Archive Magazine 1996/ARCHIVE_96.iso/text/magazine/volume_06/issue_02

Text File | 1995-06-25 | 254KB | 5,394 lines

Volume 6 Å N║ 2 Å November 1992
6.2
RISC-OS 3.1 is on the way!
6.2
Sorry for the delay over RISC-OS 3.1 and thanks very much for bearing
with us. Acorn say that the A5000 upgrades are coming through very
slowly (so please continue to be patient) but that they are producing
about 2,000 sets a week of the full upgrade. On 26th October, the M.D.
said they had outstanding orders for only 6,000 so if my calculations
are correct, by 22nd November (allowing a few days for carriage)
everyone who has an existing order with Norwich Computer Services,
should have received it. (Please read the next paragraph very
carefully.)
6.2
If you havenæt got yours by 22nd November please ring us OUTSIDE OFFICE
HOURS. There will be a message on the ansaphone saying whether or not
Acorn have reached the target. If they have then ring us during office
hours to find out why your copy has not turned up. If they have not got
there, PLEASE donæt ring us, ring them! Thank you.
6.2
Products Available
6.2
Å    10 out of 10 English Ö Another of Triple Ræs educational packages is
now ready. This package consists of six games said to cover Éten
essential areas of English and aims to reinforce the traditional values
of the languageæ. Childrenæs progress is monitored automatically, so you
can see how they are getting on! The price is ú25.95 from Fourth
Dimension or ú24 through Archive.
6.2
Å    486 card Ö Aleph One have released a 486 card for the Archimedes at
the same price as the old 386, ú495 +VAT (ú545 through Archive). The
price of the 386 card has dropped to ú395 (ú440 through Archive). The
memory upgrade to 4M is ú110 through Archive as is the numeric coproces
sor. There is now some special Windows driver software for ú25 +VAT (ú28
through Archive). This uses the Archimedes CPU as a graphics co-
processor for the PC, accelerating Windows displays Éby up to 20 timesæ.
The driver software is free to all existing owners Ö contact Aleph One.
6.2
Å    A4 Trackerball Ö The trackerball for the A4 Notebook that PEP
Associates are producing was mentioned last month but we now have some
pricing information. If you already own a Trackman Portable, you can buy
the cables to connect it to the A4 and the necessary software from PEP
for ú19 + VAT. If you want the trackerball as well as the software and
cables, it will cost you ú45 + VAT and for the full pack, which includes
carrying case plus a whole load of connectors and adaptors for use with
other PCs, it will cost you ú95 + VAT.
6.2
Å    Acorn Assist is the title of Acornæs latest scheme to help teachers,
lecturers, educational support staff and those in full-time further
education. Anyone in that category can buy:
6.2
A3020 (2M FD) + AKF40 monitor    ú780
6.2
A3020 (2M FD) + AKF18 monitor    ú830
6.2
A4000 Home Office (2M HD80) + AKF40    ú1049
6.2
A4000 Home Office (2M HD80) + AKF18    ú1099
6.2
A5000 Læng Curve (2M HD80) + AKF18    ú1499
6.2
A4 Notebook (4M HD60)    ú1799
6.2
JP150 printer (until 31/12/92)    ú210
6.2
(All prices include VAT.)
6.2
If you would like any of these, ring us and we will send you an
application form. Get your school/college/etc to stamp it and send it in
with a cheque for the required amount and we will put you in the queue
and supply a computer as soon as possible.
6.2
(We have A5000s in stock but all the other computers are still in very
short supply, so if you want one, I suggest you get a cheque into us as
soon as possible.)
6.2
Å    Ancient Greece Ö Chalksoft have produced a package designed to help
with National Curriculum in History Ö CSU5 for Key Stage 2. With it, you
can Évisitæ seven important times/locations and learn about life in
Ancient Greece. The cost is ú25 + VAT from Chalksoft.
6.2
Å    ArcFS2 Ö Software42 have produced an update to the compression filing
system ArcFS. The price is ú20 with no VAT because Software42 are not
VAT registered.
6.2
Å    ArcTrack is a RISC-OS compliant satellite tracking program. Features
include simple updating of keplers (with elements from the packet
network), multiple satellites and multiple footprints, constant display
of satellites in range and time of next AOS or LOS. ArcTrack is
available for ú20 inc VAT from Amsat-UK.
6.2
Å    BibleMaster Ö At last, Hodder and Stoughton have released their (PC
Emulator version) BibleMaster program in two versions: The New Interna
tional Version is ú35 (ú32 through Archive) and the version with both
Good News and NIV is ú60 (ú55 through Archive).
6.2
Å    CADet is Minerva Softwareæs new CAD program. It includes a multitask
ing plotter driver and has Émany features not normally found in a CAD
package at this price, including on-the-fly snaps for ease of accurate
drawingæ. The price is ú149 +áVAT from Minerva or ú160 through Archive.
6.2
Å    Canon BJC800 colour printer price drop. These amazing new A3 colour
printers, reviewed last month (p45) have dropped in price from ú2,100 to
ú1,800 Ö still a lot of money, but you get a lot of printer!
6.2
Å    ColourCard is Computer Conceptsæ graphics accelerator card. It
provides higher resolution graphics with less flicker (i.e. higher
refresh rates) than an unaided Archimedes and, by using a secondary
video frame-store, uses less processor time for the display leaving more
processor power for the Archimedes to use on, say, improving the redraw
speed of your art package. In 16 and 256 colour screen modes, all the
colours are selectable from 16 million hues so that, for example,
scanned images can be seen on screen in 256 true grey levels. The card
costs ú249 (+ú6 carriage) + VAT from Wild Vision or Computer Concepts or
ú280 inclusive through Archive.
6.2
Å    DBEdit is 4Mationæs new multitasking desktop Basic editor Ö which also
edits Obey, Command and Text files. The program is written in machine
code for speed. It operates on Basic programs in tokenised form, making
it possible to edit programs of more than 500 Kb on a 1 Mb machine. The
price is ú30 + VAT from 4Mation or ú33 through Archive.
6.2
Å    DTP and Programmersæ Utilities is a disc of utilities for DTP and
programming(!) from Software42. The price is ú15 with no VAT because
Software42 are not VAT registered.
6.2
Å    Engineering software Ö Richard Fallas & Associates have produced a
range of software for (civil) engineering applications. Storm provides a
modified rational method of stormwater analysis. Highway offers
horizontal alignment design of roads, straights, arcs and transition
spirals plus hierarchical networks of spurs. Vertcur is concerned with
the vertical alignment design of roads. Plotwise provides control of
plotfile output to allow pausing, tracing, partial re-plots, etc. Other
programs and PipeDream spreadsheets are also available. For full
details, ring or fax Richard Fallas on 0296Ö770555. (These applications
complement the programs for structural analysis of 2D frames and grids
from Vision Six.)
6.2
Å    Enigma is a compression filing system with security facilities from
Electronic Solutions. The cost is ú59.95 + VAT.
6.2
Å    Eureka Ö Longman Logotronæs spreadsheet application is due to emerge
from its long gestation period at the end of October, so it should be a
Éproduct availableæ by the time you get this magazine. Features include
over 150 built-in functions, graphs and charts on-screen styles with box
shading and colours, multiple sheets with file linking, user defined
functions and function macros plus import and export facilities in a
wide range of formats. The price is ú119 + VAT or ú130 through Archive.
Site licences are also available.
6.2
(It sounds as if we shall have to have a Eureka-Line to complement
PipeLine. If anyone can think of a better name and/or is prepared to
have a go at editing the column, please let me know. Ed.)
6.2
Å    Food for Thought is a four disc set of clipart with a food-related
theme. It comes complete with full documentation about using Draw Ö
indeed, one of the discs contains a tutorial. The price is ú16.95 + VAT
from Sherston Software.
6.2
Å    Helix Basic is back Ö PDK Technologies have taken over Helix Basic
from Craddock Computing and it is available again now for ú99.95 inc VAT
or ú92 through Archive.
6.2
Å    Help3 consists of a tutorial manual, a disc and a quick reference
card. The aim of the package is to introduce people to using the
Archimedes computers in general and RISC-OS 3 in particular. The price
is ú9.95 (no VAT) from Sherston Software.
6.2
Å    Joysticks and utilities are available from Electronic Solutions. If
you want to use different types of joysticks with the Archimedes then
contact them for full details.
6.2
Å    LandBuild is a 3D fractal landscape program from Software42. The price
is ú15 with no VAT because Software42 are not VAT registered.
6.2
Å    Mac CD-ROM drives Ö As with the Syquest drives and, more recently,
fixed SCSI hard drives, we have gone to Apple Mac suppliers for CD-ROMs.
The ones we have found are relatively speedy Chinon drives at ú480 inc
VAT. These can be run on Morley or Acorn SCSI cards by using CDFS/FSCSI
(ú22 through Archive) or on Oak SCSI cards by buying their new ROMs. The
good news is that these drives come with four free CD-ROMs Ö the bad
news is that they are in Mac format so, unless someone has some suitable
software, you cannot actually use them!
6.2
Å    Memory upgrades for A3010/20/4000 Ö We now have stocks of all the
memory upgrades for the new computers. A3010 1Ö2Mb is ú50, A3010 1Ö4Mb
is ú175, A3020 2Ö4Mb is ú100 and A4000 2Ö4Mb is also ú100.
6.2
Å    MicroDrive Designer Ö CISæs MicroDrive now has a course designer.
(Youæd be amazed how many people think MicroDrive is a car racing game!)
You can create your own courses from scratch or edit existing golf
courses. The price is ú39.95 from CIS or ú37 through Archive. (I have a
review which I hope to fit in next month Ö I just couldnæt fit it in
this time.)
6.2
Å    PipeDream Books Ö Two books to help you with PipeDream are now
available from Colton Software. The first is Getting Started with
PipeDream 4 (for spreadsheets and charts). This costs ú3.95 from Colton.
The second book which includes a disc is a Teacheræs Introduction to
Spreadsheets using PipeDream 4. This is ú5.95 inc VAT from Colton
Software.
6.2
Å    Revelation imagePro is Longman Logotronæs name for their successor to
Revelation2. New features include: load drawfiles onto page, colour-
shift enhanced, marks and tools menus amalgamated, new grey-shift
dialogue, improved image processing and various other improvements based
on user feedback. The price is ú139 + VAT or ú150 through Archive. Site
licences are also available.
6.2
Å    RISC-OS 3.1 Ö The supply of RISC-OS 3.1, even after two months, is
still VERY poor, particulary the A5000 version. This is presumably
because Acorn think it more important to concentrate on those who are
still using RISC-OS 2. At the Acorn User Show, I (and quite a few
Archive subscribers!) made some strong comments to Acorn about the way
they were favouring those dealers who buy directly from them over those
who, like N.C.S. have to buy through a distributor. I donæt know if it
has done any good, but in the last week or so, the supply has improved
slightly, so most of you should, I hope, have your RISC-OS 3.1s before
Christmas. (STOP PRESS: See inside front cover for latest situation.)
6.2
Å    Shareware and Careware prices down Ö We have decided to drop the price
of Shareware and Careware discs and also the monthly program discs.
Because of the large amount of money raised for charity by the Careware
discs (around ú10,000 per year) we are only dropping the price from ú6
to ú5 but the Shareware and monthly program discs are dropping to ú2
each. This is done on the basis that, generally, people buy two or more
discs at a time. So, although selling one disc at ú2 hardly covers
costs, selling two or more at a time is more viable. We decided it was
too complicated to have different prices for one-off purchases, so it
will be a straight ú2 per disc from now on.
6.2
(Those who have purchased monthly program discs in advance will be
granted one extra disc for every two they have outstanding, excluding
this monthæs disc. So, for example, if you are booked up for all of
volume 6, There is no need to do anything about this Ö it will happen
automatically and you will be informed when your last disc is being sent
out to you.)
6.2
Å    SmArt files Ö Two more SmArt files are available from 4Mation for use
with their SmArt Filer software. They are Fiddles and Drums Ö which is
exactly what it says Ö and Fantasy which has dragons, wizards, trolls,
etc. Each pack is ú16 + VAT from 4Mation or ú18 through Archive.
6.2
Å    Spell no longer ÉMicroæ Ö David Pillingæs spelling checker, now
version 3, has changed its name from MicroSpell to just Spell. The price
is still ú6 through Archive. For a comparative review, see page 19.
6.2
Å    TableMate is a table-making utility which takes data in CSV, SID or
its own data format and allows you to lay it out neatly. It is particu
larly useful with Impression Junior which doesnæt have its own table
facilities. The price is ú21 (no VAT) from Dalriada Data Technology.
6.2
Å    Tasker allows you to convert any non-WIMP application so that it
multitasks on the Archimedes. The cost is ú34.95 + VAT from Electronic
Solutions.
6.2
Å    VGA monitor utilities are available from Electronic Solutions for
ú9.95 + VAT. These utilities are designed to allow you to get the most
out of your VGA monitor and maximise compatibility with applications and
games which usually only accept standard monitors and multisyncs.
6.2
Å    WindowEd is a multi-document template editor for RISC-OS. Features
include: up to eight template files in memory at once; windows, icons
and sprites can be grabbed from other applications; Étoolboxæ allows you
to move, scroll and resize windows that do not have the necessary
gadgets; timed auto-save; full support for Interface module for 3D
effects. The application comes with utilities: Hotspot to magnify area
around the mouse pointer; wastebin; Mouselock which locks the mouse to X
or Y axes; Command which allows *commands to be executed from within the
desktop. The whole package, including documentation, is available from
Armen Software for ú35 including VAT and carriage or ú32 through
Archive.
6.2
Review software received...
6.2
We have received review copies of the following: Ancient Greece, CADet,
Chaos (game), CSVtoText, Desktop Office II, Easiword II, Food for
Thought, Getting Started with PipeDream4, Help3, Imagery, Landmarks
Columbus, Landmarks Aztecs, Polyominoes, Precision, Punctuate, Revela
tion imagePro, Soapbox, Teacheræs Introduction to Spreadsheets using
PipeDream 4, The Puddle and the Wardrobe, ThinkLink, Tiles, TV Fun &
Games, Whale Facts, Yes Chancellor II.ááA
6.2
6.3
6.2
Norwich Computer Services 96a Vauxhall Street, Norwich, NR2 2SD.
0603Ö766592 (Ö764011)
6.2
4th Dimension     P.O. Box 4444, Sheffield. (0742Ö700661) (0742Ö781091)
6.2
4Mation    11 Castle Park Road, Whiddon Valley, Barnstaple, Devon  EX32
8PA. (0271Ö25353) (0271Ö22974)
6.2
Abacus Training     29 Okus Grove, Upper Stratton, Swindon, Wilts  SN2
6QA.
6.2
Ace Computing    27 Victoria Road, Cambridge  CB4 3BW. (0223Ö322559)
(0223Ö69180)
6.2
Acorn Computers Ltd     Fulbourn
Road, Cherry Hinton, Cambridge  CB1 4JN. (0223Ö254254) (0223Ö254270)
6.2
Aleph One Ltd    The Old Courthouse, Bottisham, Cambridge  CB5 9BA.
(0223Ö811679) (0223Ö812713)
6.2
Amsat-UK     94 Herongate Road, Wanstead Park, London E12 5EQ.
(081Ö989Ö6741)
6.2
ARMen Software     Laxton House, Milton Road, Oundle, Peterborough  PE8
4AQ. (0832Ö273444) (0832Ö273259)
6.2
Atomwide Ltd    23 The Greenway, Orpington, Kent  BR5 2AY. (0689Ö838852)
(0689Ö896088)
6.2
Cambridge International Software      Unit 2a, 436
Essex Road, London  N1 3QP. (071Ö226Ö3340) (071Ö226Ö3408)
6.2
Chalksoft    P.O. Box 49, Spalding, Lincs  PE11 1NZ. (0775Ö769518)
6.2
Coin-Age Ltd     23 Cooper Street, Nelson, Lancashire BB9 7XW.
6.2
Colton Software (p22)    2 Signet
Court, Swanns Road, Cambridge  CB5 8LA. (0223Ö311881) (0223Ö312010)
6.2
Computer Concepts (p40/41)    Gaddesden
Place, Hemel Hempstead, Herts  HP2 6EX. (0442Ö63933) (0442Ö231632)
6.2
Dabs Press     22 Warwick Street, Prestwich, Manchester  M25 7HN.
(061Ö773Ö8632) (061Ö773Ö8290)
6.2
Dalriada Data Technology    145 Albion
Street, Kenilworth, Warkwickshire  CV8 2FY. (0926Ö53901)
6.2
David Pilling    P.O.Box 22, Thornton Cleveleys, Blackpool, FY5 1LR.
6.2
Design Concept     30 South Oswald Road, Edinburgh  EH9 2HG.
(031Ö668Ö2000)
6.2
Electronic Solutions    Ceralyn,
Maindy Croft, Ton-Pentra, Mid Glamorgan. (0443Ö430355)
6.2
Fisher-Marriott Software    3 Grove
Road, Ansty, Warwickshire  CV7 9JD. (0203Ö616325 / 366748)
6.2
HCCS Ltd     575Ö583 Durham Road, Gateshead  NE9 5JJ. (091Ö487Ö0760)
(091Ö491Ö0431)
6.2
i│     Unit J1, The Paddock, 347 Cherry Hinton Road, Cambridge  CB1 4DH.
(0223Ö413717) (0223Ö413847)
6.2
ICS (p32)    1 Kington Road, West Kirby, Wirral  L48 5ET. (051Ö625Ö1006)
(051Ö625Ö1007)
6.2
Icon Technology    9 Jarrom Street, Leicester  LE2 7DH. (0533Ö546225)
6.2
Longman-Logotron    124 Cambridge Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge CB4
4ZS. (0223Ö425558) (0223Ö425349)
6.2
6.3
6.2
Computer Concepts
6.2
From 5.12 page 32
6.2
Computer Concepts
6.2
From 5.12 page 33
6.2
Paul B.
6.2
Beebug / Risc Developments
6.2
New /1
6.2
Hints and Tips
6.2
Å    3D icons for RISC-OS 3.1 Ö Here are some tips for those of you who
upgraded from RISC-OS 3.00 to RISC-OS 3.10 (and for anyone else who is
interested in a fancy desktop).
6.2
If you have used the fancy 3D-like window borders on your A5000, you
will probably have noticed that, with RISC-OS 3.1, the borders will not
install properly. This is because RISC-OS 3.0 programs used the
ÉIconSpritesæ command to install the wimpæs tool sprites (i.e. borders),
while in RISC-OS 3.1 there is a new command to install user defined
window tools:
6.2
*ToolSprites <spritefile>
6.2
This is, I think, because the border sprites are now held in a separate
sprite area for faster redrawing. So, the only thing you have to do is
to change the command ÉIconSpritesæ into ÉToolSpritesæ at the appropri
ate places in your files. Note that you can also re-install the default
window tools by entering ÉToolSpritesæ on the command line.
6.2
The small utility I use to install enhanced icons (a modified version of
!SetIcons), shows another minor modification of RISC-OS 3.1. It is now
assumed that some icons have the same dimension. For example, some
border elements are painted from two sets of sprites Ö one that is
normally used and one that is used when you select this particular
border element. If corresponding sprites within these sets are different
in size, you will see that some parts of the elements are not painted
when you select them. To overcome this problem, you can adjust the sizes
with !Paint.
6.2
For those programmers who liked the Impression-style dialogue boxes,
there exists a module called ÉInterfaceæ. This module takes care of most
of the code to generate fancy icon borders. RISC-OS 3.0 has some in-
built extras to achieve the same thing without the need to insert extra
lines of code into your program. (The programmer only has to define some
validation strings which contain the information to generate the desired
effect.) However, because the validation string command syntax was
essentially the same as the syntax used by the Interface module, there
were sometimes problems when using the Interface module with RISC-OS
3.0.
6.2
After I installed the new RISC-OS 3.1 ROMs, I was surprised to see that
my own (RISC-OS 3.0!) programs didnæt have fancy borders any more. After
some experimenting with the validation strings, I discovered that the
command syntax is now different from the syntax used by the Interface
module. To be more specific, RISC-OS 3.1 makes use of Ér<int><colour>æ
(where <int> is a number between 0 and 8 and <colour> is a WIMP colour
number), instead of Éb<int>, ...æ. This modification probably has been
made to overcome the incompatibility problems with the Interface module.
The simplicity with which you can use this prompts a question: Why donæt
the ROM based applications like Draw use this facility? I guess this is
just another ÉAcorn-mysteryæ.á Paul Groot, Holland.
6.2
Å Editing paper sizes in RISC-OS 3 Ö If attempts are made to edit the
paper sizes contained within the standard RISC-OS 3 printer driver
files, it will be found that any changes made to the Text Margins
section will revert to 0 when the window is closed, even if Save
Settings is selected. This is due to a bug, but can be rectified by
editing the paper files directly.
6.2
Editing any of the paper sizes results in a new file called PaperRW
being generated in the Printers application directory. This file can be
modified using Edit. Make sure that the Printers application is not
running (i.e. Choose Quit from the iconbar menu if it is). Find the
!Printers application (normally in the App1 directory) and open it using
Shift-double-click. Open the file called PaperRW by Shift-double-
clicking on it. Scroll down the file until you find the name of the
paper setting which you defined or modified. It will look something like
æpn: Fanfold A4æ. At the bottom of the set of numbers relevant to this
paper setting are five values (called tb, tt, tl, tr, th) which
correspond to the text bottom, top, left and right margins and the
height (in lines) respectively. Alter the values from 0 to your required
numbers and save the file. When you re-run the Printers application,
your paper sizes will be rectified.á Simon Moy, N.C.S.
6.2
Å    How NOT to treat your SCSI hard disk Ö A few weeks ago I found a new
way to get rid of all those files that clogged my external hard disk(!)
6.2
Every verify I did showed up one questionable sector, so I decided to
map it out as defective. The *Defect command applies only to ADFS, so I
browsed through the SCSI diskæs manual and, finally, found what I was
looking for (or so I thought).
6.2
Morley supply their hard disks with a formatter application which,
amongst other things, can add defects to a list. There is a warning that
a low level format would result in total loss of data but, later in the
description, an option was mentioned to decide whether or not to do the
low level format while running the application.
6.2
This led me to believe that clicking on ÉNoæ would keep my data intact Ö
alas, I was wrong!
6.2
The Morley hotline informed me that I had in fact done a high level
format which wipes out the information about the addresses for each
file. As the passage in the manual could be misunderstood, they very
kindly offered to restore my data for me free of charge (just p&p).
(Great service!!)
6.2
However, it was not to be: I forgot to inform them that I use Computer
Conceptsæ Compression on most of my files and this, I was told later,
encodes the files in such a way that retrieval becomes virtually
impossible.
6.2
I learned two things from my self-made disaster:
6.2
1)áEven the excellent Compression is not proof against all kinds of
fools.
6.2
2)á800 Kb floppy disks are just not good enough as a backup medium! I
shudder at the thought that I will have to feed 112 floppies into my
machine, once the hard disk returns from England.
6.2
As a consequence, for future backups I have ordered a 20Mb floptical
drive from Morley, to be sent as soon as it is able to read and write
Acorn floppy formats.á Jochen Konietzko, K÷ln, Germany.
6.2
Å    Humour in RISC-OS 3.1! Ö You will be pleased to hear that humour still
exists within Acorn. If you load ÉResources:$.Resources.
Switcher.Templatesæ into the template editor, FormEd, you get an
interesting message.á Knut Folmo, Norway
6.2
Å    Loading multiple Impression documents Ö If you want to load a number
of Impression files at once, just select them (with rubber band dragging
on RISC-OS 3, if you like) and drag them down onto the Impression icon
on the iconbar.
6.2
Å Memory size from Basic Ö In Basic, there is no specific way to find
out how much physical memory is fitted to the host machine. However, it
can be calculated using a SWI call as in this example:
6.2
10 SYS öOS_ReadMemMapInfoò TO PageSize%, NumOfPages%
6.2
20 TotalMemory% = PageSize% * NumOfPages%
6.2
30   REM This value is in bytes
6.2
40 Total% = TotalMemory% / 2^20
6.2
50   REM This value is in Mbytes
6.2
Simon Moy, N.C.S.
6.2
Å    More RISC-OS 3.1 Alt Characters The current A5000 Welcome Guide
mentions some additional Alt-key characters. These alt-keys donæt
actually produce a character themselves, they just set up an accent, so
that the following character is changed into an accented character. This
only happens if the accent is suitable for the following character.
6.2
For example to type an Éeæ with an acute accent (Θ): Whilst holding down
the Alt key, press and release <[>. Release <alt> and the press and
release <E>. Thus:-
6.2
Alt-[  E      Θ
6.2
Alt-]  E      Φ
6.2
Alt-;  E      δ
6.2
Alt-æ  E      Ω
6.2
Alt-,  N   ±
6.2
Alt-.  A      σ
6.2
Alt-/  C      τ
6.2
The only other Alt-key character missing from the previous list is Alt-
hyphen which gives character 173, which, in the Acorn fonts, looks
exactly like a normal hyphen, but is often different in fonts from other
suppliers.á Simon Moy, N.C.S.
6.2
Å MS-DOS 5, PC Emulators and the Archimedes keyboard Ö (This excerpt
from a reply to an Archive readeræs letter may prove useful to others.)
The cursor keys do not work correctly with the PC emulators due to a
bug. They will not work properly with either QBasic or DOS Edit. They
can be used to move around the text but, to select text, you must use
the cursor and editing keys which are mapped on the numeric keypad (as
on a normal PC AT-style keyboard). Therefore, when inside the editors,
make sure that NumLock is off and use <shift> and the following keys (on
the numeric keypad):
6.2
6.3
6.2
AMOUSE.COM is fully compatible with MS-DOS 5. However, as with all PCs,
you cannot display the mouse pointer at the DOS prompt. Also, not all PC
programs support the mouse. However, if the AMOUSE command is present in
your AUTOEXEC.BAT file and the program you want to use accepts a mouse
(e.g. QBasic, EDIT and DOSSHELL), you must start the appropriate
application first and then select Connect Mouse (by pressing <menu> over
the PC emulator window) if you are running the emulator from a window in
the RISC-OS desktop. If you are using the emulator under Single Task
mode, the mouse should automatically connect itself. (If the mouse does
not connect itself automatically when running the emulator under Single
Task mode, then this is a further bug in the PC emulator.) Typing AMOUSE
at the DOS prompt or selecting Connect Mouse from the windowæs menu will
not display the DOS mouse pointer, as DOS itself does not support a
mouse. If you do this, the RISC-OS pointer will disappear (because
control has passed to DOS) and you must press <menu> on the mouse to
relinquish control from the emulator back to RISC-OS.á Simon Moy, N.C.S.
6.2
Å Pound sign problems Ö The pound sign has always been a difficult
character to print and display on the screen. To make the pound sign
appear in the PC Emulator, press and hold <alt> and type 156 on the
numeric keypad. When you release <alt>, the pound sign will appear.
6.2
If you are printing a file as text (i.e. from Edit or PipeDream for
instance) then the pound sign will print as a hash (#). You can reverse
this by using a hash symbol in your text in place of the pound sign,
although it is important that your printer is set up with a UK character
set Ö see the DIP switch settings for your specific printer. If you are
printing a file produced using bitmaps (e.g. Impression) then the pound
sign will print correctly anyway. Basically, any program which defaults
to printing on the screen using the system font will print characters as
plain text Ö there is a section on plain and fancy text in the RISC-OS
User Guide.
6.2
By the way, does anybody know why you canæt access the pound sign
(either from the keyboard or <alt-156>) in a Task Window under RISC-OS
3.0?á Simon Moy, N.C.S.
6.2
Å RISC-OS 3.1: A310 Ö There is a problem when fitting RISC-OS 3.1 to
A310 machines fitted with the Arcram 434 ARM3 + 4Mb upgrade from Watford
Electronics. It causes the machine to hang on power-up. Replacement PAL
chips and more information are available from Watford Electronics on
0923Ö37774 (Fax: 33642).á Simon Moy, N.C.S.
6.2
Å RISC-OS 3.1: SCSI drives Ö There may be problems accessing the SCSI
drive using the HCCS Hard Card interface with RISC-OS 3.1. Contact HCCS
for details.á Simon Moy, N.C.S.
6.2
Å Rotated fonts and sprites using Laser Direct Ö With the advent of
RISC-OS 3.1, there are problems with printing rotated text and graphics
using the currently existing RISC-OS 2 printer drivers such as that
supplied with Laser Direct. To overcome the problem, transform the text
or sprite to any angle in Draw, make sure that the item is selected and
choose the Convert to Path option from the Select submenu. This will
allow rotated text or sprites to be printed correctly using the RISC-OS
2 printer driver supplied with Laser Direct. This does not mean that it
will work with all RISC-OS 2 printer drivers Ö you will have to
experiment! Steve Costin, Ramsgate.
6.2
Å    TV interference Ö In response to Chris Bassæ enquiry in Archive 6.1
p36, here is a general procedure which covers almost all cases:
6.2
1. Does the computer interfere with your own TV, when it is as close/
closer to your computer than your neighbouræs TV is? (On either side of
a party wall they could be less than 1 m apart!)
6.2
If YES, go to 2. If NO, go to 3.
6.2
2. Does the interference disappear when the computer is 3 m or more from
the TV?
6.2
If YES, agree with your neighbour to move your computer and his TV so
that they are more than 3 m apart. If moving them apart is inconvenient,
you could try sticking cooking foil on to the party wall (under the wall
covering, eventually). You need a minimum of about 2 m by 2 m, and there
is usually no point in earthing it, but you could try the effect.
6.2
In some types of building, your computer might be too close to your
neighbouræs TV aerial, in which case moving them apart is the best bet.
6.2
If NO, the computer may be faulty. Many dealers may not be able to cope
with this type of fault, so you, or your dealer, should contact Acorn
with a FULL description of the problem.
6.2
3. If NO to question 1, your neighbouræs TV has either an inadequate
aerial or inadequate Éimmunityæ. (This is a technical term describing
Éresistance to electromagnetic disturbancesæ.) An inadequate aerial
usually also gives Éfuzzyæ pictures and/or ghosts (outlines of images
displaced sideways). The aerial itself may be OK; the fault may be in
the downlead. They tend to fill up with water and deteriorate after a
time. A new aerial (and downlead) is quite inexpensive, even a large
one. If the aerial is not the problem, the manufacturer of the receiver
should be contacted, either directly or through the TV dealer or rental
company, regarding the probable lack of immunity of the TV. Manufac
turers (of TVs and computers) are quite concerned about this at present,
because of an EC Directive on the subject.
6.2
4. If all else fails, the DTI Radio Investigation Service will look at
the problem and give advice but there is a fee of about ú21 involved.
The Service has much information and experience of such problems and
their cures, including private information about know immunity problems.
For Lincolnshire, the address is (or was) PO Box 2500, Nottingham NG8
3SS. The head office is at Waterloo Bridge House, Waterloo Road, London
SE1 8UA. A book, ÉHow to improve Television and Radio Receptionæ is/was
available from the Service, and gives a good deal of information on
interference problems (some of it technical).á John Woodgate, Rayleigh,
Essex.ááA
6.2
Beebug / Risc Developments
6.2
New /2
6.2
Minerva
6.2
From 5.12 page 6
6.2
Comment Column
6.2
Å    Archive subscription list growing Ö I am pleased to report that,
during the last six months, we have had 12% new subscribers and have
welcomed back a large number of subscribers who had let their subscrip
tions lapse some time earlier.
6.2
As you will see, for the second month running, we have had to produce an
80 page edition of Archive to fit in all the material we are being sent.
This is increasing the production and distribution costs so the pressure
to increase the subscription price of Archive is growing. I know that
Écomparisons are odiousæ but it may be worth doing a comparison with
Risc User as they are our direct rivals. Compared with Archiveæs ú17,
the Risc User subscription is ú19.90 (but only ú18.40 to renew for a
further year) but that is for the new larger size, colour format. Here
are some figures for comparison of the two Volume 6, issue 1æs which may
be of interest.
6.2
áááááááááááááááááááááááááááááááArchive    Risc User
6.2
Pages (inc covers)    84    72
(inc 24 in colour)
6.2
Issues/year    12    10
6.2
Adverts    9╝    19╜ (inc 10 for Beebug)
6.2
Text + pictures    71    51╜
6.2
Ave words/page    700    630 (660
last month)
6.2
If we continued at this rate for a full year, that would put Archive at
590,000 words and Risc User at 320,000. Even at 68 pages, instead of 84,
Archive would still produce about 460,000 words per year Ö perhaps I
will increase the subscription rates after all!
6.2
Actually, each of those is likely to be an over-estimate of how many
words you get per year because it is based on the number of words in a
complete page of text and doesnæt take account of the space taken up by
pictures and diagrams. Having checked Archive 6.1, I find the Impression
tells me it has a total of 48,012 words in it which, multiplied by 12
issues would put it at something like 576,000, so I wasnæt that far out.
6.2
Anyway, do you think I should increase the Archive subscription to, say,
ú19? Ed.
6.2
Å    Charity Bring & Buy Ö Many thanks to all those who brought or sent
hardware and software to sell in aid of the African famine appeal at the
Acorn User Show. As a result, we will be sending ú1,800 to aid famine
relief. Well done, everyone!
6.2
Å    Upgrading your Archimedes Ö I was very pleased to read all the
information about the new machines from Acorn. The range appears to be
good, but I am sure that one point will dismay a number of A3000 users
and the manufacturers of upgrades such as Hardcards. None of the new
machines has an expansion port similar to that of the A3000.
6.2
I can understand this with the new A3010 and A3020, but surely the A4000
needs some expansion potential if it is to be the serious home useræs
machine. It would make sense to have space for one full-sized card or
podule in the A4000 Ö or at least an external port similar to that of
the A3000. It may be possible to get round this deficiency via the
bidirectional parallel port, otherwise it looks bad for those interested
in using SCSI devices on anything less than an A5000. I know that there
are Syquest drives available to run off the bidirectional parallel port
on PCæs but are there any similar CD-ROM drives or Flopticals?
6.2
Acorn may think that those wanting an expandable machine will go for an
A5000 anyway but they are WRONG. Many people buy a machine that is
adequate for their needs but then find that, over the years, they want
to add a number of extra features to their computer without having to
replace it with a new machine. The A3000 expansion port makes this
possible to an extent and, with some of the add-ons available from Wild
Vision and others, two or three expansion cards can be added to an
A3000. The new machines appear to be far more limited in their potential
for growth.
6.2
There will be many A3000 users such as me who will be rather confused as
to how best to upgrade and disappointed that there is no obvious upgrade
path at less than the cost of an A5000. I have a multisync monitor and
external SCSI hard disk (Oak WorraWinnie). If I could buy a 4Mb A5000
without hard drive or monitor that would probably be my best bet,
depending on the price, but Acorn insist on selling the complete
package. (Try talking nicely to your local Acorn dealer or to N.C.S. Ö
some dealers will do a deal! Ed.) If I could plug my SCSI interface onto
the back of an A4000 or A3020 that would be a very attractive option,
but this cannot be done.
6.2
Should I stick with my A3000 and have Atomwide upgrade it to ARM3 and
4Mb? This is cost-effective compared to buying a new machine, and I
could put the savings toward a Syquest, floptical or CD-ROM drive, or
possibly a 386PC card, but there are disadvantages. No high density
drive, no bidirectional parallel port, an old and modified machine that
may be of doubtful reliability and an extra ú50 for RISC-OS 3.1. Is an
A3000 with an ARM3 significantly faster than the new ARM250 machines?
(On pure calculations, yes, you would notice a difference, but on screen
update there is nowhere near as much difference in speed. Ed) If it is a
lot faster, this may be enough to settle the matter for me.
6.2
We should make it clear to Acorn that they must make upgrading reason
ably painless for established users, and I know from a number of my
acquaintances who have been using Archimedes for several years, that
there is a fair bit of disquiet. The core of this is Acornæs policy of
insisting on selling complete systems, i.e. computer plus monitor. (I
agree entirely and have already made my representations to Acorn about
this. Ed.)
6.2
There are many established Archimedes users who want to buy a bare
machine to which they can transfer their existing peripherals. Also, I
question the sense of insisting on selling an excellent computer such as
the A5000 with a fairly low quality monitor. (I have moaned at Acorn
about that too! Ed.) Acornæs badged multisync is OK for someone on a
fairly tight budget, but it does not impress when compared with many of
the excellent monitors in regular use in the business world. A demon
stration of an A5000 with a badly set up monitor can be off-putting when
compared with a Mac or PC, and a poor first impression can be hard to
overcome. By all means make a low price multisync monitor available, but
sell the computer and let the purchaser decide what type of display best
meets his requirements and budget.
6.2
An article about possible upgrade paths for users of the older Archi
medes models would be of value to many Archive readers.á Alan Angus,
Blyth, Northumberland.
6.2
(Would anyone like to have a go at writing such an article? We can
supply any technical information you need. Ed.)ááA
6.2
Pallette Studio
6.2
New artwork
6.2
Spacetech
6.2
From 6.1 page 8
6.2
Fonts Workshop Ö Part 3 Ö Font Directories
6.2
Roger Spooner
6.2
Your fonts, as explained in previous articles, are stored in Font
Directories. The main one is probably called !Fonts. There may or may
not be others Ö and you may or may not want others.
6.2
If you store fonts in several directories, it means you do not always
have access to all of them. This has the advantage that programs work
faster, some will work rather than crash and you will be able to find
the one you want more quickly. On the other hand, it prevents you from
gaining free access to them Ö why should that happen if itæs not
essential?
6.2
The Font Path
6.2
The Archimedes Outline Font Manager module, supplied with the Learning
Curve, all DTP programs and on the cover of the October 1991 BBC Acorn
User Magazine, is the program which makes our fonts what they are.
6.2
The Font Manager uses a system variable, Font$Path, to indicate where it
can find your fonts. Whenever a program asks for a list of the fonts, it
looks in the directory given. Acorn, with the release of Acorn DTP in
1989, seemed to suggest that it was possible to have only one directory
indicated in this variable but, as with all variables ending in $Path,
it is in fact possible to have many. In early 1990, I wrote a small
application, !MoreFonts, which allows you to add more font directories
to the existing list. This was also a font directory itself, so it added
the fonts it contained to the whole set, if they were not already
present. It is supplied free with all font orders from Design Concept.
6.2
Although !MoreFonts uses some complicated commands to make sure that it
does not confuse the computer, it is possible to write your own using
only a couple of lines of typing.
6.2
Floppy discs
6.2
Many users only have floppy disc drives (i.e. no hard disc). Although
systems like this are quite useable, they do severely limit the number
of fonts you can use easily. With all the public domain material
available, plus home-grown italics, a font directory can easily consume
a couple of megabytes Ö far more than you can fit on one disc. Thus it
is often wise to put the fonts into groups according to the occasions on
which you will use them: classic fonts for text, Bold fonts for posters,
silly fonts for clip art design, etc. With these divisions, it is easier
to find the ones you want all on the same disc.
6.2
Hard discs
6.2
On hard disc systems, several font directories can still be useful. As
mentioned above, fewer fonts make it easier to find the one you want
(from a shorter list) and some programs, including the distribution
version of !Edit for RISC-OS 2, will crash completely if there are more
than about 32 fonts. Thus it can be useful to keep only the best of the
classic fonts (Trinity and Homerton) available for universal use, then
supplement them with other groups when using other programs. The method
for several directories is the same as for floppy discs, except that it
is more important to have no two font directories with the same names.
6.2
Reloading old files
6.2
When you create a document, be it in Impression, Draw, or anything, you
will only be allowed to use fonts which are currently available.
However, when you re-load a file, you may have a different set of fonts
installed from those you had when you created it. Thus the program may
not be able to cope. Different programs respond in different ways.
6.2
Draw will display text for any unknown fonts in the System Font,
rescaled to the right size (although it looks very wide). No warnings
will be issued unless the text is in a text area object.
6.2
Impression will announce that some fonts are not available, then will
use Trinity Medium instead. Note that Trinity should be available for
this, and Impression will get angry if itæs not.
6.2
In any case, you should be careful not to print any document unless you
have all the required fonts available. Itæs your responsibility.
6.2
Antique ideas
6.2
GST, who wrote Acorn DTP and the same program on other computers, have
decided in their wisdom to break most of the rules. Thus they make
special use of the old variable, Font$Prefix, which is no longer
significant, and they have a configuration file for Acorn DTP which
lists all of the fonts. If the fonts available do not match this list,
an error is reported. The program does not crash, thankfully, but it
does not correctly cope with the concept that it should accept whatever
fonts it is offered.
6.2
Moreover, if you allow someone else to load one of your DTP documents
and they have set up their dtp_config file differently, you will see the
wrong fonts in use. No other program, to my knowledge, has managed to
cram in so many mistakes and design faults.
6.2
If you want to have several font directories where they may or may not
all be available, and you have to use ADTP, I recommend that you modify
the dtp_config file to include all the fonts you own. Thus it will
reduce that list to all those available when you run the program, rather
than having several versions of the program, each set up for one
combination of font discs, as some vendors recommend.
6.2
Grouping the fonts
6.2
There is little help available for deciding which fonts to put together.
All I can suggest is that you base the decision on the times when you
will be using them and thus the programs that you will be using them
with. A master font selection would also be advisable, containing at
least Trinity Medium which is the standard and, arguably, the best font
available. Programs with anti-aliased fonts in the windows often use it
and many default to it in the absence of the one they want (e.g. KeyCaps
from Design Concept).
6.2
Creating a directory
6.2
To make a font directory, proceed as follows:
6.2
¼ Make sure you have enough space on the disc you are going to use Ö
with hard discs, this should be no problem.
6.2
¡ Create a directory, with a pling (!) at the start and with a name
which describes the fonts to be collected, e.g. !ClassicFn or
!MoreFonts. Note that there is a limitation on the name length.
6.2
« Hold down <shift> and enter the directory. Do the same for the
directory where the fonts are coming from, on whatever disc, and copy
the sub-directories with names like Trinity and Ainslie across to the
new directory. With floppy discs, you may want to use the RAM disc as an
intermediate stage, to save disc swapping.
6.2
» Using Paint, design or copy a sprite (size 34╫34 in mode 20 or 34╫17
in mode 12) as the icon for the directory. You could use screenshots to
pick a sample letter from Draw. The name should be the same as the
directory name, except for capitals. Save this in your directory as
!Sprites.
6.2
░ Using Edit, create an Obey file and type the following:
6.2
IconSprites <Obey$Dir>.!Sprites
6.2
RMensure FontManager 2.42 Error Please find !Fonts first.
6.2
Set Font$Path <Font$Path>, <Obey$Dir>.
6.2
Sound 1 383 150 5
6.2
N.B. The Set line is all one line, right up to the dot. Be sure not to
put any spaces after that dot. The RMensure line is also all one line up
to the end of the first.
6.2
▒ Decide: If you want this directory to be activated whenever you open
the disc window containing it, save that file from Edit as both !Boot
and !Run in your directory.
6.2
If you want it to be included only when you double click on the icon,
save it as !Run only.
6.2
The new font directory is now ready for use. Close all the windows, then
open the one containing your new directory (eg. click on Drive 0 if
using floppies). The computer should make a high bleep noise (a happy
noise!) and there will be your icon above your directory. To see if they
are indeed added, press <F12>, type FontCat and then press <return>. The
computer should list all the fonts, including the ones in the new
directory.
6.2
Each time you double click on the icon, it will add itself to the font
list. If it is already there, it will not cause any serious problems but
may slow the machine down sometimes, so it is important not to overdo
that.
6.2
This system requires the computer to have seen the real !Fonts before
continuing. This should be no problem. On a hard disc, put that in the
root directory alongside !System. On floppies, you can either have the
two on the same disc (make sure yours comes later alphabetically) or
have !Fonts on the program disc. Seeing !Fonts makes the OS load the new
Font Manager module.
6.2
It is also important that you select all your font directories before
loading the software, as most programs will only ask the OS what fonts
are currently available when they start up.
6.2
Conclusion
6.2
With this arrangement you can have directories for each font foundry,
each style, each program or whatever. Carefully placing them on a hard
disc means that you can ignore them but (for example) the longer set
will only be used if you are using Impression, not if you are just using
Draw. Alternatively, keeping them all together means you can double
click on all those you want before starting anything.ááA
6.2
Spell Checkers ù Some Comparisons
6.2
John Jordan
6.2
Practically all WP/DTP applications now have spell checking facilities
but, just as the main programs themselves are different, so are their
spell checkers. Because some checkers are more convenient to use than
others, I thought it might be of general interest to compare a few from
the point of view of the user. Iæve little idea how they Éworkæ. Of
course, there are several other doubtless excellent programs which
incorporate checkers, but the ones listed are those which I personally
have used.
6.2
Whatæs a good spell checker?
6.2
In my view a good checker should:
6.2
1.        Accept ÉTop Bit Setæ characters, i.e. Θ, ⁿ, ▀, etc.
6.2
2.    Have an editable Main dictionary.
6.2
3.    Include checking of one and two letter words.
6.2
4.    Be case sensitive.
6.2
5.    Include Éextra featuresæ if possible.
6.2
    These features could include (a) Checks for word word repetition. (b)
Checks for two spaces and replacement with one if required. Search and
Replace can be used, but I think a spell checker could conveniently do
it too. (c) Support for foreign languages. Important if you need it! (d)
Foresight Mode, i.e. it guesses the word you intend to type after only a
few letters have been entered. (Spell has this.)
6.2
How do they compare?
6.2
The table below shows the main features of several spell checkers. Not
all possible comparisons have been made and some may think the number of
words in a main dictionary is important.
6.2
Well, apart from doing an awful lot of counting, I donæt really have the
facts. Also, I share the view that simply to include a large number of
words in a dictionary is by no means a good thing. Itæs easier to get a
(wrong) word accepted because the Émisspellingæ happens to be correct
for another word.
6.2
Because of this, Gerald Fitton tells me heæs now compiling his own
dictionaries more or less as he goes along ù from his own writings. Then
all the words he commonly uses will gradually be included. With this
approach, I should think an easily editable main dictionary would
definitely be advantageous.
6.2
If you want a bit of fun and can dump the contents of a dictionary as a
text file, spell check one dictionary against another. Youæll see the
amount of rubbish(?) is phenomenal.
6.2
The checking of one and two letter words is mentioned and some may
wonder if itæs possible to misspell these words. Yes, and mistype them
too! One reason I like to be able to check these is because Iæm very
likely to type Éiæ instead of ÉIæ. Now, to catch that sort of error you
need a checker with an editable main dictionary as well as the ability
to deal with words of one letter e.g. Ovation or Spell.
6.2
Please bear in mind that we donæt have to accept the suggestions from
spell checkers. So donæt worry about postcodes or Roman numerals.
6.2
There is a method of editing PipeDreamæs main dictionary without the
very lengthy dumping out of the whole lot. In brief, Gerald Fitton says
you rename the main dictionary as a user dictionary and then edit that.
Change it back to the main dictionary afterwards. Take the precaution of
first saving the original, of course.
6.2
AMFSpell
6.2
Both AMFSpell and Spell are separate spell checkers which are not
incorporated into any particular WP or DTP program.
6.2
In use, AMFSpell is installed on the iconbar and a text file is checked
for errors simply by dragging it on to the AMFSpell icon. Various
preferences may be set and an individual word may also be checked via a
menu click on the icon. With the reservations mentioned in the table,
this utility works well and, at a cost of only ú1.75 from APDL, itæs
great value.
6.2
Spell
6.2
Like AMFSpell, Spell may be used to check a completed text file. In
addition, it may also be used interactively with (I think) any WP/DTP
program. It can thus function to a large extent as a substitute for
native spell checkers. For example, it is possible to use it in
conjunction with Impressionæs own checker to give a near perfect
combination. Programs which donæt have their own spell checker, e.g.
DeskEdit, are obvious candidates for Spell.
6.2
Generally, I like to use all checkers interactively and when using Spell
this way, I prefer to have the Foresight Mode ON. Then, if a word is
queried, corrections are easily made there and then as the Énearestæ
words appear in the Foresight window. This might be important to some
users because, although Spell may be used interactively, it canæt
correct a file in quite the same way as a native checker. Just as with
AMFSpell, you need to save a separate, corrected text file. However,
Spell appears to be Éfully RISC-OSæ and allows in-memory transfers, so
thereæs no problem.
6.2
In additional, the checker in Spell is apparently very similar to the
one in Ovation and both can conveniently share the same dictionary.
6.2
To summarise, Spell is a program with several useful features not found
in even some top WP/DTP packages. It is wonderful value for only ú5.99
from David Pilling (ú6 through Archive).
6.2
Speed and guessing abilities
6.2
I didnæt try to compare the speeds of checking as all appear adequate.
However, to see which was the best guesser, I got Impression, Ovation
and EasiWriter all running together with the same misspelled words.
Impression definitely won here and seems to incorporate some sort of
Ésounds likeæ feature. In a separate test, I also compared the guessing
qualities of AMFSpell and Spell and found the latter was better.
6.2
Conclusions?
6.2
Itæs difficult to pick an outright winner because it is difficult to
know quite how to compare and weigh the different features. Perhaps I
could say that my ideal checker would (a) be as easy to use as Ovation
(b) guess as well as Impression (c) handle foreign languages, even just
one word, as easily as EasiWriter. If you need a separate checker,
perhaps as a supplement, Spell would be hard to beat.
6.2
Final note: I do hope no-one will choose a WP/DTP program solely by its
spell checker. Impressionæs too good for that!ááA
6.2
WP/DTP Program    Top Bit Set    Case
Sensitive    Main Dictionary    Foreign
    Words of
6.2
or Spell Checker    Characters
    Editable    Languages    1 & 2
Letters
6.2
Impression    (V2.16)    No (Note 1)
    No? (Note 1)    No    ?    No
6.2
Ovation    (V1.35S)    Yes    Yes
    Yes, easily    (Note 2)    Yes
6.2
EasiWriter2    (V2.01)    Yes
    Yes    No (A pity!)    Yes, easily
    Yes
6.2
PipeDream4    (V4.13)    (In User
Dict.)    No    Yes (Note 3)    ?
    Yes
6.2
Spell    (V3.03)    Yes    Yes    Yes, easily
    (Note 2)    Yes
6.2
AMFSpell    (V1.75)    (In User Dict.)    No    No
    ?    Yes
6.2
Notes relating to the table:
6.2
Noteá1. Computer Concepts say they are bringing out a version which will
accept top bit set characters. Surprisingly, they also say that the
present version is case sensitive. Really? (The abbreviations dictionary
certainly is case sensitive but not the spelling dictionary, I donæt
think. Ed) Also, they claim that wrongly spelled one and two letter
words are easy to spot. Sorry, but I donæt agree on this either.
6.2
Noteá2. Both Ovation and Spell are by David Pilling who says that
foreign languages may be used with either. Just use a file of foreign
words. Presumably, this approach could be used with other checkers but,
for EasiWriter, special foreign language dictionaries are already
available.
6.2
Noteá3. At the risk of roaming into Gerald Fittonæs territory, one way
of getting the PipeDream spell checker to accept accented characters is
to create a User Dictionary with ÉLatin 1æ as the language. You will get
a bleep when accented words are typed ù even if theyære in the User
Dict. However, if they exist in that dictionary, they will be accepted
on checking.
6.2
Small Ads
6.2
(Small ads for Archimedes and related products are free for subscribers
but we reserve the right to publish all, part or none of the material
you send, as we think fit. i.e. some people donæt know what Ésmallæ
means and there are certain things, as you can imagine, that we would
not be prepared to advertise as a matter of principle. Sending small ads
(especially long ones!) on disc is helpful but not essential. Ed)
6.2
Charity Sales Ö If you have unwanted software or hardware for Archimedes
computers that you could donate for charity, please send it in to the
Archive office. We will sell them through this column.
6.2
Å    A3000 2Mb RAM Acorn m/s monitor, VIDC enhancer, serial port, Learning
Curve, Hot Links Presenter + games worth ú120, ú525 o.n.o. Phone
081Ö898Ö0447.
6.2
Å    Acorn Desktop C version 4, new, unregistered, ordered for cancelled
commercial project ú180 o.n.o. Phone Pete on 0663Ö733027.
6.2
Å    Graphbox Professional never used ú65. WorraCAD ú45. CC fontpacks Avant
Garde + Bookman ú12 each. Phone Chris on 0276Ö20575 after 6.
6.2
Å    Pipedream ú30, UIM, Alien Invasion, Apocalypse, PacMania, Zarch ú7
each, Lemmings ú10, Interdictor ú10, Euclid ú30, HardDisc Companion ú15,
Artisan ú15, or ú120 for lot. Star LC 200-24 pin Colour printer as new
ú145. Phone Andy 0254Ö771656.
6.2
Å    RISC-OS 2 PRMæs, as new, ú50. Phone Andy after 8 p.m. on 081Ö675Ö5972.
6.2
Å    Star XB24-10 printer hardly used ú150. Star LC24-10 printer, good
condition ú75. Phone 0902Ö734351.ááA
6.2
Colton Software
6.2
From 6.1 page 28
6.2
HCCS Colour Vision Digitiser
6.2
Bob Potter
6.2
In Archive 5.12 p43, Stuart Bell reviewed the HCCS Vision Digitiser.
HCCS has now released the colour version, together with a colour upgrade
for the earlier version. This review is of the new colour digitiser, not
the upgrade. It was tested on an A310 with 4Mb RAM and on an A5000, also
with 4Mb.
6.2
The package arrived from HCCS by return of post and contained the
half¡width board, a single sheet of installation instructions and a disc
with the !Cvision application, the Read_Me documentation file, and a
sample picture entitled Élakeæ (included on the monthly disc). As with
the mono version, the board has a single phono socket for 1V p-p
composite video input. The board appeared well made and cleanly
soldered.
6.2
The installation instructions were easy to follow and installation was
straightforward. There are instructions for the internal and external
versions for the A3000, and for the internal A300/A400/A5000 version. I
agree with Stuart Bell that the failure to provide a half-width blanking
plate is unhelpful to people who have not accumulated a drawer full of
such bits and pieces.
6.2
Using the digitiser
6.2
The !Cvision application installs on the iconbar, and clicking on this
opens a window which displays a Écontinuousæ image from the video
source. Modes 15, 21 and 28 can be used for colour images. If you only
want monochrome, you can also use modes 12, 20 and 27. Attempting to use
any other mode means that the window is not redrawn. This Écontinuousæ
image is low quality mono and updates about once a second on an ARM2 and
about twice a second on an ARM3. The update is slightly slower in the
higher resolution modes.
6.2
Clicking with <menu> over the Cvision window brings up a menu with seven
options. Selecting ÉProcessæ converts the low quality image on the
screen to a high quality monochrome image. ÉGrab frameæ grabs the frame
present at the video input when it is selected and then processes the
image in the same way as Éprocessæ. Both these options take about 11
secs on an ARM2 and about 4 secs on the A5000. If you are using a still
picture source then ÉContinuousæ and ÉProcessæ are fine. For moving
images it is better to use ÉGrab frameæ while viewing the video on a
separate screen.
6.2
The ÉColour1æ and ÉColour2æ options process the frame in the frame store
to give colour images. ÉColour2æ is much higher quality but takes longer
to process, particularly on an ARM2 machine Ö about 8 minutes in modes
21 or 28. ÉColour1æ only takes 2 minutes. This is where an ARM3 machine
is a real advantage. ÉColour1æ takes 30 secs and ÉColour2æ 105 secs on
the A5000. ARM3 add-on boards with a faster clock would be even faster.
HCCS quote 24 secs and 90 secs respectively.
6.2
Because the frame is retained in the frame store, it can be re¡processed
to get the effect you want. The ÉAdjustæ option allows you to change
contrast, brightness and colour saturation.
6.2
6.3
6.2
This can be done while the image is being processed and so the effect
can be seen immediately. The image is processed from top to bottom and
the changes only take effect from the level where they are made. It is
not necessary to wait for the whole frame to be processed. Clicking on
the menu with <adjust> keeps the menu on screen, and the current process
can be switched off and re¡processing started from the top of the frame.
6.2
Image quality
6.2
Once you have the image you want, it can be saved as a sprite. Unfor
tunately, there is no way that the frame store can be saved, so frames
cannot be re¡loaded for processing within !Cvision. However, the saved
sprites can be loaded into an application such as !ChangeFSI for further
processing. Scaling and sharpening can enhance the image quality as can
be seen from the examples on the monthly disc. The sprites are saved
with their palette.
6.2
The image size is 640 ╫ 250, although in the multiscan modes, the sprite
is 640 ╫ 500. The error transfer technique used by HCCS does a reason
able job of this expansion in the 256 colour modes. You lose the top and
sides of the image and so you need to allow for this when setting up a
camera or choosing an image to grab. The installation sheet includes a
voucher for ú5 off the price of a 500 line upgrade (to be retailed at
ú40) which will still further enhance the quality of the images you can
obtain.
6.2
Conclusions
6.2
The quality of colour images that can be obtained using this Colour
Vision digitiser is remarkable, particularly at the price of ú79 + VAT
for the internal version or ú92 + VAT for the external version. (The
Archive prices are ú86 and ú100 respectively.) If the upgrade to the
monochrome digitiser is as good, it is well worth the additional ú30.
For me, the quality of images was limited by the video equipment I was
using rather than the digitiser. Camera focus is important and transfer
from tape rather than direct video degrades the input. Despite this, the
results I obtained are excellent. I canæt wait to get the 500 line
upgrade!ááA
6.2
Help!!!!
6.2
Å Amiga IFF files? Ö Can anyone tell me the format of the BODY data in
an Amiga IFF file. I need to create some Hold And Modify files for a
friendæs computer. James Riden, 294 Cyncoed Road, Cardiff CF2 6RX.
6.2
Å    Cross-32 Meta-Assembler Ö Almost a year ago now someone sent me a
review of Baildon Electronicsæ Meta-Assembler. Unfortunately, I lost the
name of the author and did not want to print it without the name. Is the
author still out there? Will he/she own up to it, please, as I would
like to print it. Thanks. Ed.
6.2
Å Floating point unit errors? Ö Raymond Wright is experiencing a strange
problem using the WE32206 FPU on an A420/1 with version 3.2 of the FPE.
He is using Acorn Fortran 77 Release 2 to compile and run source code
which carries out numerical integration. It compiles and links with no
errors but, on running, it sometimes crashes with the message:
6.2
Uncaught error trap 80000202
6.2
áááááááááááááááápc: 11823CD7
6.2
ááááááregisters at: 00071FC4
6.2
(Error number 800E01)
6.2
The program runs perfectly on an IBM RS60000 workstation. He can find no
reference to the error numbers and would welcome some information on
them. Can anyone help? R D Wright, 217 Park Barn Drive, Guildford,
Surrey GU2 6EX.
6.2
Å    More technical articles Ö One of the most frequent suggestions we get
for improving Archive magazine is to have more technical articles Ö
programming and hardware. I agree that it would be good to have more
such articles. Is there anyone out there interested in doing something
in that area? If so, drop us a line with your suggestions. Ed.
6.2
Å    Problems with RISC-OS 3.1? Ö If you have had any problems with RISC-OS
3.1 Ö either installing it, running it or with clashes with other
software and hardware, please write in to us to let us know Ö and if you
have found a solution, tell us about that too. (If you send more than a
paragraph of text, a disc would be appreciated and would be returned in
due course if it has your name and address on it.) Hugh Eagle has agreed
to do a compilation of the problems and solutions. We have put in a few
RISC-OS 3 hints and tips this month but, from next month, they will be
sent to Hugh who will compile and edit them for us. Ed.
6.2
Å    Software needed Ö An organisation called Compaid is seeking to help
stroke patients with speech impediments and, having a limited budget,
they are looking for people to donate software and hardware that are no
longer being used. Please could you send them (via Archive) any of the
following: Sound sampling equipment, sound synthesis, SFXM, Vox Box,
Speech synthesis and analysis. They would also appreciate DTP and games,
etc. Please mark your donation ÉFor Compaidæ. Thank you. Ed.ááA
6.2
An APEC Card Hardware Project
6.2
Francis Crossley
6.2
Some years ago, I developed an interest in data analysis using the fast
Fourier transform because of the work I was doing. I was then using a
BBC Model B but having since changed to the Archimedes, I had to provide
my own parallel port.
6.2
I used the Apec prototype board from Atomwide to which I fitted a
versatile interface adapter (VIA) and a 25 way D-type socket. At first,
I thought I would put an analog-to-digital converter on the Apec board
to make a transient recorder but, since I also wanted some analog signal
conditioning, it was simpler to use a second board in its own case.
6.2
The Apec prototype board plugs into the Archimedes backplane and has
room for a number of integrated circuits. Eight data lines and four
address lines (all buffered by the Apec boardæs own interface circuits)
are available, together with a number of control lines. Archimedes
allows 4Kb of address space for each podule. The Apec hardware uses the
bottom 2Kb of address space for the software in RAM or ROM and the upper
2Kb is divided into four 512 byte blocks, each block being accessed by
the read or write line so that devices with separate read and write pins
can be used. (The 6522 VIA is slightly different and the change
mentioned below is necesary.) The Apec board can be bought with either a
ROM containing the software or a RAM. In the latter case, the software
must be loaded before the podule can be recognised by RISC-OS, this
software is supplied with the board or the user can write it.
6.2
To make a parallel port a VIA (or something similar) needs to be
soldered to the board and connected to the eight data and four address
lines, the system clock, the reset line, the Apec read and write lines.
I buffered the system clock using part of a 74HC04 hex inverter to avoid
loading the clock line too much. I did not use the interrupt facility
since it was not necessary. I connected the 16 pins for the two ports,
the four controls pins, the clock, +5V and Ö5V to a 25-way D-type
connector to maximise the utility of the VIA. I used a D-type connector
so that screened connecting cable could be used to reduce interference.
It is screwed to the plate at the rear of the computer making a very
firm arrangement. This type of connector is not the most convenient as
its pins are staggered and do not match the regular array of holes in
the Apec board, some careful bending is necessary to make it fit. An idc
connector does not have this disadvantage.
6.2
The VIA that I used is a CMOS 6522 which will accept a 2 MHz clock. It
has two sets of output pins, eight bits wide, known as ports A and B,
two pairs of control pins and two counters which can be used as timers.
There is also a serial to parallel convertor but we are not concerned
with this part. As the 6522 VIA uses a chip select and one R/W pin, the
track to pin #1 of U6 on the Apec board was broken (not pin #12 as in
the manual) and pin #1 connected to 0v. Read #0 is now active for reads
and writes and the R/W line sets the direction of transfer for the VIA.
6.2
To make the VIA perform in a particular way, it needs to be programmed
by placing suitable values in some of the 16 registers accessed by the
four address bits. Six registers are of importance in this project.
6.2
1. Data direction register Ö There are two but only the one for the A
port is needed. Port B cannot be used because eight bits are not
available as bit 7 is already in use for timer #2. Each pin can be
individually programmed as input or output Ö in this case, all are input
pins.
6.2
2. Peripheral control register Ö This sets the way the four control pins
are used. Two pins are read only and are used to read the FIFO full and
empty flags. The other two pins can be read or write Ö here they are
output pins and are used to send the read FIFO and the reset FIFO
signals.
6.2
3. Auxilliary control register Ö This controls how the timers operate Ö
in this case timer #2 must produce a square wave at bit 7 on port B.
6.2
4. Interrupt flag register Ö This consists of eight flags which are set
by events such as the control pins receiving signals, etc. An interrupt
can also be produced although not used in this project. Reading the
appropriate flags shows when the FIFO is full or empty.
6.2
5. Timer registers Ö Two registers are used for setting the values for
the high and low bytes of the timer. The values required are calculated
knowing the highest frequency of interest. The timer output must be at
twice this freqency. The high byte is Éfrequency DIV 256æ and the low is
Éfrequency MOD 256æ .
6.2
Programming the VIA seems to be formidable because it is a complex
device but the values required are not too difficult to deduce using the
data sheets. (Ed wrote a series of six articles in Electronics &
Computing Monthly about using the 6522 VIA in June Ö November 1984. Can
it really be that long ago?!?!)
6.2
The transient recorder consists of a variable attenuator and operational
amplifier, an analog to digital converter and some memory. DC bias can
be applied to the amplifier so that the voltage presented to the AD
converter is never negative and never greater than 2.5 V or so. To
simplify setting the gain and DC offset, a two colour LED (red and
green) is used. When correctly adjusted, the LED will be unlit but a
negative voltage lights the green LED and over-voltage lights the red
one. A yellow colour indicates that the amplitude is too large and is
going negative. This function is performed using two comparators, one
with 0V as the reference and the other using the AD reference voltage.
6.2
The AD converter (ZN439) is an 8 bit converter performing one conversion
in a minimum of 5 microseconds (depending on the applied clock fre
quency). The converter can be connected so that it performs continuous
conversions Ö setting the read pin low applies the digital code for the
analog voltage of the last conversion to the output pins. To avoid the
overhead of collecting samples under software control Ö and with a 5 ╡s
conversion time, there is very little time to do this anyway Ö a FIFO
ram (first in first out) is used to collect 2048 8-bit values using
hardware control. A monostable, controlled by the VIA in the Apec board
to enable sampling at the correct frequency, is used to produce a write
enable pulse for the FIFO. During this pulse, the clock pulses from the
Archimedes are gated to enable reading the AD converter. This data is
written to the FIFO. A little extra logic is necessary to help the major
components talk to each other at the correct time. Reading the FIFO when
it is full uses software since the time constraints are much reduced.
6.2
Software
6.2
In order to use the parallel port, the podule must be recognised by the
operating system. If the ROM version of board is in use, it probably is
already recognised Ö I use a RAM version, so am not certain. For the RAM
version, the Apec initialisation program is run. This originally asked
for the podule number and name of the source file but since they are
both constant in my system, I wrote the correct values into the program
(it is written in BASIC so that part was easy). Typing É*podulesæ gives
the following message:
6.2
*Atomwide Prototyping Expansion Card 1.30
6.2
The Apec board can now be used.
6.2
The first part of the transient recorder program sends the correct
values to the VIAæs registers to implement the functions outlined above.
Apec supplies SWI type commands to write and read the podule. In Basic,
a read command would be:
6.2
SWI öAPEC_Readò,slot,userblock ,offset TO ,,,value
6.2
where slot is the podule number 0 to 3, userblock is the block of memory
where the VIA is located, (if read #0 is used, this block is 0), offset
is the address of the VIAæs register and will be in the range 0 to 15,
and value is the name of the variable where the data is to be placed.
6.2
Writing a value uses a similar command:
6.2
SWI öAPEC_Writeò,slot,offset, block,value
6.2
where the variables have the same meaning as before but value is now the
data to be written.
6.2
Other commands are provided for reading or writing a block of data and
there is one to set the speed of operation or ÉSyncæ if the 6522 is
being used, I would use this one first and then the write commands.
6.2
It does not matter in which order the registers are written but
numerically is logical. As soon as the timer low byte is written, timer
#2 produces its square wave. The FIFO is then reset and data collection
by the transient recorder starts. The program then loops while it looks
at the FIFO full flag. When the FIFO is full, the program sends a low
signal to the FIFO read pin, the data is read and placed in an array,
the read pin is sent high and this sequence is repeated until 2048
values have been collected. It might be thought possible to look at the
FIFO empty flag and to stop transfering data when empty but the FIFO
will continue to be filled as long as the full flag is not asserted.
However, if reading the FIFO takes longer than writing to it, samples
will be missed giving incorrect data. My program displays the data as a
graph and enquires whether the data should be saved and if so under what
name. Since the data is in bytes it is saved as bytes. This data can
then be used by other programs. The program is written in ÉCæ because,
having written programs in Fortran and Pascal, I decided to stick to one
language, ÉCæ !
6.2
At the moment, only 2048 values are collected but it is possible, by
reading the half full flag of the FIFO, to start emptying it while it is
still being filled, emptying being halted if the empty flag is asserted
Ö but this has not been tried yet. To enable reading the half full flag,
I would need to program port B so that one of its bits would need to be
an input, as I have used up the four control pins.
6.2
The transient recorder can be used to collect samples of a signal for
analysis by methods such as the Fourier transform which presents the
signal in terms of its frequency components. In my case, a signal might
be from a teleprinter received on a short wave radio. After Fourier
transformation, a graph of the new values shows two peaks corresponding
to the two tones used by the transmitter, probably a radio amateur.
Information can be deduced about the strange noises heard on the amateur
bands (no, not about the amateurs themselves!).
6.2
This probably is not the place for a circuit diagram or a more detailed
description of the use of the major components but if any reader wants
more information I shall be happy to oblige. Please send a stamped
addressed envelope. My address is 156 Holmes Chapel Road, Congleton,
Cheshire  CW12 4QB.ááA
6.2
Government Health Warning Ö Reading this could seriously affect your
spiritual health.
6.2
öThe trouble with you Christians is that you are always trying to tell
other people what is right and what is wrong. Itæs OK to have your own
private views about God and morality and things as long as you donæt try
to push those ideas onto other people. We live in a pluralist society so
we have to accept that we all have different views. Tolerance, thatæs
the thing!ò
6.2
öBut are you saying that there is no such thing as right and wrong? Is
it all a matter of opinion?ò
6.2
öOh no, of course some things are absolutely wrong Ö like murder, for
example.ò
6.2
öSo would you say that killing someone in war is wrong? Is that murder?
Or what about abortion? Is that murder? How do you decide what is right
and what is wrong?ò
6.2
öWell, in a modern, civilised society, we donæt allow some person or
group (especially a religious group!) to dictate to us what is right and
what is wrong. We get together and discuss things rationally and come to
a democratic decision about what is right.ò
6.2
öBut why should something be any more right just because the majority of
people in a particular country at a particular time in history think it
is? And what happens when two countries disagree about what is right?!ò
6.2
What I have tried to show in this little dialogue is that talking about
right and wrong is actually meaningless without some sort of frame of
reference. Also, it seems to me that when a country bases its laws on
what the majority (of those who shout loudest?) think is right, the
natural tendency is for moral standards to drop Ö we all do what we
think is good in our own eyes. Itæs much easier for a government to do
what is Épopularæ rather than what it believes is Érightæ (whatever that
means).
6.2
I know I am in the minority here, but the (biblical) Christian view is
that God made the world and He made us. He knows how we can best run our
society in such a way that freedom, love and justice can prevail, so if
we listen to what He says is right and wrong, we stand a chance of
improving our society.
6.2
In Noahæs day, the majority of people said, öWe donæt need God to tell
us whatæs right and what is wrong Ö we can run our own society. Flood?
What flood? Oh, so God says there is going to be a flood, does he? Ha,
ha, ha! Noah Ö youære off your head! There isnæt going to be any flood.ò
6.2
Remember, the majority isnæt always right!
6.2
Damage, theft and snoop protection for key files and directories. Drag-
and-drop with password to secure or release. Secure objects are
encrypted, and while !IronMask is installed on your system, they cannot
be opened, copied, moved, deleted, overwritten, or given any different
filetype or attributes.
6.2
ú59.00 all users.
6.2
6.3
6.2
The only link editor for BBC Basic compilers. Now, forááthe first time,
reusable library code can be automatically included in compiled Basic
programs.
6.2
ú39.00 single user. Enquire for site prices.
6.2
No VAT. Prices include postage. Send or phone for further information or
factsheets.
6.2
6.3
6.2
The DTP Column
6.2
Richard Hallas
6.2
At the time of writing, the Acorn User Show (an event I am looking
forward to greatly) is less than a week away. This yearæs show really
does sound as though itæs going to be a large and exciting one, even
better than last yearæs, which was pretty impressive in itself. All this
activity can only be good news for Acorn users in general and Acorn in
particular, especially with the recent introduction of the new low-end
machines and RISC-OS 3╖10.
6.2
Incidentally, I now have RISC-OS 3 fitted to my A440/1 and, despite the
supposedly limited numbers of available upgrades, I was able to get a
copy without any appreciable delay. Despite a few irritations it is
operating reliably and is a very worthwhile upgrade. My personal
favourite feature is the improved font manager Ö an amazingly slick
piece of software. You can rotate and skew text to your heartæs content
in Vector and it still displays with anti-aliasing.
6.2
Better still, it is much faster than previous versions. The worst hang-
over from RISC-OS 2 from my point of view is that the LaserDirect
printer driver wonæt print rotated text and sprite files. There will be
a new version of this driver in due course, naturally, but it will be
some time before it appears. Anyway, with Artworks also finally
available, things are looking much healthier for serious Acorn users;
letæs hope the current trends continue.
6.2
News and Views
6.2
ÅáGraphics Card:ááIn conjunction with Wild Vision, Computer Concepts
should by now have launched a new graphics card. Full technical details
are not available at the time of writing but the essentials are as
follows: the card will take the form of a single width podule which will
receive the standard Acorn screen information as input and send an
output to the monitor via its own socket. As a result, it will be
compatible with all existing Acorn modes and many others will be
supplied with the card. Priced at ú249, it is capable of driving up to
1120╫840 pixels in 16 colours with a screen refresh rate of 60 Hz or
800╫600 pixels in 256 colours with a definable palette. The definable
palette is the only real colour advantage this card has over the
standard screen modes but, realistically, this is all that the majority
of users are going to need.
6.2
Despite all the hype, 24-bit colour is overkill for most people; more
important is the availability of large screen modes without flicker, and
these are what this card will provide. Apparently the card can support
the standard modes at rates of up to 90 Hz and even the biggest modes
will operate at similar speeds to an unexpanded mode 19 (multisync with
4 colours).
6.2
This sounds pretty impressive; I personally use a custom mode which is
similar to mode 20 but with a graphic resolution of 864╫616 (108╫77
characters). This is a super size for the desktop but the screen flicker
is noticeable, as is the loss in speed over smaller modes. I hope to be
able to try out one of these cards in the near future and see how much
difference it makes. Like a quality monitor or an ARM 3, this is
probably one of those upgrades which, once you have bought it, you
wonder how you ever managed without it.
6.2
ÅáImpression 2╖18:ááThe new version will probably be available by the
time you read this, although it wasnæt going to be ready in time for the
Show. It is primarily an upgrade with Artworks users in mind, as it
offers two new enhancements: the ability to render Artworks files
directly, and the removal of the 256-font limit. As Artworks is supplied
with 220 outline fonts, it naturally seemed a bit silly that Impression
could only handle an extra 36 faces. Impression users should note that
there has been a change in Computer Conceptsæ upgrade policy from this
version of Impression. Since the upgrade is mainly for Artworks usersæ
benefit, it will be free to them, but if you are not an owner of
Artworks, there will be an upgrade fee Ö probably around ú10.
6.2
ÅáPMS2:ááSome firm news at last about the new version of the music
typesetting program: PMS2 will definitely be released at Christmas. It
is likely to be available in four versions: commercial, non-commercial,
PostScript and non-PostScript, and will range in price from ú175 for the
basic non-PostScript version up to the ú500 for the full-blown system.
Upgrades from PMS1 will probably be ú50. Contrary to previous informa
tion, it will not be a Édrag notes in a windowæ style program, but will
take a (backwards compatible) text input file as did version 1. There is
a viewing window, but it is for checking only. However, the general
approach is more helpful than PMS1 and the overall quality of output has
also been improved over the previous version.
6.2
Needless to say, PMS2 has many new facilities, including the addition
(for printer driver and drawfile output) of all the features which were
previously only available to PostScript users, as well as comprehensive
drawing commands and other features. I have been bug-testing PMS2 for a
couple of months now and can say that it is very flexible indeed Ö there
is really very little that it wonæt do.
6.2
ÅáPoster 1╖6:áá4Mation has announced that a new version of Poster is
available, with numerous enhancements. The DrawPrint application, which
allows Poster and drawfiles to be printed across several sheets of
paper, is included with both the full package and the upgrade, and
Posteræs enhanced features include: text area creation, compressed file
load and save, increased speed in various areas, 256 line, fill and text
colours as opposed to 16 in previous versions, text to path facility,
zooming centred on the pointer, RISC-OS 3 facilities to rotate text and
sprites, and various other more minor improvements. The upgrade costs
ú15+VAT (ú17.62) unless you bought Poster within the last six weeks, in
which case it is free. Registered users should have received an upgrade
form by now.
6.2
Å    Risc Developmentsæ Desktop Thesaurus Ö a new version has been produced
which has 17,392 keywords and 181,705 synonyms. The user interface has
been improved by providing a scrollable keywords list. The upgrade is
free Ö just send your disc back to Risc Developments.
6.2
Hints, Tips and Letters
6.2
A combined selection this month, since the hints and tips stem from
letters I have received recently.
6.2
ÅáKey Windowá/áImpression problem:ááI am grateful to Jack Evans of
Bristol for pointing out this problem to me, particularly since I am the
author of the program in question. Key Window (available on Shareware 47
ù see review in Archive 6.1 p31) is a program which displays keystrips
in a window, and the strips update themselves as you move the caret
between tasks.
6.2
The problem is that if you have Key Window running at the same time as
you are editing a document in Impression which is set to auto-save, the
auto-save doesnæt work. You can still save manually of course, but this
is something which is easy to forget about. The solution is easily
effected, if not very satisfactory. You have to de-select ÉSense caretæ
in Key Windowæs Options menu. Unfortunately, this will prevent Key
Window from changing keystrips as you move between applications. If you
use Impressionæs auto-save a lot, and want to disable Key Windowæs
interference permanently, you can edit the !Run file to disable the
Ésense caretæ option via a system variable. Full instructions for doing
this are provided in the file.
6.2
Users may be interested to know that I have just started work on version
2 of Key Window, and am re-writing it from scratch to make it a much
better program with enhanced facilities. I intend to approach Computer
Concepts about the problem, to see if a satisfactory solution can be
found. Other programs with auto-save facilities, such as Ovation and
Vector, do not appear to suffer from the problem.
6.2
ÅáProtecting Impression files:ááCharles Martin from the Isle of Wight
has been having a few problems with some Impression Étemplateæ files ù
empty documents with standard formats. He wants to make them Delete- and
Write-protected via the fileræs Access menu but has found that setting
the files (which are, of course, in the form of application directories)
to Élockedæ does not protect their contents. Similarly, opening the
directories and choosing ÉSelect allæ does not have the desired effect.
6.2
This situation actually applies to all applications and directories, not
just Impression files. However, under RISC-OS 3, the Access menu is
completely redesigned and works much better, so the problem only really
affects RISC-OS 2 users. The difficulty arises because of the distinc
tion that the filer makes between directories (be they normal
directories or application directories) and actual files. This is one of
those Éfeaturesæ of RISC-OS 2 which needs a bit of care.
6.2
Under RISC-OS 3, if you select a directory or application directory
(such as an Impression file) and set it to ÉProtectedæ, the filer will
protect all the files within it, no matter how many sub-directories
there are. Under RISC-OS 2, however, it will only set the status of the
directory itself. You therefore need to open the directory, select all
the files within it and set their attributes via the Access menu.
However, there is a further complication: if the selection of files
contains any directories, the process will be upset Ö the directories
need to be deselected first.
6.2
Under RISC-OS 2, to protect an Impression file, you would need to open
it up, choose ÉSelect allæ from the filer menu, deselect any directories
in the selection by clicking on them with <adjust>, and finally set all
the filesæ attributes via the Access menu. Then repeat the process for
each of the directories which you had deselected (ÉMasterChapæ,
ÉChapter1æ, etc). There is simply no point in protecting the directories
themselves, since it is impossible to delete a directory which contains
locked files, and locking a directory (under RISC-OS 2) does not affect
the access status of the files within it in any case.
6.2
All in all, itæs probably easiest to upgrade to RISC-OS 3!
6.2
ÅáApplause for Ovation:ááA highly enthusiastic letter about Ovation has
been received from Tony Greenfield of Birmingham. He has the following
to say:
6.2
ö[Ovation] does just what I had hoped for and more. The manual is
brilliant! It is a work book on DTP, quite good enough as an introduc
tion to the subject to beginners and as an encouraging tutorial for more
experienced users. I found it much more useful than First Impression. I
have learnt much about Impression II and much about how a manual should
be presented. I wonder if the reason that there are not many hints and
tips on using Ovation [in Archive] is because the user manual is so
clear? (It may also have something to do with the relative numbers of
people using the two packages. Ed.) There are many features which I like
about the program. In fact, there is not very much missing ù I wonder
if, for most people, Impression is not really required Ö after all, itæs
more expensive than Ovation. Iæm sure that, for schools who have yet to
purchase a DTP package, Ovation would be a must better buy than
Impression, for many reasons Ö perhaps most of all for the ease of use,
and I guess it would be easier to learn than Impression.ò
6.2
Tony goes on to list various features which he likes in Ovation, notably
its wide range of effects such as word underline, small caps and
tracking, and its system of basing font styles on one family name, so
that changing the base family will also alter the italic and bold fonts.
6.2
I would certainly agree with Tonyæs comments about the manual, which is
indeed a very helpful document, although I think Impression is the
easier of the two to learn, as Ovation has a quite unwieldy menu
structure. Perhaps the quality of the manual really is the reason why we
havenæt received more tips on using the program from readers. Anyway,
things are set to change from this month in Archive, with the advent of
Maurice Edmundsonæs dedicated Ovation column. (We also have a new DTP
editor, Ray Dawson, whose first column will appear next month.) For
further comments about Ovation, see my Ovation/Impression comparison
article which follows on page 33.ááA
6.2
Oak
6.2
From 6.1 page 22
6.2
ICS
6.2
From 5.12 page 31
6.2
PipeLine
6.2
Gerald Fitton
6.2
The major topic this month is PD4 custom functions but first, here are a
couple of other points.
6.2
PipeDreamá4 bug?
6.2
Jonathan A I Brown reports a Ébugæ. I canæt reproduce the effect he has.
Can you? Jonathan says:
6.2
I have also, I regret to say, detected a bug (Aargh!!) in PD4 Ö but only
a small one. When a PD3 file is double-clicked without PD4 having been
previously loaded, PD4 loads in but the window for that file does not
appear. The file does, however, appear in the Documents sub-menu on the
iconbar. This only happens with files that have not been saved under
PD4. This happens on both the A440/1 and the A4 (RISC-OS 2.00 & 3.10
respectively), so it probably isnæt a clash with the operating system. I
suspect it is a problem within PipeDream itself as the line
6.2
SetMacro Alias$@RunType_DDE Run <PipeDream$Dir>.!Run %%*0
6.2
in the !Boot file presents no problems.
6.2
If you have any theories please let me know.
6.2
Custom functions Ö an introduction
6.2
Fashions change. A few days ago, I needed to look up an article in an
early issue of Archive. It was most noticeable that a much larger
proportion of the content of those early issues consisted of Basic
programs than do more recent ones. Much more space is now devoted to the
use of packages such as Impression, Vector, Revelation and, of course,
PipeDream than to writing programs in Basic. There was something most
satisfying about writing a short program in Basic and running it
successfully. Perhaps even more satisfying was to use the Basic
assembler to create a working machine code routine!
6.2
I think part of the attraction was that, after typing RUN, the computer
Étook overæ and, somewhat like the wheels of God, it ground its
inexorable way through the program, creating myriad coloured patterns or
executing almost uncountable calculations with awesome speed. As I came
to use data processing packages more and more, what I didnæt realise was
that I was missing one of the most attractive features of a computer
system. That was its ability to accept only a small amount of data and
then, by following simply expressed rules, to perform what, manually,
would be a painstaking exercise in accurate calculation, at a speed that
could only be described as Éexhilaratingæ and, finally, to output the
Éansweræ with unfailing accuracy Ö or not, as the case might be!
6.2
Let me illustrate what I mean with an example. A Basic program I wrote
many years ago for the BBC Micro took, as its input, a date (day, month,
year) and the output was the day of the week. At that time, I had been
asked to teach öComputer literacyò to highly qualified Ématureæ students
who had never used a computer before. If I had to choose one single
application which encouraged those Managers (etc) to Éplayæ and so
interact with an ÉIT Systemæ then that ÉDay of the Weekæ program would
be my selection!
6.2
(By the way, on the Archive monthly disc, you will find a directory
called DutchCal. It has been contributed by one of our Dutch readers and
it is a version of an everlasting calendar which, originally, I wrote
for PD2. It does not use custom functions.)
6.2
By writing PipeDreamá4 custom functions, I am now rediscovering that
thrill. Donæt get me wrong, I know that word processing is the most
Épopularæ use of modern PC systems but, letæs face it, WP systems need a
lot of data input, do relatively little Éprocessingæ and produce a
fairly predictable output. Now, with a ÉDay of the Weekæ custom
function, you can input the day of your birth and find out if you are
öFull of Graceò (Tuesdayæs child) or whether you have öFar to Goò
(Thursdayæs child). Much more exciting!
6.2
With your help, I am hoping to provide a custom function for calculating
Easter Sunday (for any year from about 5A.D.) on the Archive monthly
disc issued next month (Decemberá1992). Finding the date of Easter
Sunday has a rather more intricate algorithm than finding the day of the
week. I believe that it is the first Sunday after the first full moon
after the Spring Equinox. Traditionally (i.e. manually) the date of
Easter is calculated using, as intermediate variables, a Golden Number,
a Sunday Letter and an Epact, all with appropriate look up tables which
can be found in the Church of England Prayer Book. In older records of
the birth, marriage or death of individuals, or in the records of
important events, the dates are often related to the nearest Émovable
feastæ; the dates of all these Émoveable feastsæ can be found once you
know the date of Easter.
6.2
There is another complication which needs to be considered. In the UK,
we changed from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar in 1752 by leaving
out 11 days between the 2nd and 14th September 1752. Other countries
made the change earlier, many in 1582. If you have any comment or
contribution to make (for example, do you know whether Easter was
celebrated simultaneously on the continent and in the UK between 1582
and 1752) then I shall be most pleased to hear from you.
6.2
Anyway, back to my main theme Ö even if you not a teacher trying to
interest pupils or students, you too will find that öCustom functions
are fun!ò. Many spreadsheet packages (yes, even those for IBM compat
ibles) now include a Écustom functionæ facility (often called Émacrosæ Ö
but unlike PipeDreamæs macros). To use the custom function facility, you
need to learn the custom function programming language. Teachers have
the problem that todayæs students have little or no formal training in
the programming skills needed to write such custom functions. My advice
about programming is that you should learn a set of conventions (a
subset of the constraints of the programming language) which encourage
Égoodæ programming. Only after becoming master of these Érulesæ should
you break them knowing that you need speed or efficiency which cannot be
achieved by sticking rigidly to them.
6.2
Custom functions and Command files
6.2
One thing I must clear up from the start is that custom functions are
different from command files. Custom functions did not exist in PD3 but
command files (called Émacrosæ) did. Command files consist of a sequence
of PipeDream commands such as <Ctrl-CGS> (Cursor Goto Slot) and <Ctrl-
BM> (Block Move). They can be used to add or delete rows and columns Ö
even to load and save documents. Custom functions cannot be used to move
blocks around within a document nor indeed to change the Éshapeæ of a
document in any way. However, what you can do with them is to process
the data which already exists within the slots of a document (or within
a set of documents) in more intricate ways than can be done simply with
the Éstandardæ functions provided. Just like any standard function such
as (A1á+áA2) or the more complex lookup(A1,B1B10,C1C10), a custom
function is Écalledæ from a slot and the Éresultæ of executing the
function is returned to the slot from which it is called.
6.2
Calling custom functions
6.2
Letæs have a look at a custom function at work. In the screenshot
opposite, you will see two PipeDream documents. The first, [AddOne], is
an Éordinaryæ PipeDream document. The second [c_AddOne] is the custom
function.
6.2
You can use any valid file name for a custom function document but, so
that I can recognise which PipeDream files are Éordinaryæ documents and
which are custom function documents, I have prefixed all my custom
function documents with c_ (a lower case c followed by an underline). I
suggest that you follow this convention; it is recommended not only by
me but also by Colton Software.
6.2
Concentrating first on [AddOne], it contains only two Éactiveæ slots,
A3, which contains the number 2 and B3 which contains the Écallæ to the
custom function.
6.2
The custom function Écalledæ from [AddOne]B3 is not a spectacular custom
function. The Éresultæ returned to the slot [AddOne]B3 is (A3á+á1), one
more than the number in the slot [AddOne]A3. If you have the monthly
disc, change the value in [AddOne]A3 a few times and convince yourself
that the value in [AddOne]B3 is always 1 more than the value in
[AddOne]A3.
6.2
Now letæs have a look at the contents of slot [AddOne]B3. Place the
pointer over [AddOne]B3 and click <select>. The formula line does not
show the simple, non custom function way of adding 1 which would be
(A3á+á1); instead it shows the formula used to Écallæ the custom
function, namely [c_AddOne]one_more_than(A3). Because I have positioned
the cursor in [AddOne]B3 whilst taking the screenshot, this formula
appears in the formula line. Before looking at the custom function
document, [c_AddOne], letæs have a look at the formula used to call the
custom function in more detail.
6.2
The Écallingæ formula is in three parts:
6.2
The first part Ö [c_AddOne] Ö is the name of the dependent document
which contains the custom function. A custom function document such as
[c_AddOne] can contain more than one custom function. Indeed, it is
desirable to Ésplitáupæ large, exotic custom functions into a set of
smaller custom functions (stored within the same Éc_æ document) in the
same way that it is usually desirable to split up a long program written
in Basic into more easily digested PROCs and FNs.
6.2
The second part Ö one_more_than Ö is the name of the custom function
within [c_AddOne]. If you look at slot A7 of the document [c_AddOne] you
will see that Ö one_more_thanáÖ, the name of the custom function,
appears after the word Éfunctionæ. Another convention which I recommend
is that the names of custom functions should be totally in lower case
(no capitals). The reason is that lower case and upper case function
names are equivalent (unlike Basic procedures) and PipeDream converts
upper case letters in the custom function names to lower case anyway!
6.2
The third part Ö (A3) Ö is the single piece of data which is passed to
the custom function for processing. To be more accurate, [AddOne]A3 is
the slot reference of the data passed to [c_AddOne] for processing. The
data passed to a custom function in this way is called a Éparameteræ. A
parameter is a Ésort ofæ variable which has a Éfixedæ value within the
custom function but can be varied outside the custom function. As we
shall see in a later article, it is possible to pass more than one
parameter to a custom function. Indeed, you can pass as many different
parameters as you wish to a custom function but, if you want to pass a
large amount of data, rather than use many parameters (a rather
cumbersome method), it is better to pass a range of slots, or an array,
as one single parameter.
6.2
Returning the result
6.2
ÉCallingæ the custom function Ö [c_AddOne]one_ more_than(A3) Ö from slot
[AddOne]B3 returns the result of the processing to the slot from which
it was called, [AddOne]B3. Although the result can be returned to only a
single slot, this does not mean that you can return only one value from
a custom function! You can return many values to one slot by returning
an array to the calling slot. This array can then be expanded using
set_value (range,slotref) where Éslotrefæ contains the array (and the
calling function) and where Érangeæ is the range of slots containing the
expanded array. We shall return to examples of this tactic another day.
6.2
Sequence
6.2
This topic is concerned with the order in which the commands are
executed. Every sequence must have a start and a finish.
6.2
In a large number of spreadsheets, you must choose whether to recalcu
late along the rows (one at a time, starting at the top and running from
left to right along each row) or down the columns (one at a time
starting with the left most column and working down each column from top
to bottom). In PD4 recalculation takes place in an order which is called
önaturalò. Essentially, with önaturalò recalculation, every slot can be
regarded as part of a chain and the calculation proceeds along the chain
in such a way that slots which depend on other slots are processed last
no matter where they are located within the document. When a slot is
changed in PD4, only those chains which are affected are recalculated.
6.2
Custom function documents are different from Éordinaryæ PipeDream
documents. In a PD4 custom function document, the default sequence is
that commands are executed, one at a time, down a single column. The
start is identified by the command Ö function Ö and the end is identi
fied by the command Ö result.
6.2
The custom function
6.2
What we havenæt looked at yet is the custom function itself to see how
it adds one to the parameter and returns the Éresultæ. There are only
two Éactiveæ slots in the custom function document [c_AddOne] namely the
two slots A7 and A8.
6.2
Letæs look at the commands in detail and see how they process data.
6.2
Row 7 Ö ...function(öone_more_thanò,öparameter :numberò)
6.2
In this custom function, the É4ProLæ command Ö ...function Ö has two
arguments. The first argument is the name of the custom function, Ö
öone_more_thanò Ö note that the name is included in inverted commas. The
second argument is the one and only parameter passed to the function.
The name of the one parameter passed to Ö [c_AddOne] Ö is Ö parameter Ö
and its Étypeæ has been declared (after the colon) as a number. Because
of this declaration, if you try to pass anything other than a number to
this function, an error will be generated. If you want to pass a number
sometimes and, say, a string on another occasion, you do not have to
declare the type of variable.
6.2
Try typing Fred (without and then with inverted commas) into [AddOne]A3
and you will find that the error message Ö String not expected Ö is
returned to slot [AddOne]B3. You will find the error message foreshor
tened in the body of the [AddOne] document. If you want to read the full
error message then click the pointer in [AddOne]B3, then on the formula
button (the italic f just to the right of the PipeDreamá4 logo) and
finally run the pointer through the first menu option Ö Slot ÉB3æ Ö Slot
value Ö and you will see the full error message displayed. This
technique is particularly useful when long error messages are generated.
6.2
Row 8 Ö ...result(@parameter+1)
6.2
The command Ö ...result Ö terminates the sequence of commands and
returns a value to the slot from which it was called, [AddOne]B3. Note
the @ sign preceding the word Ö parameter Ö and that the inverted commas
have gone. The @ sign Égoes withæ the word Ö parameter Ö try
...return(1+@parameter), it gives the same result.
6.2
Try changing ...return(@parameter+1) to ...return (@parameter+2). You
have to do this in the formula line of [c_AddOne]. Even after you have
modified the custom function, the number 3 in the slot [AddOne]B3 does
not change. To make that change, and indeed if you want to check whether
you have introduced any Ébugsæ (errors in programming) in [c_AddOne] you
must Érunæ the custom function by Écallingæ it again from the document
[AddOne]. The simplest way of doing this is to place the cursor in slot
[AddOne]B3, move the pointer to the formula line and click on
[c_AddOne]one_more_than(A3). Finally, click on the green tick to the
left of the formula line. When you click on the green tick, the custom
function will be called and the new Éresultæ will be returned to
[AddOne]B3.
6.2
Over to you now
6.2
As your first exercise in writing custom functions, try to recreate the
pair of documents, [AddOne] and [c_AddOne]. Only when you have succeeded
are you ready to continue! If you have problems then type <Ctrl-O> to
check that you have suitable default options in your custom function
document. In particular, it is advisable to set the <Ctrl-O> Ö New slot
format Ö to Numbers. Secondly, note that the three dots which precede
the word Ö function Ö appear automatically in slot [c_AddOne]A7 and do
not appear in the formula line. You do not type the three dots anywhere;
just type the expression Ö function(öone_more _thanò,öparameter:numberò)
Ö into a önumberò slot and press <return>!
6.2
Summary
6.2
A custom function is a sequence of commands which start with a Ö
function Ö command and end with a Ö result Ö command. Once there is a
custom function within a document, the whole document is a custom
function document. Custom function documents behave differently from
Éordinaryæ documents Ö but they do not have a different filetype!
6.2
Parameters can be passed to custom functions. They must retain their
identity and value throughout the custom function.
6.2
Finally
6.2
If you wish to write to me, the contact address is that of Abacus
Training which you will find on the inside back cover of Archive.ááA
6.2
N║ 62 Honeypot Lane
6.2
Simon Anthony
6.2
For those of you who know BBC TVæs childrenæs animation ÉPigeon Streetæ,
N║ 62 Honeypot Lane has something of the same style. It has the same
cuteness, the same general goodnaturedly mood and the same target age
group.
6.2
62 Honeypot Lane (or É62æ as I shall call it from now on) is a pictorial
trip for children through the changing interior of a modern family semi-
detached house over a one year period. You can choose the month, the
day, even the hour in this little world. By using the mouse to click
your way through the rooms you get to know the house plan and begin to
learn a bit about the people and pets who live there. As time goes by,
things change inside and outside the house. It gets dark at night,
people go to bed, it might rain or snow or it might not. Leaves fall
from the trees and plants grow in the garden. If the family hamster has
escaped, it can be found running around the kitchen or in its home
behind the fridge or in bed, where it sometimes wears a night cap. (See
what I mean by cute?)
6.2
Each room is beautifully drawn in full colour and so is everything in
it. Nearly every aspect of a scene can be investigated. Just by clicking
on it, a short message is displayed at the bottom of the screen
describing the object under the pointer. The text is in an easy-to-read
font, white on black, which stays displayed until you either leave the
room or click on something else.
6.2
62 from Resource comes as a single disc with a few covering notes which
provide help and even a degree of entertainment. The program is full of
jokes to keep the teacher happy as well as the pupil enthralled Ö these
jokes are indicated in the written notes. It is supplied either in a
single user format, which is copy protected, or in an unprotected site
licence version. My first review copy came with a built-in time bomb
which went off after a Éplay byæ date had passed when the computer over
wrote something and killed the program. This is a very clever way of
providing protection, but as I had only had the disc for one day this
proved to be a bit of a pain for review purposes. So, I called Resource
and they sent me a site licence copy almost by return.
6.2
Niggles
6.2
During the brief life of the first disc I found one bug which was the
occasional loss of the bathroom, replaced by a second copy of
öElizabethæs bedroomò in which she was sleeping at the time Ö 25th
December. The second disc didnæt reproduce this error so it may have
been corrected.
6.2
The siteálicensed version was easy to install on the hard drive of an
Econet network of A3000s at my college. Unfortunately, as the only way
to leave the program is via a hard break, this logs off the network.
6.2
Although it is not the intention of Resource just to teach language
skills, it is unfortunate that certain of the information text lines do
not exactly correspond to the objects indicated. For example, the
pictures ÉGrandma and Grandpaæ would be better called Épictures of
Grandma or Grandpaæ. Also a Christmas cactus plant is just called a
ÉChristmas cactusæ even though there is space for the word Éplantæ as
well. A poor reader would then have more of a chance to work out what
the computer is talking about and a better reader should not feel
patronised by the fuller description.
6.2
Also, I wonder why is there no fridge in the kitchen? It is possible to
enter the kitchen from behind one (via the mouse/hamster hole) but it
looks just like an ordinary kitchen cupboard from the front. It is,
however, labelled Éfridgeæ when it is clicked. The Christmas decorations
are labelled ÉNo informationæ which looks like another accidental
omission. My biggest concern is over the supermarket bill which is
pinned to a notice board in the kitchen. The paperwork says (but it is
not clear from the program) that Éonly one end is shownæ. Only seeing
the end with the total and not being able to add up all the items makes
the maths works out very badly to say the least. I found a student deep
in confusion trying to do the sums.
6.2
How does it work?
6.2
62 does not need to multi-task. Double clicking on its icon starts the
program with a frontispiece showing the copy number and version type.
The emulation begins on January 1st at 4pm by showing the outside of the
house where a ÉFor Saleæ sign is up. The bottom of this screen provides
the time travel facilities, hour, day and month, forwards and backwards.
These work intuitively (as does the whole program). The house is empty
of everything but fixtures and fittings but as the days roll by, the
family move in and things really get going. The dates wrap around to the
same January 1st which forces the family to put the house up for sale on
the 30th December. It is a pity that the year starts at 1st January. If
it began in mid April, the New Year could be covered, people sell houses
more often in the spring after all. This is a very (very) minor grumble
Ö in fact the only one I have apart from the few bugs mentioned above.
6.2
Why you should buy it
6.2
Even if you donæt have children, 62 is a delight to use and reuse. If
you do have kids, you wonæt get a look in until they are sent to bed. My
students have to be levered out of the computer room as there is always
something new to discover and be delighted by. The humour, the care to
detail, the presentation and the ease of use make the program approa
chable by all ages.
6.2
62 teaches the use of the mouse, reading skills, directions, object
recognition and cause and effect relationships like where did the
vulture come from? Grandma and Grandpa Éescapingæ from their old
peopleæs home is a nice touch. The family is based on a standard white
middle class stereotyped well-to-do model Ö but then Resource had to
choose something and this does as well as any. In the printed notes,
Resource admit and apologize for this limitation.ááA
6.2
Merge and Mask
6.2
Tord Eriksson
6.2
Have you ever tried to use Draw to make striped text? Have you tried to
use a mask, to mask off part of a drawing or sprite? It is not imposs
ible, but with Vector it is just a couple of minutes work. (Version 1.03
is needed for RISC-OS 2 users if you donæt have DrawPlus!)
6.2
The ingredients
6.2
First we need some text and turn that into objects with the text-to-path
tool:
6.2
6.3
6.2
Then we need something to put the text onto, in this case a square:
6.2
6.3
6.2
After having ungrouped the text, we merge their paths and get a grey
object with holes in it:
6.2
6.3
6.2
The rest is very simple indeed. We put a dark square under the text and
make a copy of a thin square, place them on the square and interpolate
the bars in between, using the interpolate tool from the Special menu:
6.2
6.3
6.2
This is then placed under the mask with the text and we have our striped
text:
6.2
6.3
6.2
If you want to do more complex things, it is now possible to use
experimentation with copying, merging and skewing the graphic object or
setting the mask to white with white lines. It is all up to your
imagination and patience:
6.2
6.3
6.2
An easy and fun way of doing unusual graphics!
6.2
Anyone wanting to correspond with me please write to: Tord S Eriksson,
╓vralidsg. 25, S-422 47 Hisings Backa, Sweden.ááA
6.2
Impression and Ovation Compared
6.2
Richard Hallas
6.2
Several readers have expressed an interest in an article which compares
the features of these two packages and this is a response to their
request. It is not my intention to produce a buyersæ guide; obviously,
everyone has their own reasons for wanting such a package and I cannot
say that one is better than the other for any particular purpose; it all
depends on what you want to do.
6.2
Personally, I like and use both packages but my tendency is to do all my
letter-writing in Ovation and my more serious work in Impression. This
is purely because I have been using Impression for much longer, and to
use both programs for the same purpose would be somewhat confusing.
There is no reason why I could not use Ovation for more serious work
than writing letters but it does highlight the fact that Ovation is
perfectly capable of being used as a good word processor, which is also
one of Impressionæs selling-points.
6.2
I shall begin by providing a table of features for the two packages,
although I shall make some more specific comments afterwards. The
versions compared are Impression 2╖17 and Ovation 1╖35S
6.2
6.3
6.2
Features    Impression    Ovation
6.2
General Features
6.2
Multiple documents    Yes: maximum
15    Yes: maximum 6
6.2
Multiple views of documents    Yes: maximum
4    No
6.2
Closed documents remain in memory    Yes    No
6.2
Documents can be larger than memory    Yes    No
6.2
Definable start-up document    Yes
    Yes
6.2
Document info (no. of words, pages, etc)    Yes: very
extensive     Yes
6.2
View options    Presets or 1 Ö 975%    Presets or 1
Ö 500%
6.2
24-bit colour handling & RGB/CMYK/HSV    Yes
    RGB only
6.2
Line-drawing facilities    No
    Yes
6.2
Index & Contents compilation    Yes    No
6.2
Spelling checker    Yes; with good options    2Mb+
6.2
Hyphenation    Yes£    2Mb+; good options
6.2
Hotlink to a Thesaurus package    In a future
version    Yes
6.2
Style sheets    No    Yes
6.2
Retroactive styles    Yes
    Yes
6.2
Show Clipboard feature    No
    Yes
6.2
Find text    Yes    Yes; good options
6.2
Insertion of page number, date & time    Yes
    Yes
6.2
Page rulers    Yes    Yes; with guidelines
6.2
Auto-deletion of unused pages    Yes    No
6.2
Multi-tasking screen redraw    Yes    No
6.2
Printing Options
6.2
Mail merge facility    Only with
Supplement    Yes
6.2
Portrait/Landscape printing    Yes
    Yes
6.2
Pamphlet/Galley format    Pamphlet
only    Yes
6.2
Choice of pamphlet sizes    Yes
    Fixed by page size
6.2
Print even/odd pages only    Yes
    Yes
6.2

6.2
Separate scale for X and Y axes    No
    Yes
6.2
X & Y Printing offset    No
    Yes
6.2
Fit copies of same page on one sheet    Yes    No
6.2
Fit more than one page on one sheet    Yes
    Only pamphlet, etc.
6.2
Crop marks    Yes    No
6.2
Draft printing    Yes    Yes
6.2
Reverse printing order    Yes
    Yes
6.2
Collate copies    Yes    Yes
6.2
Can print without pictures    Yes
    Yes
6.2
Can centre pages on sheet automatically    Yes     No
6.2
Reflect pages    Yes    No
6.2
Pause between pages    Yes
    Yes
6.2
Text & Style Effects
6.2
Kerning    Horizontal & Vertical    Horizontal
only
6.2
Tracking    No    Yes
6.2
Underline    Yes    Yes
6.2
Double underline    Yes£    No
6.2
Word underline    No    Yes
6.2
Strikeout    Yes£    No
6.2
Choice of Underline/Strike line colour    Yes£    No
6.2
Superscript/Subscript    Yes
    Yes
6.2
Text styles linked to base font    No
    Yes
6.2
Inverse text    No (only by changing background)    Yes
6.2
Small capitals    No    Yes
6.2
All capitals    No    Yes
6.2
Title style (capital on every word)    No
    Yes
6.2
Condensed/Expanded text    Yes
    Yes
6.2
Any font aspect ratio    Yes£
    Yes
6.2
Font colours: foreground and background    Fore- and
Background£    Foreground only
6.2
Keep titles with body text    Yes£    No
6.2
Lock text to invisible linespace grid    Yes£    No
6.2
Definable leadering string    Yes£    No
6.2
Line spacing/leading    Yes
    Yes
6.2
Single or double line spacing    No
    Yes
6.2
Space above/below paragraph    Yes£
    Yes
6.2
Vertical and horizontal rules linked to text    Yes    No
6.2
Multiple styles in a single paragraph    Yes    No
6.2
Can start a new line within a paragraph    No
    Yes
6.2
Can have rulers without defining styles    Yes
    Yes
6.2
Word-wrap on/off    No    Yes
6.2
General Frame Options
6.2
Guide frames    Yes    No, but ruler guides
6.2
Repeating frames    Yes    No
6.2
Local frames from master page    Yes    No
6.2
Multiple columns within frames    No
    Yes (main frame only)
6.2
Embedded frames (which flow with text)    Yes    No
6.2

6.2
Grouped frames    Yes    No
6.2
Nested frames    No    Yes
6.2
Coloured frame backgrounds    Yes
    Yes
6.2
Snap to guide frames/guidelines    Yes
    Yes
6.2
Snap to other frames    Yes    No
6.2
Frame outlines on/off    Yes
    Yes
6.2
Frame borders    Draw format    Sprite
format
6.2
Different borders for each edge of frame    Yes    No
6.2
Ability to colour and resize border    No
    Yes
6.2
User-definable borders    Yes
    Yes
6.2
Text flow around both sides of frames    Yes
    No; one side only
6.2
Definable text repel outside frame    Yes; one
value per edge    Yes; only one value
6.2
Definable text repel inside frame    Yes; both
vert. & horiz.    Yes; only one value
6.2
Frames can be locked in place    Yes    No
6.2
Easy duplication of frames with offset    No
    Yes
6.2
Transparent frames    Yes
    Yes, but inflexible
6.2
Graphic Frame Options
6.2
Can link the same graphic between frames    Yes
    Yes
6.2
Precise positioning of graphic within frame    Yes    No
6.2
Can rotate sprites    Yes
    RISC-OS 3 only
6.2
Can rotate text in drawfiles    RISC-OS 3
only    RISC-OS 3 only
6.2
Separate X and Y scales for graphic    No
    Yes
6.2
Lock aspect ratio of loaded graphic    Yes    No
6.2
Fit graphic to frame    Yes
    Yes
6.2
Fit graphic to frame, retaining aspect ratio    Yes
    Yes
6.2
Master Page Options
6.2
Number of master pages    Unlimited
    One per chapter
6.2
Different left/right pairs    Yes    No
6.2
Vertical rules between columns    Yes    No
6.2
Changes to master pages immediately
6.2
    reflected in the document (retro-active)    Yes    No
6.2
File Options
6.2
ÉReturnæ stripper for loaded text    Only with
Supplement    Yes
6.2
Load 1st Word Plus    Yes, via
loader module    Yes
6.2
Load Basic, Acorn DTP, View,
6.2
    InterWord, Wordwise+    Yes, via
loader modules    No
6.2
Load C source, CSV, PipeDream,
6.2
    Rich Text Format, WordPerfect, WordStar    Only with
Supplement    No
6.2
Revert to last saved version of document    No
    Yes
6.2
Auto-save    Yes; optional prompt    Yes
6.2
Save marked text    Yes; optional styles, etc    Yes
6.2
Save text story    Yes; optional styles, etc    Yes
6.2
Save graphic    Yes    Yes
6.2
Save stylesheet    No    Yes
6.2

6.2
Spelling Checker Facilities (See also page 19)
6.2
Size of dictionary (both can be expanded)    60,000 words
    62,000¥
6.2
Continuous spell-checking    Yes
    Yes
6.2
Check single word/entire text    Yes
    Yes
6.2
Other checking options:    Entire text/
from cursor    Current story
6.2
Spell-checker extra features:
6.2
    Guess nearest word    Yes; two
methods    Yes
6.2
    Browse/Find word in list    Yes
    Yes
6.2
    Add/Delete word    Yes    Yes
6.2
    Ignore word    Yes; separate dictionary    Yes
6.2
    Solve anagram    Yes    No
6.2
    Display total number of words in dictionary    No
    Yes
6.2
    Export dictionary as text    Only user
dictionaries    Yes (including main)
6.2
User dictionaries associated with documents    No
    Yes
6.2
Updated dictionary prompts for saving    No (but
auto-saved on quit)    Yes
6.2
Dictionary of words to ignore when checking    Yes    No
6.2
Abbreviation dict. with expand-as-you-type    Yes    No
6.2
Hyphenation dictionary    Yes
    Yes
6.2
Hyphenation exception dictionary    Yes
    Yes (but supplied empty)
6.2
Definable minimum word-length for hyphens    No
    Yes
6.2
£ááImpression can only provide this if it is defined in a Éstyleæ; not
as a stand-alone effect.
6.2
¥ááOvationæs dictionary is compatible with (and can be extended by)
David Pillingæs MicroSpell 3, which costs only ú6 and contains over
210,000 words.
6.2
Å    In the Impression column ÉOnly with Supplementæ means that the feature
is only available to purchasers of the Impression Business Supplement.
6.2
Å    In the Ovation column, É2Mb+æ means that the feature is only available
to users with 2Mb or more RAM. Ovation comes with all the features
provided but some features will not be available if there is only 1Mb
RAM in the computer.
6.2
This table is necessarily rather unwieldy, as both programs have an
enormous range of facilities. At least it should be possible to answer
most questions of comparison by looking under the relevant heading in
the table.
6.2
There are a number of points worth making which the table cannot put
across. First of all, Impression is very fast and responds as fast as
you can type. Whilst Ovation could hardly be described as slow (try
comparing it with Acorn DTP...) it is noticeably more sluggish than
Impression. The most irritating aspect of this is that you can click
with the mouse to position the caret in a word, and if you move the
mouse away before the caret has moved, it may follow your movement and
appear in the wrong place Ö a minor point but one that frequently
catches me.
6.2
One big difference between the programs is the way they handle files.
Ovation uses standard files, whereas Impression uses application
directories containing many files and sub-directories. Both have their
advantages. With Impression files, you can extract graphics without
loading Impression. If a file becomes corrupted, you have more chance of
saving at least some of it and, most importantly, there is no limit on
file size, because parts of the document can be swapped in and out of
memory. Therefore, you really can produce a whole book as one file if
you so wish. The real disadvantage of using this method (apart from only
having a 9-character filename to play with instead of 10) is that it is
very wasteful of disc space. Even if you save a totally blank document
from Impression, it will take up at least 8Kb on the disc. Ovation files
are much more efficient, which is one of the main reasons I like to use
Ovation for writing letters.
6.2
One thing which irritates me about Impression is that if you have used a
font in a document and subsequently remove it, the file will still have
reference to the font (even though it isnæt used), and the computer will
put up an error box when you reload the file, stating that the font
cannot be found if it is no longer installed in the system. It seems
impossible to remove references to old fonts when this happens. However,
this is a trivial point which will probably not affect most users.
6.2
In terms of printing, there is little to choose between the two for
everyday work, although Impression has the edge with its ability to
print several pages on one sheet, space permitting, with crop marks if
desired. This makes the production of sheets of (perhaps numbered)
tickets delightfully simple. For professional colour work, Impression is
certainly much the better of the two in that it has comprehensive colour
selection facilities in RGB, HSV and CMYK models, and works with 24-bit
colours internally. However, this is probably overkill for most users.
6.2
In relation to larger-scale work, Impression can (as mentioned above)
handle documents of unlimited size and it is therefore very helpful that
it has full contents and indexing facilities. These features are totally
absent from Ovation, and make Impression the only choice for big
documents such as books.
6.2
Judging by the table of features, it would seem that both programs have
broadly similar capabilities and ranges of features. Of course itæs not
as simple as that. There are a few features in Impression which really
stand out over Ovation and make it well worth the extra money if you
need them. One of these is the unlimited document size. The other two
most important facilities are the ability to use an unlimited number of
styles within one paragraph and to combine styles (See my comment at the
end Ed.), and the extremely flexible master page system which is retro-
active; that is, if you make a change to a master page, all the pages in
the document which are based on that master page will change too.
6.2
There are various other useful and powerful frame options which I find
invaluable, particularly the embedded frame option which allows you to
have graphics flowing in amongst the text. It is also possible to group
frames in Impression, like grouping objects in Draw. Ovation takes a
different approach: if a frame falls wholly within another frame, it
becomes a Échildæ of the outer parent frame so that moving the outer
frame will move all its dependent inner frames. This is slightly less
flexible than Impressionæs grouping but is much quicker and easier to
use.
6.2
Ovation has just one frame feature which is missing in Impression,
although it is a fairly major one: the ability to have multiple columns
in a single frame. Although it is, of course, possible to create columns
with separate frames, Ovationæs clever feature means that if you resize
the multi-column frame, the columns it contains will also resize
themselves proportionally.
6.2
As to the available text effects, it is Ovation which wins here. It has
a very wide range of useful effects, and some of those which are
available for immediate use in Ovation, are only available in Impression
within styles, such as font aspect ratio. Whilst this does not matter as
such, it is a nuisance to have to define a new style just to use a
simple effect once. A particularly good effect for titles which Ovation
has is ÉSmall Capsæ, which prints all lower-case letters as smaller
versions of the capital letters. I wish Impression had this feature.
6.2
Another useful capability which Ovation has is ÉTrackingæ, where the
amount of space between letters is altered. This is like kerning applied
over a range of letters. This is available only as a local effect,
though; there are no programs currently available for Acorn machines
which apply letter spacing as an integral part of their justification
procedures. (If you want to see the effect of tracking, look at the new
format of Risc User. Although it is still produced on Macs, using Quark
Express, it does use tracking. I personally prefer justification to be
done by adding spaces between the words only and not between adjacent
letters Ö but look at Risc User Volume 6, Issue 1 and judge for
yourself. Ed)
6.2
Impression, on the other hand, does have vertical kerning which I have
found invaluable in the past. For example, I sometimes need to produce
mathematical formulµ, but not often enough to warrant the purchase of
Equasor. I have found that using the horizontal and vertical kerning in
combination with EFFæs Maths fonts has allowed me to produce some very
complex formulµ (including such things as sigma notation) which look as
if they had been done with a specialist program.
6.2
A major difference between the two packages is the way in which they
handle fonts. Impression simply presents the usual font list, with
submenus for the different styles. Ovation, on the other hand, weeds out
the font names into groups it can differentiate between in terms of
Regular, Italic, Bold and Bold Italic (regardless of whether theyære
really called Medium or Book, Italic or Oblique, or whatever) and
presents just the base-names in the menu. You select one of these family
names as the font and the Bold or Italic attribute (or combination) can
be applied as an effect. Whilst this method you cannot see exactly which
fonts are available to you, it does have the enormous advantage that you
can simply press <Ctrl-Shift-I> to toggle the italic version of whatever
font you are using and, whatæs more, if you have defined a style, then
changing the font name will also change all the italic and bold font
variants.
6.2
The final major difference in approach concerns frame borders. Ovation
simply uses sprites and some perfectly respectable borders can be
produced this way; the borders can also be resized and re-coloured.
However, sprite borders do not compare well with Impressionæs drawfile
borders when it comes to anything fancy. Although Impression cannot
resize or re-colour its borders, they can be of very intricate design
and always print to the best resolution of the printer. Whatæs more, you
can have a different border on each of the four sides of a frame Ö this
can produce some excellent effects and is very useful for quick and easy
drop-shadows using only one frame. Of course, there are already hundreds
of extra borders available for use with Impression.
6.2
Other differences between the two programs are more subtle. The range of
facilities Impression provides for handling frames and text repelling
are extremely comprehensive; so much so that they may not often be
needed by many people. Itæs nice to have them there but for the most
part, Ovationæs less extensive features in this area are perfectly
adequate. Sometimes though, it will not do exactly what you want Ö which
is almost never the case with Impression.
6.2
Ovation does, of course, also have some line-drawing capabilities,
whereas Impression does not provide any drawing facilities whatsoever.
The line tool is very useful for putting arrows on diagrams, for
example. Impression has a system of horizontal and vertical rules, which
are good for making tables and separators but are not much use for
anything else. You can use Ovationæs lines for drawing tables, of
course, but if your text moves, you have to move the lines manually.
Impression, on the other hand, moves the rules automatically.
6.2
Ovation is currently the only DTP/word processing package to have a
companion thesaurus program: Risc Developmentsæ Desktop Thesaurus. This
is a stand-alone program (so it could be used with Impression) but it
does provide a hotlink with Ovation so that a single keypress will bring
up a list of alternatives for the word under the caret. This works very
well indeed and it is just as if the thesaurus were part of Ovation
itself. Despite some slightly negative comments about this thesaurus in
a previous issue of Archive, I have found it to be a very convenient and
useful little program, especially as my Érealæ thesaurus is at the
opposite end of the house from the computer room. Impression will gain a
similar feature when Computer Concepts launch their own product, but
this will not be for some time yet.
6.2
So, which to buy? It all depends on your budget and what you want to
produce; both packages are very solid and reliable, and both have a
generous range of features. A major concern for many will be the price
difference: from Archive, Impression costs ú180, whereas Ovation costs
ú110. I have recently come into contact with two different opinions
concerning Impression: one is that it is the only proper DTP package on
the Archimedes; the other is that it is overpriced in comparison with
Ovation. Neither view is fair. Firstly, Impression is a serious,
professional piece of software of a quality comparable to programs
costing over four times its price on other machines, so it can hardly be
accused of being overpriced. Secondly, Ovation is also an extremely high
quality product which is well worth consideration.
6.2
In the final analysis, Impression is the more professional and capable
of the two, and the one that I personally prefer; it will probably
succeed in doing whatever you want it to do. This is not to denigrate
Ovation at all; it does not have Impressionæs most powerful features but
it will be ample for the majority of users. At ú110, it is also
exceptional value for money, and I have no hesitation in recommending
it. Prospective buyers should not worry about getting an under-powered
program.
6.2
If you are looking to produce professional colour work, large documents
such as books and brochures, or you want the extremely comprehensive
range of features (or even if you simply want outstanding speed) then
you are looking at Impression. On the other hand, if you know your needs
will not stretch to the dizzier heights, Ovation will probably be
perfectly adequate. Both packages come with good supporting material,
not least excellent manuals (although Ovationæs might have the edge
here). However, in the presentation of the programs themselves,
Impression certainly wins. Its design has had a lot of attention to
detail put into it, and the on-screen presentation is extremely slick.
It also has a nice, clear and simple menu structure. Ovationæs menu is
quite cumbersome and its windows are rather sloppily laid out. However,
these are purely cosmetic points. I do not wish to come down particu
larly in favour of one product over the other, because both are
excellent, and which to buy really depends on your budget and intended
use. Do try to see a demonstration of each before deciding.ááA
6.2
(Now itæs the Editoræs turn to add his two-penny-worth!... I think it is
important to be clear about the differences in the way that the two
programs deal with styles. Although I have never used Ovation, it uses
the same style philosophy as Macs, which I used for several years before
DTP on the Archimedes came of age.
6.2
I found the Impression philosophy difficult to get used to at first
after the Mac but, once I had gone through the un-learning/re-learning
process, I could see considerable advantages. Let me try to explain the
difference between the two philosophies.
6.2
In Ovation, a style is a complete description of the characteristics of
a paragraph, covering every factor that could be changed. In Impression,
on the other hand, a style refers to a change in one or more of the
characteristics of a piece of text. (Only the Base Style has to have a
full description of every possible variable aspect of the text.)
6.2
So, in Ovation, a given paragraph can only have one Éstyleæ so that any
variations within a paragraph have to be done by using local styles
(what Impression calls Éeffectsæ) which therefore cannot be changed
globally later Ö each occurrence has to be edited individually.
6.2
In Impression, any piece of text can have any number of styles superim
posed on it (remember that an Impression Éstyleæ only describes a change
in one or more characteristics and is not a full description as is an
Ovation Éstyleæ). This means, for example, that you can have a style
called Érule offæ whose sole characteristic is that it adds a rule-off
line of a certain thickness after the paragraph. Now if you have, say,
five basic styles of paragraph in a document, any of them can be ruled
off by simply adding this style. Using the Mac/Ovation method, you would
have to have ten different styles, each of five basic styles with and
without rule-off.
6.2
Having so many styles would be cumbersome, so you probably would not do
it that way but would, perhaps, do it as a local style. The trouble is,
if you then decided that the rule-off lines were too thick, you would
have to go through them all and change them individually. No doubt Mac/
Ovation users will have an answer for this particular example but the
same sort of thing can be applied to a whole range of features that you
might want to vary. For example, I have two styles called Éno spaceæ and
Étopæ which simply reduce the space below and above a paragraph,
respectively, to 0pt. So, again, I donæt need separate styles for each
of the different types of paragraphs with and without a space after
them. Also, if I want to change the overall layout, simple style changes
will alter the whole of the document.
6.2
The other major difference in style philosophy is that Ovation styles
can only apply to complete paragraphs (which are defined as anything
between two CRs, so it includes title lines and even blank lines)
whereas Impression styles can apply to any area of text Ö even down to a
single character. This means that even effects such as bold, italic,
super-script, etc are in fact editable styles. So, having created a
document, I could decide that all superscripted characters should be in
a different font Ö one change on a style sheet and all the superscripts
in the whole document are changed.
6.2
Even single carriage returns can have a style in Impression! What is the
point of that, you ask? To illustrate this, look at the format of this
listing:
6.2
10 FOR N%=1TO10
6.2
20 PRINT öHELLO WORLDò
6.2
30 NEXT N%
6.2
(I have deliberately exaggerated the inter-paragraph spacing so that you
can see that the first two lines have no space after paragraph and the
third line has a standard inter-paragraph space.)
6.2
On the Mac, I used to have a ÉProgTextæ style with no space after
paragraph and a ÉProgTextEndæ style which was based on ÉProgTextæ but
had 6pt after paragraph. So I would mark the first two lines and make
them ÉProgTextæ and then mark the last line and make it ÉProgTextEndæ.
6.2
In Impression, I have one style, ÉProgram Textæ, not two, and I make one
style insertion to achieve the above result! How? I drag from the
beginning of the first line to the end of the third line (i.e. not to
the beginning of the following paragraph) and press <ctrl-shift-f7> and
thatæs it. The reason this works is that the carriage return on the last
program line remains in base style and this maintains the spacing
between the two paragraphs.
6.2
I think, as I said, that this is more difficult to understand than the
Mac/Ovation method but, once you have mastered it, it is simpler to put
into practice and much more flexible in use.
6.2
Some will argue that they donæt need Impressionæs speed and flexibility
but, in my view, itæs like having an ARM3 processor Ö the ARM2 was quite
acceptable once but, having got used to using an ARM3, there is no way
you would change back again! Ed.)ááA
6.2
Using Ovation
6.2
Maurice Edmundson
6.2
Ovation is a high quality, professional DTP package and document
processor from Risc Developments and it has recently been extended and
enhanced. In my view it ranks amongst the best in its class especially
in terms of processing power per pound! The Editor has agreed to allow
me to edit an Ovation Column for the next few issues of the magazine
which, hopefully, will be useful for old hands and newcomers alike. If
you have any hints and tips or queries concerning the use of Ovation, I
shall be pleased to hear from you c/o N.C.S.
6.2
I wonæt give an overview of the software but rather cover examples of
its use in specific instances. Suffice it to say that it is a frame-
based system which is as effective for writing day-to-day letters as it
is for publishing an illustrated manual or book. (If you are unfamiliar
with Ovation, I recommend that you write to Risc Developments Ö address
inside the rear cover Ö and ask for a copy of the demonstration disc,
mentioning this column in Archive. Please enclose ú1 to cover costs of
production and postage.)
6.2
One of the nice features of Ovation is the useful tool box window always
in view at the lower left of the screen. The chapter and page number are
visible at a glance Ö particularly useful when working on a long
document or book. The frame tools for text and pictures are instantly
accessible and there is a superb line drawing tool which I will cover in
more detail later. The linkage tool enables text to flow exactly as
required, however complex the layout of the frames. I hope to give
examples of using this at a later stage and perhaps you will be able to
add to them.
6.2
Ovation comes with eight fonts mostly based on classical font styles:
6.2
Bookmark (Serifed face based on Bookman)
6.2
Chaucer (Script similar to Zapf Chancery)
6.2
Curator (Monospaced as in Courier)
6.2
Paladin (Serifed face modelled on Palatino)
6.2
SwissB (Sans serifed face similar to Helvetica)
6.2
SymbolB (Symbols, greek letters, etc.)
6.2
SystemB (Scalable look-alike to the mono-spaced system font in the
Archimedes)
6.2
Vogue (As Avant Garde Ö useful for small children and in primary school
work)
6.2
The main menu allows selection of a font plus choice of size, style,
position, etc. There are two distinct methods, (1) by means of a set of
pre-designed styles which you have chosen for regular use throughout the
document, called öparagraph stylesò, and (2) by a group of options which
you can use at any time within a document without having to set up a
particular style in advance. These are called ölocal stylesò. This dual
system is easy to use and gives great flexibility. A point not to
overlook is that in Ovation öparagraph styleò refers to any block of
text which ends with a carriage return. It could therefore refer to just
one word or a whole paragraph. Hence, a paragraph style can be used for
headings and sub-headings since these invariably occupy a line to
themselves, with a carriage return at the end. It is also used to define
body text Ö the style in use for the main body of the writing. If you
want to modify one or several words within a line of text, use local
styles.
6.2
Adopting a planned routine simplifies the task. Here is an example for
inserting a local style. Suppose you want to change the word öslantò in
this sentence, to be 18 point italic Vogue. Use the mouse to highlight
the word, then call up the main menu and slide across from ÉFontæ. A
window appears listing all the fonts currently in your !Font directory.
Select Vogue using <adjust> (a tick will appear to the left) then from
the main menu slide along ÉSizeæ and choose 18pt again using <adjust>
(there is also an option to have any point size you want) and finally
from the main menu slide along ÉStyleæ and select italic. This final
choice should be made with <select>. If you had required bold italic,
then you would have chosen bold with <adjust> and finally italic with
select. The rule is that the final choice (using <select>) confirms all
the choices made and clears the menu window. ÉFormatæ is always chosen
and selected separately.
6.2
It is helpful to customise your copy of Ovation so that it starts up
with all the features which you prefer to have available immediately. My
preferences are as follows: (I am assuming Ovation is on a hard disc but
floppy disc users can easily amend the descriptions to suit.) Load
Ovation then click on the iconbar icon and select ÉNew Documentæ. Now
select all the various parameters. In my case, I have chosen A4
portrait, top margin 15mm, bottom margin 20mm, left and right margins
12mm, one column. (With one column, Égutteræ is irrelevant since, in
Ovation, it means the gap between columns.) Clicking on OK then brings
up the first blank document window. Now make a choice of the fonts and
styles which you feel will be most used in general documentation.
6.2
Ovation comes with 12pt SwissB allocated for Body Text. Now I prefer a
serifed font for Body Text since, at sizes around 10pt Ö 12pt (which the
main text usually is), I feel that a serif font is more legible.
Therefore, I select ÉParagraph Styleæ from the main menu and, in the
ÉDefine Styleæ window, click on ÉEdit Styleæ. Clicking <menu> brings up
the font choices. I choose Paladin; 11pt; normal text; using <select> at
the end to confirm the choices and finally clicking on OK to save the
selection. Finally, from ÉFormatæ I choose left (if you prefer tidy
right margins choose justify) and click on OK again. For the moment, all
other parameters are left as given. They are all visible in the large
lower window of the dialogue box.
6.2
It is useful to have one or two other typefaces ready within paragraph
styles suitable for headings and sub-headings. They arenæt often used in
correspondence, but odd jobs are always coming along where it is helpful
to have them handy. eg. 18pt sans-serif bold centre-justified for main
headings and 16pt sans-serif bold left-justified for sub-headings. Click
on ÉEdit Styleæ and then on ÉNewæ in the ÉDefineæ window. This brings up
the dialogue box in which you enter the name of the new style say Main
Head. Ignore the line öBased on . .ò since it is not helpful here. Click
on OK. The new name is now written into the styles box and is high
lighted. Using <menu>, bring up the font choices window and slide along
Font to select SwissB as previously described. Repeat for Size Ö 18pt
and Bold using <adjust> until the last one. After the last selection,
all your choices will be visible in the lower window. Go back to
ÉFormatæ and choose Centre. Finally click on OK to fix all the choices.
When you next call up Paragraph Styles, you will see two Ö Body Text and
Main Head. Repeat the whole process to obtain a third called Sub-Head
using 16pt. bold SwissB, formatted left.
6.2
We now use another of Ovationæs useful features Ö the StyleSheet Ö but,
in this case, one given a special name. From the main menu select ÉFileæ
and then ÉSave Stylesheetæ. Clear the writable box and enter the name
ÉDefaultæ. Bring up the !Ovation application on the hard disc and open
the application directory window by clicking on the icon with <shift>
depressed. Now drag the new Stylesheet icon into this window so that the
file ÉDefaultæ is saved there. From now on, when Ovation is first
loaded, it will bring up your own customised document window with all
your styles in place ready to go.
6.2
Other style sheets can be saved, suitably named, in a disc directory
(labelled, for example, öMastersò) with any combination of page layout,
type styles, etc. you wish. Thus a library of stylesheets for different
jobs can be saved and any one brought into play as required by selecting
it once Ovation is loaded onto the iconbar.ááA
6.2
Hardware Column
6.2
Brian Cowan
6.2
Fax facts
6.2
The Computer Conceptsæ FAXpack has a most impressive specification.
While I am sure the price represents very good value for money, the
price is really such that only öseriousò users can afford it. And,
unfortunately, I cannot count myself in the list of such serious people.
However, I do possess a modem and I always thought that, given the right
software, this should be able to transmit and receive fax documents.
Readers may have seen the recent advertisements from David Pilling for
his ArcFax software pack Ö I thought my luck was in. I wrote to Mr
Pilling, asking him if my modem was suitable for his software. His
answer was most informative.
6.2
In short, you need a special type of modem for fax operation, and my
Miracom WS3000 is not suitable. It appears that fax and data modems work
according to different standards. Data modems commonly support the Hayes
AT command set. Mr Pilling explains that fax/data modems extend this to
öClass 1ò and öClass 2ò. Currently, ArcFax supports Class 2 but it is
expected that it a Class 1 driver will appear soon. Although my WS3000
modem is not suitable, there is an increasing number of cheap fax/data
modems available, aimed at the PC market. So, if you want to use the
ArcFax software, which seems good value at ú23.96, then you must be sure
to purchase a Class 2 fax modem. If anyone has experience of one of
these, perhaps they will let me know.
6.2
A4 comments
6.2
I continue to be thrilled by my A4. It still hangs up for a rest from
time to time Ö does any one else have this problem? You will be
surprised at my reason for liking to use a portable in general and the
A4 in particular. It is not so much the portability but the silence! I
had become used to a computer with a noisy fan and a Syquest with an
even noisier one. Reference to the Syquest is really not fair because it
is simply that, at the moment, I canæt use a Syquest on the A4. However,
the silence is wonderful.
6.2
I suppose things will change when I receive my beta test version of
RemoteFS but, as yet, it has not arrived. However, particularly for
people with access to more than one ARM computer, this looks as if it
will become an essential piece of software.
6.2
Last month, I questioned the lifetime of the battery. It appears that
this is supposed to be between two and a half to three and a half hours.
For the first few days I was using the machine unplugged, but I soon
learned not to do that. I have now made myself a long extension lead for
the power connector (some 3m. long) and I can now sit comfortably
watching the television or whatever while I tap away. If you are
planning on making such a lead, do ensure the current capability is
adequate. I guess there is a difference whether it is just used for
trickle charge or not.
6.2
A problem that I still have not got sorted is using an external monitor
and switching between internal and external screen. The manual is not
all that much help although there are a few comments on the Release
Note.
6.2
As was noted in the review of the A4 in Archive, a serious problem is
the disappearance of the pointer when it is moved fast: particularly
Impressionæs movable caret. The problem of the awkward position of the
delete key is, I think, reduced drastically in RISC-OS 3, where the
(conveniently placed) backspace key performs even more of the functions
of the delete key. I would really like some more responsive implementa
tion of the keyboard mouse emulation, but I donæt know what!ááA
6.2
Cross-Fire
6.2
Jahinder Singh
6.2
Cross-Fire by 4th Dimension is described as a Éhighly addictive classic
arcade actionæ game. The object of the game is to shoot anything that
moves and collect bonuses Ö all based around a grid type battle arena.
At times, the number of menacing aliens can become quite formidable.
However, at your disposal is an awesome array of fire power.
6.2
There are three types of bombs that you can fire Ö normal bombs, Split
bombs and Regen bombs. These have different strengths; a normal bomb has
the strength to kill the most basic of alien type known as a Henry,
whereas a Regen bomb is about five times stronger. A Zap wipes out every
alien currently on the sector. Both the Regen bombs and Zaps are
collectable, with a maximum of nine at any one time.
6.2
Extra fuel bonuses are also collectable Ö activation of the shields is
only possible if you have enough fuel. The shields give you an inde
structible shimmering layer of blue energy. An area of the screen known
as the ÉStatus Panelæ keeps you constantly informed of the number of
bombs currently held, fuel remaining, etc.
6.2
The opposition
6.2
X-Fire features a number of different types of alien that come after you
with the sole intention of making your life difficult. The following
briefly describes some of the enemy:
6.2
Henry Ö The Henry is the least of your troubles. It has no fire power or
armour but it can be a problem in large numbers.
6.2
JCB Ö These are slower than Henries, but they take a different approach
in tracking you down. They are indestructible from the front due to
heavy armour.
6.2
Pod Ö These move around very quickly and apparently randomly. When
terminated, they release four more aliens.
6.2
Miner Ö These rocket across the screen in one direction leaving a trail
of deadly mines in their wake. (Warning!  There can be several mines on
top of one another!)
6.2
Unknown Aliens Ö Towards the later stages of the game, other alien life
forms exist.
6.2
Bonuses
6.2
There are variety of bonuses that can be picked up to increase your
chances of survival.
6.2
Cross fire Ö This allows you to fire in all four directions at once.
While in effect, you do not have to specify a firing direction.
6.2
Rapid fire Ö This doubles your fire rate.
6.2
Split bombs Ö This gives you substantial fire power, these bombs release
three normal bombs when they fly past a junction.
6.2
It is possible to combine these three bonuses, the result is WIPE OUT.
6.2
Double score Ö Guess !
6.2
Indestructible Ö Shields are activated for ten seconds, rendering you
indestructible, without using any of your fuel reserve.
6.2
Fuel Ö Increases fuel reserves by about a quarter.
6.2
Reflector shields Ö This gives you rotating shields that reflect alien
bombs.
6.2
Additional Regen bomb and Zap bonuses are also available.
6.2
The package
6.2
The game comes in an attractive plastic case which contains two discs
and an eight page manual. The game will run on all Archimedes machines
and installs in the normal manner.
6.2
Conclusions
6.2
X-Fire is a good shoot-em-up game and certainly presents a good
challenge. The graphics are good, with some excellent special effects.
Its specification includes, 256 colour mode 13 graphics, up to 200
objects on screen and lots of high quality sampled sounds. It is
available through NCS priced at ú24.ááA
6.2
Language Column
6.2
David Wild
6.2
Pascal Language Forum
6.2
The day I posted the article for the October issue of Archive, I came
home to find a letter telling me that the Pascal Language Forum was
being wound up in November because of lack of support. In many ways Iæm
not surprised, as established languages donæt really need support
groups. My main reason for joining was to get the magazine ÉComputer
Languageæ and when this was dropped I was already thinking of not
renewing my membership.
6.2
DDE Pascal
6.2
I have continued experimenting with this program and have been able to
find out one or two more features which are not really covered in the
documentation.
6.2
I have been able to produce static variables, but only in an external
module, and I havenæt yet found any way of giving them initial values.
Such a method would be useful and especially so with boolean variables
that can record whether or not a procedure has already been called and
start an initialisation routine if not. What I have done instead is to
use a string variable and test if it is equal to some value which is not
likely to be in memory by accident (such as Éfirstæ) and then assign
that value before subsequent calls. While this works, it is not ideal
and I notice that ÉCæ itself, with which this compiler is closely
associated, allows for the initialisation of variables and arrays. If
anyone has worked out how to do it I would be very pleased to hear from
them.
6.2
I compiled some procedures as external modules and combined them into a
library using the !Librfile utility. When I entered the name of the
library against the Élibrariesæ option on the compiler menu, I found
that the compiler would not find the library Éplibæ even if it too was
specified. This did seem rather awkward but I found that if I dragged
the library into the same box as the source to be compiled, everything
worked properly. You donæt actually need to put the code into a library
as you can drag individual Éaofæ files into the compiler in exactly the
same way but the library method is tidier.
6.2
Creating a module is very easy but the way it is done is slightly
different from ISO-Pascal. The relevant routines must be declared twice,
once as an Éexternæ routine with the full parameter details, and again
where the body of the routine comes in the code. According to the rules,
you donæt need the parameter details again but it is helpful for
maintenance if you put them in as a comment. An example module is:-
6.2
procedure centrestring(stname : packed array[one..stlen : integer] of
char;length : integer); extern;
6.2
procedure centrestring{öparaindentò On} array[one..stlen : integer]
ofáchar;length : integer)};
6.2
   var
6.2
      i : integer;
6.2
   begin
6.2
    for i := one to (length - stlen) div 2 do
6.2
      write(output,É æ);
6.2
      for i := one to stlen do
6.2
        write(output,stname[i])
6.2
   end; {centre string}
6.2
When you compile a program, the object code goes automatically into the
Éoæ directory, while the linked program is presented in a save box for
you to put where you want. However, if you are producing a module, and
ask for the Écompile onlyæ option, the object code is presented in a
save box instead. In both cases, the default save is to the main
directory in which the Épæ and Éoæ directories are found. It is not
difficult to edit the file name to include the É.o.æ but it would have
been useful if the compiled code still went into the Éoæ directory by
default.
6.2
I have managed to use several of the functions from the ÉCæ library and
found that they worked correctly although there were one or two
interesting discoveries. Some of the ÉCæ functions are defined to work
on strings and so I tried using the Pascal extension Éstringæ type and
found that the functions gave an error because of a type mismatch. To
eliminate the error, I had to define the data as Épacked array[1..n] of
charæ as you would do in ISO-Pascal. The ÉCæ character functions worked
correctly on Pascal Écharæ types and should be very useful for many jobs
which involve text processing.
6.2
Someone wrote to the Editor saying that he was getting the message
Élibrary plib is corruptæ and that he was unable to clear it. When I
spoke to him, it turned out that he was using release 3, not 4, of the
ÉCæ compiler Ö I can only presume that this was the cause of the
problem. He argued, quite reasonably, that the linker ought to link any
modules which conform to the correct format but there does seem to be an
exception here. Once again, if anyone can shed any light, I would be
very pleased to hear from them.
6.2
I noticed the remarks, and sample program, from Brian Wichmann in
Archive 6.1 p10 and can confirm that there is no set type checking on
integers. If you find any other instances of the compiler not working
correctly, please let me know and I can keep a list of problems and
possible solutions for them. It is rather disappointing that Acorn are
so defensive about the compiler: presumably someone was paid to write it
and would like to be proud of it. I wouldnæt expect to do better than
get my money back for any compiler that was unsatisfactory, so they are
not likely to get massive claims! It might be better if we were asked to
pay a reasonable price and get some support.
6.2
Illustrating C
6.2
In Dillonæs the other day, I came across a copy of ÉIllustrating Cæ by
Donald Alcock; published by Cambridge University Press at ú12.95. This
is the latest in the series of language books written, and illustrated
by Alcock. I have started to work my way through it and, although it
isnæt converting me into a ÉCæ user, I am sure that I already have a
much better understanding of the language than I had before.
6.2
The book has many example programs, with a little screen illustration
for each showing the output, and I think that it ought to be very
valuable for anyone having to learn ÉCæ from scratch.
6.2
Not unreasonably, I have typed some of these programs in and compiled
them. One of the earliest programs in the book caused me some problems
and I would like to know why. The program is:-
6.2
#include <stdio.h>
6.2
#include <math.h>
6.2
int main(void)
6.2
{p , Rpct, R, M;
6.2
  int N;
6.2
  printf( ö\nEnter: Principal, Rate%, No. of yrs.\n);
6.2
  scanf(ö%f %f %i, &P, &Rpct, &N );
6.2
  R = Rpct / 100;
6.2
  M = P * R * pow(1+R,N)/(12*(pow(1 +R,N)-1));
6.2
  printf(ö\nú%1.2f,@%1.2f %% costs ú%1.2f over %i yearsò,
6.2
P,Rpct,M,N);
6.2
  printf(ö\nPayments will total ú%1.2f,12*M*N);
6.2
  return o;
6.2
}
6.2
I had two problems. Firstly, it wouldnæt compile until I brought the
Épow(1+R,N)æ out to a single variable on a previous line and there were
messages about lack of precision, although the answer was correct.
Secondly, when I looked in the ÉCæ manual, I noticed that the Épowæ
function was defined as Édoubleæ rather than float and so I changed the
program to suit and then found that I got answers that were much too
big. What did I do wrong?ááA
6.2
Monochrome Mug Challenge
6.2
Robert Chrismas
6.2
Whatæs black and white and stands out in a crowd?
6.2
Colton Software was showing an exciting new product at the Acorn User
Show. Occupying pride of place on their busy stand was a pyramid of
ÉWordæ mugs.
6.2
With these mugs, Colton Software have shown a complete disdain for the
24-bit colour controversy. They have gone to one-bit colour Ö black with
white lettering. As Colton say ÉWhite on black to stand out in a crowdæ.
One delighted spectator exclaimed Éjust like the old BBCsæ. (Hands up if
you want an apostrophe before the Ésæ.) Is Colton playing the nostalgia
card?
6.2
The mugs have the same striking design back and front Ö ideal for left
handers. It is the first time I have seen an attempt to protect a logo
both as a trade mark and with copyright legislation.
6.2
6.3
6.2
By a strange coincidence, the lettering on the mug spells out ÉWordzæ
which is also the name of the new word processor which Colton is
developing (less than ú100, available first quarter 1993). ÉDrank from
the mug, now try the programæ Ö the paperback and the film are both
scheduled for Éthe second quarter of the 21st centuryæ.
6.2
They say that the mug, available now, is 100% WYSIWYD (what you see is
what you drink), RISC-OS compatible, bug free when washed, definitely
ozone friendly and a snip at ú2.85 inc. VAT and pp. All of which is
true, but Iæve been using it for a week now and I havenæt even seen the
high score table yet.
6.2
There is also a cheap plastic key ring, which I tried to lose on the
underground but couldnæt, and a plastic bag with laterally opposed
handles and a generous internal storage area which comes in a fetching
lifeboat crew orange (should come in handy if ever I need to flag down a
passing helicopter).
6.2
The pre-release version of the word processor looked very attractive,
but if the name is anything to go by, the spelling checker wonæt be much
cop.
6.2
Provided I get to review it, Iæll give ú5 to any charity Colton care to
name for every ú1 under ú100 (inc VAT? Ed) which Wordz costs.ááA
6.2
Pesky Muskrats
6.2
Rob Wears
6.2
If you are one of those people who enjoys deliberately directing those
hapless Lemmings to their doom, just for the pleasure of hearing them
squeak, then this game will probably appeal to you. The problem with
Muskrats, we are told, is that they breed like, well, err.... muskrats,
actually. To be honest, Iæve never heard of anything that breeds as well
as these creatures, who simply have to pass each other in the street...
and there is a small baby Muskrat (complete with nappy) bounding along
between them! They make locusts look like complete amateurs. Your job is
to prevent a Muskrat population explosion by preventing them from
breeding. Of course, the only Muskrat that doesnæt breed is a dead
Muskrat, so you will have plenty of fun attempting to massacre the happy
chappies before the population explodes.
6.2
The game is supplied on two discs which are copy protected. Coin Age
include a notice in the packaging saying that they will replace a disc
free of charge should it become faulty for any reason whatsoever
(presumably including its inadvertent use as a coffee mug place mat).
However, the game will not load onto a hard disc and I find this
irritating because the game involves some serious disc swapping between
levels but, in view of the investment Coin Age must have in the game,
attempts at protection are understandable.
6.2
The game does not multi-task, but that is not really a problem. The
opening titles include the instructions, and a severe warning about
software piracy, but these can be skipped once you know what youære
doing. The quality of the graphics and sound is excellent.
6.2
The game itself is played on a password and level basis, with each level
having three sub-levels to be completed before the next password is
given. The only difference between the sub-levels is that the initial
number and speed of the Muskrats increase. You are given a limited
supply of bottles of poison, bombs and bricks with which you must
massacre the Muskies. Initially, thereæs plenty of poison to go round
and the game seems quite dull. However, that changes rapidly as the game
progresses. Suddenly there is nowhere near enough poison to go round and
you must use the bombs (which blow up scenery but not Muskrats) and
bricks to direct the Muskrats to some lethal part of the scenery (such
as a large heavy dinosaur). When killed, the Muskrat squeaks and a
little Muskrat ghost floats up to the top of the screen.
6.2
Each screen is timed by a small fly evading a large lizard at the bottom
of the display Ö when the fly gets eaten, your time is up. It might all
sound a bit dull, but placing the bricks is quite tricky, and blowing up
the scenery can leave tiny, almost invisible pieces behind which still
act as obstructions to the Muskrats. To make matters worse, periodi
cally, a caped SuperMuskrat whizzes across the screen and spoils your
aim by moving the cursor.
6.2
There is plenty of frustration, challenge and dark humour to keep people
interested but I cannot help but feel that the game lacks that vital
something that will make it a runaway success. For me, it is spoiled by
an unnecessarily complicated user interface, typified by the cumbersome
method of weapons selection. This consists of selecting a menu (pausing
the game automatically) and choosing from one of three options. If you
choose the bricks, fine Ö you can keep on laying bricks until you run
out. However, you have to go back to the menu every time you want a new
bomb or bottle of poison and this makes the game rather disjointed. It
also requires a frustrating number of mouse clicks to move the game on
between sub-levels and if you complete two sub-levels easily but die
three times on the third, you have re-enter your original password and
go through the first two sub-levels again.
6.2
Comparisons with Lemmings are probably inevitable. If you can afford to
buy both, do so as both have their own particular charms. If you can
only afford one, my choice would be Lemmings.ááA
6.2
(More) Design Concept Fonts
6.2
Dave Wilcox
6.2
Font families are items we never seem to have enough of. Up until now,
the only company really producing ornate fonts has been the Electronic
Font Foundry who, as of August, were charging ú10 (minimum) for a font.
This is disregarding their August sale prices where they were giving a
50% discount on selected fonts.
6.2
Enter Design Concept. This Company has started to compete with EFF with
one very distinct advantage Ö their costing. Fonts are now easily and
cheaply available to everybody. Design Concept charge ú2.50 for any one
font followed by ú1.50 for every additional member of the same family.
(Site licences being available at twice the cost of the fonts, if
required.)
6.2
Your choice
6.2
You have a choice of the following currently available fonts:
6.2
Acropolis, Ainslie (Med., Med.Oblique, Bold, Bold Obl., Ultra, Ultra
Obl.), Beacon (Med., Med.Obl.), Celtic (Med., Med.Obl., Bold, Bold
Obl.), Chinese, Copperplate (Light, Med., Bold), Diamond, Flip, Goffik,
Hobart (Med., Demibold, Obl., DemiBold Obl.), Katiyo (Med., Med.Obl.,
Bold, Bold Obl., Ultra, Ultra Obl.), Khut (Med., Med.Obl.), LCD (Med.,
Med.Obl.) Penny (Med., Med.Obl.), Scrawl, Sparta (Med., Bold, Obl., Bold
Obl.), Subway, Tron (Med., Med.Obl.), and Trust (Med., Solid, Med.Obl.,
Solid Obl.).
6.2
Here are some selected examples of some of the above:
6.2
6.3
6.2
What you get
6.2
When you order your fonts, your disc is constructed with your selection
of fonts placed into a directory called É!MoreFontsæ. This directory is
written to run under RISC-OS 3 as an independent font directory. If,
like most of us, you still have RISC-OS 2, just transfer the fonts out
of !MoreFonts into your own fonts directory Ö !Fonts.
6.2
It would appear to be dependent upon the disc space available and the
amount of money you spend, what else appears on this disc. Design
Concept have a selection of cheaply priced utility programs, PD items
and two directories of Impression text files, one describing the design
of fonts (as per Archiveæs new series of articles), the other giving the
instruction manuals for their software. (The latter is only available if
you spend over ú30 or are the holder of a site licence.)
6.2
The fonts themselves
6.2
The majority of these fonts are ornate in design and, as such, are only
designed for use normally in one-line displays rather than for body
text. All fonts are designed to work fully with the Acorn Font Manager
and no problems were encountered loading them into any application. Once
loaded, the fonts are fully scalable, being designed with skeleton
lining ensures there is little loss of definition in the fonts when
reduced to the smaller sizes. Many of these fonts also use the scaffold
ing feature which helps to keep a balanced and symmetrical shape to
characters.
6.2
The majority of the fonts have the special characters defined. As some
of these sets have been improved from earlier versions, perhaps the full
set of most will follow in due course. Design Concept do stress in the
front of their catalogue that these fonts are NOT PostScript compatible
but, on the A5000, they can be used as such on local PostScript printers
by using !FontPrint. (This is now available on all Acorn 32-bit computer
using RISC-OS 3.1 Ö if you can get hold of it! Ed.)
6.2
Conclusion
6.2
Design Concept is, in my view, a company to keep an eye on. They have
some good products, with an increasing range to choose from. They have a
good and realistic price structure and there is now no reason for anyone
to struggle to obtain good fonts whatever their budget.ááA
6.2
The Crystal Rain Forest
6.2
Hilary Ferns
6.2
This is from Sherston Software and is described as a ÉMathematical
Adventure into Logoæ. It is aimed at middle to upper junior children
(Y5-6) and provides an excellent, stimulating introduction to Logo and
other similar languages.
6.2
The program takes over the full screen but returning to the desktop is a
simple matter of pressing <Ctrl-Q> at certain points during the
adventure. The graphics and sound effects are good and all writing on
the screen is in a clear font which is provided on the disc. Eight logo
challenges are provided during the course of the adventure, some of
which also include simple concepts of shape and algebra.
6.2
Although the main storyline is purely fictional, (the aim is to find
magic crystals to produce a medicine to cure the king and so save the
rain forest from destruction by the Écut and runæ gang), the setting for
the adventure is a tropical rain forest and the package could be
introduced in the classroom as part of a rain forest topic.
6.2
An excellent Teachersæ book is provided which gives clear instructions
for using the program and lots of ideas for further work across the
whole curriculum.
6.2
The program continues across four discs and all except the key disc can
be copied to either hard disc or floppies. The key disc is always needed
to start the program and contains the Crystal Logo language. (A backup
copy of the key disc can be obtained from Sherston for a small charge.)
The program runs perfectly adequately from floppies, there being clear
prompts to change to the next disc in the sequence. A further disc is
needed to save the childrenæs work.
6.2
The icon on the iconbar provides a teachersæ set-up menu, and the
program can be started at any stage in the adventure. Each childæs place
can be saved to disc until next time, thus obviating the need to finish
the whole program at one session. It is therefore easy to just load the
Crystal Logo program without doing the actual adventure.
6.2
Crystal Logo provides a set of commands including the ÉBuildæ command to
define your own routines. The idea is to draw crystal shapes but of
course the language can be used to produce any design, picture, etc. The
pictures can be coloured very simply by clicking on your choices and
then saved as sprites so that they can be imported into other programs.
6.2
Any of the screens in the program can be printed, as well as the logo
designs. The program uses RISC-OS printer drivers but this is where I
had problems. Using a Star LC10 colour printer with the appropriate Ace
printer driver, it would not print, but with my Hewlett Packard Deskjet
with appropriate driver, it did!
6.2
I then contacted Ace Computing and Sherston Software, both of whom were
most helpful. Apparently all version 2 printer drivers will work, as
will all version 3 drivers (A5000 only), but not version 1 printer
drivers. Since the majority of schools probably have version 1, this is
not good news. (There is no version 2 of the LC10 driver.) However,
Sherston are in the process of upgrading the program to iron out a few
minor bugs and have assured us that the new version will provide for all
printer drivers. So, when ordering, be sure to check which version you
are getting!
6.2
With the printing problem resolved, I would thoroughly recommend the
program for use in the classroom and the home. Logo has an important
place in the IT National Curriculum and Crystal Rain Forest presents
this in a new and exciting way which is greatly appealing to children.
6.2
(This review was based on The Crystal Rain Forest Version 1.00)ááA
6.2
6.3
6.2
6.3
6.2
Econet Column
6.2
Neil Berry
6.2
As promised last month, I have decided to enter the precarious area of
predictions Ö specifically about the future of the Archimedes within a
networked environment.
6.2
It has, in the past, looked as if Econet was here to stay and the Acorn
machines would be Étrappedæ within their own little world of non-
standard networking protocols. ÉThatæs no longer the case!æ, I hear you
cry but, if you stop to think for a moment, you will see that we are
perhaps not as far advanced as you may have thought.
6.2
Obviously, we are no longer in the dark ages, using Level I and II
fileservers running from floppy discs on BBC micros or Atoms, but there
are still a large number of institutions that use Filestore systems.
This is now becoming less and less common, with the coming of the most
excellent Archimedes but, even now, most Archimedes are restricted in
their use by the very thing that joins them together Ö Econet cable.
6.2
On many modern PC machines, Novell Netware is used as the controlling
protocol, over an Ethernet network and the high speed cable, driven by
Ethernet cards. The simple network protocols allow very rapid communi
cation between machines and fileservers. One problem with Econet has
always been the use of Acornæs own complex in-house protocols which,
while not complex when compared to many modern systems, were cumbersome
to use properly, and drastically restricted the data transmission rates.
Even now, on a network that only has Archimedes machines on it, the
fastest mark space ratio is 1:4 which equates to a data transfer rate of
200kHz, which is slow by anybodyæs standards in this day and age.
6.2
There are lots of systems available now such as Nexus, etc, that will
allow very high data transfer rates, and Level IV improves things no
end. So, whatæs the problem?
6.2
Well, the main problem, as I see it, is the amount of existing invest
ment in Acorn Econet based networking. Most Econet installations reside
in educational institutions and there are limited funds available for
computing hardware and software. So, when a school has installed a large
scale Econet cabling system, it is virtually impossible for it to change
over, wholesale, to a faster system such as Ethernet, or even Nexus. The
sheer costs involved make many people simply dismiss them as impossible
dreams.
6.2
Level IV is a step in the right direction but it still uses Acornæs
original protocol system and, more importantly, Econet cable. However,
if you are able to have a ratio of about five machines to every Level IV
server, the speeds available over such a short network distance are
quite reasonable.
6.2
I wouldnæt like anyone to think that I am picking on Acorn in this
article but they are the originators of the Econet system and so I feel
that much of the attention should be directed towards them, although
many other companies who jumped on the Econet bandwagon have, perhaps,
just as much to answer for.
6.2
I must make it clear at this point that I have always enjoyed using
Acorn computers and not until the last few years have I found the
networking system particularly restrictive. The simple fact of the
matter is that, with the coming of the Archimedes computers, Acorn have
now really plumped for the serious end-user market which expects very
high performance machines with the ability to link them in such a way
that it matches the performance of the machine and Econet or Econet-
based products simply do not allow this.
6.2
Cross-system compatibility
6.2
At this point, it would be worth thinking about cross-system compatibil
ity within the Éserious machineæ market. Until very recently, computing
giants such as IBM and DEC have cornered the markets for this type of
machine and the hardware that links them all together. IBM, of course,
had their MS-DOS standard which, in my opinion, is possibly the most
cumbersome and unhelpful operating system ever devised.
6.2
(As the old joke says: How many IBM engineers does it take to screw in a
light bulb? None. They just let Marketing explain that öDead Bulbò is a
feature!)
6.2
Be that as it may, the fact is that IBM have dominated the scene for so
long now, that people have really given up the idea of trying to produce
anything themselves. Only recently have newer smaller companies come
into the fray Ö Apple, for example, which, even though it is now a large
company, still has a small company ethos.
6.2
Acorn has now entered this market with the introduction of its ARM-based
machines and success has mainly been built on the radical and innovative
design and use of the RISC chip. This is demonstrated (with ironic
overtones) by the fact that Apple has now invested in the same RISC
computer technology Ö for its portable range of computers. (IBM are
working on RISC systems, too! Ed.)
6.2
All of this means that, until very recently, anyone who wanted to
communicate with other machines had to use an IBM protocol system, no
matter how badly conceived it was in the first place. It is now becoming
very obvious that UNIX is rapidly taking over as the industry standard
operating system, which is presumably why Acorn released the R140.
6.2
Acorn have released their own multi-tasking version of TCP/IP, which
really looked as if it would become the inter-network communication
standard. Even this looks like being overtaken by OSI (Open Systems
Interconnection) which is basically an Éenrichedæ version of TCP/IP and
which will be fully downwards-compatible.
6.2
A good concise explanation of OSI was given in Ian Lynchæs article in
Archive 3.9 p25 under the title öConnectivityò. As Ian states in his
article, Acorn must be prepared to embrace these open standards or die,
and they must also be prepared to price their machines very carefully to
avoid losing out to the larger computer manufacturers.
6.2
Acorn seem to have started going in the right direction with the release
of AUN (Acorn Universal Networking) which has been launched under their
open networking strategy. AUN provides a RISC-based gateway onto a
campus-wide network of Ethernet machines, using a RISC-OS computer as a
gateway. A new version of Acornæs Level IV fileserver software has also
been optimised for Ethernet support.
6.2
Broader user base
6.2
Now that Acorn (and a number of other manufacturers) have decided to go
the way of standard networking practices, Archimedes machines will
obviously appeal to a wider audience, including users in business and
higher education. These users have different ideas and standards that
they expect of a computer system Ö high levels of security being one of
them.
6.2
The security on Acornæs and S.J.æs fileservers has not been of the
highest quality Ö although, to be fair, it hasnæt needed to be so for
use within a school networking environment. However, now that the
Archimedes is entering the big wide world, these factors must be taken
into consideration.
6.2
Whether we like it or not, there are already very well-defined security
structures used by all of the other major manufacturers. To offer any
real competition, the Archimedes must be able to conform to these or be
so far in advance of them that everyone is able to see the advantages of
the Archimedes system. The former is obviously the safest route but, as
we all know, the Archimedes is quite an amazing computer, and it would
not come as any great surprise if Acorn plumped for the latter option.
6.2
Now that the Archimedes is recognised more and more by existing PC
users, it would be a good idea if, amongst the plethora of new Archi
medes variants, Acorn were to bring out a machine that was aimed
exclusively at the PC convert market. It should have a dedicated
Ethernet interface, an 80486 co-processor with floating point compat
ibility, as well as the PC Emulator, linked to a version of TCP/IP that
would sit in the machineæs ROM and be available at any time. There might
also be some software available with the machine such as file transfer
programs and translator programs in the same vein as John Kortinkæs
excellent piece of software.
6.2
Well, I think that that is quite enough of my ramblings for the moment.
I must stress that all of the above are my own personal views and do not
necessarily represent those of Paul Beverley or Norwich Computer
Services.
6.2
New products
6.2
A new company called i3 (pronounced i-cubed), formerly known as PSI
Systems Innovations, have just released a product called ÉEtherLan 200æ
for the new A3020 and A4000 computers. i3 are better known as design
consultants involved with the supply of third party hardware products
for the Archimedes. They also design ASICs (Application Specific
Integrated Circuits). In essence, the EtherLan 200 offers connection to
10Base2 and 10BaseT Ö öCheapernetò and öTwisted pairò Ö with an optional
adapter for 10Base5 Ö öThick Ethernetò. From the information I have
received, this looks like quite an exciting development and Iæm hoping
to get my hands on one of these units to test out more fully. In the
meantime, if you would like any more information, contact i3 on
0223Ö413717 or fax them on 0223Ö413847.
6.2
Next month.....
6.2
Next month will hopefully see the start of the series on the installa
tion of TCP/IP into a large system of computers and mainframes, trying
to simplify some of the more complex operations that need to be carried
out.
6.2
As usual, I can be contacted at: 21 Pargeter Street, Stourbridge, West
Midlands, DY8 1AU (no phone calls please). If you have any comments
about this column or would like to offer some ideas or tell the world
about a new simple method for doing a tedious networking job, write in
and tell me about it. I canæt promise to answer all letters individually
but I will try to give any subjects raised an airing on these pages.ááA
6.2
The Pocket Book Ö Further Information
6.2
Simon Moy
6.2
Following the Éreleaseæ (I use the word cautiously) of the Acorn Pocket
Book and the article in Archiveæs ÉVision of the Futureæ supplement
(over two months ago! Ed), many people have enquiried about its
compatibility with the Psion Series 3, what software is supplied with it
and the availability of the various peripherals. When the Pocket Book
becomes available, the A-Link and the OPL Editor should be released at
the same time Ö with other less important software following on later.
6.2
This article is intended to answer some of the questions that have been
asked since the Vision of the Future supplement appeared. But first, a
recap...
6.2
A recap
6.2
The Acorn Pocket Book is a rebadged Psion 3 with different host software
and Acornæs own GUI operating system (which is not RISC-OS compatible).
It is aimed at the education market, and the accompanying software
reflects this. There are many Psion 3 features missing from the Pocket
Book and A-Link specifications. However, it is because these products
are being aimed squarely at the education market that Acorn (in their
infinite wisdom) do not consider certain applications or hardware add-
ons necessary. This still doesnæt explain the lack of a diary on the
Pocket Book. After all, how many school-children do you know who donæt
need a homework diary?
6.2
The Pocket Book has space to fit two MS-DOS format RAM cards (known as
Solid State Discs), each with a capacity of up to 2Mb. These are
available in two types: RAM SSDs which have a Lithium battery built in
and allow deletion of data as if they were a normal disc, and Flash SSDs
which are cheaper, but only allow the user to erase all of the data in
one go. Data can be flagged as deleted, but it will still take up space
on the disc until reformatting occurs. The Pocket Book has 256Kb of RAM
and a set of applications in ROM. External expansion is provided by a 9-
pin mini-DIN socket which is the output from a very fast (1.56 Mbit/s)
serial port. This allows connection to either of the serial links Ö
Acornæs ÉA-Linkæ or Psionæs É3-Linkæ Ö or to a parallel link to allow
the Pocket Book to be connected to a parallel printer.
6.2
A link (sic!)
6.2
The A-Link is a separate package from the Pocket Book and costs ú49.95
inc VAT. This price includes desktop software which allows the Pocket
Book to appear as a filing system on the Archimedesæ screen. Physically,
the A-Link is a small black box about 10╫2.5╫2.5ácm with two leads
moulded into the casing Ö one with a Pocket Book/Psion 3 serial
connector and the other with a 9-pin D-type socket. The Pocket Book and
the Psion 3 already have the driver software for the serial port built
into their respective ROMs, so nothing extra is required for them.
6.2
Good news for everyone is that the the Pocket Book and the Psion 3 are
compatible in just about every way, including the use of their respec
tive serial port connections. The Psionæs 3-Link works with the Pocket
Book, and the A-Link works with the Psion 3. However, Psionæs 3-Link
includes PC or Mac software, depending on which version you buy. (N.B.
Make sure that you buy the correct one as there are hardware and
software differences between the Mac and PC versions.) This software
obviously cannot be used under RISC-OS. The software for each link is
not available separately and so, to use the Pocket Book or the Psion 3
with a PC or Mac and an Archimedes, (using the original software) you
have to buy both links.
6.2
The A-Link and the 3-Link also have hardware differences, so the
software for one link cannot be used with the other. This does not
prevent you from using the A-Link under the PC Emulator without the
relevant RISC-OS software Ö the A-Link is fully RS232C compatible and so
you can use the Pocket Book through the A-Link using communications
software under the PC Emulator. However, this isnæt strictly true in the
case of the 3-Link as the Archimedes serial port doesnæt follow the
usual RS232/RS423 wiring specifications. Thus, you can only use the 3-
Link to connect a Psion 3 or a Pocket Book to the Archimedes running the
PC Emulator if you make a few wiring changes (details in Archive 6.1
p55).
6.2
The software with the A-Link includes a BBS script language facility (as
with the 3-Link) but I havenæt been able to find out whether it includes
such features as X- and Y-MODEM facilities. Once installed, it offers an
iconbar filing system with menu options such as Info, Open $ and Quit.
The filing system opens a filer window allowing file transfer between
the core applications on the Pocket Book/Psion 3 and the Archimedes. The
only restriction is that open files cannot be transferred. One further
facility allows it to translate between Latin1 and DOS character sets
during the transfer operation.
6.2
Software
6.2
There is a great deal of confusion about the availability of software
and its compatibility with the Psion 3 and the Pocket Book. The latter
comes with five applications and a ÉDesktopæ, selectable from the touch-
sensitive keys just below the screen. Because the software in the Pocket
Book is aimed towards the educational market, it has been altered from
the original Psion 3 software. The essential differences are as follows:
6.2
Application    Pocket Book    Psion Series
3
6.2
OS interface    Desktop (ROM)    System (ROM)
6.2
Wordprocessor    Write (ROM)    Word (ROM)
6.2
Database    Cards (ROM)    Data (ROM)
6.2
Clock & alarm    Time (ROM)    Time (ROM)
6.2
Calculator    Calc (ROM)    Calc (ROM)
6.2
Spreadsheet    Abacus (ROM)    Sheet
6.2
        Option (SSD)
6.2
Spellchecker    Included (SSD)    Option (SSD)
6.2
    No Thesaurus    With Thesaurus
6.2
Diary planner    Agenda
    Agenda (ROM)
6.2
    Option (SSD)
6.2
World dialling    World
    World (ROM)
6.2
& time zones    Option (SSD)
6.2
Programming    OPL run-time only    OPL (ROM)
6.2
    OPL Editor as     (Editor & run-
6.2
    option on SSD    time)
6.2
Many of the applications are data-compatible but not necessarily
functionally compatible. For example, Sheet and Abacus can use each
otheræs data but are not fully compatible with the more complex
functions. Similarly, World and Agenda (which should be available soon)
should carry out compatible functions but will not be exactly the same
as the Psion versions.
6.2
The OPL/w editor and translator will be the same as the Psion version
and the run-time system which is included with the Pocket Book is also
the same. This means that all Psion OPL programs will run on the Pocket
Book without requiring the actual editor. This is useful as the editor
is fairly expensive at ú69.95.
6.2
One other software change is the DTMF dialler. Acorn have said that if
this becomes available at all, it will not auto-dial telephone numbers.
This is a shame because the speaker built into the Pocket Book/Psion 3
was widely hailed as being the best and loudest on any hand-held machine
and it was designed with the auto-dialler in mind. The Pocket Book
renders it virtually useless except for the occasional warning beep. If
it exists on the Psion 3, I see no reason for it not to be included on
the Pocket Book.
6.2
Other information
6.2
Unlike the Atari Portfolio, the Pocket Book cannot support different
language configurations on the keyboard or screen Ö this is unfortunate
from the European perspective. There are two character sets built in:
Latin1 and DOS. but no other character sets are included because of a
lack of ROM space. Presumably, someone has already produced (or will
produce) a program which allows other character sets to be used.
6.2
There is a fair amount of Psion 3 software available via the usual PC
public domain sources. This can be downloaded from the PC into the
Pocket Book or Psion 3 using one of the serial links. Hopefully, the
Acorn shareware market will pick up on this as both the Psion 3 and the
Pocket Book have large gaps in their software markets.
6.2
The file transfer facilities on the Pocket Book are very good and,
because it has a multitasking operating system, it can handle file
transfer operations while other applications are running. The only
problem encountered so far is that files with filenames that include
Étop-bit-setæ characters Ö i.e. characters which are not available from
the keyboard without using a function key Ö do not transfer properly. On
the Pocket Book, these extra characters are produced using <ctrl>
followed by a three-figure number corresponding to the character code
required. They do not correspond (in general) to the <alt>-nnn charac
ters that are available from the Archimedes keyboard so it would pay to
avoid using them in filenames.
6.2
The educational viewpoint
6.2
The omissions from the Pocket Book specification seem to me to be rather
patronising towards those currently in our education system. Children
are becoming technically aware at younger and younger ages. You often
hear comments such as, öI canæt operate the video recorder but my six-
year old can.ò Many younger children have a great deal of knowledge
about computers and, as a result, their computer needs become more
demanding as time goes by. If the Pocket Book is tailored towards the
entire age range of students, from primary school up to university (as
the advertising blurb says it is) then why arenæt such things as the
dialling function and a diary included? Furthermore, what is the
rationale behind including a spreadsheet but not a thesaurus? I would
have thought that, for most students, the latter was far more important,
especially considering the current Étrendyæ lack of interest in correct
English grammar.
6.2
Conclusion
6.2
The Pocket Book remains an excellent machine (despite I have said
above!) and has enormous scope to be a market leader in hand-held
computers. My only hope is that Acorn will drop the price of the OPL
editor so that youngsters can start programming the facilities which are
currently missing from the Pocket Book/Psion 3 software market. Most
programmers start at an early age and, if Acorn want this product to
succeed in the educational marketplace, they have to market it with a
more professional outlook.
6.2
The Psion 3 is tailored towards the businessman and the Pocket Book
towards the student but the needs of the two are converging as computer
literacy increases amongst young people. The Pocket Book needs to be
simple enough for younger children to use but it must also have the
power of the Psion 3. In essence, it should be tailored towards todayæs
technological whizz-kids Ö i.e. anyone from the age of five upwards!ááA
6.2
Starch
6.2
Alan Highet
6.2
Starch (ú14.95 from Dabs Press or ú14 through Archive) comes on a single
disc encased in a plastic CD case with a single page detailing the
storyline and explaining the controls. The cover picture does little to
stir the imagination and Alien Images should give some thought to
employing an artist to design future covers.
6.2
My first complaint was that the program would not run from any filing
system other than ADFS unless you press <shift-break>. Although this is
not a great problem, I do think that nowadays programs should run with
just a double click and should return you to the desktop, leaving other
programs intact, something else that is not possible with Starch.
6.2
The storyline of this arcade game has you controlling two managers of a
large laundry firm which has fallen behind on its quotas. You have to
help Harry and Dave catch up by working all night to clear the backlog
before their boss Mr. C. Ash sacks them. In one-player mode you control
Dave with the computer playing Harry and both characters work at the
same time on a three-dimensional screen.
6.2
The controls are rather difficult to master because you have to move in
the four directions across the floor as well as being able to jump. The
keys selected are not the easiest to use and there is no way to alter
them although there is the undocumented choice of one player being able
to use a Voltmace joystick. It would have been nice for the other types
of joystick to have been supported as it would have made the two-player
mode simpler.
6.2
The game involves collecting your quota of laundry bags and performing
various operations on them. On level one, you simply drop them down a
chute while on level five you have to iron them with each level
involving a longer sequence of button pressing and lever pulling to
accomplish your task. On completing the five levels, you start again at
level one with an increased quota. Occasionally, a little bouncing ball
appears and touching this will either increase or decrease your quota by
two which sometimes can be extremely useful.
6.2
I reached level five very easily, even with the awkward controls,
because I found it easiest to let the computer player perform the
various tasks and then take the bag from him and finish the task myself
so decreasing my quota to zero. However, on starting on level one again,
I found it almost impossible to reach my quota in the time allowed
because there just werenæt enough laundry bags delivered.
6.2
Conclusions
6.2
This game has not got what it takes to catch on because I didnæt find
the urge to play it öjust one more timeò. The graphics are reasonable
and the figures move smoothly. The sound was adequate and although the
music could be turned down, there was no way of turning off the
digitised speech or sound effects. I tried turning off the internal
speaker but the program turned it back on again so I was left with not
being able to play the game in the evenings for fear of waking my
daughter.
6.2
The speech appears at the end of each level and consists of the boss
either telling you youæve done well or more likely telling you that you
are fired and a henchman opening a trap-door under your feet. It was
very amusing the first few times but it became boring very quickly.
6.2
There was a score for collecting and delivering the bags and other
little tasks but I was puzzled by the fact that no matter how hard I
tried, I always scored less than the computer even if I collected my
quota of bags and he collected none. Still, it didnæt matter too much as
there was no record kept of the high score table. There was a daily high
score but this only appeared if you reached a high enough score to enter
and it was never shown again.
6.2
Overall, I was disappointed with the game and would not recommend it for
long-term playability.ááA
6.2
ThinkSheet
6.2
Robert Chrismas
6.2
ThinkSheet is a RISC-OS compliant Outliner program from Fisher-Marriott.
It costs ú39+VAT or ú89+VAT for a site licence.
6.2
Outliners
6.2
Outliner programs are supposed to help us to think and to communicate
more effectively.
6.2
Prose (sentences and paragraphs of ÉGood Englishæ) is a wonderful means
of communication, but it has its limitations. We certainly do not think
in prose and it is often hard to turn a tangle of linked ideas into an
essay.
6.2
A word processor forces us to write our thoughts in order Ö a kind of
list of ideas. We explain connections, use sub-headings, footnotes and
all sorts of other clues to indicate the relations between ideas, but
the more complicated the connections, the harder this becomes.
6.2
Outliners arrange ideas in a tree structure rather than a list. They
encourage us to think and to write Étop downæ. Each idea is described by
a Échunkæ of text Ö it might be just one word or a whole paragraph. A
chunk can have additional chunks attached to amplify or explain it.
6.2
6.3
6.2
Outliners arrange chunks of text in a treeástructure
6.2
6.3
6.2
The ThinkSheet manual emphasises its educational uses but outliners can
help many activities which require clear thinking: planning a holiday,
describing a Bridge bidding system, analysing a poem or making a
shopping list.
6.2
Appearance
6.2
Some Outliners look rather like word processors Ö lines of text, with
only the indenting or paragraph numbering indicating the structure of
the data. Thinksheet seems more like a cross between a word processor
and a hyper-media package.
6.2
Documents are divided into pages which the manual rather unhelpfully
calls Éscreensæ. You enter text on Écardsæ. Each screen can hold a
number of cards. Attached to each card is a small keyhole icon. A click
on the keyhole opens the screen for that card.
6.2
6.3
6.2
6.3
6.2
Output
6.2
ThinkSheet saves files in its own format but documents can be displayed
on screen, saved as text or printed with a variety of layouts.
6.2
In Éconnected textæ, all the cards on each screen are joined together in
paragraphs. The Élistæ format starts each card on a new line. A
Énumbered listæ numbers and indents lines to show which level they are
on Ö this is the most common outliner layout. ÉText in boxesæ represents
the layout you see on the screen.
6.2
Ease of use
6.2
ThinkSheet is intuitive and easy to use. To create a new card, you click
on the screen. To edit a card, you click on the card. Entering text on a
new card or editing an existing one is just like using a word processor.
You change the position of a card on the screen by dragging it. Linking
cards to screens, and changing links, is simple and quick.
6.2
The program seems easy enough for the majority of junior school children
to use with no more than the usual difficulties (öSir, Sir! Katherineæs
eating a mouseò). However, its usefulness is not restricted to this age
range.
6.2
Other features
6.2
The clipboard is used to move cards between screens or documents. A card
on the clipboard keeps any screens which are attached to it, so whole
sections of the tree can be moved around. The clipboard shows the first
few lines of any card it holds Ö I found this very helpful.
6.2
You can search for a word or phrase. Wild cards are allowed. The search
displays all the matching cards. Then you can click on a card to move to
the screen on which that card appears.
6.2
ThinkSheet will display menus and prompts in foreign languages. Welsh,
German, Spanish and French were available the review disc.
6.2
Card layout
6.2
The cards are 20 characters wide. They are arranged in three columns on
the screen. Cards can be positioned to make simple tables. I found this
useful for some documents but, for long paragraphs of text, a Élineæ
based outliner would have been better. Perhaps, for later versions,
Fisher-Marriott might consider allowing cards to be one, two or three
columns wide.
6.2
The program tries to keep the card layout tidy by aligning the top edge
of each row of cards. If you make cards longer or shorter by editing
their text, the program keeps alignment. You can arrange the cards with
gaps. There were times when a card I had moved was auto-tidied (no itæs
not in the dictionary) to the wrong position but by juggling other cards
I always managed to get the layout I wanted in the end.
6.2
The manual
6.2
The manual is clear and well presented. There are about fifty A5 pages
with plenty of section dividers.
6.2
Most program effects can be selected in three ways, from an icon on the
screen, the menu or the function keys. The manual covers these separa
tely and is inclined to repeat itself.
6.2
The program allows some actions which the manual does not explain. For
example, cards can be dragged onto the title of a screen to move them up
a level and ordinary text files can be imported by dragging them onto a
screen. It is good that the program works in such an intuitive way that
you can discover new facilities by accident. However, it must be a
limitation in the manual that it does not mention them.
6.2
At the back there is an index/glossary. Some words have one sentence
definitions as well as a reference to a page number. This seemed a good
idea. Some important words were omitted. Given that the manual uses the
word Éscreenæ in an unusual way, I was surprised not to find it in the
index.
6.2
Uses
6.2
The manual says that ThinkSheet was originally designed to help analyse
existing text. An example document, ÉKublaæ illustrates this. The manual
claims that it was during development that the authors realised that
ThinkSheet could be used creatively, getting ideas down on cards, then
thinking about how they are organised.
6.2
The manual includes a section showing that ThinkSheet is appropriate to
a very wide range of national curriculum attainment targets, öfrom level
2 to level 10ò. ThinkSheet could be considered öwherever questions of
organisation, structure and combining information ariseò. It is a
reflection on the national curriculum that good educational programs are
seen in terms of the attainment targets they satisfy.
6.2
The emphasis in the manual on educational uses is probably sensible
marketing but ThinkSheet could have many applications outside the
classroom. This is one of those programs with a range of applications
only limited by the imagination of the user.
6.2
Use a hyper-media package instead?
6.2
Hyper-media documents allow all sorts of effects which make them good to
look at but hard to create. Less experienced users can find that
thinking about the way the program works gets in the way of thinking
about their subject. You have to plan hyper-media documents carefully if
you do not want to spend a lot of time altering them.
6.2
With ThinkSheet it is easy to bash in a few ideas, then think about how
they are connected. You could just as easily use ThinkSheet to plan a
hyper-media document as to plan a trip to the hyper-market.
6.2
Problems/Limitations
6.2
The program had problems displaying a few of the example documents. The
ÉNumbered Listæ display was scrambled on some documents. Other documents
had overlapping cards. On a couple of occasions, cards disappeared when
they were re-positioned and once ThinkSheet became so mixed up as to
claim that I was on level Ö2. I tried to duplicate these problems with
my own documents but could not, so I suspect that the problems lay with
the files which may have been created with an earlier, more bugged,
version of the program. (What a gracious reviewer you are, Robert! Ed.)
6.2
ÉLine basedæ outliners are usually able to show just the first Énæ
levels so that you can have an overview without all the details. The
nearest that ThinkSheet comes to this is to output the top level Éin
boxesæ.
6.2
It does not seem possible to have multiple views of the same document.
6.2
Conclusion
6.2
I have always been keen on outliners Ö the last program I gave up using
on a PC was PC Outline. ThinkSheet looks a bit odd after that but it
does the job. I may even be beginning to prefer the Ésheetsæ and Écardsæ
layout.
6.2
The documentation emphasises educational uses, but ThinkSheet can have
applications outside education. Organisers work for me Ö I think most
people would find one useful.
6.2
ThinkSheet is particularly easy to use. It had problems with some of the
example documents, but when I was creating my own documents it felt
solid. I have only seen a few other outliner-type programs for the
Archimedes but, of those I have seen, this is the best.ááA
6.2
each screen can hold a number of cards
6.2
6.3
6.2
 1. In Xanadu
6.2
6.3
6.2
    A) Foreign-sounding name
6.2
    B) Evokes far-away places
6.2
    C) More romantic than Birmingham
6.2
    D) Never heard of it, so no idea where it is
6.2
    E) Is it real or fairy-tale?
6.2
6.3
6.2
 2. did Kubla Khan
6.2
6.3
6.2
    A) Alliterative, romantic-sounding
6.2
    B) Vaguely Arabic, so reminder of Arabian Nights
6.2
6.3
6.2
 3. A stately
6.2
   ......                       a numbered list
6.2
6.3
6.2
              +ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ+
6.2
              | In Xanadu            |
6.2
              +ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ+
6.2
6.3
6.2
+ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ+  +ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ+
6.2
|    Foreign-sounding  |  |    Evokes far-away   |
6.2
| name                 |  | places               |
6.2
+ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ+  +ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ+
6.2
+ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ+  +ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ+
6.2
|    Never heard of it,|  |    Is it real or     |
6.2
| so no idea where it  |  | fairy-tale?          |
6.2
| is                   |  +ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ+
6.2
+ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ+
6.2
                          +ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ+
6.2
                          |    More romantic than|
6.2
                          | Birmingham           |
6.2
                          +ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ+
6.2
6.3
6.2
6.3
6.2
text in boxes
6.2
The PCATS Graphics Enhancer
6.2
Roger Spooner
6.2
The PCATS Graphics Enhancer, originally sold by The Serial Port and now
by QD Computers (I think it is now a Company called Vertical Twist!
Ed.), is an improved colour device. It allows the picture on your
monitor to display colours in a palette of 16 million, with up to 64
thousand on screen at once.
6.2
The card has two main pieces of hardware. There are a number of clock
crystals, allowing the video image to be sent out at any rate from 8
million bytes per second to 36 million. This allows screens with
resolutions of up to about 900╫650 although there is no specific limit.
There is also a new colour palette chip, providing all the new colours.
6.2
Installation
6.2
It is a single width podule and fits, to the best of my knowledge, on
any Archimedes. It also has a flying lead to connect to a set of pins on
the main computer board. The whole thing is easy to plug in if that set
of pins exists on your computer but some computers have been sold with
only a set of holes in place of the actual pins. If this is the case,
the computer will have to be modified by a competent, or confident,
engineer.
6.2
The installation manual is good, describing where to find the pins on
each model of machine, and how to get them the right way round.
Installing the podule part is as easy as normal. There is a small cable
to connect the old monitor output to a socket on the podule, and the
monitor connects to the podule. This causes no problems.
6.2
There are a number of *Configure options which need to be set in trust:
one must be set to 0, when it is already 0000000. It then becomes
10001111. Beware of sub-standard software such as old games or modules;
they can overwrite these values in the CMOS ram, wasting a lot of time
as you try to correct them.
6.2
The monitor will not work correctly until the *Configure options have
been set.
6.2
Software
6.2
The GE podule contains enough software on board to allow the monitor to
work, so you only need to load more if you specifically intend to use
the new modes. Software which supports them, such as Illusionist from
Clares, does not require any extra software to be loaded, so it is not
necessary to have a hard disc from which to boot.
6.2
There are two main applications supplied with the package. !ModeEdit is
an excellent product for defining and saving new modes. It has its own
file format which can contain many mode definitions and which is easy to
run from a boot file. Thus all your favourite modes can be tweaked and
the new ones loaded whenever you boot the machine. For example, I have a
wider mode 20 with a slightly higher refresh rate.
6.2
!ColPicker is not quite so carefully written but serves well in allowing
you to select the individual colours for the palette entries. You can
drag the Red, Green and Blue components up and down with the mouse, type
values or use the Hue, Saturation, Colour, Value or the Cyan, Magenta,
Yellow, Key models. I found it easy to modify some small details I
didnæt like, such as the absence of a Cancel icon.
6.2
It is possible not only to set individual entries but also to copy
groups around and smooth a sequence from one colour to another. Thus you
can make a clean greyscale in a few seconds by defining black, white,
and smoothing between them. You can also save palettes for later re-use.
6.2
A new version of the ColourTrans module is supplied, although all later
version will also work. This means that all standard software will run,
in the desktop, in the enhancer modes. Draw is especially useful for
designing colour advertisements Ö with a suitable palette, you can get a
precise idea of the colours you are using Ö graduated colour fills will
never be the same again!
6.2
Programmer access to the device is excellent, including SWIs for setting
individual palette entries, setting blocks of them, reading them and
telling if you are in an enhanced mode.
6.2
So many colours!
6.2
Unfortunately, you have to pick the colours for the desktop yourself.
This means that a graduated colour fill is easy to cater for but full
colour pictures can be a bit tricky and rarely look good in the desktop
in enhancer modes.
6.2
Any software with explicit support for the GE will of course work fine,
generally picking palette entries itself and keeping things neat. Thus
LoadImage, free from Design Concept, will allow you to see a Clear file
picture in full colour on the desktop by swapping the palette from its
current value to that for the picture when you move inside its window.
6.2
Illusionist supports the GE properly, apart from a bug, meaning that
pictures can be rendered in the Ébestæ 256 colours, which it picks
itself. The picture can then be saved as a Clear file, ready for loading
full screen into LoadImage or through Translator or Creator (by John
Kortink) to many other file formats.
6.2
The most commonly used modes are those which allow the desktop to run,
like 103 and 126. These, as said above, allow all desktop programs to
run in them, providing a great boon for those wanting real colour. These
modes have any 256 colours from a palette of 16777216, although one must
be black.
6.2
It is also possible to use modes with 4096 or 65536 colours on screen at
once. These do not have a palette but allow 4 bits per colour, or 5╜
b.p.c. where the values stored in memory go directly to the DAC. Thus
you have the full normal Archimedes palette, or slightly more than that,
but you cannot choose the colours. Because each pixel on the monitor is
made from 3 or 4 pixels in memory, combined on the podule, you cannot
use normal software in these modes. Anything which uses them must plot
each point 3 or 4 times, once for each primary colour (and a
combination).
6.2
Magic crystals?
6.2
The GE also has a number of crystals to set the clock speed. This
controls the amount of information (colours ╫ pixels ╫ refresh rate)
getting onto the screen per second. The higher this goes, the slower the
computer gets, both in main processing and in drawing on the screen, but
you do get more detail. These crystals include 24MHz, 25.175 MHz, 32MHz
and 36MHz. Any divide-down on these can be used down to 8MHz, so you
could have a 2 colour mode with 200╫100 resolution and a 40Hz refresh
rate, allowing the computer to run at practically full speed.
6.2
You can also install new crystals for up to 40MHz, allowing incredible
resolutions.
6.2
Summary
6.2
The PCATS Graphics Enhancer is well worth the money (about ú180) if you
need to compose DrawFiles with a certain set of colours, feel a need to
use Illusionist or have your own software which requires full colour
such as, for example, a full colour 3D graph or map plotter (well, up to
5D or maybe even 6 dimensions really!)
6.2
It does not support all 16 million colours on screen at once (in the
desktop) in a 1280╫1024 pixel mode, being refreshed at 70Hz. In that
respect it is a little lacking but it is an tremendous improvement on
the existing VIDC.
6.2
A multisync monitor is just as much of a necessity as it ever was (Acorn
should never have recommended anything else) because you canæt have lots
of pixels on a cheap monitor.
6.2
Hopefully, the colour problem will be officially sorted sometime but it
could be more than a year before Acorn get a new VIDC out. In the
meantime, this conforms to what standards there are and does it well.ááA
6.2
FX2 Ö Graph Plotting Package
6.2
Ken May
6.2
Thanks to Steve Ellacot, I have managed to find a software package that
allows me to plot every conceivable graph that is needed to cover an
advanced level course in pure mathematics. The program allows you to
express functions in cartesian, polar or parametric form, and all
equations are entered in standard algebraic format. For three years, I
have been searching for such a program and at long last it is now
installed on my hard disc. It employs the various features of RISC-OS
and is completely compatible with the Acorn range of computers. It is a
superb package and is very easy to use. The package is called fx2, is
published by Silica Software Systems, Mallards, Lower Hardres, Canter
bury, Kent, CT4 5NU and costs ú59 at the time of writing.
6.2
fx2 not only plots graphs but is also capable of carrying out the
following calculations: Area under curve, Volume of revolution, Length
of curve, Surface area of volume, Mean value, Root mean square value,
Centroid of area, Centroid of volume, Moment of inertia about x-axis,
Moment of inertia about y-axis.
6.2
Also under calculations, the following may be evaluated: Gradient of
curve at a given point, Equation of tangent, Equation of normal, Maxima
and minima, Roots of equations using Newton-Raphson.
6.2
Graphs may be overlaid and also, for a given set of parameters, families
of curves may be plotted. When graphs are overlaid, each graph is drawn,
by default, in a different colour. To obtain the best results on your
hard copy, the colour of each graph must be set to black on the overlay.
There are four choices of accuracy for plotting a graph, namely
Écoarseæ, ÉMediumæ, ÉGoodæ and ÉExcellentæ. The following examples
illustrate the high quality of the graphs that can be obtained by using
this package and so the accuracy of each graph has been set to
Éexcellentæ.
6.2
6.3
6.2
Example 1
6.2
Here we have plotted the graph of y = (x Ö 1)(x Ö 5), its tangent y = 4x
Ö 20 and its normal 4yá=áÖáxá+á5 at point (5,0). This is achieved by
overlaying the three individual graphs. By selecting point (5,0) and by
clicking on the icon buttons Éequation of tangentæ and Éequation of
normalæ, in the results-differentiation window, the appropriate
equations will appear in the inner window.
6.2
However, there is a minor accuracy problem as the tangent y = 4x Ö 20 is
evaluated as yá=á4xáÖ 19.9985584 and the normal 4yá=áÖáxá+ 5 as y =
Öá0.25001812x + 1.2500986.
6.2
6.3
6.2
Example 2
6.2
This is a graph of the function y = (x + 1)/((x Ö 1) (x + 3)). The graph
has two vertical asymptotes x = 1 and x = Ö3 which have to be overlaid
onto the graph. The problem is that, in Cartesian coordinates, there is
no facility to plot vertical lines. This is overcome by switching over
to polar coordinates and so x = 1 becomes r = sec q and x = Ö3 becomes r
= Ö3sec q. I have suggested that a vertical line option be added in
later versions of fx2. One has a choice of expressing 113q in degrees or
in radians. It may be necessary to change the scale factor along the x
and y axes in order to produce a respectable looking graph.
6.2
Example 3
6.2
In the Graph options window, one has a choice of being able to plot the
inverse of a given function. Unfortunately, it is not possible at
present to overlay the graph of the inverse of a function onto the graph
of the function.
6.2
As the full effect of plotting the inverse of a function cannot be
achieved without the overlay facility, there is little point in
illustrating this property.
6.2
Example 4
6.2
This is an example of using Polar coordinates by setting the format to
Normal and the Axes to Polar in the input window. In this window, you
are given the choice of expressing the angle in degrees or in radians
and there is an option to allow negative Éræ. Unfortunately, a cartesian
frame is displayed rather than an initial line. There is a problem with
plotting points and, regrettably, the circle in polar coordinates is an
ellipse on both the screen and the hard copy. Finally, parts of some
leaves of the rose, in the vicinity of the pole, are missing and the
ends of the leaves lie on an ellipse instead of a circle. A variety of
graphs are illustrated below.
6.2

6.2
a) The circle r = 10cos(q Ö p/3)
6.2
6.3
6.2
b) The cardiod r = 5(1 + cosq))
6.2
6.3
6.2
c) Limacon of Pascal r = 6 + 4cosq
6.2
6.3
6.2
d) The five-leaved Rose r = 10cos5q
6.2
6.3
6.2
Example 5
6.2
This shows a set of five vertical lines at intervals of two units from x
= 2 to x = 10. Notice that the line x = 10 is broken and incomplete as
it is on the screen display. These vertical lines were plotted using the
polar equation: r = a.sec(x) where a = 2 to 10, step 2
6.2
Example 6
6.2
Graphs of functions which are expressed parametrically are illustrated
here. Note that the flaw in the bottom right of the second occurred in
the plotting of the curve before the asymptote was overlaid. Also, the
asymptote y = Öx Ö 2 had to be inputted as y = Öx +2 because inputting y
= Öx Ö 2 caused the asymptote to pass through point (0,2) which is
clearly an error.
6.2
6.3
6.2
a) Epicycloid x = 4cos(t) Ö cos(4t)
6.2
y = 4sin(t) Ö sin(4t)
6.2
6.3
6.2
b) Folium of Descartes x = 6t/(1 + t3)
6.2
y = 6t2/(1 + t3)
6.2
6.3
6.2
c) The Trochoid x = t Ö 1.5sin(t)
6.2
y = 1 Ö 1.5cos(t)
6.2
Conclusion
6.2
As there are few people that are aware of the existence of fx2, the
publishers have had very little, if any feedback. It is not surprising,
therefore, that there are a number of problems to be solved before it is
perfected. All of the problems that I have highlighted in this article
have been passed on to Silica Software Systems who were most grateful.
They said that they would try to solve most of these problems, if not
all of them, before they release the next version of the program.
Despite its current faults, I am sure that fx2 is a package that every
mathematician using a RISC-OS system has been waiting for Ö I am very
impressed.
6.2
I have also made a few suggestions for improvements, namely:
6.2
i) an option to select the style of a line e.g. continuous, dotted, dot-
dash, dash.
6.2
ii) an option to shade defined regions
6.2
iii) an option to plot derived functions
6.2
I sincerely hope that fx2 gains the recognition it deserves.ááA
6.2
Brian Cowan, our expert on matters scientific adds: Yes, fx2 is an
impressive product replete with facilities. As Ken says, it is most
suitable for A level mathematics students; for that, I am sure the range
of options is ideal. Earlier versions of the product were rather
temperamental and often crashed my machine but these problems seem to
have been solved. It is a matter of taste, but one thing I did not like
(but which Ken clearly does ) is that formulae are entered in a sort of
algebraic form with powers, for example, as raised indices. I would much
prefer input in a pseudo-Basic or Pascal format so that complicated
formulae can be created in a text editor or those generated from another
program (such as a curve fitter) can be entered with ease. Also, I would
like the facility of parametric curves. All in all, this is a good
product but I would reiterate the point I made in a recent review of
Scientific Software (Archive 5.6 p51), where I encouraged people to have
a good look at what PD software was available in this area before
parting with real money.ááA
6.2
Newton Ö A Logo Microworld
6.2
Malcolm Fraser
6.2
Newton is a suite of programs written in the Logo language. You need
Archimedes Logo to run Newton, and as far as I am aware, Longman
Logotron are the only publishers of a full implementation of Logo for
the Archimedes. (What about Silicon Visionæs RoboLogo? Ed)
6.2
Newton aims to provide a simulation of the way in which forces act on
bodies, as described by the laws given by Isaac Newton in the Seven
teenth Century. This means it deals with the area called mechanics in A
Level Mathematics and Physics. Unlike many simulations, it is designed
to allow users complete control over the problems investigated, rather
than give examples to be examined passively. In the authorsæ words it is
designed öto encourage the exploration of forcesò.
6.2
Before reviewing the software, it may be helpful if I briefly describe
the Logo language. (There is a review of Logotron Logo in Archive 1.11
p50.)
6.2
Logo
6.2
If you have already encountered Logo, it is quite likely that you will
have used it to create drawings using Éturtle graphicsæ. A triangular
dart called a turtle starts in the middle of the computer screen. It can
be moved using a number of commands and can leave a trail on the screen,
drawing simple or complex shapes. The language needed to draw shapes
such as squares, triangles and so on, is very simple, and children of
junior school level can quickly learn to write programs to produce
drawings of houses and other shapes.
6.2
To give the flavour of the language, the listing below is the first Logo
program which many people encounter. It is designed to draw a square on
the screen, and Figure 1 shows the result of running this program, with
the turtle finishing in the bottom left corner, where it started. The
Logo procedure is:
6.2
TO SQUARE
6.2
REPEAT 4 [ FORWARD 100 RIGHT 90 ]
6.2
END
6.2
The distance is in arbitrary units but the turn is in degrees. Once the
procedure has been typed in, it is run by typing SQUARE.
6.2
Simple procedures can be used as building blocks to produce more complex
shapes. For example, Figure 2 was produced by writing the procedure
PATTERN which in turn uses SQUARE:
6.2
TO PATTERN
6.2
REPEAT 8 [ SQUARE LEFT 45 ]
6.2
END
6.2
The designs produced can be complex but quite beautiful Ö for example,
spirals and snowflake curves. Anyone who is interested should try to
find a copy of ÉTurtle Geometryæ by Harold Abelson and Andrea diSessa
which starts off with simple ideas but goes on to tackle difficult
problems in geometry. (Some parts of the book can be heavy going
mathematically though and the version of Logo is not quite the same.)
6.2
The language can be used in other ways as well. An article by Alan Angus
in Archive 4.10 p41 described a program which tests studentsæ ability to
describe sequences of numbers algebraically, using the ability of Logo
to process lists of numbers. Some aspects of Logo are derived from the
artificial intelligence language, LISP, so it is possible to use Logo in
ways which have nothing to do with turtle graphics.
6.2
The Microworld
6.2
Newton is a collection of procedures which make the turtle obey Newtonæs
laws of motion. These procedures add new words which can then be used in
Logo programs written by teachers or students, just as SQUARE was used
in PATTERN above. Briefly, the commands allow you to give the turtle a
velocity and a mass, and then to apply forces and observe the results.
6.2
You then have the opportunity to investigate what happens in situations
which would be difficult or impossible to set up in a laboratory. For
example, if you push a disc sitting on a frictionless surface, it will
move along the surface in a straight line until something else is done
to it. In practice, we cannot set up this experiment as there are no
completely frictionless surfaces in real life. On the computer screen
the situation is different and the turtle will keep going in a straight
line. It may disappear off the screen unless something is done to alter
its motion.
6.2
In order to get an idea of how planets move in the solar system, we
might want to look at a simpler problem such as one planet moving round
a star. What happens if this planet is nearly as massive as the star? Is
it possible to have a planet orbiting around two stars? There are two
ways to answer these questions. Either you try to carry out calculations
to solve the problem (which means that you have to understand the theory
in the first place) or you provide all the starting information to a
computer and let it calculate and display what happens. An advantage of
the second approach is that you get to Éseeæ the situation develop
rather than just get a number or an equation as a result.
6.2
Newton provides the procedures needed to set up models and then
investigate these and other problems, and to change details as you wish.
It should also give students a better understanding of the ideas of
mechanics through experiment rather than just learning the mathematical
tricks and techniques needed to answer specific questions.
6.2
Using the Newton package
6.2
The software comes with a 49 page manual which begins with a section on
how to prepare a working disc and use it with Logo. At this stage, a
working knowledge of ÉStartupæ files is helpful. The single user version
of Logo is copy protected so I do not think it is wise to attempt to
copy the Newton files onto the master disc. Setting up Newton to work
with the site licence version of Logo should be straightforward. The
manual then describes briefly, but clearly, the Logo words (primitives)
available when using Newton.
6.2
If you are not familiar with Logo and the extensions which come with
Logotron Logo, you may find setting up the microworld a little tricky.
If you want to use two turtles, for example, to carry out the star and
planet experiment then the ÉTURTLESæ extension must be loaded as well.
This can be done automatically using a short program but some previous
experience of Logo is a definite advantage in setting up the software
for the first time.
6.2
A section on classroom ideas follows and this is the most important part
of the manual. To begin with, there are some straightforward examples
which take you through getting the turtle moving in particular direc
tions at constant velocity. Almost immediately, some questions are
raised which you can decide whether to follow up or not. The first
questions are straightforward but solving them is easier if you use
commands not yet introduced. As an example, Newton produces one snapshot
of the path and position of the turtle every Ésecondæ but it is easier
to answer some questions if the time interval is reduced by changing the
time Éunitæ used in calculations. It is left to you to find the best
setting by trial and error.
6.2
The next step is to give the turtle a push by applying forces and
investigating how it behaves. At this point, the tutorial speeds up and,
very soon, you are setting up models of a ball in flight, a ball
bouncing on a floor and falling parachutes. By this stage, you need to
be able to write quite complex Logo procedures in order to solve some of
the problems. In order to follow up some of the suggestions you will
have to set up and process Élistsæ, a data structure which Logo took
over from LISP.
6.2
The manual concludes with a number of suggested projects, including
setting up a model which shows how a ball moves when you include the
effect of air resistance (going beyond the simple treatment usually
found in A Level courses), finding the best angle at the bottom of a ski
jump and investigating what happens when two balls collide.
6.2
Newton in practice
6.2
It is clearly stated in the manual that the Classroom Ideas chapter is
exactly that. You should not work through each part slavishly but rather
investigate any problem which you find interesting. For example, you
might take a problem from a text book and attempt to set it up on the
computer using the Newton commands. (Many simulations used in the
classroom set up a closed situation with limited scope for making
changes. For example, a simulation of gas in a jar might let you change
the temperature or pressure but not the forces between molecules or the
types of collision. Newton goes far beyond this in flexibility.)
6.2
However, in order to set up a model, you need some understanding of the
underlying principle. For example, you need to know that air resistance
increases as you fall faster when you start to model the effect of using
a parachute. Then you must translate this into Logo procedures and
instructions. Mathematics and physics teachers will find the first part
straightforward but I suspect that, at present, many would feel less
confident about the second stage. Students may find the reverse true!
There is increasing use of Logo in schools, and some A Level students
will already be familiar with Logo, which means they can concentrate on
the mathematics and physics involved.
6.2
The authors assume that you are familiar with basic Logo. If you are
not, you will need to spend some time learning the rudiments in order to
use Newton. As the you work through the manual, comments become ever
more brief, giving only hints on how to solve some problems. This does
mean that you need to spend some time translating problems into a Logo
programs, particularly when becoming familiar with the software.
6.2
I feel it would be essential to have some starting material to introduce
students to Newton, as they may not have a full grasp of mechanics when
they start using the package. I would have liked to see some sample
worksheets or more worked examples included in the manual, to help build
up familiarity with the software. The problems in the manual could
provide a good starting point if information were given about the
expected behaviour in some cases, so that users could check their
results and build up confidence.
6.2
It is quite easy to start producing simulations of complex problems with
a little practice. I suspect that anyone with an interest in this
approach to learning about mechanics would soon make the effort to learn
the language and programming skills necessary to use the package. I
found that using the program gave me some different perspectives on ways
to approach the subject and at the same time, my grasp of Logo improved
as I worked on the problems in the manual and also examined the Newton
programs themselves.
6.2
Quibbles
6.2
There are a few areas where I believe the package could be improved. All
of these except the last are quite minor points, and the first two could
be solved using straightforward Logo programming.
6.2
There should be a more detailed guide to setting up a working disc, or
transferring the programs to a hard disc, and a description of the way
in which a Startup file can be used to ensure that necessary Logo
extensions are loaded would help new users. It would also be a good idea
to specify the directory structure which the Startup file expects to
find when loading the files, and how this can be tailored to individual
requirements.
6.2
The manual has instructions for the Archimedes and for the RM Nimbus
version following each other. I can understand the economic logic of
producing one manual to cover both versions but it is irritating at
times to have to pick out the relevant parts only. Also, some of the
Nimbus options could be implemented on the Archimedes as well with
little extra work and some help for the less experienced user would have
been useful.
6.2
One of the example programs (describing a bouncing ball) sometimes halts
with an error message when it comes to the bottom of the screen. This is
a nuisance rather than a serious problem, and I suspect that it is due
to Logo itself rather than Newton.
6.2
The importance of choosing a sensible unit of time is mentioned but I
feel that more detail should have been given for anyone who is trying to
use the package independently. In some problems (planetary motion, for
example) if the default time unit is used, the path which the turtle
takes bears little relation to what would happen in the real world. If
students try the settings given in the manual they will find the planet
goes shooting off the screen rather than following an elliptical orbit
around the centre. I feel that an example worked out in detail is almost
essential here to help students grasp the rather subtle (in some cases)
effects of the approximation.
6.2
Conclusion
6.2
Newton is written for a small market. It is most likely to be bought by
schools for A Level Mathematics classes, but only if at least some staff
have previous experience of Logo programming. I would recommend this
package strongly but with the caution that ÉWhat you get out of this
depends on what you put into it.æ If you are prepared to investigate the
possible uses of the package (and to prepare additional material for
students if you intend to use the package with a class) and have some
experience of Logo, it will be well worth the effort to work with the
programs. Alternatively, mathematics students with some experience of
Logo could use Newton for independent study to build up experience with
the physical ideas involved. Any efforts made to work with Newton will
be repaid in an increased understanding of the mathematics involved.
6.2
The package is well produced but not expensive at ú19 plus VAT (ú21
through Archive). A secondary school site licence costs ú57 from Longman
Logotron. (Logo itself costs ú65 through Archive.)ááA
6.2
Figure 1
6.2
Figure 2
6.2
Review of Pendown Plus
6.2
Hilary Ferns
6.2
Pendown Plus from Longman Logotron is described as the Ébig brotheræ of
Pendown, the now popular wordprocessor for schools. The major additions
to the software are a mailmerge facility, table editing with simple
mathematical functions, extended dictionary facilities, booklet, label
and draft printing, master pages and chapters, and font find and
replace. Improvements have also been made to many existing facilities.
6.2
The software comes on a single unprotected disc and can be installed on
a hard disc or run from floppy. The utilities !Wordlist, !Table and
!Mail are separate applications on the disc. These could be put onto
another disc if you are using floppies, thus making room for extra fonts
on your Pendown Plus disc. The program comes with only two fonts,
Trinity and Corpus, with their medium, bold and italic variations, for
the benefit of RISC-OS2 users. (RISC-OS3 already has them). Separate
font directories are provided for RISC-OS 2 and RISC-OS 3.
6.2
The documentation is an easy-to-follow A4-sized guide which takes you
through the toolbox and menus step by step. For the more experienced
user it acts as a handy reference.
6.2
The version I received for this review was 1.13. All went very smoothly
until I investigated the ÉNew Chapteræ facility. With only a few words
in the existing chapter, creating a new chapter lead to the program
crashing with irretrievable loss of work. I contacted Longman logotron
who were extremely helpful and kindly replaced the program with the
latest version (1.18), and I am delighted to say I have found no
problems. (Apparently only a limited number of version 1.13 were
released for sale, and that version also had a problem with !Address
List and !Table not launching properly on a 1Mb machine.)
6.2
Getting started
6.2
The program loads in the standard RISC-OS way. The style of the initial
page depends on the default document called ÉStyleæ which is saved
within the Pendown Plus directory. This can be edited according to
personal preference.
6.2
There is a toolbox at the top of the screen with clear, self-explanatory
icons. There is a small menu associated with the iconbar, and standard
pop-up screen menu with submenus. At first I was a little concerned
about the menus being rather long and confusing for many younger
children; but then I found the ÉConfigureæ dialogue box which enables
you to turn off any number of toolbox and menu items, the latter
completely disappearing from your menu lists. Unavailable toolbox items
appear as greyed out icons. This makes the program extremely versatile
and suitable for a wide range of users. There are many useful keyboard
shortcuts which can be learnt, to prevent constant tracking through
submenus.
6.2
When loading a document, you are given the choice of overwriting the
existing document or merging it by inserting it at the caret position or
as a new chapter. A document can be saved in its entirety or just a
block selection, either as a Pendown Plus file or as ASCII text. Pendown
files can be loaded into Pendown Plus but not vice versa.
6.2
Rulers and margins
6.2
The Ruler icon can simply be dragged from the toolbox to the appropriate
place on the page to insert a new ruler at the current line. There is
also a vertical ruler, and both rulers can be shown in inches, centime
tres or picas. Margins and Tab stops (to a limit of 16) are set for the
current ruler by dragging coloured arrows across the horizontal ruler at
the top of the page. This all seems to be particularly user-friendly.
6.2
Graphics
6.2
The second toolbox icon toggles into Graphics mode to enable imported
pictures (sprites or drawfiles) to be moved and resized, but not rotated
or edited. Text does not automatically flow round a picture but by
inserting a new ruler at the appropriate position, the right or left
hand margins can be dragged to create a space for the picture. This is,
in fact, a very simple procedure allowing fairly precise placing of text
and pictures on the page.
6.2
Text editing
6.2
From the Edit menu you have access to a Find and Replace dialogue box
which may be simple or complex depending on the configuration. There is
also a ÉBlockæ menu Ö the selected block can be moved or copied to the
caret position, deleted or moved or copied to the Ébinæ, which is like a
clipboard. An Éinsertæ option allows automatic date and page numbering.
6.2
Many changes to text are achieved through dialogue boxes which pop up
from toolbox selections. Most of these dialogue boxes have a section
entitled Éscopeæ, offering the choice between ÉCurrent lineæ, ÉFrom line
downæ, ÉWhole documentæ or ÉMarked blockæ. I like the consistency in
this. In this way, font styles, leading and justification can be varied
throughout the document. The latter offers left, right, centre and full
justification and a final option entitled Ézonalæ, whereby part of a
line can be to the right, part in the centre and a third section to the
right. Text colour, underline, superscript and subscript can be selected
when required. Lower case letters can be changed to capitals and vice
versa, with the option to retain a capital for the first letter of each
word. You can also toggle between insert and overwrite modes. Using the
Éfont changeæ option, all occurrences of a particular font style in the
document can be changed.
6.2
Pages and chapters
6.2
Any page size can be defined and the view on screen scaled from 50 Ö
150%.
6.2
A simple Éturn to pageæ box allows quick access to any page in a long
document. New chapters are easily created at any point, with each
chapter optionally having separate master pages for odd and even pages.
It took me a while to grasp the master page editing. Headers and footers
can be placed on the master page but the size and positioning of them is
governed by the margins and tab stops on the vertical ruler. The margins
on the document are not set automatically to coincide with the master
page and, at one point, I found myself overwriting the page number as my
document text area was encroaching into the footer area. Practice (and
reading the instruction book!) makes perfect, as they say!
6.2
Printing
6.2
All printing was achieved straight away without any fiddly setup
procedures. Two versions of the print dialogue box are available, the
simpler one providing the choice between Écurrent pageæ or Éwhole
documentæ, and allowing multiple copies. A more complex box extends this
choice to any number of pages, with the additional options to scale any
page to fit your printer paper, rotate any page through 90░ and scale
it, and also a ÉDouble pagesæ option which will produce an instant
booklet (A5 on A4 paper). This was very simply done and I can see that
it has excellent potential for use in junior schools. I tried all these
options most successfully on both dot matrix and HP Deskjet printers. It
also offers a draft print for dot matrix printers.
6.2
Spelling
6.2
The spelling checker offers continuous checking, or the option to check
a single word, a section or the whole document. (The latter is a very
slow process.) Suggestions for unrecognised words are given and the
dictionary can be browsed. Words can be added to the dictionary.
6.2
New dictionaries can be created using the !Wordlist utility which can
also be very useful as a stand-alone program. It acts like a database,
within which lists of words can be searched, sorted, grouped and also
searched for anagrams and subgrams. Any text file loaded into Wordlist
will be converted to an alphabetical word list with frequencies
recorded. Clicking on any word in a list will insert it at the current
caret position into any text processor (including Draw).
6.2
Mailmerging
6.2
Again, it is all very simple. A CSV (Comma Separated Values) file can be
created using any text editor or database and imported into Pendown Plus
by dragging it into a dialogue box.
6.2
 !Mail is a very handy little address database, accepting and creating
CSV files. Sixteen fields are already named, with four more which are
user-definable. You can use as few or as many as you like, but Surname
must be included. It provides simple sort and search facilities on
selected fields, and will print out labels.
6.2
Tables
6.2
The final utility supplied on the disc is !Table, which is a simple
spreadsheet program. (Data is freely interchangeable as CSV files
between this and Junior Pinpoint, or Pinpoint, within which you could
carry out further calculations or produce charts and graphs). Tables of
varying size can be created. Individual cells can contain text or
numbers, all of which can be justified within the cell, and the final
table saved as a CSV file or Drawfile for importing into Pendown Plus
(or other DTP program). As a drawfile, it can optionally have the grid
printed. Within Table, rows and columns can be moved or interchanged,
totals and percentages can be calculated and up to four decimal places
displayed.
6.2
Conclusion
6.2
Pendown Plus is an excellent user-friendly program. As a wordprocessor,
it is extensive, although you must remember that it is not a desktop
publishing program and lacks the flexibility of page layout provided by
frame-based programs. Its ease of use does not limit the programæs
ability to produce professional looking documents. The remarkable thing
is its suitability for such a wide age range, right through primary and
secondary schools and beyond, to Mum or Dad in the office. (We havenæt
tried it out on the grandparents yet !)
6.2
At ú85, Pendown Plus would be pricey if all you were getting was a
wordprocessor. (Pendown is ú58 through Archive.) However, together with
Mail, Table and Wordlist, Longman Logotron have come up with a very
useful suite of programs at really quite a good price.ááA
6.2
The Oldham Overlay Keyboard
6.2
Rick Thorne
6.2
Drop it, thump it, spill tea on it Ö the Oldham Overlay Keyboard is
extremely robust and can withstand the rough treatment to which children
may subject it. With its rounded edges, the beige coloured overlay
keyboard is lightweight compared to the Concept Keyboard Companyæs
better-known product.
6.2
The Oldham Overlay Keyboard is for use alongside the regular keyboard
and to run it with an Archimedes three items are needed:
6.2
1) A user port, which does not come as a standard fitting on an
Archimedes but is easily added at any time;
6.2
2) Paper Ö A3 paper which goes on the overlay keyboard, either as self-
made or published overlays;
6.2
3) Software that allows the overlay keyboard to communicate with the
computer. The Oldham Overlay Keyboard is compatible with existing
software.
6.2
There are 128 programmable touch-sensitive rectangles in a grid 16 ╫ 8.
At the top of the keyboard there is a strip of hidden function keys
which allow options to be concealed. These are controlled by an on/off
key situated away from the overlay which helps avoid the problem of keys
such as Print/Finish being accidentally pressed. When a key is pressed,
a beep is heard and an LED lights up briefly. It has a built-in switch
interface which allows very young children, or older pupils with special
educational needs, to use single switch programs. When the switch
interface is in use, the overlay keyboard is disabled.
6.2
Software
6.2
There is already a substantial library of useful software supporting
various areas of the curriculum. Most of the software is for use in
early learning situations and for children with special educational
needs and most has been written for use with BBC ÉBæ and Master
computers. However, Northwest SEMERC have developed a variety of
programs such as My World, Conform and Phases #2 for use with the
Archimedes.
6.2
The package
6.2
The Oldham Overlay Keyboard is available for ú120 and comes with an
order form offering considerable discounts on a variety of software and
a Q.E.D. lever switch, on a one-off basis. A booklet, öThe Overlay
Keyboardò by Jenny Taylor is also included in the package. It gives an
overview of some of the ways overlay keyboards have been used in the
educational field, details of 60 popular programs, and examples of how
they have been used in various areas of the curriculum.
6.2
Conclusion
6.2
The Oldham Overlay Keyboard is a versatile resource for schools. It
makes access to the computer easier in all areas of the curriculum
because teachers can use published overlays or they can create their own
to match the class project or activities that allow the individual to
work at their own level. Considering its impressive appearance and
extremely competitive price, I think we may see an end to the Concept
Keyboard Companyæs monopoly of overlay keyboards. The need to fit a user
port to the computer is an added expense but I doubt whether it will
deter prospective buyers.ááA
6.2
LOOKsystems (p5)    47 Goodhale Road, Bowthorpe, Norwich  NR5 9AY.
(0603Ö764114) (0603Ö764011)
6.2
Minerva Systems (p12)    Minerva
House, Baring Crescent, Exeter  EX1 1TL. (0392Ö437756) (0392Ö421762)
6.2
Oak Solutions (p28)    Suite 25,
Robin Enterprise Centre, Leeds Road, Idle, Yorkshire BD10 9TE.
(0274Ö620423) (0274Ö620419)
6.2
Palette Studio (p15)    6c/6d Belgic
Square, Peterborough  PE1 5XF. (0733Ö344245) (0733Ö315424)
6.2
PDK Technologies    4 Meadow Way, Ampthill, Bedfordshire  MK45 2QX.
(0525Ö403541) (0525Ö403541)
6.2
PEP Associates    34 Tiverton Way, Cambridge  CB1 3TU. (0223Ö212251)
6.2
RESOURCE     Exeter Road, Doncaster  DN2 4PY. (0302Ö340331)
6.2
Richard Fallas & Associates    Shakespeare
Court, Grendon Underwood, Bucks  HP18 0ST. (0296Ö770555) (0296Ö770555)
6.2
Risc Developments (pp6/11)    117 Hatfield
Road, St Albans, Herts  AL1 4JS. (0727Ö40303) (0727Ö860263)
6.2
Sherston Software    Swan Barton, Sherston, Malmesbury, Wilts. SN16 0LH.
(0666Ö840433) (0666Ö840048)
6.2
Silica Software Systems    Mallards,
Lower Hardres, Canterbury, Kent, CT4 5NU
6.2
Software 42    109 Ferry Road, Hullbridge, Essex  SS5 6EL.
6.2
Spacetech (p16)    21 West Wools, Portland, Dorset  DT5 2EA.
(0305Ö822753) (0305Ö860483)
6.2
The Serial Port     Burcott Manor, Wells, Somerset  BA5 1NH. (0243Ö531194)
(0243Ö531196)
6.2
Turing Tools (p14)    149 Campbell
Road, Cowley, Oxford  OX4 3NX. (0865Ö775059)
6.2
VisionSix Ltd    40 Royal Oak, Alnwick, Northumberland  NE66 2DA.
(0665Ö510682) (0665Ö510692)
6.2
Wild Vision     15 Witney Way, Boldon Colliery, Tyne & Wear NE35 9PE.
(091Ö519Ö1455) (091Ö519Ö1929)
6.2
6.3
6.2