forward beat æem up Ö
hand-to-hand fighting with seven mighty warriors. The program was
developed in Norwich by Mystery Software and is being marketed by ICS.
The graphics and animation are quite staggering (good choice of words
there!), the sound effects are excellent and the machine code
programming involved is very impressive. (Thereæs a demo on this monthæs
Acorn User disc if you want to see just how good the graphics and
animation really are.) Fist Lore costs ú29.99 inc VAT from ICS.
9.4
Font Emporium from Zenta Multimedia is a CD-ROM of over 550 different
outline fonts. The CD is supplied with a comprehensive and easy-to-use
font selection application which displays full character previews for
all fonts on demand. Also included on the disc are a variety of DTP
files in Draw and Artworks format to make printing out sample sheets
easy. Fonts can easily be loaded into existing font folders, or new ones
can be created from within the font selection application. The Font
Emporium costs ú29.95 inclusive from Zenta or ú29 through Archive.
9.4
Font Directory II is the long-awaited upgrade to the font management
system from Look Systems. Information should soon be on its way to
registered users about how they can upgrade to version 2. The rest of us
will have to wait until the end of January for the full version. In the
meantime, we can tell you that the beta version weæve been using in the
office is very impressive. Itæs extremely fast and comes with a whole
host of really useful features to make font management easy. Font names
can be viewed in a number of formats, including full WYSIWYG. Speed has
been a major consideration in this latest version, so loading fonts
happens extremely quickly. The whole user interface has been simplified
to make using the program much easier. Bundled with Font Directory is a
utility called FontView which gives the user the ability to view
complete blocks of text in multiple windows, at various sizes. Each new
window can work independently of the others and contain a different
font, so it makes comparing fonts very easy. Text can be written
straight to a window or imported as a text file.
9.4
The full version of Font Directory will cost ú45 inclusive. A Lite
version will also be available, for ú25, upgradable to the full version.
Upgrades are available for existing users. Coming later will be a
network version made up of the full version plus the Lite version, and
extra manuals, costing ú150 +VAT.
9.4
FotoFUN is a photographic-quality dye sublimation printer from
Spacetech, which produces high-gloss postcard size photographs from your
digital artwork in under 3 minutes. The quality is as good as
traditional film, producing bright, sharp, clear prints. Using photo
retouching/artwork software with a colour scanner, video digitiser,
Photo-CD, or other input device, images can be retouched and then
printed to look better than the original. In addition to the normal
refill kit, there is also a FotoMUG kit which lets you transfer your
favourite photos onto coffee mugs. The FotoFUN printer costs ú349;
FotoFUN printer with the Spacetech Acorn Driver ú379; Colour consumables
ú39; Postcard refill kit (36 cards) ú43; FotoMUG starter kit (4 mugs,
clamp and instructions) ú39. Spacetech have an introductory offer of
FotoFUN + Acorn driver + colour refill pack + Photodesk at ú499. Add VAT
to all prices.
9.4
Global Effect is a simulation game where, quite simply, you control the
world... or try to do so! As you try to build cities and keep them
running, you will find that there are others who donæt want your
expansionist plans to succeed. Global Effect costs ú34.99 from Eclipse
or ú33 through Archive.
9.4
High speed serial port cards Ö Atomwide have some high speed serial port
cards available with one, two or three serial ports on each card. Each
port can run at up to 460,800 bps and has a 16-byte buffer to improve
its performance and enable it to be used even on slower Acorn computers,
down to the A310. Software support is provided to enable them to be used
with ANT Internet Suite, ArcTerm7, ArcBBS, ArcFax, Hearsay and Termite.
At the moment, these cards cannot be used to provide extra serial ports
for PC cards, but it is only a matter of writing the appropriate
software, which Atomwide intend to do in due course. The single, double
and triple cards cost ú79, ú89 and ú99 +VAT respectively or ú92, ú104
and ú116 inclusive through Archive.
9.4
Icon Technology have released two new versions of TechWriter, the
combined word processor and equation editor, and EasiWriter, the word/
document processor.
9.4
EasiWriter Professional has all the features of the original, but
includes a number of very useful additions such as: index and contents
generation; bookmarks; improved searching; automatic numbering of lists;
crop marks; improved German hyphenation; more flexible white space; save
as PostScript; OLE support; Thesaurus support. Future enhancements,
which registered users will receive automatically as free upgrades, are:
auto numbered chapters and sections; fancy borders; RTF import and
export; and pamphlet printing.
9.4
The changes to TechWriter Professional include many of the above plus
save as TEX. Future enhancements are: improved Text saving; auto-
numbered chapters and sections; auto-numbered equations; fancy borders;
RTF import and export; pamphlet printing and background colours.
9.4
The prices (exclusive of VAT and ú3 p&p) are as follows (with the
inclusive Archive prices in brackets): EasiWriter 3.16 single user ú89
(ú102), site licence ú356 (ú400); EasiWriter Professional single user
ú119 (ú136), site licence ú476 (ú535); TechWriter single user ú149
(ú169), site licence ú596 (ú669); TechWriter Professional single user
ú199 (ú225), site licence ú796 (ú892).
9.4
ImageFS 2 is the latest version of the acclaimed image conversion
software from Alternative Publishing. New features in version 2 include
the ability to export files straight out of RISC OS applications and
convert them directly into foreign graphic files. Also included is a new
Pop-up Preview feature which allows users to rapidly create previews of
graphics files before committing themselves to loading them. Also
included is a fully functional Lite version of a brand new package
called Universal Image, which is designed to assist the user in managing
graphics files. Support is provided for TIFF, Windows BMP, Apple PICT,
PCX, Clear files, Targa, PBM, MacPaint, Atari/GEM, GIF, and ColoRIX Ö
support is also provided for professional 32-bit CMYK TIFFs.
9.4
Those interested in converting Vector graphics, might like to know that
Alternative Publishing are working on vector conversion software.
Although they have a working version of an EPS converter, the
programming is still in its early stages Ö watch out next year for more
news! In the meantime, ImageFS 2 costs ú39.95 +VAT (ú45 through
Archive). Education site licences are available from Alternative at
ú99.95 +VAT. Upgrades to registered users are ú20 +VAT Ö you need to
return your original disc to Alternative.
9.4
Impact2 Ö an easy to use, fully relational database suitable for any
application where data must be stored or retrieved quickly and easily.
The philosophy behind Impact is that it should be as easy to use as
possible. Itæs been produced by Circle Software, who say that a simple
database can be created within a few minutes of installation, and so it
is ideally suited to simple tasks where more complex database packages
would not be appropriate, or would take too long to set up. On the other
hand, if you do require something more complex, Impact2 has the
facilities to provide a more sophisticated database. Itæs aimed at home,
office and school and costs ú99 +VAT for a single machine licence.
Further licences can be obtained on a sliding scale of fees, ranging
from ú135 +VAT for two machines, up to ú495 +VAT for 50.
9.4
Irlam Instruments have developed an Acorn RISC OS version of the Primax
ColourMobile Direct scanner, a low-cost handheld scanner. The
ColourMobile is a full 24-bit colour device that moves automatically
across the selected text or graphic, thus avoiding the problems usually
associated with handheld scanners. No expansion card is necessary as the
interface connects directly to the bi-directional parallel port.
ColourMobile costs ú199 +VAT + ú5 p&p or ú228 through Archive.
9.4
iSV Fonts Ö iSV Products have completely revised all of their font
packs. All fonts now have better hinting as well as an easier to use
automatic font installer. All fonts contain full kerning and are full
latin 1 character sets. The price remains the same at ú26.50 for
FontPack 277 or 298. The special summer price has been continued, so
both packs can be purchased together for ú36.50. Upgrades for existing
customers are priced at ú10 or ú15 for the pair. Version 2 of their
Blackletter FontPack now contains over 200 Gothic and Medieval style
fonts and costs ú21.50. All prices are inclusive.
9.4
MusicMaker1 is a new package from Resource, aimed at pre-school and Key
Stage 1. It introduces the ideas of pitch and composition through both
games and open-ended activities. It encourages children to explore the
world of pitch by presenting them with on-screen instruments, to play
and record with, a pre-notation method of writing their own music, and
games that help develop listening and sequencing skills.
9.4
There are five activities for children to follow. Up the Stairs shows
different instruments placed on a stairway and it will produce notes of
higher pitch the higher up the stairs they are. Tunes can be recorded
and played back, or the computer can play a tune for the user to
recreate. Jolly Keyboard presents a similar activity but displaying a
conventional keyboard instead of stairs. Other activities include
Trombone, Making Tunes and Name that Tune in which children match visual
patch patterns to short tunes which they hear. MusicMaker2 (not out yet)
will deal in a similar way with the concept of rhythm. System
requirements are RISC OS 3 or above and 2Mb of RAM. It will run from
both floppy and hard disc. MusicMakeræs launch price is ú30 +VAT, rising
to ú35 +VAT from January 1st 1996.
9.4
Panasonic PD combination drives (aka ProTeus) Ö The Panasonic PD
combination drives (quad speed CD + 650Mb magneto-optical) are the same
as were used by Cumana for their ProTeus drives. The internal version
for the RiscáPC is the same price as the Cumana version, i.e. ú635, but
the external version is quite a bit better priced at ú735, instead of
ú805.
9.4
Photodesk Ö According to Spacetech, this has undergone an öentire re-
write taking into account all the positive customer feedback and the
needs of professional usersò. The end result of a yearæs programming, is
that Photodesk 2 is nearly available. The main emphasis in the
development of Photodesk 2 has been in improving the overall quality of
the tools, effects and filters. Slickness of operation, ease of use and
quality of output have all been high on the list of objectives for the
new version. According to Spacetech, the way in which it operates and
handles input and output will make the application more familiar to
users of existing industry standard solutions. Photodesk 1 will continue
to be developed as an economical alternative for users who do not
require all the advanced features of version 2.
9.4
Weæll have to wait for a full review to see what the new package looks
like but, in the meantime, here are a few of the changes youæll find in
Photodesk 2: improved use of virtual memory, using MEMC to re¡map pages;
complete multi-channel capability with as many alpha channels as the
user requires; new filters, improved outline tracing and de-focus;
channels can be defined as masks, images or maps; gamma controls for
each ink; new soft edge paint brush; improved airbrush and anti-
aliasing; complete Twain compatibility; improved cut and paste
operations.
9.4
When available, Photodesk 2 will cost ú269.50 (ú255áthrough Archive);
upgrades from version 1 will cost ú69.81 inclusive from Spacetech.
9.4
Risc Disc Volume 2 Ö The disc contains completely new material from
Volume One with a much enlarged PD/Shareware and Resources section. One
major feature of the disc is over 100Mb of selected Web pages which may
be browsed using the PD Web browsers, ArcWeb and Webster, both of which
are supplied on the CD. Interestingly, the disc also contains a built-in
treasure hunt with the prize of a Risc PC to the first person to find
all the clues hidden on the disc. The clues are hidden throughout the
disc as Sprites, Archives, Drawfiles, Text Files, Soundtracks, in fact
just about any filetype. Each clue links to the next by suggesting the
type of file to look for and the area on the CD where it may be found.
The CD also features a section of material of special interest to Acorn
Clan members. The RISC CD Volume 2 costs ú25 inclusive or ú23 for Clan
members (same prices from Uniqueway or through Archive).
9.4
Shares 5 Ö This package from Apricote Studios has been refined over its
lifetime in response to users and provides a means of handling
portfolios both for home users and also of professional users. It allows
you to store, manipulate and analyse all your share information in
portfolios of up to 60 companies each. It features such things as direct
updating from teletext, capital gains computation, rights issues, graphs
of share price including historic low, delay averages and interest
rates, etc, etc. Shares 5 costs ú49.95 inclusive from Apricote or ú47
through Archive.
9.4
Speaking Starspell CD-ROM is an expanded version of the well-known
Starspell spelling system, from Fisher-Marriott, already used in over
10,000 schools. Speaking Starspell contains over 300 word lists, giving
unique order to English spelling, and providing a graded progression for
the learner. All of the 2500-plus words are spoken and many of them are
illustrated. The idea behind Speaking Starspell is that attention is
drawn to how words are built, allowing the learner to apply that
knowledge to his or her writing. It checks the spelling and even has a
friendly way of putting things right. It costs ú42.50 +VAT for a single
user. For a network licence, add ú42.50 +VAT.
9.4
Stereoworld Ö Stereograms are those things you see in magazines and
books where you have to discover the hidden picture in amongst a
cacophony of other images. You move your head backwards and forwards,
squint, and contort your face until the image becomes clear Ö or not.
Stereoworld is a much more sophisticated computer version of that much
loved pastime. As well as the variety of images included in the program,
there are games that can be played within the stereogram, and there is
the ability to create your own stereograms. In Stereosaw (cfáÉjigsawæ),
you have to reconstruct stereograms that have been split into tiny
fragments, and in Lunar Landing, you have to gently land a spacecraft
onto the moonæs surface, then progress to other worlds where the terrain
and gravity make your task increasingly difficult. In Escape, you have
to demolish bricks in order to escape; as the game goes on, the pace
hots up and things become more complex. Stereoworld comes on six discs,
taking up 10Mb of hard disc space, needs 4Mb RAM and costs ú29.95 inc
VAT from the 4th Dimension or ú28 through Archive.
9.4
Symphony Masterpieces is a collection of over 3,000 music tracks from
Zenta Multimedia, compiled in association with Oregan Software
Developments, and using the SymphPlay application from Digital Symphony.
The collection comes on CD-ROM with tracks including: Classical, Piano,
Rave, Pop and Mood music, as well as sampled vocals. The cost is ú29.95
inclusive from Zenta or ú29 through Archive.
9.4
Teletext+ Ö Octopus Systems have launched advanced teletext software for
teletext adaptors from Morley, Computer Concepts, Ground Control, Design
IT, Irlam and Octopus Systems. Teletext+ provides sophisticated page
cacheing and keyword searching to make teletext quicker, easier and more
usable. It can log share prices in a CSV file or in a special format for
the Apricote Studiosæ Shares program and it provides a set of standard
SWI calls for use by other programs.
9.4
The page cacheing facility means that frequently-used pages and sub-
pages can be accessed without any delay, while the advanced keyword
searching can search hundreds of pages for items of interest which might
otherwise be missed. Matches are displayed in a separate window, which
effectively gives a personalised magazine of interesting news, events
and programmes.
9.4
Pages can be saved as Viewdata, sprite or text files, either manually or
under the control of a script file, and there is an option to allow all
sub-pages to be saved in a single text file. Teletext+ is available for
ú39 inclusive as a software upgrade for existing teletext adaptors, or
with an external teletext adaptor for ú169 inclusive, while stocks last.
The adaptor connects to a podule expansion socket via a lead and podule
plug, so you should specify whether you require a full size or a mini
podule connector when ordering. A television aerial feed is also
required.
9.4
Termite Internet Ö This package from Doggysoft is a powerful new set of
tools for accessing the Internet. It includes: !Termite, supporting WWW,
telnet, and access to bulletin boards using ANSI, VT100 (and other)
standards. There are powerful mail and news facilities provided by the
!Offlite and !Mailbox applications. For example, if your service
provider gives you an IP address, you can create email addresses for
family members, employees, etc. !TermiteIP is the configuration
application that stores your account details, and gives control over
newsgroup details; telnet, finger and ftp hotlists, and selecting
dµmons. The manual is a comprehensive, ring-bound affair that makes you
feel confident you wonæt need to phone Doggysoft for help too often! The
package costs ú79.95 +VAT from Doggysoft.
9.4
The Cobalt Seed Ö The Cobalt Seed is along the lines of Starwing and
Starfighter 3000 Ö shoot everything you can and dodge things you canæt.
This is definitely one for priming those reflexes. The Cobalt Seed costs
ú24.99 from TBA Software or ú24 through Archive.
9.4
The Patience Addict from Creative Curriculum Software is a compilation
of twenty of öthe best and most enjoyable games of Patience which open
up the world of Patience to the newcomer and addict alikeò. It includes
both one-pack and two-pack games; games that usually work out, and games
that take lots of attempts; games that have a few simple rules, and a
few very complex ones. It costs ú12.73 +VAT and p&p, or ú15 through
Archive.
9.4
Voyager Ö Argonet bundle the Voyager software with a monthæs free access
to the Internet, for ú59 inc VAT. Because they are the ones who give you
the account details, they supply the software ready configured to use
with your account. The software is a collection of shareware
applications with many modifications, including a very easy-to-use front
end. Argonet can also bundle a US Robotics Sportster 14,400 or 28,800
modem including cable. They can also supply a high speed serial port to
owners of pre-A5000 Acorns, which were fitted with Éslowæ serial ports.
Because Argonet deal exclusively with Acorn machines and provide a
ready-configured solution, this is probably the easiest way to get
connected to Internet. Telephone support is included, through an 0500
(free) number.
9.4
Review software received...
9.4
We have received review copies of the following: ÅAncestry II (d),
ÅGeordian Lock (u), ÅImpact2 (d), ÅMovieFS (m), ÅMusic Maker 1 (e,m),
ÅMusic Studio 32 (e,m), ÅPhysics Tutor (e), ÅRISC Disc 2, ÅSeashoreáLife
CD (e), ÅStereoworld (g), ÅSymphonyáMasterpieces (m), ÅTrellis (u),
ÅVikings CD (e), ÅXenakis 16 (m),
9.5
17ö monitor for RiscPC Ö The AKF85 is now no more. It has been replaced
by the AKF90 which is ú382 extra to the cost of the Acorn 14ò (instead
of ú326 extra for the AKF85). The AKF90 has on-screen setup including
rotation and colour temperature. However, the resolution (0.28mm dot
pitch) is not quite as good as the AKF85 (0.27mm). This makes the Iiyama
alternatives much more attractive by comparison. The 8617 flat-screen
17ö is ú400 extra and the 9017 Diatron 17ò (0.26mm slot width) is ú480
extra. (If you want to buy either of these better monitors with a
RiscPC, you need to fill in a ÉSpecialist Purchase Formæ Ö give us a
ring and we will send you one.) (Let me declare an interest here... the
dealer margin is better on the Iiyama monitors, so we make more profit
if you buy them rather than the Acorn one! We havenæt seen an AKF90 yet,
but I have no hesitation in saying that both of the Iiyama monitors are
definitely better than the AKF85. Ed.)
9.5
20/20 extended Ö Acornæs 20 month interest free loan scheme has been so
successful that it has been extended until further notice. (Details were
given in 9.1 p2 but ring the NCS office if you arenæt sure how it all
works.)
9.5
A3020/A4000 discontinued Ö Because of new regulations coming into force
on 1/1/96, the A3020 and A4000 can no longer be sold into schools. (They
are, however, still available through the Tesco scheme Ö they bought
them from Acorn in 1995.)
9.5
A7000 price drop Ö All A7000 computers have been reduced in price by
ú100 +VAT so that the entry level 2Mb network-only version (AMC01) is
ú675 +VAT including a 14ö monitor. The 2Mb/425Mb model (AMC02) is ú699
+VAT and the 4Mb/425Mb (AMC03) is ú775 +VAT. One new variant now
available is a 4Mb network-only A7000 (AMC04) at ú749 +VAT.
9.5
Acorn RiscPC 700X Ö Almost available is a RiscPC Unix box, which uses a
17ö Iiyama monitor to give a high enough resolution. The ACB96 with
AKF96 monitor has software which allows you to swap X resolutions and
colour depths at the click of a mouse button to suit different tasks
(1280╫1024      8-bit, 1024╫786 16-bit or 800╫600 24-bit). Up to eight
independent X screens can be supported simultaneously and you can hot-
key between Xáterminal and desktop applications. The ACB96 costs ú2,199
+VAT.
9.5
Acorn RiscPC PC card upgrade Ö Acorn are very keen to encourage RiscPC
owners to move up from the original SX33 PC cards to the faster cards.
To do so, they are offering very generous rebates on old cards: ú117 if
you buy a DX2-66 or a DX4-100 and ú235 if you go for the new 5x86-100
(which are expected to arrive by the end of January).
9.5
This discounted upgrade is available from Acorn-by-Post (Vector
Marketing), or through Acorn Centres of Technology. It is not available
through the normal dealer channel.
9.5
You can send your old card back to us with the order, and just pay the
upgrade price. If you donæt want to be without your old card, send a
cheque for the value of the discount (ú117 or ú235). We will hold this
cheque and reserve the right to bank it if the old card is not returned
to us within 14 days. Then when you return the old card, we will destroy
the cheque.
9.5
So, the VAT inclusive prices are as follows:
9.5
Code  Spec  RRP  Upgrade  Discount
9.5
ACA53  DX2-66  ú293  ú175  ú117
9.5
ACA56  DX4-100  ú351  ú234  ú117
9.5
ACA57  5x86-100  ú586  ú351  ú235
9.5
So, to reiterate, if you want a DX2-66, then send either your old card
and a cheque for ú175 or a cheque for ú175 and a cheque for ú117. If you
want a DX4-100, send either your old card and a cheque for ú234 or a
cheque for ú234 and a cheque for ú117. If you want a 5x86, send either
your old card and a cheque for ú351 or a cheque for ú351 and a cheque
for ú235.
9.5
Acorn RiscPC with PC card Ö Acorn are now offering all the PC cards at a
discount price when purchased at the same time as a RiscPC.
9.5
Code  Spec  RRP  Special price
9.5
ACA52  SXL-33  ú234     ú116
9.5
ACA53  DX2-66  ú291     ú175
9.5
ACA56  DX4-100  ú351     ú234
9.5
ACA57  5x86-100  ú586     ú469
9.5
Archive Internet Glossary Ö The glossary is growing rapidly and is now
over 9,500 words (plus the 11,500 words of the main Archive glossary).
These glossaries are available on a single disc for ú5.
9.5
CD drives Ö The range of Eesox CD drives continues to expand. There is
now a Platinum 6.7 speed SCSI drive which costs ú390 inclusive through
Archive for RiscPC or ú465 as an external version. For the RiscPC
(only), there is a six speed ATAPI drive for only ú240. The price of the
Eesox quad speed ATAPI drive is now ú140.
9.5
ARM Club Ö At the Acorn World Show, the ARM Club launched its new ARM
Club CD-ROM, containing the best of their PD and Shareware collection.
Also available from the club is the new GameOn! release 2. The CD-ROM
costs ú19.50. GameOn! 2 costs ú15 or ú5 for the upgrade from release 1.
9.5
Clearview 2, from DEC_dATA, is a hypertext/multimedia application that
allows you to view information and topics via an indexing and cross-
referencing system. Cross references to other places in a document, or
other ClearView documents, are shown with an underlined word Ö the user
simply clicks to go straight to the reference. External files and
applications can be run from the ClearView page, allowing drawfiles to
be loaded into Draw, or Replay files to be shown etc. There are full
search facilities, including the ability to search for two words/phrases
that are near each other. Clearview 2 Advanced allows a fully working
ClearView file to be quickly compiled using just Edit. ClearView looks
after the text formatting, with no problems of text flowing out of a
frame.
9.5
ClearView Standard and ClearView 2 Advanced cost ú10 and ú33.19 +VAT +
p&p respectively from DEC_dATA.
9.5
Clipart Ö New from DEC_dATA is a collection of clipart covering the
Anglo-Saxons and Vikings, and Greek and Romans. Aimed at Key Stage 2,
each collection consists of full colour drawfiles accessed via a
ClearView file. The file shows each graphic as a small thumbnail, and
has a hot link to load the picture into Draw. In addition, a few lines
of information are given on each picture to help the pupil and teacher
put the image into context. The discs include maps, people of the time,
transport, artifacts, tools, art and music. Each collection costs ú10
+VAT +p&p from DEC_dATA.
9.5
Cumana products ARE available Ö Following a month of trading under
administrative receivership, Cumana Ltd, the Guildford-based
manufacturer of educational IT products, has been purchased by
Sheffield-based Economatics (Education) Ltd.
9.5
Economatics Education has formed a Cumana Products Division to
complement its existing educational technology products business. The
new division plans to offer the full range of Cumana own brand and
related products, including a wide range of CD-ROM drives, the proTeus
optical drive and the SCSI II interface.
9.5
ÉCumanaæ will continue to focus its attention on high quality products
and services aimed specifically at the home and education markets, with
particular emphasis, as always, on the Acorn platform.
9.5
While administrative, distribution and accounts services will be handled
by the Sheffield office, we hope our customers will be pleased to hear
that the core of the sales, support and development team are all
employees of the original Cumana.
9.5
The team, under new management, would like to thank all those who
offered their support through a difficult time, and look forward to
doing business with you again soon.
9.5
Paul McKinnon <[e-mail]>
9.5
Easy Clip from Fabis Computing, does for clipart what Easy Font and Font
Directory do for fonts. It has the capacity to store over half a million
images in most common filetypes, and even compresses them to between 35
and 60%. Features include: large thumbnails of graphics for easy access,
virtual memory manager for thumbnail display; drag and drop between
groups and applications; preview of images in a scalable window. Easy
Clip costs ú35 (no VAT).
9.5
ESP Software Midi synthesizer Ö This software-only Midi synthesizer
developed by ESP, as we said last month, öis designed to work on any
RISC OS machine although best results will be achieved if you have 16-
bit sound capabilityò. However, ESP have not yet got it working properly
on RISCáOS 3.1, so please check before ordering it. It costs ú39.95 +VAT
from ESP or ú45 through Archive.
9.5
EZ135 drives Ö (pronounced öEasy135ò Ö a case of bad cross-Atlantic
translation!) We now have the IDE internal version in stock. These are
3╜ö devices but they come ready-mounted in a 5╝ò frame, so you can fit
them into either size bay on a RiscPC at no extra cost. I tested them
for speed by comparing them with a 270Mb removable drive. I copied a
single 4.6Mb file and then a directory with 182 files in it, totalling
4.6Mb. The resultant (effective) speeds were as follows.
9.5
  270Mb  EZ135
9.5
Single file  1350Kb/s  950Kb/s  (70%)
9.5
182 files  104Kb/s  80Kb/s  (77%)
9.5
So, from these brief tests, the drives seem to be about ╛ the speed of
the larger drives Ö not bad when you consider the price differences.
Complete with one cartridge, they cost ú240 inclusive (cf ú370) and the
extra cartridges are ú20 each (cf ú55). Remember though that the
disadvantage of using IDE removables is that IDE was never intended for
use with removables and you need special software (which we supply with
it) to allow the cartridges to be dismounted without switching the
computer off.
9.5
There is an external SCSI version (no dismounting problems!) due öby the
end of the weekò (but I have been told that several times!) which will
also be excellent value at ú290 including one cartridge.
9.5
GT5000 A4 flatbed scanner Ö Epson have released a new A4 flatbed scanner
with a low price tag Ö ú490 including PC software (we canæt buy it
without!) and Acorn software. The optics are 300 dpi. This compares with
the GT8500 (400dpi) and GT9000 (600dpi) at ú710 and ú830 respectively.
The GT5000 comes with a parallel interface and so can only be used with
A5000 or later computers that have a bi-directional parallel interface.
9.5
HP Laserjet 5L Ö An exciting new 600 dpi, 4 ppm laser printer from HP
which has received a very good (unsolicited) review from Keith Parker
(see page 45). It has a small Éfootprintæ and a low price of ú480
inclusive of VAT and carriage through Archive.
9.5
iTV Ö Irlam Instrumentsæ integrated television support for their 24i16
digitiser provides high quality television reception, including teletext
and NICAM stereo audio decoder. Cacheing software provides instant
access to teletext pages, plus network capability. SWI interface with
documentation allows users to write their own specialised applications.
iTV costs ú169 +VAT + p&p from Irlam or ú193 through Archive.
9.5
MenuBar, from Beebug, is a different way of accessing often-used
directories, applications and files, from the usual RISC OS way. In
operation, it is similar to the filer and the pinboard, but it is
presented as a slim bar of pull-down menus at the top of the screen,
complementing the iconbar at the bottom. Menus may be dragged or clicked
open and shut. The menubar may contain up to ten menus, each with up to
30 objects (i.e. directories, applications or files). It is very simple
to add, reposition and remove objects or Menus. MenuBar allows you to
organise files to suit the way you work Ö regardless of the way they are
stored on disc. Each Menu may be given a name so that, for example, you
could arrange for ÉDTPæ to hold !Printers, !Style, !MultiChrs and a data
directory. Or you might have ÉToolsæ containing !Measure, !CloseFile,
!WimpAid, !Pointer, !Flags, !Magnifier, etc. The important point is that
all these objects can be run from within MenuBar by double-clicking or
dragging. Moreover, the Menus are instantly available: no frustrating
delays while you dig deep into the filer hierarchy waiting for all the
icons to be read. By including MenuBar in your Boot sequence, your most
important files are available from the MenuBar on start-up, and no need
for any more messy backdrops! MenuBar requires RISC OS 3.1 or greater.
It works with hard or floppy discs, and costs ú11.95 +VAT +p&p from
Beebug or ú15 through Archive.
9.5
Meta Converter, from Keysoft, is a small utility for converting Windows
metafiles into drawfiles. Metafiles are widely used throughout the PC
world as they can be manipulated more easily than bitmaps and they can
be scaled and rotated without introducing jagged edges. Many PC
magazines give these files away each month on their cover discs
(sometimes in their thousands), and they are also available very cheaply
through the public domain and from several software companies. Meta
Converter costs ú15.99 inclusive from Gordon Key.
9.5
Mice Ö Having sold off my huge stock of (about 150) genuine Acorn mice
at Acorn World 95, I find that I cannot get any more from that supplier
and have to go direct to the Acorn Spares Department. This means that
the price for Acorn mice will have to go up to ú25. However, thanks to
one of the subscribers, we have located a supply of öAcorn compatibleò
mice which we can sell at ú15. (I am tempted to talk about öthe best
laid plans...ò but Iáwonæt!)
9.5
Pages, from SEMERC, is an easy-to-use word processing package. It has
been designed to be as close as possible to paper and a pencil case and
is especially useful for young learners and those with special needs.
The user is given a page onto which they can click their chosen
position, and start typing. Once on the page, the text, words or
pictures can be moved around the screen, borders can be added or the
freehand tool used to doodle. Letters, words or sentences can be read
aloud to the learner and, with its built-in spell checker, errors can be
located as they are typed. Pages can be quickly tailored by the teacher
to suit the individual requirements of the child and it can even be used
as an early desktop publishing package. Pages costs ú49 +VAT from
SEMERC.
9.5
PAPERsoft Ltd have been building up a large collection of templates of
labels and pre-printed stationery from companies such as Avery and Paper
Direct. Each disc in the collection contains templates for a range of
papers and label sheets, enabling the user to apply text and graphics
within the limits of the paper design. So far, there are six discs in
the collection covering templates for Paper Direct (Business papers;
Fun/Theme and Christmas), Avery (Laser labels; Inkjet labels and Avery
Indexing System) and Fisher Clark (Laser and Inkjet labels). Template
sets are available for Impression, Artworks, Ovation, 1st Page, Textease
and Draw. Prices range from ú5.95 to ú17.95 from PAPERsoft.
9.5
Picture Book 2, from The Really Good Software Company, is made up of
five programs to help children with reading, spelling and counting.
AlphaBook is the program which lets you see and hear the words you are
using; Flashcard helps children recognise words with pictures or spoken
words; Countæem is a counting program with single or mixed pictures;
Spell It provides spelling from pictures at three grades of difficulty.
Finally, Snap is a game for up to three players matching pictures,
sounds or words.
9.5
Each program uses Picture Book 2æs unique Alphabet files with
professionally-drawn graphics by prize-winning illustrator Walter
Briggs, plus special sound effects and spoken words. Every program is
fully configurable; individually saved Choice files can be arranged to
automatically load a specific alphabet file and run the program with a
double-click of the mouse. To go with it, RGSC have designed AlphaEdit,
an easy-to-use application for creating Alphabet files for use with
Picture Book 2. You can combine Draw or Artwork files with sound and
spoken words to build up your own files tailored to your own purposes.
Picture Book 2 costs ú35 inclusive (if you return the original Picture
Book disc, you get a ú5 discount), and AlphaEdit costs ú15 inclusive
from RGSC.
9.5
Picture Puzzler, from Cambridgeshire Software House, is a program which
has been especially designed with the young in mind. It uses no language
whatsoever and is totally under the useræs control. It will accept any
sprite and divide it into a number of tiles. You simply put the tiles
back in the correct places. You can create 4 tiles with 1 missing, or up
to 36 tiles with 35 missing. Picture Puzzler comes with a range of
ready-made pictures.
9.5
Also from CSH comes What do you Know?, a quiz type program of over 2000
questions and answers, covering TV Soaps, History, Geography, General
Knowledge, Sport, The Arts and Science. It is aimed at age 4 to adult.
Picture Puzzler and What do you Know? each cost ú19.95 +VAT +p&p from
CSH.
9.5
Pioneer 6CD Jukebox Ö We are experiencing difficulty in getting hold of
enough of the Nakamichi quad speed 7-disc CD jukeboxes, but we have now
found a Pioneer jukebox that takes 6 CDs and is slightly faster, 4.4
speed. The Pioneer is ú590 through Archive.
9.5
Sherston Software have launched a number of new products. Arcventure IV
is the latest title in Sherstonæs Arcventure series and covers the Anglo
Saxon period. The package, for junior school pupils, is designed along
similar lines to the others in the series and is centred around an
archaeological dig in West Stow, Suffolk. Budding archaeologists using
the program are able to go back in time and unearth the facts about the
mystery objects they have found.
9.5
Cambridge University Press are in the process of launching a new reading
scheme called Cambridge Reading. To accompany the scheme, Sherston have
launched six new talking stories. The new Cambridge Reading Talking
Books feature Sherstonæs lively animations and amusing sound effects and
are narrated by Barry and Jill Wilsher, known to primary schools as the
ÉWords Aliveæ team.
9.5
Finally, Elf Tales is a new adventure series aimed at young children;
the first two titles are Elf King and Elf Magic. The programs
incorporate maths and language activities in the story lines, and
contain graphics and animations, as well as human speech, to introduce
children to sorting, sequencing and the basics of time, at two levels of
difficulty.
9.5
Arcventure IV Ö Anglo Saxons, is ú34.95 +VAT or ú39 through Archive; a
Primary site licence costs ú52.42 +VAT; Secondary licence is ú69.90
+VAT.
9.5
The Cambridge Reading Talking Books are available on Acorn, Windows and
Mac platforms and cost ú40 +VAT or ú45 through Archive.
9.5
Elf Tales, which includes both adventures, costs ú32.95 +VAT, or ú37
through Archive; a Primary site licence is ú49.43 +VAT from Sherston.
9.5
SimpleTouch is a new touch screen from MicroTouch and is being
distributed by Lindis International. SimpleTouch is a resistive screen
which can be attached to almost any normal computer screen, turning it
into a fully functional touch screen. The SimpleTouch software drivers
enable it to be used to control the computer instead of using a mouse,
thereby enabling the user to use virtually any software written for the
appropriate operating system. It plugs into the computeræs serial port,
and can be attached to the top of the computeræs screen by using a
velcro-type pad.
9.5
Continued from page 6...
9.5
The complete SimpleTouch kit for 14ö & 15ò monitors Ö including software
drivers, fitting-kit and cables Ö costs ú225 +VAT +p&p from Lindis.
9.5
Sound Byte Recorder, from VTi, consists of a microphone, interface and
software, allowing users to capture sound using the Recorderæs
microphone or any other source, such as hi-fi or tape recorder. Sounds
from these sources can be captured separately or recorded from both
simultaneously. Sound Byte Recorder can be used to record voice
commentary, sound effects or music to add to multimedia creations in
Genesis, Magpie, Ultima, Animator or other similar packages. At the
moment, VTi have a special offer of a free copy of Talking Canvas
Junior, making it possible to add sound to anything from simple talking
books to more sophisticated multimedia presentations. Sound Byte
Recorder costs ú39 +VAT +p&p from VTi.
9.5
The Patience Addict Ö Creative Curriculum Software seem to have realised
that The Patience Addict was somewhat under-priced, for what it offered,
at their introductory price. The price is now ú16.98 +VAT or ú19 through
Archive Ö but it is still very good value at that. (See review on p.27.)
9.5
The UK Internet Book Ö This 360 page book by Sue Schofield has chapters
on TCP/IP software, email, Usenet, ftp, Telnet, Archie, Gopher, Veronica
and the Worldwide Web. The UK Internet Book has been updated with a new
section on Internet issues and a PC format disc containing 3Mb of text
files on newsgroups, Listservs, FAQs etc. The price including the disc
is ú19.95 from Addison Wesley (ISBN 0-201-87731-7), or ú20 through
Archive including p&p.
9.5
TinyArt is a simple art package aimed at children aged 4/5 and is
designed to encourage the childæs individual creativity. Tools include:
pencil, circle, triangle, rectangle, spray, fill and eraser. An undo
feature reverses the last action performed by the user. Choices can be
set and then locked to prevent children changing the configuration; and
a Prevent Deletion option prevents the accidental deletion of pictures.
Tiny Art is ú14.95 inc. p&p from Rooksoft.
9.5
Touch Typing Tutor has been designed to meet the needs of visually
impaired people wanting to learn to touch type. It provides the means to
set up different colours, dimensions and styles of font for the exercise
text displayed. It also incorporates speech capability, to enable the
program to be used by totally blind people as well as partially sighted
people. The program can be used by older children and adults alone or,
for younger children, with help from a teacher. A full set of exercises
is provided, and it is easy for teachers to add their own. Touch Typing
Tutor costs ú24, fully inclusive, from the Research Centre for the
Education of the Visually Handicapped, at the University of Birmingham.
9.5
ViVID20 Ö RiscPC size desktops for older machines Ö ViVID20 requires a
VIDC enhancer and a true multisync monitor. It offers work areas up to
2048╫1232 including 1600╫1200 in 16 colours at 62Hz and up to 1472╫1070
in 256 colours via a mode selection utility similar to a RiscPC. All
resolutions also support 16 level greyscale and extended 4ácolour
dithering. The price is ú11.50 inclusive.
9.5
Review software received...
9.5
We have received review copies of the following: ÅCalabash Pirates (e),
ÅCine Clips (m), ÅFreddy Teddy Directions (e), ÅGeordian Lock (u),
ÅGraphic Text Adventure Creator (gu) ÅMenuBar (u) ÅMeta Converter (u),
ÅTechWriter/Pro (+EasiWriter2/Pro), ÅTinyArt (a), ÅViVID20 (u),
ÅXenakis16 (m).
Products Available
9.06
A7000 backplane Ö The A7000 can either take a CD-ROM or a single
expansion card. However, since most people are going for the CD-ROM,
Acorn have not put a backplane in the computer. So if you want to put an
expansion card in an A7000, you need a single-slot backplane which costs
ú35 through Archive. (cf the two-slot backplane for the ACB60, RiscPC
600, which also costs ú35 through Archive.)
9.06
ART is on the move Ö Applied Risc Technologies have moved into new
premises on the Cambridge Technopark. See Factfile.
9.06
ArtLesson CD-ROM is an art lesson on CD which can, depending on how it
is used, take the user a week, a term or a year to work through. There
are 280 colour pages of ideas, stimulus material and activities in
different types of art media. At the heart of Art Lesson are ten themes,
each consisting of about eight stimulus pages, five or six activities,
and ideas for follow-up and extension. The themes are in a gradual
progression of difficulty, with half of the themes suitable for children
aged 9 years and up. The ten themes include; Driftwood, Lichen, Birds,
Frost, Leaves, Natural Forms, Wood, Brick & Stone, the Sea, and Pictures
from Life. ArtLesson has been written by Christopher Jarman and is
described as being for the non-specialist art teacher at Key Stage 2 and
above. ArtLesson CD-ROM costs ú29.95 +VAT +p&p from Nash Pollock
Publishing.
9.06
Bitfolio 7 CD-ROM is the latest collection of over 10,000 clipart images
from Management Graphics. All of the images have been commissioned by
MGL in the UK and drawn with an international flavour to complement
North American clipart products. 8,000 of the images are entirely new
and most are in full colour; they are royalty-free, so they can be used
in all kinds of printed materials without charge. Because they are
vector graphic drawings, they can be ungrouped and edited to suit usersæ
needs. Bitfolio Edition 7 CD-ROM costs ú80 +VAT +p&p, or ú90 through
Archive. The previous edition, Bitfolio Edition 6 is still available at
the reduced price of ú40 +VAT +p&p, or ú45 through Archive. For more
information, see the review on page 9.
9.06
Burns CD-ROM Ö At this yearæs BETT show, Cambridgeshire Software House
won the Primary Gold Award for their CD-ROM, The World of Robert Burns
(see 9.4 p77 for review). This interactive CD includes all of his poems
and songs; most of his music, and extracts from letters he wrote. There
is information on over 400 places of interest; personal cameos on 400 of
his friends; 850 full colour pictures; full supporting reference
material; a 40,000 word time-line; and ready-made trails to solve and
worksheets to complete. It also gives background information on such
subjects as martyrdom, mining, forestry, fishing, the Bible and much
more. As this year is the bicentenary of Burns, this could be a useful
CD-ROM to have in your collection. The World of Robert Burns costs
ú79.95 +VAT +p&p from CSH, or ú95 through Archive.
9.06
Connect 32 SCSI II Interface Ö These are manufactured by MCS in
Dortmund, Germany (the people who brought you the low price PC card
upgrade Ö see Archive 9.3 p17). The Connect 32 is a SCSI II interface
which MCS claim to be öprobably the fastest real 32-bit card for the
RiscPCò. Jim Nottingham has received reports from users in Germany which
tend to substantiate this claim. In the UK, Connect 32 is available from
Clares for ú199á+áVAT (carriage included) or ú230 inclusive through
Archive. Jim has reports from MCS and others showing compatibility with
numerous SCSI devices, and details are available from Jim at
16áWestfield Close, Pocklington, York, YO4 2EY.
9.06
CoreFS Ö This will be extremely useful to anyone who needs to prepare
floppy discs for bulk duplication. Technically speaking, it is an Éimage
filing systemæ whose partition files are exact floppy disc images,
including disc name and boot options. Inápractice, this means that you
can prepare the contents of a floppy disc on your (much faster) hard
disc, and perhaps store all your master floppy discs on your hard disc
in this way, and then write out any one of them to a real floppy disc in
around 40áseconds! CoreFS supports ADFS formats D, E and F, and also
ArcFS/SparkFS archives and CFS. CoreFS Max provides all the features of
the standard release of CoreFS, but will also allow the creation of
large ADFS partitions suitable for distributing on a CD¡ROM. The benefit
of this is that the filenames within the partition do not have to be
limited to the ISO standard A-Z and underscore characters, nor is it
necessary to place everything in an archive to get around this. The
result is that the user of your CD¡ROM does not have to understand how
to use the various compression programs, and the presentation is
considerably better too. CoreFS Max is supplied with a guide to
mastering CDs and a licence to use it on two CD-ROM titles. CoreFS is
available from Zenta Multimedia for ú45 +VAT or ú50 through Archive.
CoreFS Max is available from Zenta Multimedia for ú95 +VAT or ú106
through Archive.
9.06
Easy Clip from Fabis Computing, does for clipart what Easy Font and Font
Directory do for fonts. It has the capacity to store over half a million
images in most common filetypes, and even compresses them to between 35
and 60%. Features include: large thumbnails of graphics for easy access,
virtual memory manager for thumbnail display; drag and drop between
groups and applications; preview of images in a scalable window. Easy
Clip costs ú35 (no VAT) or ú35 inc VAT through Archive.
9.06
Eesox CDBricks Ö A CDBrick consists of a CDdrive in a single box linked
to a big hard drive. You put the CDs in the drive, one at a time, and
the information is automatically downloaded onto the hard drive. That
information is then available via CDFS as if it had come directly from
the CD, except that it comes through at hard drive speed! The
VAT¡inclusive Archive prices are:
9.06
2Gb (takes about 5-6 CDs)    ú1150
9.06
4Gb (takes about 10-12 CDs)    ú1738
9.06
9Gb (takes about 20-25 CDs)    ú2678
9.06
Eesox CD-ROM towers Ö Eesox has a range of CD-ROM towers to suit all
applications and price points. You can have anything from two to six CD-
ROMs per tower, quad speed or 6.7 speed drives and, for the quad speed
drives, a choice of tray¡loading or the more expensive caddy-loading
type. Sample VAT-inclusive Archive prices are:
9.06
2 ╫ Quad speed (tray)    ú445
9.06
2 ╫ Quad speed (caddy)    ú682
9.06
6 ╫ Quad speed (tray)    ú1150
9.06
6 ╫ Quad speed (caddy)    ú1810
9.06
6 ╫ 6.7 speed (tray)    ú2443
9.06
When bought with a Tower, the CDNetFast utility costs only ú115 instead
of ú148 inclusive through Archive.
9.06
Escape from Exeria 2 is a re-write of the first game, released by Soft
Rock Software. The main points of number 2 are that it has new graphics
and sound effects, and the basic game-play has changed slightly. There
is also a version with enhanced graphics and sound available for the
RiscPC. Escape from Exeria 2 costs ú4.99, or ú7.99 for the RiscPC
version (no VAT, postage included), from Soft Rock Software.
9.06
Expandable SIMMs Ö Simtec have now produced a third size of SIMM memory
cards which are upgradable to twice the size by adding extra chips.
There is an 8Mb to 16Mb SIMM which costs ú255 through Archive and then
another ú255 for the extra chips to upgrade it later. The 16Mb
upgradable to 32Mb is now down to ú490. (cf the current Archive price
for fixed size SIMMs: 8Mb ú220, 16Mb ú420 and 32Mb ú820.)
9.06
Impression Tutorial Guide Ö (This was commissioned by Acorn Australia.)
The Impression Tutorial Guide is designed to be a beginnersæ guide to
using Impression Style and Publisher. As this guide is said to be easier
to follow than the Impression manual, the author, Dr Anthony Wood,
recommends that it be used as an alternative to the Impression manual,
especially for the absolute beginner. There are exercises throughout to
take the user from the very basics right up to some of the more advanced
features of the programs. Impression Tutorial Guides for Publisher and
Style and cost ú9.95 +p&p each, or ú10 through Archive.
9.06
Internet Survival Guide Ö Beebugæs latest offering, The Internet
Survival Guide, is exclusively Acorn-based. It begins by asking what it
is you actually want from the Internet, then explains how you might best
get started. It covers the concepts of email, Usenet, FTP, Telnet and
the Worldwide Web. It also deals with setting up and using all the major
commercial and public domain packages: The Internet Starter Pack,
Freenet, Termite, ANTæs Internet Suite, Voyager and Intertalk, (Acornæs
Internet package). Finally, it provides a list of Service Providers with
prices, local numbers (PoPs), contact details and an ÉAcorn
Friendlinessæ rating. The Internet Survival Guide from Beebug (ISBN
1¡85142-091-6) costs ú6.95 + ú1.70 p&p, or ú8áthrough Archive.
9.06
Informatrix 2 is an A3-sized overlay keyboard with 4096 programmable
keys. It uses a membrane overlay, featuring a range of simple icons to
replace standard QWERTY keystrokes. Because children require no special
computing or typing skills, or even literacy, they can produce graphics,
text and figures on screen, with sounds, just by pressing the
appropriate icons. The high resolution of the keyboard makes it
particularly useful for producing maps, and for finely detailed or
irregularly shaped graphics. The keyboard and stylus can also be used as
a sketch-pad, drawing or tracing shapes in a continuous movement,
instead of having to pick out each cell individually. Informatrix comes
complete with overlay designer software for easy creation of overlays
from any map or picture. Informatrix costs ú179 +VAT +p&p from The
Concept Keyboard Company.
9.06
InterActive Learning Ö From Yorkshire International Thompson Multimedia
come three new titles: Early Victorians CD-ROM is based on Channel 4æs
series ÉHow We Used to Liveæ and is a fully interactive disc providing a
comprehensive database of information on the early Victorian period
(circa 1845), designed for Key Stage 2. Major themes such as trade and
industry, transport, work, domestic life, leisure and education are
brought to life using a combination of video material from the TV
series, along with animations, text, stills and audio. Users can
investigate, in depth, a range of issues, from key historical events
such as the Industrial Revolution, down to biographical details of the
fictional Coggin family, living in the fictional industrial town of
ÉBradleyæ. Early Victorians costs ú69.99 +VAT +p&p, or ú80 through
Archive.
9.06
The Maximania CD-ROM is the second in a series of InterActive CD-ROMs
designed to support the development of reading in children aged 4-7. It
can be used on its own or with the Flying Boot Reading Scheme, published
by Thomas Nelson. The disc comprises a series of six chapters, each
containing sets of educational games which use a different character to
focus on different skill areas, such as matching, sorting, sequencing
and comprehension. The games have several levels through which children
can move, and a completed game can provide teachers and parents with a
profile of the childæs performance in terms of the levels achieved, the
time taken and the number of attempts made. The games and stories are
presented in a way which encourages success and aims to create an active
resource that engages the child and then motivates them to find out more
by reading off-screen. Maximania CD costs ú69.99 +VAT +p&p, or ú80
through Archive.
9.06
Breakaway Maths is a CD-ROM whose aim is to encourage less able 7-12
year-olds to progress in mathematics at Key Stage 2 and 3. Set in Alton
Towers Theme Park, the program captures the imagination of users by
setting a series of true-to-life problem-solving activities and
investigations based on various rides within the park. Extensive use of
full-colour graphics, animations, video and sound, help to hold the
usersæ interest while exploring number, shape & space, algebra and data
handling activities. Having been assessed on entry to the theme park,
each user receives assistance in the shape of four children, who help
them read a map and navigate around the park. This is supplemented by
audio instruction. Most importantly, the complexity of each exercise is
automatically adjusted by the program, in line with each individualæs
performance. Breakaway Maths CD costs ú65 +VAT +p&p, or ú74 through
Archive.
9.06
Kudlian Soft Ö Three new programs from Kudlian Soft: Splosh+ is the
sequel to Splosh, the painting program for young children and those with
special needs. Splosh+ allows access to a far wider range of facilities
which will enable children to exploit the features of the latest
hardware, including the RiscPC. It provides users with, amongst other
things, a wider range of brushes and brush shapes, additional geometric
shapes and fills, multiple undo, imports for JPEG and deep sprites, plus
16, 32, 256 and thousands and millions of colour modes. Splosh will
still be on sale providing a introduction to painting programs.
9.06
ReTreeval is an application that combines a database with a
sophisticated decision tree program. To create and search the database,
all you have to do is answer questions in natural English. The amount of
information stored about each item grows with your needs. ReTreeval
learns with you so that it always asks questions in an easily understood
language. Behind the scenes, it uses a sophisticated object-oriented
database to handle the decisions and questions required to structure the
data. Full reporting facilities are available, allowing data to be
exported as ASCII, CSV or TSV; a tree can be exported as a drawfile, and
data can have a picture associated with it.
9.06
PortFolio is a multimedia application which has been developed to allow
children, or adults, to display a carousel of images, either vector
graphics or bitmaps, including JPEG images. Each picture can have a
sound file or music or a voice recording, associated with it Ö itæs an
ideal tool for displaying childrenæs work using a variety of styles and
media.
9.06
Splosh+ costs ú39 for a single user; ú59 for Primary site pack and ú89
for Secondary site pack. Upgrades from Splosh are available at ú15, ú35
and ú49 respectively. ReTreeval costs ú40 for single user and Primary
site pack; ú60 for Secondary site pack. PortFolio costs ú29 for single
user and Primary site pack; ú45 for Secondary site packs. All prices are
+VAT +p&p.
9.06
Map Converter is a program for converting Ordnance Survey map data into
both Draw and Key Plus Map format. The package takes OS vector types,
such as NTF or Land-Line, and transfers them into Acorn vector format.
Unlike other packages of this type, the converter makes a point of
retaining all the layering within the OS data. Once exported into Key
Plus Map format, it can then be used for plotting data from Key Plus
files. This opens up to schools, and computer users generally, a wide
range of maps, from 1:2500 to 1:625000 scales, of the United Kingdom.
9.06
Key Map Editor is another product which offers an alternative range of
facilities for users to create their own Key Plus Maps for plotting
purposes. It also allows existing Key Plus maps to be edited to suit
particular requirements. One option is to take a vertical aerial
photograph, or an out-of-copyright map, scan in the image and then draw
the map on top before exporting it to map editor. Whether it is creating
a map of the school, your own town or the whole country, this tool will
open all sorts of possibilities.
9.06
OS Map Converter and Key Plus Map Editor are ú30 each +VAT +p&p from
SCA, or ú35 through Archive.
9.06
Nelson CD-ROM from Anglia Multimedia, is designed to help meet Key Stage
3 History. It contains 18 separate sections dealing with aspects of
Nelsonæs life and times. The user begins by landing on the deck of the
HMS Victory and moves through various parts of the ship examining
documents, artifacts and photographs. By clicking on any of the objects,
the user is taken through such things as life on board a battleship, the
history of the Navy, armaments, the lives of sailors, ship-building and
life at sea, etc. A document in Nelsonæs cabin leads on to a 35 minute
documentary on the Battle of Trafalgar. The CD-ROM contains animations,
video, paintings, audio and textual information about each section, and
specially commissioned photographs. The disc has been put together in
association with the National Maritime Museum, who allowed Anglia access
to areas of the Victory not normally open to the public. Nelson and His
Navy CD costs ú50 +VAT +p&p from Anglia Multimedia, or ú58 through
Archive.
9.06
Pentium-class processors are now available from Aleph One at reduced
prices. The top-of-the-range PC card features a Cyrix 5╫86 processor and
delivers Pentium-class performance, as well as software with enhanced
support for Windows 95 and sound emulation. Further software upgrades
are planned for release during 1996 including enhanced disc and video
drivers, support for the Linux operating system, and utilities for PC to
RISCáOS data exchange. The software upgrades are available to users of
all models of Acornæs PC cards and can be purchased for a nominal
charge. Aleph One customers will receive updates free of charge. The PC
5╫86 now costs ú499 +VAT +p&p from Aleph One, or ú586 through Archive.
9.06
Quipalarm Ö The Sonamara Quipalarm Q3 is an effective and robust
equipment alarm with built-in Éintelligentæ motion detectors to sense
when equipment is being disturbed. The alarm allows equipment to be used
on a normal day-to-day basis but issues a continuous ear-splitting alarm
if the equipment is being tampered with or removed. It fits to the
computer either externally by screws and locknuts, or internally by
adhesive tape. The power supply is a 9V battery fitted inside the
alarmæs casing. The Quipalarm costs ú59 +VAT +p&p from Sonamara, or ú67
through Archive.
9.06
Rcomp Ö Two new products from Rcomp... TheáKeyboard ShortCuts Utility,
is a small program, requiring only 32Kb of RAM, designed to help you
automate the RISC OS desktop. Keyboard shortcuts can be used to do
anything that a double-click would normally do, including opening
directories, loading programs, accessing floppy drives, etc. The program
features five utilities for defining, displaying and executing desktop
shortcuts. It also includes a multiboot utility with optional default
selections and time-outs. For owners of older machines, it provides some
of the features only available on the RiscPC.
9.06
Textures is a graphic effects extension for RISC OS containing over 40
professionally designed royalty-free textures for use with all major
graphics packages. They can be used as backgrounds for web pages, or
loaded onto Acornæs pinboard, as well as being used in programs such as
Photodesk, Studio 24, ProArtisan, etc.
9.06
Keyboard Shortcuts Utility costs ú15 fully inclusive from Rcomp, and
Textures costs ú12 for a single user or ú30 for a site licence from
Rcomp (no VAT).
9.06
Shakespeare comes to life with Topologikaæs ÉHow to be Bottom Ö The
Interactive Shakespeare Showæ. Originally commissioned by Londonæs
Barbican Centre and sponsored by Acorn, it aimed to give children a
multimedia look at the life and times of the Bard. Students can now get
involved in their own version of the show. Based on A Midsummer Nightæs
Dream, this multimedia resource comes on seven HD discs, giving students
an opportunity to create their own Shakespearian experience. The
material allows them to design four different stage sets as well as
their own poster. They can also create their own version of Puckæs
Spell, learn about Elizabethan musical instruments, listen to sound
samples and compose their own Elizabethan tunes. The pack also comes
with a complete set of the works of Shakespeare, as text files.
Topologika say that How to be Bottom will suit primary and secondary
students in English Language, Literature, Music and Design. The
Interactive Shakespeare Show needs RISC OS 3, a hard drive, plus 2Mb of
RAM for all parts of the pack, except Music in Shakespeareæs Time, which
needs 4Mb. It costs ú40 +VAT +p&p from Topologika, or ú45 through
Archive. The stage design element needs My World 2, available for ú39
+VAT +p&p from SEMERC. A free site licence is included, as is a voucher
to obtain a full working version of Music Box at a special discount.
9.06
RISCáOS 3.6 PRM Ö The new version of the PRM Volume 5 which now covers
RISCáOS 3.6, as well as RISCáOS 3.5, is available for ú31 inclusive
through Archive.
9.06
Tanzania CD-ROM, from Creative Curriculum Software, explores the life of
a Tanzanian village through the eyes of Elizabeth Mchald and her family,
who live and work in Sanawari. This multimedia resource consists of a
CD-ROM, video and book. They allow pupils of a wide range of ages and
abilities to explore life in a Tanzania village. The video stories have
clearly written and spoken subtitles; the CD-ROM takes the pupil into
more depth and wider issues; the book gives teachers and pupils a wealth
of ideas and information. Tanzania CD-ROM on its own costs ú49; the pack
including CD-ROM, Video and Book is ú69 for a single user; a site
licence costs ú99 Ö all prices +VAT +p&p. Through Archive, the CD-ROM on
its own costs ú55 and the CD-ROM, video and book are ú77.
9.06
The Calabash Pirates is a cross-curricula educational game for 7-11
year-olds. It introduces the user to Natty Nick, Soggy Sam, Lost Luke
and Dagger Jack, a bunch of pirates in search of gold. To find the gold,
the user has to solve mathematical and geographical puzzles requiring
problem-solving, decision-making and planning. The game should appeal to
children of a wide range of ages and abilities, and may be played again
and again Ö passage around and across the island is never as simple as
it seems. Roam through the screens of vivid graphics to find; Riddle of
the Sands; Patch the Sail; Tacking; Cannons and Raft Rescue. As well as
the obvious disciplines, the Calabash Pirates can be used (with the
accompanying study notes) to study the Tudors and Stuarts Ö the golden
age of pirates. The Calabash Pirates costs ú25.99 inc VAT +p&p from
Storm Educational Software, or ú25 through Archive.
9.06
ViVID 5000 is iSVæs latest version of their desktop resolution software.
ViVID 5000 is specially designed to run on Acornæs A5000 using 14 or 15
inch multisync monitors. It offers desktops of up to 2240╫2016 in size,
and includes 256 colour versions of most resolutions including, 1056╫832
and 1472╫ 1070 and can produce 1600╫1200 in 256 colours on some
machines. ViVID 5000 offers greyscale versions of all resolutions,
control of colour and contrast, as well as almost 100 screen modes.
ViVID costs ú16.50 including carriage (no VAT) or ú17 inc VAT through
Archive. Existing owners of ViVID20 can upgrade by returning their
master disc with a cheque for ú5 to iSV.
9.06
Review software received...
9.06
We have received review copies of the following:        ÅArt Lesson CD-
ROM(a), ÅCalabash Pirates(e), ÅESPáMidi Synthesiser(um),  ÅFreddy Teddy
Directions(e), ÅOS Map Converter & Key Plus Map Editor (e), ÅViVID
5000(u), ÅSpeaking Starspell(ew).
Products Available
9.7
3Gb for the price of 2Gb Ö We have some 3Gb external SCSI drives on sale
for ú750, virtually the same price as the 2Gb (ú730). We have two
available, so ring if you would like one of them.
9.7
5-ARM processor boards Ö Simtec are hoping to have development versions
of their 5-ARM multiprocessor cards available by the time you read this
(the boards are due at Simtecæs on 13/3/96). For ú250 +VAT +p&p (ú290
through Archive), you get a backplane which plugs into the second
processor slot on your RiscPC, and into which you plug your main ARM
processor. It then has slots on it for up to four slave ARM processor
cards and one PC processor. Unfortunately, at this stage, the PC side of
it isnæt working properly due to timing problems. The five ARM cards
work together beautifully, but the timing on the PCs has been optimised
so acutely (well, they have to, to get the last ounce of speed out of
them!), that they arenæt very tolerant in cooperative mode. (I see a
certain parallel here!)
9.7
When production boards are available, they will cost ú150 +VAT +p&p
(ú175 through Archive) for the backplane and software. You can then
populate it with whatever processors you wish: ARM610 (ú50 through
Archive Ö while stocks last), ARM710 (ú147 through Archive), ARM810
(TBA!) and StrongARM (TBA!!). (Anyone fancy a 5-StrongARM RiscPC?!)
9.7
Anglia Multimedia have gone live on the Web! Anglia Multimedia are well
known for their CD-ROMs, and now the facilities offered by Anglia have
been extended through a new web site, offering educational materials,
on-line ordering, previews, and an opportunity to join their multimedia
club. Other products such as datafiles and maps, which can be
downloaded, will also be available from the site. The service is
designed for teachers, parents and children at school and at home.
Potential purchasers will be able to view examples of Anglia products
and access information and special offers. News and support areas will
allow users to gain upgrade information, and will also include an ideas
area in which teachers can exchange project information and tips for
using Anglia products in the classroom. The multimedia club is for
parents and children at home, offering a range of opportunities based on
themes in Angliaæs educational CD-ROMs. It is hoped that competitions
and projects will encourage childrenæs participation in the club Ö
membership is free. For further information, visit Anglia Multimedia at:
9.7
http://www.iats.norfolk.gov.uk/anglia
9.7
Cambridge Reading Ö Talking Books are disc-based versions of the six
books in the ÉBeginning to Readæ phase of Cambridge Reading, aimed
mainly at children in Reception/Primary 1. Each talking book is a
computer version of a real book and includes all the text (read aloud),
and all the pictures, each with additional animation. The pages are
presented one at a time Ö unless the illustration is a double-page
spread, in which case the spread is shown as one picture. Children can
use the mouse to turn pages on-screen, to move forward or to re-visit
previous pages. The text for each book is read by a clear-speaking
adult. If a child selects the ear icon, to hear all the text shown on
the screen, they will hear it read using appropriate speed and
intonation, with each word highlighted as it is spoken. The six titles
in this collection are: My Pet; The Picnic; Walking in the Jungle; I
went to School this Morning; A very Hot Day; and What For?
9.7
Cambridge Reading Talking Books cost ú40 +VAT +p&p for a single user, or
ú47 through Archive.
9.7
ClickART, Sports and Games, from Matt Black, is another of their
excellent clipart selections. This collection is made up of 180 colour
images on the theme of Sports & Games. There are twelve categories
spread over four discs including: borders, courts, fitness, flags,
flying, horses, gear, ice & snow, water, sports, flying and icons. The
images are in Draw format and the package includes Hugh Eagleæs PickAPic
application making the viewing and loading of saved images that much
easier. There is also a 32-page printed booklet showing the images, and
giving advice on how to use them. ClickArt Sports and Games costs ú35
+p&p. The pack includes a free school site licence. Purchasers will also
be able to obtain a free disc of clipart worth up to ú30.
9.7
Computer Concepts have reduced the cost of their Impression range of
software, and produced new versions of Édongle-lessæ Artworks, Style and
Publisher. The new prices are: Artworks ú116.32 for single user, ú517
for a site licence; Style ú92.82 for a single user, ú411.25 for a site
licence; Publisher ú151.57 for a single user, ú517 for a site licence;
Publisher Plus ú269.07. To upgrade to Publisher Plus from Publisher
costs ú116.32.
9.7
Through Archive, Artworks costs ú110 for a single user, and ú490 for a
site licence. Style costs ú85 for single user, ú390 for a site licence;
Publisher costs ú144 for a single user, and ú490 for a site licence.
Publisher Plus costs ú255 and the upgrade from Publisher is ú110.
9.7
To exchange your current versions of Artworks and Publisher for the new
dongle-less versions, you need to return your dongle, with a note of
your serial number, and a payment of ú15 to Computer Concepts. So far,
Publisher Plus is not included in the dongle-less collection so,
according to CC, if you upgrade from a non-dongled Publisher to a
dongled Plus, the upgrade price will include a dongle!
9.7
This is good news indeed as there is still no sign of Ovation Pro, but
Beebug are saying they hope it will be available öin the next couple of
months or soò.
9.7
Essential Selection CD-ROM is a free sampler CD-ROM from Yorkshire
International Thompson Multimedia showing examples from some of their
products. Included on the CD-ROM are examples from: Aspects of Religion,
British Birds, Directions 2000, En Marchai, En Route, Inventors and
Inventions, Max and the Machines, The Physical World, Scrapbook, World
War II Ö Global Conflict, and World War II Ö Sources and Analysis. From
the Environmental Series: Water, Land and Air; Climate Change;
Conservation; and Dwindling Resources. From the Science Series:
Elements; and Materials. The CD-ROM can be obtained direct from YITM.
9.7
Heavy mouse balls Ö These are now available through Archive for ú3 each.
9.7
HyperStudio is a sort of electronic scrapbook that allows text and
graphics, sound and animations, video and, in the latest versions,
material from the Internet and other online sources, to be assembled
creatively into CD style multimedia pages called stacks. It has been
designed to support the most inexperienced users, constantly relating to
the way we actually think and learn. Its uses are almost endless e.g.
lively presentation of work, records of achievement, student portfolio
work, records, exam and test results, interactive school or class
magazines, interactive revision notes, pupil and staff information lists
with pictures, etc.
9.7
Although aimed at education, it does have a place in corporate and home
environments, providing a means of collecting and displaying any kind of
information.
9.7
The educational prices from TAG Developments for HyperStudio are: ú99.95
for a single user licence; ú299.95 for a 5-pack site licence Ö
thereafter each new licence costs ú37.
9.7
For non-educational users, a single user licence is ú149.95; a 5-pack
site licence is ú499.95. All prices are +VAT +p&p. Through Archive, the
non-educational single user licence is ú168.
9.7
Loudspeakers Ö Eesox have three loudspeakers suitable for Acorn
computers. The speakers are 12W, 25W and 80Watt models (Peak Music Power
Output), and come with a cable to connect to a mini jack socket. This
means that they can be used with Walkmans etc, as well as Acorn
computers. All speakers are magnetically shielded making them suitable
for use next to a computer. Eesox have evaluated a number of different
speakers and chose these for their good all round quality.
9.7
The 25W and 80W have noticeably more bass than the 12W, but the 12W
donæt take up as much desk space and are the most popular. The sound
quality is slightly better with the 25W and 80W. All speakers have a
volume adjuster, but the 25W and 80W also include a bass and treble
adjuster. They cost ú25 for the 12W (size: 80mm wide ╫ 180mm high ╫
115mm deep); ú35 for the 25W (size: 105╫160╫130) and ú49 for 80W (size:
140╫190╫140), all +p&p +VAT; or ú32, ú43 and ú60 respectively through
Archive.
9.7
Modems Ö Because of the huge growth in interest in the Internet, the
sales of modems are increasing and so the price is dropping whilst, at
the same time, the facilities are improving. The Sportster modems we
sell now cost ú135 for the 14.4k and ú220 for the 28.8k. Not only are
these modems cheaper but they now also handle voice (for ansaphone-type
applications) as well as fax.
9.7
PD drive pricing Ö The price of the PD drive (as used in the Cumana
proTeus) has dropped to ú495 for an internal RiscPC drive and ú595 for
an external drive. We announced this as a öSpecial Purchaseò last month
but, actually, we were misled by our suppliers. This is a continuing
price because Panasonic have dropped their prices.
9.7
Praktikum Ö Since Archive went on-line on the net, we have had a lot of
useful contact with a number of companies in the UK and overseas.
Praktikum came to our attention through contact with Feldner & Braun
Software, Germany.
9.7
Praktikum is a formula-based program for processing numerical series.
Its advantages show especially when a formula is used many times with
different entries (e.g. tables of functions, processing of data series
from scientific experiments). Praktikum does not work in a matrix
representation mode as spreadsheet programs do, but all the given data
is held in named variables and referred to under these names in the
formulae. Here a variable can be a whole series of data from an
experiment or it can be defined as a formula depending on other
variables. The variables can then be presented in either tables or
graphs.
9.7
Graphs can be exported as drawfiles. Tables can be exported as CSV, TSV
or TeX files. Formulae can be exported as TeX source code. Formulae
(including automatically generated ones) can be imported as text files,
and data series as CSV files.
9.7
As yet, we do not have any pricing information on this product, but you
can find out more by browsing their web site at: http://www.acorn.co.uk/
acorn/university/praktikum
9.7
Serial switch Ö As an alternative to adding an extra serial port (ú92
and it takes up one precious podule slot), how about a serial switch box
for ú25 through Archive? This product was born out of necessity Ö having
started using a Pocket Book, the A-Link became an essential connection
to the Editoræs computer as well as the modem!
9.7
Smudge is the central character in a number of stories from Storm
Educational Software, aimed at the 5+ age group. Already in the
collection are: Smudge the Spaniel (looking at mathematics, English,
number recognition, sequencing, adding counting and multiplication);
First Words with Smudge (looking at spelling, letter shapes and
writing); and Smudge the Scientist (looking at Science). Two new titles
are now available. Smudge Discovers the World is designed to equip
children with basic geographical skills; in part one, Smudge looks at
different types of housing in villages, towns and cities Ö discovering
the UK and Europe. In part two, compass co-ordinates and mapping skills
are introduced. Smudge Punctuates deals with English punctuation. Itæs a
graded package designed for 5-9 year olds, helping to show that
punctuation makes written work interesting and enjoyable. Smudge is
suitable for school or home use.
9.7
Smudge Punctuates costs ú34.99 +p&p or ú35 through Archive. Smudge
Discovers the World costs ú45.99 +p&p or ú45 through Archive.
9.7
Speak was reviewed in the March edition of Archive (9.6 p8), where the
reviewer suggested that the only thing it lacked was a spell checker.
Well, it now has one. It even uses the pronunciation information in the
speak module to help produce a list of similar sounding words to a given
word. It seems considerably better at finding words from a Ésounds likeæ
mis-spelling than any other RISC OS product Ö confirmed by tests run by
Ted Pottage of the British Dyslexia Association computer committee. It
deals with typographical errors in the usual way. According to its
author, Jonathan Duddington, Speak is constantly under development and
he hopes to announce other improvements in the near future. Toáupgrade
from earlier versions, send the original disc with a 25p stamp for
return postage, to: JonathanáDoddington, 6a Old Mill Avenue, Coventry
CV4á7DY.
9.7
Studio24Pro is a new version of Pineapple Softwareæs much respected
bitmap program. Among the new features is the ability to move, scale,
rotate and edit Draw-type objects as though they were in a vector
graphics program Ö the same applies to text. There are more filters and
effects available, texture generation, more brush options, improved use
of colour channels, and much much more. For a full review, see last
monthæs magazine (9.6 p43). At the moment, the manuals for Studio24Pro
are not yet finished but, as a special offer, Pineapple are offering
Studio24Pro free if you buy Studio24 Ö this will only last until the new
manuals are printed. You will receive a copy of the manual once itæs
finished, and then there will be a new price for the Pro package. Until
then, the price of Studio24 (with Pro) is ú125 +VAT +p&p or ú140 through
Archive.
9.7
PC CD-ROMs Ö There should be some interesting developments with PC CD-
ROMs over the next few months! Using a PC-to-Acorn Reader, Innovative
Media Solutions have already managed to read a number of PC CD-ROMs;
some, apparently, actually work faster with the Reader than on native PC
architecture. So far, the following titles are available: from the
Dorling Kindersley range: PBáBearæs Birthday Party ú33.19 +VAT +p&p; and
The Way Things Work ú42.90 +VAT +p&p, and from the Microsoft Home
Series: Dinosaurs, and Musical Instruments, at ú39 +VAT +p&p each, or
ú46 through Archive. (These were reviewed in Archive 9.6 p67.) Other
titles will be available throughout the rest of the year. (Ancient Lands
and Dangerous Creatures, also at ú39 +VAT +p&p each, or ú46 through
Archive, should be available by the time you read this.)
9.7
Photobase Primary Images is another in the collection of Photobase
images from Longman Logotron. Images cover over 30 categories including
Environment, Entertainment, Birthplaces, Pets, History and People. Each
photograph is accompanied by a brief description, and keywords which
will enable users to retrieve images related to a specific topic. The
images have been chosen for their quality and relevance to the Primary
National Curriculum. The idea is to allow children to compare a wide
range of images with their own environment and gain experience in
searching and classifying information. The images included were
considered to be the best from entries in a photographic competition
organised by MAPE (Micro and Primary Education). All the images are
copyright free. The CD-ROM costs ú52 +VAT +p&p, or ú60 through Archive.
9.7
QuickLynk, from Desktop Projects, provides a useful way of transferring
data from one RISC OS computer to another. The package comprises one
disc of software and 5 or 10 metres of cable for linking the two
computers. Once attached to the serial port, either by the local cabling
or remotely via a modem, QuickLynk allows users to transfer files to and
fro quickly and easily. For security, there is a password system which
prohibits access by unauthorised users. The QuickLynk software on its
own costs ú28; with 5 metres of cable ú34; and with 10 metres of cable
ú39. All prices are +VAT. Through Archive, the software on its own costs
ú32; with 5 metres of cable ú38; and with 10 metres of cable ú44.
9.7
SignalBox is a computer simulation of the Kidderminster signal box, with
a selection of different timetables, fully functional interlocking on-
screen clock and a display of your score, updated at every mistake! A
cut-down version was distributed on the Archive monthly disc (9.5). The
full version costs ú25 and part of the money will be donated to the
Severn Valley Railway. Available from: C K Hall, 3áRockleaze Court,
Sneyd Park, Bristol BS9 1NN.
9.7
Simple Circuits is a combined software and hardware product designed to
teach children the basic fundamentals of electricity and simple electric
circuits, based on the requirements of Key Stage 2 (science) of the
National Curriculum. Children build circuits from the software, and
answer questions about their findings. Camboard Technology, the
designers of Simple Circuits, have now introduced a new low cost site
licence for primary schools. The new site licence costs ú49.95 +VAT and
includes one hardware pack. The single user price is still ú20.95 +VAT.
Single users can upgrade to a site licence for ú20 +VAT. More
information can be obtained by writing to Camboard Technology or
visiting their web pages at: http://ourworld.compuserve.com:80/
homepages/camboard/
9.7
Tele-card 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. XOB, the company
behind Tele-Card, have added some new features to their system. The
first is an application which allows sub-titles to be grabbed in real
time and accumulated as text files. The second is an application which
shows how teletext is received in real time, line by line. This allows
users to investigate the way some of the newer teletext services are
being implemented, including Program Delivery Control.
9.7
A single user system costs ú152 +VAT +p&p or ú175 through Archive. The
network version costs ú342 +VAT +p&p. Existing users can get a free
upgrade from XOB.
9.7
Virtualise is Claresæ new virtual memory management application. It will
benefit users of ProArt 24 and Composition who have less than 16Mb of
DRAM. It will also help users of programs which utilise Dynamic Memory,
such as Publisher and ImageFS. The updated versions of ProArt 24
(version 1.02) and Composition (version 1.02) now have support for
Virtualise. Prices are: for ProArt 24 ú169.95; the upgrade from ProArt2
or ProArt2CD is ú49.95; to upgrade from any other art package is ú85.00.
All prices include VAT and p&p. Through Archive, the price for ProArt 24
is ú160.
9.7
Composition costs ú169.95; the price for ProArt 24 owners is ú85.00; the
price for owners of other art packages is ú99.95 All prices include VAT
and p&p. Through Archive, the price for Composition is ú160.
9.7
Virtualise costs ú24.95 from Clares or ú24 through Archive.
9.7
Yellowstone will be shipping some new products by the end of March.
9.7
UltraSCSI3 is a state-of-the-art SCSI controller card for the RiscPC. It
supports the latest SCSI-3 specification, using 32-bit transfers and DMA
access to give performance of up to 7Mb/s using asynchronous SCSI
transfers and 8Mb/s using synchronous ones. The UltraSCSI3 controller
can be used with up to seven SCSI devices and supports SCSI, SCSI-2,
Fast SCSI-2 and SCSI-3 standards. UltraSCSI3 costs ú165 +VAT +p&p or
ú190 through Archive.
9.7
DesktopTV is a modular audio multimedia card, incorporating a complete
television receiver and audio processor. The video digitizer has been
specifically designed to provide full motion colour desktop video at
full frame rate for smooth display of TV pictures. The latest one-chip
front end digital colour decoder from Phillips is used as the basis for
the digitizer Ö brightness, contrast, saturation and hue are controlled
in real time. DesktopTV cost ú165 +VAT +p&p or ú190 through Archive.
9.7
Already available is Mozart, a 16-bit digital sound card with a four-
channel mixer. This enables sound from two sources to be mixed with 8-
bit sound produced on the motherboard by VIDC, along with the sound
output from the 16-bit sound circuit. The 16-bit audio circuit
incorporates over-sampling techniques along with a digital tracking
filter. Mozart costs ú59.95 +VAT +p&p or ú69 through Archive.
9.7
Review software received...
9.7
We have received review copies of the following: ÅStrike (eg),
ÅEssential Selection CD (e), ÅBeginning to Read (e), ÅArcVenture IV Ö
The Anglo Saxons (e), ÅElf Tales (e), ÅESP Midi Synthesiser (m), ÅNelson
and his Navy (e), ÅSignalBox (?), QuickLynk (u).
Products Available
Products Available
9.8
Archive monthly program disc Ö We have been getting more material sent
to us for the disc, and so we decided to see if we could go over to
using 1.6Mb discs. Only two people said they were still using 800Kb
discs and so weæll just send out 2╫800Kb discs where necessary Ö and
hope they both buy RiscPCs from us soon! (Iæm sure we could arrange a
special discount!) The price of the discs remains at ú2 a disc or ú20
for a year Ö overseas rates are shown on the back cover of the magazine.
9.8
The content of the discs is, as always, completely unguaranteed. We put
on the disc whatever comes to hand that relates to the articles in the
magazine, plus any utilities and/or information that is sent in by
subscribers or dragged off the Net.
9.8
Christian Acorn Users Group Ö The library of PD software available to
members of the CAUG (not to be confused with the C (language) Acorn
Users Group!) is growing steadily and the latest catalogue has just been
issued. The latest CAUG newsletter has also just been issued but (Colin
tells me) will only be sent to those who have renewed their
subscriptions! This issue includes articles on keeping church records,
Christians on the Internet and the latest news about ExpLANæs Holy
Bible. Details from Rev. Colin Randall, The Rectory, Swan Lane, Long
Hanborough, Witney, Oxon, OX8 8BT. (01993-881270)
9.8
ClassNet upgrade Ö A new AUN (Acorn Universal Networking) DC14 upgrade
EPROM is now available for Oak Solutionsæ ClassNet cards. This makes
them compatible with Ethernet cards from other manufacturers and also
enables them to run the latest network products such as School Server,
InterTalk and OmniClient. Future networking developments will also
require this upgrade to AUN DC14. Included in the upgrade is CMOS RAM
protection which prevents unauthorised re¡configuration and protects the
setup of the machine. System Manageræs software is provided and is
password protected. It is fully compatible with existing ClassShare
Application Server and ClassRom hard disc protection products. The
upgrade is supplied as an EPROM exchange and includes a new manual and
management disc. The price is ú15 +VAT from Oak Solutions.
9.8
DTP design book Ö (With apologies to all those who already own a
copy...) This is just a reminder about the Non-Designeræs Design book
(below). This is the most helpful book about DTP layout and typography
that I (and many other people) have ever seen, and it is now owned by
almost 25% of Archive subscribers! We offered it (and still do so) on a
guaranteed full refund if not 100% satisfied. On this basis, only two
books have ever been returned from the hundreds and hundreds of copies
we have sold. i.e it is your recommendation, as the buyers, not just
mine as a salesman!
9.8
Non-Designeræs Design Book Ö This book by Robin Williams has absolutely
nothing to do with Acorn computers! However, it is a really excellent
guide showing how to make the best use of those DTP facilities that most
of us possess, yet few of us have ever been trained to use properly. It
explains the basic principles of page layout, using fonts, etc, in such
a way that (a) it is easy to understand and (b)áit is memorable. This
means that you actually put into practice the things that you have read.
(See Mark Howeæs review, 8.6 p23.) The price is ú13 inc p&p.
9.8
High speed serial card from Intelligent Interfaces provides two
additional RS232 compatible serial interfaces, with standard 9-pin
D¡type connectors, capable of communicating at baud rates from 50 to
230400 including 9,600, 19,200, 38,400, 57,600 and 115,200 baud. The
software supplied now includes Block Drivers for Hearsay II, ArcFax,
ARCterm 7, Termite, Voyager, the Internet Starter Pack, ANT Suite (users
require a PPP module, obtainable from: [e-mail] Ö they also
need version 3.47 of the Dual Card module) and the new version of
Acornæs InterTalk. The card can be used in any computer with a backplane
but requires RISC OS 3.1 or later. The dual high speed serial interface
card is available from Intelligent Interfaces for ú149 +VAT +p&p or ú175
through Archive.
9.8
Eesox have reduced the price of some of their CD-ROM drives. Included in
the reductions are: the Quad-speed IDE Gold series drive, now ú99 + ú8
p&p +VAT or ú120 through Archive; and the Six-speed IDE Platinum series,
now ú149 + ú8 p&p +VAT or ú180 through Archive. As always, the drives
are supplied with an IDE cable, an audio cable, driver software,
installation guide and fixing screws. The drives work on all RiscPC 600/
700æs and the A7000 range, using the CDFS driver supplied. The audio
cable is only suitable for machines with an audio mixer board, i.e. any
machine apart from the old RiscPC 600æs.
9.8
New from Eesox is the CD-ROM Recorder which allows you to write your own
CD-ROMs. Included in the package is the CD-ROM recorder, writer
software, and driver software to use the writer as a reader. As a
writer, the CD-ROM Recorder works as a dual-speed device, taking about
35 minutes to write 650Mb of information. As a reader it works at quad-
speed. Itæs a SCSI based device and so a SCSI card is required Ö Eesox
recommend a fairly fast one Ö and you will also need the hard disc
capacity to hold the data you wish to write to a CD-ROM. The internal
CD-ROM writer package costs ú799 +p&p +VAT or ú895 through Archive. The
external package costs ú859 +p&p +VAT or ú965 through Archive.
9.8
Elements and Nuclides Ö Atomic Software say that, following customer
feedback, both Elements and Nuclides have undergone major improvements.
They can now save text as RTF files and data as CSV files, as well as
many other significant additions. This has necessitated a price increase
from ú9.95 each to ú14.95 each, or ú19.95 for both, effective from 1
July 1996. (Update prices and policy remain the same at ú2 each, upon
receipt of original disc.) The earlier version of the software was
reviewed in Archive 9.6 p39.
9.8
Encode is a file protection utility which provides complete security of
data and applications where they are in danger from illegal access or
copying, while at the same time maintaining a friendly and intuitive
feel to the user. A further feature of Encode is automatic 12-bit LZW
file compression as used by Acorn. Possible environments where this
application will be valuable include computer shows, schools and
businesses. The software is completely transparent to the authorised
users, encrypting both files and applications. Applications and data can
be easily secured and may be accessed without decoding. Alternatively,
they can be decoded easily without risk to the data itself. A full range
of password systems is implemented and the application can be customised
to meet the needs of individual users.
9.8
Encode requires a 1Mb RISCáOS 3 machine and is available at ú19.50
(inclusive) from Grasshopper.
9.8
Essential Steps to Swimming has got to be the definitive CD-ROM on
swimming. Designed with the help of leading youth coaches, this CD¡ROM
is aimed both at teachers and students. There is something for everyone
Ö absolute beginners can learn how to get into a pool safely, while
experienced swimmers and coaches are able to analyse in detail every
aspect of a stroke. Water safety is constantly emphasised, with sections
on potential risks, survival techniques and a game to reinforce the
Water Safety Code.
9.8
Information is presented as spoken and written text, based on poolside
instruction. Clear and colourful animations show complicated movements,
and videos show each stroke in action. Interactive word games and
quizzes not only test knowledge but also encourage close observation and
independent thought. The CD-ROM provides the stroke analysis, and water
safety aspects of external PE examinations, and provides hints for keep-
fit swimming for those preparing for the sport and leisure industry. It
can be used by individuals, class groups and both specialist and non-
specialist teachers.
9.8
Essential Steps to Swimming is available from Yorkshire International
Thomson Multimedia and costs ú53.58 +VAT or ú60 through Archive.
9.8
Iota Software are now on the Net! They can be found at http://
www.iota.co.uk Ö youæll find information about their latest product
releases as well as hints and tips on using existing software, including
an FAQ page on DataPower. You can also pick up some free screen-saver
programs which use animations from their Complete Animator.
9.8
Learning Through Computing have launched a new range of primary
education programs. The Doorway Classroom Pack introduces children to a
wide range of topics covering time, numeracy and early literacy. In many
of the programs, the curriculum level can be set allowing the program to
be used throughout primary and into secondary education. The programs in
the pack include: AboutTime, WeighOut, Simple Spreadsheet, two Turtle
control programs, Number Table, Pelmanism, Texttype, FirstWord,
FirstLetter, SameAgain, Cashing In and Upto Ten. Teachersæ notes for
each of the programs on the pack are supplied in a robust ring binder,
along with a number of worksheets. In addition, a selection of Design
Conceptæs outline fonts, including the Foundation handwriting font, come
with the pack. The Classroom programs are run using Doorway, LTCæs
Hypermedia system Ö a Doorway browser program is supplied with the pack.
9.8
The Foreign Language Packs are a selection of programs available in
French, German, Spanish and Italian, covering Food and Drink, Clothing,
Body Parts and Animals. Students can use the programs to look up various
words in their singular and plural forms. They can be tested in a number
of ways, including having to match words with pictures, typing in names
of objects, and typing the singular and plural words. The programs will
mark and keep a score of correct answers. When a test is completed, the
student is presented with a list of words that he/she has had difficulty
with. To use the programs, LTCæs Doorway Browser is required, available
with the Classroom pack above, or separately.
9.8
Doorway Classroom Pack costs ú35 +VAT. The normal price for the Foreign
Language Packs is ú20 +VAT but for a limited period you can buy them for
ú16 +VAT. Doorway Browser costs ú35 +VAT. Site licences are available
from LTC.
9.8
Logic Gates and Counters is a software package for learning about logic
gates and digital counters. The package, from Camboard Technology,
includes three applications: Logic Gates introduces the main logic gate,
with on-screen user-enabled simulations of each gate. The simulations
mimic actual hardware by using switches and LEDs. The Camboard approach
enhances this by including dynamic binary logic status values, so the
user can see a representation of the logic level by way of a simulated
LED and its boolean property. Each logic gate has a dedicated text
screen with questions to answer. Counters is the main 4-bit counter
system and is described incorporating a
9.8
 similar approach to Logic Gates. The application starts with the 4-bit
counter and leads on to hexadecimal counters. Simulate combines solely
logic gates and three digital counters from the main applications. This
allows all logic gates and counters to be used together on screen.
9.8
Logic Gates and Counters costs ú16.95 +VAT from Camboard Technology.
9.8
Merlin Raytracer price reduction Ö Merlin Raytracer is a program which
allows you to create images using a technique called ray-tracing, where
each pixel is affected by light sources, shadows, reflection, refraction
etc. Merlin offers an excellent 3D editor (until now Acorn machines have
only had textual script files with which you are meant to Édescribeæ
your scene), a texture/material editor and, of course, a ray-tracer. Its
features include texture-mapping, Phong and Gouraud shading, anti-
aliasing, polygons-into-lines, transparency, mist/fog, different classes
of light-sources, various cameras and the ability to import Draw and DXF
(professional CAD) files, and it is designed with ease-of-use in mind.
Merlin costs ú80 p&p +VAT available from the Datafile or ú90 inclusive
through Archive. Upgrades are available from Datafile for ú2. (Merlin
was reviewed in Archive 8.11 p9)á
9.8
Number Time 2 is what you might call a compilation album plus. Hazelnut
Software have put together, on CD-ROM, some of their best known maths
programs and, in so doing, have re-vamped them and reduced the price of
the whole collection. In past reviews, the collection has received some
very encouraging comments (8.5 p51 and 9.1 p79). Now the collection
comes with 15 worksheets for teachers to print, covering tables, time
and number bonds. The original programs have been added to and include:
Number Bonds, covering simple addition and subtraction bonds, Tell Time,
covering hours, half past, quarters and the 24 hour clock Ö each has a
clock to make and print, and Times Table which covers two to twelve
times tables with over 130 animations, text and sound, and certificates
to print out. All of the programs come in six versions for 2Mb and 4Mb
machines and RiscPC, with an older or younger voice-over. (There is also
a PC version on the CD-ROM.) For educational establishments, there is a
28 day Étry before you buyæ offer. The collection is aimed at Primary
and Special Needs.
9.8
The CD-ROM costs ú29 +p&p from Hazelnut. The education price is ú26.50
+p&p. All programs have a free site licence. Times Tables, Tell Time and
Number Bonds are also available on floppy discs.
9.8
PC CD-ROMs Ö We announced last month the interesting developments coming
from Innovative Media Solutions, using their PC to Acorn Reader. The
Readers have been designed to read PC CD-ROMs and display the
information on the Acorn platform Ö this includes data, photos, video
and speech. Each month they hope to release a new title from the PC
world and are already busy on such titles as Microsoftæs Encarta and Art
Gallery. Ancient Lands and Dangerous Creatures will be the next two
titles available from the Microsoft HOME Series and will cost ú39 +VAT
+p&p or ú46 through Archive. From the Dorling Kindersley collection,
TheáWay Things Work is ready to ship and will be followed closely by My
First Incredible Amazing Dictionary, each at ú42.90 +VAT +p&p. The
Dorling Kindersley titles are only available from the DK Family Library,
IMS or CD Circle for the first six months of their release; thereafter
they will be obtainable from other Acorn outlets. The Microsoft series
CD-ROMs are available through Archive.
9.8
PenDown DTP is a new development of the ever popular writing and
publishing tool for children of all ages and abilities. PenDown DTP now
has three configurable levels and HTML capability. Level 1 features the
familiar PenDown style click and type approach, with full text editing,
speech capability and interactive spell-checking. Level 2 adds the
sophistication of a frame-based DTP environment. Level 3 features
multiple floating toolbars, hypertext documents and easy-to-use
mailmerge and label printing. Educational extensions, such as assessment
of reading difficulty and the generation of cloze procedures, are also
available at this level.
9.8
Still under development is a partner product which can be used to
convert PenDown DTP pages into HTML pages suitable for uploading to
Internet Web servers. It builds upon the Hypertext capabilities already
in place in PenDown DTP. The software is currently in its early testing
stages, and can be downloaded free by all PenDown DTP users from the
Logotron Web Server http://www/logo.com/pendtp/index.html Ö the complete
product will be available for release later in the year. In the
meantime, Longman would welcome any feedback from users, and those
downloading are asked to register their name and contact details.
9.8
PenDown DTP costs ú59 +VAT +p&p, or ú68 through Archive. A 5, 10, 20 and
40-user licence costs ú67, ú118, ú207 and ú354 respectively, or ú77,
ú132, ú232 and ú395 through Archive. Existing users of PenDown, PenDown
Plus, Talking PenDown and First Page may upgrade to PenDown DTP Ö
contact Longman Logotron for details.
9.8
PocketMedia Ltd is a new company set up to exploit the emerging market
for palmtop computers. Headed by Mike Collett, and with a team of
educationalists, graphic designers, programmers and teachers,
PocketMedia intends to become the leading developer of educational
software for hand-held devices. Initial development will be for Acornæs
PocketBook II and the Psion 3a organiser. Among their first products are
Pond Life, the first in a series called PocketExplorer, and a version of
the Three Little Pigs. Pond Life allows children to explore a pond
environment using scrolling pictures, sound and animation. They can also
learn about the different creatures which are found in the pond. Pond
Life will be followed by a number of other PocketExplorer products,
including Farm Life and City Life. TheáThree Little Pigs is a version of
the CD-ROM talking story and includes graphics, sounds and animations.
Also included are some educational games and activities based around the
story. The software is aimed at Key Stage 1 for use in school and at
home. Both products will cost under ú30.
9.8
Really Good Software Ö from the Really Good Software Company. Montage is
a program for creating and exploring the world of fractals. It enables
the complexities of fractal geometry to be explored easily as an art
form, by the creation of simple or complex pictures, and be fully
understood as a mathematical process. Pictures of objects or scenes can
be created by users with little or no knowledge of mathematics. The
program comes with a seventy page manual, a twenty page tutorial and an
on-disc guide. It requires at least 2Mb of memory for most applications,
and 4Mb for hi-res colour work. Montage costs ú45 for a single user and
ú180 for a site licence from RGSC.
9.8
Two programs for transferring information from older machines to newer
ones are MultiLink and Z¡Link. MultiLink allows users to transfer data
between 8-bit BBCæs and Acorn 32-bit machines, including the RiscPC Ö
you simply use the mouse to drag information between windows. Z-Link
does the same for the Z88 portable Ö it comes complete with special
serial cable and instructions. MultiLink costs ú24.94 or ú29.95 with
cable to link serial ports from RGSC.
9.8
SIMM prices drop Ö There have been some sudden and dramatic drops in the
price of SIMM memory just lately. Currently, the 4Mb is ú90 through
Archive, 8Mb is ú160, 16Mb is ú280 and 32Mb is ú650.
9.8

9.8
Table Aliens, from Sherston Software, is a new maths adventure designed
to put the fun back into learning tables. Earth is in grave danger from
an invasion of the Table Aliens Ö primary school pupils must sharpen up
their number skills to help save the planet. First, each pupil will have
to qualify to join the special task force which has been set up to
combat the alien invaders; then, they are faced with a series of
exciting adventures as they bravely do battle with these number-obsessed
creatures from outer-space.
9.8
Table Aliens includes full teacher control and can be set to teach,
practice and test any combination of tables up to twelve. The program
features ten different table activities which can be accessed directly
or through the four adventures. In addition to the program, the package
contains photocopiable worksheets to promote work away from the
computer. Table Aliens will be available after 15th April and will cost
ú24.95 +VAT +p&p or ú30 through Archive.
9.8
TopModel is now distributed directly from Sincronia and will soon be
sold in the UK and in the rest of the world by local distributors.
Sincronia is also developing a VRML browser based on the new Gemini MPGE
(Multi-Processor Graphic Engine), that will be the core of the next
release of TopModel. TopModel is now shipped with filters for importing
Imagine, DXF, Envisage, 3D Studio, Sculpt3D, Illusionist, RenderBender
II, Fems, TPoly and GEO ASCII file and for exporting in DXF, POVRay and
GEO ASCII formats. Z-Buffer management has been added for perfect image
management.
9.8
WatchDog/Padlock Ö The desktop security manager from Base5 Technical
Graphics was reviewed last month, p76. Unfortunately, we forgot that the
name had been changed from Padlock to WatchDog because ICS have an
application by the name of Padlock. WatchDog costs ú49 inclusive from
Base5 (no VAT) and WatchPup (i.e. Padlock Junior!) costs ú15 inclusive.
(Acorn User have also just published a review... under the name
Padlock!)
9.8
Xword is a powerful and sophisticated, multitasking crossword setting
and solving application capable of producing any size of crossword grid.
It was last reviewed by Roger King (7.5 p59) who gave it an unreserved
recommendation. Now Panda Discs have reduced the price to ú29.95.áuá
9.8
Products Available
9.9
APDL price reductions Ö APDLæs PDCD¡1 contains most of the useful
programs and utilities from the APDL library, including a lot of
material useful in education. There are also many classic novels
(properly converted to Acorn format plain textfiles), plus the works of
Shakespeare. PDCD¡2 has over 500 games and novelties, more than 200
demos, and hundreds of cheats for commercial games. There are also more
than 2000 Maestro, Tracker and Digital Symphony tunes, and a selection
of popular music players. The PDCDs now only cost ú15 each through
Archive.
9.9
Clipart CDs DTP¡l and DTP¡2 were reviewed in 9.7 p69. They now only cost
ú20 each through Archive.
9.9
Archive subscription Ö The best way to get new Archive subscribers is by
personal recommendation, so we are prepared to encourage you to
encourage your friends to subscribe. We are always happy to send anyone
who wants one, a free sample magazine Ö just give us a name and address,
and weæll pop a copy in the post, but we are going to try out a new
scheme...
9.9
Free 12 month subscription Ö We will extend your existing subscription
by 12 months, free of charge, for every brand new subscriber you can
bring to us. (Itæs up to you what deal you work out with your friend!)
Just fill in the enclosed form and send it in with a cheque or the
credit card details, and weæll do the rest.
9.9
(Overseas subscribers, this applies to you too Ö just change the amount
on the form from ú25 to ú32 if you are in Europe, ú43 for Australia/NZ
or ú40 elsewhere.)
9.9
Atomwide keyboard encoder allows a wide range of PC compatible keyboards
to be used with pre-RiscPC Acorn computers. This means that users of old
worn-out Archimedes keyboards are no longer restricted to the standard,
expensive Acorn replacement, but can, instead, choose from almost any
type on the market. The encoder is housed inside a case little bigger
than a matchbox. The reset switch that used to be found on Acorn
keyboards is replaced by a small, recessed button on the encoder that
can be gently pushed using a pointed object such as a pen¡tip or paper
clip. All other keys are correctly mapped between Acorn and PC layouts.
Absolutely no configuration is required to install the encoder Ö just
plug in three cables.
9.9
The encoder will come as a great relief to people who regularly use
Acorns and PCs and bemoan the different key layouts. The keyboard
encoder plugs into Acorn A300, A400, A400/1, A540, A4000 and A5000
series machines accepting almost any IBM  PS/2 or Cherry-compatible
keyboard. This includes special types, such as those incorporating card
swipes and barcode readers.
9.9
The Keyboard Encoder costs ú39 +VAT +ú3.50 p&p from Atomwide or ú47
through Archive. The Ecoder, complete with a good, basic PC keyboard, it
costs ú79 through Archive. With a really top quality Cherry keyboard, it
still only costs ú120 through Archive (cf an Acorn old-style keyboard at
ú125!)
9.9
BitFolio 7 CD-ROM Ö After our special offer, we have had a lot of very
positive feedback and have managed to sell enough to extend the special
offer: Full price ú95 Ö offer price ú75 through Archive. This collection
of 10,000+ vector graphics images has attracted unsolicited comments
from readers such as: öquite brilliant, knocking spots off other so-
called upmarket offeringsò, and öif you havenæt got a CD-ROM drive, it
would be worth buying one just for this collection.ò
9.9
CD drive prices down Ö The prices of IDE CD-ROMs are falling and there
is now an eight-speed device available (and dual speed drives seem to
have disappeared altogether). New Archive prices are as follows:
9.9
  Quad speed Ö ú90
9.9
  Six speed Ö ú120
9.9
  Eight speed Ö ú160
9.9
However, the price of SCSI CD-ROM drives has hardly fallen because the
mass market is for IDE devices. This is a shame because SCSI devices do
seem to perform better. (This is another example of Éindustry standardæ
= lowest common denominator.)
9.9
  Quad speed tray-loading Ö ú175
9.9
  Quad speed caddy-loading Ö ú290
9.9
  Six speed caddy-loading Ö ú355
9.9
  6.7 speed tray-loading Ö ú385
9.9
For external versions of these SCSI drives, add ú70.
9.9
CDtracker Plus is an enhanced version of CDtracker with dozens of extra
features Ö see 9.3 p77 for review of the original version. CDs can be
played in Single, Continuous, Programmed, Shuffled, Favourite, Repeat,
Intro scan and Point to point modes and, where appropriate, can combine
any of these facilities Ö e.g. Repeat/Shuffled/Favourites. Other
facilities include a four-format elapsed time clock, select Next/
Previous track, Pause and variable speed Fast Forward and Rewind. The
player interface is both Style Guide compliant and a close emulation of
a real CD player, complete with a keypad just as one might find on an
expensive hifi. Two player interfaces are provided and the user can
toggle between them. Click on a single file icon to play any pre-defined
selection of tracks on any CD that is in the drive.
9.9
The CD database stores seven items of data including: Track title,
Artistæs name, CD title and label and five more of the useræs own
choosing. Export any chosen data in Text or CSV file format or Import in
CSV or SmartCD+ format. Find and Select facilities to pinpoint any track
anywhere in the database. Dynamic linking between player and database so
that a CD in the drive can be located instantly within the database.
9.9
From Werewolf Software, CDtracker costs ú14.95 and CDtracker Plus costs
ú24.95 (add ú1 p&p) or they will do a low cost upgrade.
9.9
Cumana are still very much alive and active in the Acorn market. They
have just produced a new catalogue Ö see the Factfile for contact
details.
9.9
DEC_dATA are in the process of putting together a CD-ROM of clipart,
aimed at Key Stage 2 and 3. It should be ready in a few weeks and will
cost around ú40 Ö more details to come.
9.9
Also new from DEC_dATA is a collection of clipart on disc for Key Stage
2. Each collection consists of full colour drawfiles and is accessed via
a Clearview file that shows a small thumbnail of each image, with a
hotlink to load the file into Draw. In addition, there are a few lines
of information on each picture to help pupils and teachers put the image
in context. Each disc includes maps, diagrams, people of the time,
transport, artifacts, tools, art and music. The collection is made up
of: Anglo Saxons and Vikings; 19th Century Britain; The Greeks and
Romans; The Egyptians; and Earth and the Solar System. They cost ú10 per
set +VAT +p&p from DEC_dATA. Site licences are available at ú15 for up
to 30 machines, and ú20 for more than 30 machines.
9.9
A Textease resource disc, which is also compatible with SEMERCæs Pages
wordprocessor, containing a range of borders, backgrounds, masks and
decorative designs, is now available from DEC_dATA for ú12.95 +p&p.
9.9
Dis-le, the computerised speaking French tutor, has just had a complete
rewrite. The major changes are: 2200+ lower and higher level GCSE
recordings of human words and short phrases; words can be sorted and
quizzed by topic; Jean-Franτois now replaces Catherine as the speaker;
the program is now released on twelve 800Kb discs; it has the old
multi¡choice game, Word Search and Mix æn Match; a computerised
Étraining modeæ now exists; on-line database and speaking dictionary
(8086 words, 2200 speaking); The Face Behind the Voice is included in
the program; spelling quiz now implemented; requires 10Mb of hard disc
space, 4Mb RAM, stand¡alone or very high speed network.
9.9
For an upgrade from either of the earlier versions to Dis-le v3.0, with
the new 2,200 word recordings and resource pack, send ú27.50 (no VAT) to
Mike Smith (address in Factfile).
9.9
EADFS Module Ö The Power-tec EADFS (Extended ADFS) module is a system
extension that allows you to use large hard drives on your existing IDE
bus, but allows partitioning as well. The module integrates fully and
transparently with ADFS, and can handle up to 4Gb (512Kb partitions on
pre RISC OS 3.6 machines, 1Gb partitions on RISC OS 3.6 machines). It
costs ú39.95 +VAT +p&p from Alsystems.
9.9
Fast IDE Interface Ö RapIDE from Yellowstone Educational Solutions is a
32-bit DMA¡based interface for the RiscPC. The interface provides vastly
increased throughput. Using alternative drives, it is possible to
achieve reading speeds in excess of 8Mb/s with 32-bit direct memory
access. It provides two IDE ports, allowing up to four devices to be
connected, including IDE CD-ROMs. The RapIDE interface costs ú119 +VAT
+ú5 p&p from Yellowstone, or ú142 inclusive through Archive.
9.9
FontDirectory 2 is the long-awaited upgradeáto the font management
system from LOOKsystems (see 9.8 p49). Itæs extremely fast and comes
with a whole host of really useful features to make font management more
productive. Font names can be viewed in a number of formats, including
full WYSIWYG display. Speed has been a major consideration in this
latest version, so loading fonts happens extremely quickly. The whole
user interface has been simplified to make using the program much
easier. Bundled with FontDirectory is a utility called FontViewer, which
gives the user the ability to view complete blocks of text in multiple
windows, at varying sizes. Each new window can work independently of the
others and contain a different font, so it makes comparing fonts very
easy. Text can be written straight to a window or imported as a text
file.
9.9
The full version of FontDirectory 2 costs ú45 inclusive from
LOOKsystems, or ú43 through Archive. A light version will also be
available for ú25, or ú24 through Archive. Upgrades for existing users
are ú18.50 from LOOKsystems. Coming later will be a network version made
up of the full version plus the lite version, and more manuals, costing
ú150.
9.9
HP printers Ö Two new HP colour printers are now available. The HP
DeskJet 660C is an A4 colour printer giving up to 600╫600dpi in mono and
600╫300dpi in colour. It does öup to 4 ppmò (pages per minute) in mono
and öup to 1 ppmò in colour. Itáhas a 32Kb buffer (expandable to 512Kb)
and takes about 100 sheets of paper in its input bin. The 660C costs
ú340 through Archive.
9.9
The HP DeskJet 850C is an A4 colour printer giving up to 600╫600dpi in
mono and 300╫300dpi in colour. It does öup to 6 ppmò in mono and öup to
3áppmò in colour. It has a 32Kb buffer (expandable to 512Kb) and takes
over 150 sheets of paper in its input bin. The 850C costs ú440 through
Archive.
9.9
Lark Ö Computer Concepts/Wild Visionæs 16-bit audio sampling and play-
back card for all the Acorn machines is now down in price. It can sample
and playback in stereo and sample up to 48kHz, and features Midi
connection and on-board filtering. The Lark A16 is ú149 +VAT + carriage
from CC or ú172 through Archive.
9.9
N-Connect is an Amstrad NC100 to RISC OS Link. According to the makers,
ÉN-Connect is the most comprehensive system for transferring data
between Acorn RISCáOS machines and the Amstrad NC100 Notepad computer.æ
It makes the NC100 an integral part of your RISC OS desktop. Documents
can be processed on the NC100 under ProText and be dropped into
Impression with styles preserved, and similarly text can be dragged to
the N-Connect icon to send to the NC100. For the programmer, Basic
programs can be ported to and from the NC100 with the minimum of user
intervention, and full diagnostics are provided via the DDE throwback
system if it is present. N-Connect can also detokenise both forms of
Basic into text.
9.9
N-Connect, previously distributed by Senlac Computers, is now available
direct from the author (Tony Howat) at a reduced price of ú14.95. There
is a suitable cable available, costing ú7, or wiring details can be
provided on request if you want to make up your own cable. Prices
include p&p, no VAT to pay. Site licences are negotiable. Official
orders are welcome. Cheques payable to ÉA. Howatæ at 20¡20áSoftware,
12áDover Road, Birkdale, Southport, Merseyside, PR8 4SY. Tonyæs email
address is <[e-mail]>.
9.9
Pocket Book holsters Ö You can now carry your Pocket Book around with
you on a belt or shoulder holster. Meant for intensive use, the cases
are manufactured in a foam Cordura and re-enforced with composite
material on the front and back. What makes them special is the patented
pivoting hinge attached to the back of the case. This fits into a quick
release holder, originally intended for a gun, which you can attach
either to a belt or to the optional shoulder holster. Squeezing the
spring loaded arms on the side of the holster releases the case quickly
and easily.
9.9
Also available are a number of black leather zip cases. These include
velcro fasteners which allow you to use the computer while it is still
in the case. The Junior version has space for cards (though not credit
cards Ö the magnetic stripe can cause the computer problems); and
Executive and Zip & Flip cases also have space for SSDs.
9.9
The holster costs ú21, the cases which attach to it cost ú38.95 for the
open top and ú39.95 for the closed top. The junior case costs ú29.95;
the Executive costs ú24.95 and the Zip & Flip costs ú49.95. All prices
include VAT, but p&p is extra. Available from Widget Software Ltd.
9.9
PortFolio from Kudlian Soft is a multimedia application which has been
developed to allow children, or adults, to display a carousel of images,
either vector graphics or bitmaps, including JPEG images. Each picture
can have a sound file or music or a voice recording associated with it Ö
itæs an ideal tool for displaying childrenæs work using a variety of
styles and media.
9.9
This got a good review (9.6 p72) and weæve also had an unsolicited
comment from Jim Nottingham (see page 43), so we decided we should stock
it. Portfolio costs ú29 +VAT +p&p from Kudlian Soft or ú35 through
Archive.
9.9
Nelson is a hit! Ö Angliaæs multimedia CD-ROM of Nelson has won the gold
award for best multimedia program at the 1996 International Visual
Communication Association Awards. The IVCA judges said ÉNelson and his
Navy combines excellent production values and strong educational content
to produce an engaging and impressive multimedia program.æ
9.9
The CD-ROM was produced in association with the National Maritime
Museum, and brings alive the life and times of Nelson, by using a
combination of animation, photography, illustration, video and sound
clips. It contains a wealth of historical information and allows users
to sail with Nelson to the battles of Trafalgar, the Nile and Cape St
Vincent, as well as go on a 3D tour of his flagship. Nelson and His Navy
costs ú50 +VAT +p&p from Anglia Multimedia, or ú58 through Archive.
9.9
Power-tec Tape Streamers Ö The Power-tec tape streamer option is a low
cost solution to your data protection needs. It mounts internally in a
RiscPC, connecting to your floppy drive cable, or externally, connecting
to your parallel port. It uses 120Mb and 175Mb QIC 80 tapes, which, with
compression, can store up to 250Mb and 350Mb respectively. The software
used to run this drive is fully multitasking, runs over any network and
can also do a timed or selective backup. It comes with a manual for easy
installation and running instructions, and with the software for you to
manage your backups easily. It costs ú175 +VAT +p&p from Alsystems.
9.9
ReTreeval from Kudlian Soft is an application that combines a database
with a sophisticated decision tree program. To create and search the
database, all you have to do is answer questions in natural English. The
amount of information stored about each item grows with your needs.
ReTreeval learns with you so that it always asks questions in an easily
understood language. Behind the scenes, it uses a sophisticated object-
oriented database to handle the decisions and questions required to
structure the data. Full reporting facilities are available, allowing
data to be exported as ASCII, CSV or TSV; a tree can be exported as a
drawfile, and data can have a picture associated with it. ReTreeval
costs ú40 +VAT +p&p from Kudlian Soft or ú47 through Archive.
9.9
Ridiculous Rhymes Ö This new package from Sherston, which should be
ready for the Acorn platform by the time we go to press, is set of
talking rhymesáfor children, written and illustrated by Tony DeáSaulles,
and narrated by Tony Robinson. Designed for 7Ö11 year olds, itæs full of
wacky humour and comical animations. The price will be ú40 +VAT +p&p for
a single copy, or ú47 through Archive. A primary site licence costs ú60,
a secondary site licence costs ú80, both +VAT +p&p.
9.9
Splosh+, from Kudlian Soft, is the sequel to Splosh, the painting
program for young children and those with special needs. Splosh+ allows
access to a far wider range of facilities which will enable children to
exploit the features of the latest hardware, including the RiscPC. It
provides users with, amongst other things, a wider range of brushes and
brush shapes, additional geometric shapes and fills, multiple undo,
imports for JPEG and deep sprites, plus 16, 32, 256 and thousands and
millions of colour modes. Splosh will still be on sale, providing a
introduction to painting programs. Splosh+ costs ú39 +VAT +p&p from
Kudlian Soft or ú46 through Archive.
9.9
Sibelius Junior is a new music program from the developers of the world
famous Sibelius programs, aimed at primary schools. Junior Sibelius has
been designed to allow beginners to take their first steps in music in a
creative and interesting way. The program includes a series of
interactive lessons to develop and reinforce the music skills gained in
Key Stage 1, and introduce some basics of music theory for Key Stage 2.
Topics covered include pitch and note-names, rhythm and time signatures,
keyboard basics, different instruments, accidentals and key signatures,
scales and chords, plus much more.
9.9
Music can be entered straight into the computer via a Midi keyboard, or
with the mouse and keyboard. Once entered, it can then be played back or
printed. Junior Sibelius makes it quick and easy to arrange and print
music for, say, recorder groups or choir. It can even write out separate
parts for different instruments, and transpose music.
9.9
Junior Sibelius works on any Acorn computer with RISC OS 2 or higher Ö
even A310s and A3000s. You donæt need more than 1Mb of RAM, and you
donæt need a hard disc. It costs ú49 for a single copy +VAT +p&p, or ú57
through Archive. A primary school site licence costs ú89 +VAT or ú102
through Archive.
9.9
Talking Wrens Ö Sherston Software, in collaboration with Oxford
University Press, have just launched the latest in the Oxford Reading
Tree Series. The Stage 2 Wrens Talking Stories are narrated by TV
personality, Tony Robinson, well known for his appearances as Baldrick
in the BBCæs Black Adder series, and as the Sheriff in the childrenæs
series, Maid Marion and her Merry Men. The Wrensæ story books have been
designed for children who need support and extra reinforcement of key
verbs and charactersæ names at Stage 2 Ö each story focuses on one key
verb.
9.9
The new set of talking stories includes six stories and accompanying
teacheræs guide. They are: The Headache, At the Park, Fancy Dress,
Push!, Good Old Mum, and The Pet Shop. Each story contains humorous
animations and sound effects to support the text, as well as an
additional interactive extension activity at the end. Talking Wrens is
available on three platforms for ú40 +VAT +p&p from Sherston or ú47
through Archive. A primary site licence costs ú60 +VAT +p&p from
Sherston.
9.9
Teletext+ Ö Your computer can now remind you when your favourite TV or
radio programme is about to start, thanks to the latest version of
Teletext+ from Octopus Systems. Teletext+ software could always search
TV and radio listings for keywords, but now version 6 can extract the
time and set an audible alarm (with a 5 minute warning) to remind you.
Teletext+ also makes teletext fast and convenient Ö the advanced
cacheing algorithms will soon learn which pages you read, and fetch them
for you every day so you will rarely have to wait for a teletext page,
and even sub-pages are cached so you donæt have to wait half an hour to
find the latest Acorn share price!
9.9
The advanced keyword searching can search hundreds of pages for items of
interest which might otherwise be missed. Matches are displayed in a
separate window which effectively gives a personalised magazine of
interesting news, events and programmes. Pages can be saved as Viewdata,
sprite or text files, either manually or under the control of a script
file, and there is an option to allow all sub-pages to be saved in a
single text file. Teletext+ software will work with teletext adaptors
and cards from Morley, Computer Concepts, Ground Control, Design IT,
Irlam, Solidisk and Octopus Systems. It will be particularly attractive
to Morley users as the Morley software doesnæt work in the desktop. It
can also log share prices in a CSV file or in a special format for the
Apricote Studiosæ Shares program, and it provides a set of standard SWI
calls for use by other programs.
9.9
Teletext+ is available for ú39 as a software upgrade for existing
teletext adaptors, or Octopus Systems can supply it with an external
teletext adaptor for ú169 while stocks last.
9.9
Existing users can obtain a new disc and manual for ú12 if they return
their master disc (prices include VAT and carriage). Free upgrades are
also available to registered users, by email. The adaptor connects to a
podule expansion socket via a lead and podule plug, so you should
specify whether you require a full size or a mini podule connector when
ordering. Aátelevision aerial feed is also required.
9.9
(See 9.7 p57 for a review.)
9.9
Tick-Tack CV is intended both as a stand-alone program and as a
supplement to the Tick-Tack Business Pack and the Travel and Tourism
Pack (9.8áp69). Its main purpose is to help young people improve their
chances of finding a job. It provides a framework for analysing their
skills and experience, and it gives them practice in describing
themselves and their background, their aims and ambitions, in a positive
and effective way. The program gives guidance on writing a good CV and
helps in the preparation of letters and telephone calls Ö both in
response to job adverts and for speculative approaches that are made
cold.
9.9
It also provides help in preparing convincing answers to questions
commonly asked on job-application forms and during interviews, and
suggests key questions that candidates themselves should put to
prospective employers. The program can be equally useful whether
students are looking for a job in this country, or seeking work abroad.
Like all the programs in the Tick-Tack range, the pack includes computer
software and a comprehensive manual containing a library of relevant
building-block sentences and other texts that can be selected and edited
to create a rich palette of impressive documents.
9.9
Tick-Tack CV is available from Primrose Publishing initially in English,
but versions in French, German, Spanish and Italian are planned. The
English version costs ú150 +VAT +p&p for colleges and universities, and
ú75 +VAT +p&p for schools.
9.9
Review software received...
9.9
We have received review copies of the following: ÅCDtracker Plus (udm),
ÅDEC_dATA clipart (ec), ÅEncode (u), ÅTextease Resources (c), ÅThe Way
Things Work CD (e).
9.9
d=Database, c=clipart, e=Education, m=music, u=Utility.
9.9
Products Available
9.10
ANT Internet Suite II is the new version, due for release this month, of
the popular internet program. Amongst the improvements are: Dialler, an
easy-to-use utility for connecting to service providers and launching
the Suiteæs applications; Fresco, the Web browser, which now supports
tables and client-side image maps, local and global history lists,
additional Netscape and HTML 3.0 extensions, progressive rendering of
GIF, PNG and JPEG images, text and tables; Marcel features support for
the SMTP, POP and IMAP email protocols as well as MIME encoding;
graphical front ends have been developed for utilities including Finger,
Resolver, TraceRoute and Whols, as well as an enhanced Ping utility.
9.10
An upgrade pack including new release disc and an entirely new manual
will be available direct from ANT to registered users for ú10 inclusive.
Registered users who have supplied ANT with a current address will be
notified by email when it become available.
9.10
To new users, the ANT Suite costs ú99 +VAT +p&p or ú115 through Archive.
9.10
!CPC Ö This is a new version of !CPC, the Amstrad CPC emulator for Acorn
RISC OS computers. It features many significant improvements over
previous versions, resulting in a very high degree of compatibility with
the real thing, as well as myriad improvements for enhanced user-
friendliness. CPC is shareware Ö a demonstration version, !CPC_Demo, is
available on the World Wide Web, at the following URL: http://
www.hep.phy.cam.ac.uk:8080/rison/cpc/cpc.html.
9.10
Full details on registering for !CPC are given inside !CPC_Demoæs !Help
file.
9.10
CASA III Ö (Computer Assisted Structural Analysis) W C Smith and
Associates have been developing structural analysis software for RISC OS
for over 6 years. Their latest product, CASA-III, makes use of 3D
perspective graphics through which the user can interact with, and edit,
the model of a structure.
9.10
They recently launched a new bureau service; for a small registration
fee, the user will receive a copy of CASA-III with full pre- and post-
processing capabilities. When the user requires an analysis, they
prepare the data using CASA-III and then send the data to W C Smith, who
perform the analysis, and the results will be returned. From as little
as ú10 +VAT per analysis, this approach can be quite cost-effective for
users who will not be using CASA-III intensively. Initially, this will
be a postal service, but if sufficient demand is found, they will
upgrade it to allow the data to be transferred by modem. CASA III costs
ú950 +VAT from W C Smith & Associates.
9.10
CastleTech SCSI 2 card is a 16-bit card at a budget price. It has a 16
byte cache on chip; CDFS and SCSI2 CD-ROM softload driver in ROM,
transfer rate of up to about 1.7Mb/sec, with bulk rate of up to 2.4 Mb/
sec possible on some machine types. It doesnæt allow DMA access and is
16-bit not 32-bit, but it is half the price of other SCSI II cards. It
costs ú99 +VAT +p&p from Castle Technology, or ú114 through Archive.
9.10
CDFast2 is a totally new version of Eesoxæs CDFast, and is said to
enhance the performance of virtually all CD-ROM titles and applications,
in some cases improving performance by between 30Ö40%. Among some of the
new features are: improved caching algorithms; larger cache memory;
configurable cache sizes; multiple simultaneous drives; Quad and Octal
speed drive support. Existing users of CDFast can upgrade by sending
their original disc to Eesox with a cheque for ú10 inclusive.
9.10
CDFast2 costs ú25 +VAT (ú28 through Archive) or ú15 +VAT (ú17 through
Archive) when ordered with an Eesox CD-ROM drive.
9.10
CD-ROM drive Ö Eesox have released a new 4.5 speed SCSI Gold CD-ROM
drive for use by any Acorn machine. It comes with cable, driver software
and utilities, and can be used in tower mode. The 4.5 speed CD-ROM costs
ú160 inclusive through Archive for the internal version and ú240 for the
external version.
9.10
Composition Ö This had a good review from Malcolm Banthorpe last month
(p33), and that was written when he thought the price was ú160 but now
it is down to ú99.95, or ú95 through Archive, so it is even better
value!
9.10
Digital Oasis Ö This isnæt a Product Available, more of a Service
Available, but we thought weæd mention it here. Digital Oasis is an
Acorn Web e¡magazine which you can access via your Web browser on:
http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/aok/
9.10
According to its producers, ÉFeedback is welcome. Ifáthere is something
you would like to see in Digital Oasis, write and tell us. New writers
are welcome to submit articles and ideas. The ÉOzæ style non-linear page
access was implemented entirely from email dialogue between Carl
Cepurneek in Oz and ourselves. Digital Oasis is updated regularly, as we
get articles and newsæ.
9.10
DIY RiscPC Ö Following on from last monthæs article, we ought to point
out that a DIY RiscPC is not really DIY! In other words, you select what
you want and NCS puts it together for you and tests it. If you are
thinking of buying a RiscPC in this way, it would be worth getting in
touch because the pricing of memory is still very volatile, so you may
want to know the latest prices to help you work out your purchase.
9.10
Secondly, we ought to make it clear that the ACB64 has exactly the same
pcb as the 710 machines. In other words, it is not one of the older
RiscPCs, and if you were to change the processor and memory, and added
an extra slice, it would then be identical to a RiscPC 700 Ö except that
it would have a ÉRiscPC 600æ logo on the front!
9.10
Thirdly, we werenæt deliberately trying to mislead you when we said, öIt
is important to know whether Acorn are likely to come up with a RiscPC
capable of taking, say, 4Mb VRAM. The answer, quite categorically, is
NO. The next major change will be the PowerPC machine which wonæt be
around until 1997 some time.ò Since that went into print, we have heard
that, because the StrongARM is so good, Acorn are looking at the
possibility of doing a StrongARM RiscPC. Itæs not definite yet, and in
any case, it wouldnæt be available until some time during æ97. Also,
they are looking at the idea of it being possible to provide it as a
Épcb upgradeæ, i.e. you keep the same case, drives, memory and
processor, and just swap out the main circuit board.
9.10
STOP PRESS: the financial calculations in the article have just changed
Ö in your favour Ö because the price of memory has fallen even further.
So you save even more money than we said by buying the bottom-end RiscPC
and upgrading it.
9.10
DrawWorks2 is a complete re-write of iSVæs original DrawWorks program.
Among some of its new features are: a second button bar with 64 buttons,
giving easy access to most of the Draw features; a new preferences
control; integrated path merging and scrunching; information report on a
drawfile or selection (including information on any fonts used);
changeable toolbar options; improved versions of merge, kern and scrunch
tools; DrawTrix file effects processor which allows drawfiles to be
warped, twisted and even wrapped around 3D shapes. DrawWorks2 costs ú20
+p&p from iSV or ú20 inclusive through Archive. To upgrade from
DrawWorks1, return your master disc with a cheque for ú10 to iSV.
9.10
Epson scanners Ö We have some improved pricing on Epson A4 flatbed
scanners this month. The following prices include Twain and Imagemaster:
9.10
GTX5000 (parallel)   300dpi  ú480
9.10
GTX5000 (SCSI)   300dpi  ú550
9.10
GT8500 A4 (SCSI)   400dpi  ú630
9.10
GT9000 A4 (SCSI)   600dpi  ú750
9.10
FM Radio, from Irlam Instruments, is a fully featured FM stereo
receiver, allowing radio broadcasts to be listened to via the computer.
Preset channels, auto-tuning, plus control of volume, balance, bass and
treble are all included. Itæs suitable for A300, A400, A540, A5000,
A7000 and RiscPC, and costs ú79 +VAT +p&p from Irlam Instruments or ú91
through Archive.
9.10
FPA11 Ö The Floating Point Accelerator which can be fitted to the A540,
and both the 25MHz and 33MHz variants of the A5000, is still available
and the price has come down too. The new Archive price is ú104.
9.10
French clipart is a series of discs made up of clipart for use by French
language teachers. The threeádiscs cover various aspects of the National
Curriculum. Disc 1 covers Area of Experience A; Disc 2 Area B and some
of Area C; Disc 3 covers topics from the remaining areas. Each disc
costs ú6 and includes a donation to Christian Aid of ú1. Theyáare
available from: R J H Enterprises, Beck Bottom, 9áMoorland Close,
Embsay, Skipton, N.áYorks, BD23 6SG.
9.10
Full-FS RSDFS is the new Full-FS version of RSDFS from Armed Forces. It
provides a complete RISC OS filing system for accessing the hard disc of
one computer over a serial link to another machine, either via a direct
cable or through a modem link-up. It provides everything you would be
able to do if the hard disc were inside your own computer, but obviously
not quite as fast. Users of previous versions of RSDFS can upgrade for
ú15, and the complete Full FS package costs ú45 from Armed Forces.
Alláprices fully inclusive Ö they are not yet VAT registered.
9.10
Fun with Texts is a foreign language package originally designed for the
BBC B in 1984. It was one of the most popular software packages for
modern language. The program has recently been converted and updated to
run on RISC OS machines. It is an imaginative authoring package that
enables a teacher to create a number of short texts which can then be
used by students as the basis of a variety of text-reconstruction
exercises. The package has been thoroughly field-tested by experienced
teachers and by students of English, French, German, Spanish and
Italian. It is designed for use by individual students or by pairs and
small groups. Fun with Texts is printed and published by Camsoft and
costs ú75 +VAT for a 10-computer site licence.
9.10
Hawk V9 Mk II Ö CCæs digitiser has gone the way of their Eagle
multimedia card Ö it is no longer available. (Weæve got one left in
stock at ú190 Ö first phone call secures.)
9.10
HighWay Ö The main purpose of HighWay is to allow you to have your most
regularly used applications, directories and files easily available. By
dragging your desired objects into the HighWay filer window, they can be
set to do a multitude of things, both at the time, and at the computeræs
start-up.
9.10
Among some of the features are: easy loading and saving of up to eight
named Pinboards; applications and files can be run, or set to run, on
start-up; star commands can be set to be operated by just a double-
click; different HighWay setups can be used for named users; objects in
the HighWay window can be placed in the order you want them, or can be
hidden if required.
9.10
To obtain a copy, send a cheque for ú25 to: MráBáVeasey, 24 Drift Road,
Bognor Regis, WestáSussex. PO21 3NS (orders outside UK may attract
carriage charges at cost) Email: [e-mail]
9.10
For more details see: http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/bernard.veasey/
soft.html
9.10
HolyBible Resource Builder creates multimedia directories for use with
HolyBible. The items within these directories are made available when
HolyBible is run and will appear as icons in the Resources Window when
the relevant Étaggedæ Bible passages are visible on screen. Tagged
resources may be global or specific Ö this will depend on context within
the Bible text and user interpretation. Resource Builder allows for the
import of text, draw, sprite and JPEG filetypes. Special features
include: temporary overlays which highlight specific areas or indicate
orientation without affecting the original file; customised icons
identify Éspecial filetypesæ which include a compound resource icon, map
resource icon and chart with position markers.
9.10
Resource Builder costs ú38 +VAT (includes free site licence and
carriage) or ú43 through Archive.
9.10
Insight Training Ö The Secondary Insight Conference is a two-day
programme of training and presentations designed to benefit IT
coordinators, subject teachers and anyone else involved in planning,
implementing or supporting secondary school IT. Delegates can choose
according to their needs from presentations and hand-ons training
sessions, with both Apple and Acorn systems. The conference is being run
by Insight Training and Xemplar, at Oakham School on 5th and 6th July.
9.10
The conference fee is ú160 +VAT, which includes all training and tuition
fees, conference pack, materials and course notes, lunch, dinner and
refreshments on Friday, and lunch and refreshments on Saturday.
Overnight accommodation is not included.
9.10
For more information, contact Insight Training. Up¡to-date information
can also be found on the Insight web page on: http://www/argonet.co.uk/
business/insight/.
9.10
Keystroke V4 is now available. Itæs more powerful, faster and easier to
use than ever before. According to Quantum Software, many of the changes
have come about because of customer feedback Ö this includes a bigger
and much easier to follow manual.
9.10
Keystroke is a desktop utility which allows you to perform a range of
desktop activities with a click of the mouse or the press of a key. For
example, at a single keystroke, you can call up Impression master pages
and go straight to the master page you want to edit. You can add auto-
save to those applications that lack it. You can even make up your own
button bar. It comes with example files of Keystroke definitions for
Filer, Paint, Draw, DrawPlus, TypeStudio, Vector, WorraCAD, Ovation and
Impression amongst other.
9.10
The new version is faster, is much easier to set up and use, includes
over sixty functions, and is fully compatible with RISC OS 3.1 and 3.6.
Existing users can upgrade by returning their original discs with a
cheque for ú9.95 to Quantum Software (users outside of the UK need to
add a further ú1). To new users, Keystroke costs ú 35.95 inclusive or
ú34 through Archive.
9.10
Maker Series from Carlton Software comes on three discs, offering three
desktop utilities. DateMaker is a diary application which allows you to
list all your appointments by day and time. Entries remain fully
editable, you can export data, search on keywords, and jump forwards or
backwards through the list. MailMaker is an address book which provides
fields for: name, address, home and work phone numbers, email, fax and
notes. Categories are user-definable; there are export facilities for
TSV and CSV; names can be seen at a glance through pop up menus, and
records can be sorted. MemoMaker is a Éto doæ list manager. Memos can
have up to twelve lines of text; they can be prioritised, sorted and
exported to and from Acornæs Pocket Book.
9.10
Each application costs ú7.23 +VAT +p&p, or ú10 through Archive.
9.10
Mozart mixer Ö YESæs mixer is designed for the original Mká1 RiscPCs and
provides, in one single card costing ú69 through Archive, the
functionality of the 16-bit ÉMinnieæ sound card (normally ú71) and an
audio mixer (normally ú44).
9.10
Previously, the situation was that the Acorn/ESP 16¡bit sound card was
needed by the Mká1 RiscPCs in order to get sound from the PC card, and
also to give them the 16¡bit sound capability of the current Mká2
machines. The Eesox audio mixer board was needed if you wished to feed
the direct audio output from audio CDs through the RiscPCæs internal
sound system (so that a single set of speakers could be used for all the
sound output). However, both of these have now been completely replaced
by the Mozart card.
9.10
The Mozart card is better than the combination in several ways. (1) The
obvious advantage is that the single card is less fiddly to fit, and
cheaper, than two. (2) There are two inputs for CD audio not just the
one. (3) It is possible to switch between the 16¡bit and 8¡bit systems
in software, so there is no need to take your RiscPC apart just to play
certain games whose sound only works correctly under the 8¡bit system.
(4) Most software designed for 8¡bit sound will work fine with the
16¡bit system under emulation, but the poorer quality of 8¡bit samples
can be shown up by the 16¡bit system, so the Mozart card adjusts the
response of the output filter to the sample rate being played to give
the highest quality output regardless.
9.10
However, unlike the Eesox audio mixer, the Mozart card does not
automatically come with a CD audio lead, so if you intend to connect the
audio output from your CD drive to the Mozart card, and you did not get
an audio lead with the CD drive itself, you will need one. When ordered
separately, these CD audio leads cost ú6.
9.10
My First Incredible Amazing Dictionary is the latest title from IMS to
be converted from the PC world to the Acorn platform. The CD-ROM
introduces 4Ö7 year olds to 1000 words, with their British
pronunciations and their meanings, through spoken words and pictures,
3,000 sound effects, and 850 animations, and games. My First Incredible
Amazing Dictionary uses CD-ROM technology to present opposites,
synonyms, word groups and other vocabulary elements to increase their
understanding of language.
9.10
IMS already have a long list of CD-ROMs they hope to convert over the
next couple of years Ö and the list is growing! Look out over the coming
months for: My First Amazing World Explorer; The Ultimate Human Body;
Encyclopedia of Science; Encyclopedia of Nature; Encarta 96; Kiyeko and
the Lost Night; Hutchinsonæs Multimedia Encyclopedia, and many more!
9.10
My First Incredible Amazing Dictionary CD-ROM costs ú39 inclusive from
IMS.
9.10
MultiGen2 Ö The high band Genlock adaptor from Sonamara Computer Video
has dropped in price and gone up in specification. It now supports
resolutions of up to 800╫600, with simultaneous RGB, S-Video and
composite video outputs, as well as S-Video and composite video inputs.
Features of the external unit include under/overscan options, image re-
scaling and re-positioning, freeze frame and fade (with adjustable rates
of fade). An infra-red remote control provides full control over all
functions. The MultiGen2 is available for PAL or NTSC. AáMultiGen2 Pro
is also available offering resolutions up to 1600╫1200 plus 2╫ zoom and
pan.
9.10
MultiGen2 costs ú299.95 inclusive or ú345 through Archive. MultiGen2 Pro
costs ú499.95 or ú575 through Archive. For users who require
professional titling in their videos, there are two new bundles
available Ö MultiGen2 + Claresæ Titler for ú369.95, and MultiGen2 Pro +
Titler at ú549.95 (ú425 and ú635 respectively through Archive).
9.10
Observess is an 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. It provides support for
percentage-based certainty factors on facts and rules, and single or
multiple recommendations based on the certainty factors. Included in the
latest version (2.71) is a backward chaining inference engine. The price
remains at ú40 (no VAT) for a single user copy, or ú120 for a site
licence. Further information can be obtained from: Chessfield Software Ö
[e-mail].
9.10
Panorama from HCCS, provides a new way of capturing high resolution
images using an ordinary camcorder. It works by capturing a sequence of
video images from a camera which is panning across a scene. These
pictures are then matched together to create a single seamless image.
9.10
The minimum requirement is a 4Mb machine with hard disc and an
application which allows you to view 16 and 24-bit sprites. The
panoramas are built to the hard disc, so even with a minimum
specification, you can build pictures of almost any size. For
professional use, it is recommended that a RiscPC with 1Mb of VRAM, 8Mb
of RAM and 100Mb of free hard disc space be used. Included in the
software is a tiler feature which allows a number of A4 sheets to be
printed with crop marks for matching together.
9.10
The package comprises: Vision 24 hardware, Panorama software, 16 sheets
of A4 inkjet paper, 16 foam A4 tiles, a can of aerosol glue, a stainless
steel 12 inch ruler and a knife. It costs ú249 +VAT or ú290 through
Archive. To upgrade from Mono Vision, CVision, and HVision costs ú149
+VAT, and to upgrade from Vision 24 costs ú99 +VAT through HCCS.
9.10
!Printers 1.53 Ö An update to Acornæs printer driver software now
supports the Canon BJC-4100 and BJ-210 inkjet printers, and also Epsonæs
Stylus-Pro and Stylus Pro XL. The ÉSmall Halftonesæ option has been
reintroduced as Éhalftoned (fine)æ. It is available from Acornæs FTP
site or on our Utilities Disc 7 for ú2.
9.10
Probe is an interactive computer-based interest questionnaire,
graphically illustrated throughout by colour drawings. Itæs designed to
introduce younger pupils to the idea of relating interests and skills
with the requirements of future occupations. Possible broad careers
areas are revealed, together with basic foundation subjects. Pupil
printouts can be made, as can worksheets for further research. Probe
will be kept up-to-date by Cambridge Occupational Analysis on an annual
basis Ö therefore discs are leased for a 12-month period, with revised
discs becoming available at the beginning of each year.
9.10
A 12 month lease costs ú90 +VAT. A six month lease costs ú45 +VAT, from
Cambridge Occupational Analysis Ltd.
9.10
Religions of the World has come to our notice in answer to Liz Leydenæs
request for information about religious programs for Acorn machines (9.9
p54). This application is produced by Ultima and is sold through SEMERC.
The application covers aspects of six major religions and is intended as
an introduction to children at Key Stage 2 and 3. It covers the main
beliefs of Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Buddhists and Jews,
allowing comparisons across and between religions. The application comes
on a 1.6Mb disc, and youæll need at least 2Mb of memory.
9.10
Religions of the World costs ú24 +VAT +p&p from SEMERC.
9.10
Risc TV from Irlam Instruments is a full motion 24-bit colour desktop
television and teletext system. With Risc TV, you can watch full motion,
full size, true colour television in the desktop, and capture high
quality still images. Auxiliary composite video and S¡VHS inputs are
provided, so that you can connect recorders, camcorders and Canon Ion
cameras. Risc TV uses special hardware to superimpose a video image
directly onto the screen with no processor or bus overhead Ö it means
you can watch TV and still use your computer! An optional teletext
module can be added to provide teletext support. Pages can be selected
and viewed in the desktop, and subsequently saved as sprite or plain
text files. Fastext and index page links are fully supported. Risc TV is
available for A5000, A7000 and RiscPC.
9.10
The Risc TV package, comprising expansion card, applications and manual,
costs ú249 +VAT +p&p. The Teletext decoder module costs ú39 +VAT +p&p.
Through Archive, the card costs ú290 and the decoder module costs ú64.
9.10
SCSI ROM upgrades Ö For those not fortunate enough to have one of
Alsystemsæ Power-tec SCSI cards, Alsystems are producing ROMs suitable
to replace those of other manufacturersæ cards. The first for this
treatment is the Morley cached or uncached SCSI card. Inserting the
Power-tec ROM into your Morley card will not magically transform it into
a fast SCSI 2 card, but it will allow you access to all the software
features of the real thing, including the slick easy-to-use front end,
Énew FileCoreæ awareness, up to eight disc partitions, CDFS and the
soft-loading CD drivers for a good range of CD drive types. This
replacement ROM (+disc +manual) costs ú40 +VAT from Alsystems, or ú46
through Archive.
9.10
Serial NET, from iSV, is a network system for connecting two computers
via their serial ports. Messages and files can easily be transferred,
printers shared, and discs accessed from either machine. Transfer rates
start at 25Kb/s on RISC OS 3.1 machines, faster on RiscPCs and A7000s.
Any two machines can be connected and no special cables are required,
although different wiring diagrams are supplied for connecting RiscPCs
and non-RiscPCs. Serial NET costs ú20 +p&p, or ú20 inclusive through
Archive.
9.10
StrongARM Upgrade Ö The StrongARM is continuing to amaze the engineers
at Acorn. Even the first pre-production silicon is now running Draw at
up to 7 times the speed of an ARM710! This is quite staggering and gives
the RiscPC a huge lead over its PC rivals. The StrongARM upgrade for
RiscPC will cost ú249 +VAT = ú292.57, and it is scheduled to be
available by September. This price includes the new version of RISCáOS
that is needed to run the card.
9.10
If you would like to Ébook a place in the queueæ, ask us to send you an
application form, then send it, with a cheque for ú50 deposit, to Acorn
Direct in Wellingborough. When the cards are available, you will be
invoiced for the remaining ú242.57, and Acorn will send you the card.
Until all priority orders are fulfilled, no cards will be supplied to
dealers. (Donæt worry, NCS gets a payment for each card sold, provided
you nominate us as your Épreferred dealeræ!)
9.10
For potential RiscPCáowners, if you buy a RiscPC before 30th June 1996
(although we think this may be extended until the end of August), Acorn
will make the StrongARM upgrade available to you for just ú99á+VAT! So
if you havenæt yet read the article in last monthæs magazine about how
to save money on buying a RiscPC (ÉDIY RiscPCsæ Ö page 9) we suggest you
do so... quickly! Also, the price of memory is still falling, so the
savings mentioned last month are even greater this month! (Apparently
the price drop is because the anticipated uptake of the Windows 95
Émemory eateræ has not been as big as anticipated Ö has öthe worm
turnedò? Ö and so there is memory around in the market not being used.
Once again, Microsoftæs loss is our gain!!)
9.10
TopModel, Sincroniaæs 3D modelling package, is now available through
Spacetech. TopModel is the first package of a new series of professional
tools for 3D graphics creation on RISC OS platforms. It gives you the
possibility to create your own 3D objects and manipulate them. You can
add textures, material definitions and many different light sources, to
give your scenes the maximum level of reality. Even the most complex
models can be created and manipulated with unrivalled ease and speed,
with objects made up of hundreds of thousands of polygons. Optimized
hand-written ARM code routines have been created to boost performance in
all areas, from screen redraw to the most exotic tool. For the first
time, all operations (from line drawing to complex non-linear extrusion,
from torsion to Bezier volume distortion) are applied in real time.
9.10
Filters are provided for import/export of various industry-standard
formats. TopModel can save your scenes in native ASCII and binary file
formats, as well as drawfiles for easy inclusion in your documents and
as sprite files for various other purposes. For the best output, the
package can produce high quality 24bpp rendered images, with multiple
light sources at sizes up to 2048╫2048 pixels (memory permitting).
9.10
TopModel uses 96 bits colour precision for each pixel, and produces a
24bpp dithered output (typical time for a high quality 800╫600 pixels
24bbp output with several light sources and an exact material matching
on a RiscPC 600, is 5 seconds).
9.10
The system requirements are RISC OS 3.10 or later, 2Mb of RAM minimum
(4Mb recommended), hard disc drive, VGA or multisync monitor
recommended. TopModel costs ú99 +VAT from Spacetech or ú110 through
Archive.
9.10
For further details, see Alex Cardæs comprehensive review on page 23.
9.10
Tiles is a visually attractive and entertaining crossword game that
provides a basis for learning spelling, vocabulary, strategy and
computer literacy. To cater for all levels of ability, 30 boards are
supplied in five languages: English, French, German, Spanish and
Italian. The game is played using the mouse by up to four players. Each
player has his own window from which he drags tiles to the main board
window. If a word is completed, an entry is made in the playeræs score
window. Sets of sprites optimise the screen display for different types
of monitor. User defined patterns and boards may be added. Playersæ
names, some of the rules, and the display setup are user specified and
may be saved. Sprites are generated from the useræs outline fonts or the
system font.
9.10
GCSE Basic French for Beginners (supplementary) Ö this disc contains 223
French Language crosswords of words of six letters or less for students
starting the GCSE basic level French course. Age range: 13 to adult;
French AT3, Reading: Key Stage 1Ö3. This costs ú19.75 (no VAT) from
Brain Games.
9.10
GCSE Basic French for Improvers (supplementary) Ö this disc contains 217
French Language crosswords for students approaching examinations in the
GCSE basic level French course. The disc is a companion volume for the
GCSE French for Beginners supplementary disc and is laid out in a
similar manner. Age range: 14 to adult; French AT3; Reading: Key Stage
2Ö4; ú19.75 (no VAT) Site licences are available from Brain Games.
9.10
TextEase continues to develop at a pace Ö future developments will see
video Replay, sound and animation all incorporated into a TextEase file.
According to Softease, the developers: ÉHaving already broken down the
boundaries between desktop publishing and word processing, we are now
tackling the boundary between multimedia and desktop publishing.
Multimedia document handling will soon be available, and very easy to
use.æ
9.10
The latest version allows text to be rotated, JPEG support on RISC OS
3.60, drag and drop editing, Object Linking & Embedding (OLE), an
ellipse tool, arrow heads on lines, customisable button bar. Talking
Textease is the same as Textease with the addition of an extra button on
the button bar to make it start talking Ö highlighting each word as it
is spoken. There is also an option to talk as you type. Textease version
2 costs ú49 +VAT and Talking Textease is ú65 +VAT, or ú55 and ú73
respectively through Archive.
9.10
Vector v1.1 Ö The price of 4Mationæs vector graphics package is now down
to ú59.95 +VAT or ú66 through Archive. 4Mation have said that they are
re-vamping Vector, so weæll bring you details as and when they are
available. However, as Computer Concepts say they are not sure whether
they are going to develop anything further for the Acorn platform, being
fully committed with Corel Xara, there is now room for someone to
overtake Artworks. Could Vector 2 will be the next Artworks?!
9.10
YES audio mixer Ö Yellowstone Educational Solutions (YES) have produced
an audio mixer based on the mixer circuitry of their Mozart sound card.
For those who need to be able to feed the audio output from one or two
CD-ROM drives into their RiscPCæs internal sound system, but who do not
need the 16¡bit sound card functionality offered by the Mozart card,
this is a cheaper alternative to the Eesox audio mixer. The YES audio
mixer is ú29.95+VAT from them, or ú34 through Archive. Note that this
does not come with a CD audio cable, so if you did not get one with the
CD drive, add ú6 to your order.
9.10
Product News
9.10
APEX Broadcast Video Board Ö Acorn videographics hardware specialists,
Millipede, now have the StrongARM processor running on their APEX
broadcast video board. This is an upgrade for the current ARM610 or ARM3
processor daughterboard. APEX is an advanced videographics processor
engine, designed for high quality, high performance real-time video
applications. The StrongARM upgrade should considerably enhance existing
software and open up new opportunities. For instance, there will be a
significant increase in the performance of the Eidos video codec
software running on the board.
9.10
Initial tests using prototype silicon look exciting, with very
significant speed increases for image processing and image manipulation
functions. However, it is too early for Millipede to accurately quantify
the performance gains. ÉWe first need to optimise some of our coding for
StrongARMæ, said Richard Jozefowski. ÉOur custom P3 chip architecture
makes extensive use of DMA, and we need to ensure that we best utilise
the non-write-through data cache, whilst maintaining cache consistency.æ
The APEX firmware is contained in Flash memory, making it quick and easy
to update with StrongARM optimised code.
9.10
StrongARM upgrades for APEX should be available when production silicon
comes on line later this summer and are expected to be priced at about
ú250 +VAT. For more information contact: [e-mail]
9.10
Micropedia 96 Ö The new edition of the Kingfisher Childrenæs Micropedia
will be published in the next month or so by ESM, and will contain a new
level of information for the very young and for special needs users. The
use of shortened, spoken entries and simplified cross-references will
help many more young enquirers to investigate and learn for themselves.
The Micropedia æ96 will also contain the Seelinks database, which will
allow children to sort and classify the entries which they are
interested in, before accessing the whole encyclopedia.
9.10
WinRisc Ö This is one to look out for! According to the press release
from Armed Forces: öWith the obvious exception of the StrongARM, we
believe that WinRisc will be the most important release on the Acorn
platform this year! WinRisc will allow you to run Windows software under
RISC OS! You will be able to access the massive range of specialised and
industry standard software available for Windows while maintaining most
of the consistency and ease of use provided by RISC OS! Gone are menu
bars on top of windows, gone is the awkward program manager. In their
place, are floating RISC OS-style menus, a RISC OS style filer display,
much better multitasking of Windows software, drag and drop file load
and save from Windows software.
9.10
öWinRisc will not be available for purchase for some time yet Ö we have
only just got much of it working, and some parts are still not working.
Even when it is ready, our team of beta testers will require several
weeks to give the software a thorough testing, so donæt hold your
breath! We anticipate a price of around ú25.ò
9.10
Products Available
9.11
Atomwide Printer Adaptor Ö Sharing a printer over a network sounds like
a great idea, but dedicating a computer to the task of printer serving
is clearly a waste of valuable resources. The Atomwide Network Printer
Adaptor enables printing on a TCP/IP network without the need for a
dedicated print server or someoneæs workstation doubling as one.
9.11
The adaptor connects between any available 10Base2 or 10BaseT Ethernet
socket and a printer, and so allows a printer to be located wherever it
is required. By removing the need for a dedicated printer server, near
which, traditionally, your printer would have been placed, the number of
possible positions for the printer within your networkæs topology is
greatly increased. This maximises a printeræs usage by a greater number
of people, and should circumstances change, the printer (along with the
Adaptor) can be re-positioned extremely quickly and easily. If
necessary, you can use more than one Atomwide Network Printer Adaptor on
the same network.
9.11
The Network Printer Adaptor needs to be managed by an Acorn SchoolServer
(or other Microsoft Windows NT file server) Ö a network spooler, running
on the Acorn SchoolServer, spools data to be printed to a file and sends
it, using the TCP/IP protocol, to the Network Printer Adaptor. Printers
connected to your network via an Acorn SchoolServer and a Network
Printer Adaptor can be used by Acorn workstations as if they were
connected locally. It comes in either a one parallel printer or three
parallel printer version and has a network data transfer rate of 10Mbps.
9.11
The one printer version costs ú199 +VAT +p&p, or ú232 through Archive.
The three printer version costs ú299 +VAT +p&p, or ú350 through Archive.
9.11
Barcodes is a fully RISC OS-compliant application which produces EAN-8
and EAN-13 barcodes in drawfile format. The output may be saved as a
drawfile, dragged into Draw or straight into a DTP window. EAN-8 and
EAN-13 barcodes are used in package design and retailing. EAN-13
barcodes may optionally have two or five-digit add-on codes which are
used on periodicals (International Standard Serial Numbering) and books
(International Standard Book Numbering). Beneath the barcode appears the
barcode number in OCR-B font, and optionally the ISSN and ISBN barcodes
may have the ISSN/ISBN number in OCR-A font above the barcode.
9.11
Features include: the bar thickness can be altered to compensate for
ink-spread; the barcode may be saved as a Éstripæ, i.e. the bars are all
the same height; there are checksum-verification routines to assist in
generating a new ISBN number; a barcode number can be Édraggedæ into the
!Barcodes window; a new routine produces Code 128 barcodes for inclusion
in the BIC Binderæs Pack label for packs of books. The application
occupies 100Kb of memory and is RISCáOS 3 only. It makes full use of
interactive help, etc. Checksum generation is automatic, and a check is
made on the validity of the ISSN/ISBN number including its checksum.
9.11
Barcodes costs ú85 (no VAT) from Kang Software. A full description of
the software, and sample drawfiles of the output, can be found on their
web site. (See Factfile.)
9.11
Christian Computer Art Ö There are 45 clipart discs, plus two CDs
available in the CCA range: 1 & 2 Christmas Story and Symbols. 3 Easter.
4 Harvest. 5 Christian Symbols. 6áMoney, Poverty and War. 7 Environment.
8áMission and World Scene. 9 Baptist History and Membership. 10
Apologetics. 11 Evangelism. 12áLifestyle. 13 Banners. 14 Borders. 15
Editorial Flair. 16 Illuminated Letters. 17 Adults and Youth. 18
Children and Families. 19 Celebration. 20 Music 21 Leisure. 22 Weddings.
23 Old Testament Stories. 24 New Testament Stories. 25 NT Parables and
Sayings. 26 Bible Maps. 27 History, Prophecy and Bible Study. 28 OT
Background and Archaeology. 29áNT Background and Archaeology. 30
Sideliners. 31 & 32 Good News Bible OT Stories. 33á&á34áGood News Bible
NT. 35 Good News Bible texts from the OT. 36 Good News Bible texts from
the New Testament. 37Ö45 Good News Bible remaining pictures, in sequence
through the Bible.
9.11
The complete set of pictures above, plus the Apocrypha images from the
Good News Bible, are also available on the Christian Clip Art CD-ROM.
There are about 1,700 images on this disc, all stored as sprites. Copies
of about half the images are also stored in Draw format, and a smaller
number as ArtWorks files. A sophisticated thumbnail viewer can display
images in their categories, and also allows the user to search for
images with given keywords in a text description. The CD also acts as a
resource to the ExpLAN HolyBible product, where it provides a reference
into the complete set of Good News Bible pictures which can be displayed
and copied into DTP documents, etc.
9.11
A second Bible Picture Library CD-ROM is also available, containing all
the Good News Bible pictures, as the floppy disc collection, plus a huge
range of archaeological and historical pictures to illustrate the world
of the Bible. There are about 3,100 images on this CD, all in
monochrome, and stored in PCX format. The Acorn thumbnail viewer
converts these into sprite format ready for use in Acorn applications.
9.11
Discs cost ú5.90 each for one to four discs, and ú4.90 each for five or
more discs. CD-ROMs cost ú49 each and are available from Christian
Computer Art. They also do a 30 day Étrialæ period, and have a free
catalogue available.
9.11
Cyclone is an external floppy disc drive for the Psion Series 3a and
Acorn Pocket Book II. Itæs a high quality, portable 3╜ö floppy drive
unit that provides a flexible, low-cost solution to off-line storage and
back-up for the Pocket Book II. We hope to have one for review soon!
Cyclone costs ú169.95 inclusive or ú165 through Archive.
9.11
DIY RiscPC Ö If anyone is still thinking about buying a RiscPC and had
hoped to catch the Éend of Juneæ deadline for getting a StrongARM
upgrade for ú99 +VAT, donæt panic! You havenæt missed the special offer
because Acorn have extended it to the end of August. What is more, by
waiting, youæve probably saved yourself even more money! The price of
SIMMs has dropped even more. An 8Mb SIMM is now only ú75, a 16Mb is ú140
and a 32Mb is ú310 Ö well it is at the time of going to press but, who
knows, it may have dropped even further by the time you are ready to buy
your computer Ö give us a ring to find out the latest pricing. Also,
drive prices have dropped, see overleaf.
9.11
Drive prices Ö The prices of hard drives have dropped further Ö not as
dramatically as SIMM prices, but still quite helpful. For example, a 1Gb
IDE is now only ú190 including fitting and cables, and there is a 1.6Gb
for ú240. These can only be used on RiscPCs with RISCáOS 3.6 or higher.
9.11
As a result of the DIY RiscPC upgrades, we have several 540Mb hard
drives, ideal for rejuvenating your A5000, for only ú120 while stocks
last! Please ring if you want one, to see if we still have any left.
These can be used in RiscPCs too, provided you have a spare IDE
connector (each RiscPC has one spare, but that is sometimes used up by a
CD-ROM drive.)
9.11
PD drives are also down in price to under ú400 Ö see the Price List for
the latest prices.
9.11
Dr Smithæs C Development Toolkit Ö This suite of tools was launched at
the Wakefield Show, and has received some good reactions. The toolkit is
designed to work with Acorn C v. 4 or 5 (i.e.áDesktop C and C/C++),
though various sections of the kit will work with other compilers such
as GCC, Easy C, or any assembler that outputs AOF files. There are three
sections to the toolkit: MemCheck is a Memory Access Checker (requires C
v. 4 or 5). Linking this library against your C program, and calling a
single function causes every access to and from memory to be checked.
This has the effect of instantly catching illegal array accesses,
overwriting of code areas, dereferencing of garbage pointers, and many
other common C errors. Facilities for debuggings with Flex, Dynamic
Areas, and trusted libraries are all included. HeirProf is a
Hierarchical Profiler which analyses a program as it runs, to produce a
comprehensive hierarchical listing of function run times, enabling
programmers to painlessly tune their code for speed, getting instant
feedback on the bottlenecks in their code, and giving fast assessment of
the impact that changes make. Misc Utilities are supplied to ease common
programming tasks, including programs to produce Éstrippedæ header files
for fast compilation, to rename objects within libraries to avoid name
space collisions, and to automatically generate Cv4 libraries from Cv5
ones.
9.11
A demo version of Dr Smithæs C Development Toolkit can be downloaded
from: ftp.comlab.ox. ac.uk/oucl/users/robin.watts/DrSmiths.zip
9.11
The full version costs ú50 +VAT +p&p from Warm Silence Software, or ú58
through Archive.
9.11
HTMLEdit 2 from R-Comp, builds on the success of its predecessor, adding
hundreds of new features and improvements to bring new life to your Web
pages. Features include: Full HTML 3 and Netscape extension support;
full support for the creation of UNIX/DOS relative paths; over 100
foreign characters supported, with automatic conversion for text files;
multiple master pages; two¡click HTML table creation; all options
user¡configurable; links to RISC OS programs for extended functionality;
HTML ÉAssistantsæ to guide you through common tasks; file conversion to
allow the use of existing data in your page.
9.11
HTMLEdit 2 is available from R-Comp and costs ú45 for a single user
licence, and ú150 for a site licence. Upgrades from version 1 are ú15.
Carriage is ú5 for orders outside of EU.
9.11
MultiGen2 Ö (This was mentioned last month but we got the pricing wrong.
Itæs even cheaper than we said and therefore even better value for
money!!) The high band Genlock adaptor from Sonamara Computer Video has
dropped in price and gone up in specification. It now supports
resolutions of up to 800╫600, with simultaneous RGB, S-Video and
composite video outputs, as well as S-Video and composite video inputs.
Features of the external unit include under/overscan options, image re-
scaling and re-positioning, freeze frame and fade (with adjustable rates
of fade). An infra-red remote control provides full control over all
functions. The MultiGen2 is available for PAL or NTSC. AáMultiGen2 Pro
is also available offering resolutions up to 1600╫1200 plus 2╫ zoom and
pan.
9.11
MultiGen2 costs ú299.95 inclusive or ú290 through Archive. MultiGen2 Pro
costs ú499.95 or ú485 through Archive. For users who require
professional titling in their videos, there are two new bundles
available Ö MultiGen2 + Claresæ Titler for ú369.95, and MultiGen2 Pro +
Titler at ú549.95 (ú355 and ú530 respectively through Archive).
9.11
Observess Ö the expert system shell for the Acorn RISC OS machine. This
was mentioned last month, but we said it was from Chessfield Software
instead of Cherisha Software. Apologies to both companies. As we said,
Observess is fully desktop compatible and incorporates an IF... THEN...
rule structure with up to three conditions. It provides support for
percentage-based certainty factors on facts and rules, and single or
multiple recommendations based on the certainty factors. Included in the
latest version (2.71) is a backward chaining inference engine. The price
remains at ú40 (no VAT) for a single user copy, or ú120 for a site
licence. Further information can be obtained from: Cherisha Software Ö
[e-mail].
9.11
Ovation Pro Ö The long awaited re-write of Ovation is now shipping.
Called Ovation Pro, itæs Beebugæs attempt at bringing onto the market a
professional DTP package which can compete with the likes of Impression
(and ultimately, we hope, with packages on other platforms). Whether
they have succeeded or not, only time will tell; this first version has
got some very impressive facilities, with more to come later in the
year.
9.11
Among its features are: a set of drawing tools for making lines and
curves; rotation for text and pictures; OLE; skewing for text and
pictures; kerningáand tracking; text flow around frames or theápicture
within a frame; bezier control points for editing the standoff on
repelled frames; make      local/make master for master frames; its own
scriptingálanguage; a set of pre-defined macros for automating common or
repetitive operations, plus the ability to create user-defined macros;
macros can be operated from a button bar or by using key presses; drag
and drop between chapters and other documents; find and replace; styles
and effects.
9.11
Ovation Pro costs ú165 +p&p +VAT or ú185 through Archive. Site licences
are also available at ú600 +VAT for a 30 station site licence, and ú300
+VAT for a 15ástation licence.
9.11
Photodesk 2 is now ready, and according to Spacetech, it has undergone
an Éentire re-write taking into account all the positive customer
feedback and the needs of professional usersæ. The main emphasis in the
development of Photodesk 2 has been in improving the overall quality of
the tools, effects and filters. Slickness of operation, ease of use and
quality of output have all been high on the list of objectives for the
new version. According to Spacetech, the way in which it operates and
handles input and output will make the application more familiar to
users of existing industry standard solutions. Certainly, from what we
have seen so far, it looks very impressive.
9.11
Here are a few of the changes youæll find in Photodesk 2: Improved use
of virtual memory, using MEMC to re¡map pages; complete multi-channel
capability with as many alpha channels as the user requires; new
filters, improved outline tracing and de-focus; channels can be defined
as masks, images or maps; gamma controls for each ink; new soft edge
paint brush; improved airbrush and anti-aliasing; complete Twain
compatibility; improved cut and paste operations; OLE; cloning; ripple
map; image blur Ö the list is endless! It is also StrongARM-ready,
having been successfully tested running the StrongARM processor. A full
description of Photodesk 2 can be seen on Spacetechæs Web site at:
                   http://www.digibase.com/spacetech
9.11
Photodesk 2 costs ú229.36 +VAT +p&p or ú255 through Archive. A site
licence is available for ú595 +VAT or ú665 through Archive. Upgrades
from Photodesk can be obtained directly from Spacetech for ú59.41 +VAT.
The original Photodesk is still available for users who do not need the
advanced facilities of Photodesk 2 at the Archive price of ú185.
9.11
Physical Processes Ö At Key Stage Two, children should use IT across a
variety of subjects, process information in different ways, and compare
their use of IT with other methods. ÉIT In Topicsæ provides an approach
to this. The disc contains nearly 800Kb of drawfiles, graphs, sprites,
worksheets, textfiles and applications (over 100 files altogether).
Children can work at the computer, or files can be printed out and
photocopied for working on, thus providing a flexible way of integrating
IT into topic teaching. Worksheets can be used as they are or modified.
If the wording or amount of information given is not right for a
particular group or individual, it can be changed. Worksheets at
differentiated levels to suit different abilities can therefore easily
be produced. The worksheets give plenty of activity ideas and other
resources that can be used in a variety of ways. Further, new files and
worksheets can be made by combining the text and pictures. Topics
covered by the software include, Earth and Beyond, Electrify, Forces,
Light, and Sound. Physical Processes costs ú15 +p&p from Chalksoft Ltd.
9.11
Pocket Book II games Ö Purple Software have a range of games which will
run on the Acorn Pocket II. These include 3a Chess, Backgammon, and
Chinese Chess. All of the games use the Pocket Book IIæs enhanced
graphics capabilities and have a save and load facility; take back
pieces and replay moves; request the computer to suggest a move; play
against the computer, a human opponent or watch the computer play by
itself.
9.11
3a Chess is a chess game with 2D and 3D display options. The game comes
with a built-in chess clock, selection of playing levels, and
incorporates a set of master games selected by an International Master.
The Backgammon game, in addition to the above, can be switched between
aggressive or defensive playing styles. There is also a Bridge program
which is suitable for anyone wanting to get to grips with the game, as
well as for the more skilled player. The program offers displays in both
text mode and graphics mode, using conventional playing cards. You can
play against the computer or enhance your game using a tutor mode. It
uses a natural bidding system with Stayman, Blackwood and a choice of
no-trump conventions.
9.11
Each of the three titles (Backgammon/Chinese Chess, Bridge and Chess) is
available on SSD at ú34 +VAT +p&p or ú40 through Archive. The games are
also available on PC floppy discs at ú29.74 +VAT +p&p or ú35 through
Archive.
9.11
Scientific programs at HENSA Ö Two Fortran utilities: The portable high
level graphics utilities package, PGPLOT, has now been upgraded to
version 5.10, and is available at:   gopher://micros.hensa.ac.uk/11/
micros/arch/riscos/d/d062 or from the HENSA World Wide Web pages. The
main upgrade is that it is now possible to use two output devices
simultaneously.
9.11
The well known molecular drawing program, ORTEP, (Oak Ridge Thermal
Ellipsoid Program) is now available on the World Wide Web. Fortran
source and examples can be found at:                  http://
www.ornl.gov/ortep/ortep.html. It has been adapted to use PGPLOT for the
graphics, which made it simpler to port ORTEP III to the Acorn. It is
now available from HENSA, with a similar address to PGPLOT, but ORTEP is
entry /e/e102.
9.11
Unlike Rasmol reviewed last month, Ortep is used mainly for smaller
molecules, where the atom positions are more precisely known so that the
thermal ellipsoids carry useful information on the atom vibrations as
the temperature changes.
9.11
Another useful program in HENSA is MoleDraw which is a Draw-like program
with additional functions for making two dimensional chemical diagrams.
It is available as reference number e061.
9.11
Simple Control is a new program from Camboard Technology, designed to
introduce control and LOGO style programming. Simple Controlæs four
programs centre around a simulated electronic control box, which is
similar in operation and style to conventional control boxes used in
schools. This simulated control box enables the pupil to learn about
control without the practical problems associated with an actual control
box. Simple Control is unique in that it combines a tutorial with
embedded code boxes for pupils to type in LOGO style commands. They can
see the result of these commands immediately, in the simulated control
box window. Simple Control contains four programs: Direct Control is a
point and click control with inputs, outputs and control box windows.
Computer Control introduces programming the computer with LOGO style
commands which interact with the simulated control box. Buggy is used to
control a simulated buggy. Control Simulations provides several examples
of control systems. Disc-based worksheets are included.
9.11
The single user price is ú19.95 +VAT, and a site licence ú44.95 +VAT,
from Camboard Technology. It requires RISC OS 3.10 or higher. Further
information can be obtained by contacting Camboard Technology direct, or
by visiting their web pages at: http://ourworld.compuserve.com:80/
homepages/camboard/.
9.11
TeleText Turbo Ö The TeleText Turbo from XOB can capture and distribute
eight live and eight local services from each of up to six TeleCards.
Data is cached at the server, so access, even from a remote client, is
regularly quicker than a Teletext television. The cache is updated
automatically, so each page will, on average, be no more than a few
seconds out of date or, if desired, the client can request that pages
are grabbed directly off air. A viewdata editor is supplied, to permit
the setting up of local services for departments, for example. The
server can coexist with other servers, such as level 4.
9.11
The Tele-Card with single user software costs ú152 +p&p +VAT, Teletext
Turbo Network Serving software costs ú229 +p&p +VAT, and Card and Server
purchased together cost ú359 +p&p +VAT or  ú180, ú270 and ú410,
respectively, through Archive.
9.11
VideoBase Ö It has been a long time coming (around four years), but
VideoBase version 2, from Paul Hobbs, is now available. VideoBase is an
application to keep track of recordings and free spaces on a collection
of video tapes. It is designed to make maintaining the database as easy
as possible and to avoid the possibility of inappropriate inputs.
VideoBase is Shareware Ö the ultimate money-back guarantee Ö if you
donæt use the product, you donæt pay for it. Details on how to register
your copy, which will disable the start-up banner, can be found in the
manual supplied with the application. Registration costs ú8. The
application is available from Paul Hobbsæ web site at http://
ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Paul_Hobbs/videob2.htm
9.11
If anyone has any questions or wants more information, Paul can be
emailed at: Paul.Hobbs@ t¡online.de Ö he would also be very grateful for
any feedback that you can provide, especially if you donæt like it, or
find any bugs.áuá
9.11
Products Available
9.12
586 Price Drop Ö The Acorn 586 card has dropped in price to ú299 +VAT
(ú351 through Archive) if you buy it at the same time as a RiscPC, or
ú399 +VAT (ú469 through Archive) if you buy it separately.
9.12
6502Em from Warm Silence, allows you to relive all those classic games Ö
Elite, Exile, Zalaga, The Sentinel, Repton, Monsters, Snapper, MrEE,
Strykers Run, Chuckie Egg, Citadel, Castle Quest, Defender, Starship
Command, Fortress, Hopper, Revs and many more! It runs far more software
than !65Host (a copy of !65Host is required to extract the ROM images
from it). The 6502EM even emulates BBC Master and Master Compact, though
you must source your own copies of the ROM images Ö Warm Silence can
supply programs that save images to disc if run on a Master or Compact.
6502EM costs ú15 inclusive from Warm Silence Software.
9.12
Archive (Internet) Glossary Ö We have a glossary of Internet terms which
is now 9,500+ words long. (This is in addition to our original glossary
which is 11,000+ words!) These two glossaries are available on a disc in
Impression, RTF and pure text format costing ú2 through Archive. This
disc was sold for ú5, as that included free updates as the glossary
expanded. However, it has now stabilised, so we have dropped the price
to ú2 in line with our Utilities Discs.
9.12
We have also put the text version, plus the one diagram, on this monthæs
program disc.
9.12
(To increase the effectiveness of the Archive Glossary, please let me
know if there are any missing definitions, or if you disagree with any
of the definitions. Thanks, Ed.)
9.12
Artworks Tools Ö A new tool for Artworks was released recently, called
Precision. It gives Artworks users the ability to position graphics
accurately, by specifying the XY position of the graphic to absolute
page co-ordinates or relative to their previous positions. Grouped
objects can be positioned, and more control over scaling is provided.
Also available for Artworks is Arranger. Arranger gives you a tool which
allows you to Émagnetiseæ layers. When a layer is magnetised, objects
created within or outside of that layer are attracted to other objects
within or outside of that layer. Itæs a bit like having an infinitely
variable grid that you can set up for yourself.
9.12
Precision costs ú12 +VAT, Arranger costs ú29 +VAT and, bought together,
they cost ú39 +VAT. These are only available from Computer Concepts.
9.12
Barcodes price change Ö Since our mention of the Barcodes software in
last monthæs magazine, the price has dropped. Barcodes now costs ú65
inclusive from Kang Software (no VAT). A full description of the
software, and sample drawfiles of the output, can be found on the web
at: http://www. argonet.co.uk/location/works/kang.html
9.12
Batch printing Ö If you want to print multiple copies of a document to
an inkjet or similar printer, and want to do it entirely in the
background, there is a Shareware program to do it, written by Mijas
Software. There is a copy on the Archive monthly disc. The registration
fee is ú10 inclusive which they ask you to pay if you use the program
for more than 30 days.
9.12
Big IDE drives Ö Cheap!! Ö I bought ten 1.2 Gb IDE drives from a company
called Merisel (other dealers, please note, if you also use them).
Unfortunately, these drives (1.2Gb Western Digital Caviar drives) do not
work as the master drive on the RiscPC, but only as the slave Ö which is
no good, as Iáwanted to use them to replace the ACB64æs own 540Mb drive.
(They will, however, work as the master on a Yellowstone RapIDE
interface.)
9.12
Merisel refused to take back the drive that I had tested (öItæs now
secondhandò) and wanted to charge a 20% Ére-stocking feeæ for the rest.
There was no way I was going to give them almost ú300 for the privilege
of Ére-stockingæ the drives. If Iæve got to lose that much money, Iæd
rather give it to friendly Acorn people rather than not-so-friendly PC
distributors.
9.12
So, we have a limited number (some were sold via the Internet) of Caviar
1.2Gb drives at ú149 inclusive, or Caviar 1.2Gb drive + RapIDE interface
for ú279.
9.12
BitFolio 7 CD-ROM Ö After our special offer, we have had a lot of very
positive feedback and have managed to sell enough to extend the special
offer: Full price ú95 Ö offer price ú75 through Archive. This collection
of 10,000+ vector graphics images has attracted unsolicited comments
from readers such as: öquite brilliant, knocking spots off other so-
called up-market offeringsò, and öif you havenæt got a CD-ROM drive, it
would be worth buying one just for this collection.ò
9.12
Canon printer prices down again Ö The latest Archive prices for Canon
printers are: BJC70 Ö ú240, BJC210 Ö ú190, BJC4100 Ö ú260 and BJC610 Ö
ú390.
9.12
Citizen mobile printer Ö Citizen, the printer manufacturer, has
announced that its PN60 portable A4 laser quality printer, is now
compatible with the Pocket Book palmtop computer. The two new Pocket
Book connectivity kits from Citizen will allow users to print to the
PN60 directly from their Pocket Books. The printer weighs 500g, and has
dimensions of 25.4 cm ╫ 5.0 cm ╫ 4.7 cm Ö the largest dimension being
the width of a sheet of A4 paper. It can print in black and white, with
a colour option, on a range of different paper types, labels and OHP
slides.
9.12
(If you didnæt already know, the Pocket Book is based on the Psion
Series 3a palmtop computer, and incorporates a word processor,
spreadsheet, database, calculator, clock and alarm, diary, spellchecker
& thesaurus, sound and voice recorder, Plotter which plots mathematical
equations and World which shows international time zones, dialling codes
and maps. Over 18,000 Pocket Books have been sold to education to date.)
9.12
The PN60 costs ú289 +VAT or ú270 inclusive through Archive. The Pocket
Book II (256Kb) costs ú241 through Archive, and the 1Mb version is ú335.
Also, we still have a couple of the discontinued 512Kb models at ú195.
9.12
Creator v2.00 is a complete and major rewrite. It can now read seventeen
image formats (AIM, CadSoft, Clear, Degas, GIF, IFF, IMG, Irlam, JPEG,
MacPaint, MTV, PBMPlus, PCX, Pineapple, QRT, Sprite, TIFF) and write six
formats (Clear, GIF, JPEG, PBMPlus, Sprite, TIFF). All the new sprite
formats are supported. Creator 2.00 consists of nearly 100% carefully
optimized ARM code, is Évery fast, very stable, and very easy to useæ.
Creator is Shareware, so if it serves you well, you are required to
register your copy.
9.12
Creator, from John Kortink, is the first application to use ImageIO, a
major piece of carefully optimized ARM code (400Kb of source and
growing) that provides a robust, easy to use, common interface to image
files. Current versions of ImageIO have been found to be very stable.
Private and commercial interest for ImageIO is welcomed. Creator 2.00 is
available by www from: www.inter.nl.net/users/J.Kortink or by email
from: [e-mail].
9.12
DIY RiscPC Ö We are still selling large numbers of RiscPC 600s along the
lines of the article in 9.9 p9 and the follow-ups in 9.10 p3 and 9.11
p3. The prices of drives and memory are improving all the time (although
not as dramatically as at first), and Acorn have now extended the öú99
StrongARMæ offer to the end of December, so thereæs now no rush to get
your orders in by the end of August.
9.12
One point which, I apologise, has not been made clear (although it was
mentioned in Products Available 9.6) is that the ACB64 which we are
using as the basis for upgrading does not include a backplane as
standard. In other words, if you want to add any expansion cards, you
either have to add ú35 for a two-slot backplane, or ú117 for a second
slice which includes the price of a four-slot backplane. This was taken
into account in the price table in the original article, and we always
try to mention it when anyone rings to discuss buying a computer, but I
regret that we forgot to put it in print until now. Sorry.
9.12
DrawAid is an application, and a suite of procedures, that allows Basic
programmers to produce specialist drawfile-generating programs for their
own needs, with the minimum of work, and with no knowledge of the RISC
OS wimp system. The application is particularly useful for parametric
design, in which a range of geometrically similar objects are required.
Users of Draw, for example, may find it difficult to obtain accurate
drawings where curves are used, or repetitive positioning is required Ö
the drawing of items like gear wheels or instrument dials is extremely
difficult. DrawAid is designed to overcome these limitations and allow
Basic programmers to generate complex and accurate drawfiles directly
from their own programs.
9.12
The software costs ú15 and is available from Carvic Manufacturing.
9.12
EADFS module Ö The Power-tec EADFS (Extended ADFS) module is a system
extension that allows you to use large hard drives on your existing IDE
bus, but allows partitioning as well. The module integrates fully and
transparently with ADFS, and can handle up to 4Gb (512Kb partitions on
pre-RISC OS 3.6 machines, and 1Gb partitions on RISC OS 3.6 machines).
It costs ú39.95 +VAT +p&p from Alsystems or ú46 through Archive.
9.12
Formulix has been updated to v2.10. It incorporates some requested
changes, and now supports horizontal and vertical kerning, as well as
offering greater control over the quality and size of brackets and
braces. There has also been an improvement in the way fonts are handled.
Upgrades are available from Computer Concepts for ú12.77 +VAT.
9.12
Helping Hand Ö Teaching grammar from text books can be dull and
lifeless, so Chalk Soft have produced a series of programs called
ÉHelping Handæ, to try and bring life to the process of learning
grammar.
9.12
Each program is a powerful aid to better written English, with thirty
sessions of short practical activities to give carefully graded and
linked help with typical language problems. Aspects of syntax, chosen by
practising teachers for their importance and frequency of misuse, are
presented in an enjoyable and short weekly session format. This makes
for steadily improving grammar without the need for constant and time-
wasting copy writing. The computer marks, and offers help to correct,
mistakes thus freeing the teacher for other demands!
9.12
Files for each child (from 1 to 24 children) in a class are kept by the
computer, to indicate progress and areas of weakness, and these files
can be viewed on-screen or as a print-out from the disc. The programs
have been designed around Key Stages 2 and 3 of the National Curriculum,
and Scottish and NI equivalents. They lend themselves to servicing the
differing levels of need and understanding found in any class of pupils,
leaving the teacher free to do other things! The software packs are
graded for individual weekly sessions with children from Year 3 to Year
8.
9.12
Helping Hand costs ú25 +VAT for each level, from Chalksoft Ltd.
9.12
HighWay price reduction Ö We first mentioned HighWay in July (9.10 p4).
We now have notice of a price reduction and network details.
9.12
The network version comes in two parts Ö the main ÉEngineæ and the
ÉUseræ part. In a network, the ÉEngineæ part is stored once on the File
Server for the whole network to Éreadæ, and is usually in the Library or
ArthurLib directory. On a Level 4 or similar network, a copy of the
Éuseræ part of HighWay is stored in each useræs root directory. This
enables network users to save their own setup procedures. Normally, the
network manager would set up a basic user set. e.g. !System, !Fonts,
favourite applications and directories etc. This setup can then be
copied to each useræs root directory, where the user would be able to
add individual requirements, etc.
9.12
Another program called !UserCopy is available to HighWay owners at no
extra cost. This enables the network manager to copy a HighWay Éuseræ
setup (or anything else) to many user directories. It can also be set to
ÉWIPEæ if required. (Useful if you want to delete something from
everyoneæs root directory). There is an updated full description of
HighWay on the WWW at: http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/bernard.veasey/
soft.html
9.12
Highway now costs ú15, and includes a site licence for up to ten
computers on one site. Add a further ú5 per additional ten computers for
use on the same site. For order details, see 9.10 p4.
9.12
Key Franτais is a package of datafiles, and photocopiable activity
Sheets, for use with Key Plus on Acorn computers. With the datafiles
available in the Key Franτais package, there are many activities for
students at years 7, 8 and 9 (Key Stage 3) of the National Curriculum
(England and Wales) and equivalent curricula. The eleven activities are
all detailed on activity sheets which can be printed out and photocopied
by purchasing schools. Cross-referencing to all the major language
learning programmes in UK classrooms is provided.
9.12
The units range from ideas which involve creating personal dossiers,
recording data on pets and daily activities, through to recording
favourite films, shopping, holidays, lost property and meals. The French
vocabulary used throughout is supported by pictures where appropriate,
and there are further ideas, including a mapping unit on French cities
and a spreadsheet module. There are over twenty Teacher Information
sheets and Student Activity sheets, all in Draw format which means that
they can be adapted if required. The activities draw out standard IT
activities such as searching, sorting and graphing information. Help is
given on typing accented characters on English language keyboards.
9.12
Key Franτais has been developed for Anglia Multimedia by an experienced
modern languages teacher, drawing on his years of knowledge of the
motivation provided by working with the computer and the need to develop
the use of modern languages in the IT context. The ideas included in the
package extend well beyond those of data handling, as results and
conclusions can be presented by the use of other computer-based tools,
such as a DTP program. To run the datafiles, users need a copy of Key
Plus or an equivalent package which recognises the Key Plus file format
Ö see Product News below for news about Key Plus and Datapower.
9.12
Key Franτais costs ú25 +VAT from Anglia Multimedia, or ú28 through
Archive.
9.12
Larger is a pinboard program with lots of extra features that go beyond
the one supplied with RISCáOS 3. It has a virtual desktop, window map,
enhanced iconisation facilities, multiple hierarchical backdrops, full
filer functionality, configurable menu, hotkeys, window management
functions, and much more. It costs ú10 inclusive from Warm Silence
Software.
9.12
Laserjet 5L price drop Ö With increased quantity, we have managed to get
the price of the Laserjet 5L down to ú450 inclusive.
9.12
Memory prices Ö Following the trend of the PC world generally, we have
been able to drop the prices of SIMMs again. They are now: 4Mb ú40, 8Mb
ú65, 16Mb ú125, 32Mb ú250. We also take old SIMMs in part exchange,
offering: 4Mb ú10, 8Mb ú30, 16Mb ú70.
9.12
Mice and joysticks Ö Stuart Tyrrell Developments have announced the
availability of Solo, a budget joystick interface, to complement their
existing ÉNæ Interface range. Solo offers an inexpensive entry into the
world of Acorn gaming. The interface allows the use of a single standard
joystick with any Acorn RISC OS machine, and is fitted to the parallel
port. The interface is supplied with comprehensive software, which
allows the joystick to emulate keys, the mouse, or to function with any
game which supports the Acorn joystick SWIs. The ÉNæ Interface allows
the use of two Super Nintendo style joypads on Acorn machines. It is
supplied complete with a printer-through connector, and easy-to-use
software.
9.12
PS2Mouse allows the use of any PS/2 type mouse (2áor 3-button) with
Acorn machines, and acts as an interface between them and the standard
Acorn mouse port. PS2Mouse also has support for Étap¡clickingæ on
mousepads such as the ALPS Glidepoint range. Other configurable options
include the ability to swap select and adjust buttons, and three levels
of acceleration.
9.12
Solo costs ú14.95, PS2Mouse costs ú24.95 and ÉNæáInterface costs ú24.95,
all prices including p&p. See Stuart Tyrrell Developmentsæ website for
more details: http://www.busacu.co.uk/stdev.
9.12
PipeDream Ö Colton are no longer supplying PipeDream4 as a product as
such. They will, however, continue to sell PipeDream4 at a special price
as an upgrade to PipeDream3.
9.12
Precise Mousing Surface Ö What? Itæs a fancy name for a mousemat, but
donæt skip straight to the next item. This is something special. If you
donæt believe me, turn to Tony Houghtonæs review on page 21. Itæs a
special mousemat from 3M Ö scientifically designed Ö and they cost ú10
each! Sounds a lot, but Iæve got one at home and one in the office, and
I wouldnæt swap them for anything.
9.12
Pscan provides high-quality reception and transmission of all the
popular colour slow scan television modes used by radio amateurs all
over the world. It also allows reception of weather charts such as those
transmitted by the Bracknell weather centre. A simple one-chip interface
is required which can be easily built by anyone with some experience of
electronics construction. Alternatively, a cheap ready-made interface
may be bought from a number of suppliers. Full interface details are
included on the Pscan disc. As well as the basic send and receive
functions, Pscan includes a large number of text and graphics
manipulation facilities which are not available in similar programs on
other platforms. Pscan makes full use of the graphics capability of the
RiscPC but will not run on earlier Acorn computers. Pscan is shareware
and registration is ú15.
9.12
To obtain a copy, send a formatted 1.6 Mb ADFS disc and SAE to: Paul
Turner G4IJE, 61 Primley Lane, Sheering, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM22
7NH. (01279-734482)
9.12
QuickTile v1.03 from Desktop Projects Ltd, allows you to print posters
from drawfiles and sprites. It works with any RISC OS application and
will automatically generate crop marks on the individual sheets that
make up the whole poster. It needs RISCáOS 3.10 or later, and costs ú29
inclusive from Desktop Projects, or ú27 through Archive.
9.12
Romans is a follow-up to Anglia Multimediaæs Vikings CD-ROM, and
transports students back to the 2nd century AD to take part in a ÉRomanæ
multimedia experience. Arriving at the quayside you enter the Romano-
British town of Sapientum. Using a specially commissioned 3D computer
model based on the latest archaeological evidence, Romans is, according
to Anglia, öone of the most advanced educational products for Key Stage
2 History ever produced.ò
9.12
The pupilsæ task is to gain Roman citizenship by playing one of four
roles within the town. Each role has a route to success, whether it be
collecting objects or making enquiries about Roman life and customs. As
the student seeks citizenship, they meet and can talk with the
townsfolk, bargain with them or seek advice. Each character will provide
vital and accurate information about this period of history. Pictures,
text and other information can all be saved out as they are collected,
providing the perfect opportunity to develop IT capability at the same
time!
9.12
Detailed activity sheets give the teacher a host of other learning
opportunities to build around the computer. Romans is also supported by
Angliaæs on¡line service, with further material for classroom use.
Although students need never know, the town is actually based on the
Roman settlement of Venta Icenorum, Caistor by Norwich. Ventaæs ground
plan was used as the base for a 3D reconstruction of the town, and
latest archaeological evidence used to construct the houses and the
forum, the temple and the farmhouse. Even the video of the Ermine Street
Guard was shot on the site of the original Roman settlement. With the
help of Past Forward in York, and the Norfolk Archaeological Unit, the
details were pieced together, and members of Time Travellers and other
volunteers became the people who inhabit the town.
9.12
Romans costs ú40 +VAT from Anglia Multimedia, or ú45 through Archive.
9.12
Tabby graphics tablet Ö The Acorn Driver for the Tabby graphics tablet,
from R-Comp, has been re-worked and now supports Photodesk. New sales of
the tablet will include the new driver, and existing users can upgrade
for ú5, direct from R¡Comp.
9.12
Teletext+ software Ö Your computer can now remind you when your
favourite TV or radio programme is about to start, thanks to the latest
version of Teletext+ from Octopus Systems. Teletext+ software could
always search TV and radio listings for keywords, but now version 6 can
extract the time and set an audible alarm (with a 5 minute warning). It
also has advanced cacheing algorithms that learn which pages you read,
and fetch them for you every day, so you will rarely have to wait for a
Teletext page, and even sub-pages are cached so you donæt have to wait
half an hour to find the latest Acorn share price!
9.12
It now has advanced keyword searching where matches are displayed in a
separate window which effectively gives a personalised magazine of
interesting news, events and programmes. Pages can be saved as Viewdata,
sprite or text files, either manually or under the control of a script
file, and there is an option to allow all sub-pages to be saved in a
single text file. Teletext+ will work with Teletext adaptors and cards
from Morley, Computer Concepts, Ground Control, Design IT, Irlam,
Solidisk and Octopus Systems. It will be particularly attractive to
Morley users as the Morley software doesnæt work in the desktop. It can
also log share prices in a CSV file, or in a special format for the
Apricote Studiosæ Shares program, and it provides a set of standard SWI
calls for use by other programs. (See 9.7 p57 for a review.)
9.12
Teletext+ is available for ú39 + VAT from Octopus, or ú45 through
Archive.
9.12
ToolKit 1 for Pocket Book II Ö ToolKit 1, from Purple Software, is an
application pack consisting of four different applications on a single
floppy disc or SSD. The four applications are: Convert, File Manager,
PicView and ScnPrint.
9.12
The first program can Convert between foreign currencies and the home
currency; between units of length, area, volume, liquid and weight;
between units of speed, pressure, temperature and energy; between
British, European and American clothes sizes. PicView allows users to
view pictures stored in PIC, PCX, BMP and GIF file formats. They can be
converted from one to another, and printed using the built-in graphics
printing sub-system. ScnPrint prints out any screen the computer can
display; itæs compatible with Epson, IBM Proprinter, HP Laserjet and
PostScript compatible printers. File Manager is a graphical file
management system that makes organising files and discs easy. Amongst
its features are: copy, name, format and back up for an entire SSD;
copy, delete, rename and move directories and files; change file
attributes, set file dates and locate files by name, size, date,
attributes or contents; tag files individually or by matching names,
dates or attributes across directories.
9.12
For an SSD, ToolKit 1 costs ú42.51 +p&p +VAT, or ú48 through Archive.
For a disc it costs ú34 +p&p +VAT, or ú38 through Archive.
9.12
TurboDrivers Ö Computer Concepts have released a new version of their
TurboDrivers, which support Canon bubblejet printers, the BJC-210 and
BJC-4100, and recent versions of !Printers.
9.12
The BJC-210 offers mono printing quality of 720 (with smoothing) ╫ 360
dpi, and an optional colour cartridge, so the printer can be used for
occasional colour printing. The BJC¡4100 is suitable for both high
colour quality and high speed mono printing. The colour is produced
using a four colour ink tank, and offers true 720 dpi colour as well as
720 (with smoothing) ╫ 360 dpi in mono. The new version of TurboDrivers
is 4.05 and now requires !Printers 1.45 or later.
9.12
The TurboDrivers software costs ú49 +VAT from CC or ú53 through Archive.
Upgrades from TurboDrivers 4.04 is free from CC and costs ú10 +VAT from
earlier versions, also from CC.
9.12
VRview Ö  Experience photorealistic Virtual Reality on your RISC OS
machines as never before! Explore famous buildings, walk in the country,
even stroll around the Starship Enterprise. Examine the objects you find
from all angles. VRview, from Warm Silence, is a Quicktime VR renderer.
Currently, it is an Éintroductoryæ version only (though it still looks
very impressive), hence an introductory price, and the lack of printed
instructions. The final version is planned in time for the October show,
with an improved interface, better support for older machines, lower
memory usage, and improved quality whilst zoomed.
9.12
VRview is like Replay; in itself it is fairly small, but it uses big
datafiles. It comes on floppy,  but is frequently found on CD-ROM
(VRview reads the CD), as well as being available on some Web sites.
Atáthe moment, Warm Silence donæt supply tools to generate Quicktime VR
scenes, but they may think of this later. Currently, it is RiscPC only,
but coming to older machines soon.
9.12
The introductory version of VRview costs ú20 inclusive from Warm
Silence.áuá
9.12
Product News
9.12
Alternative Publishing tell us that things are going well with their
vector graphics converters. According to Majid Anwar from AP, öI can
safely say that the WMF-loader is complete, and is very comprehensive
(there are very few files that it cannot convert), fast and accurate. It
provides simple drag-and-drop of WMFs into applications that accept
drawfiles Ö in many cases, we have found it to be more reliable than
many native Windows applicationsæ own loaders!ò
9.12
Anglia Multimedia have been well-known for their large range of Key Plus
datafiles, but Iotaæs Datapower package has now been upgraded to
ensureáthat it can read more of the Key Plus file structure,
particularly in respect of graphics within files. Over 50 different
datafiles, from Minibeasts to the Periodic Table, Weather Statistics to
the Birds of Britain and Ireland, can be bought from Anglia Multimedia,
and many more are being distributed from Angliaæs web site.
9.12
As many of Angliaæs datafiles include pictures in Draw or sprite format,
this development to Datapower greatly enhances the value of the
datafiles to Datapower users. The structure adopted includes matching
Key Plusæs facility to link the same graphic to a number of records, a
technique developed by Anglia to make best use of floppy disc space.
9.12
In addition to the developments made to Datapower itself, Iota and
Anglia are working together to ensure that files loaded into Datapower
will display appropriately. Anglia will gradually be upgrading the
datafiles so that they include a layout module which Datapower will
automatically recognise. According to Peter Stibbons, Director of
Development at Anglia Multimedia, öOur commitment to Key Plus continues,
as is seen from the latest upgrade of the Windows version, but this
cooperation with Iota will enable us to supply the datafiles themselves
to a wider audience. The new datafiles which we will be distributing
free on our web sites will, of course, be a major benefit to schools and
usable on many more sites.ò
9.12
Learning Through Computing Ö Following the success of the Doorway
Classroom Pack, which is already being used on Acorn Computers in
Primary Schools throughout Fife and Borders Region, Learning Through
Computing is pleased to announce its intention to release a Switch
Access Version of the Doorway Classroom Pack to be available in
September 1996.
9.12
The Doorway Classroom Pack (see 9.8. p4) includes ten programs covering
Time and Mathematics at Key Stage Levels 1 and 2 (Scottish 5Ö14 Levels A
to C), as well as a couple of Early Literacy programs. More information
about the Doorway Classroom Pack can be found in Learning Through
Computingæs new free catalogue.
9.12
The Switch Access Version of the Doorway Classroom Pack should enable
anyone using switches with their Acorn RISC OS computer to access these
new educational programs. Further information can be obtained from
Learning Through Computing.
9.12
TopModel is being developed at-a-pace. Gemini, the new graphic engine,
is now ready and is available as a relocatable module to all developers
interested in using it in their own applications. The module is fully
StrongARM-compatible. Its performance is enhanced over the standard
TopModel engine and the rendering process is 2 to 5 times faster. Many
new features have been added (like the awaited 16 and 32 bpp screen mode
support). A new version, to be released very soon, will support the
Hydra multi-processor card. Sincronia has licensed Gemini to Clares, for
inclusion in the next releases of Composition, and to Oregan
Developments for inclusion in CineWorks. A new VRML (and TopModel 3D
file) browser, based on the new Gemini engine, has been developed and
will be available shortly at a reasonable price.
9.12
Work is in progress for the next release of TopModel, a completely
rewritten program offering full animation capability, advanced rendering
algorithms, complex construction and editing tools, multi-processor
support and much more. An upgrade scheme will be offered to all TopModel
users who will be able to to buy the new release simply for the
difference in price. Last but not least, a CD-ROM with over 600Mb of
TopModel objects, textures and utilities will be released late summer.
For further information, contact Rachelle Smith at Spacetech.áuá
9.12
Review software received...
9.12
We have received review copies of the following: ÅDrawAid (u), ÅHelping
Hand (e), ÅKey Franτais (e), ÅQuickTile (e), ÅVRview (u). (e=Education,
u=Utility)