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1995-06-25
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The trend continues...
7.7
Although there are öonlyò five pages of Products Available this month
(cf eleven pages last month) there are going to be a large number of new
products launched at the Acorn User Show (preview on page 69). Only
about half of the exhibitors have so far responded to my request for
news but, from them, we have almost two pages of forthcoming products Ö
and only a brief description of each product is given.
7.7
As you can see from the list below of articles that didnæt make it into
this issue, Archive is growing, too.
7.7
I hope you will come and see us at the Acorn User Show (stand 119) Ö I
think you will be very pleased with the special offers we have for you
there Ö more details next month.... Watch this space!
7.7
Growth is the watchword in the Acorn world at the moment. Hope you enjoy
it!
7.7
Products Available
7.7
Å A5000 with larger drives Ö The 4Mb A5000 now has a 210Mb drive
instead of a 160Mb drive and the price has not changed Ö still ú1699 inc
VAT.
7.7
Å Acorn Access Ö The plug-and-go Ethernet system from Acorn, was
described in Archive last month. The prices have now been finalised.
There are three versions: AEH70 for A5000 and older computers that take
standard size podule, AEH71 which is plug-in version for A3020/4000
(i.e. it does not take up the podule slot) and AEH 72 for the A3000
which is an internal mini-podule. They are all the same price Ö ú145
+VAT or ú162 through Archive.
7.7
Å Acorn Level 4 Fileserver Ö The price of the new version has now been
set at ú399 +VAT or ú430 through Archive. The upgrade from earlier
versions is available from Acorn Direct in Wellingborough for ú99 +VAT
if you send the original disc.
7.7
Å Advantage is a new spreadsheet for education from Longman Logotron.
It aims to provide, at a budget price, all the key features to perform
straight forward calculations, data analysis and basic charting. Its
range of öintuitive and easy-to-use functions include: advanced point
and click user interface with button chart, formulae produced by typing
= and then clicking and dragging cells as required, print-to-fit
allowing the sheet to be fitted automatically onto the appropriate page
size, display of data as pie, area, column, line and scatter charts.
Advantage costs ú49 +VAT for single user (ú55 through Archive) or ú120
and ú190 for primary and secondary site licences (ú132 and ú207 through
Archive).
7.7
Å ArcFax 1.10 Ö A new version of ArcFax (original version reviewed in
Archive 6.5 p65) is now (just about) available. Extra features include:
two dimensional data compression (i.e. sends faxes faster); Twain
compliant which allows material to be scanned in directly; supports
class 8 voice modems which allows the computer to act as an answering
machine and a fax switch; it can merge faxes, hold and release, auto-
print, auto-forward faxes; it has log file window, direct send/receive
with call option, caller ID support, call-barring, debug display, auto-
send after time and one call multi-fax capability. ArcFax 1.10 costs ú35
from David Pilling or ú33 through Archive. (David admits that 1.10 is
still not 100% robust, so you may still wish to buy the 1.09 version
which costs on ú22 through Archive and upgrade later through David for
ú12 plus your original disc Ö this includes a new manual.)
7.7
We have at last got round to sorting out a suitable fax modem to sell
through Archive and are stocking (and using!) the World Port 14,400 (see
page 6) so you can now buy a complete system with modem, software and
cable, knowing that they will all work together! Ed.
7.7
Å Augusta Course Ö A new course is now available for Virtual Golf. 4th
Dimension have released Augusta in which öball flight and performance
are accurately compensated to simulate local atmospheric conditions.ò
This costs ú16.95 from 4th Dimension or ú16 through Archive.
7.7
Å Bitfolio Graphics Ö LOOKSystems have renegotiated their licence on
Bitfolio Graphics (see the review on page 7) and have reduced the price
from ú30 to ú20 inclusive through Archive. The conclusion to the review
is that they are övery good valueò and that was when the reviewer
thought that the price was ú30!
7.7
Å BCPL compiler Ö The ARM Club have the source code of a BCPL compiler
that was released into the public domain about 6 months or so ago. This
disc costs ú1 from the ARM Club.
7.7
Å Canon printer prices down Ö Canon have reduced the prices of their
three mono inkjets. The new Archive prices, with (and without)
TurboDriver, are: BJ10SX ú255 (ú215), BJ200 ú320 (ú280), BJ230 ú390
(ú350). The BJ10SX is the replacement for the BJ10EX. It is faster in
text mode but basically the same as the EX.
7.7
Å CardShop Ö This is a design application produced by Clares Micro
Supplies and is aimed at younger children. It allows them to design
greetings cards for Christmas, birthday, Easter, Motheræs Day, etc. You
can create and manipulate your card containing both pictures and text,
print out and construct an envelope including a row of Éstampsæ.
CardShop doesnæt generate a single finished product but a series of
items that require cutting out / assembly and possibly colouring Ö this
is to give the children a wider range of associated activities. It comes
complete with a range of images, sprites and borders for you to use.
CardShop costs ú24.95 inclusive from Clares or ú23 through Archive.
7.7
Å Coloured toner for LBP4/8 Ö We have had requests for colour toner
cartridges for laser printers. We looked into it and although Canon say
they donæt recommend the use of colour toners in mono printers (even
though they do in photocopiers Ö draw your own conclusions!) there is
one supplier in the States who does them. They are not cheap and the UK
importer admits that the colours are limited in range and not wonderful
in quality! All the coloured toner cartridges are ú120 each instead of
around ú80 for black. For the LBP4, the only colour is brown but it is
apparently a good strong colour but for the LBP8 there is Green, Blue,
Red and Brown (of these, the red is said to be the least effective).
Weæll put them on the Archive Membersæ Price List but if we get no
interest this month, we will take them off again. (If anybody does try
them, perhaps they would write and tell us how good they are. Thanks.
Ed.)
7.7
Å David Pilling software Ö Several items produced by David Pilling are
no longer available and have been removed from the Archive price list.
Also, all the programs that were ú6 have gone up to ú10. Even so, we
still feel that they are very good value for money.
7.7
Å Design Processor from Oak Solutions is an öintegrated design
environmentò aimed at Key Stages 3 and 4 for öIT Design & Makingò. It
has three distinct levels of entry. The first is a suite of CAD-type
packages and related applications, the second is a Design & Technology
database to inform pupils about components and processes and the third
is a database concept which includes not only components and design
elements but also complete projects. Design Processor currently covers
areas including Food, Electronics, Environments and Packaging but the
cost of a site licence for Design Processor, ú900 +VAT, includes three
yearsæ worth of updates to the system. Payments can be made by
instalments Ö details from Oak Solutions.
7.7
Å EdScheme Ö Lambda Publications have had to end their offer of a free
copy of the EdScheme software with each copy of the Schemeræs Guide Ö it
was too much of a bargain! However, they are prepared to offer a free
book with each copy of the software. Send them a cheque for ú45 with the
order and your Archive subscription number. This represents a saving of
ú17.50.
7.7
Å Eizo monitors Ö A new 17ö Eizo monitor, the F552, has appeared as a
replacement for the F550iW. Although it is virtually the same price
(ú1080 through Archive) and has the same display quality, it has several
advantages over the older monitor. On-screen display is used to simplify
the adjustments by providing a menu-driven display complete with help
function. In standby mode, it has a lower power consumption than the
F550. It has a MoirΘ pattern control to reduce the interaction between
the computeræs dot pattern and the monitoræs dot pattern. Finally, it
uses intelligent switching between inputs. This means that you can have
two computers connected to the monitor at the same time and whichever is
providing a signal gets displayed. Eizo also say that it has been
designed for even better reliability than the F550. (I would say thatæs
a bold claim as I have never known an F550 to go wrong! Ed.)
7.7
Å Ergo Keyboards Ö The special offer we had last month of Ergo
keyboards at ú105 instead of ú120 is continuing for another month
because the volume of orders for them is so high. When the volume of
orders drops, they will have to go back to ú120. The feedback we have
had about them so far has echoed Brian Cowanæs comments last month (page
49). One point to note about these keyboards is that, unlike standard
Acorn keyboards, the Ergos work properly on the A4 portable computers.
7.7
Also, Castle have produced an A3000 adaptor (ú40 +VAT from Castle
Technology) which allows the standard Ergo keyboards to be connected to
the A3000 via the mouse connector. It includes a small circuit board
that has to be fitted inside the A3000 but it needs no soldering.
7.7
Finally, Castle are also now able to supply foreign keyboards for 13
different countries Ö details from Castle Technology.
7.7
Å Fortran 77 Ö Intelligent Interfaces are now able to distribute
Acornæs !SrcEdit with the Fortran compiler. This means that the
throwback facility will now be available to all purchasers of the
compiler. The Fortran77 compiler costs ú99 +VAT from Intelligent
Interfaces or ú110 through Archive and the desktop front-end,
!Fortran77, costs ú25 +VAT or ú28 through Archive.
7.7
Å Genesis Project + Genesis Professional Ö These new versions of
Genesis are now available (well they should be, by the time you get this
magazine) from Oak Solutions. Both have been developed to take full
advantage of the colour cards now available and the önewly announced
VIDC chipò. They are based on a 24-bit colour model and can represent
over 16 million colours. Both can deal with a range of data types
including Artworks files, Replay films and even .BMP files from the
Windows environment. There are various other new features which Paul
Hooper will deal with in his column but one of the most important is the
increase in loading speed Ö öup to ten times fasterò.
7.7
Genesis Project costs ú50 +VAT (ú55 through Archive) and Genesis
Professional costs ú120 +VAT (ú132 through Archive). There are upgrades
available through Oak Solutions: Genesis/Genesis Plus to Project ú35
+VAT, Genesis/Genesis Plus to Professional ú90 +VAT and Genesis II to
Professional ú60 +VAT.
7.7
Å I/O card Ö Intelligent Interfaces have produced a 16-bit I/O card for
the Archimedes. It provides two separate 16-bit input/output ports, each
port being programmable as either input or output, and each with two
handshake lines. More details are given in the review on page 71. The
16-bit I/O card costs ú200 +p&p +VAT from Intelligent Interfaces or ú230
through Archive.
7.7
Å KernPlus is PTW Softwareæs kerning data editor. It allows you to
generate RISCáOS 3 fonts by providing an automatic algorithm for quick
conversion of old RISCáOS 2 fonts as well as a manual facility for
editing the kerning data. The price is ú15 which includes VAT, site
licence and free upgrades to new versions of the software.
7.7
Å Landscapes is a PhotoBase CD from Longman Logotron with more than
2000 high quality colour photographic images illustrating aspects of the
natural and man-made environment. The images cover topics including
architecture, economic activity, infrastructure, geography and nature.
Landscapes costs ú49 +VAT or ú54 through Archive.
7.7
Å Larger Ö This is a pinboard program with lots of extra features
beyond the one supplied with RISCáOS 3. It has a virtual desktop (hence
the name, Larger, I presume) to give you more desktop space, backdrop
organisation and enhanced iconisation controls. It costs ú10 inclusive
from Warm Silence Software and comes with unlimited free upgrades (on
receipt of a disc and SAE each time). Larger will work on a floppy-disc
system but is really intended for use with a hard disc.
7.7
Å PC card software upgrade Ö Acorn have released PC Card software with
enhancements that now make it easier to run DOS or Windows software
simultaneously with RISC OS. Existing owners of Acorn PC cards and
A4000/PC card systems can obtain the enhanced software free of charge by
returning the original Acorn PC card software disc, and Windows driver
where supplied, along with their name and address in an envelope clearly
marked ÉPC card upgradeæ to: Customer Services, Acorn Computers Ltd,
Acorn House, Vision Park, Histon, Cambridge CB4 4AE.
7.7
Å PinPoint 2 Ö This new version of Longman Logotronæs well-established
database program now has two new question types, one for holding
pictures or sound data and a calculated field type which allows
questions to be defined which fill themselves in from other information
entered elsewhere on your form. The import of information is öfaster,
easier and more flexibleò. For example, it can import a CSV file and
create a form for you automatically. PinPoint 2 has dispensed with the
graphics analysis workbench Ö instead, all the statistical and graphing
options work directly from the table view. There are more chart types,
together with crosstab analysis and more powerful statistical analysis
tools. Pinpoint 2 costs ú99 +VAT from Longman or ú108 through Archive
for a single user or ú400 +VAT (ú435 through Archive) for a site
licence.
7.7
Å PinPoint Datafiles Ö Longman Logotron have a series of datafiles for
use in education. They are: Solar System (KS 3/4), Food Glorious Food
(KS 2/3), Junior Olympics (KS 2/3), 1851 Census (KS 3/4), Dinosaurs (KS
2/3), Animal Kingdom (KS 2/3), Second World War (KS 3/4), Kartei
(German) (KS 3/4). Each is ú12 +VAT from Longman Logotron.
7.7
Å Plot Ö Clares have released what they describe as öthe most flexible
data manipulation and presentation package yetò. It provides a range of
facilities from simple pie and bar charts to illuminated surface plots
and will plot functions as well. For the advanced user, it can do linear
regression, least squares and curve fitting plus calculus operations öat
the click of a mouseò. Features include: scatter graphs, spherical
graphs, cylindrical graphs, surface plots, ternary diagrams; Cartesian,
parametric, polar, Lissajous, 3D Cartesian, cylindrical, spherical and
surface functions; graphs can be merged and intercepts calculated to
solve simultaneous equations; SID file import. Plot costs ú79.95
inclusive from Clares or ú74 through Archive.
7.7
Å Plotter is a graphic plotting application for the Pocket Book. It
plots mathematical functions such as Cartesian and polar functions,
inequality graphs and coordinate pairs. It can be used in conjunction
with Calc, providing a specialist graphical calculator. It comes on SSD
and costs ú29.95 +VAT or ú34 through Archive. A class pack of 11 copies
costs ú299.50 +VAT or ú335 through Archive.
7.7
Å Removable drive prices cut (again) Ö The prices of the 105Mb 3╜ö and
the 45Mb 5╝ò removable drives have dropped quite substantially this
month. The A5000 105M SCSI is down to ú390, with the IDE version at
ú360. The external SCSI 105Mb drives are now ú470.
7.7
(I know this is tempting fate, but since I started using the 105Mb
removables in October Ö thatæs five months using them all day, every day
Ö I havenæt had a single data error! Ed)
7.7
The 45Mb (external) drives are down to ú370 and the cartridges to ú70.
7.7
(As a matter of interest, when we first sold the 45Mb removables in
October 1990, they were ú680 Ö and the previous month, one company was
selling them at ú749 +VAT = ú880! Ed.)
7.7
Å Spooler Ö Clares Micros have produced a desktop print spooler which
allows you to print to disc so that you can continue working as the
printing is done in the background. It will even allow you to start
doing other work while the print-to-disc part of the operation is in
progress. You can queue documents ready for printing and change the
number of copies quite easily. Spooler costs ú15 inc VAT from Clares or
ú14 through Archive. There is a site licence available for ú30 inc VAT
(ú28 through Archive).
7.7
Å SPOT image data Ö Spacetech are making data available from the SPOT
land-mapping satellite at very low prices Ö to educational
establishments only Ö in the form of a CD-ROM containing 50 images. Some
scenes are full-size (60km square) and down to 10 metre resolution while
others are sub-scenes selected for geographical interest and relevance
to the Geography syllabus. Because some of the images are very large
(50Mb+), SpaceTech have written an application called PDSmap to simplify
the extraction of full-resolution image data or to view the whole image
at reduced resolution. PDSmap costs ú19.50 +VAT and the CD-ROM is
ú139.50 +VAT to education only, i.e. only for non-commercial use. There
are various package prices available from SpaceTech for this and other
data on CD-ROM Ö write to them for full details.
7.7
We asked last month for a replacement for the now discontinued Morley
Teletext adaptor and here it is...
7.7
Å Teletext expansion card Ö Design IT have just produced TeleView
Hardware, the first Teletext expansion card designed specifically for
the Archimedes. The software provided is a fully RISCáOS compliant
application called !TeleCFax which allows you to select channels, hold
pages or reveal hidden text, etc. Pages can be saved as sprites, BBC
mode 7 screens or as Écleanæ ASCII text where any graphics have been
filtered out. It is also possible to create script files to
automatically download pages and you can even set the computeræs time
via Teletext. !TeleCFax will also correctly display pages received in
foreign languages including German, French and Swedish.
7.7
There are two variants of the card. The first will receive teletext only
and costs ú145 +VAT (or ú165 inclusive through Archive). The second is
ú159 +VAT (or ú180 through Archive) and provides connections for
composite video and sound suitable for Éwalkmanæ headphones. This allows
you to listen to the TV, use a digitiser to grab live images or use the
computer to record TV programmes to a video recorder that will not
normally receive TV signals.
7.7
The TeleView hardware is a half-width card suitable for use in the A310,
A4xx and A5000 computers. A version for the A3000 is also available
although at the time of writing the versions for the A3010, A3020 and
A4000 series are not yet ready. The system is fully compatible with both
RISCáOSá2 and RISCáOSá3. A version of the TeleCFax software for use with
Morley Electronics adapters is also available for ú25 +VAT (ú28 through
Archive).
7.7
Teletext serving for Econet, AUN and Access networks will be available
öin a couple of monthsò.
7.7
Å WordSquare Ö This program from David Pilling allows word squares to
be solved and generated at random or from a given list of words. It is
supplied with a 200,000 word dictionary. Multiple/user defined
dictionaries can be added and dictionaries can be edited or browsed and
words added. The dictionaries are compatible with Ovation. You can save
the word square as a drawfile and the words as text. WordSquare costs
ú10 inc VAT through Archive.
7.7
Å World Port 14,400 fax/data modem Ö We are now stocking a fax/data
modem that can provide a öone-stop shopò way into getting fax facilities
on your Archimedes. The WorldPort 14,400 fax/data modem is actually a
pocket-sized modem so you could operate it from batteries and use it
with an A4 Portable but it comes with a mains power pack so you donæt
have to worry about batteries running out in the middle of a long fax!
The modem is compatible with V22 bis, V23, V32, V32 bis, V54, Bell 103,
Bell 212A, MNP and the fax facility is compatible with TIA/EIA-578
(Class 1 Asynchronous), V17, V29, V27 ter and V21. To the average end-
user (like Ed!) this just means that it sends and receives faxes (using
ArcFax ú22 or ArcFax 1.20 ú33 Ö see above) and you can log on to various
bulletin boards at up to 14,400 and down to 1200/75 (V23) with
appropriate software. (I use ArcComm but Hearsay or ArcTerm are equally
suitable.) The complete modem pack costs ú270 through Archive and this
includes two 9V alkaline batteries, fax software and modem software for
using it on an MS-DOS PC and an AT compatible cable. The AT cable is no
good for the Archimedes and the plugs are sealed so you would have
difficulty modifying it. An Archimedes lead costs ú13 through Archive.
7.7
(To be honest, the reason we got going on fax modems is that I have
moved my office upstairs at 96a and was getting very fed up with running
up and down stairs to send faxes so I picked this modem on the basis of
price and features and have been extremely pleased with it. The system
with ArcFax works beautifully in that I send a fax and if the number is
engaged, ArcFax tries again later while I get on with my work Ö it all
happens in the background. Ed.)
7.7
Review software received...
7.7
We have received review copies of the following: ÅAdvantageá(e), á
ÅAugusta Course for Virtual Golfá(g), á ÅBasic WIMP Programmingá(bk), á
ÅMusic Boxá(e), á ÅNight Skyá(e), á ÅPayroll Managerá(b), á
ÅPenFriendá(u), á ÅSwitchá(g),á ÅWordSquareá(e/g).
7.7
e=Education, b=Business, bk=Book, g=Game, h=Hardware, l=Language,
u=Utility, a=Art.
7.7
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
7.7
Government Health Warning Ö Reading this could seriously affect your
spiritual health.
7.7
Do you listen to the radio much? When I hear interviews, I sometimes
wonder how much they have been edited. How much of what was actually
said has been edited out before it is played over the air? Iæm sure
that, in the wrong hands, edited radio interviews could be quite
misleading.
7.7
When I speak to people about the Christian faith, I often get something
along the lines of, öYou donæt have to go to church to be a Christian Ö
just follow Jesusæ teaching.ò Well, yes, there is an element of truth in
that Ö it certainly isnæt going to church that makes you a Christian.
But when I ask what öteachingò they follow, the reply is often something
like, öWell, I obey the ten commandments and Jesusæ summary of it: Love
thy neighbour as thyselfò. Sounds reasonable, doesnæt it?
7.7
Hang on a minute! Someone has edited the tape. The interview actually
went like this (Matthew 22 v35): One of them, an expert in the law,
tested him with this question: öTeacher, which is the greatest
commandment in the Law?ò Jesus replied: öÉLove the Lord your God with
all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.æ This is
the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ÉLove
your neighbour as yourself.æò
7.7
Is it really fair to say that you keep Jesusæ teaching? Do you really
ölove the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your mindò? When was the last time you actually talked to God?
Was it the last time you had an emergency?
7.7
The Christian ethic is a very good and helpful one and Iæd be quite
happy if more people followed it... but donæt kid yourself, following
the Christian ethic and having öa belief in Godò doesnæt make you a
Christian.
7.7
What would your wife think if you said you loved her and believed in
her... but the only time you ever talked to her was when you wanted
something?!
7.7
Paul Beverley
7.7
P.B.
7.7
Fact-File
7.7
(The numbers in italic are fax numbers)
7.7
4th Dimension P.O. Box 4444, Sheffield. (0742-700661) (0742-781091)
7.7
4Mation 14 Castle Park Road, Whiddon Valley, Barnstaple, Devon, EX32
8PA.
7.7
(0271-25353)
7.7
Abacus Training 29 Okus Grove, Upper Stratton, Swindon, Wilts, SN2
6QA.
7.7
Acorn Direct 13 Dennington Road, Wellingborough, Northants, NN8 2RL.
(0933-228953)
7.7
Acorn Computers Ltd Acorn House, Vision Park, Histon, Cambridge, CB4
4AE. (0223-254254)
7.7
(0223-254262)
7.7
Apricote Studios 2 Purls Bridge Farm, Manea, Cambridgeshire, PE15 0ND.
(0354-680432)
7.7
Castle Technology Ore Trading Estate, Woodbridge Road, Framlingham,
Suffolk, IP13 9LL.
7.7
(0728-621222) (0728-621179)
7.7
Clares Micro Supplies 98 Middlewich Road, Rudheath, Northwich,
Cheshire, CW9 7DA.
7.7
(0606-48511) (0606-48512)
7.7
Colton Software (p13) 2 Signet Court, Swanns Road, Cambridge, CB5 8LA.
(0223-311881)
7.7
(0223-312010)
7.7
Computer Concepts (pp14/33) Gaddesden Place, Hemel Hempstead, Herts,
HP2 6EX. (0442-63933)
7.7
(0442-231632)
7.7
Dalmation Publications 30 Henley Grove, Henleaze, Bristol, BS9 4EG.
7.7
Datafile 71 Anson Road, Locking, Weston-super-Mare, Avon, BS24 7DQ.
7.7
(0934-823005)
7.7
David Pilling P.O.Box 22, Thornton Cleveleys, Blackpool, FY5 1LR.
7.7
Davyn Software The Workshop, off Princess Street, Sandal, Wakefield,
WF1 5NY.
7.7
(0924-254800)
7.7
Design Concept 30 South Oswald Road, Edinburgh, EH9 2HG. (031-668-
2000)
7.7
Design IT 15 Woodlands Road, Wombourne, South Staffs, WV5 0JZ. (0902-
894775) (0902-894775)
7.7
EMR Ltd 14 Mount Close, Wickford, Essex, SS11 8HG. (0702-335747)
7.7
Expressive Software Products Holly Tree Cottage, Main Street, Strelley
Village, Nottingham, NG8 6PD. (0602-295019)
7.7
GamesWare Unit 26, The Bartletts, Hamble, Hants., SO35 5RP.
(0703Ö456523) (0703Ö456523)
7.7
Gremlin Graphics Ltd Carver House, 2-4 Carver Street, Sheffield, S1
4FS. (0742-753423)
7.7
(0742-768581)
7.7
Intelligent Interfaces Ltd P.O.Box 80, Eastleigh, Hants, SO5 5YX.
(0703-261514) (0703-267904)
7.7
Irlam Instruments 133 London Road, Staines, Middlesex TW18 4HN. (0895-
811401)
7.7
Krisalis Software Teque House, Masonæs Yard, Downs Row, Moorgate,
Rotherham, S60 2HD. (0709-372290)
7.7
Lambda Publications 194 Cheney Manor Road, Swindon SN2 2NZ. (0793-
695296)
7.7
Longman Logotron 124 Cambridge Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge
CB4 4ZS.
7.7
(0223-425558) (0223-425349)
7.7
LOOKsystems 47 Goodhale Road, Bowthorpe, Norwich, NR5 9AY. (0603-
748253)
7.7
(0603-764011)
7.7
Matt Black P.O.Box 42, Peterborough, PE1 2TZ. (0733-315439)
7.7
Norfolk IT Team Norfolk County Inset Centre Witard Road Norwich NR7
9XD. (0603-33276)
7.7
Oak Solutions (p21) Dial House, 12 Chapel Street, Halton, Leeds, LS15
7RN (0532-326992)
7.7
(0532-326993)
7.7
Oregan Developments 36 Grosvenor Avenue, Streetly, Sutton Coldfield,
B74 3PE.
7.7
PTW Software 72 Frosthole Crescent, Fareham, Hampshire, PO15 6BG.
(0329-281930)
7.7
Quantum Software 35 Pinewood Park, Deans, Livingston, EH54 8NN. (0506-
411162 after 6)
7.7
Risc Developments 117 Hatfield Road, St Albans, Herts, AL1 4JS. (0727-
840303) (0727-860263)
7.7
Robico Software 3 Fairland Close, Llantrisant, Mid Glamorgan, CF7 8QH.
(0443-227354)
7.7
Safesell Exhibitions (p22) Market House, Cross Road, Tadworth, Surrey
KT20 5SR.
7.7
Sherston Software Swan Barton, Sherston, Malmesbury, Wilts. SN16 0LH.
(0666-840433)
7.7
(0666-840048)
7.7
Spacetech 21 West Wools, Portland, Dorset, DT5 2EA. (0305-822753)
(0305-860483)
7.7
Stallion Software Ltd Arundel House, Arundel Road, Camden, Bath, BA1
5JX. (0225-339090)
7.7
State Machine 75 Wellington Street, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU1 5AA.
(0582-483377)
7.7
(0582-480833)
7.7
Superior Software P.O. Box 6, Brigg, S Humberside, DN20 9NH. (0652-
658585) (0652-657807)
7.7
Techsoft UK Ltd Old School Lane, Erryrs, Mold, Clwyd, CH7 4DA. (082-
43318)
7.7
Tekoa Graphics 16 Murray Road, Rugby, CV21 3JN. (0788-571434) (0788-
546376)
7.7
The ARM Club Freepost ND6573, London, N12 0BR. (081-446-3020)
7.7
Topologika P.O. Box 39, Stilton, Peterborough, PE7 3RL. (0733-244682)
7.7
USARC Spuistraat 73, 1012 ST Amsterdam, The Netherlands. (+31-20-
381534)
7.7
Warm Silence Software St Catherineæs College, Manor Road, Oxford, OX1
3UJ. (0865-54382)
7.7
Wild Vision 15 Witney Way, Boldon Colliery, Tyne & Wear NE35 9PE.
(091-519-1455) (091-519-1929)
7.7
Archive Monthly Program Disc Contents
7.7
Å Rhapsody files provided by Stewart Watson (Music Column)
7.7
Å A sample program from Francis Crossleyæs article about Writing a
Program
7.7
Å Programs from Paul Hobbsæ Advanced Basic article
7.7
Å A sample Magpie file (especially for Trekkies!) by Paul Hooper
(Magpie/Genesis Column)
7.7
Å Some notes on setting up !Printers by James Munday plus printer
drivers for Epson FX85
7.7
Å The DrawFile module as mentioned in Comment Column
7.7
Å The full unexpurgated version of Richard Torrensæ article on
Electronic CAD Ö it was rather long so we only gave a summary in the
magazine.
7.7
Bitfolio Cartoon Graphics
7.7
Dave Wilcox
7.7
Bitfolio Cartoon Graphics is a new offering from LOOKsystems consisting,
as the title suggests, of cartoon drawings, converted from the PC world.
7.7
The package
7.7
The package consists of three discs presented very nicely in a double CD
type case adapted to carry 3╜ö discs. Disc one contains !Sparkplug, the
PD read only version of the archiver by David Pilling, along with a
compressed file containing your first 35 pictures and discs 2 and 3 each
contain a further 28 and 38 pictures respectively, also archived via
Spark. For Archimedes users unfamiliar with !Sparkplug, there are
instructions on the rear of the case taking you through its use. When
decompressed, this gives you a grand total of some 3.2Mb of data.
7.7
The drawings
7.7
A large proportion of the drawings are office orientated, with sketches
of men and women performing version types of office work. There are
smaller selections of drawings covering different professions, sports
and pastimes.
7.7
All of the 100 drawings are fully coloured and in draw format Ö not
sprites. The quality is very good, with all of the drawings, without
exception, sharing the same high standard. One slight improvement to the
disc would be to have all drawings saved at the zoom setting of 1:1 Ö
for some reason, a large number have been saved to the discs at a zoom
of 4:1 but this is only a minor inconvenience.
7.7
An example of the quality and clarity can be seen below:
7.7
This one appeals to me, as I am sure it will to all other ömusic-on-
holdò haters Ö Iæll let you think of your own thought bubbles for this
one! Personally, I think the expression says it all. Excellent!
7.7
Conclusion
7.7
With clipart of this standard, you are getting very good value for
money, especially when you consider that PC or Mac users would be paying
double this price for the same product Ö serves them right for not
buying Acorn! If you have a need for cartoon-type drawings of people,
this package is for you. It certainly beats trying to draw them
yourself.
7.7
This three disc set is available direct from LOOKSystems for ú30
inclusive, or through Archive for the inclusive price of ú28.ááA
7.7
(The price has just gone down to ú20 inclusive of VAT & carriage! Ed.)
7.7
Pocket Book Column
7.7
Audrey (& John) Laski
7.7
As a committed Pocket Book user, not technically-minded myself but with
an expert spouse, I am very happy to have the opportunity to run a
column devoted to this marvellous little machine. Iæve written a good
deal of it myself today, with Johnæs help, but hope in future that the
material will be chiefly from other usersæ letters.
7.7
Please send letters direct to me in future, (Audrey Laski, 18 Ebury
Street, London, SW1W OLU) rather than via Paul, giving as full a
description as possible of your problems or successes. Mind you, in view
of the pressure on space in Archive, Iæll often fillet or precis. Iæll
try to pass on whatever other people might find useful, wants lists,
news and reviews about software, etc.
7.7
A short love letter
7.7
öWell, itæs only another executive toy, isnæt it?ò said my brother-in-
law dismissively.
7.7
He looked slightly more thoughtful once he had seen the address book
(150 entries and rising) the budget, the four sets of lecture notes, the
almost perpetual diary and a few of the other goodies I have constructed
or acquired, all stored within an object the height and breadth of a
Filofax but much slimmer.
7.7
I have needed the Pocket Book all my life and it is slightly sad that it
has only come along when I am retired from the administrative work that
it would have made so much easier. I feel something like affection for
it, compounded by the fact that, when it is first opened, a faint,
agreeable smell drifts up from it: do other users experience this, or am
I just besotted?
7.7
A warning
7.7
I donæt know whether it was an electrical spike or what, but the Pocket
Book died on me when I was in the middle of a simple act of editing,
with the power supply operational to save batteries. With my technical
advisor out of the house, I flailed about, switching everything in sight
off and on, and either I performed a soft reset in my panic, or the
spike had already forced one.
7.7
When I looked at the desktop, I had got back all my original
applications and files, but seemed to have lost Schedule. It took some
time and hysteria to realise that it needed to be separately reinstalled
on the desktop screen, with its icon and button set up the way it first
was. The procedure is detailed on p.153 of the Usersæ Manual; if you
donæt want to hunt for your copy, press <menu> when you have the desktop
display, choose Éinstall applicationæ, and do what you are told.
7.7
To my relief, not only did Schedule come back like a lamb, but so did
the schedules that were running my life; they had been securely held in
M:\SCH, the directory Schedule uses.
7.7
A couple of days later, I tried to use the A-Link and found the system
claiming that the Pocket Book was not connected; again, it took me a
little while to notice the fact that, presumably as another effect of
the reset, I no longer had the Remote Link constantly set to öOnò and at
the right baud rate. A more efficient user than me would have thought of
dealing with that immediately, Iæm sure, but I record these alarms for
the sake of those who, like me, tend to expect the machines to do our
thinking for us. (A-Link guide pp. 4ff., or choose ÉRemote Linkæ in the
Special Menu on the desktop.)
7.7
A hardware problem
7.7
David Leckie, of Fort William, writes of a difficulty connecting his A-
Link to his Archimedes via an extension cable. It appears that v2.03
doesnæt like the non-standard Archimedes wiring of his extension cable,
though this is believed to be Éthe de facto standard for all A series
from the earliest A310 to the latest A5000, and even though later
machines had a different serial chip which worked OK with the PC
standard wiring.æ
7.7
Perhaps someone out there knows how to wire an extension cable which
will work with old and new standard peripheral hardware: maybe a switch?
7.7
Using the A-Link
7.7
The A-Linkæs documentation can be confusing, particularly for users of
Schedule and Event (see Ralph Sillettæs problem below). This memo from
JL attempts an overview of the A-Link organisation.
7.7
1) If you click <select> at the A-linkæs iconbar icon, you can transfer
files of certain types only, i.e. files for certain intended uses. In
such a transfer, not only is the Écontaineræ (file) in the Pocket Book
transferred to a Écontaineræ on the Archimedes, (or vice-versa,) but the
contents are transformed from a structure that makes sense to the Pocket
Book programs into a structure that makes sense to RISC OS programs.
7.7
2) If you click on <menu> at the A-linkæs iconbar icon, and then choose
öOpen É$æò, you will get an ordinary looking Directory viewer titled
PocketFS:: Remote.$, containing drives M, A and B. Within these drives
are directories with three letter names, e.g. ÉWRDæ or ÉSCHæ. These are
the default directories for the various Pocket Book applications, and
some (not including SCH) are recognised by the A-link software using (1)
above. However, files in directories have a three-letter extension and
this also must accord with the applicationæs requirements. If a file has
the wrong extension, the application and the display canæt see it and
(1) wonæt work.
7.7
However, ordinary dragging from these directories into ordinary
Archimedes directories only takes the file over, without in any way
transforming the contents. It is most unlikely that such files can be
used, or even looked at on the Archimedes. The only useful thing you can
do with them is hold them in the Archimedes as backup files that you can
transfer back to the Pocket Book if you need to.
7.7
In order that they be useful on the Archimedes, they need to be
filetyped, and there has to be a program that can accept the contents in
Pocket Book format, or you need a program that can transform the
contents so that some other program can accept them. In this latter
case, e.g. Event, there has to be a third program that will reverse the
effect of the first if you want to take your work back to the Pocket
Book.
7.7
All this is done for you by method (1) above Ö for certain kinds of
contents: those of Card, Word and Abacus. There is a suggestion in the
documentation that modules can be written to extend this, but they give
no specification as to the rules of the game or, lamentably, how to find
out.
7.7
(There is a question about PipeDream to Pocket Book transfers in the
PipeLinez Column on page 62. Ed.)
7.7
Schedule and Event
7.7
Ralph Sillett of Penkridge, Staffs, another enthusiast who has replaced
1 lb. 10 oz. of Filofax with 12 oz. of Pocket Book, wrote with a problem
about transferring files between Schedule and Event. By the time I had
acquired Event, he had solved his problem himself, but his enquiry
prompted a lot of correspondence from the other side of our bed, some
about easing the relationship between Schedule and Event, and some about
the issues discussed above.
7.7
Dragging to Event from a file in the \SCH directory is straightforward:
click <menu> and choose É$æ, as described in (2) above, to find the \SCH
directory.
7.7
However, if you save as EvSch from Event into this directory, you will
find that Schedule canæt find EvSch and, indeed, that you canæt see it
in the Pocket Book desktop.
7.7
Donæt Panic! The file is there. The problem is that it has the wrong
extension. You need to change the extension from .ris to .sch.
Unfortunately, the Pocket Book documentation on its filing system almost
hides the extensions from the user, and Eventæs documentation, referring
to the Pocket Book documentation, does little to lift the veil.
7.7
You canæt find out about these extensions from the RemoteFS windows that
you see on the Acorn Desktop through the A-link. Nor are they shown on
the normal Pocket Book window. You have to press <tab> on the Pocket
Book and find your way round the filing system. Once you have got to the
\SCH directory, you will see the extensions, and the Pocket Bookæs menus
make it very easy to rename EvSch.ris to EvSch.sch. Schedule will then
stop disdaining its new file, and you will see it on the Pocket Book
desktop.
7.7
Schedule wish list
7.7
What Schedule really needs is a way to print from a Schedule file,
either within the Pocket Book, or via Archimedes. It would be nice to be
able to export Schedule files as text in such a way that they make sense
to the reader, and can be printed out. Again, a specification of how
Schedule holds its information, which would be needed to do this, does
not seem to be readily available. You can, of course, transfer your file
into Event, but not everyone will want to acquire a second diary
program.
7.7
General wish list
7.7
Mr. Sillett suggests a program to provide password protection as with
the Psion 3 and 3A. What would you like to see?ááA
7.7
Hints and Tips
7.7
Å A4 battery pack Ö There may be people who are worried about the idea
suggested in Hints and Tips last month, p35, of allowing the battery
pack of an A4 laptop to be run completely flat. Let me reassure you Ö I
used to race radio-controlled model cars which were powered by the same
type of Nickel Cadmium battery and serious model car racers always store
the battery packs completely flat, for weeks on end, precisely to avoid
the Émemory effectæ mentioned. There is nothing worse than the car
running out of juice on the last lap Ö especially when you are in the
lead! The only point to mention is that the discharging should be done
as slowly as possible for the best results.á Paul Hobbs, Germany.
7.7
Å A-Link disconnection Ö The A-Link cable can be disconnected from the
Pocket Book (or Psion 3) without powering down. However, the computer
end must never be disconnected while the computer is on because the
serial port is quite sensitive. NCS.
7.7
Å A-Link/Psion 3a compatibility Ö Acorn confirm that for the majority
of uses, A-Link will transfer files between a RISC OS system and a Psion
3a. One area where compatibility is not assured is with some formulae
when transferring a spreadsheet file converted from 3a format to CSV.
NCS.
7.7
Å CC Turbo Driver and a printer switch Ö The Computer Concepts Turbo
Driver which I bought to go with the Stylus, achieves its protection by
öscramblingò the output to the parallel port, and unscrambling it with a
special cable. I was afraid that I would not be able to use my printer
switch to flip between the Stylus, driven by the Turbo, and my old
(cheaper-to-run) LQ850, driven conventionally. Happily, it seems that
the Turbo Driver, once it is installed, even though it may not be
active, scrambles everything that goes through the parallel port. So,
providing that the öunscramblingò cable is between the Archimedes and
the printer switch, all is well.á Bill Mapleson, Cardiff.
7.7
Å CCæs RISCáOS 3 printer drivers Ö For ages, I had problems with CCæs
RISCáOS 3 printers drivers for Laser Direct (at work) and the BJ10
TurboDriver (at home). They both complained that they didnæt like one of
my fonts (Freestyle that I use for my ösignatureò) and suggested I
switched öQuick Text offò. Unfortunately, unlike the RISCáOS 2 drivers,
neither of these printer drivers has any configuration that is anything
to do with öQuick Textò.
7.7
CC themselves couldnæt tell me what the problem was or why it gave the
error or what I could do about it! Dave McCartney of DataFile came to
the rescue. (Thanks, Dave.) All you have to do is switch öHalftoneò to
öGraphics onlyò. This is done by going through Printer Control, through
Printers Configure and then the Halftone Set. option. If you want to
continue to avoid halftones on text, remember to Save Choices.á Ed.
7.7
Å Epson Stylus and RISC OS 2 Ö I recently bought an Epson Stylus 1000,
a superb printer, able to take A3 paper öbroadsideò, but I found that I
could not get it to work properly under RISC OS 2. The problem was
solved once I had installed RISC OS 3.1. If anyone desperately wants to
make a Stylus work under OS 2, I can supply a work-around for printing
in text mode, but not in graphics mode. I imagine that the same would
apply equally to the (A4) Stylus 800, and there is some evidence that it
might not work under OS 3.0.
7.7
First thing after switching on the Stylus, send a non-printing character
to the printer by going to the command line (f12) and pressing <ctrl-B>,
<ctrl-L> and <ctrl-C> (and <return> to get back to the desktop). Then
all will be well for text printing except that I suspect things might
hang before the end of a very long file Ö more than 32Kb or 64Kb. I say
this because, in graphics mode, it hangs after about 32Kb, and in Hex
Dump mode, it hangs after printing exactly 64K ASCII codes. (64Kb is the
default size of the input buffer of the Stylus.)
7.7
The logic behind this is that the Stylus seems to need a pause between
the first and second character that it receives. Thus, immediately after
switching the printer on, typing at the command prompt (after hitting
<ctrl-B>) sends everything perfectly to the printer Ö although it will
wait until it has a few dozen characters before it will deign to
disgorge any from its buffer. On the other hand, if you program a
function key with a string of characters, switch on the printer, press
<ctrl-B>, and hit the function key (so that there are microseconds
rather than milliseconds between the characters) this will block the
connection: if the string is sent repeatedly, the Archimedes will
eventually lock, presumably with its output buffer full. If you then
press <escape> to clear the buffer, and start hitting the function key
again, all will be well. However, if the first character of the string
was different from the second, you will see that the first character is
printed twice so that the printer received the one character but then
refused to accept any more. Alternatively, if you send a file to the
printer (first thing after switching on) the printer and Archimedes will
lock. If you then abort the print on the Archimedes, and re-print, all
will be well Ö but with the first character of the file appearing twice.
7.7
Why all this should be so, and why Risc OS 3.1 should solve the problem
is a mystery; but I suspect that Acorn are aware of it because, in the
ReadMe file in öPrinters.Canonò on the RISC OS 3.1 App2 disc, there is a
mention that, under Risc OS 3.00 or earlier, the Canon BJC-800 printer
will not print anything larger than about 7K ö(the size of the buffer in
the BJC-800 printer)ò.á Bill Mapleson, Cardiff.
7.7
Å Equasor Ö One of our customers recently experienced strange problems
using Equasor. The crosshairs that are used to place the caret when ÉNew
Equationæ is selected from the Edit submenu simply locked when select
was clicked rather than disappearing to leave the caret. Equasor
continued to run and the crosshairs were erased when anything was
redrawn over the equasor window. It was impossible to create an
expression.
7.7
The problem was due to the configuration options for WimpDragDelay and
WimpDragMove both being set to zero. Presumably Equasor saw the mouse-
click event as a drag rather than a click and did not know how to
behave. With these set to the default values (5 and 32 respectively) or
any other non-zero values, the caret appeared as expected.á NCS
7.7
Å Impression date format Ö The hint last month (p37) about date and
time formats for Impression Style actually applies to Impression II as
well. Simply use Impression$DateFormat and Impression$ TimeFormat.á
Colin Singleton, Sheffield.
7.7
Å Incorporating formulae into Impression text Ö For quite some time, I
have been miffed at the trouble I had fitting formulae (both Equasor and
BestForm) into myámathematical texts. Only the intensive work needed to
get thoroughly acquainted with the new Impression Style caused me to sit
down and think about formulae. (Shame on me Ö such a lot of time
wasted!)
7.7
As there may be one or two amongst you with the same problems, so here
is what I found out:
7.7
a) Sizeî Ö I used to have to scale the view to something like 400%, then
change the size of the characters inside the Equasor window by adjust-
dragging, until it equalled that of the main text.
7.7
What I should have done is this: Either use the same font size in
Equasor as in Impression, then make sure that the graphic frame is at
100% (this can be checked by double-clicking somewhere in the frame,
thus opening the öAlter Graphicsò dialogue box) or, if the Equasor
setting is larger, scale the graphics down numerically, again with the
help of the dialogue box.
7.7
b) Positionî Ö If you embed a small frame containing a formula into the
text with <ctrl-shift-F>, the text inside the frame will sit above the
line, because the alignment takes place between the bottom of the frame
and the line. Therefore I used to place formulae on the page manually,
which meant that every change to the text above the frame made a new
positioning necessary.
7.7
Here is what I should have done: Embed the frame, put the caret just to
the left of it, then use the manual kerning facility to shift the frame
down with repeated presses of <ctrl-J>. Then all thatæs left to do is
put the caret to the right of the frame and press <ctrl-U> the same
number of times to bring the rest of the line back up.á Jochen
Konietzko, K÷ln, Germany
7.7
Å Inspiration on RISC OS 3 Ö I have found out how to get the MIDI
sequencer ÉInspirationæ to work with RISC OS 3.10. Basically, all you do
is to load both of the template files into a template editor and ensure
that the ÉSpriteæ option is switched off for all icons. This results in
a lot of blank icons in the templates, but at least it doesnæt give
address exceptions whenever you click anything. The writers of the
program abandoned the project some years ago and the company marketing
it have ceased trading, so for the moment this is the only fix, unless
anyone else has found a better way!á Richard Millican, Manchester.
7.7
Å Keystroke Ö (Here is Edæs monthly crop of keystroking!) If you have
to add and subtract as many commas as I do, you will appreciate the
following ideas that I have used. At first, I used <ctrl-alt-,> to add a
comma at the end of a word. It was just a case of clicking anywhere in
the word to be commaæd and the key inserted the text ö\S-ë\\êêêê\,ò which
worked except where the word to be commaæd was at the RH end of a line
of text Ö because it has to go past the linefeed as well as the space.
Instead, I now use ö\S-ë\\êêêê\|?, ò as my text string (note the space after
the comma). In other words, instead of moving back one space from the
beginning of the following word before adding the comma, it deletes the
space between the two words and adds comma and space.
7.7
The other change I made to my commaæing function was to move it from
<ctrl-alt-,> to <ctrl-alt-A>. This means that my right hand doesnæt have
to leave the mouse to hit <,> while the left hand holds <ctrl-alt>.
Instead, I can add the comma entirely with my left hand and I can
continue to look at the text rather than looking down to locate the
comma key. (Similarly, I remove a character from the end of a word now
by using <ctrl-alt-Z> (left hand only) which inserts the text ö\S-
ë\|?|?áò.)
7.7
Other keys I now use include: <ctrl-alt-S> which capitalises (or
uncapitalises) the next word. It consists of ö\S-ë\|Sò. The point about
it is that it can auto-repeat and capitalise a whole line of words.
7.7
My invert words keystring has now changed to ö|D\S-ë\|V\S-ê\\S-ê\ò. If you
compare with the hint last month, all I have done is to add a ömove left
two wordsò at the end. This means that the cursor is brought back to the
beginning of the first of the two words inverted. The reason I do this
is that if I invert two words by mistake, I can immediately see which
two words have to be re-inverted to restore things.
7.7
Å Keystroke again Ö Just to show what you can do with Keystroke, I have
a key which does the following: load my Impression öenvelopeò file,
adjust the window so that a frame embedded within the file is in the
centre of the screen, load my standard öletterò file, adjust the size
and position, insert the date and move the cursor to the position where
I want to enter the address. I then type in the address and press
another key which copies the address, brings the envelope file to the
front, types in the address and prints the envelope. For people I write
to regularly, I can incorporate the address in the first Keystroke
sequence so that the whole thing is done with a single keystroke.á Peter
Howard, Fleet.
7.7
Å Print margins on HP DeskJet 500 Ö I use a monochrome DeskJet 500
printer and I have found that the actual print margins are different
from the öGeneric DeskJetò settings as supplied with the RISC OS 3
printer drivers. And their A4 margins are different from their Legal and
Letter ones! The latter are, in fact, close to reality. The Legal and
Letter (Generic DeskJet) settings give the top and bottom margins as 5.1
and 20.1 cm respectively, while the A4 (Generic DeskJet) setting gives
12.5 and 19.9cm. I use the DeskJet+ driver with the colour options
turned off and my settings are 5.1cm for the top and 12.0 for the bottom
margin. The left and right margins, although differing slightly, I leave
as they are, as I (and most people, I think) usually set wider side
margins anyway. I leave the Paper Offsets at the supplied DeskJet (and/
or DeskJet+) setting i.e. 4.23 for X and 0.00 for Y.á Rex Palmer,
Middlesex.ááA
7.7
Colton Software
7.7
New artwork
7.7
CC
7.7
New artwork
7.7
Writing a Program Ö Part 2
7.7
Francis Crossley
7.7
Design procedure
7.7
In last monthæs article, I discussed some of the properties of compiled
and interpreted languages. In this article, I want to look at a method
of designing a program. I shall use Basic as the language because it is
available on all Archimedes computers but the principles considered are
common to whichever language you use. I shall use the approach known as
Étop down designæ also called Éstepwise refinementæ. In this technique,
the abstract Ö what the program is to do Ö changes by steps into the
concrete Ö how the program is actually implemented.
7.7
Method
7.7
(1) State what the problem is. To focus our ideas, I shall look at a
program to calculate the area of three simple shapes Ö this is our
problem.
7.7
(2) The next stage is to write down in general terms what the main
substages are, these might be:
7.7
a) get the name of the shape
7.7
b) calculate the area
7.7
c) display the results
7.7
d) request more data
7.7
e) stop the program when finished
7.7
(3) Now we break down each of these five parts into smaller parts, such
as:
7.7
a) Suppose that the shape is not one the program can deal with or the
name has been misspelled, we will have the following divisions:
7.7
áááááái) input the name of the shape
7.7
ááááááii) check that the name input is acceptable
7.7
b) The area is easy to calculate but we need to know what shape has been
input or the lengths of sides
7.7
áááááái) what is the shape?
7.7
ááááááii) what are the relevant lengths?
7.7
ááááááiii) calculate the area with a suitable equation
7.7
c) How do we want the results displayed?
7.7
d) Do we need to use a second request for data, as well as the one at
the beginning?
7.7
e) How do we tell the program we have finished? One possibility is to
have a dummy shape represented by say É*æ. In this case, it could be
input as a response to the request for a shape. The item 3) a) ii) would
then become: check that the name is acceptable and whether the program
is to terminate, although two tests might be convenient.
7.7
(4) The end is near Ö it only (only?) remains to code these final
divisions. Assuming that you have some knowledge of Basic, inputting the
name of the shape should be easy, but what about checking that the name
is acceptable?
7.7
As you might expect, there are many ways of doing this. You might use an
IF ..THEN ..ELSE.. construction, the final ELSE leading to an error
message or the termination of the program. Would it be better to have
some sort of loop so that we have another chance to input the name of
the shape? This is the approach we will adopt. What loop structure
should we use? (NO! not one using GOTO!?)
7.7
Two are available: REPEAT...UNTIL or WHILE...ENDWHILE, the difference
being that the REPEAT loop tests the condition at the end and the WHILE
loop tests the condition at the beginning, the latter being more
suitable for this example.
7.7
PRINT öGive the name of the shape R(ectangle), C(ircle)ò
7.7
INPUT ö T(riangle) or * to leave the programò,shape$
7.7
WHILE shape$<>öRò AND shape$<>öCò AND shape$<>öTò AND shape$<>ö*ò
7.7
PRINT öPlease try again using only R, C, T or * ò
7.7
INPUT shape$
7.7
ENDWHILE
7.7
I have separated the message string into two parts to avoid having a
long line Ö this is cosmetic rather than essential.
7.7
Since we are going to calculate several areas, we must have a second
loop so that new data can be supplied. Again, a WHILE loop is the more
suitable. We need to be able to leave the program before we try to find
the area of É*æ! Put this WHILE statement in the space between the INPUT
and the WHILE in the fragment above. In this way, the correct character
test need not be repeated. The request for data must be repeated later
in the program otherwise the WHILE loop will have no new data to test,
e.g.
7.7
WHILE shape$<>ö*ò
7.7
rest of the program as
7.7
above to get new shape
7.7
ENDWHILE
7.7
END
7.7
Before we can calculate the area, we must know the shape and choose the
correct equation. Two techniques come to mind:
7.7
a) a series of IF statements
7.7
b) the CASE construct Ö this might show the function of the block
better so we will try it.
7.7
CASE shape$ OF
7.7
WHEN öRò : get lengths of sides and calc area of rectangle
7.7
WHEN öCò : get diameter and calc area of circle
7.7
WHEN öTò : get lengths of 3 sides and calc area of triangle
7.7
ENDCASE
7.7
We could put an OTHERWISE statement after the last WHEN to allow for
incorrect characters but this has already been tested and since we are
trying to make small steps, it is better to keep the tests separate.
7.7
The statement following the É:æ could consist of several statements, on
one line, but would tend to spoil the structure and readability. We will
use procedures or functions to Éhideæ the details of the program.
7.7
I will combine the two parts Éget the lengths of sides and calc areaæ
into one subprogram and will use a function. A function is rather like a
procedure but it can return a result, e.g. area=FNCircleArea.
7.7
The function then requests the lengths of sides or diameter as
appropriate. A line in the CASE construct might be:
7.7
WHEN öCò : area=FNCircleArea
7.7
At the end of the program, after the final END, (the END being essential
or the program tries to execute the functions without suitable data)
there will be a series of definitions of functions and procedures, e.g.
7.7
DEF FNCircleArea
7.7
LOCAL diameter,area
7.7
INPUT öWhat is the diameter of the circleò,diameter
7.7
area=pi*diameter*diameter/4
7.7
= area
7.7
ÉLOCALæ defines these variables to have a meaning only within this
function. The final É= areaæ associates the value with the calling
statement and shows that the end of the definition has been reached.
Other functions will be needed for the rectangle and triangle. I will
state the area of the triangle given only the lengths of the sides since
it might not be well known:
7.7
area=SQR(s*(s-a)*(s-b)*(s-c))
7.7
where s=(a+b+c)/2 and a, b, c are lengths of sides.
7.7
Using the base and perpendicular height makes an easier equation but it
is harder to measure in, say, a garden.
7.7
Finally, we need to consider the presentation of the results. This is a
matter of personal choice. If many areas are to be calculated, a tabular
form would be best with a heading for each column. In this case, the
headings must be written only once but the results many times. The PRINT
statement for the header must therefore be near the start of the
program. However, in order to use the IF construct, I choose to have a
line of results stating the shape, size and its area. As an example of a
procedure, I will use one for the display command, PROCDisplay.
7.7
DEF PROCDisplay
7.7
IF shape$=öRò THEN
7.7
PRINTöArea of rectangle, sides ò;x;ö x ò;y;ö is ò;area;
7.7
ö sq metersò
7.7
ELSE IF shape$=öCò THEN
7.7
PRINTöArea of circle, diameter ò;x;ö is ò;area;
7.7
ö sq metersò
7.7
ELSE
7.7
PRINT öArea of triangle, sides ò;x;ö, ò;y;ö, ò;z;
7.7
ö is ò;area;ö sq metersò
7.7
ENDIF
7.7
ENDIF
7.7
ENDPROC
7.7
Notice that a nested IF construct has been used and two ENDIFs must be
present. The key words have been indented to help show the relations
between the tests.
7.7
Since numerical values are to be mixed with text, it will be neater to
use the É@%æ variable to format the results. (For details of the use of
@%, see my earlier article in Archive 7.3 p60.) Basic supplied with RISC
OS 3 accepts a string definition of É@%æ, such as @%=öF10.5ò meaning,
fixed format in a field width of of 10 and 5 digits to the right of the
decimal point.
7.7
The complete program appears on the monthly disc and can be LOADed as
öareasò. Check that it does actually do what I have planned!
7.7
Improvements
7.7
Changes which you could make are: include the test for ending the
program in the CASE statement; include the display of the results in the
calculation of area procedure; improve the presentation by putting the
request for data in one part of the screen whilst displaying the results
in another part; the data supplied for the triangle should be tested to
verify that it is a real triangle, i.e. is the sum of the lengths of the
two shorter sides greater than the length of the third side?
7.7
There are many ways of implementing the code. One possibility would be
to replace the INPUT when requesting the shape by GET$, which does not
require <return> to be pressed but you have no chance of correcting a
typing mistake, in which case, error detection is a must.
7.7
This is an example of a simple program but if routines such as Fast
Fourier Transforms were required, inline code would NOT be sensible. A
library procedure would be ideal, because the FFT would be only a small
part of the main problem and should be hidden from view in the way that
SIN, etc are functions hidden elsewhere.
7.7
Summary
7.7
Break the problem into smaller, simpler problems.
7.7
Use procedures or functions to hide the details.
7.7
If you cannot think of a solution to a subproblem today, write a
procedure which simply displays öto be completed laterò. The solution
will probably come tomorrow or the day after. In the meantime, solve the
solvable.
7.7
It is sometimes useful to draw a flow chart but, for a short program, I
do not usually bother. However, a flow chart can help you sort out
relationships between different parts of the program.
7.7
Remember that, to make understanding of the program easier long after
you have written it, make each part have one function, indent lines so
that the structure is clear, use REMs to help clarify what is happening,
use meaningful names for variables and finally, writing programs is
supposed to be fun!
7.7
If you have any comments or suggestions for future articles, please
write to Paul or direct to me at 157 Holmes Chapel Road, Congleton,
Cheshire CW12 4QB.ááA
7.7
Small Ads
7.7
(Small ads for Archimedes and related products are free for subscribers
but we reserve the right to publish all, part or none of the material
you send, as we think fit. i.e. some people donæt know what Ésmallæ
means and there are certain things, as you can imagine, that we would
not be prepared to advertise as a matter of principle. Sending small ads
(especially long ones!) on disc is helpful but not essential. Ed)
7.7
Å 1Mb RAM card A3000 (Risc Dev.), unused ú25. PipeDream 3 unused ú40.
Beebug hard disc drive for 400/1 series, 20Mb unused ú50. Phone
Northampton 0604-499379.
7.7
Å 2Mb A3000 upgrade board (Watford) ú10. (Chips are soldered, so
upgrade to 4áMb impossible.) Gerald Fitton on 0793-723347.
7.7
Å 2nd Hard drive (160Mb) for A5000. Phone Vera at NCS on 0603-766592.
7.7
Å 4Mb RAM upgrade A3000 (Watford) ú65, A3000 2Mb RAM upgrade (Acorn)
ú25, RISC OS 3.1 ú30, Scanlight Junior (A3000, internal) ú90, Morley
A3000 2nd drive case (no drive fitted) ú25, PinPoint ú25, Interdictor 2
ú7. All as new. Contact Dr Luigi Giuseppe via G DæAnnunzio 68-66023
Francavilla al Mare (CH), Italy.
7.7
Å A310, 4Mb, ARM3, MEMC1a, RISC OS 3.10, 47Mb ST506 drive, 47Mb SCSI
drive, Ferguson TX medium res TV/monitor, Impression II (upgrade to
Publisher paid for), Eureka, S_BASE 2 Developer, Revealation Image Pro,
Chocks Away, Birds of War, CyberChess, Lemmings the Tribes, Sim City
etc., also manuals and utility software. Offers around ú850. Phone Mark
on 021-423-3500.
7.7
Å A4 notebook, 4Mb RAM/60M HD + lots of software including PipeDream 4
and Impression II, ú1350. Eizo 9060S multiscan monitor ú295. Canon BJ200
bubble jet printer ú199, Part exchange for BBC Master + cash. Phone
0254-771656 after 5pm.
7.7
Å A410, 2Mb RAM 20Mb ST506 hard disc, 14ö ITT-Nokia remote control TV/
RGB SCART monitor, Panasonic KXP1124 24 pin printer with A4 sheet
feeder, CC hand scanner, Impression II, Hifi sound upgrade, plus lots of
software and books. Excellent condition, ú500. Contact R Bedi on 031-
650-5655 (daytime).
7.7
Å A410/1 4Mb RAM, RISC OS 3.1, ARM 3. Internal 40Mb and 20Mb ST506 hard
discs. Epson LQ500 printer and new Acorn AKF18 monitor. PipeDream4
(unregistered), DataPower and lots of PD software. Manuals inc. PRM OS2
ú750 ono. Contact Mr Stott at Royston, Mount Pleasant, Simpson, Milton
Keynes, MK6 3AJ.
7.7
Å A440 50Mb SCSI, 4Mb RAM, Philips colour monitor ú500. FX800 printer
ú50. Phone Cambridge 0223-311881.
7.7
Å A5000 25Mhz, 40Mb HD, 4Mb RAM, no monitor ú775. CC Laser Direct card
ú150, Impression II ú90, Impression Business Supplement ú20, Equasor
ú20, Borders disc ú5, Good Impression ú10, First Impression ú15, Genesis
Plus ú20. Phone Chris (after 7pm only) on 0252-519727.
7.7
Å A5000 8Mb RAM, 120MB HD, Multisync monitor, Impression II, full
documentation, ú1500. Phone 081-789-2663.
7.7
Å A5000, RISC OS 3.1, 4Mb RAM, 2╫40Mb IDE drives with JP150 printer, PC
Emulator 1.81, multisync monitor, Turbo Driver, Ovation, Thesaurus,
Investigator III, Almanac, Plus 22 quality, original boxed games, ú1350
o.n.o. Phone 0532-736943.
7.7
Å Acorn Advance unregistered, still wrapped ú80, Genesis II (v2.59)
ú60, Acorn DTP ú8. Phone 0273-684459 after 6pm.
7.7
Å Archimedes software: EasiWord ú25, Grievous Bodily Arm ú10, Blowpipe
ú10, Interdictor II ú12, Enter the Realm ú10, Lemmings ú10, SWIV ú8,
Blitz ú10, Cataclysm ú10, Saloon Cars Deluxe ú15. Squirrel v1.21 manual
ú4 +p&p, Quickshot Maverick 1M Joystick Interface ú10, Quickshot Python
3 Turbo Joystick ú5, Vertical Twist Joystick Interface v2.4 ú20. All
sensible offers considered. Contact Jon Aylwin, öOak Villaò, 4 St
Margarets Close, Hollingworth Way, Hemyock, Cullumpton, Devon, EX15 3XJ.
7.7
Å CC Turbo Driver HP Deskjet ú30, Ace ProDriver (Deskjet/Paintjet) ú15,
DBedit ú15, DeskEdit 3 ú15, Compression ú19, KeyStroke ú12, FontDir ú19,
Vigil ú10, ABC v2 ú18, Euclid ú19, Splice ú13, Mogul ú10, Aldebaran ú15,
Elite ú15, Cataclysm ú10, Pandoraæs Box ú10, Drop ship ú8, Text Aid ú6,
GraphBox ú19, DrawAid ú7, Interdictor 2 ú10. Phone 0245-422237.
7.7
Å EasiWriter v3.0 ú69, Ace ProDriver for the HP500C/550C ú15. Phone
0342-714905.
7.7
Å Eizo 9060 14ö Multisync monitor, ú200. Aleph One PC386/20 podule (4Mb
RAM, 80387 co-processor) plus Windows driver software, ú350. Phone David
081-556-6839.
7.7
Å HP Paintjet + HP printer stand, Ace ProDriver, six black, six colour
cartridges and 250 sheets of HP coated paper (consumables worth over
ú300), ú325 o.v.n.o. Phone 0602-722426.
7.7
Å Epson LX800 dot matrix printer; used but working. Offers over ú40!
Contact Bob Ames 071-477-8275 day or 0487-814227 evening.
7.7
Å Laser Direct Qume with two spare toner cartridges. Very good
condition and latest software ú500. Phone Ray on 081-864-7208.
7.7
Å Midnight Tracer ú19, Trace+D2Font ú2.50, FontFX (RISC OS 3) ú5, Air
Supremacy ú9, Trivial Pursuit ú5, Chocks Away+Extra Missions ú18, Graph
Box Professional ú75, Helix Basic v2 ú45, Image Outliner ú45, Snippet
ú24, Atelier ú35, Imagery ú10, Split an Image ú9, Glimpse ú5, Christmas
Allsorts ú9, Desk Edit 2 ú15. Phone 0626-853774.
7.7
Å Morley Teletext Adaptor ú30. Phone 0508-499495.
7.7
Å Ovation v1.38s ú60, Hard Disc Companion 2 (Beebug) ú30. Both boxed
with manuals. Phone Mr Carter on 0923-856009.
7.7
Å PC 486 4Mb card + Windows driver, ú295. Phone Jim on Leicester 0533-
892797.
7.7
Å Psion II XP with 64K datapack, Pocket Spreadsheet, Comms Link
(RS232), mains adaptor, datapack formatter. ú50 o.n.o. Phone Richard on
0703-667245 evenings.
7.7
Å Scanlight 256 for A300/400/5000, cost ú222 last June, serious offers
to 0602-722426.
7.7
Å Single external 5╝ö Disc drive with PSU plus blank discs and storage
box ú45, dual external 3╜ò disc drive with PSU ú80, Risc Dev. A3000
external disc drive buffer podule ú25, WE A3000 2Mb RAM upgrade ú15.
Offers welcome. Midlands area. Phone Jon on 0283-31403.
7.7
Å Wanted: Risc Basic. Phone 0626-853774.
7.7
Å Wanted: Spell checker and Thesaurus for Psion 3 or Pocket Book. Phone
0603-55303.
7.7
Å Watford MKII 16 grey scale hand scanner (A3xx/4xx/540 podule), 100-
400 dpi, 105 width, ú55. For details ask for Roland on 010-33-88364245
(F413). For delivery in London, phone 071-600-0927.
7.7
Charity Sales Ö None this month as we were hoping to sell it all at the
Open Day on March 12th! If you have unwanted software or hardware for
Archimedes computers you could donate for charity, please send it to the
Archive office and we will advertise it next month. Thanks.ááA
7.7
Help!!!!
7.7
Å Bugs in Impression Style? Ö The Installer program does not work with
SCSIFS or IDEFS and hangs the machine waiting for the second disc. If
you type ADFS at the command line before installing it works OK.
7.7
If you click on ÉDiscard Documentæ on the iconbar menu with <adjust> as
you used to in Impression II to remove several documents, it hangs the
machine.
7.7
I have also had several problems with Style crashing and aborting with
ÉIllegal Window Handle...æ and supposedly ÉCorrupt Font Trinity.Medium.æ
No other applications have any problems and Style reloads again quite
happily and carries on where it left off. Anybody else had this problem?
(RISC OS 3.10 of A540) CC say they have not heard of it.á Ray Dawson,
Middlesex.
7.7
Å Dhrystones & Whetstones Ö Does anyone have any information about
these two processor speed tests? What do they test and how? Does anyone
have figures for different processors? I like to tell people how fast my
Acorn is compared to their 486DX33 Ö or whatever.á Colin Singleton,
Sheffield.
7.7
Å File transfer Ö I have a mentally handicapped brother and I want to
transfer some software for him from a BBC Master. Could anyone help by
transferring 5╝ö DFS files to 3╜ò ADFS, please? Thanks. Grant Randall,
18 Richmond Road, Harrogate, HG2 9AP. (0423-520850)
7.7
Å Hard drive problems Ö One of my Quantum 105S ProDrives (SCSI 3╜ö,
105Mb external) has been playing up. It appears to work correctly,
everything reads from it OK, but if I try to write to it and then try to
read back what has been written, the file either doesnæt exist or
consists of something that has been deleted previously. This doesnæt
happen every time and if I power the drive off and on it usually works
OK, although not always and I sometimes end up with öbad free space mapò
or öbroken directoryò errors which require reloads to clear them. The
other drive works perfectly all the time. Has anyone any ideas whatæs
wrong or can anyone suggest a good repairer, preferably a Quantum
service centre. I use a Cumana CA008 SCSI internal interface on my
A3000.á Peter Young, 20 Racecourse Lane, Northallerton, N. Yorks, DL7
8RD.
7.7
(I know Cumana wonæt thank me for saying this but we have had a number
of problems with the Cumana SCSI interface. We sometimes find that a
Morley SCSI will work where a Cumana one wonæt. Ed.)
7.7
Å High density disc interfaces Ö Has anyone got a high density (1.6Mb)
hard drive attached to an old Archimedes successfully? Various systems
have appeared and disappeared over the months. I believe that Vertical
Twist and Risc Developments both do them but (a) do they work and (b)
are they actually available? Clive Bell, Stevenage.
7.7
Å International language Ö One issue raised by the RISCáOS Style Guide
is the importance of standardising the wording used in the user
interface. However, Acorn donæt seem to have thought this out for
international users. If the same degree of conformity is to be achieved
in other languages as is being achieved in the UK, it would be helpful
if we had some preferred translations to work from.
7.7
Could any of our non-UK subscribers collect together the options
currently used in those packages which have been translated and create a
listing which could be generally used by both software houses and
individuals? Any offers of help would be much appreciated. Chris Mills,
1 Lambton Close, Crawcrook, Ryton, NE40 4UX.
7.7
While on this subject, it seems that the PRM makes no mention of how to
set the decimal point to default to a comma. Any ideas?
7.7
Å PC partition problem Ö I have created a 300Mb PC partition on my
520Mb hard disc. The problem I have is that under RISC OS, you cannot
look inside this PC partition (the maximum viewable size being 32Mb).
Acorn cannot help me. Maybe somebody has cracked it. If you have, please
give me a ring on 0895-259245.á David Ackie, Middlesex
7.7
Å Pocket Book Ö Mine says öbattery backup lowò virtually every time I
switch it on. I havenæt lost any data yet but it is annoying and
slightly worrying to see it so often. I wonder if anyone else has found
this?á Paul Beverley, Archive.
7.7
Å Suffolk Archimedes Club??? Ö I am keen to start an Archimedes User
Club in Ipswich and wonder if there is anyone who would be interested in
coming along to meetings. I anticipate an informal event, probably
starting in a local pub and maybe hiring a local hall in the future. It
would be just a social event initially, hopefully expanding to offer
support, help newcomers, offer a book library, a PD library and maybe
help some of the local schools who are using Archimedes machines. I can
be contacted at 35 Clive Avenue, Ipswich, IP1 4LU, or by phone (8 p.m.
to 10 p.m. only, please) on 0473-216424, or mobile 0831-884703 (24hr
answer service) or Email on Fidonet 2:2501/302.5 (Andy Keeble).
7.7
Are there other local Archimedes user groups? I get info about general
ones but donæt publish them as we could fill up the magazine with them Ö
but if there are any specifically Archimedes ones, do let us know. Or if
you want to start one somewhere, again, let us know. Ed.
7.7
Help Offered
7.7
Å !Printers setting up Ö James Munday has written five pages of notes
about setting up !Printers. I felt that it wouldnæt justify five pages
of Archive but some may find it useful so I have put it on the monthly
disc. Thanks, James.
7.7
Å Brainsoft Multipod Professional Ö (Archive 7.6 p 31) The problem
sounds like the one I aired in Archive 6.3 p15. The bad news is that
there are some versions of the Brainsoft firmware which do not work
under RISC OS 3.10. The later versions unfortunately have the same
version numbers as the duff ones so that is no guide. The good news is
that I have a disc copy of the ROM image of a working version from which
an EPROM may be blown. I may even be able to get a ROM blown, if
required. Tim Nicholson, 3 Fawley Close, Cranleigh, Surrey, GU6 7JP.
7.7
Å Teletext adaptors Ö Various people answered our pleas last month for
a supply of Teletext adaptors. This has resulted in several second-hand
ones appearing in the Small Ads column. Also, there is a new Teletext
product from DesignIT Ö see Products Available. Other suppliers
mentioned are...
7.7
GP Electronics on 0474-854677 Ö I couldnæt get any reply from them.
7.7
Hampshire Microtechnology Centre Ö I wrote and am awaiting a reply.ááA
7.7
Safesell
7.7
From 7.6 page 7
7.7
Oak Solutions
7.7
From 7.6 page 19
7.7
Advanced Basic Programming Forum
7.7
Paul Hobbs
7.7
The Basic language supplied with the Archimedes is very powerful and
easy to use. As with all languages, there are some things that are just
not possible or practical but I would like to suggest that it is a lot
more capable than many people think.
7.7
The aim of this column will be to introduce some thought-provoking ideas
on things that are possible using Basic and provide well-commented
example code, where necessary.
7.7
One thing I have learned from bitter experience is that, as far as
possible, each routine should be self-contained and perform only one
function. This involves the avoidance of global variables which can
cause side effects that are difficult to track down. Equally
importantly, each routine should claim and release workspace memory as
required.
7.7
If all routines are written in this manner, they can be copied and re-
used in other programs with no problems. I am aware that this does not
necessarily produce the fastest code but, personally, I prefer robust
code that I can use again, rather than strive for maximum speed.
7.7
Claiming and releasing memory blocks
7.7
With this in mind, the first topic I would like to cover is claiming and
releasing blocks of memory. Many of the other routines will depend on
the ability to do this. Memory management in Basic is probably one of
the weakest aspects of the language, providing only the DIM keyword for
reserving a non-resizable block of memory.
7.7
This month, I am going to discuss two methods of claiming memory, one
from the current WimpSlot and the other from the Relocatable Module Area
(RMA). Each method has its advantages and disadvantages, so it is up to
you to decide which is the most suitable for the task in hand.
7.7
Firstly, I shall look at the WimpSlot method which is illustrated by
routines taken with permission from !TemplEd (a template editor) by Dick
Alstein. The advantage is that all of the memory claimed by the
application is returned to the free pool automatically when the task
ends. The disadvantage is that the program will use at least two pages
(that is 64Kb on a 4Mb machine) because one page contains the program
and the other the claimed memory blocks.
7.7
It is important that your program does not attempt to move HIMEM or
adjust the slot size itself as this would result in the heap being
overwritten. There should be no need to do this, however, as all memory
required can be claimed using the routines given here.
7.7
Warning! The routine to release a heap block contains a trick that may
not work in future releases of RISC OS Ö the line SYS öOS_Heapò,5,_Heap%
,,(_HeapEnd% Ö _Heap%) Ö _Heap%!12 reads the current size of the heap
(at _Heap%!12) before releasing it. The difficulty is that a heap resize
request (OS_Heap 5) might shrink the heap by less that the requested
amount but, according to the RISC OS 2 PRMs, you canæt find out how much
it actually did shrink. The RISC OS 3 PRMs say the amount is returned in
r3 although it is not certain if this is true for RISC OS 2 as well.
Normally, this sort of thing is not recommended, as a rewrite may be
necessary in the future, but the routine as given works on both RISC OS
2 and 3.
7.7
The following example program allows experimentation with the routines Ö
note that it does not run under the Wimp to avoid complicating matters.
Also note that the routines (apart from _heap_init) do not generate an
error if something goes wrong Ö a return code is passed back to your
program instead. I take the view that the person actually writing the
program should be able to decide what happens if memory runs out. For
example, it is faster to perform processing on a file by loading it into
a RAM buffer, but if not enough RAM is available, it would be possible
to offer processing the file on disc instead.
7.7
REM >HeapTest
7.7
PROC_heap_init :REM Initialise memory heap
7.7
REM Globals for test program
7.7
quit% = FALSE
7.7
a% = 0
7.7
b% = 0
7.7
blk% = 0
7.7
amount$ = öò
7.7
g = 0
7.7
REM A simple menu to test the heap procedures
7.7
REPEAT
7.7
PRINT ÉöSlot size currently ò;~_SlotSize%
7.7
PRINT öSelect from...ò
7.7
PRINT ö1= fetchòÉö2= returnòæö3= resizeòÉö4= quitò
7.7
g = GET Ö 48
7.7
CASE g OF
7.7
WHEN 1:
7.7
INPUT ösize to fetch: &òa$
7.7
IF a$ <> öò THEN
7.7
a% = EVAL(ö&ò + a$)
7.7
blk% = FN_heap_get(a%)
7.7
IF blk% > 0 THEN
7.7
PRINT ÉöBlock allocated at &ò + STR$~blk%
7.7
ELSE
7.7
PRINT ÉöUnable to claim enough memoryò
7.7
ENDIF
7.7
ENDIF
7.7
WHEN 2:
7.7
INPUT öblock to return: &òa$
7.7
IF a$ <> öò THEN
7.7
a% = EVAL(ö&ò + a$)
7.7
b% = a%
7.7
PROC_heap_release(a%)
7.7
IF (a% = 0) THEN
7.7
PRINT ÉöBlock at &ò + STR$~b% + ö has been releasedò
7.7
ELSE
7.7
PRINT ÉöNo block exists at &ò+STR$~b%
7.7
ENDIF
7.7
ENDIF
7.7
WHEN 3:
7.7
INPUT öBlock to resize: &òa$
7.7
INPUT öAmount (-ve to decrease): &òamount$
7.7
IF a$ <> öò THEN
7.7
a% = EVAL(ö&ò + a$)
7.7
b% = a%
7.7
PROC_heap_resize(a%,VAL( amount$))
7.7
IF (a% > 0) THEN
7.7
PRINT ÉöBlock at &ò + STR$~b% + ö has been resized ò;
7.7
IF a% <> b% THEN PRINT ö(now at &ò+STR$~a%+
7.7
ö)ò ELSE PRINT
7.7
ELSE
7.7
IF a% = -3 THEN PRINT ÉöNo block exists at
7.7
&ò+STR$~b%
7.7
IF a% = -2 THEN PRINT ÉöUnable to claim
7.7
enough memoryò
7.7
IF a% = -1 THEN PRINT ÉöBlock size is now 0
7.7
or negativeò
7.7
ENDIF
7.7
ENDIF
7.7
WHEN 4:
7.7
quit% = TRUE
7.7
ENDCASE
7.7
UNTIL quit%
7.7
END
7.7
REM ÿ Heap Procedures ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ
7.7
REM Global variables used:
7.7
REM _Heap% Start of heap
7.7
REM _SlotSize% Size of current WimpSlot
7.7
REM _PageSize% Size of a memory page
7.7
REM _HeapEnd% End of heap
7.7
DEF PROC_heap_init
7.7
_Heap% = HIMEM : REM heap starts just after end of allocated memory
7.7
SYS öOS_ReadMemMapInfoò TO _PageSize%
7.7
REM enlarge wimpslot (1 page) and
7.7
create private heap
7.7
in new memory
7.7
_SlotSize% = _Heap% Ö &8000
7.7
SYS öWimp_SlotSizeò,_SlotSize% + _PageSize%,-1 TO _SlotSize%
7.7
_HeapEnd% = _SlotSize% + &8000
7.7
IF _HeapEnd% <= _Heap% THEN ERROR 0, öCanæt claim space for heapò
7.7
SYS öOS_Heapò,0,_Heap%,,_HeapEnd% Ö _Heap%
7.7
ENDPROC
7.7
DEF FN_heap_get(size%)
7.7
LOCAL maxfree%,nrpages%,oldheapend% ,ptr%
7.7
REM Returns pointer to new memory block
7.7
REM -1 if claim fails due to lack of memory
7.7
SYS öOS_Heapò,1,_Heap% TO ,,maxfree%
7.7
IF size% > maxfree% THEN
7.7
REM largest free block is too small Ö try to enlarge wimpslot and heap
7.7
nrpages% = 1 + (size% DIV _PageSize%) : REM required # pages of memory
7.7
SYS öWimp_SlotSizeò,_SlotSize% + nrpages% * _PageSize%,-1
7.7
TO _SlotSize%
7.7
oldheapend% = _HeapEnd%
7.7
_HeapEnd% = _SlotSize% + &8000
7.7
SYS öOS_Heapò,5,_Heap%,,_HeapEnd% Ö oldheapend%
7.7
SYS öOS_Heapò,1,_Heap% TO ,,maxfree% : REM do we have enough now?
7.7
ENDIF
7.7
IF size% > maxfree% THEN
7.7
ptr% = -1
7.7
ELSE
7.7
SYS öOS_Heapò,2,_Heap%,,size% TO ,,ptr%
7.7
ENDIF
7.7
= ptr%
7.7
DEF PROC_heap_release(RETURN ptr%)
7.7
LOCAL maxfree%,nrpages%,flg%
7.7
REM Returns 0 if block released OK
7.7
REM Returns -1 if operation failed (i.e. block doesnæt exist)
7.7
SYS öXOS_Heapò,3,_Heap%,ptr% TO ;flg% :REM Free the block
7.7
IF (flg% AND 1) = 0 THEN
7.7
REM Block was released successfully...
7.7
SYS öOS_Heapò,1,_Heap% TO ,,maxfree% :REM Get info on heap
7.7
IF maxfree% > _PageSize% THEN
7.7
REM more than 1 page free Ö try to shrink heap (page by page)
7.7
nrpages% = 0 : REM # pages of memory freed
7.7
REPEAT
7.7
SYS öXOS_Heapò,5,_Heap%,,-_PageSize% TO ;flg%
7.7
IF (flg% AND 1) = 0 THEN
7.7
nrpages% += 1
7.7
ENDIF
7.7
UNTIL (flg% AND 1) <> 0
7.7
IF nrpages% > 0 THEN
7.7
REM successfully shrunk heap Ö shrink WimpSlot
7.7
SYS öWimp_SlotSizeò,_SlotSize% Ö nrpages% * _PageSize%,-1
7.7
TO _SlotSize%
7.7
_HeapEnd% = _SlotSize% + &8000
7.7
ENDIF
7.7
SYS öOS_Heapò,5,_Heap%,,(_HeapEnd% Ö _Heap%) Ö _Heap%!12
7.7
ENDIF
7.7
REM Return 0 to signal successful release of block
7.7
ptr% = 0
7.7
ELSE
7.7
REM Error occured trying to free the block, return -1 to signal to the
7.7
REM program that something went wrong (normally the program would
ignore
7.7
REM this anyway)
7.7
ptr% = -1
7.7
ENDIF
7.7
ENDPROC
7.7
DEF PROC_heap_resize(RETURN ptr%, change%)
7.7
LOCAL flg%
7.7
REM Returns a new pointer to the block (it may be moved in memory). Any
7.7
REM data in the block will be copied to the new location if necessary.
7.7
REM Returns -1 if the block now has a size of 0 or less
7.7
REM Returns -2 if claim fails due to lack of memory
7.7
REM Returns -3 if block does not exist
7.7
SYS öXOS_Heapò,6,_Heap%,ptr% TO ;flg% :REM Read size of block to
7.7
check it exists
7.7
IF (flg% AND 1) THEN
7.7
REM It doesnæt exist.
7.7
ptr% = -3
7.7
ELSE
7.7
REM It does, so attempt to perform resize..
7.7
SYS öXOS_Heapò,4,_Heap%,ptr%,change% TO ,,ptr%;flg%
7.7
IF (flg% AND 1) THEN ptr% = -2
7.7
ENDIF
7.7
ENDPROC
7.7
RMA method
7.7
The second method is more suitable for small programs as the claimed
memory blocks are taken from the RMA and not the current WimpSlot. As
the above listing is rather long, the RMA routines are on the monthly
program disc. Unfortunately, memory taken from the RMA is not
automatically returned when the program ends and may not (under some
circumstances) be recovered at all. This means that it is possible that
the RMA area could grow and grow, taking memory from the free pool until
there is none left.
7.7
Due to this problem, I prefer to use the first method although it is
somewhat crude in that memory blocks are never relocated to make best
use of the available memory. However, as long as blocks are kept small
and released when finished with, they work well. For more sophisticated
memory handling, I would point you in the direction of the ÉWimpExtæ
module by Jon Ribbens which implements a Ésliding heapæ which can
automatically relocate memory blocks.
7.7
Using the RMA as a source of private workspace for your applications
does have a few advantages, especially for small utility programs in
that it is not neccessary to claim a complete extra page of memory from
the wimpslot and in a reduction of the code needed in your program.
7.7
Global variables are also not required making things much neater, and of
course it is not neccessary to initialise the heap as RISC OS has
already done it for you.
7.7
Next month
7.7
Next time weæll look at the problem of discovering the buffer size
needed by öWimp_LoadTemplateò to actually load the templates Ö and, yes,
I do know that RISC OS 3 has a new call to do this, but that doesnæt
help if you want your program to run under RISC OS 2 as well! If anybody
has any suggestions for Basic programming techniques that could be of
general interest, or problems that could be covered in the future, my
address is Paul Hobbs, Rheinpfalzstrasse 2, 85049 Ingolstadt,
Germany.ááA
7.7
Language Column
7.7
David Wild
7.7
At Acorn World 93, I upgraded my copy of Longman Logotronæs S-Base to
the latest version. It comes with a new set of manuals and seems to me
to be well worth having. One of the additional facilities is a öfront
endò that automates much of the work of preparing an application and
avoids the necessity of typing a lot of code to deal with the usual
housekeeping of a database.
7.7
I was particularly interested in the different attitudes shown in the
two manuals supplied with the package. There is a ögetting startedò type
of manual which is very enthusiastic about the automatic generation
facility while the tutorial part of the main manual mentions it but
dismisses it as being for beginners. The tutorial then leads you through
all the code necessary to build up the application and implies that this
is the right way for experts to do the job.
7.7
My experience as a programmer and as a provider of technical support to
other programmers and users, suggests that programmers, just as much as
beginners, need all the help they can get. Many program bugs can be
traced to ösillyò mistakes in öeasyò parts of the program. (The word
silly is not meant to imply stupidity but describes the sort of mistake
which is often caused by distraction or haste and is not the result of a
fundamental lack of understanding Ö rather like letter-transposition in
typing.)
7.7
One classic type of error is using the wrong variable because you think
that you have remembered what the name is, and this will not be picked
up by the compiler because the syntax is still correct. If you have
several similar variables, this sort of error can go unnoticed for quite
some time and this is why we need thorough testing of all newly written
programs even if they seem to be trivial.
7.7
Because of this, I favour the idea of using as much help of the
automatic sort as possible and then ötweakingò the resulting code to
make the program do exactly what you want. This really ties in with the
idea of using separately compiled modules with the önormalò programming
languages Ö why bog yourself down rewriting the code to display the
results of your calculation on the screen when you have already written
the code for the display of other similar calculations. Much of the
fractal programming can be dealt with by writing one full program and
then a new öcalculateò module for the rest of the results.
7.7
The problem of program errors has often been underrated, especially by
programmers themselves, and I have known people spend a lot of time
trying to prove that there had been a machine malfunction rather than
that there could be an error in their work.
7.7
I receive a magazine öThe Sciencesò from New York and I recently found a
fascinating article about the early days of computing and the discovery
of debugging. The author explained that they had expected quite a lot of
machine unreliability, but had expected that they, all experienced
mathematicians, would have had no trouble writing programs that worked
first time.
7.7
This is not quite as big-headed as it sounds as most of the programs
were actually quite simple, doing tasks that needed a lot of repetitive
calculation. In fractal programs, most of the programæs time is taken up
with calculating while most of the program content is taken up with
displaying the results Ö especially in a multi-tasking environment. As
they didnæt have any display facilities other than simple printers, the
complicated parts werenæt there.ááA
7.7
The Advance Column
7.7
Robert Chrismas
7.7
How satisfying it is to discover that self-styled experts have feet of
clay! Having written about the benefits of reading manuals, and about
Advance installation, I was disappointed to discover that the so-called
expert with egg on his face was me.
7.7
When my college bought a site licence version of Advance, I carefully
installed it on our Econet. It worked properly although, as I mentioned
last month, loading was slow.
7.7
I first realised that I might have missed something when I received a
letter from Mrs L. J. Handcock of The Perse School for Girls, Cambridge
about her experiences with Advance. In her description of the way her
students used Advance, Mrs Handcock mentioned that she had installed
Advance on Éhard discs on a variety of machines.æ ÉMy!æ, I thought,
Éthat must cost a bit for lots of single user packs.æ
7.7
A wonderful disc
7.7
A couple of days later, I received from Acorn their Support Group
Applications Note 243 which includes advice on using Advance on a
network. This fascinating document made the extent of my mistake all too
clear. The Advance Program Disc 1 in the site licence pack is a
wonderful disc. When you have installed Advance on one network, you can
use the same disc to install Advance on all your other networks. The
same disc will install a copy of Advance on as many hard discs as you
require and it will even make floppy disc copies for individual
machines. In the words of the applications note: Éunlimited copies can
be created on fileservers, hard discs, floppies etc from a single site
licence disc.æ
7.7
When I went back to the installation instructions in the manual, it was
obvious that this was possible. I had not realised it because I had
never before come across a protected disc which allowed you to install a
program on an unlimited number of computers with different filing
systems. And I had not read the manually carefully enough.
7.7
Network problems
7.7
Mrs Handcockæs letter also described some problems she was having with
Advance on the network.
7.7
One problem involved pupils loading a file from an open area of the
network, editing it and saving the edited version back to their own
area. So far as I can tell, Advance WP behaves like other editors. It
will load a file which the user does not own provided the file has
public read access. However, users will not be able to save it back to
the public area of the network. I suggested that when students need to
save their own edited version of a public access file, they should be
told to copy the file into their own directory first, then to load it
from there. This seems a good strategy for all sorts of files and not
just Advance.
7.7
Database needs update access
7.7
Like most databases, the Advance DB does not load the whole file.
Instead, it reads and writes individual records. The file must be opened
for update. Naturally, this will fail if the user is not allowed to
update the file. Unfortunately, if the user does not have write access
to the file, or if the file is locked, Advance does not generate a
proper error message, instead it just beeps. Mrs Handcockæs local dealer
informs her that Acorn is aware of this problem.
7.7
Network users will know that there are file interlocks which prevent a
user opening a file for update if it is already open for update or just
reading, and they will also prevent any users opening a file at all if
it is already open for update.
7.7
Printing problem
7.7
Mrs Handcock writes, öNearly all our printing is done over the net to a
Calligraph laser printer. All machines print WP files perfectly, but
when it comes to spreadsheets, any machines which have a hard disc
upgrade (A3000s have 20Mb HCCS IDE drives, the 310 has an ICS drive)
refuse to print and hang up the machine.ò This problem has stumped me.
If anyone has any suggestions please let me have them and I will pass
them on to Mrs Handcock.
7.7
Too many fonts
7.7
The Advance spreadsheet will not run if you have Étoo manyæ fonts. To
make matters worse the error message it produces, ÉToo many items in
menu,æ is unhelpful. In a letter in which he says he was ötouched by
your desperate plea ... for letters on Advanceò, Peter Young of
Northallerton, North Yorkshire, points out the fonts problem. Peter
remarks that it reminds him of RISC OS 2 versions of Edit Ö which should
be sufficient to galvanize Acorn/Clares into fixing it!
7.7
None of the other Advance tools seem as susceptible to this problem
which is made worse by the way the spreadsheet presents the fonts. It
uses one menu option for the regular version of the font and another for
any variations. The error seems to occur if the fonts menu has more than
39 entries.
7.7
Who needs it?
7.7
Elwyn Morris sent a very interesting letter responding to my request for
letters from people who have decided not to use Advance. He finds that
PipeDream is able to do all his word processing, and it also meets his
simple database and spreadsheet requirements. He finds PipeDreamæs
ability to use its own printer drivers, as well as the RISC OS ones,
valuable and, finally, he can run PipeDream on MS DOS, so his files can
be linked with others done at work.
7.7
I am an enthusiastic PipeDream user and I cannot disagree with anything
Elwyn writes. Still, having tried to teach both programs, I find the
Advance tools much easier to explain to new users, and they seem to
learn them more easily.
7.7
Like Elwyn, most microcomputer owners have pretty simple requirements
for databases and spreadsheets, if we use them at all. We are not crying
out for relational databases or multi-dimensional programmable
spreadsheets. When we find a program which does what we need, reasonably
conveniently, we tend to stick with it. This is no doubt a
disappointment for all software developers Ö not just those in the
Archimedes world.
7.7
I like Advance because it seems to me to be straightforward and easy to
use without including a lot of features I do not use.
7.7
In a module?
7.7
Bernard Veasey from Chichester suggested that Advance might be quicker
to load on the Econet if it were combined in one module which would add
the program to the Resources:$.Apps directory. The advantage would be
that it would load over the network as one big module file. This should
help for other programs but I am not sure whether the Advance protection
would tolerate it. Also, you would be filling up memory with some tools
you might not need. However, I will try out the idea using a program
which creates a module from an application which appears on the Risc
User April 1993 magazine disc.
7.7
Has anyone tried importing Lotus 1-2-3 WK1 files to the spreadsheet
tool? The Advance manual says it is possible.
7.7
I would be glad to receive any correspondence about Advance. So far, the
score stands at three letters, only one of which came from a regular
Advance user. It was encouraging to find the column was not just of
interest to Advance users. Probably the other readers are people, like
me, who are determined to get full value from their Archive!
7.7
My address is 8áVirginia Park Road, Gosport, Hants, PO12 3DZ.ááA
7.7
Games Column
7.7
Dave Floyd
7.7
Over the years, the Archimedes games player has had a steady supply of
software but, compared to other platforms, you wouldnæt say it was
prolific. Towards the end of last year, a number of established games
companies began to take an interest in the Archimedes market, so we are
looking forward to seeing a good number of original new games as well as
conversions this year.
7.7
Future columns will be directed both by what is happening within the
Archimedes games market and also by your input, so if you have any
opinions on games or want to suggest the direction you would like the
column to take, please write to me.
7.7
Over the first two Games Column, Iæll look briefly at each game genre
and see what is available at present and what may be appearing in the
near future.
7.7
Shoot-Em-Ups
7.7
My favourite within this category has to be Axis from TBA Software. I
enjoyed this game with an ARM 2 chip fitted, but now that I have an ARM
3, it really is very slick indeed. When you rotate your tank, it stands
still while the whole of the scenery moves. Marvel at the power of the
Archimedes and the talent of the programmers while shooting everything
that moves Ö superb!
7.7
Certainly worth a mention is Apocalypse, from 4th Dimension. It bears
the mark of a good game in that itæs still playable years after release.
With many worlds to conquer and a vast selection of aliens to overcome,
the action is relentless, especially on the later levels. As if that
were not enough, you have limited fuel with which to complete your
mission.
7.7
Xenon 2 is a conversion of the Amiga classic by Gamesware and another
piece of software that should be in the collection of every self-
respecting shoot-em-up lover. The parallax scrolling is smooth and there
are hordes of aliens to blast while you try to collect power-ups to
increase your fire power. The graphics are well detailed and animated
and, unlike many vertically scrolling games, you can reverse if you find
you have taken a wrong turning. Great fun.
7.7
I was never a great lover of Asteroids, but Spheres of Chaos from Matt
Black is a must. It is not so much a version of the old classic as a
completely new game based on the principles of the original. The
colours, sound and variations on the original theme, along with a multi-
player option and the facility to modify the parameters of the game,
make this a winner.
7.7
Some may be surprised that I have not included Zarch in my selection but
I find that using the mouse to control the ship is less than
satisfactory Ö a bias that runs over to other Zarch-type games. Nevryon
looked very pretty when it was released but, unfortunately, I donæt have
four hands, which seem essential to master the controls.
7.7
The worst example has to be Zelanites. Basically, it is space invaders
with better graphics, and I was surprised that it was a full price
release at all. It totally amazes me that Superior Software have seen
fit to include it on Play It Again Sam 3.
7.7
Platform games
7.7
The obvious choices amongst platform games are all conversions. Zool
(Gremlin), James Pond (Krisalis), James Pond 2 Ö Robocod (Gamesware) and
Chuck Rock (Krisalis) are all absorbing and challenging games with good
cartoon-style graphics. That they have proved their quality on Megadrive
and Amiga where platform games face far greater competition than is
available Archimedes, speaks volumes, and the conversions themselves are
all of good quality.
7.7
Other conversions that no games collection should be without are Gods
(Krisalis) and Magic Pockets (Renegade). Good graphics and playability
combine with that öone-more-goò factor that ensures value for money. One
advantage with owning an Archimedes is that (so far) we only get
conversions of the better games and long may it continue.
7.7
One Éhome bredæ game that has been taking up more of my time than I care
to admit is Warlocks from Network 23. The sprites are a touch small and
the sound could be improved but this is still a very impressive effort
and offers hours of fun and frustration for the games player.
7.7
Fighting games
7.7
There is very little competition so far in the Archimedes field although
the genre appears to be flourishing on other systems. Grievous Bodily
æArm from 4th Dimension and Aggressor from Matt Black have been the only
two titles to date. Of these two, Aggressor gets my vote but itæs not
Street Fighter 2 and if released on any other format, it would be
totally overwhelmed. I have seen an advert for a new game called
DeathBlow but have not seen the game yet so cannot comment.
7.7
Adventure games
7.7
Text adventures seem to have hit a bit of a lull within the computer
community Ö which I feel is a shame. With the power and memory available
on the Archimedes, some very large and enjoyable adventures could be
written but nothing seems to be happening. Most of the old Acornsoft
adventures have been converted from the BBC by Topologika along with
some new titles which are all of good quality and would be a good place
for the beginner to start out in the world of adventuring.
Unfortunately, my own personal favourite, Gateway To Karos, has not been
converted, but I live in hope.
7.7
Robico have been very quiet of late but released a number of games a few
years back which would provide a good buy for those who need more of a
challenge. I always found that their games were a little difficult but
they were always logical and the quality of the text kept me coming back
for more.
7.7
I find it a great shame that no-one has seen fit to convert the
marvellous adventures once produced by Level 9. From the truly colossal
Snowball through the rest of their adventures, I spent many a happy hour
exploring and puzzling. The Level 9 adventures are one reason why I
still keep my old BBC and actually get it out of the cupboard every now
and then.
7.7
Sadly, it is now very difficult to find either The Pawn or its follow
up, Guild of Thieves. I played both games on an Amiga long ago, and they
were exceptional examples of how to write an adventure game.
Unfortunately, I did not buy them when they were released on the
Archimedes and if anybody has a copy which they would be willing to sell
me, please get in touch. Wonderland is another adventure from Magnetic
Scrolls which is in the same mould and is well worth getting if you come
across it.
7.7
Possibly one of the best ways to obtain good quality text adventures is
through a public domain utility which allows you to use data files from
the extensive range written by Infocom. During the eighties, Infocom
were prolific in producing very good quality games but, being American,
they never turned their attention to the Acorn market. Using the PD
utility, you can use the PC versions of the games and play them as if
they were written for the Archimedes. Most of the games have been re-
released in compilation form now, so it is also a very cost-effective
method of increasing your software collection.
7.7
Finally, Gamesware have converted Simon the Sorcerer from other
platforms. Although it is not a text adventure in the classic style, it
has to be included with the genre. Unfortunately, it has also meant the
conversion of a Sega type price of ú39.99. I know all the arguments:
small user base, licensing costs, programming costs, etc but, no matter
how many good reviews I read, I remain unconvinced that a game is worth
that kind of money. Maybe readers who have bought the game would like to
write to me with their opinions and convince me that I am wrong. (They
say öabout two weeksò for Simon the SorcereròÖ but it was supposed to be
out for Christmas. Ed.)
7.7
Next month, I will look at simulations, puzzle games and Elite-style
games. If I have not mentioned your particular favourite shoot-em-up,
platform, fighting or adventure game, please let me know. Also, if you
have any opinions relating to the Archimedes games market, please write
to me c/o PO Box 2795, Harlesden, London NW10 9AY.ááA
7.7
Of the games Dave mentioned, Archive stock the following:
7.7
Aggressor Ö ú15
7.7
Apocalypse Ö ú29
7.7
Axis Ö ú23
7.7
Chuck Rock Ö ú24
7.7
Gods Ö ú24
7.7
Grievous Bodily æArm Ö ú24
7.7
James Pond Ö ú24
7.7
James Pond 2: Robocod Ö ú24
7.7
Magic Pockets Ö ú24
7.7
Spheres of Chaos Ö ú23
7.7
Xenon 2 Ö ú24
7.7
Zool Ö ú24
7.7
Music Column
7.7
Stewart Watson
7.7
Rhapsody 3
7.7
Rhapsody 3 has a number of features which are particularly useful for
teachers, but might well be of use to other users. The most obvious of
these is the transpose facility. Once a score has been input in one key,
it can be transposed up or down at will. If you are working with a class
on a piece prepared in Rhapsody and one of the pupils happens to play
the clarinet you simply load the score, select the appropriate stave and
transpose the stave up two steps. You then have the melody in the
appropriate key, ready to be printed, almost. The only change required
before printing is that some beams, especially notes on the middle line
of the stave, might need to be altered.
7.7
Re-tail
7.7
To do this, open the stave menu, select re-tail, then both. At this
stage, it is worth checking through the score to make sure that
everything is as you would like it before printing, as unfortunately
Rhapsody 3 does not appear to recognize whether beams of notes on the
middle line should go up or down to fit in with the notes on either
side, but simply sets beams of all notes on the middle line to go up.
This is an omission from the program Ö I hope it will be addressed in
some future upgrade.
7.7
Transposition
7.7
A point to note is that transposition in Rhapsody is cumulative.
Therefore if you transpose a part up two semitones, you could return it
to its original pitch by transposing it down two semitones. However, if
you had transposed it up by two semitones, and then wanted it transposed
down three semitones below the original, you would have to set the
transpose depth to Ö5.
7.7
Chord symbols
7.7
Before the guitar chord facility became available, I used to print chord
letters above the stave. This worked well for keyboard players and
guitarists, but if the piece had to be transposed, it would appear in a
new key with the chord symbols for the original key. I now realize that
I should have entered the chord symbols on a separate stave, above the
main melody stave, so that I could transpose the melody stave and print
it out without any chord symbols. I now use the guitar chord function
for inputting chords using a half size stave. This not only inputs chord
grids for guitarists, but also names the chords for keyboard players.
7.7
Editing
7.7
When moving from one stave to another while editing a multi-stave score,
ensure that a note or symbol is selected on the current stave before
editing or transposing.
7.7
Bar numbers
7.7
The automatic insertion of bar numbers at the start of each line, which
Rhapsody 3 implements by default, can very often be useful. However,
when it is not required, there is no obvious way to switch it off. From
the preferences menu, available from the Rhapsody icon on the iconbar,
you can switch off the bar numbers on the screen by making the bar
number colour the same as the background colour, but this does not
affect the printout. The only way I can think of to get round this is to
load each page into ScoreDraw and delete the numbers in Draw.
7.7
TAB
7.7
Most people are familiar with standard music notation, where notes are
written on a five-line stave. Guitar players, however, often have their
music written on two staves, one normal stave, and a second six-line
stave with one line for each string of the guitar. Unlike the keyboard,
a guitar can sound the same note on different strings at different fret
positions. The six line stave shows the guitarist which fret on which
string should be played.
7.7
Writing TAB
7.7
When writing parts in TAB, all you need do is prepare the top stave as
normal in Rhapsody, ScoreDraw, or your chosen notation package, but save
it as a drawfile with a big system gap, ie. the gap between the
different staves on the paper. Leave enough room so that when the stave
is loaded into Draw, or DrawPlus, there is room to add the TAB stave. If
you are using DrawPlus you can have the TAB stave, together with any
other symbols you might wish to add, in a library file, and once you
have made one TAB stave the correct size, you can simply duplicate it.
For accurate fitting, make sure the grid lock is switched off. As long
as both the normal stave and the TAB stave are the same width, you need
only align one corner.
7.7
Bass TAB
7.7
The principle of adding a TAB stave works equally well for music for the
bass guitar. The only difference is that, since the bass has only four
strings, you only need a four-line TAB stave.
7.7
Monthly disc
7.7
Iæve included several files for the monthly disc, including the
drawfiles with the guitar TAB stave and bass guitar TAB stave, and a
library of music symbols for loading into DrawPlus. The drawings are not
outstanding, and anyone with a bit of artistic flair should be able to
improve them without too much trouble, but they are functional.ááA
7.7
CC
7.7
From 7.6 page 28
7.7
Electronic CAD(4) Ö Vector for PCB Design
7.7
Richard Torrens
7.7
I have been using DrawPlus for a long time now and it was so good that I
never upgraded to Vector. When I was considering an upgrade from
LinTrack, I purchased OakPCB because I had heard that it looked
promising. As you read last month, it does indeed look interesting and
it is fine for small circuits. However, I found that there were
limitations for the kind of work I do. In the meanwhile, I have upgraded
to Vector and I regret not having done so before. Vector has some
special features which make it very good for PCB work. The latest
version is 1.10 and some of the features mentioned here may not be
present on earlier versions.
7.7
If, as a result of this article, you buy Vector (ú85 +VAT), please
mention my name to 4Mation, so we can all assess the market for PCB CAD.
(The same applies if you buy it through Archive at ú92. Ed.) If there is
sufficient demand, extra modifications are possible. In the meanwhile,
as 4Mation know little or nothing about PCB design, I have offered them
free technical support via Archive, so if you have problems please
contact me.
7.7
Vector was written, as was DrawPlus, by Jonathan Marten who is an
engineer in the aerospace industry. He started using Acornæs original
Draw and found it lacking. So Jonathan started rewriting it. Eventually,
he was satisfied and released the new program into PD as Draw1╜. This
was gradually upgraded and became DrawPlus. Then Jonathan teamed up with
4Mation, who put more ideas and improvements into the melting pot.
7.7
The important points are that the program was written for the
programmeræs own use. It is a Éliveæ program which still grows. It also
seems that Jonathan is a very clear thinker as Vector is a major work
which is very well thought out, useful for doing real things and copes
very well with a lot of tasks which he himself never even considered. I
suspect that he is never satisfied with his own work and, however good
it is, always seeks something better.
7.7
Jonathan has also written a utility to convert my LinTrack files to
Vector and the resulting display looks really good and prints out
extremely well (within the limitations of the original LinTrack file). I
had initially thought that I would still use LinTrack and simply use
Vector for printing out. Iæm not so sure now Ö it looks as if Iæll do
the design in Vector also.
7.7
Special features
7.7
Vectoræs special features are its layers, its rulers and position
readout, its ÉOverlayæ facility and its library. It also has facilities
for merging and splitting objects. These all combine to make the package
very versatile and powerful. My intention was that the rest of this
article should consist of instructions on how to use these features,
with special reference to PCB design, since these features are not
covered very well in the manual. However, as there is such a pressure on
space in Archive at the moment, Paul has decided to put the unexpurgated
version on the monthly program disc in Impression format and as a text
file and limit me to a summary!
7.7
Summary
7.7
Vector gives me, in a single package, a circuit design package, a PCB
layout package, a technical drawing package and a general drawing
package. I would love to find a dedicated PCB program which does better
but I havenæt yet. In the meanwhile, I enjoy using Vector. Using Vector
for everything also simplifies my learning curve. However, be warned:
Vector has no design rules to help you with PCB work: Vector will only
do what you tell it. It wonæt fight you but it is so versatile that you
may easily confuse yourself. It can do just about anything you want Ö so
it can be very easy to make it do something you donæt want, especially
with the use of layers and grouping, so organise your thoughts.
7.7
I have several future articles planned but it would be interesting to
know what you would like to see. How about PipeDream for parts listing,
stock control, purchasing, letter answering, DTP and for general
business use? I also want to get into SBase and how to use it for stock
control. Circuit Analysis programs are on my list (a couple were
reviewed last month) and I may also cover ArcFax and Prophet Ö
incidentally Quentin Paine of Apricote Studios is working on a major
update of this which I await with interest.
7.7
RiscCAD
7.7
Then thereæs RiscCAD from Davyn Software. The programmer, David Buck,
wants to write a PCB design package and I am in close contact with him.
Now is your chance to tell the programmer exactly what you do or do not
want in a program. All suggestions to me please. We could get the
program we all want if we act quickly.
7.7
Fastrax
7.7
There is also Fastrax from Techsoft. A pre-release copy of this arrived
by this afternoonæs post. It looks very promising indeed. There is, as
yet, no manual but the program seems pretty much self-explanatory. I
have had a long chat with the programmer and Ö would you believe it Ö he
used to work for Linear Graphics so, in effect, the program is taking
over the legacy of LinTrack. Maybe thatæs why I find it so interesting Ö
more on this is sure to follow.
7.7
If you have ideas, suggestions, questions, etc, write to me, Richard
Torrens, 30 Reach Road, Burwell, Cambridge, CB5 0AH (0638-741930).ááA
7.7
New Outline Fonts on the Archimedes (2)
7.7
Richard Hallas
7.7
In Archive 7.3, p34, I examined a clutch of new fonts from ITC,
Letraset, Monotype and URW, brought to the Acorn platform by the
Datafile and LOOKsystems. The LOOKsystems Monotype conversions are
packaged in sets of 100 typefaces, which makes them very cheap
individually. These fonts are all official conversions, of the very
highest quality, from some of the worldæs greatest and longest-
established sources of typefaces. They are all provided in both RISC OS2
and RISC OS3 format, complete with full kerning data, hinting and
scaffolding for each character, along with extra characters in some
cases. (See the end of this article for some important new information
about the Datafileæs font conversions.)
7.7
The (legal) conversion of fonts from other platforms is a new thing to
the Acorn world. Other fonts so far released have been created from
scratch on Acorn machines. The Monotype conversions are sold,
surprisingly, in a Ébudgetæ form, with a pack of 100 faces working out
overall at under ú1 per face. Two new contenders have now entered the
font scene in a similarly Ébudget packæ form, but this time the fonts
are in RISC OS 2 format only and have all been created on Acorn machines
from scratch. Whilst they are not Éofficialæ fonts in the same way as
the Datafile and LOOKsystems conversions, they emulate existing styles
and they are available very cheaply.
7.7
The first is Dalmation Publicationsæ Font Library: 101 fancy fonts for
ú19.95 including p&p. The second is Tekoa Graphicsæ Font Pack One: 25
body text fonts for ú22.75 including p&p.
7.7
101 Dalmations
7.7
The Dalmation Publications Font Library consists of four discs
containing 101 faces, which group into 41 families with between one and
eight faces per family. The fonts are newly drawn on the Archimedes, but
there are equivalent PostScript versions of most of the fonts, and a
listing of correspondences between Acorn and PostScript names is
available. The vast majority of the fonts have Éhintingæ lines which
ensure that bits of characters do not disappear when printed at small
sizes, but only a small number have scaffolding lines. Being RISC OS2
format, none of the fonts contain any kerning data.
7.7
The Dalmation fonts do not attempt to be up to the standards of the
Éofficialæ conversions but the author, Toby Richards, claims that their
quality is comparable with the fonts supplied with ArtWorks. In fact, I
believe he is doing himself a disservice with this comparison. The
ArtWorks fonts consist, in the main, of letters and numbers and a few
other symbols, but otherwise have fairly empty character sets and hardly
any contain hinting or scaffolding.
7.7
The Dalmation fonts do contain full hinting (and sometimes scaffolding),
and the character sets in virtually all the fonts are completely full.
In fact, the Dalmation Font Library fonts follow the EFF Latin 1 layout,
so in addition to all the standard Acorn Latin 1 characters, you also
get a number of extras, including the superscript 4 which is included in
EFF fonts but not in the standard Acorn layout. The accented W and Y
characters, which are used in Welsh, are also provided. These are fairly
rare inclusions in fonts other than those from EFF.
7.7
Close examination of the characters reveals that the majority of them
have been drawn to a very high standard. A few of the fonts are not
particularly good, but the majority are very well defined indeed. It
seems a bit of a pity that scaffolding lines are only present in a small
number of the faces. The purpose of scaffolding lines is, in the main,
to retain the correct proportions of letters regardless of the scaling
factors used. Hinting lines (which are present in these fonts) ensure
that thin parts of characters do not disappear when they are printed at
small sizes. As the majority of these fonts are of the Éfancyæ variety,
they are more likely to be used at larger point sizes, so the absence of
scaffolding doesnæt really make a great deal of difference.
7.7
Although many of the faces are for display use, a number are suitable
for use as body text. These include the elegant Boulevard, which is
reminiscent of the font Acorn used in the older (RISC OS 2) manuals.
Another elegant font which I particularly liked is Transworld Ö very
modern, but quite suitable for body text use.
7.7
As for truly fancy fonts, there are some real gems in this collection.
The vampire-invoking Nosferatu font is very nicely designed, with
letters that look as though theyæve been drawn in blood. Rather less
gory is the Spotlight font. This makes an ideal companion to the
ÉBroadwayæ range (the official conversions of which are available from
the Datafile) ù itæs designed in the same style but is a new addition to
the family. Open circles in the letters give the impression of attached
light bulbs. A particularly interesting font is Hoedown, in which all
the letters appear to be made out of planks of wood nailed together.
(This is one of the very few fonts, though, which contains little other
than the actual letters.)
7.7
As well as body and fancy text fonts, the collection also contains a
small number of very interesting specialised fonts. Checkmate provides
monochrome illustrations of Chess and Draughts pieces, with and without
shaded square backgrounds. (A similar font is available from EFF.)
Handsign provides, as you might expect, a set of hand signs, and a
family of three Zodiac fonts provide every conceivable astrological
symbol. As well as the Zodiac signs, there are symbols for Chinese
astrology, Chinese year pictorial symbols, Yin and Yang and I Ching
signs. A ReadMe file on one of the discs explains what all the symbols
in the Zodiac fonts are, and also details the keyboard layout of the
Checkmate font. Further files on the disc provide general character
layouts in Impression, Ovation and plain text formats. These provide a
very useful reference.
7.7
Although all the fonts are currently in RISC OS 2 format, Dalmation
Publications intends to provide a RISC OS 3 upgrade for minimal cost at
some point in the future.
7.7
To sum up, the Dalmation Font Library provides really excellent value
for money, considering that each face works out at slightly under 20p.
The claim that this is öa commercial font library at a PD priceò is
entirely valid. A few of the fonts are a little bit lumpy but the vast
majority of them are extremely well defined, and a few are nothing less
than superb quality. The Zodiac signs, in particular, are very nicely
created. At under ú20, this collection is not to be sniffed at.
7.7
It is important to remember that fonts available from some public domain
sources are quite simply illegal, and are usually of very poor quality
in any case. The Dalmation pack provides a large number of fonts at a
public domain price, but they are legal and generally of excellent
quality. Purchasers of Dalmationæs Font Book, published a couple of
years ago, may be pleased to know that the best free fonts supplied with
that publication have been included in this collection in an upgraded
form. The fonts in this collection are, on the whole, of a very much
higher quality than those supplied with ArtWorks. If you need any of the
specialised fonts such as the Handsign or Zodiac faces, then the
collection is well worth the asking price for those faces alone. I can
recommend this font pack without reservation.
7.7
(The illustration on the previous page shows a small sample of some of
the more attractive and novel faces in the collection.)
7.7
Tekoa Graphics Fonts
7.7
Font Pack One from Tekoa Graphics consists of two 800Kb floppies (or one
high density disc). There are 25 faces in total, divided into nine
families of one, two or four faces each. In contrast to the generally
fancy-font orientation of the Dalmation pack, the vast majority of the
fonts supplied here are body text faces, and very widely recognised ones
at that.
7.7
The author, Roger Amos (who has also written several books about Acorn
computers), describes the fonts as being Éinspired byæ existing designs.
Versions of the popular fonts University, Benguiat, Bookman, Zapf
Chancery, Garamond, Optima and Palladio are provided (each having
similar-sounding but different names), along with a couple of extras,
namely a display font called Matrix and a cyrillic font called Moscow,
whose design appears to be based on Bodoni.
7.7
(The illustration top right of this page shows the main face in each
family.)
7.7
The fonts are in RISC OS 2 format, without kerning data but including
full scaffolding and hinting. They do not claim to be PostScript
compatible Ö they have all been drawn from scratch by hand, and employ
slightly revised and simplified designs in some cases. Certainly, you
should not expect them to appear identical to their Éofficialæ
counterparts with the original names. Nevertheless, they do a perfectly
good impersonation of the standard fonts, and they are perfectly useable
as body fonts. A good illustration of this is that Roger Amos typeset
his book ArtWorks Made Easy (published by Dabs Press) using the Garland
font (the Garamond equivalent) in this pack. Another tribute to the
quality of these fonts is the fact that some of them are supplied as
standard with Risc Developmentsæ Ovation DTP package. However, the fonts
have been revised and updated, and the latest versions are presented in
this collection.
7.7
All the fonts in the pack contain full character sets with the exception
of Matrix and Moscow, which are rather specialised. A drawfile showing
the keyboard layout of the Moscow font is supplied. However, the mid-
range characters are not included in any of the fonts (unlike the
Dalmation offerings). This effectively means that you canæt use these
fonts in Welsh Ö otherwise itæs of pretty minor importance.
7.7
The fonts in this pack work out at 91p each, which certainly makes them
very good value. As a starter pack, the range of fonts provided gives an
excellent introductory selection of popular faces. However, in all
fairness, I have to compare them to the Monotype fonts from LOOKsystems,
as the individual prices of each font are virtually the same from both
suppliers. Although the LOOKsystems pack is four times as expensive as
the Tekoa pack, you do get four times as many fonts, so it all works out
the same in the end. The LOOKsystems fonts are PostScript compatible
RISC OS 3 conversions of world-class fonts with full kerning data,
whereas the Tekoa fonts are RISC OS 2 format fonts which are drawn from
scratch and are therefore not PostScript compatible. Although, to the
majority of Acorn users, PostScript compatibility simply isnæt a valid
concern, it is important to remember that the Monotype fonts (and indeed
the ITC, Letraset and URW fonts from the Datafile) are the absolute top
quality original designs created by famous world-class type designers
such as Hermann Zapf. I also believe that kerning pairs, now that they
are available in Acorn fonts, should be provided wherever possible.
Kerning is important, and makes an appreciable difference to the
presentational quality of a document. I hope that Tekoa Graphics will
consider updating the fonts to included kerning data Ö it would
certainly make them even more useful and better value. Of course,
kerning data is more relevant to body text fonts than to display faces.
7.7
The Tekoa Graphics Font Pack One is, I believe, very good value
(especially when compared with fonts on other platforms) but I am unable
to recommend it unreservedly simply because you can get better quality
original Monotype fonts for the same price per face. However, you do
have to buy the Monotype fonts in packs of 100 at a time, which makes
them collectively quite expensive as a one-off purchase. The Tekoa font
pack is a quarter the price, and of all the Monotype fonts that have
been converted so far, only Garamond is common to both packs. Ovation
users may be less inclined to get this pack, as three of the font
families it contains (Bookmark, Chaucer and Paladin) are simply upgrades
to fonts supplied with their program. However, these fonts comprise an
excellent starter pack, and if you need these particular faces, this is
a very economical way of getting high quality equivalents.
7.7
Datafileæs Fonts
7.7
The licensing conditions concerning the Datafileæs excellent conversions
of various classic fonts, have been re-negotiated. As well as a
reduction in prices, a pick and mix service is now available.
7.7
Previously, entire families had to be supplied singly on separate discs,
with the first face costing ú10 and subsequent faces costing ú5, and
this condition was imposed by the previous licensing agreement. However,
the Datafile has managed to re-negotiate the deal and can now supply
fonts at a reduced rate of ú7 for the first face. You are also free to
select any number of faces from any number of font families at a time,
and they will all be supplied on a single disc. This is very much more
economical, as you can now, for example, buy just the regular small caps
face from Antiqua for ú7, rather than having to shell out ú70 for the
whole set of 16 faces!
7.7
Regardless of how many faces you buy, you receive them on a disc in a
very attractive and economically-sized plastic wallet. The ability to
pick exactly which faces you want, is a significant advance for the
Datafile. Itæs a condition which is not available to purchasers of these
fonts on other platforms and it is also worth stating that rather than
the ú7 (maximum) which the faces cost in their Acorn-format conversions,
on the other platforms they cost ú35 each, five times the amount!
7.7
Although these conversions may seem a little expensive compared with the
LOOKsystems Monotype ones, it is the nature of the Datafileæs licensing
conditions which determine the price. It is important to remember that
these fonts are of the highest possible quality, and come from some of
the worldæs top designers. For example, Classico is Hermann Zapfæs
modern (1990s) reworking of of the classic Optima font. Itæs a real
beauty.
7.7
I am told that demand for these fonts from the Acorn community is
currently rather small. I believe it is very important for the Acorn
world generally that the conversions continue, so if you need any new,
top quality fonts I urge you to have a look at these. The Datafile has
had a lot of interest from PC owners desperate to buy the fonts at the
Acorn prices. Unfortunately the Datafile cannot currently supply the
fonts in anything other than Acorn format, so the PC users will have to
go on paying top prices. However, the lack of interest from Acorn owners
indicates that they donæt know what a good thing they are missing! It
would be a tragedy if the Datafile had to stop converting these
excellent fonts because it was unable to gain revenue from them.
7.7
Since the first article in Archive 7.3, the Datafile has been busy
converting many more fonts, and they now total over 100 faces in more
than 30 families. My personal favourites are ITC Panache and URW
Commercial Script, both extremely attractive faces which I use a great
deal.ááA
7.7
A sample of the fonts added since the last review.
7.7
16-bit Digital Audio Ö Part 2
7.7
David Lenthall
7.7
Last month I looked at the theory and possibilities of 16-bit audio
expansion cards. This month I will look at four of the products which
are imminently, if not actually, available. As mentioned last month,
these products fall into two sub-categories Ö audio samplers and
wavetable synthesizers, with two offerings in each category.
7.7
16-bit audio has been around for some time now and the associated
integrated circuits have come down in price. All of the cards covered
here are around the ú300 mark, a quarter of the asking price for
Armadilloæs ill-fated A616 of a few years ago. Additionally, most of the
new cards provide more functionality than the basic A-D-A of the A616.
7.7
I feel I should emphasise that I have not had any of these products for
trial in my own home, and that my assessment is based on demonstrations
and discussions in October at the Acorn World Show and at the recent
BETT Show, with additional information having been gleaned from numerous
telephone conversations with the respective companies. Also, as two of
the cards are currently pre-release, some of the information is
provisional. The information was current on 17th January 1994.
7.7
Wild Vision / Computer Conceptsæ Lark A16
7.7
This is the latest product to come from this dual-company collaboration:
Wild Vision handling the hardware design and CC dealing with the
software development. This single width podule is the cheapest of all
the products considered here, a no-nonsense design providing stereo 16-
bit A-D and D-A converters capable of sampling at one of four fixed
frequencies: 8, 12, 44.1 and 48kHz. A Midi interface is included and the
release version will be able to intercept both incoming and outgoing
Midi commands to activate sample playback.
7.7
To save on development time, the Lark is based to a large extent on the
audio section of their Eagle card (except that that only provides 12-bit
sampling).
7.7
The bundled AudioWorks sample-editing software can play back at various
frequencies enabling pitch transposition, etc. AudioWorks also supports
a wide range of file formats, both native and foreign, including the PC
WAV format. AudioWorks is also available separately (ú49á+VAT), and CC
intend to release driver modules to enable it to be used with other
manufacturersæ A-D-A cards.
7.7
A separate application, AudioCtrl (also included), controls the audio
flow through the Lark. Thus, it is possible to direct the internal sound
system out via the Larkæs D-A or to monitor the output of the A-D stage
using the Archimedesæ internal loudspeaker.
7.7
There is a possibility of including a Yamaha-based FM synthesis section
on the card, though this is very provisional. I donæt want to go into
the details here, but FM synthesis doesnæt compare very favourably with
wavetable synthesis, particularly if you want any warm lush sounds. Nice
tuned percussion and Ésynthyæ brass are a real possibility though.
7.7
The facility to sample/play directly to/from hard disc is still under
development, though it will be present on the release product. However,
as AudioWorks cannot handle samples larger than can be held in RAM, it
could not be used in its current form for full HD recording
applications. As Impression can handle documents larger than the
available RAM size, this is not an insurmountable problem, as similar
techniques could be used here.
7.7
WV/CC seem to be aiming this product at the multimedia market, producing
sound files for use with Replay, etc. They have no plans to produce full
HD recording software, as thatæs not really their field. Any such
software will have to come from third party developers.
7.7
Given the pedigree, I was very optimistic about this product, though
personally I feel that it comes a little short of the mark. The quality
of construction is of the very high standard weæve come to expect from
Wild Vision, though functionally it isnæt as versatile as some of the
other cards on offer. For example, they have no plans to extend the
initial design to include a DSP chip or S/PDIF connectors. However, I
must stress that this opinion is based on my particular requirements,
and that for most peopleæs needs WV/CC have come up with an attractive
product at a very attractive price.
7.7
Irlam Ö Soundcard
7.7
This product is similar to the Lark Ö a single width podule providing
stereo 16-bit A-D and D-A converters Ö although it is capable of
sampling at a wider range of fixed frequencies including CD and DAT
standards, but it is lacking a Midi interface.
7.7
The higher price is due partly to the presence of an Analog Devices 2105
DSP chip. At the moment, this is only used to control the A-D and D-A
hardware, though they plan to upgrade the software, making use of the
DSP to provide real-time sample file compression (to save on RAM and
disc space), fourier filtering and audio effects.
7.7
The software on demonstration at the Acorn World show was an HD
recorder/playback system with a simple control panel providing record,
play and stop controls, along with the means to change the sampling
rate, samples being saved in WAV format. A couple of utilities are
included, one enabling the waveform to be displayed and allowing the
conversion of samples to a number of different formats, and the other
enabling Wimp SWIs to be intercepted to activate samples (e.g. the sound
of a door closing whenever you click on any windowæs close icon).
7.7
Although a Midi interface is not included, future versions may allow
Midi commands to be intercepted and used to activate samples. This would
certainly be more practical than the gimmicky interception of Wimp SWIs.
However, this would require the additional expense of a separate Midi
card, and the subsequent loss of yet another podule slot.
7.7
At the BETT show they were demonstrating a prototype of an HD Recorder.
The software allows four input tracks and two output tracks, so you can
load in two separate stereo samples, and cut and paste from those,
building a new stereo sample in the output tracks. Although this is
currently at an early stage, they intend to include a more comprehensive
range of editing processes including cross fades, audio effects, etc.
Even at this early stage, the editing software can edit samples bigger
than RAM, i.e. from hard disc, which is not possible with AudioWorks.
The presence of the DSP chip means that there is a lot of processing
power available and, consequently, considerable scope for development of
this sort of software.
7.7
According to Irlam, most of their cards sold so far are being used in
conjunction with Replay, although, unlike the Lark, this is more suited
to full HD recording applications in addition to multimedia.
7.7
Expressive Software Productsæ SS1600
7.7
This is a little different from the Wild Vision and Irlam products in
that it is essentially a 16-bit digital synthesizer on a card. The
SS1600 is the first of a range of products collectively known as the
Super Sound Expansion System (SSES).
7.7
The input and output electronics (D-A and Midi) are housed in an
external case which connects to a single width podule (containing the
synthesizer) which is installed in the Archimedes. This route was chosen
because there are too many connectors to fit on a single width podule.
It also provides other advantages Ö the sensitive audio circuitry is
removed from the electrically hostile environment of the computer,
thereby improving sound quality, and it allows expandability whilst
using only one podule slot Ö and expandability is another aspect which
sets this product apart from the previous two.
7.7
The chip set used is the same as found in the Ensoniq ESQ-1 synthesizer,
a professional Midi keyboard retailing at around the ú1000 mark, and in
the SS1600, it is under the control of an onboard 68000 processor. DSP
type functions are provided as part of the synthesis process allowing
multi-effects processing, though an actual DSP chip is not present. ESP
plan to include one on future versions, though this is fairly
provisional at the moment.
7.7
The synthesizer uses a 4Mb ROM containing wavetables providing 128
instruments and 49 drum sounds which conform to the GM standard. The
synthesizer is 32 note polyphonic and 16-part multitimbral. Planned,
though not yet implemented, is provision of 64Kb (expandable to 4Mb) of
private sample RAM into which instruments designed or captured by the
user may be loaded.
7.7
A Midi interface is included, and Midi commands can be intercepted to
activate the synthesizer voices or samples (held in RAM or on disc). The
synthesizer section is treated as a separate (Midi) port, so a full 16
Midi channels are available to it without encroaching on those of the
Midi port proper. To make full use of this aspect, a sequencer capable
of addressing multiple Midi ports is required.
7.7
Although there is a 16-bit stereo D-A converter used both for sample
playback and by the synthesizer section, at present there is no A-D
stage, so capturing samples isnæt yet feasible. The A-D stage, along
with S/PDIF connectors and sample RAM, represents stage two of the
product which is scheduled to appear in March/April. A number of
different sample file formats can be played via the D-A section, and the
replay rate can be set to any frequency between 1Hz and 60kHz in 1Hz
steps.
7.7
Also planned for later release is a range of software, including a
sample editor, a synthesizer (enabling control of the Ensoniq chip set),
and an integrated HD recorderá/áMidi sequencer. I have been assured that
the various upgrades including the software packages will all be
reasonably priced Ö the A-D stage will cost an additional ú100, or
thereabouts, which indeed seems reasonable. Even at the revised price
(ú249 ÖÖ> ú299), the SS1600 certainly packs a lot for the money.
7.7
Vertical Twist
7.7
The prototype which was on show at Acorn World is similar in concept to
ESPæs offering, though they seemed unsure at that time about what form
any final product would take. They seemed to be dipping their toes in
the water, getting feedback from punters like myself, to assess the
demand.
7.7
The prototype comprised a 16-bit wavetable-based synthesizer section,
using Kurzweil chips, and a Midi interface. There is a 4Mb wavetable ROM
providing over 700 instruments (including percussion). The instruments
are arranged in three banks, one of which contains a GM compatible set.
An onboard 68000 processor is used to control the synthesizer, and the
Kurzweil chip set includes a DSP chip to provide digital effects. They
have no plans to include onboard sample RAM, so you are stuck with the,
admittedly superb, supplied sounds.
7.7
Kurzweil is generally considered to be the ÉRolls Royceæ amongst
samplers Ö the authenticity of their sounds represents the state of the
art in sampling technology. It is this quality that determines the
higher price of this product over ESPæs SS1600.
7.7
A stereo 16-bit A-D-A card is planned as a separate product, to be
released towards the end of 1994. The synthesizer card is housed on a
small daughter-board which plugs directly into one of two podule cards,
either a cheap carrier board, should you only want the synthesizer, or
the A-D-A board, should you want both. This ensures that only one podule
slot is used whether you buy either or both products (the carrier board
is redundant if you opt for both).
7.7
As implied above, this is all still fairly provisional and the final
specification may well change.
7.7
Conclusions
7.7
The WV/CC and Irlam cards are aimed at similar markets, primarily
multimedia support requiring soundfile capture and replay. Unless you
are specifically interested in full HD Recording applications and want
the DSP features of the Irlam card (not yet implemented) then I would
recommend that you would do better to buy the WV/CC product, saving a
hundred quid and gaining a Midi interface.
7.7
For me, however, the most exciting product is the offering from ESP.
Although itæs not all there yet, they have ambitious (though not
unrealistic) plans concerning developing the system and in providing
professional application software. The GM standard synthesizer is, of
course, well suited to multimedia applications, though it can also
function in the wider context as a component within a full-blown Midi
setup. Once the A-D section is available, this product will have all the
functionality of the WV and Irlam cards (except Irlamæs DSP) in addition
to its synthesis capabilities. Given this versatility, the price is
extremely attractive.
7.7
More and more top-end wavetable-based synthesizers are now providing
sample RAM allowing the user to extend the machineæs default wavetable
palette. For owners of such synthesizers, the ESP system will provide a
highly cost-effective means of capturing, editing and testing samples
prior to transfer (via Midi) into the synthesizer.
7.7
Sensibly, none of these three products has been limited regarding sample
file formats.
7.7
I feel that Vertical Twist may have left things a little late. The user
demand which they have been assessing will most likely be absorbed by
the other products because they will be available sooner. On the other
hand, if you are one of those people who wonæt be satisfied with
anything but the best, and for whom cost is not the issue, then the
Kurzweil-based Vertical Twist product, should it appear, is for you.
7.7
Concerning differences between the ESP and Vertical Twist designs. The
Ensoniq chip set (as used on ESPæs card) provides a powerful synthesis
engine, enabling considerable variation of the sounds available, whereas
the Kurzweil chip set (as used by Vertical Twist) is essentially a high
quality sample player which concentrates on realism.
7.7
As I close (17th Jan) only the Irlam and ESP cards are actually
available, though the other two hope to be ready to dispatch in the
first quarter of 1994.
7.7
I wholeheartedly welcome each of these products. The Archimedes has a
wealth of quality packages aimed at the visual medium Ö painting and DTP
programs, image scanners and printer management, and it really is high
time that audio/musical applications should be similarly addressed. I
now know whatæs next on my shopping list.ááA
7.7
Manufacturer Wild Vision / CC Irlam ESP Vertical Twist
7.7
Product name Lark A16 SoundCard SS1600 (SSES)
7.7
A-D 16 bit 16 bit 16 bit (Mar/Apr æ94) 16 bit } Codec
7.7
D-A 16 bit 16 bit 16 bit 16 bit }
7.7
Sample rate: 4 x fixed rates Wide range fixed 3 x fixed rates Wide
range fixed
7.7
CD (44.1kHz) Yes Yes Yes Yes
7.7
DAT (32/48kHz) Yes (48kHz only) Yes (both) Neither Yes (both)
7.7
Playback rates 1Hz Ö 60kHz (1Hz res.)
7.7
Digital In/Out No No S/PDIF (Mar/Apr æ94)
7.7
Wavetable Synth: No (but see text) No Ensoniq chip set Kurzweil chip
set
7.7
Polyphony Ö Ö 32 32
7.7
Multi-timbral Ö Ö 16 part 16 part
7.7
Instruments (ROM) Ö Ö 128 + 49 perc (4Mb) 700+, inc perc (4Mb)
7.7
GM compatible Ö Ö Yes Yes
7.7
Wavetable RAM Ö Ö 64K-4Mb (Mar/Apr æ94) No
7.7
DSP chip No AD2105 (Codec) (Possibly later) Yes + 68000 (Syn)
7.7
Midi: IN/OUT/THRU No IN/OUT/THRU IN/OUT/THRU
7.7
Acorn compatible Yes Ö Yes Yes
7.7
Cmds intercepted In & Out (possibly later) In & Out In & Out
7.7
Software: AudioWorks (inc) HD Rec (edit later) MidiFile player (inc)
MidiFile player (inc)
7.7
AudioCtrl (inc) WimpSWI FX (inc) HD Rec (extra, later)
7.7
Midi Seq (extra, later)
7.7
Price: ú233.83 inc VAT ú351.33 inc VAT ú351.33 inc VAT Syn/Midi Ö
ú399 (prov)
7.7
A-D Ö ~ ú100 extra A-D-A Ö ú299 (prov)
7.7
Availability Mar/Apr æ94 Sep æ93 Jan æ94 Feb æ94, end of æ94
7.7
16-bit sound cards Ö Comparison of main features
7.7
JPEG Column
7.7
Stuart Bell
7.7
VIDC bottle-necks ù yet again!
7.7
In January, I concluded that when using 256 colour modes, an A310 with
8MHz main memory (even with an ARM3) offers only 40% of the performance
of an A5000 with memory running at 12MHz. I reported also that the
Watford Electronics VIDC enhancer seemed to generate a further overhead
of about 30% when driving an SVGA monitor at its synthesised VGA-
standard 25.175MHz pixel rate compared with the performance obtained
using the monitor without the enhancer and its software, at the
theoretically incorrect 24MHz. Since then Iæve been experimenting with
making the enhancer software use the 24MHz clock for certain modes.
(Reference to the article öModes, Megahertz and Monitorsò in Archive 7.3
p9 may help those who feel Éterminologically challengedæ.) My conclusion
is that modes 27 and 28 can work quite happily at 24MHz, but that modes
20 and 21 have to be driven at 25.175MHz if they are not to over-fill
the screen in 640╫480 VGA mode. The results are quite impressive. What
takes 43 seconds in mode 28 at 25.175MHz (and 48 seconds in mode 21)
takes only 33 seconds in mode 28 at 24MHz. Thatæs right: Slowing down
the pixel clock by 4.7% gives a 20%+ speed-up, and mode 28 becomes 30%
faster than the marginally larger mode 21. Presumably, just that slight
reduction in pixel rate means that the VIDC allows the ARM3 processor a
greater share of memory bandwidth, with a consequent increase in
computation speed.
7.7
If anyone else who has the Watford VGA enhancer wants a copy of my
module, just drop me a line and a disc. If anyone with a Éneweræ machine
which can produce both the 24MHz and 25.175MHz pixel clocks has the
software to produce similar modes with different clock rates, Iæd be
very interested to hear of their results. The final result is that all
my JPEG (and MPEG) conversions will run more than 20% faster than ever
before ù a worthwhile benefit.
7.7
OneFor94
7.7
Since its inception, this column has always been well supported by
Archive members from mainland Europe. Now, Lars Fiol÷p has written to
tell me of a new implementation of the JPEG algorithm which he found on
a bulletin board. Called öOneFor94ò, it apparently optimises the
compression algorithm with 256 colour modes, by selecting a custom
pallette from the 16bpp or 24bpp original, and choosing a Ébest-matchæ
256 colours from the 32Kb or 16Mb+ of the original to achieve up to a
94:1 compression ratio Ö hence the title of the software. At the moment,
its only functional on Unix systems but, being written in ISO ÉCæ (with
one or two K&R extensions), should be portable without too much
difficulty. More details next time.
7.7
12MHz RAM speed-up?
7.7
Dennis Silverwood of IFEL responded to my enquiry about their idea of a
couple of years ago of speeding up the RAM of A300 and A400 series
machines to run at 12MHz and hence, with an ARM3, give the power of an
A5000. Their hope had been to speed up not just the RAM but the whole
machine. Sadly, they found that, because of differences between
different machines, (e.g. the speed of RAM), it was not a practicable
idea. Ah well, nice thought!
7.7
Irlamæs !ImageBank
7.7
Irlam Instruments have recently announced a range of scanners, including
the first hand-held colour scanner for the Archimedes. Of course, colour
sprite files can be very large, which is where JPEG comes in. Irlam have
also produced their own JPEG package ù !ImageBank. A few months ago, I
was rather critical of a demo version of this software ù largely on the
grounds of speed ù whilst admitting that the full package might be worth
investigating. Iæve now received the latest version (0.46) for review,
and Iæm quite impressed. Effectively, !ImageBank works as a filing
system for JPEG images, storing the JPEG file, a thumb-nail sprite and a
text description for each picture. It is the first commercial JPEG
product which Iæve come across and seems to have been implemented rather
well.
7.7
Existing sprites produced with, for example, scanners or digitisers, can
be compressed in the manner familiar to users of other JPEG packages.
This is achieved simply by dragging the sprite file onto an !ImageBank
directory display. A dialogue window then allows a title and source
information to be stored alongside the new JPEG file, and the
Éthumbnailæ view is stored as a small sprite. This means that you can
get an idea of what each image contains before decompressing the picture
from JPEG to sprite format. The usual range of JPEG compression options
ù for example the öQò factor ù can be user-defined. The filer-like
window of each collection of pictures (which may have a nested directory
structure for the thematic grouping of images) can display either just
the thumbnail images or, additionally, the textual information
associated with each one. Images can be moved around such collections
simply by dragging and dropping in the usual manner.
7.7
The sprites produced when a JPEG file is decompresed can be saved in 256
grey, 256 colour (standard or optimised), 32,000 colour or 16M colour
formats. The ÉClearæ file format is also supported. Each directory
heading gives both the total compressed and de-compressed sizes of the
images which it contains. An entry of (585K/7289K) is typical, and
reminds us of the benefits of the JPEG approach.
7.7
To benchmark !ImageBank, I tested version 0.46 against !JView (version
0.07) and !FYEO (version 1.02) for a number of 256 colour JPEG files.
Tests were performed on an ARM3-powered A310 in mode 28 (with a 24MHz
pixel clock!)
7.7
Image !JView !FYEO !I-Bank
7.7
Fruit (398╫302) 10s 14s 21s
7.7
Pfieffer (472╫647) 24s 31s 52s
7.7
Rock (668╫888) 53s 67s 130s
7.7
Quality is harder to assess. !ImageBank is based on the latest Version 4
routines of the IJG, and the results are very good. Output sprites seem
smoother than !FYEOæs and ù especially ù !JViewæs images.
7.7
To conclude, !ImageBank offers an excellent, polished, JPEG-based image
storage and retrieval facility. It is a product that requires little
technical knowledge to use and it implements a well thought-out filing
system that is essential for storing any collection of more than a few
scanned or digitised images. Trying to manage such an archive without
!ImageBank but with, say, !JPEGit and !FYEO, would be much harder,
primarily because of the absence of !ImageBankæs Éthumbnailæ facility.
7.7
I suspect that !ImageBank is slower than some other JPEG applications
because it supports 32k colour and 16M colour sprite files. Perhaps a
global option to make it work only with 8bpp images would speed things
up a little. However, its ability to work transparently with 8bpp, 16bpp
and 24/32bpp images will become increasingly important in the future,
especially for users of separate display cards or the new Acorn machine.
I shall be using !ImageBank to store all my JPEG images. If you are
serious about using JPEG for economic image storage, then this package
is warmly recommended ù but it would be even better if it were a little
faster.
7.7
ImageBank costs ú25 +VAT from Irlam Instruments or ú28 through
Archive.ááA
7.7
ImageBankæs öThumbnail onlyò display format
7.7
ImageBankæs èöFull Infoò display format
7.7
Comms Guide Ö Part 2
7.7
Eddie Lord
7.7
My last epic on modems (Archive 5.8 p49) aimed to give an understanding
of the comms process and a passing acquaintance with the jargon. Now I
want to cover the more practical aspects of Égoing on lineæ.
7.7
Buying the modem
7.7
Referring back to the previous article will give you sufficient
understanding of the jargon to allow you to purchase a modem with
confidence. With the Archimedes, you have essentially two choices.
7.7
1) A free standing external unit with its own mains supply, that
connects to your serial port, via a serial cable. An external modem has
the advantage of lots of pretty LEDs, usually nine, on the front panel
that help with troubleshooting. An external unit does, however, take up
valuable desk space, an extra power socket and, if it is not supplied,
you may require a serial cable to connect to the computer. With more
than one computer, however, the modem can easily be switched from one to
the other, with only the serial cable to be changed depending on the
architecture, Acorn, Mac, PC, etc.
7.7
2) A pocket modem (about the size of a mouse), that is powered by
battery, or AC adaptors. The major advantage is size, making it easy to
take away with you if you have a portable. There are a limited number of
LEDæs, usually three or four to help with troubleshooting. Of course,
you pay an extra premium for the reduced size.
7.7
There is, as far as I know, no internal modem podule for the Acorn range
of computers, and even Computer Conceptsæ Fax Pack is going out of
production.
7.7
Features
7.7
When buying a modem, look out for the following:-
7.7
Åáan internal speaker
7.7
ÅáHayes compatibility
7.7
ÅáTone dialling
7.7
ÅáCompatible with Comm ports 3 & 4 (if used on a PC)
7.7
ÅáMinimum of V21, V22, V22bis (V23 is a Europe only standard and is
falling out of favour as the higher standards become the norm.)
7.7
ÅáCompression using MNP5, V42 bis
7.7
ÅáError correction MNP4, V42
7.7
For a more advanced modem, V32 (9600bps) is the next step, but puts up
the cost.
7.7
V22bis (2400 bps) is about as fast as you can go without any error
correction. If the phone line is bad, some sort of error correction will
be required. (V42 and MNP 5 are now the minimum requirements.)
7.7
For modems boasting 9600bps (V32), 14400 (V32bis) or more, error
correction and compression techniques become essential. In this case,
V42 is the best error correction standard, whilst V42bis is the best
data compression protocol. It is worth it in a portable modem as time on
an international call can be expensive!
7.7
There is no point in buying a modem that is better than the BBS system
you are going to access, but technology is changing so fast and BBS
systems are updating all the time, so do get the best you can afford.
7.7
The Archive BBS sports 14400bps (v32bis) but Compuserve is only 9600bps,
(but even Compuserve is updating to 14400)!
7.7
There is no doubt that, if you are serious about downloading really long
files and can afford the outlay, a 14400 modem is the answer. Remember:
the faster the modem, the cheaper the phone calls!
7.7
Fax modems
7.7
One other consideration when buying a modem is the FaxModem.
Increasingly, modems are being offered with fax facilities built in. If
you are buying a modem anyway, it makes a lot of sense to include the
extra fax facilities in the modem. The price difference is only about
ú15 to ú30 extra, so well worth the extra.
7.7
A traditional fax machine consists of a relatively low resolution
scanner (200dpi), internal 9600 bps Éfaxæ only modem, and a thermal
printer.
7.7
A Faxmodem does away with scanner and printer and combines the Éfaxæ and
normal Édataæ modems together. However, this has both advantages and
disadvantages.
7.7
Some of the advantages are:
7.7
ÅáA faxmodem sends very clear and readable messages, as there is no
scanning involved, (scanning degrades the quality).
7.7
ÅáIt is also great for faxing the same message to several addresses,
which can be automated via a mail-merge package.
7.7
ÅáMessages are received in the background and can be saved to disc
directly. They can then be printed out at leisure on plain paper.
Special thermal fax paper is not required.
7.7
Some of the disadvantages are:
7.7
ÅáA faxmodem can only send information generated in the computer by the
wordprocessor, spreadsheet or other program.
7.7
ÅáA separate scanner is required for sending a fax of pictures/letters
not generated in the computer. However, a separate scanner will give a
better resolution (typically 400dpi or better) than a standard fax
machine. You also get chance to manipulate the image before finally
faxing it.
7.7
ÅáIn order to receive faxes, the computer has to be either switched on
all the time, or to use an automatic switch on and boot up option. This
may not be desirable if you are away for any length of time, although
the monitor can be left switched off.
7.7
ÅáDedicated software is required to run the fax side of things, but is
available from the likes of David Pilling.
7.7
Ensure that the faxmodem is compatible with Group 3 fax machines. Thatæs
CCITT V29 (9600bps), V27ter (4800bps). Check to see if you can send and
RECEIVE.
7.7
The answer is to shop around. In the last year or so, prices have been
falling and facilities improving on most modems. A BT-approved modem
carries an extra premium of about ú50 or so.
7.7
Understanding PC Comm ports
7.7
Archimedes owners can skip this bit (stop giggling). For those of you
who have bought 386/486 expansion boards or use the emulator, some words
of explanation may be appropriate.
7.7
Here we have to make the distinction between the serial port and the
comm ports. The serial port is the D connector on the back of the
computer, marked Éserialæ. The comm ports are the internal addresses to
which these serial ports, internal cards and some other add ons (e.g.
mouse), can be assigned.
7.7
Beware, though, IBM laid down the standards for Comm Ports 1 and 2,
other software writers have different interpretations of what is defined
as Comm Ports 3 and 4. (So much for industry standards!) This can create
problems with some PC expansion cards.
7.7
An internal modem uses an expansion slot, and requires a comm port. You
do not need to connect the internal modem to a serial port as the
internal modem has the serial port built into itself.
7.7
A computer works on Éhardware interruptsæ and the comm ports share these
interrupts. Comm Port 1 and 3 share the same interrupt as do Comm Port 2
and 4. The upshot of this is that any shared interrupt must not conflict
with the other device of the pair. For example, a mouse in Comm port 1
and a modem in Comm port 3 may crash the machine if the mouse is moved
whilst trying to use the modem. A similar problem will occur if the
modem and mouse are allocated the same Comm port.
7.7
On a PC, the mouse is often allocated to Comm port 1, so the modem
should be allocated to Comm port 2 or 4.
7.7
Aleph One 386/486 expansion boards and the emulator use a bus mouse
driver so use Comm port 1.
7.7
What you need to get started
7.7
1) Modem (See above)
7.7
2)áComputer Ö Any computer will do (there is nothing magic about a 386
or a 486) as long as it has a serial port and suitable software, it will
work.
7.7
3)áSuitable cables Ö the serial connection between the modem and
computer differ between different makes of computer (Acorn, Apple,
IBMæs, etc). The modem is often supplied with a standard cable but you
will need to check for your own requirements. (e.g. Acorn machines use a
smaller 9pin D connector for the serial port.)
7.7
4)áPhone socket nearby Ö it may be advantageous to change the single
phone outlet to a double, so that both modem and phone can be plugged in
together.
7.7
5)áSoftware Ö buying a modem is not enough in itself to get you on line.
You will need some sort of comms software that will turn your fancy
machine into a dumb terminal. There are plenty of comms applications for
the Archimedes, ranging from Serial Portæs ArcTerm 7 (ú74) to David
Pillingæs RISC OS Terminals Plus at ú18. ProComm Plus works well with
the emulator and Aleph One PC cards.
7.7
The comms software will allow you to download any files you wish, which
can then be handled by the wordprocessor or run as a program as
appropriate.
7.7
What the software will do for you
7.7
This is the heart of the matter as all your comms will be done through
this software. The software will allow you to:
7.7
ÅáSet up a dialling directory, giving full details of each BBS you
require
7.7
ÅáDial and connect you to the required BBS
7.7
ÅáAutomatically enter your name and password when requested by the BBS
7.7
ÅáDownload files from the BBS to your computer
7.7
ÅáUpload files or letters from your computer to the BBS
7.7
ÅáHang up the phone line
7.7
ÅáKeep a log of all your calls
7.7
ÅáAllow full control of all the setup protocols, handshaking and screen
controls, etc. These are retained on the hard disc, so only need to be
set up once.
7.7
Setting up the modem
7.7
Read the instructions, connect serial and telephone cables and set any
DIP switches or links as appropriate for the CCITT standards and not the
Bell standards. Also, set any DIP switches (if provided) to allow the CD
and DTR lines to follow the state of the serial line rather than being
forced high, (see modem manual). Ensure that AT commands are selected
(again if this is an option provided).
7.7
Many of the newer modems have a programmable non-volatile memory
(NOVRAM). In other words, it doesnæt forget its settings when the modem
is unplugged from the mains. This NOVRAM memory is used instead of DIP
switches and can be programmed from the computer terminal screen (see
below).
7.7
Switch ON the modem!
7.7
Communication software
7.7
The crucial part of getting on line is setting up the software / modem /
BBS protocols and links.
7.7
Remember, Rule 1 Ö if it can go wrong, it will.
7.7
Rule 2 Ö Get someone else to set up your system.
7.7
So choose an evening (cheap calls) when you have plenty of time, and be
prepared for the possibility of a long evening with several abortive
attempts at getting on line.
7.7
Once the software has been finally installed correctly, there is very
little to do when accessing a BBS in the future, as virtually everything
will then be automated.
7.7
What you need to know to configure the software and modem
7.7
ÅáAre your phones Tone or Pulse dialling?
7.7
ÅáModem type Ö if not known or not listed by the software, try Hayes
Compatible 2400
7.7
ÅáFile transfer protocol Ö try Z-Modem
7.7
ÅáDestination for downloaded files
7.7
e.g. ADFS::HD4.$.Comms
7.7
Setting up the dialling directory will require more choices.
7.7
ÅáTelephone number Ö 081 654 2212 (Arcade)
7.7
Ö 0603 766585 (Archive)£
7.7
ÅáPredial code Ö e.g. 132 for Mercury network
7.7
ÅáBaud rate Ö try 2400, or 9600 (See modem)
7.7
ÅáData bits Ö 8
7.7
ÅáParity Ö None
7.7
ÅáStop bits Ö 1
7.7
This is often written 8N1. The other common setting is 7E1, (Compuserve
and Prestel), any other setting is rare.
7.7
ÅáDuplex Ö Full
7.7
ÅáTerminal emulation Ö try ANSI (Used for colour) or VT102, 24 line page
length.
7.7
ÅáPassword Ö if required as you may need this to log on each time.
7.7
Installing the software
7.7
All the packages follow the normal RISC OS methods, so consult the
manual. Using the information in the previous section, set up the
software according to the instructions in the manual.
7.7
When you click on the application, you will normally be faced with a
blank screen which is called the öterminal modeò. You can now type some
simple commands which will tell the modem what to do.
7.7
Try entering a few commands to check out the modem. At the cursor prompt
in terminal mode type: AT<return>
7.7
All being well, you should receive an OK or 0 (zero). This verifies that
the modem is switched on and correctly cabled to your computer. If you
have a blank screen, type ATE1Q0<return>. This will ensure the modem
will respond correctly and try AT<return> again. If you still have
problems see the troubleshooting section, öModem fails to respondò.
7.7
Next, test out the dialling code and verify the modem-to-phone
connection is correct. Type:
7.7
ATM2<return>
7.7
to switch the internal modem speaker on permanently. (This can be
changed later to ATM1 so the speaker is only active during dialling.)
7.7
ATD1234<return>
7.7
This will dial the number 1234, and you should hear the dialling tone,
then the tones representing 1234. Press <return> to disconnect and you
should have the message öNo carrierò. If you have any problems, see the
trouble shooting section.
7.7
Now you are ready to try the real thing. Type:
7.7
ATD0816542212<return>
7.7
Note the dialling tone, the modem dialling, the ring tones, a 2-second
silence, a high pitched 2100Hz answer tone, followed by some static. You
should then get the öConnectò message. This sometimes includes the
connection speed, e.g. öConnect 2400ò.
7.7
You should now have the initial log-on screen and graphics.
7.7
If not, hang up using ATH0<return>, or use the software hangup command /
key shortcut. Set up the dialling directory, using information from the
previous section above and try again.
7.7
Logging on to a BBS
7.7
With most Bulletin Boards, you must become a registered user. Normally,
the first time on line, you will be asked to give name, address, etc,
along with a password you wish to use in future.
7.7
To get on line each time, you will need to enter your name as the BBS
knows you. E.g. if John Smith is your Éhandleæ, typing J Smith will be
rejected. This is not usually case-sensitive though.
7.7
The password IS usually case-sensitive. In this case, a password such as
ÉJerseyæ will fail if you type Éjerseyæ or ÉjERSEYæ.
7.7
Once logged on, you will be given limited access, until such time as you
become fully registered. You will have 20 to 30 minutes to explore the
Bulletin board.
7.7
Downloading text and files
7.7
Any text and graphics that you see on screen, can be kept and looked at
later when you are off line. You will need to turn on the LOG or SPOOL
feature, which will store all the text, menus, etc, that flow across
your screen. The saved LOG file can then be read using a text editor or
wordprocessor. (See your Comms manual for starting the LOG or SPOOL
file.)
7.7
So far, you have only downloaded some simple text. The next job is to
download a program file.
7.7
Find the download option. You will be presented with a list of files to
be downloaded. Press (D)ownload, enter the name of the file to be
downloaded. The file size, the BBS file transfer protocol and,
occasionally, the estimated time to download will be given. The BBS
protocol needs to be the same as the protocol you set up in the dialling
directory.
7.7
Logging off
7.7
You should log off from the BBS in the correct manner, otherwise all
sorts of pointers are not updated and it may result in higher charges,
as it takes time for the BBS to recognise that you have gone off line.
7.7
Arcade requires you to type öGò and compuserve öByeò.
7.7
If all has gone well, type ATM1&W<return> to Mute the speaker after the
Connect message and Write your current settings into the NOVRAM.
7.7
If you have not already done so, add the BBS details into the dialling
directory.
7.7
AT Hayes command set and error correction
7.7
Most modem manuals give a list of the Hayes commands that pertain to
your modem. I have not included a complete list of commands here but the
main ones are referred to in the text.
7.7
It is possible to combine AT commands together. For example,
ATM1L3<return>, which turns the speaker on and increases the volume.
7.7
Hayes was late into the error-correction game and so the AT commands for
MNP and V42 functions cannot be explicit as they vary from one
manufacturer to another. See your modem manual.
7.7
For these error-correcting modems, you will need to set the comms
software to a speed higher than the quoted modem speed, i.e. a 2400 baud
modem set 9600bps and for 14400 baud modem, set 19200bps.
7.7
Use hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) and disable software flow control
(X-ON/X-OFF).
7.7
Turn off any auto baud detect feature. Use the appropriate AT command to
tell the modem to ösend at a fixed DTE rateò. This is irrespective of
the öConnect 2400ò message you may receive from the modem.
7.7
You will also have to inform the modem that you wish to use V42 or MNP,
with a suitable AT command.
7.7
Compuserve
7.7
Arguably the worldæs largest conferencing system and BBS, Compuserve is
not particularly cheap, but has thousands of special interest sections
and many specialised databases. World wide E-mail and fax facilities are
available.
7.7
Compuserve is slow and requires a certain knowledge of the various
commands if you are not to spend a fortune on phone calls. A program
such as ARTIC is a must (if only I can get it to work). (Of course, in
the USA and Hong Kong, local calls are free which helps.)
7.7
Note that Compuserve has its own file transfer protocol called CIS B
plus, operates at 9600bps and uses 7E1.
7.7
Troubleshooting Guide
7.7
One of the problems with troubleshooting is the sheer number of things
that can go wrong. Often a single problem will prevent any communication
at all Ö all very frustrating!
7.7
Listed, in a roughly logical order, here are some of the common problems
that you may come across.
7.7
Most modems will respond to AT&V<return> which will allow you to view
the current setting in your NOVRAM.
7.7
Modem will not respond or dial
7.7
ÅáCheck modem plugged in AND switched ON. (MR, Modem Ready, LED on.)
7.7
ÅáCheck cables connected correctly and fully home in sockets.
7.7
ÅáCheck phone cable plugged in to correct sockets. Other phone
extensions not in use.
7.7
ÅáCheck that any modem Dip switches have been set correctly, e.g. CCITT
selected not BELL, and AT commands are enabled.
7.7
ÅáAre your Comm ports correct? (PC stuff)
7.7
ÅáIs the terminal program port speed set to a faster speed than the
modem? (But see error correction information above.)
7.7
ÅáEnsure that stored telephone numbers are correct. i.e. 1 and not l for
lima, 0 (zero) not O for oscar.
7.7
ÅáIf you have an external modem, the LED light labelled TR should come
ON when your software is run and go out when you exit the program.
7.7
Using the hang up command should cause the TR light to flash off, then
back on. This shows that the DTR (Data Terminal Ready) signal wire
between the modem and computer is correctly wired. (It also proves that
the correct comm port is selected by the terminal program.)
7.7
If the TR LED does not come on, check your cabling, in particular the
DTR cable (pin 20).
7.7
One other cause could be the modem not responding to the DTR signal.
Type:
7.7
AT&F&C1&D2&W<return>
7.7
This will set the modem to follow the DTR signal. If the DTR signal is
held öhighò, it will be difficult to hang up the phone.
7.7
ÅáThe Send Data (SD) LED should flash each time you type a letter on the
keyboard. This shows that data is being transmitted to the modem. If
not, suspect the serial cable, in particular pins 2 & 3, the TxD and RxD
signals.
7.7
ÅáThe Receive Data (RD) LED should also flash at the same time as the SD
LED. If not, try ATE1 to echo back each keypress. Again suspect wires to
pins 2 & 3.
7.7
Modem dials but will not connect
7.7
This points to a problem with the modem to phone cable.
7.7
ÅáCheck the phone cables and connections (again).
7.7
Check that other modems are not plugged into the same phone socket (from
a laptop perhaps, even if switched off). Check also for other phones off
hook.
7.7
Note: The modem to wall phone cable should be plugged into the modem
socket marked öTo Lineò, not the öTo Phoneò socket.
7.7
ÅáThose of you connecting US style telephone plugs to your private
exchanges should ensure that they are wired up correctly. Adapters are
available from the likes of Maplin Electronics for about ú6. (The Tandy
one is suspect, I have had several complaints about them.) The two wires
on the US phone should be connected to the outer two cables of the UK
socket.
7.7
ÅáIs the terminal program receiving the correct results code? Manually
dial ATD1234<return> and check to see the result. (No Carrier)
7.7
ÅáIf the dialling tone is still audible after dialling, check the modem
is set for tone dialling on the new exchanges and pulse dialling on the
old exchanges. Try ATDT123 for tone or ATDP1234 for pulse.
7.7
ÅáIf the remote modem answers and sends a tone but your modem hangs up
before connection complete, check the time out in the terminal program.
(This is the time the modem allows from dialling to connection.) Set
this to 45 sec or more, by using ATS7=45. (A high speed modem, V32+, may
need more.)
7.7
Modem gives CONNECT and then garbage
7.7
ÅáThe speed setting is wrong. Check that the baud rate is the same at
both ends of the connection.
7.7
ÅáIf every other letter is garbage and the baud rates are correct, check
the parity setting.
7.7
ÅáIf the screen output looks fine for the first few lines and then
becomes garbage, check your terminal program is set for hardware (RTS/
CTS) flow control.
7.7
ÅáFor V42 and MNP5 modems, there should be no garbage, so check for the
correct terminal emulation.
7.7
ÅáFor non-error-correcting modems, a noisy phone line will cause some
characters to be garbled, so try a lower speed.
7.7
ÅáInterference from electrical motors (fans), and mains cables can also
cause problems. Move the modem away from potential noise sources.
7.7
Modem fails when doing file transfers
7.7
ÅáIf the failure occurs on all protocols, at different speeds, check
that the modem and terminal programs are set for hardware flow control
(RTS/CTS). Check also pins 4 & 5 of the serial cable.
7.7
ÅáIf the failure only occurs on some protocols, such as X-Modem and Y-
modem, but not Kermit, for example, your modem is intercepting the XON/
XOFF characters. This is undesirable during a file transfer, although
the BBS supports this for normal screen text.
7.7
ÅáIf failure occurs at ultra high speeds (19200, 38400) then an upgrade
to the UART chip may be required. (PC stuff)
7.7
Typed characters appear twice
7.7
Your modem is set to echo characters. The remote system is echoing back
the characters you type and so is your own software. If double
characters appear whilst on line, go off line and, at the command line/
screen, type ATF1<return>. (Full duplex)
7.7
If off line, the comms software is echoing back characters. Type
AT&E0<return> at the command prompt.
7.7
Reconfigure the comms software appropriately.
7.7
Typed characters do not appear at all
7.7
This is the opposite problem. You will need to enable the local echo in
your software.
7.7
Half the text is garbled
7.7
The Parity setting is wrong. Normally 8n1 is used, but try 7e1 or 7o1,
i.e. 7 data bits even or odd parity, 1 stop bit.
7.7
If all else fails...
7.7
Modems which store their settings in NOVRAM, may have to be cleared back
to their factory setting, and you will have to start again. The command
for this is AT&F <return>.
7.7
Finally
7.7
Once you have the modem working, type AT&W<return> to store the current
modem settings into NOVRAM.
7.7
Conclusion
7.7
I hope this will encourage more members to try serial communications,
and even help with those new to the subject, to sort out the wood from
the trees. áA
7.7
£ The Archive BBS is out of action at the moment but we are hoping to
get it up and running again during the summer holidays. Ed.
7.7
Comment Column
7.7
Å CadMust feedback Ö Iæm writing to you about the CadMust review in the
March edition of the Archive (7.6 p75), written by Richard Torrens. We
have two basic problems with this review.
7.7
Firstly, we believe that the approach Mr Torrens has towards CAD
programs is that of someone who is using tape and is not willing to move
on to more modern methods. We therefore think that he is not the best
person to review modern CAD programs like CadMust.
7.7
Secondly, in our extensive correspondence with Mr Torrens, we told him
about a new version of CadMust which solved almost all of the few
problems he had with CadMust. He didnæt make any mention of this in his
article, which we think he should.
7.7
In the past four years, we have tried to make CadMust as complete and
user-friendly as possible. We believe it offers real value for money. A
CAD system like this deserves much better and, above all, more fair
reviews, with well-founded arguments. H.J Kouwenhoven, Marketing & Sales
Manager, USARC, Amsterdam.
7.7
Å A Comedy of Errors? Ö Is your computer rude, sarcastic and
uncommunicative? Do you ever get the feeling itæs laughing up its micro-
processed sleeve at you? Do you ever feel like giving it Éa clip around
the earæ Ö or even putting the whole thing through the mangle? I do!
7.7
Itæs not the beeps I mind, Iæve got used to them, and anyway phones and
watches, and all manner of things beep at you these days. No, itæs the
mindless jargon and meaningless phrases it throws out that bother me.
7.7
Itæs like this. When the computer gets fed up with what youære doing, it
throws an electronic spanner in the works. So every now and then a
message appears on the screen Ö which tells you the computer is not
happy. In computer jargon, these are called error messages. Now not many
people know this, but the computer has a sliding scale of messages,
depending on how bored it is at any one time. For example...
7.7
Among the most rude are those which tell you that something you have
just done is ÉInvalidæ, or even worse it tells you that ÉThis operation
is not permittedæ. It makes you wonder who on earth it thinks itæs
talking to? After all, Iæve been to university Ö I know things. How dare
this piece of silicon and metal tell me I canæt do something!
7.7
Then thereæs the condescending or sarcastic ones, like, ÉUnable to read
this disk. Are you sure itæs formatted?æ Or what about ÉAre you really
sure you want to quit?æ Am I really sure? You mean you know something I
donæt? What I want the condescending little brat to say is ÉExcuse me,
Oh Most Favoured One, I hope you donæt mind me interrupting, but Iæm
about to quit this program, is that all right with you or have I made
some terrible mistake?æ
7.7
Cats and mice
7.7
Sometimes it toys with you Ö like a cat annoying a mouse itæs just about
to eat. ÉImpression has suffered an internal error. Press OK to
continue, cancel to Quit.æ Sounds reasonable, the poor old thingæs had a
seizure but itæs not terminal Ö I wonæt lose any of my really important
work. I press OK expecting to continue. But the machine beeps again and
up comes another message. ÉImpression has a terrible headache... press
OK to continue...æ So I press OK. Beep... message... ÉImpression has had
a long day and would like to go to sleep... press OK to continueæ And so
it goes. It gives you the option to continue but it wonæt let you use
it. It just goes round and round in circles, until you give in. Itæs
laughing at you!
7.7
Then there are the tantalising ones, the ones that suggest there might
be something wrong without being too explicit. ÉThis document MAY not
have been saved completelyæ or ÉSome text or graphics MAY have been
lostæ. Itæs really very clever. It doesnæt say it has been lost, it just
dangles the possibility of something wrong. So you go to bed wondering
about it. It knows you wonæt sleep, you toss and turn weighing up the
possibilities. When arrive back in the morning you discover everything
was all right after all Ö and, like idiots, we all feel ever so grateful
to the rotten little thing.
7.7
The one I really hate is the error message with a number. ÉInternal
error at &6768704blablablaæ. As though itæs meant to mean something.
This time itæs telling you that someone more clever than you knows
something you donæt. You now have to ring technical help, with cap in
hand, and beg to be let into the secret. At the other end of the phone
you hear great explosions of laughter. ÉThatæs OKæ, they say ÉItæs been
infected with the Jeremy Beadle virus Ö itæs just having a bit of a
laugh at your expenseæ.
7.7
The final countdown
7.7
The most evil of all error messages is the FIE Ö ÉFatal internal error Ö
about to quitæ. Thereæs nothing you can do about this one. You can shake
your fist at it, you can mutter mild obscenities, you can pour coffee
over the keyboard Ö but it wonæt work. You may as well go out and shoot
yourself. You see, FIE isnæt any old error message, itæs the computers
way of telling you that your life is about to be completely ruined. Not
only will you lose that best seller youæve been working on for six
months, but your hard drive will be smeared with axle grease; your
computer will go into self-activated melt-down; your bank account will
be wiped clean; your car is will be repossessed; your children will be
taken into care... even your ever-loving cat will desert you. probably
for the Battersey Catsæ Home! Ed.) FIE is the end of life as you have
known it. Sorry.
7.7
Does it mind? Does it care? Does it feel any remorse? Not a bit of it.
Thereæll be no apologies, no deep regrets. You wonæt be able to talk it
round. You see, thatæs what itæs really here for. I know you thought it
was a miracle of technical achievement, a brave new microchip utopia Ö
but, in reality, itæs only purpose in life is to make yours a misery.á
Gabriel Swords, Norwich.
7.7
Å Data interchange Ö About a year ago, in a moment of weakness, I
agreed to take over editing a bi-monthly magazine for the Boating Group
of the Camping and Caravanning Club. The circulation is around 600
copies and previously it had been produced with the help of an Amstrad
word processor, scissors and glue. It seemed like a good opportunity to
see what could be done with an Archimedes computer and Impression II.
7.7
I have an A420/1 with an ARM3, multisync monitor and SCSI disc, but no
scanner or laser printer. However, I have access to these facilities at
work, as well as image processing and OCR software, mostly on Unix
systems. This opens up some interesting requirements for data exchange
between Acorn systems and the rest of the world.
7.7
The first problem was that of getting copy into the Archimedes. I am a
hopeless typist, but I persuaded the major contributors to provide copy
on floppy disc. Impression has input filters for various word-processor
formats, so I can import much of the copy directly from the DOS format
floppy discs I receive.
7.7
Other contributors provide typewritten copy, which I scan on an A4
flatbed scanner at work attached to a PC which is networked to a Unix
server. The server has Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software
which I use to convert the copy to ASCII text. Ideally, I would do all
this on the Archimedes but (a) Father Christmas forgot my scanner
(again!) and (b) the only OCR package I have tried on the Archimedes,
Sleuth, doesnæt cope well with typewritten copy.
7.7
Ideally, I would like to receive copy via electronic mail, but few
people have access to this.
7.7
The second problem was artwork. I use the same A4 scanner and scan
artwork into TIFF format files on the Unix server. A couple of Unix
utilities make quick work of manipulating these images. For example,
pbmplus performs LZW compression which is compatible with ChangeFSI,
which I use to read them on the Archimedes (I hope that Impression
Publisher will do this directly when it is available). I have found that
compressed TIFF files are not always portable between applications even
on the same system, although John Kortinkæs Translator seems more
tolerant than ChangeFSI.
7.7
Another issue was output. The magazine is produced in A5 booklet format,
and I use the invaluable pamphlet mode of Impression to produce draft
output on my Deskjet printer. I produce final camera ready A4 output
(for reduction to A5 by the printer) on a 300dpi laser printer at work
with the help of the Acorn PostScript printer drivers printing to a
file. The PostScript files tend to be rather large but I compress them
with David Pillingæs SparkFS utility, which is compatible with the Unix
uncompress command (or pkunzip on a PC).
7.7
The final problem was data transfer between the Archimedes and the
outside world. The ability of RISC OS 3 to read and write DOS format
floppy discs transparently is extremely valuable. The 800/720Kb drive on
my A420 is rather restricting, but data compression helps. Unix
workstations can generally handle DOS format floppies too. A useful
alternative is to transfer data via a modem link using Zmodem (on a Unix
or VMS system) and Hearsay II, which I highly recommend for
communications with the outside world.
7.7
Although the Archimedes, like the Mac, is in many ways a proprietary
system, I have found it is very capable of sharing data with other
systems. Impression is good in this respect, and getting better.á
Richard Readings, Wokingham (readings@bst.dec. com).
7.7
Å DrawFile module Ö Apparently, Acorn say that the DrawFile module can
be used in any product without their permission as long as its copyright
remains theirs. For programmers interested in rendering vector graphics,
I reckon itæs the best thing since sliced bread: it makes rendering a
drawfile so easy, and is also much quicker (compared to the Basic code
which I had been using, anyway).á Hugh Eagle, Horsham.
7.7
Å Impression Style Ö This seems to have a potentially very dangerous
feature. Whereas, conventional RISCáOSá3 applications will refuse to
allow you to save a file with the same name as an existing directory,
Impression Style simply warns you that you are going to overwrite an
existing öobjectò and if you say öOK go aheadò it does it (even if the
directory is locked). My guess is that the reason it allows this is to
make it possible for you to overwrite old-style Impression document
directories with new style single document files but, if so, I should
have thought it would be much safer if Style only allowed a directory to
be overwritten if it was indeed an old style Impression document. This
would prevent a normal directory full of Impression documents from being
overwritten as has happened to us! Ouch!
7.7
Å Ovation/Colourcard problems Ö When using Ovation in mode 99 (which is
the ColourCard expansion of mode 21), inverted text sometimes goes very
wrong Ö the text is black on black! But then trying to unmark the text
doesnæt work. There are various other strange effects but an infallible
cure is to scroll the document past the marked block and back again.
Nothing is lost, so this is tiresome rather than desperate.
7.7
I phoned Risc Developments, who did not know about the problem. Their
software writer is at present producing a new version of Ovation to
solve some other problems, and they said they would let me have a copy
of the new version to try when it appeared. (Nothing has happened yet.)á
Philip Draper, Borehamwood.
7.7
RD now say they have a partial solution to this problem but are still
working on it. Apparently, it is only a problem in 256-colour modes and
15-bit modes. Ed.
7.7
Å Space Encyclopedia CD-ROM problems Ö I have been having problems with
Cumanaæs Space Encyclopedia CD-ROM when using the Acorn SCSI card. The
CD-ROMæs search routine sometimes comes up with a Fatal Internal Error.
Cumana say that it will reduce the problem if you set the SCSI cardæs
buffers to 128Kb but although this does indeed reduce the problem, it
doesnæt remove it altogether. Cumana are looking into the problem but
have not, as yet, come up with a solution.á Kate Crennell, Didcot.
7.7
Å Spell-checker blues Ö With the ability of nearly every word processor
to perform spell-checking, you would have thought that the spelling
mistakes and glitches that were the hallmark of the Guardian newspaper
would have become a thing of the past. But, no, they live on in the
world of Acorn! Let me explain...
7.7
As I went around Acorn World and BETT, I collected leaflets extolling
the virtues of various bits of software. These, I presume, were produced
on the said Acorn computers using some sort of DTP or word processor, so
why am I treated to ÉComapny Address Bookæ or asked to submit an
ÉOffucial Orderæ before the end of January?
7.7
Again, even when these leaflets have been spell-checked, it becomes
fairly obvious that they have not been proof-read as I was recently told
that I could pay by ÉAccess of Visaæ after I had used the voucher which
gave me Éú10 ofæ the normal price.
7.7
I have the feeling that although most people put their document through
the spell-checker, very few are now bothering to read it to check the
things that a spell checker misses.
7.7
Still, Iæm glad to say that the situation isnæt quite as bad as that on
the PC. I have in my hand a leaflet extolling the qualities of a Sun
computer which is a É386 CP with spelll checkeræ! I didnæt think anyone
could misspell PC. Mind you, I do have trouble with Acorn Archemides
(sic) when I am typing, perhaps we could call it an AA?á Paul Hooper,
Martham, Norfolk.
7.7
As the perpetrator of the öBattersey Cats Homeò, I have no room to talk
but I am amazed by the number of companies who sell ösite licensesò and
say this will ölicence youò to do such-and-such. Ed.
7.7
Also, I canæt resist repeating the following comment that was published
in Archive a couple of years ago Ö just in case you mist it!á Ed.
7.7
Å Sow much four spelling chequers! Won knight sum phew daze a go, being
a try full board, icon clue dead the tit was thyme two sea watt a
spelling chequer wood do with an aviary day peace of righting. Eye sat
my sulphate my usual plaice at the key bored of my valley ant Acorn and
a sigh typed, I weighted in vein fore the yew till it tea too come
plane, butt knot a whirr did it take except shun to.
7.7
Aye no, of coarse, that a yam vary hard to pleas butt in too sheiks of a
lam stale I was shore that this was not rite four me. The hare on my
head stood up and I had quite a nasty tern when the lack of so fist
decay shun in such annexe pensive product was slayed bear. The real eyes
a shun that sow much cache had bean pay doubt to a choir a prod duct so
pour, maid me ring my hands. Know underwear in a recession!
7.7
Their is amoral two this storey as yew have know doubt already guest.
Bee knot sow shore yore chequer nose it all, in spy toff what the
cellars of the are tickle may have lead dew too be leave.
7.7
To bee fare though, a grate deal of prays is jew two pea pole a bull to
pro juice such works oh fart. Tony Stauber, Qatar, Arabian Gulf.
7.7
Å Save box convention Ö I found myself saying öyes, yes, yesò out loud
to one point which Hugh Eagle made in his discussion of the RISC OS 3
Style Guide (Archive 7.6 p.52.) It was in agreement with his criticism
that when a Save box is opened for an unsaved file, it must contain the
default document name, and not a previously typed but never used name. I
often abort a save having typed in the name, but not having the
directory open, and it is very irritating to have to re-type it again.
Acorn have got it wrong. Their style instruction wastes time ù lots of
it. They should change their rules, as they have ù quite rightly ù about
the standard cut and paste technique. Incidentally, when will a new
!Edit be released with Impression-style cut and paste?á Stuart Bell,
Horsham.
7.7
Å To K or not to K? Ö (Archive 7.6 p23) David Lenthal says that ÉKæ is
used for Kappa and is a recognised abbreviation for 10^18. I can find no
reference that Kappa has ever been the abbreviation for 10^18. The names
for multipliers were extended in 1990 by the CIPM to include names for
numbers up to 10^24 and 10^Ö24. For information, here follows the full
list:
7.7
Power Name Abbrev
7.7
10^3 kilo k
7.7
10^6 mega M
7.7
10^9 giga G
7.7
10^12 tera T
7.7
10^15 peta P
7.7
10^18 exa E
7.7
10^21 zetta Z
7.7
10^24 yocto Y
7.7
10^Ö3 milli m
7.7
10^Ö6 micro m
7.7
10^Ö9 nano n
7.7
10^Ö12 pico p
7.7
10^Ö15 femto f
7.7
10^Ö18 atto a
7.7
10^Ö21 zepto z
7.7
10^Ö24 yotta y
7.7
Roger Darlington, Manchester.
7.7
Å Video-editing Ö (Edward Croot who has demonstrated video-editing at
both our NCS Open Days writes...) With the growth of domestic video,
there is an equal growth in the desire to edit all those miles of tape
and produce the sort of viewing that you are used to seeing from the
broadcasters. Looking at advertisements in magazines for other computer
systems, editing systems for Macs and PCs already exist for as little as
ú300. You can add graphics for ú500. All the advertisements imply, and
some even claim, that you can get öProfessional resultsò with your
domestic recorder and camcorder. Upon reading further, you find that the
software does allow you to choose sequences which you can clump
together, but there is no mention about editing pictures and sound
separately. Neither is there a claim about making an accurately timed
edit so that the picture doesnæt jump at the join, though many VHS
recorders will do an adequate job, but patience (and enthusiasm) may be
required. With the right equipment, you can get frame-accurate editing
using this software, but the right equipment is not generally found in
the average household.
7.7
I use Optima software on an A540 as an öoff-lineò tool. Off-line editing
is a technique to make editing decisions on relatively cheap equipment,
reducing the amount of time spent on expensive broadcast quality
equipment. The software that I use is designed to produce an edit list
to control professional equipment which uses timecode to define every
frame of picture. Domestic machinery doesnæt use this technique, so it
is impossible for any video controller to keep accurate track of which
part of the tape it is reading. If you change tapes, the only accurate
reference point is the start of the tape. Alan Afriat (who wrote about
his system in Archive 7.3 p45) is developing a board which will control
recorders designed for editing including semi-professional S-VHS
recorders, but each of these machines cost in the order of ú2,000+.
Also, if you want to do mixes, or any other effect, you will need three
of them plus a vision mixer and a sound mixer. Should digital recording
come along, you will be able to get by with just two. Alan and his
partner Adam Goodfellow are also developing some excellent quality
graphics and titling software.
7.7
It is possible to record your videos into your Archimedes, and that is
what Optima does, but the picture quality is governed by the storage
capacity on your discs, in this case magneto-opticals, as well as the
display capability of the computer. It is certainly not good enough to
match even the poor quality obtained by copying from VHS to VHS. Perhaps
the new Acorn machine will make this possible, then all editing could be
done within the computer and transferred back to tape when completed.á
Edward Croot, Selby.
7.7
Å What use is an Archimedes? The editor asked about the applications
for which people used their Archimedes computers. Here is my offering...
(I have included this because it illustrates a number of major strength
of Archimedes machines which those not working in a multi-platform
environment might not appreciate. (a) the ease of transfer and
manipulation of data between platforms and between packages (b) the
relative cost of software and (c) the upgradability of hardware compared
with PCs, etc and (d) the relative merits of RISCáOS and Windows. Ed.)
7.7
I was persuaded to buy a BBC B in 1983 when I wanted something on which
I could type notes which could later be easily updated. I remember being
terrified of the thing for weeks but there was no looking back once I
had bought it. In the end, the Beeb did all and more of what I wanted
and I was hooked. It was only natural, later, to upgrade to an
Archimedes and this I have never regretted either.
7.7
At my place of work, we started to do some CAD in GDS, a complex drawing
program which runs on small networked DEC mainframes. A rather dated
word processor was also used on the same computers. The office manager
had a Mac which I used occasionally. The firm is now slowly converting
more and more to PCæs, adding to them as necessary. This mixed computer
background allows me to be somewhat detached when discussing with
colleagues the merits and demerits of MS-DOS/Windows 3.1 and the like.
7.7
Certainly, quite recently, a major program prepared for a world-based
customer was only possible because I could develop and edit parts of the
whole on my own Archimedes (using database/word processor programs which
have been designed by their manufacturers to work on both platforms).
Also, more important perhaps, the Archimedes alone could edit some of
the translated data which had first been generated on the PC or the DEC.
7.7
This article itself has taken advantage of another example of the
Archimedesæs adaptability. It was written on ProText on my PC notebook
when travelling to work, saved as an ASCII file, loaded into PipeDream
with practically no need to edit the results and re-saved as a PipeDream
file to send to Paul. (I then loaded in PipeDream, dragged it across, as
ASCII, onto DeskEdit, changed the filetype to Data and dropped it into
Impression which stripped out the line-feeds automatically and gave it
to me in the paragraphs you see now! Ed.)
7.7
On another level, when I produced some simple black and white A4-sized
öpostersò advertising a small office party, and passed them round at
work, our pretty hardened Systems Manager looked very closely at the
anti-aliasing of the letters and the professionalism of the scanned
images. I do not think he believed me when I told him that my hardware
cost less than ú2,000 in total, the software used was less than ú200 and
one major piece (DrawPlus) was a freebee!
7.7
Another matter for office incredulity is the age of my machine. It is a
1987 A310, carefully and relatively cheaply later upgraded, which still
holds its own with later Acorn offerings. It can run any program I know
of which is sold to run on these machines. At the same time as I bought
my A310, my firm bought a PC which was comparable with my Acorn. The PC
was cheaper, true, but it could not upgrade successfully or keep up with
PC development and has long since been dumped. Within those terms, mine
was the more sensible buy in the long run.
7.7
Then, finally on this subject, everybody who is now converting to
Windows from their various previous environments, is totally
disappointed with Windows 3.1æs speed, its lack of user-friendliness and
the amount of memory it consumes. A few had seen/used my Acorn, others
knew something of the Macæs presentation. They had perhaps expected too
much from Windows. I myself already knew of the drawbacks and prefer
working in MS-DOS as, to somebody used to the Desktop, Windows hinders
rather than helps.á Elwyn Morris, Harwich.
7.7
Å Windows v RISCáOS Ö Readers may be interested in the following
excerpt from the Sunday Times (20/2/94). Itæs from a special supplement
for the forthcoming Windows æ94 exhibition:
7.7
Once basic DTP had achieved reasonable penetration within the general PC
market, image handling and multimedia were the next obvious step...
...initially, image handling was dominated by the small specialists.
Acorn was one such example which, due to its keen pricing and ability to
run multimedia and video clips without additional hardware, has become
the leading IT supplier to education. Acornæs RISCáOS provides similar
icon-driven, multitasking, insert and paste techniques to Windows, yet
particularly user-friendly and aimed at multimedia and graphics
presentations. Indeed, Windows 4.0, due out later this year, will
incorporate many of Acornæs RISCáOS features.
7.7
Some would debate the Ékeen pricingæ, but this is yet more praise, not
just from the PC-dominated press but, this time, from no less than
Microsoft themselves! I wonder just how similar the two operating
systems will become. I canæt help remembering when Apple tried to put a
stop to Windows simply because it operated in a similar manner to their
GUI!á Steve Waters, Gravesend.ááA
7.7
Computer Conceptsæ AudioWorks
7.7
Brian Barr
7.7
AudioWorks is a new package from CC that builds on their range of
products. It is an audio editor that takes audio files of various format
types created on various technology platforms (even PCs) and allows them
to be manipulated in various ways. The package can also control CC and
third party audio sampler boards allowing the user to create his or her
own audio files. The package comes in a sturdy cardboard box with a 60-
page A5 manual and two 800Kb floppy discs containing the main programs
and several example audio files. Naturally, the package is totally RISC
OS compliant and can be operated by either mouse or keyboard.
Installation onto a hard disc is straight forward. The usual !SysMerge
is supplied so that the !System modules can be brought up to the
required versions.
7.7
Terminology
7.7
Before doing a further review of the software, I think it would be a
good idea to explain some of the terminology used in digital audio
recording and playback. When recordings are made with AudioWorks, the
data is held in RAM. This means that there is a limit to the length of
recordings made. The length of recording is a function of the sample
rate, and sample resolution. Sample rate determines the quality of the
recording. With a low sample rate the recording can sound almost
telephone quality whereas, with a high rate, you can record someone
playing the spoons with perfect clarity. Sample resolution determines
the accuracy of the recording. Low resolution will give a noticeable
harsh edge to the recording and will be annoying to the listener. As
with most things in life, itæs all a compromise. The following equation
should make things clear:
7.7
High Quality + High Resolution = Tons of Memory
7.7
Software
7.7
On loading AudioWorks, an icon appears on the iconbar. At this stage, no
other windows appear. Clicking <select> on the AudioWorks logo opens up
the following dialogue box.
7.7
This gives the option to record a sound directly into the computer with
the ability to alter sample rate and resolution. For a 60 second, 16-bit
mono recording at a 20kHz sample rate (which will give a reasonable
quality recording) you will need about 2.4Mb of memory. To do any
recordings, however, you must have external hardware installed in one of
the podule slots. At the time of writing this report, recording hardware
was not available and so I was not able to test the recording facilities
of the package.
7.7
File playback
7.7
Loading an audio file is just a matter of dragging the icon of the audio
file onto the AudioWorks icon on the iconbar. The file is then loaded
into memory and an editing viewer appears.
7.7
This viewer shows a graphical representation of the sound amplitude of
the audio versus the time of playback.The X axis of the display shows
the audio duration in seconds. This display has the usual öscaleò
selection mechanism allowing the user to zoom in and out of a recording
showing more or less detail. On pressing the play button above the audio
display, a bar will start moving from left to right indicating which
part of the audio file is playing. At the same time, the computer
speaker will burst into life playing the audio selected. One small
annoyance to me was the lack of an automatic sideways scrolling window
that tracked the audio if the whole of the audio was not visible within
the viewer. Because of this, the marker would just disappear off the end
of the display, leaving the user not knowing which part of the recording
was playing.
7.7
Once the play button has been pressed, AudioWorks will play the file to
the end and then come to a stop. A öloopingò mode gives a continuous
playback of the entire recording or a selected section.
7.7
The best part of the package is, however, the editing facilities. By
clicking with the mouse and dragging right or left, any part of the
recording can be selected and played in isolation. This selected portion
of audio can be cut from, moved or copied to another part of the same or
a different recording. This, however, is only the beginning. AudioWorks
allows lots of effects to be added to the recording. Clicking <menu>
opens a menu giving a range of effects that can be applied to the
recording. These can range from filters adding or taking away base or
treble, or facilities to boost or moderate the sound level of the audio
file. Echo can be added to give your recording that Paddington railway
station feel. An option called öEnvelopeò allows you to control
precisely the fade in and out, or öpitch bendò of a recording. The
package also supports stereo recordings and options exist to move sounds
to the left or right speakers.
7.7
Another effect available is this keyboard. This emulates a sampler, a
device well known to most musicians. (Duran Duran used one of these to
death on many of their hits.) The pitch of a recorded sound is altered
depending on which key is played on a standard piano keyboard. The mouse
can play the keys but a better way is to use the computer keyboard which
is configured to play like a piano keyboard.
7.7
File saving
7.7
Once a file has been edited, a number of save options are available.
These include saving in DataVox, Armadeus and Microsoft .WAV formats. A
voice module can also be constructed so that a sound can be played
instead of the standard computer beep.
7.7
One point that I havenæt mentioned yet is that a second program comes
with AudioWorks called AudioCtrl. This allows your edited sound files to
be queued and played sequentially. Unlike AudioWorks, AudioCtrl makes
possible the playback of files from a hard disc.
7.7
Conclusions
7.7
I found this a good package for the price (ú49 +VAT from CC or ú55
through Archive). The user interface is the best feature by far. All the
operations that are applied to files behaved just as a word processor
does, showing that the Acorn GUI can be applied to just about any type
of program. Another feature is that all the keyboard shortcuts are
editable by the user. The major deficiency for me was the lack of
editing of files direct from hard disc. But then, I know that such
facilities on other systems can cost a hundred or even a thousand times
more.ááA
7.7
Irlam Instrumentsæ Colour Scanners
7.7
Jim Nottingham
7.7
If you are fortunate to have access to the ever-expanding range of
affordable colour printers for the Archimedes, you may also be
considering moving into colour scanning. This article is based on my
yearæs experience of the SCSI version of the Epson GT6500 A4 scanner,
supplied by Irlam Instruments with their ProI-Mage software.
7.7
The GT6500 is only one of a range of scanners supported by Irlam and
there are large areas of commonality in the ProI-Mage drivers and
supporting hardware requirements. So, in most cases, what applies to the
GT6500 will also apply to the other devices; only major differences will
be covered here. Although this is not intended to be a comparative
review, many readers will already be familiar with the Computer
Conceptsæ ScanLight range of monochrome scanners, so certain related
features will also be considered.
7.7
Hardware/firmware considerations
7.7
Apart from the hand-held unit, all the scanners have two or more
interface options, each with its advantages and limitations. This may
even dictate your eventual choice of scanner. The basic information is
given in Archive (7.5 p3 and 7.6 p4) and more details are given below
(prices are through Archive and include VAT/delivery):
7.7
Å The Hand Scanner (ú425) comes with a special interface card which
fits in a standard podule slot of the A5000 or earlier machines.
7.7
Å If you have a Énewæ computer (i.e. A5000 or later), the Sharp JX100
flat-bed scanner (ú520) can be connected direct to the RS232 serial
interface but the port needs to be free of other devices. If you have an
Éoldæ computer (i.e. pre-A5000), you will need to connect the scanner to
a BIP400 interface (ú80) which fits in a standard podule slot.
7.7
Å The baseline Epson GT6500 scanner (ú1000) has a parallel interface
and can be connected to the bi-directional port of new computers but,
again, the port needs to free of other devices, including dongles. With
old computers, you will need to install a BIP400 card, as above. If
preferred, you could fit a BIP400 card in an A5000, freeing the parallel
port for other devices. Alternatively, you can specify the GT6500 with a
built-in SCSI interface (ú1115) but, at present, only the Morley SCSI
podule will run the GT6500 reliably. The maximum resolution of the
scanner is 1200dpi.
7.7
Å The Epson GT8000 (ú1380) comes with both parallel and SCSI interfaces
built in, so all the above connection options apply. The SCSI interface
can be connected to Acorn, Morley or Oak SCSI cards. The maximum
resolution of the GT8000 is 1600dpi and the scanning speed is about 15-
20% faster than the GT6500.
7.7
The computer will need RISC OS 3.1 or later. The ProI-Mage application
takes 160Kb. Irlam say that, although it would be possible to run from a
floppy disc and a minimum of 2Mb RAM, this would severely limit image
size and resolution. In practice, you really need a hard disc with a few
Mbytes free and at least 4Mb RAM Ö my own experience is that, to do
justice to the A4 scanners, 8Mb RAM would be better.
7.7
The Epson GT6500 package
7.7
The GT6500 comes in a robust casing which, at 568mm ╫ 333mm ╫ 125mm, is
rather larger than the compact Scanlight Professional. The lift-up
document cover can be removed easily so that thicker tomes can be placed
on the A4 glass table.
7.7
Power and data cables are supplied and plug in at the rear. Where the
SCSI interface is installed, a rotary ID switch, a terminator DIP switch
and two SCSI connectors are fitted, so setting up is very
straightforward.
7.7
The power switch is on the front panel, along with various other
switches and indicators whose functions are replaced largely by Irlamæs
software so, normally, these can be disregarded. Removing a small cover
reveals 2 banks of DIP switches, which should not need to be adjusted,
and a reset switch which Ö hopefully Ö will never be used!
7.7
The Epson user guide is well written and illustrated. Most of the later
content can be disregarded as the Irlam software covers scanner
operation. Epson include a useful booklet of image samples illustrating
various effects.
7.7
The Irlam software/documentation
7.7
The relevant version of the ProI-Mage scanner driver software (currently
v2.02) comes on a single, unprotected floppy disc, along with v0.93 of
Acornæs ChangeFSI and, where applicable, a Read_Me file of latest info.
Scanner operation is multitasking, while using the software is
conventional, largely intuitive and entirely uncomplicated.
7.7
Until recently, the documentation was adequate. However, Irlam have sent
me a pre-release copy of their updated A5, ring-bound manual (v3.00)
which really is excellent. The user guide portion is much improved but
its value is greatly enhanced by the inclusion of general advice on
using ChangeFSI, file formats and printing scanned material.
7.7
Scanning procedure
7.7
Loading the application and clicking <select> on the ProI-Mage icon
causes two windows to appear on the desktop; the Viewer on the right and
the upper portion of the Control Panel on the left.
7.7
The control panel is well thought out and, as the lower portion includes
all the preset variables, it needs to be accessed only when you wish to
select something other than the default settings.
7.7
The scan resolution and output format are pre-selected by clicking on
the relevant option buttons or entering a value in the dialogue box. Any
intermediate resolution can be set, up to the maximum capability of the
scanner. The output can be monochrome, 4/16/256 greyscales, or colour.
Clicking on the Scan button starts the scan.
7.7
If a scanned image smaller than A4 is required, this is achieved by
first clicking on Preview, followed by Scan. The scanner produces a low-
resolution image in the Viewer window in around 20 seconds, following
which the desired area can be defined by performing a conventional
<select-drag> operation on the image. The area covered by the select box
can be modified by using <adjust> on the relevant control handle, or the
nudge buttons or size dialogue boxes on the Control Panel. Clicking once
again on the Scan button then produces the high-definition scan but
covering only the defined area. This procedure speeds up the high-
definition scan, limits file size and saves having to crop the image
after scanning.
7.7
On completion of the scan, clicking <menu> in the Viewer window and
following through the Save Sprite option, leads to a conventional Save
dialogue box. Given sufficient memory, you can transfer direct to other
applications and a modicum of compression is applied to files saved to
disc.
7.7
Preset options
7.7
The lower part of the Control Panel contains numerous options such as
Gamma Correction and File Format. These are generally self-explanatory
and are preset before scanning, either by selecting the relevant radio
buttons or by entering values in the dialogue boxes. They cannot be
controlled during scanning so, if anything needs to be changed, it is
necessary to click on Press to Stop, amend the setting and re-initiate
the scan. The values can be saved as default settings by using the Save
Choices option on the iconbar menu.
7.7
Two of the preset options are especially valuable, the first of which,
the Brightness control. I used a Scanlight Professional for a few months
and became very frustrated by the fixed setting. It often prevented me
obtaining a satisfactory scan where, for example, the original image was
faint or where there was show-through from printing on the reverse side.
In my view, this is a most unsatisfactory feature of the Scanlight
Professional. The software-controlled brightness option of the Epson
scanners entirely suppresses this problem.
7.7
Secondly, in addition to producing a 256-colour sprite, the scanner can
output a file in one of a range of alternative formats, up to 24-bit. I
find TIFF to be particularly useful for export direct to PCs, Macs and
imagesetters, with the added bonus that the LZW compression generally
leads to smaller files than the equivalent sprite file. Where the result
still will not fit on disc, an alternative is to select the JPEG format
and reduce the quality factor until it does fit. This is often more
acceptable than, for example, reducing the scan resolution (see articles
in Archive 6.9 p45 and later issues).
7.7
Performance considerations
7.7
Anyone used to the Scanlight range may be surprised by the extra time
taken by the GT6500 to perform a scan. Even the GT8000, running 15-20%
faster, is still relatively slow. However, the Epson scanners are
multitasking and operate almost entirely in the background and there is
many times as much data to be processed. You may notice other tasks
slowing down a little but, on an ARM3 machine, this is not particularly
significant. The overall effect is akin to, say, background filer
operations and you soon get used to it, but a large, high-resolution,
colour scan can take 10 mins or more.
7.7
This does mean that, for example, you are going to lose the convenience
of the Équick photocopyæ facility which the Scanlight machines achieve
so well in conjunction with Laser Direct printers. The Epson/Irlam
equivalent is to perform a 300dpi scan, drop the resultant sprite into
an Impression frame or whatever, and print the result. All this will
take a couple of minutes or more but bear in mind that most of that will
be in the background.
7.7
The output quality of monochrome and greyscale images is at least as
good as that achieved by the Scanlight Professional; better if the
original image requires use of the brightness control. Subject to
certain considerations, the output quality of colour images is generally
very satisfactory indeed. From my own experiences, the potential problem
areas are as follows:
7.7
Å Changes in colour hue and value are evident. In general terms, reds
are OK, greens tend to darken and blues pick up a purple hue. Anyone
used to colour printing on the Archimedes will already be familiar with
these phenomena and the value and limitations of image-processing such
as Gamma correction.
7.7
Å The scanner can react to colours in the original which are not
readily visible to the eye and, often, this depends on the materials
used in the document. Certain colours can be problematical; I find that
flesh tones are sometimes sensitive to Éwash-outæ.
7.7
Å Interference between the dot resolution on printed originals and the
scanner resolution (MoirΘ patterns) is more noticeable in colour than in
monochrome (you can get some bizarre effects on the monitor screen, e.g.
tartan paint!). It is best to use high-resolution originals such as
photographs and the usual tricks of rotating the original slightly or
changing scan resolution can help greatly.
7.7
Memory usage and resolution
7.7
With a 16Mbyte A540 available, I must confess to routinely bumping up
the scan resolution to the maximum possible, with the consequent strain
on data storage capacity. However, in their latest documentation, Irlam
make a detailed and elegant case for scanning at quite low resolution
(100dpi) and processing the image in ChangeFSI for use with 360 dpi
printers such as the Canon BJC600. A similar argument holds for export
to high-resolution imagesetters. This really is a very interesting
notion and warrants consideration. If satisfactory results can be
achieved by these methods, computer memory and storage requirements will
be eased considerably.
7.7
Conclusions
7.7
The colour scanners supported by Irlamæs ProI-Mage software satisfy a
wide band of performance needs. Given adequate memory and storage
capacity, the flexible interface options make them largely machine-
independent. The quality and ease of use of the software is a credit to
Irlam and the new documentation is impeccable.
7.7
At prices running to more than double that of, say, the monochrome
Scanlight range, you have to be sure you are getting value for money
when moving into colour scanning. From my experience, the Epson GT6500
scanner has been well worth the capital expenditure, providing an
excellent foil for the 360 dpi, 4-colour printers now available and
enabling a good proportion of my work to be published entirely in-house.
7.7
Even if Irlamæs premise that relatively low-resolution scans are
adequate for export proves to be the case, we still need someone to come
up with a method of transporting large TIFF files direct to
imagesetters. In the meantime, the ability to provide customers,
typesetters and printers with document drafts, in full colour, is
proving to be an absolute boon. If any reader would like further help
with choosing or using a colour scanner, please drop me a line with
details to: 16 Westfield Close, Pocklington, York, YO4 2EY.ááA
7.7
PipeLineZ
7.7
Gerald Fitton
7.7
Lots of odds and ends this month, starting with a few comments from me
before moving on to letters which I think may be of general interest.
7.7
Problems with old Fireworkz templates
7.7
If you have any templates which you created with Wordz prior to
Versioná1.04 then get rid of them before they cause you problems. The
most serious thing which happens when you use those old templates is
that you save your work and then, when you reload it another day
everything is gone! Sometimes, only part of your work or a few styles
have vanished or part of your document isnæt quite as you remember it!
If you load an Éoldæ template and use it as a basis for a new one then
the new one might also give an unexpected performance.
7.7
If you have lost a large piece of work in this way and yet, by looking
at the size of the file, you know the data must still be there, send a
disc copy of your file to Mark Colton or to me. (If possible, please
include a self-addressed label and return postage.)
7.7
PipeDream for Beginners
7.7
Ernie Cobbold has sent me a complete set of tutorials for PipeDreamá4 on
three discs. The discs contain 17 files each of which has been
compressed using Spark. When expanded, each of these files pretty well
fills up an 800áKb disc and, if you print them out, you will produce a
book about 1ö thick!
7.7
The tutorials are illustrated by screen shots, and example files are
also included.
7.7
This set of tutorials started life as much simpler worksheets for use by
pupils who were on an Information Technology course at school. Ernie has
improved and expanded these worksheets into a Édistance learningæ course
which starts at a level suitable for complete beginners and works up to
level which now might be described as GNVQáAdvanced.
7.7
I think the tutorials are good but, by the time you read this, Archive
will have received a set of the three discs for review by someone more
independent than I am. However, if you canæt wait and would like to know
more about the contents of the discs before the review is published,
please write to me at the Abacus Training address.
7.7
Stamps
7.7
Danny Fagandini has put the following problem to me: öIs there a way of
using PipeDream or Resultz to find the Ébestæ way of selecting a stock
of stamp values?ò He says that he faces this problem at least twice a
week. I canæt speak for Danny but I think our problem is similar. Jill
(who handles the outgoing post) has a good stock of first and second
class stamps (now 19p and 25p) but when we send out two discs in one
pack, we find that we need 38p regularly. The Éobviousæ way of handling
38p is by using two 19p stamps. However, we also send larger parcels (3
discs needs 47p) and the UK postage then increments in 20p steps. So
itæs a good idea to hold 20p stamps but, whatæs the Ébestæ way of
getting to 47p? We also send discs to EC counties and even as far away
as Australia and New Zealand, so we need a few large value stamps. What
Jill would like to know is what values (out of those which exist!)
should we stock in order to make up any of the standard postage fees
with reasonable efficiency.
7.7
I have in mind something like a PipeDream or Resultz spreadsheet with
available stamp values in column A and with standard postage charges
along the bottom (or top) row. The bulk of the table would show the
number of stamps of each value needed to make up the postal charge. Iæm
sure that we could extend such a spreadsheet to keep a record of stamp
usage and then, after a short trial, Éoptimiseæ the stamp purchases in
such a way that the stock of stamps was minimised and the turnover rate
of stamps of each value was maximised. As I write, stamp values
available are: 1p, 2p, 3p, 4p, 5p, 6p, 10p, 18p, 19p, 20p, 24p, 25p,
28p, 29p, 30p, 33p, 34p, 35p, 36p, 38p, 39p, 41p, 50p, 75p, ú1.00,
ú1.50, ú2.00, ú5.00 but I suspect (or have been told by our local PO)
that the 3p, 18p, 24p, 33p, and maybe others, will soon disappear. If
you know exactly whatæs going to be generally available in, say, a month
or two from now (or if you have even a partial solution to this Stamp
problem) then please let me know.
7.7
Matrix inversion
7.7
Both PipeDream and Fireworkz contain a matrix inversion function but it
works only if the matrix is 3ábyá3 or smaller! Has anyone a spreadsheet
custom function (or a technique or even a text book) which will invert
larger matrices?
7.7
Fireworkz spreadsheets
7.7
If youære not going to print your spreadsheet but just need it as a
reference table of data or calculations, the page boundaries are more of
a nuisance than a help. If you select None from the Page Ö Paper menu,
you will modify your document so that there are no page boundaries.
7.7
Unwanted commas in Fireworkz
7.7
Iæve been asked how to make years appear as, say, 1994 instead of 1,994
particularly in Charts. The solution is to use the Style Ö Change Ö
Number Ö Format facility.
7.7
Acorn Pocket Book
7.7
Steve Hutchinson is having problems transferring files to and from his
Acorn Pocket Book. He uses the Lotus-123 PipeDream converter. He says
öTransfer in either direction causes problems. Going from PipeDream to
Pocket Book leads to continual recalculation in the Pocket Book. Going
the other way doesnæt transfer the formulae correctly. . . . I would
hesitate to commit a . . . spreadsheet to the Pocket Book if PipeDream
was my only transfer option on the Archimedesò. Fireworkz should provide
an easier route but can anyone help Steve?
7.7
(Perhaps I should print this question in the Pocket Book Column too.
Ed.)
7.7
PipeDream upgrade
7.7
The following paragraphs are only part of an interesting letter I have
received from Peter J Stoner.
7.7
öI am pleased to read in the current issue of the Risc User magazine
(Januaryá1994?) that there will be an upgrade to PipeDreamá4. While the
new FireWorkz programs seem to be highly regarded by those who have used
other integrated packages, I am not convinced that Fireworkz overcomes
the reasons for choosing PipeDream and Acorn machines instead of other
IBM PC or Apple solutions. No doubt when the upgrade to PipeDream is
launched, Colton Software will clarify the relative merits in favour of
PipeDream.
7.7
öIt would be good to have some of the style and GUI interface
improvements which are in Fireworkz so as to make PipeDream look up-to-
date but without losing the command language and key shortcuts. It would
also be helpful to be able to see the actual height of fonts which are
higher than the height of the slot and the full picture when the slot to
which the picture is referred is scrolled off screen.
7.7
öI sometimes wonder whether, when PipeDream loads, much of the memory
used is taken up with routines which I may never use in a particular
session. Would it therefore be possible for the program to be more
modular (as Fireworkz) and start by loading only the minimum display
module and load further modules only when required? A Tidy up command
(as we had in PipeDreamá3) could delete these extra modules until needed
again.
7.7
öCould the minimum display module together with a print module be
distributed in public domain as a PipeDream Document Reader. Perhaps a
module to save in ASCII only could be included. This would be different
from the present PipeDream Demonstration Disc in that it there would be
no facility to make alterations Ö it would only be possible to extract
ASCII text.
7.7
öPerhaps such a document reader could be incorporated in !Genesis to
enable PipeDream files to be distributed with !Genesis applications. I
am sure that this would help the sales of the new PipeDream.
7.7
öWhen references are made to slots in external files, do the supporting
files need to be displayed on screen? This only adds to the number of
windows open. Do they even need to be loaded rather than the relevant
slots just read? This could save memory.
7.7
öIf it is possible to drag in sprites drawfiles and charts, would it be
possible to drag in öGuestò PipeDream documents. For example, there
could be a slot reference such as @P:document,70@. Rather as you can
edit a chart, could we have an option Guest document Ö Edit documentò
7.7
If you have suggestions for the new upgraded PipeDream, please let Mark
Colton and me know.
7.7
Global resources
7.7
Bob Ardler asks: öWhat are ÉPipeDream global resourcesæ and
É<PDGlobal$Dir>æ and É<PDGlobal $Path>æ, referred to in PipeDreamæs
!Run, !Path? The ÉPathsæ manual section (pp193-195) seems on the verge
of explaining, but...ò Have you an example which will help explain these
system variables?ò
7.7
Unwanted formfeeds in Fireworkz
7.7
J M Shepherd writes: öI have a problem with unwanted formfeeds which
appears to be associated with the ÉRead printeræ function. I have set my
printer (Star LC24-200) to A4 form length, the driver to A4 (generic dp)
and used the ÉRead printeræ option on the paper submenu. The result,
using Coltonæs own software (Label3x8 on their Example disc), has
formfeeds between each set of 8 labels. From the row spacing specified
in the Style, Label3x8 has a total length of 396 mm, so this alone
should not generate formfeeds. You may have noticed that using the ÉRead
printeræ option gives a paper height that differs by a fraction of a
millimetre from the nominal value. In my case, Fireworkz read an A4
paper length as 297.02 mm rather than 297.00 mm and this was apparently
enough to force a formfeed. I confirmed this by reducing the printer
driver paper length to 296.5 mm. This, in conjunction with the ÉRead
printeræ function, eliminated the formfeeds, but Fireworkz struck back
by omitting a pass of the print head from the output. Had it been the
final pass, at the foot of the page, I might have got away with it but,
unfortunately, it was the first pass, at the top of the page! As a
result, the addresseeæs name on the 1st, 9th, ... label was missing.
Colton are, I hope, sorting this one out for us all!ò
7.7
Charts in Fireworkz
7.7
Franz Werner says: öUsing Charts gave me some problems which might
interest others. Saving a chart as a drawfile does not work as described
on page 55 of the Tutorial book. After selecting the chart and selecting
Make Constant, the Selection button on the Save menu is greyed out and
it is not possible to save only the chart. The whole sheet is saved as a
Resultz file, not just the chart. The chart is no longer live Ö but it
is not a drawfile either. When the chart has been made constant,
selecting and cutting the series data in order to finish up with the
chart only, may remove the chart also. This appears to happen if the
chart is moved after it has been Made Constant. I find this all very
confusing.
7.7
öColton Software point out that the correct way is to select the chart
(one red line round it) and go to Extra Ö Pictures Ö Save which saves
only the chart as a drawfile. This procedure is hinted at on page 15 of
the Éuser guideæ but that is about all.
7.7
öIt turns out that it is not possible, as it is in PipeDream, to add
additional text legends/labels to the axes or a title/heading within the
chart and to move them around to suit. This is acknowledged as an
omission which Colton Software will put right. Unfortunately, the saved
drawfile of the chart contains a border which makes the subsequent
addition of legends or headings difficult. One workaround is to load the
file into Draw or DrawPlus, ungroup the objects, delete the border,
select and group all the objects and save the file. Further text can
then be added in Wordz or whatever.ò
7.7
ÉLostæ marked text
7.7
Derrick Porter writes: öI have observed that if a word, or any section
of text, is selected and the space bar is then pressed, the section in
question is deleted. This can be very annoying if you have just
highlighted a substantial amount of text, to change the style, for
example. Colton Software have told me that this is an intended feature
and not a bug. In all current GUI applications (except some in
RISCáOS!), itæs a convention that, to replace text, you select it, then
type. So when you press <space>, the selected text gets replaced with a
space. Fireworkz (and Wordz and Resultz) saves this text to the
clipboard Ö so if you didnæt mean this to happen you can paste it back.
If you get used to using the feature you should find it really useful; I
do!ò
7.7
Finally
7.7
Thanks to you all! Iæve had a really interesting batch of letters this
month. Please keep them coming!ááA
7.7
Genesis/Magpie Column
7.7
Paul Hooper
7.7
Tidying up Genesis
7.7
Most of the applications/binders that I see could benefit from tidying
up and what I would like to look at this month is all those little
extras that improve the overall impression of your application. The
first and maybe the most obvious is that you have spent many hours
compiling this application, so why not claim some credit for it and
place your name not only on the title page but also the Éinfoæ box that
is the top option on your icon? For this, you will need !FormEd which is
available on Shareware disc 20 from Archive. Just load the templates
file from your Genesis application into FormEd and alter it to your
heartæs desire. It also enables you to enter the version number so that
you can keep track of how your binder develops.
7.7
Surplus pictures
7.7
Genesis has a Éfeatureæ which at first looks like a bug. If you delete a
sprite or drawfile from a page and then place a new sprite with the same
name on the page, the deleted sprite remains within the page definition
and the new sprite is renamed as Ésprite0æ. When you then save the page,
both sprites are retained within the page definition, although only the
second one is used. To tidy this up and to delete the surplus sprite,
call up ÉShow Pagesæ on the application icon on the iconbar. Call up
each page definition in turn and examine the sprites within it and
delete the surplus ones.
7.7
While examining the page definition, check to see if a sprite occurs in
more than one page and if it does, then shift it into the shared
resources area and delete it from all the pages. I was recently able to
reduce the size of an application from 1800Kb to 880Kb by using both of
these techniques.
7.7
Icons and !Boot Files
7.7
A good icon improves the look of an application no end but, in some
circumstances, the icon can fail to initialise and is replaced with the
standard APP icon. I use the pinboard to store quite a few of the
applications on my hard disc, and sometimes these fail to load the icon
if you have edited the !Boot file in Edit. I donæt know the technical
reason for this but the cure is simple, just include a !Boot file within
your Genesis application that runs something like this:
7.7
IconSprites <Obey$Dir>.!Sprites
7.7
This will ensure that the sprites are correctly loaded.
7.7
Pages and the Émissing linkæ
7.7
It can sometimes be very confusing when you have five or six alternative
ways of turning your pages and it becomes very easy to miss one or send
the user down a dead end. I always finish an application by drawing a
flow chart and then checking every available route. Although this can be
time-consuming, it is well worth it. If the end-user becomes frustrated
with dead ends or failed links, he is much more likely to bin your
application. Even better is to pass on a copy of your application to
someone else and let them identify the missing links.
7.7
Tidying up Magpie
7.7
Magpie binders are stored in a single file, and if you then delete a
sprite or page, the space that this occupied in the file is left blank.
This means that binders can have a series of Éholesæ and take up more
disc space than required. There is an option to compact a binder which
will remove these holes but, by default, this option is disabled. To
check whether it is enabled in your copy of !Magpie, open up your copy
of !Magpie by holding down <shift> and double-clicking with <select>.
Drag the !Run file into Edit and examine the last line which should look
something like this:
7.7
Run ö<Magpie$Dir>.!runImageò -g60 Ör120 -a -h cö<Magpie$ Language>ò. %*0
7.7
The only thing that needs concern us is the É-aæ parameter. If this is
missing from your copy of Magpie, insert it and save the !Run file. Load
any binder into this new version of Magpie and open up the contents
page. Use <menu> over any of the tools at the top of the contents page
and you should now have the option to Écompact binderæ.
7.7
Before you compact your binder, copy it into a RAM disc which is at
least 20% bigger than the size of the binder Ö more if you can manage
it. Also get up the free space option on the RAM disc and keep an eye on
it. Run your binder from RAM, open the contents page and compact it. The
first thing you will notice is that the size of the binder increases!
Donæt worry Ö this is the program claiming space to write to. After a
few minutes, Magpie will report that compaction is complete and you will
have a binder which looks bigger than the original, but all you need do
now is to close the contents page and only then will the binder actually
shrink.
7.7
Magpie applications
7.7
No, itæs not a mistake Ö you can make your binders into stand-alone
applications. I am grateful to Antony Froggett and Alan Shelton for
their ideas on this. Both had tackled the problem in a slightly
different way but the results are much the same.
7.7
Once you have made your binder, create an application directory with the
same name as your binder except that it is prefixed by the ! character.
Copy your binder into this application then open up !MagpiRead and copy
the entire contents into your application directory. Design your own
sprite with the same name as the application and place it in the
!Sprites inside your application.
7.7
Now we need to alter the !Run file, so drag it into Edit and find the
line which reads:
7.7
| set Magpie$Default Browse
7.7
At the moment, this line is commented out because of the | character at
the start of the line, so delete this character. Move on to the last
line of the !Run file. We need to alter this so that it will only load
your application. Add the parameter É-Bæ, as shown below, then a path
name to find the application. This parameter ensures that this copy of
!MagpiRead will only load your application.
7.7
Run ö<MagpieBrowse$Dir>.!runImageò ÖBADFS::0.$.!Fun.Fun -sg -g60 Ör120 -
cö<Magpie$Language>ò. %*0
7.7
In this example, the application is called !Fun and the Magpie binder
inside it is called Fun and they are on a floppy in drive 0. As an
example, I have put a Magpie binder on this monthæs disc which
illustrates the way to do this, but you will have to uncompact it on to
a separate disc in the root directory before it will run.
7.7
The Swap Shop
7.7
I would like to thank Paul Cross for a series of small Genesis
applications that he has sent. Most are designed by his class and we
have added two to the catalogue, ÉWhat are things made of?æ is on
materials, and ÉQueen Victoriaæ is about the Queen and her family.
Antony Froggett sent me a copy of a Magpie binder that he uses at Open
Days at Portsmouth College to introduce students to the Sociology course
Ö I wish I could sign up for it! I have also compiled a hints binder
from the examples that normally go on the Archive monthly disc.
7.7
My thanks also to Alan Shelton who has sent two Magpie binders on the
Stuarts and Tudors, covering not only important events but also the
personalities of the periods. As an exercise in using Genesis script
language, I have designed an adding skill-and-drill program using
cartoon characters. At the moment, I am about half way through the
!Paint Tutor which should be ready in about three weeks time.
7.7
This gives us a catalogue with nearly thirty applications, so if you
require a copy of the catalogue then send me a blank 800Kb disc and the
return postage to the address at the end of the article.
7.7
The End Bit
7.7
If you have any question about Genesis or Magpie or if you would like to
send me any applications, please send them to Paul Hooper, 11 Rochford
Road, Martham, Great Yarmouth, NR29 4RL. (0493-748474)
7.7
Next month, I hope to be able to bring you a review of Genesis
Professional Ö if my copy comes through in the next few weeks.ááA
7.7
ASM_Help
7.7
Jonathan Quigly
7.7
ASM_Help from Stallion Software Ltd is an application that provides
interactive help for programmers developing assembler programs using the
Acorn Desktop Assembler. It uses the StrongHlp program (version 1.22)
which is also supplied by Stallion Software.
7.7
Documentation
7.7
There is no manual supplied with the application and so the use of the
program was determined by trial and error. Whilst the program is
intuitive to use, a READ_ME file to help get you started would have been
helpful.
7.7
The review was performed using an A410/1 fitted with RISCáOSá3.10, so I
canæt comment on whether the program will run on RISCáOSá2, although it
certainly makes use of the new RISCáOSá3 facilities.
7.7
The disc
7.7
The disc contains the !ASM_Help application along with !StrongHlp and a
freeware copy of !StrongED (version 2.54 Ö dated 07-Jul-93). Also
included are !System and !Scrap directories. StrongED itself was
reviewed in Archive 7.2 p73.
7.7
The program
7.7
To use ASM_Help, you first have to start StrongHlp which causes a large
question mark icon to appear on the iconbar. Subsequently double-
clicking on the ASM_Help icon, whilst not showing any visible signs that
it has made any difference, will cause ASM_Help to make itself known to
the StrongHlp program and allow assembler help to be provided.
7.7
This help is provided either via interaction with the StrongHlp
application or it may be invoked using the <f1> key within StrongED Ö
more of that later.
7.7
Clicking <menu> on the StrongHlp iconbar icon shows that StrongHlp
provides the facilities to display help for multiple applications Ö
StrongHelp, Asm and StrongEd in this case.
7.7
Clicking on the sub-menu Asm entry displays the following help window:
7.7
Clicking on any of the middle five lines (which are displayed in red)
displays another window with further help. Likewise, in this window any
further words in red can be clicked on and further windows will be
displayed in a manner reminiscent of hypertext systems.
7.7
The program attempts to follow the Acorn Style guidelines and therefore
works in a largely intuitive manner. For example, clicking with <adjust>
on a red highlighted word closes the parent window and opens a new
window for the word highlighted in red.
7.7
An example of the help provided, the info on the ADC instruction, is
shown below:
7.7
For those of you who donæt yet subscribe to the full colour edition of
Archive(!), the cond, S, Rd, Rn, Op2 words on the Syntax: line are all
words highlighted in red that are selectable. Likewise, the 1S and 1N
words in the Speed: entry are also highlighted in red and therefore
selectable.
7.7
So, for example, selecting the highlighted Op2 word, displays the
following window:
7.7
where Rs, shift and Rm are all selectable words.
7.7
You can easily end up with a lot of windows open if you are not careful!
That is obviously why there is a Close all option on the StrongHlp
iconbar menu.
7.7
Configuration
7.7
The StrongHlp application allows a large number of configuration options
as shown in the submenu below (which is selectable from the iconbar
menu):
7.7
All the colours can be altered, including the red highlighted word
colour (Link col in the menu above). Full interactive help support is
provided, including for all menu entries Ö I wish all programs did this.
This help can either be displayed via Acornæs Help application,
accessible via the standard Apps directory or via StrongHlp itself.
Clicking <adjust> on the StrongHlp iconbar icon opens an interactive
help window that works in a similar way to the standard Help
application. Amusingly, StrongHlp identifies Éshyæ applications, i.e.
those applications that donæt provide any help, by displaying a message
such as öThis is the shy Impression applicationò when the pointer is
moved over the Impression iconbar icon. (Yet another reason to upgrade
to Impression Publisher!)
7.7
StrongED
7.7
As mentioned earlier, the StrongED text editor provides a facility to
invoke help dynamically whilst editing. Placing the cursor in a word and
pressing <f1> attempts to display help for that word. If the word cannot
be found, a small window is displayed advertising this fact.
7.7
For this to be effective, both StrongHlp and ASM_Help must have been
loaded. If this hasnæt been done then, if the StrongHlp icon has been
seen by the Filer, StrongHlp will be loaded. However, this does not
appear to apply to ASM_Help and this has to be done manually by double
clicking on the ASM_Help icon.
7.7
Resource usage
7.7
!ASM_help takes up approximately 54Kb of disc space and !StrongHlp
approximately 36Kb. The help text is not compressed. Compressing the
applications by storing them in a Compression directory drops the total
disc space requirement down to under 56Kb Ö a saving of approximately
40%. I assume similar savings would be achieved with other compressed
filing systems.
7.7
The Task Manager indicates that StrongHlp is using 64Kb. A small
relocatable module is also loaded which provides a command to broadcast
a string to a running Wimp-task and appears to be the mechanism that
ASM_Help uses to announce itself to StrongHlp.
7.7
Improvements
7.7
It is nearly always easy to find ways in which a program can be
improved. However, all program authors have to draw the line somewhere
otherwise their programs would never get published.
7.7
It would be good for the program to recognise all forms of assembler
mnemonics when linking from StrongED via the <f1> key. For example,
whilst it provides help on the keyword LDR, it wonæt find an entry for
LDRNE, LDRB, etc. This would create a more flexible link from StrongED
and make the use of the <f1> key even more effective.
7.7
An option to select (and save) the favoured help to be displayed when
clicking on the StrongHlp iconbar icon, would be helpful. You always get
help on StrongHlp if you do this. To get to ASM_help requires a <menu>
click followed by menu navigation and then selecting the Asm help entry.
7.7
Conclusion
7.7
The question is, how helpful is the help provided?
7.7
For the programmer who dabbles from time to time in assembly programming
or for those just starting to program in assembler, ASM_Help is a useful
aid. It provides more usable and effective help than that provided by
the <f1> key in SRCEdit program provided as part of the Acorn Desktop
Development Environment which is included with the Desktop Assembler.
This invokes an Acorn help description file that is of a far more
rudimentary form, only providing one level of help, unlike StrongHlp
with its öhypertextò style multi-level help.
7.7
It is important to note that the help provided is no substitute for
having at least a basic understanding of assembly language programming.
However, it does provide a useful facility. It can save time looking in
the manual for the finer points of detail and acts as an immediate
reminder of the instruction formats and assembly commands required. More
importantly, the help provided contains enough detail to be useful and
indeed helpful Ö short of having the full manual available via CD-ROM!
7.7
ASM_Help costs ú15 inclusive from Stallion Software or ú10 inclusive if
you already have StrongED.ááA
7.7
This review was of version 1.00 of ASM_Help but I understand that
version 1.01 is now available which also provides help for the assembler
provided as part of standard Acorn Basic. Ed.
7.7
Acorn User Spring Show æ94
7.7
Paul Beverley
7.7
Since last monthæs article, the following exhibitors have decided to
come and join us at Harrogate:
7.7
Apricote Studios, Anglia TV, Iota, Minerva Software, Quantum Software
and Snap Computers.
7.7
New products
7.7
Some companies are prepared to say what they are working on, so I
thought it would be good to do a round-up of some of them. Other
companies are more cagey and wonæt say what their new products are Ö
they just say that people should come and see for themselves Ö
tantalising! What I shall do, therefore is to list the products that
companies have told me about so far...
7.7
4th Dimension are hoping to have on sale (but certainly on
demonstration) the follow-up to Haunted House Ö Gordon Keyæs latest
game, Time Machine. They are also hoping to have some new courses
available for Stunt Racer.
7.7
Apricote Studios Ö Personal Accounts version 3 is to be launched Ö a
complete re-write of their accounts program first launched in 1990. The
latest version gives Personal Accounts all the best advantages of up-to-
date WIMP techniques.
7.7
Castle Technology will, of course, be showing their Ergo Keyboards but
also various monitors, hard drives and printers as well as the CadMust
PCB programs which they are now importing.
7.7
Clares Micros say that version 2 of Schema should be available at the
Show with a whole range of new features.
7.7
Colton Software will be showing ClassCardz, educational support
materials to help teachers introduce Wordz, Resultz and Fireworkz to the
students and to use them across the curriculum. They will also be
talking about the progress of Recordz, due for release later in the
year.
7.7
Computer Concepts Ö Impression Publisher will be on show with advanced
features like text flow around irregular objects, control over page
bleed, crop marks, separation names and registration marks, advanced
colour support, TIFF filters, etc. MacFS is a filing system for
Archimedes which will read and write Mac SuperDrive floppies, external
hard discs and SyQuests. It will cost around ú100. You will also be able
to see the JPEG and PhotoCD loaders.
7.7
Datafile will have a new package of fonts designed by Tony Nash. The
samples which Datafile sent looked very good Ö the fonts are very
intricate and decorative.
7.7
Irlam Instruments will be releasing a new version of ImageBank and are
working on their scanner software, ProI-Mage, as well as a Stitching
application which joins up images that have been scanned in strips.
7.7
Krisalis will be launching the Bitmap Brothersæ hit, Speedball 2.
7.7
Norwich Computer Services Ö They say they are going to be offering
special deals on computer sales. They will be giving free Archive
subscriptions, free telephone hot-line support and even a free hardware
upgrade with every computer sold at the Show!
7.7
They are also hoping to have a new range of removable drives on sale Ö
3╜ö, 270Mb Syquest drives to be specific. Pricing is not yet fixed.
7.7
Oregan Developments are launching two new games: Sally and Wally, an
action platform game, and Magnetoids, the first 3D version of Asteroids.
Their most important new program though is Photo-Touch which aims to
bring the facilities of Mac packages such as PhotoShop to Acorn
machines. It will be a complete image-processing and electronic photo-
touch-up package which will work on formats from 256-colour to 24-bit
TIFF and Clear files. Expected launch price: ú79.95.
7.7
Quantum Software is working on a mega Pinboard program called Blinds,
which they will be demonstrating at the Show. They will be launching
Keystroke v3. Quantum claim that version 2 of Keystroke is the öbest-
selling utility for the Acorn Risc computer rangeò.
7.7
Sherston Software Ö Around the World in 80 Days is designed for upper
primary school pupils and will introduce them to a range of geographical
skills including grid references, longitude and time zones, latitude,
contours, bearings etc, all presented within an adventure as wicked
Wiley Windbag tries to thwart the efforts of the global travellers
Freddie and Francis Fogg (Phileas Foggæs children?). They have two maths
adventures, Space City and Sea Rescue, almost ready now and should
certainly be available in time for the Show.
7.7
Sherston are also arranging a Crystal Maze Challenge Ö players of
Crystal Maze are invited to enter a team to battle against the computer,
culminating in a head-to-head between the best teams in the main
theatre.
7.7
Spacetech say they are hoping to have something really exciting to
launch at the Show Ö aimed at a much wider market than hitherto Ö but
thatæs all they will say for now!
7.7
Stallion Software will be launching C Help, providing on-line help for C
programmers and a new release of StrongEd.
7.7
StateMachine will have their new IDE interface as well as the A5000
ClusterCard expansion system. ClusterCard is based on a central board
which fits into the MEMC socket and is designed to accept 4 or 8Mb of
RAM to add to the A5000æs 4Mb. A G335 graphics accelerator card can also
be added to it and the ARM processor can then have direct access to its
video memory, meaning that whatever screen mode you are working in, the
processor will run at full speed.
7.7
Topologika say that Talking Rhymes will finally surface (details in
Products Available two months ago Ö oops!) and they will be showing a
program called Mottik written for Design Works, a hands-on design and
technology exhibition in Birmingham in June. Mottik will allow users to
experiment with a limited set of Mottik bricks Ö Britainæs answer to
Lego. Also on show will be Number Tiles, a number skills pack for
primary school children.
7.7
Wild Vision Ö Lark A16 is a 16-bit stereo sound-sampling board (a joint
venture with CC). For more details, see David Lenthallæs article on
page 39. It will retail at ú199 +VAT or ú230 through Archive. TV Buddy
is a TV tuner outputting video and audio for use with their own
digitisers. With it, you will be able to view TV on your computer
monitor while you work! It is a single width podule and the tuning is
done under software control.
7.7
Wyddfa Software will launch Talking Stories, a new series of interactive
story books starting with Gwenæs Nose, Gwenæs Tummy, Gwen at the Fair
and Gwen goes to School. Wyddfa are also running a competition for Welsh
primary schools, the aim being for each school to create a booklet in
Welsh. The winning booklet will be turned into a talking version by
Wyddfa.
7.7
Any more new products?
7.7
There will be lots more information about new products in the May issue
of Archive Ö some extremely exciting ones, too, I reckon.
7.7
See you there!
7.7
I hope we will see many of you at Harrogate next month Ö do stop off at
the Norwich Computer Services stand (119 Ö just past the 4th Dimension!)
and say hello. I think you will find that the Spring 1994 Acorn User
Show will be a show to remember Ö as they say, öBe there, or be
square!òááA
7.7
16-bit I/O Card
7.7
Gary Stevenson
7.7
This article reviews the 16-bit I/O card for the Archimedes from
Intelligent Interfaces. It is difficult to review such a piece of
equipment without reference to a particular application. I will
therefore start by introducing the application for which I am using this
card and then move on to some of the details of the card.
7.7
A bit of background...
7.7
I have been interested in stage lighting for many years since being
heavily involved in lighting at school. While I was there, I built an
8-channel flash box which plugged into the user port of a BBC Micro. It
was then I realised the potential for a computer-controlled lighting
system and it has taken me 6 years (University got in the way) before
finally building the next version.
7.7
As you have probably guessed (because youære reading Archive) this
system will operate using Acorn machines and this version is going to be
just a tad more sophisticated than Mark 1.
7.7
I should probably make it clear that I am not a hardware engineer. I
understand a bit about electronics and how to hook up lots of logic
gates to get the desired effect but the real nitty gritty of electronics
is not my field. I am much more of a software person and it is this
aspect of a computer-controlled lighting system that interests me the
most. The hardware I am building interfaces the Acorn machine to
standard lighting equipment and my own control panels. These panels will
have indicators and sliders which are used by the operator for features
that cannot be achieved using a mouse or keyboard.
7.7
What I wanted to build was a modular system that could be extended in
the future. It had to be relatively cheap because I was paying for it
all (thereæs no commercial aspect to this at present) and I had to be
able to build it with limited tools and test equipment.
7.7
Interfacing the system to the Archimedes has taken a lot of time and
thought. However, in the end I went for the 16-bit I/O card. Other
options such as connecting to the serial port are too slow. Eight-bit
user ports are cheap and easily available but simply do not have enough
data lines. Building my own podule (sorry expansion card!) sounded
dangerous, involves too much electronics know-how and it would be
difficult to manage the timing.
7.7
The I/O card allows relatively fast data transfer (200,000 16-bit
operations per second is quoted) which is asynchronous, has simple
electronics to cope with it and allows me long leads (I am using about a
metre) to be used in connecting it the Archimedes.
7.7
The 16-bit I/O card from Intelligent Interfaces
7.7
The first point to make is the name. If this was the PC market, Iæm sure
it would be called a 32-bit I/O card because it does in fact have 32 I/O
lines and 8 control lines all of which are buffered. The reason itæs
called a 16-bit card is because you can read or write to 16 bits in one
operation. There are two 16-bit ports which you can read or write to, 8
bits of each port at the same time. Note that you canæt of course read
from one and write to the other at the same time.
7.7
What you get:
7.7
Å A half-width expansion card
7.7
Å An A5 ring bound manual and errata sheet
7.7
Å A disc
7.7
Å A half-width expansion blanking plate to fill any gaps you may have
created in fitting the card.
7.7
The card itself uses two 6522 VIA chips, the same as used in the old BBC
Micro, although they are clocked at twice the rate. Itæs a double-sided
single layer board with all the components on one side and with all the
ones youære likely to wreck held in sockets. There are also quite a few
links and a DIP switch to configure the card, and the outputs which are
by way of two 40-way IDC connectors. OK, so weære talking pretty low
tech, but thatæs all it really needs and it does mean that it should be
very reliable and bomb-proof.
7.7
A point to note here is that the card is hardware-configured. You
cannot, for example, change the direction of one of the ports simply by
sending the appropriate commands to the card. The reason for this is
quite simple. The card has output buffers which are octal transceivers.
The DIP switches on the card select whether the ports are input or
output by setting up the transceivers. The quick ones among you would
have already worked out that, because of the octal transceivers, you
cannot, for example, have four input lines and four output lines on the
same port of a particular VIA. In other words, each of the four ports is
either an 8-bit input or an 8-bit output port and it is fixed until you
change the settings.
7.7
This then makes the card more difficult to use for general purpose
applications than the 8-bit user port on the Beeb Ö which got around
this problem by not being buffered. I think you may be able to get
around this restriction by removing the buffer chips from the sockets
and making the appropriate links across the socket so that the 6522
drives the connectors directly. This, of course, would mean that there
was no protection to the VIA (like the beeb) but you could put your own
buffering on your own particular piece of kit. I see no reason why this
shouldnæt work but I havenæt tested it and donæt quote me on it!
7.7
This may be a big restriction for some applications but not for mine, as
it is configured and will never be changed again. It is this type of
application that this card is aimed at Ö to enable the computer to drive
a special piece of equipment that can be driven or monitored using I/O
lines. You could connect up to four of these cards to one computer each
configured differently.
7.7
The manual refers to a special cable which you can use to test the card.
It requires the card to be configured to the state that it is supplied
in. Unfortunately, however, the manual does not tell you what the
special cable is, so I decided that, as I had already made up some 40
way IDC leads, that it probably just links the two ports together
straight through. Itæs also unfortunate that the test programs listed in
the manual are not on the disc! Why? Ö I havenæt a clue Ö thereæs plenty
of room for them. So I gave up on that idea Ö the last time I typed in a
program listing was in the days of ZX Spectrum hex dumps (never again!).
Donæt get me wrong, these programs are not long but they should really
be on the disc. Also, the details of the what the lead is, or even one
supplied, would be very useful.
7.7
(As a result of Garyæs comment, I-I are now supplying a test cable with
the podule. Ed.)
7.7
The card itself is of type Ésimple poduleæ which means that it has no
software built into it but has a simple identification system (an 8-bit
word) to tell the computer that itæs there.
7.7
Whatæs on the disc?
7.7
On the disc are a couple of versions of a module to access the card
through SWIæs, Basic and Fortran libraries. Unfortunately, no C library
is included which is a shame, especially as I am writing my application
in C. The two modules do the same thing except one is a standard module
and the other is a bit clever, as it intercepts a vector for faster
operation.
7.7
(I-I say they donæt supply a C library because it is so easy to call the
SWIs using the generic SWI interface _kernel_SWI. Ed.)
7.7
Testing the card
7.7
Before I started fiddling with the settings on the card, I thought Iæd
test it to some degree by hooking up something to the 16-bit output
port. Yes, I used Ö LEDs Ö well, it would prove that it worked!
7.7
Well, I managed to get myself in a bit of a mess here. Trying to work
out how to access a particular 8-bit port of a particular 6522 connected
to either of the two connectors at the back can get a bit confusing. Now
that Iæve done it, it actually seems quite logical, and I have to say
that the manual is absolutely correct Ö but it took a while to get my
head around it.
7.7
To access this port, you would use the command (in Basic) wrls(slot, 0,
&ff). This means (wr)ite to the (l)east (s)ignificant port. The first
parameter is the slot number in the computer. The second parameter is
the register in the VIA. Register 0 is the output register for Port B,
and &ff is the value to put in that register. This diagram shows you the
structure of the card.
7.7
My configuration
7.7
For my setup, I have configured the card like the bus of a computer. I
have allocated I/O lines to specific tasks as follows:
7.7
Lines I/O Use
7.7
Data lines
7.7
8 Out Address lines
7.7
8 Out Data Out lines
7.7
8 In Data In lines
7.7
4 Out Card select lines (16 cards)
7.7
4 Out Spare
7.7
Signal lines
7.7
1 Out Write handshake Ö data ready
7.7
1 In Write handshake Ö data taken
7.7
1 Out Read handshake Ö data taken
7.7
1 In Read handshake Ö data ready
7.7
4 In Interrupt inputs
7.7
This gives me sixteen cards each with 256 addresses to read and another
256 addresses to write to. I then access an 8-bit device by setting the
correct card number, address and then writing the data to the data out
lines. When this happens, a write handshake data ready signal is
automatically generated which latches that 8-bit word into the system.
This is achieved using by putting the VIA in pulse mode which takes the
handshake line low for 0.5╡S. The circuit to do this would be something
like:
7.7
Support
7.7
When I have spoken to Intelligent Interfaces, they have always been very
helpful. They did, in fact, help me to decide the best way to go about
this system.
7.7
Quality of documentation
7.7
The documentation is OK but I would have preferred to see some
electronics discussed in the documentation. Although, as the manual
says, each application of this card is likely to be very different, I
think some examples of its use would be helpful to cover the basic
functions such as: handling interrupts, reading and writing data Ö
especially how to handle the handshaking aspects of this and using the
timers and shift registers.
7.7
Verdict
7.7
The card is quite expensive and you can get similar things for the PC
cheaper. However, in the Acorn market we have to pay a premium for very
low volume products, especially ones like this. What convinced me to buy
one was the fact that the cost for me to build one would be about the
same. (The cost of the technical reference manuals is ú75 of it.) Then
thereæs all the hassle of making it work. So far, I have had no problems
in getting it to work and it seems to be pretty robust. Some
improvements to the documentation and test programs on the disc would
make this the ideal solution for anyone wanting to build or control some
gadgets from their Archimedes.
7.7
The card costs ú200 +p&p +VAT from Intelligent Interfaces or ú230
through Archive.ááA
7.7
Computer & Electronics Holiday for Young People !!
7.7
Scripture Union runs a Computer & Electronics Holiday for 13 to 16 year
olds (boys and girls) at an attractive school in the Hertfordshire
countryside.
7.7
The dates? August 1st Ö 9th, 1994.
7.7
The price? ú112.
7.7
For details, write to Jim Maddox, S.U. Holidays, 69 Claverdale Road,
TubeáHill, London SW2 2DH or phone 081-671-8761.
7.7
Sherston Naughty Stories Ö Volume 2
7.7
Jeanette Crafer
7.7
Talking Software Volume 2 for young children is produced by Sherston
Software and costs ú47 +VAT or ú52 through Archive. (For a review of
Volume 1, see Archive 6.6 p77.) The package contains six stories each
one on disc and in book format. Detailed operating instructions are
included which are well set out and easy to follow and once loaded on to
the iconbar using the program is plain sailing.
7.7
Classroom use
7.7
I introduced this program to a vertically grouped class containing Years
Reception, 1, 2, 3. The interest level was high in the early stages with
all children showing a keen interest. The characters in the stories were
popular and the children enjoyed the simple animation and sound effects.
The speech was clear and usually easy to hear even in a busy Infantsæ
class! After an initial introduction with the children, this really is
a program which needs very little teacher intervention. All the children
very quickly learned how to turn the page and use all the effects.
7.7
The only problem I experienced was that some children were so impatient
for the next page to load that they would not wait for the hour-glass to
finish before clicking the mouse buttons again. This resulted in a
continuous turning of pages before they could be read.
7.7
Conclusion
7.7
The Stories have an immediate appeal and are very user-friendly. All the
features I would look for in books for beginning-readers are present.
They are an ideal resource for children working up to Key Stage 1 and I
found that they were also readily used by older children with special
needs.ááA
7.7
Small
7.7
Gabriel Swords
7.7
Small is a new game from a new software house. Virgo Software have
recently started writing games for the Acorn platform and this is their
first offering. Itæs a 3D maze game with 52 levels of complexity and a
host of evil-looking opponents to stop you reaching your goal.
7.7
The scenario...
7.7
To teach you a lesson, the gods have shrunk you to a microscopic size
and cast you deep into the labyrinthine realm of your own mind. To
return to normal size, you must escape from an expanding web of ever
more complex mazes before your time, or energy, runs out.
7.7
The game
7.7
You enter the maze at level one and navigate your way around until you
find the exit Ö on the way you can collect magic potions, health fixes,
ammunition, treasure and bombs.
7.7
Sounds easy? Well, it would be if all you had to do was wander round
collecting various bits of memorabilia Ö but it wouldnæt be much of a
game, would it? To slow you up, thereæs an array of animate and
inanimate objects all doing their best to maim or exterminate you.
7.7
Level one is easy enough Ö but donæt hang around because time runs out
very quickly. Level two doesnæt present much problem but from level
three, itæs down hill all the way! This is where you come into contact
with some of the nasties Ö like the Acid clouds Ö nasty green things
which float along corridors, usually the ones you want to go down,
dropping slimy acid blobs on the floor Ö touch them and you have a
sudden decrease in health.
7.7
Then there are the Arachnids Ö giant leg-gnashing spiders who attack you
mercilessly from around corners or from behind and there are robot
sentries who run at you, sending out frightening electrifying charges.
Both of these you have to destroy before they get to you, otherwise itæs
bye, bye.
7.7
What you canæt destroy are things like the Evil Eyes. They donæt
actually harm you Ö they just paralyse you momentarily Ö but this can be
very annoying if youære being chased by a spider. You canæt destroy the
Hermits either Ö no, not monks who live in caves but crab-like creatures
who appear, fire at you, then disappear.
7.7
Or the Heads. Heads arenæt too much of a problem in that they donæt do
anything except block your way, but if you fire at them, your shots
rebound back onto you! If they do get in your way, a bomb Ö providing
you have one Ö will easily eliminate them. Rocks are no problem either.
They just get in your way and can be blasted with ease Ö but be careful,
there may be something behind them!!!
7.7
Odds and ends
7.7
Every sixth level, you get a password into the next five Ö so you donæt
have to start at the beginning each time you have a game. With each new
set of levels, you also see a change in the style of maze. Thereæs about
five styles in all, including stockade fencing, steel walls Ö which
sound like steel walls when you hit them Ö and some futuristic designs.
7.7
One of the great things about Small is that you donæt know whatæs around
the next corner so you go cautiously when you first enter but the more
cautious you are, the more time you take up. Of course, there maybe
nothing around the corner, on the other hand there could be a real nasty
waiting for you Ö the suspense is killing!
7.7
As you progress through the different levels, the mazes become
increasingly more complicated, and the nasties seem to increase in
number.
7.7
The 3D effect of this game is very good. You really do get the feeling
of depth, both horizontally and vertically. Put your head phones on and
you can hear the sound of bouncing Spirit Balls and Spiders, etc coming
at you in stereo, increasing the three dimensional feel of the game.
7.7
Niggles
7.7
Well, there are three. Firstly, although you score points when you pick
up treasure, keys and such-like, thereæs no high score table Ö so it
doesnæt matter that I got more points than my kids because no oneæs
keeping count. Secondly, you canæt alter the control keys Ö perhaps not
too much of a problem but I would have liked to use keys I was already
used to. Thirdly, I canæt get my joystick to work with the game, though
they say it should. These are only small niggles, not major complaints.
7.7
Conclusion
7.7
The kids and I enjoyed playing this game. I can see that once you get to
know where the exits are, it could become a bit too easy, but I think it
will take a bit of time before you do, and anyway once youæve been off
it for a few days you forget where things are.
7.7
A good start from Virgo, and with more in the pipeline, I hope we can
look forward to some more entertaining games in the future.
7.7
Small costs ú24.95 from Virgo Software or ú23 through Archive.ááA
7.7
Introducing Your Computer Ö 4
7.7
Norfolk IT Team
7.7
Three months ago, we introduced disc-handling by covering the formatting
of a floppy disc. This month, weæll do some more on discs and organising
your work on them.
7.7
Hard disc Ö floppy disc
7.7
Users of older computers, such as the BBC B and Master series, are
sometimes confused about the difference between a hard disc and a floppy
disc. This confusion usually arises because there has been a change in
the type of floppy disc in use in most machines from the old 5╝ö type to
the currently fashionable 3╜ò standard. The outer case of the 5╝ö disc
is rather flimsy and it is easy to appreciate the Éfloppinessæ of these
floppy discs. The 3╜ò disc used in the Archimedes machines is just a
floppy disc in a tougher shell. In fact, although it is physically
smaller, much more information is stored upon it than was possible with
a BBC Master and an old 5╝ö disc.
7.7
The confusion between the hard disc and the floppy disc is made worse by
the fact that although people are always talking about hard discs, you
never actually get to see them! Hard discs are large capacity discs
usually sited inside the main box of your computer Ö although there are
some which have boxes of their own and are connected to the computer by
a length of cable. Generally, you donæt pop hard discs in and out of a
machine like floppy discs and so you are unlikely to clap eyes on one.
7.7
(There are hard discs that you can take out like floppies so, to
differentiate them, we call the öremovable hard discsò. Ed.)
7.7
Hard disc advantages
7.7
Why might you want one of these hard discs which everyone is talking
about? Well, they are bigger... and they are faster.
7.7
The size difference is quite significant Ö a standard density floppy
disc can hold only 0.8 megabytes of information.
7.7
[Hang on, whatæs a megabyte? A computer stores information
electronically as a series of numbers. These numbers are all either 0 or
1, just as most electrical switches are either off or on. A single 0 or
1 stored by the computer is known as a Ébitæ. Computers use chunks of
eight bits at a time, known as bytes (Éby eightsæ, get it?). A byte can
have any value from 0 to 255. This provides more than enough numbers to
represent all the characters needed, characters such as the letter ÉAæ,
digit É5æ or the Éúæ character, for instance. So one byte of storage
space can represent one character. By itself, one character is not much
use and so memory is usually measured in larger chunks. A kilobyte is,
as one might expect, about 1000 bytes Ö actually itæs 1024 Ö two to the
power of ten. A megabyte is about a million bytes, or characters, of
storage space Ö actually, itæs 1024 ╫ 1024 = 1,048,576. In other words
the 0.8 Megabyte disc can store about eight hundred thousand separate
characters.]
7.7
(æScuse me, but for space sake, Iæm going to change to Mb instead of
megabytes and Kb instead of kilobytes. OK? Ed.)
7.7
A hard disc, which might be any size from 20Mb upwards, can hold the
equivalent of a box load of floppy discs. Imagine the bother that does
away with! If someone were to suggest that it would be better to have
all the volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica bound into one, you
would no doubt think them a few bits short of a byte. Your opinion would
be based upon your knowledge of the difficulty of looking things up in
such a gargantuan tome. However, the computeræs gargantuan storage on
hard disc is not a problem because sorting through masses of information
to find something quickly is one of the things at which computers excel.
7.7
Computers find and read information stored on hard discs much faster
than with floppies. I remember when I first got a disc drive for my BBC
B microcomputer some years back, having previously stored everything on
audio cassette tapes (yes, we did that!). The difference in speed was
phenomenal. More than that, I seemed to spend much less time fiddling
about with the wretched machine trying to adjust it properly and so on.
As soon as I had got used to using a disc drive, I would not entertain
the thought of returning to tape-based storage. The move to using a hard
disc drive on my Acorn A3000 was similarly empowering. I would never go
back now to using a floppy-only machine Ö it just seems so inconvenient.
Acorn users who lack a hard disc often get messages to insert this or
that disc into their machine. This becomes frustrating as well as taking
up time. All this may sound rather depressing if you have parted with
hard-earned cash to buy a machine without a hard drive. Hopefully, this
article will help you to maximise the efficiency with which you use your
discs and be of assistance to owners of any Archimedes-type computer.
7.7
Disc organisation
7.7
A computer disc is rather like an office filing cabinet. You could store
everything in such a cabinet by just opening a drawer at random and
slinging things in. It would get things stored Ö and quickly too Ö but
think of the problem of trying to retrieve anything! In fact, you tend
to use different drawers to contain information of different kinds and
these drawers are likely to be divided into sections which may
themselves be further divided and so on. The point about this is that it
all takes a little time to plan and set up in the beginning but it is
worth it in the end because your information can be accessed more
efficiently.
7.7
Your computer allows you to subdivide your disc rather like the filing
cabinet above. ÉDirectoriesæ or Éfoldersæ (as they are represented on
screen) can be used to organise whatever you store on a disc. Put a
formatted floppy disc in your drive and click on the disc drive icon
with <select>. This will open a directory window on your screen. The
title bar will say something like ÉADFS::Title.$æ where ÉTitleæ is the
name you have given the disc. (If you have not given the disc a title,
it will be given one by the computer, based on the time when the disc
was formatted.) The É$æ indicates that the window is showing you the
contents of the Érootæ directory for that disc. The root directory is
the first level of disc organisation. The terminology is based upon the
idea of the disc structure being rather like a tree Ö branches leading
to smaller sub-branches and so on. The root is the point at which you
start as you move along the tree to get to your destination on one of
the branches.
7.7
Now click <menu> with the mouse pointer over the directory window. One
of the options will be ÉNew directoryæ. Slide the mouse pointer over the
arrow to the right of that and move it into the window titled ÉName:æ
that opens Ö and a red caret will appear. Now type in a name for a new
directory, say Épicturesæ, and press <return>. A new folder icon will
appear with the name you have chosen. If you double-click <select> on
the folder, a window will open showing the contents of your newly
created directory. Notice that the title bar of this directory shows the
whole path that you have followed from the root of this particular
Étreeæ to the branch you are now on. If you wished, you could create
other directories inside this one Ö perhaps you would might want to
store different types of picture in different directories Ö and so on. A
system of nesting directories and sub-directories can make for efficient
storage and retrieval of information on disc just as it does in a paper-
based filing system.
7.7
!System, !Scrap and !Fonts
7.7
The whereabouts of these three applications on your disc is very
important. Firstly, what do they do and secondly where should you put
them?
7.7
!System contains small sections of program which might be needed by any
application you use. If the computer needs one of these Émodulesæ as
they are known, it will need to know where !System is. The first time
the computer Éseesæ !System is when a directory window containing it is
opened. It remembers where it is and afterwards will always look there
for any modules.
7.7
!Scrap provides a space for the computer to store things temporarily.
Imagine you are cooking a complicated meal which has resulted in every
available space in the kitchen being occupied by ingredients, utensils,
pans, etc. You open the oven and take out a piping hot dish of something
delicious. At that moment you realise that you forgot to put on the oven
gloves. You need a place to put that dish down and you need it now!
Sometimes the computer needs an area of its memory like that Ö !Scrap
provides it. As with !System, the computer will remember where !Scrap is
once it has Éseenæ it.
7.7
!Fonts is the application which gives you access to different typefaces
for use in your own work. All your different fonts (typefaces) are
stored there and so the computer knows where to look if you decide to
use a different one. Your RISC OS 3 computer actually contains a number
of fonts already inside the computer itself, stored in a microchip.
!Fonts is therefore only strictly necessary if you wish to use more than
these basic typefaces.
7.7
Organising a hard disc
7.7
If you are lucky enough to have a machine with a hard disc, here are
some tips on how to organise the information on it.
7.7
ÅáPlace !System, !Scrap and !Fonts in the root (É$æ) directory of your
disc. Have no other copies of these three applications anywhere on your
disc. That way, the computer will always know where to go if it needs
them and wonæt get confused by other such files.
7.7
ÅáUse plenty of directories for your applications and files. If you
place your word-processor in its own directory and then place all files
in sub-directories titled according to the kind of file in them, you
will find life a lot easier. With most word-processors, once the
computer has seen the application itself then double-clicking <select>
on one of its files will automatically run the word-processor and load
the file. By storing files Éfurther along a branchæ than the
application, you will be sure that, by the time you get to a file, the
computer will have seen the application which you used to create it.
7.7
ÅáThis is not really an organisation tip but it cannot be said too often
Ö keep backup copies of all your files! The world is divided into two
groups Ö those who have accidentally deleted valuable files from a disc
and those who havenæt... yet! Be warned. Keep a copy of anything
important on a floppy as well as on your hard disc.
7.7
Organising floppy discs
7.7
The organisation of floppy discs is based around the fact that the
computer needs to know where to find !System and !Scrap and possibly
also !Fonts.
7.7
ÅáHave a disc called ÉSystemæ. Keep on it a copy of !System which is to
be considered your master copy. When you need to update !System (weæll
cover this in a future article) then make sure that it is this copy
which is updated. Always place this disc into the computer after
switching on and Éshowæ system to the computer by opening a directory
containing !System.
7.7
ÅáIf you use a lot of fonts in your word-processing or other activities,
have a separate disc with your copy of !Fonts on and show that to the
computer too once it has seen !System. If you only use the fonts built
into the machine, this is not necessary. If you only use one or two
fonts in addition to the basic ones, you could store a copy of !Fonts on
each of the discs you use for storing files. Double-click on this copy
of !Fonts to show the computer where to find them.
7.7
ÅáKeep a copy of !Scrap on each working disc you have. When you insert a
disc to use, double-click on !Scrap before anything else. This tells the
computer to use that as its temporary storage space rather than asking
you to insert another disc at times.
7.7
ÅáBecause the computer needs to put information into the !Scrap area,
albeit temporarily, this cannot be on a disc which you have protected
against being altered.
7.7
Next time we will cover more about discs and organising files, including
how to move and copy files from one directory or disc to another and how
to protect individual files against accidental deletion, even though the
disc as a whole can be altered.ááA
7.7
Xenon 2 & RoboCod
7.7
Andrew Rawnsley
7.7
I have been Ébeta testingæ these two new releases from GamesWare for
some time, and it now seems right to start writing the review.
7.7
GamesWare
7.7
As a relatively new games house, GamesWare is trying to make its mark by
porting-over many of the biggest hits on non-Acorn platforms. Xenon 2
and RoboCod are available now, and watch out for Simon the Sorcerer,
Striker and Dune 2 in the near future. By using lots of small teams of
programmers, GamesWare hopes to be able to keep up its present release
rate of one game per month.
7.7
Common features
7.7
Each game has been designed to be as close to the original as possible,
both in presentation and playability. But a neat touch, which looks like
becoming a GamesWare trademark, is having the games install on the
iconbar. This is very useful, as I can have a game loaded whilst I write
this review, and keep swapping back to the game to check my comments.
7.7
All GamesWare releases except Xenon 2 have, and will have, special modes
for VGA and multisync monitors. These provide more vivid colours, more
detail and generally much improved graphics for owners of these
monitors. Naturally, the games work fine with standard monitors Ö you
just donæt get the special graphics.
7.7
Xenon 2
7.7
Xenon 2 is a vertically scrolling shoot-Éem-up. Some readers may
remember that I referred to it in my review of Quark. The Acorn market
has a lack of decent arcade-style games, but Xenon 2 goes a long way to
start filling that gap. Itæs fast, itæs furious and its got more
powerups than errr... anything else you care to mention!
7.7
There are one or two player games, but the two player version seems to
have been tacked on to lengthen the features list. Each player plays
separately, with their own spaceship, but when one player dies, itæs the
other playeræs turn again.
7.7
Presentation
7.7
The music is one of those things you either love or hate, and your
grandmother is sure to hate it. To those in the know, it is an excellent
rendition of Bomb the Bassæ öMegaBlastò and was, I believe, one of the
first fully-sampled soundtracks to accompany an Amiga game when first
released. It is noisy, it has a repetitive bass line, but is ideal to
blast away to. It can, of course, be turned off.
7.7
Graphically, Xenon 2 is second to none. With super animation and highly
detailed sprites, it is very nice to watch. Mind you, as one of the most
highly acclaimed games of its genre, you expect high standards of
presentation.
7.7
Gameplay
7.7
In terms of gameplay, Xenon 2 is fairly typical. You shoot the bad guys
and collect the cash they leave behind. Sometimes you can pick up extra
weapons or defence bonuses, and after wasting the traditional end-of-
section guardian, you can go to the shop to trade in your cash. Itæs a
tried and tested routine, but remember, this is the original, the first
game ever to offer cash and loads of power-ups.
7.7
One novel feature is that the scenery, instead of damaging your ship, is
just impassable, leading to some interesting mazes on later levels.
7.7
When at the shop, it is wise to spend up, since the game zeros your cash
at the start of each level. Thereæs no economics here Ö you spend whilst
you have the chance, and before the game takes it away!
7.7
There are five levels to blast through, each divided into two sections.
However, by the time you reach the later levels, you have such an
awesome array of firepower, it becomes a little difficult to die.
7.7
Conclusions
7.7
If youære one of those people who has been waiting for the arrival of
quality arcade games on the Acorn platform, then start opening your
wallet. Xenon 2 is good, very good. However, if you want a good two-
player implementation, try looking at Oreganæs ÉQuarkæ before parting
with your cash.
7.7
RoboCod
7.7
You may remember James Pond, the underwater secret agent whose original
capers were released by Krisalis. Well, heæs back, and this time heæs on
dry land. Actually, its icy ground, because heæs saving the toy factory
at the North Pole, which has been sabotaged by that devious criminal, Dr
Maybe.
7.7
As our fishy hero, you must run around the many platforms and levels of
the factory, defusing penguin bombs and collecting as many bonuses as
possible.
7.7
RoboCod has a distinct feeling of Zool, but since RoboCod was released
first, maybe I should have written that the other way round? The
Écutenessæ factor is here in force but, unlike Zool, there is much more
variety in the levels. You have transport levels, sweet levels and many
more, but most importantly, you have the jelly level.
7.7
Bonus Sections
7.7
The jelly level is hidden as part of a bonus level, and is possibly the
highlight of the whole game. When you jump, you can bounce off things,
and jump higher. By strategic jumping, you can be bouncing between the
top and bottom of the level at incredible speed.
7.7
There are extra bonus sections and rooms hidden all over the place. They
take all sorts of forms but try the upside-down screen ones. Wow! Some
levels have special objects in them which must be used to finish the
level. Youæll find a plane, a car, some wings, and. . . . a bathtub!?!
7.7
Presentation
7.7
The graphics and sound in Robocod are of a high standard, and the music
has that most important factor Ö hummability (?!?) Ö donæt blame me when
you start singing in the bath!
7.7
The graphics, as stated earlier, are very cute and colourful, and with
the special VGA mode, appealed to me a lot.
7.7
Suggestions
7.7
Since this game is very large, 2500 screens, I would have liked to see
passwords or a save-game option, but this is a fault of the original.
Still, it would be good to see GamesWare taking note of some of the
comments of reviewers of the original PC and Amiga versions, and making
improvements to the games for the Acorn market.
7.7
Conclusions
7.7
Again, RoboCod is a first class game and despite the small criticism
mentioned above, I can recommend it highly. Mind you, watch out for the
4096 colour background raster bars Ö donæt study them for too long or Mr
Pond might lose one of his valuable lives!ááA
7.7
There are quite a number of articles that wouldnæt fit in this issue so
they will be published in a later issue. They include an interesting
article on Mixing High & Low Level Languages plus reviews of: 10 out of
10 Statistics; AIM3; Artworks Made Easy; Basic Programmeræs Toolkit;
Celtic and Church Year clipart; Chemistry; Choices; Cowboys; Creator;
DataVision; DeskEdit 3; EasyFont; First Logo; Game Makeræs Manual;
Kerner & Kernall; Keyboard Trainer; Materials, Components & Techniques;
Molecular Modelling; MouseTrap; Numerator work cards; Observess expert
system shell; Opening Doors on IT; Optical OCR; Oxford Reading Tree
Talking Stories; Party, Wedding & Anniversary Clipart; Phases α la
Franτais; Punctuate; Sea, Trade & Empire; Small Steps; Soapbox; Tiles;
Time Detectives Victorians; TOM computer trainer. (34 articles)
7.7