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Archive Magazine 1996
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issue_06
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1995-02-16
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Å Data cartridges for tapestreamers Ö We have found a better source of
data cartridges for tape-streamers and can do the 60M cartridges for ú23
and the 150M cartridges for ú26. The tapes for the 1 Gbyte tapestreamer
which we advertise at ú45 each are, apparently, just ordinary 2 hours
DAT tapes that you could buy from W.H.Smithsæ or such-like for ú8 or 9
and then formatted. It takes about 4 hours to format which is why Oak
charge so much for them.
4.6
Å DataStore Utility Disc 2 Ö A second disc of utilities is now available
for ú14.95 inc VAT or ú14 through Archive. It contains: A desktop
backdrop with a difference, a desktop toolbox window, a disc indexing
program, a file activity monitor showing exactly which files are
currently open, a list of BT phone code and areas, a utility which
collects sprite name, system variables etc and enables you to set up
your computer quickly at switch-on, a viewdata frame display utility, a
utility that will replace your desktop A icon with an animation(!), an
on-line manual utility and a fun demo.
4.6
Å Disc magazine Ö A.S.T.E. Syracuse is an Archimedes disc magazine
produced on an amateur basis. With the first issue, costing ú4.99, you
get a total of three discs; one containing the magazine itself and then
two discs of PD software. The organisers, B Browne and A Kells, insist
that it is not, as some magazine reports have said, a PD library.
4.6
Å DTP (and other) utilities Ö A newly formed company, Design Concept,
has 11 utilities mainly intended for DTP users at various prices from ú1
to ú2 each. We havenæt got space to detail them all here but it includes
things like a shading facility for !Draw, a way of printing out all the
fonts you have got, a converter from X-window bitmap fonts and a
converter which stipples a colour image to two colours. Write to Design
Concept for a full list. We hope to get review copies soon.
4.6
Å Educational management software Ö Cogent Software have produced two
packages for educational establishments. The first, Monitoring and
Reporting, provides facilities for recording, analysing and reporting on
studentsæ performance. The basic price of the package is ú400 for a
secondary school, ú200 for a middle school or ú150 for primary or
special schools. There are additional text files for different subject
areas at ú50 or ú65 each. The second package, Curriculum Auditing,
allows you to cross-reference the experiences the pupils are given with
the skills, knowledge and concepts outlined in the schoolæs curriculum.
The pricing for this is similar to the first package. Also available
from Cogent Software are optical mark readers which tie in with the
management packages.
4.6
Å Educational software Ö Chalksoft, well known for its educational
software on various computers including the BBC Micro has now turned its
attention to the Archimedes. Titles available include: Puncman, programs
1 to 7, (ages 7 to 15+) cover various aspects of english; Spelling Ö
week by week (ages 6 to 14+); Reversals (ages 8 to 14+) help with the
problems of d/b, p/q etc; House of Numbers (ages 6 to 13) covers maths
for key stage 2; First Words & Pictures and Words & Pictures (ages 3 to
7+) concentrate on early words, matching them with pictures; Letters &
Pictures (ages 6 to 8+) introduces word building skills; Numbers &
Pictures (ages 4 to 6+); Maps & Landscapes (ages 9 to 14); Keyboard
player, music for ages 8 to adult; Note Invaders, a musical game for
ages 7 to adult and Mark Master for secondary or tertiary
administration.
4.6
Å Flight Path Ö a simulation from Storm Software aimed at 9 year olds +
sets you up as the pilot of an airliner (and owner of the company) and
gets you to fly the plane and run the company. It brings in aspects of
maths, geography, english, science and history. Available now in
Archimedes format for ú36.95 inc VAT or ú32 through Archive.
4.6
Å Fonts galore Ö A newly formed company, Design Concept, has 8 innova
tive new fonts for sale at Ésillyæ prices (my word, not theirs); ú1.50
per font plus ú2 carriage. If you want to see the sort of things they
are offering, have a look at the advert on page 17. We havenæt actually
got the fonts for review yet but weæll let you know what we think when
weæve seen them. Apparently, they are designed from scratch using FontEd
and include öproper hinting of the charactersò.
4.6
Å Genesis I to II upgrade Ö If you want to upgrade from Genesis I to II,
all you need to do is to send your Editor disc to Oak Solutions with a
suitable cheque or official order and they will send you a complete new
pack. The cost of the upgrade is ú34.95 + VAT for education users or
ú59.95 for non-education folk. Please do not send it to Norwich Computer
Services.
4.6
Å High speed SCSI drives Ö One of the advantages of SCSI is that, at the
moment, öeverybody is doing itò Ö and that means all the more commonly
used computers whose names I will refrain from using. High volume
production, of course, means lower prices such as we have achieved by
using removable drives that were being sold into the Apple Mac market.
In the same way, we have managed to find some extremely cheap and
extremely fast fixed 48M drives produced by ZCL who are also selling
them into the Atari and Commodore markets and for PCæs Ö there, Iæve
said it!
4.6
They are actually 52M drives that format to about 48.6M; they have an
average access time of 17ms and run at up to 1,000 Kbytes/sec (yes,
1Mbyte/sec) using an Oak SCSI interface. The öalternative testò that we
use (copying a large directory with many files) takes under 7 secs.
These compare with about 600 Kbytes/sec and 9.3 secs for a standard Oak
45M drive but I havenæt got any of the new HS or Worrawinnie Oak drives
in stock to test for comparison. (They will be coming into stock
tomorrow, but the magazine has to be at the printers tomorrow(!) so I
will put the results on the Price List.) The prices are ú520 for an
internal 48M drive with podule and ú590 for an external.
4.6
The internal drives look identical to Oakæs drives but the external
drives come in a strange-looking, yukkie brown colour, extremely compact
metal case with no cooling fan. The drive is mounted on its side and
sits in a metal cradle made of white plastic coated metal rods (a bit
like a plate rack!) to stop it falling over. Still, when you look at the
price, it has to be worth considering, and if you are worried about
quality (which I have to confess, I am slightly) they are guaranteed for
years. This Archive price comparison my help you see if it is worth
considering these drives as compared with the özero-defectò policy and
known good customer relations policy of Oak Solutions. The prices
include Oak podule, VAT and carriage and the figures in brackets are the
price per Mbyte.
4.6
Internal drives
4.6
Worrawinnie 45M ú440 (ú9.78)
4.6
High Speed 40M ú520 (ú13.00)
4.6
ZCL 48M ú520 (ú10.83)
4.6
External drives A300/400
4.6
Worrawinnie 45M ú490 (ú10.89)
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High Speed 40M ú720 (ú18.00)
4.6
ZCL 48M ú590 (ú12.29)
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External drives A3000
4.6
Worrawinnie 45M ú490 (ú10.89)
4.6
High Speed 40M N/A
4.6
ZCL 48M ú590 (ú12.29)
4.6
Å Midnight Graphicsæ Tracer Ö Now you can turn your sprites into !Draw
files with this impressive utility from Dabhand Computing. The potential
for DTP and improving scanned pictures is tremendous. We hope to have a
review very soon. The price is ú59.95 from Dabhand or ú56 through
Archive.
4.6
Å MultiStore II Ö Minerva have released a new version of MultiStore
(still ú250 through Arc-hive) which features improved packaging and a
new style ring binder and box öwhich give the package a much more
professional imageò. Exist-ing users can get an upgrade to the new
software (but not the new packaging!) at a cost of ú11.75 for the two
new discs. MultiStore II has a new file format but, to overcome this
problem, Minerva provide a transfer utility so that you can convert your
old files to the new format. Minerva say, öThe changes to MultiStore
will not be immed-iately apparent to end users but some will notice an
increase in speedò.
4.6
Å NStore II Ö HS Software have released a new version of NStore2, their
National curriculum record keeping package, still ú29.95 inc VAT.
Existing users can get an upgrade to the new software by returning their
original disc to H.S. with a cheque for ú5.00. NStore II has had many
new facilities added in the light of ideas and suggestions made by
teachers and advisors using the original package. These include improved
ranking and alpha sorting, improved printing options, transfer of class
data between discs and block data entry for groups of Statements of
Attainments. Subject specific versions for secondary schools can be
obtained containing levels 1 to 10 in a particular core subject. Science
is available now and Maths and English are due in April.
4.6
Å PD library Ö Westbourne Services have just started a PD library for
the Archimedes. The discs are ú1.50 each. Westbourne Services will
supply a sample disc and catalogue for ú1.
4.6
Å Structural analysis of 2D frames Ö Civil engineers will be pleased to
see that the power of the Archimedes has been harnessed to provide
structural analysis of 2D frames and grids. Vision Six have two programs
for each Ö an entry level (ú150 +VAT each) allowing up to 32 items and a
full version (ú450 +VAT for frames and ú300 +VAT for grids) where the
number of items is only limited by the available memory. There is a
discount if you buy both a frames and a grids program at the same time.
öNever knowingly undersoldò Ö Vision Six say that if you can find a
better or even equivalent piece of software sold commercially for ANY
micro at a lower price, they will refund the difference!
4.6
Å ÉTwoæ productivity tools Ö Ian Copestake Software has produced TWO Ö
Task and Window Organiser which consists of various utilities to help
you keep your desktop tidy and to set up various tasks more quickly and
easily plus a number of other bits and pieces of applications. This is
especially aimed at schools. ú19 + VAT or ú60 +VAT for a site licence.
4.6