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USER

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Acorn User Awards 1995
Best product
runner up - PublishART

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Acorn User Awards 1996
Best network software
runner up - SerialNET

Acorn User Awards 1995
Best business software
runner up - TableCalc

atimbrell@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/isvproduct/

Acorn User Awards 1997
Best graphics software
Winner * DrawWorks2

DrawWorks Millennium On-line Help

Tint of original colours

PureTint

Object tinting too*

1 [Named Spot Colours

DrawWorks Colounser

Colour to tint object
Colour Cyan (20*o)

Colour model

PureTint colours

J PureTint/* Named j RGB-CMYK

BWj >Var- G'j, 9
War V 10

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Cco» Gr«r *
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Coo! Gray 3
Coc< Cr ay •*

** Cow Gra» t>

' y„ CcdGf*»€
CoW Gray *

% Coe- Gray 8

CoW Gray 9

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CMYK balance tool"

DrawWorks paper Simulator

Alter colour levels

Set brightness

CM y K Seperator

i® PureTint J Named
J RGB CMYK colour peker
Surface Coated

Separations
|/ Cyan separation
W Magenta separation
V Ye«ow separation
[✓ Key separation

- qm tn rc TT Pc r

Smiutate job on cotoured paper

DrawWorks hie rr\ porter

Typography 2100

rr 2 1

DECORATIVE

Teit style m formation

Style Number 003
| Make these seen

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Oop Me here

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L\>tf;rn

Gothic

Colour |
% PureTint

rightr**s loot

>■» n a sm «*jy » ih*ccn»MMooi&ut »ter» me Cn^tness

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Open pace

Transformation Main*

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Change to

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| Make these settings transparent

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Cancel Save Changes

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Original

Print Samitiv

"... the best software...excellent... really
makes a complete package.. .this is the
right purchase. ’’Acorn User

"...a Vantage beater...”
Christoper Jarman

‘...the best new CD-ROM for RISC OS that
I’ve seen for a very long time...extremely
useful... this is the company’s best value
product to date. Buy it without
hesitation.” Rise User

‘...convenient and user friendly.. .very
effective...superb value for money.”
Acorn Publisher

PURPOSE :

graphic design & Illustration

Export Al

Green mmmmmmmm

wmmmmamm 100

1 1

Presenting Mr Clfipy's Print Pre

All quoted prices (unless stated)
are for single users versions only.
Special offers relate to single
user versions only.

Overseas orders please add £2.00 carriage

All details correct at the time of going to press E&OE
NDT 8 Typography are trademarks of iSV Products, All other trademarks are acknowledged
This advert was produced using NDT fonts
and DrawWorks Millennium

iSV Products

86 Turnberry • Home Farm
Bracknell • Berks • RG12 8ZH
Tel 01344 455769

Hands on

H\ Run the Rise

Mike cooks up a relaxing hardware
project this month

Features

VNC

Complicated stuff, but you can use
your machine from anywhere

Reviews

Digital Cameras

Alasdair Bailey reviews three cameras
and the supporting RISC OS software

Rambles

The beardy-fella's on hand to help out
with any of your computer questions

Published by

tau

PRESS

Media House, Adlington Park, Macclesfield SK10 4NP
e-mail enquiries@acomuser.com
http://mvw.acornuser.com/

Tel: (01625) 878888 Fax: (01625) 859808
Printed by The Manson Group Ltd, St Albans

Editor Steve Turnbull
Deputy Editor Dunstan Orchard
Production Manager Alan Jones
Art Editor Anthony Broughton

Contributors

Alasdair Bailey, Walter Briggs, lan Burley, Mike Cook, David
Dade, Andrew Green, Ben Ollivere, Max Palmer, Jill Regan,
Pam Turnbull, Nick van der Walle, Paul Vigay

Account Manager David Bradforth
Ad Production Dunstan Orchard
Finance Manager Charlie Moran
Subscription Manager Richard Siggee
Circulation Director Darren Whiteman
Distribution COMAG (01895) 444055
Managing Director Steve Turnbull

Subscriptions:

0870 6060424

E-mail: subscrip@acornuser.com
13 issue subscription rate: £45.99 (UK),
£51.99 (EU), £63.99 (World)

Acorn Um*t is jv.iil.iblf .is speech from the
Talking Newspaper Association UK

IW Tau Press Ltd

No material may In- reproduced in whole or in part without
written permission. While every care is taken,
the publishers cannot be held legally responsible for
any errors in articles, listings or advertisements and
the views of contributors do not necessarily reflect
the views of the publishers

Internet Services provided by Argonet, www.argonet.co.uk

Regulars

£ News

All the latest on what's happening in
and around the RISC OS world

13 Comms

Gimmicks from free ISPs; getting
thumbnails onto Web pages; fruity
software

24- Noticeboard Pro

p au i Vigay takes a good look at this
able piece of presentation software

2Q Composition

Is this the most flexible bit-map collage
creator in the world?

Graphic Equaliser

Mike Cook and his rock 'n' roll son put
this Rise PC based graphic equaliser to
the test

Graphics page

Using digital stock photography from
the Web plus news on PCA, the new
challenger for OLE's title

Public domain

Desktop themes and utilities, checking
your site links and chopping up images
for the Web

Cover disc

No disc? DON'T PANIC - turn to page
19 to find out what's going on

Game show

A look at a few of the games whose
StrongARM patches are on the Acorn
User Website, plus the latest news

Subscriptions

Get every issue of Acorn User delivered
to your door and the back issues

Letters

Our readers have their say in the
Letters page

The Regan Files

Interviewing Tomislav Simnetl in his
houseboat on the Thames

Free ads Page 60

Advertisers' Index Page 70

Back issues Page 78

Subscriptions Page 78

Psion 5mx

Ian Burley takes a gander at the new
improved Psion series 5

CQ Photodesk Plugins

^ v Nick van der Walle reviews a product
which he wouldn't give up "for love
nor money"

54 TopModel2

^ “*■ Max Palmer rounds off his two part
review of Sincronia's superb 3D
modelling package

Ancestor-!-

Now you can store all your ancestors
on your computer

Education

Education news

Pam Turnbull lets us know what's new
in the world of education

Education reviews

Keywords for the living world and
more on basic number work

Next month

RISC OS '99 Show Report, Artworks plug-ins,
ParaFS, Internet data logging and on-the-fly
gif creation, digital projection, and a
beginners guide to Draw.

Christmas issue on sale 25th November

http://www.acornuser.com December 1999 V/

EMAIL: salcs@cla.u-nct.com hUp://www.cta.u-net.com Tel - 01942 797777 Fax - 01942 79771 1

Curriculum Training Associates
Dept. AU 1 2, 168 Elliott St.

Tyldesley
Gtr. Manchester
M29 8DS

0% Interest FREE credit (6 months) or LOW cost finance available on all new systems.

6 months Interest Free Credit On All Systems inc peripherals, software and 2/3 vr optional warranties (minimum spend £8(M) inc Vat)

nfTwofss RiscStation RiscStation

Rise Based Technologies

Networx 50 mip
Ann75(X) system with
built in Midi, sound
sampler, lOhaseT
network port, High speed
serial tS: parrallel ports,
RISCOS 4

Major Software Bundle
Networx base only £399 + Vat (£468.83 )

Networx 14" system £479 + Vat (£562.83)

Networx 15" system £499 + Vat (£586.33)

Networx 17" system £549 + Vat (£645.08)

See ww w.risc.slutinn.co.uk for more details

R7500 50 Lite 50 mip
system with Midi, sound
sampler, lOhaseT
network port. High
speed serial & parrallel
ports, RISC OS 4
Major Software Bundle

Base only £499 + Vat (£586.33)

14" monitor system £579 + Vat (£680.33)

15" monitor system £599 + Vat (£703.83)

17" monitor system £649 + Vat (£762.58)

Sec w w w.riscstntinn.co.nk for more details

SA233"T" Web Wizard

34Mb/8G/DvdCD/ 1 7" mon/Stereo Spk, Ant
Internet & Jarva with a 56K modem for only

BbeTi I £1145 + VAT

jj|| | B (includes RiscOS 4)

On L.C.F. for only £34,00
per month

233Mhz SA RiscPC Offers

RPC SA bases from £850 inc VAT or
£22.00/month via L.C.F. * AND we will
match or heat your best offer
We can supply any combination or
configutrution you require.

A7000 + Series Machines

A7000+ Classic 29 Mips RO.L7 8M /
IC» HI) /no CD £449.00 (£527.58)
A7000+ Classic 29 Mips RD3.7 I6M /
2Ci HI) /24x Cl) £499.00 (£586.33)
A7000+ Odyssey NETWORK
50 Mips RQ3.7 (4.0) I6M
£525.00 (£616.88)

A7000+ Odyssey CD
50 Mips R()3.7 (4.0) 16M /4G III)/
40x Cl) £549.00 (£645.08)
A7000+ Odyssey Primary or Sec. Pack
50 Mips RO.1.7 (4.0) I6M /4Ci HI)/
40x Cl) £599.00 (£703.83)
A7(XX) + Odyssey Surf
50 Mips R03.7 (4.0) I6M/4GHD/
DVD £699.00 (£821.33)

Aimer prices do not include monitors
see se/mutte price II si

RISC OS 4
£99.00 +vat

\ (£116.33) place your
order now

Filling & data transfer, if required, £25
inc vat (£15 with new' HD).

Stock Available NOW

All monitors inc 3 yrs
wty unless specified

MONITORS

14* SVGA 0 28 (3yr on-sito)
14* SVGA 0.28 Mutti-Modia
15" SVGA 0.28 (3yr on-site)
15" SVGA 0.28 Multi-Madia
17' SVGA 0 28 ( lyr RTB)

17" SVGA 0 28 (3yr on-6ito)
17' SVGA 0 28 m-media(3yr )
19* SVGA 0 26 (lyr RTB)

19" SVGA 0.26 (3yr on-site)
21" SVGA 0.25 (3yr on-silo)
38" SVGA (lyr on-silo)

15“ llyama Vision Mastor 350
17* liyama Vision Master FST
17* llyama Pro 410
19* llyama Pro 450
21“ llyama Pro Diamondtron
AKF53 Multisync 14* lyrRTB
AKF50 Multisync 14* lyrRTB
AKF12PAL f4" return 90 flays
AKF52/53 M/sync rofurb 90 days
AKF60 SVGA 14 * return 90dnys
Multisync A300/A3000 cable

Ex VAT
£7900
£99.00
£99 00
£125.00
£129.00
£149 00
£169.00
£270.00
£329 00
£540,00
£1450 00
£125.00
£235.00
£269.00
£415.00
£659.00
£160.00
£195.00
£ 65 00
£99.00
£65.00
£8.50

Inc VAT
£92.83
£116.33
£116.33
£146.87
£151.57
£175 08
£198 58
£317.25
£38658
£634.50
£1703 75
£151.27
£276.13
£316.06
£487.63
£774.33
£188.00
£229.13
£76.38
£1 16.33
£76.38
£9.99

Show Specials
A3000/A3010
170mb ill) & i/f
£69 + Vat (£81.08)

A300/A400

200 ml) III) & I/K

£59 + Vat (£69.33)

(hard drive mounts extra)

(Above otters available
while special stocks lust )

ACORN MKII
TRACKBALL
& MOUSE

£29.79 + VAT

HARD DRIVES AND SUBSYSTEMS WHY PAY MORE/??

A3000/A3010

A 3020

A4000/A5000/A400

RPC / A7000 / RiscStation

Ex. VAT

Inc VAT

Ex. VAT

Inc VAT

Ex. VAT

Inc. VAT

Ex VAT

nr VAT

170Alb

CBS

£99 88

£49

£57 58

210Mb rofurb

£25

£29 38

2.1Gb

£60

£70.50

340Mb

£99

£116 33

£65

£76.38

420Mb

£40

£47.00

4 3Gb

£70

£82.25

512Mb

£115

£135.13

£79

£92.83

540Mt>

£49

£57.58

6.4Gb

£80

£94.00

810Mb

£125

£146 88

£99

£116.33

730Mb

£80

£94.00

8.4Gb

£89

£104 58

1Gb

£135

£158.63

£109

£128.08

1.2Gb

£95

£111.63

16.8Gb *

£115

£13513

2Gb

£150

£17625

£125

£146.88

2.1Gb

£100

£117.50 ;

20.1Gb*

£145

£170.38

3Gb

£155

£182.13

•

£130

£152.75

3.2Gb

£105

£123 38

25 0Gb *

£185

£217.33

4Gb

El 75

£205.63

£149

£175.08

4.0Gb

£115

£135 13

36.4Gb *

£285

£334 81

A3(XK)/A30I0 version includes CD ROM i/f
which can also be used in A3020 or A4(XX).
For external A3(M)() i/f add £20.00 +VAT
# includes partitioning software

* inc. internal removable HD
& CD ROM i/f.

For partitioning software only
deduct £25.00 + vat (£29.38)

* requires RISCOS 4 or
Partitioning software for
RISCOS 3.5 / 3.6 / 3.7
only £25.00 + val (£29.38)

Removable Drives

IDE Drives

11)1 Untrv injuirv* iliitvi* «« lurilwa/c

Zip 100 tnt £65 00 (£76.38)

Zip 2S0 int £85 00 (£99.88)

Parallel Drives

lUulkl drive* iixIuU.- Av< <n S'liv. ju-

Zip 100

£99.00

(£116.33) Jaz 2G ext

Zip 250

£159.00

(£186.83)

Jaz 1G

£239.00

(£280.83)

Jaz 2G

£299 00

(£351.33)

SCSI Removable Drives

(£99 88)
(£158.63)
(£163.33)
(£193.88)
(£276.13)
(£276.13)

SCSI HARD DRIVES

540Mb • limited supply £40.00 (f47 00)

1Gb £50.00 (£58 75)

2Gb (5400 rpm) special £80.00 (£94.00)

2Gb (7200 rpm) # £100 00 (£117 50)

4.3Gb (5400 or 7200rpm) £140.00 (£164 50)

9 1Gb (7200rpm) £196 00 (£230 30)

18.6Gb (7200 rpm) £345.00 (£405 38)

36 4Gb (7200 rpm) £640 00 (£752.00)

l or EXT. SCSI I case £50.00 + VAT (me. cubic)
for EXT. SCSI II case £55.00 ♦ VAT (inc. cable)

CD-ROM WRITERS

Prices Start
\ • * from

£149.00 +

THE BEST PRINTER PRICES

( Please ring for latest prices )

Ex VAT

Inc VAT

Canon BJC 1000 colour

£77.00

£90.48

Canon BJC 2000 colour *

£89.00

£104.58

Canon BJC 2000 Scan

£158.00

£185.65

Canon BJC 4650 colour »

£228.00

£267.90

Canon BJC 4650 Scan #!

£275.00

£323.13

Canon BJC 7000 colour «

£169.00

£198.58

Epson Stylus 440 colour

£85.00

£99.88

Epson Stylus 660 colour

£116.00

£136.30

Epson Stylus 850 colour

£185.00

£19387

Epson Stylus 1520 colour

£350.00

£411.25

Epson Stylus Photo 700 #

£135.00

£158.63

Epson Stylus Photo EX »

£265.00

£311.38

HP 6 10C colour

£69.00

£81.08

HP 895CXI colour

£200.00

£235.00

HP LASERJET 1100

£249.00

£292.58

HP LASERJET 2100 PCL

£454.00

£533.45

HP LASERJET 2100 PS

£514.00

£603.95

Photo dnvers for #

£58.72

£69.00

Scanner dnvers for !

£29.79

£35.00

2x2x6x £149.00

T 6x4x1 6x £199.00

CD-BURN £49.00

CD*SCRIBE 2 £49.00

(£175.08)

(£233.83)

(£57.58)

6 Drive
40x
SCSI
CDROM
Towers
£499
(£ 58633 )

SCSI 8x
Autochanger
£85.00 + vat
(£99.88)

CD-ROMS

IDE

SCSI

48x

£39.00

(£45.83)

40x

£65.00

(£76.38)

40x

£35.00

(£41.13)

32x

£55.00

(£64.63)

£30.00

(£35.25)

£30.00

(£35.25)

For external IDE or SCSI I add t'50.00 + VAT (me. cable)
For external SCSI II add £55.00 + Vat. tine, cable)

IDF. driver for RiscOS 3.5 £15 + vat
IDE int. fitting kit £5 inc. Int. SCSI fitting kits from £10 + vat

Removable Drive Media

100Mb Zip
Zip 5 pack
2 50Mb Zip
120M LS 120
MOMOPD
7SOMt> Nomat
1Gb Jazz
2Gb Jazz
1 5Gb Syquesl

ex VAT
£8 00
£35.00
£12 78
£700

rio.oo

£38 00
£5800
£69.00
£58.00

Ire VAT
£9.40
£41.13
£1499
£8.23
£22 33
£4465
£68.15
£81.08
£68.15

5 2Gb OVD RAM

CDR CD-ROM
COR 10 pack
CDR 25 pack
COR 80mm 10 pc.
CDR 80mm 25 pc»
COaWCOROM
CORW 10 pack

it VAT
£25 00

£1 28
£1000
£2128
£12 00
£25 53

tsoo

£40 00

me VAT
£29 38

Interfa ce Ad a pters

Des ktop FAX MODEMS

• • 4 FREE Acnmi driver hv request* ‘

56k X2/V90 3Com USR

Cl 18.30

£129.00

56k Flex/V90 (Rockwell)

£55.32

£65.00

ISDN modem (external)

£99.00

£116.33

ANT Internet Suite

£94.05

£110.51

Webster XL

£21.28

£25.00

IJava CD

£33.19

£39.00

ArcFax Fax software

£26.38

£31.00

EESOX SCSI 32-bit DMA

£84.26

£99.00

Storm SCSI 8-bit (A30x9 int)

£88.00

£103.40

Storm SCSI 16-bit (podule)

£96.00

£112.80

Storm SCSI 32-bit DMA (podule)

£128.00

£150.40

Powertec SCSI3 32-bit DMA(podule)

£170.00

£199.75

Simtec 8-bit (A3000/A3010)

£55.00

£64.63

Simtec 16-bit (AX00/A5000/RPC)

£45.00

£52.88

APDL 16-bit DMA

£45.00

£52.88

APDL BlitZ 32-bit DMA

£99.00

£116.33

Removable IDE or SCSI housing unit

£20.00

£23.50

High speed serial cards single

£67.23

£79.00

High speed serial cards dual

£75.75

£89.00

High speed serial cards triple

£84.26

£99.00

3 yr Warranty on ALL Acorn MEMORY why Pay More??

High Quality MEMORY

NEW LOWER PRICES

A3 10 4Mb Upgrade
A310 RISC OS earner board
A310 MEMCla upgrade kit
A40Q/1 1Mb Upgrade (per Mb)
A3000 1-2Mb Non-Upgrodonble
A3000 1-4 Mb Upgrade
A3000 Serial Pori Upgrndo
4 -8Mb Up (A310, 440. 3000')
A3010 1 -2Mb Upgrade
A3010 1 -4Mb Upgrade
A 30204000 2-4Mb Upgrade
A 5000 2 -4 Mb Upgrade
A5000 4 -8Mb 25MT & 33Mhz
NEW AStO 4Mb

FPA10 for A5000 or Arm 3 Card
Replacement VIDC or IOC chips
* rework if required

Inc VAT
£41.13
£22 . 33
£23.50
£29.38
£17.63
£41.13
£22.33
£64 63
£23.50
£52 88
£47.00
£52.88
£64 63
£52 88
£55.88
£23.50
£29.38

RISC PC MEMORY

Also for A7000

Ex VAT

Inc VAT

8Mb SIMM

£10.00

£11.75

16Mb SIMM

£20.00

£23.50

32Mb SIMM

£42.00

£49.35

32Mb high clearance

£53.00

£62.28

64Mb SIMM

£8500

£99.88

128Mb SIMM

£160.00

£188.00

1Mb VRAM

£29.00

£34.08

2Mb VRAM

£73.00

£05.78

1-2Mb (exchange)

£63.00

£74.03

RiseOS 3.11 Rom upgrades

£25.()0 exc Vai (£29.38)

33 Mhz Arm 3 upgrade SPECIAL

with FPA socket
FPA 10 (25Mhz)

£45.00

£84.26

£55.88 inc.
£99.00 inc.

RPC 16 bit audio & mixer £59 inc
RPC audio mixer £35 inc

MICE & KEYBOARDS

High Quality
Acorn ERGO
Mouse £12.00
(£14.10)

Acorn TracfcerbaU Mouse NEW
Acc*n Ongnal Mouse
Acorn ERGO Mouse NEW
A 7000 replacement Mouse NEW
Ergo (std) Rjsc PC Keyboard
Ergo curved Rise PC Koyboard
A40CA5000 replacement K/brd
A400/A5000 Ergo Koyboard

Ex. VAT
C29.79
C25.00
£12 00
£12.00
£21 28
£2978
£59.00
C69.00

Inc. VAT
£35 00
£29.38
£14.10
£14 10
£25.00
£35.00
£69 33
£81.08

COLOUR SCSI SCANNERS

All scanners inc Acorn Softw are

P'llel Mustek 600dpi £99.00 (£1 1 6.33)

Mustek A4 600dpi £119.00 (£139.83)

Mustek A4 1200dpi £149.00 (£175.08)

Epson GT7000 £199.00 (£233.83)

Epson GT7000P £249.00 (£292.58)

Inuigeniaster A Twain also available
separately

Replacement Floppy Drives

A 3000/400/500 £29.00+vat (£34.08)
A30X0/4000/5000 floppy allows
cross - formatting of HD and DD
discs £29.00+vat (£34.08)

POWERED SPEAKERS

Ex. VAT Inc. VAT

60 watts with PSU £13.50 £15.86

240 watts with PSU £21 .00 £24.68

Subwoofer system £42.00 £49.35

Character Mouse Mats

Southpark Kenny

£4.99

Southpark Cartman

£4.99

Dtsney Mickey. Pooh. Donald, etc

£4.99

X-Filos (four types)

£4.99

Gariiold or novelty

£4.99

Standard mat Cl .00 / Econ. £0.65

Switch Boxes

2-1 with cable £15.00 £17.63

2- 1 Auto with cable £ 1 5.00 £ 1 7.63

4-1 with cable £19.00 £22.33

2-1 Monitor/K’board £29.79 £35.00

R-Cump CD -I l ( )M Software

ABUSE £22 00 I Ounke (due soon) £33 00

Oescent £27 00 Syndicate £26.00

Doom* Trilogy £30 00 Towers of Darkness £30 00

(£32 50 with book) (Hexen Triple)

Heroes of M^nt £32 00 Doom secrets Book £10 00

and Magic 2 (CTA Special)

NETWORKING

ETHERNET INTERFACES

Ex. VAT Inc VAT
A3000 ini. 10baso2 or T. Access* £89.00 C104.58

A400/A5000 10base2 or T Access-* £89.00 £104 58

A40Q/A5000 10base2 & T Access* £99.00 £1 16.33

A3020 10base2 Access*/exi. MAU £99.00 £1 16.33

A3O20 lObasoT AccessWetx. MAU £99.00 £116 33

Rise PC/A7000 10baso2 4 T Acc* £99.00 £1 16 33
Rise PC/A7000 10bM«2 Access* £79 00 £92 83

Ant Accoss* ROM upgrado £10.00 £1 1.75

Network Hubs (more available)

Ex VAT

Inc VAT

8 Port 1 0 base

£39.00

£4583

8 Port 100 ’special*

£125.00

£146.88

8 Port 100/10 Auto

£149.00

£175.08

18 Port 10 16T+ 2BNC

£75.00

£88 13

16 Port 100/10 Auto

£249.00

£292.58

16 Port 100/10 Auto
(inc 3 port switch)

£299.00

£351.33

24 Port 100/10 Auto

£389.00

£457.08

24 Port 100 ’special*

£349.00

£410.08

Cables

£3.00 £3.53

£5.00 £5.88

£6.00 £7.05

10M

£10.00 £11.75

20M

£15.00 £17.63

Slate

I0basc2 or lObuseT

any size made to order

We supply and / or install all
network components please
ring Tor your requirements

N KT WORK 1 NCI SC H'l'WARK

Topcat sue sconce
NTfiler site Sconce
OmnscSeot s«e licence
Lanman98 sngle user
Wn95FS smgle user
Unman or Win95FS
to user site licence
lanman or Wm^S
20 user site kence

£489 00
C97 00
£489 00
£35 00
£35 00
£11000

(£*87.53)
(£113 98)
(£587 50)
(£41.13)
(£41 13)
£129 25

£156 00 t '•«.* \

Consumables

Premier Quality Ink Refills
Single refills (1x22ml) £6.00 inc

(2x22ml)

(3x22ml)

(C.M.Y)

(C.M.Y.K)

Twin refills
Triple refills
Tri- Colour
Quad-Colour
125 ml
250ml
500ml
1 litre

£10.00 inc
£14.00 inc
£15.00 inc
£20.00 inc
£21.00 inc
£38.00 inc
£50.00 inc
£70.00 inc

All sizes available in C.M. Y.K

E LOPPY DISKS @ 20pU

DD Ro labol Acorn fml 10
DD Re-label Acorn fmt 100
HD bulk Acom or PC 10
HD bulk Acorn or PC 100
HD Branded 10 pack
20 cap Disk Box
40 cap Disk Box
100 cap Disk Box
Mouso cleaner
3.5’ Floppy head cleaners
CD-ROM cloanor

Ex VAT

Inc VAT

£2.00

£2.35

£17.02

£20.00

£2.00

£2.35

£17.02

£20.00

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£2.00

£2.54

£2.98

£3.50

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£5.86

£2.50

£2.94

£4.25

£4.99

Printer Ribbons, Inkjet
Cartridges,

New/Rccyclcd Laser Toner Carts

Prices available on request

ARCSHARE

Acorn networking for PCs
£29.95 exc Vat £35.19 inc Vat
sec network section for Cards etc

StrongARM Rev ”T"

£259.00 inc VAT

(with any Hard Drive / Memory
purchase)

RiscPC PC Cards

DX2-66 £145.00 inc VAT

DX4-100 £195.00 inc VAT

586- 1 00 ( Aleph) £290.00 inc VAT

586-133 (CJE 512) £300.00 inc VAT

We can repair/upgrade your
machine(s) and monitors at
competitive prices please ask
All Acorn's, BBCs & PCs

Refurbished RiscPCs
Available now refurbished RiscPC
Systems with AKF60 Monitors

.niv £499 + Vat

(All Prices below include VAT)

THE BARGAIN BASEMENT

Acorn Software Bin

Acom Pocket Book.. Schedule £10.00

Alone in the Dark £29.00

Arm Tech Labeller £9.00

Arm Tech ClipArl (various per pack) £8 00
Birds ol War £20.00

Boxing Manager £8.00

ChildPlay (desklop) £14.95

ColourSep (Colour Separation Software) £8.00

Creator 2 £25.00

D'File Font Pack (Academy) £10.00

D'File Font Pack (Balmoral) £10.00

D'File Font Pack (FrooStyle Script) £10.00

D'File Font Pack (Manhattan) £ 1 0.00

D'File Font Pack (Mastercard) £10 00

D'File Font Pack (Old Towne 536) £ 1 2.00

Diary ♦ £9.00

Drifter £30.00

FIRE and ICE £15.00

Frak (lor RPC) £13 00

Galactic Dan £10.00

Game ON (for RPC/ A7000) £1 5 00

Global Effect £25.00

Guile El 0.00

HERO QUEST £15.00

Imagery Art Package £25.00

Jahangir Khan Squash £8.00

KV ( Platform Game) £8.00

My World Support Disc Ancient Egypt £12.00

My World Support Disc Anciont Greece £ 1 3.00

Nuclides II and Elements II (save £5.00) £25.00

Quest for GOLD

£5.00

RAMplity

£17.95

Revolation 2

£29.00

Shuggy

£14.95

SilvorBall

£9.99

StrongGuard

£25.00

T.A.N.K.S.

£16.95

TURBO DRIVER - Epson Stylus

£45.00

Visual Backup

£15.00

Wavelength

£12.00

World Class Leaderboard (GOLF)

£10.00

Acorn CD-ROM Software

Crystal Maze

£15.00

D’File PDCD 4

£5.00

D’File PDCD 5

£10.00

Hutchinson Encyclopedia

£39.00

Robert Duncan Cartoon KIT

£39.00

TopicArt CD

£5.00

Tots TV ABC

£15.00

YITM Electricity and magnetism

£15.00

YITM Elements

£15.00

YITM Materials

£15.00

YITM (all three titles)

£35.00

CD General Resource Titles

10000 Clip Art (Draw Format)

£5.00

550 fonts

£5.00

Symphony Music collection

£5.00

Internet Clipart (new)

£25.00

COREL DRAW 5

£29.00

1/2 price (or less) Book Bargains

Dabhand Guide ’Budget DTP’

£3.00

Dabhand Guide ’C’ ver 3

£8.50

Dabhand Guide *C* ver 2

£3.00

Dabhand ’Graphics on the ARM

£7.50

Dabhand Guide ’Impression"

£7.50

Internet info server

£20.00

SOL

£17.50

Various Hardware Bargains

A3010 2Mb bases from

£85.00

£99.88

A3020 2Mb bases from

£125.00

£146.88

A4000 2Mb basos from

£150.00

£176.25

A 5000 4Mb basos from

£225.00

£264.38

A7000 4Mb basos from

£275.00

£323.13

A4 Portables (6 months wty)

£500.00

£587.50

RPC basos from

£435.00

£511.13

SVGA Monitors Various from

£45.00

£52.88

Pionoor SCSI 4x 6x stack

£139.00

£163.33

Wc have a large collection of
Budget PC software suitable for
RPC Pc Emulators and PC clones
inc. Education, Home, games an
utilities please ring for list

Alternative PC Bases

i.e. Sicilians Nixorf Pentium
200 MMX from ONLY £249.00
+ VAT ring for latest prices.

MOW TO ORDER

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made payable to 'CTA DIRECT.

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OFFICIAL ORDERS by MAIL or FAX please
Carriage charges inc. inv K packaging charged at cost

Small items (under 2Kg) no more than £6 + vat

One box of items totalling upto 25kg. ..£6.50 +■ vat

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All prices are correct going to press. E&OE

All goods arc fully guaranteed hut not supplied on

approval

news

Photo printer

Canon has just launched revised BJC-
5000 and 6000-series ink-jet printer
models. The new A3-capable BJC-5100
and A4 6100 are faster than before and
print quality improvements, in the
6100 in particular with its tweaked
1440x720 dpi print head, suggest it
could be a justifiable alternative to
Epson's all-conquering Stylus Photo
on photo-quality alone.

The rather disappointing BJC-7100,
with its complicated PPOP plain
paper optimising system, remains on
Canon's catalogue for the time being,

BfC-6100

but despite being positioned as its
photo printing contender, print
samples we've seen from the 6100 are
decidedly superior - on photo paper
at least. For mono printing, the 6100 is
capable of delivering text documents
at a rate of up to ten pages a minute.

Canon is also persevering with its
snap-in 300dpi scanner head, which
swaps out the print head. At the much
reduced price, it's now a more realistic
proposition compared to a dedicated
scanner. The 6100, which is now
being assembled at Canon's
Glenrothes plant in Scotland, also gets
a USB port, the first for a Canon ink-
jet printer.

Another notable feature of the 6100

BJC-5100

stakes

is its use of separate ink-tanks for each
individual ink colour, which Canon
says will reduce waste and print costs.
Most current ink-jet printers force
users to throw away un-used ink
when one colour is used up as the
other colours are contained in one
tank.

Oddly enough, Canon is revisiting
the multiple tanks first pioneered in
its BJC-600 model line about six years
ago. The company adds that many of
its future model releases will adopt
multiple tank systems as well. Canon
is also working to commence ink tank
production in Glenrothes next year.
Please note, RISC OS compatibility
with the new BJC 5100 and 6100 was
not confirmed at the time of printing.
Please check compatibility before
buying.

Subscription gifts

All subscribers who had been
expecting the latest batch of Acorn
User subscriptions gifts should, by
the time this is published, have
received them. If you think you
haven't, contact Richard Siggee at
subscrip@acornuser.com for
advice. (If you ring you will
receive a re-direction message to
the new phone number.)

Castle's ISDN bargains

A very sad item of news, recently,
was the demise of PMC Consumer
Electronics based in Shipley, West-
Yorkshire, which manufactured
modems under the familiar Pace
brand. PMC grew out of its famous
parent company, Pace Micro-
electronics, several years ago as a
management buy-out, leaving Pace
to concentrate on TV set-top boxes
and digital TV products. Indeed,
Pace recently acquired what was left
of the old Acorn business after
Element-14 was created.

This was to strengthen its
broadband networking expertise, an
area Acorn had invested in heavily

in terms of research and
development.

The Pace brand has been a
familiar name in modems since the
early '80s, but the market has
become perilously cut-throat in
recent years. Diversification into PC
peripherals like TV tuners and
graphics cards wasn't enough to save
PMC. Despite the passing of PMC,
some of us at least can benefit from
bargain clearance stock.

Castle Technology has secured a
supply of PMC's Pace ISDN Pro
terminal adapters and is offering
them for the very attractive price of
£99 including VAT and delivery. The

product was previously on sale for as
much as £149+ VAT. Castle is also
throwing in a free trial offer for the
Argonet Internet service, which is
tailored especially for the Acorn
community.

The Pace ISDN TA has all the
usual ISDN features, including
multilink PPP for aggregating two 64
kilobit channels to enable a 128
kilobit throughput (16K bytes/
second or around a megabyte a
minute).

For more information, check
Castle's Website at http:/ /www.
castle.org.uk, or phone 01728
723 200.

http://www.acornuser.com December 1 999 'KQ

news

Photo printer

BJC-5100

BJC-6100

The rather disappointing BJC-7100,
with its complicated PPOP plain
paper optimising system, remains on
Canon's catalogue for the time being,

Another notable feature of the 6100

stakes

Oddly enough. Canon is revisiting
the multiple tanks first pioneered in
its BJC-600 model line about six years
ago. The company adds that many of
its future model releases will adopt
multiple tank systems as well. Canon
is also working to commence ink tank
production in Glenrothes next year.
Please note, RISC OS compatibility
with the new BJC 5100 and 6100 was
not confirmed at the time of printing.
Please check compatibility before
buying.

Subscription gifts

Castle's ISDN bargains

A very sad item of news, recently,
was the demise of PMC Consumer
Electronics based in Shipley, West-
Yorkshire, which manufactured
modems under the familiar Pace
brand. PMC grew out of its famous
parent company. Pace Micro-
electronics, several years ago as a
management buy-out, leaving Pace
to concentrate on TV set-top boxes
and digital TV products. Indeed,
Pace recently acquired what was left
of the old Acorn business after
Element-14 was created.

This was to strengthen its
broadband networking expertise, an
area Acorn had invested in heavily

in terms of research and
development.

Castle Technology has secured a
supply of PMC's Pace ISDN Pro
terminal adapters and is offering
them for the very attractive price of
£99 including VAT and delivery. The

product was previously on sale for as
much as £149+VAT. Castle is also
throwing in a free trial offer for the
Argonet Internet service, which is
tailored especially for the Acorn
community.

The Pace ISDN TA has all the
usual ISDN features, including
multilink PPP for aggregating two 64
kilobit channels to enable a 128
kilobit throughput (16K bytes/
second or around a megabyte a
minute).

For more information, check
Castle's Website at http://www.
castle.org.uk, or phone 01728
723 200.

http://www.acornuser.com December 1 999

Digital

camera news

Dorset-based RISC OS imaging specialists, Spacetech,
have introduced some interesting new digital cameras
and reduced the prices of some older favourites. The
compact new 190g Olympus C-21 is priced £699.99. It
sports a tiny, yet extremely robust aluminium alloy casing

and despite its size is easy to

> use and packs a 2.1 million

^ * pixel l/2in CCD chip -
t curren tiy the best resolution

in the consumer digital
camera market - to deliver
1600x1200 resolution images.

— J It also sports TTL focusing

and light, metering.

Meanwhile, the best-selling mid-
priced Olympus C-900 ZOOM has
been superseded by the new C-920 ZOOM. Improve-
ments include manual ISO sensitivity adjustment and a
4.5cm TFT display which now has a
wider viewing angle. It also has
increased memory for faster image
saving and
continuous
shooting for all
quality settings.

Its 1.3 megapixel
resolution
provides 1280
pixel wide images.

Spacetech are introducing the new model at the same
price as the out-going version.

Olympus' entry level digital camera, the C-830L, has a
similar resolution to the C-920 ZOOM, but doesn't have
some of the newer model's extra features, like continuous
shooting and an optical zoom lens. It's still a value
contender at £349.99 and Spacetech also
throw in a colour filter.

Olympus' current
flagship consumer digital
camera is the C-2000
ZOOM which is now
available from Spacetech
at £649.99. Like the
compact C21, it has a high
resolution 2.1 million pixel
l/2in CCD but adds a formidable 3x optical
zoom lens. For photo enthusiasts, the C-2000
ZOOM also has a wide range of manual settings, plus
external flash synchronisation.

For further information
contact: Spacetech Ltd. at
http:/ /www.spacetech.
co. uk, tel: 01305 822753,
fax: 01305 860483, or e-
mail: chris@spacetech.co.uk

— ■

5 rml

OIVMPOS

Attention all
Linux fans

Keith Gaughan, from Aclare, Co. Sligo in Ireland,
has contacted us to point out that he has started a
project similar to the Linux Open Documentation
Project by the name of Bibliotech. Full information
is on the Web at http://members.xoom.com/
dlm_design/bibliotech/ and submissions should
be made via kgaughan@geocities.com.

It had been pre-announced on Acorn
newsgroups in the summer, but a technical
problem involving Keith's college mail server
meant that earlier submissions were lost. He would
be very grateful if everyone who has sent
submissions re-send them.

Tau Press
on the move

After ten years as a hub of Acorn magazine production
Media House is to be finally vacated. While IDG
Media (previous owner of Acorn User) has been bought
by Paragon Publishing and Europress (who owned
Acorn User before that) has gone to Hasbro, the current
publisher Tau Press is moving a few miles north of the
Macclesfield address into Stockport.

As the magazine went to press negotiations were
almost complete to move the business into the same
building as Desktop
Projects - the
Stockport-based
Acorn dealer.

Steve Turnbull,

MD of Tau Press,
said: "Since taking
over Acorn User we
had been planning
to move and the
opportunity to go to
the Heapriding
Business Park is
ideal. Not only will
we be right next to
Desktop Projects, but our subscription mailing house is
also just across the way.

"The old green field site was very nice (except when
the wind was from the pig farm) but now we'll have
the advantage of being easy to get to by road, rail, bus
or even plane."

The move will happen just before the RISC OS '99
show - just as this magazine is hitting the streets. All
telephone lines will change (the old lines will be re-
directed) but the e-mail addresses will remain the
same.

December 1 999 http://www.acornuser.com

RISC OS

Serving the RISC OS community

_ t ssei sj? -j _ ? ' : • s n ^ v'^sssssssbhbhhhhhhbhbhhihhhhbh

Authorised

Installer

The first major event of the post-Acorn world,

RISC OS 4 is now shipping. Compatible with RiscPC
and A7000(+), it provides a whole host of improvements
for the new millennium plus great new bundled software!
Stand up and be counted as a supporter of our favourite
operating system - place your order today!

£116.33

plus £25 fitting and data transfer if required

SIBELIUS

THE MUSIC NOTATION SOFTWARE

The Data Store now provides the official
Customer Support service for Sibelius Acorn programs.

To celebrate this, we've reduced the price of Sibelius 7
and we're offering one year's technical support free with
every copy sold up to 30th September.

Our specially priced PCs for Acorn Sibelius users
moving to Sibelius for Windows are still available.
Please call for details.

Junior Sibelius! £ 55.00

Sibelius 6 £105.00

Sibelius 7 Student £320.00

Sibelius 7 £525.00

Optical Manuscript £275.00

Sibelius for Windows/Mac £595.00

lability.

FONTFX

Just a few examples of the effects
that FontFX 6 can produce...

Border effect

f °nTFX VERSION*

Grow and shrink feature

User-definable shadow length and direction

FOf TFX

Rainbow fill option 3D shadow effect

For further details or to download
FontFX Lite > please visit our web site

£31*35 iiic, VAT mu i

Site licenses and upgrades available
Please phone for details

Connected to the Net?

Then why not visit us online?

THE DATA Sp&

Company information, directions to our
showroom, contact details, information on
the range of Data Store Software, online
price lists, downloads, Sibelius Software
information and lots more...

POINT YOUR BROWSER TO...

http://www.datstore.demon.co.uk/

THE.DATA STORE

microcomputers

□

9 6 CHATTERTON ROAD BROMLEY KENT BR2 9QN

Telephone ( 020-8)460 8991 • Facsimile ( 020 - 8 ) 313 0400

Web http://www.datstore.demon.co.uk/
Email info@datstore.demon.co.uk

(all prices in this advertisement are inclusive of VAT at 1 7.5%)

StrongARM upgrade service

Memory and processor specialists, Simtec, report they
have received a lot of enquiries about modifying
StrongARM cards from users wanting either a faster
233MHz part or to upgrade to a Rev T device. Therefore,
Simtec has launched a service to meet this demand.

For £100 inc. VAT and UK postage, Simtec will send
you a suitable postage box with anti-static packing and a
static-strap for you to safely remove (and reinstall) your
card and post it to Simtec. On receipt, Simtec will test the
card, change the chip to a rev-T 233MHz device and, on
200MHz cards, make the necessary modifications and
component changes to run the processor at
approximately 233MHz. The card will also be tested
before being returned.

Simtec aims to turn orders around the same day. UK
postage is included as First Class Recorded. An extra £3 is
required for registered post. Contact Simtec directly if
you are based out of the UK. Simtec provides a six month
guarantee for the upgrade.

Simtec very openly warns potential customers that
because the process requires changing the processor
and, thereby, the characteristics of the card, they point
out that on some 'marginal' systems, like those with
PC cards, and those that have already required
adjustment, there is a small risk that the system will
require retuning.

Simtec ensures that the customer's original card is

Hidden invaders!

Robert Purchase (u8rp@dcs.shef. ac.uk) has found
there is a space invaders game in RISC OS 4 hidden in
the module IRQUtils.

To activate it, use the following BASIC command:
SYS"OS_Module" ,2, "IRQUtils". These amusements
aren't that unusual in the software world.

Microsoft's voluminous Office '97 suite even hid a
comprehensive flight simulation type program. The
question is, was Bill Gates amused?

1 1 i i l M C \t t i \i
i> e: 9 §. b; &, g; g.

Scot. 16 ISISO U§ irwA-t :

9999

99999

9999

9 99

999

9 99

9 9

returned, but re-tuning work is not included in the
upgrade price. Contact Simtec at: Simtec Electronics,
Avondale Dr, Tarleton, Preston, Lancs, PR4 6AX,
tel: 01772 812863, fax: 01772 816426, or e-mail:
info@simtec.demon.co.uk

ARM works
with Microsoft

Apart from the fact that you can now buy StrongARM-
based Windows CE machines, the increasing
importance of ARM hardware to Microsoft has
been recently demonstrated by a joint project which
involved the two companies in optimising ARM-
specific support for Microsoft's Windows Media Audio
standard.

Driven by chip manufacturer demand for ARM-
powered digital audio products with Windows Media
Audio support, the ARM implementation is the first
embedded processor-specific Windows Media Support.
ARM and Microsoft were able to decrease power
consumption and memory requirements by a factor of
four, resulting in reduced system costs for digital audio
devices running the Windows Media Audio file format
and codec on ARM cores.

With the availability of Windows Media Audio for
ARM, manufacturers of ARM core-based products
can now provide CD-quality audio at twice the
download speed and half the storage space of some
competing audio formats, especially valuable as
witnessed by the rapidly growing Internet music
industry. Cirrus Logic will be among the first to
implement the new audio standard in its range of
embedded ARM solutions.

Meanwhile, ARM has announced joint development
work with Ericsson on developing Bluetooth support
for mobile phones. Bluetooth is an industry-wide
standard for cable-banishing wireless short distance
communications. Bluetooth is closely associated with
the Symbian mobile operating system group, of which
Ericsson is a member. Symbian is currently dedicated to
the ARM platform. Finally, ARM has announced that
3Com, perhaps the largest player in the networking
world, will implement ARM embedded cores in its
next-generation networking cards.

RISC O-X?

Thomas Leonard, a 3rd year computer
science student at Southampton
University, has announced the ROX
desktop, a project which aims to
provide a RISC OS style GUI on
Unix/Linux machines. Leonard
reports that the Filer code is mostly
finished and the desktop already
supports drag-and-drop loading and
saving, application directories and an

iconbar. You can download the core
components (filer, session manager
and text editor). Now Leonard is in
need of some user-feedback. You need
access to a Unix or Linux machine, but
root access is not required.

The ROX homepage is at:
http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~tall97/
ROX/index.html Thomas Leonard can
be contacted at: tall97@ecs.soton.ac.uk

December 1 999 http://www.acornuser.com

London to follow
Manchester?

As the legend goes, on 18th July
1997, Tommy Lowe wrote to the
comp.sys.acorn.misc newsgroup
asking if anyone might be interested
in the possibility of joining a new
Manchester Acorn user group. He
felt that twenty interested parties
would be a reasonable critical mass.
Over two years later, the Manchester
Acorn User Group (MAUG) has 150
members and is the UK's largest
regional RISC OS user group. Its
dozen-strong committee includes
dealers, developers, students,
teachers and enthusiasts from the
north-west's thriving RISC OS
community.

The bad news is that Tommy
Lowe has, along with some other
notable MAUG founding members,

succumbed to the lure of career
opportunities down south. The good
news is that there are now proposals
to emulate the success of MAUG in
London. Their plan is for a smaller
and more informal meeting
arrangement, moving around the
area and even including lunchtime
get-togethers if warranted.

An informal initial meeting was
scheduled to have taken place by
now and hopefully the seed has been
sown for the new London RISC OS
User Group or suchlike. If you are
interested in joining in too, e-mail
dgs@argonet.co.uk for more
information.

Manchester Acorn User Group -
http: / / w w w.acorn. manchester.
ac.uk/

Sub-licensing
RISC OS 4

RISCOS Ltd has issued a statement
declaring their delight that
negotiations with several sub-
licensees for RISC OS 4 are nearing a
successful conclusion: "The Board of
RISCOS Ltd has established a pricing
schedule that balances the
development costs, past and future,
of this high quality product with the
needs of sub-licensees to be able to
achieve competitive pricing. The
schedule includes a progressive scale
of discounts to reward those sub-
licensees who are prepared to commit
to volume purchases and which
avoids subsidising individual
equipment manufacturers at the
expense of others.

"RISCOS Ltd is committed to
carrying the operating system
forward into the new Millennium as
a cutting edge product for ARM-
based systems. We have already
commenced work on hardware,

VIDC and IOMD independence, the
ability to run in 32-bit mode and are
adding new features to the OS."

Paul Middleton, RISCOS Ltd's
Managing Director added: "I am

delighted that sub-licensees have
recognised the increased speed,
stability and features that RISC OS 4
brings. This new operating system
complements perfectly the
advanced technology being
incorporated in the new generation
of RISCOS computers that will soon
be launched."

Acorn Southwest Show

The Acorn Southwest Show will
once again be taking place, on
Saturday 19th February 2000 at The
Webbington Hotel, Loxton, nr
Axbridge, North Somerset.

The show is supported by Bristol
Acorn Rise User Group. The doors
open at 10am and close at 4.30pm.
Entry will cost £2 for adults, £1 for
ARM Club/RISC OS Foundation
members, while children under 16
are can enter free if accompanied by
an adult. For information about the
show: tel /fax: 01935 413170,
e-mail: acornshow@argonet.co.uk,
or browse: http://www.argonet.co.
uk/acornshow

Sail safely
with RISC OS

Stuart Nundy spotted a novel use
for a Rise PC, recently. A BBC 9
O'clock News item on Friday,

17th September, covering the use
of aircraft-style in-flight black box
recorders for commercial
shipping, like ferries, showed a
Rise PC monitoring a prototype
black box fitted to the Pride of
Portsmouth ferry. With
Windows' worrying reliability
level, perhaps we shouldn't be
surprised to find a Rise PC being
employed to monitor a critical
task such as this. If you have seen
any other out of the ordinary
Acorn/RISC OS applications, let
us know.

Contacting RiscCAD

David Buck would like to remind
everyone interested in the
RiscCAD package that from 8th
October 1 999, correspondence
should be addressed to him at a
new address: 33 Cromwell
Crescent, Pontefract, West
Yorkshire, WF8 2EG. In fact,
by the time you read this,
forwarding from the old address
will have ceased. Alternatively,
you can e-mail: david.buck®
freeuk.com.

Acorn's FTP site closes

Considering the fact that Acorn as
an operating company no longer
exists, this news is perhaps more
surprising for its lateness than for
its actuality. Since Friday 24th
September, the Acorn FTP site
(ftp.acorn.co.uk) has no longer
been available. Pace Micro
Technology, who acquired the
remnants of Acorn Computers
earlier in the year, kindly
continued to host the Acorn FTP
site June. Fiowever, Pace did not
acquire acorn.co.uk and
acorn.com domains.

Clearly, the Acorn FTP site was
living on borrowed time provided
by Pace. Indeed its use has
reduced over time to very low
levels and most of its contents
aren't very recent. However, there
is a sentimental and historical
archive value in the site and
Acorn User have distributed
snapshots of its site content on
cover CD-ROMs, so it lives on in
a sense.

http://www.acornuser.com December 1 999

Internet ready computers!

Plug in, turn on, connect and surf!

CJE Micro’s can now supply you a ready to roll
Internet solution. The internet software is
installed and set up with a free Internet service
provider. Up to five email addresses
and 15MB of web space.

A7000+ 32MB, HD, 14" Monitor
& Internet Pack £850

RiscPC 32MB, HD, CD, 15" Monitor
& Internet Pack £1300

Internet Systems built to your specifications.

Internet pack consists of Modem, ANT Suite
installed and set up with free Internet access.
(Telephone calls at local rate.)

Free Internet!

For existing RISC OS users we can register you
with a free Internet account, provide the
ANT Suite log on script and instructions.

(Telephone calls at local rate.)

5 email addresses & 15MB web space.
Simple painless instructions

Connection Pack Includes

Registration, with free Internet Service Provider,
script disc for Ant Suite and instructions.

Connection Pack

With the ANT suite

With ANT suite and modem

£15

£120

£195

All prices include VAT & UK delivery

Second Hand RiscPCs

600s from £480, StrongARM from £700

(when available)

A7000s From £350

A7000+‘Foundation’ or ‘Extreme’ £700

StrongARM

Upgrades

Revision *T'

Now available

£292

RiscOS 4 £120

Fitting & HD reformatting Service

£25 or £15 with New Hard Drive
Courier collection & return also available.

Plustek OpticPro A4 1200x600 inc. Acorn S/W £140 (with Slide unit £180 )

PC Card 5x86 133MHz 512k Cache £225

5x86 With Part exchange:- £90 CJE586 128k, £125 Acorn 586 & £170 DX2/66
IIYAMA 17” Visionniaster Pro 0.25nini ag £350
32 Speed IDE CD ROM Drive £60

CD ReWriter SCSI Yamaha 4416 with S/W (needs SCSI interface) £320
Acorn C++ HALF PRICE £125
100MB Zip Drives from £85, 56K V90 Modem £80
10.2GB IDE Hard Disc £135 25GB IDE Hard Disc £280

S/H Acorn

£550

250MB Zip Drive SCSI Ext. £185, Printer Port version with S/W £215, Int. IDE £165
9.1GB SCSI Hard Disc £290 18.2GB SCSI Hard Disc £680

Acorn Access+ Interfaces RiscPC NIC l0b2&T £110, 10b2 only £80
DRAM SIMMs for RiscPCs 32Mb £60, 64Mb £95 & 128Mb £200

CJEV35

CJE Micro's
78 Brighton Road
Worthing
West Sussex
BN11 2EN

Tel 01903 523222 Fax 01903 523679 sales@cje.co.uk http://www.cje.co.uk

■■■■

All prices INCLUDE VAT @ 1 7.5%

& Delivery. Official Orders Welcome E&OE
Prices subject to change & stock.

Name that domain

comms

Dm fo>

Free ISPs, Internet Service Providers
offering free dial-up access, e-mail and
Web space, are now so numerous that
ever more attractive features are being
devised to ensnare customers. Limited
duration weekend unmetered calls on an
0800 number are offered by companies
such as IC24 (http:/ / www.ic24.co.uk/)
while Screaming.net (http://www.
screaming.net/) requires you to change
your telephone service provider to get
free local evening and weekend calls to
its servers.

Totalise (http://www.totalise.net/)
give you free shares in the company, free
telephone support and Web access to
your Totalise e-mail address, freenetname
Ltd is one of several companies offering
free connection, e-mail, Web space, free

Minutes away from your own domain

phone support and a free Domain Name
registration. With freenetname you also
get free DNS hosting with unlimited
address e-mail and Web forwarding to
your own exclusive co.uk or org.uk
domain name, adding kudos and
credibility to your Internet presence.

Domain name registration with
Nominet normally costs £94 inc VAT for
two years, and DNS hosting, e-mail and
Web forwarding - the cross-translation
of e-mail and Web page addresses to
machine IP numbers - usually incur
extra charges, freenetname gives you all
these free, and expects to recover the
costs from the local-rate telephone call
revenue and make a profit as well. For
this reason, you must use their dial-in
number to send and receive e-mail, and
to upload pages to your domain's 20Mb
Web space.

One advantage for Acorn users is that
you can sign up online for all these
freenetname goodies without Windows
or Internet Explorer. I was able to open a
freenetname account and register a nice
domain name using my Rise PC and
ANT's JavaScript Fresco version 2.03
with SSL. I spoke to a freenetname
technical support advisor who
recognised the Acorn brand, as he'd
used BBC Micros all the way through
school. Get your domain while you can
from http://www.freenetname.co.uk.

Thumbs up for Web images

ThumbHTML by John M. Jakobsson
creates an HTML page of small
thumbnail pictures from a directory of
Web image files. The desktop program
uses Acorn's ChangeFSI to make small
JPEG copies of your
original GIF and JPEG
images, and creates a
tabulated HTML page to
display them on your
Browser. You'll need
version 1.15 of ChangeFSI,
which can be found at
http:// www.arsvcs.demon.co.uk/
webster / download / d load .h tm

To include optional hyperlinks to the
full size images, the program copies
them to a new directory, which seems a
waste of space unless you delete your
originals. The resulting index page loads
very quickly, but the thumbnails vary in

size because they are scaled equally.
Watch out for errant slashes in filenames
that may result in blank thumbnails. You
can find ThumbHTML at http://www.
jako.demon.co.uk/progs/ info/th.htmi
Paul Vigay's AntUtils
vl.22 uses a different
approach to display
thumbnail images more
neatly, but the page takes
much longer to load. Paul's
program presents the full
size images to the browser
which scales them to a constant width
on loading. AntUtils offers many other
functions to enhance the ANT Internet
Suite, including timed fetches, random
sig. for e-mail, search engine selection
and Fresco feature controls. Find it at
Paul's shiny new site http:/ /www.
vigay.com

Knitting your browse

Carl Pfeiffer's Browse mailing list
exists as a focus for support of
Acorn's Browse Web browser.

The mailing list is unofficial but
has many members including
some of the original authors of
Browse.

Recent discussion has covered
impending version updates and
even the practicality of starting
new RISC OS Web browser
projects based on some of the
open-source browsers from other
platforms, such as Amaya,

Netscape and Opera.

To join the list send an e-mail
to majordomo@riscos.man.ac.uk
with 'subscribe browse' in the
body of the message.

Pete's receipt

Peter Gaunt's been busy adding
to his Internet utility software
wildlife menagerie, 'rrt' isn't a
frog call, but gives ANT Suite
users the facility of automatically
sending back confirmation that
an e-mail has been received.

These requests are embedded in
the plethora of normally hidden
headers that precede the e-mail
text itself.

Peter suggests that setting this
up requires a moderate amount
of thought, and recommends
users read his help file and test it
locally before going 'live'.

You can badger Pete for the
program by sending an e-mail to
badger® beard.demon.co.uk with
just 'get armadillo apps/rrt' in the
body.

Socketeer bears fruit

Socketeer, the popular freeware
Internet connection application
by Matthew Bloch, is now being
nurtured by Andy Carter. Andy,
known as Fruit to his oldest
friends, is a long-time Acorn
enthusiast and has owned many
Acorn machines, from an Atom
to a Rise PC.

For anyone setting up
Socketeer with other freeware
Internet programs, his Argonet
Website contains useful
information and resources.

You can also find out about
the Waterwheel plant and other
carnivorous genera that Andy
nurtures in greenhouses at his
home by visiting http://www.
argonet.co.uk/homepages/fruit/

Contacting AU J

David Dade:
comms@acomuser.com

http*

nuser.com December 1 999

Icon Technology

New Pro+ version of Easiwriter and Techwriter now available

EasiWriter professional

• Powerful, fully featured, multi-column word processor.

• Reads and writes MS Word 6, 7 & 8 (Office 97/98).

• IMPRESSION text files with styles are imported complete with formatting.

• Reads and writes HTML. Splits large documents with automatic generation
of forward /backward links and contents.

• Reads RTF (Rich Text Format).

• Creates Hypertext documents.

• Built in Table Editor.

• Automatic bulleted and numbered lists.

• Mail merge.

• Automatic numbering of Lists, Sections etc.

• Powerful spell checker.

• Style editor.

EasiWriter professional

£119.84

Easiwriter Pro+

£139.00 (offer)

TechWriter professional

"Its great! At the risk of writing advertising copy for
Icon Technology, no piece of software on any platform has
made me grin with delight as I discover new features as
much as TechWriter has." Archive

• All the features of EasiWriter professional plus a pow-
erful easy to use equation editor.

• Writes TeX.

• Saves equations as GIF's (using TcchWriter professional

InterGif) when writing HTML. £178

• Used by the Mathematical

Association to produce the Techwriter Pro-f

Mathematical Gazette. £199.00 (offer)

New! Pro+

Text flow over graphics

Paragraphs can contain multiple graphics which can be left and right aligned
with text flowing over them. Allows drop caps.

Java enabled

Run Java Applets inside an Easi /Techwriter window

Plus...

Over 100 new user definable keyboard shortcuts, runs animated GIFs and
Animator files, 300/360 dpi equation resolation when saving as Word.

Upgrade your StartWrite or
TalkWrite to EasiWriter professional
for just £60.00 inclusive.

Icon Technology Limited

Church House • Carlby • Stamford • Lines • PE9 4NB
Phone and Fax 01778 590563

http://www.icontechnology.net

email: sales@IconTechnology.net

The CD distributed with RISC OS 4
contains a variety of digital stock
photography images, all supplied by
one of the major players in that
industry. Photodisc. This
acknowledges that they, at least, are
iii teres ted in designers working on
platforms other than the Mac.

The advantage of using good
digital stock photography is clear: the
designer gets the flexibility of ready-
made images to work from in much

the same way as clip-art, but without
the prohibitively high cheese factor.

Many traditional stock
photography traders insist on pricing
a specific image to match the context
in which the image is used: A mono-
chrome print of an image used in a
short print run will cost less than the
same image printed in colour for a
widely distributed magazine. And
then there's the issue of how to charge
for an image to be displayed on a
Website.

Photodisc, and a small
number of other
companies, operate a
much more

straightforward pricing
structure, largely based
on the size of the digital
file containing the image.
The images are royalty-
free so, having licensed
them, you can use them
in as many different
projects as you wish
(with one caveat about
packaging materials,
greetings cards and the
like). Photodisc's
Website, at www.

photodisc.com, makes it possible to
search, license and download single
images in a single session, although
you'll need Secure Socket Layers
available in your browser to be able to
licence the images with your credit
card.

Their total image library runs to
tens of thousands of photos, and
contains a wide variety of objects
photographed against a clean white
background, making them ideal for
compositions.

One other royalty-free digital stock
photography trader worth mentioning
is Stockbyte, whose site at
www.stockbyte.com is in dire need of
attention - although their advertised
vacancy for a webmaster suggests
they're looking to improve in this area.
Nonetheless, it's possible to buy
specific images directly through the
site, and Stockbyte also offer a custom
CD-burning service.

Contacting AU J

Andrew Green:
gniphics@acornuser.com
Don't forget to send in your
entries for Pic of the Month!

The new OLE

As a direct result of their involvement with the Xemplar
NC, Clares Micro Supplies have developed a unique-to-
RISC OS variation on the idea of OLE, called PCA. With
traditional OLE, an object in one application (often a
graphic in a DTP document) can be exported to an
appropriate image-editing application, modified, and
then saved back into its original place within the first
document.

The trouble with this approach is that it can prove to
be highly memory-intensive, as two copies of the object
are used by the computer until the modifications are
saved back.

PCA-compliant applications change this by allowing
the object to be modified in situ by any PCA tools the
system has available: the extra editing tools use the in-
memory copy contained in the actual workspace of the
host application.

PCA tools don't have to be loaded immediately either,
just available for the system to call when appropriate. The
downside of this approach is that the PCA host application
has to trust all of the tools available on the system not to
corrupt the block of memory they share. The clear upside
is that the system allows consistent editing features to be

maintained across a whole range of compliant host
applications, allowing each one to be extended in
functionality as and when new tools become available.

It's a very RISC OS way of doing things. The typical
Windows approach of having to use a single application
to make every conceivable adjustment to a document is
rare as it stands on RISC OS - the OS makes things so
easy to apply a range of small programs to a single
project. PCA hints at a highly useful development of that
strategy.

Currently the only tools available are for editing
sprites, although Clares envisage text-editing and other
tools becoming available as the idea catches on. If Zap or
StrongEd (assuming continued development of the latter
by someone) were to become PCA compliant, it would be
possible to edit a text object in one application directly,
using your favourite text editor.

Clares' own Composition and David Pilling's Ovation
Pro (a perfect home for the technology) are PCA
compliant, with TopModcl and DaVinci soon to follow. It
remains to be seen whether many other applications will
embrace the system - see www.claresmicro.com for
further news as it happens.

http://www.acornuser.com December 1999

LinkSure

application called LinkSure. LinkSure is an amazingly
simple yet effective HTML link checker. I've subsequently
decided that it's one of those applications that you never
thought you'd need, but once you've used it a few times
wondered how you ever made do without it.

In a nutshell, it checks links on Web pages. It's pretty
efficient at its job too - and so simple to use. Just double-
click on it and it pops onto the iconbar. All you then have to
do is to drag an HTML file onto its icon and it starts
scanning straight away.

Not only does it check any links to local files on your
hard disc but is capable of checking remote links too, so you
can quickly find out if any of your links are broken. Indeed,
1 can easily check my various links pages to see if the
remote sites are still where I thought they were supposed to
be. The only slight limitation I could find was that just
occasionally LinkSure would hang up if a particular remote
site doesn't respond in the way LinkSure
would like it to.

This appear to be a problem with the
various fetcher mechanisms because Richard
tells me that he's tried it with other http
fetchers and it behaves in the same way.

Nonetheless, it's a useful utility to have to
hand when checking a Web page to make
sure all the links are correct and actually
point to valid pages.

LinkSure is available to download in beta
form from http:/ / www.goodwin.uk.com/
richard /programs/

Kitted

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LinkS u re's progress window

Part of the
HTML results
window

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ImvinuM 14

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First off this month is another visit to Richard Goodwin's
'House of Mabel' Website. When downloading software
from the Web to review in this column, one of my pastimes
is spending a few extra minutes wandering around people's
sites. This either lets me discover additional goodies or
lesser known software to download and more often than
not gives me a bit of fascinating background to the various
RISC OS users on the Internet.

One goody I discovered on Richard's site was a little

LinkSure "

Status

File

URL

Attempt

URL

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http://u w w . arson et .co.uk/

Checking

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Desktop themes

Also on Richard's site is an interesting project he has just embarked upon -
and one I'm surprised no one has done before. A desktop theme selector.
What is this? I hear you ask. Well, it's probably more familiar to people in the
PC world (possibly because they are not happy with the look of Windows on
their desktop) and is a system whereby you can change the whole look and
feel of your desktop environment with a simple click of the mouse button.

For instance you could give your desktop an
'Aliens' feel (why you should want to. I'm not
sure, but anyway the choice is yours) complete
with new icons, backdrop and window furniture
(the scroll bars and window icons and so on).

You can even assign sounds to various wimp
events if you wish to be really irritating.

Although in it's early development stages,

Richard's implementation is looking good so far
- as the accompanying screenshots should show.

You will probably recognise it if you've been to
the movies recently. Keep checking the URL
above, and I'm sure Richard would be willing to
include your own artwork if you've designed a
theme of your own.

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Icons

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Theme configuration window

The Matrix desktop theme

December 1999 http://www.acornuser.com

ECS Utils

Here is another useful little
application which deserves a
mention. It's slowly evolved over
time to become a helpful collection of
desktop enhancers, all housed in a
single application.

Its main features fall into several
categories, including Filer additions,
wimp additions, mode additions and
an application launcher. A lot of ECS
Utils' features are invisible to the
user, activating themselves only
when required by the use of a 'hot
key' press.

Most of the enhancements are
valid while the mouse pointer is over
the window you want to act upon.
Move it over a standard RISC OS
Filer window and you can then press
the function keys to change the
display mode or sort order, bring
windows to the front, back or center
of the screen.

A useful option for non-RISC OS 4
owners is the ability to open a 'notes'
directory simply by moving the
pointer to the right edge of the
screen and clicking Select. This will

also open automatically during drag
operations so you have a convenient
way of saving files when you've
started dragging but forgotten to
open a destination directory first.

ECS Utils lets you toggle between
frequently used screen modes at the
single click of a button, as well as
providing a function to turn off the
hourglass - which might be useful to
Zap users!

You can also scroll a window up,
down, left or right simply by holding
the Alt key down and pressing the
relevant cursor key. This works on any
window, even if it has no scroll bars.

Something unique, which the
author claims is entirely new to any
computer platform, is called a
'Version Manager'.

Drag a Filer object (file,
application or directory) with the Alt
key pressed and a new directory will
be created with a name derived from
the first five letters of the name of
the Filer object followed by the
letters 'Vrsns'. Inside this directory
will be another, this one has a name

derived from the Date/Time stamp
of the original Filer object. Inside this
will be the unaltered original Filer
object. This is very useful when
creating many versions of a program
or file, as you don’t need to keep
renaming them.

Finally there are some invaluable
miscellaneous functions of ECS Utils ;
A rudimentary mouse speed control
mechanism, a snapshot grabber and
a fine pointer control.

The window snapshot utility is
handy very. Just tap both Shift keys
simultaneously and ECS Utils will
save a snapshot sprite of the window
or menu below the mouse pointer.

Hold Ctrl down at the same time
and ECS Utils will strip off the
window furniture (scroll and title
bars and so on) and just save the
actual contents of the window for
you. Smashing!

ECS Utils comes complete with a
comprehensive IHelp file and even a
manual in StrongEd format. It can be
downloaded from ECS' Website at
http://www.innotts.co.uk/~ecsltd/

SChopper

Rob Davison has come to the help of
graphic Web designers with this
handy little utility to chop up sprites.
Web designers will know that it's
sometimes desirable to have a big
image made up from multiple image
pieces, but up until now, creating
these pieces has been
a tedious job of
cutting and pasting.

SChopper lets you
quickly divide any
sprite file up into
horizontal and
vertical 'slices',
before saving out as
a collection of
rectangular sprite
pieces, which you
can then convert into
GIF or PNG format
ready for uploading
to your Website. By
the time you read

this, GIF, JPEG, and PNG support
may have been added, but in the
meantime download yourself a copy
of Peter Hartley's InterGIF.

SChopper is available to download
from http://www.geocities.com/
Silicon Valley /7320/archives/

After chopping. The reassembled pieces on a Web page

Contacting AU j

Paul Vigay:

pdpage@acomuser.com

The graphic being divided up for chopping

3.5" IDE Hard Discs Public Domain, Shareware and other low cost hardware and software for RISC-OS computers

• V

Drive

Plus i/face

210 Mb

£39

£81

420 Mb

£49

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540 Mb

£57

£105

1.2 Gb

£63

£110

2.1 Gb

£73

£120

2.5 Gb

£75

£122

3.2 Gb

£79

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4.2 Gb

£82

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6.3 Gb

£89

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10 Gb

£111

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12.7 Gb

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16.8 Gb

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£201

18.8 Gb 5 #M

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£226

'Plus i/face

’price includes an

APDL fast IDE interface.
Part-exchange available if
you need a bigger drive .
Please phone for prices .

2.5"

IDE Hard Discs

A 3020

3010/3000

30 Mb

£36

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80 Mb

£49

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120 Mb

£53

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£60

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AM) 10/3000 includes APDL IDE
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SCSI Hard Discs

210 Mb

£29

420 Mb

li/li

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£74

4.2 Gb

h/h

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4.2 Gb

£159

8.7 Gb

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£229

IDE CD ROM drives

Internal

Drive with all cables and drivers
for RO 3.6+ where required
36x £45

40x £47

Drive including APDL IDE interface I
36x £92

40x £94

External

Drive in case with power supply and
including an APDL IDE interface.
Probably the best way to fit a CD to >

40x £151

CD ROM driver software

Works with most ATARI CDs eg.. Pioneer
Goldstar, Panasonic. Lite-on, Mitsumi,
Sony. Hitachi, NEC, Toshiba, Sanyo, etc.
Includes CDES for use with RO 3.5.
Intended for RPC hut can be used with j
an A5IMX). Only £8 or £7 with a drive

TP*»

Th*f>OL>brur

|[j^Datq/fte

Prices include VAT and UK carriage except hard drives add £5 for internal drives, £8 external

This is only a fraction of what we have available. We also have thousands of discs PD and Shareware and around 500 discs of
Acorn formal clip arl. For a lull catalogue on KOOK or 1 ,6Mb disc please send 50p or two I st class stumps or sec our web site.

p APDL, 39 Knighton Park Road, Sydenham, London SE26 5RN m

■ Phone: 0181 7782659 Fax: 0181 488 0487 WWW.opdl.CQ..uk/

APDL Public Domain, Clip Art and other CDs

The best PD CD from the best PD library. Over 1,800 programs and utilities,
more than 100 novels, etc. No games, clip art, music, or other lion-serious stuff.
Around 700 games and novelties, over 250 games cheats and over 200 demos,
plus over 2,000 music files and more than 550 digitised sound samples.

Each have over 500Mb of clip art files, all ready to use in Acorn Draw, Sprite
or Artworks format. Ideal for use in education.

Third highly acclaimed APDL clip art CD. Over 720Mb of material. Great for
schools or anyone who needs a huge collection of clip art at a sensible price.

ust £34.50

Our latest clip art CD. Over 12,000 images, plus more than 400 Artworks files
and 170 high quality colour pictures. All catalogued complete with thumbnails
A collection of twenty of the best 1*1) games of all types. Ready to run direct
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1000’s of photo quality pictures, background textures, buttons for web pages,
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Our Games Collection No. I CD was so popular we’ve done it again. Another
twenty of the best best games at a real budget price.

A great budget priced games CD from APDL. Full versions of three popular
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Six classic games from Soft Rock Software, plus a new version of ! Trellis, the
adventure game creator/interpreter with two adventures
By request from our customers, the pictures from the Fantasy section of the
APDL catalogue. Lots of Sword ’n Sorcery pics and many others
A Cl) ideal for schools. All the things we know you want. Over 5.000 Acorn
format clip art images, 100’s of e-texts, over 300 useful programs, and more.
Pictures, databases, information on stars, planets, moons, space missions, etc.
etc. A massive amount of data at a realistic price.

Geographical database w ith a huge variety of data and statistics on every
country. Simple menu-based interface. Including IKurthmup
Translating dictionary program by David O’Shea w ith dictionary files for over
50 languages, although some are limited to a few hundred words.

Now with eight games. AlfaXLS, Pharoahs Secret Tombs, Last Cybermoch,

Sea Trek, Caves of Confusion, Rohocatch, Gold Run and Jewels of Jc/abar.

APDL PD-1 Issue 4

£12.50

APDL PD-2 Issue 4

£12.50

DTP-1 and DTP-2

£14.50

DTP-3

£17.50

DTP-1 plus DTP-2 plus

DTP-3, j

DTP-4

£19.50

Games CD 1

£7.90

The Grafix CD

£7.90

Games CD 2

£7.90

Skullsoft Collection

£9.90

Soft Rock Collection

£9.90

Fantasy Pictures

£7.90

£16.50

Earth in Space

£9.90

Earth Data

£9.90

New Ergane

£7.90

£16.50

RiscPC and A7000 RAM

8 Mb

£8

16 Mb

£25

32 Mb

£47

32 Mb High Clearance

£52

64 Mb

front

£79

128 Mb

front

£139

2 Mb VRAM

£69

I Mb to 2 Mb exchange

£47

Datafile PD CDs

PI) C D -3

£6.50

PD CD -4

£8.50

PD CD - 5

£6.50

APDL ideA fast IDE interface

• No complicated setting up. It's self-configuring so just plug it in!

• Uses DMA (Direct Memory Access) on Rise PC. Over twice as fast as the
built in IDE interface or others which don't use DMA.

• Includes CI)FS and ATAPI CD drivers for many popular Cl) ROMs.

• Four devices, any combination of CDs and hard drives.

• Up to 8 partitions, so you can have large drives on pre RO 3.6 machines

• Software in flash EEPROM for easy update (including VProtect).

• Supports the new range of Syquest SparQ low cost 1Gb removable drives.

• Connectors are available for external drives or Cl) ROMs

• Fits A3 10, A400, A5000, A540, A7000 and any RiscPC.

All these features for the incredibly low price of just £52
A version for the A3000, A4000, A3010 or A3020 is available with all the
above features. Supports two internal and two external devices - £02

New - Orb 2.2 Gb Removable media drives

The latest removable media hard drive. Fits in lloppy drive bay on the Rise PC’ and
works from cither of our IDE cards. Bare drive with one disc - £2 1 9

Special package deal, Orb internal IDE drive, two 2.2 Gb discs,
plus our IDE interface - £219 Extra 2.2 Gb discs just £39 each

Ancestor +

Available at last! The long awaited successor to Graham Crow’s highly 8
popular genealogy program Ancestry, previously sold by Minerva. Upgrades
from Ancestry I and Ancestry 2 available. Can import Ancestry 1 and II,
IFamily and GEDCOM files and export GEDCOM and HTML Only £59

ACE 586 PC cards

Available with from just £199 with trade in against your old card, which
makes it even cheaper. Good performance for Windows at a sensible price.
128K to 512K cache upgrade (fits most cards with socketed processor) £99

General software

Faster VC - £20 The alternative XT PC
emulator. Works on am model with 2Mb
RAM from A3000 to Strong ARM RPC.

Power Base - £15 Popular extremely
powerful but very easy to use database.
With examples, tutorials and printed
manuals. Better than most products costing
many times the price. Does everything that
99% of database users w ill ever need.

Menu Bar - £15 The very best pull-down
menu system. An absolute essential for any
hard disc user. You can switch between up
to 30 different menu bars. Incredibly easy to
set up. add items to menus, move them, etc.

Tiger - £15 Lets you use very long
descriptive filenames. Unlike some products
this is very robust as it works in parallel
with the filer so can't corrupt discs.

\York I bp - £15 Switch between up to 30
different environments with a single mouse
click. Stars the tasks you require, opens
directories, loads files, changes screen mode.
Just like moving to another computer. An
essential productivity tool.

Joy Connect joystick podule

Works with most games. Podtde with one 9
joystick £42 Extra joysticks £4 each.

Connect 32 fast SCSI

We have a limited number of these very fast K
interfaces (up to 7.5 Mb/sec) at only £99

(Data ©SAFE

Data Safe - A new concept in backup and data security

A new idea from APDL, Data Safe consists of an external case to hold a 3.5” IDF
hard drive, connected to your machine's printer port. This gives a large capacity
portable drive, movable between machines and locations. Ideal for backup, secure
data storage and transport. The filer has all the features of our ideA card so you
can partition drives, password protect partitions, etc. Great for schools. Supply
your own drive or we'll fit one for you.

Data Safe Super has the drive fitted in a removable drawer. You can fit a similar
drawer to your Rise PC (best if you use our IDF card) and then just unplug the
drive from the RPC,' and transfer data to another machine using the Data Safe.

Prices start at £99 or w ith 4.2Gb drive just £179 or with 10 Gb only £209

No cover disc?

Y ou can blame the Acorn User
survey. So what's going on?
Well, the story goes
something like this: For a long
time now the restrictions of an 800K
disc, even with compression, have
been proving a little tight. But quite a
reasonable percentage of RISC OS
users still own machines of the A300,
A400 and A3000 vintage - a
testimony to Acorn's build-quality,
but a pain in the neck for disc
collators.

So what to do? Occasionally we
have been forced to go to 1.6Mb
discs, and have run off a smaller
quantity of 800K discs, but this is not
a good solution. What we also find
from talking to readers who need
800K discs is that they do own CD-

ROM drives.

Along comes the Acorn User
survey for 1999 and we take a look at
the results. It is a fact that RISC OS
people have the highest percentage
of Internet connections than any
other group of computer owners - in
excess of 80 per cent.

Ownership of CD-ROM drives
comes in at a staggering 97 per cent -
staggering because none of the early
machines had them as standard,
most of them have been bought as
add-ons.

So why not put a CD on every
magazine?

The programmers in the RISC OS
market just don't have the output to
fill even a high proportion of a CD
every month; within a couple of

months we would have exhausted
the available software. So instead we
are launching a combination of CD
and Internet support.

For every issue, what would have
been the cover disc will be put onto
the Acorn User Website for
downloading - satisfying those with
the Internet connection who need the
disc contents for that month. And
every third issue we will put a CD
on the cover containing not only the
last three 'cover discs' but additional
content as well, taking a particular
theme, such as graphics,
programming, DTP and so on.

Inside the magazine that frees up
that little bit more space for the most
popular items in any mag: Hardware
and software reviews.

Survey results

Here's a selection of the results that came through on this year's Acorn User survey.

100

6 60

§ 40

Here you can see the level
of Internet connection and
CD-ROM drive
ownership - although il is
slightly skewed by the
ease of replying to the
survey via e-mail

Alasdair Bailey turns David Bailey
in this digital camera review

D igital cameras have been around for
quite some time now. Over the last
few years things have improved in
leaps and bounds and although
photographic-quality hard copies are still
expensive to obtain, for certain applications,
digital is now most definitely the better
route.

This review covers three cameras for
which software drivers are available to
allow use with RISC OS machines.

There are two generic camera drivers for
Acorns, both include support for a variety
of cameras within one host application.
Although there is some overlap between the
drivers, Spacetech's PhotoLink supports
most of the Olympus range while Irlam's
Snapshots supports a far wider range of
makes and models.

PhotoLink

Spacetech's support of the Olympus range
of digital cameras came about Olympus
were able to see that having RISC OS
drivers for their camera range would be a

PhotoLink' s control window

good thing. A couple of older models of
Epson and Sanyo cameras are also
supported by the software. However,
Spacetech didn't find all the UK
representatives as helpful as those at
Olympus, and so are currently focusing
(pardon the pun) solely on their range of
cameras.

PhotoLink was put to the test using the
mid-range C830L and the rather more up-
market C2000Z. Overall, the package
proved very robust and supported all of the
cameras' functions satisfactorily. The user
interface deserves particular praise for its
use of a nice tidy main window which,
when enlarged, offers a toolbar allowing
settings to be altered from the comfort of
your computer, rather than with the
sometimes fiddly on-camera controls.

A live viewfinder can be enabled in the
centre of this window, offering the user an
alternative to the camera's own viewfinder
when, for example, positioning the camera
on a tripod in a tight corner or taking
pictures of oneself. Support is also included
for taking time-lapse
pictures while the camera is
connected to the computer.

Time-lapse photography
is where a series of pictures
are taken of a subject at a
specified time delay in
order to show an
accelerated animation of,
say, a flower blooming or
even a building being
constructed. The pictures
may be displayed on screen
or 'hot-linked' to another
application, for example a
utility to upload the

December 1 999 http://vvwvv.acornuser.com

Digital Cameras

PhotoLink currently supports the
following cameras:

• Epson Photo500

• Sanyo ImagePC

• Olympus D200, D200L,

D210L, D220L, D300L, D320L,
D330L, D340L, C900Z, C840L,
C830L, C820L, C800L, C420L,
C400L, C400, C1000L, C1400L
and the C2000Z

(Note: the Olympus 'D' cameras are
the same as the ' C models , but are
grey imports and may have NTSC
video instead of UK PAL)

pictures to the Internet to form a live
Web-cam.

My only major gripe with
PhotoLink is its naming of time-lapse
pictures. For some reason, it
preserves the cameras internal
conventions and names the pictures
first in single digits (1, 2, 3 ... 8, 9, 10)
rather than 001, 002, 003 ... 008, 009,
010 and so on. This means that
images aren't properly sorted in
filer windows as the computer will
put a file of name '10' before one
named '2'.

The problem can be overcome by

Olympus C830L

Although this model carries the lowest price tag of the
three (£345.99), it is by no means bottom of the range.
Digital cameras can now be obtained for as little as £150
but we decided that this camera represents the minimum
standard which is acceptable for most uses.

The camera features both an optical viewfinder and an
LCD screen, useful for composition purposes as well as
looking back at photos already stored on the camera. The
resolution of the screen is good but it does make indoor
pictures look significantly darker than they turn out on
the computer. This can be remedied by adjusting the
brightness on the camera but then a similar problem
would exist out of doors, requiring the brightness to be
altered again.

A second small LCD display is provided on the top of
the unit, giving details of how many photos can be stored
at the current resolution along with battery charge and

other mode information. This screen comes in very useful
when trying to conserve battery life as the other full
colour screen really does drain power at an astounding
rate.

By default, the camera ships with a 2Mb memory card,
this is sufficient for most users and the resolutions
possible with this camera limit the size of files anyway.
The card is able to store nine pictures on the high quality
setting (1280x960), thirty in standard (640x480) and four
in super high (again 1280x960 but with less compression
so a higher quality image results).

Overall, the C830L is a very nice little camera. As can
be seen from the sample photographs, the picture quality
is almost comparable to that of the slightly more
expensive Agfa model, with resolution being the only
downside. If you're looking for a well-priced quality
camera to capture pictures for a Website or perhaps a
computerised archive of some sort, you can't go far
wrong with the C830L. However, if you want to obtain
high-quality printouts or use the output in any
professional publication, one of the higher-end models
would be a better bet.

Snapshot + from irlam currently
supports the following makes and
models of digital camera:

• Agfa ePhoto 307, 780, 1280,
1680

• Epson PhotoPC 500, 600, 700

• Sanyo ImagePC, Digicam 200,
210, 300

• Olympus D200, D200L,

D210L, D220L, D300L, D320L,
D330L, D340L, C400, C400L,
C410L, C420L, D600L, C800L,
C820L, C830L, C840L,

C1000L, C1400L, C1400XL,
C2000Z

(Note: the Olympus 'D' cameras are
the same as the 'C' models , but are
grey imports and may have NTSC
video instead of UK PAL)

borrowed to test Snapshot +, see
elsewhere in this article for how the
camera itself fared.

Snapshots is able to carry out all
of the basic functions which you
would expect; it offers full support
for remote adjustment of a camera's

sorting the files by date but many
freeware slide show apps don't
support this, so manual rearrange-
ment is necessary - Spacetech are
aware of this problem, and it's one of
several features being considered, in
the meantime a program such as
NumberFix by Jochen Lueg
http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/
tudor/ should help you out.

The hot linking feature which
allows for photographs to be
automatically passed on to another
application is a nice idea. However,
displaying the pathname of the
directory it's set to and perhaps
creating extra directories to
overcome the 77 files per directory
limit on older versions of RISC OS
would be worthwhile additions.

SnapShot+

Irlam's generic driver, S)iapShot+ f
offers support for a far wider range
of cameras than Spacetech's offering.
Some overlap exists between the
packages, notably the C830L which is
included in this review and was
tested with both.

An Agfa ePhoto
1680 was also

http://www.acornuser.com December 1 999

included for use in positions where pressing the shutter
release could jog the camera and blur the final image.

As with the C830L, both optical and LCD screen
viewfinders are provided. However, the optical
viewfinder is offset from the main lens both horizontally
and vertically so the composition is not quite perfect in
the resulting picture (this is corrected in the C1400XL, not
reviewed here).

Photos of all resolutions produced by the C2000Z are
that bit more crisp than those taken using the other
cameras considered here. This is demonstrated to a
greater extent upon closer examination, so do take the
time to refer to the example pictures on the Acorn User
and Spacetech Websites if you have access.

All in all, the C2000Z is a very high quality, robust
camera. With a price tag of £649.99, it'll set you back a few
pennies more than the other two, but it is well worth it if
you need a high quality output.

Olympus C2000 Zoom

The C2000Z is a very nice bit of kit. Although this is
reflected in the price tag it is well worth the extra cost
(mind you, it's been reduced by £100 recently, so price-
wise it's very competitive with the Agfa). Olympus have
basically taken all of the features you'd expect from a
good film camera and applied them to this digital
offering. A powerful 3x optical zoom is included along
with features to give the more experienced photographer
greater control over the final output.

Shutter speed and aperture size may be manually
adjusted, but the point and shoot support seen in the
lower priced cameras is also preserved for those who like
things simple. A handy little remote control is also

‘n]>TA^s!!Hatm3i^4Tc?b up6 .aliAla sdair. \ DTrCtrTDifs AU .Cam eras .Res ultsDay p

AlbumData

x| Snapshot*: OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

3 pictures taken. 27 pictures left. 1800K free, batteries at 25%

PictureOOl Picture002 Picture003

Left: An Album filer window Right: Snapshot + in action

features along with previewing and
downloading pictures from the camera. My
main cause for concern with this package is
that it opts for a main window which is
very much in the style of Paint's sprite file
window. This means that all options are
accessed via a very large menu structure
and is somewhat daunting at first.

Irlam's software also includes support for
capturing time-lapse movies. However, this
is restricted to exporting the sequence as an
Acorn Replai/ movie file, rather than storing
a sequence of the original images. This is a
good feature but some users would
appreciate the ability to save the individual
pictures.

The Irlam drivers can be
supplemented with a tidy little
clip-art indexing utility by the

name of Album. When activated, this simply
replaces filer icons with a small thumbnail
of the image contained within the file. This
feature can be very useful, and while it can
take a while to create the thumbnails, this
only has to be done once per directory.

Album also allows all of the pictures
from a camera to be downloaded
onto the computer at once - a
handy utility.

Overall, the Irlam drivers are
Y\ very well put together and carry out
all their functions correctly.

However, the drivers were found to
be slightly less stable than the Spacetech
alternative and it was also necessary to
manually flush the application's temporary
store after a forced exit, otherwise it refused
to re-load.

Other issues...

All of the cameras reviewed used four AA
size batteries and none really stood out as
being better than the others on power
consumption. AC adaptors are available for
all three but aren't included in the prices
quoted here. The Agfa model does include a
battery re-charger though which is very
handy and saved many trips to the garage
during testing!

Each camera considered here also

December 1 999 http://www.acornuser.com

included a video-out lead for
displaying pictures on a TV, along
with automatic flash and red-eye
reduction mode.

Most digital cameras on the
market at present use a serial lead to
communicate with the base
computer. This system is good
because every RISC OS computer,
bar some A3000s, supports it by
default, although things can be a
little slow, with a limit of 115200bps
being imposed by even a Rise PC's
serial port. Some cameras are starting
to make it on to the market with USB
connectors. It would be very nice to
see support for these under RISC OS

in future, provided the Mico and
RiscStation manage to support the
relatively new protocol.

Obtaining photographic-quality
hard copies of your snaps is a little
complicated at present. For best
results you'll need a professional dye
sublimation printer, but the cost of
such a unit puts them well out of
reach for most homes, schools and
colleges.

However, Olympus have come up
with a smaller version which is more
affordable and is currently available
from Spacetech. The new breed of
'PhotoReal' printers which are now
available at around the £300 mark

Agfa ePhoto 1680

The ePhoto boasts a

rather more
innovative design
than the Olympus
models considered
here. Its case is split
into two sections
with the section
carrying the lens
able to rotate
through a full 360
degrees. This is
very useful for
taking self portraits
but does make the
camera a little
difficult to hold on
to. Further, the lack of an optical
viewfinder means that the battery
hungry LCD display must be left
on at all times. A battery re-charger
is supplied though, along with four
re-chargeable A A size batteries, so
it's not so bad really.

The quality of picture obtained
with the ePhoto 1680 lies
somewhere between that possible
with the two Olympus models. The
pictures aren't quite as colourful
and sharp as those from the C2000Z

vof n hicrhpr rpcnlntinn in nnssihlp

than when using the C830L.

However, I must add that the
LCD screen on this model is
superior to either Olympus offering
both in refresh rate and colour
quality, it almost makes up for the
lack of an optical viewfinder.

Agfa seem to have designed this
camera as a digital camera rather
than taking the approach Olympus
seem to favour of perfecting the
digital technology then packaging
it in a very conventional-looking
rasp. Thprp's nothing wrong with
this but it does
mean the more
experienced
photographer is
starved of some of
the features he'd be
used to.

However, if you
don't know what
aperture and
shutter speed are
all about, you
won't miss them
anyway. The
ePhoto 1680 retails
at £618.05.

also produce hard copy of an
acceptable quality. Again, these are
available with RISC OS drivers from
Spacetech.

And finally...

So far as these three models are
concerned, you most definitely get
what you pay for. The best advice we
can offer is that you spend as much
as you can afford. As with all
computer hardware it might be
worth waiting a little longer to see
what new technology becomes
available in the next year or so as the
manufacturers start to target the
consumer market more and more
aggressively.

If you want to buy now, the
recently reduced C2000Z from
Spacetech is a bargain, it's new price
brings it into the same range as the
Agfa, while it's output quality
remains high.

When it comes to software,
Spacetech's PhotoLink is the better of
the two but it doesn't support many
non-Olympus cameras so . ,

Snapshot + still has its niche.

Product details

Product:

PhotoLink camera drivers

Price:

£69 (inc VAT)

Supplier:

Spacetech Ltd

Product:

SnapShot+ camera drivers

Price:

£59 (inc VAT)

Supplier:

Irlam Instruments Ltd

Product:

Album

Price:

£31.14 (inc VAT)

Supplier:

Irlam Instruments Ltd

Product:

Olympus C830L camera
and drivers

Price:

£345.99 (with PhotoLink from
Spacetech) £523 (with

SnapShot+ from Irlam)

Supplier:

see below for company details

Product:

Olympus C2000Z camera and
PhotoLink drivers

Price:

£649.99 (inc VAT)

Supplier:

Spacetech Ltd

Product:

Agfa ePhoto 1680 with
SnapShot+

Price:

£618.05 (inc VAT)

Supplier:

Irlam Instruments Ltd

Suppl

iers

Supplier:

Spacetech Ltd, 1 The

Courtyard, Southwell

Business Park, Portland,

Dorset. DT5 2NQ

Tel:

01305 822 753

Fax:

01305 860 483

E-mail:

sales@spacetecli.co.uk

Web:

http://www.spacetech.co.uk

Supplier:

Irlam Instruments Ltd, Brunei
Science Park, Brunei

University, Uxbridge,
Middlesex. UBS 3PQ

Tel/Fax:

01895 811 401

E-mail:

sales@irlam.co.uk

Web:

http://www.irlam-
instruments.co.uk j

http://www.acornuser.com

December 1 999 v

I he superb graphics and text
quality of Acorn machines
make them ideal for
demonstration and
presentation purposes. Indeed, the
anti-aliased font system was
originally designed for optimum
display quality on televisions and
video output.

NoticeBonni Pro is a
comprehensive presentation package,
enabling users to organise and
display a collection of 'slides', either
as an unattended rolling display, or
as a manually controlled
presentation.

RISC OS users have long been
waiting for an alternative to
Microsoft Pozuerpoint for use on their
platform. While not intending to
compete with Pozuerpoint,
comparisons are inevitable in this
world of 'keeping up with industry
standards'. Although lacking in some
of the sophistication and extent of
Pozuerpoint , NoticeBoard Pro does
score in ease of use and, of course,
the flexibility of the RISC OS user
interface.

This is not to say that NoticeBoard
Pro is by any means lacking in
features. It contains an impressive
range of controls and options.
However, it's ease of use and non-
daunting user interface will make it
ideal for schools and colleges where
teachers may want to create their
own presentations with the
minimum of effort and fiddling
around.

What you get

NoticeBoard Pro is supplied on two
discs and consists of a player
application and a slideshow editor
application. The idea of supplying the
editor and player seperately is a good
one because it means that not only
can usage and control be kept simple,
but it also means that you can
distribute copies of the player with
your finished slideshow. (Permission

NoticeB

Paul Vigay moves into display mode

Clock

Font

Size

Format

Titles

Font

Size

is granted for users to
distribute the player-
only application.)

Installation is a
simple matter of
running an install
program and telling it
where you wish to
install on your
harddisc. I did run into
a few problems here -
having just installed
RISC OS 4. The installer
program expects to find
the various system
modules inside your
IBoot structure.

However, many of these
are actually inside the
ROM in RISC OS 4, so
I ended up with a
duplicate set of
modules copied onto
my IBoot application.

Personally I would
have liked to be either
given the option of
installing these modules
or, more preferably, NoticeBoard Pro to
have recognised that I already had
newer versions in the machine. This
may be changed for future versions
though, now that RISC OS 4 is widely
available. This minor niggle aside
though NoticeBoard Pro seems to run
without problems on RISC OS 4.

Anyone who owns the original
version of NoticeBoard will be happy
to find a conversion utility that will

Clock

Homert on. Medium

( 1 Pt

04:33 PM

%1.%M %p

Try

Homerton. Medium

/A P t

j Show indexes
J Filled backgrounds

Cancel

Figure II: The clock configuration display

tpjxl ADFS::Orac.$.Applicats.NBoardPro.!Excmple [r

Resources

Groups

Fades

Save

Furniture

Play

Figure I: The Control window

take the old format and convert to
the new one.

Creating presentations is easily
performed via the standard RISC OS
drag and drop interface. There are
two options here: you either create a
pseudo’ application which will hold
all the recources inside, allowing you
to transport it as a single item; or
you can have the single file’ option
where all the resources are accessed
from wherever they are on your
system, but this form is not really
transportable.

Once you've opted to create a new
slideshow, a control window will
open allowing you to set such 'global
parameters' as screen mode to run
in, what 'furniture' to display on
each slide and which fades are
available. The furniture option lets
you place various additional display
features at any of the eight screen

December 1999 http://www.acornuser.com

oard Pro

positions (four corners and four sides).

These include a clock, video-style controls
or a variety of title/numbering options -
most are user configurable. For example,
you can define the font and size of the
onscreen clock or titles or which video
controls are displayed. The default option is
no furniture, which will display the slide
exactly as the original was drawn.

The main option in the control panel is
the 'groups' option. This is where you can
effectively define a 'carousel' containing a
set of slides. A group can have a set of
parameters which will globally apply to all
the slides in the current set, such as
background colour, time schedules and
colours. You can also use an image as a
background image. This works in much the
same way as the RISC OS pinboard in that it
can be tiled, scaled or centred within the
defined screen area. Again, the width and
height of the actual displayable area can be
defined by the user.

As regards configuration, flexibility and
ease of use, I would argue that it's certainly
easier to create a presentation with this
application than it is using PowerPoint.

Having made a group in which to hold a
related set of slides, you can then create
them - each group has a specific
background and the slides are displayed on
that background. This is where the
flexibility of NoticeBonrd Pro instantly
becomes visible.

Using the usual RISC OS drag and drop
philosophy you name a slide, drag in the
image to use and set various parameters. On

Figure III: The Global configuration window

a basic level you can
simply drag a pre-
designed image into the
new slide window and
click OK. However, if
you want to be more
ambitious you can
schedule your slide to
appear to at a certain
time - useful if you
wish to create an
unattended display for
demonstration
purposes.

The separate groups
of slides can be
displayed at random or
in order, and within
each group the slides
can be shown at
random or in order.

Sounds

effective

Figure IV: The Groups option panel

One feature which can add a new
dimension to finished presentations is the
ability to link sound effects to slides. This
can spice up displays, especially if created
with young children in mind. One of the
example files contains slides of various
animals. A lion's roar accompanies the
drawing of a lion. This makes it ideal for
use as a learning tool.

If you have a sound sampler (such as the
VTi printer port sampler) you can easily
produce your own sound effect resources
which will drop straight into NoticeBonrd
Pro. By carefully selecting your sequence
you could even provide a sound-track to
your presentation. In a teaching
environment, this facility can greatly add to
the ability to keep children's attention
focussed on the slideshow images.

To create a whole slideshow, you just
follow this process, naming a slide and
dragging the image into the window. The
list of slides will then be built up in the slide
window. You don't need to worry if you get
them in the wrong order either. Not only
can you easily insert or delete slides, but
you can simply drag a slide from one
position to another. This will swap the two
slides over and works in much the same
way that you would alternate slides in a real

http://www.acornuser.com December 1999 V.

Figure VI: The ‘Group’ Preferences settings
showing the range of controls provided

slide carousel. In true RISC OS
fashion, you can also select a group
of images and drag multiple files
into the group window in order to
create a complete batch of slides.
NoticcBoard Pro doesn't include any
editing facilities itself, merely being a
tool to create slideshows (although a
double-click will load the selected
image into a suitable editor). The
artwork you use can be created in
Artworks, Draw or any of the bitmap
image manipulations packages
available - anything from Paint to
Photodesk.

The import of drawfiles makes
NoticcBoard Pro even more flexible
because you can design quite
complex slides by mixing images
and text, perhaps utilising one of the
many clip-art collections available.

Indeed, using a read-only version
of Fresco (supplied with NoticcBoard
Pro) you can even design slides in
HTML format and utilise Fresco's
powerful 'save as Draw' option to
produce the drawfiles for you. If you
have access to the Internet you could
incorporate Web-based resources into
your final presentation.

One thing that I did find that
didn't appear to work as described
in the manual was the range of input
formats acceptable.

According to the manual,
NoticcBoard Pro will accept Draw,
sprite or JPEG images, in addition to
those created by ArtWorks. Although
JPEG images are not catered for

natively, they should be
accepted when included
in a drawfile. This didn't
appear to work on my
copy. Whether or not
this was due to my
having just installed
RISC OS 4 I'm not sure.

However, when I
converted the images
using ChangeFSl and
used the resulting
sprites, everything
worked as it should.

Making
the change

The transition from one
slide to the next is via a
random fade. This can
be made from a wide
selection of over 25
different effects, ranging
from simple wipes to complex flower
designs or Moire lines.

This is where my biggest, and
perhaps only, complaint with the
application lies, for the actual fades
between specific slides cannot be set
by the user. Each slide is faded using
an effect chosen at random from the
pool of fades available. You can
choose which fades are used, but
ultimately the actual one is chosen at
random.

According to the author, this
shortcoming is likely to be reviewed
should a future version materialise.

However, until then
you'll have to accept
a random one. This
point aside, the
program performed
very well and I would
have no hesitation in
recommending it to
people who wish to
produce an effective
and highly visual
presentation of
images. It's certainly
easier to use than
cumbersome
applications such as
Microsoft Powerpoint,
and its simple to use
interface and ease of
use will make it ideal
for busy teachers or
for use as unattended
point of presence
'rolling demos'. The
only real competition
provided on the

RISC OS platform comes from
Spacetech's OHP application. This
doesn't have the ability to add sound
samples to slides, but it does allow
you to choose which fade to use for
the transition between slides.

The main users of NoticcBoard Pro
will probably be teachers or
businessmen who want to quickly
and easily create a slideshow
presentation, either from their own
resources and artwork, or by using
freely available clip art or even Web-
based information.

They should find no problem
creating impressive-looking
demonstrations within minutes of
installing the software. It's
comprehensive, yet clear and easy
to manipulate.

The only real drawback is the lack
of choice which selecting fade effects
between specific slides, although this
is likely to be rectified in a future
version. Some demo examples are
provided, along with a printed user
guide which is concise and
easy to understand. l=Wl»J

Product details

Product:

Noticeboard Pro

Price:

£29.95 (£15 if upgrading)

Supplier:

Really Good Software
Company, 39 Carisbrooke
Road, Harpenden, Herts AL5
5QS, UK

Tel:

(+44/0) 1582 761395

Fax:

(+44/0) 1582 761395

E-mail:

sales.rgsc@argonet.co.uk

Web:

www.argonet.co.uk/rgsc/

Figure V: Building a new slide

y December 1 999 http://www.acornuser.com

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Mico sets new industry standards for small
computers. Excellence in engineering design,
investment in leading edge technology, and
our zero defect quality assurance programme
combine with the new Rise OS 4 operating
system, to deliver a fast easy to use reliable
computer system preloaded with software that
is ideal for the home, small business and
educational user.

Mico is powered by a 56 MHz ARM 7500FE
processor with performance up to 50 MIPS
and higher resolution screen modes. The
processor has a built-in floating point maths
co-processor and DMA.

Mico uses fast EDO RAM, has a high speed
32 bit EIDE interface, dual USB ports, 16 bit
sound sytem with a built-in synthesizer and
wavetable.

Other features include three MicroBus
expansion slots which can support existing
podules and one free ISA slot and the new
Rise OS 4 operating system. These features
combine to deliver performance 2/3 times
faster than the existing RISC computer using
the ARM 700 processor.

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Design

Composing

omputers are tools for
accomplishing all kinds of
processes - and humans just
love to manipulate their
environment. So Composition from
Clares is just the program to allow
you to indulge your wildest dreams. I
am speaking metaphorically of course
- I'm talking of creating fantastic
collages using all manner of imagery.

Composition is a totally bit-map-
oriented program, but can import
vector images and once they are
suitably arranged, they can be
transported into the bitmap world. So
images from Draw, Artworks and so
on, are welcomed. Once within the
realms of the program, and in bitmap
format, your images can be pulled,
pushed, resized, masked, blended
and illuminated - until they are
altered beyond recognition.

All of your images can be re-
stacked, brought forward, sent back
and re-shuffled since each one is
floating over the canvas - not fixed.
Composition was also one of the first
bitmap programs on the Acorn
platform to incorporate eight-bit
masks. And it is here where it really
comes into its own. There is only one
possible drawback - the fact that you
are adding a number of bit-map
images, means that the file will
quickly become very large. There are
a couple of solution; Clares produces
a good Virtual memory' program; or
better still, invest in more RAM while
prices are low. This is a review but for
demonstration purposes, I will be

with

Mr Bond

Walter Briggs puts on various masks

Figure 1: Mr Bond's mask window

using some of the imagery from
previous articles and especially
Mr. Bond.

Fading image

In Figure I we can see the mask
window overlaying Mr. Bond - this is
the master manipulator of 007.
Compositions forte lies in its use of
masks. This allows the interaction of
numerous images within the canvas
window. There are of course many
other options to apply to your
composition, and since this is a
review, I will try to cover most of
them - including PCA (an applet of
growing taste).

There are five types of mask
available for each image in Compo : A
Blend mask, controlling the opacity; a
Tint mask, which allows you to add a
tinted effect to your image; and a
Curve mask that appears when you
want to alter the Gamma curve - the
coloration of your image.

The ability to create shadows for
any of your images is made
possible with the Shadow
mask. By default, the shape of
the objects within the Blend
mask is used for the shadows,
but an individual shadow
mask can be created and
manipulated to suit your tastes.
Last, but not least is the
Displacement mask, which
allows the distortion of an
image according to the amount
of grey levels
within it.

In the foreground of Figure I
is the blended and masked
silhouette of 007. The mask is a
highlight/ linear fill, which can
be controlled by sliders, as in

Figure II: Inserting the wave

this case, to allow the light point
(white is opaque - black transparent)
to be central to the image, and so
allow it to blend into the background
on either side.

At the bottom of this image is the
Mask Toolbar, in this case for the
Blend mask. The Blend mask can be
chosen from a list of pre-set options,
which opens when you choose a new
mask. This allows you to choose the
type of mask you want to apply to
your image; here it was a modified
linear one. At any time, you can
switch between object and mask, with
the current one visible in the display
field.

You may wonder why Bond's
collar is black in the mask window.
This is because Compo allows the easy
removal of unwanted backgrounds;

Figure III: Adding text

http://www.dcornuser.com December 1999 V

but the process can also remove
(make transparent) areas that need to
be seen, since it selects a global
colour. To remove unwanted areas,
you need to see your original image.
Clares has made this a very simple
task; just click on the Eye icon on the
tool bar and your image appears, next
Adjust-click on the area you want to
disappear or become transparent.

In the Bond image, the white
background was unwanted, but in
electing to remove this, his collar
disappeared as well. This is no major
problem, since there are tools
available to work on a mask,
independent of the options offered at
the outset of masking. All I did was
spray white pixels (you can also
spray black pixels) over this section,
and gradually, with the lavish use of
the various blend options, the collar
gently re-emerged.

Sea-ing clearly

The next picture to be worked on
(Figure II) had been introduced first
onto the canvas, this was a
photograph of an ocean wave - a
powerful image I wanted as a
backdrop to 007.

This picture was not tall enough to
fill the canvas, but re-sizing is one of
the simplest tasks, Compo just calls up
ChangeFSl and the ocean is re-scaled
to fit the page. It is also possible to
flip, trim and align images on the
page. Compo also supports OLE
(object linking and embedding) which

Figure V: Tinting the glass

Figure IVb:
A radial
blend mask

Figure IVa: Adding the glass

means, with a Control+double-click
your image can be transported into
your favourite paint package for any
updates. The reason for this option is
that while you can control the opacity
of your image with all kinds of
masks, you cannot edit the actual
image itself. The only drawback with
OLE is that all work on your masks is
lost. Of course, if you don't have a
good art program, PCA (more later)
could be your next acquisition.

This second screenshot shows the
sky being removed with the click of a
mouse button, and any distortions
were airbrushed back. After this
work, I realised the scene looked
better with the sky. All these changes
are dynamic - seen in real time,
updating any changes as you work.

The window in the top right is
another view of the scene you want to
mask - here is where you click on any
unwanted sections, to make them
invisible.

Stirring shadows

In Figure III, text has been added and
given a pseudo-3D shadow. In fact,
Compo deals with this feature very
well, and the shadow can be easily
altered to suit. You can choose your
own shadow colour, which is really a
tint, and it changes to accommodate
the background colour. In addition,
because the text is aliased, and the
pixel colour of the shadow is
calculated on a pixel by pixel basis -
it means the shadow is altered to
match the shaded colour of any part
of your background.

With this pseudo-3D effect, the
shadow can appear to be cast along
the ground. Also this simulated
shadow can be manipulated further
by allowing you the option to alter
the X sheer and Y shrink - this simply
means you can alter the length, angle
and shape of the shadow.

The text is entered into its own box
and is available in any font that you
have; and like so many other
features, the text can be changed at
will. Figure III shows how text is

Figure VI: Editing the mask

created, the colour, font, style, size
and so on. It is also possible to alter
the wording at any time by opening
the dialogue box, making the
modifications and clicking on the
change button. A shadow is easily
added, and can be designed to give
the impression of light from most
angles.

Because the text is set within
certain borders, it is sometimes
necessary to increase the parameters
of the text area to accommodate a
particularly long shadow. You can
increase the surrounding area of the
text using the trim menu, simply right
click on the bump arrows to create a
negative value and enlarge the
boundary round the text.

In Figure III, I have increased the
righthand side of the text box to allow
the shadow to extend to the right.

You may notice an added toolbox on
the left side of this window - PCA
tools - a small applet of image editing
tools added to Compo for work on any
of the images that need a little
enhancing. These plug-in tools are
described at the end of the article.

Blended malt

Now we come to the fun part: It's
time to add the glass to the crashing
waves - of course slightly shaken but
not stirred. The original glass was
already a dark shade, tinted with red,
(as seen in the bottom right hand
corner of Figure IV) this colour would
be enhanced later - but now I wanted
to subtly blend the tumbler into the
ocean background.

I decided to use a straightforward
linear blend, which was darker at the
top and allowed the clear section of
the glass to become more transparent.
The sliders allow you to decide which
direction that the blend is to go - dark
at the top, or at the bottom. You can
also select other types of blend; for
example, a radial blend, as seen in
Figure IVb. The idea is the same in all
blend masks; it allows you to control
the opacity of your image. Though at
any stage you can select the opacity
option on the toolbar and pull a slider
to alter the overall transparency of a

December 1999 http://www.acornuser.com

Figure VII: A simple collage

particular image.

Figure V shows a bright red tint
being applied to the contents of the
glass. When selecting the tint mask it
is again possible to see the sprite you
are working on. Here the original
glass, which appears in the window
on the right, has a white dot in the
centre - this represents the centre of
the applied tint. It is still governed by
the radial blend that was applied
earlier, so now the tint radiates out
from the centre of the circular tint
mask. It is possible to move the
position of the tint, by Controld-
dragging the centre of the mask
around. It is also possible to have
more than one point of tinted light.

Glass agent

It was of course always my intention
to introduce Mr. Bond into the scene,
and probably behind the glass. Figure
VI shows the needed adjustment to the
mask to allow his weapons to show.

It was the blend mask that needed
to be altered to create more opacity to

glass, and especially to
the base of the tumbler.

There are number of
tools that can be used to
work on the mask -
brushes, spray cans,
drawing tools, to
mention just a few. I
simply sprayed black
over the section I wanted
to make invisible and
gently blended the edges
to allow a softer
transition. It's often good
to blend the mask since
sometimes your image
can have a ragged
outline, this can be
smoothed completely away with such
options. I wasn't happy with this
composition since Mr. Bond's face was
cut through by the top of the glass. I
decided it was time to move the
special agent to another locality.

Bonded whiskey

Though this simplistic collage (Figure
VII) held a measure of dynamism with
the wave and glass, I wasn't
completely happy. I felt the whole
scene needed a complete
transmogrification. First 1 flipped the
ocean horizontally, and moved it so
the crashing wave appeared to be
pouring into the glass.

Mr. Bond was hustled right, and
some new text added. You can see by
the lower legend how well the anti-
aliased shadow works on various
colour combinations. Though this
composition worked reasonably well,

I still wasn't happy with the impact of
the image. What it needed was the
addition of some more points of
interest - old Connery just wasn't

enough - sorry girls!

At least I could add more liquor -
in the form of the bottle from the
second article in my series. A new sky
complete with planet was warped in,
along with a metallic podule and
suitable 007 text - it made a world of
difference. There was still a bit of
work to do; increasing the contrast of
certain images, brightening colours -
all done within Compo. The package
has a number of Special Effect options
which allows most enhancements to
be made. What Compo lacks are
Creative, Editing and Painting tools
for the images, not just the masks -
until now that is. Enter PCA.

Tools on tap

The idea of having a set of special
effect tools attached, and available for
almost any program that contains
images, is a great idea. But what if that
program also doesn't need to know
anything about the attached tools or
the work they do? That's PCA.

PCA is a plug-in system which
allows objects to be shared between
applications. Graphic objects in
Compo, or other software supporting
PCA, can be edited using PCA
applets, which are plug-in tools that
can manipulate that type of object. In
fact each of the tools is a separate
program running on the machine and
can provide their capabilities to any
program that uses PCA.

This PCA plug-in system allows
images and masks to be edited
outside Compo, without actually
moving them out, in a variety of
ways. It is designed to be an open,
extendable protocol so that plug-ins
written for it, can be used with any
program that supports the protocol.

To sum up, Compo provides a
powerful, yet straightforward means of
creating dynamic compositions from a
variety of images. Now with the
availability of these PCA applet tools,
the main criticism of this Clares
product can be erased. These add-on
tools which allow ’in-program’ editing
is just what the package was crying out
for. Look out for a ’Preview’ of
PCA in the near future.

Product details

Product:

Composition

Price:

£75 (on offer,
usual price £99.95)

Supplier:

Clares Micro Supplies,

75a Webbs Lane, Middlevvich,
Cheshire CW10 9DS

Tel:

(+44/0) 1606 833999

Pax:

(+44/0) 1606 836111

E-mail:

sales@claresmicro.com

Web:

\ v wwyrl a res m i c ro . com j

Getting

balanced

Mike Cook adjusts his frequency amplitudes for better effect

L ei's face it, when it comes to
computers, sound has always
taken second place to
graphics. In fact second place
might be pushing it somewhat. The
tiny speakers fitted to most
computers have always ensured
there is a market for external ones
but surprisingly they are still a
minority purchase and, even if
bought, they are seldom used.

I know I don't use them much
because of the trouble of where to
put them, remembering to power
them up separately, and the general
reluctance to have a powerful beep
blasting out at you with every
syntax error.

Nevertheless there are those
whose main use of the computer is
enhanced by good sound, not only
games players but also musicians.
When my son Alec, who is studying
music for A-level set his eyes on the
3D Surround sound Equaliser he
was drooling over not only the
prospect of enhanced sound but
also the cool look of the thing.

This unit has been designed for
the mass PC market and as such is
built in sufficient quantities to be
affordable. It is the same size as a
CD player and fits in a standard
slot. This means it is ideal to fit into
a Rise PC although you might need
a two-layer one if you already have
a CD-ROM fitted. There is an
Acorn-specific back panel which
fits in place of a standard podule
with a slip of paper saying how the
* plugs are labelled wrongly.

You have a high and low level
input with a slider switch to select
between them, plus a speaker

output and microphone input. All
these are on 3mm jack sockets.
Round the front is a headphone
socket and microphone input again
all on 3mm jacks. The equaliser has
a disc drive-type power socket that
you can plug into a spare power
loom. However, if you have another
sort of RISC OS machine fitting
might not be so straightforward.
Essentially you would need an
external disc drive case and power
supply.

The business end consists of a
main volume control, seven
graphics equaliser sliders and a
microphone input level slider.

Either side of these is a red 10-bar
LED display; coupled with the
green LEDs on the sliders and a red
one on the volume control you have
a very cool looking addition to your
computer setup.

The graphics sliders have a
central click position indicating
OdBs or no effect. Sliding up and
down gives a +/- lOdB range but the
physical range is smaller than 1
would like. I got out my
oscilloscope and signal generator
and measured the range of the
controls. At the low end, at 60Hz,
the controls gave a range of -11 dB to
+14dB; in the middle, at IKHz, it

ranged from -9.5dB to +16dB; and at
the top end, at 15KHz, it went from
-lldB to +lldB. So not exactly
consistent across the range but they
gave mostly the range they should.

The frequency response however
drops off a little too soon for my
liking, by 100Hz it was nearly 3dB
down and this had dropped to 6dB
by the time 60Hz was reached. I
suppose this is partly compensated
for by the extra gain in the lowest
equaliser control, but it means a flat
setting of the controls does not give
you a flat response which
somewhat defeats the object of the
graphics nature of the beast.

When setting up any graphics
equaliser the sliders end up looking
like some sort of a smile, albeit
crooked. An upside-down smile is
definitely wrong and there is
enough range on these sliders for it
to sound very wrong as well.

Does it work?

Yes, very well indeed, and the
pulsating left/right volume bars
look very flash. However, once you
have set the controls for your
speakers/room there is little else
you need do with them, but this is
where the enhanced sound button
comes in. This switches on the SRS

Audio

surround effect, I don't know what
that stands for but the practical
effect is that the sound is made
larger and fatter. It sounded like a
bit of reverberation and does
definitely improve the sound
accompanying any arcade game.
Explosions have more boom, guns
have more zip and peeongs are
peeongier.

I am not so sure about enhancing
music, yes it's more expansive but a
composer really needs to be in
control of any reverberation effect
as the ears quickly tire of the full-
on effect this box gives, thus
reducing its impact, I suppose that's
where the off button comes in.
Nevertheless it sounds impressive
when first switched on, making a
much bigger sound.

I can't see how it can give a true
3D effect as this is really a physical-
acoustic effect that places a sound
anywhere. That includes not only
left and right but up, down, front
and behind. This is done by subtly
modifying the volume and phase of
a sound between the left and right
speakers. It's something that can't
really be tagged on afterwards but
has to be an integral part of the
initial sound.

’Real' surroundsound is a very
subtle effect and I have heard some
convincing demos such as
helicopters flying round the room,
however most of the time 1 find it
difficult to spot the effect. I did visit
the surround sound room in the
Sheffield Museum of Popular
Music. That was in a circular room
with 18 very large speakers, but
most of the time the sound
appeared to be coming from over
my right shoulder. So, at best, you
can call the Equaliser pseudo-3D.

Anyway I dragged out the 'scope
to see what it was doing to a simple
sine wave. Pressing the effects
button made a righthand mono
signal appear in the left side as well
but reduced in amplitude and
phase-shifted. The phase-shifting
altered with frequency which
shows it is doing something.

Whatever the merits of true 3D
sound this processor did give a
feeling of being immersed in the
sound rather than having it thrust at
you, so I guess it was doing its job.

Although this is a piece of
hardware designed for a PC, Eesox
have provided a RISC OS desktop
application to control the volume as
well as an information sheet
detailing how to set it up with the
innards of a Rise PC. I had the

graphics equaliser a few weeks
before the second part of the
package arrived, the three piece
subwoofer speaker system. The idea
is that at low frequencies your ears
are not sensitive to the direction of
the sound so you can have that
coming from a central speaker. Two
other speakers provide the
conventional left and right sounds.

Woofers are the name given to
speakers handling the lowest
frequencies and sub-woofers
handle frequencies that are in
theory too low to hear. The idea
being that low frequencies are more
felt than heard. By this definition
it's not a true sub-woofer because,
according to the box, its frequency
response only goes down to 50Hz,
something you can hear. The effect
however is quite pronounced, Alec
said "That's the way music should
sound" as Metallica boomed out of
the newly connected speakers. "It
has a good kicking bass" he said as

he picked up his bass guitar and
played along. The side speakers,
however, gave a bit of a thin sound
at times, I thought.

On the technical side each of the
side speakers gives 3W output with
10W from the sub-woofer itself.
These are also magnetically
shielded so that you shouldn't have
any problems when placing them
close to your monitor, not that you
would want to anyway. One of the
side speakers also has a power
switch/volume control and a bass
and treble control. This is a bit
redundant given a graphics
equaliser, so many combinations of
settings can give the same sound.

The equaliser and speakers are
sold separately but together they
form a good combination not onky
in sound but looks. It looks
cool, it sounds cool - sorted.

Product details

Product:

3D Surround Equaliser, 3

Piece Multimedia Subwoofer
Speaker system

Price:

Equaliser, £47.50; Speaker set
£45.50; both £87.50; including
VAT; Carriage extra.

Supplier:

Eesox, Century House, Market
Street, Swavesey, Cambs, CB4
5QG

Tel:

(+44/0) 1954 208208

Fax:

(+44/0) 1954 208208

E-mail:

info@eesox.com

Web:

www.eesox.com

Requires:

Rise PC for ease of use but
could be used on other
models

♦ m _ Tr

# ^4 <

^ *

http://www.acornuser.com December 1999 '

Pushing forward the frontiers in RISC OS
internet & web authoring software

jf TEtt ga

m C (J 1

An E-mail and News
Client for RISC OS
Professional Edition

The only RISC OS Internet software with the
GOOD NET-KEEPING seal of approval

HTMLEtM

Interactive

anthem*£7o

inc. VAT

The RISC OS MIDI Sequencer

Anthem is a feature packed, easy to use MIDI
sequencing package for RISC OS computers
It employs a powerful and acclaimed new object-
oriented (phrases of music) song structure that
allows the musician flexibility in arrangement, and
ease of editing unparalleled by any other RISC OS
sequencer.

fruccb

Existing Sound & Music Products include
PC SoundPro 2 £35, MIDI Synthesizers,
Sound Cards, MIDI Cards, Parallel/Serial
Port MIDI, MIDI Support....

£53

£30

Next generation WWW
authoring for RISC OS

£105

All the tools you need

Our RISC OS web authoring solutions set ne
standards in power and ease of use

The Studio edition provides
HTMLEdit 4+ Java support, sound and music,
link and image checking, syntax
colouring and OLE

Enhanced Web Visual frames, tables, animations,

Toolkit maps, palette control, Draw file

conversion

WebSpell Full HTML-aware spelling checker £15
Webster XL Browser with frames, tables, forms, £25
sound and JavaScript

SiteMaster Price now

The Web Site Management Jf ^

System for RISC OS Computers Xi J w

Now with automatic up-loader for
getting changes online fast

22 Robert Moffat, High Legh, Knutsford, Cheshire WA16 6PS

Tel: 01925 755043 Fax: 01925 757377 Email: rcomp@rcomp.co.uk rci@rcomp.co.uk

of Might and Magic

THE PRICE OF LOYALTY

Expansion Pack | ^

• w Requires Original HoMM2

- ‘'a

lw I ivi I \ ■}■.(]( f- \ !• i ne.,
•f;^r;u(i'r-.r. h r. rim d; r b or, m •:

Offer fenrr. 'i im

(Towers c
Heroes of Might &

Doom+

Syndicate*

Abuse

£32.50

£29.00

£25.00

Distributors for ARTEX: Ankh, Exodus
PRO ACTION: Various titles

^gameshow

Golden

A ll being well, a selection of

patches to make a whole host
of older games function
correctly on the latest
StrongARM Rise PCs will be on the
quarterly CD and downloadable
from our website.

Cataclysm

The object of Cataclysm is basically
to get all of the liquid from the top
of the screen to the bottom. Simple,
eh? It's actually more difficult than it
sounds, as the liquid has to fall into
the collector at the bottom - any
liquid that doesn't fall in reduces the
amount of time you have left on the
level, which means you have to place
blocks in the right places to make the
liquid go the right way.

This is made even more difficult
on later levels because there are
different types of liquid; acid is fatal
on contact, and the blue and yellow
liquid must be mixed before being
collected, plus the puzzles become
more fiendish.

You have to look very carefully to
make sure that the water will
definitely get to the collector before
releasing it, this is made even more

Alex Macfarlane Smith takes a
look at four games from yesteryear

the time (except when you are
hidden behind water). It can get a bit
repetitive at times, but if you leave it
for a while and go back to it, it's still
very good and addictive. Cataclysm
is great fun to play, especially if you
enjoy arcade puzzle style games.

Cataclysm is still available from
The Fourth Dimension, see their
contact details in the CJE Micros
advert elsewhere in this issue.

difficult by various valves,
dissolving blocks and remote control
doors. There are also guns and aliens
which will either try and shoot you,
or follow you around as you
progress. There are a total of 40
levels, so plenty to keep you
entertained - some of the later levels
are particularly difficult. Another
feature of the game is that it also
records your scores and times for
each level, so you can go back and
try to beat your best score and time,
or compete against your friends.

The only feature that I felt would
have been nice is a level designer.
The graphics are quite good, you can
easily see what is happening most of

Elite has become one of the most
widely known games since its
release on to a number of different
platforms (the first being the BBC
Micro). The RISC OS version is
considered by most Elite fans to be
the best version on any platform.

Elite is a space adventure with a
variety of gameplay which includes
trading, combat and missions which
involve hunting down pirates, or
saving planets.

Initially you have to trade
between planets to improve the
specifications of your ship, and then
you can choose what path you want
to go down - trading, overcoming
pirates, or even become a fugitive by
attacking friendly ships, shooting
down the police ships (Vipers) and
so on. The layout of the eight
galaxies are identical to the original
BBC version, but in almost every
other way the game has been
improved.

All of the graphics use filled
polygons (unlike the wireframe
graphics of the original), there are
now moons around some of the
planets, and the varied ship routines

http://www.acornuser.com December 1 999

Wild, wet fun in Cataclysm

/I brief flashback to Flashback

are much better - you can be flying
along and find pirates attacking each
other, or a transport ship which you
can either destroy, or defend from
attacks from pirates [lots of pirates
then - Ed]. If you're being attacked,
sometimes Vipers will come and
help you - depending how 'clean'
you are. If you are a fugitive. Vipers
will actively hunt you down. Not to
be recommended before your ship is
of a reasonable status.

Once you have got your ship well
equipped, or have the appropriate
number of kills, you may be
contacted by an organisation or
individual to carry out one of the
four missions in the game, which on
completion will award you with
money to upgrade your ship, or
special additional equipment. The
ultimate goal of the game is to have a
fully equipped ship, completed all of
the missions and to be Elite.

Elite is now freeware and was on
the cover disc of Acorn User a while
back. An updated version to run on
StrongARM Rise PCs may be
downloaded from the features
section of Acorn Arcade by following
the links from http://www.
acornarcade.com/

Flashback

Flashback is probably one of the best
arcade adventure games available for
RISC OS. The intro sequence is slick,
and introduces the story line - Aliens
want to take over the world. They
chase you. Shoot your space bike
down. They assume you're dead, but
you're not. The fools.

Your first task is to find out more
about yourself - as you become
conscious again, you knock a
holocube off a ledge, picking this up
and examining it gives you
information about who you are and

what you should do. The
eventual aim of the game is
to save Earth from invasion
by the aliens. The graphics
in the game are excellent -
the way that the characters
within the game are
animated, particularly the
hero, are superb [I spend
most of the time making
him do forward rolls or
pulling his gun out the
holster, shooting a tree,
then putting it back. It
really is very good - Ed],
The backgrounds are also
very well put together.
There are a number of
puzzles or tasks to solve; for
instance, on the first level, you must
help a man get to hospital, where he
will give you an ID card allowing
you access to the next section of the
level.

Mostly you have to run around
avoiding or killing your enemies, but
it gets interesting later on when you
have to complete certain missions to
receive credits and also take part in a
gameshow to get back to Earth.

The monsters and other
inhabitants get increasingly clever as
you progress through the game, and
you have to learn when to use your
forcefield. You can be hit a maximum
of four times before your shield runs
out, but there are recharge points
scattered throughout the levels
which will regenerate your shield.

The game is spread over seven
levels with movie sequences
scattered throughout the game.
Flashback is an excellent game, with
a superb blend of puzzles, action and
skill. Sadly, stocks of Flashback are

somewhat hard to locate at present.
The main distributor, CJE, has sold
out, but keep an eye on the free ads
and second-hand games advertised
on the Internet newsgroups and you
could get yourself a copy.

Populous

Populous is a God style game, where
you have complete control over all
your people. The object is to build
up your empire and eventually attack
neighbouring tribes and wipe them
out. You have a certain level of
Manna which will increase with the
number of people you have, and will
decrease when you perform certain
tasks.

Earthquakes which destroy the
land and may cause people to drown,
volcanoes which cause the enemy to
spend time dropping the land back
down to a reasonable level, swamps
which people can sink into, and
floods which cause the entire
landscape to be dropped by one level
must all be faced and survived. You
need to be careful of these on later
levels when the computer uses them
to its advantage.

Your people are able to construct
buildings, gather together to become
stronger, travel to find enemies to
fight, or you can create a knight who
will go and find enemy walkers to
kill or buildings to destroy. There are
over 500 worlds in conquest mode
where you battle it out against the
computer - with varying levels of
difficulty, and varying skills
available.

Alternatively, you can just try
custom mode which allows you to
customise all aspects of the game -
what skills good and evil can have,

December 1 999 http://www.acornuser.com

gameshow

the way the landscape looks and so
on. You can then either battle it out
with the computer, or watch the
computer play against itself. There
was to be a serial link option so that
two people could fight it out
between them, but sadly it was never
implemented.

i To sum up, Populous is a very

enjoyable and varied strategy game.

It may not appeal to everyone, but if
you enjoy planning attacks on the
enemy, or just playing God, this is
the game to look for. As with
Flashback , nobody seems to have
stocks of Populous any longer. Keep
an eye on the second-hand market if
you're really keen to get hold of this
one.

News

In a break from the norm, there's
actually some gaming news this
month. Firstly, I bring the sad news
that programming group GEK has
left the RISC OS scene.

Their Website says that this is due
to all of the members "buying PCs".
GEK's two current projects, CliopX
and Sumitsu Sun were nearing
completion, so anyone who fancies
taking these on should e-mail
games@acomuser.com for details of
how to contact GEK directly. The
good news this month is that
Nintendo has announced they intend
to use an ARM processor in their
next generation GameBoy. This isn't
strictly anything to do with the RISC
OS market but it does go to show
that had things happened differently,
ARM-based Acom machines could
have been a lucrative gaming
platform. The news will mean that
emulating the new hand-held

console under RISC OS should be
easier than those consoles which use
other processors. Look out for a full
emulation round-up on these pages
in the next few months.

It has been rumoured that R-
Comp Interactive are close to
receiving their order of the Heroes of
Might and Magic 2 expansion pack,
The Price of Loyalty. This pack was
due for release at the
Wakefield show in May
but delays in shipping
the boxes over from the
US put the schedule
back by several
months. Unlike some
other expansion
packs, this one is
set to add new
features as well as
offering new
missions. For one, a
random map generator
is now included
along with
some very
good music.

Keep an eye
out for a full
review.

Another
new release.

Toy Chronicles , is
also still on the
cards for the new year.

Billy from the Greek coding group,
Fantasia Fan, posted
to the gaming newsgroup to
announce that the project is still
being worked on but is being held
back by the absence of TopModcVs
animation plug-in which was
promised many months ago.

It's still hard to tell what this

game will be all about, but a few
examples of the stunning artwork are
included this month.

Cheats

Since Archimedes World magazine
stopped earlier this year, there's been
nowhere for you no-good-cheats to
send your wares for publication. Just
so you know, cheats are equally
welcome here but unfortunately we
can't offer you any earthly reward
other than having your name printed
in this little 'ol mag. So if
you have a cheat, level
walkthrough or even a
CheatMod from Desktop
Hacker ; e-mail it to
games@acornuser.com or
send it on a disc to the usual
editorial address. This month,
we have a previously undiscov-
ered cheat for Chocks Away
Extra Missions submitted by
Keith McKillop:

Go to practise map 'C',
go into practise , pause,
then hold T 'E"T' and
'M', and press Space.

With luck, it should de-
pause and give you
infinite speed limits and
crashing will raise you
about 100ft from where you last
were. The necessity to refuel is also
removed. Oh, and if you're on inside
view when it happens, you're
suddenly looking left 1 think, so the
plane may appear to act oddly (it
isn't though) until you change view.

A second cheat this month allows
progression through the devilishly
hard BotKiller 2 from Wag Software.
This one was contributed
anonymously and is being published
as revenge on the author for using a
girl's name rather than my name, as
it was in the pre-release versions:

Enter a password of 'CLAIRE' from
the main menu and the text 'CHEAT
MODE' will hopefully appear at the
bottom of the screen accompanied by
a sound sample. Once in the game, use
the following keys to gain your
reward:

keypad 1 - level skip
keypad 2 - all three key cards
keypad 3 - full ammo and weapons

Alasdair Bailey

Some images from Toy Chronicles

http://www.acornuser.com December 1999

- :•

Business and Utilities

Ant Internet Suite II 110.51
ArcFax 35.00

ArcFS2 25.00

ARCshare 49.95

Artworks 104.69

CD Burn 58.75

Complete Animator 94.05

DataPower 1 110.00

DataPower2 166.32

Da Vinci 90 81.08

Digital Symphony 56.95

Disc Doctor 28.45

Disc Rescue 45.00

Draw Works Designer 31 .50
Easy C++ 116.32

EasyFont Pro 59.95

Eureka 3 110.51

FastSpool+ 17.62|

Fireworkz Pro 166.31

Font Directory Pro 65.00

FontFX6 29.95

Game On! 2 15.00

Holy Bible (lllus.) BP(KJV) 82.25
HTML Edit 4 53.00

ImageFS 2 44.59

IMaster & TWAIN Driver 35.00
Impact Pro 100.00

Impression Publisher 136.41
Impression Style 83.54

LanMan98 41.12

MellDI 129.00

MIDI Synthesizer 46.94

Midi Works 151.95

OHP (Presentation) 29.95
Ovation Pro 1 58.62

P'rllel port Zip driver (Argo) 34.08
PC Pro2 39.00

Personal Accounts V4 49.00
Photo Link 65.55

Photo Real (Canon/Epson) 65.86
Photodesk 3 299.50

ProArtisan 24 (RPC Only) 89.95
Prophet 3 179.77

Rhapsody 4 94.95

Schema 2 121.50

Sibelius 6 116.00

Sibelius 7 599.00

Sibelius 7 Student 345.00

Sleuth 3 116.32

SparkFS 25.00

StrongGuard 25.00

Studio Sound 113.95

Tablemate Designer 60.00
TopModel 2 145.11

Turbodrivers (Can/HP/Eps) 54.69
WebSpider 40.00

WebTool for ANT Suite 2 29.38

WIMP Basic 44.99

Win95FS 41.12

XStitch 2 35.00

EDUCATION

Animated Alphabet, Talk 33.43
Arc Venture (various) 39.01
Aztecs, Age 7-11 50.17

Calabash Pirates 25.98

Crystal Rain Forest 50.17

DataSweet 3 69.33

Dazzle + 83.71

Dinosaurs ( 1 0/1 0) 1 3.49

Doodle 32.37

English (10/10) 13.49

Essential Maths ( 1 0/1 0) 1 3.49

Essential Science 13.49

Expl with Flossy the Frog 28.79
First Logo 38.95

Freddy Teddy's Adventure 23.50
French (10/10) 13.49

Fun School 3/4 (various) 24.99
Geography ( 1 0/1 0) 1 3.49

German (10/10) 13.49

Granny's Garden

28.79

James Pond Run. Water

27.00

Maths (Geometry) (10/10)

13.49

Maths (Number) (10/10)

13.49

Mega Maths

24.99

Micro Maths

24.99

My World 2 + 2

54.70

Naughty Stories Vols 1-6

44.65

New Teddy Bear's Picnic

36.78

Nursery Rhyme Time

33.43

Oxford Reading Tree 3

44.65

Pendown DTP

65.85

Playdays age 3-8

23.40

Playground (Freddy teddy) 23.50

4 Smudge the Spaniel

25.98

p Spelling & Punctuation

13.49

Splosh+ (1-5 users)

51.70

Table Aliens

27.85

Tiny Draw/Tiny Logo

29.37

Tizzy's Toybox

47.94

Watch Magic Grandad

30.13

GAMES

Alone in the Dark

20.00

Anagram Genius

20.00

BHP Brutal Horse Power

28.49

Birds of War t

30.00

Black Angel

30.00

Carnage Inc.

22.50

Chocks Away Compend.

25.00

Cobalt Seed

23.74

Crystal Maze, age 7+

28.45

Cyber Chess

31.50

Darkwood

20.70

Demon's Lair

20.00

Drifter (DD/HD)

31.50

Dune II (CD -£31.50)

26.60

Dungeon t

27.00

E-Type 2 t

30.00

Eclipse Collection

22.49

Enter the Realm

25.00

Exodus

25.00

Fire and Ice

23.39

Global Effect

27.00

Groundhog

12.00

Haunted House

25.00

Holed Out Compendium

20.00

James Pond 2+

16.20

Logic Mania

27.00

Morph

25.00

Pandora’s Box

25.00

Patience Addict

19.95

Play It Again Sam 3

24.95

Play It Again Sam 4

35.00

Real McCoy 2/3/4 (each)

35.00

Real McCoy 5

31.50

Rick Dangerous

15.26

Saloon Cars Deluxe

31.50

Scrabble

26.59

Shuggy

25.95

Shovy 3D

20.00

Silver Ball

12.00

Simon the Sorcerer

27.00

Small t

21.20

Spobbleoid Fantasy

30.00

Stereoworld

22.50

Stuntracer 2000 t

35.00

Supersnail

25.00

The Time Machine

25.00

Virtual Golf

31.50

CD business & Utils

Arm Club PD CD 1

19.00

Arm Club PD CD 2

15.00

Artworks ClipArt 1 or 2

20.08

Bitfolio 7

42.74

Font Emporium

29.95

PDCD4 (Datafile)

15.00

PDCD5 (Datafile)

15.00

ProArtisan 2

98.93

Rise Disc Vol.1

15.00

Rise Disc Vol.2

20.00

Rise Disc Vol.3 25.00

Rob Duncan Cartoon Kit 42.74
Task Force Clip Art 33.20

Tekkie Disc (PRM's etc) 47.50

CDROM Education

Ancient Egyptians 42.30

Ancient Lands 50.53

Anim Talking Alphabe 33.43
British Isles from the Air 42.30
Castles 42.30

Crystal Rain Forest 2 50.17

Dangerous Creatures 50.53
Dinosaurs 50.53

Era of the 2nd WW 81.08

Garden Wildlife 42.30

Guardians of Greenwood 58.16
Hutchinson's Encyclopedia 52.82
Illustrated Shakespeare 29.32
John Cabot & Merchant V. 42.30
Kingfisher Micropedia 76.38
King Arthur 58.69

Kiyeko with Acorn reader 36.43
Map Detectives 50.17

Musical Instruments 50.53
My 1st Incrd. Amaz. Diet. 41.13
Number Time 2 28.99

Oxf. Talking Infant Atlas 22.32
PB Bears Birthday Party 41.13
Perspectives Francais 81.08
Romans 42.30

Science Explorer 66.96

Seashore Life 42.30

Science In Action 13.73

Settlements 81.08

Space Exploration 13.73

Survival: Mysteries of Nat. 42.30
The Way Things Work 50.53
The World's Weather 52.87
Tizzy's Toolbox 44.65

TOTS TV 19.95

Ultimate Human Body 50.00
Understanding the Body 42.30
Vikings 42.30

World of Robert Burns 93.94

CDROM GAMES

Abuse 25.00

Ankh 25.00

Crystal Maze 28.45

Doom Trilogy 35.00

Dune II 31.50

Heroes of Might & Magic II 35.00
Simon the Sorcerer 32.40

Syndicate 29.00

Wizards Apprentice 24.95

1500 titles Available!!

Some dealers may not stock all
titles

Minimum delivery £ 2

Credit Cards and Official
Orders welcome. H&OE

All Prices Include
VAT @ 17.5%

New & Featured

software

Texteasc Multimedia I

Award winning

Offer price £85

Acorn Advance

RISC OS4/SA compat.

£50

ArcFS2

R/W compression
filing system

£25

Alone In The Dark

Walkabout game not SA

Offer price £20

ImpactPro

Relational database
New Publisher!

£100

NRPC Not for RPC
f Separate RPC version
Many titles abbreviated for advert

Order from a participating dealer

Uniqueway

Tel 01222 464020 Fax 01222 440071
email sales@uniqueway.co.uk

Davyn Computer Services

Tel 01924 254800 Fax 01 924 254036
email sales@davyn.demon.co.uk

CJE Micro's / NCS

Tel 0 1 903 523666 Fax 0 1 903 523679

email sales@cje.co.uk CTA Djrect

Tel 01 942 797777 Fax 01 942 79771 1
email sales@cta.u-net.com

The Data Store

Tel 0181 460 8991 Fax 0181 313 0400

email sales@datstore.demon.co.uk , . . .

Liquid Silicon

Tel 01 592 592265 Fax 01 592 5961 02
Kc-xisio., '<> email liquid@cableinet.co.uk

• ’

RISC OS compatible products for the new Millennium

CONTENTS

[ Page 2

The Latest RiscStation News

Page 3

Introducing the RiscStation NetWORX

Page 4

Introducing the RiscStation R7500 Lite

Page 5

RiscStation R7500 Lite Software Pack

Page 6

Introducing the PCI PROJECT

Page 7

PCI PROJECT Upgradability

Page 8

RiscStation Dealer Contact Information

NetWORX And R7500 Lite Now Shipping

Following the delay of a vital PCI component back in August the PCI-less
projects, originaly scheduled for release during the first quarter of 2000,
have been brought forward for release before the R7500 and are now
ready to find their way into many happy customers' homes and businesses.
Initial feedback from customers on the NetWORX and R7500 Lite is
extremely encouraging.

"RiscStation would like to thank our customers for their comments, we look
forward to entering the new Millennium with you . "

Projected sales figures are high and just as importantly, interest from the
United States (bearing in mind no marketing whatsoever has been
undertaken there) indicates a further increased user base for the new
Millennium.

News

R7500 Evolution

The advanced release of the NetWORX and R7500 Lite computers has
allowed the R7500 PCI variant to be completely re-designed to achieve
maximum performance, for those users who require even more power.
Due to these major re-designs the RiscStation R7500 has been renamed
"PCI PROJECT" and has swapped release dates with its PCI-less
brothers.

"The PCI PROJECT is expected to be completed by early 2000. "

NEWS

64bit PCI and Mega I/O for PCI PROJECT!

RiscStations hardware partners are currently producing new silicon to
allow the PCI PROJECT to use an enhanced PCI based I/O chip in
place of the current super I/O processor. This results in vastly improved
I/O over the original R7500 and previous RISC OS compatible systems.

It is also envisaged that 64bit PCI will be a part of the PCI PROJECT
as standard. This will result in an I/O bandwidth of a superior 264Mb
per second. This bandwidth makes possible the use of the latest in PCI
cards such as the new Simtec multi-processor boards, Gigabit Ethernet
interfaces and the latest RAID controllers.

^Qg(£Si^O®fD 2666

RISC 05 compatible products for the new Millennium

NetWORX

IFI C ATIQ N

From £399 + VAT

56 Mhz ARM7500FPE (with integrated floating point
co-processor)

RISC OS 4

8/1 6Mb 60ns EDO System Memory

6Mb Flash Memory containing RISCOS 4 and Utilities

Micro ATX Desktop Configuration

PS2 Style Keyboard Input
PS2 Style 3 Button Mouse Input

2 x Serial Port 'Rated at 460k baud
2 x PC Style Game Port supporting Midi In/Out/Through

2 x High Speed EIDE Ports 'Supporting up to 4 devices
1 x lObaseT Network Port with Wake On Lan Support

1 x EPP/ECP Fast Parallel Port
1 x IRDA Infrared Interface Support
1 x High Density Floppy Drive Port
1 x 15Pin VGA Connector

Full 16Bit 0PL3 Stereo Sound Sampler & Mixer with FM
Synthesizer, Midi, Wavetable and 2 CD Mixer Ports

3 x 3.5mm Jack Sockets for Line in/Mic In/Headphone &
Speaker Out

ARM-

Network Ready Free Software

aooo

RISC OS compatible products for the new Millennium

R7500 Lite

•

IF1CATIQN

From £499 + VAT

56 Mhz ARM7500FPE (with integrated floating point
co-processor)

RISC OS 4

16Mb 60ns EDO System Memory
4.3Gb EIDE Hard Drive

2 x Serial Port * Rated at 460k baud
2 x PC Style Game Port supporting Midi In/Out/Through
2 x High Speed EIDE Ports * Supporting up to 4 devices
1 x lObaseT Network Port with Wake On Lan Support
1 x EPP/ECP Fast Parallel Port
1 x IRDA Infrared Interface Support
1 x High Density Floppy Drive Port
1 x 15Pin VGA Connector

48X Atapi EIDE CD ROM Drive
6Mb Flash Memory containing RISCOS 4 and Utilities
Micro ATX Desktop or Mini/Midi Tower Configuration
Minimum 60 Watts External Stereo Speakers

Full 16Bit 0PL3 Stereo Sound Sampler & Mixer with FM
Synthesizer, Midi, Wavetable and 2 CD Mixer Ports
3 x 3.5mm Jack Sockets for Line in/Mic In/Headphone &
Speaker Out

PS2 Style Keyboard Input
PS2 Style 3 Button Mouse Input

ARM.

Available as Desktop

•-V-* 1 1

Network Ready Free Speakers Free Software

RISC OS compatible products for the new Millennium

R75QQ Lite SOFTWARE

RISCOS 4, the operating system of the R7500 Lite, comes with
applications built in. A personal organiser, text editors, drawing
applications and music software can all be found as part of the
RISC OS 4 package. As well as the standard installed RISC OS 4
software, there is a bonus CD with even more too! Games,
demo's, graphics and utilities can all be found on here.

As well as software that acompanies RISCOS 4, every R7500 Lite will
arrive with a top selection of software preinstalled ready to use. Whether
you want to work or play, there are programs for everyone on the R7500...

f ; ‘ ^

A great graphic design package that comes with
a complete set of 2100 fonts and even a set of
over 1000 clips to use with your designs! With a
host of graphic enhancers as well as a complete
font editor, DrawWORKS Millennium is a great
tool for that creative job.

®Sg3^nB3f^t3iX3{Kggi3 S5 ®c9*1

<§> 037 prscitosGs fl©©©

Writer

r\ / # i

EasiWriter Professional is quite simply a brilliant Acorn compatible
word processor. As well as being extremely user friendly, it can
utilise the many fonts supplied with DrawWORKS Millennium.
Combine this with MS Word compatibility, the European spelling
checker and the many utilities found in this professional package,
and you have a strong stand alone word processor.

Fireworkz Pro is a versatile office suite consisting of a
word processor, a spreadsheet application and a database
editor. A great all in one office package that is well laid
out and easy to get to grips with, Fireworkz is a great
solution for home office or business alike.

Back by popular demand, PipeDream is best
described as an open plan office utility. Create
a letter, a spreadsheet or a new database all in
the same program, easily. A great introduction
program for children due to the simple layout,
yet a very able program never the less.

itiu

!->/

fireworkz^

Aside from the serious applications, RiscStation have
installed a selection of games in the GAMEZONE. Ankh,
Botkiller and the nostalgic Frak! can all be found here.
Also a selection of shareware and demos of up and
coming titles can be found in the DEMOZONE, another
place to visit if your seeking fun and games!

DEMOZONE

GAMEZONE

Even more titles to appear soon.

RISC OS compatible products for the new Millennium

•

PC / Project

IFICATION AS OF AUTUMN '99

£TBA

Minimum 56 Mhz ARM7500FPE (with integrated floating
point co-processor)

RISC OS 4

Minimum 16Mb 60ns EDO System Memory
Minimum 4.3GB UDMA Hard Drive
Minimum 48X Atapi UDMA CD ROM Drive
6Mb Flash Memory containing RISCOS 4 and Utilities
ATX Desktop or Tower Configuration

Enhanced 64bit PCI Bus
2 x Serial Port * Rated at 460k baud

1 x PC Style Game Port supporting Midi In/Out/Through

2 x UDMA/ATA66 IDE Ports * Supporting up to 4 devices
1 x lOObaseT Network Port 'Optional

1 x EPP/ECP Fast Parallel Port
1 x High speed Infrared Interface Support
1 x High Density Floppy Drive Port
1 x 15Pin VGA Connector

Full 16Bit OPL3 Stereo Sound Sampler & Mixer with FM
Synthesizer, Midi, Wavetable and 2 CD Mixer Ports

3 x 3.5mm Jack Sockets for Line in/Mic In/Headphone &
Speaker Out

RISC OS compatible products for the new Millennium

PG PROJECT UPGRADES

Returning to the original R7500 designs and enhancing the PCI Bus and other areas of the
motherboard has presented us with the ability to use very fast PCI card upgrades, the likes
of which would not have been as functional on previous designs. The new PCI PROJECT
will boast a 64bit PCI Bus for a bandwidth of around 264Mb per second, more than enough
for most PCI upgrades.

StrongArm Upgrade - Upgrade to the faster StrongArm processors for increased
power under general operation and for an overall quicker performance.

Multiprocessor Upgrade - Available with between 2 and 8 processors installed. Up
to 3 cards can be used in any one machine, totaling 24 StrongArm processors!
Powerful multithreading useful for many an application.

PC Card - Plans indicate the use of on board memory, and the ability to utilise up to
a 500Mhz processor, and beyond. PC Cards have NEVER been as powerful.

32bit SCSI Card - Up to 15 high speed devices can be connected to the R7500 via
this low cost, high performance card. SCSI Scanners, Hard Drives, Removable
Drives, CD Writers and a host of other devices will be available to the RiscStation
user.

lOObaseT Network Card - For increased performance over a network, this card can
be added to the R7500's PCI bus enabling faster transfer between systems.

USB Port Expansion - USB, the new multipurpose port available to PC systems for
some time now, will be available for the RISC OS user. WebCams, Digital cameras,
and an increasing range of products can be connected via USB to the PCI
PROJECT.

Internal 56k & ISDN Modems - Connection to the internet will be possible via an
internal modem. Connecting the modem to the internal PCI bus results in a faster
data transfer from modem to computer as well as cutting out the need for a bulky
external box, a neat solution for the internet user.

3D Graphics Accelerators - Soon the RISC OS user can experience the power of
a 3D accelerator card. Enhanced 3D gameplay in high screen resolution will be
possible on the R7500 with this breed of card, as well as the possibility of special
lighting and smoke effects being added real time to an intense 3D game.

ATA 66 IDE Upgrade - An extremely fast IDE expansion catering for those people
wanting more low cost yet high speed IDE devices. More Hard Drives, CD ROMs
and the like can be attached with this upgrade for very little expense.

MPEG Decode/Encode - MPEG encoded movies decoded on a RISC OS machine
quickly for high quality entertainment and presentational purposes will soon be a
reality with this upgrade. As well as this, the ability to encode your own material in
high quality MPEG format should be possible with this exciting project.

"PCI, the future of RISC OS computing. "

RiscStation

Rise Based Technologies

OFFICIAL DEALERS

ACC Computers

Herentalsebaan 212

B2100

Deurne

Belgium

+32 323/366.50.80

APDL

39 Knighton Park Road

Sydenham

London

SE26 5RN

0181 778 2659
info@apdl.co.uk

Cannon Computing
Whitegate
Dunmow Road
Hatfield Heath
Bishops Stortford,

Herts

CM22 7ED

01279 730800/900
sales@cannonco.demon.co.uk

CJE Micro's
78 Brighton Road
Worthing
West Sussex
BN1 1 2EN

01903 523222
sales@cje.co.uk

CTA Direct
168 Elliott Street
Tyldesley
Manchester
M29 8DS

01942 797777
sales@cta.u-net.com

Cumbria Software Systems
Unit 3A

Townfoot Indus. Est.
Brampton

01697 73779

sales@cumsoft.demon.co.uk

The Data Store
6 Chadderton Road
Bromley
Kent

BR2 9QN
0181 460 8991

sales@datastore.demon.co.uk

Datawave Nederland
Christinalaan 31
SOEST
3761 BR
Netherlands

Davyn Computers

The Workshop off Princes Street

Sandal

Wakefield

WF1 5NV

01924 254800
sales@davyn.demon.co.uk

Desk

Sierbloem 3

3068 AP Rotterdam

Netherlands

+31 010 2860541
info@deskvof.nl

E.t.c.

58 - 60 Hexthorpe Rd
Hexthorpe
Doncaster
South Yorkshire
DN4 ODB

01302 342818
etc@cwcom.net

Explan Computers Ltd

PO Box 32

Tavistock

Devon

PL19 8YU

01822 613868
info@explan.demon.co.uk

Ifel

21 Glenfield Road
Glenmount
Plymouth
PL6 7LL

01752 777106
sales.ifel@argonet.co.uk

Levens Software
Kable House
Amber Drive
Langley Mill
Nottingham
N916 4BE

0500 121 242
sales@levens.co.uk

Liquid Silicon
2 Forth Avenue
Kirkcaldy
Fife

01592 592265
liquid@cableinet.co.uk

Orcom System Haus
Leipziger Str. 70
06766 Wolfen
Germany

+49 3494 6950

orcomshw@professional-internet.de

Pineapple Software
Suite 1, South Park Business Centre
310 Green Lane
Ilford
Essex

0208 599 1476
sales@pineaple.demon.co.uk

Simnet Computer Services

'Mir Ham Wharf

the Ham

Brentford

Middlesex

TW8 8EX

0181 568 5393

tom@simnettcomp.freeserve.co.uk

Starlight Corp.
Amerikalei 84 BIO
B-2000 Antwerpen
Belgium

+32 3 238 5245
manu_T @writeme.com

Uffenkamp Computer Systeme
Gartenstr 3

D-32130 Enger - Dreyen
Germany

+49 5224 978075
laiu@ucs.de

Uniqueway
3 Clarendon Road
Cyncoed
Cardiff
CF3 7JD

01222 464020
sales@uniqueway.co.uk

X-Ample Technology
PO Box 77
5340 AB Oss
Netherlands

+31 412 634433
xat@horizon.nl

CONTACT U

^ \

Hardware Partners

Registered Developer

RiscStation Ltd.

168 Elliott Street
Tyldesley
Greater Manchester
M29 8DS
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0) 1942 797777
Fax: +44 (0) 1942 797711

Email: info@riscstation.co.uk
Website: www.riscstation.co.uk

P sion's Series 5 hand-held

computer has been around for
just over two years. It has
always had much to tempt an
Acorn user as, sentimentally at least,
it's a British design using an ARM
processor. Like RISC OS, the Series
5's powerful in-house developed
operating system, EPOC, is
staunchly VVintel-independent.

The Series 5 is a stylish and
innovative product, but it's by no
means perfect. Now Psion has
introduced a face-lifted model, the
Series 5mx and it successfully
addresses many, if not all, of the
original's faults.

Ask a seasoned Series 5 owner
what they would like Psion to
improve and the list would
inevitably include a clearer, brighter
screen, more memory, slightly less
lethargic applications, integrated
Internet support and a case finish
which didn't start to flake and peel
after a few months.

The new mx does have a revised
screen - well, according to Psion at
least. Compared to a fairly new
standard Series 5 I couldn't see any
difference. Because of the touch
screen laminate, the screen remains
lacking in contrast, especially in dim
light. However, I suspect that all
more recent Series 5s, mx or
otherwise, have slightly improved
screens compared to original models.
The backlight is different, however.
It's no more brighter than before, but
it doesn't buzz like the old one and
Psion says it uses about a third less
power.

16Mb of system memory is now
standard compared with the
previous maximum of 8Mb,
which is just as well,
because if you load
various
options,
like the
Java add-in
- which
consumes
3Mb on its
own, 8 Mb
would be
barely adequate.

As the mx has a
speed-doubled 37MHz
ARM 71 OT processor,
applications are notably faster. For
example, one particular address
database search used to take 5
seconds to locate 55 records out of a
total of over 700.

Now on the mx it barely takes 2

Ian Burley sees some improvement

seconds. Navigation of menus and
folders is noticeably a more crisp
affair. Best of all, the new processor
consumes no more battery power
than the old one. I typically get 4-6
weeks use from a pair of A A alkaline
batteries.

You can use NiCad rcchargeables,
or even better, more modern Nickel
Metal Hydride (NiMH) types and
the latter will last almost as long as
ordinary alkalines, but they die
almost without warning at the end of
their charge, whereas alkalines fade
out more gracefully. Internet e-mail,
a Web browser and PC file
synchronisation software used to be
an expensive optional extra.

It's now bundled for free and the
e-mail portion is even on ROM with
its own iconbar button. The e-mail
client was, from the word go, a
pretty agreeable affair. It can now
open Microsoft Word
attachments natively.

Web browsing is still a
rather sluggish and
un fulfilling

experience.
Frames
are still
not

supported,
so it's an
emergency-use
only option really.
Multiple accounts are
supported; useful with the
c plethora of 'free' Internet
offers currently available. Java,
which works in conjunction with the
Web browser, is supplied on CD-
ROM, which could be important for
some business users. Psion has made

a big commitment to Java and
expects thousands of Java
applications to attract all sorts of
users eventually. If there is one major
distinguishing feature of the mx, its
metallic grey paint job is it.

The old Series 5 was dressed in a
dark grey or occasionally a special
edition British Racing Green
rubberised finish. Unfortunately, the
exposed sharper edges of the case
soon lost their paint, leaving
otherwise reasonably new Series 5s
looking prematurely tired.

The new finish looks hard
wearing but only time will tell. So
what else has changed? Support for
Microsoft Office file compatibility has
been stepped up and there is even an
Outlook Contacts database application
in addition to the original 'Data'
database. Information exchange
using platform-independent
standards like vCard and IrObex are
now supported.

To summarise, the Series 5mx is
smarter, more capacious, faster and
more versatile than ever before. It
has evolved, but not radically. As a
Series 5 original edition user I look
longingly at the mx but my financial
conscience orders me not to part
with the £429 inc. VAT asking price.

However, if you're in the market
for a powerful pocket computer with
a great keyboard and digital
voice recorder - go for it!

Product details

Product:

Price:

Supplier:

Psion 5mx
£429 inc. VAT
Most High Street
electrical retailers

http://www.acornuser.com December 1999 ^

ik | g I Ben Ollivere

1^^ I /^\ T\ A / I ^ \X uses his machine

I Ncl VV U I IV at a distance

computing

L inux is a bit of a buzz word in
the computer industry these
days. It's a free operating
system that is a derivative of
Unix and was initially written by
Linus Torvelds, who still heads one of
the development teams. The most
common derivative (RedHat Linux -
http://www.redhat.com) is available
for RISC OS, in the form of ARMLinux
(http:/ /www.arm. uk.linux.org)
though installing it is tricky and
involves reformatting your harddisc.

An alternative is to use a
Unix/ Linux machine over a network
from your own computer. This is most
commonly done by installing an X
server - a piece of software allowing
you to run programs on a remote
computer while the output is
displayed on your machine.

The most common software for this
is Humming Bird's Exceed (which I
have run successfully on my PC card
using NetLinks). Another common
method is to connect using a telnet
client, which gives you a text-only
command prompt.

But what if you want to use an X
windows session on RISC OS? Gnome
Computers produce /X which is
equivalent to Exceed , but it is single-
tasking and costs £199
(http://www.gnome.co.uk). However
it is possible to get a completely usable

VNCViewer set-up options

X session using free alternatives.

IXserver is a freeware X server
under development by Vincent
Sanders, and is equivalent to /X. You
can get it from http://www.inkvine.
fluff.org/~vince

Athough only at the 'alpha' stage of
development, it does work, but won't
really run anything useful at the
moment.

VNC

Virtual Network Computing is a
system similar to X, but allows you to
run it on a variety of operating systems
- clients and servers exist for almost
every OS (including Windows, MacOS,
Linux/ Unix, RISC OS and BeOS).

In order to get a running X session
under RISC OS you need to download
the Linux client software from
http://www.uk.research.
att.com/vnc/ follow the download
link and select the OS installed on the
remote machine you wish to connect
to. Download the archive and save it
to your directory.

The following instructions assume
you are using a Bourne-type shell and
a Linux box. You should telnet to the
remote machine and enter the
following at the command prompt:

[ollivere@xserver ollivere] $ unzip vnc-
3/3/2r3_x86_linux_2/0/zip

This will extract the program to a sub-
directory called vnc_x86JinuxJ2/0

[ollivere@xserver ollivere] $ cd
vnc_x86_linux_2 . 0

Changes directory,

[olliveretaerver vnc_x86_linux_2*0] $
chmod u+rwx *

Sets the file permissions,

[ollivere@xserver vnc_x86_linux_2»0]$
,/vncpasswd .auth

Constructs a password file

Password: [enter desired password]
Verify: [re-enter desired password]

The next task is to start the VNC
server and get a window manager
running. Unix has a system of display

screens, this is where several display
systems can function at once. It is very
likely that your server machine will be
running X windows on screen 1. So
you will start VNC on screen 2.

It is usual to specify a screen like a
port number, so xserver.sjc.ox.ac.uk.T
would be screen 1 on the machine I
use, and xserver.sjc.ox.ac.uk:2 would
be screen 2. We also need to set the
display to output to VNC, and start a
window manager:

[ollivere@xserver ollivere] $ ./Xvnc :2 -
geometry 1024x768 -depth 16 -rfbauth
./.auth &

Start VNC,

[olliveretoerver ollivere] $ export
DISPLAY=xserver . s j c . ox . ac . uk : 2

Set display to VNC or, if you are using
tcsh or other c type shell:

[xserver]% setenv DISPLAY
xserver . s j c . ox . ac . uk : 2
[ollivere@xserver ollivere] $ wmaker &

And start window maker window
manager.

The initial command ./Xvnc sets
the VNC server running, you can get a
full list of options with:

./Xvnc -help

You must add the '-rfbauth ./.auth', or
anybody will be able to log on to your
account without entering a password,
which represents a major security risk.

Your system may not have window
maker installed (my window manager

Changing shell

If you are not using a Bourne-type
shell (bash or derivatives), you can
change shell by typing ssh at the
prompt, and selecting bash from the
available options.

Obviously the system is limited
in performance by the network you
use, however you can alleviate
network load by choosing a
window manager that requires less
redraw, 1 find afterstep or zuindow
maker to be the quickest, and fvwnil
to be particularly slow.

December 1 999 http://www.acornuser.com

of preference), if you get an error,
something like:

[ollivereOxserver vnc_x86_linux_2 . 01 $
bash: wmaker: conmand not found
[1] + Exit 127 wmaker

Then try a different window manager,
either twin or fvwm.

Client software

Now you have a working VNC server,
you need to get hold of a RISC OS
client to connect to it. There are two
currently available: VNC by Simon
Truss (http://www.bigblue.
demon.co.uk/VNC.html) and
VNCviezuer by Leo White (http://
www.brighteyes.u-net.com/).

Connect to your server on screen 2,
and enter your password when
prompted. Hopefully you should now
be presented with an X windows
screen. Now you have your VNC server
running successfully, it can be tweaked
a little to make it run a more efficiently.

If you are running a fast network
(such as an ethernet) and the remote
machine is on the same hub, or across a
couple of hubs, you will be able to
increase the performance of the VNC
desktop by increasing the network
traffic, this will increase the
performance of your desktop, but slow
down the network for other users.

There are three changes that can be
made:

Screen Update/Poll Time

These settings set how often your
local screen is updated. The lower
this value the more responsive the X
desktop will become.

Mouse Update

This sets how long the program
waits before sending updates to the
mouse position on the screen. The
lower this value the more
responsive the mouse will feel.
WimpPoll (VNC only)

This option sets in (centiseconds)
how long a time slice VNC may use
before other tasks are swapped in.
Setting this as high as possible (100
cs), will devote more time to VNC
than to other tasks.

Disable Nagle Algorithm

(VNCservcr only) This disables
grouping of packets (information
sent over the network). Selecting
this results in less efficient, but
faster, networking.

There are various other methods for
increasing the performance of VNC. If
you don't need 16bpp colour reducing
the number of colours will reduce
network traffic. Rather than doing this
on the viewer, if you start the VNC
server with '8' rather than T6' to
specify the colour depth you will not

only get better dithering,
but a much faster display.

You can also make life
easier by not selecting
textured window tools
and backdrops, as plain
colours compress better
and will therefore be
quicker to update.

VNCviciver is the most
fully implemented of the
two RISC OS clients,
sporting features such as
full screen and single-
tasking modes, as well as
having an easy to use and
understand configuration window.

Connecting is simply a case of
clicking Select on the iconbar icon. You
do need to specify the screen number
though, which is 2. VNCviezuer also
has the edge in terms of ease of
configuration with an easy to
understand, nicely laid out configure
window.

VNC is more fiddly than
VNCviezuer, and you must set up many
of your choices through editing the
config file, it also lacks a full screen
mode. However, VNC sports a toolbar,
is quicker, and so is my client software
of choice.

VNC vs X

So far VNC has been presented a little
as a 'poor man's X server', however
there are quite a few advantages to
using VNC rather than an X server.

The first and largest advantage is
that you get a persistent desktop.
Logging off and closing your window
does not kill your tasks, or change
anything on your desktop, as VNC is
still running, while under an Xserver

How does it work?

VNC is not an emulator, when you
run a program under VNC you are
running it on a remote machine
over a network. This means that
applications run at full speed, what
doesn't run at full speed is the
screen update.

In a VNC system you have client
software and a server software
which communicate with each
other over the network. The client
software detects the mouse-clicks
and keys you press on your
machine and transmits them over
the network to the server software
which 'inputs' them for you on the
server machine, and then transmits
the information back over the
network so the client can update
it's display. Various tricks are used
to ensure that the client runs as
quickly as possible.

the window manager and tasks would
usually be killed, and if they weren't
there would be no way to re-connect to
your new display. Hence it is possible
if you (like me) move to many different
locations on the same network, or
locations with fast Internet access, you
can simply open your VNC display to
find the desktop as you left it.

VNC also allows multiple
connections to the same session, this
means that two people may connect to
the same desktop at different locations
(and on a fast enough network
connection even in different countries).
This is very useful for demonstrating
software or multiple use.

VNC (unlike an X server) may run
on any desktop system. Hence it is
possible to use a PC, Mac (or even
Amiga) with a VNC client simply by
running server software on that
machine. There is now even a Java
version which will run embedded in a
Web page, hence machines such as a
Psion may still run VNC.

Equally, (and possibly more
usefully), it is possible to run a
VNCserver on the Acorn. This allows
you to use your RISC OS machine
across the network. VNCserver
(http://www.interconnex.co.uk/~paul)
is the only server software available,
and is fairly rudimentary, but it does
work.

Useful software

So what is actually worth using on
VNC? Pretty much anything will run
(aside from games, you won't be
playing Quake for example) at an
astounding speed considering what is
going on. Software I find particularly
good includes:

The GIMP (GNU Image
Manipulation Package) is a complete
fully featured art/image manipulation
package, and best of all it's free.
(http://www.gimp.org)

Wordperfect 8, the definitive word
processor for Linux (http://www.
corel.com) and Netscape.
(http://www.netscape.com) ll3l?lrJ

http://www.acornuser.com December 1999 V.

PhotoFX

Nicholas van der Walle of Astute Graphics
returns to Photodesk with some optional extras

D on't blame me. I freely admit
to the fact that Spacetech's
two 'FX' plug-in packs for
Photodesk are nothing new. I
had my hands on them a year ago
and even then they had been
available for some time.

The delay in getting them
reviewed lies squarely on the
shoulders of Acorn User's Deputy
Editor - the contact address being at
the front of the magazine if you wish
to complain [and to think I got him
this job - Ed]. Well, that may not be
perfectly true but it does make for a
more watertight excuse.

I reviewed Photodesk 3 what seems
like a year ago now (my filing
system does not allow for
spontaneous checks of any nature)
proudly displaying my then latest
self-proclaimed masterpiece.
Convergence , created with the
aforementioned program.

While a lot of hard graft went into
that one drawing (on the assumption
that if I put that comment in, more
people will fooled into thinking I
work for a living), I must confess to
having created many effects within
Convergence using the special FX add-
ons. Back then I found them
indispensable. A year later you
would not be able to take them away
from me for love nor money.

The FX packs

Officially, I should refer to the
Photodesk add-ons as Photodesk Plug-
in Effects Collection FX1 (and 2). But
as I haven't got all week to write this
review, from here on the products
shall just be referred to as FX1 and
FX2.

It's all very well to give them a
more efficient title, but what are
they? Well, Photodesk 2 and Photodesk
Light acquired an ability that the
original product never had - that of
being able to add to the package's
functionality by supplying a small
application that would work within

the framework of Photodesk.
Modularity is another name for this
practice.

Like all the other applications that
have this ability to be expanded
(ArtWorks, Photoshop , and so on),
Photodesk's plug-ins are invisible to
the Filer after installation, unless
you dive into the contents of the
program (for which there is no
reason to do so). The matter of
installation is simplicity itself being a
case of just running a foolproof
install program.

As the FX packs are not full
programs in their own right, they are
very compact and are supplied on
single floppy discs. In fact, the
majority of the disc space (95+% if
you want to be pedantic about it) is
taken up with the supply of the
public domain Web browser Webster
and the FX's accompanying Web
help file. Yes - your only source of
documentation is a disc-based
HTML document, but this is never a
problem as the plug-ins are so easy
to use.

FX pack one

Each pack comes with a distinct list
of additional effects that may be
achieved over and above what is
supplied as standard with Photodesk,
which may be seen as precious few

Figure I: The ''Special" effects window
showing its preview option

Figure II: The Original image

in the classic 'FX' sense. FX1 brings
the following list to the party:

• Lens simulation

• Spin and zoom blur

• 3D ripple

• Diffuse map

• Outline glow

• Sharpen edges

• Hatch

• Pixelise

• Crackle

All new facilities listed above, just as
with the second FX pack, may be
accessed through the FX icon on the
Photodesk toolbar. It is a great relief
that all effects may be found through
a similar user interface with the
minimum of fuss, which makes any
sort of documentation unnecessary.

The truth is that probably the best
way to explore the potential of these
additions is to load one of the
hundred example JPEGs supplied
with RISC OS 3.5, especially one
with a great range of colours like the
fruit bowl, and start manipulating all
before you with these new toys.

Common interface

Each effect is controlled through a
similar compact 'Special effects'
window as shown in Figure I. The
top half of the window (along with
the ability to select the type of effect
available) is always shown, with the

December 1 999 http://www.acornuser.com

Figure VI: The 3D ripple effect at 35% amplitude and a frequency of 5 cycles

Figure IV: The image after a positive lens
simulation of 500% distortion and 250%
magnification has been applied

eye icon giving the choice to view a
preview of the effect you intend to
apply. The variables controlling the
particular effect differ from type to
type.

If you opt to see the preview
portion of the window (as depicted
in Figure I), the left window may
contain either a sample snapshot of a
particular area or a global view of
the whole image. Whether a
snapshot or global view is depicted
depends on the suitability for the
chosen effect. To the right, a
complete scaled view of the whole
image is always visible.

If a snapshot preview is deemed
to be suitable by Photodesk, it is
usually because the option applies
localised effects (such as rain drops)
as opposed to a global effect (such as
twisting as shown in Figure I).
Navigation around the whole image
to select an area to snapshot preview
is available in three handy ways;
clicking on the area of the global
preview (lower right of the window),
manually scrolling the snapshot
image (for more precise movement)
and clicking on the exact spot of the
main canvas image. The Preview

button applies the
effect to the snapshot
or global preview
image. This does not
alter the main canvas,
which is thankful, as
some of the effects are
quite processor-
intensive.

Once you are
happy with the effect
you wish to apply, the
appropriately named
Apply button forces
the effect upon the
whole image on the
canvas, apart from the
masked areas. Simple.

Using FXl

The effects provided
on FX'l are all pretty
self-explanatory in the
function they are likely to provide.
The benefit of this is that they all
have a very clear use, so these extras
are more than just toys. To
demonstrate this, I shall use the Lens
Simulation to create a, erm... lens
effect.

The classic scenario is drawing a
timeless magnifying glass above an
exciting image, letting the new
Photodesk effect warp the section of
the image that may be viewed
through the glass lens area.

Figure II shows the square
original image taken from the
example images supplied with my
Rise PC. When I then apply a
positive lens simulation of 500%
distortion and 250% magnification to
the image. Figure IV is created.

The fact that the whole image
becomes affected can, on the surface,
seem a bit limiting. However, all
effects respect any mask present,
with Hatch even being able to
interact with a mask. In practice,

though, the best results are
often achieved by cutting
and pasting the area you
wish to be affected and then
using masks to help control
just how the affected area
can return to the original
canvas. This method should
be familiar to most people
who use Photodesk , with its
fluid cut and paste abilities
aiding the process.

Returning to the lens
simulation effect, we can see
just how versatile each new
tool is. In order to change
Figure II into Figure V, I
conducted a positive lens
effect. By altering this to its
default negative one, the

more conventional lens 'bulge' may
be generated.

Figure V was created by cutting
and pasting a circular area of the
canvas to a new file, applying the
negative lens effect to that, then
pasting it back to the original canvas
(with Replace selected). This left the
area of the image outside the
supposed glass lens unaffected. To
finish the image, I drew a metallic
lens ring to highlight the extremes of
the effect, lightened the original
background to increase contrast and
applied some simple shading.

Being picky

Picking out my other favourites in
the FXl collection brings me on to
3D ripple. Imagine placing an image
under the water of a puddle - look
directly down from above and then
drop something in the water. The 3D
ripple tool creates what the puddle
scene describes, except you don't get
wet or have to retrieve a soggy
picture.

To illustrate this, Figure VI is of
the Convergence print manipulated
through the 3D ripple Photodesk effect
at an amplitude setting of 35% and a
frequency of 5 cycles. Varying just
these two settings can create wildly
differing results. I have also found
that by adding a border to the image
(using the extend feature built into at
least Photodesk 2), the end result may
be controlled as the amplitude
setting takes the canvas as a whole
into consideration.

Another favourite from the FX’l
selection is that of zoom blurring.

For this one, discard the imaginary
puddle and just navigate your head
very quickly towards a picture.
Noticed how the image seemed to

Figure V: Creating the ubiquitous ' magnifying lens' effect

http://www.acornuser.com December 1 999

Figure VII: A zoom blur of 1 00% strength and
75% speed with a rod ini mask applied

zoom towards you? No? Well, just
apply this zoom effect to see what I
mean. Figure VII was again
originally taken from the stock
images. Before I applied the zoom
effect, I first specified a little outline
glow (another FX1 feature) so that
the tips of the petals would be
highlighted, then set a radial mask
followed by a mask inversion so that
the centre of the rose head was
protected.

The applied zoom blur of 100%
strength and 75% speed affected the
extremes of the rose and
background, leaving the centre
largely in focus. I found that
applying a global zoom without the
use of a centre focal mask would
lose all detail leaving a confusing
blurred image.

All other effects from FX1 that
haven't been touched upon so far are
illustrated in Figure VIII. Of these, I
can only find two limiting factors;
the Spin blur can not be spun any
further than shown and the Hatch
tool can only hatch from NW to SE

(although of course you could flip
the image before applying it).

The Crackle effect is a nice one in
that it can give an 'old master' effect
to any image, while the Diffuse map
option can mimic certain painting
styles as well as rough sketches
(especially for mono images).

The final effect for this first pack -
Pixelise - is the ideal one for hiding
any informant's identity. The person
you want to disguise the identity of
may even specify whether their face
be pixelised to a mask threshold
(giving a jagged pixel border) or not
(giving a much smoother pixelated
profile).

FX2

The second effects pack is identical
in style to the first, but delivers a
whole new batch of options and
buttons to mess around with.

The list of additional features are as
follows:

• Chrome

• Posterise

• Colour contour

• Twirl

• Glaze

• Raindrops

• Dimple

• Channel map

• Median filter

• Crystallise

Again, I will choose three of what I
consider to be the more sophisticated
effects and put them through their
paces.

To start this off, I will tackle what
is probably the most versatile of the
twenty tools found in both packs, yet
looks docile if the user interface's
options are anything to judge it by. I

must confess to initially ignoring the
Channel map tool as when I just
aimlessly prodded around with it,
the results were disappointing.

The trick was to use the mask
channel to cause a distortion effect.
The profile of the mask determined
just how the image on the canvas
would be stretched and manipulated
- with full control over just how
much this tool should pull the image
around.

I found one great result that
appears to be very convincing. By
filling the mask channel with a
coarse texture prior to entering the

Figure IX: Using the Channel map
tool to create a stone texture

FX tool, I would then select channel
4 (the mask, by default) as the
controlling channel for this effects
tool.

Requesting a low distortion value
(of say, 3) and a radius of around 6,
with 50% highlight, I was able to
create Figure IX; what I would
consider to be the ultimate stone
design effect. The difference between
this and just superimposing a texture
is that this actually distorts the
original image rather than just
adding or subtracting brightness
levels.

All in a spin

Practicality can take a pause while
the more gimmicky, but truly
wonderful Tioirl effect can make an
appearance centre stage. I had been
awaiting the re-emergence of this
facility ever since Oregan's quietly
laid-down Photo Touch package was
released.

Again using my Convergence
image, in an apparently never-
ending shameless plug, I subjected it
to a 120° twirl effect. The result may
be seen below. The twirl constraint is
between -720° to 720° (two twists
clockwise to two counter-clockwise,
respectively). At these extremes, a
very savage whirlpool may be
generated. But, back to a more useful

Hatch

Pixelise

Crackle

jpg ' jjj

Spin blur Diffuse map

Figure VIII: The remaining FXI effects

Sharpen edges

V December 1 999 http://www.acornuser.com

tool, the last effect I shall look at in
relative depth is the ultra-realistic
Raindrops effect. This was the tool I
utilised almost everywhere
throughout the development of
Convergence. Not only does it make
for some great raindrop effects but I
also found that it was the best way to
create a rough, random texture over
a large area.

The problem with normal textures
(on any system of this type) is that
they are based upon a sample square
greyscale image, usually not more
than 200 pixels square. Whereas
some of these are very convincing
when applied in relatively small
areas, over a greater distance the eye
can quickly pick out the repetition.
Therefore when I had to generate a
gravel effect over a large (pixel-wise)
area, I opted to use the Raindrop
effect tool, setting the drops to a
minimum size and almost 100%
coverage.

Chrome

Dimple

Colour contour

Glaze

Figure XI: The remaining FX2 effects

Crystallise

Posterise

The rest

The six remaining tools in the FX2
pack are not necessarily less
significant, but either do as
their title describes on
the tin or I've never
found a real use for
them (yet...).

Referring to
Figure XI, I kick
off in this final
round with
Chrome - great
for creating sci-fi
look creatures.

Dimple is one of
those tools that
you will find a real
use for once in a
lifetime. Colour contour
is, well, bright. Again, more
of an occasional tool for photo-
retouching. Glaze is quite unique in
that it is one of those effects that
would be very hard to create in any
other way. Just load in that bowl of

Figure X: The Raindrops effect

fruit image as supplied with your
computer, click Glaze and watch the
liquid icing just pour on.

Crystallise is very much a
'style' effect and a
very convincing
one too. The
resultant paint
effect is
realistic and
not over-done
as many
equivalent
packages tend
to produce.
Posterise is in
the same class
as Crystallise,
producing a very
believable effect.

The final effect is that
of Median filter which sounds
less interesting but serves an oft-
requested purpose. It is extremely
good at removing sharp colour noise
as is often generated when capturing
video pictures.
Apparently this
tool was requested
by many of
Spacetech's
customers who cut
their teeth using
their original
satellite data
display packages,
where this feature
was first present.
Never needed it
personally, but
upon testing it on
an artificially-
generated noisy

picture, I had to admit it removed it
cleverly, leaving very few problem
areas.

To top it all

It's been a bit of a strange review; on
their own, each effect amounts to very
little, but when you gain access to all
twenty new tools your list of
possibilities does open dramatically. I
did not use the tools immediately (and
at the start I wondered if they were
worth it), but once you get on with
pushing Photodesk more and more,
you'll find that you start to
subconsciously use the tools as if they
were always there. If they were
removed from my setup now. I'm sure
that I would be lost in the first fifteen
minutes of booting Photodesk up.

The best compliment is that they are
so transparent in use. There is no need
to flick through manuals, attack alien
interfaces or get to know the
mathematical formulaes involved. Just
select and click. Then try it again with
another one. Then another, just
to see. And another...

Product details

Product:

Photodesk FX 1 and 2
(require Photodesk 2 or 3 or
Photodesk Light to run, also
available from Spacetech)

Price:

£19.95 each

Supplier:

Spacetech Limited

Address:

1 'Hie Courtyard, Southwell
Business Park, Portland,
Dorset, DT5 2NQ

Tel:

01305 822753

Fax:

01305 860483

E-mail:

sales@spacetech.co.uk

Web:

www.spacetech.co.uk

http://www.acornuser.com December 1999

splendour

Pa/t 2 of Max Palmer's TopModel2 review

L ast month I looked at the basic
features of Top Model! ,
Sincronia's excellent RISC OS
3D modelling package. This
month I'll be finishing my review by
looking at some of its more advanced
features.

The environment

While the creation of 3D objects can
yield satisfying results, it is clear that
a simple wire mesh lacks the realism
we have come to expect from today's
crop of graphics packages. To

we need to turn to TopModeVs
environment tools which enable us
to assign attributes to objects within
a scene. By attributes I really mean
material types such as plastic, glass
and metal, colours and texture maps.

In brief, a material type governs
the physical properties of an object,
such as how light reflects off the
surface, whether or not it is
transparent, its ambient colour and
so on, whereas texture maps permit a
picture to be warped over the surface
to provide a high degree of realism.

of a scene. Since the textures
themselves are not saved as part of a
TopModel scene file, TopModel copies
any textures used during a session
inside Top Res , its central resources
folder. This also reduces the risk of
problems associated with images
disappearing or moving between
sessions.

Once loaded, textures are
assigned within the attributes
window using one of several
mapping modes, polygonal, planar,
spherical or cylindrical, the choice of

For instance, a rectangular block can
be made to look like a brick wall by
applying a repeating image of a brick
pattern to its surface. (Figure I)
TopModel allows users to assign
attributes to objects by first selecting
the desired polygons or primitives
and then using the attributes
window to set their properties
(Figures II and III). Attributes
may be chosen from a
number of predefined
materials and named
t colours, or a new type

♦ can be created by
defining the necessary
parameters and
assigning a name.

New materials can also
be exported for use in
A other scenes using the

\\ new resources editor,

which also allows user-
& defined views and
paths to be saved.

^ TopModel is able to

use any graphics
format that is
supported by
ChnngeFSI as a
texture map and
maintains a
numbered list of all
the textures that
| have been loaded

1 during the creation

which largely depends on the
geometry of the object to which the
map will be applied. It is also
possible to flip the orientation of the
image, specify the number of times a
texture is to repeat across the surface
(in both the horizontal and vertical
directions), and select a colour which
will be transparent when rendered.

If that weren't enough, you can
apply a texture as a chrome map, or
select an additional image to use as a
bump map. Bump maps are typically
greyscale images, with the intensity
indicating the elevation of the
surface, and are used to simulate the
effects of relief when the object is
shaded - hence the term bump map.

In general, the texture engine
produces good results and is very
fast, particularly when you consider
the lack of floating point hardware.
However, occasionally small glitches
appear in the rendered display, as is
common with many fast mapping
routines. So care must be taken when
applying a texture to the model to
account for the orientation and
viewing angle in order to eliminate
texture smearing.

As well as permitting colours and
materials to be assigned to an object,
the attributes window enables the
display style used to render
individual objects to be specified as
either wireframe or solid; flat or

Make selection.

Read attributes

Polygonal

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Set texture

Polygmal

Selection
Points | 48~

Objects | 56

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Read attributes

Planar

Create

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Obj

Figure II: The attributes
window allow s properties to be
assigned to objects, including
the material type. This
example , supplied with
Top Model, shows the effect that
changes in diffusion and
reflection have on the
appearance of a material

Figure l: An example of texture mapping

smooth and light or opaque. These
styles override the currently selected
render mode and can be used to
improve the appearance of objects or
make the machine more responsive
by reducing the load on the
processor.

For example, Phong shading
interpolates between vertices to
improve the appearance of objects,
making them appear smooth instead
of composed of flat surfaces.
However, this style of shading can

look odd when applied to large, flat
areas, such as walls. In this case, a
user might choose to override the
default rendering style by switching
the particular object's attributes from
smooth to flat.

Polish

Once you have created, imported,
adjusted and distorted the objects
required for your scene, it's time to
think about how you can add polish
before you output your results. Key

areas here include use of lighting, if
you're thinking of exporting a
bitmap image, and choice of viewing
angle.

Unfortunately, while the object
creation and manipulation facilities
within TopModel are pretty good, the
lighting facilities are somewhat basic.
General lighting options include
being able to specify the intensity
and colour of the front light and
ambient conditions, while the lights
menu allows you to add additional

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(main /net lire) or turned off for the final image (inset)

spot lights, extra 'sun' type lights
(essentially directional, parallel beam
sources of light) and point sources.

While you can adjust the intensity
of the extra lights, move them about
and create primitive lens flares,
rather strangely there's no obvious
method of setting their colour or
adjusting other properties once they
have been created; an obvious
deficiency. Lights aside, TopModcl
allows the viewpoint to be set up

using either the manual
rotate/zoom /translate tools or by
entering values into a dialog for
more precise control. Once a useful
angle has been obtained it can be
saved ns a named view and recalled
at a later date.

While most editing and creation
of objects is likely to take place with
perspective off, more often than not
you will want it to be enabled to
produce a better looking final scene

and this may be done by toggling the
perspective icon on the TopModcl
toolbar.

Other nice features which can be
used to improve the appearance of
the rendered output are the ability to
use an image as a backdrop and
enable fog, which can be chosen to
match the background colour and
have the intensity and drop-off rate
adjusted to suit. Putting all these
effects together enables some pretty
good-looking results to be obtained
within TopModcl - as shown in Figure
V - however, to get the best from
your scene I would recommend
using some of the alternative output
options available to you.

TopModcl supports a number of
output options in addition to its own
native file format, and includes the
ability to export the scene as a
picture, a drawfile (either wire frame
or flat shaded, but not textured), an
ASCII file and its own 3DScene
filelype, which is compatible with
the freeware TopModcl file viewer
(TM Viewer).

The picture export option creates
an image using the current rendering
style and allows the size of the
output image to be specified, at sizes
up to 2048 x 2048, as well as the
filetype (either sprite or targa) and
colour depth. While TopModcl does
not anti-alias the output image, an
option is available to export at
double or quadruple the current

Figure V: A TopModcl scene with coloured lights and a background image

December 1 999 http://www.acornuser.com

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work area dimensions, resolution Acorn and recent PC all is not the RISC OS logo hopefully

limitations permitting. You can then
produce an anti-aliased version of
the picture, at the original work area
resolution, by halving the scale of the
image using an image processing
application such as ClmngeFSI.

One of the obvious limitations of
TopModel is that while the final
output image is quite good, it is still
tied to the capabilities of the
rendering engine. As such there is no
support for advanced features such
as ray-tracing, which enable
impressive results with physically
accurate reflections and shadows to
be produced. In many respects this is
not all that surprising, since the level
of computation required for accurate
ray-tracing demands a machine with
a decent floating point unit which, if
we're being sensible here, rules
Acorns out at present.

However, for those who are

completely lost, since TopModel
provides a utility to convert TopModel
ASCII files into other formats,
including VRML and DXF. In
addition, 1 have created a fairly basic,
'rough and ready' PC-based utility to
convert TopModel ASCII files into OBJ
files, which I may consider releasing
once I've cleared up potential
distribution issues.

While, regrettably, none of these
export options preserve texture
information, they do provide a
relatively painless method for
importing your creations into many
3D packages on other platforms,
enabling you to use TopModel as a
design tool, which it is good at. Once
you have imported your models you
will need to add textures, however,
assuming your package of choice has
a good ray-tracing engine, the results
definitely justify the means, as the

demonstrates (Figure VIII).

Into the future...

One of the great things about
TopModel is that unlike many other
packages that have come along, its
creators, Sincronia, have tried hard to
listen to users and continually
enhance their offering. Although
development of the core engine
continues, Sincronia have opted to
enhance TopModel ' s feature set by
providing a plug-in system, which
allows extra modules to be loaded at
run-time.

Two such modules are currently
commercially available, TopDefonti
and TopFottl, while? others are under
development. TopDefonti provides an
extra set of deformation tools that are
split into five categories, fractal,
enlarge, envelope, displace and
function.

accompanying box on the creation of

These allow various types of
distortion to be applied to a mesh,
for instance an image can be used to
displace points within a mesh (a bit
like emboss in a 2D paint package),
alternatively objects can be exploded
or have fractal noise added to make
the surface appear rough or
crumpled (among other effects).

Probably of more interest however
is TopFonts, which comes on CD-

fortunate enough to own both an

http://www.acornuser.com December 1999

Figure VIII: Steps outlining the creation of the RISC OS 4 logo

Stage 1: First the basic RISC OS 4 logo was created in
Artworks using four rectangles and three circles. Once made,
the five pieces of the logo were created from the original using
Martin Wuer timer's excellent Intersect plug-in tool for
Artworks.

drawfile. Two copies of the face were then made and rotated
to lie in the correct positions. Finally, colours were applied to
each of the pieces, which were then grouped by colour.

Stage 3: The TopModel file was exported as an ASCII file and
converted into an OBJ file using a PC-based conversion
application written by myself (see main text). The OBJ file was
imported into MetaCreations' Bryce4 on a PC and the colours
and material settings reapplied to the groups. Finally, a radial
light source was placed at the centre of the logo and the scene
ray-traced in Bryce.

Stage 2: Next the logo was exported from ArtWorks as a
drawfile and loaded into TopModel as an extruded object.
TopFont was then used to create the RISC OS text, with a
simple cut-away bevelled edge selected. The text was then
rotated and scaled to match the dimensions of the extruded

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* .

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jl% Select per metenel SHmU j De select (

CJx* in 'dhiri *1 rh* corur.ti 2;c current rr.iter.di set

rrtaa

"ft

s°

ROM and adds the ability to create
3D text. Once selected you simply
choose a font from the list, select a
bevel style and type the text you
wish to display into an edit box. You
then drag the text into the main view
and reposition it using the standard
selection tools.

While this process works very
well, you should be aware that you
can only select from the list of fonts
that are supplied on the CD-ROM
and of those fonts, only numbers and
letters (upper and lower case) are
permitted, although one font, Fences
Plain, does appear to consist of
symbols. These slightly annoying
restrictions notwithstanding, the
variety of effects that can be created
using TopFonts is impressive, a few

45 degrees Round 6 Gothic sharp Cut

nt»

b b b b

c c c c

iji3>

Figure IX: TopFonl in action. The illustration
shows the effect that different bevel styles have
on the appearance of some of the fonts supplied
with the plug-in

examples of which are shown in
Figure IX.

In addition to TopDcform and
TopFonts, two more plug-ins are
currently under development.
TopBones will allow 'skeleton-like'
control points to be added to meshes,
allowing complex models to be
created and sections repositioned
much more easily than is currently
possible, while TopMotion looks set to
add a stunning array of features for
producing animations, including
particle effects and complex linked
actions. After sneaking a few
glimpses at Wakefield, all I can say is
I can't wait.

Round up

In the preceding sections I have
touched upon some of the ways
objects can be created, imported,
distorted and edited using TopModel.
However, I must emphasise that
there are many other features which I
simply haven't had space to
introduce, let alone describe.

Indeed, it is illustrative that
despite the fact I have been a regular
user of TopModel since it first came
out, some years ago, I still come
across powerful features which I
never knew exist, and therein lies
Top Model's beauty, and also it's curse.

It is so laden with features, which
to a certain extent have moulded the
development of its own, distinctive,
user interface, that it is sometimes
difficult to spot the wood from the
trees, especially when things don't

work quite as we have come to
expect them to. This can be
frustrating at times, nevertheless,
despite its flaws - a few of which I
have mentioned in the text - it is an
incredibly powerful and rewarding
package if you take the time to
investigate its features.

It is also worth remembering that
the world of three dimensional
design is an inherently complex
subject. Hopefully, during the course
of the next few months, I will be able
to ease the learning curve and enable
others to get the most from this
elegant, occasionally frustrating,
graphics package.

With the prospect of further
development and new plug-ins on

the horizon the future looks

bright. Bravo Sincronia!

Product de tails J

Product: TopModel2

Price: £152.75

Product: Top3DFonts (Plug-in)

Price: £58.63 (includes CD

collection2 and free v2.14
upgrade)

Product: TopDeform (Plug-in)

Price: £28.79

Supplier: Spacetech, 1 The Courtyard,
Southwell Business Park,
Portland, Dorset DT5 2JS
Tel: (+44/0) 1305 822753

Fax: (+44/0) 1305 860483

E-mail: sales@spacetech.co.uk

Web: www.spacetech.co.

uk/topmodel/

December 1999 http://www.acornuser.com

NoticeBoard

Professional

NoticeBoard Pro is one of the
most advanced programs for
creating and running stand-alone
rolling displays and slideshow
presentations on RISC OS
computers

NoticeBoard Pro is a powerful yet easy to use
design and presentation system that will run on
all RISC OS computers from 3.10 up.

▲ Programs can be created using Sprites, Artworks,
Drawfiles, JPEGs and the new Cerilica Vantage
program, and you can add sound!

A The many in-built features give complete control
over presentations, including forward and backward
slide movement in slideshow programs, and production
of stand-alone programs to run on other computers and
with digital projectors.

NoticeBoard Pro enables you to present a series of
pictures and/or words with automatic or user-controlled
time delay between slides. Its many uses include:

A Product promotion at Exhibitions, etc. A School
Open Day presentations and other special events
A Information points in Offices, Libraries, Schools and
other locations A Fund-raising activities
The only limits are the size of your hard drive and your
imagination!

The Really Good Software Company

39 Carisbroke Road. Harpenden, Herts UK AL5 5QS
Tel/Fax: 01582 761 395 E-mail: sales.rgsc@argonet.co.uk
No VAT. Post & packing for UK and Europe add £ 1.50
Other countries £ 5.00

IT'S HERE!!

The affordable alternative to
hardware memory upgrades!

Do you ever find yourself running short of memory?

Have you ever found yourself switching between two programs by
quitting one and starting the other?

If the answer is yes, then RAMplify is the program for you!

With RAMplify, programs can be frozen to disc, freeing precious
memory for use in other jobs , saving you time and allowing you to
continue with your work faster.

With just two clicks of the mouse, RAMplify will clump the whole of an
application's memory to your harddisc. RAMplify can also be
configured to automatically freeze programs after a defined period of
inactivity. An exclusion list of programs not to be frozen can be set up
and all configuration options are performed using an easy to use
desktop interface.

i r J i r

RAMplify runs on any Acorn 32-bit
computer with RISC OS 3 or greater.
Rise PC and StrongARM compatible.

RAMplify costs ONLY £19.95 and is

available from Werewolf Software. Please add £1 .50 for P&P. Most major credit
cards are accepted. Please call to order or send a cheque/P.O.

Other products available from Werewolf Software include:
TANKS - An exciting strategy game (fun for all the family)
Shuggy - A fun and thrilling graphical adventure game
Each available at ONLY £19.95 - 24% off (plus £1 .50 P&P)

Werewolf Software • 23 The Spinneys. Bromley, Kent. BR1 2NT • Tel: 0181 289 6003
E-mail: info@werewolf.demon.co.uk • WWW: http://www.werewlf.demon.co.uk/

RED HOT Networking

)K/sec‘

CJ.00

Works with oil machines fitted with a bi-directional
parallel port (A30xO/A400Q'A5000'A4'A7000/RiscPC).

Implemented as a filing systom for transparent
filo-shanng across machines.

No need for cumbersome and slow transfer programs.

*1 found ParaFS easy to install and straightforward to
contigure and It has worked without a hitch I ike it.’
Philip Perry. Archive 12.10.

£29.95 with a RED HOT connection cable, or £22.95
for the program alone

Mouse Interfaces, Trackballs etc

PS3Mous« Use PS/2 mie# on your R*c OS machine
P S3 Mouse. Win through port to k»op Acorn mouse
Touchpad fAouse replacement Us* with PS2Mou$«. • C.u •

Trackball Large heavy ban No interface
Mouse bal Replacement heavy mouse bi

Easy Sharing!

Game Interfaces, Joysticks etc.

PCJoy Analogue joystick interface gives you a gamoport!

PC Phantom Joystick (or above (4x nuto hro, throttle etc)
Tlgon Alternative joyaick for above.

Solo budget joystick interlace tor utaM style digital slicks.
Apache Joystick for above (microswitclHid)

Share devices between a RiscPC and PC using our
rango of quality switches. All include cables.

Obsolete Drivers Disk

(single'douole)

Isk for old joysticks/ joypad* o

C39.94-
£31.95
£21.95
CM, 95
£9.95
£8.95

£23.95'£3M
£7 95

Keyboard, PS/2 mouse and serial switch

.95

Access Products

PS2Mouse. also has switch Inputs • ask (or d«tail*'

Key switch. Swech keyboard replacement (advanced order)>4 ■_

(ideal if your monitor has two Inputs) £3®
15HD to 5xBNC monitor coble for above £'9-93
Keyboard & Monitor switch £^9 95

Keyboard. Monitor and PS/2 mouse switch £A9-95
Printer (1 machine->2 devices) 95

Printer (2 machinos-> 1 device) £22-^

Donations are available - call for

Stuart Tyrrell Developments
PO Box 183, OLDHAM OL2 8FB
Tel: 01706 040 600 (9am-9pm)
Fax: 0070 164 1604 (nalional rate)
Email: lnfo@stdovcl.domon. co.uk
http://www.stdovel.demon.co.uk

V n, •

deta :

Phono, Fax or email for a
free product Information flyer!

All prices include P&P
Delta ‘Visa Mastercard welcomed.
All trademarks acknowleged. E&OE.

• ESP MIDI Synth Plus. Play MIDI
files in Software! Includes 5
floppies. Instrument CD 1 and
manuals. £45 inc postage. Contact
Craig. Mobile: 07990 524 507.

E-mail: craigb@argonet.co.uk

• RPC 700 with SA upgrade, DX4-100
pC card + software, CD-ROM,
540Mb HD, 32Mb RAM, 2Mb
VRAM, SCSI MKII Epson stylus 200
colour printer, A4 colour flatbed
scanner, 18 months old, perfect
condition with monitor. £1000 ono.
(S. Yorkshire) Tel: 01709 770 052

• A5000, 4Mb RAM, 428Mb HD, FP
chip, VGC. £150. Tel: 01276 65 512
(Camberley, Surrey)

• Rise PC 600 AKF60, Min Monitor,
12Mb RAM, 2Mb VRAM, Mozart 16
Bit Soundcard, 486 PC card, 25W
Speakers, 4x CD-ROM, all manuals.
Impression Style, HP Deskjet 360C
colour printer, £575 ono. (Burton)
Staffs. Adrian Hanlon,

tel: 01283 517 088

• Acorn Rise PC 700 with: 48Mb
RAM, 2Mb VRAM, 1.2Gb Hard
Drive, 8x CD-ROM and Monitor
£350. CJE 586 133MHz 512Kb cache
PC card plus PCPro3 software. £150.
Also Windows 3.11, 95, and 98 if
required, plus 12 Games, £Offers.
E-mail: k.rolfe@virgin.net or tel:
01703 868 695

• Olympus C1400L Digital Camera
(1280 x 1024) + 2 x 8Mb
SmartMedia, Serial Cable, PC
Software & Snapshots for RISC OS
(Irlam Instruments), £450 ono.

Works fine with RISC OS 3.6, 3.7 &
RISC OS 4.0. Call Paul on 0171 202
3309 or e-mail pauljagger@uk.ibm.
com

• Would anyone be interesting in
buying an old Acorn Computer,
with no Model No. on it, (but
around the 1980's in age)? The Serial
No.is 01 -AMB1 5-0339675. BBC
Master Series Microcomputer. I live
in Kent, in the UK. Thank you.
E-mail: edridge@ic24.net

• PC software for windows, TextEase
Std Ver 4.0 unregistered CD,
manuals £30; Fireworkz for
windows £25.00(no manual)
DX4/100PC card manuals, DOS7
£75. Tel: 01706 812 516

• A3020, 2Mb RAM, RISC OS 3.11,
AKF40 colour monitor, hi-fi sound
upgrade, £120 including delivery.
Also have 4Mb machine, specs as
above, £150 including delivery. Call
Glenn on (01453) 844513 or
preferably e-mail: glenn@squirrel-
net.demon.co.uk

• Acorn A5000 ARM3 with atomwide
8Mb RAM 210Mb HD. With
keyboard, mouse, manuals.
Artworks, Impression, Ant Internet
Suite v2, Games. £120. Telephone
Barny in Taunton (01823) 490322.

• Acorn Qume Calligraph laser
printer and laser card, cables,
manual and spare brand new laser
toner, £125. Wanted: Ethernet card
with access+. Tel: 01268 734 215

loads mote

„ jpfiW toiir

j*ublishe£ -.vvG CaB 0142 s ' 61 colollT # .4 700 0, RjV

’"'foTon not keyhw c < l4W M«J‘*£ c eUent 9H2 { <25HD

Qjirst Impression, lUtoi, °-^ p T bo x and tor - manuals ^

rj ), 1 Anc j Outline Pont), 1 _ ~p_ J Ljdic..

?. nd tession (newi ^ com u ser Free Ads Service

Pr. Man. £8j
£20; Q4G

, J^Or r v -

if' lb ts

°f soft 2 v n
magazine discs,

PI .. ' . « azme ” a b °*es. £700. Tel: {l Jr A
_ T ft^ a _ C _ k _ _ _ _0ja82-61S18JJ jjtnn. n 7 00

!“> (Audio Works j

/{ 7 . HaidDisc (j
c o//>bug)/ £25. Arj
sc/, 0 j°n), £ 24 . Plai)
»C/ .18- Image Mai
tab/,, vid PnUng)j
OOo/'avidBft'Y^
s °ft 'if'

Sr ‘A

Why not take advantage of our free reader ad service? Fill in
your details on this coupon (25 words maximum, one word per
box below) and send it to Free Ads, Acorn User, Tau Press Ltd,
Media House, Adlington Park, Macclesfield SK10 4NP or by e-
mail to: freeads@acornuser.com. Only one ad per reader please.
Although we try to publish every ad we receive, we can make no

guarantees; publication is entirely dependent on space and time
constraints. Please fill in your name and telephone number
below - these will not be published, but they enable us to
contact you in case of any queries. Please include your
town/county in each ad to help other readers with their
purchasing decision.

Your name: Telephone no:.

!m. erface > akh

•b/c :

tick n„ ,4

° n HD.\

ssa? i

:7soo ’Z

"TTiTT,

http://www.acornuser.com December 1999

Century House
Market Street
Swavesey
Cambs. CB4 5QG
Tel/Fax 01954 208208
sales@eesox.com

CD-REWRITERS
CD-ROM DRIVES
DVD-RAM
SCSI CARD
GRAPHICS TABLET
AUDIO
SOFTWARE
HARD DRIVES

Eesox have some offers too good to miss...

...so check out our web-site now...

www,eesox,com

See Mike Cook's article
'Getting Balanced'

Graphic
Equaliser

£ 47.50

Speakers

£ 45.50

4-Piece Set

£ 87.50

Prices include VAT
Carriage extra (£11.75)

Graphic Equaliser

3D 600W Subwoofer
Speaker System

Monitors

Iiyama 15" 350
liyama 17” (S702GT) .28dot
Iiyama 17" 400 Pro .25 dol
CTX 14" Digital Scan
CTX 15" Digital Scan
CTX 17". 28 70Khz Digital
CTX mens have (3 year on-site warrty)
Many other models available

£145.00

£279.00

£359.00

£125.00

£145.00

£259.00

Switch Boxes

Parallel 2 way (25w 'D' skis) £ 1 6.99
Parallel 4 way (25w 'D' skis) £19.99
Serial 2 way (9w 'D' skis) £ 1 9.99

Monitor+Keyboard 2 way £19.99
Suitable cables and other boxes
available, please ask

VGA to PAL TV
Converter

The VGA Converter
allows the output of any Acorn running
in a VGA or SVGA mode (or PC comp)
to be displayed on a TV or recorded
onto a video recorder. Please ask for
more information.

Price £159.00 inc vat

Colour

Printers

Epson Stylus Colour 440 £105.00

Epson Stylus Colour 640 C 1 35.00

Epson Stylus Colour 850 £199.00

HP Laserjet 1100 (laser mono) £289.00

Virus

Protection

Pineapples Virus Protection
Scheme has been running for
over six years and is stilf
being updated with new
viruses on a regular basis.

New software versions are
sent out to members every four months
and the total number of viruses which
can be removed is well over 200. The
latest version is now scanning at up to
four times faster than previous versions
despite coping with many more viruses.

Joining fee just £28.20

'If you're interested in virus protection ,
join the Pineapple Virus Protection
scheme and buy Killer Accept no
alternative - 'Acorn User Feb 96

Inexpensive multi-user licences

Parallel to
SCSI adapter

S <st?

A brand new product from Pineapple providing
an inexpensive alternative to a SCSI card when
using SCSI scanners. The SCSI adapter plugs into
the parallel port (with a ’through' printer
connector), and can be used directly with SCSI
scanners. Works with A30 1 0/3020/4000/5000/
A7000/RiscPC (inc StrongARM).

Price just £59.00 inc vat

Colour Scanners

The new Epson GT7000 is great
value and the Photo version with
transparency adapter gives excellent quality on
both transparencies and negatives. Our new SCSI
parallel port adapter cable makes this excellent
scanner very affordable. The Plustek 9636T
parallel port scanner also gives excellent quality
with built in transparency adapter. All scanner
prices include I nmgc master and Twain software.
Epson GT7000 - SCSI £259.00

Epson GT7000 Photo - SCSI £299.00

Plustek 9636P - Parallel Port £139.00

Plustek 9636T - Parallel Port
(with transparency adapter) £189.00

Pineapple Software

Suite 1, 310 Green Lane, ILFORD
Essex IG1 1XT

Tel 0208 599 1476 Fax 0208 598 2343

email:- sales@pineaple.demon.co.uk
www:- http://www.pineaple.demon.co.uk

Terms:- All prices include

17.5% vat. Carriage £5 on most
hardware. Small items £3 (or
less). Phone for quote outside
UK. Official orders, cheques
and all major credit cards
accepted at no extra charge.

Studio24Pro

'Many Acorn User front covers have
been created from scratch using this
program alone, concrete proof of the power of
this creative tool' - Acorn User Mnr96

New low price - £59.00 inc vat

EESS33

No matter which scanner you buy, if it was
originally intended for use on a PC or Macintosh
you will almost certainly be given a 'lite'
version of an OCR package. This is almost
always effective to a point, but when you
demand accuracy it's no good. So what's the
solution?

Sleuth 3 is the latest version of the acclaimed
OCR package for RISC OS computer systems. The editor has been
enhanced (above that of Sleuth 2) to allow greater control over the
OCR'd text including the ability to insert/remove paragraph breaks
and amend identical errors easily. Greater accuracy has been
achieved, especially with degraded images. New font information -
a total of 114 fonts and styles - has been added including more
mono-spaced fonts and has the ability to output them in Rich Text
Format (RTF), which can then be loaded into any word processor or
DTP package that supports RTF (including Ovation Pro and
Easiwriter).

While Sleuth 3 can be used on any machine with RISC OS 3.1 and
4Mb of RAM, we recommend use on a Rise PC, A7000+ or similarly
specified machine for the best performance.

Ktwwd l»4
T*t(CUI4)57«WO

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905

Production

programmer

Tkt 1<?COO UHI pc*p.->»
jWvyxKl «**»«!•»

tNOT CRUDt SOCKCT
ADAPTORS) • i , ; -

AND -t OC-
u 6 '««

ord ffeih tr*
added f ,.l .j,.-, a/.

cj\ <*»* W«t> cu \„\i WWpkv: w

Lloyd Research Ltd
Te\: (01489) 574848
enail: progs811oydres.w.uk
uuu Jloyclres-couk
985

Production

programmer

The L9000 uses purpose
designed plug-in nodules
(HOT CRUDE SOCKET
ADAPTORS) to gang progran
a wider range of
nicrocontrollers than any other
known stand-alone
programmer. AND we don’t
stand still-., new devices
including eprons and flash are
added nonthly. Full details are
on the \Heb or just telephone.

The key new features of Sleuth 3 are:

Full multitasking editor, allowing you to correct mistakes while
the OCR routine is running

Ability to achieve over 90% accuracy on recognised fonts,
using good quality 300-400dpi images

Text conversion at between 80 and 250 words per minute

User-definable or automatic zone creation can be used to
choose which part of the image to convert

Editable user dictionaries

Foreign language dictionaries
Batch processing
Import of grayscale sprites
Editor enhancements
Automatic page orientation
Improved accuracy

The usual RRP of Sleuth 3 is £116.33,
but we have negotiated with Beebug Ltd
^Loffer Sleuth 3 to you at just £105

Iwlfl I r| t 1

•Tl ■nil 1.1

[ihlllM-lilil

■OTMKII

niinv/^iflTiT

•HiWMilIl

m'.iiniiinni

JlijJ

hlr

Mlilil'hludl

■0m

Basic & Wimp
Programmers’ Toolkit

be just that little bit easier.

In this exclusive new reader offer,
ProAction are offering Acorn User readers
a choice of two special programmers’

the Basic & Wimp Programmers’ Toolkits
(supplied with full documentation) will
serve as the ideal set of utilities to cater
for your programming needs.

AU Binders

Either way, it costs jtis
£13.50 or £10 for Aeon
User subscribers.

Destiny

Irrespective of where you work, you will probably
have come across a first-person shoot ‘em up
game in the same vein as Doom, Quake and so
on. Up to now all these games have all been PC
imports ...enter Destiny, the first original game
of this type for the RISC OS platform.

The culmination of four years work, Destiny features high resolution 3D
graphics, a huge variety of levels, serious fire power, intelligent
enemies, original music and much much more.

The game requires either a Rise PC or A7000+ (a StrongARM is

highly recommended) with
8Mb RAM and a CD-ROM
drive.

riced at £30, or £25 to, A
Acorn User subscriber? ^

Acorn User
past CD-ROMs

With the immense success of
our CD-ROM offer, we’re now
out of stock of the January ‘96
Cover CD-ROM. We are, however, '
pleased to announce a new offer
with a slight twist to it: you may
choose any THREE items from those listed,
for £5. We’re offering a little more choice this time; but do note
we're not able to supply anything less than three items.

i may choose any three from:

August ‘96 CD-ROM (Collectors CD-ROM 2 - lots of Web
stuff, utilities, games and much more)

December '97 CD-ROM (Collectors CD-ROM 3 - Huge
Destiny demonstration, past cover discs and much more)

TWO past cover discs (of our choice -
they will be over one year old)

BOTH film trailer CD-ROMs

This three-disc
set costs just £5

• The Evolution CD-ROM

We folks at Acorn User know you like to
program - that is plain enough for anybody
to see. But we also know there are a few
of you who perhaps don't have the time
to sit down and learn, or would like it to

packs: if you
only have

opnnpo In n flnnmr rlicn rlriun

Prices: £7 (one off), £6 (2+)
Postage: £2 per binder (UK),
£3 (Europe), £4 (Rest of World)

I Please send me the following products:

□ Sleuth 3 £116.33

j Textease £25

□ Drifter £25

□ Destiny £30 (£25)

j Basic & Wimp Programmers' Toolkit £13.50 (£10)

□ AU Binders £7/£6

Postage (single item)

□ UK- £2

fl Rest of Europe - £ 4

□ Rest of World- £6

Postage (2 items or more)

□ UK - £3 □ Please tick if

□ Rest of Europe - £6 V ou haw “ CD-

□ Rest of World - £9 R0M drive

I wish to pay by:

L i Cheque/postal order (payable to Tau Press Ltd)

I Credit Card (Visa/Barclaycard/Mastercard/Access)

Order total (inc. postage) £

All prices include VAT Prices in brackets are for subscribers

Credit Card No:
Expiry Date:

I [_] Please tick here if you do not wish to receive information from other companies

Credit card transactions will be under the
name of "Powerlrack International"

Signature:

E very once in a while, we all
get the urge to research our
family's past. Whatever the
reasons, it can be a long and
arduous task but it can be very
rewarding to find out interesting
details about the lives of those who
went before you.

In the past, family trees would be
written on pieces of paper but in
these days of in ter webs and
millennium bugs, there's another
method of nurturing your family

Alasdair Bailey
finds out where
he came from

tree: from the comfort of your RISC
OS desktop. Ancestor +, published by
APDL, is the grandchild of Ancestry,
the late Graham Crow's first stab at
family tree software which was first
written in the days of Arthur OS and

single-tasking applications.

Ancestry was published by
Minerva, as was Ancestry II which
was written by a different author.
This latest offering was written
partly by Graham Crow but was
taken on by Dave Holden of APDL
after Graham's untimely death. The
subtle name change from 'Ancestry'
to 'Ancestor' came as a result of
Minerva's claim to sole rights on the
name when applied to RISC OS
software.

Ancestor+'s main window, nice.

Ancestor+

Installing the program is a doddle -
just copy it onto a hard disc and
you're away. It will even run from
the floppy disc on lower-spec
machines.

It's very easy to start using
Ancestor + without referring to the
manual. This is a bonus in any
software package. Although a few of
Ancestor's buttons are a little cryptic
to begin with, interactive help is
supported in most windows. This
could do with some more work
though because not all areas of the
program are yet covered.

Entering data on members of your
family is relatively easy. In operation.
Ancestors, is very much like a
customised database. The plus icon
on the toolbar opens up the 'Add
Person' window into which data

December 1999 http://www.acornuser.com

about the person is entered in the
appropriate fields.

Data is entered in a fairly routine fashion,
all the usual fields like name, surname, date
of birth and so on, are included along with a
few useful extras.

Provision is made for including details of
the locations of births and deaths along with
a field to allow a record to be made of any
bynames which a person may have been
known by during their time.

Some useful date prefixes are supported
throughout Ancestor+. Once a date is
entered, an option exists to prefix it with
one of five date codes.

These can be used where a date is not
precise in order to indicate that an estimate
has been used. Dates may be entered in
almost any numerical form and the program
will calculate ages accordingly, either by
using the death date if there is one or the
computer's calendar for those still alive.

Relationships between people are entered
in a similarly straightforward manner.
Families are created by entering details of a
marriage between two people then children
may be added either by record number or
by dragging their icon from the main
window into the family window. This drag
and drop functionality is a nice feature and
is also supported in other areas of the
application. Some clever date checking goes

The latest addition to the Cook and Ball family trees

on when entering families. The program
watches out for errors and alerts the user
when one is detected. For example, when
entering data it is easy to accidentally select
the wrong person as a child of the marriage,
in which case the program will point this
out by monitoring the mother's age at the
birth and also whether the 'child' already
has parents defined. This error checking can
be quite useful when constructing large
trees. Were it not present, your grandmother
could end up as your daughter and future
generations would forever wonder why you
didn't patent that time-machine. Ancestor's

Finding a Family

So, you have a family tree editing
tool, now you need a family tree.

The first stage in researching your
family tree should be to make a
written record of the birthdates,
deathdates and other useful data on
your immediate family. Once that's
done, enter it into the computer and
look for where gaps exist.

It's more than likely that it will be
relatively easy to take the tree back
three or so generations but once you
get to your grandparent's parents,
things become a little more tricky.

So once you reach this stage, it's
best to find the oldest person in
your family and retrieve whatever
information you can on their parents,
grandparents and perhaps even
brothers and sisters. If your family
tree is going to go on a Website or
even just retained for future
generations, it's vital that you make
it interesting to read. Research and
make a record of any details of the
lives of those individuals who have
gone before you. You never know,
your questioning might even reveal

some of your family's deepest
darkest secrets. While researching
for this article, I discovered that a
member of my family had been
involved in a major tabloid scandal
in the 1970s.

I won't give you all the details
because some things are best kept
within families but it was amusing
to be let in on this skeleton in the
closet so to speak. It's also a fact that
the owner of this journal is
descended from sheep-rustlers and
Romanies - which explains a lot.

Once you've gleaned all the
information you can from living
relatives, things get a little gritty.
Now, it's time to refer to public
records offices and other archives.
These are only of use if you know
the place and date of birth of a
person.

They can be used to confirm
dates, marriages and all sorts of
other particulars which are stored in
the public archives. Talk to your
local registry office or library for
more information on accessing the

archives. Another potentially
excellent resource, if your family has
one, is the family bible. Many
families have kept a record of births,
deaths and marriages in the family
bible.

As with many other fields, the
WWW is a very useful tool when
researching family trees. However, it
must be used properly else you'll
end up with a load of irrelevant and
possibly mis-leading information.

A good starting place for UK
genealogy research is the Public
Records Office WWW site at
http://www.pro.gov.uk/. The site
contains many useful links and
details on how to access such things
as military personnel archives and
UK public records.

If you (or an ancestor) have a
distinctive name you may find a
Website detailing that names
genealogy as researched by others,
for example there is (to mention that
man again) a www.turnbull.net
which gives quite a lot of
information and source material.

http://www.ncornuser.com December 1999

Family tree

Alasdair John Joseph

Title

Surname
Forenames
Bynames

Sex [m] Status 1
Birth date
Birthplace | Leicester. UK
Date died '

Place died

Bailey]

Make a note of it, I’ll he expecting lots of birthday cards now!

y December 1999 http://www.acornuser.com

marriage window includes a handy field
into which the exact nature of the
relationship may be entered. If, for example,
your Uncle Bob has a lovechild by a Miss
Melinda Cheap, a second relationship can
be added involving Uncle Bob into which a
suitable code is added to reflect this.

Ancestor + doesn't dictate what codes are
used for this purpose, any letter may be
used and it's left to individual users to set
their own conventions for use within trees.
Re-marriages to the same partner are also
catered for along with same-sex
relationships.

My main criticism of Ancestor+ stems
from the method it employs to display
family trees. Rather than using the
traditional tree formation, it opts for a more
compact approach whereby only three
generations are displayed at any one time
and children are displayed as a stack of
record cards which must be viewed
individually rather than in a line below
their parents all at once. It could be argued
that this approach simplifies things but from
my experience, programs which display the
whole tree in a larger window are far easier
to work with.

I'm told that this option is being worked
on and in the meantime, it is possible to
display the tree as a sort of text file with the
branches fully expanded. The tree can be
edited from this window but it looks a little
ugly and there's no nice tool bar as is seen in
the main window. One very useful feature
found in Ancestor + is the resource directory
where text files, pictures and any other
digital resources you might happen to have
on an individual or family may be stored.

Once constructed, the data within the
resources directory structure is easily
accessed via buttons on the toolbars of both
the family and person editing windows. The
manual does a good job of explaining how
to create and then link a resources directory
to an Ancestors file. The process is trivial
but perhaps that's more reason for it to be
automated - a
conventional 'save as'
box could be used to
set up the path
automatically.

Ancestor + is able to
export the contents of a
tree in various ways.
Data can be saved as a
text file which displays
the whole tree in a
sideways orientation
including names, dates
and all the usual
information. This is a
nice feature but as I
mentioned before, a
complete tree in a more
presentable style
would be nice. The

]| 10-1 2-1980 ~1 B 1 1 18y 9m

]ojr

database may also be saved as a CSV file or
in HTML form.

The HTML form is quite novel in that
each person's details are listed with their
data fields followed by hyperlinks to their
spouse, parents and children where
appropriate. With some editing, such a
document could be a nice addition to a
personal Web page.

The other major family tree program for
RISC OS is the PD application Family, this
hasn't been updated for a few years now
but is a competent application that is used
quite extensively. Ancestor + will import
Family files quite happily and can export
standard GEDCOM format files which
Family and applications on other platforms
will read.

The ability to import GEDCOM files is
being updated continually and as people
find ones that won't load APDL make the
necessary changes to make it work. For
example initially Ancestor + would discard
any notations attached to particular people
in GEDCOM files, now it's possible to put
this information into user-defined fields in
Ancestor*.

One thing Ancestor + won't do is print.
This is a potentially serious problem since
you can't get a hard copy in the traditional
'tree' layout. All is not lost, however,
because by exporting your information in
GEDCOM you can load it into Family and
get your tree from there. APDL say that the
printing situation is being addressed but
users have said that other things are more
important first.

Some useful example files are included
with Ancestor +, one of which is very
comprehensive tree charting the British
Royal family from the 15th century to the
present day.

Overall, Ancestor + is a very stable
application which does the job it's designed
to do. Bear in mind that, as with any good
application, development is still ongoing
and updates are free of charge. If you're
interested in researching your family's roots,
it's well worth the £59 price tag. With
cheaper upgrades also available from
Ancestry and Ancestry II, there's no
excuse for not upgrading today.

Product details

Product: Ancestor*

Price: £59 (upgrade from Ancestry:

£39, Ancestry II: £49 ... yes, it
does cost more to upgrade
from Ancestry II)

Supplier: APDL, 39 Knighton Park
Road, Sydenham, London.
SE26 5RN

Tel: 0181 778 2659

Fax: 0181 488 0487

E-mail: info@apdl.co.uk

Web: http:/ /vvww.apdl.co.uk/

Liquid Silicon

We will attempt to match or beat any advertised price - even special offers.

nn - -j- i -mi w spanners -t.iw.uu

Caras YST-MSWS subwoofor - £59.00

5x86-100 with PC Pro 3- C285 00 YST-MSW 10 subwoofer - C71.20

PC Pro 2 - £38.95 Yamaha MlilO sound module - £169.00
PC Pro 3 - £70.50 Other software:

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Windows 08 CD - £100.00 Prosound - £116.95

Psion Series Smx

16Mb. with PC connection kit - £429.95 Sibelius 6 - £99.65

Parallel link - £34.95 Sibdio*»7 Student- £31995

.. ,, . Sibelius 7 -£625.00

Memory Upgrades Siboliut for Windows is also available
Please call to chock current prices. Optical Manuscript - £259.00

Other upgrados aco available. Sound modulo serial driver - £37.95
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MUb,hl9n cta -SSS: .55 Other Software

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1Mb VRAM- £45.00 ANT Intomot Sulto 2 - £112.00

1-2Mb VRAM swap- £55 00 Brutal Horso Power - £28 00

2Mb VRAM- £92.00 DataPowcr 2 - £165 00

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IXRC - £14.99
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Books & Manuals

RISC OS 3 PRM - £104.00
The Tckkic CD - £45.00

Catalogue

Our free catalogue contains over 2000
items Pleaso ask for a copy.

Wo supply a range of CCD
and Inner bar code scannot*
and include with these our
•BarReader driver software
which allows bar codes to control
most desktop software.

Powerful

(,ra( j & (i, °p

Cuntrottr maps (e g
tfjHJft and velocity)
eaailv' alterable by
rtrawbfl with the mount)
Patterns can be linked to
reflect changes made to
patterns

Handles System Exclusives
Mfijlf ing playback

mm midi

interface, including
parallel and serial
Up to 192 MIDI channels
and no track limit
Free demo disc available
Now mjtijlabte - £129.00

Further Information Is available
Complete ayatoma from £137.63 *

aollware produces
■r Draw files ol the

r following formats: EAN 0.
EAN 13. UPC A. ISBN. ISSN.

Code 39 (Normal and Full
ASCII). Telepen and Binary.

Furthor Information is available.

IBarCoder - £69.33

Computer Systems

These prices do not Include monitors,
unions specified.
RISC PC 8rOMb 2Gb HD - £879.00
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4Gb HD. 40x CD & software- £71300
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56K modem. ANT Suite- £831.00
Sprinter" NC ayotem lObasoT, 16Mb,
14" monitor, keybonrd A mouso - £444.00
MicroDigitnl Mlco - Trom C586 00
RlseStatlon R7500* - From £675.00

Monitors

(Either booqht wtth computer or separately):

iiyarna 350 (15")- £170.00
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Touchscreon monitors coming soon -
plcnno ask for further details

Recent/New Releases

Abuse - £23.00
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Horotlc & Hoxen CD - £32.00
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Photodosk 3 - £279.95
Sunburst - £12.50
Syndicate Plus CD - £26.50

Music & Sound Section

Please call for other musical Items
MIDI Interfaces:
DMI 50 dual MIDI card (2x2) - £119.95
DMI 50XG - £259.95
XG upgrade for OMI 50 - £151.95
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MIDI Max II Internal 1x1*1- £92.75
Parallel Port 1x1x1 - £89 20
Synth 8 or Basic Synth - £46.95
Synth Plus- £58.65
Music & Sound Prog. Guide - £16.95
Olhor hardware:
FntnrSL 760 -£450.00
Fatnr SL 880 - £600.00
FatarSL 11 00 -£800.00
Fatar SL 2001 - £1050.00
Irtam i16 sound sampler - £118.00
Digital-upgraded Irtam sampler - £177.00
MIDI upgrade for Irtam sampler - CCall
Sound Bylo Recordor - £57.50
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YST-M20 DSP speakers - £65.75
YST-MS28 sponkors A subw - £79.95

Discs (example lOx white discs - £4.60. SOx black discs -
Sx HO radfeluft/greerVwhito discs - £2.40)
Batteries (e g. 4x AA Xtra alkaline - £2.18. lx 9V alkaline
Audio A Video Tnpi*« - EVnrious

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Tel: 01592 592265 Fax: 01592 596102

email: Liquid@cableinet.co.uk All prices INCLUDE VAT & UK carriage
http://www.cybervillage.co.uk/acorn/liquid/ Official orders and callers welcome. Finance available.

Supporting users in South West England and South Wales

Saturday 19 February 2000

supported by Bristol Acorn Rise User Group

Webbington Hotel, Loxton , Nr Axbridge, North Somerset

Contact:

John Stonier, 54 Runnymede Road, Yeovil, Somerset BA21 5SU
acornshow @ argonet. co. uk http.VAvww. argonet. co. uk/acornshow/

N aturally following the areas
covered in the Numeracy
Hour framework for Years 3
and 4, this is an adventure set
in an old factory, and is reminiscent
of New Media's earlier CD-ROM
fantasy. Here, all the numbers have
been stolen from a town, and it is
down to you to restore them, and so
get the toasters and microwaves
working properly again.

Classes can run the activities in
adventure format or, taking the
teacher route, concentrate on specific
areas covered in earlier sessions.
Taking the latter option, children go
directly to the machine they want to
repair, by simply clicking on it. Each
machine mended is noted in the
record-keeping section which
teachers can access at any time.

Your ally in this venture is a robot
called UNIT, who guides you
through the old factory where you
repair the machines; this involves
correcting those machines which

and place value activities with such
machines as the Fraction Contraption
and Order Recorder. Moving to the
first floor, your quest reveals
machines dealing with relationships
between numbers and computation,
in particular the Adder Upper, where
you learn and practise adding two-
digit numbers.

Puzzles are all available at three
levels, so at Level 1 you're adding
two-digit numbers without
exchange, while at Level 2 exchange
is introduced, and at Level 3 you're
adding two-digit numbers with
exchange into 100's.

On the first floor, manoeuvring is
a matter of entering the correct
coordinates for each doorway. If you
discover a room containing a broken
machine, you must mend it before
moving on to the Attic. There are 21
machines in total, but you can
wander around the factory even if
you don't manage to fix them all.
However, you only use the

The number

works

Pam Turnbull puts the number
cruncher to the test

have forgotten how to divide in half
or multiply by ten. On the first level,
you must guide UNIT to the broken
machines across a square-patterned
floor, using a remote control to input
numbers: positive for forward,
negative for backward; other inputs
turn him to left or right. The ground
floor concentrates on number system

navigation controls within the
adventure context.

Access to the Attic is also to be
found on the first floor; here, you'll
find a host of numerical problems to
solve. Navigation here is slightly
different too, with UNIT having to
move around cardboard boxes
shelved to look remarkably like a
grid.

Children move around by
entering two-figure coordinates
to reveal machines such as the
Broken Calculator and Estimator
Guestimator. Estimation is an
essential but difficult concept for
many children and here the
approach is to teach children
how to approximate an answer,
then check if it is within the
correct range. This is taught
using additions with two digits

at Level 1, subtraction with two
digits at Level 2, and sums such as
23 x 7 at Level 3.

You can tell a lot from a program
by how it deals with incorrect
responses. Here there are three levels
of response. On the first mistake
UNIT points out that the children
have made a mistake but have the
opportunity of trying again. Second
time around, the help button is
suggested: clicking here reveals extra
support by explaining the concepts
involved in what they are
attempting. If they enter a third
incorrect answer (depending on the
activity) children will be presented
with a new, simpler puzzle.

As well as the software and
detailed manual there are a set of 18
Number Works Worksheets as well
as a full-colour board game sheet for
use away from the computer. These
masters are mostly based on the
machines: for instance, one of them
is a blank representation of the
Multiple Machine. You can give one
to each child and call out numbers
for children to write on to their
machine in the correct place
according to whether they are a
multiple of that number or not.

This is an excellent package,
whether you opt to use the
adventure or activity route. The
introduction is a little long but there
is a skip button for the impatient. If
children are unsure of coordinates
and negative numbers then it is best
to avoid the adventure's navigation
options as there is not enough advice
and information within the program
for those unfamiliar with such
concepts.

The entire curriculum isn't
covered here, especially insofar as
we're looking at number rather than
shape and space, but the activities
are varied, interesting and relevant
to everyday experience.

This is particularly true of the
very popular Drinks Machine, where
children total coins and practise
decimal notation. A welcome
addition to any Numeracy
Hour.

Product details

Product:

The Number Works

Ages:

7-9 year olds

Price:

£49.95

Supplier:

Sherston Software, Angel

House, Malmesbury, Wiltshire
SN16 OLH

Tel:

(+44/0) 1666 843224

Fax:

(+44/0) 1666 843216

Web:

www.sherston.com

E-mail:

sales@sherston.co.uk ^

December 1 999 http://www.acornuser.com

Pam Turnbull
looks at a joint
resource for pupils
and teachers

a 9

These are joints in the
human arm and hand.
They are where bones
meet.

Joints allow the body
to move.

Movement is one of
the living processes.

T he first in a new series from

Sherston, this provides the key
vocabulary required by Key
Stage 2 pupils. The emphasis
here is on The Living World.

In essence this is a simple but
specific encyclopedia. From the main
menu you can choose three routes
into the information: the a b c index,
word search or picture index. The
alphabetical index is very
straightforward allowing you to
scroll through the alphabetical listing
or jump to the first entry for each
letter by clicking on the relevant
letter of the alphabet - all presented
in a large and clear font.

Along the top of the screen are
simple icons allowing you to revert
to the main menu, ask advice on
using the CD-ROM or find
explanations on what each icon
actually means, all presented in
simple and very child-friendly
language and layout. Other icons are
self-explanatory but everything is
detailed here if you need to check.

Having found your entry in the
index, you can click on the ear icon
to make sure of its pronunciation,
and double-click or press OK to open
the entry. This will be accompanied
by three icons, one to hear the text.

another to see
the links to other
entries and a
third to access a
diagram or
photograph.

Having clicked
on a link, you
can use the back
arrows to find
your way home.

You can also
print out the
information or
export the entry
to another
application.

The second route to information is
to search for a specific word or
words. Type in the words and click
and or or and the find button. A list of
matching entries will then appear.
Highlight one and click the blue
sound icon to hear it or click the OK
button to go to the entry. A very
simple search mechanism but all that
is required here - just make sure you
get your spelling right.

Then there is the Picture Index
which looks like and works in a very
similar way to the A-Z listing.

Choose your word to get a screen of
thumbnail pictures. Make your

choice to get a full-
screen image and
caption icon. Click on
this to read /hear a
description of the
picture.

This is a very
simple but effective
reference which
children can access
totally on their own
within ICT or Science
lessons. The major
areas covered in the
QCA Science
document are

covered and though not
comprehensive the diagrams and
explanations are clear and well
thought out.

At times the language is a little
high for the majority of Year 3s, and
it would have been nice if teachers
could have had the option of setting
the level of language and detail. As
an extension, research and discussion
tool, however, it definitely earns its
place in the classroom. The cross-
referencing works too, sending
children off in pursuit of concepts
such as metamorphosis or
photosynthesis. Not only a useful
resource, but one designed
with classrooms in mind. M =4 1

Product details

Product:

Science Keywords -
The Living World

Ages:

7-11 years

Price:

£29.95

Supplier:

Sherston Software, Angel
House, Malmesbury, Wiltshire
SN16 OLH

Tel:

(+44/0) 1666 843224

Fax:

(+44/0) 1666 843216

Web:

www.sherston.com

E-mail:

sales@sherston.co.uk j

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Pineapple

Software

Pineapple have been in the Acorn marketplace for over eleven
years and have been running the Virus Protection Scheme for
over seven years. We specialise in building RiscPCs to your
specification and we also supply scanners, printers, harddrives
or anything else you may need for your Acorn system. We also
undertake repairs and upgrades to Acorn computers.

t Open 0900 - 1730 Mon - Fri ^

Suite 1, South Park Business Centre
310 Green Lane, Ilford, Essex IG3 9JS
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Try it for free

If you have been tempted by
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Interestingly a third of children
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Rob Lawson, from NOP, who
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suggest some significant shifts
in patterns of use of the
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children.

If they have access from
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there - they're on for longer,
they get control of the mouse
and, of course, they don't have
the teacher looking over their
shoulder. The findings also
indicate that usage is going to

end up pretty close to one hundred per
cent in the next couple of years."

As an incentive for using the Internet
at home, AngliaCampus for Homes is
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called Result with a proposed national
roll-out in 2000.

Diary date J

Bett 2000 - The Educational
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12-15 January 2000
Grand Hall, Olympia, London
Admission: Free
Contact: 01203 426458
Web: www.education-net.co.uk

Rhyme and reason

Sherston Software (01666 843
200) are about the release
Volume B of the Oxford
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Analogy Activity Software.

This second volume will
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activities based on the Rhyme &
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and sounds while helping them
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and writing skills, the software,
priced at £40, has been
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Analogy series.

All the activities in this
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correct answers and gently
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is fully adjustable through the
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includes a record keeping
facility to tracks pupils'
progress.

ICT courses

Meanwhile, The Advisory Unit:
Computers in Education (01707
266 714) are offering in-service
Primary School Courses to help
teachers undertake a supportive
role in policy, planning and the
application of ICT to the
curriculum, with such courses
as Supporting the Numeracy
Hour with ICT aiming to
demonstrate how ICT can be
used to introduce mathematical
topics into the Numeracy Hour.

Secondary School Courses
are mainly subject-based; this is
for teachers who want to
update their knowledge of
current ICT practice and
requirements in their own field.
With an emphasis on practical
sessions, these courses aim to
perfect skills and to increase
the understanding of how ICT
applies to a given subject.

Contacting AU J

Pam Turnbull:
educ@acomuser.com

http://wvvvv.acornuser.com December 1999

Mike Cook turns
in and tunes on

The

Relaxathron

M y projects have been at the

hi-tech end of things the past
few months so I thought I
would redress the balance
with one suitable for the most basic
of beginners to the world of
interfacing. I got the idea visiting last
summer's music festival at Leeds.
Several stalls had what they claimed
were 'brain machines' but were in
fact no more than this month's
project: The Relaxathron.

To give it the advertising spiel:

The Relaxathron cuts out the stresses
and strains of everyday life by
providing sensory protection for
disturbing stimuli. Removing stress
and allowing the user to experience
the ultimate in relaxation therapy. Or
to use more technical language,
slowly flashing LEDs in blacked out
goggles.

The idea is that all you see are
lights changing in a slow random
fashion. Coupled with earphones
playing your favourite ambient or
classical CD track or even slowly
whooshing white noise heard
through padded headphones.

The electronic side of the
hardware is simplicity itself and is
shown in Figure I. It consists simply

of a resistor and an LED on each bit
of the printer port. By using low
power 3mm LEDs there is enough
power from the printer port buffers
to light the LED without any further
buffering or power supply. Different
colours of LED require different
values of limiting resistor to give the
same brightness, that's because the
efficiency is dependent on colour.

Therefore different resistor values
are indicated for different LEDs, you
might like to change this to suit the
types you have, in any case in this
application you don't want them too
bright, so you might even double the
values shown.

It does no harm making these
values bigger. You can have any
mixture of colours you like but I
would recommend using two of each
- red, green and blue - in a diffused
package. The presentation side is a
little more time consuming to make
but is not too tricky.

Start of with a pair of plastic
safety goggles, the type that fits close
to the face rather than the spectacle
type. Next spray the inside of these
with black paint so that no light
shows through. When dry, line the
inside of the goggles with aluminium

foil, the shiny side out. Don't worry
if there are a few wrinkles in it, in
fact a few wrinkles make it a bit
better.

Drill four 3mm holes dotted about
in front of each eye, and push the
LEDs through so that they just
protrude into the goggles. Distribute
the colours evenly for each eye. Now
take some epoxy resin and fix the
LEDs with a little glue on the outside
and, when set, paint round them so
no light gets in. Cut the leads from
LEDs off close to the body and wire
up using thin wire to a piece of 9-
way ribbon cable attached to one
side of the goggles.

Mount the resistors directly onto
the appropriate pins of the 25-way
plug and attach the ribbon cable to
the other end of the resistors. In
Figure I the parts mounted on the
goggles are shown enclosed in a
dotted box. Make sure the ribbon
cable is long enough to reach round
the back of the computer and still
allow you some degree of movement
while wearing them.

If you wanted to make a really
good job you could cut some printed
circuit board to fit inside the goggles
and use surface mounted LEDs,
but that is a bit adventurous. Just a
word of warning here, before you try
the goggles on make sure the paint is
really dry. I failed to notice that it
was still slightly wet and when I
removed them I had a line of black
paint round my face - 1 got some
odd looks.

You can test the wiring with my
port monitor application, for those
of you who missed it last time its
on the Acorn User Website. It powers
up with the printer port in input
mode so you first have to click the
logic one in bit five of the control
register to get it to be an output, then
as you click each bit on the output
port you should see the LED light up

December 1999 htt|i://www.«icornuser.com

Mark Space

50% Mark / Space ratio = Half power

High Mark / Space ratio = Bright LED

Figure II: Altering the brightness with the mark/space ratio

when there is a logic one in the
appropriate bit. If not, check your
wiring and make sure that you have
wired the LEDs the right way round.
When they are new and have long
leads the earth should be wired to
the shorter of the two.

Now on to the software, it is
perfectly possible to write some
simple software to just turn the LEDs
on and off in a random order. All
you have to do is to generate a
random number with a maximum of
255 and send it to the printer port.
You also need a delay loop to stop
you doing this too often otherwise it
will look like they are all on at once.
Such a simple program is on the
cover disc called Flash! . It uses the
system timer to change the flashing
rate.

You don't need a bidirectional
printer port to use this but if you
don't have one you should load the
module monoji from the disc first.
This is because the operating system
doesn't recognise the port driver
commands on a machine with an old
printer port, my module rectifies
this.

Flash2 shows how we can define a
sequence, the state of each light is
stored in an array called Look% and
then at each time-change the next
pattern is output.

Notice how we don't have to
specify how many steps we use in
the sequence, the routine stops
putting in data patterns when it
finds a number bigger than is
represented by all bits being set. This
is 256 or &100, it's better to use hex
as you can see more clearly the
relationship between the bit pattern
and the number.

However, we can be a little more
adventurous than that and actually
control the brightness of each LED in
turn using no extra hardware. The
secret of this lies in using a variable
mark-space ratio signal to turn the
LEDs on and off. The basic idea is
shown in Figure II.

If we feed the LED with a signal
that spends half it's time high and
the other half low you might expect
to see the light flash. However, if this
signal changes fast enough the
persistence of vision of the eye
will make it appear to be on all the
time but only at half the brightness.

If we have a low mark-space ratio,
that is the signal spends most of it's
time low and only a short time
high, the LED will appear dim.
Conversely we get a bright LED the

more time the signal spends high.

So what we need to do is to write
a routine that will count how long an
LED is on then turn it off and count
how long it is off. To do this you
need two constants and two
variables, one constant is used to
hold the maximum number of counts
the LED is on for, the other to hold
the off counts. Then the variables are
used to hold the current count for
that state.

Suppose the light is to be on for a
count of 10 and off for a count of 10,
when the routine is first entered the
light will be turned on and the on-
time constant will be transferred to
the on-time variable. Next time the
routine is called the on-time variable
will be decremented and the light
will still be on.

Subsequent calls decrement the
variable until it reaches zero, the
light will then be turned off and the
off time constant transferred to the
off time variable. This is
decremented on each call to the
routine until it reaches zero and then
the light is turned on again.

On a Rise PC with a Strong ARM
processor BASIC is just about fast
enough for this without you being
able to see flicker, but as each of the
eight LEDs will need looking after
like this we have to resort to machine
code.

The storage locations for the
variables and constants are in the
area of memory before the code in a
block of four for each LED: On

constant. Off constant, On count, Off
count. Now the rest of the program
is a loop that keeps on calling this
routine and occasionally times out to
change the brightness.

When this is running if you wave
the lights backwards and forwards
quickly you will see the LEDs not as
smears of light but dashes of light.
The length of these dashes depend
on how fast you wave the lights
about and how fast they are flashing.
This program is called Flash3

I did think of making this a multi-
tasking program but the point is that
you are supposed to be relaxed when
this is happening, so the final
program Relax blanks out the screen
and plays random white noise at
you. Alright, I admit that this bit of
the software really needs improving
as the noise sounds a bit like
gunshots - not too relaxing.

What you really need is some
pink noise, that is white noise with
the spectrum peaking at the lower
end. If you put noise through a band
pass filter and vary its frequency you
get a howling wind effect or a waves
breaking on the shore, depending on
how you move the filter.

Warning

As a final point, some epileptics can
have fits triggered by flashing lights
and although the frequencies involved
here are much higher than the trigger
thresholds, if you do fit into this
category you are probably . .. ,
best avoiding this project. “BE#

http://www.acornuser.com December 1 999 ^

Mike Cook
gets noticed

F inally I have an Acorn machine
on my desk at work, although
now with two machines
there's not much room for
anything else. When Pace acquired
Element 14, 1 was sent up to Saltair to
help evaluate RISC OS, but as
RISCOS Ltd have an exclusive licence
to develop the operating system for
desktop computers don't expect to
see any from Pace. I think their
interest lies mainly in the operating
system for embedded processor
systems and they may even port it
for use with another processor.

Anyway that's by the by because
its arrival on my desk has prompted
quite a bit of comment from various
quarters. Mainly along the line of "I
didn't know they made modem
computers" and "Oh, you're that
Mike Cook". Anyway everyone has
been quite impressed at the time it
took me to knock together an infra-
red transmitter that worked with a
new encoding system we are looking
to use.

Then the software was quickly
modified to produce a zapper for our
current OnDigital boxes, this played
back a sequence of control key presses
so we could do long term testing on
them. So the computer is earning its
keep. I did have a bit of trouble with it
at first, the screen would go
completely blank after about three
minutes of operation. This was cured
by removing the ethemet card from
the machine as it wasn't connected to
anything. Sadly however I don't think
I have converted anyone else into
using them. Let's start with some

feedback from A. R. Triggs concerning
Simon Lee's CD drive empty problem,
he writes:

"Being well known among
colleagues and family as a
person who can get any
software to malfunction in normal
use, I often get the error message
'drive empty' when trying to access a
CD. As with many other
peculiarities, this usually occurs
after using the PC card. My normal
fix is to click Menu over the CD
icon, then select 'Dismount', (this
seems to toggle between on and off).

"1 first encountered this when I
had the original motherboard and
610 processor. It has continued with
a later board, and 200, then 233
StrongARM processors. The system
then works normally. It only seems
to reoccur on the odd occasion, but
does tie up with PC card usage."
asgftflft Thanks for that, it is a useful
work around even though it
WM doesn't completely fix the
problem. Are you shutting the PC
environment down properly 1
wonder?

The next bit of feedback comes from
Richard Grant who remembers a reply
I made to a letter asking about a
project using a laser pointer, he writes:

"In connection with the
question and answer in
your Rambles column of
the July issue of Acorn User, I can
provide small very high-quality
front-silvered mirrors suitable for
incorporating into laser lights. The
glasses are about 22mm across.

about a millimetre in thickness and
only a couple of grams or so in
weight. A coil of 40swg or similar
wire should be hand-wound and
glued to the back of the mirror with
Araldite or similar.

"Ensure that the lead-in and
lead-out wires are 180 degrees apart
and suspend two such mirrors, one
vertically and one horizontally near
a strong bar magnet or better still,
in the field of a large horseshoe
magnet. Shine your laser onto the
mirrors so the beam bounces off
both mirrors. Feed the coils with a
suitable AC voltage and hey presto,
a laser light display.

"I am no physicist but would
imagine that a suitable program
could weave all sorts of interesting
shapes. This I leave to you. I have a
small supply of these mirrors which
I can supply in pairs for £12 per
pair, all inclusive. I can order
further supplies but my suppliers
will supply only in quantities of
125 or above. In the meantime, it's
first come, first served until current
stocks are exhausted. Contact me at
richard.grant@dial. pipex.com"
BgOT&tf Thanks Richard that

certainly sounds interesting
but I suspect that the
mechanical part might be tricky to
do. Now I have left Manchester Met
university 1 don't have access to a
workshop so I am a bit reluctant to
take on this project. Also the mirrors
will need mounting with some
material with a bit of a twist
restoring force. A thin steel wire
might be fine but how would the

magnetic field affect this? Maybe it
needs to be of some other material.

As you say I can foresee the
electronic side of things presenting
no problem, just two latching D/A
converters on the printer port
connected to a driver amplifier. The
software could then just step through
a look-up table and shunt values to
the D/As at regular intervals. If
anyone could come up with a
suitable mechanical design 1 am sure
we could sort out a joint article.

Neil Rodger who signs himself
G4RQN says:

"I have an A3000 running
RISC OS 3.10. My problem
is that I want to build an
adaptor to fit a normal 'podule' to the
Mini Expansion Card's socket. The
podule socket on the rear is needed
for a hard drive. "The normal podule

Interface wiring

table

AKA12

Name

Euro

Card

SKll pin

/PRE

15c

PR/W

13c

LA[4]

13a

LA[5]

12a

LA[6]

11a

LA[7]

10a

LA[8]

LA[9]

LA[10]

LA[11]

LA[12]

LA[13]

/PIRQ

16c

SK3 pin

/PWE

14c

/Psl

22c

CLK2

27c

LA [2]

15a

LA[3]

14a

BD[0]

31a

BD[1]

30a

BD[2]

29a

BD[3]

28a

BD[4]

27a

BD[5]

26a

BD[6]

25a

BD[7]

24a

/RST

12c

Power connectionsi-O volts SK11
pins 1, 9 & 17, SK3 pin 16, Euro
Card pins la, lc, 3c, 4c, 26c 5 volts
SK11 pin 2, SK3 pins 1, 17, Euro
Card pins 30c & 32a

that I want to fit is a simple one (it
isn't one that shows up when I type
*podules and it's sole purpose in life
is to do something called Slow Scan
TV). Can you help with the adaptor
connections/circuit please?"

I know about slow scan TV,
there was an article about it
in the October '98 Acorn User
and besides I am G8HBR and
designed a lot of slow scan stuff back
in the mid 70's. Anyway I did look at
making an A3000 internal module
fit a normal podule slot for a MIDI
interface card you can get it on the
net from:http:// www.doc.mmu.ac.
uk/ Physics /Acorn /articles/
RTR1995/RTR9

In the article I think I referred to
the socket numbers on the internal
module, in the table below I have
changed them to match the socket
numbers in the A3000 manual (those
on the board). Pin 1 is at the
righthand end when viewed from the
front of the computer. Also note that
the A3000 does not have any -5V or
+12V supply and if your podule
needs this then you are stuck. As the
internal expansion is only a subset of
the main podule signals there might
be signals that you need on the
podule but haven't got on this list.

Electrically it's simple enough to
wire them up, but you might have a
bit of a problem with the physical
layout. Also remember that some of
these lines carry high speed signals
so you run the danger of introducing
interference and distortion if they are
not kept as short as possible. Best of
luck with the project - I think you
will need it.

Chris Grant wants to upgrade his
hard drive capacity:

"I wonder if you might be
able to help me out here. It's
my harddisc. It's currently
residing in a old and friendly A5000
which I use almost daily, but I'm
now finding that its 40Mb just isn't
cutting the mustard any more. It's
getting to the stage where I've got so
many floppy discs that I have to
shovel my way to the keyboard.

"I understand that I can easily
buy a 3.5in IDE harddisc with oodles
of storage space, but I am a little
confused over the interface situation.
Most of the drives have two price
columns, one with and one without
the interface, with an appropriate
price difference, yet I'm still not sure
I actually need it. "My guess is that

if I simply replace my old harddisc
with a new one I don't need a new
interface, but if I wanted it as a
second drive then I would?

"I hope I'm not insulting your
intelligence by asking such a trivial
question, but I'm on a very limited
budget here and I don't want to
make a mistake. I can't wait to get
rid of my floppies."

Well the first computer, I had
with a harddisc had a
staggering capacity of 5Mb,
mind you that was when a floppy
held 100K. As Marvin from The
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy'
said "I don't know how anyone can
live in anything so small".

Yes, if you just want to replace the
drive go ahead and get a replacement,
although if you get a drive bigger
than 2Gb you are best partitioning it
into smaller drives so you will need to
pay for some partition software. For
an extra harddisc you will need an
interface podule card as well.

However remember that whatever
size drive you choose it will probably
be too small one day.

Finally Christopher Rayson has a
problem with PC files to which I
haven't got a solution, can any one
help him?

"Having carefully set up
DOSMAP commands on my
Acorn, I find that when
loading DOS-format floppies files
saved on PCs they still come up
'untyped'. Specifically, they tend to
have type &x00. Occasionally -
generally if I saved a whole
directory of, say, /JPG files - one or
two will have the correct file type
(&C85), while the others appear
&200, &500, &E00, and so on. Is this:

a) supposed to happen, (is the
DOSMAP set up wrong?);

b) a known bug in ADFS;

c) a problem with my machine
(an A7000, RISC OS 3.60)

"I have an application, CDFix ,
which stops a similar problem in
CDFS. Is there anything I can do?"

I Answers on a postcard
please to the usual editorial
I address, or the e-mail
address shown below.

Contacting AU J

Mike Cook:

rambles@acornuser.com

http://www.acornuser.com December 1 999

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Issue 21 3
Nov 1999

Issue 212
October 1 999

• TopModel
review part 1

• Anthem

• Irlam il6

• Messenger Pro

• DrawWorks SE
on disc

• Detailed

Tech Writer review

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monitors

• Viruses feature

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Issue 209
July 1999

• New Photodesk
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June 1999

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December 1 999 http://www.acornuser.com

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Issue 211
Sept 1 999

• First look at
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• DataSafe review

• Home Networks
Part II

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Typhoon reviewed

Issue 207
May 1999

• !ProCAD+

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• Acorn Confidence
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Issue 206
April 1999

• IOHP uncovered

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Part 1

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PC Cards Again
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We have in stock Acorn AC A 57 PC Cards with Cyrix/IBM 5x86
processors at 100MHz. With this Card you can run Windows
and DOS applications under Windows 3.1, 95 or 98. You can
use PC CD ROMs and, with an Ethernet Card and our Network
Links software, a Rise PC can act like any other PC on a PC
network. The PC Pro software now supports VESA2 and
DirectX standards.

NEW LOWER Prices include VAT & P&P:

ACA57 PC Card with no software £225

ACA57 Card with PCPro3 Software for new user £285

ACA57 Card+PCPro3 if you return PCPro2 disc £260

The following prices apply if ordered at the same time:
Windows 95 on CD ROM £75

PCSound Professional (sound support by RCI) £35

IBM PC DOS v7 (not required for Windows) £10

Network Links Software for one user £20

Our Web page on Benchmarks shows the tiny effect of a larger
cache or a 133MHz processor; the processor we offer here has
a heat sink fitted and does not need a fan. DirectX/VESA
support does not generally benefit from more than 128KB cache
anyway.

Aleph One Ltd, The Old Courthouse, Bottisham
Cambridge CB5 9BA Tel: 01223 811679

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letters@acornuser.com

minimum

W hile perusing the

newsgroups the other day
(specifically comp.sys.
acorn.games) I came across a
posting intimating that there is no
way the Acorn machines will ever be
able to compete with PCs when it
comes to games.

At the moment I'd have to agree
with that statement, but not with the
statements about the Rise PC being
incapable of performing as a gaming
machine.

The post went on to say that
modern gamers wouldn't settle for
anything less than games such as
Nocturne. Intrigued I decided to
search out the demo and have a look
at it. There are times when a
University Internet connection is a
godsend. One 109Mb download later
I'd got a demo of a game some
people would class as the 'bare
minimum' we should expect of all
modern games. After unpacking the
demo I checked the Readme.txt file
which lists the minimum spec of
machine required:

• Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0,
or Windows 2000
• Pentium 2, Celeron, Pentium 3
or AMD Athlon CPU
• 1 28Mb System RAM
• Sound Blaster Live! for
environmental audio effects
• Matrox G200/G400, ATI Rage
128, S3 Savage 3D, or
TnT/TnT2 for 3D acceleration
• 200Mb of free harddisc space
• 200Mb of free virtual memory

I thank forward planning that the
five month old machine I work on is
a P3x500MHz with 128Mb of System
RAM, 13Gb drive, Sound Blaster 128
with a 16Mb TNT video card.

Running the demo allows you to
enter the options setup. It seems you
need a 32Mb video card to use any
resolution above 640x480. Having set
everything up the way I'm used to I

started the game and a minute later,
still initialising the triangle data, it
fell flat on its face. "No room for
triangle data at ....".

Quitting all other apps and trying
again yielded the same result. I tried
rebooting and from a clean machine
with much of the graphic detail
turned down to minimum - the same
error occured.

Well, if that's the baseline that all
future games will need to meet then
I, for one, won't be buying any of the
newer games releases (leastwise not
until I have a 256Mb RAM machine
with 4th generation video card
sporting 128Mb of VRAM) and it
seems a little preposterous to expect
the Rise PC to have to compete in
such an arena!

Glyn Royds, by e-mail

Charity-boy rides again

The next planned charity fund
raising event that I'm organising is to
help Steve Turnbull's MENCAP bike
ride in China. What is intended will
be very nice if it can be pulled off: I
am planning on releasing a double
CD containing all of the Acorn FTP
sites, but I've run into a problem.

Having spoken with Malcolm at
Demon (the chap who looked after
the Acorn FTP site there), he says
that some of the software has
conditions on it saying that they are

Out of the closet

Now that our leader, Tony, has come
out of the closet and admitted that
he is a computer illiterate, it is no
longer so surprising that one of his
first guests at No 10 was Bill Gates. 1
wonder what they could have
talked about. The weather perhaps?

Rather than consult with the
author of so many of the problems
that now face computer users, the
government should have taken
advice from companies such as

for Internet use only and not to form
any part of a CD. This may put a
spanner in the works unless you can
help.

If you have released any software
to any of the following FTP areas,
please contact me as soon as possible
(and I mean soon) saying if I can or
can't use the software on these
charity CDs - this applies equally to
those who have this rider on their
software and those who don't - also
if you know someone who has done
this (but maybe won't have read this)
please ask them to reply to me. The
FTP sites are:

• Argonet

• Demon

• HENSA

• Uni of Stuttgart

• Cybervillage

• Barnet

• Avogadro (Chris Johnson)

• ARM Club

Any of the areas held on the
acornusers.org (CBSA, Emulators,
SkullSoft and so on).

Should I get the green light, the
CDs could be out before Christmas
with a recommended minimum
donation of £12.50 - just double the
price of the Kosovo CD.

Please help.

Paul F. Johnson

E-mail : paulf.johnson@ukonline.co.uk

Acorn and boosted UK industry.

The impact on employment
could, however, have been negative
as there would be less need for the
armies of consultants that make a
good living, while they stay sane,
installing and fixing Windoze
programs. There would also be less
need for tutors for the Prime
Minister (at least in Information
Technology).

Dave Barnett, by e-mail

http://www.acornuser.com December 1999 ^

interview

Tomislav Simnett

Being 16
it is not
easy to
get every-
thing
sorted
out

A love of Acorns frequently runs in the
blood. This column itself has covered
a number of family pairings: the
Streater, Finn and Simpson brothers.
Now there's a father/son pairing to add to
the list. Back in Christmas 1995 Mark Moxon
interviewed John Simnett of Simnett
Computing and Cumana; I'm now talking to
his son Tomislav. I met Tomislav the day
before his GCSE results came out, which he
was very relaxed about, but then he would be
because already Tomislav is the Managing
Director of Simnett Computer Services.

"I have just become an Acorn dealer," says
Tomislav excitedly. "1 just phoned up CTL
and said: ’1 want to become a dealer’ and they
said ’fine’ - it was as easy as that. My father
was desperately trying to tell me not to go
through with it because it would not work so
I told him ’Yeah, it will’.

"The problem is with the banks and
everything. Being 16 it is not easy to get
everything sorted out. It is easy enough to
open an account up, but everything else is as
hard as anything. I cannot borrow until 1 am
18. I am going to be selling mail order; it
should work out. If anyone wants a computer
I'm here."

Tomislav's company is not only selling
computers, but also computer training and
Website design. He uses PCs if people want
training on them, as it makes good business
sense. But Tomislav is really Acorn bom and
bred.

"I have being using computers since I was
god knows how young. As far as my parents
are concerned I was tapping away at
keyboards just hitting keys when I was six
months old at our old shop. As far as I am
concerned I have been using them properly
since I was about three. The old BBC,

Spectrum, Atari - you name it. I've
used it. My love of Acorns stems
from using them so much and not
liking what the PC had to offer. I do
have a computer-led life."

Tomislav got into Web design
through writing his own pages. He
gained commercial experience while
doing work experience at
Atomwide. Since then it has
snowballed and Tomislav is getting
requests from all sorts of businesses;
even his dad may want him to do a
page, although Tomislav is keen to
stress that his father has nothing to
do with his company.

"I don't use FrontPage, nothing to
do with a PC," Tomislav says
emphatically. "I do have a PC but
that's for training on, and that is
because there are so many people
who want it and I can get the
income. I also get to show PC
people how wonderful Acorns are and offer
them my complete Acorn solution. On the
other hand everything I actually do is done
on the Acorn. 1 have a couple networked
together in my room.

"I use StrongED - it's the best. I tried
using Zap but I am not too keen; Edit is
absolutely awful. I also use Photodcsk version
1 - I cannot afford to buy the latest version
yet - Paint , ChangeFSI, InterGIF and other
bits and pieces."

Tomislav lives in one of the coolest places
I've visited: a house boat on the Thames. He
says he could not live in a normal house ever
again, and I understand totally. On the wall
of his bedroom I notice an unusual
decoration, a bike. 1 find out he is not just
content with having his own company.

"One of my big aims at the moment is to be
a professional cyclist, but I know it might not
turn out. I have problems with my back and I
have to sort them out, then I will join a cycle
club. The Pro tour this year in May started off
by doing 72 laps around Westminster and they
did 800 miles in seven days. I cycled to
Cornwall to see the eclipse and I did 300 in
four days. It hurt but it is meant to. I was
crying. I was on my own and I had no
slipstream to cycle in. What motivated me was
that I got to Black Bush airport and thought
’Yes! I am nearly home,’ and so cycled the last
part at 25 miles per hour."

As we chat about the pros and cons of a
house boat (which is now gently floating, the
tide having come in), I reflect that the future
of the Acorn market depends in many ways
on people like Tomislav, people who refuse
to see that it's just plain silly to cycle to
Cornwall and back just to see the moon pass
in front of the sun.

Jill Regan

y December 1999 http://www.acornuser.com

digital
Mi cameras

by Spacetech

Driver

oacetecrf

imaging technology

t/#<c

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NEW CD ROM from David Cowell

See Giancarlo demonstrate
NEW Top Model stuff at RISCOS99!

PHOTODESK 3 is the package which
defines studio quality image editing and artwork on

RISC OS machines. It is easy to use but has many powerful features, including LAYERS and
a sophisticated colour management system (CMS) for the full-time graphics professional. £299.50

PHOTODESK2 is still available, retaining the CMS but not layers. £199.00

PHOTODESK LIGHT, an economic alternative to PHOTODESK3 retains most of its creative
I features apart from the Colour Management System, Layers and some features essential to the
professional user. £134.75 Plug-in Effects Packs are available for all Photodesk packages.

Each pack contains 10 special effects. £19.95

Spacetech tutorial CD ROMs:

“An Introduction to Digital Art” featuring bitmap and vector
graphics tutorials by the well-known artist. David Cowell. This is
a fascinating introduction to studio quality graphics work on CD
ROM for £24.95

A NEW CD from David is now available: “Creative Digital
Imaging” This contains a resource of images and covers the
following topics in greater detail: Digital painting. Painting with
Texture, Digital Photography, Photo illustration, Montage, Portraits,

Words and Text, Creative masking, Hints and Tips. £24.95

TopModel2 V.2.14 is now available for £152.75. Existing users may upgrade for
or buy the NEW CD-ROM packed with resources, the new plug-in Top3DFonts! and a free 2.14 upgrade for only
£58.63. TopModel 2 is the definitive 3D modelling package for RISC OS. Giancarlo from Sincronia will demo
TopBones and TopAnimation at the RISCOS99 show.

All prices include VAT

1 The Courtyard, Southwell Business Park, Portland, Dorset DT5 2NQ, UK
Telephone: +44 (0)1305 822753 Fax: +44 (0)1305 860483
Email: sales@spacetech.co.uk Web: http://www.spacetech.co.uk

2 New Megapixel Cameras:

C920 ZOOM, faster replacement for C900Z
C21, 2.1 Megapixel miniature camera
C830 now £50 off! C2000 ZOOM now £100 off!

OfrIP A presentation package on CD-ROM from Spacetech

Makes your slide shows quick and easy to create!

0 Start building your presentation 5 minutes before the lesson? - No Problem

• Use your existing work in a presentation? - No Problem, just drag ‘n drop it in! Only £29.95

PhotoLink is an Acorn multi-driver for the most popular makes of digital camera. It is bundled
FREE* with the following cameras:

C830L 1280x960 resolution, TFT screen, macro, 2x digital Tele Mode. Now only £349.99

C920ZOOM 1280x960, 3x optical zoom. NEW replacement for C900Z, our price only £499.99
C21 1600x1200 Micro miniature NEW 2 Megapixel baby! Digital Tele mode, TFT, £699.99

C2000 ZOOM 1600x1200 This camera has everything including optical zoom, manual override
for auto settings, remote control, 4.5cm TFT screen. Our price now £100 off! was £749.99 now £649.99

*PhotoLink is available free with cameras purchased from Spacetech or on its own, if you have
purchased your camera elsewhere, at £69.00

PhotoReal is the Acorn driver extension for the Canon BJC4300, BJC4650, BJC7000, BJC 7100
BJC2000. Epson Photo, Photo700 and PhotoEX printers with photo-realistic capability. PhotoReal
makes use of the same advanced techniques for producing high-quality four colour separations as
Photodesk and comes ready calibrated for the special dye-based inks used for photo-realistic printing.
A calibration application is also supplied to allow you to tailor the results to your own specification.

Driver only £69.00 Inc. VAT. or FREE if purchased with printer!

Examples: Stylus Photo700 was £249.50 NOW £204.45

Canon BJC2000 £ 1 49.95 BJC4650 A3 £299.99

BJC7000 £245.00 BJC7 1 00 £299.00

Epson PhotoEX A3 was £454.73 NOW £363.07
(all prices include PhotoReal Driver)

Lightning-fast

computing

Castle’s lightning-fast Acorn RiscPC233T sets
the standard for robust, trouble-free computing.
The 233MHz processor is further enhanced by
the exceptionally efficient and robust
RISC OS architecture. This puts the RiscPC233T
among the leaders for raw computing power.

• INTEL StrongARM 233MHz (revision T)
processor - ARM designed

• Modular expansion - increase the case size
quickly and easily

• 2nd processor slot - eg use with PC card
for Windows applications

• CE marked - your evidence of top
quality and safety

• 100% Acorn - the original tried and tested
Acorn design further enhanced

8MB, 2GB, RiscOS 3.7

£749 + vat

R/ScPC 233r

18MB, 4GB, 40xCD,
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£879 + vat

RiscPC233t Web Wizard
Internet Suite, JAVA, 32MB, 2VMB,
8GB, DVD-CD, 56K modem, '

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£1149 + vat

Order now!

Call 01728 723200
FreeFAX 0800 783 9638

Delivery £1 1 (£12.93 inc. VAT) per system.

CASTLE

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