Skip to main content

We're fighting for the future of our library in court. Show your support now!

Full text of "Acorn User 1992 Magazine"

See other formats 


ISSN □Eb3-7 L tSb 



A3000 • A5000 • ARCHIMEDES 


MASTER 




mu 

Profit/Re vfl ip 


$csi::HD.$ 


i 


8 


Garden World Mail 0d< 




HHHHHjBrNk emu Analysis 
Fixed Expenses 

Administrative Personnel 
Publicity 

General Operating 
Interest 


Total 


!42. 


Variable Expenses Ratio 
Contribution Margin 


0.5859 
41.41% 


f— I— 1 Fixed I Variable 

™ gg v <™» I Expense* | Expenses I | 


C265.000.00 

£295.000.00 

£325.000.00 

£355.000.00 

£395.000.00 


£142.726.00 

£142.726.00 

£142.726.00 

£142.726.00 

£142.726.00 


£155.274.00“ 
£1 72.853.00 
£190,431.00 
£208.009.00 
£235.597.00 




t-'OSI Of Gooes Sold 

Shipping 

Operating Personnel 


Total 



Total 

Kpenses 

Profit or 
Loss 

§8.000.00 

P3.157.QQ 

~(£33.COO.OO)|| 

(£20.579.00) 

(£8,157.00) 


Profit 
Marqin 


C #0.735 00 

rf p aa 


C4.265.C0 


A 


•6.98% 

•2-51% 

1 . 20 % 






Eureka's advanced DTP-like publishing capabilities 
encourage you to create the most impressive reports and 
budgets , making full use of the Acorn Outline Font Manager. 


Using the 
Eureka style 
editor , you can 
create and 
apply all types 
of on sheet 
formatting and 
effects with the 
click of a 
mouse button. 




The Data Series 
command 
allows you to 
automatically 
create a wide 
variety of Time, 
Linear and 
Growth series. 


With over 1 55 
built in functions , 
Eureka users have 
all the analytical 
mathematical 
power they will 
ever need , at their 
fingertips. 


Euwha 






Draft 1 993 Budget 


Pit* < 
Edit < 
Format < 
Formula < 


° Pt,0ft5 < Sort... 


*** r°ri 
, 








IPLE WHO 

USINESS 



Eureka offers crisp, accurate business charting 
in a wide variety of formats. 


POWERFUL, RELIABLE 
AND FULLY-FEATURED 

Eureka brings the power and 
innovative features of the very 
latest in easy-to-use spreadsheet 
technology to all RISC OS users. 

► Fully integrated charting and graphing, including line, 
scatter, bar, stacked bar, pie and area. 

► Powerful worksheet formatting with styles, including cell 
shading, cell borders with different colours and weights. 

► Picture-style number and text formatting allows full 
customising of value display. 

► Multiple worksheets with file linking. 

► Import and export of data: supports DIF, Text, CSV and 
123 formats. 

► Allows user-defined functions and function macros. 

► Linear and multiple regression analysis. 


m: 


3 


Eureka a<*s IDE Disc4 $ Eureka MULTREGR • 

Ready 


PlapnlQlPi 


G4 | H-TREND($E$4$E$28 $C$4 JD$T8.)} 

.OH c ... J D 1 t I F | o 1 H 


• 

Multi 

pie Re 

□ression Exam 

pie 

2 

Yen 

■•Net 

Revenues 
(V Deposit 

• ODces 

% Prom 


Canipuiea v 

3 


jyit 

u2i 

— IB . 


■ » b > »«NP) 


- ® 

M 


1»2S 

381% 

332*. 

307% 

30*% 

311% 

321% 

32*% 

342% 

34?*, 

34*% 

356% 

3M% 

378% 

382% 

397% 

407% 

425% 


The comouieo equ»<xi w y -00155*0 2235'. 


a 76% 
07i% 
0*6% 
041% 
0 70% 
072% 
077% 
074% 
0,90% 
085% 
0 75% 
070% 
078% 
084% 
079% 
070% 


' 

071% 

070% 
067% 
0.69% 
071% 
074% 
0.76% 
079% 
079% 
079% 
082% 
080% 
078% 
07*% 
073% 
0 70% 
069% 


070% 
06.*% 
069% 
071% 
074% 
076% 
07*% 
0 79% 
0 78% 
0 82% 
080% 
0 79% 
0 75% 
073% 
070% 
069% 





Eureka 9 s advanced statistical features make it the natural 
choice for scientific and engineering professionals , as well 
as financial analysts and business managers. 


F5 H 

Normal 


m: 


Eureka - sesi : :HD4 HewCureka . Sheet s . budsetl 
♦ . - : »!,: Ready HUH 

1 j =SUH(BC S_Hi se el 1 an eous ) 

scsi : : HD4.J.NewEureka. Sheets. budget 1 


X 


X 


X 


> • I 


of 3 1 




Utpe Equipment 


121*1 


C**a» Sop*><3 

TottH 

Tot# 

Total 


£29.000 00 £29.000.00 £29 000 00 E29 000 00 

£5 000.00 £5 000.00 £5.000 00 £5.00000 

£1.00000 £140000 £1.50000 £1500 00 

£1.00000 £1.000.00 £1.00000 £1.000 00 

£2.00000 £1.00000 £1.00000 Cl .000 00 

£500 00 £500 00 C500 00 £500 00 

£4.500 00 £3.90000 £4.000 00 £4.000 00 

£158.500 00 £185.000 00 060.000 00 £3*00000 
£2 00000 £2,000 00 £2,250 00 P. 500 00 


I r - - : , 


£2 00000 £2,000 00 £2,250 00 C 

003 500 <y 1026:800 00 ici04|250 00 l£»j 


U . 900 00 


M-- •' ! • 


Plastics 

Speoa' Equipment 
C4t.ce Supples 
Total 

Accelerate* 

’ M 


£15.00000 £15.00000 d 6 000 00 E16UOJOU 

£3 00000 £300000 £3.000 00 £3.000 00 


£3.00000 
£2 000.00 
£500 00 
£5 500 00 
£1 50 , 000 00 
£800 00 


£3.000.00 
£1 000.00 
£500 00 
£4.50000 
ED 00 
£800 00 


£3 00000 £3 000 00 

£1.00000 £1.000 00 
£500 00 £500 OC 

£4.500 00 £4.500 00 

GO 00 BO.OO 


£179,800 06 1 C27.600 0qT 


£115 000 00 
£20.000.00 
£5.400 00 
£4 000 00 
£5.000 00 
£2,000 00 
£16.400.00 
£440.500.00 
£8.750 00 
£817,050 00 
£60.000 00 
£12.000 00 
£12.000 00 
£5.000 00 
£2.000.00 
£19.000 00 
£150,000 00 

o 206 66 

’ eKTioo ' oo ' 


Build and maintain budgets with speed and accuracy. 
Using Eureka' s powerful range naming features 
ensures you cun always remember what your formulae 
mean , even months later! 


Eureka is priced at £1 19 + VAT. For any Acorn 
computer running RISC OS with 2Mb of RAM or 
more. Proposed publication: October 1992. 




LongmaN 

LogotroN 


124 Cambridge Science Park 
Milton Road 
Cambridge CB4 4ZS 

Tel. (0223) 425558 ♦ Fax (0223) 425349 







15 September IWI 

$ 

1! 

13 Opftr Mrs C'asMcly 

14 

15 I would like lo thank you am! y»KJf 
« jmovc to our now premises As a 
17 ;*hc;»d of schedule and the dt&rufHi 

9 ko an oltooluic minimum If ot»P 
simple! 


PIPEDREAM?S 




Imagine a flexible word processor in 
w hich you can use fonts and pictures to 
give stunning presentation to your 
letters and reports. And a 93,000 word 
spelling checker and user dictionaries 
for letter-perfect writing. 

Imagine the most powerful spread- 
sheet package on the Archimedes. 
Background recalculation so you carry 
on working while it computes. 160 
built-in functions, plus a programming 
language for your own custom func- 
tions. Arrays within slots for easy 
manipulation of structured data. 

I magine dynamic charts straight from 
your data. Multiple scales to compare 
trends. Personalised Penguin Graphics 
with bars filled by your own draw files to 
dazzle your friends and colleagues. 

COLTON software 

■ ■ ■ 


Coltonsoft Limited 
2 Signet Court 
Swanns Road 
Cambridge 
CB5 8LA 

Tel: (0223) 311881 
Fax: (0223) 312010 


Imagine a fast and compact database 
package with full sorting, searching and 
selection criteria. With links straight to 
the word processor for printing mail- 
shots and labels. 

Imagine user-friendly features such as 
configurable menus, template files to 
start new documents from, and auto- 
matic fitting of column widths to the 
data. 

Pipe Dream 4 
the works 

Free your imagination. 


*67275 ; iva 

C75.258 a- a 



RRP £196+ VAT. ('all for education prices 
and site licences. PipeDream 4 is ideal for any 
Archimedes, A3000 or A5000 with 2MB 
RAM or more. 


For a free f9 Brochure, complete and 
return this coupon. 

Name 

Address 


Postcode 


* SCWi i * 



c 

D [ 

f 

8 


4 

Gnd i 

(ind y Munro 

Amm Chap 


'7 m 

2265 

7264 48 

SH 

13 

i 

?9m 

2 134 

834f> 45 

WH 

11 

13 

>9m 

2970 

7732 46 

CG 

7 

17 

Om 

2206 

7263 44 

SH 

13 

: S? 

kn 

2418 

7875 43 

CH 

14 


»» 


7663 47 

CH 

8 



2144 

8263 42 

WH 

10 



2470 

7746 41 

CH 

V 



XL. 

arch ^ 




I'cnp uu. 



Antarctic irv 

ft 

5 Q 

ft ft 

5 ^? 



T- 


OCTOBER 1992 
ISSUE 123 



COVER PHOTOGRAPHY 


PAUL VENNING 
Editor Karen Donaghay 

Technical Editor Paul James 
Production Editor Fin Fahey 
Art Editor Tony Judge 
News Editor Ian Burley 
Editorial Assistant Sarah Burns 
Advertisement Manager 
Duncan Pringle 

Deputy Advertisement Manager 

Richard Power 

Sales Executive Areef Vohra 
Promotions Executive Jane McCann 
Ad Production Fiona Andrews 
Production Manager Jennifer Jeffrey 
Managing Editor Barry Monk 
Publisher Seamus Geoghegan 
Publishing Director Michael Potter 
Editorial Director Christopher Ward 

£ Published by Redwood Publishing, 
a BBC Enterprises Company, 101 
Bayham Street, London NW1 
3 RoaG. Tel: 071-331 8000. Fax: 
.^^071 *331 8001 Bureau setting 
1 and ad typesetting by Bold Gray 
Design, 52 Rosebery Avenue, London, 
EC1R4RP. Colour by Trumps Studio, 
Ware, Herts Printed by Cradley Print Ltd, 
West Midlands. Distributed by BBC 
Frontline, Park House, 1 17 Park Road, 
Peterborough. © Redwood Publishing 
1992. All rights reserved. Acorn is a 
registered trademark of Acorn 

Computers Ltd. 

ABC Redwood Publishing is a 
L„,.. ■ registered data user. ISSN 

BurriM nl Cirvulaikm Q2g3 7456. 


PRODUCED ON 
THE ARCHIMEDES 

All the editorial pages in 
BBC Acorn User are 
produced on a DTP 
system using Acorn 
computers, Computer 
Concepts' 

Impression 2 with Laser 
Direct printers and 
Taxan monitors 


NEWS 

7 

GRAPHICS COLUMN 

15 

COMMS COLUMN 

16 

ACORNS FOR EVERYONE 

19 

A long hard look at Acorn's new machines for games, business and education 

ALL CHANGE 

Something big is happening to Acorn's education organisation 

26 

BBC ACORN USER SHOW GUIDE 

Your 10-page guide to what's happening at the Acorn event of the year 

57 

FASTER FOOTWORK 

Speed yourself up with our useful advice 

73 

THE WRITE STUFF 

Equations made simple with Icon Technology's new word processor 

77 

A QUICK FIX 

Don't let it sit in a cupboard, get that Beeb fixed! 

82 

VIDEO DIARY 

Pete Worrall combines videos with computer art 

86 

TWO IN THE HAND 

The latest hand scanners from Watford and Computer Concepts reviewed 

106 

PROGRAMMING SECTION 

109 

THINKING BIG 

Numbers longer than your Arm calculated with ease 

111 

♦INFO 

115 

HARMONIC VERSES 

122 

ASSEMBLY LINE 

125 

ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS 

129 

STICKY MOMENTS 

Showing how natural selection evolved the spider's web 

132 

DON'T PANIC 

An up to date, no-nonsense guide to viruses 

146 

PENDOWN PLUS 

151 

PROPHET MOTIVE 

How does the new accounts system from Apricote Studios add up? 

153 

AZTEC CAMERA 

The latest in educational Landmarks goes to the Americas 

157 

NET GAINS 

160 

THE VISION THING 

A peek at HCCS' price beating colour digitiser 

163 

PUZZLE PAGE 

169 

GAME SHOW 

178 

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 

188 

LETTERS 

200 



57 

SHOW GUIDE 



BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 3 








PC Access 

Minerva 

£19 

PC Emulator 1.8 

Acom 

£85 

Pendown 

Longman 

£47 

Pendown Etoile 

Longman 

£POA 

Pendown Outline Fonts 

Longman 

£19 

Pendown Plus 

Longman 

£68 

Personal Accounts 

Apncote 

£29 

Pesky Muskrats 

Corn-Age 

£21 

Phases#2 Northwest SEMERC £15 

Picture Book 

Triple R 

£15 

PinPoint 

Longman 

£69 

- site licence 


£390 

PipeDream 3 

■Colton 

£105 

PipeDream 4 

Colton 

£148 

PipeDriver Dot 1 

ICS 

£10 

Pipe Mania 

Empire 

£18 

PIPP1 Primary Integrated Project Planner 


CIS 

£36 

PIPP2 Professional Integrated 


Project Planner 



- 5-14 Programme 

CIS 

£85 

- Middle 

CIS 

£52 

- Primary 

CIS 

£44 

- Primary: Homes 

CIS 

£12 

- Resource Centre 

CIS 

£129 

- Secondary 

CIS 

£69 

Pirate, age 8-14 

Chaiksoft 

£19 

Placard 

ICS 

£10 

- site licence 


£30 

Plague Planet 

Alpine 

£13 

Poizone 

Etema 

£14 

Poster 

4mation 

£75 

Powerband 

Fourth Dim £21 

Prehistoric Animals, sprites 

Micro Studio £16 

Premier 

Circle 

£71 

- DataBase 

Circle 

£25 

- WordProc 

Circle 

£25 

Presenter GTi 

Lmgenuity 

£65 

PrimeArt 

Minerva 

£49 

PrimeWord 

Minerva 

£55 

Printer Driver, RISC OS 



- BJ 1 0ex T urboDriver + Cable cc 

£42 

- BJC800 TurboDriver + Cable cc 

£98 

-CA (Canon PW1080A) 

Ace 

£15 

- CC (ColourCel) 

Ace 

£15 

- DeskJet 500C 

RISC 

£15 

- Epson, Star colour 

RISC 

£15 

- HP (HP Colour) 

Ace 

£15 

- JX (Epson, Star and Citizen colour) 


Ace 

£15 

Pro Artisan 

Clares 

£70 

ProCAD 

Minerva 

£POA 

Programming in ANSI Standard C 


on the Archimedes 

Sigma 

vo £13 

Prophet (requires 2 Mb) 

Apricote 

£134 

Prophet Demo 

Apncote 

£10 

Protext 

Amor 

£114 

PrOVOCator Computer Tutorial £15 

Puncman 1 and 2 

Chaiksoft 

£16 

Puncman 3 and 4 

Chaiksoft 

£16 

Puncman 5 to 7 

Chaiksoft 

£17 

Punctuate 

Xavier 

£31 

Purchase Ledger 

Minerva 

£78 

Quest for Gold 

Krisalis 

£21 

QuicKey 

ICS 

£15 

- site licence 


£45 

Real McCoy 

Fourth Dim £24 

Real McCoy 2 

Fourth Dim £24 

Real McCoy 3 

Fourth Dim £26 

Redshift 

Minerva 

£11 

Render Bender 1 

Clares 

£55 

Render Bender II 

Clares 

£85 

Reporter 

Minerva 

£29 

Repton 3 

Superior 

£14 

Repton Compilation 

Superior 

£16- 

Revelation 1 

Longman 

£54 

Revelation 2 

Longman 

£95 

- CD Rom 

Longman 

£123 

Reversals 

Chaiksoft 

£17 

Rhapsody 2 

Clares 

£45 

RiscBASIC Compiler 

Silicon 

£85* 

RiscForth Compiler 

Silicon 

£85* 

Rise OS Companion Vol 1 

Oak 

V0 £49 

Rise OS Extras 1992 

Acom 

£9 

Rise OS Programmer's 



Reference Manual 

Acom 

V0 £79 

Rise OS Style Guide 

Acom 

vo£11 

RoboLogo 

Silicon 

£42- 

Rockfall 

Eterna 

£16 

Rotor 

Arcana 

£19 

Sales Ledger 

Minerva 

£78 


Saloon Cars Fourth Dim £ 1 5 

Saloon Cars Deluxe Fourth Dim £27* 

- Deluxe Extra Courses Fourth Dim £16 

Schema Clares £89 

School Administrator Minerva £65 

Science, drawfiles Micro Studio £25 

Score Draw Clares £45 

Scorewriter emr 

- PMS Dot matrix, Version 1 £127 

- PMS Dot matrix, Version 2 £147 

- PMS PostScript £422 

ScreenPlay Widgit £35 

Screen Turtle Topoiogika £37 

Search and Rescue, age 9+ storm £27 
Seashore Guide, drawfiles Micro Studio £16 
Sesame Street Electric Crayon 

- Letters for You £16 

- Numbers Count £16 

SFXM CIS £32 

ShapeFX Data Store £10 

Shareholder Silicon £106* 

Shareholder Professional Silicon £234* 

ShowPage cc £149* 

Shylock Gnomes, age 10-15 Selective £19 

SkyHunter Longman £23 

smArt 4 mat ion £50 

smArt Aliens / Animals / Dinosaurs / Faces / 

Faces (French) / Faces (German) / 

Fashion / Heraldry / Homes / Homes 

(French) / Homes (German) / Leisure / 

Leisure (French) / Leisure (German) / 

Look Smart / Smartoons / T rees and 

Gardens -each 4mation £15 
smArtFiler 4mation £32 

smArt Modern Languages 4matk>n £19 

Snippet 4mation £26 

Soapbox Xavier £34 

SolidCAD silicon £85* 

SolidsRender Silicon £85* 

SolidTools Silicon £234* 

Spark David Pilling £5« 

SparkFS David Pilling £20 

Sparkle Money £59 

Special ics £10 

- site licence £30 

Speech! Superior £14 

Spelling week-by-week Chaiksoft £22 

Splice Ace £29 

Sporting Triangles CDS £20 

Sports Day Selective £22 

Square Route Computer Eyes £16 

Stock Management Minerva £78 

Studio24Plus Version 2, age 11+ emr £149 
Studio24Plus Version 3. age 12+ emr £210 
SuperDurnp Silicon £21* 

Superior Golf Superior £14 

SuperPlot Silicon £21* 

Supersounds CIS £15 

Supersounds 2 CIS £12 

Swiv Krisalis £19 

System Delta Plus II Minerva £50 

- Reference Guide Minerva vo £25 


Tabs 

Tactic 
Talisman 
Target Maths 
Tech Writer 
Thinklink 
Thundermonk 
Timetabler 
TimeWatch 

Tiny Logo + Tiny Draw 
Titler 


ExpLAN 

Etema 

Minerva 

Triple R 

Icon 

Xavier 

Minerva 


Utility Collection 
Vector 
View»Mac 3 
- Arc/Mac Cable 
Vox Box 

W aterloo 
Wimp Game 
Wonderland 
Words and Pictures 
WordWorks 


Data Store £21 
4mation £75 
Human 
Human 
Clares 


£65 

£24 

£47 


Turcan £23 

Fourth Dim £16 

Virgin £24 

Chaiksoft £17 

CC £38* 


World Championship Boxing Manager 

Krisalis £20 

World Geography Maps, draw Micro studio £23 
World Map Study, age 7-16 ESM £42 

Worldscape Leading Edge £16 

World Wildlife, sprites Micro studio £16 

Worra Battle Oak £14 

WorraCAD Oak £83 

X-Fire Fourth Dim £21 

Z88: A Dabhand Guide Dabs vo £15 

Z88 PipeDream Guide Dabs vo£15 

Zarch Superior £14 

Zelanites (not OS 3) Micro Power £1 8 


HARDWARE 


NEW, 


Education dis- 
counts available 
f Please ask for 
details of 
combinations not 
listed here 


MEMORY 


Fitting extra unless otherwise stated 
t Fitting easy t Fitting needs expertise 


£95 

£15 

£8 

£15 

£245 

£29 

£8 


Minerva £549 
Mitre £24 


Topoiogika £27 


£120 


A3000 2 Mb Non-upgradable t ifel £55 
A3000 2 Mb Upgradable f IFEL £63 
A3000 4 Mb t Atomwide/IFEL £140 

A310 2 Mb Upgradable soldered t ifel £99 

- as above + MEMCIa £149 

- as above + MEMCIa + fitting £200 
A310 4 Mb soldered + MEMCIa t ifel£225 

- as above + fitting £277 

- as above + fitting + OS3 carriers £298 
A5000 2-4 Mb Non-upgradablet Afomvwcte £85 
A5000 2-4 Mb Upgradable t Atomwide £109 
A5000 2-8 Mb including fitting Atomwide £500 


Toolkit Plus 

Clares 

£35 

A540 4 Mb t 

Atomwide 

£238 

Tools Graphics, drawfiles 

Micro Studio 

£23 




Top Banana 

Hex 

£19 

MISCELLANEOUS 



Touch Type 

lota 

£39 




Tower of Babel 

Cygnus 

£17 

386C PC Expansion Card 

Aleph One 


Trace 

David Pilling 

£5 

- 1 Mb 


£463 

T racer 

Midnight 

£46 

-4 Mb 


£579 

T racker 

Leading Edge 

£37 

4-slot 4-layer Backplane 

IFEL 

£59 

T ransport, drawfiles 

Micro Studio 

£25 

9060S Monitor 

Eizo 

£450 

Trivial Pursuit 

Domark 

£22 

A300/400 Fan kit 

ICS 

£15 

Turbo Type 

CIS 

£20 

A3 10 RISC OS Carrier Board t ifel 

£25 

Tween 

Ace 

£26 

A 5000 Fitting Kit for second hard disc 


Twin 

Acom 

£24 


ICS 

£15 

Twin World 

UBI Soft 

£14 

Arckey Function KeyStrip Holder ics 

vo£3 

TWO (Task and Window Organiser) ics 

£15 

- pack of 4 

vo £10 

- site licence 


£60 

ARM3 * 

Aleph One 

£189 

TypeStudio 

RISC 

£43 

Clares Micro Mouse 

Clares 

£26 

Utility Disc 1 

Data Store 

£8 

Dongle Dangle with screw fittings ics 

£6 

Utility Disc 2 

Data Store 

£13 

Fan filters (pack of 1 0) (not A5000) ICS £6 

Utility Disc 3 

Data Store 

£7 

FaxPack 

CC 

£289 



Floppy Discs. 10 x 3Vfe" High Density £10 

Monitor Stand for A3000 ics £21 

Podule Case for A3000 £1 6 

Seal 'n Type spill-proof Keyboard Covers 
- Archimedes / A5000 Kador £14 

— A3000 Kador £ 1 4 

Touch Window Undis £234 

Whisper Fan Quietener 

(for A300/A400 series only) ics £15 


PRINTERS 


A 3010 1MB FD Family Solution Acom £420* 

A3010 1MB H020 (as above + 

IdeA 92 Hard Disc) Acom/ics £599- 

A3010 2MB FD Learning Curve with Monitor 
Acom £675* 

- as above + JP1 50 Printer £889* 

A3020 2MB FD Acom £749* 

A 3020 2MB HD60 Acom £899* 

A4 2MBFD Acom £1395* 

A4 4MB HD60 with free PC Emulator 1 .8 

Acom £1695* 
A4 4MB HD80/120 Acom £POA 

A4 Extra Battery Pack Acom £50 

A4 Shoulder Bag Acom £35 

A4000 2MB HD80 Acom £945* 

- as above + Home Office £995* 

A 5000 2MB HD80 Multiscan Acom £1395* 

- as above + Learning Curve £1455* 

Pocket Book Acom £212* 


ArcLaser 300-6 Calligraph £895 

ArcServer 300-8 Calligraph £985 

Bubble Jet BJ-IOex Canon £187* 

Bubble Jet BJ-IOex + TurboDriver 

Canon/CC £22 9* 
Bubble Jet BJ-300 Canon £299* 

Bubble Jet BJ-330 Canon £405 

Bubble Jet BJC-800 
+ T urboDriver canonic £1 499 

Laser Direct HiRes4 with 50-sheet tray 

CC £849 

- 250-sheet Paper Cassette £99 

Laser Direct HiRes8 CC £1280 

Laser Direct LBP-4 Card CC £325 

LBP-4 Canon £659 

Refill toner cartridge for Canon EPS £50 
New toner cartridge for Canon LBP-4 £59 


SCANNERS, DIGITISERS 


ArcScanner including Epson GT-4000 

Clares £1660 

FaxScan Spacetech £94 

Hawk V9 Wild Vision £199 

- A3000 version Wild Vision £278 

iMage (Sharp JX-100) iriam 

- for A5000 £490 

- for other computers £589 

Image Scanner iota £383 

- Colour upgrade iota £148 

- Fast parallel card iota £98 

- Lighting unit iota £91 

i-Scan 200 idam £539 

i-Scan 400 iriam £589 

Pineapple Colour Video Digitiser 

Pineapple £195 

- A3000 boxed Pineapple £230 

Prolmage (Epson GT6000) iriam 

- for A5000 £989 

- for other computers £ 1 089 

Scan-Light A4 cc £277 

- with Sheet Feeder CC £360 

Scan-Light 256 cc £190 

- A3000 internal CC £190 

Scan-Light Professional CC £565 

- as above + SCSI interface cc £699 

Snapshot Colour Video Digitiser 

Lmgenuity £195 

- A3000 version Lmgenuity £275 

Spectra RISC £545 

- A3000 Internal RISC £545 

- A3000 External RISC £565 

Vision Digitiser HCCS £49 

- A3000 Internal HCCS £49 

- A3000 External HCCS £62 


PC PRODUCTS 


AnDi Oddule &**» £30 

l 2 C Adaptor (needed unless you 

already have an PC socket) BatkJon £10 
|2C SWI (enhanced IIC_Control) Baiidon £15 
- bought with Oddule £5 


ideA’92 


The next 
generation 
Please see separate price list 


1 

1C 

Is 


3 

A 


A< 

A! 


A! 
A< 
Aj 
Ai 
A I 
A. 
AI 
Ai 
A 



AUTHORISED ACORN DEALER 


ICS (Ian Copestake Software) 

Dept B35, 1 Kington road, West Kirby, WIRRAL, Merseyside, L48 5ET 

Tel: 051 -625 1 006 Fax: 051 -625 1 007 


E&OE D61 92AU19 


LICENSED CREDIT BROKER 




19 AUGUST 1992 



Blitz 

Arxe 

£17 

DrawBender 

ICS 

£15 

Illustrators’ Graphics, draw/sprites 


BlowPipe 

Leading Edge £14 

- site licence 


£50 


Micro Studio £16 

Bobby Blockhead vs 



Draw Print & Plot 

Oak 

£37 

Image Animator 

lota 

£68 

The Dark Planet 

Atomic 

£16 

Dread Dragon Droom 

Resource 

£21 

Image OCR 

lota 

£POA 

Bookstore, age 7-16 

ESM 

£39 

Dreamwave 

EMR 

£34 

Image Outliner 

lota 

£72 

Break 1 47 & Superpool 

Fourth Dim 

£26 

Drop Ship 

Fourth Dim 

£16 

Imagine 

Topologika 

£39 

Broadcast Loader 

Acom 

£63 

DTP Graphics 1 Mono, spritesMfcraSn«*o£15 

Impression 

CC 

£125 


1 0 out of 1 0 English Triple R £POA* 

10 out of 10 Maths (Number) Tnpie R £21* 

1st Word Plus Acorn £62 

- extra copy of manual Acom vo £1 0 

3d Construction Kit Domark £35 

AaOOO Technical Reference 

Manual Acom vo £30 

A4 Technical Reference Mai 
A5000 Technical Reference 
Manual 

A540 Technical Guide 
Adventure Playground, age 
Aggressor 
Air Supremacy 
Alerion 

Alien Invasion 
All-In Boxing 
Alpha-Base 

ALPS Adventure Language 
Programming System 
Amazing Ollie, age 4+ 

Ancestry 

ANSI C Release 3 

- extra copy of manual 
Arcade 3 Compilation 
ArcComm 2 
ArcDFS 
Arcendium 

Archimedes Assembly Language Dabs vo£15 


Bubble Fair Etema £14 

Bug Hunter / MoonDash Minerva £10 

Bug Hunter in Space Mmen/a £10 

Business Accounts Minerva £298 

CableNewS Ungenuity £165 

Cadet Minerva £139 

Cartoon Collection Micro studio £16 

Cartoon Line Etema £17 

Casino Minerva £11 

Castle of Dreams Storm £17 

Cataclysm Fourth Dim £21 

Caverns Minerva £10 

C: A Dabhand Guide Dabs vo£14 

- with disc £22 

C Development System Rise £77 

Chameleon (new version) 4mation £34 


Charts & Graphs 


Computer Tutorial £ 1 7 


mual Acom vo £65 

ChartWell 

RISC 

£25 



Chequered Flag 

CIS 

£17 

Acom 

V0 £65 

- Extra Circuits 

CIS 

£16 


V0 £65 

Chess 3D (not OS 3) 

Micro Power £14 

5+ Storm 

£16 

Children’s Graphics 

Micro Studio £16 

Atomic 

£16 

Chocks Away 

Fourth Dim 

£21 

Superior 

£17 

- Compendium 

Fourth Dim 

£32 

Dabs 

£13 

- Extra Missions 

Fourth Dim 

£15 

Dabs 

£13 

Chopper Force 

Fourth Dim 

£24* 

Dabs 

£13 

Chuck Rock 

Krisalis 

£19 

Clares 

£34 

Clip Art 

Graphics Factory 



- Vol 1 (General), sprites 


£19 

Alpine 

£28 

- Vol 2 (General) / Vol 3 (Animals) / Vol 

Storm 

£14 

4 (Sport) / Vol 5 (Characters) each 

£25 

Minerva 

£59 

Clip Art Set 1 , drawfiles 

Midnight 

£29 

Acom 

£124 

Clip Art Set 2, drawfiles 

Midnight 

£29 

Acom 

V0 £19 

Coffee, age 9+ 

Storm 

£27 

Clares 

£12 

Colour Screen » Mac 

Human 

£90 

Longman 

£33 

- Arc/Mac Cable 

Human 

£24 

Dabs 

£22 

ColourSep 

ICS 

£25 

Dabs 

£13 

- site licence 


£60 


- with disc 


£22 


Compression 
Concept Designer 
Conqueror 


CC 

Longman 

Superior 


Archimedes Game Makers Manual 


Control Logo 

Longman 

£22 


Siorm V0£13 

Control Panel 

Lingenuity 

£14 

Archway 2 

Simtron 

£78 

Converta-Key 

Triple R 

£15 

ArcLight 

Ace 

£40 

Cops 

Alpine 

£15 

ArcMonitor 

CIS 

£24 

Corruption 

Magnetic 

£21 

Amounts Manager 

Visionscan 

£295 

Craftshop 1 

4mation 

£27 

ARC-PCB 

Silicon 

£106- 

Craftshop 2 

4malion 

£27 

- Professional 

Silicon 

£234* 

Creator 

Alpine 

£31 

- Schematics 

Silicon 

£319- 

Crisis 

CIS 

£12 

ArcSpell 1 

Xavier 

£29 

Cross-32 Meta-Assembler 

Baildon 

£175 

ArcSpell 2 

Xavier 

£29 

- manual for evaluation 

Baildon 

vo £15 

Arcterm 7 

Senal Pori 

£54 

Cyber Chess 

Fourth Dim 

£39 

ARCticulate 

Fourth Dim 

£21 

Data Vision 

Silicon 

£85- 

ARCtist 

Fourth Dim 

£21 

DataWord 

Triple R 

£15 

ArcTrivia 

Moray 

£21 

Decorated Alphabet, sprites Micro Studio £17 

Armadeus 

Clares 

£59 

Designer V.3 

TechSoft 

£193 

Artisan II 

Clares 

£43 

Desiqner Intro 

Tech Soft 

£75 

Artworks 

CC £1 49 

Designer’s Graphics, draw/sprites 


Astro 

Topologika 

£29 


Micro Studio £16 

Atelier 

Minerva 

£63 

DeskEdit 

RISC 

£21 

Autosketch CAD 

Autodesk 

£65 

Desktop Assembler Release 2 Acom 

£119 

Avon 

Topologika 

£16 

Desktop C Release 4 

Acom 

£185 

n 



Desktop Folio, new 1992 edition esm £87 

D allarena 

Etema 

£14 

Desktop Office 

Minerva 

£69 

Bambuzle 

Arxe 

£16 

Desktop Publisher 

Acom 

£108 

BASIC V Guide 

Dabs ' 

i/o £10 

- extra copy of manual 

Acorn 

vo£10 

Battletank 

Minerva 

£8 

Desktop Publishing on the Archimedes 

BBC Basic Guide 

Acom ' 

✓o£19 


Sigma 

vo£13 

Beginner’s Guide to Wimp Programming 

Desktop Thesaurus 

RISC 

£19 

on the Archimedes 

Sigma ' 

m£13 

Detect-a-Pet, age 5-1 1 

ESM 

£49 

Black Angel 

Fourth Dim 

£28 

DFS Reader 

RISC 

£9 

Blaston 

Etema 

£14 

Disc T ree 

Mitre 

£38 


HOW TO ORDER 


VAT: UK customers please add 17.5% to the total price, except for the zero-rated items 
marked V0. Our VAT number is 595 7258 84. 

CARRIAGE IS FREE WITHIN MAINLAND UK IF YOU PA Y ON ORDERING. 

Overseas carriage: If you are paying by credit card we will add airmail and insurance 
at cost. Otherwise please add £6 (Europe) or at least £12 (elsewhere) for each software 
item and send a pounds sterling bank draft payable in England, or Eurocheques for not 
more than £100 each. 

Credit cards are welcome. We do not charge your account until your order has been 
fulfilled. The name and address for delivery of goods should be as known to the credit 
card company. If you are leaving an order on our answering machine please include 
your telephone number, the expiry date of your card, and your calculation of the total 
payment due. 

Official orders are welcome. Payment is due in 14 days. Invoices are subject to 
carriage and late payment charges. 

Site licences are available for most products. Please check our prices. 

All products, prices and specifications are offered in good faith and are subject to 
change without notice. We process all orders immediately, but suppliers sometimes 
keep us waiting. Goods are guaranteed but we do not supply them on approval. 


DTP Graphics 2 Colour Micro studio £17 - A4 version 

DTP Graphics combined Micro studio £25 - network version 

DTP Seeds 4mation vo £8 - site licence 

DTP Theme Packs, age 5-16 esm 

- Christmas £35 

- Editor’s £29 

- Maths £29 

Easiword Plus Minerva £55 

EasiWriter icon £115 

- Dictionaries: Danish / French / 

German / Italian / Norwegian / 

Spanish / Swedish / Welsh each £30 

Einstein Ace £106 

Elite Hybrid £33 

El uci Data (OCR) irtam £155 


£POA* 
£650 
£545 

- extra hardware key for sites only £15 

- extra manual for sites only vo £8 

Impression Borders cc £19 

Impression Business Supplement cc £39 

Impression Junior cc £59 


- bought with Irlam Scanner 


£79 


Enter the Realm 
Equasor 
Ethnic Borders 
E-Type Compendium 
Euclid 
Eureka 
ExcellonDrill 
Express 


Fourth Dim £21 
CC £38 

4mation £10 
Fourth Dim £21 
Ace £50 

Longman £109 
Silicon £63* 
Midnight £49 


Family Favourites (not OS 3) Minerva £1 1 
Farmer Giles Computer Tutorial £16 

Farmer Giles II Computer Tutorial £16 


£35 

£22 

£17 


Film-Maker 

Silicon 

£68* 

Financial Accountant 

Silicon 

£199 

Fine Racer 

Eterna 

£14 

Fireball II Xtra 

CIS 

£12 

First Impression Word Processing V0 £28 

First Words and Pictures 

Chalksoft 

£19 

Flexifile 

Minerva 

£79 

Flight Path, age 9+ 

Storm 

£27 

Flight Sim Toolkit 

Simis 

£31 

Flying Start II 

Mitre 

£86 

Fontasy 

ICS 

£25 

Fontasy / DrawBender / Placard 


site licence 


£80 

FontFX 

Data Store 

£9 

- site licence 


£70 

Font Pack - Newhall. Starter, Symbol 


- each pack 

Acom 

£35 

Font Pack 1 - Paladin. Swiss B, 


Symbol B, Vogue 

RISC 

£47 

Font Pack - Avant Garde. Bookman 


Pembroke - each pack 

CC 

£26 

Fortran 77 Release 2 

Acom 

£75 

Freddy’s Folly (not OS 3) 

Minerva 

£8 

Freddy Teddy 

Topologika 

£18 

- Balloons / The Zoo 

Topologika 

£27 

- The Playground 

Topologika 

£27 

- The Puddle / The Wardrobe 



Topologika 

£27 

Freddy Teddy’s Adventure 

Topologika 

£17 

Fun School 2 

Database 


- age -6. age 6-8, age 8+ 

each 

£15 

Fun School 3 

Database 


- age -5. age 5-7, age 8+ 

each 

£18 

Fun School 4 

Database 


- age -5. age 5-7. age 8+ 

each 

£20 

Gammaplot 

Minerva 

£36 

Gate Array Design System 

Silicon 

£114 

Genesis 1 

Oak 

£40 

Genesis II 

Oak 

£99 

Genesis Plus 

Oak 

£69 

GerberPlot 

Silicon 

£63* 

Giant Killer, age 10+ 

Topologika 

£16 

Giant Killer Support Disc 

Topologika 

£14 

Gods 

Krisalis 

£19 

Good Impression Word Processing vo£27 

GraphBox 

Minerva 

£55 

GraphBox Professional 

Minerva 

£105 

Graphic Writer 

Clares 

£24 

Greetings Graphics, draw/sprites 



Micro Studio £16 

Gribbly’s Day Out 

Coin-Age 

£21 

GridIT 

Widgit 

£30 

Grievous Bodily ARM 

Fourth Dim 

£21 

Hard Disc Companion release 2 Rise 

£45 

Hearsay II 

RISC 

£70 

History Costume, sprites 

Micro Studio £16 

Holed Out 

Fourth Dim 

£16 

- Compendium 

Fourth Dim 

£21 

Home Accounts 

Minerva 

£34 

Hostages 

Superior 

£14 

HotLink Presenter 

Lingenuity 

£29 

House of Numbers 

Chalksoft 

£20 

Hoverbod (not OS 3) 

Minerva 

£8 

Hyperbook Electronic Library 


(including Reader) 

Longman 

£109 

Hyperbook Reader 

Longman 

£47 

Ibix the Viking (not OS 3) 

Minerva 

£11 

PC SWI 

Baildon 

£15 

- bought with Oddule 


£5 

Illusionist 

Clares 

£76 


- site licence 


£435 

- extra manual for sites only 

V0 £7 

Insight 

Longman 

£68 

Instigator 

Dabs 

£39 

Interdictor 2 

Clares 

£25 

Investigator 2 (not OS 3) Leading Edge 

£22 

IronLord 

UBISoft 

£14 

Jahangir Khan World 



Championship Squash 

Krisalis 

£19 

James Pond 

Krisalis 

£20 

Jet Fighter 

Minerva 

£8 

Jiglet 

4matron 

£25 

Jigsaw 

4mation 

£27 

Junior Database 

lota 

£45 

Junior Pinpoint 

Longman 

£23 

Karma 

Periscope 

£21 

Kerbang 

Eterna 

£12 

Keyboard Player 

Chalksoft 

£17 

Knowledge Organiser 

Clares 

£42 

Landmarks - Aztecs / Columbus / Egypt / 

Rain Forest / Second World War / 


Victorians - each 

Longman 

£19« 

Last Days of Doom 

Topologika 

£17 

Last Ninja 

Superior 

£19 

Legend of the Lost Temple 

Etema 

£19 

Lemmings 

Krisalis 

£19 

Letters and Pictures 

Chalksoft 

£17 

Level 4 Fileserver 

Acom 

£185 

LISP 

Acom 

£145 

Little Red Riding Hood, age 5-8 Selective £15 

Logistix 

Acom 

£77 

Logo 

Longman 

£55 

LogoPlotter 

Longman 

£19 

Maddingly Hall 

Minerva 

£8 

Mad Professor Mariarti 

Krisalis 

£15 

Magpie 

Longman 

£45 

Mah-Jong European - The Game cis 

£19 

Mah-Jong Patience 

CIS 

£15 

Mailshot 

Minerva 

£27 

Manchester United Europe 

Krisalis 

£19 

Manchester United Football Club Krisalis £19 

Maps and Landscapes 1 

Chalksoft 

£19 

Maps and Landscapes 2 

Chalksoft 

£19 

Mark Master 

Chalksoft 

£67 

Master Break 

Superior 

£14 

Masterfile II 

RISC 

£19 

Mazes, drawfiles 

Micro Studio £16 

Memory Magic 

CIS 

£12 

Mental Maths 

CIS 

£15 

MicroDrive Golf 

CIS 

£14 

- Extra Courses 

CIS 

£11 

- World Edition 

CIS 

£23 

Micro Trader Accounts 

PRES 

£199 

MiG-29 Superfulcrum 

Domark 

£29 

Military History, sprites 

Micro Studio £16 

Minotaur 

Minerva 

£8 

Missile Control 

Minerva 

£8 

Mogul 

Ace 

£20 

Money Matters 

Triple R 

£15 

Movaword 

Chalksoft 

£17 

Mr Doo 

CIS 

£16 

MultiFS 

Arxe 

£27 

Multistore version II 

Minerva 

£179 

Nature Graphics, draw/spntes 



Micro Studio £16 

Nebulus 

Krisahs 

£19 

Nevryon 

Fourth Dim 

£16 

Nevryon 2 - Technodream 

Fourth Dim 

£21 

Newton 

Longman 

£18 

No Excuses 

Arcana 

£21 

Nominal Ledger 

Minerva 

£78 

Notate 

Longman 

£49 

Note Invaders 

Chalksoft 

£20 

Numbers and Pictures 

Chalksoft 

£20 

Numerator 

Longman 

£60 

Numerator Chaos 

Longman 

£19 

Office Tools 

Silicon 

£276 

Ollie Octopus’ Sketchpad 

Storm 

£14 

Order Processing/Invoicing 

Minerva 

£78 

Orion 

Minerva 

£8 

Orrery 

Spacetech 

£93 

Ovation 

RISC 

£85 

Overload 

Clares 

£13 

P acmania 

Domark 

£16 

Padlock 

ICS 

£10 

- site licence 


£30 

Pandora’s Box 

Fourth Dim 

£21 

Paradroid Arc 

Corn-Age 

£21 







Monotony 




m iy wu 'Vi 


from a monochrome BJ-10 or DeskJet! 


printer which can take coloured inks or ribbons. 


ss printing tor best results on a DeskJet 500C. No more soggy brown blacks! 
ults comparable in quality with print from a £2000 colour printer. 4 


*1 w&m 


"■ mv * colour separation ‘on the fly' using normal files (Draw, Impression etc) 
ndard RISC OS printer drivers. ColourSep should work with 
computer Concepts’ TurboDrivers - we’ll check as soon as they appear. 

creen preview of colour separations. Fine tuning and non-linearity 
compensation to suit different inks. 

Discover the excitement of colour printing for 
the first time, or improve the quality of your 
current work. 


iColourSep Ink Setup Chart 

Cyan 


Yellow 


Key Black 


c 1 1-' i in k ^erup 


Ink group nane: Hon-1 inear Inknun 


G 174 


B 255 


Ink group: 1/2^ 3 


Single user copy £25. Site Licence £60. 

We can also supply complete kits including coloured inks, cartridges and paper 
Order from ICS or ask your dealer. 

Prices exclude VAT. Carriage is free on UK prepaid orders. 

ICS (Ian Copestake Software) 

Dept B35, 1 Kington road, West Kirby, WIRRAL, Merseyside, L48 5ET 

Tel : 051 -625 1 006 Fax: 051 -625 1 007 


\>S Af 

£ Stand \ 





INI EWS 


ACORN LAUNCHES FLEET OF MACHINES 



WELL before the BBC Acorn 
User Show, Acorn has 
announced the release of three 
major new Rise OS 3 
machines. The Acorn A3010, 
the Acorn A3020 and the 
Acorn A4000. These comple- 
ment Acorn’s current 
machines, the A4, the A3000 
and the A540. Also, in a sur- 
prise announcement the 
company has revealed a new 
link-up with Psion, the first 
fruit of which is the Acorn 
Pocket Book. 

The machines are based 
around a new chip from Arm 
Ltd. the Arm250. The Arm250 
is a large chip incorporating 
the original four chip set. Arm, 
Vide, IOC and Memc. 

The Pocket Book is based 
around Psion technology, with 
software written by Computer 
Concepts that facilitates easy 
transfer of notes and diaries to 
a desktop Acorn machine. 

Acorn has called the A3010 
the family machine and it is 
designed to be equally appro- 
priate for games or home- 
based education. It is less 
deep than the A3000, with dis- 
tinctive green keys. It also has 
a high-density 3.5in floppy 
drive, allowing floppies to be 
formatted to Rise Os 1.6Mb. 
or Dos 1 .44Mb format. 

The basic A3010 can be 
purchased for £499.95 inc 
VAT, and for this you get just 
the machine, with a floppy 
disc drive, no hard drive, 
monitor or printer. The lack of 
monitor is balanced by a TV 
modulator inside the machine, 
allowing it to use a normal 


The A3010 family machine 

television as a display. In 
keeping with the games-ori- 
ented image the machine will 
undoubtedly hold, there are 
two joystick ports on the rear 
of the machine, and a socket 
for connection to stereo head- 
phones or a hi-fi. There is also 
a monitor connection, a serial 
port for communications and. 
in keeping with the rest of the 
range, a bidirectional parallel 
port. Hard drives and extra 
memory are optional. 

The 2Mb A3020 is the 
machine Acorn has aimed 
squarely at the education mar- 
ket. It has the option of net- 


working facilities (both Econet 
and Ethernet), which it swaps 
for the joystick ports of the 
A3010. Both machines are in 
the same case (the A3020 has 
red keys, however), and both 
have the option of expansion 
in the form of a mini podule. 
like that of the existing A3()()(). 

The more business-like 
A4000 is essentially an A3020 
in a slimline box, w ith separate 
PC-style keyboard, monitor 
and 80Mb hard disc as 
standard. This machine is 
aimed at business but is also 
likely to appeal to many sec- 
ondary schools. 


The new machines form the 
basis of Acorn ‘solutions.’ 
The Family Solution incorpor- 
ates an A3010 with no hard 
dri ve, M i nerva’ s Easi word 
word processor and 1Mb of 
memory. The A3010 Learning 
Curve package also includes 
the PC Emulator and Genesis 
applications. 

The A4000 Home Office 
pack includes Easi Writer 2, 
Icon Technology's profes- 
sional word processor and 
Desktop Database. 

• At the press launch of the 
new' machines. Acorn stated 
that it was a changed com- 
pany, with new direction. 

The launch will be boosted 
by adverts in the national 
press, a TV campaign, and the 
stocking of Acorn machines in 
most high street electrical 
stores, including Dixons, John 
Lewis and Argos. The 
machines will also be seen in 
leading home catalogues. 

Bob Coates, Acorn’s busi- 
ness development manager, 
said: ‘everybody who wants a 
machine around Christmas 
time will have heard of, and be 
thinking of Acorn.’ 



The new Arm250 


SHARE PRICES SOAR 


RISC UPGRADES READY 


SIX MONTHS ago, who 
would have predicted that 
Acorn's share price would rise 
from 6p to more than 40p on 
the unlisted securities market? 

The price has hovered 
around 28p since July but, dur- 
ing August, it shot up over a 
third, past Amstrad’s share 
price to a new high of 41 .5p. 

This gives Acorn a share 
value of £28 million, com- 
pared with £4 million at the 
beginning of the year. 


Oddly enough, a speculative 
story in a computer trade 
weekly that Acorn was about 
to be sold by Olivetti failed to 
affect Acorn’s share price. 
Acorn themselves categori- 
cally denied the story. 

Understandably, there is 
now considerable optimism on 
the Acorn scene and for the 
first time in several years the 
company could see some 
excellent financial results later 
on in the year. 


RISC OS 3 upgrades are now 
available to all Rise OS com- 
puter users, including A300 
and A400 series owners. 

The basic Rise OS 3.10 
upgrade pack includes a set of 
replacement Roms and 
manuals and is list-priced at 
£89 inc VAT. However, a 
special £49 inc VAT price will 
be maintained until the middle 
of next year. A5000 owners 
can receive just the new Roms 
for £19 inc VAT. 


Rise OS 3 level improvements 
include the option of 3D win- 
dow borders. 12 outline fonts 
in held in Rom, key enhanced 
Acorn applications like Edit , 
Paint and Draw in Rom, faster 
graphics, background disc and 
printing operations and icon- 
ised windows. 

Rise OS 3 is compatible 
with all levels of Arm proces- 
sor fitted to Archimedes 
models, and will be available 
from most Acorn suppliers. 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 7 



So good, they built a new computer round it. 


An ideA'92 A3000 Internal Hard Disc Upgrade from ICS will lit neatly inside a brand 
new Acorn A30 10 computer. Other makes won't. 


With background mode operation, our new generation S-bit A3000 Series internal 
interface is already producing speeds in excess of 800 kb/scc with certain hard discs. 

1.6 Mb/sec is possible with our 16-bit interfaces. And we haven't finished tweaking yet! 


Not one. not two. but three levels of password p provide the security your 

data really deserve. 


Hard discs can have \pz: ■'iOiJMn.K so they appear as separate drives, with different 
protection levels if required. 

Almost is possible via the l 2 C port which our cards have always 

included as standard. 


A very special offer from ICS! 

A3010 ‘Family Solution’ + 20 Mb Hard Disc £599 

A3000 Series Internal 2 V 2 ' Upgrade 
or A300/400/500 2W ‘Hard Card’ 20 Mb £212 

60 Mb £349 

80 Mb £449 

A300/400/500 3 V 2 " Internal Upgrade 40 Mb £210 

80 Mb £275 

100Mb £305 

200 Mb £499 

340 Mb £775 


It took us some time to understand IDE. but then we started two years ago. If you've had problems 
with products from less experienced suppliers we’ll do our best to help you pick up the pieces. 

We don’t advertise what we can’t supply. All the above are available as this goes to press. 

Prices are for complete upgrade kits and exclude VAT. Carriage is free on UK prepaid orders. 
External options are also available Not all interfaces yet include all of the ideA'92 features - please 
check. 


ICS (Ian Copestake Software) 

Dept B35, 1 Kington road, West Kirby, WIRRAL, Merseyside, L48 5ET 

Tel: 051-625 1006 Fax:051-6251007 






NEWS 


CUMANA CUTS PRODUCT PRICES 




CUMANA has reduced the 
price of its A3000 1Mb Ram 
upgrade from £50. excluding 
VAT and delivery, to just 
£29.95 inclusive. Cumana 
claims its slimline four-layer 
design offers lower RF1 inter- 
ference and easier fitting. 

RFI interference suppression 
has also been improved in 
Cumana CD-Rom drives. 
According to Cumana, this 
has meant a 50 percent impro- 
vement in the data transfer. 
The performance improvement 
is experienced because less 
data is corrupted, so less error 


Cumana's CXX436 CD-Rom array: down by one-quarter 


correction is required. The 
company has also knocked 


Cumana's 1Mb memory upgrade: half-price 


£500 off the price of its six- 
unit CXX436 CD-Rom array. 
The 25 percent cut brings the 
price of the Cumana array 
down to £1,495, excluding 
VAT. The CXX436 is designed 
for use as a multiple CD-Rom 
server for networks and is 
compatible with Acorn, RM 
and PC installations. Contact 
Cumana on (0483 ) 503 121. 


NETWORK STANDARD 


THE word has been out about 
Acorn’s Universal Networking 
(AUN) environment for sev- 
eral months but now, at last, it 
has been officially launched. 

AUN solves the problem of 
common access to the two 
main networking standards 
available to Acorn users: 
Acorn's proprietary Econet 
standard which has been 
around since Acorn's earliest 
days; and the much more pow- 
erful, though expensive, 
Ethernet standard, which is 
commonly used on other com- 
puter platforms as well. 

AUN provides a common 
Rise OS operating environ- 
ment for both Ethernet and 
Econet and an AUN set-up can 
consist of a number of separate 
Econet and Ethernet networks, 
linked up by an Ethernet back- 
bone. Rise OS computers can 
then operate as gateways as 
well as local file servers. 

A new release of Acorn’s 
Level 4 file server software 
has been introduced with AUN 
in mind. Acorn’s Mike 
O'Riordan said: ‘AUN pro- 
tects the existing user invest- 
ments due to its compatibility 
with existing networks and its 
future proofing for tomor- 
row.' AUN product packs. 


which include the new Level 4 
software, are priced from 
£399* excluding vat. 

• Acorn is not the only com- 
pany to have launched an 
Ethernet-based enhancement 
for Acorn networks. Oak Solu- 
tions' ClassNet system is 
remarkably similar to AUN. 

ClassNet can usefully link 
both Econet and Ethernet net- 
works and offer gateway 
access to fileservers from both 
sides. Oak Solutions points out 
that ClassNet enables full inte- 
gration of existing Econet 
systems with the latest 
Ethernet-based systems. 

Oak says that an Ethernet- 
equipped ClassNet system 
with a Level 4 file server can 
load applications at speeds 
equivalent to hard discs, of the 
order of 600Kbps. Oak also 
claims its system can optimise 
performance by separating 
local activities out and prev- 
enting them from saturating 
the whole network. 

The similarities between 
ClassNet and AUN are very 
clear - a direct comparison 
will be interesting. For further 
details and a free poster 
explaining more about Class- 
Net, contact Oak Solutions on 
(0274)620423. 


NET SPEED 

DIGITAL Services, perhaps 
best known for its Squirrel 
database package, is launching 
a new Econet application that, 
the company claims, enables 
files to be loaded from an 
Econet workstation at the 
speed of a local hard disc. 

Digital Services describes 
the as-yet-unnamed appli- 
cation as ‘a real breakthrough 
in Econet technology which 
will reduce the frustration of 
slow load times for network 
users everywhere.' Ten-station 
starter packs will cost £2(X). 
reducing to £100 for further 
packs. Digital Services is on 
(0705)210600. 


ATOM DISC 

A NEW software house called 
Arachne is developing a 
molecular modelling package 
aimed at the education market. 

The Dorset-based company 
is offering a demonstration 
disc to potential customers for 
£5, which will be discounted 
off an eventual purchase. The 
package will be priced at £50. 

For further details contact 
Jim Cameron at Arachne. 
Orchard Cottage, East 
Morden, Wareham, Dorset, 
BH20 7DL. 


NEWS IN BRIEF 


• Ian Copestake Ltd (ICS) has 
made a public statement to cor- 
rect technical inaccuracies in a 
Cumana leaflet which could lead 
people to think that IDE hard 
drives might overload a BBC 
A3000's power supply. We 
understand that Cumana has 
now corrected the error. 

'ICS has been selling IDE hard 
discs for Acorn computers for 
almost two years. The internal 
option has been an exceptionally 
reliable product and we would 
like to reassure our present and 
future customers that they need 
have no worries about its 
safety,' says ICS. 

• First and Firstlr, the statistics 
packages available from South 
Wirral-based Serious Statistical 
Software, are to be Rise Os 
enhanced at last, which means 
they will multitask for the first 
time. First and Firstlr are claimed 
to be the most advanced statisti- 
cal systems available for the 
Archimedes. For more informa- 
tion, phone SSS on 051-327 4268. 

• Wild Vision has announced a 
Mkli version of its Hawk V9 
colour digitiser card. The new 
card now offers a real-time digit- 
ised display with near TV-quality. 
The secret is in a hardware-based 
real-time dithering system which 
massages the image pixels into a 
smoother picture. 

A product of Wild Vision's 
recent tie-up with Computer 
Concepts, the V9 Mkll has bene- 
fitted from the latter's program- 
mable gate array technology as 
used in LaserDirect and Scanlight 
cards. Secondly, despite the 
extra features, the card has been 
reduced in size to a single-width 
podule. 

A competitive price is also 
promised - hopefully, to be 
revealed at the BAU show. Wild 
Vision is also hinting that a 
special version of the new card 
will be supplied specifically for 
the DTP market. Wild Vision can 
be contacted on 081-519 1455. 

• The Magpie multimedia pack- 
age now allows users to incor- 
porate Replay sequences into 
their presentations. BAD will be 
putting this theory into practice 
in next month's issue and the 
result can be seen at the BAU 
show. For more Magpie details, 
contact Longman Logotron on 
(0223) 425558. 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 9 



NEWS 


ACORN CONTINUES WITH THE A3000 



Rumours of the A3000's death are much exaggerated 

quad-density floppy drive like 


NEWS IN BRIEF 


• The considerable interest in 
Acorn from the crucial high- 
street multiples that has been 
rejuvenated by the launch of the 
new A3010 'games' machine, has 
not apparently gone unnoticed 
at Commodore. 

Just a few weeks prior to the 
A3010 launch. Commodore 
announced it was reducing the 
price of its latest entry-level com- 
puter, the Amiga 600, by £100 to 
just £299. The Amiga is consider- 
ably underpowered compared to 
the A3010 - it only has a 7.4MHz 
16-bit 68000 processor compared 
to the A3010's 12MHz 32-bit Rise 
Arm250. 

However, the Amiga's consid- 
erable games base and sheer 
affordability at its new price may 
place a question mark over 
Acorn's pricing of the A3010. 
Acorn points out, however, that 
the A3010 represents remarkable 
value as the only Rise-based com- 
puter for under £500. Nobody 
was available at Acorn to com- 
ment on Commodore's move. 

• Derby-based junior and special 
needs education software 
developers Honormead Software 
Solutions have been appointed 
Acorn dealers. 

Honormead's Dawn Alldread 
told BAU that the new arrange- 
ment will mean her firm can 
offer better facilities for offering 
software and hardware solutions 
to customers as well as training. 
Honormead can be contacted on 
(0332) 512848. 

• A group of Archimedes com- 
puters survived the IRA bombing 
of the City of London earlier this 
year. The set of six Archimedes 
A400 series machines still func- 
tioned while the building 
around them was destroyed in 
the blast. 

The six computers, owned by 
Telekurs Ltd, are used in two 
groups of three, with each group 
decoding satellite signals, and 
checking it against the data 
received by the other. When the 
bomb went off, one group failed 
a consistency check, but the 
other took over. Thirty seconds 
later, the first set had recovered, 
and assumed control. 

The system as a whole did not 
fail during the blast. Apparently, 
pieces of glass were found emb- 
edded in the monitor cases after 
the event. 


ACORN'S market develop- 
ment manager. Bob Coates, 
has denied that the older 
Acorn entry-level Arc, the 
A3()()(). has been discontinued, 
now that the new A3010 and 
A3020 models have arrived. 
Neither will the A3000 get a 
price cut. 

Coates equates the A3000's 
continued existence with the 
continuing demand for the 
now venerable BBC Master 
128 computer, first introduced 
back in 1985. *We still sell 
several thousand Masters a 
year,' he said, and added that 
he believed there would be 
sustained residual demand for 
the A3()()(), despite its slower 
speed and lack of a 1.6Mb 
floppy drive. 

He also denied rumours that 
the top of the range A540 
would be discontinued. There 
had been speculation that the 
A540, which doesn't have a 


A NEW low-cost, high specifi- 
cation. direct drive laser 
printer has been added to the 
Calligraph range. 

Based on the Qume Crystal- 
Print Express engine, the new 
600-12 model is also claimed 
to be the fastest direct driver 
laser available yet for Rise Os 
computers. Paper throughput is 
rated at 12 pages per minute 
and normal resolution is 
600dpi. with a maximum of 
1200dpi horizontally. 

The new printer benefits 
from recent software improve- 
ments to Calligraph' s control 
software - for example, the 
choice of paper bin is now 
selectable from the Rise Os 


its newer siblings, was too 
expensive to make, since it 
uses the old A300 and A400- 
series case. 

Apparently, batches of both 
the A540 and the A3000 will 
be built for as long as there is a 
demand. Coates did, however, 
confirm that production of the 


desktop. Networking con- 
nectivity software is offered as 
a £69 option. The 6(H)- 1 2 
printer is priced £ 1 399 ex VAT, 
with a £100 discount to edu- 
cation customers. For further 
details, contact Calligraph on 
(0223)461 143. 



Calligraph 600-12: fastest yet 


A400/I Archimedes model 
ended some time ago. 

• The A5000 has at long last 
been granted a more realisti- 
cally sized hard drive as 
standard. Out goes the 40Mb 
version, to be replaced by an 
80Mb unit. 

A full-specification version 
of the A5000, with 4Mb Ram 
as standard, and a 1 20Mb 
drive, has also been added to 
the range. For networking 
applications, there are two new 
A5000 models fitted with 
Econet or Ethernet adapters 
but without hard discs. 

The A5000 2Mb HD80 is 
priced at £1399 ex VAT, the 
A 5 000 4Mb HD 120 at £1599 
ex VAT, while the hard disk- 
less A5000 NS (Econet) costs 
£1299 ex VAT and the A5000 
NS (Ethernet) is priced at 
£1399 ex VAT. The A5000 
Learning Curve bundle costs 
£1445.96 ex vat. 


OVERLAY 

OFFER 

MBIT Education Products L.td, 
which manufacturers the A3 
Oldham Overlay Keyboard, 
has combined with Northwest 
Semerc to discount the latter's 
overlay software in an offer 
which appears to save pur- 
chasers more than the actual 
purchase price of the £120 
keyboard itself. 

BBC Micro owners are 
being offered discounts of up 
to £148 on selected overlay 
programs and Archimedes 
users can save up to £68. 
Users of both will save £216 in 
all. For more details, contact 
iibiton 081-540 2333. 



A5000 gets the hard drive it deserves 

BUDGET LASER PRINTER 


10 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 





Longman Logotron introduces a brand new word 


processor, with all the ease of use of the famous 
PenDown and with powerful new features, including: 

FONT FIND AND REPLACE for easy changing of any 
attributes of a font throughout the document. 


Typeface: 

Weight: 

Style: 

Height: 

Nidth: 


TABLE EDITOR to 

create, reorganise and 
perform sum and 
percentage calculations 
on tables. 


Synthetic Round and Flat BrWto 


-Scope 

4 From line down 
/Whole document 


MASTER PACES jfgp Mgg/L 

(single or double) and iggfe- 

chapters, for creating |pt? 

headers and footers. I_ r-uaa 

ONARY with over 65,000 words and check-as-you- 
m name and address database; FLEXIBLE PRINTING 
; CONTINUOUS SCROLLING DOCUMENTS so you 
NTROL with ruler copy and move; and all the other 
p selling word processor for schools. 


ALSO INCLUDES an outstanding new DICT 
type facility; MAILMERGE with !Mail, a custo 
CONTROL with automatic booklet printing 
don't have to turn pages; VISUAL RULER CO 
features which made PenDown easily the to 


LongmaN 

LogotroN 


124 Science Park 
Milton Road 
Cambridge CB4 4ZS 
Tel (0223)425558 
Fax (0223) 425349 


RRP £79 

Site Licence £400 


r- 

Find — F 

•i 

r 

Replace- F 


Trinity 



Trinity 


m ftHV « 



m HOLD 


M flHY M 



m HOLD »* 


M flHY « 



12 


m flHY ♦♦ 



12 











Virtual Reality 


t> 








Explore New 
Dimensions... 

Read about the exciting 
world of virtual reality 
and experiment with 
stereoscopic images 
on your screen. 

You can get a FREE copy 
of the article 'Exploring Virtual 
Reality', a FREE disc of programs 
and FREE red and green gels, 
if you send an addressed label 
and a 1st class stamp to: 


VR Offer, RISC User, 

1 17 Hatfield Rd., St. Albans, Herts, AL1 4JS 



ChartWell Version 1.1 

A sophisticated Graph 
and Chart Package which 
now offers new features. 

Full handling of negative values in bar 
charts (both vertical and horizontal), 
line graphs and scatter graphs. Where 
negative values are used, the user will 
be able to choose whether axis 
labelling appears on the axis itself or at 
the left and/or bottom edges of the 
graph display. Bar charts using 
negative values will have the option of 
a solid or transparent 'zero platform’ for 
3D displays. 

More flexible handling of data limits, 
allowing the user to configure ChartWell 
for handling more data points than the 
current fixed limit. Users will now be 
able to allocate as much of the available 
memory in their system as they wish for 
this purpose. 

A number of improvements to 
positioning of labels, titles and values 
have been incorporated to avoid 
potential clashes and overlaps which 
occurred in some circumstances. 

Chartwell and manual 

Price £29.95 Inc + £2 p&p Code PCHWa 
Version 1.1 of Chartwell is available free of 
charge to existing users (send the original 
disc and a SAE marked ChartWell Upgrade). 





DeskEdit Version 1.20 

is a release following a number of glowing reviews 

in the computer press ... and offers even more features for text 

editing and word processing tasks , Basic and C source editing. 


A new single key save-and-run feature in 
Basic mode permits virtually instantaneous 
testing of programs and applications as you edit 
them. 

The improved procedure and function 
browser now lets you browse ii. both directions 

In text mode, wordwrap control is improved, 
while in C mode syntax checking is extended, 
and a special Search option lets you search for 
function definitions. 

Other new features are: • dynamic date insertion 
• Left and Right Justify • bracket matching • Align 
Columns and • the Char Info option. 

• "ssssr 

Should prove 

*2°' Archived es World 

iverypopula- deserves to 

\ ..a wonderful piece of ^ra ... 

\ ^nn everyone's icoh» a ± 

DeskEdit + 48 p.e manual + a function keystrip 
Price £24.95 inc + £2 p&p Code PEDTb 

Existing users may upgrade to V. 1 .20 by 
sending their original disc, together with £2.00 
and SAE marked DeskEdit Upgrade 1.2. 



DeskEdit 

is the ultimate all-purpose 
editor for the Archimedes , 
with special features for 
plain text, Basic and C 
source. 

Edit your Basic programs 
on the desktop and test them 
inter-actively with a single 


RISC Developments Ltd. 117 Hatfield Road, St Albans, Herts AL1 4JS. Tel. 0727 40303 Fax 0727 860263 
















NEWS 


SHAREHOLDER UPDATE 


SILICON Vision has enhanced 
its package for everyone who 
holds shares. ShareHolder 
Professional release 3.0 is an 
enhanced version of the graph- 
ical package for monitoring 
share price data. 

Share price sources can he 
Ceefax, Oracle, Prestel or 
other viewdata systems. The 
system can show trends, retail 
price indices and general mar- 
ket price extensions and more. 
The program makes full use of 
the Rise Os desktop. Share- 
Holder Plus costs £275 inc 
VAT and carriage. Existing 
users can upgrade for £75 or 


£125 depending on the original 
version owned. 

Silicon has also revised 
SolidTOOLS , now at release 
5.0. Additional facilities 
include the ability to use all 
Acorn monitor types, 
improved image quality from 
the ray tracing tool and inte- 
gration with the 24-bit world. 
The price of SolidTOOLS 5.0 
is £275 inc VAT. Returning 
your two original SolidTOOLS 
discs means the upgrade will 
cost £175 inc VAT. 

For further details on both 
packages, contact Silicon 
Vision on 081-427 5169. 


SUPPORT 
FOR IT 

ACORN in Education Centres 
(AECs) are to be set up by 
Acorn in conjunction with 
Education IT Support Centres. 
The aim of the new centres is 
to offer specialist IT support to 
schools using Acorn products. 

With AECs, help and advice 
should be conveniently to hand 
as it will be available locally. 
The service should take some 
pressure off dealers, leaving 
them to concentrate on their 
work on installing and servic- 
ing equipment. 

Acorn hopes teachers will 
visit the new centres to find 
examples of Acorn's latest 
products from multimedia and 
networking to peripherals and 
software. 

Commenting on the initia- 
tive, Acorn's managing 
director said: ‘We are aware 
that merely providing the com- 
puter hardw'are is not suffi- 
cient. It is for this reason that 
we have defined, as part of our 
mission, that we will work in 
partnership with others whose 
expertise is vital in creating 
the complete environment for 
effective use of IT in schools.’ 

For more on Acorn's new 
policy, see page 26. 



SHOWING SOME SPECIAL THINGS 


ACORN computers, software 
and peripherals will star at the 
Micros for Special Needs 
exhibition which takes place at 
the Queen Elizabeth Hall, 
London, on 1 3 to 1 5 October. 

The event showcases com- 
puter equipment and software 
for people, both young and 
older, who have difficulty in 
using standard ‘out of the box' 
systems. For some exhibitors, 
it will be a busy week, as 
B AU's own show starts the 
day after the Special Needs 
show finishes. 

Here are a few of the fam- 
iliar Acorn names exhibiting 
in Oldhanr. Lindis Interna- 
tional will be there to show the 
TouchWindow pressure-sensi- 
tive touchscreen. Silica Soft- 
ware Systems will be showing 
its easy-to-use Flare Rise Os 
art package. 

Longman Logotron’s wide 
range of software titles will 


also be exhibited. The 
National Special Needs Soft- 
ware Unit, which became a 
limited company back in 
April, will be at the event to 
show its Concept Keyboard 
compatible releases. These 
include Touch Explorers , 
Kaleidoscope Curriculum 
Packs, the Archimedes Big 
Text Window and scenario 
designer tools for language 
development. 

Brilliant Computing will be 
showing a new range of soft- 
ware which uses sound and 
graphics, plus alternative con- 
trol devices to the conven- 
tional keyboard, to motivate 
special needs users. 

The Scottish Council for 
Educational Technology 

(SCET) will, hopefully, be 
previewing its new disc based 
Special Educational Needs 
Database (SEND) for the 
Archimedes. Showing Gestalt 


2, a new numeracy skills pack- 
age for Rise Os, will be Basing 
Educational Software. The 
firm's software is recom- 
mended by the British 
Dyslexia Association - which 
also has a stand at the show. 

Penny & Giles Computer 
Products will be showing a 
variety of computer input and 
control devices for people with 
motor control problems. 
Another highlight will 
include a special computer 
called ORAC developed by 
Lancaster University. This box 
of tricks has bqth human voice 
and synthetic speech facilities 
and is designed for helping 
people with speech impair- 
ments who also cannot use a 
keyboard. 

The Micros for Special 
Needs Exhibition looks like it 
will be well attended and well 
worth a visit for anyone 
involved in this area. 


ACORN ROADSHOWS 


You might be able to see the 
new Acorn machines locally if 
you happen to be near one of 
the various World of Acorn 
Roadshows happening between 
September and December. Dates 
and venues are: 

• SEPTEMBER 
Sat 12-Sun 13 

National Motorcycle Museum, 
near Birmingham 
Sat 19 

Guildhall, Portsmouth 
Sun 20 

Ipswich Moat House 
Sat 26 

Savoy Hotel, Blackpool 
Sun 27 

Hotel Smokies Park, Oldham 

• OCTOBER 
Sat 3 

Last Drop Village Hotel, Bolton 
Sun 4 

Moat House, Sheffield 
Fri 9-Sat 10 

Bell Royal School, Jersey 
Sat 10 

Britannia Adelphi Hotel, 

Liverpool 

Sun 11 

Beeches Hotel, Rotherham 
Sat 24 

Swindon TBA 
Sun 25 

Ye Old Bell Hotel, Slough 
Sat 31 

Moat House Nottingham 

• NOVEMBER 
Sun 1 

North Stafford Hotel, Stoke on 

Trent 

Sat 7 

Abbey Park Resort Hotel, York 
Sun 8 

Swallow Hotel, Northampton 
Sat 14 

Hospitality Inn, Middlesborough 
Sun 15 

Royal Hotel, Hull 
Sat 28 

Aston Court Hotel, Derby 
Sun 29 

Forte Crest, South Mimms 

December 

Sat 5 

The Old Ship Hotel, Brighton 
Sun 6 

Scandik Crown Hotel, Gatwick 
Sat 12 

Novotel, Bradford 
Sun 13 

Leicester Moat House 

For more information, contact 
Acorn's consumer marketing 
coordinator on (0223) 245200. 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 13 






Vtifcvtr 

^type» of I 

shadow 


a new sWv.wi| 


I ^ |t’. special 

P^TWBf m ■ ■ — 


Ovation 1.30 


Announcing a major new release of the highly 
acclaimed desktop publisher 


Ovation is the easy-to-use desktop publisher 
used on thousands of sites 
in education and business 
across the country. Now, in 
response to customer 
feedback, it has been 

enhanced with many new features, setting 
even higher standards of quality' and value. 

Ovation is packed with professional 
features, yet remains easy-to-leam and 
instinctive to use. It provides a complete 
solution for all document generation; from 
simple single page letters to entire books with 
diagrams and scanned images. 


For the users convenience, Ovation is 
NOT copy protected. 


Upgrade to version 1.30 

Upgrade to version 1.30 for just £5 + VAT + 
£1 carriage (£6.88 inclusive). Please return 
your original program disc to the address 
below. A site licence upgrade is available 
casting £15 (£18.63 inclusive). 


New features include 

□ Mail merge — Ovation documents may be 
merged with CSV files generated by 
databases and other applications 

□ Pamphlet printing — scaled and rotated 
printout for printing booklets with 
correctly ordered pages 

□ Rotated pictures— -draw files may be 
rotated to any angle (also Sprites if you 
have RISC OS 3 0) 

□ 1st Word Plus import — 1st Word Plus files 
may be imported with style information 
direcdy into Ovation 

□ Thesaurus hodink — automatic transfer of 
words between Ovation and latest 
Desktop Thesaurus (version 1.10) 

□ Draft prindng — fast draft printing via RISC 
OS printer drivers 

□ System font — easy-to-read non anti- 
aliased system font in four weights 
(medium, bold, italic and bold italic) 

O RISC OS 3 00 compaubility — rotated text 
in Draw r files, 256 grey-level sprites and 
the desktop boot facility 


TypeStudio 

The flexible text effects package 


TypeStudio is a complete text manipuladon 
package ideal for producing professional 
quality adverts, posters, banners, logas, 
letterheads etc. 

Drawing tools allow lines and curves to 
be drawn to create almost any shape, along 
which text can be flowed. 
Pairs of lines may be 
linked to create shapes 
into which text and Draw 
files may be moulded. 

A range of special effects are available, 
including: shadow, slant, 3D and mirror. 


• Flow text along straight and curved paths 

• Mould text and Draw files to shapes 

• Wall floor and graduated shadows 

• 3-D, mirror, slant and plinth effects 

• Save in internal and Draw file format 

• Print using RISC OS printer drivers 

• Grid and zoom facilities 

• Copy, rotate and magnify 

• Import Draw files as moulds 

The package includes 7 fonts and a 64-page 
user guide containing many worked 
examples. 



Of the three (packages), TypeStudio is the most comprehensive. All the tools you are likely to need 
are included and there is no need to use any other application with it. ’ ACORN USER May 92 



Desktop Thesaurus 

New, bigger thesaurus with hotlink to Ovation 




Desktop Thesaurus now contains over 
13,750 keywords and 
nearly 135,000 synonyms. 
It is ideal for developing 
language skills in the office, 
in school or at home. 

Ideal for use with Ovation, Impression, 
Pipedream, Edit, 1st Word Plus and other 
desktop publishers and word processors. 


• Synonyms are grouped by noun, verb etc. 

• Single click to browse through synonyms 

• Data compressed to save disc space 

• Chosen synonyms may be transferred 
instantly to other applications 

Upgrade to version 1. 10 

Upgrade to version 1 . 10 for just £2 + VAT + £1 
carriage (£3 35 inclusive). Please return your 
original disc to the address below. 



'...works both speedily and [xiinlessly. This one is recommended. ’ ARCHIMEDES WORD) Jul 92 



RISC Developments Limited, 117 Hatfield Road, St. Albans, Herts. All 4JS. To order, or for more information, call (0727) 40303 

All software is suitable for Archimedes, A5000 and A3000 systems with 1Mb RAM and RISC OS 2.00 or 3.00. 

Please add VAT to all prices and carriage of £3.10 for Ovation and £2 for other products. 

All prices are for single user versioas — site licence prices available on request. 




GRAPHI 



THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH 



Watching fish swim around an aquarium is said to be an excellent method of relaxation and you can even get 
'simulated aquarium videos. However, BBC Acorn User can go one stage further, with completely stationary fish - 
you don't even have to move your eyes with this month's picture from Jon Veck. Pisces was created using Clares' 
Illusionist package and tidied up using Longman Logotron's Revelation 2. Why not try your hand at computer art? 
A £15 prize goes to any picture published on the Graphics Page. Please include details of how you created the 
picture and any other relevant information. Send your entries to the usual address. 


MAKING THE SHADE 


Arxe's PowerShade , the Rise 
OS ray tracer based on Ray- 
Shade , is nearly complete and 
may appear at the BAU show. 

At present, PowerShade 
requires script tiles to describe 
scenes for ray-tracing, but a 
full 3D editor is to be 
included, with an application 
to convert existing Euclid files 
into PowerShade script files. 

Compared to other ray-trac- 
ing programs for the Arc, 
PowerShade runs incredibly 
fast and can produce a full 
Mode 28 (800x600) picture in 
about two hours. 

A scene in PowerShade can 
be frozen at any point during 
rendering and stored to disc, 
and at a later date resumed. 
Being a true Rise OS program. 
Powershade will happily oper- 
ate in the background, allow- 
ing other applications to multi- 
task alongside it. 

PowerShade shares many 
of Ray Shade's features includ- 


ing, texture and bump-map- 
ping. The former allows you to 
take a sprite and wrap it 
around any object or project it 
onto any surface. Bump-map- 
ping lets surfaces have ripples 
rather than being completely 
smooth, which works particu- 
larly well for water effects. 

As well as producing pic- 
tures in any 256 colour mode, 
PowerShade can generate full 
24-bit colour images using the 
standard RGB file format 
found in other Archimedes 
graphics applications. These 
files can then be displayed via 
a suitable graphics card such 
as PC ATS or StateMachine’ s 
G8 graphics accelerator. 

PowerShade is expected to 
retail at £100. It will include a 
number of utilities and some 
example files. Two manuals 
are also included. 

For more details, contact 
Arxe Systems Ltd on 081-534 
1198. 


NEW CARD 

StateMachine is a new com- 
pany set up by ex-Computer 
Concepts hardware designer. 
Chris Honey, to design and 
develop innovative products 
for Acorn 32-bit computers. 

The company's first product 
will be the G8 graphics accel- 
erator, which can select any 
256 colours out of a palette of 
16.7 million. 

TV studio graphics can be 
generated with support for 
CCIR (768x576 PAL Inter- 
laced Standard) in 256 colours. 

Two versions of the G8 will 
be available. The standard G8 
at about £249 +vat, supporting 
resolutions of Cip to 1024x768, 
while the G8+, at £299 +VAT. 
will provide modes up to 
1 280x 1 024. A number of other 
new Rise OS modes are pro- 
vided, including a 256-colour 
version of Mode 3 1 . 

For further details, contact 
StateMachine on (0582) 
484266. 


NEWS IN BRIEF 


• After months of tweaking, 
Artworks, the much-talked- 
about graphic design package 
from Computer Concepts, is 
ready for release. Although the 
original version shown at last 
year's BBC Acorn User show con- 
tained most of the planned 
features, there has been consid- 
erable refining of the user 
interface. 

The finished version will now 
include a number of new fea- 
tures, such as layers and blend- 
ing. Much work has gone into 
the 'look and feel' of the pro- 
gram to ensure that the final 
release is as close to perfection 
as possible. 

• Acorn has hinted at 24-bit 
colour graphics for the next gen- 
eration of Acorn machines. 
According to rumours circulating 
at a recent Australian conven- 
tion, Acorn is currently working 
on and developing the new 
technology. 

Twelve months is expected as 
the minimum 'gestation period' 
so don't expect anything until 
the end of 1993. 

• The increasing popularity of 
desktop publishing on the Archi- 
medes has led to the establish- 
ment of a number of specialist 
print bureaux that cater for 
those who require professional 
output of their documents. 

By using a bureau, anyone can 
produce full colour documents 
from their Archimedes. All that's 
needed is a colour Postscript file 
which can be generated using 
the Rise OS Postscript printer 
driver. This file can then be used 
directly by a bureau. 

Most bureaus cater more for 
the PC market, so the file should 
be transferred onto a PC format 
disc. This can be done usingAr- 
xe's MultiFS, for example, or 
directly using Rise OS 3. 

Arch Images are a new print 
bureau specialising in the Archi- 
medes. They can be contacted on 
(0733) 375424. 

• Any graphics news, views or 
comments are welcome. Please 
write to The Graphics Page, BBC 
Acorn User, Redwood Publishing, 
101 Bayham Street, London NW1 
OAG. 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 15 






NEWS IN BRIEF 



DARCWORLD IN THE SPOTLIGHT 


Dare World IES has been 
online for a couple of years, 
and is run by Tom Crossland 
in Oxford. Although it runs on 
a PC using the Finnish 
SuperBBS software, Dare- 
World has a good range of 
message and file areas of inter- 
est to A corn users. 

As well as having a full 
Acorn Support Area, it fea- 
tures a number of special 
interest groups, ranging from 
computing and communi- 
cations, through science and 
gaming, to sound and music. 
Each has further sub-divisions, 
many of which connect to 
FidoNet echomail conferences. 
The Gaming area offers multi- 
user online games, such as 
Chess and Global War. which 
can be carried on, both online 
and from call to call. 

The file download areas 
draw from about 100Mb of 


The InterNet is a vast interna- 
tional network of computers 
used by educational, commer- 
cial and other users for sharing 
and spreading information. 
There are an enormous number 
of excellent free and sharew are 
programs in publicly access- 
ible archives on the Internet, as 
well as access to all the Usenet 
newsgroups - (about 3,600 
conferences covering every- 
thing from Acorn computers to 
Frank Zappa) and worldwide 
realtime access to about half a 
million computer sites. For 
instance, you can get free 
access to the NASA Extra- 
galactic database, download 
files from McGill fileserver in 
Canada and play a multi-user 
dungeon game in Texas. 

Connecting to InterNet isn't 
like logging onto a BBS with a 
modem. Instead it uses a pro- 
tocol called TCP/IP, which 
transfers characters in packets 
around the network. You type 
commands at your computer 
and they are dispatched onto 
the network as packets with 
the name of the ‘target’ com- 
puter on them. The packets are 
passed from node to node 
around the world, until they 

16 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 


material, and they cover 
comms reference texts, langu- 
age source code, ANSI, JPEG 
and other image formats, and a 
full range of programs of all 
kinds: games, utilities and 
business, for the Archimedes 


reach their destination, where 
the process is repeated by the 
remote computer to send a 
response back to you. 

To get started you will need 
some comms software which 
supports TCP/IP. Archimedes 
owners availing themselves of 
this service can use a PD pro- 
gram called KA9Q written by 
Phil Karn (a packet radio 
enthusiast), ported to the 
Archimedes by Jonathan Nay- 
lor. The PC version of KA9Q 
does work under the PC Emu- 
lator on an Arc. albeit rather 
slowly. You will also need 
access to an Internet gateway 
like that recently introduced by 
Demon Systems. 

The cost of the Demon 
Internet Services subscription 
is £38.19, including £22.50 
joining fee and VAT. For this 
you get electronic mail to any- 
where in the world, a full 
UserNet news feed and access 
to thousands of computers 
around the world. For further 
information contact: 

Demon Systems Limited 
42 Hendon Lane 
Finchley 
London N3 I TT 
Tel: 081-349 0063 


and eight-bit Acorn machines. 
PC. Amiga, and Atari. 

Dare World IES is on 
(08675) 77724 for 24 hours a 
day, at speeds from V21 to 
V32bis 8-N-l, and is on 
FidoNet as 2:255/321.0. 


HERE, FIDO 

To send and receive messages 
over FidoNet, a BBS node 
needs to establish connection 
with a source of message dis- 
tribution - called a ‘Hub’ 
system. A FidoNet Hub BBS 
system has the responsibility, 
under the Host, for distributing 
messages to individual nodes. 

When a BBS becomes a full 
FidoNet node, it guarantees to 
be available to the Hub for 
calls during the time allocated 
for FidoNet message 
exchanges. Even though 
‘National Mail Hour’ is 02.30 
- 03.30 in the UK, dedicating 
a phone line for the BBS may 
not at first be possible. The 
alternative is to become a 
‘Point’ BBS. communicating 
only with your ‘Boss' BBS - a 
full node. FidoNet recom- 
mends a prospective BBS 
becomes a Point first. 

Netmail and Echomail for 
the Point are held by its Boss, 
and the Point dials in at a con- 
venient time to access them. 
Sysops can often offer a ‘Point 
Kit’ - PD software and/or a 
FidoNet mailer needed to run a 
Point off a full node plus a 
Point Number’ based on the 
Boss's node number. 


• The Power House, run in Ches- 
ter by Edward Hobson, has 
extended its support to V32bis, 
courtesy of a Miracom Everest 
Dual Standard Modem now 
installed on the new second line. 
The new Everest Modem also 
restores V23 to the range of 
available speeds. 

The Power House numbers 
are: (0829) 782676 : 300-14400 
HST, V42bis, MNP5 no V23 

(0829) 782667 : 300-14400 HST, 
V32bis, V42bis, MNP5 

• Bob Voisey, pioneer of Arc 
bulletin boards and sysop of The 
Noah Conferencing System and 
its earlier incarnation, Noah BBS, 
has announced he is closing 
down TNCS and leaving the 
world of dial-up comms. We are 
very sorry to see him go. Noah 
BBS was one of the earliest Arc- 
run BBSs, and Bob helped enor- 
mously in the development of 
Hugo Fiennes' ARCbbs software. 
We wish him well in his next 
field of activity. 

• Last chance to call up Health- 
Data in its present form - 
ViewData-only V23 (1200/75) on 
081 986 4360. Over 400 health 
topics are covered by online and 
downloadable text files, and 
HealthData also features a news 
section. Chris Dobbing has been 
running the system on two 
trusty BBCs since 1985. Later this 
year he is upgrading Healthdata 
to a scrolling service running 
ARCbbs software on an Arc. 

• Free Tickets! BAU has donated 
ten of its show tickets, worth £5 
each, to Arcade BBS and they can 
be won in a simple on-line com- 
petition. Old and new users are 
invited to log on and enter. Send 
your answers on-line to the 
sysops - please do not send 
them in to the magazine. The ten 
winners will be drawn from a 
hat containing all the correct 
answers received by 9 October 
1992, which will be announced 
on Arcade. The numbers to call 
are shown below. Non-winners 
can still buy tickets by phoning 
Safesell on (0737) 814713. 

• Contact me with any news or 
information at: David Dade, BBC 
Acorn User, 101 Bayham Street, 
London NW1 0AG 

... or by modem on Arcade 
BBS: User #2 on 081-654 2212 
or 081-655 4412 



Welcome to Darcworld 

CALLING THE WORLD 




M 





'• : ^ 

Parfprmanci 

I A 

IIJ 


With User Port 


FOR FULL RANGE SEE 


PRODUCT GUIDE 


/I 


nee Qual 
ehability 
xbility Perfi 


mlity Reliability Performance Qual 
b ility Performance Quality Reliability 
Performance Q 
Duality Rot 
pilitv Pe 
'er formant 
duality Reliab 
nlity Performance 
Performance Quiu 
ality Rehabilv 
nlity Perform 
* erformai 
hiality 
tilitx l 




1Mb RAM 

£45.00 

: ¥ W S 

1 

1Mb Expandable 

£49.00 


1 

1 

1 

2Mb to 4Mb for above 

£129.00 

ieliah 

4Mb RAM 

Interface Products (Internal) 

£149.00 


1 

Econet 

£35.00 

III 

1 

Serial Upgrade 

£19.00 


User/ Analogue Podule 

£44.00 


1 

User Port 

£33.00 


1 r 1 

TV-Modulator Podule 

£39.00 

[fiC v 

:• -< :• ; |. | 

Second Drive Interface 

£24.00 



Get Control Pack 

£69.00 

'ieliah 

: /-/f 1 

1 

Mono Vision Digitiser 

£49.00 

Colour Vision Digitiser 

£79.00 


A3oocr%. 

30Mb . 

Internal IDE Drive 


Quality R 
Ibility Perfoi 
performance 
Quality Relia 

iJilitv — 

m' III l' r 


ICLl 

ility 
r ty Perfi 
ice Qual 
? liability 
l ity Perfi 
b a it c e Q it a l 

ility Reliability 
ity Reliability Perfi 
■ : ■ : 


PRODUCTS 


A3000 

Hard Disc Drives 

45Mb External 
100Mb External 
200Mb External 
HardCard45 
HardCardlOO 
30Mb IDE Internal 
with User Port 
Memory Upgrades 


£399.00 □ 
£479.00 □ 
£889.00 G 
£329.00 □ 
£429.00 G 

£199.00 G 


Interface Products (External) 

PoduleCase £15.00 G 

Mono Vision Digitiser £62.00 G 

Colour Vision Digitiser £92.00 G 


£399.00 G 
£479.00 “I 
£889.00 G 
£289.00 G 
£369.00 (I 
£779.00 □ 

£45.00 n 
£89.00 □ 


A300/A400/A5000 
Hard Disc Drives 

45Mb External 
100Mb External 
200Mb External 
45Mb Internal 
100Mb Internal 
200Mb Internal 
Memory Upgrades 
1Mb RAM for A400 
2Mb RAM for A5000 
Interface Products (Internal) 

•Second Drive Interface £24.00 G 

Econet £35.00 G 

Mono Archimedes Vision £49.00 G 

Colour Archimedes Vision £79.00 G 

‘Not for use with A5000 or A300 

Book (no VAT) 

Control On The Archimedes' £9.95 G 

Please send a free HCCS 

Product Guide G 


SUBTOTAL £ 

V.A.T. (17.5%) £ 

TOTAL £ 

NAME: 


ADDRESS: 


POSTCODE 

VISA or ACCESS WELCOME 

mm 




m 


m/m 


HCCS ASSOCIATES LIMITED, 

575-583 DURHAM ROAD, LOW FELL, GATESHEAD, 

TYNE AND WEAR. NE9 5JJ. Tel: (091) 4870760 Fax: (091) 4910431 


EXPIRY DATE 

Please photocopy this order form 
if desired 

HCCS products available from 
all good Dealers 

All prices excluding VAT. 
Postage and Packaging free. 



Qualified 

Dealer 



- Uses only eight RAM devices 
- User upgradeable from 1 to 4 Mb 

- Four layer printed circuit board 

- Low power consumption 

- Available without RAM devices 
Special BBC Acorn User Show Offer 

Please phone for prices 


- Complete mouse replacement 

- Plugs into existing mouse socket 

- No extra software required 
- Ideal for 'portable' use 

Genius Hi-Point trackerball - £49 


- Four layer printed circuit boards 
■ Free MEMCla with 4Mb upgrade 
- Courier collection & fitting included 

2nd Mb- £99 4th Mb -£199 
2nd to 4th Mb upgrade - £99 


A4 Trackerball 


A3000 Memory 


A5000 Memory & Drives 


- Increases A5000 memory to 4Mb 
- Upgradeable and non upgradeable versions 
- 4Mb to 8Mb price includes installation 
- High quality, four layer circuit board 

A5000 4Mb RAM non-expandable - £89 
A5000 4Mb RAM - £1 10 4Mb to 8Mb RAM - £399 
2nd 100Mb IDE Drive - £245 


Aleph One 386 PC podule 


- Provides full compatibility with PC software 

- 10 to 20 times speed increase over emulator 

- Single width podule suitable for all machines 

- Multi-tasks in RISC OS window 

- Upgradeable with floating point coprocessor 
386 podule with 1Mb RAM - £495 with 4Mb RAM - £575 


Syquest removable disc systems 


- Including one cartridge, drive unit and all cables 
- 42Mb removable cartridges 
- High-flow fan fitted for improved cooling 

Atomwide Syquest drive unit - £389 
Drive unit with Oak SCSI card - £488 
Drive unit with Morley SCSI card - £524 
Spare 42Mb disks - £55 


SCSI Hard discs 


- Including drive, metalwork and all cables 
- Fast 16ms access with 64K cache 
- Phone for prices on IDE drives and interface cards 
- Available as internal or external units 

105Mb internal - £299 200Mb internal - £599 
425Mb internal - £949 External units add - £65 
Oak 16 bit card - £99 Morley 16 bit card - £135 


Ethernet Products 


A4 pocket adapter 

- Full Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) conformity 

- Supports 'thin' wire cable 

- Fully compatible with AUN 

A4 pocket adapter - £199 


A400/A5000 series Ethernet podule A3000 internal Ethernet podule 

- Full Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) conformity - Full Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) conformity 

- Fully compatible with AUN - Supports 'thin' wire cable 

10base2 (thin wire) - £149 - Fully compatible with AUN 

10base2 + 10base5 (thick & thin wire) - £175 A3000 Ethernet podule - £149 


Acorn Machines 


A3010 

- 1Mb expandable to 2Mb 

- 1600K floppy drive 

- Built in TV modulator 


A3020 A4000 

- 2Mb expandable to 4mb - 1 mb expandable to 4mb 
-1 600K floppy drive - 1 600K floppy drive 

- Built in TV modulator - Three box design 

All new machines contain RISC OS 3 and the new ARM250 
processor. Please phone for full details and prices for the new 
range of machines. 


A5000 

- ARM 3 processor 
-12MHz memory 
- 1600K floppy drive 




- All products are cross-compatible 

- Combination deals available on all products 

- Dealer enquiries welcome 

- Phone for full details on all products 

All prices exclude VAT at 1 7.5% but include delivery 


•*# 



23 The Greenway Orpington Kent BR5 2AY Tel 0689 838852 Fax 0689 896088 














Four new 
machines! 

Three separate 
markets. 

Graham Bell 
looks at Acorn's 
all-encompassing 
launch 


AN ACORN 

FOR EVERYONE 


T he A3000 is dead. Long 
live the A3000. Except 
that the old A3000 itself 
isn't quite dead yet. And 
the new one - is it a real king 
or just the old emperor in new 
clothes? 

Such was the wide appeal of 
the A3000, that Acorn has 
revamped it into not just one, 
hut three separate machines, 
each aimed at a specific seg- 
ment of the computer- buying 
public. This is a very new 
approach for Acorn, and it is 
even planning a TV advertis- 
ing campaign for one of the 
range, the A3010. 

The A3010 is Acorn's fam- 
ily machine, or w hat is known 
to the rest of us as the games 
machine. It is something more 
than a console but is aimed at 
many of the same people who 
currently buy Amigas. 

By contrast, the A3020 is a 
product to satisfy Acorn's tra- 
ditional buyers in primary and 
middle school education. 

And the third machine, the 
A4000, is tailored to the needs 
of small business and the more 
experienced end of the home 
computer market. Acorn have 
given it the title ‘home office*. 

All in all. Acorn has com- 
pleted its cycle of product 


renew al in less than a year: the 
PC-style technology of the 
A5000 has been passed on to a 
new range of micros that will 
effectively replace the aging 
A3000. Then there is, of 
course, a fourth machine, the 
Acorn Pocket Book. 

NEW A3000 SERIES 

Outwardly, the A3010 and 
A3020 manage to look 
remarkably different from 
each other and from their pre- 
decessor: smaller. more 

rounded, less fussy than the 
A3000. They look consider- 
ably smaller, although in fact 
the depth of the machine has 
only been reduced by a few 
centimetres. The case itself is a 


light plastic moulding, but the 
machines feel extremely heavy 
for their size. While the A3020 
retains the established BBC 
and A3000 colouring of a 
cream case, with mainly grey 
keys and the function keys in 
red, the A3010 is a bit of a 
novelty: the case is a lightish 
grey, with the function keys in 
a distinctive green. Certainly, 
this will help to differentiate 
the models. 

Apart from colour, most of 
the external features of the two 
machines are identical. The 
keyboard is the usual Acorn 
style - light and a little flabby, 
without a positive key click - 
though it does have real spr- 
ings like an A5000. not the 


tiny rubbery gaiters of earlier 
Archimedes keyboards or the 
membrane affair of the A3000. 

To the right-hand side, 
there’s a 3.5in high-density 
floppy disc drive, which can 
read all Rise OS disc formats 
up to 1.6Mb, as well as PC 
formats up to 1.4Mb. To the 
left, a single small hole gives 
access to the reset switch - 
you need something pointed to 
press it. 

Around the back is the main 
array of connectors. Both 
machines have the mouse, 
stereo headphone, monitor, 
parallel and serial port connec- 
tors that you would expect: all 
are compatible with their 
A5()( )() equivalents. But the 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 19 


NEW LAUNCH 




THE FAMILY MACHINE 


THE HOME OFFICE 


Inside the case, the reason 
for the weight is immediately 
apparent: sheet metal shielding 
covers almost everything. Two 
cutouts in the shields give 
access to the bay at the rear for 
fitting a podule and to the front 
(under the keyboard) for 
adding memory upgrades, 
without dismantling the whole 


lot. But it does come apart, to 
reveal an impressively bare 
circuit board. 

On the board, there is 
remarkably little. To the left is 
the power supply: there is a 
captive main lead but sadly no 
switched mains output for 
powering a monitor. In the 
centre of the board is the 


machines differ, in that in 
addition to its monitor connec- 
tor. the A30I0 also has a TV 
port, in keeping with its games 
machine image. And there are 
two joystick ports, to which 
you can connect Atari-style 
joysticks. You can connect the 
PAL TV output directly to the 
aerial socket of the family tele- 
vision. rather than using a 
monitor. Though the display 
quality will always be better 
on a dedicated monitor, tuning 
your television to channel 36 
should give an acceptable pic- 
ture on a modern television. 
However, it wasn't possible to 
test this out for the review . 

The A 3020 lacks these 
game-oriented items: it is 
monitor-only, though of course 
you can connect up anything 
from a standard monitor to a 
PC-style VGA monitor or even 
a multisync: the only differ- 
ence is that you get a different 
selection of screen modes 
available. And in place of the 
two joystick ports, the A3020 
has a single nine-pin D port 
that is a new style of network 
connection. Acorn intends that 
this will be used for your 
choice of Econet or Ethernet: 
the same connector is used, but 
you fit a different interface 
card inside the computer. The 
A3010 cannot be connected to 
a network in this way. 


So who is the A4000 aimed at? 
Clearly, secondary education, by 
default, forms a big part of its 
intended market, but its three- 
box format and bundled busin- 
edd software makes it quite 
clear that this is an office 
machine. 

European regulations specify 
that computers used at work 
should have separate rake- 
adjustable keyboards and other 
details, so the A3020 and 
machines like it won't be suit- 
able platforms for business use. 

In spirit, at least, the same 
regulations are just as applicable 
to school computers, at least in 
cases where individuals are 
expected to work at the key- 
board regularly for more than a 
couple of hours a day. 

The A4000 will make an excel- 
lent business machine, particu- 
larly in a network with a few 
A5000 machines doing the more 
demanding jobs. 


Arm250 chip that powers the 
whole new A3000 series. And 
to the right is the floppy disc 
drive. Under the floppy disc is 
a space for a 2.5 in IDE hard 
disc, and a 60Mb Conner drive 
is an option on the A3020. 

On the A3010, the space 
remains unused. Under the 
keyboard at the front of the 
machine is the Ram array, 
1Mb in the A3010 and 2Mb in 
the A3020. And next to this is 
the single speaker: although 
it’s a little muffled by the key- 
board, the sound is less tinny 
than on the A3000. 

All the new machines come 
with Rise OS 3, version 3.1 as 
used in the A4 portable. And 
Acorn is also releasing this as 
an upgrade for existing Archi- 
medes owners. including 
A5000 machines that have 
version 3.0. 

The Rise OS 3 Roms con- 
tain not just the operating 
system, but also: several of the 
core applications including 
Draw , Paint , Edit and Alarm ; 
the font manager and Trinity, 
Homerton and Corpus outline 
fonts; and a number of 
commonly-used modules like 
the shared C Library ( CLib ) 
and the floating point maths 
package (FP Emulator). 

Keeping all of these in Rom 
means that they do not take up 
any of that valuable Ram 
space, and in turn this means 


The A3010 is Acorn's first foray into the mass market 
with what looks like an out-and-out games machine. 
Joystick ports, a TV modulator and a strict limit on 
expansion (2Mb of Ram and no hard disc) means that 
this machine isn't really suitable for most of Acorn's 
existing market. However, it must be viewed as a 
'games machine plus' - it really isn't competing with 
the Nintendo and Sega consoles whose champions 
Mario and Sonic will battle at Christmas this year. 

There are two A3010 bundles - the Family Solution 
and the established Learning Curve package. Each 
contains the A3010 itself, the Easi word 2 word proces- 
sor and a single game (currently the Olympics tie-in 
Quest for Gold, but slated for a change before 
Christmas). The Family Solution is a bare-bones pack- 
age, which is intended for use with the family 
television, whereas the Learning Curve comes with a 
monitor and 2Mb of memory already fitted, and also 
the PC Emulator software. 

It remains to be seen whether the 'games machine 
plus' market still exists. Although the Family Solution 
bundle looks better value than has been available 
before in the Archimedes range, a retail price of £499 
is certainly still not rock bottom. An Amiga A500 or 
A500 Plus, after some recent price cuts, now comes in 
at £299. And for a family that's new to computing, and 
who originally went to Dixons looking for a bargain 


games console for £150, it means tripling their bud- 
get. Of course, there are some unique advantages - 
the performance, the graphics, the sound, Rise OS 
itself, and some fine application software. But it 
seems likely that the new range will continue to sell 
only to the more knowledgeable, sophisticated and 
educationally concerned parents. 


20 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 





NEW LAUNCH 



THE EDUCATION MACHINE 


With the A3000 the most popular new computer for schools, any 
potential replacement has to be a carefully assembled package that 
retains substantially all the features of the old machine. 

The A3020 is unashamedly an education machine - right down to the 
established cream and red livery. So what do you gain? First, performance 
- the A3020 is some 50 per cent faster than the old machine, making the 
new machine fly even in high-resolution screen modes. You gain a high- 
density floppy disc drive, plus the option of an internal IDE hard disc 
without compromising the internal mini-podule expansion. You gain a 
choice of network standard - Econet or Ethernet - also without taking up 
your mini-podule space. You gain an extra megabyte of memory as 
standard, ensuring that even the basic machine is fully capable of multi- 
tasking two or more substantial applications. You gain a serial port - 
which was an option on the A3000. You gain Rise OS 3, which while 
remaining true to its predecessor, is certainly a step forward. And you 
gain on price too. 

On this scale, losses are minor but significant. You lose some of the 
potential for expansion, as there is no external podule bus. And you lose 
the opportunity for a mid-life speed boost - some A3000 owners have 
added Arm3 chips to their machines, but it just isn't possible to uprate the 
Arm 250 like this. And you don't get the games-oriented features of the 
A3010 - the TV modulator and joystick ports, but do get the option of 
networking the machines to Econet or Ethernet. 

For the majority of schools, these objections are hardly serious, and 
with the A3020, primary and middle school needs are clearly well met. 
High schools, however, may be looking for something with a little more 
beef: a jumbo-sized hard disc, the ability to run a direct-drive laser printer 
perhaps, or a choice of video and scanner add-ons. The expansion 
potential of the A3020 is limited to the single internal mini-podule - 


though if you fitted a SCSI card, then you could cover most needs. But a 
second factor is that a more business-like appearance and a separate 
keyboard are highly desirable with older school students, and so the 
A4000 and A5000 are probably more suitable. 


POCKET POWER 


As far as we know, Acorn is the first company to secure a badged version 
of the Series 3 from Psion. Acorn's logo isn't the only change to the 
Pocket Book over the Series 3 original. The file transfer system, develo- 
ped by Computer Concepts for Acorn, makes the Pocket Book's files 
appear as the contents of an ordinary looking file directory on the Rise 
Os desktop. Files can be manipulated in the normal way by mouse 
selection, dragging and dropping. Other built in applications include an 
word processor, database, spreadsheet, calculator and an alarm. The 
Pocket Book has 256K Ram as standard and shares all the Series 3's 
expansion peripherals. Pricing is similiar to that of the original Psion. 



that even a 1Mb machine is 
fully capable of multi-tasking 
- for example, you can run 
applications like Impression , 
Draw and Paint together - 
which was not a possibility on 


the original A3000. 

The A4000 is the third com- 
ponent and it really is ‘just’ an 
A3020 in an A5000-style box, 
intended to bridge the gap 
between the two ranges. 


THE A4000 

The strengths and weaknesses 
of the A4000 mirror those of 
the A3020: Arm250; 2Mb of 
memory, upgradable to 4Mb: 
an optional internal hard disc: 
a single expansion card. It* s 
important to note that it still 
takes A300()-style mini- 
podules, not the full-size 
affairs that fit A5000s. The 
sole difference inside is that 
the hard disc is a 3.5in 80Mb 
IDE unit, not the 2.5in discs 
that fit the A3020. 

Acorn is also planning to 
bundle software and a monitor 
with the A4000 - the Home 
Office package includes the 
machine and a monitor, plus 
Easiwriter version two (not 
Easiword as in the A3010 
bundles). Iota's Desktop Data- 
base software and the latest 
version of the PC Emulator. 
This is intended for the more 
computer-literate family. 

The A4000’s obvious com- 
petition is the A5()()(), but a 
similarly specified machine 
tots up to about £500 more. 
For this premium, you get the 
higher performance of a 
25MH/. Arm3 processor, the 
chance to add the floating- 
point accelerator chip when 
this becomes available, and 
much greater expansion poten- 


tial - four podule slots rather 
than the single mini-podule of 
the A4000. You can fit a sec- 
ond floppy or hard drive inside 
the A5000 without trouble. 
But for all but the most 
demanding and technical of 
home users, the A4000 pro- 
vides all that’s necessary - 
particularly if the mini-podule 
you select is a SCSI interface. 

The basic A4000 works out 
at only £50 or so more than the 
A3020 itself - that is certainly 
money well-spent. Given this, 
and its obvious good looks, the 
A4000 could turn out to be the 
star of the range. 


PRODUCT DETAILS 


A3010 Family Solution (1Mb Ram, 
Easiword, one game): £499. A3010 
Learning Curve (2Mb, Genesis col- 
lection, parental guide, PC Soft): 
£799. 

A3020 basic system (2Mb Ram, 1 
floppy plus Acorn CGA monitor): 
£880.08. With 60Mb hard disc: 
£1056.33 

A4000 Home Office system (2Mb 
Ram, 80Mb hard disc, Acorn CGA 
monitor plus Easiwriter and Desk- 
top Database): £1173.83. Without 
software: £1115.08 

Acorn Pocket Book: 249.95. 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 21 







TDK Floppy Disks for 
those with a musical ear 

or itchy feet 



Take it easy, lie back and soak up the sounds or the sun with 
our Desert Island Disks promotion. 

Collect desert island disk points when you purchase TDK 3 V' 
diskettes and you could find yourself drifting off to the Drifters 

or sloping off to the sun. 

Claim your choice of top 40 CDs or cassettes or take off to 
your favourite holiday destination using £10 Thomas Cook Worldwide Travel Vouchers 

( no limit on the amount you can collect ). 

As you know, all TDK 3 ’ 2 " diskettes are manufactured using the unique Super EB system 
which guarantees 100% error-free performance. Now that's music to your ears! 

Start saving now. Look out for special promotional packs from your TDK dealer. 

Offer closes 30.4.93. 

TDK Floppy Disks available from:- Action 0800 333 333, Compumart 0923 816336, DNCS 0706 62541 1, Euribon 0602 507676, 
Inmac 0344 868456, JK Data 09252 32132/03552 64077, JSM/Hardys 021 764 4944/0977 558441 , Mayfield 0268 571 1 22, 
Memory Excellence 0264 337370, Misco 0933 400400, Trade Direct 0625 501601 . 



ONLY WITH 

&TDK. 





MEW LAUNCH 


ZOOMING IN 

Graham Bell lifts the lid on Acorn's new technology 



The Arm250 is an Archimedes on a single giant chip 


The Arm250 is an Archimedes on a single giant chip 



The chip count on the new machines is much reduced 


A corn’s new micros are 
all developments of its 
well-established and 
proven technology. 
However, they do differ from 
their predecessors in a number 
of ways. Most significantly, all 
three new machines are based 
around a new chip from Arm 
Ltd known as Arm 250. 

The Arm250 is most simply 
described as ‘an Archimedes 
on a single chip’. It contains 
all of the workings of an Arm2 
Rise processor chip, as used in 
the original 1987-vintage 
Archimedes A3 10. and in the 
A3000, plus the three other 
main chips in the Arc chipset 
Vide. Memc and IOC. 

All four remain essentially 
unchanged, but are integrated 
into a single giant chip. In fact 
some of Acorn’s pre-produc- 
tion A3010 machines con- 
tained carrier boards fitted out 
with separate Arm, Vide, 
Memc and IOC chips, rather 
than ‘real’ Arm250s. The only 
substantial difference from the 
Arm3 is that the Arm250 is 
fabricated using slightly larger 
scale integration, although the 
basic 1 micron technology is 
the same. This means that 
because the components are 
closer together, the clock 
speed of the system can be 
ramped up a bit. 

This means the Arm25() is 
still a fairly conservative 
design. It lacks the read cache 
that boosts the performance of 
Arm3. It runs at only I2MH/, 
and none of Arm Ltd’s most 
recent improvements from the 
Arm6 family - full 32-bit 
addressing and a write buffer 
for example - have been incor- 
porated into the chip. 

The Arm250 is carefully 
tailored for the needs of the 
new A30X0 range and no 
more. It exemplifies Arm 
Ltd’s ‘pm ’n’ mix’ approach to 
chip design: using several 
standard building blocks, a 
processor core and whatever 
‘off the shelf’ cache, memory 
management or other units are 


needed to assemble a chip that 
meets the needs of the system. 
In many ways this turns com- 
puter design on its head - 
computers used to be assem- 
bled around a processor, but 
here the processor is designed 
to fit inside the computer. 

Aside from the Arm250, the 
new' machines contain only six 
other significant chips - two of 
these make up the complement 
of 1 or 2Mb of Ram in the 


front right-hand corner (see 
picture above), and another 
two are the Rise OS 3 Roms. 

The Ram in the new 
machines has an 8()ns access 
time, in comparison to the 
125ns access time chips in the 
A3000. And this means that 
the memory' system can be run 
at 12MHz rather than the 
8 MHz of the A3000 - which, 
in theory, gives an immediate 
50 percent speed boost. 


The remaining two chips are 
an Intel keyboard controller 
and a Chips and Technologies 
82C7 1 1 PC-World chip. The 
latter looks after the parallel 
port, serial port, the clock and 
Cmos Ram, the floppy disc 
drive and the IDE hard disc. 
It’s the same chip used in the 
A4 portable and a slightly 
updated version of the 710 
used in the original A5000. 

Using the 7 1 1 means that 
both the parallel port and the 
serial port are fully PC-com- 
patible, so the parallel port is 
two-way. That means that you 
could use the parallel port to 
connect up items like scanners, 
with the appropriate software, 
and some manufacturers are 
already doing parallel port ver- 
sions of their add-ons. 

Also on the main board are 
connectors for Ram expansion 
- whatever you have can be 
doubled - and for the expan- 
sion card. This is exactly the 
same as the mini-podule con- 
nector in the A3000, and 
almost all existing expansion 
cards will work in the A3010 
and A3020. The compatible 
range includes both A 3000 
SCSI cards and cards contain- 
ing a tiny hard disc drive. This 
is the only way to add an inter- 
nal 1 ard disc to the A3010, as 
the IDE connector used on the 
A3020 is missing. You can 
easily fit an existing ICS Idea 
drive, but Beebug’s current 
hardcard is slightly too big to 
fit within the metal shielding. 
No doubt this small problem 
will soon be remedied. 

Along the rear of the circuit 
board is where the two models 
differ most. The A3010 has its 
TV modulator and joystick 
ports, and the A3020 has a 
connector for a network card. 
There are two new' designs of 
card, one of which is for 
Econet and one for Ethernet, 
but only one network card can 
be fitted. The final difference 
is that the A3020 has an IDE 
connector so an internal hard 
disc can be fitted. 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 23 




QUALITY - SERVICE - SUPPORT - SINCE 1985 


This is 
the way to 
the future ... 



The SCSI configuration software 



The SCSI investigation software 


Our SCSI card can ivork with any ANSI compliant SCSI device 
some types of which are listed below. 


CD-ROM drives 

LI 

Hard disc drives 

□ 

Flat bed scanners 

□ 

Floptical drives 

□ 

Tape Streamers 

□ 

DAT tape systems 

□ 

WORM drives 

□ 

Removable cartridge drives 

□ 


As a dedicated Acorn computer user 
you will understand better than 
anyone the restrictions you have 
faced in the past when trying to 
upgrade your machine. 

We sympathise wholeheartedly and 
at the same time offer you a solution. 
Its name is SCSI , in full ' Small 
Computer Systems Interface 
Nothing new in that you might say , 
but you ivould be wrong. Our 
interface, instead of just being able 
to connect to a few well chosen 
devices, is capable of controlling any 
seven individual SCSI devices all at 
the same time. As long as they are 
ANSI (American National 
Standards Institute) compliant 
devices we guarantee that they will 
work with our card. 

We designed our interface and 
engineered our software, to be fully 
compliant with ANSI standard 
X3, 131-1986. This is the definitive 
standard by which all SCSI 
hardware and software must be 
measured. So if you are thinking of 
buying a SCSI setup ask whether it 
meets the above criteria. You will 
probably find very few 
manufacturers who will give you a 
straight answer. 









The interface card can he used on 
any RISC-OS based machine fitted 
with a standard expansion slot . This 
means that when you upgrade your 
machine your SCSI setup can go 
with you. 

Our installation software makes 
setting up your system a piece of 
cake. Instead of messing around 
with * commands once your interface 
card and device are connected you 
simply run a single piece of 
software , give a quick Ctrl-Reset and 
°ff you go. We also include one or 
two rather useful utilities which give 
detailed information about the 
devices attached to your system and 
the speed at which they operate , 
together with a very comprehensive 
manual. 

It all adds up to a complete system 
that has the future built into it. You 
can buy our interface and devices 
either directly from ourselves or ask 
for it by name from any good Acorn 
dealer. 

Minimum system requirements 

G Acorn ARM based computer 

□ Acorn RISC OS 2 or 3 

□ 1MB RAM 

L J Standard Acorn expansion slot 

All prices exclude carriage and VAT. 
ACORN and the ACORN logo are 
trademarks of Aaron Computers Limited. 
MM is a trademark of Advanced RISC 
machines Limited. All specifications subject 
to change without prior notification 


SCSI Hard disc drives incl. standard 


interface 

All RISC-OS computerst 
External Internal 

52MB £379.00 C299.00 

lOOMB ^ £ 499.00 £449.00 

240MB(5S5J® £ 709.00 £699.00 

21MB Flopticals incl. standard interface 

All RISC-OS computerst 

External 21MB inc one disc** £499.00 

Internal 21MB inc one disc** £425.00 

Box of 5 Extra 2 1 MB discs £ 1 00.00 

1 Extra 21MB disc £25.00 


Removable Cartridge Hard Discs incl. 
standard interface 

All RISC-OS computerst 


42MB inc one cartridge** £575.00 

90MB inc one cartridge** £77 5. IX) 

Extra 42MB Cartridge £69.00 

Extra 90MB Cartridge £109.00 


Tape Streamer - Archive Systems incl. 
standard interface 

All RISC-OS computerst 

150MB Tapestreamer 

inc Morley S/1S RISC-OS archive 

software & one tape** £799.00 

SCSI interface card 

All RISC-OS computerst 

Standard card** £149.00 

Cached card** £ 1 99 XX) 

SCSI Cables 

Internal SCSI cable £7.50 

External SCSI cable £15.00 

All systems (i.e. interface and device) include all necessary 
cases, cables and softume 



A3000 Expansion options 

A3000 only 

Analogue & User port 

£59.00 

IMB memory upgrade 

£59.00 

1MB expandable memory upgrade 

£69.00 

3MB memory upgrade 

£179.00 

1 to 3MB for expandable board 

£145.00 

300/400/540/5000 Expansion options 

Acorn analogue /User fl MHz bus* 

£85.00 

Acorn midi upgrade for above* 

£69.00 

Acorn ethernet III c ard* 

£149.00 

A400 1MB memory 

£50.00 

MEMC1A upgrade 

£49.00 

A300 4 slot backplane 

£59.00 

A5000 2MB memory upgrade 

£99.00 

Control Software 

Sparkle for Deltronics 

£59.00 

Sparkle for LEGO dactaP 

£59.00 

Site licence version for above 

£200.00 

Archive Software 

SAS (Safe & Sound) 

£79.00 


SCSI Special - Build your own 

Metal external SCSI hard disc case for 3Z" drive, 
pozver supply , mains lead/plug, SCSI cable (box to 
drive) and whisper quiet fan. 

All for only £99.00 

*A300 series machines must have a backplane fitted to use these. 
**A300 series machines must have a backplane and preferably a 
MEMC1A upgrade, t Currently available but excluding A4 


and this 
is where to 
find it... 

MQRLEy 

E-L-E-CT-R-ON-I-C-S • L-T-D 

Morley Electronics Ltd, Morley House, West Chirton, 
North Shields, Tyne & Wear, NE29 7TY 
Telephone (091) 257 6355 
International (+44 91) 257 6355 
Fax (091) 257 6373 






EDUCATION 


i 


TL CHANGE 


Acorn have reorganised their education plans, with new advice centres and 
special dealers. Peter Talbot explains the thinking behind the change 


A nyone who works in 
education these days is 
only too familiar with 
the new jargon words, 
like re-structuring and re- 
organisation. Everything in 
education seems to be chang- 
ing, not least the old LEAs and 
IT centres and so it is only 
fitting that Acorn should fol- 
low suit with a re-structure all 
of their own. 

In the week that the White 
Paper for education was 
announced. Peter Talbot, the 
face behind Acorn's education 
marketing, spoke of how 
Acorn is responding to the cur- 
rent climate. 

‘Before we had to deal with 
thirty to forty LEAs,' he said. 
‘Now, as a result of govern- 
ment changes, we have to deal 
with thousands of individual 
schools. Rather than reach the 
hearts and minds of a few key 
people, we have to convince 
individual head teachers and 
teachers within each school.' 

One of the ways that Acorn 
hope to achieve this is by 
setting up a new initiative 
called Acorn Education Cen- 
tres (AECs). These are to be 
based within existing indepen- 
dent IT centres, but will be 
authorised by Acorn to provide 
certain services. 

THE NEW CENTRES 

By setting up AECs, Acorn 
aim to provide the centres wth 
a constant flow of information 
and support. Schools will be 
able to use the centres to try 
out Acorn-based software and 
hardware. The AECs will also 
be able to provide an advisory 
service within the centre or via 
a telephone helpline. 

But in addition to the strong 
links with Acorn, many IT 
centres see the scheme as a 
way to cushion their trip into 
independence. 

‘Increasingly, existing IT 
centres will need to be self- 
financing,' said Peter. ‘Some 
have already had the umbilical 


EDUCATION DEALERS 


The newly accredited education dealers are expected 
to offer a range of services that Acorn hope will 
portray the machines in a positive and helpful light. 
Terry Sherwood is General Manager at Acorn and is 
central to the recent dealership changes. 

The needs of educational customers are changing 
changing rapidly', Terry told us. 'As a result Acorn has 
imposed a set of criteria and a dealer must conform to 
these if they are to achieve accreditation from Acorn. 
We want to ensure that the paying customer not only 
receives an excellent product but gets excellent 
service as well.' 

So what are these new criteria and how will they 
effect the Acorn customer? Among the things that 
Terry listed as intrinsic to the education dealer were a 
full selection of products. 

'A range of third party products including peri- 
pherals and software: this will ensure that the end- 


user has access to all those other good things that can 
surround an Acorn computer.' 

He has also laid down new guidelines for the staff: 
'A dealer's staff will have skills in networking to 
provide advice and consultancy. They will also be able 
to give customer training and support as an author- 
ised network dealer.' 

And aftersales support is a key factor. 'Each edu- 
cation dealer must provide telephone support, after- 
sales service, including the stocking of spare parts 
along with the ability to repair.' 

Another point that will appeal to education is that 
the dealers will be expected to fly the Acorn flag by 
organising events and exhibitions. 

'Acorn believes that the changes it is making to 
distribution will ensure that an Acorn customer is well 
looked after before, during and after the sale. Acorn 
dealers should reflect the excellence of the product.' 



The new Watford Electronics building in Luton - shiny and impressive on the outside, but before it could qualify 
as an education dealer it also needed to have a wide selection of software, trained staff, networking abilities and 
an organised programme of local Acorn events 


cord to the LEA cut and the 
White Paper will speed up this 
process. 

‘There was a sense of isola- 
tion at being cut off from the 
LEAs. The key thing for many 
IT centres is to be part of a 
community and our AEC 


scheme offers them the 

chance to join a network of 

like-minded collegues.' 

The AECs will not be 

directly funded by Acorn, and 

so the partnership will be one 
of good will and co-operation 
rather than a formalised con- 


tract. As more centres become 
self-financing they will need to 
charge for services, but the 
way that AECs operate is 
down to each particular centre. 
‘Payment may be a fee for 
services, or it might be a sub- 
scription. depending on which 


26 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 




EDUCATION 


NEW AEC CENTRES 



The lynch pin of Acorn's new educational plans are 
the AECs, or Acorn Education Centres. The AECs are 
based within existing IT centres who have greeted the 
plans enthusiatically. 

When the AECs were officially announced on 
August 27, twenty IT centres were accepted onto the 
scheme. Mike Smith, who runs an existing IT centre at 
Sandwell was at the launch and and gave us his 
reaction to the scheme. 

'After more than ten years in IT support, I am keen 
to see this initiative succeed. In many areas, teachers 
have become used to good quality support and the 
AEC scheme will help set a minimum standard. This 
will include the provision of drop-in and telephone 
help, training facilities, display area and access to 
demonstration equipment. 

Of course, many centres already aspire to this - and 
indeed offer much more. But I see two particular 
benefits from the new arrangement. First, it defines a 
group of centres into which Acorn can concentrate 
their support. This will also, hopefully, apply to 
software houses and third-party hardware suppliers. 
All of this means that schools should get a better 
quality service. 

Another benefit of the scheme is less obvious but, 
in the longer term, likely to be just as significant. 

Until now, IT support has been free. Those days are 
coming to an end. Services are delegated to schools 
and so are the bills. The cost has always been there, of 
course, but in the past schools did not need to think 
too much about them. By subscribing to an AEC they 
will get a assured level of service and will also be able 
to perceive the value of that service. 

IT support is labour-intensive. The cost of employ- 
ing an advisory teacher plus overheads is, at a 
minimum, £30,000 pa and usually more. Sensibly they 
cannot spend more than three days out of five work- 
ing in school which means that £200 per day is the 
minimum cost of advisory teacher support. Similar 
calculations can be produced to illustrate the cost of 
providing other aspects of IT support; none of it 
comes cheap. So will schools pay? I think they will, 
provided they know that they are receiving good 


value for money. Local centres make sure that they 
provide that quality, but they also need to ease 
schools into thinking about the value and cost of a 
quality service. 

The Government has made it clear that it wants 
local services taken out of the hands of the LEAs. 
Where opting-out passes the 75 percent threshold set 
by the White Paper, this is unavoidable. Even where 
an LEA, through delegation, retains control of its 
schools, local services will increasingly be provided at 
arm's length. 

Local IT centres have welcomed the announcement 
of the Acorn in Education Centres initiative as a well- 
timed and necessary development. As LMS bites, (the 
Local Management of Schools) and the position of 
LEAs is threatened by the White Paper proposals, 
many centre leaders see the AEC as a means of help- 
ing to secure the long-term future of local IT support. 

This is not to imply that Acorn is putting money 
into centres. It isn't. However, the company will be 
actively promoting the centres, and intends to provide 
them with the level of information and advice that 
will allow them to offer a quality service to schools. 

Survival in this environment is more than self- 
interest. IT in schools has been a major success story. 
A crucial factor in this success has been the availability 
of expert and friendly advice, support and training at 
a local level where needs are best understood. It's in 
everyone's interest, not least the pupils, to see that 
this continues.' 

Mike Smith is head of the Educational and 
Microtechnology unit at Sandwell. The unit already 
offers a range of services to the education community 
and to highlight some of the IT work in their local 
area , the centre have produced the leaflet shown 
above. You can purchase a copy by writing to The 
Educational and Microtechnology Unit, Sandwell 
Educational Development Centre, Popes Lane, Old- 
bury, West Midlands, B69 4PJ. Tel: (021) 544 2001. 

The centre was recently approved as an AEC and 
will be offering telephone support, training and an 
advisory service.They also specialise in networking 
solutions, techinical support and repairs. 


way the centre wishes to oper- 
ate,’ said Peter Talbot. 

The kind of services an 
AEC provides will also vary 
from centre to centre. 

‘Take networking. Schools 
need an educational under- 
standing of networks before 
they get the practical imple- 
mentation: how it fits into the 
curriculum, how it would ben- 
efit a particular school and so 
on. This is what the AEC can 
provide. 

‘Some AECs will also have 
the expertise to install the 
system. Others may prefer to 
leave that to the dealers.’ 

And this is where the second 
part of the campaign comes in. 

EDUCATION DEALERS 

Acorn plan to have a new tier 
of dealers known as education 
dealers. They will be chosen 
from exisiting dealerships and 
need to adhere to a detailed set 
of guidelines. 

When schools attend an 
AEC for advice, they will 
often be referred to one of the 
education dealers to obtain the 
suitable product. And by hav- 
ing approved education 
dealers. Acorn also hope to 
combat the issue of resourcing. 

‘Eighty percent of our busi- 
ness is achieved by 20 percent 
of our dealers,' Acorn told us. 
‘So it makes sense to target 
our energies into those dealers. 
The education dealers will be 
closer to us and will benefit 
from our resources.' 

To find out where your local 
AEC or education dealer is 
situated, contact Acorn com- 
puters, (0223)245200. 



Peter Talbot: 'Rather than reach 


the hearts and minds of a few key 
people, we have to convince 
individual head teachers and 
teachers within each school' 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 27 



Your RISCOS Compliant flcorn Dealer! 


-p- 




l 





QuickSound 


£1 0+VAT Topic Art 


QuickSound allows you to load, play, 
convert & resave existing sound samples. 

Armadeus, Tracker, raw data and Sound 
Synth samples are supported. Samples can 
also be converted into modules for use with 
the RISCOS sound system, Maestro, 

Rhapsody etc or alternatively converted into 
stand alone Utility sample modules which 
when called, via a star command, loads the 
utility, plays the sample and then removes 
itself completely from memory (this feature 
is not available on any other sound package). Special effects which can be 
applied to samples include Reverse, Echo, Max Vol, alter replay rate and 
resample at other frequencies. On screen VU meter is also featured. 
QuickSound is a perfect compliment to the Oak Sound Recorder. 



A new form of clip art 
comprising of single discs 
containing approximately 
50 hand drawn high quality 
draw format clip art 
images, each on a single 
subject. Site and area 
licences are available, 
please ring for details. 


TopicArt9 - Dinosaurs 


£8 


+VAT 


Megalltils £1 0+VAT 



A set of genuinely useful RISCOS 
utilities lAddrBook An easy to use 
address book. 

IDiary A place to store your 
birthdays etc. 

ICleanUp A hot key util for redrawing windows. 
IDisable Prevents you from deleting any file 
IDOSForm A multi-tasking DOS 720k formatter. 
IFileMon Displays information about any file. 
ILineClock A desktop clock. 

IMegaUtils provides a window organiser, key 
short-cuts to open/close filer windows, set copy 
and wipe options, set filetypes, quick loading of 
basic programs, caret flasher, selection of 
mouse speed, automatic opening of 
applications, mouse hider, caret grabbing. 
ICuickMode Select modes with ease. 

IQuickRun An application loader. 

IScrGrab Saves the screen display to a Sprite. 


S3 


Tiler 


£1 0+VAT 


per 

disc. 



Subjects available 


1 - General 

2 - Transport 

3 - Costumes 

4 - Entertainment 

5 - Bugs 2 Slugs 

6 - Road Signs 

7 - Sports Equip 

8 - Sports Figures 

9 - Dinosaurs 



TopicArt7 


> 

■ Sports Equipment 


fk 


ii 


A printing 
utility which 
allows you to 
print Draw or 
Sprite files at 
any size using 
any printer. 

The user 
simply loads 
the required draw or sprite 
file into Tiler specifying the size of poster 
required, using a preset paper size. ie. 
A2, AO etc, or as a percentage of the 
original size or in physical dimensions, ie 
millimetres. The document will then be 
increased or decreased in size 
automatically and printed over several 
pages with crop marks provided on each 
page to assist cutting/overlapping. 


9 TopicArt subjects are 
available now. Please 
specify when ordering. 


TopicArt4 

Entertainment 


TopicArt8 
Sports Figures 


Buy 4 
TopicArt 
discs get 
one free 



TopicArtS - Bugs to Slugs 





Hardware & Books (Rll prices exclude URT) 


New Pocket Book I New A4 Portable 


Acorn Pocket Book £2 


New A3010 Series 


A 2MFD Portable £1399| 

2Mb RAM. 2Mb Floppy. LCD Screen I 

A4 4MHD Portable £1699 


Family Solution £424 

No monitor required, connects to 
standard TV. 1Mb RAM, Floppy drive. 
2 joystick ports, fast processor, soft/w 

Learning Curve Sys £680 

As above with 2Mb RAM, Standard 
Monitor & Learning Curve software 


4Mb RAM. 60Mb HD. 2Mb Floppy 
Disc. LCD Screen. PC Emulator 


RAM Upgrades 


New A3020 Series 


Floppy Disc System 

As A3010 less Learning Curve 
software & joystick ports. Includes 
Standard Monitor. 2Mb RAM & can be 
upgraded to Econet/Ethernet. 

60Mb Hard Disc Sys £899 

As above with 60Mb Hard disc. 

Add £50 to above A3020 system 
prices for MultiScan Monitor. 


£45 

£129 

£85 

£35 

£65 

£100 

£245 


New A4000 Series 


£190 
£225- 
£49 I 


£999 


Home Office System 

3 Box design with 2Mb RAM, Floppy 
Drive, 80Mb hard disc, Standard 
Monitor, EasiWriter2. Junior Database 


80Mb Hard Disc Sys £949j 

As above without additional software 

Add £50 to above A4000 system 
prices for MultiScan Monitor. 

m 


pzp 

Learning Cur 


.earning Curve Sys 

2Mb RAM. 80Mb HD. MultiScan Mon. 
Learning Curve Software. 

80Mb Hard Disc Sys £1399j 

As above without Learning Curve 

120Mb Hard Disc Sys£159! 

As above with 4Mb RAM & 120Mb HD 


A3000 2Mb RAM 
A3000 4Mb RAM 
A5000 2Mb RAM 
A400 1Mb RAM 
£749| A40 o 2Mb RAM 
A400 3Mb RAM 
A540 4Mb RAM 

Printers 

Canon BJ-IOex 
Canon BJ-10 Turbo 
Canon BJ-10 ASF 
Canon BJ-20 (Inc ASF)£289 
Canon BJ-300 £329 

Canon BJ-300 ASF £99 
Canon BJ-330 £399 

Canon BJC-800 Turbo£1895| 
Citizen Swift 24e £235 

Citizen Swift 24 ASF £75 
HP DeskJet 500 
HP DeskJet 500C 
Panasonic KXP-1 123 
Star LC-200 
Star LC24-200 Colour 
LaserDirect HiRes4 
LaserDirect HiRes8 


£329 

£479 

£159 

£175 

£239 

£949 

£1319 


Add £212 to above prices for Acorn 
JP-150 Ink Jet Printer 


| LD HiRes4 Card £349 

Includes cable & driver 


Upgrades 

5.25“ Disc Buffer £39 

ARM3 £185 

A3000 Dual Pod Exp £55 
Canon BJ Turbo Driver £48 
Canon BJC Turbo Driver£99 


Other Books 


Acorn Books 


DeltaCat Joystick £29 
FaxPack (CC) £279 

Hawk V9 Video Dig £199 
I/O Expansion Card £79 
Joystick l/F (All M/C's) £32 
Joystick for above £ 1 0 
Midi Expansion Card £65 
Micro Mouse (Clares) £29 
PC Card 1Mb (Alephl) £449 
PRES Monitor Stand £29 
Serial Upgrade A3000 £17 

User/Midi Card A3000 £46 

VIDC Enhancer £27 

Vision Mono Digitiser int £49 
Vision Mono Digitiser ext£62 
For Colour Digitiser add £30 

Monitors 

Acorn Standard Colour £199 
Acorn MultiScan £299 
EIZO 9060S FlexScan £429 


A3000 Technical Guide 
A540 Technical Guide 
A5000 Technical Guide 
BBC Basic Guide 
RISCOS2 PRM's 
RISCOS3 PRM's 
RISCOS2 Style Guide 
1st Word+ Manual 
Desktop Dev Env Guide 
I DTP Manual 
I Assembler Manual 
I ANSI C v4 Manual 


£29.95 

£65.00 

£65.00 

£19.95 

£79.00 

TBA 

£9.95 

£10.00 

£25.00 

£ 10.00 

£25.00 

£25.00 


Archi Game Maker's Manual £14.95 I 
DTP on the Archimedes £12 95 1 

Archi Assembly Lang Manual £14.95 1 
Archimedes First Steps £9.95 I 

Archi Operating System Guide £14.95 I 
Budget DTP £12.95 I 

Mastering 1 st Word+ £ 1 3.95 I 

First Impressions £35.00 I 

Good Impressions £30.00 | 

Ink Cart/Ribbons 

BJ- 10/20 Ink Cartridge £16 | 

BJ-300 Ink Cartridge £1 1 

DJ-500 Bk Hi-Cap Cart. £21 

DJ-500C Colour Cart. £22 I 

Swift24 Mono/Colour £5/£15 | 


Philips CM8833 II 
Taxan 795A 


£189 

£439 


Scanners 

ScanLight256 £199 

ScanLight A4 £289 

ScanLight A4+Feeder £389 
ScanLight Professional £595 
SCSI Card for above £1 39 


Ordering by Telephone 

Please specify the goods you require and for which computer. Please have your I 
credit/debit card ready. We will require the cardholders name, address, delivery 
address if different and the expiry date of the card 

Ordering by Post 

Please specify the goods you require and for which computer in writing including | 
your telephone number & delivery address. Send complete with a signed 
cheque/postal order or alternatively for credit/debit cards, the card number, 
cardholders name, address, and expiry date IMPORTANT - Please write your 
name, address & credit card details in BLOCK CAPITALS to avoid confusion. 

Where to Find Us 

From the M63 Junction 12 roundabout follow signs to Cheadle A560 passing the | 
glass pyramid. At the 2nd set of traffic lights turn left onto Brinksway. Turn next 
left onto Chester St and immediately left again onto Ford St. Enter on-site car 
park via Red Gates on the right hand side. 

Terms 

UK residents add 17.5% 

VAT to all prices except 

books Carriage is free 

(except books, paper & 
large software applications) M63 Junction 12 
on mainland UK, elsewhere Stockport We st 
at cost. Only Credit/Debit A5145 
cards accepted for overseas ‘ ' 

orders. Prices and 
manufacturers " ^3 

Si 


Entrance to on-site 
Car Park via Red Gate 


WE ARE 
'HERE! 


specifications subject to 
change without notifcation 


Goods offered subject to 
being unsold and/or 
available. Goods not offered 
on trial basis. Restocking 
fee on non -defective 
returns. 



r 


Desktop Projects Ltd 


Authorised Acorn Dealer (Tel: 061-474 0778, Fax: 061-474 0781) 

Unit 2A, Heapriding Business Park, Ford St, Stockport, Cheshire. SK3 0BT 



w nK\ 






IQuickShow 

'l/cd&x 

& 

Slide Show Presentation 
lias never been easier! 


QuickShow 

QuickShow is an easy to use 
slide show presentation and 
video titling package. It allows 
you to create a sequence of 
frames containing text of any 
colour with drop shadows, 
outline shadows and rubout 
boxes using outline fonts. 

Sprites can also be included 
in frames and positioned and 
rezised as necessary. Once 
several screens have been 
created they can be linked together with the sequencer which allows you to 
fade each screen out and in with the many fades provided with the package. 
Completed sequences can be converted to a stand alone application which 
when run, automatically 'Shows' the sequence without using IQuickShow. 


ijjj jw i.i <.»irr 


Flopticals / CD-ROM / Tape Streamers 

A3000/A5000/A300/A400 External Floptical (without SCSI card) £399 
A5000 Internal Floptical kit (with Econet SCSI card) £359 

Floptical floppies (20Mb) £20 

Each of the above systems comes complete with one floptical floppy. 

1 Cumana CD-ROM Combi Pack £699 

| Comprises CD-ROM drive, SCSI card, stereo speakers, 6 RISCOS CD- 
ROM titles, The Hutchinson Encyclopedia, Dictionary of the Living World, 
Revelation 2, The Illustrated Holy Bible, The Illustrated Works of 
Shakespeare, Sherlock Holmes on a Disc, ICDPlayer, 3 caddies, etc. 

1 150Mb Tape Streamer (without SCSI card) £399 

Our Tape Streamers are housed in attractive case with power supply and 
fan and are suitable for any Acorn RISCOS computer (however they must 
be used with an Acorn compliant SCSI card). They come complete with one 
data cartridge and Morley's SAS (Safe and Sound) tape backup software. 


Openi ng Hours Monday-Sat urday 16.9 9 to 18.1 

E25+VAT Hard Discs 


IDE 


The following are complete 
HardDisc Systems comprising of 
IDE disc controller, HardDisc, 
mounting brackets, cables, utilities 
disc and manual. 

Archimedes Internal 
40Mb 17ms £210 

105Mb 17ms Cache £305 

125Mb 16ms Cache £359 

200Mb 13ms Cache £499 

330Mb 12ms Cache £749 

520Mb 12ms Cache £999 

A5000 Exchange Drives 
120Mb 16ms Cache £200 

200Mb 13ms Cache £350 

A3000/Archi External 
40Mb 17ms £299 

105Mb 17ms Cache , £399 

125Mb 16ms Cache £455 

200Mb 13ms Cache £599 

330Mb 12ms Cache £849 

520Mb 12ms Cache ' £1089 

A3000 Hard Cards 
30Mb Internal £249 

45Mb External £399 

100Mb External £499 

IDE Hard Disc Interface 
IDE Controller £69 

Please ring for further details. 


SCSI 


The following are complete SCSI 
HardDisc Systems comprising of a 
Morley SCSI interface, HardDisc, 
mounting brackets, cables, utilities 
disc and manual. 

Archimedes Internal 
105Mb 18ms Cache £429 

180Mb 18ms Cache £599 

330Mb 1 2ms Cache £899 

520Mb 12ms Cache £1049 

A3000/A300/A400 External 
105Mb 18ms Cache £509 

180Mb 18ms Cache £699 

330Mb 12ms Cache £979 

520Mb 12ms Cache £1149 

Removable Hard Discs 
44Mb (Inc one cartridge) £499 

44Mb Cartridge £55 

88Mb (Inc one cartridge) £599 

88Mb Cartridge £99 

The above are external units 
SCSI Controller Cards 
Morley Uncached £139 

Morley Cached £189 


IfM 


flrchinedes, 83800, 85888 Software 


Applications 


1 3D Construction Kit (Domark) 

£38 

ABC Compiler (Oak) 

£77 

Alphabase (Clares) 

Ancestry (Minerva) 

£37 

£59 

ANSI C v.3 (Acom) 

£125 

Arc DFS (Dabs) 

£22 

I ArcComm2 (Logotron) 

£52 

1 ArcLight (Ace) 

£40 

1 ArcTerm 7 (Serial Port) 

£62 

1 Arcticulate (4D) 

£20 

1 Arctist (4D) 

£20 

1 Armadeus (Clares) 

£59 

1 Artisan 2 (Clares) 

£43 

1 Art Works (CC) 

£149 

1 Atelier (Minerva ) 

£69 

1 Autosketch v2 (Autodesk) 

£65 

1 Cable News (Lingenuity) 

£165 

1 CADet (Minerva) 

1 Chameleon 2 (4Mation) 

£139 

£35 

1 Compression (CC) 

£39 

1 Control Panel (Lingenuity) 

£14 

1 DataVision (Silicon) 

£110 

1 Desktop Assembler (Acorn) 

£125 

1 Desktop C (Acom) 

1 Desktop Office (Minerva) 

£185 

£95 

1 Desktop Publisher (Acom) 

£125 

1 Desktop Thesaurus (RISC Dev) £19 

1 Draw Print-Plot (Oak) 

£39 

1 Easiword (Minerva) 

£29 

1 Easy Writer II (Icon Tech) 

£126 

I Einstein (Ace) 

£106 

1 Equasor(CC) 

£39 

1 Euclid 2 (Ace) 

I Eureka (Longman) 

£50 

£109 

1 Film-Maker (Silicon) 

£71 

1 Financial Accountant (Silicon) 

£203 

1 First Word Plus v2 (Acom) 

£67 

1 Font FX (DataStore) 

1 Font Starter Pack (Acorn) 

£9 

£35 

1 Gammaplot (Minerva) 

£36 

1 Genesis 2 (Oak Solutions) 

£109 

1 Graphbox v2 (Minerva) 

£57 

I Graphbox Pro (Minerva) 

£109 

■ Hard Disc Companion ll(Beebug) £45 

■ Hearsay II (Beebug) 

1 Hotlink Presenter (Lingenuity) 

£70 

£41 

1 Home Accounts (Minerva) 

£34 

1 Illusionist (Clares) 

1 Impression v2 (CC) 

£76 

£125 

1 Impression Junior (CC) 

£75 

1 Impression Bus Supp (CC) 

£39 

1 Inter-Chart (CC) 

I Inter-Sheet II (CC) 

£20 

£30 


Games 


Education 


Inter-Word (CC) £30 

Investigator v2 (Serial Port) £22 

ISO Pascal Rel.2 (Acom) £83 

Mailshot (Minerva) £29 

MasterFile II (Beebug) £20 

MegaUtils (Desktop Projects) £10 

Midnight Express (Mid. Graph.) £49 

Mogul (Ace) £20 

Multi FS (Arxe Systems) £27 

Multistore v2 (Minerva) £219 

Notate (Longman) £54 

Office Tools (Silicon) £276 

Ovation (Beebug) £95 

PC Access (Minerva) £29 

PCB (Oak) £99 

PC Emulator (Acorn) £95 

Pin Point (Logotron) £79 

PipeDream 4 (Colton) £179 

Poster (4Mation) £75 

Presentation System (Silicon) £61 

Presenter 2 Hotlink (Lingenuity) £33 

Presenter GTi (Ling) £66 

Printer JX, PJ, CA (ACE) £13 

Pro Artisan (Clares) £75 

Realtime Solids Modeller (Sil) £99 

Render Bender v2 (Clares) £99 

Revelation II (Logotron) £1 10 

Rhapsody v2 (Clares) £45 

RISCBasic (Silicon) £112 

RISCType (CIS) £16 

Schema (Clares) £96 

SigmaSheet (Minerva) £38 

ShapeFX (Datastore) £9 

ShowPage (CC) £1 30 

SmArt (4Mation) £50 

SmArtFiler (4Mation) £32 

Snippet (4Mation) £26 

Solid CAD (Sil Vis) £115 

Speech! (Superior) £15 

Splice (Ace) £22 

Squirrel Database (Dig Serv) £125 

Super-Dump (Silicon) £21 

Super-Plot (Silicon) £28 

Studio 24+ (EMR) £150 

Tiler (Desktop Projects) £10 

Titler (Clares) £120 

Toolkit Plus (Clares) £36 

Tracker (Serial Port) £37 

Tween (Ace) £22 

TypeStudio (Beebug) £43 

Vector (4Mation) £75 

Vox Box (Clares) £47 

Worra CAD (Oak) £83 


Aggressor (Atomic) 

Air Supremacy (Superior) 
Alien Invasion (Dabs) 

Aliped (Dabs) 

Ballarena (Etema) 

Bambuzle (Arxe Systems) 
Battle Tank (Minerva) 

Black Angel (4D) 

Blaston (Etema) 

Blitz (Arxe Systems) 
Blowpipe (Eclipse) 

Bobby Blockhead (Atomic) 
Boogie Buggy (4D) 

Break 147 & Superpool (4D) 
Bubble Fair (Etema) 

Bug Hunt. MoonDash (Mm) 
Bug Hunt in Space (Minerva) 
Cartoon Line (Etema) 

Casino (Minerva) 

Cataclysm (4D) 

Caverns (Minerva) 
Chequered Flag (CIS) 

Chess 3D (Micro Power) 
Chocks Away 2 (4D) 

Chocks Away Extra Miss(4D) 
Chocks 2 Compendium (4D) 
Chopper Force (4D) 

Chuck Rock (Krisalis) 

Colony Rescue (Dabs) 
Conqueror (Superior) 

Crisis (CIS) 

Cyber Chess (4D) 
Dreadnoughts (Turcan) 
Drop Ship (4D) 

Elite (Hybrid) 

Enter the Realm (4D) 

E-Type Compendium (4D) 
Family Favourites (Minerva) 
Fire Ball 2 Xtra (CIS) 

Freddys Folly (Minerva) 
GODS (Krisalis) 

Grievous Bodily ARM (4D) 
HoverBod (Minerva) 

Holed Out Compendium (4D) 
Hostages (Superior) 

Ibix the Viking (Minerva) 

Iron Lord (Cygnus) 

James Pond (Krisalis) 

Jet Fighter (Minerva) 

Karma (Periscope) 

Kerbang (Etema) 

Krisalis Collection 
Last Ninja (Suoerior) 


Legend of the Lost Temp (Eter.)£19 

Lemmings (Krisalis) £19 

Loopz (Audiogenic) £18 

Lotus Esprit II (Krisalis) £19 

Maddingly Hall (Minerva) £13 

Mad Prof Mariarty (Krisalis) £15 

Mag Scrolls Collection 1 £26 

Mah-Jong Patience (CIS) £15 

Mah-Jong The Game (CIS) £18 

Man United Europe (Krisalis) £19 

Master Break (Superior) £15 

Micro Drive World Edition (CIS) £24 

MIG 29 Super Fulcrum (Domark) £32 
Minotaur (Minerva) £14 

Missile Control (Minerva) £14 

Nebulus (Krisalis) £19 

Nevryon (4D) £15 

Nevryon 2 - TechnoDream (4D) £20 
Oh No More lemmings (Krisalis)£16 
Orion ( Minerva) £14 

Pacmania( Domark) £17 

Pandora's Box (4D| £20 

Pesky Muskrats (Coin-Age) £19 

PipeMania (Ent. Int.) £18 

Poizone (Etema) £14 

Populus (Krisalis) £19 

Powerband (4D) £20 

Quest for Gold (Krisalis) £19 

Repton 3 (Superior) £15 

Rockfall (Etema) £16. 

Rotor (Arcana) £19 

Real McCoy 1/2 (4D) (ea.) £24 

Saloon Cars (4D) £20 

Saloon Cars Deluxe (4D) £28 

Saloon Cars Del Extra Courses £16 
Sim City (Krisalis) £19 

Sporting T riangles (CDS) £19 

Starch (Dabs press) £12 

Superior Golf (Superior) £15 

Sup Golf Extra Courses (Superior)£14 
SWIV (Krisalis) £19 

Tactic (Etema) £15 

Talisman (Minerva) £12 

ThunderMonk (Minerva) £14 

Top Banana (HEX) £19 

Tower Of Babel (Cygnus) £18 

Trivial Pursuit (Domark) £22 

Twin World (Cygnus) £14 

Waterloo (Turcan) £19 

Wonderland (Virgin) £25 

X-FIRE (4D) £20 

Zarch (Superior) £15 

Zelanites (Micro Power) £18 


Adv. Playground 5+ (Storm) 

zing Ollii 


£17 I 

Amazing Ollie 4+ (Storm) £14 [ 

Coffee 9+ (Storm) £28 I 

Concept Designer (Logotron) £23 I 

Converta-Key £15 I 

Crossword+ 8+ £19 I 

Data Word (Triple R) £15 

Desktop Folio (ESM) £82 

Farmer Giles 2 (CTS) £17 

First Words & Pictures (Chk) £26 I 

Flight Path 9+ (Storm) £28 I 

Freddy Teddy (Topologika) £19 1 

Freddy Teddy's Adv (Topol.) £17 I 

Fun & Games 5-9 £18 I 

Fun School 2 (Database) £15 I 

Fun School 3 (Database) £18 I 

Fun School 4 (Database) £18 I 

(Please spec, age group <5, 5-7, >7) I 
Giant Killer (Topologika) £17 f 

Giant Killer Support (Top) £14 I 

History Costume Pk (Mic St) £17 I 

House of Numbers (Chalk) £19 [ 

Hyperbook Reader (Logotron) £48 I 

Hyperbook Lib (Logotron) £110 1 
Junior Database (lota) £40 f 

Kiddicad (Oak Sol.) £83 

Letters and Pictures (Chalk) £18 

Logo (Logotron) £60 

Magpie (Logotron) £45 

Maps & Landsc. 1/2 (Chk) ea. £19 

Money Matters (Triple R) £20 

Numbers and Pictures (Chalk) £18 I 

Numerator (Logotron) £60 I 

Numerator Chaos (Logotron) £19 I 

Ollie Octupus Sk Pad (Storm) £14 I 

Pendown (Logotron) £50 I 

Pendown Fonts (Logotron) £17 I 

PIPP (CIS) £30 

Picture Book (Triple R) £20 I 

Pin Point Junior (Logotron) £24 I 

Pirate (Chalk) £18 

Prime Art (Minerva) £69 I 

Puncman 1-2, 3-4, 5-7 (Chalk) ea. £18 I 
Reversals (Chalk) £18 I 

Search & Rescue 9+ £28 [ 

Spellbook 4-9 (Soft Stuff (SS)) £ 1 9 

Star (Logotron) £16 I 

Target Maths (Triple R) £20 I 

Things to do with No's (SS) £19 I 

Things to do with Words (SS) £19 I 

Words and Pictures (Chalk) £18 f 

World Scape (Eclipse) £15 | 

Please call for titles not listed 


Desktop Projects Ltd 


Registered 
Squirrel Dealer 


Please contact us if you are offered a better price elsewhere, we will 
do our best to match it. We operate the Acorn Teachers Scheme & 
0% Finance Schemes. This document was produced entirely on the 
Archimedes using Impression, Artworks, Draw & Paint. 


Tel: 061-474 0778 

WH ^ 

mm OCT 92 






— 


JOPTF 


oo 




OO 


0962 863225 


BRANDED DISKS 

SONY DYSAN VERBATIM TDK 
10 10 
3.5’DSDD £8.23 3.5’DSHD £14.10 
5.25DSDD £6.46 5.25’DSHD £9.99 
MAXELL CF2 Disks £21.35 


BULK DISKETTES 

100% CERTIFIED. GUARANTEED ERROR FREE 
10 10 
3.5*DSDD £5.50 3.5’DSHD £10.58 
5.25’DSDD £3.82 5.25’DSHD £6.11 

DISKS PACKED IN FREE LIBRARY CASE 
Labels etc included with al disks 

LOCKABLE DISK BOXES 

3.5’ 40 cap £5.95 each 9C cap £6.59 each 

5.25’ 50 cap £6.50 each 100 cap £7.40 each 

ACCESSORIES 

LIBRARY CASES 10 cap 3.575.25" £1.20 each 

MOUSEMATS Red. Blue or Grey £3.16 each 

DISK LABELS (per 1 00) 3.5’ £1 .40 5.25’ £1 .80 

All Price* include VAT No extra charge for postage and packing 

SOFT SECTOR, 58 Andover Road, Winchester, Hampshire S022 6AG 


Weather Data 


Weather Satellite Systems Now available for the Acorn Archimedes A310 and A3000. This 
Meteosat systems comes complete including everything from the Antenna to the softwore. 
Animation is standard allowing the dynamic progress of weather fronts to be monitored and 
tracked. High resolution images of 800 pixels by 800 lines can be stored and manipulated in 
colour or grey scales on any standard colour monitor. Acorn Change FSl registered and compat- 
ible Capable of receiving up to 400 images every day this remarkable system costs just £799 00 
Other Timestep products include a fully featured LANDSAT image Processor with 20 field study 
images and three full colour manuals Acorn Change FSl registered and compatible at only 
£99.95 

PC Globe and PC USA are full coiour graphical databases of the world with an amazing amount 
of retrievable data. The special Timestep education price is only £59 95 
Send for our full catalogue. 

Timestep Weather Systems 

Wickhambrook Newmarket, CB8 8QA England. 

Tel: 0440 820040 Fax: 0440 820281 



ACORN USER! 
SHOW. STAND 
138 

\\ MOLLS VI. L PUK II) Com pilfer Imports 

CREDIT CARD ORDERS FREE DELIVERY ON ALL 

WELCOME. NO SURCHARGES. GOODS. PRICES EXCLUDE VA T. 


ITEM 1± 10± 

Bus Agiler Mouse 25.49 23.99 

Serial Atlas Mouse 16.97 14.96 

6’ Arc Printer Cable 2.51 2.26 

16’ Arc Printer Cable 4.96 4.50 

26/25 M&F 3' Cable 3.36 3.10 

26/26 M&F Pin 6 a Cable 5.92 5.50 

36/36 Centrx 6' Cable 6.92 6.50 

25 Pin AB 2 Way Switch Box 10.17 9.95 

36 Ctx Pin AB 2 Way " " 12.96 11.96 

26 Pin ABCD 4 Way Sw Box 19.96 17.95 

36 Ctx Pin ABCD " " " 21.96 19.96 

9/16/26/36 Adaps etc. 4.96 4.46 

Gender Changers 4.96 3.96 

Mouse Mats 4mm 2.61 2.26 

Printer Stands 4.21 3.96 


NOSHER GAME - only £ 5.95 (£4.95 at the show). 


3M BRANDED m §o igg 

3 5” DS/DD 5.92 29 90 57 50 

3 5” DSHD 11 70 57 90 109 00 

5 25“ DS/DD 4.21 20.50 39 90 

5 25“ DS/HD 8.47 39 90 79 00 

Bulk Disks (Price, subject to availability). 
3 5" DS/DD 3 16 95 31 90 

3 5" DS/HD 
5 25" DS/DD 
5 25" DS/HD 


3.79 1695 3 

6.77 29 95 55 90 

2.51 11 49 22.00 

4.21 19 50 35 00 


Show Pnc«* will be lower on some goods EXTRA 
10% discount with this ad as long as you hand it to 
us with your name 6 address on the back 
Photocopies will do (offer does not apply to disks) 


DD INTERNATIONAL 

n Cheques payable to ■■■ 

I DD International. mSm 

CAR: 0831 554758. p.O. Box 95. Wakefield. WF2 OXZ 

Goods are US imported every 5 weeks Back orders taken (Country of manufacture may vary) (E & OE) 


Please make r\ s 
cheques & P/O /\ 
payable to 
Smart DTP 


36 Park R<J. 
Duf field, 
Belper. 
DE56 4GR 


Smart ^ 
DTP 


o 


I 


n 

kef 


Smart Borders 


£7.50 Compressed 


This package contains just over 140 borders specially designed for Impression II. 
(The largest impression borders collection currently available ) 

Smart Resources 1 £2.95 compressed 

Comers. Symbols, Flashes, Borders, Arrows. Speech & think bubbles. Rules, and a 
large selection of general clipart Examples are shown above and below 


r 1 

LT t 

I p'&Kk'St,-' 

Please add £ 1 To cover P&P 


30 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 


We are pleased to announce the ARRIVAL of the 
FINAL CONSIGNMENT of unused 




BBC B 

Computers 


Here are 8 good reasons why you should ACT NOW and buy a BBC! 


• They are new 

• At £1 50.00 they are chea p 

• All machines are supplied 
with VIEW word processor, 
as standard 1 

• All machines are supplied with 
the Disc Filing System as stand- 
ard ! This means you can connect 
a disc drive straight away - our 
BBC and drive packs start at an 
incredibly low £195.70! 


• All machines are sup- 
plied with a Speech 
ROM standar d 1 

• They include additional 
safety features such as steel 
re-inforced keyboards 

• If you already have a BBC. 
our research shows that the 
cost to repair/replace the 


most common components 
to wear out, such as the 


keyboard or power supply 
unit, would be at least half 
the cost of one of our new 
ones! 

•Our new BBCs carry a 6 
month warranty - probably 
twice as long as a repair 
warranty; plus, the guarantee 
is for the whole machine, not 
just on the component which 
has been repaired! 


— -( Monito rs | 

Philips 7502 Mono Screen .... £85 06 
Mlcrovttec Cub M3 1 Colour £1 99.96 
{14" Standard Acs) 

Mlcrovkec Cub MSI Colour . £238. 26 
(14" Medium Res) 

MkrovHn monkors ore of (he Mffietr 
quo l*y. w*r< strong im < ol anVifl 


I BBC Disc Drive Packslp 

BBC Pack I £'9 C . 70 

Include! BBC B «nd • C.reyt*H*«. «njt» ) M* 
40/80 (rick drive Y nliwxA Power 'juppty Lhn 

BBC Pack 2 £25S.28 

kKludei BBC B iod « Currom ttnf. 5 If" «V 
80 (rick nwtchiNe dnve BOShPower'ejppIjrUnn 

BBC Pack 3 £323.36 

Include! BBC Bend i Cieran* dull 5 35" <0/90 
trick (wiiriuble drive with Power Supply Uni 


Why do we say "Unused" 
rather than "Brand New"? 


These machines were 
tured for export to America. Having now 
shipped them back we have to make various 
moaMkatkms, which Indudes fkUng a UK 
power supply and TV modulator for effec- 
tive. safe use m the UK. So they are not 
‘straight from the factory" but nonetheless 
they have n« var boon toad. 

A lull specif I cation h available on request 


Software Bargains & Mercury Games 

Dept ACA42, CJO Northwood House, North Street. LEEDS LS7 2AA 
TEL: 0532 436300 FAX: 0532 423289 


For i - 4 units 

Contact 

Software Bargains 


Greyhound Marketing Ltd 

Cliffdale House. 376 Meanwood Road. LEEDS LS7 2JH 
[SJ 0532 621111 Fax 0532 374163 


For 5 or more units 

Contact Greyhound Marketing 
Also for TRADE enquires 


* Pen* sdd VAT to ill prices, includry csrriije 

* Cirni|i a 50 per jwt/pjck. rmjfttpli order! POA 

* Official Local Authority orders welcome, or 
Independent schools. headed notepaper with 


(Ftlces ire correct it he Ome of goin| to press. E40E| 


widgit 

Vv Software 


102 Radford Road 
Leamington Spa CV31 1 LF 
tel 0926 885303 
fax 0926 885293 


Software for Primary and Special Needs. 
News: 

Blob series on the Archimedes/A3000/A5000 
now upgraded to use TouchWindow. Also 
TouchWindow and Joystick added to Screenplay 
and GridIT. From Pictures to Words is now 
available on the Archimedes and on PC 
compatibles. 

The Archimedes range of ScreenPlay and 
GridIT is now completed by Choices. This pack 
has a wide range of applications, visual work, 
sorting and sequencing, simple communication 
using pictures. In fact almost any exercise can be 
designed where the student must make one or 
more choices from a displayed set. A wealth of 
example material is provided. All three of these 
programs were developed with the support of the 
NCET/DES Software Partnership Scheme. 
Write or phone for catalogue. 

Widgit has its 10th birthday in 1993. To celebrate 
we are sponsoring a competition with cash 

I prizes. Any educational establishment can enter. 

Write for details. 






NEXT 

MONTH 



SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT 
Multimedia & CD-Roms 

The buzz words for 1992 are ‘multimedia’ and 
‘CD-Rom’. But what lies behind the hype? 

Will CD-Roms become the 
storage medium of the future, 
is multimedia the best way to learn 
and how is the Acorn market responding? 
We provide a comprehensive look 
at Rise-based, CD-Rom packages, 
show you how to create a 
multimedia presentation 
and much more. 


PLUS 


GRAPHIC RESOURCES 

Sculptures in strange places, textile designs and 
many other graphical delights, all 
obtained using a resource disc 

RISC OS 3 

At last. Rise OS 3 is available to all! 

We look at the latest upgrade 

FREE SOFTWARE! 

BAU comms expert. David Dade, rounds up 
the best public domain software 
for Acorn machines 


DOT MATRIX SPECIAL 

Don't miss our buyers’ guide 
to dot matrix printing: 
what to look for, how much to pay 
and which ones to buy. 

TEACH YOURSELF 

A BAU program to make learning easy: 
this package teaches you facts, tests your abilities 
and responds to your needs 


REGULARS 

• All the latest news and views 
from the world of Acorn 

• +1NFO - helpful advice and 
ideas covering the BBC A3000, 
Archimedes, A5000, BBC B and Master 

• Your letters answered and 
problems solved 

• Programs galore on the yellow pages 
and much more 


To be sure of 
your copy, 
please fill in 
the coupon 
below and 
hand it to your 
newsagent. Or 
why not take 
out a subscrip* 
tion, which 
includes a free 
monthly disc? 
See page 89 for 
details 


DON’T MISS 

the November issue of 
BBC Acorn User 


DEAR NEWSAGENT, PLEASE ORDER MY REGULAR COPY OF BBC ACORN USER 

YOUR NAME 
ADDRESS 

BBC Acorn User is published by Redwood Publishing, 101 Bayham Street, London NW1 OAG. 
Distributed by BBC Frontline, Park House, 117 Park Road, Peterborough 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 31 






The Silent Revolution 



Introductory price 


ONLY 

£189 


Compatible with 


IBM pc 


Archimedes 


Nimbus 


EMULATES HP DESKJET+ 


70 SHEET FEEDER 


OPTION 


PRINTS 
PLAIN PA 






Contact Sales Tel: (0283) 550880 

Fax: (0283) 550325 


Price excludes delivr 
and VAT 


INTEGREX SYSTEMS LTD., CHURCH GRESLEY, SWADLINCOTE, 

DERBYSHIRE DE11 9PT ENGLAND 


II1IEGREX BETHJET 

300 dpi LASER QUALITY MONO INKJET PRINTING 













rtWorks is an entirely 
new program designed 
specifically for the 
Archimedes range, that 
takes this computer into 
the competitive world of 
graphic design. An object 
orientated graphic illustra- 
tion program, ArtWorks is 
intended to compete with 
the leading products on 
other machines - 
CorelDraw, Adobe Illustra- 
tor and Aldus Freehand. 


si* 


I , 

****8i- 


pagel 


9 0 * 

& 




Speed and 
producti 



Speed of screen redraw and ease of 
use are paramount when it comes to 
making illustration programs produc- 
tive, and a great deal of design effort 
has gone into this area. Based on 
feedback we have had from users 
working with prototype versions, we 
have succeeded in making the pro- 
gram faster and easier to use than 
other leading illustration programs. 
This means that is not only more fun 
to use, but it’s also more productive, 
which means more time and money 
saved. 



The RISC technology of the 
Archimedes is ideally 
suited to applications 
where good graphics, and 
screen update speed are 
important. Comparisons 
indicate that on a A540, 
A5000 computer (or any 
machine with an ARM3), 
ArtWorks can redraw 
complex illustrations five 
or more times faster than 
either a Mac llci or the 
fastest 486 based PC. 


24-bit colour 

ArtWorks uses a 24-bit colour repre- 
sentation throughout for all objects 
and offers three colour models for 
setting or selecting colours (RGB, HSV 
or CMYK) and three types of colour - 
full 24 bit process colour, spot colour 
and colour tints. 



/ 


I 


Comprehensive colour separation 
facilities are included with full support 
for spot colour and full, four colour, 
process separations. Under-colour 
removal and colour overprint control 
provide the professionals with the 
control needed to ensure the best 
possible reproduction. 

ArtWorks uses advanced dithering to 
give the best possible on-screen rep- 
resentation when being used in 16 
and 256 colour screen modes. Using a 
special palette in conjunction with the 
dithering even allows full spectrum 
colour work in 16 colour screen 
modes. The colour dithering works 
under RISC OS 2 and 3 and is more 
accurate than that available under the 
new RISC OS 3 operating system. 


Anti-aliasing 


To our knowledge ArtWorks is the 
only object orientated drawing pro- 
gram on any machine to offer real- 
time on screen anti-aliasing. This tech- 
nique is used by Acorn's outline font 
system to enhance the screen image 
and remove screen 'jaggies'. This 
results in an apparent increase in 
screen resolution to more than double 
the actual screen resolution, and sur- 
prisingly this even works to good 
effect in 16 colour screen modes. 



The advantages of anti-aliased fonts are 
well known to Archimedes owners, provid- 
ing a more accurate and realistic display of 
the font. The same advantages apply to the 
anti-aliased drawings displayed in ArtWorks. 


A Illustration shows the HSV colour 
selector dialogue box 






WYSIWYG 


Artworks offers a completely variable 
choice between screen display accu- 
racy and screen update speed. But 
rather than offering just two settings 
between 'outlines only' and best full 
colour screen rendering, Artworks 
offers a variable control. At the maxi- 
mum setting it displays a full colour, 
fully shaded, anti-aliased display. Set 
the control down a little and the anti- 
aliasing is turned off, set it lower still 
and the colour shading is reduced, all 
the way down to a minimum setting 
where it displays outlines only. 


igrouD 


♦1*1 >J _ j h □ 

ilil l : 1^1 


A Illustration shorn info bar with the 
WYSIWYG knob on the right indicating a 
setting of 11 

ArtWorks allows full editing of the 
illustration at any WYSIWYG setting, 
so you can choose between working 
on your drawing in full colour or just 
outlines, or anything in between 


Modular program 


The ArtWorks program is made from 
a collection of individual modules and 
tools that integrate to form the com- 
plete package. This modular approach 
means the program is easily extend- 
ible, and customisable. For instance, 
new modules could be added in the 
future that bring enhanced or new 
features - it is not necessary to 
replace the whole program, and it is 
hoped that add-on modules will 
appear from both Computer Concepts 
and other software houses. For exam- 
ple, although ArtWorks is not a 
painting or phottxetouching program 
this functionality could be combined 
with all the existing ArtWorks features 
by purchasing an ArtWorks painting 
module. 

On the other hand, if there are certain 
areas of ArtWorks that you find you 
do not need, these can be removed 
from the program, saving memory 
and disc space. 


Info and 


ArtWorks introduces the concept of 
two floating tool and information 
palettes. The main toolbar holds icons 
for each of the key drawing tools. 


BE 

Q*- *11 


-1 

* 

% 

\ 

% 

□ 

o 

o 

♦ 

tip 

a 

rin 
□— 1 

*> 

A 

a 

Q 



si 



A Illustration shows the expanded tool- 
bar with the freehand tool selected 

Each tool has an appropriate informa- 
tion bar that is usually displayed along 
the lower edge of the drawing. 

Shows the info bar for the scale tool. 
Like most tools, the scale tool provides a 
comprehensive set of facilities accessible 
directly from the toolbar without having 
to use menus. On the example shown, 
the 3 by 3 arrangement of buttons con- 
trols the point around which the object is 
scaled. Using the mouse you can move 
the scale origin to any position, but the 9 
preset buttons enable you to set the 
scale origin to any edge, corner, or the 
centre. The X and Y buttons flip the 
object about the X or Y axis. The Width 
button determines if line widths are to be 
scaled in proportion and the Lock button 
locks the aspect ratio of the scale, y 


The info bar displays information 
about the current tool settings and 
usually allows exact numeric values to 
be entered where appropriate. Most 
tools interact and can be controlled 
directly with the mouse, so you can 
perform the appropriate action directly 
on the drawing. As you do this the 
info bar continually updates its display 
providing exact numeric feedback as 
you drag. 

ArtWorks therefore provides the best 
of both worlds - freeform, by eye, 
operations or precise numerically 
exact operations, making ArtWorks 
ideal for both technical drawing work, 
or purely illustrative artistic work. 

Both the info bar and the toolbar can 
be positioned where required. The 
toolbar can be further customised -by 
re-arranging the tool icons and allow- 
ing icons to be grouped to reduce the 
size and complexity of the bar. 


Interactive tools 


This feature makes a significant contri- 
bution to the productivity of ArtWorks. 
You can see the effect of the tool as 
you actually perform the act of 
dragging with the mouse. So, when 
moving objects around, you don't just 
see a meaningless square bounding 
box - you see the outline of the actual 
shape being dragged on screen. The 
same applies when you rotate or 
scale objects. The result is that there 
is no trial and error involved when 
performing these operations - the 
direct visual feedback allows you to 
position things on screen, absolutely 
accurately, first time. 




..it forms what is perhaps 
the easiest to use , but most 
advanced graphic illustration 
package on any personal 
computer today 


T> 


page 2 








page 


Layers 


Vital for complex technical illustra- 
tions, but also useful for illustrative 
artwork is the ability to break complex 
drawings into any number of separate 
layers. 

Each layer can be given any name and 
set to be displayed or not. The info 
bar always shows the current layer, 
and a pop-up menu controls all the 
layering features. The ordering of the 
layers can be altered. 


-lJ Jtl iiiil GH 

lAppiebocy | _Q] 


A The info bar shows the layer called 
" Apple body" is the current layer. This 
drawing has four layers in total, the back- 
ground layer is switched off and the 
multi-layer mode is switched on so that 
all visible layers can be edited at the 
same time. 


The layering facility makes it easy to 
work on certain aspects of the draw- 
ing without interfering with other 
parts. If, for example, a drawing is 
based on a scanned image, this image 
can be kept in a separate layer so that 
it takes no part in the editing process - 
so clicks over the image do not move 
the image, and a single menu click 
can turn the image layer off so it can't 
be seen. Another typical use of layers 
is in annotations of technical illustra- 
tions - the wording can be kept quite 
separate from the illustration itself. 



With drawing programs each line or 
part of the drawing is a separate fea- 
ture that can be changed, moved, or 
altered in any way at any time. This all 
boils down to one great advantage - 
experimentation. You can afford to try 
an idea on the drawing in the certain 
knowledge that if it doesn't look right 
you can remove the feature or undo 
the operation to restore the drawing. 





Working with full colour 
images in Corel is painful - 
it took seven times longer to 
create the same image 
that was used on the Archimedes , 
and that's a long time if you're 
constantly editing and changing 
your work y> 


COMPUTER SHOPPER 

1992 


Artworks goes further than any other 
drawing program by recording not just 
the last step or operation, but as 
many previous steps as you require. 
You can make any series of alterations 
without worrying if it's going to be 
right in the end. If it's not, then just 
use the undo feature to retrace the 
steps back to any point in the 
drawing. 


Also Artworks can store this record of 
steps, known as the undo record, 
with the drawing on file. So you can 
load a drawing and still decide that 
you didn't like the last changes you 
made and undo them. 


We cannot claim you can produce 
artistic masterpieces first time, but 
Artworks does bring out the artist in 
you. 


Graduated 


One of the main aspects that distin- 
guishes good looking illustrations 
from simple line drawings is high 
quality shading. Artworks has the 
simplest and fastest colour shading 
system of any drawing program. 

If you want to fill a shape with a 
graduated colour shade using the 
colour shading tools, you simply click 
where you want the colour to start, 
drag in the direction you want the 
shade to be graduated, and let go. 
The object is instantly filled with a 
graduated shade going from one 
colour to another. 


Roaoi m 


.u _jIj(Z] 

A 

Hi 

• H| lao 



A The Radial fill info bar shows the 
start and end colour of the shaded fill. 
Selecting an alternative colour from the 
current colour lists or creating an entirely 
new colour for either the start or end is 
instantly reflected in the drawing. 

Unlike many drawing programs where 
graduated shading can only be simu- 
lated by overlaying dozens of slightly 
different coloured objects, Artworks 
graduated shades are stored in 
memory as one single object. The 
graduated colour fill is performed in a 
single rendering operation - ArtWorks 
can draw a graduated filled object 
faster than IDraw can fill a simple 
single colour object. It also uses the 
colour dithering system so that even 
in 16 colour screen modes you get a 
full spectrum of colours with colours 
smoothly and evenly changing from 
one colour into another. 

Graduated shading is simple, very 
fast, and requires very little memory. 


ezv 


Undo 



i 


One of the key differences between a 
drawing program, such as ArtWorks, 
and a painting program is that all oper- 
ations in painting programs are 
permanent - just as with real paint. 
Once you've made an alteration to the 
painting, that's it. The only way you 
can change it or undo the change is to 
re-paint over the original again - just 
like real paint. As a consequence you 
need to have a high degree of confi- 
dence and artistic skill to be sure that 
the changes you make are going to be 
right. 



66 ArtWorks is set to make 
a very considerable impact 
on Archimedes users 


y> 


COMPUTER SHOPPER 

[May 1992 


M With the radial fill tool one simple 
click and drag turns a hollow circle into a 
shaded ball, and straight linear graduated 
fills are just as easy. 








The Artworks text tool provides the 
ability to enter lines of text directly on 
the screen. A text objects behaves 
like all other objects in ArtWorks, so 
you can rotate it, give the characters a 
different outline colour, and draw a 
graduated shade across the text. But 
the unique aspect of ArtWorks is that 
the text remains editable text even 
after you have applied such effects. If 
you want to edit the actual character 
outlines, then a single menu option 
will change the text into editable 
curves and lines making it easy to 
customise the actual character 
shapes. 



On top of this there is manual kerning, 
the ability to wrap text along a curve, 
and all these text handling features 
work on RISC OS2 as well as version 3. 


Lines and cur 



A Draw one side of a heart shape with 
the freehand tool. 



A Draw the second half so it becomes a 
complete shape and ArtWorks will fill it 
in the current colour. Of course you don't 
have to fill it with any colour - it can be 
transparent. 


& Many effects that would 
take a long time in Draw 
can be achieved in seconds 
with A rt Works 




CORN USER 

April 1992 


The line and curve editing facilities are 
simple to use and extensive. You can 
select more than one point on a curve 
and delete or move them all at once. 
Lines can be converted to curves and 
vice versa. You can add new seg- 
ments into curves simply by clicking 
on the curve, and you can change a 
curve from being a smooth curve into 
a corner 'cusp' point just by double 
clicking on the point. 



A Simply double click on the control 
point and what was a smooth curve can 
be turned into a cusp or corner point. 



One of the criticisms of previous 
drawing tools is that they do not offer 
the immediacy or natural feel of real 
pens or pencils and paper. The fact 
that all lines have to be made from 
precise mathematical curves has 
meant that it was difficult and time 
consuming to draw lines with a 
natural freehand look. To overcome 
this ArtWorks has a special tool called 
the freehand drawing tool. With this 
you simply click and then draw with 
the mouse. When you stop, ArtWorks 
analyses all the mouse movements 
and calculates the best fit smooth 
curve to follow the original line. 



page 4 



A Draw a not very smooth line with the 
freehand tool and ArtWorks turns it into 
a smooth curved line. 


The freehand tool has an accuracy 
control that determines how close the 
smoothed line follows the original. 


While ArtWorks drawing facilities are 
based on those of PostScript - it uses 
bezier lines and polygons - it tries not 
to get bound up in the normal 
PostScript jargon. You don't have to 
know what open bezier paths are, or 
what winding rule is used when filling. 
Basically ArtWorks supports two sim- 
ple drawing primitives - lines and 
shapes. Shapes are solid filled objects 
and lines are, well, lines. 


ArtWorks automatically fills any shape 
that is drawn to become a closed 
object. 



Compatibility 


Dynamic blent 


they can be used for very 
sophisticated colour shading effects. 


page 5 


In order to compete with products on 
the world stage, Artworks has been 
made to import and export files to and 
from the leading illustration packages 
on other systems. It can read and 
write files for CorelDraw 2 and 3 on 
the PC and from Illustrator and 
Freehand on the Mac. 




Impression must be widely 
acknowledged as one of the 
most important pieces of 
software on the Archimedes. 
Artworks is going to be 
just as important y> 


Under RISC OS 3 (or using an 
alternative PC disc reader) it couldn't 
be simpler. For example, you can be 
editing a CorelDraw file on your PC, 
save this to floppy, then load the file 
directly from this floppy into 
Artworks. Or vice versa, save an 
ArtWorks file directly to a PC floppy to 
be loaded straight into CorelDraw. 
Since Macs can now read PC discs 
it's not much more difficult 
transferring to or from that computer. 

In order to guarantee compatibility 
with other Acorn applications, it can of 
course also read and write Acorn 
Draw files and will, if necessary, 
convert graduated fills and blends to 
multi-shaded polygons and export 
distorted text as outlines. 

In addition to this some applications, 
such as Impression and Impression 
Junior, can display ArtWorks files 
directly, thereby benefiting from the 
superior speed and quality possible 
from the ArtWorks display system. 


220 outline fonts 

ArtWorks is compatible with all 
RISC OS outline fonts now available 
for the machine, but, in addition the 
package includes an incredible 220 
high quality outline fonts - 200 of 
which are new to the Archimedes! 
These provide a huge range of styles 
and designs and because they are just 
normal Acorn outlines fonts they can 
be used by any other program such as 
Impression. (Typically the cost of 
obtaining this number of fonts would 
be more than the entire ArtWorks 
package.) 


One of the most powerful tools in 
ArtWorks is the blend or 'in- 
betweening' tool. Starting with two 
different shapes this tool can create a 
series of intermediate shapes that 
gradually change from the start shape 
into the end one. 


In fact a blend can even blend from 
one object containing a graduated 
shade into another object containing 
another different graduated shade. 



ArtWorks blends offer three important 
features not found in other programs. 
Firstly the blends can be between 
shapes that have differing numbers of 
curves and lines - in other words you 
can change from one shape into a 
completely different shape. 





ArtWorks is turning out 
to be something special 




COMPUTER SHOPPER 

1 992 


Secondly, the blends are dynamic - all 
the intermediate steps are calculated 
and drawn on the fly, so that changing 
either the start or end shape will 
automatically re-create all the 
intermediate steps. Perhaps more 
importantly, the intermediate steps 
are not stored in memory so 
ArtWorks blend objects occupy a tiny 
fraction of the memory required by all 
other drawing programs. Indeed, a 



complex blend that is made from 100 
intermediate steps would need only 
1 % of the memory required by other 
drawing programs. 

Lastly; blends are not restricted to just 
two shapes. You can blend from one 
shape to another, to another, etc. 



▲ This shows two rectangles , each with 
a graduated shade going across the 
rectangle. 



A, By blending from one rectangle to 
another ArtWorks can create a series of 
intermediate rectangles, each with their 
own graduated fill. This simple example 
takes a few seconds to create and 
requires only a few hundred bytes of 
memory. In any other drawing program it 
could take many hours and would almost 
certainly require dozens of kilobytes of 
memory. 


Envelope 


This tool provides a simple way to 
bend or distort objects, or any part of 
a drawing, in a simple and intuitive 
manner. In fact the objects can be 
distorted in a similar way as if they 



Since blends not only change the 
shape, but also other characteristics 
such as line thickness and colour, 


The enveloping tool is so fast it is 
almost instantaneous at distorting all 
but the most complex objects. 










Perspective 


Usability 





i\ 


Although the envelope tool can create 
perspective like effects by squashing 
parts of the shape, Artworks provides 
a tool that performs a true three 
dimensional transformation of any part 
of your drawing. 

The perspective tool allows objects to 
be rotated into the distance and 
calculates and displays a true 3D 
projection. It can even show two 
vanishing points on screen which can 
be dragged around for the quickest 
and easiest way to manipulate objects 
in space. 


There are dozens of other minor and 
not so minor features that help make 
Artworks a more usable and friendly 
graphics tool. For example, in 
Artworks you select objects by 
clicking directly on the object, rather 
than somewhere inside its rectangular 
and invisible bounding box. As a 
consequence, when you have a 
complicated drawing with dozens of 
overlapping objects you can select 
what you want directly, instantly, with 
no possibility of selecting the wrong 
item. Once you've experienced this 
feature it makes you wonder how you 
ever managed without it. 


Multiple window views of any 
document. Each window may be at 
any scale and WYSIWYG setting, with 
a simple zoom in and out control 
allowing any portion of the drawing to 
be magnified by a simple click drag 
operation. 


All secondary windows are always 
rendered in the background so you 
can carry on editing without having to 
wait for the display to complete. 


. . 




u 







Fully RISC OS 2 and 3 compatible, 
Artworks offers all the expected RISC 
OS support for printer drivers, in- 
memory transfer of drawings to other 
programs, support for any screen 
mode, multi-tasking etc etc. 


These are just some of the dozens of 
points that make the difference 
between a program that is a 
frustrating experience to use and one 
that is a joy to use. 



Conclusion 


Illustration programs are a 
cornerstone requirement in 
many areas of computing, 
especially in publishing. The 
Archimedes range excels at 
desk-top-publishing, now with 
the release of Artworks, it 
excels in the area of drawing 
and illustration programs. If 
you want to draw anything, 
ArtWorks is the answer. 


software on the 
Archimedes // 


Another invaluable feature is 
background redrawing. Even though 
ArtWorks can display drawings 
several times faster than other 
products, complex illustrations can 
take quite a few seconds to draw on 
screen. Normally this not only slows 
down the editing process, but also 
makes operations like scrolling the 
drawing to the correct position a very 
hit and miss affair. ArtWorks can 
perform screen update in the 
background - you can scroll or pan the 
screen as fast as you wish without 
having to wait for the drawing to catch 
up. The drawing is being displayed or 
re-displayed constantly as you move 
the document. 


COMPUTER SHOPPER 

May 1992 


ArtWorks supports all RISC OS printer 
drivers, including the new Computer 
Concepts 24-bit colour drivers. It also 
fully supports PostScript printers 
providing control over screen angles 
and density. It can print to a Postscript 
file suitable for external imagesetting. 
ArtWorks can produce 4-colour (and 
any number of spot colour) 
separations on all printers (and can 
show separations on screen also). 

Print tiling allows large prints to be 
made covering many sheets of paper. 
This works on all printers and each 
page is produced with co-ordinates for 
the tile position and precise trim 
marks. So now you can produce your 
own wall sized posters from a normal 
A4 printer. 




page 6 





ARTWORKS BRINGS OUT THE ARTIST IN YOl 




ARCHIMEDES A5000 


PC WINDOWS 3.1 486/50 


THIS IS A TYPICAL ILLUSTRATION SHOWING JUST HOW FAST THE SCREEN RE DRAW IN ARTWORKS IS - 


Sample illustrations 

This specification was produced entirely 
using Artworks and Impression. The output 
was separated by Artworks and output to a 
high resolution imagesetter. All illustrations 
were produced in Artworks and illustrate 
some of the clip-art included with the 
package. 


Haring just purchased a 
486 computer, no one is more 
disappointed than I to find that 
CorelDrair looks pretty pedestrian 
compared to Art Works on 
an Archimedes v> 


36.3 seconds 


Screen redraw 


USING THE CORELDRAW SNOWBARN CLIP ART AS THE TEST. THE TESTS WERE RUN AT IDENTICAL SCREEN RESOLUTIONS 


All details in this advert are subiect to change 
All trademarks acknowledged E&OE 


Price: £1 69.00+VAT (£198.57 incVAT) 

Access and Visa accepted 



Computer Concepts Ltd 


We are so sure that Art Works is the best solution 
for all your illustrating requirements 
that we offer a six week 'no quibble ' money back 
guarantee if you buy ArtWorks direct 
from 

IS) 

Computer Concepts Ltd 


GADDESDEN PLACE HEMEL HEMPSTEAD HERTS HP2 6EX 






See us at the 
show! STAND 9! 


A OQB OCTOBER 1 • . 1 a 

iCORNUSER 


| S MOW 


JOYSTICK INTERFACEV2.4 


This new version hardware/software package conforms fully to the 
required Acorn standards, allows one or two standard digital joysticks to 
be used and is now fully A5000 compatible! No internal fitting, expansion 
box or backplane is necessary! Compatible with most games on the market! 

Hardware/software A5000 UPGRADES from the original are avail- 
able, for £7.99, inc VAT and P&P. Please return both interface and disc 
to us at the address below with your name, address and remittance. 

NowA5000 compatible! Only £34.00! 


Joystick Interface EXTENSION CABLE available - Only £6.50 


High Quality SCSI CARDS g 

Internal/ External podule for all machines (but not A5000) 

* 8-bit budget card £93.60 

5 


* 1 6-bit High performance card £ 1 28.50 

A3000 Internal Cards 

* 8-bit budget card £93.60 

* 8-bit turbo card £128.50 


NEWLOW PRICE! 




Out Now! 


Schools! 

8 Bit SCSI User Port for A3000! 

This is an internal 8 bit SCSI card & User Port; so 
now you can use our MIDI Interface or our MIDI 
Sampler card, leaving the Econet socket free! 

Price £131.87 


Great BUNDLE DEALS 
for Music Lovers! 

MIDI Tracker .... £16.17 
MIDI/Sampler ... £79.99 

Bundle Price 

MIDI/Sampler ... £ - 79.99 

Tracker £ 4 2.51 

Bundle Price 


Tracker £ 4 2.51 

MIDI Tracker .... £16.17 
MIDI/Sampler ... £ 79.99 
Bundle Price 


SCSI/User Port £131.87 
MIDI/Sampler ... £79.99 
Bundle Price 


These products are also available as 
single units - please see below 



Other Leading Edge Products 

* A5000 RAM Upgrades - Reduced! Reduced! 

High quality four layer PCB, easy to fit - slots vertically - no need to 
remove backplane or hard drive; uses fast DRAM to match your A5000 
- 2Mb Upgrade (to give you 4Mb in total) £ I 1 2.00 ^£105.00 

* Graphics Enhancer (300/400 series).... £225.52 

Adds 24 bit palette and much more! (A3000 £235.74) 

* Investigator 2 £23.79 

The best selling disc utility package - runs from desktop, installs on hard 
drive, improved disc editing facilities, more powerful backup features 
with greater compression and detailed 40 page manual. (Not A 5000) 


* Tracker £42.51 

T racker provides 8- track sound sequencing facilities, using the Archimedes sound 
capabilities to the full. It has many advanced features including:- pitch bend, 
arpeggio, stereo panning, volume slide, track swapping and mixing. 

* Tracker Tunes (2-17 each) £5.00 

Great tunes even if you haven't got Tracker! - Full list available! 

* Sound Sampler/MIDI Card £79.99 

Sounds can be sampled from HI-FI's, or CD players. The card is 
installed instead of the Econet network card 

* MIDI T racker £16.17 

Allows Tracker tune modules to be played out of a MIDI interface. 
Even inexpensive keyboards have the abilrty to create excellent sounds 
beyond even the sound quality of the Archimedes. 




Dept AUA2LE, Northwood House, North Street, LEEDS LS7 2AA 
Tel 0532 458800 Fax 0532 423289 


* Carriage contribution £250, UK mainland only, excluding Scottish Highlands 
Other areas, including overseas, carriage charged at cost. 

* Please add VAT at 175% to all prices, including carriage 

* Please make cheques/P.Oj payable to Leading Edge 

* Access or Visa cards welcome 

* Official education orders accepted; (minimum order value £30.00 for 
invoicing, otherwise cheque with order). 

* ^ ; (Price* * correct. E A OE) 


All products designed and developed by Vertical Twist 

Distribution exclusive to Greyhound Marketing. Dealer enquiries 0532 621111 



Watford Electronics^ 


(A member of the Jessa group of Companies - Established 1972) 

Mail Order & Showroom: Jessa House, Finway, off Dallow Road, Luton, LU1 1TR, England 
Tel: 0582 487777 Tlx: 8956095 WATFRD Fax: 0582 488588 
Showroom Only: Jessa House, 250 Lower High Street, Watford WD1 2AN, England 
Tel: 0923 237774 Fax: 0923 233642 


U 

Acorn £ 


The sign of 
Quality 


work on ar 
excess of 
fraction of tf 
Up to four 
;ystem IDE 
ach expa 
installed in 
hard disc a 
card itself. 


Shop Hours: 9am to 6pm (Mon. -Sat.) T hursday 9am to 8pm. I-Htt customer car park. 

All prices exclusive of VAT; subject to change without notice & available on request. 


Tho choice saV jng m< 

of Experiencecommoniy 

application. 
A powerful 

K wmm fTT -1 1 tw0 

All our memory upgrades are simple to fit. No where had 
soldering required. Fitting instructions supplied. may lead 
• R300-4 Layer RAM upgrade board (Bare). £25 configurat 
• R302-A3000 - to 2MB RAM Upgrade 
• R303-A3000 - to 2MB RAM Upgrade 
(expandable to 4MB) 

• R304-A3000 - to 4MB RAM Upgrade 
• R31 1 -A305 - to 1 MB RAM Upgrade 
• R312-A305/310 - to 2MB RAM Upgrade 
• R314-A305/310 - to 4MB RAM Upgrade 
• R412-A410/1 - to 2MB RAM Upgrade 
• R413-A420/1 - to 4MB RAM Upgrade 
• R414-A410/1 - to 4MB RAM Upgrade 
• R810-A410/1 - to 8MB RAM Upgrade 
• R820-A420/1 - to 8MB RAM Upgrade 
• R840-A440/1 - to 8MB RAM Upgrade 
• R814-R140 - to 8MB RAM Upgrade 
• A5000 - to 2MB additional RAM Upgrade 


1 / rchimedes l 

System 

Basic Colour Multiscan 

A3000 

£525 

£685 

£850 

A3000L/C 

£642 

£799 

£967 

A3010-1 Mb Family 

£424 

£584 

£749 

A3010-2Mb L/C 

- 

£680 

- 

A3020-2Mb FD 

- 

£749 

£799 

A3020-2Mb HD60 

- 

£899 

£949 

A4000-2Mb HD80 

- 

£949 

£999 

A4000-Home Office 

- 

£999 

£1049 

A5000-2Mb HD80 

- 

£- 

£1399 

A5000-L/C 

- 

£1445 

£1745 

A5000-4Mb HD120 

- 

- 

£1599 

A5000-2Mb ES 

- 

£1299 

- 

A5000-2Mb NS 

- 

£1399 

- 

Pocket Book 

£212 

- 

- 

Pocket Book Class 

£2127 

- 

- 


Acorn Inkjet Printer add £199 


Archi A4 Notebooks 


A4 Notebook with 2Mb RAM 
A4 Notebook 4M RAM/60M HD 


£1399 

£1699 


FREE OFFER 


When you purchase an 
Archimedes Micro from Watford, 
we will give you 10% worth 
of Hardware or Software 
of your choice at no extra cost 
to you. 


Archi Accessories 


• 3.5” 800K 2nd Floppy Drive (305/310) 

• 5.25" 800K external Floppy Drive 

• I/O Podule (Analogue/User/1 MHz bus) 

• I/O Podule (Analogue/User) 

• MEMC 1 A Upgrade 

• MIDI add-on to I/O Podule 

• MIDI Expansion Card 

• Econet Network Board 

• Archimedes IEEE Interface Adaptor 

• Dual RS232 Podule 

• 1 6 bit parallel I/O Card 

• Archi replacement mouse - New design 

• PC Emulator vl. 8 

• Software Developers Toolbox 

• Floating Point Unit 

• SCSI Adaptor Expansion Card 

• Keyboard Extension Lead 

• 2 Podule Backplane 

• 4 Podule Backplane 

• Fan for above backplanes 

• Rise Os Extras Software Disc 

• Ethernet Card 

• SCSI Card 8 bit 

• A5000 Dust Cover 2pcs 


'xmxxmrrmwrn 


• Monitor Stand 

• Serial Upgrade 


• 3.5” External Drive £95 

• Technical Manual £39 

• A3000 Dust Cover £5 

• A3000 plus Monitor Dust Cover 

• A3000 User Port/Midi Upgrade Card 

• A3000 User/Analogue/IIC I/O Card 

• A3000 External Podule Case 




Hard Disc Drives 


A5000 - 100Mb 18mS Hard Disc Upgrade 
A5000 - 210Mb 18mS Hard Disc Upgrade 


£269 

£459 


rchimedes Hard Disc 


Watford’s ST506 Hard disc drives for A310 & A410 
series fit internally into the space provided. 

P.S. A310 upgrades require a backplane and a fan. 


£99 

£195 


• 3HDP - Hard Disc Podule only 

• 3HD20 - 20Meg H’ Disc + Podule for 310 

• 3HD40 - 40Meg H' Disc + Podule for 310 £285 

• 3HD50 - 53Meg H’ Disc + Podule for 310 £359 

• 4HD20 - 20Meg Hard Disc for 410 

• 4HD40 - 40Meg Hard Disc for 410 

• 4HD50 - 53Meg Hard Disc for 410 

• A3000 20Meg Hard Disc + Podule 

• A3000 40Meg Hard Disc + Podule 


£69 

£195 

£260 

£279 

£379 



A3000 BBC Archimedes Micro with 3.5" 
Floppy Disc Drive and a mouse, upgraded 
to 2Mb RAM, COLOUR Monitor + Lead, 
20Mb fast IDE Hard Disc Drive, 
‘Compression’ Utility to increase the Hard 
Drive capacity to Typically 40Mb, The 
highly acclaimed Computer Concept's 
Impression Junior DTP software package. 

RRP: £1299 

Sale Offer Price: £875 

Above Package plus Acorn’s 
Learning Curve £918 
DTP Package as above but with a 
30Mb fast IDE Drive, (with 
Compression utility, the capacity is 
increased to typically 60Mb) £899 

Above package with Acorn's 
Learning Curve £942 


Special Education discounts 
available on above package, micros, 
RAM upgrades, ARM 3 Turbo Card, 
etc. Please write in or telephone: 


(0923) 237774/250335 


Lease Purchase facility now 
available. Please telephone or 
write in for details. 


Desk Top Publishers 

Acorn’s Archi DTP Package £69 

• Equasor £39; • Expression-PS £19 

Impression 2 DTP Pack £123 

Impression Junior £69 

Impression Business Supplement £39 

Impression II Borders Disc £19 


£3 6 password 
option is i 
£55 * IDELock 
£1 25 deletion of 
£30 By an inne 
£99 will remer 
£199 another si 
£30 includes tf 
£60 .. 

E90 Hardwc 

£579 ® Single 
£549 • Suppor 
£479 . Fast M 
£499 SUppor 
£85 • SMbyt 
• Built in 
LED ac 
37 wa> 
Option 
Up tot 
Multipl 


Softwa 

• Confon 

• Allsofl 

• Filing j 


Archi Wordprocessors 


• 

Pendown Archi 

£48 

1st Word Plus - 2 

£63 


Pendown Outline 

PD Spellchecker 

£40 

• 

Fonts 

£18 

Graphic Writer 

£19 

• 

Image Writer 

£25 

EasiWord 

£18 

• 

L 

Databases 

1 

• 

AlphaBase 

£36 

Magpie 

£40 

• 

Flexifile 

£79 

Multistore v2.01 

£176 


Knowledge Organiser£42 

Pinpoint 

£65 



Desktc 
name 
IIDEFc 
formal 
Drives 
Up to 
Powei 
config 
Drives 
mode 
IIDEF: 


Spreadsheets 


Intersheet Disc 


£24 Schema 


Business Graphics 


GammaPlot 
Interchart Disc 


Sigmaplot 


£39 


Integrated Packages 


Pipedream 4 
Desktop Office - 


Database, Graphs & 
Charts, Wordprocessor Spreadsheet, 
Communications 

Desktop Folio - Wordprocessor. Desktop 
& Interactive Publishing. Ideal for school 


£98 


Part No. 

ADA 05 
ADA 05 
ADA 05 
ADA 05 

All the a 
complet 
ROM. (I 
A300/A- 
For A3C 
PSU wil 
AAA 03< 


£75 


More Archimedes Products 
See Pages 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 



CREDIT CARD 24 HOUR 
Ansaphone Hot Lines 
(0923) 250234 or 233383 


State o 
the A3C 

ADA O' 

ada o: 

ADA 0‘ 
ADA 0 
ADA 0 

Supplie 

Simply 











5 



oice 

ience 



No 

)lied. 

). £25 

£36 

£55 

£125 

£30 

£99 

£199 

£30 

£60 

£90 

£579 

£549 

£479 

£499 

£85 


£69 

£19 

•123 

£69 

£39 

£19 


£63 

£40 

£19 

£18 


£40 

£176 

£65 

H 

£89 



149 


Hi-Speed, Low Cost 
Archi Hard Disc Drive 




Watford's advanced interface allows IDE drives to 
work on any Archimedes machine, speeds in 
excess of SCSI devices can be obtained at a 
fraction of the cost of a SCSI drive. 

Up to four drives are supported by the IDE filing 
system IDEFS, up to two drives can be attached to 
each expansion card, up to four cards can be 
installed in a machine. An optional 20Mb or 40Mb 
hard disc can be supplied on the podule expansion 
card itself, with its fast transfer rate and power 
saving modes the drive is ideal for storing 
commonly used software such as the (Fonts 
application. 

A powerful security feature has been provided with 
the two unique commands ‘IDELock and 
"IDEUnlock, ideal for educational establishments 
where hacking or tempering may be prevalent that 
may lead to loss of data. Once locked, the 
configuration can not be changed until a secret 
password is used. The MDEForm Write Protect 
option is particularly useful in conjunction with 
*IDELock as it will prevent any unauthorised 
deletion of data. 

By an innovative use of on-board memory, the card 
will remember its configuration, even if moved to 
another slot or even a different machine, this also 
includes the unique security features. 

Hardware 

• Single width EuroCard 

• Supports proposed ANSI ATA (IDE) specification 

• Fast 16 bit MEMC interface interrupt driven to 
support background disc operations 

• 5 Mbytes per second peak transfer rate 

• Built in Non Volatile RAM to hold configuration 

• LED activity indicator 

• 37 way D type socket for external drives 

• Optional on-card 20Mb or 40Mb hard disc 

• Up to two drives (master and slave) per card 

• Multiple cards per machine (up to four) 

Software 

• Conforms fully to the Acorn IDE Specification 

• All software supplied in ROM 

• Filing system 'IDEFS' 

• Desktop filer with drive ready detection and disc 
name under icon 

• IIDEForm, WIMP based configuration and 
formatting software 

• Drives can be individually write protected 

• Up to four drives over multiple cards 

• Power saving standby modes supported with 
configurable timeout 

• Drives can be used without translation in native 
mode for minimum overhead 

• IIDEFSDisk, creates PC emulator hard discs 

Prices 


Archi IDE Hard Cards 


Part No. 

Capacity 

Access Speed 

Price 

ADA 0520 

44Mb 

28mS 

£215 

ADA 0530 

100Mb 

16mS 

£295 

ADA 0570 

200Mb 

15mS 

£479 

ADA 0580 

330Mb 

15mS 

£849 


All the above 3.5" hard drives are supplied 
complete with Controller Card, cable & Software on 
ROM. (Internal fitting). For use with 
A300/A400/A500 series machines. 

For A3000 users an additional external Case and 
PSU will be required. 

AAA 0300 External Case & PSU for A3000 £85 


Internal Hard Disc Drives 
for A3000 


State of the art, 4 layer internal IDE Hard Cards for 
the A3000. Software supplied in. On-board ROM. 


ADA 0700 

21Mb 

23mS 

£185 

ADA 0770 

30Mb 

19mS 

£285 

ADA 0720 

44Mb 

19mS 

£349 

ADA 0750 

60MB 

18MS 

£399 

ADA 0730 

89Mb 

18mS 

£619 

Supplied ready assembled. 

No soldering required. 


"Simply plug 
and play" 



Watford's easy to instal, low cost, high 
performance, revolutionary IDE Hard Cards 
for the A300 & A400 series Archimedes. 


ADA 0650 

21Mb 

23mS 

£199 

ADA 0800 

30Mb 

19mS 

£295 

ADA 0660 

44Mb 

28mS 

£359 

ADA 0810 

60Mb 

18mS 

£409 

ADA 0670 

89Mb 

18mS 

£629 


(Can be used as a Removable Hard Drive) 


•^NEW| 


Archimedes A300/A40, 
SCSI Hard Disc Offer 

(while stocks last) 


100MB Hard Disc Upgrade 
complete with Controller card, 
Cables, Formatter and Manuals 

RRP: £799 

Offer Price: £325 


Syquest Removable 
Disc Units 


These Hard Drive units are supplied complete with 
a cartridge 42Mb removable, cables and a high 
flow fan for cooling. 

• Syquest Drive Unit pack £399 

• As above + SCSI Card £415 

• Spare 42Mb Disc £55 


Archi to BBC Serial Link Mk 2 


Using this simple data link, it is possible to solve all 
your BBC to Archimedes data transfer problems. 
The kit is supplied with a disk, and the necessary 
cable to connect the two computers. 

New RISC OS Version also available (please 
specify) 

• For A3000 £15 •ForA5000 £16 

For A3000 Serial Upgrade (£19) required 


Simply plug into the allotted space. 


This NEW versatile I/O Card from Watford, fits inside 
the A3000 and includes an Analog to Digital Converter, 
a User Port, and an InterIC (IIC) connector. 

The card allows many of the peripherals developed for 
the BBC to be used with the Archimedes A3000. The 
ADC and User Port have the same pin out and 
connectors as the BBC computers. 

Extensive RISC OS software is supplied to provide BBC 
OSBYTE calls tor support of the ADC and User Ports, 
including the BASIC keyword ADVAL. The software 
provides extended RISC OS support for separate 
interrupts from both the ADC and User Ports, permitting 
easy interrupt driven operation. 

The card is provided with all the software in ROM and is 
automatically loaded when the machine is turned on. 

Peripherals connected to the ports can obtain up to 
500mA of power at +5V. A fuse is fitted to the card to 
protect the A3000 from damage arising from accidental 
short circuit of the power output. 

Features 

• An 8 bit User Port with a standard 20 way IDC 
connector, compatible with the User Port on the BBC 
computers and the Archimedes I/O Podule. 

• A 10 bit Analog to Digital Converter with a standard 
15 way D type connector, compatible with the ADC 
on the BBC range of computers and the Archimedes 
I/O podule. 

• An InterIC (IIC) Port with a 5 pin DIN socket to 
connect the A3000 to external IIC devices. £42 




nerva's Archimedes Software 


Easy Word £18 TimeTabler £549 

Home Accounts £35 System Delta £59 
System Delta Program Reference Manual £29 

Stand alone Business Accounts Packages 

Sales; Purchase; Order Processing and Invoicing; 
Nominal; Stock management 
£79 per module 

or Complete Business Package £325 



Here it is at last - the all new Mark 2 version 
of Watford's highly acclaimed ARM 3 
processor board for the Archimedes and now 
also the A3000 series computers. Using the 
latest surface mount technology on a high 
quality four layer circuit board we have 
reduced the overall size to a mere 53mm x 
45mm, and the cost to only £169. Mk II 
upgrade will increase the speed of your micro 
by a factor of 3 to 6. 

Any competent A300 or A400/1 series micro 
owner can fit the upgrade himself, as we 
provide full fitting instructions and a special 
ARM chip extraction tool. However for A3000 
micros and those not wishing to perform the 
upgrade themselves, we will collect, upgrade 
and return your micro by courier service, at an 
additional cost of £18. 

(A300 and old A440 series owners please note 
- you will need to upgrade to MEMC1 A for 
ARM3 to work.) 

RRP £249 

Offer Price £169 

Acorn have satisfactorily evaluated Watford's 
ARM 3 upgrade and the A3000 upgrades are 
fitted by Acorn approved surface mount 
technology centre, therefore its fitment will not 
invalidate Acorn's warranty on the micro. 


BBC MASTER 


MASTER 128K Micro incl. Acorn’s 
View, Viewsheet, ADFS, BASIC Editor 
& TERMINAL plus FREE OFFER 
(see below) £399 


FREE with every BBC Master purchased 
from us during August 

A 5.25" Double Sided, 40/80 track 
switchable 400K Disc Drive 
complete with cables and a Utilities 
disc incl. 2 games, plus 

Gemini's OFFICE MATE & OFFICE MASTER 



Econet Module for the Master 

£42 

Twin ROM Cartridge for Master 

£9 

Quad ROM Cartridge for Master 

£14 

Master Reference Manual 1 

(No VAT) £14 

Master Reference Manual II 

(No VAT) £14 

Master Advance Ref Manual 

(No VAT) £14 

64K Upgrade Kit for B+ 

£32 

Acorn 1772 DFS Kit complete 

£49 

ECONET Upgrade Kit for BBC B 

£42 

ALL ECONET UPGRADES Available 

ARIES’ IEEE Interface for BBC B & Master £238 
Morley Teletext Adaptor with ATS Rom £99 

Ecolink 

£270 

Continued-* -*-*-*-> 

— 





“ The image quality which this little beauty can produce is quite 
stunning. ” 

Archimedes World - July 1992 


“Other Arch image grabbers have been irritating or just plain 
useless. . . n 

" Loads of well written, easy-to-follow and in-depth help, all 
glued together in a very handsomely designed manual . " 

Computer Shopper- July 1992 




Original Image, 16 Grey Levels 


Original after edge filter applied 


Original after applying an enhancement filter 



Original after applying a smoothing filter 


Watford proudly introduces its innovative new 
256 grey-level hand scanner, Scan256, for the 
Archimedes range of micro computers. It offers 
up to 256 grey levels at a maximum of 400 dpi, 
and comes complete with the most advanced 
and sophisticated 256 grey scale scanner 
software currently available for the Archimedes. 

Features 

^ Multiple copies of the image in memory at once 

Allows multiple consecutive operations without having to save the original 
image to disk. 

^ Instant re-draw of all 4 image buffers 

No re-calculations needed unlike other packages that use on the fly 
screen-dithering. 

^ Highly advanced dithering and image size reduction 

Available via industry standard ChangeFSI package for maximum image 
quality. An invaluable aid to reduce the size of the image whilst 
maintaining maximum image quality. 

^ Advanced in-built image processing options 

Convolution digital filtering fully implemented with over 100 filters covering 
edge detection, image enhancement and image smoothing. Enables high 
quality images to be obtained from poor quality scans. 

^ A unique L.E.D. indicator on the scanner 

Shows you when the scanner is being moved at close to the maximum 
scanning speed, not just when it is too late and a scan line has been 
missed by moving the scanner too fast. 

^ Fully adjustable scale and size of image preview when scanning 

Image preview window can even be behind other windows and preview is 
shown in real-time with maximum number of grey scales available. 

^ Support for The Serial Port’ Graphics Enhancer 

Allows up to 256 simultaneous grey scales on screen at once. 

^ True brightness, contrast and gamma correction 

All can be specified by a value to exactly match monitor/printer. No 
guessing with shapes of curves and correction is mathematically correct. 

^ RISC OS 3 features 

Include rotation and shearing. Scans normally are scanned at a slant 
rather than being rotated, shearing enables the scan to be corrected 
better than rotation. 

^ Fast RISC OS printing 

Multiple options such as scale to page, centre, sideways, selected area, 
and any scale. 



• Mat 
mat 

• Mat 
mat 

• Rid 
con 
cole 

• Cor 

• Esp 

• Wh 

• AV 

• Six 
first 
for i 

• Mor 
12> 

• Au 
12: 

• Boi 
bee 

• Let 

• Fre 
pro 
gra 
ani 

• Six 
firs 
ad’ 

• Me 
2n< 

• Cc 
pre 
rot 

• PL 
Pu 
Pl 
Pl 

• Ye 
11 

• Le 
Ini 

• Ni 
is 

• Nc 
th< 

pr 

• M 

• H< 
(9 

• S| 

IK. 

• Ai 

(2 

• A 
(€ 

• B 

• B 

• B 

• C 

• C 



The only sensible scanning 
and image processing solution 
for the Acorn Archimedes. Just 
compare the features, there 
can only be one choice... 


A 


v 


^ Scanner scans at an amazing 3ms per line • c 

A post card at 400dpi takes only 7.3 seconds to scan, creating over 3Mb # c 

of data. # c 

^ Selectable scanning modes • c 


256 grey-scale, 256 grey-scale half width, 16 grey-scale and monochrome | # r 

scanning modes. Half width mode enables longer 256 grey-scale scans to i 
be achieved. 

• 

^ Save image in foreign formats 9 

Save as industry standard TIFF for exporting to other systems, AIM for 
further processing, or RISC OS Sprite format. 

^ Single width, high quality podule using surface mount technology 

Scan256 Scanner, Interface Card, 
Software and Manual 

Only £185 







BBC Educational Software 


Maths with a Story 1 (Disc). 4 primary level 
maths programs £20.00 

Maths with a Story 2 (Disc). 4 further 
maths programs. £20.00 

Picture Craft (Disc) 6-14 age group. Pack 
consists of flexible geometrical design & 
colouring programs. £17.00 

Computers at Work - Primary £1 7.35 

Espana Viva - 3 Discs £1 9.95 

WHITE KNIGHT Chess game £16.00 

A Vous La France £29.00 

Six French Games - Aimed at pupils in their 
first year of French, but also useful as revision 
for more advanced students 1 1 years+ £26 

More French Games - Another 6 games 
12 years* £26 

Au Restaurant and Accident de Route 
12 years* £26 

Boulogne and Oh-Les - 2 programs for 
beginners £26 

Letters to French Penpals - 1 1 years* £26 

French Programs with Henri Beret - The 
programs in this series present vocabulary, 
grammar and role-play phrases in the form of 
animated games. 11-16 £22 

Six German Games - Aimed at pupils in their 
first year, but useful as revision for more 
advanced student of German. 12 years* £22 
More German Games - Aimed at pupils in their 
2nd year of learning German. 1 2 years* £22 

Computer Control - This is a package of 3 
programs simulating control of a greenhouse, a 
robotic arm & a chemical plant. 14-16 years £26 
PUNCMAN Learning punctuation 
Puncman 1 & 2 for 7 - 13 years £1 5 

Puncman 3 & 4 for 8 - 14 years £15 

Puncman 5, 6 & 7 for 8 - 15 years £1 5 

Yes Chancellor - A chance to take over number 
1 1 at Downing Street. 1 2 years* £1 8 

Letters & Pictures - Introduces phonic skills to 
Infants 6-8 years £15 

Numbers & Pictures - Early number learning 
is a great fun (4-6 years) £1 5 

Note Invaders - Budding musicians can learn 
the notes on the Clef with this elegant game 3 
programs (7 to Adults) £1 5 

Maps & landscapes No. 1 (9-14 years) £18 

Help Your Child learn Basic Map work No. 2 
(9-14 years) £18 

Spelling Week by Week (6-14 years) £18 


Archi Educational Software 


» Animated Alphabet 
(3-6 yrs) £21 

» Arcventure 
(8-12 yrs) £29 
» Bookbinder £43 
1 Bumper Disc £14 
1 Bumper Disc 2 £14 
1 Craftshop 1 £26 

► Craftshop 2 £26 

1 Converta-Key £1 6 
1 Data Word £16 
1 Desktop Stories £35 
DigiSim £35 

Dream Time 
(5-7 yrs) £23 

Farm (5-7 yrs) £19 
Fleet Street Phantom 
(9-13 yrs) £25 
Fun School 3 Red 
(up to 6 years) £17 
Fun School 3 Green 
(6-8 years) £17 
Fun School 3 Blue (8 
years*) £17 

Gate Array Teaching 
System £68 


Glimpse Clip Art 
Utility (7-16 yrs) £8 
Highlighter 
(6-16 yrs) £42 

Jigsaw £28 

Mapventure 
(9-13 yrs) £24 
Microbugs £24 
Money Matters £1 6 
Nature Park Adven- 
ture (7-9 yrs) £27 
Numerator £60 
Picture Book £16 
Recall (6-13 yrs) £39 
Sellardore Tales £24 
Snippet £26 

Space Mission 
Mada (9-13 yrs) 

Sting of the Dump 
(9-13 yrs) £22 

Target Maths £16 
Viewpoints 
(9-12 yrs) £33 

Wizard’s Revenge 
(7-10 yrs) £17 

Worst Witch 
(7-10 yrs) £25 


Archimedes Software 


GRAPHICS 

3D Construction Kit £39 
Arc Light £46 

ARCtist £19 

ARCticulate £19 

Atelier £65 

Artisan II £45 

Artisan Gallery £16 

Autosketch II £65 

Craftshop 1 & 2 £28 

Euclid 2 £50 

Graph Box £59 

Graphbox Professional £107 
HotLink Presenter £40 
Illusionist £69 

Kermit £46 

Mogul £17 

Poster £79 

Pro Artisan £70 

Prime Art £69 

Render Bender 2 £95 

Revelation 2 £80 

Snippet £21 

Titler £119 

Tween £29 

GAMES 

Air Supremacy £17 

Apocalypse £14 

Arcade Soccer £14 

Boogie Buggy £14 

Break 147 + Supa Pool£19 
Bughunter in Space £19 

Cataclysm £19 

Chess 3D £16 

Chocks Away 
Compendium £32 

Chocks Away Extra £14 

Conqueror £15 

Corruption £18 

Cyber Chess £38 

Elite £33 

Enter the Realm £19 

E-Type Compendium £20 
E-Type Designer £13 

Family Favourites £13 

Grievous Bodily Arm £19 

Holed Out Designer £13 

Holed Out Golf Comp £20 
Hostages £14 

Inter Dictor 2 £26 

Iron Lord £15 

Jigsaw £27 

Lemmings £20 

Lost Temple POA 

Mad Prof Mariarti £17 

Masterbreak £16 

Man at Arms £14 

MahJong Patience £1 5 

Manchester United II £19 

Mig 29 £24 

Nebullus £21 

Nevryon £14 

Nevryon II £20 

Olympics £14 

Pandoras Box £18 

Pipe Mania £17 


ISO-PASCAL; FORTRAN 77 £77 each 

Assembler; LISP; Prolog X £149 each 

Desktop C £199 Logotron Logo £45 

Macro Assembler £40 Rise Basic £120 

RoboLogo £69 Rise FORTH £110 

BASIC Compiler £77 Cambridge Pascal £95 


Archimedes External Disc 
Drive Interface 


With this interface it is possible to connect almost 
any 5.2573.5” disc drive with its own power supply 
to the Archimedes. Upto 4 disc drives can be 
connected. Fully Buffered Board. NO SOLDERING 
is involved. Supplied complete with necessary lead. 

Price £21 


Power Band 

£14 

Puncman 1 & 2 

£16 

Puncman 3 & 4 

£16 

Pysanki 

£14 

Quazer 

£10 

Real McCoy 

£22 

Real McCoy 2 

£23 

Real McCoy 3 

£22 

Redshift 

£14 

Return to Doom 

£16 

Repton 3 

£14 

Saloon Cars Deluxe 

£27 

Spitfire Fury 

£22 

Splice 

£25 

Sporting Triangles 

£24 

Superior Golf 

£14 

Superpool + Break 147£19 

Swiv 

£19 

Talisman 

£12 

Timewatch 

£24 

Trivial Pursuit 

£22 

Twin World 

£15 

U.I.M. 

£23 

White Magic 2 

£15 

Wimp Game 

£13 

Worldscape 

£16 

XFire 

£19 

Zelanites 

£23 

Miscellaneous 

Ancestry 

£59 

Arccomm 2 

£38 

Arcterm 7 

£64 

Armadeus Sound 

£60 

Avante Garde Fonts 

£23 

BBC DFS Reader 

£6 

Broadcaster Loader 

£65 

Compression (CC) 

£38 

Equasor 

£38 

FlexiFile 

£97 

Genesis Plus 

£68 

Genesis 2 

£99 

Investigator 2 

£22 

JX Archi Colour Printer 

Driver for Citizen & 


Star Printers 

£15 

Magpie 2 

£42 

Notate 

£42 

Numerator 

£66 

Pin Point 

£65 

Presenter 2 

£29 

Presenter Story £145 

Rainforest 

£17 

Revelation 2 

£95 

Rhapsody in Blue 2 

£45 

Score Draw 

£46 

Show Page £127 

Speech! 

£15 

The Victorian 

£17 

Time Tabler £549 

Toolkit (Clares) 

£35 

Touchtype 

£40 

T racker 

£39 

Turbo Driver BJ10E 

£42 

Vox Box 

£46 

WorldScape 

£17 

(Archimedes) 

t 


rchi Real-Time Digitiser 


Now supplied with NEW RISC OS Version 
Software 

Watfords’ Archimedes Video Digitiser is the most 
sophisticated digitiser ever designed for a micro. It 
provides a fast and flexible means of capturing 
images from a video camera or recorder for display 
and manipulation on the Archimedes range of 
Micros. Off-air televison signals may also be 
digitised via a video recorder or TV tuner. Please 
write for further details. 

Price £119 

A Set of Colour Filters for colour image grabbing 
using a video camera £1 6 


rchi Graphic Tablet 


• A300/400 


Back Plate Extension 

£15; • A3000 


£14 


The Archi Graphic Tablet offers performance and 
accuracy comparable to other tablets priced at well 
over £400, and has the useful addition of a liftable 
cover, which can hold tracing material or menu 
templates securely. The package is supplied 
complete with sophisticated Archi software. (Now, 
fully LinCAD compatible. Recommended by Linear 
Graphic for use in Education). 

(FREE this month, PC Mouse Drivers 
& Art package) 

Special Price £199 

(Price includes Tablet, Leads, Software & Puck) 
Stylus Optional Extra £20 

Archi Graphic Tablet Junior. Working 
area 9" x 6". Price includes Stylus £125 


Surge Protector Plu 


Fitted in place of your normal mains plug, this 
device protects your equipment (and data from 
corruption), against mains high voltage transient 
spikes/surges caused by lightning or thermostats 
switching. 

Protection for only £8.50 


4 Way Mains 
Distribution Socket 


4 way top quality mains trailing sockets. 

Supplied wired up with mains plug ready for use. 
Can be screwed to floor or wall if required. 

Very useful for tidying up all the mains leads from 
your peripherals. 

£9.50 


ike Cleaner Unit 


A 4 way mains distribution unit as above with a 
built-in Surge Arrester, providing protection for your 
complete Computer/Hi-Fi System 

£16 


8 Way DIP Switch 


Increase the speed of your Disc Drives by 
soldering this switch to your BBC B or B+ keyboard 


Only £1.00 


Continued- 






FREE 

Connecting 
lead with 
every monitor 
purchased 
from us. 
Please specify 
type required. 


Microvitec Monitors 


• 1431 - Standard Resolution Monitor 

• 1451 - Medium Resolution Monitor 

• Cub3000 Medium Res for A3000 

• Dust Cover for Microvitecs 

• Touchtec 501 Touch Screen 

Now 3 years Parts & Labour warranty on all 
Microvitec Monitors 


£169 

£209 

£189 

£5.50 

£239 


Multiscan Colour 


• Eizo 9060S 

£389 

• NEC 6 FG 

£1525 

• Eizo F550i 

£725 

• Taxan 770LR 

£362 

• Eizo T560i 

£995 

• Taxan 787 

£249 

• Eizo T660i-T 20" £1599 

• Taxan 795 

£397 

• NEC 3FG 

£370 

• Taxan 875 

£679 

• NEC 4FG 

£465 

• VIDC Enhancer 

£25 

• NEC 5FG 

£850 




Aries AlphaScan Monitor 


Pound for Pound, the AlphaScan VGA Multiscan 
monitor provides the maximum performance and 
greatest flexibility of any 14" colour monitor for the 
Archimedes micro. 


Its multiscan circuitry provides automatic 
adjustment for frequencies between 30 and 60KHz 
horizontal, and 50 and 90Hz vertical. Its 0.28mm 
dot pitch high resolution tube provides super sharp 
text graphics, while a high speed (70/72Hz) refresh 
rate provides a flicker-free display easing the eye 
strain. The Multivideo VIDC Adaptor supplied (free) 
with the monitor allows high resolution operation in 
all screen modes. £325 

• Aries Alphascan 17" Plus £495 


ilips Monitors 


• BM7502 12” Hi-res Green Monitor 

• CM8833 14” Med. Res Colour Monitor 

• Dust Cover for Philips Monitors 


£67 

£172 

£6 


STAR BUY 

Aries A2000 Colour Monitor 


This attractively finished, etched screen medium 
res monitor is supplied complete with built-in 
speaker, volume control and video input. All 
controls are located on the front panel for ease of 
use. Ideal for BBC, BBC Master, Archimedes 
and Amiga. 

Only £159 


pare Monitor Leads 


BNC Lead for Zenith or Philips 

Skart Monitor Lead 

RGB lead for TAX AN Monitors 

Archimedes Colour Monitor Lead 


£3 

£5 

£3 

£7.50 


Integrex Ink Jet Printers 


• Colour Jet 1 32 Printer 

• Paper Roll 

• BBC Screen Dump Software 

• Colour Cartridge 

• Black Cartridge 

• 100 A4 OHP transparencies 

• 8K Serial Interface Optional 

• Colour Jet 2000 

• Betajet Ink Jet Printer 

• Betajet Cut Sheet Feeder 


£449 

£6.50 

£10 

£21 

£12.40 

£55 

£123 

£529 

£185 

£43 


VIDC Enhancer 



This unique VIDC add- \ 
on board for the 
Archimedes, caters for 
all types of Multiscan 
and VGA monitor and 
mode requirements. 

There are 2 versions to 
suit all requirements. The 
multimode software supplied, provides all the new 
modes for the selected monitor type, including the 
now standard Computer Concepts modes. With 
VGA monitor, you are no longer restricted to a few 
modes. A Desk Top application supplied on disc, 
allows new modes to be designed and existing 
modes to be modified for particular monitors. 


Super VGA VIDC Card: Its unique design allows 
the horizontal and vertical sync to be buffered and 
have the polarity changed under software 
control £45 


MultiVideo VIDC Card: As above but for 
MultiScan monitors only. 


£25 


SPECIAL OFFER 


H P Desk Jet 500C Colour Printer £375* 
Archi Printer Driver £15 


* Price includes 3 years extended parts and 
labour warranty at no extra cost. 


For 3 years On-Site maintenance 


£45 


Panasonic Printers 


KX-P1123 

£126 

KX-P2180C 

£156 

KX-P1 124i 

£170 

KX-P2123C 

£198 

KX-P1170 

£99 

KX-P2180M 

£159 

KX-P1624 

£270 

KX-P2123M 

£176 

KX-P 1654 

*£332 

Colour Kit for 


KX-P1695 

£270 

P2180M/2123M 

£- 

KX-P2624 

*£270 




£69 

£129 


£55 


£16 


* Price includes 12 months On-site warranty 

Cut Sheet Feeders 

P36 - 1 1 24/24i £79 P37 - 1 1 23/70/80 

P38 - PI 624/95; P2624 

Buffers 

P12 4K Buffer Board for KX-P1 081 
PI 4 32K Buffer P1 123/24/70/80 

PI 540/92/95; PI 624/54/95 

Serial Interfaces 

PI 3 for P1 1 23/24/24i/70/80/1 624/54/95/2624 

Original Panasonic Ribbons 

Guaranteed to last 3 million characters 
P110 for KX-P 1081, 1592 & 1595 
P1 15 for KX-P1 180 £7 PI 45 forKX-P1124 
PI 40 for KX-P 1540 £8 P155 for KX-P1624 

Colour Ribbons for KX-P1081, 1592 & 1595 
Brown, Blue or Red £9 each 


£49 


£6 

£7 

£8 


P150C Colour for P21 23/21 80 


£15 


itizen Printers 


£95 

• Swift 24E# 

£195 

IIP; Ill/P 4Mb 

£135 

KX4420/50 1 M 

£75 

£174 

• Swift 24X 

£299 

II & IID 1Mb 

£64 

KX4420/50 2 M 

£115 

£199 

• 24X Colour Opt 

£32 

II & IID 2Mb 

£99 

KX 4420/50 4M 

£195 

£145 

• PN48 Ribbon 

£4 

II & IID 4Mb 

£146 

Star LP 8 1M 

£139 


• 120D Plus 

• 224 

• PN-48 

• Swift 9 

• AH29804 Manual Cut Sheet Feeder for Swift 

9/24/124. Holds 50 Sheets £29 

• FREE Colour Option with Swift 24E 

+ FREE 2 years Parts and Labour warranty on all 
Citizen Printers 


• Swift 9 Colour Option £1 9 

• Swift 24 Colour Option £29 

• Swift 24 Ribbons Black £4 Colour £13 

• Swift 24X Ribbons Black £8 Colour £16 

• Citizen/Archimedes Colour Printer Driver £1 5 


s iirnfFriirwiiiMi 


• DX Y 1100 £490 • DXY1200 £620 

• DXY1300 £825 • DXY2500 £2345 

• Sketchmate A3 £499 • Sketchmate A4 £308 

• Roland plotter Pens, Fibre tip £7.50 


Star Printers 


LC15 

£175 

SJ48 Inkjet 

LC20 

£102 

XB24-200 Colour 

LC24-15 

£241 

XB24-250 Colour 

LC24-20 

£155 

XB24 Colour kit 

LC24-200 

£166 

ZA200 Colour 

LC24-200 Colour 

£205 

ZA250 

LC200 Colour £143 

• Star/Archimedes Colour Printer Driver 


* Includes 12 months On-site warranty 

Cut Sheet Feeder 

LC1 0/200/24-10 £65 LC15/LC24-15 

XB24-10 £80 XB24-15 


£172 # Desk Jet 
’£295 Desk Jet 5< 
*£355 ’Paint Jet C 
£29 ‘PaintJet XI 
’£240 # 3 years e 
■£312 • pnce ind 

• DeskJe 
*- 15 • Paintjet 

• Desk Je‘ 

• HP Epsc 
£125 • DJ 500 1 
£139 • DJ 500 * 


Serial Interfaces 

8 K Ser LC-200; LC24-200; FRIO; FR15; 
XB24-10; XB24-15 


£52 


Buffers 

32K Ram Card for LC/XB24-10; 15; LC200 


£55 


Ribbons 

LC10; LC10-II; LC15 Black £4; 

LC-200; LC24-Z00 Black £5; 

XB24-10; XB24-15 Black £5; 


Laser Printers 


All Laser Printers include 12 months 
On-site maintenance 


Brother HL-4 

4ppm 

£499 

Brother HL4-V 

4ppm 

£640 

Brother HL4-PS Postscript 

4ppm 

£1040 

Brother HL 8 -V 

8 ppm 

£984 

Canon LBP4 LITE 

4ppm 

£495 

Canon LBP4+ 1.5M RAM 

4ppm 

£639 

Canon LBP- 8 III Plus 

8 ppm 

£960 

Epson EPL4300 

4ppm 

£590 

Epson EPL4000 

6 ppm 

£485 

Epson EPL7500 

6 ppm 

£1145 

Epson EPL8100 

1 0 ppm 

£960 

HP Laserjet IIP+ 

4ppm 

£525 

HP Laserjet III 

8 ppm 

£1010 

HP Laserjet MID 

8 ppm 

£1495 

HP Laserjet IIIP 

4ppm 

£685 

HP Laserjet lllsi 

16ppm 

£2515 

NEC Silentwriter S62P P/script 

6 ppm 

£1070 

NEC Silentwriter 266 

8 ppm 

£670 

NEC Silentwriter 290P P/script 

8 ppm 

£1389 

Panasonic KX-P4410 

5ppm* 

£529 

Panasonic KX-P4420 

8 ppm* 

£618 

Panasonic KX-P4430 Satin Print* 

' 5ppm* 

£590 

Panasonic KX-P4451 

11 ppm* 

£1085 

Panasonic KX-4455 Postscript 

11 ppm* 

£1450 

Star LP -8 1112 

8 ppm 

£1249 

Star LP -8 III 

8 ppm 

£905 

Star LP -8 Star(post)script 

8 ppm 

£1135 

Star LP-4 

4ppm 

£565 

Star LP-4 Mk 3 

4ppm 

£649 

Star LP-4PS Postscript 

4ppm 

£775 


Canon 2 , 3 & 4 
Epson GQ 
EPL4100 
EPL71 00/7500/ 
8100 


IIP 

IIP 


Laser RAM Upgrades 

Ill/P 1Mb £51 EPL7100 256K 

Ill/P 2Mb £88 GQ5000 512K 


Canon LBP4 1M 
Canon LBP 8 2M 


£105 

£125 


Star LP 8 2M 


Laser Drum & Developer 

• Epson Drum GQ5000 £93 EPL7100 £129 

• Panasonic 4420 Drum 

• Panasonic 4450 Drum 

• Qume Drum 


£60 

£93 

£76 


Developer 

Developer 

Developer 


Jetpage Postscript Cartridge 

> HP IIP/III £225 IID & MID 


Various Add-Ons 

• Laserjet Appletalk Interface 

• HP Adobe Postscript 

• Pacific Page Postscript 

• HP Premier Font Collection 

• Laserjet various Font cartridges 


> 22706B 
► 22706C 
> 22707P 
» Desk Je 


Colour £6 
Colour £12 
Colour £12 


BJ10EX 

BJ20 

BJ300* 

BJ330* 

BJC800 


• Spare 

• BJ10E 


Canon 


• P20 

• P30 

• P60 

• P60/1 

• Ribtx 

• Ribbc 


P20 £ 


DFX5C 

DFX 8 C 

FX85C 

FX105 

LQ10C 

LQ57( 

LQ87( 

LQ10< 

LQ10' 


LQ57 

LX4C 


Laser Toners 

£46 Star LP4/LP8 £56 

£13 KX-P4420/50 £19 

£69 Laserjet HP IIP & IIIP £42 

Laserjet ll/D, Ill/D £48 
£125 Qume Crystal (3) £58 


LX1C 

FXK 

LQ2! 


£39 

£42 


LQ8 

FX1 


£275 


• E> 

• E> 

• LC 

• Mi 


£59 

£80 

£56 


RS2 


£227 


£135 

£399 

£259 

£28 

from £45 


BBC 
BBC 
Cor 
Nirr 
IB b 

m 

IBN 

Doi 

Do< 

RS 






ewIett-Packard Printers 


• Desk Jet 500 £270 ‘PaintJet XL 300 £1785 

Desk Jet 500 Col. £375 ‘Quiet Jet Plus £382 

‘Paint Jet Colour £518 ‘HP Think Jet £265 

‘Paintjet XL £1196 ‘HP Deskwriter £299 

• 3 years extended Parts & Labour warranty FREE 

• Price includes 12 months on-site warranty 

• DeskJet 500 Cart. Black £15; Colour £27 

• Paintjet Cartridges Black £19; Colour £23 

• Desk Jet 500 256K RAM cartridge £69 

> HP Epson FX Emulation Cartridge for Desk Jet £59 

• DJ 500 High Capacity Black Cartridge £21 

• DJ 500 Colour Archi Printer Driver £1 5 

Plug In Font Cartridges for DJ 500 

• 22706B - Prestige, Elite, Line Draw fonts £55 

• 22706C Letter Gothic & HP Line Draw fonts £56 

• 22707P - Proprint Emulation Cartridge £57 

• Desk Jet Unlimited (Book No VAT) £19.75 

— 


BJ10EX 

Printer 

£165 

CSF 

£43 

D'ble 

Bin 

Ink 

Cart 

£16 

BJ20 

£247 

- 

_ 

_ 

BJ300* 

£284 

£88 

£65 

£12 

BJ330* 

£376 

£110 

£79 

£12 

BJC800C £1395 

- 

- 

- 


* Includes 1 2 months On-site warranty 

• Spare Battery pack for BJ10E 

• BJ10EX - Archi Turbo Driver 

Special Offer: 

Canon BJ10EX Printer + CC's Turbo Driver 


Pinwriter Printers 


£210 


• Special High Res Card 600 DPI for Canon 

LPB 4 & LPB 8 Laser Printers £315 

• LPB 4 Printer plus High Res Card £975 

• LPB 8111 Printer plus High Res Card £1275 

• LPB 4 Optional Paper Tray £79 


B-100 £205 DL1100 £217 

B-200 £270 DLllOOCol £267 

DL-900 £181 DL1200 £363 

Ribbons 

DL900/1 100/1 200 Mono £5 Col. £11 

B- 100/200 Ink Cartridge £15 


oncept Keyboards 


Standard A3 Keyboard with BBC Software £1 38 

Standard A4 Keyboard with BBC Software £1 09 

Archi A3 Keyboard £139 

Archi A4 Keyboard £110 


Listing Paper (Perforate 


• 1 ,000 Sheets 9.5” x 1 1” Fanfold Paper 

• 2,000 Sheets 9.5" x 11" Fanfold Paper 

• 1 ,000 Sheets 9.5” x 1 1" NCR 2 Part Fanfold 

• 1 ,000 Sheets 15” x 1 1" Fanfold Paper 

• 2,000 Sheets 15" x 1 1" Fanfold Paper 

• 1 ,000 Sheets true A4 Fanfold Paper 70gms 

• 2,000 Sheets true A4 Fanfold Paper 70gms 
•Teleprinter Roll (Econo paper) 

• Telex Roll 50 metre 


Universal 

Printer Sharers/Changer 


Connect up to 5 Micros to 1 printer or 5 printers to 
1 Micro with our combined, Sharer/Changer switch 
boxes. 


Standard Low Cost Type 

Connects 

Serial 

Parallel 

• 2 to 1 

£10 

£11 

• 3 to 1 

£13 

£14 

• 4 to 1 

£16 

Professional Type 

£17 

Connects 

Serial 

Parallel 

• 2 to 1 

£17 

£18 

• 3 to 1 

£22 

£25 

• 5 to 1 

£34 

Cables extra at £6 each 

£38 


ross Over Manual Switch 


2 ln/2 Out Parallel £29 

2 In/2 Out Serial £28 

3 In/2 Out Serial £36 


Auto Printer Sharer 


Connects Serial Parallel 

2 to 1 £40 £45 

4 to 1 £62 £49 

8 to 1 - £89 


256k Multi Spooler 


These Auto Parallel Printer Sharers have built-in 
256K of Printer Buffers. They can be used as Auto 
Sharers, Printer Buffers or both. 


•P20 £178 • P70 £396 

•P30 £237 • P90 £605 

• P60 £322 

• P60/70 Colour Option Kit £59 

• Ribbons Black for P20/30 £6 for P60/70/90 £7 

• Ribbons for P60/70/90 Black £9 Colour £13.50 


(All our Fanfold paper is Micro perforated leaving a 
smooth clean edge when the tractor feed strips are 
detached). 

Carriage 1 K Sheets £2.50, 2K Sheets £3.00 



rinter 


Labels 


• 2 In/2 out £135 *4 In/2 out £169 

•8 ln/1 out £199 


Compact Converter Units 


Serial to Parallel £36 Parallel to Serial £37 


Cut Sheet Feeders 

P20 £59; P30 £85; P60 £89; P70/90 £80 



pson Printers 


DFX5000 

£1075 

LQ1170 

£432 

DFX8000 

£1940 

LQ2550+ 

£675 

FX850 

£258 

LX400 

£95 

FX1050 

£327 

LX850+ 

£138 

LQ100 

£147 

LX1050 

£206 

LQ570 

£201 

SQ870 

£415 

LQ870 

£357 

SQ1170 

£565 

LQ1 060 Colour £585 

SQ2550 

£625 

LQ1070 

£310 




Cut Sheet Feeders for 


LQ570, LQ870 


£47 

LX400/850/LQ200/400/450/500/550 



LQ1 01 0/1 070/1 170 

£72 

LX 1050 

£115 

FX850/LQ860 

£128 

FX 1 050/LQ 1 060/SQ850 

£155 

LQ2550 

£299 

SQ2550 

£210 


Tractor Feed for 

LQ800 £44; LQ850/FX850 £69; LQ1050/ 
FX1050 £85; LQ2500 £90; LQ2550 £90. 


Accessories 

• EX800/1 000 Colour Option £45 

• EX800/1 000 Colour Ribbon £1 4 

• LQ2500 Colour Option £65 

• Multifont Card for LQ550/850/1 050 £95 


(On continuous fanfold backing sheet) 


1 ,000 off, 90 x 36mm (Single Row) £6.00 

1 ,000 off, 90 x 36mm (Twin Row) £6.25 

1 .000 off, 90 x 49mm (Twin Row) £7.50 

1 .000 off, 102 x 36mm (Twin Row) £6.75 

Laser Printer Labels on A4 Sheets 

3750 off, 70 x 29mm (3 Rows x 10) £15.50 

2400 off, 70 x 37mm (3 Rows x 8) £15.25 

2625 off, 70 x 42mm (3 Rows x 7) £15.00 



Type Ribbons Dust Covers 


BBC B/BBC Master 

- 

£4.00 

Archimedes Micro pair 

- 

£9.00 

Citizen 120D 

£2.75 

£4.50 

DMP2000/4000 

£3.75 

£4.95 

EX800/1000 

£3.50 

£5.00 

RX/FX80/85/800/MX80 

£2.95 

- 

FX/MX/RX 100/1 000 

£3.95 

- 

Kaga/Taxan KP810/815 

£3.25 

£5.00 

LQ400/500/550/800/850 

£3.25 

£6.00 

LQ1050/LQ2500 

£12.00 

_ 

LX80/86 

£2.75 

£4.50 

LX 400/800/850 

£3.50 

£5.00 

M1009/GLP 

£2.95 

£3.75 

NEC P2200 

£4.50 

£5.00 

Panasonic KX1 080/81 

£6.00 

£5.00 

Panasonic KX-P1124 

£7.00 

£5.00 

Star LC24-10 

£2.95 

£6.00 


Plinths for the BBC B, 
BBC Master & A3000 



Protect your computer from the heat of your VDU. 
Our micro plinths have slots for maximum 
ventilation. The single plinth is suitable for a BBC 
and VDU, whilst the double height version provides 
enough room for our stacked disc drive and other 
peripherals like, Eprom programmer, music unit or 
simply discs & stationery. The computer slides 
neatly in the lower section allowing easy access to 
remove the lid. Colour: Matching BBC Beige. 

• Single BBC Plinth 420 x 310 x 105mm £13 

• Double BBC Plinth 420 x 310 x 210mm £24 

• Single Master Plinth 490 x310 x 105mm £14 

• Double Master Plinth 490 x310 x210mm £26 

• A3000 Single Plinth (very sturdy & precision 

made), has a slot on the left for the switch & cut 
out on the right for 3.5" Disc Drive £15 


Epson Printer Interfaces 

RS232 £28 RS232 + 2K Buffer £52 


Printer Leads 


BBC Centronics 4’ long £5 

BBC Centronics 6’ extra long £7 

Compact’s Special Centronics Lead £7 

Nimbus Centronics Lead £6 

IBM/Archimedes Parallel Lead 6' £5 

IBM/Archimedes Parallel Lead 5 metres £10 

IBM/Archimedes Parallel Lead 10 metres £15 

Double Ended 36 way Centronics Lead 4’ £7 

Double Ended 36 way Centronics Lead 6’ £9 

RS232 Leads (Various) P.O.A. 


Professional Printer Stand 


The professional 
printer stand takes 
hardly more space 
than your printer. Due 
to the positioning of 
the paper feed and 
re-fold compartments 
ie. one above the 
other, the desk space 
required for your 
printer functions is 
effectively halved. Its ergonomic design ensures 
smooth paper flow and automatic refolding. 

80 Column version £24 (carr. £3) 

132 Column version £29(carr. £4) 



Give your Computer System a touch of Class with 
our elegant, smoke finished Perspex Printer stand. 

80 Column version £16 (carr £3) 

136 Column version £20 (carr £4) 


Continued-* -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-♦ 










• Quest Mouse III & Quest Paint £59 

• Quest Mouse III, Quest Paint, AMX 

Stop Press & Pagefont £89 

• Quest Mouse III only £30 

• Quest Paint Software only £34 

• Quest Font Disc (22 Text Fonts) £15 

• Quest Mouse Mat (Red or Blue or 

Green please specify) £3 


Archi Mouse Port Splitter 


Our handy little splitter unit eliminates the risk of 
damaging your micro due to constant plugging and 
unplugging of the mouse by allowing you to 
connect both, a joystick and a mouse 
simultaneously to your Archimedes. £1 5 



• AMX Mouse plus Super Art £54 


(Please specify for BBC, Master or Compact) 

• AMX MOUSE ONLY £29 

• AMX SUPERART Package £29 

• AMX STOP PRESS - A Desktop 
publishing software. Works with 



nniwn 


VIDEO DIGITISER 


Winr 

Award 

TheV 


‘Test Bureau Approved for 
Use in Education” 


• Quest Colour Dump Disc - This new 
software allows you to print direct from 
Quest Paint to your Integrex Colour 
Printer £18 

(P.S. Quest Paint is not compatible 
with BBC Compact) 

Quest Paint is the winner of the BBC Acorn User 
1990 Award for the Best Art/Graphics software 


Keyboard, Joystick or a mouse £25 

• PAGE-FONTS - Over 20 Fonts for 

use with AMX Pagemaker £13 

• AMX DESIGN (ROM) £29 

• AMX EXTRA EXTRA £16 

• MOUSE MAT £3 



Quest combined with ConQuest and Acornsoft 
GXR ROM make up THE MOST POWERFUL 
drawing packages available for the BBC range. 
Quest Paint is able to take advantage of almost 
any additions to your machine, such as Shadow or 
Sideways RAM. ConQuest takes this principal even 
further, by utilising the otherwise normally 
incompatible Sideways RAM facility by holding 
pictures in them. 


WE Mouse House 



ConQuest ROM Package £30 

(Price includes software in ROM and a 
comprehensive Manual). 

(Not Compatible with BBC Compact) 

(P.S. Conquest is a Quest Paint extension ROM). 


Quest - Tracer ball 


An attractively finished, extremely reliable, mouse 
replacement, input device. Requires very little desk 
space. Connects directly to your BBC B, BBC 
Master or Archimedes Micro. 



QT-1 0 BBC/Master Version £25 
QT-20 Archimedes Version £26 


Mouse Cleaning Kit 


To obtain trouble free operation and prolong 
the life of your mouse, the high tech rodent 
requires regular cleaning. Our deluxe mouse 
cleaning kit is ideal for the purpose £3 



CREDIT CARD 24 HOUR 


Ansaphone Hot Lines 

n 

(0923) 250234 or 233383 


Treat your mouse to a cosy Mouse House. This 
handy little gadget solves the problem of where to 
store your mouse when it is having a rest. Made of 
sturdy plastic, the WE Mouse House attaches to 
the side of your computer, monitor, disc drive etc. 

Only £3 



Features 

• Infra Red Signal Transmission 

• High Resolution 200 DPI 

• High Tracking Speed of 600mm/s up 

• Anti-static Silicon Rubber Coated Ball 

• Low Friction Teflon Footpads 

• Power - by two AAA size batteries (not 
included) 

• Automatic Standby Mode after 5 seconds 
inactive 

• Auto Power Shut-Down after 20 seconds 
inactive 


Using any source of composite video (colour or 
monochrome) and the Watford Beeb Video 
Digitiser, you can convert an image from your 
camera into a^graphics screen on the BBC Micro. 
This uses the full graphics capacity of the BBC 
micro in modes 0, 1 or 2. The video source may be 
a camera, video recorder or television, and is 
connected via the video output socket. The 
software supplied includes a sophisticated, fast 
screen dump routine. 

Images produced can be compressed, stored to 
disc, printed on an Epson compatible printer, 
directly used to generate graphics, analysed for 
scientific and educational use or converted to other 
formats e g. Slow Scan TV or receiving a picture 
from a remote camera using a modem. The output 
from the digitiser exactly matches the graphics 
capability in each mode, with up to 8 levels of grey 
in mode 2. The unit connects into the User Port 
and automatically scans a complete picture in 1 .6 
seconds. 

£99 

(BBC B+ and Master compatible, except Master 
with Econet) 

(Price includes) Digitiser Unit, Software 
in ROM & a Comprehensive Manual) 


Beeb Hand Scanner 


Hand-held Scanner 
for the BBC Micro 



Watford Beeb HandScan is a compact unit which 
will allow photographs, diagrams, or any other 
documents to be digitised quickly and easily, to 
then be used in a desk top publishing package, art 
program, or even in your own Basic programs! 

The HandScan plugs directly into the 1 MHz bus on 
the BBC while a comprehensive set of utilities 
provided by the sophisticated ROM firmware. The 
scanner has a resolution of either 100 DPI or 200 
DPI when accuracy is essential. Pictures as wide 
as 4" may be scanned in mode 0 and various types 
of dithering may be selected to simulate the grey 
levels of a scanned picture. 

All necessary software has been included in the 
firmware to allow the scanner to read images 
directly into our Wapping Editor with little more than 
the click of the mouse. The digitised picture may 
then be incorporated into your magazine, 
newsletter, report or any other document. 


£99 


The Wap 
represen 
for the B< 
containin 
print fast 
professic 
processc 
designini 
printer di 
designee 
compute 
Sideway 
will run l 
systems 
40 track 
Included 
several I 
ROM im 
100 pag 
Support 
be rotate 
sided sh 
ellipses 
arcs (in 
Another 
Turbo C 
compare 

Page 

The Wa 
of any s 
the eigh 
stand-al 
create p 
proporti' 
microsp 
characti 
the Wap 
allowing 
onto a s 
The gra 
pencil, t 
cut & p< 
Text me 
in any f< 
which f< 
pull out 
the text 
column 
‘expanc 
microsp 
space c 

Wor 

The int* 
produc 
of cour 
word p 

The 

The for 
own tyi 
the util 
numen 
and frt 
balanc 
propor 
up to 1 
Pictur 
source 

Wapp 

Wapp 

(Wapp 
a Mert 


Price £39 


Beeb HandScan & Firmware 










o 



Winner of the BBC Acorn User 1990 
Award for the Best DTP/Word Processor 

The Wapping Editor 

The Wapping Editor from Watford Electronics 
represents a breakthrough in Desktop Publishing 
for the Beeb. The package includes a 64K ROM 
containing ALL the software needed to get into 
print fast; a very sophisticated graphics module, 
professional quality typesetting software, a word 
processor, a comprehensive font editor for 
designing your own typefaces, and a variety of 
printer dumps. This mouse-driven system is 
designed for the BBC B, the B+ and Master 
computers and will take full advantage of any 
Sideways and Shadow RAM that may be fitted. It 
will run under DFS, ADFS and Network filing 
systems and requires as a minimum just a single 
40 track drive. 

Included with the system is a utility disc containing 
several high quality fonts, various utilities and a 
ROM image of a Support ROM. A comprehensive 
100 page manual completes the package. The 
Support ROM contains routines to allow an area to 
be rotated to any angle or distorted to any four- 
sided shape. Also included are facilities to draw 
ellipses at any angle and sectors, segments and 
arcs (in Master or BBC B with Acorn GXR). 

Another of the features of the Support ROM is a 
Turbo DFS’ which gives DFS access times 
comparable with those of ADFS. 

Page Layout Section 

The Wapping Editor may be used to create pages 
of any size from an A6 to a full A3 page. If none of 
the eight default page types suit your purpose, the 
stand-alone page creation program may be used to 
create pages to your own requirements. By using 
proportionally spaced fonts and genuine 
microspacing it is possible to print over 1 50 
characters across an A4 page. A unique feature of 
the Wapping Editor is the ‘A5 x 2’ page size 
allowing two A5 pages to be printed side by side 
onto a single A4 sheet. 

The graphics module incorporates the facilities like, 
pencil, brush, airbrush, polygon, circle, eclipse, fill, 
cut & paste, etc. 

Text may be typeset, either justified or unjustified, 
in any font anywhere on the page. Simply select 
which font and text document you wish to use, and 
pull out a rectangle on the page where you want 
the text to be - it’s as simple as that! Multiple 
columns may be printed just as easily and a special 
‘expand’ feature may be used to expand the 
microspacing so that the document exactly fits the 
space defined. 

Word-Processor 

The integral word processor is the ideal tool for 
producing your text documents, although text can 
of course be read in from any of the other popular 
word processors such as View, Wordwise etc. 

The Font Editor 

The font editor module will allow you to design your 
own typefaces or to modify the ones provided on 
the utility disc. This sophisticated editor has 
numerous functions designed to take the tedium 
and frustration out of producing good looking, well 
balanced fonts. Each character may be individully 
proportionally spaced and characters of any size 
up to 16 x 16 pixels may be defined. 

Pictures may also be ‘grabbed’ from a video 
source by using the Watford BEEB Video Digitiser. 

Wapping Editor Software Pack £49 

Wapping Editor plus Mouse £69 

(Wapping Editor only works with Master Compact if 
a Mertec Expansion box is fitted) 


□ 


Wapping Art Disc 


Over 250K of clip art to cut and paste into your 
Wapping Editor pages. Pictures include maps, 
transport, people, media, sport, games etc. 

Two ‘ratio’ screens for use with hi-res and rotated 
A5 pages to ensure images are not distorted when 
printed out. 

Music writing symbols in the form of pattern and 
brush for quick production of manuscripts are 
included together with staves. 

There are two prepared hi-res pages laid out for 
printing labels, both single and double width. 

Ready made label designs are included but these 
can be easily replaced with your own designs. 

A Mode 0 screen dump routine is also included. To 
pack such a large amount of data onto the discs 
the screens have been compressed and routines to 
compress and expand Mode 0 screens are 
included on both discs. Using the packing routine 
you can archive large numbers of screens onto a 
single disc. 

£15 


apping Font Disc 1 


Sixteen additional fonts, including smaller version 
of Oberon and Daisy and two new sizes of the 
standard font for the Wapping editor. 

Also included are three Mode 0 screens containing 
giant ‘headline’ fonts to cut and paste to create 
extra smooth headlines. 

Supplied complete with instructions. 


£12 


Wapping Font Disc 2 


This new addition to our Wapping range of DTP 
software provides you with additional 23 fonts for 
the Wapping Editor DTP pack. (80 track discs 
omy). £13 


Archi A4 Scanner 



This most advanced Archi A4 image scanner is 
supplied complete with ROM based podule 
software. Features provided include facilities for 
zooming in on an image and inverting the image in 
X and Y directions, saving and printing of the sprite 
created. Interactive help is supplied using the 
!HELP application on the Acorn applications discs. 
The 216mm scanning width can cope with both 
desktop scanning of single sheets, photographs, 
diagrams, etc., with its fast ten page automatic 
document feeder, but it can also detach from the 
feeder to become a convenient hand-held full page 
scanner for larger documents or pictures. 

Scanned image control can be freely adjusted in 
increments of 10 dots per inch from 100 up to 400 
dpi resolution with 64 levels of grey scaling. A built 
in shading controller and manual brightness control 
achieve optimum image clarity. 

Unlike some scanners, which use a red light 
source, the Watford scanner uses a yellow/green 
source which vastly improves the light/dark 
contrast, thus eliminating the effect where any red- 
based colours are faded down to white and so do 
not show up in the scanned image. 

All these features and facilities combine to make 
the Archi Page Scanner the fast and convenient 
way in which to add that extra impact, interest and 
clarity to documents, reports, instruction sheets, 
manuals, news letters, etc., from your Archimedes 
DTP package. 


New Low Prices: 

Archi A4 Scanner 
Sheet Feeder for above 
Scanner + Sheet Feeder 


Hand Scanner 



Watford's Mk II hand scanner has a maximum 
resolution of 400 dpi. The scanning width is 4". The 
sophisticated software is supplied in a 64K ROM, 
located on a standard single width expansion 
podule. As you scan a page, the image appears in 
the scanning window on the screen, scrolling up in 
real time. Other facilities include Cropping and 
scaling to any size including stretching and 
squashing in X and Y directions separately. Colour 
tinting. X and Y flip. Edge detection which turns 
solid objects into outlines. 

Images can be printed on any printer supported by 
RISC OS. 

On-screen help is provided via the RiscOS 
interactive help facility. (Please write in for full 
technical details). 


£269 

£75 

£359 


AHS-4 Archi 300/400 Version 
AHS-3 Archi A3000 Version 


Z88 Portable Micro 


£109 

£119 



• Z88 Portable Micro 

• 32K RAM Pack or 32K EPROM Pack 

• 128K RAM Pack or 128K EPROM Pack 

• 512K RAM Pack 

• 256K Eprom Pack 

• Z88 Eprom Eraser Unit 

• Z88 Carrying Case 

• AA Nicad Rechargeable Battery 

• Battery Charger Compact & Fast 

• Z88 Serial Printer Cable 

• Z88 Parallel Printer Cable 

• Z88 to Archi Link 

• Z88 to BBC Link £8 • Z BASE 

• Z88 to PC Link II £27 

• Z88 Mains Adaptor £9 


• Z88 to Macintosh £32 

• Z88 Modem £114 



VISA 

CREDIT CARD 24 HOUR 


Ansaphone Hot Lines 

E3 

(0923) 250234 or 233383 


Continued- 










12 


32K Shadow RAM/Printer 
Uffer Card Expansion Board 


A MUST FOR WORD PROCESSING 


Simply plug the ribbon cable plug into the 6502 
socket and gain a massive 32K of extra RAM. 


• “VIEW” Wordprocessor users can now type in 
letters in 80 columns and have up to 28K bytes free 
- 5 times as much as normal. 


• In WORDWISE (or WORDWISE-PLUS), 
preview in 80 columns with the full 24k of text in 
memory. This product is recommended as an ideal 
complement by Computer Concepts. 


• Use the full 32k or the bottom 12K of the 
expansion RAM as a printer Buffer. (P.S. Only 12K 
printer buffer can be used with Wordwise & WW+, 
due to the way they are written). 

• Unique facility to turn ROMs off and on again. 


Only £54 


ARIES B-32 Shadow RAM Card £55 


Commander Joystic 


1 / 


Voltmace Joysticks 


Delta 3B Single Joystick 

£10 

Delta 3B Twin Joysticks 

£15 

Delta 3C Joystick for Compact 

£10 

Delta 14B Single Joystick 

£11 

Delta 14B/1 Adaptor Module 

£12 

Transfer Software Disc-Tape 

£7 

Delta-Cat A mouse eliminator Joystick 
for the Archimedes 

£24 

Analogue aircraft style yoke Joystick 
to run in the analogue port of the 

BBC B & Master 128 

£25 


Features: 

• Direct connection to BBC Analogue input port - 
no interface needed. 

• Fully compatible with all BBC Joystick controlled 
games programmes. 

• Switchable springs allow selection of floating or 
centring operation. 

• Trim adjusters for both X and Y axes for fine 
centre adjustment. 

• Convenient stick mounted fire button with 
additional base buttons. 

Price: £15 


ROM/RAM Car 


NO SOLDERING required to fit the board. 

Fully buffered for peace of mind. 

Compatible with BBC micros (not BBC+ or 
Master). 

Total number of ROMs increased from 4 to 8. 

Up to 8 banks of sideways RAM (dynamic). 
Option for 16k of battery backed CMOS RAM 
(CMOS RAM needs one ROM socket). 

Software Write protect for ALL RAM. 

Read protect for CMOS RAM. 

Separate RAM write register (&FF30 to &FF3F). 
Automatic write to currently selected RAM 
socket for convenience. 

FREE utilities disc packed with software. 

Large printer buffer. 

UNIQUE fully implemented RAM FILING 
SYSTEM (similar to the popular Watford DFS). 
ROM to RAM load and save facilities. 


The SFS (Silicon Filing System) can utilise up to 
the full 128k of RAM (with the SFS in any paged 
RAM) as a SILICON DISC. This behaves as a disc 
drive, with all the normal Watford DFS features 
(including OSWORD &7F for ROMSPELL, etc.) to 
provide an environment that looks like a disc but 
loads and saves MUCH faster. 


PRICES: 

• ROM/RAM card with 32k DRAM 

• ROM/RAM card with 64k DRAM 

• ROM/RAM card with 128k DRAM 


OPTIONAL EXTRAS: 

1 6k plug-in Static RAM kit 
16k DRAM for Upgrade 
Battery backup 

Read and Write protect switches 


Complete ROM-RAM card with all options 
fitted 


£109 


Sideways ROM 
ZIF Socket System 


Allows you to change your ROMs quickly and 
efficiently, without having to open the lid. The ZIF 
socket is located into the ROM Cartridge's position. 
It is very simple to install. No soldering required. 
Also included in the price is a plastic see through 
storage case with antistatic lining, which allows you 


to store 12 ROMs. 


£18 


ROM Cartridges for the 
BBC Master 

Will accept the larger Piggy Back ROMs 
like Interword, Quest, etc. 

• Twin £8; • Quad £13 


• M35 

• M85 

• M25 

• M50 

• M10 

• M10 


• Increases your BBC Micro's ROM capacity from 
4 to 16. 

• No soldering required. 

• Socket 14 takes two 6264 RAM chips. 

• Read protect to make RAM “Vanish” allows 
recovery from ROM crashes. 

• Battery backup option for RAM chips. 

• Supplied ready to fit with comprehensive 
instructions. 


Price: Only £35 

Battery Backup fitted £39 
Battery Backup only £3 
16K Sideways RAM £8 

• Sideways RAM Utilities Disc for Solderless ROM 


When 
there i 
more 1 
desk, 
the ha 
scratc 
an un 
from i 
extrer 
RACH 


RAM as Printer Buffer. 


Connecting Leads 


(All ready made and tested) 
CASSETTE LEADS 7 pin DIN Plug 
to 3 pin DIN Plug + 1 Jack Plug 
to 7 pin DIN Plug 
to 3 Jack Plugs 

6 pin DIN to 6 pin DIN Plug (RGB) 


and save 


10 

Sideways 


10 

Only: £8 


10 



10 

Aid 


10 



XI 



10 

£2.50 


10 

£3.00 

£2.50 


1C 

£3.00 

■ 



Disc Drive Power Leads 


L 


Supply from BBC power supply to standard Disc 
Drive Connection: Single £3.00; Dual £3.75 


Disc Drive Interface Leads 


4 


BBC to Disc Drives Ribbon Cable 
Single £4 Twin £6 


Miscellaneous Connectors 




RGB (6 PIN DIN) 

RS423 (5 pin Domino) 
Cassette (7 pin DIN) 
ECONET (5 pin DIN) 
Paddles (15 pin ‘D’) 

Disc Drive Plug 4 way 
6 way Power Connector 


Plugs 

Sockets 

50p 

75p 

70p 

80p 

40p 

95p 

35p 

50p 

150p 

250p 

lOOp 

150p 

120p 




Convert two single Disc Drives into one Dual Drive 
with this simple external unit (Suitable for Disc 
Drives with PSU. For Disc Drives without PSU, you 
will also require Watford Power Duck, see below). 

£14 


Watford POWER DUCK 


£8 







f' 


ity from 


Antistatic Lockable Disc 
Storage Units 


M35 

M85 


holds up to 50 5.25" discs 
holds up to 95 5.25" discs 
M25* - holds up to 25 3.5" discs 
M50 - holds 50 3.5” discs 
M100- holds 100 3.5" discs 
M10 - holds 8 of No. 10 Data Cartridges £15 
* Not lockable 


£4.95 

£6.95 

£4.95 

£6.50 

£6.99 


When using ones micro, 
there is a tendency to have 
more than one Disc on the 
desk. This exposes them to 
the hazards of fingerprints, 
scratches, dust, coffee and 
an untidy desk. Why not protect your valuable data 
from all these hazards with the help of our 
extremely handy and low cost DISC PLONKER 
RACK. Holds up to eight 5.25” discs. 

Protection at Only: £2 


3M - Diskettes 


Lifetime warranty on 3M Discs 

• 10 X 5.25 ” S/S D/D 40T (744) £5 

• 10 x 5.25 " D/S D/D 40T (745) £5 

• 10 x 5.25 " S/S D/D 80 Track (746) £7 

• 10 x 5.25 ” D/S D/D 80 Track (747) £7 

• 10 x 5.25” 1.6M D/S D/D High Density for IBM 

XT and AT £8 

• 10 x 3.5” S/S D/D 40/80 Track £6 

• 10 x 3.5" D/S D/D 40/80 Track £6 

• 10 x 3.5" Double Sided High Density £1 1 


Top Quality Diskettes 


Watford's life time guaranteed disc are supplied 
complete with self stick labels & plastic library 
case. 

• 10xM3 3.5" D/S D/D 80 Track 

• 10xM9 3.5" D/S High Density £ 

• 10 xM4 5.25" S/S D/D 40 Track 

• 10xM5 5.25" D/S D/D 40 Track 

• 10xM7 5.25" D/S D/D 80 Track 

• 10 xM8 5.25" D/S H/D Hi-Density 

• M2 3” Double Sided £2.50 ea 


Special Bulk Offer 
Discs 


(Lifetime warranty on Discs) 


BULK PACK DISCS in 

lots of 

100 


S/S 

D/S 

D/S 

Type 

40T 

40T 

80T 

» Without Sleeves 5.25” 

£25 

£30 

£35 

• With Sleeves 5.25" 

£28 

£33 

£38 

» 3.5" D/S D/D 

- 

£44 

£78 


3.5" Disc Drive 


These top quality 3.5” Double sided, 80 track, are at- 
tractively finished in BBC beige They are supplied 
complete with all cables and a Utilities Disc. 


Type 


Description 

Disc Drive without PSU 

Single Disc Drive, 400K 
Twin Disc Drives, 800K 
Disc Drive with PSU 
Single Disc Drive, 400K 
Twin Disc Drives, 800K 
(P.S. CS35 is supplied in a twin case with a 
blanking plate to enable easy expansion to a dual 
drive at a later stage) 


isc Drives in Monitor Stand 


•CLS35: 

•CLD35 

• CS35: 
•CD35: 


£59 

£109 

£82 

£126 


• CDPM 800S - Twin 5.25", 800K Double 
sided 40-80 track switchable disc drives mounted 
in an attractively finished Beige colour plinth for the 
BBC B & Master 128K micros. Supplied complete 
with integral power supply, cables and Utilities disc. 
The mains switch with neon On/Off light indicator, 
and the two 40/80 track switches are mounted on 
the front panel for ease of use. 

£165 

• DP35 800- Same as above except, one disc 
drive is a 5.25" and the other is 3.5". 

£154 


Plastic 

Library Cases 





DLC1 - Holds 5 x 3.5” Discs. 

DLC2 - Holds 10 x 3.5” Discs. 

DLC3 - Holds 5 x 5.25” Discs. 

DLC4 - Holds 10 x 5.25" Discs. 

£1.50 

£1.90 

£1.60 

£2.00 

Disc Albums 

Attractively finished in leather-look PVC Vinyl 

DW1 - Holds 6 x 3.5” Discs 

£2.50 

DW2 - Holds 6 x 5.25" Discs 

£3.00 

DW3 - Holds 20 x 5.25” Discs 

£3.50 

DW4 - Holds 40 x 3.5" Discs or 


5.25" Discs 

£4.50 


Floppy Head Cleaner Kit 


The heads in floppy drives are precision made and 
very sensitive to dirt. The use of Cleaner Kit is a 
sensible precaution against losing valuable data. It 
is recommended to clean the drive head once a 
week, it is very simple to use. Available in 3.5” & 
5.25”, please specify. 

Price £4 


Acorn & Watford DFSs 

• Watford sophisticated DFS ROM 

£16.00 

• Watford DFS Kit complete 

£49.00 

• DFS Manual (comprehensive) 

£6.95 

• Acorn DNFS ROM 

£17.00 

• Acorn ADFS ROM only 

£25.00 

• Acorn 1772 DFS ROM Kit 

£49.00 

• Acorn DFS Kit complete 

£48 


Watford's Mkll 1772 


Single/Double Density DFS 

Many of our customers have wanted to use our 
superior DDFS and Acorn ADFS together. Now our 
Mk II DDFS Board with its 1772 Disc Controller, 
has been adapted to allow the use of Acorn ADFS 
as well. It also has all the commands of the Acorn’s 
1772 DFS, plus many more added features. 

• Complete Kit Special Price £44 

• DDFS Manual (No VAT) £6.95 

• We will exchange your existing DFS Kit for our 

sophisticated DDFS for only £26 


Quality Disc Drives from 
Watford 


All our Disc Drives are Double Sided and will 
operate in both Single and Double Density modes. 
All 5.25" Disc Drives are 40/80 track switchable. 
For ease of use, the switches are front mounted. 
Follow the trend with a Watford plinth. (Turn to the 
6th page of our advert for the Plinths). 

P.S. All our 5.25" Disc Drives with PSU are 
compatible with the Compact Micro. All you require 
is our special Compact Disc Drive cables designed 
by us. 

“Test Bureau Approved for Use in 
Education” 




Type 

• CLS400S: 

• CLD800S: 

• CS400S: 

• CD800S: 


Description 


Single, 40/80 track 400K 
Double sided Drive 

Twin, 40/80 track, 800K 
Double sided Drives 


Disc Drive without PSU 
£70 
£138 

Disc Drive with PSU 

£80 
£149 


Single, 40/80 track, 400K 
Double sided Drive 

Twin, 40/80 track, 800K 
Double sided Drives 


Special Cable to connect both 3.5” and 5.25” 
Disc Drives simultaneously to the BBC 
Compact £13 


Continued- 










Computer Concept s 
ROMS 


Inter BASE 

£49 

Inter CHART 

£25 

Inter SHEET 

£37 

Inter WORD 

£36 

Mega-3 ROM 

£76 

Spell Master 

£42 


Wordwise plus 


£40 

We are giving away absolutely 
FREE, the superb Word-Aid 
ROM worth £24, with every 
WORDWISE PLUS package 
bought from us. 


Word-Kid 


This advance utilities ROM extends the 
power of your Wordwise plus ROM. 

• Alphabetical sorting of names and 
addresses. 

• Text transfer options. 

• Chapter marker. 

• Epson printer codes function key 
option. 

• Search and display in preview mode. 

• Embedded command removal. 

• Print Multiple copies of a document. 

• Multiple file options for print and 
preview. 

• Address finder. 

• Label printer. 

• Mail-merger. 

• Number/delete/renumber. 

• Clear test-segment area. 

• BBC B, B+ and Master compatible. 


Only £24 

(N.B. Word Aid requires a Disc 


interface in your Micro) 


Millin' 1'Tl 


View 3.0 ROM 

£45 

Viewsheet (Acornsoft) 

£36 

Viewstore 

£36 

Viewspell - 80T disc 

£25 

View-Index 

£12 


View is a powerful word processor, but 
it seriously lacks in terms of printer 
driver support. With the View Printer 
Driver ROM, the View users will find 
themselves in the realms of advanced 
word processing. 

Price: Only £29 

for BBC B & B+ £12 

for BBC Master £14 

for BBC Compact £1 6 

(When ordering please specify for 
which Micro & 40 or 80T Disc) 


ACORN ADFS 
ACORN BASIC 2 plus User 
ACORN DNFS 
Acorn OS B+ 

Acorn OS 1 .2 
Beebmon 
Dump Out 3 

Graphics Extension Rom 

GXR-B 

GXR-B+ 

Logotron LOGO 
MASTER OS ROM 
Master ULA (47) 

Master ULA (60) 
Numerator- Archi 
Numerator- BBC 
Pendown ROM 
Rom Manager 
SERIAL ULA 
TED 

Termulator Master 
Video ULA 
1Mb OS ROM 


£25 

Guide £22 


Watford Electronics' 
New High Tech 
Computer Boutique 
is now open in 
Luton. 

Don't miss your 
chance to visit the 
Acorn and 
Watford Villages. 


1 MB- 10 DIL D-RAM E4.50 

1 MB ZIF D-RAM £4.00 

256K x 4-8 DIP £4.75 

256K x 4-8 ZIF £4.00 

SIMs and SIPs 

• 256x9-8 £11 

• 1Mb x 9-10 £22 • 1Mb x 9-8 £27 

DS3691 £4.50 

DS88LS120 £5.25 

LM324 £0.45 

SN76489 £5.50 

SAA5050 £8.75 

UPD7002 £6.00 

2764-250nS £3.00 

27128A-250n (12V5) £2.50 

27128-250nS (21V) £4.00 

27256-2 £3.00 

27512-2 £4.50 

27C101G (1 Meg) £7.00 

• 4013 75p • 68B50 £2.95 

• 4020 £1.00 • 68B54 £7.50 

• 4164-10 £1.55 *7438 50p 

• 4464-10 £3.50 *74LS00 50p 

• 4816 RAM £2.00 ®74LS04 50p 

• 41256-8 £2.00 «74LS10 50p 

• 41256-10 £1.50 «74LS123 £1.00 

• 6264LP-8K £4.00 «74LS163 £1.00 

• 6502A £5.00 «74LS244 £1.00 

• 65C02 3M £9.75 *74LS245 £1.00 

• 65C12 £9.00 «74ALS245 £2.75 

• 6512A £10.00 • 74LS373 £1.00 

• 6522 £4.00 *74LS393 £1.00 

• 6522A £5.00 *75453 £1.00 

• 62256ALS £10 *75159 £3.00 

• 62256P-1 2 £8.50 *8271 £39 

• 6818 £4.00 *9637 £2.00 

• 6845SP £6.00 • ICL7673PA £3.00 


Acorn Speech Synthesizer 
package complete, for the 
BBC B Microcomputer 
Special Offer £14 








Gone are the days when you had to 
plug and unplug devices from the User 
Port. This extremely useful little device 
allows two units to be connected to the 
User Port simultaneously, and select 
between them simply by toggling a 
switch. This device is particularly 
useful for those people using Quest 
Mouse and the Watford Video Digitiser 
or any similar combination 

Excellent Value at £22 


Whether you want to type in your 
latest program or the draft of a new 
trilogy, Watford’s manuscript holders 
are superb for holding your paper at 
the ideal height and angle to allow you 
to read and type in ease and comfort. 

Available in 2 full A4 versions, desk 
resting and shelf clamping. Paper is 
held firmly by means of a plastic 
retaining ruler and a clip grip. 

Desk Top £8 
Angle poise £12 

Copy holders as 
above but with a 
NEW ^>-battery operated, 
remote controlled 
cursor/ruler. (By 
hand or foot pedal.) (Batteries 2 x AA 
not included.) 

Desk Top £15 
Angle poise £20 


Credit Card 24 Hour 
Ansaphone Hot Lines 
0582 487777 or 
0923250234/233383 


X EPROM ERASERS 


EPROMs need careful treatment if 
they are to survive their expected 
lifetime. Over erasure of EPROMs very 
rapidly turns them into ROMs! 

The TEX erasers operate following the 
manufacturers specifications to give 
the maximum possible working life by 
not erasing too fast. 

• ERASER EB - Standard version 

erases up to 16 chips. £34 

• ERASER GT - Deluxe version 

erases up to 18 chips. Has 
automatic safety cut-off to switch off 
the UV lamp when opened. £36 

• Spare UV tubes. £12 


ROM Extraction Tool 


This extremely useful tool allows you 
trouble free chip insertion and removal 
from your computer by distributing the 
removal force over the whole 
body of any 24 or 28 pin chip. £2 

Metal Chip Extractor £3 


tcE 


rvisol Foam Cleaner 


This king size multipurpose foam 
cleaner spray is ideal for cleaning 
Keyboard, Monitor, Disc Drive & 
Computer furniture surfaces. 


£2.50 


Antistatic Aerosol Spray 


Ideal for cleaning and preventing static 
build-up on TV/Monitor Screens. 

£2.50 


Aerosol Dust Spray 


Ideal for removing dust & dirt from 
Keyboard & similar inaccessible 
spaces. £3 

• CASHBOOK • FINAL ACCOUNTS 

• MAILIST • EASILEDGER - 

• INVOICES & STATEMENT 

All this for only £21 (Disc) 


OFFICE MATE 


• DATABASE • SPREADSHEET 
• BEEBPLOT 


Only £10 (Disc) 


Spares for BBC Micro 


UHF Modulator 

Speaker £3; Speaker Grill 

Keyswitches 

16MHz Crystal 

17.734 MHz Crystal 

32.768MHz Crystal 

Replacement 17 way Flexible 

Keyboard Connector 

BBC Master Power Supply 

BBC Master Keyboard 

BBC Master Casing 

Refurbished BBC B Spares 
BBC B Casing 

Clear Perspex Keystrip Holder 
BBC B Keyboard 
BBC B Power Supply 













(No VAT on Books) 


1 5 Hr Wordprocessing BBC/View £6.95 

15 Hr Wordprocessing BBC/WW & WW+ £6.95 
30 Hour BASIC (BBC Micro) £12.95 

1st Word Plus - Mastenng £13.95 

1st Word Plus Rel 2 Manual £10.00 

A3000 Technical Reference Manual £29.00 

Acorn DTP A Guide to £1 7.00 

Advanced User Guide for BBC £1 0.95 

Archimedes 1st Step - Beginners Guide £9.95 
Archimedes Assembly Language £14.95 

Archimedes Basic V Guide £9.95 

Archimedes BBC Basic Guide £20 

Archimedes DTP Manual £1 0.00 

Archimedes Operating System £14.95 

Archimedes Risc-Os Programmers 
Reference Manual £79.00 

Assembly Language Quick Ref. £21 .95 

BASIC 2- User Guide £2 

BBC Micro -Within the £11.95 

BBC B Micro User Guide £15 

BCPL User Guide £9 

Budget DTP on the Archimedes £1 2.95 

C Big Red Book of £8.95 

C - A Dabhand Guide (Archi) £14.95 

C - A Dabhand Guide to £1 4.95 

C Programming Lang. 2nd Edition £24.95 

COMAL -Introduction to £9.50 

Deutsch Direkt! (Book only) £5.95 

DISC FILING SYSTEM (DFS) 

Operating Manual for BBC £6.95 

FORTH on the BBC Micro £9.95 

ISO-PASCAL Reference Manual £9.95 

Master 512 Guide - Dabs Press £9.95 

Master Operating System £1 2.95 

Master Reference Manual Part 1 £14 

Master Reference Manual Part 2 £ 1 4 

Master Reference Manual - Advanced £1 4 

MINI OFFICE II - A Dabhand Guide £9.95 

Mouse User Guide to BBC Micro - 
the Complete £5.95 

Example Programs on Disc for above £4.95 

PASCAL Programming £10.95 

Rise OS Style Guide £9.95 

RISC Technical Manual 260 pg £14.95 

Understanding Interword - 
A Beginners Guide £4.95 

View 3.0 User Guide £10 

View Guide (View 2.1) £5.00 

View. Viewsheet & Viewstore - Mastering £12.95 
VIEW Dabhand Guide £12.95 

Viewsheet User Guide £10 

Viewstore User Guide £10 

Z88 - A Dabhand Guide £1 4.95 

Z88 Computing £9.95 

Z88 Magic £14.95 


BOOKS for I 

PC & Compatibles 


8086/8088 Ass. Language Quick Ref £8 45 
8086/8088 Programming the £1 7.95 

Accountancy software in Business - Using £14.95 
Agenda- Using £21.95 

Aldus PageMaker - Using £21 .45 

Amstrad 9512 - Using the £10.95 

Amstrad Basic 2 User Guide £9.95 

Assembly Language 3e - Using £27.45 

Autocad 4th Ed - Mastering £31 .50 

AutoCAD - Inside 10 & 1 1 Spec Ed £32.45 
AutoCAD - Mastering Rel. II 4e £31 .50 

Autocad - Mastering Through Rel. 10 £28.95 

BASIC - Do it yourself Visual £18.50 

Build Your own 386/386SX & Save £1 5.50 

Build Your own 80486 IBM Computer £12.95 
C Programming Language 2nd Ed £26.95 
C - Waite Group Turbo C Bible £27.95 

C++ Borland C++ 3 Handbook 2e £24.95 
Clipper 5 Developers Guide £1 9.95 

Clipper 5.01 3e - Using £27.45 

Computer Users Dictionary £9.95 

Corel Draw 2. 1 3e - Inside + Disc £32.45 
Corel Draw 2 3e - Mastering £26.95 

Corel Draw Quick Ref Thro VI .2 £7.95 

Corel Draw 2.0 Made Easy £1 9.95 

Corel Draw v2 Quick Ref £8.45 

Corel Draw Quick Ref vl .2 £8.45 

Corel Draw 2 Visual Quick Start incl. Disc £21.35 
dBase 3/4 Complete Ref £27.45 

dBase III Plus - Complete Reference £1 9.95 
dBase III Plus Handbook 2nd Edition £22.95 
dBase Instant Reference (III & 111+) £10.95 

Desk Jet Unlimited £19.95 

DOS Complete Reference 3e £23.95 

DOS for Dummies Through v5.0 £1 5.45 

DOS- Easy (to ver 5) £18.45 

DOS Instant Ref. £9.75 

DOS Instant Reference (up to 3.3) £6.95 

DOS - Programmers Ref. Manual 2nd Ed £27.45 
DR DOS 6 Quick Reference £8.95 

DR DOS 6.0 Stepping up to . £1 3.95 


DTP Looking Good in Print 2e £21 .95 

EGA & VGA Cards Prog. Guide to £27.95 
Excel 4 Windows - A Quick Course £10.95 
Excel 4 for Windows Quickstart £20.45 

Excel 4.0 Windows Made Easy 3e £16.50 
Excel 4 for Windows Leam Fast £16.50 

Excel 4 for Windows 2e - Using £27.95 
Fax - Management with £7.95 

FAX - Managing with £12.95 

Foxpro 2 Made Easy Revised Ed £20.95 
Foxpro 2- Using £27.45 

Foxpro 2- Mastering 2ed £26.95 

Framework III - Mastering £24.50 

GW Basic Users Guide & Ref £17.95 

Hard Disc Instant Ref £1 0.95 

Hard Disc management - Quick 
Reference Guide to £4.95 

Hard Disc- Using Your £27.45 

IBM PC & PS/2 - Inside the 3rd Ed £21 .70 

IBM PCs 386 486 Power User Guide £17.95 

IBM PC Crash Course & Survival 3e £17.95 
LAN-Understanding Local Area Networks £23.50 
LocoscriptPC vl.5- Using £14.95 

Lotus 1 -2-3 for Windows £27.45 

Lotus 1-2-3 Rel. 2.4 Special Ed - Using £27.45 
Microsoft GW BASIC £17.95 

MS-DOS 5-10 Minute Guide to £8.95 

MS-DOS Batch Files Quick Ref £5.95 

MS-DOS First Book £15.50 

MS DOS for Beginners £1 7.45 

MS-DOS Quick Ref Guide 5 £8.95 

MS-DOS - Running 4th edition £1 9.95 

MS-DOS - Supercharging 2nd Edition £1 7.95 

MS-DOS Users Guide 3rd Edition £27.95 

MS-DOS 5 - Quick Start £18.45 

MS-DOS 5 User Hand Book £1 9.95 

MS-GW BASIC User Guide & Ref £17.95 

MS Visual BASIC Workshop incl. Disc £28.30 
Netware Users Guide 2.2 & 311 £22.95 

Novell Netware 386 Comp Ref £29.95 

Novell Netware 2e - Using £27 45 

Novell Network - Mastering £27.95 

Novell Network - Using £27.45 

Pagemaker 4 IBM - Use incl. Disc £1 9.95 
Pagemaker 4 for Windows - Using £27.45 
PageMaker on IBM PC - Using £22.95 

Pagemaker - Using £22.95 

PCs & Compatible Computers for 
Beginners £17.95 

PC Crash Course 2.0 2nd Edition £1 9.95 
PC Configuration Handbook 2e £26.99 

PC- Fix your own £22.50 

PC - Upgrade & Maintain - Complete £25.50 
PCs - Upgrading & Repairing 2e £32.45 

Programming Guide to EGA & VGA Cards £25.95 
Quattro Pro 4.0 Made Easy £1 6.50 

Quattro Pro 4 Special Ed - Using £25.95 

Smart -Using £21.45 

Smartware II - Mastering £22.95 

Smartware II - Using £27.45 

Supercalc 5 - Mastering £24.50 

Supercalc 5 2ed - Using £27.45 

Timeworks Publ. 2 - Practical Guide £1 6.95 
Timeworks Publisher Comp. v2.0 £12.95 

Turbo C Bible £27.95 

Turbo C++ £22.95 

Turbo Pascal 5 - Using £22.95 

Turbo Pascal Using £27.45 

Unix- Using £27.45 

Upgrading & Repairing PC’s £27.45 

Ventura Publisher - Using £22.95 

Ventura Tips & T ricks 3e £21 .95 

Ventura - 3rd Edition £24 95 

Windows 3.1 10 Minutes Guide to £9.95 

Windows 3. 1 Program Ref Vol 4 £1 9.95 

Windows 3. 1 A Quick Course in £1 0.95 

Windows 3.1 Mastering 2e £25.50 

Windows 3.0 3. 1 Using Special Ed £25.95 
Windows 3. 1 Complete Ref 2e £23.95 

Windows 3. 1 Program Ref Vol 1 £26.95 

Windows 3. 1 Program Ref Vol 2 £35.95 

Windows 3. 1 Prog Ref Vol 3 £26.95 

Windows 3.1 Quick Reference £8.95 

Windows 3. 1 Secrets 2e + Disc £36.95 

Window Programming 2nd Ed £27.95 

Word for Windows made easy £1 5.95 

WORD for Windows - Using £22.95 

WordPerfect - Quick Reference V5 £8.45 

WordPerfect 5 1 - ABC's of £18.95 

WordPerfect 5.1 - 1 st Book of £1 5.95 

WordPerfect 5. 1 - Mastering £24.95 

WordPerfect 5. 1 Quick Start £1 8.45 

WordPerfect 5. 1 - Using Special Ed £25.95 

WordPerfect for Beginners £1 7.45 

Wordstar & CPM Made Easy £15.75 

Wordstar 6.0 Made Easy £1 5.95 

WORD FOR WINDOW 

10 Minute Guide Word 2 Windows £9.50 
DTP with Word 2 for Window £20.45 

MS WORD 2 Windows Made Easy £1 6.95 

Master MS WORD 2 for Windows 2e £24.50 

Quick Course Word 2 Windows £1 0.95 

Running WORD 2 for Windows £29.95 

Using WORD 2 for Windows 2e £25.95 

Carriage on Books vary between £2 to 
£4.00, depending on their weight 


Stop the Confusion! 

Do you have to use both Acorn 
computers and PC's? Would you like 
to use your Archimedes or A3000 in 
PC-emulation mode but are unsure of 
the new commands? 

Although Acom machines (such as the 
BBC B, the Master, the Archimedes) 
are mainly used in education, most 
commercial computers use other 
operating systems, particularly MS- 
DOS. As a result school computer 
users are at a disadvantage when 
moving into 'business' computing. PCs 
and other commercial computers use 
MS-DOS as the operating system, so 
commands for formatting, copying, 
backing up, printing and the modem 
are not the same. Even file names are 
written differently! And did you know 
that there is one Acorn command 
which, if used in MS-DOS, wipes 
everything in the current directory? 

ACORN TO PC' enables you to 
change over painlessly. It shows 
clearly and quickly how, why and 
where the two systems (Acorn and 
MS-DOS) differ. As with a foreign 
language dictionary, you can use the 
book to transfer either way - from 
Acorn to MS-DOS, or from MS-DOS to 
Acorn. 

Price: £9.95 (No VAT) 


The Complete BBC 
Computer User 
Handbook 


If you own a BBC B, B+, Electron, 
Master 128 or Master Compact, or 
Archimedes, then this is the book for 
you. It shows how to get the best from 
your machine, and how to make it 
work for you. 

Only: £9.95 (No VAT) 


eeb PC (BASIC) 


Designed for program authors to 
convert BBC programs to run on IBM 

PCs Price: E38 

(Now reads Archimedes Discs) 

Beeb DOS is a collection of utilities 
which run on the PCs and enable it to 
read and write information on BBC 


Discs. 


Price: £39 



This manual has been written to reveal 
the secrets of the mouse. It explains all 
the principles required by the hardware 
and associated software, and also 
example listings for inclusion into 
custom programs. The manual first 
details the basic principles of the 
mouse and a simple program which 
uses these principles. This information 
should be adequate for most 
applications. However, it is possible to 
improve the performance of the mouse 
by expanding on the principles already 
used in the software. This is again fully 
explained and an example program 
given. 

It is possible to gain a full 
understanding of the mouse from this 
manual. For those not interested in 
exactly how the mouse functions, 
complete example programs are also 
included. 

Price £5.95 (No VAT) 
Example programs on Disc £4.95 



So you bought yourself a new printer, 
because the salesman in the shop 
showed you how clever it is and 
impressed you with all sorts of 
printouts to show its capabilities - he 
may even have offered you a special 
price. 

However, now that you have got it 
home and connected it to your BBC 
microcomputer, you are wondering 
how to make it perform these magical 
tasks. The manual seems to give no 
clues, and when you type in the 
example programs, the computer 
throws the LPRINT statements back in 
your face. 

Now what do you do, when this £400 
piece of high technology refuses even 
to move its head, and you have stayed 
up until 2 in the morning with copious 
supplies of coffee, desperately trying to 
print something out? Once again, 
Watford Electronics comes to your 
help with our new book entitled THE 
EPSON FX-KAGA PRINTER 
COMMANDS REVEALED'. 

This book describes in plain, easy to 
understand English, how to use and 
make the most of your KP810, 
PW1080A or any other Epson FX80 
compatible printers like Panasonic KX- 
P1080/1 , etc., with the BBC Micro, 
both from Basic and Wordwise. 

£4.95 (No VAT) 


Watford 


Mail Order & Showroom: 

Jessa House, Finway, off Dallow Road, Luton, LU1 1TR, England 
Tel: 0582 487777 Tlx: 8956095 WATFRD Fax: 0582 488588 
Showroom Only: 

Jessa House, 250 Lower High Street, Watford, WD1 2AN, England 
Tel: 0923 237774 Fax: 0923 233642 

Prices subject to change without notice and available on request. ALL OFFERS subject to 
availability. Mail Order and RETAIL SHOP. Trade and Export inquiries welcome. Government 
and Educational Establishments' OFFICIAL ORDERS Accepted. Shop Hours: 9.00am to 6.00pm. 
Monday to Saturday. Thursdays 9am to 8pm. (Free Customer’s Car Park). VAT: UK customers 
please add 17.5% VAT to cost incl. Carriage. CARRIAGE: Unless stated otherwise, minimum £3 
on all orders. £4 on Larger items. On bulkier items. £7 Courier charge applies (UK mainland 
only). Overseas orders, carriage is charged at cost. Specifications of all products are given in 
good faith but are subject to change without notice. Some items vary in their availability. 
Watford Electronics Terms and Conditions are available upon request. Please ring for latest 
delivery situation. 





WEMBLEY EXHIBITION CENTRE 

OCTOBER 1 6TH TO 1 8TH 1 992 

OPENING TIMES: 

FRIDAY 1 6TH OCTOBER - 10AM TO 6.00PM 
SATURDAY 1 7TH OCTOBER - 1 0AM TO 6.00PM 
SUNDAY 1 8TH OCTOBER - 1 0AM TO 5.00PM 




COME AND SEE /H< 
AND SOFTWA : 0 


QUEST 

FOR 



Your chance to play this exciting 
athletics simulation in a special 
presentation at the show, with 
on-the-spot 'coaching' from 
world-class athletes who have 
contributed their skills to the game 



Star athletes 
appearing will 
include: 

Linford Christie 
Fatima Whitbread 
Colin Jackson 
Dalton Grant 4 » 
John Regis ^ N ' 
Steve Brackley 
Sally Gunnel and 
Yvonne Murray 


Save money by applying for your tickets today 




W EDUCATION AND 

K INDLE OF FUN 

— 

: /VHOLE WORLD OF ACORN COMPUTING - THE LATEST HARDWARE 
'AIFOR SCHOOL, HOME AND BUSINESS - ALL UNDER ONE ROOF 



EDUCATIONAL 

ADVICE 

A special section for 
teachers and concerned 
parents who are looking 
for helpful advice on all 
aspects of using Acorn 
computers in the 
classroom 


NEW ACORN 
MACHINES 

Visitors to the show will 
be able to view Acorn’s 
new portable computer, 
the A4. And with 
rumours of additional 
new products from 
Acorn, the show could 
be your first chance to 
see them 



MULTIMEDIA 

APPLICATIONS 

With the development of 
CD-ROM and Acorn 
Replay, there will be 
opportunities to view the 
latest multimedia 
applications for 
educational and other 
uses 



NEW 

SOFTWARE 

Education, games, home 
accounts, business, DTP, 
graphics. ...whatever your 
interests, there is a host of 
new software packages 
on show to see and try 



GAMES 

GALORE 

As well as Quest for 
Gold, there will be a host 
of new and exciting 
games for you to try at the 
show. Don't miss your 
chance to play the latest 
'shoot 'em ups' and 
adventures 


I 


r 


WHO'S AT THE SHOW? 

• Acorn Computers 

• Colton Software 

• 4Mation 

• Clares 

• Computer Concepts 

• Rise Developments 

• Aleph One 

• Watford Electronics 

• Longman Logotron 

• The Fourth Dimension 

• Minerva Software 

and over 60 other exhibitors 


ADVANCE 

T 

1 C K E ' 

r 

A P P L 1 

C A 

T 1 O N 

Please send this 

Please rush me : 


I Under 1 6 £4 

1 (£4.50 at door) 


Family Tickets £1 5 

(£ 1 7 at door) 

application form to: 


Adult £6 

1 (£6 at door) 




SAFESELL EXHIBITIONS LTD, 
MARKET HOUSE, 
CROSS ROAD, TADWORTH, 
SURREY, KT20 5SR 


Visa & Mastercard holders can phone 

0737 814713 

for ticket orders 


I enclose a cheque/postal order for £ 


made out to 


SAFESELL EXHIBITIONS LTD or please debit my Mastercard or VISA Card no. 


















Expiry Date E 



Signature 

Name 

Address 











iey^89)45 lljk 

* ( 0203 ) #707 





WEMBLEY EXHIBITION CENTRE 

OCTOBER 16TH TO 18TH 1992 




SHOW GUIDE 


WELCOME TO THE BBC 

ACORN USER SHOW 

The BBC Acorn User show 1992 kicks off at Wembley in October. 

Barry Monk introduces some of the highlights 


S chool work, business, 
word processing, games, 
desktop publishing 
whatever you want to do, 
you will find something to 
interest you at the only major 
consumer show dedicated to 
Acorn computers. 

Whether you currently own 
an Acorn computer, or are fas- 
cinated enough by details of 
the new' range of Acorn 
machines to want to know 
more, you can't afford to miss 
this year's show. It covers the 
whole exciting world of 
Acorn, all under one roof. 

Sponsored by BBC Acorn 
User and supported by Acorn 
Computers, this year's show 
will be bigger and better than 
ever before, with a host of new 
products, presentations and the 
appearance of star celebrities. 

The venue will be hall three 
of the Wembley Conference 
and Exhibition centre in Lon- 
don, which is larger than the 
hall used at the same venue 
last year. Facilities for visitors 
will include more efficient 
admittance, with a separate 
entrance for advance ticket 
holders (see the coupon on 
page 54 for advance ticket 
applications). Additional aisle 
space will allow give every- 
one, visitors and exhibitors 
alike, a lot more elbow room. 

Over 70 exhibitors from the 
Acorn marketplace will be 
there and many new products, 
including the latest new range 
of machines from Acorn, will 
be seen at the show. Indeed, 
the show will be a launch pad 
for many new items of hard- 
ware and software for visitors 
to try as well as see. 

Key activity features will 
include: a special show 

theatre, running continuous 
presentations; live demonstra- 
tions of the latest Quest for 



Quest for Gold is the recently-launched Olympic athletics simulation for Acorn 32-bit machines, and it is included 
as part of the Acorn A3010 package. 

The simulation, which allows players to play a variety of track and field events, was put together with the 
help and advice of top athletes, including Fatima Whitbread. Several star names from the recent Olympics are 
included in the simulation, including gold medal winners Linford Christie and Sally Gunnell. 

Thanks to Acorn's sponsorship of the Chafford Hundred group, an athletics organisation designed to help 
young athletes, many of the star names who featured in the simulation will be at the show. But they won't just 
be there to sign autographs - you will be able to see them playing the simulation and you can pitch your skills 
against theirs. A big screen presentation in the show theatre will bring the full excitement of the Quest for Gold 
to life - and, who knows, you might end up beating an Olympic champion yourself. 


Gold athletics simulation, w ith 
guest appearances from Olym- 
pic medal- winning athletes 
and a special education sec- 
tion, where teachers, pupils 
and parents can talk with 
Acorn about the latest edu- 
cational products and activities 
which the company is develop- 
ing for schools. 

Active projects undertaken 
by the schools themselves will 


include a motivated team of 
‘newshounds’ who will be pro- 
ducing a BAU show' newspaper 
on location. 

Look out for the show 
‘passport* in this issue of BAU , 
and you may win a fabulous 
holiday or one of several other 
great prizes. 

We hope to see you at the 
show - you're sure of a great 
welcome. 


IN THE THEATRE 

The big-screen theatre, which 
is sponsored by disc manufac- 
turers TDK. will feature a full 
programme of free presenta- 
tions, both live and recorded, 
throughout the show. Details 
have yet to be finalised at the 
time of going to press, but 
below is a schedule of planned 
events. We advise you to 


58 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 


SHOW GUIDE 


check at the theatre upon 
arrival at the show for further 
details. 

The daily events in brief, are 

10.30 to 11.00: Quest for Gold 
Your chance to play this excit- 
ing athletics simulation 

11.00 to 12.20: DTP 

Helpful and practical advice 
on making the most of desktop 
publishing on Acorn machines 

11.30 to 11.55: Games 

The latest games for Acorn 
machines 

12.00 to 12.20: Education 
Advice and help on using 
Acorn machines in the 
classroom 

12.30 to 12.50: Quest for Gold 

13.00 to 13.20: Acorn 
Details of new products from 
Acorn 

13.30 to 13.50: Games 
1400 to 1420: TDK 
Information on disc making 
from TDK 

1430 to 1450: Quest for Gold 
1500 to 1520: Questions and 
Answers 

Helpful answers to your 
problems 

1530 to 1550: Games 
1600 to 1620: Music- 
How to make your Acorn 
machine sing 

1630 to 1650: Quest for Gold 
1700 to 1720: The Trojan 
Mouse, a BBC television pro- 
gramme charting 10 years of 
the BBC micro 


SHOW PASSPORT 

Want to go on a great free 
holiday? Then don’t forget 
your passport - the BBC Acorn 
User show passport, that is. In 
association with Acorn Com- 
puters and some of the key 
exhibitors at the show, we 
have produced a special show 
passport which you can use to 
tour the stands of the show. 
Your passport will be stamped 
at appropriate stands and you 
can then enter a free prize 
draw to win a family holiday. 

You should find a copy of 
the passport inside this issue of 
BBC Acorn User. But don't 
worry if you don't - you can 
pick up a copy when you 
arrive at the show. Please note 
that the passport is not an entry 
ticket to the show. 

NEWSHOUNDS 

Pupils from St Bede’s School 
in Cambridge will, as they did 
last year, be producing a 
special show newsletter, using 
ESM’s Desktop Folio DTP 
package. 

This year, the young team 
hopes to prepare a newsletter 
the day before the show opens, 
so that visitors can be given a 
sneak preview of what will be 
happening. 

The newsletter will be 
updated every day, so be prep- 


GETTING THERE 


The BBC Acorn User show will be held in hall 3 of the Wembley Confer- 
ence and Exhibition Centre, Empire Way, Wembley HA9 ODW. Tel: 081- 
,9Q2 8833. 


BBC ACORN USER STAND 


The editorial team of BBC Acorn User will be at the show to meet readers 
and to offer advice and help to both new and experienced Acorn 
computer users. One key feature will be the Questions and Answers 
booth, manned by our expert, Richard Garrett. Richard is best known as 
the regular guru of our Q&A pages and will be pleased to answer 
readers' questions. Look out, also, for our special Best of */A/fO disc, 
which will feature many of the best and most exciting programs from 
our regular programming column. 




STAINES 
SOUTH WEST 

on m*D ftuppl'ftd 


Ol \ X \ \ ' 

'ix \ V? 

FT(Srw\\ 

by Sitd.um lid \ \ \\ \ \ 


By road: The centre is situated close to the A406 North Circular road. 
There is on-site parking for 6,000 cars. Advance ticket holders will receive 
details of parking locations and costs with their tickets. 

By rail: Wembley Stadium station is on the Chiltern line between 
Marylebone and Banbury. Wembley Central station is on the Euston and 
Watford line and the Euston and Milton Keynes/Northampton line 
By Underground: Wembley Park station is on the Metropolitan and 
Jubilee lines. Wembley Central station is on the Bakerloo line 
By bus: The 83, 224, 226 and 297 provide connections between Wembley 
Park and Wembley Central station. The 92, 18, 182 and 204 services 
provide connections between Wembley Central rail station and the no 83 
links Wembley Park with the centre. Bus no 18 also provides a service 
with Marylebone Road and Baker Street. 


The BAU team swings into action at last year's show 


ared to see groups of hungry 
young journalists on the trail 
of hot news around the show. 
Visitors to the newshounds’ 
office will he able to see how 
the newsletter is laid out and 
printed using the Acorn-based 
DTP system. 

BEST OF *INFO 

As well as copies of the latest 
issue and back issues, we also 
hope to be compiling a Best of 
XINFO disc which will feature 
some of the best programs 
from our regular programming 
column. Also planned is a 
package encompassing our 
recent series on sound on the 
Archimedes, which will 
include issues and discs. Pack- 
ages will be limited in supply, 
so be sure to come to our stand 
early for yours. 

TICKET DETAILS 

Tickets will be available on 
each day of the show, but you 
can save money by applying 
for your tickets in advance. 
There will also be a special 


entrance for those who hold 
advance tickets. Prices are as 
follows: Adults: £5 in 

advance, £6 at the door. 
Under- lbs: £4 in advance. 
£4.50 at the door. Two adults 
and two under- 16s: £15 in 
advance, £17 at the door 
Advance ticket applications 
can be made using the special 
order form which can be found 
on the advertisement on page 
54 or credit card orders can be 
made by calling (0737) 
814713. 

OPENING TIMES 

The show will be open at the 
following times. 

Friday, October 16: open 
10am to 6pm 

Saturday October 17: open 
1 0am to 6pm 

Sunday October 18: open 
1 0am to 5pm 

The BBC Acorn User show is 
organised by Safesell Exhibi- 
tions Limited, Market House. 
Cross Road, Tadworth, Surrey 
KT20 5SR. Tel: (0737) 
814084. 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 59 







53je datafile 


Archimedes 
Public Domain 
& 

Shareware 


Catalogue and Demonstration Disc VIII 


ICharges 

JLocomo 

INotSpinv? 

ISampConv 

ISTJukeBox 

Gangster 

Shorts 

SwirllnMist 

Zarchars 

SolidDrag 


An application to monitor tune spent on a job and 
calculate charges for it. Various currencies. 

A full technicolor morion picture. The great train 
robbery takes place on your iconbar. Top Class. 

Shoot 'em up. V levels with mode 15 graphic*. 

Multi purpose sample converter An excellent utility. 
STnuxJule player with mulu-play & load in a window. 
A Bitmap I2pt outline font family with four styles 
Five small basic programs with amazing results. 

A very good STmodulc to use with STJukeBox. 

Arc Angles demo called Swiss Section'. 

Enables A50Q0 owners to solid drag icons'. 


Richard G. Hailis 

Dirk-Willen van Gullk 
Jan Tijmen van Gulik 
Paul Hallam 
Matthew Farrow 
Ben Brown 
Richard G. Hailis 
Various authors 

Arc Angles 
Bob Harding. 


This disc is supplied on Branded Media as are all of the 
libraries discs. It contains over 750k of archived PD and the 
comprehensive Datafile catalogue which features: 

750k of information on 15 sections - Archived file sizes - 
Version numbers - Authors names and program 
descriptions. 


Prices Pick 'n' Mix upgrade 


All discs are p or £7 75 per disc you can now 
£1 .25 plus decided what software you want on 
one free disc y Qur discs . All files will be archived 
with every 10 f Q gj Ve y OU ^ e maximum amount of 
ordered. pq per disc. 


To receive your 
copy of this 
disc by return 
of first class 
post send £1 to 
the address 
opposite. 


REGISTERED USERS 

For £5 a year you can receive the bi- 
monthly Cat/ Demo discs automatically and 
be entitled to two tree discs for every ten 
you order dunng the period of registration. 

22 Duxford Drive, Aldergrove 
Co. Antrim BT29 4BG 


As the library is 
being updated 
you can upgrade 
your old Datafile 
discs for 50p 
each including 
P& P. 

If you send a £1 
coin, please tape 
it to a piece of 
card to prevent it 
from getting lost 
in the post. 


HONORMEAD SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS 
* Acom Approved Dealership 
Computer Hardware and Software for Special 
Needs, Education and Home User 

OPEN DAYS 

If you want the opportunity to view the latest Acom range of education 
and home computers, together with specialist add-ons and a wide 
range of software for pre-school, special needs and business then 
why not come along to see us:- 

VENUE: The Grange, Hospital Lane, Mickleovor, Derby. DE3 5DR 
DATE: Friday 18th. Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th. September 1992 
TIME: 10.00 am. to 5.00p.m. 

For further details telephone: 0332 512848 or 510951 



i " ~ | 

New - Impression Resource Disc 

Filled with borders tor parties, weddings, Christmas, business, school etc and a range of new dip 
art files. Also indudes a selection of Impression files filled with how to do hints and tips written by 
a professional Impression trainer. Could be your best buy since Impressston - £7.95 

Also the Impression Junior Resource Disc (with working borders) £ 7 .es 



Some of the 40+ Clip Art Collection* 
Europe Maps (Om) £4.95 

World Maps (Draw) £4.95 

UK Maps (Draw) £4.95 

Home Publisher dip art (Draw) £4.95 

Computer Technology (Draw) £4.95 

Ready to run CleerVlew hypertext files, fully 
illustrated and with free oopy of ClearView. 
EuroFadfile with all new countries £6.95 

Christopher Columbus' first voyage £6.95 

Scientists and Inventors biographies £8.95 




Send £1 (inc VAT) for the acclaimed . 

Auto- Catalogue/C learView brochure j 
demo disc (free with order) 

Add £1 for postage and VAT at 

17.5% to .N oewn. PO Box 97. Exeter EX4 4YA 


DEC dATA 


Clip Art 
and Dat 

0392 221702 



SERVICE DIVISION 
TEL [0727] 47864 


The Official Acorn Warranty Repair Centre are 

now able to offer their specialist services for the 
Out of Warranty Repair of an extensive range of 
Acorn products . 

SML can offer you : 

* Competitive flat rate prices - no hidden extras! 

* Turn around of one week !! 

* 90 day Warranty !!! 

Please call for more information. 


60 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER' 1 992 





on our linotronic™ 
PostSoipt™ Imagesetter 


7 muje <? 


Peterborough 

Cambs 


All Acorn & Electronic Font Foundry 
PostScript compatible fonts supported 


We at Electronic Solutions are pleased to 
announce our superior range of products 


En^gn 


— The amazing new filing system combining compatibility, high speed efficient compression, and FULL 
data security. The ultimate protected filing system for schools, business and anyone who wishes to protect their 
data • Fast 13-bit LZW compression • Each individual file or directory may be encrypted with it’s own passwords for read & write access. 


movement to other directo r, cV filing systems, and passwords may be set to be asked lor only once per session • ‘password entry grouping' 
allows access to ‘groups' ol tiles when the password for one has been entered • Public key cryptology techniques • ’failed access' log information 
kept • Works from command line or Desktop • Passwords requested within a WIMP window at ANY time, using own Window Manager routines 
•Full support utilities provided • TOTALLY Invisible in operation • Speeds up Networks • Powerful, passworded “!Configma” application 
handles password details, and general Enigma configuration • You can slop other Enigma owners accessing your tiles • £59.9? ex V A I 


j bIr.iT Electronic Solutions 



* Multi-tasks ANY programs that don’t normally run under the Desktop • Save the tasked application s 
screen as a sprite • “Single task ", and return to the Desktop at any time or “Pause" • “Connect” the mouse to the tasked 
application. • Scale the tasked application's window to any size • Use the tasked application in any Desktop mode • “ Freeze ", 
save to disc, and reload the task at any time where it left off • Uses include games, programming etc. • £34.95 ex VAT 


Professional Tools Pack 1 * Easy-to-use, powerful utilities for the discerning RISC OS user • NOT to be confused with 
inferior PD products! • Monitor protector and data security program • Key/delay activated screen hider preventing information being seen by 
unauthorised persons • Colour enhancement software greatly expands the range ol colours on screen • Animated ARM3 control software 
• Module protector utilities • RISC OS 2.00 “ FileCore in use" bug reverser • Key-activated utilities and utility manager - allows you to create 
your own • Multisync monitor emulators • System ROM accelerator with background checks tor complete safety • System speed controller lor 
slowing down those difficult games etc. • No knowledge of RISC OS needed - a must for the beginner or professional • £14.95 ex VAT 

* The file redirection/virus protection/data security utility lets you to run ALL your applications and 

lUUX^ 'games from the media of your choice • “file access logging" - details of file access by any program may be ‘logged* 
allowing you to check how files are being accessed, and trace possible virus spread • Filing systems, tiles, and directories may be read or write 
protected - the ultimate form of virus protection • Provided with lull support utilities, configuration tiles, demonstrations and access to technical 
help, support and backup • Configuration files may be saved for later use • The perfect companion for your new Hard or floppy disc drive • “This 
is a utility which is definitely worth adding to anyone's library” - The Micro User , May 1992 • £19.95 ex VAT 
All our products are 100% RISCWARK, running under the Desktop with added command-line support. Please enquire for an individual site- 
licence quote, further details of the above products, or our VGA monitor utilities , Tools Pack 2,... 






class delivery service (Overseas - £2.00). We welcome telephone enquiries , all official orders 

and payment by cash , postal order , or cheque. Please enquire about credit card facilities. 


t t/xyCr^Ceralvn’’ • Maindy-Croft • Ton-Pentre • Mid Glamorgan • South Wales • CF41 7ET * ^ (0443) 430355 • Fax: (0633) 87641, 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 61 





SHOW GUIDE 


SHOW HIGHLIGHTS 


For Acorn watchers, the BAU show is the most exciting event of the year. 
Ian Burley gives an insider's view of what to see and where to go 



W: 


1 ith no less than four 
new computers from 
Acorn on show for 
the first time, plus 
revisions to the existing 
machines, this year’s BBC 
Acorn User Show is not to be 
missed for this reason alone. 

However, the BAU show is 
also the traditional event for 
major product releases from 
the ever growing Acorn soft- 
ware and hardware industry. 
Our show is the place to see 
what’s new, grab some bar- 
gains, be impressed by state of 
the art innovations and meet 
your fellow enthusiasts. So to 
make sure you make the most 
of the show, here are a few of 
the highlights . . . 

Number one in our list of 
highlights is, of course, the 
Acorn stand, complete with 
the new machines. The new 
A3010 starts at just £499, 
including VAT. and can plug 
into your television via a sup- 
plied UHF adapter. Despite 
being cheaper than the A3000 
it replaces, the A30I0 is 50 per 
cent faster and has a built-in 
joystick interface, 1.6Mb 
floppy drive and the latest ver- 
sion of the Acorn operating 
system, Rise OS 3. 1. 


Most Arc users have been satisfied 
with the range of spreadsheets 
available to them, headed by the 
excellent and flexible Pipedream 
from Colton Software and Schema 
from Clares. However, a third force 
has entered the fray in the form of 
Eureka from Longman Logotron. 

Microsoft Excel users should be 
very much at home with Eureka 
and it will be on the Longman 
Logotron stand at the show. Long- 
man Logotron will also be offering 
an update of its Magpie multime- 
dia application, and the latest in 
the Revelation series, Revelation 3. 

Rival Colton, meanwhile, is 
remaining tightlipped about its 
latest mystery product. 


Acorn Rise power has never 
come cheaper, so look out for 
the A3010 - it is easy to spot, 
as it has distinctive green func- 
tion keys. There should be 
A3010s in plenty, all doing 
their stuff at the show, and 
Acorn promises to stock up 
with lots for customers to take 
home with them. 

The classroom version of 
the A 30 10 is the A3020. It 
looks the same as a A3010 
externally except that the func- 
tion keys are red, like the old 
A3000. You won’t find a 
joystick port on this version, 
instead there’s an AUN (Acorn 
Universal Network) socket for 
Acorn’s new hybrid Econet/ 
Ethernet networking strategy. 

Looking like a half-height 
A5000, the final new Rise- 
based member of the Acorn 
family is the A4000, which 
shares the electronics of the 
A3020 but in a more profes- 
sional three-box configuration 
with a separate keyboard. 

Perhaps the most surprising 
debutante at the show will be 
Acorn’s new PocketBook 
computer, a thinly disguised 
Psion Series 3. However, the 
disguise is more than just skin- 
deep - Acorn has reprogram- 


Tne biggest stir this year should be the new A3010 

med the built-in suite of soft- 
ware by adding a spreadsheet 
and the necessary drivers to 
enable the PocketBook to con- 
veniently trade files with a 


EUREKA! 


SET 

Nortel 


II 


Eureka - 1 
[>J [kJiJ Ready 


'V 



« ' ■ 

0 i E 






A 

B 1 C 

F 

1 G 1 

H 

■ 


1 

Second Term Exam Scores 





2 









3 

Student 



English 

Maths 


total 

Average 



4 

Fred 


87 

9! 

96 


274 

91 33 



5 

Jim 


92 

94 

97 


283 

94 33 



6 

Sheila 


96 

93 r 

92 

1 283 

9433 



7 

Graham 


82 

87 

. 88 


257 

85 67 



8 

Barry 


81 

88 

B5 


254 

84 67 



9 

Paul 


76 

79 

72 


227 

7567 



10 









11 

1 








12 









13 









14 







▼ 


1-1. : 







[►[a 


lL 

wr gaa G 

flpps RRH Econet 

* 

f: . i 

■3> 

A 









1 


more conventional Acorn Rise 
computer. Once you’ve played 
with one of these little beasts 
it’s difficult to let it go! 

Don’t forget to check out the 
revised A5000, which now 
comes with 80Mb and 120Mb 
hard drive options. Network 
managers will no doubt want a 
peek at the new floppy-only 
A5000. designed just for them. 

There’s even good news for 
those of you who are not inter- 
ested in replacing their Arcs 
just yet, since Acorn has 
announced the availability of 
Rise OS 3.1 upgrades for all 
Archimedes computers includ- 
ing the original A300 and 
A400 series. 

Plenty of dealers should 
have these for sale, and you 
can see the latest features of 
Rise OS 3 demonstrated on 
Acorn’s stand. Usually, all 
that is required is a change of 
Rom chips, but early A400 and 
A300 series computers will 


62 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 



SHOW GUIDE 



also require a small carrier 
board and Acorn does a 
special kit for these computers. 
Apparently, Acorn wants 
everyone to use Rise OS 3 as 
soon as possible, and the price 
is set to go up next year, so 
this could be a good time to 
make the upgrade. 

MULTIMEDIA 

Acorn is working hard to 
establish itself as a leading 
multimedia platform and 
Replay , Acorn’s real time 
video display system, spear- 
heads this campaign. 

No other video window 
system offers comparable per- 
formance to Replay at any- 
where near the price. Replay is 
being exploited by an increas- 
ing number of multimedia 
software developers and pub- 
lishers, most commonly in 
CD- Rom publications. 

Acorn also plan to release 
two DIY Replay systems: one 
for software developers and 
one for home users. They hope 
to be showing a prototype for 
the first time at the show. 

For some advice on the 
array of CD packages around, 
Cumana is well worth a visit. 
The company will not have its 
own stand this year, but has 
taken space on the Acorn stall. 
As well as a range of recently 
released CD-Roms, Cumana 
will be showing its new user- 
friendly Easishare networking 
software. Look out, too, for 
new CD-Rom releases from 
Dorset-based Spacetech, who 
market the amazing planetary 


I data system from NASA. 
Other definites to check out 
include the Advanced Compu- 
ter Services stand. They will 
be sharing their stand with 
newcomer State Machine and 
its new enhanced colour 
graphic cards, offering fast 
256 colour high resolution 
screen modes with an 
expanded 16.7 million colour 
palette. 

Watford Electronics will no 
doubt be selling inexpensive 
Arm3 upgrades, but the main 
attraction there will probably 
be the eagerly awaited debut 
of its PC card. 

Rival PC card maker, Aleph 
One, which is closely linked to 
Atomwide, is rumoured to be 
coming up with some exciting 
enhancements to its product 
range, and there may be more 
details at the show. 

On this stand you will also 
find the latest range of 
Ethernet networking hardware, 
including the new Acorn A4 
card, plus Aleph One's 
recently announced modular 
file transfer system Remote FS. 

Rise Developments has 
Ovation 2 to show off, as well 
as the latest expanded version 
of its Desktop Thesaurus and 
the new mouse and keyboard 
input recorder, Playback. 
Other show-stoppers from 
Rise Developments should be 
Masterfile 3. the latest data- 
base for Rise OS users, and 
Spectra , a new colour scanner. 

The Serial Port will no 
doubt have some very interest- 
ing offers on IDE and SCSI 


hard drives, plus those new 
21Mb floptical drives and also 
look out for an Econet SCSI 
interface and replacement PC 
keyboards. 

Colton Software is keeping 
tight-lipped about its stand, but 
we have been promised a 
major new product launch at 
the show and it will be 
something entirely different 
from the firm’s mainstay until 
now, the highly successful 
Piped ream spreadsheet-cum- 
word processor. 


The highlight of Ian 
Copestake Software's stand 
will be ColourSep , a good 
value colour separation pack- 
age costing £25 for people 
who need to produce colour 
printed output for professional 
printers. Equivalent packages 
in the PC world cost as much 
as 20 times more than this! 

Clares Micro Supplies has 
been fairly quiet for a while, 
but new products will be in 
abundance on their stand at the 
show. These include a new 
Midi Sequencer called Seren- 
ade. a Midi drum sequencer 
called Rhythm, a data manipu- 
lation and presentation pack- 
age called Plot, and last, but 
not least, a long-awaited 
revamp to Knowledge Organ- 
iser. which is now fully Rise 
OS compliant. 

Naturally we can’t include 
all the highlights from each 
and every one of the 70 or so 
stands. Some new products 
will not be announced until the 
show opens, so there will still 
be plenty to discover for 
yourself. Teachers will find 
the educational highlights of 
the show on page 67. 

And last but not least, you 
can meet the PRC Acorn User 
staff on their very own stand in 
the centre of the show area , . 
don’t forget to come along and 
say hello! 


COMPUTER CONCEPTS - THE LARGEST STAND 


With the biggest stand at the show - even bigger than 
Acorn's - Computer Concepts has a lot to say at this 
event. The highlight of Computer Concepts' stand is a 
demonstration theatre wherevisitors can sit down and 
enjoy detailed presentations of the company's latest 
products. Those products will include TurboDrivers for 
fast ink-jet printer output, the latest version of Impres- 
sion, CC's Compression disc filing system for saving 
disc space and, hopefully, a long awaited rival to Rise 
Developments' Thesaurus utility. 

Computer Concepts is also adamant that its 
extremely ambitious and accomplished Artworks 
drawing package will be ready to ship at the show. CC 
should also be a good bet to see some vivid colour 
printing courtesy of their ColourDirect printer, ably 
backed up by the monochrome LaserDirect printer 
range. Then there's FaxPack and the ScanLight scanner 
range and a lot more. Wild Vision, which Computer 
Concepts took a stake in earlier this year, will also be 
sharing space with CC to exhibit its latest video 
digitising and genlocking hardware. 



A bite at the Artworks apple, printed by ColourDirect 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 63 



SHOW GUIDE 


THE 

SHOPPER’S GUIDE 


The BAU show is the ideal place to try 
before you buy, or to pick up a bargain. 
Ian Burley offers a few hot tips 



Bargain hunting was a hectic business at the last BAU show 


T here’s no denying that the 
BBC Acorn User show is 
usually a bargain hunter's 
paradise. Many com- 
panies offer special discounts 
and some visitors have saved 
all year to net a bargain. 

But it's quite amazing how 
fast time flashes by at an event 
where there is so much to see. 
So, with time at a premium, it 
certainly helps to know what 
to keep an eye out for. 

PRINTERS 

Think carefully before buying 
a dot-matrix printer. Unless 
your budget is extremely tight, 
or you need to use carbon- 
copy stationery, a dot-matrix 
can be slow, noisy and the 
print quality is often bettered 
by ink-jet printers which are 
only slightly more expensive. 

As for inkjet printers, 
Hewlett-Packard's DeskJets 
are solid and dependable, but 
rather large. Canon has 
recently eaten into HP's ink-jet 
market with its popular Bub- 
bleJet range. From around 
£220 plus VAT, models like the 
BJlOex and the newer BJ20 
offer portability and print qual- 
ity nearing that of a laser 
printer. They are not the fastest 
printers, especially when print- 
ing outline fonts and graphics, 
but a new TurboDriver from 
Computer Concepts largely 
solves this problem. Other 
good inkjets come from 
Olivetti and Fujitsu. 

For the very best printing 
quality, you need a laser 
printer. These have become 
much more affordable but, 
once again, the problem of 
printing Acorn fonts and 
graphics remains. Even with a 
laser printer, this can be very 
slow as a lot of data must be 
squeezed through the printer 
interface. If you can afford it, 
go for a LaserDirect or 
ArcLaser compatible printer. 

These are supplied, with 
interfaces, by Computer 
Concepts and Calligraph as 
well as appointed dealers. The 
cheapest printers of this type 


cost about £900, but they give 
the performance and print 
quality of printers several 
times the price. 

If high quality colour print- 
ing is important to you. take a 
look at Computer Concepts' 
ColourDirect, which is based 
on the Canon BJC800 colour 
ink-jet. Another colourful 
newcomer is the Integrex 
Colourjet Series 2, a compact 
ink jet which comes complete 
with a Rise OS driver. 

MONITORS 

There are two types of monitor 
for the Arc; the standard 
resolution type which is 
limited to a vertical resolution 
of 256 pixels and the multi- 
scanning or multisync type. 
The former is a modified TV 
tube. Standard screen modes 
like 12 and 16 can be used 
with these monitors and most 
games can run with them. 

With a multi-scanning 
monitor, you can introduce 
screen modes with more verti- 
cal resolution, say mode 20 
(512x640 pixels). The maxi- 
mum resolution offered by 
multi-scan monitors on the 


Archimedes is usually either 
800x600 or 1152x448 pixels, 
though special high-resolution 
monochrome monitors can go 
as high as 1280x1024. 

It's important that if you 
want to retain the use of 
standard resolution modes for 
games, your multi-scanning 
monitor can scan to as low as 
about l5KHz. The ideal range 
is about 15KHz to 39KHz. 
Some PC multi -scan monitors 
scan between 30KHz and 
60KHz. which is fine for high 
resolution modes, but you can 
say bye-bye to those games! 

Don't expect a cheap VGA 
PC monitor to work without a 
specially-made lead and, even 
with one, only a few of the 
Arc’s many screen modes will 
be compatible. It is advisable 
to fit a device known as a Vide 
Enhancer, since this changes 
the clock rate of the Arc’s 
video chip to make it compat- 
ible with high resolution 
screen modes. 

Check the actual screen 
quality of the monitor you 
choose as different makes and 
models can vary considerably. 
Some, like Watford Electron- 


ics' Aries MC range offer a 
microprocessor controlled 
mode memory for preset 
adjustments, available at the 
touch of a button. 

HARD DISCS 

There are three hard disc 
standards available to Arc 
users. The oldest and least 
desirable is ST506. This is 
fitted as standard to A400 
series machines. Most people 
aspire to either a IDE or SCSI 
hard disc these days. 

The former is cheaper but 
less versatile than the latter - 
both are faster and offer larger 
disc capacities than ST506. If 
you might one day want to 
attach another SCSI device or 
two, like a scanner or CD-Rom 
drive, go for SCSI. Alterna- 
tively, IDE is the standard 
Acorn has now settled on. 

Small 20Mb, or even 40Mb, 
drives these days are a false 
economy. They will fill up in 
no time. 100Mb drives are cur- 
rently probably the best value. 

BITS AND PIECES 

Arm3 upgrades are very 
handy. Arm3 boards are all 
much the same, so choosing 
one will usually boil down to 
the price and size of the board. 
Personally, I'd go for the smal- 
ler surface mount examples 
from companies such as Wat- 
ford Electronics or Aleph One. 
If you're buying a Rise OS 3 
upgrade, an Arm3 will boost it 
noticeably. Prices have fallen 
dramatically over the last year 
to around £200. 

As for memory upgrades, 
the story here is much the 
same as for the Arm3. Prices 
have fallen and there is plenty 
of competition. For some 
users, you just need the basic 
memory chips. Other compu- 
ters, like the A3000, will 
require special daughter- 
boards. You’ll find that 4Mb 
upgrades are on the whole bet- 
ter value than 2Mb ones, while 
8Mb upgrades are complex 
and expensive - but nice to 
have if you can afford them. 


64 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 


£ 69.00 


ANCESTRY 

Ancestry allows full Ancestors, Descendants or even user defined 
reports to he printed. Zoom in on a subject's card containing extra 
data regarding marriages and immediate family. Facility to add 
your own file with more details eg. interests/life history. Prints 
family trees sideways in traditional layout. The comprehensive 
searching facility allows you to preview or print a chart of just one 
branch of the family if required. Digitised or scanned pictures can 
be imported in the form of sprites and displayed on the cards. 





Keep your home or club finances in ord 
bank or building society accounts including credit 
Accounts also caters for standing orders and transfers. Powerful 
bank reconciliation, warning indicators when limits are exceeded 
and budgeting facility to assist cashflow prediction. Facility to 
categorize outgoings ie. rates, insurance etc., as required allowing a 
full breakdown of costs. Graphs of budgets and expenditure can 
produced. 


ATELIER 

The definitive art package for the Archimedes allowing stunning 
graphics to be created easily and professionally. Advanced features 
allow anti-alias squashing, rotation of areas into any quadrangle, 
sprite and brush patterning. Further features allow television style 
techniques to even wrap a picture around a wine glass or map an 
image onto any definable 3D surface. A smoothing brush and other 
useful digitised picture tools are available to make this one of the 
most sophisticated art packages on the market. 


£ 85.00 



* 81 

WIW 

1 D w\ 

* 111 

1 


PRIMEART 

PrimeArt is a 256 colour art package with on-line help designed for 
use with Primary and Special Needs Children. Menus can be 
tailored to suit a particular class or individual child. Sprites can be 
imported and saved in a viewing window and can be used to paint, 
produce stunning tiling effects, be placed anywhere on screen and 
even rotated and resized. This allows children to build up pictures 
from the sprite library, eg. a farmyard scene by placing sprites of 
animals onto a background picture. Poster size prints available. 



£ 79.95 




C5 mttu w* 

15 «*«•»» w»u 
KmmiH | 

vj jjy w»l» 

tgtlliiw 

X wit. 

'J'l MpIimUI flip 
f, f||p 

Er * r,t * "*•» 

(O »»* wit* 


GAMES 


All prices ex. VAT 


Send tor our separate games sheet which lists 17 games for the 
Archimedes range of computers. Priced at £9.99 and £12.99 they 
represent great value for money. 



✓ ✓ ill I I' /A 

SOFTWARE 

MINERVA HOUSE, BARING CRESCENT. EXETER. EX1 1TL 
Tel. (0392) 437756 Fax. (0392) 421 762 




PROFES SIONA L 



Current gregnap 

Output 


/ Monochrone 


16 gregs 


y 176 gregs 


4 256 gregs 


4 none ✓ 2x2 


Rotate 


€1 > 


More. . . 


RRP Scanner and software 
£595+VAT+ £10 Carriage+VAT (£710.87) 
Optional SCSI interface card 
£150 +VAT (£176.25) 


A new version of the ScanLight 
Professional, offering improved software, a 
new, more compact scanner, higher 
resolutions and a greatly reduced price. 

ScanLight Professional is our top of the 
range flatbed greyscale scanner. It offers 
up to 600 dpi, A4, 256 grey-level scanning 
(1200 dpi 16 grey-levels and monochrome) 
in a device that is not much larger than a 
sheet of A4. The ScanLight software 
provides all the facilities required for the 
most sophisticated image manipulation 
and enhancement. This scanner can be 
used for producing 'magazine quality' 
typeset greyscale pictures. The perfect 
partner for top end DTP. 

The ScanLight range of scanners offers 
several unique advantages over 
alternatives. All image manipulation and 
enhancement can be performed directly on 
the original scanned image data. It does 
not need to make more copies of the 
image, and since 256 grey-level images 
can be very large indeed this can make the 
difference between being able to scan 
what you require and not. 


Other ScanLight features include: 


• Continuous on screen dithering to 
produce the best possible screen 
image 

• Simple brightness and contrast 
controls 

• More advanced curve based 
grey-map control 

• Instantaneous image rotation by 
any angle 

• Dozens of image enhancement 
options such as sharpening 

• Supports the new RISC OS 256 
grey-level sprite format 

• Scan any selected area of the image 

• SCSI based scanner compatible with 
all Acorn compatible SCSI cards, 
known to work with Oak, Lingenuity, 
Morley and Acorn SCSI cards 


Compatible with RISC OS 2 and .i . 
4M Bytes RAM minimum recommended 


The main ScanLight control panel, offering various 
sample sizes, enhancement options, rotation control, 
and an editable grey-map curve in the centre. 


(gl Computer Concepts Ltd 


GADDESDEN PLACE HEMEl HEMPSTEAD HERTS H P 2 6 E X TEL 


BARCLAY CARD AND ACCESS WELCOME 


0442 231632 












SHOW GUIDE 


EDUCATION ON SHOW 

The BAU show is vital to education. We asked the experts to see what's on offer 



Part of the educational scene: the Egyptians from Sherston software 


E ducation is Acorn’s bread 
and butter market and 
well represented at the 
show this year. High- 
lights include the new A3020 
computer, which is specifically 
tailored for the classroom plus 
the official introduction of 
Acorn's Universal Networking 
(AUN) strategy. AUN offers 
the choice of the powerful 
Ethernet standard or traditional 
Econet connectivity, while 
retaining a common user 
environment that will be fam- 
iliar to existing Econet users. 
The A3020 and its 3-box 
sibling, the A4000, both have 
optional support for AUN 
instead of the consumer 
A30 1 0’s joystick interface. 

Acorn has set aside a special 
stand designed to cater for 
enquiries and discussion with 
teachers and parents. Acorn’s 
education staff, including the 
new head of Acorn's education 
division. Peter Talbot, will be 
on hand so if you have any 
fundamental questions about 
the use of Acorn computers in 
the classroom this could be the 
place to head for. 

EDUCATION SUPPLIES 

Longman Logotron will be 
showing a new version of the 
Magpie multimedia package, 
now compatible with Acorn's 
Relay motion video system 
and four new Landmarks titles. 

There's also a joint effort 
with BBC Enterprises which 
has produced Geordie Racer, 
an adventure game for the Arc 
based on the Look & Read 
BBC School TV series. 

Longman Logotron will also 
feature PenDown Plus, the big 
brother of its popular Pen- 
Down word processor. 

Sherston Software has 
promised a range of special 
show prices for its numerous 
education titles. Here you will 
be able to see Simon Hosier's 
Crystal Rain Forest and Arcv- 
enture II - The Egyptians, an 
archaeological expedition into 
Egyptian times. Sherston has I 
also developed a new Help 


resource pack for people who 
need to familiarise themselves 
with Rise OS 3. Junior edu- 
cational software for original 
eight-bit BBC Micros will also 
be shown. 

Storm Educational Software 
will have a special feature on 
its stand at the show - a pro- 
gram to chart the progress of 
the British Steel Challenge 
28,000-mile yacht race. The 
role-playing program is called 
Round the World Yacht Race 
and lets children plan and cal- 
culate the passage of a boat 
from Southampton to Rio de 
Janeiro and on to Tasmania. 
Cape Town and then back to 
Southampton. 

Triple 'R' Education, in 
association with The Fourth 
Dimension, will be showing its 
10 out of 10 series of subject- 
based educational software 
packages. The series spans the 
age range from Junior to 
GCSE level. Unique to the 10 
out of 10 series is a continuous 


automatically updated log of a 
particular student's progress. 
Up to 64 children can be 
involved at a time. 

Pen and Think is a new- 
comer to the Acorn fold and 
the family-run company’s two 
programmers are the sixth- 
form sons of the proprietor. 
Bill Leedham. Mr Leedham is 
a former head of a county 
learning resources service and 
he is now' lending his expertise 
in the field to anybody who he 
can help. Pen & Think can 
provide software, ideas and 
design for a variety of appli- 
cations including audio-visual 
presentations, worksheets, 
guide books, as well as a com- 
prehensive DTP service based 
around Impression 2. 

Cambridgeshire Software 
House will be showing its 
Colourmaster Imaging System, 
based on the latest hi-band 
Canon Ion Professional still 
video camera. There is an open 
invitation to have your picture 


taken. Also on the stand will 
be demos of the cross-curricu- 
lar humanities simulation 
Frontier 2000 , including a 
new CD-Rom version and the 
Gemini compendium of learn- 
ing games. 

Another interesting edu- 
cational game will be debuted 
at the show from Gwynedd- 
based Wyddfa Software. Talk- 
ing Pictures is described as a 
colouring book which can talk. 
We never had things like this 
when I was at school - which 
wasn’t that long ago! 

Ian Burley 

In addition to the stands there 
is a large area for education 
projects. The exhibitions were 
developed in schools and are 
run by pupils from around the 
country - for a full program, 
visit the model classroom in 
the education area. Meanwhile 
to give you a taste, we asked 
three schools to tell us about 
their projects . . . 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 67 


SHOW GUIDE 


SCHOOL SUCCESS 



North London school, Mill Hill, will be providing a number of projects to 
entertain the public. 

We've all seen clip art, but at the BAU show there will be a unique 
chance to get hold of some some 'dip photos'. Bring along your friends and 
family to the videosnaps stand and Mill Hill school will do the rest. 

The videosnaps stall is set up to transfer video images on to the screen so, 
when you approve of the screen picture, the image is saved onto disc as a 
spritefile.Take it home and drop it into your own DTP packageto use in 
letters, birthday cards, personal stationery, CV's - the list is endless. 

A printout service will also be available. There is a small charge, which is 
smaller if you have your own empty disc: all profit goes to charity. 

Also provided by Mill Hill School is the Product Locator, a database of all 
the products, all the exhibitors and all the stands at the show. It is set up 
and run by a local school, using new software each year. Simply key in 
details of the product sought and the output is a choice of directions or a 
printed map. In 1991 Magpie by Longman-Logotron was used and the 
results were excellent. There was much positive feedback from both 
visitors and the pupil-exhibitors. This year the new version of the Squirrel 
query database will be put through its paces. Come and try it! 

Late on Saturday and Sunday, two pupils from Mill Hill school will be 
showing off their own education software programs. The two packages 
were written in an attempt to prove that Basic 5 can be used to produce 
high quality software. Simon had very little programming know-how 
before he started his project, but in a few months he knew enough to write 
a talking circuit designer. 

The second program was written by Nicholas Mailer who began his 
Molecule Poster package as an early GCSE project. Nicholas was so fed up 
with the SYS commands during this time, that he developed his own 
windowing system in Basic. 

Bruce Dixon 
Mill Hill School 


COMMUNITY TALK 

In schools where many pupils 
do not have English as a first 
language there is always a 
need for word processors in 
other languages. This is not 
always easy - but if commu- 
nity languages are to be given 
their true place in schools then 
it is a problem that needs to be 
resolved. 

A solution for the BBC 
micro first came with a pro- 
gram called Folio , with 
Gujarati fonts which could be 
used to set up a Gujarati word 
processor. The system used a 
keyboard overlay and a con- 
siderable number of characters 
was available. This system 
developed into Asian Folio 
and Punjabi, Hindi and Ben- 
gali were added. This provided 
an excellent start for those 
schools using Folio - even 
more so when a network ver- 
sion became available. 

Languages which involve 
writing from right to left on 
the screen were still not 
catered for so at that point it 
was not possible to use Urdu. 
Another problem with Folio 
was not being able to have a 
mix of languages on the screen 
at the same time, so bilingual 
work was not easy. Nor indeed 
was it possible to have differ- 
ent fonts on the same page. 

All this changed with the 
advent of the Archimedes and. 
at Alperton, a project was 
started to see how community 
languages could be used in IT. 
The progress which we have 
made to date will be demon- 
strated at the BAU show. 

The Electronic Font 
Foundry (EFF) produced a 
series of fonts that included all 
of the above. The way that the 
Archimedes uses fonts allows 
the Gujarati font, for example, 
to be loaded in the same way 
as any other font, so paving 
the way for single language 
document processing or 
straight forward bilingual 
work. If necessary the commu- 
nity languages can be placed 
side by side with English, or 
indeed any other language. 

Asian fonts such as Gujarati 
require a keyboard driver to 
allow access to the full range 
of accented and half characters 
- many languages have far 
more characters than English. 
EFF produces keyboard 
drivers not only for their com- 


munity language fonts but also 
for some European languages. 
Instead of a keyboard overlay, 
EFF produces keyboard maps 
which sit beside or behind the 
key board. This is not as prob- 
lematic as it may seem. The 
Gujarati characters are allo- 
cated to their nearest phonetic 
equivalent so, if there is a soft 
and a hard *T’ in Gujarati, then 
they will be allocated to the 
T’ key on the standard board. 
It is our experience at Alperton 
that the students soon find 
their way around the keyboard 
and. at the show, they will be 
able to demonstrate this fact. 


Phases 2 is also to be demon- 
strated at the show: a program 
that allows young children to 
do work in a variety of langu- 
ages. For students arriving in 
this country with no 
know ledge of English, but able 
to read Tamil, for example, the 
Arc offers them a form of 
communication, and a chance 
to learn valuable IT skills, 
without the need for a transla- 
tor by their side. 

At the show, students will 
demonstrate how Phases 2 can 
be used to produce documents 
in their community language 
or to produce bilingual teach- 


ing materials. This is also true 
of Pipedream 4 because it now 
allows rows of various heights 
in its documents. 

We have produced work in 
Pipedream 4 and Desktop 
Folio , and while our demon- 
strations will be with Phases 
we hope to have work from 
other programs to show. 

Stuart Smith 
Alperton High School 

EXIT POLL 

If. during your tour of the BAU 
show, you bump into a team of 
keen students who insist on 
asking you lots of questions, 
then you have been chosen to 
take part in the Exit Poll, a 
project run by Oakland school. 
It’s a survey, designed and 
carried out by a team of GCSE 
business studies students. 

To carry out the survey, 
students have designed their 
own questionnaire to collect 
data from visitors. Among the 
topics that the questions cover 
are: which part of the country 
the visitors travel from; how 
they rate the show and the 
venue; whether they own a 
home computer; what use they 
make of it; and what their 
interests in computing are. 

As there will be an expected 
audience of 10.000 over the 
three-day period, the research 
teams hope to interview 
roughly 150 individuals a day 
and input the data into BBC 
computers. Both questionnaire 
and database will be con- 
structed at school using View 
and Inform on Master 128 
computers. G raphmaker will 
also play a part in the proceed- 
ings - throughout the day the 
information will be displayed 
graphically to provide ongoing 
statistical information. 

Back at school, during busi- 
ness studies lessons, the 
students will be looking at 
market research in business, 
the many ways in which to 
conduct market research, how 
to choose samples and con- 
struct a questionnaire. 

We will also look at collat- 
ing the results and how to 
organise and present them in a 
logical manner. Thus the entire 
project is directly relevant to 
the business studies syllabus, 
and also meets many Attain- 
ment Targets for Design and 
Technology. 

Terri Chandler 

Oakwood School, Horley 


68 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 



!■■■■■■■■■■■■■< 



HEIGHTS 


I I ! 1 If? I I f NW I 1 f — \ ' 

. » |' | | , r , r , ,* | i i " 1 1 l t'r \ & i 

/ V \ V *1 V *i f » w \ Y ! I \ \ 

A / vv * * * " • •• \ r-h \ \ A- 


Following extensive 
research amongst 
Presenter II and Hotlink 
Presenter users, 

Lingenuity is delighted to 
introduce Presenter GTi. 

Generating a vast 
range of graphs and charts 
has never been easier. Data 
is entered and edited via a 
simple worksheet, and all 
graphs can be saved as 
genuine draw files and/or 
transferred into other 
applications. 

Presenter GTi’s Hotlink 
option gives the user the 
ability to communicate 
with other applications 
such as Pipedream 3 - 
allowing relevant data to be 
updated continuously for 
the displayed graph. 


DQPQPMTFB 


MATURES: 



Bar, Line & Pie charts 

3-Dimensional displays 

Auto scaling 

Fast Hotlink transfer 

User definable layouts 

Full colour or monochrome graphs 

Supports CSV file format for loading and 

saving data 


NEW GTi FEATURES: 


Multiple Pie chart display 
Logarithmic axis scaling CO 

Regression line (Line-of-Best-Fit) data 
available: Constant, Gradient, t ratio, 

Residual value, R 2 
Function key short cuts 
Zoom option for graph display 
Multiple document capability 
Multiple view option 
r —j File Information box 
/ jJ Instant display of saved graphs 


ENHANCED l 


Wider range of Graph types:- 
8 different types of Bar charts 
4 different types of Line charts 
3 different types of Pie charts 
Scattergrams 

2 different types of area chart 


& 


Dynamic worksheet area. 
Comprehensive file information 
Auto Label/Data detection 
Easier-to-use data entry window 
Increased display options for all graphs 
Faster draw and screen update routines 
Grids available for all graphs 
Data point symbols - selectable 
Line patterns - selectable 


*y „ 










U 


Presenter GTi conforms fully to RISC OS 
guidelines and has been designed to be 
part of your essential productivity tool 
software library. 






oQT.'.' 


1 


1 

L I 

N 

G 

E 

N 

1 U I T Y 

PRO 

F E 

s 

s 

I O N A L 


WOODFARM L I N ST E A D M AG N A HALESWORTH SUFFOLK IP190DU 
TEL 098685477 FAX098685460 


a Division of 
UNDlS iNTfcHNATlONAl 
LTD 





SHOW GUIDE 


STAND BY STAND 


Centre: Acorn Computers 
The public dehut for the new A3010, 
A3020. A4000, PockctBook compu- 
ters and Rise Os 3. 1 upgrades 
Centre: Redwood Publishing 
BBC Acorn User itself, plus sister 
magazine Educational Computing 
(Stand information correct at time 
of going to press) 

26. Ace Computing 

Best known for the 3D drawing and 
animation package. Euclid, plus 
colour printer drivers 

73. Advanced Computer Services. 

New colour graphics cards plus net- 
working and accounting products 

64. Aleph One 

Combining with Atomwide - 
Ethernet and Archimedes PC cards, 
Arm3 and Ram upgrades. 

RemoteFS. plus a lot more 

SI. Aprieote Studios 

Rise OS Prophet accounting 
software 

91. Archimedes World 
132. Arm Club 
78. A VP 

Educational software 

20. Reebug Ltd 

Also Rise Developments Master- 
file III database launch. Ovation 2 
DTP. IDE disc drives. Thesaurus. 

81. Birdtech 

56. Calligruph Ltd 

ArcLaser direct drive laser printers 

32. Cambridge International 
Software 

Games galore 

42. Cambridge Software House 

110. CJE Micros 

Computer accessories, including 
home grow n Ram and Arm3 
upgrades 

74/76. (. lares Micro Supplies 

Schema. Render Bender and Tiller 
plus newcomers like Knowledge 
Organiser 2 and more 

16. Colton Software 

Pipedream 4 and something new . . . 

1/3/5/7/12/14. Computer Concepts 

The show's biggest stand. From 
Impression and Artworks to Laser- 
Direct, scanners and fax cards 


138. 1)1) International 

PC Emulator software - featuring 
the US version of Autoroute 

88. Desktop Projects 

Full range of Acorn hardware and 

software 

34/36. Digital Services 

The Squirrel database system 

126/127. Dyad Ltd 

116. Electromusic Research 

Music making midi expertise 

43. Electronic Font Foundry (EFF) 

Need a font? They’ve probably got it 

60. ESM 

Education software - home of 
Destop Folio 

134. Explan I K Ltd 

106. 4Mation 

Educational Software 

121/122. Ground Control 

Teletext adaptors. Ram and Arm3 
upgrades. 

30. HS Software 

Junior Education software 

18. Ian Copestake 

Software galore plus specialities; 
ColourSep colour separation soft- 
ware and IDE hard drives 

44. Icon Technology 

EasiWriter and TechWriter word 
processing software. 

65. Ifel 

Ram upgrade specialists. 

104. Integrex Systems 

Colour printing solutions. 

86. lota 

Junior education software. 

56. Irlam Instruments 

57. kendal Computer Centre 

Arcounts and Payroll business man- 
agement software. 

1 12. Klein Computer 

Showing what the Archimedes has 
achieved in Germany 

94/96/98 Krisalis Software 

Games, games games 

9. Leading Edge 

Hardware and software add ons 
developed by Vertical Twist 


22. Lindis International 

Acorn’s export agent. New products 
include CADmust and 
TouchWindow 

II. Longman Logotron 

New' Eureka spreadsheet, originators 
of PenDown. Replay version of 
Magpie multimedia and database 
package PinPoint 

38/40. M D Office Supplies 

Computer consumables and 
accessories 

124. Mewsoft 

Interesting utility software plus a 
diet manager program 

28. Micro Aid 

Veteran Acorn firm, productivity 
software and supplies 

100. Micro Power Ltd 

Software supplier which also 
develops its owm range of Archi- 
medes games 

50. Millipede 

Apex video graphic boards. 

66. Minerva 

Prolific software house. Debuting 
Easiword Plus, Desktop Office 2 and 
some new CAD packages 

48. Morley Electronics 

SCSI hard disc controllers and other 
hardware add-ons 

24. Norwich Computer Services 

Publisher of Archive newsletter and 
supplier of all things Archimedes 

71/72. Oregon Software 
Developments 

Archivist database and Symphony 
multi-track sound editor. 

82. Orion Computers 

West Midlands Acorn dealer 

136. Palette Studio 

III. Paratex 

A company with a few Archimedes 
surprises from Germany. 

113. Pen and Think 

Painter Plus art program for begin- 
ners plus a home and school 
database called Data Plus 

46. P.R.E.S. 

Archimedes add-ons like A3000 
workstations. 

89. Resource 

Education software 


84. Sherston Software 

Education software. 

21. Simis Ltd 

Simulation software specialists, 
authors of Clares Interdictor 

54. S J Research 

Networking solutions for schools - 
will be showing NEXUS. 

70. Snap Computer Supplies 

Computer bits and pieces. 

140. Software 42 

Games, utility software and clip art. 
lx ion 3D vector game debut 

52. Spacetech 

Exploring the heavens on CD-Rom. 
plus general celestial computing 

120. Storm Educational Software 

Education software 

83. Techsoft UK Ltd 

CAD/CAM specialists. Will debut 
3D object viewer with stereoscopic 
option 

Theatre: TDK UK Ltd 

Magnetic media suppliers 

103. The Data Store 

Highly regarded Acorn dealer from 
Kent 

68. The Fourth Dimension 

Possibly the most prolific Acorn 
games software house 

62. The Serial Port 

Cheap hard drives, BBS and comms 
software. Floptical drives, replace- 
ment keyboards, and so on 

80. Topologika 

Educational adventure games 

1 14. Turcan Research Sy stems Ltd 

Wargame simulations specialist 

108. Videk Ltd 

Cables, connectors, printer sharers, 
and so on 

90/93. Watford Electronics 

You name it - they will probably 
have it. Specialities include Arm3 
upgrades for A3(X)()s. new PC card 
should debut 

58. WeServe 

Printers, listing paper, discs and all 
those other vital things 

142. Wyddfa Software 

Language development softw are and 
special fonts for youngsters 


70 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 








SILICON VISION 

DESKTOP SOLUTIONS FROM THE PROFESSIONALS 


SolidCAD ® Release 5.0 



The most comprehensive 3D CAD package available for RISC OS. 
It is capable of generating the fastest 3D Rendering for any 
design. The Jet Fighter image above tvas rendered in less than 2 
seconds. Includes a 3D Design Editor for drawing in Plan. Side, 
and Front Elevations. Texture Mapping. Printer & Plotter Drivers. 
24 bit RGB output tor the highest quality images, and a Realtime 
Graphics Language for the fastest programmable animation. 

"very easy to km and attremefy won documontod If you got otuck “ Acorn Computing. 

£ 99.95 


FilmMAKER ® Release 5.0 



The complete Interactive 3D Animation System. Ideal for users 
who wish to explore their creative talents without resorting to 
programming. FilmMAKER boasts the fastest frame rendering 
rates, less than 2 seconds/frame for the Space Shuttle, and the 
smoothest flicker-free playback for animating your masterpiece. 
Fully compatible with SolidCAD for designs A SolidsRENDER 
for ray tracing, animation Oscars are now within your reach. 

"Specifying me movements of objects Is a dream " - BBC Acorn User. 

£ 79.95 


SolidsRENDER ® Release 5.0 



The most advanced Ray Tracing package for RISC OS. It includes 
a unique Accelerated ray-tracing capability for the fastest Photo- 
realistic rendering possible. Use standalone or import SolidCAD 
designs and FilmMAKER flightpaths for Object orientated design 
and Animation capabilities. SolidsRENDER' also provides the 
most comprehensive object properties. Why wait hours when you 
can now produce better results in a fraction of the time. 

■the tasfear ray-tracer, outputting the highest quality Images ' - Archimedes World. 

£ 99.95 



SolidTOOLS ® Release 5.0 


The first fully integrated environment for 3D CAD. Photo-realistic 
Rendering. Interactive animation. Texture mapping. Programmable 
animation. 24 bit RGB output and high resolution hardcopy to 
printers and plotters. The system provides 3D CAD facilities for 
Architectural. Engineering, Interior design and Teaching CDT 
using the industry standard 3rd Angle projection for drawing in 
Elevations. The package includes SolidCAD . FilmMAKER . and 
SolidsRENDER offering a turnkey solution satisfying all your 
conceptual design, and presentation requirements. 

Puts Silicon Vltloo at the Top of the CAD mark at" - Archlmadaa World 

£275 


ARC-PCB ™ Schematics v4. 1 



The most comprehensive Electronic Design Automation tools 
available tor RISC OS. The range starts at ARC-PCB vl.7 for purely 
Digital PCB layout, graduating to ARC-PCB Professional v3. 1 tor 
combined Analogue/Digital PCB layout and ultimately to ARC-PCB 
Schematics v4. 1 providing both Circuit Schematic drawing and all 
PCB layout features in one design interlace. All versions include. 
Automatic Routing. Multiple layers. Component pulling. On-line 
Help. Drivers for Printers & Plotters, and up to 300.000 
components. GerberPLOT & ExcellonDRILL options are £75 each. 

■Perform* up to profession.il standards BBC Acorn User 

£125 (vi.7>, £275 (v3.t), £375 <v4.i) 


Shareholder ™ Release 3.0 



The complete share holder management systems providing all the 
facilities needed to automate your portfolio available in two 
versions. Shareholder v2.0 features include Company statistics, 
Share holdings. Transaction processing. Portfolio history. 
Forecasts. Dividends due. Share price updates, built-in Calculator. 
Calendar and Hardcopy facilities for total integration. Shareholder 
Professional v3.0 also includes Share trends. Retail Price index. 
General Market Prices and links to CEEFAX. ORACLE A PRESTEL. 

An aMceltent concept, the tint profesrtonol shore rotated package 
wet! thought through ... remarkably comprehenahre ’ ■ Archlmedet World 

£125 (v2.0), £275 (v3.0) 


RiscBASIC ™ Release 3.0 



The complete software development system tor producing 
sophisticated RISC OS applications. The unrivalled RiscBASIC 
compiler allows you to use the interactive development 
environment of interpreted BASIC tor fast prototyping and 
interactive testing followed by source code security and the 
fastest machine code performance of final compilation. 

- if you are looking tor THE compiler to go lor. and are confutod about which ona 
deserves to win the wry public batik, that haa been raging In the advertisement*, well my 
preference la for RiscBASIC “ - RISC USER 
• Produced significantly more efficient code ' - Acorn Computing 

£ 99.95 


RoboLOGO Release 1.1 

ttPi tw U wiagi. -aas- 


n n masts «a 
ddddd a # chj ai 



RoboLOGO provides the ideal introduction to computing. This new 
extension to traditional LOGO provides three dimensional control 
of an articulated humanoid or animal figure based on the standard 
LOGO language. Natural commands such as ‘Walking', Bowing', 
and Picking', etc are automatically represented graphically by 
natural movements of the 3D figure which is readily understood by 
students. The traditional Turtlegraphics and 3D Glider features are 
also supported for students to explore their school work further. 

"Takas Turtlegraphics and LOGO info a new dimension" - Educational Computing 

£ 49.95 


All prices include VAT & Carriage. Access. Visa. Eurocard. MasterCard & American Express accepted. 

SILICON VISION LTD, SIGNAL HOUSE, LYON ROAD, HARROW, 
MIDDLESEX, HA1 2AG, UK. TEL: 081-861 2173 
FAX: 081-427 5169. TELEX: 918266 SIGNAL G. 

All product titles are registered trademarks or trademarks of Silicon Vision Ltd. All other trademarks acknowledged. 
Copyright © 1992 Silicon Vision Limited. All rights reserved. All software support RISC 0S2&3 with 1 Mbytes memory. 


DataVISION ™ Release 1.3 



The only true relational database management system available for 
RISC OS. Capable of performing relational updating of databases 
as well as the usual relational reporting features. This is all 
possible without resorting to programming. For advanced users a 
reports programming language is provided. Also includes 
Wordprocessing. Mailmerging. Label printing. Reports, Queries. 
Formula entry and Validation. Built-in security measures stop 
multi-tasking during relational database operations to maintain 
database integrity in the event of other programs crashing. 
Includes an accounting example to highlight DataVISION's power. 

'DataVision is a good, solid relation* database ■ Computer Shopper 

£ 99.95 

Free DemoPACKS ™ 

Full functional demo versions of all software with documentation 
are available on request for your evaluation. For your free 
DemoPACK simply send a Stamped Addressed Envelope 
( 12"x8.5 ") with 54p prepaid postage per DemoPACK for the UK. 
Overseas requests should enquire for our local distributors. 







FASTER 

FOOTWCRK 

The Arc is speedy, but are you as fast? Paul James maps out some short cuts 




Filer 

flOFS Filer 
Het Filer 
Resource Filer 
Fre? 

Palette Utility 
Henon 


Free in Hodule area 
Largest block 

106K 

75K 

■ 

System nenory allocation: 


Screen nenory 

160K 

*■ 

Cursor/Systen/Sound 

32K 

i 

System heap/stack 

128K 

m 

Hodule area 

608K 


Font cache 

192K 


Systen sprites 

0K 


RAM disc 

0K 


Applications (free) 
Applications (used) 

96K 

■ 

Systen workspace 

32K 

1 



You'll need at least 2Mb in your machine to do this. First of all, take your 
fonts disc and find out how large the font directory is, by pressing Menu 
over it and choosing Count. To find out exactly how many kilobytes this is, 
divide it by 1024. This is the size of the Ram disc you will need to create, 
plus 10K or so more for luck. To create a Ram disc, press Menu over the 
task icon (the A or Acorn in the bottom right of the screen) and choose 
Task Display. Using the scroll bars find the Ram Disc bar and, using Select, 
drag the bar out to the right. Keep dragging until the disc is the size it 
needs to be and then let go. Now make the Font Cache about 60K then 
close the task manager display. 

Click on the black Ram disc icon on the icon bar, and a directory viewer 
should appear. Now drag the Fonts directory from your floppy onto the 
Ram disc viewer. When it has finished copying, double click on the Fonts 
directory in the Ram disc, and close all windows. Then dismount the floppy 
and remove it. You won't need that floppy again, as all of the fonts 
information is read from the Ram disc, and since the data is already in the 
computer's memory you'll find that your fonts fairly zip onto the screen. 


he Arc is an amazing per- 
sonal productivity tool. 
But, like any tool, it can 
take a while to work out 
the best way to use it. So what 
can you do to speed yourself 
up, as you work? 

Aside from software, getting 
a hard disc is the greatest step- 
up in productivity that you can 
take, as long as you organise it 
correctly. More memory is 
also a must - for speedy work 
you need at least 2Mb. if not 
4Mb, but what about an 
Arm3? Well, the best advice 
here is that if you can survive 
without one, then make sure 
that you never go near an 
Arm3 machine. Once experi- 
enced. never forgotten ! 

But there are ways to speed 
up your work without going 
out and spending lots of extra 
cash. For instance, if you* re 
really stuck with a single 
floppy drive, then you must 
organise your discs carefully. 
Keep one disc for fonts and 
one disc for your System 
directory. Applications discs 
and work discs must all be 
labelled carefully. 

An index system is 
something that even the most 
organised user will not find 
easy to keep up to date, but 
giving useful names to each 
floppy will help things tremen- 
dously. Getting the message 
that says: ‘Please insert Disc 
14_05_Tue’ is not very help- 
ful, but if your computer asks 
you to insert disc WorkDiscl, 
and you have a disc clearly 
labelled WorkDiscl you'll find 
things run far more smoothly. 
Get into the habit of naming 
each disc properly and 
organisation from the begin- 
ning will improve things 
tenfold. 

Reading fonts from a floppy 
disc is a slow process. There 


are two ways around this, both 
of which require extra 
memory. You can either make 
your font cache large (say 
about 440K), or you can copy 
your fonts into the Ram disc, 
and have a small font cache of 
about 60K. The latter method 
is the better, and will remove 
the need to keep on replacing 
your fonts disc when the com- 
puter needs to display a new 
font on screen. 


Of course, if your font direc- 
tory is on a hard disc you 
won’t need to put it in Ram, so 
just create a reasonable sized 
font cache, of about 70K for 
two families of fonts, or about 
224K if you're using lots of 
families and sizes. 

What else is going to slow 
you down on your computer? 
Well, if you’re using Draw 
then a complex picture may 
take a while to re-draw. If you 


do something else, with that 
complex drawing on the screen 
then, every time you wipe a 
menu, or move a window 
across it, it will take time to re- 
draw'. Windows that take time 
to re-draw, should be made 
them as small as possible 
when you're not using them. 
Perhaps you can then hide 
them behind another window 
that won't move. 

Also, you may be drawing a 
picture with lots of lines of 
different widths. Draw is quite 
slow at rendering this type of 
picture, so try and use thin 
lines to sketch it out, and make 
them thicker later on. 

Little things can slow you 
down, too. How many times 
have you tried to pick up a 
small object in Draw , or a thin 
frame when using Impression ? 
What you may not have real- 
ised is that if your mouse has a 
speed of about four or more 
then it will skip alternate 
pixels, meaning it misses out 
bits of the screen as it moves. 
This can be solved by tem- 
porarily giving the mouse 
pointer a step of one or two. 
This means that your pointer 
visits every pixel, and won’t 
miss any out. 

THE ADJUST BUTTON 

Aside from hardware upgrades 
and configuration options, 
there is one very important 
button on the Archimedes. 
Don't go looking for it around 
the back of the computer, for 
it's under your ring finger (if 
you're right-handed). This 
Adjust button (the right hand 
button of the mouse), can be 
used in all kinds of places as a 
time-saver. 

For instance, used on the 
close icon of a directory 
viewer, it closes that window, 
but opens the directory on the 



BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 73 



HINTS & TIPS 


next level above. Similarly, 
double clicking Adjust on a 
floder in a directory viewer 
will open that folder, but close 
the window that you've just 
come from. 

You may also find that 
many applications will allow 
you to use SHIFT- Adjust on the 
Close icons of their windows, 
and they will pop up the parent 
directory viewer from whence 
the file came. If you don't use 
these methods, then you end 
up clearing windows away 
every five minutes, just to see 
what you are doing! 

TINYDIRS 

Everybody has a copy of the 
Tiny Dir s utility. It is supplied 
with the machine on the Appli- 
cations discs, and is one of the 
essential speed-up' programs. 
In short, it allows you to place 
an application or directory on 
the Icon bar. 

As an example, imagine tgat 
you have a directory called 
Sprites and a directory called 
Drawfiles. Kou are working on 
a document, which involves 
taking sprites and Draw files. 
Instead of having the direc- 
tories cluttering the screen 


(which will slow' you down), 
load TinyDirs. .Select both the 
Drawfiles and Sprites direc- 
tories, and drag them onto 
TinyDirs. Both directories will 
appear on the icon bar, and 
one click on either will bring 
up the directories. 

HARD DISC USERS 

If you have a hard disc, then 
you'll find yourself flipping 
between some directories more 
than you Hip between others. 

If this involves several clicks 
of the mouse, then it may be 
an idea to set up a signpost. 

This is my name for a little 
obeyfile that opens up another 
directory viewer. 

Organising your files sensibly into directories really speeds things up Setting up a si impost is sim- 

ple. Load Edit and press Menu 
over its icon on the icon bar. 

Move over the Create sub- 
menu and choose Obey, and a 
window should pop up. In this 
obey window you need to type 
in the instruction to open the 
directory viewer you wish. 

The command you need for 
this is Filer_OpenDir, followed 
by the pathname of the viewer. 

This can be found out from the 
title of the directory viewer 
itself. For instance, if you wish 

UNBEATABLE OVEtt 


MOUSE SPEED 


Mouse speed can be easily reconfigured. If you your mouse is set at a slow 
speed, then you may run out of mouse mat when moving the pointer large 
distances: that means you have to pick it up, move it back and then carry 
on moving the pointer - hardly economical. A good value for the speed of 
the mouse is four. This means the mouse covers some ground with a little 
movement (the width of a mode 12 screen is about 3cm). 

This can be set up as permanent by typing *CONFIGURE MOUSESTEP 4 
at the command line (press FI 2 to access this). If you haven't got a mouse 
mat, then get one - you can waste quite a bit of time trying to persuade 
the pointer to move, since the mouse ball slips on a shiny surface. At a 
pinch, a copy of BAU makes quite a good mat. 




74 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 




HINTS & TIPS 


to open the directory 
$. Work. Letters then the com- 
mand line: Filer_OpenDir 

ADFS::4.$. Work. Letters will do. 
Make sure that the pathname 
at the end of the command is 
exactly that of the one in the 
title har of the directory viewer 
- upper and lower case letters 
are seen as different characters 
here. If you make change one 
letter in the command, it may 
not work, or it may allow you 
to have two versions of the 
same directory viewer on the 
same screen. 

Rise OS 3 users might like 
to know that SH in -dragging a 
file on to an Edit window 
won't load the file into Edit , 
just its pathname hut he care- 
ful - this format is not compat- 
ible with Rise OS 2. 

Another thing that can cause 
you to slow down and will 
disrupt the flow of your work 
is a full hard disc. And to weed 
out all those unwanted files, 
applications and other gubbins 
when you get a ‘Disc full' 
message can he a very time- 
consuming business. 

You can avoid this situation 
by watching out for files or 
applications that you don't use 



•Impress 
•killer 
•Paint 
•Rev2 
•Server 
! Set typer 
•Spark 
•Squirrel 
•Teletext 
•TinyDirs 

m -10 

■ lilt. . I ■■ ■ ■ 

Menon gets you there fast 



MENON 


Menon is a small but perfectly formed public domain utility that could 
speed up your work a lot. Everybody in the BAU office uses it - so we 
thought we'd share the benefits around and now you'll find it on this 
month's subscribers' disc. Once installed on the Icon bar, it allows you to 
drag a file or an application on to it. It adds this to its menu, and when you 
choose this option from its menu, it will load the file or application. 

Menu options can be given hot keys (For instance, you can set Menon it 
up so that pressing CTRL-1 loads Impression), and they can also autoload. 
This means that when you load Menon, you can ask it to load a printer 
driver and a word processor and then open your work directory by 
executing a signpost file. 


as you work. Then, every so 
often, delete that odd bit of 
public domain software that 
you haven't looked at for a 
couple of months, or compress 
your old work into an archive, 
by using a package like ArcFS 
or Spark. 

Imagine that you wanted to 
load six sprite files into Paint. 
Instead of double clicking on 
each file, using Select to select 
the first one, and then Adjust 
to select the other five is much 
quicker. Then you can drag 
this selection on to Paint. Of 
course if you wanted to simply 
print them, you would just 
drag them all on to the printer 
driver instead. 

LET'S HEAR IT! 

You may have found your ow n 
ways of doing things fast and 
easily, so send in your hints 
and tips for speeding things up 
to. Quickies, BBC Acorn User, 
101 Bayham Street, London, 
NW1 OAG. We will publish 
the best short cuts in a forth- 
coming episode of *INFO. 
Each of those we select will 
win a small cash prize, and of 
course, the quick route to fame 
for the author! 


moo METRES 



BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 75 








L,.:. ■ . 


Discover new worlds at the Acorn User Show 


Planetary Data 


Write or 


range of 

S8B1K 


uding 


tracking etc. . .Or see it at the A.U.Shov 


@[§X§ 


science resources 

21 West Wools. Portland. Dotjet 0T5 2EA. U.K. Tel. 0305 822753 fax. 0305 860483 


Liquid Silicon 

4 

We can offer a knowledgeable and 
friendly service because we are 
dedicated Archimedes users. 

Call us for all your requirements - 
some examples are shown below: 

4 

Impression II - £125 
Gods, Swiv etc - £19 
Squirrel -£125 

BJIOex + turbo driver + lead - £238 
Vision digitiser - £49 (mono) 

^ Hard drives from £145 (44MB) 

Call for our full price list and DTP 
services list. 


Liquid Silicon 
FREEPOST EH2725 
Kirkcaldy • Fife • KY2 5BR 
0(0592) 260512 










Run by enthusiasts for you. 

Prices exclude VAT (and postage where applicable) 
Please phone for exact prices Callers welcome - please phone first. E&OE 


NEXU 


< 


A single Nexus disc sharer delivers programs at 
high speed to as many as 12 Archimedes computers 
spanning up to 400m. The Nexus system has a proven 
track record for reliability ; security and easy 
management. SJ Research has been at the leading 
edge of schools' networking for 11 years. 

Our commitment to excellence and support for 
International Standards for Open Systems ensure 
a smooth upgrade path to advanced networking 
facilities including full integration with 
Acorn Universal Networking. 



NETWORKINt 



SJ 

RESEARCH 


CONTACT - SI RESEARCH LIMITED. J1 THE PADDOCKS. 347 CHERRY HINTON ROAD. CAMBRIDGE CB1 


4DH. TELKPt IONE; 0223 416715 






TECHNICAL WRITING 


wWRITE STUFF 

Graham Bell looks at two improved wordprocessor packages 


I fever a Rise OS application 
deserves more recognition, 
it is undoubtedly Easiwriter. 
Icon Technology’s Rise OS 
word processor is carefully 
designed, well implemented, 
and it does the job: if you want 
to write fairly structured text 
with sections, sub-sections and 
so on. but you don't need the 
extra facilities of a complex 
page layout program, then 
Easiwriter is for you. 

While the ‘tick list' includes 
outline fonts, as-you-type 
spelling checks, multiple- 
column layouts and very 
clever table formatting, the 
first version of Easiwriter was 
criticised for its lack of mail 
merging, which prevented it 
being adopted as a general- 
purpose application. Icon has 
now remedied this with Easi- 
writer version two. 

TECHWRITER 

Icon has also boosted the aca- 
demic credentials of its latest 
application, Techwriter , by 
adding equation editing and 
footnoting to it. 

Techwriter boots up looking 
exacly like Easiwriter. And 
indeed if you don't want any 
of its new features, then you 
can use it exactly like its 
‘parent*. This approach is sup- 
ported by Icon’s upgrade 
policy - you can move up to 
using Techwriter for the differ- 
ence in price. 

Being based on Easiwriter 
means that Techwriter inherits 
all of the former's strengths 
and weaknesses. Each is a 
fully WYSIWYG wordproces- 
sor, making full use of the 
Rise OS outline font system, 
and with all the usual editing 
features, like as-you-type 
spelling, that you would 
expect, plus items that you 
might not. like undo, multi- 
lingual spelling and hyphen- 
ation, tables and white space 
control. Both packages are 
based on a structured approach 



Techwriter can now cope with equations such as this gamma integral 



Matrices can be inserted as just another sub-structure 


to writing - documents are 
made up of a series of chap- 
ters, each one divided into 
sections and sub-sections. 

The concept of styles is 
quite different in Techwriter 
and most other word process- 
ing packages, as it covers both 
the typographical look of the 
text - which typeface, point 
size, line spacing and so on are 
used, just like any other out- 
line font-based word processor 
- and also the structuring of 


the text. Each structure has a 
‘shape' or style: a document 
has a title in a particular text 
style, and a body consisting of 
a number of chapters, multiple 
columns and so on; a chapter 
has a chapter title and a body, 
and so on. 

You can change the charac- 
teristic shape of each of these 
structures easily by changing 
one example then saving the 
new structure style. In fact you 
can create several styles for 


particular structures - perhaps 
for paragraphs in different 
typefaces. If you change a 
style like ‘Section style', then 
all the other sections using that 
style follow suit. But the scope 
of your changes depends criti- 
cally on what you select to 
start with - there’s a steep 
‘learning curve' before you get 
the hang of it. 

Inserting a structure like a 
section is simple: you choose 
the structure from the menu, 
then type. The first paragraph 
you type automatically 
becomes the section heading, 
and following paragraphs 
make up the body of the sec- 
tion. The available structures 
include pictures and bul letted 
lists - you can include both 
drawings and sprites, with 
Rise OS 3 extensions like 256- 
greyscale sprites and drawings 
with rotated text. 

In addition to the structure 
styles, you can of course make 
local changes to the text 
(effects, in Impression's 
terms): typeface, point size, 
line spacing and so on. are all 
controllable over any area you 
select with the mouse. 

Some of the neater parts of 
Easiwriter are even more rele- 
vant to Techwriter , in particu- 
lar its table formatting. Tables 
are just another structure, 
which you can insert in the 
text at will. As you type the 
first line, pressing TAB inserts 
more and more columns. 

On the second line, the 
columns automatically line up, 
and magically re-arrange 
themselves, so that the 
columns fit as well as possible. 
This remains impressive, par- 
ticularly when you can select 
the rows and columns of the 
table and add rules and 
borders. Another impressive 
feature is the multi-lingual 
ability: you can mark text as 
German as easily as you can 
mark it in bold - easier in fact. 
German text follows German 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 77 




TECHNICAL WRITING 


MAIL MERGE 



Both Techwriter and version two of Easiwriter- which is bundled with the 
new A4000 Home Business package - have new mail-merge facilities. This is 
an area where many good packages founder. It's important to make the 
mail-merge simple enough to use that people don't avoid it: it has to be 
easy to create the merge files, and a preview of the merged letters is vital. 
Impression and First Word Plus are both less than successful here: both use 
separate merge applications; Impression's costs extra and First Word Plus is 
of fearsome complexity. 

Easiwriter and Techwriter take the view that the data for the merge file 
will most likely come from a database. And so they can import any CSV or 
TSV file (comma or tab separated items of data, with a merged letter using 
data from a single line of text. If you don't have a database of the relevant 
names and addresses, then such a file can easily be made up in Edit. Or, 
rather neatly, you can make up a file in Easiwriter or Techwriter - as a table 
structure. 

A Merge . . . dialogue box allows you to specify the name of the file the 
data is in. More likely, you'll drag the data file onto this dialogue. If it 
comes from a Squirrel database or something similar, you can press the 
Headings button - Squirrel puts its field names on the first line of data. 

Writing the letter for a mail merge is just like writing any other, except 
that where you have a 'personalised' item like a name or postcode, you 
insert a 'token' for it. This is where the headings come in - the tokens for 
each heading can be inserted into the letter from a menu. Once complete, 
the merged letter can be printed. You can print a preview with tokens 
instead of real data, or preview and even edit individual letters on screen, 
or print out the lot. 

The scheme is based on the way word processors like Microsoft Word 
work, and it is very simple, particularly when used with a database like 
Squirrel that supplies headings. And you don't need to stick to names and 
addresses. Text within the body of the letter is reformatted for each letter, 
so longish items can be drawn out of a database too - including Squirrel 
'text file' fields stretching over several lines of text. 

Because the link to the database isn't direct, you can't merge pictures - 
only plain text, numbers, dates and so on. But it is by far the easiest mail- 
merge system of any Archimedes wordprocessor, and greatly widens the 
appeal of Easiwriter. 

For businesses put off by version one. Easiwriter is definitely worth a 
second look. It is still notably slow saving and loading on networks or 
floppy disc, but its most fundamental problem has been removed. 


hyphenation rules and can he 
(optionally) spell-checked with 
the German dictionary. 

But the real forte of Tech- 
writer is its equation editor. 
Equations are just another 
structure, and can be inserted 
in the same way, both within a 
line of text and as ‘display 
equations’ on a separate line. 

A menu option or a button 
in the ruler bar displays a 
Greek palette at the top of the 
Techwriter window: it shows 
all the items that can be 
inserted into an equation. After 
beginning an equation, parts of 
it can be picked from the 
palette. There’s a full selection 
of Greek letters and mathe- 
matical symbols which, when 
printed use EFF’s MathsPhys 
outline font (included in the 
Techwriter pack). 

Complete equations are built 
up by picking structural ele- 
ments from the central section 
of the Greek palette: fractions, 
roots, integrals, summations 
and so on. As you pick. say. a 
summation sign, the cursor 
jumps to below the sigma, 
ready for you to type in the 
lower limit of the summation. 
Pressing RETURN jumps to the 
upper limit, then to the end of 
the summation, ready for you 
to type in the function itself. 

It is all easier than you 
might expect. Techwriter fol- 
lows the rules of technical 
typesetting fairly intelligently, 
automatically putting in items 
like minus signs (ALT- 1 53) 
even when you type a hyphen, 
inserting spaces around opera- 
tors like x, and so on. 

Matrices can be inserted as 
just another sub-structure, and 
work just like tables: it’s easy 
to control the number of rows 
and columns. And there are 
‘flexible elements’ of equa- 
tions that can vary in size 
according to what they refer 
to. Root symbols are an 
obvious example, where the 
tail of the root extends to 
encompass the whole of the 
following expression. 

Lines, arrows, king-size 
integrals, over and under bars 
can be added at will, though it 
can be difficult to make sep- 
arate elements of an equation 
consistent in size - matrix 
brackets vary a little if the 
matrix includes elements like 
fractions as well as normal 
numerals. An important ele- 
ment in equation setting is the 


balancing of big symbols like 
flexible integrals and itty-bitty 
text like subscripts. Techwriter 
almost always gets this right, 
and only rarely do you have to 
force it to make an alteration. 
There is also a ‘cookbook’ 

I section of the well -produced 


and well-paced manual, full of 
typesetting tips. No doubt the 
answer to the matrices is there 
somewhere . . . 

The other extra that Tech- 
writer offers is footnoting. 
Once again, it’s another struc- 
ture - which means you can 


choose typeface, size and so 
on. as well as alter the align- 
ment and layout style. Insert- 
ing a footnote structure puts 
either a superscript number in 
the text and puts the cursor at 
the foot of the page ready for 
your not text. Notes are auto- 
matically numbered on each 
page, and re numbered if you 
delete a note or if a note 
moves to another page as a 
result of editing the text. 

A menu option allows you 
to choose numbered notes or 
dagger-type symbols, and the 
footnotes to be changed to 
endnotes at will. Techwriter 
avoids the classic footnote trap 
(where a multi-line note is ref- 
erenced on the last line of 
normal text on a page) by con- 
tinuing the second line of the 
footnote on the next page. 

The key difference between 
Techwriter and an equation 
editing package like Computer 
Concepts' Equasor is that 
equations are an integral part 
of the Techwriter wordproces- 
sor: thet are not embedded 
drawings, but remain editable 
all the time. And they can be 
freely mixed with any of the 
other Techwriter structures. 

Looked on as a complete 
package for producing techni- 
cal and academic documents, 
Techwriter is nothing short of 
excellent. Perhaps the only 
drawback is that individual 
equations cannot be saved as 
drawings, for incorporation in 
other files, and this might be 
important where the page-lay- 
out facilities of Techwriter fall 
short of your needs. But there 
is little doubt that Techwriter 
and Easiwriter should be the 
word processors of choice for 
academics creating structured 
text. If this is your field, the 
seemingly high price of £200 
to £250 will be well repaid. 


PRODUCT DETAILS 


Product: Techwriter, 

Price: £250 (non-educational) f 
£200 (educational) 

Product: Easiwriter 
Price: £150 (non*educational), 
£120 (educational) 

Supplier: Icon Technology Ltd, 
5 Jarrom Street, Leicester LE2 
7DH Tel: (0533) 546225 
Site licences available at four 
times the above prices. All 
prices exclude VAT 



78 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 










PRODUCED by The Fourth Dimension .... THE Acorn Games Specialists 




IlSicilim Dtftnct 
(Dragon Uariation) 


oi3 

IDEDisc4 :fl flpps 


Chess is probably the most popular game in human history. It has survived for 
fourteen centuries and is as successful today as ever. Thousands of people have 
dedicated their lives to its study and over ten thousand books have been 
published on its theory. 

Now the Fourth Dimension is bringing the full magic of the game to Archimedes owners with its 
latest product. Cyber Chess. This represents one of the highest specification chess-playing 
programs available for any micro-computer. Over three sides of A4 paper is needed just to name 
the features present in the program. Some of its main points are: 

SUPERB 3D SIMULATION 

- A near complete 3D simulation of the game. Animation is used to move the pieces smoothly 
around the board; pieces are picked up and dragged by the human player to their new squares. 

- Designed for total clarity. The board is carefully arranged so it can be played from without 
difficulty. A large alternative 2D view is also provided as an option. 

- High-quality digitized stereo sound and speech. 

RISC OS COMPLIANT 

- Runs from the desktop in a window: fully multi-tasking and intuitive; follows the 3D style 
associated with high quality software. 

- Multi-w indowed. Any number of games can be opened and running from one incarnation of the 
program (within available memory). A sophisticated internal scheduling algorithm allows Cyber 
Cfuss to drive all computer opponenls/games simultaneously whilst still smoothly multi-tasking 
with other desktop applications. 

FIDE RULES 

- Full implementation of all applicable chess laws, including cn passant captures, 
underpromotions. 50/75 move rule etc. Even resignation and draw by agreement are supported. 

HIGH SPEC MACHINES 

- Optimised for an ARM2, mode 12 system. But takes full advantage of a faster processor or 
even extra RAM to produce a higher full strength' playing standard and smoother animation. 

- Thoroughly tested with RISC OS 3; supports saving of the desktop. 

BACKGROUND 

The publisher. The Fourth Dimension, is the premiere specialist games house for the 
Archimedes with a string of classics dating back several years. Cyber Chess represents the latest in 
superb 3D simulations following on from great best-selling successes such as Chocks Away, 
Saloon Cars and Break 147 & Superpool. 

- The author, William Tunstall-Pedoe. has been developing commercial software for Acorn 
machines for nearly ten years including several high-quality Archimedes products. He has a First 
Class Honours degree in Computer Science from Cambridge University and spent over a year 
studying computer chess research in order to produce Cyber Chess. This project is by far his most 
substantial yet and was designed from the beginning to be the definitive chess-playing program 
for RISC OS machines. 


JT««o* 


SUPPORT FOR BEGINNERS/CHILDREN 

- You can learn chess from scratch using Cyber Chess with the tutorial supplied. 

- 100 beginner levels are provided going from 0 (very very weak) to 90 (reasonably 
competent). This encourages beginners/school chess players to continue playing by not 
demoralising them and allows them to monitor their progress as they begin to beat higher 
levels. When they beat level 99 they can graduate to ’full strength' mode. 

- Teaching option shows you which moves are legal as you play. 

- If a player gets stuck a hint can be requested. 

- The names of the openings can be announced as they are played quickly familiarising 
chess learners with the various opening systems. 


SUPPORT FOR STRONGER PLAYERS 

- State-of-the-art chess algorithm. 

- Cyber Chess can perform analysis, giving the best line of play from the current position and 
an estimate of who is winning/losing and by how much. 

- Full tournament time controls (e.g. ”40 moves in 2 hours and then all remaining in I 
hour") can be set up. Time controls can be set for human players as well as computer 
opponents to simulate real tournament conditions. 

- State-of-the-art opening book supports opening traps and advice. Multiple books are 
provided and new ones can be added or existing ones edited. 

- Even the style of computer play (defensive, attacking etc.) can be adjusted to taste or to 
prepare for a match against a similar human opponent. 


Acorn A3000, A5000 & Archimedes Price £49.95 

Please ring for details regarding Site Licences 
The Fourth Dimension, 1 Percy Street, Sheffield, S3 8AU Tel. (0742) 700661 or 769950 


I 

A *A 

K 

■ 

i i 111 

i 

• 

1 ft 

8ft 


a 

ft a ft a 

ft 

2 

A#2 O 





rr^r 

1 . 


1 tMr 


1 



‘T TTX“ ITI '' 

2, d2-cl 

Tnr es 

Do 0o 

Conputer| [01:38:47 (37) 

hl-h8 g8xh8 dl-hi c7-h2 
hlxh2 h8-g8 h2-h8 g8xh8 

3, g5-g6 

e5-c7 

Hunai 01:58:14 (37) 

ci-hi h8-g8 hl-h7 

4, hl-h8* 

_ m 

Check 

(iute in 6) 









Q0® 


OB® 


The Universe is old, very old, and your fourth generation galaxy is dying. 
Chaos rules with total power. There are no laws save those that nature imposes 
and any that you choose to impose upon yourself. 

Evidence has been uncovered of an ancient civilization which may have 
inhabited a third generation galaxy. A civilization which seems to have beaten 
nature's limits of time and motion. A civilization which could travel faster 
than light. A civilization which may have outlived the death of its mother 
galaxy and which may even have had the power to leave the universe itself. 

Of course very few people believe what can be read in the five billion year old 
religious scripts. They choose to believe that the Star Gates are a natural 
phenomenon, they choose to become extinct. 

But you believe, you and a few others like you. Choosing to throw yourself 
into incredible debt in order purchase a second hand star fighter, you must 
now roam the galaxy searching for the parts to the key that will unlock the Star 
Gates. Though because this is real life and not some romantic tale, you will 
also need to earn a living to pay off your debts and maintain your ship. And 
don’t forget the Tau Hoppers, those who take and do what they want, and if 
need be, use general relativity to escape into the future. 

Your Ship: 

Maan Industries Langhort Kestral 

Twin gravitational displacement units (Super-string 
drives). Plus standard impulse and fusion units. 

All drives are fully linear in their operation. 

Maan industries string tie. 

0-200,000 Kph in 1 7 seconds. 

.99999 C. achieved in 1 58 seconds. 

.00447 


j* ffSSBSS 

m »ss 


Drives 


■ sen 


.15mm vitrified magnesium sheet, atmospheric 
pressure supported. 

Electrostatic. 

Interstellar hydrogen net with a 400ckm 
catchment field. 

6 universal weapons carrier pods fitted with 14Mw 
Gas lasers fitted as standard. 
lOGw Plasma Beam. 

Absorption cannon (PAC). 

MUSPAC. 

Absorption torpedo (PAT). 

MUSPAT 

All standard guidance equipment plus time displacement compatibility. 


Shielding 
Fuel System 


Weapons 


_ >3 0 


Weapons 9 Options 


For All Acorn 32-bit RISC Machines Price £34.95 

Including A3000 . A5000 and all Archimedes - Release hopefully August '92 

The Fourth Dimension, 1 Percy Street, Sheffield, S3 8AU. 

Tel. (0742) 700661 or 769950 




$ aasaan 


i mm 


1 



l i 

J 



„ ■■ M 

im S9S 

1 M'* MM 

1 Cl It 




BL. ■ • y 1 


■ jjH 



PRODUCED by The Fourth Dimension .... THE 32-bit Acorn Games SPECIALISTS 






PRODUCED by The Fourth Dimension .... THE Acorn Games Specialists 

Saloon Cars DELUXE 



REAR-VIEW MIRROR 

Improved rear-view mirror. 

Improved improved rear-view mirror suitable for Arm3 users. 

COMPATIBILITY 

Compatible with Course disc to be released soon (see below). 

Compatible with Formula 1 upgrade to be released in response to demand for a decent Formula 1 
simulation on the Archimedes (hopefully late 1992). 

Compatible with Saved Players from Saloon Cars vl.O. 

GRAPHICS 

New car graphics, featuring the most sophisticated vector graphics ever seen in a home computer 
game, allowing full 3D rotations of cars - other cars can actually spin off the track in front of you. 
More realistic crashes, allowing other cars to have smash-ups almost as spectacular as your own 
(2 MByte only). 

Gameplay has been enhanced immeasurably by the addition of a completely new loading screen. 

COURSES 

New practice course (Test Track), easier (less hard) to stagger round than the old one. 

Even more detailed and realistic features on most courses. 

Detailed and Fast modes on some courses to allow use of the full potential of the Arm3 without 
compromising Arm2 users. 

BORING TECHNICAL JARGON 

Can be installed onto and run from Hard Disc. 

Features minor refinements to the more anomalous features of the original Saloon Cars vl.O. (Most 
of the bugs have been fixed!). 

Unique integration process allowing speed variations in processing to maintain the highest possible 
frame rate at all times whilst maintaining perfect real time simulation of the race. (The game 
doesn't slow down when the graphics do!). 

Special mode for machines with more memory which uses the extra capacity to enhance the speed 
and complexity of the graphics. 

AND FINALLY 

Many more features which we want to be a surprise. 

Probably a few more features we haven’t even thought of yet. and.. ..a few we didn't think up at all. 

OLD FEATURES 

Saloon Cars DELUXE still... 

does not provide a realistic simulation of a full time office job. 
does not make the coffee, 

and it still isn’t quite as good as actually going out for a drive in a Sierra Cosworth. 

OLD REVIEWS OF SALOOS CARS vl.O 

Saloon Cars is the definitive racing game. It is pure, unadulterated fun." Archimedes World '91. 
"Make no mistake: the speed and smoothness of this game has to be seen to believed." Syracuse '91. 
"...you cannot help but be astounded at the gameplay." Club A3000 '91. 


The Improved Driving "Game-ulation 

n UPGRADE for % PRICE Only £17.50 


This new improved DELUXE version of Saloon Cars includes many new features suitable 
for upgraded machines and A5000s, plus many new features suitable for all machines 


Acorn A3000, A5000 & Archimedes Price £34.95 












a c: 


jgSr 

uUf • 





To upgrade simply return the whole original Saloon Cars directly to us plus payment. 
We’ll send you the newly packaged / enhanced 3 disc DELUXE version on release. 




SALOON CARS EXTRA COURSES 


SALOON CARS DELUXE COURSES 


This new Course disc contains 3 superb new courses which are only compatible with the new 
DELUXE version. They cost £19.95 and will be released hopefully in late June '92. 


The new DELUXE version still contains the 2 real courses, Silverstone and Brands Hatch, plus 
a newly designed wide practice course called Test Track ideal for beginners. 


M 

>*85 


OULTON 

PARK 







REPAIRS 


Old Beebs never 
die, they only 
fade away! 
Richard Garrett 
finds out how 
to nurse a 
Beeb back to 
good health 


A QUICK FIX 



A s the blues song says, 
‘ten years ain't no very 
long time' but, in a 
world obsessed by mips 
and megabytes, it seems 
strange to the uninitiated that 
so many people are still using 
a microcomputer that was 
released ten years ago. 

If you were to go on safari 
for ten-year old machines you 
might find the odd Com- 
modore PET, Apple II, or RM 
380Z clunking along but, 
before you as far as those, 
you'd trip over an awful lot of 
BBC Model Bs. 

Today, there are hundreds of 
thousands of Bs, B pluses. 
Electrons and Compacts in use 
and new Master 128s are still 
on sale. Reasons why people 
remain attached to them vary 


from the personal to the politi- 
cal. but the Beebs soldier on. 
regardless. 

Or do they? Designed, as 
they were, to withstand use in 
primary schools, BBCs are, of 
necessity, robust and hard- 
wearing but, after years of ser- 
vice. they do go wrong. This 
article looks at the commoner 
complaints afflicting them, 
some of which you can easily 
cure yourself. 

FINDING FAULT 

On the computer itself, the 
most frequent problems crop 
up with the keyboard. The 
simplest of these occurs when 
a keyswitch gets ‘gunged up’ 
with dust and grease. This can 
make the key stick, producing 
unwanted ‘auto-repeats’ of an 


individual letter, or it can 
cause a bad connection which 
stops the key registering alto- 
gether. (For solutions to this 
and other ‘easy' problems, see 
the box on D1Y repairs.) 

Other keyboard faults are 
generally the result of long- 
term ‘bashing’ by enthusiastic 
users. Sometimes individual 
keyswitches get broken and 
new' ones need to be soldered 
oon to the circuit board (the 
arrow keys are usually the first 
to go). A repair company I 
talked to quoted a price of £9 a 
switch, plus labour, for this 
little problem. 

Failures that affect many or 
all of the keys are usually due 
to breaks in the 17-way cable 
linking the keyboard to the 
main circuit board, or to cracks 


in the keyboard's printed cir- 
cuit board. If you are happy 
using instruments like a multi- 
meter or continuity tester, you 
can check these components 
yourself or, given access to 
another computer of the same 
model, you can test them by 
swapping parts between the 
good unit and the faulty one. 

Replacement connectors and 
keyboards are available from 
Watford Electronics (connec- 
tors: £4, Model B* keyboard: 
£46. Master keyboard: £59. all 
excluding VAT). 

While we're talking about 
the wear and tear of hardware, 
it's a good idea to keep a set of 
spare cables for your micro. 
This should consist of a moni- 
tor lead, a printer cable, a disc 
drive cable and whatever else 


82 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 


KIM LANE 



REPAIRS 


you use regularly. These 
things are like fuses they 
always go on a Sunday when 
you can't get a replacement. 

Among the things that can 
go wrong, actual ‘chip failure’ 
is relatively uncommon. 
Although integrated circuits do 
‘go soft' - the minute impuri- 
ties that conduct electrical 
signals through them diffuse 
into the silicon - the designs 
used in BBCs are. on average, 
good for 20 to 30 years. 

The ICs that get a lot of 
punishment and are liable to 
fail first are memory and 
memory decoder chips. These 
are mostly surface-mounted on 
the main circuit board so. if 
they go, you'll need a profes- 
sional with a soldering iron to 
replace them. Chips are sus- 
ceptible to static and overheat- 
ing, so their lives can be 
extended by periodically dust- 
ing the inside of the the case. 

SUPPING DISCS 

After the keyboard, the disc 
drive is the most frequently 
used moving part in the system 
and, therefore, one of the ele- 
ments most likely to break 
down. Read/write problems 
can sometimes be solved by 
cleaning the head(s) with a 
proprietary cleaning disc or by 
replacing a damaged multicore 
cable between the drive and 
the computer. 

Older disc drives, however, 
often simply wear out and, due 
to scarcity of parts and the cost 
of labour, if the unit is over 
four years old it is often more 
economical to replace it than 
to repair it (new' disc drives 
start at about £70). 

Probably the most expensive 
form of breakdown is an RGB 
monitor failure. When you get 
that fine white line across the 
middle of the screen that tells 
you the tube is blown, you're 
looking at a si/eable bill. 
Replacing a Microvitec 1431 
tube is about £150. This is less 
than the cost of a new monitor 
(about £200) but pretty close 
to the education price. 

Warning: monitor repairs 
should only be attempted by 
skilled technicians. There's 
25,000 volts on that tube so 
don't even think about taking 
the back off unless you're 
qualified to do so! 

When writing this article. 1 
wondered if any BBC’ compo- 
nents are so out of date as to 



DIY: FAULTS AND FIXES 


CAUTION! BEFORE DOING ANY OF THIS WORK , TURN THE MACHINE OFF 
AND UNPLUG IT FROM THE MAINS. 

The lid on a BBC is secured by four large Philips (No.1) screws, two at the 
back and two under the front. Just unscrew them and lift the lid. If you 
need to move the keyboard, undo the smaller pair of bolts under the front 
of the machine. This is best done with the lid off and the computer the 
right way up over the edge of a table so that the nuts don't drop off and 
roll around inside the case. 

IF... 

... a BBC Master forgets what day it is and how it's configured: The 
battery's gone. Take the lid off, replace the four alkaline AA batteries and 
reset your options using the Configure programme from the intro disc or 
♦CONFIGURE and TIMES. 

. . . individual keys stop working or get stuck down: Usually caused by dust 
and/or grease in the keyswitch. First, take an small screwdriver and lever 
the cap off the offending key, then dust around the switch with a cloth and 
work some mild non-greasy solvent into the switch. There are proprietary 
aerosols that do this, or you can use iso-propyl alcohol and a cotton bud. If 
the solvent lifts any grit out of the switch, wipe it away with the cotton 
bud. Replace the key cap and see if it works. 

... the machine fails to start up properly, paged Roms disappear, and so 
on: The BBC has a lot of chips in sockets on the main circuit board. These 
can 'ride up' over time and become disconnected. This gives rise to a 
variety of faults, all of which can fixed by gently pushing the chips back 
into their sockets with your thumb. Popular offenders are the five Roms 
under the right of the keyboard and the 5050 Ceefax chip on older 
machines. The 6502 processor chip on the Electron is also a common culprit. 
While you've got the top off: Gently clean the inside of the computer with 
a clean duster or a small clean paintbrush. This can cut down keyboard 
problems and extend chip life. 


be irreplaceable. I checked 
and, so far. none of them are. 
Some, however, are no longer 
made and are becoming harder 
to get hold of. 

A case in point is the orig- 
inal BBC B disc controller 
chip (8271) which now retails 
at £39. The good news here, 
though, is that, if supplies fail, 
there are other DFS kits 
around which will work with 
all but the oldest disc software. 
Master owners needn’t worry 
on this score as their compu- 
ters use 1771 controllers. 

MAKING IT BETTER 

Once you've eliminated the 
probable, to misquote Sherlock 


Holmes, the only thing left is 
to send it to the menders. This 
is not as easy as it once was. 
It’s not so bad if you're a 
school user in an Acorn- 
friendly LEA as they will pro- 
bably have a repair contract 
w ith a firm in your area. 

Some local education 
authorities even have their 
own technical staff who will 
come round and make repairs 
in school, but I haven't heard 
of any who offer this service to 
the general public yet. 

In the private sector, things 
are more difficult. Skilled 
hardware people can make a 
lot more money fixing PCs 
than Beebs and most are doing 


just that, but a quick search 
through the computer sections 
of my local Yellow' Pages 
revealed two companies who 
mend Beebs. Typical quotes 
were £25 to fix a couple of 
keyswitches. through to about 
£85 to replace a broken power 
supply unit. If you want a 
recommendation, talk to your 
local dealer. 

So there it is, ten years and 
the Beebs are still going. Most 
problems that affect the com- 
puter itself are mechanical and 
can be repaired relatively 
cheaply. A broken disc drive 
can be replaced for a lot less 
than the cost of a completely 
new' computer. 

If a monitor dies and you're 
thinking of upgrading, you 
may choose to plug into your 
TV and put the cost of repairs 
toward that A5000 you've 
been promising yourself but. 
with most other problems, an 
investment of £50 to £100 may 
keep your system going for 
another few years. 

The BBC computer is a 
remarkable design and, with 
its variety of inputs and out- 
puts and the enormous amount 
of cheap softw are, it still meets 
the requirements of a great 
many people. In some areas of 
education, it remains the only 
machine for the job. One day. 
vital components will cease to 
be available and they will 
eventually fade away but, until 
that day comes, they'll be 
around a little while yet! 


GETTING HELP 


• Acorn Customer Support on 
(0223) 245200: Call and they 
will tell you who your nearest 
Acorn dealer is. 

• BBC Acorn User, send your 
problem in to our Questions 
and Answers page. We can't 
answer everything, but we do 
our best to help with a wide 
variety of problems 

• Microvitec on (0274) 390011: 
As well as their own service 
deparxment, the monitor com- 
pany has a list of 60 authorised 
service centres around the 
country who can repair their 
products. 

• Watford Electronics on 
(0923) 237774: A good supply 
of common components and 
replacement chips for the 
Model B and the Master, as 
well as leads, cleaning mater- 
ials and so on. 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 83 




ORION 

COMPUTERS 



Acorn® 

The choice of experience 


623000 


NEW NEW NEW AT ORION NEW NEW. NEW 

THE ACORN A30 10 

ARM 2 - 50 1 Mb RAM (upgradeable to 4Mb ) 32 

bit - RISC OS 3. 1 2Mb Floppy Drive 
8 channel digital sound 
Built-in TV Modulator 2 Joystick ports 

ONLY £424.00 

NEW NEW NEW AT ORION NEW NEW NEW 


NOW AVAILABLE 

The New Acorn A4 Portable 

32-bit ARM 3 Processor • RISC OS 3 
Advanced Side-Lit 640x480 Screen 
60Mb Internal Hard Disc I when ft Uni t • 2Mb Floppy Disc Drive 


ACORN COMPUTERS 


UPGRADES 


Acorn A4 Series 


Ram 


A4 4/60Mb HD 

£ 1699 

A3000 


A4 2Mb FD 

£1399 

Up to 2Mb RAM 

£45 

Acorn A4 Accessories 

Up to 4Mb RAM 

£129 

A4 2Mb RAM Upgrade 

£110 

A5000 

Up to 4Mb RAM 

£95 

A4 60Mb HD Upgrade 

£350 



A4 Battery Pack 

£50 

A400 RAM 

£39 per Mb 

A4 Econet Upgrade 

£50 

A540 4Mb RAM Card 

£369 


A4 Portable Handbook £7.50 

A4 Shoulder Bag £35 

A4 Technical Reference Manual £65 
A4 Welcome Guide £10 

Acorn A5000 Series 

A5000 4Mb + 40Mb HD £1499 

A5000 4Mb LC + 40Mb HD £1529 

A5000 4Mb LC + Printer £1759 

(as above plus Acorn JP150 Printer) 
All A5000 4Mb models include an Acorn 
Multisync Monitor in the price 

BBC Master Series 

Master 128k £395 

Finance Schemes 

We Operate the Acorn 
Educational Scheme. 

We can supply Ijeantitig Cun>e 
Models on the Acorn 0% Finance 
Scheme (Subject u> mwlability) 
Finance available over twelve months. 
(Approximately three weeks processing) 
Deposit Monthly 

A5000 2Mb LC £179 £135 

Finance Prices Shown above INCLUDE VAT 


MONITORS 


Acorn Colour (AKF1 7) £198 

Philips CM8833 II Colour £208 

Microvitec CUB3000 Colour £200 

Taxan MultiVision 775 (0.28 Dot Pitch) £388 
Taxan MultiVision 795A £439 

(0.26 Dop Pitch. FST Black Trinitron Anti-Glare Tube) 


(Above memory fitted for £10.00 plus 
courier charge) 

Hardware Upgrades 

ARM3 £185 

Canon BJ TurboDrivers (CC) £48 

FaxPack (CC) £289 

Joystick Interface £23 

Midi Expansion Card £65 

Scanlight Junior 256 £199 

Scanlight A4 £289 

Serial Upgrade (A3000) £19 

VIDC Enhancer £27 

Vision Digitiser Archi £49 

Vision Digitiser A3000 Int £49 /Ext £62 


BOOKS/MANUALS 


Programmers Ref. Manuals £77.00 

Prog. Ref Man. (RiscOS 3) T.B.A 

BASIC V Guide £19,45 

A3000 Technical Guide £28 95 

A5000 Technical Guide £63.00 

A540 Technical Guide £63.00 

BASIC V: A Dabhand Guide £9.95 

Arc. First Steps £9.95 

Budget DTP on the Arc £1 2.95 

Arc. Asembly Language £14.95 

Arc. Operating System £14.95 

'C - A Dabhand Guide £14.95 

Mastering 1 st Word Plus £1 3.95 

Acorn D.T.P. Manual £10.00 

Acorn Desktop C £25.00 

Acorn Desktop Assembler £25.00 

First Impressions + Disc £29.95 

Good Impressions + Disc £26.95 


PRINTERS 


PLEASE NOTE 

All our printers are UK Models and 
NOT grey imports. Please take this into 
account when deciding where to 
purchase your printer. 

FREE ARC CABLE WITH ALL PRINTERS 


Canon (Inkjet Printers) 

BJ10EX £190 BJ10EX ASF £49 
BJ10EX Batt £42 BJ300 £296 

BJ330 £386 BJ300ASF1 £94 

BJ300ASF2 £71 BJ330ASF1 £116 
BJ330ASF2 £86 

Citizen (2 year warranty) 

120D+ Parall £117 224D £176 

Swift 9 Colour£156 Swift 9x £205 
Swift 24e Col. £232 Swift 24x £302 

Sw. 9/24Stand£24 Swift ASF £72 


Projet 

£336 24x ASF 

£126 

PN48 

£216 120D+C64 

£132 

Epson (new models) 

LX400 

£117 LX850+ 

£149 

LX 1050 

£215 FX850 

£273 

1 FX1050 

£345 DFX5000 

£1092 

B DFX8000 

£1958 LQ 100 

£166 

LQ570 

£214 LQ870 

£371 

LQ860 Col 

£450 LQ1010 

£276 

LQ1060 Col 

£603 LQ 1070 

£321 

LQ 1170 

£443 LQ2550 Col 

£709 

SQ870 

£429 SQ1170 

£Call 

Hewlett Packard 

Paintjet 

£455 Paintjet XL 

£1995 

DeskJet 500 £296 DJ 500 Col. 
D/jet FX80 cart £56 

£436 

Panasonic 

KX-P1170 

£112 KX-P2180 

£219 

KX-P1123 

£138 KX-P1124I 

£183 

KX-P1695 

£282 KX-P1624 

£283 

KX-P1654 

£341 KX-P2624 

£285 

Star (new low pricing!) 

LC20 

£117 LC200C 

£151 

LC15 

£179 LC24/20 

£158 

LC24/15 

£246 LC24/200 

£171 

LC24/200C 

£209 ZA 200c 

£240 

ZA250C 

£306 XB24/200C 

£301 

XB 24/250C 

£361 SJ-48 

£179 

LASERS 

Qume 300dpi 6ppm 

£866 

Colour Direct 

£Call 

600DPI Laser Direct Card 

£326 

LBP4 light 


£499 

LBP4 + 1Mb 

-4PPM 

£699 

LBP8/III+ • 8PPM 

£969 

LBP4 - 600dpi Laser Direct 

£989 

LBP8 - 600dpi Laser Direct 

£1295 


ARC/A3000 APPLICATIONS 


D.T.P. 


WordProcessors 

1st Word Plus Rel. 2 (Acorn) 

£69 

PenDown (Longman Logotron) 

£46 

PenDown Plus (Long. Logo.) 

£68 

EasiWord (Minerva) 

£16 

Integrated Packages 

Pipedream 3 (Colton) 

£119 

Pipedream 4 (Colton) New 

£178 

Desk Top Office (Minerva) 

£69 

Databases/ Hypertext 

Flexible (Minerva) 

£84 

Multistore (Minerva) 

£154 

Genesis II (Oak Solutions) 

£119 

Knowledge Organiser (Clares) 

£41 

Pinpoint (Long. Logo.) 

£85 

Pinpoint Jnr (Long. Logo) 

£23 

Magpie (Long. Logo) 

£53 

Accounting Software 

Home Accounts (Minerva) 

£34 

Business Accounts (Minerva) 

£298 

Languages 

ANSI C Release 3 (Acorn) 

£124 

Desktop C (Acorn) 

£188 

Desktop Assembler (Acorn) 

£128 

Education 

Fun Sch. 3 Und. 5’s (Database) 

£17 

Fun Sch. 3 5-7 (Database) 

£17 

Fun Sch. 3 Over 7's (Database) 

£17 

Fun Sch. 4 Series (Database) Each £24 

Adventure Playground (Stormsoft) £14 

Ollie Octopus Sketchpad (Stormsoft)£14 

Amazing Ollie (Stormsoft) 

£14 

Flightpath (Stormsoft) 

£23.50 

Maths Pack (HS Software) 

£14 

Reading Pack (HS Software) 

£14 

Bumper Pack (HS Software) 

£17 

Cross Word (HS Software) 

£14 

Fun & Games (HS Software) 

£14 

Spreadsheets 

Schema (Clares) 

£98 

Eureka (Long. Logo.) 

£103 

Utilities 

Arc DFS (Dabs Press) 

£22 

Dot Matrix Colour Driver (Ace) 

£12 

Compression (CC) 

£41 

MultiFS (Arxe) 

£26 

Hearsay II (Beebug) 

£69 

ARCTerm7 (Serial Port) 

£67 

Turbo Driver (CC) 

£49 

Music 

Armadeus (Clares) 

£61 

Rhapsody II (Clares) 

£45 

Tracker (Serial Port) 

£38 

Notate (Long. Logo.) 

£51 

Scoredraw (Clares) 

£44 

Rhythm Box (Clares) 

£Call 

Notate (Long. Logo) 

£51 

Graphics 


Impression II (CC) 

£127 

Poster + Font (4Mation) 

£79 

Impression Junior (CC) 

£72 

Render Bender II (Clares) 

£98 

Impress. Bus. Supplement (CC) 

£41 

Graphbox Pro. (Minerva) 

£104 

Impress Borders (CC) 

£12 

Pro Artisan (Clares) 

£79 

EasiWriter (Icon Technology) 

£133 

Revelations (Long. Logo.) 

£66 

Desktop Folio (ESM) 

£79 

Revelation II (Long. Logo.) 

£102 

Equasor (CC) 

£42 

Atelier (Minerva) 

£69 

Showpage (CC) 

£108 

Chameleon (4Mation) 

£25 


ORION COMPUTERS AT THE BBC ACORN USER SHOW WILL HAVE SPECIAL 
SHOW DISCOUNTS ON COMPUTERS, ACCESSORIES, NEW GAMES AND BOOKS. 














k/ 



i 


See at t&e aAmv 


HU3B 


OCTOBER 16-18 



The Graphics Factory - The new clip art Collection 

Volume 2: General - over 650 images 
Volume 3: Animals - over 300 images 
Volume 4: Sport - over 280 images 
Volume 5: Characters - over 30 topics 
£ 29.95 Each Volume Includes Graphics Factory Sprite Utilities 


ORION COMPUTERS IS UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT 

WE WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPORT ALL OUR EXISTING 
CUSTOMERS WITH OUR EXCELLENT LEVELS OF SERVICE 


Graphics continued... 


SmArt (4Mation) 

£55 

SmArt Filer (4Mation) 

£35 

Snippet (4Mation) 

£25 

Vector (4Mation) 

£79 

ARClight (Ace) 

£42 

Euclid (Ace) 

£51 

Mogul (Ace) 

£17 

Splice (Ace) 

£26 

Tween (Ace) 

£26 

Illusionist (Clares) 

£78 

Titler (Clares) 

£120 

Artworks (CC) 

£Call 

PrimeArt (Minerva) 

£69 

Type Studio (Beebug) 

£38 

Font FX (Data Store) 

£9 

Shape FX (Data Store) 

£9 

Misc 


PC-Emulator Latest version (Acorn) 

£93 

Investigator II (Serial Port) 

£22 

ARCticulate 

£18 

ARC/A3000 GAMES 

3D Construction Set 

£35 

Aggressor 

£18 

Air Supremacy 

£18 

Alerion 

£12 

Aliped 

£12 

Alien Invasion 

£12 

All-In Boxing 

£12 

Arcendium 

£12 

ARCtist 

£19 

Ballarena 

£15 

Bambuzle 

£14 

Black Angel* 

£TBA 

Blaston 

£15 

Blitz 

£19 

Bobby Blockhead 

£18 

Break 147/Superpool 

£26 

Bubblefair 

£15 

Cartoon Line 

£19 

Cataclysm 

£19 

Chequered Flag 

£19 

Chess 3D 

£14 

Chocks Away Version II 

£19 

Chocks Away Extra Missions 

£14 

Chocks Away Compendium 

£29 

Chopper Force* 

£TBA 1 

Chuck Rock 

£19 

Colony Rescue 

£12 

Crisis 

£14 

Cyber Chess 

£39 

DreadNoughts 

£26 

Drop Ship 

£14 

Elite (Gold Edition) 

£31 

Enter the Realm 

£19 

E-Type Compendium 

£19 

Fine Racer 

£15 

Fireball II 

£14 

Flight Simulator Toolkit 

£31 

Gods 

£19 

Grievous Bodily ‘ARM 

£19 

Holed Out Compendium 

£19 

Hostages 

£14 

Inertia 

£14 

Interdictor II 

£23 

Iron Lord 

£14 

James Pond 

£19 

Kerbang 

£11 

Last Ninja 

£18 

Legend of the Lost Temple 

£21 

Lemmings 

£19 

Lotus Esprit Turbo II* 

£TBA 

Mad Professor Mariarti 

£14 

Magnetic Scrolls Collection 

£25 

Mahiong Patience 

£14 

Man at Arms 

£14 



Games continued... 

Manchester Utd. Europe £19 

Master Break £14 

Microdrive 3D World Edition £21 

Mig-29 Super Fulcrum £29 

Nebulus £19 

Nevryon £14 

Nevryon 2 - Technodream * £TBA 

Oh No, More Lemmings £19 

Pandora’s Box £19 

Pesky Muskrats £19 

Poizone £15 

PowerbandV.il £19 

Pysanki £14 

Quest For Gold £19 

Rockfall £15 

Saloon Cars Deluxe £26 

Saloon Cars Extra Courses £15 

Scorpius* £TBA 

Speech £14 

Starch £12 

SWIV £19 

The Real McCoy 1 or 2 £24 

Thing of Darkness £20 

Tower of Babel £19 

Turbo Type £17 

Twin World £14 

Waterloo £19 

Wimp Game £14 

Wonderland £24 

World Champ. Boxing Manager £19 
World Champ. Squash £19 

X-FIre £19 

Zelanites £19 

NEW games highlighted in BOLD 
* Coming Soon 

Please ring for current prices on 
software NOT listed here 

Cumana CD-ROM 
Multimedia Packs 
£699 

CD-ROM Drive. SCSI Caro. ICOPtoyw. 3 CO 
Caddies, stww speakers. 6-RiSCOS CD-ROMS 
Trie illustrated Holy Bible, The Illustrated Works ot 
Shakespeare, Sherlock Holmes on a Disc. 

The Hutchinson encyclopedia. Dictionary of trie 
Living World. Revelatlon2. etc 


RIBBONS 


Branded Ribbons 

Amstrad DMP2000/3160 
Citizen 120D 
Citizen Swift 24 Black 


Printer Cartridges continued... 

HP Paintjet Colour £23 

HP Deskjet + (Permanent Ink) £12 

HP Deskjet 500C Colour £22 

Qume Crystal Print Toner Set £66 

Qume Crystal Print Drum Set £88 

Compatible Ribbons 

Amstrad DMP2000 £3 

Amstrad LQ3500. PCW8256 £3 

Brother M2024 £5 

Brother M1009.M1 109 £4 

Brother HR10,15,20,25,35 Fabric £4 

Brother HR10.15.20, 25.35 MS £4 

Canon PW1080A £4 

Citizen 120D/Swift 24 £3 

Epson LX80.86 £3 

Epson FX80.MX80.LX800.LX850 £3 

Epson FX1 050, LX1 000 £4 

Epson LQ500, LQ800.LQ850 £4 

Epson LQ1 000.LQ1 050.FX1 000 £6 

Epson LQ2500.LQ2550 £6 

Epson EX800 £6 

Panasonic KXP1 081/90, 11 80/24 £4 

Seikosha GP100 £3 

Shanwa CP80 Multistrike £5 

Star LC10/LC20 £3 

Star LC1 0 4 Colour £5 

Star LC24/10, LC24/200 £4 

Star LC200 Black £3 

Discounts available on all ribbons for 
quantities of 3 or more. 


Please call lor prices on any ribbons not listed here 
We can supply almost any ribbon required and 
dependent on quantity, any colour 

Please Note - Quoting trie CARMA Group Code 
speeds up our search tor a ribbon compatible with 
your printer. 


CABLES 


Arc to Scart + Audio 1.2m 
Arc to Philips 8833 Mkl 1 1 ,2m 
Arc Keyboard Extention Cable 2m 
Arc Mouse Extention Cable 2m 
Arc Keyboard Replacement Cable 
Arc Mouse Replacement Cable 
4 way trailing socket 


£8 

£8 

£7 

£7 

£7 

£7 

£5 


HARD DISCS 


£5 

£3 

£4 


High performance Hard Disc 
for Arch tmedes Csf A3000 
Fast A T. Bus Interface . Easy Installation. 
Tested with: Seagate. Quantum, Maxtor, 
Conner & Others. 


Citizen Swift 24 Colour 

£14 


A3000 

A300/400 

Epson LX80/86 

£4 

20Mb 

£199 

N/A 

Epson FX80.MX80.LX800 

£5 

43Mb 

£299 

£210 

Epson LQ400.550 fabric 

£6 

52Mb (Cached) 

£357 

£280 

Epson MX100.FX1000.FX1 050 

£6 

105Mb (Cached) 

£399 

£305 

Epson EX800/1 000 Black 

£7 

120Mb (Cached) 

£455 

£359 

Panasonic KXP145, KXP115 

£7 

200Mb 

£578 

£499 

Panasonic KXP140 

£10 

210Mb (Cached) 

£612 

£536 

Star LC10 

£4 

425Mb (Cached) 

£953 

£876 


Star LC1 04 Colour £6 

Star LC200 Black £5 

Star LC200 Colour £11 

Star LC24/1 0 / LC24 200 Black £8 

Star LC24 200 Colour £13 

Printer Cartridges 

Canon LBP4 Toner Cartridge £55 

Canon LBP8 Toner Cartridge £62 

Canon BJ130 (BJI481) £10 

Canon BJIOe/IOex (BC01) £16 

Canon BJ300/330 (BJI642) £11 

C' jet 1 32/Canon PJ 1 080 Black £9 

C’jet 132/Canon PJ1080 Colour £14 

HP Paintjet Black £20 


120MB DRIVE FOR A5000 ONLY 
£200.00 (exchange) £289.00 (additional) 

Prices quoted include Card. Cables. 
Manual and Drive 


We are now taking orders 
for the new 

RISC os 3 


BULK DISKETTES 


All our disks come complete with labels etc. and are 
100% certified error free. In the event that a disk 
fails it will be replaced immediately 

10 50 100 250 500 1000 
DS/DD 96tpi 5V4- n/a 14 26 60115 209 

DS/DD 3 1 /?’ 4 20 33 85162 298 

DS/HD3 1 /*' 7.50 37 67 163 295 530 

TDK DS/DD 3W 4.80 25 45 115225 510 

TDK DS/HD 3 1 *- 11 57 1 00 237 450 850 


ORDERING INFORMATION 


Minimum Order Value Cl 0.00 
Minimum Educational Order Value £15.00 

ALL PRICES ARE 
EXCLUDING V.A.T. 

By Post 

Please send your orders including a 
signed cheque, postal order or credit card 
number & expiry date (NOT CASH) to: 
Orion Computers. 

250 Leyland Lane. 

Leyland, 

Preston. 

PR5 3HL. 

Please make all cheques 
and bankers drafts 
payable to 

Classeffect Ltd. 

By Telephone 

Telephone orders may be placed 
between 9.00am and 5.00pm. Please 
have your credit card number and expiry 
date ready. 

Tel:0772 623000 
Fax: 0772 622917 

In Person 
Callers most welcome. 

We are situated 3 miles from M6 J28 

Open Mon-Fri 9.00am - 5pm. 


PLEASE REMEMBER 
WHEN COMPARING 
PRICES- WE DO NOT 
CHARGE CARRIAGE 

on standard delivery within 
mainland t T K unless marked 
otherwise. Next day courier Service 
£6. OO. Carriage 071 export orders 
charged at cost. 

[ 12 . 08 . 92 ] 


NOW AVAILABLE 

Mastering 1st Word Plus 

by Anne Rooney 

.4 step-by-step guide to this package 
supplied with the Learning Curve. 


POLARIS 

IBM COMPATIBLE PC‘s 

We now supply our own range of high quality IBM compatible PC's. 
Please call for information and prices. 

















Pete Worrall let a 
score of kids loose 
on some high 
technology- the 
results speak for 
themselves 


- 


VIDEO DIARY 



Using a backdrop, a video and an A3000 to create the picture above 


A computer workshop in a 
public place is one way 
to demystify technol- 
ogy, revealing what is 
usually hidden away in a com- 
puter room. As an artist and IT 
adviser to Sandwell Edu- 
cational and Microtechnology 
Unit. I often have the chance 
to *set up shop' in public 
locations. One recent event 
was a hectic workshop set up 
in the normally peaceful 

museum of Wednesbury. 

The aim of the workshop 
was to use video cameras to 
create on-screen images, 

which were then manipulated 
to get some unusual works of 
art. 1 arrived at the scene, com- 
plete with a car-load of 
Pineapple digitisers, A3000 
computers and video 

recorders. As if on cue, no 
sooner had I set up shop than a 
group of children peered cauti- 
ously around the door. 

As always, such inhibitions 
were quickly shelved. Con- 


fronted with live images on 
screen, the children quickly 
absorbed explanations, demos, 
and hands-on experience. 
Before long, they were were 
filming, digitising, recolouring 
and coilaging themselves. As 
their shyness dissolved. I 
introduced face-paints and bal- 
loons to create an instant party 
atmosphere and, more impor- 
tantly, provide a new dimen- 
sion to the work. The very 
presence of recording equip- 
ment often improves the 
quality of the result, by lend- 
ing importance to the event. 

It is important to encourage 
children to experiment 
visually. Odd camera angles, 
the use of personal objects and 
colourful backgrounds are all 
simple ways to create exciting 
results. Each child tried out the 
role of artistic director by tak- 
ing charge of both cameras 
and computers. In fact, one of 
the ingredients of a successful 
workshop is to let the children 


control the visual elements as 
soon as possible. 

By the end of the morning, I 
had 38 portraits saved on to 
disc, a three-hour video 
recording of the workshop and 
some very satisfied customers. 
In the example shown above, 
one of the pupils used a back- 
drop to create an exciting 


composition. The facepaints 
were chosen to complement 
the backdrop and the resulting 
images were put together as a 
computer collage. 

The following pages give a 
step-by-step guide to how a 
different image was produced, 
where balloons were used to 
create the visual appeal. 


86 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 







GRAPHICS 



Setting up the workshop with videos, an A3000 and some creative props 


STEP ONE 


PLANNING 

For this particular workshop 1 
needed two A3000s with 2Mb 
of memory each, two Pineap- 
ple digitisers, a box of for- 
matted computer discs and a 
good selection of extension 
leads. Camera equipment was: 
two Panasonic video cameras 
(M7/M10); one video stills 
camera (the Canon Ion); one 
Pentax P30T camera; a tripod; 
two spotlights; and two video- 
tapes. Last but not least we 
added face-paints, balloons, 
coloured paper, scissors, glue 
and felt-tip pens to the list of 
vital tools. 

The A3000 version of the 
Colour Video Digitiser cost 
£235 from Pineapple Software 
contactable on 081-599 1476), 
whereas the the Panasonic M7 
video camera retails at £550 
and M 10 video camera £859. 

No doubt at this point the 
operation is beginning to 
sound impossibly expensive, 
but it is often possible to bor- 


row the equipment. For 
instance, we borrowed the 
M10 video camera and digit- 
isers from Sandwell T.V.E.I.. 
the M7 camera from Willings- 
worth High School and one 
computer system from Sand- 
well Educational and 
Microtechnology Unit. 

It is important to do some 
initial planning. There should 
be ample power points. You 
also need to check for any 
light sources that might inter- 
fere with screens and cameras. 
A good tip is to draw out a 
complete floor plan. 

Advertise the event well in 
advance. (In my case, pupils 
from Willingsworth High 
School were invited to attend). 
At the risk of appearing anti- 
social, don’t invite thousands 
of people, tailor the event to 
your equipment. 

In this case the theme, 
‘video portraits’ determined 
the hardware and software 
choice, whereas the size of 
room (500 sq m) dictated the 
number of systems. 

I chose the Pineapple colour 


digitiser to use in the work- 
shop, as it is a solid, reliable 
piece of equipment that can be 
easily operated by children of 
all ages (from primary school 
level onwards). 

This digitiser box for the 
A3000 tits in the expansion 
podule and needs two discs to 
operate. Disc one offers still 
image processing and easy 


colour manipulation, so it 
proved an ideal tool for mak- 
ing video portraits. 

An enhanced version of disc 
one costs £17 extra and this 
can add text and fades for 
image presentation. Disc two 
was not used in this workshop, 
but it allows sequential frame- 
grab and play-back. 



The scene is recorded, complete with balloons, while the participants watch the screen waiting for the right image 


STEP TWO 


GETTING THE IMAGE 

On the day of the workshop 
itself, the most pressing prob- 
lem for a workshop leader is 
how to pass on new skills to an 
unknown and rather unpredict- 
able public audience in a short 
span of time. It is important to 
get people relaxed, so the use 
of additional stimuli to make 
everyone feel at home is a very 
good idea. 

Correctly chosen props can 
give any live event that special 
something extra: back-drops 
using balloons and streamers, 
mirrors for double-takes, face- 
paints, masks, personal ‘found 
objects’ and even music can be 
used in this way. 

The notion of placing props 
in these situations is to human- 
ise a possibly daunting tech- 
nological environment and 
also to act as social ice- 
breakers. Whatever is brought 
in can add another personal 
element to the event: strange 
headgear or a favourite poster 
could be good choices. 

In this video workshop, the 
children decorated their faces 
for camera shots and used bal- 


loons for backgrounds, result- 
ing in personal and unusual 
screenshots. 

As time went on, the 
children became more adven- 
turous and competitive and I 
had less and less to do, except 


for the application of a certain 
amount of discrete direction 
when required. 

Sometimes I found I had to 
move spotlights, adjust a cam- 
era position or help to fix a 
new backdrop in place. It 


became fairly clear after a 
while that, even when the use 
of the software had been mas- 
tered by the audience, there 
were still plenty of things 
remaining for the workshop 
leader to do. 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 87 




GRAPHICS 



STEP THREE 


CHANGING THE IMAGE 

The Pineapple digitiser is sup- 
ported with two discs and the 
MICCI disc (standing for 
Miniature Image-Check/Con- 
trol Icon) It has a multitude of 
uses for image processing and 
can give creative and varied 
results. The MICCI front 
panel, when loaded, shows a 
video area which can display 
the output from a VCR, Canon 
Ion or the live feed from a 
video camera. 

The output resolution is easy 
to control using the three 
tuners on the front of the digit- 
iser. which cover Gain. Lift 
and Saturation - just like the 
controls on a colour TV set. 
From the start, the children 
should be shown basics like 
loading the program, a 
description of the mouse func- 
tions and the saving routines. 

The most important thing to 
follow at first is image capture. 
To do this, select the Sparkle 


icon. This moves the image 
into the centre of the Micci 
panel, as a still grabbed image. 
From here there are a wide 
range of options available 
using the Mode 15 squares as 
‘workframes’. 

Initially, use the Image size 
pre-select toggle on Size one, 
(full screen) to try the colour 
resolutions. Then turn this off 
and images of any size can be 
stretched and overlapped using 
the excellent Image Action 
button (instant psychedelic 
pop art is created). 

To save a screen, place a 
blank formatted disc into drive 
0 and drag the Mode 15 box 
onto the floppy disc drive 0 
icon, and follow the prompts, 
which will result in a I60K 
sprite being saved on to disc. 
At this point, you can experi- 
ment with different camera 
positions, lighting effects, 
backgrounds and props. 

During the workshop, the 
introduction to the software 
took about 20 minutes. The 
clear design of the MICCI 


control panel invites the user 
to experiment, and it does not 
take long before colours are 
altered using the red. green 
and blue toggles and the 
colour sliders, which produce 
some impressive effects. 

Distortions, zooms, reflec- 
tions. transparent overlapping 


and multi-image collaging 
were all produced by the 
children during the workshop. 
All this happened in a short 
time, and without the addi- 
tional use of any standard art 
and design software, although 
later on this can be used to 
enhance the work further. 


STEP THREE 


THE FINAL IMAGE 

Looking through a set of 24 
prints photographed from the 
screen during the workshop, 1 
discovered many different 
effects: Kerry with her hair 


standing on end. Kirsty with 
make-up resembling Charlie 
Chaplin, and Richard sur- 
rounded by a background of 
his own teeth were just a few' 
of the pieces of art that were 
produced that day. 

The picture shown here is 
the final Kirsty portrait, and 


demonstrates the instant 
recolouring capabilities of the 
software. The composition 
using the balloons is balanced, 
with the hand lending addi- 
tional interest and Angela is 
watching the MICCI panel on 
the computer screen with 
obvious enjoyment. 



The final image was picked from a disc full of alternatives 


The colours have a print-like 
quality and are created by 
moving three colour sliders, 
which increase or decrease the 
colour contribution. This is 
significant, because a reflected 
figure in the balloon was 
accentuated through simplify- 
ing the colour-scale. 

Everything contributes here 
towards an excellent video 
portrait. It is worth noting that 
there are eight different ver- 
sions of this image that, 1 
hope, will form the starting 
point for a painting or a set of 
prints back at school. 

For those who want to try 
out a similar technique at 
home or in the classroom, this 
scenario can be adapted in 
many ways. Dance, theatre or 
mime lend themselves well to 
this type of project, as do 
sports, natural phenomena and 
even scientific processes. 

I recently set up a computer 
system in a greenhouse to cap- 
ture images of a butterfly: it 
just goes to show that the only 
limit is your imagination. 

Pete Worrall is a professional 
adviser on the use of IT in 
school. He is currently 
employed as head of Art and 
Design at Sand we 1 1 Edu- 
cational and Microtechnology 
Unit in the West Midlands 


88 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 





A Promotional Feature on Oak Solutions Educational Products Autumn Term 1992 


Design Processor 

a revolution in design and 
technology software 


the complete answer for fast 
secure applications delivery, 
data storage, clusters and 
networking 


Ace Printer Drivers 


a powerful new range of drivers 
for RISC OS 3 


multimedia in the primary classroom 


Cast 


ProDrivers for RISC OS 3 


rhe Foun< 
ill develo 


Upgrade to iPrinters for all printers supported as standard by 
RISC OS 3 gives: 

♦ 24 bit colour for ALL colour printers 
4 CMYK colour separations from ALL printers 
4 Spooling and background printing for ALL printers 

New printer drivers for the following printers giving all the 
above features: 

4 PaintJet, PaintJet XL, PaintJet XL300 and DeskJet 500C 
4 Epson ESC-P2 printer standard 
4 Canon LBP4 and LBP8 (driven via parallel port!) 



eachers, ; 
Foundatic 
dassroonr 
naterial s 
Particular 
is materia 
compute] 


Castle Lif 
Foundatii 
using Ge 
can ben 



4 Computing 

4 

6u|;ndwoo^ 

0OW 

v 


Ace Computing 
27 Victoria Road 
Cambridge 
CB4 3BW 
Tel: (0223) 322559 
Fax: (0223) 69180 


IPrinters upgrade 
HP Colour ProDriver 
Epson ESC-P2 ProDriver 
Canon LBP ProDriver 
Standard drivers 



The best selling SCSI drives for the Archimedes 


16-bit SCSI Interfaces 

A3000 

A300/400/500/5000 
CDFS Upgrade 


£83-50 

£83.50 

£38.25 


High Speed External Hard Discs 
A3000/ 300/400/500/ 5000 

40 Mb £355.00 

100 .Mb £485.00 

200 Mb £745.00 


Magneto Optical R/W Drive 

560 Mb £3100.00 


Worra Winnie Internal Hard Discs 
A300/400/500/5000 

40 Mb £275.00 

100 Mb £415.00 

200 Mb £675.00 


Worra Winnie External Hard Discs 
A3000/A300/ 400/500/5000 

40 Mb £315.00 

100 Mb £455.00 

200 Mb £715.00 


Elite External Hard Discs 
A3000/300/400/500/5000 

40 Mb 
100 Mb 
200 Mb 
300 Mb 
680 Mb 


CD ROM Drives 

Worra CD 
High Speed CD 


£299.00 

£399.00 


£450.00 

£590.00 

£850,00 

£1235.00 

£ 1650.00 


Prices shown include SCSI interface (except CD ROMs 
which require SCSI card and CDFS upgrade). 

Always state computer type when ordering 


& 

child 


Worra Tape Streamer 

60 Mb 
150 Mb 


£545.00 

£730.00 


Each hard disc comes complete with 
the following FREE software: Genesis, 
Euclid, Disc Tree, RISC OS Companion, 
Worra Battle. 

Prices shown are Education Prices, and 
exclude £10 p&p and VAT 


The 

with 


photex 


High Speed Internal Hard Discs 
A300/400 / 500/5000 


High Speed Tape Streamer 

60 Mb £690.00 

150 Mb £805.00 


40 Mb 
100 Mb 
200 Mb 


£305.00 

£440.00 

£695.00 


Elite Tape Streamer (DAT) 

1 Gh £1605.00 


We Lead - Others Follow 


E3 



comp 


Ancie 


socie 


Oak Solutions Ltd. Suite 25 Robin Enterprise Centre Leeds Road Idle West Riding of 
Yorkshire BD109TE Tel: 0274 620423 Fax: 0274 620419 


An 


QUALITY RELIABILITY COMPATIBILITY 


SOLUTIONS 

PERFORMANCE 





Castle Life 


Contents 




The Foundation series of courseware products are 
all developed, using Genesis, by practising 
teachers, advisory teachers and advisors. Each 
Foundation prcxiuct is designed for use in the 
classroom and is accompanied with additional 
material such as worksheets and teachers' notes. 
Particular care has been taken to ensure that there 
is material for use away from, as well as at the 
computer. 

Castle Life was the First application in the 
Foundation Series to be launched. It was created 
using Genesis and comes with a Browser so that it 
can be used by those who do not already have 




Ancient Egypt 


A new offering in the Foundation Series is 
Ancient Egypt. This valuable addition to the 
grow ing range of courseware products allows 
children to investigate the land and society in the 
time of the pharaohs. Children can explore 
buildings, life-styles and beliefs, using maps, 
pictures and animation as well its text. 

The application is supplied in two versions, one 
with easier text for younger children, and comes 
complete with teachers' notes. A pack of 
photocopiable worksheets are included. These are 
based on the application, but are intended to 
involve children in activities aw'ay from the 
computer. Discs of drawfdes and sprites for use in 
children’s own work are available separately. 

Ancient Egypt helps to address History Key Stage 2 
Supplementary Study Unit on non-European 
society as well as Technology Attainment Target 5 
Information Technology capability. 

Ancient Egypt costs £50.00, and the price 
includes a site licence 




apl Tl,e Inner Utard 

U :: j 

l : H 

I r» ~ t 






S'* * (hr imtr J . . 1 

! tfcuretr, u* 1 ' • , 

U( | tfc* wv.tt... >1 iS — 1 

!:'•*«* «** Ml« bolWlTMT. | 'v* ,3?* T* ' 

a 


Genesis. Castle Life allows children to nuke their 
own exploration of a medieval castle. Using plaas, 
views and text, they can investigate and visit each 
part of the castle and the people who lived and 
worked there. 



2 Design Processor 

the next generation of software for design 
and technology 

5 Class Rom, Class Share, Class Net 

the integrated strategy for data storage, 
applications delivery and networking 

8 Classic Collections 

some of the best applications on the 

archimedes get together to produce the 
best value software deals around 


The application is designed to give children the 
opportunity to plan their own learning or to follow' 
a theme, rather than following a fixed sequence. 
Drawfiles, animations and music help to bring 
history to life. 

The application is accompanied by a set of 
photocopiable worksheets, designed to stimulate 
individual and group work away from the 
computer. 

Castle Life costs £50.00, and the price 
includes a site licence. 



Welcome 


Welcome to the first edition of Co-ordinate IT The 
aim of Co-ordinate IT is to disseminate information 
about current and future developments from Oak 
Solutions. In conjunction with this First edition, we 
are launching a demo software pack. For £4 
including VAT and P&P we wall supply a pack of 
discs containing demonstration versions of 
WorraCAD. OakPCB. MaVille and Foundation 
History'. The 14 will be refunded if full versions of 
any of the software packages are purchased. 

Over the coming months. Oak Solution’s technical 
team will lx. 1 touring key education centres 


8 Saxon Life 

oak's latest courseware release takes us 
back to the days before william the 
conqueror 

9 Primary Multimedia 

a primary advisory teacher describes his 
work with genesis plus in the primary 
classroom 

13 SCSI Technology 

oak were the First company into scsi on the 
archimedes, we take a look at their best 
selling 16-bit card 

13 Printer Drivers 

ace computing's latest range of drivers for 
rise os 3 look set to capture the market - we 
examine w r hy 


throughout the UK to demonstrate Design 
Prcx:essor and the new ClassRom, ClassShare and 
ClassNet systems. If your education centre would 
like a visit, ring 0954 211760 and arrange an 
appointment with David Tee. 

Infonnation about products from Ace Computing is 
included because of a new joint marketing and 
development agreement between Oak Solutioas 
and Ace. Both companies have agreed to work 
together in certain key areas, such as Computer 
Aided Design, to avoid duplication of effort and to 
accelerate development programmes. 


And late news just in - a third member h as joined 
the Developers Coasortium. Iota Software has 
agreed to share resources in the areas of marketing 
and development. 



QUALITY RELIABILITY COMPATIBILITY PERFORMANCE 








After more than three 
years of development 
work, Design Processor 
was finally launched in 
March this year 
...but what on earth is it? 


Software available for Design and Technology 
traditionally has comprised applications such as 
CAD systems, PCB design. Art packages, Kitchen 
Layout and Control software - these are known as 
content free applications and are designed to allow 
drawings, circuit boards and da'uments to be 
created from scratch but contain little or no 
information alx>ut the items they are designed to 
create. 

Thus, whilst software t(X)ls were available for 
designing in a wide range of areas, users had to 
look elsewhere for information alx>ut the items they 
were designing. Often, a seemingly attractive piece 
of software would be met with the comment, "I can 
see what it can do - but what can l do with it in the 
classroom?" 

Back in 1988 the Association of Advisors in Cralt 



National Asscxriation of Advisors and Inspectors in 
Design and Technology - NAAIDT) came up w ith a 
concept to remedy this situation. The association 
got together with Oak Solutions, Acorn’s largest 
independent software house, to develop the idea 
and to implement Design Processor as a product. 

Since the inception of the project the 
development team has grown to include a host of 
Education Authorities, Advisors, Advisory Teachers, 
Teachers and some of the top programmers on the 
Archimedes. 

The Acorn Archimedes was chosen as a platform 
because it w ; as the only affordable machine that 
provided the performance required and liad a 
multi-tasking desktop-type operating system which 
allowed separate programs to communicate - 
something that proved central to the way Design 
Processor works. 


Design and Technology (since evolved into the 

QUALITY RELIABILITY COMPATIBILITY 


Over the last year, I\ j sign Processor has lx?eti 
previewed to a variety of audiences and gradually 
refined until in March this year, it was released and 
received widespread acclaim. So, what exactly is 
Design Processor? 

Geoff Howard. Senior General Inspector/ Adviser 
for Design and Technology in North Yorkshire and 
leading representative of the NAAIDT on the 
development team, "The idea behind the 
development of the Design Processor was to 
prcxluce an integrated design environment where 
pupils could w r ork in a variety of design contexts 
and have access to a range of appropriate t(x)ls 
such as CAD systems, resources - pre-defined 
objects like electronic components, kitchen units 
etc and information relevant to the design contexts. 


inch 

met 

issu 


PERFORMANCE 




The information should he readily accessible at 
ly stage so that, for example, when designing an 
lectronic circuit, if information Ls required 
regarding a particular component, it should simply 
be a matter of pointing at the component with the 
•use and selecting an appropriate menu option to 
use Design Processor to display information 
bout the selected item. 

Additionally, any dan created by the system 
iould be able to be output to a wide range of 
ippropriate output devices including printers, 
blotters, cutting plotters, embroidery machines and 
4C machines. The Design Processor should be 
;eted initially at key stage 3, 4 and above, but 
ihould lx* expanded to cover lower age ranges in 
course." 

It s(x)n became clear that Design Processor could 
not he released as a static package, but one which 
|would evolve over the years to cover new areas and 
to keep pace with developments in Design and 
Technology’. When it was released in March, Design 
Processor covered three main areas, each with its 
own information section with text, pictures and 
animations which could lx* easily extracted for use 
in documents, reports, worksheets etc. These initial 
areas were: 

1. Packaging, with a range of pre-defined nets’ 
and software tools to manipulate the 
dimensions, add artwork or even design new r 
packages from scratch and then output them 
to paper, card and other sheet materials. 


I due i 


existing information, such as component costs, is 
updated. 

Users of Design Processor are encouraged to 
become involved in its development by suggesting 
areas for improvement and contributing material for 
new areas. Future plans include the possibility of 
establishing user groups and publishing a regular 
users’ magazine. 

Development groups meet regularly in several 
education authorities and help to keep Design 
Processor on course by making sure that its 
contents are up to date, that it Ls relevant to use in 
the classroom, and remains easy to use. This 
unusually high degree of user involvement has 
helped to refine Design Processor so that regardless 
of the design context, the software Ls always driven 
in die same way. 

Phil Driscoll, who heads up die Design Processor 
team at Oak Solutions. 'The use of the Archimedes 
meant that we could provide a user interface that 
was consistent throughout the whole system so that 
movement from one application to another could 
be dealt with transparently, and the users would not 
have to keep learning how to drive a new' piece of 
software. 

More importandy, it meant that the user interface 
was consistent with RISC OS software that users 
were already familiar with, and in most cases, the 
files created in Design Processor are compatible 
with the existing software base. 

Whilst the full Design Processor system requires a 
computer with a minimum of 2Mb memory and a 
liard disc, we have made sure that individual 


[C C^-_Proc: Pick^livj Infirnat ii»«: 

Ifinnl-.t) v-<t totting Ur 3 

| Packaging: Trimming ami Cutting Can! f| 

hi* a sharp knit* iciest a stool tdtoty 

I Mtit oft i cuttinp na? uttf»rv«f possible 

I Slant do r»< cut u id Uk* 

poo aucb pasSiii? through *f»e mtorui 
loop finoor; aluaus behind tht cutting 
■*dg* and don't pr«s t#« bard, Srnral 
jpntlf shallow cots into card mil oft» 
hrjduc* setter results than attesting 
[lone l»j«v cut. 

<t\ 

1 Scissors can bo tisod tor paper and thin 

1; card but util tend to distort heavier 
heard. B good sharp biufp is itsaaUg &Kt 


I Standards | Historg Mets 

flips 1 

| Tabs | tfchninuK | Beasiirenents i 


l ::::: < 2 3 1 

«3 i\ m3 S3 .1 I 


You really need to see Design Processor to 
appreciate how smoothly and seamlessly it all fits 
together, there’s no confusion over choosing the 
correct piece of software for a particular job - 
Design Processor sorts all diat out automatically. 
Cliildren have had no difficulty using even 
advanced features such us moving from a 2D view 
of a kitchen to a live' 3D model and then working 
out what the kitchen would cost. 



uuiu uidL, \vc nave uuiuc xjic uuii mumuuui 

Processor 


lx*en 
dually 
d and 
rtly is 

dviser 
e and 
i die 
the 
is to 
/here 
itexts 
tools 
fined 
units 
exts. 


2. Electronics, widi libraries of components and 
pre-defined ‘building block* circuits, peb and 
schematic design tools, logic circuit 
simulation, resistor colour code calculator, 
automatic generation of costing and ordering 
information and die facility to automatically 
generate schematic and peb layouts from 
simple block diagrams. 

3. Kitchen design. w r idi libraries of 
commercially available kitchen units, walls, 
doors, w hite goods and furniture, automatic 
generation of costing and ordering 
information and die facility to automatically 
generate 3D views from a simple 2D plan. 

Work is already under way on new areas 
including clothing, CNC. food technology, 
mechanisms and control. Updated versions will lx* 
issued to users as new areas become available or 


software packages and resources can lx* extracted 
from the system to lx* run on 1Mb ‘floppy disc only’ 
machines - and as each Design Processor is 
automatically supplied with a site licence, there are 
no copyright problems widi use on multiple 
machines." 

Geoff Howard, "We are convinced that Design 
Processor represents a major step forward in the 
use of computers in Design and Technology. 
Design Processor encompasses, in an integrated 
package, die existing capabilities of several discrete 
design programs and more - pupils are not faced 
with a blank screen but are actually prompted to 
make sensible design decisions without undue 
presc ription as to what they should lx*. It’s a bit like 
having access to a range of construction kits with 
die ability to alter the size and shape of the 
components." 


Design Processor is clearly 
poised to make a significant 
impact on the productive use 
of IT within Design and 
Technology. 



nil A I I T V DPI IARII I T V mM D ATIRII ITV 


DPDPnDMAMnt: 




Oak Recorder 


Pi 

£29.95 M 


Oak Recorder is Oak Solutioas' low cast sound sampling microphone - the ideal way to 
capture sounds for your Archimedes. Oak Recorder coasists of a hand held omni- 
directional electret condenser microphone, with integral wind shield and on/off switch, 
which simply plugs into the printer port of any Archimedes (including A5000) via a 3 
metre length of shielded cable. 

Oak Recorder is robustly manufactured to withstand the rigours of the classroom, and 
could not be easier to use. The software supplied with Oak Recorder allows samples to 
be recorded, played back and transfeaed to Genesis II and other Archimedes applicatioas 
via the standard Armadeus file format. 

Oak Recorder has several modes of operation; recording may begin on a button press, or 
be set to start when the sound level exceeds a certain threshold. Sound samples may be 
edited, and the start and end positions of the sample may be adjusted so that only the 
required portion of the sound is saved. 

A Genesis II support module and application is also supplied for users willing to integrate 
real-time sampling within their own Genesis applicatioas. This allows exciting applications 
such as talking books, interactive modem language self study packages, special effects for 
school drama productions and sound libraries to be created. Add £3 00 to cover p&p. 








£14.95 


Sound Lab 



In response to demand from users, an enhanced version 
of the software supplied with Oak Recorder has been 
produced. Many new ; features have been added, and 
these w ill be particularly useful to those with 
Archimedes music packages and for use in the school 
physics laboratory*. 

Sound Lab allows samples to be turned into relocatable 
modules to provide voices for applicatioas such as 
Maestro, or to allow the internal voices of the computer 
to be replaced - your computer could be made to say 
'starry*' instead of just beeping when an error occurs! 

Sound Lab also provides a real time display with a 
spectrum analyser and a simple oscilloscope - ideal for 
investigating waveforms and for doing simple 
experiments. 

Add £1.50 to cover p&p if not ordered with Oak 
Recorder. 


Don't forget to order your Oak Recorder 



Prices exclude VAT Telephone for Education Prices 

Oak Solutions Ltd. Suite 25 Robin Enterprise Centre Leeds Road Idle West Riding of Yorkshire 

Tel: 0274 620423 Fax: 0274 620419 



SOLUTIONS 


If yot 
com[ 
look 
prod 


As cc 
schools 
It is r 
4 M byt- 
colour : 
With tf 
comes ; 
IT Co-c 
school': 

Oak 
philosc 
compu 
The Cl 
into thi 
ClassN< 
of prof 

Class 
with 
associa 
using 
on cor 
to a cc 
systerr 
requin 
applic 
Ho\ 
drawt 
systen 
impor 
or del 
hard < 
there 
user. 

Cla 
'partit 
one \ 
and ( 
All a 
storec 
acces 
deleti 
temp 
theu 
Th 
allow 
ordei 


QUALITY RELIABILITY COMPATIBILITY PERFORMANCE 






Products for IT 
Management 


If you have a problem with managing your 
computers, read on as we take an in-depth 
look at the ClassRom, ClassShare and ClassNet 
products from Oak Solutions. 


As computers Ixxome more widely available in 
schools they are also becoming more sophisticated. 
It Is not uncommon to find computers with 
A M bytes of memory, hard discs, laser printers and 
colour scanners filling IT rooms across the country. 
With this increased availability and sophistication 
comes an increased management problem for those 
IT Co-ordinators responsible for looking after the 
school's IT resources. 

Oak Solutions has developed a management 
philosophy which caters for single stand alone 
computers through to a large school-wide network. 
Tlie Class Management philosophy breaks down 
into three major products ClassRom, ClassShare and 
ClassNet; each addressing a different but related set 
of problems. 


ClassRom 


ClassRom deals 
with problems 
associated with 
using hard discs 

on computers. Without a doubt, adding a hard disc 
to a computer radically improves the usability' of the 
system. No more disc* swapping when applications 
require a new font, almost instantaneous loading of 
applications and what seems like unlimited storage. 

However, in a school environment there are 
drawbacks. The structure of applications and 
system resources stored on the hard disc is 
important and if any important files are overwritten 
or deleted, this could stop the system working. As 
hard discs are read/write devices this meaas that 
there is no protection of the applications from the 
user. This is where ClassRom comes in. 

ClassRom Ls a system of protecting hard discs. It 
partitions' the hard disc into two separate areas; 
one which is protected (the Applications partition) 
and one which is read/write (the User partition). 
.All applications, system resources and fonts are 
stored on the Applications partition. Here they are 
accessible to the users but cannot be altered or 
deleted in any way. The User partition is used for 
temporary storage of data either by the system or by 
the user. 

The IT Coordinator has a management disc which 
allows the Applications partition to be unlocked in 
order lor new applications to be added or old ones 


deleted. This software is password protected for 
maximum security. 

ClassRom is available as a ROM upgrade for Oak 
Solutions SCSI cards, complete systems including 
hard disc and SCSI controller card or as a small 
plug-in board for A5000 and A4000 IDE drives or 
A300/400 series ADFS drives. 

In a network environment, where each computer 
has a ClassRom attached, the management software 
allows them all to be managed simultaneously. If 
the manager wishes to add an application to each 
computer, he or she updates one of the hard discs 
manually and then uses the software to update the 
rest over the network. If several changes have been 
made, this process can be set up to take place 
overnight. 

So, ClassRom solves the two main problems with 
using hard discs on computers within an 
educational environment, stopping the students 
deleting the software and managing twenty or so 
individual hard discs. 


ClassShare 


If you currently 
have floppy disc 
based computers 
and would like to 

add hard discs to each but don't have the money, 
the ClassShare system may solve your problem. 
Based on the principles of ClassRom, ClassShare 
allows a number of computers to share the 
ClassRom hard disc of another computer. A ratio of 
4 computers to each hard disc is recommended, 
however, more computers can be connected if 
required. 

The w’ay it works is very simple. Take a scenario 
where you have one A5000 and 3 A3000s. The 
A5000 is setup as a ClassRom. and is configured to 
run the ClassShare software automatically on start 
up. Next, each of the computers (A5000 and 
A3000s) lias a ClassNet interface and cabling added 
which allows communication to Lake place. The 
A3000s are configured to be ClassShare 'clients’. 

When the machines are switdied on they all see 
two hard disc* icons; one representing the 
Applications partition and the other the User 
partition. The A5000 is directly connected to the 
hard disc' but the A3000s are connected via the 
ClassNet. The A3000 users don't know this, 
however, and continue using their computers as if 
they had local hard discs. This 'transparent' setup 



means that any user can go to any computer and be 
familiar with the way in which it works. 

At a later date, there is no reason why the A3000s 
could not have their own ClassRoms attached, 
improving overall system performance. 


ClassNet 


The ClassNet 
system mentioned 
above is the latest 
development in 

networking. Oak Solutioas have combined 
industry standard Ethernet^ hardware with a set of 
no-compromise protocols to deliver the fastest 
network yet produced for the Archimedes. Internal 
ClassNet interfaces are available for all Archimedes 
including the A30'N'0 and A4000. 

ClassNet uses standard Ethernet cabling to 
interconnect the computers and setting up a small 
network couldn't be simpler. BNC connectors are 
used rather than the 5-pin DIN connectors used 
with Econet. One part of a T-piece Ls fitted onto the 
back of each interface and the other two parts are 
connected to the cable. At each end of the 
network, a terminator is plugged on to one side of 
tlie T-piece. ClassNet requires no clock. 

From a user's point of view, ClassNet looks just 
like Econet. If you are familiar with using Econet to 
log on to file servers then you an already use a 
ClassNet network. In fact, all your existing Level 4 
File Servers, Printer Sp<x)lers and Disc Sharers can 
still be used with ClassNet - it just works 40 times 
faster! 

As ClassNet uses industry standard components, 
large school-wide networks an be built around off- 
the-shelf Ethernet Repeaters and Bridges. This 
means that there is a greater choice of supplier and 
many more people who are able to install your 
network. 

Similarly, it Ls possible to mn Acorn's AUN 
software on the ClassNet interface to gain access to 
other types of network and file servers via an AUN 
gateway station. Users may then log on to the 
remote file server as if it were connected to the 
same network. By supporting AUN and industry 
standards. Oak Solutions guarantee complete 
compatibility with Acorn's networking strategy, 
with the added advantage that the ClassNet 
protocols offer unparalleled speeds. » 

ClassRom technology is available from 
£34.95, ClassNet interfaces cost £149.00 






What*sCbssNet'> 

CbssNet is a no compromise, high speed network system designed spedficaDy fur Ardxmede. 
using standard Ethernet hardware and cahiing. CbssNet provides a low tost way of connuaing 
dusters of computers Together without Initting future exparesiixt. CbssNet interfaces utihse the 
vvty blest integrated Dkmet technology and allow trmnetwn to t*frr Thick nr Thin Ethernet 
able Using CbssNet speak t# over 600fe l^tes per second tan lx- achieved when loading fnxn a 
level i file stiver It is pofefcie to toad Ecfe, Draw. Pain and Impression in under 10 seconds' 


B8C computers using Econet 

Existing Beam# networks with BBC computers can be connected to the Ethernet backbone vn a 
ChssNet Ecomi gateway This gateway is a piece of software which tuns on an Archimedes and 
cotvwts information between Econet and Bthemet formats. The BBC computes can transparently 
access any He setvm connected anywhere on the network. Similarly, other cnmputeH tan am» 
file servers, such as level 3 and FifcStnre, wtxch arc cremated to the Econet. The. transparent 
access enables full integration if easing technology with the new high speed netwtxkmg system 


Shoring Ethernet with other systems 



Many diflerox computer systems tan be connected to Ethernet. However, generally they all 
communicate in different ways, GassNet r> optimised for high speed cnmmtuiicMinn hetwem 
Ardmncrfes itmputev tat tfxre is nothing to stop other systems, such as PCs running LAN 
Manager tx l nix machines using NTS, from hemg tonnaied to the same network. To allow the 
Archimedes to curamiinxaie with other machres. special software such as Aeon's TCP. TP 
Piuttxoi Suite can be used. We recommend that critical systems, such as school admutstnuoi, 
should rax be connected directly to the main school network, but perhaps separated by a hndge. 
so that confidential infonnautxi is protected from access hy the luckcis' widun tk school 


The Backbone and Spur configuration 

The reason for having backbone and spur nctwxxb is to uptxrasc overall network perfixmaiKv 
Separation of kxal network traffic. such as loadaig appbrit*jn\ prevents unmccnry infixmation 
fiem saturating ik wlxiie network Only mfomutwn destined fix a specific machine such as a file 
saver, will he transmlteil outside the spur Rtcklv mes will rexmally visit evwy pan of a site and 
will therefore usually he quitr lrng Hor turn over 183m. Thick' Ethernet cable is required whilsf 
the spots will normally use Thin" Ethernet cable This type of network topology fa bus) » 
suhstantiaily rasrer to install dun sur networks offered by otlxx systems In raanv rases existing 
Econet trunking can be used Fcx split site installations, film optic tahle may lx used (r> link 
separate ixtwoiks togrtler 


Class 


Stand alone ClassRoms 


i lisskixns need rat necessarily he used within the context of a network emironmert, they 
provide hard disc facilities perfectly matched to classroom requirements. Puprfs cannot 
accidentally fix malirioudyl itmove tx alter apphalwns, and vet they have aB tlx- fxrxftts nf' tlx 
full speed of a turd disc and no requirement fur dec swuptwig The apjicatmns area of a 
Cla&>Rom is immune from infection bv vinises as tk dnve canrax he wnoen to without access to 
the password protected manageiitent software A ibssKmi mulled <m a network can he 
removed from tk network (e.g. fix a leather to take hxne at a weekend) and will still k fully 
fundknu] as all tk applications arc resident locally 


OassShare Clusters 

OassShare r- a means of shoring a angle UasnRi <u unx among* seven! Atviuniedes Kadi user 
sees two lord disc icixis representing tlx appkalitxis and private user partitions. I tec. simply 
dkk on tk toms in the normal RISC OS manner to acres, jpplxiitiore. and data OassShare 
uses GassNet interfaces to crxincri tk lompuers together and hence can be used for shared 
prating UhssSharc dieters can he easily expanded into a lull network by tk simple addition of 
a level 4 File Server. 


Tattom 


ClassRotn and Econet 


Where Anhxnates arc to lx used on an expert Eronet installation. GassRom provides d* 
fates and mrwt manageable solution fix applications defivwy. over 1M byte per second a 
available to each axnputer tvgarcfless of tk number of machines. .Apjibcabore. arc Sored# 
secure parution d tk Gassftcm hard disc and multiple Gass Roms can lx managed film i i 
machine Installing GassRom units on an Econet system lonfos mm greater benefits whs 
upgrading to Ethernet in tlx future Other applkancxt ddivety systems are txxl to putirubt 
calling systems which limit scope fix firaav expansuxi ClawRnm » at tk axe nf tkwhal 
OassNer strategy anil existing CkwRun users can easily upgrade tkir cabling system to p» 
faster saws to file seivcra. shared printers and management services. 


For op 
nrtwu 


hndgr 
inform 
requxr 
cf nets 


ili»N 

Ga»N 

oxnpi 

teaser 


Oak Solutions Suite 25 Rolvin Kmaiulse Urds Raid Idle West Riding of Yorkshire BD109TE Tel: 0274 620423 Fax: 0274 620* 19 



CO-ROM across the network 


CtassShare Ousters in Design and Technology 


The high speed of QxshNel presides the best pafttte means of sharing CD-ROM* amongst nunv 
uses. The ClassNei interface rant uses advanced rathring techniques to optimise data deiimy 
rah* and ta nimimse proWeros caused lay the slww access times traditionally associated with 
CD-ROM drives. 


Design and Technology is an area which can place the heavies demands on the computing 
fadHlks Very Luge applralmns. such as Design Processor, must he capable of being acceded 
ignddy Expensive "data hupgry* peripherals such as laser printers, plotters, CNC lathes and 
•sarmcis must be accessible- from .18 machines. and large quantities of users' data needs to be 
«ored securely and at high speed ClassSfurc dusters provide speedy access to appkatiurc. and 
spooling facilities for afl types of printers and plotters Hk- servers may hr added kxafly or 
accessed via a bridge cm the main network. 



Design & Technology 


Archimedes network room 


File Servers 


Archimedes network room 

Tradtocmal use of the network room involves simultaneous loading of Luge applications into all 
the computers at the flart of a lesson Over Faonet this operation lakes several minutes nt best 
and in many caws docs nt succeed at all Many products attempt to solve this problem hut only 
CiissRun and QassVt provide a no uanpromb*.*, liigli speed sciluion using industry .standard 
technnkigles optimised use with the Archimedes. A ratio of 4 computers to I ClassRan 
ensures Ust application delivery (Impression kuds in under 20 seconds into 4 machines) whiU at 
the same time CLl\sN« is used for shared printing and file server acres. 


Archimedes computer 


Archimedes with ClassRom 


Ijevel 4 File Server 


Talking to other networks - bridges and gateways 


* BBC Microcomputer 


Fw flpomum pafenmna-, a Luge number of computet* slvoukt be organised mtn several small 
nrtwoks to reduce network traffic ! lowevcr, e is important that data can he passed between 
foe twwtxks. InhxmatKm can he passed hetw-en similar types rfnetwede via a hndpe Each 
tnlgc knows how the different networks are joined together. Whenever one computer sersb 
rtnmcmm to another, the bndges pass on the mfumiauun only to those computers which 
require It Bodges are used to interconnect dassNet networks. A gateway eruhles different types 
nf network to communicate by translataig the information as wdl as nurugtng the n xjtmg A 
ChssNet'Econet gateway aBows BBC computers on Earn* In access Arehmedcs fik- servos on 
CbssN'et and vice vena. ClassNei bridges and gateways are pieces rf software tunning on a 
iwnputer which is cunmxwd to both netwurie. They arc shown explicitly cm the diagram for 
reasons of daily 


Network Manager's room 

We revanmend that where tile stivers need to he accessed (ram anywhere within the school 
network, tlrey slmnkJ be dmtfy connected to the haddxme. This tmrumo.es the number of 
Imdgcs which need to he ctmed and Improves performance. Irale servos, us well as providing 
shared access to hard dists for users' dau, can also make available uther cental resources, such 
as Teletext. Fax and ekvtrunic rnaiL A tape backup system in dr Network Managers rum tan 
txickup any had disc anywhere on the netwotk. Scmilarlv. all management of (lassRom hard 
discs can be pertcinied remotely from here. 



IBM PC or done 


0 $ ClassNet bridge 
0 ClassNei / Eoonet gateway 
Tape backup 
Ethernet cable 
\/ Eoonet cable 


Tc 


It's a Classic 

Oak Solutions combines the power and ease of use of several well- 
known Archimedes packages to produce two Classic Collections. 


Primary 


One of tiie most important aspects of the 
Archimedes is the ability for applications to pass 
information between each other. This means that 
developers can produce products that do one job 
very well, knowing that output from their software 
can be combined within other applications at a 
later date. 

The two Classic Collections from Oak Solutions 
combine some of the best Archimedes applications 
in their fields which can act as a starting point for 
creating a library 7 of software ideal for helping to 
deliver the curriculum. 

Each Classic Collection is available on a stand alone 
ClassRom or as part of a ClassShare cluster (see 
elsewhere in this issue for details of ClassRom and 
ClassShare). The stand alone offer includes a 
single user licence for the software, the cluster offer 
includes a cluster licence (up to 4 computers). 


The Primary' Classic Collection consists of tire 
following software: StartWrite - a version of 
EasiWriter from Icon Technology; Junior Database 
- the simple-to-use database from lota Software; 
Genesis Plus - a powerful multimedia authoring 
tool from Oak Solutions, and * DataSweet - a 
collection of very 7 simple spreadsheet, graphics, 
and data processing software from Kudlian 
Software. 

The Primary 7 Collection lias Ixen designed to offer 
a range of tails from which children of all abilities 
will lx able to find something of value. Due to the 
nature of the RISC OS system, data created in one 
application can be easily moved to any of the 
others. 


Classic collections are priced as follows: 

Primary Collection - single user £95, cluster licence £261.25 
Secondary Collection - single user £145, cluster licence £398.75 


Life with the Saxons 

Saxon Life, the latest addition to the Foundation range of curriculum based Genesis 
applications, is aimed at History Key Stage 2. 


The Saxon Life application is supplied on two 
discs. The first allows children to follow the story 
of the Saxon invasion and settlement of Britain 
from A.D. 400 to 1066, or to Like themes, such as 
Invaders. Kings, Daily Life, Settlements or Religion 
and to follow these through. 

The text is supported throughout by extensive use 
of maps, diagrams and pictures, making this an 
exciting and challenging application to use. 

Children are not limited to following a pre- 
determined path. 'Hot text' links enable them to 
branch out at many points and to make their own 
investigations. 

The second disc contains a database and a set of 
problems and games. 



'The text is supported 
throughout by extensive use of 
maps, diagrams and pictures, 
making this an exciting and 
challenging application to use." 


The Census database can be used to build up a 
model of the population of a Saxon town. 


Secondary 


de 


The Secondary 7 Classic Collection consists of a set < 
of tools wtiich have become standard requirements Qq\ 
for all IT activity. EasiWriter Ls a powerful word ^ 
processor with graphical import and automatic 
table creation facilities. PipeDream 4 Ls a very 
powerful, easy-to-use spreadsheet application with P* a 
all the functionality you will ever require. Desktop 
Database is a simple to use database management f 
system allowing any size of database to lx created 
and graphical analysis of that daLi to be displayed. 

Exports can lx made to the mailshot system in 
EasiWriter. Genesis II Ls the de facto standard M 

multimedia authoring system for the Archimedes. It o 
allows text, graphics, animation, sound and Acom 
Replay movies to be combined and linked 
together. The powerful script language allows 
limitless expansion of the applications created. di 
WorraCad Ls the most accurate 2D CAD system there 
available on the Archimedes. Technical drawings 
can be created to an accuracy of 1 8 significant 
figures. Drawliles can be exported for use in other 
applications. c 

un 

have 

a: 


Y< 

Infar 


Tlx problems and games include 
a Saxon board game. Taefl, and 
three simulations. Village Site, 

Burh Location and Bretwalda. 

In these, children w r ork in groups to understand 
and solve the problems faced by the Saxoas in 
finding places to live, establishing towas and finally 
in uniting into a single kingdom. 

These applications arc supported by a large pack 
of photcxopiable paper resources. These contain 
activities suitable for a wide range of age and 
ability. The activities are based on the material in 
tlx applications but do not require the full-time use 
of the computer. Several groups can lx working 
on their own projects at the same time. 



plan 

P« 

we 

ther 

F 

s 

frai 

te 


frar 


Saxon Life costs £50.00, and the price 
includes a site licence. 

tyi 

lea 





Tony Holdstock is a 
Primary Advisory 
Teacher for IT in 
Leeds. He has 
developed a number 
of multimedia, 
curriculum-based 
applications using 
Genesis over the last 
two years. Much of 
his work has taken 
place inside schools. 

Here he reports on 
his experiences. 


Multimedia is die use of a number 
of different types of information - 
text, graphics, photographs, 
animations, film, sound etc. - to 
enhance the impact, appeal, 
diversity, information content and 
thereby the educational effectiveness 
of computer screens. 

To produce a multimedia 
presentation in a real primary 
classroom might seem a daunting 
undertaking. Using Genesis Plus, I 
have worked with children as young 
as Year 2 to make records of dieir 
field trips. 

Year 2 of Kippax North Junior and 
Infant School in Leeds went on a day 
trip to the local water treatment 
plant. On their return, they discussed 
what they had seen and drew 
pictures of the different processes. 
Using a borrowed hand scanner, 
we scanned their pictures and saved 
them as sprites. Some children used 
Paint to add colour to their scans. 
I then set up what was to be our 
standard Genesis page with three 
frames, a title, a picture frame and a 
text frame. Finally I added a 'Next' 
frame from the GenLib folder. 
This page was then copied to 
make a screen for each of the 
treatment processes. 
The next stage was to drop a 
scanned sprite onto each picture 
frame and to agree with the children 
what the title and text should say. 
With children of this age, I find it 
helpful to act as the 'secretary 7 ', 
typing in what they want to say, but 
leaving them editorial control if they 
don't like the first draft. 



0 

0 



(0 

(0 

(0 


0 





a 

0 ) 

£ 





Year 4's visit to the parish church at Howarth was 
based on the same idea of a standardised screen. 
They were taken on a tour, and came back to 
schcx)l wanting to reproduce this with the 
computer. 

Responsibility’ for each screen was taken by one 
or two children. This time however the children 
scanned their owti photographs as well as their 
field sketches. Some cliildren preferred to work 
directly in Draw 7 . They also entered their own text 
and proved to lx efficient editors of each others’ 
work. 

An extra dimension was added to the page about 
the church organ by dropping one of the Maestro 
files supplied on the Applications disc onto the 
picture on that page. A double-click now plays a 
short piece of organ music. 

At Lawrence Oates Middle School, also in Leeds, I 
worked with a Year 6 class on a local nature trail. I 
set up a framework of linked pages corresponding 
to stops on the trail. Again the children scanned 
their field sketches and entered and edited text. 
One of the class is handicapped, so that writing and 
drawing are difficult for him. He is very* observant 
however, and he and I discussed in detail the 
movements of sticklebacks and a waterwheel. 1 
used Tw ? een to produce the animatioas that David 
described, and the pleasure and status with the 
other children that he experienced made the time 
involved well worthwhile. 

Ml the projects I have described were carried out 
using an A3000. The only hardware addition was a 
hand scanner borrowed from our Education IT 
Centre. As well as Genesis Plus itself, the software 
involved was Paint and Draw for pictures, Maestro 
for music and Tw een for animation of drawfiles. 

I have also experimented with producing a 
'talking lxx)k' controlled by a Concept Keyboard. 1 
used Oak Recorder, a microphone which plugs into 
the printer port and is supplied with its ow 7 n 
software to record real speech for each page. The 
sound samples can be saved in the usual way, then 
dropped into frames on a Genesis page. This frame 
can already hold text or a picture. 

The page lias a 'loudspeaker' picture and 
'forward' and 'back' arrows which are links to the 
next and previous pages. Installing the Genesis 
ConKeyRM module makes it possible to activate 
these frames by pressing the appropriate area of the 
Concept Keyboard. 

Recording sound in the classroom - children’s 
own voices for example - Ls simple using Oak 
Recorder. Within minutes, primary children can 
make and save their ow n sound samples. 

The amount of sampled sound that can be stored 
on a floppy disc Ls limited. With the arrival of 
CD ROM however, horizons are widening rapidly. 
NCET are funding a project to evaluate the use of 
CD audio with computers. One part of this is a 
Genesis version of Goldilocks and the Three Beaty, 
designed for use with children at Key Stage 1. Each 



page has frames which let the user hear part of the 
story. On many pages there are on-screen 
activities. Again these are described and explained 
orally. The use of the CD ROM means tliat a much 
larger amount of speech is available. 

All Oak CD ROM drives are supplied with a 
Genesis Plus application which can control the CD. 

Acom’s Replay will scx)n make full screen 
moving video available from within a program. As 
soon as Replay becomes generally available,' a 
version of Genesis w ith appropriate modules added 
will be released. 



Multimedia in a primary classroom is a real 
possibility using Genesis. Pictures, text and sound 
are only beginnings - Concept Keyboard, CD ROM 
and moving video are here now and can greatly 
extend the power and accessibility of the software. 

Multimedia applications are available now-. 
More, including some suitable for children from 
nursery age up. are alxxit to be published. 

Multimedia applications can be produced in 
the primary 7 classroom. Pictures, text and sound can 
lx. 1 pnxiuced with the children and integrated using 
Genesis. 

Suggested software : 

Genesis Plus, Draw, Paint. Edit. Maestro, Tween 
Additional hardware : 

Concept Kevlx)ard, Oak Recorder, Scanner, 

CD ROM 

Multi-media applications suitable for primary 7 use 
available now : 

Ancient Egypt, Saxoas, Castle Life 





Genesis I 


£129.95 


Hie Genesis family of products represent die de-facto standard in multi-media on the Archimedes. Genesis II is die 
most powerful application in the range, provides all the facilities of Genesis Plus, as well as a comprehensive .scripting 
language which allows even non-technical users to generate dieir own powerful desktop applications. The script 
language has the power to control CDROMs and LaserVision players, and can lie driven by devices such as Concept 
Keyboards for special applications. The language can be extended by compiling external modules using the ABC 
compiler. Upgrades are available to existing users of Genesis and Genesis Plus (including Learning Curve). 

£14.95 Genesis Script Language Book 


The basic use of the Genesis Script Language is covered in the Genesis II manual, but to get the most out of the 
language and to explore its ability to manipulate lists and databases, to create dialogue boxes and menus and a 
whole hast of more advanced functions, the Genesis Script Language book provides an essential reference work. 
The lxx)k contains a full description each of the 300+ script keywords in its reference section and has chapters on 
each key area within the script language. VAT is NOT charged on tills product. 




ABC BASIC Compiler version 3 


£99.95 


Tlie Archimedes BASIC Compiler is the only serious BASIC compiler available for die Archimedes. It is especially 
suited to the professional user who requires the speed and protection of a compiled language whilst retaining the 
flexibility of using an interpreted language during die development phase. Compilation under Version 3 takes place 
as a RISC OS task thereby allowing die machine to lie used for other jobs at die same ume. Relocatable modules may 
be created allowing star commands to lie implemented, along widi library modules which can contain functions and 
procedures which may be called from any program compiled using ABC. including Genesis II. 



£99.95 


Cambridge Pascal 



The Cambridge Pascal compiler supports a comprehensive version of the Pascal language and includes many extra 
features such as full string and error handling. Additional extensions allow the use of random access tiles and 
provide direct access to die operating system routines including star commands. The compiler ruas under the 
RISC OS desktop and supports conditional compilation, include files and compilation to relocatable modules. 
Comprehensive error messages and a trace facility ease the development process.A library’ of procedures and 
fiincdoas is provided to support access to the window manager. 


The best in Languages for the Archimedes 




Prices exclude £1.50 p&p and VAT Telephone for Education Prices 

Oak Solutions Ltd. Suite 25 Robin Enterprise Centre Leeds Road Idle West Riding of Yorkshire 

Tel: 0274 620423 Fax: 0274 620419 


BD109TE 



LSJ 

SOLUTIONS 





•M » J i 


5 


Oak PCB 


£99.95 


- 


2 

k 


Oak PCB is a brand new RISC OS compliant PCB and schematic design package. A multi-tasking desktop user 
interface based on .'Draw ensures that users can quickly exploit the powerful draughting features, and create 
complex multi-layer circuit boards or schematics. Output is to RISC OS printer drivers, or the plotter driver supplied. 
Features Drawfile import export, associative editing, drilling data, solder resist etc. etc. Supplied with 
comprehensive PCB and Schematic libraries 



WorraCAD 


£99.95 


WorraCAD is the de-facto standard RISC OS 21) CAD package. Working to 18 significant figures precision. 
WorraCAD provides all the tools required to produce superb accurate technical drawings. Outputs to plotters and 
RISC OS printer drivers. Features tangents, normals, intersections, parallels, automatic associative dimensions, grid. 
Drawfile export, linestyles. 1(> layers, hatching, mirroring and stretching. CNC link available to Boxford Lathes. 
Libraries available seperately. 



5 


Draw Print & Plot 


£39.95 


Draw Print & Plot supercedes our earlier plotter drivers for Druwfiles (WorraPlot and ArcSign - upgrades available). 
Draw Plot accepts drawfiles and creates output on HPGL compatible plotters. Features outline fonts, sprites, filled 
areas, line thickness and depth sorting to avoid colours overlapping. Draw Print accepts drawfiles and allows them to 
lx* printed to RISC OS printer drivers at a different scale - for example to create huge posters (cropmarks are created 
automatically). 



KiddiCAD 


£69.95 


KiddiCAD is an exciting 3D building bkxk package designed for younger users. 3D models may lx created, using 
the library of building bricks supplied, and rotated in real time. 'Hie high speed of operation and the live 3D view 
allows users to quickly gain an understanding of work in 3D. Models may lx* output as Spritefiles in colour or 
wireframe mode, and can then lx imported into painting packages. DTP. Genesis etc. 



Leaders in CAD for the Archimedes 

prices exclude P&P (£1.50) and VAT 



SOLUTIONS 


COMPATIBILITY 


PERFORMANCE 





The Ace Collection 



ween produces realistic animations from Draw 
files. You provide a starting view and a finishing 
view and Tween does all the 'inbetweening'. Text 
and sprites can be included in the movie and all 
colour changes and text sizes are catered for. 


uclid is the best multi-tasking 3D graphics and 
animation system available for the Archimedes. 
Working under the Desktop, Euclid is just like a 
3D version of Draw. You can use your 3D images 
within other products, such as Genesis. 


rcLight is a multi-tasking ray-tracer which will 
generate a realistic Euclid picture, or a complete 
Mogul film, while you are free to get on with other 
work. Different object materials can be specified 
including mirror and glass. 



ogul makes films from Euclid 3D pictures. Set a 
camera up and 'fly' it through your image. Key 
points and positions are recorded and Mogul 
produces all the intermediate frames. Mogul 
films are automatically compressed. 



plice allows you to edit films produced by Mogul 
or Tween. You can even produce hand-drawn 
cartoons by converting sprites from other sources 
such as scanners. The films produced can be 
used in a wide range of Archimedes applications. 


...working together 


Ace 

£ Computing 

6ui;ndtuoo ^ 

eoy 


Ace Computing 
27 Victoria Road 
Cambridge 
CB4 3BW 
Tel: (0223) 322559 
Fax: (0223)69180 



Tween 


* V V.iMl * 



*b m « «! 


lyyyj 


\*jjW - 

r \ t r T -1 






J 


Tween £34 (ex VAT) 

Euclid £68 
ArcLight £50 __ 

Mogul £24 H 

Splice £34 







It's over tliree years since 
Oak launched the first SCSI 
card for the Archimedes. 


Now that there seem to be a 
plethora of different SCSI 
cards on the market, we 
take a look at what makes 
the Oak card special. 

Oak's decision back in 1989 to go for a SCSI 
rather than the then popular ST506 type controller 
quickly proved to be correct. All die world's 
manufacturers of high speed workstations moved in 


RISC OS 3 



The new printer driver system supplied with 
RISC OS 3 provides many enhancements over the 
old-style system. Multiple printers can now be 
supported and text and First Word Plus files can be 
spooled and queued. 

The boffins at Ace Computing have wasted no 
time in implementing even more enhancements to 
the RISC OS 3 system and have just released the 
Pro-Driver range. 

Pro-Drivers offer significant improvements in a 
number of areas: 

A new version of 'Printers allows all types of 
printer to produce professional 'CMYK' colour 
separations. 

A spooler application works with the new 
IPrinters to allow all printing from applications to be 
spooled and then sent to die printer in the 
background - thereby returning control of the 
computer to die user as quickly as possible. 

HP colour printers are supported (PaintJet, 
PaintJet XL PaintJet XL300 and DeskJet 5000 and 
die drivers include level 2 data compression. 

The new Epson ESC-P2 printer standard is 
supported, again including data compression. 


the same direction, and development of SCSI hard 
drives gathered pace. 

The original design brief was to produce a 
versatile, reliable SCSI 16 bit controller that would 
not impede data flow into and out of the 
Archimedes. It is a measure of how successfully this 
brief was achieved that the hardware design has 
remained unchanged since its launch and is now 
used by many thousands of clients from schools to 
Formula 1 racing teams. 

The issue of speed was critical. No one could 
predict how fast hard disc drives would become in 
the future so the card had to lx able to get data on 
and off the SCSI bus as fast as the Archimedes could 
deal with it. Hie card, therefore, allows the hard 
disc to work to the limit of its performance. Some 
manufacturers now claim impressive data transfer 
rates, but fail to mention that these speeds are only 
achieved when transferring data from the cache 
RAM on one card to cache RAM on another. Figures 
quoted by Oak always refer to real performance 
figures achieved when transferring data between 
Archimedes and hard disc. 

Of course, speed isn’t everything, and neither, in 
the world of SCSI, are hard discs. Support for other 
SCSI peripherals is also key to the success of the 
Oak card. The card inherently supports other 'disc 
like' devices such as magnetooptical drives, and 
was the first card to support partitioning in order to 


cope with drives larger than the 512Mb limit 
imposed by Filecore. Comprehensive support for 
tape backup devices ranging from cassettes to DAT 
is provided by the versatile OakTape software 
which allows liard discs, networks, and indeed any 
filing system, to lx 1 backed up and restored on a file 
by file basis. Filing system support lor CD ROM 
drives is provided by Acorn's CDFS, and support for 
SCSI scanners is available courtesy of Computer 
Concepts' Scanlight Professional software. 

The Oak SCSI card lias always provided support 
for write protection of drives. The introduction of 
ClassRom last year refined the protection and 
management of hard discs to a level where drives 
can lx 3 used in the classroom with no danger of 
pupils accidentally or maliciously tampering with 
applications. ClassRom also removes the danger of 
applications becoming infected with viruses. 
Additionally, management tools take the pain out of 
keeping systems up to date. ClassRom is available 
as a retro-fit EPROM for existing Oak SCSI users. 

Users of the Oak SCSI card have access to 
uasurpassed technical support over the phone in 
ease of difficulties, and are assured of receiving 
only top quality equipment thanks to Oak’s zero- 
defect manufacturing and test regime. Each card is 
exhaustively tested and any card which scores less 
than 100% is rejected, thereby ensuring that only 
'perfect' cards are shipped to customers. 


Take the most of the new printing D D I KIT I M ^ 
facilities in RISC OS 3 with Ace 
Computing's Pro-Drivers 


The Cinon LBP4 and LBP8 printers are 
supported, driven via tlx parallel port (no 
expensive direct drive card to buy!). 

24 bit colour output is available for ANY colour 
capable printer. 


Ace's new Pro-Drivers offer a low’ cost route to 
maximising the use of your printers under 
RISC OS 3. Valuable improvements in performance 
are available, w hatever printers you own. 

Pro-drivers are priced from £25 (ex VAT) 



QUALITY RELIABILITY COMPATIBILITY PERFORMANCE 


13 








Battle of the Somme 


The Battle of the Somme is a multimedia presentation concentrating on the events that occurred 
around the 1st July 1916. The software allows pupils to explore text, sound, graphics, photographs, 
maps, laservision stills and movie sequences. 

The Imperial War Museum have released movie film, photographs and sound recordings for the 
production of a laservision disc which is available for use with the package. 

The package was conceived and produced by the Netherhall Sch(X)l in Cambridge with support 
from the NCET. It was authored using Genesis II and is focussed on cross-curricular resources with 
worksheets supporting its use in History, English, Maths, Geography, Music and Art. 

A letters section contains postcards sent back from the trenches by one soldier during 1915 and 
1916 which provide an excellent stimulus to written work in the classroom. 

A calendar provides easy cross-referencing and fast access to specific events allowing the user to 
dip into dates lietween 1914 and 1916. 

A Roll of Honour database lists all soldiers in the Cambridge Battalion killed on 1st July 1916. 
This data can easily be amended to contain infonnation more appropriate to different regions. 
These lists provide gexxl stimulus for activities in Geography and Mathematics classes as well as 
History. 

The application contains songs that were sung to entertain the soldiers. 'Hie tunes may lie played 
using the computer’s sound system, or a rendition by a male voice choir can be heard via the 
laservision disc. 

A set of maps allows access to information relating to specific areas - starting with a view of 
Europe and zooming right in to the front lines. A Concept Keyboard may be* used at this stage as 
an alternative to the mouse. 

Digitised still images, and those from the laservision disc may lie accessed and these provide a 
wide range of images related to the battle. 

Audio tracks on the laservision disc allow the user to listen to interviews with a variety of 
survivors of the Somme, and the forty minutes of movie film have lieen segmented into short 
clips related to other materials in die package. 

A textlxxik section provides important factual background to die events which took place. 
Selections include Women at War. Propaganda, The Air War and Joining Up. 

The ultimate multimedia experience 






Software site licence £95.00 Software site licence including Laservision disc £145.00 Laservision Disc £100.00 

Prices exclude £2.00 p&p and VAT 


E3 



Oak Solutions Ltd. Suite 25 Robin Enterprise Centre Leeds Road Idle West Riding of Yorkshire 

Tel: 0274 620423 Fax: 0274 620419 



BD109TE 

SOLUTIONS 



QUALITY RELIABILITY COMPATIBILITY 


PERFORMANCE 




FREE 


PROGRAMS 

WHEN YOU SUBSCRIBE TO BBC ACORN USER 



♦INFO includes a host of intriguing graphics routines, and features a fully Really big numbers, like the size of Michael Jackson's ego, can now be 
configurable boot program that allows you to customise your desktop simulated with NumCalc. The only limit is the size of your memory 


PLUS SPECIAL LUXURY BINDEROFFER 


THE BEST SELLING ACORN MAGAZINE 

Every month. BBC Acorn User brings you all the news, reviews 
and features covering the world of Acorn. That is why 
we are the best selling magazine in the Acorn market- 
place. Whether you own a BBC B or the latest 
Archimedes A5000, there is something for you. 

As well as up-to-the-minute news on the latest 
Acorn hardware and software, our regular columnists 
cover new developments in the areas of education, 
communications and graphics. Add to that the best in 
reviews and features and you have a magazine that no 
Acorn user should be without. 

FREE MONTHLY DISCS 

We aim to bring readers the best programs for their 
machines. These are listed on our yellow pages so that the 
keen programmers out there can type them in. However, there is 
an easier way - you can load them straight in to your machine 
from the monthly disc which we send free to UK subscribers. The 
monthly subscription costs just £22.95 and the free disc contains 
all of the programs featured in each issue, plus additional utilities 


we think you'll find useful. The programs can help you get 
maximum enjoyment from your Acorn machine. 

To obtain the 12 discs free with each UK subscription, just 
tick the relevant box below. The 3.5in disc is compat- 
ible with the BBC A3000/Archimedes, and BBC B/ 
Master/Compact with 3.5in drive and ADFS. The 
5.25in disc is 40/80-track DFS and is suitable for 
BBC B/B+/Master computers with 5.25in drive. 

BINDEROFFER 

To keep your copies of BBC Acorn User in pristine 
condition, we have produced a special binder. Fin- 
ished in white with our logo, the binder will hold 12 
issues. You don't have to subscribe to obtain a binder 
- all you have to do is tick the relevant box below. 
Each binder costs £5.95. 

WHAT TO DO 

To become a subscriber and receive your free monthly disc, send 
the order form with your remittance to: BBC Acorn User Sub- 
scriptions, PO Box 66, Wetherby LS23 7HL. Or you can ring our 
special credit card hotline number: (0937) 842489. 



BBC ACORN USER ORDER FORM 

Name 

Address 


Postcode. 


Signature. 


SUBSCRIPTION OFFER 

Magazine only 3.5in disc 
UK N/A ‘ J £22.95 

Mainland Europe J £35 J £49 

Rest of World J £45 J £69 

BINDER OFFER 

J Please send me binders at £5.95 each 


5.25in disc 

J £22.95 
J £44 
J £64 


BACK ISSUES/DISCS OFFER 

Month Year J 1990 J 1991 J 1992 

Magazine only J £1.95 Discs J £4.95 (5.25in) J £5.95 (3.5in) 
Overseas orders add £1 {Europe) and £3 (rest of the World) 


Please tick if you are taking out: 

J A new subscription 
J A renewal of a current subscription 


I enclose a chcque/PO (made payable to Redwood Publishing Ltd) 
for a total of £ 

Access/Visa card no Exp date 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 105 




SCANNERS 


TWO IN THE HAND 


Hand-held 
scanners can be 
good value for 
money. Ian Burley 
compares two 
leading products 


I f there's an area the Archimedes has really 
excelled in, it has to be desktop publishing 
(DTP). Image scanning goes hand in hand 
with DTP and, consequently, the range of 
image scanning devices on offer to Archimedes 
users is unsurprisingly large. 

This month we look at two of the main con- 
tenders in the Archimedes hand-held mono- 
chrome scanning stakes; Scanlight 256 from 
Computer Concepts and Scan 256 from Watford 
Electronics. 



Original art work for scanning 


WHO NEEDS IT? 

If you have access to a half-decent printer like a 
3()()dpi ink-jet or laser printer, it’s really not at 
all difficult to produce leaflets and pamphlets 
with very good scanned-in illustrations, almost 
up to the quality you find in the daily newspa- 
pers. The latest 600dpi lasers from Computer 
Concepts and Calligraph are capable of even 
better results. However, even these printers hold 
back the ultimate reproduction quality of a 
decent scanned image, which can only be 
revealed when printed professionally. But that's 
exactly what hundreds of Archimedes users are 
already doing anyway. 

You don’t even need a DTP package, as most 
of the better Archimedes word processors can 
incorporate scanned images or ‘sprites’ into 
their documents. Image scanning is also a very 
useful way of sourcing illustrations for multime- 
dia databases, art packages and 3D rendering 
programs. If you have a fax facility like Compu- 
ter Concepts’ FaxPack you can give your faxes 
that personal touch by scanning in your own 
logo. There are endless other uses for scanners. 

THE HARDWARE 

Professional publishers almost universally rely 
on high-resolution Hat-bed scanners to grab 
images like photographs and pre-printed line art. 
The cost of flat-bed scanners is falling quite fast 
but, for most cost-conscious non-professionals, 
the only choice remains a hand-scanner. One 
w'ag recently pointed out a job for a hand scan- 
ner that even the best flat- bed would find 
difficult to accomplish; recording the labels on a 
precious collection of vintage wine bottles! 

Hand-scanners have improved considerably 
over the years, and units capable of recording 
colour images are now available, although they 
are relatively expensive and are arguably of 
limited use compared to the monochrome types 
examined in this article. 

The very earliest hand-scanners w'ere deriva- 
tives of hand-held bar-code readers used in shop 
check-outs. A coloured light, usually red, was 
reflected off the code and sensed by a CCD 
(charge coupled device) chip. Versions for the 
computer market added a wheeled mechanism to 
detect the scanning motion of the unit as it was 
manually drawn across the art work. These early 
scanners were limited to around 2(K)dpi with a 


Watford's unit offers a faster scan but is more 'contrasty* 

maximum of 16 grey scales. These days the best 
affordable monochrome hand scanners offer 
400dpi maximum resolution and up to 256 grey 
scales, which is adequate for professional qual- 
ity reproduction. Green has now replaced red as 
the most common scanner light source. 

Both of the scanner units reviewed are green- 
light devices offering 100 to 400dpi resolution 
in steps of 100dpi. and switchable to 256 grey 
scales as well as momochrome for line art. The 
Computer Concepts’ Marstek Matador is sour- 
ced from Taiwan while Watford Electronics’ 
scanner is Japanese. Both scanners appear to 
share some identical parts, though the external 
casings differ in style slightly. They both appear 
to be identical in the quality of construction. 
Each unit requires a special interface card to 
connect to your Archimedes. 

Each card has its own particular advantages. 
The CC one can be software-driven to adapt to 
different types of scanner head. Original cus- 
tomers have had the comfort of knowing that if a 
super-duper new scanner came out there would 
be a chance that CC could rewrite the device 
driver to make it compatible with the same 
interface card. 

The Watford arrangement is designed for 
speed. It’s certainly noticeable that you can 
move the scanner head more quickly and com- 
fortably during a scan than the CC one. The 
Watford card is dedicated to the one scanner 
mechanism, which I’d consider to be a disad- 
vantage, as both units are capable of producing 
more than adequate results. 



106 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 



SCANNERS 




HOW THEY COMPARE 


IMAGE PROCESSING 

Just as important as the hardware is the accom- 
panying software. Raw' scanned images will 
often require cropping, rotating, alterations to 
contrast and brightness plus image enhancement 
like sharpening, softening and filtering. The 
software supplied by both CC and Watford 
supports all the usual image manipulation and 
enhancement facilities you'd expect, plus more. 

Computer Concepts has now standardised on 
the latest version of the software that was 
originally developed for the Scanlight Profes- 
sional flat-bed scanner. The user simply chooses 
which scanner and interface is required, and the 
correct device driver is loaded. I was able to use 
exactly the same software to scan images from 
both CC's Canon SCSI flat-bed scanner as from 
the Matador hand-held. Not every feature is 
available to the hand-scanner user: the useful 
photocopy' function available to LaserDirect 
printer users who have flat-bed scanners does 
not seem to work w ith the hand-scanner. 

While the same essential software facilities 
are featured in both scanner packages, they 
differ in some basic respects. Both offer ’before' 
and ‘after' processing displays of the currently 
loaded image. The Scanlight software defaults to 
a mode which generates the modified image 
display on the screen in real time. 

This saves a lot of memory, which means 
Scanlight is a viable proposition on a 2Mb 
Archimedes, even when dealing with quite large 
scanned images. The drawback is that, though it 
is very fast considering the data processing 
being carried, screen updating can be a bit slow. 
A memory cache option speeds things up con- 
siderably, but uses up more memory. Remember 
that original images can be well on the way to 
2Mb in 400<Jpi/256 grey scale mode. 

The Watford software uses a multiple buffer 
system, which allows several processed versions 


The Scanlight 256: good image processing software 


Price 

Scanning width 
Max grey scales 
Acorn 256 grey sprites 
Max resolution 
Scan illumination colour 
Scanning speed 
Multiple image buffers 
Image rotation 
True brightness/contrast 
Sharpening 
Edge detection 


WATFORD SCANLIGHT 
256 256 

£185 £199 

105mm 105mm 

256 256 

Not yet Yes 

400dpi 400dpi 

Green Green 

Medium Slow 

Yes No 

Rise OS 3 only Yes 

Yes Yes 

Yes Yes 

Yes Yes 


By contrast, the Scanlight Professional flat-bed scan 


of the same original image to be displayed at 
once. One buffer can contain the resulting 
processed image generated from a previously 
processed image, leaving the original untouched. 
Compared to the CC software, which only offers 
a single comparison with the original, the Wat- 
ford software can show several comparisons and 
this convenience could mean less time fiddling 
to get the image just right. However, you really 
need the full complement of 4Mb of Ram to 
make the most of this feature. 

Scanlight now supports the relatively new 
Acorn 256 greyscale sprite format. Currently 
there are a lot of software packages which will 
display these sprites in a splash of strange false 
colours, but applications like Impression , Ova- 
tion OTP and the latest Rise OS 3 versions of 
Draw and Paint now recognise 256 greyscale 
sprites in 16-colour screen modes correctly. 

Watford's review software could not save 
sprites in the new format, although this will be 
corrected. Although it does offer alternative file 
formats such as Aim and Tiff. I was surprised to 
find that Draw format files could not be saved 
directly. 


COMPARISONS 


The Watford Scan 256 and CC 
Scanlight 256 were compared 
with each other, alongside a flat- 
bed Scanlight Professional Canon 
unit. All scans were at 300dpi in 
256 grey scale mode. As all the 
scanners are based on green light 
CCD sensors, they all had prob- 
lems with the colours on the 
subject's jacket. All the unmodi- 
fied original scans, as reproduced 
here, had trouble differentiating 
the turquoise and red sections of 
the jacket. Considerable contrast 
adjustment could fix this, but 
only at the expense of other 
parts of the picture. 

The Scanlight Matador unit's 
brightness was set to its middle 
position. To get a comparable 
picture on the Watford scanner 
meant turning up the brightness 
well past the middle position. 

The Canon flat-bed doesn't have 
a brightness control and its 
resulting image was a bit dark. 

Overall there wasn't a great 
deal to choose between the two 
hand held units. The Watford 
unit was a touch more contrasty 
and it was less difficult to scan 
images as you can move the unit 
more quickly than the Matador 
without inducing a speed warn- 
ing. The Canon flat-bed was 
arguably very slightly sharper, 
which is only to be expected con- 
sidering the extra cost and 
sophistication. 

I preferred Scanlight's soft- 
ware. It includes the provision of 
'handles’ on the grey scale map 
for easy and direct mouse-adjust- 
ment, plus a fast image rotation 
function - the Watford software 
requires Rise OS 3 for this. Wat- 
ford, however, supplies endless 
utilities for those very keen on 
the finer details of image 
enhancement. Ideally, I'd prefer 
to run the Scanlight software 
with the Watford hardware. 


PRODUCT DETAILS 


Product: Watford Scan 256 
Supplier: Watford Electronics, 250 
Lower High Street, Watford WD1 
2AN 

Telephone: (0923) 237774 
Price: £185 excluding VAT 

Product: Scanlight 256 
Supplier: Computer Concepts Ltd, 
Gaddesden Place, Hemel Hemp- 
stead, Herts HP2 6EX 
Telephone: (0442) 63933 
Price: £199 excluding VAT 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 107 





of Graphic Accelerator Cards 

With the addition of a State Machine graphics expansion card, the Archimedes is able to dis- 

play high quality graphics comparable with the PC, Macintosh and NeXT based systems. Providing a 
true 24 bit palette, speed improvements and higher screen resolutions, the can reduce the 

eye strain caused by flickering displays experienced with VIDC by offering refresh rates of up to 70Hz. 

The ^< xh?c can drive SuperVGA, Hi-res and MultiSync monitors with full RISC OS compatibility. 
By having an on-board video frame store, the accelerator reduces the memory bandwidth requirements 
of each mode, with the result that 256 colour modes feel like 16 colour modes in use, even when running 
at high line and refresh rates. 



State Machine 


Advanced House 
Upper Wellington Street 
Luton. LU1 5AA 
Tel : (0582) 483377 
Fax : (0582) 480833 


$2 

• New medium resolution desktop modes - 
1024x768 in 16 colours, 800x600 in 256 
colours. 

• Support for portrait monitors. 

• 512Kb on-board VRAM. 

• 15 pin and 9 pin video connectors. 


As with: 

• 1280x1024 in 4 colours. 

• 1 1 52x852 in 1 6 colours. 

• A 64KHz line rate monitor is 
required for these modes. 

• RisclX drivers coming. 


In stock end of September £249 + VAT 

^ Available October £299 + VAT 

Available October £349 + VAT 

Sorry, no credit card facility available. 


As $8 7*toa with: 

• Desktop compatible 768x576 CCIR 
PAL Interlaced in 256 colours. 

• 6 x SMB + 15 pin VGA connectors. 

• Hardware panning of a virtual desktop. 

• 1Mb on-board VRAM. 

• External genlock facility. 

The is to be supported by the 

Archimedes leading software products. 
Supplied with all supporting software and 


A3000 installation must be carried out by StateMachine. 
Cost is an extra £30 + VAT, including courier collection, 
delivery and a housing case. 

Any warranties will not be affected. 

See StateMachine 



full documentation. 

Please ring for full specification sheet. 


and ACS on stand 73 


/Accounts - The Definitive Archimedes 

Already in use successfully in business, lAccounts has a proven track 
needed to run a successful company in today’s economic climate. 

The Main Features of the package are: 

Quotations • 

Quotation generation / enquiry 
processing • 

Stock Control 

Stock level / re-ordering / valuation 


• Sales Ledger 

Account details / credit control / VAT 
analysis 

• Purchase Ledger 

Account details / payment control / 
VAT analysis 

• Nominal Ledger 

Journal postings / automated postings 
/ VAT analysis 

• Invoicing 

Invoicing / credit notes / stock linking 


Report Generator 

Generates reports from all areas of 
the package 

Sales Order Processing 

Scheduled ordering / stock allocation / 
invoicing 


lAccounts Available in October £249 + VAT 

ArcNET Archimedes & A3000 Network Card 

The first, cheap & fast upgrade to the Acorn Econet Network System 
offering vastly improved speeds. 


Direct replacement for Econet 
board 

Transfer rate of 2.5Mbits per 
second - 8 to 1 0 times speed of 
Econet 


Can use existing Econet cabling 
Fully RISC-OS compatible 
Access via the normal Econet 
Icon 

Please ring for details 


Accounting Package 

record performing the functions 


Purchase Order Processing 

Auto ordering / forward scheduling 
Cash & Bank Books 
Bank accounts / payments / receipts / 
direct debit 

Payroll 

Payslip generation / Tax / N.l. / S.S.P 

Fully Network compatible - unlimited 
numbers of simultaneous users 
Bar Codes 

Optional bar code scanner input 


ACS 


Advanced Computer Services 
(Europe) Ltd 


75 Wellington Street, Luton. LU1 5AA 
Tel: (0582) 20604 Fax: (0582) 480833 

Advanced Computer Services are a fully authorised Acorn Service Centre 







PROGRAMS 


The section that is packed full of programs for you to use 


fc 'Xi” 

t JW* 
v ,^ 


71 * 


w 


S^P 1= 



»- f .. **'&*'• ,.C V,*^ J 


Wtfl Wwe 


mmmtmiMa&n 


CONTENTS 

BIG NUMBERS 

Now you can mine the set of integers for 
primes and display huge numbers on your machine 

111 

♦INFO 

Lots and lots of graphics for you to play with, 
and a handy way to tailor your desktop 

115 

THE HARMONIC VERSES 

Last month’s Harmsynth synthesizer generated 
so much interest, we decided to explain how 
you can use it to make more realistic sounds 

122 

ASSEMBLY LINE 

Set the controls for the heart of the Arc 

125 

STICKY MOMENTS 

Evolution in action, as spiders compete for the 
best-designed web 

132 

YELLOW PAGES 

Page after page of meticulously selected 
listings for you to type in 

137 


Y our calculator can tell 
you what 99 3400 is, and 
your Archimedes can 
too. But with Nick Craig 
Woods’ Numbers module on 
page 111 of BA U. you can 
start thinking really BIG! Like, 
the sort of numbers that are 
involved in calculating the 
number of stars in the 
universe, or the number of 
atoms in your head. 

Nick primarily designed his 
calculator to find prime num- 
bers, which it does with great 
finesse, and before long your 
Archimedes is churning out 
the sort of numbers that have 
taken years to find. Numbers 
can be fascinating, so turn to 
Nicks article and immerse 
yourself in numeric heaven. 

After you’ve descended 
from infinity, then try a casual 
cruise through our user- 
friendly ♦INFO. This month 
resident Data DJs, Dave and 
Dave, take you through the 
new pressings, and present a 
few mixes of their own. 

Coming in at number seven, 
regular groover Jan Vibe, cre- 
ator of wacky patterns, pre- 
sents a double-sided trip into 
psychedelia. Eggs and Eye 
wouldn't look out of place on 
the background of the latest 
videos - all we need now is 
the music! 

Idol talk is no thing to do, 
program popsters, and entering 
the ♦INFO chart at no six is 
the Daves’ utility to get you 
networkers networking your 
thoughts. Now you can talk to 
each other over your wires, 
with no chance of them getting 
crossed. Another cruise into 
colours at number five pre- 
sents C/E, an attempt to show 
all of the colours that the Arc 
can produce, in one simple 
diagram. 

At number four, your eight- 
bit’s screen is doing the new 
dance craze, the raspberry rip- 
ple. Type in this one, and 


watch that screen jive! For 
regular techies, some fast 
mathematics hops in at number 
three, and at number two a 
new fringing effects demo gets 
your eyes popping. And at 
number one this month we 


have Auto, the utility that helps 
you change your desktop 
environment. We’re not just 
offering new entries, but our 
independent chart provides us 
with remixes, including a new 
version of eight-bit Water- 


world. and a correction to the 
Uptime utility from the April 
1992 chart. To work your way 
into the *INFO chart, send 
your submissions to. ♦INFO. 
BBC Acorn User, 101 Bayham 
Street. London. NW1 OAG. 

David Radford's sound 
series has come to an end now, 
but this month Richard Gar- 
rett, musical expert, tries out 
David's routines, and creates a 
virtual orchestra in his living 
room. Read his article on page 
122, and learn exactly how to 
synthesise the sounds of your 
favourite instruments. 

Those of your following our 
guide to the inside of your 32- 
bit machine, turn to page 125. 
where you'll learn all about 
simple arrays, and then how' to 
sort a block of data, all in 
machine code. 

If some of the words in BAU 
leave you feeling confused, 
then you need our A to Z of 
computer jargon. Our resident 
beginner, Sarah Burns, 
explains some of the jargon 
associated with the computing 
world. If you've just picked up 
BAU , or a computer, then this 
is the place to start. 

Arachnophobes should look 
tun for pages 132 and 133, 
where our hairy friends are 
spinning their webs with the 
help of Mat Tizard. Mat uses 
the spiders' webs to show how 
natural selections has per- 
fected today’s web. Electronic 
flies buzzing around the screen 
test out each generation of 
web, and the fattest spider 
lives to tell his sons and 
daughters how he built it. Turn 
to page 1 32 to read about how 
we can simulate evolution on 
our computers. 

Finally, the yellow pages 
offer you the chance to copy in 
these programs. The Numbers 
module however is only avail- 
able to subscribers and is 
found on the monthly disc. 

Paul James 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 1 09 



QUALITY AND RELIABILITY WITH FRIENDLY SERVICE 


Acorn Products 

A4 Laptop 60Mb HD System 

1699.00 

A4 Laptop Floppy Disk System 

1399.00 

A3000 2Mb RAM (Requires Monitor) 

525.00 


A3010 Family Solution (Requires 


Monitor) 

424.68 

A3010 Learning Curve 

680.00 

A3020 2Mb FD 

749.00 

A4000 Home Office Pack 

999.00 


A5000 2M HD80 Multiscan System 

1445.96 

A5000 4M HD 120 Multiscan System 

1599.00 

A540 4Mb RAM 120Mb Hard Disk 

1799.00 

Acorn Pocket Book 212.72 

Acorn PC Emulator Ver 1 .8 

99.00 

Unless otherwise stated all Acorn 
systems include a 14” colour CGA 
monitor. For a multi-scan monitor 
please add £50.00 to the above 
prices. 


A3000 Upgrades 

2Mb RAM Upgrade 45.00 

4Mb RAM Upgrade 149.00 

20Mb Internal Hard Disk 195.00 

42Mb Internal Hard Disk 399.00 

User / Analogue Podule 45.00 

User / Midi Podule 49.00 

Ethernet Expansion Card 220.00 
Dust Cover (Complete System) 12.50 

A5000 Upgrades 

2Mb RAM Upgrade for A5000 90.00 

Ethernet Expansion Card 220.00 

Dust Cover (Complete System) 12.50 


Archimedes Accessories 

386 PC Expansion Card 1 Mb 485.00 
386 PC Expansion Card 4Mb 585.00 
ARM3 Upgrade 1 99.00 

Clares Micro Mouse 25.00 

Scan-Light Junior 256 1 95.00 

ScanLight Professional 820.00 

Econet Module 45.00 

I/O Expansion Podule 75.00 

A3000 Styled Plinth (Metal) 20.00 

Digital Services Products 

Squirrel Single User 129.00 

Squirrel Multi-user/Site Licence 51 6.00 
Upgrade single to Multi/Site 387.00 
Squirrel ‘C’ Developers Toolkit 99.00 
Waiter Menu System 35.00 

Waiter Net/Site Licence 1 39.00 

Freeway Econet Spooler/Server 35.00 
Jetstream Tape Streamer 

30Mb 299.00 

Digistore Tape Streamer 

60Mb 849.00 

150Mb 1249.00 

Level 3 Digistore Software 50.00 
Filestore Digistore Software 50.00 
Stacking Filestore Software 50.00 
RISCOS Digistore Software 50.00 
DSL Floppy Podule 29.00 

DSL High Speed Cached 

240Mb Hard Disk 749.00 


Systems & Silicon 

SuperbundlE 

Our fabulous new Superbundle 
provides a choice of the latest in 
Acorn 32-bit computers with the faster 
ARM250 or ARM3 processors 
bundled together with £500.00 worth 
of major software titles. 

Superbundle software: 

• Acorn PC Emulator vl .7 

• 1st Word Plus Rel 2 

• Genesis 

• LinCAD Starter 

• Pipedream 3 

• Waiter 

The Choice of Computers: 

A3010 Family Solution 


(Requires Monitor) 

>/ 469.00 

A3020 2Mb FD 

759.00 

A3020 60Mb CGA 

899.00 

A4000 80Mb CGA 

// 949.00 

A5000 80Mb with 


Multisync Monitor 

W 1399.00 

For above systems with 

multiscan 


monitors please add £50.00 


Monitors 

Philips CM8833II Stereo 

189.00 

Microvitec 14M325 Colour 

169.00 

Acorn Colour Monitor AKF17 

179.00 

Eizo 9060S FlexScan 

429.00 

Taxan Multiscan Monitor 775 

429.00 

Dot Matrix Printers 

Epson LX400 

109.00 

Epson LX850 

158.00 

Epson LX 1050 

232.00 

Epson FX850 

295.00 

Epson LQ100 

158.00 

Epson LQ200 

173.00 

Epson LQ570 

220.00 

Epson LQ1070 

338.00 

Epson LQ870 

362.00 

Epson LQ1170 

450.00 

Laser Printers 

Epson EPL4300 

650.00 

Epson EPL4000 

599.00 

Epson EPL7500 

1305.00 

C C Laser Direct 4 

899.00 

C C Laser Direct 8 

1289.00 

Inkjet Printers 

HP Deskjet 500 Mono 

329.00 

HP Deskjet 500 Colour 

471.00 

Canon BJlOe 

199.00 

Canon BJ300 

309.00 

Epson SQ870 

465.00 


systems 

silicon 

Hannington Hall, P0 Box 50, Cosham, 
Portsmouth P06 3BQ Telephone 0705 327591 


Printer Drivers 

Hewlett Packard Deskjet 500C 1 6.00 


Epson JX Compatible 

(Star LC10) 16.00 

Morley SCSI Hard Disks 

52Mb External 343.00 

52Mb External Cached 380.00 

1 00Mb External 41 7.00 

100Mb External Cached 453.00 

52Mb Internal 263.00 

52Mb Internal Cached 300.00 

100Mb Internal 375.00 

1 00Mb Internal Cached 41 2.00 

SCSI Card 131.00 

SCSI Card Cached 1 70.00 

Major Software Titles 

Arclight 43.00 

Arcol 46.00 

Artisan 45.00 

Cable News 139.00 

Chameleon 32.00 

Compression 35.00 

EasiWriter 1 1 5.00 

Equasor 36.00 

Euclid 40.00 

Eureka POA 

Genesis 86.95 

Genesis Plus 69.00 

Graphbox 69.00 

Graphbox Professional 109.00 

Illusionist 79.00 

Impression 2 125.00 

Impression Business Sup 39.00 

Impression Junior 69.00 

Jigsaw 29.00 

Magpie 45.00 

Mogul 17.00 

Notate 49.00 

Pendown 54.00 

Pipedream 4 149.00 

Poster 75.00 

Presenter GTI 65.00 

ProArtisan 70.00 

Render Bender 2 70.00 

Revelation 2 99.00 

Rhapsody 45.00 

Schema 90.00 

smArt 50.00 

smArt Filer 32.00 

Snapshot (A3000) 269.00 

Snapshot (Archimedes) 1 89.00 

Splice 26.00 

Squirrel Database 129.00 

Tabs 85.00 

Tech Writer 235.00 

Titler 99.00 

Tween 26.00 

Waiter Menu System 35.00 


All prices shown are ex-VAT, which is 
chargeable at 17.5% on all items for UK 
residents. No VAt is due on foreign 
orders. 

Most goods are dispatched within 24 
hours. Prices are subject to change 
without notice. 

Purchase orders accepted from public 
sector, otherwise cash with order. Major 
credit cards accepted. 

Carriage in UK mainland £5.00 small 
items, £7.50 larger items (plus VAT). 
Overseas carriage at cost. 



THINKING 



To solve problems at the leading edge of mathematics, you need to be able to 
handle really big numbers. Nick Craig-Wood explains how it is done on the Arc 


N umbers with lots and lots of digits have 
fascinated people ever since the decimal 
number system was invented. In a famous 
problem that the mathematician Archi- 
medes posed to Eratosthenes, one of the answers 
was a number of over 2()().()0() decimal digits. 
So both of them would have been quite at home 
with my big-number program. Numbers. 

Numbers allows you to calculate with num- 
bers as big as the memory in your computer. 
However, before you rush off to calculate K to a 
million places, remember that the routines only 
deal with whole numbers (integers). Later I will 
explain how to simulate fixed point arithmetic. 
This makes the module ideal for number theory, 
and for RSA public key encryption. 

The NumCalc program puts a friendly face on 
the Numbers module, enabling you to use it like 
a calculator (albeit with a few more digits than 
usual). It acts as an expression evaluator, similar 
to a more modern calculator. It enables you to 
enter expressions in normal notation and it will 
calculate then for you. It has 26 variables (A-Z) 
and holds the result of the last calculation in 
variable @. If you enter a *?' the program will 
print out some help. 

You can type in upper or lower case, Num- 
Calc doesn't care. So have a go! Type in an 
expression as you would in Basic and it will be 
calculated for you. Remember to load the 
Numbers module (by double clicking on it) 
before running the program. 

EASY TO USE 

You can see how easy NumCalc is to use if you 
take a look at the three examples in the box 
overleaf. NumCalc has some operators that 
Basic does not. These are T for taking fac- 
torials (N! = 1x2x3 . . . (N-l )xN so 3! will give 
the reply 6) and 4 %' which works the same as 
the Basic MOD operator. The functions rnd(a), 
probablyprimc(a), gcd(a.b), smallfactor(a), sqr(a), 
powmod(a,b,c) are also provided and these are 
described in the help. ESCAPE will interrupt any 
calculation that is taking too long, and SHIFT- 
ESCAPE will exit you from NumCalc. 

After I decided to write these routines in Arm 
code, a module seemed the most logical way to 



BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 111 


PATRICK PRESTON 



IV1/\TH E 1\/I/\TIC S 



Approximately the number of ways to arrange the paintings in the Paris Louvre 



• As a simple calculator. The last example shows how to simulate fixed point arithmetic. 
The large number is the square root of 2 to 50 decimal places, if a decimal point is placed just 
after the first 1. 

Expression: 2+2 

Result: 4 

Expression: 2'64 

Result: 18446744073709551616 

Expression: sqr(2*10T00) 

Result: 

141421356237309504880168872420969807856967187537694 

• For symbolic algebra, including how to solve a large quadratic equation: 

Expression: a=1 

Result: 1 

Expression: b=-456579579579588 

Result: -456579579579588 

Expression: c=56200344488577628484340195 

Result: 56200344488577628484340195 

Expression: 

(-b-sqr(b'2-4*a*c))/(2*a) 

Result: 123123123123 
Expression: 

(-b+sqr(b‘2-4*a*c))/(2*a) 

Result: 456456456456465 

• An investigation into whether 2 67 -1 is prime or not. (Incidentally, the factors shown were 
completed by hand by Frederick Cole in 1903 - he said it had taken him 20 years of Sunday 
afternoons) 

Expression: p=2 67-1 

Result: 147573952589676412927 

Expression: probablyprime(p) 

Result: 0 

Expression: 193707721*761838257287 
Result: 1 4757395258967641 2927 
Expression: @-p 
Result: 0 


present them. This means that the routines are 
called as SWTs using the SYS command from 
Basic. At the core of the Numbers module are 
the memory management routines based on 
OS_Heap. These enable numbers of variable 
length to be kept in a reusable piece of memory, 
known as a ‘heap'. 

Numbers stored on the heap (referred to as 
*nums' from now on) are stored in two parts. 
There is a head and a tail. The head is fixed. 


and when a pointer to a num is referred to, it is 
actually a pointer to a head. 

The head points to the tail of the number. 
This is where the actual digits of the num are 
held, in binary, and this may move and expand 
or contract as operations are performed on the 
num. The head also contains information about 
how long the number is, and what its sign is and 
some other housekeeping details. Have a look at 
the diagram to see how a typical num is stored 
in the heap. 

The module uses straightforward techniques 
like those we were taught at school to do calcu- 
lations. That covers add, subtract and multiply. 
Dividing is a more difficult process, because the 
computer cannot guess tvhat the next digit of the 
answer is. When we do long division we only 
have to guess from one of 10 digits (base 10). 
However, the most efficient way to hold num- 
bers in the Arm uses numbers in base 2 32 - 
4,294,967,296, which is too many to guess one 
digit from! A more sophisticated method is 
used, which approximates the next digit by 
looking at the quotient, and then makes sure that 
the sum was correct. 

To use the module it is necessary to set some 
workspace aside for it to use as a heap for the 
numbers. Here is how a program to use Num- 
bers might start: 

*RM Ensure Numbers 0.0 Error 1 Numbers 

module not found 

HeapSize=64* 1 024 

DIM Numbers HeapSize 

SYS “Num HeapInif'.Numbers.HeapSize TO 

hp%,zero%,one%,two% 

This makes a heap for the numbers and gets hp<7r, 
which is a pointer to the heap variables, (this is 
needed by some of the SWIs): zero%, one% & 
two% are pointers to numbers which have the 
preset values 0, 1 and 2, for convenience and 
internal use. 

BASIC FUNCTIONS 

All nums must be initialised before use. What 
this does is make a head in the heap and sets the 
tail to zero. So the following would make some 
variables, called a%,b%,c%. 

SYS M Num Jnit M ,hp% TO a% 

SYS "Num_Init".hp% TO b% 

SYS "Num_Init",hp% TO c% 

In order to set a num to an integer (or a Basic 
variable in the range ±2 31 ) you would use: 

SYS ”Num_Set",a%, 12345 

The following would input a string and con- 
vert it to a num pointed to by a%: 

SYS "Num_Input",a% TO flag% 

IF flag%=0 THEN PRINT "Number was bad" 

Number's SWIs always take their arguments 
before their results, so: 

SYS "Num_Mur,a%,b%,c% 

This does c%-a%*b% or, more mathematically, 
a c /c*b%\c%. Num_Add and Num_Sub work in 
exactly the same way. Num_Div is slightly more 
complicated, returning the remainder (modulus) 
as well as the result (quotient). So: 

SYS "Num_Div",u%,v%,q%,r% 
does (in an equivalent Basic statement) q%=u% 
DIV V% and r%=u% MOD v%. To print out a% use: 
SYS "Num_Print",a% 


112 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 


I\/1 AT H E rvl AT I d s 


That covers the basic operators. Intermediate in 
complexity come the following . . . 

To return the sign of (a%-b r £): 

SYS "Num_Cnip , \a%,b% TO sign% 

so, say you want to have a statement of the form 

IF a% > b r /r THEN . . you would do it by: 

SYS "Num_Cmp’’.a%,b% TO sign% 

IF sign% > 0 THEN . . . 

You could substitute any of <,<=,>=,=,<> for 
the > in the statement above. If you want to 
make local variables for PROCs and FNs this can 
be done with: 

DEF PROCdo_something 
LOCAL local_variable% 

SYS "Num_lnit",hp% TO local_variable% 

REM Rest of PROC 

SYS "Num_Remove",local_variable% 

ENDPROC 

You should not set num a% to num b% by 
b%=a f /L It will work, but the head and tail of b % 
will be left in the heap using up room, so use 
one of the follow ing instead: 

SYS ,, Num_Swap",a%,b% Swaps the value of 
a% and b% 

SYS "Num_Move",a%,b% Moves the value of 
a% into b% 

ADVANCED FUNCTIONS 

Here is a brief description of some of the func- 
tions which are useful for things like finding 
large prime numbers, RSA cryptography or 
number theory: 

SYS "Num_Gcd M ,a%,b%,c% Finds the greatest 
common divisor of a% and b % into c% 

SYS "Num_Pow",a%,b%,c% Finds a% A b% into 
c% 

SYS "Num_PowMod",a%,b%,c%,d% Finds 
a%"b% MOD c% into d% 

SYS ''Num_Inv",a%,b%,c%,d% Finds c% & d% 
such that a%*c% MOD b%=d% AND 
d%=GCD(a%,b%) 

SYS "Num_ProbablyPrime",a% TO f% Returns 
f%= 0 if a% is not prime, f%=l if a% is prime 
(with a probability of 0.25 of being wrong) 

It is worth explaining more about 
Num_Probably Prime. This is for testing whether a 
number is prime or not. If you use it once and it 
returns a 0 then your number is not prime. 
However, if it returns 1 then your number might 
be prime (three chances out of four). Every time 
Num_Probably Prime is run. it is different, so that if 
you use it twice and both answers were 1 then 
you have a prime with a probability of 15 
chances out of 1 6. 

So, to ‘prove’ a number prime to a given 
probability, run the routine lots of times. If you 
run it N times, and each time the result was 1 
then you have a prime to a probability of 1 :4 N . 
So if you run the routine 50 times w ith answer 1 
you can be sure the number you had was prime 
(the chances of a cosmic ray particle changing 
the state of a bit in one of your Ram chips is 
higher), although many mathematicians would 
not call that a real proof. 

Using Num_ Probably Prime is much quicker than 
proving the number prime. For a number of N 
digits, Num_ProbablyPrime takes a time propor- 
tional to N-\ however the quickest routine to 
prove the number prime takes time proportional 


The num a% showing head and tail 



How Numbers handles heaps 


PRIME PROPERTY 


A prime is a number which is divisible by only 1 and itself without remainder. A Mersenne 
prime is a prime of the form 2P-1, usually denoted M p The world's largest known prime is a 
Mersenne prime, which may well be known to readers of BAU since, in June 1991, Dr Susan 
Stepney wrote an article with a program to calculate the numbers in question and determine 
their primality. 

The program by Dr Stepney was re-written using the Numbers module (Lucas, on the disk). 
This has two major advantages. First, the calculation done with the large numbers is done 
by the Numbers module and hidden from sight, making the program easier to understand. 
Second, the calculations in the module are done in machine code and run an awful lot faster. 
To show that M 397 is not prime takes threeV4 hours with Dr Stepney's program, but using the 
Numbers module it takes five seconds. The program will discover that M 521 is prime in 12 
seconds. If you leave the program running for about a week it will discover all the Mersenne 
primes up to M^. 

M 2 i 609 i is (probably!) the largest prime known at the current moment. If you increase the 
HeapSize to 512*1024 in the NumCalc program and enter 2^216091-1 into it, it will show you 
the number in a few minutes. To check that it is a prime would take about five years on an 
A5000! Here are a few primes which I have discovered (though not necessarily for the first 
time) with Numbers :- 2 4423 -1, 3401+1, 111 ... Ill (1031 occurrences of the digit '1'; a number 
of this form is called a rep-unit), 10 100 +267, 10 1000 +453. 


to N 5 , so for 100-digit numbers it would take 
around 10,000 times longer. 

On the monthly disk you will find Numbers 
(the module), NumCalc (the calculator). Lucas 
(to find Mersenne primes), NumModTxt (docu- 
mentation on all Number s SWIs) and RSA (a 
demonstration of public key encryption). 

Number theory was once thought to be the 
least productive area of maths. In recent times 
that has changed, and it has become the key to 
many different types of encryption techniques, 
secure verification, error correcting codes and 
others. Karl Gauss said, ‘Mathematics is the 
queen of the sciences and number theory the 
queen of mathematics' and with that sentiment, 
may you be speeded on the way to the heights of 
mathematics by Numbers and NumCalc. 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 113 




NEW 

ARM3 upgrade 
with floating 
point accelerator 
option 

The only ARM3 upgrade to allow a floating 
point accelerator chip to he connected directly 
to the ARM3's 32-bit coprocessor bus. The 
ARM3 itself increases the speed of your 
computer by a factor of at least 3, and 
sometimes even more. In addition the floating 
point chip speeds up maths operations 
previously emulated by software. 

Other floating point units have the disadvantage 
of occupying a slot in the backplane. They arc 
also either incompatible with ARM3 boards, or 
relatively slow due to the 16-bit backplane 
interface. This upgrade does not suffer from 
any of these disadvantages. 

★ ARM3 alone gives typical 3 to 4 
times speed increase 

★ Floating point accelerator chip 
option for even faster maths 
functions 

★ High quality 4-layer board 

★ Fits A 305, A3 10, A440, 400/1 
series and the A3000 

★ Fully compatible with other 
upgrades (memory, hard discs, 
RISC OS 3 etc) 

Installation is straightforward for all machines 
except the A3(M)(), but a fitting service is 
available in all cases. Please note also that the 
A300 series and old A440 require the MPMC I a 
upgrade. Please write or phone for full details. 

Our usual money-back guarantee applies to 
this product. 

ARM 3 introductory price - £175 

MPMC la - £36 Floating point unit - £ TBA 


A3000 systems & memory 

A 3000 - £599 A3000 Learning curve - £642 
Free 2Mb RAM upgrade included in the price. 

2Mb RAM board (upgradable to 4Mb) - £50 
4Mb RAM - £130 

Bare board (without RAM chips) - £25.50 
An easy to fit and reliable RAM upgrade. 8- 
chip design for minimal power consumption. 
Gold plated connectors ensure long term 
reliability. No soldering needed. 


A540 

Powerful ARM3 based machine allowing up to 
16Mb RAM. 

AMO with extra 4mb (8Mb total) - £2495 

All products fully guaranteed. Many 
products also carry our 14-day money-back 
guarantee too. Please phone for details. 


See us at the 
1992 Acorn User show. 
Stand no. 65 


RISC OS 3.10 

Acorn's new operating system for their range of 
RISC computers. The current version of RISC 
OS (2.00) is just 5 1 2K long, whereas OS 3.10 
contains 2Mb of code. 

Many applications which were previously 
supplied on disc are now contained in the OS 
ROMs. This includes improved versions of 
Draw, Paint and Edit. Because they arc available 
on ROM they are always instantly accessible, 
and also occupy less RAM space. 

Other features include extra "background" 
operations. For example, discs can now be 
formatted or files copied while the machine is 
used for other purposes. 

RISC OS 3.10 may be used on the A 305, A3 10, 
A440, 400/1 series, A3000, A540 etc. 

Orders for RISC OS 3. 10 are now' being taken on 
a first-come first-served basis. Phone 0752 
847286 for further details. 

RISC OS 3.10 £41.70 

(Please phone to check this price before 
ordering) 

A305, A3 10 and A440 owners please 
note. Although the ROM sockets inside 
your machine are large enough to 
accommodate the new ROMs, simply 
plugging in RISC OS 3.10 will not work. 
This problem is overcome by installing the 
RISC OS Carrier Board first. The RCB 
may be used with any version of RISC OS. 
RISC OS Carrier Board £21 


A5000 systems & memory 

A5000 with RISC OS 3. 40Mb hard disc, 
multisync monitor and ARM3. - £1499. 

A5000 learning curve. - £1531. 

Free 4Mb RAM upgrade included in the price. 

2Mb memory board (4Mb total) - £85 
A compact board measuring just 104mm by 
49mm, this design fits vertically in your 
machine. No soldering required. Unlike larger 
boards, there is no need to remove the disc 
drive. Four-layer design as specified by Acorn. 
A bare board (ie without the RAM chips fitted) 
is also available. 


Hard disc upgrades 

A range of fast ( 1 7mS) SCSI hard discs with a 
two year warranty, in sizes from 52Mb upwards. 
Supplied with all metalwork and cables. 400/1 
machines merely require the drive and SCSI 
card. 300 series require a backplane. 

52Mb - £199 105Mb - £280 

120Mb - £299 210Mb - £525 

Oak 16 bit SCSI card - £100 


Various 

Aleph One 386 1 Mb PC Card - £490 
386 4Mb PC Card - £575 
Impression 2 - £130 

Free price list available upon request. 
Prices exclude VAT. 


IFEL Ltd Educational and quantity discount available. 

34 Culver Road, Saltash. Cornwall FI. 12 4I)R. Tel (0752) 847286. Fax (0752) 840029 


A310 & A305 upgrade 
column 

Memory expansion 

Extra memory is without doubt the most worthwhile 
addition to any A300 series machine. Some 
programs won’t even run with only I Mb. and 2Mb 
is a bare minimum. Certain applications, desktop 
publishing for example, benefit from a 4Mb system. 

2Mb - £99 4Mb - £163 

Compatibility. The memory is detected and used by 
the machine automatically, so there arc no special 
commands needed. Works with both RISC OS 2 and 
3.10. 

The use of only eight RAM chips ensures low 
power consumption. Compatible with ARM3 
upgrades, backplanes, hard discs etc. This upgrade 
is supplied on just one. compact board measuring 
only 195mm by 40mm. Four-layer circuitry reduces 
electrical noise for trouble-free operation. The 2Mb 
upgrade may be upgraded to 4Mb later by the user, 
without any soldering. A copy of the fitting 
instructions is available free of charge. 

A complete fitting service is available for our RAM 
boards covering courier collection, installation and 
testing. MEMCla, return delivery and guarantee. 
This is normally a three-day service (eg, collected 
Monday, returned Wednesday). We have been 
upgrading 300 series computers for nearly three 
years, and during that time a reliability record 
second-to-none has been established. 

Is there any other 300 series RAM upgrade wich has 
been available for as long as this one, and which has 
the same reputation for quality and reliability? No. 

Still not sure? Compare it with the competition 
before making up your mind. Use our 14-day 
money-back guarantee to check it out for yourself 

RISC OS Carrier Board £21 

This is an easy to install adaptor board for the larger 
RISC OS 3 ROMs. A set of links on the board 
allows it to be used with RISC OS 2 and easily 
adapted for RISC OS 3 later. Suitable for use with 
the A305, A3 10 and A440. The adaptor has been 
fully tested with RISC OS version 2.00 and version 
3. 10. It is fully compatible w ith other hardware 
upgrades such as the RAM board described above, 
ARM3’s, backplanes, VIDC enhancers and 
expansion cards. 

4-slot backplane with fan £57 

Combination deals 

4Mb with MEMCla. self-fit £199 

Collection of your computer, installation of 4Mb of 
RAM, MEMCla. and RISC OS Carrier Board, 
testing, full guarantee, and return delivery £219 

Special prices available on hard discs, ARM3 
boards and software when ordered w ith any memory 
upgrade. 

DTP special 

Your A300 upgraded with 4 Meg of 
RAM, MEMCla, ARM3, RISC OS 3 
and Impression 2 software £549 

We can supply a range of hard drives with the 
above system. 


RAM for 410 & 420 

Upgrade from I Mb to 2Mb - £34 
Upgrade from 2Mb to 4Mb - £65 
Upgrade from I Mb to 4Mb - £99 
Supplied with full instructions. 



114 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 








*0 




s* 


AUTO 


Program: Auto (IRunlmage, 
MakeSpr) 

Purpose: Desktop utility 
Author: Andrew Young 
Machine: 32-bit 
Listings: Both 70 lines Basie 


This very short and neat desk- 
top utility should prove valu- 
able to many readers. It's 
designed to set up your desk- 
top environment appropriate to 
your current activity. 

Very often, you need certain 
applications loaded, certain 

FIGURE ONE: What you need 
to get Auto started. (Lines are 
separated with a U). 

IBoot: 

Set InitialiseSDir <Obey$Dir>n 
IconSprites 

<lnitialiseSDir>.!SpritesH 
I Run 

<lnitialise$Dir>.!RunlmageH 

IRun: 

Set InitialiseSDir <Obey$Dir>H 
IconSprites 

<lnitialiseSDir>. ! SpritesH 
WimpSlot -min 32k -max 32kH 
Run <!nitialiseSDir>. 

IRunlmageH 


directories displayed, and even 
a specific screen mode 
selected for a particular task. 
For example, you might want 
Impression and Edit installed 
with adfs::MyDisc.$.WP 
opened and screen mode 17. 
These requirements can he 
saved as a simple text file 
within Auto. The text file is 
given a single letter name that 
is the same as the ‘hot key* 
you want to use to install the 
environment (for example, w 
for word processing). Simply 


Dave Lawrence and Dave Acton 
present their monthly mix of 
programs for all Acorn users 


1 Rut o ’Run hie 


let nit ialise$Oir_(Ob TiX | 5 , ;Paul($iHorktl 0Oct92. Progs. Disc. Starlnfo.lftuti^ 

i X adf s : : Pau 1 . $ . I> • , i V. , rh T 

J l flJto IBoot lie 


et InitialiseSDir <0b 
conSprites (Imtialis 


r ;! XI adfs : :Paul . S.Hor 


adfs: :Paul Work 
adfs: : Paul . S. Library 


{Application) 

, . adfs: iPaul.S.flpps.DTPApps.! Impress 

Run (InitialiseSDir) adfs; :Paul.$.Apps.Deskf ftn 

adfs: : Paul . S. Pbrivers . I 

Use the above line l m, sc 

you enter its direct«<Mode> 

27 


0 

0 

■Boot 

'Run 

H 

m 




1 


MakeSpr 


D 


Default 


iiiii 


JLml- 


isii 1 

:A Apps Dungeon 



Set up this collection of files and Auto is ready to go 


HINTS AND TIPS 


• James Bossard offers an easy way to get tiny but readable print on your 
Epson-compatible printer. Just type: 

VDU 2,1,27,1,51,1,16,1,27,1,80,1,15,1,27,1,83,1,1,3 
which selects Pica, condensed and superscript, and alters the line feed to 
16/216in. 

• Robert Bergs offers the following tip for users of Quest Paint who would 
like to compress their pictures using our screen compressor (Pieces of Eight, 
September 1991). Just enter the I/O menu and press print. At the prompt 
type *SVPIC <filename> and your picture will be squashed and saved! To 
reload do similar but type *LDPIC <filename>. Apparently Quest Paint 
thinks that the commands are for printer dumps and so displays the screen 
in full ready for dumping. Another use for this, says Robert, is to get text 
onto the screen. Prepare an Ascii file, select print and type *TYPE 
<filename> - the text will appear on the screen. 

• Archimedes users have always had the luxury of sprites, but Glyn Davies 
points out that Master owners needn't despair. On their welcome disc in 
the Library directory can be found a sideways Ram image called Spriter. To 
install use . . . 

*SRROM 6 

*SRMLOAD Spriter 8000 6 Q 

... or something similar. Then press CTRL-BREAK. Type *HELP SPRITES for a 
list of the available commands. Most are identical in operation to those on 
the Arc. Also, *HELP GRAPHICS will list all the relevant VDU, GCOL and 
PLOT codes needed to use the sprites 


double-click on Auto while 
holding down W and your 
machine sets itself up. 

To use Auto first create this 

directory and then enter and 

save the IRunlmage program 
inside it. Next enter and run 
MakeSpr which will create the 
file Sprites. Put Sprites in the 
directory too. Now enter the 

Boot and Run tiles, as shown 

in Figure One. These should 
be obey files - use Edit to cre- 
ate them. If you would like 
Auto to be run automatically 
by the desktop remove the T 
(vertical stroke) character from 

FIGURE 2: An example of an 
Auto configuration file: 

{OpenJH 

adfs::HardDisc4.S.Apps.RiscOS 

adfs::HardDisc4.$.Data.MyDocs 

{Close} 

adfs::HardDisc4.S 

{VDU} 

2,1,27,1,67,1,70,3 

{Module} 

BasicEdit 

NewModes 

{Application} 

adfs::HardDisc4.$.Apps.RiscOS- 
. ! Edit 

adfs::HardDisc4.S.Apps.Docum- 
ents. 1 stWord+. ! 1 stWord+ 

{Mode} 

28 


the last line of IBoot. Finally 
create an empty text file called 
Default and save this in Auto 
too. Use Edit for this or use 
♦Create Default then *SetType 
Default Text. 

Each configuration tile is 
just a text file containing 
special keywords followed by 
one or more parameters. The 
valid keywords are as follows: 
| Open} precedes one or more 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 115 










STAR INFO 


directory viewers to open. 
{Close) precedes one or more 
directory viewers to close. 

{ VDU } precedes a series of 
VDU codes. These must he 
integers separated by commas 
and may not include semi- 
colon or T. 

{Module} precedes one or more 
modules to load. 

{Application} precedes one or 
more application to load. 

{Mode} precedes the desired 
screen mode number. 

For (Open} and (Close), full 
pathnames should be given. 

To get an idea of how to use 
these, look at figure two, 
which shows how to set up a 
typical word processing 
environment. The VDU key- 
word is used to send a string of 
codes to prepare the printer. 

If you double-click on Auto 
and don't hold down a key, the 
file Default is used. This 
special file can be used to set 
up a ‘general' environment. 

One subtle modification to 
Auto that Andrew suggests is 
to include a hard space (pro- 
duced with ALT-SPACE) in the 
title, to give *! Auto'. Don’t 
forget to check the sprite name 
though. If you keep the appli- 
cation in S with System this 
ensures the system directory is 
seen first and the path. System:, 
is ready for any application 
that requires system modules 
and such. 

Andrew has kept Auto short 
and to the point and, as he 
says: ‘the program is struc- 
tured to allow for easy expan- 
sion’. As always, if you have 
any useful enhancements for 
Auto or any other +INFO list- 
ing we’d love to see them. 

CIRCLES 

Program: Circles 
Description: Graphic demo 
Author: Mark Hobson 
Machine: 32-bit 
Listing: 140 lines Basic 

This graphical offering shows 
the ‘fringing’ effect produced 
when two sets of concentric 
rings overlap. Two lots of such 
rings are moved around on the 
screen to create the pattern. 

Two sprites are created con- 
taining the ring patterns and 
these are then plotted in differ- 
ent positions (taken from a 
table). The colours are 
changed smoothly from frame 
to frame to enhance the overall 
effect. 



♦UPDATE 


• Ron Wardeneir has spotted a problem with his 
UpTime application (+INF0, April 1992). Apparently 
the five-byte time was converted to a four-byte value 
relative to 1 January 1991. The maximum four-byte 
value &FFFFFFFF corresponds to about 497 days, and 
hence the program goes wrong (and time 'wraps 
around') on 12 May 1992. Ron has supplied the correc- 
tions in the form of a command file, UpTime +. This 
should be entered using Edit or similar and used by 
typing *EXEC UpTime+. Note that it expects UpTime to 
be in S. The file alters Runlmage appropriately. Make a 
copy to be safe, or invest in the monthly disc which 
has on it the complete new version. 

• Gordon Sinclair spotted an occasional problem with 
SprEd ( BAU , January 1992). It seems sprites of certain 
sizes can cause problems because an attempt is made 
to call OS_Heap with a non-word size heap block. 
These lines of Runlmage must be added or changed: 
5135wordsize%=(size%+3) DIV 4 * 4 

5140SYS "Wimp SlotSize",appsizeout%+wordsize%,-1 
5150SYS "OS Heap",0,heapout%,,wordsize% 


Note that the line numbers are different on the 
subscriber's disc - 5521, 5530 and 5540 to be precise. 
Apologies for the error and the discrepancy in line 
numbers. 

• E J Preston of North Yorkshire put in a request to 
Questions and Answers for load and save routines for 
eight-bit WaterWorld (*INFO, July 1992). We are 
happy to oblige and the extra lines needed are given 
as Water + on the yellow pages. Just change/add these 
lines to WaterEd. The complete revised listing is 
included on the monthly disc. 

Because there isn't room on the screen for a 'file 
window' the loading and saving had to be kept quite 
simple. So, to save the current screen press S followed 
by a letter A to Z. This will save the screen as WetPicX 
where X is 'A' to 'Z'. The details of the valves are 
saved in a separate file called ValvesX. To reload a 
screen, press L and the screen letter. If the files can't 
be found, a beep will be sounded. Because L was used 
to draw lines in the original, SPACE has taken over 
this role to avoid a clash. 


RASPBERRY RIPPLE 

Program: Rippler 
Description: Graphic demo 
Authors: Richard Talbot-Wat- 
kins and Matthew Goldbolt 
Machine: Eight-bit 
Listing: 120 lines Basic/code 

There’s not much to say about 
this program just run it! It 
will generate a simple demon- 
stration screen, and then 
‘ripple’ it in a similar way to 


Stuart Cupit’s Arc program in 
the March 90 Rise Revue. For 
each line of the picture, a 
value is looked up in a sine 
table and used as an offset to 
the vertical position of the line 
on the displayed picture. This 
is achieved with an ‘unrolled’ 
loop to copy screen lines 
around for maximum speed. It 
is much more effective with 
‘proper’ screens - try a digit- 
ised picture if you have one. 


FAST MATHS 

Programs: Di v 1 0. Mod 1 0 
Description: Maths routines 
Author: A F Reysenbach 
Machine: 32-bit 
Listings: 20-30 lines Basic 

A couple of mathematical 
quickies that might help some 
of you Arm code programmers 
cut a corner or two. They are 
speedy routines to perform DIV 
10 and MOD 10 that you can use 


116 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 



STAR INFO 





RIPPLER ! 


in your own programs. All the 
instructions used are ‘fast* 
ones (meaning there are no 
multiplies). 


CIE 

Program: CIE 
Description: Graphic demo 
Author: David Walters 
Machine: 32-bit 
Listing: 60 lines Basic 



Stir up your screens with a ripple or two 


If you enjoyed David’s Gour- 
raud listing in July’s ♦INFO 
you will no doubt appreciate 
his latest offering. Here's what 
CIE is all about, in David's 
own words . . . 

‘Continuing my search 
through the fundamentals of 
computer graphics, I came 
aross something called the CIE 




BEGINNERS' BIT 


Procedures and functions are an invaluable part of Basic programming. 
Whenever a section of program needs to be used in more than one 
place it is usually best to put it in a procedure. This saves space and 
makes the program more readable. Also, procedures can be used to 
break programs up into well-defined sections, again aiding readability. 
And of course, the more readable a program is to you, the more likely it 
is to be understood by another programmer. So, if you are starting out 
in Basic programming, it is a good idea to get into the habit of using 
PROC and FN from the start. 

The only difference between a procedure and a function is that the 
latter returns a value. This may be a string or number. PROCs don't 
return parameters (although Basic 5 does allow this - more next 
month!). 

As an example, have a look at the two programs FXdemol and 
FXdemo2. They perform exactly the same task, but FXdemol is written 
without PROCs or FNs, whereas FXdemo2 uses them extensively. The 
most noticeable difference is that FXdemo2 is much easier to follow 
than FXdemol. The procedure names give clues as to what each area of 
the program does. The long multi-statement lines of FXdemol are not 
present in FXdemo2. Nor are the GOTOs which are the hallmarks of bad 
programming technique and lead to so-called 'spaghetti' programming. 

Strings of characters are read from DATA statements at the end. 
Embedded within these are control sequences to turn on and off italic 
and bold effects ('@1' and W respectively). The effects are produced by 
reading a character's eight-byte definition (using Osword call 10) and 
then manipulating those eight bytes before displaying the modified 
character. It's a simple way of producing text effects and has been 
featured several times over the years in BAU. 

In FXdemo2, global variables are set up in PROCinit and then 
PROCtext is called to display the text. Most programs can be divided 
neatly into two main parts like this. Sometimes a third section may be 
needed to 'tidy up' after a program has finished (switch the cursor back 
on, re-enable the ESCAPE key etc). 

PROCtext reads lines of text until the terminator is reached. Each is 
passed to PROCdisplayJine. This procedure takes a single parameter rS, 
which is the string to be displayed. Note that rS in PROCdisplayJine is 
completely different to rS in PROCtext. All parameters declared in DEF 
PROC statements are 'local', so although r$ in PROCdisplayJine is 
initially a copy of rS in PROCtext, it can be freely changed without 
affecting the rS in PROCtext at all. We could give it a different name to 
be clearer, but in long programs you cannot always remember all the 
names you've used. Local variables get around this problem, since you 
only have to worry about clashes of variable names within a particular 
procedure or function. 

Variables can still be made local even if they are not included in the 
DEF PROC or DEF FN. This is done with LOCAL. For example, rS is 


declared as local after DEF PROCtext and this ensures there is no clash 
with any other variable called r$. Remember, as soon as the ENDPROC is 
encountered the local variables for that procedure or function are 
forgotten. 

PROCdisplayJine looks at the first character of r$. If this is '©' it must 
be a control sequence, so FNeffect is called. Otherwise FNchar is called. 
FNeffect analyses the control sequence and sets the flags ital% or bold% 
accordingly. It then returns the string minus the control sequence so the 
remainder of the text can be processed. 

FNchar displays the first character in the string and then returns the 
rest of the string for further processing. The character's definition is read 
with Osword, and then PROCmake, bold or PROCmake italic (or both) 
are called to process the character before display. In fact, the Osword 
call returns the eight bytes defining the character in the block q%. These 
are altered if necessary, then user-definable character 224 is given the 
altered definition and displayed. 

For eight-bit users, procedures are particularly useful for keeping 
programs structured and avoiding the dreaded GOTOs. With Basic 5 on 
32-bit machines the IF . . . THEN statement can be split over many lines, 
but this isn't possible on eight-bit machines. So, if you want to include 
several statements after an IF you'll either end up with a very long line, 
or you will find yourself in need of a GOTO. It is much better to put all 
the statements into a procedure. Here is a typical IF . . . THEN sequence 
in Basic 5 which traps errors: 

IF error % THEN 
VDU 7 

PRINT“An error has occurred' 

*FX 15 

PRINT"Press a key...' 
key=GET 
ENDIF 

And here is how to do the same thing with procedures: 

IF error% PROCerr 

DEF PROCerr 
VDU 7 

PRINT"An error has occurred" 

*FX 15 

PRINT"Press a key..." 
key=GET 

Next month, we'll continue our look at PROCs and FNs, including the 
special RETURN parameters in Basic 5 on 32-bit machines. 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 117 






The New Line Up 

We now have great pleasure In offering the new and exciting line up of computers from Acorn. All of 
these systems feature RISC OS 3.1, the new multi-tasking operating system and are supplied with a 
mouse, stereo sound, 2Mb (unformatted) floppy drive, serial and printer ports. Additionally, they will 
all run any of the standard Archimedes software titles, of which there are now over 2,000. 

A3010 

This system represents an incredible breakthrough for 
Acom. For only £499 INC VAT you can now have the 
full power of an Acom RISC OS computer. This sys- 
tem is based around thenewARM 250 processor, 
which typically offers a 50% speed increase on ARM 
2 systems (A3000/A310/A400). 1Mb RAM (upgradable 
to 2Mb), 2 joystick ports and TV modulator are all built 
in to the A3010. It is supplied with EasiWord word proces- 
sor, Audio Training Tape and Quest for Gold Game in 
a pack called The Family Solution. Alternatively, the 
A3010 is available in The Learning Curve package. 

This also includes a RAM Upgrade to 2 Mb, Colour 
Monitor, PC Emulator, Guide to the National Curriculum 
and Genesis Collection. 




ml 


01 51 g A3020 FD Colour £749.00 

01 52g A3020 FD Multi-scan £799.00 

0155g A3020 HD60 Colour £899.00 

0156g A3020 HD60 Multi-scan £949.00 




0172g A3010 Family Solution £424.68 
0182g Colour Monitor forA3010 £220.00 
0173g A3010 Learning Curve £680.00 


A3020 

This system is targeted towards the schools. Along 
with the ARM250 it offers 2Mb RAM (upgradable to 
4Mb), colour monitor (or multi-scan) and optional 60Mb 
internal hard drive. 


A4000 

This system is supplied in a slimline version of the 
A5000 metal casing. It has a separate PC style key- 
board, the ARM250 processor, 2Mb RAM 
(Upgradable to 4Mb), colour monitor (or multi-scan) 
and an 80Mb hard drive. It is also available in a Home 
Office pack which includes Easiwnter wordprocessor, 
Audio Training Tape and Desktop Database. 






0227g A4000 Colour C949.00 

0234g A4000 Multi-scan £999.00 

0209g A4000 Home Office Colour £999.00 
021 5g A4000 H. Office Multi-scan £1049.00 


031 7g A4 2Mb FD £1399.00 

031 6g A4 4Mb HD 60 £1699.00 


0211gA5000 2Mb HD80 Multi-scan £1399.00 
0206g A5000 4Mb HD120 Multi-scan £1599.00 
0213g A5000 Learning Curve £1445.96 


A5000 

This now represents even better value for money. 
The A5000 features the ARM3 processor, 2Mb RAM 
(upgradable to 4Mb), an 80 Mb hard drive and multi- 
scan monitor. It is available in a Learning Curve bun- 
dle which also includes Acom DTP, 1st Word Plus 
wordprocessor, Pacmania Game, PC Emulator and 
Genesis Plus. A separate version of the A5000 is 
also available (but not in the Learning Curve), which 
includes 4Mb RAM and 120 MB hard drive as stan- 
dard. 

A4 Portable 

This is effectively an A5000 in a notebook format. An 
excellent machine with ARM3, 2Mb RAM (upgrad- 
able to 4Mb) and optional 60Mb internal hard drive. 

(Free PC Emulator with 60Mb version until Christmas.) 


Acom Pocket Book 

This is the surprise addition to the range. It is not RISC OS 
based and has none of the features shared by the rest of 
the systems. It has built-in applications of wordprocessor, 
spreadsheet and database with 256K RAM and optional 
4Mb Solid State Disc. An optional link kit enables it to trans- 
fer data to any Acom RISC OS computer. 

0390g Acorn Pocket Book £212.72 

RISC OS 3 Upgrades 

Upgrades to the new version of RISC OS are now available. This will certainly become the new 
standard for all Archimedes machines. A3000, A540, A400/1 series computers need only code 
0888d. A305, A310, A440 systems will also need a Hardware Upgrade Kit (dealer fit) code 0887b. 
A5000 owners need a ROM only kit, code 0889b. If you are unhappy about fitting RISC OS 3 your- 
self, we are pleased to offer a free fitting service to customers. Please phone to arrange this. 

0888d RISC OS 3 Complete £41.70 0887b Hardware Upgrade Kit £25.53 

0889b RISC OS 3 (For A5000) £16.17 

Educational establishments, please phone or write for quotation. 

BEEBUG Ltd. 117 Hatfield Rd. St. Albans. Herts AL1 4JS Tel. 0727 40303 Fax 0727 860263 


For More Information 

Please write or phone for more information 
or an Acorn brochure. Additionally we 
would be pleased to send you a compli- 
mentary copy of our 52 page full colour 
catalogue on just about everything for the 
Archimedes computer. 

Ordering Details 

These are all new products so please call 
to check stock availability. Orders received 
will be dealt with in strict rotation and 
cheques not cashed or credit cards debit- 
ed until your system is actually sent. 
Prices are shown exclusive of VAT. 
Carriage: RISC OS please add £3.00, 
computers please add £9.00. 


ra 

III 


The Archimedes Specialists 


Beebug are one of Acorn's largest dealers. We have a large showroom in St. Albans 
(close to the M25 and Ml) and an efficient mail-order service specialising in sending 
Acom Computer equipment to homes throughout the country. Additionally, we have an 
excellent technical support team to provide any advice and help that you may need. 
Beebug are not here today and gone tomorrow. You can trust us, we have been working 
with Acorn for over 10 years now! 

Our sister company, RISC Developments, is also well known for producing quality soft- 
ware and hardware add ons for the Acom range, as well as the RISC User magazine. 






STAR INFO 


diagram. But what was it. and 
how could I display it on the 
Archimedes? 

‘Apparently the Commis- 
sion Internationale de 
L’Eclairage (if you excuse my 
French) came up w ith this dia- 
gram in 1931 to standardise 
the way in which colours are 
specified in terms of red. green 
and blue. The original CIE 
diagram contained all the 
colours visible to the naked 
eye. Current computer moni- 
tors are incapable of display- 
ing all these colours but an 
approximated part of the dia- 
gram can be generated w ithout 
too much difficulty. 

’My program displays this 
part of the CIE diagram in the 
form of a triangle (you will 
note my interest in this shape). 
The colour mapping to the 
Archimedes palette is per- 
formed by my RGB colour 
selector (more useful than I 
first thought, and it's faster 
than ColourTrans). 

‘On top of that. I have 
included a full RGB colour 
ETT (Error Transfer Techni- 
que) procedure (the one in 
Gourraud was only single 
colour). The difference that 
this makes can be clearly seen 
as the two diagrams are drawn 
side by side. 

‘Now this program runs 
somewhat slowly, so Tve put 
in a size7c of 300 to show you 
what it does. At the maximum 
sensible size of 640. the com- 
plete image will be displayed 
precisely one kettle boil and a 
cup of tea later . . .’ 

CHATTERING AWAY 

Program: Chat 
Description: Econet utility 
Authors: DA and DL 
Machine: All 
Requirements: Network 
Listing: 250 lines Basic 

Chat is an Econet utility that 
allows two users to chat to 
each other via the network. 
The screen is divided into two 
‘windows’. Each user types 
into the top window- and. as if 
by magic, the words appear in 
the bottom window of the 
other user’s machine! 

Since we started *INFO 
we’ve received a number of 
requests for Econet utility pro- 
grams. The Chat program 
presented here is the develop- 
ment of an extremely ropey 
program that has been lurking 



All the colours of the rainbow - almost - with the CIE standard 


STATION TO STATION 


■HIHiiiifellflftAiAllfefeiHHHHaHH 


The trickiest part of Chat is establishing the link in 
the first place, so we thought a description of how 
this works would be useful. If you read this with a 
copy of the listing to hand, you should be able to 
extract some useful procedures for use in your own 
programs. 

FNwhoami uses an OSWORD call to directly access 
the fileserver to find out the user name of who is 
running the program. The user is then asked who 
they wish to chat to. Assume for the moment that 
they type in a name, for example, Donna. PROCchat is 
called to start the link up. The name is converted to 
uppercase and a checksum calculated for it (we'll see 
why in a bit). FNuser is called to return the names of 
users currently logged on. As with FNwhoami this 
communicates directly with the fileserver. When the 
required user is found, a message is sent to their 
machine ('Vikki wants a chat'). If that user wasn't 
found then an error is given. 

Now, quickly jumping to the other machine, Donna 
has just received a message that Vikki wants a chat, 
so she types CHAIN "CHAT" and presses RETURN. At 
this stage, Donna herself knows who wanted to chat 
to her, but her machine doesn't - *NOTIFY only 
inserts the string into the keyboard buffer - it doesn't 
store it anywhere for us to read. The machine will 
also need to know Vikki's station and bridge number 
in order to send data to her. All Donna's machine 
does know is her (Donna's) user name. So, it calcu- 
lates a checksum of it (using FNcrc) and broadcasts it 
across the whole network, effectively saying 
'Donna's Here!'. (A checksum is used because broad- 
casts can only contain up to eight characters, but user 
names can be up to 10, so to avoid truncation and 
thereby possible confusion, a numeric value is calcu- 
lated from the letters of the user name) 

Meanwhile, back on Vikki's machine, it has just 
notified Donna's machine, so it waits for up to 20 
seconds listening for any broadcasts on the network. 
FNwait .for waits for a given broadcast to be received 
for up to a given amount of time. Vikki's Chat there- 
fore waits for Donna's checksum to be received. If it 
isn't received in the time an error is given (No reply). 

If it is, Vikki's machine will then know the station and 
bridge number of Donna's machine (because it will be 
contained in the broadcast it has just received). 


All that remains is for Donna's machine to find out 
Vikki's station and bridge number. This is performed 
in a similar way although Donna's machine only waits 
for a couple of seconds to receive Vikki's broadcast. 

Data can now be transferred as both machines 
know the station and bridge number of the other 
machine. The only slight complication comes in that it 
would be nice to display on each person's machine 
who they were chatting to and where they were. 
Vikki's machine knows she is chatting to Donna 
(because Vikki typed it in) and also knows where on 
the network Donna is, it also knows who 'it' is (from 
FNwhoami) but doesn't know where it is (in relation 
to Donna) - it is possible to read your own station 
number, but your bridge number will vary according 
to who you are chatting to. Donna's machine only 
knows who it is and the station and bridge number of 
Vikki's machine, it still doesn't know where it is or 
who it is chatting to. So this data is packaged up and 
sent to the other machine prefixed with a special 
character (254). Each machine can then print useful 
information about the users above each window. 

After that little lot, the actual chatting is relatively 
simple. A repeat loop is entered that reads characters 
from the keyboard, displays them in the top window 
and adds them to a string called out$. When this 
string gets longer than five characters or 1/3 second 
elapses it is sent to the other machine. Two special 
cases are detected, RETURN is translated to character 
255 so it can be included within a string and ESCAPE 
sets the done flag to indicate that the user has fin- 
ished. The repeat loop also monitors any reception 
from the other machine and displays any text 
received in the bottom window. The special charac- 
ters 254 and 27 are dealt with in PROCgot chars 
displaying the log-on and gone messages respec- 
tively. 255s are translated back to 13s by PROCinsert. 

Note that is is quite possible to transmit control 
character across the net. Some of these may be useful 
(CTRL-G for a Bell, CTRL-K to scroll your window 
down, CTRL-L to clear your window) while others 
might well have disastrous effects (CTRL-V to change 
mode, for example) so watch out! Teletext control 
codes are also sendable and the default SHIFT-func- 
tion keys generate coloured (and flashing) text codes, 
so you can easily add a little variety to your chats. 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 119 




STAR INFO 


on the Redwood network for 
about five years. So we 
thought it was about time we 
dug it out, dusted the, er, dust, 
off it, threw it away and 
started again! 

Once saved in your library, 
the program couldn't really be 
easier to use; say there were 
two users, Vikki and Donna 
and Vikki wanted to chat to 
Donna. She would type CHAIN 
CHAT" and at the prompt 
‘Chat to whom?* would type 
DONNA. The program would 
look around to find where 
Donna was logged on and 
notify her that ‘Vikki wants a 
chat'. This would appear on 
Donna's screen in exactly the 
same way that a ^NOTIFY 
would. Assuming Donna also 
wanted to chat, she would type 
CHAIN "CHAT" and simply 
press RETURN when asked to 
whom she wished to chat. 
Their two screens would then 
be divided in half and each 
person could type in the top 
‘window' on their screen. 

Chat program transmits the 
text to the other machine and 


would display it in the bottom 
window of the recipient's 
screen. When either user had 
had enough chatter, they 
would press ESCAPE, which 
would display ‘Vikki has 
gone' on Donna's screen (or 
vice versa) and terminate the 
link. Donna would still be able 
to type away, but no transmis- 
sion would take place. Press- 
ing ESCAPE on her machine 
would return her to Basic. 

If you’d like to know' more 
about the inner life of Chat , 
see the box (‘Station to sta- 
tion'). Chat will work on all 
machines, including 32-bit 
ones, by means of the BBCE- 
conet module. This intercepts 
the various OSWORD and 
OSBYTE calls and translates 
them into the appropriate swi 
calls to the real Econet 
module. Obviously this is not a 
particularly wonderful way of 
going about things, but it does 
mean that one program will 
work on all machines. We 
promise to cover Archimedes 
Econet handling in a future 
issue and hope to bring you a 


LINE BY LINE 



Let Eye hijack your brain and take it away to distant zones of time and space 

desktop 


proper multi-tasking 
version of Chat. 


GOOD VIBES 

Programs: Eye, Eggs 
Description: Graphic demos 
Author: Jan Vibe 
Machine: 32-bit 
Listings: 70 and 40 lines Basic 

Our ♦ INFO column wouldn't 
be the same without the regu- 


This month's line-by-line listing is a short graphical 
ditty from none other than our regular: Jan Vibe. The 
program is called Eggs, and before looking at it in 
detail here are a couple of pieces of background 
information that may help beginners follow the 
program: 

ELLIPSE and ELLIPSE FILL are Basic 5 commands to 
allow you to display any elliptical shape on the 
screen. They take at least four and sometimes five 
parameters: 

ELLIPSE [FILL] x,y,maj,min [,ang] 

Here, x and y are just the screen co-ordinates of 
the centre of the ellipse, maj and min are the maxi- 
mum and minimum radiuses. (If these are the same 
then you'll get a circle) Finally you can add an angle, 
by which your ellipse will be rotated. This must be in 
radians, so if you have an angle in degrees, d say, 
convert using RAD(d). 

SYS “OS_Byte",112 and 113 select screen banks. 
Many *INF0 programs (particularly Jan Vibe's) make 
use of two screen banks for smooth animation. The 
first picture is displayed on bank 1 and the second 
drawn 'secretly' on bank 2. Then bank 2 is displayed 
and the next picture drawn on bank 1 which is now 
hidden from view. This process continues so the user 
only ever sees the finished pictures and not their 
preparation. 

THE LISTING: 

60,70 Select mode 9. Choosing mode 137 first ensures 
both screen banks are blanked. 

80 Switch cursor off 

90,100 Set screen bank variables. s1% is the bank 
being updated, s2% is the bank being displayed. 

120 Set a% to 0. This is the angle by which the 'eggs' 
are rotated. 


130-160 Loop to define colours. This useful loop sets 
colours 1-12 to a smooth progression. 

170 Set colour 13 to white. 

180 Set c% to 0. This is the colour counter used to 
change the colours of the eggs. 

190 Set error handler. If an error (for example, Escape) 
occurs, control passes to line 370 where it will be dealt 
with. 

200 The main loop begins. 

210 WAIT for VSync. You should always wait for the 
start of a frame before swapping screen banks to 
avoid flicker. 

220-230 Select screen banks for update and display. 
240 Swap bank numbers. 

250 Clear bank to be updated. 

260 Update c%. This variable cycles from 1 to 12, 
moving on by one colour each frame. It is used to 
change the colour of the eggs smoothly. 

270 Loop to plot the small eggs. 

280 Set t to the angle of an individual egg in radians. 
290 Move colour on so small eggs are 'staggered' in 
colour. 

300 Select colour. 

310 Plot small egg. SIN and COS are used to calculate 
the eggs position, and the egg is rotated by 10*t as 
well. 

320 Do next egg. 

330 Select white. 

340 Plot big egg 

350 Add 1 to a% so all eggs are rotated by 1 degree 
next frame. 

360 Repeat forever. 

370+ The error handler. Select screen bank s1% and 
report error. This ensures error message isn't shown 
on the 'hidden'bank. 


lar graphical offerings from 
Jan Vibe. This latest pair of 
programs both make inventive 
use of the Basic ELLIPSE 
command. 

Eye draws a tunnel- like pat- 
tern on the screen and then 
grabs it as a sprite. This is then 
continually scaled and plotted 
on the screen to give the effect 
of moving through the tunnel. 
Sealing takes quite some time 
on an Arm2 but if you have an 
Arm3 machine try reducing 
the value of delay# (to about 
five, for example). 

Eggs needs no introduction 
other than to say it's rather 
strange but oddly pleasing! 
Run it and see. If you'd like to 
know more then refer to this 
month's Line-by-Line box 
which explains the listing in 
full. 

♦QUIT 

As always, it's programs and 
tips from readers like you that 
make ♦ INFO the internation- 
ally renowned institution that 
it is. Listings, applications, 
hints, tips or even requests are 
most welcome. All items pub- 
lished earn for their creators a 
cash reward (and near limitless 
fame and respect from your 
fellow readers). 

All but the shortest listings 
should be on disc together 
with a description. A stamped 
addressed envelope will ensure 
the return of your disc. If you 
are a young reader please let 
us know your age. 

So send your software sub- 
missions to us at: 

♦INFO, 

BBC Acorn User, 

Redwood Publishing. 

101 Bayham Street, 

London NWI OAG. 


120 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 





ARCterm 7 1 .40 

Our popular comms package now supports Minitel emulation 
and includes an Econet modem server. Recommended by 
Hampshire LEA. Existing users return both disks and SAE 


for upgrade. £68 

A50QQ IDE drives 

These fit internally, and work as second drives to the 40Mb. 

A5000 internal 120Mb Conner £289 

A5000 internal 240Mb Quantum £489 

IDE 

Complete systems. MEMC1 a/backplane required. 

A300/400 internal 20Mb Conner £139 

A300/400 internal 40Mb cached Seagate £219 

A300/400 internal 100Mb cached Seagate £299 

SCSI 


We supply Morley SCSI cards. Transfer rates are lOOOk/s for 
Quantums and 2150k/s for Fujitsu. Add £50 for a cached 
SCSI card if you require one. A300/400/500 internal prices 
shown, add £60 for A3000/5000 external systems. 


Quantum 52Mb (2yr gtee) + Morley SCSI £3 1 9 

Quantum 105Mb (2yr gtee) + Morley SCSI £429 

Quantum 240Mb (2yr gtee) + Morley SCSI £699 

Fujitsu 520Mb (5yr gtee) + Morley SCSI £1199 


20Mb 3,5" Floptical Drive 

External drive works with most SCSI cards eg Oak, Acorn, 
Vertical Twist (or add £100 for a Morley card). Both systems 
include 1 floptical floppy (usually £20). 

External £399 

Internal A5000 including controller £359 

120Mb 3.5" Magneto-Optical Drive 

Externally boxed rewritable optical drive. Works with most 
SCSI systems and stores 120Mb on each £50 disk. It's quick 
and the media is very secure - it uses a combination of laser 
heating and a magnetic field to store the data. Drive comes 
with one disk and cables. £ 1 099 

IBM Keyboard/Mouse Interface 

This plugs into the keyboard socket and allows connection of 
a PC keyboard, serial/bus/Archimedes mouse and 4 joysticks. 
Imminent, call for information! £89 

Coming Soon 

- 8-port serial card for RISC OS/RISCiX use. 

- 64kBit synchronous ISDN adapter card. 

- Apple Localtalk interface card. 

- A4 link program to access another machine's hard disk. 

All disk systems come tested and formatted with all cables. 
Delivery on hardware £10+ VAT. Education is entitled to a 
5% discount on all products. 

Please add VAT at 17.5% to all prices. Plastic welcome. 


THE SERIAL PORT 



The Serial Port 
Burcott Manor, Wells, 
Somerset, BA5 1NH 

Telephone (0749) 670058 

Fax (0749) 670809 

Modem (0749) 670030 

ISDN (0749) 670883 



SOUND 


N o doubt you've all been avidly following 
Dave Radford's recent series on sound 
and, if you are a subscriber and have last 
month's disc, you've no doubt experi- 
mented with his excellent harmonic synthesis 
program. By now. you must have loads of 
wicked beeps and whooshes and whistles but, 
let's face it. there's an awful lot of parameters to 
be considered in setting up a sound and. if 
you'xve been working by trial and error, you 
may be at a loss to explain exactly how' you 
arrived at the results you got. 

Here is a systematic way you can build tones 
to imitate real musical instruments, using three 
sound elements called timbre, dynamics and 
expression. The aim is not to make your Arc 
sound like Yehudi Menuhin, Miles Davis or 
Eddie Van Halen, but to use familiar sounds as a 
starting point when producing your own tones 
and sound effects. 

TIMBRE 

Timbre is a word used in music and acoustics to 
refer to the tone, or harmonic content, of a 
particular sound, for example, a ‘reedy* clarinet 
or a ‘silvery' fiddle. Musicians, being intuitive 
beings, tend to make do with adjectives like 
‘reedy' or silvery' when describing this quality, 
but acousticians prefer to break it down into 
spectra' using a mathematical technique known 
as Fourier analysis. 

From the point of view of Fourier analysis, 
any complex wave is simply the sum of many 
sine waves, which differ in their frequency and 
amplitude. Modern hardware and software 

DETAILED HARMONICS FOR VIOLIN NOTE A (440Hz) 

1:700 2:45 3:27 4:25 5:48 6:53 7:53 8:63 9:52 10:27 
11:24 12:75 13:75 14:33 15:77 16:33 17:23 18:77 


‘spectrum analysers' take electronic signals and 
produce histograms showing the frequency and 
amplitude of these Fourier components. 

If you don't happen to have a spectrum ana- 
lyser. don't despair. Any moderately sized 
public library should have a selection of books 
on music and acoustics with many illustrations 



CHURCH ORGAN: When you press a key, the valve 
opens instantaneously and the pipe sounds at its 
maximum volume for as long as you hold it down. 
When you take your finger off the key, the valve shuts 
and the note stops dead. The sound has no vibrato or 
tremolo. In this example, the amplitude envelope 
starts at maximum and drops away to zero as soon as 
the key is released. The Repeat option is set to infinity 
at the maximum amplitude. 


HARMONIC 



Richard Garrett provides some words of wisdom for 
users of BAU's HarmSynth synthesizer 



ftaplitude envelope 


Envelopes 


1st: 90‘/. 

2nd: 100* 
3rd: 20* 


Extras 


O Don't repeat 


<$>Repeat forever 
<0>Repeat for: 


4th: 


10* 


5th: 


m 


Vibrato 


Speed: 

Depth: 


OBOE: A similar note to the viola but with a different attack and vibrato to the note 


FOURIER COMPONENTS FOR INSTRUMENTS 

Instrument 

7 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

70 

VIOLIN 

100 

45 

21 

25 

48 

53 

53 

63 

52 

27 

VIOLA 

100 

45 

40 

20 

40 

30 

10 

14 

8 

8 

VIOLINCELLO 

100 

75 

100 

34 

15 

26 

30 

14 

40 

10 

DOUBLE BASS 

60 

40 

100 

42 

9 

44 

2 

7 

5 

0 

GRAND PIANO 

100 

41 

95 

43 

17 

0 

6 

_ 

_ 


HARP 

100 

58 

80 

13 

12 

10 

- 

- 

- 

_ 

ORGAN clarinet 8' 

79 

43 

100 

4 

2 

0 

11 

_ 

_ 

_ 

ORG qt. diapason 8' 

100 

81 

11 

4 

3 

5 

_ 

_ 

_ 

_ 

FLUTE 

100 

100 

10 

20 

25 

3 

2 

2 

- 

- 

CLARINET 

100 

0_ 

50 

10 

60 

30 

50 

30 

10 

2 

SAXOPHONE 

100 

70 

13 

50 

8 

1 

0 

2 

5 

0 

OBOE 

90 

100 

20 

10 

30 

10 

0 

0 

5 

_ 

FRENCH HORN 

30 

100 

60 

14 

_ 

_ 

_ 

_ 

_ 

_ 

TRUMPET 

100 

100 

80 

75 

40 

30 

10 

10 

5 

5 

TUBA 

100 

70 

8 

3 

2 

- 

- 

_ 

_ 

_ 

VOICE soprano 

100 

90 

95 

10 

7 

0 

0 

1 

3 

- 


of standard sound spectra. When dealing with 
tuned instruments, sound spectrum data is sually 
shown as a series of intensities for each integral 
harmonic (see our first diagram). This is very 
convenient, as we can read the first ten values 
straight off the graph and into the sine-wave 
table in HarmSynth. Have a go. and see what it 
sounds like. As synthesized violins go, these 


122 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 






SOUND 



Sine uave 


1st 

0*/. 

ft 

2nd 

46'/. —mm 


3rd 

4th 

0'/. 


1WI 

5th 

87. 


6th 

287 ■■ 


7th 

87 


8th 

317 mmm 


9th 

87 


18th 

487 

— 


KOTO: This sound imitates a Japanese zither. When the string is plucked, the sound rises in 
volume very quickly and drops away to almost nothing almost as fast. Although the player can 
control volume, there is no way to sustain the note beyond its natural (short) duration, so the 
repeat is turned off. Although koto players don't use vibrato, they do sometimes bend the note 
upwards by pressing down on a string, and you could imitate this with a very slight positive 
pitch envelope at the start of the note. 



VIOLA: When the note is bowed slowly, the player makes the clean sound rise gently from 
nothing, fall away a little, commencing a rich vibrato which she sustains indefinitely and then 
allows to die, as slowly as it arose. Repeat is set to infinity 


values sound OK, hut the final sound seems to 
lack ‘top end'. This is where the addition of 
other waveforms comes in handy. Triangle, 
sawtooth and square waves can also each be 
broken down into series of sine waves and, 
therefore, are good sources of extra harmonics. 
Square waves, for example, are said to contain 
all the odd-numbered harmonics and can add a 
‘raspy' quality to a sound. In the case of our 
fiddle, we added a little high-frequency triangle 
wave (7 percent at the eighth harmonic) to give 
a bit more ‘jingle* above the range of the sine 
table. 


As a general guide to sounds: the first few 
harmonics sound mellow or ‘rounded'; five to 
eight, often called ‘bell tones', give more ‘ding' 
to the sound; and higher values (‘tines') make it 
more ‘shiny* or ‘jingly*. Have a look at the table 
on the facing page - it contains extensive data 
for a good range of other timbres. 

DYNAMIC EXPRESSION 

Much of the information we use to identify a 
sound as that of a particular instrument, derives, 
not from its timbre, but from the way in which 
the volume rises and falls at the beginning and 
end of the note, known as ‘dynamics', and the 
way in which different slurs and vibrato sounds 
are added to different parts of the note, known 
as ‘expression'. To see how this process works, 
take a look at the comments I have added to the 
pictures in this article. 

Of course, there are numerous techniques for 
playing most instruments and. when designing a 
sound you should think about the particular 
effect you want. Imagine the sound in your head 
and then use the amplitude envelope to draw the 
way it swells, sustains and dies. 

Some instruments produce small changes in 
pitch when you play them, for example a strong 
plectrum guitar note goes ‘sharp' when first 
struck because the string is stretched slightly 
causing a rise in pitch which settles as the note 
sustains. 

When using vibrato, watch the way people 
play and think about what they're doing. It's 
easy with string players - you can see them 
wiggling their fingers around on the fretboard in 
varying intensity from the gentle modulation of 
classical cello players, through Hendrixian two- 
note bends on electric guitar, to the muscular 
half-octave techniques used in sitar playing. 
Tremolo is less used in music and harder to 
apply but it could be dead good for digeridu 
impersonations. 

GETTING ADVANCED 

Real musical sounds are incredibly complex, so 
there is no way that you're going to produce a 
sound using a simple synthesizer that would fool 
an experienced instrumental player. If you want 
to produce sounds that will get anywhere close 
to the quality of real instruments, you will need 
to digitise their sounds by using a sampling 
package of some sort. 

I've steered away from untuned instruments 
like drums, cymbals and other percussion, 
because these don't have purely harmonic 
(meaning whole number) spectra, but do have a 
go at them. A good tip when emulating these is 
to throw in a lot of seventh harmonics, which 
have a nice dissonant quality. Once you've used 
this technique, you're ready for the next step. 
Add lots more waves, pitch envelopes and so on, 
and see just how weird things can get. 


FURTHER READING 


• The Acoustical Foundations of Music by John 
Backus, published by McGraw Hill 

• Musical Acoustics by Charles A Culver 

• The Technique of the Sound Studio by Alec 
Murray Nisbett, published by Focal Press 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 123 









CHEQUERED FLAG 

Incredibly realistic. 
After all Nigel is aging . . 
£24.95 


FIREBALL II XTRA 

The ultimate addiction. 
£10.00 for unlimited exasperation. 




CHEQUERED FLAG 

The Best Formula One Racing Simulator! 
Customise your car for each circuit and 
race the champions. 




■■■■■■■■■■ 


CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL SOFTWARE 

UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT - YOU'LL NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE 
ALL C.I.S. SOFTWARE IS INITIALLY DEVELOPED ON THE ARCHIMEDES 


ANNOUNCING NEW PRODUCTS. 

MICRODRIVE 2 - Major improvements to the best golfing simulator. SOUND FX MAKER - The power 
to make any sound - simply, fabulously versatile and amazingly fun to use. MICRODRIVE DESIGNER 

Judge by the standard of MicroDrive. Make 
your own courses and play them. Sets new 
standards. Satisfaction guaranteed. 


CHEQVmt FUG 


l.» Bitfarw 3,747 1 *. Ik 
arc tl.17.1M, 
136 . 78 ! vfh 
f*Uln Brest 










Win 




-• 


235yd 


MICRODRIVE 2 


Seven complete courses in one package - The best golf simulator 
available on any home computer. Total realism, can be as 
challenging as you wish. When you see the scenery, you’ll want to 
be there!! £34.95. 

Upgrade your old version £9.95. 

Q. What do a high profile member of John Major’s cabinet, one of 
Italy’s top surgeons, a world famous composer and a world famous 
inventor have in common ? ‘ 

A. They all play MicroDrive and need to order the upgrade and 
MicroDrive Designer!! 


MORE NEW PRODUCTS 

A darts quiz game with true flight 
simulation. Adventure games, simulators 
or even your own products - Contact us. 
News soon. 




ISOUND FX MAKER 

We originally thought that this 
was just another tool for 
programmers but this couldn’t be 
further from the truth! A totally 
original program, enthralling, yet 
so easy to use. All sounds can be 
generated, from any musical 
instrument to a toilet flush! 




Dm 


* -?• £ V f > V * * $ 

Rewards the user like no other 
product. Ring us and speak to 
the author, he’ll tell you how to 
generate sounds on screen using 
filters and wave generators to 
produce the one you want! 
Makes all other similar products 
redundant especially at the 
price: £49.95 Offer price £39.95 
(for a limited period). (No 
digitiser required)! A sure best seller. 


BARGAIN 

BASEMENT 

Any three former 
best selling titles for 
just £15.00! 

Phone for 
information. 


MICRODRIVE DESIGNER 

On its own - The challenge and 
rewards of MicroDrive at your 
fingertips - Build a course with 
all the in-built features of 
MicroDrive then play it! 
MicroDrive Designer will 
probably prove to be the most 
successful product of its kind. 






C.I.S. is an authorised 
Acorn reseller. 

Naturally we have our 
own educational 
software including a package for 
dyslexics; we are also able to 
supply and support a multitude 
of systems including networks. 
Phone for information. 


CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL SOFTWARE (C.I.S.) 

Suite 2A. Leroy Business Centre, 436 Essex Road 
LONDON Nl 3QP 

All prices include VAT. AccesWisa acce] 

Tel: 071 226 3340 

Fax: 071 226 3408 






W ith your new found knowledge of the 
two Arm instructions LD and ST we can 
now take a look at how you would deal 
with simple arrays in Arm machine 
code. You should remember from last month 
that all memory accesses are indirect, meaning 
they need a register to hold the address you are 
referring to. 

You should also remember that it was poss- 
ible to add a constant to this register to allow 
program counter-relative data access. If you 
were very observant you might have spotted that 
I mentioned that this offset could either be a 
fixed constant or a register and a shift - I did 
keep that bit rather quiet. 

As you can probably imagine, having a vari- 
able offset opens up hundreds of (well, maybe a 
dozen or so) programming possibilities to the 
discerning coder. To see the principle behind 
this, try typing in and running Arm! from the 
yellow pages. 

Any guesses as to what the ADR on line 130 
does? Well, to tell you the truth, it isn’t really an 
Arm instruction at all. What it does is point the 
register (in this case Rl) to the address given (in 
this case table). As with the LDR instruction we 
met last month, we are making use of the pro- 
gram counter to make the code position- 
independent. 

As our little program here could theoretically 
be assembled anywhere in memory, we obvi- 
ously won’t know what the actual address of the 
table will be, so we can’t (and, indeed, wouldn’t 
really want to) ‘fix' the value of Rl to one given 
address. 

TABLE MAHERS 

What we do know is that the table is a fixed 
distance away from the ADR instruction. Since 
the program counter keeps track of where in the 
program we are, we could use an ADD (or a SUB 
if the table was ‘below’ the ADR in memory) 
with an appropriate constant value to make Rl 
point to the table. 

Unfortunately, the PC is a little tricky to make 
use of sometimes (you'll see why eventually) 
and, of course, we may add in some more code 
after the ADR. which would upset the constant 
we have just calculated and cause all sorts of 
problems! This is where ADR comes in - it’s a 
form of shorthand to the assembler and it means: 
‘Assemble a suitable ADD or SUB which will 
point my register to this address.’ 

Let's get back to the Ann/ program. Having 
set Rl to point to the table of values, we then 
load R() with the contents of Rl + R0. MOV pc. link 
will return us to Basic with the loaded value 
passed back via USR. The small Basic loop at the 
end of the program simply calls the piece of 
code with A r /< (meaning R0) set to 0, 4. 8 and so 
on. These are the offsets from table for the eight. 
32-bit. constants stored with the EQUD 
instructions. 

One interesting point worth mentioning here, 
that you yourself may have noticed, is that 
constant offsets can be between -4095 and 
+4095. and not -4096, which is what you would 
expect if the number was stored in twos' com- 
plement format. This is because the constant is 
actually stored as a 12-bit number w ith one sign 
bit. This does, of course, mean that you can have 





gplr. 


mm 






ASSEMBLY 

LINE 


Dave Lawrence 
explains more about 
Arm programming 


+0 and -0, but it also means that register offsets 
can be either positive or negative. 

This enables you to have instructions such as: 

LDR R0,(R1,-R3] 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 125 


PAUL SCHOFIELD 





PROG R/\l\/l l\/l INIG 


Which, fairly obviously, will load RO from the 
appropriate address. 

We can make use of one further feature of LD 
and ST to tidy this program up a little. As men- 
tioned above, the register offset can be a given a 
shift value. This can consist of any of the 
standard shift types (ASL, LSR, RRX, and so on) 
and a numeric only (sorry, you can't supply a 
fourth register!) value between 0 and 32. You 
can therefore have instructions such as: 

LDR R().| R I .R2.ASL #2] 

This effectively multiplies R2 by four, adds it to 
Rl, loads the word at that address and stores it in 
RO. In other words, it loads RO with ‘word num- 
ber' R2 from a table stored at Rl. If you change 
line 140 to: 

LDR R0.[R 1 .RO.ASL #2) 

and delete line 280, you should get the same 
result as before but using a shifted load! 

ARRAYS 

A useful example will follow in a minute, but 
just for the moment assume you have an set of 
data and you want to find the sum of all the 
elements. In Basic, you might write something 
like this: 

total=() 

FOR i=l TO num 
total += a( i ) 

NEXT i 
PRINT total 

In Arm code, you would probably end up with 
something like Arm2. Here, you supply the start 
address of the block of data in R() (A % ) and the 
number of elements in Rl (B %). Printing 
USR(sum) adds up the numbers in the block and 
displays the sum. The Basic at the end of Ann2 
makes use of this, filling an ‘array* in memory 
with 10 random numbers (adding them up as it 
goes to confirm the result). 

If you look at the actual code, R2 keeps track 
of which number we are on (starting with 0), R3 
holds the running total. R4 is used as a tem- 
porary register to hold each number as they are 
loaded from memory. R2 is incremented and 
control loops back until it reaches the value of 
Rl (the number of numbers). Finally, R3 is 
copied into RO so that the sum can be returned to 
Basic via USR. 

REGISTER ALIASING 

Now we are moving on to quite ‘complex’ 
(meaning, useful) examples, you may be find- 
ing it a little hard to follow through the listings. 
In the program segment above, I used variables 
called total, i, num and a(), so as to make (I hope) 
their functions self-evident. 

Moving over to the Ann2 listing. I've lum- 
bered you with a stack of confusing register 
numbers, and since I'm meant to be removing 
the mysteries of Arm code, this probably only 
makes matters worse . . . 

Well, I promise that from now on. examples 
will be a cinch to follow because I will be mak- 
ing use of something called ‘register aliasing'. 


Don't panic, as this is dead easy to use, and. in 
fact, every example we have explained to date 
has aliased some of the registers. 

After the DIM in each example have come the 
two statements link=14 and pc=15. These merely 
set up two variables with the values 14 and 15. 
We can then write MOV pc.link and understand 
very quickly what was meant. (We could have 
used MOV RI5.RI4 - but which of the two 
instructions do you prefer?) 

One feature of the Basic assembler is very 
useful, which is that a register number will be 
recognised either as R4, r4 or merely the single 
digit 4. As it is not prefixed by a #. it cannot be a 
constant, so it is taken as a register number. 
MOV pc.link therefore literally means MOV 1 5.14. 
but the assembler works out what you really 
mean by the instruction! 

Obviously this could be taken further and 
names given to any or all of the registers. In the 
listing Ann3, nothing has changed functionally 
since Arm2 . but I think you'll agree that it is a 
trifle easier to follow. 

SORT OF AN EXAMPLE 

To finish off this month, Ann4 brings together a 
lot of useful features into one program. It is an 
implementation of a simple shell sort. As before 
A c '( points to a block of data and B % contains the 
number of data elements. CALLing sort sorts the 
data into ascending order. 

A shell sort is very easy to program; for each 
element in the array scan through the rest of the 
array to see if there is a ‘smaller' element. If 
there is swap the two. What could be easier! In 
the Arm version, i is used to step through the 
array (initialised at line 200, incremented and 
checked at line 400). At the start of each loop, 
minval is loaded w ith the value of the ith element, 
and min is set to i. j is also set to i to scan through 
the rest of the array. 

The second loop, loop? starts with a compari- 
son. value is loaded with the jth element and 
compared to minval - the current lowest value. If 
it is lower, minval is set to this value and min is 
set to j to remember where it was. Note the use 
of MOVLT - a conditional statement. Lines 310- 
330 increment and check j. When j reaches the 
value of number, the rest of the array has been 
scanned. After this, a check is made to see if the 
first element of the array does, in fact, already 
contain the lowest value. 

If it doesn’t, value is loaded from the first 
element and stored in the minth element (this is 
just to get it out of the way) and most impor- 
tantly. minval (the lowest value found in the rest 
of the array) is stored as the new ith element. 
These instructions are what physically move the 
numbers in memory, thus sorting the data. (A 
quick aside; what would you have to change in 
the program to make it sort the numbers into 
descending order?) 

In this example, using small numbers, the 
comparison to see if a swap is needed is not 
strictly necessary, but if you were handling 
textual words or very large numbers it might 
save quite a bit of time if the elements don't 
need to swapped. 

We're staying with arrays next month, but 
moving on with a couple of extra twists that can 
be added to LDs and STs. 



126 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 






R V I D 


O 


ON THE MEflU TODAY... 


Mild Vision 


Info 



$ 

<)• 


0 


0 


Inage 

A 

Processing 

T 

113000 

A 

Expansion 

V 

Hisc 

0 


r 


High quality expansions for the Archimedes, A5000 and A3000 from the 
specialists in Desk Top Video. 

Real Time Colour Video Digitisers 

Use video or TV as a source for computer images. The popular Hawk V9 
digitiser is the ideal solution wherever you need photograph-like sprites in 
colour or monochrome for DTP or Art applications. Wild Vision combine quality 
and performance with value; real-time colour digitisers available from £199.00. 


Superimposing text, graphics or animation onto video 

Simple, with a genlock and overlay card. The Chroma range is your route to 
creating and recording video masterpieces. Just let the film - and your 
imagination - roll! Chroma Genlock range from £215.00. 

PAL encoding units with optional multiple display facility also available. 


Data acquisition 

The Archimedes is the ideal vehicle for the measurement and analysis of 
analogue signals such as sound or ECG readings. Wild Vision's high speed 
12-bit analogue to digital converters are used in medicine, research, defence, 
and incorporated into turnkey systems. ADC1208 from £560.00. 

Image Processing and Analysis 

The Hawk VI 2 video framestores are designed specifically for image 
processing on the mighty Archimedes. With Foster Findlay's Arclmage 
software, a powerful image processing and analysis system is created. 

Hawk VI 2 from £1,990.00. 

• Expanded capacity for your A3000 

Wild Vision's sturdy Expansion Box allows you to use standard Archimedes 
expansion cards with your A3000; up to three cards may be fitted at once. 
A3000 Expansion Box £139.00. 


Contact Wild Vision for full details and price information on the above hardware 
and recommended complementary software. 

Wild Vision, 15 Witney Way, Boldon Business Park, Boldon Colliery, 

Tyne & Wear NE35 9PE, Tel: 091 519 1455, Fax: 091 519 1929 
Prices exclude carriage and VAT 




Software for all Acorn Computer Users! 

Excellent mai l order service for Archimedes , BBC B, Master 128, Master Compact & Electron 

< 



See us at 
the Show! 
Stand 100 


ihiS month*) extra 
Special offer! 


Only £4.50! 


If you spend over 
£j 5.00 on software! 

Stylish Van 3 lockable disc 
box - holds 80 35" discs 



Panasonic KX-PI08I 
Panasonic KX-PI 170 
Panasonic I I24i 
Seikosha 1 900 Plus 
Seikosha SP2400 
Seikosha SL92 


i Printers 

9pin dot matrix £159.95 
9pin dot matrix £ 1 69.95 
24pin dot matrix £254.95 
9pin dot matrix £ I 2 1 .95 
9pin dot matrix £ 1 59.95 
24pin dot matrix £229.95 


Prices include VAT, cable <£ delivery l 

(Delivery free UK mainland only, excluding Scottish Highlands) 
m Full specifcations available on request ** 


BBC & Electron 


(0-S yrs) (BE 
g-7 yrs) (BE 
(7+ yrs) (BBi 


BBC/Ele tape 

6.50 
9.95 
9.95 

BBC only) 9.95 
BBC only) 9.95 
K ”C only) 9.95 

8.50 


E-Type 
Elite 
Exile 

Fun School 3 
Fun School 3 
Fun School 3 
Holed Out 
Nevryon 

Play it Again Sam I to 1 0 (Each) 
Play it Again Sam I I to 14 (Each) 
Play it Again Sam 1 5 & 1 6 (Each) 
Play It Again Sam 1 7 
Sim City 

Superior Collection I (BBC only) 
Superior Collection 2 (BBC only) 
Superior Colection 3 (Ele only) 


6.95 

7.95 

9.95 

9.95 

6.95 
6.95 
6.95 


Send for our 

Catalogue! 

B-Disc 

Cpct 

9.75 

10.50 

11.95 

15.95 

11.95 

15.95 

13.95 

_ 

13.95 

. 

13.95 

_ 

9.75 

10.50 

9.75 

10.50 

8.95 

10.50 

9.95 

11.95 

11.95 

15.95 

12.95 

16.95 

11.95 

15.95 

8.95 

10.50 

8.95 

10.50 


AND MUCH MUCH MORE! 

For details of our complete range for BBC series, Electron oi 
Master Compact, send for our free catalogue! 


Also a great idea for young people! 
UNUSED BBC B COMPUTERS for only £176.25! 
(This price includes DFS, a word processor, & Speech system!) 
BBC B Computer & 40/80t disc drive only £229.95! 


r— CUT — - 


(AUA2) 


Plow load mo your 

FREE CATALOGUE! 


Name 


Address 


Postcode 


□ 


j Archimedes [ 

“1 BBC B/B +/ 


Electron 

J A3000/A5000 |_ 

J Master 128/Cpct 





Arcade Games 

Aggressor 

Bobby Blockhead 

Break 147 & Superpool 

Cartoon Line 

Cataclysm 

Chuck Rock 

Elite 

GODS New! 

Grievous Bodily 'ARM 
lames Pond 

karma - The Flight Trainer 

Lemmings 

Loodz 

Maa Professor Mariartl 

Nebulus 

Nevryon 2 

Pesky Muskrats 

S.W.I.V. 

The Last Ninja New ! 
Zelanites The Onslaught 
" Mind" Games 
Chess 3D 
Cyber Chess 
Si mulation Games 
Air Supremacy 
Chequered Flag 
Chocks Away Compendium 
Dreadnoughts 
Flight Simulator Toolkit 
Saloon Cars Deluxe 
Waterloo 

Adventure Games 
Enter the Realm 
Legend of the Lost Temple 
Pandora’s Box 
Sport Games 
Microdrive World Edition 
Quest for Gold 
Sporting Triangles 
Brian Clough's football 
Com p endiums 
Magnetic Scrolls Collection 
Real McCoy 1 , 2, or 3 (each) 


SRP SALE 


L 


Many special offers on games new and oldl 
Details in our FREE catalogue! 


Presenter GTl 
Rhapsody 2 
Score Draw 
Speech 
Titler 
Tracker 

Touch-Type (New Typing Tutor) 

Utilities 

Desktop Assembler 
Euclid 

Graph Box Professional 
Illusionist 
Investigator Rel 2 
PC Emulator VI.8 
Pipedream 4 
Render Bender 2 
Shape FX 
Tracer 

Word Processors 

Easiword 2 

Educati on al 

10 out of 10 Maths 

10 out of 10 English 

Best Four Maths Programs 

Best Four Language Programs 


82.19. 

61.95. 

61.95. 

19.95. 

149.95. 

49.95 . 
51.04. 

175.08. 

70.00. 

151.58. 

99.95 . 

27.95 . 
116.33. 
230.30. 

99.95. 
11.75. 
61.25. 


25.95 . 
25.95 . 
52.88 . 
52.88. 


... 73.95 
...51.95 
...54.95 
... 15.95 
. 134.95 
... 49.95 
... 45.95 

. 149.95 
... 57.95 
. 129.95 
... 89.95 
... 27.95 
116.33 
199.95 
... 89.95 
.. 1 1.75 
,.51.95 


. 23.95 
. 23.95 
.44.95 
. 44.95 


SRP SALE 


Draw, Paint & Plot 
First Words & Pictures 
Freddy Teddy (3-7yrs) 

Freddy Teddy’s Accenture 
Fun School 3 0-5/S-7/7-I i yrs - eat 
Fun School 4 - Release imminent! 
House of Numbers (6- 1 3yrs) 
Imagine 

Landmarks - 2nd Wrld War 
Little Red Riding Hood 
Letters & Pictures (6-8yrs) 
Mega Maths (A Level) 

Micro English (8yrs - GCSE) 
Micro French (8yrs - GCSE) 
Micro German (8yrs - GCSE) 
Micro Maths (I lyrs - GCSE) 
Numbers/Pictures (4-6+yrs) 
Pirate 

Polyomlnoes 
Primary Maths (3-l2yrs) 
Puncman I A2 (7- 1 
Puncman 3&4 { 

Puncman 5, 6, & 7 (8- 1 5+) 
Sesame St. Number Count 
Shylock Gnomes 


I&2 (7-13+) 
3*4(8-14+) 

5, 6, & 7(8-1. 

- Number Cc 
inomes 

Spelling Week By Wk (6- 1 4) 
The Playground 
The Puddle & the Wardrobe 
TinyLogo/Tlny Draw (4-9yrs) 
Yes Chancellor 2 


46.95 .... 

. 41.95 

25.85 

.21.95 

23.44 ... 

. 19.95 

19.95.... 

. 17.95 

24.99... 

.21.95 

24.99 __ 

- 2I.9S 

25.85.... 

.21.95 

46.94 ... 

, 43.95 

28.20.... 

27.95 

17.95.... 

15.95 

23.50... 

19.95 

25.22.... 

23.95 

25.22.... 

23.95 

25.22.... 

23.95 

25.22.... 

23.95 

25.22 ... 

23.95 

23.50... 

19.95 

27.03 .... 

24.95 

35. 19.., 

31.95 

25.22... 

23.95 

2330 .... 

19.95 

23.50... 

19.95 

2330.... 

19.95 

19.99.... 

17.95 

21.74... 

19.95 

25.85 .... 

21.95 

35.19... 

32.95 

35.19... 

31.95 

35.19... 

31.95 

27.03... 

25.95 


Please ask for our FREE catalogue! 


CQmmunicatipns 

ArcComm V2 
Arcterm 7 
Hearsay 2 

Damp Publishing 

Clip Art Set I or 2 (Each) 
Good Impression 
First Impression 
Impression 2 
Impression Junior 
Ovation 

Peripherals & hard wa re 

Joystick Intfce V2.4 (Leading Edge) 
Cfares Micro Mouse 
Graphics Enhancer (300/400) 
Sound Samp. & Midi Card 
Instructional Videos 
Up & Running 
Text Processing 
Data Handling 
Art/Graphics 


63.45 

.... 63.45 

79.95 

.... 67.95 

88.13 

... 79.35 

35.19 

... 29.95 

31.67 

... 28.50 

35.19 

....31.95 

19837 

.. 145.95 

105.69. 

...81.95 

116.33. 

...91.95 

39.95 . 

.... 39.95 

32.00. 

... 2730 

264.99 ..264.99 

93.99. 

... 93.99 

14.95. 

h. 13.95 

14.95. 

... 13.95 

14.95. 

- 13.95 

14.95. 

... 13.95 



Special Joystick Packs! 


J 


(SRP = Suggested Retail Price) Ail price* indude VAT Q 1 7.5% 



(QUdcshot 3 Turbo) 

Pack One Joystick Interface V2.4 and 
I X Quicks hot 3 Turbo £49.95 
Pack Two Joystick Interface V2.4 and 
2 X Quicksnot 3 Turbo £59.95 


(Superpro Auto) 


Pack Three Joystick Interface V2.4 
& I X Superpro Auto joystick £51.95 
Pack Four Joystick Interface V2.4 
and 2 X Superpro Auto £6 1 .95 

Now A5000 compatible! 


f 


All our prices INCLUDE VAT - remember this when comparing prices! 


Software Bargains & Mercury Games 

Dept A IJA2, (70 Norlhwuod House, North Street. LEEDS I.S7 2AA 

TEL: 0532 436300 FAX: 0532 423289 


* Access/Visa Welcome 

* Please add 95p P&P (Europe £250, Outside Europe £4.50) 

* All prices include VAT @ 1 7.5% 

* Goods despatched within 48 hrs, (subject to tvtiiibiiity) 


* Educational discount of 30% off SRP (not Sale price) 
available on most Archimedes software; Officai Order No. 
or school headed notepaper required - minimum order 
value £30.00 for invoicing, otherwise cheque with order. 

(Prices ire correct it the time of goir^ to press, EAOE) 



ABSOLUTE 



ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS: 
The page that aims to help those 
without a clue. If you do not have 
much technical knowledge, BAU 
can be difficult to read in places, 
so here is an A-Z that will help you to get more 
from the magazine. 



« BOOT: Nothing to do with giv- 
ing the machine a kick to get it 
started. That doesn't work. Boot 
0 is an abbreviation of ‘bootstrap’, 
which, in turn, is American for 
shoelace, as in the phrase: He lifted himself up 
by his bootstraps’. This improbable feat is what 
computers routinely achieve, usually by dint of 
activating a tiny program in Rom (q.v.) which 
loads a slightly bigger program - and so on . . . 




CRASH: Any computer user’s 
nightmare. You spend hours typ- 
ing away when the computer 
kindly informs you that it has 
suffered a fatal error. Fantastic. It 
can crash due to a machine fault, bad software 
or even human error. Often it is an unpredictable 
fatal machine-fault-type abnormal internal error. 
Always save your work regularly and keep a 
back up disc of everything you do. 

DESKTOP: The first thing you 
see when you boot up the Arc. 
As easy to use as, urn, the top of 
a desk - it ends up covered with 
half-eaten doughnuts, papers 
with coffee rings on them and piles of rubbish. 



FONT: A full collection of let- 
ters, grammatical markings, 
numbers and special characters 
written in a distinctive typeface, 
thickness and size. Every appli- 
cation has a selection of fonts. Most include 
italic and bold options. If you have Impression , 
try Selwyn’s excellent shapes and scribbles. 

GRAPHICS: Some of the Arc’s 
best features - it has 256 colours 
and is a very high-resolution 
machine. Used with software 
such as Revelation 2, Render 
Bender or ArcCol, the Arc enables you to do 
amazing things in this area. Take a look at the 
♦INFO pages for hints on programming and to 
see how other readers use the Arc to its full 
capability. The graphics page will keep you 
updated on new applications and software. 




Confused by BAU? 
Now, it's as easy as 
ABC with Sarah 
Burns' A to Z of 
jargon 


HYPERTEXT: A much-misrep- 
resented concept. Hypertext in its 
most definitive form, as laid out 
by the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology’s Media Lab 
(Penguin’s The Media Lab is much recom- 
mended if you wish to understand the future of 
computing) is an entirely new approach to 
knowledge. The user, instead of being trapped in 
the one-way flow of a piece of text can drop out 
at any time, whether by simply asking for a 
definition of a word, or by calling up a support- 
ing visuals, text or sound. They can either 
follow their thoughts in that direction or return 
to the original text. Data democracy in action. 


is an ei un gi 


|approach| 


Lparadigrr 

i£uristk. me 


EMULATOR: To put it bluntly, 
an emulator is a piece of software 
that turns your technically excel- 
lent Arc into an apparent clone of 
another machine that is often 
slower and has a naff user interface. So why do 
it? Well, you may probably want to run all your 
old BBC B software, so the Arc’s Model B 
emulator is immensely useful. 

Also, it must be said that some other, and 
inferior, computers have succeeded in gaining a 
grip on the software market merely by dint of 
their unsporting cheapness so, if you need to run 
their easily available and often inexpensive 
software, you need to ‘emulate’ them. Among 
the emulators available on the Arc are the PC 
emulator (most PCs are inferior to 32-bit Acorn 
machines) and the public domain Sinclair 
Spectrum emulator (emulators are often slower 
than the original machine, but in this case, as 
you can imagine, there’s no problem). 


ICON: An on-screen symbol that 
represents a file or function. On 
the desktop. Icons are the pic- 
tures that you click on - Impres- 
sion is represented by a quill. To 
activate the file or function you simply double- 
click on the icon. Icons can represent simple 
functions, files, or directories of files. 

JARGON: Totally infuriating if 
you don’t understand what any of 
it means. Much computer jargon 
is made up of acronyms - words 
formed using the initial letters of 
other words - MS-Dos, for example, is short for 
Microsoft Disc Operating System and Rise 
stands for Reduced Instruction Set Computer. If 
you have difficulty with many aspects of com- 
puter terminology, we recommend that you buy 
the Penguin Dictionary Of Computing , £6.99 
from all good bookshops. 





BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 129 














KILOBYTE: A basic unit of 
measurement for computer 
memory. A kilobyte (K) is often 
thought to be 1,000 bytes (one 
byte' is equivalent to one charac- 
ter), but in actual fact it is 1,024, because this is 
two to the power of 10 - OK? 





SPRITE: Not just a fizzy drink! 
It is a file that holds all colours 
and bits of a picture, just like a 
mosaic. Put the sprite into the 
correct application, like Paint or 
Revelation and you will be able to play around 
w ith the picture to your heart's content. 


LOW- RESOLUTION: Output 

devices, such as printers or 
monitors, often do not produce 
enough dots per inch to form a 
perfect image. Images printed 
from a low-resolution printer will be grainy, and 
graphics are likely to have jagged edges. High- 
resolution devices produce brilliantly clear and 
precise images. 

S MODEM: This machine will 
convert bytes from your compu- 
ter into acoustic telephone 
signals and/or translate any 
signals you receive from the 
outside world back into data. The unit is 
attached to a telephone and it allows computer 
users to communicate with each other. With a 
modem you can access bulletin boards or swap 
programs with other users. 


H 


NETWORK: A way to get com- 
puters talking to each other. A 
number of computers can be 
connected to a central file server 
which stores information access- 
able to everyone. At BAU we use an Econet 
network, so we can produce the magazine with- 
out the fuss of swapping discs or generating lots 
of paper. Most computer networks, fortunately, 
run more efficiently than the British Rail one. 

OPERATING SYSTEM: A 
master progam that controls the 
computer’s internal workings. 
An operating system is often 
specific to a particular machine. 
The Arc has Rise OS, most PCs have MS-Dos. 





PODULE: A board full of elec- 
tronics that fits into one of the 
slots inside your Arc. Podules 
are able to perform many func- 
tions - for example, video 
digitising or a sound sampling. 


QUESTIONS: . . . and Answers. 
This regular BAU feature is bet- 
ter than any Dear Deirdre 
column, and it’s the ultimate 
problem solver. If you're stuck 
with a piece of hardware or software - however 
simple the problem, write to Q&A and we will 
sort it out. (Erm, no personal problems, thanks!) 

ROM AND RAM: The compu- 
ter's working memory. Rom 
stands for read-only memory. It 
stores essential software (like the 
boot) which you don't want to 
lose when the computer is switched off. The 
Ram, for random access memory, doesn't retain 
information w hen the computer is switched off. 




TOOLBOX: This can be found 
at the side of some windows. It 
provides menu option in graphi- 
cal form. For applications such as 
Draw the toolbox makes life a 
lot simpler as there is no need to keep clicking 
on the menu button, and choosing from menus. 


USER-FRIENDLY: If you can 
say this about something, it is 
well suited for those with little 
technical know ledge or computer 
training. Arc Menus, windows 
and the toolbox are all user-friendly. With these 
you do not need to memorise buttons and key 
controls. Warnings sometimes don't look 
friendly, but then they often pop up when you're 
about to do something utterly half-witted like 
erase four weeks work. 




VERIFY: The action you must 
take to ensure that discs are not 
damaged, as sometimes they are 
corrupt. The computer will auto- 
matically verify a disc after 
formatting. If a disc continually refuses to 
verify, there is no hope and the magnetic data is 
probably destroyed so throw it away. Now ! 


WINDOW: Something you will 
encounter w ith most applications. 
The way you see a document or 
any other file is through a rec- 
tangular window rather than on 
the plain screen. Windows are user-friendly and 
help you to keep your work organised. Often 
you can have a number of windows on the 
screen at once which means you can view’ many 
documents or use more than one application. 

H X-AXIS: One of the few 'x' 
computing words. As all maths 
boffins will know, this is the 
horizontal axis of a graph. The X 
and Y axes are used in program- 
ming to tell the computer where on the screen 
you want to place a character. 

YOU may be an expert and find 
this A-Z very simplistic. If so, 
you may know of an absolute 
beginner, so pass this little lexi- 
con on to the m - they might find 
it useful. Did you honestly think we'd be desper- 
ate enough to use Y-axis? 



T 

1 


—L 





ZERO: It may seem like nothing 
to you but it is a very important 
number for the computer. The 
computer starts counting from 
zero, not one like us. It is impor- 
tant when typing programs not to muddle zero 
(0) and capital O. 




















EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE for JUNIOR to GCSE 


A MAJOR NEW DEVELOPMENT 


The NEW JO out o£ JO Series 

\ * 7 ** These new suites of programs are a revolutionary step 

forward in educational software. Their innovative system of 
A automatically recording children's progress truly sets the 

V f JL ^ tO tO Series in a class of its own. 

^ ^ | Each package contains SIX expertly designed educational games covering 10 

of the most essential parts of a National Curriculum subject for children of 


John : flchieuewent Record 10/10 Mathematics (Nu*4»r - ftT2) 


Carnival Cover Up 0i9 Bang Grab It! ! Silicon Cheer; 





any level or school age from Junior to GCSE. As children learn from the 
* m g^es their progress is automatically recorded in 36 specific areas of 

S 9 * 9 } t National Curriculum Attainment Targets. The programs are designed to be 

un for single players or groups and the assessment system monitors the progress of between 1 and 64 
hildren with no input from parent or teacher needed. Watch them, join in the fun or leave them and 
eium later to check their progress. You're in control! 



flT2 Level 4a. 2 (i) Multiplication facts up to 10 * 18 




The achievement record shows the subjects covered 
together with the child’s progress: Red : Help needed, 
Yellow: Practice needed, Green: JO out oj JO! 


JO out o£ JO 

MATHS (Number) 


Carnival 


The Mathematics National Curriculum is split 
into five Attainment Targets. The Maths 
(Number) ?0 out *4 ?0 suite of programs is 
aimed to cover some essential parts of the Levels 
set out in Attainment Target 2. The package 
covers many topics from all Key Stages but the 
ten specific areas built into the design are listed 
below: 


Here's a great shoot-'em-up that 
checks number skills along with 
fire power. The speed of the 
numbers can be increased to 
challenge even arcade experts. 


/ Addition 
/ Subtraction 
/ Multiplication 
/ Division 
/ Fractions 


i'TS.. 


< 10 / 


/ Decimals 
/ Percentages 
/ Estimation 
/ Units 
/ Powers 




Grab It 


Find and grab answers quickly 
as they jump around the screen 
irr this fast-action game. It's a 
great way to practice number 
skills from tables to estimation. 


Cover Up 

This challenging game of 
matching really gets children 
thinking. It's a real game of 
strategy - especially in the 
multi-player modes. 




Silicon Brain 


This game makes calculator 
practice compelling fun. Key 
presses are displayed on- 
screen to let you look back 
when answers are incorrect. 


The Big Bang 


Keep cool and answer quick is 
the aim of this game. Quick 
responses are needed for high 
scores - an exercise in scale 
reading as well as arithmetic. 



Cheers 


Strategy is needed in this 
unique quiz game. It will keep 
everyone on their toes. Use any 
of the six graded sets of 
questions or compile your own. 



FULL MARKS FOR TOP OF THE CLASS SOFTWARE 



Extensive in-game Options 

Not only can the educational level of the games be 
chosen, speed of play, game length and jPlny other 
options can be set to tailor the programs ^your child’s 
skill level at the game. This means th^^nes can be set 
to suit anyone from novice to arcade Wpert - it keeps 
interest longer and increases personal challenge. 



Three Sets of Graphics 

HI the games have three sets of 
raphics to appeal to any age.^ese are 
utomatically selected det^TOing on 
rade - a parent/teacheij^erride is 
rovided so that yoAn select the 
ietures most suited to ^ir child. 


Dual Scoring System 

High percentages change the colours of the 
achievement chart while good gam^fy - 
_____ combined with high marks - gi^rscores 
which are recorded on the high score tattd^Both are 
automatically saved on disc so that chilcMr can keep 
returning to the package to improve on previous results. 


Unparalleled Quality and Attention to Detail 


To' P acka S e * s resu ^ °f months of work by experienced programme 
Jl designers, game designers, teachers, parents and children. 



SIX Top Games 

ITe games are designed with education 
| of paramount impofi&nce 
I but the fun and upallenge 
| elements jpy e that 
I children will want to 
trive for better results each time. 


I* * T wo Guides 

The player guide lets 
‘ learning start quickly 
iWi while the parentAj#her 
A G U id e guide gives moj^letails 
including now to 
interpret thWttainment 
h Target numbers. 


tail JZ 

ir^ejScational 


Certificate Printing 

Children with high marks can 
print a certificate of achievement. 
Text or graphic options are given 

to suit any 

••SSES?* 1 **' printer and 
Triple 


Parent/Teacher Flexibility 

Many of the automatic features of to out 04 JO can be 
customised by parents or teachers - including sound off/ 
on, the starting grade and the 
graphics to he used. A Reveal 
the game 



Educa 

will n$ftt you 
^ial one 
foW nominal 
charge. 

Ideal for ALL Ages: 
Junior to GCSE 

The fully flexible games cater for 
simple addition, 
subtraction and 
tables at easier 
levels but^fCelop 
to more^fwanced 
topgJTdults will find the higher 
levtW a 

challenge A ‘^ <*«*** 
too! 

1 10 ** H r0 Maths ( Number ) is available NOW for only £25.95 - but you can try it FREE! ? 

Joucan order by post or phone with cheque, credit card details or Education Authority order. We will not process your order for payment for l 

|4days from the dispatch of the product by first class mail. If you return it within that time we will nol debit vour credit card or we will 
letlirn vour oripinni uhumip nr nrHpr Thiv r»ff*r ;e nirniinklA ™ «11 r .L- . ^ ^ I 



option lets you see the educational objective p 

being played at a glance. There’s even an optional code 
system to prevent children altering stored information. 


Designed for the National Curriculum with TraditionaL 
Educational Values in Mind f 

While ensuring that items like tables are well covered the package deals wiimnany 
important subjects in the order recommended in the National Curriculum. 



, . * * j J K,xt ,uu,M 14 ni«u nine we win not aeon vour credit card or we wil 

ft"" n your original cheque or order. This offer is available on all orders received from this advert. But Hurry - it is for a limited period only. 


A 1 

to, 


l, ' ~ * ivwjTw iiv.mii uno auvtu. uui nuuy u is iut a limned period only. 

I ” [0 ** / ^SSijP^ duced by Triple R Educati <>"- COMING SOON: tO«a_*£W_ ENGLISH. R.ngf,,rde,ai 


ORDER by mail or telephone: Access and Visa accepted. Triple R Education, 1 Percy Street, Sheffield , S3 8AU, England. 0742 780370 


A or 32-bit Acorn home comnuters 





EVOLUTION 


STICKY 

MOMENTS 

Mathew Tizard demonstrates the power and elegance of natural selection, with 
the help of his amazing 32-bit and eight-bit simulated spiders' webs 


N ature is a repository of 
good ideas that has been 
raided over the ages by 
engineers, chemists, and 
specialists from all disciplines. 
So why not programmers? 
With Web , a program to breed 
the ultimate arachnid, 1 have 
used the computer to simulate 
some of the principles of 
evolution. 

Living things look the way 
they are because they are alive. 
We are exactly as we are 
because otherwise we would 
be dead. If we were made dif- 
ferently, we would perish 
through being some other 
animal’s dinner, freezing 
to death in winter, or a 
due to a whole host of 
other things which might very 
easily kill us. 

We don’t actually drop dead 
every cold January because we 
have evolved into warm- 
blooded hairy creatures who 
are tough enough to take it. 
And here is the important 
point: not dying means that 
iifeforms get to live longer, 
which increases the possibility 
of them reproducing them- 
selves. An animal or plant 
becomes adapted to its role in 
the environment and flourishes 
when it stays in its optimum 
surroundings. 

In our case, almost every- 
thing about us has at some 
point in the past given our 
species some advantage over 
other less fortunate creatures, 
and allowed us rather than 
them to proliferate. 

Occasionally though, hered- 
ity has an off day, or the 



HOW TO USE WEB 


The four programs are very easy to use. The artificial selection programs, 
Weba8 and Weba32, are more or less self-explanatory: Initially the genes 
are completely scrambled, and you are consequently presented with a 
menagerie of nine different starting webs. The webs are drawn, with the 
'parent web' in the middle (the one whose genes have been copied, 
slightly mutated, into the next generation). You then use the mouse to 
select which one of the mutated varieties you wish to breed from and click 
on it. In the eight-bit version, Weba8 , you simply press the number 
corresponding to your choice. If none of the mutations seems beneficial, 
there is the option to reselect the parent for another brood. Your selection 
then moves to the centre of the screen, and the process begins all over 
again. Of course you have the option to breed for spikiness or smallness, 
just as you do for roundness and regularity. 

The natural selection programs, Webn8 and Webn32, require no 
intervention from the user at all. Webs are drawn in the same way as 
before, then tested for their abilities to catch 'fly' pixels. They are then 
given a score which is displayed on each web so you can see how they 
measure up to each other. The webs are sometimes surprisingly better (or 
worse) than you think. The computer's choice (the highest scorer) is then 
moved to the centre as before. There are no differences between 32-bit 
and eight-bit versions, except that, obviously, I can't go moving chunks of 
the screen around in Basic 2! To obtain the best results from this program, 
although it is entertaining to watch, you should leave it breeding for a few 
hours and then see what it has produced. 


genetic information becomes 
just slightly garbled when it’s 
passed on. This is known as 
mutation, and leads to a fin- 
ished creature which is differ- 
ent in some way from how it is 
‘supposed to be*. 

Most mutations are disfigur- 
ing or crippling, but a few may 
actually lead to an improve- 
ment in how well adapted the 
creature is to its surroundings. 
This will in turn give the crea- 
ture a greater chance to repro- 
duce before dying, and soon 
the species will consist almost 
entirely of those individuals 
that possess the improvement, 
and it will trundle happily on 
until its external surroundings 
alter (which could be due to 
climate, predation, disease or 
whatever) 

Evolution doesn't stop 
there; the process of improve- 
ment by accumulating many 
chance mutations has been 
happening continuously since 
the first self-replicating slime- 
ball crawled out of the prime- 
val soup. We owe that 
slimeball everything. 

To illustrate these processes 
on a computer, first of all it 
helps if you find something 
that will look good on screen. 
I decided to use a spider's web 
as the subject. Although it is 
not an organism itself, the 
systematic way in which it is 
constructed, and the fact that 
the better the web is. the more 
likely it is for the spider who 
built it to survive, make it an 
ideal choice. 

I then had to design in 
‘genes' that influence the 


132 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 



EVOLUTION 





Top to bottom: Four stages in the evolution of the perfect spider 


web's appearance and func- 
tion. Time-lapse film studies 
have shown that the spider 
spins its web by first con- 
structing a series of radial 
spokes from a hub at the cen- 
tre, and then winding a spiral 
from the hub outwards, to pro- 
duce the familiar ‘dartboard’ 
structure. 

THE PROGRAM 

I ended up with a computer 
spider that does exactly this, 
but in different ways, depend- 
ing on its computer ‘genes’. 
There are six of these genes 
grouped in pairs, and the pairs 
have the following functions: 
the first influences the way the 
spokes are spaced radially, the 
second influences how the 
radial shape emerges, the third 
gene determines how tight the 
internal spiral is, and the full 
quota of six is made up by 
including three gene pairs, 
each of which represents the 
upper and lower limits in 
variation for the regular gene- 
variables. 

These genes are also the 
values which mutate at each 
generation, although the pro- 
cess of mutation has been 
vastly exaggerated: Instead of 
having a lifespan of 70 years 
and a low tendency to mutate, 
as we do, the webs have a life 
expectancy of only a few sec- 
onds, and they change at a 
much higher rate. 

The natural selection pro- 
gram works by applying two 
tests to each web: An array of 
‘flies’, shown by dots on the 
screen, is flung at each one 
and a measure of how many 
the web catches is registered. 
Set against this positive score 
is the total length of silk the 
spider uses in the web’s con- 
struction. Most spiders only 
ever spin a handful of webs in 
their lifetime, so silk is a real 
factor - the need to manufac- 
ture silk will affect the spider's 
nutritional requirements, 
which in turn, of course, 
depend on how good its web is 
at catching flies. 

These two things are then 
combined in the calculation of 
a score for each individual, 
and the winner gets to breed 
the next generation of spiders. 

Computer webs converge 
towards the shape that we 
know real spiders' webs to be, 
because a circle is a very effi- 
cient shape: it has the maxi- 


mum enclosed area for the 
smallest circumference, and 
therefore hits a happy medium 
between the opposing selec- 
tion pressures of how good it 
is at catching flies (a function 
of its area), and how wasteful 
it has been in achieving that 
standard (a function of its 
circumference). 

The circle (or infinite-sided 
polygon) has no ‘wasted' areas 
where the spiral can’t reach, 
and so it usually emerges as 
the best strategy. 

If you leave it for a while, 
the program invariably pro- 
duces a structure which is 
more or less circular, has regu- 
larly spaced spokes, and a 
combination of the spokes and 
the spiral which ensure an 
dense and efficient sticky 
mesh. The selection pressures 
of economy and hunger for 
flies represent the environment 
to which the spider's web must 
adapt itself. 

The delicate tension 
between opposing selection 
pressures is the driving force 
of evolution. Using only accu- 
mulated chance, and the dumb 
forces of physics as tools, it 
teases strange and often 
beautiful structures out of the 
raw stuff of nature. If you are 
interested in pursuing the ideas 
behind this program, I recom- 
mend that you read The Blind 
Watchmaker and The Selfish 
Gene , both written by Richard 
Dawkins and published by 
Penguin Books. 


IN EDUCATION 


The elegance of the processes of 
evolution deserves to be more 
widely celebrated, which is why I 
wanted to bring this intriguing 
topic to a wider audience. 

The suite of programs here 
was not written with an eye to 
being used a teaching aid, but 
they do illustrate some of the 
real-life processes required for 
some levels of the National 
Curriculum. 

This article will have some 
relevance to those studying here- 
dity and genetics from National 
Curriculum levels 4 to 9 (mostly 
at level 9). 

For teachers, simulations of 
this sort can be used as a starting 
point for a classroom discussion 
or as a demonstration of the 
power of evolution. They can 
certainly make a particular topic 
come alive. 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 133 










E FOREFRO 
UPGRAD 


,1 


specia 

£10.00 off any of the 3 packages be 


Monitor Stand £24.95 

Probably the best monitor stand available for the A3000. 

System Housing £69.50 

Allows upto two floppy drives and two hard drives to be added. 


Expansion Card Case £14.95 

If you’re adding an expansion card (or podule) to your A3000 
then you will need this case to connect and protect it. 

Podule Expansion System £54.90 

Allows two podules to be added to your A3000. 




Disc Buffer £49.95 

The definitive expansion for people that wish to 
add extra floppy drives. 

65Host 1770 DFS and DFS Filer £19.95 
I A Rom upgrade for the Disc Buffer that provides 
1770 DFS in 65Host. 


Various disc options 3%" & 5 i" floppy drives, and hard drives - Recommended upgrade 100MB SCSI drive c/w 16 bit| 
SCSI interface which allows for greater future expansion i.e. CD ROM ... call us for some honest advice. 


EXPAND THE SCOPE OF YOUR A3000 
A3K4 - THE DOUBLE PODULE EXPANSION 

Now you can add a second standard eurocard podule to your A3000. Fully integrated with the 
PRES expansion system - no soldering required, no timing problems, no large box bolted around l 
your computer, simply ‘plug in and expand’... (requires A3K3 expansion card case). Remember H 
A3K6 also allows for an extra internal card; giving a total of ... 4 expansion cards in your A3000 


WE ARE A SPECIALIST ACORN SUPPLIER FROM COMPUTERS TO MONITORS, PRINTERS TO HARD DRIVES, GAMES TO 
BUSINESS SOFTWARE - IF YOU REQUIRE ANYTHING FOR YOUR ACORN MACHINE WHETHER IT BE A BBC OR 

ELECTRON; MASTER OR ARCHIMEDES CALL P.R.E.S. 

Examples- Pipedream 4 £169 - Impression II £125 (exc VAT) 


A3000 WITH AN EXTRA 1MB RAM 
LEARNING CURVE OR ENTRY LEVEL 
FROM ONLY £599 + VAT 

INCLUDING THE PRES MONITOR STAND - COMPLETE 
SYSTEMS AND PACKAGE PRICES AVAILABLE. 
PLEASE CALL EOR DETAILS 


YOU CAN ORDER FROM PRES WITH 
COMPLETE CONFIDENCE - WE ARE A 
REPUTABLE COMPANY WITH THOUSANDS OF 
SATISFIED CUSTOMERS - PRICES INCLUDE UK 
DELIVERY & NORMALLY PAYMENTS ARE 
ONLY COMPLETED ON DELIVERY 


- A5000 Learning Curve - 
from stock & with 4MB RAM 

Order now and we will upgrade 
your A5000 to 4MB 


PRES Ltd, Box 319, Lightwater, Surrey, GUI 8 5PW 

Tel. 0276 72046 • Fax 0276 51427 


VfSA 


EDUCATION ORDERS AND 
ENQUIRIES WELCOME - INCLUDING 
NETWORKING & TRAINING 


WE ARE AN 


Acorn 


A 


FAST MAIL ORDER SERVICE 

(SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY) 


APPROVED DEALER AND SERVICE CENTRE, OFFERING A FRIENDLY SERVICE AT COMPETITIVE RATES. 






They're NEW 

Faster 
More Powerful 

AND 



mm 


mm 


A30320 


A4000 


A5000 


More 

liable 


The new L — 

range of 
Acorn „ 

machines ■■ 
from £499 (inc.) 


For first class 
service & support 




| 


j. : - -- ' ~r~W tT1 Qnm f ( 1 

! ' * 







^Acom Premier Dealer -M- Network Specialists ■ Repots and Moiite nonce 


DISK STORAGE BOXES 


3V?" 10 CAPACITY QTY 5 £4.50 

3Vz" 50 CAPACITY LOCKABLE £3.70 

3V2'' 100 CAPACITY LOCKABLE £4.70 

5'A" 10 CAPACITY QTY 5 £4.99 

5'/4" 50 CAPACITY LOCKABLE £3.70 

5VV' 100 CAPACITY LOCKABLE £4.70 

200 LOCKABLE DRAWER TYPE £18.00 


ACCESSORIES 

IBM PRINTER CABLE 1.8 MTR £4.90 

(ALSO FOR ATARI AND AMIGA) 

25 PIN M-M AND M-F 1.8 MTR £4.90 

36 PIN CENTRONIC M-M 1.8 MTR £4.90 


PRICES ONLY IF BOUGHT WITH DISKS 


Normal Ad milt too £4. wttti this *owdw £3 



July 7 West Midlands National Motorcycle Museum J6 M42 


Sept 5 Wesl Midlands National Motorcycle Museum J6. M42 

12 London Sandown Exhibition Centre, Esher J10, M25 

19 East Midlands Donington Park J23A. Ml 

All Fairs 10 a.m. till 4 p.m. Admission £4.00 
Ample Car Parking at all venues 

ADVANCE TICKETS PHONE 0225 868100 


ALL FORMATS 
COMPUTER BUR 


Only one voucher per person No Cash Value 


X 


3 1 

DISKS 

TYPE 

QTY 

25 

50 

100 

BENCHMARK DS/DD 

£18.00 

£31.00 

£45.00 

UNBRANDED DS/DD 

£12.80 

£21.00 

£39.00 

BENCHMARK DS/HD 

£33.60 

£61.00 

£67.00 

UNBRANDED DS/HD 

£25.00 

£36.00 

£59.00 

If) 

/ a \ DISKS 

TYPE 

QTY 

25 

50 

100 

BENCHMARK DS/DD 

£11.00 

£18.00 

£28.00 

UNBRANDED DS/DD 

£9.50 

£16.00 

£24.00 

BENCHMARK DS/HD 

£18.00 

£31.50 

£52.50 

UNBRANDED DS/HD 

£14.00 

£27.00 

£48.00 


ALL DISKS 100% CERTIFIED ERROR FREE. 

3V 2 " INC. LABELS. 5W INC. ENVELOPE AND LABEL SET. 



ALL PRICES INCLUDE VAT & PSP UK ORDERS ONLY 


Cheques and 
Postal Orders to 


r um ' .r r , KSES| 


Manor Court Supplies Ltd 

Telephone 0597 851 792 Fax No: 0597 851 416 
Dept AU10, Glen Celyn House, Penybont, 
Llandrindod Wells, Powys. LD1 5SY 

EDUCATION AND GOVERNMENT ORDERS WELCOME I 


y/1 Specialised Education Dealers 

; A [s ystems 


RISCOS 3 now available 

£49 Inc VAT 


A5000/400/300 SCSI Hard Discs 
SCSI Interface £95.00 

SCSI High Performance £185.00 

80Mb SCSI Hard Drive £250.00 

1 20Mb SCSI Hard Drive £299.00 

240Mb SCSI Hard Drive £550.00 

A5000 IDE Hard Disc Upgrades 
40Mb IDE Hard Drive £160.00 

80Mb IDE Hard Drive £250.00 

1 20Mb IDE Hard Drive £299.00 

240Mb IDE Hard Drive £480.00 

Miscellaneous Drives 

44Mb External Cartridge Drive £450.00 
88Mb External Cartridge Drive £695.00 
Cumana External CDROM Drive £399.(X) 
A3000 60Mb HardCard - Internal £349.(X) 
A 3000 80Mb HardCard - Internal £435.00 


NEW ACORN COMPUTERS NOW 
BEING DEMONSTRATED ! 



Ill 


Canon 


SJ 


iTel : 0420 561111: 


7 Winchester Road, Four Marks, Alton, GU34 5HG, Hampshire 


is an easy to use, RISC OS, sign 
/ q ( writing application for printing 

( JEJOfTITw f ^ large wide signs using Acorn's 

outline font technology. 

• Full colour control of text, background, border & shadows 

• Drop shadows in four directions 

• Styles of border 

• Fully WYSIWYG preview window 

• The banner length is not limited by page size and may be 
set to print continuously. 

Stand Alone £15 — Primary Site £20 — Secondary Site £40 


^-i The popular Data Handling 

<2 package is now available for 

both RISC OS and Windows 3. 

DataSweet 2 has been updated in response to educational 
demands. Please telephone or write for more information. 

Stand Alone £40 —Primary Site £60 — Secondary Site £ 150 


AataShEEt 


is an enhanced spreadsheet 
based on DataCalc from 
DataSweet. Specifically 
designed for use in education, it contains many advanced 
features, yet retains the simplicity of the original DataCalc. 

Stand Alone £40 —Primary Site £60 — Secondary Site £150 


K 


udlian 
Soft 


All prices include P&P but exclude V.A.T. 

Please send orders to: 

8 Barrow Road, Kenilworth, Warwickshire 
CV8 1EH Tel: 0926 -851 147 


136 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 












Program 

Page 

BBC B 

B+ 

B+/ 

128 

Master 

128 

Master 

Compact 

Electron 

6502SP/ 

Turbo 

ADFS 

Econet 

Shadow Archimedes/ 
Ram A3000/A5000 

Monthly 

disc 

♦INFO 

Into 1 - 3 

115 







♦ 

♦ 


♦ 

♦ 

fnfo"4 


♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 


♦ 

♦ 

* 


♦ 

♦ 

Info 5 - 6 








♦ 

♦ 


♦ 

♦ 

Info 7 








* 

* 


♦ 

Jit 

Info 


♦ 

* 

~~W~ 


♦ 


♦ 

* 


“Jit— 

W 

Into 9 








♦ 

* 


~w~ 

♦ 

"Info TO - 


♦ 


* 



♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

* 

S|t 

Info 1 1 


♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

Info 12 


♦ 

♦ 


♦ 



♦ 



♦ 

♦ 

Into 13-14 








* 

♦ 


♦ 

♦ 

Assembly Line 

125 












"d- 

I 

£ 

< 








♦ 

jjc 


♦ 


Sticky Moments 

132 












Weba32 








♦ 

♦ 


♦ 

♦ 

Webn32 








♦ 

+ 


+ 

♦ 

— Weba8 


♦ 


♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

WebnB 


♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

~w~ 


Typing in listings from the yellow pages. 

The yellow pages are subdivided into article headings. Each article heading corresponds with its article in the magazine. 

So for instance to find listing three of ♦INFO in the yellow pages (Circles) look for the ♦INFO heading, then follow the listings through until you get to listing three 
At the beginning of the program are a few lines that tell you what machines it works on. This information can also be derived from the table above. 

For Archimedes owners it may not be immediately obvious how to actually type in the listings. By pressing Function key 12 you can access the command line. From here 
type BASIC and the Archimedes will enter the Basic language. You may like to type MODE 12, which will turn the screen to white on black. 

Then simply copy each line of the program in turn after the V prompt, pressing RETURN when finished. Save the program onto disc by typing SAVE"<filename>". It can 
then be run by typing RUN. You will probably need to debug it as you may have made some typing errors. 

When you have finished debugging save the program one last time. Then it can either be double-clicked upon from the desktop, or loaded using LOAD“<filename>“ . 

A more detailed description of how to type in listings from the yellow pages appeared in BBC Acorn User, August 1992. 


♦INFO 


Listing 1 - IRunlmage 

10 REM > IRunlmage (Xnfol) 

20 REM Main Auto program 
30 REM by Andrew Young 
40 REM for 32-bit machines 
50 REM (c) BAD October 1992 
60 : 

70 key$=INKEY$(0) 

80 open*a 1 : close*»2 : app*a 3 : mod*a4 : vdu 
*a5:mode*=6 

90 SYS "Wimp_Initialise".200,fc4B53415 
4, “Transient" 

100 SYS "XOS ReadVarVal","Initialise$B 
xec",0, -1,0,3 TO , ,r2* 

110 IF r2*»0 THEN PROCfile( "Default") 
120 IF key$>"" THEN PROCf ile(key$) 

130 SYS "Wimp_CloseDovn" 

140 "Set Initial ise$Bxec True 
150 END 
160 : 

170 DEF FNget line(fh*) 

180 S$a"« 

190 REPEAT 
200 v*=BGET#fh* 

210 B$4*CHR$v* 

220 UNTIL ((BOF#fh*) OR (v*<32)) 

230 =s$ 

240 : 

250 DEF FNfunc(fc$) 

260 fc$aMID$ (fc$, 2 , LEN( fc$) -3) 

270 CASE fc$ OF 

280 WHEN "Open*:nf*aopen* 

290 WHEN "CloBe":nf*rclose* 

300 WHEN "Application":nf*=app* 

310 WHEN "Module" :nf*=mod* 

320 WHEN "VDU" :nf*avdu* 

330 WHEN “Mode":nf*=raode* 

340 OTHERWISE: 

350 ERROR 1, “Warning: Bad file headin 

g* 

360 ENDCASE 
370 =nf* 

380 : 

390 DEF PROCvdu(vs$) 

400 REPEAT 

410 d*aINSTR(vs$,",") 

420 IF d**0 THEN d*»LEN(vs$) 

430 v*=VAL ( LEFT$ ( vs$ , d*) ) 

440 VDU v\ 

450 vs$=RIGHT$ (V8$ , LEN ( V8$ ) -d%) 

460 UNTIL vs$»“" 

470 ENDPROC 
480 : 

490 DEF PROCf ile(fn$) 

500 i*=OPENIN( "<Initialise$Dir> ,"4fn$) 


510 IF i*<>0 THEN 
520 func*aapp* 

530 WHILE NOT EOF #i* 

540 8t$aFNget_line(i\) 

550 IF 8t$<>"" THEN 

560 IF LEFT${8t$,l)»-{“ THEN 

570 func*=FNfunc(st$) 

580 ELSE 
590 CASE func* OF 

600 WHEN open* : OSCLI ("Filer_Ope 

nDir "+st$ ) 

610 WHEN close* : OSCLI ("Filer_Cl 

oeeDir "+8t$) 

620 WHEN app* : OSCLI ( "WimpTaflJc " 
♦st$) 

630 WHEN mod* : OSCLI ( “RMLoad "48 
t$) 

640 WHEN vdu* : PROCvdu(st$) 

650 WHEN mode* : SYS "Wimp.SetNod 

e", VAL(8t$) 

660 ENDCASE 

670 ENDIF 
680 ENDIF 
690 ENDWHILE 
700 ENDIF 
710 CLOSE #i* 

720 ENDPROC 

Listing 2 - MakeSpr 

10 REM > MakeSpr (Info2) 

20 REM Create Bprite file for lAuto 
30 REM Sprites by Andrew Young 

40 REM for 32-bit machines 

50 REM (c) BAU October 1992 
60 : 

70 DIM W* 1024 
80 f ile$a“ ! Sprites" 

90 READ olen* 

100 p*a0 

110 d$a“" 

120 dl*=l 

130 WHILE p*<olen* 

140 b*»FNb 

150 IF b*=130:p*?w*aFNb:pVf=l 

160 IF b*>«131 AND b*<«162 THEN 

170 n*ab*-128 

180 f*ap*-FNb 

190 FOR i*a0 TO n*-l 

200 ?(w*+p*+i*)»?(w*+f*+i*) 

210 NEXT 
220 p*4an* 

230 ENDIF 

240 IF b*<130 OR b*>162 THEN p*?W*»b* 

:p*+al 

250 ENDWHILE 

260 SYS "OS_File",0, f ile$, , ,w*,w*+p* 


270 SYS “OS_File", 1, f ile$, fcFFFFF943, fcE 
942B5D3, ,63 

280 PRINT""" ISprites"" created" 

290 END 
300 : 

310 DEF FNb 

320 LOCAL b*,cl*,c2*,i* 

330 IF d$="“ THEN 
340 READ d$,cl* 

350 C2*a0 

360 FOR i*=l TO LEN(d$)/2 

370 c2*+=EVAL{ "fc"+MID$ <d$, 2*i*-l, 2) ) 

380 NEXT 

390 IF cl*<> (c2* MOD 100) PRINT"Brror 
in DATA line ";dl*:END 
400 dl*+*l 
410 ENDIF 

420 b*aEVAL("6"+LEFT$ (d$ , 2) ) 

430 d$=MID${d$,3) 

440 ab* 

450 : 

460 DATA &2E0 

470 DATA 01000000108304E4020000, 82 
480 DATA D48304216175746F831483, 3 
490 DATA 170004871C840F0783282C, 59 
500 DATA 832C8083310C872087278C.76 
510 DATA 0E444484350C0070778431, 47 
520 DATA 8714874F778C2800BBBBBB, 29 
530 DATA BBBB708357830493148D28, 87 
540 DATA 834F8B3F8650707777778A, 33 
550 DATA 65B57883138A768B7 59213, 78 
560 DATA 853788A98523884A408814, 91 
570 DATA 83BE83C2B084A4881485A7, 74 
580 DATA 77851393148A28892C8C50, 17 
590 DATA 84AE8BA990A591128DC6FF, 80 
600 DATA FF0F85FBF087088514881C, 54 
610 DATA 8C28832AFFFFFFF0832E83, 66 
620 DATA 0493148D28834F8B3F8650, 78 
630 DATA F084418965857883138A76, 34 
640 DATA 8F9190A48D3C884A8A8B0F, 99 
650 DATA 85C288A3891C8BB78A1465, 4 
660 DATA 8A89288C488A1483AE9990, 87 
670 DATA 88D800, 52 
680 DATA * 

Listing 3 - Circles 

10 REN >Circles (Info3) 

20 REM by Mark Hobson 
30 REM for 3 2 -bit machines 
40 REM (c) BAU October 1992 
50 : 

60 ON ERROR PROCerr 
70 MODE 1 
80 OFF 
90 PROCinit 
100 PROCcircles 


110 END 
120 : 

130 DBF PROCinit 

140 ok*s0 

150 COLOUR 3,0 

160 PRINTTAB( 15, 15) "Thinking ..." 

170 FOR i=0 TO 255 STEP 0.1 
180 COLOUR 3, i, i, i 
190 NEXT 

200 xl*=320:yl*=320 

210 x2*al280-320:y2*al024-320 

220 il*«0:i2*a0 

230 rl*a50:r2*al00 
240 8*»20 

250 DIM xl*(s*),yl*(s*),x2*(s*),y2*(s* 

) 

260 a*a0 

270 FOR ia0 TO PI*2 STEP (PI*2)/S* 

280 xl*(a*)arl**SIN(i) 

290 yl*(a*)*rlVCOS(i) 

300 x2*(a*)ar2**SIN(i) 

310 y2*(a*)=r2**COS(i) 

320 a*+«l 
330 NEXT 
340 s*-al 
350 l*=fcF000 
360 DIM sa* 1* 

370 sa*!0al* 

380 8a*l 8=16 

390 SYS "OS_SpriteOp", 25649,8a* 

400 FOR cal TO 2 

410 n$a"circle*4STR$(c) 

420 SYS "OS_Spr iteOp", 256415, sa*,n$,, 
370,306,1 

430 SYS "OS_SpriteOp", 256460, sa*,n$ 
440 IF c*l PROCcircle(320, 320,1480, 40 
, C) ELSE PROCcircle (1160, 904, 1480, 40, c) 
450 SYS -OS_SpriteOp", 256460, sa* 

460 OFF 
470 NEXT 
480 SC*al 

490 DIM col*(2,l) ,coli*(2,l) ,ncol*(2,l 

) 

500 FOR is255 TO 0 STEP -0.1 
510 COLOUR 3,i,i,i 
520 NEXT 
530 CLS 

540 FOR i»0 TO 1 
550 k=2 

560 FOR ja0 TO 2 
570 col*( j, i) *RND(255) 

580 coli*(j,i)=k 
590 k->2 

600 NEXT 

610 COLOUR Ul. 0,0,0 
620 NEXT 
630 on*=-l 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 137 



- 640 

okX»-l 

210 freqaPI/32 

90 

PX=div 


1310 

REPEAT UNTIL NOT INKEY-99 

650 

ENDPROC 

220 amp =6 

100 

t 


1510 

: 

660 

: 

230 FOR NX=0 TO 255 

110 

ADD 

quo,b,b,ASR #1 

1520 

DEF PROCsave 

670 

DEF PROCcircles 

240 addr=£3000+ (NX DIV 8) *320+ (NX AND 

120 

ADD 

quo, quo, quo, ASR #4 

1530 

REPEAT UNTIL NOT INKEY -82 

680 

REPEAT 

7) 

130 

ADD 

quo, quo, quo, ASR #8 

1540 

•FX 21 

690 

PROCswop 

250 NX?sintabX*SIN (NX*freq) *amp 

140 

ADD 

quo, quo, quo, ASR #1 

1550 

f ileXsGET AND £DF 

700 

MOVE xlX*xlX(ilX)-420,ylX*ylX(ilX 

260 NX?scrloX«addr MOD 256 

6 



1560 

IF f ileX<ASC"A" OR fileX>ASC"Z" EN 

) -420 


270 NX?scrhiXaaddr DIV 256 

150 

MOV 

quo, quo, ASR #4 

DPROC 


710 

ilX+al 

280 NEXT 

160 

ADD 

c, quo, quo, ASL #2 

1562 

CALL remove 

720 

IF ilX»sX+l 11X-0 

290 t 

170 

SUB 

c,b, c, ASL #1 

1563 

CALL setup 

730 

SYS -OS SpriteOp", 256+28, saX, -cir 

300 reads£70 

180 

CMP 

c,#10 

1564 

ON ERROR VDU 7:GOTO 140 

del". 

,,1 

310 writea£72 

190 

ADDGE 

quo, quo, #1 

1570 

OSCLI ( -SAVE WetPic"+CHR$fileX+" 30 

740 

MOVB x2X+x2X(i2X) -1060,y2X+y2X(i2 

320 wave=£74 

200 

MOV 

pc,R14 

00 +5000") 

X) -800 

330 ypos=£75 

210 

1 


1571 

OSCLI ("SAVE Valves"+CHR$fileX+" 82 

750 

i2X-=l 

340 escflagsSFF 

220 

INPUT-Number: * 

-;BX 

+C«) 


760 

IF i2X»-l i2X»sX 

350 : 

230 

BX=ABS (BX) 


1572 

ON ERROR PROCerror:GOTO 150 

770 

SYS "OS_ SpriteOp", 256+28, saX, -cir 

360 FOR NX=0 TO 2 STEP 2 

240 

PRINT ;BX;" DIV 

10«" jUSR(div) 

1580 

ENDPROC 


cle2“, , ,3 

780 IF onX THEN 
790 a=0 

800 FOR i=0 TO 1 
810 FOR j»0 TO 2 

820 IF ncolX ( j , i ) < col\ { j , i ) ncolX( 

j,i)+«5:a»-l 

830 COLOUR i*l,ncolX(0,i),ncolX(l, 
i) , ncolX{2, i) 

840 NEXT 

850 NEXT 
860 IP a»0 on\=0 

870 COLOOR 3, (ncolX(0,0)+ncolX(0, 1) ) 

/2,(ncolX(l,0)+ncolX(l,l))/2,(ncolX{2,0) 
♦ncolX(2, 1) ) /2 
880 ELSE 

890 FOR i«0 TO 1 
900 FOR j*0 TO 2 

colX( j, i)*=coliX( j, i) 


910 


920 coliX( j, i) +a(RND( 200) -100) / 100 


930 


IF colX( j,i) >255 colX(j,i)=255 
:coliX( j,i)s-coliX(j,i) 

940 IF colX(j,i)<0 colX(j,i)=0:col 
iX(j,i)»-COliX{j,i) 

950 NEXT 

960 COLOUR i+l,colX(0, i) ,colX(l,i) , 
colX(2,i) 

970 NEXT 

980 COLOUR 3, (colX(0,0) +colX(0, 1) ) /2 
, (colX(l,0) +colX( 1, 1 ) ) / 2 . (colX(2, 0) +colX 
( 2 , 1) )/2 
990 ENOIF 
1000 UNTIL FALSE 
1010 ENDPROC 

1020 i 

1030 DBF PROCcircle(x,y,r,a,c) 

1040 a=s/2 

1050 FOR i»r TO 0 STEP - (s*2) 

1060 GCOL 3,c 
1070 CIRCLB FILL x.y.i 
1080 OCOL 3,0 
1090 CIRCLE FILL x,y,i-s 
1100 NEXT 
1110 ENDPROC 
1120 : 

1130 DEF PROCswop 
1140 SYS "OS_Byte",113,scX 
1150 scX=scX EOR 3 
1160 WAIT 

1170 SYS "OS_Byte",112,scX 
1180 CLS 
1190 ENDPROC 

1200 i 

1210 DEF PROCerr 

1220 IF ERR=17 AND okX THEN 

1230 REPEAT 

1240 a=0 

1250 FOR i=0 TO 1 

1260 FOR j s0 TO 2 

IF colX( j , i) >0 colX( j,i)-=l:a= 


1270 

-1 

1280 


COLOUR i+l,colX(0,i),colX(l,i) 

,colX(2,i) 

1290 NEXT 
1300 NEXT 

1310 COLOUR 3, (colX(0,0)+colX(0, 1 ) ) / 2 
, (colX(l,0)+colX(l,l) )/2, (col\(2,0) ♦colX 
( 2 , 1)) /2 
1320 UNTIL a=0 
1330 ENDIF 
1340 MODE 12 

1350 IF ERR<>17 REPORT: PRINT- at line - 
; ERL 

1360 END 


Listing 4 - Rippler 


10 REM >Rippler (In£o4) 

20 REM by Richard Talbot-Watkins 
30 REM & Matthew Godbolt 
40 REM for 8-bit machines 
50 REM (c) BAU October 1992 
60 : 

70 MODE 5 

80 VDU 23;8202;0;0;0; 

90 HIMEM°63000 
100 PROCassemble 

110 REM ‘LOAD screen here at £5800 
120 REM if necessary. 

130 PROCdemo 
140 CALL Btart 
150 END 
160 : 

170 DEP PROCassemble 
180 sintabXa £700 
190 scrloX a £900 
200 scrhiX = £A00 


370 PX=£B00 
380 [OPT NX 
390 .start 
400 LDA #0 
410 STA wave 
420 STA ypos 
430 LDA #12 
440 STA £FE00 
450 LDA #6 
460 STA £FB01 
470 : 

480 .mainloop 
490 LDA #0 
500 STA ypos 
510 .subloop 
520 LDY ypos 
530 LDA scrloVY 
540 STA write 
550 LDA scrhiX, Y 
560 STA write+1 
570 LDX wave 
580 LDA sintabX,X 
590 CLC 
600 ADC ypos 
610 TAY 

620 LDA scrloX.Y 
630 STA read 
640 LDA scrhiX, Y 
650 CLC 
660 ADC #£28 
670 STA read+1 
680 ] 

690 FOR byteX=0 TO 255 STEP 8 

700 [OPT NX 

710 LDY #byteX 

720 LDA (read) ,Y 

730 STA ( write ),Y 

740 ] 

750 NEXT 
760 [OPT NX 
770 INC read+1 
780 INC write+1 
790 ) 

800 FOR byteX=256 TO 319 STEP 8 

810 [OPT NX 

820 LDY #byteX-256 

830 LDA (read) ,Y 

840 STA (write), Y 

850 ] 

860 NEXT 
870 (OPT NX 
880 INC wave 
890 INC ypos 
900 BEQ skipover 
910 JMP sub loop 
920 .skipover 
930 INC wave 
940 BIT escflag 
950 BM1 exit 
960 JMP mainloop 
970 .exit 
980 RTS 
990 ) 

1000 NEXT 
1010 ENDPROC 
1020 : 

1030 DEF PROCdemo 
1040 VDU 19, 3, 4;0; 

1050 FOR NXal TO 15 
1060 GCOL 0,RND(3) 

1070 PROCtri (RND ( 1279) , RND ( 1023 ) , RND( 12 
79 ), RND ( 1023 ). RND ( 1279 ), RND ( 1023 ) ) 

1080 NEXT 
1090 COLOUR 131 
1100 COLOUR 2 

1110 PRINT TAB (2, 15) ; “THE BAU RIPPLER! " 
1120 ENDPROC 
1130 : 

1140 DEF PROCtri (aX,bX,cX,dX,eX,fX) 

1150 MOVE aX.bX 
1160 MOVE cX,dX 
1170 PLOT 85, eX, fX 
1180 PLOT 7, aX.bX 
1190 PLOT 7,cX,dX 
1200 PLOT 7,eX, fX 
1210 BNDPROC 


Listing 5 - DivlO 


10 REM >Divl0 (Info5) 

20 REM by A F Reysenback 
30 REM for 32-bit machines 
40 REM (c) BAU October 1992 
50 : 

60 MODE 0 
70 DIM div 40 
80 quoa0:bal:ca2 


Listing 6 - Mod 10 


10 REM >Modl0 (Info6) 

20 REM by A F Reysenbach 
30 REM for 32-bit machines 
40 REM (c) BAU October 1992 
50 : 

60 MODE 0 
70 DIM mod 40 
80 a=0:b=l 
90 PX=mod 
100 [ 

110 ADD a,b,b, ASR #1 

120 ADD a, a, a, ASR #4 

130 ADD a. a, a. ASR #8 

140 ADD a, a, a, ASR #16 

150 MOV a. a, ASR #4 

160 ADD a,a,a,ASL #2 

170 SUB a,b,a,ASL #1 

180 CMP a. #10 

190 SUBGE a, a, #10 

200 MOV pc,R14 

210 ) 

220 INPUT-Number: ";BX 
230 BX=ABS (BX) 

240 PRINT; BX;- MOD 10»";USR(mod) 
250 END 


Listing 7 - UpTime+ 


I Type this in as an obey file, pressing 
RETURN! 

I only when you see the paragraph 
character (1)1 

1 

BASIC -load $. (UpTime. IRunlmagel 

1 

DELETE 490,5001 
DELETE 1320,13401 
DELETE 1480,15001 
DELETE 2260,22701 
DELETB 2520,25301 
DELETE 2590,25901 
DELETB 2730,2740! 

DELETE 2910,2930! 


10 REM >!RunImage v2.001 
40 REM (c) BAU October 1992! 

460 CALL maketref! 

910 A$=GET$#chrefX! 

960 SYS 

-OS _ConvertHex8", loX, resultX,buf f sixeX 
TO ,zeroptrXl 

980 BPUT#chrefX,A$+$resultXl 

1060 BPUT#chrefX, A$+STRING$ (sposX-LEN 

(A$) -1, " ") 4"£*+STRING$ (10, "0")! 

1070 loX=0:hiX=01 
1590 Version$s“2.00“l 
2460 EQUD loX! 

2470 EQUD hiXl 

2490 EQUD £39ADA00! 

2600 EQUD 01 

1 

461 loXn|dt:biX«! (dt+4)l 

911 loX=EVAL{"£"+RIGHT${A$,8))l 

912 hiX=EVAL (-£"•*• LEFTS (A$, 2 ) )! 

951 SYS 

-OS_ConvertHex2",hiX, resultX,buffsizeX 
TO , zeroptrX! 

952 ?zeroptrXal3:A$»$resultX! 

1461 LDR R2 , wkminl 

1462 MOV R3,#0! 

2241 LDR R2, offset! 

2242 LDR R3,offset+4! 

2761 STR RO.dtl 

2762 STR Rl.dt+41 

1 

SAVE“$. lUpTime. (Run Image"! 

QUIT! 


WIPE $. lUpTime. UpTimeRef 'Cl 


Listing 8 - Water+ 


52 REM Load/Save DCA October 1992 
1030 IF INKEY-99 PROClines 
1092 IF INKEY-82 PROCsave 

1094 IF INKEY-87 PROCload 

1095 IF INKEY-2 AND INKEY-52 CALL remov 
e;CALL setup 

1096 IF INKEY-2 AND INKEY-83 CALL remov 
e:CALL setup: CLS :PROCscreen: GCOL 3,7 

1160 REPEAT UNTIL NOT INKEY-99 
1270 UNTIL INKEY-99 


1590 : 

1600 DEF PROCload 

1610 REPEAT UNTIL NOT INKEY-87 

1620 *FX 21 

1630 fileXaGET AND £DF 

1640 IF fileX<ASC-A“ OR fileX>ASC"Z* EN 
DPROC 

1641 CALL remove 

1650 CALL setup 

1651 ON ERROR VDU 7:GOTO 140 

1660 OSCLI ( "LOAD WetPic"+CHR$fileX) 

1661 OSCLI (-LOAD Valves"+CHR$f ileX) 

1662 ON ERROR PROCerror:GOTO 150 
1670 ENDPROC 


Listing 9 - CIE 


2 ) 


10 REM >CIE (Info9) 

20 REM by David Walters 
30 REM for 32-bit machines 
40 REM (c) BAU November 1992 
50 : 

60 MODE 15 
70 OFF 

80 DIM ml (2) , m2 (2,2) , colX<2), errX( 


90 sizeX»300 
100 ks3/sizeX 

110 m2()-k,0,-k,0,k,-k, 0,0,3 

120 errX()«0 

130 rX=0 

140 gX»l 

150 bXs2 

160 FOR yXs0 TO sizeX STEP 4 
170 FOR xX»0 TO sizeX-yX STEP 2 
180 ml ( ) =xX, yX, 1 
190 ml()cml() .m2() 

200 max*0 

210 FOR iX»0 TO 2 

220 IF ml(iX)>max max=ml(iX) 

230 NEXT 

240 FOR iX=rX TO bX 

250 colX( iX) eml l iX) / (max/ 15 ) ♦ . 5 

260 NEXT 

270 CX=FNset col(colX(rX),colX(gX),c 
olX(bX) ) 

280 POINT xX,yX 

290 PROCett 

300 POINT xX+sizeX.yX 

310 NEXT 

320 NEXT 

330 END 

340 : 

350 DEF PROCett 
360 TX»(CX AND Xll) 

370 errf lagXaPALSS 
380 FOR iXsrX TO bX 
390 errX{ iX) +»colX( iX) - ( (CX» ( iX*2+2 ) 

) AND 3) *4-TX 

400 IF ABSerrX(iX) >=4 errflagX=TRUE 
410 NEXT 

420 IF errflagX THEN 
430 FOR iX*rX TO bX 
440 colX(iX) +*err\(iX) 

450 IF colX(iX) >15 colX(iX)=15 ELSE 
IF colX(iX) <0 colX(iX) =0 
460 NEXT 

470 CXsFNset_col(colX(rX) ,colX(gX),co 
IX (bX)) 

480 errX( )*0 
490 ENDIF 
500 ENDPROC 
510 : 

520 DEF FNset col(rt,gX,bX) 

530 LOCAL TX.GX 

540 TX=( (rX OR gX OR bX) AND 3) *64 
550 GX=(bX AND 12)*4+(gX AND 12)+rX/4 
560 GCOL 0,GX TINT TX 
570 s (G\<<2) +TX/64 


Listing 10 - FXDemol 


10 REM >FXdemol (Infol0) 

20 REM Without procedures 
30 REM by DCA 
40 REM for all machines 
50 REM (c) BAU October 1992 
60 : 

70 MODE 4 
80 DIM qX 10 
90 italXaFALSE 
100 boldXs FALSE 
110 osword=£FPFl 
120 REPEAT 
130 READ r$ 

140 IF r$=-*" GOTO 310 
150 REPEAT 


138 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 


160 c$aLBFT$(r$,l) 

170 specialise $e“0" 

180 IP special’s THEN c$=MID$ (r$, 2, 1) 
:r$=MID$ (r$, 3) :IF c$»"I" italiaNOT ital% 
ELSE IF c$a"B" boldi«NOT boldi 
190 IF specials GOTO 290 
200 ?q%*ASC(c$) 

210 X%=q% MOD 256 

220 Y%=q\ DIV 256 

230 A\sl0 
240 CALL osword 

250 IF boldi FOR i%=l TO 8:q%?i%*q%? 
i% OR (q%?i%/2) jNEXT 

260 IF itali FOR i%»l TO 2:g%?i%»q%? 
iV 2: NEXT: FOR i%s6 TO 8 :q%?i%=q%?i%»2 :NE 
XT 

270 VDO 23,224,q%!l;q%!3;q%!5;q%!7;2 

24 

280 r$*MID$(r$,2) 

290 UNTIL r$="" 

300 PRINT' 

310 UNTIL r$s"‘" 

320 END 
330 : 

340 DATA “This program displays Slital 
icisedGI" 

350 DATA "and ®Bbold®B characters." 

360 DATA "GIGBThese are bold italics!® 
B®I" 

370 DATA "** 

Listing 1 1 - FXDemo2 

10 REM >PXdemo2 (Infoll) 

20 REM Without procedures 
30 REM by DCA 
40 REM for all machines 
50 REM (c) BAU October 1992 
60 : 

70 MODE 4 
80 PROCinit 
90 PROCtext 
100 END 
110 : 

120 DBF PROCinit 
130 DIM q% 10 
140 itali=FALSE 
150 bold\=FALSE 
160 osworda&FFFl 
170 ENDPROC 
180 : 

190 DBF PROCtext 
200 LOCAL rS 
210 REPEAT 
220 READ r$ 

230 IF r$<>"*" PROCdisplay_line{r$) 
240 UNTIL r$a"»" 

250 ENDPROC 
260 : 

270 DBF PROCdisplay Jine(r$) 

280 REPEAT 

290 IF LEFT$(r$, l)a"®" r$=FNeffect(r$ 

) ELSE r$=FNchar(r$) 

300 UNTIL r$=“* 

310 PRINT' 

320 ENDPROC 
330 : 

340 DEF FNeffect(r$) 

350 IF MID$(r$,2,l)a"i" italisNOT ital 

% 

360 IF MID$(r$,2,l)«"B" boldiaNOT bold 

\ 

370 =MID$(r$,3) 

380 : 

390 DEF FNchar (r$) 

400 ?q%aASC(r$) 

410 X%*q% MOD 256 

420 Y%=q% DIV 256 

430 A%=10 

440 CALL osword 

450 IF bold* PROCmake.bold (q%) 

460 IF itali PROCmake_italic (q%) 

470 VDU 23,224,q%!l;q%!3;q%!5;q%17;224 
480 sMID$(r$,2) 

490 : 

500 DBF PROCmake _bold ( a% ) 

510 LOCAL i% 

520 FOR i%»l TO 8 

530 a%?i%=a%?i% OR (q%?i%/2) 

540 NEXT 
550 ENDPROC 
560 : 

570 DEF PROCmake .italic (a\) 

580 LOCAL i% 

590 FOR i%-l TO 2 
600 a%?i%=a%?i%/2 
610 NEXT 

620 FOR iin6 TO 8 
630 a%?i%aa%?i%»2 
640 NEXT 
650 ENDPROC 
660 : 

670 DATA "This program displays ®Iital 
icisedGI" 

680 DATA "and GBboldGB characters." 

690 DATA "GIGBThese are bold italics!® 
B®I" 

700 DATA 

Listing 12 - Chat 

10 REM >Chat (Infol2) 

20 REM by DA and DL 

30 REM for all machines (with Econet) 


40 REM (c) BAU October 1992 
50 : 

60 PROCinit 
70 me$«FNwhoami 

00 INPUT "Chat to whom ? "you$ 

90 IF you$="" PROCreply ELSE PROCchat 
100 MODE 7 
110 PROCscreen 
120 PROCchat ter 
130 MODE 7 
140 END 
150 : 

160 DEF PROCinit 

170 DIM qr% *100, qt\ *100, q% *800, temp 
% *100, ini *100, out % *100 
180 osbyte»*FFF4 
190 osworda*FFFl 
200 tr.idle%aTRUB 
210 rec_idlei=TRUE 
220 porti=*B0 
230 DIM x\(l),y%(l) 

240 ENDPROC 
250 : 

260 DEF FNwhcami 

270 !q%s0 

280 q%! 4=0 

290 qi?l=8 

300 q%?3«32 

310 PROCosword (q%, *14) 

320 =FNuc($(q%+4)) 

330 : 

340 DEF PROCscreen 
350 FOR iV=0 TO 22 

360 VDU 31,0, iV 145,255,135,31, 38, i%, 
145,255 
370 NEXT 

380 FOR i\»0 TO 22 STEP 11 
390 VDU 31.0.i%, 129, 157 
400 NEXT 
410 ENDPROC 
420 : 

430 DEF PROCchatter 
440 cur%*-l 

450 $OUt%aCHR$254+RIGHT$("000"+STR$'th 
ere%, 4 ) *me$ 

460 PROCbegin_receive(0, 1000) 

470 PROCbegin. transmit (there%) 

480 OUt$a"" 

490 lastWIME 
500 rec.ok%aFALSB 
510 *FX 229,1 
520 done%=FALSE 
530 gone%= FALSE 
540 PROCwindow(0) 

550 REPEAT 
560 c$sINREY$ (0) 

570 IF c$aCHR$27 done\aTRUE:out$ac$ 
580 IF c$=CHR$13 c$=CHR$255 
590 IF C$<>— AND NOT done% PROCinser 
t(0,c$):out$aout$+c$ 

600 IF tr_idle% AND (LEN(out$)>5 OR ( 
TIME>last%+30 AND out$o""J) AND NOT gon 
e% THEN Sout%aout$:PROCbegin_transmit(th 
ere%) :last%=TIME:out$a"“ 

610 PROCprocesB. transmit 
620 PROCprocess_receive 
630 IF rec_idle\ PROCgot_chars 
640 UNTIL done% AND tr. idlei 
650 IF NOT rec.idlei A%3*34:X%arx%:CAL 
L osbyte 

660 *FX 229,0 
670 ENDPROC 
680 : 

690 DEF PROCgot_chars 
700 IF rec_ok% in$a$in% 

710 PROCbegin_receive(0, 1000) 

720 IF NOT rec_ok% ENDPROC 
730 IF ASC(in$)a254 PRINTCHR$26;TAB(2, 
0)CHR$130;me$“ on "FNsn(EVAL("*"+MID$(in 
$,2,4))) TAB (2, 11 )CHR$134MID$ ( in$, 6 ) " on 
"FNsn(there%) :PROCwindow(l) :PROCwindow(0 
) : ENDPROC 

740 IF ASC(in$)a27 gonei=TRUE: in$=CHR$ 
255+"("+you$+" has gone)"+CHR$255+CHR$7 
750 IF in$oid$ PROC insert (1, in$) 

760 ENDPROC 
770 : 

780 DEF FNsn(n%)aSTR$(n% DIV 256)*". "♦ 
RIGHTS ("000"+STR$(n% AND 255), 3) 

790 : 

800 DEF PROCinsert(n%,m$) 

810 PROCwindow(ni) 

820 IF INSTR (m$ , CHR$2 55 ) a0 PRINT m$; :P 
ROCwindow(0) : ENDPROC 
030 FOR i%al TO LEN(m$) 

840 IF MID$(m$,i%, 1)=CHR$255 PRINT EL 
SE PRINT MID$ (m$, i%, 1) ; 

850 NEXT 

860 PROCwindow(0) 

870 ENDPROC 
880 : 

890 DEF PROCwindow(ni) 

900 IF n%a C ur% ENDPROC 
910 PROCpreserve(cur%) 

920 VDO 23; 10, 82+173*n%,0;0;0;0; 28,3,1 
0+ll*n%, 37, l+ll*n%. 31,x%(n%) ,y%(n%) 

930 cur%an% 

940 ENDPROC 
950 : 

960 DEF PROCpreserve (n%) 

970 IF n%>=0 x%(n%)=POS:y%(n%)aVPOS 
980 ENDPROC 
990 : 

1000 DEF PROCchat 


1010 you$=FNuc(you$) 

1020 id$aFNcrc(you$) 

1030 u%=0 
1040 foundiaFALSE 
1050 REPEAT 
1060 user$aFNuser 

1070 IF you$«user$ PROCnotify (uid%, -(* 
♦me$+- wants a chat)") :found%aTRUE 
1080 UNTIL user$a“" 

1090 IF NOT foundi PRINT "No Buch user" 
: END 

1100 PRINT "Ringing ";you$;"..." 

1110 IF NOT FNwait_for (id$,2000) PRINT" 
No reply": END 
1120 PROCdelay(100) 

1130 PROCburst ..transmit (id$, 100) 

1140 ENDPROC 
1150 : 

1160 DEF FNuser 
1170 !q%=0:q\!4=0 
1180 q\?1.32 
1190 q%?3*15 
1200 q%?7=u% 

1210 q%?8»l 

1220 PROCoBWord (q%, *14 ) 

1230 IF q%?4=0 THEN a"" 

1240 U%a U %+l 

1250 uid%aq%!5 AND 6FFFF 
1260 =$(q%+7) 

1270 : 

1280 DEF PROCreply 
1290 id$aPNcrc(me$) 

1300 PROCburst_transmit (id$, 100) 

1310 IF NOT FNwait. for(id$, 200) PRINT - 
Must have been a ghost !":END 
1320 ENDPROC 
1330 : 

1340 DEF PROCburst_transmit(str$,t%) 
1350 burst _timeaTIME+t% 

1360 $out%»LEFT$ ( 8tr$ , 7 ) 

1370 REPEAT 

1380 PROCbegin_transmit (&FFFF) 

1390 REPEAT 

1400 PROCprocess_transmit 
1410 UNTIL tr_idle% 

1420 UNTIL TIME>burst„time 
1430 ENDPROC 
1440 : 

1450 DEF FNwait_for(str$, t%) 

1460 wait_timeout=TIME+t% 

1470 got%a FALSE 

1480 REPEAT 

1490 $in%s"*******" 

1500 PROCbegin_receive(0,50) 

1510 REPEAT 

1520 PROCprocess_receive 
1530 UNTIL rec_idle% 

1540 IF rec.oki THEN IF $in\astr$ got% 
aTRUE: there%aqr\! 3 AND fcPFFF 
1550 UNTIL got% OR TIME>wait_timeout 
1560 agoti 
1570 : 

1580 DEF PROCbegin_transmit(s%) 

1590 PROCdelay (10) 

1600 REPEAT 

1610 PROCprocess. transmit 
1620 UNTIL tr_idle% 

1630 qt%?Uport% 

1640 qt%!2=s% 

1650 IF s%a*FFFF THEN $(qt%+4)»$out% EL 
SB qt\! 4aout%:qt%! 8aout%+LEN( $out%) ♦ 1 

1660 tr_trie8%a0 

1670 PROCtranemit_go 
1680 ENDPROC 
1690 : 

1700 DEF PROCbegin_receive(s%, t%) 

1710 PROCdelay (10) 

1720 rec_timeout%aTIMB+t% 

1730 REPEAT 

1740 PROCprocess receive 
1750 UNTIL rec_idle% 

1760 !qr\=*7F00 
1770 qr%?2aport% 

1780 qrt!3=s% 

1790 qr%!5»in% 

1800 qr%!9ain%**100 
1810 PROCosword (qr%, *11 ) 

1820 rx%a?qr% 

1830 rec_idle%aFALSE 
1840 ENDPROC 
1850 : 

1860 DEF PROCtransmit_go 
1870 tr_idle%=FALSE 
1880 REPEAT 
1890 ?qt%=*80 
1900 PROCosword (qt%, *10) 

1910 UNTIL ?qt%<>0 
1920 ENDPROC 
1930 : 

1940 DEF PROCprocess_transait 
1950 IF tr_idle% ENDPROC 
1960 A%a*32 
1970 U%=USR( osbyte) 

1980 IF (U% AND &8000)<>0 ENDPROC 
1990 tr_idle%=TRUE 

2000 txresult%a(U% AND *FF00) Drv *100 
2010 IF txresult%*0 tr_ok%=TRUE: ENDPROC 
2020 nonfatal%a(txresult%a*41 OR txresu 
lt%a*42) 

2030 IF nonfatali PROCdelay ( 50) :tr_trie 
s%*tr_tries%+l 

2040 IF nonfatal% AND tr_tries%<l0 PROC 
transmit.. go ELSE tr ok%a FALSE 
2050 ENDPROC 


2060 : 

2070 DEF PROCprocess_receive 
2080 IF rec idle% ENDPROC 
2090 X%arx% 

2100 IF TIME>rec_timeout% rec_idle%aTRU 
E : rec . ok%» FALSE : A%a*34 : CALL osbyte : ENDPR 
OC 

2110 A%a*33 

2120 IF (USR( osbyte) AND *8000) <>0 THEN 
?qr\arx%: PROCosword (qr%, *11) :rec_idle%a 
TRUE : rec_ok%aTRUE 
2130 ENDPROC 
2140 : 

2150 DEF PROCos wo rd { q% , A% ) 

2160 X%*q% MOD 256 
2170 Y%aq% DIV 256 
2180 CALL osword 
2190 ENDPROC 
2200 : 

2210 DEF FNuc(s$) 

2220 $temp%ss$ 

2230 i\= tempi 
2240 REPEAT 

2250 IF ?i\>aASC"a" AND ?i%<«ASC*s" ?i 
%»?i%-32 

2260 IF ?i%<»32 ?i%«13 ELSE i%«i%+l 
2270 UNTIL ?i\<32 
2280 a$temp\ 

2290 : 

2300 DEF PROCnotify(s%,m$) 

2310 ?qV=l 
2320 q%!la S % 

2330 $ (q%+3 ) am$+CHR$7 »CHR$0 
2340 PROCosword (q%,* 14) 

2350 ENDPROC 
2360 : 

2370 DEF PROCdelay (t%) 

2380 tiaTIME+ti 

2390 REPEAT UNTIL TIME>t% 

2400 ENDPROC 
2410 : 

2420 DEF FNcrc(s$) 

2430 LOCAL i%,crc% 

2440 FOR i%al TO LEN(sS) 

2450 crc%=crc%+ASCMID$ (s$, i%) *i% 

2460 NEXT 

2470 =CHR$255+RIGHT$("000"+STR$'crc%,4) 

Listing 13 - Eye 

10 REM >Bye (Inf 013) 

20 REM by Jan Vibe 
30 REM for 32-bit machines 
40 REM (c) BAU October 1992 
50 : 

60 MODE 137 
70 MODE 9 
80 OFF 

90 delay%*30 
100 81%>1 
110 s2%*2 

120 ON ERROR GOTO 640 

130 DIM sp% *10000, sc% *10 

140 sp% ! 0=610000 

150 sp% ! 4 a0 

160 sp%!8al6 

170 sp%!12al6 

180 FOR n%*0 TO 15 

190 COLOUR n%, 16*n%, 00*n%, 16*(15-n\) 

200 NEXT 

210 fal.3416 

220 al>1280 

230 C%a0 

240 REPEAT 

250 a2«al/f 

260 a3aa2/f 

270 s«(a3-al)/15 

280 FOR n%*0 TO 15 

290 GCOL n% 

300 ELLIPSE FILL 640, 512, al+n%*s, a2 

310 NEXT 

320 al4sl5»s 

330 BaS/f 

340 FOR n%«l TO 14 

350 GCOL 15-n% 

360 ELLIPSE FILL 640,512,al,a2+n%*s 

370 NEXT 

380 UNTIL al<«4 

390 SYS -OS_SpriteOp", 256+16, sp%, "PIC- 
,0, 0,0,1279, 1024 
400 : 

410 REPEAT 
420 ka 1000 
430 SC%!00ak 
440 SC%!04ak 
450 SC%108=k 
460 SC%112ak 
470 REPEAT 
480 WAIT 

490 SYS 6,112,81% 

500 SYS 6,113,82% 

510 SWAP Sl%,s2% 

520 CLS 

530 xp%=640-(1280*k/1000)/2 

540 yp%a512-(1024*k/1000)/2 

550 SYS "OS SpriteOp", 256+52, sp%, "PI 
C",xp%.yp%,8,sc% 

560 kak+80 

570 sc%!00=k 

580 sc%!04ak 

590 WHILE TIME<delay% 

600 ENDWHILE 

610 TIMEa0 

620 UNTIL k>al800 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 1 39 



630 UNTIL FALSE 

60 MODE 137 

180 c%=0 

310 

ELLIPSE 640+400*SIN(t), 

640 SYS 6,112,sl\ 

70 MODE 9 

190 ON ERROR GOTO 370 

OS(t), 

i 110, 64, 10*t 

650 PRINT REPORT$« at line "STR$ERL 

80 OFF 

200 REPEAT 

320 

NEXT 

660 ON 

90 sl\=l 

210 

WAIT 

330 

GCOL 13 

670 END 

100 s2%-2 

220 

SYS "OS_Byte",112,sl\ 

340 

ELLIPSE 640,512,280,330, 

listing 14 - Eggs 

110 : 

120 a%=0 

230 

240 

SYS "OS_ Byte", 113, s2\ 

SWAP 8lVs2% 

\) 

350 

a\*(a\+l) MOD 360 

130 FOR n%=l TO 12 

250 

CLS 

360 

UNTIL FALSE 

10 REM >Eggs (Infol4) 

140 f\=30*n\ 

260 

c%=c\ MOD 12+1 

370 

SYS "0S_Byte" , 112 , sl\ 

20 REM by Jan Vibe 

150 COLOUR n\, 127* (SINRADf%+l) , 127* (S 

270 

FOR n%*30 TO 360 STEP 30 

380 

PRINT REPORTS- at line -£ 

30 REM for 32-bit machines 

INRAD (f\+ 120) +1) , 127* (SINRAD(fV+240) +1) 

280 

t-RAD(a*+n\) 

390 

ON 

40 REM (c) BAU October 1992 

160 NEXT 

290 

c\=c% MOD 12+1 



50 : 

170 COLOUR 13,255,255,255 

300 

GCOL c\ 




ASSEMBLY LINE 


Listing 1 - 

Arml 

150 

160 

.loop 

LDR R4, [R0,R2,ASL *2] 

, ASL #2] 

220 ADD total, total, value 

L #2] 

230 

MOV 

min, i 


170 

ADD R3.R3.R4 

230 


240 

MOV 

j,i 

10 REM >ARM1 


180 


240 

ADD count, count, ffl 

250 .loop2 



20 REM By Dave 

Lawrence 

190 

ADD R2,R2,il 

250 

CMP count, number 

260 

LDR 

value, [array, j, ASL 

30 REM For 32 bit machines 

200 

CMP R2,R1 

260 

BNE loop 

#2] 



40 REM (C) BAU October 1992 

210 

BNE loop 

270 


270 

CMP 

value, minval 

50 : 


220 


260 

MOV R0, total 

280 

MOVLT 

minval, value 

60 DIM code 100 


230 

MOV R0,R3 

290 


290 

MOVLT 

min, j 

70 link-14 


240 


300 

MOV pc, link 

300 


80 pc=15 


250 

MOV pc, link 

310 

[NEXT 

310 

ADD 

j.j.il 

90 FOR pass=0 TO 2 STEP 2 

260 

[NEXT 

320 

nufflbers-10 

320 

CMP 

j , number 

100 P\=code 


270 

numbers: 10 

330 

total-0 

330 

BNE 

loop2 

110 [OPT pass 


280 

total-0 

340 

DIM data numbers*4 

340 



120 .load 


290 

DIM data numbers *4 

350 

PRINT -Numbers : "j 

350 

CMP 

i.min 

130 ADR 

Rl, table 

300 

PRINT “Numbers : •/ 

360 

FOR i=0 TO numbers-l 

360 

LDRNE 

value, [array,!, ASL 

140 LDR 

R0, [R1.R0] 

310 

FOR i=0 TO numbers-l 

370 

n=RND( 100) 

*2) 



150 


320 

n=RND( 100) 

380 

data! (i*4)-n 

370 

STRNE 

value, [array, min, A 

160 MOV 

pc, link 

330 

data! (i*4)-n 

390 

total+sn 

SL #2] 



170 


340 

total+»n 

400 

PRINT; n; " */ 

380 

STRNE 

minval, [array, i, AS 

180 .table EQUD 

600000000 

350 

PRINT; nj- *| 

410 

NEXT i 

L *2] 



190 EQUD 

600000001 

360 

NEXT i 

420 

PRINT '-BASIC total t "; total 

390 



200 EQUD 

600000022 

370 

PRINT '"BASIC total : -/total 

430 

AV-data 

400 

ADD 

i.i.tl 

210 EQUD 

600000333 

380 

AN-data 

440 

B%= number 8 

410 

CMP 

1 , number 

220 EQUD 

600004444 

390 

B\=numbers 

450 

PRINT-ARM total : "jUSR(sua) 

420 

BNE 

loopl 

230 EQUD 
240 EQUD 
250 EQUD 

600055555 

600666666 

607777777 

400 PRINT-ARM total : "jUSR(sum) 

Listing 3 - Arm 3 

Listing 4 - Arm4 

430 

440 

450 ] NEXT 

MOV 

pc, link 

260 ]NEXT 




10 

REM >ARM4 

460 numbers 

1-15 


270 FOR 1*0 TO 7 


10 

REM >ARM3 

20 

REM By Dave Lawrence 

470 DIM data numbers*4 

280 A%=i*4 


20 

REM By Dave Lawrence 

30 

REM For 32 bit machines 

480 FOR i-0 TO numbers-l 

290 PRINT l, "USR(load) 

30 

REM For 32 bit machines 

40 

REM (C) BAU October 1992 

490 n-RND( 100) 


300 NEXT i 


40 

REM (C) BAU October 1992 

50 

i 

500 data! (i*4)-n 


Listing 2 - 

Arm2 

50 

60 

DIM code 100 

60 

70 

DIM code 100 
array-0 

510 NEXT i 
520 PRINT " 

Unsorted 

t "; FNnumbers (data 


70 

array=0 

80 

number- 1 

, numbers > 



10 REM >ARM2 


80 

numbers 1 

90 

i-2 

530 A\=data 


20 REN By Dave 1 

Lawrence 

90 

count =2 

100 

j«3 

540 B\-numbers 


30 REM For 32 bit machines 

100 

total-3 

110 

rain-4 

550 CALL sort 


40 REM (C) BAU October 1992 

110 

value-4 

120 

minval-5 

560 PRINT - 

Sorted 

t "; FNnumbers (data 

50 : 


120 

link-14 

130 

value-6 

.numbers) 



60 DIM code 100 


130 

pc=15 

140 

link-14 

570 END 



70 link-14 


140 

FOR pass-0 TO 2 STEP 2 

150 

pc-15 

580 : 



80 pc=15 


150 

P\=code 

160 

FOR pass-0 TO 2 STEP 2 

590 DEF FNnumbers (a,b) 

90 FOR pass=0 TO 2 STEP 2 

160 

[OPT pass 

170 

P%=code 

600 FOR i-0 TO b-1 


100 P%=code 


170 

.sum 

180 

[OPT pass 

610 PRINT 

;a! (i*4) ; 

• 

110 [OPT pass 


180 

MOV count, #0 

190 

.sort 

620 NEXT 



120 .sum 


190 

MOV total, #0 

200 

MOV i,#0 

630 »— 



130 MOV 

R2, #0 

200 

.loop 

210 

.loopl 




140 MOV 

R3, #0 

210 

LDR value, [array, count 

220 

LDR minval , [array, i , AS 





STICKY MOMENTS 


Listing 1 - WebA32 

10 REM Weba32 

20 REM Spider web generator 
30 REM by Mathew Titard 
40 REM (C) BAU Oct 92 
50 REM For 32-bit only 
60 : 

70 MODE 12: REM USB MODE 20 IP YOU HAV 
E A MULTISYNC 
80 OFF 
90 *FX9 

100 first flag=0 

110 COLOUR1, 100,0,0 

120 DIM radius (150), angle (150) 

130 DIM gene(6,9) ,extreme(6) ,mutate(6) 

140 F0RN-1T06 

150 READ extreme (N) 

160 NEXT 

170 P0RN-1T06 

180 READ mutate (N) 

190 NEXT 
200 : 

210 REM INITIALLY RANDOM MENAGBRIB 

220 F0RN=1 TO 9 

230 FORG-1 TO 6 STEP 2 

240 gene(G,N)=FNR(extreme(G),extreme(G 

♦D) 

250 gene (G+1,N)-FNR( extreme (G) .extreme 
(G+l) ) 

260 NEXT 
270 NEXT 
280 : 

290 REM MAIN LOOP 
300 prespos=0 
310 PROCmutate 


320 FORWYV160 TO 1023 STEP 350 

330 FOREXV-160 TO 1280 STEP 450 

340 prespos+»l 

350 OX-0 

360 OY-0 

370 MR-150 

380 ORIGIN EX%,WY\ 

390 GCOL 6 

400 IF preepo8=5 AND firstflag=l THEN 
NKXTEX% 

410 CIRCLE 0,0, MR 

420 GC0L7 

430 string%=7500 

440 increm-PNR (gene(l, prespos) , gene (2, 
prespos)) 

450 angle-0 
460 R-0 

470 REPEATR+-1 

480 anginc=FNR (gene (3, prespos) , gene (4, 
prespos) ) 

490 angle+=anginc 

500 IF angle>360- (anginc/2) THEN angle 
=360 

510 angle (R)aangle 

520 radius (R)=FNR( gene (5, prespos) , gene 
(6, prespos)) 

530 TX-COSRAD (angle) ‘radius (R) 

540 TY=SINRAD (angle) ‘radius (R) 

550 PROCL(OX,OY,TX,TY) 

560 PROCL(0,0,TX,TY) 

570 IF angle=360 THEN PROCL(TX,TY, FX, F 
Y) 

580 OX=TX 
590 OY=TY 

600 IF R=1 THEN FX=TX:FY=TY 
610 UNTIL angle=360 
620 MAXN=R 


630 OX-0 
640 OY=0 
650 N=0 
660 R=0 

670 REPEAT N+=l 
680 R+=increm 
690 IF N>MAXN THEN N=1 
700 X=COSRAD( angle (N) ) *R 
710 Y=SINRAD(angle(N))*R 
720 IF R>radius(N) THEN UNTILR> radius ( 
N) :GOTO 770 

730 PR0CL(0X,0Y,X,Y) 

740 OX=X 
750 OY-Y 

760 UNTIL string*<0 
770 NEXTRX%,Wn 
780 firstf lag=l 
790 : 

800 REM ARTIFICIAL SELECTION 

810 ORIGIN 0,0 

820 GCOL4 , 0 

830 REPBATMOUSE X,Y,Z 

840 XP«l+INT(X/450) 

850 YP=l+INT(Y/350) 

860 gridp=XP+3*(YP-l) 

870 CIRCLB 160+ (450* (XP-1) ) , 160+ (350* ( 
YP-1) ) , MR 

880 REPEAT MOUSE NX.NY.Z 
890 NXP=1+INT (NX/450) 

900 NYP=l+INT(NY/350) 

910 IF Z<>0 THEN UNTILZ< >0 : GOTO940 
920 UNTIL NXPoXP OR NYPoYP 
930 CIRCLE 160+ (450* (XP-1) ) , 160+ (350* ( 
YP-1)), MR 

940 UNTIL Z<>0 
950 GCOL0 

960 RECTANGLE PILL 0. 0, 1280, 350* (YP-1) 


970 RECTANGLE FILL 0. 350* (YP-1) +325, 12 
80,1024 

980 RECTANGLE FILL 0,0, 450* (XP-1) , 1024 
990 RECTANGLE FILL 450* (XP-l)+325, 0, 12 
80,1024 
1000 GC0L1 

1010 FILL 450* (XP-1) +12, 350* (YP-1) +160 
1020 IX=450* (XP-1) 

1030 IY=350* (YP-1) 

1040 XS= (450-IX) /20 
1050 YS=(350-IY)/20 
1060 FORN=l TO 20 
1070 IX+*XS 
1080 IY+*YS 
1090 WAIT 

1100 RECTANGLE FILL IX-XS, IY-YS, 310, 320 
TO IX, IY 
1110 NEXT 
1120 : 

1130 REM BREEDING (HEREDITY) 

1140 FORN=l TO 9 
1150 F0RG=1 TO 6 
1160 gene (G,N) -gene (G.gridp) 

1170 NEXT 
1180 NEXT 
1190 GOTO 3 00 
1200 END 
1210 : 

1220 DEFFNR(A,B) 

1230 IF A>=B THEN SWAP A. B 
1240 =A+RND( 1000* (B-A) ) / 1000 
1250 : 

1260 DEFPROCL ( X 1 , Y 1 , X2 , Y2 ) 

1270 LINE XI, Y1.X2, Y2 
1280 stringV-SQR( (Y2-Y1) *2+ (X2-X1) *2) 
1290 ENDPROC 
1300 t 


140 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 


1310 DEPPROCmutate 
1320 P0RN=1 TO 9 
1330 IP N-5 THEN N=6 
1340 FORG=l TO 6 STEP 2 
1350 gene(G,N)+=FNR(-mutate(G) ,rautate(G 
)) 

1360 gene(G+l,N)+aFNR( -mutate (G) , mutate 

( 0 ) ) 

1370 IF gene(G,N) >extreme(G) THEN gene( 
G,N)=extreme(G) 

1380 IF gene(G+l,NXextreae(G+l) THEN g 
ene(G+l,N)=extreme(G+l) 

1390 IF gene(G,N) <gene (G+l.N) THEN SWAP 
gene (G, N) , gene (G+l.N) 

1400 NEXT 
1410 NEXT 
1420 ENDPROC 
1430 : 

1440 REN THE 2 DATA STATEMENTS CONTAIN 
THE EXTREME VALDES OP 
1450 REM GENES 1-6 RESPECTIVELY, FOLLOW 
ED BY THE RATES AT WHICH 
1460 REM EACH ONE MUTATES. 

1470 : 

1400 REM EXTREMES - 
1490 DATA 4,0.15.20,3,150.10 
1500 REM MUTATION RATES - 
1510 DATA 0.5,0.5,2,2,10,10 

Listing 2 - Weba8 

10 REM Spiders web generator 
20 REM (Artifical selection) 

30 REM by Mathew Titard 
40 REM for B/B+/M/C/E 
50 REM (C) BAU October 1992 
60 : 

70 MODE0: VDU23; 8202;0;0;0; 

80 VDU19, 1,6, 0,0,0 
90 PRINT-Initialising. . ." 

100 DIM radius (150). angle (150) 

110 DIM gene(6, 9) .extreme (6) .mutate (6) 

120 FORN=1T06 

130 READ extreme (N) 

140 NEXT 

150 F0RN-1T06 

160 READ mutate(N) 

170 NEXT 
180 : 

190 REN INITIALLY RANDOM MENAGERIE 

200 F0RN=1 TO 9 

210 FORG-1 TO 6 STEP 2 

220 gene(G,N)=FNR(extreme(G) ,extreme(G 

♦D) 

230 gene(G4l,N)»FNR(extreme(G), extreme 
( 0 * 1 )) 

240 NEXT 
250 NEXT 
260 : 

270 REM MAIN LOOP 
280 CLS 
290 prespos =0 
300 PROCmutate 

310 PORWYX.160 TO 1023 STEP 350 

320 POREXV160 TO 1280 STEP 450 

330 presposcprespos+1 

340 OX-0 

350 OY=0 

360 MR-150 

370 VDU 29,BX%;WYV 

380 GCOL0, 1 

390 string\=7500 

400 increm=FNR (gene(l, prespos) .gene (2, 
prespos) ) 

410 angled 
420 R>0 

430 REPEAT RaR+1 

440 anginc=FNR( gene (3, prespos) , gene (4, 
prespos)) 

450 angle=angle+anginc 
460 IF angle>360- (anginc/2) THEN angle 
=360 

470 angle (R)=angle 

480 radius (R)*PNR( gene (5, prespos) .gene 
(6, prespos)) 

490 TX-COSRAD ( angle )*radius(R) 

500 TY=SINRAD( angle) ‘radius (R) 

510 PR0CL(0X,0Y,TX,TY) 

520 PROCL(0,0,TX,TY) 

530 IP angle=360 THEN PROCL(TX,TY,PX, P 

?) 

540 0X=TX 
550 0Y=TY 

560 IF R=1 THEN FX=TX:PY=TY 

570 UNTIL angle=360 

580 MAXN=R 

590 OX=0 

600 OY=0 

610 N=0 

620 R=0 

630 REPEAT N=N+1 
640 R-R+increm 
650 IP N>MAXN THEN N=1 
660 X=COSRAD(angle(N))*R 
670 Y*SINRAD(angle(N))*R 
680 IF R>radius(N) THEN UNTILR>radius( 
N) :GOTO 730 

690 PR0CL(0X,0Y,X, Y) 

700 0X»X 
710 0Y=Y 

720 UNTIL string%<0 
730 NEXTEX%,m 
740 i 


750 REM ARTIFICIAL SELECTION 
760 VDU29.0/0; 

770 NUM=0 

780 FORWY%=0 TO 1023-160 STEP 350 
790 FORm=0 TO 1280-160 STBP 450 
800 NUM=NUM+1 
810 VDU 5 

820 H0VEEX%,WYVd4 

830 PRINTNUM 

840 VDU4 

850 NEXT 

860 NEXT 

870 REPEAT 

880 gridp=GET-48 

890 UNTIL gridp>0 AND gridp<10 

900 NUM-0 

910 FOR Y\=0 TO 1023-160 STEP 350 
920 POR X\=0 TO 1280-160 STEP 450 
930 NUM=NUM+ 1 

940 IF NUM=gridp WYVY\+32:BX%aX% 

950 NEXT 
960 NEXT 
970 GCOL0.0 

980 PROCRECT(0,0,1280,WY%) 

990 PROCRBCT{0, WY\+300, 1280, 1024) 

1000 PROCRECT(0, 0, EX\, 1024) 

1010 PROCRECT(EX%+ 300,0, 1280, 1024) 

1020 GCOL0.1 
1030 IX*EX\ 

1040 IY=WY\ 

1050 XS« (450-1X1/20 
1060 YS=(350-IY)/20 
1070 GCOL4.0 
1080 P0RN=1 TO 20 
1090 PROCBOX(IX.IY) 

1100 *FX19 

1110 PROCBOX (IX, IY) 

1120 IX = IX+XS 
1130 IY-IY+YS 
1140 NEXT 

1150 CLS: PROCBOX ( IX, IY) 

1160 : 

1170 REM BREEDING (HEREDITY) 

1180 FORNsl TO 9 
1190 F0RG=1 TO 6 
1200 gene(G,N)=gene(G,gridp) 

1210 NEXT 
1220 NEXT 
1230 GOTO290 
1240 END 
1250 : 

1260 DEPFNR(A, B) 

1270 IP A>=B THEN C=A:A=B:B=C 
1280 =A+RND(1000* (B-A) ) / 1000 
1290 : 

1300 DEFPROCL (X1,Y1,X2,Y2) 

1310 MOVE XI, Y1 
1320 DRAW X2.Y2 

1330 8tring\=string\-SQR( (Y2-Y1) *2+(X2- 
XI) *2) 

1340 ENDPROC 
1350 : 

1360 DBFPROCmutate 
1370 P0RN=1 TO 9 

1380 IP N=5 THEN N=6 

1390 F0RG»1 TO 6 STEP 2 

1400 gene (G, N) =gene (G, N) +FNR ( -mutate (G) 
.mutate(G) ) 

1410 gene(G+l,N)=gene(G+l,N) ♦FNR( -mutat 
e (G), mutate (G) ) 

1420 IF gene(G,N) >extreme(G) THEN gene( 
G,N)=extreme(G) 

1430 IF gene(G+l,N)<extreme(G+l) THEN g 
ene (G+l, N) -extreme (G+l) 

1440 IF gene(G,N)<gene(G+l,N) THEN C«ge 
ne(G,N) :gene(G,N)=gene(G+l,N) :gene(G+l,N 
)-C 

1450 NEXT 
1460 NEXT 
1470 ENDPROC 
1480 : 

1490 DEFPROCRECT ( XI , Y1 , X2 , Y2 ) 

1500 M0VEX1, Y1 
1510 M0VEX1.Y1 
1520 M0VEX1, Y1 
1530 PLOT85, XI, Y1 
1540 PL0T85.X1, Y2 
1550 PLOT85.X2.Y2 
1560 M0VEX2.Y1 
1570 M0VEX2 , Y1 
1580 M0VEX2, Y1 
1590 PL0T85,X2,Y1 
1600 PLOT85.X2.Y2 
1610 PLOT85.X1, Y1 
1620 ENDPROC 
1630 : 

1640 DEFPROCBOX(X.Y) 

1650 MO VEX, Y 
1660 DRAWX+300, Y 
1670 DRAWX+300, Y+300 
1680 DRAWX, Y+300 
1690 DRAWX, Y 
1700 ENDPROC 
1710 : 

1720 REM THE 2 DATA STATEMENTS CONTAIN 
THE EXTREME VALUES OF 
1730 REM GENES 1-6 RESPECTIVELY, FOLLOW 
ED BY THE RATES AT WHICH 
1740 REM EACH ONE MUTATES. 

1750 s 

1760 REM EXTREMES - 

1770 DATA 5,0.2,50,5,120,10 

1780 REM MUTATION RATES - 


1790 DATA 0.5,0.5,2,2,10,10 

Listing 3 - Webn32 

10 REM Webn32 

20 REM Spiders web generator 
30 REM Natural selection 
40 REM (C) BAU Oct 92 
50 REM For 32-bit only 
60 : 

70 MODE 12: REM USB MODE 20 IF YOU HAV 
E A MULTISYNC 

80 maxstring=9000 
90 OFF 
100 *FX9 
110 C0L0UR7 , 6 
120 C0L0UR15, 1 
130 generations»0 
140 DIM FX(1000) ,FY(1000) ,ratio(9) 

150 DIM radius (200), angle (200) 

160 DIM gene (6, 9) .extreme (6) .mutate (6) 

170 FORN=1T06 

180 READ extreme (N) 

190 NEXT 

200 F0RN=1T06 

210 READ mutate(N) 

220 NEXT 
230 : 

240 REM INITIALLY RANDOM MENAGERIE 
250 FORNal TO 9 
260 F0RG=1 TO 6 STEP 2 
270 gene(G,N)=FNR(extreme(G) ,extreme(G 
+D) 

280 gene (G+1,N)«FNR( ext r eme (0 ), ext r rate 
(041)) 

290 NEXT 
300 NEXT 
310 : 

320 FOR fliesal TO 1000 
330 FX ( flies ) =RND( 300) -150 
340 FY ( flies )aRND( 300) -150 
350 NEXT 

360 REM MAIN LOOP 
370 prespos=0 
380 GC0L7 
390 VDU 5 
400 MOVE500, 692 

410 PRINT"Generation: "/generations 

420 VDU4 

430 OFF 

440 PROCmutate 

450 FORWYX-160 TO 1023 STEP 350 

460 POREX\-160 TO 1280 STEP 450 

470 prespos+=l 

480 OX=0 

490 OY=0 

500 MR=150 

510 ORIGIN 0,0 

520 GCOL0 

530 IF prespos-5 THEN RECTANGLE PILL 4 
60,360,300,300 

540 ORIGIN BX%,WY* 

550 QC0L7 

560 string\=maxstring 
570 inc rem=PNR( gened, prespos ), gene (2, 
prespos)) 

580 angle=0 
590 R*0 

600 REPEAT R+«l 

610 anginc=FNR (gene (3, prespos) , gene (4, 
prespos) ) 

620 angle+aanginc 

630 IF angle>360-anginc/2 THEN angle=3 

60 

640 angle (R)*angle 

650 radius (R)=FNR( gene ( 5, prespoB ), gene 
(6, prespos)) 

660 TX-COSRAD (angle) ‘radius (R) 

670 TY=SINRAD(angle) ‘radius (R) 

680 PROCL(OX,OY,TX,TY) 

690 PROCL(0,0,TX,TY) 

700 IF angle=360 THEN PROCLfTX, TY, FX, F 
Y) 

710 OX=TX 
720 OY=TY 

730 IF R=1 THEN FX=TX:FY=TY 

740 UNTIL angle=360 OR sf*=l 

750 IF sf\al THEN GOTO920 

760 MAXN=R 

770 OX=0 

780 OY=0 

790 N=0 

800 R=0 

810 REPEAT N+=l 

820 R+=FNR(gene(l, prespos) ,gene(2,pres 
pos)) 

830 IF N>MAXN THEN N=1 
840 X=COSRAD(angle(N))*R 
850 Y=SINRAD(angle(N))*R 
860 IF R>radius(N) THEN UNTILR>radius( 
N) :GOTO930 

870 IF R> radius (N) THEN UNTILR>radius ( 
N) :GOTO930 

880 PROCL(OX, OY, X, Y) 

890 OX=X 
900 OY=Y 
910 UNTIL sf%=l 
920 Btring\=0 
930 GC0L4 , 0 
940 T»0 

950 FOR fliesrl TO 1000 
960 IF POINT (FX( flies) ,FY( flies) )*7 TH 
EN T+*l 


970 NEXT 

980 FOR fliesal TO 1000 
990 POINT FX( flies) ,FY( flies) 

1000 NEXT 

1010 ratio (prespos) = ( 10*T) - (maxstring-s 
tringft) /8 
1020 GC0L2 
1030 VDU5 
1040 MOVE-150,150 
1050 PRINT ratio (prespos) 

1060 VDU 4 
1070 OFF 

1080 NEXTEXV WY\ 

1090 win=5 

1100 FORtest-l TO 9 

1110 IF ratio(test) >ratio(win) THEN win 
atest 
1120 NEXT 

1130 generations+al 

1140 gridpawin 

1150 ratio ( 5 ) «rat io ( win ) 

1160 XP=1+ (win-1) M0D3 
1170 YPal+ (win-1) DIV3 
1180 ORIGIN 1604 ( (XP-1) *450) , 160+ ( (YP-1 
) *350) 

1190 GCOL4.0 

1200 FOR fliesal TO 1000 
1210 POINT FX(flies) ,FY(flies) 

1220 NEXT 
1230 ORIGIN 0,0 
1240 GCOL0 

1250 RECTANGLE FILL 0, 0, 1280, 350* (YP-1) 
1260 RECTANGLE FILL 0, 350* (YP-1) +286, 12 
80, 1024 

1270 RECTANGLE FILL 0. 0, 450* (XP-1) , 1024 
1280 RECTANGLE FILL 450*(XP-l)+325,0, 12 
80,1024 
1290 GC0L4 , 0 
1300 : 

1310 IX=450*(XP-1) 

1320 IY=350* (YP-1) 

1330 XS= (450-IX) /20 
1340 YS= ( 350-IY) /20 
1350 FORNal TO 20 
1360 IX+aXS 
1370 IY+=YS 
1380 WAIT 

1390 RECTANGLE FILL IX-XS, IY-YS, 310, 320 

TO IX, IY 

1400 NEXT 

1410 FORNal TO 9 

1420 FORGal TO 6 

1430 gene(G,N)=gene(G,gridp) 

1440 NEXT 
1450 NEXT 
1460 GOTO370 
1470 END 
1480 : 

1490 DEFFNR(A.B) 

1500 IF A>=B THEN SWAP A, B 
1510 »A+RND( 1000* (B-A))/ 1000 
1520 : 

1530 DEFPROCL ( XI, Y1,X2,Y2) 

1540 LINE X1,Y1,X2,Y2 
1550 stringV«SQR( (Y2-Y1) *2+(X2-Xl) ‘2) 
1560 IFstringV0 THEN sf%=l ELSE sf\=0 
1570 ENDPROC 
1580 : 

1590 DBFPROCmutate 

1600 FORNal TO 9 

1610 IF Na 5 THEN N=6 

1620 G=RND(3)*2-1 

1630 gene(G.N)+=FNM*mutate(G) 

1640 gene(G+l,N)+aFNM*mutate(G) 

1650 IF gene(G,N) >extreme(G) THBN gene( 
G,N) -extreme (G) 

1660 IF gene (G+l, N) <extreme (G+l) THEN g 
ene ( G+ 1 , N ) =ext r eme ( G+ 1 ) 

1670 IF gene(G,N) <gene(G+l,N) THEN SWAP 
gene (G, N) , gene (G+l.N) 

1680 NEXT 
1690 ENDPROC 
1700 : 

1710 DEPPNM 

1720 HaRND(3)-2 

1730 IF H«0 THEN GOTO1720 

1740 =H 

1750 : 

1760 DATA 15,1.6,100,15,130,2 
1770 DATA 0.6,0. 6, 8. 8, 8, 8 

Listing 4 -WebN8 

10 REM Webn8 

20 REM Spiders web generator 
30 REM (Natural selection) 

40 REM by Mathew Tixard 
50 REM for B/B+/M/C/E 
60 REM (C) BAU October 1992 
70 t 

80 MODE0:VDU23; 8202, ’0/0/0; 

90 VDU19, 1.6, 0,0,0 
100 PRINT-Initialising..." 

110 maxstring=8000 
120 generationsa0 

130 DIM radius(140),angle(140),ratio(9 

) 

140 DIN gene(6,9) ,extreme(6),mutate<6) 

150 F0RN-1T06 

160 READ extreme (N) 

170 NEXT 

180 F0RN=1T06 

190 READ mutate(N) 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 1 41 



210 : 

220 REM INITIALLY RANDOM MENAGERIE 

230 FORN-1 TO 9 

240 FORG-1 TO 6 STEP 2 

250 gene(G,N)=FNR(extreme{G) ,extreae(G 

♦1)J 

260 gene(G+l,N)*FNR(extreme(G) .extreme 
(G*l) ) 

270 NEXT 
280 NEXT 
290 : 

300 REM MAIN LOOP 

310 CLS 

320 prespos-0 

330 VDD5 

340 HOVE500, 692 

350 PRINT“Generation: "/generations 

360 VDU4 

370 PROCroutate 

380 FORWY\=160 TO 1023 STEP 350 

390 FOREX\=160 TO 1280 STEP 450 

400 prespos-prespos+1 

410 OX-0 

420 OY-0 

430 MR- 150 

440 VDU 29,EX%;WY%; 

450 GCOL0.1 
460 string^ =maxstring 
470 increra- FNR( gened, prespos) , gene (2, 
prespos) ) 

480 angle-0 
490 R-0 

500 REPEAT R-R+l 

510 anginc=FNR(gene(3,preBpos) , gene (4, 
prespos) ) 

520 angle-angle+anginc 
530 IF angle>360- (anginc/2) THEN angle 
-360 

540 angle (R) -angle 

550 radius ( R ) =FNR ( gene ( 5 , prespos ) , gene 
(6. prespos)) 

560 TX-COSRAD (angle) ‘radius (R) 

570 TY-SINRAD (angle) ‘radius (R) 

580 PROCL(OX,OY, TX.TY) 

590 PROCL(0,0, TX.TY) 

600 IF angle-360 THEN PROCL(TX,TY, FX,F 

Y) 


610 OX-TX 
620 OY-TY 

630 IP R=1 THEN FX=TX:FY=TY 

640 UNTIL angle-360 

650 MAXN-R 

660 OX-0 

670 OY-0 

680 N-0 

690 R=0 

700 REPEAT N-N+l 
710 R=R+increm 
720 IF N>MAXN THEN N=1 
730 X-C0SRAD( angle (N) )*R 
740 Y=SINRAD( angle (N) ) *R 
750 IF R>radius(N) THEN UNTILR> radius ( 
N) /GOTO 820 

760 PROCL(OX,OY,X,Y) 

770 OX-X 
780 OY-Y 

790 UNTIL stringVO 
800 : 

810 REM NATURAL SELECTION 
820 T-0 

830 FOR flies-1 TO 300 

840 X=RND(300) -150 

850 Y=RND( 300) -150 

860 IF P0INT(X,Y) -1 THEN T-T+l 

870 PLOT69.X.Y 

880 NEXT flies 

890 ratio (prespos ) - (20‘T) - (maxstring-s 
tring\) /10 
900 VDU5 

910 MOVE-150, 150 

920 PRINT ratio (prespos) 

930 VDU 4 

940 NEXTBXVWn 

950 win-5 

960 FOR test-1 TO 9 

970 IF ratio(teet) >ratio(win) THEN win 
-test 
980 NEXT 

990 generations-generations+1 
1000 gridp-win 
1010 VDU 29,0/0; 

1020 NUM-0 

1030 FOR n-0 TO 1023-160 STEP 350 
1040 FOR XV=0 TO 1280-160 STEP 450 
1050 NUM-NUM+1 


1060 IF NUM-gridp WY\-Y\+32:EX\-X* 

1070 NEXT 
1080 NEXT 
1090 GCOL0.0 

1100 PROCRECT(0,0, 1280, WY%) 

1110 PROCRECT(0,Wn+300, 1280, 1024) 

1120 PROCRBCT(0,0,EX\, 1024) 

1130 PROCR£CT(EXVt300, 0, 1280, 1024) 

1140 GCOL0, 1 
1150 IX=EX% 

1160 IY=m 
1170 XS- (450-IX) /20 
1180 YS=(350-IY)/20 
1190 GC0L4 , 0 
1200 FORN-1 TO 20 
1210 PROCBOX(IX.IY) 

1220 *FX19 

1230 PROCBOX { IX, IY ) 

1240 IX-IX+XS 
1250 IY-IY+YS 
1260 NEXT 

1270 CLS: PROCBOX ( IX, IY) 

1280 : 

1290 REM BREEDING (HEREDITY) 

1300 FORN-1 TO 9 
1310 FORG-1 TO 6 
1320 gene(G,N)=gene(G,gridp) 

1330 NEXT 
1340 NEXT 
1350 GOTO320 
1360 END 
1370 s 

1380 DEFFNR(A,B) 

1390 IF A>=B THEN C=A:A=B:B=C 
1400 -A+RND ( 1000* (B-A) )/ 1000 
1410 : 

1420 DEFPR0CL(X1,Y1,X2,Y2) 

1430 MOVE XI, Y1 
1440 DRAW X2,Y2 

1450 string\=stringVSQR( (Y2-Y1) *2+ (X2- 
XI) *2) 

1460 ENDPROC 
1470 : 

1480 DEFPROCmutate 
1490 FORN-1 TO 9 
1500 IP N-5 TREN N-6 
1510 G=RND( 3) *2-1 

1520 gene (G, N) -gene (G, N) ♦FNM*mutate (G) 


1530 gene (G+1,N) -gene (G*l, N) ♦FNM*mutate 
(G) 

1540 IP gene(G,N) >extreme(G) THEN gene( 
G.N) -extreme (G) 

1550 IF gene(Gd,N)<extreae(G+l) THEN g 
ene (G*l, N) -extreme (G+l) 


1560 IF gene (G, N) <gene (G+l, N) THEN Cage 
ne(G,N) : gene (G.N) -gene (G+1,N) :gene(G+l,N 
)=C 

1570 NEXT 
1580 ENDPROC 
1590 : 

1600 DEFPR0CRECT(X1, Y1.X2, Y2) 

1610 M0VEX1 , Y1 
1620 M0VBX1.Y1 
1630 M0VEX1 , Y1 
1640 PLOT85.X1.Y1 
1650 PLOT85.X1, Y2 
1660 PLOT85.X2, Y2 
1670 M0VEX2.Y1 
1680 M0VEX2.Y1 
1690 M0VEX2.Y1 
1700 PL0T85.X2, Y1 
1710 PLOT85,X2,Y2 
1720 PLOT85, XI, Y1 
1730 ENDPROC 
1740 : 

1750 DEFPROCBOX ( X , Y ) 

1760 MOVEX.Y 
1770 DRAWX+320, Y 
1780 DRAWX+320, Y+314 
1790 DRAWX, Y*314 
1800 DRAWX, Y 
1810 ENDPROC 
1820 : 

1830 DEFFNM 

1840 H=RND( 3) -2 

1850 IF H-0 THEN GOTO1840 

1860 -H 

1870 : 

1880 REM THE 2 DATA STATEMENTS CONTAIN 
THE EXTREME VALUES OF 
1890 REM GENES 1-6 RESPECTIVELY, FOLLOW 
ED BY THE RATES AT WHICH 
1900 REM EACH ONE MUTATES. 

1910 DATA 15,1.6,100,15,140,2 
1920 DATA 0.6, 0.6, 8, 8, 8, 8 


NOTES 




142 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 






Offices: 250 Leyland Lane, Leyland, Preston. PR5 3HL. Tel: 0772 623000. Fax: 0772 622917 

Proprietor: David Atherton All prices include VAT (0% on books), and UK postage Access/Visa accepted Foreign add £5.00 surface. £12 air 


■ ■ ROONEY 


ARCHIMEDES 

FIRST STEPS 


ARCHIMEDES 

OPERATING SYSTEM 


ASSEMBLY 

LANGUAGE. 


& 


^by-step guide that takes you through all 
Wires of 1st Word Plus on the 
Wes, from installation to mail-merge, 

I Inrtg 1 st Word Plus is comprehensive. 

I jsgh and easy to read, 
css. 

hi lo use a word-processor 
to to type. edit, style and layout text 
m graphics 
vy 1st Mail 

I vg 1st Word Plus with other applications 


’ using the bright & brash approach of 
Roger Amos' 

'a book that any impoverished but enthusiastic 1 ntroductory book for the Arc, 
publisher, should not be without " covering the basic operations 

Jerry Glenwright - ACORN USER and use of !Edil - !Draw ' etc - 

'offers all the help you will need to get you 
producing DTP documents on a shoestring" 

* For the paltry sum of £12.95 this book could 
well save you over £ 100‘ 

Paul Gaunt - ARCHIMEDES WORLD 


Useful summary of OS 
information with detailed 
examples. (£21 .95) with disc. 


The only tutorial and 
reference on ARM assembler 
on the market, with many 
RISC OS examples. (£21.95 
with disc.) 


A practical guide to 
programming in BASIC V on 
the Acom Archimedes, with a 
wealth of easy-to-follow 
examples. 


BBC SOFTWi 


ferdriver 

lultimate printer driver ROM. with 
rSOcommands, a built-in NLQ 
ucterset, WYSIWIG previewing, 
ess from View, Wordwise, 
rword or BASIC. 100 page 
iual. For B/B+/E/M/C. Price 
'95 ROM, £24.95 disc for 


driver 

ItyperDriver but for Mini Office II. 
Lies Viewdata terminal. £24.95 
H SRAM version £19.95. 

DS PIUS 

If/ ROM for Master 128s only 
ho EDIT and CLOSE#0 bugs, ADFS 
mat, verify and backup in ROM, 
ttop/compacting in SRAM, alarm 
b and configurable startup facility 
!iuch more. Price £12.95 ROM, 

95 SRAM. 

dewriter 

[hup notepad for SRAM users (any 
AM machine), works with any 
Itware. Price £7.95. 

Games Action from 


Assembler Bundle 

Two Bruce Smith books on 6502 
assembler with discs and Master 
Series update booklet. For 
B/B+/E/M/C/ RRP over £30, yours for 
£4.95! 

Fingerprint 

SRAM or main memory 6502 
machine code 

monitor/disassembler/memory 
editor. For B/B+/E/M/C/ Price £9.95. 

Conversion Kit 

Ready-made 6502 assembler 
routines, for learning or development. 
Price £7.95 


& 


View Dabhand Guide 

Bruce Smith's comprehensive guide 
to View wordprocessor. "For those 
who want a complete thorough and 
readable guide to View, then Bruce 
Smith is your man" (Beebug). £12.95 
or £17.95 with disc. 


Master Operating System 

David Atherton's definitive reference 
work including the famous 
differences between all eight-bit 
models section used by countless 
programmers to ensure compatibility 
across the full eight-bit range. £12.95 
or £17.95 with disc. 

Mini Office ii Guide 

Detailed tutorial by Bruce Smith and 
Robin Burton for the BBC/Master 
versions of the software. Price £9.95 
or £14.95 with disc. 

Mastering Interpreters and 
Compilers 

Fascinating Bruce Smith title on 
creating high level languages. 

£14.95 with free disc. 


MASTER 512 


Master 512 User Guide 

Full instruction for using the 512 and 
DOS Plus, with tips on software 
compatibility. £9.95 or £14.95 with disc 

Master 512 Technical Guide 

The companion guide with full 
512 programming information and 
hardware expansion projects. Price 
£14.95 or £19.95 with disc. 


Master 512 Shareware 
Collections 

Two collections of PC shareware, all 
tried and tested on the 512. Includes 
WPs, spreadsheets, databases, 
games etc. Five full 800k discs in 
each. Each collection normally 
£29.95, special offer £25 for both. 


ARCHIMEDES SOFTWARE 


Instigator 

Utility system providing disc sector 
editor, memory editor, disassembler, 
command line archiving, and much 
more. Price £49.95 

Arc PC Emulator Shareware 

Similar to Master 512 Shareware but 
for the Arc PC Emulator. Two 
collections of five discs each. Normal 
Price £34.95. Now on special offer, 
both collections for £25. 

ARCDFS 

Very popular program to provide full 
DFS facilities on desktop or 
!65Host/!65Tube. (NotA5000 
compatible). Price £29.95 


ARCHIMEDES/BBC BOOKS 


Basic V Guide 

BASIC V guide covering differences 
between earlier BBC BASICS and the 
superior version for the Archimedes. 
£9.95 

C: A Dabhand Guide 

Massive 512-page complete guide to 
C programming. No previous 
experience required. Arc & BBC 
sections £14.95 or £21 .95 with disc. 


OTHER BOOKS 


Z88: A Dabhand Guide 

Introduction to the Z88, by the 
designers Of the machines own 
software. £14.95 

Z88 Pipedream Guide 

John Allen s detailed work on all 
aspects of Z88 PipeDream. Good 
explanations of printing. Price £14.95 

Psion LZ OPL Guide 

Ian Sinclair's guide to OPL 
programming on the LZ series of 
Organiser machines. £12.95 





| Orders to Dabs Press. FREEPOST (MR8400) 

Prestwich. Manchester M25 6LZ (Phone 061-773 8632) 


Please send me:_ 


Amount £ Cheque/POenclosed, 

Access/Visa No. 

Name 


|?d lave manage the iaundfy firm, but things have been 
ivong, They work all night but will they put things right?" 
«,«l genie, high quality graphics, simple key controls for 
movement of characters. Needs 1MB RISC OS 


V. mi of tun' fiercely competitive' 
tt sccompamment of decent music, effects and 
tm speech' 

Duncan Evans • ARCHIMEDES WORLD 


Aliped - wing footed like a oat »$ tne spell mat nas been put on 
you by the evil step-mother of your fair princess Natasha'. 
Smooth mutti-directional scrolling castle, stunning use of 
stereo sound, high quality graphics. Needs 1MB. RISC OS 
compatible. 

“Aliped is a sideways scrolling arcade adventure starring you 
as the hat-winged, red caped crusadet ’ 

' Decent looking game' Worth investigating ’ 

Duncan Evans - ARCHIMEDES WORLD 


The date is 2143 A.D., the universe has started to contract, 
causing the most inner galaxies' fine balance to be upset 
Their only chance is you in your humble rescue ship 
Multi level game with high quality graphics Needs 1 MB. RISC 
OS compatible. 


Address _ 


EMEl 


araoaaa 


ALERION Classic snoot-‘#m-up stroller Mut-levei RISC OS comptf'W Not projected C14 95 ALIEN INVASION Classic Space Invaders with tdifairie invaders waves irtn. C14 95 


ARCENDIUM DracuMs. Backgammon, Severn and Quadtra. now RISC OS campoutle tu .95. ALL-IN BOXING Reafstk. Poring game with dttrttsed sound etc. i or 2 playc* £14 95 













£ 


f 




£ 

f 


s- 



f 


:$■ 


f 

f 


m 


»■ 



061 766 8423 

Phone lines open 
Mon - Fri 09.00 - 17.00 
Sat 10.00- 17.00 

FAX: 061 766 8425 


Acorn Hardware 

Official Acorn Publishing Dealer 

A540 inC. 4Mb Ram, 120Mb HD, 

Arm3, T axan 775 £2495 . 00 

A5000 / 4Mb Ram, 40Mb hd. 

Arm3, Acorn Multiscan Monitor £ 1 499.00 

A5000 / Learning Curve / 4Mb Ram 

as above c/w Audio Training Cassette. 

Guide to National Curriculum. Acorn 
Applications Suite, Pacmania. 

PC Emulator , Genesis. 1st word Plus. 

Acorn DTP £1531.06 

A5000 LC / Acom Printer / 4Mb Ram 

as above c/w Acom JP150 

Inkjet Printer £1 765.96 


NEW ACORN 
MACHINES 
CALL FOR 
DETAILS 


Acorn Special Needs Centre 
A3000 Special Access 

Acorn Serial Upgrade. Morley User/Analogue 
Expansion Card, Acom Software Suite. 

Utilities Disc. SEMERC & ACE Special 
Needs Handbook 

A3000 Special Access / Acorn 
Colour Monitor /Stand 

as above c/w Acom Monitor and 
Pres Monitor Stand 

Master 128 

Acorn Quest for Gold 
Call for details 

We operate the 
Acorn Teachers and 
0% Finance Schemes 

Please call lor free information pack 

A540 Upgrades 


4Mb Ram Upgrade £369.00 

Taxan 795 VIDC Modes Disc £7.50 

Technical Reference Manual £65.00 

A5000 Upgrades 

2Mb Ram Card £110.00 

Dust Cover (One piece) £1 2.95 

Technical Reference Manual £65.00 

A400 Upgrades 

1 Mb Ram £35.00 

2 Mb Ram £65.00 

3 Mb Ram £99.00 

5.25 U Ext. floppy disc int. £39.00 

Econet Module £46.00 

VIDC Enhancer £29.00 

A3000 Upgrades 

1 Mb Ram (2 Mb in total) £55.00 

4 Mb Ram £159.00 

20 Mb Int Hard Disc (IDE) £199.00 

5.25“ External f/disc buffer £39.00 

Serial Upgrade £19.00 

Serial Link Kit (BBC-Arc) £14.00 

User & Analogue Podule £46.00 

User & Midi Podule £46.00 


£679.00 


£899.00 

£399.00 


Expansion Cards 


Econet Module £46.00 

Ethernet Expansion Card II £249.00 
Floating Point Expansion Card £449.00 
Hawk V9 Video Digitiser £ 1 99.00 
I/O Expansion Card £79.00 

Midi Upgrade to I/O Card £27.00 
Midi Expansion Card £65.00 

ROM Expansion Card £45.00 

SCSI Expansion Card (Acorn) £229.00 


New from Rombo 
Vidi-Archimedes 
Colour Digitiser 


Special Price 


A3000 inc. podule housing 
A400 series 

A5000 

£72.30 

£72.30 

£72.30 

Aleph 1 


Arm 3 Upgrade 

£199.00 

386 PC Expansion Card 1 Mb 

£495.00 

386 PC Expansion Card 4Mb 

£595.00 

Standard Monitors 

Acorn Colour 

£199.00 

Microvitec Cub 3000 

£199.00 

Philips CM8833 II 

£199.00 

Philips Mono (Green) 

£85.00 


All monitors come with free lead. State type of 
computer when ordering. 


Multiscan Monitors 

Taxan 775 Multivision £389.00 

Taxan 795 Multivision £449.00 


Floppy Disc Drives 


5.25" Single 40/80 no psu 

£95.00 

5.25" Single 40/80 with psu 

£109.00 

5.25" Dual 40/80 no psu 

£185.00 

5.25" Dual 40/80 with psu 

£199.00 

3.5" Single with psu 

£85.00 

3.5" + 5.25" 40/80 with psu 

£209.00 

Printers 


Canon Bubblejet BJ-lOe 

£219.00 

Canon BJlOe inc. turbo driver 

£248.00 

Sheetfeeder for BJ-lOe 

£59.00 

Canon BJC800 (col.) inc. s/w 

£1895.00 

Citizen 120D+ 

£114.00 

Citizen Swift 9 

£169.00 

Citizen Swift 24e 

£239.00 

Colour Kit for above 

£39.00 

Citizen Swift 224 

£199.00 

Citizen Swift 224 Colour 

£229.00 

Star LC20 

£130.00 

Star LC200 Colour (9 pin) 

£189.00 

Star LC24 - 200 

£219.00 

Star LC24 - 200 Colour 

£259.00 

Integrex Colourjet 132 

£519.00 

HP DeskJet 500 

£339.00 

HP DeskJet 500C 

£599.00 

HP Paintjet 

£599.00 

Laser Direct (LBP4 Hi Res.) 

£849.00 

Laser Direct (LBP8 Hi Res.) 

£1279.00 

RISC OS 3 


RISC OS 3 Upgrade 

£TBA 


Econet 

Broadcast Loader £65.00 

Level 4 Software £1 99.00 

Scanners 

Flatbed A4 256 Grey SCSI (CC) £849.00 
Flatbed A4 with SCSI card £949.00 

Scan Junior Scanner 256 £1 99.00 

Scanlight Senior Scanner A4 £289.00 

Sheet Feeder for above A4 £1 35.00 

Fax 

Fax Pack (CC) £279.00 




NEW 


Words an 
Ves Char 
( 


Artisan 2 

THE ACORN A4 PORTABLES" 

Interdicto 


The Power of ARM 3 

The Flexibility of RISC OS 3 

The Portability of the ACORN A4 


ProArtisa 
Render E 
Rhapsod 
Schema 


A4 4/60 Mb HD Portable 
A4 2 Mb FD Portable 

A4 2MB RAM Upgrade 
A4 60 MB HD Upgrade 
A4 Battery Pack 
A4 Econet Upgrade 
A4 Portable Handbook 

A4 Shoulder Bag (Free with every A4 purchased in August & September) 

A4 Technical Reference Manual 
A4 Welcome Guide 


Pipedrea 

Pipedrec 

£1699.0( 

AvanteG 

£1 3 99. 0C Artworks 

£1 i00( B ookmai 
£350.a Canon E 
£50.a Canon E 
£5O.0C C° m P re 
£ 7 g Equasor 

£35 Q! impress: 

£65 (K ,m P ress 

£1O.0C ,m P ress 
Impress 

Inter-Wc 


Printer Drivers 


Midnight Graphics 

Citizen Swift 9 Sprite Dump 

£26.04 

Citizen Swift 24 Sprite Dump 

£26.04 

Epson 24 Sprite Dump 

£26.04 

HP Deskjet 500C Sprite Dump 

£26.04 

HP Paintjet Sprite Dump 

£26.04 

Integrex 132 Sprite Dump 

£26.04 

Integrex Colourcel Sprite Dump 

£26.04 

Juki 5520 Sprite Dump 

£26.04 

Star LC10 Sprite Dump 

£26.04 

Star XB24 Sprite Dump 

£26.04 

Star LC200 Sprite Dump 

£26.04 

Star LC24-200 Sprite Dump 

£26.04 

Ace Computing 

Printer JX (Colour Dot Matrix) 

£14.00 

Printer DJ (Deskjet 500C) 

£14.00 

Printer PJ (Paintjet) 

£14.00 

Printer CA (Canon Colour) 

£14.00 

Beebug 

Deskjet 500C Driver 

£15.00 

Star/Epson/Citizen (Colour) 

£15.00 

Electronic Font Foundry 

BubbleJet - BJ10e/130e 

£10.00 

Cables 

Arc - Monitor - 8833 inc sound 

£8.65 

Arc - Monitor • 8833 II inc sound 

£8.65 

Arc - Parallel Printer Cable 

£5.00 

Keyboard Extender 400/500 

£7.50 

Mouse Extender 

£7.50 

Replacement Mk 1 Mouse Cable 

£6.50 

BBC Software 

Blob 1 

£18.00 

Blob 2 

£18.00 

Chick Chase (80 Track Only) 

£15.00 

E-Type 

£13.00 

Master Break 

£10.39 

Mini Office II 

£17.35 

Modem Master 

£11.26 

Play it Again Sam No's 1 - 16 ea. 

£11.95 

Reversals (80 Track Only) 

£20.00 

UIM 

£14.95 

Where's Blob 

£18.00 

White Knight 

£18.00 

Master Compact 

Play It Again Sam No's 1 - 16 ea. £13.00 

UIM 

£14.95 

Archimedes Software 

4 Mation 

Chameleon 

£25.00 

Craftshop 1 

£29.00 


Craftshop 2 

£29 Show P 

Jiglet 

£25. 

Jigsaw 

£27. Iron Lor 

Poster 

£75. Tower c 

SmArt 

£50, Twin W< 

SmArtFiler 

£32 

Snippet 

£26' Arc DFS 

Vector 

£75 ; 

Ace Computing 

Fun Scl 

ArcLight 

£43 Fun Scl 

Euclid 

£40 Fun Scl 

Mogul 

£171 Fun Scl 

Splice 

£26 Fun Scl 

Tween 

£26 Fun Sc 

Acorn Computers 

1st Word Plus 

£65. 3D Cor 

ANSI C (V 3) 

£125 Mig29l 

Acom Desktop Publisher 

£109. Mig29 : 

Desktop Assembler (V 2) 

£119 Trivial 1 

Desktop C (V 4) 

£185.; 

Font Starter Pack 

m Pipems 
£39,1 

Newhall Font Pack 

PC Emulator / Free Shareware 

£95i 

TCP/IP Programers Pack 

f50 . Creatic 

£199 ; MIDI A 
liau Micros: 

TCP/IP Protocol Suite 

Arxe Systems 

Music 1 

MultiFS 

Rhythn 

Beebug 

Sound! 

DeskEdit 

£21 ( Studio 

Desktop Thesaurus 

£19.8 

Hard Disc Companion 2 

£45 Desktc 

Hearsay II 

£69.0 

Ovation 

£85.0 Cl , 

Brilliant Computing 

Everyday Signs 

£20.0 _ 1A# 
£201 EaSlW 

Joystick Games 

Streetwise 

£20.C ; 

Switch On 

£20.0 Chuck 

Switch On Actions 

£ 2 o.o; Gods 

Teds Adventures 

£20.0 James 

Chalksoft 

Lemmi 

First Words and Pictures 

£211 

House of Numbers 

£211 ^ a " c 

Letters and Pictures 

£209 NebuK 
£231 Swiv 

£23.1 ^° rd 
£20.9. World 

Maps and Landscapes 1 

Maps and Landscapes 2 

Movaword 

Note Invaders 

£209 

Numbers and Pictures 

£ 2 o.o Investi 

Pirate 

£ 23 .o Joystk 

Puncman 1 and 2 

£ 20.0 Joystk 

Puncman 3 and 4 

£20.0 Tracks 

Puncman 5/6/7 

£200 

Reversals 

£209 HotLir 

Spelling - week by week 

£239 Presei 






























.E 


I 

.00 

.00 

110.00 

350.00 

'50.00 

'50.00 

£7.50 

:35.00 

!65.00 

:io.oo 


£29.00 

£25.00 

£27.00 

£75.00 

£50.00 

£32.00 

£26.00 

£75.00 

£43.00 

£40.00 

£17.00 

£26.00 

£26.00 

£65.00 

125.00 

109.00 

119.00 

185.00 
£39.00 
£39.00 
£95.00 
£50.00 

199.00 

£27.00 

£ 21.00 

£19.00 

£45.00 

£69.00 

£85.00 

£ 20.00 

£ 20.00 

£ 20.00 

£ 20.00 

£20.00 

£ 20.00 

23.00 

23.00 

20.00 
23.00 

23.00 

20.00 
20.00 
20.00 

23.00 

20.00 
20.00 
20.00 
20.00 
23.00 


Words and Pictures 

£23.00 

yes Chancellor 2 

£23.00 

Clares Micro Supplies 

Artisan 2 

£45.00 

Illusionist 

£79.00 

Irterdictor 

£10.00 

Interdictor II 

£23.00 

ProArtisan 

£70.00 

Render Bender 2 

£99.00 

Rhapsody 2 

£45.00 

Schema 

£90.00 

Colton Software 

Pipedream 3 

£105.00 

Pipedream 4 

£148.00 

Computer Concepts 

AvanteGarde Font Pack 

£24.00 

Artworks 

£TBA 

Bookman Font Pack 

£24.00 

Canon BJIOe/x Driver 

£47.00 

Canon BJC800 Driver 

£95.00 

Compression 

£35.00 

Equasor 

£37.00 

Impression II Borders Disc 

£12.00 

Impression Business Suppliment £39.00 

Impression II Free Drawfiie Disc 

£124.00 

Impression Junior 

£69.00 

Inter-Word 

£29.00 

Show Page 

£109.00 

Cygnus Software 

Iron Lord 

£14.00 

Tower of Babel 

£14.00 

Twin World 

£14.00 

Dabs Press 

Arc DFS 

£22.00 

Database Software 

Fun School 2 6-8 year olds 

£14.95 

Fun School 2 over 8s 

£14.95 

Fun School 2 under 6s 

£14.95 

Fun School 3 under 5s 

£16.95 

Fun School 3 5-7 year olds 

£16.95 

Fun School 3 Over 7s 

£16.95 

Domark 

30 Construction Kit 

£35.00 

Mig29 Fulcrum 

£24.00 

M;g29 Super Fulcrum 

£29.00 

Trivial Pursuit 

£22.00 

Empire 

^ipemania 

£16.00 

Electromusic Reasearch 

Creations Discs 1-8 ea. 

£19.00 

MIDI Analyser 

£29.00 

Microstudio 

£78.00 

Music Player 

£35.00 

RhythmBox 

£29.00 

SoundSynth 

£39.00 

Studio 24 Plus 

£149.00 

ESM 

Desktop Folio 

£79.00 

Hybrid 

Elite 

£31.95 

Icon Technology 

EasiWnter 

£115.00 

Krisalis Software 

Chuck Rock 

£19.00 

Gods 

£19.00 

James Pond 

£19.00 

Lemmings 

£19.00 

Mad Professor Mariarti 

£14.00 

Manchester United Europe 

£19.00 

Nebulus 

£19.00 

Swiv 

£19.00 

World Champ. Boxing Manager 

£18.00 

World Championship Squash 

£18.00 

Leading Edge 

investigator II 

£22.00 

Joystick Interface 

£23.00 

Joystick Interface A5000 

£32.00 

Tracker 

£37.00 

Lingenuity 


HotLink Presenter 

£29.00 

Presenter GTi 

£69.00 


Longman Logotron 


ArcComm 2 

£49.00 

Landmarks Aztec 

£19.00 

Landmarks Columbus 

£19.00 

Landmarks Egypt 

£19.00 

Landmarks Rainforest 

£19.00 

Landmarks Victorians 

£19.00 

Landmarks World War II 

£19.00 

Magpie 

£49.00 

Notate 

£49.00 

Numerator 

£60.00 

Numerator Chaos 

£18.00 

Pendown 

£54.00 

Pendown Outline Fonts 

£18.00 

Pinpoint 

£69.00 

Pinpoint Junior 

£23.00 

Revelation 2 

£95.00 

SkyHunter 

£24.00 

Magnetic Scrolls 

Collection 1 (3 Adventures) 

£25.00 

Wonderland 

£24.00 

MicroPower 

Chess 3D 

£14.00 

Zelanites 

£15.00 

Midnight Graphics 

ClipArt 1 over 480 images 

£29.95 

ClipArt 2 over 350 images 

£29.95 

Express 

£51.02 

Tracer 

£52.13 

Minerva Software 

Applications 

Ancestry 

£59.00 

Atelier 

£69.00 

Cadet 

£149.00 

Desktop Office 2 

£79.00 

Easiword 2 

£54.00 

Flexifile 

£89.00 

Graphbox 

£55.00 

Graphbox Professional 

£105.00 

Home/Club Accounts 

£34.00 

Multistore II 

£179.00 

PCAccess 

£19.00 

PrimeArt 

£69.00 

Timetabler 

£599.00 

Leisure 

Bughunter in Space 

£11.00 

Bug Hunter / Moon Dash 

£11.00 

Casino 

£11.00 

Caverns 

£11.00 

Family Favorites 

£11.00 

Freddy's Folly 

£11.00 

Hoverbod 

£11.00 

Ibix the Viking 

£11.00 

Jet Fighter 

£11.00 

Maddingly Hall 

£11.00 

Orion 

£11.00 

Redshift 

£11.00 

Talisman 

£11.00 

Thundermonk 

£11.00 

Northwest SEMERC 

* 

Compose World 

£48.00 

Compose World Files 1 

£12.00 

Compose World Voice Pack 1 

£15.00 

Conform Keyboard Software 

£15.00 

Le Monde a Moi 

£15.00 

Meine Welt 

£15.00 

My World (Program) 

£15.00 

My World - Design 

£7.50 

My World - I'm Special 

£7.50 

My World - Nursery Disc 

£7.50 

My World - Maths 

£7.50 

My World - Patterns 

£7.50 

My World - Sampler 

£7.50 

My World - Skeletons 

£7.50 

My World - Village/Town 

£7.50 

Oldham Keyboard 

£125.00 

Phases 2 

£15.00 

Phases - Borders disc 

£7.50 

Phases - Christmas disc 

£7.50 

Phases - Clip Art 1 

£7.50 

Phases - Very Hungry Caterpillar £7.50 


* Please add £2.50 P&P to SEMERC Software 


■■■■■■ 


Oak Solutions 

Disc Sharer 

£119.00 

Draw, Print and Plot 

£39.00 

Genesis 

£40.00 

Genesis Plus 

£69.00 

Genesis II 

£99.00 

Printer Spooler 

£65.00 

Remote Logon 

£34.00 

Worra Battle 

£14.00 

WorraCAD 

£74.00 

Sherston Software 

IDraw Help 

£15.95 

IHelp 

£7.95 

Animated Alphabet 

£19.00 

Arcventure 

£25.00 

Dreamtime 

£20.00 

Farm 

£19.00 

Fleet Street Phantom 

£23.00 

Glimpse 

£8.50 

Mapventure 

£23.00 

Microbugs 

£25.00 

Nature Park Adventure 

£24.50 

Selladore Tales 

£24.00 

Space Mission Mada 

£23.00 

Stig of the Dump 

£22.00 

Teachers Cupboard 

£24.50 

Teddy Bears Picnic 

£23.00 

Viewpoints 

£35.00 

Wizards Revenge 

£17.00 

Worst Witch 

£21.50 

SIMMIS 

Flight Sim Toolkit 

£31.00 

Storm Software 

Adventure Playground 

£17.00 

Coffee 

£27.00 

Flight Path 

£27.00 

Search and Rescue 

£27.00 

Superior Software 

Air Supremacy 

£14.00 

Conqueror 

£15.00 

Hostages 

£14.00 

Master Break 

£14.00 

Repton 3 

£14.00 

Speech! 

£14.00 

Superior Golf 

£14.00 

The Last Ninja 

£19.00 

Zarch 

£14.00 

The Data Store 

FontFX 

£9.95 

ShapeFX 

£9.95 

The Fourth Dimension 

Apocalypse 

£14.00 

Arcticulate 

£14.00 

Arctist 

£14.00 

Boogie Buggy 

£14.00 

Break 147 /Superpool 

£18.00 

Cataclysm 

£18.00 

Chocks Away 2 

£15.00 

Chocks Away Extra Missions 

£14.00 

Chocks Away 2 + Ext. Missions 

£27.00 

Drop Ship 

£13.00 

E-Type Compendium 

£18.00 

E-Type Designer 

£13.00 

Enter The Realm 

£18.00 

Grievous Bodily ARM 

£18.00 

Holed Out Compendium 

£18.00 

Inertia 

£14.00 

Nevryon 

£14.00 

Pandora's Box 

£18.00 

Powerband 

£14.00 

Pysanki 

£14.00 

Saloon Cars 

£18.00 

The Real McCoy 1 

£23.00 

The Real McCoy 2 

£23.00 

The Wimp Game 

£14.00 

X-Fire 

£18.00 

Triple R Education 

Converta-Key 

£14.00 

Data Word 

£14.00 

Money Matters 

£14.00 

Picture Book 

£14.00 

Target Maths 

£14.00 


Books (No VAT) 

Archimedes Assembly Language £14.95 


Archimedes Operating System £14.95 

C: A Dabhand Guide £14.95 

The above books have accompanying discs add £5 
for 5.25“ . £7 for 3.5" 

A3000 Technical Guide £29.95 

ANSI C Version 3 £17.00 

Assembler Release 2 £25.00 

BASIC V: A Dabhand Guide £9.95 

BBC Basic Guide (Acorn) £1 9.95 

Budget DTP (Draw & Edit) £12.95 

DTP Seeds (4Mation) £8.45 

Desktop C Release 4 £25.00 

Desktop Development UG £25.00 

First Word Plus V2 £10.00 

M128 Ref. Man.Pts 1&2 (ea.) £14.95 

Programming in Ansi C £14.95 

RISCOS 3 PRM’s £TBA 


Hours of Opening 

Monday - Friday 9.00 a m. - 5.00 p.m. 
Saturday 10.00 a.m. • 5.00 p.m. 
Lunch 1.00 p.m. - 1.30 p.m. 

How to find us 



Important Facts 

• NO Minimum Order 
Value 

• NO Carriage Charges in 
Mainland UK 

• ALL Goods Despatched 
within 24 Hours, subject 
to stock levels 

• Acorn Qualified Dealer 

• Acorn Service Centre 

• Hotline Support on all 
Hardware and Software 
purchased from us 

Terms & Conditions 

TERMS: UK residents add 17 5% VAT to all prices 
except books Carriage “FREE on all items in the 
UK (’with the exception of "remote" areas). Foreign 
orders, no VAT, carriage at cost, (quotations 
available). Access/Visa cards accepted. Dabhand 
Computing Ltd. is a Qualified Acorn dealer. Official 
orders accepted from public sector/education/PLCs, 
otherwise cash with order Tender invitations 
welcome. Callers welcome. We are 2 minutes north 
of J17, M62. Prices subject to change without 
notification. Goods offered subject to being unsold. 





DABHAND 

COMPUTING 


DABHAND COMPUTING LTD 
5 Victoria Lane 
W h i t e f i e I d 
Manchester, M25 6AL 


% 































O ver the past few months much has been 
written about viruses which has served to 
enhance the false impression that they are 
in some way mystical, magical entities 
able to defy all the laws of reason. As a result, 
several viral myths are circulating. They can be 
cured by taking a no-nonsense look at how 
viruses operate, and how they can spread. 

WHERE ARE THEY FROM? 

The first, and most common way, to contract a 
virus is by using an infected disc on your com- 
puter. In many cases, you do not need to actually 
run an infected program - just opening a direc- 
tory viewer on an infected disc is enough. 
Infected discs can come from many sources, 
including PD libraries, friends and commercial 
software. Never make the mistake of assuming 
that something commercial is virus-free. 

The second route in is over a network. This 
includes a machine used on an Econet or 
Ethernet network, where software is used which 
has been downloaded from a bulletin board 
system or information server of some 
description. 

Thirdly, viruses can crop up on hardware 
upgrades - practically every expansion card has 


software on board as an Eprom. The code blown 
on the Eprom could have been infected with a 
virus. This has already happened once. 

A virus cannot remain active in your compu- 
ter when a CTRL-RESET is performed or the 
power is turned off. However it may well be 
reactivated very soon afterwards (in the case of 
an expansion card, almost instantly). You cannot 
catch a PC virus on the desktop: however. PC 
viruses work perfectly well under the Acorn PC 
Emulator. This is why viruses are mostly a 
problem for hard disc users - others merely have 
to hard-reset the system in between inserting 
floppy discs to avoid spreading the infection. 

Once upon a lime, removing a virus just 
involved deleting a couple of files and using 
Edit to alter a '.Boot or ' Run file. Some viruses 
now exist where RMKilling the module results in 
a machine crash 40 seconds later, and where part 
of the file the virus has merged itself with is 
kept in an encrypted form. 

The only safe way to detect and remove a 
suspected viral infection is to use a piece of up- 
to-date virus removal software that understands 
all the known viruses presently circulating. 

Using an old virus removal program is no 
good at all. It is possible it will damage files 


HOW THEY CAN GET YOU 


• By adding extra files within an 
application, and amending the Boot 
or Run files to load the extra files. 

• By merging their code with the 
IRunimage file of an application. 

• By merging their code with 
library programs (for example, 
Squeeze). 

• By merging their code with relo- 
catable modules. 


DON'T PANIC 


There are a lot of myths 
around about viruses. But, as 
Alan Glover says, safe 
computing can be easy 


VIRUSES 


146 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 


GARY THOMPSON 



VIRUSES 


because it is only aware of one strain of a virus 
which has several strains. It will not detect or 
remove newer viruses at all. It may cause the 
virus to spread further through your system, 
since this may be able to infect files as a result 
of the filing system calls made by the virus killer 
while searching the system. 

II' a virus is on a floppy disc, the first oppor- 
tunity it will get to load onto a hard disc system 
will be when you open a directory viewer on the 
disc. To be safe, you should scan the disc using 
a virus detection tool before you open a direc- 
tory viewer. 

However, you may still be the unfortunate 
person who has followed all the advice above, 
but still seems to have a virus present. In this 
case it will be a new virus which is not yet 
understood by the virus detection tool you use. 
If you don't have a virus detection tool yet, go 
and buy one now! 

Continued use of an infected hard-disc system 
is very dangerous. The virus will then be able to 
spread further, and a software ‘timebomb' may 
detonate at some random point, causing damage 
to your files. 

If you are a hard disc user, and you run into 
an unidentified virus, you should attempt to get 
an infected program or application on to a 
floppy disc, and then send it to the producer of 
the virus detection tool you used. Failing that, 
contact them and see if any other users have 
encountered the virus. You should not use your 
computer after that, until you have been notified 
that it is safe to do so. Of course, people w ith 
floppies only (provided you don't have infected 
expansion boards) need not worry - all you do is 
turn the machine on and off, which kills any 
virus in Ram, and avoid using infected floppies. 

Before you attempt to analyse a virus 
yourself, notify others. Vital time can be lost 
while you take several days to do a task which 
could be done faster by someone more experi- 
enced. In the worst case, it may make the 
difference between being able to update the 
whole world about a virus before a software 
timebomb zaps them all. 

THE BAD GUYS 

The list below represents a few of the more 
prolific viruses. A complete description of all 
viruses known as the AVRD (Acorn Virus 
Reference Document) can be obtained from 
certain bulletin boards such as Arcade. It is also 
supplied w ith good virus killing software. 

• BBCECONET: This is very similar to Link, 
but spreads by using a trojan version of the 
BBCEconet module 0.09 which it installs (this is 
the RISC OS 2 Rom version). See also Mode87. 
It infects &FF8 files, appending its code and 
redirecting the entry point of the code through 
itself. The virus code is encrypted with a varying 
key. It also directly attempts to infect .squeeze, 
and disables Tor Houghton's Interferon during 
infections. It displays a message on Friday 13th. 
25 December, 1 April and 25 June. Pint of the 
infected tile is also encrypted. Quick Check: 
press FI 2 then enter help bbceconet. If the module 
version number is 0.09, proceed to the second 
stage. If it is other than 0.09. you are not 
infected. Type modules and look for BBCEconet. 



Scanner is unleashed to hunt down viruses 

If the first seven digit number begins 018 or 019 
you are infected (see also Mode87). 

• CEBIT: Aside from infecting applications (via 
the Boot file as usual) it will stop proceedings on 
every 16th infection to display a message from 
‘Devil, The Lord of Darkness'. This virus was 
discovered in Germany, and is not thought to 
have spread to the UK yet. Quick Check : press 
F12, then enter help tlodmod. A message of the 
form ‘Module is . . .' shows that it is loaded. 

• EXTEND: This lives in applications, using 
one of eight possible names. It modifies or 
creates a Boot file to load itself. Apart from 
claiming more and more memory (eventually 
causing the system to run out) it is harmless, but 
very contagious. Quick Check : Press FI 2 and 
type ‘help extend' - a message of the form 
‘Module is . . .* indicates that it's loaded. 

• GARFIELD_W: This infects Boot files and 
loads a module called WintpA/DS. The module 
is stored within a directory called Obey inside 
the infected application. It w ill cause continuous 
errors on the first monday of the month, making 
the system almost unusable. Quick Check : 
Press FI 2 and type help wimpaids - then a message 
of the general form ‘Module is . . .' indicates 
that it's loaded. 

• ICON (ALSO KNOWN AS FILER): There 
are a number of variants of this around - seven 
have been encountered already. All use !Boot 
files to propagate. One variant does nothing but 
spread itself. The others generate a nonsensical 
error message w hen they are first loaded. Quick 
Check : a file called Icon , Poison , Splodge or 
NewVirus(\) inside an application which is 
filetyped as a sprite, but is actually Basic. 

• IMAGE: This is basically a .'Boot infector, but 
with a couple of variations. A '.Boot file is 
created if one did not exist, otherwise it renames 
'.Run to !Spr , and saves a !Run of it’s own. It 
loads into OS workspace at address &5500, so 
the chances of it being overwritten and causing a 
crash are quite high. Quick Check: A file called 
Image appearing in application - length 512 
bytes, and no filetype. 


M 


lIIMU 


• Inoculating programs don't 
work. These are pieces of software 
that put a non-malignant bit of 
data on a file that looks like a virus 
to another virus, so the latter will 
not infect your system because it 
thinks it's already there. At best, 
this will only protect against one 
virus, and that protection will gen- 
erally be rendered useless if a 
different virus infects the file. 

• Using a virus detector or remover 
is not enough. It must be less than 
six months old to be of any use, 
and should come from an 
accredited and accountable source. 
A virus detector or remover is the 
ideal place for a new virus to be 
hidden - be suspicious of any new 
anti-virus tools (especially PD pro- 
grams where the author of the 
program is unaccountable, and 
there is no guarantee the program 
has not been tampered with). 

Newly received software can be 
tested on a different machine not 
connected to any network. 

• Keep regular backups in case a 
virus corrupts a disc. 

• Keep floppy discs write-pro- 
tected. Always keep original discs 
write-protected unless the instruc- 
tions tell you not to. 

• Use software which can detect 
viruses, and check any disc you 
receive BEFORE you even bring up a 
directory viewer on the disc. 

• Use a program like VProtect (part 
of the Pineapple Software suite) 
which will prevent almost all 
known viruses from infecting a 
clean machine. 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 147 


• LINK: This is effectively a trojan - a module 
called BStoDel which does indeed convert 
ASCII code 8 to ASCII code 127. It also infects 
&FF8 files, appending its code and redirecting 
the entry point of the code through itself. The 
virus code is encrypted with a varying key, 
making it harder to spot casually. It also directly 
attempts to infect *%. squeeze’, and disables Tor 
Houghton’s Interferon during infections. It 
displays a message on Friday 13th. Quick 
Check: press FI 2 then ‘help bstodel’. A message 
of the form ‘Module is . . shows it is loaded. 

• MODE87: This virus overwrites or creates 
IBoot files, sand saves itself as a module called 
Mode87. The module installs itself as BBCE- 
conet, which may affect Econet networks using 
software which relies on this module. On every 
256th infection a graphic effect is displayed. 

Quick Check: As for BBCEconet, plus a file 
called Mode87 in application directories. 

• MODULE: This is quite different, and works 
by appending it’s code to any modules loaded 
whilst an infected module is active. It then 
redirects some of the module entry points to 
itself (and then on to the original entry points). 
This virus is very common, and has appeared on 
a number of distribution discs. Quick Check: 
Any modules with changed timestamps, and 



Killer is always on the lookout for new viruses 

have grown by almost IK are potential suspects. 
Loading the module into Edit will reveal the 
Ascii string ‘Press any key to continue’ near the end 
of the file. 

• NETMANAGER/TRAPHANDLER: This is a 
variation of the IBoot theme, with the whole 
virus being in the IBoot file. Quick Check : 
press FI 2 then ‘help netmanager* or ‘help traphandler’. 
A message of the form Module is . . .’ shows that 
it is loaded. 

• PARASITE: This virus is another module 
based virus, but should be treated with great 
care. The module is loaded from IBoot or / Run 
files. Two strains of this virus are known already 
- the first is a module called Font Library, the 
second can go by one of twenty names! The 
virus only acts on machines where the station 
number is configured to be less than 80. 

Do not RMKill the visur module - you will 
activate a 40-second time bomb which will crash 
the machine. Like RISCOSExt this virus has a 
variety of different tricks which occur at differ- 
ent times, some potentially destructive, so great 
care should be taken in deaking with it. It will 
also delete any files or directories called ! vkiller, 
vir, shield, prot or Iguardian. Quick Check: 
*Show Alias$Run<Return - if nothing is displayed, 
the virus is not active. 

• SPRITE: This is another !Boot/\ Run infector, 
with a related 720-byte code File called Sprite 
(filetyped as a Sprite). During February, it has a 


STAY COOL, BECAUSE . . . 


• You cannot catch a virus by sim- 
ply using a Bulletin Board. A virus is 
a program, and it can only spread 
when it is run. 

• You cannot catch a virus from a 
printer or other intelligent peri- 
pheral. 

• A virus cannot exist in the Cmos 
configuration memory of a 
computer. 

• You cannot catch a virus from a 
blank disc. Unlike DOS discs, there 
is no executable code on an empty 
formatted disc. 


BE CAUTIOUS WHEN. . . 


• Spurious or nonsensical errors 
occur when opening directory 
viewers 

• Spurious errors occur when run- 
ning applications 

• New files appear 

• Datestamps change on files 

• Unusual error messages or inex- 
plicable system crashes happen 

• Strange messages are displayed 

• You find less memory is available 
than usual 


STAY SAFE 


• Scan any new disc with a virus 
killer (and get one if you haven't 
got one!) 

• Always have a program like 
VProtect resident 

• Don't rely on someone who says 
they have checked a disc for 
viruses. Check it yourself. It's your 
data that's at risk! 

• Keep regular backups. Cycle the 
discs/tapes used for the backups. 

• Check out anything suspicious 
with the technical support service 
for the virus killer you are using 


JUST WATCH IT, OK? 


• It is illegal to spread viruses, or 
to cause damage to someone's data 
under the Computer Misuse Act. 

• The Acorn world is far smaller 
than that of the PC, and there are 
correspondingly fewer software 
authors. It will also be that much 
easier to identify virus authors. 

• The spread of viruses could sev- 
erely affect the PD Libraries and 
BBSs available to you. 

• One example already exists of 
the 'benefits' of writing a virus. A 
computer technician added his 
name and address to a virus and 
distributed it 'to see how far it 
would get'. What it got him was 
the sack from his job. 


delayed action bomb which will display the 
message: Piracy IS theft -Your SYSTEM is DOOMED 
- Deutschland Uber Alles! and zero all the CMOS 
Ram. Quick Check: A 720-byte Spritefile in an 
application, and maybe a file called IStr (which 
used to be the I Run file) 

• SPRITEUTILS: This virus has been written to 
pass undetected by earlier versions of I Killer. It 
infects I Run files, and installs a trojan 
SpriteUtils module, which has the filename 



SprUtils. There is no directly malicious code, 
but there will be a reduction in the amount of 
memory available in the system. Quick Check: 
Press FI 2 and type help screencopy and RETURN. 
The message No help found indicates that the virus 
is not present. 

• THANATOS (ALSO KNOWN AS RIS- 
COSEXT): This is one of the worst of the 
viruses discussed here. It does various nasty 
things on particular dates, with a random chance 
of something happening at any time. Any out- 
breaks of this virus should be treated rapidly to 
avoid any chance of data loss. Quick Check : 
Look in the Task Manager display for 
‘Thanatos’. 

• T2: This is probably the worst of the viruses 
discussed here. It spreads by merging itself with 
IRunimage files of filetype &FF8. On certain 
days it will corrupt discs in ADFS::0 - ADFS::7. 
There is also a random chance of this happening 
at any time. Quick Check: Enter BASIC, and 
enter SYS “OS.ServiceCa IT &C0FFEE TO ,A:PRINT 
A. If a zero is printed, the virus is present (or 
something else is impersonating the virus to stop 
it loading) 


THE GOOD GUYS 


• SCANNER: Primarily a detector rather than a 
remover. Available from Tor Houghton, Fjellveien 
4, PO Box 142, 1361 Billingstad, NORWAY. This is 
commercial software and 'costs' three floppy discs. 
Site and distribution licences by arrangement. 

• KILLER/VPROTECT, by Pineapple Software (orig- 
inally distributed by Acorn) Part of the Pineapple 
Software Virus Protection Scheme, an annual 
subscription scheme which ensures that users get 
at least four updates per year with the capacity to 
perform an immediate update when a dangerous 
virus comes to light. Killer detects and removes all 
known viruses. Cost: £24 excluding VAT, area 
licences available. Pineapple Software, 39 Brown- 
lea Gardens, Seven Kings, Ilford, Essex, 1G3 9NL. 
Tel: 081-599 1476. Technical Support: PO Box 459, 
Cambridge, CB1 4QB or Fax: (0223) 415222. 

With both these packages you receive a copy of 
the Archimedes Virus Reference Document, which 
provides detailed explanations of all the known 
viruses and their behaviour together with informa- 
tion about the virus removal tools available. 


148 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 










From 


THE CHOICE OF EXPERIENCE 

msmkX 



ft 4 Open ^ 


Mon - Sat 9.30 - 7.30 
Davyn Compute S«rvlc«?8 Sun 10.00 - 3.00 

Telelephone : 0924 254800 


ASH 


A3010 

■ft 


A3020 


lk 

A4000 

ik 

* 

A5000 


V| 


A3010 FS £499 

FAMB.Y SOLUTION PACK (ex monitor! 

A30101.C £799 

LEARNING CURVE SY.STEM with Acom Colour 
Monitor. Eaai Wnrd,PC Soft. Genesis Collection. 
Quest for gold game. Audio Training Tape, etc 

A3010 LC Printer System £ 1 049 


M 


POCKET BOOK 




Word processor / spell checker 
Database - Spreadsheet - Time 
Calculator - Battery Powered 
Main Memory 156 k RAM 


£249 


0 A4 PORTABLE 0 

A4 4/60 Mb HD Portable 

£1699 

A4 2Mb FD Portable 

£1399 

A4 2Mb RAM Upgrade 

£110 

A4 60Mb HD Upgrade 

£350 

A4 Shoulder Bag 

£35 

RISC OS 3 


RISC-OS Upgrade 

£49 

To existing- A5000 owners 

£19 

Fitting C 15.00 


Fitted in shop while you 

wait 


Acorn's c< > m plete /K. I ^ I ^ NF2W Kan^c 
/XII on Demonstration in tlie shop NOW ! 


LwT 


A5000 2MHDLC £1699 

LEARNING CURVE SYSTEM with Multiscan 
Monitor. Acom DTP. 1st Word*. Genesis*. PC 
Emulator .Quest for gold game. Pacm&nia. Audio 
Training Tape, etc 

A5000 2MHDLCP £1949 

LEARNING CURVE PRINTER SYSTEM 
Including Acorn JP- 1 50 ink jet Printer 


A3020 2MFD System £880 

Includes Acorn Colour Monitor 

A3020 2MFD Printer System £ 1 130 

Including Acorn JP-1 50 ink jet Printer 

A3020 2MFD Multiscan £938 

Including Acorn Multiscan Monitor 


Scanners 


Scanlight Jr.r 256 (CO £233.82 

Scanlight A4 (CO) £351.32 

Image A4 (Iota) £468.82 

GQ6000 Colour A4 (Irlam) £1 174.26 

RAM Upgrade 

A3000 2Mb RAM Fitting Free £52.88 
A5000 4Mb RAM Fitting Free £104.58 
A400 Please Phone Fitting a 5.00 

Applications 

Ancestry (Minerva) £72.97 

Art Works (CO £TBA 

Compression (CC) £41.25 

Desktop Thesaurus (Rise Dev) £20.09 
Disc Tree (Mitre) £45.93 

Easy Writer II (Icon Tech) £158.63 

Eureka (Longman) £125.84 

Font FX (Datastore) £10.58 

Home Accounts (Minerva) £41 .24 

Impression II (CC) £158.86 

Impression Business Sup. £46.06 

Impression Junior (CC) £84.55 

Mouse Recorder (Klein) £35.00 

Multi FS ( Arxe Systems) £32.40 

Notate (Longman) £62.40 

Outliner (Iota) £83.55 

Pinpoint (Longman) 104.70 

Pipedream 4 (Colton) £198.06 

ProArtisan (Clares) £94.50 

Revelation II (Longman) £125.85 

Rhapsody II (Clares) £55 76 

ShapeFX (Datastore) £10.58 

SmArt (4Mation) £58.16 

SmArt Files (4Mation) each £16.92 
Squirrel Database (Di g Serv) £151.57 
Turbo Driver (BJi0e.BJ300.BJ330) £5 1.81 


A3020 2MHD60Syalem 

£1056 

Includes Acom Colour Monitor 


A3020 2MH0 60 Primer System £ 1 306 

Including Acorn JP- 1 50 ink jet Printer 

A3020 2MHD 60 Multiscan 

including Acorn Muitmcao Monitor 

£1115 

IDE 


The following are complete HardDisc Systems 
comprising of an IDE disc Controller. hardDisc. 
mounting brackets, cables, utilities disc and Manual 

Archimedes Internal 

40Mb 17 ms 

£260.75 

105Mb 17ms 

£410.07 

A3000 External 

42Mb 17ms 

£421.82 

89Mb 17ms 

£480.57 

A3000 Internal Hard Cards 

45Mb 

£410.07 

100Mb 

£821.32 

Printers 


Canon BJ-lOex 

£235.00 

Canon BJ-330 

£470.00 

HP Deskjet 500 

£383.84 

HP Deskjet 500C tine driver ) 

£622.75 

Citizen Swift 9 (inc colour kit) 

£219.37 

Citizen Swift 24 (freecoi ku> 

£321.65 

ArcLaser (Quine 300dpi/6ppm) 

£992.94 

ArcLaser<Hi-Res4 600dpi/4ppm) 

£1081.65 

Ribbons / Toner 

Full range of printer ribbons A Toner 
Cartridges In Stock please phone or call tor 

requirements. 


Education 

Compose World (ESP) 

£56.40 

Data Word (Triple R) 

£18.95 

Desktop Folio (ESM) 

£103.1 1 

Flight Path 9+ (Storm) 

£31.82 

Freddy Teddy (Topologika) 

£21.10 

Freddy Teddy's Adv (Topol.) 

£21.10 

Fun School 3 

£22.49 

Fun School 4 

£22.49 

(Please Specify age group) 

Junior Database 

£56.05 

Landmarks (Longman) 

£25.38 

Magpie (Longman) 

£62.40 

Money Matters (Triple R) 

£17.95 

My World (Semerc) 

£21.15 

My World Files (Semerc) 

£10.57 

Ollie Octopus Sk Pad (Storm) £16. 14 

Pendown Plus (Longman) 

£83.54 

Pin Point Junior (Longman) 

£25.38 

Prate A:t (Minerva . 

£84 55 

Search & Resale 9 . 

£31.82 

Spellbook 4-9 (Soft SiuO 

£22.95 

Target Maths (Triple P.) 

£17.95 


A full range of Software & Hardware on 
Demonstration at our Showroom, From the 
major manufacturers. 


A4000 Home Office System £1173 

Includes Acom Colour Monitor JZasywriter II. 
Desktop Database.Quest for gold game. Audio 
Training Tape, etc. 

A4000 HO Printer System £ 1 423 

A4000 HO Printer St Multiscan £1232 


A4000 H D 80 System 

Includes Acom Colour Monitor 


£1115 


A4000 H D 80 Printer System £ I 365 

Including Acorn JP- 1 50 ink jet Printer 

A4000 HD 80 Multiscan £1173 

Including Acom Mnlriscan Monitor 


A5000 4M HD120 

120Mb HD & Multiscan Monitor 

A5000 4M HD120P 

120Mb HD A Multistan M‘*n»tor 
Including Acorn JP- 1 50 ink jet Printer 


£1878 


£2128 


SCSI 

Tlie following are complete SCSI HardDisc 
.Systems comprising of a Morley SCSI interface. 
HardDisc, Mounting brackets, cables, utilities disc 
and manual. 

Archimedes Internal 

52Mb 17ms £351.32 

1 00Mb 1 8ms £527.57 

A3000/A300/A400 External 

52Mb 17ms £445.32 

100Mb 1 8ms £586.32 

Flopticals 

External 20Mb inc 1 Disc £586.32 

For Cached interface please add £50 to above 

Books 

First Impressions £33.43 

Good Impressions £30.09 

Dabs Archi Assembly Lang. £14.20 

Dabs Archi First Steps £9.45 

Miscellaneous 

Clares Micro Mouse £30.40 

Mouse Mats £3.83 

Printer Cables £8.00 

Banx Diskette Boxes £9.64 

Floppy Discs DD & HD Please Phone 

Games 

2067 BC (Oregan) £17.99 

Aggressor (Atomic) £17.95 

Blowpipe (Eclipse) £17.95 

Bug Hunter. Moondash (Min) £16.51 

Cartoon Line (Etema) £22.45 

Chuck Rock (Krisalis) £23.39 

Cyber Chess (4D) £44.96 

Elite (Hybrid) £37.99 

Enter the Realm (4D> £23.36 

E-Type Compendium (4D) £23.36 

Gods (Krisalis) £24.65 

James Pond (Krisalis) £23.39 

Krisalis Colection (Krisalis) £26.99 

Legend of Lost Temple (Eter) £23.70 

Man United Europe (Krisalis) £23.39 

Mig29M Super Ful. (Doniark) £35.99 

Pandora's Box (4D) £23.36 

Saloon Cars Delux (4D) £26.95 

Top Banana (HEX) £23.39 

Twin World (Cy gnus) £17.95 


This advert contains just a 
few of the items we have in 
stock 

please telephone or send a 
SAE for out FULL price list 


4®* 

Mono 


Vdi 


1SION 4CC$ 

dig itiser 


Colour 


A3000 Internal Mono £57.60 

A3(XX) Internal Colour £92.83 

A30O0 External Mono £72.88 

A3000 External Colour £108.10 

Archimedes A300.A400.A500.A5000 
Archimedes Mono £57.60 

Archimedes Colour £92.83 


PLEASE NOTE ! 

All Prices Include 
VAT where Applicable 


Whereto find us 


Leeds 

Ml Jet. 40 & 41 
WAKEFIELD 
Centre 


Castleford 
M62 Junction 31 



Barnsley 
& Ml Jet. 39 

Davyn Computer Services 
The ’Workshop' off Princess Street 
Sandal, Wakefield, West Yorks 
WF1 5 AT. Tel / Fax: (0924) 254800 

Hours of Opening 
Monday - Saturday 9.30 am • 7.30 pm 
Sunday 10.00 am - 3.00 pm 

• No Minimum Order Value 

• Acom Qualified Dealer 

• Hotline Support on all Hardware and 
Software Purchased fn>m us 

Terms & Conditions 

Official orders accepted from public sector/ 
education/PLCs, otherwise cash with order. 
Callers welcome. 

Prices subject to change without notification. 
Goods offered subject to being unsold. 

Post and Packing Charges 

£1 .00 for small, £2.45 1 i medium 
Expensive products £9.00 for courier 


VISA 


[mmi\ 

WhnW HEWLETT 


September 92 

VISIT THE WAKEFIELD ACORN USER GROUP ( 1st THURSDAY EVERY MONTH FOR FURTItER DETAILS TEI PPHOM CHRIS ON 0024 579778 (BETWEEN 6 7 PM > OR ON ABOVE NUMBER 


; PACKARD 1 / 

Registered 
Squirrel Dealer 











Software 
Self Study Guides 
Curriculum Resource Packs 



CLEVELAND EDUCATIONAL COMPUTING CENTRE 


IPictogram is a simple introduction to datahandling and is particularly useful in Key Stage 1 IT and Maths. It can be used to create pictograms. These can 
then be converted into block graphs and/or bar charts. Text can be added as well as a key. Graphs can be printed out, saved, loaded and edited. The picture 
files can be added to and amended. Computer A rchimedes/A3000 Site licence £18 + p&p 50p 

ICIickword is an on-screen aid to text entry in wordprocessing and datahandling. As a utility it has great potential for use with Modern Languages. Special 
Needs and anyone who needs access to a specific vocabulary. It has a similar function to the overlay keyboard wordbanks for the BBC. Dictionaries are 
!Edit files and subject-relevant ones can easily be produced. Computer: Archimedes/A3000 running RISCOS 2. Site licence £7.50 p&p 5()p 

! Panache is a Modern Language framework program, which allows teachers (or pupils) to produce sentences that can then be fragmented and presented 
jumbled up. They can then be sorted on screen and printed. Any Roman-type language may be used. English version available. 

Computer: Archimedes/ A3000 etc. Site licence £ 12 p&p 5()p 


Appui is a co-ordinated collection of resources for the Modern Language N.C. including 40 Concept Keyboard overlays and 70 
associated computer files, audio tape and worksheets covering a wide variety of topics and catering for all abilities from SEN to 
the gifted. Computer: BBC B / Master + Concept Keyboard Site licence French version Price £40 + post, and pack. £2.50 

Early Years Word Processing is a pack of files and concept keyboard overlays for BBC Master or Archimedes compute rsTo 
enable young children to record a classroom activity. P.O.A. 

Sheets in Science Creative ideas for spreadsheets in Science at Key Stage 3 mapped to National Curriculum I.T. P.O.A. 


Tm 

. 


fright Ideas 


This is just a sample of the range of our curriculum resource materials and self study guides. 
Enquiries for a free catalogue welcome - orders even more welcome - please contact: 



Cleveland Educational Computing Centre, Prissick Base, Marton Road, Middlesbrough. Cleveland. TS43RZ 

Phone : 0642 3254 1 7 Fax : 0642 3 1 0078 



Gemini 

QLGvmin 



MATCHING PAIRS CONCENTRATION 
FUN TO USE 

CONTENT FREE MEMORY TEST 

FQtflUlT ©©tPUIEl QMStLtUJIM 

riaiE ©©[pi? 

wmm m 


GEMINI is a RISC OS package for the A3000. A5000 and Archimedes range of 
computers. Based on the idea of matching pairs it comes complete with sample files of 
animals, words and everyday items, spread over 3 levels of difficulty. 

GEMINI is content free and will accept any Sprite. This means that you can choose 
your own pairings and tailor the program to you own needs. These could be similar items, 
an item with text or a mixture of both. It's up to you. The games can be competitive, are 
non repetitive and in trials have been used with children aged between 4 and 16. Games can 
be saved at any time and there is a facility to replay a game step by step. 

CAMBRIDGESHIRE SOFTWARE HOUSE 

7 FREE CHURCH PASSAGE 
ST. IVES 

CAMBRIDGESHIRE 

PE174AY 


Telephone: 0480 67945 Fax: 0480 496442 


CSH 


CSH 


C.U. Electronics Ltd. 

Computers, Upgrade & Electronics 

65a Middle Hillgate, Stockport SKI 3EH 
Tel: 061 476 0576. Fax: 061 477 2361 

SPECIAL OFFER 

While Stocks Last 



85 Mb Internal IDE Hard 
Drive Unit 
For A3000 


other 
capacities 
available, call 
for details 

061 476 0576 


150 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 


WORD PROCESSING 


FAMILY FAVOURITE 

Lisa Hughes wonders if Pendown Plus can equal the record of its popular cousins 


F amily values aren’t what 
they used to be - ask 
David Meilor - but fam- 
ilies themselves are still 
in fashion. Ambridge has the 
Archers. Albert Square has the 
Fowlers, we all have the 
Windsors and Longman Logo- 
tron has the Pendown s, a 
family of word processors and. 
guess what, they’re all related. 

The newest member of the 
clan is Archimedes Pendown 
Plus , which is proudly pre- 
sented as a ‘complete writing 
environment’. This is how I’d 
describe a well-appointed cot- 
tage on a Cornish clifftop with 
no telephone but a pub down 
the road. That aside, the pack- 
age is a sophisticated tool for 
manipulating text. 

The Pendown products are 
all educational word proces- 
sors and, while retaining the 
accessible features of Pen- 
downy Pendown Plus has a 
number of enhancements and 
additional features. 

The two major ones are a 
table editor and an address 
database management system. 
The idea is that the more 
advanced features will appeal 
to those with a couple of years 
experience in word processing: 
older students and teachers are 
obvious candidates. School 
secretaries may well find these 
functions invaluable, though I 
would question just how many 
schools do their administation 
on an Arc. 

But you don't have to be in 
education to use Pendown Plus 
and, in many ways, it would 
actually be more suitable for 


FRENCH CONNECTION 


Due out in October is another 
Pendown family member, this 
time a French cousin.Based on 
Pendown Plus, Pendown Etoiles 
is entirely configured in French 
and offers the expected word 
processing functions, plus key- 
board access to French accents 
and a substantial French 
dictionary. 



Pendown Plus offers many new features including a table editor 


someone involved in running a 
small business. The table edi- 
tor is rather useful. There's no 
messing about with tabs or 
resorting to pencil and ruler to 
draw in the lines. Text and 
numerals are entered via a 
dialogue box and you can add 
rows and columns at will. A 
table can be saved as a comma 
separated values file or a Draw 
file, which can then be drop- 
ped into your document. 

Entering and editing data in 
the address list manager is 
straightforward and you can 
choose which field to sort on. 
It’s easy to run off labels from 
the files, though it's irritating 
that you can’t change the size 
of the lettering, as the program 
makes this decision automati- 
cally, based on information 
from the printer driver about 
the size of your stationery. 

The mail merge function is 
another matter. In most 
offices, anyone who can mail 
merge is regarded with con- 
siderable reverence. Sadly I 


didn't elicit this response from 
my colleagues because 1 
couldn't get it to work at first. 
The theory seems simple 
enough: you set up a datafile 
containing the information you 
want inserted and a document 
with coded areas to indicate 
where you want it to go, then 
you execute a merge. The 
instructions appear clear and. 
in fact, once I used the exam- 
ple files. I managed to send the 
same letter to Oliver Cromwell 
and Francis Drake without too 
much trouble. 

As a more-than-basic word- 
processor, you can hardly fault 
Pendown Plus. It gives you 
insert or overwrite options; a 
whole variety of actions, from 
underline to superscript, are a 
cinch; changing fonts is easy; 
and there’s a clever way of 
using wildcards to alter, say, 
all occurences of eight-point 
Trinity Bold to ten-point Trin- 
ity Medium. Also, if you can't 
remember what a font like 
Homerton or Selwyn looks 


like, you can try it out in the 
font selector window. 

Styles are set by creating 
chapters based on master 
pages. Apart from the mail 
merge, this was just about the 
only thing I found difficult to 
get the hang of - a stronger 
visual reminder that you are 
working on a master page, not 
a document, would be helpful. 

Excellent though it is. Pen- 
down Plus will not appeal to 
everyone. It's worldly, it’s 
adult and is a definite step into 
the serious side of word pro- 
cessing. But my favourite 
family was always the Brady 
Bunch and they were never 
quite so appealing once they 
started growing up. 


PRODUCT DETAILS 


Product: Pendown Plus 
Supplier: Longman Logotron, 124 
Cambridge Science Park, Cam- 
bridge, CB4 4ZS 
Tel: (0223) 425558 
Price: £92.83 inc VAT 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 151 




LaserDirect 

H I - R E S 8 


T V he HiRes8 is our top of 
the range member of the 
LaserDirect family, a heavy 
duty printer which is ideal for all 
serious printing jobs on the 
Archimedes. It offers 8 pages per 
minute maximum print speed, manual 
and cassette paper feed options.The 
optional straight paper path is ideal for 
heavy weight paper and reduced 
paper jams. 

LaserDirect uses the Archimedes 
itself to drive the printer, resulting in 
three major advantages over other 
conventional laser printers; speed, 
value for money and accuracy. 

Speed comes from the Archimedes 
ARM processor. Combine this with our 
super-optimised software techniques 
(such as our unique FastText system 
that prints outline fonts twice as fast 
as any other system, background 
printing etc) and you have the shortest 
time to print of any RISC OS laser 
printer. 


All conventional laser printers, such 
as PostScript, require powerful 
processors and large amounts of 
memory. In effect they are duplicating 
your computer inside the printer. 

By making the Archimedes do the 
work, LaserDirect can use a simple 
engine-only printer so this duplication 
is removed with considerable cost 
savings. The result is better value for 
money. 

By using the same outline font system, 
and the same operating system 
routines for printing to the laser 
printer as are used for the screen 
display, it is guaranteed that what you 
see on the screen is what you get on 
the printer. No fuss about font 
matching, and perfect bit-map draw 
file printing. 






300 and 600 dpi printing resolutions 
A choice of half-tone screen patterns 

128 grey-level half-tone screen for stunning quality greyscale images 
Printer feedback to the desktop - eg cover open, toner low etc 
Background printing for multiple copies 
Page queueing 


Quick photocopy option when combined with a ScanLight Professional. CompiltBr CoilCEptS Ltd 

GADDESDEN PLACE HEMEL HEMPSTEAD HERTS HP2 6EX TEL.: 0442 63933 FAX.: 0442 23 I 632 







ACCOUNTS 


PROPHET MOTIVE 

Clem Vogler audits the latest in integrated accounting systems for the Arc 


A ccounting packages for 
the Arc are proliferat- 
ing. The latest. Prophet, 
is a single-user book- 
keeping package, although a 
networking version is in the 
offing. Prophet keeps track of 
your sales, purchases and bank 
transactions by maintaining 
three files or ledgers’ - the 
purchase, sales and bank led- 
gers. It can also handle invoic- 
ing and stock control. It 
maintains databases of cus- 
tomers, suppliers and stock 
items. The ledgers and data- 
bases are related so that 
changes in one area are 
reflected elsewhere, if appro- 
priate. So, if you issue an 
invoice, this will not only be 
recorded in the sales ledger, 
but also cause the stock record 
to be updated. 

If you don't want to use all 
the facilities, you can equally 
well select just the parts of 
Prophet you need. For exam- 
ple, you might not want to run 
the stock control section, or 
you might just stick to cash 
sales without issuing invoices. 

Accounts software is never 
easy to get up and running 
because you need to enter a lot 
of data to reflect the existing 
state of the business. Once 
installed, you need to set up 
your customer and supplier 
databases and your stock data- 
base if you wish to use one. 


You must enter your bank 
accounts - which includes 
such things as credit cards and 
cash in hand - with their open- 
ing balances. You must 
construct a database of what 
Prophet calls ‘headings’. 
These are cost centres appro- 
priate to your business, so that 
every item of income, expense, 
capital or liability can be 
assigned a code. Typical 
examples include motoring 
costs, rental of premises, bank 
interest and staff wages. 
Deciding which cost centres to 
use is the most difficult part of 
setting up the system and may 
require the advice of an 
accountant. It is. however, a 
problem which applies to any 
book-keeping method, whether 
computerised or manual. 

With your system set up. the 
day to day running of Prophet 
is commendably easy. 
Whenever you make a pur- 
chase you enter it in the 
purchase ledger, using three 
pre-determined codes to indi- 
cate the cost centre to which 
the purchase is assigned, the 
bank or cash account from 
which it is paid and the rate of 
VAT. When you make a sale 
you do the same in the sales 
ledger. With sales you can 
instead issue an invoice or 
enter an invoice-less retail sale 
in the daybook. Both methods 
then update the stock control 


E5E 


Stock Nuw| Description 
088 Uiqett 


Hey/Edit Invoice/Credit Note 

Quant. Ret.Exc | Disc'd Ufllc Total/Ex ESD 


42 3.«979 2.5 A 


Oust: [Trans 
Number of 
Early Settl 
Save to Sales Ledger. 
Print after date:! 


Message fron IProphet 


WARNING : Hot enough of Stock 
Record Humberts) 1 left to 
complete order. Max 
quantities being substituted 
for you. 


98.61 


98.61 

15.86 

186.4? 


[■ Discard after print: _| ESDTot 
[Paid : _J Unpaid. 


Sales Ledger Entry: Account : [L lHeading:IRR Comment: 


I 


Print 


Print All 


Delivery Note 


Parallel HardDiscS 


Invoice 


The package is bright enough to sometimes think for itself 



Parallel HardDiscS 


ItjUf Prophet Accounts U1 . 17 £ Apricote Studios 1992 

}j (Untitled) sj 

1 Sat , 15 flug ITO 15:58 | 

. | Stock Invoicing Accounts BM 

! Suppliers 

Customers 

Purchase Ledger 

Retail Sales j 

Invoice/Credit 

Sales Ledger 

Order Notes | 

Statements 

Bank Ledger 

Stock 


Headings 

Stock Index | 


Bank Accounts ) 

j Best Sellers [ 

| Miscellaneous 

PRL/Bal Sheet 

Calculator 

Create New File 

URT Codes j 

User Details 

SAVE 

UAT Return 

Passwords 

Preferences 

Standing Orders 


Prophet covers a good range of accounting procedures 


DOUBLE ENTRY BOOK-KEEPING 


Traditional manual systems of book-keeping use a double entry system. 
Every credit in a ledger is balanced by a compensating debit elsewhere. If 
you enter a purchase in your purchase ledger, then you make a corre- 
sponding debit in a so-called nominal ledger, where transactions are 
grouped in categories called cost codes. With manual book-keeping the 
double entries provide a means of error trapping. If the two ledgers 
don't balance there must be an error. 

Computerised book-keeping removes the need for making two 
physical entries. Provided you mark each transaction with its cost code, 
the nominal ledger can be updated by the system. Prophet has been 
described as a single entry system without a nominal ledger, but this is 
over simplified. It is single entry in so far as the user only enters 
transactions in one ledger. The system still makes a compensating entry 
in the Headings file, which is where the cost codes are defined. 


database and sales ledger 
simultaneously, with daybook 
updates being batch processed 
to one cost centre at the end of 
the day. Whenever you make 
payments to a bank or trans- 
fers between accounts, you 
enter these in the bank ledger. 

For an accounts package to 
be any use, it has to provide 
some essential facilities. Pro- 
phet meets these minimum 
requirements. It can: 

• List all transactions in an 
audit trail. 

• Print credit notes and handle 
credits. 

• Produce an aged debtors' 
report showing who owes what 
for how long. 

• Print customer statements. 

• Issue an automatic re-order 
when stock levels drop below 
minimum. 


• Permit journal entries for 
making corrections. 

• Produce a three-monthly 
VAT report. 

• Account for repetitive trans- 
actions, like standing orders. 

The latest version of Pro- 
phet will also produce a profit 
and loss statement and a 
balance sheet. It is sometimes 
held that the production of 
these is an accountant's task, 
not a book-keeper's. However, 
most book-keeping software 
offers this nowadays, and it 
can provide an outline for the 
accountant to work from. 

I liked Prophet. It was 
robust and never crashed, and I 
thought the user interface was 
well set out. making the pro- 
gram easy to use. There were 
several nice features, but also 
some weaknesses. 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 153 




ACCOUNTS 



Book-keeping made simple 


HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS 


Prophet is written in interpreted Basic with some routines in assembler 
for speed, though it is not particularly fast. All files are held in memory. 
Memory management is a bit crude - you have to run a preferences 
option and insert your estimates of the number of customers, stock items 
and so on. It would be better if the program grabbed data space as it 
needed it. You can, however, increase your estimates whenever you 
need to. The program itself occupies about 1Mb, and there is a trade off 
between the further memory requirements for stock, supplier and 
customer data. As a rough guide, if you had 5,000 stock items and 100 
customers/suppliers, or 500 stock items and 1,000 customers/suppliers, 
you would use a further 600K. 


On the credit side were the 
clear, uncluttered form designs 
with displayed function key 
options. Details from each led- 
ger can be printed as a report 
in which it is easy to select 
certain fields and ignore 
others. Reports can be trans- 
ferred as Ascii or CSV files to 
other packages such as Edit. 
Pipe dream or Impression. 

Invoices, credit notes, pur- 
chase orders and delivery 
notes come as standard tem- 
plates, whose design is easily 
adjusted as all field positions 
can be mouse dragged. If you 
use window envelopes, as I do. 
you can adjust the name and 
address to appear properly 
centred in the window. 

There are several features to 
cut down on repetitive data 
entry. As you would expect, 
entering a product or VAT 
code in a ledger or invoice 
results in the system supplying 
such further information as the 
code supports. Entering trun- 
cated customer or supplier 
names implements a search to 
find the nearest match. There 
is, however, no option to 
locate customers or suppliers 
by code. Prophet does have a 
Copy From option which 
allows you to replicate an 
existing record which you then 
edit if the new record only 
needs minor changes. 

Earlier versions of Prophet 
had mouse drags implemented 
so you could move the con- 
tents of one field to another. 
On current versions, only the 
calculator output field contents 
can be dragged. Instead there 
is a utility called Transfer. 

Transfer is a cut and paste 
utility which comes free with 
Prophet or which may be 


bought separately. It installs 
itself on the icon bar and lets 
you copy text from any icon in 
any Rise OS application and 
transfer it elsewhere. The 
beauty of Transfer is its easi- 
ness: Click the right hand 
button on the source fields to 
capture them. Click the left 
hand button on the target 
location to paste them. And 
that’s it ... It should be on 
every icon bar. 

The stock control module is 
comprehensive. It takes 
account of discounts, bin 
locations, VAT rates, mark- 
ups. re-order levels and re- 
order quantities. It produces 
statistics on best-selling items. 
If you try and post an invoice 
for more items than are in 
stock it will warn you. On my 
version of Prophet (1.17), the 
stock sort was not yet imple- 
mented, but is said to be 
present on current versions and 
available as a no cost update to 
users of earlier versions. 

I disliked the inconvenient 
ledger windows. The window 
is too wide to display in nor- 
mal width modes like mode 12 
or mode 20. When first called 
up. only as much of the win- 
dow as would be visible in 
normal width mode is dis- 
played. If you are using a wide 
desktop like mode 16 or mode 
102, you have to open up the 
window to see the full ledger, 
even though you had plenty of 
space available at the outset. 
The window cannot be scaled. 
Another irritation is that the 
number of ledger rows dis- 
played is fixed at five. 

There is no vertical scroll 
bar or arrow and so you can’t 
scroll with the mouse, only 
with the arrow keys. Also, the 


column widths are not adjust- 
able, so what you see is 
sometimes truncated. 

There are insufficient 
options to display report out- 
put on screen instead of 
printing it. Ledger reports and 
customer/supplier lists can be 
exported to Edit or some other 
application and then displayed, 
but the customer accounts can- 
not. Frequently, you need 
these details on screen, but you 
don't need a printout. 

Printing uses the Rise OS 
printer drivers and all printing 
is done in graphics mode 
rather than in text mode. This 
means that the full range of 
fonts in your font directory can 
be used, but the printing speed 
is slow, particularly with dot 
matrix printers. 

The handbook suggests 
various ways of improving the 
speed - either printing at low 
resolution or printing to a file, 
which can then be printed in 
the background while you get 
on with other tasks. This is 
unlikely to win your firm 
prizes for customer relations if 
your client is waiting for his 
invoice. Apricote tells me that 
a fast text printing mode will 
be incorporated in later 
versions. 


I rate Prophet as a competent 
book-keeping package for a 
small business. The serious 
opposition comes from Micro 
Trader from PRES. Micro 
Trader is more refined - its 
screen displays are object 
lessons in good design and its 
use of memory more economi- 
cal. It also offer features not 
present on Prophet , like a 
mailing module, and is avail- 
able in a network version. It is 
also more expensive. 

Prophet can automate stand- 
ing orders and other periodic 
transactions which Micro 
Trader cannot. This makes 
Prophet attractive to users like 
hotels or hire companies who 
offer period costed services. 


PRODUCT DETAILS 


Products: Prophet, Transfer 
Supplier: Apricote, Apricote 
Studios, 2 Purls Bridge Farm, 
Manea, Cambs, PE15 0NDTel: 
(0354) 78432 

Prices: Prophet: £170.00 + VAT. 
Site Licence: £510.00 + VAT. 
Transfer: Free with Prophet. If 
bought separately: £8.95 incl of 
VAT and p8<p. 

Machines: All 32-bit machines, 
with 2Mb of Ram minimum. 


HHZ 

Customer: 
Address: 
Address: 
Address: 
Address 
Post Code 
Contact 
Telephone 
Fax/Telex 
CoAnents 1 
CoftAents 2 


Custoner Database 

| Record Hunber: 1 
JCust Ref :|tr -908 
| Vour Ref :|UU 

I • a. M I 

Print Customer Labels 
HP LaserJet (300 by 300 dpi) 

Paper Size Justification 

[a A4 JUS JCuston f a 

[218 [,[29/ |<M> _| 

Labels across Pager |3 | p ont 

Ubtls iom Pige : |8 j| S^sten font 

Labels NrtatN.r.1 „ (polnts) 

Start at .Label Pos:|l 

Customer Record Numbers Specific Search Fields 
Postcode: | 

Consents: [ 


jTransco Harine 
[34 Shelf St 
jConuay 

Nor thunber land 

:[til? 8F6 

I 

:|8926 5M878 

4 


fi lm - 


gi—g 

:0 Par allel HardDis 
Printing is flexible but rather slow 


a l°l 
I 

fiT Contact 
[¥ Hane 
[■ Address 





Fron: |l 


To:jlA 



154 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 





fluk'mcbet hw punter 

Follow the leader in direct drive laser printers 


m-6 


CALLIGRAPH 


666-4 


IflWittJii 

666-4 

666-6 


CALLIGRAPH 


666-11 

txptefi 


ld-1166 


Extremely good value 300dpi printer 
producing over 8 pages per minute. 
Includes deep 250 sheet A4 
paper tray. 


Canon 



600-4 at £969 - standard 
4 page per minute Canon 
engine - high quality at a 
low price. 


800-4 at £ 1 069 - compact, 
excellent quality 4 page per minute 
printer with 800dpi effect printing. 

800-8 at £ 1 499 - an 8 page per 
minute version of the above. 
Optional extras are dual bin 
and duplex facilities. 



2>twct dbiue 

Direct drive technology 
uses the power and 
facilities of the 
Archimedes to drive the 
optics of a laser printer 
directly, resulting in 
enormous speed 
increases. The printer 
needs no memory or 
fonts since all of the page 
generation work is 
performed in the 
computer. Calligraph 
direct drive laser printers 
are the fast, economical 
alternative to PostScript 
or LaserJet printers - see 
for yourself. Ask for a 
demonstration or see 
your local dealer. 



Produce perfect A3, true 600dpi or 1 200dpi 
effect camera-ready copy from the most 
compact large format laser printer available. 
Two paper bins and a straight through feed 
sheet-stacker for maximum flexibility. 
Accepts card as well as paper and 
polyester printing plates for fast 
turn-around litho printing. 


The fastest laser printer available for Acorn 
computers - 12 pages per minute, Dual bin 
- two 250 sheet A4 paper trays and manual 
feed straight through paper path for card 
etc. 600 dpi effect for high resolution 
output. Ideal as a fast network printer 
server and for long run print jobs. 


Network spooler software 
is available for all Calligraph 
printers at £69. 

All prices are recommended 
retail and exclusive of VAT. 



CALLIGRAPH 


Write, phone or fax for an information pack and details of education & dealer discounts 

53 Panton Street • Cambridge CB2 IHL • Tel (0223) 461 143 • Fax (0223) 316144 






SQUIRREL 

THE REVOLUTIONARY 

DATABASE FOR ARCHIMEDES COMPUTERS 




FRIENDLY 

Squirrel is the easiest to use 
database yet, allowing simple 
point and click database creation 
and queries. 



FAST 

Modern indexing techniques 
mean superfast searches every 
time. 



FLEXIBLE 

Images, text and sound may be 
stored in the same database 





NETWORK COMPATIBLE 


INTELLIGENT 


COMMUNICATIVE 


Client/server design ensures that 
squirrel runs just as well on 
networks as standalone. 


Squirrel understands days of the 
week, months of the year and 
recognises files from other 
popular packages. 


Queries may be made onto other 
popular computers such as an IBM 
or Macintosh, even remotely over 
telephone lines. 



REPORTING 

Fully relational reporting with an 
entirely new graphic approach to 
data selection. 



Single User Version 

£129.00 + VAT 


Econet/Site Licence 

£516.00 + VAT 


Suitable for Acorn A3000, A310 and 
A400 Series. 



DIGITAL SERVICES LIMITED 

9 WAYTE STREET, COSHAM, PORTSMOUTH, HANTS P06 3BS 

TEL (0705) 210600 



T he problem of providing 
suitable vicarious experi- 
ences for primary school 
classes is not new. Where 
books, filmstrips and visits to 
the local museum have often 
been the mainstays of the past, 
the problem of developing 
empathy and a sympathetic 
understanding of the people 
being studied often remains. 

In the BBC Landmarks 
series children are presented 
with both the factual back- 
ground material and a range of 
images, but it is through the 
Landmarks software that 
upper Key Stage 2 children are 
are given the opportunity to 
develop a deeper understand- 
ing of and a feeling for a given 
period in history and to experi- 
ence it ‘first hand'. 

In Landmarks: Columbus , 
the simulation takes place over 
two real-time days synchron- 
ised with the Arc’s time clock 
(one on board ship, and one 
after landing in the indies') In 
Aztecs the simulation encom- 
passes three full days during 
which the host, a 10-year old 
girl, can be guided around her 
home and Tenochtitlan. the 
city in which she lives. 

Even if the computer is 
switched off for a period of 
time, if the Landmarks disc is 
reinserted, each simulation 
continues as if that amount of 
time had elapsed. To add to 
the realism, certain events only 
happen at certain times on 
specific days. When the simu- 
lation is completed, it returns 
to ‘day one'. 

‘Conversations' with each 
historical ‘host' take place 
using the keyboard - the 
mouse is largely redundant. 
Questions typed in appear in 
red while the host's responses 
are highlighted in blue. 

Children quickly become 
aware of the computer's 
inability to understand many 
of their queries and the fre- 
quency with which it makes 
inappropriate responses. This 
limitation is not such a handi- 
cap as it first appears and can 
be turned to advantage when 
considered in the light of tech- 
nology AT5, where children 
should become aware of the 
limitations of technology! 

Landmarks also sharpens 
children's questioning techni- 
ques. When a scene changes, a 
monochrome, digitised image 
of the new screen appears in 



CAMERA 


Lost civilisations can live again in the 
classroom. Chris Drage looks at Landmarks 


LANDMARKS IN THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM 


Landmarks addresses the following History attainment targets: 

• TARGET 1: KNOWLEDGE & UNDERSTANDING OF HISTORY 

Level 2: Suggest reasons why people in the past acted as they did. 

Level 2: Identify differences between past & present times. 

Level 4: describe the different features of an historical period. 

• TARGET 2: INTERPRETATIONS OF HISTORY 

Level 2: Show an awareness that different stories about the past can 
give different versions of what happened. 

Level 4: Show an understanding of how deficiencies in evidence may 
lead to different interpretation of the past. 

• TARGET 3: THE USE OF HISTORICAL SOURCES 

Level 2: Recognise that historical sources can stimulate and help answer 
questions about the past. 

Level 3: Make deductions from historical sources. 

Level 4: Put together information from different historical sources 

• In addition English ATs relating to speaking, listening, writing and 
reading will all be addressed. 


an adjacent window. This adds 
to the children's interest and 
assists their imaginations. 

There are two well-pre- 
sented A4 handbooks accom- 
panying each package: the 


teacher's guide contains all 
program information, includ- 
ing all the objects and events 
to be discovered and it has a 
generous-sized section that 
cross-references various areas 


HISTORY 


of the National Curriculum. 
The pupils' guide contains ten 
additional activities which 
they may or may not use in 
conjunction with individual 
Landmark programs. 

The degree of success to be 
obtained from this software 
will be determined as much as 
anything by the amount of pre- 
paration put in by the teacher 
beforehand. Setting the scene, 
discussing the possible out- 
comes and whetting the pupils* 
collective appetite are vital 
elements in any computer 
simulation, in order to estab- 
lish children's expectations at 
a realistic level. 

LINKING IT UP 

Although primarily biased 
towards history, simulations 
like those of the Landmarks 
series are cross-curricular by 
their very nature and possess a 
vast potential for all manner of 
related work. 

In addition, many skills are 
practised through direct use of 
the programs: discussion 
skills, skills of questioning and 
instructing, observation skills 
and spatial skills (understand- 
ing compass directions and so 
on). Both Landmarks - Aztecs 
and Landmarks - Columbus 
are geared towards History 
Study Unit 6: Exploration and 
Encounters 1450-1550, which 
specifically states that the 
A/tec civilisation should form 
part of the study. 

Landmarks - Aztecs should 
enable children at the top of 
Key Stage 2 to gain an under- 
standing of the Aztec way of 
life; gods and religion, crafts 
and daily life. Similarly, the 
Columbus simulation helps 
children to gain insights into 
the reasons for the voyage, the 
motivations of Columbus him- 
self and the life of the sailors 
on board. 

With the right input, these 
latest programs in the Land- 
marks series will prove a 
valuable history resource. 


PRODUCT DETAILS 


Products: Landmarks - 
Columbus and Landmarks - 
Aztecs 

Supplier: Longman-Logotron, 
124 Cambridge Science Park, 
Milton Road, Cambridge, CB4 
4AZ Tel: (0223) 425558 
Machine: Archimedes series. 
Price: £24.00 ex VAT each 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 157 




© AVP 

1$ From Britain’s largest Supplier of 

1 ! Educational Software 

2 Comprehensive Guides to over 2500 
Educational Programs for the 

BBC, Archimedes, A3000, A5000, 

RM Nimbus and IBM PC 

All in Stock for Immediate Delivery 

1 For 5-1 1 age group 

THE 

BIG 

BLACK 

nor 

2 11-Adult 

For Your Free Copy Contact 

AVP School Hill Centre 

Chepstow Gwent NP6 5PH 

& Telephone 0291 625439 

Fax 0291 629671 

CAT 

ALOGUE 


ACORN ARCHIMEDES COMPUTERS 
EXPANSION OPTIONS 
FOR 

INDUSTRIAL & SCIENTIFIC APPLICATIONS 


HARDWARE • IEEE488 Interface, 16 Bit Parallel I/O, Dual RS423 
Serial Interface, 12 Bit ADC, STE Bus Interface and complete 
range of STE Bus Boards, SCSI Devices - Hard Discs, Magneto- 
Optical Drives, Tape Streamers, Removable Hard Discs, Monitors, 
Printers, Plotters, Plus all Acorn Products etc 

SOFTWARE - GINO-F 3D, GINOGRAF, GINOSURF, HERSHEY +, 
VIEWGRAF, VIEWSURF, Termulator etc 



ADVICE - SUPPLY - SUPPORT 
INTELLIGENT INTERFACES LTD 

PO BOX 80, Eastleigh, Hants, S05 5YX. 

TEL 0703 261514 FAX 0703 267904 


Established 

1981 





PROGRAMS TO BRING MUSIC TO 

YOUR EARS 


Clares bring you a range of music software that is fast becoming the 
standard on the Archimedes. 

Rhapsody H is a music notation package that allows you to write and 
modify musical scores. It is to music what a word processor is to words. 

The notes can be entered by hand or, using a Midi keyboard, they can be 
captured in real time or step time. Once the music has been captured 
you can edit it, transcribe it, add lyrics, repeats, trills, slurs etc. You can 
transpose the score or just parts of it, you can play it back through Midi, 
you can even use it as an unpaid accompanist to your practice sessions. 
Most importantly you can print your finished score using any printer 
and RISC OS printer drivers. Quite simply. Rhapsody II lets you get 
back to the music AND gives you time to enjoy it. Many users wonder 
how they ever managed without it! Ask us for a demonstration version 
today. 

Vox Box is a supporting package for Rhapsody II and consists of four 
programs. The first. Perform, allows you to play Rhapsody II scores, 

Armadeus samples and Midi files. You can have a continuous 

performance of your compositions. 

VoxBeat is an application to turn sampled percussion sounds into a 
useful voice module that provides realistic percussion accompaniment 

to your scores. mJM 

VoxSample converts sound samples into usable Archimedes voices. You 
control which part of the sample is used to create the voice and you can 
also define the sound's envelope. The resulting voice module is much 
smaller than the original sample and sounds much better. 

Vox Synth is a more complex application that enables you to digitally 
synthesise voices for use in the Archimedes. Voices are produced by 
drawing waveforms or harmonics. You even have a form of FM synthesis available. VoxSynth is also useful in the 
science laboratory as it deals with waveforms, harmonics, FFT and FM synthesis. 

ScoreDraiv is another support program for Rhapsody II. It produces 
high quality printout of music scores. Together Rhapsody II and 
ScoreDraiv form the heart of a complete Archimedes based music 
publishing package. ScoreDraiv takes a score from Rhapsody II, or the 
original Rhapsody, and converts it into a series of Draw files. The results 
are of true professional publishing quality - especially when printed on 
a laser printer. 

ScoreDraiv has its own library of music symbols and it uses these to 
construct a high quality score. Any text within the score is converted 
into user selectable outline fonts, if they are available. An additional 
user library is also supplied which provides items such as hairpins and 

In addition to improved print quality ScoreDraiv also concentrates more 
on the formatting of the score. Because the score is handled differently 
and ScoreDraiv is not required to play' the score it can spend more time on good presentation. 

And there's more... Look out for two more music packages coming from the Clares stable soon. And don't forget our 
Armadeus Sound sampling board if what you are interested in is recording and manipulating sound rather than 

music. 


REQUEST YOUR FACT PACK TODAY! 



98 Middlewich Road, Rudheath, Northwich, CHESHIRE CW9 7DA. Telephone: 0606 48511 Fax No: 0606 48512 


ScoreDraw £61.95 


Waltz Op. 64 No. 1 















NET GAINS 


What can you do with a network, and how will it change your life? 
Paul James explains the benefits of making machines talk to each other 



O nce you have a compu- 
ter, there are numerous 
opportunities to make 
money. Not many peo- 
ple have access to computers 
and printers, (especially those 
of the Arc’s quality) and if you 
have, then you're in quite a 
privileged position, and you 
should make the most of it. 

DTP and design are the 
most easily accessible appli- 
cations to an Archimedes 
owner. And this is exactly 
where the money can be made. 
A person with an Arc can do 
everything that a professional 
typesetting bureau can and it 
can do it more cheaply and 
offer that personal touch. 

Just think how many small 
events go on in your local vil- 
lage or town. Church fetes, car 
boot sales, flower shows and 
all of them need signs and pos- 
ters. People without computers 
will always need people with 
computers too, for CVs, letters 
and perhaps school projects. 

Irene, Anna, Meg and Paul 
have between them an A5000, 
an old 310, two Master 128s 
and one BBC Model B. Occa- 
sionally Irene gets small jobs 
from her local school and 
DTPs them using Impression , 
and Anna and Meg produce 
leaflets for local events, Anna 
uses Draw on her A3 10, and 
Meg uses Wordwise+. Paul 
uses his computer to type in 
CVs and letters for his friends 
using View. 

Of course, merging together 
as one unit means that they are 
going to be far more viable as 
a co-operative business. They 
can support each other and, 
perhaps, use their contacts to 
increase their client base. 


meaning they can do more 
work for more people. Merg- 
ing the computers together as a 
network will improve their 
organisation as well as save 
money, as I will explain. 

The first benefit of a net- 
work is organisation, but other 
benefits appear as the gang 
begins to explore the possibili- 


ties. Econet is cheap, and suits 
their needs, so Irene buys 
Acorn's Level 4 software, 
cabling, a clock box and an 
Econet card for each machine. 

Irene's machine is going to 
be used as the fileserver, 
meaning it will be running the 
Level 4 software. Using the 
software, Irene can create 


users. A user will be able to 
log onto Irene’s fileserver, and 
use her hard disc as if it were 
their own. This means that 
there is no need for the two 
Masters to use floppy discs on 
a regular basis, saving time 
and the worry of a floppy 
becoming corrupt. 

Using the Level 4 software, 
Irene can restrict each created 
user in several ways that will 
improve the efficiency of the 
network, and therefore their 
work. First, and most impor- 
tantly, Irene can specify 
exactly which part of her hard 
disc each user sees. This con- 
tains Paul, Anna and Meg 
within one area, which can 
again be subdivided into fur- 
ther areas for each user. The 
figure opposite shows how 
Irene structures her hard disc. 

Keeping all the users in one 
area has one big advantage, 
and that is the network area is 
easy to back up. Irene has to 
back up the entire network to 
keep other users' work safe. 
All she needs do is ensure that 
the directory Root is copied 
onto floppies, or archived onto 
another part of her hard disc. 
All of the directories below 
Root will be archived as well, 
so all the users are safe in the 
knowledge that they’ll not lose 
all of their hard work in the 
case of a minor hard disc crash 
on Irene's machine. Obviously 
if Irene's hard disc completely 
crashes, or somebody steals 
her computer then it’s all gone, 
and that’s down to backup, 
which is another story. 

Irene creates these areas on 
the disc, then creates three 
users, Anna, Paul and Meg, 
using the Manager, supplied 


160 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 


DARREL REES 





NETWORKS 


with Level 4. She sets the 
URD (User Root Directory) of 
each user so that when Paul, 
Anna or Meg log on they are 
just presented with their area. 

Now when Paul logs on 
from his Master, by typing *1 
AM PAUL, he has his own 
space to work in. In here he 
can make merry as he likes, 
creating directories and saving 
files. But Irene can also 
impose several other restric- 
tions on Paul, so that Paul 
can't turn her hard disc into a 
disorganised dumping ground, 
wasting her time and his. 

First of all, she uses the 
space allocation option to only 
allow Paul 128K of her disc 
space. This means that the user 
Paul can only save 128K of 
data onto Irene’s hard disc. If 
he overflows this then he will 
be told that Irene’s disc is full 
(even though it may not be). 

If Paul ever fills up his area 
of Irene’s hard disc he will 
have to tidy up, by removing 
old files. If Paul seems to be 
very disorganised about how 
much old work he leaves in his 
area, then Irene can tighten up 
his space allocation, meaning 
that Paul will have to tidy up 
more often, getting him into a 
regular habit. Making sure that 
there are very few unused files 
on the network will mean that 
backing up will be quicker too. 

Obviously, each user has 
different requirements for 
space and it may take a couple 
of weeks before Irene has 
Paul’s space allocation about 
right: big enough so that he 
doesn't have to tidy up every 


0X1 File server: 

adfs : :PauT7f. Hpps . Net uorRT ! Server . Users 


4 Users 



At 

r i. 

K 

MM 

r | 

K 

1 

Anna 

Irene 

Meg 

▼1 




IS 


adfs: :Paul.$.flpps. Network. IServer. Users * 


User information: 


User nane: 
Password: 
Boot option: 






Privilege: <()>Sgsten 
<^Hornal 



o 

none load run exec 

Root directory <URD) : [adfs: : 4 . Net uork . Anna 

Create user directory: | Allow log on: [■ 

Create nail directory: | 

Space: 128 KbytesHHMH 


<^> Locked 
Fixed 

ZU 



Next 


Previous 




Update 





Irene goes into action and brings new users into being 


i day, wasting time, and small 
enough that his work doesn't 
become sprawling and unor- 
ganised, again wasting time. 

Anna is the exception. She 
uses an Archimedes to create 
pictures, maps and illustrations 
for joint work, so she'll need a 
little more space, as the files 
created by an Archimedes are 
generally bigger than plain text 
files, so Irene gives her 256K. 

Irene can also limit the sorts 
of things Paul, Meg or Irene 
can do on her hard disc. There 
are four types of users, system, 
normal, locked and fixed. A 


$ 

. 1 



fk 

L 

nr cr 

tzu 

Irene's 

Applications 

E 

IManager IServer 

Anna Paul Meg 


Irene's hard disc organisation 


NETWORK NUMBERS 


On a network, each machine has an individual number, which is set using 
a special utility on the library disc. The network number is important, as 
each machine on the network needs to be told the network number of 
the machine running the server software, otherwise the user would have 
to type it in all of the time. They are also used for notifying other 
machines, and by this month's network Chat utility in *INFO. 


system user would have access 
to all of Irene's hard disc, and 
could read, write and delete 
files from it. On a larger net- 
work, Irene would give herself 
system privileges so that she 
could have access to software 
on her machine over the whole 
network, and access to every- 
body’s area. A normal user has 
access to all files with Public 
Read and Write Access. 

A normal user can make a 
file protected so that nobody 
else, except a system user, can 
access or delete it. A normal 
user can go up past their own 
URD so, for instance, Paul 
could go into Meg’s area, but 
he would only have access to 
files that Meg had marked as 
public read or write. Any files 
without this access would be 
locked away from Paul's eyes, 
or itchy delete finger. 

In the ideal situation, Meg 
would say to Paul, ‘would you 
have a look at this file in my 
area', and then she would give 
it public read and write access 
while Paul looked at it. After 
Paul had finished with it. she 
would return it to its normal 
status by taking the public read 
and write options off it. 

A locked user is only a little 
less restricted; they can’t 
change their password and 
have to ask a system user to do 
this, and they can't change 
their boot option. A fixed user 


is the lowest privileged of the 
four types, and they can’t 
move out of their own direc- 
tory. They also have to ask a 
system user to change their 
password and boot option. 

The boot option determines 
what happens when a user logs 
on. It is possible to automati- 
cally execute a program on log 
on using a / Boot file - this 
might be a menu program, for 
instance. As you can see, the 
best use for a locked or fixed 
user is as a central resource 
that everybody uses, like a 
games directory or an informa- 
tion directory where manuals 
and other data could be kept. 

Irene makes her three users 
normal users, and now the net- 
work can function. Paul and 
Meg can use their BBC Master 
128s for typing. Anna can use 
her machine for doing dia- 
grams and illustrations, and 
Irene can use hers for DTP. 

When they work on a joint 
project, all the data is saved 
onto Irene's machine, where 
she brings it together as the 
finished document but, in the 
mean time, if Paul wants to 
write an application letter for a 
friend, he can use his machine 
as if it had his own disc drive 
and printer, and the same goes 
for Anna and Meg. 

Next month we'll explain 
network printing and the 
future of Acorn networks. 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 161 








Cumana reserve the right to increase the price at any time. Previous RRP £62.28. 



Stock Reduction 
Sale of j, | 
Cumana lMn^ 
RAM upgrades 
for A3000s <gi 


POSTCODE 

I would like to order Q 1 Mb upgrade(s) at £29.95 each 
Please debit my ACCESS /VISA card (please delete): 

No Expiry date of card .... 

Signature 

Cheques should be made payable to Cumana Ltd 


^ The best name in memory 

Orders may be placed by: telephone ■ 0483 503121, or lax 
0483 503326 or sent to: Cumana 1 Mb RAM Offer, Pines 
Trading Estate, Broad Street, Guildford, Surrey GU3 3BH 


This special offer is subject to availability and is only available direct from Cumana 


SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT 



DIGITISERS 


THE VISION THING 

A colour digitiser for less than £100? Geoff Bains says it's true, so it must be 


J ust how cheap can a digit- 
iser be? When HCCS’s 
monochrome Vision was 
tested (BAU June 1992), 
£50 for a monochrome 
video digitiser seemed pretty 
good value. But now HCCS 
has introduced the colour ver- 
sion for just £80. 

This uses the same hardware 
as the monochrome model. If 
you own a mono Vision, the 
software upgrade costs only 
£47 (unless yours is an early 
version which included a 
voucher for the upgrade for 
just £29). 

This is a half-width podule 
with a single socket on the 
back plate - the video input. 
Into this you can plug any 
composite video source, from 
a video recorder, camcorder, 
satellite receiver or some TVs. 


The new software operates 
much like the old, with one or 
two additions. Everything you 
need is in one application, Cvi- 
sion , which produces a win- 
dow on to the video source. 

This displays a poor quality 
mono digitised image, updated 
in ‘continuous mode’ once a 
second. This is too slow when 
you’re trying to capture that 
single-frame perfect moment 
so it’s essential to have an 
alternative display showing the 
video in realtime. 

Unfortunately, all the mouse 
actions on the whole screen 
are also slowed to this sluggish 
once-a-second response rate, 
which makes using the Desk- 
top rather tedious. HCCS is 
currently working on speeding 
things up. 

Pressing the Menu button 
produces (eventually) a list of 
options. These primarily 
enable a video frame to 
be grabbed and pro- 
cessed to full resolu- 
tion and colour. 

The actual grabbed 
video data is stored 
in 1Mb of Ram on 
the podule. This is 
accessed to produce 
the image on screen. 
The Vision board grabs 
the video signal ‘raw’ 
and extracts the wanted 
data with digital processing. 



Most digitisers use analogue 
methods to convert the signal 
and then digitise the end result. 
The HCCS method is more 
difficult but keeps costs dow n. 

The video data is processed 
to produce a mono image of 
720-254 resolution and 256 
greyscales in about 1 1 sec- 
onds, in the same way as the 
old software. The image can 
also be processed to give a 
colour sprite at the same 
resolution and in 256 colours. 
HCCS is planning an upgrade 
to enable 720x508 images to 
be captured. 

Cvision will grab and pro- 
cess images in any of modes 
12, 15, 20. 21, 27 or 28. 
Modes 15, 21 and 28 must be 
used for colour processing. 

The image can be processed 
to colour in two ways. The 
first is rough but fast, and 
takes 1.5 minutes. The second 
gives a finer image but takes 
about 7 minutes. Each colour 
image is built up line by line 
on the screen. 

The fast colour processing is 
for experimenting with. The 
same grabbed video frame can 
be processed and reprocessed 
as often as you want using any 
of the three methods. Between 
processing, brightness, con- 
trast and colour saturation can 
be changed with mouse-alter- 
able scales in a sub-menu. 

In fact, in the middle of 
colour processing a pic- 
ture, while it is being 
built up line by line 
on the screen, the 
controls can be 
altered. the 
effect judged, 
further correc- 
tions made, 
and so on 
until the 
picture 
is being 
formed 


as desired. Then the process is 
started all over again to deliver 
a perfect picture. This is just as 
well, since the quality of the 
final image is very much 
dependent on the settings used. 
The video source itself must 
be suitable too. Any source 
that allows some altering of 
brightness, contrast and so on 
helps to provide a better image 
on which Cvision can operate. 

When the video source and 
settings are right, as in our 
example, the quality of the 
image is excellent - it is hard 
to see just what other digitisers 
costing two or three times the 
price really have to offer. It’s 
true they can provide a faster, 
real-time sampling of the 
image but it’s the final output 
that really counts. 

The last item on the menu is 
to save the image. All grabbed 
images are saved as standard 
sprites along with their pal- 
lettes. It was here that the only 
problem arose. Saving a grab- 
bed sprite to a full disk crashed 
out the whole Cvision program 
crashed out, losing the care- 
fully grabbed frame. However, 
HCCS promises that this too is 
being worked on, and free 
upgrades will be available 
when the problem is cracked. 

It’s difficult to fault this 
unit. It isn’t perfect - the grab- 
bing lag takes some getting 
used to - but the bottom line is 
that the Colour Vision gives 
quality colour images at a 
price that’s hard to argue with 
And once they are successfully 
saved, grabbed images can be 
used in a vast number of 
applications. 


PRODUCT DETAILS 


Product: Colour Vision 
Supplier: HCCS, 575-583 
Durham Road, Engine Lane, 

Low Fell, Gateshead, Tyne and 
Wear NE9 5JJ Tel: 091-487 0760 
Machines: All Archimedes, BBC 
A3000 

Price: £79 (£92 for A3000 exter- 
nal podule) 

BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 163 





Technomatic Limited 
Techno House, 
468 Church Lane, 
London NW9 8UF 

• 


PROVIDING 
CONSISTENT AND 
RELIABLE SERVICE 
TO CUSTOMERS 
SINCE 1971 

LEASE FINANCING 


Leasing finance available to 
Local councils, universities, 
polytechnics, govt depts. 

Pks and private businesses 
subiect to references. 
Minimum order value £999 + VAT 
Please enquire for details 

• 

All prices exclude VAT. 

Please add carnage 
(a) £8.00 (Couner. 2 days) 

(b) £5.00 (c) CL 50 (d) £2.00 
Next day delivery at extra charge 
Carnage changes to UK mainland 
only 




Acorn Education Dealer 
Acorn Network Dealer 


All prices and specifications 
in this advertisement are 
subject to change without notice 

• 

New Acorn Computers - we are 
expecting a high demand so 
please nng to check stocks. 


081-205 9558 

r Al i i r 

081-2050190 


ECHNOMATIC 


ARCHIMEDES COMPUTERS I ARCHIMEDES EXPANSION 


NOW IN STOCK: 

Acorn A4 Notebook Computer 

4Mb 60Mb HD £ 1 699(a) 

Acorn Pocket Book £2 1 3(a) 

Ring for availability 

The NEW Acorn A30I0 Family Solution 

I Mb RAM, 2Mb FD, ARM250 with RISC OS 3 
EasiWord. Quest for Gold & Training Tape 
Ring for availability 

A3020 for use with TV £425(a) 


The NEW Acorn A30I0 Learning Curve 

I Mb RAM. 2Mb FD. ARM250 with RISC OS 3 
EasiWord. Genesis. Acorn PC Soft, 

Quest for Gold & Training Tape 
Ring for availability 

A30 1 0 LC + Acom Colour Monitor £680(£ 1 2) 

A30 1 0 LC + Acom Monitor & Printer £893(£ 1 2) 


NEW A3020 Computer Systems 

2Mb RAM. 2Mb FD, ARM250 with RISC OS 3 


Options: 60Mb HD, Multiscan Monitor, JP 1 50 
Ring for availability 

A3020 FD + Acom Colour Monitor 
A3020 FD + Acom Monitor & Printer 
A3020 FD + Acom Multiscan Monitor 
A3020 FD + Multiscan & Printer 
A3020 60Mb HD + Acom Colour Monitor 
A3020 60Mb + Acom Col & Pnnter 
A3020 60Mb HD + Multiscan Monitor 
A3020 60Mb HD + Multiscan Monitor 


Printer 

£749(£ 1 2) 
£962(£ 1 2) 
£799(£ 1 2) 
£ 1 0 1 2(£ 1 2) 
£899(£ 1 2) 
£1 I 1 2(£ 1 2) 
£949(£ 1 2) 
£1 1 62(£ 1 2) 


The NEW A4000 Home Office Pack 

2Mb RAM. 80Mb HD, ARM250 with RISC OS 3 
EasiWnter 2, Database, Quest for Gold, Training Tape 
A 3 box solution to your home computing needs 
Ring for availability 
A4000 + Acom Colour Monitor 
A4000 + Acom Col & Printer 
A4000 + Multiscan Monitor 
A4000 + Multiscan Monitor & Printer 


£999(£ 1 2) 
£121 2(£ I 2) 
£ 1 049(£ 1 2) 
£ I 262(£ I 2) 


A5000 Series Computers 

ARM 3, with Acom Multiscan Monitor 
Ring for availability 
A5000 2Mb RAM 80Mb HD 
A5000 4Mb RAM 120Mb HD 
A5000 2Mb RAM 80Mb HD + Pnnter 
A5000 4Mb RAM 1 20Mb HD + Pnnter 
A5000 2Mb Econet Station 
A5000 2Mb Ethernet Station 


£ 1 399(£ 1 2) 
£ 1 599(£ 1 2) 
£161 2(£ I 2) 
£181 2 (£ 1 2 ) 
£ 1 299(£ 1 2) 
£ 1 399(£ 1 2) 


A5000 Learning Curve System 

A5000 2Mb + 80Mb & Monitor T Games, PC Emulator, 

1st Word+, Acom DTP, Genesis, tape & parents guide 
A5000LC System £ 1 446(£ 1 2) 


A4 Notebook Accessories & Upgrades 


Battery Pack £5 0(b) 

A4 Shoulder Bag £3 5(b) 

A4 Technical Reference Manual £65(b) 

A5000 Accessories and Upgrades 

2Mb RAM (non-upgradable) £85(b) 

2Mb RAM (Upgradable to 8Mb) £ 1 05(b) 

Upgrade to 8Mb £399(£ 1 2) 

A5000 Technical Reference Manual £6 5(b) 

Chroma Genlock CG2 £2 1 5(b) 

A5000 Video Adapter £25(b) 

A5000 Monitor Adapter £ 1 5(b) 

A3000 - Expansion and Accessories 

I Mb RAM upgrade to 2 Mbyte £49(c) 

3Mb RAM upgrade to 4 Mbyte £ I 1 9(c) 

Serial Upgrade Kit £ 1 5(c) 

MIDI/User Port £49(b) 

AEDA £ 1 0(c) 

MARCUS Tracker Bell £30(c) 

A 3000 Monitor Stand £ 1 7(b) 

A3000 Technical Reference Manual £25(c) 

RISC OS Programmers Reference Manual £69(b) 
Chroma Genlock CG I £2 1 5(b) 


Archimedes 300/400 Series Upgrades 
RAM Upgrades 

A3 10 Upgrade to 2Mb (Soldenng required) £99(b) 
A3 1 0 Upgrade to 4Mb (Soldering required) £ 1 99(b) 


A4 1 0/ 1 Upgrade to 2Mb £49(c) 

A4 1 0/ 1 Upgrade to 4Mb £ 1 29(c) 

A420/ 1 Upgrade to 4Mb £79(c) 

A400/ 1 Senes 4Mb to 8Mb £599(*) 

ARM 3 (MEMC I a required) £ 1 99(2xa) 

MEMC I a (fitting required) £45(c) 

Archimedes Expansion 300/400 Series 

Acom I/O Podule £84(b) 

MIDI Add-on to I/O Podule £29(c) 

MIDI Expansion Card £69(c) 

Acom ROM Podule £ 1 0(c) 

1 6 Bit Parallel I/O Card £ 1 95(b) 

IEEE Interface Card £283(b) 

Chroma Genlock CG2 £2 1 5(b) 

A5000 Video Adapter £25(b) 

A5000 Monitor Adapter £ 1 5(b) 

ADC 1 208 A to D Converter £5 60(b) 

Prototyping Expansion Card £3 9(c) 

Ethernet III Card £ 1 49(c) 

AEDA External Dnve Adapter £ 1 0(d) 

Archimedes Tracker Ball ‘30(c) 

RISC OS Programmers Reference Manual £69(b) 
Acom SCSI Card £225(b) 

RISC OS 3 Upgrade £42(b) 


(300 series & 440 need the Dealer only RISC OS 
Hardware Upgrade Kit) 


A5000 Learning Curve Printer System 

A5000 LC with 300 dpi ink jet printer 
A5000LC + Pnnter £ 1 659(£ 1 2) 

The Archimedes A540 System 

4Mb RAM. expandable to 1 6Mb, 1 20Mb SCSI HD 
A540 without monitor £2495(a) 

4Mb RAM upgrade £250(b) 

A540 Technical Reference Manual ‘65(c) 

Most Acom Systems can be used with the Special Access Upgrade 
Pack which costs £99 when purchased at the same time. 

Educational Pnces Available on non-LC Systems. 

Ask for our Educational Price List 

Acorn Teachers’ Scheme - Please ring for the latest details. 


Technomatic Ltd. 

is an Acom 
Education Dealer 
and an Acorn 
Network Dealer. 







LASER PRINTERS 


LASER RAM UPGRADES (b) 

1 


All Laser printers carry one year's on-site maintenance contract 

HEWLETT-PACKARD 

HP Laserjet HIP 

4ppm I Mb RAM Scaleable fonts/Res Enhancement 

HP Laserjet III 

8ppm I Mb RAM HP-PCL5 & HP-GL2 support 

HP Laserjet HID 

Duplex pnnter as III but with two trays 
HP Laserjet IllSi 2Mb (exp to 17Mb) RAM 
1 6ppm; two trays, HP’s workhorse 

Optional Upgrades for PostScript and Duplex printing 

Diamond Edge Support for extended on site warranty available 

NEC 

NEC S62P 6ppm. 2Mb RAM. PostScript Level 2 & HP PCL5 v 

Emulations, 57 fonts, Par/Ser/AppleTalklnterfaces. PC & MAC can be connected 
simultaneously. 


£689(a) 
£ 1 0 1 5(a) 
£ 1 495(2xa) 
£2499(2xa) 


£ 1 049(a) 


£479(a) 


EPSON 

EPL4000 NEW 6ppm 
LQ/FX/HP Emulation 

EPL4I00 6ppm £495(a) 

scaleable fonts LQ/FX/HP Emul. 

EPL4300 NEW oppm £579(a) 

HP Laserjet lllsi Emulation 
EPL7500 6ppm PostScnpt 
Par/Ser/Apple ports £1,15 5(a) 
EPL8I00 lOppm, I MB RAM 
PCL 5 compatibility £995(a) 


PANASONIC 2yr OSM 

£624(a) 


KXP4420 

8ppm, HPII emulation 

KXP4430 NEW 

KXP 4450i 

I I ppm, twin tray 

KXP4455 

I I ppm PostScnpt 
twin tray, HPII emulation 


£635(a) 
£9 1 9(a) 


£ 1 ,459(2xa) 


LOW COST POSTSCRIPT SOLUTIONS 


HP Adobe PostScript PLUS Cartridge: for HP lll/IIIP/IIID 
Includes PostScnpt Level 2 and many new features) 

HP Adobe PostScript Cartridge: for HP //P////P////////0///D 
PACIFICPAGE XL: including 2Mb RAM, for HPIII/IIID 
Built in Intel RISC Processor increases data processing by up to 8 times - 
Page XL the fastest PS upgrade. No extra RAM required. 
PACIFICPAGE PostScnpt Emulator for HP IIP/HD/lll/P/D 
Adobe PostScript Cartridge + 2Mb Ram for HP II 
PACIFICPAGE PostScript Emulator + 2Mb RAM for HP II 
HP PAINTJET XL 300 PostScnpt Level 2 + 4Mb RAM 
EPSON: PostScnpt Cartndge for EPL8IOO 


£399(b) 


£279(b) 

£449(b) 

making 


£225(b) 

£299(b) 

£325(b) 

£829(a) 

£399(b) 


LASER/INKJET ACCESSORIES/CONSUMABLES 


HP LASER FONTS 

HP Master Type Font Cartndge for 
MicroSoft WordPerfect, Presentations, Bar 
Codes, Global Forms Each: £99(B) 

HP Print Cache (speeds up output) £49(b) 
HP PrintaPlot (Emulates HP Plotter) £1 79(b) 
JetFont ZIA TmS RMN/Helv £ 1 09(b) 


HP IIP/IIIP Lower Cassette Tray £99(b 


JET DIRECT Network Cards 

These cards plug into printers I/O 
I Port and provide a direct 
connection to Ethernet LAN. 

For lll/IIID/IID £469(b) 

IllSi £469(b) 


Technomatic is an authorised reseller of 
HP accessories and consumables. Please 
phone with your requirements. 


INKJET ACCESSORIES: Carr(b) 
For HP Deskjet Plus/500/500C 

HP FX80 Emulation Cartndge £49 

JetRAM 256K RAM Cartndge £69 

Pacific 25 in I Font Cartndge £69 

CANON Sheet Feeders: 

Bj 1 0/20 £43 BJ 300/3 30 £94(a)/£ 1 29(a) 

INK CARTRIDGES: Carr (d) 

HP Deskjet Family: 

Standard Black 
Double Capacity Black 
500C Colour 
PaintJet Colour £22 
XL/300 (Cyan/M/Y/BIk) each 
Canon BJ 10/20 £15 BJ300/330 


Black 


£11 

£16 

£19 

£13 

£21 

£11 


TONER CARTRIDGES car, (i» 


HP LASERJET 


EPSON EPL 


PANASONIC Toner: 


ill/IIID/ll/IID 

£45 

7100/7500/8100 

£119 

4420/50i/55 

£ 19(c) 

SP/1IP+/IIIP 

£40 

4000/4100/4300 

£55 


IS 

£99 

GQ Toner 

£ 15(d) 

NEC 


CANON: 


GQ Drum 

£99 

S60/S60P/62P 

£89 

lBP 8 ll/ll! 

£54 

OKI 4/800 Toner 

£ 16(d) 

266/290 

£79 

tBP 4 Series 

£49 

OKI 4/800 Drum 

£98 




M AT I C I 


HP 

I Mb 
2Mb 
4Mb 

Panasonic 

I Mb 
2Mb 
4Mb 

4430 I Mb 

Epson 

I Mb 
2Mb 
3Mb 
4Mb 


IIP/IIIP/III/IIID 

ll/IID 

IllSi 

£50 

. 

£55 

£80 

£89 


£135 

£145 

£149 

4420 

4450i 

4455 

£59 

£59 

. 

£89 

£99 

£129 

£149 

£160 

. 


£109 

EPL4000/4 1 00/4300 

£55 

£95 

£149 

£199 


OKI OL400/800/84Q I Mb £75 
OKI QL83Q/84Q 2Mb £129 


EPL8I00 

£49 
£104 
£149 
£199 
2Mb £85 


Other Laser Pnnter Upgrades on page 6 of this ad 


INKJET PRINTERS 


HP Deskjet 500 80 columns, 300dpi, I6K RAM, B/W £279(a) 

Price includes 3 year parts & labour warranty. 

Canon BJ I Oex 80 col portable, high quality 360x360 resolution, 37K 
buffer, LQ/Proprinter emulations £ 1 85(a) 

Canon BJ20 New desktop pnnter £269(a) 

Canon BJ300 80 column 360 dpi resolution 300cps in high sped mode 
Propnnter/LQ850 emulations £275(a) 

Canon BJ330 1 32 column as BJ300 but 1 32 columns £390(a) 


COLOUR INKJET 


HP DeskJet 500C A4 Colour pnnter 

HP PaintJet XL300 A3 Colour printer 
HP PaintJet 80 col, 1 80 x 1 80 res Parallel or Senal i/face 
HP PaintJet XL 1 32 columns. As PaintJet but wider 
Canon BJ800C Colour Pnnter 


£405(a) 
£ 1 790(a) 
£529(a) 
£ 1 239(a) 
£ 1 449(a) 


Design Works for Windows 
only £59 

when purchased with any printer *Limited stocks 


DOT MATRIX PRINTERS 


EPSON 

LQI00 

LQ200 

LX400 

FX850 

LQ570 

LQI 170 

LQ2550 


PANASONIC 

KXP I 123 
KXP 1 624 
KXP2I23 
KXP 1 654 

NEC 24 PIN 

P20 

P60 

P90 

OKI 

1 82P 
320P 
39 IP 

STAR 

LC20 

LC24-200 


£ 165(a) 

LX850 

£ 138(a) 

£ 165(a) 

FXI050 

£329(a) 

£ 105(a) 

LQ870 

£362(a) 

£260(a) 

LQI 070 

£3 15(a) 

£205(a) 

LQI 060 

£529(a) 

£439(a) 

SQ870 

£4 19(a) 

£679(a) 

SQI 170 

£569(a) 


LX 1050 

£220(a) 

£ 134(a) 

KXP 1 1 24i 

£ 175(a) 

£270(a) 

KXP 1695 

£275(a) 

£205(a) 

KXP2I80 

£ 163(a) 

£3 3 9(a) 

KXP2624 

£289(a) 

£ 199(a) 

P30 

£249(a) 

£335(a) 

£649(a) 

P70 

£429(a) 

£ 199(a) 

I92P 

£275(a) 

£3 1 9(a) 

380P 

£ 179(a) 

£5 19(a) 

393P 

£ 199(a) 

£ 109(a) 

LC200 

£ 159(a) 

£255(a) 

Starjet SJ48 

£ 199(a) 


We welcome orders from Govt Depts. Universities. Hospitals. Colleges. Local Authorities, 
National pics, etc. No VAT on export orders - carnage costs on request 

For fast delivery phone 08 1 -205 9558 or fax 08 1 -205 1 090 with your VISA/ACCESS card. 
Orders for stock items received before 2pm dispatched the same day. imB 
Personal Callers welcome - ample parking space 













Technomatic Limited 
Techno House, 
468 Church Lane, 
London NW9 8UF 



PROVIDING 
CONSISTENT AND 
RELIABLE SERVICE 
TO CUSTOMERS 
SINCE 1971 

LEASE FINANCING 


Leasing finance available to 
Local councils, universities, 
polytechnics, govt depts, 

Pics and private businesses 
subject to references. 
Minimum order value £999 + VAT 
Please enquire for details. 

• 

All prices exclude VAT. 

Please add carnage 
(a) £8.00 (Courier, 2 days) 

(b) £5.00 (c) £2.50 (d) £2.00 
Next day delivery at extra charge. 
Carnage charges to UK mainland 
only. 


ECHNOMATIC 


techno-t COLOUR VIDEO DIGITISER 


techno- 1 is the leading colour video digitiser for the Archimedes, with 
features usually found only on the top-of-the-range models for the IBM PC. 


techno - I is a very versatile real-time RISC-OS based video 
digitiser; it can grab pictures from any video source (TV, 
Video recorder, etc.) and convert them into spntes. The 
digitised sprites can then be used in RISC-OS applications 
such as art or DTP packages. 

Unlike simpler video digitisers, techno- 1 separates colour 
and luminance data while digitising, techno - 1 handles 
images in 25 bits, with 7bits luminance and 1 8bits 
chrominance (it encodes images in UVL colour space, 
which mimics the human visual system). This allows you to 
manipulate the captured images by hue, saturation or 
luminance: the colours are therefore truly WYSIWYG. 
techno - 1 will also give true monochrome representation of 
colour images. 

techno- 1 features include: 

• 25bits resolution, 7bits luminance and 1 8bits 
chrominance. 

• Contrast, colour and bnghtness set from 
desktop. 

• Image scaling up to 1 280 by 1 024 in any 256 
colour mode. 

• Selectable or automatic monochrome/colour 
digitising. 

• Automatic detection of video signal, field 
frequency and colour presence. 

• Single width podule using surface mount 
technology. 

• Zero wait state 1 6bit MEMC expansion card. 

• All picture adjustments from desktop, no 
hardware adjustments. 

"A big improvement on the best 
available from previous digitisers” 

Trevor Attewell, 

Archimedes World 


The incoming video is displayed in real time in a 
viewfinder, the viewfinder display can be monochrome or 
colour. The viewfinder can be 1/16 or 1/4 screen area, 
you are able to drag the viewfinder around the screen. 

The frame buffer resolution is up to 5 1 2 by 5 1 2, with 
programmable horizontal and vertical resolution. Complex 
frame manipulation features are built into the hardware, 
you are given options to interlace, supenmpose or 
separate frames. 

All viewing, video and digitising parameters are software 
controlled; there are no presets, no setting up, simple 
connect to a video signal, load the software and digitise! 


• Uses a single 5V supply, no extra 1 2V supply 
needed. 

• Comptabile with international TV standards. 

PAL B, G. H, I, M, N, NTSC. 4.43MHz, NTSC M. 

• CTI (Colour Transcient Improver) to sharpen 
the edges of coloured objects in the picture. 

• PSI (Picture Signal Improver) to enhance the 
luminance content of the picture. 

• Automatic gain control, with black level 
clamping, 

• Hardware programmable noise filtering. 

• Supplied with latest ChangeFSI release. 

• SVHS input upgrade available. 


"... surprising good value compared to 
the rest of the field” 

Rob Millar, 

Acorn User 


"Using techno - 1 is a doddle ... an 
excellent and easy to use product” 

Steve Bruntlett, 

The Micro User 



Acorn Education Dealer 
Acorn Network Dealer 


techno- 1 for 300/400/540/5000 
techno- 1 for A3000 

(Securely boxed for external fitting) 


£249(a) SVHS Upgrade £ 1 00(d) 

£279(a) NO PRINTED PICTURE CAN DO IT JUSTICE! 

Send for a data sheet and free demo disk. 


• 

All prices and specifications 
in this advertisement are 
subject to change without notice 

• 

New Acom Computers - we are 
expecting a high demand so 
please nng to check stocks. 


techno-ION BUNDLE 


A money saving package combining: 

• techno- 1 real time video digitiser 

• SVHS upgrade to techno- 1 

• Cannon ION CCD camera 

• SVHS and RF cables 


techno SCAN 


Probably the definitive monochrome scanning package! 

The all NEW technoSCANII package provides full 
monochrome operation at 400dpi as well as 8 and 1 5 level 
grey scale scanning and provides the following features: 
Suitable for all Archimedes micros and integrates fully with 
the multitasking RISC-OS environment. 

Advanced memory management system releases memory 
when not required allowing scanning and DTP in a I Mb 
computer. 


TiLEWM 

081-205 9558 
081-205 0190 


Capture 3-D objects in full colour on the 
Cannon ION camera. With the supplied 
rechargeable batteries you can take up to 50 
pictures, storing them on the lONs floppy disk. 
You can then digitise the pictures using techno - 1 
to provide high quality sprites, for DTP or art. 

techno-ION for 300/400/540/5000 £699(a) 

techno-ION for A3000 £729(a) 


Flexible zoom controll allows palettes to be imported, 
tailored and resaved with more powerful tone and tinting 
features than most painting packages. 

Interactive help and a superb manual. 

Direct pnnting with RISC-OSs dnvers. 

Saves spntes direct into PAINT and DTP or to disk. 

Saves sections and palettes into any graphics mode. 

technoSCANII complete with interface 
card and manual £ 1 29(b) 

technoSCAN for A3000 £ 1 5 5(b) 

technoSCANII upgrade for technoSCAN £22.50(c) 

Educational prices are available on all the above products. 








TECHNOM ATIC 


PLOTTERS 


HEWLETT PACKARD 

7440 A A4/8 pen RS232 £689(a) 

7475AU A3/6 pen RS232 £749(a) 

7550 Plus A3/8 pen HiSpeed Ser/Par £2 1 49* 
All Plotters carry one year On Site Maintenance. 
Diamond Edge available on HP Plotters. 


ROLAND 

A4 SketchMate Flatbed 
A3 SketchMate Flatbed 
DXYII00 A3/8 pen Par/Ser 
DXY 1 200 A 3/8 pen Par/Ser 
DXY 1 300 A3/8 pen Par/Ser I Mb 
Accessories and consumables are 
available from stock 


£3 1 5(a) 
£509(a) 
£479(a) 
£624(a) 
£825(a) 



MODEMS (Carr (a) 


APPROVED for Connection to 

telecommunication systems specified in the instruction for 
use subject to the Conditions set out in them. 



Model 

KEY 

INT 

EXT 

Mode! 

KEY 

INT 

EXT 


MIRACOM 




DATAFLEX 





WS4000V2I/23 


£97 

£97 

Stradcom 



£99 


WS3000 

1 

£139 

£129 

Biscom II 

1 

£129 

£159 


Courier2400e Quad 

IB 

- 

£247 

Quadcom II 

IB 

£179 

£235 


Courier HST 

2B 

£369 

£385 

Comfax II 

IBF 

£225 

£279 


Courier V32 

2B 

£389 

£379 

Rapier 

2B 

£309 

£359 


Courier 2400+ 

IB 

- 

£269 

Rapier Enhanced 

2B 

£375 



Couner 14.4 

2B 

• 

£545 

Rapier MCA 

2B 

£449 



Couner HST Dual Std 

2B 

£579 

£579 

2400+ Credit Card Sized 

2B 


£449 


Couner V32 bis 

2B 

£459 

£459 

(for Notebook & Laptops) 





WS3000 Mk 1 1 

IB 

£228 

£228 






MULTIMODEM 1432 Pocket sized ext. Modem/Fax V32 bis/V32/V22 bis/V22/23/2 1 . MNP5, Group III, Compatible Fax 
(For LAPTOP and NOTEBOOKS), £609(a) 


MULTITECH MODEM 

For the professional user. 

MultiModem: 9600 baud full duplex 
V22bis/V22/V2l, MNP5, V42. LAP-M error 
correction, V42bis. Remote configuration/Call back 
for security. 

V32 EC Int £499 V32 Ext £529 

MultiModem 224EK 2400 baud full duplex 
otherwise as V32. Up to 9600 baud thru put with 
compression. 

224EK7 Int £379 224EK5 Ext £399 

MultiModem II 1432 External Fax/Modem 
V32bis/V32/V22bis/ 22/23/2 1 A/42bis. MNP5. Grp III 
compatible fax £629 




TELEPHONE LINE - FAX SYSTEMS AND SWITCHES 


APPROVED for Connection to 
telecommunication systems specified I 
m the instruction for use subject to 
the Conditions set out in them. 


A range of fax/modem/telephone switches to maximise the use of a 
telephone line. Bntish manufactured with full BABT approval. 

FAXMAN 350 £79(b) 

Latest launch from FAX LINK, can be connected to any telephone 
extension, and can be connected to a telephone, a fax and an answering] 
machine. Pnority is given to voice calls avoiding delays and unnecessary 
recorded messages. 

FAXMAN 400 £1 15(b) 

As FAXMAN 350 but capable of connection to a fax system and/or a 
modem. 

STORACALL FS 1 00 £ 1 1 9(b) 

Automatic fax switch which enables a fax machine, upto 3 telephone and 
an answering machine on one telephone line. 


JT FAX + CARD £225(b) 

A half card system for XT/ATs offers: Groups III compatibility, AA/AD, 
AutoPrint. CallScheduling etc. Support for popular WPs, Printers & 
Scanners. Comprehensive Tex/Graphics editing facilities. Supports CGA 
& Hercules Graphics. Now with enhanced software. 

AMSTRAD FX6000AT DESKTOP FACSIMILE £355(A) 

FX6000AT offers total communications on your desk. Comprises of fax, 
telephone, answer machine and a copier. Voice & Fax calls discnminated 
automatically and can be set for automatic message reception for fax or 
answer machine. Answer machine can be accessed remotely. Speed dial. 

I year on site warranty. 


SPECIAL OFFERS 


A420/I Learning Curve 
£749.00 + VAT 


his is only a selection of our range, 
please send for our free Acorn catalogue. 


2Mb RAM 20Mb HD, No Monitor, Learning Curve Software 
& Training software 

We have some accessories available at 
special prices - please ring for details 

AMSTRAD 4386SX FAMILY 
PACK £679.00(a) 

This pack offers an amazing value for money 

386SX-20MHz based system with 80Mb hard disc, 1. 44Mb 
floppy drive, 4Mb (exp to 1 6) RAM, 3.5" 10" Very Hi Res 
Trinitron Colour Monitor. MS DOS/MS WINDOWS 3. 1 /MS 
EXECL (AMS Ver) Amstrad Mgr with W/P and desktop 
utilities, 3 Exciting Games, Sound Card, Mouse, Joystick 
/ 2 months on site warranty 


Name 


Address 


2 

o 

s 


PLEASE RETURN THIS FORM TO 


Technomatic Ltd, Techno House 
468 Church Lane, London NW9 8UF 


0 

1 

9 






TELETEXT ADAPTOR 

■ Works with most major Acorn computers including A5000 

■ Price includes manual, user notes, all leads and software 

■ Can receive Satelite Teletext 

■ All but BBC and Master Types Multi-Task 

■ All metal case model with built-in power supply - Top quality unit 

■ Gives optional TV pictures and sound 

RRP £155.00 JUST £94.00 Inc.P&P 


ADD TELETEXT' TO 
YOUR CTOIVIRLJTKK 


PLUG IN AND GO MEMORY UPGRADES 

INCLUDING COMPLETE FITTING INSTRUCTIONS - LARGE STOCKS AVAILABLE 

A5000 

2 MEG 

Gives 2 MEG machines 4 MEG of RAM 

RRP £103 

Only 

£83 

A3000 

1 MEG 

Gives A3000 machines 2 MEG of RAM 

RRP £36 

Only 

£29 

A3000 

1 MEG SUPER 

As above, but can be upgraded to 4 MEG 

RRP £55 

Only 

£44 

A3000 

4 MEG 

Gives A3000 machines 4 MEG of RAM 

RRP £150 

Only 

£120 

A310 

4 MEG 

Gives A310 machines 4 MEG of RAM 

RRP £248 

Only 

£199 

A310 

4 MEG + ARM 3 

Combines 2 upgrades on simple to fit 
plug in board 

RRP £452 

Only 

£362 


ALL TOP QUALITY, LOW POWER, EASY FIT DESIGNS 



1SJFW VERSION 2.23 

V V V Teletext Software 

■ Optional update 

■ Very advanced, designed for h 

schools and colleges ™ 

■ Many highly advanced features 

■ Limited number for sale to the 
public 

| ■ Please phone for availability and 
price 


ARM 3 PROCESSOR 

RISC-OS 
Armspeed 
software 
Cache 
operation at 
25 MHz 

3-6 times speed 
increase 
Fits A300/400 RKP £209 
series 

DIY plug in £165 


design 


HOURS OF BUSINESS: 

9.00 AM - 5.30 PM 
(24 HOUR ORDERING FACILITY) 


PRICES EXCLUDE VAT, 

BUT INCLUDE CARRIAGE CHARGES 
(UK MAINLAND) 
PACKAGING AND INSURANCE 

Further Details on Request 
Dealer Enquiries Welcome 
Quantity Discount Available 


GROUND CONTROL 

ELECTRONICS LIMITED 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION TELEPHONE: 0635 524008 OR 0622 747416 

UNIT 7, KINGFISHER COURT. HAMBRIDGE ROAD, NEWBURY, BERKSHIRE RG14 5SJ. TEL: 0635 524008 or 0622 747416 FAX: 0635 528115 


NEW! NEW! NEW! 

Acorn A3010 Family Solution 
Acorn A3010 Learning Curve 
Acorn A4000 Home Office 
Acorn A5000 Learning Curve 


See you at the 
Acorn User Show 
Stand 103 

with the 

NEW ACORN SYSTEMS 
NEW SOFTWARE RELEASES 
SPECIAL BARGAIN OFFERS 


Come and try these amazing new Acorn Computer packages in our showroom. You can 
select and try out any of the 300+ software packages on our shelves on whichever system 
you please. Computer Concepts LaserDirect Hi-Res and Scanlight Professional are both on 
demonstration. A wide variety of other add-ons always in stock, including CD ROM drives, 
FaxPack, Hard Discs, Printers, Joysticks, Memory Upgrades and Cables. But don't come in 
expecting to compare them to Amigas, Ataris or PCs - we don't stock them! We are an 
Acorn Specialist Dealer, committed to offering our customers the best service and the most 
varied range of products, plus super-fast servicing and repair facilities. 

THE DATA STORE microcomputers 

6 CHATTERTON ROAD BROMLEY KENT BR2 9QN 
Tel : 08 1 -460 899 1 Fax: 081-313 0400 
Closed Wednesdays 


168 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 




PUZZLE RAGE 


£25 PRIZE PUZZLE: 'SEVENTH HEAVEN' 


Look at the grid on the right. It consists of five interlocking ‘rings’. 
Around each ring in the direction indicated by the arrows can be written 
four overlapping seven-letter words. You must find these words and 
complete the grid. As a guide we have given you the middle letters of 
each word. Every word starts on an arrowed square. 

To find the seven-letter words solve the five sets of clues below. Each 
set corresponds to one ring. The sets are not in any particular order, but 
the clues in each set are in exactly the same order as their solutions 
appear in the appropriate ring. Therefore, if you find the answer to one 
clue, the last three letters will form the first three of the solution to the 
next clue and so on. 

Clues: 

1. Replica (anagram); Muddle; Vocabulary; Tapering 

2. Relation; Dummy; Family; Indian 

3. Chloride, bromide etc; High-pitched; Opposite; Sprite-like 

4. Fall; Checkmate?; Corrector; Knocks 

5. Charged; Church seats; Negotiates; Meeting 

When you have solved the puzzle, send your entry to BBC Acorn User , 
101 Bayham Street, London Nwl OAG to reach us byOctober 1 1992. 
Please mark your envelope October Puzzle. Photocopies of your solution 
are acceptable. The solution will be published in the November issue and 
the winner will be announced in the December issue. 



SHAPE UP! 

Below is a maze - a special maze. Beginning with the blue 
square at the top your task is to trace a path to the red circle at 
the bottom. You can move to any adjacent hexagon containing 
a symbol of the same shape or colour. 



RECURRING NIGHTMARE 

There are some 11 -letter words that begin and end with the 
same three letters. Without cheating (and using your computer- 
based dictionary!) can you think of 1 1 -letter words which start 
and finish with these; cal, enl. mic and und? 


NUMBER PATH 

Starting with the eight (top-left), 
trace a path through the grid 
keeping a running total as you go. 

You may move left, right, up or 
down (not diagonally). 

Can you find a path to the four 
(bottom-right) for which the sum 
is correct? No square may be 
visited twice and all intermediate 
results are positive integers. 


SOLUTIONS 

June; The winner of June's 
prize crossword is Mr J M Bas- 
table of Portsmouth. 

July: The solution to Word 
Sums was Scots and Kilts. The 
winner will be announced next 
month. 

August: Changing colours: blue 
flue flux flax flan clan ,cyan. 

Other solutions are possible. 

Hex-tricate: Solution shown 

Few-tile: The mosaic was made 
up of just four different tile 
designs (shown). 



A 

B 

C 

D 



8 

+ 

4 

+ 

2 

- 

9 

- 

6 

/ 

9 

/ 

3 

/ 

5 

- 

3 

+ 

5 

= 

7 

/' 

8 

= 

4 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 169 






m I i®ip|i 

... / 


Desktop ve 
image editi 
image mixi 


Desktop Video 

Moving i-Mage is the first real-time 
windowing digitiser for the Archimedes, k 
screen update, scaling, zooming and image 
processing is carried out by dedicated 
hardware. This allows full-motion video tot 
displayed with millions of colours on the 
standard RISC OS desktop. 

Comprehensive RISC OS compliant softwar 
is supplied which makes the sophisticated 
hardware easy to use. Or you can use your 
own software written in BASIC, C or 
Assembler etc. Third party support is 
available now from Allied Interactive and 
Westland System Assessment with many 
more to follow. Interface drivers are availab 
for video disc players etc. 

Moving i-Mage only takes one expansion 
slot. The upgradable digitising module can 
cope with existing and forthcoming video 
formats. A square pixel 24 bit colour upgrar 
already exists. CCIR 601 sampling digitiser: 
and real-time compression hardware will be 
available very soon. 

Moving i-Mage has found applications in 
many fields including Teletext Subtitling, 
Computer Based Training, Interactive 
Multimedia, Scientific Research, 
Presentation Video, Image Processing and 
Desktop Video Editing. 


Pro i 


& 4 




®l®mi 

Imaging 

for Your 
Archimedes 


Colour Scanning 


Professional and affordable 24 bit colour anc 
256 grey-scale scanning systems available fi 
all Archimedes computers, using proven 
Pro-image software. 

Pro-image renders, displays and compresses 
images whilst multi-tasking with other 
applications. 

The widest range of file formats is 
» supported including a complete range of 
sprites with up to 256 colours or 256 
grey levels with Clear and industry 
standard compressed TIFF and JPEG 
24 bit files. Huge images, limited only by 
disc space, can be scanned whilst Pro-image 
only takes a few hundred kb. 

Pro-image recognises all A4 Epson scanners 
automatically. 

Pro-image can also drive i-Scan (256 grey 
level version) and the complete range of 
Sharp scanners from postcard size JX-100 
mini-flatbed up to A3 size. 35 mm slide 
scanners will be available soon. 


These and other high-quality imaging products are available now from: 

~W Irlam Instruments Ltd, Brunei Institute for Bioengineering, Brunei University, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PH 
ML Telelephone (0895) 811401 


SUBSCRIPTION OFFER 


FREE ISSUES 


Take advantage of our exclusive subscription offer 
when you buy an Acorn A3010 at any Dixons or Currys store 


T hinking of buying the 
new Acorn A3010 
‘family solution' compu- 
ter. If so. BBC Acom 
User has combined with 
Dixons and Currys to ensure 
you keep up with all the latest 
developments in the Acorn 
world via a special subscrip- 
tion offer. 

Purchasers of the new' 
A3010 computer at a Dixons 
or Currys store w ill be handed 


a special subscription card, as 
shown below, which will enti- 
tle the purchaser to receive 15 
issues of BBC Acom User for 
the cost of a 12-month sub- 
scription - that's your first 
three issues absolutely free. 

BBC Acorn User is the lead- 
ing monthly magazine in the 
Acorn marketplace. Packed 
with news, reviews, features, 
and lots of helpful ideas, the 
magasine w ill help you get the 



Take advantage of the subscription offer at any Dixons or Currys store 


most out of your Acorn 
machine. Not only that each 
subscriber will also receive a 
free disc with each issue, 
packed with programs featured 


in the magazine. This special 
offer applies to UK subscrip- 
tions only and ends March 8 
1993 so get down to your local 
Dixons and find out more! 



The new Acorn A3010 'family solution' computer 



PURCHASE AN ACORN A301 0 AT 

Dixons or Currys 

AND OBTAIN 


FREE ISSUES 



WHEN YOU TAKE OUT A ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTION. 

(15 ISSUES FOR THE PRICE OF 12 - SEE REVERSE FOR DETAILS). 


Purchasers of an Acorn A3010 at Dixons or Currys will be given this card which includes details of the special subscription offer 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 171 





lectronic pont foundry 


ie lat< 

t h . 


The latest additions to our range of over 400 outline 
ilmedes, send now for your FREE cop 
EFF Type Overview for more details 


u 4sti 


8(0 


Britannia: Liglil, Medium, Bold 
Clear 1: Regular, Italic, Black, Black Italic 
Clear 2: Extrabold, ExtraBold Italic 
Clear Gothic: Gothic, Bold, ExtraBold 

CljN 

Europe3 : Regular, Oblique, Bold, Bold Oblique 


T-Vesent 1 M 

Britannic™ 

Clearface™ 

Clearface™ 

Clearface™ 

UMUKA™ 

Futura™ 


Frederic: Regular, Bold, UltraBold 
FredericOldStyle: OldStyle, OldStyle Italic 
Frederic Catalogue: Italic 

Gruby: Block. Black Italic 

Ida 

Katie Title 

King: Regular, Bold 


Goudy™ 
Goudy Old Style™ 
Goudy Catalogue™ 

Blippo™ 

B>uuly m 


LondonA 1 ; Regular, Italic, Bold, Bold Italic 
LondonA 2: DemiBoId, DemiBoId Italic 
Manutius 1: Book, Italic, Medium, Italic 

Manutius 2: IJltrallold, Italic 

MoAiLfa: Bold 
Pisa 1 : Book, DemiBoId 
Pisa^^ight, Medium, UltraBold 
Rosemary: Regular, Italic, ExtraBold, Italic , 

SHEHIFF 

Simple: Light, Light Italic, Bold, Bold Italic 
Swiss Condensed 2: Light, Light Oblique, Black, Oblique Helvetica™ 

Swiss Inserat Helvetica Inserat™ 

umjfrGU 

Venice: Regular, Italic, Bold, Bold Italic Italian Old Style™ 


Windsor™ 

JUNIPEIt™ 

Adobe Garamond™ 
Adobe Garamond ™ 
Antiqua™ 

Antiqua™ 

Kcut^meaut 1 ** 

Eras™ 
Eras™ 

Korinna™ 

COTTONWOOD™ 

FrugalSans™ 


Veronica: Regular, Italic , Bold, Bold Italic 


West 

Wojtek Sans: Regular, Italic, Bold, Italic 
Wojtek Serif: Regular, Ualic, Bold, Italic 


Sabon™ 

(Mown™ 
Stone Sans™ 
Stone Serif™ 


fonts for 
the 


£18.00 

£ 22.00 

£35.00 

£40.00 

£25.00 

£35.00 

£ 22.00 

£35.00 

£35.00 

£27.00 

£18.00 

£25.00 

f22.00 

£25.00 

£25.00 

£ 12.00 

£40.00 

£25.00 

£40.00 

£30.00 

£ 22.00 

£25.00 

£35.00 

£40.00 

£15.00 

£35.00 

£29.00 

£ 12.00 

£15.00 

£40.00 

£40.00 

£35.00 

£15.00 

£40.00 

£40.00 


FREE 


EFF Type Overview 

To recieve your copy of the EFF Type Overview, a large poster showing all our high 
quality fonts in one indispensable reference guide please send us your name and address. 
Also included will be our latest Font price list along with our Ffardware and Software price 


The New Acorn 
Computers From EFF 

A3020 60Mb £899.00 

Powerful Acorn A3020 with 2Mb 
of RAM, 60Mb Hard Disk, Arm 250 
processor, 2Mb floppy drive and 
Rise OS 3.1. 

A3020 (Multiscan) £949.00 

As above but with a Multiscan 
monitor. 

A4000 80Mb £949.00 

Powerful Acorn A4000 with 2Mb 
of RAM, 80Mb Hard Disk, Arm 250 
processor, 2Mb floppy drive and 
Rise OS 3.1. 

A4000 (Multiscan) £999.00 

As above but with a Multiscan 
monitor. 

AS000 80Mb £1 399.00 

Acorn A5000 computer with 2Mb 
of RAM, 80Mb hard disk, ARM 3 
processor, 2Mb floppy drive, 
Multiscan Monitor and Rise OS 3.1 

A5000 120Mb £1811.00 

Acorn A5000 computer with 4Mb 
of RAM, 1 20Mb hard disk, ARM 3 
processor, 2Mb floppy drive, 
Multiscan Monitor and Rise OS 3.1 

Portables 

Acorn A4 60Mb £1699.00 

Acorn A4 portable computer with 
4Mb of RAM and a 60Mb hard 
disk. 

How to order from EFF 

All prices exclude postage and 
packing and VAT. Add up the cost 
of your order add P&P and then 
add VAT at 1 7.5%. Carriage for 
software is £2.50, for carriage 
prices on hardware please call. 

Then either phone your order in to 
us, or send it by post. EFF 
guarantee tnat 90% of orders are 
dispatched within 1 working day. 



This Advert was produced using Wojtek Sans (Stone Sans) one of our many high quality fonts 


The Electronic Font Foundry 

50/52 • Upper Village Road • Ascot • Berks • SL5 7AQ • Tel 0344 28698 • Fax 0344 872923 





Instructional Videos ^ 


at amazing savings 

Normal price £14.99 available exclusively to readers of 



Save 


£5 per 


video. 



at only £9.99 each including delivery 



A STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO THE 

Acorn BBC A3000 

AND ARCHIMEDES RANGE 

+ applications 

Nol 

UP & RUNNING 



A STEP Bv STEP GUIDE TO THE 

Acorn BBC A3000 

AND ARCHIMEDES RANGE 

+ applications 

No2 

TEXT PROCESSING 


presented by 

graham PRAGNELL 

RUNNING TIME 70 MINS 



A STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO THE 

Acorn BBC A3000 

AND ARCHIMEDES RANGE 

+ applications 

Nob 

data handling 



a STEP BV STEP GUIDE TO THE 

Acorn BBC A3000 

AND ARCHIMEDES RANGE 
+ APPLICATIONS 

No 4 

ART & GRAPHICS 


presented by 
GRAHAM PRAGNELL 


RUNNING TIME 5 


1. Up & Running 


An introduction to your easy to use, 
powerful multitasking BBC A3000 / 
Acorn Archimedes. 

This video features: 

• How to load and run software 

• How to save to disc 

• How to print 

• How to edit text through Edit 

• How to handle graphics through 
Paint and Draw 


2. Text Processing 


Word processing offers easy text 
manipulation for highly polished 
results, while Desktop Publishing 
offers a variety of page formats and 
the use of diagrams and pictures 

This video features: 

•First Word Plus 

• Phased 

• Ovation Professional DTP 

• Technoscan // 


3. Data Handling 


Your BBC A3000 / Acorn Archimedes 
offers powerful data processing 
coupled with professional graphic 
display 

This video features: 

• Data Sweet 

• Squirrel 

• Schema 

• Genesis 

• Magpie 


4. Art & Graphics 


Speed and ease of use makes the 
multitasking BBC A3000 / Acorn 
Archimedes computer superb for art 
and graphics. Effects can be created 
and undone at the touch of a button. 
Make full use of the 256 - colour 
palette that the machines put at your 
fingertips. 

This video features: 

• Paint • Poster 

• Revelation • Technoscan // 


r 


L 


Order Form 

FREE DELIVERY I 


PRICE QTY TOTAL 


1. UP AND RUNNING 

£9.99 



2. TEXT PROCESSING 

£9.99 



3. DATA HANDLING 

£9.99 



4. ART & GRAPHICS 

£9.99 



AU/ 10/92 

TOTAL VALUE 



ORDER HOTLINE - CALL 0937 842489 


Please debit my Access/Visa Card No. 




To the value of £ 


Signature 


Expiry Date 


Name on card 



Name 

Address. 


Postcode. 


or I enclose a cheque/postal order for $ 

Made payable to: Redwood Publishing Ltd. 

PO Box 66, Wetherby, West Yorkshire, LS23 7HL 


Tel: 

Please allow 10 days for delivery 


"I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

J 











PINEAPPLE SOFTWARE 


The Pineapple Colour Video Digitiser 
Big Price Reductions !!! 

Since we originally introduced the Pineapple Video Digitiser almost two years 
ago we have not needed to modify the design of the hardware in any respects. 
However, the software has been continually improved to the point where the 
qual ity and quantity of software suppI led is second to none. 

Now, because of the large number of sales, we are able to offer a big price 
reduction which makes colour digitising available to everybody. Also, because we 
are so confident that you will find the Pineapple Digitiser superior to anything 
else available, we are happy to offer our Digitisers on 7 days free approval so 
that you can see for yourself the power of our software. 

Some of the features of the Pineapple Digitiser, many of whioh are still 
exclusive are as follows:- 

I 16 bit true RGB storage in 256k ram. 

I Sequences of frames of a moving picture can be grabbed and stored in memory. 
UP to 30 frames in a imb oomputer, 200-300 frames in larger computers! ! 

X Full screen area normally viewed on a TV set is grabbed in full, 

Images may be processed using our own high speed software routines or 
Acorn's ChangeFSI software, 

&iite simply the most powerful end easily used zooming and cropping routines 
available with any processing paokage. 

Two independent multitasking applications supplied. Non-multitasking 
software allows digitising without windows for adding still images to videos. 

Our hardware does not use interupts so other applications run at full speed. 

Latest software includes built-in print routines. (Existing owners please 
contact us for a free update). 

Hard locking synchronising circuits for best results from video recordings, 

ffc/aileble in aitand alone box for use with A3000. In this mode it can also 
be used with 300/400/500 series computers only occupying one expansion slot. 


A300/400/500 
A3000 / Boxed 


£199.00 
£ 235.00 



new VIRUS PROTECTION SCHEME 


new 


Viruses are unfortunately now becoming a serious problem on Archimedes 
computers and at the present time at least seventeen families of virus 
have been isolated and each family has different variant strains. 

The effects of the viruses vary from being fairly innocuous messages to 
potential loss of data and program files, Network systems can be most 
seriously affected, but some viruses can easily spread even on floppy disc 
based systems, 

The virus protection software - ! KILLER - developed by Acorn Computers, 
forms the basis of Pineapple's virus protection scheme. The software will 
be continually updated as new viruses are discovered and all registered 
customers will receive updated versions on a regular basis, 

Don't wait until you discover that your Archimedes has caught a virus!! 

The cost of the virus protection scheme is Just £24.00 + vat for one years 
protection, Low cost School and County site licences are also available, 


Pineapple PAL Coder 

The Pineapple PAL Coder is a stand alone unit which provides a coded 
video signal whioh can be recorded onto a WS recoder or fed to a monitor 
with coded input. 

The unit is inserted in the lead to the R G B monitor and provides an 
RGB output for the monitor together with a full specification PAL coded 
output. A second version provides a standard coded output but also 
provides an SHMS output for improved quality recordings on S-LHS recorders 

Standard Version £69.00 

S-VHS Version £79.00 


BBC PCB Designer 

The fyll auto-route facilities are available even on an 
mputer. An frchimedes version is available as 
■ owners or at a similar price to the BBC vers 


model ' S' 
existing 


un-expanded 
a free upgrade to 
version, 


PCB Auto-route is remarkable. No similar software comes near the price.' 

Acorn User - August 88 

Manual track routing £55.00 

Auto track routing £85.00 

Plotter Driver £35.00 


Please add 17.5’4 vat to all prices. 


Postage & Packing free 


GENEALOGY 

(See review in Feb 87 and Aug 89} 
FAMILY HISTORY SYSTEM I •. most popular program ever written for* , . 
you to produce a full family tree and many other genealogical listings. 

BBC/Mostef /Compact version £20.95 - Archimedes version 


PAYROLL 

EXTENDED PAYROLL year The only BBC pr 

: per employee n 

employee r f— : I- 

— 

pension deductions Sick pay SSP SMP 
and post lax adjustments and even no po , 

'w rwc different types of payslip printout and on optional com analysis An 
annual contract keep you up to dote with the budget changes Send for demo disc 


BOOKKEEPING 

(see review March '89 Acorn User) 

1) CASHBOOK y K Kkeepmg • ; !• I I a| data xepi 

memory Three character analysis code enables you to know where the money 
comes from and where ft goes 48 transactions per A4 page Analysis summary up 
to 30 coiergones. 

2) CASHBOOK 8 As 1) + random o 

headings Password control String or numeric searches For schools, clubs & non credit 
busmess 

3) ACCOUNT esses working 

with credit 

4) ACCOUNT’PtUS 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) TAXMAN This new program which has been under developement for three years 

allows you to enter oil your transactions ond to printout end of year results with 
balance sheet and even calculate tax due The Inland Revenue love it and so do we 
Results can be taken from our other accounting programs ond entered into TAXMAN 
making a superb combination 

6) Micro-Trader is a full accountancy package with features right through to final 

balance sheet Stock Control at £75 00 extra For shops/firms, accountants wanting 
full accounting facilities Payroll can be integrated 

MAILING 

2 1 8 oddresses in memory or up to 1 875 on random access disc. Multiple selected 
and repeat lables mail merge full sorts. Ideal for subscription lists, promotions, any 
kind of mailing 


£2095 
£25 95 


£59 95 


£14.95 

£23.95 

£3595 

£59 95 


£59 95 

£235.00 
£88 13 

£14.95 

£35 95 


Ask for detailed brochure for more software and other items 
Demo discs available for £2.50 each Micro-Trader £25. Prices include VAT odd 8 1 p p/p 
PLEASE NOTE OUR MOVE <$. CHANGE OF ADDRESS FROM CORNWALL 



(FAX AVAILABLE) 

Kildenan Courtyard, Barrhill, S. Ayrshire 
Scotland. KA26 OPS. Tel: 0465 82288 


Computer Concepts 

faxpack 

Now AVAILABLE -£ 255.00 


Computer Concepts 

Laser Direct Hires 4 

Now Only £ 839.00 


Basic A3000 LC+Monitor £ 733.00 

Scanlight Junior 256 

£ 

179.00 

Basic A5000 LC+Monitor £1313.00 

Impression 2.1 

£ 

119.00 

Archimedes 540/1 

£2030.00 

Impression Junior 

£ 

65.00 

Laser Direct HiRes 8 

£1250.00 

Impression Bus. Supp. 

£ 

35.00 

Scanlight Professional 

£ 509.00 

Compression 

£ 

35.00 

Scanlight A4 with 


Pipedream 4 

£ 

148.00 

sheetfeeder 

£ 345.00 

Poster 

£ 

73.00 


PRICES ARE EXCLUSIVE OF V.A.T. AND POSTAGE 


PHONE FOR BEST PRICES AND AVAILABILITY ON 

ACORN'S A4 NOTEBOOK 

For the best prices on these and your other 
Hardware / Software requirements 
PLEASE PHONE US ON 0689 838819 


Chelsfield Publications, 

2 Bucks Cross Cottages, 
Chelsfield Village, 

Orpington, 

Kent. BR6 7RN 

Telephone 0689 8388 1 9 
FAX 0869 872127 


174 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 





♦ FREE DEMO DISC 

See for yourself. Send us a blank disc and ask for a demo copy of 
Chameleon (complete apart from the save and print facilities). 

♦ FREE SITE LICENCE + P&P 

included in the price of £37.50 + VAT ($NZ 150 incl GST) 

4Mation 14 Castle Park Road Barnstaple Devon EX32 8PA 
Tel (0271) 25353 Fax (0271) 22974 

4Mation NZ PO Box 12-228 Christchurch 
Fax (03) 655-055 

I NZ price subject to exchungc rate fluctuation 




the easy-to-use Draw file colour editor 


" extremely easy to operate” 

"an essential purchase for those who wish to produce more 
colourful and realistic images ” 

Rob Miller BBC Acorn User May 1992 


Chameleon allows you to: 

♦ Edit colours without ungrouping objects 

♦ Change line colours 

♦ Change fill colours 

♦ Fill outlines (objects with no fill colour) 

♦ Outline objects (objects with no line colour) 

♦ Use 4 different styles of fountain fill for graduated shades 

♦ Choose colours from extended palettes 

♦ Perform both local and global changes 

♦ Undo and Redo colour changes 

♦ Save highly-compressed files (compatible with Vector) 

♦ Save spot colours or CMYK separations (with crop marks) 

♦ Print Draw files of any size (with or without trim marks) 


Draw file coloured using Chameleon 



Illustration by Hans Rijnen 



Up-to-the-minute Acorn product news! 

Archive was first to publish full technical details of the A5000. 
Archive was first to publish full technical details of the A4. 

If you want to be the first to know, fill in the form below. 


Norwich Computer Services 

96a Vauxhall Street, 

Norwich NR2 2SD. 

Phone 0603-766592 
Fax 0603-76401 1 


Please send me details of Archive magazine and 
Acorn’s latest products. (AU) 

Name 

Address 


Postcode, 




ACORN APPROVED 




LONDON DEALER 


Wide range of software and 
hardware stocked 

EDUCATION ORDERS WELCOME 

PHONE FOR BEST PRICES 


Easy to get to 

Train: WOOD ST Station 


(British Rail) 

Road: Bottom of Ml 1 , 

just off North Circular 

Tel No: 081-521 1784 



AUTOMATIC SERVICES 
217 WOOD STREET 
WALTHAMSTOW 
LONDON E17 3NT 


FREE support with all our 

systems 

* Expert advice! on system purchase 
*Expert help! on using your system 
*Expert backup! software support and hardware 
servicing 

Consult the experts! 

CSS Computer Centre 

Unit 3A Townfoot Ind. Est. BRAMPTON 
Cumbria CA8 1SW 
® 06977 3779 


/I 


Ac 


:x>rn 

l)M‘r||OH r«>| l'\f HTH'ltO 


Acorn Qualified dealers and Unix centre 

Authorised SJ Networks, installer ^Education specialists 
Government pie and education orders welcome 


Si 


\ Contex 
/ Computing 


BANK MANAGER 

Complete and versatile personal accounts program. Consistently acclaimed! 

'data entry is a delight. , professional , excellent product ' Micro User April 86 
Standard version: Enter cheques and receipts. Automatic date sequencing. 
Reconcile statements. Search, amend and delete. Analyze expenditure. Forward 
cash flow forecast. Budgets Up to 36 bank accounts online, inter account 
transfers, 9999 standing orders, 99 analysis headings, over 4,000 postings on an 
80tk diskette. Reports to screen or printer. Mix foreign currencies, graphics, 
password, file recovery, field editing, programmable reports. 

Master/Compact version adds ADFS/hard disk support, sideways RAM, 40/80 col 
screen reports, and other enhancements. 

Archimedes/ A3000 adds high speed native mode, RAM disks, wild card analysis 
enquiries, sort and more. Impressed. ..ideal., easy to use ' Micro User March 88 

Bank Manager (all versions; disk systems only) £ 25.00 

BANK MANAGER BUSINESS UTILITY 

For the club accounts or small business user. From the Bank Manager data files 
print 'trial balance" or "P&L reports" via the programmable spreadsheet generator. 

Business Utility Pack (needs the Bank Manager) C 12.00 

TYPING TUTOR 

Quickly learn to touch type. Over 90 smoothly graded lessons graduate you from 
the basic home keys to complete keyboard mastery. Word scan or exact key 
checking, targets may be revised, rhythm metronome, key click, free format 
options. Recommended for adult education. Typing Tutor £ 15.00 



SPREADSHEET MK V 

Low cost, versatile spreadsheet. 26 cols. 900 (Arch/A3000) or 99 (B/Master) rows, 
many functions and facilities inc programmable report writer and input scripts. 

Spreadsheet MK V disk £ 15.00 


All programs available in B, Master /Com pact and Arch im edes/A3OO0 
versions. Arch i modes/ A3000 versions are RISC OS compatible 

State type of computer (eg A3000.B, Master) and disk type (eg 3Vy" or S'/*" 40 
track or 5W 80 track). Please add El P&P (Overseas £3.50) 


CONTEX COMPUTING 
(Ref AU), 15 Woodlands Close, 
Cople, Bedford MK44 3UE 



Tel: 0234 838347 


176 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 







As o Divine Deing you hove o group of followers from whom you derive your Lotus Turbo Cholienge II is regorded os the best driving gome to dote. In on 

power. The more followers you hove ond the greoter their ochievements, amazing piece of programming Krisolis have converted this best seller for 


the more power you wield. Unfortunately, there is another group of people the Acorn Archimedes ond compatible computers. 


who follow o different deity. Since there's barely enough room in the world • One or two player options. 


for your own magnificence, two won't do. You must rid the world of the • Hoir raising hazards, rain, fog, snow, commuter traffic, tunnels ond bridges, 

opposition. To do this, you will use your great power to move the earth ond * The opportunity to race o sleek Tuibo Esprit or the stylish Elon soft top. 

your devout followers to crush the misguided. • 6 death defying stages with over 60 checkpoints. 



pm 


All gomes compatible with Acorn 
Archimedes 0 compatible computers 


0 great games making their debut 
appearance at the Acorn User Show '92 


Anyone not attending the show can 
obtain copies direct by sending a cheque 
or postal order to Krisolis Software Ltd. 
or, telephone your order using your 
Access or Visa cord. You con also fox 
your order giving your credit cord details 
which must include expiry dote. 


All orders will be dispatched on October 
the 16th 1992 by first class post. 
Carriage is paid, by us in the UK. 
(Overseas orders odd 60.00) 


I Imagine yourself ot the tobies of Monte Carlo, ploying bridge with the 
masters of the gome...wfth Omor Shorif,world famous bridge columnist 
I end cord player, as your partner and personal tutor! 
k The many features of Omar Sharif's Bridge give you complete control over 
the game. You can set up your own bonds to practice slams, no trump 
hands defensive play, or work on specific weaknesses of your game. 

| Explore alternative lines of play with Take Back' and 'Rebid' features. 

With the on-disc tutorial, Omar Sharif s Bridge is the perfect way to learn 
to play the world's greatest cord gome... with Omor Sharif as your own 
personpl tutor. 


Krisolis Software Lid., Teque House, Masons Yard, 
Downs Row, Moorgate, Rotherham, S60 2HD. 
Telephone 0709 072290. Fox 0709 068400 



mjw 


eht 


nth] 


K 9 ‘jfl 







GAME 


SHOW 


allowing visitors to race 
against each other. Just like the 
real thing. I can’t wait. 

More good news - two new' 
games software houses have 
just emerged. The first. Image 
Systems, has already started 
acquiring the publishing rights 
for games like Jeeves and 
Wooster and Sensible Soccer 
(widely acclaimed as the best 
football game out of shorts), 
and has plans for more. After 
Mr Doo. it w ill shortly release 
a game provisionally entitled 
Globdule which its says will 
provide some serious competi- 
tion for Lemmings. 

The other new company is 
called Software42 and it is a 
dedicated Acorn outfit which 
will have a large clutch of 
games at the show including 
Ixion, a 3D vector puzzle 
solver. It has ambitious plans 
to exhibit a flight simulator 
called WolfPack on the stand 
as well as a cutsie platform 
game, a beat ’em up and a 


shoot 'em up. For the future, a 
company spokesperson said, 
there are firm plans for Amiga 
conversions. 

Another bit of gossip - the 
Coinage team, of Pesky 
Muskrats fame, is working on 
an Archimedes version of the 
superb game Paradroid-90. 
This originally came out on 
the Commodore 64 and has 
been a hit on many formats 
ever since. In it, you play a 
small droid among many other 
bigger droids and you must 
take over their personalities in 
order to clear your spaceship 
of rogue robots. 

Fans of more cerebral games 
will be pleased to hear that 
Turcan Research systems, 
which brought us Waterloo 
and Dreadnoughts . has revised 
the latter to run cheek by jow l 
with Rise OS and will have 
both this and also an original 
simulation of the battle of Get- 
tysburg at the show. Gettys- 
burg is regarded as the turning 


Black Angel - do these ships look familiar? 


I t's nearly Show time, and 
there will be no shortage of 
excellent games to spend 
your well-saved pennies on 
when you get to Wembley. 
Things have gone into over- 
drive this year, with a Hood of 
top-notch releases finally com- 
ing our way. 

The Fourth Dimension 
reckons it will have both Nev- 
ryon 2 - Technodream and 
Black Angel ready for the 
show. It has several other pro- 
jects in the pipeline too. 
Dungeon is still at an early 
stage but is a role-playing 
game that will involve walking 
around in 3D dungeons, made 
up of sprites mapped onto the 
walls, which gives a strong 
feeling of depth and solidity. 
There is also the amusingly 
titled Galactic Dan on the 
way, described as a ‘3D action 
arcade adventure' featuring 
ray-traced graphics. 

The real heroes of Archi- 
medes games at the moment 
have to be the team at Krisalis 
who, as if they hadn't done 
enough already, are working 
on a long list of conversions, 
some of which we will see by 
the end of the year. Hero- 
Quest. Pinball Dreams. Omar 
Sharif s Bridge , Sim-City 
(under Rise OS), Cadaver. 
Speedball 2, Lord of the Rings 


/ c& 2, Battle Chess , Power- 
monger... the list goes on and 
on. Krisalis will also have a 
surprise on its stand - the 
launch of its latest game, Lotus 
Esprit. It plans to have a two 
seater Lotus sit-in console with 
two computers linked together 


178 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 



G/\ IVIES 



point of the American Civil 
War and it should be a fasci- 
nating experience to observe 
and direct the two sides blast- 
ing each other into tiny pieces. 

Another battle strategy 
game has been developed by 
Domark, though it may even- 
tually be released through 
another company. It's called 
Nam and is a purely strategic 
simulation of the Vietnam war. 
in which troops and resources 
must be managed efficiently to 
ensure victory. You observe 
all this, godlike, on an over- 
view map of the entire country 


and direct the action taking 
place below. Domark has been 
secretive as ever about the 
details and it may be a while 
before a release date can be 
obtained. 

The mysterious title under 
development at Superior Soft- 
ware, mentioned last month, 
appears to be taking shape. 
The working title is Ego and 
when it comes out, probably 
late October, it will be a 
simultaneous release with the 
16-bit versions. However, the 
elephant character who fea- 
tures as the hero on the 


standard version may well be | 
absent from the Acorn game: 
there's a strong rumour that a 
certain lizard may well be 
back in town. Yes, Repton is 
(probably) back! Ego will 
involve collecting bits of a set 
of jigsaws, negotiating the 
usual logic puzzles and assem- 
bling the pieces against the 
clock. It sounds mighty good 
and it will be nice to see of 
scaly-face again. 

Some advice for those of 
you holding your breath, wait- 
ing for release two of Karma: 
sneak a few puffs or you risk 
turning blue in the face. Peri- 
scope Software reports that 
although work is ‘progressing 
steadily’ it will be five months 
before voyagers can really go 
where no man, woman or thing 
has ever been before. Even if 
such an accomplishment 
seems unlikely. Karma will at 
least have achieved a separate 
milestone: it will soon be five 
years since the project was 
first begun! 

Finally this month, a new 
game going by the name of 
Guile , from the authors of Air 
Supremacy, should be avail- 
able at the show. Coming from 
another new company. Dream 
Ltd, it's a sort of a Zarchy, 
Elitey affair, in which you play 
a poor humble character who 


has to earn his bus fare to the 
next planet by trade and cun- 
ning, using dog-fighting skills. 
You fly around in a complex 
series of underground tunnels, 
depicted in 3D, picking things 
up and doing battle with all 
and sundry. The nearly-fin- 
ished version is very funny 
(there's an ice-planet called 
Chillianosov) and great fun to 
play. Keep an eye out for it at 
the show, along with all the 
other new releases. Looks like 
October 16th is Games Day! 

Matt Tizard 

THE FUTURE BECKONS 

The last few years have been 
frustrating for Archimedes 
games fans. Here we sit, with 
the most colossally technically 
superior home micro in the 
entire cosmos, and all the 
prizes in the games sweep- 
stakes are swept by competi- 
tors of the ilk of the Amiga, 
the PC and - heaven help us - 
the poor old Atari ST. 

There are three reasons for 
this. First, the Arc has a poor 
showing in the global market, 
and the games market is quin- 
tessentially international. 
Second, it's always been just 
that little bit too expensive. 
Thirdly it’s always suffered 
from its lack of a standardised 
joystick port. 

All this is due to change 
with launch of the new range 
of Acorn game machines (see 
page 19). Some would still 
argue that at £499 inc VAT. the 
new A3010 is still a tad too 
costly compared with, say, the 
new Amiga A600. 

But the important thing is 
that Acorn has finally broken 
through the £500 barrier, 
which is the point at which 
software houses are prepared 
to consider a platform as being 
a games machine. And - it has 
a standard nine-pin joystick 
port. No more key punching! 

The signs of change are 
already with us. Guile and 
I.xion, pictured on these pages, 
are both from entirely new 
software houses, chancing 
their hands in what may be the 
new land of opportunity, and a 
vast avalanche of conversions 
of classics from other machine 
formats is in the offing. 

And we have one advantage 
here in the Acorn world - 
we’ll only get the best as all 
the dross has been sifted out. 

Fin Fahey 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 1 79 



“The Worlds First Save ‘Em-UP Returns With Yet More Furry 


Rodents Hell-Bent On Self Destruction. Oh-Indeed-No!” 

Oh No! More Lemmings is 1 00 new levels of suicidal silliness, good news for 
the thousands of you who were (eft gagging for more when your final 
Lemming was guided to the safety zone. But you will need a copy of the 
original Lemmings to play Oh No! More Lemmings. 



TELEPHONE: 0709 072290 ACCESS & VISA ACCEPTED 
LETTER/FAX: SIMPLY SEND A LETTER GIVING YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS, AND PAYMENT DY CHEQUE OR 
p-POSTAL ORDER, OR DY GIVING YOUR ACCESS OR VISA CARD DETAILS INCLUDING THE EXPIRY DATE. 

All orders are dispatched by first doss post immediately. Carriage is paid by us in the UK. (orders from overseas add 0 
^ ^ or on ^ reoson disks ore supplied faulty we will replace them straight away. Simply return them to us enclosing your name and oddres 

T .^jgjsKrlsolis Software Ltd., Teque House, Masc-its Yard,Do« rns Row, Moorgafe, Rotherham, S60 2HD Tel: 0709 07221 




G/MVIES 



Having God on your side means a centrally-heated castle, three square meals a day and a dishwasher . . . 


POPULOUS 

Krisalis 

Tel: (0709) 372290 
£29.99 

Rise OS machines 

Populous has finally found its 
way on to the Arc. This is one 
of the small handful of games 
that seizes people’s imagina- 
tions and refuses to let go. 
When it was released in the 
16-bit world, it spent the best 
part of 1989 at the top of the 
software charts. 

1 think the appeal of the 
game is similar to that of Lem- 
mings - people seem to love 
absolute power being handed 
to them on a plate so that they 
can wield it in unnecessarily 
large amounts. There's plenty 
of wielding to be done here, 
since you take the role of noth- 
ing less than a deity; albeit a 
paranoid deity with a mischie- 
vous nature, but really quite 
well-meaning. The problem is 
really that ‘this universe ain’t 
big enough for the both of us’, 
since another evil deity is try- 
ing to muscle in and gain more 
followers than you. What you 
must do is mould the world 
using your great powers and 
influence your followers to 
‘crush the misguided’. 

Battle takes place in an 
enormous number of different 
worlds, some predefined, some 
computer-generated, which 
you share with the evil people. 
The terrain of each has a dif- 
ferent graphical theme, such as 
a desert or arctic region. You 
view one small portion of the 
world from an isometric view- 
point and you can scroll over 


the whole landscape at will. 
It’s all in 3D with hills, val- 
leys, rocks, vegetation, 
settlements and lots of people 
dotted about. From your van- 
tage point you have access to a 
number of control icons which 
can be used to influence the 
behaviour of the people who 
follow you. 

Your incarnate representa- 
tive is the leader of the people, 
who carries an ankh (a sort of 
Egyptian cross) about with 
him. The leader of the evil 
people lugs a big skull around! 
Up at the top left is the Book 
Of Worlds w hich shows a map 
of the current world, with 


coloured dots representing 
people and buildings on it. 
You can click on any point on 
this map and the central area 
zooms straight there. 

The ‘walkers', as your peo- 
ple are known, are initially 
primitives scattered over the 
land. You instruct them, not 
individually, as in Lemmings, 
but collectively. They exhibit 
their devotion to you by 
worshipping at your shrine 
when instructed or by merging 
to form stronger men who 
have a better chance in battle. 

The best way to increase the 
size of your domain and pro- 
duce a fruitful populace is to 
flatten out the local land and 
instruct the chaps to settle 
down and build on it, which 
they proceed to do with glee. 
If you keep helping them they 
soon get better at it and they 
progress on through wigwams, 
wattle and daub huts, houses, 
forts, and finally castles. 

At any time you can use the 
Query icon to obtain informa- 
tion about any member of 
either tribe, providing informa- 
tion on strength and how 
primitive or developed they 
are. Query can also be used to 
click on the flags of settle- 
ments to see how full and 
well-defended they are. You 
have no control over the hand- 


to-hand combat and so you 
leave them to it. It’s great fun 
to watch, though. 

Some of the control com- 
mands require the expenditure 
of man a, which is a reserve of 
divine influence and some is 
used up every time you zap the 
earth with your celestial 
power. The ‘divine interven- 
tion’ special effects which 
drain your mana include earth- 
quakes and volcanos, and you 
also use it up when you sculpt 
the landscape. 

If you’re into mass carnage, 
then the Armageddon option 
will be of interest; here both 
sides’ shrines are placed 
together in the middle of the 
map and a ding-dong battle 
involving everyone ensues. 

The graphics and atmos- 
pheric sound throughout are 
both superb, and there is a 
plethora of game options: you 
can customise more than 60 
parameters, make the compu- 
ter play itself or adjust the 
maps to your own designs. 
There’s even a tutorial mode 
for beginners. There is enough 
here to keep you glued to your 
Archimedes for some time. If 
this isn’t a smash hit. I’ll eat 
my mouse! Populous 2 is 
already on its way, but that’s 
another story . . . 

Mathew Tizard 



. . .but this could happen when you back a loser 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 181 





Unretouched Screen Mode 21 Image 


Is 

1 e 


***** 1 

9 

i 

Ml d 


n 

w 


A fully featured Crossword Game for Europe 


* Rise OS & Rise OS Style compliant 

* Multi tasks under the WIMP manager 

* Interacts with the Help application 

* 6 sets of sprites to optimise display 

* Up to 7 different patterns per sprite set 

* Generates sprites from user's fonts 


* Includes 20 boards in 5 languages 

* Boards for different levels of ability 

* Skills taught: strategy, vocabulary, spelling 
Up to 4 players play using mouse only 

* User specifies players, rules, display 

* Configuration may be saved 
* 50 page manual + 3’/2" disc 


RETAIL 

PRICE 

£ 19.75 


Please allow 
28 days for 
delivery 


Obtainable from Brain Games, P.O. Box 14, Hessle, N. Humberside, HU13 9YY Telephone 0482 649288 



SENLAC 

Computing 

Limited 


Accounts 

Home Accounts 35.00 

Art/Graphics 

Artworks TBA 

Chameleon 2 42.00 

GraphBox Pro 11 5.00 

Illusionist 85.00 

Revelation 2 128.75 

smArt 54.00 

smArt Filer 38.00 

ITracer 57.00 

Vector 89.00 

Books 

First Impressions 31.00 

Good Impressions 29.00 

Clip Art 

Ethnic Borders 9.95 

Graph. Fact., Vols 1-5 26.95 


Mid. Graph. Draw lor 2. .32.00 
Micro Studio Packs (from) 20.00 

Communications 


ArcComm 2 55.00 

ArcTerm 7 70.00 

FaxPack 312.00 

Hearsay 2 81 .50 

Databases 

Flexifile 133.00 

Multistore v2 255.00 

Pinpoint 99.00 

Squirrel 150.00 

Design 

3D Construction Kit 45.00 

Einstein 135.00 

DTP/WP 

Impression 2 150.00 

Impression Bus. Supp 52.00 

Impression junior 81.00 

Desktop Folio 94.00 

EasiWriter 145.00 

Pendown Outline Fonts ...19.95 

Poster 87.00 

Education 

Fun School 3(0-5) 21.00 

Fun School 3 (5-7) 21.00 

Fun School 3 (7+) 21.00 


Hypermedia 

Genesis 2 130.00 

Magpie 56.00 

Music 

Notate 59.00 

Rhapsody 2 55.00 

Score Draw 55.00 

VoxBox 55.00 

MIDI/Sampler (Econet) 75.00 

Peripherals 

Vision B+W Digitiser 56.00 

ScanLight lunior 145.00 

Scanlight Professional ...950.00 


with SCSI interface 1050.00 

Don't pay until you 
receive your order! 

Cash-on-Delivery is 
available on orders up to 
£350 for only 
£2.50 extra. 


Printers 

Epson LQ570 290.00 

LaserDirect Hi Res 4 1050.00 

HP Deskjet 500 355.00 

HP D'jet 500C+driver... .585.00 
Swift-24e colour+driver .305.00 
Spreadsheets 

Eureka I 1 28.75 

Pipedream 3 1 38.00 

Pipedream 4 199.00 

Schema 113.00 

Utilities 

Arcticulate 19.00 

MultiFS 34.00 

Compression 48.00 

Equasor 48.00 

ShowPage 1 38.00 

FontFX 9.75 

ShapeFX 9.75 

Glimpse 9.00 

Investigator 2.2 25.00 

Speech! 16.50 


Consumables 

TDK Discs 3 V (box 10) 


DS/DD, 800k 1 1 .50 

DS/HD, 1.6M (A5000).. 15.00 
Virgin Discs 3Vi" (box 10) 

DS/DD, 800k 8.50 

DS/HD, 1.6M (A5000).. 12.50 
Games 

Aggressor 17.80 

Air Supremacy 19.45 

"Bobby Blockhead 1 7.50 


All prices include 
VAT, post & packing 

Break 147 & Superpool.... 29.95 

Cataclysm 20.75 

Chuck Rock 22.95 

Cyber Chess 43.95 

E-Type Compendium 20.75 

Elite 37.95 

Enter the Realm 20.75 

Gods 22.95 

Grievous Bodily 'Arm 20.75 

Holed Out Compendium .20.75 

Interdictor 2 29.95 

James Pond 22.95 

Lemmings 22.95 

Legend' Lost Temple 19.50 

Magnetic Scrolls Colin 28.95 

Man. Utd. Europe 22.95 

Master Break 16.50 

Nebulus 22.95 

Pandora's Box 20.75 

Pesky Muskrats 21.95 

Provocator 16.95 

Quest for Gold 22.95 

Saloon Cars Deluxe 29.95 

SWIV 22.95 

The Real McCoy 1 or 2.... 24.95 

The Real McCoy 3 29.95 

Top Banana 21.25 

Tower of Babel 19.75 

Wonderland 27.99 


X-Fire 20.75 

Cheques/postal orders should be made payable to 

SENLAC Computing Ltd. (AU0992) 

P.O. Box 304 
BRIGHTON, BN2 2TT 

Don't forget to specify A3000/Archimedes/A5000! 
Please send a S.A.E for our current price list. 


VAT Reg. No. 508 7594 16 


Company Registration No. 2277309 


182 BBC ACORN USER SEPTEMBER 1992 







G/\ IVIES 


PLAY IT AGAIN 
SAM 17 

Superior Software 

Tel: (0652) 658585 

3.5in: £19.99 , 5.25in: £14.95 

Eight-bit machines (not Elec- 

tron) 

Superior’s formula of bundling 
oldies with new releases all for 
the price of one shows no sign 
of stopping or, indeed, becom- 
ing anything less than excep- 
tional value for money. 

Most interestingly on this 
compilation is a conversion of 
Tactic , not from Beeb to Arc 
but from Arc to Beeb. As you 
may remember. Tactic 
involves piling up the bewild- 
ering hail of funny blocks and 
balls which tumble from over- 
head and making structures 
with them, according to a 
specification given you by the 
computer for each level. 

You might have to make, 
say. three towers of four of the 
same blocks or a diagonal line 
of three for example. Anyway, 
this all sounds easy enough, 
until you get to the later levels. 


LOTUS TURBO 
ESPRIT 

Krisalis 

Tel: (0709) 372290 
£25.99 

Rise OS machines 

I can remember when a racing 
game was a matter of looking 
down from an overhead van- 
tage point onto a race-track 
and observing tiny little flat 
buggies that chugged slowly 
around the course. Those days 
are long gone. Here we have a 
grown-up racing game of the 
sort that will makes your 
stomach temporarily migrate 
to your mouth when you go 
over a hill. 

Lotus Turbo Esprit puts you 
behind the wheel of an 
extremely powerful machine. 
This is self-evident when you 
look at how smoothly the road 
twists and turns from side to 
side as well as up and dowm, 
causing something akin to 
motion sickness. Each of the 
eight levels is a different driv- 
ing environment ranging from 



Another mix of newcomer with golden oldies 


which become very frenzied, 
especially w ith two competing 
people playing different games 
at once. This is a pretty faith- 
ful conversion and loses none 
of the atmosphere of a game 
where atmosphere is every- 
thing, and presentation is 
secondary, although that’s 
good too. 

Fondly remembered by 
anyone who ever zapped aliens 
with intent on their Beeb is a 
real classic - Video's Revenge . 
The game itself resembles a 
vertical version of Defender. 
You cruise up or down against 
a backdrop of parallax stars, 
mercilessly annihilating all 
who stand in your way. 
Bonuses can be collected to 
give you ‘inviso-flight* which 
enables you to hide from the 
nasties, or triple firepower. 
Here are some of the most 
vicious aliens 1 have encoun- 
tered, including those clusters 
of little swarmy horrible 
things, as in Defender. If 
you’re after an alien-frying 
challenge, this is for you. 

Masterbreak is an entertain- 
ing. if infuriating quiz game in 


which you have to pot snooker 
balls in the usual alternating 
way, answering questions as 
you go. Reds are general ques- 
tions, and the colours corre- 
spond to categories, but it’s all 
over as soon as you make a 
single mistake. The game 
really comes into its own with 
more than one player, and then 
it generates the maddening 
atmosphere of all trivia games. 


To complete the compilation 
comes Summer Olympiad , 
originally from Tynesoft, 
w'here you compete in fencing, 
skeet shooting, hurdles, triple 
jump and high diving. Each of 
the events is adequately simu- 
lated. but I felt that the fencing 
event was unpolished next to 
the others. All in all, though, a 
good buy for Beeb ow ners. 

James Spurdon 



dense city fog to the middle of 
a desert. Weather conditions 
are usually against you, but the 
car responds to its environment 
superbly, skidding on ice, 
slushing through water and 
getting tangled in tumble- 
weeds. If you hit a log, you are 
catapulted into the air for sev- 
eral metres! You have to watch 
out for rocks and ice on the 
roads, but nothing seems to 


actually kill you, you are mer- 
ely knocked off course. 

Roadside objects, advertis- 
ing hoardings, trees and cacti 
are all effortlessly scaled up as 
you zoom by, providing a 
strong feeling of depth to the 
display. The Arc seems to have 
no trouble in maintaining a 
smooth frame rate throughout 
even with snowflakes every- 
where or rain falling. Small 


graphical touches add to the 
atmosphere - you can see the 
wings of rival cars when 
alongside them and the tunnels 
loom up at you as you enter 
them. There is even a scenario 
on a motorway that has no 
central reservation and conse- 
quently it is all too easy to 
stray onto the other side of the 
road and have to face the 
oncoming traffic. After you've 
done that once, there is not 
usually a second time! 

You have the option to race 
with an automatic or manually 
controlled gearbox and the 
game becomes really exciting 
when two people simultane- 
ously compete against each 
other. In two-player mode, the 
screen is divided into two and 
you share the keyboard, the 
track, the race and a ruthless 
desire to win with another 
manic Lotus player. 

This game shows great 
attention to detail, and pro- 
vides the competitive thrill 
which is the hallmark of all 
really good driving games. 
Another winner. 

Josef Koestler 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 183 





How about some 



-play ? 



Magnetic Image proudly presents it's opening product: 


FOUR is the only Joystick Interface 
for Acorn Machines that not only supports 
TWO fire buttons at once ( Sega Master 
System Joysticks), But can also take up to 

FOUR joysticks ! ! 

All Greek to you ? - it will be with the FOUH player Demo 
of the soon to be released game Mythology. A new, fast 
reaction, puzzle solving quest to recover the Teeth of the 
Hydra, set back in ancient Greece.. 

AND we're giving away a Free £5:00 voucher 

with each unit, off Mythology when it comes out. 


Maths Sieve 

(Eratosthenes' Sieve) 

A whole number database following the .structure of the Eratosthenes’ Sieve for prime 
number* which allows for a range of activities at different levels based on ideas of 

factors and multiples. 

. .. 


■ u 


it v n n m 


Matin Tiew 


▲ » if tto It* triMftlir m 
*K>ffimt» >t m i<i ;wrt. 


L 

L 


O.K. 


( ( mpula Juk titM 1 Omv» 


1W nltlflM * M M.* 

**» If '*• 5* tim !»!• 


Pupils can build up and test their knowledge of times-tables, number properties and 
sequences (e.g. square numbers). Properties of all whole numbers from 1 to 1000 can 
be viewed on a colour-coded scalable grid with windows which open to reveal a 
writable file -card for each number. 

Sieve includes pre-written datafiles with information at three levels of difficulty and a 
versatile strategy game based on multiples. Fully detailed teachers notes with 
suggestions for pupil activities to cover relevant National Curriculum Attainment 
targets. 

Sieve was written in conjunction with the author of the Teacher’s Notes - 
Richard Bennett B. Ed M.Sc. 

"This is a well designed, inexpensive and involving program” - 

BBC Acorn User Sept '92 


Other Educational Software bv CTS : Release 
Pappus - Geometry Simulation Oct. 92 

Charts and Graphs Graph Creator Now 
Farmer Giles I & II - Maths Packages Now 
Computer Basics - For Home and School Now 


£19.95 inc VAT 

Adi £1 .00 for postage 
Cheques & Postal Orders to: 

Computer Tutorial .Services Ltd 


Computer Tutorial Services Ltd, 4. Mill Hill Road, Cowes, Isle of Wight, P031 7FA. 
Tel.(0983) 294333 Fax.298439 


Create the attractive pictures you always wanted 
with 

Picture It!" 

the flexible and easy-to-use picture building 
program 

* access pre-drawn IDraw objects and move them, re-size them, 
colour, copy, group them and place them into foreground or 
background, to make detailed and colourful scenes quickly and easily; 

f / / ■- / 

* use simple drawing tools for freehand drawing of lines and shapes; 

* create your own moving pictures with the simple but effective 
animation program, 

Topic libraries currently cover: Buildings, Ships, Map making, Solar 
system and space, Birds, Clothes through time (4 disks), Mini-beasts (2 
disks), Land transport, Dinosaurs, Identikit faces (2 disks, 1 free with 
Master Pack) and Christmas. 


Prices: Master pack (contains master program, animation disk and 
identikit faces picture library). Prices exclude V.A.T. 

Single user £29.95 

Site licence plus £20.00 

Topic disks each £8.50 

(topic disk site licences covered by master pack licence) 
SPECIAL OFFER: Order now, receive a FREE Christmas Topic Disk 
Please contact us if you want more information or a free Demo disk. 

APPIAN WAY SOFTWARE LTD, 

Old Co-operative Buildings, Langley Park, Durham, DH7 9XE 
Tel.(091) 373 1389 Fax. (091) 373 0731 





G/MV1ES 



Oh no! - the little stumpy green ones are back! 


OH NO! 

MORE LEMMINGS! 


Krisalis 

Tel: (0709) 372290 
£19.99 

Rise OS machines 

Just when you thought it was 
safe to switch on your compu- 
ter. along come more of those 
kamikaze rodents, the one and 
only lemmings. If you have 
already seen the original 
game, you’ll know the idea is 
to save as many of the little 
green guys as possible from 
impending death. 

Lemmings are pretty stupid 
creatures and will wander 
around aimlessly, walking into 
all sorts of dangers and traps. 
Stick a lemming in front of a 
perilous cliff and it will quite 
happily amble over the top to 
meet its maker. 

The idea is to get a number 
of lemmings from a small 
hatch to their home in a set 
time. Life is never simple, 
though, and there are usually a 
few obstacles over, under or 
through which the lemmings 


must travel. Each lemming, 
and remember there can be up 
to 100 running around on 
screen at once, can be given a 
task to help his fellow victims, 
such as building bridges or 
digging holes. Lemmings can 
be made into ‘Blockers’, who 
keep the others at bay while 
bridge builders or tunnelers do 
their thing. 

The first few levels of the 
game, of which there are 100 


ranging in difficulty from 
‘Tame’ to ‘Havoc’, are very 
easy and get the player used to 
what’s what. After that things 
take a distinctly difficult turn, 
and it’s not long before the 
hair-tearing begins. Further 
into the game, as well as 
getting past obstacles, the lem- 
mings must navigate different 
‘traps’ such as steam hammers 
and nasty spikes. These are to 
be avoided if you don't want 


the job of cleaning up bits of 
lemming, the result of a liaison 
between creature and machine. 

Like the original Lemmings , 
the graphics are extremely 
well drawn considering they 
are all in Mode 9. that is 16 
colours. New backgrounds 
range from rocky caves to 
snow-covered tundra and even 
new lemming homes have 
been designed so they fit the 
new scenarios. 

Musical accompaniment is 
provided with 25 new tunes 
that bounce along in a lem- 
mingish kind of way. In 
addition, humorous sound 
effects are used liberally, such 
as ‘Let's go!’ and ‘Oh no!’, 
which signify the beginning 
and end of a lemming. 

Oh No! More Lemmings! is 
actually a supplement disc 
which means that you'll need a 
copy of the original game in 
order to play. If you already 
have Lemmings , £19.99 does 
not seem too much for the 
extra screens. If however, you 
don't have either, you will 
have to fork out almost £45 for 
the privilege. 

Rob Miller 



Cyber Chess lets you play in three dimensions 


CYBER CHESS 

Fourth Dimension 
Tel: (0742) 700661 
£49.95 

Rise OS machines 

Cyber Chess , the latest offer- 
ing for chess fans, tries hard to 
overcome the failings of other 
chess programs. 

Most commendable is the 
attempt to cater for the full 
range of abilities. A well-pre- 
sented tutorial for complete 
beginners is provided and the 
program itself offers a begin- 
ner’s mode whereby the 
computer can be forced to play 
‘badly’ until you get the hang 
of the game. 

Much is made of 3D dis- 
plays - Cyber Chess offers 
both 2D and 3D, although the 
perspective is not very con- 
vincing. However, many chess 
players prefer to copy moves 
on a real board, so this is a 
minor concern. 

The game is recorded in a 
window and clicking on any 
move will set the board to that 
position, a feature very useful 


for post-mortems. And you can 
save games as text and Draw 
files so that they can be DTP'd 
if you wish, something that 
chess enthusiasts and clubs 
might find helpful for present- 
ing their games. 

But how does it play? The 
standard test is to play it 
against another program, so I 
pitted Cyber's might against 
good old Chess from David 
Pilling Software. 

Setting Cyber to full 
strength, 1 played two 10- 
minute, two 30-minute and two 
90-minute games between the 
programs. Cyber seems to use 
‘real’ time whereas Chess 
appears to only count 
‘thinking’ time, so to compen- 
sate for this I reduced Chess's 
allocation until both programs 
seemed well matched. The 
results were quite surprising. 

Chess beat Cyber in both 
10-minute games but the two 
programs won one game each 
in the 30-minute and 90- 
minute categories, giving 
Chess a slight edge in perfor- 
mance. Oddly, all four longer 
games were won by black. 


Chess won its 90-mi nuter by a 
neat trick which captured the 
queen. In the other long game. 
Chess ran into time trouble 
and after a rambling endgame. 
Cyber promoted a pawn and 
won. Computers are notori- 
ously bad at endgames; Cyber 
offers nothing new. 

I also tried Cyber Chess at a 
problem or two. White must 
mate in three moves in the 


position shown, which Cyber 
solved in about eight minutes 
on an Arm3 machine. Chess 
found the winning move in 
just under six minutes. 

David Pi I ling’s Chess costs 
much less and plays better and. 
although Cyber Chess can 
cater for beginners, at £50, I 
would expect much more for 
my money. 

David Acton 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 185 




UleSerue of Hampshire 

Educational Specialist 


Visit our showrooms. See before you buy. 


Citizen 224 

24 Pin Colour* 

with cable and paper 

£199.00 (£169.36 + VAT) 

'optional colour £10.00 


Swift 24E 

Enhanced 24 pin. Colour printer 
2 year warranty. + cable & paper 

£229.00 (194.89+ vat) 


Philips CM8833 Mk2 

Colour Monitor with cable 

£199.00 (£169.36 + vat) 


Acorn AKF17 

Colour Monitor 

£179.00 (£152.34 + vat) 


Taxan 775 

Multisync Monitor with cable 

£433.58 (369.00 + vat) 

PRINTER RIBBONS 


ex VAT Inc VAT 


LX800 & FX800 Print Ribbon 

...2.29 

2.69 

LC10 Print Ribbon 

.4.00 

470 

120D Print Ribbon 

4.00 

4.70 

Taxan/Canon Ribbon 

...3.22 

3.78 

Juki 6100 Print Ribbon 

...1.60 

1.88 


Phone for full range 100 + original & 
Compatible ribbons - Bulk discounts 


disk controller chip 

£38.26 + VAT 


UPGRADES/8271 



ex VAT 

Inc VAT 

27128A 250nS 12.5v 

3.00 

3.52 

8271 controller 

38.26 

44.95 

6264 LP 150nS 

3.00 

3.53 

Acorn 8271 DFS 

44.26 

52.00 

Acorn 1770 DFS 

45.11 

53.00 

A3 Concept Keyboard 

139.00 

163.32 

Master Keyboard 

50.21 

59.00 

Acorn Tracker Ball 

38.30 

45.00 


NEW A3010 

Family Solutions 
1m ram + software 

£499.00 inc VAT 

A5000 + LC + Printer + Monitor 
Cl 699.00 (£1445.96 + VAT) 


A3010 LC + 2m RAM 

A3010 + Colour Monitor 
+ 2m ram + Learning Curve 

£740.25 (£630 + VAT) 


Laser Printers 


Panasonic KXP4430 

8ppm 512k ram 2 years on site 

£727.33 (619.00 + VAT) 

Epson EPL8100 

lOppml.Mram 13 Scalable fonts RIT 

£1056.33 (899.00 + VAT) 

Canon BJ-lOex 

360dpi ink jet with cable & paper 

£205.00 (174.47 + VAT) 

Star 


LC20 9 pin £129.00 

LC200 9 pin col. £179.00 

LC2420 24 pin £189.00 

LC24200 24 pin £209.40 

LC24200 Colour £259.00 


prices include cable, paper & VAT 

Citizen 120D+ 

with cable and paper 

£109.00 (£92.77 + VAT) 


ROMS/SOFTWARE 


InterAword Rom 

ax VAT Inc VAT 

35 75 4? HO 

Spell Master Rom 

40.00 

47.00 

View 3 Rom 

40.00 

47.00 

DTP- Acorn 

120.00 

141.00 

Impressions 2 

134.47 

158.00 


Phone for BBC/AS catalogue 100's 
100's of titles inc. Educational 


A3000 TV Modulator 

£39.90(233.19 + VAT) 


HCCS Hard Card 45 

£399.00 (£339.57 + VAT) 

Sony 

DISKETTES 


SONY branded 

(100% certified error free) 

Inc VAT 

10 3.5" DS/DD 135 tpi £7.50 

50 3.5" DS/DD 135 tpi £32.31 

100 3.5" DS/DD 135 tpi £59.93 

Ik 3.5" DS/DD 135 tpi £540.50 


DISKETTES 

(lifetime warranty) SONY bulk 

(100% certified error free) 


Inc VAT 

10 3.5" DS/DD 135 tpi £5.95 

50 3.5" DS/DD 135 tpi £21.86 

100 3.5" DS/DD 135 tpi £39.60 

250 3.5" DS/DD 135 tpi £94.88 

Ik 3.5" DS/DD 135 tpi £353.68 


40 x 3.5" Disk Box with lock .£5.49 
100 x 3.5" Disk Box with lock£7.50 
Carriage on 50+ disks £3.53 


Phone for our 60 Page Catalogue 

EDUCATIONAL & GOVERNMENT ORDERS WELCOME 
All products have a 30 day money back & 12 month warranty 
Pnces subject to variation without prior notification 
Established 6 years. 3 minutes from M27 Junction 1 1 . 

Free parking. Open 9 to 5.30 Mon to Friday 9 to 5 on Saturday 
Postage 94p (80p + VAT) Securicor £6 46 (5.50 + VAT) 


UleSerue 

Larger items n.'wyur* 
delivered Jih 
by Securicor 



Acorn Dept. 

40-42 West Street, 
Porchester, 

Hants 

P016 9UW 

Tel 0705 325354 



BOXES 


PRINTER SWITCH- 


Ideal for use iu schools and colleges. All 
versions come complete with ribbou 
cables, the 4-way switch boxes are fitted 
with 2x3. 7i*i+2x 1.7m +0.6m to the printer. 
Data buffers are fitted to the extra long 
3.7m cables. 

PS3 3-way BBC/MASTERS £59.50 

PS4 4-way BBQMASTERS £69.50 

PS6 3-way A3000/IBM's £65.00 

PS7 4- way A3000/IBM s £75.00 


The latest addition to our 2-way range of 
switch boxes is the ASB2 which is fully 
automatic in operation and requires no 
power supply. All versions come com- 
plete with ribbon cables, these are 
2xl.7ui+lx0.4m to printer. 


ASB2 2-way A3000/lBM’s £39.00 

PS5 2-way A3000/lBM , s £32.50 

PSab 2-way A3000+BBC £32.50 


These compact and reliable switch boxes 
have a proven record of over 6 years 
daily use iu many schools and colleges 
and are highly recommcuded. The PS2 
connects two printers to oue BBC. the 
ribbou cables arc 2xl.7m+lx0.4m with 
appropiate connectors. 


PS 1 2-way BBC/M ASTERS £28.50 

PS 2 1 BBC to 2 PRINTERS £28.50 


TERRELL ELECTRONICS 

7-B Essex Gdns., Hornchurch, Essex, RM1 1 3EH 
Carriage paid ® 0708 471426 Excl. VAT 



HOTLINE: 
(0332) 272300 
MAIL CHEQUES TO 
MICROMANIA 
9 GLAMIS CLOSE 
OAKWOOD DERBY 
DE2 2QJ 
Carnage Extra 


MICROMANIA UK 

SPECIALISTS IN QUALITY 2ND USER 
EQUIPMENT (0332) 272500 


DERBY'S 

PREMIER 

DEALER! 



A5000 Multi Synch System. 40 Mg HD. 2 Mg Ram 

Archimedes A3(XX) Base 

Archimedes A3 10 Base 

Archimedes A3 1 0/Colour Monitor 

Archimedes A44Q/Colour Monitor. 





BBC Master I28K/40T Drive/Monitor £320 

BBC Master 1 28K/Drive/Cok>ur Monitor. .. £400 

BBC B Iss 7/Drive/Monitor £245 

Microvitec Colour Monitors From £130 

Philips Colour Monitors From £150 ^ 

Philips High Res Green Screen £45 & ^ 

Epson Printers From £95 jp 


EDUCATIONAL ORDERS WELCOME 




FACT SYSTEMS (BARROW)LTD 

UNIT 19, FOCUS 303 BUSINESS CENTRE, SOUTH WAY, 
WALWORTH IND.EST., ANDOVER, HANTS. SP105NY 

— ^ 

Acorn ^ 

AUTHORISED DEALER 


SOUTHERN SPECIALISTS 

ALWAYS THE FULL RANGE OF ACORN HARDWARE 
AND SOFTWARE ON DEMONSTRATION IN OUR 
SHOWROOM 


EDUCATIONAL CLIENTS WELCOME 
TEACHERS/STUDENTS SCHEME OPERATED 


(ANDOVER (0264) 33481 


186 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 








SUMMER CLEARANCE ... 


optional 
Ink-Jet Printer 


LOWEST ADVERTISED PRICES 


A5000 Learning Curve 
Multisync System 

ONLY £1299 





BBC model B - NEW! 

FLOATEX CARD 

Aeom's maths co-processor 


ONLY £149 

board for A400 series 


(or £119 in kit form) 

Built for export market. Includes: 8271 disc 1 Face. 

ONLY £99 (RRP £599) 


Econet, DNFS, I K OS & BASIC, View v2.l. Speech, 
Manuals... 


£199 




-rwmrr 

U 




A 30 10 

| 

Family Solution 

A4 Portable 

ONLY 

£1245 | 

£382 

subject to availability 

*Mail Order Only* 

Education orders welcome. 

VAT extra on all prices. 
Access and Visa welcome. 

Carriage £8 r 

Next day supplement £5 

Imicro discount 

phone 041 353 1999 

1205 Buchanan Street, Glasgow, G1 2JZ. 


« SOFTWARE v 


* INTELLIGENT 


« BBC products » 


Acorn TCP/IP 

£139 

INTERFACES » 


EOIS filestore 

£199 

Art Machine (Designer) 

£10 

16-Bit parallel I/O L ard 

£60 

E40SHD filestore 

£199 

Assembler Software 

£15 

IEEE 488 interface 

£60 

ScreenPnnt Colour Rom 

£19 

AVP Pixel Perfect 

£10 

Dual RS423 port 

£60 

View User Manual 

£5 

Chocks Xtra Missions 

£9 



Speech Kit + Roms 

£12 

Fourier Analysis 

£15 

* VARIOUS * 


ViewStore 

£19 

InterWord (Emulation) 

£12 

'Get Control’ pack 

£29 

ViewSheet 

£19 

Iso-Pascal 

£15 

TV modulator 

£20 

ViewSpell 3.5" 

£10 

Karaoke-Elvis 2 ( EMR ) 

£5 

Apec Card & ROM v 1.3 £10 

SupaSlore Database 

£10 

Karaoke-Beatles (EMR) 

£5 

Concept Keyboard 

£5 

Timeman 2 

£2 

Karaoke-80's Hits (EMR) 

£5 

Overlay packs 


Happy Numbers 

£2 

Newhall Font (DTP) 

£20 

AKAI5Midi Add-on for £10 

ViewStore manual 

£5 

OAK AreSign 

£25 

I/O Pod. (A3/400) 


Pascal Manual 

£5 

Risc-Os 2 User Guide 

£10 

A 3000 SCSI/Face 

£35 

DOS+ with Econet for 

£10 

Software Developers 

£10 



512 


-Toolbox 


«* HARD DRIVES » 


Robin Lightpen 

£10 

View Index (Emulation) 

£10 

PRES 20 Mb HDD for 

£150 

Econet Utilities 

£10 

ViewSheet (Emulation) 

£10 

A3000 


Master Ref. Manual 2 

£9 

ViewSpell (Emulation) 

£10 

20 Mb HDD ST506 

£100 View Index 

£9 

ViewStore (Emulation) 

£10 

OAK 20 Mb HDD 

£189 Econet Bridge Server 

£poa 

* PRES products » 


A3000 


Cumana CSX200 

£20 

A3K2 System Housing 

£39 

OAK 40 Mb HDD 

£229 Nightingale Modem 

£40 

A3K8 3.5 "Drive for A3K2 

£50 

A 3000 


DFS filer Rom +5.25" 

£10 

A3K9 5 .25 "Dri vefor A3K2 

£50 

SCSI 20 Mb HDD 

£150 disc 


A3K6 Disc Buffer 

£20 

«• BOOKS » 


IEEE firmware + 5.25" 

£poa 

A3K 1 2 65Host 1 770DFS 

£9 

Disc Filing System 

£4 

disc 


for A3K6 


Understand' InterWord 

£4 

OverView I&2 

£30 

« CUM AN A » 


Acorn > PC' 

fin 



External Drive interface 

£10 

AL U| 1 1 X lv- 

Programming Electron 

IlU 

£2 

1 "LIMITED STOCKS*! 

CD358 dual 3.5" + PSU 

£60 

Adv’d Ref. Man. Master £10 




Carriage on software £2.50 per order 
Carriage on peripherals £4.00 per order 


WNiQUEway 


Acorn _ 

Replay 


Full details of our Acorn Replay compression service 
available on request. Normal turnaround 72 hrs for 
12.5 fps CD-ROM Movies. Educational enquiries 
especially welcome. Demonstration CD-ROM and 
discs available soon. 


OFFICIAL ACORN REPLAY COMPRESSION CENTRE 
Authorised Acorn Dealer and Value Added Reseller. 
Multi-media and DTP are our speciality. 


A4 Portable 4Mb RAM 60Mb HD 

A5000 Learning Curve, 80Mb HD 
and free extra 2Mb RAM 

A3010 Learning Curve 

Acorn Pocket Book 

RISC OS 3 Upgrades 


£1699 

£1445 

£680 

£212 

£41.70 


Postage, Packing and Insurance 
£12 on all items. 

All prices exclude VAT. 

E&OE 



Mail order Telephone 0222 615782 or 0223 410138 (p.m only) 

RETAIL SHOP NOW OPEN 
42 CRWYS ROAD, CARDIFF 


TELEPHONE 0222 64461 1 FAX 0222 644622 
Thursday 10-8. Friday 9.30-6, Saturday 9.30-6. 



BIRMINGHAM 


Did you know that 

MR DISK 

in the dty centre spedalises in 
Acorn/BBC A3000 products. 

With 200 + software titles in stock 
at discount prices we're Archie Heaven! 

Give us a ring, you will be 
pleasantly surprised! 


MR DISK 


8, Smallbrook Queensway 

3 Birmingham 
B5 4EN 


, fy\V\'N\ ’r 
VISA 


Tel: 021-616 1168 (6 lines) 
Fax: 021-6161256 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 187 








QUESTIONS 


AND 


ANSWERS 


STAR QUESTION 


My computer is an A5000 on which I have Maestro and Notate music 
software. I also have a Casio CT-670 keyboard which has sockets 
marked 'MIDI IN', 'MIDI OUT' and 'MIDI THROUGH'. What do I need to 
purchase to connect the two and will it prove expensive? My mind goes 
blank when faced with sockets, wires and circuits. 

Elaine M. Jones 
Clwyd 

To start with, you need a Midi card and a cable to connect the 
computer to your keyboard. Cards cost around £70 and take the form 


of either an expansion podule (e.g. Acorn, EMR) or a small circuit board 
that plugs into the Econet slot (Vertical Twist). Neither are particularly 
difficult to install - you just unscrew the lid and plug it in. Then you can 
think about software. Maestro is designed purely for internal sound and is 
not Midi compatible. Notate, on the other hand, has a Midi output facility 
which allows you to play music back through your synthesizer. If you want 
to use the Casio to play notes into the computer you'll need more software. 
These vary in price from about £70 for a keyboard tutor to £200 for a full- 
blown sequencing package. 


filCl adfs: : Hot ate .$. Songs . Robot sNIDI \ 

£ K « ► 

[« J=1W [?■£«> 

DC. fine 
D.S. % 


UiJ JJiJJJJ-e 1 1 t -- H H “ 

II 11 II f 

i, , , .f]' 




“ MIDI Setup L 



Track MIDI Channel Program Nunber 
Track 1 
Track 2 
Track 3 
Track 4 
Track 5 
Track 6 
Track 7 
Track 8 
Chords 


[F 


IF 

IF 

f? 

_2_ 

f 

Of 

IF 

x 

JF 

f? 

1? 

1L 

IF 

IF 

[F 

ii 

(F 

IF 

IF 

J£ 

F 

W[ 

IT 


F 

IF 

[? 


F 

IF 

[? 


F 

IF 


Notate gets on well with synthesizers 


Q Local Sound jC ance ll 


want to keep your software 


I have an A3000 compu- 

ler and an Epson LX-400 

dot matrix printer. I have tried 
to print pictures which I have 
created using Draw . but I have 
always been unsuccessful. 

I’ve been told to drag my 
save file to the PrinterDM 
icon, once it is loaded on the 
desktop. I’ve tried this many 
times, but have not been able 
to print a picture yet. Can you 
help me? 

Chris Osborne 

Hants 

Assuming you can print 

from other programs, 

your computer and printer 
are probably all right, so you 
can check whether the soft- 
ware is the problem using 
this routine: Load the Appli- 
cations 1 disc and install 
PrinterDM on the desktop. 
Drag the DrawDemo file 
until it's on top of the dot- 
matrix printer icon and let 
go of the mouse button. 

If it doesn't print out, use 
the Select and Menu buttons 
on the mouse to make certain 
the driver is correctly set up 
for your printer - probably 
an Epson FX setting con- 
nected to the parallel port. 
Try printing DrawDemo 
again. If this still doesn't 
work you may have a prob- 
lem with the application. 

Another possibility is that 
you're trying to print your 
data before the desktop has 
seen Draw. In this case, your 
file appears in the disc win- 
dow as a white box instead of 
the normal draw tile icon and 
when you try to print, you 
get a message which says "I 
don’t know how to print draw 
Tiles, shall i print it as plain text" 
(YES/NO). 

This message varies from 
machine to machine, for 
instance it could say, 
“Confirm: This is a type &AFF 
file: do you really want to print 
it?” (YES/NO). 

If you say YES, anything 
could happen - the printer 
will probably hang up or 
print gibberish. The compu- 
ter is trying to print your 
picture, but it doesn't know 
how. If you install Draw on 
the desktop before printing, 
vour problem should be 
solved. 


For my major GCSE 

CDT Technology project 

I am building a computer con- 
trolled floor robot using the 
user port. Programs that access 
the BBC user port write to a 
memory address. Is this poss- 
ible on the Archimedes? 

Chris Hinds 
Surrey 

Y es, it is, assuming that 

J you have an I/O podule 

for the Arc. However, if you 


neat and easily portable 
between different hardware 
versions, I recommend that 
you talk to the user port via 
OS Bytes &96 and &97. 

If, for some reason, you 
must circumvent the operat- 
ing system, this is how you 
do it: The Arc makes exten- 
sive use of relocatable 
modules and the addresses 
you require will vary accord- 
ing to what is installed. It is. 


therefore, essential that your 
code asks the opsys where 
these locations are each time 
the program runs. To do 
this, find the start of SHEILA 
by invoking SYVI “I / 
O Podule Hardware" which 
returns (in Rl) the base 
address of the I/O Podule. 
SHEILA starts at &2000 
above that, though this may 
vary between podule ver- 
sions. As the podule stores 
variables in four-byte words 
rather than bytes, the offsets 
you need are their BBC 
equivalents shifted bv two 
bits (i.e. multiplied by four). 
This means that the User/ 
Printer VIA lives at SHEILA 
addresses &180 to &18C 
instead of &60 to &6F' on the 
Beeb. 

For more details about 
programming the User Port, 
consult either The Advanced 
User Guide for the BBC 
Micro, or the BHC Master 
Reference Manual. 

I am desperately seeking 
„ a wall-mounted, articu- 
lated bracket or stand to hold 
the AKF17 monitor 1 use with 
my A3000. I have been 
advised not to use a TV wall 
bracket as they are not deep 
enough to hold the monitor 
safely. Have you any ideas? 

Jean Ra/a 
Leighton Buzzard 

Monitor supports arc 

J very common in the PC' 

environment. There is such a 
variety of monitors available 
I’m sure you could find one. 
A good place to start looking 
is in free accessory 
catalogues from business 
suppliers like Misco. 

I am a keen BBC Micro 

user and have had my 

model B since 1982. I want to 
buy some of the older classic 
games and utilities but none of 
the shops in my area sell them 
anymore, so where do I go? I 
also get problems w ith my cas- 
sette tapes. When I type *TAPE 
<RETURN> and then CH.‘‘” 
<RETURN> nothing happens. 
All I get is the sound of the 
tape through the Beeb’s 
speaker. 

Conrad Gay 
Cornwall 


188 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 














PROBLEMS 



Repton lives! You may not be able to run all your old favourites on the Arc, but you can still buy them for the Beeb 


Although most of BAU’s 

J advertising deals with 

products for 32-hit 
machines, careful inspection 
of these pages shows a num- 
ber of dealers who still sell 
BBC games and utilities. 
Dahhand Computing (061- 
766 8423), Software 

Bargains/Mercury Games 
(0532 436300) and Watford 
Electronics (0923) 237774, to 
name a few. 

On the cassette front, it’s 
likely that the signal is either 
too quiet or distorted in some 
way. Try cleaning the tape 
head and pinch rollers with a 
little isopropyl alcohol and if 
that doesn’t work, try 
another tape recorder. If this 
fails, you’ve got a hardware 
fault and your machine may 
need to visit the menders. 

Please help me with a 

problem that is seriously 

affecting my A 3000. Some- 
times, on power up, I get error 
messages like “Address Exception 
at . . and “SWI not known” 
before the Desktop appears. 

When 1 list the modules, 
nearly all of them are dormant 
and they don’t always come 
back when I reset the compu- 
ter. None of these problems 
existed before I installed a 
1Mb memory upgrade, but I 
would hate to think that this 
was the cause. 1 have a list of 
suspects; a hardware fault, a 
virus in the Cmos Ram, a Hat 
battery (the machine is over 
two years old) or a faulty 
upgrade. What do you think? 

Stephen Scott 
Surrey 

It's not a virus, because 

the little beasts only 

infect magnetic discs and, so 
far, no one has invented one 
that actually eats silicon. In 
an A3000 this problem might 
be caused by a memory 
upgrade not sitting on its 
pins properly. 

Giving it a quick wiggle 
will cure it temporarily hut it 
is best to remove the 
upgrade, which is not easy, 
and clean the pins with some 
alcohol. You may have a 
hardware fault hut my 
money’s on the flat battery. 
Trv replacing it, then reini- 
tialising any dormant 
modules, reconfigure the 
machine and see if the prob- 
lem recurs. 


When I sold my Master 

Compact and bought an 

Archimedes, I anticipated that 
some of my old favourite 
games such as Repton 3, Cita- 
del and Elite , which I find 
more addictive than their Rise 
counterparts, would work on 
my Archimedes as though I 
still had a BBC. But this is not 
the case. 

The Emulator struggles to 
load anything more than 
Ghouls and it does even that 
badly. 1 assume that the Emu- 
lator supplied on Applications 
disc 2 turns the Archimedes 
into a BBC B which works just 
about perfectly, and that my 
problems arise from using 
ADFS versions of the soft- 
ware. Is there a Basic com- 
mand I can use to make 
everything run fine? 

Chris and Mike Hayles 
Coventry 

H 1 ** wou * ( * * H> n * ce if there 

were a magic button on 
your Archimedes that could 
turn it into a precise simula- 
tion of any other computer 
you’ve ever used but, sadly, 
there’s not. In fact, your 
problem is probably the soft- 
ware itself, rather than the 
fact that it’s a Master Com- 
pact version. When the 


manual says ‘65Host sub- 
stantially emulates a BBC 
Model B microcomputer’, it 
means it will cope with 
‘legal’ Basic and a certain 
amount of 6502 code (per- 
haps 75 per cent of all BBC 
programs written). 

This doesn’t mean that it 
runs powerful, sophisticated 
games that push the design 
to its limits. Games program- 
mers are notorious for using 
every available trick to make 
things bigger and faster so it 
is their work that often 
defeats the Emulator. 

Machine emulation, like so 
many things, is subject to 
diminishing returns and the 
cost of producing a 100 per 
cent ‘virtual BBC” on an 
Archimedes, assuming it has 
the power to do it, would he 
phenomenal. 

The National Curriculum 
document for mathe- 
matics assumes that schools 
have computers and requires 
their use in certain areas, for 
example, using spreadsheets 
to explore number patterns’; 
‘using computers to generate 
and transform 2-D shapes'; 
‘devising instructions for a 
computer to produce shapes 
and paths.’; ‘inserting, interro- 


gating and interpreting data in 
a computer database’ and 
using a computer to investi- 
gate whether a sequence given 
iteratively converges or 
diverges’. Can you tell me 
what relevant software is on 
the market? 

1). J. Luke 

Salisbury 

jr Although the authors of 
the National Curricu- 
lum were committed to the 
development of Information 
Technology in Education, 
they also tried to avoid mak- 
ing schools spend extra 
money because of their 
‘innovations’. So most exer- 
cises suggested in attainment 
targets involve cheap, well- 
established software. 

Most of the data-handling 
problems can use any data- 
base and spreadsheet, from 
old faithfuls like Newman 
College’s Grass and 
Grasshopper on the BBC, 
through to modern stuff like 
Colton's Pipedream4 and 
Longman Logotron’s Pin- 
point on the Archimedes 
series. The ‘shape and space’ 
references are all aimed at 
the Logo programming 
language, implementations of 
which are available for all 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 189 










PROBLEMS 


CORRECTION BOX 


In August's Q&A, we said that JPEG was a proprietary format belonging to 
DT Software. This is not the case; JPEG is a public domain file format 
developed by 'workstation' programmers, and its authors positively 
encourage its use. IJPEG, on the other hand, is an Acorn compression 
application belonging to DT that creates JPEG format files. JPEG compres- 
sion is also available in the public domain, via bulletin boards. Thanks to 
Eivind Hagen in Norway for this correction. 


Acorn machines. It's also 
worth looking at the SLIM- 
VVAM series of discs from 
the Association of Teachers 
of Mathematics (0332 46599) 

Q — After much deliberation 
, over whether to buy an 
Acorn computer or a PC, I 
recently purchased an A5000 
and am very pleased with it. 1 
plan to use it to write software 
for designing optical systems 
and other applications of a 
mathematical and technical 
nature to run on the Desktop. 

These programs will involve 
enormous numerical compu- 
tions that would be aided by a 
numerical coprocessor and a 
compiler. When is Acorn plan- 
ning to release such a co- 
processor for the A5000? Are 
there any compilers currently 
available with an option to 
generate code for a coproces- 
sor? I could use a C compiler 
at the moment but am reluctant 
to spend up to £200 on one if I 
then have to upgrade it when a 
new chip is released. 

N Ellis 

Old Harlow 

Although the Acorn 
floating point co-proces- 
sor has yet to he released, the 
machine codes required to 


operate it are part of the 
original reduced instruction 
set, designed at the same 
time as the first Arm chips. 

Current C compilers 
already create floating point 
instructions by default which 
are sent to a software module 
called the FPE (floating 
point emulator). When a 
floating point chip becomes 
available, existing code 
should address it without 
difficulty. 

As a budding keyboard 

player, I would like to be 

able to make full use of Midi, 
being able to save and replay 
tracks on a sequencer. My first 
thought was to get an Atari ST 
with a C-Lab application, but 
why should I buy an ST, when 
I already have an A 3000? 
Does anyone produce such a 
package? I can't find one. 

David Wilson 
Winchester 


If ever there was an 

application that cried 

out for a multi-tasking Rise 
processor, it’s music 
sequencing but, to date, few 
manufacturers have taken 
up the challenge. 

C-Lab's Notator for the ST 
has got to be one of the finest 
music applications available 
on any platform, but £850 
for a new computer and soft- 
ware is an expensive way of 
'dipping your toe' into Midi 
sequencing. At present, there 
are two Arc sequencers on 
the market that you may 
wish to look at, with 
rumours of more on the w ay. 
Check out Pandora's 
Inspiration from Ampsound 
(0727) 50075 and EMR’s 
Studio 24 Plus (0702) 335747. 

If want to work with stave 
notation, look at Clare’s 
Rhapsody II (0606 48511) 
and Longman Logotron’s 
Notate (0223) 425558. 


As a student who has just 
, survived GCSEs and 
hopes to pursue a career in 
Electronic Engineering or 
Information Technology, I 
wonder if you can advise me 
of any software I might find 
useful in my work? 

David Winters 
Dromore, Co. Down 

if f or your future career, 

1 would start with a 
word processor and probably 
a graphical spreadsheet 
( Pipedream 4, Eureka) and 
decide on further purchases 
later. If you follow an IT or 
engineering path, you might 
well need a CAD package 
and/or a C compiler. 

I have seen demonstra- 

lions of Acorn machines 

with flashy PC-style 3D icons 
on the windows. How can I get 
these icons on my A3000? Is it 
just a case of redefining the 
sprites ? 

Mohammed Ihn Habib 

Khartoum 

The icons you have seen 

are a feature of Rise OS 

3 and cannot be obtained on 
your A3000. When Rise OS 3 
is available, then you can 
define your own. 


CUSTOMER HOT LINE 


Every month in BAU, Alan Glover from the Acorn 
customer service department offers you Acorn's advice 
and support 

Becoming a Power-User - Part 3 
We conclude this look at some of the features of RISC OS 
that make life easier by examining new RISC OS 3 features. Some of 
these require the support of the application concerned to work. 

• Dragging one or more objects between two directory viewers copies 
them to the directory. If you hold down the SHIFT key the objects will 
be moved rather than copied. On RISC OS 3 objects will be renamed 
rather than copied if possible. 

• Help (ie from !Help) is now available on menu entries. 

• Clicking on the Toggle Size icon with SHIFT held down will open a 
window to it's largest possible size without obscuring the icon bar. 

• If you drag a scroll bar with the Adjust button and the window has 
both vertical and horizontal scroll bars the pointer will temporarily 
disappear, and the mouse can be used to scroll the window in both 
directions while you hold Adjust down. 

• If you click Select within a directory viewer in a position which is 
between objects, you can then drag a rectangle around all the objects 
which you wish to perform an operation on. Individual objects can be 
added or removed from the group by clicking Adjust on them. 

• Clicking on the close icon of a window with SHIFT held down does 
not close the window, but instead 'iconises' it on to the Pinboard (the 
Backdrop program). Double-clicking on the iconised window restores it 
to full size. 

• While a window is iconised, you can get at the relevant menu for that 
window by using SHIFT-Menu with the pointer over the iconised 
window. 


• SHIFT-F12 brings the icon bar to the front of the desktop (beware 
applications which also use it!). It can also put it back at the back. 

• CTRL-F12 starts a Task window. 

QUESTIONS AND MYTHS ABOUT VIRUSES 

Viruses are becoming more common on RISC OS machines, so here are a 
few common queries answered (see page 146 for more information) 

• Should I inoculate my files ? 

Do not use any inoculation program. It is not possible to simultaneously 
inoculate against all the known viruses. 

• I’ve got a recent version of a virus killer and that doesn't find 
anything. So I'm protected, right? 

Wrong. The virus scene changes very rapidly. If the program you are 
using is more than three to six months old, it will not detect the newest 
viruses and newly discovered strains of existing one. Futhermore, using 
an out-of-date program gives the possibility of spreading a virus 
through your system as it scans, and of corrupting data when attempt- 
ing to disinfect a file. 

• Can a virus reside in the CMOS Ram ? 

No. The CMOS Ram is only used for data storage. Program code is never 
executed within the CMOS Ram. In addition, it is only 240 bytes long. 
However, some viruses do use CMOS Ram locations for data storage. 

• Can a virus survive a CTRL-Reset ? 

No. However, it will probably not take long to reload it - see below! 

• How can I be infected with a virus ? 

Opening a directory viewer on a directory containing an infected 
application is enough - you don't have to actually use an application 
that is infected. 



190 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 













Jtiit&i-ricit ivri cil M£xjj>r- &3 ix 


The most comprehensive accounts program yet seen for the Archimedes 
series of computers. Prophet s windows are dynamically linked to each 
other - produce an Invoice and watch the invoice number, customers record, sales 
ledger and sales analysis windows being updated simultaneously. Your invoices, 
purchase orders, credit & delivery notes and statement layouts are completely user- 
definable In D.T.P like windows. Words can not do justice to Prophet so we have 
produced a unique demo disc (£10 Inc. refundable on purchase of full version) which 
lets you load AND SAVE your work. The full version costs £170 + VAT (-£199.75). 
New Zealand and Australian versions also available - overseas orders £180 Including 
Air Mail (no VAT). 

See the reviews in Archive Magazine May 1 992 - if Acorn were to market a business 
package then Prophet would be one of the essential parts. 

...and Rise User Magazine July 1992 - Invoicing is a joy to use. ..anyone requiring an 
accounts package would do well to look at Prophet... it fulfils all my needs for now and the 
future. 

...and Archimedes World September 1992 - what makes it the best is its ease of 
use.. .comprehensive . fast, brilliant ! 

...and Acorn Computing October 1 992 - the manual proved to be the most readable computer handbook, the first in 
many years that I have read from cover to cover... give Prophet full marks. 


(see us at the Acorn User Show - stand 8 1 ) 

Apricote Studios, 2 Purls Bridge Farm, Manea, Cambs, PE 15 OND. Tel: 035 478 432 






VISA 


■■■■ 


■■■■■■ 



In Compose World short phrases of music are represented as pictures or 
words and these musical building blocks can be used in any combination, 
and in any order, to compose a tune of up to eight parts. 

Phrases can be created and edited in the built-in musical grid editor 
which features extensive facilities such as transpose, change volume, 
stretch, invert, reverse as well as the standard cut and paste facilities. 
Pictures can be drawn with the simple built-in painting editor. 

Full support for Archimedes Sprite tiles. MIDI files and Maestro files 
provides easy links to other art and music programs. 

Simple cartoons can be created by linking phrases to larger Sprites which 
are displayed while the sequence is being played. 

The effect of chosing different sounds can be explored either through the 
Archimedes' own sound system or by using a MIDI keyboard. 

Compose World: £48.00 + VAT (£56.40 inc VAT) 


hpose World Files 1 is a collection of twentyeight 
fa. files for use with Compose World. The disc 
•tains files which cover a wide variety of different 
steal styles and structures as well as files which make 
: of the picture display facility of Compose World. 
ie of the files also make use of the sounds provided 
■ VoicePackl. 

T>ose World Files 1 : £12.00 +. VAT (£14.10 inc VAT) 


Z 


OICB PACK 1 

VoicePackl contains fiftyfour sound modules for use I 
with Archimdes music programs like Compose World I 
and Rhythm Maker An application called ICHckVox is | 
provided with the disc which enables you to load or I 
remove sounds from the sound system and save the I 
settings to make it easy to configure the system for your I 
own needs. 

VoicePackl : £15.00 + VAT (£17.63 inc VAT) 


Holly Tree Cottage 
Main Street 
Strelley Village 
Nottingham 
NG8 6 PD 
England 
(0602) 295019 


UK Postage & packing £1.50 + VAT 
(£1 .76 inc VAT). 

Send for a free catalogue. 


Rhythm Maker provides exciting opportunities to explore and 
create rhythm patterns. These rhythms are edited using a 
time grid with full control over volume and stereo position. 
The patterns can be different lengths using a variety of time 
signatures and a wide range of grid resolutions. 

The range of instruments used to create the rhythms can be 
chosen from a large selection of Archimedes internal and 
MIDI sounds. 

The rhythm patterns can be sequenced in any order and 
combination to make a complete rhythm track. 

This program is a powerful compositional tool and is 
designed encourage exploration of the effect of different 
rhythmic variations. 

Rhythm Maker: £34.00 + VAT (£39.95 inc VAT) 


Flexisynth provides facilities to explore and create new 
sounds on an Archimedes. 

Using analogue style synthesiser techniques sounds can be 
created from waveforms, volume envelopes and pitch 
envelopes with control over modulation, tremefo and vibrato. 
With the large bank of waveforms provided and the 
extensive control facilities a vast range of different sound 
timbres can be explored. 

The program is designed to be easy to use with the 
opportunity to configure the screen and available options to 
make the program accessible over a wide range of ages and 
abilitities. 

The sounds created can be saved as Archimedes sound 
modules and used with any Archimedes music program. 

Flexisynth: £34.00 + VAT (£39.95 inc VAT) 









CITIZEN 


Kendal Computer Centre Ltd 

68 Stramongate, Kendal, Cumbria LA9 4BD 

I I Tel: 0539 722559 Fax: 0539 720127 

Fully Authorised Acorn & Citizen Dealers and Repair Centre 

MAIL ORDER DEALS 

Acorn A3000 L.C. with colour monitor & Seikosha SP1900+ printer £999.00 

Acorn A5000 L.C. with multiscan monitor, SP1900+ & Amounts Manager £1799.00 

Seikosha SP1900 + (192 cps, NLQ modes, Epson/IBM comp.) £139.00 

Phillips 8833 mk2 monitor £229.00 

Citizen Swift 24e (inc. colour kit) £289.00 

A3000 Imb upgrade £57.95 

A3000 3mb upgrade £175.95 

A3000 30mb internal IDE drive £229.00 

A3000 30mb drive with Amounts Manager (installed) £399.00 

A3000 Joystick interface £34.95 

Olivetti JP-150 ink jet (Same as Acorn branded) £339.00 

A31 0/400 series IDE interface £92.00 

40mb hard disk for above (64k cache) £163.33 

100 mb hard disk for above (64 kcache) £244.95 

Oki 405p laser printer (26 fonts, LJ2 comp.) £619.00 

Archimedes colour digitizer £99.95 

mmz ALL PRICES INCLUDE V.A.T. 

VISA 

RECONDITIONED MACHINES 

BBC Model B £99.00 

Amiga A500 £199.00 

Atari 520 ST. £199.00 

Laser printers from £200.00 

ALL WITH 3 MONTH WARRANTY 




(Shap) 



Open Saturday 10.00 till 4.30 


Arcounts Manager 


The Professional 

Solution 

FEATURES 
/ Sales, Purchase, 

Nominal Ledgers 
✓ Budget Reports 
/ Sales/Purchase Analysis 
/ Debt Chasing and other 
letters 

/ Aged Debt Analysis 
/ Statements (User Definable) 

/ Re-Occurring Transactioi 
/ Receipt/Payment/Refui 
& Contra Processi 
/ Invoice Search Fj 
/ RISCOS mi 
/ Text 
/ Trial 
V) 

ofitLoss & Pahtfvce SIfeet 
Self re-butfdl^da^nles 
d trarisac Hwor Account 
Accounts 

t included 

Mouse or Keyboard Driven 

KENDAL COMPUTER CENTRE 

68 Slramongale, Kendal, CUMBRIA LA9 4BD 
Tel: 0539 722559 


Arcounts Manager is the 
ultimate Archimedes 
Accounting system on the 
market today. It is not 
written to run under an 
emulator and is not ported 
from another rn^hine, it 
simply takes full advantage 
of the raw^ower of the 
Archimedes and A3 
compuldrs/t^ensur^ 


r is very 
use, data 
r and logical, 
concise and to 



'cause Arcounts Manager 
its you in control of your 
finances, it can greatly 
improve your cash flow, as 
well as perform the* 
traditional functions such as 
VAT returns and Profit/Loss 
reports. 

Priced at only £299.00 +VAT, 
there is really only one 
choice if you are serious 
about computerising your 
accounts. Contact your 
dealer for a demonstration 
TODAY. 




• 1st Word Plus release 2, unregistered, 
excellent condition - £50. Contact Ger- 
aint, Cardiff. Tel: (0222) 227687 

• A 3000 L/C only nine months old. 
2Mb memory, TV modulator. 5.25in 
disc interface and drive, PC Emulator 
VI. 7, 1st Word Plus, Genesis, Arcticu- 
lale, games, manuals and much more - 
£700 ono. Contact Mr M Dawc, Canter- 
bury. Tel: (0227) 700516 

• BBC Master 128. twin disc drives, in 
Viglen console, colour monitor. Mar- 
coni Tracker Ball, Eprom programmer, 
as new including all manuals - £400. 
Contact Mr I Benton, Derbyshire. Tel: 
(0602)301917 

• BBC B. single sided 40 disc drive, 
Wordwise Plus - £210, Epson LX80 
printer - £210. Philips 80 II in mono 
green VDU - £50 little used, all 
manuals included. Contact Mr C Mur- 
doch. Stirlingshire. Tel: (0324) 485686 

• A3000. excellent condition complete 
with Pres monitor stand, quick sale - 
£425. Contact Mr M Kohut, Derby- 
shire. Tel: (0773) 829217 eve 

• BBC Master plus turbo board, 30Mb 
hard disc, dual drives. Cub monitor. 
Modem. Citizen printer, dual plinth 
plus loads of software - £600. Contact 
Mr S Pursey, Greenford. Tel: (0850) 
36255 

• BBC B. tape player, joysticks, 
manuals - £150 ono. Contact Miss S 
Steggall, Wiltshire. Tel: (0672) 515487 

• Acorn Electron with introductory 
cassette plus over 40 games including 
Repton Infinity and Computer Hits 1&2 
- £100. Contact P Wise. Merseyside. 
Tel: (05 1)678 2957 

• 30Mb master hard disc in VGC - 
£150, Demon 2 Modem - £50. Contact 
Chris. Norwich. Tel: (0603) 868357 

• Acorn DTP - £25. 1st Word Plus - 
£20, Wimp game - £10, all prices ono. 
Contact Mr R Walker, Shoreham. Tel: 
(0273) 452533 

• A3(XX) Watford 1 Mb Ram upgrade 
with fitting instructions. Less than one 
years use - £30. Contact W J Mahoney. 
London. Tel: 081-698 2835 

• A300, colour monitor, plinth. 2Mb 
applications discs, manuals plus some 
games, three months old, as new - 
£680. Contact Ken, London. Tel: 081- 
521 4559 

• A 3000 4Mb. TV adapter, games, 30+ 
discs, PD graphics etc. Sale due to 
upgrade - £650 ono, I4in colour TV - 
£50. Contact Mr L Wilson. Gwynedd. 
Tel: (0248) 712635 anytime 

• Master 128, Microvitec colour moni- 
tor and stand. 40/80 Cumana disc drive. 
Morlcy Teletext adaptor. Viewstore 
Rom, various educational and games 
software - £500 ono. Contact Mr A 
Spraggon. Newcastle Upon Tyne. Tel: 
091-273 7897 


• BBC Ml 28. Microvitec 1451 moni- 
tor. twin 5.25in double sided drives. 
Acorn Teletext adaptor, all boxed with 
manuals - £450. Contact Mr K Dailey, 
Harpenden. Tel: (0582) 761393 

• Master 128, Interword, View. Spell, 
Cub colour monitor, 20Mb Winchester 
and 5.25in 40/80 Cumana drive, all 
manuals - £500 ono. Contact Colin, 
Middlesex. Tel: (0992) 762246 eve 

• Electron 64K Turbo, Slogger 
Rombox plus with printer interface, 
plug-in disc interface (Pres), cassette 
recorder, manuals, leads - £150 ono. 
Contact Mr P Baldwin, Surrey. Tel: 
(0483) 763470 

• BBC Master 512K. Philips colour 
monitor, double disc drive, manuals - 
£450. Contact M Panetta, London. Tel: 
081-392 9261 

• A3000, colour. 2Mb, 105Mb Scsi. 
5.25in drive, software including Acorn 
DTP, 1st Word Plus, Schema. Genesis, 
Graphbox, PC Emulator. Lotus 1-2-3, 
games, all manuals - £949. Contact Mr 
Jones. Clwyd. Tel: (0492) 516285 

• Beebug C development system 
unopened - £50 or swap for PC Emula- 
tor VI. 8. Contact C Horsley, Gwent. 
Tel: (0873) 853538 

• A3000 Archimedes and Multisync 
monitor NEC. lots of software - £700. 
Contact Mr Mourik. Dyfed. Tel: (0269) 
851044 

• A3000 2Mb. Microvitec colour 
monitor - £580 ono. Serial Port 92Mb 
16-Bit Scsi and interface - £350 ono, 
perfect boxed etc. Contact Mr D Lane, 
Bournemouth. Tel: (0202) 418875 

• BBC B computer plus manuals, 
games, joysticks, cassette recorder etc - 
£55. Contact Mrs M Chambers, Suf- 
folk. Tel: (0638) 750014 

• Master 512, DPS, ADFS, double disc 
drive, colour monitor. PC Emulator, 
Overview. Publisher, many Roms, 
discs, disebox, manuals, books - £450 
ono. Contact Mr W Critchley, 
Northants. Tel; (0933) 678063 

• Archimedes 3140, colour monitor, 
back plane with extra software, eg PC 
Emulator, all manuals - £450 ono. 
Contact Ian, Reading. Tel: (0734) 
662301 

• A3000, 2Mb colour monitor stand, 
software and manuals - £600. Contact 
Mr J Preston, Northumberland. Tel: 
(0434)682461 

• BBC Master 128K, Acorn View 
Vicwsheel, ADFS Editor. Printmaster, 
additional Roms on disc, Microvitec 
colour Cub monitor, 5.25in Cumana 
disc drive, as new - £350. Contact B 
Tett. London. Tel: 08 1 -997 5 1 70. 

• Juki 6100 Daisywheel printer, high 
quality print, many fonts - £55. Contact 
Mr N Bayley. Fam borough. Tel: (0252) 
510486 


I • Watford/Arics IEEE-488 interface 
for BBC Micro/Master - £48. Red 
Boxes starter kit and Red 3 home auto- 
mation system for BBC Micro/Master/ 
Spectrum - £45. Contact R Wright. 
Guilford. Tel: (0483) 575870 

• A3000 with El 20 multisync monitor, 
software and PRM's - £800. Contact 
Steven. Lancs. Tel: (0282) 843541 

• BBC Roms. Viewstore - £25, 

advanced disc toolkit - £15. Exmon II 
£15, Amx mouse and Super Art (mas- 
ter) - £30, various programs - £4 each. 
Contact M Robertson. Aylesbury. Tel: 
(0296)23124 

• NEC multisync colour monitor 14in 
for Archimedes - £170. Contact R 
Bowden. Ware. Tel: (0920) 466665 

• 20Mb hard disc Seagate - £85. Con- 
tact Mr J Crabtree (personal), Dart- 
mouth. Tel: (0803) 833755 work 
number 

• BBC B. Wordwise Plus. 40/80 disc 
drive, Watford Shadow Ram and Rom 
boards, 60 discs. Mini Office II. 
manuals - £300 ono. Contact J Lam- 
bert, West Ealing. Tel: 081-567 6421 

• Wanted: Archimedes A3 10 or similar 
and equipment (no rip off merchants 
please). Cash waiting for a fair deal. 
Contact R Burnett. Somerset. Tel: 
(0749) 89554 

• Electron 32K (unexpanded) complete 
with cassette recorder, all leads and 
games, good condition - only £40. 
Philips Hires green screen monitor - 
£30. Contact Simon. Berkshire. Tel: 
(0344) 777693 

• BBC B Issue 7. single disc 40/80 
drive. Toolkit and Disc Doctor Roms 
fitted, books and manuals - £175 ono. 
Contact T M Mooney. Manchester. Tel: 
(061)724 8030 

• Computer Concepts Scanlight Junior 
256, only a few months old and hardly 
ever used, exceptional condition, new 
£235 will sell for - £195. Contact 
Jason, Somerset. Tel: (0460) 74(XX) eve 

• Wanted: A3000 with colour monitor, 
very cheap. Contact Mr O Pacey, Lon- 
don. Tel: 071-582 1084 

• The Electron User Group! Non profit 
making, no membership fee. For more 
details please send SAE to: EUG, 134 
Great Knightleys. Basildon. Essex SS 1 5 
5HQ. 

• Bargain: Archimedes A3 10, colour 
monitor, boxed, hardly used - £310. 
Contact Mr C Maloney. Oxford. Tel: 
(0865) 722920 

• Star LC-10 (9 Pin) B/W printer, as 
new - £75. Contact Newport Pagnell. 
Tel: (0908)612570 

• Large bundle of Electron games, 
worth about £400+ (RRP) - £45 ono. 
Contact Mr A Wingate, Brighton. Tel: 
(0273)684459 


• Dos 512 Co-Processor - £70, 
65CI02 Turbo Co-Processor - £60, 
AMX Stop Press/Max/real time clock 
(GxR graphics Rom B+) - £7 each. 
Contact Mr J Newman, Dartford. Tel: 
(0322) 862397 

• 5I2K upgrade for Master complete 
with mouse and Dos - £100. Star LC10 
colour printer - £100. Contact Mr G 
Evans, Mid Glam. Tel: (0685) 370098 

• A3(XX). Learning Curve with colour 
monitor and stand. I Mb upgrade and 
serial interface, five months old as new 
- £790. Contact Mr S Park. Cumbria. 
Tel: (0539)731926 

• Master 1 28 and professional quality 
Akhter 40/80 disc drive, self powered, 
both items mint condition and boxed - 
£200. Contact D Bishop. Newark. Tel: 
(0636)525228 

• Archimedes A3000, learning Curve 
with Acorn colour monitor. 4Mb, stand, 
lots of software, as new - £800. Contact 
Mr J Oster, Ilford. Tel: 081-550 2571 

• BBC computer, Viglen case, Watford 
DFS, dual Cumana disc drive, sideways 
Rom, Watford Eprom Programmer - 
£225. Contact Mr K Boyle. Preston.Tel: 
(0772) 827356 

• BBC B Issue 7, double drives. 
Philips colour monitor. Wordwise Plus, 
Basic Editor, Teletext - £180. Contact 
R Ryan. Sussex. Tel: (0903) 260005 

• A3(XX) Learning Curve. 2 Mb Ram, 
TV Modulator. 5.25in disc Interface 
and drive, PC Emulator, 1st Word Plus. 
Genesis, Arcticulate. games and much 
more - £680. Contact Mr M Dawe. 
Canterbury. Tel: (0227) 700516 

• BBC B. Issue 7. DFS. 40/80 track 
disc drive, cassette recorder, loads of 
games on disc and tape, buyer collects - 
£160. Contact M Tucker. East Sussex. 
Tel: (0892) 655592 

• Archimedes A420/I 4Mb Ram. 
40Mb hard disc, colour monitor, learn- 
ing Curve package, extra software. 18 
months old. Contact Mr A Breaks. 
Middlesex. Tel: 081-977 1454 

• Daisywheel printer - Brother HR 15 
with six spare wheels - £ I (X). Contact 
Mr Burrell, Andover. Tel: (0264) 
710130 

• BBC B and double disc drives, 
Taxan/Kaga printer, sideways Ram/ 
Rom board, printer buffer. Modem. 
Prestel adaptor and other equipment, 
software - £210. Contact Mr A Bakali. 
Cambridge. Tel: (0223) 835418 

• Apocalypse and Nevryon for sale 
plus personal accounts by Apricote 
Studios, all for A3000 - £130. Contact 
Mr P Jashek. Kent. Tel: (0892) 514243 

• BBC B. 5I2K board plus discs, 
manual. Watford Co-processor - £ 1 (X) 
ono. misc BBC bits including 1770 
DDES board. Contact A Woodford, 
Essex. Tel: (0277) 821620 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 193 


FREE ADS 


• A310M colour computer, fitted with I 
4Mb Ram. Arm3. 40Mb hard disc. ! 
floppy interface including PC Emulator, 
original manuals - £750. Contact Mr M 
Jones. Swansea. Tel: (0792) 892792 

• Wanted: At least 16K of sideways 
Ram for BBC Issue 7 with relevant 
documentation for use/installation. Also 
Pascal Rom for same computer. Contact 
Mr J Stringfellow, Dorset. Tel: (0202) 
740672 

• Acorn Desktop Publisher - £40. 
Genesis Plus (V2.25) - £30, original 
discs and manuals. Contact Mr K Fer- 
guson, Glasgow. Tel: (0236) 872679 

• Archimedes software: lnterdictor 2 
Flight Simulator - £10, Atelier an 
package - £30. Contact Mr N Westley. 
Solihull. Tel: 021-0564 776360 

• BBC B, DFS, disc drive, some soft- 
ware, some manuals - £100. Contact 
Mr A Strange. Somerset. Tel: (0823) 
664876 

• Archimedes A420/I. Taxan 770 plus 
L.R monitor. Panasonic KX-PI124 24 
pin dot matrix printer, software includ- 
ing Impression II - £750 ono. Contact 
Mr A Duncan. Herts. Tel: (0727) 47642 

• Teletext for Archimedes (ground 
control ) hardly used - £45. Contact Mr 
II McDonald. East Sussex. Tel: (04243) 
4500 

• A3000. upgraded (2Mb). colour 
monitor, second floppy drive. Serial 
Port, stand, manuals, usual software, 
extra fonts/artwork etc. Acorn DTP, 
excellent condition - £725. Contact Mrs 
L Dobson. Dyfed. Tel: (0269) 861256 

• BBC Master 512. mouse. KXPI180 
printer, twin 3.5in, 5.25in drives, tape, 
joysticks. MOS+. Interword. Replay, 
Gemutils. discs and boxes - £400 ono. 
Contact Mr I Moore, Tipton. Tel: 021- 
520 1628 

•Watford hand held scanner A400 
series - £80. Contact Mr P Martin. 
Wolverhampton. Tel: (0902) 726511 

• Seagate 83Mb external hard drive 
(cased). Serial Port, Scsi interface for 
A3000 - £300. Contact J G Ashley. 
Kent. Tel: (0303) 872915 

• Training required: Archimedes 440/ 

1. Star colour printer, software includes 
DTP and Pipedream, reasonable 
expenses paid. Contact A or C Davies. 
Croydon. Tel: 081-651 3415 

• Master 128. colour Archimedes 
monitor, disc drive, manuals, boxed, 
educational games - £350. Contact Mr 
G White. Lincoln. Tel: (0522) 681888 

• A3000 2Mb. Acorn colour monitor. 
40Mb hard disc - £800 ono. Contact Mr 
Spurting, Devon. Tel: (0803) 851526 

• Master Compact with PAL TV adap- 
tor and printer lead, lots of software, 
games and educational. Contact Mr P 
Durrani, Surrey. Tel: (0483) 414551 

• Master 1 28. box. single 40/80 drive - 
£250. Contact Mr M Shaw, Rotherham. 
Tel: (0709) 379939 


• Printer Package: Includes KX-PI081. 
instructions. Watford Electronics dust 
cover and Epson commands book, 
printer lead (Archimedes or BBC), 
paper - £80. Contact Mrs W Fulford, 
Bexleyheath. Tel: 081-303 0783 eve 

• If I can t borrow your old GXR cas- 
sette then I’ll buy a PC! Please write to 
Robert Bergs at "Longlands". Church 
Lane, Chaldon. Surrey CR3 5AL 

• BBC Micro 64K. computer key- 
board. tape cassette loader. Welcome 
pack and tape, games - £45. Contact J 
Brown. London. Tel: 071-639 6903 

• Wanted: Accompanying instructions 
and discs for Z80 second processor - 
prepared to pay reasonable price. Con- 
tact Mr G Sadler, Croydon. Tel: 08 1 - 
760 3637 office hours or 08 1 -65 1 089 1 

• 46 issues of BAU (85-89) - £20 (plus 
£10 carriage), 34 issues of Micro User 
(85-89) - £15 (plus £9 carriage). Con- 
tact Mr M Coraham. Middlesex. Tel: 
081-847 0364 

• BBC B. 5.25in drive. Aries B-32 
Ram expansion. Interword, Spellmaster, 
games, joysticks, manuals and leads, 
printer, excellent condition - £300. 
Contact D Holton. Surrey. Tel: (04865) 
2661 

• Urgently wanted: Citizen HQP40/ 
Prodot 24 colour kit. Can anyone help? 
Contact Mr B Warren. Hants. Tel: 
(0590) 642238 

• BBC B. DFS, disc drive, speech 
synthesiser, lots of software, serious 
plus games and desk - £185. Contact 
Mr R Si veil. Beckenham. Tel: 081-658 
0940 

• Interested in Education/Theatre/ 
Environmental issues? Contact R Pater- 
son. Herts. Tel: (0923) 245338 for 
musical play, disc - £3. accompaniment 
on cassette - £5 or D1Y using Rhap- 
sody. Its great fun! 

• Acorn Teletext adaptor and Rom - 
£30. Acorn Z80 second processor and 
software - £45. Contact D Thornton. 
Doncaster. Tel: (0302) 350175 

• Archimedes software: Lemmings - 
£12. Thesaurus - £14. Micro-Drive 
World - £12. Speech! - £6, Spell - £4. 
Help Companion disc and book - £4. 
Contact K Martin. Cornwall. Tel: 
(0726)814488 


• 8-bit software Issue 20 (PD and disc 
mag) Free! Send DFS SOT DS disc plus 
return P&P to: D Shimmin, 1 Oakwood 
Drive, Heaton. Bolton BLI 5EE. Tel: 
(0240)492613 

• Wolf in sheeps clothing: A3000. 
Arm3, 2Mb, 40Mb hard drive, colour 
monitor. Impression II, poster, scan- 
light, Elite, lots of PD - £995 ono. 
Contact Mr T Dagger. Blackpool. Tel: 
(0772) 265421 

• BBC B with floppy disc drive, 
joystick. View word processor, lots of 
games and books - £300 ono. Contact 
Mr S King. Surrey. Tel: (0252) 873346 

• Wanted for Archimedes: Studio 24+ 
(Version 3) sequencer. Cash waiting. 
Contact Mr H Thind, Slough. Tel: 
(0753) 82056 

• Archimedes A3 10, colour monitor, 
2Mb hard disc. Rise OS2, Star NL10 
printer, games, books, magazines - 
£700. Contact Halvor Heuch. Birming- 
ham. Tel: 021-456 4663 

• BBC B, DFS - £100. Microvitec 
medium resolution colour monitor - 
£75, Mannesmann Tally MT80 9-Pin 
dot Matrix printer - £50. all items 
boxed with instructions. Contact Mr R 
Emmerson. Washington. Tel: 091- 
4171324 

• A3000. colour monitor. Midi inter- 
face. all manuals, mouse, as new. 
upgrading - £560 ono. contact Mr C 
Munoz. Birmingham. Tel: 021-444 
7773 

• Wanted: Dead/not working A3000, 
must be cheap, serialised, boxed and 
legal. Contact R Melloy, Welwyn 
Garden City. Tel: (0707) 371819 

• A3000 with Acorn colour monitor 
and stand - £550. Citizen I80E dot 
matrix printer - £50. both in excellent 
condition. Contact Mr S Baxendale. 
Famborough. Tel: (0252) 549337 

• Master 128 with Turbo, Pace double 
5.25in drive, single 3.5in drive. 
Modem, colour monitor, joysticks. 
Interword. Spellmaster, Interbase etc. 
Signw'riier. books - offers? Contact Mr 
G Martin, Swansea. Tel: (0792) 201898 

• A3000 and colour monitor, 2Mb. 
software, manuals - £600. Contact A 
Bryan, Wolverhampton. Tel: (0902) 
338089 


• Arc PD library' for sale includes all 
PD on disc, labels, stationary, all 
previous correspondence etc. Contact 
Mr D Bradshaw. Scunthorpe. Tel: 
(0724) 852701 eve 

• A410/1. 4Mb second 5.25 disc drive, 
manuals, discs, good condition, no 
monitor - £650 ono. Contact Mr T 
Patterson. Cheltenham. Tel: (0242) 
244779 

• A3000. 2 Mb Ram, Philips monitor 
CM8833. complete Learning Curve 
package, all hardly used - £670 ono or 
exchange for 486DX33 and cash. Con- 
tact G Patel, Poole. Tel: (0202) 743282 

• Acorn Electron 32K, 50 games, tape 
recorder, excellent condition - £35. 
Contact Sam White. Swansea. Tel: 
(0792) 203386 after 4pm Mon-Thurs 

• Cheap public domain software: For 
the new exclusive archived catalogue 
send £1 or SAE with disc. Contact Mr S 
Udder. 136 Wellesley Road. Ilford. 
Essex IG1 4U. Tel: 081-518 5579 

• Microvitec cub high resolution moni- 
tor - £120. Panasonic KX-PI080 
printer - £30, Prism 2000 modem 
unused - £30. RB2 trackerball - £10. 
Contact P Lunnon, London. Tel: 08 1 - 
769 6709 

• Master 128, disc drive. Ramrod, 
mouse, software, games, manuals - 
£3(X) ono. Contact Mr A Faruoq, Don- 
caster. Tel: (0302) 342256 eve 

• Wanted: Colour monitor, medium or 
high resolution, suitable for compact, 
reasonably priced please. Contact Mr D 
Wildsmith, Wiltshire. Tel: (0380) 
870030 

• BBC B, 40/80 disc drive, sideways 
Ram/Rom board, manuals, books, 
Roms. I (X)+ programs - £200. Contact 
Mr W Ward, Birmingham. Tel: 021- 
358 2496 

• Master 128, green monitor, manuals 

- £220, 512 board with Gem, mouse 
and manuals - £75, also software 
including Wapping Editor. Publisher. 
Print wise etc - offers. Contact Mr W 
Hough. Manchester. Tel: 061- 301 4974 

• Archimedes 410 4Mb Ram. hard 
disc, floppy disc - £700. Taxan 775 
multisync screen - £200, hand scanner 

- £ 1 (X). Contact Mr R Edwards, South 
Humberside. Tel: (0472) 602429 


BAU FREE READER ADS COUPON ® 

Why not take advantage of our free reader ad service? Fill in the details below and send this coupon (or a 
photocopy of it) to: Free Ads, BBC Acorn User, Redwood Publishing, 101 Bayham Street, London NW1 OAG. 

Your Name , Tel: 

Address 

Please write your Free Ads details here (in block capitals please). Maximum 25 words. 


194 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 




Design 3D models, quickly 
and easily. 


View light-shaded, 3D solid 
models in real-time. 


Cut out and make the 
model designed!!! 


ExpLAN UK Ltd 


£95 ... Single copy 
£280 ... Site Licence Tavistock, PL19 9BR 
(Please add va T) Tel/Fax 0822 613 868 


gEEBUGMagazine 


==== ==:= ^^olely to the BBC M.cro 

the only magaane ^ 

and the Master 


SlEE US AT THE BBC ACORN USER 
SHOW ON STAND No.134 






► 

► 

► 

► 



...A STROKE 0%Gi 

Full 256 colour art & design paci 

Operates in all 256 colour modes incorporating aUnique 
mode conversion facility. 

Create 'natural' effects with light & shadow. 

'palette painting' for contro^ed colouring, 

Custom-made brushes combined with 
effects enable a unique and natural meth< 

Sprites can be stretched in perspective (psi 

Double screen & scratch screen facilities 

Quick & easy menu system with 'hot key * 




£50 — Single copy £250 ... Site Licence 

ExpLAN UK Ltd 

Please include FREEPOST SPECAL 

OFFER 

vat @ 17.5% Tavistock, PL19 9BR fospfhmary 
Tel/Fax 0822 613 868 SCH00LS 

9? Authorised Acorn Computer and Network Dealer 
\ & Educational Software Publisher 


©nome Computers Limited 

25A Huntingdon Street, St. Neots, Cambs, PEI 9 1BG 
Tel/Fax: 0480 406164 E-Mail: support@gnome.co.uk 


X Window System R11.4 

This software package, developed in association with 
Acorn Computers, converts a RISC OS based 
Archimedes into an X Terminal. The software will allow 
communication with X clients over Ethernet or Econet. 


Celebrates the start of its 
11th year of publication 

BEEBUG was the first magazine ever published 
to cater for BBC enthusiasts, and is still going 
strong after 10 succesful years. 

BEEBUG offers a wealth of information: 
from articles on how to write Basic programs to 
ready-to-use utilities and complete stand-alone 
applications. BEEBUG also offers frequent ’fun’ 
programs and entertaining games. 



X Software £199 

Complete Colour X Terminals from £1150 


Archimedes upgrades 


A440/R140 4-8MB Memory Upgrade £550 

External SCSI 200MB H/D Acorn SCSI Card £990 
External SCSI 1.2GB H/D + Acorn SCSI Card £1999 
External 150MByte SCSI Tape Drive £850 

External 8GByte SCSI DAT Tape Drive £1800 


Transputer & i860 Systems 

Gnome Computers offers a complete range of transputer 
and i860 boards to fit into either RISC OS or RISC iX 
based Archimedes machines. Prices start at £1385 for a 
single 10 MIP, 2 MFLOP transputer system including a 
parallel FORTRAN-77, C, Pascal, Modula-2 or Occam 
compiler. 

UNIX & Network Specialists 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 195 


SOFTWARE SHOWCASE 


EDUCATION 


SSERC CHEMICAL MODELLER 

MOLECULAR MODELLING SOFTWARE + 
MOLECULES, RING STRUCTURE LIBRARIES 

Molecules & crystal structures can be built, displayed (ball & 
stick, van der Waals space fill, stick models, red green stereo 
3-D), manipulated (rotation in any plane, rocking, translation & 
zoom in out ) A investigated (bond angles lengths, energy 
contour maps, atomic charges, steric congestion) & more 

ONLY £50 + vat 
SITE LICENCE - add £30 + vat 

j Version 2.0 for Archimedes microcomputers 
i Minimum 2 Mb of RAM required 



CONTACT SSERC. 24 BERNARD TERRACE. EDINBURGH EH8 9NX 
or TELEPHONE 031 668 4421 FAX 031 66 7 9344 


The SCHEMER’S GUIDE and EdSCHEME (a modem LISP) 
‘The Schemer’s Guide is a solid introduction to the power, 
excitement, and educational value of Scheme. If computer 
science teachers could capture the authors' vision far their 
subject and bring this to their students, 1 believe it could excite 
many of our best minds to a study of computer science." 

Professor Daniel P. Friedman 
co-aulhor of Scheme and the Art of Programming 
and The Lillie USPer 
“Edxheme is a good implementation of the best language for 
teaching programming that I have com e across. If 1 had to teach 
someone to program far the first time, this would be the package 
I would choose. Stuart Wall 

HCRL Open University 

"Lambda Publications provides a neat implementation of 
Scheme ... EdScheme is an attractive and relatively efficient 
Scheme for PC, Mac, ST and Archimedes users at a bargain 
price, and it deserves wider attention" Dick Pouniain 

BYTE 


The Schemer’s Guide £17.50 

EdScheme £45.00 

Software & Guide together £60.00 
Postage and packing £2.50 

Lambda Publications 

194 Cheney Manor Road, Swindon SN2 2NZ 
Tel: 0793 695296 ^ 

E.Mail: 100015.1465@compuscrve.com 



STORM 

EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE 


NEW 

TITLES 

For Autumn 
1992 

From the leading 
children’s educational 
software publisher 


“ROUND THE WORLD YACHT RACE” 
(9-13yrs) 

“CHRISTMAS ADVENTURES” 
(5-8yrs) 

“SMUDGE THE SPANIEL” 
(5-8yrs) 

Write or call for a brochure 

STORM EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE 
FREEPOST, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 4BR 
7t 0936 817699 


EDUCATION 


Talking Pictures 


Give your 
child a flying 
start and 
colouring fun 
with Talking 
Pictures - the 
colouring book 
that talks. 

See us on stand 1 42 at 
the Acorn User Show. 

\mzlM 1 ,^ ! 


English and Welsh versions are £20 
inc. VAT from Wyddfa Software, 
FREEPOST CS50A, Caernarfon 
LL55 4BR. 

Tel (0286) 870101 Fax (0286) 871722 




DTP on the cheap! 

Lay out pages in Draw and then print 
them all in a single operation, adding 
header and footer text including page 
numbers with DrawBook. £15 + VAT 

Emerald publishing 

PO Box 324, Cambridge CB2 2TP 
Tel: 0223 840138 ♦ Fax 0223 844652 
Write or phone for a catalogue. 


MEWsoft : | Diet Manager IlK* 

-> A unique multi-tasking application designed to help you manage your diet. 
-> Simply drag food from The l-arder onto The Tray 
-> See the nutrient information (Calories, proteins, carbohydrates, fats and 
fibre) in numerical and graphical form, including percentage of target. 
(Targets (RDI) can he set to your individual requirements) 

-> Single foods or complete meals can be analysed with Bar and Pic Charts 
-> The database comes with over 200 foods and new foods can be added. 


Brilliant' An ideal ajtplu « 
"A *rrv kimhI pronrum'" A 


m fin u computet Well executed" Micro Uxer 


n U ti 


Also from MfcWsofi 

Forms Suite II 

An easy to use RISC OS multitasking application for 
ihc design of Forma with lines, boxes, gnils etc 
Used in hundreds of schools. 

Ideal for registers, mark sheets, checklists etc. 

£35 


£35 


inc p&p 


MEWsoft 
1 i Cress v Road 
Hampstead 
London 
NW3 2NB 
Tel: 071 267 2642 
Fax: 071 482 6452 


EDUCATION 


Educational Software 
A 3000 / BBC / Acorn 

Send for our free catalogue of programs 
for all Acorn computers. Ages 5 to 15 

SELECTIVE SOFTWARE 
64 Brooks Road, 
STREET, Somerset, B A 16 0PP 
Tel. (0458) 43079 


R TE 

Software Systems 



(fun 

J H 




I I'NIOR SHEET is a new spread sheet package, which has been 
| designed in association with Bricrton School of Hartlepool, thus 
| adhering to the National Curriculum Junior sheet is the perfect answer 
j for primary schools and secondary schools, .in well as ihc home user 
| Here is an example of the powerful tun;, turns available 


n Easy to use Tool Box. 
a Powerful Calculator Pad 
n Over 40 maths functions 
o Useful Data Base Functions, 
o Unique custom menus/macros, 
a Many useful block functions 
1 n Saves ASCII, CSV. TAB. 'Draw 
k n £50 Single Uscr/Primary licence 

\ 


o Powerful 2D/1D Graphs A Charts 
a Even allows 3D stacked line graphs, 
o All graphs saved for use in !Draw. 
n Direct ‘Hot Link' to any graph 
a Supports RISC -OS printers 
n Utilises any Outline Fonts, 
a New updates available, 
n £125 Site licence. 


10 Pcnarth Walk. Hartlepool. Cleveland TS 26 QTW ( 042 * 1 ) 2 fi 7 ? 



ECONET 


£10 FOR 50 Utilities 

BBC B/Master/Level 2/3/Filestore/SJ 

All easy to use 'star' commands: e.g. Find and Set 
passwords, Electronic Mail, Font utilities and much 
more. Something for All Econet users! 

SAE for complete list to: 

BSCC Software 

c/o 58 Beresford Road, Oxton, 
Birkenhead. MERSEYSIDE L43 2JD 


SERVICES 


sop 

COLOUR ? 
RUBBISH ! 

NO a 50p 100dpi scan from our Sharp 
JX100 scanner can give you near 
photographic results. 

NO a 50p print from our HP500C printer 
on inkjet paper can supply you quality 
300dpi colour copy. 

Also LaserDirect 600dpi prints only 20p. 

ArtWorks £175? inclusive plus free 
colour printing/scanning offer. For full details of 
our affordable services/software/hardware write 
or Tel. 0263 70 669. 9am-9pm. 

BIRDTECH 

16 Wtynor Gardens, Kelling, 
Holt, Norfolk NR25 7EQ 
PS Free booklet stand 81 
Acorn Computer Show 


196 BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 







SOFTWARE SHOWCASE 


PUBLIC DOMAIN 


v ..v..Pi Ch 

' ^ A Peng*'* 




Special Offer : 45 Outline Fonts for £5! 


If you’re feeling a little p..p..peckish for some decent 
PD software then pick up our catalogue. We aim to 
keep just about every decent piece of PD software 
around. That means hundreds of disks! What's more 
it's all at a price that really makes sense. See what 
your missing out on for only £ L.. 

PENGUIN P UBLI C DOMAIN 

PO Box 273, 

London SW4 7XB. 




We give you more than any 
other Public Domain Library; 

The Biggest Range of Acorn PD 
5000 Satisfied Customers 
WYSIWYG Disc Catalogue 
12 Page Printed Catalogue 
Free Telephone Support 
Rapid 1 st Class Despatch 
New A5000 1.6Mb Range 
New PC Emulator Range 
Public Domain Cham 
The Skyf.il PD Club' 

Eureka Dt*c Maganne 


Control i Primed on Oik label* 
Eutwtvr Hmt,n ware 
Sprcui Often 


Send £1 Today for our 
New Autumn Demo Disc 
PO Box 2220.Birmingham.B43 5RX 


n /<rc>\ 

IImdeecutteP □ 


A new I’ D. library offering by far the cheapcsl software. We can give 
you a belter deal because unlike other Public Domain companies, we do 
not make excessive profits from our software 

So don' t resist the temptation... send off tor tlx- catalogue unlay! Just send 
SO pence and we witl send you u demo disc and a catalogue detailing all 
the hundreds of P.D sofwarc we can lay our hand# on Remember, each 
disc costs only 80 penca including p&p 1 

Plea.tr send your SOp to The Undercutter, 1 09 Ijeitnm Avenue. 
Shoeburynest. Essex, SS3 9HE. ( Make cheque t payable to S.Dtrnn ) 


PUBLIC DOMAIN 


DTP 



Join us to 

PD Demo 

celebrate 

Package 11, 

our 3rd 

J fora 

successful 

completely 

year of | 

^ new way of 

trading. 

buying PD. 

Order the * 

M Send that 

all new m 

£1 coin to 

Arcaynia \ 

J us NOW! 

Arcawia Public OomAin 


For Acom Software off the shelf! 

As Acom onlt specialists, we can provide a first 
class range of software, computers and peripherals. 

Impression II DTP £198.00 

Ovation DTP £11633 

Impression Junior £103.69 


VAT 

Inclusive 


15% discount for cash or cheque payments 
July 1992 only Carriage costs £1.00 per order 
If it isn't in stock you can have it next working day! 

E3 

49, Carlton Road Gloucester GL1 SDZTel (0452)311031 


P0 Box 1927 : Surron Colofielo 

874 3PE. 


□ 


Pick your own CUI* ART 

From the comfort of your own home, browse through 
over 300 IDRAWfiles and compile an 800K disc. 
Send £2.00 (refundable with first order) for an 
illustrated catalogue. 

PRICE £1 5 per disc - inc. p/p & VAT 


PES 


72 Kimberley Road 
Iyeicester LE 2 ILF 


ARMistic Public Domain 
& 

Shareware Library 

Send £1 now for the latest catalogue disk 
which contains full details of all our software, 
commercial software reviews and lots more... 
Disk prices start as low as 50p and for all first 
orders you are entitled 30p off. 

Swapping of software is welcome 
(Please make cheques payable to: S.S.Lidder) 
136 Wellesley Road, Ilford, Essex, IG1 4LJ 


□ 


The Arc's first Disc Based 

lalletin Board... 

ist £2.95 monthly 




Demonstrations ol Desk Top Publishing on 

ficorn Computers 

We also oiler 

Sound Practical Advice ■ Demo s Daytime. Evenings and Weekend 

Hardware Sales - 0% Finance on Learning Curves 

Academic's Teacher's • Student's Purchase Scheme 

Technical Support • Home Tuition - Software Sales 

High Definition Scanning and Printing Service Available 


Come To Selective's Show and see the latest 
Acorn Hardware and Software. 

Venue - Junction 24 Motel on the A6 in 
Kegworth Village (near Ml J21) 

Date • Sunday 8th November 1992 
Time 10 .00 am until 5 00 pm 
Admission - Adults £1 Children 50p 

(These admission lees will be donated to a local charitable organisation) 

Desk Top Publishing Education at Home 
Home User - Leisure Small Business User 
Special Needs CD ROM 


S ELECTIVE 

computerBbf 

SERVICESbr 

Telephone Derby (0332) 690691 

Accm^ Approved 

uctwsto coxorr booked 


' ZastsuU Cotu 
tynurirtjHaU, 
9{t ‘Wdlinqborougfi, 
wprtfumts. 

Cheques payable to: 'arctic ' 

Stant..... co*k 6 o.“P<i& 

... 'tAc {£*4*4:' Cl&loPaA & Oct' 92 C&44U.... 
you into t/lc action! 

...(HCluded, Tide* tyuidU & T>idC 

fu&t £4. 95 


Stowey Quarry 

\ MiCrO Bishop Sutton 

r Laser Designs Bristo1 a von 

BS18 4UJ 


KIDDIES OUTLINE FONT - Kids kandwrihn 9 font tl-11 
Other outline fonts under development - please 
phone or write for details 


laser printing service : £1 per A l side (DrawFlIes Ktc 
(Hi-res 600 dpi) lOp per additional copy 


Full design service for letter headings, business 
cards, leaflets, handouts etc. 

Full range of hardware available : 

SCSI - CD ROM - RAM - CC HARDWARE - PC CARDS 
P & P included in price. Please add VAT ® 17V* % 


& FAX (0761) 452356 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1992 197 





SOFTWARE SHOWCASE 


ASTRONOMY 


PLANRA 28G 
ASTRONOMY PROGRAM 

CALCULATES THE POSITION OF THE 
PLANETS 

ON 3 1/2” DISC FOR THF. A3000 

Plot the progression of the planets on a colourful 
star chart. 

Save as a sprite or print out. 

£5.99 

PAUL BADHAM 26. Montville Drive. 
Castlehou.se Gardens. STAFFORD. ST 1 7 9XJ 


STATISTICS 


STATISTICS 

The ESTABLISHED system 

for the Acorn Archimedes is 

FIRST 

Write or telephone for details to 

SERIOUS STATISTICAL SOFTWARE 

Lynwood, Benty Heath Lane, Willaston 

South Wirral L64 1SD 

Tel: 051-327 4268 

NEW lower cost 

FIRST JR 

now available 


ACCOUNTANCY 


Kendal Computer Centre 

68 Stramongate, Kendal, Cumbria, LA9 4BD 

ARCOUNTS MANAGER 

THE ULTIMATE ACCOUNTS 
PACKAGE 

The most highly featured package on 
the market, fully supported, demo available 
call/write for details 

( 0539) 722559 


GAMES 


✓✓✓✓ ( HECK OUT OUR PRICES ✓✓✓✓ 


NEW! Ne>rvon2 £22.(X) Saloon Cars Deluxe £29.95 


NEW! Gods 

ALPS 

Creator 

UltraSonic 

Magpie 

Atelier 

SWIV 

GB ARM 


£ 22.00 

£34.95 

£38.95 

£30.00 

£59.00 

£84.00 

£ 22.00 

£ 22.00 


NEW! Cyber Chess £42.00 
NEW! Black Angel £29.95 
NEW! Last Ninja £22.00 
Archivist Database £24.95 
QuickShot Joystick £12.50 
Joystick I “face (SerPonj £26.95 
Impression 2 £164.95 


Wnrrcnu fOth* "ith CietHOt 01 ALPS 
Send it to u\ f<n evaluation Dtsi < lettoneJ. 


FONTS 


Thousands of different borders 
possible with Border Fonts also low 
price outline Fonts for latest 
catalogue send S.A.E to 

Feral Design, 70 Blakelow Road, 
Macclesfield, Cheshire SK1 1 7ED 


tKfTLINE TPNT 5 

IMoraFonfs than ever before! 

A/ow AinsilP has 6 Jamity membeiE, 
Katiyo has 6, CeLCIC has 4 
Aw CtilNTTST has just 1 ! 

All for just £2.50 each including the famous 
IMoreFonts, so call for our free catalogue 


Design Concept 
30 South Oswald Road 
Edinburgh F.H9 2HG 

0“()31 668 4518 




POOLS PREDICTION 


0 Win the Pools 

Pools Pre d i ct i on Rppli cations 
i RISC-OS 




Cheques to Hinders Software 

28 Ml Green, Kendal, Cumbria. L89 5PH 

Or Phone/Nrite for Inforwation Pack 

053 9-74019 3 


UTILITIES 


! Draw Aid 

Produce !Draw Files as 
varied as these from your 
own BASIC programs. 

.'Draw Aid comes with an Introductory 
Tutorial, a Reference Guide, and 
numerous Example Programs 

PRICE £10 including postage no VAT 
or send SAE for information sheet. 

CARVIC Manufacturing, 

Moray Park. Kindhorn Road. 
FORRES, Moray IV36 OTP 



•t* MU? 



SPECIAL NEEDS 


C J. COMPUTING 

SPECIAL NEEDS 

SALES • REPAIRS ‘ SPECIAL NEEDS 

Please contact us for all your Acorn computers 
(Hardware & Peripherals) 

We specialise in tailoring computer systems for 
special needs 

57 Westbury Hill, 
Westbury-on-Trym, 

Bristol 

Tel: (0272) 624553 




GOM R.O iT.I NG 


SOFTWARE FOR SPECIAL NEEDS 


for FREE catalogue write to:- 
Brilliant Computing, 
FREEPOST Box 142, 
Bradford. BD9 4BR 
NO STAMP REQUIRED 

or phone (0274) 497617/578239 



i 


MAGAZINES 


Illusions] 

42 Wimborne Gardens, Ealing, London, W13 8BZ. | 

Uhe Mchtmedes c Lks & jiAagaztne 

Now in it's sixth issue, with a new multi-taskingl 
displayer Illusions contains articles on Wimp 
Programming, Software reviews and tutorials, \ 
News, Hints & tips. 'Elite' column, Game 
cheats, plus a brand new series of articles on I 
ARM code programming - how to write your \ 
own demos and games , plus two disks of PD. 


Send £3 to the address 
above for issue 6 


See us on the Club A3(3 
stand at the BAU show A 


MUSIC 


LANGUAGES 


Please add P&P: L'K £1.00. Europe £2.50. Outside Europe £4.50 


ALPINE SOFTWARE, Dept <BAU2)Tel: 0762 342510 
PO BOX 25. Ponudown. CRAIGAVON. BT63 5UT 


THEORY OF MUSIC 
Questions and Exercises 

Archimedes £16 Master £15* B £13.50* 

(* plus £1 for 3V2-inch or 40-track) 

LEVEL 1 THEORY OF MUSIC 

(same prices) 

These programs take you from beginnings to Grade 5 and beyond. 
Both have been revised and extended again in 1992. 

TED KIRK (BAU), 33 Humber Crescent, 

ST. HELENS, Merseyside WA9 4HD 0744 818761 

(detailed information on request) 


KEYLINK PROLOG V2.0 

For the Archimedes 

* Uses standard Edinburgh syntax 

* Comes with 120 page tutorial/manual developed 
especially for the first time Prolog user 

* Fully integrated into the RISCOS WIMP environment 

* Suitable for use with large Prolog programs such as the 
Open University's public domain MIKE system for 
Knowledge Engineering and Expert System development 
making it ideal for these components of A' level syllabuses 

£69.95 + VAT (postage included). 

Keylmk Computers Ltd, 2 Woodway House, Common 

Lane, Kenilworth CV8 2ES. Tel/Fax. 0926 50909 


















iUMTECK (UK) LTD 

Opening Hours 

MON-TUE 10am-6pm WED lOam-lpm THU-FRI-SAt 10am-6pm 



86 Meadowbank, Moor Lane, Holway 
Holywell, Clwyd. CH8 7EF 
Tel/Fax 0352 715840 

Authorised Acorn Dealer 








Studio Graphics 

Top quality scalable Clip-Art. We have 7 sets 
available on various subjects. 

SG001 Egypt 1 00+ files on this disc (Colour £8+vat) 
SG002 Flags of the world 270 files (Colour 2 Discs £1 5) 
SG003 General 1 00+ files (Colour & B/W £8 +vat) 
SG004 Christmas 1 00+ files (Colour & BW £8 +vat) 
SG005 General 1 00+ files (Colour & BW £8 +vat) 

SG006 Borders & Cartoons (Colour & BW £8 +vat) 
SG007 Borders For Use Within Poster 100+Files (£10) 

My World Utilities Discs 

Created by Dave Hollett these discs are top quality multi- 
layer drawings for use with the My World proaram. Idea! 
for Schools, and a useful tool for the National Curriculum 
(KS 1/2). Coming Soon MW003 Ancient Greece. 



Disc MW001 ANCIENT EGYPT 
Disc MW002 CHRISTMAS 


£12.95 

£9.99 


Site Licences are Available (Call For Details) 


Where to find us 


CHESTEB 

K* KNE'IGMUa) 

TTC » 

DIJfi 

W i(M 

w 

i 

? RHTL/COUHAY — ► 

3 

as 



Hi 

KEADOWBAXK 


WE ARE 

i 

HEREI 

i 




From Chester follow 
old A55 past Holywell 
until you see Moor 
Lane on your right, 
turn down Moor Lane, 
we are at the bottom 
(Big White Farm 
Gate). From Rhyl (As 
Above) but turn left 
into Moor Lane before 
Holywell 


A5000/80 (with free 2 meg upgrade) 

4 Meg RAM 80mb HD MultiScan Monitor 
£1399 

A5000/80 As Above With Printer. 

£1611 

A5000-LC Learning Curve System with 
MultiScan Monitor. Acorn DTP, 1st 
Word*, Genesis+, PC Emulator, and 
Pacmania, 80mb HD. etc.etc. 

£1445 

A5000-LC As Above But With Acorn 
JP1 50 Printer. 

£1658 

A50004MHD120 MultiScan 
System. 

£1599 

A50G04ivi HD120 As Above With Acorn 
JP150 Printer. 

£1811 

A5000 ES - Network System. 
£1299 

ACORN POCKET BOOK 

256k RAM 1 6-bit NEC Processor 
£213 

A4 PORTABLE 

A4 4meg 60meg HD 


A4 2meg Floppy System 
A4 2meg RAM Upgrade 


£1699 

£1399 

£110 


A4 60meg HD Upgrade £350 

A4 4/60 Includes Free PC Emulator 
Version 1.8 (Offer Ends Dec 31st 92) 

RAM UPGRADES 

A 3000 IFEL up to 2meg, this board can 
be upgraded to 4meg. £59 

A5000 2Meg To 4meg RAM. £99 

A 540 4Mb RAM. £399 


A4000/80 (Home Office System) 
with ARM 250 Processor. Acorn 
Colour Monitor. 80meg HD. 
Software Pack Which includes 
Easi Writer 2. Desktop Database, 
etc.etc. 

£999 

A4000/80 As Above With 
Printer. 

£1211 

A4000/80 (Home Office System) 
With MultiScan Monitor. 

£1049 

A4000/80 As Above But With 
Acorn JP150 Printer. 

£1261 

A4000HD8C System With Acorn 
Colour Monitor 

£949 

A4000/HD80 As Above But With 
Acorn JP150 Printer. 

£1161 

A4000/HD80 MultiScan System. 

£999 

A4000/HD80 MultiScan System 
With Acorn JP150 Printer. 

£1211 

Syquest Removable Drives 

Syquest 44meg Removable £289 
Syquest 84meg Removable £399 
Syquest Cartridge 44/84 Mb£69/£99 

Cases for the above add £79 

CALL FOR SOFTWARE PRICES 


RISC-0S 3.10 ROMS 
£42 



Family Solution 

\ ARM t 


A3010 With ARM 250 Processor 
1 Mb RAM 1 .6 Floppy 2 Joystick 
Ports EasiWord. Will Also 
Connect To Your TV. etc.etc. 

£424 

A3010LC With ARM 250 
Processor 1 Mb RAM 1 .6 Floppy 2 
Joystick Ports EasiWord. Genesis 
Collection. PC Emulator. Acorn 
Colour Monitor, Will 
Also Connect To Your TV. 
etc.etc. 

£680 

A3010LCP As Above With 
Printer 

£892 

A3020 Floppy System With 
Acorn Colour Monitor. ARM 250 
Processor 2Mb RAM. 1 .6 Floppy, 
etc.etc. 

£749 

A3020 As Above But With Printer 
£961 

A3020FD MultiScan System 
£799 

A3020FD As Above With Printer 

£1011 

A3020HD60 With 60Mb HD 
Acorn Colour Monitor 2meg Ram. 
etc.etc. 

£899 

A3020HD60 As Above but with 
MultiScan Monitor 

£949 


PLEASE ADD V.A.T. TO ALL 
PRICES 





TERMS 


UK residents add 1 7 5% VAT to all prices except books Prices and manufacturers 
specifications subject to change without notification. Goods offered subject to 
being unsold and/or available Goods not offered on trial basis Orders under £25 
sent recorded delivery please add £1 Next day delivery £12. All goods despatched 
within 48 hours subject to availability. Restocking fee on non-defective returns 


ACORN USER ADVERTISEMENT PAGES - OCTOBER 1992 


4-Mation 

175 

4th Dimension 

79-81 

AJL Electronics 

197 

Alpine Software 

198 

Alsystems 

136 

Appian Way 

184 

Apricote Studios 

191 

Arcaynia P.D. 

197 

Arctic PD 

197 

Armistice PD 

197 

Arm tech 

199 

Atomwide Ltd. 

18 

Automatic Services 

176 

AVP Computing 

158 

BBC Acorn User Show 

54-55 

Birdtech 

196 

Brain Games 

182 

Brilliant Computing 

198 

BSCC Software 

196 

C.U. Electronics 

150 

Callfind 

60 

Calligraph Ltd 

155 

Cambridge Int. Software 

124 

Cambs. Software House 

150 

Carvic Manufacturing 

198 

Chelsfield Publications 

174 

CJ Computers 

198 

Clares Micro Supplies 

159 

Cleveland Educational C C 1 50 

Colton Software 

2 

Computer Concepts 33-40,66,152 
Computer Tutorial Services 184 

Contex Computing 

176 

CSS 

176 


Cumana 

162 

Cybertech Software 

196 

Dabhand Computing 

144-145 

Dabs Press 

143 

Datafile 

192 

Davyn Computers 

149 

DD International 

30 

Dec Data 

60 

Design Concept 

198 

Desktop Projects Ltd 

28-29 

Digital Services Ltd 

156 

Dream On 

56 

Electronic Solutions 

61 

Electronic Font Foundry 

172 

Emerald Publishing 

196 

ESP 

191 

Explan 

195 

Fact Systems Ltd. 

186 

Feral Design 

198 

Gnome Computers 

195 

Ground Control 

168 

HCCS Associates 

17 

Honormead Software 

60 

HS Software 

196 

ICS (Ian Copestake Software) 

4-5, 6,8 

IFEL 

114 

Illusions Magazine 

198 

Integrex 

32 

Intelligent Interfaces 

158 

Irlam Instruments 

170 


Kendal Computer Centre 192, 197 

Keylink Computers 

198 

Krysalis Software 

177,180 

Kudlian Software 

136 

Lambda Publications 

196 

Leading Edge 

41 

Lindis International 

69 

Liquid Silicon 

76 

Longman Logotron 

IFC.11 

Magnetic Image 

184 

Manor Court Supplies 

136 

MEWsoft 

196 

Micro Discount 

187 

Micro Laser Designs 

197 

Micro-Aid 

174 

Micromania 

186 

Minders Software 

198 

Minerva Software 

65 

Morley Electronics 

24-25 

Mr Disk 

187 

Norwich Computer Services 1 76 

Oak Solutions 

89-104 

Orion Computer 

84-85 

Penguin P.D. 

197 

Phoenix Software 

61 

Pineapple Software 

174 

Planra 28G 

198 

PRES 

134-135 

Primary Education Services 1 97 

Rise Developments^, 14, 118, 195 


Selective Computer Services 1 97 


Selective Software 1 96 

Senlac Computing 182 

Serious Statistical Software 197 

Silicon Vision 72 

Simon Dunn 197 

SJ Research 74-76 

Skyfall 197 

Smart DTP 30 

Soft Sector 30 

Software Bargains 30, 1 28 

Sonamara IBC 

Spacetech 76 

SSERC Graphics Library 196 

State Machine 108 

Storm Software 1 96 

Superior Software OBC 

Systems & Silicon 110 

T.M.J. Computer Software 182 

TDK 22 

Technomatic 164-167 

Ted Kirk 198 

Terrell Electronics 186 

The Data Store 165 

The Serial Port 121 

Timestep Weather Systems 30 

Triple R Education 131 

Unique Way 187 

Watford Electronics 42-53 

We Serve 1 86 

Widgit Software 30 

Wild Vision 127 

Wydff a Software 196 


BBC ACORN USER OCTOBER 1 992 199 





£15 STAR LETTER 

Reviving old programs does 
have its problems. When I 
typed in the Hemera listing, 
(Pieces of Eight, BAH August 
1992) I discovered that the 
process of unearthing old list- 
ings is not so simple. 

The new version of Hemera 
had been RENUMBERed since 
January 1990 and will not 
work in its renumbered form. 
One of the dangers of the 
RENUMBER command is high- 
lighted here, renumber copes 
fine with say, RESTORE 1000, 
changing the line number to a 
new value. 

But when a RESTORE state- 
ment contains a variable such 
as RESTORE x%+ 10000, RENUM- 
BER fails. Unfortunately the 
original Hemera listing is 
stacked full of such com- 
mands, because of its exten- 
sive use of DATA statements. 

If anyone else typed in the 
renumbered version, here's 
how to make it work. First 
make these changes: 

Line 660, change 1070 to 740 
Line 2950, change k=4109 to 
k=3090 

Line 2960, change FOR 1=0 
TO 3 to FOR 1=0 TO 30 STEP 
10 

Line 4140, change RESTORE 
f+6140 to RESTORE 
(f* 10)+4170 

The more difficult problem 
is getting the Help screen to 
read in properly, and this 
involves tweaking the line 
numbers: 

Line 3620, change RESTORE 
(G*10)+3000 to RESTORE 
(G*30)-3540 

Line 3740, add ,* the the end 

of the line 

Line 3750, delete 

Line 3860 remove ,* from