Archive Magazine 1996/ARCHIVE_96.iso/text/magazine/volume_07/issue_05

Text File | 1995-06-25 | 278KB | 5,578 lines

The Spirit of Archive Ö Part 2
7.5
There has already been lots of response to my article last month about
Making Archive Better. We now have offers to do a Basic Programming
Column and a Young Readersæ Column Ö for details, see the Comment Column
on page 8. As requested in your questionnaire responses, this issue
brings more technical articles. For example, we have the first of a
series on relational database design and an interesting insight into the
use of Acorn computers in a university laboratory setting. There is room
for more technical articles, so please get in touch with me if you would
like to make a contribution.
7.5
Your response has been very gratifying and only serves to emphasise that
Archive is ömore than just a magazine Ö itæs an interactive user group.ò
7.5
Thin Archives?
7.5
The observant amongst you will have noticed that last monthæs issue was
only 64 pages instead of 80. We do this a couple of times a year, when
the production time is a bit tight, as it is over Christmas. (We think
this is preferable to only having 10 issues a year!) The other reason is
that 10╫80page + 2╫64page Archives just fit into a binder and I suspect
that 12╫80 might be a bit too tight!
7.5
Technical Help Service
7.5
We are making efforts to improve Archiveæs Technical Help Service Ö both
the telephone version (ú15 a year on top of your subscription) and the
free service available to all subscribers by letter. David Webb has
written about it in more detail in the magazine Ö see page 21.
7.5
Hereæs hoping you continue to benefit from reading and responding to
Archive!
7.5
Best wishes for 1994,
7.5
Products Available
7.5
Å    10 out of 10 French Ö The latest in 4th Dimensionæs 10 out of 10
educational series gives help with learning French. It provides
öchallenges to reinforce facts stated in AT 3 and 4 of the National
Curriculumò. It is aimed mainly at Key Stages 3 and 4 but öthe numerous
parent and teacher customisation options make the software suitable for
all children who are learning the French language.ò 10 out of 10 French
costs ú25.95 inclusive from 4th Dimension or ú24 through Archive.
7.5
Å    10 out of 10 Maths Ö Statistics Ö Another of 4th Dimensionæs 10 out of
10 programs for mathematics is on statistics. It covers ömajor areas of
National Curriculum AT5ò including data handling, probability, charts,
graphs, averages, interpretation, observations, surveys, estimation and
words. 10 out of 10 Maths (Statistics) costs ú25.95 inclusive from 4th
Dimension or ú24 through Archive.
7.5
Å    Another new Acorn monitor Ö Acorn have now discontinued the AKF18 and
are providing instead the AKF52 which should be available by the
beginning of February. They call it a direct replacement although it has
a slightly larger dot pitch Ö 0.42mm cf 0.39mm for the AKF18. (The AKF50
is 0.28mm.) However, it will display all the Acorn screen modes unlike
the AKF30 and 40 which are limited to modes 0-17, 24 and 44-46. The
price is ú299 inc VAT. (Archive price ú300 inc carriage.)
7.5
Å    Archive monthly program disc Ö As well as the support files for the
PipelineZ and Magpie/Genesis Columns the disc contains an index of the
AI CD-ROM as reviewed on page 42.
7.5
Also, Christopher Jarman, a handwriting expert and author of the review
of Letter on page 30 has sent in two fonts that he has produced. He is
happy for them to be used in the public domain and freely distributed.
We have put them on the monthly program disc for you to use.
7.5
This is the Jarman font. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
7.5
This is the Jarman oblique font. The quick brown fox jumped over the
lazy dog.
7.5
This is the Quiltalic font. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy
dog.
7.5
This is the Quiltalic oblique font. The quick brown fox jumped over the
lazy dog.
7.5
Finally, we will put on the disc an update of the ArcScan data for
volumes 6 and 7 (to issue 3) of Archive.
7.5
Å    Audioworks provides a complete suite of sound editing functions in one
application. It is compatible with a whole range of sound files
(MicroSoft WAVe, Armadeus, DataVox, SoundTracker and RawData formats).
In addition to playing back from the standard Archimedes speaker, the
software can sample from and playback to more advanced audio boards,
such as the Eagle MultiMedia card. AudioWorks supports 8 bit, 12 bit, 16
bit, linear signed, linear unsigned, VIDC logarithmic, m-law
logarithmic, mono and stereo samples. Features include: accurate
waveform display with instantaneous zoom; a utility for playing back
from hard disc in the background with various effects; on-screen real-
time spectrum analyser and oscilloscope displays; full background
operation; multiple channel and multiple sample operations. Audioworks
costs ú49 +VAT from Computer Concepts or ú55 through Archive.
7.5
Å    Basic Programmeræs Toolkit Ö Beebug have produced a set of utilities
to aid the process of writing programs in Basic. It includes: program
printer, program formatter, SWI name / number converter, program
analyser, program cruncher, program differentiator, desktop front end
for the Help command, program monitor, procedure library manager and a
library of Basic routines. The Basic Programmeræs Toolkit costs ú15.28
+ú2 p&p +VAT from Risc Developments (ú12.72 +ú2 for Risc User
subscribers).
7.5
Å    Carnage Inc. Ö From the same programmers as Pandoraæs Box comes
Carnage Inc. which is an isometric adventure game. öFrom dazzling fire-
fights to ingenious puzzles, Carnage Inc. will test your reflexes as
well as your mind.ò The price is ú25.95 from The 4th Dimension or ú24
through Archive.
7.5
Å    Colour scanners Ö Irlam Instruments supply a range of colour scanners
for use with Archimedes computers. The software, Proi-Mage (pronounced
Épro-imageæ!) is a desktop application which can be used with a range of
different scanners and supports a wide range of file formats including
industry standard ones. The image is built up on screen as the scan
proceeds and the software multitasks so you can get on with other jobs
while you wait. Sprite output is in monochrome, 16-grey, 256-grey and
256-colour and dithering can be turned off for line art or colour
printing.
7.5
The first scanner supported is the Sharp JX-100 as used in the Risc
Developmentsæ Spectra scanner costing ú549 +VAT (reviewed in Archive
6.11 p62). The Irlam version, including the software, is ú449 +VAT (ú520
inc VAT through Archive). This uses an RS232 serial interface and will
work with all the newer computers: A5000, A3010, A3020 and A4000. If you
have one of the older computers, you need an interface board costing ú69
+VAT (ú80 through Archive) which goes in a standard podule slot. The
scanning area is 100mm ╫ 160mm and it scans at 200 dpi.
7.5
If you want an A4 scanner, there is the Epson GT-6500 at ú875 +VAT
(ú1000 inc VAT through Archive) or the Epson GT-8000 at ú1195 +VAT
(ú1,380 through Archive). As well as having the larger scanning area,
these scanners are faster than the JX-100, partly because they use the
bi-directional parallel port. (Again, older Archimedes computers need
one of the interface boards at ú80 through Archive.) The scanners are
300dpi and 400 dpi, respectively, and have a number of extra features
and options which justify the extra cost. The GT-8000 has a SCSI
interface, so it can be operated at even higher speeds with an
appropriate SCSI interface Ö not all of them work properly with
scanners!
7.5
**STOP PRESS**
7.5
Irlam say they now have a colour hand scanner available Ö we will put
details on the Price List if we can get them in time.
7.5
Å    Cowboys & Indians Ö If you are wanting to make a comic book involving
cowboys and indians then Matt Black have a new clipart pack just for
you. Their Vanguard Graphics Pack 2 (Cowboys and Indians) contains two
discs of coloured drawfiles and a manual giving hints suggesting how you
could create your own comic strips. This pack is aimed at teachers and
parents of 4 Ö 12 years olds and costs ú15 +ú2 p&p from Matt Black.
7.5
Å    DeskEdit 3 Ö Risc Developments have updated DeskEdit again. The price
remains the same at ú31.95 inc VAT or ú30 through Archive. New features
include a 20-entry desktop debugging window, an independent scrolling
window, 20 new invisible markers, a powerful function locator, extended
info on template files, sprites, modules, PCK image files and Basic
programs, an input filter to normalise files coming from foreign
environments and an automatic file backup creator. If you have DeskEdit
1 or 2 and want to upgrade to 3, it will cost you ú9.95 and ú5.88
respectively inc VAT from Risc Developments.
7.5
Å    Desktop Thesaurus new version Ö Risc Developments have expanded their
thesaurus to include antonyms. The new version recognises over 17,450
keywords and contains around 200,000 alternative words. Existing users
may upgrade free-of-charge by returning their original disc with S.A.E.
(or ú2 to cover p&p) to Risc Developments. The price remains at ú19
+ú1.70 p&p +VAT from Risc Developments or ú23 inclusive through Archive.
7.5
Å    Easy C Ö Risc Developments have produced an öeasy-to-useò C
development system. It is a fully RISCáOS compliant application which
provides a WIMP front end for driving the compiler and linker. The
compiler conforms to the latest ANSI standard (although it has not been
validated). It is claimed to be unique in having an integrated ARM
assembler. Easy C is supplied with a library of ANSI functions and
RISCáOS functions. It is compatible with DeskLib, the freeware library,
and it has a library management facility to allow users to create and
maintain their own libraries. Easy C costs ú49 +ú2.70 carriage +VAT from
Risc Developments or ú56 through Archive.
7.5
Å    Explorer is an educational program from Alpine Software which will
help with project work on the solar system and space travel. Aimed at
Key Stages 3 and 4, it costs ú30 +VAT from Alpine Software or ú33
through Archive. For more details, see the review on page 78.
7.5
Å    Grannyæs Garden is now available on CD-ROM! Cumana and 4Mation have
combined to produce this new multimedia version of this popular
educational program. It costs ú29.95 +VAT or ú33 through Archive.
7.5
Å    Heimdall is a Viking adventure game from Krisalis. In this five-disc
game, you follow the Viking warrior Heimdall in his growth from a small
boy to a great warrior. It includes some splendid 3D animations and
realtime combat. Heimdall costs ú29.99 inclusive from Krisalis or ú28
through Archive.
7.5
Å    Kerner Ö Design Concept have produced a utility that can convert your
existing outline fonts to the new RISCáOS 3 format, adding kerning
information. It costs ú15 inclusive from Design Concept. With it, at no
extra cost, they are also supplying Kern-All. The aim of this is to
force all applications, even those which do not currently do so, to use
kerning.
7.5
Å    KleinFS Ö PTW Software are marketing KleinFS, a compression filing
system with many öunique featuresò including the ability to support
networks, allowing users to log-on and log-off. KleinFS costs ú17.95
incVAT from PTW Software.
7.5
Å    Magic Pockets is a scrolling arcade adventure program written by the
Bitmap Brothers and distributed by Renegade at ú25.99 inclusive or ú24
through Archive. It boasts öbonus games, secret rooms, loads of power-
ups, stacks of levels, heaps of weapons and swarms of intelligent
nastiesò.
7.5
Å    Materials, Components & Techniques is the latest in Anglia
Televisionæs series of KEY datafiles. ÉMaterialsæ provides numerical and
textual information about common materials and then the ÉComponentsæ,
ÉToolsæ and ÉJoiningæ datafiles each include a graphic field which
presents a diagram relevant to the record being displayed. Materials,
Components & Techniques costs ú22 +VAT from Anglia Television.
7.5
Å    Mouse-tamer Ö NW SEMERC have produced an aid for younger children or
those with a physical handicap. It is called the SEMERC Mouser and it
allows you to disable any combination of the three mouse buttons thus
simplifying the use of some programs for users with limited motor
control. It also has switch inputs for those for whom even the mouse is
a non-starter. The SEMERC Mouser costs ú47 +ú5 p&p +VAT from NW SEMERC.
7.5
Å    Music Box Ö Topologika have released an educational music program for
primary schools which aims to help the children investigate rhythm,
pitch, harmony and composition. No technical musical skills are needed
but the purpose of the package is to develop transferable musical skills
and it is aimed at AT 1 and 2 at Key Stages 1 and 2 of the National
Curriculum. Music Box is configurable to the needs of the child and
comes complete with a range of support material in printed form and on
disc. Music Box costs ú35 +VAT for a single user licence (ú38 through
Archive) and there are site licences available from Topologika: primary
ú60, secondary ú70 and teacher training licence ú105, all +VAT.
7.5
Å    Sylvia Layne is here at last! The Exotic Adventures of Sylvia Layne
from 4th Dimension is now available for ú25.95 or ú24 through Archive.
It is a scrolling arcade adventure with 50 frame/sec animations and five
layers of vertically scrolling parallax and can be loaded onto hard
disc.
7.5
Å    Talking Rhymes Ö Topologika have produced a set of four nursery rhymes
in both words and pictures which can be set up as jigsaw puzzles for
youngsters to solve. When the jigsaw is complete, the rhyme is spoken
out using digitised speech and a rewarding animation sequence is played.
The complexity of the jigsaws is configurable to suit the age and skill
of the child. The four rhymes are: Humpty Dumpty, Georgie Porgie, Little
Miss Muffet and Little Jack Horner but a further pack of four will be
released later in the year. Talking Rhymes (Pack 1) costs ú40 +VAT for a
single user licence (ú44 through Archive) and there are site licences
available from Topologika: primary ú65, secondary ú75 and teacher
training licence ú110, all +VAT.
7.5
Å    Ultimate Expansion System Ö HCCS now have available a micropodule for
the CC Scanlight 256. It comes in various forms, with and without the
scanner head, as a micropodule on its own or as a Starter Pack including
a multipodule plus PSU and as a combined Starter Pack with either the
Vision colour digitiser or the HiVision colour digitiser. The Archive
prices are as follows:
7.5
ScanLight 256 Micropodule + Scanner Ö ú261
7.5
ScanLight 256 Micropodule only Ö ú114
7.5
ScanLight 256 Starter Pack Ö ú342
7.5
ScanLight 256 + Colour Vision S.P. Ö ú420
7.5
ScanLight 256 + HiVision S.P. Ö ú455
7.5
Å    Wimp Programmeræs Toolkit upgrade Ö Beebug have updated their Wimp
Programmeræs Toolkit to version 3. It now contains fifteen applications
to assist in the developing and debugging of Wimp programs. New features
include Basic procedure and function analyser, wimp poll mask number
generator, program to calculate icon, window and menu flags, Basic
variable lister, pointer icon locator, new template file browser and a
library of wimp applications and procedures. There is also a new 56-page
manual. Prices are ú21.95 inc VAT (or ú7.95 as an upgrade) through
Beebug or ú17.95 and ú4.95 respectively for Risc User subscribers.
7.5
Review software received...
7.5
We have received review copies of the following: ÅBasic Programmeræs
Toolkitá(u), á ÅCarnage Inc.á(g), á ÅCowboys & Indiansá(ae), á ÅEasy
Cá(l), á ÅJumble Funá(e), á ÅLingoMasterá(e), á ÅMaterials, Components &
Techniquesá(e), á ÅSea, Trade & Empireá(e), á ÅSounds & Rhymesá(e),
ÅSwitchá(g),á ÅWIMP Programmeræs Toolkitá(u).
7.5
e=Education, bk=Book, g=Game, h=Hardware, l=Language, m=Music,
u=Utility, a=Art.
7.5
If you would like to review any of these products, please contact the
Archive office. Potential reviewers will need to show that they would
use the product in a professional capacity or that they have some
knowledge of the particular field.ááA
7.5
Government Health Warning Ö Reading this could seriously affect your
spiritual health.
7.5
Have you ever noticed that when you go through difficult times it sets
things in a new perspective? You really begin to appreciate things that
you once took for granted. That has certainly been my experience over
this last few months.
7.5
Iæm sure that most of you will remember the old Beatlesæ song, öMoney
canæt buy you loveò. Well, here is a variation on the same theme which
was quoted in a sermon at our church Ö and it certainly struck a chord
with me...
7.5
                    Money can buy you a bed but it canæt buy you sleep.
7.5
                    It can buy you food but it canæt buy you an appetite.
7.5
                    It can buy you medicine but it canæt buy you health.
7.5
                    It can buy you amusement but it canæt buy you
happiness.
7.5
                    It can buy you sex but it canæt buy you love.
7.5
                    It can buy you a crucifix but it canæt buy you a
Saviour.
7.5
                    It can buy you a coffin but it canæt buy you eternal
life.
7.5

7.5
Paul Beverley
7.5
P.B.
7.5
Fact-File
7.5
(The numbers in italic are fax numbers)
7.5
4th Dimension     P.O. Box 4444, Sheffield. (0742-700661) (0742-781091)
7.5
4Mation     11 Castle Park Road, Whiddon Valley, Barnstaple, Devon, EX32
8PA.
7.5
    (0271-25353)
7.5
Abacus Training     29 Okus Grove, Upper Stratton, Swindon, Wilts, SN2
6QA.
7.5
Acorn Computers Ltd     Acorn House,
Vision Park, Histon, Cambridge, CB4 4AE. (0223-254254) (0223-254262)
7.5
Alpine Software     P.O.Box 25, Portadown, Craigavon, BT63 5UT. (0762-
342510)
7.5
Anglia Television      Education
Department, Anglia House, Norwich, NR1 3JG. (0603-615151) (0603-631032)
7.5
Cambridgeshire Software House      8 Bramley
Road, St Ives, PE17 4WS. (0480-467945) (0480-496442)
7.5
Clares Micro Supplies     98
Middlewich Road, Rudheath, Northwich, Cheshire, CW9 7DA.
7.5
    (0606-48511) (0606-48512)
7.5
Colton Software (p10)    2 Signet
Court, Swanns Road, Cambridge, CB5 8LA. (0223-311881)
7.5
    (0223-312010)
7.5
Computer Concepts (pp16/22)      Gaddesden
Place, Hemel Hempstead, Herts, HP2 6EX. (0442-63933) (0442-231632)
7.5
CWDE Software     1 Catton Street, London WC1A 4AB. (071-831-3844) (071-
831-1746)
7.5
Design Concept     30 South Oswald Road, Edinburgh, EH9 2HG. (031-668-
2000)
7.5
Desktop Projects Ltd     Unit 2A,
Heapriding Business Park, Ford Street, Stockport, SK3 0BT.
7.5
    (061-474-0778) (061-474-0781)
7.5
Digital Phenomena     104 Manners
Road, Southsea, Hants, PO4 0BG.
7.5
Digital Services     9 Wayte Street, Cosham, Portsmouth PO6 3BS. (0705-
210600)
7.5
    (0705-210705)
7.5
EMR Ltd     14 Mount Close, Wickford, Essex, SS11 8HG. (0702-335747)
7.5
ESM      Duke Street, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, PE13 2AE. (0945-63441)
7.5
Fabis Computing     95 Fabis Close, Swadlincote, Derbyshire, DE11 9SL.
7.5
HCCS Ltd     575-583 Durham Road, Gateshead, NE9 5JJ. (091-487-0760)
7.5
    (091-491-0431)
7.5
Icon Technology     9 Jarrom Street, Leicester, LE2 7DH. (0533-546225)
7.5
Illusions Disc Magazine     42 Wimborne
Gardens, Ealing, London, W13 8BZ.
7.5
Jumping Bean Co     Leen Gate, Lenton, Nottingham, NG7 2LX. (0602-792838)
(0602-780963)
7.5
Keyboard Technology     Unit 3,
Gordon Road, Loughborough, LE11 1JX. (0509-610706)
7.5
Krisalis Software     Teque House,
Masonæs Yard, Downs Row, Moorgate, Rotherham, S60á2HD. (0709-372290)
7.5
Longman Logotron     124 Cambridge Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge CB4
4ZS.
7.5
    (0223-425558) (0223-425349)
7.5
LOOKsystems (p40/41)    47 Goodhale
Road, Bowthorpe, Norwich, NR5 9AY. (0603-764114)
7.5
    (0603-764011)
7.5
Norfolk IT Team    Norfolk County Inset Centre Witard Road Norwich NR7
9XD.
7.5
    (0603-33276)
7.5
Northwest SEMERC     Fitton Hill CDC, Rosary Road, Oldham, OL8 2QE. (061-
627-4469)
7.5
Oak Solutions (p6)    Dial House,
12 Chapel Street, Halton, Leeds, LS15 7RN (0532-326992) (0532-326993)
7.5
Panda Discs     Four Seasons, Tinkers Lane, Brewood, Staffs, ST19 9DE.
7.5
PTW Software     72 Frosthole Crescent, Fareham, Hampshire, PO15 6BG.
(0329-281930)
7.5
Really Good Software Company      39
Carisbrooke Road, Harpenden, Herts., AL5 5QS.
7.5
Really Small Software Company      Olivers
Hill, Ashburnham, Battle, Sussex, TN33 9PE. (0435-830467)
7.5
RESOURCE     51 High Street, Kegworth, Derbyshire, DE74 2DA. (0509-672222)
7.5
    (0509-672267)
7.5
Risc Developments (p15)    117 Hatfield
Road, St Albans, Herts, AL1 4JS. (0727-840303)
7.5
    (0727-860263)
7.5
Safesell Exhibitions (p9)    Market
House, Cross Road, Tadworth, Surrey KT20 5SR.
7.5
Sherston Software     Swan Barton,
Sherston, Malmesbury, Wilts. SN16 0LH. (0666-840433) (0666-840048)
7.5
Software 42     109 Ferry Road, Hullbridge, Essex, SS5 6EL.
7.5
Tekoa Graphics     16 Murray Road, Rugby, CV21 3JN. (0788-571434) (0788-
546376)
7.5
Topologika     P.O. Box 39, Stilton, Peterborough, PE7 3RL. (0733-244682)
7.5
Computer & Electronics Holiday for Young People !!
7.5
Scripture Union runs a Computer & Electronics Holiday for 13 to 16 year
olds (boys and  girls) at an attractive school set in the beautiful
Hertfordshire countryside.
7.5
The dates?            August 1st Ö
9th, 1994.
7.5
The price?            ú112.
7.5
For details, write to    Jim Maddox,
7.5
                    S.U. Holidays
7.5
                    69 Claverdale Road
7.5
                    London   SW2 2DH
7.5
            or phone:    081-671-
8761.
7.5
Oak
7.5
From 7.4 page 10
7.5
Comment Column
7.5
Å    Cover discs Ö I am surprised that nobody has mentioned the current
craze for cover discs on all Acorn magazines available on the
bookstalls. The cover prices have been increased to ú2.95 or ú3.95 in
order to pay for the Éfreeæ disc!
7.5
However, I have always found the contents of these discs to be of little
interest, consisting of half-baked games, simple utilities, crippled
demo versions and miscellaneous rubbish. As far as I am concerned, these
discs are just an expensive way of buying blank discs.
7.5
I think that the real problem is that there is just not enough
worthwhile software available to fill all these discs every single
month.
7.5
Michael Lowe, Loughton.
7.5
I suspect that not everyone will agree with Michael (especially the
magazine publishers!) but let me assure you that Archive is NOT going to
follow the bookstall magazines in this policy. Ed.
7.5
Å    Educational programs Ö One of the many computer magazines that I read
is Computer Shopper which is a multi-format publication heavily biased
towards the PC market. However, it does make faint recognition of the
Acorn range of computers. The present writer of the Archimedes column
does his best to champion the cause of Acorn computers particularly in
the field of business and DTP.
7.5
For most users, programs such as Impression, Eureka, Datapower,
Artworks, S-Base and many others are as good as packages costing many
times more on other computer formats, particularly the PC. As PC and Mac
programs grow and grow, they add new feature upon new feature, most of
which will seldom be needed by the user.
7.5
Where I take real exception is when the Computer Shopper columnist
discusses an area where Acorn dominates, i.e. education, and dismisses
software for education on the Acorn range as being boring and
insignificant. He ends up praising many American programs whilst
ignoring the efforts of Sherston, 4Mation, Topologika, ESM and all the
other software houses (all basically steeped in the Acorn market and not
widely known outside the school fraternity) who have many years of
development behind them.
7.5
In some ways, his perception of Égoodæ educational software is clouded
by an audience whom he says is hardened by expectations derived from
games software. I agree that good graphics and well-designed programs
are needed but had he looked beyond the PC, Amiga and Atari, he would
have found a huge variety of programs that are anything but dull and
boring. Perhaps his brief was to look at software available on all
formats (and mostly the PC) and Acorn-specific programs were beyond his
scope.
7.5
My experience as a teacher for 23 years leads me to believe that
children respond not just to the program but also to the teacher/parent
who helps the learning process. If the aim is to stick the children in
front of a VDU and let them get on with it, we may as well give them a
shoot-æem-up Sega and forget about Éeducationæ. Parents and teachers
should be aware that teaching involves the preparation, discovery,
discussion, help and follow-up work that the software generates.
7.5
Here then is where imagination and skill takes over from mindless
zapping. I have watched, talked, listened and joined in with my children
at school and at home as they have explored The Crystal Rainforest or
Plodd and have been delighted by the childrenæs response not just to the
lovely (or not so lovely) graphics, but to the pleasure of involvement Ö
learning is caught rather than forced.
7.5
My children at home and at school are users of a huge variety of
software available on Acorn machines. They also play games on all
computer and console formats. The two have neither to be compatible nor
complimentary Ö they are often just different and a case has not been
made that the two must necessarily be similar.
7.5
Richard Rymarz, Norwich.
7.5
Å    Programming in Basic Ö Having read the article last month about Making
Archive Better, I would be willing to coordinate a section for the
magazine dealing with ideas for Basic Programming.
7.5
It would be useful to have some short routines published that would
solve particular Basic programming problems. I have in mind, for
example, routines to claim and release memory, a routine to find out the
correct buffer size to use when loading templates with
Wimp_LoadTemplate, etc. I have written many such routines but Iæm sure
that many other people have their own solutions that may be better than
mine.
7.5
The routines should be fully commented for those people without PRMs,
and attention should be drawn to any global variables used. The
commented versions could be supplied on the monthly disc with a version
with the REMs removed to save space in the magazine.
7.5
What do you think of this idea? Have you any routines you think
suitable? Write in to me via the Archive office or direct to:
7.5
Paul Hobbs, Rheinfalzstrasse 2,  85049 Ingolstadt, Germany.
7.5
(Paul is the author of the extensive wimp library which won the APDL
competition so he is well able to edit such material for us. If you want
to write to him, a letter only costs 25p to post and a disc in a paddy
bag would only be 42p or 54p so donæt let the fact that Paul now lives
in Germany put you off contributing. Ed.)
7.5
Å    !RAMScrap (Econet Column Archive 7.4 p52) Ö The reason that !RAMScrap
appears to allow an 800Kb sprite to be transferred between applications
even though only a 64Kb RAM disc is used is simply that properly written
applications (certainly commercial programs) donæt use scrap files at
all! They transfer the information in RAM buffers.
7.5
Paul Hobbs, Germany (+ several others!)
7.5
Iæm sorry that we didnæt spot that technical mistake! Ed.
7.5
Å    Young Readers! Ö In the last issue of Archive, I suggested that there
was a demand for a Young Readersæ Column and Neil Walker has offered his
services as editor. He writes:
7.5
I have a few ideas about what to include in it but it would be best for
you to tell me. One thing I did think would be a good idea was a high
scores table for Archimedes games. For this to work, I would need some
proof of a score. For example, a photograph, a screenshot or a witness
to counter-sign your letter.
7.5
However, I am sure that you use your computer for more than just games Ö
you do, donæt you?! So, let me know how you use it.
7.5
Please send your comments and contributions to me: Neil Walker, 16
Finderne Drive, Wymondham, Norfolk, NR18 0HU.ááA
7.5
Help!!!!
7.5
Å    ARX Ö Does anyone know anything about the original operating system
that was designed for the Archimedes? It was described as a Xerox-like
windows environment and was to be called ARX. It was mentioned in a 1988
issue of Acorn User. I would be interested to find out how similar it is
to RISC OS.á Neil Walker, Norwich.
7.5
Å    Cat & dog clipart Ö I prepare posters for a local Animal Rescue Centre
and need clipart of domestic cats and dogs. Can anyone help, please?
R.E.Clark, 34 Bradley Street, Wootton Under Edge, Gloucester, GL12 7AR.
(0453-842576)
7.5
Å    Eizo F340iW Ö Has anyone  found any software or hardware that allows
the F340iW to handle the Acorn lower resolution modes? Every scrap of
advice gratefully received by Danny Fagandini, 6 Alleyn Park, Dulwich,
London SE21 8AE. (Phone [phone] or Faxpack on 081-670-7173.)
7.5
Å    FontEd Ö On RISCáOS 3.1, coordinates no longer appear after selecting
the Skeleton Menu/Display/Coords option, even though the option is
ticked. I have tried all versions of FontEd up to 0.31a. Any fixes
available?
7.5
Ronald Alpiar, 84 Dudsbury Road, Ferndown Wimborne, Dorset, BH22 8RG.
ááA
7.5
Safesell
7.5
New Artwork
7.5
Colton
7.5
From 7.4 page 5
7.5
The Future of DTP on the Archimedes
7.5
Neil Whiteley-Bolton
7.5
In one sense, now is not the best time to be discussing the future of
Acornæs range of computers as a platform for professional publishing. So
much is dependent on the machines themselves and, whilst it is not
unreasonable to suppose that a new machine or range of machines is
waiting in the wings, those people who know the öwhatæs and the whenæsò
are not allowed to say. Nevertheless, many people will be both worried
and disappointed that Acorn has not already launched a new range of
computers and will be anxious to know what sort of future Acorn has in
electronic publishing.
7.5
In this article, I shall speculate about this future by considering the
requirements of the professional market and attempt to assess how well
these requirements are likely to be met. I believe it is the
professional market which is vital to Acorn because it is this market
which drives software houses to develop östate of the artò software, and
also because it is brand awareness/acceptance in this market which is
the key to DTP sales success in all other areas. Try looking through
öplatform independentò computer magazines Ö I have never seen Acorn
mentioned in any discussion or review of DTP software or systems.
7.5
Hardware & system software
7.5
Although it is the software which actually performs the complex tasks
associated with page layout and artwork generation, the computer,
together with its operating system, is important for two reasons.
Firstly, it must be powerful enough for the software developers to
implement the features and functions they wish to include in their
applications. Secondly, it must be competitive enough generally, in
terms of features, performance and price, for software houses to feel
that it is commercially viable to write software for it.
7.5
As I said in the introduction, those people who know about Acornæs next
generation of computers are not allowed to say anything Ö all I can say
is that I expect Acornæs next machines to be competitive. By this, I
mean that I expect they will match, or out-perform, similarly priced
machines from other vendors, running different OSæs. I do not expect the
performance to match that of the current generation of 100+ MIP
workstations, so those people who choose their computers solely on the
basis of simple performance specs may have to look elsewhere.
7.5
This should not in itself be a problem because professional users buy
öcomplete solutionsò and performance to them means how quickly and
effectively they can perform the tasks which constitute their business.
Here, the consistent and intuitive user interface and fast application
software count for a great deal. Assessing these factors is like
assessing a caræs road handling Ö itæs very subjective.
7.5
Let me conclude this section by listing improvements which I would like
to see in the next generation of Acorn machines and which, in varying
degree, are necessary in order for them to provide a viable platform for
DTP in the professional marketplace.
7.5
More processing power Ö Always nice to have.
7.5
More RAM Ö This is vital, as I shall explain later. Machines should be
expandable to at least 128Mb, preferably more.
7.5
A virtual memory system Ö Very desirable, if not strictly necessary.
7.5
Faster disc controllers Ö These are important, albeit not essential, for
retrieving/storing large files. Standardising on SCSI 2 would be nice
but in order to achieve real speed improvements, this requires a 32-bit
connection from podules to the main board and/or a controller on the
main board.
7.5
OS support for a 24-bit desktop Ö This is absolutely vital. Computer
Concepts have rewritten a part of the operating system and are supplying
the new module with their Colour Card Gold which offers a 15-bit
desktop. Unfortunately, the screen memory limit currently imposed by
RISC OS means that this is still at a modest resolution. Accelerators
are available for PCs and Macs which provide 24-bit colour in
resolutions of at least 1280╫1024 pixels and Acornæs next computers must
do the same.
7.5
Support for pressure sensitive stylii (mouse replacements) such as those
from Wacom and CalComp. These make the generation of computer artwork
much easier. The support ought to be built into RISC OS but I suspect it
wonæt be. Perhaps CC will do the job?
7.5
Removal of the 512Mb limit on disc size imposed by the filecore. This is
a fairly high priority in my opinion. When I bought my first Acorn
machine, a 100Mb hard disc was considered large but high resolution
images mean large files Ö I would like my next hard disc to be 2Gb or
more.
7.5
Reasonably priced peripherals Ö Some items, such as memory upgrades, are
more expensive  partly because they are non-standard, but how can third
parties justify the price tags associated with devices like CD-ROM
drives and hard discs? A Ésingle speedæ drive sold specifically for
Acorn machines costs upwards of ú300 whilst a flick through the pages of
Computer Shopper reveals name brand, Édouble speedæ drives for around
half this price. Can the development costs of driver software be so
high? To my knowledge, only CC sell a CD-ROM drive at a price which
competes with PC equivalents, and that is the Équad speedæ Pioneer
Multi-Player.
7.5
Software
7.5
This is an area about which I can speak with greater certainty. The
software which is vital to professional publishers falls broadly into
two areas: page make-up and artwork generation/processing.
7.5
In the area of page make-up, the Acorn platform has been well served by
both Impression from CC and Ovation from Risc Developments, with
Impression being the choice of professionals. (If there is anybody using
Ovation professionally, please let me know. Is Risc User still produced
on Macs?) In most areas, Impression compares favourably with the best
Mac/PC-based packages such as Quark Xpress but the most serious
limitations, as far as professional users are concerned, are in the
areas of typography, full colour and PostScript generation.
7.5
Line drawing software is well represented Ö packages such as Artworks
and Vector easily hold their own against competitors such as Corel Draw
and Adobe Illustrator, though both would be made considerably more
potent were there to be support for one of the pressure sensitive stylii
mentioned earlier.
7.5
Acorn is let down badly in the area of pixel-based photo-retouch/paint
software. There is nothing, at the moment, to compare with Adobeæs
PhotoShop or Fractal Designæs Painter, both of which are available for
the Mac and for PCs running DOS/Windows. This, it has to be said, is
principally due to limitations in the existing hardware and RISC OS. To
successfully create or edit Éphoto realisticæ images, it is necessary to
display the images in 24-bit colour, and the demands made upon hardware
by high resolution, 24-bit images is phenomenal Ö such images can easily
be 40 Mbytes or more in size, necessitating far more main memory than
the 16MBytes currently available (virtual memory would be an asset here)
and improved disc controllers (SCSI 2?) in order to speed up access to
such large files.
7.5
Again, I conclude by identifying areas which need improvement if the
system is to gain more widespread acceptance in the industry.
7.5
Typography Ö (a) kerning and tracking AND control of word spacing (b)
ability to specify outline and fill (colour, thickness, etc) as
attributes, and (c) ability to define the thickness of underline and its
distance from baseline.
7.5
Impression Publisher will address the most important of these issues.
Impression 2.5 (an interim version sold only to professional publishers
by Acorn) already has tracking as a östyle attributeò, together with a
large number of other useful features.
7.5
Full colour Ö The ability to load, display, print and separate to
PostScript 24-bit bit-mapped images is absolutely vital. This requires a
machine with a large main memory and a fast disc controller Ö SCSI 2?
7.5
Impression Style can already load, display and print 24-bit sprites, and
Artworks (version 1.5) can separate them. According to CCæs Charles
Moir, Impression Publisher öwill offer selection of separation curves
control over R, G and B brightness, contrast and gamma on an individual
picture by picture basisò and öwill cope with pre-separated CMYK sprites
or CMYK TIFF files such as those produced by Adobe PhotoShop.ò These
features may prove indispensable if a PhotoShop equivalent does not
appear, because even Photo CD images need gamma correction before they
are really öuseableò.
7.5
PostScript Ö A better quality PostScript printer driver (Level 2) is
urgently needed. PostScript generated by an Acorn machines takes much
(sometimes many times) longer to RIP than a PostScript file generated
on, say, a Mac. Imagesetter time is very expensive.
7.5
Support for OPI (Open PrePress Interface) Ö Impression 2.5 is OPI
compatible and it will be available as an extension for Publisher. This
extension will also feature EPS file loading and printing and possibly
features such as imposition control.
7.5
Photo-retouch Ö A good pixel-based photo-retouch and/or paint package is
vital for acceptance of the system. There is hope here, I think. A
German company, Digital Arts is allegedly porting its photo-retouch
package (RetouchΘ) to RISC OS from the Atari. I have not seen RetouchΘ
but a colleague who has, claims it will give PhotoShop a run for its
money.
7.5
Conclusions
7.5
We are still in a Éwait-and-seeæ position but I am cautiously optimistic
about the prospects for 1994. I welcome correspondence from people with
further information and/or a different viewpoint. Write to me, Neil
Whiteley-Bolton at: Prinseneiland 79N, 1013 LM Amsterdam, The
Netherlands.
7.5
(If you want to write to Neil, a letter to Holland only costs 25p to
post. Ed.)ááA
7.5
Small Ads
7.5
(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.  Sending small ads on disc is helpful but not
essential.)
7.5
Å    40/80 track disc drive ú50, Scanlight Junior (A3000) ú75, A3000 I/O
and User Port card ú20, Gods, Chocks Away, Saloon Cars, Interdictor 1&2
ú10 each. Phone [phone] (North Wales).
7.5
Å    A310, med res Philips monitor, 4Mb MEMC 1a upgrade, interfaced 5╝ö
twin 40/80 disc drives in monitor plinth, serial link, PC Emulator v1.7,
DR DOS 5.0, considerable quantity of essential software, utilities and
games. Offers invited around ú500. Phone [phone].
7.5
Å    A3000, ARM3, RISC OS3.1, AKF17 colour monitor, Cumana 2nd drive
adaptor, 4Mb RAM, 2nd drive mounted in PRES system housing & monitor
stand with space and p.s.u. for internal hard drive. Software also
available. ú800 o.n.o. Call Ralph on 0785-714535 or 021-522-2000.
7.5
Å    A3000 complete with colour monitor, 1Mb upgrade, 24 pin dot matrix
printer, plus applications software, ú600 o.n.o. Phone [phone].
7.5
Å    A3000 Learning Curve, upgraded to 4Mb, RISC OS 3.1 with discs and
manuals, VIDC enhancer with switch, ú450. Phone [phone].
7.5
Å    A310, 4Mb, ST506 interface, 4-slot b-plane ú350. PRM (RISC OS 2) ú20.
Phone [phone].
7.5
Å    A4000 Home Office, 4Mb RAM and multisync monitor, 80Mb HD + software
ú850 on.o. Canon BJ200 printer ú180 o.n.o. Phone [phone] or 0850-
883159 any time.
7.5
Å    A440/1 4Mb RAM, 47Mb hard disc, ARM3 and RISC OS 3.1, no monitor ú675.
Fireworkz new and unregistered ú105. DeskEdit 2 latest version ú15.
Bristol 0272-736237.
7.5
Å    A5000, 25MHz, 4Mb/40MbHD, no monitor, Artworks, Impression II, Good
Impression, First Impression, Equasor, Business Supplement, Borders
disc, Genesis Plus, ú999 o.n.o. Also as separate items: Colour Card
ú150, Laser Direct card ú170, Morley cached SCSI ú120, Turbo Driver
(BJC800) ú25. Phone Chris after 7pm only on 0252-519727.
7.5
Å    A5000, 4Mb memory, 120Mb hard disc, Art-works, Impression, C, PC
Emulator, ISO Pascal, books and magazines ú1400 o.n.o. Laser Direct card
ú240 o.n.o. Phone [phone].
7.5
Å    A5000 4Mb RAM, 230Mb + 210Mb hard discs, Taxan 775 multisync, Aleph
One 486PC card 4Mb +coprocessor, Colour Card Gold, HCCS multipodule +
SCSI/CDFS, Artworks, Ovation, Schema, Poster, ArcFax, Archivist Pro,
games etc. ú1875. Phone [phone]. This is South Holland, less
than one hour from the Dover-Ostend ferry.
7.5
Å    Acorn Advance, unwanted, still sealed as new ú80. Phone Norman 081-
950-5904 (eves).
7.5
Å    Archimedes A410/1, 4Mb RAM, RISC OS 3.1, 40Mb HD, 3╜ö FD, 2╫5╝ò FD
external, manuals, boxed, as new, with Taxan 770+ M/S monitor, ú800.
Phone Wigan 0942-717454.
7.5
Å    Archimedes, 8Mb RAM, 103Mb HD (16 bit SCSI), Aleph One 30MHz ARM3,
RISC OS 3, Laser Direct LBP8, Spectra colour flatbed scanner, Watford
hand-scanner, Impression 2.17 (including Business Supplement), Poster,
PC Emulator, OCR, Schema, Autosketch 2, Logistix, FontFX, Artisan, loads
of utilities, games and over 70 fonts. Cost well over ú5000 new.
Absolute bargain at ú1000 (no offers, but may split). Phone Rudi on
0892-503786 (work) or 533686 (evenings) for further details.
7.5
Å    CD-ROMs Ö Illustrated Shakespeare, Illustrated Sherlock Holmes &
Illustrated Holy Bible Ö ú20 each or ú50 for all three. Phone 06977-
46786
7.5
Å    Clares Illusionist, ú54. Phone Norwich 0603-402819.
7.5
Å    EasiWriter v2.07, Datapower, both new and unregistered, ú75 each.
System Delta + v2, ú25. PipeDream 3, ú50 o.n.o. Contact 0860-430032.
7.5
Å    Hawk V9 MkII colour digitiser, with Fastgrab software (version 2)
ú100, Software (as new): Acorn Desktop C, release 4 ú100, also Desktop
Assembler and DDE (release 2) ú90, PipeDream 4 (v4.12) ú60, Genesis 2
(v2.59) plus script language book ú60, Squirrel database (v1.21) ú40.
Phone [phone].
7.5
Å    HCCS hi-res colour digitiser, nearly new ú80. Multipod professional
colour video/sound digitiser and serial port ú65. EMR MIDI 4 (4 in, 4
out) interface ú75. Phone Croydon 081-655-0399.
7.5
Å    Psion series 3 v1.08F/ENG 1 month old unregistered, with serial link
ú175. Phone [phone].
7.5
Å    Psion series 3 ú140, Spreadsheet ú40, Series 3 Link ú40. Phone 0903-
813524.
7.5
Å    Snippet (unregistered) ú20, EasiWriter (version3) ú59, Equasor ú20,
Ace Prodriver for DJ500C/550C ú20. Phone Copthorne 0342-714905.
7.5
Å    Software for sale. David Pilling: MicroSpell, Trace, Panorama, all ú4,
Artisan ú12, Interdictor ú12, Pandoraæs Box ú17, E-Type, ú17, Olympics
ú12, Repton 3 ú11, Risc Devæts Movie Maker ú11, PipeDream 4 ú63, Various
PipeLine discs ú5 each, FlexiFile ú37, Acorn DTP ú32, First Word+ ú32,
Genesis Plus ú22, HP Deskjet Empty Carts (5) ú5, Assembly Language Book
and Disc ú12, DataPower ú93. Phone David Heath on 0752-781286.
7.5
Å    Two A310s both 1Mb, good condition, one with green screen monitor,
backplane, boxed, original manuals etc, Genesis & other software, ú295
(no offers), the other with colour monitor, PC Emulator, 1st Word Plus
and ISO Pascal (boxed), ú400 o.n.o. Phone [phone] (Phil) or 0734-
661431 (Ian).
7.5
Å    Wanted: Acorn Replay CD, any offers? Call Ian on 0734-661431.
7.5
Charity Sales Ö The following items are available for sale in aid of
charity. PLEASE do not just send money Ö ring us on 0603-766592 to check
if the items are still available. Thank you.
7.5
A3000 1-2Mb upgrade ú15, A3020 Welcome Guide ú2, A5000 Welcome Guide ú2,
Ace Printer Driver for Epson JX ú5, Acorn Education Directory CD-ROM ú9,
All-in-Boxing ú8, Battle Chess ú15, BBC Basic Guide ú6, Acorn DTP ú8, PC
Emulator + DR DOS 5.0 ú30, First Word Plus 2 ú8, Premier 3 text
processor ú9, RISCáOS 3 User and Applications Guide ú6, RISCáOS 3
Applications Guide ú5, RISCáOS 3 User Guide ú5.
7.5
(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.)ááA
7.5
Risc Developments
7.5
New Artwork
7.5
CC
7.5
New Artwork
7.5
(Use 7.4 p6 if it doesnæt arrive in time.)
7.5
Relational Database Design
7.5
Keith Underdown
7.5
I have been an Archimedes user for almost three years, mostly using DTP
for posters and programmes for a Choral Society. I have also made a
couple of attempts to build up a membership database Ö with varying
degrees of success. Professionally, I am involved in the development of
a large companyæs Information Systems Strategy. I would like to try to
explain the principles of data modelling and database design and explore
how they can best be achieved in the context of the Archimedes and the
databases available on it.
7.5
It is a subject that I have never seen discussed in an Archimedes
publication and it also seems to be poorly treated in schools, if my
daughteræs experience of National Curriculum IT is typical. It has a
bearing on the database products available for the Archimedes too. The
ones I have tried (in particular, Squirrel) seem to lack certain
features and this makes designing truly relational databases difficult.
7.5
Why data modelling?
7.5
Any programmer knows that starting into coding, without doing some
design first, is a recipe for disaster. Programmers often start by
describing the functions in some kind of öpseudo-codeò Ö a dialect of
English that allows you to express the ideas without worrying about the
syntax required by a programming language. This enhances creativity and
allows one to explore the problem without too much investment in complex
code structures. Designing the data structures is not given nearly so
much thought but it is just as necessary Ö if not more so.
7.5
Thinking about the data analytically (data modelling) enables you to
isolate the essential elements and clarifies the functions that need to
be performed. Where the data has a life of its own Ö in other words, it
needs to exist outside the program Ö then you need to produce a database
design that will turn the model into reality.
7.5
In this series of articles, I will attempt to show that this can be done
using graphical techniques Ö the data equivalent of pseudo-code. There
are certain formal ideas of relational database theory which underlie
these techniques but I will try to develop these informally and leave
the theory until last.
7.5
I will start with an address book and, over the next few issues, build a
data model that will formally describe the information held in it, and
other related lists, such as birthdays. Having done that, I will extend
the model to support additional functionality.
7.5
An address book
7.5
This is effectively a card index and would have three or four fields:
7.5
Name:    Both Forename(s) and Surname. If my familyæs is typical then we
would include both names of a couple in the database but we would
remember the childrenæs name or we might have another list somewhere
else.
7.5
Address:
7.5
    Again this would be unstructured and contain House Name (sometimes),
Number, Street, District, Town, County, Postcode.
7.5
Phone Number:
7.5
    The STD code and number might be separate. In principle, we do not
need the STD code because we could look it up in our local directory
but, to save time, we write it with the rest of the address or we might
remember that Liverpool implies 051, for example, and miss it out.
7.5
This could be very easily emulated on the simplest of database packages.
Would it work? Well, the first thing that you might notice is that
sorting into alphabetic order is tricky as it would sort on forename
first. If you were to split Name into Surname and Forename then sorting
on surname becomes possible but this points to another problem Ö whose
forename would we put?
7.5
Data modelling building blocks
7.5
What has happened here? The problem arises because we are holding
information about two different but related things. We have a mixture of
information about individual people and the households they live in.
This is a critical step in the analysis of the information we are
interested in. We have identified two key entities and a relationship
between them. These are the basic building blocks of our model. My
dictionary defines entity as: ösomething that existsò. Data modelling is
about identifying the things of importance to the problem and then
exploring the relationships that exist between them. Another way of
looking at this is that entities correspond to nouns and the
relationships are the verbs that we use in sentences describing what the
nouns do. From now on, I will use an upper-case name to identify the
formal use of an entity; as in PERSON and HOUSEHOLD. The relationship we
have discovered is: öA PERSON is part of a HOUSEHOLDò; the converse is:
öA HOUSEHOLD consists of at least one PERSONò. We can express this
diagrammatically in what is called an entity-relationship diagram. This
is the beginning of our data model. The diagram is shown below:
7.5
The boxes represent the entities and the line joining them shows a
relationship between them. The symbols at the ends of the line (often
called öcrows-feetò) tell us things about how many instances of each
entity are involved in the relationship and whether or not the
relationship will always exist. The strict interpretation of this
diagram is:
7.5
A PERSON is always part of one and only one HOUSEHOLD.
7.5
A HOUSEHOLD always consists of one or more PERSONs.
7.5
The relationship names in the diagram are read clockwise so öpart ofò
follows PERSON and öconsists ofò comes after HOUSEHOLD. The first part
of the crows-foot can be O or |. The former means that the relationship
is optional Ö need not always exist Ö and the latter means that it is
mandatory. The part of the crows-foot abutting the entity can be O or |
or the trident shown above. These can be read as 0, 1 or many. Rarely,
many can be replaced by a specific number but this should be viewed with
suspicion as it places a restriction on the way in which instances of
the two entities may interact. It usually means that there are a number
of similar but different relationships.
7.5
Using an address book
7.5
What do we use our address book for? A typical example is the production
of the Christmas list. Who do we send cards to? Who gets a letter as
well? Who at church or work or my wifeæs work? When faced with this
problem, my daughter added boolean fields for each list. This is not the
relational way of doing it! As the number of lists grows, so would the
size and complexity of the database.
7.5
This might not seem a terribly important issue as the price of disc
space falls but there is another consideration Ö the more data one has,
the longer queries and report generation will take. Also, the need to
create a new list would involve modifying the structure of the database
and every record in it. This is undesirable for several reasons. Most
importantly, modifying the database involves a more privileged access to
the database and the user could alter other things at the same time. If
you were developing a package to sell then this would be enough to make
the package unsupportable. The user may change only the content Ö not
the structure.
7.5
We have identified another entity: LIST. Our LISTs might involve
HOUSEHOLDs (as in the Christmas Card example) or might involve
individuals within a multi-person household. There is thus a
relationship between LIST and both PERSON and HOUSEHOLD. Clearly, as the
number of different lists grows, each PERSON or HOUSEHOLD may be
included in several LISTs. Notice how, in the previous sentence, we
quite naturally found a name for the relationship Ö ömay be includedò.
The use of ömayò is interesting as it suggests that membership of a list
is optional; PERSONs or HOUSEHOLDs do not have to be included in a list.
7.5
Our data model must be amended as shown opposite. There are two
complications here. Firstly, a list would probably either be a
öHouseholdò list Ö involving every PERSON in the HOUSEHOLDs Ö or it
would be a öPersonò list Ö involving only the nominated individuals. I
know of no convention for indicating this in an entity-relationship
diagram. We need to make a note somewhere that one or other of the
relationships, but not both, must exist.
7.5
The second is that we have defined two, so-called, many-to-many
relationships. This is the source of many of the arbitrary restrictions
that one finds in existing computer systems. How many is ömanyò? Often
an arbitrary decision is made Ö no household will be a member of more
than eight lists, for example. Murphyæs Law dictates that when you are
trying to define the list of guests at your fortieth birthday party,
your cousin will be involved in his ninth list and blow the system.
7.5
I will leave the solution to this problem until next time. In the next
issue, I will öresolveò the many-to-many as it is known and show how we
would implement this simple database in Squirrel. I will also see if
there are any more entities lurking in the information that a typical
family holds.ááA
7.5
The Advance Column
7.5
Robert Chrismas
7.5
Most word processors have ÉRulersæ which allow the user to control the
layout of the the text. They usually have a scale marked in characters
or some standard units. There will be markers for the left and right
margins and for tab stops. The user will probably be allowed to set
several rulers in a document so that different parts of the text can
have different margins, for quotations, lists, etc.
7.5
The Advance ruler
7.5
Advance uses separate markers for the left margin and the Éfirst
indentæ. The left margin controls the left hand edge of every line in a
paragraph except the first. The first line starts at the first indent.
7.5
The first indent does not have to be to the right of the left margin Ö
sometimes it is useful to position it to the left.
7.5
Like rulers in Impression Style
7.5
The rulers in Advanceæs word processor are different from those in
Impression II and Impression Junior. They are more like the rulers in
Impression Style. In Advance, and in Impression Style, you can use a
ruler which governs just one paragraph without having to give it a name.
7.5
To alter the layout of just one paragraph, position the cursor anywhere
in that paragraph and use the menu option Ruler/Show Ruler to display
the current ruler. As you alter the ruler, you will see that the whole
of the paragraph which contains the cursor is selected (it will be
displayed in inverted colours); the changes you make to the ruler will
apply to the selected paragraph only. For that paragraph, the ruler name
will change from ÉBaseRuleræ to ÉBaseRuler*æ. You can have lots of
different paragraphs, each with its own BaseRuler*.
7.5
When a group of adjacent paragraphs is selected, any changes to the
ruler will affect all the paragraphs.
7.5
These local changes to the BaseRuler can be cancelled by clicking on
ÉDeleteæ on the Advance ruler. Doing this restores the current ruler to
the BaseRuler format.
7.5
Named rulers
7.5
To create a new named ruler, you first alter the current ruler as
required, then delete the name on the ruler and enter a new name. The
current paragraph will be controlled by the new ruler. You need to press
<return> once to enter the name of the ruler. Be careful not to press
<return> twice because your current paragraph is marked Ö when an area
of text is marked it will be deleted if you type anything at all,
including <return>. So press <return> once to enter the name of the
ruler then use the cursor keys or mouse to move the cursor.
7.5
The ruler menu
7.5
To change a named ruler, find (or create) somewhere in the text which is
controlled by the ruler. Then make your changes to the ruler. This will
only alter the current paragraph. You must now click on the arrow next
to ÉCopy Toæ. A list of rulers will appear. Click on the one you want to
change.
7.5
A named ruler can be applied to any block of text. First select the
block of text then, on the Ruler menu, click on the name of the ruler
you want to apply.
7.5
To delete a ruler, find (or create) somewhere in the text which is
controlled by the ruler, then click on Delete. The ruler will cease to
exist and the text will revert to being controlled by the BaseRuler.
7.5
Database graphics
7.5
ÉHow do I get a graphic to appear on each card of my database?æ First
create your graphic as a drawfile or a sprite. On the database menu use
ÉEdit/Edit Layoutæ to view the layout. If you are creating a new
database, you will be viewing the layout already. Use the menu option
ÉUtilities/Insert/Framesæ to create a new frame. When you have clicked
on the menu option, the pointer will change and you will be able to drag
out a graphic box. Make sure you drag down and left Ö the box will not
drag up or right.Your graphic can now be dragged into the graphic box.
7.5
File compatibility
7.5
You can load Advance documents into Impression Style. You cannot load
Impression II documents into Advance, but if you save selected text with
styles, it will be displayed properly in Advance. Surprisingly, it is
possible to view an Impression II document in Advance. Drag the
Impression II document onto an Advance WP document (not on to the icon
on the iconbar) and a new window will open showing the document. It is
not possible to edit the document or to save any of it from this window.
7.5
Loading times
7.5
At my college, we are loading Advance from a network. This takes an
awfully long time. If any readers have any suggestions for speeding it
up (the protection prevents us using NetGain) I would be glad to hear
from them.
7.5
In fact, I would be glad to receive any correspondence about Advance. I
would love to be forced to write something like ösorry to all those
people to whom I have not yet replied ...ò, but the fact is that no one
at all has written to me! If you are using Advance (or if you have
decided not to use it!) do send me your comments. My address is 8
Virginia Park Road, Gosport, Hants, PO12 3DZ.ááA
7.5
Setting the margins
7.5
NCS Technical Help Service
7.5
David Webb (NCS)
7.5
1994 sees somes changes and improvements in the Technical Help Service
that NCS offers its customers, and Iæd like to take this opportunity to
tell you about them. So, what does the NCS Technical Help Service
consist of and who has access to it? Well, there are two levels of
technical help available to Archive Subscribers...
7.5
Written questions
7.5
Firstly, any subscriber may write to us with a query of a technical
nature. From 1st February onwards, we are making a commitment to
responding to queries within ten working days of receiving them. Where a
full answer cannot be supplied straight away, we will write and tell you
what we are doing to investigate the matter. We cannot guarantee always
to find the answer to everyoneæs problems but, in addition to our own
pool of knowledge and documentation, we do have a special resource of
expertise available to us through the readers of the magazine and our
own contacts. So, if we cannot give you an answer, we usually öknow a
man who canò. (Due to staff changes in the autumn, we built up a serious
backlog of written technical enquiries awaiting replies Ö our apologies
to those readers who were affected and we intend to do better in 1994!)
7.5
Telephone hot-line
7.5
Secondly, we also offer a telephone hot-line service which provides
immediate support to those having difficulties. Archive members can have
access to this service for an additional ú15 a year, giving them
priority over other technical queries when they ring us on a special
direct dial telephone number, quoting their Technical Help subscription
number. As from 1st February, we will be operating the Technical Help
hot-line between 10am and 4pm on all weekdays except Wednesday, when the
hot-line will be available 1pm Ö 4pm. This will enable us to give
Technical Help subscribers our full attention during those given times
and should ensure that the service is least affected by other
distracting activities such as staff meetings, etc!
7.5
(For those who do not yet subscribe to the Technical Help Service, may I
put in a plug here, please! I believe this service is very good value
for money, giving you fast access to our own resources of experience and
knowledge and beyond, as Dave says. I also think it helps to discuss a
problem, personally, rather than write it in a letter Ö often the answer
becomes apparent as you talk it through with someone else. With our
broad overview of hardware and software products in the world of Acorn,
we can often give a perspective that goes beyond the help offered by
individual product suppliers.  Ed)
7.5
Finally, a brief note about us! The technical services team consists
principally of Matthew Hunter and myself, and we share the
responsibility of supplying technical information and investigating
problems for customers and for NCS. Our services are available through
both written and telephone technical help, as described above. And of
course, we also help recent customers experiencing difficulties with
their purchases and advise prospective customers with product enquiries.
7.5
We will be grateful for any feedback that you may have on NCS Technical
Services and how you think they can be further improved. You can also
help us improve the technical content of the magazine and the quality
and scope of help offered to subscribers, by writing to us with hints,
tips, comments on products, answers to questions raised in the magazine
and any similar material. As Paul has been emphasing, Archive has the
role of drawing upon the experiences, views and knowledge of its
subscribers and presenting them back to the readership, so please keep
the correspondence coming and use Archive!ááA
7.5
CC
7.5
From 7.4 page 15
7.5
The printer advert
7.5
Fast, Cheap Laser-Printing?
7.5
Andrew Rawnsley
7.5
Computer Conceptsæ TurboDriver utilities for colour printing with Canon
inkjet printers have been reviewed in Archive (6.3 p59). However, with
the advent of the HP (Hewlett Packard) TurboDriver, CC have attempted to
revolutionise mono laser-printing, as well as providing colour support.
7.5
The printers
7.5
The HP TurboDriver package contains drivers for the following printers:
HP LaserJet II, III and IV, HP DeskJet 500C and 550C, HP DeskJet 1200,
Black & White DeskJets, Acorn JP-150 and Integrex ColourJet Series 2.
The Acorn and Integrex drivers are the same as two of the HP ones, but
that should not matter in practice.
7.5
A little history
7.5
You will forgive me if I dwell on the laser printing options in these
new drivers, but these are what makes this collection different from
previous offerings.
7.5
In the past, Acorn users who wanted a laser printer had a problem. Any
Acorn dealer would try and sell them a CC LaserDirect or a Calligraph
ArcLaser. Both of these cost almost ú1000, whilst the high-street price
for an industry standard HP compatible laser printer was around ú500.
7.5
However, these were fine-tuned for PC use and would take anywhere up to
10 minutes to print a complex page of graphics (remember that any
software using outline fonts prints them out as graphics). Imagine
trying to print out a 25+ page report! Thus users had to pay ú500 extra
just to get a reasonable speed.
7.5
With the advent of the HP TurboDrivers, the story has changed.
7.5
Timings
7.5
TurboDrivers are designed to speed up printing and dramatically reduce
the time taken to return control to the user. When control is returned,
printing continues in the background whilst you work.
7.5
In practice, when printing an A4 page of Impression text, control would
be returned to the user after 6-10 seconds. Thus the 25 page report
would take only around 200s (3 mins 20 secs) to return control to the
user, compared to 200m (3 hours 20 mins). Not bad!
7.5
However, to actually print the page still takes around 1 min 20 secs
(compared to around 20 secs), but even this is an improvement.
7.5
Complex ArtWorks illustrations may take up to a minute to return control
to the user and 4-5 mins to print out the page. This is still excellent
and most users will not be printing such complex images regularly.
7.5
Problems
7.5
Since the RISCáOS 3 TurboDrivers merge seamlessly into !Printers, there
were no software compatibility problems and all the popular programs
worked perfectly. There were a few problems with page sizes, but nothing
serious, so I recommend sticking with your old page definitions.
7.5
The only real problem was that the utility has a special cable, which
acts like a dongle. Need I say more?
7.5
Colour printing
7.5
Oak Solutions are recommending their customers not to buy Ace ProDrivers
now but wait until early æ94 when there will be new versions released,
the TurboDrivers are the only fast colour printer drivers around.
Naturally, colour printing takes longer (in some cases, much longer)
than mono printing but using the TurboDrivers still speeds up the
process, much to the amazement of Corel Draw users on the PC, who have
to wait ages for pages to print out!
7.5
Conclusions
7.5
The advent of the HP TurboDrivers should be received with a sigh of
relief by any frustrated HP (or compatible) user. Our LJ-2 compatible
Kyocera F-800 will never be the same again! Laser printing for around
ú500 Ö ú550 is now a realistic option for Acorn users.
7.5
Colour users will love the speed increase, as colour printing can take
forever.
7.5
The HP TurboDriver package costs ú49 +VAT from Computer Concepts or ú53
through Archive.ááA
7.5
We are looking into finding a suitable Éinexpensiveæ laser printer that
will work well with the TurboDrivers so that Archive subscribers can
have an alternative to the ú925 LBP4 Laser Direct. Ed.
7.5
Splash and 1stPaint
7.5
Roger Nelson
7.5
This review deals with two art packages aimed at the same age group
(primary) but which operate in different ways. They each have something
distinctive to offer and come from companies well known for producing
educational software.
7.5
Splash
7.5
This offering is produced by Sherston Software and consists of two discs
and a slim manual. The program disc is a Ékeyæ disc which must be used
at the start of every artistic session. The second disc contains
examples produced using the software. The program loads in the usual
manner installing itself onto the iconbar. The menu from this icon
provides Info, Save in Splash and Sprite formats and Quit options. A
click with <select> opens the drawing screen.
7.5
The program takes over the whole screen when in the drawing mode.
Initially, the bottom portion of the screen is covered by a large, clear
menu of icons. This menu area can be moved to the top of the screen with
a click on the small upward pointing arrow or removed from view and
recalled using <menu>. The initial menu shows icons for Drawing, Text,
Background, Clear, Help, Filing, Printing and Desktop.
7.5
Three of these work on a single click. Desktop returns you to the
desktop environment where you can use another program if you have
sufficient memory Ö Splash will happily work in 1Mb taking up 384Kb of
memory space. Help toggles the help bar, which appears next to the menu
area. Clear does what it says and clears the screen to the last
selection of colour or pattern.
7.5
The remaining menu icons take you to further menus. The Drawing menu
gives you a choice of using lines to create irregular shapes, producing
regular shapes or using one of a variety of brushes. Any of these
selections takes you to another menu where you can choose the line
colour, style and thickness as well the fill colour. The fill colour may
be any of the solid colours which are available, a dithered colour from
a choice of 136, or a pattern. The patterns are predefined but can be
changed using a small grid to whatever you like. The size of the grid
can be changed from a 2╫2 to an 8╫8 to help you see the effect of your
experiments.
7.5
A spray brush is also available for creating fills. The Émarblingæ
effect of this can be altered to make it appear as a radial fill
starting in the centre of a shape or increasing in density from any edge
of a shape. The intensity of each of the three colours in the fill can
be changed using draggable indicator bars.
7.5
The background option enables a user to set the paper colour at any time
to any colour or fill pattern that is available.
7.5
The text menu allows any of the fonts available to the system to be used
and three are supplied on the examples disc in case you donæt have any
others. The size of the text is limited to small, medium and large in
the first instance but there is a way to alter the size to suit your
needs using arrow based icons. The colour of the text is chosen as for
other drawn items.
7.5
The filing option removes the drawing screen replacing it with a window
with the choices of saving as a Splash file, as a sprite or of returning
to Splash. There is another box onto which you are asked to drag Splash
files for loading. This method of leaving the drawing screen while
saving allows RISC OS dragging to be used.
7.5
The printing option recognises if a printer driver is loaded Ö two RISC
OS2 drivers are supplied with the package.
7.5
Special features
7.5
From what has been said above, it probably appears as if Splash is just
another painting program. In some ways it is, but there is one
particular operation which prompted me to offer to do this review. There
is a select option, as in Draw. Using the arrow icon which appears at
the right hand end of the toolbox icon, you can select any object and
change its attributes (line colour, fill colour, line type), its
position on screen, its size, its orientation and whether it appears in
front of or behind other objects. There is also the possibility of
editing the object, moving a point, adding or deleting a point. A single
object can, when selected, be isolated (i.e. all other objects are
removed from the screen) and edited before all the other objects are
recalled to the screen. All these options are available via icons and
can be applied to all objects including text. The ability to nudge
objects into position is useful, especially for positioning text.
Another useful option when editing text is the alignment feature. With
this, any selected text objects can be left or right justified or
centred.
7.5
It was this ability to select objects and edit a drawing that seemed to
me, as a teacher, a way to bridge the gap between painting programs
(e.g. Flare, Revelation, PrimeArt, Artisan) and Draw. Pupils will (if
you let them!) use a painting program for all kinds of task without
considering if another program is more suitable. In many cases, pupils
will shy away from using Draw for diagrams, maps and posters because
they find the process of selecting, editing and deleting too complex
compared to brushing over an area. Iæm not sure yet whether Splash will
fill the role I envisaged. Its icon rather than text based method of
selecting operations does make it easy to operate. The ability to undo
the last action is also available but can take some time if the drawing
is more than simple outlines.
7.5
I have some reservations about this software, namely the taking over of
the whole screen, the non-standard icon based menus and the slow speed
of some operations. It must be said, however, that the operation of the
package is excellent, with no sign of any bugs. The package is aimed at
primary age children and, for their use, the reservations must be seen
as no obstacle to successful use. My own 8 year old had no problem in
producing pictures. He also found the ability to edit objects handy but
did comment on the lack of a roller to fill objects! To sum up, this is
a typical high quality Sherston product with a clear and concise manual
to help if you get stuck.
7.5
1st Paint
7.5
This software, from Keyboard Technology, comes as a two-disc pack with a
fairly slim manual and sheet of extra instructions. Disc 1 is the
program disc which cannot be used until a registration program has been
run. It can then be backed up as normal for security purposes. Disc 2 is
a workdisc used for holding fonts and as a store for picture files. This
is requested by the program before you can begin work on screen.
Installation onto a hard disc is possible, although the instructions
could be clearer for novice users. Once the software is installed on the
iconbar, a click opens a window which you can re-size or close at will Ö
in other words a normal RISC OS operation. Like Splash, this program
operates easily within 1Mb, taking up only 352Kb when loaded.
7.5
Features
7.5
A toolbox is positioned along the bottom and a colour selection area up
the right hand side of the drawing area. The tools and colours are set
up as a default option Ö a user can configure these defaults to restrict
the range of tools and colours that are available. This is a useful
feature for younger users who can be introduced to new features
gradually, and are thus forced to concentrate on picture composition
rather than öplayingò with the features.
7.5
The toolbox first opens showing the paint tools Ö two different sized
round brushes, a square brush, straight lines, spraycan and a fill
roller. Using the Turnover icon (a right pointing arrow) the toolbox can
be changed to show the drawing tools Ö rectangle, ellipse, triangle,
line and fill roller Ö and the utilities for filing, printing, text and
the dustbin. The paintbrushes, the thickness of lines and the density of
the spraycan may be varied using the Change size icon. The drawing of
accurate squares and circles is made possible by the Smart button which
also restricts the angles at which lines can be drawn and affects the
way triangles are drawn. The Undo button gives you the chance to recover
from a mistake.
7.5
In use, the painting and drawing tools are simple to operate, and
pictures can be drawn within minutes of loading. The utilities tools
give you the opportunity to save, whatever you create by simply clicking
on the small disc icon. It uses the name you provide when configuring
the software and it increments the number it attaches to the filename
each time you save to avoid wiping out an earlier picture. If the work
disc you are saving onto becomes full, the disc icon has a red cross in
the middle as a warning. Instructions for creating Workdiscs are given
in the manual.
7.5
There are two other disc icons shown in the utilities tools, one with a
drawfile represented on it, the other with a sprite on it. A click on
these opens a directory on the workdisc showing the contents, any of
which can be loaded into 1stPaint by dragging the icon into the drawing
area. Files from discs other than workdiscs can be loaded by dragging. A
file is provided to ensure that drawfiles you wish to use are the
correct size for the drawing area.
7.5
The Dustbin icon clears the drawing area and if the configuration is set
up correctly, it also saves the picture in the sprite directory of the
workdisc as Last_bin. This makes the picture recoverable up to a certain
point!
7.5
The text option in the utilities opens a window into which you type your
text and press <return>. The text appears in the font style, size and
weight which you have set up via the program menu. Four fonts are
provided with the package on the workdisc. The font colour is black, no
matter what colour is selected. It is possible to change the colour with
the roller but the anti-aliasing makes this difficult to achieve fully.
7.5
The colour selection is restricted to sixteen and the program operates
best in mode 12. Clicking <menu> over each of the twelve colours allows
you to change the balance of red, green and blue in that colour and so
produce a palette of your own choosing. The Turnover button associated
with the colour selection area allows you to choose from a series of
eight fill patterns or eight Stamps.
7.5
The Stamps, which range from a butterfly to a set of footprints, may be
placed directly onto the screen as many times as a user wishes and re-
coloured using the fill roller. The range of Stamps provided is limited
and I am sure that there is a case for making new sets of Stamps
available as pupils get tired of using those provided. No doubt it is
possible to create your own, but no guidance is given in the manual so
it would take someone with knowledge of how to create sprites of the
right size and with a mask.
7.5
In use, the program operates very easily and the ability to configure it
extensively makes it ideal for introducing youngsters to painting on the
computer. The ability to load drawfiles for colouring by the very young
(and not so young) increases its versatility. My eight year old enjoyed
working his way through the drawfiles, colouring each one and altering
some with the drawing tools as they took his imagination. He mastered
the operation of the program easily and enjoyed using it. He did find
the colour selection restricting until he was shown how to alter the
colours in the palette. For me the program does not offer sufficient
facilities but for the young who are just learning to use a computer, it
is most suitable and can be used with other control devices.
7.5
There was only one slight bug when using the program which occurred when
the Smart button was clicked on during the use of the brushes on the
painting menu. The round brush appeared on screen as a square brush Ö
not something which will badly affect the drawing capabilities.
7.5
The manual is good but not up to the standard of that produced for
Splash as it omits some things which would be useful for the experienced
to know and could explain some aspects of the programs use in simpler
terms for the beginner. Overall, a good program which will be effective
if used in the right situation.
7.5
Targeted twosome
7.5
These two packages, which are aimed at specific target users, both
perform very well, offering facilities which the user will appreciate.
Splash is more complex and offers a different way of operating from many
other art packages. The ability to change the attributes of any object
at any time during a drawing gives the user great flexibility. In some
ways, the program could be seen as a beginneræs Draw Ö or even Artworks!
7.5
1stPaint on the other hand is definitely for beginners. It offers those
who want to encourage youngsters to develop the use of computers, the
ability to introduce facilities in a controlled progression. The
purchase of either program will depend upon who is to use it, but with
the right target users, neither will disappoint.
7.5
Splash costs ú22 through Archive which includes a free site licence. 1st
Paint costs ú35 +VAT from Keyboard Technology.ááA
7.5
Hints and Tips
7.5
Å    CC Turbo & Laser Direct Drivers Ö A few people have discovered a
problem that occurs when you try to run the RISC OS !Printers after
having run a Turbo Driver or a Laser Direct driver. The error öModule
PDriver 3.16 or later is requiredò appears. To clear this, do a
*RMReinit PDriver before using the Acorn driver.
7.5
Å    File copying on floppies Ö When copying from one floppy to another,
the overall copy time can be reduced by opening the task manager and
dragging the Next slot to 800Kb (or 1600Kb for an HD disc if you have
the memory). This means that the next task to request space (i.e. the
filer) will have enough space to read in the entire contents of one
floppy, so that you donæt have to swap discs more than once.
7.5
On large copy jobs (say between two hard discs) the larger area the
filer gets, the faster the copying because fewer reading/writing cycles
will be needed. You can either adjust the Next slot or, once copying has
begun, drag out the Filer Action Window task as large as it will go.
When copying is complete, the space is regained.
7.5
Å    Floptical drives and faulty floppies Ö An article in a German PC
magazine claimed that, due to their much more elaborate construction,
flopticals drives could handle many discs which caused normal floppy
drives to give up; I can report to all floptical owners that this claim
holds true for the Acorn world, too.
7.5
A software upgrade arrived on a disc which my floppy drive could not
read Ö a disc error 08 was reported and Verify found a massive 56
defects! My floptical drive, however, had no problem at all with the
disc Ö it verified OK and the software could be loaded and runs
perfectly. So, when the readability of a disc is a borderline case,
giving the disc to the floptical drive to read might well help.á Jochen
Konietzko, K÷ln, Germany
7.5
Å    Printer driver problem Ö öSWI &42940 Not knownò. This error was
reported recently in another printer driver problem. A quick look at the
PRM showed this to be a BufferManager SWI. The buffer module had become
unplugged which was causing the problems. It is not such an obvious
problem though because the error appears to come from the printer
driver. The solution is to press <f12> and type *RMReinit BufferManager
<return> and then another <return> to get back to the desktop.ááA
7.5
Impression Tutorial
7.5
Dave Wilcox
7.5
The Impression Tutorial comes on one disc and is made up of a
compilation of articles, containing text and screen shots, published by
Richard Clark of the Illusions Disc Magazine. These articles have been
compiled in Magpie, and edited to ten chapters. The tutorial consists of
the Magpie reader and Magpie file along with a small selection of
clipart and a couple of Impression documents for example purposes. The
chapters vary in size from 4 to 14 pages (93 pages in all) and contain a
nicely presented summary of Impression control and use techniques. The
disc is capable of being backed-up via the desktop and installation onto
hard disc is a simple matter of dragging icons.
7.5
The application is simple to use Ö double click on the Magpie reader and
then either double click on the tutorial file or drag it to the iconbar
icon. You will be greeted with the Illusions Disc Magazine header, soon
replaced by the first page of the carousel Ö The Contents list. The
contents listing shows the ten chapters as Part #1 to Part #10, so what
do these Parts cover? Iæm afraid itæs up to you to have a look and find
out, as there is no specific indexing system giving any detail of
section reference, other than a paragraph giving a quick overview on
page 1 of each chapter.
7.5
Content
7.5
The content of this tutorial is good, written in simple English and easy
to follow. The first page points out to the purchaser that this item is
a tutorial for those who have failed to read the manual for whatever
reason. If you use the software in this way your reading is cut down
considerably and you should obtain a working knowledge of Impression
upon completion of the ten parts Ö the object of the software is
therefore fulfilled. Being a frequent user of Impression, I would
personally like to see the front end modified slightly to give an
itemised index containing an alphabetical list of sub-headings, for
instance, or even just the area heading Ö e.g. Printing, Frames etc,
instead of part numbers. If this were done, I feel it would appeal to a
wider variety of people, as the person who has a working knowledge, or
the novice user, having forgotten how to do something could have the
tutorial running alongside Impression and call the relevant pages as
reminders when necessary simply at the click of a mouse button, instead
of wading through the chapters. There is a search facility in Magpie
which will take you to occurrences of a target word but, to my mind,
this method is messy and somewhat defeats the purpose of the carousel
idea.
7.5
Conclusion
7.5
A lot of thought and work has gone into the layout of the pages in this
presentation and it is pleasing to view and read. The content deals with
most aspects of the use of Impression in a simple clear manner. For the
new user to Impression, I could recommend this disc as money well spent.
For the frequent user it is reasonable value for money but would be more
so if the front end were improved.
7.5
Impression Tutor is priced at ú9.95 inclusive from Illusions Disc
Magazine.ááA
7.5
Dinosaur Discovery
7.5
Richard Rymarz
7.5
Dinosaur Discovery is yet another new release from 4Mation. This is an
Archimedes update of a very successful 8 bit program that was originally
published in 1985 as a language program in Australia. It fully
multitasks and comes on two discs housed in a plastic wallet which also
contains some simple support materials, loading instructions (it can be
installed on hard disc and used with the key disc), a diary and a
comprehensive teacheræs book. These materials are basically the same as
the original version and give an indication that the conversion is
virtually identical to the original. Those looking to upgrade will be
very familiar with the program.
7.5
First impressions
7.5
So what is different? Well as would be expected, the graphics are much
more sophisticated. The now familiar authoring system, which appears to
have been used in all 4Mationæs releases since Grannyæs Garden, is again
effectively implemented. Drawings are by Dutchman Hans Rijnen (of Flossy
the Frog fame) and the program has been programmed by Dave Caughley.
Beyond that and the fact that everything is mouse driven, little has
changed except perhaps that it is all very much quicker and easier.
Having last used the 8 bit version less than a year ago with a group of
Yr 5 children (10 yr olds), I can vouch that completing the adventure
was quite demanding requiring a fair degree of diary keeping and
evidence collection.
7.5
The program
7.5
The aim of this adventure is to hatch a dinosaur egg Ö all very topical
considering the success of the film ÉJurassic Parkæ. To accomplish this,
the children are given a diary written by a professor who sadly died in
his quest. They have to take on the mantle of intrepid explorers
battling their way through forests, deserts, mines, dangerous waterways
and other hazardous locations, intent on finding a dinosaur egg, a
crystal to power an egg-incubating machine and the location of the
machine itself.
7.5
Each venue contains a task. Some are simple and some more taxing but
none are too demanding. It is here that the adventureæs origin, as a
language program, shows itself. At a number of locations, the tasks are
language based Ö word puzzles, anagrams, etc which have nothing to do
with the story. It doesnæt really matter but it would have been nice if
the updated version had all tasks relevant to the adventure. However,
this is really a minor niggle since it does not detract from the
adventure itself.
7.5
After visiting the museum (absolutely vital) and collecting the correct
coloured egg and crystal, the children have to set off across the
Stegasaurus Straits at the correct time. If they donæt, then they are
inevitably wrecked on the rocks and have to start again. Here is my
second little niggle. Crossing the Straits in the 8 bit version was very
tricky Ö but in this version, the map is smaller and the task much
easier. Itæs a shame really, since this part of the adventure usually
led to the whole class watching with baited breath to see if a group
managed it. I wonder if the same excitement will be generated with the
updated version Ö the pictures of your boat being consumed by the
öterrifyingò waters (sadly looking quite placid) are disappointing.
7.5
Never-the-less, having navigated the Straits and having the lock
combination, crystals and the proper incubation temperature, the
professoræs incubator can be used to hatch an egg. The children have to
remember the information gained in the museum and where certain
information is in the professoræs diary. Their reward is the hatching of
a brontosaurus and worldwide recognition in the papers.
7.5
Support materials
7.5
The support materials are up to the high standard expected from a
leading educational software house. There are suggestions for work with
or without the computer either by location or curriculum area. These are
excellent and once again 4Mation make no mention of the National
Curriculum. This allows the teacher to choose whether to match whatever
the children do to the National Curriculum. I applaud this since it
helps teachers to escape the straight jacket that the NC has placed on
them.
7.5
Conclusion
7.5
I have reviewed a number of 4Mationæs recent offerings. I have not
hidden my admiration for their high quality, their imagination, the high
calibre of support materials and their attitude towards Éeducationæ and
what it should mean to children. In most ways, Dinosaur Discovery
exhibits all those things. If you need a program to supplement or lead a
topic on Dinosaurs with the added element of adventure and problem
solving, ÉDinosaur Discoveryæ fits the bill. If you already have the
program and access to an old BBC then I would continue using that one.
7.5
There are random elements in the program but the standard of difficulty
cannot be changed. This is a pity, as updating from 8 to 32-bits would
have been a wonderful opportunity to broaden the age range and scope of
the program. However, at ú32.32 for a single user version and ú64.64 for
a full site licence (ú30 and ú70 through Archive) the package is good
value and will be used over and over again.ááA
7.5
Frontier 2000
7.5
In the review in Archive 7.4 p37, Ian OæHara said he couldnæt get
Frontier 2000 to run on RISCáOS 3 hard disc machines. CSH assure us that
it works on all the hard discs theyæve tried and are offering to find
out why it doesnæt work on Ianæs machines! Ed.
7.5
Letters
7.5
Christopher Jarman
7.5
Educational programs have a hard task before them. While they need to be
entertaining, that is not all they should be. They must instruct and
inform at the right level, they must be accurate, but they cannot afford
to be too matter-of-fact, or the motivation for children to go on using
them will not be strong enough.
7.5
Letters is aimed at Key Stage 1. It is colourful and has two good
motivating games designed to help children learn letters as initial
sounds. It also contains an attractive morphing type of action where an
initial small letter such as an ömò turns gradually into a picture of
some mountains and then back again. The program is easy to use once
installed and the icons to click on are large and well-defined. It is
simple for almost any child, with a little practice, to choose the
different activities and to understand the points being made.
7.5
The problem, however, is not so much the presentation but whether the
points being made are, in themselves, worthwhile and accurate. The
Teachersæ Notes say that the applications are intended to cater for the
needs of children in speaking and listening, reading (learning phonic
cues) spelling (although there is no direct reference to spelling in any
of the activities) and finally handwriting. There are nine discs in the
pack and a total of 30 photocopiable black and white worksheets. Apart
from the startup disc, each floppy contains the data for dealing with
three or four lower case letters of the alphabet. Capital letters are
not included in the program.
7.5
As a simple letter recognition teaching device, the program is fine. In
teaching children to spot the 26 letters, their particular design is
unimportant. There are so many alphabets or fonts today that the wider
variety to which youngsters are exposed, the better will be their
abilities to recognise them. However, simple recognition devices are all
around us for free, so is there really a need for an expensive program?
7.5
Poor for letter formation
7.5
As an aid to handwriting, the program is frankly disastrous. Current
thinking from all recognised experts and from OFSTED is that handwriting
should be taught joined-up from the start. The National Curriculum
demands a clear and legible cursive style by level 3. At the very least,
the letter shapes need to be formed in a way which is in preparation for
joining. In Letters, no thought has been given to this at all. The
design of the letters under this heading, especially for beginners, is
all-important. Here, the same old print script shapes from the London
County Council lectures of 1913 have yet again been reproduced.
7.5
There are so many inaccuracies in the Letter Formation section of the
program that I believe that it should be withdrawn. To take one or two
examples, the letters r n m and h p b are described as the yo-yo family
because it is said the pencil must go down the first stalk and up it
again. For good cursive writing habits to be learned, the pencil must in
fact travel down and then up at a slight angle to the right Ö not at all
like a yo-yo. The letter s is shown with the initial stroke being made
upwards, a well-known fault in young childrenæs writing which produces
an s much taller than the other letters and which can take years of re-
training to eradicate. It should start with a horizontal right to left
stroke. The small a is not even a- shaped but looks like an o stuck to
an i. The letter l that is given is, in fact, a capital I, etc!
7.5
In conclusion
7.5
While I liked the letter animation into an object and the I-Spy game
with its musical reward, I feel that children deserve better artwork
than the very poor drawings which were used. Altogether, the program
could be said to succeed in its letter recognition aims but in a rather
mundane style, while failing completely in its claim to help letter
formation. Altogether very poor value for schools at ú45 + p&p +VAT and
even worse value for non-education users at ú60 +VAT. Letters is
available from Oak Solutions.ááA
7.5
As this was not exactly a glowing review, I showed it to Oak Solutions
to give them the chance to respond. They simply pointed out that (a)
they have many satisfied customers already using Letters, (b) in
Archimedes World, the Foundation Series (of which Letters is a part) got
a five-out-of-five on all counts in its review and (c) it got a good
write-up in Acorn Computing, January æ94, p35. Is there anyone using
Letters who would be willing to give us their views? Ed.
7.5
Look Systems
7.5
From 7.3 page 40
7.5
Look Systems
7.5
From 7.3 page 41
7.5
Notes Ö A ÉSticky Padæ Utility
7.5
Peter Jennings
7.5
If you find it useful to write notes on those little tear-off pads which
have a sticky strip along one edge, then The Really Good Software
Company have issued just the utility for your computer or network.
Priced at a very modest ú9.95 inclusive (recalling those cheaper days of
BBC B software), Notes (version 1.43) allows you to write memos which
can be stored and recalled, attached to specific files or even put on
discs to be sent to someone else.
7.5
The notes can then be set to appear at particular times or in response
to particular conditions. These can be at switch on, when a directory or
file is opened, on certain days of the week, at intervals of a set
number of days or just when clicked on. A recently added enhancement
also makes it possible to add a note to the shutdown procedure which can
be used as a reminder to remove floppy discs and switch off the printer.
Notes can be made printable and can be viewed and edited at any time.
7.5
Expandable windows
7.5
The notes are written in automatically expandable windows which can have
different background and text colours, set by the user. The default size
is one line, 30 characters long, and the window grows by one line every
time the text wraps round. The colours can be used to show whether the
note is a routine memo or an urgent message.
7.5
Notes is very simple to use. A click on the iconbar icon brings up a
Notes window for you to type in your message. The note is then saved as
one of three types: Édiræ, Éstoredæ or Éattachedæ. A Édiræ (directory)
note is a stand-alone memo which can be put on a floppy disc without
needing the Notes program to be present. It can be set to pop up the
first time that its directory is opened after each switch on or when its
icon is clicked. A Éstoredæ note is held inside the Notes application
and can be automatically displayed at start up. An Éattachedæ note is
fastened to a file, directory or application and appears whenever that
object is loaded or run.
7.5
A range of styles can be set, and new ones created, to give a
distinctive appearance to different types of notes so that, for example,
urgent memos can have a red background.
7.5
Manual on disc
7.5
Notes comes on a single disc, unprotected but with an embedded serial
number to identify the legitimate owner, in a clear plastic case like a
slightly over-sized CD box. The manual is on disc as a HelpReader file
(a PD text reader by the same author) and although this keeps the price
down, the manual is detailed enough for me to wish there had been a
printed copy. In response to my suggestion, it is now also being
supplied as a text file, so that it can be printed out.
7.5
I have various text files of information scattered around my hard disc
and it would be useful to be able to convert some of them to this more
versatile system, perhaps by dragging to the icon or into a Notes
window. This suggestion, too, is being acted upon and the facility will
be provided in the next major update, which may already be available by
the time you read this.
7.5
At less than ú10, Notes is cheap enough to buy and try, even if you are
not sure how much use you will make of it. You could find itæs one of
those programs that you wonder how you managed without.ááA
7.5
Ixion
7.5
Jean-Paul Hamerton
7.5
Ixion was written by Tom Cooper & Barry Clarkson for Software 42 and
costs ú25.99 inclusive. It was reviewed on a 1Mb A310 with a 20 Mb hard
drive.
7.5
The plot
7.5
Due to the greenhouse effect, Earth had became pretty inhospitable for
humans to live on, so it was decided that there had been too much damage
done and everyone should evacuate Earth and set up a new civilization on
another planet.
7.5
Times were very hard on the new world, as people had to start rebuilding
their lives again. This caused a lot of poverty and poor living
condition which led to a large increase in crime. Not being able to
cope, the government decided that the best action would be to use
certain inhabitable regions on old Earth as a prison. You have being
placed on Earth because you were found guilty of being in possession of
narcotics. You will be stuck on Earth unless you can find a way to
escape.
7.5
The package
7.5
The game comes on two floppy discs in a white video cassette box. The
discs can be copied to either hard disc or ram but you will still need
to have Ixion Disc 1 in the floppy drive at all times for copy-
protection reasons. If you only have a single floppy drive, you will
need to swap the disc every time you begin a new game.
7.5
There is an 8 page A6 instruction manual which tells you what all the
controls are gives you some background information. There nothing
outstanding here as most of the information is very obvious and, to be
honest, there is only one bit you need to read and that is about the
weapons. This is because it tells you about the first puzzle that you
have to solve.
7.5
The game
7.5
You start the game in the middle of the city of Ixion. The top two
thirds of the screen is taken up with a 3D view of the city. There is a
pub just behind you but as you donæt have any money, there is no point
going there. To the right there is a car Ö this is because walking is a
bit slow and who wants to walk when you can drive? Movement is
controlled from a control panel at the bottom of the screen by clicking
on the different direction icons. The control panel also has some other
icons such as a radar, map and inventory. There is also a small human
shape that changes colour when you get hit Ö it starts at white and goes
to dark blue just before you die.
7.5
As you walk towards the car, you will see a person walking like John
Cleese in his Éfunny walkæ sketch. When you are in the car, movement is
still as smooth as before but rather faster. If you chase John Cleese,
you can kill him by knocking him down. This is quite a good method of
killing things but the car can only take a certain amount of damage and
if the car blows up when you are in it, you will die.
7.5
There are a lot of places to explore. If you click on the map icon, you
can find other places to visit. The map doesnæt show all the places
because I found a tardis, although I couldnæt get it to work.
7.5
There are also some people that you might meet on your journey, like the
drunk and the barman. You can try to get information out of them but
most of the time you have to give them something to get anything from
them. When you are talking to them, you get a nice digitised picture of
a person. I would guess that they are all friends of the programmers.
The conversations are very basic Ö when you talk to the barman, you will
only be able to buy a drink by clicking on the Ébuy drinkæ response. It
is worth buying a snake bite because, if you drink one of these, the
screen starts to wobble all over the place Ö it made me feel quite sick!
7.5
There are loads of puzzles to solve Ö it takes me over an hour to get to
where I am and I still havenæt completed the game. The puzzles are very
simple. For example, you have to open lots of different doors with the
right passcard. There are also terminals scattered around different
buildings. Some of these terminals are networked together so you can
log-on to a different terminal from the one you are using. These come in
handy for some of the puzzles.
7.5
Conclusion
7.5
This game is good fun to play but it does get very frustrating the more
you play it because there is no way to save the game. When you have
completed quite a bit of the adventure and you make a silly mistake and
die, you have to go back to the beginning. Having said that, if there
were a save game option, the game would be too easy, so I am not sure
what could have been done to make it harder.
7.5
I have just two things that I think could have been improved. The people
you meet could have been made to look more like the character they were
playing. The barman could have been wearing some sort of pinny and
cleaning a glass and the drunk at the bar could have looked drunk. The
other niggle is that I would have liked to be able to move the head. You
could then walk in one direction and shoot in another using the cursor
keys. These two points donæt ruin the game, but I think it would have
been a bit more fun to play.
7.5
There is only one more thing I should say and that is the packaging
really lets this game down. It comes in a video box which gives a lot
protection but the cover picture was printed the loading screen sprite
in black and looked very poor. The instructions were just enough to be
able to say that there were instruction included. To my mind, this made
the game look cheap and nasty.
7.5
If this game were a bit cheaper, I would recommend it but with the bad
packaging I donæt feel I can. However, if you can put up with the
packaging and like 3D adventure games, I can see that you might want to
buy it.ááA
7.5
Introducing Your Computer Ö 3
7.5
Norfolk IT Team
7.5
This month we shall return to something touched upon in the first of
this series. In that article we said that the computer has an Éidentityæ
when it is first turned on. It is possible for you to control certain
aspects of that identity in order to set up your computer in the way
which best suits your approach to using it.
7.5
!Configure
7.5
The computer comes with a built-in application which gives you control
over a number of the ways in which it can be set up. This application,
Configure, is held in the Apps directory. Move the mouse pointer until
its tip is within the ÉAppsæ icon at the bottom left of your screen and
click <select> once. This will open the Apps directory. Move the pointer
over the É!Configureæ icon and double-click <select>. The Configure icon
will appear on the iconbar. Clicking <select> on this icon will open a
window with the title ÉConfigurationæ.
7.5
We shall deal with the twelve options which appear in the Configuration
window. Most of the settings will not need to be altered at all, some
depend very much on individual preferences and others are better
changed. A single click over any of the icons will open the window for
that subject.
7.5
Net
7.5
Note that the ÉNetæ icon will be Égreyed outæ and will do nothing unless
your computer is connected to a network. A network is a way of
connecting a number of computers together so that they can share
information and expensive devices such as laser printers. With a
network, such a printer may be connected to just one of the computers
but all may be able to use it. If the computer you use is connected to a
network, perhaps in a school or business, then there will be a person
whose job is to be the network manager Ö talk to them if you need
advice.
7.5
Discs
7.5
This option is only likely to be of use if you add (additional) hard
disc drives to your computer.
7.5
Floppies
7.5
This option, like the Discs one above, is only of use when adding
additional disc drives to your computer.
7.5
Printer
7.5
The settings in this section are likely to be satisfactory as shown.
7.5
Printer port refers to the way in which your computer is connected to a
printer. (A Éportæ is a connection point for your computer to
communicate with other electronic devices Ö rather as a sea port enables
the communication of a country with other lands, and the importation and
exportation of goods.)
7.5
It may be that when you try to use your printer to print some text, it
all prints out on one line without the printer moving the paper up at
the end of each line. If this is so then clicking on the Ésnowflakeæ to
the left of the legend Ignore character code so that it disappears may
well cope with your problem. If that does not do the trick then you
should contact your local dealer.
7.5
(The snowflake represents Étrueæ or Éactiveæ and the empty box
represents Éfalseæ or Éinactiveæ so the empty box means that it does not
ignore the particular character code.)
7.5
Mouse
7.5
The mouse options may be set according to personal preference.
7.5
You are most likely to wish to alter the Mouse speed. This changes as
soon as you click on one of the speed settings so if you then move the
mouse around a bit, you can see if it suits you. More experienced users
generally prefer a faster mouse but this can be a little disconcerting
if you are still learning how to control the wretched rodent!
7.5
The other settings control the timing of double-clicking and dragging
operations. The values shown above are the standard ones. If you have
difficulty with hand or finger control then altering these settings may
well help.
7.5
Keyboard
7.5
There are two areas in this window.
7.5
Auto repeat controls whether or not a key automatically begins to enter
a whole string of characters if you keep it held down for a while. Young
children in particular may benefit from having this option turned off
(click on the Ésnowflakeæ) as there will then be a one-to-one
correspondence between keypresses and characters appearing on the
screen.
7.5
The Caps lock setting determines what the QWERTY keys do when the
machine is first switched on. Most people prefer this to be set to off.
The keys then automatically enter lower-case letters, only giving upper
case when <shift> is held down Ö as on a typewriter.
7.5
Memory
7.5
Most of these settings are best set to zero but there is one which
should be changed from the standard value likely to be already set on a
new machine. This is the value for Font cache.
7.5
To alter the value you can either click with <select> on the arrow icons
next to it or click on the value itself in which case a caret will
appear and you can edit the value using the delete and number keys. If
you have a 1Mb machine, we would recommend setting Font cache to 64. If
you have 2Mb or more, it is worth setting the font cache to about 150 or
more. Altering this value may dramatically speed up the time taken for
the computer to write your characters onto the screen as you type them.
7.5
Sound
7.5
This allows you to decide whether to have the speakers in your computer
on or off. It is possible to connect your computer either to a HiFi
system or to a pair of headphones (any pair of headphones suitable for a
personal stereo will do) by using the socket on the back of the
computer. This gives you the option of amplified sound at improved
quality or a blissfully quiet room while the computer user blasts away
at aliens or composes a musical masterpiece. In either case, you will
probably want to turn off the computeræs own speakers by clicking on the
Ésnowflakeæ to the left of Loudspeaker enabled.
7.5
The overall volume of your machine may be adjusted by clicking on the
arrow icons to either side of the Volume horizontal bar chart.
7.5
The Voice setting determines the noise made when the computer Ébeepsæ at
you, such as when you first turn it on. Try clicking on the arrow keys
by the number to see the various alternatives Ö all are harsher than the
Wavesynth-Beep setting which is almost certainly that in operation when
you first got your machine.
7.5
The Quiet and Loud beep settings determine the volume of the beep in
relation to the overall volume setting. A Quiet beep setting sounds
about half as loud as the Loud setting.
7.5
Screen
7.5
If you are using a relatively new machine (A3010, A3020, A4000, A5000)
then the Automatic type detection option will probably work for you. If
you have an older machine, you will need to select a Monitor type Ö
consult your dealer if you are stuck (but remember that any subscriber
can send a written request for help to Archive or subscribe to the
Technical Help Service).
7.5
Turning on Automatic mode selection (as usual, click on the Ésnowflakeæ)
will ensure that your computer starts up with a screen display which
makes good use of your monitor. Experienced users may prefer to turn
this option off and enter a mode number into the Default screen mode
box.
7.5
The Interlace setting can almost certainly be left off Ö it is only
intended for certain older models of monitor.
7.5
The Blank delay setting can be altered by clicking on the arrows by the
box. This will automatically blank the monitor screen if there has been
no use of the computer for the specified time. Just moving the mouse or
pressing a key will turn the display on again after it has been blanked
in this way. If a computer is left switched on for a long time, an
unchanging image may be Éetchedæ onto the screen of the monitor, such
that it is always visible. This is clearly undesirable and so screen
blankers are often used. There are also applications which can be
purchased to put a changing display on the screen after a specified
period of time, rather than just have it go blank.
7.5
The Vertical adjust setting is useful if the computer display is
disappearing off the top or bottom of your monitor screen and the
monitor has no vertical shift adjustment.
7.5
Fonts
7.5
The Use anti-aliasing setting can usefully be set to 30 or so. This will
improve the appearance of text on the screen, particularly if you have a
good quality monitor and like to use larger type sizes when word-
processing. You will probably notice that the Use cached bitmaps setting
alters automatically as you use the arrow icons to change the Use anti-
aliasing value. The Use sub-pixel anti-aliasing options should be turned
off Ö their use is very specialised and consumes considerable amounts of
computer memory.
7.5
Windows
7.5
Our advice would be to switch all these options on except the last. Open
submenus automatically will not wait for you to slide off the little
right-pointing arrows on menus before opening the next menu. This can be
rather confusing.
7.5
Interactive file copying means that you can still use the computer to
get on with your work while files are being copied or deleted.
7.5
Instant dragging means that the windows on your desktop seem really to
slide around on the screen if you move or resize them. If this option is
off, frame outlines appear when you resize or move frames and the frame
is not redrawn on the screen until you have finished moving it.
Experiment with these options if you want to see what they do.
7.5
Allow windows off-screen means that windows can be slid partially off
the screen to get them out of the way. This can be quite useful.
7.5
Beep when an error occurs will cause the computer to make a beep (as set
with the sound options described above) when you make a mistake such as
clicking on the floppy disc drive when no disc is present.
7.5
Applications
7.5
This is really quite a useful set of options which simply allows you to
have one or more of the applications in the Apps directory automatically
loaded when you switch on your machine. If you have the Alarm
application switched on, there will always be a clock on your iconbar,
switching on Calc will make sure a calculator is always easily
available, etc.
7.5
When will it happen?
7.5
Some of the configuration settings covered above will take place
immediately, such as adjusting the mouse speed. Others will have no
effect unless you Édo a <ctrl-break>æ or until you have turned the
computer off and then on again. By Édoing a <ctrl-break>æ, we mean that
you hold down <ctrl> and press and release <break> whilst still holding
<ctrl> for a couple of seconds. Be careful, though, because a <ctrl-
break> resets the computer and you will lose any work that you were
doing at the time.
7.5
What if I get into a mess?
7.5
It is, of course, possible to get into a terrible mess with a number of
unsuitable settings. If this happens, turn off your computer and then
turn it on again while holding down the R key. Release the R key after a
few seconds, you will see some colour changes on the screen and then the
configuration settings will all be restored to their standard values!ááA
7.5
Arcventure III Ö The Vikings
7.5
Doug Weller
7.5
Arcventure III is the third (and last) in the series of archaeological
simulations from Sherston Software. It costs ú31.95 +VAT from Sherston
or ú35 (including VAT and carriage) through Archive. It comes on three
discs; a start up disc which cannot be copied and must be used every
time the program is run, a copiable Work Disc and a resources disc with
various text, draw and sprite files of Viking characters and objects
which can be used with other packages. The program can be run from hard
disc but still needs the startup disc, although a site licence can be
bought from Sherston Ö ú63.90 +VAT for primary schools and ú95.85 +VAT
for secondary.
7.5
The pack, which comes in a plastic wallet, also includes an excellent
teachersæ book, A3 and A4 maps of central Jorvik and two expedition
cards with information about characters and objects.
7.5
Aims
7.5
The program has two aims; to help children learn about the Vikings, and
to give children some understanding of archaeology. The teachersæ book
has some excellent suggestions on further work in history, geography,
maths, english, art & craft, science, health education, drama, music and
religious education!
7.5
Starting up
7.5
The program can be loaded normally onto the iconbar, from which several
options can be set. Three levels of difficulty are offered; level one
has three easy-to-find unknown objects (see below), level two has three
different and more difficult objects and level three has two further
very difficult objects. Sound volume can be adjusted from the options
menu or turned on and off with functions keys. When using the program
<ctrl-Q> returns to the desktop, prompting the user to save the current
position.
7.5
Clicking on the Arcventure III icon on the iconbar first makes a title
screen appear, then a screen offering a choice between Archaeologistæs
Instructions, starting the adventure, and a movie. The movie is a series
of animated screens with good mood-setting background music giving an
introduction to the adventure. Itæs nice Ö the kids like it Ö but it
doesnæt do justice to the graphics capability of the Archimedes.
7.5
The adventure
7.5
As the adventure starts, children are shown a series of screens moving
from a map of Britain to a view of York to an excavation site in York.
At the dig, they are offered a choice of tools (spade, trowel, brush and
magnifying glass). Children choose the area they want to excavate and a
tool to use Ö a small figure on the screen then starts digging. If they
find an object, it is displayed on screen. Of course, after over 1000
years most of them show their age and are displayed as they would look
when excavated! A clever option here is the ability to get the computer
to reconstruct the object in its original form. There are nineteen
finds, all of which were actually found at Coppergate or similar sites.
7.5
At the end of each day, they return to the Information Hut where the
objects uncovered are stored and where further information about the
objects can be found. From here, a notebook facility, the Journal, can
be accessed and the dayæs activities recorded. This is kept as a text
file and can later be used in any word processor or DTP package.
Fourteen days are allowed for the excavation, and points are awarded
both in the excavation and in the expedition, adding a competitive
element to the program.
7.5
Occasionally, an unidentified object is uncovered. There are eight of
these in all, but only three are found in any one adventure. When one is
found and taken to the information hut, the children are taken back
through a time line to Coppergate in Viking Jorvik. Here they must move
around Coppergate, visiting various locations and meeting many people
with whom they must communicate to get information. The manual stresses
that children should be told to keep notes on the information they come
across. To find out what the object is, they have to complete various
tasks before they return to the dig. They can talk to the people they
meet, who will often give them clues and occasionally tasks to do. In
all, there are 26 people; the expedition covers what was probably the
centre of Jorvik including Coppergate, Kingæs Square, the market place
and three churches. When they have the information about the unknown
object, they are taken back to the dig and the information hut.
7.5
Conclusion
7.5
This is an excellent program to use in support of a Key Stage Two
project on Invaders. The teachersæ book is well detailed with
information about all the finds and solutions for all the unknown
objects. There is also a section written by a professional archaeologist
which offers teachers a quick overview of archaeology, including places
to visit, books, and addresses of organisations such as English Heritage
and the Young Archaeologistsæ Club. I can recommend it enthusiastically
with only one caveat which is, like most historical simulations,
probably the lowest age range it could be used with is Year 4 (8/9 year
olds).ááA
7.5
Art20
7.5
Andrew Rawnsley
7.5
Art20 is a new sprite-based painting application from Tekoa Graphics.
The program boasts all the usual creation and painting options, plus
some powerful image-processing operations all for a very competitive
price.
7.5
Inside the wallet
7.5
Art20 comes in A5-sized plastic wallet with a rather unattractive
picture on the front cover. The author has tried to show too many of the
programæs features in one image!
7.5
Inside, there is a 35 page Ovation-produced manual, which is complete,
if rather hard to read due to the amount of text per page. More
illustrations would have been nice, particularly as this program is
designed for creating pictures!
7.5
There are two discs of software, one containing the program and
associated utilities (more of which later), plus four low-resolution
(mode 15) sprites. The other disc contains three hi-res mode 27/28
images. Apart from the picture of a kookaburra (bird), none of these
pictures were either attractive or useful, and most were derived from
the fractal Mandelbrot set, which seems to be the packageæs trademark,
although it canæt of course produce fractals!
7.5
Using Computer Conceptsæ Compression on these pictures, it was easy to
fit all the software onto one 800Kb floppy disc.
7.5
The program itself
7.5
When the Art20 application is run, it installs itself on the iconbar,
and the menu allows creation, saving and deletion of the sprites, as
well as setting up mode and pointer defaults.
7.5
Art20 makes a distinction between what it calls Screens and Sprites. To
most readers, a sprite will be the contents of any Paint or other pixel-
graphics program, ignoring image size. Art20 creates Screens Ö full
screen sprites in whatever mode you select Ö which act like canvasses.
Sprites are pictures smaller than full screen size, which Art20 stores
separately and which can be manipulated and inserted onto your Éscreenæ.
They may be from external files or areas taken from your screen.
7.5
Art20 can cope with up to four screens at once, depending on the
computeræs memory limitations.
7.5
Once a screen has been created, a window appears containing a view of
the Éscreenæ. This suggests that the program runs nicely in a window on
the desktop. However, this window is only a viewer, and all editing
takes over the whole screen.
7.5
From the menus and options windows, it is clearly still running on the
desktop, as all the styles are retained, you just canæt access any other
application until you choose the Desktop option from the menu. This
proved to be a major flaw in the program, as whenever I am creating
images, I tend to use three or four different image creation/processing
utilities, ranging from Paint to ProArtisan 2, saving data into and out
of each application. Art 20 makes this method of working much harder.
7.5
The tools
7.5
However, once you begin to use the application, it becomes clear that it
has many powerful features ranging from graduated fills, to dither
palettes, to colour shifting. Naturally, all the standard shapes,
brushes and pixel editing options are present.
7.5
A feature that the author is particularly proud of (from the demo
pictures) is the programæs ability to transform an area into a circle,
or wrap it around a hemisphere for a 3D effect.
7.5
Some readers may know the painting program called Imagery from the
Palette Studio, which retails at around ú90. It boasts a substantial
array of processing options, many of which appear in Art20, although the
author is not the same. Thus we have softening, sharpening and edge
filtering to outline a shape. There is a mosaic option which produces
Étilesæ of colour throughout an area. You can also perform colour swaps
and offset the colours by a given value. The full contrast option allows
you to brighten or dim the image.
7.5
One particularly useful function is that the program stores the current
screen whenever you bring up the menu, or begin an area effect option,
so if everything goes wrong, you can undo it and start again.
7.5
Problems
7.5
Apart from the difficulties caused by the program taking over the whole
screen, the one serious omission that I found was in the Text option. It
is perfectly possible to create text in your image with Art20 but, like
Paint, it can only be created in the system font.
7.5
We all know how awful this looks both on screen and on paper,
particularly when distorted using Art20És area manipulation effects.
Maybe the program will use outline fonts in the next version?
7.5
ArtPrint and ArtView
7.5
These are the two utilities that accompany Art20. ArtPrint allows you to
print out pictures, with the option to fit the picture to the page. You
can print with either landscape or portrait page orientation Ö  the
options seemed to work the wrong way round Ö portrait would print out
landscape and vice versa!
7.5
ArtView is simply a low memory full screen picture viewer, which seemed
to be rather a space-filler on the disc. There are so many PD utilities
which do the same job and provide some image control.
7.5
Conclusions
7.5
At under half the price of some of the high-end painting/processing
applications such as Pro Artisan 2, there is no point in trying to
compare Art20 with the likes of these,  although Art20 lacks many of the
more powerful features of these programs.
7.5
However, at only ú60 inclusive (ú120 for a site licence) from Tekoa
Graphics, it offers good all-round performance, and if you can live with
it run-ning outside of the desktop, and the text limitations, and donæt
need all the facilities of Revelation ImagePro or Pro Artisan 2, it is
certainly worth a look.
7.5
I can also see this package being popular in schools, as it fairs well
when compared to the similarly priced Revelation 2. In schools, the
full-screen operation is likely to be seen as a bonus, as it appears
much simpler than a cluttered desktop with windows and tool-panes to
navigate. With the site-licence only costing the equivalent of two
copies of the program, this too seems suitable for the education
market.ááA
7.5
Network Cybernetics AI CD-ROM
7.5
Hutch Curry
7.5
The Network Cybernetics AI (Artificial Intelligence) CD-ROM is marketed
in the UK by Lambda Publications of Swindon at the price of ú80
inclusive. Lambda is better known as the purveyors of a version of the
programming language Scheme called EdScheme that runs on a number of
platforms including the Archimedes. Scheme is a modern version of Lisp,
one of the programming languages most closely associated with artificial
intelligence applications Ö which probably explains why Lambda are
involved with the AI CD-ROM.
7.5
As the AI CD-ROM contains more than 800 items and occupies 196Mb in a
highly compressed form, it is clearly impossible to do any sort of
thorough review of the contents. For the past three weeks, I have spent
an hour or two every evening going through the material, and I have only
scratched the surface. Therefore I will try to identify who might be
interested, summarise the type of material on the CD and give my views
on its usefulness to an Archimedes user.
7.5
Who will buy?
7.5
This CD originates from the States and is primarily intended for use on
DOS-based machines. This means that the compiled applications supplied
on the CD will only run (slowly) on the Archimedes under the PC
Emulator. This also means that there is no native front-end software for
the Archimedes to help the user find his/her way through the material.
However, the Acorn CDFS reads the CD-ROM with no difficulty so all of
the text and source files are immediately available in native mode after
decompression with, for example, SparkFS. The upshot of all this is that
the potential user must be keen and prepared to spend time and effort to
extract the material.
7.5
The CD-ROM contents
7.5
The contents of the AI CD-ROM have come from a large number of sources.
Most of the material could have been (and can be) obtained by file
transfer (FTP) over the InterNet. The bulk of the material is public
domain although there are a substantial number of shareware applications
included. There is also quite a lot of material for which I could find
no clear statement of copyright status. The next few paragraphs will
attempt to provide a summary of the disc contents by broad topic area.
(I have included an extensive, but still abridged, index for the CD-ROM
on the monthly program disc.)
7.5
Programming languages, utilities & tutorials
7.5
The AI CD-ROM includes a vast range of material for programmers and for
those interested in computer languages. There are versions of well-known
languages such as C, C++, Lisp, Prolog, Scheme, Smalltalk and Forth for
various platforms. There is more material for the languages such as
Lisp, Prolog, Smalltalk and Scheme that are used extensively in AI
applications. In addition, the CD-ROM contains versions of many less
well-known languages such as Bob, Icon, J, Future86 and SnoBol4. Most of
these implementations are for DOS-based machines but include source
code, so it would be possible to get a number of them to run on the
Archimedes.
7.5
The AI CD-ROM includes a large number of programming utilities and aids
scattered around the disc. For example, there are versions of a Fortran
to C translator for both DOS and OS/2 (with source). As I am currently
trying to get to grips with programming for Windows, I was especially
pleased to find the complete source listings and utilities from
Richteræs book, ÉWindows 3.0 :A Developeræs Guideæ. Other potentially
useful entries are assemblers and/or disassemblers for a number of
processors including 6502, Motorola DSP56001, Motorola 68HC11 and Z80.
Also included are circuit simulators and analysers. If you are
interested in PostScript programming, I expect that the text files
containing the official Adobe P.S. printer descriptions will be very
useful. Ultimately, the degree to which any individual will find
anything particularly useful will depend on his/her own needs and
therefore any potential purchaser should scan the extensive contents
list prior to purchase.
7.5
In addition to languages and utilities, the CD-ROM contains a good
selection of tutorial material for those trying to learn a particular
language. There is coverage of 80x86 assembler, C, C++, Forth and
Modula-2.
7.5
Artificial intelligence
7.5
A large amount of the CD is, not surprisingly, devoted to artificial
intelligence (AI) of one form or another. Included are bibliographies of
AI papers, lists of magazines, journals and computer-based resources and
a number of tutorials and other didactic material. I found the tutorials
on expert systems and neural nets to be particularly informative. There
is a very interesting section of source and reference material
concerning robotics. Included are the text and source code from years of
both ÉAI Expertæ and ÉAI Listæ.
7.5
Neural networks
7.5
The AI CD-ROM contains an incredible amount of material concerned with
artificial neural networks. Included are comprehensive bibliographies of
neural net journal papers, magazine articles and computer-based
resources. There are also detailed papers on topics such as the
applications of neural nets and a number of excellent tutorials. There
are loads of examples of all of the common types of neural networks
(back propagation, perception, self-organising and recurrent) and
examples of neural nets I had never previously encountered. Many of
these come with source and the vast majority are written in some form of
C or C++. Also included are the text and source code from the ÉNeural
Digestæ Volumes 1 Ö 9 .
7.5
Expert systems
7.5
Coverage of expert systems on the AI CD-ROM is not as extensive as that
for neural networks although there is still plenty of material to browse
through. The AI CD-ROM includes some detailed papers on topics such as
the reliability of expert systems and an excellent tutorial on their
use. There are also a number of sample applications demonstrating
different applications and approaches to expert systems. Only a few of
these have complete source code included and, as such, are generally not
that useful for an Archimedes owner. One notable exception is the
provision of CLIPS version 5.1. CLIPS is an expert system development
environment originating from NASA and looks to be extremely powerful. In
addition to providing source code for DOS platforms, there appears to be
complete generic C code for other machines. I have started to convert
this to run on the Archimedes but have put it aside for the moment to
finish this review. Also included are the complete text and source code
from the AI Expert Magazine, 1986-92.
7.5
Language resources and natural language processing
7.5
The largest share of the AI CD-ROM is given over to language, language
resources and natural language processing. The disc contains a large
number of valuable resources such as an abbreviation and acronyms
dictionary, extensive word lists in English, Dutch, German, Italian and
Swedish and finally tutorials in ASL (sign language), French, German,
Greek, Esperanto, Hebrew, Japanese, Italian, Latin, Russian and Spanish.
There are a number of programs to generate or transform text in a
variety of ways.
7.5
One interesting example is a shareware program called Babble. This
program is described as a toy for people who love words. Babble operates
as a text-mixing studio that babbles endlessly from supplied or user-
provided texts. You can even add special effects such as stutter. The
program is great fun and works surprisingly well.
7.5
With the emphasis on natural language processing, there are lots and
lots of programs and example code dealing with different forms of
textual analysis Ö such as word count, character frequency, parsing,
lexical analysis and so on. Amongst these is PC-Kimmo, a well known
morphological parser. There are also detailed papers on topics such as
Discourse Representation Theory and English to Prolog conversion. There
are probably fifteen different versions of the classic natural language
processing program, Eliza on the CD. Included also are lists of resource
materials, contact addresses for linguists and the complete text from
Natural Language Knowledge Representation Digest, Volumes 1 to 9.
7.5
Artificial life and evolution
7.5
The AI CD-ROM also contains an extensive range of material concerned
with artificial life and evolution. Included are comprehensive
bibliographies of artificial life papers and computer-based resources.
There are also quite a few substantive papers on topics of evolution and
sexual selection. Also included are the complete contents of both the
Artificial Life Digest (Issues 1 Ö 79) and the Genetic Algorithm Digest
(Volumes 1 Ö 6). The programs and source to support this section are
subdivided into: 1) cellular automata and simple life-like algorithms,
2) virus-level genetic evolution and behaviour simulators, 3) insect-
level genetic evolution and behaviour simulators and 4) genetic
algorithm programs. There are a number of programs in each category and
most of these are supplied with source code.
7.5
Miscellaneous
7.5
In the miscellaneous category, I include the numerous fractal programs
(some with source), the programs for speech production, text to speech
translation, hypertext, computer vision, optical character recognition
(OCR), virtual reality, simulations and image-processing. Some of the
material looks to be very useful.
7.5
Also included on the AI CD, are datasets which do not seem to have any
particular relevance to the rest of the CD. Some of these datasets, for
example the sunspot frequency over the past several hundred years, are
classic. Others such as the complete text of the Bible (twice over) seem
to be merely filler material.
7.5
Conclusions
7.5
It is important to realise that this CD is from the States and is aimed
pretty squarely at PC and Mac users. If I were writing this review for a
PC magazine, I would have no trouble giving a solid recommendation. For
the Archimedes user, the situation is quite different in that none of
the executable programs will run in native mode. Although most of the
programs I tried ran under the emulator, they ran rather slowly. Unless
someone does a version of the AI CD-ROM for the Archimedes, the only
other way for the programs to run natively will be for the user to
recompile the code. This may be possible for users with extensive
programming experience but this is clearly not a course of action that
most users would be willing or able to follow.
7.5
For this product to be successful in the Archimedes market, I think that
the distributor must provide some software tools to make this vast
amount of material more easily available and useful. As I mentioned at
the beginning of the review, there is no indexing software for the
Archimedes on the CD-ROM Ö although there appears to be software for the
PC, Mac and Amiga. I think that a floppy disc containing some indexing
software should be an essential part of the package.
7.5
Continuing in a slightly negative vein, the distributor should also
provide a text reader so that the &0D characters used as line
terminators in the PC world do not show up as funny characters as they
do in Edit. Finally the package should also include a utility program to
ease the transfer of PC or Unix C source code to the Archimedes. I would
suggest that the transfer program should create the appropriate
directories on the Archimedes on the basis of the file suffix on the CD,
so that the file GLOBAL/C will end up as c.Global with the &0Ds swapped
for &0As and the filetype set to &FFF. This would certainly make life a
lot easier for those who wish to recreate the executables on the
Archimedes.
7.5
Although the title of the CD includes Artificial Intelligence (AI),
there is sufficient depth and variety of material included on the disc,
that a passionate interest in AI should not be seen as a prerequisite to
consideration. However, there is no doubt that the greater your interest
in AI, the more you will find of interest. Equally, the more you are
interested in programming, the more you will find to explore.
Nonetheless, the non-programmer can run a large number of programs under
the emulator and will have hundreds of megabytes of journal articles and
papers to browse. Therefore, I would think that a large number of users
would actually find this CD useful and fun. Unfortunately, the price
will probably be prohibitive for most single users. However, I would
expect that secondary schools and universities would find this CD a
valuable resource for their computing science programmes Ö particularly
if the CD-ROM could be made more accessible on the Archimedes.
7.5
**Stop Press**
7.5
I understand that there has just been a second version of the AI CD-ROM
released which includes more source code and some updated material.
Lambda Publications hopes to hold the price of the new version at ú80.
They also wish to announce that there are a few copies of Version 1 now
available at the reduced price of ú61.60 inclusive of p&p.
7.5
Network Cybernetics AI CD-ROM costs ú80 including VAT plus ú1.50 p&p
from Lambda Publications.ááA
7.5
Acorn Computers in a Research Laboratory
7.5
Ernest Rutter
7.5
For many years we have been concerned, in our laboratory at Manchester
University, with the measurement of the mechanical properties of rocks
at high temperatures and pressures. Before the days of microcomputers,
we logged our experimental data using multipoint strip-chart recorders
or as strips of printed digital information that resembled supermarket
checkout lists. After each experiment came the laborious task of
obtaining a list of data from ruler measurements from the chart,
followed by hand-typing the data onto punched cards or paper tape. The
data processing was carried out on the central-site mainframe.
7.5
Early days Ö the BBC Micro
7.5
Our first venture into real-time data-logging and computer control came
with the old Nascom microcomputer kit from about 1981 onwards, but
despite a great deal of effort invested this was a road to nowhere. By
1984, favourable comments were being made about the BBC Microcomputer so
we bought our first of many. Initially, we logged four data channels via
the analogue port, modified for an improved voltage reference. Millivolt
level signals from thermocouples and strain-gauge bridges were amplified
with a set of four linear DC amplifiers. In order to obtain satisfactory
resolution, we had to ensure that the full range of the analogue ports
were used, but we found we could measure voltages stably to a resolution
of close on 0.01 mV.
7.5
The next step was to be able to log more channels Ö and several
approaches to this were taken. By this time (but still pre-Archimedes)
we had five or six BBC Micros attached to several experimental rigs. The
basic measuring instrument for each rig was always a digital voltmeter
(DVM) with a resolution of at least 0.01 mV. This had to be commanded by
the micro to begin a reading and, when the reading was acquired, to make
it available to the computer.
7.5
The computer also had to switch source signals sequentially into the
DVM, using a device called a scanner, usually based on reed relays as
the switching device. Sometimes we used home-made interface devices
driven from the user port, otherwise commercial scanners and DVMæs
interconnected via the IEEE bus. There was never sufficient memory to
store in RAM all the data that was gathered during a typical
experimental run, so we had to used direct-access disc filing
techniques, sending each block of data to disc as soon as it was
acquired. In this way, 2800 records of 10 fields could be stored on one
side of a 5╝ö floppy. It was consoling to think that if someone tripped
over the mains plug, data would not be lost, but several years
experience showed that logging and control programs could run
continuously on these machines for months without problems.
7.5
One of the most attractive features of the BBC Micro was the ease with
which it could be made to communicate with other devices. The relatively
structured BBC Basic made programming straightforward, and this was
aided by a large amount of easily accessible technical literature. At
the time, good mode 0 graphical displays could easily be generated, but
it was always necessary to ensure that the available memory in each
machine was enhanced as far as the technology allowed. The bottom of the
range machine, by itself, would have been pretty useless, but fully
expanded, the machine was very powerful. Based around a BBC ÉB+æ or a
Master, a very flexible data-logging and control system could be put
together for less than ú2000. If you consider that a 2-channel chart
recorder would cost the same price, and that the micro-based system with
its dot-matrix printer could generate chart-style printouts in graphics-
mode to even greater resolution, it is clear that dedicated strip chart
recorders should be a thing of the past.
7.5
There is no doubt, however, that in order to get the best out of this
type of equipment for laboratory applications, it was necessary to write
oneæs own software. Despite the potential, I never saw a satisfactory
commercial laboratory data-logging package built around the BBC Micro.
In this respect, another important plus for the BBC Micro was its
competitive pricing. It meant that academics like myself could buy
systems for home use. All software development had to be carried out at
home; the day-to-day laboratory environment never provided the quiet
time needed for programming.
7.5
Presently, we still have seven BBC Micro systems working away 24 hours
per day for every day of the year. Their principal source of problems is
the power supply, which eventually fails. Our solution there has been to
buy a stock of 12 cheap power units of similar specification, which we
then mount outside the computer. It is the heat from the power supply
that can eventually kill other components, thus for applications such as
ours, an outside power supply enhances longevity. On two machines (with
surviving internal power supplies) we have fitted cooling fans.
7.5
As well as being the workhorse for the logging and control, the BBC
Micro met our requirements for data processing, database functions and
other computational tasks such as numerical modelling. It also took care
of the organisation of our departmental examinations administration and
all our word processing requirements.
7.5
Enter the Archimedes
7.5
We became so heavily committed to the BBC Micro that the commitment was
transferred to the Archimedes when it appeared. The effort previously
put into data-logging and control software was easily transported to the
Archimedes, so that now we have developed multitasking and considerably
enhanced versions. We have four Archimedes in our laboratory, plus two
that staff have purchased for home use, where inevitably most of the
Édeskæ work still takes place. In the laboratory, one Archimedes is
committed to logging and control on a large mechanical testing facility.
It communicates via the IEEE bus with an Instron 8500 servo-mechanical
loading system and with a traditional scanner plus DVM logging
arrangement. A second machine is used to log and analyse data from
equipment for the measurement of acoustic wave velocities in rocks at
high pressures and temperatures. In this case, pressure measurement data
are input via the serial port, and the pulse for the driving transducer
is shaped by a Thurlby function generator. Waveform data are collected
by a LeCroy digital oscilloscope. The latter two instruments are under
the control of the Archimedes via the IEEE bus, by which the resultant
waveform is downloaded to the Archimedes and stored on disc for later
analysis.
7.5
The intrinsically greater power of the Archimedes and the much improved
commercial software base allows us to do much more now than we ever
could with the BBC Micro. A major application that we have written
specifically to meet the requirements of our group concerns the
quantitative analysis of images of rock microstructures. We require to
determine grain-size distributions, grain shapes, porosity, proportions
of the material composed of different crystalline phases, the degree of
contiguity between different phases and the orientation distribution and
density of cracks. After trials, we rejected the use of television
images for primary data input and elected to make tracings from optical
photomicrographs. In this way, the inevitable stage of subjective
interpretation of the image content is carried out by the user at the
outset. The tracings are then digitised using an A4 scanner. Our
software then begins the analysis by finding arrays of coordinates that
describe the boundary of each traced grain.
7.5
Whereas, on the BBC Micro, the analysis of the results of each
experiment was carried out entirely by our own software through to the
final presentation of graphs, with the Archimedes we generate the output
from the first stage of data processing as a text file that can be read
into any word processor or spreadsheet (on any type of machine too). For
the most part, we use PipeDream 4. Some additional manipulation of the
data is carried out on the spreadsheet and then we use the PD4 charts
routines to generate the basic plots in drawfile format. The latest
version of PD4 charts just about meets our basic requirements. It is not
really written with the scientist in mind but, having said that, it is
probably the most useful of the available packages. For more complex
function fitting operations than are available on PD4, the data can also
be imported into some of our in-house software. The drawfile output from
PD4 can then be loaded into Vector, Artworks or DrawPlus for
manipulation into drawings of publishable quality. Most of our text
processing is carried out using PipeDream or Impression II. PipeDream is
fast to use, particularly for short documents, has relatively modest
requirements for disc space and does not require that infernal dongle.
On the other hand, for professionally produced documents with embedded
graphics, Impression is far superior. In particular, it is much more
flexible for font handling and for the presentation of equations.
7.5
The more powerful a machine becomes, the more one seems to need. To
realise fully the power of a multitasking machine, I find the largest
possible desktop to be essential. Two of our Archimedes are equipped
with 17 inch Eizo F550i monitors and one with a CC ColourCard. The
latter configuration really makes the difference for the rapid
production of quality graphics and for the manipulation of large
spreadsheets.
7.5
I find it quite astonishing to see how much memory we seem to need
nowadays. Four megabytes of RAM disappears in a flash and we always seem
to be buying additional hard discs, mainly for datafiles. Our four
machines currently have about 1Gb of hard disc between them, and when
you consider the need for backup copies of datafiles on floppies the
requirements are becoming formidable. !Squash is a truly essential
utility!
7.5
Other machines
7.5
Within our department, this laboratory is unusual in its commitment to
Acorn machines. Most teaching and research is centred around an array of
Macintosh machines and PCs. We have to have some degree of commonality
with the rest of the world so we also have a 486 PC and a Mac, and hence
the opportunity to make some comparisons. I find the GUI of the
Archimedes to be far superior to that of the Mac and infinitely more
user-friendly than Windows. The latter slows down the PC to a painful
degree.
7.5
However, there are some tasks for which there is no alternative to these
machines. Both the PC and one of the Archimedes is connected to the
university network. We have to make a great deal of use of the Pegasus
mailer on the PC and this works very well, but we cannot run this from
the Archimedes. We have found the TCP/IP suite on the Archimedes to be
far less satisfactory than the network facilities that we use on the PC.
We have also been disappointed to find no-one offering a Fortran
compiler for the Archimedes. We have to carry out a certain amount of
work using Fortran, and this must be done on the PC or Mac.
7.5
Again, take a simple general-purpose application like a graph plotter.
On both the PC and the Mac there is Cricket Graph, which is far more
flexible for scientific work than anything that seems to be available
for the Archimedes. Perhaps it is the fault of scientists for failing to
indicate to commercial software houses exactly what they want to be able
to buy. But perhaps that in turn is a reflection of the easy do-it-
yourself programming environment that the Archimedes provides.
7.5
A final point concerns the cost of Acorn computing. I commented earlier
that one of the attractions of the BBC Micro was its relatively low
cost. This is ceasing to be true of Acorn computers. Leaving aside their
superiority as machines, Acorn computers, upgrades and peripherals are
not competitively priced alongside the world of the PC, whilst PCæs are
becoming better from the point of view of technical capability. General
purpose data-logging software like LabView is available for the Mac and
PC, and is widely used in other laboratories like ours. No doubt the
attractive pricing of PCæs is a consequence of the cut-throat
competition in that marketplace but for the hard-pressed finances of the
university sector, this is a very real consideration.ááA
7.5
Many thanks to Ernest for responding so quickly to our request for öhow
do you use your Archimedesò reports. If you have comments about this or
other uses of the Archimedes, write in and let us know Ö we may be able
to set up interest groups to link together people with similar
interests. Ed.
7.5
PipeLineZ
7.5
Gerald Fitton
7.5
This month I want to devote the major part of my column to a subject
which I think will interest my many readers who do not have PipeDream or
Fireworkz. It explains how to set up your ÉFontMaxæ values in a way
which is suitable for RISCáOS printing from either PipeDream and
Fireworkz (or many other packages) Ö but first a few short paragraphs
arising from recent correspondence.
7.5
Letters from overseas
7.5
Over the last few months, Iæve noticed an increase in the number of
letters Iæm getting from outside the UK. It would seem that both Acorn
and Colton Software have achieved a great deal of success in selling
their wares to the overseas market. I trust that this is reflected in
new overseas subscribers to Archive and readers of this column. If you
live outside the UK, please donæt be deterred from writing to me. You
will always get a reply.
7.5
Even more users of PipeDream
7.5
I have traced another surprising increase in my correspondence to sales
of another Archimedes magazine, Risc User. If you recently placed a
subscription with Risc User, you will have received PipeDreamá3 as free
software! Although these free copies of PipeDreamá3 have led to a small
increase in my correspondence, a far greater increase has arisen because
of an offer from Colton Software. You can trade in PipeDreamá3 (and many
other non-Colton packages Ö ask for them a quote) for either PipeDreamá4
or one of the Fireworkz packages! Iæve been told that some copies of the
Risc User PipeDreamá3 were traded in unopened!
7.5
Year planner
7.5
Philip Mott has sent me a set of three year planners for 1994 which can
be loaded into Wordz. One is suitable for A4 and another for a filofax
while the third is large enough to be stuck on a wall. The files are on
the Archive monthly disc.
7.5
Upgrades
7.5
The last version of PipeDreamá3 was version 3.14 and I think Iæm pretty
safe in saying that there will be no more upgrades.
7.5
The latest version of PipeDreamá4 is 4.13 and it is now clear that this
will not be the last! Please, please donæt send your suggestions for
PipeDream improvements to me. Send them directly to Mark Colton.
7.5
The Fireworkz suite is now at version 1.07.
7.5
To obtain a free upgrade of your old PipeDreamá3, PipeDreamá4, Wordz,
Resultz and Fireworkz send both your program and examples discs direct
to Colton Software.
7.5
The components of the Fireworkz suite (currently three packages, Wordz,
Resultz and Fireworkz) are always upgraded simultaneously. When
Fireworkz becomes version 1.08 (soon) then Wordz and Resultz will also
be upgraded to Vá1.08 at the same time.
7.5
Loading Fireworkz files
7.5
On the Archive monthly discs (this month and previously), you will find
some files having a Fireworkz filetype. Some of you who possess only
Wordz or Resultz are experiencing problems trying to load files which
have a Fireworkz filetype. One reason is that you are double clicking on
the Fireworkz file Ö nothing happens. Fireworkz files will load into
Wordz and Resultz provided that your version is 1.04 or later Ö but not
by double clicking.
7.5
Instead, you have to load Wordz (or Resultz) onto the iconbar and then
drag the Fireworkz file to the installed icon and choose a suitable
template from the menu which pops up.
7.5
If your version is 1.03 or earlier, you wonæt be able to read the
Fireworkz files. The solution? Upgrade to version 1.07 (or it might be
1.08 by then).
7.5
If you load Fireworkz files containing formulae into Wordz, the formulae
will be evaluated (snapshotted) and you will not be able to see the
effect of changing values on the spreadsheet. Fireworkz files will load
into Resultz and will generally Éworkæ as they would in Fireworkz. What
you will not be able to do in Resultz is to change any of the tab
settings or add new tabs.
7.5
Fridayá13th
7.5
Steve Drain has yet a further PipeDream answer to the Fridayá13th
problem. I have included it on the monthly disc. Initially Steveæs
solution was a spreadsheet which, even in compressed form, would have
consumed a large proportion of the disc so I vetoed it and told Steve
why. Not to be outdone, Steve came up with an interesting solution which
doesnæt rely on compression. He sent me a file consisting of only seven
lines (and three columns) which runs to 673 bytes! Of course, the 673
byte file wouldnæt do the job on its own but Steve included a PDCmdFil
of 136 bytes which Éexpandsæ the 673 byte file to the size of the
Éoriginalæ which Iæd vetoed! The method he uses is to replicate the
formula in A2 down through about 4800 rows using:
7.5
\Bre|i öA2ò |i öA3A4800ò |m
7.5
I was impressed! If you have an application of PipeDream or Fireworkz
which uses a large unwieldy disc file, take a tip from Steve and you
might become famous by being mentioned in this column and getting your
file onto the monthly disc!
7.5
A control key problem
7.5
Roger King has written to say:
7.5
öWordz has a number of control key shortcuts which can speed up the
editing and manipulation of text. One combination of such keys which can
cause problems to new users of Wordz and possibly Resultz, is the use of
the shortcut <shift-ctrl-X>. This key combination brings up on screen
the icon allowing boxes to be created around marked areas of the
document. If you have marked an area of text and intend to call up the
box routine with the above key shortcut and tap <ctrl-X> by mistake,
then the marked area on screen will vanish! Actually, this marked area
has been cut to the clipboard and can easily be repasted into the
document again with <ctrl-V>, or by the use of the paste icon on the
tool bar. Some new users of Wordz that I have met recently have
experienced this problem and thought that they had lost the marked area
of text for good, as you would if you used <delete>. I would prefer to
see the box routine chosen with a different key combination, perhaps
<shift-ctrl-B>. Failing to press <shift> with this combination, would
only result in the highlighted area being made bold, which is easily
restored to normal text by pressing the same key combination once more.ò
7.5
Resultz files Ö but not for printing
7.5
My thanks to Colton Software who, via Rex Palmer, provided the following
hint. You might want to get rid of the page breaks in a Fireworkz (Wordz
or Resultz) document. For example, you might have a large spreadsheet or
database that you never want to print in total but from which you want
to extract data. It will look much neater on the screen without page
breaks. The method of removing page breaks is to use the pop up menus
and select PageáÖ PaperáÖáNone. You will be presented with a spreadsheet
with no vertical (and no horizontal) page breaks Ö some will say öJust
like PipeDream!ò
7.5
Printing selected columns
7.5
In PipeDream, if you want to print selected columns then one way is to
mark a block and print the marked block. If you want to print columns A
and D but not B, C, E and F then one way of achieving this is to reduce
the width of the unwanted columns to zero using <ctrl-W>. They will
disappear from the screen and wonæt be printed. You can restore the
widths afterwards with a second application of <ctrl-W>. If youære
clever, you can arrange for a PDCmdFil to reduce the widths, print the
selected columns and then restore the widths. Let me know if you want
more details.
7.5
Optimising your font manager
7.5
In response to many requests I shall explain how I set up my ÉFontMaxæ
values in a way which is suitable for RISCáOS printing and Iæll explain
why I do so. Before I start, I must express my indebtedness to
DráSáAntczak for his contribution to this subject.
7.5
What do you want?
7.5
Dr Antczak and I have different requirements. He is a Énormalæ user (if
such a thing exists) who wants the clearest display which is consistent
with a fast screen update. He is interested in the printed output more
than the screen display. On the other hand, I am prepared to put up with
a slower screen refresh rate because I need clear screenshots for some
of my printed work. I use Éanti-aliasingæ and Ésub pixel anti-aliasingæ
to improve the screen display for my screenshots.
7.5
!Configure or *status
7.5
Press <F12> to produce a star at the bottom of the screen and type
Status <return>. This will display your CMOS RAM settings Ö part of
which is something like:
7.5
FontSize   32k
7.5
...
7.5
FontMax1   20 points
7.5
FontMax2   72 points
7.5
FontMax3   72 points
7.5
FontMax4   12 points
7.5
FontMax5   12 points
7.5
FontMax    512k
7.5
The above values are those which I use Ö your values may well be less.
7.5
If you have RISCáOSá2, you will have to use *Configure to change your
settings but, if you have RISCáOSá3, I suggest that you use the
procedure I set out below.
7.5
Apps to Fonts
7.5
If you have RISCáOSá3 then you will find an icon called Apps on the left
hand side of the icon bar. Click on this (one click) and a directory
called Resources:$.Apps will open. One of the applications is called
!Configure. Double click on !Configure and the !Configure icon will
appear on the right hand side of the iconbar.
7.5
Click once on the !Configure icon and a viewer will open which looks
like the first block of the screenshot below. Click once on the Memory
icon and then on the Fonts icon to open the two windows containing the
dialogue boxes shown in the second and third parts of the screenshot.
7.5
FontSize
7.5
The Memory allocation window can be used to adjust the initial size of
the Font cache. You can use the arrows or you can click on the number
(where I have 32) and change it. Generally, this number is not important
because it is used only as a starting point for the size of the font
cache. I use 32K so that Iæve got something rather than nothing. You can
regard it as the minimum size of your font cache and it will be
important to set it to a value other than zero only if you have a very
limited memory.
7.5
FontMax
7.5
The size of the font cache grows automatically as you load or need more
outline fonts in memory. The Font cache limit (mine is 512Kb) sets the
maximum amount of memory which can be allocated to the font cache. This
is the way in which it works. The font manager reserves space for a font
cache. If the font cache is too small for all the fonts you want to use,
the Font Manager will make room in two ways. It can decide to throw away
cached blocks of fonts not in current use (or those in use but which
have not been used for a little while) or it can increase the size of
the font cache. The font cache grows until it reaches the limit set by
FontMax. If it grows this way from FontSize then it will then shrink
back (to FontSize if possible) as soon as any fonts are finished with
and which can be discarded because no document contains those fonts.
7.5
How large should you make FontMax?
7.5
Well, as a general rule the larger the better! However, what you might
not know is that, when printing, the printer driver uses all available
memory to get on with its job as quickly as possible. If your printing
is much slower than it ought to be, it may be that your FontMax is too
large or too small.
7.5
If FontMax is too small, the font manager will have to keep loading
fonts from disc into the font workspace as you print. If it is too
large, there wonæt be enough room for the printer driver to get a grip
on its own rendering of the fonts which it needs for the process of
printing. I have 8Mb of memory in my machine, so I can afford to set
FontMax to 512Kb; you may have to compromise at a lower figure. I have a
strong suspicion that RISCáOSá3 works better with a larger FontMax than
that which I found to be the optimum when I had RISCáOSá2!
7.5
Generally you should try values such as 64Kb, 128Kb, 256Kb and 512Kb and
check the printing times of a Éstandardæ document.
7.5
FontMax1
7.5
FontMax1 is for controlling the mixed use of outline and bitmap files
and is of little importance to most users. I use the value of 20 points
to cover the possibility that someone sends me a file containing
bitmapped fonts! Probably the best value for you is zero. You cannot set
it using the !Configure utility Ö you have to press <f12> (for a *) and
type *ConfigureáFontMax1 0k <return> (not ok but zero k).
7.5
FontMax2
7.5
At the bottom of the screenshot you will see a set of four dialogue
boxes (in a window headed Fonts) which popped up when you clicked on
Fonts in the Configuration window. The first dialogue headed öUse anti-
aliasing for characters up toò sets the value of FontMax2.
7.5
FontMax2 is the maximum size of anti-aliased characters in pixels. If a
character is larger than this value, anti-aliasing will not be used.
Anti-aliasing quadruples the size of retained bitmaps in the cache and
also slows down the conversion from outlines. I use 72 points so that
practically all my screen displays are anti-aliased. If FontMax2 is set
to 0, anti-aliasing is turned off entirely and this might be the most
suitable value for 1Mb machines! You may find that most of your text on
screen is below 18 point and so 18 or 24 will be a suitable value for
you. It is because I want to take screen shots of 72 point text that I
use the larger value.
7.5
FontMax3
7.5
The dialogue box öUse cached bitmaps for characters up toò corresponds
to FontMax3 and sets the maximum size of any form of retained bitmap. If
the character to be drawn is larger than this, the outline will be drawn
directly to the screen (or printer) with no caching happening at all. If
you use font sizes larger than the FontMax3 setting for more than one or
two characters in a document, the screen refresh and printing will be
slowed down to an unacceptable rate. If you have too large a value for
FontMax3 (72ápoint) and a small value for FontMax (e.g. 64Kb) then a
single character might flush everything else from the font cache. I use
72 points with my 512Kb FontMax and so that it matches my FontMax2. You
might use proportionately lower values such as 18 or 24ápoints for
FontMax2 and FontMax3 in conjunction with 128Kb for FontMax in a 2Mb
machine.
7.5
FontMax4
7.5
FontMax4 is normally set to zero. If it is non-zero, sub-pixel anti-
aliasing is used in the horizontal direction. This is a refinement of
anti-aliasing in which four separate versions of each character are
retained allowing them to be placed on the screen at sub-pixel accuracy.
This has a noticeable effect (an improvement) on the quality of the
screen display of very small characters but it slows the computer down
and most users consider the delay to be unacceptable. I generally use 12
points but I increase it for some of my more detailed screenshots in
which I use large point sizes.
7.5
What is sub-pixel anti-aliasing?
7.5
Try this experiment in Fireworkz or PipeDream using a mode 12 screen.
áCreate a line consisting of lots of upper-case Trinity.Medium Élæs (or
lower-case Élæ) at 12 point. Notice how they are not evenly spaced. They
bunch up in groups with an extra pixel between the bunches. This is
because the width of the letter is not an exact multiple of the size of
a screen pixel.
7.5
If you have RISCáOSá2, you must use *Configure as explained below. If
you have RISCáOSá3 then you will be able to use the pop up menus.
7.5
For RISCáOS 2, press <f12> and type *ConfigureáFontMax4á20 to configure
FontMax4 to Éworkæ up to 20 points. Press <return> twice and see the
difference; the bunching is smoothed out. You can use the !Magnifier
package if you want a closer look. Unless you want to retain sub-pixel
anti-aliasing, be sure you reset FontMax4 to zero.
7.5
Note that changing a FontMax configuration has an immediate effect and a
<ctrl-break> is not necessary. Like all CMOS RAM settings, the value of
all the FontMax settings are retained so that the next time you switch
on the computer, you will find you have the same settings as when you
switched off!
7.5
FontMax5
7.5
FontMax5 is similar to FontMax4 but controls sub-pixel anti-aliasing in
the vertical direction rather than the horizontal direction. Its use is
even rarer than that of FontMax4 and is usually left as zero to turn off
sub-pixel anti-aliasing in the vertical direction. I use a value of 12
pointsáÖábut then I have a large value for FontMax (512Kb) and I have
8Mb of memory to play with.
7.5
Summarising FontMax settings
7.5
Do not confuse screen refresh rate with the Fireworkz Éproblemæ of slow
reformatting time on large documents (i.e. 20 or more pages); that is a
different problem which we have dealt with in an earlier article. The
slow reformatting problem probably happened when you loaded a large
PipeDream format document into a pre 1.07 version of Fireworkz.
7.5
If you have a document which is not much larger than the screen and you
still have a slow screen refresh rate, the chances are that your FontMax
(Font cache limit) is too small. If printing is slow, your FontMax value
might be too small or too big! A FontMax which is too big uses up too
much of your available memory and causes printing to slow down. Get
FontMax Érightæ before you have a go at Étweaking upæ FontMax3. Changing
FontMax2 might improve the Élookæ of the screen display. FontMax4 and
FontMax5 will further improve the appearance of the screen but, unless
you are taking screen shots for manuals (or to send to someone on a
disc) then it probably wonæt be of much interest to you. Finally,
FontMax1 is useful only if someone sends you a document which uses an
old (Arthur OS type) bit mapped font. I hope that you never need it.
7.5
Finally
7.5
It would seem that the time has come to remind you once again of the
advantages of sending me your problems on a disc rather than just as
writing on paper. If you send me a worked example demonstrating your
problem, I can check it quickly to see if your problem arises with my
set-up or whether it is something to do with the way you have configured
your system. Secondly, there is no ambiguity as to exactly what you
mean. Thirdly, I can modify your files and send you a worked solution
which you will find easier to understand than a mountain of printed
words from me. Finally, I can make your problem and its solution
available to others by the simple process of copying the relevant files
to the disc they send me.
7.5
You can write to me at the Abacus Training address which you will find
at the back of Archive. Your letter will reach me much more quickly than
if you send it to me via the Archive office. If you live in the UK, it
will help my expenses if you send me return postage Ö I do appreciate
that overseas correspondents will not be able to do this even though
when I write to them it costs more than a UK letter but if you live
overseas then donæt let that deter you. (In many countries, you can buy
öpostal response couponsò which Gerald can cash at his local post office
when buying stamps. Ed.)
7.5
If you want to say how interesting you find this column, please write to
Paul Beverley Ö then he wonæt mind if I do another 5-page PipeLineZ!ááA
7.5
Electronic CAD Ö Part 2
7.5
Richard Torrens
7.5
PCB layout Ö history
7.5
Having drawn a diagram of the circuit we wish to make, we have to put
the bits together. In the early days, Veroboard (which is still
available) was often used for prototypes.
7.5
The board is insulating material with copper strips on one side. It has
a grid of holes on 0.1ö pitch Ö which happens to suit virtually all
components. The idea is to insert the components into the holes and
solder to the tracks, which are cut where necessary and joined sideways
where necessary to connect the components up as per the circuit diagram.
7.5
The next step is to make up a proper printed circuit board and, for
this, we first have to produce an image of the tracks we need. In the
early days of hand design, we used to do this with ÉCircuitapeæ pads and
tracks. The tracks are sold in reels and are dense black crepe tape in
various thicknesses. Pads are sold on a roll and are circular pads with
a central hole, again available in many diameters. Also available are
symbols such as groups of 14 or 16 pads printed on a transparent backing
so you can peel them off and stick them in place Ö the groups fit
various ICs. The idea is to stick pads, tracks and symbols on a
polyester drafting film sheet to form an image of the board, usually
twice life size, which was then sent off for photography and commercial
production.
7.5
The crepe tape was slightly flexible and, with practice, you could
produce nice, smooth curved tracks. It was quite a skilful job getting
everything looking neat and tidy.
7.5
Then came double-sided artwork. For this, we used black for the pads,
red plastic tape for one side of the board and blue plastic tape for the
other. The photographer would photograph the master using a red filter
so that the red tracks disappeared and the blue tape showed up as black,
as did the pads Ö this was the blue side. The red side was similarly
photographed using a blue filter, so that the blue disappeared and the
red showed up as black. If the board used plated through the holes, all
the pads would be black but it was quite possible to use red and blue
pads if you did not want plating through. Many of the earlier PCB layout
programs tended therefore to use red and blue on screen, with black
pads.
7.5
I suspect that, although the pads and tapes method is outdated, it is
still the starting point for a lot of PCB design. Even if it is not, it
is very simple to understand and any PCB layout program should be able
to cope simply with anything Élegalæ that can be done by pads and tapes.
I say Élegalæ because, when I used this method, we sometimes cheated,
increasing clearances by cutting a segment off a round pad. I donæt
think I would expect a computer program to be able to do this! It is
also very easy to understand the pads and tapes manual layout, so this
is a good point from which to start learning a computer program.
7.5
Analogue vs digital
7.5
Although there is no exact dividing line, PCB design divides into
analogue and digital. Digital designs are those such as computer boards
which use many integrated circuits with few individual components.
Almost all board tracks are laid pin to pin of an IC, perhaps a memory
bus or maybe the interconnections between lot of CMOS logic chips. The
tracks for the most part donæt carry much current but are signal lines,
switching either high or low. Interaction between lines is not very
common and, except at higher frequencies, there are generally few
problems with layout Ö track routing, spacing and length have little
effect. Most of my designs donæt fall into this category but are
ÉAnalogueæ.
7.5
Analogue designs use far fewer chips with most of the circuit formed
from individual resistors, capacitors and transistors. Signals donæt
switch but can be at any level. Currents may be anything from very small
to very high. Since the voltages are at variable levels, there are many
problems with interaction between signal tracks. Routing earth tracks,
in particular, can be a problem as a high current earth can easily take
the same route as a low current earth. There can easily be interaction
because the tracks have a small, though noticeable, resistance. The
simple transistor circuit I showed last month (reproduced below) is an
analogue circuit, made from three transistors, although the distinction
between analogue and digital is slightly lost at this level of
complexity. The complex circuit I showed last month actually uses partly
analogue and partly digital circuitry, but as far as PCB layout is
concerned it is definitely analogue, because of the large number of
separate resistors and capacitors.
7.5
For digital circuit design, auto-routing can be useful. For analogue
circuitry, it is generally of no use. The main circuit could perhaps be
auto-routed but I do not think there is an auto-router which could make
a good job of it! Analogue layout seems generally to require more
technical knowledge and experience than digital and the layout in
analogue circuitry is less easily separated from the overall design than
it is in digital circuits.
7.5
Another consideration for analogue design is that there may be very
large currents in some of the copper track, for example, the motor
controllers I design may have up to 100 amps flowing in the copper. This
necessitates large areas of copper and layouts such that voltage drops
in high current copper are not allowed to interfere with the correct
operation of the rest of the circuit. Some of our prototypes have heated
the copper sufficiently to melt the solder, so we have to be very
careful with layout. At 100 amps, inductive coupling can also cause
severe problems! In digital circuitry, problems are much more
predictable, being mainly down to capacitative coupling between adjacent
tracks, which can even be analysed mathematically.
7.5
Computer programmers seem to know more about digital design than
analogue and computer programs often seem far more capable of doing
digital design than analogue. There are a lot of digital designs about:
digital boards are often high cost, high profit margin, small quantity.
The style of board layout and the expense of the final board are
relatively minor compared with the design costs. Therefore a computer
design has an advantage. However, for high quantity production of a
commercial product such as a motor controller, the cost of the board
becomes more important and it becomes worth investing time and design
skills to get a cheaper product. Large quantity boards tend then towards
analogue design, with manual routing and layout rather than full
computer design.
7.5
Types of board
7.5
There are several styles of board: through hole mount, surface mount,
single-sided, double-sided, multilayer, plated through, etc. I shall
attempt to clarify these.
7.5
Single-sided Ö Early components were resistors, capacitors, transistors,
etc. These components were cylindrical or some other shape, with two or
more wires coming out to make the connections. The first circuit boards
used only this type of component with the component wires sticking
through holes in the board. On the reverse side of the board was the
copper interconnecting circuit. The component is soldered to the copper
as shown in the diagram.
7.5
The board is produced by a photographic process rather than printing, so
the name ÉPrinted Circuit Boardæ is something of a misnomer Ö but it has
stuck. The basic board is a laminate of either paper and phenolic resin
(known in the trade as SRBP) or, more usually nowadays, fibreglass and
epoxy, with a copper cladding on one side, or both sides (hence single-
sided or double-sided board). The pattern of copper tracks is made by
etching away the copper layer where none is required. The etching is
done by immersing the board in a solution of ferric chloride.
7.5
To etch the unwanted copper, first the copper that is wanted must be
protected with an etch-resistant coating. This is done either by screen
printing (the only Éprintingæ in the normal process) the required image
or by exposing a photosensitive coating through a contact print of the
board. Photosensitive board is readily available and computer printouts
can be well up to producing the required image. After exposing the board
in an ultraviolet light box, it is developed in sodium hydroxide
solution. This washes off the photoresist where it has been exposed,
leaving bare the copper so that this can be etched away in the ferric
chloride.
7.5
The resulting board then has the component holes drilled out and is then
assembled. The whole process can quite easily be done on the kitchen
table.
7.5
Single-sided boards are the easiest to produce and therefore tend to be
the most common. It is these that the beginner is most likely to be
doing on the kitchen table.
7.5
Double-sided boards Ö Sometimes there are long interconnecting tracks
and it is not possible to feed these through between the soldered pads,
or perhaps to do so might risk solder bridges. It would be possible to
use a single-sided board with copper wire for a few extra connections
across the top of the board and many single-sided boards do have a lot
of wire links on the topside for this reason. However, as the board
complexity increases, links no longer offer a tidy solution and for
these, double-sided board becomes sensible. On these, copper is present
on both surfaces of the board and interconnections can be made on the
solder side or on the component side.
7.5
A simple double-sided board will just have a few soldered connections on
the component side. These soldered connections may be made to a
component lead or you can insert a small pin in the board and solder it
on both sides. Of course, there is nothing to stop you using wire links.
A simple double-sided board will aim to keep the quantity of soldered
joints on the topside as small as possible.
7.5
To make double-sided boards is really as easy to do on the kitchen table
as it is to make single-sided. However, for commercial double-sided
boards, it is vital that the top side does not have a pad around every
hole, but pads only where a topside connection is required. After all,
the reason for going from single-sided to double-sided is that the pads
on the single side are getting so close that you canæt thread the tracks
easily between them. Also if you are manufacturing boards in quantity,
you donæt want extra pads to solder on the topside and it is impractical
to tell the solderers not to solder most of the pads. This would cause
confusion. To have every pad on the copper side repeated on the topside
is just not on, yet this is exactly what many PCB layout packages do!
7.5
At this stage I must declare my interest. This style of board is one I
commonly use, so software I like must do it. Yet it seems to be a very
little used style which few PCB layout packages offer. Do I go to true
PTH (plated through hole) boards, which nearly doubles the cost per
board, or look at the PC software which will probably also have the same
problem and will cost about ú1000 as I will have to buy a PC card plus
software. Or do I get a special program written or modify LinTrack to
suit? In part, this solution depends on you, the reader, since if this
series causes the right feedback we may be able to get a software
supplier to provide the correct facilities.
7.5
Plated through hole boards Ö As the board complexity increases further,
the number of soldered joints on the component side increases and the
pads on the copper side become very crowded. Eventually, it is not a
matter of just a few topside joints. This is where the PTH board comes
into its own. Every hole has a pad both topside and bottom side. During
the manufacturing process, the holes through the board are coated
internally with copper Ö Éplated throughæ. All connections from one side
to the other are now made automatically, simply by having a hole through
the board. Every time there is a component hole, there will be a through
connection. Other through connections can be made simply by having a
small pad each side of the board and a small through hole. This through
connection is known as a Éviaæ.
7.5
There is a fundamental difference between PTH and non-PTH boards in that
a non PTH board must have the soldered joint on the surface of the
board. Because the PTH board has a plated through hole, the solder wets
the plating and the component lead and runs into the board so the
soldered joints are not on the surface but inside the board as shown in
the diagram below. This automatically means that the copper pads on the
board surface can be smaller, reducing the board density and alleviating
many problems. The trade off is that plated through boards cost about
60% to 80% more than non-plated through boards. For small quantity, high
priced circuits this is no problem but for high quantity low profit
boards, it is an unwarranted expense.
7.5
The other bad point about PTH is that it is difficult (or even
impossible) to produce these on the kitchen table so they are no good
for very small production quantities, e.g. for the home constructor.
7.5
Surface Mount Technology (SMT) Ö As we have seen, early boards mounted
the component by feeding the component leads through holes and then
soldering Ö a through-board mount. As board densities increased and
components got smaller, surface mount boards came in. On these, the
component is mounted on one side of the board and held in place simply
by the solder. The components often donæt have wire leads but metallised
areas.
7.5
Various techniques for mounting occur and surface mount techniques are
ideally suited to mechanised high volume use. The scale of working is
much smaller such that mechanised assembly is required, although a
skilled operator can assemble surface mount by hand, but they need very
good eyesight and a magnifying glass or, preferably, a low-power stereo
microscope.
7.5
The boards themselves are cheaper to make as they donæt require the same
amount of drilling. Because the components are far smaller, the board
area they take up is also reduced, further cutting the costs. Surface
mount is usually used on dense boards so this also implies double-sided
and plated through holes but there is theoretically nothing to prevent
the use of a single-sided surface mount board, except that the component
leads are very close and difficult to get tracks between.
7.5
Of course, you can also combine surface mount with through board
mounting. However, mixing technologies like this can lead to some knotty
assembly problems. In fact, there were quite a few knotty problems in
the early days of surface mount.
7.5
Multi-layer boards Ö For even more dense technology, some modern boards
use a multilayer boards where there are one or two layers of copper
within the board. These are very specialised boards but becoming much
more common in computers as the memory, complexity and speed increase
and the size decreases.
7.5
Afterword
7.5
This month I have given a brief overview of PCBs and explained what the
software should be able to do but if I continue, I am in danger of
getting too technical and going into details of hole sizes, board
production, etc. This may not be what you want. I have much to say Ö but
I prefer to write for a receptive audience, so let me know your
thoughts. If you want detailed instructions on DIY board production,
that is fine.
7.5
Next month, I will write about some of the available software. I have
also just purchased Vector and intend, probably the month after, to give
some hints on using this for PCB work as it looks very promising indeed.
I have also just talked to Davyn Software about RiscCAD Ö the programmer
is an electronic engineer and his program was, apparently, in a previous
incarnation, a PCB designer. They are interested in tackling PCB design,
so I am quite excited about trying this out.ááA
7.5
Two Talking Wordprocessors
7.5
Joe Gallagher
7.5
PenDown and StartWrite are two educational wordprocessors which have
been available for the Archimedes range for some time now. PenDown, from
Longman Logotron, has a long pedigree dating back to the days of the BBC
micro, when it had a reputation as a very öchild centredò wordprocessor.
An Archimedes version was subsequently produced which was later expanded
into PenDown Plus. StartWrite, from Icon Technology, is a simplified
version of EasiWriter, a program which first saw the light of day on the
Macintosh and later became part of the Home Office bundle.
7.5
Although both programs are naturally tailored towards the needs of
younger users, they are nevertheless both very capable wordprocessors in
their own right. The main features missing, as compared to their
respective big brothers, are the ability to work with columns, tables
and styles in the case of StartWrite and the table and mail merge
facilities of PenDown.
7.5
The spoken word
7.5
Either of these programs would suffice quite nicely as a wordprocessor
for the average user but the one feature that sets them apart from other
educational wordprocessors is the fact that they are ötalkingò
wordprocessors. Both programs have the ability to speak text using the
internal sound system of the Archimedes.
7.5
PenDown includes full software speech support built into the program
whereas users of StartWrite need to purchase a speech synthesizer
program separately. Although PenDown is, as a result, initially more
expensive for a site licence than StartWrite, the price difference tends
to even out when the cost of purchasing the sound software is taken into
account. With PenDown, you are tied to Superior Softwareæs Speech!
program whereas StartWrite allows you the choice between that program
and SpeechSystem from PEP Associates. Although this is not quite the
öone-stopò solution that PenDown offers, I think that it does have the
advantage of allowing you to fine tune the speech synthesizer to meet
your needs. With PenDownæs integral speech synthesizer this is just not
possible.
7.5
Icon Technology offer a voucher worth 50% off the cost of PEPæs speech
program when you buy StartWrite. However, this reduction is only good
for a single copy of SpeechSystem even if you purchase a site licence of
StartWrite which seems a bit pointless. I raised this issue with both
Icon Technology and PEP but neither company seemed very interested in
following it up.
7.5
Talking wordprocessors could become an important feature in the teaching
of literacy. Longmanæs program has already been used in a pilot study in
Somerset where, if the initial findings are to be believed, it may have
some significant advantages over traditional methods of supporting
learners who have had difficulties in coming to terms with print.
However, the quality of sound produced by existing speech synthesizers
for the Archimedes does suggest that there is considerable room for
improvement. PenDownæs implementation of the speech facility is
considerably more comprehensive than that found in StartWrite, allowing
you to determine the range of text that is spoken from an entire
document right down to individual letters. Its spelling checker, itself
the more friendly of the two, can also sound out suggested spellings.
7.5
Documentation
7.5
Both programs are well supported by the documentation provided.
StartWriteæs takes the form of a tutorial, aimed more at teachers and
older children. PenDownæs booklet has the edge, from a teacheræs point
of view, in that it not only provides a clear and concise introduction
to wordprocessing in schools but it also suggests several curricular
applications for the various features of the program.
7.5
In many ways, it really is hard to separate the programs. Both come
supplied with a very attractive sans serif default font which is
sensibly set at 18 points in the case of StartWrite and 16 points for
PenDown. However, Iæm not sure how appreciative secondary colleagues
would be of this feature, especially in view of the difficulty one
experiences in trying to change the default font for a document in the
case of StartWrite. Graphics can be inserted into documents in either
program but in a fairly rudimentary way and not without some hiccups in
both cases. PenDown even has a special graphics mode for working with
pictures but neither program is capable of anything but the most basic
of page layouts. PenDown only allows you to have one document open at a
time whereas StartWrite supports multiple documents.
7.5
Menus
7.5
It is in the approach to menus that these two programs really begin to
diverge. PenDown, while sporting a modest toolbar, is much more of a
classic RISC OS program than is StartWrite. Most of the buttons, in
fact, lead to standard dialogue boxes which, in other programs, would be
accessed by the menu button of the mouse. StartWrite, on the other hand,
has adopted a toolbar which is very similar, in many respects, to that
of Word for Windows.
7.5
Nearly all of the essential basic wordprocessing functions are available
at the click of a button on the toolbar. These include undo, saving,
printing, checking spelling, search and replace as well as text
alignment and effects such as bold, italic, underlining and borders. You
can zoom in and out by clicking on small icons of mountain ranges which
double or halve the current scale of magnification.
7.5
Strangely enough, the one thing missing from StartWriteæs tool bar is
any means of font control. This may not actually be such a bad thing as
children (and adults?) should really be learning first and foremost to
use a wordprocessor as a tool for composing and editing rather than as a
means of merely producing a spruced up öbest copyò.
7.5
Drag æn drop
7.5
When considering editing facilities, it becomes apparent that StartWrite
is in a league of its own. StartWrite adopts the select and over-type
approach for replacing and/or getting rid of unwanted blocks of text.
PenDownæs approach seems unfortunately to be modelled on Editæs rather
non-standard way of doing things. StartWrite provides the usual means of
moving and copying text around a document by means of cutting and
pasting. However, in StartWrite, these techniques are, to some extent,
redundant as it also supports carrying out these operations by using the
state of the art ödrag and dropò approach Ö again a feature of Word for
Windows.
7.5
StartWrite even goes one better than the Microsoft product in this
respect, for it is possible to ödrag and dropò not only within
individual documents but also between documents themselves. This feature
has just been incorporated into the very latest version of the MicroSoft
product (Version 6) which is an impressive accomplishment for a mere
childæs wordprocessor!
7.5
Not to be outdone, PenDown has a innovative option for moving, copying
and deleting blocks of text in the form of a öbinò to which text can be
despatched for later re-inserting or öemptyingò. What distinguishes this
implementation of the clipboard from others that I have come across is
the fact that it is not limited to holding one block at a time. Any
number of blocks can be dropped into it and the contents, each separated
by its own header, can be viewed before deciding what to do with them.
7.5
Extra features
7.5
Undoubtedly, pound for pound, PenDown is the more comprehensive and
ambitious of the two programs. PenDown is accompanied not only by
extensive example files but also two stand-alone programs; !WordList and
!Cloze.
7.5
!WordList is an extremely versatile dictionary accessory which allows
you to insert words from PenDownæs dictionary into any text editor. If
the speech option is enabled, it can even sound out the words before you
enter them. !WordList can also produce anagrams and analyse the
incidence of recurring words from any text file.
7.5
!Cloze, as its name suggests, is an application which will produce cloze
procedure text files from any text file that is dropped onto its icon.
7.5
Most aspects of PenDown are configurable from an option on the iconbar
menu. This is a very welcome feature in a program aimed largely at
schools, as it does allow the program to be tailored towards the needs
and aptitudes of a wide range of users. (Itæs pretty useful for home
users too.) To compensate for its rather under-powered toolbar, PenDown
does allow the function keys to be set up to perform various shortcuts.
Existing KeyScipts may be edited or new ones created using a list of
possible commands which are documented in the manual.
7.5
Conclusion
7.5
I would have no hesitation in recommending either of these programs for
use in school. Against the power and number of features found in
PenDown, one has to balance the sheer ease of use of StartWrite.
Obviously though, it makes sense for a school to decide on one standard
wordprocessor throughout the school in order to promote continuity and
minimize the time spent on learning the features of programs as opposed
to using them.
7.5
In the end my preference was for StartWrite for the following reasons.
The program is simple and intuitive enough for children from reception
(four plus) right up to secondary age to use. It is not a million miles
away in look and feel from standard Windows wordprocessors, which a lot
of staff are familiar with. Perhaps most important of all is the fact
that it is the first childrenæs wordprocessor that I have come across
which really does put composition and editing, as opposed to publishing,
at the heart of the process. If, however, I was choosing a wordprocessor
with mainly older children in mind, I would be very tempted by the
wealth of features offered by Talking Pendown.
7.5
Talking Pendown is available through Archive for ú69 inc VAT (ú275
primary, ú450 secondary) and StartWrite costs ú75 inc VAT (ú131) again
through Archive. (Site licence prices are shown in brackets.)ááA
7.5
Xword
7.5
Roger King
7.5
Xword is a powerful and sophisticated, multitasking crossword setting
and solving application for the range of Archimedes computers. This
application produces the conventional black and white crossword grids
that we see every day in our newspapers. The program is intended to
remove the öspadeworkò in the design of crosswords, and thus allow the
crossword-setter to concentrate on the more creative aspects of
crossword design, e.g. clue-writing.
7.5
Xword version 1.12b
7.5
The program disc is supplied unprotected in a sturdy plastic wallet and
contains an English dictionary and the instruction manual. The disc also
includes many sample puzzles and a tutorial on how to use the
application. Xword is loaded in the standard manner for a RISC OS
program. Clicking on Xwordæs icon on the iconbar produces a window
displaying a default 15╫15 blank crossword grid. Any size of crossword
grid may also be generated by clicking on Xwordæs iconbar icon and
selecting the Create option.
7.5
You can use Xword in three operating modes: Compile Mode is used to
compile a puzzle. Solve Mode is used to solve a puzzle. Edit Mode is a
special mode which is only available during the compilation of puzzles.
It allows manipulation of blocks of cells within puzzles.
7.5
First, the pattern...
7.5
The first icon in Xwordæs toolbox produces a random fill of black
squares in the top-left corner of the grid. This tool does not always
create a ölegalò pattern. Sometimes there will be an odd square or two
which does not interconnect to the rest of the puzzle. If such a random
fill is produced, you have two choices Ö either click on the pattern-
generator tool again or adjust the pattern manually by changing the
colour of individual squares.
7.5
When you think you have created a good pattern, you are then ready to
add the symmetry to the rest of the grid. There are two different ways
of adding symmetry, either by rotation or reflection. In both cases, the
pattern in the top-left corner is copied to the other three corners in
the grid. Once a grid is produced, you can tell Xword to number the
puzzle which it will do automatically.
7.5
Then the words...
7.5
There are several ways of entering words into a puzzle:
7.5
1.áDirect input by entering individual words manually.
7.5
2.áÉAutomatic insertæ allows you to enter a single word which Xword will
attempt to fit into the puzzle.
7.5
3.áUse suggestions from the 70,000 word English dictionary.
7.5
4.áDrag a text file (of a particular format) onto the puzzle. Xword will
attempt to fit as many words as possible into the puzzle. (This is
particularly useful for designing thematic puzzles.)
7.5
The dictionary
7.5
Xwordæs dictionary is supplied as an application directory. All words in
this dictionary are split up into certain length uncompressed text files
from 1 to 19 characters. Overseas users of the Xword application can
create their own foreign language dictionaries very easily.
7.5
The dictionary can be accessed in three ways, by asking it to find:
1.áThe first word to fit in a particular space (a quick search). 2.áA
list of words to fit in a particular space (a simple search). 3.áA group
of up to eight words to fit into possibly interlocking spaces (a complex
search).
7.5
The first method will find the first word (in alphabetic order) to fit
in the highlighted space but as the search is alphabetical, it will tend
to find words at the beginning of the alphabet.
7.5
A simple search will give you a list of words that will fit the
highlighted block. After a few seconds, you get a list window containing
the words that will fit into the highlighted block. Just choose a word
and drag it to the grid.
7.5
As the puzzle is being filled with words, you will probably come across
instances where the dictionary is unable to suggest a word that will fit
in the grid with other interlocking words present. You could then delete
a word (or two) from the grid and ask the dictionary for other choices
but a far better solution is to perform a complex search. The simple
crossword grid shown opposite will illustrate this.
7.5
The remaining four partially empty lights from the crossword grid have
been dragged into the left-hand column of the search window. As each
drag is completed, the reference (across or down) will be displayed. The
order in which the references are arranged within the left-hand column
determines the order in which the search is carried out and you may find
that if you put the references to the longer words first, the search
time will be reduced.
7.5
Click on the Search icon and, After a short time, the searching will
stop and the right-hand column of the window will display a list of
interlocking words that will fit into the grid. At this stage you have
several options: 1.áAdd the found words to the puzzle (aborting the
search). 2.áAsk Xword to find another set of words. 3.áDelete one of the
references if you feel the search is ötoo hardò. 4.áAdd an extra
reference to make the search more specific. 5.áAbort the search
completely.
7.5
When a grid has been completed by filling in all blank squares, you now
come to the hardest part of crossword compiling...
7.5
Then create the clues!
7.5
Xword does not provide any substitute for the crossword compileræs
creative skill but it does provide the means to enter, edit and view
your set of clues. In addition, it is possible to provide three separate
sets of clues for every answer in the grid.
7.5
Solving a puzzle
7.5
Many of Xwordæs facilities described so far are also available in Solve
mode. In particular, the full range of dictionary tools is available.
You can use each of the following tools either applied to a single word
or applied to an entire puzzle, in which case, the user is asked for
confirmation before execution.
7.5
The Compare tool compares the solveræs solution thus far with the actual
solution. Any letters found to be incorrect are deleted.
7.5
The Mark tool informs you how many of the letters you have got right. No
indication is given of which letters are right or wrong.
7.5
The Cheat tool fills in the actual solution in the highlighted word or
the entire puzzle as requested.
7.5
Saving
7.5
There are various Save options in the Xword menu:
7.5
File saves the entire puzzle in Xword format.
7.5
Grid saves the on-screen part of the puzzle in drawfile format.
7.5
Clues saves the puzzleæs clues in Edit format.
7.5
Solution leads to another submenu with options to save the solution
ÉGridæ (the solution fitted into the grid) as a drawfile and Text to
save as an Edit file.
7.5
Printing
7.5
The file icons can also be dragged to a Printer icon on the iconbar.
This will produce hard copy with the minimum of fuss. If you need a
finer control over what is printed, you can set various options from a
Print dialogue box.
7.5
Customising Xword
7.5
In Xwordæs application directory there is a text file named öDefaultsò.
You can customise many of the settings to your own requirements by
altering the data in this file.
7.5
Many Xword operations can be carried out with keyboard shortcuts. There
are thirty available.
7.5
Wish list
7.5
A problem encountered using this application was the lack of a
dictionary maintenance facility. This makes the adding/deleting of
dictionary words a laborious task. At present, to add a word to a
dictionary, you have to load the text file (of required word length)
into Edit and insert the word into alphabetical sequence. I prefer to
use PipeDream4 for this task, as the modified word list can be sorted in
order with a few simple keypresses. I understand that a dictionary
maintenance facility may well be incorporated in a future release.
7.5
Another wish is that the dictionary should be in compressed format. The
dictionary supplied with Xword has approximately 70,000 words and takes
up more than 500Kb of floppy disc space. I use my own dictionary of over
300,000 words with this application. I have compressed this very large
dictionary application with öSparkFSò and have it installed on my hard
disc drive. This dictionary, uncompressed, takes up very nearly 3Mb of
space. In its compressed state, it has been reduced to 1.4Mb Ö a
considerable saving. There is, of course, a slight reduction of speed
when searching a compressed dictionary for words but it is as fast as
accessing uncompressed data from a floppy disc.
7.5
Anagrams are part and parcel of most professionally produced crosswords.
This application really does need a small window where grid words can be
dragged and available anagrams of that word listed. At the present time
I use William Tunstall-Pedoeæs öSuperGramò application to generate
anagrams from words in each crossword grid. This excellent application
is available from most Shareware libraries.
7.5
It would be most useful if the normal black fill of crossword grids
could be changed to a light grey fill for the printing out of pre-
publication draft copies of crossword grids. This option would save an
enormous amount of ink when using inkjet printers.
7.5
Conclusion
7.5
I have been setting professional crossword puzzles for over thirty
years. For the last ten or so years, I have used various Acorn computers
and software to produce grids, clues and the final proof copy. Xword
provides all of these functions in one excellent application. I can
recommend the application without reservation.
7.5
Xword is produced by Panda Discs and costs ú44.95 inclusive of VAT and
carriage. Site licences are also available.
7.5
I have designed a keystrip for this application, listing all of the
keyboard shortcuts. If anyone would like a copy, then please send me a
blank formatted disc and reply-paid padded bag. I am willing to let
other crossword compilers have copies of my large dictionary (300,000+
words) compiled over the last thirty years. The dictionary is held in
several different formats. Please send me a stamped addressed envelope
for full details. Roger King, Malgre-Tout, Ruette des Corneilles, Cobo,
Castel, Guernsey.ááA
7.5
Music Column
7.5
Stewart Watson
7.5
I had a very interesting letter the other week from a newly retired
reader, who recently purchased an Archimedes hoping, amongst other
things, to use the it to develop his interest in music Ö but he had no
previous practical musical experience. The general tone of the letter
can be summed up by this quote;  öWhy canæt the manuals for the various
bits of software be written in English rather then in Serbo-Croat?!ò His
letter has prompted me to look again at the subject of choosing suitable
software.
7.5
What to buy?
7.5
A few months ago, I did a brief review of some of the music software
currently available and I would just like to sum up that article, and
add some extra pointers as to what might be the best software route for
each individualæs needs. Unfortunately, this particular reader had been
concentrating his efforts on two pieces of software that were
particularly unsuited to his needs. öWhat I would really like to do, as
a non-musician and non-player of any instrument, is to put together some
tunes of my own using the computer.ò There is now a fairly wide range of
music software about for users with varying degrees of musical expertise
but there are some questions you should ask yourself before spending
your hard-earned cash.
7.5
Å    What do I want to be able to do?
7.5
Å    Are my wishes achievable?
7.5
Å    Is this software capable of fulfilling my aspirations?
7.5
Å    Can I move step by step towards my goal?
7.5
Å    Do I wish to hear my music, see it printed out, or both?
7.5
Composition
7.5
Do you wish to compose original pieces in a classical style? or write
simple ditties? or perhaps only re-arrange some of the wide variety of
commercially available MIDI files?
7.5
A computer is only a tool and, remarkably good though it is, it cannot
make a silk purse out of a sowæs ear! If your desire is to write
original pieces of music, it is doubtful whether you will find enough
background material on music in any software manual, as the manualæs
purpose is simply to explain how that program works, and it is not meant
to be a treatise on composition or arrangement.
7.5
Some background reading and study is essential, I would say, before
indulging in composition or arranging and before attempting to write
Magnum Opus Number 1. However, there are exceptions to every rule and I
do know some people who have produced excellent and exciting original
compositions from their computer with little background knowledge Ö but
these tend to be people under the age of 18! The older we become, the
less adventurous we tend to be Ö so more preparation is required before
undertaking new activities.
7.5
Maestro
7.5
My correspondent, being recently retired, hardly falls into the under 18
category(!) and, unfortunately, the first music software with which he
came in contact was Maestro. Now Maestro is not a bad bit of software,
especially as it comes free, but it is not really for the novice
musician. Its uses are strictly limited, in that it lacks many of the
features found in other, admittedly more expensive, music software.
7.5
Trackers
7.5
The other program that the reader had used was one of the Soundtracker
programs. There are now some really excellent Tracker programs for the
Archimedes but these are, in my opinion, for the younger user or for the
more experienced computer user who wishes to add music to his own
programs or demos. Tracker software terminology is slightly musically
non-standard and excellent though they are, they do not really approach
music from the musicianæs usual standpoint.
7.5
Rhapsody and Notate
7.5
The basic purpose of both these programs is to produce printed scores of
pieces entered into them from the computer keyboard or external MIDI
keyboard. If your wish is primarily for printed copies of your work, one
of these might be what you want. Each program has particular strengths
and, as Notate is geared to the education market, it might be a better
bet for the novice. The vast number of demonstration files provided with
Notate are bound to be a boon. Having said that, Rhapsody 3 also comes
with a large number of demonstration files.
7.5
MIDI interface
7.5
If you wish to play music into the computer from a keyboard, or if you
wish to use more than the eight channels of sound from the computer, you
will need an interface so that the computer and the keyboard can talk to
each other. There are a whole range of different MIDI interfaces about
and it will depend which model of Archimedes and what other podules you
have fitted, which is the most suitable for your needs.
7.5
Sequencers
7.5
If what you want to do is experiment with sound by playing and recording
into the computer, using the computer as a note store, you will almost
certainly need one of the sequencing programs. There is now an expanding
choice of sequencers for the Archimedes.
7.5
Sound Advice from the Really Small Software Company is the least
expensive and can import Standard MIDI files.
7.5
The next one up in terms of price is MicroStudio from EMR which has
extra features designed to help you learn to play the keyboard. It comes
with some demonstration files which you can learn to play on a MIDI
keyboard.
7.5
Serenade from Clares is next up the price range and has some really nice
features, especially the guitar window where chords can be drawn on a
guitar fretboard and entered directly by cursor.
7.5
Studio 24+ from EMR is the most expensive of the sequencers currently
available for the Archimedes, and has a whole host of features, enough
to satisfy the most demanding of users. Its only drawback is that,
although it has been upgraded umpteen times, it still has the same basic
front panel as it had when it first saw the light of day some six or
seven years ago and it now looks and feels a bit dated. It is, however,
extremely powerful and fast.
7.5
Conclusions
7.5
If you have answered the questions above to your satisfaction, the next
step is to sample the various programs available. Some companies are
helpful and provide demonstration discs, either free or with a refund
against the purchase price if you buy the program Ö these give you a
chance to try before you buy. If you canæt get a demo, ask around and
see if you can find someone with the program you think you want. Ask
them for a demonstration and ask for their views on its merits and
demerits because the advice of someone actually using a system can be
very valuable.
7.5
If I could only have one piece of music software right now, it would be
have to be Rhapsody 3. If I could have two, the second would be
Studio24+ V3 (with the MIDI file converter), and my third choice would
be ScoreWriter. However, if my circumstances were like the gentleman
whose letter inspired this article, I would suggest the order might well
be, first choice Ö Notate, second choice Ö MicroStudio, third choice Ö
Rhapsody 3.ááA
7.5
Some Serbo-Croat terms explained!
7.5
Sample Ö A sample is usually a sound which has been recorded then
digitised so that it can be stored onto disc and loaded and played by
the computer when required.
7.5
Blocks Ö A block is any selected group of notes. Just as with a block of
words in a wordprocessor, a block of notes in a sequencer can be cut,
copied or pasted.
7.5
Markers Ö Markers are used to mark the beginning and end of a block.
7.5
Patterns Ö A pattern in a sequence is a section Ö like a paragraph in an
essay. Unfortunately, in the Tracker-type programs a pattern sometimes
means a single line of notes sounding one after the other Ö which can
cause confusion.
7.5
Genesis/Magpie Column
7.5
Paul Hooper
7.5
Acorn User Show
7.5
What a show! I was on the Archive stand for two hours on both Friday and
Saturday and I never stopped! It was nice to meet some of the people
that I have been writing to for some time. I was particularly grateful
to those who brought applications with them to add to the catalogue or
to ask my advice. We now have a fine Magpie adventure written by 9 year
old Mark Newton of Essex.
7.5
Around the show
7.5
One of the highlights of the show for me was the Magpie binder that
Uniqueway were showing on their stand. This was all about Thunderbirds
and not only had full colour pictures and text information but also
Replay films of the launching of all the Thunderbirds along with many of
the craft in action. After chatting with the very helpful staff and
examining the set up, I realised that the binder was running on an A5000
from an 80Mb hard disc and that it occupied 79Mb of that disc! Has
anyone got a spare A5000?
7.5
Genesis was in action on the Acorn in Education stand with a CD-ROM
application about Langdale, written by Ital of Halifax. This application
is based on O.S. maps of the area and has over 500 colour photographs
along with text, diagrams and sounds. Although this was a preview
version, it looks a very exciting use of Genesis in Geography. Since the
show, I have received a whole pile of HD discs containing part of this
application and have sat and enjoyed touring around Langdale in the warm
while it was snowing outside. Iæll tell you more about this next month.
7.5
A very novel use of Genesis was on show from CD sports. This is an
application to teach swimming and a full review appears below. On the
Oak stand, some of the ready-made Genesis packages were on display,
along with the new Oak Recorder II.
7.5
PC clone?
7.5
One of the most disappointing aspects of the User Show to my mind was
the idea that multimedia was just the province of the PC world. Many of
the multimedia CD-ROMs on show were conversions from PCs with the
consequent hype in price. Now I am making no comment on the content of
these programs because some of them, like ÉWho Stole the Decimal
Point?æ, are excellent, but if a majority of computers in education are
Acorn machines, why are all these programs produced on PCs? Where are
all the people who can produce good multimedia products on Acorn
machines? Is it the case that the people that produce these CDs are
programmers and not teachers?
7.5
Optima
7.5
In my review of this multimedia package in Archive 6.9, I commented that
Northwest SEMERC were going to produce a series of resource packages for
Optima. These were available at the Acorn User Show and cover such
diverse topics as ÉOur World In Spaceæ, ÉNursery Rhymesæ, ÉWords and
Picturesæ and the excellent ÉHairy Maclaryæ books by Lynley Dodds. The
nice people from SEMERC took me through these packages and I was very
impressed with the idea of multimedia for infants. I shall be taking
these applications into a class of five year olds and also down to my
local playgroup in the coming weeks and a full review of these will
appear in next monthæs column if I can stop my six year old daughter
from playing with my review copy of Hairy Maclary!
7.5
The swap shop
7.5
The swap shop has grown yet again with an application about track
cycling from Peter Walder of Sheffield Hallam University. This is a
large application with many sprites showing exercises and the reasons
for them and requires either a hard disc or a disc drive capable of
reading HD discs. For all beginners, there is the WIMP tutor that
teaches the basic principles of window operation and menus. I have
already sent out fifteen copies of this since the NCS Open Day.
7.5
Also added are two historical applications on the Tudors and the
Stuarts. These are open ended applications which have a basic time line
and then it is up to you to fill in the information on the subjects on
specific pages. The pages normally have a picture of some sort to
illustrate the subject. These would form a good class project with
groups of children filling in the information on one or two subjects.
For these applications you will, of course, require your own copy of
Genesis or Magpie.
7.5
Anyway, if you require a copy of the catalogue just send me a blank disc
and the return postage to the address at the end of this article.
7.5
Swimming
7.5
I know that Genesis is flexible, but using it to teach swimming... ? áI
approached this with a degree of scepticism but having gone through it a
few times, Iæm beginning to find myself convinced by the blurb.
7.5
The package comes in a video-style box with no less than eight floppy
discs and a small A5 manual. This is a huge application and although you
can run it from floppy, a hard disc is a better bet.
7.5
This application is produced with the help of the Amateur Swimming
Association and the Hampshire Microtechnology Centre and is designed to
help the teaching of swimming and water safety. It was produced in the
good old days of RISC OS 2 and therefore requires the computer to be
configured with the cache off. In fact, the instructions to configure
the machine to optimum running conditions contains five different
instructions. It would have been better to include a boot file to set
these up.
7.5
Running the application
7.5
The application runs in mode 15 and the first thing you will notice is
that the windows have no icons or even a title bar. This means that you
cannot move them around or multitask with another application. After the
initial title page, there are some quick instructions and then the index
page. You are then asked if you can glide and if you understand why you
can glide. If you answer Énoæ, it takes you to a set of pages to explain
this.
7.5
The main index includes the following options: front glide, front crawl,
breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly, survival skills, water safety,
activities and exit. Double clicking on any of the icons takes you to a
window which enables you to select between hard drive or floppy-based
use.
7.5
Each of the different options follows a similar pattern with a mixture
of information pages and games to play. The information pages include
animations which show you the best positions for doing a particular
stroke. The games pages are particularly good with a board game,
throwing items to help someone in the water and my own favourite of
dragging the flag to the flag pole and discovering what it means. There
are lots more games and animations to keep you amused.
7.5
Quitting the application
7.5
Most pages within the applications include a quit option which returns
you not to the main index but back to the initial title page. From there
you have to work your way through the title page, instructions and
deciding on floppy or hard disc versions. This can become somewhat
frustrating waiting for the title page to scroll itself. If you are
using the floppy disc version, it returns you to the desktop with the
index loaded but again you have to work through title page, etc.
7.5
Conclusions
7.5
This is a novel application and the games and animations are excellent.
Unfortunately, poor programming coupled with little thought to the user
detracts from what could otherwise be an excellent program. My advise to
anyone buying this program is to throw away disc 1 which is the index
application and just use discs 2-8 as separate applications. You then
have eight good separate applications on breaststroke, butterfly, etc.
If you have access to Genesis, modify the pages with the inclusion of
title bar, go to back and quit icons. The survival and safety
applications are brilliant with good games and graphics and are good
Éskill and drillæ programs in their own right.
7.5
Whether this justifies the asking price of ú46.99, I will leave you to
judge but certainly do not dismiss this program as most schools have
only limited access to swimming pools and this program can do much to
reinforce the basic skills of swimming. My thanks must go to the
children of Freethorpe CP School for the help they gave me in reviewing
this application.
7.5
Swimming is available from CD Sports, 4 Wirral Business Centre, Dock
Road, Birkenhead, Wirral L41 1JW at ú39.99 +VAT (= ú49.99).
7.5
Genesis/Magpie tips
7.5
One of the advantages with both programs is their ability to present
information in a non-linear way. You can skip around the pages of an
application with gay abandon and follow your own line of thought. In
Magpie you can use the ÉLeave Markeræ option to allow you to return to
your last page. The Magpie, example called Stuarts on the monthly disc
shows what I mean. There are two menus, one a time line and the other a
menu on religious issues. Clicking on the item marked Pilgrim Fathers in
either menu will take you to a page on the Pilgrim Fathers. Clicking on
the marker in the top left hand corner will take you back to the menu
from which you came. Try the other menu now and again and you will find
that the marker returns you to the menu you used to gain access to it.
7.5
In Genesis, you can use the GO_BACK command to achieve the same result.
This time the pages have the ÉReturn2æ icon of a blue square on it.
Clicking on this will return you to correct menu. For the benefit of all
the script language buffs, the commands are as follows:
7.5
DEF FRAME öSat,04 Dec 1993.16:30:52;1ò
7.5
SPRITE öreturn2ò
7.5
FGCOL 7
7.5
BGCOL 0
7.5
AT 960 -768 1056 -704
7.5
ON SELECT BEGIN GO_BACK
7.5
CLOSE END
7.5
BORDER
7.5
END FRAME
7.5
The trick is in lines six and seven which, freely translated, means that
when the user clicks <select> a subroutine BEGINs and Genesis GOes_BACK
to the previous page and CLOSEs the open page and ENDs the sub-routine.
7.5
The Genesis example on the monthly disc, shows how this command can be
used to replicate the marker in Magpie, with the added ability of using
your own sprite anywhere on the page.
7.5
The end bit
7.5
My thanks go to all the people who have written to me in the last year
and may I take this opportunity to pass on my good wishes for the coming
year. If you have any queries or questions or any applications for the
ÉSwap Shopæ please write to me, Paul Hooper, at 11 Rochford Road,
Martham, Great Yarmouth NR29 4RL. Phone [phone].ááA
7.5
Squirrel 2
7.5
Tim Nicholson
7.5
Digital Services have recently released version 2 of Squirrel, their SQL
database system. In contrast to the version 1.2x upgrades which were
sent to existing users free of charge, the upgrade to version 2 costs
ú25 for the software and a further ú10 for a replacement manual. The
price for new users is now ú139. (All prices exVAT) Digital Services
claim that there are 38 separate enhancements in version 2, but are they
worth the cost of the upgrade?
7.5
The proof of the pudding
7.5
... is in the installing Ö which is where I encountered my first slight
problem. As Digital Services did not have any manuals when I received my
upgrade, they supplied me with an upgrade disc and the promise of the
manual to follow. The disc contained an application called !NuVersion
which, when run, upgrades ones previous version of both Squirrel and
SqlImport to version 2.00, and so I set about upgrading (making sure I
kept a copy of my earlier version somewhere in case of problems). Upon
running !NuVersion, I was presented with an error message saying öEnsure
Disc is write protectedò. Being cautious, I had done this anyway, but I
checked and tried again. Same result. Applying a little reverse logic, I
turned the write protection off. Success! Itæs amazing the difference in
meaning that the lack of the word not can make to an instruction!
7.5
Needles and haystacks
7.5
In due course, the manual arrived, together with a covering letter which
included some ominous phrases, more of which later. As I attempted to
find out what all the new features were, I discovered that one of the
things missing from the new manual is any listing of the changes from
previous versions. It was therefore a case of working through section by
section trying to spot the goodies. In all I counted about 18 areas of
enhancement ranging from small additions, to complete new sections with
several facilities. This is not to say that I quibble with the claim of
ö38 separate enhancementsò since it rather depends on how you count
them. The changes are certainly significant and most of the things on my
wish list were there with perhaps one or two omissions, but it is in the
nature of man always to want more than he has got.
7.5
Laying the table
7.5
In the table creation/editing mode of Squirrel, I found a number of new
features. On the cosmetic side, it is now possible to have a backdrop
picture and text within the viewing window. Tables may now be password-
protected providing a greater level of security on public systems or
over a network. Individual fields may be either public, read only, or
hidden from all but the password holder.
7.5
One particularly welcome new feature, is the ability to turn off
indexing on fields for which Squirrel would normally expect to generate
an index (i.e. string numeric and Boolean fields). This can lead to a
substantial saving of disc space, since the index file can be larger
than the data file, and it can also speed up certain operations as there
are fewer indexes to generate. The ability to compress text, picture and
file fields is also offered although, in version 2.00, this feature does
not work properly and its usage can corrupt the database. Digital
Services warned of this (and a number of other öminorò bugs) in the
accompanying letter and say they will be issuing a free upgrade to all
purchasers when they have ödealt with the situationò.
7.5
It is now possible to set a default entry for a field when a new record
is created, and ensure that an entry is unique. I found a problem with
trying to set a default date entry to ÉTODAYæ and invoked an error
message whenever Squirrel tried to automatically set a date field on new
records. Wordwrapping is now also configurable in text fields, and
setting the entry order of fields is easier to do for small changes.
7.5
One thing that hasnæt changed is that entering Edit Table mode
automatically forces Squirrel to re-index the database. Whilst this is
obviously necessary if fields have been edited or deleted, or their type
changed, it is a real pain if all you wanted to do was to change, say,
the backdrop picture or the order in which data fields are entered. If
you have a sizable database which is being re-indexed, it can take quite
some time executing this unnecessary task.
7.5
Data facilities
7.5
A toolbar is now available in data entry mode to replicate the function
of GOTO First/Last and GOTO Previous/Next which are provided in a menu
or via the Page Up/Down buttons. However, whilst Previous/Next relates
to the index of the currently active field, the toolbar always seemed to
use the first indexed field in the database, thus rendering this feature
virtually useless.
7.5
A new display called öList Modeò is now available. It can display
several records at a time, each record on a single line with either all
or selected fields available. In this mode, it is possible to drag
fields from one record to another or edit an individual record.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to use ÉGOTOæ in this mode to get you
to roughly the right place and then scroll up or down to find the
specific entry you require. The order in which the list is displayed is
selectable from a submenu. This menu displays all the available fields
not just those that have a valid index on which to order and selecting
an invalid field produces an error message and a blank display. It would
be better if invalid fields were omitted from the submenu or greyed out.
Toggling between card mode and list mode automatically sets the list
mode index back to the first field in the list (which may not be
indexed). It needs to use the currently active index in card mode to be
of much use. I also found another problem in that having selected
ÉSurnameæ as my index field in the menu, the list was promptly displayed
sorted by ÉForenameæ which was the field above Surname in the list. This
offset was complicated by the inclusion of non-indexed fields in the
list and I gave up trying to find out which field (if any) I had to
select to obtain a Surname ordered list Ö another table, however, did
not exhibit this problem.
7.5
Enquire within
7.5
Query mode now comes with two powerful extra features, a graphing mode,
which can produce bar, pie or line charts from selected fields. These
charts may be displayed on screen, printed or saved as drawfiles. Whilst
the results are not öhot-linkedò as in other packages, they do provide
some nice features and can be made to produce meaningful graphs from
non-numeric data by counting the number of occurrences of a particular
entry grouped by another entry. For example, by counting the number of
Surnameæs against Class grouped by Year, a plot of the number of
children in each class for each year can easily be produced. The
graphing mode is also available from within the Reporting option
enabling easy insertion into reports.
7.5
The second big addition to the query mode is what is referred to as
Batching. This is in addition to the ability to set an auto-run mode for
a query. When a query file is double clicked on, it can be set to
automatically execute a particular function such as produce a report,
export a new table or CSV file, etc. This enables global operations to
be carried out on a batch of records as defined by the query. Two types
of operation are supported: deletion of records and updating of
specified fields. Unfortunately, the manual is rather incomplete in its
description of these facilities, concentrating on how to update numeric
fields only. An errata file fills in some of the details with regard to
updating text fields but no mention is made of dealing with date fields
where, once again, I encountered some difficulties. I eventually managed
to achieve the desired result by much trial and error Ö the syntax
required was by no means intuitive. When updating a field, any of the
functions valid in a View definition may be used and these are now much
extended.
7.5
Viewing facilities
7.5
Most of the new facilities in the Views section of Squirrel have already
been mentioned elsewhere. Backdrops and password protection may be set
independently of those used in table(s) being viewed. The range of
functions available has been significantly extended and include things
like calculating an age, from a date of birth and todayæs date, and a
number of trig and logarithmic functions. Calculated fields, however,
are still only numeric in type and there are no string functions to
enable you to produce a view with two string fields merged. You
couldnæt, for example, keep Surnames and Forenames in separate fields
and view them with initial and surname in one new field.
7.5
A good report
7.5
Most of the improvements in the reports section came with the upgrade to
version 1.2x. The additions in version 2 include access to the graphing
and batching facilities and some tidying up of page layouts, including
making allowances for paper margins and enabling forced and programmable
page breaks to help prevent groups being split in uncomfortable places.
7.5
Conclusion
7.5
Version 2 of Squirrel offers some significant extra features over its
predecessor but to get the best out of it, a new manual is essential.
This brings the cost of the upgrade up to around a third of the full
cost of the package. At this sort of figure, a serious assessment is
required as to whether the new features will be used sufficiently to
justify upgrading.
7.5
Given the bugged nature of the current release, which as well as
suffering from the above mentioned problems was prone to crashing in all
manner of ways, anyone considering upgrading would be prudent to wait
until Digital Services have fixed the items they regard as significant
and then assess what is offered. It is perhaps worth bearing in mind
that Digital Services stated policy is öto produce infrequent major
upgrades, rather than bug ridden frequent minor upgradesò and that this
policy meant a wait of over a year for fixes to significant bugs in
version 1.07.
7.5
I hope they get version 2 right quickly because I can certainly make
good use of the new features. Also, I know of a number of people put off
Squirrel by problems with the earlier version and it would be a shame if
that were to be repeated. As and when öfixesò are provided I will report
back. In the meantime, my advice would be to hang on to your money.ááA
7.5
Three Time Traveller Packages
7.5
Bob Ames
7.5
Richard Rymarz reviewed the Time Traveller package öThe Victoriansò in a
previous Archive (7.1 p41). This is therefore a few brief words about
the packages öBritain since the 1930sò and öExpansion, Trade &
Industryò, plus a few observations of my own about the whole concept.
7.5
Packages in the series include: (for Key Stage 2) The Victorians; Tudors
& Stewarts; and Britain since the 1930æs. An Archimedes site licence is
priced at ú32.50 +VAT; with a teacheræs resource pack included, it costs
ú57 +VAT.
7.5
For Key Stage 3, there are: Medieval Realms 1066-1500; The Making of the
UK 1500-1750; and Expansion, Trade and Industry 1750-1900. These are
priced at ú39.50 +VAT for the site licence; and with the teacheræs
resources, it costs ú59 +VAT.
7.5
There is even a content-free package which allows you to öCreate Your
Own Time Lineò; the site licence costs ú37 +VAT. However, because you
can also create a fresh database from within any of the other packages,
it would be more cost effective to purchase one of the complete packs.
7.5
The general idea behind Time Traveller seems good, but I feel that the
way the information is presented is somewhat lacking. I think there
should be more than the usual single öelectronicò page about each topic.
The information in the support folders is much easier to read than that
in the database. These folders contain a wealth of information Ö usually
accompanied by photographs Ö and make really worthwhile packages out of
the basic idea.
7.5
One folder in each pack is the instruction manual. While it is not
absolutely essential to put the instructions in a large ring binder, it
is so very much better than the usual four folded sheets of A4! The
instructions are really clear and no problems were encountered in
installing the data or programmes onto hard disc. (The programs were
reviewed on a RISC OS 3, A3000 with multisync monitor and 4Mb memory.)
7.5
The package including the resource pack is good value because there is
so much information gathered together and this ease of access makes
research enjoyable. I expect the data in these packages would otherwise
be beyond the scope of most schoolsæ libraries. I can imagine some of
the old fashioned catch words coming back into use as önewò inventions Ö
just listening to the BBC Archiveæs tape included in the 1930æs pack
brought back a few memories!
7.5
Teachers may decide to incorporate childrenæs work into the database,
and fresh öcardsò may be made up easily. Of course, these would be
checked for accuracy and edited later. In this way, a huge database
could be built up, far beyond that provided by the software pack. This
could be a major resource for the school in later years.
7.5
Minor grumbles
7.5
The resources pack is mainly printed on stiff card ready for
photocopying but because the cards are so stiff, they wonæt go through
the automatic sheet feeder on our photo copier! The glossy photo sheets
are OK, being just that bit thinner. The only remedy is to place each
sheet by hand. The temptation is to make a master copy first and then
automatically copy these but this, sadly, could lead to poor definition.
7.5
The line öWritten by ESMò after the data on each öelectronic pageò of
information in such a large font size seems unnecessary, although I
agree that there should be some identification of the author. At least
it should be in a much smaller size and not need a separate page just
for the identification!
7.5
There are quite a few spelling mistakes: in the Victorians package, I
noticed King George is spelt twice as öGerogeò; the öBritain since the
1930æsò data contains öbritainsò for britons; öAlamainò for Alamein.
Also ögalviniseò, öHerzò, öextravagenceò, öoccuredò, öpoliticansò and
öopportunitesò were noted. This last also occurred in öExpansion Trade &
Industryò as did öliquifiedò for liquefied.
7.5
From the öBritain since the 1930æsò package, it seems that transistors
are made of metal! In fact, the first types were made of germanium, a
rare metal found during the zinc purification process, but later
versions are made mainly of the non-metallic element silicon. The cases
and connecting leads are metal! Still in the same data pack, Radar
signals are reflected back from the target and picked up by a receiver
not a transmitter. Also, while there were fighter planes over Britain
during the war, it was usually bombers which dropped the bombs with so
much devastation!
7.5
I agree with the Richard Rymarz (who reviewed The Victorians) that the
suggested correlation of thoughts required from Key Stage 2 pupils could
be too much. However, the abundance of information in the software, in
the hard copy teacheræs resources and in the audio tape of examples is
very easy to assimilate. In fact, the teacheræs resources took me the
whole of a train journey to London to get through.
7.5
The pricing includes a site licence for each set of data. Each set of
data comes with the program required to run it and there is no price
reduction for additional sets of data (say, for a different time scale).
The people at ESM take the view that the program is included free with
the data and they say you donæt actually pay extra for subsequent
copies.
7.5
I found ESMæs telephone support good and they even offer a free 30 day
approval scheme to schools. This is a great idea and what a way to show
confidence in your product!
7.5
Conclusion
7.5
Apart from the spelling mistakes and factual errors, this is a likeable
package overall. I expect a high level of demand from pupils who get
their hands on it. It makes history accessible and enjoyable! Research
can now be undertaken in reasonable amounts of time, from a single
source, and good quality results may be expected. Oh that these packages
had been available when I öenduredò History at Paston Grammar
.......(tails off into reminiscences).ááA
7.5
PocketFS2 for the Pocket Book A-Link
7.5
Matthew Hunter (NCS)
7.5
The latest batch of A-Links bore stickers announcing that they contained
PocketFS 2 (version 2.03 to be exact). So, before they were sent out, we
had a quick look to see what changes had been made to the original
version.
7.5
I have aimed these comments at people considering getting a Pocket Book
and A-Link because, for those who have already got an A-link, Iæm afraid
that Acorn canæt yet say whether an upgrade path will be available!
7.5
(References to the Pocket Book apply to the Psion Series 3 and 3a,
although resident applications on those machines are slightly
different.)
7.5
What are the differences?
7.5
At first glance, there does not appear to be much difference except for
a slightly different PocketFS icon on the iconbar. Assuming that the A-
link is connected properly and the Pocket Book Remote Link is switched
on, a single click on the PocketFS icon will open a window containing a
representation of the Pocket Book desktop, with Cards, Write and Abacus
icons. As on the Pocket Book, under each icon will be a list of files of
that type. Dragging a file from that window to a standard filer window
will copy the file from the Pocket Book to the RISC OS machine. (Note
that you have to drag the name and not the icon.)
7.5
One surprise inclusion with PocketFS2 was a new version of ChangeFSI
(v0.92) which will convert Pocket Book É.picæ files to sprites.
7.5
The only other visible difference is that the Éoutputæ dialogue box
contains switches for 16 and 32 bit per pixel images Ö although it gave
an öinvalid sprite modeò error when I tried to create one! (Shades of
ARM700? Ed.)
7.5
File translation
7.5
In contrast to most filing systems, the copy will not be identical to
the original, as PocketFS does some translation. Cards files can be
turned into TSV or CSV files, suitable for inclusion in other databases.
Write files can be copied as plain text or Rich Text Format, which has
the advantage that it retains the formatting information. This can then
be loaded into Impression with an appropriate loader module (included in
the Impression Business Supplement and with Impression Style &
Publisher). Abacus files can be exported as TSV, CSV or Lotus formats.
7.5
Clicking <menu> on this window gives options Convert to, File Énameæ,
Select all and Clear selection. The Convert to option allows you to set
the translation for the particular application area (as in PocketFS 1).
Select all and Clear selection allow you to make multiple selections
within the application area. File gives access to a submenu with options
to rename, delete, count and get additional information on a particular
file Ö or delete and count work on multiple selections.
7.5
Bringing up a menu on the iconbar gives you Info, Open É$æ, Dismount,
Configure... and Quit options. Info displays a standard öAbout this
programò window and Dismount tidies up the disconnection from the Pocket
Book ensuring all files are properly written and so on.
7.5
Configuration options
7.5
The biggest change is the inclusion of the Configure option which allows
you to specify which applications should appear in the PocketFS window
and which directories should be scanned for files to include. This has
the advantage that if, like me, you have different directories for
different areas of work, you can still convert them. I have a WORK
directory where I place any NCS-related documents and a PROG directory
where I put any bits of code I write. Originally, I needed to copy any
such documents into the WRD directory before I could get them
translated.
7.5
A menu also allows you to set the default translation type, what
filetypes to look for in a directory and whether to use the Latin1 or
DOS character sets.
7.5
Filer options
7.5
Open É$æ opens a standard filer window onto the Pocket Book. The root
level shows the devices that are present as directories. C is the A-link
on-board software and M is the Pocket Book internal disc. A and B may
also be present Ö they are the SSD drives.
7.5
This filer window behaves just like any other filer and enables you to
copy files to and from the Pocket Book without any translation being
performed. The main change here is that PocketFS now handles extensions
properly (the Pocket Book uses the DOS directory structure), so you can
copy files directly from a PC disc and retain the extension. This is
particularly important if you wish to gain access to the large amount of
Psion 3 software available as PD, most of which is distributed in PC
format. With the old version, it was necessary to copy each file and set
the extension manually.
7.5
Other features
7.5
Finally Quit has the option of killing the application but leaving the
filing system running so you can still gain access to the Pocket Book
files. (PocketFS and the translator applications take up a total of
256Kb) This means that if you do not require the translations Ö say, if
you just want to do some backing up Ö you can free up some memory.
7.5
Conclusion
7.5
PocketFS 2 offers little extra for people using the Pocket Book at the
simplest level but, to my mind, it is what PocketFS 1 should have been
in the first place. It offers far greater compatibility between the two
machines, without compromising the ease of use. The only thing which
seems to be missing is a way to translate the files without having the
Pocket Book connected Ö perhaps a direct PBWrite loader will be made
available? It would also be helpful to be able to send documents with
styles to the Pocket Book Ö but that is a feature for RISC OS word
processors rather than PocketFS.ááA
7.5
QuickTile
7.5
Richard Millican
7.5
Have you ever wanted to print out a huge poster to stick on your wall?
Well, QuickTile is a really useful program designed to let you print
large, or even small, posters. It does this by printing a series of
tiles which the user can later glue together to form a large poster.
7.5
What makes this program a cut above the rest? Well, it sits in the
background intercepting SWI calls to the RISC OS printer manager. What
this actually means is that it works with absolutely any RISC OS
application that makes use of the printer manager (!Printers). This
means you can tile Impression documents, Draw files, Eureka printouts,
Rhapsody scores, etc.
7.5
User interface
7.5
As far as I can tell, the whole application conforms to Acornæs latest
style guide, and version 1.01 of the program has a well laid-out user
interface that allows you to do pretty much anything you would want to
do with a program such as this.
7.5
There are three basic things which the program needs to know: how big
you want the poster, in which orientation you want the poster to be
printed and which tiles you want printed.
7.5
For selecting how big you want the poster, A0 to A6 are the sensible
built-in settings but you can also select your own Custom scale factor.
7.5
To select the orientation, you get a choice of Portrait or Landscape.
Some other tiling programs Iæve seen can be given an angle of rotation
here, but I canæt really see much point in this.
7.5
To select which tiles you want printing, you can either select ÉAllæ or
give the program a tile to start at and a tile to finish at. This can
save a lot of paper and ink if you mess up one of the tiles whilst
sticking the poster together.
7.5
Sticking a poster together
7.5
The program prints crop-marks and page positions on each of the pages it
produces. It also prints a bit of extra drawing over the crop
boundaries, in case of human error. The documentation which you get with
the program shows you how itæs all done and makes it look quite easy Ö
which it is if you ever paid attention while Blue Peter was on TV!
7.5
It can take some time to stick together a large poster but it is often
well worth it. You can actually get some quite professional-looking
results if you take a bit of care.
7.5
Conclusion
7.5
This is a very professionally presented product which performs its task
extremely efficiently. If you need to produce larger printouts than your
printer is capable of, then this is certainly the program for you. All
the Desktop Projects software that Iæve seen has been of an
outstandingly high quality and this product is no exception and at
ú25+VAT it is good value for money.ááA
7.5
!Calc Upgrade
7.5
Edward Naish
7.5
It is more than two years(!) since I reviewed !Calc, my favourite
spreadsheet, so I thought that I would recap on the changes and
improvements between version 2.18 and the current version, 2.48.
7.5
For those who did not read my first effort, Calc is a multitasking
spreadsheet which closely follows the guidelines for RISC OS programs.
It has a sheet window of 52 columns and 100 rows. Commands are entered
into a separate command window. Pressing <menu> on the sheet gives a
conventional menu of facilities as detailed in my previous article. I
did not mention in my first review that when you save a sheet, all the
characteristics are saved with it. Therefore when you restart it, the
sheet window and command windows are in the same position on the screen
as before, the sheet cursor is where you left it and the area of sheet
in view is the part you were working in. Also, if you have changed the
colours, these are saved as well so it is easy to colour code your
sheets and I personally find it easier to remember colours than names.
7.5
The whole application has become smoother and faster than previously.
Features which have been added since then include, mouse dragable column
widths, Menu accessible copy and wipe commands (a variation on the
replicate command) and a provision for the import and export of CSV
files. Major changes have obviously been made internally as the old
files will no longer be loaded, an error message tells you to upgrade
them using the utility supplied with the new version. Just load the
upgrading application, drag the old files onto it and they will be
resaved in the new format. There is an anti-virus ability built in,
which warns if the application is interfered with in certain ways, like
adding extra files inside it.
7.5
The principal upgrade to !Calc has been the graphing facility. Graphs
are plotted as bar, line, stick and pie graphs. Four colours are
selectable out of the sixteen available and their shades can be altered
by the usual ÉPaintæ style colour selector. Background and axis colours
can also be chosen. In black and white printing, the grey shades will be
the most useful of course. Apart from printing, graphs can be exported
as sprites or drawfiles.
7.5
A few extra functions have been added since my last review: min, max and
spr to go with sum and ave. The author also explains how to simulate an
IF function.
7.5
Printing is via the RISC OS printer drivers in the usual way and there
is also an Éexport as textæ provision for incorporating sheets into DTP.
7.5
The manual is a very polished Impression-generated A5 spiral-bound 30-
page tutorial, with an extra 11 page reference section at the end. There
are quite a few sprites and screen shots to illustrate points and the
example spreadsheets were added using the text export facility
mentioned.
7.5
If you want to have a look at !Calc without committing yourself, there
is a demo version available from reputable PD libraries and the author
will send you a Éfully workingæ demo copy on receipt of a blank disc and
return postage.
7.5
!Calc makes no attempt to be a competitor to the big guns, but is aimed
at the low end user with simple requirements.  It is therefore very easy
to learn to use effectively. If you are, like me, a bear of very little
brain and know that the idea of getting to grips with large integrated
applications is just a pipedream, then !Calc should be the one for you.
7.5
!Calc is available from Circular Triangles, 13 Woodhall Terrace, Juniper
Green, Edinburgh, EH14 5BR, price ú25.95 (no VAT) or ú50 for a site
licence (ú40 for education).ááA
7.5
NumΘro 62
7.5
Neil Hutchinson
7.5
NumΘro 62, from Resource Software, is a foreign language (i.e. French,
Spanish and German) version of the well-received No.á62áHoneypotáLane
which was reviewed in Archive 6.2 p37 by Simon Anthony. Therefore, the
following comments ought to be read with that review in mind, if not to
hand.
7.5
NumΘro 62 is supplied on one floppy disc which is protected by means of
the key disc system: the program may only be run from the original disc
and not copied onto hard disc or properly backed up. This is a nuisance
but I do understand the reasoning behind the use of such protection. In
many cases, the program will be used on a site licence, and the key disc
device is thankfully (and necessarily!) missing from discs sold on that
basis.
7.5
The program is accompanied by the original manual for No. 62, along with
resource materials (in English), plus information on the key disc system
and specific instructions for NumΘro 62 itself.
7.5
Using the program
7.5
The program allows the user to view the inside and immediate
surroundings of an obviously (and admittedly!) stereotypical British
semi¡detached house. More importantly, the changes that take place over
the course of an entire year can be plotted on an hour by hour basis.
The useræs interest (including that of adult users Ö i.e. myself) is
maintained by the changes that take place throughout the year.
Significant dates bring about changes that are, in part, predictable but
there is a regular flow of öupdatesò to the rooms. I would think that
most children using either version would enjoy the program for its
novelty and its beautifully drawn illustrations.
7.5
Throughout the program, the rooms and most of the items within them, are
labelled in the current language. The label is displayed when an item is
selected with the mouse. The current language may be changed at any time
by simply pressing the appropriate key on the keyboard:
7.5
E, F, S, or D, for English, French, Spanish or German respectively.
7.5
Use in the classroom
7.5
The program, along with so many of its type, depends very heavily upon
the use made of it by the teacher (or parent!). Some ideas for its use
are provided in the guidance notes but adequate preparation of a range
of tasks would enhance its use greatly. This program has a great
potential for use by foreign language teachers, especially with younger
pupils. For example, basic spoken description could be elicited, as part
of group work, by allocating a room in the house to each group member.
Worksheets might include simple written questions to elicit basic
answers or further work might lead to more complex descriptions of
rooms. More open-ended tasks might include a narrative of the activity
of important days based upon the visual evidence of the program. Older
pupils are not entirely excluded from the fun but, as always, each
teacher has to decide the suitability of a product for a given group.
7.5
Anything negative?
7.5
Because the program is structured in the same way as the original with
the necessary added data for the foreign languages, sacrifices have had
to be made for it to work on a 1Mb machine. Most notably, and very
regrettably, the ability to print copies of the screen has been removed.
This was a calculated decision which, I hope, may be reversed in any
future development of the program for 2Mb machines.
7.5
Conclusions
7.5
I regard NumΘro 62 as a useful item in any classroom that is endowed
with its own computer, and where a group of pupils can be completing a
task while others are doing ömore traditionalò language work. In a
computer room (i.e. whole class) situation, with the site licence or
network version, a different strategy will be necessary. The program is
a useful tool which can be integrated into a number of areas of study
but, most obviously, the area of öHouse and Homeò. In my opinion, it is
good value for money, especially when compared to some other products
that may be offered to teachers.
7.5
NumΘro 62 is available for ú38 (inclusive of VAT) through Archive.ááA
7.5
Twilight
7.5
Dave Floyd
7.5
Twilight is a screensaver utility from The Really Good Software Company
(henceforth known as TRGSC) and costs ú14.95 inclusive of VAT. Although
RISC OS 3 includes a screen protection option it just literally blanks
the screen, giving no indication that the computer is actually turned
on. On the other hand, it is free, so what does Twilight offer for the
money?
7.5
Twilight is supplied in a CD-style box and requires the installation
program to be run before use. Installation creates a working copy of the
software stamped with your name, the serial number of your copy and a
special hidden code that identifies it. It is all very painless using
the application supplied and although it appeared to think that my hard
disc was a floppy, the installation was completed without problems. You
are given an option to make Twilight auto-booting or not and if you have
RISC OS 3, the installation utility will also put Twilight into a named
directory and modify your !Boot file automatically, should you wish.
7.5
Once the installation is complete, double clicking on the !Twilight icon
loads the application onto the iconbar from which you can access the
control panel. As can be seen from the screendump below, the panel
allows you to adjust the actions of the program to suit your preferred
way of working. There are options to switch the timer on or off and set
the time delay before the screen-saver is activated, a button to select
whether any output to the screen will wake it up and an opportunity to
change the hot key combination should <ctrl-shift-tab> not be to your
liking or should it clash with another program in your collection.
Random effects are possible if you have a hard disc, and the time
between each change is configurable as is screen-saving on startup and
no screen-save while printing (although the screen-saver does not
interfere with printing, unlike some of the PD screen protectors
available).
7.5
As well as giving you a screen-save utility, Twilight can also be used
to provide password protection should you wish to stop unauthorised use
of your computer in your absence. If this option is selected and a
password entered, every time the screen is put to sleep, a password is
required before it is woken up again. The password function also
disables <break> and <ctrl-break>, and if <reset> is pressed while it is
active, the screen-saver will activate from start-up so it still
requires the password to be entered. If the effect you have chosen fades
the screen instead of completely blanking it, it will be blanked and
replaced with random shapes if the password function is selected,
thereby stopping anybody reading your work while you are away from your
desk.
7.5
The on-screen effects can also be tweaked to your own personal
preferences. Depending on the effect, you can make the animations
faster/slower, smaller/larger and on those which fade the screen rather
than blank it out, you can stipulate how dark the screen becomes.
Seventeen different effects are available as standard and TRGSC will be
releasing discs of extra effects, should the choice prove too limiting
for you. It is also possible to write your own effects if you are
familiar with ARM code and information on writing your own effects can
be obtained for a disc and return postage from TRGSC.
7.5
Twilight behaved very well in all respects. Printing from Impression
continued without any problem when the screensaver was active. It did
not blank out arcade games and the password facility worked as claimed,
with the exception of the suggestion in the manual that using the ñ
(Shiftú-) character in a password would make it hard for anybody to
guess. True enough, but the program would not acknowledge the existence
of ñ or ú when I tried to enter it.
7.5
My only real gripe with this program is that the is not available in
printed form but only exists as a disc file and is viewed using the
public domain Help Reader utility (also by Ben Summers, the author of
Twilight). I realise that not having a printed manual helps to keep
costs down but Help Reader does not allow the user to produce a hard
copy, nor is the text held in Edit format, so you are stuck with the
disc version. Having said that, the software is intuitive to use and so
this should not pose a real problem.
7.5
My only other niggles were a matter of personal taste in that I could
suggest various ways in which the effects could have been improve.
However, given the open-ended expandability of Twilight it probably
wonæt be long before there is a range of PD effects available to add to
those supplied.
7.5
Although I think the price should be slightly lower, given the lack of
printed documentation, Twilight does fill a gap which has previously
been served only by public domain programs of variable quality and
functionality. I think it deserves a place in every Archimedes owneræs
software collection.
7.5
Now, shall I have spotlight today? Or lines? Or maybe...ááA
7.5
Noddyæs Playtime
7.5
Richard Rymarz
7.5
Noddyæs Playtime is published by The Jumping Bean Co, a newcomer to the
Acorn scene. It is their first offering and according to their launch
information, it is selling extremely well. It was launched on the
leisure market on the PC, Amiga and Atari and is a move by the company
to establish themselves in the education market. The suite of programs
is designed as öeducational .... fun to play programsò for three to
seven year olds and comes on three discs. The programs can be installed
on a hard disc without any apparent protection and cost ú25.99 for a
single user copy and ú49.99 for a site licence.
7.5
The package
7.5
There are ten programs in all:
7.5
The Toy Town Map Ö A linking and menu system where the children help
Noddy to drive around Toy Town. They can make Noddy wave and nod, beep
his horn and make his car engine roar. This program takes Noddy to
various parts of Toy Town where other activities take place.
7.5
The Post Office Ö Here the activities involve number recognition and
simple arithmetic.
7.5
The Market Place Ö This involves tasks ranging from simple letter
recognition to finding a number of objects that begin with the same
letter.
7.5
Noahæs Ark Ö The children have to solve a jigsaw puzzle. Each successive
level involves more jigsaw pieces Ö 16 being the highest and the prize
is a ride in Noahæs Ark.
7.5
The N. & B. Works Ö This involves finding the Éodd one outæ. At the
simplest level the children have to find one odd one out; at the most
difficult there are three odd objects and there is a time limit.
7.5
The Farm Yard Ö A matching game where children have to match a tail to a
particular animal. At the most difficult level, a variety of heads and
tails of animals are available only two of which match.
7.5
The Railway Station Ö A memory game. Characters from Toy Town are used
but at the simpler levels shape and colour are employed to help.
7.5
Four-Chimney House Ö A music game which initially allows children to
recognise the eight notes available and then goes on to ask them to
replay tunes that they have first heard. Numbers are used to do this but
at the hardest level musical notation is used.
7.5
The Police Station Ö A maze game which increases in complexity at each
level.
7.5
Noddyæs Paintpot Ö A complete art package.
7.5
All in all, the extent of the programs is impressive. The activities at
the locations have variety and each contains three levels thus ensuring
a long life span across a wide age range. Most are a great deal of fun
to play and to watch. Noddy is quite engaging and Big Ears pops up as a
guide to the activities.
7.5
The written support materials are beautifully produced. The guide
actually mentions the Archimedes by name rather than offering a scruffy
piece of paper which looks like an afterthought. As well as loading and
playing instructions, there is an ongoing story that links the Toy Town
locations; a number of photocopyable pictures which can be coloured-in;
a parent/teacher section that links the programs to the National
Curriculum; and, at the back, a help line that is available during the
afternoon.
7.5
The programs
7.5
Since the programs have been written for all computer formats, they are
not multitasking. Clicking on !Noddy results in some catchy music and a
picture of Noddy and all his friends but, unfortunately, I could find no
way to adjust the sound of the music. Clicking again brings up the main
menu from which the location and level of difficulty can be set. At this
point the children can drive Noddy around Toy Town or he can
automatically visit any chosen location.  If you want to return to the
desktop, you can press <shift-ctrl-escape>.
7.5
It would take too much space to detail all the locations. Suffice it to
say that each one contains what appear to be sixteen-colour graphics
some of which are very nicely animated. Tasks are easy to recognise and
the difficulty can be altered at any time by pressing <f10>. Return to
the main screen is easy. Humour and sound effects are used to good
advantage, as at the Market Place where successful answering of the
questions results in a ducking for Mr Plodd the policeman.
7.5
Noddyæs paintpot
7.5
This is a painting package in its own right. It is not very
sophisticated and does not pretend to be. However, most of the popular
tools are available and reasonable results can be obtained. One nice
feature is the inclusion of some outline drawings for the children to
fill in. All pictures are saved as sprites (so long as the correct
directory has been created on a new disc) but have to be printed using
another package such as !Paint. I found the switching of menus a little
laborious (Noddy swings up and down with a shutter) but I donæt think
the children will mind.
7.5
Niggles
7.5
I cannot be too critical of this package. However, it is obvious that
this is software not specifically designed for the Archimedes. Only ▓/3
of the screen is used and the rather garish sixteen-colour graphics are
sometimes difficult to distinguish. I feel the option of having a larger
pointer would help younger children and I did have problems quitting
back to the desktop.
7.5
Conclusions
7.5
Noddyæs Playtime is great value for money. It is full of interesting
games which will delight children and make learning fun. It could
equally be used at home and school although parents beware Ö as with all
Éeducationalæ software, some form of help will be required if the best
is to be achieved from the program. Some of the tasks are Étestsæ of
basic knowledge. There is nothing wrong with that since reinforcing
basic skills in a fun way is important. I feel there is a large niche in
the market for software that is Éeducationalæ in content but not
specifically designed for schools. Parents particularly, are looking for
different uses for their computer rather than just playing games. I hope
The Jumping Beanæs obvious success with this program will encourage them
to write something more appropriate to the graphic capabilities of the
Archimedes.ááA
7.5
Explorer
7.5
Andrew Jackson
7.5
This piece of software looks as if it may be the answer for science
teachers who are looking for materials to enhance project work on the
solar system and space travel.
7.5
The study of the solar system is required as part of the Science
National Curriculum. The sentences below can be found in the Programme
of Study for Key Stage 3 and 4, Attainment Target 4 (Sc 4) Strand (v):
7.5
Key Stage 3: öPupils should further develop their study of the solar
system through observation and secondary sources. They should consider
ideas about the position of the sun and planets in the solar system and
the position of the solar system in the universe.ò
7.5
Key Stage 4: As well as the above, pupils should... öconsider the
possibilities and limitations of space travel... ...know that other
planets are geologically active and that their present composition is
related to their distance from the sun.ò
7.5
Traditionally, these areas have been covered with videos and slides,
with models being built by pupils from data obtained from textbooks. So
can Explorer supplement that source of information?
7.5
What you get
7.5
Explorer comes on three discs and is accompanied by a teachersæ guide
and student instructions, data collection and worksheets. This
documentation can be photocopied within the purchasing institution. On
the discs you have !Explorer, the main application, and information
about the planets contained in the form of text files and separate
applications which display further data and graphics.
7.5
Before students can use the program, they need to be given the ÉExplorer
Pilotæs Briefingæ and ÉPlanetary Databaseæ collection sheets. These
provide details on how to load the program and the object of the game.
The main application, !Explorer, can be started by double clicking on
its icon. This loads the program directly and the game begins. The
object of the game is to collect data about each planet in the solar
system starting with Pluto. (Data about the third planet from the sun
does not need to be collected.) Data is collected by steering a
spaceship called Explorer 1. The graphics used during the game are
generally good though nothing outstanding. When a planet is encountered,
a probe is launched at a safe distance. When the probe hits, information
about the planet is displayed briefly. This information needs to be
noted on the ÉPlanetary Databaseæ collection sheet. Since the
information is only displayed briefly, the game needs to be played in a
group, each member taking responsibility for noting parts of the
information. The information displayed contains details of:
7.5
    Planet Name
7.5
    Code Number (Needed to access further info)
7.5
    Distance from Sun (Millions of Kilometres)
7.5
    Length of Year
7.5
    Length of Day
7.5
    Mass (Earth = 1)
7.5
    Atmosphere
7.5
    Temperature (░C )
7.5
    Surface Gravity (Earth = 1)
7.5
The information is in abbreviated form and is in the same order as the
columns on the ÉPlanetary Databaseæ sheet. If each pupil is given one of
these sheets, the data can be noted. It may, however, need a few
attempts to enable pupils to get used to collecting the correct
information.
7.5
During the spaceshipæs journey through the solar system, it also
encounters various alien ships which have to be avoided or destroyed.
The spaceship is moved via the keyboard. Alien ships are destroyed or
avoided using ÉTunnel-Shellsæ or a ÉForce Bubbleæ (which can only be
used once). The spaceship is protected by shields which can withstand
ten collisions. However, if enough alien ships are destroyed, a device
called a ÉDecomposition Shieldæ (which Ésucksæ the energy out of hostile
ships when destroyed) can be used to strengthen the shields on the space
ship.
7.5
The game, although difficult to finish, can be mastered fairly quickly
and does not depend on the academic ability of the students.
7.5
Once the game is over, either through being destroyed or finishing, the
code numbers collected from each planet can be used to access further
information. This is supplied in the form of separate applications for
each planet. The information can be obtained by double clicking on the
application for the planet you are interested in and entering the code
number obtained during the game. The information is in the form of
graphics and text which are well presented. The graphics are a little
unclear even on a multiscan monitor. Using the information obtained and
that collected during the game, students can complete the ÉExplorer
Report Sheetæ.
7.5
There is also a ÉSolar System Word Searchæ contained in the pack which
could be used for homework to reinforce the names of the bodies in the
solar system. The documentation also contains ideas for other activities
which could be tried using the software or the data from it.
7.5
Conclusions
7.5
This is an alternative and entertaining way of getting over information
about the solar system and I see myself using it at Key Stage 3 rather
than Key Stage 4. During the game there are quite a lot of sound effects
which make a positive contribution but which may be distracting to other
pupils in the classroom. It would be useful to have the facility to turn
the sound off. The representation of the distance between the planets
portrayed during the game does give a slightly false impression of the
actual situation.
7.5
All in all, a useful application and good value at ú30 +VAT from Alpine
Software or ú33 through Archive.ááA
7.5
Sand Harvest
7.5
Charles Hill
7.5
Sand Harvest from CWDE Software is a simulation of life in the Sahel. It
is a version of the program originally written for BBC computers but
expanded to take advantage of the RISC OS operating system with
additional information provided and improved graphics. Although it uses
the mouse, it does not run as a multitasking window although previous
desktop tasks are only suspended. It is supplied as one disc together
with booklets and information sheets. The version reviewed was 1.01.
Much of the program seems to be written in Basic. I loaded and ran the
program from a hard disc with no problems.
7.5
Documentation
7.5
The supporting documentation is very good and comprises an Organiseræs
Manual (30 pages), a Villageræs Handbook, Nomadæs Handbook and
Government Officeræs Handbook which contain background information, some
of which can be photocopied. In addition, there are also photocopiable
öRole Sheetsò, a öRun Cardò and a copy of a CWDE Countrysheet about
Mali.
7.5
The simulation
7.5
The software is intended for ages 11 and upwards and, with careful
planning, it could be used with any secondary school age group Ö even a
sixth former given an hour or two to look at the package did not exhaust
all its possibilities! The obvious curriculum area is Geography but it
could well be useful in other areas of the curriculum. The package gives
participants the opportunities to identify with three roles, Government
Officer, Nomad and Villager who are faced with problems to solve and
decisions to make. The Égameæ moves in yearly cycles with an annual
report at the end of each year for each participant.
7.5
The main menu includes options for choosing the language in which
information is given (English, French or German), setting options,
listing, loading or deleting previous games on disc, sound and print
options (on/off). The options choice allows a choice of roles e.g. just
nomad or all three, whether the villager role is complex or simple, a
choice of schemes (e.g. health care, tree planting, employment schemes,
water), selection of initial budget for schemes, choosing a variable or
constant exchange rate, the amount of rainfall and whether or not
unknown events will occur unpredictably in the program.
7.5
Roles
7.5
The nomad has to move around a mapped area choosing appropriate pasture
for cattle, goats, sheep and camels and finding water holes. Each move
around the map lasts for 3 days and the Égameæ lasts for one year. The
map shows different land areas (arable, desert, scrub, good and fair
grazing, etc) and wells as well as villages, the edge of the encroaching
desert and fenced areas. There is a non-persistent key which can be
called from a help menu. The animals can die and give birth (with sound
effects!) and the nomad tries to keep his herd and family alive as well
as generate some income.
7.5
The villager is modelled on an overworked female trying to survive with
her family. She has to choose how to allocate time to various tasks e.g.
cooking, sleeping, agriculture, government schemes, etc.
7.5
The government officeræs task is to implement schemes and encourage
villagers to support them although the officer is limited by the budget.
7.5
It is also a suggestion that someone is appointed as organiser to set up
the simulation and quell any riots from overheated discussion!
7.5
Reports
7.5
At the end of each year, an annual report is produced; the screen
display includes graphs and charts but the printout is text only. The
printout facility seemed to work well with a dot matrix printer but I
could not get the program to recognise my HP Deskjet. The annual report
includes information on population, life expectancy, money, crops, water
and people.
7.5
The program can make use of the mouse but can also be run using the
keyboard only. There are keypress shortcuts to leave the program early
but these will cause incomplete years to be saved and hence continuation
for further years and annual reports will be affected. The program also
requires the use of passwords which are given in the supporting
literature and do not seem to be changeable Ö I wonder if they are
really necessary? The running sheet also gives a keypress shortcut to
reveal the passwords. Games are saved to disc as they are played. This
would make playing the game from a read-only network disc area difficult
Ö the boot file contains the instruction for setting the games directory
(where games are stored) and this could be modified in !Edit.
7.5
Aims and objectives
7.5
The program is intended by its authors to give experience in decision-
making, provide an awareness of the plight of others through role play,
encourage consideration of both long and short term consequences of
decision-making, foster discussion and cooperation between individuals
and analyse and act on information in charts, reports, graphs and
tables. It helps participants understand desertification and that a
local viewpoint can be important in decision making. It also encourages
groups and individuals to work to predetermined goals, from staying
alive to making money!
7.5
Conclusion
7.5
The program seems good value for ú58 +VAT from CWDE Software and site
licences are available from them at ú88 +VAT. For me the program has
some niggles; the colour scheme seems odd at times, error messages and
events persist until cancelled and have to be removed for the game to
continue and the Érandom eventsæ can soon become predictable. I do not
feel, however, that any of these should affect childrenæs enjoyment and
learning from the program.ááA
7.5
Panda say that a new version of Xword which takes up some of Rogeræs
suggestions is almost ready. Ed.
7.5