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Amiga Collections: MegaDisc
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MegaDisc 43 (1995-03)(MegaDisc Digital Publishing)(AU)(Disk 2 of 2)[m bamcopy].zip
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MegaDisc 43 (1995-03)(MegaDisc Digital Publishing)(AU)(Disk 2 of 2)[m bamcopy].adf
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Reviews
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AMOS_PDCD
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AMOS_PDCD
Wrap
Text File
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1995-03-23
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4KB
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110 lines
************************************************************************
AMOS PD CD - The entire British AMOS PD library on CD-ROM
A review by Bruce Laing
© 1994 Bruce Laing for Megadisc Digital Publishing
************************************************************************
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This review will take a look at a CD-ROM which contains the majority of
the "Official AMOS PD Library's" huge collection.
IN THE BEGINNING
Not long after Europress launched AMOS, the original AMOS PD library
was started in Britain, which was, at the time, started by Sandra
Sharkey. The current library (run by Anne and Len Tucker) now boasts
over 800 AMOS and non-AMOS products. Just recently (back in September)
I came across a CD-ROM which contained the majority of the British PD
library. So what can you expect to see on this CD-ROM?
The contents of this ROM includes the bulk of the British AMOS PD
library, as well as highlights from the Australian library, over 1600
source code files, 100 sprite banks, 250 CText banks, 800 sound samples,
literally hundreds of music .ABK files, the British AMOS PD catalogue as
well as the first six issues of the TOTALLY AMOS magazine-on-a-disk. As
most of the material includes source, they have included Timm Martins
SID and SID-2 utilities so that you can create your own floppies
GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS!
You will also find (as usual) the Workbench system software included,
as well as Parnet and Sernet software, which will allow you (if you have
the necessary cables) to link your CDTV or CD32 to an Amiga. Thats the
good news. The bad news is the way the startup-sequence is set up, you
can't boot it with the CD. Here are the problems I had with this ROM.
1. Under OS1.3 the CD does not set up the assigns properly (and
incidentally uses an older version of OS1.3.) they didn't obviously have
access to revision 34.34 (the last version released by Commodore.) the
version they used was a version that didn't properly impliment the
shell. They used version 34.28 (which I think was the CDTV version -
someone please correct me on this if I'm wrong)
2. Under OS2.1 the startup-sequence incorrectly tries to access the 2.1
directory and dumps you straight into the CLI. I don't know what would
happen under OS3.0 as I don't have access to a CD32
3. If you try to de-archive the TOTALLY AMOS disks (but they are also
available ready-to-run on the ROM) due to the incorrectly set up
assignments made to the disk, the file will not de-archive. WHY? The
archives were created using V1.11 of DMS and in the root directories c
directory you will find DMS V1.03! (you will find, however the more
recent version in the WB-1.3/WB-2.1/WB3.0 /c directory)
4. The keyboard setup defaults to the GB keyboard. This might be O.K
for British users, but what the compilers didn't realise is that the Amy
has different keyboard setups all over the world. They should have left
well enough alone with this as I suspect it would default to the
countries keymap at startup.
YEH, BUT OUTSIDE OF THESE FAULTS, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS CD-ROM?
The AMOS material is well worth it, and certainly worth a look. But
for CD32 and CDTV users, my recommendation is to boot with a copy of the
system software (if you have an A570, my suggestion is to boot in Amiga
mode and use a directory utility like DirWork or Directory Opus) My
final rating will be divided into the following....
CONTENT:- 7.5/10
EASE OF USE (or lack of it) 3/10 (the CD itself! Red Symons, eat your
heart out!)
VALUE FOR MONEY 5/10
OVERALL 4.5/10
It was marked down because of the headaches I had loading this package
(it would have got either a 7 or an 8 otherwise.) I feel it is however
a good resource for the AMOS programmer due to the large number of
sprite, music, sample and source files contained. For everyone else,
it's a case of try before you buy.
CD TITLE - AMOS PD CD
PUBLISHER - Weird Science
Price $50
© Bruce Laing,
December, 1994
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