Full text of "Acorn User 1988 Magazine"

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PIPEDREAM: 
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The Character 
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PIPELINE - A Fiery Adventure in Space and Time 


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In the 25th Century, the Earth's supplies of sulphur had become so badly 
depleted that mining operations were established on Io, one ot the moons of 
Jupiter. Following a volcanic eruption on Io. the robot-controlled extraction 
platforms have been engulfed in a burning sea of sulphur and are now 
malfunctioning. 

You have been sent to the platforms in a single-handed, death-defying 
mission, to collect the precious drums of sulphur, close down operations and 
return to Earth. To complete your task, you must carefully weave your way 
through a complex series of pipelines in each of four platforms. But beware of 
the fast-moving flames and carnivorous plants! 


Pipeline is a massive four level arcade-adventure, that combines the best 
features of a game like Ravenskull, with a, novel pipeline system. Once you 
enter a pipe, there is no going back. You are carried past junctions, around 
bends and over other pipes, to be deposited at the end. wherever that 
might be. 

In addition to an exciting, novel arcade game, Pipeline also includes a 
character designer and a very powerful level designer. Design your own level, 
including intricate puzzles and a vast array of pipeline complexes, and test 
your route through the pipes directly on the level design screen. With practice, 
you will soon be able to design complicated and highly unusual games. 


(U 


BBC Micro Cassette £9.95 Acorn Electron Cassette £9.95 

BBC Micro 5'U n Disc £11.95 BBC Master Compact Vh* Disc £14.95 

(Compatible with the BBC B, B+ and Master Series computers) 

Please make cheques payable to "Superior Software Ltd”. 


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PRIZE COMPETITION - DESIGN A LEVEL 

II you complete Pipeline, you can enter our competition. To enter you should send Inyoui score 
and submit a level design to Superior Software. Prizes of £100 each will be awarded tor the highest 
score and the best level design Books on astronomy will be awarded to 20 runners-up. Each prize- 
winner will also receive a signed congratulatory certificate. The best level designs may be used 
in a future Superior Software program 
Closing date: 31st January. 1989 



/superior 

SOFTUJRRC 


f Limited 


ACORNS4FT 


(Acornsott is a registered trademark of Acorn Computersltd. Superior Software Ltd is a registered user.) 

DeptP2, Regent House, Skinner Lane, Leeds LS7 1AX. Telephone: (0532) 459453. 


The screen pictures 
show the BBC Micro 
version of the game- 


Access 



24 HOUR TELEPHONE 
ANSWERING SERVICE FOR ORDERS 


OUR GUARANTEE 

• All mail orders are despatched 
within 24 hours by first-class post. 

• Postage and packing is tree 

• Faulty cassettes and discs will be 
replaced immediately. 

(This does not attect your statutory rights). 









KEY SOFTWARE 

FROM MERCURY EDUCATIONAL PRODUCTS 


With a growing range of expertly conceived and skilfully programmed products from some of the leading ITV companies, 
Mercury Educational Products are now firmly established as a major distributor of software suitable for use in schools. 
The software covers a wide range of subjects, including Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Studies, Geography and Statistics. 


DATA FILES FOR KEY ■ KEY-RELATED SOFTWARE PACKS 


The following data files, designed to run on the ITV data 
handling package, KEY, are all available from Mercury 
Educational Products. 


FROM GRANADA ►►►►►►►►►►►►►►► 

PLACE AND PEOPLE CITIES FILE 



A KEY data file containing 1981 census data for 
eight major cities of Great Britain. These are 
Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds, 
London, Manchester and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
32 fields are included, ranging from raw 
population statistics to socio-economic indicators 
such as home and car ownership, unemployment 
and social class. 

Age range: Secondary 

BBC B/MASTER 128 £9.95 plus VAT 


FROM ANGLIA TV ►►►►►>►►►►►►►►► 

MAMMALS OF BRITAIN AND IRELAND 


This extensive data file gives information on 
95 species of mammal found in the British Isles. 
Graphics are included and an additional program 
gives the distribution of the mammals. 

A 'Mammals' book accompanies the pack. 

Age range: Primary/Secondary 

BBC B/MASTER 128 £15 inc VAT 
RM NIMBUS £17.25 inc VAT 


BIRDS OF BRITAIN AND IRELAND 

- 4 . 237 species are included in this file. A book with 

many photocopiable pages accompanies the disc, 
and a further program gives information on 
distribution of species. 

Age range: Primary/Secondary 

BBC B/MASTER 128 £15 inc VAT 
RM NIMBUS £17.25 inc VAT 




SEAFISH OF 



AIRCRAFT 


BRITAIN AND IRELAND 

This pack gives the latest information available on 
the structure and behaviour of commercially- 
fished species found around the British Isles, 
catching methods and statistics, and a 
photocopiable ‘Fish’ book. 

Age range: Primary/Secondary 

BBC B/MASTER 128 £15 inc VAT 
RM NIMBUS £1725 inc VAT 



These data files give extensive information on 
today's aircraft, including helicopters. The files 
include information on civil and military 
machines. 

Age range: Primary/Secondary 

BBC B/MASTER 128 £8.50 inc VAT 
RM NIMBUS £9.75 inc VAT 


MAIL ORDER and FIT TO EAT include, free of charge, the ITV 
KEY disc. Users wishing to explore the further uses of KEY 
may purchase the manual from the ITV Association. 

FROM GRANADA ►►►►►►►►►►►►►►► 

MAIL ORDER 

This software is designed to enable pupils to 
create and control their own mail order 
catalogues, giving an insight into the 
decisions to be made about purchasing, 
pricing and selling goods. The aim of the 
exercise is to create a mail order catalogue 
and to operate it at a profit, using the class 
members as the potential customers. 

Age range: 9-13 years 

BBC B/MASTER 128 £19.90 inc VAT 

FROM SCOTTISH TV ►►►►►►►►►►►►► 

FIT TO EAT 

A package to assist the user to make a 
personal assessment of diet and fitness. Food 
can be analysed, comparison with the user's 
own diet and fitness computed, based on 
simple readings from tests of flexibility, 
strength, endurance and body fat. 

Age range: Secondary 

BBC B/MASTER 128 £18.40 inc VAT 



tail 

Total 

T 

rice 

Sales 

Pi 


Value 


1.75 

98.25 

3 : 

1.99 

94.95 

31 

1.49 

10.98 

* 

1.99 

119.97 

4: 

’.75' 

305.25 

10* 


Orders including cheques or postal orders (payable to Mercury Music 
Company Ltd) should be sent to Mercury Educational Products. 
Schools and other educational establishments may use official orders. 


For further details of these and other 
Mercury Educational Products 
complete the coupon below. 


To: Advertising Dept., Mercury 
Educational Products, PO Box 194, 
Sevenoaks, Kent TN15 8TZ 


Please send me further details of 
Mercury Educational Products 


Name 



'Address 


. Post Code. 


Country. 


Telephone Number 


| including name of school where applicable ABCDE | 






PIPEDREAM 


POWER 
AT YOUR 
FINGERTIPS 


And database and spreadsheet functions can 
work together. 

You can use PipeDream as a database program to 
maintain your address book or sales ledger. 
Perform selections and sorts to invoice all of those 
customers living in London who have bought 
more than 100 products from you since 
February but haven't paid within 30 days. 

The price of all this power? Just £99+ VAT. 


With Archimedes, you have a breakthrough in 
personal computing power. Enough power for 
the next breakthrough in integrated software - 
PipeDream. 


With existing integrated packages, you have to 
divide your work into artificial sections, such as 
text, numbers and calculation, and database. 



But don't just take our word for it. This is what 
Michael Bywater of Punch had to say: 

" PipeDream itself is a remarkable achievement. 

It offers a spreadsheet, a word processor and a 
database, and if you think I am talking about a 
conventional integrated program, you are wrong. 
PipeDream does all those things within one 
program. No switching between modules or 
cutting and pasting; PipeDream simply offers you 
a matrix of 'slots' into which you can either type 
continuous text or figures or formulae or 
database 'fields'. " 

That was PipeDream on the Z88. 

Now we’ve completely rewritten it for 
Archimedes. The result is even friendlier, faster 
and more powerful. There are full menus and 
dialogue boxes, making the most complex 
operations easy to carry out. You'll probably 
never even need to look at the comprehensive 
PipeDream tutorial and reference book. And 
keyboard wizards will love the optimised 
keystroke alternatives to the menus. Some will 
even devise their own key layouts, using 
PipeDream’s unique keyboard programmability. 

We've maintained 100% file and keystroke 
compatibility with Z88 PipeDream, so you can 
transfer files between the Z88 and your 
Archimedes. 

PipeDream is also 100% file compatible with 
PipeDream on the ®M PC, and Acornsoft's VIEW 
PROFESSIONAL for the BBC Microcomputer, 
so you could work at home on your BBC 
Microcomputer and take your files to the office 
on your Z88, to use on your Archimedes or IBM 
PC. No other software enables you to share your 
files with all these computers. 


New facilities include: 

• user-definable colour displays 

• a comprehensive range of financial functions 

• full usage of foreign characters including direct 
editing and printing 

• loading and saving in several formats giving 
compatibility with Lotus 1-2-3 

• linking files enabling you to pass the results of 
calculations between spreadsheets. 


This in addition to all the facilities many 
thousands of Z88 PipeDream users have come to 
expect: 

• fully Wysiwyg display 

(what you see is what you get) 

• many columns of formatted text on screen 

• full spreadsheet power includes dates 

• live calculations within formatted text 

• flexible printing of special highlights such as 
underlining ana bold text 

• documents consisting of many separate files. 



POWER 
AT YOUR 
FINGERTIPS 



For more information or to order PipeDream cut 
out the coupon or phone us on 0954 211472 

In most cases orders will be despatched the same 
day, but please allow 28 days for delivery. 


With PipeDream, you compose your work in the 
order you want to print it, with text and numbers 
all together in one document. Incorporate 
calculations directly into paragraphs of text and 
formatted paragraphs directly into spreadsheets. 


With this new approach you get a whole new 
dimension of power . . . 

PipeDream is a word processor offering many 
columns of formatted text. That film script you 
were going to write next holiday? Ideal. 

PipeDream is a spreadsheet program with a 
work area of 500,000,000 columns by over 
500,000,000 rows, so you'll grow out of your 
computer before you grow out of PipeDream. 

And being able to mix numbers and text together 
means you can calculate invoices and mail-shot 
them without resorting to expensive accounting 
software. 


In fact, PipeDream’s unique integration means 
that mail-shots couldn't be easier. 


Simply type in your letter or invoice, leaving gaps 
for names, addresses and payment dates. Then 
PipeDream will print the letter to each addressee, 
automatically inserting all the details, and 
keeping the text neatly formatted and aligned. 


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Please send me more information on PipeDream □ 
Please send me PipeDream packs 


Retail price 

£99.00 

£_ 

VAT 

£14.85 

£_ 

Postage UK 

Free 


Postage overseas 

£10.00 

£_ 

TOTAL 


£. 


Please tick box. Acorn Archimedes 3 Vi” disk Q MS-DOS SV-T disk Q MS-DOS 3V2 diskQ 

Payment SCVisaD E3 Access □ Cheque □ 

Credit card number I I I I 1 I I I I I I I I I I I I 

Credit card expiry date 

Name (as on credit card) . 

Address — 


Postcode. 


Send to Colton Software, Broadway House, 149-151 St. Neots Road, Hardwick, Cambridge CB3 7QJ 


PipeDream is a trademark of Colton Software Limited. Archimedes is a trademark of Acorn Computers Limited. 

IBM and PC are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft. 
Lotus 1 -2-3 Is a trademark of Lotus Development Corporation. Z8B is a trademark of Cambridge Computer Limited. 


n 


I AU/10/88 


. ACORN USER SEPTEMBER 1988 



ACORNUSER 


ISSUE No 75 OCTOBER 1988 


COVER 



COVER FEATURE 

Joe Telford’s Ideas Processor, 
pages 58 to 63 
Cover by Simon Fell 


EDITORIAL 


T V 

v 

P 


he Load icon is the disc 
with a wavy arrow 
pointing away to the 
left’, says the manual. 

Manuals arc a source of 
continual problems. The 
difficulty in understanding 
printer manuals is legendary, 
but they arc complex 
machines. For the technically- 
minded, today’s printer 
documentation is much 
better, and has all the 
information you will need. 

But software manuals still 
leave something to be desired. 
As applications are supposedly 
getting easier to use, manuals 
need to be simpler - as 
computers emerge as an 
everyday tool, they need to be 
less daunting. 

Today’s graphically 
controlled software needs 
clear, simple instructions, and 
you can’t do this easily 
without pictures. Too many 
recent manuals have been 
thorough, but dull reading, 
unrelieved by illustration. 

How easy it would be to 
print a picture of the icon. 


NEWS 


EURO TV DATABASE 7 

Subsidy scheme causes concern, 
secrets of the PC Show 


C0MMS COLUMN 

12 

COMPETITION RESULTS 

12 

EDUCATION NEWS 

15 

N0TICEB0ARD 

17 

READER SERVICE 

17 

BLUNDERBOX 

17 

PREVIEW 

19 

PMS’ Publisher , Clares’ Alpha- 
base , Tubelink’s Double View 
and an Arc 4-slot backplane 

FEATURES 

P0LY0MIN0ES 

54 



Puzzle out Don Scales* three- 
dimensional challenge 

JOE S JOTTINGS 58 

An ‘ideas processor’ is a word- 
processor to organise your 
thoughts and help you plan 
more effectively 

ARTHUR’S MENUS 64 

Chris Adie concludes our tut- 
orial on the Archimedes WIMP 
system with a look at menus 

JUST IMAGINE ... 71 

Construct your own exciting 
adventures with Peter Voke’s 
Imagcn interactive adventure 
game generator 

IN THE BEGINNING 78 

Carol Atack tells the story of 
the early years at Acorn Com- 
puters. How it began and how 
it has survived 


REVIEWS 


GAMES PAGE 


101 


The hot gossip from the games 
world, reported by Sam 
Grcenhill 

GAMES REVIEWS 103 

Our testers take a peek at 
Tynesoft’s Saigon , Time and 
Magik from Mandarin, and 
Audiogenic’s Shark 


ARC GAMES 



Dabs’ Alerion , Go-Dax’s Fire- 
ball and Minerva’s Hoverbod 
come under scrutiny 

MASTERPIECE 109 

Healthdata sysop Chris Dob- 
bing tries out the long-awaited 
new Beebug internal modem 
for the Master 128 

PIPEDREAM 111 

How good is the Arc’s all-in- 
one wordproccssor spreadsheet 
database? Graham Bell tells us 

EDUCATION ~ 

NEWS 11 

Graphs on the Arc, Snatch 

KEY IDEAS 114 

Chris Drage and Nick Evans 
discuss the ready-made data- 
files for ITV’s low priced Key 
database manager 

SILENCE IS GOLDEN 118 

Marshall Anderson explores 
4Mation’s latest, World without 
Words 

NAVAL ARCHAELOGY 122 

David Marshall describes some 
of the classwork inspired by 
the latest Mary Rose package 


REGULARS 


HINTS & TIPS 41 

David Atherton brings you 
help and advice on colour 
printing, ADFS, Electron 
keywords and STRINGS 


ARC AGORA 48 

A *FIND utility, advice on 
podule software, and a giant 
clock are covered by Arc expert 
David Acton 


DESKTOP PUBLISHING 125 

Tony Quinn goes back in time 
and takes a look at typefaces 
and how they’re measured 


MUSIC 127 

Ian Waugh presents a new, reg- 
ular column, full of hints, tips 
and news on the BBC micro 


music scene 


YELLOW PAGES 


81 


LETTERS 


131 


ADVERTISERS INDEX 134 


FREE ADS 


135 


ACORN ABUSER 


136 


NEXT MONTH 


Joe Telford becomes a cross 
word puzzle addict, plus we 
have more on the history of 
Acorn, Life in one dimension, 
and swapping data between 
wordproccssors. 

We review Auto sketch and 
Technocad , plus Snatch and 
Chairman of the Board. And 
you can win one of three wide 
carriage printers 



ABC 


tdaor Graham Bell. Technical Editor Robert Miller, News Reporter Vivek Chaudhary Editorial Secretary Christina Neal Sub-Editor Pauline McLenton. Production Assistant 
Ten North. Art Editor Liz Thompson, Assistant Art Editor Paul Holmes. Ad Sales Controller Seamus Gcoghegan, Sales Executives Gregg Lorenz-Andrcc, Gautam Paul. Ad 

: 1 roduc ^ on Djs ' ld Noakes. Publishing Services Manager Sarah Bullard. Merchandising Manager Scran Anderson Haddick. Group Editor Iony Quinn, Editor Manager Ellen 

: Brush. Group Ad Manager David Castle, Publishing Director Michael Potter. Editorial Director Christopher Ward. 

• by Redwood Publishing, 20-26 Brunswick Place, London Nl 6DJ. Tel: 01-490 1444. Telecom Gold 81: RED001. Micronet 91999249 2. Printed by Riverside Press, Gillingham. Typeset 

IQM AH • ^° toscl * London. Colour by Trumps Studio, Ware Herts. Print production by Aquarius Print and Design, London. Distributed by Comag, West Drayton. ©Redwood Publishing 
U88. All rights reserved. Acorn is a registered trademark of Acorn Computers Ltd. Redwood Publishing is a registered data user. ISSN 0263 7456 

ACORN USER OCTOBEk 1988" * - 








HAVE YOU EVER WISHED 


HANDLING TIME 



of the logic and the Yf mechanics of 
discounted cashflow (DCF) and of its 
application to business decisions. 


that you could understand and handle 
the discounting technique DCF ? 

Well now you can! 

"Handling Time” is a single player teaching topic, which not only 
describes the logic and the mechanics of DCF (discounted 
cashflow). But also provides worked examples on the computer for 
you to follow, and working models to provide you with plenty of ex- 
perience to increase your confidence in using the technique. The 
data for use in the working models are given in the handbook. 


Price : £35 plus p&p (£2.50p) and VAT or £42.50p all in. 
RML “Nimbus” or BBC/B or Master (80 track DFS) 

Company training version for I.B.M. PC and compatible’s. 
Price : £85 plus p&p (£2.50p) and VAT or £100 all in. 


LEARN TO BECOME A YUPPIE MILLIONAIRE ! 


“Don’t Panic!” is a fun business simulation with a good dose of 
learning by experience. It is a single player game, where you 
have to keep Fothergale’s solvent for two years and at the 
same time maximise profit. 

It is tough! It is challenging! BUT 
it’s fun! A quick enthralling game. 


Price : £25 plus p&p (£2.50p) and VAT or £31 all in. 
RML “Nimbus” or BBC/B or Master (80 track DFS) 











& 




Order from: RBRC SOFTWARE, The Guild House, 32 Worple Road, Wimbledon, SW19 4EF 

Telephone: 01-946 8641 . 

please state whether RML “Nimbus" or BBC/B or Master. 



STOP PRESS 

‘Stop Press’ puts you right at the heart of the Desktop Publishing 
Revolution. Utilising dynamic WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You 
Get) facilities, 'Stop Press’ makes it simple to create professional 
newsletters, leaflets, flyers, forms or in fact anything where text and 
graphics are required. 

‘Stop Press’ is the ideal publishing software solution for home 
enthusiasts, schools, societies and small businesses. 

u t it 

Documents may be prepared using any of the superb selection of type- 
faces (12 or more) supplied or alternatively a typeface of your own 
design. 

Text can be entered from within ‘Stop Press’ or imported from your 
preferred word processor with fully automatic on-screen text formatting 
as the file loads. 

Centering, ragged right, and literal justification are all available. There 
also is full pixel resolution control over character size and spacing. 

GRAPHIC DESIGN 

As well as the ability to import digitised images there are outstanding 
facilities for drawing, spraying and painting using either the patterns 
supplied or your own pattern designs, enabling you to produce graphs, 
charts, diagrams and pictures. 

These can then be pasted, cropped or re-sized to fit any layout, and for 
those finishing touches a fantastic zoom is available. 


HOT OFF THE PRESSES 

At anytime your pages can be previewed before being output to a wide 
range of Epson or compatible dot matrix printers. 

'Stop Press’ can be used with a joystick or keyboard but the AMX MK III 
Mouse gives you the control and flexibility which you would expect from 
the most accurate pointing device available. Produced in Switzerland 
the AMX Mouse has a unique patented design which includes high 
resolution movement (D.P.I.) and superior ball technology to ensure 
that contact between the 
Mouse and surface is 
constant at all times. 

EXTRA! EXTRA! 


Complimenting ‘Stop Press’, Extra! Extra! is a superb collection of 
ready made clip art and new typefaces covering a wide variety of 
subjects and styles. 


‘STOP PRESS’ IS AVAILABLE FOR 

SOFTWARE 

ONLY 

WITH AMX 

MK III MOUSE 

EXTRA! 

EXTRA! 

ACORN BBC/B + /MASTER 

£49.99 

£79.99 

£24.99 

AMSTRADPCW 8256/8512 

£49.99 

£89.99 

- 

AMSTRAD CPC 6128 

£49.99 

£79.99 

£24.99 

COMMODORE 64/128 

£39.99 

£69.99 

- 


These superb products are available from all good computer dealers or 
direct by cheque, Access or Visa. All prices include VAT, postage and 
packing. Become your own publishing baron with ‘Stop Press’ and start 
the presses rolling. 




ADVANCED MEMORY SYSTEMS LIMITED 

v Imagination at your fingertips ^ -B 

FOR INSTANT ACCESS OR VISA ORDERS TELEPHONE: (0925) 4 1 3501. 

ADVANCED MEMORY SYSTEMS LIMITED 166-170 WILDERSPOOL CAUSEWAY, WARRINGTON W A 4 6 Q A 
TELEPHONE: (0925) 413501 TELEX: 628672 AMS G FAX: 0925 58039 

TUBELINK ON MICRONET BOO ‘TUBELINK # SUPPORTS THE AMX MOUSE AND ALL AMS SOFTWARE 








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^Tin Depth Editorial Features 


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BBC/Master/Compact Users 

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>ABS Press, /Til YPfl M A A Animat 

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r‘. rcuh Analyst 

. SeS/S?** 

Resistor CaicuiaSj^ver 60 Programs that yoir 
ir can type in (or load from 

disc/tape) ranging from a 
Full Screen Editor to a 
Bulletin Board. 


REVIEWS : Software 

InterBase (Computer Concepts) 
Master Emulation ROM (DABS Press, 
PCB Autoroute (Pineapple Software) 
PrintROM (Windmill Software) 
Realtime Solids (Silicon Vision) 

View Professional (Acorn Computers^ 
Word Power (Ian Copestake Software) 
ADU ROM (Pineapple Software) J 
Acornsoft C (Acorn Computers) 
Diagram II (Pineapple Software) 
Fontaid (CJE Micros) 

Genie (PMS) 


ADFS Menu for View 
Animate® ing REE and * M 
f t acter Definer 

«SS&S£f 5 i 
’ES&ZSXT 

^Techniques 
fpjtScfltlm and Function Am 

^AMCVectored Entry into) 
^MQ^trollerdmproven 

-■ r.ri^itkir. System Image 


60 / youaff 0 ^ * 


BEEBUG is published 10 times a year and is only available on subscription, not through the shops 
I 1 Year UK. BFPO& Channel Islands 


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For Only £14.50 

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Company Of 20,000 Others 


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For a Free BEEBUG Information Pack Phone 0727 40303 



News in brief 


tkws 

Euro-database 
to use Arcs 


■ Archimedes computers have 
been put out to sea by the 
Royal Squadron Yacht Club. 

The Royal Club used the 
Arcs to estimate race timings 
for over 700 boats competing at 
the International Cowes Regat- 
ta on the Isle of Wight. 

Yacht Race Course , de- 
veloped by Computer Tutorial 
Services on the isle of Wight, 
records the weather, tide and 
class of boat entered and gives 
an estimated finishing time. 

■ Number One Systems has 
released a printed circuit board 
designer called - Easy-PC. 
Although it was designed for 
the IBM PC, the new Arc ver- 
sion runs much faster in ‘na- 
tive’ mode. It can deal with 
boards up to 17-in square, has a 
library of component shapes, 
and costs £316.25. 

■ A sophisticated bulletin 
board software package for the 
BBC B, Master and Compact 
has been written by Orion 
Computer Services. 

The package costs £35 and 
allows callers to ring and leave 
messages, download software, 
look at text files, and use on- 
line programs. It is available 
from OCS, 17 Carlton Road, 
Leyland, Preston, PR5 1LP. 

■ German company Digitale 

Illustrationen has released an 
Arc database. DOC stands for 
Database, Organisation and 
Charts. Using it you can work 
with 7,000 addresses in mem- 
ory on a 310. It is written in 
three languages: French, Ger- 
man and English. It costs 150 
German marks (about £50) 
from Digitale Illustrationen, 
Rahtenauplatz 24, D-5000 

Koeln 1, Germany. 

■ ESM has produced an exten- 
sion package for users of Supas - 
tore. The Plus version (£63.25) 
has an extra range of uses and a 
utility to design layouts. 

ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


A European-wide information 
database for television produc- 
ers is being set up by the BBC 
using a network of Arcs. 

Tvtel will hold information 
on all educational programmes 
produced in Europe in the last 
three years. It is the brainchild 
of the European Broadcasting 
Union which contains all the 
major television companies in 
Western Europe. Each member 
state is paying £3000 towards 
the project. 

The central database for the 
system will be the BBC’s Open 
University production centre in 
Milton Keynes. They will be 
responsible for linking all 
member nations through tele- 
phone lines. The aim is to pro- 
duce a directory of information 
on new and past programmes, 
audience target, subject matter 
and a list of contacts. A synop- 


Fears that £lm of government 
money from a schools subsidy 
scheme will be wasted on 
buying American software or 
poorly-converted BBC prog- 
rams have been voiced by some 
of the major software pub- 
lishers. 

The Department of Trade 
scheme is to be announced this 
term but is understood to be 
limited to 16- and 32-bit soft- 
ware, which would exclude 
BBC B and Master programs. 

Software houses such as 
4Mation and Resource pressed 
the government last year for 
money to help develop prog- 



The Beeb is behind Tvtel 


sis of the programme will also 
be included. 

Tvtel also hopes to help pro- 
duction, reduce costs and 
strengthen European links. 

A producer could type into 
his viewdata terminal, which 
could be a BBC with a modem, 
and access, the Arc host net- 
work system in the UK. He 
would then be able to search 
through the Prestel-like direc- 
tory system. 

Alex Gray, systems manager 
of Tvtel said: ‘The idea is to 


rams. However, the reaction 
amongst BBC publishers, who 
represent the backbone of the 
education industry, is that the 
DTI scheme gives too little 
notice. They point out that 
good programs take a year to 
develop. Further, schools may 
have to spend the cash by the 
end of January. 

This means that to get a slice 
of the cash, companies may be 
forced to do hasty conversions 
for the Arc, which fail to use 
the power of the machine. 

The scheme is expected to 
match every school pound 
spent with 40p. 


allow educational producers to 
see what’s been done in the 
past and what sort of program- 
mes need doing.’ 

The system is planned to be 
in use within two months. For 
the first two years a pilot 
scheme will operate, only stor- 
ing information on language 
and technology programmes. If 
it is successful then the BBC 
hopes to expand. The bulk of 
the text will be in English but 
information will also be avail- 
able in French and German. 

Tvtel will provide a quick 
and simple means of com- 
munication for colleagues in 
any member organisation, 
through electronic mail and 
bulletin board facilities. Some 
Eastern bloc countries, as well 
as America and Israel, have also 
shown considerable interest in 
the system. 

Keyboard helps 
more disabled 

An alternative keyboard which 
can be used even by severely 
disabled children has been de- 
veloped by Toucan Com- 
munication Aids of Crewe. 

The Learning Tray uses scan- 
ning light which is operated by 
a variety of switches. It can be 
used on its own as well as with 
a micro. 

The A3-size tray connects to 
the BBC computer via the User 
Port. There are programs to 
help those with visual difficul- 
ties, adults and children with 
learning problems and the men- 
tally handicapped. The Learn- 
ing Tray costs £488.75. 

7 


Subsidy fears 





TELEMAP GROUP LTD have a vacancy for a 
COMPUTER JOURNALIST - Acorn/BBC Micros 

- Micronet 

Micronet is an online microcomputing magazine published electronically on British 
Telecom’s Prestel Viewdata system. 

Duties include answering readers letters on a daily basis and writing/commissioning articles 
and reviews of Acorn orientated software and peripherals. 

Applicants should have a thorough technical knowledge of Acorn computers, although 
journalistic experience is not necessary as training will be provided. 

Salary for this challenging and rewarding position will be around £10,000 p.a. A/AAE, plus 
benefits. 

Applications should be made in writing to: 

The Editor 

BBC Journalist Vacancy 
Telemap Group Ltd 
Durrant House 
8 Herbal Hill 
London EC1R 5EJ 

A current c.v. should be enclosed. 

Telemap Group Ltd is a BT/EMAP/Tele-Direct (Canada) company, and are Equal 

Opportunity Employers. 



8 


ACORN' USER OCTOBER 1988 



NEWS 


Anglia hosts 
TV reporters 

by Christina Neal 
Children from four Norfolk 
schools became television news 
reporters for a week last term. 
The lucky students were given 
the golden opportunity to see 
their stories displayed on 
screen, thanks to Anglia TV’s 
Oracle teletext service. 

Anglia’s education officer, 
Peter Stibbons, explained there 
was an international slant to 
many stories: ‘Schools asked 
parents who travelled to get 
their firms to accept or return a 
fax and we got quite involved 
with local radio stations and 
with Peru and New Zealand.’ 

Students were already fam- 
iliar with computers from their 
schools, said Stibbons, and 
used a teletext editing package 
from MB Software to enter 
their pages onto Oracle from 
BBC micros. They worked in 
the newsroom with presenters 
Alistair Yates and Malcolm 
Allsop, taking stories from 
their screens and sending some 
to their schools to put into 
school newspapers. 

Oracle carried 10 pages of 
school news instead of the 
usual three, including news on 
a school environmental project 
and the story of the New Zea- 
land school which had reported 
an earthquake. 

Anglia hopes to repeat the 
idea with other schools. 



Peter Stibbons of Anglia TV with some young budding reporters 


Computer knitting 

Knitting has moved into the 
computer age with a package 
that allows designs created on- 
screen to be made up without 
having to use pattern cards. 

Masterknit 200 from Clwyd 
Technics has been produced for 
the Knitmaster range of knit- 
ting machines. A special feature 
is the garment design unit 
which allows sizes to be prog- 
rammed into the computer. 


Revealed: secrets 
of the PC Show 


Desktop publishing will feature 
on Acorn’s stand at the Person- 
al Computer Show this month. 

A new package for the 
Archimedes will be previewed 
at the show, and released 
around the end of the year, 
though Acorn is reluctant to 
give details. 

Those more willing to reveal 
their secrets included Superior, 
who will be releasing Pipeline , 
a BBC game set on a planet 1 
ravaged by fire. A compilation 
of four titles, Play it Again Sam 
III , will also be on display. 

Packages for the office in- 
clude a new integrated office 
system from Computer Con- 
cepts based around the 


Archimedes RISC chips. 
Equinox , consists of a host PC, 
two expansion cards, which 
plug into the PC, a laser printer 
and a document scanner. The 
aim is to cut out duplication in 
existing office equipment and 
provide a fully integrated sys- 
tem (see AU September). 

Minerva will be launching an 
ancestory package for the Arc 
with extra features to liven up 
history lessons. These include 
zoom capabilities to read fami- 
ly histories at a closer range 
and digitised pictures of past 
kings and queens of England. 

Minerva’s Gamma Plot , with 
graphic, chart and a full 256 art 
package included, will be on 


Primary maths by Logotron 


Logotron is to follow up the 
success of Logo and the Pen- 
down wordprocessor with a 
maths package called Numer- 
ator for the BBC and Arc. 

Chris Roper of Logotron 
said he believed it would do for 
maths what Logo turtle 
graphics did for geometry. 

Numerator allows mathema- 
tical systems to be modelled 
using three components. These 
ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


are ‘tanks’ which hold num- 
bers; ‘boxes’ for addition, sub- 
traction and so on and ‘pipes’ 
which link the parts together. 

The results in tanks can be 
tagged with ‘x’ and ‘y* so they 
can be automatically plotted on 
a graph or bar chart. These can 
be plotted by just pressing 
CTRL-G or CTRL-B. 

Once a system has been de- 
veloped and tested, it can be 


used in another system as a 
‘module’ in a process similar to 
a procedure in programming. 

Input can be accepted from 
the BBC’s analogue port, to 
feed into a system, for example 
to plot a cooling curve from a 
thermometer. 

Numerator on the BBC B 
and Master will cost £34 plus 
VAT, and £200 extra for a 
network licence. 


show. Freddy's Folly and Orion 
are two games being released, 
bringing Minerva’s total of Arc 
games to five. 

A new and simpler database 
will be available from Mitre. 
Flystart II is compatible with 
IBM PCs, Master 512s and 
Arcs. Mitre is also launching an 
Arc desktop enhancer, designed 
to add extra functions to the 
Arc environment, including 
directory searches. 

Electronic Music Research 
will be launching a host of 
packages including Studio24 
Plus , a recording package for 
Arcs at £99. Another is the 
Midi Drummer which lets you 
program drum patterns on 
screen and then load them onto 
the performer. Another prog- 
ram designed specifically for 
handicapped people is called 
Handimusic. 

A Creations disc for Sound- 
synth allows you to add 16 
and- 18 bit sample sounds. And 
a sequencer can play back up to 
eight sounds on the music 
staves. This costs £29.95. 

A 16-bit sound sampler with 
all the supplements is being 
launched by Armadillo. 

The show runs from Septem- 
ber 14 to 18 in Earls Court. 




'4V 



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10 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


NEWS 





Technocad - easier to use with pop-up menus Autosketch - now available for Arc 

Design takes off 


Will it rain? 

Budding weather forecasters 
will now be able to predict the 
number of rainy days in a Brit- 
ish summer with the Meteorol- 
ogy Data Pack from Longman. 

Aimed at secondary schools, 
it contains weather maps, satel- 
lite pictures and information on 
fronts and depressions. 

The pack costs £57.50, or 
£72.50 for a network version. 



Provides fast and quiet printing 


Liquid solution 

A page printer that uses liquid 
crystal as an alternative to laser 
image technology has been 
launched by Quine. The Crys- 
tal Print WP costs £995, and 
the Series II version costs 
£1,495. 


it’s a yuppy world 

An Archimedes version of Fax- 
file Organiser which helps de- 
sign forms and Filofax pages 
has been produced by Mew- 
soft. It costs £23.95. 

Dragons 

cause 

nightmares 

Dragons, knights and haunted 
castles have come alive again on 
our TV screens with a second 
series of Knightmare , on Mon- 
days at 4.45pm. 

The idea for the programme 
was taken from a software 
adventure game which was seen 
and liked by producer Tim 
Child. The Anglia TV show has 
already won a French award 
for video production and it reg- 
ularly attracts an audience of 
five million viewers. 

Knightmare is based on the 


Technical drawing and design 
on BBC machines has been 
boosted by the launch of soft- 
ware for the Master and 
Archimedes. Technomatic has 
launched Technocad , and Auto- 
desk has released the Arc ver- 
sion of Autosketch. 

Technocad comes in a car- 
tridge and boasts 60k of free 
memory, it can have up to eight 
layers to a drawing, and lines 
and circles can be picked up 
and moved around. 

It is claimed that the package 


dungeon game format now 
familiar to us all and popula- 
rised by PC software. The spe- 
cial effects are also created on a 
computer by Robert Harris of 


is easier to use with pop-up 
menus, and it has an innovative 
safety feature whereby a draw- 
ing is held in sideways RAM. 

Hitachi, Epson and Plotmate 
plotters are supported and 
others can be set up from a 
built-in driver generator. 

Technocad is expected to cost 
£149 (plus VAT). However, 
there will be a good discount 
for schools and there is also a 
trial disc which is available free 
of charge. 

Autosketch for the Arc was 


the Travelling Matte Company. 
Anyone who has ever played 
an adventure game on a micro 
will know what to expect from 
Knightmare. 


announced in the spring and is 
an expanded version of a stan- 
dard package on the IBM PC. 
Its big brother, Autocad , is 
claimed to be the world’s best- 
selling CAD software. 

It benefits from the greater 
power of the Arc in not being 
limited in memory size. The 
Arc version, which costs 
£91.54, also scores over the PC 
in being able to load in draw- 
ings done on Autocad and 
other packages which support 
the DXF standard file format. 


United Nations 
buy 60 Arcs 

United Nations money has 
been used to ship Archimedes 
computers over to Turkish 
schools in northern Cyprus. 

The UN paid for 60 Arc 
310M colour systems. The 
order, worth over £50,000 was 
placed with Acorn’s distributor 
in northern Cyprus, Birinci 
Ticaret Sti. The micros have 
been supplied through Lindis 
International, Acorn’s interna- 
tional distributor in Suffolk. 

Birinci Ticaret has already 
installed BBC B micros in 
Cyprus’ first ever computer 
laboratory, the Turk Maarif 
Kolegi College. 



A software adventure game inspired this TV series - Knightmare 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


11 




THE COMMS COLUMN 




Spreading out 

The Archimedes now has a 
three-dimensional spreadsheet 
designed for scientific, educa- 
tional and commerical uses. 

Matrix-3, from Cambridge 
Microsystems costs XI 09.25, 
and information can be display- 
ed and printed using a range of 
text, numeric or user defined 
cell formats. 


Service deal 

Epson has added ‘paper park- 
ing* to its FX850 and FX1050 
printers so you can swap be- 
tween continuous paper and in- 
dividual sheets more easily. The 
near letter quality printers 
range from £528 to £689. 

Epson also offers a free 12- 
month on-site service contract 
with all GQ3500 laser printers. 


Arc’s going on the ale 

An Archimedes ale house could be under way if landlord Terry 
Stanley has his way. 

Terry, who runs the Punchbowl in Hurst Green, Lancashire, 
plans to use his Arc to design a new layout for his pub and 
restaurant. He already uses his micro to print menus for the 
restaurant and keep a record of staff wages and stock levels. 

Said Terry: ‘I plan to use a program that will allow me to 
plan where to put all my tables and use the space available.’ 


Benjy the cat was produced using Artisan 


Winner in oils 


This month’s winner of our 
Artisan competition is Kathie 
Lewis of Hampton Hill in 
Middlesex. Her portrait of 
Benjy the cat is the final winner 
- the competition is now 
closed. Kathie wins a box of 
floppy discs for her Arc . 

Acorn User group editor, 
Tony Quinn, Dave Clare and 
Clares’ artist in residence Jon 
Warmisham have chosen Mrs 
M J Goodchild of Trumping- 
ton, Cambridge as the overall 


This entry will be painted in oils 

winner. Her portrait of an In- 
dian woman, which won in 
July, will be turned into an oil 
painting by Jon Warmisham. 


* Master 512 owners have long 
been restricted to using BBC 
mode for comms work, as no 
MS-DOS comms packages 
would work on the machine. 
It now transpires that the PC 
package Comm Plus from 
Margolis Systems does actually 
work legally under DOS Plus, 
and will therefore communi- 
cate with both ASCII and 
Prestel-type systems on the 
Master 512. A demo version of 
Comm Plus is available from 
the Direct Line bulletin board 
(24 hr, V21/V22, scrolling 
8N1) on 01-841 1847. The au- 
thor and publisher, Andrew 
Margolis, can be contacted on 
Prestel mailbox 018379789. 

* While on the subject of the 
Master 512, if you’re a Prestel 
user who’s bought one (the 
recent price cut makes them 
good value), or are using DOS 
on the Archimedes, you might 
like to stray away from the 
BBC pages on Prestel to PC 
Support (*PCSUPPORT#), 
where DOS topics are the 
order of the day. This area is 
run by the same people who 
operate Direct Line. 

* Microlink has finally put up 
its prices, increasing the basic 
subscription from £3 to £5 per 
month. No other charges have 
changed, so it is still the 
cheapest way of accessing 
Telecom Gold for all but the 
most infrequent user. Telecom 
Gold have announced that the 
fustis legal database is available 
through a gateway to all users 
at £1.50 a minute, rather than 
only by prior subscription and 
direct access as before. 

* Beebug’s long awaited 
Archimedes communications 
software, Hearsay , written by 
David Pilling, author of its 
Command ROM for the BBC, 
and priced at £69, is receiving 
an enthusiastic welcome from 
Prestel users. The program 
joins ArcTerm (£49.95) from 
The Serial Port, and U- 
Connect (£59.95) from Magen- 
ta in offering both viewdata 


and ASCII communications to 
Arc users. The program is 
strong on features, including 
Vasscom error-correction, 
meaning that those Prestel us- 
ers who have access to a Vass- 
com port can say goodbye to 
line noise corruption. 

* Orion Computer Services 
has released yet another new 
bulletin board system for the 
BBC micro, Ebbs //, which 
works in a hybrid between 
viewdata and scrolling modes, 
offering full colour to BBC 
users, and both XMODEM 
and CET viewdata software 
downloading, depending upon 
which type of terminal you are 
using. The system offers the 
usual mail and special group 
area facilities, and allows you 
to run external programs, such 
as on-line games. Ebbs II costs 
£30. Orion are on 0772- 
436506. 

* In this month’s Bulletin 
Board spotlight we look at 
The World of Cryton, one of 
the few boards specialising in 
the Archimedes, which can be 
found on 0458-47608, (24 hrs, 
scrolling 8N1, all speeds). 
There are several download- 
able files, and a support group 
for users of ArcTerm comms 
software. Not surprising, as 
the sysop ALT_man is in fact 
Hugo Fiennes, author of the 
program. TWOC is a rather 
whimsical board, and may take 
a bit of getting used to. It 
contains among other things, a 
computer dating service! 

* Readers who use abbreviated 

dialling for Prestel, for exam- 
ple 618 for London, should 
beware. If you change to a 
cheaper Mercury phone, it 
won’t work. Mercury only 
give you access on the full 618 
till number. 

■ II you have any comms news 
for David Atherton, you can 
write to him here at Acorn 
User , or through his mailboxes 
on Prestel 942876210 and Tele- 
com Gold 72: MAGI 1596. 

David Atherton 


12 


ACORN USl : .R OCTOBKR 19S8 



The day Roger Jackson sent 
his first mailshot. 



"vv<Bf«n osrwcre 
mo *ftaom _ 


I was impressed by the fact that Star have now 
produced a great looking little budget printer with a 
24 pin head. 

I was impressed by its excellent quality -the 
8 resident fonts available and its high density letter quality 
helped me produce a really professional mailshot. 

I was impressed by the extremely swift draft elite speed 
of 170cps and LQ elite at 57cps and the standard 7k buffer. 

I was impressed by the special push-tractor feature 
that allows the LC24-10 the lowest possible tear off and its 
ability to 'park' continuous paper and load single sheets 
automatically-so there's no need to remove the continuous. 

I was impressed by the touch-button front control 
panel that makes using the printer an absolute dream. 

But most of all, I was particulary impressed with myself. 

Because my Star LC24-10was so inexpensive 
and no other printer comes close for sheer quality and 
value-for-money. 


i 




StarMicronicsU.K. Ltd. 

Craven House, 40 Uxbridge Road, 
Ealing, London W52BS. 
Telephone: 01-840 1800. 

COMPUTER PRINTERS StarMicronics Co., Ltd., Japan. 

Please tell me how the Star LC24-10 can handle my printing needs. 
Name 


Company- 

Address— 


L 


Postcode Telephone 

Or just call Belinda on 01-840 1829. L24 ANU10 



BEEBUG the recognised Archimedes specialists 


ARCHIMEDES SERIES 

Alzvays in stock 

803.85 

872.85 


2908.35 2762.93 

3161.35 3003.28 


0190G305 Entry System * 

0191 G305 Mono System 4 
0192G305 Colour System 4 
0193G310 Entry System 4 
0194G310 Mono System 4 
0195G310 Colour System 4 
0257G310M Entry System 4 
0258G310M Mono System 4 1098.25 1043.34 
0259G310M Colour System 4 1282.25 1218.14 
0263G 440 Entry System 4 
0265G440 Colour System 4 
4 Free software Sec Special Offer box for details 
0% Finance is available on all Archimedes 
0789B Beebug Mouse Mat (Blue) 3.68 3.50 

0788B Beebug Mouse Mat (Red) 3.68 3.50 

ARCHIMEDES SOFTWARE 

1089CKermit 56.35 53.53 

1080CAnsiC 113.85 108.16 

1 081 C ISO Pascal 113.85 108.16 

1082C Fortran 77 113.85 108.16 

1083BTwin 33.35 31.68 

1 084C Logistix 113.85 108.16 

1 086C Prolog X 228.85 217.41 

1087CLisp 228.85 217.41 

0900B PC Software Emulator 113.85 108.16 
1088C 1 st Word Plus 91.94 8734 

0901 C Archimedes Termulator 67.85 64.46 
0902C ARM Assembler Package 228.85 217.41 
0903BEMR Sound Synthesiser 49.95 47.45 
0904 B EMR Creations Disc 19.95 18.95 
0905B Logotron Logo (End-June) 69.00 65.55 
0906B Pipedream 113.85 108.16 


BOOKS 

1242C Programmers Ref. Man. 
763.66 1271 B ARM Assembly Prog. 
829.21 


1056.85 1004.01 CLARES 
960.25 912.24 1095B Artisan 

1029.25 977.79 1098B Alpha Base 

1213.25 1152.59 10993 Artisan Support Disc 

1029.25 977.79 


29.95 

12.95 


39.95 

49.95 

19.95 


28.45 

1230 


35.96 

44.96 
18.95 


MEMBERS SPECIAL OFFER 

When buying a new Archimedes 300 series 
we will give you absolutely free: 

The PC Emulator software. Printer lead and 
Lockable 33" disc box with 10 discs all 

worth over £100. 

In addition purchasers of 440s will also receive 
the 1st Word Plus package absolutely free. 

Not available on 0% finance 


ARCHIMEDES UPGRADES 

0234BEconet Board (as M128) 48.88 46.43 

0266C 0.5Mb RAM (305 only) 171.35 162.78 
0267F Floppy Disc Drive 143.75 136.56 

0268G20Mb Hard Disc (300’s) 573.85 545.16 

0269CPodule Backplane 44.85 42.61 

0270DROM Podule 67.85 64.46 

0271 D I/O Podule 97.75 92.86 

0272DMIDI add-on to I/O 44.85 42.61 
0273DMIDI Podule 79.35 7538 


MINERVA 

0931 B Sigmasheet 
0920B Deltabase 
0921 B System Delta Plus 


69.95 66.45 

29.95 28.45 

69.95 66.45 


OTHER HARDWARE 

0805DCC ROM Podule 5635 53.53 

0806B Battery Backup for above 11.50 10.93 
0803B Armadillo Sound Sampler 126.50 120.18 
0825C IEEE488 Podule 326.50 310.17 

0802C Chromalock Podule 339.25 322.29 
0808C Watford Video Digitiser 28635 272.03 

ARCHIMEDES LEADS 

0558B SKART Lead 9.42 8.95 

0425B Archimedes Printer Lead 9.42 8.95 

0795C 5.25" Disc Drive Interface 29.05 27.60 
01 02B DFS Reader Software 13.20 9.90 

0796C Serial Link Kit & Disc 18.16 17.25 
0797B Just Serial Link Cable 12.11 11.50 
0826B Arch, to Magic Modem 7.32 6.95 

0827B Arch, to Linnet Modem 732 6.95 

0828B Arch. Audio Lead 6.26 5.95 

ARCHIMEDES GAMES 

1179B Zarch 19.95 18.95 

1187B Conquerer 24.95 23.70 

0935B Dread Dragon Droom (ed.) 21.79 20.70 


Carriage 

Carriage is denoted by the letter contained in the stock code. 
A-S0p, B-£l, C-£2, D-£3, E-£4, F-£550, C-£7. When ordering 
several items, use the highest price code and half of each 
subsequent code. For courier delivery use code G. 

Credit Cards 

Connect, Access and Visa orders are welcome, and 
may be placed by letter or telephone (24 hours). 

BEEBUG LTD, 

Dolphin Place, Holywell Hill, 

St.Albans, Herts., AL1 1EX. 

Telephone: St.Albans (0727) 40303 


PRICES INCLUDE VAT Where two prices are shown, the first is our full price and the second our members price. 



***** 


; n,e 'C>E% 

^epZf nA OPS***, 


Utility Programs 

For The 
Archimedes / 

u]Sla Selection Of jF 

i itlm£ro9 ram i ydffihis V 


P mp 

cro "^& 


«nu inis is just a sample; 
i ssue contains much more, such as I 
News, Reviews, Hints, Tips, Tutorials 
Sound, BASIC Vetc. 


Editorial Features 
Graphics, 


The utilities In RISC User will save you 
a fortune on commercial software. 

Join Now... 

A Full Year Costs 


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RISC User is published 10 times a year and is only available on subscription, not through Iho shops. 


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Post To: I 

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Herts. ALII EX I 

For a Free Information Pack Phone 0727 40303 AU10 




EDUCATION 




■ The Wizard Strikes Back 
from Cambridgeshire Software 
House comes complete with 
story tape and worksheets. By 
finding clues and solving puz- 
zles the children must destroy 
the evil weed, planted by the 
wizard. It is aimed at infant and 
lower junior pupils, and costs 
£23 for the BBC B and Master 
and £27 for the Compact. 

■ The Advisory Unit's recently 
released Stopress package is 
seen as being easier to use and 
having more advanced facilities 
than any other viewdata/ 
teletext emulator. Any school 
wishing to use teletext for data- 
bases, information services or 
any other purpose will have 
facilities such as different sizes 
of print-out, colour print op- 
tion, choice of large text fonts 
and easy-to-use graphics facili- 
ties. Stopress costs £30. 

■ Fernleaf Educational Soft- 
ware's Shields is aimed at 
junior-secondary children in 
History, Art and Design clas- 
ses. It allows the user to create 
heraldic shields and coats of 
arms which may be printed 
out. This package is also in- 
cluded in the Castles Resources 
pack, one of a series of history 
topic packages. Shields costs 
£12 while the Castles Resources 
pack costs £39. 

■ ESM’s Numbercopter is a 
suite of short programs for use 
with pre-school and reception 
children. They aim to develop 
number and reading skills. The 
programs, which cost £17.50, 
may be driven from the BBC 
or Concept keyboards or from 
ESM's own Pop-it keyboard. 
ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


Arc’s going plotty 


Presenter from Lingenuity and 
Gammaplot from Minerva Sys- 
tems fill a ' gap in the 
Archimedes market left by 
database and spreadsheet prog- 
rams which cannot produce 
graphs as output. They can 
produce bar charts, pie charts 
and line graphs in colour or 
black and white from data en- 
tered by hand or from disc. 

Presenter is directly compat- 
ible with Pipedream from Col- 
ton, and may be used to create 


graphs for importation into 
First Word Plus , Graphic Writer 
and Artisan. 

Other packages which sup- 
port the ‘comma separated 
value' format can be used with 
Presenter. This is used for stor- 
age of data, and the name refers 
to the fact that each value in a 
record is separated by a com- 
ma. Even data which is not in 
this format can easily be con- 
verted by loading it into a text 
processor and modifying the 


field separators. 

Gammaplot has better fea- 
tures than Presenter , but at a 
higher price. Graphs can be 
customised using an in-built art 
package. Up to 20 charts may 
be displayed at any one time on 
screen and it is impossible- to 
plot more than one graph on 
the same axis. Gammaplot sup- 
ports line, scatter, bar and pie 
charts as well as histogram, 3D 
histogram, and text-only 
charts. 



Snatch: enlarge a section of the screen and alter with a pixel editor 


Snatching and printing 

Snatch , from 4Mation, is similar to ESM’s ScreenprinU It too 
allows the user to send screens to the printer during the 
operation of almost any program. However, the idea has been 
taken much further. Snatch allows you to ‘grab’ screens, 
modify their colours, save them to disc, print them in black 
and white or colour (depending on the printer!) in either 
normal or enlarged size. Portions of screens may be enlarged 
separately, allowing favourite characters or screens to be 
extracted. Snatch costs £16 and needs sideways RAM on a 
BBC B, but runs on a standard Master or Compact. 


An interactive 
journey 

Journey to Bloblumpy is one of 
the first interactive books for 
junior users released by In- 
formation Education. It is writ- 
ten by London teacher, Mau- 
reen Crowe, and it encourages 
children to read and write. Text 
appears in large character print 
and children can change screen 
colours. The package costs £17. 
A competition for users offers 
prizes to schools submitting 
paintings, drawings or written 
work. Closing date is Novem- 
ber 11, 1988. Entries to In- 
formation Education, Unit 33, 
Enterprise Centre, Bedford 
Street, Stoke-on-Trent STl 
4PZ. 


Into the Future 



Mr Noel Thompson, head of 
the newly-formed National 
Council for Educational Tech- 
nology will be one of the 
speakers at Into the future with 
ESG , a Resource conference 
due to be held at Doncaster 


race course on November 17. 
Other speakers include Dr Phi- 
lip Lewis, head of the DES' IT 
in Schools’ unit; the managing 
directors of Acorn, Harvey 
Coleman, and of Research 
Machines, Michael Fischer. 

A series of lectures and semi- 
nars will be accompanied by an 
exhibition which looks set to 
top 40 stands. The conference 
is aimed at all people involved 
in introducing new technology 
into schools. Tickets costs £8, 
including buffet lunch, from 
Anne Swainston at Resource. 


Support material for RSA 

The RSA's popular Computer 
Literacy and Information Tech- 
nology course is now sup- 
ported by a course and tutor's 
pack from Heinemann Educa- 
tional Books. How to Make 


Computers Work For You 
(£4.95) is a step-by-step course 
covering all the main business 
applications. The course is set 
out so that students always 
know what is required of them. 


15 



AVON COMPUTER EXCHANGE 


MAILORDER 


OTHER 


BRANCHES 


BRISTOL: 42 Cannon St, Bedminster 
Tel: (0272) 637981 (4 lines) 
CARDIFF: 87 City Rd 

Tel: (0222) 483069/471600 
SWINDON: 31 Faringdon Rd 

Tel: (0793)512074/3 


ALL PRICES INCLUDE VAT AND FREE DELIVERY 


PHILLIPS MONITORS 


Mono 7502 Amber £82 

Mono 7502 Green £79 

Colour 8502 El 99 

Colour 8833 E279 

Colour 8833 E299 


LAZER 


PRINTERS 


CITIZEN OVERTURE. 

EPSON GQ 3500 

CANNON LBS 82 . 


£1395 

£1495 

£1895 


Panasonic 


~~7 n p~ 



KX-P1081 £159 

*120 COS DRAFT 

★ 24 CPS NLQ 

★ SWITCHABLE FONTS 

★ TRACTORS SINGLE SHEET 

★ CENTRONICS 


AMSTRAD COMPUTERS 
AT COMPETITIVE PRICES 



LC-10 £189 


COLOUR VERSION 
£239 


★ 120 CPS DRAFT 

★ 30 CPS NLQ 

★ 4K BUFFER 

★ TRACTOR & SINGLE SHEET 


TS 


rchimedes 


A305 BASE £703.85 

MONO £761.35 

COLOUR £933.85 

A310 BASE £791.25 

MONO £848.75 

COLOUR £1021.25 

BBC B (ex demo) £1 79.00 


NEC 


PINWRITER P2200 



£329 

★ 140 CPS DRAFT 

★ 47 CPS LETTER QUALITY 

★ 24 PIN 

★ TRACTORS SINGLE SHEET 

★ CIT SHEET FEEDER - AVAILABLE 


WESTERN DIGITAL HARD CARDS 


21 MBYTES £21 9with exthree 

32 MBYTES £269 software 

43 MBYTES £299 l/q 


m CITIZEN 



120D £139 

★ 120 CPS DRAFT 

★ 24 CPS NLQ 

★ TRACTORS SINGLE SHEET 

★ CENTRONICS 


ATARI 520 STFM £269 

ATARI 520 STFM (SUMMER 

PACK) £349 

ATAR1 1040 STF (with built in 

modulator) £449 

COMMODORE AMIGA A500 £389 



PRODUCTS AVAILABLE 
ALL SLOGGER FROM STOCK 


132 COLUMNS PRINTER 


OMP 4000 £299 

CITIZEN HQP45 24 PIN £399 

GAKKEN DAISY WHEEL £199 


AUTHORISED 


DEALER FOR 


lAMSTRAD ★ ACORN ★ ATARI ★ COMMODORE ★ PANASONIC 
CITIZEN ★ STAR ★ NEC ★ OPUS ★ PSION 


FREE NEXT DAY DELIVERY ANYWHERE IN MAINLAND 


ONLY ON 


KMEgSI 

fill# 


We are expanding our business to 
franchising please write to our 
Bristol address for details 


16 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


















NOTICEBOARD 



DIARY DATES 


September 10. Art and Com- 
puters Conference, Teeside 
Polytechnic, Middlesbrough, 
Cleveland. Tel: (0642) 211347. 
September 13-15. International 
Conference on Computers in 
Clinical Medicine. Nottingham. 
Tel: Rosamund da Gama 01- 
387 4949. 

September 14-18. Personal 
Computer Show, Earls Court. 
8-10 Hallam Street London 
Wl. Tel: Sue Clark 01-636 
3205. 

September 17. Special Needs 
User Group (SNUG) Confer- 
ence ’88. SNUG, 39 Ecclestone 
Gardens, St Helens WA10 3BJ. 
October 10-11. Electronic 
Publishing Seminar, London. 
Tel: Patricia Leach 01-730 
3438. 

October 11-13. Computer 
Graphics ’88, Wembley Exhibi- 
tion Centre. Tel: Barry Challi- 
nor (0763) 62041. 

October 13-14. Exploitable 
Technology *88. Gloucester 
Hotel, London. Margarette 
Karn, Butterworth Scientific 
Ltd. PO Box 63, Westbury 
House, Guildford, Surrey GU2 
5BH. Tel: (0483) 300966. 
November 8-10. Fifth Nation- 
al Conference and Exhibition 
on Learning and Technology, 


Wembley Conference Centre, 
London. Tel: Tessa Berry 01- 
727 1929. 

November 15-17. Techmart 
Exhibition, NEC, Birmingham. 
Lisa Reuben, 5a Portman 
Square, London Wl. Tel: 01- 
935 4437. 

November 17. Conference and 
Exhibition on Advanced Tech- 
nology and New Directions in 
Learning, Doncaster Exhibition 
and Conference Centre. Anne 
Swainston, Resource, Exeter 
Road, Wheatley, Doncaster. 
Tel: (0302) 63784. 


BLUNDERB0X 


August’s issue missed out the 
address for Great Elm Services, 
who offer a catalogue of world 
puzzle games for BBC micro 
and Electron users. It is 
Treetops, Great Elm, Frome, 
Somerset BA 11 3NZ. 

Also here’s the address for 
Beard Technology, as men- 
tioned in September: 1 1 1 Ever- 
ing Rd, London N16 7SL. 

In Chris Adie’s Go With The 
Flow listing, line 1520 should 
start with SYS not SWI. 

Reader John Harris of Bath, 
pointed out an error in Septem- 
ber’s Hints & Tips, where list- 
ing lines 2 were lost. The mis- 
sing lines are shown above. 


60 DIM block’/. &30,spa 
re'/. &30, oscom V. &30 

70 : 

80 CLS 

90 INPUT "Name of Dir 
ectory to be wiped: "r 

oot$ 

100 root$="$. "+root$ 
110 IF root$="$. " THEN 
root$=" V 


GENERAL 


■ Is your usergroup unknown 
to our readers? If so, send us 
your details and we’ll do our 
best to carry them. 

■ We receive numerous free ad 
coupons without a name, 
address or number for the sen- 
der. We are happy to print as 
many ads as possible - but 
please provide us with enough 
information! 

■ Morley Electronics are now 
at: Morley House, West Chir- 
ton, North Shields, Tyne & 
Wear NE29 7TY. 


Contacts 

Advisory Unit, Microtechnology 
in Education, Endymion Road, 
Hatfield, Herts ALIO 8AU 
Anglia Television, Anglia House, 
Norwich NRl 3JG 
Apple Computers, Eastman way, 
Hemel Hempstead, Herts HP2 
7HQ 


Audiogenic Software, Winchester 
House, Canning Road, Wealdston, 
Harrow, Middx HA3 7SJ 
BBC Interactive &. Video Centre, 
BBC Elstrcc Centre, Clarendon 
Rd, Borehamwood, Herts WD6 

1JF. 

British Telecom Centre, Press & 
Broadcast Office, Floor A3, 81 
Newgate, London EC1A 7AJ 
Clwyd Technics, Antelope Indust- 
rial Estate, Rhydymwyn, Nr Mold, 
Clwyd CH7 5JH 
ESM, 32 Bridge st, Cambridge 
CB2 1UJ 

Epson (UK), 388 High Rd, Wemb- 
ley, Middlesex ITA9 6UH 
Heinemann Educational Books, 
Halley Court, Jordan Hill, Oxford 
0X2 8EJ 

IBM UK, PO Box 41, North Har- 
bour, Portsmouth P06 3AU 
Lindis International, P O Box 10, 
Halesworth, Suffolk IP 19 ODX 
Lingenuity, Wood Farm, Linstead 
Magna, Halesworth, Suffolk IP 1 9 
0DM 

Longman Group, 6th Floor, 
Westgate House, The High, Flar- 
low, Essex CM20 1NE 
Mewsoft, 1 1 Cressy Rd, London 
NW3 

Micro-Aid, 25 Fore St, Prazc Cam- 
borne, Cornwall TR14 0JX 
Minerva Systems, 69 Sidwcll St, 
Exeter, EX4 6PH 
Number One Systems, Harding 
Way, Somersham Rd, St Ives, 
Huntingdon, Cambs PEI 7 4WR 
Qume UK, Qumc Flouse, Park 
Way, Newbury, Berks RG13 1EE 
Superior Software, Regent House, 
Skinner Lane, Leeds LSI 7 1AX 
Tandata Communications, Albert 
Road North, Malvern, Worcs 
WR14 2TL 

Toucan Communication Aids, 
Unit 21, Third Avc, Crewe Indust- 
rial Estate, Crewe CWl 2XU 
UBI, Sun Alliance House, New 
Inn Hall St, Oxford 0X1 2QE 


POST A PROBLEM 


Acorn User has a guaranteed fast reply service for enquiries. Your 
answer will be returned within 10 working days for just £3 
(includes VAT), or your money back. 

Just write out your problem, fill in the coupon (right), and send 
both off to Acorn User with a stamped addressed envelope and 
cheque or postal order for £3 made out to Redwood Publishing. If 
you want recorded delivery add the cost of this on. Include as 
much detail as possible, and a disc or cassette if a program is 
involved, with enough space to record any corrected listing. 

Please note: debugging readers’ programs or those from other 
magazines is a complex task and we cannot guarantee to give a full 
solution. Unless the problem can be spotted quickly, the service 
will only be able to make general comments or suggest a strategy 
for the reader. 

We will answer the problem and return all material received 
within a guaranteed 10 working days from receipt. If we fail to 
match this promise then your cheque or postal order will be 
returned with the answered question — you can’t lose! 


ACORN USER READER SERVICE 
20-26 Brunswick Place, London N1 6DJ. 

NAME 

ADDRESS 


POSTCODE 


DAYTIME PHONE NUMBER 

I enclose a cheque/postal order for £3 made out to 
Redwood Publishing and an sae with my problem. 
OFFICE USE ONLY Date in: 

Date out: 

Answered by: 


I 


I 

J 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


17 









p&h micros 


CHINEHAM SHOPPING CENTRE 
BASINGSTOKE, HAMPSHIRE 
TEL: 0256-28588 *24 HR 
ON A33 Reading Road. 



22-24 GUILDFORD ROAD 
BAGSHOT. SURREY 
TEL: 0276-73078 -24 HR 
3 mins Jet 3 M3 


I A rchimedes 


A305 No Monitor £753.25 

A305 Mono Monitor £828.00 

A305 Colour Monitor £1000.50 

A310 No Monitor -.£91425 

A310 Mono Monitor - £977.50 

A310 Colour Monitor £1150.00 

A310M No Monitors MS-DOS £977.50 

A310M Mono+MS-DOS .£1035.00 

A3 10m Colour+MS-DOS £1219.00 

A410 No Monitor XTBA 

A410 Mono Monitor £TBA 

A410 Colour Monitor £TBA 

A440 No Monitor £2760.00 


A440 Mono Monitor £2829.00 

A440 Colour Monitor £3013.00 


ARCH PODULES/UPGRADES 

0.5 Mbyte RAM for 305 .£155.00 


20 Mbyte Hard Disc -F Podule.. 
Podulc Back Plane 

....£535.00 
£42 00 

ROM Podule 

ffiinn 

I/O Podule 

£92 00 

Midi add-on to 10 

£42.00 

Midi Expansion 

..£75 00 

Arch Ref Manual. 

£29.00 

PC Emulator 

....£106.00 


MASTER SYSTEM 

MASTER SERIES 


CUMANA DISC DRIVES 


Master 128 

.£425.00 

csxioo innk aot 

firmnn 

Master Turbo Module 

— £115.00 

CSX400/S 400K D/S 46/80T S wiTc hbYad e £1 40.00 

Master 512 Module 

£215.00 

CDX800;S Dual 400K 40/80 Switchblade £280.00 

Master Eprom Cartridge , 

£14.00 

1770 Upgrade 

£50.00 

Master Manual 1 or 2 

£14.95 



ARCHIMEDES SOFTWARE 

Ansi C 

£105.00 

Toolkit 

£35.00 

Iso Pascal 

£105.00 

Flyinp Start II 

reo no 

Fortran 77 

£105.00 

Spell Maxtor 

iOJ.UU 

£50 op 

Logistix 

£105.00 

InterWnrd 

£40 00 

Twin 

.£30.00 

InterSheet 

£4f> no 

Lisp 

£210.00 

InterChart 

£26.00 

Prolog X 

£210.00 

Con Comp PnHnlo 

c ca r\n 

PC Emulator 

£105.00 

as above -t- battery 

XjS.UU 

£65 00 

Kermit 

£52.00 


rip nn 

First Word Plus 

Clares Artisan 

£85.00 

Conqueror 

JLlO.UU 

£22.00 

Clares Image Writer 

£26.00 

Minotaur 

— .. — .£13.50 


PSION HAND HELD 


FREE CARRIAGE ON ALL PSION ITEMS 

Psion Organiser II Mod CM £90.00 Maths Pack £27 50 

Psion Organiser II Mod XP £125.00 Spelling Checker £27.50 

8K Datanark i ;„i. nr>ivT oi.._ me nn 


8K Datapack 

£12.00 

willing V/IIULINUI 

Comms I ink-PP/XT Plua 

C EC Art 

16K Datapack 

£18.50 

VVIIIIII9 LIIIATWAI 1 lUg 

Mains Ari.ipfnr 

£12 00 

32K Datapack 

£32.00 

Organiser Finger/Lettcr. .......... 

32.00 

64K Datapack for XP.... 

£55.00 

Diary Link 

£12 00 

128K Datapack forXP.. 

£90.00 

Mini-Formatter 

£32X30 

32K Rampack for XP 

£sn nn 

Complete Guide Book 

rq cn 

Spreadsheet for XP 

£3800 

Harvester Superchip 

............. .D\J 

£g4 go 

Comms Link Adpt to BBC £12.00 

Games Organiser 

£33^00 

Finance Pack.. 

.£27.50 

Hangman Game 

£28.00 

AMSTRAD SYSTEMS 

PCW RANGE 

PCW8256 

396.75 

PC 1640 RANGE 

MONO DISPLAY 

SD MD 


PCW8512 

£494.50 

X563 50 

PCW9512 

£540.50 

DD MD. .. 

£713.00 

PPC RANGE 


HD MD 

L.JE1035.00 

PPC512S 

£448 50 

COLOUR DISPLAY 

SD CD 


PPC512D 

£598.00 

£73025 

PPC640S 

.£563.50 

DD CD 

£86825 

PPC640D 

£701.50 

HD CD.. 

..™£1 196.00 

PC1512 RANGE 

SD MM 

£448.50 

ECD COLOUR 

SD ECD 

£897.00 

DD MM 

£603.75 

DD ECD 

£1046 50 

SD CM 

£61525 

HD ECD 

.....£1357.00 

DD CM 

£759.00 




Z88 LAPTOP SPECIAL £270.00 


Mains Adaptor 

FREE CARRIAGE ALL Z88 ITEMS 
£9.50 Carrv Case 

£9.50 

128K RAM Pack 

£49.00 

32K RAM Pack 

£19 OO 

128K EPROM Pack 

£49.00 

32K EPROM Pack. 

£19.00 

EPROM Eraser ... 

£39.00 

PC Link II 

£34 00 

Parallel Cable 

£29.00 

Serial Cable 

Modem ...................... 

£9.00 

£170.00 

BBC Link 

£24.00 

512K RAM Pack 

£195.00 

SpellMaster 

£55.00 


PRINTER SPECIALS 


Panasnnir lOftl 


*1 ARHH Printnr I mri HOP 


Panasonic 1082 

£200.00 

Printer Lead Arch 

£12.00 

Star LC10 


Star LC10 Colour 



Amstrad DMP 3250 

£215 00 

Anistrad DMP 4000 

£360 00 

Amstrad DMP 3500di 

£360.00 

Amstrad DMP 5000di. 

£415.00 


ACORN BOOKS 

Forth Manual 

£10.00 

Lisp Manual 

£10 00 

BCPL Manual 

£15.00 

Iso Pascal Manual 

£10.00 

Intro to Comal 

£10.00 

Intro to Logo ... 

.”"”£10 00 

Logo Ref Manual 

View Store Manual 

£7.50 

£10.00 

6502 Dev System Manual...- 

View Sheot Guide - 

.......... £ 7.^0 

£10.00 


Prices Indude VAT at 15%. 

Instant Credit up to £1000 for callers only at both shops. 

Order by Phone or Letter 
Cheque* to be made out to: 

P&H ELECTRONICS LTD. 

CHINEHAM SHOPPING CENTRE 
BASINGSTOKE, HANTS 
CafrflQt CotU flnchidlno BFPOl Per h»m 
Books. Software, Upgrades. Accessories - Carriage Free UK/BFPO 
Disc Drives £6.00 Micros. Monitors. Printers £9.00 




ArcTFS - THE RESEARCH & 


AU1 

rHOR’S DATABASE 





* Indexes, cross-references and files typed or imported ASCII text items up 
to 7700 characters in length. 

* Keeps searchable alphasorted files of explainers for all indexing and source 
codes. 

* Creates additional referencing fields to suit the subject. 

* Creates text files up to 650K in length on a 800K disc - the equivalent of 
80,000-100,000 words. 

* Searches text items directly or any referencing field. 

* Formats any subset and saves it as a file which will be read as a default - 
formatted native file, answerable to all reformatting commands, by 
ArcWriteror 1st Word Plus. 

* Translates Wordwisc or View files in ASCII form into ArcWrtier or 1st 
Word Plus format, and gives database indexing and control of these files in 
the meantime. 

'7 have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone engaged in research, or 
anyone else who needs to file a large number of disparate pieces of text. At the 
price it is excellent value for money... " Richard Seel, ST World, June 1988, 
writing of the Atari ST version. (The Archimedes version is considerably 
enhanced.) 

ArcTFS (Text Filing System) - £29.95 

(Cheque or PO only) to: 

TEXCELLENCE 

2 Grecnhill Road, Coleraine, N. Ireland BT51 3JE. Tel: 026544686 

( For further details send SA E) 



You need never say GOTO again but 
we won't stop you! 

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 



18 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 















PREVIEW 



Atomwide 
4-slot Arc 
backplane 

One of the criticisms of the 
Archimedes 300 machines is 
that they can’t accept more 
than two podules. This can be 
limiting, especially as the hard 
disc upgrade takes up one slot. 

There is no reason why a 
400-series four-slot backplane 
wouldn’t work on, a 305 or 
310. The power supplies are 
different, but this would cause 
problems only if four podules 
all drew full power. 

Acorn don’t sell four slot 
backplanes separately, but two 
companies, Computer Ware 
and Atomwide have designed 
their own. The Atomwide 
backplane comes complete with 
mounting brackets and screws. 
Full installation instructions are 
also supplied. 

The Acorn two-slot back- 
plane uses plastic spacers and 
self-tapping screws. The Atom- 
wide board is ready assembled, 
so fitting is easier. The whole 
board took less than 10 minutes 
to install. In use, it duplicates 
the Acorn version perfectly. An 
optional fan kit can also be 
supplied, and is recommended 
for anyone who is going to use 
more than two slots. Installa- 
tion instructions are supplied. 

The Atomwide backplane is 
good value for money and 
offers more flexibility for 
podule add-ons. At £56.35 it’s 
£10 more than the Acorn two- 
slot version and lacks the fan, 
but it’s a worthwhile add-on 
for any Archimedes 300 owner. 
The Computer Ware unit is 
similar, and includes a fan for 
£59.95. 

Rob Miller 

Atomwide , 23 The Greenway , 
Orpington , Kent , BR5 2AY , 
tel: (0689) 38852. Computer 
Ware , 55 Romulus Court , 

Brentford Dock , Justin Close , 
Middlesex , tel 01-568 8678. 


Simple publisher 



The Publisher can do DTP with View 


The latest package from PMS, 
The Publisher plus your own 
View, Wordwise or InterWord 
chip turns your BBC micro or 
Master and printer into a desk- 
top publishing package. It is 
supplied on a 64k PAL- 
PROM, which contains the 
operating software and data for 


16 high-quality fonts. 

At the heart of the package is 
a ‘page description language’, 
which integrates with your 
wordprocessor. You put the 
commands into your text to 
control the printers output. 
They are mnemonics of the 
functions they perform and are 
therefore easy to learn. 

The language allows you to 
select the typeface or font used; 
the size of text; the spacing; 
whether the text is left, right, 
or block justified; or centred 
and underlining is available in a 
range of styles. You can vary 
the width and height of charac- 
ters and there are also facilities 


for boxes around text. But 
there’s no provision at all for 
more than one column of text. 

As well as the 16 fonts sup- 
plied, PMS has over 60 extra 
fonts, which can be purchased 
four to a ROM or for loading 
into sideways RAM. 

Where The Publisher really 
scores is in its ability to pre- 
view its output on the screen 
before printing. The command 
"PREVIEW gives a full 
Wysiwyg display. 

Overall The Publisher (£46) 
will allow you to publish high- 
quality materials that you never 
thought possible. 

Dave Futcher 


Clares’ Alphabase 


Alphabase is an Archimedes de- 
velopment of the popular BBC 
micro BetaBase - a cheap, sim- 
ple to use database manager 
from Clares. It comes with a 
simple manual and floppy disc 
- you can install it on your 
hard disc. The manual would 
benefit from more illustration, 
but setting up a database is 
covered adequately and there’s 
a tutorial in the appendix. 

You can define the fields of 
your database by ‘painting’ 
fields onto the screen - a single 
record can span up to 16 

Double your 
word power 

Tubelink’s Doubleview allows 
you to use the View word- 
processor on two pieces of text 
at once, in two windows on a 
single screen. You can vary the 
amount of each that’s visible 
and you can cut text from one 
document, and paste it into the 
other. But you can’t see two 
parts of the same document on 
screen at once. 

The View command screen 


screens. A single mouse press 
defines a new field, and a menu 
allows you to choose its type. 

Typing in data is easy, and 
you can define different ‘forms’ 
to type onto or print out with. 
Fields can be hidden from 
prying eyes, and the data can 
be encrypted if necessary (vital 
for business applications after 
the Data Protection Act). 

Selecting records from the 
database is simple, and you can 
browse through them or use 
the selected records for mail- 
merging. But the mailmerge 



Double View - not recommended 

can’t be used - the bar at the 
base of each window gives the 
same sort of information, and 
the commands are issued from 
a series of menus. It does add a 
few ‘good things’; automatic 



Alpha Base - a bit disappointing 

option is very basic. It can only 
use ASCII document files, so 
your letter can’t include any 
highlights, and there’s no 
pagination so it can only be a 
one-page letter. At £49.95 
Alpha Base is competent but a 
bit disappointing. 

Graham Bell 


saving of the text every few 
minutes, and a multi-file sys- 
tem like Pipe dream or Inter- 
Word instead of View's 
cumbersome continuous pro- 
cessing system. 

It works on the model B if 
you have View 3 and sideways 
RAM, or on the Master 128 
and Compact. 

Overall, I was impressed that 
DoubleView worked, but I’d 
find it very hard to recommend 
at £39.93 on disc and £49.95 on 
ROM. 

Graham Bell 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


19 






Peartree House, No 1 Blackstone Road, Stukeley Meadows Industrial Estate, Huntingdon, Cambs PE18 6EF. Telephone (0480) 50595 Fax (0480) 59026 


/{rchimedes 

HARDWARE 


305 SERIES 


* Entry System 

£ 679.Q0 

' With Green Monitor 

£ 729.00 

’ With Colour Monitor 

£ 879.00 

310 SERIES 

* Entry System 

£ 749.00 

* With Green Monitor 

£ 810.00 

* With Colour Monitor 

£ 999.00 

31 OM SERIES 

* Entry System 

£ 849.00 

* With Green Monitor 

£ 910.00 

* With Colour Monitor 

£1099.00 

440 SERIES 

* Entry System 

£2265.00 

* With Green Monitor 

£2310.00 

* With Colour Monitor 

£2455.00 






Acorn ^ 

The choice of experience 


MASTER SERIES 


• BBC MASTER 128 C 359.00 


BBC MASTER COMPACT 


H SERIES 

r * Master Compact Entry System 

£ 310.00 

| ' Master Compact TV System 

£ 322.00 

| * Master Compact Mono System 

£ 365.00 

| • Master Compact Colour System 

£ 475.00 

1 BBC Model B 32k 

Call 

1 **• BBC Model B+ 64k 

Call 

| *'* BBC Model B+ 128k 

Call 



[ PERIPHERALS 

* Acorn Econet Starter Kit 

£ 79.00 

* Acorn Econet Socket Kit 

£ 29.00 

* Acorn Master Econet Module 

£ 43.00 

* Acorn Filestore E01 

£ 819.00 

* Acorn Filestore E20 

£ 709.00 

* Acorn Econet Station Lead 10 

£ 25.00 

* Acorn Econet Cable 100m 

£ 99.00 

• Acorn Master Turbo Upgrade 

£ 99.00 

• Acorn 1770 DFS Complete Kit 

£ 43.00 

‘ Acorn 64k Upgrade Kit 

£ 27.00 

* Acorn 32016 Co-Processor 

£ 899.00 

* Acorn Music 500 Synthesizer 

£ 29.95 



COMPATIBLE ■ SPREADSHEETS 


’ Acornsoft Viewsheet 

£ 

36.00 

* Acornsoft Viewplot 

£ 

22.00 

' C.C. Intersheet 

£ 

38.00 

* C.C. Interchart 

£ 

27.00 

Mini Office II Disk Version 

|* For Model B & B+ 40t or 80t £ 

14.75 

I * For Model Master 128k 80t 

£ 

17.00 

| * For Master Compact 3.5" Disk 

£ 

19.00 

$ * Mini Office II ROM Version 

I * For B. B+ Master & Compact 

£ 

48.00 

|*C.C. The Mega 3 ROM 

£ 

77.00 


MICE 


| ' Megamouse 

£ 49.95 

| * Digimouse 

£ 39.95 

| ’ AMX Mouse 

£ 29.95 



MODEM FOR ACORN 

COMPUTERS 


* Voyager Modem 

£ 40.00 

* BBC View Modem 

£ 29.00 

* Pace Nightingale 

£ 99.00 

* Pace Nightingale Combo 

£ 129.00 

* Pace Linet Modem 

£ 142.00 

• WS2000 

£ 113.00 

’ WS3000 V21/23 

£ 285.00 

• WS4000 

£ 159.00 

* Pace Series4 V/21/22 

£ 360.00 


r CAD & DRAWING 
SOFTWARES 

* AMX Mouse & Superart 

£ 

59.00 

* AMX Superart Only 

£ 

43.00 

* AMX Desk 

£ 

19.00 

* AMX Utilities 

£ 

11.50 

* AMX Pagemaker Stop Press 

£ 

43.00 

* AMX 3D Zicon 

£ 

21.00 

' AMX Database 

£ 

21.00 

* AMX XAM 

£ 

21.00 

* AMX MAM 

£ 

17.00 

* The Artist 

£ 

39.00 



r CONSUMABLES FOR 
ACORN COMPUTERS 

| * BBC Master Dust Cover 

£ 

4.50 

■ * BBC Master Compact D/Cover Mono 

7.50 

| * BBC Master Compact D/Cover Col £ 

8.75 

j * BBC Model B Dust Cover 

£ 

4.50 

1 * ATPL ROM/RAM Board 

£ 

39.00 

1 * Watford 32k RAM Board 

£ 

29.00 

1 * Eprom Eraser 

£ 

39.95 

| * Eprom Programmer Up to 64k 

£ 

69.95 

j | BOOKS (No VAT) 

* BBC User Guide 

£ 

14.95 

* BBC Master Ref Part 1 

£ 

14.95 

* BBC Master Ref Part II 

£ 

14.95 

* Acornsoft View Manual 

£ 

10.00 

* Acornsoft Viewsheet Manual 

£~ 

"moo 

* Acornsoft Viewstore Manual 

£ 

10.00 

* Acornsoft DFS Operating Manual 

£ 

6.95 

* Advance Sideways RAM User 

£ 

9.95 

* BBC Advance User Guide 

£ 

16.95 

' Master Advance Ref Guide 

£ 

17.95 


LANGUAGES 

* Acornsoft ISO Pascal 

£ 

52.00 

* Acornsoft ISO Pascal S.A.Gen. 

£ 

32.00 

* Acornsoft Logo 

£ 

52.00 

’ Logotron Logo 

£ 

55.00 

* BBC Publication Open Logo 

£ 

60.00 

* Acornsoft BCPL 

£ 

49.00 

* Acornsoft BCPL Calculations 

£ 

29.00 

| ‘Acornsoft BCPL Calculation S/A/G £ 

39.00 

* Acornsoft Lisp ROM 

£ 

39.00 

• Acornsoft Forth ROM 

£ 

39.00 

* Acornsoft Comal 

£ 

39.00 

* Acornsoft Microtext 

£ 

52.00 

' Acornsoft Microtext Plus 

£ 229.00 

* Acornsoft Microprolog 

£ 

60.00 



r UTILITIES 

* Acornsoft ADFS ROM 

£ 

26.00 

* Acornsoft Printer Server ROM 

£ 

39.00 

* Acornsoft Basic Editor 

£ 

24.00 

• Acornsoft Termulator 

£ 

29.00 

* Communicator 

£ 

55.00 

* Printmaster 

C 

26.00 

• C.C. Accelerator 

£ 

39.00 

* C.C. Caretaker 

£ 

26.00 

* C.C. TTS Speech System 

£ 

22.00 

’ DOS Copy BBC to MS-DOS 

£ 

14.95 

* CPM to BBC Copy 

£ 

14.95 

* BBC to CPM Copy 

£ 

14.95 


r DISC DRIVE FOR 


ACORN COMPUTERS 

’ Single Drive 400k 40/80 

£ 99.00 

’ Single Drive 400k 40/80 + PSU 

£ 119.00 

* Dual Drive 800k 40/80 

£ 199.00 

* Dual Drive 800k 40/80 + PSU 

£ 229.00 

‘ BBC Master Bridge Drive 800k 

£ 249.00 

* BBC 20MB -f 400k Drive 

£ 799.00 

* BBC 20MB Hard Disk Drive 

£ 699.00 



DATABASE 

MANAGEMENT 

SYSTEMS 


j * Acornsoft Viewstore 

£ 

37.00 

| * Acornsoft Overview 

£ 

77.00 

* C.C. Interbase 

£ 

55.00 



r WORD 

PROCESSORS 

* Acornsoft View Professional 

£ 

76.00 

* Acornsoft View 3 

£ 

44.00 

* Acornsoft Viewindex 

£ 

13.00 

* Acornsoft View Printer D/Gen. 

£ 

9.00 

’ Acornsoft Viewspell 

£ 

29.00 

’ C.C. Wordwise Plus 

£ 

38.00 

* C.C. Interword 

£ 

39.00 

* C.C. Spellmaster 

£ 

47.00 



COLOUR 

MONITORS 

* Philips 8801 Monitor 

£ 189.00 

* Philips 8802 Monitor 

£ 199.00 

* Philips 9053 Monitor 

£ 379.00 

* Philips 9073 Monitor 

£ 449.00 

* Philips 8833 Monitor 

£ 259.00 

* Philips 8852 Monitor 

£ 269.00 

* Microvitec 1431 /MS 14" St/Res 

£ 199.00 

* Microvitec 1431/DS 14" St/Res 

£ 199.00 

* Microvitec 1431/MZ 14" SVRes 

£ 239.00 

* Microvitec 1 451 /MS 1 4” Med/Res 

£ 249.00 

* Microvitec 1451/DS 14" Med/Res 

£ 249.00 

* Microvitec 1441 /MS 14" H/Res 

T439.00 

* Microvitec 1441/DS 14" H/Res 

£ 439.00 

* Hantarex M/Res 28" 

£ 795.00 

* Kaga Taxan Sup/770 Multisync 

£ 599.00 

* Samsung C452 St/Res 1 4" T&SV 

£ 179.00 

■ * Samsung Cl 41 2 Med/Res 14” T&SV 

£ 269.00 

1 ‘Samsung Cl 41 4 H/Res 14" T&SV 

£ 349.00 

■ * Samsung C431V Med/Res 14" T&SV 

£ 299.00 

1 * Samsung C431E Med/Res 14" T&SV 

£ 299.00 



r MONOCHROME 
MONITORS 

* Philips 7502 Green Monitor 

£ 

73.00 

* Philips 7913 FSQ 12" Green 

£ 

89.00. 

* Philips 7923 FSQ 12" Amber 

£ 

99.00 

•Philips 771 3 FSQ 14" Green 

£ 103.00 

•Philips 7723 FSQ 14" Amber 

£ 107.00 

* Monitor Stands Tilt/SW 

£ 

15.00 

■ * Samsung F12AA7 12" Flat/Sc Amber 

79.00 

■ • Samsung F39A7 12" Flat/Sc Green 

■ .. ... E 

79.00 

1 * Samsung M430 14" Amber 

£ 

89.00 

| • Samsung M430 14” Green 

£ 

89.00 



All prices are exclusive of VA T 


Registered in England • Registered No. 2256150 • 6 Rother Street, Stratford-Upon-Avon 





Peartree House, No 1 Blackstone Road, Stukeley Meadows Industrial Estate, Huntingdon, Cambs PEI 8 6EF. Telephone (0480) 50595 Fax (0480) 59026 


EPSON 

PRINTERS 

• Epson LX800 Printer 

£ 199.00 

* Epson KX800 Sheet Feeder 

£ 69.00 

* Epson FX800 Printer 

£ 399.00 

* Epson FX800 Sheet Feeder 

£ 139.00 

* Epson FX1000 Printer 

£ 499.00 

* Epson FX1000 Sheet Feeder 

£ 159.00 

’ Epson EX800 Printer 

£ 499.00 

* Epson EX800 Scanner Option 

£ 169.00 

* Epson EX800 Sheet Feeder 

£ 139.00 

* Epson EX800 Colour Option 

£ 60.00 

* Epson EX1000 Duel Interlace 

£ 699.00 

* Epson EX 1000 Sheet Feeder 

£ 179.00 

* Epson EX1000 Sheet Feeder 

£ 179.00 

| * Epson EX1 000 Dual Sheet Feeder £ 299.00 | 

* Epson EX 1000 Colour Option 

£ 60.00 

* Epson EX 1000 Scanner Option 

£ 179.00 

24 PIN DOT MATRIX 


* Epson LQ500 Printer 

£ 379.00 

* Epson LQ500 Sheet Feeder 

£ 75.00 

* Epson LQ850 Printer 

£ 599.00 

' Epson LQ850 Sheet Feeder 

£ 139.00 

* Epson LQ1050 Printer 

£ 799.00 

* Epson LQ1050 Sheet Feeder 

£ 179.00 

* Epson LQ2500 Printer 

£ 999.00 

■ ' Epson LQ2500 Single Sheet Feeder 

■ £ 179.00 

1 ‘Epson LQ2500 Dual Sheet Feeder £ 299.00 

■ * Epson LQ2500 Colour Option 

£ 66.00 

I * Epson LQ2500 Scanner Option 

£ 190.00 



PRINTERS 


’ MP13580COI 135cps F+T& NLQ £ 124.00 


MP135+ 80col 135cps F+T & NLQ 

£ 134.00 


MP135 Cut Sheet Feeder 


£ 149.00 


MP165+ 80col 156cps F+T & NLQ 

£ 169.00 


MP165 Cut Sheet Feeder 


£ 89.00 


MP200+ 80col 240cps F+T & NLQ 

£ 249.00 


MP200 Sheet Feeder + Sound Shield 

£ 159.00 


MP201 + 136col 240cps F+T & NLQ 

£ 299.00 


MP201+ Sheet Feeder + Sound Shield 

£ 189.00 


' MP480 80col 480cps F+T & NLQ £ 319.00 


‘ MP700 1 36col 700cps F+T & NLQ £ 449.00 


DAISYWHEEL 

PRINTERS 

* Juki 6000 Daisy Wheel Parallel 

£ 179.00 

* Juki 6000 Daisy Wheel Serial 

£ 179.00 

’ Juki 6100 Daisy Wheel 

£ 299.00 

’ Juki 6100 Sheet Feeder 

£ 159.00 

* Juki 6200 Daisy Wheel Parallel 

£ 429.00 

* Juki 6300 Daisy Wheel Parallel 

£ 699.00 

* Juki 6300 Daisy Wheel Serial 

£ 699.00 

* Juki 6500 Daisy Wheel Par/Ser 

£ 899.00 

• Micro P MP26 Daisy Wheel 

£ 239.00 

* Micro P MP40 Daisy Wheel 

£ 299.00 

* Panasonic P3131 Daisy Wheel 

£ 299.00 

* Panasonic P3151 Daisy Wheel 

£ 499.00 


PANASONIC 

PRINTERS 


Panasonic 1081 120cps 28cps NLQ 

£ 147.00 


’ Panasonic 1082 160cps 35cps NLQ 

£ 179.00 


’ Panasonic 1083 240cps 48cps NLQ 

£ 299.00 


' Panasonic 1592 136col 180cps £ 359.00 


' Panasonic 1595 136col 240cps £ 429.00 


1 Panasonic KXP1540 24pin 240cps 


£ 599.00 


PRINTER 

RIBBONS 

* FX80/85 MP165 

£ 

4.95 

’ LX80/86 

£ 

4.50 

* LX800 

£ 

7.95 

’ Canon Kaga 

£ 

5.95 

* Epson FX100/RX100 

£ 

7.95 

* Epson FX105 

£ 

9.95 

* Epson LQ800 

£ 

11.95 

* Epson LQ1000 

£ 

11.95 

* Epson FX1000 

£ 

7.95 

•Juki 6100 

£ 

6.95 

• Panasonic 1081 

£ 

6.95 

■ Epson EX800 Colour 

£ 

16.00 

* Epson EX 1000 Colour 

£ 

16.00 

* CPA-80 Ribbon 

£ 

3.95 


LEADS & PRINTER 
CABLES 


* BBC to TV Lead 

£ 

1.25 

* BBC to Green Monitor Lead 

£ 

2.95 

* BBC to Sony/Kaga Colour Lead 

£ 

5.95 

* BBC to Microvitec Lead 

£ 

2.25 

' Phono to Phono Lead 

£ 

1.25 

* BNC to BNC Lead 

£ 

2.95 

* BBC to Cassette Lead 

£ 

2.25 

* BBC to Acorn Cassette Lead 

£ 

2.25 

* BBC to Centronics Lead 

£ 

9.95 

* BBC to Serial Printer Lead 

£ 

9.95 

* 4 Way Main AC Trailing Lead 

£ 

9.50 

* BBC Pace Modem Lead 

£ 

4.95 

* Master Compact Printer Lead 

£ 

15.95 

* Centronics to Centronics Lead 

£ 

14.95 

• BBC to Philips Col Monitor Lead 

£ 

4.95 

* BBC RGB Hantarex Lead 

£ 

9.95 


PEARTREE 

PRODUCTS 

* MR5000 Master ROM Cartridge 
Allows 2 ROMS To Be Fitted 

£ 

8.95 

* MR6000 Master ROM Cartridge 
Allows 4 ROMS To Be Fitted 

£ 

11.95 

’ MR7200 Master RAM Cartridge 
32k W/P Sideways Cartridge 

£ 

33.95 

* MR8000 Master RAM Cartridge 
64k Battery Backed S/Ways RAM 

£ 

49.95 

1 * MR3000 Mini ROM Board BBC B Only 

| Extension of 4 ROMS in the BBC 

£ 

15.95 

1 * MR4300 Mini ROM/RAM Board BBC B 

| 32k S/Ways + 3 ROM Sockets 

£ 

39.95 

1 * MR4800 Mini RAM Board BBC B Only 

| 128k Battery Backed S/Ways 

£ 

89.95 



DISKS 5V« & 3V2 

■ * Box of 10 5.25 Disks With Library 
1 Case DS/DD 96tpi Hub Ring 

£ 

9.95 

1 • Box of 10 3.5 Disks With Library 

1 Case DS/DD 135tpi 

£ 

15.95 



CALL FOR ALL ACORN 
MAJOR SPARES WE 
CARRY MANY OTHER 
ITEMS IN STOCK 


COMPONENTS SPARES 
ROMS & RAMS 


EPROMS 27128 16k EPROMS 

£ 5.25 


EPROMS 27256 32k EPROMS 

£ 5.25 


EPROMS 27512 64k EPROMS 

£ 10.50 


•* Intel 8271 FDC 

£ 

49.00 

** Intel 8271 FDC +- Complete Kit 

£ 59.00 

“D-RAMS** 

• 4164-15 

£ 

2.75 

* 4164-12 

£ 

3.00 

* 41256-15 

£ 

8.75 

* 41256-12 

£ 

9.75 

* 6264LP-8k Static RAM 

£ 

8.75 

* 65256LP-32k Static RAM 

£ 

11.75 

** 6502 Range 

* 6502A 

£ 

4.95 

* 65C02 

£ 

9.50 

• 65C12 

£ 

9.00 

* 651 2A 

£ 

9.95 

* 6522A 

£ 

4.50 


The Acorn 



S V N TH E S I S- E «l 
Now available from Peartree the Acorn 
Music 500 for the BBC, BBCB+, Master 128 

j£39.95 „, VAt 

only from PEARTREE 


You may purchase any of the items listed, 
by cheque made payable to: 

PEARTREE DRAM LTD. 

All you have to do is list your requirements 
on a sheet of paper, post it to us quoting ref, 
and we will despatch your goods within 7 
days, whenever possible. 

Please add the following amounts for 
postage and packing: 

Items below £1 0.00 add £1 .50 

Items below £50.00 add £2.50 

Items below £1 00.00 add £3.50 

Items above £1 00.00 add £1 0.00 

Independent courier for items over £100.00 

All prices exclude VAT. 

Visa. Access, Barclaycard, Mastercharge 
card holders - call us on our new special 
line: (0480) 50595 

Prices are correct at time of going to press. 
Peartree Dram reserves the right to change prices 
without prior notice. 


All prices are exclusive of VA T 

Registered in England • Registered No. 2256150 • 6 Rother Street, Stratford-Upon-Avon 







I ARCHIMEDES 


1 305 BASE AKB 10 

612.00 

[ 305 & mono monitor 

665.00 I 

1 305 & colour monitor 

827.00 

| 310 BASE AKBI5 

731.00 

I 310 & mono monitor 

783.00 I 

! 310 & colour monitor 

922.00 | 

I A3I0MAKB30 

783.00 

1 A310M mono 

835.00 1 

| A3 10M colour 

975.00 1 

1 410 SERIES 


1 Mono 

P.O.R. 

[ Colour 

P.O.R. 

440 SERIES 


[ Entry System 

2210.00 

[ Mono 

2263.00 

1 Colour 

2403.00 

1 Archimedes/Master Ecoriet 

43.00 

\ 0 5 MB RAM 

127.00 

[ Floppy disk 

110.00 

| 20 Mbyte hard disk & podule 

423.00 

| (300 only) 


I Podule Backplane 

35.00 

1 Archimedes Pref. Manual 

29.95 

1 Assm Lang Prog Manual 

11.00 

1 Archmedes software in stock 

I MASTER 128 


I Complete with internal 


1 Software 

346.00 

1 Master Turbo Upgrade 

99.00 

I Master Econet Module 

40.00 

1 Master 512 Upgrade 

99.00 

1 Universal second processor 

75.00 

I Eprom Cartridge 

13.00 1 

| Reference Manual Part 1 

14.95 1 

1 Reference Manual Part 2 

14.95 

I BBC MASTER COMPACT 


1 ENTRYSYSTEM 


* 1 28k* ‘Single 640K Drive* 


I ‘Bundled Software' 

306.00 

TV SYSTEM 


1 -I28K* ‘Single 640K Drive* 

*UHF 

1 Modulator* ‘Bundled Software* 


319.00 

I MONO SYSTEM 


*128K* ‘Single 640K Drive* 

•Bundled 

1 Software* * 12" High Res Monochrome 

1 Monitor* 

349.00 1 

| COLOUR SYSTEM 


1 *I28K* *Smqle 640K Drive* 

‘Bundled 1 

I Software* * 14" Medium Res Colour 

I Monitor* 

481.00 


MONITORS 

Phillips BM 7502 

1 2" Hi res P3 1 Green Phospher Screen 
CVBS inpul. Audio input Band width 20 
MHz 2000 CHRS Display 68.00 

Phillips BM 7522 

Amber Screen 82.00 

COLOUR MONITORS 

Phillips CM8833 

1 4"CVBS and RGB medium resolution 
colour monitor IBM PC compatible Fast 
blankup to enable superimposing 
Stereo Audio Ear phone socket 600 dots 
x 285 lines vertical 234.00 

Phillips CM88S2 

1 4" RGB professional med res colour. 700 
dots x 285 251.00 

SERIAL & PARALLEL T SWITCHES 

Parallel T switch (2 way) 20.00 

Parallel T Switch (4 way) 25.00 


PANASONIC KX-P 108ll 


vSSg 

COMRJT 


RSLTO 


Panasonic KX-P 1081 135.00 

The faster and 






enhanced KX-P 1 08 1. 

120 cps in draft 
mode 24 cps in NLQ 
mode Fully Epson 
RX80 and IBM Matrix 

and Graphics Printers _ 

compatible Standard friction and factor reed 
Operator accessible print mode switch Standard 
8 bit parallel interface. RS232 interface is optional 




APEX HOUSE 
BLANDFORD ROAD 
NORWOOD GREEN 
SOUTHALL 
MIDD UB2 4HD 
S 01-574 5271 or 
S 01-571 5938 
Telex: 25247 Telex G.attn TIL 
Fax: 01-574 4326 


Hems below 50.00 add 2.50 
Items over 10000 add 8.00 


NEC P 2200 PIN WRITER 

2 75.00 + vat 



You can purchase any of the Items listed. All you have to do Is write your 
| requirements on a sheet of paper, and we will despatch your goods within 24 
hours, subject to availability. Please add the following amounts for Postage 
and Packing. 

i Hems below 1000 add 1.50 
Items below 100 OOadd 3.50 
I (UK Mainland only j 

All prices exclude VAT Please add 15% VAT to all orders 
Prices correct at time of going to press but subject to change without notice 
I Please make cheques payable to TWILLSTAR COMPUTERS LTD. 

I AccessA/lsa Card Holders: Welcome. 

| VISIT OUR MECA-COMPUSTORE OPEN 9am — 6pm Monday to Saturday 
CREDIT FACILITIES, we are authorised credit brokers. Typical APR 36% 




FREE PRINTER CABLE 
FREE PRINTER STAND 
U FREE 200 SHEETS PAPER 

!8 24-pin dot - matrix printer. Letter-perfect print, 

■J in several sizes, at 56 characters per seconds 
(cps). Or switches to draft mode for 
1^® high-volume outputs at 1 68 cps. Built-in 
tractor that permits push or pull feeding. 

Print Rate: High-speed draft: 168 cps. Standard 
draft 1 40cps Letter quality. 56 cps 
Printhead: Impact, 24-pin dot matrix. 

Input Buffer: 8K standard 

Graphic Resolution: Up to 360 x 360 dpi -*■ 

# — 1 CUT SHEET FEEDER 59.00 

I SERIAL INTERFACE KIT 55.00 

H FRONT CARTRIDGE 25.00 


PRINTERS 


AMSTRAD LQ3500 260.00 

24 pin NLO I60cps. LO 54CPS Prints 
graphics output. Supplied with bolt-on 
tractor and featuring PC and Epson 


LQ-1500 compatibility 
jbieci i(j 


(Subject lo avaite&iitryj 

AMSTRAD DMP4000 260.00 

200cps wide-camage. Inbuilt tractors 
allow fast paper slew rates, and PC and 
Epson FX compatibility 

(Subject to availability) 

NEW PRINTERS 

AMSTRAD DMP3250 dl 189.00 

AMSTRAD LQ3500 dl 299.00 

AMSTRAD LQ5000 dl 369.00 


STAR LC- W 169.00 

New enhanced version complete with 
IBM & Parallel Interface 
Sheetfeeder poa 

STAR LC-J0 Colour 1 99.00 

Ribbon 4.70 


NEC MONITORS 

OFFICIAL NEC UK PRODUCTS 


MP135 

135 cps. 80 column printer Friction 
tractor feed. NLQ Epson & IBM 
Compatible.. 126.00 


MITSUBISHI DISC DRIVES 

Source 100% BBC compatible slimline disk 
drives. All drives supplied complete with 
formatting diskette, comprehensive users 
manual and all necessary cables. All drives are 
40/80 switchable and have two years 
warranty. 

5 'A* Drives without P.S.U. 

400A Single 400K Double Sided 98.00 
SD 802C Dual 400K Double Sided 

190.00 

554* Drives with P.SU. 

400B Single 400K Double Sided 

117.00 

SD 802E Dual 400K Double Sided 

204.00 

SD 802D Dual 400K Drives horizontally 
mounted in a monitor stand to fit both 
the BBC B and the Master senes 230.00 

Mitsubishi Bave drives uncased wit** 

40/80 switch 77.00 

WINCHESTER DISC DRIVES 

20 Mbyte 408.00 

30 Mbyte 432.00 

40 Mbyte 552.00 

60 Mbyte 672.00 

All Winchester come ready to plug into 
the Master 1 28. 

ADFS RAM required for BBC 26.00 

LOCKABLE STORAGE BOXES 
Trackmaster 5 VC 70 x 5 VC lockable 

7.00 

Trackmaster SVC ,100 x 5 VC lockable 

9.00 

Trackmaster 316" 40 x 3'//' lockable 

6.00 

Trackmaster 316" 90 x V/C lockable 

9.00 


MULTISYNC PLUS 695.00 

This 15 inch, high resolution (1024 x 768) monitor is 
ideal for use with IBM/XT/AT and PS/2 plus Apple Mac 
II and othe IBM PC compatible microcomputers It 
automatically scans all horizontal frequencies from 21.8 
KHz to 48 KHz and vertical frequencies ranging from 
50 to 90 HZ It supports EGA enhanced EGA PGC. 
MCGA and VGA colour graphics standards 

MULTISYNC II 450.00 

This redesigned 14" MultiSync high resolution monitor 
offers all the benefits of the previous model such as 
automatic synchronisation, suitable for use with IBM/XT/ 
AT and PS2 plus Apple Mac ll and compatible with 
Hercules. MDA CGA, EGA EGA+. PGC. and VGA 
graphics standards plus front mounted user controls 
and automatic selection of Analog/TTL and Vertical Hold 
modes. 

MULTISYNC GS 149.00 

Offers the user a high resolution (720 x 480). 14 inch 
monochrome display which is hardware compatible 
with IBM PC. XT. AT. and PS/2 machines The MultiSync 
GS supports MDA Hercules. CGA EGA MCGA and 
VGA display standards It automatically locks on to one 
of five frequencies from 15.7 to 31.5 KHz to suppport 
all the above major graphics standards and three vertical 
frequencies ranging from 50 to 70 HZ. 


EPSON PRINTERS 

LX-800 

FX-800 

FX-1000 

EX-800 

EX- 1000 

LQ-500 

LQ-850 

LQ-1050 

LQ-2S00+ 

LQ-2550 

SQ-2500 

SQ-3500 


NEC PINWRITER P5XL 

P565XL Serial/Parallel 

Pm tractor 

Bi-directional tractor 

Single bin cut sheet feeder 
Double bin cut sheet feeder 

Font cartridge 

RAM cartridge 

NEW NEC PINWRITER P6/P7 


740.00 

50.00 

125.00 

240.00 

440.00 

40.00 

30.00 



199.00 

320.00 

399.00 

420.00 

565.00 

299.00 

449.00 

599.00 

720.00 

899.00 

969.00 
1199.00 


The ultimate matrix printer for business 
Prin speeds of 265cps in draft and 90cps 
in letter quality. Inbuilt tractors. A paper 
park and low tear off facility Twenty 
inbuilt fonts as standard. A font cartridge 
facility for greater flexibility An amazing 
80K byte print bufer 24 pm printhead 
Centronics parallel interface Compatible 
with previous NEC 24 pin printers. 

P6+ 80 characters 434.00 

P7+ 1 36 characters 608.00 


DAISYWHEELS 


NEC PINWRITER P9XL 
P960XL 885.00 

P965XL Serial/Parallel 970.00 

NEC SILENTWRITER LC866-F/LC890 
LC866-* 1870.00 

LC890 2995.00 

FREE with Silentwriter 1 2 months onsite 
maintenance contrac, 


BROTHER HR 20 

Daisywheel 8K standard buffer 
upgradable to I6K Standard serial/ 

parallel port 338.00 

JUKI Daisywheel 

Juki 6100 286.00 

GAKKEN GPR-2000 

Print speed of 18 characters per second. ' 
Fully Qume compatible. Takes Qume 
exchangable Daisywheel and ribbons. 
Selectable 10. 12 & 15 pitch. Supports 
proportional spacing. Standard friction 
feed Tractor/cut sheet feeder and serial 
interface optional 146.00 

CITIZEN Daisywheel 
Premiere 35 

35cps 15" daisywheel. Diablo 
compatible 399.00 





i PC ADD ONS 


1 20 Mb Hard Disk 

199.00 

I 30 Mb Hard Disk 

240.00 

1 20 Mb Hard Card 

199.00 1 

I 30 Mb Hard Card 

240.00 

I Other PC products available 


1 Call for details 



PRINTERS 
SPECIAL OFFER OF 
THE MONTH 



ll SPECIAL PACKAGE 
\ Phillips CM8833 Monitor 

J and TV Tuner 


( Save £45. ) 



CITIZEN 12 OD 117.00 

Dat Matrix Printer I20cps NLO 2 year 
warranty You have to see the quality 
at this price 

CITIZEN LSP 100P 138.00 

!20/25cps 80 column Centronics IBM 
Parallel 

CITIZEN MSP 15E 

l60/40cps 136 column Centronics 
IBM Parallel 240.00 

CITIZEN HQ P40 325.00 

80 column 24 pin. Dual interface? 

Colour Option 50.00 

Colour Ribbon 20.00 

CITIZEN HQ P45 310.00 

136 column. 24 pm Dual interface. 


CITIZEN 120D 


in 


Maintenance contracts available. 
Authorised service centre. 

Call for details 01-574 5271 


P BMH-r-j 




trxj 



CITIZEN HQ P40 













/ Computers and Upgrades 


Archimedes 305 

£699.00 (a) 

Archimedes 305 mono 

£759.00 (a) 

Archimedes 305 col 

£919.00 (a) 

Archimedes 310 

£835.00 (a) 

Archimedes 310 mono 

£895.00 (a) 

Archimedes 310 col 

£1055.000 (a) 

Archimedes 310m 

£895.00 (a) 

Archimedes 310m mono 

£995.00 (a) 

Archimedes 310m col 

£1115.00(a) 

Archimedes 410 

POA 

Archimedes 410 mono system 

POA 

Archimedes 410 colour system 

POA 


0 % FINANCE ON THE ARCHIMEDES RANGE 
(Subject to status) PHONE FOR DETAILS 


Archimedes podule backplane 

Archimedes ROM podule 

Archimedes I/O podule 

Archimedes MIDI add on to I/O podule 

Archimedes MIDI Podule 

Master 128 

Master Compact 

Master Turbo Upgrade 

Master 512 Upgrade 

Master 128 Eprom Cartridge 

Master 128 Dust Cover 

Compact RS 232 Interface 

Compact TV Modulater 

1770 Disc Interface 

ADFS ROM (B+ or B with 1770) 

B+64 64 K Upgrade 

Cambridge Computers Z88 

Z88 PSU £8.65 (d) 128K RAM £43.00 (e) 


/ Printers (Dot Matrix) 


Citizen 1 20 d 80col, 20CPS + 25cps NLQ £1 30.00(a) 

Citizen MSP10E 80col, 160cps + 40 cps NLQ £225.00 (a) 

Citizen MSP15E 136c/160cps -f 40cps NLQ £259.00 (a) 

Citizen MSP40 80c/200cps + 50cps NLQ £300.00 (a) 

Citizen MSP45 136c/200cps + 50cps NLQ £400.00 (a) 

Citizen MSP50 80/250cps + 60cps NLQ £379.00 (a) 

Citizen MSP55 136c/250cps + 60cps NLQ £520.00 (a) 

Citizen HQP45 24pin 136col 200 cps + 60cps LQ £454.00 (a) 
CITIZEN HQ P40 24pin 80col 200cps + 60cps Q £379.00 (a) 

STAR LC10 120cps + 30cps NLQ £174.00 (a) 

STAR ND10 80col/180cps + 45cps NLQ £259.00 (a) 

STAR ND15 136col/180cps + 45cps NLQ £364.00 (a) 

STAR NR10 80col/240cps + 60cps NLQ £334.00 (a) 

STAR NR15 136col/240cps + 60cps NLQ £434.00 (a) 

STAR LC24-10 80col/142cps + 47cps LQ 24pin £330.00 (a) 


/ Printers (Daisy Wheel) 


Juki 6 1 00 1 1 Ocol 20cps £290.00 (a) 

Citizen Premier 35 132col 35cps £554.00 (a) 

MP26-26cps Diablo 630 compatable £234.00 (a) 

MP40-40cps Diablo 630 compatable £319.00 (a) 

2yr warranty on Citizen, Juki and mp printer 


/ Printers (Laser) 


£1450 (a) 


Citizen Overture 110+ 

10 pages/min 
Star Laser Printer 8 
8 pages/min £1900 (a) 

All laser printers with 1 year on-site maintenance. 


/ AMX Mouse and Software 


AMX Mouse + Super Art 
AMX Pagemaker 
Extra Extra 
Mouse Mat 


£60.00 (d) 
£37.00 (d) 
£21.00 (e) 
£4.34 (e) 


v/ Disc Drives 


Single DS 40/80T 

Single DS 40/80T in psu 

Dual DS 40/80T 

Dual DS 40/80T in psu 

Dual DS 40/80T in psu and plynth 

20mB Winchester 


£96.00 (a) 
£11 1.00 (a) 
£189.00 (a) 
£209.00 (a) 
£214.00 (a) 
£449.00 (a) 

Combination 3.5 5.28 Winchester available. Phone for details. 



COMPUTING 


BUSINESS SYSTEMS • HARDWARE 
SOFTWARE • VIDEO SYSTEMS 
MEDIA SUPPLIES 
OFFICIAL DOMESDAY DEALER 


£39.00 (d) 
£59.00 (d) 
£85.00 (d) 
£39.00 (e) 
£69.00 (d) 
£369,00 (a) 
from £310.00 (a) 
£99.00 (c) 
£189.00 (c) 
£1 1.00(c) 
£4.50 (e) 
£26.00 (c) 
£26.00 (e) 
£41.00 (d) 
£25.00 (e) 
£30.00 (d) 
£244.00 (a) 

128K EPROM £43.00 (e) 


Acorn! 


Thrchnirrol r\|MTirnrr! , ‘ 

ACORN APPROVED DEALER 

Phone 0602 787923 


./ Discs 


Discs 5.25’ (Boxed in 10's Lifetime guarantee) 

3M 744 SS/DD 48TPI 
3M 745 DS/DD 48TPI 
3M 747 DS/DD 96TPI 
Add £1 for plastic library case 

B & S Label 96TPI in see through LIB. Case DS/DD 

Disc Cleaning Kit (state 5V4" or 3'/2 M ) 

3.5" 

3M 35SS SS/DD (Box ol 10) 

3M 35DS DS/DD (Box ol 10) 

B & S Label DS/DD 


Lockable Anti-Static 5.25” Storage Cases 


50 Disc Capacity 

£8.00 (d) 

100 Disc Capacity 

£10.00 (d) 

v / Monitors 


All Monitors include BBC Lead 

Phillips Range of high resolution Mono Monitors 

with Audio Input Green Amber or Paper White. 

BM 7502 (Green) 


£69.00 (a) 


Hi-Screen ST88 Monitor 
_ Spec as Phillips CM8833 

Phillips Colour Monitor RGB, Composite Video, 

Audio in Linear RGB Green Screen Switchable 
BBC/IBM Compatible CM8833 
Philips Multisync 

CM8873 CGA/EGA/PGA Compatible 
Ideal for use with the Acorn Archimedes computers 

Microvrtec 

1431 (Metal or Plastic Case please specify) Std Res 
1451 (Metal or Plastic Case please specify) Med Res 
1441 (Metal or Plast c Case please specify) High Res 
1431 AP Metal Case RGB and CV Aud o Std Res 
1451 AP Metal Case only RGB and CV Audio Med Res 
TILT and SWIVEL Stands for Plastic Case Only 
Plinths 
BBC B Single 
BBC Master S ngle 
BBC Master with Shelf 

We are licensed credit brokers. El 000 instant credit available ask 
for written details. (Apr 32.1%) 


£195.00 (a) 


£220.00 


£520.00 (a) 


£184.00 (a) 
£229.00 (a) 
£379.00 (a) 
£214.00 (a) 
£260.00 (a) 
0900(d) 

0100(c) 
02 00 (c) 
C22 00 (b) 


UK Customers: please add 15% VAT to all rices 
(including carriage). 

Government and educational establishments official orders welcomed. 
When ordering please enclose a cheque or postal order for the 
appropriate amount.. UK Carriage Rates (a) £8.00 - courier insured 
delivery (b) £3.50 (c) £2.50 (d) £1.50 (e) £1.00. All prices are correct at 
tim© of going to press. All offers are subject to availability, all prices 
are subject to change without prior notification and are available 
request. Current price list is available on request. 

Good normally desptached on receipt of order. 


B & S COMPUTING (NOTT'M) LTD 
THE LENTON BUSINESS CENTRE 
LENTON BOULEVARD 
NOTTINGHAM NG7 2BY 
PHONE: 0602 787923 


ROM Boards 


ATPL Sidewise Model B 
ATPL Sidewise Model B+ 
Viglen Spare Cartridges 


£34.00(d) 
£31. 00(d) 
£2.50(e) 


Printer Ribbons and Accessories 


Epson LX 86 (Compat) 

£3.00 (e) 

Epson MX 80 RX 80 f FX 80/FX 85/lCompat) 

£2 50 (el 

Juk. 5510'Cttizen MSP 20 (Compat) 

£2 50(e) 

Citizen 120D/LSP10 

£3 75 (e) 

Taxan 810/Canon (Compatl 

£3.75 (e) 

Juki 6100 Mullistrike 

£2 30 (e) 

Tally MT85 Fabric 

£5 00 (e) 

Tally MT86 Carbon 

£7 00(e) 

Printer lead 1 5m B/B-f/M 128/ELK + 1 

£6 00 (el 

Printer lead 1 5m Compact 

£8 00(e) 

Printer lead 1.8m IBM or Compatible 

£10.00 (d) 

80col Printer Stand 

£17.00 (c) 

Universal Printer STand 

£15 00 Id) 

Printer Switch Box 2 Way “T" Switch 

£34.00 (c) 



1 

^ Modems 


£8.00 (d) 

All Modems inc BBC Lead 


£9.00 (d) 

M racle WS2000 

£95 00 (cl 

£13.00 (d) 

M racle WS4000 Hayes Compat 

£144 00 (a) 


Pace Nightingale + Commstar II 

£94 00 (cf 

£10.00 (d) 

Pace Commstar II ROM 

C28 00 (el 

£5.00 (d) 

Pace Linnet 

£124.00 (c) 

£13.00 (d) 
£16.00 (d) 
£13.00 (d) 

Pace Series 4 2123s 

£230.00(a) 

1 

^ / Software 



Acorn Soft 

Micro Prolog 

E50 00(d) 

ISO Pascal 

£42 00 (dl 

Logo 

C44 00(d) 

BCPL 

£39 00(0 

View Printer Driver (D) 

*8(e) 

Comal 

£32 00 (d) 

Lisp 

£33 00 (el 

Hi View 

£37 00 (dl 

View professional 

£75.00 (c). 

View 3.0 

£39.00 (d) 

Vewsheet 

£37 00 (dl 

View Store 

07 00 (d) 

View Spell I80T only) 

£29 00 Id) 

View Plot 

£21 00(e) 

View Index 

no 00 le) 

Overview 

£69.00 (c) 

1st Word Plus (Arch) 

£75 (c) 

Logistix 

£95 (d) 

Computer Concepts 

Interword 

£39 00 (dl 

Inter Sheet 

£39 00 (dl 

Interchart 

£2600 Id) 

Interbase 

£49.00 (d) 

Archimedes versions available - call for 

price and 

Mega 3 

availability 

£75.00 (c) ISpellmaster 

£42.00 (d) 

Wordwise 

£30 00 (dl 

Wordwise + 

07 00(d) 

Mirrorsoft 

Fleet Street Editor 

£31 00 (d) 

Fonts and Graph cs £11 75(e) 

Clares 

Fontwise + 

£16 00 (el 

Repka III 

£11 00 (el 

VINE MICRO REPLAY (State MT and Disc Interface) 

£30 00 le) 


Artisian (Arch) £31 (e) Artlsian Support £16 (e) 

NB It is essential to state machine and 40/80T 
when ordering software 


/ Books (No VAT on books) 


Master Rel Manuals Pti Cl 4 00 (dl Pt 2 Cl 4 00 (dl 

Advanced Master ref Manual (Bray & Dickens) £19.95 (d) 

Lisp £8.00 (e) Forth £8.00 (e) ISO Pascal £8.00 (e) 
BCPL £14 00(d) V-ewGu.de C6 00(e) Into View £6 00(e) 
View 3 £9.00 (e) View Sheet C9 00 (el View Store C9 GO (e) 

-Archimedes Ref manual £29.95 (d) 

Arm assembly language manual £12.95 (e)‘ 

Mastering View ViewSheet and ViewStore £12.95 (e) 

Understanding Inter Word £6.50 (e) 

View - A Dabhand Guide £12.95 (e) Z88 Computing £9.95 (e) 


/ Fanfold Paper and Labels 


2000 x 1 Part 60gm 11 x 9.5" Micro Perl £12.00 (c) 

’000 x 1 Pan 85gm 11x95" Micro Perf £9.00 (c) 

1000 x 1 Part 90gm "Perfect' A4 Micro Perf £12.00 (b) 

1 000 89mm x 36mm Labels C4 00 (d) 

1 000 89mm x 49mm Labels C6 00 (d) 

1 000 1 02mm x 36mm Labels C5 00 (d) 

Please state Single or Twin Row when ordering labels 

I VISA 1 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


23 
















Archimedes 

Users! 

Q: Which magazine has published 114 
technical articles, 56 review articles and 
1 97 different hints & tips - all specifically 
about the Archimedes? 

A: Archive Magazine, Volume 1 (12 issues) 

Don't miss out any more - subscribe now... 

Volume 1 - Back Issues - £1 .50 each 

Volume 2 - £14.50 (12 issues) 

Special Offer -Subscribe to Volume 2 (£ 14.50) and get all the 
back issues for just £12.50 (save £5.50). Send a cheque for £27 
with your name and address clearly printed on the back to... 

Norwich Computer Services 

18 Mile End Road, Norwich, NR4 7QY. (0603 - 507057) 

Or ring Eureka!, the Archimedes Bulletin Board on 

0603-250689, V21/V23, Scrolling or Viewdata. 

Overseas Prices Europe Mid. East America/Asia Aust/N.Z. 
Volume 1 £18 £20 £22 £24 

Volume 2 £20 £24 £27 £29 

Payment by sterling cheque drawn on a UK bank or sterling Eurocheque. 


24 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 



r 



f Multiprom Eprom Programmer " 

' 

r Uviprom 16/32 Eprom Programmer^ 

■k % % 

H ' uvtpnoM*. ■. 

1 * 9 1 1 v 

m 81 

1 ^ ■ 

Multiprom Eprom Programmer 

★ Programs 2764, 27128, 27256, 27512, 27513 
& 27011, inc. “A" & CMOS types. 

★ Plugs into user port on BBC B, 128 or Master. 

★ High Quality TEXT00L ZIP socket. 

★ 21 or 12.5 Volt programming, 

★ UVP 1.1 ROM has five * commands. 

★ Custom made cream P A E H fl 

V aluminium case. JunU.UUj 

Uviprom 16/32 Eprom Programmer 

★ Programs 2764, 27128 & 27256, including "A" 

& CMOS types. 

★ Plugs into user port on BBC B, 128 or Master. 

★ High Quality TEXTOOI. ZIF socket. 

★ 21 or 12.5 Volt programming. 

★ UVP 1.1 ROM has five * commands. 

★ Very easy to use rOH nn 

^ hardware and software. ZiuUiUUj 




r Uvipac Eprom Eraser ^ 

The UVIPAC was designed especially tor the home computer enthusiast Wz 

requiring to erase up to 3 EPROMs at a time. Also erases Datapaks. 

★ Compact 90 x 80 x 40mm size. 

★ 240 Volt mains powered. 

★ 15 Minute timer option in (T) model. 

★ Timer + sounder option in (TS) model. 

★ Spare tubes only £3.00. 

UVIPAC UVIPAC (T) UVIPAC (TS) ' 

^ £21.50 £26.50 £28.50 j 




r i 

Multiprom Special Offer!! 

Save £6.50 by purchasing a Multiprom and a 
UVIPAC (T) together. Normal price £71.50. 

SPECIAL OFFER PRICE £65.00 

V 1 


r EPROMS 1-2 3-9 10up^ 

27128-25 £3.70 £3.50 £3.30 

27C1 28-25 £4.00 £3.70 £3.50 

27256-25 £5.00 £4.90 £4.80 

All types use 12.5 Volt Vpp 
^ S.A.E for old UVIPROM 21 to 12.5 data, j 




n) | DEPTAU10 ALL PRICES INCLUDE ^ 

1 ground control vat and p&p 

£5— T/a * ALFREDA AVENUE MAIL/TELEPHONE ORDERS 

+ 7 HULLBRIDGE 0NLY PLEASE. 

fscf* ssr si t educational and 

1 \WV1Wt v* ESSEX SS5 6U_ GOVERNMENT ORDERS 

L TEL: 0702 230324 Fx 1 WELCOME. A 


Acorn CENTRE 
OF THE NORTH!! 



COMPUTERS 

PRINTERS 

Master 128k £357.00 

Arch. 310 Colour £896.75 

Arch. 310M Colour £947.75 

Amstrad DMP2160 £133 

Amstrad DMP 3250di £169 

Star LCIO(par) £178 

Star LC10(par, colour) £199 

Amstrad LQ3500 £260 

Amstrad LQ5000 £388 

Brother HR20 (Daisywheel) £380 


SPECIAL OFFER 


Master Compact, mono monitor 
ONLY £385 ex VAT 


Educational and export enquiries welcome! 

All prices exclude VAT + £8.00 carriage please make cheque payable to:- 



71-77 Warrington, Ashton-in-Maker, 
near Wigan WN4 PR J 
Tel: (0942) 719122 


ARCterm 6.01 

£ 49.95 

A communications terminal program for the 

Archimedes, providing unparalleled flexibility and 

speed in the field of Archimedes terminal software. 

★ TTY, ANSI, VT52, VT100, Viewdata and BBC colour 
emulations 

★ Xmodem, Y/Xmodem-lk, Ymodem batch, Zmodem, 

Kermit SEAlink, ARCfer and CET file transfers 

★ Powerful script language complete with “learn” mode 
and editor 

★ Auto-answer host mode 

★ Support for over 30 modems - modem drivers can also 
easily be written by the user as they are just scripts 

★ Password-protected phone directory with autologon, call 
logging and cycle-dial facilities 

★ Viewdata graphics/text editor featuring lines, boxes, 
circles, fill and block manipulation 

A310, A410, A440 only (Data Sheet available on request.) 

The Serial Port, 12 Housman Road, Street, Somerset, BA16 OSD 

Voice: (0458) 43549 Data: (0458) 47608 (300-2400 baud) 

Please send me ARCterm 6.01 at £49.95, cheque, PO enclosed. 

Name 

Address 


THE SERIAL PORT 



ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


25 





- the friendly database 

Brings together, in one package, the easiest 
possible introduction to database design for the 
inexperienced and a range of sophisticated 
capabilities for those who need a productive data 
manager for all kinds of applications. 

Use it in Schools and Colleges 

to teach data management skills on an effective business 
tool; keep records of school & social activities; to 
develop cross-curricular projects. 

Use it for your business data 

for applications from simple client/contact lists, through 
sales & stock transactions, mail merge and labels, to 
analysed asset registers and customised management reports. 

Use it productively at home 

to catalogue books, videos - any kind of collection; for 
club records and accounts; cheque-book reconciliation; 
address lists and all sorts of labels. 

Complete with superb manuals and teaching pack, 
FLYING START II costs just £99.95 (inch VAT) 


Provides direct, mouse-driven access to the Arthur 
operating system, to resident and disc-based 
programs, to directory and file-handling routines, 
in one consistent working environment. 

Features: 

Display disc directory map - full path names as window titles 

- go to subdirectory - delete directory - find a file on disc 

- name/rename a disc - verify, compact a disc - display free 
space - format and copy floppy discs - backup hard disc 

Set user root, current and library directories - change file 
time stamp, access and type - print file to screen or 
printer. 

run BASIC and execute EXEC files (* commands) - clear screen 
before running programs - ’pause’ to read screen messages 
before returning to DeskTop after running programs. 

save/restore DeskTop set-up and colour palette - set mouse 
speed - Mitre ’Make DeskTop’ utility. 

Supplied with fully detailed User Guide, the 
DeskTop Enhancer costs only £29.95 (inch VAT) 


ASK YOUR ACORN DEALER FOR A DEMONSTRATION . OR CONTACT 


International House, 26 Creechurch Lane, London EC3A 5BA 

Tel: 01-283-4646 




ARE YOU MAKING ENOUGH MONEY ON THE STOCKMARKET?... 
...with our Software, your computer could make you more! 


'ShareMaster is a valuable piece of software... its 
analysis option can even improve your performance 
sufficiently to pay for itself in a reasonable space of 
time'- Which PC 

'The Program represents value for money which does 
not seem to be equalled in its field’ - Acorn User 

ShareMaster is a powerful and easy to use 
integrated investment system for the 
analysis of price trends, investment 
performance and portfolio profitability. The 
package employs a comprehensive range 
of advanced predictive and analytical 
measures to help you improve the timing 
and success of investment decisions. 

ShareMaster’s portfolio management 
features have been designed to meet the 
varying needs of private and professional 
investors. The charting features alone can 
be found only on systems costing many 
times the purchase price. 

MAIN FEATURES... 

* Profit analysis facilities include Valuation, 

Profit Statements, Performance Reporting, 

Profit Analysis, etc. 

* Predictive features include moving 
averages, log/linear scaling, point & figure, 
linear regression, curve smoothing, relative 
strength, comparisons, monemtum, Rate of 
change, stochastics, trendlines, etc. 

* ShareMaster can maintain an extensive database of share price 
and purchase/sale/dividend information which can be rapidly 
updated, amended or displayed as required. Transactions can be 
entered on behalf of one or more parties and valuation/profit 
statements produced in seconds. 

* ShareMaster is exceptionally easy to use and is supplied with a 
96-page manual which includes sections on interpreting the predictive 
indicators provided and their use in investment strategy. 

These are only a fraction of the facilities offered. ASK FOR OUR 
FREE COMPREHENSIVE BROCHURE. 

O 


'A sophisticated combined portfolio and price graphics 
program. ..comprehensive and easy to follow' - Investors 
Chronicle 

'There’s no reason why ShareMaster shouldn’t grace the 
portfolio of every interested investor' - Complete Guide 
to the Amstrad PCW 

We believe that no other investment 
package can match ShareMaster’s 
combination of facilities, performance, 
flexibility, ease of use and price. We are 
confident that investors will find it an 
indispensable aid, one which should repay 
your investment many times over. 
ShareMaster is available for most popular 
computers including: 

Amstrad/IBM PC/XT/AT and compatibles 
BBC Model B and Master Amstrad CPC 
61 28. PCW 8256, 851 2, 951 2 Atari 520 ST 
Now available - our most advanced 
investment analyst... 

ShareMaster Plus offers a higher level of 
convenience and flexibility in addition to 
providing more powerful charting and 
portfolio analysis features. These include the 
ability to automatically extract prices from 
the Prestel Citiservice 'Fund Manager' price 
feed. Ask for further details on the range of 
additional features offered. Amstrad/IBM 
PC/XT/AT and compatibles only. 

New Release - OptionsMaster. A traded options valuation and 
analysis package. Ask for detia ls. 

ORDER FORM - Prices include VAT, p&p, etc. Orders normally 
despatched within 24 hours. Overseas orders deduct VAT but add £7 
(Europe) or £10 (rest of world) for airmail despatch. Cheque, Access, 

Visa orders accepted. When ordering, please state your computer type. 
Dealer enquiries welcome. 

ShareMaster - IBM 'Amstrad PC & compatibles (512k) £149.95 D 

ShareMaster Plus - IBM/Amstrad PC & compatibles (5 12k) £249.95 □ 

ShareMaster - BBC/Master/ Amstrad PCW /CPC 6 1 28/ Atari 520 £99. 95 □ • 

Synergy Software, Britannic House, 20 Dunstable Road, Luton LU1 
1 ED Tel: 0582 424282 


26 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 





rchimedes 

HARNESS THE POWER 


£49.95 


£39.95 


The ARCHIMEDES TOOLKIT was the first toolkit for the 
Archimedes. It is still available for £39.95 but we have 
improved on the original with TOOLKIT PLUS. All of the 
previous favourites are there: 

* lO Fast memory and disc editors 

* 8 Fast memory and disc searches 

* Fast scrolling disassembler 

* Memory shift, swap and compare 



* FASTLOAD & fastsave of screens 
‘ A series of commands to list all swis, give SWI numbers for 
names and names for numbers. 

m 

rh host of commands to search a disc for filenames including 
wildcards, specified filetypes, files between specific dates or 
a combination of these parameters, For instance you could 
search a disc for all BASIC files starting with DEMO and saved 
between 1/1/88 and 272/88. 

€10 

^ARCHIVING so that you can backup files matching the 
specified criteria above. You can then archive the files on 
your hard disc to floppies for safety. 

You need toolkit + so order today. 

BUFFER MODULE £19.95 

Also from Mike Shaw, the author of Toolkit + , comes a buffer 
module. This has buffers for the printer, serial input and 
serial output, Each buffer can be configured form 256 bytes 
upto 1 megabyte. Whilst data is being printed you can carry 
on working on your computer. 

You can get control back from your printer in a fraction of 
the normal time. Printouts that take a printer 4 or 5 hours 
to print can be put in the buffer in minutes and you can then 
carry on working on your computer, if yo want to save time 
get this module now. 

Compatible with 305, 310, 410 and 440. 



DON'T FORGET, YOU CAN ORDER WITH ACCESS CARD TOO! 


98 Middlewich Rd 
Northwich 
Cheshire CW9 7DA 
Tel: 0606 48511 


ALL PRICES INCLUDE 
VAT and P+P 
OVERSEAS ORDERS 
ADD £4 


ARTISAN is not just an art package It is the 
art package for the Archimedes, we are 
not going to bore you with lists of 
features, just take a look at the picture to 
see how good it is. Just to prove that we 
aren' t the only ones who think its good 
take a look at what the magazines think: 




m 




[ 

h 


SUnpri,*- 


. & Greets ahead. 

acorn user p^ 

February J988 


superior Drn L a hig, 
cl *ssy.. v e 

[^pfciW Vn anu , alcl <*r 

} Matures „ ni 7 
Wc *»w »»» ,hi 

'Reserving of special mentionis a facility called 
I Magic Brush... a true cut and paste... 

'ARTISAN' wins hands down. 


ARCHIVE February 1988 


^ARTISAN representsexcellent value for money., 
superbly designed pop up menus... very friendly ,1 
- foolproof and quick to use. . . incredibly easy to use. . . 1 
Instantly appealing... superb features... the Magic Pen 
is unique to ARTISAN... Quantel would have been 
justified in getting a little upset... well organised... 

A & B December 1987 & January 1988 

ARTISAN SUPPORT DISC £19.95 

Enhance the power of artisan with this support disc 
containing many useful new utilities plus additional screens 
and fonts. Features include: 


'display module to create your own slide show' with 8 
standard or user defined fades. The fades are used to merge 
one picture into another just like tv. you control the speed 
of the merge and you can even design your own fades with 
the supplied definer. 

* INTEGREX colour dumps-one standard and one high quality 

* EPSON EX800 colour dump. 

' EPSON MONO dump 

' PATTERN EDITOR for mono dumps 

* additional fonts & screens 

All the utilities work with any Mode 12 screen and so you are 
not limited to artisan screens. 



M 



COMPH 


NEVER SLEEPS 


TELEPHONE: 0276-22677 

01-441 2922 (Office Hours) 


24 HOURS A DAY 
7 DAYS A WEEK 
FAX: 

0276-684716 
01 -440 7033 


EDUCATIONAL ENQUIRIES ARE MOST WELCOME 


PHONE YOUR ORDER NOW WITH CONFIDENCE 
WE GUARANTEE TO MATCH PRICES OFFERED 
THROUGH ANY OTHER SUPPLIER 


ALL MAJOR 

CREDIT C^IW S ACCEPTED 


CARRAIGE ON 

ANY ITEM 
POST £3.00 
COURIER £12.00) 


BBC MASTER SERIES 


Master 128 

Master T urbo Upgrade 
Master 51 2 upgrade 


£ 374.00 

£ 109.00 

£ 99.00 



ACORNSOFT 




View Professional 



69.00 

Mono 

Colour 

View 3 

ROM 

(Fitted) 

52.00 

ViewSheet 

ROM 

" 

37.00 


ViewStore 

ROM 

" 

52.00 

0.5 Mbyto Ram 

Floppy Disk 

20 Mbyto * Controller 

ViewSpell 

ROM 

" 

34.00 

GXR Grafics 

ROM 

" 

26.00 

Poduio Backplane 

ISO Pascal 

ROM 

" 

60.00 

10 Poduio 

Archie Rofotonce Guide 

Basic 2 

ROM 

" 

15.00 

5 25* Disk Interlace 

OS 1.2 

ROM 

" 

10.00 


Viewlndex 



13.00 


ViewPlot 



26.00 


Hi-View 

Printer Driver Generator 



52.00 

10.00 


Termulatnr 



30.00 



COMPUTER CONCEPTS 



Wordwise 
Wordwise + 

Intersheet 

Interword 

Interchart 

Interbase 

PrintMaster 

Communicator 

Termi II 

Accelerator 

SpellMaster 

Mega 3 

Logotron Logo 

Edword2ROM 

ATPL Sidewise Board 

AMX Mouse + Superart 

AMX StopPress 

AMX Design 


(ROM fitted free) 


34.00 

44.00 

49.00 

49.00 

32.00 

60.00 

29.00 

60.00 

29.00 

55.00 
51.30 

85.00 

44.00 

46.00 

39.00 

69.00 

43.00 

59.00 


EUROMICRO PC SYSTEMS 


286/10 1099.00 

1 MByte RAM, 1.2 Mbyte floppy Mono Monitor 


ACORN ARCHIMEDES 


Base 

Mono 

Colour 


C649.00 
C699.DO 
C 049.00 


Base 

Mono 

Colour 


C749.00 

£799.00 

£949.00 


Baso PC Emulator 
Mono PC Emulator 
Colour PC Emulator 


£799.00 

£849.00 

£999.00 


Mono 

Colour 


£1299.00 

£1249.00 

£1499.00 


£2199.00 

£2249.00 

£2399.00 


£149.00 

£125.00 

£499.00 

£35.00 

£85.00 

£29.00 

£35.00 



AMSTRAD COMPUTERS 


286/10 1 499.00 

1 Mbyte RAM, 1.2 Mbyte floppy EGA Colour 
Monitor 


Summer Promotional Pack: 

PC1640DD Mono. DMP4000. 
WS1512, Supercalc 3.1, 
Accounts Master DD 
PC1640SD Mono 
PC1640DD Mono 
PC1640HD20 Mono 
PC1640SD Colour 
PCI 640DD Colour 
PCI 640HD20 Colour 


479.00 

599.00 

849.00 
£ 599.00 
£ 699.00 
£ 999.00 


PC1640SD Enhanced Colour 
PC1640DD Enhanced Colour 
PC1640HD20 Enhanced Colour 


£ 749.00 

£ 849.00 

£ 1149.00 


195.00 

449.00 

349.00 

125.00 



BBC ‘B’ (2nd User) 
PRICES FROM £175 
3 Months Warranty 

PLEASE CALL FOR AVAILABILITY 


i 


PCW 8256 

£ 349.00 

PCW8512 

£ 449.00 

PCW 9512 

£ 479.00 

PCI 51 2SM Single drive mono 

399.00 

PC1512DM Double drive mono 

499.00 

PC1512SC Single drive colour 

499.00 

PC1512DC Double drive colour 

699.00 

PPC 51 2S 

399.00 

PPC 51 2D 

549.00 

PPC 640S 

499.00 

PPC 640D 

649.00 

1 BARGAIN BASEMENT 

New, Ex-Demo or Second Hand 


TEC FI 0-40 

599.00 

Acorn Z80 Second Processor 

200.00 

Anadex 8500 (Non-runner) 

100.00 

Torch Z80 2nd Processor 

49.00 

Cumana CD200 Disk Drive 

100.00 

Cumana CSX100 Disk Drive 

50.00 

Microvitec 1431 Monitor 

120.00 

Microvitec 1451 Monitor 

1 50.00 

Philips Amber Monitor 

60.00 

Philips Green Monitor 

50.00 

Apple Macintosh Add-on drive 

150.00 

Apple Disk with Controller 

99.00 

Apple Additional Disk Drive 

99.00 

Duodisk with Controller 

249.00 

Apple Monitor 

49.00 

Cirtech 80 Column Text Card 

39.00 

Cirtech 80 Column 64K Card 

69.00 

Cirtech Printer Card 

29.00 

Sound + Vision Modulator 

10.00 

RGB colour card 

29.00 

Workbench 

59.00 

1 ARCHIE SOFTWARE 

Logistix 

99.00 

PC Emulator 

79.00 

View 

52.00 

1st Word Plus 

79.00 

Zarch 

17.34 

Autosketch 

79.00 

Minerva Systems DeltaPlus 

69.00 

| MICROVITEC CUB PC 


i 


t 















PART EXCHANGE YOUR BBC FOR 
ANYTHING WE CARRY IN STOCK 


Allowances from £75 (non-working) 
to £200 (late model - DFS Machine). 


| DOT 

MATRIX PRINTERS 


1 DAISY WHEEL PRINTERS 

Epson 

LX800 


189.00 





SS Feeder - 

8349 

75.00 





FX800 


339.00 





SS Feeder - 

8347 

165.00 

Juki 

6100 20 cps 

279.00 


FX1000 


449.00 


RS232 l/F 

59.00 


SS Feeder 


195.00 


Sheet Feeder 

209.00 


EX800 


479.00 


Tractor Unit 

159.00 


SS Feeder 


165.00 


Daisywheels 

12.00 


EX 1000 


625.00 





SS Feeder 


225.00 

Juki 

6200 30 cps 

449.00 


LQ500 


299.00 


6300 40 cps 

699.00 


SS Feeder — 

7341 

75.00 


6500 60 cps 

799.00 


LQ850 


479.00 





SS Feeder - 

7339 

165.00 

TEC 

M0-40 

599.00 


LQ1050 


599.00 




■ 

SS Feeder - 

7340 

195.00 

Panasonic 


249.00 


LQ2500 

789.00 

Tractor feed 

75.00 

SQ2500 

1099.00 

Tractor feed 

89.00 

QQ3500 Laser 

1350.00 

Toner Cartridge 

19.50 

RS232 l/F 

49.00 

RS232 2K Buffered 

79.00 

16K Parallel buffer 

49.00 

Font Cartridge for LQ 

55.00 

1081 

149.00 

Serial Interface 

41.00 


Acorn/Philips ADF32 14" Medium Res Colour 


CUMANA DISK SYSTEMS 


Single without PSU 


CSX200 

401 

200K 

89.00 

CSX400 

80T 

400K 

109.00 

CSX354 

3.5" 

400K 

89.00 

Single with PSU 

CS100 

40T 

200K 

109.00 

CS400 

SOT 

400K 

119.00 

CS354 3.5" 

Dual without PSU 

400K 

99.00 

CDX400 

40T 

400K 

179 . 00 , 

CDX800 

SOT 

800K 

199 . 00 * 

Dual with PSU 

CD200 

40T 

400K 

199.00 

CD800S 

80T 

800 K 

219.00 

CD358 

3.5" 

800 K 

179.00 

Combo 

5.2573. 

,5" 800 K 

249.00 

CAB20 

20 MByte Hard 

549.00 

Includes Archiver and 

Formatter 



Philips 


Taxan 


12" Green 7502 (BBC) 
12" Amber 7502 (BBC) 

12" Green IBM 7913 
14" Green IBM 7713 
14” Amber IBM 7723 

14" Colour CM8833 
14" Multisync CM8873 


KX-12 12" Green BBC 
KX123 12" Green IBM 
KX124 12" Amber IBM 

K14SV765 Colour IBM 

K14VM770+ Multisync 
(Archimedes) 


199.00 


69.00 

85.00 

95.00 

99.00 

109.00 

249.00 

479.00 


99.00 

129.00 

129.00 

395.00 

499.00 


PC SOFTWARE 


DATABASES 

Delta Professional 
Delta 4 Budget 
dBase III Plus 
PFS: Professional Filer 
Cardbox 
Cardbox Plus 


WORDPROCESSORS 

WordPerfect v4.2 
Junior WordPerfect 
Wordstar v3. 4 
Wordstar Professional v4 
Wordstar 2000 rel3 


£ 399.00 

£ 85.00 

£ 399.00 

£ 199.00 

£ 52.00 

£ 249.00 


£ 299.00 

£ 86.00 

£ 199.00 

£ 249.00 

£ 299.00 



MONITORS 


Spreadsheet 


Canon 


PW1080A 
PJ1080 (Colour) 


199.00 

399.00 


Microvitec 

1431 MS Std Res 

£ 168.00 


1431 DS Std Res 

£ 168.00 


1431MS/AP 

£ 219.00 


1431 DS/AP 

£ 219.00 


1451 MS Med Res 

£ 219.00 


1451 DS Med Res 

£ 219.00 


1451MS/AP 

£ 249.00 


1451 DS/AP 

£ 249.00 


2030/CS2 

349.00 


2031 /CS2 

299.00 


2040/CS2 

599.00 

1451DQT3 

(Sinclair QL) 

249.00 

1453ML2/DL2 

(RM Nimbus) 

225.00 

1 455/MA2 

(Archimedes) 

249.00 

1456/DI2 

(IBM) 

349.00 


Supercalc v3.1 
Supercalc v3.21 
Logistix 


49.00 

69.00 

99.00 


Compshop was established in 1978. and in the nine 
years of trading numbers among its customers BBC. 
BOCC. BP. British Aerospace. British Home Stores. 
British Leyland. BT. CBS. DECX. Ferodo. GEC. Hirst. 
ITT. ITN. Kodak, logica. Marconi. Metal Box. MK 
Electric. Pilkington Glass. Radio Rentals. Rolls Royce. 
Saatchi and Saatchi. STC. STL. Texas. Instruments. 
Thorn EMI. UDT and Zales. 


PRICES EX-VAT AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. PLEASE RING FOR STOCK SITUATION BEFORE MAKING LONG JOURNEYS. 



•ESTABLISHED EDUCATION SUPPLIERS • 
WITH APPROVED ACORN •AMSTRAD • CUMANA 
MICROVITEC* EPSON* SERVICE CENTRES 


RETAIL SHOPS 

COMPSHOP LTD 


OPEN 

10-7 • Mon-Fri 
10-4 • Sat 


14 STATION ROAD, 

NEW BARNET, 

HERTS EN5 1 QW 

(NEAR BRITISH RAIL STATION) 

SALES: 01-441-2922 
TECHNICAL: 01-449 6596 
TELEX: 298755 TELECOM G 


INNOVATION HOUSE 
ALBANY PARK 
CAMBERLEY, 

SURREY GUI 5 2PL 

(BEHIND ••PAYLESS' ) 

SALES: 0276-29219 
TECHNICAL: 0276-604715 








Too early to think of 
Christmas Shopping? 


Not when it 
comes to 
our show 

New Horticultural Hall 
Greycoat Street 
London SW1 




BBC MICRO 



10am-6pm Fri, Nov 11 
10am-6pm Sat, Nov 12 
10am-4pm Sun, Nov 13 


This show has it all 

LOADSA exhibitors 
(around 70) 

LOADSA hardware 
LOADSA software 
LOADSA new products 
LOADSA games 
LOADSA happenings 

LOADSA technical 
advice 

. . . and most 
important of all for 
you, the visitor - 
LOADSA bargains. 

With hundreds of 
special show offers 
available you could 
end up a financial 
winner. 

You can even save 
yourself £1 before you 
get there by using the 
advanced ticket form. 


The 1988 Innovation Awards 

■ Take a stroll down Innovation Row - a brand 
new show feature area, specially constructed 
for the event. 

■ See the grand finalists displaying their 
innovations in public for the first time. 

■ Help Pick The Winners. You, the visitor, will 
be able to cast a vote in both categories of 
the awards - the BBC Micro and the Archimedes. 


It's an event not to be missed. 



Please supply: 

□ Adult tickets at £4 (save £1 ) 

□ Under-16s tickets at £2.50 (save £1) . 

□ Cheque enclosed made payable to 
Database Publications Ltd. 


Admission at door: 
c £5 (adults) 

£3.50 under 16s) 

£ Advance ticket orders 

must be received by 
Total £ November 2, 1988 


Please debit my credit card account □ Access □ Visa Expiry date: I / I 


Name 


Address. 


No matter which Acorn 
machine you use - from the 
Electron up to the top of the 
range Archimedes - you'll 
find just what you are 
looking for. 

All the leading companies 
servicing each sector of the 
Acorn market will be out in 
force to demonstrate their 
latest developments. 
Traditionally the liveliest 
Acorn event of the year, this 
pre-Christmas show is the 
one you can't afford to miss. 


How to get there 
by London Transport 

Underground: The nearest 
tube stations are VICTORIA 
(Victoria, District & Circle 
Lines). St JAMES'S PARK 
(District & Circle Lines) and 
PIMLICO (Victoria Line). 

By British Rail: VICTORIA 
STATION. The halls are a 10 
minute walk from the 
station. 


Signed..... 

Post to: Database Exhibitions , Europa House » Adlington Park , Adlington , Macclesfield SK10 4NP. 

PHONE ORDERS: Ring Show Hotline: 0625 879920 
PRESTEL ORDERS: KEY *89, THEN 614568383 
MICROLINK ORDERS: MAILBOX 72:MAG001 

Please quote credit card number and full address 


DATABASE 

EXHIBITIONS 


A489 


By Bus: 11, 24, 29, 70, 76 
and Red Arrow 507 to 
Victoria Street - alight 
Army and Navy Stores. 





AMAZING OFFERSI 


ELECTRON COMPUTERS £59-95 

(includes power supply, aerial lead and 90 day warranty) 

PLUS ONE INTERFACE £49.95 


PACKAGE ONE 


PLUS 1, VIEWS. VIEWSHEET.... £69.95 I 


PACKAGE TWO 


ELECTRON COMPUTER, PLUS 1 + VIEW 
only £109.95 

VIEW + VIE WSHEET ROMS C21.95 | 

LOGO, VIEW, VIEWSHEET for E49.95 

And get Lisp ROM FREE 

PLUS 1 , VOLTMACE 3B TWIN JOYSTICKS 
with VIEW or VIEWSHEET £71.95 

PLUS 1 , LOGO, VIEW + , VIEWSHEET £99.95 

+ get Lisp ROM FREE 


JOYSTICKS at 
LOW PRICES 


ELECTRON JOYSTICK INTERFACE 
& SOFTWARE £14.95 

QUICKSHOT II TURBO 
JOYSTICK £13.95 

BUY BOTH £24.95! 


VOLTMACE DELTA 3B TWINS 
£1 0 .9 5 £16.95 

For use with Plus 1 or BBC 


VOLTMACE 14B HANDSET £14.95 
INTERFACE FOR 14B £14.95 

BUY BOTH £24.95! 


VOLTMACE 31b SINGLE £11.95 

VOLTMACE DELTA 35 £11.95 
(for Master Compact) 


ARCHIMEDES!! 


RRP 

OFFER 

1st Words Plus D 

£91.94 

£84.95 

Alpha Base 

£49.95 

£44.95 

Ansi C 

£113.85 

£99.95 

Arctist D 

£19.95 

£17.95 

Artisan Support Disk 

£19.95 

£17.95 

Artisan 

£39.95 

£34.95 

Autosketch... NEW! 

£90.85 

£79.95 

Creations disk... NEW! 

£19.95 

£15.95 

Conqueror D 

£24.95 

£19.95 

Dcltabase 

£29.95 

£25.95 

Desk Top Enhancer 

£29 95 

£24.95 

Flying Start 2 

£99.95 

£89.95 

Fortran 77 

£113.85 

£99.95 

Gama Plot 

£69.95 

£55.96 

Graphic Writer 

£29.95 

£21.95 

Hoverbod D 

£14.95 

£11.95 

Interchart D 

£28.75 

£24.95 

Intershcet 

£44.85 

£34.95 

Interword D 

£44.85 

£34.95 

ISO Pascal 

£113.85 

£99.95 

Kermit 

£56.35 

£49.95 

Lisp 

£228.85 

£219.95 

Logistix 

£113.85 

£99.95 

Minotaur 

£14.95 

£11.95 

Missile Control D 

£14.95 

£11.95 

Nominal Ledger 

£64.95 

£54.95 

Order Proccssing/lnvoicing 

£64.95 

£54.95 

PC Emulator 

£113.85 

£99.95 

Personal Accountant 

£279.99 

£249.95 

Pipedrcam D...NEW! 

£113.85 

£99.95! 

Presenter... NEW! 

£28.69 

£28.95! 

Prolog 

£228.85 

£215.95 

Purchase Ledger 

£64.95 

£54.95 

Sales Ledger 

£64.95 

£54.95 

Sigma Sheet D 

£69.95 

£54.95 

Sound Synth. . . NEW! 

£49.95 

£44.95 

Spcllmastor D 

£58.99 

£49.95 

Stock Management 

£64.95 

£54.95 

System Della Plus 

£69.95 

£59.95 

Tcrramox 

£19.95 

£18.95 

Toolkit Module 

£39.95 

£34.95 

Twin 

£33.35 

£29.95 

U-Connect 

£59.95 

£49.95 

View 3 

£59.80 

£49.95 

Wordwlso + 

£23.00 

£17.95 

Zarch 

£19.95 

£17.95 


RECENT RELEASES 


AT SPECIAL PRICES 


Barbarian 

BBC 

OR ELE 

£7.45 

Bonecruncher 

£7.45 

Codename Droid 

£7.45 

Crazee Rider 

£7.45 

Elixir 

£7.45 

Icarus 

£7.45 

Imogen* 

£7.45 

Impact 

£7.95 

Kourtyard 

£7.45 * 

Life Of Repton 

£5.50 

Palace Of Magic 

£7.45 

Play It Again Sam 

£7.45 

Repton Thru Time 

£5.25 

Quest 

£7.45 

Skirmish 

£7.45 

Spellbinder 

£7.45 

Spy Cat 

£7.45 

Spy vs Spy 

£7.45 

Strykers Run 

£7.45 

Summer Olympiad 

£7.45 

*BBC ONLY 

- STATE 


BBC 

DISC 

£9.50 

£9.50 

£9.50 

£9.50 

£9.50 

£9.50 

£8.45 

£9.50 

£9.50 

£6.50 

£9.50 

£9.50 

£5.95 

£9.50 

£9.50 

£9.50 

£9.50 

£9.50 

£9.50 

£9.50 


BBC 

COMPACT 

£11.50 

£11.50 

£11.50 

£11.50 

£11.50 

£10.95 


£7.95 

£11.50 

£11.50 

£7.45 

£8.50 

£11.50 

£11.50 

£11.50 

£11.50 


Thomson 12" Green 
Screen, high 
resolution 
MONITORS 

now only 


BBC OR Ele lead 
supplied FREE!! 


Fantastic Offer^ 
Rediffusion 

T.V. TUNER 

(turns your monitor 
into a T.V. !) 

* Push button control 
* 7 Channel Option 

(Works with any 
monitor with a 
composite video output) 

only £49.95!! 


BBC BUSINESS 
+ UTILITIES 


OVERVIEW £9830 C78.45 

VIEW PROFESSIONAL 

£89:95 £79.45 

ADMIN EXTRA&W95 £11.95 

COMMUNICATOR £6899 £65.95 
GRAPHICS EXTENSION 

ROM B or B+ £2093.... £22.45 

DATABASE (D) £1*35 £11.95 

SYSTEM DELTAE649S £49.95 

MICROTEXT PLUS 

fR0M)tm§S £154.95! 


MICROPOWER AND OTHER GAMES 


Glroscopo fife .O fr 

Bandits at 3 O'Clock C6 0 6- 

Escapo From Moon Base Alpha 6 7 - O fr 

Ghouls 

Stock Car C7.9 S 

Klllor Gorilla CfrO fr 

Rubblo Troublo C7.e e 

Swoop c ? . o e 

Croaker C7.Q 6 

Bumble Boo 

Position S7.0 & 

Follx & Tho Fruit Monstors C7.9fc 

Moonraidor C7.06 

Follx And Tho Evil Woovlls CCU76 

Froruy CC 


BBC 

Giroscopo £ 7.0 5 

Europoan Knowledge C 7.0 & 

World Goography . . .' C7.0 6 

Junior Maths C7.06 

Killor Gorilla £7r95 

Bandits At 3 O CIock 

Stock Car S J G & 

Position CX&6 

Fat Man Sam UM* 

Star Driftor C 3.P S 

M Icroco s m C 3.9 5 

ANY FIVE FOR ONLY 
£7.95! (Cass only) 


MICRO POWER 
MAGIC!! 

Compilation 1 or 2 

BBC or Ele Cass ...£5.95 
BBC 40 or 80+ D £5.95 
Compact £7.75 


COMPILATIONS 


BBC or ELEC 

BBC 

BBC 


Cass 

Disc 

Comp 

ACORNSOFT HITS 1 


9.50 

11.50 

ACORNSOFT HITS 2 

7.45 

9.50 

11.50 

SUPERIOR COLLECTION 1 

7.45 

9.50 

11.50 

SUPERIOR COLLECTION 2 

7.45 

9.50 

11.50 

SUPERIOR COLLECTION 3 (Electron) 

7.45 

9.50 

11.50 

COMPUTER HITS3 

7.45 

9.50 

- 

COMPUTER HITS 4 

7.45 

9.50 

_ 

5 STAR GAMES 3 

7.45 

9.50 


PLAY IT AGAIN SAM 2 


9.50 

11.50 


LOOK! 


SPITFIRE 

40 

BBC/ELE CASS 

£5.95! 
BBC DISC 
£7.90! 


EDUCATION 

SPECIALS 


Linkword Spanish 
Linkword Italian 
Maths ‘O’ Level 2 
Biology 
English 

World Gcorgraphy 
(BBC only) 
European Knowledge 
Graphs & Charts 
Business Games 
Talk Back 
Workshop 


ANY 2 
FOR 

£3.95! 

CASS 

ONLY 


SPECIAL 

OFFER 


CRICKET URANIANS 
SKYHAWK HUNKID0RY 

JACKATTAC STAR FORCE 
SEVEN 

ICE HOCKEY PLANB 
TENNIS SQUEAKALISER 
R0B0T0 SAVAGE POND 
TWIN KINGDOM VALLEY 

Any 5 for £9.95 


ELECTRON 
POWER SUPPLIES 

fia-as 


TETRIS 

BBC/ELE CASS 

£5.45! 
BBC DISC 
£7.95! 


LOGO 

For the Master 128 
or Ele Plus 1 

only £ 24 . 95 ! 


Please add 95p P&P (overseas £3.50) and make 
cheques/PO payable to Software bargains 

* All prices include VAT 

* Goods despatched within 48 hours - Subject to 
availability 

* Out of hours answerphone: 0532 687735 


isiisifF i ftiparo fR i rE i 



Dept AUO,! 8/8A Resent Street, Chapel Allerton, 
Leeds LS7 4PE. 

Tel: 0532 687735,0532 687789 


We can offer attractive discounts for all 
educational establishments, phone or 
write for a quote. 

We supply a catalogue of our entire 
stock range per machine type with 
every order. 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


31 



















First there was Prestel . . . 


. . .then came Telecom Gold. . . 


...now get ready for something 
newer, cheaper and more 
exciting. 


The brand new communication network from QD Enterprises 
for the Home, Small business and Educational computer user. 


r “”“i 

! Name 

! Address 


Telephone I 

Present System 

Do you have a modem? Yes / No 

AUlOj 


To reserve your information pack either 
phone us on (0243) 528742 
or send off the coupon to: 

QD Enterprises Ltd. 

FREEPOST 
Chichester 
West Sussex 
P019 2YZ 

Prestel and Telecom Gold are trademarks of British Telecom PLC. 


L 

32 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


DISK DRIVES 




The finest Japanese disc drives 
(not Taiwanese immitations) 
available at the lowest prices. 



Stock Code 

Description 

Price inc. VAT 

SP014 

400K Single Drive 40/80T 

£99.95 

SP030 

400K Single Drive 40/80T + PSU 

£109.95 

SP019 

800K Dual Drive 40/80T 

£189.95 

SP020 

800K Dual Drive 40/80T + PSU 

£209.95 

VPD0245 

100K Single Drive + PSU 

£119.95 

VPD0246 

400K Single Drive + PSU 

£135.00 

VPD0247 

200K Dual Drive + PSU 

£209.95 

VPD0248 

800K Dual Drive 40/80T + PSU 

£235.00 

VPD0249 

800K Dual Drive 40/80T+ PSU 
in Metal Bridge Unit 

£265.00 

V0062 

3.5" 400K Single Drive + PSU 

£99.95 

V0063 

3.5"800K Dual Drive + PSU 

£189.95 


Please add £8.00 for insured courier delivery. 


CARTRIDGE 

SYSTEM 


VIGLEN ROM CARTRIDGE SYSTEM 



Stock Code 

Description 

Price inc. VAT 

V560 

Viglen Rom cartridge system 
for BBC 

£12.95 

V559 

Viglen Rom cartridge system 
for BBC (low profile) 

£12.95 

V550 

Viglen Rom cartridge system 
for Master 

£14.95 

V551 

Viglen Rom cartridge system 
for COMPACT 

£14.95 

V561 

Single Viglen cartridge 

£3.45 

Please add £2.50 P & P (£00.50 for single cartridge). 



Stock Code Description Price inc. VAT 

Drive 0 Single 

SPOI 50 VB20 20Meg Viglen Winchester £479.00 

SPOl 52 VB28 28Meg Viglen Winchester £499.00 

VI 55 VB40 40Meg Viglen Winchester £769.00 

VI 56 VB56 56Meg Viglen Winchester £899.00 

Drive 1 Second Drive 

SPOI 60 VB1 20 20Meg Drive 1 Winchester £449.00 

SPOI 62 VB128 28Meg Drive 1 Winchester £469.00 

VI 65 VB140 40Meg Drive 1 Winchester £739.00 

VI 67 VB1 56 56Meg Drive 1 Winchester £769.00 

V157 60MB Fast Tape Streamer Backup £689.00 
Please add £8 for insured courier delivery. 

Available for use with SJ research file server 
at no extra cost, please specify when ordering. 


HOW TO ORDER 

Simply write to us with your requirements enclosing a 
cheque/postal order or your credit card no., for the total 
amount. Don't forget to add the cost of delivery. Allow 7 to 
10 days for delivery. 

Credit card holders may order, for order value over 
£50.00, by telephone on our sales hotline 01-843 9903 (8 
lines). 

Orders from overseas should be exclusive of VAT 
(please deduct 15% from the total cost). 

Showroom opening hours Monday to Friday 9.30 to 5.30 
Saturday by appointment 


Vi/jterv 

Viglen Ltd., Unit 7, Trumpers Way, Hanwell, London W7 2QA 
Telephone: 01 -843 9903, Telex: 91 9 304 VIGLEN G 
Fax:01-5745126 



SALES HOTLINE 
01 843 9903 



OFFICIAL ORDERS 

Official orders from education establishments, Govern- 
ment departments and Pic companies accepted Viglen 
has a special education department to process orders and 
queries from schools, colleges, universities and Local 
authorities so please ask for our education department 
when you call. 

Being one of the major suppliers to the Education 
market, the experienced Viglen team will be able to 
understand and help you with your requirements. 



is an even more enjoyable game to 
play than or XARC/y " 

... David Braben (co - author of Elite, author of Zarch). 


/superior uymjmcaivp Available soon on the 
)jonm AtOKlNSfth [ BBC Micro and Electron: 

Exile is designed and written by 
Peter Irvin and Jeremy Smith. 


Telephone: (0532)459453 





hgtZ* 

G °*er 

The protective keyboard cover through 
which you can type freely and easily. 


Accidents can 
happen! Protect 
against spills, 
dust, ash & grima Available for popular 
computer keyboards. Can be custom- 
made for any push-button machine. 

F*at. Finding & Reg. Designs. 


PEACE 'n QUIET: Acoustic Box & Printer Stand 



NOW you can hold a telephone 
conversation while your printer 
stays on! 

Lightweight, compact in silver 
grey. Stand is 7cm high. 

See through lid. Paper slots for 
single and continuous paper. 
Easy DIY. Simple to use. 
Available for all models. 


DEXETTE COPYHOLDER 


The 3 ini 
copyboard 
A4 size £6.50 
A3 size £9.50 
*Copy Holder 

★ Clip Board 

★ Write Wipe 
Board 


All attachments removable 



★ All types of fabric 
ribbons 



Same day service. 
Ring for Free 
transporter SAE 


KADOR 
Unit 4 

Pontcynon Ind. Est. 

ABERCYNON 
MID GLAM. CF454EP 
Tel: 0443 740 281 

Cheques Payable ^ 

to Kador 

E3 

Prices fully inc 


hador 


Ring or Write for our FREE comprehensive catalogue 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


33 











/ / 


TECHNOMATIC 


Burnley Road, London NYV10 1 El) Tel: « 1-208 1177 Fax: 01-452 1500 
305 Edgware Road , London YV2 Tel : 0 1 -723 0233 Telex : 922800 i 


/ 


ARCHIMEDES, BBC COMPUTERS & ECONET REFERRALCENTRE 


£699(a) 
£799(a) 
£2, 429(a) 
£60(a) 
£220(a) 
£210(a) 
£60(b) 


300 & 400 SERIES 

Archimedes 305 Basic 
Archimedes 3 10 Basic 
Archimedes 440 Basic 
Acorn Mono Monitor* 

Acorn Colour Monitor* 

Philips CM8833 Col Monitor* 

PC Emulator Software* 

$ Prices applicable only when purchased with the computer 

ADD-ONS 

0.5Mb Ram upgrade kit (for 305) £ 144(b) 

2nd Floppy Drive (305, 3 10) £ 1 18(b) 

Backplane for 2 podules £37(c) 

I/O Podule £80(c) 

20Mb Hard disc + podule £469(a) 

Acorn ROM Podule £55(c) 

CC ROM Podule £45(c) 

Midi Addon to I/O £37(c) 

Midi Expansion Card £66(c) 

Econet Network Module £43(d) 

Archimedes Printer Lead £7(d) 

Archimedes Colour Monitor Lead £7. 50(d) 

IEEE Interface Podule £283(b) 

(Full implementation of IEEE 488 & 488 A ) Spec on request 
Armadillo Sound Sampler £105(b) 

Fourier Transform Software £40(d) 

ARC/BBC Serial Link £25(d) 

ARC External Drive Adaptor £30(d) 

External 5.25 Drive £104(b) 

BOOKS: (no VAT) 

Arc. Ref Manual £29(b) 

ARM Assy Lang Prog £12(d) 

Inside Autosketch £15(b) 

SOFTWARE: 

PC Emulator Version 1 .20 £99(d) 

(includes MS-DOS 3.2) 

LANGUAGES: 

ANSIC £95(c) ISO PASCAL £95(c) 

Prolog X £181(b) FORTRAN 77 £95(c) 

LISP £181(b) COMAL POA 

PROGRAMMERS TOOLS: 

TWIN Editor £29(d) 

Toolkit Plus Module £4 1(d) 

Software Dev T/Box POA 

Software Dev Debug T/box POA 

WORDPROCESSORS 

First WordPlus £79(d) ViewSKM31(e) £47(d) 

Graphics Writer £27(d) Interword (c) £35(d) 

PipeDrcam £99(d) Wordwise + £20(d) 

SPREADSHEETS 

Logistix £95(d) 

(Includes spreadsheet/database/timeshects/graphics) 

Matrix 3D £79(c) 

(3 Dimensional s/sheet with 1 9k col , 10k row & 100 pages) 
Sigmasheet £59(d) ViewsheetSKM7(e) £47(d) 

Intersheet (e) £35(d) 

DATABASES 

Deltabase £26(d) ViewstoreSKM07(e) £47(d) 

System Delta+ £57(c) Alphabase £39(d) 

Prog Ref Guide £26(c) 

Support modules for System Delta Plus each £35(d) 

CC MEGA 3 For Arc £79(c) 

ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE 

Minerva’s suite 5 Modules (ea) £54(d) 

Order Processing, SalesLedger, StockManager. Purchase Ledger 
& Nominal Ledger 


Special Offer 

FREE £1 15 inc vat VOUCHER 


with every Archimedes model 310 and 
440 purchased from us. 

The voucher can be redeemed against 
any future purchase from us (inc Arc 
monitor, PC Emulator (at £60), discs, 
cables, paper etc.) 

OR 

Autosketch CAD package, Inside 
Autosketch book & 2 boxes of 3M 3.5" 
DS Discs. 

Additionally we will offer discounts up 
to 10% on Archimedes hardYvare 
stocked by us. 


GRAPHICS/ART/CAD 
Artisan £30(d) GammaPlot £30(d) 

Artisan Support £ 17(d) System GammaPlus £59(d) 

Autoskctch £69(d) Interchart (e) £25(d) 

Presenter £24(d) 


GAMES: 


Zarch £17(d) Minotaur £1 1(d) 

Hoverbod £ 13(d) Missile Control £13(d) 

Conqueror £24.95(d) Enthar Seven £29. 00(d) 
Dust cover for Archimedes systems £12. 50(d) 
Software packages marked with (e) run under 6502 emulated mode. 

Please check on availability of some of the above 
packages 


ECONET ACCESSORIES 


Acorn Filestore E01/E20 

At Reduced price £999(2 x a) 

( includes 2 x 3.5" Drives + 20Mb Drive FS software) 

ECOLINKCard £299(b) 

Full spec on request 

(PX/XT/AT interface card for connection to Econet network) 


Econet Starter Kit £85(b) Econet Bridge £174(b) 

Econet Socket Set £29|c) Printer Server Rom &W(d) 

File Server Level II £75(b) 10 Station Lead Set £26(d) 

Master FS Utility Disc £17.25(d) 


tec/jwQNO 


To be launched soon 

The most comprehensive CAD system for 
the Master. Host of innovative features for 
creating complex drawings, peb layouts, 
sketches etc. Virtually no restrictions on 
drawing sizes. On screen scaling for plotters, 
variety of screen dumps for compatible 
printers. 

FREE 

evaluation disc available to any educational 
establishment. A handling charge of £3 for 
others. The disc contains operating 
instructions and will perform as release 
version except for file functions. 


MASTER SERIES 


AMB15 Master 128K £356(a) 

We include free Kducational/Fun software bundle from BBC 
Publications range (RRP £40) and a STARdataBASE package 
worth another £40. 

ADC06 Turbo 65C102 Module £1 15(b) 

ADC08 5 1 2 processor £99(b) 

includes PC compatible DOS+ & Gem Suite. 

ADF10 Econet Module £40(c) Acorn Rom Cartridge £13(d) 
ADJ22 Ref Manual I £14(c) ADJ23 Ref Manual II £14(c) 
View User Guide £8.50(d) V/sheet User Guide £8.50(d) 
TRC2 ROM Cart £7.50(d) TRC44ROM Cartridge £ll(d) 
TRC3232K RAM Cart. £21(d) Master Dust Cover £4.75(d) 
Acorn IEEE Interface (for B.B+ Master) £265(b) 
Universal CoProc Adapter £49(b) 

BBC Domesday System £3,750(2 X a) 


MASTER SUMMER SPECIAL 

Master AMB15+512 Co-Processor 
for only 
£420(a) 

(Allow £5 extra if you would like us to fit the card for you) 

512 upgrade includes 
80186 processor with 512K RAM, 
DOS+, GEM Suite (Desk Top, 
Paint & Write) and Mouse 

This offer valid while stocks last. 

Ask for our list of DOS software compatible with 512. 


MASTER 512 CO-PROCESSOR 

(as described above) 
for only £90(b) 


MASTER COMPACT 


128K RAM, 640 K 3.5" DS Drive + Educ software 
and our bundled Educ/Fun package included 
SYSTEM 1 Entry System £3 1 0(a) 

SYSTEM 2 with 1 2" Mono Monitor £365(2 X a) 
SYSTEM 3 with 14" Col Monitor £475(2 X a) 


2nd Drive Kit 

£90(c) Serial Kit 

£25(d) 

Mertec Adaptor 

£35(c) TV Modulator 

£26(d) 

Ext Drive Adaptor 

£9(d) Printer Lead 

£7(d) 

UPGRADE KITS 

1.20S ROM 

£!5(d) ADFSROM 

£26(d) 

DNFS ROM 

£19(d) 1770 DFS Kit 

£49(d) 

BASIC II ROM 

£22.50(d) Econet Kit 

£55{d) 

EPROMS/RAMS 

2764-25 

£2.80 27256-25 

£6 

27128-25 (12.5vVpp) 

£4 27128-25 (2IWpp) 

£4.80 

27512-25 

£9 6264LP-15 

£6 

These prices subject to change (Carriage code d ) 


RAM/ROM EXPANSION 


ATPL Board for Model B. Simple 

to instal, no soldering. Allows 
expansion to 15 Roms +2*8K RAMS 
ATPL Battery backup kit 
ATPL Board for BBC+ ( 10 Roms) 


£37(c) 
£18(d) 
£3 1(c) 


-t-fflT-i- rrn m i iim i ii h - h -h . I I j i I i 1 1 1 1 1 j 1 1 1 1 1 1 


All prices 
iiii 


ex VAT and subject to change without notice. See page 5 for Carriage Charges, 
i i i i i i i i r r i i i i i i i M i II l I I l M 11 i I 1 I I I I I I 


m 














1 M T I T T T IT I I M 1 1 I VTTTT I M I M M M t M t r ) T" T ~ 1 T 1' I T I 1 I T 1 T T'l T I 11 1 


Technomatic 

17 Burnlev Road, London NWIO 1 ED Tel: 01-208 1177 



TECHNOMATIC DISC DRI VES 



TS 400 


A range of high quality high performance drives to meet the needs of all BBC Micro Users. 

All drives fitted with high quality, slim line Mitsubishi drive mechanism and necessary cables. 

*A11 drives are fitted with high quality slim line ultra low power mechanisms capable of single and doubt, 
density operation and offering fast track access and head setting times. Our confidence in their quality 
enables us to offer a two year parts and labour warranty on these mechanisms without any extra charge. 
*5.25" floppy drives arc fitted with 40/80 track switches as standard at no extra cost. The switches are 
located in the front and clearly marked to indicate the status at a glance. 

*The mechanisms are set inside attractively styled, sturdy metal casings painted in BBC beige colour. 

* All drives fitted with all necessary leads and are ready for operation on unpacking. The drives with the 
mains power supply are supplied with a mains lead fitted with a suitably fused 13A moulded plug. 
^TECHNOMATIC drives stand out from other drives because of the high quality of construction and use of 
reliable switchmode power supply units on dual drives. 



5.25" Single Drives 40/80 sw Reliable: 
TS400 400K/640K 


PS400 400K/640K with integral 
mains power supply 


5.25" Dual Drives 40/80 switchable: 
TD800 800K/1280K 

PD800 800K/1280K with 
integral mains power supply 


PD 800P 


For users who do not need 40/80 switching 
capability, please specify as such and add suffix N 
on our product code. Drive price will be reduced 
by£5/mechanism. 


PD800P 800K/1280K with 
integral mainspower supply and 
monitor stand 


3.5" 80T DS Drives: 
TS351 single 400K/640K 


£90(b) 

PS351 3.5" single drive with 
integral mains power supply 
in a 5. 25" case. 

£85(b) 

£101(b) 

TD352 Dual 800K/1280K 

PD352 3.5" dual drive with 

£126(b) 

£170(a) 

integral mains power supply 
in a 5. 25" case. 

£149(b) 

£190(a) 

Combo Drives (5.25" & 3.5" drives) 
PD853 with integral psu 

PD853P with integral psu 

£175(a) 

£195(a) 

£209(a) 

DISC DRIVE MULTIPLEXER 

For Master , B, B+ and any DFS/ADFS 


£69(b) 

TDM2 Two computers/one drive unit 
TDM4 Four computers/one drive unit 

£65(b) 
£1 15(b) 


TECHNOMATIC WINCHESTERS 


Technomatic offer the most popular range of 
Winchester drives for BBC micro systems at 
competitive prices. The drives are fully 
compatible with Acorn ADFS system. Fan cooled 
switch mode power supply ensure efficient and 
reliable operation. Combination of floppy and 
winchester drives in our elegant plinth housing 
provides an ideal solution for need to have large 
storage and ease of transferring data to floppies. 

Technomatic front end utility for the Master 
supplied with the winchesters at no extra cost 
provides an easy and efficient file management 
system. The entire contents of the drive arc 
displayed on the screen on boot up, each file or 
directory appearing as an icon. The icon type 
indicates whether directory or file and type of data 
if latter. 

Files can be loaded by pointing at the icon . 

Larger capacity drives available on request. 


P20HD TECHNOMATIC 20 Mbyte 
Winchester Drive 


P30HD 30Mb Winchester Drive 

P40HD TECHNOMATIC 40 Mbyte 
Winchester Drive with Acorn 
ADFS ROM 


£419(a) 

£435(a) 


TFC10 10 Mbyte Pre-formatted 
Cartridge for use with P2041HT 
andTSlO. 


£21(d) 


£669(a) 


WINCHESTER Drive Multiplexer 

s 


P204HP TECHNOMATIC 20 Mbyte 
Winchester and a SOT DS floppy Drive 
built in a monitor stand. 

Includes ADFS Rom. 


£609(a) 


TWM4 


P2041IIT As P204HP but also with a 
10 Mbyte tape streamer backup unit 
and backup utilities. 

Includes ADFS Rom. 


1 MHi BUS CONNECTOR 


£1 179(a) 


These units let you share aWinches* 
ter drive between a number of com- 
puters. Full details on request. 


TS10 10 Mbyte Tape Streamer 
Backup unit with utilities.. , 


£546(a) 


TWM2 for two computers. 
TWM4 for four Computers. 


£99 (b) 
£149 (b) 



Following the great success enjoyed by our P20HD unit, 
we are pleased to announce the launch of P30HD - a 30Mbyte 
hard drive. This drive is also supplied with the free front end utility 
for the Master. £435(a) 


BULK DISCS 


50 5.25" 40 T single sided discs with sleeves 
in lockable box. £25(b) 

50 5.25" 80 T double sided discs with sleeves 
in lockable box. £32(b) 

50 3.5" 80T double sided discs with sleeves 


3M FLOPPY DISCS 


5.25" Discs in packs of 10 
744 40TSS DD £6.50(d) 

74540TDSDD £8.00(d) 

746 SOT SS DD £12. 00(d) 

74780TDSDD £11. 00(d) 


3.5" Discs in packs of 10 
80TSSDD £13. 50(d) 
SO T DS DD £15.00(d) 


(Add £1 for library case packing) 



in lockable box. 


£60(b) 


ELOPPICLENE DRIVE HEAD 
CLEANING KIT 
5.25" Kit with 20 disposable discs 
3.5" Kit with 20 disposable dises 


£14.00(d) 

£14.75(d) 


DISC STORAGE BOXES 
DB340 Lockable 40 x 3.5" 
DB550 Lockable 50 x 5.25" 
DB570 Lockable 70 x 5.25" 
DB5100 Lockable 100 x 5.25" 


£8.50(c) 
£6.50(c) 
£8. 50(c) 
£10.50(c) 


44 1-4^|.4-4 t ^4-I^4 | 4-UUTI44-U - L T4 I I I I LU-.U-UU-UU 

• All oricesex VA I and suhiert In rhiimn* wifhtmi nnim* W nnoo C f nr r..F»..nn 


All prices ex VAT and subject to change without notice. See page 5 for Carriage Charges 

f I M I l i I ) l l i t-t-f-t-t-i- 












I I 1 I I t I I I I I I I 1 I I I 


I I I I I I I 


I I 1 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 


Technomatic 

305 Edgware Road, London VV2 Tel: 01-723 0233 



PRINTERS 


LX800 

FX800 

FX1000 

EX800 

EX1000 


EPSON 

£179(a) LQ500 
£309(a) LQ850 
£405(a) LQ1050 


£409(a) LQ2500+ 
£549(a) 


£279(a) 

£419(a) 

£589(a) 

£849(a) 


GQ3500 Laser Printer £1249(a) 
Taxan KP815 £159(a) Taxan KP915 


Star LC10 
Star LC10 Colour 


£275(a) 

£175(a) 

£229(a) 


NATIONAL PANASONIC 

KXP1081* £145(a) KXP1082* £172(a) 

(includes Wysiwyg ROM + Master Lead) 

KXP3131 with 38K buffer 
Canon PW1080 
Canon Laser LBP8-II 
Brother HR20 Daisy Wheel 
Juki 6100 Daisy Wheel 
Integrex Colour Inkjet 


£245(a) 
£179(a) 
£1595(a) 
£349(a) 
£295(a) 
£5 15(a) 


PLOTTERS 


Hitachi 672XD A3 4 Colour HPGL £499(a) 

Plot mate A4S £379(a) 

Plotmate A3M £549(a) 

Roland 880 A3 Flat bed 8 col £599(a) 

Variety of Plotter pens and accessories in stock. 
Larger Plotters available. Please enquire. 


EPSON 1.05(H) 


Epson’s budget 24pin letter quality printer pro- 
vides unrivalled print quality with two built in 
letter quality fonts and widest repertoire of type 
styles at low cost. Sans Serif and Roman or draft 
font can be selected from the front panel. 
Maximum resolution of 360 x 180 dpi. 
Friction and tractor as standard. Parallel interfa- 
ce. Designed for low noise operation 55dB(A). 
Introductory price incl . master lead f 279(a) 


EPSON LX800 


Epson’s latest budget printer offers a host of new 
features all utilising Epson’s unrivalled knowhow 
of printer technology and reliability. 

★ 180 cps draft/25cps NLQ ★ two modern fonts as 
std: Sans Serif and ROMAN. NLQ font selection 
from front panel ★ Tractor and friction feed 

★ Single sheet guide with auto load switch. 
Original + 2 copies. 

★ 3K input buffer with character downloading 
facility 

★ Fully compatible with BBC & IBM graphics 

★ Centronics interface as standard 

★ Price including BBC master lead £179(a) 


PRINTER STAND 


A new style printer stand with easy paper feed and 
paper seperation, provides complete access to 
paper. Can be used with both top and bottom 
paper feed. Very space efficient. £26 (b) 



PRINTER BITTERS 
SHARER & CONVERTERS 


£169(a) 


TSB 256 Auto Sharer/BufTer 

256K buffer with 3 input ports. Each port 
scanned automatically every 10 secs until data 
found. PAUSE, COPY and RESET Facitilies. 

Full spec on request. 

Smart Printer Buffers 
Facilities include: COPY upto 265 copies 
PAUSE, RESET, Self-Test. 

For serial: X-on/X-off, ETX/ACK or DTR/DTS 
protocols independently selectable baud rate 
for each port 

PP256256K Parallel buffer 
SS256256K Serial buffer 
Parallel Multi-Spoolers 
Allows connecting 2 printers to 2 or 4 computers 
Butter allows quick dumping of data to free the 
computers 

COPY allows upto 999 copies. SELF-TEST, 

PAUSE, CLEAR 

MS4224computers/2printers512K buffer £299(b) 
MS223 2computers/2 printers 5 12K butter £I99(b) 
Compact Two Way Switch 2 computers to 1 
printer or 2 printers to 1 computer Attaches to 
the side of a computer or a printer £23(c) 


£169(b) 

£189(b) 



Serial/Parallel/Serial Converters 

Compact economical converters which 
support X-on/X-off, ETX/ACK, DTR/DSR 
protocols 

C-PS Parallel/Serial converter £35(c) 

C-SP Serial Parallel converter £35(c) 

Add £49 to above prices for units with 64K butter 
Manual Printer Sharers: 


(All lines arc switched). 

Parallel 

Serial 

2 computers to one printer 

£25(c) 

£25(c) 

3 computers to one printer 

£39(0 

£39(c) 

4 computers to one printer 

£45(c) 

£45(c) 

2 computers to 1 or 2 printers 

£49(c) 

£49(c) 

Cable sets for above sharers available for all popular computers 

BBC Computer Sharer: TCS26 



1 computer to 2 printers fitted with BBC cable 


£21(0 


Paper & Labels 

Plain fanfold paper with microperforation: 
2000 sheets 9'Ax 11" 

2000 sheets 14^ x IP 
1500 sheets A490gsm 
Labels/ 1000 
Single Row 3 VST x Ww 


£12(0.50) 

£I8.50(£4.50) 

£18.00(£4.00) 


(d) Triple Row 2 7 /i6*x 7 /i6* 


OHP Transparencies A4 ( 100) 

PARALLEL PRINTER LEADS 

BBC/Mastcr(1.2m) £5(d) BBC/Mastcr(2m) 

Archimedes (2m) £7(d) Compact (1.2m) 


£5(d) 

£56<b) 


£7(d) 

£7(fd) 


MODEMS 


MIRACLE WS4000 V21/23 
MIRACLE WS3000 V21/23 
MIRACLE WS3000 V22 
MIRACLE WS3000 V22 bis 
Pace Linnet 

(All modems are BABT approved) 
BBC Data Cable for WS3000/4000 


£129(b) 

£244(b) 

£379(b) 

£495(b) 

£139(b) 


£10(d) 


MIRACLE WS2000V21/23 & BELLstds £92(c) 


MONITORS 

All Monitors supplied with a suitable lead. 

12", 14" and 20" MONITORS 

Microvitec 1431 

Std Res, 14" 

£179(a) 

Microvitec 1431AP 

Std Res + PAL/Aud, 14" 

£199(a) 

Microvitec 1451 

Med Res, 14" 

£225(a) 

Microvitec 1451AP 

Med Res + PAL/Aud, 14" 

£255(a) 

Microvitec 1441 

Hi Res, 14" 

£359(a) 

Philips 8833 14" RGB 


Med Res, 14", high contract screen, 
TTL/Linear input, Mono/Colour 
Switch Stereo Sound Input. 
Separate controls for brilliance and 


contrast. 

£219(a) 

Sanyo CRT 70 

14" High Resolution Colour Monitor 

£149(a) 

Compatible with Master , D, Compact , and PC 

compatibles 

Microvitec 2030CS 

20" Standard Resolution RGB/ 
Comp Video 

£380(a) 

Microvitec 2040CS 

20" High Resolution RGB/Comp 
Video 

£675(a) 

TAXAN SUPER VISION 620 


12" Hi Res/Hi Contrast Option to 
switch to green/amber BBC/IBM 
Compatible 

£269(a) 

TAXAN SUPER VISION 625 


12" Super Hi Res and contrast RGB 
Monitor with option to switch to 
mono BBC/IBM compatible. 

£319(a) 

TAXAN 770+ 


MultiSysnc Autoscan 14", ideal for 
utilising the hi res modes on 
Archimedes. Our price includes a 
tilt & swivel stand 

£485(a) 

NEC MultiSync II 14" 


Enhanced version of the original NEC MultiSync. 

complete with tilt & swivel base. 

Suitable for 

Archimedes and PC compatibles. 

£479(a) 

MONOCHROME MONITORS 

PHILIPS 7752 

14" green screen monitor. 


This is a new addition to the Philips’ popular 

mono monitors. Features include 

Flat screen, 

Reverse video switch, separate brilliance and 

contrast controls 

£85(a) 

PHILIPS BM 7502 

Hi Res green screen 

£72(a) 

PHILIPS BM 7522 

Hi Res amber screen 

£79(a) 

Tilt & Swivel Stand for 

Philips Mono 

£6(c) 


MONITOR ACCESSORIES 


Microvitec Swivel Base 
(14" plastic monitors) 

Monitor Stand Models B & B + 
Monitor Stand Master 
Double Tier Stand Models B, 

B+ or Master 
Taxan RGB Lead 
Microvitec Lead 
Monochrome BNC/Phono Lead 
Copy Holder Self Supporting A4 


£17(0 

£10(0 

£13(0 


£24(b) 

£7(d) 

£4(d) 

£4(d) 

£15(0 


I I I I I I II IM I I I I I I I l-l I I I l-l-l-I-l-l- 1 II l -t-l-J-l- 




All prices ex VAT and subject to change without notice. See page 5 for Carriage Charges. 

-t i 1 1 i irrm i 1 11 ni 1 1 llllt 


-m m rm 1 1 1 r rr r 


± 










I 1 I ttHt l i l t mj M il) TT\ II I t 1 1 1 1 I I M I M M I I I II TTTTTT 


Technomatic 

17 Burnlev Road, London NW10 1 El) Tel: 01-208 1177 



CAD/DRAWING PACKAGES 


NOVACAD 

Cad Package for B, B & MASTER. 
(See page 5 for specification) 

Tracker Ball/Mouse Version (TM) 
TM Version plus Tracker Ball 
TM Version plus Mouse 
Plotter Driver Generator 
If purchased with Novacad 

MOUSE 

AMX MOUSE with SUPER ART 
(pse specify B, B+ or Master) 

STOP PRESS (Pagemaker) 

EXTRA/EXTRA 
(utility for the Pagemaker) 

MAX 

STAND ALONE MOUSE 
RB2 TRACKER BALL 
RB2 Tracker Ball with Icon Master 
(for B, B+ & Master) 

RB2 Tracker Ball with Cursor 
Control Rom (for Master only) 

RB2 Tracker Ball ‘Stand Alone’ 
for use with NOVACAD & 
other software) 

Cursor Control Rom for Master 


£49 (d) 
£94 (d) 
£79 (d) 
£15 (d) 
£12 (d) i 


£59 (d) 
£32 (d) 


£19(d) 
£17 (d) 
£34 (c) 


£59 (c) 


£59 (c) 
£47 (c) 


M1RRORSOFT FLEET 
STREET EDITOR 


£12.50 (d) 
£35 (d) 


TIME WARP 


Real Time Clock, Plugs into the 
user port, battery back up as 
standard, includes manual, demo 
software including a diary/planner 
application program 


£29(d) 


BBC SOFT/FIRMWARE 


DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS 

VIEWSTORE 

£36 (d) 

STARdataBASE 

£39 (d) 

MASTERFILE II 

£17 (d) 

ACORN OVERVIEW PACKAGE 

- Special Offer 

£69 (b) 

(RRP £86) 

INTERBASE 

£49 (d) 

WORD PROCESSORS 


ACORN VIEW PROFESSIONAL (BBC) £69 (c) 

VIEW 2.1 

£35 (d) 

VIEW 3.0 

£45 (c) 

Double View Rom Version 

£42 (d) 

Double View Disc Version 

£33 (d) 

(for Master & Compact) 

: VIEW INDEX 

£12 (d) 

VIEW PRINTER DRIVER _ _ 

GENERATOR 

£o (d) 

VIEWSPELL 

£29 (d) 

DOT PRINT PLUS 

£28 (d) 

WORDWISE 

£24 (d) 

WORDWISE PLUS 

£38 (d) 

: WYSIWYG PLUS 

£21 (d) 

; SPELLMASTER 

£42 (d) 

: INTERWORD 

£36 (d) 

; WORDEASE 

£24 (d) 

SPELLCHECK III 

£31 (d) 

I EDWORD II 

.Li_) LLJI LI J 1 [ M 1 1 1 

£43 (c) 

1— i — 1— l-i 1 1 


SPREADSHEETS 


VIEWSHEET 

£36 (d) 

WINDOMATIC (A Viewsheet Utility) 

£15 (d) 

VIEWPLOT 

£22 (d) 

INTERSHEET 

£37 (d) 

INTERCHART 

£25 (d) 

ULTRACALC 

£26 (d) 

MINI OFFICE II DISC Version 


For B & B + 40T or 80T 

£14 (d) 

For Master 80T 

£16 (d) 

For Compact 

£19 (d) 

MINI OFFICE 11 ROM Version 


For Master, Compact, B + & B 

£43 (c) 

MEGA 3Rom 

£76 (b) 

CC’s integrated package offering 

Interword, 

Intersheet & Interchart on one 128K ROM. For 

Master, Compact, B+ & B 


LANGUAGES 

META ASSEMBLER 

£145 (b) 

TEAM DISASSEMBLER 

£145 (b) 

MACROM 

£33 (d) 

ACORNSOFT ‘C’ 

£40 (c) 

ACORN MICRO PROLOG 

£62 (d) 

ISO-PASCAL 

£51 (c) 

ISO-PASCAL STAND ALONE 


GENERATOR 

£30 (d) 

OXFORD PASCAL 


(40 or 80T) Specify B or B + 

£36 (d) 

OXFORD PASCAL 


for Master 

£52 (d) 

ACORN LOGO 

£46 (c) 

LOGOTRON LOGO 

£55 (c) 

BBC PUBLICATIONS OPEN LOGO 

£59 (c) 

ACORN LISP ROM 

£39 (d) 

ACORN FORTH ROM 

£39 (d) 

ACORN COMAL ROM 

£39 (d) 

Advanced BASIC Disc 

£26 (d) 

(for B, B+ & Master + 6502 2nd Processor) 


MICROTEXT 

£52 (c) 

MICROTEXT PLUS 

£229 (b) 

COMMUNICATIONS 

TERMULATOR 

£25 (d) 

COMMSTAR II 

£28 (d) 

MAY A Comms Package 


See next page for details 

£49 (d) 

MODEM MASTER 

£11 (d) 

COMMAND 

£34 (d) 

MASTER TERMULATOR £34.75 (d) 

UTILITIES 

ACORN ADFS ROM 

£26 (d) 

ACORN BASIC EDITOR 

£24 (d) 

MONITOR (BBC Pub) 

£19 (d) 

SLEUTH 

£23 (d) 

TOOLKIT PLUS 

£31 (d) 

TOOLBOX 2 (BBC Pub) Manual 

£9.50 (d) 

Cassette 

£9 (d) 

ACORN GXR GRAPHICS ROM 


specify B or B + 

£24(d) 

' PRINTMASTER 

£24 (d) 

PRINT WISE 

£24 (d) 

DUMPMASTER 

£26 (d) 

FONT WISE PLUS 

£17 (d) 

ADV TELETEXT UTILITIES ROM 

£7.95 (d) 

COMPACT (all on 3 V 2 " disc) 

ARTROOM 

£27 (d) 

FONTWISE + 

£22 (d) 

FONT EDITOR 

£22 (d) 

BETABASE 

£27 (d) 

WHITE KNIGHT MKII 

-J 1 1 1 1 1 1 -l-L.I II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 

£16 (d) 

-1-U-l 1 1 1 


BBC PUBLICATIONS 
EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE 


A series of programs developed in many cases along- 
side Radio & TV programmes by BBC’s Education 
Department which supplement the classroom studies 
by moving and colourful displays helping in clear 
understanding of a variety of subjects. Some packages 
also include audio cassettes. 


PRIMARY EDUCATION 


ASTRONOMY £11 (d) 

COMPUTERS AT WORK Aud/EC/disc£16 (c) 
PICTURE CRAFT Disc£17 (d) 

INTRODUCING GEOGRAPHY Disc£16 (d) 
MATHS WITH A STORY 1 Cass£8 (d) 

MATHS WITH A STORY 2 Cass£8 (d) 

NUMBER GAMES Cass/EC£7.50 (d) 

USING YOUR COMPUTER Cass£24 (c) 

THE HALL OF MIRRORS Disc£13 (d) 

MATHS Disc + AudCas£ 17(d) 


SECONDARY LEARNING 


£21.50 (c) 
£10.50 (d) 


Disc£23 (d) 


Disc£17 (d) 
Prog Cass£10 (d) 
Audio Cass£5 (d) 


l)isc£14 (d) 
Disc£14 (d) 
Disc£14 (d) 


TECHNOLOGY & DESIGN Ptl 
ELECTRIC FIELDS 
ADVANCED LEVEL 
STUDIES: STATISTICS 
ADVANCED STUDIES: 

GEOGRAPHY 
INSIDE INFORMATION 
Book£8(d) 

OPEN LEARNING 

PACK Disc/AudCas-f book£36(b) 

SCIENCE TOPICS (ST) 

S.T.:WAVES 
S.T. RELATIONSHIPS 
S.T.:BONDING 
S.T.:ELECTROMAGNETIC 
SPECTRUM 

S.T. ’.ELECTRONICS IN ACTION Disc£14 
S.T.:NEWTON & THE SHUTTLE I)isc£19 
S.T.:ECOLOGY Disc/EC£19 

S.T.:POLYMERS Disc/EC£19 (d) 

S.T. CLASSIFICATION & 

PERIODIC TABLE 
S.T.:FOOD & POPULATION 
SEC. SCIENCE 
MICROTECHNOLOGY 
SEC.SCIENCE:THE 

MOLE CONCEPT Disc/Aud/EC£16 (c) 
BIRD SPY Disc£13(d) 

GEORDIE Racer Disc£13 (d) 


Disc£20 (d) 
Disc£20 (d) 


Cass£7 (d) 


GENERAL 


Disc£19 (d) 


Disc£16 (d) 
Cass£8.50 (d) 
Disc£20 (d) 


VU-TYPE PROFESSIONAL 
WHITE KNIGHT MK II 
(for 1770 DFS) 

BATTLEFIELDS 
A VOUS LA FRANCE 

Book£5.25 (d) Aud Cass(2)£7 (d) 

Disc£19 (d) 
Book£6.95 (d) 
(2) £7.50 (a) 
Disc/aud/EC£16 (c) 
Book£5.95 (d) 

BLACK QUEEN 

A long awaited bridge game. (1770DFS) £13(d) 
BISMARCK 

History of the famous battleship. 

(1770DFS) £13(d) 


ESPANA VIVA 

Audio Cass(2)£8 (d) 


DEUTSCH DIREKT 


All software in this advertisement has been tested to 
work with appropriate Acorn Disc Filing Systems only 
and we are unable to comment on compatibility with 
any other filing system. It will be the buyers 
responsibility to verify such compatibility. 


-f-4— 


All prices ex VAT and subject to change without notice. Sec page 5 for Carriage Charges. 






Technomatic 

305 Ed gw a re Road, London YV2 Tel: 01-723 0233 


WYSIWYG PLUS 



No VAT Carriage Code (c) 

LANGUAGES 

6502 Assy Lang Prog £19.95 

6502 Programming £13.95 

8086 Book £23.95 

Acorn BCPI User Guide £15.00 

Acorrt FORTH £7.50 

Acorn LISP £7.50 

Acorn ISO Pascal Ref Manual £10.00 

Intro to COMAL £10.00 

Intro to LOGO £7.50 

Micro Prolog Ref Manual £10.00 

Introduction to Turbo Pascal £14.95 

Prog the Micro with Pascal £8.50 

The Supervisor’s BBC Micro £10.95 

BBC MICRO GUIDE BOOKS 

Inside Information £8.95 

Maths Prog in BBC Basic £7.95 

The Friendly Computer Book £4.50 

Toolbox 2 £10.95 

ARCHIMEDES 

Archimedes Reference Manual £29.95(b) 

ARM Assembly Language Prog £12.95(b) 

Inside Autosketch £15(b) 

PROGRAMMING/UTILITY 

Advanced Sideways Ram User Guide £9.95 

Advanced User Guide (BBC) £15.95 

Applied Assembly Language on the BBC ...£9.95 

BBC Micro Advance Programming £9.95 

BBC Micro Ref Guide (B Smith) £10.95 

BBC Micro Sideways ROM’s RAM’s £9.95 

Guide to the BBC Rom £9.95 

Beginners Guide to W.P £7.95 

Mastering Assembly Code £8.95 

Mastering Interpreters & Compilers £14.95 

Master Operating System £6.95 

Mastering View, Viewsheet & Viewstore....£12.95 

View by B. Smith £12.95 

View 3.0 User Guide £9.00 

Viewstore User Guide £9.00 

Viewsheet User Guide £9.00 

Wordwisc Plus £9.95 

SOUND & GRAPHICS 

Computer Graphics & CAD Fundementals .£9.95 
Mastering Music £6.95 


DISC DRIVE SYSTEMS 
Advanced Disc User Guide .... 

Disc Book 

Disc Programming Techniques 

Disc Systems 

File Handling on the BBC 

Discovering Disc Drives 

Practical Disc File Techniques 

Mastering the Disc Drive 

Mastering DOS plus 

APPLICATIONS 

Interfacing Proj for BBC £6.95 

BBC and Small Business £5.75 

The Software Business £5.50 


Mustering Operating System 
(David Atherton) £6.95 


£16.95 

..£3.50 

..£7.95 

..£6.95 

..£6,95 

£POA 

..£5.95 

£12.95 

£12.95 


WYSIWYG PLUS is a printer and screen utility for Wordwisc Plus, View, Interword, and Basic users, 
supplied on a 16K Eprom. To obtain a particular printer effect, such as enlarged text, it used to be - 
necessary to discover the appropriate ‘printer control code’ from your manual and incorporate it into 
your text. Secondly, you had to print several trial copies in order to position the effect correctly in I 
relation to the rest of your text. 

WYSIWYG PLUS simplifies this trial and error approach using easily remembered ‘commands. For 
example, ‘ENLARGED not only selects enlarged text on your printer, but uniquely shows you double 
width characters on your screen, even from within Wordwisc Plus! 

WYSIWYG PLUS incorporates a logo editor. Just draw your design on screen using the arrow keys, and 
save the results. Use the ‘GRAPHICS command to incorporate your design anywhere in your text; ’ 
position and see your design in your text before faithfully reproducing a hard copy. 

There is also special help for daisy wheel users. The ‘WHEEL command will prompt you to change 
daisy wheels whenever a change in type style is about to occur. 

WYSIWYG PLUS is designed to work with the following systems: 

BBC Model B 6502 Second Processor, BBC Master 128 

BBC Model B+ Turbo coprocessor All printers (Except lasers) 

WYSIWYG PLUS workspace is relocatable. £21(d) 


MAYA TERMINAL EMULATOR 


A comms package for the professional user. MAYA emulates DEC VT52, VT100 and Tandberg 
TDV2215. Special BBC VDU mode allows full access to the BBC VDU driver. 

Menu driven software allows the setting up of parameters and function key definitions which can be 
saved to disc for future use. 

Flexible command parser provides a uniform user interface and allows full access to * commands and 
HELP facilities. 

Xmodem and Kermit file transfer protocols are included as standard. Unique feature of MAYA is 
that Kermit can also be used in ‘remote mode’, which allows file transfers to be initiated by other 
computers connected to the BBC. File transfers can also be done with a ‘dumb’ ASCII protocol. Open 
architecture allows for expansion and addition of new features. Options currently under development 
are graphics drivers for Tektronix 4010/4014 emulation, TDGR driver for TDV2215 and a Viewdata 
patch (provisional version included in the current issue). Registered users will be provided with regular 
updates and customisation service will also be available to those interested. 

The package comprises of a rom, utils disc and a comprehensive manual. It is compatible with Master, 
Models B & B + . It supports DFS, ADFS, NFS and ANFS filing systems. £49(d) 


BLACK QUEEN ■ VU-TVPK 


A contract bridge program from BBC Publica- 
tions both for beginners and for club players. 
Features include rebid and/or reply of any deal 
just played. Deals can be saved to a disc. Unique 
feature of Black Queen is its ability to construct 
deals from standard or classic ones in newspapers 
etc. 

Compatible with Master, B and B+ £13(d) 


EDUCATION AL/FUN 
SOFTWARE BUNDLE 


Wordmovcr Drawstick 

Wordplay Pantry Antics Locomotion 


Do you have finger trouble when typing? 

Do your letters look like this? 

Dear Sor, 

I wuold like to... 
then you need: 

VU-type, a complete touch typing program pro- 
duced by BBC/Pitman. 

It allows you to learn at your own pace and has a 
wide range of exercises. Screen displays show the 
keys you have pressed and it will report on your 
speed and accuracy. 

Supplied on a 40T Disc with a manual. 

Available at a special price of £7. 50(d) instead of 
the usual £15. Offer valid while stocks last. 


BISMARCK 


These programs arc supplied from the BBC 
Publications Educational Software range and will 
be supplied on a 5.25" disc for BBC Master, B + 
and B and on a 3.5" disc for the Compact. 

5.25" Disc £17. 50(d) 

3.5" Disc £18.50(d) 

(Normal RRP over £40) 

Sec the previous page for comments on compatibility. 


An enthralling game of strategy involving the 
famous German battleship of the same name. 

You can play the role of British Navy in its quest I 
to find the Bismarck and sink it or take either - 
British or German role against another player. It I 
requires the highest qualities of judgement, obser- - 
vation and decision to plan strategy and tactics to 
plot the death of Bismarck. £13(d) - 


PRINTER ACCESSORIES 

EPSON ACCESSORIES: 

8143 RS232 £32 (d) 

8148 + RS232 + 8k £79(d) 

IEEE 488 £40 (d) 

Apple II £40 (d) 

Colour option of EX800/1000 £55 (d) 

TRACTOR FEEDERS 

LQ800 £44 (b) 

LQ1000 £55 (b) 

LQ850 £70 (b) 

LQ1050 £85 (b) 

LQ2500+ £90 (b) 

EX800 £85 (b) 

EX1000 £90{b) 

SHEET FEEDERS: 

LQ800/850 £159 (b) 

LQ1000/1050 £189 (b) 


EX800/FX800 £159 (b) 

EX 1000/LQ2500 + £225 (b) 

FX1000 £189 (b) 

Ribbons: 

FX/FX 100/1 00 + , FX 105 £7 (d) 

RX/FX80, FX85/800 £4(d) 

LX80/LX800 £4.50 (d) 

LQ800/850 £6 (d) 

LQ 1000/ 1050 £7.75 (d) 

EX800/1000 Black £7.50(d) 

EX800/1000 Colour £16.80 (d) 

H180 Pen Set (Aqucous/Ball point) 

£8.25 (d) 

HITACHI 672 Plotter 

Aqueous Pen Set six pens ....£18.50 (d) 

Oil Based Pen Set six pens ...£25.00 (d) 


Star Printer 

NL10/LC10 Sheet Feeder £55 (b) 

NL10/LC10 Ribbon £4.50 (b) 

National Panasonic KX P1080/81 

Spare Ribbon £4.50 (d) 

KXP3131 Tractor £90 (a) 

KXP3131 Sheet Feeder £189 (a) 

KXP3131 Ribbon £4.50(d) 

JUKI 6100 

Tractor Feed £149 (a) 

Sheet Feeder £219 (a) 

Ribbon (Carbon) £2.00 (d) 

BROTHER HR20 

Sheet Feeder £229(a) 

Tractor Feed £116 (a) 

Spare Ribbon Nylon £3.00 (d) 

Spare Ribbon Carbon £4.50(d) 


INTEGREX INK JET COLOUR 


PRINTER 

Spare Ink Cartridge Black £8 (d) 

Spare Ink Cartridge Colour £14 (d) 

Paper Roll £7 (d) 

Printer Leads: 

BBC Parallel Lead (1.2m) £6 (d) 

PAPER & LABELS 


Plain Fanfold paper with micro 
perforations: 

2000 sheets 91" X 1 1" 60 gsm/sq m ..£12 
(£3.50) 

2000 sheets 141" x 11" 60 gsm/sq m 

£18.50 (£4.50) 


1500 sheets A4 90 gsm £18 (£3.50) 

Labels/1000: 

Single Row 31 x 1,V £5.25 (d) 

Triple Row 2^" x £5 (d) 


TAXAN CANON Accessories: 

Ribbon, KP810/815/910/915 £6 (d) 


-i-HH - l-t-t-HTUH+l-H- H -l- H -I H l-l I H I 1 I H I- 1 I- H -I- H - H - 

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NOVACAD 

Computer Aided Draughting 
System 


Novacad can drive a plotter to produce drawings of highest quality... 
Novacad is excellent. It is flexible , genuinely easy to operate 
without much practice , and a pleasure to use. Beebug Dec 86 

A sophisticated CAD package with unique 
facilities. Thousands of Novacad packages are 
being used in widely differing fields ranging 
from industries for producing engineering' 
drawings to accountants offices for producing 
flow charts. Architects, engineers, plumbers, 
kitchen planners and many other professions 
requiring easy to use facilities for producing 
high quality output are making extensive use 
of Novacad’s unique features. Novacad is 
proving to be an invaluable teaching aid in 
technical schools simply because of the ease 
with which it can be used. 



Novacad is compatible with all models fitted 
with Acorn DFS. Hardware requirements can 
be minimum; single drive and FX80 
compatible printer are enough to get started, 
though its performance is enhanced 
considerably by use of 6502 2nd processor, 
dual drive and to a degree with B+ and 
Master’s shadow ram. 


The major features offered are: 

★ Simple and easy to use with logical command 
sequence. 

★ A large drawing area (approx 15 screens) 

★ Unique ability to create complex icons made 
up of upto 500 lines instead of the usual 15 to 
20 pixels, store them in a library and recall 
them at different scales and orientations. 

★ Zoom facility. 

★ Create multi level drawings. 

★ Text entry at any 90° orientation anywhere on 
the screen. 

displacement 


★ Grid scaling and locking, 
measurements. 


★ Printer routine for FX80/100 compatible 
printers 

★ Cursor control from keyboard/tracker ball/ 
mouse. 


Plotter driver generator available as an optional 
utility, configures a routine for any BBC 
coompatible plotter. Pre configured routines for 
popular plotters like Epson HI80, Hitachi, 
Plotmate are included. Drawings can be scaled to 
maximumm plotter size. 

NOVACAD T/M Version £49(d) 

I NOVACAD T/M + Plotter DG £61(c) 

“ Plotter Driver Generator £15(d) 


EproinRvltT 


♦Highly sophisticated & Advanced Programmer 
♦All current single rail eproms handled 
♦State of the Art Programming Algorithms 





EpromRyter is a powerful eprom programmer 
designed for use with the BBC Master Computer. 
It takes full advantage of the latest developments 
in the eprom technology and the extra facilities on 
the Master to provide fast, simple and efficient 
programming and editing facilities. 

The software is totally menu driven and on 
screen help messages make the programming 
simple for both specialists and novices alike. 

The EPROMRYTER interfaces with the 
Master through 1MHz bus. It is mains powered 
with its own psu. 3M Textool zif socket has been 
fitted to ensure consistent and reliable service 
over long periods. 


The single rail eproms handled by the EpromRyter are: 
• 2716 2732 2764 27128 27256 27512 27513 27011 
2516 2532 2564 (NMOS & CMOS) 

# One time eproms P27XXX, 87CXXX etc. 

# Also A suffix eproms such as 27XXXA 


£89(b) + VAT 


M E l A Ver 1 1 1 ASSEMBLER 


“All the good features you would expect to find in a good source code 
editor are present ... Meta assembler lives in a different world. It is 
structured to work with any new processor ... as new instruction sets 
can be added ...as needed ... has a well featured editor with colour 
highlighting, a sound modular approach.” Acorn User October 1986 


0 Assembles for over 30 popular processors, 
including Z80, 6800/01/02/04/05/09/1 1 etc - and 
68000 - using native mnemonics for each 
processor, eg LD A, (HL) for Z80 and MOV 
A0, $1000 for 68000 etc. 

0 Fully integrated Editor: four field, all search, 
search/replace, block copy, delete, move, 
marked save, load etc. 

0 Compatible with Portal Eprom Emulators and 
Team Disassembler. 

0 Send object code in Intel Hex, S-Record, 
straight binary etc. down to discs, RS232, 
parallel port, Eprom Emulators etc - all 

during Assembly. 

0 Over 50 directives included as standard: 
handling nestable macros, conditional 
assembly and twenty types of table definition 
directives. 

0 32 bit labels; 31 character names. Arithmetic 
and Boolean arithmetic to 32 bits. 

• Modular source code with numeric and string 
parameter passing. 

0 Serial communicator area with eight options 
lines: echo, control code trap, LF suppression/ 
addition etc. 

• Over 500 in use throughout the world in 
universities and many different industries. 

• Two 16K Roms, two 80 track discs, A4 
ring-bound manual, function-key strip. 

£145(b) 


EPROMER II 



A proven Eprom programmer for BBC Model B 
and B+ with thousands in use in industry, 
educational and R&D establishments. It offers 
many of the powerful features of the EpromRyter 
and can program all single rail eproms upto 27256. 
Full details on request. £89(b) 


PORTAL EPROM 
EMULATORS 


• Emulates 2716, 2732, 2764, 27128, 27256, 
27512 eproms at 150ns Access time. 

0 Load at 4Kbytes/second - No “erase” time. 

0 28 pin header plugs into Eprom socket on 
target system - status monitored on 13 Leds. 

0 Fully software controlled from Meta 
Assembler. 

0 100 times faster than standard EPROM 
program/erase cycle. 

0 Fully CMOS compatible; draws no power 
from target system. 

0 Four portals may be independently 
programmed off same user-port cable. 

0 Complete with all cables, manual and disc. 

PORTAL 512 (2716, 2732, 2764, 27128, 27256, 
27512). £245(b) 


TEAM DISASSEMBLER 


The third part of the Universal Development 
System: a Meta labelling disassembler. 

Supports 1802, 8080, 8085, #HD64180, Z80, 
65XX (includes 65 col, 6511 etc), 68XX (includes 
00, 01, 02, 03, 08 etc): 

0 Up to 64K of object code translated back into 
META compatible source code modules: 
labels automatically inserted on all jump 
targets, memory references etc. 

0 Pre-editing stage allows marking of object 
code areas as byte, string, word, long word 
etc, tables. These areas disassembled into 
appropriate directives instead of garbage 
mnemonics. 

0 Reconstituted source code ready for 
immediate re-assembly by META. 

0 Omniversal search/repalce for re-naming 
arbitrary label names with meaningful ones. 

£145(b) 


This advertisement can only show an example 
of the range of products stocked by 
Technomatic. So send for our latest BBC 
catalogue providing detailed information and 
prices on BBC Computer Systems, 
Peripherals, Software and Books. To obtain 
your free copy please complete and return the 
coupon below. 

Technomatic is a BBC Computer and Econet 
Referral Centre providing a professional and 
reliable service to the BBC user. 


NAME 

ADDRESS. 


.PostCode . 


10/88 


Return to Technomatic Ltd , 17 Burnley Road , 
London NW101ED 


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NAME ADDRESS 


TITLE COMPUTER 40/80/Disc/Tape/3'/Tdisc 


£1 OFF 

ACORNUSER 

SOFTWARE 

When you send us your next order for Acorn User software 
remember to include this voucher, and you will save £1 .00 on the 
total amount you spend. 

Only one voucher is valid per order. All orders must be 
received by October 31 , 1988. Please see pages 95/96 for order 
form details. 



£1 off Acorn User software 

| Valid until October 31, 1988 | 

I • 1 


USE A PERSONAL ORGANISER? 

YOU NEED THE 

I FAX*FILE ORGANISER! 


Combine the power of your BBC with the flexibility and 
convenience of a personal organiser (Filofax, Lcfax etc) 
to create a personalised data base. Using special sized 
computer paper or single sheets to print: 

* Diaries including your data (on disc) 

* Address book pages, up to 48 entries sorted by 
name. 

* Custom designed forms. 

The program is menu driven with plenty of on-screen 
help. The graphics are superb and the printed pages will 
match the high quality of your personal organiser. 

The Organiser will run on a BBC B or a Master 128. It 
recpiires an Epson FX80 compatible printer. Extra 
computer paper (tractor feed, pre-punchcd) is 
available. 


"simple but effective product, very easy to use" Acorn User 
"Extremely friendly. I cannot fault it" Bccbug 

"I have no reservations about recommending this product" Micro User 


£12.95 INC P&P 


DISC, 40/80 track (state which) 
manual 

sample pack of paper. 

[MEWsoffs latest product: THE A4 FORMS DESIGNER] 

Similar to the Forms Designer feature of the Fax Tile Organiser but with block 
copy, scrolling A4 size page, data insertion, etc. Ideal for Schools, Clubs, and for 
invoices, membership forms etc. For Mastcr/Compact, ARC, Model-B with 
Shadow RAM. 

Write or phone for details. 



MEWsoft 
1 1 Cressy Road 
London NW3 2NB 
(01 2672642) 




DIARY 


40 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 







HINTS & TIPS 

STHGGm ALONG 

More about ADFS - with a focus on commands - a routine for colour separation 
and we make use of one of Basic’s more neglected commands 

^ n 


£5 


COLOUR 

SE PARATIONS 

M Harwood of Morecambe was intrigued 
by Muriel Dearlove’s masterpiece of lateral 
thinking in the August issue. She had 
created full colour pictures using multiple 
passes with coloured ribbon changes on a 
single colour printer. This method is also a 
fine demonstration of the technique of 
colour mixing. 

Mr Harwood had a collection of colour 
pictures upon which he wanted to try out 
the technique. He didn’t want to have to 
redraw each picture so he came up with a 
separation program to let the computer do 
the work. The program works by loading 
in a previously saved screen (in standard 
BBC screen mode format), and saving four 
screens, each one containing only one col- 
our of pixel. These relate to the four 
‘process’ colours used in colour printing - 
black, yellow, cyan and magenta. If you 
have used any of the flashing colours in 
your picture then you should replace them 
with steady colours. 

The program works by loading the 
source picture repeatedly for each colour, 
and then scanning each pixel on the screen 
- every pixel that matches the specified 
colour is changed to white, and every one 
that doesn’t, to black. If you have a fairly 
empty screen, the first thing you’ll notice is 
that the background area is all turned to 
white on the first pass. If you intend the 
background on the print to be white, ie, 
not printed, then swap GCOL 0,7 and 
GCOL 0,0 in line 220. 

When each screen has been scanned, the 
resultant mask is saved as a complete 
screen. Naturally, this can take up quite a 
lot of room on a disc, so a warning is 
printed before the program starts. If you’re 
not sure whether you have enough space, 
press Escape at this point, check your disc 
and start again. 

ACORN USER OCTOBER l‘>88 



Separate the magenta, cyan and yellow parts 
of a picture to print in colour 


When you have all the mask screens on 
disc, each one can be reloaded with 
*LOAD followed by the filename. A three 
line program to print the registration 
marks recommended in Miss Dearlove’s 
article and then a layer of colour is: 

10 VDU 2t PRINT STRING* 

(30, ,, = "> ' ' ' t VDU 3 
20 *LOAD COLO 
30 *GDUMP 

Change the filename in line 20 for each 
successive mask. Line 30 should be set to 
your own screen dump command. 

The routine works with any of the eight 
BBC colours on the screen. It takes 
account of any changes made to the palette, 
by reading it with Osword 1 1 and adjust- 
ing each colour read from the screen. If 
you do redefine the colours, you’ll have to 
add the correct VDU 19 commands after 
lines 200 and 310. 

The way it works is to look at each pixel 
on the screen, and decide whether it should 
be included when printing each of the four 
coloured overlays. So for example, a 
magenta pixel only appears on the screen 
for printing with the magenta (pink) rib- 
bon. A red pixel appears on both the 
magenta and yellow screens. If a pixel 
should be printed, it is changed to white, 
otherwise it is changed to black. This can 
work because the colours are arranged in a 
logical order - red is 1, yellow is 3 and 
magenta is 5. So in binary, red is 001, 
.yellow is Oil and magenta is 101. The 
EOR operator is used to change these into 
110, 100 and 010, and from there it is easy 
to see why red is yellow plus magenta. 

This is adding pigments - adding light as 
the screen does work without EOR, so 
yellow (Oil) is red (001) plus green (010). 

The four screen files are called COLO to 
COL3, for cyan, magenta, yellow and 
black. When printing them, you should 
always use the yellow first, then cyan, 
magenta and black. This avoids getting the 
paler ribbons dirty. 


41 





Mijas 


Now at last you can achieve 
the speed of a true compiler 
without loosing the program 
size advantages of BASIC. 


Use it for games business or 
industrial software. Ideal for 
learning structured 
programming and compiler 
techniques. 

Shell ROM image provided 
giving a MAKE facility. 

Use any editor, a simple 
line editor is included. 

Optional disk with source of 
SHELL ROM £5 

Phone or write today 
for full details. 

From: Mijas Software 
Mijas,Winchester Rd. 
Michedever, Hants S021 3DG 
Tel 096289352 


Software 

Bringing the new software world to YOUR BBC Micro 

Updated ! Exciting ! Fast ! 'C' Compiler. 

A NEW Compiler system 

for performance and productivity on YOUR BBC Micro. 

Written in 'C' itself for speed and portability 

FULL SOURCE-CODE of the 'C' Compiler 
and libraries with EVERY COPY. Can be modified 
and re-compiled on any BBC B or MASTER. 


First with a 

Relocatable Assembler and Linker 
first with Source-Level Debug. 
Now bring you a New ’C' Compiler. 


The 40K+ of program space 
available gives the capability 
of a packed BASIC program 
for integer, string and 
graphics applications 


ACCESS welcome 
official orders wecome 


es 


Small ‘C’ v 1.5 

A true compiler. Does not use p-code 
Full Source-Level Debug 
Full I/O and ‘C’ libraries 
Separately compilable source-files 
Produces stand-alone programs of minimum size 
Full support of BBC Graphics 
Screen Mode may be changed at any time. 
40+K of Program space even without overlays 

Complete System including Assembler Linker, 
Debug, Shell and utilities in ROM Image 
format on disk. Nothing more required 
for systems with s/w RAM.' 

£50 

Ready-blown EPROMS £7.50 each, 
set of 4 £20 


New version 1.5 compiles 
faster, runs faster 
and is even easier to use 
on ANY BBC B or 
Master. 

Write your own BASIC, 
PASCAL FORTRAN or 
Artificial Intelligence 
Compiler using this 'C' 
system 

A Book on ’C by 
Berry and Meekins 
£8.50 
Disk with source of 
SHELL ROM £5.00 
65(C)02 Development 
System and Source Level 
DEBUG still available 
separately at £42 in ROM 
image format on disk. 


INTRODUCING 


CREATIVE DESIGN; HOME ECONOMICS; COT 

MASTERKNIT 200 




AVAILABLE 

SEPTEMBER 


(for use with KNITMASTER 550, 560 and 580 Knitting Machines) 

This easily-attached interface allows you to use the power of the BBC computer to 
create UNIQUE DESIGNS BETWEEN 2 AND 200 STITCHES WIDE. 

THREE DIMENSIONAL SOFTWARE PACK INCLUDES: 


PHASE 1 
Picture Transfer 


If it is on the screen, you can knit it 
on thQ machine. 

Knit all or just part of your design. 
One key stroke gives automatic 
height correction of Jacquard 
knitting. 

N1 cam not required. 

Automatic cam check. 

Knitting position shown graphically 
on-screen. 



Design you own garment or select 
from 9 different sections of Fronts, 
Backs, Necks and Sleeves. 
Automatic sizing after input of 
number of stitches/rows. 

See the complete garment 
on-screen before knitting. 

All designs can be saved on disc for 
future use. 


PHASE 3 

Garment Knitting | 


Manipulate you garment on-screen 
and position it over your design. 

3 different styles (Mans, Womans, 
Childs). 

4 size ranges for each style, (e.g. 
90cm original will generate 

95/1 00/1 05cm). 

Machining and patterning 
automatically held correct for each 
side of neck. 

On-screen instructions for casting 
on, casting off and shaping. 

Masterknit 200 will encourage 
students to work across the 
traditional subject barriers by 
using the graphics capability of 
the computer at the design stage 
quite independently of the 
knitting machine, which is then 
freed for use solely as the 
production tool. 


eB-jfiSS? 




AVAILABLE FROM: 

Clwyd Technics 
Antelope Industrial Estate 
Rhydymwyn 
Nr Mold, Clwyd CH7 5JH 
PHONE: (0352) 741751 
FAX: 0352 741348 


Masterknit is a Registered Trademark of Knitmaster Ltd 



42 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 







HINTS & TIPS 



All the Basic keywords can be printed out from the Electron’s BOM 


MORE ADVICE 

ON ADFS 

Last month 1 talked about the history of 

ADFS - its structure, and the method it 
uses to store files. I also covered some 
ADFS star commands. Now I want to look 
at those commands in more detail. 

'"ACCESS covers broadly the same func- 
tion it did under DFS. It sets ‘attributes’ 
for files, such as whether they can be 
written to, deleted and so on. The com- 
mand is followed by the name of the file 
being altered (or group of files - "’ACCESS 
F :; * will change all files which begin with 
F), and then one or more of four letters, 
which are: L which stands for ‘locked’ and 
means that the file cannot be deleted, W 
means that the file can be written to by 
programs that use OPENUP and BPUT, R 
means that the file can be read and E means 
that the file is copy-protected. 

DFS users will be familiar with the L 
suffix. The file cannot be deleted, nor can it 
be ‘saved over’. Many packages that in- 
volve file access - ie, wordprocessors or 
spreadsheets - don’t ‘open’ files as such. 
They load a file and keep it, and any 
modifications you make are kept entirely 
in memory. The file is saved at the end, 
probably using the old filename. If the old 
filename is used, the old file is first deleted, 
and a new one saved under the same name. 
Such programs, which include View (ex- 
cept in CP mode), Wordwise , ViewSheet 
(except with linked files), and AMX Super- 
Art cannot save to a locked file, unlike 
those which truly keep a file open such as 
Stop Press , ViewStore , ViewSheet (in linked 
file mode), and System Delta , which can 
write data to a locked file. 

The W suffix is a new one. This, when 
present, allows the file to be written to 
using either OPENOUT, PRINT# or 
BPUT. If the W flag is not set, then 
Wordwise could still save over the file, but 
ViewStore could not. 

The R suffix allows a file to be read. 
Obviously, the R flag should always be set. 
The main reason for this setting is Econet- 
compatibility, where it makes sense for 
some files to be writable but not readable. 
When using "'ACCESS on ADFS, always 
use the R flag. 

E (execute-only) is a setting best 
avoided. If used, the W and R settings are 
ignored. When a file has been set with the 
E attribute, it can only be "’RUN and not 
anything else. Also, an E setting cannot be 
ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


undone by a further "’ACCESS command. 
If you do find yourself accidentally setting 
a file to E, this can be undone using a 
utility published in Acorn Forum (Febru- 
ary, 1988). 

One thing to remember about the " AC- 
CESS command is that without any para- 
meters it is not the right way to unlock a 
file, as it is on DFS. If you type this, the 
file will indeed be unlocked, but it will also 
be unreadable and unwritable! 

When a file is first created, ADFS makes 
it unlocked, readable and writable. Gener- 
ally your files should be set to WR where 
they need to be altered, and LR when they 
don’t. Note that with the hierarchical 
structure, you can apply "’ACCESS com- 
mands to a whole subdirectory, for exam- 
ple if you are in directory $, and a sub- 
directory called Files exists, "ACCESS 
FILES. "LR will lock all files within that 
directory, without actually entering it. 

There are three ADFS commands used 
to move from directory to directory. "’DIR 
is, I’m sure, familiar to you all. This is the 
command used to select another directory, 
so if you are at the root directory, (as you 
are immediately after a "’MOUNT) and 
wish to enter the Files directory, then 
"‘DIR FILES will take you there. "DIR 
(up a level) will take you back, as would 
"DIR $. The name of the current directory 
is given immediately below the drive num- 
ber at the top of the catalogue. Type "’CAT 
to see it. If the root directory contains, say, 
two directories, called Files and Games, 
and you had selected Files, you can’t just 
type "DIR GAMES. You must either spe- 
cify the full pathname, which in this case 
would be $;GAMES, or use the A operator 
to go up one level, and then down into 
Games. The command would therefore be 


"DIR .GAMES. As switching between a 
couple of directories is such a common 
requirement, a special command has been 
provided. "’BACK, which never takes a 
parameter, will reselect the directory be- 
fore the last "DIR or "BACK command. It 
doesn’t matter where on the disc that was, 
as ADFS remembers the last directory. 

"’CDIR is a command to create new 
directories. It is followed by a name of up 
to 10 characters (similar to a filename). For 
example, *CDIR FILES will create a direc- 
tory called Files which is within the cur- 
rent directory. You can of course create 
directories anywhere by specifying a full 
pathname, such as "'CDIR $.GAMES. 
REVERSE This would create a directory 
called Reversi in the directory Games 
which already exists in directory $. 

One of the most frequent requirements 
when using a filing system is renaming and 
deleting files. Like DFS, there is more than 
one way of deleting a file - "’DELETE will 
only delete one file, and works exactly like 
its DFS counterpart. "DESTROY will de- 
lete a number of files, ie, 

♦DESTROY TEMP. S* 

will delete all files in directory Temp which 
begin with S. A list of all such files is 
displayed, and you confirm the deletion by 
typing Yes followed by Return, rather than 
the simple Y needed in DFS. 

"’RENAME is also like its DFS equiva- 
lent, except that it also acts as a command 
to move files around directories. Following 
our example of the two directories Files 
and Games, you might want to move a file 
called Invader in Files to the Games direc- 
tory. From within Files, the command 
"’RENAME INVADER A .GAMES. 
INVADER would effectively move the file' 

43 



Screen»Mac - Transfers graphics between the 
BBC Microcomputer and Macintosh 


Screen»Mac allows you to exchange bit- 
mapped graphics images between a BBC 

Microcomputer and a Macintosh. 

Applications include: 

► Incorporate BBC Micro screen displays in 
documents created on a Macintosh, or in 
HyperCard stacks. 

► Use MacPaint, and other Macintosh tools, 
to create graphics for BBC Microcomputer 
programs. 

► Transfer photographic images to a BBC 
Micro using a Macintosh-based scanner. 

► Use Macintosh clip-art in BBC software. 



lr 




View»Mac - Transfers and converts documents 
to MacWrite from View on the BBC Micro 


View»Mac converts documents from the 
View word processor on the BBC 
Microcomputer and Master 128, to 
MacWrite on the Macintosh. The resulting 
MacWrite file can then be edited, or 
imported into other Macintosh applications. 

View»Mac will also transfer any type of file 
from the BBC Microcomputer; a catalogue of 
the DFS or ADFS disc is displayed on the 
Macintosh screen to allow you to select files 
or change directories. 

View rulers and formatting, extended 
highlights, and stored commands, are all 
converted to their MacWrite equivalents. 



i tet'grf te*i-** Iot lU Iu»« »i>. tU (ml If 

«• Iir—l I«i4 w »te ftcbool itnU, ntk (W Iml', el t ntcintotk 

t.il'vj i(il« 

n. »* tef* Itk.f If u Mlm 

ftiiiM kll tte iitul.i tr* ikl riit.l If It* rUKr.t 

vin; I*’ mer©co»»<rt»rt Tte «tUcl*t uf (bf 

UiM(.rff4 tc ru.ntt* OR (b HkiMmI *ll« * 
t*i:»f 

It am U K“H T* irf 01114 ttjm\~utmi let tte tiul )»9* liiljf fM 

Ifjoti Tte lifMltrt«4 tram fX*r ;«f. }-» 

iiifiloiW IM« tb (ml ftg» Uiiju n tk Hft of 
ttelf (iifiul 'jmr tei+Hllt *3 «i.l 

(tUUM Tb II>*1 *t«»'#f If tteft ,rik**4 ote. o*t> .1 

Ulfftiltw tft f fot« folt.ftl* Ivt oKUI'litb) pu'iw 
on tte Iibol of f ico fftftt.r 





BBC BASIC - Now available for Macintosh 


BBC BASIC has become established as the 
major programming language used and 
taught in UK schools. Its structuring 
features, such as named procedures and 
functions with arguments, make it an ideal 
language for learning to program. 

Now Macintosh™ owners can program in a 
version of BBC BASIC designed to behave in 
exactly the same way as on the BBC 
Microcomputer or Acorn Master 128, and 
interchange programs directly. 

BBC BASIC for the Macintosh includes an 
integral editor, for th^ fast entry and editing 
of programs, and built-in menu commands 


for transferring programs to and from a BBC 
Microcomputer. 



Flip Edit Program tUIndoms 


10 rem rmroEL 

20 REM Main Program 

30 MOOE 1 .- V 3 

40 RERO J.k.q 

30 ORTA 0 23.0 3.0 13 

30 REM Main Loop 

70 M*q/640 S*«64 T*LN(2> 

60 FOR X*-0 TO 640 STEP 2 
00 FOR V*-0 TO 640 STEP 2 
100 

1 10 w*k*H*Y* 

120 M*— I k-O u-O 

130 REPEAT y 2«g*g 

133 x2"x*x y«2*x»y*v 

140 x»x2-y2«u I 

130 UNTIL OR x24y2>-4 

135 Q*»LN<N*>/T MOO 2 

160 IF 0»«0 POINT X*,S^ 

170 NEXT fCXT 
180 EMO 


'I MB B MHBSaa 


HUMANfCOM PUTE R 
INTER FAC E • LIMITED 


For more information on Mac Connectivity: 

Human-Computer Interface Limited 
25 City Road, Cambridge, CB1 1DP, England. 

Telephone: Cambridge (0223) 314934 


44 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 




HINTS & TIPS 


into the other directory. Unfortunately, 
the command docs not take wild cards so if 
there were two files, Invaderl and 
Invader2, typing "‘RENAME INVADER"' 
A .GAMES.INVADER* would not work, 
and the error message ‘Wild cards’ is given. 
Also, "‘RENAME cannot be used to move 
a file onto another disc. 

The "‘COPY command is provided for 
both these situations. It works in a way 
similar to the MS-DOS command of the 
same name, but not like the DFS command 
which was only for copying files to a 
directory of the same name on another 
disc. The first parameter of "‘COPY is the 
name of the file you wish to transfer. The 
second is the directory to which you want 
to transfer it. So, to move the two Invaders 
files mentioned above, you would type: 

♦COPY INVADER* GAMES 

You could also type a full file specification 
with 

♦COPY sO. *. FILES. INVAD 
ER* i 0.*. GAMES 

which would have exactly the same effect. 
It is a good idea to get into the habit of 
typing full specifications, because then you 
don’t have to remember which directory, 
or even which drive, is current. To copy 
the two files to the $ directory of disc 1, 
the command would be 

♦COPY : O.*. FILES. INVAD 
ER* tl.« 

As you might expect "COPY makes a 
copy of the files in the destination direc- 
tory, but leaves the files in their original 
place as well. 

Another command which is familiar 
from DFS is "TITLE which, on DFS, puts 
a title of up to 12 characters on the disc. 
The ADFS command extends this to 19 
characters, but also allows you to put a 
separate title on each directory. This allows 
you to give a fuller description of the 
directory than allowed in the 10 character 
directory name, and also allows certain 
programs which use the title in DFS to run 
satisfactorily within a subdirectory on an 
ADFS disc, as the system call which reads 
a disc title returns a different string de- 
pending on which directory is selected. 
ADFS initially creates a title, which is the 
same as the directory name, for each direc- 
tory. This can be changed by selecting the 
directory (with *"‘D1R) and using the "‘TI- 
TLE command. 

In the next article on ADFS, I’ll be 
looking at libraries, and covering some of 
the points raised by readers in this series. I 
ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


£5 


APIECE 

0FSTRIN6S 

Peter Jennings, from St Albans, has sent 
some useful suggestions for making use of 
Basic’s rather neglected STRINGS com- 
mand. You often see programs with long 
lines of dashes to make lines across the 
screen, often produced with a command 
something like 

PRINT " 

ii 

This works of course, but is a very ineffi- 
cient method. A much neater way is 

PRINT STRING* (39, 

It is too ghastly to contemplate writing a 
whole screenful of lines with a Print com- 
mand, although someone is sure to have 
done it at some time. Peter’s first listing, 
which uses STRINGS and a simple loop 
shows the easy way to do it. To make it a 
full screen grid, replace the existing Print 
line with 

PRINT " ! M | STRING* (19, ” 

Peter’s second listing uses a similar idea to 
make a box of stars which can be used as a 
title panel. To add anything to the box, 
change the Tab position in the last line to 
move the cursor to where it is required. 
There is a very practical use for STRINGS 
in the third listing. This prints out a blank 
cassette inlay on any printer that supports 
condensed characters. 

The STRINGS command is not only 
used for display. Because variables can be 
used in the length of the string, a simple 
barchart can be constructed using the 
STRINGS function to print the correct 
length of bar. The final listing reads some 
data and generates a chart. You can try 
changing the numbers in the DATA state- 
ment (don’t use anything more than about 
30) for different charts. 


£5 


ELECTRON 

KEYWORDS 

Here is a quick hint from Robert Gahan of 
Dublin which prints out all the Basic 
keywords from the Electron’s ROM. 
Robert recommends it for beginners in 
programming, to remind them of the com- 
mands that are available. I won’t tell you 
how it works, but suffice to say that the 
program won’t work as it stands on other 
Acorn machines. BBC B and Master users 


can amuse themselves by finding the cor- 
rect values to replace &8071 and &836B on 
their machine - it’s different for every 
version of Basic. 


£5 


ABROAD 

VIEW 

Amit Jalan writes from India with an 
excellent tip for View users. You may not 
realise this, but View will work in up to 
132 columns. You can use this size of 
layout for tables and other complex lay- 
outs, or as Amit does, just to get more text 
onto the page. This is how to do it. 

Enter View , and press CTRL-f5 to cre- 
ate a new ruler. Delete the rightmost V 
symbol from the new ruler, and hold down 
the fullstop key. Fullstops will appear and 
the ruler will start to scroll sideways (and 
any entered text with it). When this stops 
and the computer beeps, delete one full- 
stop, and type a V symbol to denote the 
new ruler end. You now have a 132- 
column mode, and you can start typing 
into it, or reformat existing files with fO or 
the Format command in the usual manner. 

To print a page of this size, you will 
either need a wide body printer, or you’ll 
have to use condensed text. The printer 
must be put into condensed mode, so save 
your text, enter Basic, type: 

VDU 2,1,15,3 

and then return to View. Now print your 
file, either from disc, or by loading it back 
and typing PRINT. The VDU codes will 
have selected condensed text mode, and 
132 columns will fit on the page. If you 
want even more space then you can set 
your printer to produce micro size print. 
To do this, type 

VDU 2,1,15,1,27,1,03,0,1,65,5 

and not only will you get 132 columns but 
about 100 lines as well (on standard 11- 
inch paper). You must have an Epson- 
compatible printer to do this. Note that if 
emphasised print (ESC “E”) is set on your 
printer, either by DIP switch or software 
code, it must be deselected before con- 
densed mode will work. To do this, insert 
1,27,1,66 after the first 2 and before the 
following 1. Each number must be sepa- 
rated by a comma or a space. 

All submissions - hints , tips, programs or 

simply ideas — should be sent to Hints and 
Tips, Acorn User, Redwood Publishing, 
20-26 Brunswick Place, London Nl 6DJ. 

' 45 






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46 


ACORN USHR OCTOBER 1988 




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AU/10/88 




arc agora 


ALL FOUND OUT 

Track down all those mislaid files, discover the podule system of adding on hardware 
and we have two short routines you may find useful 


£10 


NO MORE 

MISLAID FILES 

The first offering this month is a filing 
system utility to help you track down 
those files mislaid in some long-forgotten 
subdirectory. It’s based on a program by 
Paul Dellar who receives a tenner for his 
programming idea. 

Listing 1 contains the source code. When 
run, it is saved in the current library as 
"'FIND. To search for a particular file, 
simply type *FIND <filename>. The file- 
name may contain wildcards, so '"'FIND 
Listingl, "FIND Prog"' and "'FIND #a*b* 
are all valid. A list of all filenames that 
match the one given is displayed, showing 
their full pathnames. 

The utility employs one function of the 
filing system SYS call OS-GBPB. If this 
routine is entered with R0 containing 10, a 
specified directory is examined for files 
that match a given (wildcarded) name. The 
actual entry parameters are: 

R0 10 

R1 Address of name of directory to 
search 

R2 Address of buffer to hold names of 
files that match 

R3 Number of files to examine 

R4 First entry to read 

R5 Size of buffer to hold names 

R6 Address of (wildcarded) filename 

"'FIND calls OS-GBPB in two places. The 
first time establishes whether any filenames 
in the current directory match the one 
given; the second checks for the existence 
of subdirectories. If a subdirectory is 
found, its name is appended to the current 
directory name (stored at ‘.name’) and the 
routine calls itself to continue the search 
further down the directory tree. 

After calling OS-GBPB, registers R3 and 
R4 contain information about the progress 



Rotating spiral using a grey-scale 


of the search. R3 contains the number of 
objects read. Note that even if this value is 
zero, there may still be more matches to 
find - a zero value merely indicates that the 
last lot of names looked at did not match 
the wildcarded name. It is register R4 that 
must be checked to see if the search is over. 
R4 should initially be loaded with zero 
and, after each call to OS-GBPB, the value 
of R4 is updated to point to the next set of 
filenames. When no more filenames are 
available, R4 is returned containing -1. 

For simplicity, *FIND only looks at one 
filename at a time. This has little effect on 
speed since the operating system ‘caches’ 
directory information in memory. 

The OS-GBPB calls put all the informa- 
tion in the parameter block at ‘.buffer’. The 
first 16 bytes contain the file information 
(load and execution addresses, attributes 
etc) and the next four contain the file type. 
To search for subdirectories, the wildcard 
name t:: '’ is used so that all names are 
considered and any with file type 2 are 
noted as directories. Following the file type 
is the filename itself. 

Note that the ‘X’ form of SWI OS- 
GBPB is used to prevent errors. In general, 
all SWI calls from within ‘transient’ utili- 
ties should use the ‘X’ form for SWIs - if 
an error condition happens, no error mes- 
sage is printed, but the routine returns with 
the overflow flag set. So, this way, you can 
deal with the errors yourself. 


USER 


PODULES 



Many readers will have considered adding 
hardware to their Arcs, in the form of 
‘podules’. Despite the lack of information 
on the subject, the podule system has been 
well thought out, and the appearance of 
‘development cards’ should make building 
prototype podules a little easier. 

Many podule developers will want to 
include software on their cards in the form 
of ROMs. These must conform to strict 
specifications if they are to be regarded as 
‘Acorn conformant’ and these specifica- 
tions are outlined here with an example. 

Those of you who are familiar with the 
ROM filing system of the BBC micro will 
recognise many similarities with the 
Archimedes’ podule system. Each podule 
ROM contains a header and then a series 
of ‘chunks’. So that the podule manager 
knows what’s going on, a podule ROM 
also has a ‘chunk directory’ that contains 
details of all the chunks that follow. 
Chunks can be of various types. The 
simplest is the ‘description’ type which is 
simply a name. If your podule ROM 
contains a description chunk, this will be 
shown when you type "'PODULES. 
Another useful brand of chunk is the 
‘module’ type. If your podule ROM con- 
tains a module, this will be downloaded 
automatically and will appear in the mod- 
ule list if you type "MODULES. 

Another important sort of chunk is the 
‘loader’ type. This is a short piece of code 
that enables bytes to be written to and read 
from your podule. The loader code is 
copied down into RAM upon reset and the 
podule manager keeps a note of which 
loader to call for each podule. If your 
podule ROM does not contain a loader, 
most of the podule manager SWI calls will 
not work. 

Listing 2 is the source code for a demon- 


48 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 




David Lawrence’s giant coloured clock - now you need never be stuck for time 


stration podule ROM - ‘AUpod’. This 
contains an example of each of three types 
of ‘chunk’: a loader, a module and a podule 
description. When run, a file called ‘AU- 
pod’ is saved and this can either be blown 
into EPROM or loaded into RAM if your 
podule card contains it. 

The first three bytes of the podule con- 
tain flags. In general, only one bit need be 
set - bit 0 of byte 1. This indicates that a 
chunk directory follows the header. 

The next two bytes contain a product 
type, and the following two a manufacturer 
number. These have been set to zero in the 
example, although if you are intending to 
sell an add-on yourself, you should write 
to Acorn asking it to allocate your own 
numbers. The next byte is a country code 
(0 for UK) and then eight padding zeros 
are assembled. 

Next comes the chunk directory itself. 
Three chunks are supported in the example 
and the macro FNchunkhead is used to 
assemble the entry for each. The function 
takes three parameters; the start and end 
offsets of the chunk and a byte of flags. 
These are compiled into eight bytes. The 
first contains the flags, the next three the 
chunk size and the last four the chunk start 
address. 

The top bit (bit 7) of the flag’s byte 
should always be set. Bits 4 to 6 contain a 
value describing the chunk and only two 
values are useful: 0 and 7. If bits 4 to 6 
contain 0, bits 0 to 3 contain a code further 
defining the chunk. Code 0 means a Load- 
er chunk, Code 1 means Module, Code 2 
means BBC ROM and Code 3 means a 
chunk containing sprite definitions. 

If bits 4 to 6 contain 7 (that is, if they are 
all set), bits 0 to 3 again contain a descrip- 
tive code. The most useful values are 1 for 
a serial number, 2 for the date of manufac- 
ture, 4 for the place of manufacture and 5 
for a podule description. So, for example, a 
module chunk has type byte % 1000001 
(&F1) and a description chunk has . type 
byte %11 110101 (&F5). 

The loader chunk begins with four poin- 
ters - only the first two are used in the 
example. The first points to a routine to 
read a byte from the podule and the next to 
a routine to write a byte. In the table is a 
summary of the contents and availability of 
the ARM registers upon entry to these 
routines: 

R0 Data to write, byte that was 
read 

Rl Address to write to within 
podule 

R2-R3 Nothing (may be used) 

ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


R4-R9 

Must be preserved 

R10 

Nothing (may be used) 

Rll 

Address of hardware base for 


podule 

R12 

Must be preserved 

R13 

Stack pointer 

R14 

Return address 

R15 

Program counter 


The actual address being written to or read 
from is calculated by adding the hardware 
base address in Rll (with its bottom bits 
cleared) to four times the address in Rl. 
This is because the bytes of the podule 
ROM are seen as being four bytes apart by 
the Archimedes. Only 4k of podule ROM 
can be ‘paged in’ at any one time so if you 
wish to include bigger ROMs you will 
need to incorporate a paging register. 

The module chunk is just an ordinary 
module. Note that in order for the module 
offsets to be calculated correctly, P% is 
reset to 0 before assembling the module 
part. The variable P2% is used to keep 
track of P% while the module is being 
assembled so that subsequent addresses are 
not ‘skew-whiff’. The description chunk is 
just a zero-terminated string. 

Once assembled, the podule ROM image 
clearly needs to be installed in a podule. 
The program was developed using an 
Atomwide Expansion Card fitted with 
RAM and so a short program was needed 
to ‘blow’ the image into the RAM. Listing 
3 literally ‘pokes’ the ROM image into the 
podule’s RAM. It requests a filename and 


podule socket, and stores each byte of the 
file in the podule at the specified address. 
This is done in Supervisor Mode. (Note 
that no error-checking has been included in 
listing 3!) The ‘real’ location of the four 
podules are: 

Podule ‘Real’ location 

0 &3240000 

1 &3244000 

2 &3248000 

3 &324C000 
Having run listing 3 and entered the 
name ‘AUpod’, press CTRL-Break and 
type "PODULES. You should see 
‘Acorn User Podule’ in the list. 


£5 


GRAPHIC 

ODDMENTS 

We finish off with a couple of ‘shorts’, 
each of which earns its author a fiver. 
Listing 4 on the yellow pages comes from 
Jeroen Boomgaardt of the Netherlands, 
and illustrated some possibilities of grey- 
scales. Listing 5 is from in-house regular 
David Lawrence and was written out of 
necessity - his digital watch broke down. 
Stick it in your library - you never know 
when it might come in handy. 

Published items can earn you up to £20, so 

send your programs , hints and tips to: Arc 
Agora , Acorn User, Redwood Publishing , 
20-26 Brunswick Place , London NJ 6DJ. 
The address for Atomwide Ltd is: 23 The 
Greenway , Orpington , Kent. 


49 



DS/DD 135TPI 
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DATA SWITCH BOXES 

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2 Way RS232, 25 Way D Type 

s 

£19.50 

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£21.50 

4 Way Cent, 36 Way 

£29.50 

2 Way X Over, RS232 

£24.00 

2 Way X Over, Cent 

£26.00 



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2 WAY DATA SWITCH+CABLE 


Small Compact Data Switch Box fitted with one 
cable + 2 25 Way F . Sockets. Cable end terminated 
with either 25 way M. or 36 way M. 

Simple push button operation 

RS232 M. Cable Termination £19.50 

Cent M. Cable Termination £21 .50 


PRINTER STANDS 

( 

132 Column Space Saver 

\ 

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.£24.95 

80 Column Standard Plastic 

.£13.99 

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.£18.00 

j 


ACCESSORIES 


Tilt & Turn Monitor Stand 12" 

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5.25" Mailer (Plastic) Pack of 10 . 


.£10.75 

.£12.50 

...£6.50 


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C476 In Carry Case £16.50 



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50 £18 

100 £34 

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1000..... £279 


3 7 BOX AND DISKS OFFER 


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40 3.5“ DS/DD Disks Plus 40 Capacity box £38.00 
50 3.5” DS/DD Disks Plus 80 Capacity box £48.00 
All boxes have lock and two keys 



5f box and disks offer 


25 5.25“ DS 48TPI Disks Plus 100 Capacity box Cl 6.00 

50 5.25“ DS 48TPI Disks Plus 100 Capacity box £24.00 

100 5.25“ DS 48TPI Disks Plus 100 Capacity box £40.00 

All boxes have lock and two keys 


DATA CABLES 

^ 

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£7.95 ^ 

25 Way M - 25 Way M RS232 

£7.95 

36 Way M - 36 Way M Cent 

£7.95 

All 6ft Long 

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Boxes & 
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SpaceSaver 
Monitor Stand 
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25 Way to 25 Way F 

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PRINTER BUFFERS ] 

f PB64-1 1 IN -1 OUT 64 K 

PB64-2 ’ IN ^ OUT 64 K 

PB256-1 1 IN 1 OUT 256K 

PB256-2 g IN “ OUT 256K 

£80.00 

£99.00 

...£150.00 

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] 

f A4 Angle Poise Type 

A4 Desk Top Type 

£13.70 ) 1 

£8.90 J 


MOUSE MATS ETC. 


Rigid Double Sided 

Semi-Rigid 

Mouse House 


.£4.50 

..£4.00 

.£4.00 



SEE US AT THE PC SHOW, 
EARLS COURT, SEPT.14th-18th 
INCLUSIVE 
Stand No. 2537 



DISK DRIVE HEAD CLEANERS 


3.5" Head Cleaner + Fluid £3.50 

5.25" Head Cleaner + Fluid £2.50 

Price only if bought with other products 


DISKS DISKS 

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DISKS 

DISKS 1 

5.25“ SS/DD 48TPI 

25 

£9.00 

50 

£16.00 

100 

£30.00 

500 

£148.00 

5.25" DS/DD 96TPI 

25 ... 

. ..£11.00 

50 

£20.00 

100 

£36.00 

500 

£176.00 

5.25" DS/HD 1 .6Meg 

25 

£29.00 

50 

£49.00 

100 

£83.00 

500 

£348.00 I 

v 

ALL DISKS INCLUDE ENVELOPES AND USER LABEL SETS 



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ALL PRICES INCLUDE VAT & P&P. UK & BFPO ORDERS ONLY 



PHONE POST 

TO ORDER BY Q &ES 0597-87784 BY |\Z1 

Manor Court Supplies Ltd 

DEPTAU10, GLEN CELYN HOUSE, PENYBONT, LLANDRINDOD WELLS, POWYS, LD1 5SY 


Send cheques/P. O.s made payable 
to MANOR COURT SUPPLIES LTD 
9am -6pm M0N-FRI 

Telephone: 0597 87 792 


C 


EDUCATION AND GOVERNMENT ORDERS WELCOME 


J 


50 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 





The Computer Concepts FAX PACK 
adds the power of the Archimedes 
computer to a FAX machine. It includes 
the following features: 


A 


A 


A 


A 


A FAX modem podule that 
simply plugs into any 
Archimedes computer, and 
then into any standard 
telephone socket. It is 
possible to connect a 
conventional phone in 
parallel. 

Software which allows 
character based output 
from a variety of word 
processors to be converted 
to a FAX file format, 
suitable for sending to any 
group 3 FAX machine. This 
can also convert SPRITES 
and other graphic files to a 
F.AX format file. So it is 
possible to send screen 
dumps or text files, not 
only to other machines, 
but also to any group 3 
F.AX machines. 

Auto-dial allows other 
computers or F.AX machines 
to be dialled by the 
computer. Either a phone 
number or a name can be 
specified’. Names are looked 
up in a phone number 
directory file to obtain the 
correct number. 


FAX images may be viewed 
on screen, within a 
window, where they may be 
scaled, scrolled, cropped 
etc., and then saved again 
as a FAX file. Facilities are 
included for printing out 
FAX files on a variety of 
dot matrix printers, 
including the most common 
9 and 24 pin versions. 



FAX PACK FOR 
THEARCHIMEDES 



| pwry | he popularity of FAX 
;l I machines has increased 
i I to such an extent during 
the last twelve months that 
they now outnumber TELEX machines. 
In today’s successful business, a FAX 
machine is as vital a piece of office 
equipment as a telephone. 


A 


Since F.AX modems work at 
9600 bits-per-second. this 
allows direct file transfer at 
least 4 times as fast as the 
fastest conventional 
modems. Indeed any file 
can be automatically sent, 
or obtained from a remote 
machine. 


/ 


r» MITSUBISHI 


A 


A 


software automatically 
detects the type and group 
of machine dialled. It can 
also detect a suitably FAX 
equipped computer. If it 
other end, similar to this 
computer, then it can avoid 
the FAX protocols and 
transmit the files, error 
checked, directly to the 
remote machine. 

Auto dial and auto-answer 
hardware which sends or 
receives any group 3 FAX, 
and saves on the current 
filing system as a suitable 
FAX- file. 


Most facilities are available from simple 
logical star commands, such as *DIAL 
Fred and *SendFAX file office. 

FAX PACK INCLUDES: 

the FAX podule for plugging into any 
Archimedes computer, (fitted with a 
back-plane) and software as described 
above. 

There is also the option of a 200 dpi, A4 
width, hand held document scanner, 
which plugs into the FAX podule. The 
scanner unit allows any printed 
document to be digitised and saved in a 
suitable FAX file format. In other 
words, this system provides an economic 
alternative to stand alone FAX machines 
with the added advantage of the 
Archimedes computer and associated 
software. 

Price: £499 plus VAT or £799 plus VAT 
with the scanner. 

Please phone for availability 
(Access & Barclaycard accepted) 



^ Fax Pack Document Scanner 




Computer Concepts Ltd 


Gaddesden Place Hemel Hempstead Herts HP2 6EX Telephone 0442 6 933 
(Access & Barclaycard accepted) 




/TO? riEDIFi Computer Supplies Ltd. 



5V4 Unbranded Discs Printer Ribbons 

25 50 100 250 

SS/DD 9.30 18.40 34.60 73.60 

DS/40T 10.40 19.60 36.30 76.25 

DS/80T 12.20 23.10 43.10 90.85 

DSHDPCAT’s 39.90 71.45 133.55 293.25 

5 Vi Coloured Discs 

DS/40T 12.45 23.55 39.95 91.50 

DS/80T 13.45 25.40 47.40 99.95 

5 Vi Reversible 

2 Index Holes & Notches 
DS/80T 15.50 28.50 55.00 125.00 

316 10 20 50 100 

DSDD 11.90 22.90 54.55 104.35 

5Vi Branded Discs 

SS/DD 6.40 12.10 28.30 51.70 

DS/40T 7.50 14.15 33.15 61.30 

DS/80T 8.50 15.95 36.25 71.25 

DS/HDPCAT's 17.90 34.30 81.20 149.80 

REVERSIBLE 9.75 18.50 43.85 81.50 

All discs supplied are wim labels 5W write protects, 
envelopes & hub rings. 100% certified error free 
lifetime guarantee. 

3V6 Branded view km Discs 

SS/DD 13.70 26.90 64.40 122.60 

DSDD 14.90 28.60 68.20 130.50 

DSHD 38.95 74.25 176.80 327.80 


Computer Paper 

Plain fanfold, micro perf edges 
Size Weight 1000's Price per box 

gsm perbx 1 box 3bxs 5bxs 

11x9W 60 2000 14.50 13.90 12.90 

11x9'/? 60 M000 9.50 - 

1 1x9'/? 80 2000 19.75 18.10 16.75 

1 1x9'/.- 80 1000 11,90 - 

EXACT A4 

Il%x97i 70 2000 2050 19.25 1830 

90 1000 13.90 12.85 11.90 

Computer Labels 

Continuous fanfold, sprocket fed 
Pr.ce per 1000 1000 3000 5000 

70x362 3 /ixl 7 At 4.85 3.85 4.30 

89 x 363’/?xl Vi 6 5.35 4.50 4.10 

89x493'/?xl ' V»o 7.50 6.60 5.90 

Please state no of labels across sheet (1 . 2 or 3) 

Disc Storage Boxes 

Priceeach 1+ 3+ 6+ 

MD 120574x120 11.90 11.30 10.75 

MD 10057txl00 9.90 9.40 8.95 

MD50 574x50 7.50 7.10 6.75 

Printer Stands puce each 

Space Saver 80 col 30.50 28.50 26.95 

132 col 35.50 32.90 31.25 

Coated Wire 80 col 13.70 12.75 11.85 

132 col 15.70 1460 13.60 

Swivel Bases Pnceeoch 

12" 55x280x260 mm 12.90 11.75 10.90 

14" 55x355 x 320 mm 14.90 13.55 12.75 


Freepost, Dept. AU, Rydal Mount 
Baker St„ Potters Bar, Herts. EN6 3BR 

(5 lines) [■"■■I 

r \ Access & Visa Imemsaml 


Out of Office Hours (Answer Machine) 


Orders despatched 24 hrs 
Please allow 5 days for delivery 
For guaranteed next day delivery please 
ring - from £1.50 extra. 

Postage covers UK only. 

ALL PRICES INCLUSIVE OF DELIVERY 
AND VAT 

Personal callers welcome 
Weekdays 8.30am - 5.30pm 
Saturdays 9.30am - 1 .00pm 

SPRING CATALOGUE 
OUT NOW 16 PAGES 
Please ring or write for your free copy. 

Wire Printer Stand 


Space 


adjusts by front 
dial turn 360° 
Tilt up & 
down 25° 


12" 55 x 280 x 260mm 
,14" 55 x 355 x 320mm 


W310 D610mm 
W430 D610mm 

memo 
i iujii i ~ 


Anti 

MD120 Static MD100 

mirnn memo mirom memio 

/ IIU\U I IUJII I ~l IIU\U I IUJII i 


refoldina of paper CfifiSSSSfi 

mirnn memo mirom merino 

I IILI\U I IUJII I ~l IIU\U I IUJII i 



i/i 


7J 

70 

□ 



L 

C 

K 


i 


^COftN 

APPROVED 


HCCS 


Telephone: (091) 487 0760 


N 


W 


t 


HCCS ASSOCIATES LIMITED 

575-583 Durham Road 
Engine Lane 
Low Fell 
Gateshead 

Tyne and Wear NE9 5JJ 


Archimedes Computer Systems 


Archimedes 305 

£699.00 

Archimedes 305 Mono System 

£749.00 

Archimedes 305 Colour System 

£899.00 

Archimedes 310 

£835.00 

Archimedes 310 Mono System 

£895.00 

Archimedes 310 Colour System 

£975.00 

Archimedes 410 

£1399.00 

Archimedes 410 Mono System 

£1499.00 

Archimedes 410 Colour System 

£1599.00 

Archimedes 440 

£2529.00 

Archimedes 440 Mono System 

£2589.00 

Archimedes 440 Colour System 

£2749.00 


Archimedes Podules /Upgrades 

0.5Mb RAM (Archimedes 305 only) 

Floppy Disc 

20Mb Hard Disc+Podule (300 Series) 

Podule Backplane 
Archimedes/Master Econet Module 
5W' Floppy Drive Module 


Master Series 


Master 128 

£365.00 

Master Turbo Module 

£95.00 

Master Eprom Cartridge 

£11.00 

Master Compact Series 

Master Compact Entry System 

£349.00 

Master Compact TV System 

£363.00 

Master Compact Mono System 

£399.00 

Master Compact Colour System 

£549.00 

RS 232 Kit 

£26.00 

Additional Floppy Disc Drive 

£99.00 

Pal TV Adaptor 

£26.00 

Scientific Series 


4Mb Workstation 

£3250.00 

32016 1Mb Second Processor 

£1050.00 

Panos 1 .4 Upgrade Kit 

£29.00 

X25 Gateway 

£2150.00 

Gateway Access Pack 

£130.00 


BBC AIV System 

BBC AIV and Domesday System Prices on request 


HCCS - PRODUCTS 


Video Digitiser £99.00 

Includes ROM and Disc Software. 

Facilities include, image grab, outlining, 
smoothing, window manipulation, distance and 
area measurement charting of relative eight 
grey scale quantities. 

Accepts standard video signals. Menu driven. 

Voice Recognition System £299.00 

Utilising state of the art NEC chip set. 

Teaching mode 1 28 word capacity. Down 
load from disc any number of 128 sets. Can 
be used instead of keyboard after teaching. 
Almost 100% recognition rate. The up and 
coming input method. 

EPROM adapter for 12.5V EPROMS 2764/128/ 
256 fits virtually all current blowers enables 
the % use of cheaper Eproms £15.00 

CDT/TVEI componentry price list on application. 


All prices are exclusive of V.A.T. All items are subject to availability. All prices are subject to change 
without notice. Price and stock status available on request. Official orders welcome. Carriage free. 


£149.00 

£125.00 

£499.00 

£39.00 

£40.00 

£24.00 



£ 




00 

m 

m 

00 

C 

O 


H 

S 

X 



ECONET SERVICE EDUCATION SCIENTIFIC DOMESDAY GENERAL CUMAMA SERVICE VITEC SERVICE } J , SERVICE 

CENTRE CENTRE CENTRE DEALER DEALER DEALER APPROVED DEALER CENTRE APPROVED DEALER CENTRE >r < T.W 1 K CENTRE 


32 


ACORN USRR OCTOBER 1988 






O DUST O 
COVERS 


PROFESSIONAL 
COVERS FOR THE 
BBC MICRO RANGE 


BBD 

o DUST o 
COVERS 


DIRECT FROM THE LEADING MANUFACTURER 

Tailored from the besi quality ivory coloured nylon that has been 
coated with polyurathane to which an anti-static inhibitor has been 
added. These fabric covers are tastefully finished with brown piping 
and have the model name hot foil printed over the keyboard. They 
are washable and can be ironed with a cool iron. 


ARCHIMEDES: £9. 


BBC COMPACT SET £9.00 

(Please state whether colour or monochrome monitor). 

BBC MASTER £5.00 

BBC B/B+ £5.00 

MATCHING COVERS FOR PRINTERS, 
MONITORS AND DISC DRIVERS 
A large range of covers for printers, monitors and disc drives are 
available to match the computer covers. 

PRINTERS COVERS FROM £5 00 

MONITOR COVERS FROM £6 00 

DISC DRIVE COVERS FROM 

If you have a specific requirement please do not hesitate to 
contact us as we will be delighted to help. 

Prices include VAT and First Class Postage. All our covers are 
unconditionally guaranteed. Please make cheques out to: 

BBD Computer Dust Covers 
megm The Standish Centre 
I >« Cross Street 

Standish, Wigan WN6 0HQ 

Callers and Dealer inquiries welcome 

TEL: 0257 422968 FAX: 0257 423QDQ 


CommunITel 

PROFESSIONAL VIEWDATA SYSTEM 


CommunITel is an exciting professional viewdata system 
for the BBC B. Master & Compact Micros (DFS, ADFS or Network). 

IT'S USES IN EDUCATION INCLUDE 

Learning Information Technology Cross-Curricular Development 
Structuring Creative Learning Administration/Publicity 

The system includes a comprehensive suite of programs which enables the creation of a database with 
message facilities. This can then be made available to callers using a telephone line and any viewdata 
terminal. The package includes comprehensive tutorial and reference manuals and a sample database 

Available in TWO LEVELS FOR USE WITH THE DTI (DaCom or Tandata) SCHOOLS MODEM 


LEVEL1 FRAME EDITOR 
SEARCH 

CAROUSEL DISPLAY 
FRAME PRINTER 
VIEWDATA - TERMINAL 


LEVEL 1 + £55 


LEVEL 2 FRAME EDITOR 
SEARCH 

CAROUSEL DISPLAY 
FRAME PRINTER 
VIEWDATA ♦ TERMINAL 
DIAL IN HOST SYSTEM 
TELESOFTWARE FORMATTER 


LEVEL 2 £95 


UPGRADE FROM LEVEL 1 * TO LEVEL 2 C45 UPGRADE FROM LEVEL 2 TO ADFS LEVEL 2 £45 

LEVEL 2 with Auto-answer/Auto-dial MODEM from £375 (all prices exclude p&p & VAT) 

The ADFS version includes response frames and gives up to 500 pages with 
a single 80 track D.S. disk or thousands of pages using a winchester disc drive 


NIMBUS VERSION NOW AVAILABLE 


FOR A DEMONSTRATION of LEVEL 2 dial: Viewdata No 01-968 7402 or Telephone 01-960 7998 

For more information cut out the coupon and send to: 

COMMUNITEL, 189 FRESTON ROAD, LONDON W10 6TH 



Please send me details of CommunITel products. I am particularly interested in (please indicate) 
NAME 

POSITION 

ESTABLISHMENT 

ADDRESS .’ 

TEL AU10 


1 


a 


•o 

as 


-C 

H 




BASIC 

MONO 

COLOUR 

A305 

763.65 

829.20 

1004.00 

A310 

912.23 

977.78 

1152.58 

A310M 

997.78 

1043.33 

1218.12 

A410 

1528.40 

1583.03 

1746.90 

A440 

2762.93 

2828 48 

3003.28 


The above are NEW prices for the Archimedes 
-All Discounted!! 

Full range of Archimedes poudulcs etc etc 
stocked - ring for price 

‘Master Series from £412.95 

"Compact series from £375.69 

‘Compact Professional- 
Computer. Monitor, Brother Daisy Wheel & 
Overview from £709.03 

Special Cambridge Z88 £267 73 

Sec user BBC B s from £199.00 

6502 Sec Processors E103.50U 

Master 51 2 Module £149.5011 




Phil ps 8833 colour 
Philips 8852 colour 
Philips 7502 green 
Microvitcc 11431 
Microvitec 1451 
Microvitec 1441 
KagaTaxanSupvlII 
Microvitec 1431 
Tatung Col Monitor 


Panasonic KXP 1081 
Panasonic KXP 1082 
Citizen 1200 
Epson LX800 
Epson LQ800 
Micro P 135 ♦ 


£275.82 
£309.46 
£83.65 
£211.64 
£189. 75U 
£430.10 
£395.98 
£149.5011 
£169 00 


£169 00 
£243.80 
£171.63 
£268.80 
£539.05 
£159.36 


—ill i I'MMiii 

Digimouse i Artroom £53.91 

Digimouse * Graphic £35 91 

Digimouse f Illustrator £40.39 

'We specialise in trading in used hardware & 
software also we will buy in certain software 
and hardware. 

'Anything we have for almosf Anything you 
have. 

" NEW LAMPS FOR OLD!!*' 


—■mi iiniiM 

Fpson GQ3500 laser £1692.68 

Thin 13 printed on the 
OQ3500. wo offer a special help 
line on the 003500 with custom 
software soon ! ! J 

■■ 1 1 ii m 1 1 iii 1 1 1 ■ 

ACP Battery backed RAM £37.17 

ACP ROM Adapter 2 £13.90 

ATPL Sideways ROM Board £41.50 

Cambridge Z8832K RAM £18.95 

Cambridge Z8832K ROM £18 95 

Cambridge Z88128K RAM £47.43 

Cambridge Z88 128KR0M £47.43 

Cambridge Eprom Eraser £37.95 

Cumana Touch Pad £34.50U 

Graph Pad £69.00U 

MorleyAABoard £43.64 

Morley RAM Disc 1 Meg £189.92 

Motley RAM Disc 2 Meg £332.41 

Morley Teletext Adaptor £65 00U 

Pace Linnet Modem inc Commslar 
Comrns ROM £143.86 

Pace Nightingale Modem £69 00U 

Ferguson TV tuner £55.00 

Vine Mocros ROM Board 3 £17 94 

Vine Micros ROM Board 4 C26.94 

Vollmace Della 14B £9.20U 

Acorn Master Cartridge C9.20U 

Peartree Mast Cart PEP002 E9.20U 

Prism 200 Modem £40.25U 


AMX Design 

AMX Mouse f Superart ♦ OS 

AMX Superart 

AMX Max 

AMX Desk 

Extra Extra! 

AMX Slop Press 
AMX Slop Press 


£62.98 

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£12.70 

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'The above are just a few of fhc ifems we 
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the rninulc prices 



No PSU Drives 


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£118.95 

Ahkter 40 80 BOOK Dual 

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Cumana CDX800S Dual 

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Pace PSD3 single 

£137.13 

Pace PDD3 Dual 

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Opus Single 40T 

E51.75U 

Acorn Single 40T 

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With PSU Drives 


Ahkter 40 80 400K single 

£131.69 

Ahkter 40 80 800K Dual 

£276.20 

Cumana CS400 Single 

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Cumana CD800S Dual 

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Pace PDD3P Dual 

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Hard Disc Units 


Ahkter 20megHD2000 

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Ahkter 40mcgHD4000 

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Viglen 20meg Drive 0 

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Viglen 20meg Drive 1 

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Viglen 40mcg Drive 0 

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Viglen 40meg Drivel 

£737.08 

1 


Basic Editor 

C18.00U 

C language 

£51 .75U 

ISO Pascal (Archimedes) 

E65.00U 

Logo 

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ISO Pascal ROM 

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Lisp 

£9. 19U 

Logistix (Archimedes) 

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Micros m Business 

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Twin (Archimedes) 

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View 3.0 

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View Index 

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View Professional 

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Fonts for above each 

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‘All prices in this Advert include VAT al 15% 
Post and Packing charges 92p for light items. 
£1 .95 lor medium items. Expensive products 
£7.48 courier delivery Items marked "U" are 
used stock. 


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Discmaster 

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Teletext Tape 

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Master File II disc 

E11.50U 

Printwise Disc 

E14.95U 

Quickcalc Disc 

£11. SOU 

*We stock the complete range Beebug Soft all 

Discounted. 



CLARES MICRO SUPPLIES 


Alpha Base (Archimedes) 

£44.94 

Artisan (Archimedes) 

£35.95 

Toolkit (Archimedes) 

£35.95 

BromBBC 

E11.50U 

Macrom 

E17.25U 

Fontwise 5.25" package 

£26.99 

Fontwise 3.5" package 

£30.59 

^99 1 Mil ■ C 

Inter-Base 

£55.20 

Inter-Chart 

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Inter-Sheet 

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Inter-Chart (Archimedes) 

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Inter-Sheet (Archimedes) 

£35 88 

Inter-Word (Archimedes) 

£35.88 

Mega 3 ROM 

£87.97 

spell Master 

£47.19 

Wordwise Plus 

E30.00U 

ARM Ass Land Book 

£11.65 

ROM podule Arch Bat Back 

£64.44 


Master Guide Book 

£11.65 

Viewstore/Sheet book 

£11.65 

View Guide Book 

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Master Emulator ROM 

£17.94 

Program Discs for books 

£7.14 

Hyper Driver 

£26.49 

HIM 

Replay Tape to Disc 

£31.48 

Romboard3 > 

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Write Protect Switch 

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TDR0M for BBC B 

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Genie in a Box 

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Genie Master Cartridge 

Genie Utilities 

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Introducing three titles under 
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"SENSIBLE SOFTWARE" 
Introductory Price £14.95 each 

THE MENU 

Displays both sides of a disc on 
scrolling window: Auto LOADS 
BASIC. M Code & WP files: File 
handling made easy: Shows all 16 
ROMS: loads ROMS automatically in 
SWR and save to disc: This is what a 
fboot file was made for: 

THE LIST 

Aufo selects DFS/ADFS: Allows 39 
chars, description of files so months 
later you know what a file was and 
where it is: ADFS path route shown 
and routing made easy: Printout of all 
data to keep in each disc envelope 

THE LABEL 

The ultimate label printer, Bold, 
NLQ, Condensed, Enlarged, U/Lined 
etc WYSIWYG on screen editing: Auto 
duplication from one to print as many 
as you want: Configures to many 
label sizes and numbers across: If 
you print labels this is a must! 

“We are mainly Mail Order but 
persoinal callers are welcome to 
collect goods and arrange for 
demonstration of computers and 
accessories. 

Please Telephone to arrange 

appointment first. 


ACORN USl-R OCTOBER 1988 


53 






GAMES 


TAKING 

SHAPE 

Spend hours trying to construct any of three cuboids with our Polyominoes routine - 
* guaranteed to stretch your mind 


Don Scales 


P entominoes are shapes made up 
from five squares - twelve diffe- 
rent shapes arc possible using 
every combination of five 
squares, ignoring mirror images 
and so on. These shapes are often known 
by names like I, X, W, L and so on; each 
resembles a letter. I first read about the 
existence of pentominoes in a book by 
Martin Gardener, Mathematical Puzzles 
and Diversions. 

By using all these two-dimensional 
shapes, shown opposite, it is possible to 
construct four different rectangles. Many 
long evenings have been spent with this 
puzzle, and it has proved very popular 
with friends. 

I later read that if you use cubes instead 
of squares, it is possible to build up three 
differently shaped cuboids. A great deal 
more time was wasted, until 1 managed to 
build all three from the twelve three- 
dimensional pentominoes. The Polyomi- 
noes program in the yellow pages allows 
you to play with these pentominoes, and 
will give you many hours of pleasure, and 
frustration, trying to build up any of the 
three cuboids. 

Each of the pentominoes used in the 
program is made up of five cubes: the 
shapes themselves are essentially flat, they 
are just boxy versions of the two- 
dimensional ones. There are of course lots 
more .shapes that can be constructed using 
five cubes, but we are limited in this 
particular game to the twelve that have 
already been derived from the two- 
dimensional set. 

To use the program, type in listing 1 and 
CHAIN it. The length of the program and 
the shortage of memory means that on a 
model B, PAGE must be set to &1100 or 
lower before you start. So from disc, you 
54 



FUNCTIONS AND PROCEDURES 


PROC place used FNfit to decide whether 
shape will fit in box 

PROCputit marks shape as used in lower 
window and in C%(), and 
puts shape into G%(), red- 
raws whole box 

PROCdelete removes shape from G%() 
array, marks shape as unused, 
redraws whole box 

PROCshowall draws all shapes in the box, 
from back to front so hidden 
boxes are automatically 
drawn over 

PROCmove undraws old box cursor, and 
redraws new cursor 

PROCbase draws rear edges of cuboid 
box 

PROCoutline draws front edges of cuboid 
box 

PROCredraw decides if shape is used - if 
not, draws in left window 
with PROCdraw 

PROCrot uses six FNrot functions to 
rotate shapes within the 
C%() array, then redraws 
shape in left window 

PROCdraw draws shape in left window 

PROCcube draws a single cube 

PROCshape draws shapes in lower win- 
dow from data 1 

PROCdot draws each part of shape in 

lower window 

PROCextract sets x, y and z co-ordinates of 
one cube from number stored 
in C%() 

FNfit decides whether shape over- 

laps another or protrudes 
beyond box 

G%(„) array showing which shapes 

occupy box 

C%(,) contains x, y and z co- 

ordinates of each shape. (n,0) 
shows whether shape is used 

A%() temporary 


should start it up like this: 

PAGE=&1 100 
CHAIN “POLY” 

Or you could include a line like this: 

0 IF PAGE &1 100 THEN PAGE 
=&1 100:CHAIN “POLY” 

On a cassette-only model B or a later 
machine, you don’t need to lower PAGE. 
Make sure that on a B + , Master or Com- 
pact, you turn shadow memory on with 
* SHADOW before you start - this en- 
sures that you’ve got enough memory to 
run the program. 

It will also run on an Electron, but only 
from tape, or with an add-on DFS. With 
ADFS and the Plus 3 interface, you can’t 
lower the value of PAGE enough to give 
the program room to run. Although the 
program will also run on the Arc, it may 
be necessary to change the control keys 
slightly, as the underline key is not as 
convenient as it is on the BBC micro 
keyboard. Change line 320 to include 
instead of 

When the program runs, it first asks you 
which shape of cuboid you want to build. 
There is a choice of three: a five by four by 
three box, a flatter six by five by two box 
and a thin 10 by three by two box. Indicate 
the one you want, and the main Polyomi- 
noes screen will appear. 

The' screen display is divided into three 
important sections. The box at the right of 
the screen shows your progress cuboids. 
The cubes are built up, within a dotted 
outline of the cuboid. One of the blocks is 
highlighted with an outline ‘cursor’; this is 
where the next polyomino will be placed. 
The cursor can be moved around with the 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


GAMES 



The 12 available three-dimensional Polyomino shapes - the black dots indicate the central ‘keystones’ 


arrow keys: the up, down, left and right 
arrow keys move the cursor around one 
level of the cuboid, and you can use the 
adjacent */’ and ” keys to move up and 
down within the cuboid. 

The second important part of the screen 
is the lower window. This contains all the 
polyominoes, with ones you’ve already 
used in red and the ones that you still have 
to use in yellow. The current shape is 
highlighted in a box, and you can select the 
shape with the ‘<’ and ‘>’ keys. Confirm 
your choice with the Space bar. 

Pressing Space moves the selected shape 
into the left-hand window, which then 
allows you to manipulate the polyomino 
until it lies in the correct orientation to fall 
into the cuboid on the right. The X, Y and 
Z keys rotate the polyomino in three 
different ways, about its three axes, and the 
lower case x, y and z keys rotate in the 
opposite directions. Each time you rotate 
the shape, it is redrawn in its new position. 
You can turn the shape as much as you 
want, until you feel it will fit in the cuboid 
box. Once you have it facing the right 
direction, you can press Return to transfer 
it to the cuboid. 

The cursor in the cuboid shows where 
the shape is going to be placed. On each 
polyomino, there is one ‘central’ block of 
the five indicated by being outlined dif- 
ferently to the other four - it looks slightly 
larger than the other cubes. This is the part 
ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 



Choose one of three box sizes 



of the shape that falls into the space 
occupied by the cursor in the cuboid; it is 
the ‘keystone’ of the polyomino. 

You can quit the game at any time by 
pressing Q; this gives you the choice of 
ending altogether, or choosing a different 
cuboid to restart with. 

Once you’ve put in a couple of polyomi- 


noes, you’ll find that it becomes more and 
more difficult to place new shapes into the 
box - you’ll get errors like ‘Outside box’ 
or ‘Overlaps’ when the shape you’ve 
selected won’t fit in the space you have 
selected with the cursor. This happens 
either when part of the polyomino would 
project outside the box, or into a block 
already in the box. It may be possible to fit 
it in by altering the orientation, by rotating 
it, or it may be possible to move the cursor 
to somewhere it will fit. Or you may just 
have to select a different shape to try. 

You can’t select a shape you’ve already 
used - but you can delete any shape and 
replace it. To do this, select the shape with 
the box cursor in the lower window, then 
press Delete. This removes it from the 
cuboid, and replaces it in the list of avail- 
able shapes at the bottom. But remember, 
taking a shape out leaves a hole, and you’ll 
have to fill that with other blocks. 

You will also have problems after a few 
shapes are put in, because the rear of the 
cuboid box may be obscured, and small 
holes you have left unfilled may become 
invisible. Eor this reason, it is vital to build 
up the polyomino pieces from the back of 
the box. This is the essence of the game; 
you’ll have to think very hard about which 
shape you want to use next. It doesn’t 
sound easy and believe me it isn’t, and if 
you do succeed, you certainly deserve a 
‘Well done’ message. 


55 










DABS 

PRESS 


Dabhand 

User 

News 

Revive your BBC Micro 
with one of our informa- 
tive and highly practical 
Dabhand (Guides or 
make it realise its full 
potential with one of our 
innovative software 
packages. Fellow Dab- 
handers David Atherton 
and Bruce Smith bring 
you the best in the world 
of BBC computing. 
Whether you have a BBC 
B, B+, Master 128, 

Compact or Electron we 
have something exciting 
for you! 

If you are looking for a 
new challenge and new 
avenues to explore then 
the C programming lan- 
guage will satisfy your ; 
needs. C: A Dabhand 
Guide is the ideal 
introduction and tutorial 
and is great value at 
£14.95 (512 pages!). See 
our Archimedes Ad in 
this issue for details. 

Summer Bonus 
Spend £40 or more and 
claim your free Dabs 
Press gift! Choose from 
the Assembler Bundle, 
SideWriter (a pop-up 
notepad worth £7.95) or 
Conversion Kit (machine 
code routines, £7.95). 
Please state your choice. 

PC Show 

See us at the PC Show 
(formerly PCW Show), 
Stand 2132, 14th-18th 
September. 

Archimedes Users 

See our other ad elsewhere 
in this issue for full details of 
our books and software for 
the Archimedes. 


Printer Prowess 


MiniDriver HyperDriver 

Support for Mini Office II, View family and Inter Series 


MiniDriver is a must for all users of Mini 
Office II, providing real printer power 
from within any module and a ViewData 
terminal in one! 

Simple mnemonic commands which may 
be embedded in your wordprocessor text 
allow you to gain full and simple access to 
all of your printers special effects. Not only 
that but the special preview option allows 
you to see on-screen the appearance of 
your text before printing thereby saving 
you time and paper. 

A proportional NLQ font ensures all users 
of Mini Office have letter quality print 
output. An integral ViewData terminal 
allows access to electronic mail areas such 
as Prestel, and Micronet 
MiniDriver works with all versions of 
Mini Office II and is supplied on ROM 
with a 40 page manual and disc. Price just 
£24.95 or £19.95 for SRAM version. 


Rave reviews have praised the simplicity 
and ease of use of HyperDriver. This 
ROM will transfer the way in which you 
handle your printer. 

From Basic simple star commands allow 
you to access the entire range of your 
printers special effects. These same * 
commands can be embedded within 
products such as InterWord and Word- 
Wise +. A printer driver is included for 
View and View Professional users. 

The special text print facility allows text 
to be previewed on-screen before print- 
ing. The NLQ font gives high quality 
printed output and a macro facility al- 
lows you to create your own * com- 
mands. Plus much, much more. 
HyperDriver costs £29.95 for ROM, disc 
and 100-page manual, or £24.95 for an 
SRAM version. (SRAM and ROM ver- 
sions are identical in operation.) 


MiniDriver & HyperDriver work with all popular Epson-compatible printers. 


MOS Plus 

Maser 1 28 owners, MOS Plus is an invaluable extension to your micros OS providing 
a wide range of facilities. For example, it supplies ADFS ^FORMAT, ^VERIFY, 
*B ACKUP, *C AT ALL and *EX ALL in ROM. There are many new commands - *FIND 
locates a file anywhere on disc. New *CONFIGURE options allow you to configure 
startup colours. The Masters alarm feature is fully supported. 

Beebug: "MOS Plus is an excellent product". We agree: £12.95 (ROM) or £7.95 SRAM. 

Master Operating System by David Atherton 

Quite simply - the Master Owner's Bible. This "invaluable" (A&B) guide to the inner 
workings of the Master 128, Compact and B+ contains a wealth of vital information 
on the MOS, Tube, filing system, * commands and much, much more. Here's what 
Beebug said in comparison with the New Advanced User Guide and the WE 
Advanced Reference Manual: "...certainly has more detail on the MOS as one would 
expect Price: £14.95 or £17.95 with programs disc. 

VIEW: A Dabhand Guide by Bruce Smith 

This top selling guide to the VIEW wordprocessor has been highly acclaimed by all 
the BBC magazines. In comparison with Mastering View, ViewShect and ViewStore 
Beebug said: "...much more to offer the competent VIEW user... practical and down-to- 
earth., for those who want a complete , thorough and readable guide to VIEW the Bruce Smith 
is your man." Even BBC Radio said: "It's very good". Book: £14.95 or £17.95 with 
programs disc. 

Bruce's Bumper Bundle 

Bruce Smith's complete guide to machine code programming is now available at the 
incredibly low price of £4.95. It includes two books (total 400 pages) and two discs 
(90 programs) plus Master Update booklet and shouldn't be left off any Beeb or 
Master 128/Compact users book shelf. Hurry — only a few left. j us j- £4.95! 

Free Catalogue and Ordering Details 

Write to us, phone us, or send us a mailbox and we will send you, free of charge, our 
information packed 32 page catalogue giving full details of all our products. We’ll 
aslo send you details of new books and software. 

Send cheques, POs, official orders to the address below, or quote your Access/Visa 
card number and expiry date. BBC 3.5" ADFS disc £2 extra. C/card orders accepted 
by phone, letter or mailbox. P&P free in UK/BFPO. Elsewhere add £2 or £10 airmail. 

Dabs Press (AUS), 76 Gardner Road, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 7HU. 
Phone: 061-773-2413 Prestel: 942876210 BT Gold: 72:MAG11596 


5(i 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 





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If you already have a modem and computer software, dial 
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The first Interactive magazine for your micro. 




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esfc&w 


W e had barely arrived back at 
the Towers from our holi- 
day in Kerkira when the 
problem became apparent. 
The first symptom was a 
trail of the finest Towers notepaper, lead- 
ing to the bedroom of my darling daugh- 
ter. Each sheet started ‘Dear Elleni’, but 
then tailed off into empty space. The better 
ones had a couple of sentences written on 
them. The heap of paper was growing by 
the hour, and servants had to be sent out to 
replenish stocks. 

Keen to stop the waste in this age of the 
‘paperless office’, I tracked the culprit to 
her room. She told me that she was trying 
to work out what to put in a letter to her 
new Greek friend. I sat down with a new 
pencil, and took a clean sheet of paper. 

‘It’s a letter to a friend,’ I prompted, ‘so 
what do you think we should put in it 
first? What would you like to hear from 
her if she wrote to you?’ And so it 
continued, with both of us making sugges- 
tions about what the letter should say, and 
writing down ideas as they came. 

Once done, the plan was written out 
again with small points grouped together 
under larger headings, and then again with 
the headings in order. We had done it! We 
had collected ideas, sorted them, sequenced 
them, and we were now ready for a quick 
burst of wordprocessing based on the plan 
we had just created. 

What we had done was to create a way 
of processing ideas, so that a structure for a 
letter could be created. For many adults 
and children, writing is made doubly diffi- 
cult because it’s hard to order your 
thoughts coherently. This structuring and 
sequencing of information is a skill which 
needs to be encouraged. One way of doing 
this is using an ideas processor. 

Another typical idea-generating and 
planning activity is called ‘brainstorming’ - 
one method is shown in figure 1. Here, 
ideas on a specific topic are added to a 
notepad or flipchart device. Once the raw, 
random, thoughts on the subject are ex- 
hausted, the ideas are linked together into 
subgroups, and the subgroups are linked 
together under headings. 

The headings then need sorting into a 
priority order, as do the subheadings in 
any one major heading, and the points in 
any one subheading. 

As you can see from figure 1, even after 
collation, the structure may still be quite 
woolly and fluid, particularly if the time 
between planning and writing is long. 

The complex task of structuring 

ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 







JOES JOTTINGS 


GET THE 
IDEA 

Got a letter to write, a presentation to make? Perhaps your micro can 
help you order your thoughts with our ideas processor 


thoughts can be supported by the compu- 
ter using an ideas processor. In this way 
the process, from thinking about a subject 
to fleshing out the outline, can be done 
entirely by computer. The ideas processor 
can then pass on the outline to a word- 
processor; this will minimise errors like 
forgetting some important point through 
constant redrafting. Take a look at figure 2, 
the output from our ideas processor, which 
was used to reprocess the diagram shown 
in figure 1. 

The layout of the finished product is 
easy on the eye and it can also be used as 
the basis for wordprocessor work. 

Planning and sequencing writing 

Essentially, an ideas processor can be used 
for any task where a structure for thought is 
needed. Typical examples include general 
writing of manuals, articles and documenta- 
tion, and presentations like speeches, lec- 
tures or agendas. The structuring discipline 
is also useful for project work in schools 
and colleges perhaps in craft, design and 
technology, information studies, science, 
environment work and so on. 

In addition, an outline plan is often easier 
to follow in retrospect if the writing or 
presentation is being evaluated. The ideas 
processor output can be regarded as a 
summary of work being done. 

So, an ideas processor is simply a soft- 
ware tool, which allows notes to be entered, 
changed, moved, sorted and sequenced, so 
that at the end of the day an overall plan of 
attack for a speech, technical manual, or 
presentation can be mapped out. The actual 
power of the processor is that it is quite easy 
to sort out a priority of ideas, switch them 
around if that is necessary, and then present 
ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


them in various ways. 

Ideas processors, often called ‘document 
outliners\ exist for most computers, and 
younger Acorn Users may already have 
come across packages like Pendown which 
contain similar devices. 

Most ideas processors use a hierarchical 
structure, so that ideas can be added under 
headings and subheadings. Once these ideas 
are entered, they may need to be changed, 
and modified, either by altering them under 
a heading - promoting a subheading to a 
heading perhaps - or by moving them 
between headings. 

In addition to these fundamental features, 
most ideas processors give access to filing 
operations, as well as allowing you to print 
out information in different ways. 

Using an ideas processor 

Before working with our Jottings ideas 
processor, let’s look at the features avail- 
able. The main need in designing the prog- 
ram was to be able to see as much of the 
plan as possible, down to the finest detail, 
and it is here that this processor differs from 
most of the others on the market. Another 
important point was that as far as possible 
the whole operation should be controlled 
via function keys. This is achieved using the 
function key overlay shown on page 63. 
Notice that the keys are split into four 
areas, idea processing features, filing fea- 
tures, print-out features and Reset buttons. 

In addition, the Jottings ideas- processor 
was designed to work with any Acorn 
computer supporting either shadow screen 
memory or a co-processor. It will operate 
with all filing systems except Tape, 
although it may be slow using the early 
versions of the Network Filing System (up 


to 3.60). An upgrade to the Advanced 
Network Filing System is, therefore, 
strongly advisable. 

To use the Jottings processor, just type in 
the listing in the yellow pages - it’s long, so 
you’ll need to check it carefully, and save 
what you’ve done at regular intervals. 
(Alternatively you could get the Acorn User 
monthly disc.) Save the finished program 
using the filename ‘Ideas’. The next stage is 
to build an autoboot file to start off the 
program automatically. This can be done 
with: 

*BUILD ! BOOT 

0001 "BASIC 

0002 MODE 128 

0003 CHAIN “IDEAS” 

ESCAPE 

*OPT4,3 

I recommend that a whole disc is given over 
to the program, simply because it can then 
save your ideas as files on the same disc. 
Once the disc is set up, you can start to use 
the program in earnest. 

Pressing Shift and Break will start the 
program and display a front page banner. 
Press the space bar to start the program 
proper, at which point the screen should 
look like figure 3. The screen has three 
active areas - the top part is the area where 
you communicate with the program for 
everything except the input* of ideas. It’s 
here you see messages that tell you what is 
happening, or reports of errors which may 
occur. Or you may simply be prompted to 
answer a question - the name of a file to 
load, for example. 

The second area of screen is the space 
available for the ideas: this fills up as you 
add your notes. An ‘END’ bar appears only 
when we are running out of memory, and 
the dashed lines represent blank paper. To 
begin with, the top line is highlighted and 
marked with the expression ‘Ttl :’ you 
should then type in a title for the plan you 
are creating. 

The lowest area of the screen shows the 
title of the package and, in the space to the 
right of ‘Ideas Processor’, it will show the 
name of the last filename you used for 
saving or loading. 

As the plan is built, you can move around 
it using the cursor keys. Only the up and 
down arrow keys work, and they behave 
fairly intuitively. Up moves one idea up the 
screen and down moves one idea down the 
screen. Combined with Shift, they move 
one heading up or down, and with CTRL 
they move straight to the first or last item. 

The up and down keys will also wrap 
from first to last idea, so pressing the up 

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60 


ACORN USFR OCTOBER 1988 




JOES JOTTINGS 


arrow on the first item will take you back to 
the last item in the plan. Pressing the clown 
arrow will cause the opposite to happen. 
Note also that the movement with the Shift 
key is from heading to heading, skipping 
any subheadings between. Titles are also 
counted as headings. 

To add an idea you first move, using the 
cursor keys, to the point where you want 
the idea to be added. Normally this will be 
on the last line. Now press function key fO 
and the screen will change, to move all the 
ideas below the insertion point one place 
down. The word ADD> will appear and 
you have 65 character spaces to add your 
idea. Once you have added it, press Return 
and the screen redisplays the ideas with the 
new one in place, set to the status of a Title. 
See the descriptions of PROMOTE and 
DEMOTE below to change its status. 
Figure 4 illustrates this process. 

Changing an idea is very similar. First 
you move to the idea to be changed using 
the cursor keys, then press fl. The screen 
changes, the word CNG> appears, and you 
get 65 characters to retype your idea. The 
message window displays the original con- 
tents of the line, so you can always refer 
back to it. Once you’re happy, press Return 
and the screen redisplays the ideas with the 
change in place. 

You can delete an idea too. Move to the 
idea to be deleted using the cursor keys and 
press f2 or Delete. A message invites you to 
press Y to confirm the deletion, or N to 
cancel. Once one of these has been chosen, 
the screen redisplays the idea with the line 
removed and any blank lines tidied up. To 
join two ideas on consecutive lines, first 
press f3, then follow instructions in the 
message window. These invite you to move 
to the first of the lines and press Return. If 
the total length of the ideas is greater than 
65 characters, you then have the option of 
cancelling the join. Otherwise, the join 
takes place, the following line is deleted, 
and the screen display is tidied up. 

Promoting and demoting ideas is an 
important feature of an ideas processor. All 
the ideas fall into a hierarchical order. The 
highest level is title, followed by heading^ 
then subheading, and finally the lowest 
level, the point. Any idea can be placed at 
any level simply by moving the cursor bar 
to it and pressing Shift with fO or fl. As an 
idea moves down the hierarchy, it moves to 
the right at five-space intervals. If an idea is 
promoted it moves left again. This hier- 
archy is not just a matter of layout - it also 
allows us to move and copy whole blocks of 
ideas, mainly when resequencing points. 
ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 






\\ort <k> we ^ * • 


Wort dLotfs 1 



Top (Jow* - ov&nseA <s * a ^ 


The Joe's 
Printout 

t Jottings Ideas Processor, 
of all ideas. 

Ttl :The 

Joes Jottings Ideas .processor 

Hdg : 

Introduction 

Sub : 

audience 

Pnt : 

youngsters 

Pnt : 

GCSE work: documentation 

Pnt : 

General writing 

Sub : 

The Telford Towers scenario 

Hdg : 

What is an Ideas processor? 

Sub : 

Another tool 

Pnt : 

Flexibility & Power 

Sub : 

What should one do? 

Pnt : 

hierarchical structure 

Pnt : 

creation and modification of plans 

Pnt : 

other features 

Hdg : 

Why use Ideas processors? 

Sub : 

Value of organising thoughts 

Sub : 

Planning & sequencing writing 

Sub : 

record of the thinking process 

Hdg : 

Using our ideas processor 

Sub : 

Features 

Pnt : 

cursor and special keys 

Pnt : 

idea processing features 

Pnt : 

filing features 

Pnt : 

printout features 

Sub : 

How this one works 

Pnt : 

each feature in turn 

Sub : 

Overall strategy for use 

Sub : 

Hints and tips for using this one 

Hdg : 

Conclusion • 

Sub : 

alterations 

Pnt : 

screen mode 

Sub : 

The Ideas Post Processor concept. 

Sub : 

Next month? 

Ttl : 




Figure 2. Neater output from our ideas processor 


On pressing Shift-f2 you will see messages 
indicating how to proceed. Briefly, you 
move to the point, subheading or heading 
you want to move and press Return, then 
move to the line where the idea should be 
inserted, and again press Return. Then wait 
as the program performs the move, and 
tidies the screen. Subheadings are moved 
along with their subsidiary points, and 
headings are moved along with the sub- 
headings and points they contain. 

Ideas can also be copied. By pressing 
Shift with f3 or pressing the Copy key, the 
program can start copying. Again, you’re 
prompted to move to the point, subheading 
or heading you want to copy and press 
Return. Then move to the line above where 


the idea should be copied and press Return, 
then wait as the program performs the 
copy, and tidies the screen. Again, all 
subheadings are copied, along with any 
following points. 

Filing system facilities 

The program allows simple control of 
saving and loading as well as cataloguing the 
disc and deleting files. 

For cataloguing, press f4 and the screen 
will change to display a catalogue of the 
current disc or directory. Press Space and 
the original ideas display will return. To 
load a file, press f6 and the message ‘load file 
name:’ will appear. Type the name in seven 
or less characters, then press Return. This 
loads the file. If the file does not exist, the 
process is error-trapped. Once a file is 
loaded, it appears on screen with the cursor 
bar at the first item. 

If you wish to save a file, you press f5 and 
you are asked whether you intend to save 
the ideas as a file for use with the ideas 
processor (an ideas file) or as a file for use 
with a wordprocessor (a straightforward 
ASCII file). You press T or ‘W’ as 
appropriate, and then the message ‘save file 
name:’ will appear. Type the name in seven 
or less letters, then press Return. Once this 
is done, the file is saved in the format 
specified. After saving, the screen is tidied 
for further action. If a file of the name you 
have decided to use exists already, the 
program just cancels the saving. 

To delete a file, press f6 and the message 
‘Delete file name:’ will appear. Again, type' 


61 



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62 





JOES JOTTINGS 


the name in seven or. less characters, then 
press Return. This deletes the file. If the 
file does not exist, the process is error- 
trapped. Once a file is deleted, the program 
just continues as before. Note that pressing 
Return by itself in Save, Load or Delete 
will cause the program to catalogue the 
disc, then return to the appropriate Load, 
Save or Delete routine. 

The printing function is started by press- 
ing f8. This allows you to obtain a hard 
copy of the plan at any stage, in total, as a 
set of headings, or as the contents of one 
heading. You just need to follow the in- 
structions in the message window for the 
one you want. Once the message window 
blanks out, you can continue working on 
the keyboard. 

If you wish to draw up a new plan or quit 
the program, you press f9. This allows you 
to leave the program and return to Basic, 
although you must satisfy a ‘safety lock’ by 
answering ‘Y’ to a ‘Do you really want to 
leave?’ question. Shift with f9 gives you the 
option of restarting the program, clearing 
out any old plan in memory. Again this is 
safety-locked, and so can be avoided if 
accidentally invoked. 

It’s worth knowing that although Escape 
will cancel any action, there is no guarantee 
that the cancellation will be at a safe point, 
especially if commands like Move, Copy, 
Cat, Add or Delete are actually processing - 
they could be half-way through. To main-, 
tain the quality of your data, use Escape 
only if the program is waiting for your 
input of data or cursor key movements. 

Overall strategies for use 

There are two main ways of using the ideas 
processor. The first is the top-down 
approach, whereby you follow a particular 
strategy for building a plan. ADD the title, 
then the main headings. Then for each 
heading add the subheadings. For each 
subheading, use the Add facility for the 
points to be raised and, check the finished 
product, refining if necessary. But, for this 
strategy to work effectively, it is essential 
that you have an overall view of the 
document before you start. 

The second approach is more flexible, 
more like typical ‘brainstorming’ - the 
bottom-up strategy, which works as fol- 
lows. Write down any ideas as they come to 
mind, in any order. Then use the Move, 
Copy and Join commands to group the 
ideas into small related subgroups. The next 
thing you must do is promote a key idea in 
each subgroup to be a subheading - or add 
one that describes the subgroup. Group the 
ACORN USfiR OCTOBER 1988 



Figure 3. Initial ideas processor screen 



Figure 4. Ideas can be resequenced 


subheadings into related groups, and in each 
group promote a key subgroup heading to 
the status of heading, or add one that 
describes the group. Order the final head- 
ings using MOVE. Finally, read it all 
through and check that the plan matches the 
title - sometimes bottom-up work doesn’t! 

Although the most attractive approach to 
using the ideas processor is undoubtedly the 
top-down method, it too has problems, 
particularly in terms of flexibility. Any plan 
must be flexible enough to allow alterations 
at a later stage, based on experience gained 
while using it. An ideas processor is a 
valuable tool, but you’ve got to make sure it 
improves delivery, rather than restricting it. 

Taking it further 

The main alterations you might like to think 
of are concerned with speed and screen 
display. The display speed in particular 
could be improved by using a different 
PROCshow. You can make a start by 
replacing PROCdh and PROCdhdw with 
the faster versions from Top of the List - 
see page 94. 

One other useful tool that teachers might 
like to consider is the use of an Idea Post 
Processor (IPP). If a general plan, say for 
documenting a CDT project, was created, a 
post-processor could be used to present the 
structure of the plan to students for them to 
fill in. This way each person could develop a 
plan for his or her own project. I hope to 
cover this more fully in a future article. 



63 







ARCHIMEDES 



The conclusion of our guide to Arthurs WIMP system, with 
a particular focus on menus 



Chris Adie 



Selecting items from a menu can make programs easier to control 


I n the March issue of Acorn User , and 
in last month's article, I began to 
describe how to use Arthur's Win- 
dow, Icon, Menu and Pointer 
(WIMP) system in your own pro- 
grams. The windows and icons have been 
fully covered, and in this part of the series, 
we'll look at how to implement menus. 

Menus are the last major part of Win- 
dow Manager. They are quite easy to 
understand, but they can be a little awk- 
ward to program. However, Flow , the 
flowchart drawing program listed in last 
month’s yellow pages (but included again 
on this month’s disc) uses a function, 
FNcreatemenu, which makes them easier 
to handle. 

Using Flow , if you click the centre 
mouse button with the pointer in the 
drawing window, the main menu pops up 
at the position of the pointer. The sequence 
of actions is as follows. Clicking the mouse 
button causes a Wimp.Poll event number 6 
to be returned and used in the CASE 
statement in PROCaction. This calls 
PROCclickwindow, which checks which 
window the mouse is in and calls the 
appropriate procedure for each window. 

PROCclickdrawwin calls PROCmenu- 
drawwin, which calls FNcreatemenu. This 
function uses the window manager SYS call 
named Wimp.CreateMenu to make the 
menu actually appear on the screen. 

Wimp.CreateMenu requires a parameter 
block pointed to by the Archimedes' R1 
register, and the desired position of the 
menu on screen is passed in R2 and R3. 
The parameter block has two parts: a 
‘header’ of the form shown in Table 10, 
and a set of menu items. The header 
contains information about the colour and 
the spacing of items in the menu. The 
menu item data blocks are each 24 bytes 
long, with the structure shown in Table 11, 
one for each option on the menu. 

Each of the menu items is just an icon! 
The menu item data block contains the 
icon flags, offset by eight bytes from the 
beginning of the block, and the icon data in 
the 12 bytes starting at block! 12. Normally 
of course the menu entries will just be text 
icons, but there is no reason why they 
shouldn’t be pictorial (sprites), or even 
writable icons. For instance, the Text sub- 
menu in Flow has a writable icon, which 
forms the only item in that menu. This 
allows you to type in the text to be 
attached to any of the flowchart symbols. 

In addition to its icon flag word, each 
menu item has a menu flag word. Only 
four bits are significant in this word at 
64 


present - the rest should all be zero. If bit 
1 is set, there will be a tick mark to the left 
of the item, as in the Colour submenu in 
Flow , for instance. This tick is usually used 
to indicate the current setting of some- 
thing. Bit 2 is set if a dotted line should 
follow the menu item, perhaps to separate 
a group of related menu items, and bit 3 is 
set if the item is a writable icon. Bit 7 is set 
only if this is the last item in the menu. 

If the word at offset 4 in the menu item 
data block (known as the submenu pointer) 
is not equal to -1, the item is drawn with 
an arrow to the right of it. Moving the 
mouse pointer over this arrow causes the 
window manager either to open a window 
(if the submenu pointer is actually a win- 
dow handle), or to create a new menu, 
using the new menu parameter block 


pointed to by the submenu pointer. There 
can be as many submenus in a menu 
hierarchy as you want (up to the total 
number of windows which the window 
manager can support). 

When the window manager detects a 
mouse click on a menu item, it first re- 
moves all the menus from the screen, and 
generates any necessary redraw requests, so 
that the program can restore the contents 
of all its windows overlain by the menus to 
what they should be. It then sends an event 
type 9 - Menu Select - to the program. The 
block returned to the polling routine by 
Wimp.Poll for this event contains the item 
number in the top-level menu which was 
selected, followed by the item in the 
second-level menu (if any), and so on, with 
the list terminated by -1. So if you click on 
ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 





ARCHIMEDES 


LOCATION 

block! 0 
block?12 
block?13 
block?14 
block?15 
block! 16 
block! 20 
block! 24 
block! 28 

CONTENTS 

menu title, up to 11 chars + Return 
menu title foreground colour 
title background colour 
menu work area foreground colour 
work area background colour 
width of menu items 
height of menu items 
vertical gap between items 
address of menu item data blocks 

Table 10. The ‘header’ part of the Create Menu parameter block 

OFFSET 

CONTENTS 

0 

menu flag word: 4 bits significant: 
bit 0 item ticked 

bit 1 item followed by dotted line 

bit 2 item is writeable 

bit 7 this is the last menu item 

4 

sub menu pointer (-1 if none) 

8 

icon flag word (see Figure 5, 

September) 

12 

icon data (as for icon data block at 
offset 24) eg. up to 11 text 
characters + Return 

Table 11. Structure of one menu item data block 

CHARACTER 

MEANING 

< 

the menu item is disabled (greyed 
out) and can't be selected by the 
mouse . FNcreate_menu sets bit 22 in 
the icon flag word to achieve this 

> 

the item is ticked 


the item is followed by a dotted line 
to separate groups of menu items 

* 

the item is a writable icon 

#n 

use logical colour n 

i 

the item has a sub-menu 


Table 12. Symbols that may come before a menu item for FN createmenu 


‘Magenta’, the sixth item in the Colour 
submenu, Wimp-Poll will return the num- 
bers 2, 5 and -1 in blocklO to block!8 - that 
is the sixth sub-item of the third item in 
the main menu structure. Notice that the 
system counts from zero, not one, so the 
third item is number two. FNmenuselect- 
drawwin uses the number at block !0 
directly in a CASE statement, but if you 
had a complicated set of menus and sub- 
menus, you could make the first number 
select one of a set of subsidiary, nested 
CASE statements to reach the correct pro- 
cedure for the selected option. 

When creating the Flow menu structure, 
the program must set up three menu data 
blocks - for the main menu and two 
submenus - containing three headers and 
several menu item data blocks. The 
Archimedes Programmer’s Reference 
Manual recommends that the program uses 
a ‘shorthand’ way of defining menus, and 
Flow does this. A menu is represented by a 
‘definition string’ which contains first the 
menu title, then each menu item, all sepa- 
rated by the vertical bar symbol. This 
string is passed to FNcreatcmenu, which 
interprets it, makes up the parameter 
blocks, and calls Wimp.CreateMenu. Va- 
rious attributes for the menu items, like 
ticks, submenu arrows or greying out, can 
be included in the menu definition string. 

In FNcreatemenu, the colour of the 
menu item can be shown by prefixing the 
menu text by (for example) ‘#5’, to make it 
logical colour 5. So the Colours menu in 
Flow is defined by a string like this: 

“Colours!>#7Black|#lRed|#B 

Green|#3Yellow...” 

Green is logical colour 11, or &B in 
hexadecimal. The > ‘greater than’ sign tells 
FNcreatemenu to make the Black item 
appear with a tick in front of it. There are 
other symbols that can appear in front of 
the menu item in a definition string passed 
to FNcreatemenu, and these are all listed in 
Table 12. The attributes must be included 
in the order they are presented in' the table. 
This means that some characters can’t be 
included at the beginning of the text of the 
menu items themselves, but they can be 
included providing they occur after some 
ordinary character. So a menu item called 
** command’ isn’t possible because the 
would make the icon writable. But you 
could include the * within an item called 
‘OS command’. 

If the item is a writable icon, the corres- 
ponding section of the definition string has 
two parts, separated by a comma. The first 
ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


must evaluate to an address where the 
typed-in string can be held, and the second 
(also passed through EVAL) must be the 
maximum length of this text buffer. 

So, for instance, the definition string for 
Flow's Text submenu is: 

“Object text| :: *mtext, text-length” 

Here, text is an area of memory set aside 
with DIM to hold the typed-in text, and 
text length is set to the size of that area. 

If a menu item leads to a submenu, it is 
preceded by the name of the submenu 
definition string, enclosed in single quotes. 
Thus the Colour menu item in Flow's main 
menu looks like: 

“...!‘colourmenusS’Colour|...” 


FNcreatemenu will call itself recursively to 
define the Colour menu. The second para- 
meter to FNcreatemenu is incremented by 
one for every menu level, so it knows how 
many times it’s called itself and how many 
submenu levels down it is. 

FNcreatemenu eventually returns a 
number which is the address in memory of 
the data block for the menu, which can 
then be passed to objects. 

You may be wond ring why there is so 
much emphasis in Flow , and in the Desktop 
program, on calling routines using con- 
structs like: 

EVAL (“FNuserdrag”+claimdrag$) 
There are two reasons. The first, and most 


65 



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Tel 021 427 9898 

We are major suppliers to the 
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THE NEW RISC COMPUTER FROM ACORN. A 
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Archimedes 305 

model 

monitor 

monitor 

512k RAM. 512k ROM. 1Mbyte 3 5 drive 

Archimedes 310 

£699 

£759 

£919 

As 305. but 1024k RAM 

£835 

£895 

£1,055 

Archimedes 310M 

£895 

£955 

£1,115 

Archimedes 440 

As 410. but 4048k RAM. 20 Mbyte hard disc 

£2,529 

£2,589 

£2,749 


ACORN 

NEW MASTER COMPACT 

series. 

Standard system is 128K. single 3.5 inch 

drive, bundled software. 


Compact entry system 

£349.00 

Compact TV system 

£359.00 

Compact with mono monitor 

£389.00 

Compact with colour monitor 

£529.00 

RS 232 interface for compact 

£26.00 

Extra 3 5m drive for compact 

£99.00 

PAL TV adaptor for compact 

£26.00 

Master 128 

£379.00 

Master econet module 

£43.47 

Turbo upgrade 

£108.00 

C4K upgrade kit 

£34.74 

Master 512K upgrade 

£199.00 

10 Mbyte Hard disc with fileserver 


£1086.95 

30 Mbyte Hard disc with tileserver 


£1608.95 

Eprom cartridges 

£11.95 

Acorn DNFS kit 

£82.60 

1770 upgrade kit 

£43.42 

ADFS ROM 

£26.04 

ATPL Sideways RAM ROM board £39.00 

CONCEPT Keyboard 

£124.95 

View manual 

£10.00 

Viewsheet manual 

£10.00 


MONITORS 


PRINTER 

ACCESSORIES 


Automatic Cut Sheaf Feeders 


Cut Sheet Feeders from 

£60.00 

Paper Roll Holders From 

Cl 7.60 

Epson FX 00 Compatible Ribbons 

C2.95 

Epson 100 Ribbons 

£4.50 

Cannon Taxan compatitXo Ribbons 

£3.95 

Gttzon printer Ribbons from 

£3.95 

Laser cartridges trom 

£19.50 

Full Range of Epson Spares 

CPOA 

listing Paper (box 2000) trom 

£13.16 


Massive range of other ribbons for printer si 
typewriters available. Call for details. 


BOOKS 


Monochrome Monitors 


Philips 7502 Green Scroen Comp VkJeo 

£79 00 

Philips 7255 Amber Screen Comp Video 

£85 00 

Philips 7W2 WNte Screen Comp Vidoo 

£85 00 

Philips 7513 Green Screen (IBM) 

£89 00 

Philips 77 1 3 Groen Screen (IBM) Flat 

£109.00 

Zenith 1 230 Groen Scroen Comp Video 

£8500 

Zenith 1 220 Amber Screen Comp VOeo 

£89 00 

Taxan KX 123 Green Screen HI Res 

£99.00 

Taxan KX Amber Screen Hi Res 

£99 00 

Philips 0873 EGA CGA. PGA (IBM) 

£54900 

MicroVitec 1431 Standard CUB 472 

£199.00 

MtcroVitec 1451 Medium CUB 053 

£225.00 

MicroVitec 1441 High Res CUB 895 

£395 00 

Mk^oVUoc 1322 EGA Res (IBM) 

£485 00) 

M^roVrtec 20H727 ES Auto Scan 

£1395 00 

Thompson 4375M Multi EGA VGA. PGA 

£54900 

NEC 1 40 1 P MultiSync EGA VGA 

£595.00 

Hitachi Multi Scan Monitor 1 4 * 

£595.00 | 

Taxan SV02O Super Vision II 

£345.00 

Taxan SV625 Supervision III 

£399 00 

T ox an Supervision 20* Ultra Ht-Rns 

£1999 00 

Colour Monitors 


Phitaps 0833 Medium Res ( IBM Comp) 

£249.00 


AMSTRAD 

* New 1640 now in stock 

• | 

Amstrad 1G40 


Enhanced colour display 


Single 3G0k floppy drive 

£799.00 

Twin 3G0k floppy drives 

£899.00 

■ Single 3G0k floppy drive ♦ 20Mbyte hard 1 

■ disc drive £1199.00 1 

Amstrad 1512 


Colour twin floppies 

£649.00 

20mB Hard Drive 

£260.00 

PCW 8256 

£299.00 

PCW 8512 

C399.00 

PCW 9512 with daisywheel 

£499.00 

Amstrad 3.5" discs box of 10 

£30.00 

SOFTWARE: 


I Call for full list of IBM/Compatible and 1 

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1 


A wide range of books are available 
Phono for books on 
AMSTRAD 
MSDOS 
ARM 
LOTUS 
DBASE 

ARCHIMEDES 

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DISC DRIVES 


Opus 5802 Single Drive exc psu 

£109.00 

Opus 5802D Dual Drive me psu 

£25900 

Pace PSD3 Single Drive exc psu 

£125.00 

Paco PSD3P Single Drive inc psu 

£148 00 

Pace POD3 Dual Drive oxc psu 

£23900 

Pace P003P Dual Dnvo Inc psu 

£269 00' 

Cumarta CSX400 Single Drive ex psu 

£125.00 

Cumana COBOO Dual Drive Inc psu 

C269.00 

Cumana CCD2000 Dual 5 25 ♦ 3 5 • psu 

£289 00 


PRINTERS 

f Dot Matrl» Printers 


Crtlzon 120-D 120 cps . NIO • 4K 

Citizen LSPiOOI&Ocps • NIO < 4k 
Citizen MSP40240cps * NlQ < HK 

Citizen MSP45 as MSP40 with 132 col 
Citizen MSP50 300 cps • NIO • HK 

Citizen MSP55 as MSP50 with 132 col 
Citizen MQP40 24 pm * 200cps • ?4K 
Citizen HQP45 as HOP40 with 132 col 

£179 00 

£229.00 

£38500 

£48500 

£48500 

£649.00 

£45900 

£599 00 

| Epson LX800 150 cps ♦ NLQ * tr ine 

£205.00 

Epson FX800 200 cp# ♦ NLQ ♦ trine 

£345 00 

Epson FXIOOOas FX 800 wilh 132 col 

£440 00 

E peon EX800 300 cps * adoption 

£471.00 

Epson EX 1000 as EXB00 wrtM 32 col 

£633.00 

Epson LO500 150 cps 24 pin * parking 

£327.00 

Epson LO850 180 cps 24pm dual iface 

£499.20 

Epson LQ1050 as LQ850 with 132 col 

£699 00 

Epson L 02500 top of fhe range 

£899 00 

Epson SQ2500 24 nozzlo Inkiot 

£1149.95 

Brother M 1 109 100 cps dual i lace 

£211.50 

Brother M 1 209 1 40 cps dual ilace 

£238.50 

Brother M 1 409 1 80 cps 1 1 0 col dual 

£382.50 

Brother M 1 509 1 80 cps 1 36 col dual 

£445.50 

Brothor M 1 709 200 cps 1 36 col LQ 1 BM 

£525.00 

Brother 2024 L 24 pm 1 60 cps LO IBM 

£699 00 

Brother M 25 1 8 360 cpt 1 36 col LQ spp 

£899.00 

Brother M 401 8 1 8 pm 480 cps dual 

£1299.00 

Brother M 1 724 24 pm 1 80 cps IQ 

£599 00 

Star NX 1 5 1 20 cps 1 36 col NLO 

£34900 

Star S0 1 0 1 60 cps 80 cd NLQ 

£34900 

Star ND 1 5 1 80 cps 1 36 col Nl O 

£440.00 

Star SR 1 0 200 cps 80 col Nl Q 

£440 00 

! Star NR 15 240 cps 136 col NLO 

£529 95 

Star NB1 5 300 cps 136 col 2 4 pm LQ 

£764.00 

Star NB24 1 5 2 1 6 cps 1 36 cps 24 pin 

£683.00 

Star ND 1 0 1 80 cps 60 col NLQ 

£309 00 

Star NR 1 0 240 cps 80 COI NLQ 

£399.50 

Star LCl0120cpe> paper park 80 col 

£206.00 

Amstrad DMP 3 160 1 60 cps 80 col NLQ 

£199 00 

Amstrad DMP 4000 200 cps 1 36 col NLQ 

£299 00 

Amstrad L03500 24 pm LO 80 col 

£299 00 

Panasonic KXP 1081 120 cps 80 col NLO 

£189 00 

Panasonic KXP 1 1 082 1 60 cps 80 cd NLQ 

£209.00 

Panasonic KXP 1083 240 cps 80 col NLQ 

£345.00 

Panasonic KXP 1592 160 cps 132 col 

£449 00 

Panasonic KXP 1595 240 cps 132 cd 

£54900 

Daisy Wheel Printers 


Citizen Promiof 35 cps 

£599 00 

Brother HR20 22 cps Dual 1 taco 

£44000 

1 Brother HR40 40 cps me Sh Feeder 

£995.00 

' Brother Twmwrrler Matrix D Wheel 

£899.951 

* Panasonic KXP 31 31 I7cps120cd 

£295.00. 

Juki 6000 12 cps 80 cd 

£179.00 

Julki610020cps 132 cd 

£34900 

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] Citizen Overture 11 Optus Dual Iface 

£143600 

1 Epson GO 3500 6 ppm Inc HP emulation 

£1450.00 

Brother HL8 8 ppm multi emulation 

£189500 

NEC LC 8 1 5 0 ppm Dual Intortnco 

£1995 00 

Star LP8 8ppm 1 MB me maintenance 1 yr 

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OPUS PC’S 


PC3 SF Mono 256K £549.00 

PC3 TF Mono 768K £775.00 

PC3 HD Mono I024K £1,045.00 

PC5 (AT) HD Mono 1024K £1,345.00 

EGA System available please ado £300.00 
For MSDOS/GWBASIC add £60.00 


PERSONALISED 
GIFT VOUCHERS 

call for details 


BBC ROM 
SOFTWARE 


InterWord 

.. £48.00 

Intersheet - .. 

.. £48.00 

Interchart .. 

£28.50 

Interbase 

£59.00 

Acorn 

View 2 1 

£45.00 

View 3 0 

£63.00 

ViewPlot (Disc) 

£25.75 

ViewSpel! 

£33.50 

Viewsheet 

£45.00 

Viewstore 

£45.00 

GXR (please state whether for B or B*) 

ISO Pascal 

£23.00 

£52.00 

LISP 

£39.00 

BCPL 

£46.00 

Logo 

£52.00 

ADFS 

'£26.04 

Computer Concepts 
Wordwise Plus 

£40.00 

Prmtmaster 

£25.00 

Accelerator 

£48.00 

Speech ROM 

£27.50 

Spellmaster 

£46.00 

Beebugsolt 

Toolkit Plus 

£33.00 

Wordease 

£25.00 

ICON master 

£29.00 

ROMIT 

£29.00 

Help II ROM 

£27.00 

Sleuth ROM 

.£27.00 

Exmon II 

£28.00 

Spellcheck III 

£32.00 

MUROM 

£24.00 

Pace 

Commstar 

£29.57 


AMX 


Please state whether for BBC or Master 
AMX mouse with Super Art ROM £78.00 

Stop Press £43.43 

Paintpot £13.00 

Desk £21.70 

Super Art ROM £43.43 

Database £21.70 

3D Zicon £21.70 

Utilities £13.00 


ARCHIMEDES SOFTWARE 


System Delta Plus Database £69.95 

System Gamma Plus Graphics £69.95 

System Delta Account (per module) £64.95 

School Administrator - £79.95 

Video Rental £69.95 

Newsagent £69.95 

Clares Alpha Base £49.95 

Clares Image Writer £29.95 

Archimedes Took*kit Module £39.95 


SPECIAL 

SOFTWARE 


Torch Turbo Library 
functions fcnd procedures for Turbo 
Pascal to access the power of 
Torch/BBC facilities 
Newnet 

Powerful friendly Torchnet management 
software with password protection etc 
dBase special 

dBase helper program now available for 
those who want to access the powerful 
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learn how to program in dBase 


HOW TO ORDER 

f Payment by cheque to: F 

COMPUTACCOUNT (UK) LTD tlJ INMIVIC 1 

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I Send to Computaccount (UK) Ltd., 1 1 High Street, Harborne, Birmingham B17 9NT TOTAL £ | 

^ or telephone 021 427 9898 j 

, . ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 

66 







ARCHIMEDES 


practical reason is because it makes extend- 
ing the program to include different types 
of objects much easier. If you want to add 
a completely new type of object to the 
flowchart, such as a print-out symbol for 
example, all you need to do is provide 
routines called FNcreateobprintout, 
FNdrawobprintout, and FNtextlengthob- 
printout. The first of these makes entries in 
Flow's object information table, the second 
actually draws the object within the Draw- 
ing window, and the last says how much 
text can be written in the object. If you 
want to be able to change the size of the 
object on the flowchart using the mouse to 
drag the object you must also provide 
FNdragprintout and FNuserdragprintout. 
Finally, you must provide an icon called 
‘printout’, and place it in the Flowicons file 
so it can be drawn in the icon window. 
This will allow it to be selected as the 
current object type. None of the other 
routines needs changing at all. 

The second reason for using EVAL to 
call a function is a little more theoretical. 
Windowing environments are naturally re- 
lated to a Computer Science discipline 
called ‘object orientated programming’. 
There’s not enough space here to explain in 
detail what this means, but briefly 


an 



Menu items can be writable 


‘object’ comprises a data structure, plus a 
set of ‘methods’ for operating on that data 
in response to a ‘message’ sent to the 
object. When you execute a function like: 

EVAL (“FNdrawob” + S(ob+obtype)) 

where $(ob+obtype) might be something 
dike “box”, you are actually sending a 
‘draw’ message to ‘ob’, which invokes its 
‘method’, FNdrawobbox, for dealing with 
it. The text at (ob-f obtype) says what type 
of message you’re sending, in this case 
‘draw a box’. BBC Basic is not really 
designed for object-orientated program- 
ming, and this is as far as we can go 
towards it. There are other languages that 
make it easier, and SmallTalk is the best 
known of these. 


So now we’ve covered all the areas of the 
Arthur window manager that you need to 
make your programs more friendly and 
simpler to learn. Programs written like 
Flow, using a wholly WIMP-driven system 
do tend to be longer than the equivalent 
command-driven or keypress driven prog- 
rams, but they’re also a lot easier to use. 
Imagine a program which uses the function 
keys to select the shape to use, perhaps the 
cursor keys to position it, and other keys 
to select colour, text and so on. It would 
be relatively simple, and possible even on 
the BBC micro. Flow is longer, probably 
slightly harder to write, but offers so many 
advantages. Not the least of these is the 
ability to draw on a page much larger than 
the actual size of the screen and the ability 
to add new functions quite easily. 

The most noticeable omission from Flow 
is a printing routine. While it would be 
relatively easy to add a screen dump, that 
isn’t the same as a complete print-out of 
the diagram because most of it is off-screen 
at any time. All a screen dump would show 
would be the part of the diagram currently 
visible, plus the window borders, scroll 
bars and so on. Acorn User will be in- 
terested to see if anyone comes up with 
ideas or extensions for Flow. 


Leonardo 

Archimedes Mode 12 Art Package 

A comprehensive set of drawing options all available 
at four levels of magnification 

Quick compressed screen files, so you can save many 
more screens on a disk 


Available for all models of Archimedes 


£17.50 inclusive 


Leonardo 256 

Archimedes Mode 15 Art Package 

Mode 15 version of Leonardo with 256 colours plus a 
font generator 

(Leonardo 256 requires 1 megabyte of memory) 

£19.50 inclusive 

Available from: BEARD TECHNOLOGY 
111 EVERING ROAD 
LONDON N16 7SL 


C~~°H ALICE 


o) software /hardware 



■ VECTOR 1 1 

TAPE TO DISK UTILITY 

+ Once only purchase FEATURES 

+ Can save to any disk 
+ Very user friendly, help pages on disk 
+ 40/80 Formal 

+ No awkward ROMs, can be used on any machine 
+ Can load to all available RAM &400-&7FFF 
= Simply the best tape to disk utility available 

Vector 1 versions compatible with Acorn, 

Opus, UDM, Cumana, BBC + & 

Watford (Not 1-42, 1-43 DFS’s.) 



1 V VECTOR 1 & vector?/ 

■ VECTOR 2 1 ^ mTsTLT Y 

DISK TO DISK utility/ series, Onus 177 n \ 

FEATURES afl(J a l so ' 770 

U' Solid-Disk 
5adiek ^ ^ssue^/nc. 


- 40/80 Format 

- User friendly, menu driven 

- Contains powerful features such as a disk 
sector editor, Disk Compare, format, 
verify and track repair 

: The most powerful disk utility available 



NEW IMPROVED VERSION (1.40) 

Send £3.00 with old disk for upgrade. PLEASE SPECIFY DFS 

Prices: ei2.00 each for Vector 1 or Vector 2 £23 for both. 

Scythe Toolkit £21 .95 (Send for full details) 

All prices shown include VAT and p&p. Please add £3.00 per disk if you 
require 3" disks and specify when ordering. 

Orders to: 

CHALICE SOFTWARE, Dept AU 

3 Merlin Way, Covingham, 

Swindon SN3 5AN. 

Telephone 0793 615026 



SOFTWARE 
FOR THE 
BBC MICRO 
& 

ARCHIMEDES 


Archimedes Podule 

A plug in podule which accepts 
up to 7 ROMS or RAM chips 
(each chip can be up to 128K 
bytes). Optional battery back- 
up for the RAM. Includes a 
full-feature RAM filing system 
(fully ADFS compatible) 
allowing storage of files up to a 
possible 896K bytes, as if they 
were on disc. Easy to install 
and comes with a full manual. 
NB: requires prior installation 
of a podule backplane. £49.00 + 
VAT or £59.00 + VAT with 
battery. 


Speech System 

Used in conjunction with the 
TMS 5220, the Speech System 
(Speech ROM and Text to 
Speech ROM) enables BBC B 
users to easily produce the 
entire range of English speech 
and intonation from their 
machines. NEW PRICE: £25.00 
+ VAT (+£5.75 for the 5220 
if required). 


Accelerator 

The most comprehensive BBC 
BASIC compiler, with full 
floating point arithmetic. Can 
compile to an intermediate G 
code, which ensures that the 
object code is compact, but 
utilities are also provided to 
convert G code to faster 
machine code. NEW PRICE: 
£30.00 + VAT. 


Mega-3 

Recently released version of 
Inter- Word, Inter-Sheet and 
Inter-Chart, all on one 128K 
chip. BBC: £85.00 + VAT (ask 
for details of exchanges). 


Wordwise Plus 

A 40 column word processor 
with a flexible and simple 
BASIC type programming 
language for user 
specific programs. On ROM 
for the BBC, disc for the 
Archimedes. 

BBC: £49.00 + VAT. 
Archimedes: £20.00 + VAT. 


Spell-Master 

A 128K spelling checker on 
ROM, with a 57,000 word 
dictionary. Can check as you 
type in Wordwise, Interword or 
View, allows creation of user 
dictionaries 8c dictionary 
browsing. Crossword, anagram 
and fuzzy checking features. A 
completely new version for the 
Archimedes, with extra 
features. BBC, Archimedes and 
Z88: £51.30 + VAT. 


ISl 

Computer Concepts Ltd 


Inter-Word 

A full WYSIWYG word 
processor on ROM. Features 
include ruler controlled 
margins and tabs, simultaneous 
on screen display of printer 
highlights and text alignment, 
multi column printing, multi 
file operation, 40/80/120 
column screen modes. BBC: 
£49.00 + VAT. Archimedes: 
£39.00 + VAT. 


| Inter-Sheet 

An easy to use spreadsheet on 
ROM. Features include 255 
rows x 64 columns with 
individually adjustable width, 
full range mathematical 
functions, selective printing, 
lockable boxes/rows/ columns, 
40/80/132 column screen 
modes, auto step on. BBC: 
£49.00 + VAT. Archimedes: 
£39.00 + VAT. 

Inter-Chart 

A comprehensive chart and 
graph plotting program on 
ROM. Features include bar 
graphs, pie charts and line 
graphs (up to 16 in memory at 
once, overlay/print in any 
combination) auto/manual 
labelling, accepts data from 
file/keyboard. BBC: £32.00 + 
VAT. Archimedes: 

£25.00 + VAT. 


Inter-Base 

A database on ROM, based 
around a powerful 
programming language. 
Features of the card index 
program include menu 
operation, variable field length 
8c number of fields per record, 
unlimited records, full 
conditional search 8c sort, 
fast search via indexes. BBC: 
£60.00 + VAT. 


Gaddesden Place Hemel Hempstead Herts HP2 6EX Telephone 0442 63933 
(Access 8c Bardaycard accepted) 


68 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 










COMPETITION 


WIN THREE PRIZES IN ONE 

Three clever readers can win all-in-one spreadsheet, wordprocessor and database 
packages, Pipedream or View Professional 



Colton software’s Pipedream and its predecessor, 
View Professional , are two of the best productivity 
packages available for the Acorn micros. They are a 
combination of spreadsheet and wordprocessor with 
some database capabilities - in fact, they’re all-in- 
one applications. To give you a flavour of Pipe- 
dream, Graham Bell reviews the Arc version on 
page 111 in this issue. View Professional on the BBC 
micro was reviewed by Steve Mansfield in the 
October 1987 issue of Acorn User. 

You can run Pipedream on the Archimedes, on 


the IBM PC and on the Z88 portable, and View 
Professional runs on the BBC model B, a Master or 
6502 Second Processor. They are all file-compatible 
- work you type on one micro can easily be 
transferred to another. As a prize, you can choose 
either the disc-based Archimedes version of Pipe- 
dream or the BBC version of View Professional 
which comes as two ROMs and a disc. 

We’ve got three copies to give away to readers 
who can answer our three questions on software 
below, and give the best tiebreaker answers. 


1 What was the name of the very first 
popular spreadsheet program designed to 
run on a microcomputer? 

2 What was the first ROM-based word- 
processor written for the BBC micro? 

3 In a normal database like ViewStore , 
which is analogous to the familiar index 
card - a record or a field? 

As a tiebreaker, let us know, in fewer 


than 20 words, what is the most useful 
feature that you think is missing from the 
best wordprocessors or spreadsheets avail- 
able on your micro, what would you like 
to be able to do that you can’t? 

Send your answers on a postcard, to 
Pipedream Competition, Acorn User , Red- 
wood Publishing, 20-26 Brunswick Place, 
London Nl 6DJ. Remember to include 


your name, address, your prize preference 
(Pipedream or View Professional) and the 
coupon below. Get your entries to us by 
November 4, 1988. The editor’s judgement 
is final. 

ACORN USER I 

COMPETITION 
I OCTOBER 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


69 





ZONE 




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ALL 5 25* DISKS HAVE REINFORCED HUB RINGS. SLEEVES. LABELS AND WRITE 
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All disks now sent 
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ACCESSORIES 


IBM/Amstrad PC1512 Printer Cable GPR10125 x oent £5.75 

Disk Notcher/doubfers £3.45 

Disk Cleaners 3.5* E3 45 

5 25* Cleaner £3 45 

Mni Vac for printors and keyboards £5 75 

3* Disk cleaning Kit £5 75 

Centronics 2 Way Swich Box/RS232 £24 65 

Centronics 3 Way Swich Box/RS232 £29 33 

Centronics 4 Way Swich Box/RS232 £34.50 

Centronics X Way Swich Box/RS232 £34 50 

Contronics/RS232 Cables (if purchased with switch box) £4 60 

Male to Male Cables E0 25 

BBC Printer Cables £5 75 

Filter Scroen* Mono Colour 

12- £12 65 £14 95 

14 * £14.95 £17.25 

16’ rr.IZZZ....... £19.55 £23.00 

Printer Stand* 

80 Col standard £10 35 

80 Col deluxe £13 80 

80 Col multi-purpose £17 25 

Monitor Stand* 

MS0912 12* £10 35 

MS0914 14* £1265 

MS0918 18* £1495 

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70 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 






ILLUSTRATION BYJCM, WRIGHT 


ADVENTURES 



In this, the last in our adventure series, we think it’s your turn to 
create an adventure all of your own 



Peter Voke 


Y ou may have enjoyed reading and 
playing Warlord , the adventure 
described in last month’s Acorn 
User . But how would you like to 
have a go at creating your own 
adventure? It is quite hard work using 
Basic, and only small adventures are possi- 
ble, but it can be done. 

Writing an adventure is best done using 
an ‘adventure generator’. Warlord was 
written using TAG, the Tabular Adventure 
Generator. This month’s programs include 
another adventure generator: Imagen, the 
interactive multiple adventure generator. 
Imagen is different because you write the 
whole adventure while you are playing it. 
The whole thing is still in Basic, so can be 
ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


typed in fairly easily, but is nevertheless 
quite powerful. You will notice that listing 
1 on the yellow pages has none of the usual 
headings, sleek layout or comments of 
Acorn User programs. This is because the 
generator is designed to be as compact as 
possible, occupying only the memory be- 
tween &1 100 and &2000, with all the space 
above &2000 being reserved for storing 
text. Shortage of memory is a perennial 
concern of adventure creators, so if you 
have a machine with shadow memory you 
may like to use mode 135, 134, or 132 
instead of mode 7. 

If you have a Master, or any disc filing 
system that allows PAGE to be at &E00, 
line 10 of the program can be omitted, and 


you will have enough room to put in 
comments and a header, or even improve- 
ments of your own. If you have a tape unit 
rather than discs, there will be a problem 
since the program uses pages &900 and 
&A000 in a special way: you will have to 
relocate these activities to pages &E and 
&F and set PAGE to & 1 1 00. For people 
with ordinary disc filing systems and 
PAGE normally at &1900 (type PRINT- 
PAGE to find out), the program loads and 
runs lower in memory, at&llOO. This is 
perfectly safe on most disc filing systems, 
provided only loading to and saving from 
disc is involved. 

Having got the program running, you 
should be presented with the following 

71 





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Tel: (07072) 65443 



72 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 




ADVENTURES 


rather cryptic screen: 

This is the . . . 

Moves: 

The program then prints a question mark 
and waits for input. This is an adventure 
already, though it’s a very limited one: it 
has a single location called ‘...’. This is the 
empty adventure, which is like a blank 
sheet on which an adventure can be created 
as you play it. You will find little response 
to anything except ‘help’, which lists the 
commands start, quit, save, load, hint, 
score and so on. These are the normal 
words used to play an adventure, and you 
may like to try some of them. Usually, if 
an adventure is present on the disc in a file 
called ‘Game’, the word ‘start’ will load it 
in. At the moment, you probably don’t 
have one - though there is one to load and 
play on the Acorn User monthly disc. 
‘Quit’ gets you out of the game, ‘save’ puts 
your current position into a file called 
‘Pos’, and ‘load’ loads it back in. ‘Hint’ 
gives a hint of what to do in a location, 
while ‘score’ gives your score. ‘Inv’ will list 
the items you have collected, and you 
should be familiar with ‘get’. 

Of course there are other words and 
phrases that crop up in the course of an 
adventure too. The usual ‘n’, ‘s’, ‘e’ and ‘w’ 
are for moving about; you don’t need to 
put the directions in full, nor prefix them 
with ‘move’ or ‘go’. 

If you are working from the Acorn User 
disc, you can type ‘start’, and play the 
adventure on the disc. The Return of 
Felinar illustrates what is possible with the 
system. It was written, using Imagen, in a 
few days. You can’t edit this adventure, as 
it already fills all the memory, but one 
word of warning: don’t use the ‘keep!’ 
command, which is explained below, until 
you understand what it does. 

There is another set of special editing 
commands that allow the creation, mod- 
ification, extension and saving of adven- 
tures. You can list these by typing ‘help!’. 

‘Edit!’ is the most important of the 
editing commands. It allows you to change 
the description of the location, the object 
present, and what happens there. Type 
| ‘edit!’ and the following will appear: 

This is the “. . (:)” 

This is the 

The first of these two lines tells you what 
is in the adventure for this location and the 
second is an input line, waiting for you to 
type in your new version of the location 
description. The first thing to notice is that 
all descriptions start with the phrase ‘This 
is the’; if you want a different standard 
ACOKN USKll OCTOBER 1988 


introduction such as ‘You are’, or no 
introduction at all, then change lines 510 
and 940 of Imagen to suit. 

The second thing to notice is the two 
brackets and the colon. They must be 
present when you type in the new descrip- 
tion, and in the right order. They separate 
four parts of the location description which 
have different functions. The best way to 
understand how they work is with an 
illustration. Type edit!, if you have not 
done so, then change the description to: 
This is the “wide east-west 
corridor/below the stairs (tapestry: A 
secret door leads north) get 
tapestry” 

If you type this in correctly, you should 
find the game has changed. Instead of an 
empty location, you have the text: 

This is the east-west corridor 


Ts 

This is th« routs down ttxr Mountain 
known only to the t>««utilul craalur* on 
whose back you sit. The clear air blows 
your heir as you desceod southwards 
Moves: s 

T* 

This is the halfway point of tt>e 
descent. The antelope's horns curve back 
over you on either side. 

Moves : s 

Ts 

This is the foothills of the northern 
mountains. Lush grass is all around. 

The an tel ope has gone bee k up t he 
mountain . 

Moves : s e w 


The Return of Felinar- created using Imagen 

below the stairs. 

There is a tapestry here. 

If you now type in ‘get tapestry’ the text 
should change to: 

This is the east-west corridor 
below the stairs. 

A secret door leads north. 

If you subsequently type ‘inv’, you should 
find you have acquired a tapestry. This 
illustrates all that is needed to understand 
the Imagen trigger concept. In certain 
locations, the trigger action specified after 
the closing bracket (in this case ‘get tapes- 
try’) sets a trigger for that location. Once 
the trigger has been ‘set’, by the player 
using the key words, the extra text between 
the colon and the closing bracket is added 
on to the end of the description - in this 
case ‘a secret door leads north’. On the 
other hand, before the trigger is set, the 
object before the colon is just listed as 
present - “There is a tapestry here”. The 
whole structure can be seen as: description 
(object :Change)trigger action. 

Various fullstops can be left out, since 
Imagen puts them in automatically for 
you. In any part of the string, a 7’ 
character forces a new line, and the whole 


string must be less than 255 characters 
long. You should put the whole string 
within quotation marks (“ ”), so that com- 
mas can be included as part of the string if 
necessary. If this isn’t done, or you omit 
the brackets and colon, you may get the 
‘Bad Edit’ message from which you can 
continue to re-edit the location. If you get 
other Basic errors, ‘Missing’ or ‘Escape’ for 
example, type GOTO 70 rather then RUN 
to jump back in to Imagen. 

You may be surprised that this is enough 
to control an adventure. There is more to 
it, but the structure I have described can 
deal with more than tapestries. For loca- 
tions with ordinary ‘gettable’ objects, just 
omit the change part of the string. Rerun 
Imagen and try: 

This is the “post office(parcel:) 
getparcel” 

The trigger has no effect here except to 
make the parcel appear in your inventory. 
For locked doors, just omit the object: 
This is the “stable, The door north is 
locked. .(:... but opens with a little 
persuasion) hit door with axe” 
Notice the use of an ellipsis (three dots). 
You need two dots at the end of the 
description, but three at the beginning of 
the change phrase. They make the change 
phrase follow on naturally. If you want an 
object to be described but not gettable, 
simply put it in without any trigger action. 
Try: 

This is the “top level(trapdoor just 
north:)” 

Alternatively there could be an action 
other than ‘get’: 

This is the “bedroom(bed against the 
walFYou find a narrow stairway de- 
scending west)move bed” 

An object will only be added to the 
inventory if the trigger action is ‘get object’ 
and the object has not already been got. 
Trigger actions involving other objects will 
only be performed if the object is either in 
your inventory, or is included in the object 
string for this location. (For this to work, 
the object must be mentioned to the right 
of any 7’ character in the object string.) 
Suppose you have a location description: 
This is the “lair of a fearful 
monster..(large dragon:. ..which now 
lies dead)kill dragon with sword” 
When you type in the trigger phrase, 
Imagen checks to see if the last word 
mentioned (in this case ‘sword’) is in the 
object part of the description. Since it is 
not, Imagen checks your inventory, and'if 
you don’t have a sword it replies “What 
sword?”. If you have a sword, the trigger 


73 




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74 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 



ADVENTURES 


will be set, and the dragon will be killed. 
Play about with edit! for a while and you 
will soon get the hang of - it. 

Now you know how the Imagen trigger 
concept works, you will want to know 
how to create new locations and set up 
moves between them. This is done using 
the editing commands !n, !s, !e, and !w. 
These are called forced moves, and create a 
connection from one location to another, 
via the ordinary moves ‘n’, V, V and V. 

Let’s try to create a location with some 
normal moves (say east and west), plus a 
move that is only operational after the 
trigger is set (say north, as in the corridor 
with the tapestry). First you set up the 
appropriate location description using 
edit!, then type in ‘!e’: 

New move e to: 

will appear. Type in a name for your new 
location. This needs to be different from all 
other locations in the adventure. Imagen 
checks to see if you duplicate a location, 
and lets you know. The name is printed 
after ‘This is the’ in the description. If you 
are creating a new location, for example, 
‘foot of the stairs’, Imagen enquires if you 
are sure you want to create it by asking: 
‘foot of the stairs is new: create?’ Pressing 
Y assures the generator, and your new 
location is created. 

You can now go east by typing in ‘e’. 
You will arrive at your new location: 

This is the foot of the stairs. 

Moves: w 

You can edit this using edit! and move 
back and forth between the two locations. 
To create a scenario for the secret door, use 
‘!n’, and name the new location ‘secret 
passage’. Answer Y to create the location, 
but press N in answer to ‘Move before 
trigger?’ since the passage is not accessible 
till after you get the tapestry. Answer Y for 
the rest of the questions, unless you want 
to make the secret door snap shut behind 
you to prevent you going back to the 
corridor. The trigger referred to in the last 
two questions, by the way, is the trigger 
for the location you are going to, not the 
current location. So the reverse move can 
depend on a trigger action in that location, 
but cannot depend on a trigger action in 
the current one. The same triggers and 
moves could be set up from the destination 
(the secret passage), just as they are set up 
from the present location (the corridor), 
though the two pairs of questions would 
then swap roles, with the move becoming 
the reverse move and vice versa. 

In summary, there are eight potential 
moves from each location, ‘n,’ ‘s,’ ‘e’ ‘or’ 
ACORN USER OCTOBER 19S8 



STRUCTURE OF IMAGEN 


10-90 

Main program 

10 

May be omitted on Master 
scries computers. 

70 

Safe re-entry point if an error 
occurs; use GOTO 70. 

100-460 

PROCi: Deals with all text 
input including special verbs. 

470-500 

Subroutines for four negative 
replies. 

510-650 

PROCd: Deals with descrip- 
tions of the current location. 

660-680 

Subroutines for three ‘There 
is’ phrases. 

690-890 

PROCf: Deals with forced 
moves and location creation. 

910-930 

Functions to get replies to 
various questions in PROCf 

940-1010 

PROCe: Deals with edit! 
command, changes descrip- 
tion string. 

1020-1110' 

PROCp: Extracts various 
substrings from the descrip- 
tion string. 

1120-1210 

PROCm: Deals with normal 

moves. 

1220-1350 

PROCa: Deals with trigger 
actions. 

1360-1370 

Subroutines for two ‘Okay’ 
replies. 

MEMORY 

&900-&AFF 

temporary string storage 

&B00-&BFF 

inventory 

&C00-&CFB 

trigger flags 

&1100-&2000 

program and variables 

&2000-&7C00 adventure description strings 


‘w’ both before and after the action. Initial- 
ly these are all unset, producing a ‘No way’ 
message. Using the forced move editing 
commands it is possible to produce dead 
ends, secret tunnels, valves (moves that 
work in one direction but not the other), 
compulsory moves (“The soldiers march 
you north”) and even complex mazes. 

Regarding mazes, you will need to set up 
several locations, which should have diffe- 
rent names initially, such as W, X, Y and 
Z. Create all the connections between the 
location, and when you are quite satisfied 
with the structure of the maze, use edit! to 
change all the descriptions so that they 
read the same (or similar). Since Imagen 
doesn’t have a facility for dropping objects, 
mazes cannot be ‘mapped’ by a player in 
the standard manner. So either keep your 
mazes down to two or three locations, or 
make each location respond differently to a 
particular trigger action. 

When setting about creating a proper 
adventure, it is important to make the 
initial location a special ‘entrance lobby’ to 
the adventure, and not an ordinary location 


that you will frequently need to visit. This 
is because Imagen resets all the triggers and 
puts all the objects back in place whenever 
you visit location number 1. This might 
seem a nuisance, but it has the virtue of 
allowing a player to be sent back to the 
beginning when you do something silly. In 
the adventure supplied on this month’s 
disc, a false move will result in a ‘death’ 
location being entered, with a format like: 
This is the way to break your neck, 
you careless fool. 

There is a dead adventurer here. 
Moves: n e w 

The moves ‘n’, ‘e’, or ‘w’, of course, all 
take you back to the beginning. 

What about the other editing com- 
mands? The odd command *??* tells you 
what the Imagen number of the present 
location is, and where the memory high 
water mark has got to. You run out when 
this reaches &7BFF - it is the ultimate 
limit on the size of the adventure. 

The command ‘go! 5’ will move you to 
location number 5. Any other number can 
be used, of course, but be careful not to 
go! to a nonexistent location, as this can 
crash the program. To restart the adventure 
without reloading the game from disc, you 
can type go! 1. 

The command ‘do!’ will perform the 
trigger action if there is one, and even 
prints the trigger phrase - vital when you 
forget your own fiendish tricks. ‘Undo!’ 
resets the trigger. This is useful when you 
want to check a trigger action or the screen 
appearance of an object description. 

‘Keep!’ /ill save your completed adven- 
ture on disc, in a file called ‘Game’. You 
need different discs for different adven- 
tures, otherwise ‘keep!’ will overwrite the 
previous game. ‘Bring!’ will put a named 
object in the inventory, which is useful 
when you are testing a trigger action that 
uses that object and you can’t be bothered 
to go! and get it. 

Finally, a word about producing adven- 
tures for your friends and family. You can 
all take the editing commands out of the 
procedure PROCi, and even remove the 
procedures that deal with editing like 
PROCe and PROCf. This prevents other 
people rebuilding your adventure. Don’t 
make adventures too difficult, or if you do 
have very tricky triggers, at least leave the 
‘hint’ facility in place. The adventure on 
the disc is a traditional dungeons-and- 
dragons style romp that has a rather un- 
usual end-game. Enjoy yourself, and then 
see if you can Imagen an adventure better 
than The Return of Felinar. 


75 



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76 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1VXX 






A CLOSER LOOK 

The BBC-approved GIS Teletext Receiver 
is bristling with features 



The BBC has joined forces with General 
Information Systems, creators of the Red 
Box home security system, to launch the 
BBC Advanced Teletext Receiver. 

The adapter gives you access to the 
information on Ceefax and Oracle and lets 
you download free telesoftware. 

A single metre-long thick lead connects 
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Master 128. Master Compact owners with 
an add-on user port can also receive the 
benefits of teletext. 

The adapter takes its power from the 
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selection before choosing one. 

Individual teletext pages are called by 
simply pressing their unique three-figure 
number. The software also allows you to 
make use of the linked-pages system. At 
the bottom of the screen there are usually 
a series of coloured boxes followed by 
either page numbers or coloured 
keywords. These correspond to the four 
coloured blocks on the keystrip (fl to f4). 
This linked-pages system certainly makes 
selecting any desired page much easier. 

The ‘kept page’ feature is a really 
useful asset. If you are using teletext for 
long periods of time the terminal has the 
ability to keep pages for you, updating 

ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


them when it can. This means that when 
you reselect them they appear 
immediately, without having to wait for 
them to come round. 

Probably the best feature of the ATS 
Plus ROM is the way the telesoftware is 
handled. The Ceefax service has several 
pages dedicated to computer software. 
These are updated weekly. By pressing f5 
a complete list of all the telesoftware 
available for the week is displayed. From 
this catalogue programs and files can be 
downloaded and saved to disc with 
tremendous ease. There is none of the 
confusion that the original TFS caused 
when in the telesoft mode, with its black 
screen and Searching message. 

Since its release, the ATS ROM has 
been well supported by the BBC. For 
instance, the BBC has broadcast a 
program which allows a whole week’s 
telesoftware to be downloaded off-air 
automatically. Other packages include 
Drograms that can collect the major news 
stories and then print them out in 
newspaper format. These programs will 
all work with the ATS Plus ROM too. 
n addition BBC Schools Broadcasting has 
started to use the telesoftware service for 
sending out details of its broadcasts. 


The most exciting development is the 
use of ATS ROM commands so that your 
own programs can extract data from 
teletext pages. One example of this is a 
program that allows your computer to 
look at the weather pages on Ceefax every 
day, take the data and plot graphs. This 
allows a database of weather information 
from all parts of the country to be built 
up. In the same way, checks can be made 
on how your favourite football team is 
doing. Financial information on Ceefax 
also allows an automatic check on the 
state of your share portfolio — and you 
could even build a system that monitored 
the market, then warned you of changes. 

The ROM comes with a function key 
strip and an excellent user guide. 

There is no doubt the new Advanced 
Teletext Receiver is an impressive 
performer. One reason for the BBC’s 
adoption of the GIS adapter is that the 
BBC regards its Ceefax service, and 
especially the telesoftware service, as an 
important part of an integrated system. 

Perhaps the most important aspect of 
the adapter is that it is BBC endorsed, 
and so everything that is broadcast will 
work. If you want access to Ceefax and 
Oracle this is a great way to receive it. 


77 


HISTORY OF ACORN 




T he history of Acorn Computers is 
both a mirror of the history of the 
micro industry in Britain, and, 
through its continued survival, a 
testament to the ability and vision 
of its founders. But like other small com- 
puter companies which sprang to life in the 
boom years of the early Eighties, Acorn 
has known both success and failure. 

To understand the way in which Acorn 
differed from other companies, you must 
delve into its origins in the late 1970s. 
Acorn was born from the enthusiasm of a 
group of students and researchers from 
Cambridge University’s many laboratories. 

Bored researchers waste plenty of time 
on obsessive and arcane hobbies. In the late 
Seventies, the hobby was building a home 
computer from the various kits and com- 
ponents that had just become available. 
Building your own computer required a 
diversity of skills from designing hardware 
and physically and building the device to 
writing an operating system and applica- 
tions software to run within the tiny mem- 
ory then available. 

It was already obvious that Cambridge 
was to become a centre of whatever com- 
puter industry Britain would have. Sir 
Clive Sinclair’s companies were busy pro- 
ducing calculators, and by 1977 had put 
together a computer kit, the MK14. 

Sinclair’s marketing man, Chris Curry, 
saw opportunities for further development 
of the product and discussed them with his 
friend, physics researcher Hermann Haus- 
er. Hauser had helped with the MK14 and 
his interest in selling computers had grown 
as his research project had reached comple- 
tion. Numerous knowledgeable computer 
hobbyists were on hand to provide advice 
and Hauser sought their help frequently. 

The opportunities were too good to miss 
and in 1978 Hauser and Curry formed 
Cambridge Processor Unit. CPU worked 
in a room ‘borrowed’ from Science of 
Cambridge, Sinclair’s company that 
Curry helped run, and it provided 
computer consultancy services to fi- 
nance its hardware development. 


Acorn’s Formula 3 racing car 
with driver David Hunt 


FROM ATOM 
TO ARC 

Part one of the ups and downs of the development of Acorn 


Carol Atack 


Kenneth Baker and designer Roger Wilson at 
the launch of the BBC micro in 1982 

CPU’s first major task was the develop- 
ment of an improved and more secure 
electronic fruit machine program. Uni- 
versity brains like Steve Furber and Roger 
Wilson, then undergraduates, provided 
much of the programming and design in- 
put, and it was Wilson who invented the 
machine to beat Sinclair’s MK14. 

The System One was launched as the 
first product of a new company, Acorn 
Computers, founded in March 1979. It was 
a 6502-based machine with just 512 bytes 
of memory - it sold by mail order for £70. 
On graduation from the university, 
Wilson went to work for the new 
>mpany. He recalls that Hauser 
offered him the opportunity to 
work for a pittance but with the 
chance to develop the home com- 
puter of his dreams. But while the 
small Acorn team was busy put- 
ting computer kits together from 
its cramped office, other com- 


panies were advancing their plans to build 
more and more powerful machines for the 
emergent home computer market. 

Up until 1980, home computers were the 
preserve of committed electronics buffs - 
the machines could only be programmed in 
machine code, usually via a calculator-style 
keyboard or row of switches. The race was 
on to create the first single-board, cased 
home computer, a machine ready to be 
used by people who weren’t necessarily 
electronics buffs. Acorn’s rivals in the race 
were Sinclair and Newbury Laboratories. 
The latter’s planned machine, which even- 
tually became the Newbrain, looked espe- 
cially promising. The Atom, Acorn’s 
finished product, was based around the 
6502 processor and was capable of sup- 
porting the all-important Basic language. 

The Atom was more successful than the 
company had hoped, with over 20,000 
machines going out. Some were supplied in 
kit form; Wilson recalls how he, Hauser 
and Hauser’s secretary walked round and 
round the large table in the office, assemb- 
ling packs to be sent out. However, the 
machine’s success meant that it reached a 
whole new market and there were prob- 
lems with the self-assembly kits; one was 
found not to work because it had been 
glued together rather than soldered! 

Where was Acorn to go next? Many 
possibilities were emerging with a new 
generation of 16-bit processors (like the 
68000) set to come on to the market, and 
other developments, such as networking, 
gaining in importance. 

Should Acorn abandon the 6502 proces- 
sor which lay at the heart of all its 
machines? Should the next machine be full 
of the latest features or should it sacrifice 
advanced technology for the mass market? 

ACORN USl : ,R OCTOBUR 1988 


HISTORY OF ACORN 


After many lively meetings, the Acorn 
designers went away to work on Hauser’s 
compromise suggestion, an improved 6502 
machine with expansion possibilities. The 
‘Tube’ was born to allow more sophisti- 
cated processors such as the 68000 to be 
added later. The new machine was to be 
called the Proton, continuing a trend born 
with the Atom. 

Early in 1980 Chris Curry found out 
that the BBC was looking for a partner to 
produce and market a home computer. 
This was to be featured in an important 
television series aimed at increasing aware- 
ness and understanding of computers; the 
Computer Literacy Project. Richard Rus- 
sell at the BBC had produced a detailed 
specification for the required machine, and 
the Corporation had been following the 
development of Newbury Laboratories’ 
Newbrain most closely. It had virtually 
agreed to base the series around the 
machine. 

While development delays on the New- 
brain were worrying the BBC, Chris Cur- 
ry along with other friends in the home 
computer industry tried to persuade them 
to look at alternatives to the Newbrain, or 
at least allow them to tender for the 
project. Eventually the BBC agreed, and 



Acorn founders Hermann Hauser and Chris Curry 


Acorn had to come up with a working 
prototype matching the demanding speci- 
fications in only four days. 

The Acorn project which matched the 
BBC’s requirements closest was the Pro- 
ton. Although no-one at Acorn had even 
thought of adding things like teletext com- 
patibility, it could already handle colour 
graphics and networking which were prime 
BBC requirements. Acorn were leaders in 
networking micros, having already shown 
the Econet system working on the Atom at 
a Personal Computer World show. In fact 
the potential of the Proton design was 
more than a match for the BBC specifica- 
tion - however, there was ‘as yet no work- 
ing model which Hauser and Curry could 
demonstrate to the BBC. 


Hauser asked Roger Wilson if he could 
build a working Proton in four days, and 
received a short and definite reply - no. So 
he turned to Wilson’s collaborator, friend 
and rival, Steve Furber. 

In putting the same question to him, he 
teased Steve by saying Roger had already 
said it was possible. Of course, whatever 
Roger thought he could do, Steve had to be 
able to match! The ploy eventually drew a 
reluctant yes from both designers and they 
and a few others were persuaded to spend 
the weekend building a working model. 
The Proton required fast memory chips 
which had just been announced but had 
not yet been delivered; eventually a ‘very 
nice man from Hitachi’ delivered some of 
the first in the country - just enough for 
the prototype machine. The Proton circuit 



The BBC Computer Literary Project in action 


board was ‘wirewrapped’ and the operating 
system was ported across from the existing 
Atom. 

Inevitably, it didn’t work. Heads were 
scratched and panic was about to set in 
because nothing could be seen on the 
screen. Just as the technical team from the 
BBC arrived, it began to work, displaying 
80-column text on the screen. Later that 
day, 640 by 256 pixel graphics started to 
work too, but by then the BBC had 
already left. However, they were suffi- 
ciently impressed and the Proton, with 
teletext added, became the BBC micro. In 
April 1981 Acorn was contracted to supply 
the 12,000 machines that the BBC expected 
to sell by mail order. 

In fact orders for more than twice that 
number were taken. The scale of the pro- 
ject was much greater than a small, young 
company like Acorn could deal with. 

The company quickly had to take on 
more staff to deal with the volume of sales, 
and moved into its present offices - a 
former water puihping station - in Cherry 
Hinton. The rapid expansion - in new 
offices in Cambridge, and a US subsidiary 
- meant that Curry and Hauser had to 
devote too much time to keeping up with 


what had already happened rather than 
planning ways of diversifying the product 
range. Designers and developers were iron- 
ing out small production problems on 
existing products rather than dreaming up 
their replacements, despite a US research 
centre and the company’s leading brains 
already thinking about RISC chips. 

As long as the great micro boom per- 
sisted, Acorn rode high on the crest of a 
wave. Just as with other highly profitable 
and dynamic young computer companies, 
potential difficulties lurked unnoticed. 
Short-term problems, such as financing the 
production and delivery of unprecedented 
numbers of micros had to be dealt with 
first. Meanwhile the company basked in a 
glow of high-profile publicity, topped up 
with a unique air of establishment res- 
pectability lent by the BBC association. 
Racing cars raced in Acorn colours and 
were occasionally dented by Acorn direc- 
tors, an Acorn livery plane was ordered 
and, at a Buckingham Palace reception, 
Acorn was given the Queen’s Award for 
Technology. 

The very success of the BBC micro 
caused difficulties. Other products were 
viewed in BBC micro terms. With micros 
piled high in WH Smith, Chris Curry 
wanted to lead the company further into 
the fast expanding mass market for cheap 
computers: the company came up with a 
cut down BBC micro, the Electron, in July 
1983. Hermann Hauser’s dream of an up- 
market office automation computer was 
answered in the form of the Acorn Busi- 
ness Computer - a reboxed BBC micro 
with various second processors - in 
September 1983. The original and fast- 
ageing design was the basis for new de- 
velopments rather than a new idea. 

Acorn was staying with the 6502 and 
8-bit technology linked to its Tube inter- 
face and second processors, while Apple, 
IBM and the other business companies 
were basing designs on 16-bit chips. There 
was no 16-bit replacement for the BBC 
micro, the Electron was not around in 
enough numbers to take advantage of the 
1983 Christmas sales. The next year was to 
bring the crunch with Alan Sugar just 
around the corner with his Amstrads, and 
Christmas 1984 was make or break. 

Meanwhile, the backroom boys at Acorn 
were playing with the idea of jumping to 
32-bit with their RISC designs. But time 
was not on Acorn’s side, and, as a future 
Acorn boss was to admit, Acorn paid a 
price for not having a 16-bit micro. 

To be continued next month 


ACORN USl-R OCTOBER 1988 


79 



VOLTMACE 


rchimedes 


COMPATIBLE 



DISC DRIVE STARTER PACK 

1 40 Track double sided/double density 
400K 51 / 4 " Toshiba disc drive in a half 
height cream metal case. 

1 Watford Mark II DDFS disc interface kit. 
1 Watford DFS manual. 

£115.00 including VAT AND P&P 


FOR A BBC A, B, B+, MASTER, ARCHIMEDES & ELECTRON PLUS 1 
DELTA 3B TWIN- £21.95 

2 joysticks wired to one plug. 

As with all our joysticks they have the fast action sprung to centre return of 
the steel shafted nylon covered joystick. The light action makes them ideal 
to hold and the 3 fire buttons allow left or right-handed use. 

DELTA 3B SINGLE £14.95 

A single joystick that in some ways can act as two. The custom made 
potentiometers are wired so that it will work as a left hand or right hand 
joystick. It can run some programs written for two joysticks and has two 
independant fire functions* 

FOR A BBC A, B, B + B. MASTER. DELTA 14B £16.95 

Our original ACORN/BBC handset. The same super light joystick, but with 
14 long life buttons, video game tested for many years. A DELTA14B/1 is 
needed to run the keypad but a 14B on it’s own will work as a joystick and 
fire buttons, so you can always add the 14B/1 to it later. 

DELTA 1 4B/1 for use with 1 or 2 DELTA 1 4B’s £i 6 95 

DELTA DRIVER CASSETTE OR DISC £ 5 ; 95 

The A/D/USER PORT interface box. This gives simultaneous access to both 
the analogue port, for the joystick part and the user port, for the keypad. 

Two handsets can be plugged into the box giving a total of 24 user definable 
keys. 

N.B. On a Master a small extension lead is needed to clear the RGB socket 
(£5.95 extra). 

Full instructions are provided to include the keypad in your own programs 
even in BASIC or for the non-programmer a DELTA DRIVER cassette is 
available with keyboard to joystick/keypad conversions and keypad set up 
programs. 

FOR THE MASTER COMPACT OR ELECTRON FITTED WITH A 
SWITCHED JOYSTICK INTERFACE 

DELTA 3S £12.95 

For an ELECTRON with a switched joystick interface (not a PLUS 1) this 
gives you the same delightful light, fast action of the DELTA joysticks but 
fitted with a 9 way D plug as per Atari. Commodore, etc. and will run on 
First Byte interface or similar. 



COMPATIBLE 


• DELTA 3S or 3SO 


• DATAPRINT 2P 


DATAPAD 16B 


FEW LEFT ONLY - LAST MONTH OF OFFER 

CUMANA TOUCH PADS - The touch pad allows you to transfer sketches 
onto your screen by using a stylus on a touch sensitive pad 

Absolute bargain £14.95 Inc. VAT and P&P 

Unbranded Guaranteed Discs 

1 0 5.25" 40Tr Double sided £4.95 
1 0 5.25" 80Tr Double sided £4.95 
1 0 3.5" 135TPI-DS/DD £10.95 

Disc-Drive head cleaner kits-Liquid type-non-abrasive 3.5" or 5.25" £3.95 

SPECIAL OFFER-FEW ONLY MITSUBISHI DISC DRIVES 

Double Sided, Double Density, 80 Track, 1/2 Height Mitsubishi Model 
M4853 with flap front in cream steel case complete with leads for BBC B, 
Master etc. 

£84.95 inc. VAT and P&P 
Also available uncased £70.00 inc. VAT and P&P 

TEAC 40/80 TRACK SWITCH ABLE SW' DISK DRIVES 


Bare drive without switch £80 

Case with switch and lead £99 

Case with switch, leads and power supply £1 1 9 


NEW !!! DATAPRINT2P LOW COST- LOW PROFILE - PRINTER SHARER 

£34.95 

A neat small unit which allows two parallel printers to be connected to one 
computer and simply switched between the two. e.g. one printer for paper and 
one for labels. 

DATAPRINT 2C LOW COST- LOW PROFILE COMPUTER SHARER £34.95 

The opposite of the DATAPRINT 2P this little box just 125 x 90 x 20mm allows 
two computers to share one printer. 


DATAPAD 16 B 

A commercial spec. 16 way keypad. Full travel mechanical keys with double 
shot moulded keycaps mounted in a low profile metal case. The keys are 
marked with calculator legend, but the software included allows the pad to be 
defined as any keys, including function keys or single byte VDU commands 
such as PRINTER ON/OFF. No tampering the computer as it fits onto the 
user port. 



Joysticks available from your dealer or direct 
from us on (0462) 894410. Disk drives 
available only direct. Prices include package 
and postage. 



Unit 9, Bondor Business Centre, London Road, Baldock, Herts. SG7 6HP. Telephone (0462) 894410 









YELLOW PAG 



C 0 M P A T I B I L I T Y 


Program 

Page 

BBC B 

B+/128 

Master 

128 

Master 

Compact 

Electron 

Arc 

6502 SP/ 
Turbo 

ADFS 

Econet 

Shadow 

RAM 

Monthly 

T/D 

Hints & Tips 

41 












Listing 1 


■ 

OB 

Q 

IB 

B 



B 

B 

B 

B 

Listing 2 






B 



B 



B 

Listing 3a-3d 


■ 

D 

■ 

B 

B 

B 

B 

■ 

B 

B 

B 

Arc Agora 

48 












Listing 1-5 







B 


B 

B 

□ 

B 

Taking shape 

54 












Listings 1 


■ 

■ 

■ 

B 

B 

B 

B 

B 

B 

B 

B 

Joe’s Jottings 

58 












Listings 1 


■(1) 

B 

B 

B 


B 

B 

B 

B 

B 

B 

Imagine That 

71 












Listings 1 


■ 

□ 

■(3) 

■(3) 


■(2) 

B 

B 

B 

B 

B 

Note 


1. requires Shadow RAM, Non-Shadow RAM version on monthly disc. 

2. requires 6502 emulator 

3. will not work if connected to Econct 


HINTS & T I P S 


See Hints & Tips, page 41 


Listing 1. Colour mask 

10 REM H&T 1 - Colour Separator 
20 REM by M Harwood 
30 REM for B/B+/E/M/C 
40 REM (c) Acorn User Oct B8 
50 : 

60 DIM P X 7, B7. 4 
70 MODE 7 

BO PRINT "PICTURE FILE SEPARATOR" ' 

90 INPUT "Name of picture file : " P* 
100 INPUT "Which screen mode : " MX 
110 FOR I7.=0 TO M7. 

120 READ H7., V7., A7. 

130 NEXT 
140 : 

150 PRINT "Do you have 80k spare on th 
e disc?" 

160 IF GET AND &DF = ASC "N" THEN PRIN 
T "No": END 
170 : 

1B0 MODE M7. 

190 I7.=3 

200 PROCoscl i ( "LOAD "+P$+" "+STR$~A%) 

210 PROCpalette 

220 FOR J7.=0 TO 1024 STEP VX 

230 FOR K7.=0 TO 1279 STEP H7. 

240 IF P7.?P0INT(K7., J7.) THEN GCOL 0, 0 
ELSE GCOL 0, 7 
250 PLOT 69, K7., J7. 

260 NEXT 
270 NEXT 

2B0 PROCoscl i ("SAVE COL"+STR*' v IX+" "+S 
TR*' V A%+" 8000") 

290 : 

300 FOR I7.=0 TO 2 

310 PROCoscl i ( "LOAD "+P$+" ,, +STR*~AX) 
320 PROCpalette 


330 CX=2~IX 

340 FOR JX=0 TO 1024 STEP VX 
350 FOR KX=0 TO 1279 STEP HX 
360 IF CX AND < (PX7P0INT (KX, JX) EOR 7 
) MOD 7) THEN GCOL 0, 7 ELSE GCOL 0, 0 
370 PLOT 69, KX, JX 
380 NEXT 
390 NEXT 

400 PROCoscl i ("SAVE COL"+STR*' v IX+" "+S 


TR*~AX+" 8000") 


410 

NEXT 


420 

END 


430 

: 


440 

DEF PROCoscl i (*& 

450 

LOCAL XX, YX 

460 

XX=0: YX=7 


470 

CALL &FFF7 


480 

ENDPRDC 


490 

: 


500 

DEF PROCpalette 

510 

LOCAL AX, 

XX, YX 

520 

AX=1 1 : XX=BX MOD : 

530 

FOR IX=0 TO 7 

540 

?BX=IX 


550 

CALL &FFF1 


560 

PX?IX=BX?1 


570 

NEXT 


580 

ENDPROC 


590 

: 


600 

DATA 2, 4, 

&3000 

610 

DATA 4, 4, 

&3000 

620 

DATA 8, 4, 

&3000 

630 

DATA 2, 4, 

&4000 

640 

DATA 4, 4, 

&5800 

650 

DATA 8, 4, 

&5800 

660 

DATA 4, 4, 

&6000 


ACORN USER OCTOBl-R 1988 


81 



YELLOW PAGES! 


ARC ACORA 


Listing 2. Keyword lister 

10 REM H&T 2 - BBC BASIC Keywords 
20 REM by Robert Gahan 
30 REM for Electron only 
40 REM (c) Acorn User Oct 88 
50 s 

60 MODE 3 

70 PRINTTAB(28) "BBC Basic Keywords" 
80 PRINTTAB (0,3) "A"; 

90 : 


100 G7.=0 

110 FOR F7.=&8071 TO &836B 
120 IF ?F7.<68 AND ?(F7.-1)>90 NEXT 
130 IF ?F7.<90 PRINT CHRS7F7-; : NEXT 
140 G7.=G7.+ 1 

150 PRINT TAB((G7. DIV 21)*14,3+G7. MOD 
21 ) ; 

160 NEXT 
170 IF GET 
180 END 


Listing 3a. String demonstration 

10 REM H&T 3a - lines 
20 REM by Peter Jennings 
30 REM for B/B+/E/M/C/A 
40 REM (c) Acorn User Oct 88 
50 s 

60 MODE 7 

70 VDU 23, 1 , O; 0; 0; 0; 

80 FOR N7.= l TO 25 
90 PRINT STRINGS (39, ) 

100 REM PRINT" ! " ; STRINGS (19, "_! " ) 
110 NEXT 


Listing 3c. Cassette inlay 


10 

REM H&T 

3c - inlay* 

20 

REM by Peter Jennings 

30 

REM for 

B/B+/E/M/C/A 

40 

REM (c) 

Acorn User Oct 88 

50 

: 


60 

MODE 3 


70 

VDU 2 


80 

VDU 1,27,1,64 

90 

VDU 1,27,1,15 

100 

PRINT STRINGS (69, " "> 

110 

ii 

PRINT TAB (0) " ! “TAB (33) " ! "TAB (68) " ! 

120 

FOR A=1 

TO 14 

130 

PRINT " ! 

! "j STRING* <32, 5 " ! ";STRI 

NGS (34, "_") 5 " 

! " 

140 

NEXT A 


150 

PRINT ' 

'STRING* (69, 

160 

FOR A=1 

TO 6 

170 

PRINT " 

! " 5 STRING* (32, );"!"; STRI 

NGS (34, 11 " ) ; " 1 

! " 

180 

NEXT A 


190 

PRINT " 

! STRING* (67, 5 " ! " 

200 

VDU 3 


210 

END 



Listing 3b. Title box 

10 REM H&T 3b - Star box 
20 REM by Peter Jennings 
30 REM for B/B+/E/M/C/A 
40 REM (c) Acorn User Oct 88 
50 s 

60 MODE 7 

70 PRINT STRINGS (40, "*") 

80 FOR S=0 TO 10 
90 PRINT TAB (0, S> "*" 

100 PRINT TAB (39, S)"*" 

110 NEXT 
120 VDU 11 

130 PRINT STRINGS (40, "*"> 

140 PRINT TAB (15, 5) "ACORN USER" 
150 PRINT TAB (0,23) 


Listing 3d. Barchart demonstration 

10 REM H&T 3d - Barchart 
20 REM by D Atherton 
30 REM for B/B+/E/M/C/A 
40 REM (c) Acorn User Oct 88 
50 s 

60 MODE 7 

70 ti t 1 eS="Bar Chart using STRINGS" 

80 PRINT SPC7 ; CHRS141 ; titles 
90 PRINT SPC7; CHRS141 ; ti tleS 
100 PRINT SPC7;CHRS146; STRINGS (LEN (tit 
leS) , ", ") 

110 PRINT STRINGS (2, CHRS10) 

120 FOR I7.= l TO 7 
130 READ D7. 

140 PRINT D7-; CHRS( 144+17.) ; 

150 PRINT STRINGS (D7.,CHRS 175) 

160 NEXT 
170 END 

180 DATA 21,9,17,12,2,24,8 


See Archimedes Agora, page 48 


Listing 1.ADFS file locator 


10 
20 
30 
40 
50 
60 
70 
80 
90 
100 
110 
d=3 
120 
130 
= 10 
140 


REM Arc Agora - listing 1 

REM *Find Source 

REM by Dave Acton, based on a 

REM program by Paul Dellar 

REM for Archimedes only 

REM (c) Acorn User October 1988 

DIM code7. St 1000 

FOR pass7.=0 TO 2 STEP 2 

P7.=code7. 

oscode=0s nameptr=l s data=2s numtorea 

whi ch=4: buf si ze=5s search=6 

lookf or =7 1 dirptr=8i temp == 9i f i leaddr 

sp=13i 1 ink=14: pc=15 


150 COPT pass7. 

160 .find 

170 MOV 1 ookf or , R1 
180 ADR dirptr , name+1 
190 .catdir 

200 STMFD (sp) ! , <link> 
210 MOV which, #0 
220 . 1 ookf ormatches 
230 MOV oscode,#10 
240 ADR nameptr , name 
250 ADR data, buffer 
260 MOV numtoread,#l 
270 MOV buf size, #SclOO 
280 MOV search, lookf or 
290 SWI "X0SJ3BPB" 

300 BVS exit 


Continued ► 


82 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


YELLOW PAGES 


◄ Arc Agora listing 1 continued 

630 

LDRB temp, Cfi leaddr 3, #1 

310 

CMP numtoread, #0 

640 

STRB temp, Cdirptr 3 

320 

BEQ nope 

650 

CMP temp, #0 

330 

ADR oscode, name 

660 

BNE appendname 

340 

SWI "OS WriteO" 

670 

BL catdir 

350 

SWI &100+ASC" . " 

680 

LDMFD (sp) ! , {which, lookfor, dirptr} 

360 

ADR oscode, f i lename 

690 

BVS exit 

370 

SWI "OS WriteO" 

700 

MOV temp,#0 

380 

SWI "OS_NewLi ne" 

710 

STRB temp, Cdirptr3 

390 

• nope 

720 

. notadir 

400 

CMN which, #1 

730 

CMN which, #1 

410 

BNE lookf ormatches 

740 

BNE lookfordirs 

420 

MOV which, #0 

750 

.exit 

430 

. lookf ordirs 

760 

LDMFD (sp) ! , {pc> 

440 

MOV oscode, #10 

770 

8 

450 

ADR nameptr,name 

780 

. anything 

460 

ADR data, buffer 

790 

EQUS"*" 

470 

MOV numtoread, #1 

800 

EQUB 0 

480 

MOV buf si ze, #8<100 

810 

ALIGN 

490 

ADR search, anything 

820 

. name 

500 

SWI "XOS GBPB" 

830 

EQUS"$" 

510 

BVS exit 

840 

EQUB 0 

520 

CMP numtoread, #0 

850 

3 

530 

BEQ notadir 

860 

P7.+=254 

540 

LDR temp, fi let ype 

870 

buff er=P7. 

550 

CMP temp, #2 

880 

f iletype=P7.+ 16 

560 

BNE notadir 

890 

f i 1 ename=P7.+20 

570 

ADR f i leaddr, fi lename 

900 

P7.+=256 

580 

STMFD (sp) ! , {which, lookf or , dir ptr> 

910 

NEXT pass7. 

590 

MOV temp, #ASC" . " 

920 

SYS "OS File", 10, "7.. Find" , &FFC, ,co 

600 

STRB temp, Cdirptr 3 

de7.,P7. 

610 

m appendname 

930 

PRINT "*Find saved in Library." 

620 

ADD dirptr , dirptr , #1 

940 

END 


Listing 2. Podule Rom source code 



10 

REM Arc Agora - listing 2 

350 

BICS pc, link, #&10000000 

20 

REM Podule Rom Source 

360 

BICS pc, link, #8(10000000 

30 

REM by Dave Acton 

370 

l 

40 

REM for Archimedes only 

380 

. strange 

50 

REM (c) Acorn User October 1988 

390 

EQUD 8c3FFFOOO 

60 

I 

400 

s 

70 

DIM code - /. 8(1000 

410 

. readabyte 

80 

uk=0 

420 

CMP Rl, #8(1000 

90 

product type=0 

430 

BGE outofrange 

100 

manufacturers 

440 

LDR R3, strange 

no 

sp=13 

450 

AND R3, R3, Rl 1 

120 

1 ink=14 

460 

ADD R2, R3, Rl , ASL #2 

130 

pc=15 

470 

LDRB RO, CR23 

140 

FOR pass7.=4 TO 6 STEP 2 

480 

BICS pc, link, #8(10000000 

150 

P7.=0:07.=code7. 

490 

l 

160 

COPT pass’/. 

500 

. writeabyte 

170 

- identbyte 

510 

CMP Rl, #8(1000 

180 

EQUB 7.00000000 

520 

BGE outofrange 

190 

EQUB 7.00000001 

530 

LDR R3, strange 

200 

EQUB 7.00000000 

540 

AND R3, R3, Rl 1 

210 

EQUW producttype 

550 

ADD R2, R3, Rl , ASL #2 

220 

EQUW manufacturer 

560 

STRB RO, CR23 

230 

EQUB uk 

570 

BICS pc, link, #8(10000000 

240 

EQUD 0 

580 

8 

250 

EQUD 0 

590 

•outofrange 

260 

8 

600 

ADR RO,badplace 

270 

FNchunkhead (chunkstart 1 , chunkendl , 

610 

□RRS pc , 1 i nk, #1<<28 

&80) 


620 

8 

280 

FNchunkhead <chunkstart2, chunkend2, 

630 

. badplace 

&81) 


640 

EQUD 8(FC 

290 

FNchunkhead (chunkstart3, chunkend3, 

650 

EQUS "It's a bad place, Jim" 

&F5) 


660 

EQUB 0 

300 

EQUD 0 

670 

ALIGN 

310 

i 

680 

. chunkendl 

320 

• chunkstart 1 

690 

: 

330 

B readabyte 

700 

. chunkstart2 

340 

B writeabyte 

710 

3 




Continued ► 


ARC AGORA 



ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


83 



IYEUOW PAGES 


◄ Arc Agora listing 2 continued 



1050 

. podgyhelp 

720 P27.=P7. 



1060 

FNequz ( "*Podgy doesn't really do m 

730 P"/.=0 



uch at 

all, but it is downloaded from a 

740 COPT pass* 



podule. "> 

750 .module 



1070 

1 

760 EQUD 0 



1080 

P7+= P27. 

770 EQUD 0 



1090 

COPT pass"/. 

780 EQUD 0 



1100 

. chunkend2 

790 EQUD 0 



1110 

8 

800 EQUD title 



1120 

. chunkstart3 

810 EQUD help 



1130 

EQUS "Acorn User Podule" 

820 EQUD commands 



1140 

EQUB 0 

830 s 



1150 

ALIGN 

B40 .title 



1160 

. chunkend3 

850 FNequz ("PodRom") 



1170 

1 

860 -help 



1180 

NEXT pass"/. 

870 FNequz ( "Podule Demo 

’+CHR# (9) +" 1 . 00 

1190 

SYS "0S_File", 10, "AUpod" , &FFA, , cod 

( "+MID$ (TIME*, 5, 11)+") ") 



e"/.,07 


880 s 



1200 

PRINT "Rom saved as 'AUpod'." 

890 -commands 



1210 

END 

900 FNequz ("Podgy") 



1220 

E 

910 EQUD podgy 



1230 

DEF FNequz (s*) 

920 EQUD 0 



1240 

COPT pass"/. 

930 EQUD podgysyntax 



1250 

EQUS s* 

940 EQUD podgyhelp 



1260 

EQUB 0 

950 i 



1270 

ALIGN 

960 .podgy 



1280 

] : =0 

970 STMFD (sp)!, Clink) 



1290 

s 

9B0 SWI “0S_WriteS" 



1300 

DEF FNchunkhead (chunkstart7., chunke 

990 FNequz ("Who are you 

calling 

podgy? 

nd"/.,type7.) 

") 



1310 

COPT pass"/. 

1000 SWI "OS_NewLine" 



1320 

EQUD type7+( (chunkend7-chunkstart"/. 

1010 LDMFD (sp) ! , <pc> 



) «8) 


1020 : 



1330 

EQUD chunkstarty. 

1030 .podgysyntax 



1340 

1 

1040 FNequz ( "Syntax : *Podgy") 


1350 

=0 


Listing 3. Podule Rom blower 





10 REM Arc Agora - listing 3 


170 

1 

20 REM Podule Rom Blower 


180 

INPUT"Fi 1 e: "file* 

30 REM by Dave Acton 



190 

I NPUT " Socket s " sock"/. 

40 REM for Archimedes 

only 


200 

a"/.=S<3240000+S(4000*socky. 

50 REM (c) Acorn User 

October 

198B 

210 

in7=0PENIN (file*) 

60 s 



220 

WHILE NOT E0F#in"/. 

70 DIM code"/. &1000 



230 

PROCpoke (a"/., BGET#in"/.) 

80 P"/.=code7 



240 

a"/.+=4 

90 COPT 2 



250 

ENDWHILE 

100 -poke 



260 

CLOSE#! n"/. 

110 SWI "OS EnterOS" 



270 

END 

120 STRB R1 , CR03 



280 

I 

130 MOV R1 , PC 



290 

DEF PROCpoke (A"/., B"/.) 

140 TEQP R1 , #3 



300 

CALL poke 

150 MOV R1 , R1 



310 

ENDPROC 

160 MOVS PC, R14 






Listing 4. Palette switching 





10 REM Arc Agora - listing 4 


150 

t=0 

20 REM Spiral 



160 

rinc=w7/segs 

30 REM by Jeroen Boomgaardt 


170 

tinc=2*PI/segs 

40 REM for Archimedes 



180 

ORIGIN 640,512 

50 REM (c) Acorn User 

October 

1988 

190 

x 17=0 

60 s 



200 

y 17=0 

70 MODE 12 



210 

x27.=w"/. 

80 OFF 



220 

y2"/.=0 

90 FOR c"/.= l TO 15 



230 

MOVE x 17, y 17 

100 COLOUR cX.cX«4.c7.«4,c%<<4 

240 

s 

110 NEXT 



250 

FOR s7=l TO segs*60 

120 segs=60.5 



260 

GCOL 0, s7 MOD 15+1 

130 w"/.=4 



270 

r+=rinc 

140 r=0 



280 

t+=tinc 

-# 




Continued ► 


ARO AGORA 



84 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 



YELLOW PAGES 


◄ Arc Agora listing 4 continued 

410 

x27=newx27 

290 c=COS(t) 

420 

y27.=newy27 

300 s=SIN(t) 

430 

NEXT 

310 newxl7.=r*c 

440 

I 

320 newyl7=r*s 

450 

d"/C=0 

330 newx27.= (r+w7.)*c 

460 

REPEAT 

340 newy27= <r+w7.) *s 

470 

WAIT 

350 MOVE x27.,y27. 

480 

FOR c7.= l TO 15 

360 PLOT 85,newx27.,newy27. 

490 

A7.= < <c7.+d7.)M0D 15+1 )<< 4 

370 MOVE xl%,yl7. 

500 

COLOUR c7.,A7.,A7., A7. 

380 PLOT 85,newxl7,newyl7. 

510 

NEXT 

390 xl7=newxl% 

520 

d7.= (d7.+ 14) MOD 15 

400 yl7=newyl7. 

530 

UNTIL FALSE 


Listing 5. Big clock 



10 REM Arc Agora - listing 5 

300 

REPEAT 

20 REM A Very Expensive Digital Watch 

310 

t*=TIME* 

30 REM by David Lawrence 

320 

UNTIL t*Oot» 

40 REM for Archimedes only 

330 

ot*=t* 

50 REM (c) Acorn User October 1988 

340 

hh=(VALMID*(t*, 17,2) MOD 12) *30 

60 c 

350 

imi= (VALMID* (t*, 20, 2) ) *6 

70 ot$="" 

360 

ss= (VALMID* (t*, 23, 2) ) *6 

80 MODE 12s MODE 9 

370 

mm=mm+ss/60: hh=hh+mm/12 

90 ORIGIN 640,512 

380 

PRINTTAB (16,8) ; MID* (t$, 17) 

100 OFF 

390 

PROChand (hh, 300, 64, 32, 13) 

110 COLOUR 1,0,0, 8(60 

400 

PROChand (mm, 400, 32, 16, 14) 

120 COLOUR 2,0,0, &C0 

410 

PROChand (ss, 450, 64, 6, 15) 

130 COLOUR 11, &A0, &A0, 0 

420 

GCOL 12i CIRCLE FILL 0,0,8 

140 COLOUR 12,8(30,&30,8(30 

430 

GCOL Os CIRCLE 0,0,8 

150 COLOUR 13,8<80,0,0 

440 

UNTIL FALSE 

160 COLOUR 14, 8(A0, 0,0 

450 

1 

170 COLOUR 15,8(CO,8(CO,8(CO 

460 

DEF PROChand (a, 1%, b%, M%, c7.) 

180 COLOUR 129 

470 

GCOL c7. 

190 b=l 

480 

c=COSRAD (a) i s=SINRAD (a) 

200 REPEAT 

490 

POINT -s*b7.-c*w7., -c*b%+s*wX 

210 WAIT 

500 

POINT -s*by.+c*w%, -c*b7.-s*w7. 

220 SYS 6, 1 12, b 

510 

PLOT 85, s*l 7.-c*w7., c*l %+s*w7. 

230 SYS 6,113,3-b 

520 

PLOT 85, s*l 7.+c*wX, c*l X-B*wX 

240 b=3-b 

530 

GCOL 0 

250 GCOL 1: CIRCLE FILL 0,0,500 

540 

DRAW s*l 7.-c*w7., c*l 7.+s*w7. 

260 GCOL 2s CIRCLE 0,0,500 

550 

DRAW -s*b7.-c*w7.,-c*b%+s*w7. 

270 FOR A7-=0 TO 330 STEP 30 

560 

DRAW -s*b7.+c*w7., -c*b7.-B*wX 

280 PR0Chand<A7., 460,-420, 8, 11) 

570 

DRAW s*lX+c*w7.,c*17.-s*w7. 

290 NEXT 

580 

ENDPROC 

See Taking shape, page 54 

Listing 1. The Game 




210 

*FX 15 

10 REM 3D Pentominoes 

220 

K$=GET$: ol d=new 

20 REM by David Lawrence 

230 

IF error PRINT TAB ( 1 , 22) ; SPC1 1 s err 

30 REM from an idea by Don Scales 

or=FALSE 

40 REM for BBC B/B+/M/C/E/A 

240 

IF «*="," new=( new+ 1 1 ) MOD 12 

50 REM (c) Acorn User October 1988 

250 

IF new= (new+1 ) MOD 12 

60 s 

260 

IF «*=" " PROCredraw 

70 MODE 1 

270 

IF INSTR(rot*,K$) PROCrottK*) 

80 PROCscreen 

280 

IF K$=CHR*136 PROCmove <xm-l , 0, 0) 

90 PROCinit 

290 

IF K*=CHR*137 PROCmove (1,0,0) 

100 PROCplay 

300 

IF K*=CHR$139 PROCmove (0, ym-1 , 0) 

110 IF more THEN RUN 

310 

IF K*=CHRB138 PROCmove (0, 1,0) 

120 MODE 7 

320 

IF K*="_“ PROCmove (0,0,zm-l) 

130 *FX 229,0 

330 

IF K*="\" PROCmove (0, 0, 1) 

140 END 

340 

IF K*=CHRB13 PROCplace 

150 s 

350 

IF K*=CHR*127 PROCdel ete 

160 DEF PROCplay 

360 

UNTIL used=12 OR K$="Q" 

170 REPEAT 

370 

IF used=12 GCOL 0, lsVDU 5s MOVE 48, 

180 COLOUR 3 

335s PRINT "Well done!":VDU4 

190 PRINT TAB (1,20) ; "Pos: (";xp; ", "$yP5 

380 

PRINT TAB (1, 23) ; "Another go?" 

", “szp; ") " 

390 

*FX 15 

200 IF oldOnew PROCbox (ol d , 0) s PROCbox 

400 

more= ( (GET AND 8<DF) =ASC"Y" ) 

(new, 3) 

410 

ENDPROC 



Continued ^ 


GAMES 



ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


85 


YELLOW PUBES 

GAMES 


◄ Taking Shape listing 1 continued 

420 s 

430 DEF PROCpl ace 

440 IF num=-l PROCerC'No shape" ) s ENDPR 
□C 

450 err=FNf i t 

460 IF err=l PROCer ( "Outsi de box") 

470 IF err=2 PROCer ( "Overl aps" ) 

480 IF err=0 PROCputit 
490 ENDPROC 
500 : 

510 DEF FNfit 

520 F7.=TRUE 

530 FOR b7.= l TO 5 

540 PROCextract (C7. (num, b7.) ) 

550 IF xp+x<0 OR xp+x >=xm F7.=FALSE 
560 IF yp+y<0 OR yp+y>=ym F7.=FALSE 
570 IF zp+z<0 OR zp+z >=zm F7.=FALSE 
580 NEXT 

590 IF NOT FVm THEN =1 

600 F7.=TRUE 

610 FOR b7.= l TO 5 

620 PROCextract (C7. (num, b7.) ) 

630 IF G7. (xp+x, yp+y, zp+z) F7.=FALSE 
640 NEXT 

650 IF NOT F7- THEN =2 
660 =0 
670 s 

680 DEF PROCputit 

690 VDU 28,1,16,11,6,12,26 

700 PROCshape (num, 1 ) 

710 FOR b7.= l TO 5 

720 PROCextract (C7. (num, b7.) > 

730 G7. (xp+x, yp+y , z p+z ) =num+ 1 

740 NEXT 

750 PROCshowal 1 

760 C7.(num,0)=l 

770 num=-l : used=used+l 

780 ENDPROC 

790 s 

800 DEF PROCer (t*) 

810 COLOUR 1 SPRINT TAB(l,22);t* 

820 SOUND 1,-10,201, Is error=TRUE 
830 ENDPROC 
840 s 

850 DEF PROCdelete 

860 IF C7.(new,0)=0 PROCer ("Not used")s 
ENDPROC 

870 FOR xx=0 TO xm-1 

880 FOR yy=0 TO ym-1 

890 FOR zz=0 TO zm-1 

900 IF G7. (xx , yy , zz ) =new+l G7. (xx , yy , zz ) 

=0 

910 NEXT 
920 NEXT 
930 NEXT 

940 PROCshape (new, 2) 

950 PROCshowal 1 

960 C7. (new,0)=0sused=used-l 

970 ENDPROC 

980 : 

990 DEF PROCshowal 1 
1000 VDU 28,15,23,38,6,12,26 
1010 PROCbase (xm, ym, zm) 

1020 FOR zq=0 TO zm-1 
1030 FOR yq=0 TO ym-1 
1040 FOR xq=0 TO xm-1 

1050 IF GX<xq,yq,zq) PROCcube (xq, yq, zq) 
1060 NEXT 
1070 NEXT 
1080 NEXT 

1090 PROCautl ine (xm, ym, zm, 3) 

1100 PROCcurs (xp, yp, zp) 

1110 ENDPROC 


1120 : 

1130 DEF PROCmove (xa, ya, za) 

1140 PROCcurs (xp, yp, zp) 

1150 xp= (xp+x a) MOD xm 
1160 yp= (yp+ya) MOD ym 
1170 zp= (zp+za) MOD zm 
1180 PROCcurs (xp, yp, zp) 

1190 ENDPROC 
1200 s 

1210 DEF PROCcurs (xc, yc, zc) 

1220 PR0C3d (4, xc+1 , yc+1 , zc) 

1230 GCOL 3, Is PRINT out*; 

1240 ENDPROC 
1250 s 

1260 DEF PROCbox (pos, col ) 

1270 GCOL O, col 

1280 MOVE 63+pos*6*16, 63 

1290 PLOT 1 , 84, Oi PLOT 1,0,84 

1300 PLOT 1,-84, Os PLOT 1,0, -84 

1310 ENDPROC 

1320 i 

1330 DEF PROCredraw 

1340 IF C7 (new, 0) =1 PROCer ( "Shape Used" 
) s ENDPROC 

1350 VDU 28,1,15,11,6,12,26 
1360 num=new 

1370 PROCdraw (num, -5,6, 1 ) 

1380 ENDPROC 
1390 s 

1400 DEF PROCrot (dir*) 

1410 IF num=-l PROCerC'No Shape" ) s ENDPR 
OC 

1420 VDU 28,1,16,11,6,12,26 
1430 dir*=CHR* (ASC (dir*) AND&DF) 

1440 IF INKEY-1 dir*=di r*+"a" 

1450 FOR b7.= l TO 5 

1460 PROCextract (C7. (num, b7.) ) 

1470 C7. (num, b7.) =EVAL ( "FNrot "+dir*) 

1480 NEXT 

1490 PROCdraw (num, -5, 6, 1 ) 

1500 ENDPROC 
1510 : 

1520 DEF FNrotX= (2+y ) *100+ (2-z ) *10+2+x 
1530 DEF FNrotY= (2-x ) *100+ (2+y) *10+2+z 
1540 DEF FNrotZ= (2+z ) *100+ (2+x ) *10+2-y 
1550 DEF FNrotXa=(2-y)*100+(2+z)*10+2+x 
1560 DEF FNrotYa= (2+x ) *100+ (2+y) *10+2-z 
1570 DEF FNrotZa= (2+z ) *100+ (2— x ) *10+2+y 
1580 s 

1 590 DEF PROCbase ( x o , yo , z o ) 

1600 GCOL 0,3 

1610 PR0C3d(4,xo,0,0) 

1620 PR0C3d (21,0,0,0) 

1630 PR0C3d (21,0, yo, 0) 

1640 PR0C3d (4, 0,0,0) 

1650 PR0C3d (21 , 0, 0, zo) 

1660 ENDPROC 
1670 s 

1680 DEF PROCoutl ine (xo, yo, zo, col ) 

1690 GCOL 0, col 

1700 RESTORE 3200 

1710 FOR z7.= l TO 11 

1720 READ p7,xa,ya,za 

1 730 PR0C3d ( p“/. , x o*x a , y o*y a , z o*z a ) 

1740 NEXT 
1750 ENDPROC 
1760 s 

1770 DEF PROCdraw (n, xx , yy, zz ) 

1780 FOR I7.= l TO 5 
1790 A7-(I7.)=C7.(n, 17) 

1800 NEXT 

1810 FOR I%=1 TO 5:L7.= I7. 

1820 FOR J7.= I7. TO 5 

1830 IF A7.(J7.XA7.(L7.) L7.=J7. 

1840 NEXT Continued ► 


86 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 



YELLOW PAGES 

GAMES 


◄ Taking Shape listing 1 continued 

1 850 B7.=A7. ( L7. ) s A7- ( L7. ) = A7. ( 1 7. ) s A7. ( 17) =B7. 
1860 PROCextract (B7-) 

1870 PROCcube (x+xx , y+yy, z+zz ) 

1880 NEXT 
1890 ENDPROC 
1900 s 

1910 DEF PROCcube (xc , yc , zc ) 

1920 PR0C3d(4,xc,yc,zc) 

1930 PRINT cube$; 

1940 GCOL 0,0 

1950 IF ABSx+ABSy+ABSz< >0 PRINT out*; 
I960 ENDPROC 
1970 s 

1980 DEF PR0C3d ( o7. , x , y , z ) 

1990 PLOT o7.,736+(x-y)*xs,640-(x+y)*ys+ 
z*zs 

2000 ENDPROC 
2010 s 

2020 DEF PROCscreen 
2030 VDU 23 ; 8202 ; 0 ; 0 ; 0 ; 

2040 PROCdrop ( 12, 3, 27, 1 ) 

2050 PRINT TAB (13,2) ; "3D Pentomi noes" 
2060 PROCdrop (1, 16, 11,6) 

2070 PROCdrop (15, 23, 38, 6) 

2080 PROCdrop (1,23, 11, 19) 

2090 PROCdrop (1,30,38,26) 

2100 ENDPROC 
2110 e 

2120 DEF PRQCini t 
2130 DIM CYm (11,5), AX (5) 

2140 xs=48: ys=24s zs=48: used=0: num=0 

2150 xp=Os yp=Os zp=Os new=Os old=l 

2160 rot$=" XYZxyz " : error=FALSE 

2170 GCOL 0,2s *FX 4,1 

2180 *FX 229, 1 

2190 FOR I7.=0 TO 11 

2200 FOR J7.= l TO 5 

2210 READ V7. 

2220 CYm ( 1 7. , J 7. ) = V7-* 10+2 

2230 PROCdot ( I7.*6+V7.M0D 10, (V7./ 10) MOD 1 
0) 

2240 NEXT 
2250 NEXT 

2260 VDU 28,15,23,38,6 

2270 PRINT'" Select grid sizes" 

2280 PRINT'" 1) 5 x 4 x 3"'" 2) 6x5 

x 2"'" 3) 10 x 3 x 2" 

2290 PRINT"" - Which ? " ; 

2300 REPEAT 
2310 k*=GET$ 

2320 UNTIL k$>"0" AND k$<"4" 

2330 IF k*="l" xm=5s ym=4s zm=3 
2340 IF k$="2" xm=6s ym=5: zm=2 
2350 IF k$="3" xm=10s ym=3s zm=2 
2360 DIM G7 ( x m , y m , z m ) 

2370 VDU 12,26 
2380 cube$=FNstri ng 
2390 out$=FNstr i ng 
2400 PROCbase (xm, ym, zm) 

2410 PROCoutl i ne (xm, ym, zm, 3) 

2420 PROCdraw (0, —5, 6,1) 

2430 PROCcurs (0, 0, O) 

2440 ENDPROC 
2450 s 

2460 DEF FNstring 
2470 st$="" 

2480 REPEAT 

2490 READ v7. , v 1 7. , v27. 

2500 IF v7.= 18 THEN PROCgcol 

2510 IF v7.=0 OR v7.= l OR v7.=81 PROCplot 

2520 UNTIL v7.=-l 

2530 =st$ 


2540 s 

2550 DEF PROCgcol 

2560 st *=st *+CHR$ 1 8+CHR$v 1 7.+CHR*v27. 

2570 ENDPROC 
2580 s 

2590 DEF PROCplot 

2600 st$=st$+CHR$25+CHR$v7+FNc (vl7.) +FNc 
(v27.) 

2610 ENDPROC 
2620 s 

2630 DEF FNc(q7.) 

2640 q7.=q7.+65536 

2650 =CHR$(q7. MOD 256) +CHR* ( q7. DIV 256) 
2660 s 

2670 DEF PROCshape (n, c) 

2680 GCOL O, c 
2690 RESTORE 

2700 IF n<>0 FOR i = l TO n*5s READ qs NEXT 
2710 FOR i=l TO 5 
2720 READ V7- 

2730 PROCdot (n*6+V7.M0D10, (V7./10) M0D10) 
2740 NEXT 
2750 ENDPROC 
2760 s 

2770 DEF PROCdot (xd, yd) 

2780 MOVE 64+xd*16, 64+yd*16s PLOT 1,15,0 
2790 PLOT 81,-15, 15:PL0T 81,15,0 
2800 ENDPROC 
2810 s 

2820 DEF PROCextract (zyx ) 

2830 x=zyx MOD 10-2 
2840 y= (zyx / 10) MOD 10-2 
2850 z= (zyx / 100) MOD 10-2 
2860 ENDPROC 
2870 s 

2880 DEF PROCdrop (1 , d, r, u) 

2890 1=1 *32 s d=991-d*32s r= (r+1 ) *32 
2900 u=1023-u*32 

2910 VDU18, 0, 131,24, 1 ; d-12; r+12; u; 16 
2920 VDU18, 0, 128, 24, 1 +4; d-8; r+8; u-4; 16 
2930 VDU18, 0, 131 , 24, 1 -8; d-4; r+4; u+8; 16 
2940 VDU18, O, 128, 24, 1-4; d; r ; u+4; 16,26 
2950 ENDPROC 
2960 s 

2970 DATA 02,12,22,32,42 
2980 DATA 11,12,22,32,42 
2990 DATA 21,12,22,32,42 
3000 DATA 11,21,22,32,42 
3010 DATA 11,21,22,12,32 
3020 DATA 20,21,22,12,32 
3030 DATA 21,12,22,23,33 
3040 DATA 21,31,22,23,33 
3050 DATA 11,21,22,23,33 
3060 DATA 20,21,22,32,42 
3070 DATA 21,12,22,32,23 
3080 DATA 11,21,22,32,33 
3090 8 

3100 DATA 18,0,1, 0,-xs,-ys, 0,xs,-ys 
3110 DATA 81 , -xs, ys*3, Sl,xs,-ys 
3120 DATA 18,0,3, 81,0,ys*2, 81,xs,-ys 
3130 DATA 18,0,2, 0,— xs,— ys, 81, xs,— ys 
3140 DATA 81 , -xs, -ys, -1,0,0 
3150 DATA 1 , xs, ys, l,0,2*ys, 1,— xs, ys 

3160 DATA 1 , — xs, — ys, l,0,-2*ys 
3170 DATA l,xs,-ys, l,0,2*ys, l,xs,ys 
3180 DATA 0,-xs,-ys, l,-xs,ys, -1,0,0 
3190 s 

3200 DATA 4, 1,1,0, 5, 1,0,0 
3210 DATA 5, 1,0,1, 5,0,0, 1 
3220 DATA 5,0, 1,1, 5,0, 1,0 
3230 DATA 5, 1,1,0, 5, 1,1,1 
3240 DATA 5, 1,0,1, 4, 1,1,1 
3250 DATA 5,0, 1,1 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


87 


YELLOW PAGES 


JOE'S JOTTINGS 



◄ See Joe’s Jottings, page 58 


Listing 1. Thought organiser 

630 VDU 26 

10 REM Ideas Processor 

640 ENDPROC 

20 REM by Joe Telford 

650 : 

30 REM for BBC B+/M/C/A (B & shadow) 

660 DEF PROCmessplus (t$) 

40 REM (c) Acorn User October 1988 

670 VDU 26,28,1,2,78,1 

50 s 

680 COLOUR 128: COLOUR 1 : CLS 

60 max=50 

690 PRINT t$; 

70 MODE 128 

700 ENDPROC 

80 VDU 1-9, 0,4,0; 0; 0; 

710 : 

90 PROCcoff 

720 DEF PROCexmesspl us 

100 PROCsetup 

730 VDU 26 

110 PROCf irstscreen 

740 ENDPROC 

120 PROCmess ( " " ) 

750 : 

130 ON ERROR PROCerr 

760 DEF PROCf irstscreen 

140 *FX 4 1 

770 PROCtr (0,0,79,3) 

150 PROCshow 

780 PROCtr (0,28,79,3) 

160 REPEAT: PROCcoff 

790 PRINTTAB (22, 1) ; : PROCdhdw ( "The Joe' 

170 REPEAT :A-/.=FNmove 

s Jottings") 

180 IF A7.=ASC("A") PROCadd 

800 PRINTTAB (25, 29) ;: PROCdhdw ("Ideas P 

190 IF A7.=ASC("E") PROCchange 

rocessor " ) 

200 IF A7.= 127 OR A‘/.=ASC " d " PROCdeletel 

810 PRINTTAB (20, 15) ; : PROCdhdw ("Press S 

ines PROCshow 

PACE to begin") 

210 IF AX=ASC ( " J" ) PROCjoin: PROCshow 

820 REPEAT UNTIL GET=32 

220 IF A7.=ASC("C") PROCcat 

830 PRINTTAB (20, 15) ; STRING* (40, " "); 

230 IF AX=ASC ("S") PROCsavef : PROCf i 1 en 

840 PRINTTAB (20, 16 ) 5 STRING* (40, " "); 

ame(f$) 

850 PRINTTAB (2, 29) ;: PROCdh ("The Joe's 

240 IF A7.=ASC("L") PR0C1 oadf : PROCf i 1 en 

Jottings" ) 

ame(f$) 

860 ENDPROC 

250 IF A7.=ASC("D") PROCdelete 

870 : 

260 IF A7.=ASCC"P") PROCprintout 

880 DEF PROCtr (x,y,l,d) 

270 IF A7.= 140 PROCpromote: PROCshow 

890 PROCrect (x*16+8, 1008- (y+d) *32, 1 *16 

280 IF A7.= 141 PROCdemote: PROCshow 

, d*32, 0) 

290 IF A7.= 142 PROCmoves PROCshow 

900 ENDPROC 

300 IF A7.= 143 OR A7.= 135 PROCcopy : PROCs 

910 : 

how 

920 DEF PROCerr 

310 IF A7.= 149 PROCnewsheet 

930 VDU 3: *FX 3 0 

320 UNTIL A7.=ASC("Q") 

940 CL0SE#0 

330 UNTIL FNquit 

950 VDU 7 

340 *FX 4 0 

960 IF ERR=17 PROCmess ( "Last action ca 

350 MODE 128: *BASIC 

ncel 1 ed ! . . PI ease continue- " ) : A*= INKEY* (3 

360 DEF FNquit 

00) : PROCmess ( " " ) : ENDPROC 

370 PROCmess ("Do you really want to en 

970 IF ERR=190 PROCmess ( "Can 't save:ca 

d? Y/N ") 

t full - change disc !"): A*=INKEY* (300) : P 

380 REPEAT A$=CHR* CGET AND 223): UNTIL 

ROCmess ( " " ) : ENDPROC 

A$=" Y" OR A*="N" 

980 IF ERR=179 PROCmess ( "Can ' t save:di 

390 IF A*="Y" THEN =TRUE 

r full - change disc ! " ) : A*=INKEY* (300) : P 

400 =FALSE 

ROCmess (" ") : ENDPROC 

410 : 

990 IF ERR=198 PROCmess ( "Can ' t save:di 

420 DEF PROCf i lename (f *) 

5C full - change disc ! " ) : A*=INKEY* (300) : 

430 VDU 26 

PROCmess ( " " ) : ENDPROC 

440 PRINTTAB (63,29) ; : PROCdh ("File: "+S 

1000 PROCmesspl us ( " " ) 

TRING* (10, " ")) 

1010 PRINTTAB (0,0) ; : REPORT: PRINT; ERR; " 

450 PRINTTAB (69, 29) ;: PROCdh (f*) 

at line "ERL;: 

460 PROCmess ("") 

1020 A*=INKEY* (500) 

470 ENDPROC 

1030 PROCexmesspl us 

480 : 

1040 PROCshow 

490 DEF PROCdemote 

1050 ENDPROC 

500 T7.(tp7.)=T7.(tp7.)+l 

1060 : 

510 IF T7.(tp7.)>3 T7.(tp7.)=3: VDU 7:PR0Cm 

1070 DEF PROCnewsheet 

ess ("No more subgroups - Press SPACE") :R 

1080 PROCmess ("Do you really want a new 

EPEAT UNTIL GET*=" ": PROCmess ("" ) 

plan? Y/N") 

520 ENDPROC 

1090 REPEAT A*=CHR* (GET AND 223): UNTIL 

530 : 

A*="Y" OR A*="N" 

540 DEF PROCpromote 

1100 IF A*="N" PROCmess (""): ENDPROC 

550 T7.(tp7.)=T7.(tp7.)-l 

1110 RUN 

560 IF T7.(tp7.)=-1 T7.(tp7.)=0: VDU 7:PR0C 

1120 : 

messCThis is the highest level of title 

1130 DEF PROCcat 

- Press SPACE") : REPEAT UNTIL GET*=" ":P 

1140 COLOUR 0: COLOUR 129 

ROCmess ( " " ) 

1150 VDU 26,28,0,27,79,4 

570 ENDPROC 

1160 CLS: PRINT:*. 

580 : 

1170 PROCmess ( " Files avai 1 abl e: "+CHR*1 

590 DEF PROCmess (t*) 

3+CHR*10+STRING* (56, " ")+"Press space to 

600 VDU 26,28,1,2,78,1 

return" ) 

610 COLOUR 128: COLOUR 1 : CLS 

1180 REPEAT UNTIL GET=32 

620 PRINT t$; 

1190 PROCmess ( ) Continued ► 


88 


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YELLOW PAGES 

JOES JOTTINGS 


◄ Joe’s Jottings listing 1 continued 

1200 VDU 26,28,0,27,79,4 

1210 CLS 

1220 VDU 26 

1230 PROCshow 

1240 ENDPROC 

1250 s 

1260 DEF PROCdelete 
1270 REPEAT 

1280 PROCmesspl us ( "del ete file:- ") 

1290 fS=FNgpi (7,0, cap$+l ow$+nos$ ) 

1300 PROCexmesspl us 
1310 IF fS="" PROCcat 
1320 UNTIL fS>"" 

1330 ch"/.=OPENUP(f S) : CLOSE #ch'/.: IF ch7-=0 
VDU7 : PROCmess ( "Can ' t find that file."): 
AS=INKEYS (500) : PROCmess ( " " ) : ENDPROC 
1340 OSCL I ("REMOVE "+fS) 

1350 PROCmess ("Del eted ! " ) : AS=INKEYS (300 
) : PROCmess ( " " ) 

1360 ENDPROC 
1370 : 

1380 DEF PROCsavef 

1390 PROCmess (STRING* (7, " ")+"Save as I 
dea Processor file... type I " +CHRS 1 3+CHRS 
10+"or Save as Word Processor file., 

.type W" ) 

1400 REPEAT AS=CHRS (GET AND 223): UNTIL 
AS=" I " OR AS="W" 

1410 IF AS="W" PROCsavew: ENDPROC 
1420 REPEAT 

1430 PROCmesspl us ( "Save as Idea Process 
or file, name: " ) 

1440 fS=FNgpi (7, 0, capS+1 ow$+nos$) 

1450 PROCexmesspl us 
1460 IF fS="" PROCcat 
1470 UNTIL fS>"" 

1480 ch"/.=OPENUP(fS) : IF ch“/.< >0 CLOSEttch 7. 
: VDU 7: PROCmess ("That file ex i sts" > : AS=I 
NKEYS (500) : PROCmess ( " " ) : ENDPROC 
1490 ch"/.=OPENOUT(fS) 

1500 PROCmess ( "Saving. . . please wait") 
1510 PRINT#ch7.,eot7. 

1520 LOCAL loop 7. 

1530 FOR loop7.=0 TO eot7. 

1540 PRINT#ch7.,TS(loop7.) ,T7.(loop7.) 

1550 NEXT 
1560 CL0SE#ch7. 

1570 PROCmess ( " " ) 

1580 ENDPROC 
1590 : 

1600 DEF PROCsavew 
1610 REPEAT 

1620 PROCmesspl us ( "Save as Word Process 
or text file, name: " ) 

1630 fS=FNgpi (7, 0, capS+1 ow$+nos$ ) 

1640 PROCexmesspl us 
1650 IF fS="" PROCcat 
1660 UNTIL fS>"" 

1670 ch7.=0PENUP(fS) : IF ch7.< >0 CL0SE#ch7. 
: VDU 7: PROCmess ("That file ex i sts" ) : AS=I 
NKEYS (500) : PROCmess ( " " ) : ENDPROC 
1680 PROCmesspl us ( "Savi ng. . . please wai 
t") 

1690 LOCAL loop7. 

1700 OSCLI( "SPOOL "+fS) 

1710 FOR loop7.=0 TO eot7. 

1720 PRINTSTRINGS(T7.(loop7.)*5, " ">;TS(1 
oop7.) 

1730 NEXT : *SPOOL 
1740 CLS: PROCexmesspl us 
1750 ENDPROC 
1760 : 

1770 DEF PROCprintout 
1780 LOCAL loop’/.,h$ 


1790 PROCmess ( "Pri ntout : (A) 11, (H)eadi 

ngs, (C)urrent heading") 

1800 REPEAT : A$=CHRS (GET AND 223): UNTIL 
INSTR ( "AHC" , AS) >0 

1810 IF AS="C" PROCpr i ntthi sheadi ng : END 
PROC 

1820 IF AS="A" hS=" all ideas." ELSE hS 
=" headings. " 

1 830 PROCmess ("Printing" +hS+CHRS 1 3+CHRS 
10+"Setup printer then press SPACE.") 

1840 REPEAT UNTIL GET=32 
1850 *FX 3 10 

1860 PRINT"The Joe's Jottings Ideas Pro 
cessor. 

1870 PRINT"Pr intout of";h$ 

1880 PRINT STRINGS (79, "-" ) 

1890 FOR loop7.=0 TO eot7. 

1900 IF AS="A" PRINT H* (T7. (loop7.) ) | STRI 
NG$(T7.(loop7.)*5, " " ) ; T$ (loop7.) 

1910 IF A$="H" AND T7. (1 oop7.) <2 PRINT H* 
(T7.(loop7.) ) 5STRING^(T7.(loop7.)*5, " " > ;T^( 
loop7.) 

1920 NEXT 

1930 PRINTSTRINGS(79, "-") 

1940 VDU 12 
1950 *FX 3 0 
1960 PROCmess ("") 

1970 ENDPROC 4 

1980 : 

1990 DEF PROCprintthi sheading 
2000 LOCAL h$,loop7. 

2010 h$=" ideas under one heading." 

2020 PROCmess ("Printing" +h$+CHR$ 1 3+CHR* 
10+"Setup printer then press SPACE.") 

2030 REPEAT UNTIL GET=32 
2040 *FX3, 10 

2050 PRINT"The Joe's Jottings Ideas Pro 
cessor. 

2060 PR I NT "Pri ntout of";h* 

2070 PRINT STRINGS (79, ) 

2080 loop7.=FNf indbef ore (tp7.) 

2090 PRINT HS(T7.(loop7.) ) ; STRINGS (T7.( loo 
p7.)*5," ") ;TS(loop7.) 

2100 REPEAT: 1 oop7.=l oop7.+ l 
2110 IF T7.(loop7.) >1 PRINTHS(T7.(loop7.) ) ; 
STRINGS (T7.(loop7.) *5, " " ) ;TS(loop7.) 

2120 UNTIL T7.(loop7.)<2 
2130 PRINT STRINGS (79, "-") 

2140 VDU 12 
2150 *FX 3 0 
2160 PROCmess ("") 

2170 ENDPROC 
2180 : 

2190 DEF FNf indbef ore (t) 

2200 IF T7.(t)<=2 THEN =t 
2210 LOCAL aloop7.,f lag7. 

2220 f lag7.=0 

2230 FOR aloop7.=t TO 0 

2240 IF T7.(aloop7.)<2 THEN f 1 ag7.=al oop7. 

2250 NEXT 
2260 =flag7. 

2270 : 

2280 DEF PROCloadf 
2290 REPEAT 

2300 PROCmesspl us ( "load Ideas Processor 
file, name:- "> 

2310 fS=FNgpi (7, 0, capS+1 owS+nosS) 

2320 PROCexmesspl us 
2330 IF fS="" PROCcat 
2340 UNTIL fS>"" 

2350 ch7.=0PENUP(fS) : IF ch7.=0 CL0SE#ch7.: 

VDU 7: PROCmess ( "Can ' t find that file."): 

AS= INKEYS (500) : PROCmess ( " " ) : ENDPROC 
2360 PROCmess ( "Loading. . . please wait") 

2370 PRQCclearT 

2380 PROCshow Continued ► 


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89 



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JOE’S JOTTINGS 


◄ Joe’s Jottings listing 1 continued 
2390 INPUT#chX,eotX 
2400 LOCAL loop'/. 

2410 FOR loopX=0 TO eotX 

2420 INPUT#chX,T* (loop-/.) , TX ( loop"/.) 

2430 NEXT 
2440 CLOSE#chX 
2450 PROCmess ( " " ) 

2460 PROCshow 
2470 ENDPROC 
2480 s 

2490 DEF FNgpi (len, effect, valid*) 

2500 PROCcon 

2510 LOCAL a$,b: a$=" " 

2520 PRINT STRINGS (len, ". " ) 5 STRINGS (len 
,CHR$< 8 ) ) ; :*FX20 1 
2530 b=GET : IF b=13 PROCcoff:=a$ 

2540 IF b=127 AND a*="" THEN 2530 
2550 IF b=127 a$=LEFT$ (a*, LEN (a$> -1 ) : PR 
I NTCHRSb 5 " . " 5 CHR$ ( 8 ) ; : GOTO 2530 
2560 IF effect=0 THEN 2590 
2570 IF ef f ect=l b=b AND 223 ELSE b=b 0 
R 32 

2580 IF ef f ect=3 AND (RIGHTS (a$, 1 ) =" " 0 
R a$=" " ) b=b AND 223 
2590 IF LEN (a$) =1 en OR INSTR ( val i dS, CHR 
$b ) =0 VDU 7: GOTO 2530 
2600 PRINTCHR$b; : a$=a$+CHR$b : GOTO 2530 
2610 : 

2620 DEF PROCval i d 

2630 cap$=" ABCDEFGH I JKLMNOPQRSTUVWX YZ " 
2640 low$=" abcdef ghi j kl mnopqrstuvwxyz " 
2650 nos$="-. 0123456789" 

2660 pun$=" _ a C]}{!#$ 7.&'()=?/*:+; m <>" + 
CHR*34 

2670 al 1 $=cap$+l ow$+nos$+piin$ 

2680 ENDPROC 
2690 s 

2700 DEF PROCrect (x , y, 1 , w, f ) 

2710 MOVE x , y: DRAW x+l,y 
2720 IF f =0 DRAW x+l,y+w ELSE PLOT 85, x 
,y+w 

2730 IF f =0 DRAW x , y+w ELSE PLOT 85,x+l 
,y+w 

2740 MOVE x, y+w: IF f=0 DRAW x,y ELSE MO 
VE x , y 

2750 ENDPROC 
2760 : 

2770 DEF PROCdh (t$) 

2780 LOCAL loop 7 . 

2790 FOR loopX=l TO LEN (t*) 

2800 PROCex tend ( "H" , ASC (MID* ( t*, 1 oop7., 1 
))) 

2810 NEXT 
2820 ENDPROC 
2830 : 

2840 DEF PROCextend (d*,cX) 

2850 XX=&70: YX= 0 :?XX=cX: AX=10:CALL &FFF 

1 

2860 IF d*="H" VDU23,128,XX?1,XX?1,XX?2 
, XX72, XX73, X7.73, XX74, XX74, 128,8,10,23,12 
8 , XX75, XX75, X7.76, XX76, XX77, XX77, XX78, XX? 
8, 128, UsENDPROC 
2870 LOCAL cX, pX, hX, nX, tX 
2880 FOR cX=l TO 5 STEP 4 
2890 FOR pX=4 TO 0 STEP -4iVDU 23,128 
2900 FOR hX=cX TO cX+3:tX=0 
2910 FOR nX=pX TO pX+3: IF (2^nX AND XX? 
hX) tX=tX+3* (4^ (nX-pX) > 

2920 NEXT : VDU tX, tX: NEXT: VDU 128: NEXT: V 
DU 8 , 8 , 10:NEXT:VDU 11,11,9,9 
2930 ENDPROC 
2940 : 

2950 DEF PROCdhdw(tS) 

2960 LOCAL loopX ' 


2970 FOR loopX=l TO LEN (t*> 

2980 PROCextend ( "HW" , ASC (MID$ (t*, loopX, 
1) ) ) 

2990 NEXT 
3000 ENDPROC 
3010 : 

3020 DEF PROCsetup 
3030 *KEY 0 A 
3040 *KEY 1 E 
3050 *KEY 2 d 
3060 *KEY 3 J 
3070 *KEY 4 C 
3080 *KEY 5 S 
3090 *KEY 6 L 
3100 *KEY 7 D 
3110 *KEY 8 P 
3120 *KEY 9 Q 
3130 *FX 226 140 
3140 *FX 227 150 
3150 PROCval id 

3160 DIMT$ (max ) , TX (max ) , H$ (3) 

3170 DIMO$ (max ) , OX (max ) 

3180 H*(0)="Ttl : " : H* ( 1 > ="Hdg : l, :H$(2) = 
“Sub : " : H$ (3) ="Pnt : " 

3190 PROCclearT 
3200 ENDPROC 
3210 : 

3220 DEF FNrnove 
3230 LOCAL AX 

3240 AX=GET : BX= ( INKEY-1 ) +2* ( INKEY-2) 
3250 IF AX=138 AND BX=0 PROCup : PROCshow 
3260 IF AX=139 AND BX=0 PROCdown : PROCsh 


ow 

3270 IF AX=138 AND BX=-1 PROChup : PROCsh 
□w 


3280 IF AX=139 AND BX=-1 PROChdown : PROC 
show 

3290 IF AX=138 AND BX<-1 tpX=eotX: PROCs 
how 

3300 IF AX=139 AND BX<-1 tpX=0: PROCshow 
3310 =AX 
3320 : 

3330 DEF PROCup 

3340 tpX=tpX+l 

3350 IF tpX>eotX tpX=0 

3360 ENDPROC 

3370 : 

3380 DEF PROChdown 
3390 REPEAT: tpX=tpX-l 

3400 IF tpX<0 UNTIL TRUE: ELSE UNTIL TX ( 
tpX> < = 1 

3410 IF tpX<0 tpX=0 
3420 ENDPROC 
3430 : 

3440 DEF PROChup 
3450 REPEAT: tpX=tpX+l 

3460 IF tpX>eotX UNTIL TRUE ELSE UNTIL 
TX ( tpX) <=1 

3470 IF tpX>eotX tpX=eotX 
3480 ENDPROC 
3490 : 

3500 DEF PROCdown 
3510 tpX=tpX— 1 
3520 IF tpX<0 tpX=eotX 
3530 ENDPROC 
3540 : 

3550 DEF PROCshow 

3560 SX= (tpX ‘DI V 21): COLOUR 128:C0L0UR1 
3570 FOR RX=0 TO 20 

3580 IF (RX+SX*21 ) =max THEN PRINT "-end 
-"+STRING$ (74, "-") ; : ELSEIF (RX+SX*21 ) >eo 
tX PRINTSTRING$ (80, "-") ; : ELSEPRINTTAB (0, 

RX+4) ; H$ (TX (RX+ (SX*21 ) ) ) ; SPC ( TX ( RX+ ( 3X*2 
1 ) > *5 ) 5 T* (RX+ ( SX*2 1 ) ) ; STRINGS (75- (TX (RX+ 

( sx*2 1 ) ) * 5 +LENT$ ( RX+ ( SX*2 1 ) ) ) , " " ) ; Continued ► 


90 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 



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JOE S JOTTINGS 


◄ Joe’s Jottings listing 1 continued 

3590 NEXT 

3600 COLOUR 129: COLOUR 0 
3610 PRINTTAB(0* 4+(tp7. MOD 21 ) ) ; H$ (TV. ( t 
p7.) ) ;SPC(T7.(tp7.)*5) ;T*(tp7.) ; STRING* (75- < 
(T7. (tp7.) *5) +LENTS (tp7.) ) , " " ) 

3620 COLOUR 1 : COLOUR 128 
3630 ENDPROC 
3640 : 

3650 DEF PROCadd 

3660 PROCmess ("Inserting. " > 

3670 IF FNinceot = FALSE VDU 7: PROCmes 
s ("Memory full- before adding any more i 
deas, "+CHR$13+CHR$10+" some will need co 
mbining or del eti ng ! "+STRING$ (27, " ")+": 
Press SPACE") : REPEAT UNTIL GET=32: PROCme 
ss ( " " ) : ENDPROC 
3680 PROCshow 

3690 PROCmess ("Please add text now...") 

3700 COLOUR 129: COLOUR 0 

3710 PRINTTAB(0, (tp7. MOD 21)+4),"ADD> " 

’3720 T*(tp7.)=FNgpi (60,0, all*) 

3730 PROCshow 
3740 PROCmess ("") 

3750 ENDPROC 
3760 : 

3770 DEF PROCchange 
3780 buf f $=T$ (tp7) 

3790 T*(tp7.)="":T7.(tp7.)=0 
3800 PROCshow 

3810 PROCmess (buff $+CHR* 1 3+CHR* 1 0+ •• pi e a 
se retype this line now...") 

3820 COLOUR 129: COLOUR 0 

3830 PRINTTAB(0,4+(tp7. MOD 21)>,"CHA> " 

9 3840 T*(tp7.)=FNgpi (60,0, all*) 

3850 PROCshow 
3860 PROCmess ("") 

3870 ENDPROC 
3880 : 

3890 DEF FNinceot 
3900 LOCAL loop7. 

3910 IF eot7.=max THEN =FALSE 
3920 FOR loop7.=eot7. TO tp7. STEP -1 
3930 T$(loop7.+ l)=T*(loop7.) 

3940 T7.(loop7.+ l)=T7.(loop7.) 

3950 NEXT 
3960 T$(tp7.)="" 

3970 T7.(tp7.)=0 
3980 eot7.=eot7.+ l 
3990 =TRUE 
4000 : 

4010 DEF PROCdel etel i ne 
4020 PROCmess ( "Press Y to delete, N to 
cancel " ) 

4030 REPEAT A*=CHR*(GET AND 223) : UNTIL 
A$=" Y" OR A*="N" 

4040 IF A$="N" PROCmess (""): ENDPROC 
4050 PROCdodel 
4060 ENDPROC 
4070 : 

4080 DEF PROCdodel 

4090 PROCmess ( "Del eteing. .." ) 

4100 IF tp7.=eot7. T* (tp7.) = " " : T7. (tp7.) =0: P 
ROCmess ( " " ) : ENDPROC 
4110 PROCdel tx t 
4120 PROCmess ( ,,M ) 

4130 ENDPROC 
4140 : 

4150 DEF PROCdel tx t 

4160 LOCAL loopX 

4170 FOR loop7.=tp7. TO eot7.-l 

4180 T$(loop7.)=T$(loop7.+ l) 

4190 T7.(loop7.)=T7.(loop7.+ l) 


4200 NEXT 

4210 T*(eot7.)="" 

4220 T7.(eot7.)=0 
4230 eot7.=eot7.-l 
4240 ENDPROC 
4250 : 

4260 DEF PROCcof f : VDU 23; 8202; 0; 0; 0; : EN 
DPROC 

4270 DEF PROCcon: VDU 23; 29194; 0; O; 0; : EN 
DPROC 
4280 : 

4290 DEF PROCjoin 

4300 PROCmess ( "Move the bar to the firs 
t of the lines you want joining"+CHR$13+ 
CHR$10+STRING$ (60, " ")+"then press RETUR 
N"> 

4310 REPEAT A7.=FNmove: UNTIL A7.= 13 
4320 J17.=tp7. 

4330 IF jl7.=eot7. PROCmess (""): ENDPROC 
4340 IF LEN(TS(jl7.)+T*(jl7.+ l) ) >64 VDU 7 
: PROCmess (" second line will not fit!... 
Press J to Join anyway"+CHR$13+CHR$10+ST 
RING*(24," ")+"or. . -Press Q to quit"):RE 
PEAT A$=CHR$ (GET AND 223): UNTIL A$="Q" 0 
R A$=" J": PROCmess ("") : IF A$="Q" ENDPROC 
4350 PROCmess ( "Joining. . . Please wait") 
4360 T* ( j 1 7. ) =LEFT* ( T* ( j 1 7. ) + " : " +T* ( j 1 7.+ 1 
) ,65) 

4370 tp7.=tp7.+ l 
4380 PROCdodel 
4390 tp7.=tp7.-l 
4400 ENDPROC 
4410 : 

4420 DEF PROCgetlines(t*, tl*,t2*) 

4430 PROCmess ( "Move the bar to the line 
you are "+t$+" : "+CHR$13+CHR$10+STRING$ ( 
60," " ) +"then press RETURN") 

4440 REPEAT A7.=FNmove: UNTIL A7.= 13 
4450 sy7.=tp7.:ey7.=-l 

4460 IF T7. (tp7.)=0 OR T7. (tp7.)=3 OR tp7.=e 
otVm ey7.=tp7. 

4470 IF ey7=-l ey7=tp7: REPEAT: ey7=ey7.+ l 
: UNTIL T7.(ey7.X=T7.(tp7.) OR ey7.=eot7.: IF e 
y7.<eot7. OR (ey7.=eot7. AND T7. (ey7.) <=T7. (tp7. 

) ) ey7=ey%-l 

4480 PROCmess ( "Move the bar to the line 
that you want to "+tl$+" just before: "+ 
CHR$13+CHR$10+STRING$ (60, " ")+"then pres 
s RETURN") 

4490 REPEAT A7.=FNmove: UNTIL A7.= 13 
4500 ty7.=tp7. 

4510 IF ty7.<=ey7. AND ty7->sy7. VDU 7:PR0C 
mess ("Can't "+tl$+" into the area being 
"+t2«+" ! "+CHR$13+CHR^10+STRING$ (65, " " ) + 

": Press SPACE" ): REPEAT UNTIL GET=32: ENDP 
ROC 

4520 PROCmess ( "PI ease wait... Clearing 
space") 

4530 PROCclearO 
4540 ENDPROC 
4550 : 

4560 DEF PROCcopy 
4570 LOCAL sy7., ey7., ty7. 

4580 PROCgetl i nes ( "copyi ng", "copy", "cop 
ied") 

4590 PROCmess ( "Now sorting ideas... Pie 
ase wait. " ) 

4600 IF (eot7+ey7-sy%+l ) >max VDU 7:PR0C 
mess ( " Not enough room to copy these ide 
as.'"+CHR$13+CHR$10+" You might delete or 
join some ideas to make room ! "+STRING$ ( 
10," ")+"s Press SPACE" ): REPEAT UNTIL GET 
=32 : PROCshow: ENDPROC 
4610 PROCcopyorder 

Continued ► 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


91 



YELLOW PAGES 


◄ Joe’s Jottings listing 1 continued 

4900 blk=FNtto(sy7.,ey7.,blk) 

4620 PROCmess < "Resorting ideas--. Pleas 

4910 blk=FNtto(ty7-,eot7.,blk) 

e wait") 

4920 ENDPROC 

4630 PROCcopyback (bl k) 

4930 : 

4640 PROCmess ("") 

4940 DEF PROCtbs 

4650 tp/C=ty/C: PROCshow 

4950 blk=FNtto(0, ty7.-l,0) 

4660 ENDPROC 

4960 blk=FNtto(sy7.,ey7.,blk) 

4670 : 

4970 bl k=FNtto (ty7., sy7-l , bl k ) 

4680 DEF PROCcopyorder 

4980 blk=FNtto(ey7.+ l,eot7.,blk) 

4690 bl k=FNtto (0, ty/C-1 , 0) 

4990 ENDPROC 

4700 blk=FNtto(sy7.,ey7.,blk) 

5000 : 

4710 blk=FNtto(ty7.,eot7.,blk) 

5010 DEF FNtto(s,f,c) .-LOCAL loop7. 

4720 ENDPROC 

5020 FOR loop7.=s TO f : 0$ ( 1 oop7.+c-s) =T$ ( 

4730 : 

loop7.) : 07.(1 oop7.+c-s)=T7.( loop7.) : NEXT 

4740 DEF PROCmove 

5030 =f-s+c+l 

4750 LOCAL sy7., ey7. ? ty7. 

5040 s 

4760 PROCgetl ines < "moving" , "move", "move 

5050 DEF PROCcopyback (b) :L0CALloop7. 

d") 

5060 FOR loop7.=0 TO b-1 : T$ ( 1 oop7.) =0$ ( 1 o 

4770 PROCmess ( "Now sorting ideas-.- Pie 

op7.) :T7.(loop7.)=07.(loop7.) : NEXT 

ase wai t - " ) 

5070 eot7.=b-l 

4780 IF ty7.=sy7. PROCmess PROCshow: E 

5080 ENDPROC 

NDPROC 

5090 : 

4790 IF ty7->sy7. PROCsbt 

5100 DEF PROCclearT 

4800 IF ty7.<sy7. PROCtbs 

5110 LOCAL 1 a op 7. 

4810 PROCmess ( "Resorting ideas--- Pleas 

5120 FOR loop7.=0 TO max : T* (1 oop7.) =" " s T7. 

e wait") 

(Ioop7-)=0:NEXT 

4820 PROCcopyback (bl k ) 

5130 tp7.=0:eot7.=0 

4830 PROCmess ("" ) 

5140 ENDPROC 

4840 tp7.=ty - /.: PROCshow 

5150 s 

4850 ENDPROC 

5160 DEF PROCclearO 

4860 s 

5170 LOCAL loop 7. 

4870 DEF PROCsbt 

5180 FOR loop7.=0 TO max : 0$ ( 1 oop7) =" " : 07 

4880 blk=FNtto<0,sy'/.-l,0) 

( 1 oop7.) =0: NEXT 

4890 bl k=FNtto (ey'/.+l , ty'/.-l , bl k ) 

5190 ENDPROC 

See Imagine That, page 71 

Listing 1. Adventure creator 


10 IFPAGE< >&1 100: PAGE=&1 100: CHAIN" IMA 

220 IFLEFT$($X7,4)="get "sPRINT '"You c 

GEN" 

an 't. ": ENDPROC 

20 M0DE7 : VDU15: HI MEM=&2000 

230 IF$X7="hel p "PRINT ' "start quit save 

30 F0RJ7.=0T07: J7.?&2004=17; NEXT 

load hint score inv get n e s w...":END 

40 $&200C=" . . (: ) "+STRING* ( 10, CHR* 13) 

PROC 

50 !&2000=«<201A:L7.= 1 

240 IF$X7.= " quit "END 

60 W7.=&900: X7.=&A00 

241 IF$X7.= "score"PRINT?&CFF: ENDPROC 

70 A7.=&2004 : I FL7. > 1 FOR 1 7.=2T0L7. : A7.=A7.+L 

250 IF*X7.O"hint"THEN290 

ENSA7.+ 1 : NEXTELSEF0RI7.=&C00T0?(D00: ?I7.=0: N 

260 VDU7A7-: I7.=A7.+ 1: IF?A7.= 13THENENDPR0C 

EXT: T7.=&BFF: $T7.= " " 

270 REPEAT I F? 1 7=32VDU32 , 1 7.? 1 : 1 7.= 1 7.+ 1 EL 

80 B7.=A7.: A7.=A7.+8 

SEVDU46 

90 PROCd : PROCi : G0T070 

280 1 7.= 1 7.+ 1 s UNT I L? 1 7.= 1 3 s PR I NT ; ENDPROC 

100 DEFPROCi 

290 IF$X7.= "help ! "PRINT ' " ! n !s !e ! w ?? 

110 PRINT 'CHR$1 34; : INPUT* X7. 

do! undo! go! edit! keep !" s ENDPROC 

120 IF$X7.= ""THEN110 

300 IF*X7.= "do! " ANDLEFT* ($A7, 4) < >"get " 

130 IFASC$X7.=33:PR0Cf : ENDPROC 

THENL7.?&C00=-1 s PR I NT*A7: ENDPROC 

140 IF$X7.= "??":PRINTL7.,' V !&2000:ENDPR0C 

310 IFLEFT$(*X7.,7)="bring! " T7.=T7.-LEN$ 

1 50 I FASC$X7.=32: *X7.=R I GHT* ( *X7., LEN$X7.- 

X7.+6: *T7.=RIGHT$ (*X7, LENSX7-7) s ENDPROC 

1) : G0T0150 

320 IF$X7="undo! "ANDLEFT$($A7,4K>"get 

160 IFASCRIGHT*<$X7., 1 > =32: * X7.=LEFT* <*X 

"THENL7?&C00=0: ENDPROC 

7.,LEN$X7.-1) : GOTO 160 

330 IF$X7="edjLt ! "PROCe: ENDPROC 

170 IFASC$X7.<96PRINT ' "NO capi tal s. " : GO 

340 IFLEFT* ($X7, 3) ="go ! " : L7.=EVALRIGHT* 

T0110 

($X7, LEN$X7-3> : ENDPROC 

180 IFLEN*X7.= lPR0Cm: ENDPROC 

350 U7.=FALSE 

190 IF*X7.=*A7.ANDL7.?«<C00>0THENPRINT ' "Do 

360 IF$X7.= "start"L7.= l:U7.=TRUE:*LQAD ga 

ne. ": ENDPROC 

me 

200 IF$X7.=$A7.ANDLEFT$($X7.,4>="get ":T7. 

370 IF$X7=" keep ! "U7=TRUE: *SAVE game 20 

=T7.-LEN*X7.+3: $T7.=RIGHT* <$X7., LENSX7.-4) 

00 7C00 

210 IF*X7.=$A7.THENPR0Ca: ENDPROC 

Continued ► 


ADVENTURES 



92 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


YELLOW PAGES 


ADJLEN T U R E S 


◄ Imagine That, listing 1 continued 

3B0 IF*X7.= "save"U7.=TRUE: !&AF8=L7.: !&AFC 
=T7.:*SAVE pos AF8 DOO 

390 IF*X7< >" 1 oad "THEN420 
400 U7.=TRUE:*L0AD pos AF8 
4 1 0 L7.= ! &AFB : T7.= ! &AFC 
420 IFU7.ENDPR0C 

430 IF*X7.< >"inv"PRINT : ONRND (4) G0SUB460 
, 470, 480, 490: ENDPROC 

440 PRINT' "You are carryi ng: " ; : IFT7.<8<B 
FF : I %=TV. : Y7.=20 : REPEAT : PR I NTTAB ( Y7. > CHR$ 1 3 
1*17.;: Y7.= ( Y7.4- 1 0- 1 0* ( LEN* 1 7. >9 ) > M0D40 : 1 7.= I 
7.+LEN* I 7.4- 1 : UNT I LI 7. >=&BFE : PR I NT : ENDPROC 
450 PRINT" nothing. ": ENDPROC 
460 PR I NT " No go . " : RETURN 
470 PRINT“No use.": RETURN 
480 PR I NT "Nothing happens. ": RETURN 
490 PR I NT "Do what?" : RETURN 
500 DEFPROCd 

510 PRINT' "This is the "; 

520 PROCp <" (",-l) : PRINT". " 

530 Q7.=L7.?*<C00 

540 N7.= (Q7.=0)ANDASC*A7.<>58 

550 I FN7.0NRND ( 3 ) G0SUB650 , 660 , 670 : PR I NT 

" a 

560 PROCp < " : " , N7.) : $W7.=*X7. 

570 IFN7.: PRINT" here." 

580 PROCp ( " ) " , Q7.) : IFQ7.AND*X7.< >" "PRINT" 

590 G7.=Q7./63+B7.:PRINT"Moves: "; 

600 IF?G7.<>L7.+ 16PRINT"n "; 

610 IFG7.?3<>L7.+ 16PRINT"s " ; 

620 IFG7.?l<>L7.+ 16PRINT"e "; 

630 IFG7.?2<>L7.+ 16PRINT"w "; 

640 PRINT: ENDPROC 
650 PRINT"There is";: RETURN 
660 PR I NT "You see";: RETURN 
670 PR I NT "You f i nd" ;: RETURN 
680 DEFPROCf : IFLEN*X7.>2: ENDPROC 
690 *X7.=RIGHT*(*X7., 1) 

700 IF*X7.<>"n"AND*X7.<>"e"AND*X7.<>"w"AN 
D*X7.<>"s": ENDPROC 

710 PRINT '"New move "*X7.; : INPUT" to "* 
W7. 

720 C7.=&200C: I7.= l : IFLEFT* <*C7., LEN$W7.) = 
SW7.THEN740 

730 REPEAT: C7.=C7.+LEN*C7.+9: I7.= I7.+ 1 : UNT I 
LLEFT* <*C7., LENSW7.) =*W7.ANDASCMID* (*C7., LEN 
*W7.+ 1 , 1 ) <640R*C7.= " " 

740 PRINT*W7." " ; : IF*C7.< >" " : PRINT"f ound 
" : G0T0800 

750 PRINT" is new: create y/n": IFGETMOD 
32< >25: ENDPROC 

760 IFC7.+LEN*W7.+ 10>&7BFF:PRINT"N0 ROOM 
“ : ENDPROC 

770 *C7.=*W7.+ ” ( : ) "+STRING* (10, CHR*13) 

780 ! S<2000=C7.+LEN*C7.+ 1 0 

790 F0RJ7.=-8T0-1 : C7.?J7.= I7.+ 16: NEXT 

800 IF*X7.="n"G7.=0 

810 IF$X7.= "e"G7.= l 

820 IF*X7.= "w"G7.=2 

830 IF*X7.= "s"G7.=3 


840 I FFNb=25THENB7.?G7.= I ’,.+ 1 6 
850 I FFNa=25THENB7.? ( G7.+4 )= 1 7.4 1 6 
860 PR I NT "reverse ";:IFFNb=25THENC7.?(- 
5-G7.)=L7.4-16 

870 PRINT "reverse ";:IFFNa=25THENC7.?(- 
1-G7.)=L7.4-16 
880 ENDPROC 
890 DEFFNb 

900 PRINT"move before trigger y/n":=GE 
TM0D32 

910 DEFFNa 

920 PRINT"move after trigger y/n":=GET 
M0D32 

930 DEFPROCe 

940 PR I NT "This is the *(B7.+8) 

This is the "; 

950 INPUT" "*W/C: IFINSTR (*W7., “ (")=0PRINT 
"BAD EDIT" :G0T0940 

960 E7.=B7.+LEN*B7.+ 1 : F7.=B7.+LEN*W7.+9 
970 IF ! &20004-F/i— E/£>8t7BFFTHENPRINT"N0 R 
00M": ENDPROC 

980 IFE7.>F7.: F0RJ7.=0T0 ! &2000-E7.: F7.?J7.=E 
7.?J7.: NE X TELSEFOR J 7.= ! &2000-E7.T00STEP-1 : F7. 
?J7.=E7.?J7.: NEXT 

990 * (B7.+B ) =*M7.: ! &2000= ! &2000+F7.-E7. 
1000 “ENDPROC 

1010 DEFPROCp (I*,R7.) :*X7.= "" 

1020 P7.= I NSTR ( * A7. , I * ) 

1 030 I FP7.=00R*A7.= "" ENDPROC 
1040 S7.= I NSTR ( * A7. , " / " ) 

1050 IFS7.=00RS7.>P7.THEN10B0 
1060 IFR7.THENPRINTLEFT* (*A7., S7.-1 ) 

1 070 A7.=A7.4-S7. : GOTO 1 020 
1080 *X7.=LEFT*(*A7.,P7.-1) 

1090 IFR7.THENPRINT*X7.; 

1100 A7.=A7.+P7.: ENDPROC 
1110 DEFPROCm 
1120 K7.=L7.4-16 

1 130 IFQ7.THENF7.=B7.+4ELSEF7.=B7. 

1140 IF*X7.= "n":K7.=?F7. 

1150 IF*X7.= "e" :K7.=FX?1 
1160 IF*X7.= "w" : K7.=F7.?2 
1170 IF*X7.= "s":K7.=F7.?3 
1180 K7.=K7.-16 

1190 IFK7.=L7. PRINT' "No way. "ELSEL7.=K7. 
1200 ENDPROC 
1210 DEFPROCa 

1220 IFINSTR<*X7., " " ) =0THEN1320 
1 230 J7.=0 : REPEAT J 7.= J 7.4- 1 : UNT I LM I D* ( * X7. , L 
EN$X7.-J7., 1)=" " 

1240“ *X7.=R IGHT*7*Y7,J7. ) 

1250 IFINSTR(*W7.,*X7.) >0THEN1320 

1260 J7.=T/.: REPEAT 

1270 IF*X7.=*J7.THEN1310 

1280 J7.=J7.+LEN*J7.+ 1 

1290 UNTILJ7.>&C00 

1300 PRINT '"What "*X7."?" : ENDPROC 

1310 UNTILTRUE:L7.?&C00=-1 

1320 L7.?&C00=-1 

1330 PR I NT : ONRND ( 2 ) GOSUB 1 350 , 1 360 
1340 ?&CFF=?&CFF4-1: ENDPROC 
1350 PRINT"Okay. ": RETURN 
1360 PRINT"Right. ": RETURN 


Of course the easiest way to enter the listings is to buy the 
monthly listings disc. The disc is fully menu-driven and is an 
excellent buy at only £5.95. 

The programs have also been made available on 3.5-inch disc 
for the Arc, Compact and Electron at £6.95. See page 97 for 
details. 


The listings can also be downloaded from Micronet subscription 
(page 600 600 890 A). The Acorn User software can be 
downloaded just like any other programs from Prestel. Go to 
the first page by entering '■'•'AUPROGS#. Then the operation is 
fully prompted. The charge for the software from Micronet is 
£5.00. 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


93 



YELLOW PAGES 

TOP OF T I E LIST 


10 REM Double height and width 
20 REM by David Lawrence 
30 REM for BBC B/B+/M/C/E 
40 REM (c) Acorn User October 1988 
50 z 

60 MODE 4 
70 PROCcode 

80 PRINTTAB(0,5) ; "This is normal" 
90 PRINTTAB (0, 8) ; 

100 PROCdh ("This is double height") 
110 PRINTTAB (0, 13) ; 

120 PROCdhdw ( "double width as well") 
130 PRINTTAB (0,20) 5 
140 END 
150 s 

160 DEF PROCcode 
170 pos=Sc70s f 1 ag=8<7 1 
180 oswrch=&FFEE: osword=&FFFl 
190 FOR I’/.=0 TO 2 STEP 2zP7.=&900 
200 COPT 17. 

210 .high 

220 LDY #0 

230 STY pos 

240 .hloop 

250 LDY pos 

260 LDA string, Y 

270 CMP #13 

280 BEQ doneit 

290 STA block 

300 LDX #bl ock MOD 256 

310 LDY #bl ock DIV 256 

320 LDA #10 

330 JSR osword 

340 JSR double 

350 INC pos 

360 BNE hloop 

370 : 

380 .highwide 

390 LDY #0 

400 STY pos 

410 .hwloop 

420 LDY pos 

430 LDA string, Y 

440 CMP #13 

450 BEQ doneit 

460 STA bl ock2 

470 LDX #block2 MOD 256 

480 LDY #bl ock2 DIV 256 

490 LDA #10 

500 JSR osword 

510 LDA #2 

520 STA flag 

530 .main 

540 LDX #7 

550 .half 

560 LDA bl ock2+l , X 
570 LDY flag 
580 CPY #1 
590 BEQ low 

600 LSR AsLSR AsLSR AsLSR A 

610 JMP nothigh 

620 . 1 ow 

630 AND #&F 

640 .nothigh 

650 TAY 

660 LDA ddat , Y 
670 STA bl ock+1 , X 
680 DEX 
690 BPL half 
700 JSR double 
710 DEC flag 
720 BNE main 
730 INC pos 
740 BNE hwloop 
750 .doneit 


760 RTS 
770 s 

780 .double 

790 LDX #0 

800 JSR set 

810 LDA #8: JSR oswrch 

820 LDA #10: JSR oswrch 

830 LDX #4 

840 JSR set 

850 LDA #11: JMP oswrch 
860 : 

870 . set 

880 LDA #23: JSR oswrch 

890 LDA #128: JSR oswrch 

900 .set loop 

910 LDA block+l,X 

920 JSR oswrchiJSR oswrch 

930 INX: TXA: AND #3 

940 BNE set loop 

950 LDA #128 

960 JMP oswrch 

970 : 

980 .ddat 

990 OPT FNequb (0) : OPT FNequb <&3) : OP 

T FNequb (&C) : OPT FNequb (&F) 

1000 OPT FNequb (&30) : OPT FNequb (&33) : OP 
T FNequb (&3C) : OPT FNequb (&3F) 

1010 OPT FNequb (&C0) : OPT FNequb (&C3) : OP 
T FNequb (&CC) : OPT FNequb (StCF) 

1020 OPT FNequb (&F0) : OPT FNequb (&F3) : OP 
T FNequb (&FC) : OPT FNequb (&FF) 

1030 : 

1040 .block 

1050 OPT FNequb (0) : OPT FNequd (0) : OPT FN 
equd (O) 

1060 . bl ock2 

1070 OPT FNequb (0) : OPT FNequd (0) : OPT FN 
equd (0) 

1080 : 

1090 .wide 

1100 OPT FNequd (0) : OPT FNequd (0) 

1110 .string 
1120 3NEXT 
1130 ENDPROC 
1140 : 

1150 DEF PROCdh (^string) 

1160 CALL high 
1170 ENDPROC 
1180 : 

1190 DEF PROCdhdw (^string) 

1200 CALL highwide 
1210 ENDPROC 
1220 : 

1230 DEF FNequb (b7.) 

1240 ?P7.=b7. 

1250 P7.=P7.+ 1 
1260 =17. 

1270 : 

1280 DEF FNequd (b7.) 

1290 !P7.=b7. 

1300 P"/.=P7.+4 

1310 =17. 

One of the uses you could put this utility to 
is speeding up the screen display of this 
month's Joe's Jottings Ideas Processor. 

Put a PROCcode into Joe's listing , so 
that the machine code from Top of the List 
gets assembled. Then delete Joe's DEF 
PROCextend , and replace his DEF 
PROCdh and DEF PROCdhdw with the 
faster ones from Top of the List 


94 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 



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96 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


OFFERS 


THIS MONTH’S LISTINGS 


Using Joe’s Jottings for October, an ideas 
processor, you will be able to plan and 
lay out all your documents, plotting head- 
lines, subheads and pointers, before 
committing to paper. 

You can also start playing Polyomi- 
noes, the thinkers game, try fitting 
together these five sided shapes to create 
one spaceless block. We have also re- 
peated last month’s Flow program. 

What better way to go back to school 



than with Imagen, our very own interac- 
tive adventure generator? Start writing 
your own adventures as you play. 

The October 3.5-inch disc contains all 
the programs from Agora including the 
file-finder facility, David Lawrence's micro 
clock, and a Demonstration Podule ROM. 
Octobers disc comes on a 40/80-track 
5.25-inch disc for £5.95 and on 3.5-inch 
disc for Archimedes, Master and Compact 
owners for £6.95. 


Design your own adventures with this 

month ’s disc 


DISCS AND BINDERS 


For the first time owners of an 
Archimedes or Compact can guarantee 
the priority delivery of their 3.5-inch 
listings discs for only £55 a year. Those 
of you with 5.25-inch disc drives can still 
take advantage of our special £40 sub- 
scription offer. If you buy both Acorn 
User magazine and the Acorn User 5.25- 
inch monthly discs then you can save an 
additional £7.50 by subscribing to both 
for a mere £50. 


Keep your copies of Acorn User in mint 
condition with our smart red binder. The 
binder features a wide spine to hold 12 
issues of 200 pages. Only £4.95 ensures 
that misplaced and dog-earred copies are 
a thing of the past. 

Save pounds by 
subscribing 



’8 7 COMPILATION DISC 


Acorn User have put all your favourite 
programs, routines and utilities from 
1987 on one disc. 

Featured are: Kiddie Art; Tapestry; PCB 
by CAD; Autumn and Theme, our music 
programs from April ’87. Also on the disc 
is Joe Telford’s GEM-like front end for the 
Master including a desktop calendar and 
year planner. 

Other useful utilities include a prop- 
ortional screen dump, a View printer 



driver generator, a monitor-testing 
routine and a routine for printing spread- 
sheets sideways. 

The second half of the disc is devoted 
to graphics, with a video image enhancer 
and six of the best Graphics Bonuses. 

The Acorn User '87 Compilation disc 
comes in 5.25-inch 80-track format, with 
a comprehensive manual which includes 
all function key strips and instructions 
needed for the programs. 


All the very best 
of ’87 on one disc 


ORDER BY TELEPHONE (0672) 40825 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


97 




OFFERS 


GAMES DISC 


Games galore on the new Games disc 

only £8. 95 



Ten of the best Acorn User games on one 
80-track double-sided 5.25-inch disc. 
Whether you’re into arcade or adventure- 
type games this new disc has something 
for everyone. Start stargazing with War- 
lord , our great adventure guide to the 
galaxy and beyond. 

Once you’ve returned to planet Earth 
find out the mysteries of Wizalon, then 
you can terrify yourself racing round the 
Castle of Nightmares avoiding obstacles. 
If destroying submarines is more in your 
line then discover the murky depths with 
Run Silent, Run Deep. 

Trying to fit together Polyominoes is as 
compulsive as Space Invaders. Once you 
have mastered that art, try to get four in a 
row with Quadline. Be lost and amazed in 
Acorn Use? s very own maze game. 

We have also included three of the 
most popular one line games from recent 
Abusers. Test your knowledge with Mas- 
termind and start playing Varpon and 
Lurch to win. Make sure you get your disc 
of fun and entertainment and send off for 
the Games disc today. At only £8.95 its a 
bargain not to be missed! 


EDUCATION DISC 

Easy learning with the Education disc 


The Acorn User Education disc makes learning easy and 
enjoyable. The disc is packed with useful programs. You can 
have fun with our version of Turtle Logo. Graphics are a major 
feature of the disc and they include Bulletin, which converts your 
micro into an electronic message board. Strings of up to 255 
characters can be screened in colourful sideways scrolling 
letters. Create screens with Easyplot and then use the two 
display programs Vufoil and Noticeboard to show them off. 

There are also two screen dumping programs: an all-mode 
dumping routine for Epson-compatible printers and a teletext 
dumping routine which dumps in mode 7 to Epson FX80- 
compatible printers. 

This disc comes in 40-track 5.25-inch format, but is easily 
transferred to 80-track and is yours for only £7.95. 



98 


ACORN USER OC TOBER 1988 



OFFERS 


USERDUMP ROM 


lUffiljjl The UserDump ROM will allow 
a®* you to dump any screen image 
in any display mode by entering a single 
command - either as a line of your 
program or by typing it directly from the 
keyboard. A perfect dump can also be 
obtained while a machine code program 
is running. 

UserDump can dump a graphics 
window, make a distortion-free dump of 
mode 0 screens using plotter graphics, 



translate a teletext screen into mode 1 , 
and shift any area of memory. 

UserDump will work with any Epson- 
compatible printer which has single- 
density and double-density bit-image 
graphics including the Star Gemini, Delta 
SG, SD and SR, Canon and Kaga NLQ. 

Details of further commands and 
printer compatibility are available from 
Seran at Redwood Publishing Ltd, 20- 
26 Brunswick Place, London N1 6DJ. 


Trouble-free screen dumps for £19.95 

with UserDump 


VIEWCHART DISC 


62.5'/ 



Feb Mar 


'8i'82'83'8<'85'86 


lafr ViewChart features a suite of 
■■ programs which can be used to 
produce high-resolution graphics in pie 
chart, bar chart or line graph form. Data 
can be entered manually, or read from 
ViewSheet, ViewStore or View files. 

Present figures 
with ViewChart 


The charts can be labelled and shaded 
to give a really professional appearance. 

Epson-compatible screen dumps are 
included, one of which will produce a 
print-out to the full width of an A4 sheet. 
Screen dumps for other printers can be 
painlessly installed. 

The software is provided on a 5.25- 
inch 40-track disc (with 80-track 
converter). And the price of this 
professional package? Just £12.95. 


CALLIGRAPHY DISC 


a Now you can produce anything 
from professional tickets to 
letterheads and posters with the 
Calligraphy disc. 

Desalet is a font creator which 
produces customised letters to your 
personal design and saves you using 
repetitive data statements and error-prone 
calculations. Al[ font sets can be up to 94 
characters long. 

Modical allows the use of disc-based 



font sets created with Desalet. Modical 
incorporates a modified file creation 
program, which allows files to be printed 
out immediately or saved for later. 

An enhanced font ROM, in the form of 
a sideways RAM image, allows you to 
design your own fonts for use on-screen. 
Any output to the printer will be in the 
new font - thus giving true Wysiwyg. 

This superb disc comes on 40/80-track 
5.25-inch disc and is only £9.95. 


Design your own fonts 
with Calligraphy 


ORDER WITH THE FORM ON PAGE 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


99 









800 St. ALBANS ROAD, GARSTON, WATFORD, 
HERTS. WD20NL TEL: 0923 672102 




NEW THE CARE CONTROL -57 INTERFACE CONTROL PCB 


THE CARE MASTER ROM CARTRIDGE RANGE 


DESIGNED BY CARE ELECTRONICS TO ACORNS SPECIFICATIONS HIGH 
QUALITY, ROBUST CARTRIDGES THAT FIT NEATLY INTO EITHER OF THE 
MASTER CARTRIDGE SLOTS. SUITABLE FOR ANY ROM inc DOUBLE 
HEIGHT ROMS i.e. INTERWORD SPELLMASTER etc. 

PRICE EX VAT INC VAT 

CARE STANDARD MASTER CARTRIDGE @£1 0.00 ei i . 50 c 

CARE IxZIF + IxSTDSKT CARTRIDGE @£13.40 £15 41c 

CARE 2x2IF SOCKET CARTRIDGE @£17.60 £2024c 

CARE QUAD (4xSOCKETS) CARTRIDGE @£14.00 £16!l0c 

CARE 2x32k SKT CARTRIDGE .’ @£ 1 2.00 £1 3.80c 

MASTER ROM EXTENDER for BBC B CARTS @£1 3.00 £1 4.95c 

32K BATTERY RAM or PLUG IN SPELL MASTER AND HAVE A 

16K BATTERY BACKED USER DICTIONARY WITH A WRITE PROTECT 

SWITCH. BATTERY LIFE APPROX lOyrs... @£33.00 £37.95c 

CARE BBC LOW PROFILE ROM SYSTEM @£1 2.00 £1 3.80c 

CARE BBC ROM CARTRIDGE @£3.00 £3.45c 

CARE BBC ZIF ROM CARTRIDGE @£8.00 £9.20c 

CARE BBC ROM CART LIBRARY RACK @£1 .60 £1 .84c 

GRAPHIC SCREEN DUMPS (EPSON COMPATIBLE). PAUSE PROGRAMMERS. 

INBUILT OR USER ^COMMANDS. SCREEN OUMPS. ENTIRE MEMORY SAVE. 

•SAVE TAPES TO DISC. AND MUCH MORE @ £30.00 £34.50 c 

■ 

THE CONTROL — 57 INCLUDES 48 PROGRAMMABLE INPUTS OR OUTPUTS 
AND AN 8 CHANNEL 8 BIT ANALOG TO DIGITAL CONVERTER. THE KIT 
INCLUDES A PCB & FULL INSTRUCTIONS (EXCLUDING COMPONENTS) 

SINGLE or DOUBLE EUROCARD PROTOTYPING BOARDS. IDEAL FOR 
INDUSTRY & EDUCATION. SUITABLE FOR THE BBC , B’ MASTER & 

ARCHIMEDE. PLEASE PHONE FOR DETAILS @£34.80 £36.33D 

BBC/MASTER RGB - 7 PIN HITACHI RGB @£6.20 £7.1 3c 

BBC/MASTER RGB - 7 PIN FERGUSON RGB @£6.20 £7.1 3c 

BBC/MASTER RGB - EURO (SCART) @£8.20 £9.43c 

ARCHIMEDES- EURO (SCART) (NOT SONY) @£12.00 £13.80c 

BBC - CENTRONICS PRINTER LEAD 1 .5m "@£9.00 £1 0.35c 

ARCHIMEDES PRINTER LEAD @£1 2.00 £1 3.80c 

RM NIMBUS PRINTER LEAD @£12.00 £1 3.80c 

CENTRONICS - CENTRONICS PRINTER LEAD £1 1 .00 £1 2.65c 

USER PORT EXTENSION LEAD 0.5m @£9.00 £1 0.35c 

PRINTER PORT EXTENSION LEAD 1 .Om @£10.20 £11. 73c 

IMHz BUS PORT EXTENSION LEAD 0.3m @£1 0.40 £1 1 .96c 

BBC/MASTER RS423 - RS232C @£12.00 £13.80c 

BBC/MASTER RS423 - ARCHIMEDES RS423 @£1 2.00 £1 3.80c 

DISC DRIVE DATA (SINGLE) @£6.00 £6.90c 

DISC DRIVE DATA (DUAL) @£8.00 £9.20c 

LABELM ASTER Comprehensive label print @£1 5.00 £1 7.25d 

CARE PRINTER BUFFER User definable @£1 4.00 £1 6.1 Od 

INTERWORD Word processor @£47.80 £54.97d 

SPELLMASTER Spellchecker @£50.00 £57.50d 

MASTERCOPY DFS - ADFS ADFS - DFS @£1 1 .26 £1 2.95c 

DESFAX Teletext emulator @£20.87 £24.00c 

TELETEXT ADAPTOR + ATS ROM + UTILITIES DISK... @£84.80 £1 1 5.00d 

TELETEXT UTILITIES @£5.00 £5.75c 

MASTER ‘ AA' ROM BOARD @£40.00 £46.00d 

EPROM PROGRAMMER @£30.00 £34.50d 

PSU for TELETEXT ADAPTOR @£1 2.00 £1 3.80d 

BBC/MASTER 6 to 1 Printer Switcher @£71.00 £81.65d 

CENTRONICS 2 to 1 (inc Lead) @£30.00 £34.50d 

CENTRONICS 4 to 1 (inc Lead) @£50.00 £57.50d 

CENTRONICS 2 to 2 X Switcher @£70.00 £80.50d 

CENTRONICS 4 to 1 Automatic Switcher @£1 02.000 £1 1 7.30d 

CENTRONICS 8 to 1 Automatic Switcher @£128.00 £147.00d 

USER PORT 2Way & Off Position (Lead) @£33.00 £37.95d 

USER PORT 6Way & Off Position (Lead) @£72.00 £82.80d 

BBC/MASTER RGB 2 to 1 Switch @£20.20 £23.23d 

BBC/MASTER RS423 to 1 Switch @£20.20 £23.23d 

Suitable for ARCHIMEDES, MASTER & BBC computers 

PHILIPS 8833 COLOUR MONITOR @£240.00 £276.00a 

PHILIPS AV7300 TV TUNER forthe 8833 @£60.00 E69.UUD 

PHILIPS 1010 TV/MONITOR PUSH BUTTON @£228.00 £262.20a 

PHILIPS 1210 TV/MONITOR REMOTE @£250.00 £287.50a 

GOVERNMENT & EDUCATIONAL ORDERS WELCOME 
HOW TO ORDER: ENCLOSE YOUR CHEQUE or P/ORDER MAOE PAYABLE TO CARE 
Electronics. ACCESS OR VISA CREDIT CARDS WELCOME. pra 

PLEASE ALLOW 7 DAYS FOR DELIVERY. CiJ BJ 

PLEASE ADD CARRIAGE: a=£11.50b b=£5.75 c=£1.15 d=£2.30 


SOFTWARE RANGE (Please Specify Disc Format Required) 






YOUR OFFICIAL ACORN DEALER IN THE 

WEST MIDLANDS 

PRESENT 

A SUPER SUMMER SALE 

HUNDREDS OF BARGAINS NEW 
AND SECOND-HAND 


HARDWARE, SOFTWARE 
AND PERIPHERALS FOR THE 


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MASTER SERIES 
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SPECIAL OFFERS ON GAMES, JOYSTICKS, BLANK 
DISKS, STORAGE BOXES, BOOKS ETC. ETC. 

FOR A FULL LIST OF WHAT’S AVAILABLE, SEND 
A STAMPED ADDRESSED ENVELOPE TO: 

ALPHA MICROTEC LTD, 

321 STRATFORD ROAD, SHIRLEY, 

WEST MIDLANDS, B90 3BL. 

TEL: 021-745-8998 

(HOURS OF BUSINESS 9.15-6PM TUESDAYS - SATURDAYS) 



'Contex' 


Bank Manager 

Advanced personal bank account management programme for disc 
systems 

Standard Bank Manager for BBC B and B+ £1 7.50 
Master Bank Manager for Master and Compact £22.50 
Archimedes Bank Manager £25.00 

Bank Manager Business Utilities 

Adds trial balance and Spreadsheet reports to Bank Manager systems 

for all Bank Manager versions (state which) £1 2.00 

Typing Tutor 

Teaches touch typing, 90 lessons, including metronome and audio key 
click, recommended 

Version 1 , cassette only £1 2.50 
Version II, for BBC B, B+, Master and Compact, disc only 

£12.50 

Archimedes version, disc only £1 5.00 

Shareware for Archimedes PC Emulator 

Suitable MS DOS software selected for the Arc PC Emulator 

Spreadsheet; 64x256 rows, sorting, many functions 

£7.50 

Word Processor; fast, easy, many functions, dictionary 

£7.50 

Database; 2 discs, many facilities, on-line help £1 5.00 
MS DOS Tutorial; Interactive learning £7.50 
Pinballs; 8 good pinball games on one disc £7.50 

All prices fully inclusive, free postage in UK 

Enquiries and Access orders ’phone 02303 347 

State: B, B+, Master, Compact, Archimedes and if 40tk 5.25", 80tk 
5.25" or 3.5" disc 

Contex Computing 

15 Woodlands Close , Cople, 

Bedford MK44 3UE 


100 


■ acorn USER OCTOBER 1988 







REVIEWS 


TH^AME^PAGE 

10, 10, TO JUPITER WE GO 

Circus is the theme of Tynesoft’s next game, Superior has invited us to Bangkok, 
and yes, Sam Greenhili must save Jupiter from destruction 


Things are beginning to gather speed again 
after the summer games lull, as companies 
gear up for the show season and the 
Christmas market. 

Last month, I was quite wrong to 
assume that Tynesoft wouldn’t have any 
more simulations until the next Olympics 
in 1992; in fact it’s writing its next one 
already! The game is to be called Circus 
Games and will involve five events includ- 
ing lion taming (yes, really), trapeze, bare- 
back riding and tight-rope walking. 

DC Comics’ Superman colour character 
has finally influenced the BBC software 
market. With the help of two of the DC 
cartoonists, Tynesoft is programming a 
Superman game which is due to be ready 
for the Personal Computer Show'(the old 
PCW Show) which takes place in Septem- 
ber. I can’t wait. 

The game is very much in the classical 
mould - it’s simple really, all you have to 
do is save the world - but then I suppose 
there isn’t much else you could do with a 
plot involving Superman. But Tynesoft is 
at pains to point out that it isn’t like the 
Atari version brought out eight or so years 
ago. Dave Crofts also let on that Tynesoft 
is planning to change its logo and packag- 
ing at the show; maybe we’ll get some 
sleeves with our review discs now! 

Following the Piper Alpha oil-rig disas- 
ter in July, Superior has sensitively decided 
to alter its Pipeline game. The game origi- 
nally involved a thinly-disguised world 
famous fire-fighter, Red Adair, whose task 
it was to extinguish fires on board the 
blazing rig. Superior says this would have 
been ‘in bad taste’ so the game is now set 
on Jupiter’s largest moon, Io. 

In the new futuristic scenario, Earth’s 
sulphur deposits are exhausted, so a net- 
work of mines has been built on Io to 
gather alternative supplies - but the mines 
catch fire, and we take it from there. 

ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 



Terramex- a graphic adventure for the Arc 


The basic structure of the game has not 
been changed: the screen and character 
designers remain, but little things - ‘keys’ 
have been changed to ‘remote controls* - 
are different. However, the alterations 
mean that the game’s release date has been 
postponed until September 8th. 

But the hot news from Superior this 
month is a game called One Night in 
Bangkok. It’s apparently based on the Tim 
Rice/Abba musical, Chess , currently play- 
ing in London’s West End. It is another 
arcade adventure - imagine Bangkok as a 
giant chessboard. You get an ‘Ultimate- 
style’ isometric view of the rooms and each 
room may have objects to collect or one of 
25 small puzzles to solve. 

The idea is to collect the chess pieces 
that have been scattered around Bangkok. 
The factor that makes the game interesting 
is that the rules of chess apply at all times. 
There are opposing pieces that jump 
around the board, and if one gets in a 
position where it can take you. . . 

The game is written by an author of 
Doctor Who, t Alan Butcher, and also fea- 
tures two of the tunes from the musical - 
‘One night in Bangkok’ and ‘I know him 
so well*. 

Jeremy San’s Argonaut is the company 


responsible for both Star Glider and Star 
Glider 2. The games feature Elite-style 
graphics and Star Wars- style action. Star- 
glider 2 has solid rather than wire-frame 
graphics, but so far it’s available for the 
Atari ST and Commodore Amiga only. 
But Jeremy is now happy to say that an 
Arc version is on the way, to be published 
by Rainbird by November - just in time 
for the Christmas market. 

Incidentally by the time this article 
appears, Domark’s sequel to Star Wars 
should be in the shops. Inevitably, it’s 
called The Empire Strikes Back , and it 
follows much the same course of action as 
the film itself. 

Last month I mentioned the Arc game, 
The Hunt for Red October , based on Tom 
Clancy’s book of the same name. The game 
follows the fortunes of a Russian sub- 
mariner as he tries to defect to the West - 
complete with sub - hotly pursued by the 
rest of the Soviet Navy. Publisher Grand 
Slam is planning a host of conversions for 
the Archimedes, following immediately 
with Terramex. 

As with all games carrying a quirky title, 
Terramex is centred around a complicated 
story: a crazy professor reckons there’s a 
giant asteroid plummeting towards earth 
but nobody believes him. Sensibly, he runs 
off to hide. Then the scientists discover 
that he was actually right, and launch a 
search party to find him because he’s the 
only one who can stop it. In the game, you 
are part of the search party, and you set 
out to find him in your hot air balloon. 
Another graphic adventure worth adding 
to your shelves. 

Next month I’ll be printing all the pass- 
words for Superior’s Repton Thru Time - 
don’t miss it. Also, please send in any 
cheats, high scores or new games to us at 
the Games Page, Acorn User , 20-26 Bruns- 
wick Place, London Nl 6DJ. 


101 






SUMMER 
CLEARANCE SALE 



305 

310 

310M 

440 

Entry System 

£585 

£700 

£740 

£2022 

Mono Monitor 

£640 

£750 

£799 

£2069 

Colour Monitor 

£766 

£ 872 

£910 

£2199 


Prices exclude VAT 


15% off all software with this advert 
Telephone: 01-631 1098 

SPECIALIST BBC DEALER 
& SERVICE CENTRE 

MAIL ORDER - SS CHEQUES/P .0. 

man bob 

at Video City 

233 TOTTENHAM 
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LONDON W1P 9AE 

We also deal in part exchange 
and second hand computers 


Sciways for Scientists 


* Over 350 defined characters accessible with simple 2-key codes 

* All characters printable on both screen and printer 

* User defined characters can be stored on disc 

* All facilities can be used with word processors or with BASIC 

* Tested with BASIC I & II, Wordwise, Wordwise Plus, View 2.1, View 3.0, 
on the Master 1 28, B+ & Model B, and with Epson /compatible printers 


GREEK ALPHABET: Upper and lower case, upright and italic 
ABT AEZH®IICAMNSOTTPETr<I>XTQ 

SCIENTIFIC CHARACTERS: Mainly mathematical but also chemical 
symbols 

H H O H H a 

I | / oxidation 11/ f _ , f z-i 1 n f 2n 

h-c-c-c > h-c-c-c 1 9 l 2-3 J e 71 / I e> de 

I I \ I l \ Jo 

H H H H H OH 

See Review in April Acorn User: 

"first doss product - nobody should be without it " 

Orders accepted from schools, colleges, establishments, etc. 

Private orders - cheque with order, please 

PRICE £39.95 inc.VAT,p8cp 
16k ROM, 40/80 disc & manual 
(not compatible with Inter-Word) 

Mayhew Telonics, 

376a Ringwood Road, 

Poole, Dorset BH12 3LT 
TEI : (0202) 747 695 




In 1983 UMI was the first micro-computer based MIDI sequencer to be 
adopted by professional advertising; film and recording musicians. 
Chosen now, as then, for its unparalleled user-friendliness it is a music 
composing and performing system which pre-requires no knowledge 
of computers or music. 

UMI can be mastered in minutes by building up music out of anything 
up to 127 sections (long or short) which can be recorded in step-time 
(like a musical word-processor) or in real-time, and then chained 
together for final playback by the computer, through a synthesizer — 
traditional sequencing. 

But UMI will also operate on a far more sophisticated level. You can 
start inexpensively by using UMI to drive one synthesizer and, in 
stages, build up a huge MIDI set-up. You will then want a sequencer to 
provide facilities whose importance may not yet have occurred to you. 
UMI is such a sequencer. It has had to be to satisfy the most stringent 
demands of its wide professional user-base, often providing the central 
control for MIDI systems costing hundreds of thousands of pounds! 
(You should see Vince Clarke ‘live’!). 


Designed to run on any BBC micro, the UMI-3s and UMI-4M combine 
literally orchestral potential with unmatched ease-of-use. If you want to 
know why 'Erasure', 'Bros', Alan Tarney (Cliff Richard’s producer/writer 
and A-Ha), Genisis’ Mike Rutherford, Depeche Mode and a host of others 
use UMI in preference to all other sequencers please write (large SAE 
please) or phone for further details. See June Acorn User for extensive UMI 
review and pro-user profile!! 



17 Parkfields London SW15 6NH. 
Tel: 01-788 3729 


102 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 






REVIEWS 

GAMES 


PICTURE PERFECT 

PASTIMES 



Time and Magik; Mandarin Software; 
Master 128k, B + 64k, B+ with SWR, 
Model B with SWR and Shadow RAM; 
£14.95 (all versions) 

True graphic adventures for the BBC mic- 
ro are with us at last. Mandarin’s Time and 
Magik is a compilation of three old Level 9 
adventures; Lords of Time , Red Moon and 
The Price of Magik , all revised, improved, 
and with added pictures. 

In Lords of Time , you must collect nine 
objects from different time zones. Red 
Moon sets you the task of finding the 
legendary Red Moon crystal. Price of 
Magik is the final instalment, in which you 
must save the kingdom of Baskalos. 

The 80-track-only ‘flippy’ disc divides 
the screen into two: a mode 2, half-screen 
picture and mode 3 or 6 text below. This 
allows for full-colour pictures and very 
readable text. Switching between 40 and 
80-column text is simple, just a single key 
stroke. Although not as detailed as their 
16-bit equivalents, the pictures are excel- 
lent given the limitations of the BBC. 
Dithering allows for a whole range of 
colour and shading effects. Among the 31 
different scenes look out for the spooky 
manor house and the fetid swamp! 

Good graphics do not make a good 
adventure - you need evocative descrip- 
tions and a good parser to interpret your 
commands. Although not the best I’ve 
come across, the descriptions help to set 
the scene admirably. The text is concise 
and informative. 

The rest of the frills include a RAM save 
and restore facility, and an UNDO com- 
mand to allow you to take a step back - 
useful for those awkward meetings with 
werewolves. Finally, it’s possible to recall* 
ACORN USER OCTOBLiR 1988 


any command that you have typed in 
during the course of the game, using left or 
right cursor keys. 

Unless you have a Master or BBC 128, 
the price to be paid for all this is the cost of 
shadow and sideways RAM. The game will 
not work on a standard, unexpanded Mod- 
el B. With either shadow RAM or 16k of 
sideways RAM, you’ll get text only. Text 
and graphics need both shadow and 16k of 
sideways RAM, and for UNDO and re- 
calling all your previous commands, more 
sideways RAM is needed. 

The final conclusion? This game is about 
the best graphic adventure available for the 
BBC series. 

Robert Miller 



RUMBO CAN GO 


DUMBO 

Saigon; Tynesoft; BBC £14.95 (disc), 
BBC/Electron £9.95 (tape) 

Armed with grenades and the latest M16 
rifle, Sergeant Rumbo sets out on his 
mission to free prisoners held captive by 
communist guerrillas. Basically Saigon is 
the same game as Commando - run up the 
screen shooting everyone. 

Bad points first; the disc came without a 
sleeve and the game took over a minute to 
load from disc! There doesn’t appear to be 
any pause button, the sound is dreadful 
and cannot be turned off. The ‘3D’ 
graphics are odd - you can shoot through 
walls and bridges. Controlling Rumbo is 
difficult, the keys aren’t user-definable, and 
bullets are difficult to see against the back- 
ground graphics. The scrolling is poor, and 
it is sometimes impossible to dodge a 
bullet; the baddies shoot even when the 
scrolling is taking place, but you’re frozen 
until it stops. Grenades are tricky to get 
the hang of, and for the ‘dead of night’ 
sequence described in the instruction, the 
scenery is surprisingly light! Finally when 
you quit the game, the protection routines 
asked mean you have to turn the Beeb off 
and on again to get back to Basic. 

And now the good points; it works, it’s 
colourful, and there is one good thing 
about the background music that I’m sure 
you’ll appreciate - it can be disabled. 

Saigon's good and bad points don’t ba- 
lance. Far from it, the game is third rate. 


Pull your socks up, Tynesoft, you have 
proved in the past that you are capable of 
much, much better. 

Sam Greenhill 


NO TEETH IN 
THESE JAWS 

Shark; Audiogenic; BBC, Master 40- 
track; £11.95 (5.25-in disc), Elcctron/BBC 
£9.95 (tape) 

Green Beret was described as the worst 
game ever on the BBC in the Acorn User 
1987 games round-up. Stryker's Run was 
one of the best games, noted for its 
graphics. Shark is a cross between the two: 
it inherits the Stryker's Run graphical style 
and the play quality of Green Beret. 

It’s set in a troublesome future, when 
Earth is attacked by aliens. Before long, the 
whole place is swarming with little green 
things. You, Colonel Sharkey, have been 
called in by the World President to save all. 

The game greatly resembles the Rambo 
films - it’s one man against the hordes. Of 
course Sly Stallone’s movement keys can’t 
be redefined, nor the colour of his skin 
changed for the benefit of those with black 
and white sets, but these two features are 
built into Shark. 

The game itself is set in three Tocations: a 
jungle, a factory and a deserted city. The 
background graphics are reminiscent of 
Palace of Magic , Wallaby , Codename 
Droid and a host of others. 

Armed with a gun, you progress along a 
landscape that smoothly scrolls past, zap- 
ping the aliens and jumping or ducking 
now and then. Helicopters and jeeps also 
try to stop you - more hits are needed to 
destroy these than the foot soldiers. If 
you’re lucky, when an alien dies it leaves 
behind a back-pack (for some reason it 
remains suspended in air). If you pick it 
up, your character becomes enhanced in 
some way - with a more powerful weapon 
or total invincibility perhaps. 

Shark is nothing new; the formula is 
painfully ancient and the sound is dull. 
Shark's graphics are the only thing that 
could possibly save it. I enjoyed my first 
few games, but it didn’t have the power 
to hold my interest for long. Audiogenic 
must try harder. 

Sam Greenhill 
103 






ROTHERHAM 

COMPUTER 

CENTRE 


AS MAJOR EDUCATIONAL DEALERS 
WE WELCOME ORDERS FROM 
BONA-FIDE EDUCATIONAL 
ESTABLISHMENTS. 

PLEASE RING FOR MAY 88 
EDUCATION PRICE LIST 


HARDWARE 



1 ARCHIMEDES! 

310 BASE 

£725.00 

310 MONO 

£775.00 

310COLOUR 

£899.00 

31 0M BASE 

£790.00 

310M MONO 

£840.00 

31 0M COLOUR 

£965.00 

MASTER SERIES 

MASTER 128 

£359.00 

COMPACT BASE 

£319.00 

COMPACT MONO 

£369.00 

COMPACT COLOUR 

£499.00 

MASTER TURBO MOD 

£95.00 

MASER 512 MOD 

£175.00 

MASTER ECONET MOD 

£37.50 

COMPACT RS232 KIT 

£27.50 

FULL REPAIR 

SERVICE 


HARDWARE 

DISKDRIVES 

MITSUBISHI DRIVES 
TWO YEAR WARRANTY 


MD400A 40/80 D/S £104.00 

M D802C TWI N 40/80D/S £199.00 
MD400B 40/80 D/S 

INC PSU £121.00 

MD802E TWIN 40/80 

D/S INC PSU £234.00 

MD802DM DUAL 40/80 
D/S INC PSU IN PLINTH £249.00 

COMBO 3 1/2 & 5 1/4 £199.00 

MITUBISHI DRIVES WITH 1 YEAR WARRANTY 

DN400A 40/80 D/S £99.00 

DN802C TWI N 40/80D/S £189.00 
DN400B 40/80 D/S 

INC PSU £114.00 

DN802E TWIN 40/80 
D/S INC PSU £225.00 

ALL PRICES EXCLVAT 


HARDWARE 


CITIZEN 120D £129.00 

CITIZEN LSP 100 £199.00 

STAR LC-10 £199.00 

STAR LC-10 COLOUR £259.00 

EPSON LX800 £209.00 

PANASONIC 1081 £155.00 

PANASONIC 

KXP31 31 D/WHEEL £259.00 

TAXAN KP815 £189.00 


MONITORS 


MICROVITEC 1431 MS 

£169.00 

MICROVITEC 1451 MS 

£209.00 

PHILIPS CM8801 

£174.00 

PHILIPS CM8833 

£216.00 

PHILIPS 7502 GREEN 

£74.00 

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Rotherham 

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Centre 


104 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 











REVIEWS 

GAMES 


DEATH TO THE 
IBBY-SQUIBLIES 



Hoverbod; Minerva Systems; Arc 3.5- 
inch disc, £14.95. 


The third game from Minerva sees a ven- 
ture into arcade adventures. It makes you 
the eponymous Hoverbod. Your aim is to 
hover about, collecting diamonds from 
each of eight levels, and gain access to the 
final, super-level - 'The Quest for Wings’. 
Feathers must be collected from around the 
maze to make your wings. 

There are a number of meanies to stop 
Hoverbod. They float around the screen, 
killing on contact. There are also a collec- 
tion of traps and blockades to impede 
Hoverbod’s movement. Portcullises drop 
down, blocking any return route, and one 
touch of an overhead spike proves fatal. 

Generally, the whole screen looks 
attractive and well layed out. Various icons 
are arranged around the screen, including 
an oxygen tank that shows the amount of 
time you have left, and ‘Hoverbod’ is 
displayed on the screen in a font not unlike 
that designed and used by the famous 
fantasy artist Rodney Matthews. 

The game, like Minerva’s previous re- 
leases, is written almost entirely in Basic. 
The mode 12 display allows lots of shading 
effects on pipes, spheres and the like. 
Sprites move pretty smoothly considering 
the program is in Basic. But there is one 
point where Hoverbod appears to split into 
two and flicker quite violently around the 
screen. And the meanies speed up when 
you move! This really shouldn’t happen on 
any program written for the Arc. 

Sadly, controlling Hoverbod is difficult, 
with hovering very unpredictable. Some- 
times you are able to hover left and right, 
but as soon as you float over a hole in the 
ground, you plummet to what is more than 


likely your death. I know it’s exactly what 
would happen to, say, a hovercraft, but I 
found it annoying. 

In order to destroy the Ibby-squiblies, 
you must have a gun. This can shoot left, 
right or both ways, as indicated by some 
arrow icons. But sometimes you can shoot 
both ways when only left or right is 
indicated. Other failures of attention to 
detail make gameplay less than absorbing. 
With a little more thought and time spent 
on tidying up the loose ends, perhaps, 
Hoverbod could have been a much more 
enjoyable game. 

Robert Miller 



DROPPING 

A BRICK 

Fireball; Go-dax; Arc 3.5-inch disc, 
£14.95. 

Go-dax has released the first Arc version of 
Arkanoid - Fireball. There’s really not 
much difference between it and the origin- 
al. However, being on the Arc, there’s 
potential for better colours and so on. 

For anyone who missed all the BBC 
micro versions of Breakout and Arkanoid , 
the game is basically a spruced up variation 
of bat-n-ball. Inside a two dimensional 
arena, you control a bat at the bottom of 
the screen. Using the mouse, it can be 
moved left or right. The ball bounces off 
the walls until it comes back to the bottom 
again, and if you aren’t there to knock it 
back up, you lose a life. Of course there 
aren’t just walls to deal with; an array of 
bricks are arranged around the arena. You 
have to destroy the bricks with the ball. 
However some special bricks arc invisible, 
some need to be hit twice, others are 
immovable and a few even drop bombs. 
Some drop bonuses, which can slow you 
down, or increase your firepower. Some 
capsules give you lasers, and also a ‘plough’ 
mode, where the ball only bounces off the 
walls with your bat destroying all the 
bricks in its path. 

There is a pleasant background music 
track that sounds good through head- 
phones, and a nice graphic background for 
the arena. The disc also contains a screen 
designer for your own levels. 

Control of the bat with the mouse is too 
sensitive, and when you die, nothing much 


happens - the game just continues with one 
fewer life. But I very much enjoyed play- 
ing Fireball and recommend it to Arc 
owners looking for a Super-Breakout. 

Sam Greenhill 


FLIGHT OF 


THE SPRITE 



Alerion; Dabs Press; Arc 3.5-inch disc, 
£14.95. 


Alerion is a vertical-scrolling shoot-em 
game. You fly over a landscape, shooting at 
everything that moves and most things that 
don’t. You choose whether to target 
ground or flying targets, but the default 
control keys are quite fiddly. 

There’s a nice fade from the instructions 
to the game and back, and the 256-colour 
play screen has good, smooth scrolling. 
There are lots of fast-moving, colourful 
sprites, but they aren’t very big, and 
they’re not all that successful at portraying 
the smooth tumbling and twisting move- 
ments. Only one object, your plane, has a 
shadow; all the other ‘3D’ effects just don’t 
look right. 

Some of the sprites, particularly your 
plane, are difficult to see against the land- 
scape - a repetitive mix of field, forest and 
water. This is particularly bad when explo- 
sions and craters pockmark the land. It 
could be that there are just too many 
colours similar to each other. 

The digitised sound is good, but limited 
to plain gunfire and explosion sounds, plus 
two digitised words, ‘Home’ and ‘Wave’. 
These are vital, as there’s no other indica- 
tion that you’ve reached your objectives. 
The home bases are a nice idea; you go 
back as far as the last one you reached 
when you die. 

In all, full of good things, but not worth 
£6 more than the near-identical Quazer. 

John Abingdon 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


105 





OFFERS 


COLOURJET 132 


Instant colour printing from £530 



The colourjet is 
compatible with the 
IBM PC, Nimbus, BBC 
micro and all Acorn 
machines. This colour printer has the 
following features: 

★ Prints all 64 screen colours from CGA 
and EGA. 

★ Emulates other printers (A1210, 
PJ1080A and Quadjet) 

★ Overhead transparency printing 

★ 80 + 132 colour operation, A4 width 

★ Up to 1280 dots/line addressable 

★ Full videotex capability 

★ Optional Buffered RS232 (internal) 

★ Highly versatile 

★ Ultra low noise level 

Use the Intergrex Colourjet 132 printer 
in your school, or business to produce 
quality graphics and presentations. Send 
your order in today. Official Local Author- 
ity orders are welcome. 


This month Acorn User readers have the 
opportunity to start printing in colour with 
the high performance Intergrex Colourjet printer. In addition ev- 

1 32 printer. For £530 plus VAT, a saving ery order received through Acorn User will 

of £59.00 on the recommended retail be sent a free printer cable, disc, roll of 
price, you will receive this high quality paper and free delivery. 

i 

Please send me Colourjet 132 Printers at £530 plus £79.50 VAT. 

My computer is a j 

I enclose my cheque/postal order for £ 

Please charge my Access 

ACCOUNT NO EXPIRY DATE I 


NAME 


POSTCODE 

SIGNED DATE 

Please return this coupon with your remittance to Colourjet Offer, Acorn User Merchandising, 
Redwood Publishing Ltd, 20-26 Brunswick Place, London N1 6DJ. 


106 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 



A LOW COST DISC BASED 


PROFESSIONAL 
ACCOUNTING PROGRAM 

For the BBC Computer 


"Micro-Trader" 

INTEGRATED SALES PURCHASE AND NOMINAL LEDGERS 

Designed for business use by a business man. "Micro-Trader'' offers full Sales and 
Purchase Lodger facilities including SALES INVOICE and STATEMENT PRINTING 
with a capacity of up to 1,000 accounts and 5,000 transactions per month. 
Nominal Ledger features quick and easy entry of everyday transactions. Up to 6 Bank 
Accounts, full V.A.T. facilities, Journal Posting. Full Reporting for individual accounts, 
Audit Trail, Trial Balance, Profit St Loss and Balance Sheet. 

^MICRO-STOCK" 

Stock Control program, fully integrated with 
"Micro-Trader". 4,000 Stock Items with user 
defined Codes. Invoice and Credit Notes and 
Cash Sales routine. Full Stock Held Reports. 

£75.00 4- V.A.T. 

-'EXTENDED PAYROLL" 

Micro-Aid Full Feature Extended Payroll. For use 
stand alone or integrated with "Micro-Trader". 

£49.95 4- V.A.T. 




"MICRO-MAILER" 

A Mailmerge program, fully 
integrated with "Micro-Trader". 
With a user Database. 

£30.00 4- V.A.T. 


TA 


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S Features unparalleled create, edit, play 
and print tunes facilities 

S is sophisticated, yet simple to use 
S Even the Instruction Manual has been 


DISC PACK: EDITOR • SYNTHESISER • KEYBOARD • LINKER 
PRINTOUT- SONG AND SOUND LIBRARY • WAS £29.95 SPECIAL 
OFFER £20.00 INC VAT. PLEASE ADD £1.25 P&P PER ORDER. 

ADDITIONAL SONC LIBRARY DISC: 2 TOCCATA AND CAROLS 
3 400 YEARS OF MUSIC • 4 MAINLY BACH ■ 5 IAN WAUGH 
ORIGINALS • 6 OLD FAVOURITES • £4 EACH INC VAT • POSTAGE 
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NOW WORKS ON BBC B, B + , MASTER AND MASTER COMPACT. 

NEW UTILITIES DISC: KEYBOARD-^MUSIC FILE CONVERTER 
PLAY FROM BASIC UTILITY ■ TMS MUSIC FILE CONVERTER • MUSIC 
EDITOR FILE CONVERTER • £6 INC VAT • POSTAGE FREE. 

ECONET VERSION: £89.70 INC VAT PLUS £1.25 POSTAGE 
AMSTRAD AND COMMODORE 64 VERSIONS ALSO AVAILABLE. 

PLEASE NOTE: Cassette systems are no longer being supported 
Upgrades to disc available. 


ORDERS TO. SYSTEM APPLIED TECHNOLOGY LTD. DEPT A FIFTH FLOOR 
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OFFERS 

SCREENDUMPINB 

Colourjet 132 
screendumps only 
£7. 50 

Clare’s Micro Supplies have put together a disc of Graphics 
screens and screen dumping routines exclusively for Acorn 
User readers using the Intergrex Colourjet 132 printer with the 
Archimedes series of computers. Whether you are going to 
take advantage of our exclusive offer on the Colourjet printer or 
whether you have already purchased the printer, this disc will 
be a valuable addition to your software library. 

For just £7.50 we will send you four of the most beautiful 
graphics screens done on the Archimedes using the Artisan 
package. Included is the Artisan Garden and Robert Miller's 
copy of Lichtenstein’s In the Car. Also on the disc is a 
16-colour screendump which is accurately tuned to the Artisan 
package. With a copy of this special Clares disc you can print 
out a masterpiece as soon as your printer is plugged in. 



Please send me copies of the Intergrex Screen- ^ 

Dumping disc at £7.50 

I enclose my cheque/Postal Order for £ made 

payable to Clares Micro Supplies. 

Please charge my Access 

ACCOUNT NO EXPIRY DATE I 


NAME 

I ADDRESS 

J POSTCODE _ 

I SIGNED • DATE 

I Please send this coupon with your remittance to ScreenDump Offer, 

| Acorn User Merchandising, Redwood Publishing, 20-26 Bruns- 
I wick Place, London N1 6DJ. 


ACORN USUR OCTOBER 1988 


107 







PI 

[] 


EAPPLE SOFTWARE 

Programs for the BBC model 'B',B+, Master and Master Compact ulth disc drlue 


DIAGRAM II - non also available for ARCHIMEDES 

Diagram II is a completely new version of Pineapples popular 'Diagram' 
drawing software. The new version has a whole host of additional features 
ufiich make it into the most powerful and yet quick to use drawing program 
available for the BBC micro. The new features mean that 'Diagram II' can 
now be used for all types of drawings, not just circuit diagrams. Scale 
drawings are possible and the facilities for producing circles and rubber 
banded lines together with the pixel drawing routined make any type of 
drawing possible. This advert has been produced completely using Diagram II. 

Supnary of Diagram II features:- 

1. Works on all model BBC computers and makes use of Shadow memory if poss. 

2. Rapid line drawing routines with automatic joins for circuit diagrams. 

3. Rubber band line and circle drawing modes. 

4. Makes use of the Acorn GXR rom to produce ellipses, arcs, sectors, chords 

and flood fill iny. 

5. Pixel drawing mode allows very fine detail to be added. 

6. Defined areas of screen may be moved, copied, deleted or saved to disc. 

7. On-screen cursor position indication allows scale drawings to be made. 

8. Keyboard keys may be defined to print User Defined Characters allowing 

new character sets to be used. 

9. Wordprocessor files may be loaded and formatted into defined areas. 

10. Up to 880 UDC' s if shadow memory available, 381 without shadow. 

11. Compatible with Marconi Trackerball and most makes of 'mouse'. 

12. All ' Diagram Util ities' are included. 

13. Completely 'scaleable print routines allow any area of the diagram to be 

printed either horizontally or through 90deg. in scales that may be 
varied in IX steps allowing up to 18 mode 0 screens to be printed on 
an A4 sheet (still with readable text). 

14. Smooth scrolling over the whole area of the diagram. 

Diagran II consists of a set of disc files and a 16k Epron. 

The disc is formatted 40T side! and 80T side2. Please state if this 
is unsuitable for your system, or if you require a 3.5“ Compact disc 


DIAGRAM 1 1 - £ 55 .00 + vat 


PL P free 


MARCONI TRACKERBALL 

For Model 'S' and B+ (with Icon Artmaster) £ 60.00 + vat 

For Master 128 (with Pointer Rom) £ 60.00 + vat 

Bare Trackerball (no software) £ 49.00 + vat 

Pointer Rom (available separately) £ 12.50 + vat 

Trackerball to mouse adapters £ 8.00 + vat 

Postage and Packing on Trackerballs £ 1.75 



All orders sent by return 


PCB 


Pineapple's now famous PCB drafting aid produces complex double sided RGB's 
very rapidly using any model BBC micro and any FX compatible dot-matrix printer. 

The program is supplied on Eprcm and uses a mode 1 screen to display the two 
sides of tne board in red and blue either separately or superimposed. Component 
layout screens are also produced for a silk screen mask. 

The print routines allow a separate printout of each side of the board in an 
expanded definition high contrast 1:1 or 2:1 scale. The print time is typically 
about 5 mins, for a 1:1 print of a 7' » 5* board. This program has too many 
superb features to adequately describe here, so please write or 'phone for more 
details and sample printouts. 

£ QCT nn Plotter driver to suit 

00. UU * vat nost Plotters £ 35.00 *vat 



PCB AUTO -ROUTING 

This brand new addition to the PCB program greatly 
increases the power of the software and speeds the 
design of PCB' s even more. 

A list of up to 190 connections may be entered in 
the form of a 'rats nest' and then tne computer does 
the rest! You may specify which side of the board 
you wish a track to be on or you may leave the 
choice to the computer, and you may also say whether 
tracks should be allowed to pass between I.C. pins. 

The program is in the form of a second Eprom and 
full features are available on a standard model' B.' 

Please write or 'phone for full details. 

COMPLETE RUTOROUTE PACKAGE 
(Including nanual Epron) 


£185.00. 


URT 


ADFS Utilities Rom 


ADU is an invaluable utility for all ADFS users. It adds over 22 new 
•commands to the ADFS filing system as well as providing an extensive Menu 
facility with over 35 sub commands covering areas such as repeated disc 
compaction, saving and loading Rom images, auto booting of files and many more. 

Copying of DFS discs onto ADFS discs can be made in one pass with automatic 
creation of the required directories on the ADFS disc. All functions are fully 
compatible with Winchester drives including •BACKUP which allows backing up of 
Winchesters onto multiple floppies. 

New ♦commands are as follows:- ♦ADU. •BACKUP. •CATALL, CHANGE, •DFSADFS. 
•DIRALL. •DIRCOPY, ♦DIRDESTROY, •DIRRENAME, •DISCEDIT, •DRIl€, •FILEFIND, ♦FORMAT, 
♦KILLADU, COCK, ♦FtNU, •PURGE, ♦PURBRK, ♦UN-OCK, •VERIFY, ♦VFORMAT, Cl PE 

PRICE £ 29.00 ♦ vat 


MITEYSPICE _ Powerful A.C. & D.C. cjrcuit analyser package 


with Graphics output. Send for more details 


£119.00 

+vat 


UISfl 


39 Brownlea Gardens,Seuen Klngs,I If ord, Essex IG3 9NL Tel 01-599 1476 



SOFTWARE Suitable lor standard, Master Series and Archimedes Computers 

Inc VAT 

CASHBOOK Double Enlry bookkeeping in memory lor clubs £13.74 

CASHBOOK Double Enlry random access disc bookkeeping lor schools £22 95 

ACCOUNT Double Entry random access bookkeeping with credit 
control, statements, ledgers and analysis lor businesses £34 45 

ACCOUNT PLUS as above with data sort, auto statement generator, invoice, order, quotations 
etc mail shot merge etc £57 44 

MICRO-TRADER The complete BBC accounts system (Demo disc £25) £230 00 

MICRO-STOCK 4000 items suitable lor use with Micro-Trader £86 25 

RANDOM MAILING mail merge. 5sorts. 1 2. or 3across labels £34 45 

EXTENDED PAYROLL “impressive package - Micro User" 

1 2. 4 weekly & monthly, contracted in & out. 3 overtime, 
personnel file. 2 payslip lormats. plu. plus £57 44 

SPECIAL THREE STAR OFFER -ALL THREE STAR PROGRAMS £89.95 

FAMILY TREE 340-750 people 100/250 marriages Ancestral, dependants & family 
tracing with lull tree printout sorted list Review^ Feb '87 issue £1995 

FAMILY TREE 3500/6000 people 1500^2000 marriages Archimedes £24 95 

STATPACK the stats package lor students. 30 results £13 74 


Business 


★ * * 
★ ★★ 


★ ★★ 
Genealogy 

★ ★NEW** 
Statistics 


DFS/ADFS We convert your DFS discs to ADFS Master or Archimedes D/L format 

ROMS INTER-BASE The latest ROM from Computer Concepts 

INTER-CHART data display "Quite clever - well, very clever" 
INTER-SHEET spreadsheet "Not bad! - it s the best" 

INTER- WORD "The WYSIWYG super wordprocessor I use & teach" 
SPELL-MASTER The fastest, largest spelling checker anywhere 
WORDWISE PLUS "Programming facilities that others haven't got" 
SYSTEM DELTA "The cleverer than clever program language database" 
SYSTEM DELTA extended programming language manual 
EPROMMERS UVIPAC Eprom Programmer 32k Programmer 
U VIP AC Eprom Eraser 
Toolkit Eprom Blower Software on ROM 

COMPUTERS CAMBRIDGE Z88 1 28K Lap top computer 

AMSTRAD PCI 51 2 Dual Disc Drive Mono complete with £300 software 
AMSTRAD PCI 51 2 Dual Disc drive Colour complete with " software 
AMSTRAD PPC640 Lab top IBM PC compatible portable 
AMSTRAD CPC664 Green Screen monitor and Wordprocessor ROM 
ADLER ALPHATRONIC C/PM computer with FI Disc Drive 
Descr iotion of how to send data between the two machines 
DYNEER DW20 1 5” Daisy wheel serial printer High quality machine 
RIBBONS. FX. RX, LX 80. 120D, GLP. Amstrad, Shinwafrom 
PRINTER CABLE Suitable for BBC/Electron to parallel printers 
DISC DRIVE 800k Opus or similar twin double sided cased 
DISCS 5 25" 10 Double sided/density 40/80 tracks colours boxed 
DISCS 3 5" 10 branded double sided highest quality, boxed 
LISTING PAPERBox 2000 fanfold perforated 11" x 9.5" 60gsm (None cheaper?) 

Box 2000 fanfold micro-perforated A4 80 gsm (None better/) 

LABELS For Mailing 2000 2 across 3 5" x 1 4375 
For Mailing 1000 3 across 2.75x1 4375 
For Disc labelling 500 1 across 5" x 15/16“ 


★ ★NEW** 


BBC/IBM/BBC 

PRINTERS 


DISCS 


£450 

£4995 
£2999 
£44 99 
£47.00 
£4995 
£44 99 
£62.95 
£1995 
£2095 
£2095 
£7.95 

£289.00 
C593.47 
£771 .69 
£44900 
£19900 
£175 00 
£495 
£22500 
£3 50 
£7.50 
£22500 
£1095 
£14.95 
£1345 
£23 45 
£1145 
£650 
£295 


Ask for detailed brochure for more software and other items. 
Prices include VAT. Add 57p for p p. Printers add £9.95 


micro Hid 


Business Programs 
Payroll and Wages 

Now in its seventh ye3r. The only BBC program for wages, tax an?!Tlational Insurance for 
up to 400 employees covering Weekly. Fortnightly, Four weekly or Monthly pay whether 
contracted in or out. Accepts up to 46 items of data per employee in two parts. Pay and 
personnel, prints out P35 data, personal information per employee for P45 and P60 forms. 


three 
pre and 


he Payroll accepts standard, regular pay or compilation of pay from hourly, 
overtime rates, pension funds, sick-pay, SMP. SSP, holiday pay. bonuses, pi 
post-tax adjustments and even no pay. Three summaries, two different types of payslips 
and optional coin analysis. Annual contract 
which keeps you up to date 
with the budget changes. 

Twin NCR payslips. 

Send for demo disk. 


£49.95 + VAT 


Bookkeeping 


1) Double entry bookkeeping for home or club use. All data 
kept in memory. Three character analysis code enables you 
to know where the money comes from and where it goes. 48 
transactions per A4 page. Analysis summary of up to 30 
categories. 

2) As 1 ) + Random Access giving 2000 items. CASH/BANK 
or VAT/BANK headings. Password controlled. String sear- 
ches. For schools, clubs, churches, non credit business. 

3) As 2) + Credit facility and statements. For small working 
on credit businesses. 

4) As 3) •+• Invoicing, Orders, Quotations, etc. Full sorting of 
data by 5 options. Automated statements, mailing labels. 
Multiple automatic nominal ledgers. For independent schools 
and VAT businesses who wish to cut the effort. 

5) Micro-Trader is a full accountancy package with features 
right through to final Balance Sheet. Stock Control at £75 + 
VAT extra. For shops/firms wanting full accounting facilities. 
Payroll can be integrated. 


£11 

£19, 

£29 

£49 

£200 


95+VAT 
95+ VAT 
95+VAT 
94+ VAT 
00+VAT 


218 to 1875 addresses on disc. 
Multiple labels, mail merge and sorts. 


Mailing 

£11.95 or £29.95 -+ 


VAT 


(AU), 25 Fore Street, Praze, 

Camborne, Cornwall TR14 0JX 
or telephone 0209-831274 with ACCESS 


Family History £1 9.95 inc 
Archimedes Version £24.95 inc 


As far as we know the only genealogical program for the BBC written and sold by 
genealogists for genealogical enthusiasts. 

■ Send for full brochure of these & other items. 

^ Demo payroll disk £2.50. Postage add 57p. 


108 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 







REVIEWS 

SOFTWARE 


IN COMMAND 

Beebug’s internal modem for the Master has been a long time coming 
Chris Bobbing couldn’t wait to try it out 


When the Master first arrived it was fairly 
obvious that the space between the mother 
board and power supply was for an inter- 
nal modem. 

Although Beebug has been displaying its 
prototype internal modem at exhibitions 
for nearly a year it has, quite rightly, only 
started selling them now that full BABT 
approval has been granted. In fact, approv- 
al had to be granted to the whole Master 
128 - because the modem uses the Master's 
power supply. Some modification of the 
modem was required, and all has now been 
finalised. 

Beebug’s Master modem is a competent 
auto-dial and auto-answer device which 
works with both V21 (300 baud) and V23 
(1200/75 baud) standards. It allows you to 
listen to the telephone line too, through the 
computer’s speaker. Beebug’s ROM-based 
Command software, a utilities disc, key- 
strip and user guide are all supplied. In- 
stallation is fairly straightforward, but the 
batteries occupy the space for the modem. 
You will have to buy the new-style battery 
pack which tucks into the slot at the 
left-hand side of the keyboard. These are 
available from Beebug and other Acorn 
dealers for about £4. Before you remove 
the old battery pack, note down your 
preferred configuration settings (typing 
^STATUS will display them), so that you 
can "CONFIGURE the machine to your 
requirements after fitting the new one! 

The modem slips easily into the space 
provided for it and is secured with two 
screws. It is connected to the computer 
with a ribbon cable. This cable, rather 
surprisingly, ends in bare wires which have 
to be lined up and inserted in an edge 
connector on the motherboard and then 
secured with a plastic clamp. Another coble 
connects to a proper plug near the Master’s 
loudspeaker and the telephone lead fits into 
an existing slot at the rear of the computer. 

The Command software is in a 16k 
ROM which has to go in the middle of the 
three sockets - IC27. If you already have a 
ROM here you’ll have to move it to a 
cartridge or give up two banks of sideways 
ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 



The space-saving internal modem 


RAM and use one of the adjacent sockets. 

Command is initiated by entering 
"•VIEWDATA (or "TEXT). The screen 
clears except for a status line at the bottom 
which includes a time display showing how 
long you have been on-line - very useful! 
Control is via the function keys and a 
keystrip is provided. To dial out, you 
simply enter the required number (or select 
one from the directory). I had no problems 
with direct exchange lines or a PABX 
(where you have to dial 9 for an outside 
line). The modem can use the traditional 
pulse-dialling, or if you have a new system 
X-style telephone exchange you can set it 
to use tones instead. The Master’s internal 
speaker allows the progress of the call to be 
heard. It is silenced as soon as a connection 
is made. 

The utility disc has a preset directory of 
some of the more reliable bulletin boards, 
both text and viewdata, so you can get 
on-line to something interesting straight 
away. You can very easily add your own 
favourites, and the disc also stores the 
configuration data and log-on strings as 
well as the phone number. 

The viewdata terminal is well designed 
and has all the functions you would expect, 
including frame tagging. The telesoftware 
downloader works well and has a 26.5k 
buffer enabling very large files to be down- 
loaded without long pauses, as chunks are 
saved to disc. The utilities disc has a printer 
dump ROM image that must be loaded 
into sideways RAM before screens can be 
dumped to a printer. The screen dump 


works with text and mode 7 graphics, and 
with any ‘Epson-compatible’ printer. 

A comprehensive and powerful text edi- 
tor is included in the viewdata terminal. 
Mode 7 teletext screens can be edited on or 
off-line, for saving or uploading to a bulle- 
tin board. Several of the well known view- 
data boards allow uploading of frames, but 
on Prestel this is only available to informa- 
tion providers. 

The scrolling text terminal can run in 40 
or 80-column modes and I had no difficul- 
ty in using Telecom Gold and local bulletin 
boards. It is very easy to set up the 
directory with the appropriate baud rates, 
parity, stop bits and log-on sequences. 
Xmodem file transfer is possible, and I had 
no problems uploading and downloading 
long files. 

The Command ROM offers more than 
50 new star commands making it very easy 
to write programs to log on to a database, 
leave and collect mail and log off, for 
example. All the commands are well 
documented in the user guide and the 
ROM didn’t seem to clash with any of the 
others I use. 

I particularly liked the BAND command 
which can replace the ‘time on-line’ display 
with the number of dialled units used! 

Many of the commands are for the 
modem’s auto-answer mode, and will make 
it fairly easy to write bulletin board soft- 
ware. A simple host program is included 
on the utilities disc, which could easily be 
adapted to provide some of the more 
sophisticated facilities you find on the well 
established boards. 

An internal modem saves a lot of space 
and means less clutter around the compu- 
ter, and this one is cheaper than many 
others of a similar specification at only 
£119. The Master internal modem has been 
a long time coming and many established 
comms enthusiasts will be happy with their 
existing equipment. But Master-owners 
considering comms for the first time, or 
upgrading to auto-dial/auto-answer, 
should seriously consider this excellent 
new product from Beebug. 


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REVIEWS 

PIPEDREAM ON PARADE 

Pipedream tries to unlock barriers between different micros, and between wordprocessor 
and spreadsheet, Graham Bell judges how far it succeeds 



Most people who know the BBC micro 
will have already met the latest competitor 
in the Archimedes wordprocessor stakes. 
It’s been available now for over a year on 
the BBC micro, under the name of View 
Professional. But it is with the Z88 version 
that Pipedream came to real prominence - 
it is the reason that machine is as useful as 
it is. Now Colton Software has rewritten 
Pipedream to run on the Archimedes and 
the IBM PC as well, and all the versions 
are file-compatible. 

Both written mostly in C, the two new 



versions share much of their program code, 
and look and feel very similar in use. 
Pipedream doesn’t make use of any fancy 
graphics or the built-in windows, icons or 
pointers of Arthur, nor does it run under 
GEM or Windows on the PC. But it does 
use its own simple drop-down menus, 
selected from a bar across the top of the 
screen. Pipedream comes with manual, 
function key strip and a single 3.5-inch 
disc. The manual is excellent, with a begin- 
ner’s tutorial section, lots of examples and 
an in-depth reference section. 

Installing Pipedream is relatively simple, 
but make sure you do it on a back-up copy 
of the disc and not the original, because the 
process is irreversible. It’s hard to get it 
wrong, and the installation process lets you 
put Pipedream on a hard disc if you want. 
You must put a copy of the floating point 
emulator (FPE) on any Pipedream disc you 
create; there is one supplied, but the ver- 
sion on your Arc Welcome disc may be 
more up to date. 

Once installed, you can start Pipedream 
with a :: 'PD command. It’ll work in any 80 
or 132-column mode - taking its cue from 
the current mode. It takes a few seconds to 
load, and then you’re presented with the 
main editing screen. 

Apart from the drop-down menu: it’ll 
look familiar to anyone who’s used View 


Professional or a Z88. Everything defaults 
to some sensible value, and you don’t need 
to know anything about Pipedream to get 
started. Sensibly, the screen reminds you 
that ‘F1 = HELP’. But what it doesn’t tell 
you is that to get at any of the menus, you 
have to press ALT plus the first letter of 
the menu name: ALT-P for the Print menu 
for example. You must be wary of the Tab 
key - don’t use it to indent paragraphs. 

Editing text in Pipedream is View- like in 
that most of the commonly used functions 
are accessible from the function keys. But 
unlike View , there is a full menu system 
too, and there are single-key short cuts to 
the functions. So to delete from the cursor 
to the end of a line, you could press 
ALT-E for the Edit menu and select the 
function from the menu, you could press 
f4, or you could just use ALT-D. 

Not all the editing functions are available 
from the function keys. But you can define 
new function keys in combination with 
ALT, and even replace the standard set. 


You can in fact redefine any key on the 
keyboard, so if you want to type in 
Icelandic, you can set up keys to type the 
necessary non-English characters. 

Pipedream is acceptably Wysiwyg - ital- 
ics and bold are shown on screen, as are 



page breaks, but headers and footers are 
not. Printing is simple, but the text can be 
previewed on screen or sent to a file. 

You can set up a start file that stores any 
standard text you want at the beginning of 
every document. You can even include key 
redefinitions and macro definitions, but 
you can’t save preferred screen colours. 

There is one serious quibble I have with 
the editing part of the Pipedream word- 
processor, and that is the difficulty of 
block operations. You can’t start a block in 
the middle of a line. So a typical change 
like moving a sentence is extremely com- 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


111 




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REVIEWS 

SOFTWARE 


plex. The only other problem I have with 
straightforward text in Pipedream is that 
most of the format information is global. 
That is, things like the width of the text 
and the line spacing have to be set, once 
and for all, on a document-wide basis. So 
you can’t change line spacing from double 
to single and back again. 

Printer support is a little sparse: there 
are drivers for the Juki 6100 and Epson 
FX80, and the manual explains clearly how 
to produce new ones. But it’s the printer’s 
manual that is often the problem, so it 
would have been better to have a wider 
range of pre-defined drivers. 

There are compensations, in the form of 
multiple column-working. You can select 
the width of each column individually, and 
also the wrap width. This is the maximum 
length of the text on a line, the point at 
which words jump onto the next line. It is 
slightly confusing that the display and 
wrap width of the line should be different, 
but this does allow the same mechanism to 
be used for both multi-column text and 
ordinary text with tables. But this multi- 



column ability doesn’t extend to making 
text flow from column one on a page to 
column two. 

The point about global formatting is 
alleviated because a document can span 
several files, each with its own ‘global’ 
formatting information. Sometimes this is 
acceptable, but it does mean that double- 
spaced reports with lots of single-spaced 
quotes need a long list of files. Moving 
from one file to the next doesn’t happen 
automatically; you must type ALT-FN to 
move to the next file in the list. 

All this makes Pipedream a competent 
but not exciting wordprocessor. However, 
it has two great advantages over other 
application programs. First, you can run it 
on a variety of machines. And second, it is 
also a spreadsheet. You can include groups 
of numbers in the text, or in tables of 
calculations, and they will automatically 
recalculate when you change the data. This 
makes it ideal for writing technical docu- 
ments. Having the elements of .a spread- 
sheet and wordprocessor together allows 
‘hybrid’ documents to be written. It’s not 
like spooling numbers from a spreadsheet 
ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 



Pipedream is also a spreadsheet 

and reading them into a document. In 
Pipedream , all the formulae and numbers 
stay ‘live’ - they still recalculate if you 
revise the data. 

The simplest example would be where 
you wanted to build something like a sales 
list or invoice. You could include the unit 
cost and number of sales, multiply them 
and add up the total. The numbers can all 
be put in separate ‘expression’ slots, and 
the sum formula put in at the bottom just 
like ViewSheet or InterSheet. Pipedream 
has all the functions you would expect of a 
spreadsheet, and you can also take num- 
bers from calculations and include them 
within normal text - writing 
@B20@@@@@ would include the value 
in B20 in your text. 

Used as a spreadsheet, Pipedream is 
more capable than ViewSheet , InterSheet 
or even SigmaSheet. It has all the usual 
mathematical functions, plus a host of new 
ones. In particular, these relate to dates and 
finance. For example, PMT works out 
repayments on a loan, from the amount 
borrowed over however many years and 
the interest rate. IRR works out the inter- 
nal rate of return of a scries of cash flows 
from an invested sum, and there arc even 
four different functions for depreciation. 

One important point with Pipedream is 
that with functions like AVG (average), 
blank cells are ignored, whereas with 
ViewSheet , blank cells are given the value 
zero. Very usefully, the LOOKUP func- 
tion works with text as well as numbers. 



For those with IBM PCs, Pipedream can 
import Lotus 1-2-3 models, not perfectly, 
but well enough to make most Lotus files 
usable. There are a number of Lotus func- 


tions which have no close equivalent, and 
Lotus macros are useless once transferred. 
But the majority of text and formulae slots 
transfer without problems. 

The speed comparisons carried out by 
Dave Futcher and reported in last month’s 
SigmaSheet review show Pipedream to be 
fast - it uses the floating point emulator 
module, so when a hardware floating point 
podule becomes available, the maths will 
become even faster. 

Continuing the comparison, Pipedream 
does have a way of looking at two sections 
of the sheet at once, which SigmaSheet 
lacks. You can ‘fix’ rows above or left of 
the current cursor position, and then scroll 
across the sheet to another area. 

Some spreadsheet functions like MIN 
and AVG can be prefixed with D. DMIN 
will find a minimum value, but the value 
has to satisfy some condition - so 



DMIN(A1A100, ‘A 1 > 1 . 1 .88’) searches for 
the earliest date after January 1 this year - 
dates last year will be ignored. 

These D commands are aimed at making 
it possible to use Pipedream as a database. 
It isn’t ideal, as you really have to stick to 
one record per line, with each field in a 
particular column. But you can search for 
particular records, sort them into order 
according to any column, and even pro- 
duce standard letters. The sorting function 
is really uselul for putting lists in order 
when you’re writing normal text, and a 
name and address list is perfectly feasible. 

It seems that Pipedream is the ‘do- 
everything’ program. So what doesn’t it 
have? There isn’t any way of including 
graphics in a document, and there isn’t any 
spelling checker. And you can’t even find 
out how much memory there is left! It also 
doesn’t use the Arc’s WIMP system, but I 
think that consistency with the other ver- 
sions of Pipedream is as important as 
consistency with other Arc applications. 

For writing letters or books, I doubt 
whether I’d choose Pipedream. But for 
business reports with a mixture of numbers 
and text, you can’t beat it. And if you have 
a Z88 or a PC to swap files with , then I’d 
say Pipedream is almost indispensible. 
Pipedream, Colton Software (0954) 211472 , 
Archimedes , £ 1 13.85 . 

113 







ILLUSTRATION BY AX ML SCHEFFLER 


EDUCATION 




Independent Television has made significant strides in the world of computer education and 
is producing some worthwhile software to support its Key database 



Chris Drage and Nick Evans 



I t has always been assumed that the 
British Broadcasting Corporation 
holds the monopoly on TV and broad- 
cast services linked to computer 
education. Not only do most Acorn 
computers carry its badge, but the BBC also 
publishes its own software in great quantity 
and quality through BBC Soft - part of 
BBC Enterprises. To many people, then, it 
comes as a shock to realise that Independent 
Television not only produces its own soft- 
ware and support materials but has made 
massive inroads into the education market 
with its low-cost database management 
system called Key. This sophisticated pack- 
age offers more and better facilities than 
many more expensive systems, and the 
software has been specifically designed to fit 
into the educational environment. Teamed 
with particular datafiles, it services the 
needs of all the programmes broadcast by 
the various companies coming under the 
ITV umbrella - Anglia, YTV, Central, 
Granada and so on. 

This linking of datafiles to the schools 
programmes being broadcast offers teachers 
ready-made data for classroom develop- 
ment of those transmissions. There are also 
support materials in the form of work 
sheets, topic cards, data-logging, copying 
masters and suggestions for teachers. As far 
as ITV is concerned this means that there is, 
to a certain extent, a captive audience and a 
ready market. The BBC of course has this 
too. The difference is that the BBC does not 
yet have a dedicated database system, and it 
has never really ventured into the realm of 
information handling other than on a fairly 
superficial level. But ITV is beginning to 
build up a surprising number of datafiles, 
complete with support materials, both as a 


result of twinning them with transmissions 
and also through development of datafiles 
by outside agencies. 

Key burst into the world of education 
about two years ago, and was seen by many 
as a sensible answer to teacher’s needs. The 
package incorporates not only the usual 
ability to store, search, select and sort, but 
also features a powerful graphing utility and 
a mapping module which allows data to be 
given co-ordinate attributes and then plot- 


ted on a map or plan. The system may also 
be used at a number of levels, from single- 
key entry of commands for the youngest 
users right up to a sophisticated interroga- 
tion language for the more advanced. The 
nature of its query language approaches 
natural language more closely than, for 
example, the ever-popular Quest. 

The database system has a com- 
plementary utilities disc which allows you 
to import datafiles from other systems so, 


114 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 




EDUCATION 


for example, if you use Quest or ViewStore 
then it is possible to convert your datafiles 
to Key format so that they may be read by 
the system. The main Key disc costs an 
amazing £4.95 for BBC and RML 480Z 
versions, and £6.95 for a Nimbus version. 
The Utilities disc costs £1.73! 

No database system is much use without 
datafiles. Although you might want to 
create your own from scratch, it is much 
easier to learn the system with a ready-made 
file - especially if that file is linked to a TV 
series that your class uses. It should be 
emphasised that the datafiles are in no way 
dependent on the TV programmes. They 
can certainly be used in your own curricu- 
lum structure, without having to use the 
transmission. But, should you be thinking 
of using ITV Schools broadcasts, it would 
make sense to take advantage of the very 
useful programme information service 
which is available as a Key datafile. Details 
of all schools broadcasts may be obtained 
from the IBA. 

Out of a planned fifty-one programmes 
to be broadcast for ITV Schools in the 
coming academic year, twenty have compu- 
ter software directly related to them. Many 
are Key-based, others are dedicated pack- 
ages created specifically for the program- 
mes. The datafiles associated with previous 
broadcasts are of course still available too. 
The earliest, which was originally sold as a 
demonstration file, is ‘Placenames\ It pro- 
vides you with information concerning the 
origin of towns’ names. 

A series of wildlife datafiles classify a 
wide range of the fauna of this country, 
giving children the opportunity to examine 
the distribution, habitat, habits and, in the 
case of seafish, the catching methods and 
statistics. These packs come complete with 
printed support material. In this . . of 
Britain and Ireland ’ series there are files on 
birds, mammals, minibeasts, seafish and 
freshwater fish. 

Under the science heading, useful re- 
sources for both environmental and scien- 
tific studies arc provided in a number of 
packs. The Science - Start Here pack 
contains a set of three files, ‘Weather’, 
‘Birds’ and ‘Myself’, which are aimed at the 
8+ age range. These encourage a child’s first 
steps in data-logging and analysis, for exam- 
ple by using statistics which the children 
collect about themselves, or weather data 
collected from a variety of meteorological 
stations which are presented as ready-made 
files. This type of ‘research’ work is seen as 
an ideal method of getting children to 
understand the collection, storage, retrieval 
ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


and interpretation of information. 

In the second science series pack, one 
datafile, ‘Food’, examines children’s food 
intake and analyses it in terms of its 
nutritional content and energy value. Under 
the same general heading of food science, a 
more advanced package, Fit to Eat , which is 
designed for secondary school use, allows 
pupils to assess the suitability of their diet 
for their own individual body size, level of 
activity and so on. 

‘Acid drops’ is a datafile with important 
information for the environmental studies 
syllabus in secondary schools. It records 
data from a large number of sites across the 
United Kingdom relating to rainfall and 
acidity levels. The support materials en- 
courage investigation of the relationship 
between these facts and a number of vari- 
ables in the environment. 



Key - a future-proof system? 


Other packages examine Craft Design 
Technology issues - for example ‘ Materials : 
Investigation and Choice ’ provides a quick 
reference guide to the suitability of particu- 
lar materials for particular tasks. ‘Mail 
Order’ is a datafile aimed at the Computer 
Studies and IT awareness classes. It allows 
pupils to set up a simulation of a mail order 
company, complete with a computer-based 
wholesale catalogue that even includes 
graphics - a powerful feature of Key. 

Other titles are being compiled by the 
ITV companies in response to the needs of 
its programme producers, but they are not 
the only sources of information. Many 
computer users find census material invalu- 
able as an adjunct to history, local studies 
and social studies work. Short of actually 
typing in the census returns yourself, it is a 
difficult task to get hold of that type of 
information on disc. There now exists a 
service which will give users an abstract of 
their local census data for 1981 along with 
seven other standard files for a variety of 
areas across the country. Although these 
files don’t come in the Key format, a 
program included with the suite allows the 
user to abstract data in Key format to be 


taken away and used independently. The 
package includes maps of the relevant area 
and costs £19.95. Requests for further 
information should be sent to Nigel Wal- 
ford at the ESCR Data Archive. 

In addition to the normal disc format 
Key, is now available for Econet levels II 
and III, and soon there will be an ADFS 
version for Master and Compact users. As 
well as its low price, its virtue lies in the ease 
of creating your own dedicated files. Unlike 
many of its forerunners, Key holds the 
user’s hand all the way - if you want it to. 
This means that novices can benefit from its 
power while still discovering its potential, 
but more experienced users can tap its 
facilities more flexibly and configure them 
to his or her needs. 

The creation of new datafiles is simplicity 
itself, as the software asks for the relevant 
information and ensures that you under- 
stand what is taking place. So, for instance, 
the entry of field names and types is not 
only governed and checked during creation, 
but may also be edited after the file has been 
built. This flexibility means that the ways in 
which information is presented can be 
varied according to your needs. 

The more sophisticated facilities such as 
graphics and mapping obviously require a 
good deal more skill. The best way to learn 
is to gain a thorough knowledge of the 
package’s normal facilities, and then to* 
examine the workings of an example data- 
file. This will demonstrate one of the 
methods for using the advanced facilities. 

Key has had a major impact on the 
computing community, partly because of its 
power and low price, but also because of the 
speed with which relevant datafiles have 
been made available. The creator of the 
system, GSN, will now need to look 
forward, and consider increasing the power 
of the package and making it even easier to 
use in the windowing environment pro- 
vided by machineslike the Archimedes. If it 
maintains compatibility of file structure, so 
that files may be passed between the old and 
new machines, then it will have a truly 
future-proofed system. 

Key may be purchased from ITV Asso- 

ciation , , 6 Paul Street , London EC2A 4JH. 
Key is programmed by GSN Educational 
Software , 50 Stamford Street , Ashton - 
under-Lyne OL6 6QH. ITV schools 
programme listings: send formatted 40- 
track disc to Pat Nixon , Education Depart- 
ment, IBA, 70 Brompton Road, London 
SW3 1EY. Census material: ESCR Data 
Archive, University of Essex, Wivenhoe 
Park, Colchester C04 3SQ. 


115 


Educational 


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Opus PC III Single Mono 

90 00 
460 00 

PC III Double Mono 

£ Z 

630 00 

Printers: 



Epson 1X800 NlQ including tractor leed 

o E 

219 00 

Epson FX800 200 cpv8k butler •'80 col 

b? as 

363 00 

Brother 1109 80 Col tOOcps 


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Panasonic PI081 80 Col. 120 draft 28 NLO 

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Muhiport Data Switches - 2 way 


36 95 

Multiport Data Switches • 4 way 


59 95 

IBM printer cable 

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9 75 

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12 95 

RS232 Cable 


16 75 

ModerrvComputer - 9 way 0 Socket/25 way 


13 95 


D Plug 


All Disketts- Nashua. 
Maxell. Memorex. TDK. 
Dysan etc. - Best offers 
All Ribbons - Unbeatable 
Prices - Guarantee refunds if 
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Other items: Scientific 
instruments. Upgrades. All 
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Help Lines: 01 440 0803 or 
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(Callers by arrangement 
only) 

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Lane, 

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Trade and export 
enquiries most 
welcomed. 
Telex: 8951182 
Faxd: 01 441 6813 


ARCHIMEDES SOFTWARE TOOLS 

Programmers utility disk No 1 includes: 

MicroEMACS: The UNIX industry standard text editor. 

Supports Multi-file working. Multi-window, user macros. 
On-line help facilties. 

Access to the operating system. 

Screen resolution changeable whilst editing. 

KERMIT: The industry standard intelligent file transfer utility. Block 

checking with automatic re-send of faulty blocks (end those 
RS423 problems!). Multiple file batch transfers, access to the 
operating system. On-line help facilities. 

Plus 

UNIX type: HEAD, TAIL. TR. GREP. UUENCODE. UUDECODE 

and more... 

All this for only £38.80 including discs, manuals, VAT and postage 
ACCESS/VISA by phone or send cheque to: 

Ralph Allen Engineering Co., Forncett-End, Norwich, 

Norfolk, NR 1 6 HIT. Tel: (Bunweli) 095389-420 




MICRO STUDIO GRAPHICS 


ARCHIMEDES SOFTWARE 

ARCHIMEDES GRAPHICS LIBRARY 

Beeb to Archie utilities 

DFS to ADFS converter £14.49 

Data cable and software £13.80 

5VV' disc interface inc. software £29.90 

40/80 disc drive £109.25 

Special offer 40/80 drive 5VV' interface and software 

Ring for price 

Archimedes computers at keen prices 

Ring for info today 



S. 



ARCHIMEDES GRAPHICS LIBRARY 

For use with BASIC programs, CLARES ARTISAN, 
GRAPHICWRITER AND FIRST WORD PLUS. 

More than 2000K of sprite graphics in full colour on a 3 
disc set. £19.95 

BBC/MASTER SOFTWARE 
STOP PRESS/PAGEMAKER USERS 

PAGEMAKER GRAPHICS LIBRARY 

150 cut outs (packl) £12.95 

Utilities £9.95 

30 new fonts £7.95 

Cutout Previewer £9.95 

Font Previewer £9.95 

FSE-AMX Converter ea.£9.95 

AMX-FSE Converter ea.£9.95 

Label designer use cutout or part of the screen + same 
text and print one or two across £9.95 

Instant Minipics - font picture files containing ready 
made symbols and icons £7.95 

FLEET STREET EDITOR USERS 

FLEET STREET GRAPHICS LIBRARY 

200k 2 discs available at £1 2.95 each 

All prices include VAT adn p&p UK< 

Europe add £3.00. Outside Europe add £5.00. 

State DFS format (40/80/ss/ds) 

Educational orders welcome. 

1 Access and Visa Welcome. 

Dept 2, Micro Studio, 22 Churchgate Street, 
Soham, Nr Ely, Cambs (0353) 721736. 






116 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 



i 


SIGNWRITEP/ 


Quality lettering any size 

£29.95 (BBC. some Electrons) £49.95 (Archimedes) 
Many extra fonts (£5.75 each), e.g. : 

IDECC b Com 


WIGHT SCIENTIFIC ( 01 ) 858 2699 

Dept. AU. 44 Roan Street. London SE10 9JT 

Also: PAPERBASE for bibliographies COLOURED RIBBONS 
LABELWRITER for multiple labels 


ADVANCED STATISTICAL SYSTEM 

For BBC Models B, B+, Master 128 and Archimedes 

FIRST 

Standard, Professional and Academic Features 

Fast, robust, accurate, interactive, modular. Full data management. Transforms, dummy 
variables, data subsets. Scatter & Normal prob. plots. Detailed Univariate Stats, t tests. 

Unrivalled regression facilities 

(Weighted, through the origin, standardised). Correlation matrix, ANOVA for regression, 
Residuals, fitted values & confidence intervals. Contour plots from regression. Polynomial 
regression equation glots with confidence intervals. Advanced regression DIAGNOSTICS, 
VIF's, influential points. 

Unique ROBUST regression. True NONLINEAR regression 

Two and Three-way ANOVA. Cluster analysis. Time Series & smoothing. Nonparametric 
methods. Distribution generators, Histograms, Chisquared tests. 

Specialised Linear Calibration. “Outlier” detection. Prinicpal components. 
Numerous other powerful options. 

Full utilities (data saving, dumps, printing, formating, etc.) Comprehensive Manual-full User 
Support. Special versions available for 3201 6 Co-processor and ACW. 

Price C90-E150 depending on features. Versions for Industry Standard PC’s 
Full details from 

SERIOUS STATISTICAL SOFTWARE 

Lynwood, Benty Heath Lane. Willaston, S. Wirral LG4 1SD. Tel: 051-327 4268 


ECOnET EnHRnCEmEflT HRRDUJRRE FRom DEL 



ECONET \ 
TAPE STREAMER 


Back up your entire Econet Level 3 Winchester in 2 minutes! 


The Digistore 600 is the latest addition to our range of Econet 
enhancement products. It provides Acorn hard disc users with the first 
professional tapestreamer for Econet and ADFS, and at 5.2 megabytes per 
minute, a security backup can be made several times a day with almost no 
effort. 


The Digistore uses industry standard data cartridges giving exceptional 
reliability and data security. 

159 HAVANT ROAD, DRAYTON. PORTSMOUTH, HANTS P06 2AA 
TELEPHONE (0705) 324934 


services I 


% 


Statistical 
Services Centre 


INSTAT 


INST AT is available for PC’s and BBC Microcomputers 
INSTAT is a general purpose statistics package for interactive 
data analysis. It is useful for statistics teaching and for my 
research requiring statistical analysis of data. 

Facilities include: 


easy data entry and editing 
descriptive statistics 
multiple regression 
multiple tables 
probability distributions 
extensive help facilities 


calculations 
powerful plotting 
ANOVA 

random sample generation 
macros 

. . . and much more. . . 


. . where extensive use is made of statistics and a BBC mirco 
can be devoted to the purpose, INSTAT is quite simply the 
best”. Acorn User January 1987 
. • the authors of INSTAT clearly believe that they have 
produced something rather special. I, for one, would agree with 
them”. Times Higher Education Supplement, June 1987. 

Prices (educational and multiple copy discounts available): 

INSTAT BBC £85 + VAT 

(disc, EPROM, Introductory, Reference and Supplementary 
Guides) 

INSTAT PC £1 00 + VAT 

(disc, Introductory, Reference and Supplementary 

Guides) BBC Basic (86) to enable you to 

program and add modules to INSTAT PC £95 + VAT 

For further details contact: Alison Ansell at the Statistical 
Services Centre, Department of Applied Statisiics, Universty of 
Reading, Reading, RG6 2AN. Telephone: (0734) 875123 X460 or 
318025 or 31 7924 


MITEYSPICE 

The unbeatable circuit simulator for all 
BBC micros incl Archimedes 

£119 + VAT 

Mitey spice provides AC and DC simulation: the DC may be used to 
establish the operating point in a non-linear circuit at which a small- 
signal AC analysis may then be performed. Powerful features include 
up to 25 curves plotted on each graph, imperfect mutual inductors & 
20 parameter Ebers Moll transistor model. Manual shows how to 
apply manufacturer’s data. Miteyspice is in use in research and 
industry throughout the U.K. and is a teaching standard for analogue 
simulation. 


In my oxporicnco ‘Miteyspice’ is quite simply unique 

The program has been applied to a number o! circuits of 
both known and unknown performance for which a 
mass of data was oasily and relatively quickly obtained 
Whore chocks could be applied the accuracy ot the data 
was confirmed and in no case could il be doubted 
'Miteyspice' is an invaluable design loot which leaves 
no excuse lor the inadequacy and Inefficiency ol 'design 
by soldering iron* II also has great potential in education 
lor lecture and practical preparation and as a potent 
tcachinq aid not to mention settling staffroom 
arguments' Il is not loo complex lor modest uses, yet H 
can tackle substantial jobs, so it is a 'must" for any circuit 
design consultant or R&D lab with access to a BBC 
Micro I wish I'd had somothmg liko this years ago" T 
Allowed. AAB Computing Oct '87 


Analyse very large circuits (over 200 modes) for 
noise, quiescents and frequency response 15 times 
faster with our latest Archimedes version. 

Please ask us about our new educational control 
engineering software. Most items available for 
Acorn and IBM compatible computers. Very special 
terms available for educational users. 

JuUooe® 

[lUDgOODCgdCTg 

0 ©Gffi &sxrteam ° M3 0E8 

tel 01-436 2771 t Mnl One to One Bo> 73337001 Tie 8960611 (entb* OMONf G| Quoting bo« 73337001 



...en m, m . 



ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


117 



REVIEWS 


THINKING IN PICTURES 

Marshal Anderson looks at a package that could herald a new educational 
approach - one without words 



World without Words from 
4Mation is a package for upper 
juniors that sets some fairly 
straightforward problem-solving 
tasks along with some interest- 
ing open-ended activities. It’s all 
wrapped within excellent 
graphics, but is presented so 
that, at first sight, World with- 
out Words can seem shrouded in 
mystery. 

The package contains a wealth 
of resources - posters, booklets, 
even a braille card - but the 
program puts you into an en- 
vironment that uses no written 
language to communicate, and 
only a pointer for input. This 
pointer can be linked to any of 
the input devices common in 
schools; Concept keyboards, 
trackerballs and the like. 

The program opens with the 
arrival of an alien spaceship; the 
child is faced simply with the 
ship and the pointer. Clicking 
the pointer over the ship moves 
you closer. By experimenting 
with clicking buttons while 
pointing to the outside of the 
ship, you enter a control room. 

Then, by experimenting with 
various controls, you discover 
the package’s different facets. 

The activities are either closed 
or open-ended. The closed exer- 
cises pose imaginative, if unsurprising, 
problems to be solved. There are robots to 
be built, an alien landscape to be explored 
and bits of machinery to be collected and 
assembled in a sliding block puzzle. You 
must also build a network of pipes, solve a 
mini graphic adventure and deal with 
something called ‘Sparklies’ which defies 
description but is a fairly straightforward 
strategy game. Several of these activities are 
reached via a sort of on-screen Rubic cube; 
using rotating blocks to create arrows that 
point in different directions, thus accessing 
different screens. And this is perhaps the 


With only a pointer to help, children find their 
way into the spaceship 

main point about these activities; there is 
no instruction as to how they must be 
completed. It is all about exploration and 
interpreting the signs on the screen and 
their effects. 

The open-ended parts of the program 
offer huge scope for creative work. The 
‘Picture Book’ contains a series of line 
drawings of the adventures of an alien 
character. Each picture may have one vital 
component changed; the choices lead to 


different pictures building up 
different stories. The program 
allows a child to colour in the 
pictures and print them out and 
so provides a springboard for all 
sorts of written work, drawings 
and even drama. 

The other open-ended section 
is the ‘face processor’. After 
working out the controls, this 
lets you construct and animate 
faces using a variety of prede- 
fined mouth and eye shapes. 

The potential of this activity 
is vast; like the whole program 
you first have to admit i don’t 
have a clue what all this is about 
but I’m going to find out’. 

Most junior school children 
will not yet have come across 
windows and pointers. This be- 
came clear as some children 
spent a good deal of time run- 
ning over blank areas, clicking 
at different points and getting 
nowhere. One of the objectives 
of the software is to let children 
discover for themselves, but 
there must also be input from 
the teacher. 

At the start there is only one 
problem - to get into the ship; 
children were able to guess what 
was expected of them quickly, 
but once inside the ship reac- 
tions varied. One extremely 
bright 10-year-old took charge of her 
group when she discovered the picture 
book; she spent nearly an hour exploring 
different shadings, and explained after- 
wards that it was great to be able to colour 
in pictures, as she felt she was normally 
such a poor artist. Other children tended 
to flit around more, trying different tasks, 
getting so far and then quitting - any task 
may be left at any time, it doesn’t have to 
be completed. 

A very important factor in the class 
exploration was the exchanging of know- 
ledge between groups as different discover- 
ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


118 




ies were made. As the children used, and 
became familiar with, the program, it be- 
came apparent that this is a Logo-like 
activity, the World without Words is filled 
with ‘objects to think with’. 

The accompanying resources reflect this 
approach, and are all based on the theme of 
communication. Among the items is a 
book of three thoughtful short stories, 
which reflect some of the concerns evident 
in earlier work from 4Mation. Plus there’s 
a pupil’s book containing examples of 
many forms of communication, a poster 
and a tape of atmospheric music. All these 
are merely starting points, they demand 
exploration and experimentation from both 
teacher and pupil. 

It is quite possible that substantial parts 
of this program will be used in a more 
structured way, but that doesn’t appear to 
be the intention. World without Words 
presents you not only with a software 
package, but also invites you to accept a 
particular educational approach. 

Having said that, there is no doubt that 
the teacher’s guide provides a wealth of 
concrete suggestions for the classroom - 
you are encouraged to be open-ended in 
your approach, but you are never left 
alone, floundering for follow-up ideas. I 
found the section relating the rather ab- 


stract problem-solving activities with real- 
life activities and situations both useful and 
practical. 

Certainly this exciting new package 


opens up the creative end of education 
generally, via the computer and the rest of 
the media resources. Let’s hope that there 
will continue to be a place in schools for it. 


Children can create their own pictures by moving objects with the pointer 



;.vX 


vA'X'i'.v 

; 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


119 







SATELLITE PICTURES ON YOUR REEB! 

With one of our high performance weather satellite 
receiving stations you can receive and display 
up-to-the-minute weather satellite pictures from 
American, European, or Russian satellites!! 

The systems are suitable for 
BBC models B, B+ & Master 

I WXSAT L 

standard resolution weather satellite station 

A complete hardware and software package comprising MSA20 aerial, MSR20 receiver, and 
MSS20 decoder/interface with WXSAT software package. In a recent review by Radio & 
Electronics World Magazine they concluded . . have reviewed four different weather satellite 
receiving stations in the past two years, varying in price from £ 400 to around £800, but this one 
must surely beat the lot . " 

£182.04 + VAT 



PRICE LIST 


NET 

CARR & INS 

MSR20 Receiver 

132.65 

6.00 

MSA20 X-Dipole Aerial 

26.75 

5.00 

WXSAT Basic Station 

182.04 

7.20 

MSS20 Interface 

74.95 

1.50 

MSG20 Graphstore 

347.75 

6.00 

MSD20 Dish Aerial 

121.50 

18.00 

MSC20 Down Converter 

138.65 

1.50 

ADD 15% VAT TO ALL ORDERS 



HIGH RESOLUTION 

FRAMESTORE/GRAPHICS PROCESSOR 

A high resolution (512 pixel x 512 line x 128 greyscale) digital framestore/graphics processor 
of unparalleled performance. Coupled to the BBC Micro and MSR20, satellite receiver is 
capable of viewing weather satellite pictures as never before. Powerful features include 
zooming, scrolling, film mode, text overlay, picture enhancements. 

Complete with software package £347.75 + VAT 
Complete weather station £767.30 + VAT 







I STOP PRESS: Archimedes System now available b 
| demo disk £5 m 

Remote Sensing 



1 08 Queen's Road, Farnborough, Honts GUI 4 6JR Tel. (0252) 51 5666 Telex-, 859489 (MARTLC G) 



PERFECTi 


The DTP package 
that does what you want! 

“A VP's Pixel Perfect has probably the best overall facilities." 

A & B Computing. 


“Pixel Perfect is a desktop publishing package of almost awesome proportions that 
will fit into any BBC. Pages are created directly onto a mode 0 screen and this 
should meet every conceivable need of the most ardent DTP enthusiast." 

“The graphics capabilities of Pixel Perfect are excellent - the facilities are easy to 
use and a vast array of effects can be achieved. " 

“A useful and exciting facility is the easy import of whole screens created using any 
package in other graphics modes. The conversion to mode I) and grey shading is 
faultless and shades may be inverted. The printout routine is very fast and makes 
page viewing redundant." 



“Here is a DTP package that does what you want.' 
Micro User 


AVP 


To order or for more information on the best BBC desk top publishing system available write to 
AVP School Hill Centre Chepstow Gwent NP6 5PH Telephone 02912 5439 



120 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 





Mr Master compatible 


M = Master compatible 

ACORNSOFT 

Rev* & Revs 4^Track& (BBC B, only) 

ASt 
Shark M 
Breakffiroogh M 
Impact M 

Powerpack 1 (7 games) lElec 
Powerpack 2 (7 games) JOnly 
5ggyM 
Ransack M 
Despatch Rider M 
Thunder struck 
Thundersruck 2 M 
Sphere of Destiny M 
Omega QrbM 


RREBtRD 

Sentinel (BBC Only) i 
Choio (BBC Only) M 


BUBBLEBUS 
Starquake (BBC Only) M 


grand slam 

World War 1 (BBC Only)M 


GREMLIN GRAI 
Krakoul (BBC C 


HEWSON 
Evening Star M 
Ufidkim (BBC Only) M 

HEYLEY SOFTWARE (State 40 or 
60 Track) (All BBC Only) 

The Ultimate Prize M 
Prates Peril M 
Dream Time M 
The Taroda Scheme M 
Stand ed M 


Graham Gooch Test Cricket M 

BBC SOFT 
Btsmark(BaC Only) M 
Black Queen (BBC Only M) 

White Knight Mkl 2 (BBC Only) M 

BEAU JOLLY 

Five Star Games 1 (5 games) 

Five Star Games 2 (5 games) 

Five Star Games 3 (7 games) 

Computer Hits 3 (to games) 

Computer Hits 4 (12 games) 

Computer Hits 5 ( 5 games) 

BUGBYTE 

Bugbyte Comp. 1 (4 games) M 
Bugbyte Comp 2 (4 games) 

Dunjunz M 

CDS 

Cdossus Bridge M 
Colossus Chess M 
Steve Davis Snooker M 
Brian Clough Foocbal M 

CODA SOFTWARE 
Hoadcoach M 

DESIGN PEOPLE 
Sink the Bismarck M 
Tanks M 

Barrie o( Britain M 
DOMARK 

Empire Strikes Back (BBC Only) M 
Star Wars M 

Living Daylights (BBC Only) M 
Trivial Pursuits (All BBC Only) 

Genus Cdtion M 
Young Rayers M 
Baby Boomer M 

Not a Penny More (BBC Only) M 
Bolls Eye (BBC Only) 

Countdown (BBC Only) 

Troasure Hunt (BBC Only) 

ELK ADVENTURE CLUB 
The Axe of Koit {Elec Only) 

Starship Quest (Elec Only). 

Magnebc Moon (Elec Only) 

EUTE 
Paperboy M 

EPIC SOFTWARE 

The lost Crystal M 

The Wheel of FortunejEtec Only) 

Castle Frankenstan (Elec Only) 

The Quest for the Holy Grad (Elec Only) 
The Krgdom ol Klein (Elec Only) 


IMPACT SOFTY/ ARE 
(Discs are BBC B & Master 
compare 4 C/80) 

Cheat it Again Joe f 
Cheat it Agam Joe 2 

INFORGRAMME 
Apocalypse (BBC Only) 

L0SURE GENIUS 
Scrabble (6BC Only) 

Monopoly (BBC Only) 

IOGOTRON 

XORM 

LOTHLORIAN 
Roundheads (BBC Only) M 

MANDARIN 
Icarus M 

Time and Magic (BBC &«■ and 
Masta Computers only SOT) M 

MARTECH 
War (BBC Only) 


MOSIAC 

Yes Prime Minister 


ROBICO (State 40 or 80 Track 
when ordering disks) 


Enthar Seven M 

Island ol Xaan (BBC Only) M 

Rick Hanson Trilogy M 

Project Thesius M 

Mycrem M 

The Hint M 

Wage of Lost SoUs M 

TOPOLOGIKA 
(Text Adventures 51/4* 
state 40 a 80 tracks) 

Return to Doom M 
Kingdom of Hamil M 
Countdown to Doom M 
AchetonM 

Phiccpha's Quest M 


(BLOCK CAPITALS PLEASE) 
Name 

Address 


Postcode 


THE IMPACT 
GAMES CLUB. 


OUR GUARANTEE 


1. Over 250 titles always in stock. 

2. O/er 98% of orders despatched the day they received 
by 1 st class post. 

3. We immediately replace any faulty games purchased 
from us. 

4. Prices are fully inclusive - nothing else to pay. 

5. Plus we'll send you a copy of our club magazine with 
lots more games, game reviews and bargains galore! 


ARCHIMEDES GAMES 


QUAZAR 

Super fast blasting action in this amazing shoot-em-up 
from our own software house Impact Software. Superbly 
animated graphics with parellax scrolling and amazing 
sound effects. Youl be glad you bought an Archimedes af- 
ter playing this game as it is a work) apart from games you 
would expect orf other machines. Amazing action, amazing 
value: only £11.95. 


Ou; 

Ent 

Ter 


.jazarJtmpacQ 
nlhar 7 (Hobico) 
■"'--ids 


. erramex (Grand Slam) 
Missile Control (Minerva) 
Hoverbod (Minerva) 
Conqueror (Superior) 


Zarch (Superior) 
Minotaur (Minerva) 


£11.95 

£24.95 

£15.95 

£11.95 

£11.95 

£19.95 

£15.95 

£11.93 


FREE HELPSHEETS/MAPS 


Spend over £4 on games and you may choose any ONE of the following helpsheets/solutions 
and maps absolutely FREE:- Spend over £10 and you may choose any TWO FREE:- 


CHEAT IT AGAIN, JOE 

(Impact) 

Volume 1 - Great cheats lor 20 great garni 
cheats for Elite, Citadel. Ravenskull, Thrusl 
Star Wars, Quest. Bonecruncher, Elixir. Thi 
Arcadians. Starship Command. Phar.iom, ( 
er. Deathstar and Many more. 

Volume 2- Lots more amazing cheats lo ft 
Including - Repton 3, Around the World, Lil 
Codename: Droid, Icarus. Impact Planetoii 
rooms. Ransack, Imogen and many more. 

BBC *B' or Electron Cassettes £2.99 i 
BBC 5 1/4* Discs £4.99 L 

bs. Includes 
t, Repton 1&2. 
understock 2. 
despatch Rid- 

take tile easier, 
e ol Repton, 
d. Magic Mush- 



PIPELINE 

(Superior) 


I Spycat 

PlanB 

Orest 

Ravenskull 

Citadel 

Plan 82 

Spy Vs Spy. 
Spellbinder 
Elixir 


Paperboy 

TwnK»rc J 

OmegaO 


(Solution * map) 
(Soluton ♦ map) 
(Solution ♦ map) 
(Solut.on ♦ 4 maps) 

I Solution ♦ map) 
Solution ♦ map) 
Helpsheet) 
(Solufcon ♦ maps) 
(Solution ♦ mops) 
(Helpsheet 


| Twin Kingdom Valley (Solution ♦ map) 
gaOrb (Solution ♦ map) 


StarttiflM 
Tarzan 
Stranded 
Codename Droid 

Thunderstruck 

Thunder sbuck 2 
The Lost Crystal. 
Suds . 

Kourtyard 

Dunjunz. 

Gisburnes Castle 


(Helpsheet • map) 
... (Solution 4 map) 

.. (Solution) 

.. (Solution ♦ map) 

... (Solution ♦ mop) 

. (Solution /map) 

... (Solution) 

(SoTukcn) 

• (Helpsheet ♦ map) 
(Helpsheet . map) 
(Solution 4 map) 


Palace of Magic (Solution ♦ map) 


Impact (Heipsneets* 

I passwords) 

Icarus (Helpsheet 4 maps) 

Sphinx Adventure . . . (Solution) 

Anarchy Zone ... (Helpsheet ♦ Passwords! 

Philosopher’s Quest .. (Solution ♦ map) I 

Repton2 (Helpsheet ♦ 18 maps)! 

Bonecruncher (Passwords 4 10 maps) | 

Skirmish (Helpsheet) 

Imogen (Soluton) 

Choio (So'utoni 

Quest for Freedom .(So'uton. map) 


At last tho long awaited sequel to the excellent Ravenskull 
The game is in a new scenario, the moon lo. and it is your 
task to prevent mutant androids from destroying the Sul- 
phur plant which is providing Earth with much needed re- 
sources. Infinitely superior to Ravenskull, Rpeline features 
larger screens, more puzzles and superb graphics and 
screen designer to allow you to create a whole new game 
if you wish. Highly recommended. 

BBC or Electron Cassette £7.50 
BBC 5 1/4* Disc £9.50 

Master Compact 3 1/2* Disc CH-95 


NEW 



uc 

UC|ar 

Matter 

TTTUAnmiSHtt 

ixll*<Trt>n 

ll*ctron) 

Compeer 


CatMft* 

swot M 

of llutroo 

3 V Oita 

*= Electron disc 
available 

M = Master compatible 




SUPEF80R 

PipeitneM 

750 

950 

11.96 

Repton Thru Time M 

550 

6.35 

750 

Baiba/ian M 

750 

950 

1195 

Spycat M 

750 

950 

1196 

Quest M 

750 

950 

1195 

Play it Again Sam 2M 

750 

950 

11.96 

BorwaurJcher M 

750 

95C 

1195 

SpetonderM 

Play it Again Sam M 

750 

750 

950* 

950r 

1196 

1196* 

The life ot Repton M 

550 

635* 

750 

Elixir M 

750 

950 

11.96* 

Palace ol Magic M 

750 

950 

1196* 

Repton Around fie World M 

550 

635 

750 

Crazee Rider M 

750 

950 

1196* 

Codename: Droid (Stryker's) M 

750 

950 

1195* 

Grand Pra Cons Set M(B8C only) 

750 

950 

1195 

Ropton3M 

750 

950 

1196 

Revs & 4 Tracks (BBC only) M 

10.35 

11.95 

1595 

EiteM 

10.35 

11.95 

1596 

Acorn Hits Vd 1 or 2 M 

3.99 

950 

11.95 

Sup. Col. 1 or 2(B8Conly) V 

Superior Col. 3 (Doc Only) 

750 

750 

950 

950 

11.95 

1196- 

Speech (BBC only) M 

750 

950 

1196 

Citadel M 

750 

950 

11.95 

RaverekiAM 

750 

950 

1195 

Thrust M 

399 

950 

11.95 

Gaiaforce M 

750 

950 

1195 

TYNESOFT 

Summer Olympiad M 

7.50 

11.95 

It. 95 

SaigcnM 

750 

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REVIEWS 


ALL ABOARD 

Dave Marshall looks at a package that can see a classroom turn into a diving expedition 

to recover the treasures of the Mary Rose 


‘Your good ship, the flower I trow of all 
ships that ever sailed.’ 

Sir Edward Howard reporting to Henry 
VIII - 1513 - about the Mary Rose. 

Four years ago I came across one of the 
best projects I ever saw based around a 
piece of software. A class of children had 
‘discovered’ the Mary Rose in the middle 
of the Solent and had then ‘dived’ to 
explore the wreck - all in the relative 
comfort of their classroom. The software 
was the original Mary Rose (original soft- 
ware that is - not the ship!). This began its 
life with the Cambridgeshire Software 
House, although it was marketed by Ginn 
at the time. Now there is an updated 
version from CHS and the potential for 
project work is even better. 

Like all true educational simulations the 
computer creates an environment on the 
screen that is away from, but mirrors, the 
real world. The children can ‘become’ 
divers and explorers. They must have some 
of the skills they would need if they were 
really scouring the deep for the remains of 
a Tudor warship. If you know the original 
Mary Rose program you may be dis- 
appointed to find that the ‘survey’ program 
has gone. This is presumably to reflect 
reality - everyone knows 
where the remains are 
now, they just need to be 
examined and brought to 
the surface. So the chil- 
dren take it in turns to 
dive to the wreck. It’s as 
if the Mary Rose had nev- 
er been lifted. The chil- 
dren can explore the 
wreck for artefacts, at all 
sorts of levels. To do this 
they must clear the mud 
and gradually reveal the 
shape of the old ship. 

Once one level is cleared 
the children can explore 
the next. 

On booting »the disc 
you are presented with 
the main diving screen. At 
122 


the top there is a plan of the site. At the 
top and the bottom of this there are 
markers that enable you to fix your posi- 
tion on the cross-section which is shown at 
the bottom left of the screen. The Diver 
Information Panel tells you the diver’s 
position as a co-ordinate and his or her 
depth in metres. There are two dials which 
indicate barometric pressure and elapsed 
time. There is also a bar graph that shows 
the amount of air used. The diver is 
automatically lifted to the surface when the 
level reaches the danger point. 

If during a dive you should be fortunate 
enough to discover an artefact, then you 
are given the message in a box at the 
bottom of the screen: ‘You have found 
artefact number ??’. Then by pressing R - 
to Raise - the find is brought to the surface 
and on to the ship. You are provided with 
a ‘Book of Finds’ which accompanies the 
software, so it is easy to identify what you 
have raised. 

On the way back from a week on the 
Isle of Wight a class of local fourth-years 
called in to see the Mary Rose in Ports- 
mouth. They were impressed by the size 
and shape of what was left of the old ship. 
They were also very cold as the ship’s 


home is kept at a temperature of 5°C and 
95 per cent humidity! Prior to their visit 
they had done a great deal of research 
about life in Henry VIII’s time - especially 
his role in improving the navy. Using the 
software was a perfect way to follow up 
the visit. It was amazing how many of the 
finds the children could remember when 
they brought them to the surface. 

The opportunity for the children to 
engage in all sorts of writing activities can 
easily be grasped, and never ignore the 
chance to do the writing on the computer. 

The following is a good example of the 
way children can adopt the roles of the 
people of the time. Written by Samantha 
Bresnahan, it is her account of the diary of 
a sailor on July 19, 1545. 

‘This was my tenth time aboard the 
Mary Rose and I was looking forward to it 
because I was determined to give battle 
against the French fleet. I kissed my wife, 
Polly, goodbye and went aboard. Southsea 
Castle was soon left behind and King 
Henry VIII himself was watching. I felt 
very proud to be representing England in 
front of the King. The French had already 
started firing at the flower and we were in 
our positions. Suddenly the boat started 
getting a bit shaky and it 
was tipping from side to 
side. I knew we had 400 
extra men on board but 
this was ridiculous. Sud- 
denly water started 
gushing through the gun- 
ports. There were screams 
and shouts as we felt the 
boat tipping on one side. 
All the cannons were roll- 
ing over and squashing 
and trapping the men. 
This happened to one of 
my mates and I decided to 
jump over the side and get 
away if I could.’ 

Samantha also wrote 
the diary of this particular 
sailor’s wife - Polly, July 
21, 1545. ‘It was early 

ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 



The Mary Rose as she sailed in days gone by 




morning and I was hoping for the return of 
my husband from the battle against the 
French. A letter was pushed under the 
door during the night. I had never had a 
letter before and I opened it with trembling 
fingers. It said: “Dear Polly, Two days ago 
the Mary Rose sank and your husband is 
missing. We think he is all right because he 
was seen swimming away from the ship as 
it went down. We don’t know where he is. 
Yours, Jack, his mate.” 

My friends came round to comfort me 
when they knew but there were so many 
other men missing and drowned. I couldn’t 
get over it. It was a great shock. I was 
crying all the time and kept hugging his 
belongings. It was a very sad time.’ 

As well as these ‘fictional’ exercises, the 
children can get involved in writing factual 
reports of their diving activities. It shows 
how well they get into character and learn 
their roles before they write up their first 
attempts at diving. The following piece by 
Claire Black, illustrates my point: 

‘When we drove into Portsmouth I got 
more and more excited about my first ever 
dive. In no time we were on the boat and 
heading towards the dive site. We were 
going down to search the remains of the 
Mary Rose on the seabed in the Solent. 
Soon I was in the water paddling away. It 
was dark and very cold - it felt great 
though. I was diving with a friend called 
Mary who was a well experienced diver, 
unlike me. We split up and went in diffe- 
rent directions. I wasn’t as confident with- 
out her but I soon got used to it. At the 
bottom I was removing lots of mud with 
the airline, but underneath there seemed to 
be just more and more mud and rocks. I 
had six minutes left on my air gauge but 1 
still hadn’t found anything. I went to find 
Mary and see if she had found anything. I 
caught her removing some mud and under- 
neath there was a leather shoe. Very care- 
fully we raised the shoe and took it to the 
surface. I still wanted to find something 
and as I had done well in the morning they 
let me dive again. I removed lots more mud 
but still no luck. I was getting a bit cold 
and fed up about not finding anything, 
when I came across something. It looked 
like a waist jacket. I was so happy as I took 
it to the surface. 

Not all the children could come to terms 
with the fact that everyone would actually 
enjoy diving into the freezing sea looking 
for pieces of an old boat! They were quite 
happy to have a go in the classroom - but 
in. real water? Some of them decided to 
simulate a real dive in the school swimming 
pool. As this is only six feet deep it was 


quite difficult. It also included wearing 
close fitting clothes, goggles with the glass 
covered over (it is dark down there) and 
being partially or totally immersed for over 
half an hour. 1 also had to turn off the 
pool’s heating system for a day to get the 
water temperature down! They all hated it! 
It gave rise to the following piece of 
writing - on Wordwise - the next time they 
had to imagine they were diving. 

‘I’m not sure why 1 do it. Every moment 
I spend under water I am terrified. I hate 
the gloom. I hate the cold. And most of all 
I am frightened of being trapped under the 
water. Yet I cannot resist it. 1 get up in the 
morning feeling very jittery and by the 
time I am dressed to dive 1 find myself 
actually trembling. But down I go, con- 
vinced that one day I shall make the most 
wonderful discovery, the one that will 
explain why 1 do it. I’m sure it’s there, just 
under the mud. Perhaps today . . .’ 


You can build all sorts of other class 
activities around the Tudor project. As 
well as the usual cloze tests and creative 
writing, the children tried to imagine the 
launching ceremony of the Mary Rose. 
Using the amazing Compose they tried 
very successfully to ‘write’ some music that 
sounded Tudor. Compose consists of 
groups of musical phrases represented by 
pictures - nine on each screen. It is then 
possible to combine these pictures to make 
simple tunes. The children soon recognise 
the sounds that each picture represents and 
can make tunes at great speed. 

If you have a mouse and the AMX Art 
package or something similar, you can 
encourage pupils to draw the submerged 
boat, or a cannon on deck. There really is 
no end to what children can do as the 
result of a good simulation pack like Mary 
Rose. I just hope you all enjoy diving as j 
much as we did! 


ACORN USMR OCTOBER 1988 


123 








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124 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 






IN THE LEAD 


The printing industry’s terminology is based on the olden days when 
molten lead was poured into moulds. Tony Quinn elaborates 


_ _ beard 

ascender 


body size 
baseline 



beard 


_Typeset-materiaLis_often. 
;ize ..set.with.extraJeading I 


body size 
leading 
bodysi 


baseline to 
baseline is 
body size 
L plus leading 


There is more to a printed word than meets the eye - note all the different parts 


To understand type you’ve got to go back to 
the days of molten lead being poured into 
moulds. That was when the technology was 
invented, and the terms and ideas that govern 
the basics today are still dictated by those 
conditions. 

This delving into the past means talking 
about feet and inches, as anyone who owns 
even the latest laser printer will know. The 
basics are simple: letter sizes are measured in 
points, and there are 72 points in an inch. 
Column widths are measured in picas, and 
there are six picas to an inch (ie, each is 12 
points). 

The main text type in newspapers is 
usually about eight-point (8pt) going up to 
48pt for the biggest headline on the front 
page of The Guardian and 120pt on the front 
pages of the tabloids. But how do you 
measure this? Well, first of all you need a 
special ruler. It’s called a typescale, and these 
are usually marked off in at least 5, 6, 10, and 
12pt units. There are 10 and 12pt scales 
marked down the edge of this page. 

Headlines are easiest to deal with. Figure 1 
shows a word with all the relevant bits 
marked. Note that the size is equal to the 
ascender plus the ‘x-height’, plus the descen- 
der, plus a little bit called the ‘beard’ - it’s 
this that stops descenders touching ascen- 
ders when one line of type is on top of 
another. This gives the ‘body’ size of the 
type, the body being the chunk of metal on 
which the character sat in the old days. So if 
you put a typescale up against a headline and 
find it looks just less than 48pt, then it 
probably is 48pt. 

Some typefaces look larger than others, 
even though they have the same body size, 
especially if one has a larger x-height. When 
it comes to the main text type, gauging the 
size from printed text is made more difficult 
by the introduction of ‘leading’. The term 
comes from the technique of inserting extra 
thin strips of lead between the lines of type to 
make text more readable. Acorn User is set in 
a lOpt body type with 2pt leading (known as 
10 on 12pt). So if you put a typescale against 
a column of this page and measure the 
distance between two baselines, it will be 
12pt. Working out that there is 2pt leading'is 
ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


very difficult, and is something you will only 
learn by experience. Most publications use 
some leading, from half a point to 2pt. 
Generally, the wider the column the bigger 
the leading. 

So if your DTP software is capable of 
using leading, do sample text prints, of at 
least 10 lines, to see the difference it makes. It 
may mean fewer words per column, but they 
will be easier to read - it’s just the same as the 
difference between wordprocessing in mode 
0 (no leading) and mode 3 (same-size 
characters but spaced out more). 

Much .BBC software isn’t capable of 
dealing with the finer details of typography 
and usually works in inches or centimetres, 
so it’s a matter of working out your own 
conventions for converting to the points 
measure. You should use leading wherever 
possible - it really helps dot-matrix setting. 
And of course if you’re having proper 
typesetting done from wordprocessed discs, 


the printer should be able to advise. Note 
that a lot of books state their typeface and 
size on the copyright page. 

Where typography can be applied easier is 
in headline shapes. If you have a lot of heads 
on a page, the size, number of lines, and 
width should be varied to reflect the import- 
ance of stories. 

Take AU’s news pages, for example: we 
use 60pt for the biggest story on the first 
page, 48pt is the biggest on other pages, and 
then 42, 36, 24 and 18pt. As for shapes, the 
length of lines is important. For a two-line 
head the best shape is long then short; for a 
three-liner, long, short, long. 

Heads can look strange sometimes if there 
are no ascenders or descenders in a line. If 
this is the case, the space between them 
should be reduced: it depends on the exact 
words you want to use. 

In December’s column we’ll look at 
improving a page design. 


125 


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ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 





INTERLUDE 


MAKING MUSIC 

For those of you who enjoy making music on the Beeb, this new regular page from Ian Waugh will 
keep you up to date on the latest from the music world 


Welcome to our very first regular Acorn 
User Music column. It’ll run bi-monthly 
and cover all aspects of music and the BBC 
micro, perhaps rubbing noses with the Arc 
a little later on. 

How better to begin than with a quick 
look at the music potential of the BBC. 
There are already an enormous number of 
programs using the Beeb’s internal sound 
chip and they still keep coming. 

If you want to write tunes, then the 
Island Logic Music System is one of the 
most popular and comprehensive packages 
around. It is now available at a special price 
of £20. An additional five discs of ready- 
made tunes are also available at £4 each. 

There are lots of worthwhile educational 
programs on the market which cover 
everything from music theory and note 
recognition, to composition and the ex- 
ploration of sound. Many are quite suited 
to individual use while others are designed 
to promote classroom activities - Chris 
Drage and Nick Evans covered many in 
their August 1987 column. 

If you’re seriously interested in MIDI 
there is U-Music’s UMI-4M at £322 (see 
Martin Russ’s review in our June issue) and 
lots of packages from EMR. Owners of the 
Hybrid Music System will no doubt be 
aware that the company’s MIDI interface, 
the Music 2000, is now available. This 
undoubtedly makes the Hybrid Music Sys- 
tem one of the most powerful composition 
systems available for any micro. 

If you are one of the few remaining 
people with a Peartree Music 87, get in 
touch with Hybrid. It has put together a 
rescue package enabling you to upgrade to 
a Music 5000. If you have an old Music 500 
and have relegated it to the cupboard, then 
dig it out, upgrade to a 5000 (again via 
Hybrid) and rejoin the music revolution. 

If you read my article on the Hybrid 
Music System in the June Music issue, 
you’ll know how highly I regard the work 
of Amplinex, the Ample user group. That 
particular article resulted in a flood of new 
membership applications, However, Pm 
afraid I neglected to add that you must 
supply a formatted disc, return postage and 
ACORN USER OCTOBER. 1988 



Take the hardware or software approach 


a label - sorry, Amplinex. 

Amplinex has been running for a year 
now, and its latest disc is likely to contain a 
machine-code monitor to study the work- 
ings of Ample as the music plays, plus a 
collection of Ample utilities including a 
MIDI joystick and an auto-save system. 
Members will also receive a disc containing 
18 tunes programmed by Amplinex mem- 
bers. If you haven’t joined yet, it is a good 
idea - send a disc and fiver. 

You can also download Music 500 and 
Music 5000 from Music City, which is 
accessible through Micronet. If you haven’t 
gone Hybrid or MIDI yet, but still enjoy 
making music on the Beeb, then don’t 
forget Music City also has lots of tunes 
which use the internal sound chip. 

Finally, if there are any aspects of music 
you’d like to see covered in this column, 
please let us know. Likewise, if you have 
any hints or tips about making music on 
the Beeb - so we can share them with other 
readers and musicians. Write to Interlude, 
Acorn User , Redwood Publishing, 20-26 
Brunswick Place, London, N1 6DJ. 



NOTES 


# Electro Music Research is working 
closely with Acorn to develop music soft- 
ware for the Archimedes. If you visited 
this year’s British Music Fair in July, you 
will have seen EMR’s Mike Beecher run- 
ning through his famous music demonstra- 
tions. Details of EMR’s Arc products were 
reported in our June issue. 

New for the BBC micro is a Roland 
MT-32 Editor and Librarian program 
(£39.95) which needs EMR’s MIDI Inter- 
face (£79.90). 

# Amplinex now has an agreement with 
the Mechanical Copyright Protection Soci- 
ety allowing it to publish music which is 
not members’ own work. Music City and 
Hybrid already have a similar agreement. 

• A new book about MIDI has just been 
published. It’s the Practical MIDI Hand- 
book written by R A Penfold. It concen- 
trates on explaining the basics, although it 
includes quite a bit of technical data, too. It 
is published by PC Publishing at £5.95. 

• Sounds Useful - (£20) from Medusa - 

was designed to promote musical explora- 
tion and activities in primary schools. It is 
not new but it’s only now being promoted 
to a wider audience. The package includes 
activity cards and an audio cassette made 
by pupils at a Lincolnshire school, and 
offers teachers a ready source of new ideas 
and music projects. □ 

AmplineXy 26 Arbor Lane> Winnershy 
Berksy RGll 5JD. EMR y 14 Mount Close y 
Wickford, Essexy SS11 8HG. Tel: (0702) 


335747. MEDUSA (Microelectronics 
Education Development Unit)y Biship 
Grosseteste College y Newport , Lincoln y 
LN1 3DY. Tel: (0522) 44713. Music Ci 'ty } 
138 Prescot Road , Aughton y Ormskirk y 
LancSy L39 4SW. PC Publishing y 22 Clifton 
Roady London y N3 2AR. Tel: 01-346 0627. 
System Applied Technology Ltd , Fifth 
Floor y Sheaf House , Sheaf Streety Sheffieldy 
SI 2BP. Tel: (0742) 768682. U-Musky 17 
Parkfieldsy Londony SW15 6NH. Tel 01- 
788 3729. Micronet } Durrant House y 8 
Herbal Hilly London EC1R 5EJ. Tel: 01- 
278 3143. 


127 







MICRONET 


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A305 .. 
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. £725 
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. £923 
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with Acorn or Philips CM8833 colour 
monitor, please add £227 (CM8833 
has CBVS input for TV picture), £345 
for QUADRAM colour multisync, 
£183 for TVM MG-11 greyscale 
multisync. 


Full Acorn price list is available on request. 


BBC Upgrades 


1 772 double-density disc 

interface £35.00 

1772/8271 DFDC (requires Acorn 

8271) £45.00 

Solidisk DFS 2.2 ROM £10.00 

Solidisk ADFS+DFS two-ROM 

set £20.00 

40/80 track switchable double-sided 

drive £119.00 

Twin 40/80 track drives in a 
bridge £338.00 

MG-11 


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This new style TWO ME G 1 28K board is the best ever solution for memory 
upgrades. It combines a ROM expansion , a Sideways RAM and a Shadow RAM 
on a single board, offering: 

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— 8 Sideways RAM banks (4-7, C-F). 

— can be fitted with only 64K RAM (banks C-F). 

— 4 of the RAM banks (4-7) can be used as a RAM disk with Solidisk DFS or 
ADFS. 

— 2 of the RAM banks (C-D) can be used as a Shadow RAM and a small (8K) 
Sideways. 

— any bank can be used as a printer buffer. 

— Write Protect switch for Sideways software. 

— in the included software: MENU, MANAGER, Printer Buffer. 

Easy installation: simply remove the 6502, drop in the board and push three 
wires onto the middle pins of S20, S21 and S22. 

ABSOLUTELY NO CUTTING, NO CLIPS, OR SOLDERING. 

TWOMEG 1 28K FROM £55 



with 64K of RAM 
£55 

with 1 28K of RAM 
£70 

2x4464'sRAM chips 
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Prices include VAT and soft- 
ware disc. Please add £2 for 
post and packing. 



TELETEXT 


£89.95 


Mains powered, can display TV picture 
and sound on Philips monitors. 

Free ATS ROM image and manual for 
all BBC's. 


SPECIAL OFFERS ON ATARI COMPUTERS 
Limited stocks and they move fast! 


NEW FROM NUMBER ONE SYSTEMS- EASY-PC 

PCB CAD, FOR THE PC/XT/AT THAT YOU CAN AFFORD 



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With 8 track layers and 2 silk screen layers? 

With eight different track widths anywhere in the.range .002 to .531"? 

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That can also be used for surface mount components? 

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SQUIRREL SOFTWARE 

Programs on Disc for 

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The CARES DISK - £29.95 - comprising all four Cares utilities. 

INVESTMENT CARE PLUS 

Keeps track of all UNIT TRUSTS, SHARES etc. Produces displays & 
printouts of Capital Gains. Dividends. Current Holdings valuations 
showing Quantities. Bid/Offer prices. Values. Gains/Losses. APR. HiVal 
%. etc. and a 3D BAR CHART program with a disc search procedure to 
collect past data. 

CASH CARE 

Bank account AND Savings account. Full Analysis - 60 categories. 
Budget Forecasts. 3-D Barcharts. Password Protection. Easy storage of 
data. Printouts of all accounts and Bar Charts. 

BUILDING SOCIETY CARE 

Checks the complex interest calculations involved on a day to day basis. 
Shows interest eanred to date. Spreadhseet display. Easy storaqe of 
data. Printout of account to date. 

VAT CARE 

225 Sales AND 225 Purchases each month (BBC). Three month period. 
ALERT warning if VAT 2% or more incorrect. Easy storage of data 
Printout with month & 3 monthly totals. 

The CARES DISK - £29.95 - comprising all four Cares utilities, 

TV DIRECTOR - popular in schools and colleges Cl 4.95" 

Make your own video without cameras! 

THE GAMES DISK COMPILATION OF GAMES PROGRAMMES 

Supergolf- Trafalgar- Polar Perils- Bunfun £14.9 5 

PROGRAMS FOR ARCHIMEDES 

THE CARES DISK- improved version of above £34.95 

SUPERGOLF- re-written especially £i 2.95 

WORDSQUARE - crossword compiler with a 72000 + wordbank - can 
complete a 1 5x1 5 square in less than 60 seconds! Full printout facilities to 
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PLEASE FORWARD ME 40TK □ 80TK □ 3V 2 □ 

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Please phone 061 -789 41 20 for brochure ES 



ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


129 









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Disk/ROM based 
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PLAY WHAT I PLAY - an aural game (beginner to advanced) £8.90 

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130 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 





Acorn User, 20-26 Brunswick Place, London N1 60J. BTG/TTNS 81:RED001 


ARCHIMEDES 

OVERKILL 

Sir, As a BBC B owner and a 
longstanding reader of Acorn 
User , I have always awaited 
each month's issue with some 
impatience, eager to devour its 
interesting contents. However, 
over the past few months I 
have found that as. I do not 
possess an Archimedes (and 
quite frankly, I am never likely 
to), there is less and less in the 
magazine for me. 

1 regret throwing brickbats at 
what has always been one of 
my favourite magazines, but 
the September issue was the last 
straw. I would suggest that you 
evaluate it and see what prop- 
ortion of the contents was de- 
voted to the Arc. 

D Gough 

Wolverhampton 

The March and September 
issues did indeed contain more 
than usual on the 
Archimedes; in a sense they 
were special issues, devoted 
predominantly to the Arc, 
and they were flagged as such 
on the cover. 

If you take a look at, say 
the June issue, you will see a 
more normal degree of Arc 
coverage. 


WHICH WAY 
TO SUPER VIEW? 

Sir, S Cusack’s plea for more 
attention to the Electron in 
Acorn User is timely. But sup- 
porting the Electron does not 
merely consist of publishing 
articles on specific Electron- 


related developments, but also 
of taking note of Electron com- 
patibility in, for instance, re- 
views of software. Could 
advertisers be reminded that 
Electron owners read the maga- 
zine, and a note of Electron 
compatibility might pay off? 

Perhaps you could also help 
the Electron fraternity with the 
answer to a problem. Where 
does the owner with View , Plus 
3 and an Electron go next? I 
had always assumed that up- 
grading to a Master, say, would 



View Professional works on Elk 

give a more powerful version of 
View , but it appears not. There 
would be an obvious advantage 
in a wordprocessor compatible 
with existing View files, but 
giving enchanced facilities. Is it 
possible that such a ‘super- 
VieWy might be developed? 

The Revd W Strange 
Aberystwyth 

Take a look at View Profes- 
sional, reviewed in last Octo- 
ber’s Acorn User ; it’s similar 
to Piped ream, reviewed in this 
issue, and has a View - import 
utility. This should work on 
an Electron, if you can install 
the two ROMs required in a 
cartridge or on a ROM board. 

If you do decide to upgrade 
to a Master, you’ll find that 
the amount of memory free 
for wordprocessing is greater. 



ARC IS NO 

LAME DUCK _ 

Sir, I read with interest William 
Charles’ letter regarding the 
Archimedes in your September 
issue. Having just done my A 
levels, and hoping to do a 
Computer Science degree, I too 
purchased an Archimedes 310. 

I agree that there are a few 
drawbacks with the current 
operating system and 1 hope 
these will be rectified in the 
next version, and the problem 
he mentions with the windows 
is indeed a valid complaint. 
There are bugs in the current 
version of the operating system 
(over 150 at the last count) but 
most of them are pretty 
obscure and can only be ex- 
pected in what adds up to 512k 
of code. But one only has to 
look in the Programmer’s Re- 
ference Manual to see the very 
extensive facilities that are im- 
plemented at operating system 
level - for example, the heap 
manager, the relocatable mod- 
ules, the facilities tor running 
temporary (transient) programs 
without disturbing the applica- 
tion’s memory and workspace 
- I could go on, but 1 think the 
point has been made. The cur- 
rent operating system is per- 
fectly adequate for a non- 
multi-tasking OS. 

Mr Charles also says that 
Archimedes software is too ex- 
pensive. In many cases this is 
true, and some companies are 
using the Archimedes just as a 
BBC micro - a terrific waste of 
power - and charging out- 
rageous prices for their prog- 
rams. However, this is not the 
case with the software that he 


mentions. Professional quality 
programming tools are not 
cheap. Many ex-BBC owners (I 
had a BBC for years and then a 
PC) seem reluctant to pay more 
for higher quality software - 
for BBC style prices, you only 
get BBC quality. In many re- 
spects, the software he men- 
tions outclasses that available 
on the PC, but Acorn aren’t 
charging Microsoft style prices 
are they? 

Acorn didn’t include the 
Programmer’s Reference 

Manual with the computer be- 
cause it would have put the 
price up - it couldn’t really 
have been free. I do think that 
Acorn is taking unfair advan- 
tage of its position with re- 
gards to hard discs - they make 
the interface podule and won’t 
sell it separately and so can ask 
what they like. 

The quality of the compilers 
and the documentation (in the 
PRM) is a credit to both Acorn 
and the machine. Therefore, as 
programmers, it is up to us to 
make sure that the machine is 
not ‘lame’: we have been given 
every opportunity to do so. 

Karl Strickland 
Liverpool 



PRINTING 

ERROR 


Sir, Has anyone felt the same 
degree ol frustration as I when 
typing Basic commands like 
PRINT in lower case by mis- 
take? Have any of your readers 
produced a utility program to 
make commands like these 
case-insensitive? 

J Ault 

Staffs 


ACORN USKR OCTOBER 1988 


131 



132 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 





LETTERS 




EASY IBM 
CLONE 


Sir, I own a BBC Master with 
40/80-track disc drive and an 
AMX mouse. I would like to 
make it completely IBM- 
compatible. At the same time 1 
would like to be able to switch 
back to the BBC Master. 

I have heard of the Watford 
80186 co-processor, but I have 
no knowledge of it and do not 
really know what exactly the 
package does. Could you please 
advise me? 

Kamal Lakhinai 
Dubai 

It is possible to upgrade your 
Master 128 to a certain degree 
of compatibility with the IBM 
PC. It simply means the addi- 
tion of an 80186 co-processor. 
The Watford co-processor 
that you mention is an up- 
grade for Model B owners and 
contains both the 512 board 
plus an interface box to put it 
in. You need only buy the 
80186 processor board. 

As regards compatibility, a 
large proportion of PC soft- 
ware will work. Problems nor- 
mally occur if the software 
concerned does things that 
are machine specific, such as 
accessing the disc controller 
directly. We have in the past, 
published lists of compatible 
software including ‘512 
Roundup’ in the September 
1988 issue. 


SUPPORT YOUR 
MASTER 512 

Sir, I have been using a BBC 
Master 512 for over a year, and 
have spent a great deal of time 
and money collecting scraps of 
information to supplement the 
totally inadequate manual sup- 
plied by Acorn. 

Acorn User has supplied just 


two pages in this period, plus 
the two-page spread in the 
September 1988 issue. But does 
no-one look at the magazine as 
a whole, before it is published. 

On page 34, the 512 co- 
processor is advertised for £99, 
as a result of Acorn halving the 
price a month ago. On page 13 
is a news item announcing a 
program which gives BBC 
owners the same choice of 
keys, when they use it, as the 
owner of a Master. On page 
122 is a review of a file transfer 
program which costs nearly 
half the price of the complete 
80186 co-processor (£46) and 
appears to require only two or 
three stages to convert files be- 
tween BBC and IBM PC for- 
mats. This process is so easy 
with the 80186 co-processor, 
but no-one ever mentions it 
(CP/M formats are included 
too!) Finally, DABS Pi;ess has 
announced in its new catalogue 
that two new books - User’s 
Reference and Technical Refer- 
ence manuals for the Master 
512 - are expected to be pub- 
lished in a few weeks’ time. 

All this means that the owner 
of a Master with twin-drives 
and 512 co-processor can trans- 
fer files between many PC and 
BBC formats, and use a large 
number of the PC programs, 
both commercial and public 
domain. The total cost of the 
co-processor is now around 
£100 compared to £400 when it 
was introduced. The BBC 
owner can do the same, with 
the addition of a co-pro adapter 
(such as those from Watford or 
Acorn) plus the key converter 
mentioned above. 

There must be many, like 
myself, who cannot bear the 
thought of being without their 
Master (or BBC), with its BBC 
Basic and many familiar prog- 
rams on ROM and disc; yet 
who would not like to experi- 
ment with the new things being 
offered on the PC? The 80186 


co-processor allows just this, 
with everything together in one 
computer. 

Software for the PC is often 
cheaper and faster than its BBC 
equivalent, a perfect example of 
which is Zorland C. The 
greatest disadvantage until now 
has been the almost complete 
lack of support from all the 
magazines and, of course, 
Acorn. Hopefully the situation 
will improve. 



Master 512: beats PC clones 


I am not running a business, 
but have some applications for 
running business software in 
helping a voluntary society. 
dBASEIII and other programs 
of its generation are sophisti- 
cated enough for my purposes 
and they are much cheaper than 
the latest commercial software. 
I would like to recommend 
other readers to consider 
buying the 80186 co-processor, 
before they trade in their BBCs 
for one of the latest PCs. 

Evelyn Kenward 
‘Farnborough 


PRINTOUT 

PRUBLEMS 

Sir, I use GW Basic on a Mas- 
ter 512, and have been having 
trouble getting a print-out. Do 
you know of any interpreter 
which will allow print-out to 
be produced? Can you or a 
reader help, as documentation 
is scarce? 

W Edwards 
Sheffield 


GW Basic uses the LPRINT 
command, rather than the 
familiar VDU 2 of BBC Basic, 
to send text to the printer. To 
produce hardcopy, you re- 
place PRINT with LPRINT 


MONEY 

TALK 

Sir, Some months ago you 
printed my letter showing a 
way of converting the ‘£* signs 
in Word wise Plus so that my 
printer would do as it was told. 
Now I have to admit that 
Wordwise Pins will do it per- 
fectly well all by itself. It has 
taken me three years to work 
out how to actually use the <fl> 
DP <f2> code! 

If you run the routine below 
(with the printer switched on), 
you can see which ASCII code 
causes your printer to produce 
a ‘£’ sign. You may even be 
able to glean it from the 
manual. 



10 

VDU 2 


20 

FOR 1=32 T 

0 

126 

STEP 2 


30 

PRINT I;" 

= 

" ; CHR$ ( 1 ) , 1+1 ; 

II 

— ■> . 

t 

CHR$(I+1) 


40 

NEXT I 


50 

VDU 3 


All you have to do is type <fl> 
DPnn <f2> (where ‘nn’ is the 
ASCII code you have just 
discovered) alongside all the 
other codes at the beginning of 
your text. Any ‘£’ signs that 
you put in your text while 
editing arc then printed as such, 
even though they may appear 
as something quite different in 
preview mode. 

By the way can anyone tell 
me how to use the RPS codes 
greater than 4, or where to find 
out about them? 

D McLeod 
Andover Down! 


ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


133 



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Warwickshire CV37 6JQ Telex: 312242 MIDTLX G 


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^Quantity discount of 20% for 10-f 


TA/Royal Office Master I l Daisy Wheel Printer 


Our purchase of nearly 2000 of these printers direct from West Germany enables us to offer 
them at enormous savings! Features includo: 

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MATMOS LTD. COMPUTER APPRECIATION. 

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Tel: (0444) 4 14484/454377 Tel (0227) 470512 


ACORN USER 


ADVERTISEMENT 



PAGES 


-OCTOBER 1988 


I 4Mation 

102 

Mayhew Telonics 

102 

1 Advanced Computer Systems 

Meadow Computers 

107 


124 

Mercury 

1 

1 Advanced Memory Systems - 

Mewsoft 

40 

AMS 

5 

Micro Media 

52 

Alpha Microtec 

100 

Micro Studio 

116 

Atomwide Ltd 

72 

Microaid 

108 

AUCBE 

72 

Microgeneral 

62 

I Avon Computer Exchange 16 

Mijas Software 

42 

I A VP Computing 

120 

Minerva Systesm 

IBC 

1 B&S Computing 

23 

Mitre Software 

26 

I BBD Computer Dustcovers 53 

Mydisk Ltd 

47 

Beard Technology 

67 

Nebulae Software 

40 

Beebug 

6,14 

Norwich Computer Services 24 1 

Cambridge Micros 

8 

Number One 

129 I 

Care Electronics 

100 

Overseas Media Distributors 10 1 

Chalice Software 

67 

P&H Electronics 

18 

Charm Microsoft 

130 

Pearstree Dram Ltd 

20-21 

CJE Micros 

110 

Pineapple Software . 

108 

Clares 

27 

PMS 

130 

Clwyd Technics 

42 

Q D Enterprises 

32 

Colton Software 

2 

Ralph Allen 

116 

Communitel 

53 

RBRCLtd 

4 

Compshop 

28-29 

RCP 

124 

Compuface 

102 

Rotherham Computer Centre 

Computaccount 

66 


104 

Computech 

70 

Saddler Comp Services 

25 

Computeck 

53 

Serial Port 

25 

Computer Concepts 

51,68 

Serious Statistical Software 

117 

Computer Depot 

134 

Silicon Vision 

74 

Contex Computing 

100 

Software Bargains 

31 

CSS Ltd 

126 

Solidisk Technology 

129 

Dabs Press 

56,60 

Squirrel Software 

129 

Datastore 

126 

Star Micronics 

13 

Digital Services Ltd 

117 

Superior Software Ltd 


Edusoft 

134 

33, IFC, OBC 

Europress Ltd 

30 

Synergy Software 

26 

FRC Electronics 

130 

System Applied Technology 107 1 

Ground Control 

25 

Technomatic 34-39 1 

HCCS Associates 

52 

Ted Kirk 

130 

HSV Computer Supplies 

46 

Telemap Group Ltd 8,57*128 1 

J 1 Human Computer Interface 

Terrell Electronics 

124 

Ltd 

44 

Texcellence 

18 

Impact Posters 

121 

Those Engineers 

117 

Integrex Limited 

112 

Topologika 

126 

Intelligent Interfaces 

134 

Towerhill Computers 

132 

Kador 

33 

Twill Star Computers Ltd 

22 

Karir International 

116 

Umusic 

102 

Kosmos 

126 

University of Reading 

117 

LCL 

40 

Viglen Ltd 

33 

Leewood Development 

126 

Voitmacc 

80 

M-Tec 

18 

We-Serve 

10 

Mancomp 

130 

Wight Scientific 

117 

Manor Court Supplies 

50 

Wingpass 

126 

Martelec 

120 

Zone Four 

70 

Matmos/Computer 




Appreciation 

134 




134 


ACORN US HR OCTOBER 1988 





FREE ADS 


Archimedes penpal wanted to swap hints, 
ideas, aged 14-17. Patrick Shuker, 163 
Hagley Road, Halesowen, West Mid- 
lands, B63 4JN. 

UserDump ROM, unused tape, con- 
nector, disc users (1-4), £15 (will split). 
Chris Garnett, 14 Lavender Road, King’s 
Lynn, Norfolk. 

Electron Plus 1, Joystick, tape recorder, 
leads, lots of original software (63 
cassettes). In very good condition. Offers, 
Tel: (0727) 40696. 

BBC B, 1.2, Aries B12/B32 single Wat- 
ford HO/80T, In ter Word, -Sheet, 
- Chart. Philips BM7502; Digimouse; 
KXP810. Tapes, books, much software. 
Tel: (0347) 4529 (York). 

BBC B, DDFS, single drive, monitor. 
Sideways RAM-ROM, spare drive, 
printer, Torch Z80 (faulty), software, 
£400. Tel: 021-329 2305. 

Electron with Plus-1 interface, dual joy- 
sticks, tape recorder lead and (£50) tapes. 
Boxed as new, £80. Tel: Philip 01-845 
2300, ext 423. 

BBC B Acorn DFS twin double sided 
40/80T drives, Music 500, miscellaneous 
extras, £350. Tel: (0532) 505162 (eves). 
Electron data recorder, Plus 1, ROMbox, 
View , ViewSheet, RS423, 60 games, 50 
mags, joysticks, manuals, books, expan- 
sion 2.0, £320 ono. Tel: Robert (0708) 
760286. 

BBC Micro Issue 7, 256K SWR, tracker- 
ball, books, magazines, software, will 
split. Tel: (0384) 288363. 

Cambridge Co-processor 32016 
IM610MHz PAN0513, with £2000 soft- 
ware including GCAL, BCPL, reduce 
GKS-UK, Matrix 3, Vuwriter. Only 
£700. Tel: (0234) 750770. 

Electron games, Acorn User and Educa- 
tional Computing back issues, ’85/’86. 
For details send SAE to: Carl Bateman, 86 
First Avenue, Koisgrove, Stoke-on- 
Trent, ST7 IDW. 

Games: cassette/disc including Shark , 
Saigon, Barbarian , Code Name , Droid, 
Rcpton 3, Watford DDDFS, and many 
more. Tel: Paul (0203) 410047. 

Old magazines 1981 to 1988, including 
Acorn User plus many others. SAE to: P 
Wild, 109 Lampits Hill, Corringham, 
Essex, SS17 9AB. 

Solidisk 4meg 256 board £70. Acorn ISO 
Pascal and Prolog, £35 each, Minerva’s 
System Delta £50, or £100 the three. Tel: 
031-667 4180 (eves). 

BBC B4- Issue 7 (immaculate), 1770DFS, 
DSDD 40/80T, 4-PSU disc drive, over 
£50 software, discs, leads, £370 ono. 
Superb condition. Tel: (07456) 2698. 
Solidisk 256k 4MEG board 4-32k 
manager ROM plus software, £80. Inter- 
Word ROM, £35, both for £100. Tel: 
041-641 1200. 

BBC B with ready to use disc, word- 
processing system, free modem, games, 
disc storage, ply nth, £450 ono. Tel: 01- 
997 0930. 

Master 128, colour monitor, 40/80T disc 
drive, manual, £585. Taxan KP310 
printer, £150. Fishertechnik 30554 com- 
puting kit, £100. Tel: (0837) 840718. 
Archimedes 310 colour, Zarch PC 
emulator. Word Perfect , database, SC4. 
Programmers reference guide. 304- discs. 
Offers over £900. Tel: (0775) 6000. 

Master 512, DOS 4-, Gem mouse, colour 
monitor. Dual 40/80T disc drives, printer. 
Many ROMs, games and manuals, £900 
ono. Tel: (0494) 675670. 

Morley teletext support and ATS ROMs, 
manuals, utility disc, as new, £12. Four 
blank 16k EPROMS, as new, £10. Tel: 
(0379) 650186. 

Micro User magazines, June 1984 to 
January 1986, and February 1987, to 


March 1988, £15 the lot. Tel: Bristol 
636539. 

Electron 64k Plus 3, Plus 1, View , View- 
Sheet, Slogger joystick Interface, TZP3, 
ROMs, ROM cartridges, games, tapes, 
discs, £200. Tel: 01-572 3433. 

Watford Electronics Solderless ROM- 
board Speech Synthesiser, DABS Press 
Master emulation ROM. Tel: Tony 01- 
5172587. 

BBC B with DFS, SSD disc drive, green 
screen monitor, View 2.1, Wordwise, 
other software, manuals, etc, £350 ono. 
Tel: (06284) 4923 (eves). 

Electron owners! Advanced Plus 4, £40. 
T2P4 ROM(V.2), £10. Slogger ROMbox, 
£15. Elkman ROM, £5. Voltmace joy- 
stick, £5. Tel: (0255) 220167. 

Electron Plus 1, Plus 3, View, Pascal, 
Forth, second processor kit. Chips, 
games, database, £210 with manuals. Tel: 
(0462) 730621 (eves). 

Acorn User, most issues from 1983 on- 
wards. Offers? 3 Southdown Close, Beer, 
Devon, EX12 3AN. 

Acorn Electron with Plus 1 Interface. 
Lots of software, manual, magazines, 
bargain at £45. Tel: (06333) 66287. 

BBC B PC-case, printer, twin drives, 
ATPL, Torch-Z80, ROMs, games, 
books, magazines, EPROM programmer, 
eraser, ideal for small business, £800. Tel: 
(0742) 647184. 

Electron 64k Plus 1, Plus 3, user port 
Interface, View, ViewSheet, Pascal, discs 
and books, £250 ono. Tel: 051-737 1224. 
Complete Master system including 
Plotter and AMX MKIII, Mouse 4- 
software, colour monitor, & Electron 
Plus 1. Boxed, guaranteed, £900. Tel: 
(0602) 8 1 7935 (eves). 

Archimedes 310 basic DOS 1.2, £815. 
Will deliver reasonable distance. Tel: 
Portsmouth (0705) 733837. 

ARFON speech synthesizer for BBC. 
Never used, £12. Tel: (0953) 718420. 

BBC B OS 1.2, computer cassette rec- 
order, Watford EPROM programmer, 
over £100 worth software, £300 ono. Tel: 
(0483) 573280. 

Electron Turbo 64k, Plus 1, Plus 3, View, 
ViewSheet, database, ADFS/DFS, books, 
mags, £195. Pascal, £30, 5.25-in disc, £50. 
Tel: (0895) 636193. 

Printer Seikosha GP250X, little used, 
condition as new. Serial/parallel interface, 
£125. Tel: S Moorse(0223) 834185 (eves). 
Electron with manuals, some games, Mini 
Office, cassette recorder and desk, 26" 
wide, good condition, £80. Tel: Chalfont 
St Giles, 2216. 

Epson LQ800 24-pin letter quality 
printer. Hardly used, £375 ono. Tel: 


(0323) 845762 (Answerphone). 

BBC B DFS, ADFS, 40/80T, D/S disc 
drive, 6502 S/P, 32k sideways RAM, 604- 
discs, all manuals, £420. Tel: Alex 01-352 
8432. 

Disc drive, Opus 5401; 40 tracks; un- 
wanted gift, unused; still in original box, 
£5.0. Tel: (0443) 202735. 

Z80 second processor, £160. Z80 turbo 
Pascal, £22. Disc drives 40/80T powered, 
£130. Software/hardware books/ 
magazines, list available. Tel: 07618-521. 
BBC 1.20, Microvitec monitor, 40T Cu- 
mana disc drive, joystics, modem, ROM 
board, mouse, ROMs, games, books, 50 
magazines, tape deck, £1,000. Tel: (04574) 
65210. 

Electron sound enhancer, data recorder, 
leads, books mags, joystick, games, £350. 
Dust cover, £200. Tel : 01-842 01 80. 

BBC model B, including joysticks, games 
and instruction manual, £160. Tel: (0442) 
54683. 

Master turbo, £380. 28 megabyte win- 
chester (Viglen), £370. 32016-lOMHz, 
Cambridge co-processor, £800 (includes 
GCAL). Dual 800k drive, £150. Tel: 
(0273)471081 after 3pm. 

BBC B as new. Boxed BBC data recorder, 
joysticks, loadsa software, hardly used, 
only £195. Tel: 01-550 0067. 

Electron Plus-1, turbo board, View, 
Pascal, AP4, 5.25-inch 40/80T drive, 
games on disc, tape, books, mags, £280. 
Tel: 062-082 2460 (eves). 

BBC B colour monitor, printer, Chal- 
lenger RAM drive, RAM/ROM board, 
speech, datacorder, desk, books, £500. 
Tel: 061-434 2746. 

Viglen 40/80T double sided disc drive, 
£70. GXR for BBC B, £15. Tel: (0503) 
72910. 

ROMs Beebug Sleuth, toolkit, £12 each. 
Masterfile II, £10. View and ViewSheet 
manuals, mint, £5 each. Tel: (0785) 
42294. 

Master compact colour system. Plus 
View guide, printer lead, reference 
manuals, assembler books. Immaculate, 
£495 ono. Tel: Dave 029-673 8085. 

BBC B issue 7, OS 1.2, 1770 ADFS, 
APTL board, £275 ono. Tel: 091-413 
8988. 

BBC B 800k 40/80T dual disc drives, 
DFS, 128k sideways RAM, Wordwise, 
manuals, books, discs, games, £500. Tel: 
Teesdale 40166. 

Juki 6100 daisywheel printer, with cut 
sheet feeder. Virtually unused, boxed, 
perfect condition, £350 ono. Tel: (0799) 
24224. 

Modem telemode V2.3, BT approved, 
includes software and manuals. Bargain at 


£20. Tel: Dick (0302) 342858 (eves). 

BBC B issue 7, ATPL board, twin 40T 
drives, Microvitec, cub monitor, joy- 
sticks, mouse, data recorder, InterWord, 
Stop Press, Wordwise Plus, books, £500. 
Tel: (0937) 844510. 

Watford Le modem, viewdata/scrolling, 
multi-standard 4- bell. Autodial 4- auto- 
answer, includes ROM software, cables 4- 
rnanual. Bargain, £45 ono. Tel: (0202) 
603104 (eves). 

Acorn 32016 co-processor includes 
Pascal, C, Lisp, Fortran 256k, £9004- Any 
offers?' Tel: Mike, 01-834 5019, all 
manuals included. 

Commstar II 4-10 games for £30, or 
Commstar £24 4- games, £1 each. Tel: 
(0254)81 2177. 

Modem prism 2000, Pace ROM, £25. 
Watford ROM (for Apollo), £15. Solidisk 
DFDC 2.2J DFS, £25. Leads, manuals, 
Tel: 058-283 3937. 

BBC B Acorn DNFS, 40/80T drive 6502 
2nd processor. Mono monitor, ATPL 
board, ROMs, printer, excellent condi- 
tion, £650. Tel: 01-556 9037. 

BBC B 4- Solidisk DDFS, £210. 40T/DS 
drive, £45. Solidisk 256k Shadow/SWR 
board, £55. Everything, £295. Tel: Andy 
(0483)235106 (eves). 

Acorn Electron, tape deck, disc drive, 
ROM (Plus 1 ), discs, tapes, £ 1 90 ono. Tel : 
Brighton 32142 (eves). 

Acorn Modem, £60. Tandy DM Pi 00 
printer, £50. Intergrex 7 colour dot- 
matrix printer, £100. Green screen 
monitor, £15. Tel: (08446) 8197. 

Master turbo, dual 40/80T, DS/DD 
powered drives, 2 cartridges, reference 
manuals, all for £650. Tel: Nick (0302) 
342858 (eves). 

Electron with Plus 1 BBC DFS View, 
ViewStore and other software, £99. Tel: 
(0223) 63545. 

Electron 64k Plus 3 ROMbox4- Slogger 
programable, joystick, View ViewSheet, 
AP2 T2P3, books, games, magazines, 
£225. Tel: 01-804 4986 (eves). 

Wanted InterWord , also want disc drive 
40/80T, preferably Cumana, with PSU. 
Tel: Garry (0482)794859. 

Wanted Electron Plus 3 with manual. Tel: 
(0993) 772077 (eves). 

Wanted, help with the Music 500, Ample 
Nucleus ROM, Ample albums. Tel: 
David (0742) 690303 (eves). 

Wanted EMR Midi Interface. Tel: (0203) 
416653. 

Wanted music 500 and software. Tel: 
(0428) 713822. 

Issues of Acorn User required Nov 1986, 
Dec 1986, Feb 1987, to complete set. Can 
anybody help? Tel: J Ault, 021-553 4791. 


FREE PERSONAL AD SERVICE 

Fill in the form below to a maximum of 20 words (one in each box) and send it to Acorn User Free Ads, 20-26 
Brunswick Place, London N1 6DJ. Please use capital letters, write clearly, and remember your name, 
address and telephone number. Without this full information, supplied on a separate sheet of paper, we 
regret we cannot carry your Free Ad. We cannot accept entries selling or swapping software. This is a 
service to readers - no companies please. One entry per form only. Free Ads are carried in the magazine as 
space permits, and any Free Ads not used within a month of receipt will be disposed of. 



ACORN USER OCTOBER 1988 


135 




Lion-taming from Tynesoft could spark poodle-clipping simulations 


Tall tales 
of the Tyne 

Following on the heels of 
Tynesoft’s unlikely lion-taming 
simulation and Superior’s Chess 
theatre tie-in Orson Fact has 
been games-testing a few of the 
latest projects. 

Top amongst them is the 
forthcoming Starlight Express 
from Fiewson Consultants (a 
follow up to Evening Star), and 
Stryker’s Run For Your Wife. 
There is also talk of links to the 
shows Me and My Girl (Mikie) 
and 42nd Street (Paperboy). 

Orson is less hopeful for the 
sports compilation featuring 
poodle-clipping, shopping in 
Waitrose, Arctic exploration 
and morris dancing. 

Bristol fashion 

Well, wood you believe it! A 
Bristol computer firm has come 
up with an idea that could save 
thousands of trees from being 
needlessly cut down every year. 
And it hopes other companies 


will take a leaf from its book. 

Each year, a forest the size of 
Wales is cut down for paper. So 
Tram Computers has begun to 
use recycled paper to print its 
computer manuals. 

Tram may be the first com- 
puter company to use recycled 
paper but it hopes the rest of 
the industry will twig to its 
idea. As it says, ‘From little 
acorns grow giant oaks.’ Re- 
cycling material looks like 
being a growing trend. 


Still Wizzing 

When will it all end? It’s been 
10 months since we published 
David Lawton’s Wizalon game, 
and there are still people phon- 
ing in, searching for the missing 
lines. Who would have thought 
that a game involving balloon 
bursting wizards and a sound 
track that lasts several thousand 
years without repeating would 
have been so popular? 

For those still in the dark, 


here they are: 

10550. randplay 
10560 TAX 

10570 LDA rndplaytbl%,X 

We’re also getting enquiries ab- 
out the 68000 co-processor ex- 
clusively previewed in October 
’87 - we showed it running 
Gauntlet , the Atari ST game of 
the moment. Now Orson has 
discovered there really is such a 
thing being developed! 


Design and fractal future 


November’s Acorn User has 
computer-aided design as fla- 
vour of the month. We will be 
reviewing Technomatic’s new 
Master series Technocad pack- 
age, along with Autosketch 
from Autodesk, both of which 
are for the Archimedes. 

Many readers who filled in 
the Reader Survey in May sug- 
gested we carry a history of 
Acorn Computers. The second 
part of Carol Atack’s story of 
Acorn’s birth, growth, near- 
bankruptcy and regeneration 
continues next month. Also, 


Joe Telford shows you how to 
enlist your micro’s help in 
compiling crosswords. 

‘Uniform’ is the name of a 
proposed standard for datafiles 
on the Arc and BBC B micros. 
David Lawrence explains the 
structure of these files, and 
shows you how to interchange 
text between First Word Plus , 
Pipedream and View. 

Susan Stepney, who wrote 
Acorn User's first article on 
fractals back in 1983, returns to 
intrigue you with the possibil- 
ity of Life in one dimension. 



Graphical history of Life on the linp 


136 


ACORN USKR OCTOBKR 19K8 






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ft CHAOT-TOPPING CDMPILiTlOM for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron 

Superior Software has carefully selected two of the greatest games from other software houses and combined them with 
two of its own top hits. The result is a top quality four-game compilation that combines variety with great value for money. 


BBC Micro Cassette,. £ 9.95 Acorn Electron Cassette £ 9.95 

BBC Micro 5 V»" Disc £ 11.95 BBC Master Compact 3V2" Disc £ 14.95 

(Compatible with the BBC B, B+ and Master Series computers) 
Please make cheques payable to 'Superior Software Ltd". 



supcnion 

soFTUinnc 


ACORNS#FT 


(Acornsoft is a registered trademark of Acorn Computers Ltd. Superior Software Ltd Is a registered user.) 

Dept 3PS4, Regent House, Skinner Lane, Leeds LS7 1AX. Telephone; (0532) 459453. 


PRIZE COMPETITION 

£100 Is the first prize In our PLAY IT AGAIN SAM 3 competition, with prizes of computer games for 

To enter the competition, you must answer one question about each ol the four games In 
the compilation. To answer the questions you will need to have reached an advanced stage In 
each ol the games. 

Closing date. 28th February. 1989. 


The screen pictures 
show the BBC Micro 
versions of the games. 



24 HOUR TELEPHONE 
ANSWERING SERVICE FOR ORDERS 


OUR GUARANTEE 

• All mail orders are despatched 
within 24 hours by first-class post. 

• Postage and packing is tree. 

• Faulty cassettes and discs will be 
replaced immediately. 

(this does no* oltedvour statutory rights)
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