Archive Magazine 1996/ARCHIVE_96.iso/text/magazine/volume_06/issue_07

Text File | 1995-06-25 | 263KB | 5,674 lines

Authorised Acorn Education Dealers
6.7
As you have probably gathered, just after the last magazine went to the
printers, Acorn decided that Norwich Computer Services had, after all,
fulfilled the necessary criteria to be appointed as Education Dealers.
So, what difference will it make?
6.7
First of all, we should be able to give better service to our customers
because we are now buying computers direct from Acorn. Also, we are
getting warranty repairs done by them which should improve our turn-
around time on repairs.
6.7
Secondly, we are intending to improve our service to education
customers. In particular, I have been spending time recently getting to
grips with the huge (and growing) range of networking products available
for Acorn machines. Dave and Simon are currently at Acorn Computers on a
three-day course learning all about installation and maintenance of
Acorn networks.
6.7
If any schools and colleges want quotations for anything from software
site licences to complete networks of Acorn computers, just ring our
Education Hotline.
6.7
Improved Acorn Assist-ance
6.7
Acorn have improved the terms of their Acorn Assist scheme which helps
academics, teachers, students and education support staff to buy Acorn
computers. If you want details of the new, lower prices, just give us a
ring and ask for an Acorn Assist pack.
6.7
Archive seems to be getting earlier!
6.7
You may have noticed a slight tendency for Archive to come out earlier
in the month. This is a deliberate policy and it will continue over the
next few issues until it is coming out around the middle of the month
prior to its cover date. This means that advertisers and contributors
need to get copy into the office by about the first of the month for
inclusion in the following monthæs issue.
6.7
Spring Acorn User Show
6.7
Come and see us at the Spring Acorn User Show in Harrogate on April 15th
Ö 17th. If you want us to bring anything to the Show for you Ö to save
carriage Ö all you need to do is send in an order as normal but state
clearly that it is for collection at the Show. For orders over ú250,
deduct ú10 for the carriage charge saved. For smaller orders (but over
ú100) deduct ú5 carriage. This is only going to work if your orders
arrive by Thursday 8th April, i.e. you need to send off your order today
to avoid disappointment.
6.7
If you have anything we can sell for charity, bring it with you Ö BBC or
Archimedes Ö all will sell.
6.7
See you at the Show!
6.7

6.7

6.7
Å   Ace Printer Drivers Ö To clarify the situation about the different
drivers available, here is a list of the two types, Standard and
ProDriver, with notes on which work on RISC-OS 2 and 3. The Pro-Drivers
work on RISC-OS 3 only.
6.7
Ace RISC-OS Standard Printer Drivers
6.7
(Archive price ú17 each)
6.7
Canon PJ1080A (RISC-OS 2 only)
6.7
Canon LBP4/8 (RISC-OS 3 only)
6.7
ColourCel (RISC-OS 2 only)
6.7
Epson JX compatible (RISC-OS 2 only)
6.7
Epson ESC-P2 (RISC-OS 3 only)
6.7
HP DJ500C/550C/PaintJet (RISC-OS 2 & 3)
6.7
Ace RISC-OS 3 ProDrivers (RISC-OS 2 only)
6.7
(Archive price ú44 each)
6.7
Canon LBP4/8
6.7
Epson ESC-P2
6.7
HP DJ500C/550C/PaintJet
6.7
Shell for Acorn printer drivers (ProDriver A1 upgrade) (Archive price
ú27)
6.7
(Epson ESC-P2 refers to Epsonæs newest printer code standard so it
applies to Epsonæs latest printers such as the Stylus 800. It is
downwards compatible so it can be used with all Epson compatible
printers within the limitations of the facilities of each given
printer.)
6.7
Å   Advance is Acornæs new integrated software suite. It runs on RISC-OS
3.1 machines (1Mb or more) and provides word-processor, spreadsheet,
database and graphs package. The WP has some DTP-like facilities as well
as the usual WP facilities, including a 60,000 word spell-checker, and
can, of course, take output from the other programs in the suite.
6.7
Advance is aimed particularly at education and Acorn have involved some
educationalists in the development of the suite. (You may see a certain
similarity between these programs and existing applications because
Advance was a joint effort between CC, Clares, CRM, Iota and Acorn.)
6.7
The pricing is fairly complex. The single user version is ú99 +VAT (ú105
through Archive), the site licence for primary schools is ú199 +VAT
(ú215 through Archive) and the secondary school site licence is ú499
+VAT (ú520 through Archive). By Acornæs definition, primary includes
special needs schools but all other schools, including middle schools,
will have to pay the secondary school price.
6.7
Acorn also do an Off-site Disc Pack for ú99 +VAT (ú105 through Archive).
This is a set of ten key discs, allowing  pupils and staff to use
Advance on their computers at home. However, it may only be purchased by
schools with a licence.
6.7
Å   Badger Trails price increase Ö Sherston Software have increased the
price of Badger Trails from ú35 to ú39.95 +VAT. The Archive price is now
ú44.
6.7
Å   Budget games Ö David Ramsdenæs Arcade, which is a set of four RISC-OS
arcade games costing ú5.95 (no VAT), is now also available as four
separate games at ú1.99 each from David Ramsden, 7 Chevet Lane,
Wakefield, West Yorkshire, WF2 6HN. The games are Chomper, Intruders,
RockSmash and Armageddon.
6.7
Å   Bulletin is a bulletin board system from XOB for use over Econet. It
provides the usual bulletin board services including electronic mail,
special interest groups and closed user groups. This fully RISC-OS
compliant software runs on any Archimedes, supports up to 1,500 users
and comes with a site/network licence for ú69 +VAT from XOB or ú75
through Archive.
6.7
Å   Dabhand Guide to Impression Ö Anne Rooney has written a 400+ page
guide to Impression with 23 chapters attempting to cover all aspects of
using Impression from getting Impression installed on your computer to
the finer points of using the Impression Business Supplement. It costs
ú14.95 through Dabs Press or ú15 (including postage) through Archive.
6.7
Å   DrawHelp Ö This isnæt a new product but it is a helpful introduction
to Draw, produced by Sherston Software. As we are now stocking their
products, it is available through Archive for ú15. (ú15.95 through
Sherston.) It was written for the RISC-OS 2 version of Draw but serves
as an introduction to the RISC-OS 3 version as well, even though it
doesnæt cover the newer features.
6.7
Å   Epson Stylus 800 Ö A new inkjet printer has been released by Epson. It
seems comparable with the Canon BJ200 but the ink doesnæt seem to run as
much on cheap paper so it gives a crisper printout. It can be driven
from standard RISC-OS drivers but, for best effect, use the Ace Pro-
Driver. The Archive price is ú330 or ú370 if bought with the Pro-Driver.
This compares with the Canon BJ200 at ú355 on its own or ú393 with the
CC Turbo-Driver.
6.7
Å   FirstLogo Ö Longman Logotron have produced a version of Logo for use
with primary schools children. It aims to provide an environment where
children can experience computer-based problem-solving as required by
the National Curriculum. The price is ú24 +VAT from Longman Logotron (or
ú26 through Archive) for a single user or ú72 +VAT (ú78 through Archive)
for a primary site licence.
6.7
Å   Graphics on the ARM Ö This is a new book by Roger Amos Ö a 400+ page
guide to various aspects of graphics on the Archimedes range of
computers. It covers such things as fonts, Draw, Vector, 3D graphics,
Paint, art packages, image processing, ray-tracing, animation and
mathematical and abstract graphics. It costs ú14.95 through Dabs Press
or ú15 (inc postage) through Archive.
6.7
Å   HCCS 16-bit SCSI cards Ö HCCS sell a 16-bit SCSI card which includes
full support for CD-ROM. These cost ú99 +VAT or ú110 inclusive through
Archive.
6.7
Å   IronMask 2.0 Multi-User Edition Ö IronMask 2.00 is a major upgrade of
Turing Tools RISC-OS file security system, providing password-controlled
access to important files and directories. IronMask 2.0 supports up to
63 PIN identified users plus an administrative superuser. The superuser
is identified at installation and is responsible for adding and removing
subsequent users. Any signed-on user has the ability to öshieldò or
öunshieldò files by means of a private key. Shielded files are
completely inaccessible to file-handling operations until they are
unshielded using the original key. Automatic time-out guards an
unattended IronMask session from opportunist entry.
6.7
IronMask 2.0 Multi-User Edition is available from Turing Tools for ú65
(inclusive) for installation on one computer or ú195 (inclusive) for
unlimited use on a single site. Educational site licences are available
at a discount, available by individual arrangement.
6.7
IronMask 1.2 continues to be available as IronMask 1.2 Personal Edition,
at the reduced price of ú49 inclusive. IronMask 1 customers can upgrade
to IronMask 2.0 for ú10 on application to Turing Tools.
6.7
Å   Memory upgrades down Ö HCCS have reduced the prices of their memory
upgrades for the new A3000/4000 computers. A 1Mb upgrade for the A3010
is now just ú35 inc VAT through Archive and the 2Mb upgrades for A3020/
4000 are ú70 inc VAT through Archive.
6.7
Å   MIDI files Ö A company called Words & Music has translated a large
number of MIDI files into Archimedes format. There are three volumes of
classical music, one of ragtime music and one of drum tracks. The discs
are ú10.95 each (no VAT) or you can buy all five discs for ú48.75.
6.7
Å   NetChat Ö NetChat is a network communication system providing machine
to machine interaction over Acorn networks. Amongst other things, it
allows users to communicate with each other by a conferencing system
which provides for simultaneous conversations between several users.
Messages may be typed directly into a Éconversation windowæ or pre-
prepared text files may be sent by simply dragging them onto the NetChat
icon. The core NetChat module also allows files, applications and
complete directories to be passed between machines even in the absence
of a fileserver.
6.7
There are also facilities that allow the keyboard of one machine to
control directly a remote machine or to allow operating system commands
to be sent to a remote machine, permitting modules and programs to be
run on one machine from another machine. You can also get a snapshot
view of another computeræs screen. To show the realtime interaction,
there is an Othello game played by users on different machines.
6.7
A site licence for NetChat costs ú84 +VAT or ú92 through Archive.
6.7
Å   NetManage Ö A new piece of software has appeared from Australia which
will be of great help to Network Managers. NetManage, from Suitable
Software, is a network management tool for use on AUN over Econet or
Ethernet. It allows you to create and maintain user password files on
Acornæs Level 3, Filestore and Level 4 fileservers. The price is ú50 (no
VAT) from Suitable Software in the U.K. or $125 in Australia.
6.7
Å   On-site warranty Ö Acorn offer on-site service and warranty on all
their new computers: A3010, A3020, A4000 and A5000. You can choose 1-
year or 3-year warranties and the cost depends on the type of computer
and whether or not it has a hard drive. The Acorn monitor you purchased
at the same time is included in the warranty. These warranties have to
be purchased at the time of purchase of the computer or within 30-days
thereafter. The prices are: 1-year A5000 Ö ú39.95 (ú37 through Archive),
1-year A3010/3020/4000 ú29.95 (ú28 through Archive), 3-year A5000 Ö
ú79.95 (ú74 through Archive), 3-year A3020HD and A4000 ú59.95 (ú60
through Archive) and 3-year A3010 and A3020FD ú49.95 (ú46 through
Archive).
6.7
Å   Optima is NW SEMERCæs new hypermedia database. It allows users to link
words, pictures and sounds so that you can create talking books,
branching stories, adventures and viewdata systems. It costs ú18 +VAT
from NW SEMERC.
6.7
Å   Parallel port SCSI adaptor Ö Atomwide have produced a SCSI adaptor
which plugs into the bidirectional printer port of the new machines. The
price is ú49.95 +VAT (ú55 through Archive). See Hardware Column on page
55 for details.
6.7
Å   Phases 3 Ö NW SEMERC have released the latest version of their RISC-OS
word-processor for children aged 5 upwards. With its extra facilities,
Phases 3 still only costs ú18 +VAT.
6.7
Å   Pocket Book / Psion 3 products Ö We have increased our range of
products for the Pocket Book and reduced the prices of some of the
memory products.
6.7
   Acorn   Archive
6.7
Parallel Link   ú29.95   ú28
6.7
RAM Disc 128Kb   ú79.95   ú74
6.7
RAM Disc 512Kb   Öááá   ú138
6.7
RAM Disc 1Mb   Öááá   ú278
6.7
Flash Disc 128Kb   Öááá   ú37
6.7
Flash Disc 256Kb   ú69.95   ú65
6.7
Flash Disc 512Kb   ú119.95   ú93
6.7
Flash Disc 1Mb   Öááá   ú185
6.7
Flash Disc 2Mb   Öááá   ú278
6.7
OPL Editor   ú69.95   ú65
6.7
Mains Adaptor   ú14.95   ú15
6.7
Å   RiscCAD Junior is a 2D draughting system which provides a wide range
of draughting facilities, all working in the RISC-OS environment. The
Junior version of RiscCAD is available now for ú80 +VAT from Davyn
Software. A Professional version should be available by the time you
read this and will cost ú130 +VAT.
6.7
Å   S-Base is Longman Logotronæs exciting new database. It is not just a
straight database but has a database language called S (what else?)
which allows you to write your own procedures and mini-programs using an
Edit-like editor for program editing. S-Base comes with a template
editor, with Draw-like tools for creating the layout of your databases.
It can handle a range of data types including integer, FP, string, date,
time and you can even define your own data types. It can also handle
large objects like sprites or Replay files. The personal version costs
ú99 +VAT (ú105 through Archive) and the developeræs version costs ú199
+VAT (ú215 through Archive). With the developeræs version, you can
create databases which can be compiled and then, once compiled, can be
run independently of S-Base. The resultant databases cannot be edited
but they come with a royalty-free version of the S runtime system, so
you can give away or sell the database as you wish.
6.7
(We are hoping to use S-Base to create an all-singing, all-dancing
database for the Archive office and we hope to install it on the network
as soon as the S-Base network version becomes available! We are
certainly going to need an S-Base Column in Archive. Is anyone
interested in running it for us? Ed)
6.7
Å   Serenade is a desktop MIDI sequencer from Clares. It provides 16-track
record and playback, keyboard capture, transpose, quantise, full editing
facilities, guitar chord input, etc. Serenade costs ú135 inc VAT or ú125
through Archive.
6.7
Å   SideShow is a video-titling package from Computer Concepts distributed
with the Wild Vision Chroma-Genlocks. It functions around Draw and
thereby acts as a medium for overlaying drawn objects, sprites and/or
text onto video. It offers sequencing of screens with blanking, looping
and scrolling. It will not be sold as a stand-alone package but existing
owners of Chroma-Genlock boards can upgrade their ChromaText software
free of charge through Wild Vision if they do so before 30th June 1993.
The Chroma-Genlock package costs ú259.68 including VAT and carriage or
ú240 through Archive.
6.7
Å   SyQuest removable drives Ö There is now an alternative version of the
SyQuest 84Mb removable drive. The older versions would read 42Mb discs
but could not write them but the new drives can read and write both
sizes of discs. This is a great bonus to anyone who is likely to want to
exchange data between sites. The new drives will cost ú670 instead of
ú590 for the older version.
6.7
Å   Teletext on AUN networks Ö XOBæs Teletext serving software, mentioned
last month, is now available through Archive for ú169.
6.7
Å   Ultimate Expansion expansion Ö The range of HCCSæs Ultimate Expansion
system is increasing Ö and dropping in price. There is now a User Port/
Analogue Port Starter Pack for ú79 +VAT (ú88 through Archive). The A3010
20M Ultimate 2-slot multipodule has dropped from ú303 to ú250 (Archive
price) and the 60M Ultimate 2-slot multipodule has dropped from ú445 to
ú335 (Archive price). The SCSI starter Pack has dropped from ú133
(Archive) to ú100 and the Archive price of the SCSI micropodule has
dropped from ú110 to ú77.
6.7
Å   WordSearch Ö If you want to make up a word-square (words hidden in
various directions within a matrix of letters) then Davyn Software can
make life easier for you. For ú17 +VAT, they offer WordSearch which
takes an Edit file of words and creates a word-square for you.
6.7
Review software received...
6.7
We have received review copies of the following: Arcade, ArcTrack,
Choices, Dabhand Guide to Graphics on the ARM, Dabhand Guide to
Impression, Insight, Landmarks Ö Civil War, LinkWord Ö Spanish,
Masterfile 3, NetManage, Numerator Workcards, Optima, Picture It!,
Precision, Punctuate, QuickTile, SatPack 1, Screenplay Training Video,
Smudge the Spaniel, Soapbox, Splash, SpySnatcher, Squish, ThinkLink,
Through the Dragonæs Eye, The Spoken Word, Tiles, WordSearch, Xword, Yes
Chancellor II.ááA
6.7

6.7
Government Health Warning Ö Reading this could seriously affect your
spiritual health.
6.7
öMan is just another animal Ö more intelligent, perhaps, but basically
no different.ò Really? Take a look at the newspapers! Is there any other
animal capable of such atrocities as homo sapiens? Even the young of the
species demonstrates the ability to torture and kill its own kind. We
are the only animals capable of totally destroying its own environment
through greed and self-interest. Then, on the plus side, we could name
amazing individual acts of heroism, self-less devotion and dedication.
6.7
No, I donæt think weære öjust another animalò. There is such a thing as
ögoodò and such a thing as öevilò. We all know which comes more
naturally and I donæt mind admitting Ö I need help!
6.7

6.7
Norwich Computer Services 96a Vauxhall Street, Norwich, NR2 2SD.
0603Ö766592 (Ö764011)
6.7

6.7
4Mation    11 Castle Park Road, Whiddon Valley, Barnstaple, Devon, EX32
8PA. (0271Ö25353) (0271Ö22974)
6.7
Abacus Training (p18)   29 Okus
Grove, Upper Stratton, Swindon, Wilts, SN2 6QA.
6.7
Ace Computing    27 Victoria Road, Cambridge, CB4 3BW. (0223Ö322559)
(0223Ö69180)
6.7
Acorn Computers Ltd    Fulbourn
Road, Cherry Hinton, Cambridge, CB1 4JN. (0223Ö254254) (0223Ö254262)
6.7
Aleph One Ltd    The Old Courthouse, Bottisham, Cambridge, CB5 9BA.
(0223Ö811679) (0223Ö812713)
6.7
Alpine Software    P.O.Box 25, Portadown, Craigavon, BT63 5UT.
(0762Ö342510)
6.7
Atomwide Ltd    23 The Greenway, Orpington, Kent, BR5 2AY. (0689Ö838852)
(0689Ö896088)
6.7
Clares Micro Supplies    98
Middlewich Road, Rudheath, Northwich, Cheshire, CW9 7DA. (0606Ö48511)
(0606Ö48512)
6.7
Colton Software (p33)   2 Signet
Court, Swanns Road, Cambridge, CB5 8LA. (0223Ö311881) (0223Ö312010)
6.7
Computer Concepts (p13/14)   Gaddesden
Place, Hemel Hempstead, Herts, HP2 6EX. (0442Ö63933) (0442Ö231632)
6.7
Dabs Press    22 Warwick Street, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 7HN.
(061Ö773Ö8632) (061Ö773Ö8290)
6.7
Davyn Software    The Workshop, off Princess Street, Sandal, Wakefield,
WF1 5NY. (0924Ö254800)
6.7
HCCS Ltd    575Ö583 Durham Road, Gateshead, NE9 5JJ. (091Ö487Ö0760)
(091Ö491Ö0431)
6.7
ICS (p26)   1 Kington Road, West Kirby, Wirral, L48 5ET. (051Ö625Ö1006)
(051Ö625Ö1007)
6.7
IFEL    36 Upland Drive, Plymouth, Devon, PL6 6BD. (0752Ö847286)
6.7
Ivoryash Ltd    14 Perwell Close, Bredon, Tewkesbury, Gloucester, GL20
7LJ. (0684Ö73173)
6.7
Krisalis Software    Teque House,
Masonæs Yard, Downs Row, Moorgate, Rotherham, S60 2HD. (0709Ö372290)
6.7
Lambda Publications    194 Cheney
Manor Road, The Green, Swindon SN2 2NZ. (0793Ö695296)
6.7
Longman-Logotron    124 Cambridge Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge CB4
4ZS. (0223Ö425558) (0223Ö425349)
6.7
LOOKsystems (p25)   47 Goodhale Road, Bowthorpe, Norwich, NR5 9AY.
(0603Ö764114) (0603Ö764011)
6.7
Matt Black    P.O.Box 42, Peterborough, PE1 2TZ. (0733Ö315439)
6.7
Minerva Systems    Minerva House, Baring Crescent, Exeter, EX1 1TL.
(0392Ö437756) (0392Ö421762)
6.7
Morley Electronics    Morley
House, Norham Road, North Shields, Tyne & Wear, NE29 7TY. (091Ö257Ö6355)
(091Ö257Ö6373)
6.7
Northwest SEMERC    Fitton Hill CDC, Rosary Road, Oldham, OL8 2QE.
(061Ö627Ö4469)
6.7
Oak Solutions (p17)   Suite 25,
Robin Enterprise Centre, Leeds Road, Idle, Yorkshire BD10 9TE.
(0274Ö620423) (0274Ö620419)
6.7
Oregan Developments    36 Grosvenor
Avenue, Streetly, Sutton Coldfield, B74 3PE.
6.7

6.7

6.7
Paul Beverley
6.7

6.7
Small Ads
6.7
(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)
6.7
Å   128Kb RAM disc for Psion 3 or Acorn Pocket Book, as new, supplied with
new battery, ú55. Phone Mark on 0905Ö754277.
6.7
Å   2Mb RAM upgrade (Watford) for A310 ú70, 5╝ö 40/80 drive with p.s.u.
ú35, 5╝ò interface (Beebug) ú9. Phone 050Ö587Ö3581.
6.7
Å   50Mb SCSI Quantum Pro-drive inc mounting brackets, ú100. Phone
0908Ö648894 eves, w/es.
6.7
Å   A5000 RISC-OS 3.1 upgrade (unused) ú10, A3000 serial kit ú10, 1Mb for
A3000 ú10. Phone 0780Ö54537.
6.7
Å   A3000 2Mb RAM, Acorn colour monitor, Lingenuity 8 bit SCSI card, ú550.
Phone 091Ö460Ö2031.
6.7
Å   A3000 LC, 4Mb, RISC-OS 3.10, HCCS Hardcard 45, ARM3, Double 40/80
track disc drive, Scanlight 256, Philips 8833 monitor, lots of software
including E-Type, Holed Out, clipart, Interdictor 2, Wonderland, etc.
Excellent condition. Cost over ú2200. Will accept ú1000 o.n.o. Will
split. Phone 0522Ö529630.
6.7
Å   A410/1, 4Mb RAM, 40Mb IDE HD, RISC-OS 3.10, manuals and loads of
software, ú900 o.v.n.o. ú1000 o.v.n.o. with Acorn multisync monitor.
Phone 071Ö703Ö5675.
6.7
Å   A5000 40Mb hard drive, 4Mb RAM, RISC-OS 3.10, PC Emulator v1.7,
Impression Junior, DeskEdit, Masterfile II, InterWord, InterSpell and
InterSheet (all on disc), Enter The Realm. ST506 hard drive (for A400
etc). Phone Coventry 0203Ö410047.
6.7
Å   A5000 4Mb RAM, Acorn multisync, Learning Curve + PCEm 1.8, software,
discs, magazines, books, etc, ú1200. Phone 081Ö698Ö3772.
6.7
Å   Acorn AKF11 standard monitor for Archimedes, v.g.c., original packing,
buyer collects, ú35. Phone Raymond Wright on 0483Ö575870.
6.7
Å   Acorn DTP with clipart ú40. Beebug Star/Epson colour printer driver
ú8, Minerva GammaPlot ú20, System Delta+ ú30, Mailshot (for SD+) ú15.
Digital Research DR DOS 5.0 (for PC Emulator) ú20. Nevryon ú8, Powerband
ú8, Terramex ú5, Computer Concepts ROMS (for CC ROM podule) InterChart
ú10, InterSheet ú15, SpellMaster ú20. Phone R A Brown on 0737Ö832159.
6.7
Å   Eizo 9060SZ low radiation monitor, as new, ú300 o.n.o., Phone 0245-
325205.
6.7
Å   Epson LQ800 24 pin dot matrix, tractor feed and single sheet feeder, a
few new ribbons. Offers to Chris Johnson, 7 Lovedale Grove, Balerno,
Edinburgh, EH14 7DR. (031Ö449Ö3869)
6.7
Å   Flexifile database, ú45. First Word Plus release 2, ú28. Acorn DTP
ú28. Beebug disc interface for A310/A440 + DFS reader ú28. Chocks Away
Compendium, Drop Ship, Real McCoy 2, Conqueror, Break 147 ú50. Details
051Ö606Ö0289.
6.7
Å   Free Juki 6100 daisywheel printer + daisy wheels and ribbons (collect
or pay carriage). Phone Chris Johnson on 031Ö449Ö3869.
6.7
Å   Impression Junior (vers 1.17 Nov 92) ú42 post paid. Phone 0203Ö418064.
6.7
Å   ISO C development system v1.7 (Risc Dev.), ú50. Phone 09467Ö23275.
6.7
Å   PC386 4Mb podule with co-processor and latest software. Half price at
ú325. Phone John on 0373Ö813336.
6.7
Å   Roland (MIDI) MT-32 Multi Timbre Sound Module ú125 o.n.o. (over ú400
new) quick sale. Casio (MIDI) HT-700 keyboard ú75 o.n.o. (over ú200
new). Both items for ú150. Phone 0487Ö740601 6Ö7pm and weekends.
6.7
Å   Redundant Econet gear inc clock box, 8 Econet boards, sets of leads,
Econet boxes, terminators and cable. Offers to Chris Johnson, Department
of Chemistry, Heriot-Watt University, Riccarton, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS.
6.7
Å   Star LC200 Colour dot matrix v.g.c., little used, ú80. Phone
0732Ö454707.
6.7
Å   Wanted Ö C compiler for 2Mb A3000 to write modules and WIMP
applications. Acorn C release 3 or later will do, possibly with desktop
front end. Phone Alun Moon 0773Ö570235.
6.7
Å   Wanted Ö PipeDream 4. Phone 0203Ö410047.
6.7
Å   Watford Hand scanner, ú65. Repton 4, ú12.50. Clares Illusionist ú35.
Phone 06977Ö46786.
6.7
Charity Sales Ö The following items are available for sale in aid of
charity. PLEASE do not just send money Ö ring us on 0603Ö766592 to check
if the items are still available. Thank you.
6.7
(If you have unwanted software or hardware for Archimedes computers you
could donate for charity, please send it to the Archive office. If you
have larger items where post would be expensive, just send us details of
the item(s) and how the purchaser can get hold of them.)
6.7
Arcticulate ú5, EMACS (D Pilling) ú2, MicroDrive (golf) ú6, Saloon Cars
ú10, Serial interface for Panasonic KX-P1080, 1091, 1092, 1592 or 3131
ú4, System Delta Plus Ref Guide ú3, Wordwise Plus for Archimedes (disc
version) inc manuals ú8.ááA
6.7

6.7

6.7
Hints and Tips
6.7
Å   Configuring the main Edit window Ö The RISC-OSá3 version of Edit makes
no provision for preferences concerning the size and the place on the
screen of a newly opened Edit window.
6.7
However, this can easily be rectified. If you run Edit from your hard
disc, the Templates file can be edited according to taste. The nice
thing is that, even from the hard disc, Edit still occupies the same RAM
space (64 Kb on a 4 Mb machine).
6.7
Here is what you do: drag the Edit application from the Apps directory
to your hard disc, click <menu> on the Apps icon, then <select> to open
the root directory, open the Resources directory and copy the three
files inside the Edit subdirectory into your new Edit application. (For
Acorn newcomers, you open an application directory by double clicking
while holding down <shift>.)
6.7
Then drag the Templates file on to the iconbar icon of FormEd (an
application available from N.C.S. on Sharewareá20) and drag the Text
window (the one which is filled with a web of diagonal lines) into the
desired position. Save the edited Template file.
6.7
If you always use Edit, donæt forget to change your configuration so
that, after power-on, the correct version of Edit is loaded.
6.7
Jochen Konietzko, K÷ln, Germany
6.7
Å   Faxpack Ö Did you know that if you manually dial 0336Ö400Ö445 and
then, at the prompt, select ÉReceive Faxæ, you will receive a 24 Hour
Surface Forecast Chart from The Met. Office. It is very useful if you
want to know what the weather is going to do. Dial 0336Ö400Ö401 for the
Marine Index Page of all the forecasts and charts that are available.
Although it is a bit expensive (calls are charged at 36p per minute
cheap rate and 48p per minute at all others times) I find them
invaluable. This only works with FaxPack v2.00 Ö with earlier versions,
it causes öA Line Error occurredò fault. Steve Monks, Tobermory.ááA
6.7

6.7
Comment Column
6.7
Å   Acorn compiler doped? Ö I am puzzled by Thomas Downæs findings for
Acorn C compiler v4.0 (öC From Basicò, Archive 6.6 p35).
6.7
I agree with his figures for Beebug C. However, for Acorn ANSI C 4.0, I
get a Dhrystone rating of 14,749 as opposed to his 7,714. That is for
mode 35 on an ARM3 with an 8MHz bus, as in Thomasæs tests. There is no
file i/o, so the hard disc spec is not relevant.
6.7
Clearly Thomas did not run the same program as I did to test the
compiler. I am certain about that because the compiled size of my
executable was 9,212 bytes compared with 20,420 of Thomasæs. That means
I find both the code size and the speed better than the statistics that
were published for the Acorn compiler by a factor of 2:1.
6.7
I assume that Thomas built the Acorn executable himself rather than use
one that already existed with the right name in the right directory. Did
he ensure that any pre-existing executable and .o files were deleted
beforehand or that the source files were all touched with the Make tool?
I assume that the tests used the official Dhrystone benchmark source
files version 2.1 for C, author Reinhold P. Weicker 1988, exactly as
supplied with both of the compilers.
6.7
There will be readers who are contemplating the purchase of one of these
C compilers. What are they to think? It is exactly as if a motoring
journal were to report that car A, which costs 3 times as much as car B,
has twice the fuel consumption and the same top speed, while there are
motorists testifying that the dearer model has much the same fuel
consumption and twice the speed.
6.7
Thomas Down replies...
6.7
It seems that I made a mistake when compiling the benchmark program for
my C from Basic article. The problem stems from the fact that I used the
same working directory for compiling both versions of the program.
Having produced the Beebug C executable, I created an ANSI C Makefile
then ran the DDE Make utility. It correctly decided that the Beebug C
object files (half compiled program) were up-to-date, i.e. their
datestamps were later than those of the source files, and therefore
decided to move straight on to the link stage. This resulted in a final
program compiled by Beebug C but linked by Acornæs linker. I use the
Ésummaryæ option for text output when using Make, so it is not at all
obvious what the system is doing. In a future version of the DDE, it
would be nice to see an indication of which files Make has decided to
ignore.
6.7
The correct figures are:
6.7
Beebug C
6.7
Time to compile Ö 15 seconds
6.7
Dhrystones/second Ö 7705.3
6.7
Size Ö 6580
6.7
ANSI C v4
6.7
Time to compile Ö 10 seconds
6.7
Dhrystones/second Ö about 14,500
6.7
Size Ö 9212
6.7
I apologise to Acorn for the mistake. However, as I said in the article,
I donæt think that artificial speed comparisons should be relied upon
too much. In particular, it is worth noting that a considerable
proportion of the execution time of a WIMP program may be spent on
window management and graphics commands which are provided by RISC-OS
and are therefore independent of whichever compiler you use. The two
compilers suit differing needs and so would-be programmers should choose
one to suit their requirements and budget. Thomas Down.
6.7
Å   Omar Sharifæs Bridge Program Ö As promised, I have done some
investigation into the bidding and play. To do justice to this would
take up a complete edition of Archive! As that is not realistic, I have
made a considerable number of recorded hands available and created a
!ShowHands application. This puts up an empty window, onto which a
recorded game can be dropped to display the hands, the bidding and the
card play conveniently all together on the screen. I hope Paul can find
room on the monthly disc for it all. (Check the Price List to see if I
managed to fit it in! Ed.)
6.7
In Archive 6.5 p45, Cain Hunt says É... it bids aggressively and does
some vicious card play.æ My personal opinion is that the bidding tends
to the ludicrous and the card play to the suicidal!
6.7
Note: in all cases, I bid the South hand and the computer bids the
hidden W, N and E hands. First, two extreme bidding examples:-
6.7
Hand   : ACOL_27
6.7
Dealer : West                                     Card play:-
6.7
                    S: T 4 3 2                    ÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖ
6.7
                    H: A J T 6                    6D 2D AD 3D
6.7
                    D: T 8 6                      KC 8C 7C AC
6.7
                    C: 7 3
6.7
                                                  Rest Claimed
6.7
       S: A 7                  S: K Q J 9 8 6 5
6.7
       H: K Q 3 2              H:
6.7
       D: Q J 9 5 3            D: K 4 2
6.7
       C: 9 8                  C: A 5 2
6.7

6.7
                    S:
6.7
                    H: 9 8 7 5 4
6.7
                    D: A 7
6.7
                    C: K Q J T 6 4
6.7

6.7
 Bidding:-    W  N  E  S                         Result:-
6.7
              ÿÿÿÿÿ                         ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ
6.7
              1H -  2S -                         E/W  12 tricks
6.7
              3D -  -  -                         N/S  1  tricks
6.7
Why isnæt the computer bidding 4S as East? I noticed that the É5 Card
Majoræ file was 50% longer than the ÉAcolæ file, so I thought it might
be more sensible.
6.7
Hand   : 5CARD_04
6.7
Dealer : East                                     Card play:-
6.7
                    S: 6                           ÿÿÿÿÿÿ
6.7
                    H: 8 5 4                      AS 4S 6S 3S
6.7
                    D: K 8 7 4 2                  KS JS 4H 5S
6.7
                    C: J 9 6 2                    2S QS 2D 7S
6.7
                                                  9C AC 5C 4C
6.7
       S: Q J 4                S: 9 7 5 3         9D 6D 3D KD
6.7
       H: Q J 9                H: A K 3 2         6C QC KC 7C
6.7
       D: A Q 5 3              D: J T 9           8S 5D 7D 9S
6.7
       C: 8 7 4                C: A Q             JC TD 3C 8C
6.7
                                                  JD TS QD 4D
6.7
                    S: A K T 8 2                  AD 8D 2H TC
6.7
                    H: T 7 6                      9H 5H KH 6H
6.7
                    D: 6                          AH 7H JH 8H
6.7
                    C: K T 5 3                    3H TH QH 2C
6.7

6.7
 Bidding:-    E  S  W  N                          Result:-
6.7
              ÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖ                          ÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖ
6.7
              1D 1S 3D -                          N/S  6  tricks
6.7
              3H -  7D -                          E/W  7  tricks
6.7
              -  -
6.7
No, it is not more sensible! Other than the opening bids, the only other
difference I have detected is that 1N in Acol is 12-14 points but in the
É5 card majoræ the 1N is, I think, 16-18 points.
6.7
Note:Ö During the few hands I have played with this program, I have seen
more Grand Slams bid (and none made!) than in 20 years of competitive
duplicate bridge.
6.7
Finally on the subject of bidding:-
6.7
Hand   : ACOL_01
6.7
Dealer : South                                   Card play:-
6.7
                    S: K Q J 6 4                 ÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖ
6.7
                    H: K 8 7 6                   5C QC KC AC
6.7
                    D: 4                         JC 2D 4C 2C
6.7
                    C: A J 6                     4H 2H 3H 6H
6.7
                                                 6C 2S 3D 3C
6.7
       S:                      S: A 9 7 5 2      3S 7C JS AS
6.7
       H: 3                    H: Q J 4          QD KD AD 4D
6.7
       D: A T 9 7 5            D: Q J 6 2        TD 4S JD 8D
6.7
       C: K T 9 8 7 3 2        C: 5              6D 5H 5D 7H
6.7
                                                 JH 9H 7D 8H
6.7
                    S: T 8 3                     8C 6S QH 8S
6.7
                    H: A T 9 5 2                 9C QS 5S TH
6.7
                    D: K 8 3                     TC KH 7S TS
6.7
                    C: Q 4                       9D KS 9S AH
6.7

6.7
 Bidding:-   S  W  N  E                         Result:-
6.7
             ÿÿÿÿÿ                         ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ
6.7
             -  3C -  -                         N/S  3  tricks
6.7
             3H -  5D db                        E/W  10  tricks
6.7
             -  -  -
6.7
Not seeing the other hands I passed the 5D!! bid. The only sensible bids
for North are 4H or pass, as partner has already passed. If the dealer
had been West so that South had not yet bid, the best bid for North is
4C, which shows the club control and agrees Hearts by implication.
6.7
So I decided to investigate further by manually entering the hands and
then trying different vulnerabilities and dealers. The first thing I
discovered was that the vulnerability made no difference to the bidding
and, in fact, it is not displayed while one is doing the bidding! I then
decided to try opening the hand as South with the following result:
6.7
 S  W  N  E
6.7

6.7
 1H -  2S -
6.7
 3H -  4N -
6.7
 5D -  5N -
6.7
 6D -  6H -
6.7
 -  -
6.7
So yes, the program uses Blackwood but it does not understand it!
Instead of signing off in 4H when the 5D reply shows there are 2 Aces
missing, it presses on with 5N! Finally, as South (with West as the
dealer) I tried a double for take out after the 3C bid. North passed!
The booklet states:-ÉThe computer uses many complex bidding strategies,
and it may deviate from the rules in certain situations.æ And how!!
6.7
Finally, one example of play:-
6.7
Hand   : ACOL_29
6.7
Dealer : East                                    Card play:-
6.7
                    S: A 6 4 2                   ÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖ
6.7
                    H: Q T 2                     4H 3H QH AH
6.7
                    D: 4 3 2                     6C 3C 5C 9C
6.7
                    C: T 9 2                     2H 5H 9H KH
6.7
                                                 AC 2C 7C 4C
6.7
       S: Q 8 3                S: K 9 7          JC TC KC QC
6.7
       H: K 7 3                H: A 8 5          KD TD 5D 2D
6.7
       D: A 7 6 5              D: K 9 8          8C 5S 6D 3D
6.7
       C: A J 5                C: K 8 7 6        8D JD AD 4D
6.7
                                                 8S 2S 9S TS
6.7
                    S: J T 5                     JH 7H TH 8H
6.7
                    H: J 9 6 4                   6H 3S 4S 9D
6.7
                    D: Q J T                     QD 7D 6S 7S
6.7
                    C: Q 4 3                     JS QS AS KS
6.7

6.7
 Bidding:-    E  S  W  N                        Result:-
6.7
              ÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖ                        ÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖ
6.7
              1N -  3N -                        E/W  7  tricks
6.7
              -  -                              N/S  6  tricks
6.7
The deep finesse of the 6C by East at trick 2 is very costly because it
is almost certain to lose (the 9 T and Q can beat it) thus settling for
just 3 tricks in clubs if they break 3 Ö 3, while there is a 66% chance
of the JC making, giving 4 tricks. Additionally, it loses tempo by
permitting E/W to set up 2 Heart tricks while they have the AS as an
entry.
6.7
Have a look through the hands on the monthly program disc and see what
you think! At least 50% of them are random deals and the others are set
up to see what the computer would do. John C. Wallace, Crawley.
6.7
Å   IFEL DIY memory upgrade Ö My machine is one of the early 305s and so,
over the years, I have upgraded it Ö it now has two disc drives, MEMC1a
and 2Mb of memory. I decided on the IFEL 2Mb option as it is cheap, DIY,
highly regarded by the reviewers and came with a MEMC1a and all at
education reduced prices!
6.7
The upgrade from the 305æs ╜Mb to the 310æs 1Mb had been a simple plug-
in-the-chips job. Unfortunately, that ease made the second memory
upgrade a very daunting prospect. If you have a machine with a similar
pedigree (i.e. was once a 305) then beware! The IFEL upgrade demands the
removal of all the 310æs RAM sockets, the cleaning of the holes and the
resoldering of the undamaged chips back where they came from. That is
sixteen chips. Otherwise, the new upgrade board wonæt fit above the old
RAM!
6.7
My machine has a removable disc drive bar, which made life easier when
getting the main board out. But once I had got it out, I had to find a
way to work on it. My method was to use my Workmate! I used several
sheets of corrugated cardboard on either side of the main board and very
gently closed the Workmate jaws on the resulting expensive sandwich.
This held it firmly enough to work on. I needed a temperature-controlled
soldering iron, a solder sucker, a chip extraction device (two nails and
a screwdriver), precision pliers and nerves of steel. But, after an
entire afternoonæs soldering, it was done.
6.7
It is essential that you follow the instructions exactly. I did not.
That is possibly why it took me two days to get it working. If I had
done everything in the suggested order, I would have been able to check
the machine during the upgrade. But I couldnæt. Cutting the memory
decoder from the board may have been my problem. It didnæt work after
that. Multiple phone calls to IFEL saved the day. I was talked through a
series of fault-finding tricks until my oscilloscope finally found a
broken track, on part of the computer I hadnæt even touched! Without
IFELæs help I would still be looking.
6.7
So, if you are handy with an iron then have a go. Do not try using a 25
watt iron or itæs byebye computer. I did, but I got away with it! The
machine is now a delight to use and the upgrades work perfectly. Had it
been a 310 to start with, life would have been much easier with only
three chips to shift. Just my luck, but then it could be worse, it could
be an IBM!
6.7
Thanks IFEL.á Simon Anthony, Nottingham.ááA
6.7

6.7
Image Club Clipart Library Volume 24
6.7
Hutch Curry
6.7
Matt Black is marketing a comprehensive range of Clipart for the
Archimedes range of computers. There are apparently 24 volumes, each
containing a large number of compressed drawfiles spread over a number
of discs. This review is based on a small and supplied selection of the
200+ images in Volume 24. This volume is entitled ÉScience & Medicineæ
and is supplied as a boxed set of 5 discs costing ú34.95 (plus ú2.00
post & packing). The images cover the following subject areas:
6.7
Anatomy
6.7
Headings
6.7
Health Care
6.7
In The Lab
6.7
Living Things
6.7
Physical Sciences
6.7
Planet Earth
6.7
Symbols
6.7
From the images supplied for review, I would have to conclude that both
the quality and utility is variable. Some of the images are very good Ö
such as the ones shown on this page. However, some of the images are
very pedestrian and offer little more than what is available as PD on
some of the bulletin boards. As a general comment, I would note that the
best of these images are very stylish with a lot of nice shading. This
has, however, been done at the expense of some of the minute detail that
one might expect in technical or anatomical drawing. Because of the
variable quality of the material and the limited selection supplied for
review, I would be unwilling to recommend anyone to spend what is a
substantial amount of money without at least getting a full listing of
the library contents to satisfy yourself that there is enough material
to justify the expense.ááA
6.7

6.7
CC
6.7
From 6.6 page 11
6.7

6.7
ArtWorks Column
6.7
Trevor Sutton
6.7
It seems that the version of AW which CC rushed to me, i.e. version
1.100, was an early version of the upgrade and that the latest version
is 1.12, so I hope you have all received this upgrade by now.
6.7
Hatched fills
6.7
Colleagues and friends who use vector graphic programs like AW, Draw or
Vector know that I have a long-standing desire for hatched and textured
fills. Perhaps it is my love of maps or possibly a throwback to the days
when I used rub-down textures along with the rub-down lettering.
Remember those occasions when you ran out of næs and had to cobble one
up with a spare m and a razor blade? Outline fonts and low-priced
printers have done away with my need for rub-down lettering but I would
like to be able to produce hatched areas or dotty areas. I have used
these effectively with some of my natural history illustrations and
would welcome them in AW.
6.7
I have recently seen hatching on the Archimedes with the new CAD
packages from Minerva so come on CC, thereæs a challenge for you!
6.7
I did, however, find a way to produce a hatched effect and this could be
explored or developed. I will describe the process and would welcome any
refinements!
6.7
My initial aim was to produce text which had a hatched shading. This I
did as follows:
6.7
1.áDraw a rectangle Ö this appears in black.
6.7
2.áWrite some text which will fit into the rectangle.
6.7
3.áMake the text into a shape from the Lines/Shapes menu.
6.7
4.áPlace the text over the rectangle and <select> both.
6.7
5.áNow the clever bit! Choose Join shapes from the Lines/Shapes menu.
6.7
6.áYou have created a mask (see p.71 of the manual).
6.7
7.áAll you need to do now is produce a blend from one line to another
which will fit behind the rectangle. This is the quickest way of drawing
many oblique parallel lines.
6.7
8.áMove this over the text and send it to the back.
6.7
9.áFinally, choose white for the fill colour of the rectangle.
6.7
10.áThe same technique can be used for filling an area.
6.7
The example below shows both text and an area with single and double
hatching.
6.7
Printer dialogues!
6.7
Steve Hutchinson writes with what he suggests are minor points regarding
printing...
6.7
If there is no printer driver loaded, AW doesnæt tell you Ö it just
doesnæt respond to pressing <print>. This is important to me because, if
I load LaserDirect with my !Boot file as I used to, it prevents me
loading !Printers (RISC-OS 3.1 version). So, at present, my !Boot file
doesnæt load a Printer driver automatically.
6.7
Secondly, the Print Dialogue doesnæt tell you which printer it is going
to use. With RISC-OS 3.1 allowing multiple drivers to be loaded ready, I
would have thought this would be an important reminder. I usually check
it in Impression, as I print drafts at 300 dpi and masters at 600 dpi on
LaserDirect.
6.7
Perhaps there is some room for improvement in the way AW performs here
or at least some consistency with Impression.
6.7
File transfer
6.7
Steve does, however, offer praise where it is due...
6.7
ArtWorks gets a few bonus points from me in the file transfer realm. I
needed to send some large drawfiles (Holiday Club publicity) to the new
leader who is Mac-based (heæll learn one day!). I used Artworks to load
the drawfile and convert to Illustrator format which he could read into
Freehand. It took a while and made a huge file, as it converted all text
to paths. It filled more than two IBM 720Kb floppies. My friend didnæt
believe it would work, but it came up perfectly, even with the correct
colours.
6.7
Roy Robinson of Birdtech has also converted files successfully, this
time to CorelDraw format. I will say more about this in the section on
printing.
6.7
If anyone else has any experience of import or export of AW files,
please share it with us.
6.7
Modes
6.7
Which mode do you prefer to use? More often than not, I work in mode 28.
Steve Hutchinson has other ideas...
6.7
One of my biggest problems with AW has been deciding which screen mode
to use. I usually use mode 102 for Impression but this is only 16
colours, so graduated fills donæt look very good. However, going to any
256 colour screen makes for a much smaller desktop and much more
scrolling around. This is a case for getting a ColourCard, I suppose.
(Is there no end to my computer shopping list?!) !FlipTop helps a lot in
seeing what is available and switching quickly between modes.
6.7
One thing that alarmed me, was printing in AW from mode 102. The screen
flickered and seemed to change alignment, but all was well afterwards.
CC Technical Dept say that mode 102 takes up more processor bandwidth
than any other so, because the processor is busy printing the Artworks
file, it is stopped from refreshing the screen. No harm is done and the
computer speeds up. Perhaps this is obvious to many but it was news to
me. Roger Spooneræs Display Technology article helped to clarify a lot
for me (Archive 6.4 p21). The printing certainly seems quicker from
ArtWorks than with Draw.
6.7
Printing
6.7
I have had several comments following my mention of the Ace printer
drivers in last monthæs column.
6.7
Roy Robinson, whose company Birdtech offers a scanning and printing
service, kindly made several prints from AW to illustrate the benefits
and disadvantages of the various combinations of hardcopy which are
available for the Archimedes. He showed me some superb examples of
printing to the HP Deskjet 550C, one of which was printed via CorelDraw.
The file was exported from AW to CorelDraw and then printed to the
Deskjet via its own driver. This gave a beautiful rendering of the tints
and shades with almost an airbrush effect in places. This does show me
that Archimedes printer drivers still have a long way to go. Having said
that, the printing was painfully slow Ö I mean, well over an hour! This
is clearly not a viable commercial option for Birdtech.
6.7
Many people have expressed their disappointment at the banding effect
which graduated fills produce on output to a printer. I drew a billiard
ball using a radial fill which I then printed. I include a scanned
example of the printout. It is just about clear enough to show the
banding effect (which I call doughnutting!) The 24-bit facility with the
Ace drivers avoids this.
6.7
Coda
6.7
I hope to hear from more of you in the coming months. The CC competition
closing date is getting nearer and so all those brilliant ideas may then
be shared. I know that I wonæt win but I hope that the winner produces
artwork which is exciting, creative and shows few hallmarks of that
tempting traceable background layer!ááA
6.7

6.7
24-bit small halftone
6.7

6.7

6.7
Colour small halftone
6.7

6.7

6.7
Abacus Training
6.7
New artwork
6.7

6.7
Spreadsheet Column
6.7
Chris Johnson
6.7
Welcome to the first of what I hope will be a regular series of columns
for Archive magazine. It currently has the general title of Spreadsheet
Column, on the assumption that we shall be covering all aspects of
spreadsheets, other than PipeDream. However, the content of the column
will be determined ultimately by your good selves, so send me as many
comments, hints, bug reports (real or perceived) as you can. This first
column will be brief, mainly because I did not appreciate fully the lead
time for production of the magazine.
6.7
Eureka
6.7
I have been using Eureka since the middle of December and have been
pleasantly surprised at its ease of use. I know there is a full review
due on this application, so I will save my general comments until I have
seen the review. Paul has sent me a couple of things related to this
spreadsheet which are worth mentioning and I will add something of my
own.
6.7
Memory
6.7
Eureka, in common with all other spreadsheets I have seen, takes up a
lot of memory. On my machine, it grabs 1088 Kb (i.e. more than a
megabyte) before a sheet is even loaded. Therefore, even a 2 Mb machine
could well be short of memory. J A Brook found that one of his sheets
would not print due to insufficient memory but subsequently was amazed
to find that if the printer driver application was removed from the
iconbar, it printed normally.
6.7
This is an aspect of the RISC-OS printer drivers that is not always
appreciated by the user and is worth re-emphasising. When you double
click on the !printers application, an icon is installed on the iconbar.
What the user does not see, (unless you press <f12> and type <help
modules> or simply <modules>) is that a module called pdriverXX, (where
ÉXXæ may be Épsæ for the postscript driver, or dm for the dot matrix
driver) is installed in memory. It is this module that does all the work
of actually printing. The application installed on the iconbar is simply
a multitasking front end to enable you to set the configuration of the
printer driver or to swap from postscript to dot matrix, for example.
Once you are satisfied with the way the printer application is
configured, you can safely quit from the iconbar. The pdriver module
remains active until örmkilledò. The printers application takes 160 Kb
on my machine, which can be reclaimed by quitting the application. So,
the moral is, if you are short of memory for any purpose, try quitting
the !printers application to improve the situation. The same should
apply to any third party printer driver application, although the actual
memory saved may be much smaller.
6.7
Array formulae
6.7
Mr Brook also found a problem with the use of the IF operator. He wanted
a formula which would divide the contents of one cell by those of
another cell, as long as the latter cell was not zero. He tried
something along the lines of
6.7
=IF(B10>0,(A10/B10),)
6.7
This generated an error (I hazard a guess it was #VALUE! but Mr Brook
does not say). He worked around the problem by specifying the actual
cell using the $ operator. (For those not yet in the know, the $ symbol
is used when replicating cell formulae to denote a specific cell address
which must not change.)
6.7
I think this problem is similar to one I took a while to fathom out,
which again involved the IF operator. I was doing something similar to
Mr Brook. I had a sheet of student laboratory marks and was using the
ISBLANK operator to find out how many experiments had been completed, by
summing the remaining blank cells without a mark entered. I could not
get my formula to work, and ended up trying various example formulae
lifted directly from the reference section of the manual on the IF
operator but none of those worked either! They all resulted in the
#VALUE! error.
6.7
I then had to resort to thumbing through the manual for inspiration. The
manual is very good in some respects Ö it has an excellent tutorial
section and an extensive and detailed reference section, BUT IT HAS NO
INDEX.
6.7
While perusing various sections, I became aware that there appeared to
be a distinction between formulae and array formulae. The normal
procedure for the entry of data or a formula into a cell is to type the
contents and then press <return>. This enters a value or a formula. If,
on the other hand, you press <ctrl-shift-insert>, you enter an array
formula. The manual (p. B¡12 in my copy) refers to this as an Array-
Enter operation. The only visible difference is that the application
automatically encloses the formula in curly braces  for you. (You should
not add or remove curly braces from the formula yourself.) It does not
appear to be clearly stated in the manual when you should use one or the
other. I have found that, in most cases involving the IF operator, the
calculation only works if you enter the formula as an array formula. It
appears that even when the IF statement is returning only one value, the
intermediate results are still treated as arrays of data.
6.7
Printing
6.7
Back to printing again. Printing a sheet is very simple. You either
follow the main menu file>print or press <print>. As in Impression,
there is also a page setup dialogue box to control certain features of
the print, such as headers and footers, whether the grid lines are
printed and so on, although it is raised by a separate menu item. These
selections will become defaults for the sheet when it is saved and
reloaded. You can print all of the sheet or a selected range of pages.
6.7
How do you print selected portions of the sheet? A review in a certain
other magazine stated that it could not be done. This is certainly not
true but all does not appear to be as it should be Ö or is it me? You
can select multiple sections of the sheet in the standard Eureka way
(not necessarily standard RISC-OS way). The first selection is made by
dragging with <select> held down. Further selections can be added by
dragging with <ctrl-select>. To print these selected parts you must
first invoke the main menu and go to Options¡>Set print area and click
(while your selection or multiple selection is still highlighted).
Nothing appears to have happened. However, if you now follow the main
menu selection Formula>Goto...> you will raise a dialogue box which may
or may not have a list of named areas. If nothing is shown, try clicking
on the icon öshow all areasò. You should find öPrint_Areaò is now in the
list. Either double-click on the entry öPrint_Areaò or click once to
highlight it and then click on OK. The most obvious happening is that
the area(s) you previously had selected are highlighted once again. If
you now select print in the normal way, only the selected areas will be
printed. When the sheet is saved, the print area is saved as well.
Whenever you wish to print the same selected area again, you simply
follow Formula>Goto...> as previously, before selecting print.
6.7
Now we come to the problem. It is certainly true to say that only the
selected areas are printed but they are printed in exactly the SAME
position as they would be if the whole sheet were printed. Thus, in one
case, I have a list of names at the left of the sheet, lots of marks to
the right and finally the grand total at the far right. When just the
names and grand total are printed, the names appear down the left of the
first sheet, then a completely blank sheet is printed, and the totals
are printed down the middle-right of a third sheet! Has anyone managed
to get it to print widely separated selected bits on the same sheet of
paper? I have had to work around it by moving the grand total to become
the second column, rather than the far right column. (Why not just copy
the names column to the column to the left of the Grand Total? Ed.)
6.7
How to contact me
6.7
I can be contacted in a number of ways. My postal address is: Chris
Johnson, 7, Lovedale Grove, Balerno, Edinburgh, EH14 7DR.
6.7
If you have access to JANET (Joint Academic Network), you can use E-
mail. Note that a couple of typographical errors crept into last monthæs
announcement of this column. The correct address is either
6.7
   [e-mail]    or, in full,
6.7
   [e-mail]
6.7
If you have a complicated problem for which you are requesting help, if
it concerns Eureka, which is the spreadsheet that I am currently using,
it would be useful to actually send a copy of the sheet on disc
(assuming the contents are not too confidential). The disc would be
returned later (if you enclosed return address and stamp).
6.7
Start those reports flooding in.ááA
6.7

6.7
PipeLine-Z
6.7
Gerald Fitton
6.7
I must thank you for all the many letters Iæve received from you this
month. However, the large volume has meant that, once again, I seem to
have got behind with replies. Iæve had to delay some responses and
abbreviate others. As usual, requests for help get a high priority but
feedback and comments from you, whilst not responded to immediately, are
much appreciated and of great interest. Bear with me; you will get a
reply eventually!
6.7
This month the theme is ÉQuestionsæ rather than ÉAnswersæ.
6.7
Acorn User Show
6.7
Weæve been asked if weæd like to use a corner of Colton Softwareæs
stand. As the Harrogate Show is during the second week of my holiday
from my Éday jobæ at College, weæve said öYes please!ò. This time Iæd
like to do a little preparation in advance so, if youære likely to be at
the Show and wanting a demo of how to do something, or to ask a
question, then it would help if you drop me a line (or better still, a
disc) and Iæll do a bit of homework beforehand.
6.7
PipeDream prices
6.7
As reported in Archive 6.6.4 the prices of PD3 and PD4 have been
reduced. If you wish to upgrade from PD3 to PD4 then you can do so by
sending your master PD3 disc to Colton software.
6.7
In earlier volumes of Archive, I am on record as having said that I had
been assured that the price of the upgrade from PD3 to PD4 would not
fall during its lifetime. Well, the price of upgrading from 3 to 4 has
been reduced so Iæve been asked whether I was wrong, misinformed or
whether the advent of The Z Set augurs the end of PipeDream? What a
question!
6.7
I turned the question back on some of the correspondents who asked the
question, and the responses from PD3 owners varied from öPD3 does all I
want so Iæll stick with itò to öIæm going to Éleap frogæ PD4 and go
direct to Resultz and the rest of The Z Setò. PD4 owners generally
didnæt answer! Ö I wonder why?!
6.7
Iæm sure that there will be many who will take advantage of the reduced
cost of upgrading from 3 to 4 but my mail bag indicates that there are
many more who are considering The Z Set alternative. This alternative
approach has been made financially attractive by Colton Software. They
are offering Wordz at a substantially reduced price to both PD3 and 4
users but you can take up this offer only from Colton Software direct
and not through your usual or original supplier. Furthermore, I have
been assured that, if you buy Wordz, you will be able to buy Resultz at
a discount (but again only direct from Colton Software) and that a
similar marketing policy will be applied to the database.
6.7
If you write to Colton Software for a Resultz leaflet, youæll find that
the specification for Resultz includes everything that PD4 does as a
spreadsheet. This includes custom functions, named variables, string
handling functions, arrays and, of course, charts. Iæve been told that
the Charts package is even better and more extensive than the PD4
version.
6.7
Paying for upgrades
6.7
Archive 6.6 has been out only a few days and I am receiving a torrent of
mail about this. Iæd better not comment on the replies just yet except
to say that some customers express great loyalty to NCS and its optional
Technical Help service Ö öú15.00 per year and well worth every pennyò is
a common remark. However, hereæs another thought phrased as a question.
How many purchasers of Resultz (and the Z database) will there be who
have not already bought Wordz? Will there be a place for dealers and
distributors (such as NCS) to sell Resultz?
6.7
Here is yet another cryptic question that I have been asked by one of my
many lucid readers Ö this time a reader of this PipeLine column who does
not have PipeDream. First he asks, öWhen is an Upgrade a New Product?ò
Then, much later in his letter he asks, öWhen is a New Product (merely)
an Upgrade?ò I will try to explain what he means by his questions. In
the context of the rest of his most attention-grabbing letter he is
implying that there are software houses (I hasten to add that they are
in the PC world and not Archimedes) who get fed up with (or canæt stand
the negative cash flow resulting from) handing out free upgrades to
customers who are not contributing cash to finance the further
development of the product. The company discontinues developing their
product under the old name and they put on the market a new product
which some people might describe as a further developed version of the
old one! If customers of the Éoldæ product want to Éupgradeæ then they
have to pay for the new product.
6.7
Toolbar for PipeDream
6.7
You may noticed that Wordz has a Ébutton baræ of the most often used
commands such as Bold, Justify Text, etc. I have been asked if something
similar exists for PipeDream. The answer is that you can make your own
Ébutton baræ as a set of PDCmdFil (macros) such this.
6.7

6.7
On the Archive monthly disc, I have included both PD3 and PD4 versions
of these macros. If you have contributions to such a PipeDream button
bar, please send them to me on a disc.
6.7
I have included new versions of two ([Quote] and [Ligatures]) that have
appeared before. [Quote] converts single and double quotes into smart
quotes. I have added æphone to the PDCmdFil in the PD4 version.
[Ligatures] combines separate fái to a joined ₧ and fál to ƒ. (By the
way, does anyone know how to stop the dialogue boxes appearing after
each search and replace?)
6.7
Provided that you have set a global font, the two PDCmdFil (macro) files
called [Homerton] and [Trinity] will enter those font changes into your
document at the cursor. Some of you will have these on <Ctrl-Shift-Fn>
function keys but, if you have been converted from key short cuts to
using the mouse, you will find these two PDCmdFil a useful alternative.
6.7
To see what is inside a PDCmdFil, you do not double click on it Ö you
must drag it to the PipeDream icon on the iconbar. You can save such a
PDCmdFil in the ordinary way using <Ctrl-FGS> or by clicking on the
PDCmdFil called [Save] from this directory.
6.7
If you have RISC-OSá3.10, you might want to keep some of the contents of
the Toolbar directory on the PinBoard for easy access.
6.7
Fonts
6.7
I have received many letters about Wordz. A problem which I didnæt
expect to arise as often as it has is the display and printing of
Trinity and Homerton fonts. It seems that many of you are still using
the Éoldæ bit-mapped font manager and donæt have any Outline fonts Ö or,
if you do, then they donæt include Trinity and Homerton! Not having
Outline fonts will cause you problems in Wordz now and in Resultz later.
6.7
My strong and even forceful recommendation to you is to upgrade to RISC-
OSá3.10 rather than buy the so-called ÉStarter packæ of (RISC-OSá2)
fonts. The RISC-OSá3.10 chips have new, kerned versions of Trinity and
Homerton built-in and the price of the RISC-OS upgrade is about the same
price as the font starter set.
6.7
Importing graphics into PD4æs charts
6.7
This is more of a question than an answer. I find that sometimes I can
successfully import a drawfile into a live PD4 chart but sometimes it
all goes wrong for me. On the Archive monthly disc, I have included a
Charts directory and the puzzle is öHow do you import the drawfile
[ExtraText] into the chart [Timing_1C] without converting the Chart file
into a drawfile?ò
6.7
Styles in Wordz
6.7
The figure below, shows a Wordz file called [TestDoc] and two WordzTem
(template) files each containing four Éworkingæ styles (and one style I
donæt use). If you have the Archive monthly disc then you can follow
this brief tutorial much more easily by using those files. The three
files are in the directory called Styles. If you donæt have the monthly
disc then youæll have to make do with the explanation and screenshots
below.
6.7

6.7
The file called [TestDoc] uses the set of styles held in the template
called [ZLineT]. If you read the text below, you will see that the four
working styles are called ZLBase, ZLHeading, ZLByLine and ZLSubHead.
6.7
The template file [ZLOutDenT] contains styles of the same name but with
different definitions. When I drag the template [ZLOutDenT] into the
open [TestDoc] window, the style definitions of [ZLOutDenT] replace
those of the same name in [TestDoc] and the result is shown above right.
6.7

6.7
You will see that the text is in a different typeface and at a larger
point size, the rulers for each style are different and the document
projects a totally different Éfeelæ. You can put it all back the way it
was by dragging the template [ZLineT] into [TestDoc].
6.7
I have always wanted to be able to do something like this in Impression
but Iæve never been able to make it work for me. Oh dear! Now Iæm going
to get lots of letters explaining to me how it can be done in
Impression! Donæt be put off by my feelings of apprehension. If you know
how to do this in Impression, Iæd like to hear from you.
6.7
Open the box!
6.7
This is a spreadsheet problem. No prizes for the correct answer but you
might become famous Ö Iæll mention your name in this column!
6.7
You are a game show contestant and, through sheer brilliance, you have
won the right to open one of three boxes. One of the three contains the
Star Prize, the other two contain Booby Prizes. The game show host knows
which box contains the Star Prize but, of course, you donæt.
6.7
You choose a box and tell the game show host and the worldwide audience
of your choice. In accordance with the rules of the box-opening
procedure, the host opens one of the other two boxes which he knows to
contain a Booby Prize! At this stage, the rules allow you to stick with
your original choice or change to the other unopened box.
6.7
The question you have to answer is öWould changing to the other unopened
box improve your chances of winning?ò
6.7
Now, I donæt want to hear of your inspired guesses or a whole load of
conditional probability theory. What you have to do is to construct a
spreadsheet which simulates many runs of the ÉOpen the Boxæ procedure
and use the result to Éproveæ your answer to the question.
6.7
Hereæs a hint. My son once told me that Iæm not a ÉComputer personæ. His
definition of a ÉComputer personæ is someone who starts counting (or
labelling boxes) with zero instead of one! Label your boxes 0, 1 and 2.
Use the statistical function rand() to decide which box contains the
Star Prize, which box you have chosen and which box is selected by the
game show host. If you use one row of the spreadsheet per trial, you can
total about 100 rows to determine the better strategy.
6.7
To swop or not to swop? That is the question.
6.7
Logos on Wordz labels
6.7
Before I start on this section of my monthly discourse, the current
version of Wordz is Vá1.03 and two of the enhancements from Vá1.01 are
that graphic handling is improved and Vá1.03 will do mail merge!
6.7
You can load a CSV file of text into a Wordz label document and generate
labels. What I have been asked is how to put a graphic such as a company
or club logo onto each label. The answer is to make multiple copies of
the graphic in !Draw (or !DrawPlus), one copy, in the Érightæ place, for
each label. Save the drawfile and then load it into a blank Wordz
document. Convert the multiple graphic file into a Backdrop. I suggest
that you print out the Wordz file onto plain paper at this stage to make
sure the graphics are correctly positioned.
6.7
Load in your CSV file (from PipeDream?) into the Wordz document and, if
all goes well, the labels you make will each contain your graphic.
6.7
German dictionary
6.7
Paul Beverley sent me a German dictionary by Jack Wright. (Fame at
last!) I include it on the monthly disc. There is also an Impression
version Ö but Iæll leave that to another contributor!
6.7
Visible hard space
6.7
There are three files in the HardSpace directory of the monthly Archive
disc: Hardspace and Standard (which are BBC font files) and ReadMe (a
PipeDream file).
6.7
[ReadMe] is a test file containing the following text:
6.7

6.7
Double click on [HardSpace] and you will get a screen containing the
hard space, as shown below. You can put it back the way it was by double
clicking on [Standard].
6.7

6.7
By the way, the [Standard] BBCáfont included on the monthly disc also
includes System font bit maps for the ligatures ₧ <Alt-158> and ƒ <Alt-
159>. If you have these fonts as part of an early operating system then
youæll find that these ligatures did not have the correct bit maps.
6.7
Help Ö Family trees
6.7
Derrick G Porter would like to correspond with anyone who uses PipeDream
for genealogy. If you write to me, Iæll send your letters on to Derrick.
6.7
Resultz and Wordz
6.7
Although Colton Software will be able to tell you a lot about Resultz
and show you some of the things it will do, Resultz will not be on sale
at the Harrogate Show.
6.7
If you have an early version of Wordz, you will be able to get it
upgraded at the Show. Bring along both your Program and Examples disc. I
have a copy of the latest Examples disc and the number of directories
has roughly doubled. If you canæt wait, or if youære not going to the
Show, send your discs in a MailLiteá00 to Colton Software for a free
upgrade. It will reduce administrative costs and help speed up the
return of your discs if you enclose a self addressed label and, if you
live in the UK, please include a 24p (or 18p) stamp.
6.7
Dictionaries
6.7
PipeDream and Wordz dictionaries are identical in format. You can
transfer your PipeDream user dictionary to become two Wordz user
dictionaries (one for words having an initial capital letter). Although
Iæve managed to do it, let me make it the subject of my penultimate
question: Can you explain to our readers (with a worked example) how to
split your PipeDream user dictionary into two?
6.7
Finally
6.7
Despite the fact that all contributors give their services to Archive
for free and regardless of my remarks about receiving a torrent of
letters, I think Iæd get withdrawal symptoms if they stopped Ö so please
keep them coming in. If your problem or comment would benefit from an
example on disc, please send me a disc rather than a long (ambiguous)
explanation.
6.7
Iæm looking forward to meeting many of you at the Acorn User Show in
Harrogate.ááA
6.7

6.7
ICS Ltd
6.7
New Artwork
6.7

6.7
Upgrade Options for A300 and A400 Owners
6.7
David Ramsden
6.7
With the rash of new Acorn machines which have appeared over the past 18
months or so, owners of the older style Archimedes systems have been
faced with the dilemma of how to upgrade. Should they go for one of the
newer micros or wait for Acornæs new all-singing all-dancing machine
incorporating the new chips announced by ARM Ltd and possibly upgrade
their old machine during the wait? Being faced with this conundrum
myself and having missed out on one of the cheap A5000 base models which
were available from various sources last month, I had a detailed look at
the options available.
6.7
A30x0 series machines
6.7
These are the new entry-level Acorns aimed primarily at schools and the
home education market. They are equipped with the new ARM250 processor
running at 12 MHz which, in practical terms, means they run 50% faster
than existing ARM2 systems. Also, with their compact all-in-one box
design, they take up less desk space.
6.7
A4000 series machines
6.7
These use the same ARM250 processor used in the A30x0 but come in a
three box design similar to the A5000 but not as high. These micros are
aimed at the serious home user and there are attractive software bundles
available. For more detailed information on the A30x0 and A4000 see the
Archive supplement ÉVision for the Futureæ. (Copies are still available,
free of charge, from the Archive office. Ed.)
6.7
The main drawback with both these machines seems to be the lack of scope
for hardware upgrades. Neither can be fitted with an ARM3 to speed up
the processing resulting in what will probably be a downgrade from an
ARM3 fitted A300/400 though I suspect the change in performance
fluctuates from mode to mode. (If there is anyone out there who has
access to the hardware to do some speed tests, it would make interesting
reading.) Another hardware restriction is that the new Graphics Cards
launched by Computer Concepts and State Machine are incompatible though
a third card has been announced which claims compatibility but is not
yet available.
6.7
In addition to this, Acorn, in their wisdom, have decided to stick with
the single mini podule expansion slot for both machines. This first saw
the light of day with the A3000 and never really caught on. Fortunately,
third party products are starting to appear which get round its
limitations Ö see the Ultimate Expansion System article in Archive 6.5
p11.
6.7
A5000 series machines
6.7
The A5000 is the current Acorn flagship (leaving aside the A540 which is
now looking a bit of curateæs egg) and, as such, offers the greatest
processing power. However, as Mike Cook observed in Acorn Computing,
these machines have been around for a while now and I think that it is
reasonable to expect a new power machine sometime later in 1993 or early
1994 making use of the newly announced VIDC20 graphic controller and the
latest ARM processor. (But the latest rumours suggest that it will have
a price of around ú3k. Ed.)
6.7
If you decide to wait to buy one of the new power machines, what options
are there for your present machine?
6.7
Display
6.7
This is an area where Acorn machines have started to look a little dated
compared with the PC world. Enter Computer Concepts and State Machine.
Both these companiesæ offerings vastly enhance the display standard, in
terms of resolution and colours available. These cards have been
described in recent Archives, so Iæll leave it for you to read up these
articles for further information. One thing worth mentioning again, I
think, is the speed acceleration that these cards offer which is not
being advertised greatly.
6.7
Everyone who has upgraded from a normal TV style monitor to a multisync
will have noticed the drop in processing speed when using their newly
acquired hi-res modes. This is due to the ARM processor and VIDC video
controller fighting over control of the data bus. When the VIDC has
access, the ARM has to sit around twiddling its transistors until it has
finished. The more pixels on screen, and the greater the number of
colours, the more time the video controller takes on the data bus. On
the A300/A400, the bus runs at 8MHz (cf. 12MHz on all new machines)
which, in multisync modes, is mainly used by the video system Ö hence
the drop in processing speed. Both the Colour Card and the G8 Plus allow
the ARM to run at full speed whilst simultaneously giving the greatly
improved display. The overall effect is an almost constant speed
performance, regardless of screen mode, and an improvement in speed
which is particularly relevant to ARM2 users in hi-res modes.
6.7
Processing speed
6.7
The main option here is to buy an ARM3 processor with its fast on-board
ram cache. RISC-OS has been optimised to make use of the 4Kb of memory
available on the chip and the desktop benefits greatly, as do users of
the hi-res modes.
6.7
For maths-intensive applications such as a spreadsheet or CAD, a
floating point co-processor will increase performance significantly. At
the moment, the ARM chips, unlike the i486DX found in PCæs, the
forthcoming Intel Pentium and the high performance versions of
Motorolaæs 68000 family, cannot handle non-integer numbers. Instead, a
software emulator is present which provides the necessary functions but
with a large speed cost. The official ARM Ltd. floating point
accelerator (f.p.a.) is not yet commercially available.
6.7
However, Aleph One and IFEL have produced a new version of their ARM3
upgrade which has a socket for the soon-to-be-available(?) f.p.a.,
making it an attractive option for people upgrading to an ARM3. Finally,
the original Acorn FPU for the A400 series machines is still being
advertised by some dealers. It is very expensive for what you get, in my
opinion, it is incompatible with the ARM3 and it will shortly become
obsolete when f.p.a. becomes available.
6.7
Storage
6.7
Those of you with long memories will remember the original A440 with its
20Mb ST506 hard drives. Thankfully, this format has now been superseded
by IDE and SCSI drives. IDE drives came to the Archimedes from the PC
world where they are the standard format. These are simple plug-in-and-
go single unit drives and tend to be cheaper than the SCSI alternative.
6.7
SCSI interfaces can be used to connect to devices other than hard drives
Ö flatbed scanners, for example. This is an industry standard interface
used widely on Apple Macs and has plenty of support. A single interface
can support multiple drives including a removable option which makes for
very easy transfer of data between machines, as well as removing the
need for a tape-streamer for backup. There are now a variety of
interfaces on the market ranging from 8-bit to cached 16-bit devices for
where speed is of the essence.
6.7
Monitors
6.7
With the trend towards higher resolution displays and Acornæs policy of
selling A5000s bundled with a multi-sync monitor, it is likely that, for
serious work such as DTP, spreadsheets, etc, a high resolution monitor
will become more of an essential and less of a luxury. Having used one
of the high resolution desktop modes, it is unlikely that youæll want to
return to the old 640╫256 mode. I speak from experience here Ö having
borrowed an Eizo 9060 and then gone back to the standard Phillips CM8833
the difference is enormous and has certainly moved a new monitor further
up my priority list.
6.7
There are a various options available for anyone seeking a higher
resolution display. Probably the cheapest is to buy a VGA monitor
compatible with the Archimedes. VGA is one of the display standards in
the PC world and Acorn has provided a VGA mode with 640╫480 resolution.
Iæd suggest that you buy the monitor through an Acorn dealer and not be
tempted by the low prices on offer in the numerous PC magazines. These
prices are usually proportional to the service received and very few PC
dealers have ever seen an Acorn machine, so it could be a recipe for
disaster.
6.7
The other high resolution option is to buy a multisync such as the Eizo
9060. Multisync monitors have fallen in price greatly in the last few
years and a high quality multi-sync will be a good long-term buy. One
thing to have in mind when deciding on your monitor, is that the trend
is toward higher and higher resolutions with more colours. It is
interesting to note that the adverts for the new Graphics Cards state
that some resolution require higher scanning rates than some multisyncs
are capable of Ö so check before buying.
6.7
(One comment I would make here is that some dealers are selling Acorn
computers with what they call öSVGAò monitors. If you are offered one of
these, ask what the dot-pitch is. One dealeræs 14ö öSVGAò monitor has
0.39mm dot pitch Ö the same as the Acorn 14ò multisync, AKF18. Now, the
width of a 14ö monitor screen is about 280mm, so that means there are
just under 700 dots across the screen. SVGA is 800╫600. You have been
warned! Ed)
6.7
Price
6.7
One final word Ö not about computers but about the fall out from Black
Wednesday when Norman (Éno devaluationæ) Lamont was finally forced, by
the markets, to see sense, and the pound fell by 15-20% against major
currencies. This has, in effect, made an imported piece of equipment
more expensive in Sterling terms. I noticed that some monitor prices
rose last month, probably as result of the fall in the pound. The
previous few years have tended to see the price of computer hardware
fall (look at what the price of an old A310 will buy you now Ö even
before allowing for inflation!) but it is my guess that the recent
devaluation will cause prices to stabilise or even rise on imported
computer goods when the economy starts to pick up and retailers are able
to pass on the increases which they cannot at present. If this is the
case, there is nothing to gained by waiting and certainly for items such
as monitors, is as good a time as any to buy. Was Ed. given any reason
for the price increases on the monitors?  (Yes, I was told about the
dollar exchange rates Ö the same reason that the removable cartridges
and drives have just gone up in price and the same reason that Acorn
have just reduced their dealer margins. Ed.)ááA
6.7

6.7
Molecular Modelling Update
6.7
David Kent
6.7
Recently Paul sent me a PD Molecular Modeller by Simon Kilvington. What
I am writing here is not really a review but briefly lists the
facilities that the modeller has at the moment. The disc contains the
application called !Mole and a directory containing 14 examples and some
conversion programs.
6.7
!Mole can display monochromatic skeletons, colour coded skeletons, ball
and stick, space-filled and VDW surfaces with the user choosing the dot
density. There is an option to create a crude 3D effect called Épseudo-
renderingæ and the hydrogen atoms in a molecule can be turned on and off
for clarity.
6.7
The program can save drawfiles of everything except pseudo-rendered and
VDW surface molecules. Sprite files can be saved for all views. A
particularly exciting option is the built-in ray-tracing program which
produces excellent quality 3D effects. The output from this can only be
saved as sprites.
6.7
The molecule can be rotated and moved in a öMoverò window and created or
edited in a fairly comprehensive öEditorò window. A limited set of atom
types is available at the moment but the user can create more, though
these are limited to a maximum of four bonds.
6.7
At the price(!) this is an unbeatable program. Support for Simon in the
form of cash might encourage him to develop it further!! Some of the
possibilities that he is considering include the calculation of minimum
energy conformations, molecular flexing and calculation of bond
vibrations.
6.7
As mentioned in the Help!! Column, Simon is willing to send a copy of
his program to anyone who will send him a blank, formatted disc and an
SAE. Write to him at 18 Bullar Street, Newtown, Southampton, SO2 0NH.ááA
6.7

6.7
PD Column
6.7
David Holden
6.7
I (or rather APDL which is virtually the same thing) will be running a
competition for the best Archimedes PD, Freeware or Shareware program.
First prize is ú100 from APDL and Archive magazine has offered five
runner-up prizes of ú20 worth of NCS vouchers. The prize offered by APDL
is the minimum amount that will be awarded. If the number of entries is
great and of a high standard, I may offer more than one prize.
6.7
The main aims of this competition are to help stimulate interest in PD/
Shareware and to give some encouragement and financial reward to
authors. Hopefully it will also incite authors to get down to some
serious work on that exciting idea that they have been meaning to get
around to for the past year or so. I know from my own experience that
some outside stimulus is often required to get a project off the ground.
It is also a way of trying to repay some of the hard work of people
without whom APDL and all the other libraries could not exist. I try to
do this in various other ways already but I hope that this will further
help to show my appreciation.
6.7
Almost any type of PD, Freeware or Shareware program can be submitted.
They can be complete applications, productivity tools, utilities, games
Ö in fact, anything at all. Donæt be put off by thinking that your
comparatively insignificant utility doesnæt stand a chance of winning.
Remember that there are five secondary prizes. They need not be
completely new programs. Updated or improved versions of existing
programs with additional features will also be eligible.
6.7
All entries must be submitted by the author. For a full copy of the
rules and conditions and some guidelines on the criteria by which
programs will be judged, send a blank 800Kb disk with a stamped self
addressed label to me at the address at the end of this article, not to
Archive magazine.
6.7
What is PD?
6.7
Although this column is entitled ÉPDæ, that is only because it is the
shortest of all the possible titles. I try to cover the entire range of
software which is not distributed through the usual commercial outlets.
It could be called the Public Domain/Shareware/Freeware/Crippleware/
Demo/etc column but that doesnæt have quite the same ring.
6.7
What is becoming obvious is that a lot of people have little idea what
Public Domain really means. In the USA, it is a precisely defined legal
term. It means that the author has renounced all rights to the program
and has placed it Éin the public domainæ. There is no such absolute
definition of the term in the UK. What we call ÉPDæ would normally be
defined elsewhere as ÉFreewareæ. The difference is that, with Freeware,
the author retains the copyright. He/she may allow the program to be
freely copied and used without charge but does not renounce all rights
to it. I have made this point before but it is a very important
distinction and so worth repeating.
6.7
Very little of what we see declared by the author as PD actually is PD.
I donæt think that I have seen more than half a dozen programs that
could be placed in this category. Almost all programs that contain some
sort of message saying Éthis program is Public Domainæ then go on to
totally negate the effect by adding conditions. You cannot add
conditions if the program is truly PD. Once you have declared it to be
PD, it isnæt Éyoursæ any more Ö it belongs to everyone. The addition of
any conditions to such a declaration actually reinforces the authoræs
copyright and places the program in the ÉFreewareæ category.
6.7
For all practical purposes, as far as the end user is concerned, there
is very little difference. However, there is a great deal of difference
to the author, and I am always surprised that people who write programs
and allow them to be distributed donæt take a little more trouble over
establishing or renouncing their copyright.
6.7
New text editor
6.7
For some time, the most popular PD/Shareware text editor has been
StrongEd. However, I have recently discovered another editor that I
consider to be superior. This goes by the unlikely name of Zap. Like
StrongEd, it is very much faster than Edit and has all the usual
features. Also like StrongEd, it has a Éproperæ cursor which can be
easily seen and not the silly caret used by many others. It has lots of
additional features, a very good search/replace and undo, and most
functions are available from either menus or keyboard shortcuts. It has
one feature that I find particularly useful. Almost all the keys can be
user-defined. This is a real boon to people who use more than one editor
because you can drastically shorten the learning curve by making the
editor work the way you want it to rather than needing to learn a whole
new series of keys.
6.7
Another interesting idea is that Zap can not only edit text files. It
can edit any type of file in binary (byte or word) format or as
disassembled machine code instructions. The only fault that I could find
with Zap is that it edits Basic programs in tokenised form rather like
the Basic editor. The program is displayed like text but it is held in
memory in tokenised form and this means that when editing a Basic
program, Zap operates as a line editor. Many people actually like this,
but I prefer to edit Basic programs as text. Fortunately, Zap uses
special modules for different types of file and I am promised by the
author that he intends to write one which will convert Basic programs
to/from text as they are loaded and saved, which is the method adopted
by the latest version of Edit. Zap is already very good, and once this
has been done, it might even tempt me to stop using Twin.
6.7
Translator problems
6.7
Recent versions of John Kortinkæs Translator, Creator and GreyEdit
programs would only work with RISC-OS 3.1 and not with either versions 2
or 3.0. I have just received the latest versions of all three programs
in which this bug has been fixed and I am now assured that they work
with all versions of RISC-OS. If you do have earlier versions of any of
these three programs, I am offering to update any older versions for
Archive readers free of charge. I am prepared to do this because I think
that they are all extremely useful programs and also because they are
Shareware and, as regular readers will know, I am always keen to promote
good Shareware programs.
6.7
To take advantage of this offer send a disk with an existing copy of one
or more of these programs on it to me at the address at the end of this
article. Enclose a self addressed label with a stamp for return postage.
I will only supply you with the latest versions of programs which you
already have, so donæt forget to put copies of the programs you want
updated, on the disc.
6.7
Shareware thesaurus
6.7
Another new program and the subject of this monthæs Éspecial offeræ is a
Shareware desktop thesaurus by Ian Palmer. This is based on Rogetæs
Thesaurus and hence gives a great deal of information on each chosen
word, not just a list of equivalents. It comes in two versions, Mini
Hound and Word Hound.
6.7
Mini Hound is supplied on a single floppy disk and can be used without a
hard disk. It has a dictionary of around 30,000 words which is nearly
double the number provided with Risc Developmentsæ Desktop Thesaurus
(costing ú22.32). Like any program which keeps data on disk files, it is
a bit slow when run from a floppy disk, although still perfectly
useable, but if you have sufficient spare memory, you can run it from a
RAM disk when it is lightning fast.
6.7
Word Hound is much larger and comes on five 800Kb disks. You must run it
from a hard disk where it will consume over 4Mb. Not only does it have a
much larger dictionary but it has many other extra features.
6.7
Mini Hound and Word Hound are both Shareware and registration for either
costs just ú5 and entitles you to use both programs.
6.7
For a copy of Mini Hound send four first class stamps, or a cheque for
ú1, to me at the address below. If you want the full five disc set which
comprises WordHound, I will supply this as a special offer to Archive
readers for just ú4.
6.7
Contact me at: 39 Knighton Park Road, Sydenham, London SE26 5RN.ááA
6.7

6.7
Oak
6.7
From 6.6 page 28
6.7

6.7
Principles of Desk Top Publishing Ö Part 2
6.7
Mike McNamara
6.7
Just about every new DTP user Iæve worked with has suffered from EFIS
(Excessive Font Infatuation Syndrome).
6.7
A couple of years ago, during a period when new computer viruses were
appearing all the time, I produced an April Fool article which was
circulated throughout the college. It discussed the discovery of a
particularly disruptive little virus called EFIS which, unlike any
other, infected the user rather than the computer. Those infected found
themselves switching from one font to another without warning. The text
they were writing would suddenly go bold or italic and all sorts of
other strange effects would creep in. The presentation may have been for
fun but the underlying message was very serious indeed.
6.7
The college had not long installed a substantial number of Apple
Macintosh computers (yuck!). Users were therefore being confronted with
full WYSIWYG software and increasing collections of fonts. Tutors (and
students) were then being presented with pages of text written in all
sorts of fancy fonts with liberal smatterings of italics, bold, outline
and all mixtures thereof. To put it bluntly, the college was suffering
from a severe bout of EFIS.
6.7
These users had quite simply become infatuated with these new toys and
had completely missed how much effect their uncontrolled use was having
on the materials they were producing.
6.7
I lost count of the number of pieces of work handed in, by very proud
students, as they had Édone them on the computeræ, entirely in italics
or using a font like Vogue.
6.7
Fonts
6.7
Fonts are very powerful tools in DTP design. Each font has been designed
for a particular reason and is suited to particular types of use. Using
the right font in the right place can increase the effectiveness of the
message immensely. Use the wrong font and the message may be lost
completely.
6.7
How then do you select the Érightæ font? To begin with, you need to
consider the materials you are producing. If they are to be formal, or
carry information to be taken in a formal way, then use a formal font
selection. In this article I have limited myself to two fonts Ö Homerton
and Trinity Ö using Homerton for headings and Trinity for the main text.
This is a very common design selection for this form of written
material. Homerton is a Sans-Serif font, i.e. its letters are simply
formed with no additional flourishes to their ends. This makes it very
strong and effective for headings. Trinity on the other hand is a Serif
font. The serifs are intended to help lead the reader from letter to
letter, and from word to word, thus making the reading of large blocks
of text easier and less stressful. The use of the more fancy, or what I
call the fun fonts, should be fairly strictly limited to very specific
situations.
6.7
However, the selection of font is only part of the equation. You will
also need to take into account the effects of font size, column width,
leading, kerning, etc. All of these can be used to alter the overall
effect of the type on the page.
6.7
Leading
6.7
Consider the text that you have been reading. The bulk of the text is in
Times, plain, 10pt with 12pt leading and fully justified.
6.7
This paragraph, however, although in the same font and at the same size
as the rest has had the leading increased to 14pt. Leading refers to the
amount of space left clear between successive lines of text.
6.7
By default, it is generally set to 120% of the font size but can be
altered freely (as now where it has been set to 10pt) within most DTP
packages to give more or less Éwhite spaceæ.
6.7
The terminology here has come directly from the print industry where
this effect was achieved quite simply by inserting more, or less, thin
strips of lead between the lines of type. When referring to the way the
leading has been set we use terms like É10 on 12æ or É10 on 14æ where
the first value is the font size and the second the leading. Where the
leading and font values are the same (as in 10 on 10) the text is said
to be Éset solidæ.
6.7
Next, we have the font size to consider. This needs to be balanced to
suit the column width in which the text is to flow.
6.7
Make the font size too large and the text looks over-powering and may
clash badly with other settings, such as the justification, leaving
large, ugly gaps as here.
6.7
Make the font too small and the reader may well get lost trying to move
from line to line, not to mention the fact that it is simply far harder
to read small type. Furthermore, it darkens still further the appearance
of the page.
6.7
Justification format
6.7
This then leads us neatly on to the form of justification being used. In
all the text so far, we have been using full justification. This, by
adding extra spaces along the line, presents a straight left and right
margin on the text. It also has the effect of darkening the page while
being perceived as a very formal, Éprofessionalæ style of presentation.
6.7
One disadvantage is that it makes it a little more difficult for the
reader to move from line to line. This can be overcome by formatting the
text to Éleft alignæ. Here the text is only straight down the left
margin. If you are using narrow columns, it is advisable to stick to
left align.
6.7
In some situations you may wish to use Éright alignæ, as used in this
paragraph. While it can be effective for specific situations, be aware
that for many readers it will be very difficult indeed to follow the
text from line to line. Use this for effect, not for major blocks of
text.
6.7
Finally, you have the option of formatting the text to the centre. As
you can see here, when used within columns for large blocks of text, it
does not produce a pleasing effect. In the right place, this give a
nice, balanced, feel to the text and can be exploited to great effect.
6.7
In each of the above, you should also be able to see the effects these
formats have on the Élightnessæ of the printed page. It should also be
fairly clear that, when used in the wrong place, these formats can
destroy the effectiveness of the material being presented.
6.7
Kerning & tracking
6.7
For fear of stating the obvious, a font is made up of a collection of
individual characters. However, what may not be so obvious is that these
characters include blank space as well as the visible, printable,
character. This gives the space which surrounds each character, keeping
letters and lines apart. As already discussed, the degree to which lines
of text interact can be altered by changing the leading. Kerning and
tracking can be used to alter the amount of space between characters.
6.7
Kerning is used to alter the distance between specified letter pairs.
Take, for example, the word WAY. If you look closely, you will see that
each letter stands separate from the others. This has the effect of
spreading the work too much. By altering the kerning WAY becomes WAY.
The individual letters are drawn in (negative kerning) to give a better
Éfeelæ. Similarly, you can increase the kern, as in WAY. Tracking, on
the other hand, is used to alter the spread between letters across whole
words, or marked blocks, regardless of what letters are adjacent to each
other.
6.7
NOTE: In Ovation, although the menu system correctly offers kerning and
tracking, they both seem, in some circumstances, to do the same thing Ö
i.e. they both alter the tracking. In Impression, you also have the
extra option to alter the vertical tracking Ö a little like altering the
leading but offering some very interesting possibilities. As with all
these things, the best way to find what these option offer is to play.
Try things out Ö experiment!
6.7
E.g.
6.7

6.7

6.7

6.7
In the above example (with Ovation) the text was entered as two lines
ÉLeading, Kerning &æ and ÉTrackingæ. The T of Tracking was set to 72pt
with the rest of the word set to 36pt. The kern between T & r was set to
Ö90ems with the rest of the word tracked to 20em. Finally, the line
ÉLeading, Kerning &æ was set to 14pt, tracked to Ö25em with leading set
to Ö40pt. A TAB was then set to line it to just after the T of Tracking.
6.7
As I hope you can see, these are powerful tools and worth a little
effort.ááA
6.7

6.7
Leading, Kerning &
6.7
Tracking
6.7

6.7
Music Column
6.7
Stewart Watson
6.7
Digital Symphony from Oregan Developments, is a Tracker-type eight-
channel sound-sequencing package based completely in the RISC-OS desktop
environment.
6.7
The package comes as three discs and a manual in an A5 folder. Oregan
have gone for a Serial Registration number protection system which I
feel is a good compromise, in that it protects the supplier without
inconveniencing the customer.
6.7
The manual
6.7
The manual is comprehensive, though a bit dated in style. It reminded me
very much of manuals for programs for the trusty old BBC computer, which
tended to be wordprocessed and printed using the system font. Having
said that, it is very thorough and the content is clearly laid out,
starting with simple explanations of the main terms used.
6.7
Terminology
6.7
It might be of assistance to explain one or two of the main differences
in terminology between Tracker type programs and other sequencer
programs, such as Studio24 Plus and Inspiration.
6.7
In tracker programs, a pattern is a series of notes played, one at a
time and one after the other. A sequence is a group of patterns played
simultaneously. A track is a whole song. In conventional sequencers, a
track is a series of notes, or chords, played one at a time, one after
the other. A pattern is a number of simultaneous tracks and a sequence
is a number of consecutive patterns made into a song. So you see that
the same terms have totally different meanings according to the software
being used. Confusing isnæt it?
6.7
Samples
6.7
A sound sampler is a device used to record a digital version of an audio
sound into memory. This digital information can be saved and used in
music packages as sound samples. Sound samples can be used in both
tracker and other types of program.
6.7
Program disc
6.7
The main program disc contains three directories Ö the main !Symphony
application folder, a player module and a files folder, containing four
demonstration Symphonies. The version being reviewed is version 1.10,
14th December 1992.
6.7
Resource discs
6.7
Resource disc 1 contains two folders Ö one has files created with
Maestro which have been converted into Symphony format and the second
contains four Symphony demonstration pieces.
6.7
Resource disc 2 contains another two folders, one containing conversions
of OctMED files and the other with 48 sound samples for use in your own
Ésymphoniesæ!
6.7
Loading
6.7
When the main program is loaded, two icons appear on the iconbar Ö a
compact disc icon for the main program and a slider with three coloured
buttons. Moving the slider to the red light position stops any sound
output from Symphony. In the yellow position, Symphony has priority for
sound output when running in the desktop. In the green position,
Symphony has total control over sound and you can run Symphony files
instead of in-game music.
6.7
Main features
6.7
Among the main features of Digital Symphony are:-
6.7
Maximum 4095 patterns
6.7
Maximum 5095 sequence positions
6.7
Maximum 64 sampled instruments
6.7
Written in pure ARM code
6.7
Fully Midi compatible
6.7
Built-in sample editing suite
6.7
Foreign file import/export facilities
6.7
Fully multitasking custom windows
6.7
Flexible cut and paste options
6.7
Saving
6.7
Tracks can be saved as Symphonies, with the option of using a packing
routine which compacts tracks to 2/3 their normal size, Archimedes
Tracker format, Amiga ProTracker format or as relocatable modules. A
useful feature is the ability to output details of the current file as a
text file, including information about the number of patterns used, a
printout of the sequence, details about each sample, effect and pattern.
6.7
Creating a pattern
6.7
To create a pattern, you simply open the edit pattern window Ö the event
number, the note number, the instrument number and the effects applied
to the notes can then be entered and edited.
6.7
Individual patterns can be saved, and unused patterns can be
automatically removed to save memory. Each pattern can be displayed on a
standard music score and any selection made in the pattern editor also
shows up on the score. The score page is, however, fairly rudimentary
and is not one of the programæs best features.
6.7

6.7
Sound editing
6.7
The in-built sound editing suite offers the usual facilities you would
expect from a sample editor, but a useful feature is that effects can
also be tested on samples by selecting the effect and its value in the
sample editor window.
6.7
Control desk
6.7
Control over the current track is the usual tape recorder style control
desk which provides control of tempo, number of tracks playing, as well
as the usual controls: start/stop, rewind, etc.
6.7
Sequence mode
6.7
A sequence is built up by selecting patterns from the pattern list and
placing them in the required position. Parts of sequences can be cut,
copied and pasted. Parts, or all, of any sequence can be saved as a data
file for use in other tracks.
6.7
Latest version
6.7
The latest version of Digital Symphony includes two support utilities.
One is for converting Amiga files in Med, OctaMED and OctaMED Pro
formats. The other is a converter which allows Maestro files to be
loaded into Digital Symphony and have effects added and to be edited as
any other Digital Symphony track.
6.7
Conclusion
6.7
Digital Symphony is a well constructed program which is intuitive to
use. The screens are well laid out and the manual contains all the
relevant information. It looks good on the screen, it feels good to work
with and, most importantly, it sounds good!
6.7
If you want to create relocatable modules for use in games, or are
content to use the internal sound chip for music creation, Digital
Symphony is highly recommended. However, even if you donæt fall into
either of the above categories, you will almost certainly derive a great
deal of pleasure from just playing with the excellent facilities
provided at little more than the cost of some games.
6.7
Digital Symphony is available from Oregan Software Developments at
ú49.95 (inc VAT) or ú46 through Archive.ááA
6.7
Using RISC¡OSá3.1
6.7
Hugh Eagle
6.7
I know that RISC¡OSá3 has caused some problems, but to claim, as one of
my correspondents does, that the upgrade from RISC¡OSá2 to RISC¡OSá3 has
caused ömore incompatibilities than the upgrade from 8-bit to 32-bit
machinesò is taking things just a teeny bit too far. People will be
blaming Acorn for the performance of the England cricket team next!
6.7
I have recently set up an A4000 from scratch. It comes with the
operating system and the RISC¡OSá3 Apps already installed, and
everything is beautifully logical and straightforward. If you stick to
up-to-date software and use a standard printer in a straightforward way,
everything is perfectly simple to use. On the strength of this
experience, I have no doubt that, for new machines and new users,
RISC¡OSá3 is a considerable step forward. (The A4000 Home Office also
comes with a good wordprocessor, Easiwriter, and with the very easy-to-
use Desktop Database installed and ready to run. Itæs a very far cry
from my A310, which was configured to start up on the command line and
it took me two hours to find out how to get to the ödesktopò!)
6.7
As for us hardened upgraders, the question whether it was worth the
hassle is harder to answer. Perhaps Acorn should have waited until the
new operating system was more thoroughly tested before they released it,
but then they would have been criticised for keeping us waiting. Perhaps
they should have incorporated more radical improvements, but then the
incompatibility problems would doubtless have been far greater. In this
situation, they couldnæt win!
6.7
Anyhow, rather than complaining, we should direct our thoughts towards
the changes we would like to see next time round. I am accumulating a
number of suggestions for the RISC¡OSá4 wish list which I hope to come
back to in a future column; please let me know if you have any to add.
6.7
Enough of the waffle, and on with the business ...
6.7
I am afraid that, again, I havenæt had time or space to use all your
contributions. I will in due course. Many thanks for them all.
6.7
Printing
6.7
Paper X and Y offsets and margins
6.7
This subject seems to have caused a lot of confusion, not least, I
imagine, because there is no reference to the Paper X and Y offsets in
the manual. (These were added after RISC¡OSá3.0, I think, and seem to
postdate the manual, although they are mentioned briefly on page 20 of
the RISC¡OSá3.10 Release Note.)
6.7
Before I go any further, I feel I should point out that this is a
technical area that the vast majority of users (who are happy to use the
supplied drivers and page settings) never need bother about.
6.7
The following explanation is based on contributions from Bruce Brown and
Tom Hughes and on some of the Read_Me files inside !Printers. It is also
based mainly on experience with HP Laserjets, although most of the
principles should apply equally to most other printers. I hope I have
got it right ...
6.7
The purpose of the Paper X and Y Offsets is to tell the printer driver
which part of the paper the printer is physically capable of printing on
or, in other words, to define where the printer will print if it is told
to print at the top left corner of the paper. These are set via the
!PrintEdit application. The Top and Left Margins, by contrast, define in
which part of the paper the user wants graphics to be printed. These are
set via the Paper Size window in the !Printers application. (It is these
that determine where the grey border appears when you choose the öShow
paper limitsò or öShow print bordersò option in Draw, Impression, etc.)
6.7
When the printer driver is asked to start printing at the top left
corner of the area defined by the margins: (1) first a printer reset
code is sent, then (2) the start of job codes are sent to the printer,
(3) the printhead (or the imaginary cursor in the case of a laser
printer) is told to move to the top left of the printable area (which,
if the X and Y offsets have been properly defined for the particular
printer, will be the same as the place which they define ù i.e. point A
in the diagram below), (4)áthe printhead will then be moved down by
(TopámargináÖáYáoffset) and towards the right by
(LeftámargináÖáXáoffset) to point B, (5) the page will be printed.
6.7
If either of the margins has been incorrectly defined to be less than
the equivalent offset, i.e. so that the formula in (4) gives a negative
result, it will be ignored and the cursor will not be moved at all in
that direction.
6.7
How do you find out what the X and Y offsets should be? If itæs not
clear from your printer manual, the file called TopLeft in the Printers
directory on Applications disc 2 (together with the instructions in the
Read_Me file) might help. Alternatively, you could try deliberately
setting X and Y greater than the margins, so that the cursor movement in
(4) defaults to zero (as explained) and the top left of the image will
be printed at the default printhead position.
6.7
Under RISC¡OSá2 only the ömarginsò could be defined and, for practical
purposes, these had to be set to match the physically printable area.
One of the advantages of the new approach is that if you only want to
print on a small part of the page you can set very wide margins and the
printer driver wonæt waste time trying to print nothing (i.e. lots of
white space) in the unused area.
6.7
According to Archive 6.5 p37, Paul Skirrow has suggested setting
negative offsets to force the printer to start printing near the middle
of the page when, for instance, printing labels. Arithmetically this
will achieve the right effect, but not in the intended way! What you are
supposed to do is leave the X and Y offsets unchanged and increase the
margins.
6.7
What will happen if you try to set the margins to less than the paper
offsets? Bruce Brown says you must not do so, because this will cause
the driver to send more data to the printer than it can handle on one
page. The Printers.Read_Me file says that if you do, and if you then try
to print something right up to the top left of the margins, the image on
the paper will be shifted down and to the right of where it is supposed
to be, since you have tried to get the printer to print on the section
of the paper that it physically cannot print on.
6.7
The Printers.Read_Me file also notes that the paper offsets can be
negative. Apparently, the natural print position of some printers is
above the top and/or to the left of the top corner of the paper.
6.7
Contrary to what has been said in this column before, you can apparently
set the X and Y offsets to zero.
6.7
Owen Smith says: öYou may be caught out by the way !PrintEdit stores the
paper offsets. Having changed the offsets in the main window, you then
have to open up every graphics resolution one by one and click OK in
each of them and then save the new printer definition file. This is
because the paper offsets are stored in the per graphics resolution data
(in pixels) and the graphics resolution data is encoded when OK is
clicked in the graphics window.ò
6.7
Background printing
6.7
It doesnæt work ù and thatæs official!... Iæve been sent a copy of a
Technical Information news sheet from Acorn, which says: öThe printer
buffer module supplied as part of RISC¡OSá3 does not work correctly.
Even though the buffer has been configured to a large size, e.g. 2
Mbytes, the buffer module waits for the printer to complete its print
job before returning control to the user. Acorn is currently looking
into this problem and details will be made available if a fix is
produced.ò
6.7
Jochen Konietzko, however, wonders what all the fuss is about. He
writes: öOn my machine, an A410/1 (ARM 3), with the Ace ProDriver and
the HP DeskJet 500C, there is no problem at all! All I have to do is
configure a sufficiently large printer buffer. Iæve just tried it again
and, with a buffer of 1Mb, I can work in a database with just a slight
reduction in speed.ò
6.7
The only reason I donæt use this option is that, unlike the font cache,
it is not possible to drag the task manager slider for the system heap/
stack below the limit set by the configuration of the buffer, so that
the memory is lost completely until a reset.
6.7
My standard setting for the printer buffer is 128 Kb, because that does
not slow printing down (with a 1024 Kb buffer, printing takes about 25%
longer than at 4 Kb, even if I donæt touch the keyboard at all) and yet
I have a kind of öemergency multitaskingò; at least, when I decide to
cancel an Impression printout, the button responds almost instantly.
6.7
If I have to print several copies of a text, the print from a file is
better, anyway, because then the printer doesnæt try to hog all
available RAM.ò
6.7
Perhaps the reason he has no problems is that the Ace ProDriver doesnæt
use the Acorn buffer module.
6.7
LaserDirect and TurboDrivers
6.7
Computer Concepts say that version 2.09b is now available as a free
upgrade to registered owners, as an interim measure. This fixes a few
minor problems (e.g. the patterning effects and the problems with
sprites with palettes attached) but is not a full RISC¡OSá3 version. öCC
have a team working on the printer drivers but the amount of work
involved should not be underestimated ù itæs going to take a couple of
months yet.ò (This was written on 11th February.)
6.7
Printer driver space requirement
6.7
Acorn advises that you can reduce the amount of disc space taken up by
!Printers by removing (if you have a dot matrix printer) the following
directories from within the !Printers directory: lj, ps and PDumpers.
6.7
Checking if a printer is online
6.7
Acorn also warns of a problem that sometimes affects programs originally
written for the BBC micro. If these use the command ADVAL(-4) to check
if a printer is on- or off-line, this can cause the computer to crash
because the program will not be able to understand the information
returned by the command.
6.7
Problems with VDU2 printing
6.7
Roger Power has used a Basic program for years, which now refuses to
print, causing the computer to hang as if the printer had not been
switched on. The program just has a VDU2 command to cause the screen
output to be sent to the printer and doesnæt use any printer driver. (I
wonder if this problem might be connected to the one mentioned in the
previous paragraph?)
6.7
He then successfully printed a listing from Basic, using <Ctrl-B>, but
when he entered the command:
6.7
VDU2:PRINT TAB(10,5)öArchiveò :VDU3
6.7
the word öArchiveò was printed on the next line down in the first
column. In other words, the TAB was ignored.
6.7
He has an HP Deskjet 500C. (He normally uses a ProDriver and has no
problems with that.)
6.7
Richard Torrens uses Calligraphæs ArcLaser so doesnæt have a RISC¡OSá3
driver installed. He also has a Basic program which uses VDU2 and worked
OK under RISC¡OSá2, but now gives an error. He says the solution is to
type
6.7
Unset PrinterType$1
6.7
before entering the program (which doesnæt run in the desktop) and reset
on exit from the program.
6.7
1st Word Plus driver for Deskjet 550C
6.7
Barry Thompson has an answer from Acorn to the question he posed last
month: since the Acorn JP150 printer is an HP Deskjet compatible, use
the 1st Word Plus driver supplied on the JP150 support disc. This driver
also works with Laserjets. This driver supports all the printing effects
from 1st Word Plus but will not support the printing of graphics.
6.7
Programs That Work
6.7
The following programs have been reported as working without any
problems:
6.7
Fun School 4 (Under 5æs) ù a new version works with RISC¡OSá3
6.7
Manchester United Europe (Peter Youngæs son thinks the football plays
faster)
6.7
Intersheet II
6.7
Wordwise A Plus
6.7
Mah Jong, The Game (the latest version ù but Peter Young found that it
needed deleting from his hard disc and reloading before it would accept
keyboard input)
6.7
Hard Disc Companion from Risc Developments (but Peter Young has found it
to be much slower)
6.7
Thesaurus from Risc Developments
6.7
Chess, CrossStar and Spell from David Pilling.
6.7
It is interesting to observe that all but two of the programs that
Frances Obee asked about (Archive 6.5 p25) have been reported as working
fine. Of the other two: some problems with Atelier were mentioned last
month but I imagine that the publishers of a leading program such as
this must be able to supply a fix if one is needed; and Prime Art hasnæt
been mentioned at all and I imagine no news is good news.
6.7
Dave Wilcox has sent in a huge list of games that work, which serves to
illustrate two points: first, that most programs do work and second,
that lists of this kind are likely to lead to contradictions since he
reports some programs as working which have previously been reported as
giving trouble.
6.7
Rob Brown has begun compiling a database showing which programs work
(showing version numbers) and reporting compatibility problems that he
is aware of. So far, he has only included programs that he is familiar
with, and already the list is far too long to include in the magazine so
Paul is going to include it on the monthly magazine disc. If you have
anything to add to his database, his address is öValtaneeò, Brighton
Road, Lower Kingswood, Tadworth, Surrey, KT20 6UP.
6.7
Program Problems
6.7
David Holden has offered a couple of tips which may help you to get
programs working, especially demos Ö which seem to be the biggest
offenders.
6.7
Many demos speed up the system ROMs so that they can run faster. If itæs
a Basic demo, try looking for:
6.7
SYS öUpdate_MemCò,64,64
6.7
If you find it, either remove it or ÉREMæ it out. This call wonæt work
with RISC-OS 3 and will make the computer hang. Symptoms are a complete
lock-up Ö even the mouse pointer wonæt move.
6.7
Another is that the old minimum abbreviation for *CHANNELVOICE was
É*CHA.æ and for *BASIC É*BA.æ. These no longer work and require more
letters to be properly identified. There is a utility on one of the
RISC-OS 3 Applications discs which is supposed to cure these problems
but his experience is that this doesnæt always work, so you might need
to actually change the program.
6.7
David adds that RISC-OS 3 is also less tolerant of sloppy disc
identifiers, so filenames should always have a full filing system/path
name.
6.7
He also says that many programs give problems when Acornæs !Alarm
application is running. This seems to be denied by everyone at Acorn but
it is a fact that he has verified for himself. This applies to a lot of
commercial software as well, so it isnæt just a PD problem but something
that !Alarm is doing. If you normally use !Alarm then try again without
it. If that solves the problem there are plenty of PD equivalents.
6.7
David also points out that many PD programs appear to be written in
machine code because, when you look in the application directory, you
see the ÉApplication Codeæ icon instead of a ÉBasic Codeæ icon. However,
these programs are quite often not written in machine code or a compiled
language but have been disguised by a PD utility and are in fact Basic.
This doesnæt matter unless you want to make one of the changes described
above.
6.7
To restore this type of code to normal Basic, first load it into Edit.
If you have RISC-OS 3 Edit, you just need to hold down SHIFT and double-
click on the program icon to do this, if not you will need to drag the
program icon to the Edit icon. Donæt do anything to the original, but
work on a backup copy in case anything goes wrong. Now look at the first
line of the program. If it is disguised Basic, you will see the words
ÉBasic -quitæ somewhere in this line. To change it back to normal Basic,
look for the first [0d] in the file Ö this will normally be at the end
of the first line. Delete everything up to but not including the [0d] so
that it becomes the first character in the file. Now re-save the file
and change its filetype to Basic (&FFB). If you now try reloading the
program into Edit (assuming you have the RISC-OS 3 version) you should
find that you have a normal Basic program to which you can make the
required changes.
6.7
One cause of compatibility problems that I have found is that !SparkFS
is, by default, configured to use the system sprite area for workspace.
Some older programs expect to have this all to themselves. In these
cases, a simple *SNEW command can help to get the program running.
(Obviously you must first make sure that SparkFS has saved any work-in-
progress!)
6.7
Dave Wilcox writes: öThis is probably stating the obvious but, if you
have a hard disc system and normally boot up on the hard disc, it may
help to get games working properly if you configure the machine to Drive
0 instead of the Hard Disc and press <reset>. Also, before starting to
play a game, it is a good practice to open the drive holding the !System
directory, so that it enters the !System path into memory. Also, with
some games, it may be necessary to switch off the cache for ARM 3.ò
6.7
Dave Wilcox also says that the following will NOT work under RISC-OS
3.10:
6.7
Powerband Mk2   (4th Dimension)
6.7
Saloon Cars      (4th Dimension)
6.7
Rotor      (Arcana)
6.7
Fireball      (C.I.S.)
6.7
Interdictor I (ver 1.01)   (Clares)
6.7
Corruption      (Magic Scrolls)
6.7
Thundermonk   (Minerva)
6.7
Ibix the Viking   (Minerva)
6.7
Brain Drain      (Minerva)
6.7
Grid Lock      (Minerva)
6.7
Freddyæs Folly   (Minerva)
6.7
Superior Golf & Const. Set   (Superior
Software)
6.7
Filing Systems
6.7
No floppy or hard drive icons?
6.7
Acorn advise: first of all, check that you have the correct number of
drives configured! Secondly, newer machines (A5000 onwards), on startup,
check to ensure that the configured drives are connected and if a drive
is not connected properly its icon may not be displayed Ö so check the
cable connections to the floppy drive.
6.7
ICS IDE hard drive
6.7
David Shepherdson found that, after he upgraded his A3000, his hard
drive didnæt work. Baildon Electronics, who are the service centre for
ICS, quickly fixed it. He adds, öIn fact, as I also have a Calligraph
Laser Podule fitted, this also messed up my hard disc and Baildon fixed
that as well.ò
6.7
Watford 5╝ö interface
6.7
Gordon Lindsay-Jones wrote to Watford (as Paul Beverley suggested) about
his problems with their buffer and has had no reply. He has come to the
conclusion that it does not work with RISC¡OSá3.10! Can any readers help
by telling him which buffer(s) do work, please?
6.7
SCSI filer
6.7
Seßn Kelly has discovered that his tip (Archive 6.5 p27) does not always
work. He writes: öPlease allow me to apologise and to explain a proper
way to make the free space window work with SCSIFS.
6.7
öOriginally, I advised adding a command to load the new SCSIFiler module
to the desktop boot file. This did work, but only Ö I have since
discovered Ö because my desktop boot file was also creating a RAMFS
disc. This forced the initialisation of the replacement module.ò He
suggests that the answer is to split the boot process into two stages so
that the SCSI filer is initialised before the desktop is entered. (Tim
Nicholson confirms this.)
6.7
To do this first, rename the existing !Boot file as Deskboot, say, and
create an application directory called !Boot in the root directory and
move the Deskboot file into it. Then create an obey file called !Run
inside !Boot containing the following commands:
6.7
RMLoad SCSI::4.$.!System.
6.7
Modules.SCSIFiler
6.7
Desktop -file <obey$Dir>. Deskboot
6.7
(replacing 4 by the appropriate disc name).
6.7
If you want to smarten up the appearance of the !Boot application, you
can copy the sprites file_fea and small_fea from Resources:$.Wimp.
Sprites into a !Sprites file inside !Boot and rename the sprites !boot
and sm!boot.
6.7
The above is the approach which is also recommended on page 16 of the
RISC¡OSá3.10 Release Note. An alternative way of achieving the same end
is (1) to rename the existing !Boot file (the one that contains all the
Filer_Boot and Filer_Run commands, etc) DeskBoot, say, (2) to copy it to
a safe place like the !System directory, (3) to create a new !Boot file
in the root directory, (4) to move into this new file the command to
RMLoad the SCSIFiler module and to add the command:
6.7
*Desktop -file SCSI::4.$.!System.DeskBoot
6.7
(replacing 4 by the appropriate disc name). To my mind, this way is
simpler because it avoids the necessity for creating sprite files,
renaming sprites, etc.
6.7
The $.!Boot.!Run file (under the Kelly/Acorn approach) or the !Boot file
(under mine) can now also be used to load or initialise all sorts of
things before the desktop is started Ö e.g. extra mode modules, virus
protection, ROM speed up programs, etc.
6.7
Miscellaneous Hints & Tips
6.7
Newlines in !Run files
6.7
P N Cousins says that if there is more than one linefeed at the end of
the !Run file of an application, if he tries öto use the menu button on
the iconò the machine locks up. I presume that he means that, if you
choose the Quit option on the iconbar menu, the application wonæt quit.
This is something that I have noticed from time to time. (Invariably,
when it has happened to me, simply pressing <escape> has put things to
rights.) However, I have tried adding newlines galore to the ends of
!Run files without being able to repeat the phenomenon. Can anyone tell
us what is happening?
6.7
On page 16 of the RISC¡OSá3.10 Release Note there is a cryptic
instruction that you should not enter any newlines after the second line
in a particular two-line !Run file. I wonder if this is connected.
6.7
Ian Hamilton says that, according to Acorn, Obey files with blank lines
aggravate what he calls a bug which can cause applications not to return
from their Obey files. He suspects that this may be the cause of the
problem that was blamed on Compression in Archive 6.5 p28.
6.7
Newlines at the end of !Boot files
6.7
P N Cousins also says that you must have a newline at the end of a !Boot
file or else the last line will be ignored. So, if you find that an
application which ought to be run by your !Boot file but isnæt, this
might be the answer.
6.7
Hiding the Apps in Resources
6.7
We have mentioned in a previous month that you can hide !Configure and
other ROM-based applications from prying eyes by typing *Unplug
!Configure (or whatever). Acorn advise that, if you do not want users to
see the Resources filing system, you can remove it from the iconbar by:
6.7
*Unplug ResourceFiler
6.7
Setting up an application
6.7
Tim Powys-Lybbe offers the following hints based on how he sets up
applications (using Impression as an example).
6.7
The technique I use is to construct an outer directory to hold (a) the
filer of work for the application and into which outer directory I also
place (b) the application as delivered from the supplier. I copy (c) the
!Sprite file from the application, give the outer directory the same
name as the application and make the !Run file do various things
including opening up the directory of working documents, the application
itself and then back up the working documents on exiting the
application. The !Boot file is more or less copied from the application
though you do need to choose a different system variable name for this
outer directory. (I just add Top to the applicationæs system variable
name for its directory.)
6.7
I have had several problems getting this working on RISC-OS 3, though
the end result is far better as I now have control over where the
directories open on the desktop and I get a nice clean view of the
Impression start-up picture.
6.7
1. Extension of Filer_OpenDir command
6.7
This command, which opens up a directory on the desktop, otherwise known
to Acorn as a filer, has been extended in RISC-OS 3 to allow you to
decide both where you want to place the filer on the desktop and how
large it is to be (the user guide gives details). For example, in the
!Run file, to open up Impression:
6.7
Filer_OpenDir <ImpressTop$Dir>. Templates 1000 700
6.7
This places the Templates filer with its top left at 1000 OS units
across the desktop from the left and 700 OS units up from the base line.
Acorn define 180 OS units as 1 inch on the screen though this must
presumably depend on the size of the monitor. You will have to
experiment with values for the directory position to get it where you
want on your desktop.
6.7
You can add information about the width and height of the directory by
adding two more numbers:
6.7
Filer_OpenDir <ImpressTop$Dir>. Templates 1000 700 1200 130
6.7
The third number is the width of the directory and the fourth number is
its height. In mode 39, 130 OS units high just accommodates a single row
of the large icon size. (Isnæt the height of an icon, in screen units,
mode-independent?)
6.7
2. Opening an ArcFS directory
6.7
I have had some correspondence with Mark Smith, the ever-helpful author
of this excellent package, and have at last found how to make ArcFS
directories open up from within the !Run file. It is done in two stages,
first:
6.7
OpenArchive <ImpressTop$Dir>. Documents
6.7
Documents is the name of an ArcFS archive that is stored within the
Impression outer directory. Note that ArcFS should already be on the
iconbar for this Open_Archive command to work as it is an ArcFS module
command; you can of course start up ArcFS from within this same !Run
file.
6.7
The second command is:
6.7
Filer_OpenDir ArcFS#Documents:$ 600 1400 1800 260
6.7
The syntax is fairly obvious if you look at the top of the directory for
your archive once it is open!
6.7
3. Backing up to a floppy
6.7
I have a little application tagged on to the end of the Impression !Run
file to cause a back up of the Documents archive after exiting
Impression (or any other application I hasten to add). With RISC-OS 2 it
would work with:
6.7
*COPY <ImpressTop$Dir>.Docu-
6.7
ments :0.Documents
6.7
In RISC-OS 3 this produces an error and one must use instead:
6.7
*COPY <ImpressTop$Dir>.Docu-
6.7
ments ADFS::0.Documents
6.7
Setting up Pinboard without a hard disc
6.7
Brian Fielding has developed an interesting use of the Pinboard, which
he says is especially useful for those without a hard disc:
6.7
After Éplayingæ with RISC-OS 3 for a few days and realising some of the
benefits of the PinBoard, which are obviously more beneficial if you
have a Hard Disc, I worked out a mechanism to fully utilise the PinBoard
so that, when the system was first booted, it would contain all the
applications I would want to access.
6.7
The mechanism described below will display the Applications and when an
icon is double-clicked the appropriate disc will be requested and the
application will be loaded.
6.7
This should be read in conjunction with Chapter 7 of the RISC-OS 3 User
Guide, öDesktop Boot Filesò.
6.7
Setting up pseudo-applications
6.7
For each application you wish pinned to or loaded onto your pinboard,
set up a pseudo-application as follows:
6.7
Copy the application, say !AppName, to an empty disc and, using <shift>
and double-click <select>, display the contents of the application.
6.7
Delete all files and directories except !Boot, !Run and !Sprites.
6.7
Edit !Boot to contain the four lines, in the order given:
6.7
IconSprites <Obey$Dir>.!Sprites
6.7
Set AppName$Dir ADFS::DiscName. $.!AppName
6.7
Set Alias$@RunType_fff Run <AppName$Dir>.!Run %%*0
6.7
Set File$Type_fff FileName
6.7
AppName is the name of your application e.g. PipeDream
6.7
DiscName is the name of the disc containing the original application.
6.7
fff is the applicationæs FileType. (This line should be present in the
original !boot file. There may be other Alias$@RunType_fff lines and
these should also be left.)
6.7
FileName is the Filetype name, e.g. PDream. (This is not essential.
Again there may be others and should be left if desired.)
6.7
Note: <Obey$Dir> must only be used as a pathname to !Sprites. The full
pathname to the original Application must be established, including the
disc name.
6.7
Edit !Run to contain (or create an Obey file):
6.7
Run <AppName$Dir>.!Run
6.7
Do not alter !Sprites. Copy !AppName to your Desktop Boot Disc. Add the
following lines to the !Boot file on your Desktop Boot Disc
ÉDskTopBootæ. (See note below if using a RAM disc.):
6.7
Filer_Boot ADFS::DskTopBoot.$. !AppName
6.7
Pin ADFS::DskTopBoot.$.!AppName 100 300
6.7
100 300 represents the position on the PinBoard. With the origin at the
bottom left of your screen, this represents 100 units to the right and
300 units up. Your next application should be placed at 300 300. You
can, of course, pin your applications anywhere on the board.
6.7
If you wish your application to be ready for use, use ÉRun ...æ instead
of ÉPin ...æ.
6.7
RAM disc available
6.7
Unfortunately, the above will require you to load the Boot disc each
time you load any application.
6.7
If you have sufficient space available in memory, create a RAM disc of
at least 64Kb. You need, on average, 7 Kb per application.
6.7
Prepare as above but copy your pseudo-applications to a directory, say,
PseudoApps, on your Boot Disc.
6.7
You will then need to modify your !Boot file as follows:
6.7
Ensure you have a large enough RAM disc.
6.7
Change DynamicArea -RamFsSize 64K.
6.7
Add the line
6.7
COPY ADFS::DskTopBoot.$. PseudoApps.* RAM::RamDisc0. $.* ~CQR~V
6.7
Modify both the Filer_Boot and the Pin (or Run) lines from
ÉADFS::DskTopBootæ to read ÉRAM::RamDisc0æ.
6.7
Notes
6.7
Ensure that you have configured the system to boot from Disc by loading
your Boot disc and executing *Opt4,2 in command line mode.
6.7
Some applications, e.g. Lemmings, are set up to delete RAM disc on
startup and tidy up when QUITed, e.g. UnSet Directories. These should be
altered:
6.7
For Lemmings, the file !Lemmings.!Run should add | at the start of the
line TequeMen and Unset Lem$Dir.
6.7
If memory is a problem, the amount of RAM space can be reduced by adding
a line Delete RAM::RamDisc0.!AppName.!Sprites after the corresponding
Filer_Boot line. This will approximately halve the required space.
6.7
If you have sufficient RAM disc space, it would be helpful to place
!Scrap in it.
6.7
ROM/RAM podule available
6.7
If you have a ROM/RAM podule, with battery backup, then setting up the
pseudo-applications onto the RAM will make application selection much
more user-friendly.
6.7
If you have a ROM/RAM podule, make this your Boot system. Simply follow
the above but change ÉADFS::DskTopBoot.æ to ÉRFS:æ and remember, in
Command Line mode, to:
6.7
*Configure FileSystem RFS
6.7
*RFS
6.7
*OPT4,2
6.7
*ADFS
6.7
Examples
6.7
The monthly program disc has examples for disc, RAMDisc and for the ROM/
RAM podule.
6.7
Matters Arising
6.7
Backing up in one pass (Archive 6.5 p36)
6.7
Put the following command in your !Boot file:
6.7
Wimpslot -next 800K
6.7
Solid sprite dragging (Archive 6.6 p61)
6.7
(This gets even more bizarre!) Would you believe that, to turn sprite
dragging off, your new friendly operating system requires you to issue
the following commands?
6.7
SYS öOS_Byteò,161,28 TO ,,R2
6.7
R2=R2 AND 253
6.7
SYS öOS_Byteò,162,28,R2
6.7
(Thanks to David Shepherdson for that!)
6.7
!CMOS_Edit: WARNING!
6.7
Bruce Brown warns that, although !CMOS_Edit can be used as I mentioned
last month (Archive 6.6 p60) to save, load and view the CMOS RAM
effectively, if you use the Edit and Update feature, you will be in
trouble. This is because Acorn have now implemented the (previously
reserved) checksum byte at the end of the CMOS RAM. When you öUpdateò,
!CMOS_Edit will overwrite the correct value with the old incorrect
value. Since the checksum routine is relative, it will then always be
wrong until the power on/delete routine is performed. Until then,
whenever you startup, the operating system will find that the checksum
is wrong and will use default settings rather than those stored in the
CMOS.
6.7
!CMOS_Edit is easily fixed to overcome this: look in the !RunImage
(Basic) file for the loop which writes the values to CMOS RAM and change
the loop counter from 0áTOá239 to 0áTOá238. Leave the loops for saving
and loading alone Ö they obviously must load and save everything as
previously.ááA
6.7
Help!!!!
6.7
Å   Archway Ö I returned my red disc to Simtron because it was faulty but
they will not send me a new one!! Could anyone please help by sending me
a copy of theirs? Call Roger on 0727Ö851140 (eves) or 0895Ö233909 (day).
6.7
Å   BBC model B needed Ö Has anyone got an old BBC B computer, perhaps
with a duff keyboard, that they donæt want? We would be happy to pay a
few pounds for one. Ed.
6.7
Å   BDS 630/8 laser printer Ö Is there anyone out there who has a BDS 630/
8 laser printer and has worked out some sort of RISC-OS 3.10 printer
driver for it? Please contact Paul Hooper 11, Rochford Road, Martham,
Great Yarmouth, NR29 4RL, Phone 0493Ö748474.
6.7
Å   Econet Column Ö Is anyone interested in helping (in however small a
way) with the preparation of an Econet Column? Dave Emsley of 746
Manchester Road, Stocksbridge, Sheffield S30 5EA has offered to
coordinate things, so get in touch with Dave if you think you can help
in any way.
6.7
Å   GNU C/C++ compiler Ö If anyone would like to help in the beta testing
of a GNU C/C++ compiler for the Archimedes please contact Simon Callan,
2 Malden Road, Borehamwood, Herts WD6 1BW or on E-Mail at [e-mail].
6.7
Å   Panasonic KX-P1081 Ö Can anyone supply a RISC-OS 3 driver suitable for
printing text and graphics on a 1081?á Peter Jennings, St Albans.
6.7
Å   Programming help needed Ö A school in North Norfolk needs some help in
programming. It is not a complex task Ö it could be programmed in Basic.
The project is related to a publicly available database they have
produced for a local marina. There is some money available to pay for
the time used in doing the programming. A local person would be best so
that you can see the project as it has been developed thus far but it
could be done at-a-distance. If you are interested, Ring Roger Bird at
Sheringham High School on 0263Ö822363 or fax him on 825907.
6.7
Å   RISC-OS compatibility list Ö Rob Brown has started to compile a
comprehensive list of applications that do and donæt work on RISC-OS 3
and whether they install on hard disc. If you can help by feeding him
information about different applications, write to him directly: R A
Brown, Valtanee, Brighton Road, Lower Kings Wood, Tadworth, Surrey, KT20
6UP, or write via Archive, if you prefer. His list thus far is on this
monthæs program disc in PipeDream, Edit and Impression format. (The file
is a table with 11 columns, so the Edit file is almost unreadable Ö it
will have to be loaded into a spreadsheet or WP or DTP package and
formatted to make it readable.) We will re-publish the information on
the monthly disc from time to time as it is updated.
6.7
Å   Science software Ö I should be interested to hear from anyone who has
produced any software for Chemistry or indeed for any natural science
topic. We have quite a lot of our own (physical) chemistry related
software here, although some of it is rather specialised. I would be
happy to release some of this as PD or shareware but it would be nice if
a complete disc could be made up with a wider range of software on it.
Anyone who contacts me and sends a disc is welcome to a selection of
programs on the understanding that my own are at A level or at the
higher education level. Those who actually send a piece of their own
software will get a larger selection in return! Contact Chris Johnson,
Department of Chemistry, Heriot-Watt University, Riccarton, Edinburgh,
EH14 4AS.ááA
6.7
Help Offered
6.7
Å   More molecular modelling Ö Anyone interested in molecular modelling is
welcome to have a copy of the modelling program I have written. Send a
blank formatted disc and an SAE and I will send you a copy. Simon
Kilvington, 18 Bullar Street, Newtown, Southampton, SO2 0NH. (See the
mini-review on page 29.)
6.7
Å   Walschaerts Valvegear for steam locomotives. Numerical solution (for
Archimedes) available on receipt of a 3╜ö disc and s.a.e. to WB Hall,
High Raise, Eskdale, Cumbria, CA19 1UA (09467Ö23275).ááA
6.7
Just Yoking!
6.7
Tord Eriksson
6.7
For flight simulator buffs, using a mouse to mimic a control yoke or
joystick is definitely not the ideal solution.
6.7
True analog joysticks needs specially written software and an analog-to-
digital interface and, because Acorn deleted the BBC-type analog port on
the Archimedes range, they cost a lot of money. One possible alternative
joystick is the Delta Cat Mouse Eliminator that plugs directly into the
mouse connector. However, it is an odd contraption and I have had little
success with it. Some swear by it, though.
6.7
Enter the Mouse Yoke
6.7
Just in time for Christmas, a package arrived from Simis, the flight
simulator company. It contained a öMouse Yokeò made by a US company
called Spectrum. It cost ú24.95, all inclusive, from Simis. If you want,
it can be upgraded to a öMouse Wheelò, a steering wheel, for $19.95 plus
p&p, direct from Spectrum in sunny Colorado.
6.7
The mouse is strapped back-to-front onto the Mouse Yoke, whose body is
secured to the table with a clamp.
6.7
The idea behind this entirely mechanical device is to turn your mouse
into a yoke, or steering wheel, by strapping your mouse on top of the
yoke shaft (see illustration).
6.7
Unpacking
6.7
The package contained one manual, a öQuick Startò leaflet, a
registration card, a öMouse Wheelò voucher and the disassembled yoke.
The yoke comes in four parts: a plastic shaft, a plastic yoke, an
aluminium clamp and an extruded aluminium body. The latter has one hole
for the shaft, a slit along the top (for the mouse ball to make contact
with the shaft), an elastic strap (called a Éseat beltæ by the
manufacturer!) and a receptacle for the clamp. No software is included.
Everything is very high quality, heavy duty and very, very black.
6.7
Assembly
6.7
It is very easy to assemble the yoke Ö force the shaft into the yoke,
clamp the body to your table, fit the mouse under the strap with the
ötailò and buttons pointing towards you and push the shaft into its
hole.
6.7
Yoking with a MiG-29M
6.7
There is no fighter aircraft I know of that ever used a yoke but it is
common on commercial and other multi-engine aircraft, like the Boeing
747 or the British Aerospace Jetstream. Older multi-engine aircraft
usually used a wheel, sometimes huge, and some modern ones use a tiny
joystick.
6.7
First of all, you will notice that the key öZò comes in handy to centre
controls. You might have to fiddle with the mouseæs sensitivity.
6.7
According to the MiG-29M manual, keys 1, 2, and 3 are used to change the
sensitivity, but I canæt notice any difference. I usually set the
controls to very sensitive and fly with autostab on, until I need to
fight other aircraft or attack ground targets.
6.7
Compared to real controls, it is just as sturdy but the friction and
delay are missing. The main problem is reaching the buttons on top of
the mouse and the fact that they are reversed Ö <select> becomes
<adjust> and vice versa Ö but you easily get used to it.
6.7
If your mouse is too insensitive, you might run out of elevator, but
that is easily corrected by increasing the mouse step setting. If you
want, you can always add a *Configure mousestep n to the MiG-29Mæs !Run
file, so your Mouse Yoke automatically gets the right feeling.
6.7
A warning for table tops that are not perfectly horizontal. If you let
go of the yoke, it tends to slide out of the body as the friction is so
low!
6.7
Conclusion
6.7
I think my money was well spent, as it is usable for other simulations,
like E-Type and Chocks Away, and will function on practically any
computer using a mouse. My very stiff old A3000-style mouse did not work
very well and optical mice are also useless but the newer Acorn mice
from Logitech work very well indeed!
6.7
It has a nice finish, good construction and a well-written manual
(mainly for PC and Mac users) Ö what else do you need? The only addition
you might like to make is a second mouse and a mouse cable splitter, so
you donæt have to fit the mouse each time you want to go for a spin! Or
you might try fitting switches to the yoke itself, as in a real
aircraft, and rewiring your spare mouseæs buttons to the yokeæs.ááA
6.7
Quest For Gold
6.7
Myles Thorne
6.7
Krisalis Software Ltd have capitalised on the fact that the Olympic
Games were held during last summer by introducing an Olympic Games
simulation program. The game is supplied on two disks which are copy-
protected but replaceable if proved to be faulty.
6.7
The game
6.7
The purpose of the game is to win medals in five events: 100m sprint,
110m hurdles, javelin, high jump and long jump. A series of heats leads
to the finals in each event and then medals can be won.
6.7
The game itself has three aspects:
6.7
Management
6.7
The player manages ten athletes and is responsible for training them to
win the medals. This can be achieved through a programme of training
relevant to the events. The performance of each athlete depends on how
well the player has put together the athletic attributes: agility,
power, strength, speed and stamina coupled with skilful use of the
mouse.
6.7
Arcade only
6.7
This is the simplest way of playing the game as training of the athletes
is not required. The player uses already trained athletes who are not
gold medal prospects Ö but it is a good way of learning the game.
6.7
Full simulation
6.7
This gives the player control of the other two sections of the game and
an opportunity to create a squad of world class athletes who could make
a clean sweep of the medals.
6.7
I would advise players to start with the Arcade mode until they have
more knowledge of the game and have learned how to use the mouse to its
greatest effect.
6.7
Famous British athletes such as Colin Jackson, Steve Backley, Fatima
Whitbread, Dalton Grant, Kriss Akabussi, Sally Gunnell and John Regis
are featured in the program but it is possible to select a team from 17
different nationalities.
6.7
Conclusion
6.7
The more proficient you get, the more fascinating Quest for Gold
becomes. Allow plenty of time to play the game as it will keep you
engrossed for hours, trying time after time to improve your previous
performance.
6.7
The only criticism I have is that once the game is mastered, there are
no further challenges and winning, in some events, becomes easy. The
program itself has one of the best information leaflets for a game I
have ever seen with easy-to-understand advice from loading the game to
winning the medals. Whether you like athletics or not, I think ÉQuest
For Goldæ is a worthwhile addition to your collection.ááA
6.7
Oak
6.7
New Ö coming in the morning öbefore 9.00 a.m.ò
6.7
Colton
6.7
From 6.6 page 27
6.7
SpaceTech
6.7
From 6.6 page 16
6.7
 TextAid Ö Text Processing Utilities
6.7
Ian Williamson
6.7
This article is about (and written with the aid of) TextAid Version
1.26. TextAid is a multi-tasking application which has been designed to
work with other applications on the Archimedes Desktop, in order to
provide text handling facilities that are not normally available to
them. The application is fully compliant with RISC-OS 3.1.
6.7
Main features of TextAid
6.7
Up to 20 Macros can be defined which can be inserted into any document
or writable icon with input focus. Quick macros can also be selected and
date and time can be inserted.
6.7
Text can be transferred from any text icon or window title bar to a
document or writable icon with input focus.
6.7
Printer control codes to produce printing effects such as Bold,
Underline, etc, can be inserted in documents created in Edit and similar
editors which do not provide printer control facilities.
6.7
CSV and TSV files can be converted to text files and vice versa. Text
files can be converted from other systems with options to strip out
control codes and convert top-bit-set characters to 7-bit characters.
6.7
Getting started
6.7
Starting TextAid in the usual way puts an attractive icon on the right-
hand side of the iconbar. Clicking <menu> over the iconbar icon displays
a menu with eight options: Info, Open window, Increment 1, Increment 2,
Define codes, Hot keys, Warning and Quit.
6.7
Open window option leads to a sub-menu with five further options:
Macros, Codes, Quick macros, Transfer and Convert. Apart from Quick
macros, each of these refers to one of TextAidæs windows and provides
one of the applicationæs facilities. Choosing one of these options
toggles the corresponding window open or closed; it is ticked if a
window is open. A nice feature is that clicking <menu> over any of
TextAidæs windows displays a menu with four options: Info, Open window,
Save macros and Clear macros. Open window gives the same five options as
obtained from the iconbar menu; Save macros and Clear macros are only
active from the Macros window and are greyed out from the other windows.
6.7
Increments 1 and 2 set the initial value and step size of two
independent numbers which can be inserted into the macros, for paragraph
numbers for example, and which increase in value each time the macro is
used to insert a string into the text.
6.7
Define codes option leads to a dialogue box which enables the user to
define the control codes for five printer functions: this is described
later.
6.7
Macros
6.7
TextAidæs main window is called Text macros. On the right-hand side of
this window are twenty writable icons arranged in two groups of ten, and
each is capable of holding a text string of 80 characters.
6.7
To the left of each writable icon is an icon containing a red arrow;
clicking <select> on this inserts the text string at the caret position
in the document you are working on. Alternatively, by clicking <adjust>,
text can be deleted before insertion of the text string. This only works
for editors which use <ctrl-X> to delete marked text. This can be
disastrous, so TextAid gives a warning first, but the warning can be
turned off from the iconbar menu.
6.7
Macros can also be inserted into a dialogue box but just clicking on an
arrow will not work because the box disappears when you do so. I am
pleased that an alternative method has been provided for those
circumstances. If you move the pointer over the red arrow for the macro
and press <alt>, the macro is inserted just as if the arrow had been
clicked. I think this is a very useful feature, especially for inserting
strings into search and replace dialogue boxes, and it works very well
with both Edit and PipeDream.
6.7
TextAid also recognises a few special character sequences which may be
included in a macro string. All of them start with the vertical bar
character ö|ò and accept upper or lower case letters.
6.7
|D inserts the current date
6.7
|T inserts the current time
6.7
|F followed by a single digit inserts a function key code, i.e. |F1
calls key f1 of the application that has input focus.
6.7
|M followed by a two digit number inserts one of the other macros
6.7
|N inserts a new line
6.7
|I inserts an increment figure, i.e. |I1 inserts Increment 1 etc, where
the initial value and step size are set from the iconbar menu, as
described above.
6.7
With these special character sequences TextAid can add remarkable
flexibility to your editor, word processor or DTP application,
especially if you also use the hot key option, described later.
6.7
All 20 macros can be saved as a standard text file (filetype &FFF).
Different sets of macro files can be used for different purposes, giving
great flexibility when using other applications.
6.7
You can load macros by dragging a macro file onto the iconbar icon, or
onto the Text macros window. Any text file may be loaded in this way,
and overwrites any macros already in TextAid without giving any warning.
An existing macro file can be edited in the Text macros windows, but
this is tedious if you want to change the order of any of the macros. It
is easier to use a text editor such as Edit. Alternatively, you can
click <menu> over TextAidæs main window, select Clear macros and start
again in a blank window. When you do this, TextAid will give a warning
and ask whether you wish to proceed.
6.7
Quick macros
6.7
TextAid provides two ways to access macros quickly without having the
main window open on the desktop. You can either open a Quick macros
window from the Open windows sub-menu, or switch on Hot keys from the
iconbar menu: I have used both and find them both useful.
6.7
The Quick macros window contains twenty numbered icons and four further
icons labelled Date, Time, Inc1 and Inc2. By clicking on any of these
icons, you can insert various macros at the caret or insert the current
date or time or incremented numbers 1 or 2.
6.7
Although PipeDream has an excellent facility for inserting Date, which I
use when I want the value to be updated automatically, I find it quicker
and easier to use TextAid to insert a value that does not change.
6.7
A very useful feature of Version 1.26 is the new option called Hot keys.
When this option is selected, macros can be inserted into the text with
a single keypress. For example, pressing <alt> plus one of the function
keys <f1> to <f10> inserts macros 1 to 10, and pressing <shift-alt> plus
<f1> to <f10> will insert macros 11 to 20. The toggle on/off facility is
provided in case any other applications use these key combinations.
6.7
As a dedicated PipeDream user, I thought this was a very intelligent
choice, since neither PipeDream 3 or 4 use <alt> with any of the
function keys. I have used all the <shift>, <ctrl> and <ctrl-shift>
function key combinations plus some of the other darker grey keys to
carry out various PipeDream commands, so I was delighted to be able to
use <alt> and <shift-alt> function key combinations: I used them
extensively to insert oft repeated words and strings, such as öTextAidò
and öRISC-OS 3.1ò, whilst writing this review.
6.7
Printer Control Codes
6.7
TextAid enables printer control codes, or escape sequences, to be
inserted into the text that you are writing in Edit, SrcEdit and similar
editors, to produce specific effects when the text file is sent to the
printer. This feature should not be used with sophisticated document
processors such as PipeDream as very strange things are likely to
happen.
6.7
TextAid is set up to provide the following printer functions: bold,
superscript, italic, underline and subscript. Each printer function has
an On and Off icon. The codes are set out in this order on the Control
codes menu, which I find rather curious; I would have thought that a
more sensible order would have been underline, bold (or vice versa),
italic, and finally superscript and subscript. Apparently the default
order was chosen so that the short codes for bold, italic and underline
would be the same as DeskEdit: this would be useful for anyone moving up
to DeskEdit, since any Edit documents with codes inserted would still be
usable. The order in which the codes are set out is a matter of personal
preference, and it is a simple matter to alter the order if you wish.
6.7
At the top of the Control codes window is an icon labelled Escape, to
enable you to insert additional control codes, e.g for different fonts
or character pitch. At the bottom of window is a pair of radio buttons
labelled Shortcode and Literal.
6.7
If the Shortcode icon is selected, a single non-printable ASCII
character (top-bit-set) is inserted in the text, which will act as a
marker and will be expanded by the RISC-OS printer driver to the full
escape sequence during printing. The TextAid handbook gives very clear
instructions about how to set up both RISC-OS 2 and RISC-OS 3 printer
drivers to interpret these shortcodes.
6.7
I am quite certain that I have correctly edited the character mappings
of the RISC-OS 3 printer definition of my Panasonic KX-P1124 printer to
insert the codes to switch the required printing effects on and off, but
!Printers will not correctly print a document with shortcodes inserted
in the text. I fear this is yet another problem with !Printers; so far
as I am aware it is not a problem with TextAid.
6.7
If the Literal icon is selected, the full escape sequence is inserted in
the text. It is possible that you would often insert the full code
sequence, especially if you want to send your document to someone else,
since an ASCII text with full printer codes can be used by anyone.
6.7
The only thing you have to remember is that if you format the text with
wordwrap, which is now a standard feature of text editors such as Edit,
inserting either the shortcode or the full code sequence will upset the
format. I have found that it pays to complete your text and obtain the
text format you want, without inserting any printer codes; then turn off
wordwrap and finally insert the codes you require.
6.7
TextAid defaults to Epson compatible codes. You can change the printer
control codes for your printer, or the order in which they are set out.
The Define codes window provides five writable icons for the names of
the printer functions (maximum 10 characters). To the right of each
printer function name is a pair of writable icons into which you type
the on and off printer control codes for your printer. Unlike some
applications, TextAid does not have the flexibility to allow you to
insert the control codes in different formats: the decimal value of the
Escape code and printer code symbol have to be used, separated by
commas.
6.7
Transferring text
6.7
The Transfer option of TextAid enables text to be transferred from text
icons or window title bars. At first, I was a little sceptical about the
usefulness of this feature of TextAid, but I rapidly found it to be very
useful indeed. Text can be transferred in one of two ways: via the
Transfer window allowing you to edit the text, or directly from icon to
caret with one keypress.
6.7
Choosing the Transfer option from the Open window sub-menu opens a small
window with two icons labelled Transfer in and Transfer out, and a
writable icon long enough for 80 characters. Clicking on the Transfer in
icon changes it to Waiting... ; i.e. waiting for you to transfer text.
Click over the icon or title bar containing the text you want to
transfer and the text will appear in the writable icon, but truncated if
it is longer than 80 characters.
6.7
It is also possible to transfer text directly from a document editor if
the editor can save a marked section of text as text file. You drag the
text file icon from the save dialogue box directly onto TextAidæs
Transfer window. This enables text to be transferred from a document to
a writable icon belonging to another application, which is virtually
impossible to do by any other method. The text can be edited in the
Transfer window, if required, and transferred out to the caret by
clicking on the Transfer out icon.
6.7
Text can also be transferred into a dialogue box, but just clicking on
the Transfer out icon will not work, because the box disappears when you
do so. I have found that an alternative method works, as it did with
Macros, although it is not documented in the handbook. Move the pointer
over the Transfer out icon and press <alt>.
6.7
If you do not need to edit the text, an alternative transfer method is
provided which is extremely easy, and I have found that you do not even
need to have the Transfer window open. All you have to do is position
the pointer over the icon or title bar containing the text you want to
transfer and press <alt-insert>. To delete text first, just press <alt-
delete>. Again, this only works for editors which use <ctrl-X> to delete
marked text, and TextAid gives a warning. No warning is given when text
in a dialogue box is deleted first.
6.7
I think this is a very useful feature, especially for inserting long
path names from filer or application title bars without having to type
the whole name or, more importantly, without making mistakes. For
example, in PipeDream I like to use the Files Option dialogue box to
give my document a title which is the same as the complete path name;
that way I can insert it in a header or footer, or at a suitable point
in the text, as a method of identifying the document and hopefully
recovering it from my filing system at some date in the distant future.
6.7
I have also found it useful to copy a complete equation from the Edit
expression box of PipeDream in text form as part of an explanation in
the same or another PipeDream document. Despite my dedication to
PipeDream, which has its own perfectly adequate procedures, I find this
is so much easier to remember and do using TextAid.
6.7
Convert
6.7
TextAid enables CSV and TSV files to be converted to text files and vice
versa. Some text files from other systems can also be converted for use
on Archimedes, with options to remove control codes and convert top-bit-
set characters to standard 7-bit ASCII characters. This can make the
transfer of files from PC word processors easier, although TextAid does
not set out to be anything more than an aid.
6.7
The Convert file window has a set of five radio icons: CSV to text, Text
to CSV, TSV to text, Text to TSV and Text to text. At the bottom of the
window, two icons, LF and CR-LF, are used to select the line separator
when converting to CSV/TSV.
6.7
To convert a file, you drag the file icon onto the Convert window. After
a pause, a standard save box opens with an icon of the appropriate
filetype and the pathname of the original file. You may change the file
name and save the file in all the accepted ways. I found it quite
convenient to be able to drag the file icon into Edit or PipeDream,
rather than save it to a directory first. TextAid will only accept text
and CSV files with the correct filetype, and will save with the
appropriate filetype. TextAid accepts any filetype when converting from
TSV, but checks to see if there are any tab characters in the file. If
there are none, an error will be assumed and warning given. As there is
no filetype for TSV files, these will be saved untyped.
6.7
I have not checked the Convert facility of TextAid as thoroughly as some
of the other aspects of the application, because I do not have a wide
variety of different file types to convert, or suitable applications to
verify the conversion. However, I have found it quite useful to be able
to edit files from different applications, from a PC for example, that I
have not been able to read before.
6.7
Quibbles
6.7
The keyboard and mouse are not disabled whilst text is being inserted
into a document or dialogue box, from either a Text macro or the
Transfer window. Thus if you type anything or press a mouse button too
quickly, the transferred text will obviously be garbled, or something
worse might even happen. It is not really fair to suggest that this is a
shortcoming of the application because TextAid is providing facilities
not normally available under RISC-OS, and this is a small price to pay
for that flexibility, but you do have to be careful.
6.7
The only other small quibble I have is that TextAid does not have the
flexibility to allow you to insert the printer codes in different
formats. However, this is not a real issue, because anyone who has
survived an encounter with often abstruse printer handbooks, and knows
enough about the arcane art of printer codes to dare change any, should
be able to cope with almost anything!
6.7
Documentation and support
6.7
The documentation is given in a 14 page A5 booklet. Although short, it
is easy to follow and perfectly clear how to get the best out of the
application.
6.7
The handbook suggests that if you have problems, you should phone and
discuss them. My experience is that the author is very quick to correct
problems Ö there were a few with the original review copy. He also seems
very receptive to new ideas and keen to incorporate them if possible Ö I
made a few suggestions that were rapidly added. (I had better finish
this review quickly before he includes any more and it gets any longer.)
6.7
Conclusion
6.7
So far as I can tell, TextAid works well with Edit, PipeDream and even
Draw and DrawPlus. I have used most of its facilities successfully with
all those applications, although some facilities are obviously not
applicable to all of them. I have very few quibbles, and I think it is
worth every penny, whichever text editor, word processor or DTP package
you are using. Itæs also worth having for transferring text from title
bars, or into dialogue boxes, of any application. In short, I strongly
recommend TextAid Ö get it, you wonæt regret it.
6.7
TextAid, priced ú12.95 inc VAT and p&p, is supplied by Rheingold
Enterprises. (Now available from Archive at ú12.)ááA
6.7
Hardware Column
6.7
Brian Cowan
6.7
It is certainly the case that, as time goes on, there are more and more
products which exploit the power and potential of the Archimedes. It is
as well, however, to keep an eye trained on the PC world to know what
products are available. If it can be done on a PC, it must be possible
on an Archimedes. I am referring here particularly to all manner of
devices which can be connected to a PC printer port. On this front there
is good news, as I will recount below.
6.7
A4 connectivity
6.7
Although I am very happy with my A4, there is one general area where it
falls down. I refer to its expansion capability (or, should I say, the
lack thereof). The main problem is that I canæt connect my Syquest
removable hard disc drive to it. Well now there are two products which
have come to my aid Ö both from Atomwide. Although my initial interest
was related to the A4, these products have much wider application.
6.7
RemoteFS
6.7
This is a product so brilliant in conception that one wonders why it was
not done before. The idea is that you connect two or more machines
together and then the computers can access each otheræs disc drives.
There is a choice of communication link; at present you can use the
serial ports, the bidirectional parallel printer ports of the newer
machines, or Ethernet. RemoteFS comes with the appropriate leads for
serial or parallel port interconnection.
6.7
My initial use for this was to connect my A4 to my Archimedes 540 using
the serial port. What I wanted to do was to access my SyQuest from the
A4. There is a straightforward installation procedure, where the
RemoteFS software is loaded onto both machines. This places a delightful
picture of a lorry on the filer side of the iconbar. From the menu, you
then select the transport medium; I clicked on serial. Then you select
which drives of the öserverò machine you want available to the öclientò
machine. When the devices are selected on a client machine, each remote
drive appears on the iconbar as a disc drive on the lorry. You can then
treat these as ordinary drives, reading and writing Ö if these options
have been configured.
6.7
I discovered that using two machines, each could act as a server for the
other. So, using my A4, I could access the SyQuest while, at the same
time, my daughter could load a game from the A4 to be played on the
A540.
6.7
More importantly, using the A4 as a server for the A540 or any of the
older machines means that high density floppy discs can be read from and
written to. This is particularly important when using DOS products,
where the 1.44 Mb discs seem to be the norm. At the moment there is a
slight problem using RemoteFS to access floppies, as it looks for disc
names rather than at a specified drive. I hope this will be changed in
the future.
6.7
A particularly important feature of RemoteFS is the modular nature of
the program. Modules for different transport media can be written and
added in a straightforward manner. So far, I have not received the
Ethernet module, but it should arrive soon. It is probable that other
modules will also be produced in the future, perhaps using the User Port
of the Acorn I/O boards.
6.7
RemoteFS is a doddle to install and to use. I still havenæt seen the
manual Ö but it is a highly intuitive RISC-OS application and thus
hardly needs a manual. At a price of ú49.95 +VAT (ú55 through Archive),
it is a real bargain. Anyone who is fortunate enough to own or have
access to more than one Archimedes computer should have one of these.
6.7
Parallel port SCSI adaptor
6.7
Atomwideæs other new product is a SCSI adaptor which plugs into the
bidirectional printer port of the new machines, including the A4. The
price of this is also ú49.95 +VAT (ú55 through Archive). Physically, the
hardware consists of a Édongleæ case which plugs into the printer port
and the other end connects to your SCSI device. The software, which
comes on disc, comprises a SCSI filer and a formatter for high level
formatting, which will also interrogate the connected SCSI devices.
6.7
Physically, the dongle is a modest-looking object, and I did not have
terribly high expectations of it. After all, the SCSI is cobbled to the
end of a printer port and it only has an eight bit bus. I screwed the
dongle into my A4 and connected the other end to my SyQuest and switched
on. I have to say that I was AMAZED. The access time for the SyQuests
felt no different from usual. So then I did some rough speed tests which
seemed to indicate that there is negligible speed penalty in using this
SCSI adaptor. (I will do some more careful tests and report back next
month.)
6.7
Although I have no complaints about the software, I do have a Éwish
listæ. I use Oak SCSI interfaces which are not quite standard. When you
change a removable disc, the new disc name appears under the hard disc
filer icon. When you dismount a disc, the drive spins down and unlocks
its door. Even though these facilities are not part of Acornæs SCSI
standard, they make life much easier and I wish that this SCSI adaptor
would provide these options.
6.7
PC card performance
6.7
A review in another magazine looked at the performance of Aleph Oneæs PC
cards and compared them with the PC emulator on the one hand and real
PCs on the other. The conclusions bore out my own experience, that the
PC cards are superb in every area except one. I refer to disc access. I
ran some tests to check what I had suspected for some time. I copied a
3.7Mb file, within DOS, from one directory to another. This took 98
seconds using a PC card and 40 seconds using the PC emulator. Of course,
with the PC card, the fact that everything has to go through the podule
bus and two-way communication is bound to cause a certain amount of
indigestion. But the test is a realistic one. When running Windows in
virtual mode, the virtual memory is on the hard disc and chunks of
memory will be paged in and out all the time: bidirectional traffic on
the podule bus. I know that Aleph One are looking into this.
6.7
Of course, if you want to run Windows 3.1 then you have to use a PC
card, as the Emulator does not emulate the required æ286 or above CPU.
My suspicion is that Acorn have now stopped further work on the Emulator
project. I think that æ286 emulation is unlikely.
6.7
Coming back to the speed question, I can encourage PC card users with
the news that there will soon be a hardware upgrade which will provide
some 50% speed increase on all cards. It simply involves the replacement
of two chips on the card and the upgrade will be provided at a Énominalæ
cost. It will be supplied as standard on new cards.
6.7
Colour cards
6.7
I was tempted by all the publicity to have a look at the two graphics
cards: the Colour Card from Computer Concepts and the G8 Plus card from
State Machine. These are both impressive products, with very similar
performance and at the same price. However, one point I had not
realised, is that you need a good quality monitor to reap the full
benefit of either. In particular, it is vital that the monitor will
support high scan frequencies. I found that the 50kHz maximum frequency
of my two Eizo 9070S monitors was not sufficient for the high resolution
modes that I wanted to use.
6.7
The main difference between the G8 and the CC card is that the G8
generates all screen modes, while CCæs card has an analogue switch to
pass through the old Archimedes modes. The advantage of generating the
modes is that you can ensure they are all rock-steady and full screen Ö
which they arenæt on all monitors but the disadvantage is for games,
some of which will not work properly with the G8 Plus as it stands. My
daughter would not allow me to keep the G8 card in my computer at home!
6.7
(If you want Acorn modes, you can get a video switch from State Machine
or simply *KillG8 and take the output direct from the computer. Ed.)
6.7
The G8 card has all its software in an on-board EPROM. On boot up, the
software is then loaded over and the applications are installed in the
Resources filing system. This is all invisible to the user, which makes
operation quite painless. The disadvantage is that software upgrades
require a new EPROM and I must confess to being a little surprised at
the price State Machine is asking for these. This is in marked contrast
to Computer Conceptsæ policy of free disc upgrades.
6.7
(I think Brian is confusing software upgrades which are free even though
they are EPROMs and the hardware upgrade offered recently, which offers
16 bit per pixel on the G8 Plus. Ed.)
6.7
What tipped the balance for me was the astounding quality of the 24-bit
colour sprite included on the CC disc; it is really quite remarkable. I
would suggest that Computer Concepts write a Éscreen saveræ program
comprising a 24-bit colour slide show. That would certainly cause a
stir. I know that this would require loads of disc space, but presumably
JPEGG compression could be used.
6.7
The final point in favour of the CC product is the expectation of a
custom mode designer for use with the colour card. I have not seen this
yet, but creating my own screen modes will allow me to exploit the
potential of the colour card to the full.
6.7
(Sorry to keep interrupting but ö24-bitò is actually 24-bit Édithered
downæ to 15-bit. This is also available on the upgraded G8 Plus and is
also absolutely stunning Ö show it to your PC friends and watch their
faces! If you want to see a similar demonstration on the G8 Plus, send a
couple of blank formatted discs to State Machine. Finally, they too are
working on a mode designer Ö weæll have to see which one is released
first! Ed.)
6.7
BJ-200 bubble jet printer
6.7
The publicity for the new Canon BJ-200 printer has been quite tempting.
I already use an LBP4 Laser Direct in my office and an unexpected
windfall in the form of a new research contract meant that I could buy a
printer for use at home which was better than my trusty Epson LQ-850. I
could not really justify the purchase of another LBP4 and the BJ-200
seemed most attractive.
6.7
I decided to buy the printer and Turbo Driver from Computer Concepts. I
was not really sure if I required the Turbo Driver but it seemed
sensible to purchase it with the printer. The Turbo Driver comes with a
special printer cable. I was surprised at this but eventually I realised
that this was part of Computer Conceptsæ protection policy; the data
lines are scrambled by the driver software and unscrambled in the lead.
6.7
Installation should have been straightforward. I had a problem in
loading the printer driver from Compression. I never sorted out what the
problem was, but loading from an uncompressed drive cured all problems.
With a few trial runs, everything was perfect. Unfortunately, my trial
runs exhausted the supply of special high quality paper provided with
the printer!
6.7
After a while I decided to try the Acorn printer driver. The advantage
of this is that it is a true RISC-OS 3 printer driver, unlike the Turbo
Driver which does not support all of the new facilities of the upgraded
operating system. If you want to use the Éscramblingæ printer lead, CC
supply a module for this on the Turbo Driver disc. The disadvantage of
the Acorn driver is mainly in the speed of printing Ö particularly the
time to release control of the computer. The other negative point is
that the configured page size is not right and a strip is missing at the
bottom of the page. This is fairly straightforward to rectify but it
takes time, paper, ink and patience. It all goes to highlight the
professional way that Computer Concepts provide a product that is
polished, tuned and perfectly adjusted. It creates such a good
impression if things work correctly first time.ááA
6.7
Maurice Edmundson
6.7
This month I will look at a number of miscellaneous items which are
related to, and follow on logically from, last monthæs coverage of
pamphlet and book production.
6.7
Transferring paragraph styles
6.7
One of the small but useful facilities in Ovation is the ability to
transfer styles from any Stylesheet to a new document. This can save the
tedium of having to define the paragraph styles afresh when starting up
a document which does not have a ready prepared style sheet of its own.
Once you have built up a small collection of stylesheets which, by
definition, will be the ones you are most likely to use, each will
contain a set of defined paragraph styles which can be entered into any
new document at any time.
6.7
To do this, first ensure that you have, on disc, the stylesheet holding
the paragraph styles you want to include in the document on the screen.
Open the paragraph style edit window and drag the stylesheet icon from
the disc into this window. Ovation will ask if you want to overwrite the
existing styles and you have the option to discard (i.e. go ahead) or
cancel. The purpose of this warning is to alert you to the fact that if
any of the new styles have the same name as those already there, the
latter will be overwritten by the new ones and lost.
6.7
Since BodyText is always present in every set of styles the new one will
always overwrite the old. If they are both the same, this does not
matter but if the new one is different, it will take precedence. It is
all too easy to overwrite a useful main heading called öMain Headò with
another useful one having the same name. The moral is to label your
styles, at least in your stylesheets, with names which do not duplicate
each other. I would even recommend a Stylesheet called öTextstylesò used
for no other purpose than to load a set of paragraph styles into every
new document as it comes along. Unwanted styles are easy to delete in
the edit window.
6.7
Are you making the best use of all the styles available? Have another
look at the style menu. For example, situations arise from time to time
where Title, Small Caps and Word U.Line are useful. (An example of the
use of Title is mentioned below.) Many of the features in the Style menu
can be combined. For instance, you could have small caps, italic, bold
with underline Ö if you wanted such a thing! In a news-sheet type of
publication or a poster, a large heading may be improved by either
slightly condensing or slightly expanding the text by varying the
horizontal scale, (Style menu) depending on the space to be filled.
Kerning has a similar role where the space between selected letters can
be varied and a very useful extension of this is Tracking.
6.7
Kerning and tracking
6.7
Words in a heading may look better if the space between some of the
letters is either made fractionally wider or narrower. Consider the word
6.7
WALL
6.7
Kerning allows the gap between the W and the A to be slightly reduced.
Position the caret between them, make Kerning = Ö30 and you will observe
the gap closing. Positive values increase the space.
6.7
I frequently write to my small granddaughter who lives abroad. I use the
18pt Vogue font but the letters often appear to be too crowded together
for a small child, so I mark the paragraph and introduce Tracking of
about 9%. (90/1000 em). In the style menu, the word öKerningò changes to
öTrackingò when a string of text is marked. Every space between every
letter in the string is increased or decreased by the same amount.
6.7
Preparing an index for a book
6.7
When you have written your pamphlet or book, it is often desirable to
create an index. There is no automatic technique for producing an index
in Ovation but, as always, one can make the most of the features which
are provided in order to achieve this end. What is required is a list of
words, paragraph headings and so forth extracted from the pages of the
book, complete with page numbers, which can be sorted into alphabetical
order and entered into the columns of the page(s) of the index chapter.
6.7
I think one golden rule is not to attempt to construct an index until
the book is well and truly finished. It is the last act! Plan your index
carefully. Do not be tempted to include rather trivial references to a
topic. Keep to the main one where the readers will find information
which will take them forward. For example, the word öFontò may occur on
many pages but an index reference like this:
6.7
Font  2,12,17,25,36,41,59,87
6.7
is not much help to anyone. One might put the main page reference in
bold or italics, or one could split the reference into sub-sections such
as Font (design) 17 and so on. Best of all, weed out the unnecessary and
keep to the important references only.
6.7
In constructing the index, one possibility is to browse through the
pages of the book making a list of references, either jotting them down,
or typing them into !Edit on screen at the same time. By coincidence, as
I write, the March issue of Risc User magazine has an article by David
Spencer describing a program which will then sort the list and convert
it into an Index for loading into any other document. The code for the
program is on the Risc User monthly magazine disc.
6.7
However, it is possible to use Ovation itself in a way which is
reasonably straightforward and gives the desired result. The principle
is to construct a user dictionary to hold the choice of words and pages,
export this as a text file and finally import it into the index chapter
of the Ovation document. The dictionary automatically gives the
alphabetic sort.
6.7
First add an extra chapter to the end of the book with two or three
columns on the page so that text will flow from column to column. If
most index references will be limited to one or two words, three columns
will work quite well. Add a header frame to take the title INDEX. From
the bottom of the main menu move across from Spell to get the sub menus
as in the diagram.
6.7
You will see that I have created a new user dictionary called öIndexò.
Now load this dictionary (middle sub-menu) only, ensuring that neither
the main index nor any other is loaded. Return to the first page of the
book, open the Spell window once again and select <Check Story>. The
dictionary dialogue window will appear and the first word on the page
will be highlighted and also appear in the write slot. If necessary,
highlight the Browse button to bring up the (empty) Index window. Slide
the whole Spell Check window to the top of the screen so that it will
not interfere with browsing through the book.
6.7
If you want the first word included in the index, type a figure 1 at the
end of the word then click on the ADD box and you will see it entered
into the dictionary window as öFirstword1ò. If you wish, you can now go
through each page word by word by clicking on the CONTINUE box (too slow
and tedious) or by pressing <return> (or <enter>) Ö here the marker
moves rapidly along the words until you release the key. Stop on the
next reference you want and add it to the dictionary, then continue as
before. If you overshoot, you must clear the write slot and write the
word in by hand. You cannot go backwards in the text. Each time, before
you add the word to the dictionary, type the page number at the end of
the word. No spaces allowed. If the reference is two words such as
Master Pages, when Master is in the write slot, type in Pages and page
number without spaces, i.e. MasterPages4.
6.7

6.7
The quickest way of all and the only feasible one for a longer book is
as follows. As before, when you select <Check Story>, the first page
will be selected with the first word highlighted and waiting in the
write slot of the Index dictionary window. Search by eye down the page
for the reference you require, moving through the book page after page
by scrolling pages in the usual way. When you find a reference, place
the caret at the end of the word. Now select <Continue> in the dialogue
box. The word may be entered into the write slot or it may be the
previous word, in which case click <Continue> again. Once the word is in
the slot, add the page number without spaces. Select <Add> and you see
the word entered.* Click <Continue> again then search by eye for the
next reference and repeat the process. Note that if a word has already
been entered into the dictionary, it will not be loaded into the slot a
second time. It must be typed in with the new page number. The latter
then makes it a different word as far as the dictionary is concerned and
it can be added. *(N.B. Use of the adjust button is possible here Ö
refer to the manual.)
6.7
When you have finished, you will have a dictionary containing all the
words for the index along with their page numbers. They will also be
sorted in alphabetical order. Return to the Spell sub-menus and select
<Edit>.
6.7
The Edit window allows you to browse through the words, deleting any
unwanted ones, adding a missed page number or reference, etc. Finally,
by clicking <menu> over this window, you can export a text file to disc.
Label it öIndexò once again. Bring up the index chapter of your book on
screen and import this text file into the top of column one. The words
will flow down from column to column. To finish the job, you have to tab
the page numbers out from the words into a tidy column of their own.
Using the default tab value, this usually means two or three presses per
word. You will also have to add a space to separate double words. Mark
the columns and from the Style menu select <Title>. All the words will
be given a capital initial letter Ö I think this looks neater.
6.7
Hints and tips and comments from other users are always welcome.ááA
6.7
Ovation Column
6.7
CADet
6.7
Dave Wilcox
6.7
The Acorn 32-bit computers are extremely fast, thus establishing
themselves as leaders in the graphics and drawing market, with numerous
packages being available to paint or draw. To date, several attempts
have been made by various establishments to produce a package suitable
for creating and reproducing technical and engineering-type drawings. I
have only seen a few of these packages Ö all transpositions of PC
packages and all of which appeared to have drawbacks of some sort. The
latest release from Minerva is ÉCADetæ Ö a 2D draughting package priced
at ú160 through Archive.
6.7
What you get
6.7
As we have come to expect from Minerva, this package is nicely presented
in the usual blue box and ring binder. The manual is clear and concise
and consists of 130 pages. I have only one gripe in this respect, there
is no title on the spine of the book or the box, as there is with
several of Minervaæs packages. This is only a minor oversight but a
cumbersome one if you wish to shelve the packages for future reference.
6.7
The software is supplied on one disc which contains the program itself,
an A3 plotter driver, sample drawings and sample drawing libraries.
There is a System, Scrap and SysMerge to update your system, if
necessary.
6.7

6.7
The package
6.7
When you load the program, you obtain the expected icon on the iconbar,
and also a bar at the top left of the screen which is CADetæs message
bar, from where the program requests or gives information as required.
To enter the program, click on its icon on the iconbar. The window you
get is, to all intents and purposes, the same as a draw window minus the
tools but with a status bar across the top.
6.7

6.7
From left to right the icons represent the following: the active drawing
tool, the active snap, the current pen colour, the current line type or
text font, the current line end markers and the current layer name and
number.
6.7
If you click on the active tool icon the drawing toolbox (bottom left)
opens up. These are along the same lines as Draw tools but they are
further enhanced. To use the tools as set by default, select them with
<select> to change their setting select, with <adjust> for a further
menu.
6.7
Each of these menus also gives you the option of pinning it to the board
for temporary changes to be made easily. The first two tools are the
line or curve draw Ö the sub menu of each gives the option to close the
lines (i.e. join start and end points). The next three are the
rectangle, circle, and polygon draw. These have various ways of drawing
the shapes from opposing vertices, centre point to vertex, centre to
edge or, for circles, two point and three point. The next tool is the
Arc tool which is as versatile as the circle tool Ö you can define the
arc in numerous ways.
6.7
The next icon represents the Library tool which works along the same
lines as the Library in DrawPlus. It is easy to use, easy to create and
you can import it into other drawings Ö an excellent feature. Next is
the text icon and because this is designed to work with plotters under a
HPGL driver, the program has its own text system which gives you four
styles of text Ö plain, roman, bold and gothic. I personally have no
problem with this as I like plain text on drawings, but some people
would prefer to have access to Acorn fonts. (A way round this is to save
as a drawfile and modify the drawing in Draw and print it out via a
standard printer driver.)
6.7
Next is the point mark. This places a vertical and horizontal line cross
on a specific point of reference, e.g. centre point of a circle. These
points are not printed on the final drawing and are designed to be used
for construction purposes. Area fill is next with seventeen different
fill patterns available for sectioning or map building.
6.7
The next tool is the dimensions tool Ö a neat addition. Select the start
point and end point and the dimension bars are drawn. As the drawing is
to scale, the appropriate length is automatically entered to the
required number of decimal places Ö a nice touch. This is followed by a
circular copy, select your item, e.g. a nut, select the number of copies
in 360░ and, hey presto, there they are. The last tool is the select
tool which has the same function as in Draw, etc.
6.7
By clicking on the second icon from the left you can open a second
toolbox Ö the active snap box.
6.7

6.7
This toolbox gives you the most control I have seen over the alignment
of drawn items. From left to right, you have the following snap options,
the first two are the grid snaps, standard and orthogonal; next are the
drawn snap points, snap to end point, mid point, bend, object, centre,
quadrant, point, perpendicular and tangential. The power of this tool
comes from the fact that numerous types of snap may be selected at the
same time.
6.7
The last three buttons give you control of how the co-ordinate system is
to work. You have the choice of entering absolute values in relation to
x=0, y=0 (the bottom left corner of your page), relative movement from a
selected point or polar movement. The position/measurement is shown in
the field at the end of the bar, which can be edited manually for
insertion of precise measurements for absolute, polar or relative
movement.
6.7
Returning to the status bar, we still have three more areas: pen colour,
line/text style and layer.
6.7
Pressing <menu> over the pen colour gives you, as expected, the choice
of colour for your drawing pen. There are eight colours selectable and
one extra item Ö Éselfæ. This is used by the library feature to maintain
the colours used in library items when imported into a drawing, instead
of defaulting to the current pen colour.
6.7
Next is the line/text type. This gives you a menu of different line
patterns and fill types, arrows at either end or both ends of lines and
access to the automatic fillet option. If text is the selected entry
mode, you have the choice of font as mentioned above Ö with size,
justification and an italic angle option.
6.7
The layer option is the final selection Ö for users of DrawPlus, this
works in an identical manner. You have a choice of 32 layers available
and can select which are visible at any time, allowing complex drawings
to be constructed without cluttering the screen. Construction lines can
be on one layer, measurements on another, complicated cross sections on
another and so on.
6.7
An oversight?
6.7
Although this package is a very well thought out, there is, sadly, one
major omission Ö there is no elliptical tool. At first, I first I
thought I could draw a circle and possibly drag it but you cannot do
this because the edit feature will only allow you to change the radius
and then only numerically in an editable field. One possible solution,
to draw a somewhat elliptical shape, is to use the arc tool set to 360░.
Perhaps Minerva could consider the addition of this feature in future
editions. I think the circle option of Draw would be preferable combined
with a constraint key for circles as in Artworks perhaps Ö we shall see.
6.7
Conclusion
6.7
The benefits of the extra tools available in this package far outweighs
the omission mentioned. This package makes an admirable job of what it
was designed for.
6.7
A lot of Minerva packages come in twos Ö and this is no exception. CADet
is the smaller of the two but its big brother, ÉPROCADæ, is still to be
released.ááA
6.7
Using RISC-OS 3.1
6.7
Using RISC-OS 3.1
6.7
 Cyborg
6.7
Naomi Hunt (aged 13 yrs)
6.7
Cyborg is a new action game from Alpine Software; it costs ú25.95 and
needs a 2Mb machine in which to run. It arrives attractively presented
in a video-cassette sized box that contains three discs and a 12 page
instruction booklet. The booklet describes the story-line, presents the
loading information and moves on to playing details. It also includes a
hints section and details of a competition, the prize for which is an
original piece of artwork specially commissioned for Cyborg.
6.7
The game
6.7
The story-line is that you have crash landed on an alien planet Ö
Arallax IV Ö and need to recover Xylenium crystals to get your ship
going again. You put on your GalCorp cybertronic suit and step out into
an unknown world.
6.7
The game comprises eight levels which, unusually, alternate between fast
öshoot-Éem-upö arcade levels and adventure levels which require some
careful thought. You need to complete one level and obtain a password
before moving on to the next level, although you can move straight to
Levelá2 if you want to practise your adventure skills. However, to
qualify for the competition, you will need to have worked your way
sequentially through all levels. Your performance on earlier levels can
effect what happens to you on a later level.
6.7
I was given a reviewersæ information sheet which included various
passwords but, unfortunately, these did not apply to the version of the
game I had; so I was unable to progress beyond Levelá1 in the time
available! My observations are therefore based on playing Levelá1
(arcade) and Levelá2 (adventure).
6.7
Cyborg takes quite a long time to load from floppy disk and I was glad
to be able to install it on my hard disk. Whilst the game is loading,
some rather boring music is played. When youæve been öexterminatedò as
many times as Iæve been, and have had to re-load each time, the tune
becomes pretty tiresome.
6.7
The Level 1 display comprises a view of the outside world occupying
about half of the screen area; the remaining area is taken up with an
array of status indicators. I found the display rather cluttered, so
that some essential indicators (such as the energy bar) were difficult
to read. A lot of this display is purely cosmetic and I felt that a
number of indicators could have been eliminated in exchange for a bigger
view of the playing area.
6.7
Levelá1 action takes place in a desert landscape where you have to
destroy aliens on scooters, using your laser weapon. Some of the aliens
you miss release bombs which sap your energy if they explode. Some of
the aliens you hit release energy capsules which you can retrieve using
your tractor beam. You will have to learn to switch very quickly from
your laser weapon (clicking <select>) to your tractor beam (clicking
<adjust>) and back again. The idea is to fight your way through a
variety of alien weaponry, without exhausting your energy supply, until
you have destroyed the final weapon and captured a crystal. You will
then be given a password. The graphics on Levelá1 were adequate, but not
brilliant.
6.7
I enjoyed the level 2 adventure section better, although the graphics
could be improved here, too, and I thought the font was rather
uninspiring.
6.7
Conclusion
6.7
I found the arcade level much too hard for me. Even with the reviewersæ
instructions provided, I could not complete levelá1; nor could my dad,
although my brother (aged 16) eventually managed it. I realise that
games have to be a challenge but after many hours what started out as a
challenge turned into frustration!
6.7
I think that Cyborg is quite a good attempt at mixing arcade and
adventure action but it falls short of the best arcade games and the
best adventures, and is unlikely to satisfy the real Éaddictsæ in either
camp. For those who enjoy a real challenge (and who have lots of
patience) the arcade levels alone should provide hours of
entertainment.ááA
6.7
Creator
6.7
Simon Anthony
6.7
Creator is an arcade games designer from Alpine Software. My hope, when
I asked to review it, was that it would allow me to write at least
reasonable shoot-em-up games within the first week of it arriving. The
plan was then to use Creator in a classroom situation. I was to be
disappointed. This might have been because my ambition was set too high
or it may have been the fault of Creator. I hope this review will allow
you to judge for yourself.
6.7
The initial impression on receiving the package is one of drabness Ö the
two-tone-blue box cover looks as if it was printed by a rather old dot
matrix printer but the manual looks well presented. The package includes
two discs and two games demos produced using Creator. I would have
expected them to show the product in its best possible light. I hope
this is not the best that Creator can do! The games sprites are as drab
as the packaging and the game play is as old as the hills.
6.7
But, is any of that relevant? Well, in as much as it put me in a bad
mood, which made me put the discs back in their box, then yes. Later, I
returned and started to read the tutorial. The manualæs 50 pages are
very clear and a definite Émustæ Ö the tutorial section especially. This
is more than usually important because it is only when you know what the
demos are demonstrating that you can begin to see the power and scope of
Creator.
6.7
The Creator menu is the way to start building the game structure plan. I
would have to regurgitate the manual to explain all the facilities and
techniques offered here Ö they are wide-ranging and very detailed. This
comment is two-edged because the greater the detail, the greater the
opportunity for confusion. I think a few screen shots here will be of
help. The menu is displayed giving access to the Options window. This is
just one of the many windows which let you control every aspect of the
final gameæs appearance, controls and behaviour. Perhaps the easiest
window to explain is the Design window.
6.7
This controls one of the more obvious aspects of the game Ö the bits
which appear on the gameæs screen. The Design window lets you set up
where the objects go, what they are, how fast they move (or donæt), what
layer they appear on and which attack wave they appear in. Yes, this is
an arcade game designer. The Sprites window is shown here displaying the
demo sprites from a Breakout game on disc two.
6.7
This next set of windows shows how to set the final shape of a wave, the
path of your attacking baddies and the noises they make as they fly
around. Background music is supplied on the discs Ö this will play ad
nauseam if you so desire. Any sound-tracker type tune can also be used.
As mentioned, the facilities are wide-ranging and the possibilities for
error in setting them up are endless and so I have yet to create a
better demo than theirs but it has to be possible with all this control.
6.7
The Event window (below) offers control over what can hit what and what
happens if it does. Apart from designing the sprites (which you have to
do with !Paint), this is the most enjoyable part. Together with the
sprite design, it is also the most important stage in defining the
playability of the finished product, so take your time and all should be
well.
6.7
Everything you can think of in an arcade game is implementable, but that
leaves all the arty bits, such as designing better sprites, down to you.
If the Creator demos and the presentation of the manual had as much
effort lavished on them as on the program itself, the task of deciding
how good Creator really is would have been very easy indeed.
6.7
If you are not very good with !Paint, or donæt even know what a Sprite
is, then donæt buy this package. If you can use !Paint with ease and
have no problems in working out how the levels in Draw Plus operate and
if you have some idea of what is meant by öPut (0) in (lives)ò then you
will be able to use Creator. Even then, donæt expect to manage much
during the first sitting and donæt think that Creator has done all the
work of making your mega-game. There is a great deal of time and effort
needed to create something worthwhile Ö even with Creatoræs invaluable
help.
6.7
It is said that everyone has one book inside them just waiting to be
written. If the same is true of arcade games then, with Creator, your
game could finally see the light of day.ááA
6.7
Flopticals for ADFS Ö A Mixed Blessing
6.7
Jochen Konietzko
6.7
Ever since I first read about the development of 21Mb floptical drives,
I have waited impatiently for their arrival in the Acorn world.
6.7
Floptical drives are, basically, 3╜ö floppy drives for DD and HD discs
but with an extra. Coupled to the magnetic heads there is a laser which
is used for the (transparent) floptical discs which contain, in addition
to the magnetic coating, extremely densely packed optical servo tracks
that the laser follows.
6.7
This makes it possible to position the driveæs heads so precisely that
it can currently handle 1245 tracks per inch, compared to 135.4 TPI on a
conventional floppy Ö in other words, 753 instead of 80 tracks per side
Ö giving it a vastly increased storage capacity.
6.7
Misinformation
6.7
So, when I read last summer that Morley were developing software which
would enable these new drives to access ADFS discs, I phoned them
immediately and asked if their new product would be able to replace the
internal floppy drive of my A410/1 completely. They told me that it
could. (But read the rest of the article! Ed) I made quite sure it was
understood that I wanted a drive which could not just access HD discs
(making it unnecessary to buy one of the new drives used in the A5000)
and floptical discs but also that it should do everything my current
drive 0 could do. Then I placed an order with Morley.
6.7
In addition to the things I had been told over the phone (all of which,
I have since learned, were without Morleyæs official seal of approval),
I read about tests of floptical drives, connected to PCs, in a number of
German PC magazines.
6.7
(Morley are unhappy that I should be using all these bits of information
in my article, because they feel that a review should only compare the
reality of a product with the official claims made by its producer.
However, I think that it is quite legitimate to compare this reality
with what is theoretically possible, because only if you know how good a
product could be will you be able really to judge how good it actually
is.)
6.7
Anyway, in early February, the drive finally arrived (bliss!). Here is a
report on my first experiences with it.
6.7
The package
6.7
The drive (made by Insite Peripherals) arrived, together with a SCSI
cable, in a well-padded package. There was no documentation whatsoever.
6.7
Installation
6.7
Luckily, installation of the drive proved to be quite straightforward Ö
just remove the old drive, replace it with the new one, remove the three
termination resistors on the SCSI podule (this was mentioned in the
manual which arrived last year with my SCSI hard disc) and connect drive
and podule.
6.7
When I had run the SCSI_Conf application to log the new drive into my
system, three icons (SCSIDrive 0, 4 and 5) appeared on the iconbar. My
external hard disc was now driveá5 and clicking on 4 brought up an error
message. A phone call to Morley yielded the information that this icon
is used for the floptical discs.
6.7
These icons have not yet been perfectly thought through. If, immediately
after you insert a disc,  you accidentally click on the wrong icon, the
disc will be regarded as unformatted. Even if you then click on the
correct icon, the error message will usually still appear and you will
have to take the disc out and push it in again before the drive will
accept it.
6.7
First steps
6.7
My first acquaintance with the drive 0 icon brought several nasty
surprises. It can not format floppies, nor can it read or write DOS
discs nor, for that matter, Atari discs Ö MultiFS also does not appear
to work. So much for replacing the floppy drive!
6.7
I will now have to dish out the additional money for an external floppy
drive casing and find a space for that drive on my already cramped desk
Ö exactly what I was trying to avoid!
6.7
The floptical discs arrived already low level formatted, but ADFS
couldnæt read them Ö they had to be initialised first. Once I had
realised this (no documentation!) and had loaded the SCSI_Form
application, the whole process only took about 55 seconds per disc. This
was without verification, which takes several minutes. A full low level
format takes about 22 minutes.
6.7
Strangely, the disc label claims ö21 Mbò, the Morley invoice states ö20
Mbò and the Free window gives a total of 19 Mb. Even re-formatting with
the largest available block size still gives only a reading of 19 Mb,
though according to the formatter, the size is 20864 Kb (20.38 Mb).
Apparently, Acorn round this down, to be on the safe side. Also, a
number of other factors (to do with map and directory structures) reduce
the available space still further.
6.7
Just for the record, the unformatted capacity of a VHD floptical disc is
25.7 Mb.
6.7
A nice feature is the name below the iconbar icons. When a disc is read
into drive 0 or 4, the name of that disc is displayed.
6.7
Performance
6.7
One of the advantages of floptical drives mentioned in all the tests in
German PC magazines was an increase in speed when handling conventional
floppies, because the new drives spin at 720 rpm compared with the 300
rpm of a normal floppy drive. So, I did some tests to see if this speed
advantage applied to Acorn, too.
6.7
First of all, I ran a speed test and then I copied a disc with 775 Kb of
compressed files to and fro, did the same thing with one 775 Kb file
(using the *create command) and timed two applications. I chose Eureka
because Longman Logotron save files to disc in a compressed format
(491áKb on disc turn into 1088áKb in RAM) and the RISC-OSá3 printer
driver because it takes quite a long time to load for such a small
program.
6.7
Speed test results
6.7
The results are, of course, specific to my own system since I did the
tests in my own usual working environment (with a VIDC speed-up mode
which uses 31% of the CPU, unless you use the öFasterò option which
would typically reduce the times by 20 to 25%). However, judging by my
experiences over the first few weeks, I think that they show the
relative speeds of floppy and floptical drive reasonably well.
6.7
Alas, the speed proved to be disappointing. A look at the table will
show you that access to floppies is actually slower through a floptical
drive than through a conventional drive.
6.7
Speed is one of the things I did not talk to Morley about. I simply took
it for granted that a piece of hardware equipment would show the same
behaviour in different environments. This, obviously was wrong Ö either
the floptical drives spin Acorn discs at the same speed as a floppy
drive or the peculiar way Acornæs filing system operates makes access
times and transfer rates quoted in other contexts completely
meaningless.
6.7
An additional (small but cumulative) disadvantage is that the floptical
drive has to perform some internal organisation (even if it is just
connected to the power supply) the moment you insert a disc. If you push
in an empty formatted floppy and click <menu> at the same time, the
iconbar menu will take about 3.5s to appear Ö the empty root directory
takes about 3s to pop up. For an empty floptical disc, the times are
both about 15s. All successive clicks on the icon work without
noticeable delay.
6.7
Another Ö avoidable Ö delay occurs every time you reset or shut down
your machine. If the drive contains a floppy, its LED will be on for
about 2s on each occasion. If you forget to leave a disc in the drive,
the light will flicker dimly for 30s on reset and for 60s (!) on
shutdown, this time followed by an error message öunable to access
mediaò, even if the drive has been empty all through the session.
6.7
Making backups
6.7
Making backups is a real pleasure. Currently, I have about 50 Mb which
need backing up (the PC emulator contains only a few major programs
which can easily be installed from floppy), and with just six
flopticals, I now have two complete backups. Both the daily incremental
backup and the weekly total backup are now so simple that I actually
bother to do them!
6.7
The only slight drawback is that none of my backup applications accept
the floptical drive as destination. I have had to divide my root
directories into three equal parts for the three discs and do the
incremental backups simply with the öNewerò option.
6.7
Running protected software
6.7
I have got two games which need the original floppy disc. MicroDrive can
be installed on a hard disc but the floppy has to be inserted for the
first few seconds of play. When running the game from the hard disc, the
floppy is not found. Running from the floppy seemed to work OK at first,
but when the floppy was checked, the drive emitted such ugly noises that
I reset my machine immediately.
6.7
The Chocks Away disc canæt be read at all Ö there is just a message
öDisc Error 03ò.
6.7
Morley say ...
6.7
I had several long telephone conversations with Morley. At first they
told me that the ADFS floptical drives would never be able to access DOS
discs or to format either ADFS or DOS discs but after I pointed out how
much this reduced the value of the drive for all non-A5000-owners, they
changed this statement to, öThere will certainly be an upgrade
eventually.ò
6.7
This has since been confirmed in writing. Letæs hope that öeventuallyò
will be soon!
6.7
By the way, I am told that the drive can read and write high density
discs (in Acorn format). As I have no HD discs formatted for ADFS at my
disposal, so I canæt comment on this claim.
6.7
Price
6.7
I bought my drive (internal version without podule) from Morley for ú349
+VAT. The Archive price is ú400 inc VAT and carriage. (The external
version is ú490 through Archive.) Floptical discs cost ú15 to ú20 +VAT
each (ú29 inc VAT through Archive or ú115 for 5 = ú23 each inc VAT). (If
anyone can find a source at the price Jochen suggests, let us know! Ed.)
6.7
Conclusion
6.7
At the moment I am rather disappointed with this drive because it
fulfils only a few of my expectations (which, admittedly, had been
high).
6.7
A5000 owners who are looking for an easy way to back up complete hard
discs, and who can install it as a second internal drive, should be well
satisfied. However, if you only want a backup medium, I feel that
Syquest removable hard discs would be a better buy, seeing that they are
in the same price range as the floptical, and have bigger and Ö when you
look at the price per megabyte Ö cheaper discs (at least in Germany).
6.7
(At Archive prices, the drives are cheaper Ö ú445 for a Syquest 42Mb
instead of ú490 for the 20Mb, but the extra discs are more expensive Ö
ú75 for 42Mb cf ú29 for 20Mb. The other comparison is speed Ö in terms
of raw data rate, the Syquests speed test at 590 Kb/s whereas the
flopticals can only manage 116 Kb/s)
6.7
(I have read that Insite are planning to launch a 40 Mb floptical drive
at the CEBit Computer Show but even if the Morley software can be
quickly adapted to the new format, the removables with their 88 Mb discs
would still have the edge.)
6.7
This, surely, should be added motivation for Morley to improve their
floptical software very soon, in order to widen the scope of their
drives!
6.7
On a more general note, my frustration clearly demonstrates one thing.
You should never rely on anything of importance which you are told over
the phone. If I had asked Morley to put all the claims in writing, the
person I spoke to would surely have checked his facts, and I would at
least have known what to expect.
6.7
My experience also points up the danger of talking to a supplier when
their product is still being developed.
6.7
Postscript
6.7
Morley have once again shown their class. Because my decision to buy the
drive had been made partly on the basis of incorrect information, they
offered to take it back and give me a full refund! After due
consideration, I have decided to wait for that software upgrade. áA
6.7
   Operation   Hard Disc   ADFS 0
   SCSI  0 (800Kb)áá   SCSI 4
(21Mb)
6.7
   speed tester (average)   785 Kb/s   25
Kb/s   ?   116 Kb/s
6.7
   mixed files (775Kb)
6.7
   writing to hd   Ö   71.8
   74.8   ááááá76.2 (!)
6.7
   reading back from hd   Ö
   129.5   ááááá224.6 (!)   72.4
6.7
   deleting   20.2   75.2   102.5
   41.6
6.7
   one file (775Kb)
6.7
   writing to hd   Ö   53.4
   56.8   25.1
6.7
   reading back from hd   Ö
   72.5   126.5   26.3
6.7
   deleting   approx. 1   3.8
   4.5   3.2
6.7
   Eureka
6.7
   reading from hd   Ö   36.9
   ááááá94.1 (!)   25.4
6.7
   loading onto iconbar   4.8
   24.0   22.5   8.9
6.7
   Printers
6.7
   reading from hd   Ö   81.1
   áááá153.8 (!)   53.5
6.7
   loading onto iconbar   9.5
   22.3   22.8   17.3
6.7
   compressing with CFS   18.4
   134.5   ááááá217.6 (!)   75.9
6.7
   loading onto iconbar (CFS)   15.1
   29.1   31.2   24.9
6.7

6.7
The A-Link
6.7
Mark Godwin
6.7
This review is based on experience of using the A-Link with a Psion
Series 3. Therefore, references to ÉSeries 3æ can generally be read as
ÉPocket Bookæ.
6.7
As you may be aware, the A-Link is an Archimedes Éversionæ of the 3-Link
which allows the Series 3 to talk to PCs and Macs.
6.7
The hardware of the A-Link is boxed in an oblong container (90 ╫ 30 ╫
20mm) with a socket at one end and a flying lead at the other. The
software is on a single floppy disc and the manual is curiously thin.
6.7
The flying lead plugs into the 1.54 Mbits/sec serial interface in the
side of the Series 3, and the socket connects to a long lead with a plug
for the Archimedes.
6.7
Within the A-Link is the communications hardware and the Series 3
software. On the disc, you get the !PocketFS application and the usual
!SysMerge and !System applications.
6.7
Making the link
6.7
In order to Émake the linkæ you must first select the REMOTE option from
the Series 3 system menu and set it to ON with a baud rate of 9600 and
then run the !PocketFS application. Beware, users of ARCterm7 Ö if you
have been using this prior to running PocketFS, you may well get the
message ÉSerial Device in useæ. To solve this, quit ARCterm7 and kill
the ARCterm_7 module.
6.7
The link is now made Ö both machines are continually exchanging data to
prove to each other that they are still connected.
6.7
When PocketFS is not in use, valuable processing power is being wasted
on the link, so a feature to turn the link on and off, similar to that
on the Series 3, would have been very useful. Another way of reducing
this processing overhead (but increasing the transmission time) would be
to reduce the baud rate but unfortunately PocketFS resets it
automatically to 9600. The fixed baud rate also prevents you from
solving transmission problems with long cables.
6.7
The conversion viewer
6.7
If you click <select> on the PocketFS icon, after a period of time, a
viewer will appear displaying three columns. These columns represent the
columns on the Series 3 for the applications Word, Data and Spread.
Listed in these columns are all the files for these applications which
are directly available from the root of the internal, A and B drives.
6.7
If you drag a file name from one of these columns to the filing system
viewer, the file will be converted from Series 3 format to an Archimedes
acceptable format and saved in that viewer. The Archimedes format is
selected by pressing <menu> over the relevant column and picking the
desired file prior to copying. The conversion process goes both ways in
that certain files dragged from the Archimedes to the column will be
converted to the Series 3 format.
6.7
When copying files this way, the Archimedes does not multitask and takes
rather a long time for relatively small files. This is a shame because
the Series 3 is multitasking all the time, regardless of what is
happening on the link and Archimedes.
6.7
When I copied my first file to the Series 3, I encountered a problem
that was reported as ÉFile name is too longæ. The actual error occurred
because the destination directory did not exist on the Series 3.
6.7
As I keep the memory on my Series 3 free for program use, I have no
directories on the internal drive. The PocketFS configuration for the
files listed under each column looks at the internal drive followed by
drives A and B. When listing files, it handles missing directories but
when you save a file on the Series 3, it uses the the internal drive.
The sequence and presence of these paths is important, which is not what
the manual states.
6.7
An obvious problem arises if you want to be able to select any one of
the drives on the Series 3 for saving data. To do this, you will have to
modify the number of columns listed, so that you get one column per
application for each drive. To do this for DATA, WORD and SPREAD would
require nine columns. A better solution would be to divide the top of
the column into three parts, one for each drive with the configuration
only specifying the path relative to the drive. All you would then do is
drop the file on the desired drive in the relevant column.
6.7
I have not mentioned that the number of columns, the files listed and
the conversion is under user control. However, there are no details on
how to create your own conversion module and the parameters are entered
via the use of a text file. It would have been easier to perform this
operation by selecting directory paths on the Series 3 by Édraggingæ and
to be presented with a list of conversion modules currently available
(rather like fonts). Considering the Pocket Book is aimed at children/
schools, therefore the link as well, this seems a bit cumbersome.
6.7
The iconbar menu and filer viewer
6.7
After clicking menu over the PocketFS icon, you will see a menu
containing Information, Character set, Open É$æ, Dismount and Quit. The
first and last need no explanation, the second opens up a conventional
filer viewer, the third specifies what should happen to the characters
during conversion and the fourth removes all PocketFS viewers, forgets
about the Series 3 catalogue information and terminates the link
correctly.
6.7
Selecting Character set brings up a further menu with two options,
namely Latin1 and DOS. Latin1 will cause a conversion to/from Latin1 and
the Series 3 DOS format, whereas DOS will leave the characters as they
are.
6.7
Selecting Open $ will open the root directory on the Series 3 and
present you with a normal filer window containing four directories A, B,
C and M. Where A and B are the drives A and B, C is the A-Link link
firmware and M is the internal drive. Filer operations do multitask but
the time given to other tasks is so small that you may think it is not
multitasking.
6.7
I would have preferred an option to select which viewer was presented
when you press select over the icon. As it stands, you get the
conversation viewer but I would have preferred the standard filer
viewer.
6.7
When using the standard filer viewer, all the file options are present
but the manual gives you some warnings on the access options, copy
options and time stamps which differ in operation slightly between the
two machines. These do not present any problems but make sure you read
the notes.
6.7
Timings
6.7
In order to be fair, I performed some tests on the time taken to copy
files from different sources to a RAM disc. I was copying 24 files which
totalled 49.3Kb.
6.7
The obey file was used to copy files in a non-multitasking environment
and the ÉCommsæ figures were produced by using ARCterm 7 and the Y-Modem
protocol at 9600 baud.
6.7
From this we can see that PocketFS is slightly faster than Y-Modem,
considerable more reliable than ARCterm 7 and obviously slower than a
hard disc. The release note with the A-Link does mention the importance
of modes for Éolderæ machines Ö by this, I think it means ARM2 machines.
6.7
The difference in timings between PocketFS and the hard disc can be
attributed to the serial port and the difference between the obey file
copy and desktop copy is the time given to other tasks in the desktop.
6.7
Differences between A-Link and 3-Link
6.7
The main features of the A-Link are that it is about ú20 cheaper than
the 3-Link, it only allows file control from the Archimedes, filer
operations multitask, it has a file-conversion feature and only supports
a baud rate of 9600.
6.7
The bi-directional file control with PCs allows the Series 3 to open
files on the PC as if they were on one of the Series 3 drives. It is a
shame that PocketFS does not support bi-directional file usage and that
it does not support execution of a program in the PocketFS viewer to run
on the Series3.
6.7
I also performed some tests on the compatibility of the the different
hardware (A-Link and 3-Link) with the different software (PocketFS & PC/
Mac version). If we forget about the non-standard serial interface on
the Archimedes and just deal with the hardware in between the two, the
results were interesting.
6.7
Both pieces of software work with the A-Link, but PocketFS will not work
with the 3-Link. On closer examination, it does not appear to be a
hardware difference but just a software difference within the A-Link
itself. It appears that a few features have been added to the existing
3-Link code to support/limit the features when connected to the
Archimedes.
6.7
Conclusion
6.7
I use my A-Link all the time Ö it has made my life a lot easier by
providing an Acorn standard viewer for file options. Despite my
reservations listed below, the A-Link is a must because there is nothing
else which interfaces between these two machines the ÉAcorn wayæ.
6.7
However, the following summaries should be noted:
6.7
1. I was disappointed in its performance (speed, error messages, non-
multitasking conversion and special constraints to achieve a decent
performance).
6.7
2. I thought the conversion part of PocketFS was very Étackyæ. Changing
the configuration may present some problems.
6.7
3. If you have both the filer window and conversion window open while
using the filer window, file operations could taker longer and even
fail.
6.7
4. Certain filer SWIs are not supported by PocketFS, but have not been
documented.
6.7
5. There is information on how to create your own conversion modules.
6.7
6. It does not support bi-directional file usage.
6.7
7. You cannot run programs on the Series 3 from the PocketFS viewer.
6.7
8. The baud rate is fixed (only a little niggle).
6.7
Next month
6.7
Next month I will take a look at the first of two pieces of software
contained within the A-Link firmware which are not documented. These
pieces of software are for use on the Series 3 and Pocket Book.
6.7
The first one I will cover is the character terminal emulator with file
transfer facilities followed, the month after, by details on how to use
the script editor, translator and syntax of available commands.
6.7
These two additional pieces of software, which are also present in the
3-Link, appear to be exactly the same and make some of the above
failings less important.ááA
6.7
Genesis/Magpie Column
6.7
Paul Hooper
6.7
Welcome to the first Genesis/Magpie column, which I shall be editing.
First of all, a little about me Ö I am one of that rare breed of ÉHouse
Husbandsæ but I am also a mature student at the University of East
Anglia, studying English History and Landscape Archaeology. I am married
to a Primary School teacher and have a daughter who is at high school.
Thus the use of IT within Education is dear to my heart and I would like
to prompt the use of Genesis and Magpie not only at home but also at
school. I have been using computers for nearly ten years, first on the
old Spectrum, then a BBC ÉBæ before upgrading to an A5000 in December
1991.
6.7
Swap Shop
6.7
One of the first things that I would like to instigate is the swapping
of Genesis/Magpie databases. Iæm sure that, like me, you have compiled a
couple of databases but have little time to compile more. So what I
would like to do is swap, on a Étwo-for-oneæ basis, any databases that
you have compiled. To this end, if you have a database that you are
prepared to swap, send it to me with an SAE and I will send you two by
return. Please donæt send any of the examples provided by companies, as
these are copyright Ö they must be your own work. Now, because both my
databases are over 500Kb each, you will also need to send me a spare
blank disc. As I receive these discs, I will compile a Genesis/Magpie
database with a list of what we have and put a copy on your disc. I will
also publish a list in Archive if the editor is willing!
6.7
Format
6.7
Some of the other things I would like to see in the column are hints and
tips on the use of Genesis/Magpie and how you make use of the programs.
Any questions on Genesis and Magpie can be sent to me and I will do my
best to answer them. I would also like to prompt discussion on all
aspects of the programs. For instance, I have used the word Édatabaseæ
for the results of Genesis/Magpie. This may seem a little demeaning for
what is, after all, a program in its own right. Genesis uses
Éapplicationæ for its databases but this doesnæt really reflect what the
program can do. What do you think?
6.7
Confession
6.7
I have used Genesis a lot Ö all versions Ö but until a few weeks ago, I
had not even looked at Magpie. Rest assured, I will be using it during
the next few weeks, to familiarise myself with it and will also be
trying to convert my existing Genesis applications into Magpie format.
Has any one else tried doing this before? If so, do please let me know
of any shortcuts that you have come across.
6.7
Write to...
6.7
Send your brickbats, databases(?), hints and tips for Genesis/Magpie to
Paul Hooper, 11 Rochford Road, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk  NR29 4RL.ááA
6.7
Which Art Package for Knitting Patterns?
6.7
Barbara Logan
6.7
Barbara sent us this article as a straight comparative review of
Artworks and Vector. Before you read it, you should be aware that, in
some ways, it isnæt a fair comparison. The conclusion is that, for
preparing knitting patterns, Artworks is not much use. But please donæt
read this as an article damning Artworks Ö it is just saying that isnæt
the best tool for this particular job. I am publishing the article,
never-the-less, because Barbaraæs comments may help others who are
thinking about what to use for this or a similar purpose and it does
highlight things that Artworks and Vector are good and bad at doing.
Ed.
6.7
For some time now I have been using an Archimedes to produce the working
diagrams for knitting patterns and embroidery charts. There were a
number of art programs available but for my type of work the object-
oriented program is much better.
6.7
Below is an example of the drawfile of an embroidery chart. This chart
has only six colours and is very small but even this is made up of over
500 objects. Some of the larger charts have to be done in sections, each
section having over 5,000 objects and needing more than 25 different
symbols to represent the various colours.
6.7
I use an A5000 with 4Mb of memory and, of course, RISC-OS 3. The PD
program DrawPlus has proved very useful in the past but had some
drawbacks, such as the inability to edit text. When I heard that
Computer Concepts were bringing out Artworks, I thought that it would be
exactly what I wanted and eagerly waited for its release... and waited
and waited...  In the meantime, Vector from 4Mation was put on sale, so
I decided to treat myself and get both.
6.7
This comparison of the two programs is a very personal one based upon
the use to which I put the packages. Others who have a different use for
their software could have a very different view.
6.7
Getting started
6.7
Both programs proved easy to install. When trying AW, I needed to
consult the manual (at least the Rough Guide) before I could get to
grips with even the basic drawing. I expected it to be like Draw to use
but there are considerable differences. If you are drawing a shape, the
line will not fill unless it is changed into an object. This cannot be
done in the initial drawing. The line has to be selected then the end
point placed over the start point. All irregular shapes have to be made
in this way. Even after using the program for a while I still find it
irritating. It has also taken time to adapt to the idea that a tool
should be highlighted when selecting an object in order to act on that
object. I still try to rotate selected objects by using the mouse and
the adjust button.
6.7
On the other hand, using Vector was just like using Draw or DrawPlus and
hardly needed any help from the manual at all except for the special
features like Replication and Radiation. This gave Vector a big
advantage at the beginning as I could start using it for work straight
away.
6.7
Copying on a grid
6.7
When an object is copied in Draw (or AW) it appears a little below and
to the right of the original object. This is also true of Vector but if
the object is small and the grid is set to a suitable distance, the copy
will lock onto the grid. This means that, by using the key short-cuts, I
can draw a diagonal line of very accurately placed symbols in a very
short time. The ability to have a choice of four grid setting to each
drawing is also a big plus for Vector. To place objects in AW each has
to be copied, picked up with the mouse while holding down the left Alt
key and then positioned. It does not seem to make much difference
whether the copy key (new object offset) or the duplicate key (new
object on top) is used.
6.7
Layers
6.7
I use a separate layer for each colour symbol, one for the grid and
another for the construction lines. Both programs can hide the different
layers but AW only allows editing of all the layers or of the current
layer only. The Vector system is both easier to use and has the facility
of allowing any of the layers to be edited, hidden or locked. I usually
work with the grid and extra guide lines locked but with the current
layer and other symbol layers available. If I find an incorrect symbol
(quite likely on a large chart) I can alter it without changing layers.
Also, an object edited on a different layer stays on its original layer
unless brought specifically to the current layer.
6.7
Text
6.7
This is where AW score heavily. The text is easy to handle and edit. AW
can produce just about every fancy effect that I can imagine and then
some. Experimenting is a joy. In Vector, the text handling is quite
adequate, although one of the more irritating features is that you have
to go through the menus twice in order to change both the font and the
size. There arenæt even any key short-cuts available.
6.7
Hot keys
6.7
Am I the only person who likes to use the keys? Both AW and Vector have
some odd ideas about what constitutes a suitable candidate for a key
short-cut.
6.7
Vector has a wonderful short-cut for Éselectæ Ö pressing <space> toggles
from the current selection to Éselectæ Ö but there are no key-presses to
change fill or line colours. ÉMaskæ, which I have never yet used except
when experimenting, is on the easily accessed <f7> key but the key to
access ÉTextæ is <shift-f9> which is very difficult for a right-hander
to access without using two hands. The single keys <f4> and <f9> are not
used at all! I like to work with my right hand on the mouse and press
the keys to change settings, etc. My preference is for single functions
keys for the most common actions such as Line, Curve, Move, Text,
Colour, etc and <ctrl> + letter or key for the less used actions. As a
right-hander, I would also prefer the combinations to be towards the
right side of the keyboard.
6.7
AW hot-keys are even worse and they have not even bothered to include a
keystrip amongst all their clip art! Keys <f4>, <f5>, <f6> and <f7> are
not in use at all and how often is it necessary to press <f10> in order
change the display of the short-cuts? None of the <shift-fx> keys
(possible with one hand) are used but <ctrl-shift-fx> keys are used
quite extensively. To use any of these requires two hands which surely
defeats the purpose of hot keys in an art package. The only place where
it should be necessary to use both hands is where some safeguard against
accidental use is required, such as <shift-ctrl-Z> which deletes the
whole drawing.
6.7
The library (only available with Vector)
6.7
This is the ability to hold a selection of objects (they can be grouped)
ready for immediate access. Different libraries can be saved to disk and
loaded. Each item in the library is named and they are called up from a
window where they can be displayed and selected. They are held in
alphabetical order which makes finding items easy. I store the symbol
for each colour in the library under its colour name and save a separate
library for each chart.
6.7
If the grid is on, objects inserted into the drawing from the library
are centred on a grid point. This can be very useful. For example, I use
symbols from the Dingbats Font (supplied with Impression) because they
take less memory than drawn shapes. After a character is stored and
retrieved from the Library the centre of it locks on the grid instead of
the lower edge as would be usual for text. This means all the symbols
are correctly placed in the centre of the grid square.
6.7
Speed
6.7
The speed of screen refresh is very fast in AW. The ability to display
only in wire-frames, of course, make working on a complicated drawing
even faster. Unfortunately, the work I am doing is all in black and
white and this feature is not applicable. Vector is slower and I get
round this, to a certain extent, by doing the large charts in sections
and then assembling them into one large chart as a new file. Saving in
the Vector format seems slow, much slower than saving as a drawfile, but
does save all the layer information so I put up with it.
6.7
Re-loading a drawfile is also much faster than re-loading the equivalent
Vector file. This is not true of AW. I loaded a very large chart in Draw
format into AW and found it took over 9 minutes! The same file loaded
into Vector in approximately 7 seconds. Perhaps my system is wrongly set
up but not as far as I am aware. Has anyone else found the same problem?
6.7
Special features
6.7
Again, the features I use are the ones applicable to my own work and not
necessarily the ones others would find useful. Firstly, when drawing the
initial grid, I have found the ÉReplicateæ feature in Vector to be
ideal. I draw one vertical line then use the horizontal replicate to
repeat the line the required number of times (35 in the example) and
spaced to match the grid. I then do the same for the horizontal lines. I
can also use the horizontal, vertical or matrix replication whenever I
have a block symbols to fill in.
6.7
AW does not seem to have quite the same facility. I can use the blend
tool to produce the correct number of lines or symbols but it takes much
more time adjusting them so that they fall exactly on the grid. In both
cases, I have to convert all the blend and replications into objects in
order to import the chart into Impression.
6.7
Conclusion
6.7
Although I had read several reviews of both programs and seen a
demonstration of AW, it was not until I actually tried them both that I
realised how much difference there was between them. The particular job
I am doing does not need the facilities provided by AW such as the
graduated fills and the text manipulation, good though they may be. The
Library facility alone would strongly influence me towards Vector. I
suppose itæs a case of Éhorses for coursesæ Ö if you know what your
course is, be sure you get the right horse!ááA
6.7
Figures with the cache on (ARM3 at 30MHz)
6.7
Source of files Ö>   PocketFS   H-
Disc   Comms
6.7
Obey file, mode 12   74s   1s
   Not possible
6.7
Obey file, mode 15   76s   2s
   Not possible
6.7
Desktop, mode 12   80s   4s
   87s
6.7
Desktop mode 15   92s   15s   £
6.7
Figures with the cache off (ARM2)
6.7
Source of files Ö>   PocketFS   H-
Disc   Comms
6.7
Obey file, mode 12   75s   2s
   Not possible
6.7
Obey file, mode 15   79s   5s
   Not possible
6.7
Desktop, mode 12   89s   13s
   99s
6.7
Desktop mode 15   126s   50s
   264s    £
6.7

6.7
£ This sometimes worked, but every attempt had many CRC/checksum errors.
6.7

6.7
Eureka
6.7
Brian Cowan
6.7
I think that Eureka must be one of the Archimedes products most widely-
advertised before its release. The launch was delayed, so the question
must be: was it worth the wait? On balance, my answer is yes.
6.7
Other spreadsheets
6.7
In the past, I have purchased almost every spreadsheet produced for the
Archimedes, starting with Logistix which was a single-tasking PC port.
It was very clumsy to use, rather like many of the older DOS programs. I
toyed with Matrix-3 but never actually purchased it. This also was a
single-tasking product but it was more responsive and smoother in
operation. It was written specifically for the Archimedes.
6.7
Then came RISC-OS and the multi-tasking products. Schema was much
publicised, and although relatively powerful, it did not live up to
expectations. It was staggeringly slow at loading files, something which
Archimedes users had not previously experienced. I used it a little, but
eventually I gave up Ö I simply canæt tie up a computer loading files!
There was one upgrade for Schema but it was not particularly exciting.
It is a pity because I think Schema had a lot going for it Ö but what
counts is the manufactureræs commitment to the product. That was
negligible with Schema.
6.7
So then I expected PipeDream to be the solution. Coltonæs commitment to
PipeDream can certainly not be doubted, and Gerald Fittonæs Pipeline
column is an excellent source of information and help. However, at the
end of the day, I found PipeDream, with all its quirks, awkward and non-
intuitive. It did not satisfy my requirements.
6.7
Spreadsheets in general
6.7
I accept that my general dissatisfaction with the existing range of
spreadsheets is my problem rather than that of the spreadsheets. Most of
the manuals explain that the main use for spreadsheets is in financial
matters but I have absolutely no interest there. What I want to do is to
handle experimental data, to process it and to display it. Also, I
expect to use such products for numerical simulations. My applications
are fundamentally scientific. The problem is that spreadsheets are not
really aimed at that market.
6.7
This was dramatically brought home to me when I stayed at another
university where they used PCs and were running Quatro Pro to process
their data. It was explained that this was the most suitable product
available and how fantastic it was. However, in operation, I found it
very clumsy Ö it was worse than the worst Archimedes spreadsheet!
6.7
Enter Eureka
6.7
I therefore approached Eureka with limited expectations. It is modelled
very closely on the very popular PC spreadsheet, Excell, but this
actually works in its favour. Longmans have obviously studied the other
spreadsheets around to see how they work, what is needed, and how they
should function. As you will realise, I was put off by the statement in
the manual that the main use for spreadsheets is in the financial arena,
but I persevered.
6.7
The manual
6.7
Longmans have a tradition, being a long-standing publisher, of producing
manuals of exceptional clarity. In this respect, something seems to have
gone wrong concerning Eureka. The manual is in three parts: the main
section comprises a tutorial and reference guide and this is followed by
a brief reference guide. Finally, there is a further reference section
describing all the functions. To my surprise, there was no index and, to
my utter amazement, when I asked Longmans about this, my question was
answered with a question, öWhy do you need an index when the function
reference is in alphabetical order?ò
6.7
In use
6.7
Installation is the same as any well-behaved RISC-OS application:
clicking on the Eureka application directory installs it on the iconbar.
Clicking on that icon opens up a spreadsheet window Ö well, two windows
actually. As with most spreadsheets, data is not inserted into a cell
directly, rather it is typed into a data entry window and only when
<return> is pressed is the information passed to the selected cell.
Personally, I donæt like this. I would prefer the option of entering
numerical data directly into the selected cell. However, I accept that
there could be ambiguities: whether the cell contains a simple number, a
number as the result of a formula, or a string.
6.7
The spreadsheet window is interesting. Although it looks like a regular
RISC-OS window, in reality it is not. The program has its own window
manager which provides some extra functionality. The window can be split
horizontally or vertically. This is very useful in a spreadsheet.
Although the usual RISC-OS facility of multiple views on a document is
somewhat similar, with a split window the rows and columns still line up
Ö very clever!
6.7
The full features of outline fonts and different styles can be used in
the cells or groups of cells, and this means that very presentable
tables can be created. It goes without saying that the sizes of the
cells can be changed very easily by dragging them out.
6.7
Graphics
6.7
On all the spreadsheet packages I have seen, the graphics support has
not been quite what I would have liked. In Eureka, there is the full
range of bar charts, pie charts and other y-against category graphs.
Furthermore, the graphics are linked to the spreadsheet, so that
changing a number on the sheet immediately changes the graph. There are
facilities for changing the appearance of the graphics but here I found
the manual not very helpful. The main graph type that I use is the
scatter graph. Only one type is provided; I would have liked to see
options for putting various curves through the points. As expected,
graphics can be exported as drawfiles for inclusion in DTP work.
6.7
Functions
6.7
There is a generous selection of functions available. There are calendar
functions, financial functions, and maths functions galore. Unlike
PipeDream, there is no support for complex variables and functions, but
I am not sure how useful that really is. On the other hand, Eureka has a
host of matrix functions and you can (memory and time permitting) invert
and obtain the determinant of a square matrix of arbitrary size. By
contrast, PipeDream will only do this for matrices of dimension up to
3╫3.
6.7
Macros Ö the absence thereof
6.7
A severe minus is that the current version of Eureka does not support
macros. This is strange. All good spreadsheets should allow for macros,
and in fact there is a filetype reserved for Eureka macros. I hope this
means that this omission will be rectified in the next release, which
should be some time in 1993. (The four-page colour advert that appeared
in September 1992 stated that Eureka had öuser-defined functions and
function macrosò. Ed.)
6.7
Conclusion
6.7
I have great hopes for Eureka. Of all the spreadsheets I have used, I am
happiest with this one and I will stick to it. It seems ideal for
educational purposes and for financial applications. There are certain
gaps in the scientific area but, in that area, there is nothing better.
I recommend it, and at a price of ú119 + VAT (ú125 through Archive) it
is good value for money.
6.7
Postscript
6.7
I am delighted to hear that Chris Johnson of Heriot-Watt University
Chemistry Department is going to edit a spreadsheet column. Many readers
will know that Chris is the author of the superb PD suite of graph-
plotting programs. It is likely that Chris will discuss precisely those
points, namely scientific applications, which are usually neglected. We
might even see versions of Chrisæs programs which link to Eureka. Graph-
plotting and curve-fitting would integrate very well and fill a big gap
in present spreadsheet facilities.ááA
6.7
File Transfer Ö BBC to Archimedes
6.7
Peter Smith
6.7
This is a comparative review of two pieces of software which can
transfer files between DFS or ADFS operating systems on the BBC and
Master computers, and the Archimedes. The software in question is
Transfer from Watford Electronics, and MultiLink from IvoryAsh.
6.7
Both these programs do actually perform the tasks they set out to do and
both are fully multitasking RISC-OS compliant applications. They both
transfer data between the computers via a cable connecting the serial
ports. However, they perform their transfers at very different speeds
and the approach taken by each application is quite different.
6.7
Background
6.7
I started programming commercially on the BBC micro about ten years ago.
In the intervening years I have written, and had published, a
considerable number of educational programs. Every one of these has
started life on the humble BBC Micro. I often have to convert these
programs to run on either the Archimedes or the Nimbus. In either case,
the first step is to get the BBC files across to the Archimedes where
all my utilities to manipulate code and images live.
6.7
With the A3000, I used a utility from Risc Developments to perform the
transfers. However, when I upgraded to an A5000, this utility failed to
work, and a call to Risc Developments informed me that they had no plans
to upgrade it. I was desperate for a replacement utility which would
work with my A5000. I didnæt particularly care if it was single or
multitasking, as long as it worked with any kind of file, was reasonably
bug-free, could transfer files in both directions and performed the
transfer reasonably quickly. A little research revealed two possible
programs that might help, and these are the products reviewed here.
6.7
!Transfer from Watford Electronics (v 2.0)
6.7
This comes with minimal instructions, a serial cable and single floppy
disc. The software consists of two applications !Install and !Transfer.
6.7
To allow the two computers to talk to each other, the BBC computer needs
to have a program loaded too. Running !Install takes you through the
process of transferring the BBC software from the Archimedes. Once this
file has been transfered, it can be saved to a BBC disc for future use,
thus simplifying the setting up procedures in later sessions.
6.7
Once the BBC micro is set up, all the action takes place from the
Archimedes. Transfer application is loaded and this installs itself on
the iconbar in the usual way. Clicking on its icon brings up the
following window.
6.7

6.7
The default operation is ÉCatalogue discæ and clicking on ÉGoæ brings up
a window displaying the files available on the current BBC disc:
6.7

6.7
This window is not interactive but it is for information only. Although
the window has a close icon, you cannot, in fact, remove the window with
its close icon. It is removed only when you quit the program from the
iconbar. As well as the BBC file name, this window gives the information
on each file. This is the information that would be displayed with a
*INFO command on the BBC, i.e. load and execution address, file length
and the number of 256 byte sectors which the file occupies on the BBC
disk.
6.7
To transfer a file from the BBC, you click inside the ÉBBC File Nameæ
editable field, and enter the filename. Select ÉReceiveæ from the
operations box and click on ÉGoæ.
6.7
You get two indications of how the transfer is progressing, via a green
bar on the Archimedes Transfer window and via a counter on the BBC.
Unfortunately, the transfer progresses extremely slowly. On my A5000, I
used the highest available transfer rate of 9600 baud and my 20 Kb test
file took 9 minutes 45 seconds to transfer. I used this as a test since
I often need to transfer *saved screens of this size. It is also the
maximum file size that most people will need to transfer.
6.7
By my reckoning, 9600 baud (bits per second) is 9600/8 or 1200 bytes per
second. So a 20 Kb file should take (20 ╫ 1024 / 1200) or just over 17
seconds to transfer.
6.7
Now I will admit that this may be a simplistic view and there may be
good reasons why this ideal cannot be reached in practice. However, the
actual transfer corresponds to a real transfer rate of only 280 baud and
does seem very slow. I tried selecting a slower baud rate of 4800 but
this made no discernible difference to the actual transfer rate.
6.7
As Transfer is truly multitasking, you can get on with other jobs while
the transfer takes place. In practice, however, I find it makes a great
difference to my work efficiency if I donæt have to wait around for
things to happen Ö which, of course, was part of the reason I bought an
ARM 3 computer in the first place!
6.7
The filename from the BBC file appears in a standard RISC-OS save
dialogue box, and this can be dragged to a suitable directory for
saving. Unfortunately, you only get one go at this and if an error is
encountered, such as trying to save to a directory with insufficient
room, you have to transmit the file all over again!
6.7
Transferring files to the BBC is a similar process to that described for
transferring to the Archimedes. You can either type in the path name of
the Archimedes file, or drag the file into the appropriate editable
fields within the transfer application window. Again, at a 9600 baud
setting, the transfer takes much longer than expected but is quicker
than receiving. My 20 Kb test file took about 6╜ minutes in this
direction.
6.7
Quitting the application from the iconbar occasionally locked up the
machine. Pressing <escape> produced a Échannelæ error message and then
control was returned with the application removed from the iconbar.
6.7
!MultiLink from Ivory Ash (version 2.03)
6.7
This also comes with minimal instructions and a single floppy disc. A
suitable serial cable can be purchased separately. The software consists
of a single application and a ReadMe text file.
6.7
The initial setting up procedure is similar to the Watford utility. If
you try to run the software without reading the instructions and
correctly configuring the BBC micro, a message appears in a task window
telling you to type two * commands on the BBC and try again. The
Archimedes then downloads the necessary BBC software which, again, you
can save to a BBC disc for future use.
6.7
When the BBC software is installed, a floppy drive icon appears on the
iconbar and then this BBC drive operates very much like any other disc
drive connected to the Archimedes. You click to open a directory on the
BBC disk, and the directory viewer displays all the files found in the $
directory. If files exist within other directories, the directories are
shown and these can be opened in the usual way. MultiLink tries to
interpret the kind of BBC file and attach the appropriate icon to it.
6.7

6.7
Transfer of files is carried out in exactly the same way as you would
copy a file from one directory or filing system to another on the
Archimedes. You just open the appropriate filer windows, highlight the
file, or files, to be transfered and drag them to your chosen
destination directory.
6.7
The transfer rate is fixed at 9200 baud and, although this is not
achieved, the actual transfer rate is very respectable. My 20 Kb test
file took just over 1 minute to transfer from the BBC to the Archimedes
and just under 1 minute in the other direction. The progress of the
transfer is indicated on the BBC micro as a succession of dashes, each
of which represents 256 bytes of the file. Clicking <menu> over a file
icon within the BBC files directory gives a short but useful range of
options which give information about the file and allow it to be renamed
or deleted.
6.7

6.7
Service!
6.7
In researching this software, I have noticed another difference between
the products, and that is in the service I have received. Because of my
need to transfer large files quickly, I checked the transfer speeds with
the two companies by telephone before ordering.
6.7
The person I spoke to from Watford quoted the maximum baud rate and
reassured me that their software would meet my needs; the man from
IvoryAsh offered to send me a copy of the software with an invoice, so
that I could either send him the money or return the software if I found
it unsuitable.
6.7
The first package I received from Watford contained an old non-
multitasking version of their software, together with the wrong
connecting lead. I returned this and was then sent the correct software
and lead. I returned the entire package two months ago asking for a
refund as the actual transfer rates made it unsuitable for my needs and
did not approach the quoted figures. Despite a follow up letter a month
later, I am still waiting for a response from Watford.
6.7
My experience with Ivory Ash was somewhat different. The software
arrived two days after my initial enquiry and it worked well. It did,
however, contain two small bugs which did not affect file transfer but
could cause the machine to hang in certain circumstances. I quickly sent
off my money, with a note informing the company of these bugs. I
recently received a new version of MultiLink from Ivory Ash with the
bugs removed.
6.7
Conclusions
6.7
There is no doubt in my mind that the MultiLink software from IvoryAsh
wins hands down. It is very much faster than the Watford product, about
nine times faster in uploading from the BBC, and over 6 times faster at
downloading from the Archimedes. I also find it much more intuitive Ö
the BBC disc drive is, after all, just another drive and MulitLink
treats it as such.
6.7
Transfer from Watford Electronics costs ú17.63 for an A3000 or ú18.80
for an A5000 version. Prices include a serial transfer lead. VAT is
included but postage is extra.
6.7
MultiLink from IvoryAsh Ltd costs ú24.95 including VAT and postage.
Serial lead is extra.
6.7
Note that you will need to have the two serial chips fitted if you are
using an A3000.ááA
6.7
Rheingold Enterprises    17 Ingfield
Terrace, Slaithwaite, Huddersfield, HD7 5BJ. (0925Ö210657)
6.7
Risc Developments    117 Hatfield
Road, St Albans, Herts, AL1 4JS. (0727Ö840303) (0727Ö860263)
6.7
Sherston Software    Swan Barton,
Sherston, Malmesbury, Wilts. SN16 0LH. (0666Ö840433) (0666Ö840048)
6.7
Simis Ltd    Headley House, Headley Road, Grayshott, Surrey, GU26 6TU.
(0428Ö605833) (0428Ö607791)
6.7
Spacetech (p34)   21 West Wools, Portland, Dorset, DT5 2EA.
(0305Ö822753) (0305Ö860483)
6.7
State Machine    75 Upper Wellington Street, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU1
5AA. (0582Ö483377) (0582Ö480833)
6.7
Suitable Software    136 Carter
Street, Fordham, Ely, Cambridgeshire, CB7 5JU. (0638Ö720171)
6.7
Suitable Software    8 Jane
Court, Lenah Valley, Tasmania, Australia 7008. (+61Ö02Ö285Ö448)
6.7
Techsoft UK Ltd (p8)   Old School
Lane, Erryrs, Mold, Clwyd, CH7 4DA. (082Ö43318)
6.7
TJ Reproductions (p7)   Unit 42,
Sapcote Trading Centre, Dudden Hill Lane, Willesden, London, NW10 2DJ.
(081Ö451Ö6220) (081Ö451Ö6441)
6.7
Turing Tools    149 Campbell Road, Cowley, Oxford, OX4 3NX. (0865Ö775059)
6.7
Watford Electronics    Jessa House,
Finway, Dallow Road, Luton, LU1 1TR. (0582Ö487777) (0582Ö488588)
6.7
Wild Vision    15 Witney Way, Boldon Colliery, Tyne & Wear NE35 9PE.
(091Ö519Ö1455) (091Ö519Ö1929)
6.7
Words & Music    26 Newark Drive, Whitburn, Sunderland, SR6 7DF.
(091Ö529Ö4788) (091Ö529Ö5327)
6.7
XOB    Balkeerie, Eassie by Forfar, Angus, DD8 1SR. (0307Ö84364)
6.7
(All values except for the speed tester are in seconds, taken by hand
with a stop watch. The times witháan exclamation mark were taken twice
because I felt that they couldnæt be correct.)
6.7

6.7