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» EXPERT ADVICE • BEST BUYS • TOP TIPS • HOT NEWS \ 



\ V V 




W Pagmtrsam 2 enters the DTP fray - can it 
provide anything new? page 39 

• PROGRAMMING 

$ Find out which is the best programming 
JJJ language for you - we've tested out every 
* angle one., page 85 

I EDUCATION 

m We recommend the 
2 software that can 
& help your pre-school 

and infant children 
IP get a head-start 

in life page 82 



ISSUE 2 • JUNI 1991 • THE MAGAZINE FOR AMIGA BUYERS 




Essential sti 
bulletin boards 



guide to using 
page 47 



Get the full story on how PC emulation 
can open up a whole new world of 
business software for you.,.,.... page 67 

VIDEO SHOW 

Is Scala the best 
presentation 
software ever? 
Our video expert 
reveals the truth 
for you... page 62 





Whatever your problem with the 
Amiga we will solve it - get in touch 
With our panel of experts page 17 



FULL REVIEWS PAGESTREAM 2 COLOURPIC 
SEQUENCER ONE KCS POWERBOARD SCALA "|uiure 
ZY-FI BROADCAST TITLER 2 THE THINKER — 



'770961 "730001 



I 1 Over 50^)00 have joined Special Reserve - the club which offers more for less with no obligation to buy 



We only supply members but you 
can order at the same time as joining 

£6.00 membership includes: 

NRG colour magazine, with News, Reviews & 
Graphics and featuring the adventures of the Neu- 
Real Gamers Cyberpunk street gang. NRG is sent to 
all members bi-monthly and includes the Special 
Reserve top ten charts, a release schedule of 
forthcoming games and a full catalogue of club offers, 
7-Day Sales hot-lines, Sam to 8pm weekdays. 9am 
to 5pm Sat. 10am to 5pm Sun. 0279 600204. 
Enquiries hot-lines, dedicated to after-sales service. 
9am to 5pm weekdays. 0279 600205. 
Fast despatch of stock items. Over 40,000 games in 
stock. Games sent individually wrapped. 
Written receipt of order, and we issue refunds on 
request in the event of any delay. 
Best Prices and Best Service, that's why over 
50,000 people have joined Special Reserve. 

ANNUAL UK MEMBERSHIP Q£ /)/) 

UK £6.00 EEC £8.00 WORLD £10.00 Z, Urn 1/1/ 




tosts £14.99 extra but 
li l . frl saves you up to £120 

Annual subscription to XS NRG is just £14.99 for 
Special Reserve members only. The price includes: 

f XS NRG colour review magazine for 
Amiga, ST and PC users. Each issue is packed wilh 
reviews of new games (and some of the best older 
ones) and utilities. There's more aboul the NRG street 
gang plus cheat modes, bulletin board and club letters. 
You get more from the club with XS NRG... 

, redeemable 
against items bought from Special Reserve. 

at pre-release or latest tities. 
That's 18 reasons to buy XS NRG..... heres two more: 

OR we'll give you XS NRG PLUS... all for £29.99. 



Enter XS NRG and pay £14.99. 

Or enter XS NRG PLUS at £29.99. 

These otters apply to UK only. Special 
Reserve membership is not included. 




WE ONLY SUPPLY MEMBERS BUT YOU CAM ORDER AS YOU JOIN 

THERE ISA SUHCHAROE OF 50PPER CAME FOR TELEPHONED ORDERS 

[PLEASE PRINT IN BLOCK CAPITALS! 





Name 
Address . 



Tel. 



Postcode 

Computer 

Payabieto Special Reserve 
P.O. Box 847, Harlow, CM21 9PH 



Existing members please 

enter your Membership No. I 

Special Reserve £6 UK, £8 EEC, £10 World 

PLEASE ENTER MEMBERSHIP FEE 





GrandPrix 
Croil ' 



^"•"vi 



*&&&#* 




10.99 



7.99 10.99 6.99 



3£> CONSTRUCTION KIT 

3DPOOL 

saa ATTACK SUB 

A1Q TANK KILLER M MEG) 

AD5D DUNGEON MASTER ASS WQU 
„ AD&D DUNGEON MASTER A 5$ VOLS .. 
I ADVANCED DE STROVE R SIMULATOR If. 99 KlUtfi-OVES 
■ AFR1KA CORPS „. 10.99 KILLING CLOUD 

AMNIOS J?!. 13.99 KILLING GAME SHOW. 

AMOS .GAMES CReATOftl 



ARCHIPELAGOS 
ARMOUR- GEDDON 

ATOMINO 

AWESOME fWTTH T-SHIflJ|, 
B A T (UBI SOFT) . .,( 

BAAL J 

BACKGAMMON ROrALE 

BALLVHOOilNFOCOMl 

9ARDSTALE2 
ALE 3 

BATTLE COMMAND 

BATTLE Or BRITAIN ... 

BATTLE SQUADRON 

flATTLESCA°ES .i&CflOOINO 4 ARtfAOAl 

eftniESTOfiw 

5T 2 WITH T-SHIRT | 



2999 KPCKOPF 6 99 

..7.49 KICKQFF2 .. I3.*B 

17 « K»CK OFF 1 - FINAL WHISTLE 10.49 

??49 KICK Of F ?- GIANTS OF EUROPE 7-99 

KIGKQFF 2 -RETURN TO EUROPE 7.99 

KICK OFF 2 - WINNING TACTICS -6.49 

11.99 
19 49 1 

.Mm\ 

1099 I 
2*49 I 
1S.49 I 
.749 I 
i£99 I 



^ INEVITABLY, SOME GAMES SHOWN HAY NOT YET BE RELEASED. 
I Inter-Mediates Ltd- Reg. Office: 2 South Block. 
The Mattings, Sawbridgeworth, Herts CM21 9PG- 
VAT reg.no. 424 8532 51 



V 30 49 KINO WORDS ? ;W PROCESSOR i 
A. .5.99 KINGS QUEST 4(1 MEG) iSlERRAI 



17 K 
.1 v 



KNIGHTS OF LEGEND 

LASERSQUAD 

154$ LEATHER GODDESSES ilNFOCOM 

SJ49 LEISURE SUIT LARRY 1 2a3r,lMEG r 3149 

599 LEMMINGS . -16.99 

iS98 LINE OF FIRE 16-99 

7 99 LOMBARDRAC RALLY I6.49 

..949 LOOM .... 19.99 . 

17.49 LOTUS ESPRIT TURBO CHALLENGE .. .15.99 I 

1649 Ml TANK PLATOON 1999 1 

1999 MEANSTREETS 1699 1 

fc-v.i UE2"""VEL, r.R ■ 1'J*J 

20.49 ML-NACE...!^. ■ ■ -5 49 1 

1049 MERCENARY.. .. .8 99 I 

12.99 MERCHANT ( irXQNY 1899 

T SELLERS. SIM CITV ^ POPULOUSl 1B.99 METAL MASTERS 1S.9& I 

3AYAL ..,.1999 MICR0PROSE SOCCER -3 49 1 

JE r*u< .. .1849 MJDNICiH I ntS STANCE . 1649 | 





59p each or 
21.99 tor £ 



SONY 3.5" 

DS.'DD DISK + LABEL 

59p each or 
£21 .99 for 50 






lOERQFR 
WJ_ . 
NNTIMEC 



BRAT 

BRIDGE PLAYER 31 50 &ALA£TlCA 

SUCK ROGERS iS£l> 

CADAVER 

CAPTIVE 

carrier comm and 

centurion - defender of rome 
champion of the raj 
champions of krynnt1 megi 
chaos strikes back « m6g) 

CHASE H O 2 iSCU 
CMPS CHALLENGE 

CHR0NODUEST2 

C~u::k ROCK 

CHUCK v EAGER S 

COHORT - FIGHTING FOR ROME 

COLORADO,- 

CORE DOUBLE PACK 

■ TOHVAK THE WARRIOR fi CAR-VUPI 

CORPORATION . 

CORPORATION MISSION DISK 

CORRUPTION i M SCROLLS* 

CRACK DOWN 
CRIME OOESNT PAY 

DRMEWAVE 

CRUISE -ORA CORPSE 

CURSE OF THE AZURE BONDl* MgGj 
CUTTHROATS MNFOCOMj.. 

CVBERCON3 

DAMOCLES 

DAMOCLES MISSION DISK 1 
DAMOCLES MISSION DISK 2 
DAS BOOT i THE BOAT SUB SIM I 

C LAC LINE: BUDGET i 

DEATH TRAP 

CE FE NDER OF THE CROWN 

DEJA VU 
DEJA VU 2 



16 99 MIDWINTER 

1999 MK523 FULCRUM 

1999 MONSTER PACK ■ .SHADOW OF THE 

1 6 49 BEAST INFESTATION. NfTROl 



-- V 



.14.49 I 



MONTY PYTHONS FLYING CIRCUS 

.7.99 MURDER -TWt-.IB.W 

17.49 MYSTICAL 6-99 

lfc.49 NAM 1965-75 1949 

1999 WAVYSEALS ......16 4& 

15.99 NEBULUS2 16.JB 

15.99 NEVERMIND 6.4'J 

1R99 NKjELMANSELLS GRAND PRl* J-Vb 

7 99 NIOHTSHIFT 16 99 

15.99 OBITUSrWITH T-SHIRT. Jl 99 

17.49 OPERATION STEALTH /l6.9fl 

1899 OVERRUN |l MEG) (SSI) m&S 

1S49 PANG IN 

PANZA. KICK BOXING 16.SB 

1699 PAWN JM SCROLLSl -6#9 

t499 PGAGOLFTOUR IfflBS 

1{J99 PHOTOHPAINT 6.49 

6.99 PLANETFALt I BUDGET! 9.49 

699 PLAYER MANAGER 13-49 

1699 POLICE QUE ST 2 M MEG) (SIERRA) ..25.49 

16 '10 POOL OF RADIANCE . 1 MEG: 1SSI1 19 99 

19 99 POPUUOUS PROMISED LANDS . 9 49 

19.99 POWER UP CHASE H 0. TUftRlCAN. XOUT 

899 ALTERED BEAST flAiNBQWISLANOSl 1999 

169^ POWERDRIFT ..599 

..399 POWERDROAtE 949 

.3 99 POWERMONGER ^8 59 

9 99 POWERMONGER DATA DISK 1 11.99 

1 8 49 POWERWORKS (MAXtPlAN PLUS 

9 49 SPREADSHEET KIND WORDS 2 & 

1199 INFOFILE DATABASE. - 36 99 

$99 PftEDATOR2 15.99 

7.99 PRINCE OF PERSIA ..1. .1899 

7.99 PRO TENNIS TOUR 2 



I AMIGA A500 COMPUTER SCREEN GEMS 

1 + TV MODULATOfl MOUSE . E5AC K TO THE FUTU RE 2. 

I DAYS OF THUNDER. BEAST 2. DELUXE PAINT 2 & 

I NIGHTBREED 349.99 

I PHILIPS 6833 MK2 MONITOR 

I COLOUR STEREO WITH AMIGA LEAD 269-99 

I AMIGA ASD1 51 2K RAM UPGRADE 

I.T01 MEG- GENUINE ITEM WITH CLOCK 44.9)9 

I TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENTS AMIGA 

I 51 2K RAM UPGRADE WITH CLOCK 34.99 

IZYDEC AMIGA 51ZK 

I RAM UPGRADE WJTH CLOCK 34.99 

AMIGA A590 20 MEG HARD DRIVE 

(AUTOBOOT WITH KICKSTART. SOCKETS 

FOR 2 MEG OF RAM. SCSI INTERFACE) 209.99 

CUMANA EXTERNAL DISK DRIVE 

CAX354 3.5"8&OKFOR A50C OR A2000 79.9f9 

ROCTEC SLIM DISK DRIVE 

EXTERNAL AMIGA DISK DRIVE RF332C 59.99 

I DUST COVER FOR AMIGA <CLEAR FVC, 3.99 

I DUST COVEH FOR PHILIPS MOWtTOR 5.99 



UCinVJ-H ■ r.aa rnu ic»nw >w"f 

a DELUXE MUSIC CONSTRUCTION SET i5.99 PROTEXT WORD PROCESSOR V4 



^.9 99 
1999 
. 16W 
59 99 



I DELUXE PAINT 3 

DEMONIAK 

"" FTEROS 

MEY ANIMATION STUDIO 

iGOMWARS 

W30NSLAIR M MEG) 

DRAGOMSLAIR2 

DHAKKHEN 

DUNGEON MASTER I'l MEG) 

DUNGEON MASTER EDITOR S.99 R060C0P 2 

DYNASTYWARS 6.49 ROCKET RANGER 

EMOTION 6i9 RUBICON 

ECO PHANTOMS 16 99 5 T1J.N RUNNER 

ELITE 9.49 SECRET. OF MONKEY ISLAND 

ELVIRA -MISPRESS OF DARKM MEG| 20.49 SHADOW OF HE BEAST 

ENCHANTER fSUDGETj 9 49 SHADOW WARRIORS 

EPIC ... '6 99 SHERMAN M4 

ESCAPE FROM SINGE'S CASTLE 23.99 SIERRA IH i ! . r . I'AiK CCvONELS 

E5WAT 1S99 BEOUEST. CONOUE&TS Of CAME LOT. 

EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUE.. 1&99 COOENAME TC EMANJ 

EYEOFHORUS 3.99 SltKWGRM 

EYEOFTHEEEHOinF-,^:|-:1 MEG; 19.99 SIM CITY 

F15 STRIKE EAGLE 2 .... 21.99 SIM CITY TERRA! 

F16 FALCON ■ 12.99 SKULL AND CROSfBDNES 

I Flfl FALCON MBSKM DISK 1 tl.gg SKYFOX JL 

Fib FALCON MISSION DISK 2 "99 ■ : - T 

F16 INTERCEPTOR 9.49 SPACE HARRIER 2 

F19 STEALTH FIGHTER 19.99 SPACE QUEST 3 iSlERRAi 

I F21RETALIATOR 10 49 SPEEDBALL . 

FAST BREAK I BASKETBALL]. 5-OT SPEEDSAtL 2 

FERRARI FORMULA 1 9 49 SPEILBOUND 

FEUDAL LORDS 16^ SPY WHO LOVED ME .. . 

FIRE AND BRIMSTONE 1999 STARFLlGHT 

FlSH'iMSCHOLLSl 6.99 STARGUDER 2 . . 

FISTSOFFURY 19-99 SUPER CAHS 2 



IPLE SATURN DAY 

CI2ZNIC 

lUEST FOR CLORV 1 1 MEG) 
«JEST FOR GLORY 3(1 MEO|. . 

■ - J" UU:i: -ON.::J.tl 

?8 59 RAINBOW ISLAND 

tl 99 RICK DANGEROUS J, 

1199 RICK DANGEROUS 2 

iq.99 noeocop 



1 MEG; . 







FLAMES OF FREEDOM (MIDWINTER 3i 21, M 



SoHware Prices irclude UK or EEC Poslage- 

WorkJ software ord&j"s please add £1 -DO par item. 

For nan sOtlwarC .rem;. ;,i,.:h ,is ;2y£:i(SiS or blank nnM 

ptease acW 10% EEC o* 25f& Wertd l^ r carnage. 

Overseas order? mygt ba paid by credit card- 



AMSHOP 11 



Credit card issue/expiry date 

G H EQ U E; P. ,'V I S A/AC C E S S/M AST ERC A R D/S WITCH 



l-LIGHI OFTHEiM^UDFR 

FOOLS ERRAND 

FUN SCHOOL 2 3-6. 6-6 or B- . . 
FUWSCHOOL3 2S. 5-7 or 7* 

«e;iysburo.ssii 

gfa basic v3 d compiler 

gfa basic vj interpreter 

GODS .... 

GOLDEN AXE . . 

GRAND PRIX CIRCUIT 

GRAVITY . 



. .29.49 



^S^ 



GREG NORMANS GOLF 16.99 

GUILD OF THIEVES iMBCROLLSl 6.99 

GUNBOAT 16-99 

GUNSHIP 16.99 

HARDDRIVlN .... 7.49 

HARD DRIVIN 2 16.99 

HARPOON 

HEROOUEST (GREMLIN ) . ... 

HILL STREET BLUES ^S ..,]/&$& 

HITCH HIKERS OU Dt bLCSET; H -^ 

HOLLYWOOD COLllCTIONiROBOCOP. 
GHOST&USTERS2. INDIANA .IHNfeS. 

BATMAN THE MOVlEl i 

HOME ACCOUNTS 0IGITAV--./ 

HOUND OF SHADOW d 

HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER ..jT>^ 
HUNTER ... ..£■■ ^%\ 

HYHRI5 j# 

IMMORTAL (1 MEG, JT "7*l 

INDIANAPOLIS 500 ---/. IflPB 

INTERPHASE M ■« 

IT CAME FROM THF. DEStHT . 1 MEGl 10.99 
IVAN STEWARTS OFF ROAU RACER tfe 99 

J NICKLAUSGOLF #749 

J N1CKI AUS VOL I COURSES .10 I.! 

J NICKLAUS VOL2 INT COLJRSES - .RlO.* 

JAMES POND 

JET (SUBLOGIC) 
KHALAAN .. 



SUPER MONACO GRAND PRIX 16 99 

SUPERBASe PERSONAL 2 1 DATABASE)... 71 49 

749 SUPERPLANM MEGl iSPREADSHEET), 7149 
13 49 SUPREMACY . 19« 

ISflfl SWITCHBLAOE2 .. 

799 SWW 

23 49 SWORD OF SODAN 
36 99 TEAM SUZUKI 

1549 TEAMYANKEE ._X 

16 99 TEENAGE MUTANT HE RO TURTL ES 

.6.99 TEENAGE QUEEN iSTfilP POKERj 

699 THEME PARK MYSTERY 






5 49 



THREE STOOGES JCINE MAWAfiEj. 5.99 

TOKI - ttKT. ■ 16-49 

TOURWAMENTGOLF 1699 

TOYOTACELICAGT RALLY 1699 

TRIAOVOL 2 (MENACE. BAAL. TETR1S1 7 99 
TRIAD VOI :l ;ii5 J EEDBALL. BLOOO 

9 49 MONEV. ROCKET RANGER) 11-99 

I TA°> lUfleO SILVER .GRAPHICS - MIMATIONt 

" TURRICAN2 

T ■-' SPORTS BASKETBALL 

ULTIMA 5 

ULTIMATERIDE 

LflWS2(1MSa) 



VIZ 



15.'9 
I ■ *■--. 

iajs 

Vi'i-i 

i- Jr- 



WARHEAD 

699 WARLORDS (1MEOI 

699 WHEELSOFFIRE 

2,*f> WINGS |1 MEG. iCINFMAWARti 

Mi WINNING TEAM 

I6fl9 WIPEOiTT 

.J99 WOLFPAC-KliMEGi 

lfi-99 WONDERLANO 1 1 MEG. 4M SCROLLSl 
1699 WORKBENCH 1.3 

WRATH OF THE DEMON 

KEHOMQflPH 

XENON 3 MEGA&LAST 

6.99 XIPHQ5 

■499 Z-OUT 

14 99 ZGRKaiBUDGFTi 



Back row lefl to right 

COMPETITION PHO EXTRA GLO GREEN 13.49 

QUICKJOY JET FIGHTER JOYSTICK 13,93 

QLHCKSHOT111A TURBO 2 JOYSTICK S.9B 

OJICKSHOT130F PYTHON JOYSTfCK 9-99 

TURBO BLASTER JOYSTICK 9.99 

COMPETITION PRO EXTRA GLO RED 13.49 | 

Frgnt raw lelt ED rightl 

TURBO (RAPID FlP L E^JOYPAD 14 99 I 

ROCTEC MOUSE FOR AMIGA 15 99 | 

OUICKSHOT127 STARFfGHTER REMOTE 

CONTROLLER + TWO INFA-RED JOYPAOS 29.99 I 

OUICKSHOT138F MAVERICK 1 JOYSTICK 12L99 | 

Other items not shown 

COMPETITION PRO 5000 BLACK TQ.99 I 

COMPETITION PRO 5000 MEAN GREEN 1 0.99 | 

COMPETITION PRO &D00 RED/WHITE 9 "" 

COMPETITION PRO 5fl00 WHJTE 10.G9 I 

COMPETITION PRO EXTRA COMBAT , 12-99 

COMPETITION PRO EXTRA CLEAR 13-49 

CONTRIVER C820A ATARI ST MOUSE 23.99 1 

FOUR PLAYER AiMlGJVATAfl I ST JOYSTICK 

ADAPTOR (FOR KICK OFF ? ETC! 7.99 I 

MOUSE MAT 3-99 

NAKSHA MOUSE. BRACKET AND MAT (AM1GA:ST| .£i.99 
POPULOUS.'FALCON LEAD \ NULL MODEM) 7.99 | 

CITIZEN SWIFT 9 COLOUR: PRINTER 

FRICTION S TRACTOR, 213 CP&'36 NLO, COLOUR. 

2* MONTHS WARH.ANTY 199-99 

CITIZEN SWFT COLOUR PRINTER RIBBON 14.99 

PRINTER LEAD AM iGA OR ST 9.99 

OLYMPUS 14" OPTIK LEAO GLASS 

ANTI-RADIATION* REFLECTION FILTER 74.99 

POWERWORKS SUITE INCLUDING 

KINO WORDS? WORD 

PROCESSOR. 

MAXIPLAN PLUS 

SPREADSHEET AND 

INFOFILE DATABASE 

WITH MAIL MERGE 36.49 

KIND WORDS Z WORD 
PROCESSOR 

WITH SPELL-CHECKER. 

THESAURUS 

AND SUPER FONTS 19-99 





CONTENTS 




SHOPPING LIST 

This is an alphabetically sorted, 
quick-reference list to everything in 
the issue. Just look for the relevant' 
name of the software, hardware 
or subject and it should be here. 
Some things ore cross-referenced 
under more than one heading for 
ease of use.' 

AmigaDOS. .79 

AMOS 60 

Answers ........;. 3 7 

Assembly language ..85&91 

Basic language 85 

Broadcast Ti Her,... , 62 

Bulettin boards 47 

Business 67 

C language 85 

CofourPic... 54 

Comms 47 

Deluxe Paint IB 29 

Deluxe Photolab 29 

Desktop publishing...,; ..39 

DtglpomfttL. ...29 

Education .:..,......„....:, ...82 

Express Paint, , .29 

Floppy disk drives 107 

Graphics .;. ..54 

Hard disk drives 105 

KCS Powerboard 67 

Letters^ 12 

logo..,.. „.... .85 

Modulo 2,... 85 

Mouse'...,:..., 77 . 

Music ■ 70 

MyPaini ;... 29 

News; 5 

Pagestream.. .39 

Pa mt : programs. ....... ..,'.,... .29 

Pascal .85 

Photon Paint 2....... .,29 

Programming languages. ........85 ; : 

Public Domain 1 1 3 

'Questionnaire' , 59 ; 

Reader ads 99 

Scab , 62 

Sequencer One 70 

^Subscriptions., ^....l 1 1 

The Graphics Studio.. 29 

Thinker,,, ,.:,.. 73 

Truemouse ;... 77 

US news,,.., '....8- 

Video 62 

Zy-R speakers <..... .77 ■■. 



(%• CONTACTS 



Bob Wade -Editor 

30 MonmoulK Street, Bafti BA1 2BW 

« 022S 442244 

Advertising 

Margaret Clarke - Advertising Manager 

2nd Ftaor, Rayner House, 23 Higher 

Hillgale, Stock port SKI 3ER 

"061474 7333 

Subscriptions 

TtieOtd Bom, Somerfon, Somerset 

TA1 1 7PY 

» 0458 7401 1 



IlfU H^Pltfj? llkl #MP^^l%g 



FEATURES 




Paint programs revealed in all their glory. 

Art on Trial 21 

2D paint programs go under the microscope. 

Questionnaire 59 

Help make this an even better magazine by telling 
us exactly what you want from it. 



Programming Languages 85 

Find out which programming language is the one 
For you and what they can do best. 



REVIEWS 



Pagestream 2 39 

The latest contender in the DTP program wars. 

CoiourPic 54 

Get some gorgeous grabs with this digitiser. 

Scala 62 

Full review of this exciting new presentation program. 

Broadcast Titler 62 

Can you be without this for your video work? 

KCS Powerboard 67 

Get a taste of the world of PC compatibility. 

Sequencer One 70 

Time For this one to face the music - but will it dance? 

Thinker 73 

Find out what all this talk of hypertext is about. 

Zy-Fi Speakers 77 

Will your ears be deafened, delighted... or plugged? 



Truemouse 

Check out the latest rodent to join the scurrying race. 



77 



Whatever your problem with the Amiga we 
will solve it - get in touch with our panel of 
experts page 17 



REGULARS 



News 5 

Special US report that keeps you right up to date with 
all the new hardware and software launches. 

Letters 12 

You have your say and the Editor has his. 

Desktop Publishing 39 

Can Pagestream 2 take Professional Page 2's crown 

as the top Amiga DTP program? 

Comms 47 

Find out exactly how to use bulletin boards, 

Graphics 54 

Get into grabbing with the CoiourPic video digitiser. 



AMOS 60 

More invaluable programming hints and tips. 

Video 62 

5ca/o and Broadcast Tiller 2 put through their paces. 

Business 67 

Find out how you can run all that PC business 
software on your own little Amiga. 

Music TO 7 

Will Sequencer One be music to your ears? 

Education 82 

All the best software for pre-school and infant kids. 

Reader Ads 99 

Find a bargain or sell your own unwanted stuff. 

Buyers' Guide 105 

Crucial guide to which floppy or hard disk you need. 



Buyers' Advice 

Get our advice on buying stuff safely. 



108 



Subscriptions 1 1 1 

Make sure you get your Amiga Shopper every month. 



TUTORIALS 



Assembly Language 



77 



AmigaDOS 



81 



PUBU5J$*A« 



Everything you need to know about finding and 
using free software can be found in our special 
section starting on page 113. 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 •JUNE 1991 



Choices to Keep you ■. * f 
pellbound at TridyAJFmj^ 
^Wizard Priced t 





/JfflBEtLDDaS "m? TTSffi] 



HOLLYWOOD 
COLLECTION 

F19 STEALTH 
FIGHTER 

ROBOCOF II 
DICK TRACY 



All of iwrfwoniies ■" ™ KSnijodnd box, somelt™ 
for everm* mdoilns BATMAN, RQBOCOf I, CHOSTEffSftRS II 
nut IHDMNA JONES *N D THE LAST CRU SADE. 
Forget the resL.TrllS E THE FLIGHT OF FANTASY! Owt 409,100 
square miles; over 3300 possible missions, iM, Mai or 
CDrofcilionnrl war, 4 grades of Ofjcronerit, 4 world scenarios. 

Follow up to ire highly successful 80000(1 ! This Him teat gome 
has go) ill the otfon of its predecessor AND MORE! 

comic detective plus Big Buy, Flattop, Fluneta and 
5nn that i( 



l*w Brow, All ih a comic coper 
ichal 



itiomttishorondcoat 
and lit Itie slreels h seo'tfi at Big Boy (/nice and his gong, 

SPIEDBAL I 2 ^ w&*A Speodboll \m become a clesstc.Try this am for size! 
A lutice sport scenario where you hove In mister the technique 
or scaling.. .or else! 

DUCK TALES Vou've got to roce across the globe to Find your Fortune and became 

1 The Behest Dock in roe Wortf' I A area! afvenhne dial requites all youi 
sUt end courage.,, ARE you DIM ENOUGH I 

MUTANT toioKlfo, Mdndongelo. Raphoel, leonordo and all the usual 
Turtles deroctere. ..oh arte otlicm pocked gome ! 



tNM®& W$m ®5 "LTCGtl ®®°s \PBti3m 

NOW THERE ARE TWOI 



TtwIotoKy Mow 1Mb.. 
AMIGA CLASS OF THE 90's ' 





Amiga AS 00 Computer 
A501 0.5Mb Upgrade 
Pro-Write 2.5 (W.P) 
Deluxe Paint II 
Deluxe Print II 
Infofile (Dboie) ,,, , 
Music Moust /" 
Amiga Logo 
Talking Turtles 

NEW NEW 



let's Spelt at Home 
BBC Emulator 
1 Commodore Disks R 
Mouse Mot 
Resource File 



| Owl pf fiWallafi Tjihnatog i 

£52C 

Add a Sortejort Pock T(»( 

MW NEWl 



AMIGA 
"CLASS OF THE 90's 

Amiga A500 Computer. 
ASOl 0.5Mb Upgrade, 
Mid] Inrorfate, 
BBC Emulator, 
Dduxo Point It, Amiga Logo, 
Suaercosc Personal, 
mpKtplan, Publishers Choir., 
Dl T's Midi RoeoriUrig Studio, 
1 Blank Disks, mouse Mai, 
Diskette Wallet 

! £529 

Add d Sarcerors Pock Tool 

NEW 



HERO TUHTISS 
TEAM SUZUKI 

UMMINGS 

MIQ29 



A vector teeing game on bikes that really shift. And we realty ore 
talking fast! Qvtee the riders, pick their skills and bam some rubber! 

Oh no tbe cute Ernie Amines ore dropping into dongfli, only you 
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14" Stereo High Res, Stereo Colour 

PHILIPS CM 8833/11 £249 

1 4 M Stereo Med, Res. Stereo Colour with Green 
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PHILIPS CM 8833/11 ,**•* 
As above but with 'designer' markings and a 
kit lo apply to your keyboard lo match 



ST AR LC 1 Mono Wi n ot Matrix MON 

STAR LC 24/10 Mom 24Pin Dol Mat. MONO 
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IX OF IUO and FRET LockobleStcnooe Box tS4 95 



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\ ALL MERtiNS PRICES INCLUDE VAT, (AND POSTAGE far smaller hems) UK Mainland only. 

WHItel evetv eifort is mada to ensuira Dial the infai-matjDn sJhowji in ouradVciliMmEnt is correct, you should ALWAYS CDnlifm any Offers, Prices, Avaitorjility etc. prior to plKtag 

your order. We endeavour to supply everything as shown aiid *« will ONLY change anything should it be forced upon us by manufacturers o< our suppliers. Because our 

advertising is booked so far in aitvanct, Merlin Iherelore reserve me rloht lo alter equipment specifications, withdraw any prodi)-ci , 'ciisijf or updale prices (rind tnai can 

be either up OR down), wittsoul prior nolice. PLEASE CHECK DETA3LS PRIOR TO ORDERING. 
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x Just phoas our 24 ho-ur order line using your Accgs$/Vita card, OR, 

£ send a cHeque/poslal order with your requirement delails. (Cheques 

i? neLrd clearance unless IesuclI ny Barnk.'Bullding Society tor you} 

° Small hems will be despalchad by post FflEE to all UK Mainland 

"ec. afiresses. Hardware Is despatched by courier service (up tu 25Kg| at 

S .allows: NEXT WORKING DAT... adit £6 lo order, TWO WORKING DAYS 

5 - add £Bir for SPECIAL SATURDAY DELIVERY,, ,adtf jilSl E1Z 

a (Merlin will ALWAYS despatch day ol order unless otherwise discussed) 



fc Hartware Ihrlprcm tnUlty within 3D d»yi will be ewhanuerJ lor HEW, *«bt 3D ttayt. 

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k rvpilr aiienl and ^turned Id yiiLE by coiir.Br. 

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u Marflit Eqrren are prederniriintlya mail order company biri w* welcome cuilomen la 
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AMIGA NEWS 



User group news 

by Janet Biekerstaff 

Are you getting the most from 
your Amiga? If not, why not 
join a user group. There are 
OUGs (Independent 
Com muffore Products Users 
Group) in many parts of the 
country. One friendly crowd is 
ICPUG South West, which 
meets at the Queen's Arms 
Hotel, Charmouth, near 
Bridport, Dorset, on the second 
Sunday of the month at 10 am. 

Members take their own 
machines along to the 
meetings. All machines are 
covered. The organiser, Pete 
Miles, is the organiser for the 
whole of the ICPUG Amiga PD 
software library - around 800 
disks in ail - which are free to 
members. Being a member of o 
user group is your chance for 
individual help and advice, so 
get in touch. 

Peter Miles, ICPUG South West 
» 0297 60339 



RAM it home 

by Cliff Romshaw 

Amiga 500 owners now have 
even more ways to increase their 
computer's memory, with the 
announcement by Supra of their 
500RX RAM expansion unit. 

It comes supplied with 2Mb 
already installed, with the 
capacity to take a further 6Mb 
internally to bring the 500 up to 
its full quota. The unit also takes 
zero wait state, fast RAM with 
hidden refresh. 

With vital statistics of 9.5" 
long by 2.5" high by 1" wide, it 
should leave plenty of desk-space 
free. It plugs into the Amiga's 
expansion slot, but includes a 
throughport - a major advantage 
for A500 owners, since it means 
further peripherals such as the 
A590 hard drive can be added 
afterwards. Also, any RAM in the 
A590 can be used in conjunction 
with the Supra 500RX RAM (up 
to the Amiga's maximum of 
8,5Mb). The Supra 500RX with 
2Mb is £169 From WTS. 
Supra » 010 1 503 967 9075 
WIS "0582 491949 



A HELLO TO ARMS 

Robotics comes to the Amiga 
with the Alfred Robot System 
from Think. Alfred is a 
miniaturised replica of the 
irtdustri of robots bu i It by 
HadenHill Systems - a 
mechanical arm with five axes 
of revolution - and is intended 
primarily for educational use. 

it is also reckoned to 
provide some 'stimulating 
activities of therapeutic value 
for disabled people'. 

Software is included that 
displays motor positions, learns 
and replays robot movements 
and allows the student to relate 
software instructions to robot 
positions. The arm and 
software costs £360. 
Think « 021 384 4168 



Digita get up 
in the clouds 



What masterpieces are about to 
be composed on Digito's new 
Wore/worth word processor? 

With the look and feel of Workbench 
2 ond the ability to use pictures, multiple 
fonts and colours in the same document, 
vVordworf/i is likely to raise the 
standards in the Amiga's tired word 
processor market. It comes with an 
impressive list of features: headers and 
footers, variable page sizes, extensive 
editing tools, speech, and so on. 

Output can be sent to arty 
Preferences-based printer. As well as 



reading and writing 
ASCII and IFF format 
files, Wordworth can 
support formats used by 
other word processors 
such as Protext. 

Also included is a 
110,000-word English 
dictionary and a 
thesaurus, both by 
Collins. The price is 
£129.95 including VAT. 
Digita International 
tr 0395 270273 




CGFfUfS FM9SMS 

S2BS i i su fKi« tJ fm 
Hera* 

■"TtV 

IK ■■$,'&?* 

am 



4 - Cit&i 



1* Hi* -p#*«nttft- jfsw**i . 

■ i n tli-e pa* JEW 3S>h . ia = jbft : ■ ■ 

C6twasd (Edit k*bb>""' : .' 
th* infppn*tirjn- * antvURptt 







Wax lyrical with a copy of the new Wordworth vioiti 
processor, or should that be prose-setter? 



Plug into the fast lane 



by Cliff Romshaw 

Shift your Amiga into overdrive with two new 
accelerator boards From the American firm 
Great Valley Computers. 

Called the A3050, the first is a revamp of 
their older 50MHz 68030 accelerator board. 
If comes with 4Mb of RAM as standard, and is 
expandable up to 32Mb. An optional extra is 
either a 1 20Mb or half-height 340Mb Maxtor 
hard drive unit. All of this can be fitted into the 
A2000's CPU slot, leaving the expansion slots 
free for Further goodies. The base model, with 
4Mb, is available for £1995. 

The second board, the A2000 Combo, 
also uses a 68030, and is available in two 



versions: with a clock speed of 22MHz and 
1Mb of RAM, expandable to 13Mb; and a 
clock speed of 44MHz with 4Mb of RAM 
expandable to 16Mb. 

Both versions of the accelerator boards 
include GVP's Series II autobooting SCSI 
controller and come with connectors for 
attaching internal and external drives. An 
optional hard drive is also available and has a 
capacity of up to 340Mb. . 

The 22MHz version starts at £799 and 
the 33MHz version at £1495, but these prices 
are provisional at present. 
GVP«010 1 215 337 8770 
Power Computing » 0234 843 388 



Switching made safe 



No more yanking mice 
from their homes and 
feverishly slamming 
[oysticks into place 
when playing a two- 
player game (This is 
when I'm out of the 
office is it? - Ed), 

With Josty UK's 
new Ro bo shift 
interface, both a 
mouse and joystick can 
share the same port. 
Selection between the 
two devices is achieved 
by pressing either the 
left mouse button or 
the joystick fire button. 
Josty UK 
o 0642 769000 




Both your mouse and joystick can comfortably share the same 
hole with Josty UK's latest two-in to-one interface. 



Cast your 

net WIDl 

Better international 
communications are now a 
possibility with the 
introduction of The Direct 
Connection. This allows 
anyone with a modem 
access to USENET News, 
the world's largest on-line 
conferencing network. 

USENET is different 
from ordinary bulletin 
boards in that it is not based' 
on a single computer that 
users call up, but is instead 
a system whereby messages 
are passed across an 
enormous network of 
machines. It carries 
information on many diverse 
subsections (eg Amtgas, 
sports, literature, jobs, 
games) ond is supported by 
many universities and 
colleges, user groups and 
government bodies. 

Normally this 
information is only available 
to users of large computer 
systems, but The Direct 
Connection allows a home 
user with a modem and 
communications software to 
get connected for £1 1 .75 a 
month. A free on-line 
demonstration is available 
by dialling: 
i*081 853 3965. 
The Direct Connection 
b 081 853 2283 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 



AMIGA NEWS 



Bars and Pipes 
turns professional 



by Jon Bates 

The ever colourful and unique 
Bars and Pipes now has a 
business-like brother. 

Bars and Pipes Professional, which 
Amiga Shopper reported was at the 
Frankfurt Music Show in a test version, is 




Bars and Pipes is given a dose of bells and whistles 
to help place it firmly in the professional mould. 



now released in the UK. Along with 
professional traits, such as proper 
notation display, editing and print out, it 
has many other improvements and a host 
of new features. 

The main screen now has movable 
windows; the transport controls are re- 
sizable and in o 
movable window; 
editing is also possible 
with on event editor 
display. The 'toolbox' of 
goodies that processes 
the data in a seeming 
artificially intelligent 
fashion has been 
enlarged with Groove 
designed quantize, 
Tempo Tap, Pattern 
looping and more new 
tools are on the way - 
the more usual tools and 



add-ons are completely compatible. 
Song Construction has been enhanced 
graphically and there is an automated 
mix-down window as standard. 

For professional users it will line up 
with video timing by using a Time-Line 
facility that positions cues exactly in 
SMPTE display. For 1 Mb owners there 
are now four memory-saving features to 
maximise the space availoble and the 
program comes with some demonstration 
titles from the MusicWare catalogue - 
the brand name of the pre-arranged Midi 
song disks that American authors. Blue 
Ribbon Soundworks (formerly Blue 
Ribbon Bakery] are now handling. 

The UK price has yet to be fixed, but 
should be available by our next issue - 
on sale June 6 - which will also be 
carrying a full review. 
Blue Ribbon Soundworks 
b 010 1 404 377 1514 



Trade show 

GETS SERIOUS 

by Janet Bickerstaff 

CDTV has been hailed as the 
C64 of the 90s by Commodore 
chief, Steve Franklin. Speaking 
to dealers at the European 
Computer Trade Show, London, 
last April, he said: "Computers 
don't turn me on. This is the first 
product from a computer 
company that really excites me/' 
Dealer reaction was mixed, with 
one heard to mutter, "Does he 
know about the Amiga?" 

Commodore sales manager 
Kelly Sumner told dealers that 
the marketing of CDTV must be 
to dissociate the concept from 
computers. He called for a four- 
foot exclusion zone around in- 
stare displays to ensure the 
public perceived CDTV as o 
non>technical, user-friendly unit. 

At the show itself, 
entertai n men! software 
predominated. However, 
educational software for the 
Amiga showed an upturn as it is 
now being marketed by several 
companies - Alternative 
Software, Genisofl and Soft Stuff 
all had a good selection. Soft 
Stuff will also be marketing Fun 
School for CDTV. 

Digita International, HiSoft 
and Precision were all showing 
new business software. HiSoft 
previewed HiSoft Basic 2 and 
Precision Software presented 
Superoase Professional 4. 
HiSoflw 0525 718181 
Precision Software 
*081 3307166 



Make animation child's play 



by Stan Hay ward 

Chromacoiour has relaunched 
Soffoons, a low-cost line-test 
program, for the Amiga 500. 

Though real animators don't 
use computers, all professional 
studios now use computer-based 
linetest machines for checking the 
timing and movement of a 
sequence prior to shooting. 

Such machines were typically 
in the £15-20 thousand range, but 
in 1989 Chromacoiour, an 
animation equipment ond 
materials supplier, launched a 
line-test system at a cost of around 
£9 thousand. 



The response from the animation 
industry was predictably bad, but 
surprisingly there were numerous 
enquiries from schools, hospitals, 
and even prisons who saw the 
machine as a low budget teaching 
system. In response to this, 
Chromacoiour has recently 
repackaged and relaunched the 
program to work on an A500 as 
a personal - as against studio- 
based - system. 

The total system comprises 
A500, 20MB hard disk, digitiser, 
genlock, basic video equipment 
for animation, and the So/toons 
line-test program. For those who 



Harlequin shows true colours 

by Cliff Ramshaw 

Users who are really serious about Amiga graphics mil be interested in the Harlequin 32- 
bit graphics board from the Amiga Centre Scotland. 

The board, which attracted much 
attention at the CEBIT show in 
Hanover during March, will enable 
the creation of broadcast-quality full- 
colour computer-generated images at 
a greatly reduced cost compared to 
rival systems with similar 
specifications. Prices start at £1400. 

The introduction of the Harlequin 
board marks a change in attitude of 
the Amiga Centre Scotland, which 
sees itself as moving up-market. 
From now on they intend to 
concentrate on business and 
educational applications, believing 
that most people are unaware of the 
Amiga's power in these fields. 
Amiga Centre Scotland 
it 031 557 4242 



already have an A500, Soffoons 
and digitiser can be added for 
£750. A professional system with 
9Mb of memory and necessary 
video equipment comes in at 
around £4,000. 

Chromacoiour is developing 
other programs specifically for the 
schools and home animation 
market and expects to launch a 
very simple animation package 
later this year that children can 
learn very quickly. 
Chromacoiour 
irOSl 675 8422 
• Stan Hayward is the creator of 
the TV cartoon, Henry's Cat 




Music to your 

WALLET 

by Mark Smiddy 

Musicians wili be pleased to 
hear mat a new music authoring 
tool has been released by 
AmigaNuts United OctoMED is 
an eightchannel music 
synthesizer, based on MED3, 

Features include: Id- 
channel MIDI, sound sampler 
with editing facilities, and a 
synthesizer. Priced at £ 1 0, users 
get OdoMED, two demo tracks, 
example samples and 
instruments, plus a PD player. 
AmigaNuts United 
» 0703 785680 



Look, up 
in the sky! 

Is it a bird, is it a plane? No, it's 
a database. Superbase 
Professional 4, from Precision 
Software, swoops into the Amiga 
market. An update on the 1988 
version 3, it offers enhanced form 
design, database definition and 
programming. Documentation 
comes with a tutorial and 
applications examples. 

The program handles 
graphics and sound somples, and 
can save and load files in dBase, 
Lotus 1-2-3 and Excel formats, it 
costs £411.19- Supertase 3 
users can upgrade for £88.13. 
Precision Software 
i 081 330 7166 



Mouse takes off 

Amiga owners are spctftfor 
choice so far as replacement 
mice ore concerned. Now 
logitech, purveyor of mice to the 
PC world, has launched its first 
for the Amiga Called ifte 
LoglMouse Pilot, it uses an opto- 
mechanical technique for 
determining its positions, comes 
with a self cleaning roller ball 
and costs £27. 
logitech v 0753 37222 



I 



Hi-res Amiga art takes a new turn as Harlequin 32- 
bit graphics board supplies a view with a room. 



Zen and the art 
of anti-aliasing 

Fed up with jagged edges on 
your fonts? Then Anli A from 
Zen Computer Services could 
be the answer to your 
problems. This £40 piece of 
software will anti-alias normal 
Amiga fonts in nine scaled- 
down versions using four 
brightness levels to smooth out 
those jaggies. Because they 
are stored in ColorFont format 
they can also be used by any 
program that supports it. 

It will run on Amigas using 
VI .3 or V2, handles fonts up to 
300 point (or 200 point on a 
512K machine], but for the 
larger point sizes a 68020/30 
would speed things up. 
Zen Computer Services 
= 061 793 1931 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 



Our performance 
& superior quality... 



:\ 




...RESTS ON OUR NAME! 

When it comes to mice and scanners, Naksba clearly lead 
the way. Naksba build mice and scanners with high precision 
designs and the very best components. 

The Naksba Upgrade Mouse is silky smooth, operating at a high 
280dpi resolution. Supplied with Mouse Mat and Pocket. No Cables 
— No Fuss. Simply plug in and go. 

Naksba Scanners with a switchable resolution between 200 and 
400dpi halftones and dual roller tracking, remain straight and true. Naksba 
Scanners come supplied with interface, "express IT" software and either 
Degas Elite* or Deluxe Paint II*. 

The Naksba Mouse and Scanner are available for both the Commodore 
Amiga and the Atari ST range of computers. 

For further information call (0925) 56398 OR any of our distributors listed below for your nearest 
dealer OR visit any Dixons, Harrods, Selfridges, Bentalls or Makro store. 
Degas Elite supplied for Atari. Deluxe Paint II supplied for Amiga. 

Naksha(U.K.) Limited, 29 The Wharf, Warrington WA1 2HT. Tel: 0925 56398 Fax: 0925 574375 

GEM (0279 442842)IBD (021 625 3302>SDL {081 300 3399>ZCL (0543 4l4817)-IAZER (0404 466601 

HB MARKETING (0753 686000) GARWOOD (0245 46077) -LEISURESOFT (0604 768711) 

UBERTY (0753 586805) COLUMBUS (0457 86O30O)*AV MARKETING (0279 452733)GENESIS (051 648 5402) 

Trade marks and Registered Trade Marks are acknowledged 



z 

=1 



O 
i 

< 

< 



AMIGA NEWS 



New York goes 
Amiga crazy 

Our prolific American correspondent 
Morton A Kevelson brings you a special report on 
the US Amiga scene, visiting two recent New York 
shows held within a month of each other which 
were jam-packed with launches and exciting news 




The horrendously expensive 
world of pop video 
production could soon be 
within reach of Joe Public, it 
was revealed at this year's New York 
Amiga World Expo. 

Using an Amiga-based video 
system, musician and producer Todd 
Rundgren has shown how telephone 
number-sized budgets can be slashed 
with artistry, imagination and toast. 
Mr Rundgren, of Utopia and 
Mearloaf's Bat Out Of Hell Fame, 
provided the highlight of the show 
with his new video, put together with 
the aid of NewTek's Video Toaster. 

Jaded hacks were wowed during 
o NewTek press conference at the 
New York Hilton venue with the 
7,200-frame offering. 

All change please 

The Change Myself video, released in 
conjunction with Todd's latest album, 
2nd Wind, on the Warner Brothers 
label was produced entirely by Todd 
in his own home using the Video 
Toaster and the Lightwave 3D 
modelling and animation software 
included in the package. The entire 
video was completed in less than 
three months. By comparison, it would 
have taken six months at a cost of $2 
million using conventional techniques 
and an independent producer. 

Some off-the-cuff remarks by Erick 
Moody, president of Interactive Video 
Systems, illustrate the feelings 
generated by the first samples of what 
could be done with the Video Toaster. 

"I can see what he (Mr. Rundgren] 
is doing and how he is doing it, and I 
can see myself using the same 
equipment, but there is no way that I 
can come up with the kind of images 
that he has in this video." 

That is what makes Todd 
Rundgren an artist. He can take these 
products and make them do things 
that we could never dream of, in spite 
of our understanding of how these 
tools work. I expect that we will be 




Continuous live 
demonstrations of the 
Video Toaster by the 
lithe and lovely Kiki 
Stockhammer, left. 
NewTek has clearly 
demonstrated that 
good low- level 
support will catch the 
public's eye. 

The Amiga 500 below 
contains the 
following ICD 
products: Novia 20i, 
Flicker Free Video 
adapter, AdRAM 500 
with 6 Mb RAM, 
AdSpeed 14.3 MHz 
accelerator. 




seeing more examples of unique 
artistic expression (and an awful lot of 
revolting acid house demos - Ed) as 
the low cost of the Video Toaster puts 
the means of video production into the 
hands of the original artist. 

Can't vid by toast alone 

The Video Toaster and an Amiga do 
not represent a complete video studio. 
As well as the mandatory video 



recorder and display monitor, several 
additional sophisticated electronic 
devices are required. A key 
component is the time base corrector 
(TBC) which stabilizes the signal 
produced by a video tape recorder. 
Without a TBC, multiple generation 
video tape copies would be 
impossible. Several TBCs could be 
found at the show at price in line with 
an Amiga-based video studio. These 



Video on view 

Here's what AmigaWorld Expo had to offer 
with regard to video-related products, Bear 
in mind thai most of these items, including 
the Video Tooster/j are for use with the 
American NTSC video standard. In view of 
where Ehe Amiga market h located, I expect 
developers will be offering European PAL 
versions as soon as they possibly can. 

Active Circuits was offering Roslerllflk, 

Formerly ImageLink, for $ 1 99,95. 
Raster! ink, which does not originate on an 
island in the Caribbean, is a powerful 
image conversion and imaging system that 
is both Flexible and expandable, RasterLink 
can convert images between a variety of 
graphic file formats an the Amiga, PC and 
Macintosh computers. TG All nk is a 
$299.95 expansion module for Postedink 
which allows direct control of Truevision 
TARGA and AT Vista frame buffers using an 
Amiga equipped with an XT or AT 
Bridgeboard. GneLink is a $299,95 
expansion module which can output directly 
to high-resolution, 4000-line, 24-bir, digital 
film recorders from Lasergraphtcs and 
Presentation Technologies. Magnum/650 is 
a $4995 removable media., erasable, 
optical SCSI disk drive. Also in the Active 
Circuits booth was the NEC PC-VCR which 
can be controlled from the Amiga via the 
RS-232 port. Last, but not least. Active 
Circuits was demonstrating its CD-ROM File 
system software on an NEC CD-ROM player 
which was installed in the 5.25-inch drive 
bay of an Amiga 2500. 
Active Circuits, 19B5 Highway 34 A-4, 
Wall, NJ07719 
• 010 1 908 974 1616. 

ASDG in conjunction with its continuing 
effort to provide all of the solutions for the 
Amiga's image processing needs, 
announced new driver modules to be 
included with the $240 Art Department 
Professional K0.3, Registered owners of 
prior releases will receive the upgrade at no 
charge, ADPro 1.0,3 will provide direct 
control of the Impulse FireCracker 24 
display board and the PP&S FrarneGrobber 
video digitizer. Image loader modules For 
files stored in MacPaint and HAM-E formats 
will be included as well. This brings to 21 
the total number of drivers which will be 
included with ADPro, ASDG also 
announced ADPro support for a number of 
high end imaging peripherals. The $200 
Epson ES-300C driver (Summer 19911 will 
let ADPro control this $1999, colour, 
flatbed, A4-size [8,5 by 1 1,5 inches), 600- 
dpi scanner. A $450 driver will also be 
available (Summer T 99 1 ) for the $4500 
Kodak SV6510 dye sublimation printer. 
Available now is the $250 driver for the 
Polaroid CI-3000 Digital Film Recorder. 
ASDG, 925 Stewart Street, Madison, Wl 
53713 ■ 010 1 608 273 6535. 

Black Belt Systems was selling HAM£, 
an RGB port display device which adds two 
imaging modes to those already available 
with the Amiga, NOTE - Ham-E is PAL 
compatible. The first mode will display up to 
256 colours out of a palette of 1 6,772,216 
that is based on 24 bit-planes. The second 
mode supports the simultaneous display of 
262,144 colours based on 18 bits per 
pixel, HAM-E offers o resolution of 384- 
colour or luminance changes per scan line 
by 482 lines in NTSC made and 570 lines 
in PAL mode white outpufting standard RGB 
video. Block Belt Systems is now offering an 
improved version oF HAM-E. The Anti-Alias 
Engine Is a real-time, special-purpose, maths 
processing unit that doubles the number of 
pixels that HAM-E sends to the monitor. This 
does not increase the resolution of the 
resulting Image, however, although the Anli- 



8 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 



AMIGA NEWS 



Alios Engine does apply real-time smoothing 
oF the image. HAM-E with the Anti-Alias 
Engine will sell for $299.95. If you bought 
HAM-E after February 1 5th, you con 
upgrade if with the Anti-Alias Engine for 
$149,95. If you acquired HAM-E before this 
date you will receive a discount an the 
upgrade Fee. The $299.95 HAM-E package 
includes /mage Professional, a fully featured 
2-4-bit paint and image processing program. 
Black Beit Systems, 398 Johnson, Glasgow, 
MT 59230 
it 01 1 405 397 5599 

Digital Creations was showing DCTV, a 
$495, 24-bit, composite video display 
adapter For the Amiga. DCTV includes a 
built in slow scan video digitizer and video 
pa i rising software. Digital Creations also 
offers DCTV Animation and DCTV-RGB 
converter, SuperGen, o $749.95 genlock 
and SuperGen2000, a $1995 genlock. 
Digital Creations, 2865 Sunrise Blvd, Suite 
1 03, fiancho Cordova, CA 95670 
"010 I 916 344 4825. 

InSync is targeting the semi-professional 
and professional video market with 
Transitions, a collection of disk-based 
animated sequences for use in commercial 
video productions, A variety oF subjects ore 
available ranging in price From $25 to $80. 
These are high quality animations suitable 
for commercial use. InSync also offered 
Vidzeen, A Videogropher's Guide to Deluxe 
Paint 111 which consists of a tutorial video 
tape and a companion two disk set. 
InSync, 410 Maple Ave, Westbury, NY 
11590 b 010 1 516 574 0225. 

MAST was showing Colorburst, a $549, 
24-bit high-performance video display card 
for the Amiga. NOTE - Colorburst is PAL 
compatible. Colorburst features 1 ,5Mb of 
video RAM in a 48 bitplane architecture. 
Colorbursfs display resolutions ronge from 
384 to 768 pixels horizontally. Vertical 
resolution is 580 lines in PAL mode or 480 
lines in NTSC mode. 

Memory and Storage Technology, 1895 
Greg Street, Sparks, NV 89431 
• 01 1 702 359 0444. 

MicroSearch was showing one of the 
hottest new products at the show. 
ChromaKey ts a $395 device which puts 
live video in front of Amiga graphics (NOTE 
-it is not PAL compatible). Keep in mind that 
Amiga genlocks do just the opposite. Now 
you too can be a TV weatherman. Both an 
Amiga and an external genlock are 
required to use ChromaKey. (YVe v/ill keep 
you posted on o PAl version - £d) 
MicroSearch, 9896 Southwest Freeway, 
Houston, TX 77074 
*010 1 713988 2818. 

Newtek, in a classic case of the lail 
wagging the dog, stole the show with the 
undisputed star, the Video Toaster. In 

NewTek's massive display booth show 
goers were able to view Penn & Tellers 
example of a horrible home made music 
video, Todd Rundgren's example of a 
superb home made music video, and 
continuous live demonstrations of the Video 
Toaster by the lithe and lovely Ktki 
Sfockhammer. NewTek has clearly 
demonstrated that good low-level support 
will catch the public's eye. 
NewTek, 215 E. 8th Street, Topeko, KS 
66603 «010 1 913 354 1146. 

Spirit Technology announced Studio A, 

a genlock, encoder, keyer and switcher for 

(he Amiga. Both NTSC and PAL version will 

be available. 

Spirit Technology, 220 W. 2950 South' Soil 

Lake City, UT 841 15 

f 010 1 801 485 4233 



range From $995 for 
a unit that installs in a 
vacant PC slot in the 
Amiga 2000 to 
$1 ,295 and jp for a 
selection of stand 
alone units. These 
prices are a fraction 
of what these devices 
were selling for less 
than a year ago. 

Check on the 
immediate 
availability af any 
product mentioned in 
this article. Release 
dates ranged From 
"two weeks" to "this summer", which 
means you could be in for a wait if 
you order blindly. 

Quality not quantity 

As for the rest of the proceedings, 
with little more than 50 exhibitors and 
11,421 visitors, what this show 
lacked in quantity it more than made 
up for in quality. The majority of 
exhibitors were either developers of 
original Amiga products or system 
integrators, offering fully configured 
Amiga packages for specific 
applications. Many of these original 
hardware and software developers 




AMIGA WORLD EXPO, ICD's Novia 201, a complete, 
2 Mb IDE hard drive system for the Amiga 500. 

also introduced new products or 
announced the pending release of 
soon-to-be-completed products. The 
common thread of the exhibitor roster 
was the absence of any game 
developers. 

Exhibits were split among two 
halls on adjacent levels which were 
readily accessible to each other via an 
escalator. The lower level emphasized 
hard drive interfaces and related 
hardware, while the upper level, or 
the Video Toaster area, consisted 
mainly of video processing and 
related technology. 

The next AmigaWorld Expo is 
scheduled for July 26- 
28 in Orlando, 
Florida. It will be held 
in the Stouffer's 
Orlando Resort at Sea 
World. North 

American Amiga 
owners never cease to 
astound me. They are 
the only warm blooded 
creatures that I know of 
that fly South in the 
Summer and go North 
in the Winter. All that 
Video Toast they have 
for breakfast must be 
responsible. 




CI- Ram Board has got to be the worlds smallest 
8Mb RAM board and IDE hard drive interface for 
any Amiga running a 66000 microprocessor. 



Expansion plans 

There was no shortage of hardware 
expansion devices. The new offerings at 
this show ranged in size from the 

miniature to the massive. 

California Access, in a booth that was 
reminiscent of a west-coast kitchen, was 
finally shipping Bodega Bay, a multi-slot 
expansion box for the A500. I have had 
the opportunity to work with a preliminary 
version and have found that it does work. 
Shipping had been delayed until FCC 
approval was obtained. California 
Access was also demonstrating a 
preliminary version of their CA-650 CD 
ROM software driver. California Access, 
130-A Knowles Dr., Los Gatos, CA 
95030*010 1 408 378 0347 

Cornputral Industries' Cl-Ram Board 
has got to be the worlds smallest 8Mb 
RAM board and IDE hard drive interface 
for any Amiga with a 68000 CPU. This 
auto-configuring miniature RAM board is 
not much larger than the 68000 into 
whose socket it resides. The displaced 
68000 plugs right into the Cl-Ram. 4Mb 
is squeezed under the CPU itself and 
another 4Mb can be installed on the 
back of the assembly. A single XILINX 
programmable logic array handles both 
the auto-configuring and IDE interfacing 
functions. Preliminary pricing for the Cl- 
Ram is $26° for a 2Mb version and 
$399 for a 4Mb version. Computrol 
Industries, 35-28 33rd Street, Astoria, NV 
11106*0101 7186262400. 

CSA announced a price reduction for 
their Mega-Midget Racer, 68030-based 
accelerator board, $599 for the 25 MHz 
version and $699 for the $33 MHz 
version. This was because it is using a 
new version of the 68030 microprocessor 
that lacks the hardware memory 
management unit. CSA also announced 
the CSA 40/4 Magnum Accelerator, a 
68040 based accelerator for ihe Amiga. 
Computer System Associates (CSA), 
7564 Trade Street, Son Diego, 
CA 92 121 "010 1 619 566 3911. 

Grapevine Group is a distributor ol 
computer parts and accessories, including 
enough Commodore chips to build your 
own Amiga. Hardware hackers will 
probably want a copy of its catalogue. 
Grapevine Group, 3 Chestnut Street, 
Suffern. NY 1090 
if 010 1 914 357 2424. 

continued on poge 10 



Audio Delights 



As well as the video marvels 
there were plenty of new 
wonders for the ears too. 

Oxxi/Aegis must surely 
win the prize for the 
developer with most product 
introductions and 

announcements. First off there 
was Spectracolor from 
Bozbosoft, the developers of 
Pfioton Paint, which is Aegis' 
entry in the HAM paint wars. 
Present owners of Photon 
Paint will be able to update 
for $49.95 plus $5 shipping 
($15 for overseas). 
Spectracolor comes with a 
massive manual which 
includes over 75 pages of in- 
depth tutorials. 

Now comes the audio 
part. Aegis was also selling 



SoundMaster, a new 8-bit 
stereo sound sampler which is 
designed to make the most of 
AudioMaster III. SoundMaster 
can sample sound signals at 
56,000 samples per second, 
but you will need an 
accelerated Amiga to do so. 
The parallel port transfer 
speed on the stock Amiga just 
cannot handle 56,000 
samples per second in stereo. 
SoundMaster has a built-in 
microphone, separate inputs 
for a stereo microphone and 
line level audio as well as a 
manual gain control. 

For word processing, 
TurboText, which should be 
shipping within a month, can 
be customized to emulate 
other text editors. TurboText is 
expected to ship with more 



than 15 emulations. 

Oxxi also announced 
ScanMaster, a 300-dpi, 24- 
bit colour or 256-level grey- 
scale flatbed scanner which 
can handle documents up to 
8.5 x 1 1 .7 inches. Its 
accompanying ImageMaster 
utility software wilf be able to j 
generate CMY or CMYK 
colour separations. The 
package will cost $ 1 999. 

Oxxi also announced P- 
Slat, an interactive statistical 
data analysis package for the 
Amiga. P-5faf will offer more 
than 50 numeric and 
statistical functions, including 
matrix manipulation. It will 
display data in 25 different 
graph formats, including 
animated charts. 

Aegis Visionary is a 
game language and 
development system with 
support for 65,000 rooms, 4 



billion text characters, 25 IFF 
screens and digitized sounds, 
10 animations and 10 fonts 
in RAM all at the same time. 
Visionary will sell for $99.95. 
Oxxi/Aegis, 1339 E. 28th 
Avenue, Long Beach, 
CA 90806 
= 0101 213427 1227. 

Sunrize Industries was 

showing preliminary versions 
of AD1012 and AD1016, 
1 2-bit and 1 6-bit stereo 
sampling cards for the Amiga 
2000. The AD1012 will 
support sampling rates up to 
100 KHz, the AD1016 will 
sample up to 48 KHz. Both 
boards have on-board digital 
signal processors (DSP) for 
real-time special effects. 
Sunrize Industries, 2959 S. 
Winchester Blvd, Suite 204, 
Campbell, CA 95008 
it 010 1 408 374 4962 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 



AMIGA NEWS 



continued from page ? 

GVP introduced the Series II RAM 
Expansion Board which comes with 2Mb 
of factory installed RAM at $249 and is 

expandable to 8Mb with the addition of 
1Mb SIMMs. GVP announced that it is 
the US distributor of Scale, the 
presentation software package From 
Digital Vision of Norway. Other GVP 
products include: Impact Series II SCSI 
interfaces with and without 8Mb of RAM; 
A3001 Upgrade Kit with 50 MHz 68030 
microprocessor; Series II A500-HD+ fiord 
drive and RAM expansion for the A500; 
600Mb magneto-optical removable hard 
drive; Amiga LAN; and Streaming Tape. 
The SII-R5500 is a Ricoh 50Mb 
removable hard disk drive that mounts 
internally in the A2000's 5.25-inch drive 
bay or externally with GVP's Impact XC. 
The SII-M09200E/600 mogneto-optica! 
hard drive by Ricoh has □ Formatted 
capacity of 600Mb per cartridge and is 
rewritable. The Impact WT-150 is a 
WangTek 1 50Mb streaming tape backup 
system that comes with GVP's Tapestore 
software. The firm's new FaaostROM 
SCSI driver and software comes as a 
standard with Series II SCSI controllers. 
Great Volley Products, 600 Clark Ave, 
King of Prussia, PA 1 9406 

■ 010 1 215 337 8770 

ICD introduced Novio 20i, a 20 Mb 
hord disk drive system that fits inside an 
A500. This package is bosed on ICD's 
AdIDE interface, which fits into the 
68000 microprocessor socket, ond a 2.5 
inch format IDE disk drive. The interfoce 
was first introduced las! December, but 
the complete package, with a new name, 
was introduced at this show. The 
interface's active components are 
squeezed into the spoce between the 
68000's pins. ICD set up an A500 with a 
Novia 20i, their Flicker Free Video 
adapter, an AdRAM 500 with 6 Mb 
RAM, and an AdSpeed 14.3 MHz 
accelerator. The system worked, although 
the height of the AdSpeed ond the AdIDE 
in the 68000 socket meant that the 
Amiga's case could not be closed. 
ICD, 1220 Rock, Rockford, IL61 101 
"010 ! 815 968 2228 

Interactive Video Systems had an 

impressive demonstration: a breath taking 
segment from Bock to the Future III. The 
high-resolution, full-colour video was 
generated by a Digital Creations DCTV. 
The video and 1 6-bit, two-channel audio, 
were pulled off the hard drive at 1 . 7Mb 
per second by IVS' new Grand Slom 
card. This is a Trumpcard Professional 
with two 50 pin SCSI connectors, room 
for 8Mb of RAM and a parallel port on o 
half length A2000 expansion card, IVS, 
7245 Garden Grove, Blvd, Suite E, 
Garden Grove, CA 92641 
"010 1 714890 7040. 

Memory Expansion Systems 

fYowza! Home grown rodent - Ed) is 
looking for a US distributor of its Cortex 
line of memory expansion products. 
Shown were an 8Mb RAM expansion for 
the A1000/A500 and a 512K RAM 
expansion for the A500. 
Memory Expansion Systems, 46 Fenwick 
Street, Liverpool L2 7ND 

■ 091 236 0480. 

Supra introduced SupraRAM 500RX, a 
0.5 to 8Mb external RAM expansion unit 
for the Amiga 500 with an exponsion bus 
pass through. Supra also expanded its 
modem line with the SupraModem 2400 
Plus, 2400zi Plus ond 2400 MNP. The 
Supra Drive floppy disk drive now features 
track zero write inhibited virus protection. 
Supra, 1133 Commercial Way, Albany, 
OR 97321 « 010 1 503 967-907 



World of Amiga 




Is New York a 
big enough 
town to host 
not one, but 
two major 
Amiga shows 
less than a 
month apart? And which show would 
come out on top? The answer to the 
first question is a qualified yes. The 
answer to the second is a qualified 
neither. Now that I hove that bit of 
ambiguity out of the way, let's go on 
with the show. 

April showers 

World of Amiga took place on April 
5, 6 and 7 - less than three weeks 
after the reasonably successful Amiga 
World Expo. The similarities in the 
show names were enough to confuse 
the uninitiated as even I found myself 
struggling through occasional tongue 
fumbles. The Hunter Group, whose 
World of Commodore shows reign 
supreme in Toronto, has been less 
than successful when they came up 
against Am iExpo in the past. 

This time they certainly managed 
to hold their own. Going by the body 
count, attendance for the first two 
days exceeded the entire turnout for 
the first show. Although the crowds on 
the closing Sunday were a bit thin, all 
of the exhibitors that I queried were 
reasonably satisfied. The official 



attendance figure is 17,256 - 
obviously misguided souls who chose 
to spend at least part of an 80 + 
degree New York weekend indoors. 

World of Amiga took place in the 
New York Passenger Ship Terminal 
which is located by the Hudson River 
on Manhattan's West side. The 
Terminal provides spacious show 
accommodation, with all of the 
exhibits and seminar rooms on a 
single level. The placement of the 
massive Commodore booth, along 
with the lecture auditoriums, at the 
rear of the exhibit helped ensure that 
all of the attendees would pass at 
least once down the twin aisles. 

If I were to assign a single theme 
to this World of Amiga it would have 
to be Commodore Dynamic Total 
Vision or CDTV. Someone must have 
been up all night when they figured 
out how to get CD from compact disc 
and TV from television into the same 
acronym without calling it either. 
There is no doubt in my mind that the 
public will end up calling this baby 
compact disk television and I can't 
imagine that Commodore will mind 
one little bit. 

More to CDTV 

CDTV is no more an Amiga 500 in a 
box with CD-ROM than an Amiga 
2000 is an Amiga 500 in a box with 
an expansion chassis. CDTV has 1Mb 




Digital Micronics' DM1010, 1024x800-pixel 8-bit display board. Tasty. 



RAM, 51 2K ROM with Kickslart 1.3. 
Note that this is double the capacity of 
the typical 1.3 ROM which indicates 
that the extra 0.25Mb is responsible 
for CD-ROM functions. Unlike the 
A500, all CDTV's built-in memory is 
chip RAM, ie useable for graphics. 

I was looking forward to an early 
afternoon interview with Nolan 
Bushnell and Gail Wellington. 
However, Mr Bushnell suddenly 
developed a severe need to fly to 
Tokyo. I trust that he recovers from this 
affliction. Fortunately Ms Wellington 
was available during a brief break 
between CDTV demonstrations 

Up for grabs 

This World of Amiga show was the 
first time that CDTV was offered for 
sale to the public. With a list price ol 
$999 and Commodore looking over 
their shoulders, every dealer at the 
show was selling the units at a 
moderately discounted $895. 

Several CDTV software titles were 
available, including Merit Software's 
Classic Board Games and All Dag< 
Go to Heaven at $49.95 each, Tiger 
Media's The Case of the Cautious 
Condor at $49.95, Applied Optical 
Media's World Vista Atlas at $79.95, 
Xiphias' The American Heritage 
Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary a\ 
$69,95, and CDTV Publishing's The 
New Grolier Electronic Encyclopedia 
at $395. Overall, about 50 titles are 
expected to become available during 
the CDTV's introductory phase which 
starts now and concludes this autumn. 
The official CDTV Catalogue of Titles, 
Volume 1 , lists 52 titles for release by 
this autumn. The majority of the CDTV 
software will cost somewhere 
between $50 and $80. 

The official word is that CDTV 
"will be available at quality 
audio/video retail chains in Los 
Angeles, San Jose, San Francisco, 



Best Of The Rest 

Aetiva was showing a pre-release 
version of Real3D 1 .3, which is a solid 
modelling, ray tracing and animation 

program for the Amiga. Activo plans 
to offer three levels of Real3D: a 
beginners version for $100-$150, a 
professional version for $300-$400 
and a turbo version for approximately 
$500; although 1 suspect that prices 
will be subject to change without 
notice, (For comparison, the UK prices 
for the same three versions are roughly 
£115, £345 and £435, which is not 
exactly Favourable when you consider 
that it's a European-originated 
program - Ed] 
Acfiva International, Keienbergweg 



95, 1 101 GE Amsterdam, Holland 
*01031 20 97 00 35. 

Hyper Media Concepts was not at 

the show. However, I spotted a copy 
of their Ered Fish Collection Volume 
1.1 on CD-ROM, which covers disks 
1-415, in the California Access 
booth. This $69.95 collection 
duplicates the original disk format of 
the Fred Fish library. Updates are 
expected to be issued every four 
months at $29.95. 

Hyper Media Concepts, P.O. Box 
85303, Racine, Wl 53408 
= 010 1 414632 3766. 

Soft- Log ik was showing PageStream 
2.1, PageStream Forms, a collection of 



business form templates for $39.95, 
and the PageStream Fonts collection 
Soft-Logik also announced two new 
products for shipment later this year. 
Art Expression will be an easy-to-use 
structured drawing program which wil 
be able to import and modify Adobe 
EPS, IFF DR2D and Aegis Drav> 
structured graphic files. Hotlinks is a 
proposed data sharing program which 
will support the sharing of text and 
graphic files between programs. BME 
is a simple bit map editing program 
and Pageliner is a fast text editor; 
both were designed for use with 
Hotlinks and PageStream. 
Soft-Logik Publishing, 11131 F South 
Towne Sq., St. Louis, MO 63123 
*010 1 314894 8608 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 



AMIGA NEWS 



Prototype of 
was spotted 
the Interface 



Sacramento and 
Chicago on April 1 9 
followed by New York, 
Boston, Minneapolis, 
Atlanta, Dallas and 
Denver in May." (and 
in the UK in May as 
well I should add - Edj 
In a related 
development, Xetec 
was showing their CD- 
ROM drives for the 
Amiga, IF you bought a 
Xetec CD-ROM at the 
show, the package 
included Fish and 
More volume 1 (Fish 
disks 1 -370), Fish and More volume 2 
(Fish disks 371-470), and Merit 
Software's Classic Board Games and 
All Dogs Go to Heaven which both 
run on the Xetec CD-ROM. Xetec 
conducted a bit of surreptitious over- 
the-counter research at the show. In 
addition to the above titles, it has 
determined that The Case of the 
Cautious Condor, World Vista Atlas 
and the American Heritage 
Encyclopedia will all run on their CD- 
ROM reader. Since developers tend 
to stay with a known format for their 
products it is more than likely that 
subsequent issues from the same 
developers will work with the Xetec 
CD-ROM reader as well. 

Fish goes optical 

HyperMedia Concepts, which was 
right down the aisle from the Xetec 
booth, was offering its 410 disk Fred 
Fish Collection on CD ROM for 
$69.95. Updates, whenever every 50 
new disks are added to the collection, 
will be available to registered users 
for $29.95. HyperMedia was also 
offering Canadian Prototype Replicas' 
CDROM-FS, $49.95, a CD ROM File 
system which lets you use a variety of 
third party CD ROM readers with 
your Amiga's SCSI host adapters. 
Check with HyperMedia For the list of 
currently supported CD ROM readers. 
Is floppy storage inadequate for 
you? Are you running out of space on 
your hard drive? Take a look at what 




an Amiga 500 version of the CDTV 
in the Commodore booth. Note that 
is via the expansion port. 

Digital Micron ics, a newcomer to the 
Amiga community, has to offer. Its 3.5 
inch Floptical Magneto-Optica! disk 
drive provides 20 Mb of data storage 
on a Floppy disk. These 
read/writeable floppy disks resemble 
conventional 3.5 inch floppies, but the 
storage media combines magnetic 
and CD technology. The internal 
version of the drive sells for $595, the 
external version lists For $795. Blank 
20 Mb disks are $20 each. 

Digital Micronlcs was also 
showing its high-resolution, plug-in 
display cards for the Amiga 
2000/3000 computers. The DM1020, 
$1995, offers a 1280x1024 pixel, 
24-bitplane display with over 16- 
million. The DM1010, $1095, offers a 
1 024x800-pixel, eight-bitplane 
display with up to 256 colours out of 
the same 16-million colour palette on- 
screen at once. If you need a suitable 
monitor on which to view all those 
colours and pixels, the DMI19HI, 
$2995, is a 19-inch, 1280x1024, 
multi-sync colour monitor. There is 
also the DMI13HI, $699, a 13-inch 
1024x800 multi-sync colour monitor. 

ReadySoft had a prototype A-Max 
II Plus, the Macintosh emulator on an 
Amiga plug-in-card. It will have a 
built-in AppleTalk and MIDI port and 
be able to use Macintosh-format disks 
with Amiga drives. 

I'm signing off from New York for 
now. I'll be back with more exciting ' 
news from the States soon, fti 




Now doesn't that look like a much more civilised and spacious setting 
than most UK shows? Air conditioned too, of course. 



Best of the rest 

Beta Unlimited, which failed to appear at last year's show, promoted AudioLink, a 

16-bit stereo sound sampler (or the Amiga. After trying for o software solution. Beta 
Unlimited went back to the drawing board to devise a stand alone box that will be able to 
do ail of the things via hardware thot could not be done with software. The boards are 
complete; delivery of their all-metal enclosures is currently holding up shipment. 
Beta Unlimited, 87 Summit Street, Brooklyn, NY 1 1231 » 010 I 718 852 8646 

Concise Logic was demonstrating Scannery ! . ! , an Amiga software and hardware 
interface package for the HP ScanJet family of fullpage flatbed scanners. Sconnery VI. 1 
features 256 grey scale images, 12 to 1500 dpi resolutions and a fufi range of brightness 
ond contrast settings. Concise Logic, 36 Tamarack Ave, Suite 315, Don bury, CT 0681 1 
«*010 1 203 746 6739 

Free Spirit was showing Ami.. Alignment System, Doctor Ami.. .Sterling Service BBS 
and its line of children's programs. !t also previewed the CDTV version of Barney Bear 
Goes to School and the new Barney Bear Goes Camping. Free Spirit Software, PO Box 
128, 58 Noble St, Kutetown, PA 19530 * 010 1 215 683 5609. 

interactive Video Systems again gathered crowds with its collection of demo 

films on hard disk, including the breath taking segment from Back to the future II!. IVS, 
7245 Garden Grove, Blvd, Suite E, Garden Grove, CA 92641 * 010 1 714 890 7040. 

New Horizons was showing its PrcWrite and Quick Write word processors and a 
pre-release version of DesignWorks, formerly Graphic Designer, a structured drawing 

program for the Amiga. 

New Horizons Software, 206 Wild basin Rd, Austin, TX 78746 

*010 1 512 328 6650. 

Octree was showing its line of Caligari programs, 3D conceptual design ond animation 
software for the Amiga, Caligari Broadcast 2.0 wos announced at the show. Versions 
range in price from $249 for the consumer version to $3,495 for Caligari Broadcast 2.0 
Octree Software, 3 1 1 West 43rd St, Suite 904, New York, NY 10036 
■ 0101 2122623116. 

Pelican Press, the $99.95 "lighthearted publishing program" was selling at the show. 
Pelican Press lets you create giant posters, colourful banners, cards, calendars and so on. 
Pelican Software, 768 Farmington Avenue, farmington CT 06032 
•oOlOl 203 674 8221. 

American Software Distributors was showing Superbase Professional 4, the 
high end relational database program. Superbase Professional 4, which has been 
available for some time for the PC, is now available for the Amiga. 
Precision Software, 8404 Sterling Street, Irving, TX 75063 » 010 1 214 929 4888. 

ReadySoft announced the CDTV version of Wroth of the Demon. ReadySoft was also 

showing a prototype of A-Max II Plus, the Macintosh emulator on a plug-in-card far ihe 

Amiga 2000 

ReadySoft, 30 Wertheim Ct #2, Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada L4B 1 B9 

irOlOl 416731 4175. 

TTR Development was showing a wide variety of products including the 1 .3 Gb 'DAT' 
SCSI Tape system, the Sapphire 68020/68881 accelerator, MRBackup Professional 
which includes an ARexx interface as well as support for SCSI streaming tape devices, 
and Workbench Management System which lets you launch applications with the click of 
o button. New products from TTR included RXTools, a complete development system for 
Arexx and the Amiga with emphasis on an object oriented user interface builder; and 
Teachers Toolkit, c complete lesson planner and gradebook system. 
TTR Development, 6701, Seboid Rd, Suite 220, Madison, Wi 53719 

Very Vivid S booth was a real show stopper with its video wall display and the 

Mandala Virtual Reality System. The high end, fully integrated Mandola system seils for 

$20,000. Very Vivid announced the commercial version of the Mondah Virtual World 

Authoring System, a $495 software package which lets you create your own Mandala 

applications. You have to supply your own hardware. 

Very Vivid, PO Box 127, Station B, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T 2T3 

»010 1 416 686 7850 

Vortex was showing ATonce, the PC-AT emulator for the Amiga 500 ($300] and 
Amiga 2000 ($500) computers. The Amiga 500 version, which can also be used in the 
2000, plugs directly into the 68000 microprocessor socket and contains its own 68000 
and 80286 CPUs. The Amiga 2000 version is a plug-in-card which fits into one of the 
expansion slats. The latest release runs as a tosk on the Amiga and emulates VGA 
monochrome as well as EGA colour graphics. (We will be looking at the ATonce board 
in the Business pages next issue - Edj Vortex Computer Systems GmbH, Folterstrabe 51- 
53, D-7101 Flein bei Heilbronn, 071 3 1/5972-0 

Xetec was showing its CDx-650 CD-ROM system, $599 internal, $699 externa!, the 

MOx-600, re-writable 600 Mb, Ricoh Magneto-Optical drive, $3600, and its series of 
FastTrok SCSI host adapters for the A500/ 1000/2000 computers. Purchasers of the CDx- 
650 can also buy □ SCSI host adapter for the A500/1000 for only $100 or for the 
A2000 for only $50. A FastCard Plus, which can accommodate up to 8Mb RAM is only 
$129 with the purchase of a CDx-650. Hard drive is not included. Xetec was olso 
offering Fish & More Volume II which includes Fred Fish disks 371 through 470 in both 
compressed and fib sorted format. A file index listing is included with the collection. 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 



LETTERS 



TALKING SHOP 




Hex education 

Please ask Jeff Walker not to 
proliferate the idea that machine 
code and assembler are the same 
thing, as he did in the article ABC of 
programming. As I'm sure he must be 
aware they are definitely NOT the 
same thing. As one who spent 25 
years in the computer industry at the 
hardware level, I can assure you that 
machine code which, as Jeff says, is 
the lowest level, is entirely in Binary 
or Hex code. You can program at 
this level but it requires a very 
intimate knowledge of the processor 
used, and is difficult to alter when 
required - it is only practical For a 
few instructions. The next level up is 
assembler which uses mnemonics for 
the hex codes and labels so that you 
can jump about easily. After all, if 
they were the same thing you 
wouldn't need the assembler 
program at all for the assembler 
language, as indeed you don't for 
machine code. 

R Warrington 

Heme I Hempstead 

Herts 

A mere slip of the keys by Jeff 
who is of course well aware of 
the difference - as should 
everyone else be after reading 
our piece on programming 
languages on page 85. 

Killer on the loose 

Although there are numerous virus 
killers available both commercially 
and on the Public Domain, it is often 
the newcomers to the computer field 
who only realise they have obtained 
o virus when it is too late and half 
their disk collection is mysteriously 
wiped. 

These people aren't ignorant, 
they just do not know how to prevent 
a virus due to lack of experience and 
the fact that some believe "I'll be 



Paying scant regard to his own safety, Bob Wade 
dives head first into the huge pile of mail lurking 
menacingly in the corner of the office and emerges 
triumphant with the following missives which earn 
their scribes £5. If you want to join them on these 
pages then write something excruciatingly 
interesting and send it to: Talking Shop, Amiga 
Shopper, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath BA 1 2BW 



careful, I'll never get one". The sad 
fact is thot viruses are so numerous 
with 16-bit computers that almost 
everyone has - or will - unwittingly 
collect one on an affected disk. 

In an effort to at least combat the 
fools who create these viruses, I think 
hardware and software 
manufacturers should do more to aid 
the consumer. 

One way is to include a virus 
killer freely with all new Amiga 
computers sold. If Commodore can 
do this with 1 Mb expansions, why 
can't they do the same with a virus 
killer? 

5 N Hardy 
Sheffield 

An excellent idea which all 
hardware manufacturers, 
including those who make 
peripherals, should consider. 
The only problem with it is 
that because viruses are 
constantly updated the killers 
have to be as well. If they are 
bundled with things it might 
lure the user into a false sense 
of security. So, yes it should be 
done, but along with a 
registration form so that users 
get continuous updates of the 
killer concerned. 

Never too old 

There must be many readers like me 
'of a certain age' whose maths 
education finished a very long time 
ago and who have struggled with 
their 'friendly' Amiga, We get a 
tremendous amount of pleasure from 
our efforts but, because of our lack of 
background experience with 
computers, frequently experience 
difficulties. Whilst I do not suggest 
that you should have an Old 
Codgers page (we have our pride) 
will you try to keep the language as 
simple as possible please. It is 
generally accepted that Manuals are 



written far those that don't need 
them, so I do hope that any tutorials 
etc that you might run will be kept as 
simple as possible. 

D W Joslin 

Bridgwater 

Somerset 

It has been pointed out that 
despite the beginner's and 
jargon busting boxes that we 
are a bit too techie at times, so 



Environ mental 
disaster 

Having just received the preview copy 
of your new magazine with the April 
Amiga Format I am delighted to say I 
have spotted the deliberate mistake on 
the covert (A cup of coffee near the 
A500 - ed) I wonder, can I claim the 
: prize? Quote Amiga Format issue 1 8, 
page 239 under heading 'Avoiding 
Disaster' NEVER eat or drink near your 
computer] II Will you be including a 
mistake every month?!! 

R V French 

Chichester 

West Sussex 

I am non too happy about the 
connection of the A590 - I am looking 
at one as I write this and 1 am sure that 
it is closer and more parallel to the 
I CPU, 

A Irving 

South Croydon 

Surrey 

It's a fair cop guv. The A590 
was not actually plugged in or 
turned on. No real reason why, 
it was just easier for Hie photo 
shoot to have it unplugged. No 
excuses for the coffee, but it 
was damn fine coffee until it 
got cold because the photo 
shoot took three hours. 



we will try to be more aware 
of it in the future. However, 
we will continue to try to cater 
for experts as well as new 
users, so expect there to be 
some articles that you won't 
understand - it's unavoidable 
when covering this many 
topics in the mag. We will try 
to write them all in English 
though. 

Death by A1 000 cuts 

As a long-time Al 000 owner, may I 
suggest a regular section on the 
venerable beast? Would it be 
viable? I see ads for rejuvenator 
boards and so on in US magazines, 
but nothing at all in the rags this side 
of the pond. Is US hardware 
compatible with UK gear? And so 
on. Maybe there's a lot of us proud 
but forgotten AlOOO-ites out here - 
and after all (sound of violins rising 
in background) we were committed 
to things Amiga before ail these 
spotty Herberts with their poxy 

A500s rant rave... .foams at 

mouth. ...collapses in gibbering heap 

as men in white coats arrive etcetera. 

Tony Barnes 

Director, Fairwater Films Ltd 

Cardiff, Wales 

/ don't want to have an A 1000 
section because it's basically 
compatible with all the other 
Amigas and therefore many 
things in AS should be of 
relevance. However, I do want 
to cover things that are specific 
to the Al 000, because there 
are still some around (no idea 
how many though). In fact a 
review of a rejuvenator board 
is on its way in the next 
couple of issues. 

A load of Toshiba 

Having just read your excellent 

review of hard-drives for the Amiga, I 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1 99 1 



LETTERS 



am shocked to find that my 
2090A/2094 40Mb Toshiba 
MK134 FA hard-disk is the slowest 
drive available, scoring a mere 
36/100. 

I was not aware of this when I 
purchased my B2000 in March '90, I 
simply asked for a 40Mb hard-disk to 
be fitted. 

However, after the initial shock, I 
checked your figure for loading 
DPaint III, (9 sees], my copy loads in 
3 sees. 

As you point out, the disk comes pre- 
configured: 

Small Boot partition 0.89Mb 
OHO: (standard file system]. 

Workbench partition 2.6Mb 
FH0: (FFS). 

Work partition 39.9Mb 

FH1: (FFS), 

The extra storage being due to the 
FFS, 

I agree that the documentation is 
confusing, consisting of a 2090 
manual and a small "additions" 
manual. So confusing that when 
booting the system, the configuration 
details (preferences), are taken from 
Devs: system-con figuration file on the 
Boot partition, the startup sequence 
then proceeds to re-assign everything 
to the Workbench partition. 
Subsequent changes to preferences 
will NOT be used when re-boolingi 

The simplest answer is not to re- 
assign Devs: in the startup-sequence, 
keeping only the minimum 
requirements in the Boot version, ie. 
GB keymap, current printer driver, 
necessary device drivers and config 
file. 

I should also like to point out that 
the current card/drive combination is 
2091/2094, which will autoboot 
from a FFS partition. The advert on 
the facing page of your final 
summary indicates this and also 
shows the price to be £499, not 
£1209.80p as you quote. 
NB: The 2090A card will support 
two internal drives ST506/SCSI and 
up to seven SCSI drives in total. 

B E Matthews 

Walsall 

West Midlands 

Over to tech ed Cliff for an 
explanation... 
I must say I was shocked 
myself at the Commodore 
drive's speed after testing it. 
No doubt it performs better in 
everyday use, with most files 
being kept in one of the Fast 
File System partitions. I 
presume that's where you 
keep your copy of Deluxe 
Paint, and why it loaded in 
three seconds instead of nine 
as it did for me. 

The decision to carry out all 
the tests on a boot partition 



was taken before I had looked 
at the Commodore drive - 
principally because 
Commodore failed to supply 
one in time for the review, so I 
was left to find what I could. 
Unfortunately, mis turned out 
to be the older 2090A/2094. 
As far as the price goes, that 
was the price quoted by 
Commodore. 

Bab adds... it has been 
brought to our attention that 
this was not the mast up to 
date version of Commodore's 
internal hard drive. 

Commodore was unable to 
supply us with one in time for 
the review, and still haven't, 
making testing it rather 
difficult. We will cover it just 
as soon as they supply us with 
one. 

Are ads bad? 

Even though your magazine's called 
Amiga Shopper, I think you use too 
many ads instead of using more 
advice, reviews etc. If you are from 
the makers of Amiga Format, or the 
buyer/ reader buys other magazines, 
then surely all your ads will also be 
in the other magazines. I don't mean 
to sound rude, but I think too many 
ads are/will be a disadvantage to 
you. 

L Stairs 
Hen don 
London 

There are three crucial points 
to bear in mind here 

1) The revenue received from 
the ads is a major contributing 
factor to being able to price 
the magazine as lowly as we 
do. 

2) The ads provide a very 
important service to people 
looking for bargains and the 
best hardware and software 
to buy - we would be doing 
you a disservice by not having 
them. 

3) Having more ads does not 
mean having less editorial 
pages. The reality is thai the 
more ads we have the more 
editorial we can afford to run. 

Those are the facts of life in 
publishing - so enjoy those 
ads, they're actually doing 
you a favour. 

Amiga with the blues 

Why is it that the Atari ST, (ST stands 
for Single Tasking) is so extremely 
popular with music, especially with 
MIDI users, while there's such a great 
machine on the market that beats the 
ST on all fronts? Better said, why is it 
that the software companies are so 
indolent on converting, or better, 
rewriting the good software 
packages that exist on the ST. 



Look at Cubase, which is a great 
program, or C-Lab's programs, those 
are the packages we need on the Big 
A. I don't get if, it just can't be 
possible, that I'm the only one having 
this MIDI nightmare? Wouldn't it be 
good for the market if the Amiga 
could compete with the so-named 
number one for MIDI (I wash my 
mouth after saying this) . 

Think of what you could da with 
Cubase 2.0 on the multitasking 
machine, which even has an 
incredibly good soundchip built in. 
So what if the ST has a built-in MIDI 
interface, for a few pounds you're the 
proud owner of an interface for the 
Amiga. And be honest, Music-X 
alone is not enough, certainly not 
when you think of how little the offer 
of different protocols for this package 
is. I hoped this would turn the other 
way round, with the release of 
Steinberg's Pro-24, which is a good 
step in the right direction, but it's still 
very quiet in the Amiga MIDI market. 
But not only the software-market is 
mainly based on the ST. What about 
the Studio-audio market, that is only 
producing equipment for the ST and 
the Mac? This all could change, if 
only the software houses would 
consider the Amiga worth 
programming onl 



Can you tell me, what's the bottle- 
neck, and are there going to be any 
changes on this front, and do you 
know if there's □ plan to convert 
Cubase to the machine which 1 totally 
support, namely the big Amiga. Try 
to wake people out of their MIDI 
nightmare with some good news. 

Rob Swart 
Letystad 
Holland 

This same subject comes up on 
the Answers pages and I'm 
afraid there is no easy 
answer. The ST and Mac have 
a strong foothold in the 
studios and with so many 
musicians that for the Amiga 
to claw its way back into 
contention it either needs a 
corporate push by Commodore 
into the music scene or a 
creeping invasion via the 
graphic side of things where 
musicians start using the 
Amiga for video work and 
then get drawn into using it 
for MIDI work as well. One of 
the best ways is just to keep 
telling everyone how good the 
Amiga is for music - 
eventually people will start to 
get the message. 






Question time 



I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your magazine but there ore a few points I 

wauid 1 i ke to ask obo ut , 

I '. Will you be puiting a coverdisk on your magazine? 

2. Will you be reviewing any games? 

3. Why not advertise some PO companies? 

4. Why not review more PD software? 

5. Will you be starting a C or Basic tutorial or course for beginners? 
Michael Autort and Peter 

Reay 

Whickham 

N ewca stte upon Tyne 



1) No, H would put the 
price up too much. 

2) Na, nyetfOein, nan, 
absolutely not. Have I 
made myself clear? If it's 
games you want men 
check out our sister 
magazines Amiga Format 
and Amiga Power, 
they've got lots of them - 
this is a games exclusion 
zone. 

3) We do - have a look 
at the back of the mag. 

4) Hew much is moret 
How tohg is a piece of 
string? Seriously, we will 
have of least five pages 
of PD every month. 

5} We witl be doing 
tutorials for all levels of 
knowledge, but we can't 
do them all at once. Stay 
with us and you will be 
catered for. 




THOG PLAV5 
'MANIC MAMMOTH' 



These are the only type of games we 
play in the Amiga Shopper office. 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1 v9 1 




PRICES INCLUDE DELIVERY 
AND VAT @ 17.5% 

Express Courier Delivery £5,00 Extra 



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Call us now on 

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Send Cheque, Postal Order or 
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Unit 9, St Richards Rd. 

Evesham, Wo res 

WR11 6XJ 



0» 



ACCESS /VISA 
Cards Welcome 



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Government, Education & PLC orders welcome 

Same day despatch whenever possible 

Express Courier delivery E 5.00 extra 

Please note that 5 working days must be allowed 

tor personal cheque clearance. 

Mail Order Fax: 0386-765354 I 



RETAIL SHOWROOMS 



All our Showroom outlets hold large stocks ot most items and also 

supply from a tar wider product range than advertised. Please do 

not hesitate to ring any of our showrooms and discuss your 

requirements with a member ol our highly trained staff 



Unit 9 St Richards Road, Evesham 
Worcestershire WR1 1 6XJ 

"S 0386 765180 

IOX : 0386 765354 

Open Mon-Sat.. 9.00 • 5.30 

Corporate Soles Dept. 



5 Glisson Rd, Cambridge CB1 2 HA 
© 0223 323898 

ton : 0B23 32ZB83 

Open Mon-Fn. 9.30 - 6.00 

and Sat.. 9,00 - 5.30 

Corporate Sales Dept. • IBM dealer 



1762 Pershore Road, Cottetidge 
Birmingham B30 3BH 

S 021 458 4564 

to*: 021 1133 3825 
Open Mon-Sat, . 9.00 - 5.30 



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■B" 0386-40303 

Monday to Friday, 9.30 - 5.30 



12 MONTHS WARRANTY 
ON ALL PRODUCTS 

Alt details correct at time of press 
All goods subject to availability, E. & OB. 



Please note; Prices that include On- Site Maintenance 
(On- Site Warranty) are UK Mainland Only. 



37 2 " EXTERNAL FLOPPY DRIVES 



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Quality Citizen Drive Mechanism 

On / Off switch on rear of drive 

Full 880K Formatted Capacity 

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^ 



Also available: 
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Only £99.00 inc. VATVdelivery 



AMIGA A500 SOLDERLESS RAM UPGRADES 




RAM/CLOCK 
UPGRADE 



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ONLY £32.95 

including VAT and delivery 



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FEATURES : 



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1 .5MB RAM BOARD 



ft Fully populated board increases total RAM in A500 to 2MB I 
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Unpopulated RAM board with dock E 39.95 

RAM Board as above, with 51 2K FASTRAM installed .... £ 59.95 

RAM Board as above, with 1 MB FASTRAM installed £ 74.95 

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: The expansion board requires Kickstart t 3 to operate - Kickstan 1 .3 
upgrade available from us for £29.95 



COMMODORE A590 HARD DISK 



Good' quality Commodore Hard Disk unit, including: its own PSU and built-in cooling fan. 
Features sockets for up to 2Mb of cn-board FASTRAM expansion (see below). 60ms 
Access time. with up to 2.4Mbfeec. transfer rate. Auloboots wtten used with Kickstart 1.3. 
Commodore A590 Hard Drive ( 20Mb Hard Disk ) E 279.00 



A590 RAM 
UPGRADES 



A590 RAM Upgrades are fitted Iree 5,2K upgrade ... 1 31,95 
of cn a , ge wher, bought HI. an ASM. £g ^ fl a d a « ;;;; $ gg 



We currently support specially upgraded versions of the A590 
incorporating NEC high capacily, fully autoparking SCSI drives 

(25rns access time). SCSI interlaced hard drives offer a 
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Wb are also offering the NEC mechanisms separately, either cased tor 
those who wish to 'chain on' an additional hard disk to their A590, or on 
their own for internally replacing their existing A59Q 20Mb mechanism 



A590 upgraded with fast 40Mb NEC SCSI Disk E 479.00 

A590 upgraded with last 100Mb NEC SCSI Disk £669.00 

A590 with 40Mb NEC SCSI Disk, 

PLUS 2MB RAM FASTRAM fitted £ 559.00 

NEC 40Mb SCSI Drive cased with PSU 

to directly add-on to the Commodore A590 £ 349.00 

NEC Drive cased with PSU as above, 100Mb version E 549.00 

NEC 40Mb SCSI Drive mechanism on its own E 249.00 

NEC 100Mb SCSI Drive mechanism on its own £449.00 



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Kits comprise of full size hard disk controller 
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Offering maximum flexibility on RAM 
upgrade, this card is supplied with 2Mb 
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VIDI Amiga Including 
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VJDI Chrome „,. £ 1G,S5 

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Our fully compatible, high qualily MIDI interlace connects direcHy wilii lile Amiga 
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containing sound sampling 
applicators /utilities. 



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Excellent new high performance trackball . 

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Prolexl V5 £ 119.95 

Oigila Home Accounts £23.95 

DeluKePalnta £59.95 

Deluxe Video 3 £59.95 



Muac-Xl.1: £110.00 

AMOS £ 37.50 

HiSoft Lattice C £179.00 

GFA BASIC V3 £39,95 

GFA BASIC Compiler E 34.95 

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AMIGA ANSWERS 




Send your questions to: Amiga Answers, Amiga 
Shopper, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath BA1 2BW 



NMMHHHH 



Dead drive blues 

My problem is this: when 
accessing df 1 : you can hear it 
drop the disk, so to speak. 
That's to say it's as though the 
drive has stopped and started 
again within a split second 
and occasionally a requester 
appears saying you MUST 
replace volume whatever in 
unit one. Occasionally it has 
destroyed the validator on a 
disk. Now a friend of mine 
says that the darn thing 'aint 
indexing correctly. Any ideas? 
Is it worth having it repaired 
or would the money be better 
spent on investing in a new 
drive (thus giving me a fresh 
warranty - mine's history by 
the way}? A rough guide to 
the cost of repair would be 
much appreciated. 

Dave Brand wood 

Oldham 

Lanes 



If I understand your problem 
correctly, (he drive peg has probably 
worn out - it's a little spring-loaded 
pin which engages in a slot in the 
disk hub to drive it. However, it could 
be any one of a number of other 
things. Drives are very rarely 
repaired - the best option is to 
replace them. See the Amiga 
Shopper sneak preview, available 
with back issue no 2 1 of Amiga 
Format (copies of which are £3.85 - 
see the back issue order form on 
page 1 1 1 ] For my review of suitable 
models. MS 



Compatibility city 

I recently had a problem of 
incompatibility. The Puggs in 
Space PD demo wouldn't run 
on my Amiga but did so 
happily on others. Someone 
suggested that my machine 
may be of German 
construction and therefore 



may contain some 'new' chips 
'which Puggs doesn't like. 

Can you shed any more 
light on incompatibility 
problems, of which I'm sure 
there are many, and am I to 
be plagued for ever with this? 

If the worst that happens is 
that I may not be able to run 
the odd demo, then I can live 
with it. However, if it might 
mean that should I splash out 
for some fancy commercial 
business software only to find 
it crashes, well then I'm very 
concerned. 

H Alan Bowen 

Loan head 

Midlothian 



The Amiga is one of the most 
compatible machines I know of. 
However, since its design is in 
constant flux, it is quite possible you 
have any one of a number of 
variations. For instance, I came 
□cross one recently that apparently 
had a Farter Agnus fitted to on older 
issue board. In effect, the extra 
0.5Mb RAM was mapped as 
conventional FAST RAM - not CHIP 
as you might expect. This effects 
demo programmers worst because 
they 'hit the metal' directly and have 
less access to loads of different 
machine variations. A single byte 
wrong can make all the difference 
between a demo that works and one 
that doesn't. MS 

-—— Q- 

Double buffered 

When I am using Deluxe Paint 
III I have to wait until the 
printer is finished before I am 
able to start drawing again. 
Apart from buying a printer 
buffer, the cheapest of which I 
have found is £75, is there 
any way I can set aside an 
area of memory and send the 
printer information there 
before it goes to the printer so 
that I can carry on using 
Deluxe Paint, or is there some 



We Ve assembled the best panel 
of Amiga experts in the land and 
every month they'll be getting 
together to help solve your 
problems. Trivial or techie, Amiga 
Shopper has got the answers 



PD software that I can use? I 
have an A500 and an AS90 
hard drive with a total of 2Mb 
and an Epson LX800 printer. 
Also I have Platinum Works! 
and although it runs fine 
without the hard drive 
connected, I have followed the 
manual for installing it on HD, 
but as soon as I try to run it 
with the hard drive or from 
hard drive it ends up crashing 
the system. 

D Armstrong 

Gosforth 

Northumberland 



I doubt a printer bufFer would be 
much use because of the way DPainf 
and the Amiga work. When I tested 
it, even o simple picture - dumped 
through a 9-pin printer driver - 
resulted in almost 1 00K of 
information being sent. This varies 
dramatically with the number of 
colours in use. Not to mention your 
printer setup for density, scaling and 
so on. There are two possible 
answers to this: 

The first is to use a program 
called CMD supplied with 
Workbench which allows you to 
buffer printer output to a file. CMD is 
not that easy to use so I have written 
a couple of short AmigaDOS 
programs (scripts) to get the best from 
it. They should start filtering into the 
Public Domain libraries soon. 

The second option is easier, but 
requires more memory. You already 
have 2Mb, so you should be able to 
run two copies of DPaint in the 
machine at once - multi-tasking them. 
Then proceed as follows: 

• Create your drawing. 

• Use the screen's depth gadgets to 
push the first DPaint out of the way. 
Find the other copy of DPaint and 
click in its screen - as if by magic, 
the drawing appears! 

• Select Print to print the picture. 

• While the second copy of DPaint is 
busily printing away you can return 
to the first one and carry on drawing. 

• This feature only works with DPaint 
II. With DPaint III, you have to save 
the picture in one copy of DPaint III, 
load it into the second one and then 



start printing. 

The problem with Platinum 
Works/ is not quite as easy to 
fathom. It could be the Install 
program does not install everything. 
Have you tried booting from the hard 
drive and running the Works! from 
floppy disk? If this works, then the 
most likely cause is Platinum Works! 
is not installing itself correctly. If this 
technique fails, then the fault is 
endemic with Works! MS 



Cold-boot shy 

My Amiga with A 590 attached 
is sometimes reluctant to 
autoboot from cold. The 
system request 'Not a DOS 
disk in Unit 0' appears. The 
solution is then to boot from a 
WorkBench floppy which 
negates one of the advantages 
of owning an A590. This is an 
intermittent fault, and only 
happens sometimes on the 
first boat- up from cold. 
Commodore advised me to 
low-level format the disk, 
which, needless to say, had no 
effect whatsoever. The unit 
has also been returned to 
Commodore under warranty. 
Again this has made no 
difference. Can you help? 

Peter Whiting 

High Wycombe 

Bucks 



This problem can manifest itself in a 
number of ways and the A590 may 
not necessarily be the culprit. 
Intermittent faults like this one are the 
scourge oF repairmen too, which is 
probably why they checked it and 
sent it back working (assuming that's 
what happened). Oddly enough, this 
problem can be caused by □ Faulty 
external drive which is overloading 
the electronics controlling dfO: and 
foxing the Amiga into thinking it 
contains a disk. IF you have any 
external drives try switching off, 
disconnecting them and switching on 
again. It may help. 

The other possibility is that the 

continued on page 1 8 



AMIGA SHOPPER* ISSUE 2 »JUNE 1991 



AMIGA ANSWERS 



WHATEVER YOUR PROBLEM WITH THE 
AMIGA, WE ARE HERE TO SOLVE IT 

That's the task we have set ourselves in giving you the best possible support for 
your Amiga. We are confident that our experts can cope with anything you 
can throw at them. If they don't already know the answer to your problem, they 
will find it out. Read on for some of the typical, and obscure, problems you 
may encounter when trying to get the most out of your Amiga. 

CONSULT AMIGA SHOPPER'S EXPERT PANEL 

We are prepared to deal with any problem you have with the Amiga, from 
general enquiries about AmigaDOS or workbench, through questions about 
specific pieces of software and hardware, to advice on what you need to buy 
to do a particular task. If it's to do with the Amiga, we will help out. What we 
cannot do is offer this service over the telephone - do not phone us with your 
enquiries, but write or fox us at the address and number below. 

We also cannot enter into persona! correspondence ~ all enquiries will be 
dealt with in the pages of the magazine. This does mean a delay in solving 
your problem, but we will come up with an answer for you. You'll just have to 
be a little patient and wait for it to appear in print, 

Send your questions to Amiga Answers, Amiga Shopper, 30 Monmouth 
Street, Bath BA1 2BW. Fax: 0225 446019. 

The Amiga Answers panel consists of all three consultant editors -Jeff 
Walker, Mark Smiddy and Phil South - and of course resident technical editor 
Cliff Ramshaw. We will olso be calling on the services of ail our other 
contributors, so you won't be able to catch us napping on ony subject. Each 
panelist will be dealing with queries in their own specialist area and it would 
help us greatly if, when writing, you label youf query envelope with the name 
of the expert who can solve your particular problem. Below is a list of their 
areas of expertise. It's a list (hot we will add to and update every month so you 
will know who to write to about any subjects not mentioned here. 

Gary Whiteley - Video. 

Stuart Russell - Comms, CAD. 

Paul Overaa - programming, music. 

Mkk Draycott- hardware, programming, MIDI. 

Jeff Walker - desktop publishing, programming. 

Mark Smiddy- AmigaDOS, business, CDTV, hardware projects, drives. 

Phil South - public domain, graphics, AMOS. 

Bob Wade - American football. 

ClifF Ram show - anything else. 

If you think you have been ignored... 

Don't panic, there could be several reasons why your question has not 
appeared this month: 

• II did not reach us in time to be included this issue. 

• The answer to your question is given as part of the answer to another 
published this month. 

• You hove not given us sufficient information to answer your question fully. 



continued from page 1 7 

drive is not validating correctly when 
it is switched on. I have never 
managed to nail a good reason for 
this but there are two main cures for 
this symptom. 

• Always PARK the hard drive 
before switching off and get into the 
habit. The PARK utility should have 
been supplied with your system. 
9 Shut down safely, That is to say, 
before switching off, moke sure all 
disk activity hos stopped. Watch the 
green busy light. When it goes out, 
wait at least a second, run PARK and 
switch off at the Amiga's PSU 
immediately. MS 



Fancy words 

I have a Centronics GLP II 
printer which copes admirably 
with normal draft or NLQ 



output. I would like to use 
some of the enhanced features 
such as underlining, bold, etc, 
as well as other fonts. 

Can you advise me if this is 
possible with the Centronics 
and if so, what are the correct 
DIP switch settings? Also can 
you suggest a good PD WP? 

R Meacham 

Tam worth 

Staffs 



Any word processor worth its salt 

should support 'enhanced' features. 
This is the whole idea of having o 
printer driver - the software uses o 
standard code for underlining, bold 
ond so on, ond the driver sends the 
correct code to the printer. The 
cheapest WP available came free 
with your system - NotePad. 



Two word processors available from 
public domain libraries spring to 
mind. TextPlus has received mixed 
reviews, from good to awful. So I 
suppose it's down to who you 
believe. The other is called Word 
Wright- my copy is dated 1 986, but 
it came free with a commercial 
package. Although it lacks a spelling 
checker, it has some sophisticated 
options, such as outlining, and is well 
worth trying out. You can get a copy 
from AmigaNuts on (0703) 785680, 
disk number 272. MS 



Of pins and PCBs 

I own an AS00 and would like 
to use an A2000 expansion 
card. On close examination of 
a picture of Hie A2000 with 
the top removed I found that 
the progression from 86 pins 
to 100 pins (on the expansion 
slots) is made via half a dozen 
IC's and their associated 
discrete components. Could 
you possibly supply me with a 
schematic/circuit diagram of 
this section with a component 
list, enabling me to make a 
small extender PCB whereby I 
can attach the one and only 
A2000 card I require. 

Another bit of information 
that would be appreciated is a 
pin out diagram of the 1 00-pin 
slot and also can you tell me 
how to read the pinout 
diagram of the 86-pin bus as 
given in appendix F, page 9 in 
the back of the A500 user 
manual, ie which is pin 1 as I 
look into the Amiga end on. 
Also, is PI A the top row of 
connections or the bottom? 

Saquib Ghani 

Middlesbrough 

Cleveland 



This sort of thing is best left for 
experts to sort out. It is not just a 
simple matter of extending the bus. 
Then there is the other consideration 
of powering the card. Expansion 
cards for the 2000 are designed for 
that environment and will expect to 
be able to draw the extra power 
available. Several suppliers offer 
solutions to this problem, already pre- 
built and ready to go. Bytes and 
Pieces have an external expansion 
box for this purpose, but a better 
alternative might be either Bodega 
Bay or the A 1 500 expansion box - 
not the 'new' Amiga. MS 



'want to print graphics from 
my Amiga on my IBM 5201 -2 
(QuietWriter II) printer. 
By messing about with 
Preferences and the IBM's dip- 
switches I've managed to get 
graphics, but it leaves a nasty 
white bar in between each 
line. Any help you could give 
me 'would be appreciated. 

Mat Simpson 

South Woodford 

London 



Banding is a problem inherent to 
almost every printer this side of 
£2,000 and is usually due to slight 
inaccuracies in the paper feed 
mechanism. The best solution is to 
select 'Single sheet' from Preferences 
and use manual feed paper in your 
machine. This tip applies to most 
printers, not just the IBM. MS 



Learner driver 

I have an AS 00 with a 
Seikosha SL-80AI 24-pin 
printer. I use the EpsonQ 
driver from preferences which 
works fine for NLQ printing, 
but can produce ill- 
proportioned output from 
packages such as PageSetter 
and ProWrite. Can you tell me 
where I can get a custom 
driver for this printer? 
Alternatively, can you direct 
me to the definitive manual on 
writing printer drivers? 

Roy Bell 

New Maiden 

Surrey 



Thin white line 

How do I go about making up 
a personal Printer Driver? I 



Writing a printer driver is very 
complex and there are three options. 
If you really want to write your own, 
the definitive guide is the Addison- 
Wesley ROM Kernel Reference 
Manual, ISBN: 0-201-181 817-8. The 
second is to obtoin a copy of Printer 
Driver Generator - 1 7 Bit software's 
disk 173 has a version. 

Or you could try contacting: 
Wolf Faust, Am Dorfgarten 1 0, W- 
6000 Frankfurt 50, Germany. Wolf 
has been developing printer drivers 
for some time now - he has 
developed one for the EpsonQ 
series. Wolf does charge a small fee, 
so send him a disk and some cash to 
cover his expenses. MS 



Red rag to a bull 

I have a six-month-old AS00 
with 0.5Mb upgrade, external 
drive and Epson LX80 printer. 

continued on page 2 1 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 •JUNE 1991 



M'J llucord 




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County: Mitliltosni 
PostCot/fi TWn |T2 
Country. UK 

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Unique features like the VCR panel mean browsing 
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And, with its own comprehensive Database 
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You can share data with 
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All trademarks acknowledged. Screen shot taken on an IBM PC. 



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□ Superbase Personal 



¥ 



□ Superbase Personal 2 
D Neither 



Name 



Job Title_ 



Company . 
Address 



Postcode . 



.Tel 



Precision Software Ltd. 6 Park Terrace, Worcester Park, Surrey KT4 7JZ 
Tel: 081 330 7166 Fax: 081 330 2089 



WE HAVE THE BEST VEALS, THE BEST 

SELECTION, THE BEST SERVICE AND THE 

VERY BEST PRICES FOR ALL 

AMIGA A500 & A1500 



AMIGA ASOO BASE PACK A5O0 computer, mouse, tv modulator, manuals. Workbench, etc suppled 'bare' with no 
games software 

AMIGA ASOO 1MB PACK A500 computer with extra 512K ram expansion, mouse, tv modulator manuals, Workbench, 
etc suppled 'bare' with no games software 

AMIGA ASOO ASTRA PACK A500 512k computer, mouse, tv modulator, manuals. Workbench, etc suppled with 10 
great software titles (see A500 1MB ASTRA pack below for details) 

AMIGA ASOO 1MB ASTRA PACK Amiga A500 corrputer, 512K Ram expansion with clock and battery back-up, 
mouse, tv modulator, manuals, Workbench etc disks, plus the ASTRA 10 games pack including the following games ; Oatastorra Dungeon 
Quest. E Motion. Grand Monster Slam. Kid Gloves Powerplay. RVF Honda. Shuffle Puck Cafe, Soccer and Tower of Babel 

AMIGA ASOO "1SOO" PACK Amiga A500 computer. 512K Ram expansion with dock and battery back-up. mouse, 
tv modulator, manuals, Workbench etc draks, plus Amiga A1500 software pack comprising of :Platimun Works. Deluxe Paint 3. Simm City. 
Battle Chess and Their Finest Hour 

AMIGA A1SOO BASE PACK AISOO 1Mb RAM (expandable to 9Mb) computer with 2 x 3.5" 860k disk drives built in. 
and a mouse. The A1500 base pack is supplied without software. 

AMIGA AISOO PACK A15Q0 1Mb RAM (expandable to 9Mb) computer with 2 x 3,5" 880k dak drives built ia mouse and 
the following software : Platinum Works Deluxe Paint 3. Populous Simm City. Battle Chess Their Finest Hour (Battle of Britain) and 2 
books : The A-Z of Computer Jargon" and "Getting the most from your Amiga" 



£209.00 
£325.00 
£325.00 
£350.00 
£399.00 
£599.00 
£655.00 




All of our blank disks atse guaranteed and supplied with labels. 
All of our 3.5* unbianded and branded disks are of the highest 
quality. All disk prices include vat and delivery. 

QUANTITY 10 20 30 50 100 



UN BRANDED 

BONY BKANDtD 
3,5" 2DD 



5.99 10.99 15.99 25.99 44.99 

9.50 18.50 26.50 42.50 80.50 



ASTRA PACK 

Datastorm, Dungeon Quest, 
E Motion, Grand Monster 

Slam, Kid Gloves, 

Powerplay, RVF Honda, 

Shuffle Puck Cafe, Soccer 

and Tower Of BabeL 

All 10 of the above games are 
available together in the ASTRA 
PACK for only £29.95 inclusive. 



AMIGA ACCESSORIES 

512K Ram Upgrade • clock £29.99 

A590 20Mb Hard Disk drive £284.95 

Stereo Hi Fi Speakers £37.50 

Astra Pack software £29.95 

Roctec external risk drive £65.00 

Golden Image Handy Scanner £199.00 

Amiga Stereo Scart Lead E12.99 

Amiga Stereo Lead Mkll 8833 E12.99 

Amiga A500 Dust Cover £6.99 

PKIps 8833 Dust Cover £7.99 

VDI Amiga Video Digitiser £99.99 

Master Sound 1 £36,95 



AMIGA 1500 

SOFTWARE 

PACK 

FOR A LMITED PERIOD WE 

ARE OFFERNQ THE A15O0 

SOFTWARE PACK .- 

Platinum Works, Deluxe 

Paint 3, Populous, Sim 

City, Battle Chess and 

Their Finest Hour 

ALL FOR ONLY 

£ 89.95 

INCLUSIVE 



ATARI LYNX 



Atari Lynx Hand Held Games Machine 

fwtUi tee CaHornta Gemea ranrHgel 

Atari Lynx Hand Held Games Machine 

twttti m> Tree software caltfdge) 

Carry Case £14.99 
Sun Visor E6.99 

Car Adaptor £9.50 

Blue Lightning £19.99 

Ch / Chalenge E20.50 
Electrocop £19.99 
GOZendocon £19.99 
Xenophobe £19.99 
Robo Squash £21.00 



£ 117.50 
£ 95.00 



Ms Pacman 


£19.99 


Shanghai 


£19.99 


Zarlor Mercenary 


£21.00 


Gauntlet 3 


£23.00 


Rygar 
SCme World 


£21.00 


£19.99 


Klax 


£19.99 


Paperboy 


£20.50 


Road Blasters 


£19.99 


Rampage 


£21.00 



titeur 



mum 



Rmember.we only 
seff genuine UK 
stock machines. 

Panasonic 



PRINTERS 

Al of or priMsn; us UK spec Al ol or printers 
come wiri n tree cable and ram a tut 1 year 
WBfraify. 

Star LCX) Mono (9-cm> £15500 

Star LCZOO Colour (9-pin» £22500 

Star LC24-K) Mono 

(24-pin) £21500 

Star LC24-I5 Mono 15" 

(24-pii) €399.00 

Star LC24-200 Mono £26500 

Star LC24-200 Colour £29500 

Panasonic KXP1124i 

(24-pin) E279.00 

Panasortc KXP1B24 

15" carriage (24-pin) £389.00 

Utizan Swift 24 [24-pin) £299.00 

H / Packard DeskJet 500 £469 00 

Canon BJ10E Bubble Jet £349.00 



PHILIPS 8833 MKII 

The 8833 Mkll is the perfect colour monitor 
for all ST and Amiga owners. With its high 
quality picture and stereo sound it really 
makes the STE or Amiga perform to it's full. 

AD 8833 Mkll come with 1 cable free of 
charge (options are Atari STFM, Atari STE 
or Amiga ASOO) 

Price Includes VAT, 

delivery and 12 

.onthson-site 

X 



£249.991 



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ADD M30 INC VAT FOB AKJrr WORKING MY UK DELIVEKy, ADD 13250 INC FPU SATVRnW VK DELSVESY 



AMIGA ANSWERS 



continued from page 18 

When I first switch the 
computer on, the screen cycles 
through its normal shades of 
grey during self-test. After a 
couple of hours use, if 1 turn 
the computer off and then on 
again to re-boot (waiting 5 
seconds in between as 
advised) the screen flashes red 
before the normal grey shades 
and then loads and operates 
as normal. If I reboot using the 
keys, I don't get this red flash. 
If the computer is switched off 
for a minute, then switched 
back on, everything is back to 
normal with no red flash. 
What causes the red flash? 
Does this mean I have a 
problem, or need I only worry 
if the screen stays red? As the 
computer is still under 
warranty should I get it 
checked out? 

Rob Fowler 

Southend On Sea 

Essex 



If the screen comes up red, this 
indicates a hardware problem during 
the self-test. Since this clears itself, the 
problem is probably due to some 
charge remaining on the capacitors, 
either in the PSU or in the machine. 
Try leaving the machine off for at 
least 30 seconds and see if that 
clears it. If not, get the whole thing 
checked (PSU included] by a 
Commodore repair centre. MS 



Drive away 

When my A500 is in use by 
my son, game playing for 
great lengths of time, it would 
be nice to disable the A590 
drive. Unplugging it will 
eventually cause wear and 
tear on the slide-in contacts, so 
I would like to be able to fit 



switeh/s to disable the drive 
and fan mechanism and yet 
retain any extra RAM fitted in 
the drive. 

I need to know which leads 
or contacts need to be 
switched. I could either extend 
the wires out of the drive or 
possibly fit an interface 
between computer and drive 
with switch/s on top. Who 
knows, it may even be 
possible to have a thru socket 
so I can buy an Action Replay. 

I have, to a lesser extent, 
eased the problem by 
extending the autobooting dip 
switch to an external switch 
(warranty now void) but it 
would be better to have 
silence. Anyway, hopefully 
you can understand my 
request and I look forward to 
your reply in the form of a 
tested solution. 

TN Wells 

Kesgrave 

Ipswich 



One of the reasons for having the fan 
is to cool the chips - RAM, controller, 
etc - so, although possible, it would 
not be wise to disable it. A better 
solution came from my colleague 
Jolyon Ralph. He suggests replacing 
the hard drive with a 40Mb low- 
power consumption model and 
removing the fan altogether. Suitable 
units are available from Almathero 
Systems on 081-683 6418. MS 



Remember the PC? 

I was thinking of buying a PC 
emulator, preferably the KCS 
board. I understand it comes 
with 1.5Mb in total, with 1Mb 
for the Amiga and around 
704Kb in PC mode. If I buy the 
Cortex 8Mb expansion, does it 
mean I also get more memory 



PC Powerboard compatibility poser 

l have just purchased a KCS PC Powerboard, 1 was wondering if 
your new mag couid print a list of PC programs that will be 
compatible with the Powerboard, and also to update it monthly 
to help Amiga owners with MSOOS compatibility problems. 

Graham Sumner 

Huntingdon 

Cambs 



What a good idea We intend to review some PC products on the Powerboard 
ond in the meantime you. might tike to read Mark Smiddy's review of it in 
Down to owiness on page 67. 

A good idea would be For any readers with Powerboards (or AT-Once 
cards) to send us details of any software that does or does not run on their 
system. Write to Mark Smiddy, PC Emulation Update, Amiga Shopper, 30 
Monmouth Street, BATH BAT 2BW: MS 



available in PC mode? 

Anoop Sharma 

Thornton Heath 

Croydon 

The Powerboard is limited by MS- 
DOS which can only access 640K. 
However, drivers are included for LIM 
EMS (Lotus-Intel-Microsoft Extended 
Memory System] and these should 
allow some programs to access the 
extra memory. This only applies to 
external, auto-configuring cards fixed 
to the Amiga 500's expansion port. 
And, as with my previous answer, 
check out Mark Smiddy's Down to 
business column on page 67 for a 
review of the Powerboard. MS 

Back to boot 

I've seen an article on 
converting an executable 
module into a bootblock, but 
none on doing the opposite, ie 
converting a bootblock to a CLI 
command. It seems logical 
enough to assume that it is 
possible. The reason for this is 
that there are some useful 
virus detectors I would like to 
convert into CLI commands and 
put in the startup-sequence of 
my hard drive. 

My internal floppy drive 
has packed up. Will any old 
3.5" drive do (without case & 
power supply) as long as the 
stepping rate is correct and the 
power consumption is low? 
(And ideally what should they 
be for the Amiga?). If this isn't 
the case could you recommend 
a firm that sells replacement 
internal drives for the Amiga? 
Jason Brown 



You can convert the bootblock into 
code using a little program called 
XBoot. However, it is highly unlikely 
such programs would work from the 
CLI because they are designed to 
operate before the machine actually 
'wakes up'. 

Several suppliers can sell you a 
replacement internal drive. Power 
Computing (0234) 273000 will kit 
you out for under 50 quid. It is not 
possible to use 'any old' 3.5" drive 
because the eject button and casing 
are designed differently. MS 



Fat, bad Agnus 

I have recently had the Fatter 
Agnus chip installed in my 
Revision 5 A500. 1 also have 
an A590 hard drive with the 



Amiga Tips 

Here's a useful tip from Steve 
Clark of Fareham, Hants: 

Anyone with 1 Mb of Chip 
Ram who uses the 
Recoverable RAM Drive may 
have noticed, as I did, that it 
no longer retains data after a 
warm boot. Looking through 
the Enhancer Software 
manual for the explanation 
of all the commands in the 
startup-sequence, I couldn't 
believe my eyes when I read 
that Krckstart 1 .3 was 
designed to work with 5 1 2k 
of Chip Ram. So, to retain 
data after a warm boot, 
simply add an 'R' after the 
SETPATCH command in the 
startup-sequence, thus: 

C: SETPATCH >NIL: R 

I hope there is someone who 
can find use for this tip. 

Thanks, Steve, I'm sure there 
is. Even as you read this, a 
fiver should be winging its 
way towards you. 



full 2Mb installed. Since the 
fatter Agnus was installed I 
have noticed a strange 
behaviour of the mouse 
pointer. As I drag the mouse 
into the lower portion of the 
screen - the PAL area - the 
pointer splits into two separate 
pointers. The faster the mouse 
is dragged into this area, the 
further the pointers separate. 
Also, if the mouse pointer 
changes into another sprite, 
say me 'ZZ' cloud, the 
duplicate pointer remains 
fixed on the screen until the 
moveable 'ZZ' cloud 
disappears. The problem only 
occurs with the Work Bench 
pointer, not with software that 
uses its own custom pointer, 
such as DPaint III. Also, the 
problem only occurs when the 
A590 is attached to the 
computer. Perhaps you have a 
solution or know of an 
upgraded Setpatch command 
or PD software to cure it? 

Steve Clarke 

Fareham 

Hants 



This particular bug, which occurs as 
soon as you start installing fast 
memory, is something that 
Commodore is very well oware of. 

tontinued an page 23 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1 99 1 



21 



< 

< 



adbroke 
imputing 

International 



^ 






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K 


A 


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lv 


u 




t^gnuw^A^H 




SUrLC-200 



8t»rLC2«-200 



7 Colour printer 

Cotour * mono rbbon suppfed 

225 cpe 

5 Resident NLG fonts 

Bottom feed 

Pieh or pJ tractor feed 

Paper parking 

StarLC24/10 

StarLC-10 

Citizen Swift 24 pin 

Citizen 120D* 

Atari SLM605 Laaer printer 



24Pinprriter 
222 cpe 

5 FtaakfentLQ fonts 
Accepts font cartrideas 

Bottcmfeed 

Push or jx* tractor feed 

Paper parking 



M»LC24-2QO 

^" 24P¥ipriitBr 

222 cpE 
5 Resident LQ foils 
Accspta font cartridges 

Bottom feed 

Pish or pul Iractor feed 

PBper parking 



tWearetiekx&estes&tifstied Atari dealer in tie UK.We have developed an extensive j 
I customer service pofcy whfcb means tial we test at Hardvare/Sofhvare prior to 
I despatch to ertst#E that goods arrive i] »nrf»ia order Altiough or prices are not 
I afways fie cheapest we do endeavor to offer consistenly good service and backip. 
tints isn't just our opinion, we were voted 'Best Dealer 1989" by tie readers of ST Vtortdi, 
'^magazine, not tor 'the number of ficwes shtted~. but tor quality service. 

I Ch Site Warranty; Wfe nave recently extended our backup programme by dlertig on sitei| 
iwarranty as an optkri on at ST s.Y/e already otter ths service on. At Star prwitersand 
\ Philips monitors fsted 

i AM prices are correct at copy date 6/04/91 and are subject to change witiout prior 
J notice. At prices are accurate whte stocks last Phone tor up to date prices At prices : 
1 ndude \AT there are no hidden extras (WYSIWYQ. Delivery [n MarJand UK) is tree, on ; 
larders over £O0 (add £10 lor next day courier detvery At prices abatable on Mai 
| Order Shop prices may dffer 




J 



£209.99 AJ Star Printers carry 12 months on ate 
cirqoq warrantyManiBrdLKi.AlprhtersiriekJbB 
™, HWCentrorkBcaitoFftOnefo-iiiborH. 
paper and printer stands. 

ESBflB 

Btan 



S12K Board 

With dock 

1.5Mb Upgrade with 512K installed 

1.5Mb Upgrade with Mb installed 

1.5Mb Upgrade with 1.5Mb installed 



£26.99 
£29.99 
£55.99 
£72.99 
£88.99 



£139.99 64K buffer 3 rout switch 
£1099.99 2S8K buffer 3 input swiWi 



The Zydec 15Mb upgrade board requires a connection to the Garry chip and 
rQckatart 13 instated, ticludes dock. 



Phone for details of Star FR and XB ranges. 



\B0^m 



l^WUJU 





Quantity 


Bulk Sonv or Kao 
Loose Boxed 


TDK Brand 
Boxed in 10's 


10 


£ 5." 


4" f\ ™RjfcntMu* 


£ 9. 49 


40 


£ 20." 


£ 7* ""^ 


£ 34." 


100 


£ 48." 


£ ^7 99^^ M 

Jw *J / * likcboi 


£ 84." 


150 


£ 66." 


£ Q1 W^™ 

30 OJ. »«*»* 

due box 


£ 125." 



iflr Dafa enable/disable switch 

it Daisy chain "through' connector 

it Low power consumption 

Only £59.99 

Ptoaa* add €3 PAP 




All disks carry an unconditional lifetime guarantee. Please add 
80p P&P for each 10 disks or Ea00 for 100 and above. 



* 200 DPI scanner, thermal printer, 

and photocopier 
it Upto 16 grey scales or B/W mode. 
it Compatible with Amiga and ST. 



Only £449.99 




Use your ST or Amiga to send faxes. 

Fury featured modem accesses 
btMetn boards/commercial systems. 
Q Biy Hayes compatible. 
Q Auto dial Answer 
Q 300/1200/2400 Baud 
Q For ST or Amiga 
Q Cannot receive faxes. Not BT 
approved 

£224.99 

mmTilmiiinmt 

Philips 8833 MK II Colour. Stereo monitor £ 
Cmdr 1084S Colour monitor * limited offer * £ 
Philips 15" FST TV £ 



A500 computer £299.99 
A500 Screen Gems Pack 

£354.99 

1Mb A500 Screen Gems 

Pack £369.99 

Any of above packs * Tenstar games, 
joystick, mouse mat add £30 



kidudes injection moulded stySng. Internal RAM expansion to 8Mb via SMtf 

boards. Capacities from 52Mb. 35" Quantum mechanism. Internal fan, 

Game switch and mini slot for future expansion. 

52Mb 11ms £529.99 105Mb 11ms £649.99 
Phone for latest prices 

AI system ndude IS Mirhs 
on arte marten are 
DOS 401 





1* RAM suppled, upgradeable to 4Mx 8028?" Co-Processor socket 

4CMi 24ms Hart rJwe. 2x AT ard 1x XT free expansion slots. Mouse. 

GBrf a tel Word choce of 1x 525" floppy cr tx 35' tinppy 



Mono VGA £734.99 
Colour VGA £839.99 
Colour S-VGAE 839.99 



249.99 
269.99 
269.99 



^ivtjFtAMsupfi^ipcriteir^toaMuaosa/sxCo-f^rxBs^ 

socket 40MS 2*ns Hard drive 4x AT and tx XT free expansion sbls. 
Maae, choce oj * 525" floppy or tc 35' floppy. 



The phitps 15" FST Tv includes: remote control. Scart input 60 tuner 
presets, sleep timer and Fastext. AI displays include Scart cable. 
Deduct EK> from Monitors only, if bought with computer. The Ph»ps 
8833 comes with full 12 months on site warranty. 

Phone for other cables and Switch boxes etc 



2M> FWM suppSed, upg/adeable to tJM). 80387 Cto^Processor 

socket 401* 24ms Hard drve. 4x AT and 1x XT free expansai slots. 

Mouse, tx 525 - Boppy and tt 3B toppy 



4Mb RAM supplied, upg;a*«lile to KMj. 32K ftast cache RAM 

80387 Q>-Processor scckel 40M) 24ms Hard drfcie, 4x AT and 1x 

XT free expansbn stots, Mouse, tt 525' fbppy and tx 3.S [loppy. 



Mono VGA £1049.99 
Colour VGA £1159.99 
Colour S-VGA£t259.99 



Mono VGA £1259.99 
Colour VGA E136&99 
Colour S-VGAE1469.99 



Mono VGA £1789.99 
Colour VGA £188999 
Colour S VGA£t999,99 



you c«m phone your Access or Vi 
■ details or send a cheque/postal 
orders n m de pay a hie to Ladbroke 
Computing International. Please 
allow sufficient clearance time for cheques. 





A 




a 


card 1 


Jrk 








VIM 


F^ 



(0772) 203166 Fax 561071 

Shop &»M ardor premoes 33 OmslMRoiidPiBStuiUma^^ 

930am to 500pm. Ptonos answered from OOOtm Dsefar erxptriBBWBlam. Ladbroke Ckxnputiio 
WernatonB7garrar^rpnB«ieoftterloniMhr»6grgiJr»l^ 



22 



AMIGA ANSWERS 



continued from page 21 

As far as fixes are concerned I've got 
some good news and some bad 
news. The good news is that this 
particular 'nasty' has been eliminated 
with WorkBench 2. The bad news is 
that there is no current official 
WorkBench 1.3 fix from 
Commodore, nor is there likely to be. 
If there is a PD fix (and I doubt very 
much if there is) I haven't heard of it. 
My advice? Hang on in there 
because WorkBench 2 is only just 
around the corner! PAO 



Composing poser 

I am a semi-professional 
musician and am looking for a 
piece of MIDI software (similar 
to CB Lab's Notator for the ST) 
to enable me to 
arrange /com pose music for 
the various bands and 
ensembles that I play in, I was 
thinking of buying Pro 24 
Amiga or Bars & Pipes 
Professional. Could you tell me 
if one of these would be 
suitable, or is there a more 
suitable piece of software? 

C B Willard 

St Leonards On Sea 

East Sussex 



If you are looking to build a C-Lab- 
quality Creator/Nofafor-type 
sequencing and score producing 
package on the Amiga, then forget it. 
At the moment there isn't anything 
that even comes close. The Amiga 
MIDI scene, despite everything you'll 
read elsewhere, still has a long way 
to go before it catches up with the 
Atari ST. This has nothing to do with 
one machine being better than the 
other (because we all know that the 
Amiga is the better machine) it's 
simply that there is far more good 
MIDI software available for the ST 
than there is for the Amiga. 

As far as your two choices go, 
Steinberg's Pro 24 Amiga is a good 
enough sequencer, but it only offers 
limited score display and there are 
no score editing facilities at all. Blue 
Ribbon Soundwork's new Bars & 
Pipes Professional is another very 
capable sequencer, but I'm afraid 
that its notation/score handling 
capabilities bear no comparison with 
the C-Lab's integrated offerings. To 
my mind at least, Bars and Pipes 
Professional is best regarded as a 
creative compositional sequencer, not 
a combined work-horse 
sequencer/notator package. 

The most sophisticated Amiga 
notation package comes from Dr T 
and is called Copyist Professional. 
This can certainly handle the notation 
side of your work, but be warned - 



you will not get the 

notation/sequencing integration 
benefits that are possible with the 
Macintosh/Atari-ST alternatives. 

If you go for the Copyist you'll 
still need a sequencer package and, 
to be honest, I'd stick with something 
like Dr T's KCS - it has stood the test 
of time, is well supported, and it's 
also probably the best Amiga 
sequencer for using live on stage Its 
song mode options allow you to load 
and save sets of songs (up to 1 6 at a 
time) and select them in any order 
instantaneously PAO 



Well, you've covered it pretty well so 
far yourself! 

The amount of RAM you need 
will depend upon the titling program 
you wish to run, and it will also 
govern the size of animation files you 
can play back directly from the 
Amiga. If you are looking at buying 
a second-hand A500, make sure that 
it has 1 Mb of chip RAM (Fatter 
Agnus Chip) on board, and that it is 
actually enabled (Commodore 
shipped some machines with the chip 
in, but not fully enabled]. This can be 
checked with the AVAIL command 
from the CLI. 

If you buy a new machine, you 
will not have this problem as they are 
all fitted with the new chip. 1Mb of 
chip RAM is necessary to run 
programmes such as Scala. I would 
recommend that you look at adding 
at least 2Mb of fast RAM to the 
Amiga, as then you'll be able to load 
background images behind text, 
playback animations (which can 
require large amounts of RAM to 
play smoothly) and so on, RAM 
prices are now much less than they 
used to be. A second disk drive 
would also be extremely handy. 

With regard to genlocks, you 
have a wide choice at an even wider 
variety of prices. Since I don't know 
your requirements for features and 



Imposing problem 

I am interested in video titling 
and require the super- impose 
facility. I have been tofd that 
the Amiga is the machine for 
this purpose. I also know that 
I need a Genlock to be able to 
superimpose and added 
memory for the A500 and 
obviously a titling program. I 
need advice on anything else 
that may be necessary that 
otherwise will not come to 
light until after I have started, 
so I can estimate the expense 
and consider other options. 

G L Thornton 
Horsham 

West Sussex 



output quality, I would advise that 
you try a few out before you buy. 
And you don't always get what you 
pay for, so be careful. You might 
consider a Genlock that allows you 
to fade between the Amiga and 
video signals, so that you can fade 
graphics on and off the video. 

On the software side, you'll need 
a good titling package (or two, since 
you may find that there isn't one that 
does all you need). Look for qualify 
before features - video titling often 
doesn't require you to do much more 
than scroll a set of words up the 
screen - but if it looks jumpy you'll 
wonder why you bothered. As with 
most things Amigan nowadays, there 
are plenty of choices - read reviews 
and ask a reputable Amigd dealer. 
You'll also want some additional 
software, especially a paint package 
such as Deluxe Paint III, which would 
be very useful for making logos, 
artwork and two-dimensional 
animations, and a good collection of 
fonts [of which there are many 
available- both in the Public Domain 
and commercially), A font editing 
package, such as Calligrapher, will 
come in handy if you ever need to 
design your own fonts. 

I think that's certainly more than 
enough to get you started and 
running for a good while before 
you'd need to consider buying 
anything else. Happy titling. GW 






Fed up 

I know that FD files on the 
EXTRAS disk can be converted 
to .BMAP files to be used as 
libraries in Basic, but what can 
the FD files be used for as they 



TV or not TV? 

Using IV Text on an A500, can 
it be made to scroll? Can pages 
be saved to be edited at a later 
date? Jf so, how? 

T A Carrick 
Newquay 
Cornwall 



JV Text is one half of a pair of 
programs, the other half being TV 
Show. TV T&xt is used to create the 
pages of text, shadows and 
backgrounds etc, which are then 
animated using TV Show. So the 
answer to the scrolling part is no, it 
can't. Pages con be saved to be 
edited at a later dote - refer to your 
manual for full instructions. If you want 
to do scrolling text, why not look at 
buying a dedicated package such as 
Big Alternative Scro/fer? GW 



originally come on the EXTRAS 
disk? And what does FD stand 
for anyway? 

L A Schorah 
Liverpool 

Mersey side 



FD stands for Function Description 
and that, incidentally, is exactly what 
these files provide. In short they 
provide details of the library 
functions and the 68000 processor 
registers which must be used to hold 
the arguments (parameters) passed to 
the function. If, for example, you look 
inside the graphicsjib.fd file you'll 
see this sort of thing: 

LoadRGB4 (viewport, colors, coun 

t> (AO/A1.D0) 

InitRastPort (rastPort) (Al) 

InitVPort (viewport ) { AG ) 

MrgCop(view) (Al) 

MakeVPort (view, viewport ) ( AO /A 

i) 

LoadV'iew(view) (Al) 

In this case, LoadRGBIJ, InitRastPortf) 
etc, are graphics library function 
names and the AO, Al and DO are 
the address and data registers in 
which the library routines expect to 
find their parameters. 

FD Files are not converted to 
.BMAP files and then used as 
libraries. The .BMAP file is just a 
modified 'function description' file - it 
is used to provide the above interface 
details in a form which allows Basic's 
LIBRARY statement to access the 
Amiga's system libraries. 

FD files do have other uses. C 
programmers, for instance, can use 
them to create #pragma statements 
for generating in-line subroutine calls 
to external libraries. PAO 



Amiga v 

I have a lot of 35mm 'colour 
transparencies, up to 33 years 
old, taken with Agfa Colour 
film, some of them very faded. 
I wish to import these slides 
into a computer using Tamron 
Fotovix and there upgrade the 
colours to something like the 
original, and then output them 
on to video tape mixed with 
text and music. 

Can you help please? 

T H Connell 

Whitstable 

Kent 



^Y:i 



As I understand it, the Tamron 
Fotovix is a £500+ dedicated device 
for transferring 35 mm transparencies 
or negatives onto video, with the 
ability to provide a degree of colour 

continued on pnge 24 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 



23 



AMIGA ANSWERS 



continued (ram page 23 

correction by using □ joystick to 
adjust the relative levels of red, green 
and blue in the resulting video signal. 
So it would appear that you'll 
already be some (if not all) of the 
way there without going near a 
computer. If the Tamron's video 
output is to your liking then you 
should be able to link it up to a 
computer such as the Amiga, via a 
Genlock unit, and use a paint or 
titling package to overlay the text you 
require before recording the whole 
lot on to tape. Take care that you use 
the highest picture resolution (hi-res 
640 x 51 2) in order to get the 
crispesl looking text. Try to avoid 
HAM mode for text. 

But if the transparencies are in 
need of a serious colouring job, then 
you'll have to electronically process 
them. Unfortunately, this will lead to 
further complications and you'll 
experience some loss of quality (as 
video and computers such as the 
Amiga cannot fully reproduce the 
fine grain of film). 

To carry out the processing, you 
first need to digitise (electronically 
grab) the image in HAM mode 
(4096 colours) by taking the video 
output from the Folovix ond passing it 
through a digitiser such as Digiview 
Gold and a colour splitter to convert 
the video signal into the red, green 
and blue signals required by 
Digiview. This image can then be 
saved and manipulated by a 
processing program such as Pixmate. 
This work will take time and needs a 
serious amount of experimentation 
and patience to achieve the results 
you require, especially if you make 
different adjustments to each slide. 

Once the images are processed, 
you'll need to output them from the 
Amiga to video tape and then bring 
the taped images back through a 
Genlock to caption them (and lose a 
generation of quality on the way) - 
this is because putting text onto HAM 
images will often cause messy- 
looking artifacts to appear. 

Once you've finally edited your 
transparencies onto video [and I'm 
presuming that if you're going to all 
this trouble you'll be using good 
quality equipment) then all you have 
to do then is to add your soundtrack. 
I wish you the best of luck. GW 

Compugraphk fonts 

Does a word processor exist 

that uses Com pug rap hie Fonts? 

Carl Beech 

Stoke On Trent 

Staffs 



calculate and display, and they take 
up an awful lot of memory, 
particularly at large point sizes. 

Although Workbench 2, and 
therefore every program that runs 
under it, will support CG fonts 
(whoops, that's supposed to be a 
secret), which means word 
processors will be able to display 
them, these WPs won't be able to 
output CG fonts because they have 
been written either to output bitmap 
fonts or to use the printer's own built- 
in character sets. 

Your best bet is to first buy 
yourself a fast, dedicated word 
processor - I mean one thot doesn't 
support graphics in any way - 
something like Pretext 5, and then 
buy PageSetter II, a cheap but very 
powerful black-and-white DTP 
program which supports CG fonts. If 
you shop around, these two together 
will set you back less than £150 and 
in my opinion this combination is a 
vastly superior package to any of the 
newfangled 'word publishers', such 
as ProWrite or Excellence!. JW 

\-.y.-:. ^^m :::/.:.■ 



No. Even with a 68030 processor, 
Compugraphic fonts take time to 



Going for it 

I have an A500 with a 0.5Mb 
RAM upgrade and extra 
floppy drive, and o daisy- 
wheel printer. My wife used to 
do DTP work on a Mac and is 
now contemplating going 
freelance. Do we upgrade my 
Amiga system - get a hard 
drive, Mac emulator, decent 
monitor and a laser printer - 
perhaps even going as far as 
getting a 1 500 or 2000; or do 
we leave the system alone 
and buy a Mac and laser 
printer entirely dedicated to 
my wife's needs? Either way 
requires a substantial 
investment and we naturally 
want to be sure thot we are 
buying the most effective 
system for our money. 

The only Mac emulator I've 
seen advertised is A-Max. Is it 
any good - does it turn your 
Amiga into an exact replica of 
a Mac? Will the disks and data 
from it be able to be used on a 
real Mac? What exactly is the 
difference between the A-Max 
and A-Max with 1 28K ROMs 
at nearly twice the price? 

What do I need to do to the 
Amiga to get the speed of 
operation up to that of a Mac 
when working with large 
volumes of data stored on a 
hard disk? 

To what extent is hard disk 
capacity and RAM capacity 
going to affect speed, or do 1 
need to start mucking about 
with faster processors, 'which 
I'd rather avoid if it means I'm 



going to have to get my hands 
dirty wielding a soldering iron 
and risk destroying the 
computer by making a clumsy 
error? 

Gareth Looker 

South borough 

Kent 



You sound like you are serious about 
desktop publishing, so I won't mess 
about telling you the cheapest way to 
do things. As you soy, it requires a 
substantial investment, 

The Amiga to go for is probably 
the 1 500, which is extremely good 
value at £999 including monitor, 
second floppy drive and a valuable 
software package. But you'll need a 
hard drive for storing all that DTP 
data, the larger the better. The 
beauty of the Amiga 1500 is that 
you can buy a hard drive on a card 
(a hard card) which fits into one of 
the slots inside the case. You'll need 
a hard drive controller as well. Most 
hard cards come with a controller on 
board, Talk to Almathera Systems 
about this (081 683 641 8). The 
company carries a large range of 
hard drives and controllers and are 
very knowledgeable on this subject. 

Faster processors, such as the 
A2630 (68030/68882 with 4Mb of 
32 bit ram on board), can also be 
fitted into the 1 500 with no wiring or 
soldering. You simply open up the 
case (five screws) and push the card 
into into an easily accessible slot. 

It may be worth contacting Calco 
Software, which supplies complete 
Amiga systems, and save yourself the 
bother of collecting and fitting the 
various bits yourself. 

As for A-Max, yes, it is very good 
and does turn your Amiga into an 
exact replica of a Mac. You will be 
able to swap data disks between the 
Amiga and the M,ac at will, although 
swapping program disks between the 
two machines may infringe the 
copyright of the program in question, 

I strongly suggest you see a 
demonstration of A-Max in action 
before deciding; there's bound to be 
someone displaying it at the 1 6-Bit 
Fair at Novotel, Hammersmith, in 
July. Or try Power Computing (0234 
2701 33), which is in Bedford. The 
version you want is A-Max II Plus, the 
one on a card that fits inside the 
Amiga 1 500/2000. 

A-Max is distributed in the UK by 
Entertainment International (0268 
541126). JW 



increase its gomes playing 
power. I also intend to utilise 
the A500 by purchasing a PC 
Emulator and have looked at 
two: the KCS Powerboard and 
ATonce board. The ATonce 
board is cheaper and I won't 
have to remove the extra 
512k expansion, but is it as 
good as the KCS system? Will 
you be reviewing PC 
emulators in the near future? 
KD Green 
Thornaby 
Cleveland 



You must have read our minds! Turn 
to page 67 for a review of the KCS 
Powerboard; a review of the ATonce 
will follow in next month's issue. CR 



:,;';-;-;/:;; ;!; 



Power poser 

I purchased an Amiga 500 last 
year for my son and have 
installed a 512k expansion 
unit in the computer to 



Q 

Round in circles 

I am unable to load the printer 
driver for the EpsonQ (or any 
other for that matter) using the 
Extras 1 .3 disk. Using the 
Install Printer command in the 
Utilities drawer and following 
the screen prompts, I end up 
with the message 'Now 
copying your printer choice to 
devs/printers'. The machine 
seems to go into an endless 
loop of prompting 'Please 
replace Workebench 1 .3' then 
'Please replace Extras 1.3'. If 
you use the cancel selection it 
presents either 'Error during 

continued an page 26 



I SEE NO TIPS 

Don't need our help? Reckon 
you can do a better job of 
giving advice and tips on a 
subject? Well, do iti As well 
as asking for advice, we 
want you to give it too. If 
you have discovered a useful 
tip or two for any program, 
hardware, language etc, then 
send it to us and if it's any 
good we will use it on the 
Amiga Answers page and 
bung you £5 in return. If you 
think we have got an answer 
wrong, or have failed to give 
the full picture, then give us 
what you think is the right 
answer - we might even 
cough up some cash for that 
too. So don't just sit there, 
get tipping and help out your 
fellow Amiga owners. Send 
them to: Amiga Tips, Amiga 
Shopper, 30 Monmouth 
Street, Bath BA1 2BW. 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 »JUNE 1991 



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25 



AMIGA ANSWERS 



continued from page 24 

copy. Do you wont to try 
again?' or 'Now choose this 
printer using preferences'. 
Whatever the result, when I go 
to preferences the printer is 
not available as a choice. 

Similarly, if I use CLI and 
input 'COPY "Extras 
1 ,3:devs/printers/EpsonQ" to 
devs; printers' by following the 
screen prompts, it ends up 
again in a loop using the two 
messages as before, if I cancel 
this time the message 'Error 
while Reading' followed by 
'Destination file 
"devs/printers/EpsonQ" 
removed. 

Mark Burch 

thetford 

Norfolk 



I'm afraid you will just have to be 
more patient, It takes something like 
fourteen disk swaps to install the 
EsponG printer driver. You can 
speed it up a bit by using the CLI - 
you weren't too far off yourself - but 
by copying the file onto the RAM: 
disk before putting it onto the 
Workbench. To do this, type: 

COPY "Extras 

1.3 : devs /print ers/EsporiQ" to 

ram: 

When this is done, put your 
Workbench disk into the drive (it 
must be write-enabled, of course) and 
type the following: 

COPY ram:EpsonQ to 
devs : printers 

Now you can go into the printer 
selection of Preferences and choose 
the EpsonG driver. CR 






To do this, you have to make use of 
AmigaBasic's facilities for calling 
system libraries. The interfaces to 
these libraries are stored on the 
extras disk in the FD1 ,3 directory. In 
this case, the necessary file is 
'dosjib.fd', because this contains the 
'Execute' Function which allows 
AmigaDOS commands to be called. 
This must be converted into a '.bmap' 
file for use by Basic. This is done by 



running the 'ConvertFD' program in 
the BasicDemos directory. The 
resulting File, 'dos.bmap' should be 
placed in the libs directory oFyour 
System disk. Thus a Basic program to 
use the 'Execute' function is: 

DECLARE FUNCTION Execute! 

LIBRARY 

LIBRARY "dos. library" 

x=Execute& ( SADD ( "dir " +CHR$ ( ) 

), 0, 0) 

LIBRARY CLOSE 

The function 'SADD' returns the 
address of the string (which holds the 
required AmigaDOS command] for 
use by the Execute Function. The lost 
character in the string must have an 
ASCII code of (a null terminator) to 
comply with the C string conventions 
that AmigaDOS expects. The last two 
zeros in the call refer to the input and 
ouptul channels to be used by the 
call: in this case the standard input 
and output channels. 

This program will only work from 
the CLI or shell, not from Workbench. 
To do this, open the shell and type 
"extras 1 ,3:AmigaBasie" (the quotes 
are necessary because of the space), 
then proceed as normal. Note that 
any output produced from the 
AmigaDOS command will not 
appear on Basic's output window, 
but in the shell window. 

With the PLAY command this 
should not be a problem, Replace 
'dir' in the above string with 'play' 
and any arguments that it needs. CR 



When I'm calling you 

When using AmigaBasic I can't 
call a file or command from 
disk. Could you please print 
an example of calling up the 
'PLAY' command from 'within 
the C directory. 

K Cousins 

Leeds 

West Yorks 



No, it works fine. Make sure to use 
the correct character for the vertical 
bar (it is the shifted character to the 
right of the equals key) and leave a 
space between 'ed' and 'ram:', CR 



Typing trouble 

Could anyone tell me if the 
command on page 1 13 of Get 
The Most Out Of Your Amiga 
by Damien Noonan in the 
section 'Stand alone Notepad' 
is printed correctly? It says: 

COPY 
| c : copy I makedi r I instal 1 1 ed 

I ram: 

I But when I type this in I get a 
'Bad arguments' error. Is this 
a misprint as I hove met other 
people with the same error? 

E Hitchen 

St Helens 

Mersey side 



from USA to GB in Pen-Pai. 

On attempting to go in to 
the SetMap on Pen-Pai, there 
is a message displayed: 'No 
KeyMap specified in icons 
TOOLTYPES eg enter 
KEYMAPsusa, in info menu.' 
What do I need to do so 
that the keyboard can be 
altered to display the pound 
instead of the dollar sign. 

Fred Orders 

Mid-Glamorgan 

South Wales 



Bored with the USA 

I would be very much obliged 
if you could help me 'with to 
change the key configuration 



Having dusted down my copy of Pen- 
Pai , it turns out that the procedure 
you require is really rather simple. 
What you have to do is click once on 
the SetMap icon. Then, with the right 
mouse button depressed, move to the 
top left of the Workbench screen and 
a menu should appear. Move the 
pointer down it until the word 'Info' is 
selected, then release the button, 
A window with several boxes 
inside it will be displayed. Click 
inside the box marked 'TOOL 
TYPES', and then just type the 
following line: 

KEYMAP =gb 

(It is important to put the word 
'KEYMAP' in capitals.) Then press 
RETURN and click on the save 
gadget. Now, double clicking on the 
SetMap icon will configure your 
keyboard as a GB one. CR 



Wild at cards 

t have found a file on a PD 
disk hidden in a sub-directory. 
I would like to view the file 
but cannot as I can't type the 
file name; it has a strange 
apostrophe in it which is 
different to the one above the 
TAB key on the Amiga. Is there 
a way I can use a wildcard to 
edit (ED) the file? 

Stephen Taylor 

Welwyn 

Herts 



No, Your best bet is to make a copy 
of the file first. To do this using 
wildcards you must copy it onto a File 
that already exists. Make a 
temporary file on the RAM: disk with: 

ECHO >RAM:tmp "hello" 

Then copy the file (substituting the ? 
wildcard for the untypable 
character). Eg: 

COPY dfO : £red?bloggs RAM:tmp 

Now you can copy the 'tmp' file to 
wherever you want, giving it a more 
sensible name. CR t;Vt 



Amiga Tips 

Daniel Moore, of Ipswich, 
Suffolk, sent in this handy 
little fix for users of Deluxe 
Paint Ik 

If your Amiga crashes when 
you load a picture and then 
try to edit the palette in 
Deluxe Paint II, don't panic: 
help is at hand. The problem 
seems to be caused by a 
known bug in Kicks tart 1 .2 
and 1 .3. It can be fixed by 
the Setpatch command, in 
the c directory of the 
Workbench disk. It is 
executed automatically 
when Workbench loads, but 
not when booting from 
Deluxe Paint. 

To copy it, preferably on 
to a back-up of the Deluxe 
Paint disk, load Workbench 
and double click on the CLI 
or Shell. Then type the 
following (pressing RETURN 
after every line): 
■ 

COPY c/copy to ram: 
COPY e/setpatch to ram: 
COPY c/ed to ram: 

Then insert the DPaint II disk 
and type: 

KAM:COPY ram: setpatch to 



Now to get the startup 
sequence to run the fix, it 
must first be edited. Type: 

RAM;ed dfO:s/ startup- 



After a few moments of disk 
activity, the DPaint II 
startup- sequence will 
appear. Type: 

SETPATCH >N1L: 

The NIL: part of it takes the 
message that SetPatch 
normally prints and gets rid 
of it - many commands in 
the startup-sequence use 
this to prevent lots of 
pointless text appearing. 

To use the new startup 
sequence, press Esc, 
followed by X and then 
RETURN. Next time you boot 
with the DPaint disk, the 
bug will hove been well and 
truly patched. 

Cheers muchly for the tip 
Daniel. There is a fiver on its 
way to you. 



26 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 OJUNE 1991 



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Commodore A590 hard drive £279.99 

Mb upgrade with clock £37.99 

Sony branded disks with sony box (20} .£19.99 

Full range of joysticks from .£4.99 

Digiview Gold £139.99 

Citizen Swift 9 Colour printer £199 99 

Citizen Swift 24 Colour printer £29999 

Star LC 24200 £299.99 

H.P. PaintJet 363QA £789.99 

Ordering FONT* (Oil) 343 0419 
6 tint*. Make cheques, P.O's, 
Building Society cheques 
payable to 

?r 14 Station Rd, 
Fmdiley, London 

man 




KCS POWER PC BOARD 

THE PC EMULATOR FOR 
AMIGA 500 

DUE TO RECOVERY OF DEVELOPMENT COSTS 






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AMIGA 
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Only £1 99.99 ex VAT (234.99 inc VAT) 
COMPLETE 



Run professional MS-DOS software on your Amiga 500 at 
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SPEED - OUTSTANDING (faster than many 286 AT's (Amiga 
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COMPATIBILITY - EXCELLENT (Alt the software I tried ran 
perfectly - Computer Shopper Feb/91) 

CONVENIENCE - A DODDLE (For a plain plug 'n' go pc 

emulator with no installation hassle there is 
no competition - Computer Shopper Feb/91) 

MEMORY - AMIGA 1MB RAM + 51 2K RAM disk, 
PC 704 KB + rnin 192 KB ems 

DISK SUPPORT - Floppy 3.5, 5.25, H-D A590, (other hard 
drive support to follow - software upgrade) 

VIDEO SUPPORT - MGA - Hercuies - GGA 16 coi (dynamic) 
(EGA -VGA soon) 

ALL UPGRADES ARE SOFTWARE BASED 



VALUE 
JUST SEE FOR YOURSELF 



INCLUDED WITH KCS BOARD 
MS-DOS 4.01 , GW Basic, Shell 
inc manuals (not GW Basic) 
Phoenix DOS help 
1 MB on board memory plus clock 
KCS PC Emulator 

TOTAL 



WORTH 
£80.00 

£55.00 
£64.00 
£35.99 

£234.99 



"So what's the point in having a 'wizzo processor if it's no faster" 
(Amiga Computing Jan/91) - and invalidates your guarantee 



Compatibility is excellent but no-one can guarantee every single 
program available, therefore if your purchase depends on a partic- 
ular program, please ask us first or send in a copy of the program. 
(With suitable S.A.E. if to be returned). Price subject to change 
without notice. 




Bitcon Devices Ltd. 

83 BEWICK ROAD, GATESHEAD, 
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FAX: (091) 4901918 



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STARTER PACK 

Full Amiga 500 pock, WITHOUT Bntmon/Flight/Screen Gems 
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Best Star Trek and other top ten games, Arcade Classics, Board 
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Processor, Spreadsheet, Database, 
Jeyirkk 



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£329 



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' f DLL AMIGA 500 PACK, PLUS: POSTMAN PAT, SNAP, 

SNAKES AND LADDERS, IUDO 

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£ to S years, or 8+ years) 5 lt> 7 yenre, or 7-t- yeors) 

1 1 souring OS educihanol gomes with beautiful pictures, exciting animation 

ond musk that help to develop number, mid and other skills. 

Op to i skill to*. Conform to Notions! Currkufeim requirements. 

HOBBYTE EDUCATIONAL PACK, featuring up ro 12 'learn while 

you ploy' gomes (varies according to age group} 

HOBBYTE 30 EASY CHILDREN'S GAMES, 10 disc pott 

inc; Train Sol Game, Ftehhier. . ft 

JOYSTICK 1 MB Amiga £379 

ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS SOFTWARE 
PACK for existing Amiga users tJJ 



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EDUCATIONAL PACK 

Available only to educalknol users - see note helm* 
full Amiga 500 pack, plus A501 SI ZK RAM expansion plus 
any ONE of Hie following (pleose slate first aod setood choice) 
Prawrite WP, InfoFile spreadsheet, Deluxe Point II, Deluxe Print, 
Music Moose, LOGO, Talking Turtle, BBC Emulator + S BBC 
programmes, MIDI Interface, Superbose Personal, Maxiplon SOU, 
Dr. T"s HID! Recording Sludio _ „»»« ■ •>>* 

£299 plus VAT 

Important Nor*: This offer is strictly r>nSy available Eft LEAs, kKmIs, 
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I days frtum dkrie of flrder._ 



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GAMES PACKS 

BATPACK, SCREEN GEMS FULL AMIGA SOD 
PACK, PLUS: Batman Pack Software: Batman, F18 Interceptor, 

New Zealand Story, DeluxePaint II 
OR Flight of Fanatsy software: F29 (Motor, Rainbow Island, 

Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters, Deluxe 

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OR Screen Gems software: Shadow of the Beast II, 

Back to the Future II, Days of Thunder, Nightbteed, 

Deluxe Paint II 
any 1 , 1 MB Amiga £369 any 1, IMS Amiga £399 
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ANY SOFTWARE UPGRADE PACK 
for existing Amiga owners - - * £39 



FIRST STEPS 

EXPANDED EDUCATIONAL/ APPLICATIONS PACK 
FULL AMIGA SOO PACK, PLUS: 

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HOBBYTE 30 EASY CHILDREN'S GAMES, iodise pock 
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SOFTWARE UPGRADE PACK C 1 

for existing Amiga owners 1 1 77 



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• 29 blank disss aid 80 capotily linkable disc box 

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Ptejffi *ee under "Extras' for tH/Html eapnnsm 



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COMMODORE I084S OR PHILLIPS 8833 COLOUR MONITOR. 
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IS DISC HOBBYTE PD GREATS PACK, including Viiui Killers, the 
BEST Star Trek Computet CaiftoJ, Breakout ml corenuction St, Stead end other 
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Horns puck irchjiSiw, Word Processor/Spell Check, Spreadsheet, falnkse 
Dust Cover, 10 Blank Discs, Disc Boi, Mouse Mat, MiaraswHckJ 
[Turbo Joystick 1MB Amiga £389 

SI 2K Amiga £369] 



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EDUCATIONAL/APPLICATIONS PACK 
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AS01 51 2K RAM expansion, MIDI Interface, Deluxe Paint II, 
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HOBBYTE EDUCATIONAL PACK, bluing up to 1 2 

'teem while you ploy' gomes (varies necevding to age group) 

HOBBYTE 30 EASY CHILDREN'S GAMES, 

10 disc pock inc; Train Set Gome, flashbiec 

JOYSTICK £519 

CLASS OF THE JOS SOFTWARE UPGRADE 

PACK for existing Amiga owners tl V? 




AMIGA 1500 

Twin Floppy 1MB RAM, Mouse, expansion as B2CKJ0, NB4SDI Monitor wife 
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IS DISC HOBBYTE PD GREATS PACK, mludiig Virus tiers. 
the BEST 5tnr Trek, Computer Conifer, Breakout ond censtmctioii Kit, Bfeiard 
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WITH T.V. MODULATOR MO MONITOR £699 

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Slwlt200rok>ur printer with loads £195 

Sim iQ4-2ffl colour prmletwMi lends £299 

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Often Swift 24 pi colour printer wHh louts ■ -£W9 

C1M 1270 ink jet prinUr -£119 

Cmmtdore 10S45DI or Philips 8333 Mkll Stereo iskwr Monitor, with l™ds - £227 
Second exlernal 3.5' drive with dmsycholn mrouph pwt and dhchis swirck ■ - f59 

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ASM Hod drive - £269 

fanigo 590 thud drive +ertrn2M! £329 

10 blank discs 100S guaranteed with PIN no m box £6.99 

50 blank disc 100*. guaionteed wilh PIN no Slt-H 

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A2088 IT Bridge Boord. 540K. MS DOS 3.3 + 5.2F drive . f™ 2000/1500- - £199 
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A205! 8MB RAM exp boord, populotedto 2MB, far 2000/1500 ,£199 

BUP8M8 RAM up bond, nop In IMtb 2000/1 5*0 £349 

«S30 88030 nnl, ponilMed M 2MB tor 2000/1 500- £W9 

A209 1/2094 40MB SCSI Mont Hord Drive lor 2000/1500 £499 

2091 /52MB SCSI llmSQiiwiliimHDlllfoi 2000/1500 -£399 

2091/1O0MB 5C51 MlmS Quonlum HO A8 lor 2000/1500 £5W 

209 1 /21DMB5G!Hm5Quiutturo HO ABIoi 2000/1 5*0- -M99 

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T O U R BRANCHES 



ART ON TRIAL 





Graphics guru Phil South ventures 
bravely into the shooting gallery 
to discover which 2D paint 
program is best for your needs 



BEGINNERS 



Wading through all the paint 
packages mentioned in this 
month's test, you may be 
forgiven for being a little bit 
baffled as to which one is really 
right for your needs. So here is a 
quick roundup of the best of the 
bunch, and the reasons why one 
is better than another for your 
requirements - from a kid who 
can't read this paragraph to a 
pro user with complex needs. 

Tops for tots 

Kids love colour, and there's 
more than enough colour in an 
Amiga for anyone, large or 
small. Just about any program 
will do for small children, with 
adult supervision, but the best 
piece of software would be 
Centaur's My Paint, a sort of 
simple colouring book program. 
The simplicity of My Paint means 
that a child can colour and re- 
colour the same thing over and 
over again without making a 
mess with crayons and paints. Of 
course, children like to make a 
mess and its foolish to expect 
otherwise, but for a break from 
prising crushed wax crayons out 
of the Axmins ter, My Paint is 
welcome alternative. 

Other programs of interest 
would be a HAM package for just 
splurging huge areas of colour all 
over the place, although memory 
constraints mean this is best done 
on a machine with I Mb of chip 
RAM, So if you have a late model 

continued on page 30 



There was a time when all art 
was done using things you 
could grasp, like paint, 
wood, clay, stone and 
artist's models, (Oops.) Anyway, in 
this new electronic age, the computer 
has rapidly become the favourite 
creative tool of choice and, although 
it is less obvious as a creative outlet 
for your abstract creative urges, the 
Amiga is well equipped to satisfy 
your needs, whatever they might be. 
A lot of you might not even have 
considered the Amiga as a creative 
tool and, though you may hove the 
odd drawing package around, you 
might not have a real use for it. 
Getting more out of your computer is 
what we're here for, so here is the 
Amiga Shopper roundup of what's 
what in the 2D graphics stakes. 

Why paint? 

Why should you need a graphics 
package? What if you can't draw, or 
you don't feel you have the skill to 

even pick it up? Well, the whole 
point about computers is that they 
amplify the skills we have, and that 
goes for every computing task. So in 
the same way that music sequencers 
expand the amount of instruments we 
can play at one time without falling 
over or prelzeling our fingers, 
graphics packages amplify our 
artistic skill in many directions. 

The thing is that you might not 
even know that you like drawing on 
a computer until you try it. Drawing 
using computers is so different from 
using paper and media like pencils 
and inks that the two are almost 
incomparable. If you don't use a 
graphics package then pick one up 
using our handy tables as o guide. 
You may find you've got a new 
hobby you thought was completely 
beyond your scope. As David 
Hockney put it, when given a 
Quantel Paintbox to play with: "The 
one thing I can compare it to is 
stained glass, as you have light 
coming through gloss at you. It's like 
painting with light." 

There are two kinds of graphics 
on the Amiga: structured and bitmap. 
Bitmap graphics in the standard 





"A multitude of 2D paint programs is 




available for the Amiga - the 


Ml j 


computer for high-quality, affordable 




graphics applications. Each software 


house will tell you theirs is best, so I'm 


here to give you my unbiased opinion 


W^iW?^ 


on which is the best buy for whatever 


■^ 1 ^T' jfe ^ 


purpose you have in mind/' 


W \ f\ f m 


Phil South 



Interchange File Format (IFF) are the 
most popular as they use the screen 
itself as the drawing medium, 
splashing colour and light across the 
screen and giving you access to all 
the Amiga's 4096 colours to create 
artwork that can just be shown on- 
screen or even printed out. Bitmaps 
ore very quick, comparatively small 



on the screen ot any size and printed 
out on a printer in superb, |aggie- 
free, smooth lines and tones. The 
trade off for all this superb quality is 
memory, as the instructions to redraw 
the picture take up a lot of memory 
and memory is at a premium in most 
systems. Just as points mean prizes, 
memory means money. For the 




Out-of-th is- world art is easy on your Amiga, and you don't have to pay 
astronomical prices to get off the ground. (Sack that caption writer -Ed.) 



in memory and colourful. But they ore 
really limited to being shown on the 
screen, or printed out quite small to 
conceal their jagged bitmap edges. 

Big equipment 

Structured drawings are more 
serious, and require a great deal 
more equipment to get the best from. 
Instead of merely drawing to the 
screen, the program takes notice of 
how you drew the picture on the 
screen. Instead of fust storing a 
bitmap image of the picture, the 
outlines and fill colours you used are 
stored, so the picture can be drawn 



purposes of this piece I'll be ignoring 
structured programs, but be sure I'll 
be looking at them another time. 

There are many different ways 
you can get graphics into your 
machine in the first place. Obviously, 
the best way to originate your 
graphics is to draw them by hand 
using the mouse. But unless you are 
either skilled at using a mouse or a 
good artist to start with, this can be a 
bit of a problem. So digitising is the 
first and most obvious way of getting 
around this. 

Devices exist that can take an 

continued on page 30 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1 991 



ART ON TRIAL 



continued (ram page 29 
image from □ video recorder or 
camera (see this month's Graphics 
column on page 54 for more details 
on that) and store it as an IFF file. 
Digitising is good for colour work, 
and, by using up-to-date digitisers, 
you can even get pure, almost 
photographic quality images. These 
can be treated with colour or moved 
about and altered in some other 
way, and the output can be printed 
off to a colour printer to give very 
sophisticated results. 

More often than not, however, 
digitised graphics will form the basis 
of a greater artwork. Which brings 
me to the second very interesting way 
of getting graphics in, and that is by 
drawing or tracing an image onto 
paper and using a hand scanner to 
turn it into an IFF file. This is good 
because you are effectively sketching 



"Many 2D paint 
programs feature 
animation among 
their list of tools" 



the image using a pen, but colouring 
and shading with the computer. A lot 
of artists who find the mouse a bit 
hard to cope with tend to find this 
process easier to handle, and the 
materials you need amount to about 
£1 50, plus whatever your graphics 
package costs. 

Other methods for getting 
graphics in, and out, of your 
computer include using a graphics 
tablet with a stylus - a favourite 
amongst artists more used to using a 
pen. The one big trouble with these is 
that, in the main, they are only 
available in the USA, although 
exchange rates being what they are, 
this is usually a good deal even with 
import duty etc. The pen-like stylus is 
employed on the blank surface of the 
tablet and the lines appear on- 
screen. It is feasible to place artwork 
on the pad and just trace it - that 
being a sort of manual digitising 
technique - but usually the idea is 
that you just draw on the pad and it 
comes out on-screen. 

2D or not 2D 

So what are these packages really 
like. The only way to tell is to try them 
all, so I did. Of course, the features 
you might want from a paint 
package depend on the purpose you 
have in mind for it. I've tried to 
identify the particular strengths and 
weaknesses of each so hopefully 
you'll get a good idea of which 
package is the right one for you. 



My Paint 




You can sanitise the splodgy mess that kids love to make with My Paint 



Centaur 

A nice, simple, brightly coloured 
package for kids, more like a big 
electronic colouring book than a real 
painting package. Having said that 
though, it does do this one simple job 
very well and as a first computer tool 
and an educational package it does 
have enormous benefits over the more 
complex art packages in its simplicity 
and colour. 

In use 

The program is deliberately 
constructed with noisy icons and other 
sorts of stuff that would irritate adult 
users and delight your average kid. 
The tools ore as much 'earcons' as 
icons, a concept that will (if it hasn't 
already) spill over into professional 



packages very soon. 'Earcons' is an 
idea by the same Xerox Palo Alto 
scientists that brought you the icon 

and WIMP environments. 

The icons are animated as well as 
sonically surprising, so will keep 
kiddies amused for hours, even if they 
aren't producing much in the way of 
drawings. The program features a 
palette of just 12 colours, although 
why this is isn't made clear. What 
happened to the other four colours? 

Conclusion 

My Paint is a nice bright intra to 
computer art, and I don't know a kid 
who wouldn't love it. It's mainly for 
quite young kids I would say, as after 
about eight I think they'd benefit from 
DPaint or something more serious. 



Checkout 



My Paint 

Ease Of Use 14/15 

Very easy to use, and it has to be, 
particularly in view ol its target usership. 

Nice friendly icons and very little to 
confuse even the dullest child. 

Speed 6/10 

Not as fast as its pro counterparts, but the 

users aren't going to be that fussy about 
how quickly the thing moves along. It 
doesn't handle any of the crazy memory- 
intensive graphics modes anyway, so no 
real speed problems as such. 

Output 4/ 1 

Print options on My Paint are a little 
spartan, giving you straight preferences 
printer support and naff all else. No re- 
sizing ond no aspect control. But then the 
child would probably eat it if it was there, 
so its no great loss. 

Graphics Handling 2/10 

IFF or wot? Well if you want 24-bit files 
and HAM forget it. II you just want to save 
little Timmy's daubs for posterity, then you 
can, so where's the problem. Oh yes and 
My Painf is NTSC only, so you can forget 
using the bottom of the screen tool 



flfuWfff 



Colour 5/ 1 

1 2 colours, all of them very bright to suit 
the younger set. You do have eight palettes 
to choose From however, so you con swap 
them around a littte bit. Not as good as 
choosing your own colours, but let's keep if 
simple for the poor lad or lassie. 

Text Editing 0/5 

Look the kid can't even read properly yet, 
and you want text editing in his electronic 
colouring book? 

Tools 6/10 

Not a big range of tools, but they are very 
easy to use and fun too, what with the 
noises and stuff. 

Documentation 4/ 1 

Just enough so you can tell nipper how to 
use the thing, but frankly you'd have to 
have your brain installed backwards it you 
couldn't work out how the package works 
within 10 seconds. 

Price Value 1 8/20 

Good value fun tor kiddies everywhere, 
and on excellent introduction to the Amiga 
computer for those sticky little fingers. (Urg. 
Maybe educational software is not such a 
good idea after oil.) 



59/100 



A great little program which, although light on features, is really heavy on tun. It's no 
great shakes in most other departments, but then it costs much less than other programs 
and Is intended as an extremely basic package for children. 



k continued from page 29 

adapted A500 or 
even a 2000, and 
your child is 
responsible enough not to batter 
your keyboard to death, then 
you can leave them to it. 

Painting with light 

There are two different types of 
users who want paint packages: 
those who want to draw and 
those who want to paint. 
Drawing is cleaner and much 
more lifelike. Painting, just like 
canvas and brushes, is more fluid 
and needs a larger palette so you 
can mix colours. 

HAM mode is the best tool for 
paintings and NewTek's Di'gi- 
Patnf 3 is my own tool of choice 
for this purpose, because of its 
speed and ease of use. The tools 
are very advanced and some 
astonishing special effects ore 
possible with the minimum of 
fuss. Shadows and the ability to 
map your images onto theoretical 
shapes make this the tops for FX, 
and the 'rub-thru' effect isn't 
easily done anywhere else. 

For more accurate colour 
drawings, for printout, DTP and 
especially on-screen graphics, the 
only choice must be DPaint III 
from Electronic Arts. DPaint is the 
classic Amiga graphics package, 
and although it's gone through 
three revisions since its original 
release, a user who used the first 
one could use the last without 
changing a thing. DPaint is still 
the only package I have 
permanently mounted on my 
hard disk, because I use it so 
much. I think the old chestnut 
about 'if it didn't exist someone 
would have to invent it' applies. 

Jag-free zone 

For jaggie-free illustrations there 
is only one choice, and that is 
Professional Draw 2.0 by Gold 
Disk. Other structured drawing 
packages may turn up 
eventually, but Pro Draw got in 
first and if s so advanced now 
that it's hard to imagine how any 
other newer package could 
compete. The Pro Draw 'clip' 

(ontinited on page 32 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 »JUNE 1991 



ART ON TRIAL 



PostScript 

A couple of the programs 
we looked at handle 
PostScript, a special page 
definition language written 
by Adobe Systems, 
designed to produce high 
quality half-toned output. 
The language sends what 
amount to programs - a 
stream of text instructions - 
to the printer, which 
interprets the commands 
and draws the picture on 
the printer at very high 
resolution. Express Paint 
handles PostScript, and so 
does Professional Draw, 
although you can actually 
add PostScript to any paint 
program by using public 
domain software. 

Ctax and IFF2PS are 
two such programs 
(available on the Fish disks 
or through bulletin boards}. 
They take an IFF file and 
turn mem into PostScript 
bitmap images. These files 
can then be sent to a 
PostScript printer, either by 
connecting a PS printer 
directly to the Amiga, or by 
converting the file to Apple 
Macintosh or PC format and 
sending it to a DTP Bureau. 



Display 
Categories 

There are four types of 
graphics display on the 
Amiga. 32-colour is the 
usual low-res screen format, 
and this assumes high-res 
16-colour and interlaced 
formats too. Some packages 
also feature 64 'halfbrife' 
mode, which is the same 
32-colour palette with 
another 32 of the same 
palette, but this time half as 
bright. (Stands to reason 
really.) HAM stands for Hold 
And Modify, and is a 
hardware trick in the Amiga 
that squeezes the whole 
4096 colours available on 
the Amiga onto the same 
screen. This is done by 
basing the colour of any 
one pixel on the one before 
it, which explains the 
woolly effect you get with 
it. 24-bit is the new 
standard and needs extra 
hardware. This gives you 
1 6 million colours, almost 
as many as you can see 
with your eye! 



Accolade 

A very basic package, without the 
kind of fluidity of control you expect 
and get with the likes of DPainl III. The 
tools are a little clumsy and the 
program leaves much to be desired in 
the features department. The program 
is very basic, and would suit someone 
who wants to try out art on the 
computer but can't afford to lash out 
the cash for a pro program. Novices 
would do well to look at this program, 
but try before you buy as you may 
find it lacking in the kind of whizz- 
bang graphics you bought your 
Amiga for. 

In use 

The program: is very light on features, 
almost to an annoying degree, and is 
almost like a big brother to My Paint, 
with a similar degree of simplicity. 
This is perhaps a good package For 
beginners, or even older children, as 
the tools are less basic than My Paint, 
and quite complex pictures can be 
built up with very little effort. 

The sample pictures were drawn 
by experts to make the package look 
good, so don't expect to reach that 
standard right away. One good 
feature is its magnify window which, 
of the cheaper packages, is one of the 
best. Its a half-screen window, giving 
you ample room to move around and 
draw minute details. And there are 
three levels of magnification, so you 
can adjust the amount of the picture 
you can see 

The program allows you to draw 
in either low-res or high-res, but no 
interlace or HAM is supported, 
meaning this is a low-memory 
program usable in 512K machines. 
32 colours are available - less than in 
many other packages - so the limited 
palette and screen resolution options 
place it in the beginners' bracket. 

Conclusion 

A cheap graphics program, written 
with the beginner in mind. But not so 
simple that you feel cheated. It is good 
value, but not to be confused with 
programs like DPaint or Digi-View. 

continued on page 32 



The Graphics Studio 




Wild and groovy results that would please any novice hippy are possible 
with The Graphics Studio, provided techno-fear can be overcome, man. 



Checkout 



The Graphics Studio 
Ease of use .9/15 

Not particularly intuitive, but a belter bet 
For the new user than something tike Pro 
Draw or DPaint. Nice and simple, but if 
you work at it you can produce some very 
nice work indeed. 

Speed 5/10 

No Speedy Gonzales, but at this level, 
speed is not the issue. Providing graphics 
at the right price for (he tentative computer 
artist is. 

Output 4/1 

Just like My Paint, this program only 

supports whatever printer you've got 
attached to the printer preferences 
program. You con"! dibble around with it 
either, just bang ouf a Ml frame and like it, 

Graphics handling 5/10 

IFFs or nothing it seems, but then again this 
won'f bother the new user, as he probably 
wouldn't know a brush or palette file if if 
bit him on rhe nose. 



^JrrtWfff 



Colour 7/10 

Only 32 colours, but it does have more 
ranges to set for colour cycling, 32 more, 
in fact, than any other program tested. 

Text editing 3/5 

You plonk the text cursor down and type, 
and you can actually edit the line before 
you type return or take ihe text mode off, 
so it's sufficient to do text. But that's it. 

Tools 6/10 

Three levefs of magnification is better thon 
both Express Paint and Digi-Painl. 

Documentation 6/ 1 

A 60-page ring bound manual takes you 
through the program and, although it's 
fairly comprehensive, I found it a bit hard 
to read. It does hove a index though for 
when you get stuck and all the information 
you want is in there if you can find it. 

Price value,. 16/20 

Same price as My Paint in most places I've 
seen. This is good value too, for the extra 
features you get for your money. 



61/100 



A very good beginners' program, and one which has a little niche all to itself in the 
market. Novices will do well to start here. 



Memories are made of chips 



One thing that often holds you back in using 
graphics applications is a lack of chip memory. 
This is the base level of memory installed 
in the machine when you buy it. The reason 
that chip memory is crucial is that this memory 
is used by the custom chips in the Amiga, 
including those that govern graphics. So if 
there isn't enough memory added to the 
system (expansion memory is called 'fast 
memory') then the computer simply can't 
handle the graphics. If the chip memory is 
doing all the work (that is, if you have no real 
fast memory to speak of) then the program 



either won't work properly, or in the cose of 
Pro Draw 2.0, will crash spectacularly. The 
only solution to this problem is to either: 
1 ) get a lot of fast memory to give the 
program a bit of headroom. 
2} get a fatter Agnus chip, which enables you 
to have more chip memory. 
3) get a fatter Agnus chips AND a tot of fast 
memory. Whichever way you slice it, you can't 
do ail possible graphics tasks on an 
unexpended Amiga without some risk of il 
falling over in o big heap. Sorry about that, 
but them's the breaks (screeech). 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 



31 



ART ON TRIAL 



DeluxePaint III 




Deluxe Paint shows science aping art at its most effective. Possibly the 
best art package available for the Amiga and certainly very impressive. 



continued from page 11 

Electronic Arts 

The undisputed king of the 2D 
programs, and now in its third 
incarnation, Deluxe Paint III is 
becoming something of a standard 
animation engine too. The only real 
drawback to this program is its lack of 
a HAM mode, meaning that you can't 
read or edit HAM mode pictures. You 
can, however, create pictures in all 
other Amiga resolutions from low-res 
two-colour pictures up to high-res and 
even 64 halfbrite-colour mode. 

In use 

The tools are very intuitive and a lot 
can be done using tool tricks, which 

augment your drawing talents beyond 
their usual limits. You can magnify the 
drawing and scroll around it in 
magnify mode, enabling you to draw 
very small and detailed drawings very 
easily, and indeed edit existing 
drawings with pixel -perfect precision, 
The great benefit of DPaint is that 
the page size can be altered to any 
size you like, and the image can be 
scrolled around at will. This means 
that big maps for games can be 



drawn and then fitted together, which 
has proved a boon for developers 
and home programmers alike. 

The magnify mode is the best on 
any graphics package I can think of, 
with 22 levels of magnification to 
choose from, allowing you to draw 
freehand or just pick out individual 
pixels at any size you want. 

Although just a 64-colour 
program, the animation, plus all the 
superb still graphic effects, put it head 
and shoulders above even the HAM 
programs. The animation side is well 
thought out, though a lot of the 
features are so well buried in the 
massive manual they might as well be 
undocumented. I recommend going 
through the docs with a fine-tooth 
comb if you want the best from it. 

Conclusion 

It's the best. Nobody has ever 
reviewed a graphics package without 
comparing it to DPaint. And no user I 
know is disappointed. You never here 
them say, "I wish it would da this". 

If you think you need a bit of 
muscle in your package, then buy 
DPaint III or you'll regret it. 

continued on page 36 



JARGON BUSTING 

BITPLANE /BITMAP: A bitplane is an orea of memory where every binary digit 

(or'bif) corresponds to a pixel on the screen. One bitplane represents 
a monochrome image, several can be overlayed (a bitmap] to 
represent a colour image, 

IFF: Interchange File Format is a means by which data from different 

graphics or sound sampling programs are saved in a compatible way. 

interleaved Bit map is the IFF sub-format in which graphics are stored. 

The jagged edges seen on diagonal lines, caused by the use of small, 

but finite rectangular pixels to make up a picture. 

National Television Standards Committee. Name for the TV colour 

coding system used in the USA. It has 525 horizontal lines, so 

programs running in NTSC mode leave the bottom portion of the 

screen blank, PAL is the British system. It has 625 fines. 

A picture element - one of the thousands of tiny rectangles that make 

up a computer screen. 

24-BIT GRAPHICS: Normally, the Amiga uses between one and five bits (each in a 
bitplane] to store the colour of each pixel of a display. This means that 
between two and 32 colours can be displayed. 



ILBM: 
JAGGIES: 



NTSC: 



PIXEL: 



Checkout 



DeluxePaint Ml 

Ease of use 15/ IS 

A piece of cake. There is a sort of learning 
curve to it, where you struggle a bit to 
I earn oil the functions, but most of the 
learning is so pleasurable you hardly 
notice it. And before you know where you 
are, you're a DPaint artist. Take lime to 
learn the shortcut key presses, as these 
make you fly along I 

Speed 8/10 

It's fast, but only if you are in low-res. 
Interlace and high-res pictures take much 
more time to do things, especially when 
you're transforming something. Get 1Mb 
of chip ram: or you'll only be able to see 
eight colours in high-res most of the time. 

Output 9/10 

First class output, with a big requester 
giving you control over the output. You 
can scale it, shrink it, rotate it, in fact 
anything you like. 

Graphics Handling 8/10 

It doesn't handle PostScript or anything 
like that, but it does load and save IFF, 
ANIM, animbrush, and brush files, which 
mokes the importing and editing of all 
your animations and still pictures very 
easy indeed. 

Colour 9/ 1 

Good colour control, with six cycle 
ranges, 32 or 64-colour palettes, and 
various tricky stencil and perspective tools. 
More colour control thon you can shake a 
paintbrush at. 

Text Editing 4/5 

Very cool text editing and full font 
requester, enabling you to use any fonts in 
the fonts directory. Being a requester and 
not a menu, it doesn't Freak out completely 
when you have 20-30 fonts like I've got 
on my hard disk. 

Tools 9/10 

Some useful tool 5 r some brilliant tools, and 
some really crazy ones. My favourite is 
the mirror and tile tools, which enable you 
to draw huge colourful kaleidoscopic 
patterns all over the screen with one brush 
reflected eight ways. 

Documentation 8/ 1 

Huge manual, and very well written too. 
Takes you through a tutorial and feeds you 
all the right information right when you 
need it. It has the best manual of the 
bunch, but then Electronic Arts always was 
good at manuals. 

Price Value 20/20 

A massive program with a small price. 
This program is a real life, honest to 
goodness bargain guv' nor, and no penny 
was better spent. 



^^USi 



90/100 



A top-flight stonker of an Amiga program 
and although very old, as the interface is 
the same as the original program sofd to 
A 1000 users way back in the Dark 
Ages, it is still as fresh and crispy as the 
day it was first coded. I think every home 
should have one. 



conrinued from page 31 

format is so widely 
supported by other 
packages that it has 
become something of a standard, 
merely by being the only such 
package around for a long time. 
Fortunately, unlike so many lone 
programs in any particular field, 
Pro Draw is in fact an excellent 
program and doesn't need any 
competition to make it any 
better. But I'll discuss structured 
drawings another time, as Pro 
Draw is in a class of it's own. 

Animated conversation 

And finally there's the animation 
question. Many 2D programs 
these days feature animation 
among their range of tools, and 
this just means they are able to 
store a series of frames and play 
them back at varying speeds. 
Most feature the ability to save 
these frames as ANIM-format 
files usable in a variety of 
playback utilities, particularly in 
the multimedia and professional 
video quarters. 

Of the programs around, I'd 
still rate Electronic Art's DPaint III 
as my favourite animation 
machine, although Disney's 
Animation Studio comes a close 
second. The professional 
animation tools in Disney's 
offering make it a firm favourite 
among animators more used to 
conventional animation 
techniques. But for memory- 
efficient storage and playback of 
your animations, DPafnfwins 
every time. 

And back to the studio 

By the way, I've left out Disney's 
Animation Studio from this 
roundup for two reasons: first, 
I've looked at it in great depth in 
issue 1 of Amiga Shopper, and 
second, it doesn't shape up much 
as a graphics creation tool, as its 
forte really is in animation. 

If you are intrigued, however 
and you've been and gone and 
missed the review in issue 1 , you 
can order your awn copy by 
sending £1.50 (this covers post 
and packing) to our back-issues 
address (see page 111). 



32 



AMIGA SHOPPER* ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 



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ART ON TRIAL 



Deluxe PhotoLab 



Checkout 




Versatility is the name of the game with Photolab's. image manipulation. 



continued {torn page 32 

Electronic Arts 

PhotoLab is the only program to cover 

all resolutions available on the Amiga, 
and the only program (actually a suite 
of programs] to give you access to 
both HAM, 64 and 32-colour images, 
right down to two-colour pictures. 

The suite comprises of Paint, 
Colors and Posters. Paint is a paint 
program, most unlike DPaint in 
operation, but good enough to allow 
the creation of graphics without too 
much wrestling. Colors is an image 
processor, allowing you to change the 
resolution and colouration of any IFF 
format image, and also provides a 
range of unique special effects. 

In use 

Although Paint is a little bit odd at 



first, it is actually a very good little 
paint program. Most of the palette 
info is on another screen, which you 
can get to by selecting the back and 
front gadgets on the paint screen, or 
by the Amiga-N and Amiga-M shortcut 
key presses. Although not as intuitive 
and easy to dive into as DPaint, 
PhotoLab Paint is a powerful tool - at 
the very least enabling you to edit 
everything from a digitised HAM 
image to a two-colour scan. 
Colors is very much the 
centrepiece of the suite, covering a 
range of very useful utilities such as 
the ability to render a picture up in 
monochrome from any format. This is 
good for creating mono illustrations 
for DTP work, especially if you're not 
sure how they'll turn out. Finally 
Posters allows you to print out pictures 



Deluxe Photolab 

Ease of use 10/15 

Easy to use and very powerful. Everything 
is done with on-screen buttons. There are 
advanced functions on the menu bar. 

Speed 7/10 

No* much waiting around, although I'd 
recommend a fast processor for anyone 
intending to crunch a lot of big files. 

Output 9/1 

Output is very good, especially the Posters 
program, which employs special 
algorithms to smooth out the pixelated 
quality of really big enlargements. 

Graphics handling 8/10 

Accepts all Amiga IFF formats, and no 
messing. Also allows you to convert these 
to any other format too, so is the ideal 
partner For DPaint III. 

Colour 9/ 1 

More colours than there actually are. Well 
actually as HAM mode covers 4096 

colours, you're looking at that many. Very 



intelligent routines allow you to cut colours 
without losing the sense of the picture. 

Text editing..... 3/5 

No real text editing to speak of, but as this 

is mostly usefuf as a treatment program for 
Files created eEse where this isn't a problem. 

Tools 9/10 

More tools than a plumber's van, and all of 
them easy to get at. Just bang the on 
screen buttons ond bob's your uncle. I like 
to use PhotoLab to chop Files around, and 
although t prefer the quality you get with 
ASDG's The Art Department, PL chops files 
around very intelligently. 

Documentation 9/10 

Another nice big book from Electronic Arts, 
ond welf up to its usual standard. 
Everything is where it should be and 
there's not a word out of place. 

Price value.. 19/20 

Three excellent programs for the prioe of 
one, and that's a pretty good deal in 
anyone's language. 




Another greot and very so] id product from Electronic Arts, with features bristling from 
every orifice. It's a bit shy on the image creation front, but very good at making medium- 
strength graphics look very hard indeed. 



in big sizes, and it does this by 
dividing the picture into A4 sheets and 
lets you stick them together. 

Conclusion 

Although not as good as Electronic 



Arts' Deluxe Point III package, as for 
as creation of great graphics is 
concerned, Deluxe Photolab is chief 
among the tools I would employ to 
treat graphics that have been created 
in another medium. 



PAINT PACKAGE FEATURE CHECK • PAINT PACKAGE FEATURE CHECK • PAINT PACKAGE FEATURE CHECK • 


My Palnl 

Toolbox toggle 


The Graphics j DeiuxePaint 111 
Studio 


Deluxe 
Photolab 

. . . • .. 


Express Paint j Digi-Paint 3 


Photon Paint 2.0 


Clear screen • 


■ ■ ■ ■ ■ 6 £ 


• • • 




Spore page 


■« • • • ;'■ 






law m 


• 












High res 














Interlace 














64 half brite 










HAM 






m 




overscan 


■ : : - '.-.■■ 








Airbrush • 








Airbrush fixe 










Freehand dotted 


■;§;;■■; 












Freehand continuous 


• •'. 










line 


• 












Curves {heifer) 








e 


Rectangle 


• • 










Circle 


• • 










mi 


• 










Brush fill 






• e 




Perspective till 














Brush teals 




« 








■ • . 




Freehand brush 










• 




Brush rotate • 






. • 




Remap brush colour 








• 




Wrap en 2D 










• 




wrap en 3D 
















Perspective brush 










• 




Smoothing 








• 


e 




Antialiasing 


j • , • ,, , • m 


e. 


• 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 e JUNE 1991 



ART ON TRIAL 



Checkout 



Express Paint 



Express Paint 

Ease of use 6/15 

Not the easiest of interfaces to get to grips 
with. Has more in common with a novice 
program like Graphics Studio than what I'd 
expect from a professional program. 

Speed 7/10 

Speed is okay, although you do get tired 
of seeing the word 'Thinking' when the 
program is working on something. 

Output 9/10 

Nice output, especially from PostScript. 
This needn't be a closed avenue to you if 
you haven't got a PostScript printer. See if 
your local DTP bureau can handle 
PostScript output, and you could even use 
one of the PostScript Interpreters available 
for the Amiga. 

Graphics handling 6/10 

The formats handled by ExP are IFF ILBM 
screens, brushes, PostScript format files 
and colour palettes. PostScript pictures 
cannot be imported, just printed out. Neat 
way of converting ILBMs to Postscript, 
although Professional Draw does a belter 
job on that score. 



**"MWII* 



Colour 5/ 1 

It handles all the colours all right, up to 64 

of the little devils. The colourising functions 
are better than DPaint, so it scores points 
there, but how many times a day will you 
want to colour black and white pictures? 

Text editing 3/5 

Text editing is okay too, with support for 
ColorFonts, and even o little text editing 
and formatting too. Another score over 
lesser programs, but once again DPaint 
does it better. 

Tools 4/ 1 

Lots of tools and they work OK too, but the 
layout is confusing and you can't get rid of 
the damn things. 

Documentation 5/10 

I thought the manual was a bit woolly and 
not very well laid out, but the information is 
there if you delve a little bit. There's too 
much trumpet blowing for my taste though. 

Price value 8/20 

Express Paint is not a product I'd be that 
happy with, especially as it's only o little 
bit cheaper than DPaint which is so much 
more useful. 



53/100 



A glowing example of the adage that specification sheets and feotures don't make a 
brilliant product. The feel of the thing has been neglected and this spoils the enjoyment 
of the features for me. Not nearly slick enough yet, but give it a few more revisions and 

it should eventually knock DPaint into a cocked hat. 




BS>UJ£»*T?i1-h4VL i 




Tools in profusion, which have a marked reluctance to disappear on cue. 



Oxxi 

Express Paint used to be a freely 
distributable program. It has now 
gone commercial (it was on Fish Disk 
1 1 7), and to be brutally honest it 
shows. ExP is written by veteran 
Amiga PD author Stephen Vermeulen, 
famous For all manner of tricky 
graphics programs of varying sorts in 



the Fish library for one. The program 
allows you to paint in 32-colour and 
64-halfbrite, but not HAM. The tools 
are run along the bottom of the 
screen, and access to the areas 
covered by the tools and menu bars is 
via a quartet of arrows in the corner 
of the screen. 

The program changes the sidebar 



of fools depending on which icon you 
click on at the bottom of the screen, 
and then the tools at the side are 
clickable to actually create and edit 
the picture on the screen. 

In use 

Unlike some of the other front-runners, 
it is unable fo wrap brushes on 2D or 
3D surfaces, which this limits the 
number of special effects available. It 
doesn't have any animation facilities 
either, so in straight contest with 
DPaint, it falls short of the mark. 
Obviously, a program written by a 
single programmer isn't going to be 
as rich in features as a product which 
has been honed by a large software 
house for years, but be warned that 
ExP might no! be all you are looking 
for in a graphics program. 

There ore some unique features 
however. You can save palettes out 
for use by other pictures; you can type 
text to the screen from a ASCII file; its 
undo levels are limited only by 
memory; you can print brushes to your 



prefs printer. And one thing you can 
do with ExP that you can't with DPaint 
is print out to PostScript, which is of 
limited value to your average Joe. 

Although the program has most of 
the features associated with a 
standard Amiga paint program, in use 
it doesn't feel right. 

Conclusion 

I know Express has o mass of devoted 
followers, but it doesn't do much for 
me. The interfoce seems a bit clunky 
and I feel like I'm not really in control 
on-screen. The features look good on 
paper, but they are a bit 'hackish' - 
more appealing to the programmer 
than the end user. None of the 
features really enhance the process of 
creation of graphics, and so are not 
very useful. 

The one feature which boosts this 
program's otherwise risible score is 
the inclusion of a PostScript output 
facility. This exists on no other bitmap 
graphics program as far as I know. 

continued on page 38 



PAINT PACKAGE FEATURE CHECK • PAINT PACKAGE FEATURE CHECK • PAINT PACKAGE FEATURE CHECK • 


Colours (max) 


My Paint 
12 


The Graphics DelttxePaini III Deluxe 
Studio Photolab 
32 64 4096 


Express Paint Digi-Paint 3 Photon Paint 2.0 
64 4096 4096 


Colour cycling 


• 


• • 


• 




Print using profs 


• 


• 




• 


• 


Print with aspect 

oiler ratio 




. • 


• 




Print in colour 






• 


• 


Print in postscript 




• 




Page flip animation 
ANIM animation 




■■- 1 h- ■ — f— — — p _ 


. • 


Anim brushes 
Set brash path 




— ■■■{ : * ■■-— i _ 




— — — — — — _r 


Files: IFF • 


• • 


e 


• 


• • 


ANIM 








• 


Anlmbrvsti 










Brush 




t • • e 


• 


Postscript 




■ 


• 






Grid 




• • 




• 


Magnify 




• 1. • 


• 


• 


■ • 


• 


ARexx interface 




"i — - 


• 

• • 


• 
• 


Text 




• • 


• • • 


• 


flexible feat directory 




• • . 




• • 


text shadows 








• 


Colour-font; 




• 


• 






• 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1 99 1 



ART ON TRIAL 



Digi-Paint 3 




If looks could hill, Digi-Paint could well become the ultimate weapon. 

accessible. My favourite is the 
graduation tool which moves a point 
of light around a filled object, 
allowing you to put highlights onto 
your objects easily, Digi-Paint is one of 
the few programs that lets you do 3D 



(ontirtued from page 37 

NewTelc 

HAM paint packages were ail the 
rage a few years ago, but recently 
they seem to have fallen from favour. 
Digi-Paint was one of the first and 
remains in my opinion one of the best 



In use 

Digi-Paint is good because it feels very 
slick in use except that there are o lot 
of wait balloons, HAM is a memory- 
intensive format, so every time you 
draw a line on the screen or activate 
an effect, the screen redraws itself. 
This takes time, i wouldn't want to 
give you impression that Digi is slow, 
because considering the amount of 
graphics data the program is chewing 
at most times, it's flying along. 

The tools are good too, with all 
manner of nice effects easily 



effects in a 2D program with ease. 

Conclusion 

Like DPaint, Digi is on its third revision 
but still looking good. The tools make 
it one of the most flexible image 
creation programs on the market. 
HAM is too big for some people's 
computers, as it needs a minimum of 1 
Mb of RAM to work, and it's helpful of 
course if that 1 Mb is chip RAM. The 
one thing Digi doesn't do is 
animation, but then I've always been 
dubious of HAM animation programs, 
as they need massive memories to 
work almost at oil, which rather limits 
the demand for them. 



Photon Paint 2.0 



-■■■-■ :K -MHBBBB 




Soon to be upgraded, Photon Paint has become something of a dinosaur. 

Microlllusions 



Photon Paint is another veteran of the 
HAM wars, and its final gambit 
before being revamped as 
Spectracolor (I'll review that when I 
get a copy) was to add animation to 
the thing. 

In Use 

The program is very slow, but this is 
only to be expected due to advanced 
features like mapping brushes on 3D 
objects etc. There are some very 
advanced features like light source 
shading and, though this con allow 
you to do some cute things with the 
program, such features eat memory. 



Shadows are automatically set by the 
direction of light and intensity, but as 
objects aren't 3D, results can be 
erratic. There are some very good 
features, like a 'video' mode which 
hides all menus and pointers for 
laying frames down to video. 

Conclusion 

HAM artists are divided between Digi- 
Paint and Photon Paint, so it remains 
to be seen what happens when 
Spectracolor, comes out. Bui for the 
time being Photon Paint is a huge 
program. Not for the tight of pocket 
either, as you will need more memory 
and a fatter Agnus chip. 



Checkout 



Digi-Paint 3 

Ease of use. 14/15 

Just point to whal you want arid click it. Of 
course you have to draw too. 

Speed ..6/ 1 

Slow at first, bul once used lo how long it 
takes to do things, it isn't too bothersome. 

Output 7/ 1 

HAM pictures always look good on the 
printer, as the blurry tones of the HAM 
image blur any lack of resolution. 

Graphics Handling 4/10 

Handles IFF screens and brushes, but that's 
all. You can's save a HAM palette anyway. 

Colour 9/10 

Loads of colour, and very good control 
over where the colours actually go. 

Text Editing 5/5 

Digi has the some kind of text handling that 
DPaint does, but having access to all 4096 
colours in the Amiga's palette, Dig* can 
anti-alias its text lor smoother lines. 

Tools. 8/10 

3 like the tools in Digi and there ore a lot of 
very neat special FX built in. Tinting and 
shading are very easy to do. 

Documentation 7/ 1 

Good docs. It's o readable manual, and 
very well laid out too. 

Price Value 19/20 

Cheaper than its only competitor and 
makes a unique image creation tool and 
treatment suite. 



AMJftA 



79/100 



More HAW than a butcher's shop. This is 
the best value package in the HAM 
market, even without the animation 

facility. But then that's not what HAM is 
about in my view. 



ooooooooo 
Shopping List 

MyPamt £19.99 

by Centaur 4451-B Redendo Beach Blvd, 
Lawndale, California 90260 USA 
=■0101 213 5422226 
Distributed in UK by: 
HB Marketing Ltcf Unit 3. Po/le 14, 
Newlcmds Drive, Colrtbrook, Berkshire 
SL3 ODX it 0753 686 000 

Deluxe Paial III £79.99 

Detoxe Photolah £1 29.99 

IPhololoh now discontinued, but still in slock 
at some stores} 

by Electronic Arts 1 1/49 Station Road, 
Langley, Berks SL3 8YM w 0753 49442 

Photon Point 2 ....£89.95 

by Mkroiliusions. 

PO Box 3475, Granada Hills, California 

91 394 USA * 01 01 818 785 7345 

Distributed in UK by: 

The Software Business 

flrooklonds, New Road, St Ives, Huntingdon, 

Combs PE17 4BG a 0480 496497 

Digi-Paint 3 £79.95 

by NewTek fnc 21 5 SE 8th Street, Topeko. 

Kansos 66603 USA* 010 19133541146 

Distributed in UK by: 

HB Marketing and Silica Shop 

1-4 The Mews, Holherley Road, Sidcup, Kent 

DA144DXw081 3091111 

Express Paint $1 39.95 [dittontinued) 

by Oxxl Aegis PO Sox 90309, Long Beach, 
California 90809-0309 USA 
» 010 1 2134271227 

The Graphia Stodio $49.95 [ETBA] 

by Accolade Europe Ltd 50 Lombard Road, 
London SW113SU* 071 738 1391 
Some of tbe packages reviewed 
are discontinued, but still uvoilabli 
from certain dealers. Don't forget, 
shop around for the best prices 




Checkout 



Photon Paint 2,0 

Ease Of Use 10/15 

Not the easiest pro-gram to get to grips 
with, though it has similarities to DPaint. 

Speed 3/10 

The program takes a long time to calculate 
things, and mapping onto objects takes 
quite a while. 

Output 6/ 1 

HAM pics always look nice on the printer, 
but these take forever lo print out. 

Graphics Handling 5/10 

IFF HAM pics and HAM ANIMs. This is the 
only HAM on i motion package I can think 
of, and it deserves a boost for that. 

Colour 8/10 

One of the few things il can do that really 
impressed me was a spread of colours in 
HAM, something hard to find in other HAM 



****!ff6Tr4t 



packages. Il allows you to use 64 colours 
from this paletle at one lime. 

Text Editing 3/5 

Supports ColorFonts and a little bit of lext 
editing. No anti-aliasing to speak of. 

Tools .7/ 1 

The program has more tools than Digi-Paint, 
but they don't seem appropriate to a HAM 
package. Airbrushing is a waste where 
one pixel affects the one next \o It, throwing 
all airbrushed pixels into relief. 

Documentation.* 4/10 

Mot my favourite manual, and set in a 
strange typeface which makes it hord on 
the eye, Not enough reference material and 
though there are copious tutorials and 
appendices., there is no index. 

Price Value. 9/20 

Should be closer to the price of Digi-Paint I 
think, then it would be value for money. 



55/100 



Not my favourite graphics package, mainly because I feel I'm wrestling with il all the 
time, and needs too much of o huge overpowered Amiga to get the full use out of it. 



38 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1 99 i 



DESKTOP PUBLISHING 



Streaming headlines 



For £200, no matter wfictf the 
application, reliability and high 
performance are essential, Jeff 
Walker checks out PageStream 2 
to see if it has enough under its 
bonnet to keep up with the leaders 



The full-colour, four-page 
brochure Soft-Logik hands 
out to advertise PageStream 
2 is an impressive document 
to look at. Produced entirely with 
PageStream, it shows exactly what 
the program is capable of, and the 
words describe at some length many 
of the features PageStream has which 
its 'closest competitor' [PPage] hasn't. 

PogeStream's font support is 
possibly its strongest hand. It comes 
with no less than 1 8 different outline 
fonts, 1 of which are 
Compugraphic, the rest being Soft- 
Logik's own format. On top of this, 
PageStream supports Adobe Type 1 
PostScript fonts, the kind used by 
Moc and PC desktop publishers. All 
of these can be output to ANY kind 
of printer. [Yes, that's right, 
PageStream con output PostScript 
fonts to dot-matrix printers.) 

As well as Normal, there are 1 2 
further text styles to choose from: 
Backslant and Italic, Bold and Light, 
Underline and Double Underline, 



"Despite numerous 

improvements, 

PageStream 2.1's 

lack of speed is 

still a millstone 

around its neck" 



Mirror and Upside-down, Outline, 
Shadow, Strike Through and Reverse 
(white on black). 

Where Font sizes are concerned, 
Soft-Log ik has gone o bit potty. They 
can be anything from about 
l/7200thofaninch (0.01 pf] to 
about 100ft (183,000pt], adjustable 
in 0.01 pt increments. These are silly 
figures. For a start, the best Linolron 
typesetting machine can't handle 
anything less than 1 /2540th of an 
inch, but more to the point (little pun 



there) is the fact that the human eye 
can't define a 0. 1 pt difference, let 
alone 0.01 pi. As for the 1 83,000pt 
maximum, I'd be willing to stake my 



BLITS 



Commenting on new technology 
in newspaper design, former 
Sunday Times editor Harold Evans 
once said: "To be able to print a 
32.5pt headline in purple in the 
shape of o bishop's mitre will not 
in itself be a notable advance in 
journalism, " I dunno though . . . 



BOBS 



teddy bear that nobody has ever 
actually printed a letter that tall. (IF 

you know differently, please send it 
to me, c/o Amiga Shopper. Enclose 
a stamped, self-addressed juggernaut 
if you want it back.] 

I've experimented a lot with large 
point sizes, and the good old Guru 
knows a lot more about whether they 
work or not than I do. 

Stick to sensible sizes and 
PageStream works just fine, as you 
would expect, so I suppose there's 
little point in knocking a potty Feature 
if it actually does no harm. Provided 
you avoid using it, of course. But then 
if a feature is to all intents and 
purposes useless, and Gurus the 
machine when you try it, it's not 
really a feature, is it? 

Game for a pasting 

PageStream allows you to paste text 
on to the page in two different ways. 

First there's the norma! technique of 
importing text into a number of linked 
boxes or columns, each of which can 
afterwards be moved or adjusted 
horizontally or vertically, and the text 
then re-Formats itself to Fit, 

The second way is unique to 
PageStream. Any text typed directly 
on to the page gets treated as a 
graphic, or what PageStream calls 
an 'object'. This means you can 
manipulate it in ways usually 





"1 use the Amiga to publish my own 


% Jt 


magazine, so 1 know what features of a 


m ^\\ 


DTP program are the business and the 


\k, $m 


kind of performance necessary for high- 


J^NfL 


quality, professional results. Thus 1 can 


/M^ 


give you no-nonsense buying advice." 


Jeff Walker 



reserved for pictures. You 
can stretch it both ways, for 
instance, which effectively 
creates a bastard point size 
- one that is not the same 
point size wide as it is 
high. Handy for fitting 
headings into holes. You 
can rotate, slant and twist it 
as well. 

All the text formatting 
Features you would expect 
from a professional desktop 
publisher are there - things 
like spell checking, 
hyphenation, kerning, 
paragraph indents and 
outdents. PageStream is 
without a doubt perfectly 
competent in the text and 
fonts department. 

Streaming cold 

Where it begins to Fall 
down is with the speed of 
its screen refresh rate. Or 
rather, the lack of it. 

To begin with, 
PageStream will refresh the 
screen if you sneeze too 
hard - it really is quite 
annoying how often it does 
it - and because each 
refresh can take anything 
between 1 and 30 
seconds, you tend to spend 
an awful lot of time tutting 
and drumming your fingers. 
Speed is a topic Soft-Logik 
left out of the PageStream 
(Milhtued an page 40 




You can create any colour using the five 
colour systems and a dithered patch will 
show the approximate shade. But on-screen 
this patch is replaced by the closest of the 
16 solid screen colours. 




The selection of 40 pre-defined fill patterns 
is one of PageStream's strong points, the 
icing on the cake being the editable one. 



'J. 




* ******** 




_hi 



':—!=;■ 



rT- 



A fairly complex PDraw 
structured drawing of the 
Stars and Stripes (above) 
loads in almost perfectly; 
but close inspection 
reveals that the red 
stripes are poking out 
behind the black border 
on the right. Things start 
to go really wrong after the drawing has been twisted (left). PageStream 
has made a complete pig's ear of things. Our only option now is to re- 
load it and try again. Sometimes it works, mostly it doesn't. 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1 99 1 



DESKTOP PUBLISHING 




Colonbia 
CS CDUfj#r 
Cptttivt 

Garanond Antiqua 

LtrGOttl 

<>] L ienUl 

Saturn 

CS Svnljol 

CS Tins; 

TonHud 



| Hanaaer 1 



The fonts requester is uncomplicated and 
easy to use. Compugraphic fonts are 
displayed with CS before their names. The 
font manager allows you to designate several 
different directories to look for fonts In, after 
which they all appear in this one requester. If 
the font size you require isn't in the list, you 
can type it into the string gadget above. 




This is the display PageStream gives you of 
the famous DPaint King Tut screen. Although 
you can make out where King Tut is, I need 
much more: I know he is on a dark blue 
background and that there is a thick black 
border left and right that I want to crop out, 
but the border cannot be seen in this screen 
representation, so I'll have to do the 
cropping in DPaint. 



Fase Size 



JM Siie - IWm x Ulnn 
DM Silt - 21Srai x !9Im 
IAS Size - I49rai x 218im 
3B4 Size - 256m x 3G4hm 
ZB5 Size - IB2MH X 257ml 


□ Letter - B,3" * 11" 

□ Legal - 8,5" x 14" 

□ Manual - 5,5" x 6.5" 
D Tabloid - 11" x 17" 

□ Index Carl - 5" X 3" 

. □ Business Card - 3,5" x 2" 

ingle Sided Document 
cubit Sided Document 

ortrait ( vertical) 
andseape (Ji or iz until* 


9 User - M pc x 66 pel 

a 

Gl 

Page Orientation B 
01 


| Cancel | 



hk 



o 



:-. i._ 



A large selection of p re-set page sizes is 
available, which was good thinking on Soft- 
Logik's part because even experienced 
publishers sometimes have trouble 
remembering the exact dimensions of 
standard paper sizes. If you want a non- 
standard size, you can type it into the string 
gadgets using any of the many measurement 
units PageStream supports. 



continued from page 39 
brochure, so the company 
must know it is a problem, 
yet there is no facility for 

interrupting a screen 
refresh. The only help is 
adjustable greeking, where 
text under a certain on- 
screen point size gets 
displayed quickly as a 
fuzzy pattern. 

Even with o 25MHz 
68030 and 68882 maths 
co-processor inside the 
Amiga, the waits get 
tedious if For no other 
reason than it appears to 
be impossible to work for 
more than one minute 
without doing something 
that causes PageStream to 
refresh the screen. 

While the refresh is 
happening you can do 
nothing, not even move the 
mouse pointer. To a 
programmer this is a dead 
give-away that a program is 
not properly using the multi- 
tasking capabilities of the 
Amiga. If you listen 
carefully you might even be 
able hear the phrase 'ST 
port' being muttered. 

Piccy plethora 

PageStream is almost as 
well-endowed in the 
graphics department as it is 
in the text department. The 
number of different 
graphics formats it can 
import is incredible - all IFF 
ILBMs [which includes 
HAM, SHAM, dynamic hi- 
res, dynamic lo-res and 24- 
bit), TIFF, PDraw, Mac and 
IBM EPS, EPSF, GEM 



Metafile, IMG, Aegis Draw, DR2D, 
Degas, MacPaint and Neochrome. If 
you don't actually recognise some of 
those names it's because they are 
□ lien formats from various other 
machines. 

Ail of these graphics formats can 
be displayed on-screen and output to 



"PageStream has its 

own dutch of 

structured drawing 

tools for creating 

lines, curves, etc " 



any printer, except for Encapsulated 
PostScript Format (EPSF), which can't 
be displayed and can only be output 
to a PostScript device. 

Bitmaps are loaded in one of two 
ways. Either load the entire graphic 
as an object directly on to the page, 
or load it into a separate Picture 
Window, from which you can snip 
out the part you are interested in and 
then paste that on to the page. 

Loading times differ, depending 
on what type of graphic it is you are 
importing, but a wait of two minutes 
while a HAM picture loads directly 
on to the page is not unusual. Single 
bitpiane (black and white) IFFs take 
around 20 or 30 seconds. 

No matter which mode you run 
PageStream i n - 2 , 4, 8 or 1 6 
colours - all bitmap graphics are 
displayed on-screen in just two 
colours: black and white. No 
dithering is employed to try to get a 
better representation, so any bitmap 
that has more than two colours 



stands a 50-50 chance of looking so 
bad on-screen that precise cropping 
becomes almost impossible. Ok, this 
isn't a disaster; most IFFs you can 
crop in DPaint or something, but for 
the non-Amiga graphics formats, 
multi-coloured TIFFs for example, it's 
going to be a bit hit-and-miss. 

To help speed things along, 
bitmaps can be replaced on-screen 
with a crossed-out box once they 
have been pasted into their final 
positions, But you can't choose which 
to X-oul and which to display. It's 
either all the bitmaps in the 
document, or none. 

Twisted picture 

Once on the page, any graphic can 
be re-scaled, rotated, slanted and 
twisted, although my experiments 
with PDraw structured drawings have 
revealed that twisting them is 
disastrous; you end up with o 



BLITS 



The late Cyril Connolly, journalist 
and essayist, once observed: "As 
repressed sadists are supposed to 
become policemen or butchers, so 
those with an irrational fear of 
life become publishers." Urn ... 

_ & BOBS 

cluttered mess. 

The re-scaling of IFFs is not 
accurate enough to be of use to a 
professional desktop publisher. 
Graphics can be loaded in at what is 
supposed to be the original aspect 
ratio, but they are always slightly too 
long. Adjusting them, to the correct 
ratio, which is a perfectly valid thing 
continued on page 45 



Rotating IFF pics can get jolly jaggy 



Below is PageStream's attempt at 
rendering diagonal lines on IFF 
rotation and, oh dear, it hasn't 
really done all that well has it? It 
would probably be best to leave 
IFFs and use structured drawings. 




Rotating an IFF in Professional 
Page gives art acceptable output, 
shown above, with diagonal tines 
rendered with minimum 
jagged ness. They may look Jagged 
on-screen, but the print out is OK. 



40 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 



"1 
I 



COMMODORE 

1084S STEREO 

MONITOR 

Including FREE lead 
ONLY £229.00 1 



r 1 
tv- 

l"v 

i 

('■•■■' 

I 

1 

L,. 

r— -■ — ---- — i 

| PHILIPS 8833 MKD J 
i STEREO MONITOR i 

| including Free Lead 

[ONLY £229.00 




NAKSHA 

[ UPGRADE MOUSE 

MAT PLUS 

HOLDER 

ONLY £26.50 



i__ 

r- 



.J 

m 



Open Monday to 

Saturday 9 am - 6pm 

Callers and Mail Order welcome 



i ALL-IN-ONE SOFTWARE 

I Music, Paint + Word Processor 
[ 3 Games + Tutorial Video 

r ONLY £119.00 



AMIGA PACKS 



■ SCREEN GEMS PACK, inc. Shadow / Beast E, Back/Future 0, MgMbreed, Days of Thunder, Dpaintn , £359.00 

■ STARTER PACK, inc. 5 Commercial games plus Joystick .£359.00 

I CLASS OF THE 90'S FIRST STEPS, inc. Extra 512X, Pi-Write, Info File, Dpaint + Dprint E etc EE1E.O0 

I CLASS OF THE 90'S, inc. Extra 512K, Publishers Choice, MaxiPlan, BBC Emulator, Midi Int. etc £515.00 

■ AMIGA CREATIVITY PACK, with Word Processor. Music & Paint packages, 3 games + Tutorial Video £419.00 

All Amiga ASOO's supplied with mouse, modulator, manuals, workbench. Basic + Tutorial 



AMIGA ASOO FUN PACK — > 



AMIGA Asoo MAX PACK 



Amiga A500, Mouse, Modulator, Manuals, Basic, Workbench, Tutorial, Joystick, Disk Box, . 

10 Blank Disks, Dust Cover, Dpaint n, PLUS 14 GREAT GAMES Shadow of the Beast B, ■ 

Back to the Future E, Nightbreed, Days of Thunder, Star Wars, Toohin, Barbarian B, I 

Licence to Kill - James Bond Game, Running Man - With Schwarzenegger, APB, Xybots, i 
Dragon Spirit, Hard Drivin, Voyager 

STILL ONLY £399.00 1 Meg version £429.00 



Amiga ASOO, Mouse, Modulator, Manuals, Basic, Workbench, Tutorial, Joystick, Disk 

Box, 10 Blank Disks, Dust Cover, Dpaint II, PLUS 10 GREAT GAMES Star Wars, Toobin, 

Barbarian U, Licence to Kill • James Bond Game, Running Man ■ With Schwarzenegger, 

APB, Xybots, Dragon Spirit, Hard Drivin, Voyager 

ONLY £359.00 1 MEG VERSION £389.00 



SOFTWARE AND DISKS — i 



HARDWARE 



3D PROFESSIONAL £209.00 PIXEL 3D £49.00 

AMOS + EXTRAS DISK £32.00 PRO VIDEO POST £159.00 

BROADCAST TITLER £159.00 PRO-WRITE V3.1 £85.00 

CAN DO Authoring Software £79.00 SCULPT ANIMATE 4D £225.00 

DIGIVIEW GOLD V4 £95.00 TITLE PAGE £109.00 

LATTICE CV5.1 £149.00 PROFESSIONAL PAGE 049,00 

PAGESETTER V2, DTP £47.00 VIDEO EFFECTS 3D £109.00 

PAGESTHEAM, New Version 2.1 .£139.00 X-CAD DESIGNER (1 Meg) £69.00 

PAGESTREAM FONTS £22.00 X-CAD PROFESSIONAL £229.00 

CROSS-DOS, Multi-format file transfer £23.00 

PANASONIC 1410/4 VIDEO CAMERA. Ideal for DigiView £149.00 

PEN PAL, Excellent Word Processor (1 Meg) £69.00 

IMAGINE 3D Animation & Rendering software £179.00 

DIGI-PALMT HI. Full featured HAM package .49.00 

ALL IN ONE. Art package, Word Pro + Music package £119.00 

TV SHOW, Video wipes, titung package £55.00 

PHOTON PAINT H, HAM Art + Animation £25.00 

SONYDD/DS Disks. Box often inc. labels £9.49 

THE WORKS PLATINUM, Integrated package £62.00 

AMIGA VISION. Authoring software £89.00 

TV TEXT PROFESSIONAL £79.00 

DOS 2 DOS Multi-format file transfer ,£33,00 

WALT DISNEY ANIMATION STUDIO (1 Meg) £69.00 

X-CAD DESIGNER (1 Meg) £33,00 

X-COPY PROFESSIONAL inc. Hardware £34.00 

I I 



: COMMODORE A590 20MB Hard Disk. Unpopulated £275.00 

1 COMMODORE A590 20mb Hard Disk + 2m RAM £339.00 

I COMMODORE 10S4S Colour Stereo Monitor £229.00 

1 RINDALE 8602 Genlock, A500/B2O0O £185.00 

■ SUPRA 2400 External Modem £119.00 

J SOPHUS S5 Professional Stereo Sampler £79.00 

' KCS POWERBOARD, PC Emulation (ASOO) with AM DOS... £220.00 

I AMIGA compatible external disk drive, switch plus thru port £57.60 

I AT ONCE PC Emulation £175.00 

| GVP48 MEG SCSI Drive plus 8 Meg Ramboard for 1500/200 £419.00 

■ GOLDEN IMAGE HAND SCANNER with software plus Photon Paint £195.00 j 

JNAKSHA CLONE MOUSE £19.95 ! 

AMIGA A500, Mouse, Modulator, Workbench, Basic £335.00 



PRINTERS 



STAR LC-10 MONO PRINTER inc. Lead £159.00 

STAR LC-200 COLOUR PRINTER inc. Lead £209.00 

STARLC-24/200 MONO PRINTER inc. Lead £249.00 

STAR LC-24/200 COLOUR PRINTER inc. Lead.... , £297.00 

CITIZEN SWIFT 24 MONO inc. Lead £279.00 

CITIZEN SWIFT 24 COLOUR inc. Lead £309.00 

CITIZEN 124D 24 Pin Mono inc. Lead £199.00 

CITIZEN 120D Plus, 9 Pin Mono inc. Lead £139.00 

CITIZEN SWIFT 9 COLOUR £225.00 

I . 1 



AMIGA AlSOO 



AMIGA MEMORY 



j The NEW A1500 inc. Stereo Monitor, Twin Drive, DpaintS, The Works [ 

Plat., +4 Games, ONLY £889.00 
I ASOO Upgrade Available - please phone I 

I I 



I B2000 Microbotics 8M Ram Board + 2 Meg RAM £199.00 | 

I Extra 2 Meg Ram for above board £75,00 j 

I ASOO BaseBoaid, Populated to 4 Meg £249.00 1 

I A500 TARGET 512K Ram, With Clock + Switch £36.00 I 

I -_ I 



SUPRA/BAUD BANDIT 2400 MODEM 



Hayes Compat. Auto-dial/answer, V21, 22, 22bis £119.00 
As above but includes MNP5 error correction £159.00. New Supia 9600 Modem £399.00 Supra 2400 Plus, MNP5 + V42 Bis £189.00 



HOW TO ORDER: 

Either call our number 

below with your credit 

cord details, or send a 

eheque/PO or credit 

card number and 

expiry date to our 

address. Hake cheques 

payable to 
THE 16 BIT CENTRE 

Prices subject to ebauf e without 
notifies, tlan. 



All prices include VAT + Courier Service 

16 BIT CENTRE 

Units 15-17* 

Lancashire Fittings Science Village 

Claro Road, Harrogate HGi 4AF 

Tel (04Z3) 531822/526322 



EXTENDED WARRANTY 

AND MAINTENANCE 

CONTRACTS AVAILABLE 

ON ALL ITEMS. PLEASE 

CALL FOR FURTHER 

DETAILS 



C33E1 

ES 




yore gl/g$T foe gpggp SlfiRK *fggg 

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SAVE £50 on a CSA system (Call and see how) 

A 25 mhz board with 51 2K SRAM ana 2 meg 32 bit ram would be £674 r.r.p. £724 

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What the press said. ....4 MIGA FORMAT The CSA RACER took 96 seconds beating the A3000 

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for the 2000/1500 Amiga A3001 28 mhz 68030/68882 with 4 meg ram £1345 
A3001 50 mhz 68030/68882 with 4 meg ram expandable to 32 meg £2099 

BRAND NEW SERIES 2 ACCELERATORS Call for latest prices 

look at these features though 22 mhz 33 mhz or 50 mhz with co-processor 

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G.V.P. SERIES 2 

GVP A500 IMPACT Series 2 - probably the best hard drive for the A500 
SPECIAL OFFER of 42 meg drives £479 zero K can expand to 8 megs using SIMMS 

or a 52 meg zero K £525 

SERIES 2 1 500/2000 8 meg memory cards with 2 meg Installed at a ridiculous £189 

SERIES 2 IMPACT SCSI Interface and zero K £1 79.00 expands to 8 megs 

SERIES 2 IMPACT hard drive with 17 milllsec 80 meg Maxtor drive £524 

As above with 8 milllsec 105 meg Quantum drive £645 or 52 meg Quantum £469 

SIMMS modules to expand the GVP range 2 megs £75 

MEGflCHIP 2000 

This is the expansion the 1 500/2000 owner has been waiting for. No need to buy a 3000 

now when with this board you get the 3000 Agnus chip plus 1 meg of extra chip memory. 

We take back your old Agnus and supply you with the new Agnus installed and 1 meg extra 

chip memory. Compatible with K/S 2.0 and the ECS your hard drive, existing memory and 

more. THIS IS THE UPGRADE COMMODORE NEVER WANTED TO SEE and only £250 

SPIRIT -THE 'Ultimate 1 INNATE 

For the 500/1 500/2000 an internal 8 meg card (uses ZIP chips) 1 meg to 8 meg pathway of 
true fast memory with facilities to instal a 20 mhz co-processor and with a super fast SCSI 
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CMOS technology. Even the 68000 Is CMOS and square. We can supply hard drive cases 
with PSU, cables and super fast SCSI drives. Call for sizes and prices 45 meg to 200 meg 
Zero K board now an amazing £1 99 Co-Pro £55 2 meg ram uses A3000 ZIPS £99 

SPIRIT - STUDIO ft Broadcast Genlock 

Now a professional amkja genlock/encoder/switcher/keyer built to studio specification. 

Key-Mix; program cut; fade to black; mix and disolve 100%; key-in 0-100% £645 

Optional RGB upgrade module composite decoded to RGB and RGB splitter £199 

Y-C Component (S-VHS and HI8) video transcoding composite to Y-C and back £330 

Computer control upgrade plug-In daughterboard for software control of all functions £99 



Flicker fixer for flicker-free video full overscan and does not use up the video slot for all 

500/1000/1500/2000 machines. £250 

AdRAM 540 fit up to 4 meg in the 500 trap door Zero K £89 2 meg £1 55 4 megs £220 

AdRAM 5600 is the extra 2 meg module to plug onto the AdRAM540 to give 6 megs £145 

512K with clock £24.95 No clock £21.95 

A590 CONVERSIONS TO LARGER DRIVES CALL FOR OPTIONS AND PRICES. 

BYTFN'BflCK V3.0 fastest «v«r Irani disk back-tip £19.95 

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AM theee product! and more so caM tor prices and free braohutefrcm one of tto tearing Amiga tpeciaHsli 

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44 



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The above pictures show the difference that screen frequency makes. On 
the left we have output resolution screen frequency (360 lines per inch), 
which creates a stark image, while on the right the screen frequency has 



been adjusted to 45 Ipi, Which particular frequency you use will depend 
on the nature of the graphic you have In mind, although 60 Ipi is a good 
place to start, and is what PageStream appears to use as its default value. 



continued from page 40 

for a professional user to want to do, 
is a time-consuming, fiddly and very 
much hit-and-miss job. 

IFF rotation is worse. While it is 
impossible to get on accurate 
representation of a rotated bitmap at 
screen resolution (about 70x70 dpi), 
there is no earthly reason why the 
final output should not be almost 
every bit as accurate as if you did 
the rotation by hand using traditional 
cut-and-paste methods. There are 
bound to be some small inaccuracies 
rotating IFFs, which are 
comparatively low resolution 
graphics, but see the rotation 
diagram on page 40 for an example 
of what PageStream produces in 
comparison to output from a program 
which does it properly. 

Of course, these re-scaling and 
rotation problems totally disappear if 
you use structured drawings created 
with programs such as Professional 
Draw and Aegis Draw, or, to a 
limited extent PageStream itself, 
instead of bitmaps. > 

cuts 

The Amiga is crucial in ihe 
production of Amiga Shopper. 
Many of ihe screen shots you see 
are grabbed direct from the 
Amiga and ihe words you read 
are produced, in the main, on 
Amiga-based word processors. 

St BOBS 

Structured drawings are displayed in 
up to 16 colours, depending on 
which mode you start PageStream up 
in. These may not be the actual 
colours the drawings were painted 
with - in fact they almost certainly 
won't be. They are 'screen' colours 
which PageStream uses to represent 
1 6 of the literally millions of colours 
available. There is no on-screen 
colour dithering, so creating multi- 
coloured documents can be a little 



tricky. Structured drawings are great 
for adding graphics to your work 
because no matter how much you 
mess around with them, you never 
get any jaggies. 



"k wait of two 

minutes while a 

HAM picture loads 

is not unusual" 



But the more complicated a structured 
drawing gets, the longer it takes to 
draw on-screen. So you need some 
way of speeding the rendering up, 
either by forcing drawings to appear 
with only the outlines on-screen 
(wireframe], or by X-ing them out 
completely once they are finished 
and in position. PageStream has 
neither of these options, so if your 
page has a couple of detailed 
structured drawings on it, when 
control is stolen from you while the 
screen gets refreshed, it can be a 
minute or more before you can get 
working again. 

As well as import facilities, 
PageSfream has its own clutch of 
structured drawing tools for 
creating lines, curves, boxes, 
ellipses and polygons. The lines 
can be any colour or thickness you 
desire, as can enclosed areas, plus 
you have 40 fill patterns to choose 
from for both lines and areas. If the 
pattern you want isn't among the 40 
on offer, then you can simply create 
your own. 

On the page 

PageStream is one of those programs 
that uses its own custom printer 
drivers. (The Protext word processor 
is another example of the breed.] 
Currently, 57 drivers are distributed 
with the program, one of which is 
called Preferences. Printer, which 



means you can use your normal 
Preferences printer driver if you like. 

For monochrome output, 
PageStream has built-in dither 
patterns to approximate colours, but 
there is only the one dithering mode, 
which appears to be halftone. All 
colours, including those in bitmaps, 
use this dither pattern for 
monochrome output. 

PageStream handles grey 
shading (which is different from 
colouring something a shade of grey) 
by using 'screens' which, when they 
get output to the printer, are 1 6x 1 6 
arrays of small round dots - basically 
they are a special kind of fill pattern. 

Adventures of tinting 

Seven different screens are provided, 
which approximate 10%, 25%, 40%, 
50%, 65%, 80% and 90% tints of 
grey. However, there Is an editable 
pattern if the screen you require is 
not in the list. 

This screens technique is a much 
better way of handling monochrome 
grey shading than using dither 
patterns, and editable 
structured fill 
patterns 



is one area where PageStream walks 
all over its rivals. 

A feature closely related to this is 
screen frequency (aka density), 
something normally only available 
via PostScript output. PageStream, 
however, can throw a user-definable 
screen over individual graphics and 
output it at that frequency to dot- 
matrix printers. 

Normally, coloured graphics sent 
to monochrome dot-matrix printers 
will need screening at the 
reproduction stage - at the printers in 
other words - to prevent all the little 
black dots running into each other 
when the ink spreads on the paper. 
With PageStream, you can do this 
yourself. So, using a non-PostScript 
monochrome laser printer say, you 
could output all the text and 
structured fine drawings at 300x300 
dpi, but have the coloured graphics 
on the same page output at 60 ipi 
(lines per inch, which is 

continued on poge 46 




One of 

PageSt ream's 

strongest selling points is 

its ability to run text around 

irregularly shaped (ie non-square) structured 

drawings. However, it is important to realise that it 

cannot do the same with bitmapped graphics. In PageStream, 

they can never be anything else taut square or rectangular objects. 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 ©JUNE 1991 



DESKTOP PUBLISHING 



continued from page 45 

basically the same thing as saying 
60x60 dpi). Colour graphics output 
as monochrome grey shades will 
reproduce much better at 60 Ipi 
because there is more white space 
between the dots, so when the ink 
spreads there is less chance of those 
dots joining up to create large black 
areas where there should really be 



"Structured 

drawings are great 

for adding graphics 

as you never get 

any \aggies" 



some subtle shades of grey. 

Although PageStream' s in- 
program colour support is poor, 
output to quality colour printers, like 
the QMS ColourScript 1 00 For 
example, is good. You have to bear 
in mind thot with printers like this all 
the different colours are made up of 
dither patterns - a simple example is 
the colour orange, which will be an 
area oF solid yellow overlaid with a 
clearly visible pattern of red dots. For 
this reason, HAM graphics, which 



have 4,096 colours, and 24-bit, 
which have 16.7 million, are not 
going to print as clearly as you 
would like them to unless expensive 
high resolution PostScript equipment 
is employed. 

If you need PostScript output, 
there is a custom printer driver for 
just thot purpose. Output can, 
naturally, be sent to disk, but 
PageSfream's PostScript features offer 
the absolute bare minimum and are 
not at all user-friendly. 

Soft-Log ik claims that PageStream 
is "the easiest, most intuitive DTP 
program, for the Amiga". Now, if 
you've never used a professional- 
standard desktop publishing program 
before - something on the Mac or PC 
I mean, or even (dare I say it) 
Professional Page on the Amiga - 
then you'll have no problems getting 
to know PageStream, But it does a lot 
of things its own way, not the way 
professionals are used to, and more 
than one experienced DTP person 
has described using PageStream to 
me as a nightmare. From a personal 
point of view you can group me in 
with the experienced bunch. 

Not so speedy 

Despite the numerous enhancements, 
PageStream 2.1 's lack of speed is 
still a millstone around its neck, and 
the package cannot begin to be 
taken seriously as a really 



JARGON BUSTING 

ASCENDER: The part of the letter that rises above the main body, as in the letter b. 
BASELINE: The imaginary line upon which the bases of all letters without 

descenders sit. 
BLEED: To extend type or illustrations outside the normal text area into the 

margins or to the very edge of the paper. 
BODY TEXT: The main text of the document, excluding headlines. 
FONT: The group of letters, numbers and special characters that comprise on 

variation of typeface, eg: 12pt Times, 12pt Times Bold, 12pt Times 

Itu lie. Sometimes (mistakenly) used in desktop publishing to refer to a 

type family. 
B I TPLANf/ BITMAP: A bitplane is an area of memory where every binary bit 

corresponds to a pixel on the screen. One bitplane represents a 

monochrome image, several can be overlayed (a bitmap) to represent 

a colour image. 
COCK -UP: Initial letter set in a larger type than the body text and rising above 

the surrounding letters. Also known a& a raised capital. 
COLUMN RULE: Line used to separate columns of text, usually a hairline. 
CROPPING: Cutting out the part of a picture that you are interested in. 
GUTTER: Originally the page margins next to the binding of a publication - the 

white space that separates the left-hand page from the right-hand 

page - the term is now used almost exclusively in desktop publishing 

to refer to the white space between columns on a page. 
DITHERING: The juxtaposition in varying densities of black and white [or coloured) 

dots to create a grey scale (or more colours). 
HAM: Hold And Modify is an Amiga graphic mode allowing all 4096 colours 

to be displayed at once, with certain restrictions. 
HALFTONE: Any picture reproduced as a series of tones, such as a photograph, as 

opposed to graphics which ore strictly black-and-white. 

The jagged edges seen on diagonal lines, caused by the use of small, 

but nonetheless finite, rectangular pixels to make up a picture. 

The design for the arrangement of text and graphics on a page. 

A standard unit of typesetting measurement equal to I/I2th of a pica, 

precisely 1 /72nd of an inch in desktop publishing (approximately in 

conventional printing). The height of a font - the distance from the top 

of the highest ascender to the bottom of the lowest descender - is 

normally expressed in points. 
POSTSCRIPT: A powerful mathematical language used to describe graphics and 

text images to compatible printers. Because it does not rely on a pixel 

system, objects so described can be scaled and rotated without 

distortion or loss of detail. 
24- BIT GRAPHICS: Normally, the Amiga uses between one and five bits (binary 

digits) to store the colour of each pixel (picture element) of a display. 

This means that between two and 32 colours can be displayed. 

Hardware add-ons are now becoming available which use 24 bits per 

pixel, giving a possible 16-7 million colours. 



JAGGIES: 



LAYOUT 
POINT: 



professional DTP program until if is 
given comprehensive colour and 
PostScript support. 

I would suggest that PageStream 
2. 1 is the ideal Amiga package for 
the amateur or hobbyist desktop 
publisher, except for the fact that it 
costs £200. I have seen it discounted 
to £1 40 in some places, but even at 
that price it is twice as much as 
PageSetterU which, although it 
doesn't support colour or PostScript, 
is more like the price a hobbyist 
would want to pay. fr Tt 



ooooooocc 
Shopping List 

PageStream 2.1 £199.95 

by Soft-Logik Publishing Carp, 

11131 STowne Square, 

Suite F, St Louis, MO 631 23 

USA * 0101 314 8918608 

or 

Five Chancery Lane, 

Clifford's Inn, 

London EC4A1BU 




Checkout 



Pagestream 2, 1 

Ease of use 10/15 

For a few months at least, the manual will 
be a constant companion;. The menus are 
lengthy and clultered and, although some 
Amiga-key shortcuts are available, only a 
few operations hove been assigned to 
them, the rest being selected by Esc-key- 
key sequences, a feature which gives 
away the program's ST roots. Not one of 
the many requesters allows you to double- 
click an entry to select it, you always have 
to select OK. Bah! 



jpecu •«•■•«•••*•***•*«*•* Mti IU 
Everything you want it to do qufekiy, 
PageStream does slowly, which cripples 
ihe creative juices. Jn 16-coJour mode me 
speed of its user-interface is a constant 
frustration: pull-down menus grind on la 
me screen and you can see requesters 
building themselves. In two-colour mode it 
is a lot quicker, but nowhere near fast 
enough for professional use, even with a 
63030/68 882 (eg the Amiga 3000) 
calling the shots. 

Output 7/10 

Dot-matrix text output From the 
Com pug rapt-iie and Soft-Logik outline 
fonts is excellent, struclured drawings and 
PostScript likewise. Rotated and re-scaled 
bitmap output is appalling by 
professional standards, although if you 
stick to upright bitmaps and scale them 
down a lot, you'll probably get by. 

Graphics handling ,.6/10 

Clunky and inaccurate, made up far by 
the (act that PageStream can import, 
display and output a large range of 
graphics formats. Trying to view an IFF at 
1 500% magnification always sends my 
7Mb B2000 (1Mb chip| to sleep. Ok, so 
it's a silly thing to want lo do, but if the 
option is available, it should work. 

Text editing 4/5 

I can'l imagine anyone actually using 
PageSfreom's built-in text editor and 
spelling checker for preparing text - il 



will be o lot faster to use a dedicated 
word processor and import the text in a 
finished state. But it's there if you want it, 
and it works, although the spell checker 
has Gurued on me once or twice. 

Colour 2/10 

Full Amiga 4,096 RGB palette, 1 00 

million YMCK palette, but only 16 
colours can be represented on-screen. 
Three or Four-colour separation is 
available, but the output density and dot 
angle of the yellow, magenta, cyan and 
black colour components cannot be 
adjusted individually, which could cause 
some problems with interference patterns 
in documents that Feature HAM and 24- 
bit graphics. 

Tools 9/10 

Soft-Logik has taken great pains lo 
include every single feature you could 
ever wish For, and it's Fair to say that 
PogeSfreom has one or two tools that 
some top-line professional DTP programs 
on the PC and Mac could also do with. 
But alas, the handful of extremely 
powerful tools only work for half of the 
time; in the main they tend to produce 
unreliable results or Gurus. 8ul the vast 
majority of the tools at your disposal 
work very well. 

Documentation 7/10 

As well os the user manual there is a 
GuickStarl manual for beginners. Both 
are clearly written and well presented, 
though unfortunately the user manual 
lacks a chapter on typography and page 
design and does not include nearly 
enough technical information about 
PostScript and colour. 

Price value. 11/20 

IF PageStream was truly a professional 
DTP program, then £200 (discounted to 
£140 in places) would be a really good 
bargain. But it is just not up to 
professional standards and therefore its 
value for money is poor when it is 
compared to other hobbyist DTP 
programs, such PageSetter II. 



AWJJW&ft 



58/1 00 



Most of my criticisms of PageS/ream 2.1 are based on professional considerations, 
which may seem like nit-picking to a hobbyist. I can name umpteen people who have 
told me they prefer PogeSfreom 2.1 to Professional Page 2, but not one of them is 
experienced in desktop publishing. This only serves to confirm my conclusion that 
PageStream is by no means proFessional-stondard program. However, non- 
professionals may find it much easier to learn and understand. 



AMIGA SHOPPER* ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 



COM MS 




King 



"As a professional COMMS user, 
I've clocked up more than 300 
hours on loads of bulletin boards. 
I'll show you how to get value for 
money and maximum fun from the 
exciting world of COMMS/' 

Stewart C Russell 



Stewart C Russell describes the joy 
of having your machine shriek at 
another over a telephone line and 
just how to go about setting it up 



Gelling hooked up lo 
bulletin board opens up a 
new world of Fun and 
games. You can interact 
with other computer users the country 
over, swapping messages, software 
and all kinds of useful information. 
However, many folks tend to go 'I' at 
the mention of a modem and '?' 
when baud, bis and British Telecom 
are broached. 

So, without further ado, here's 
the Amiga Shopper guide to getting 
into, about and out of this exciting 
realm of computer chatter. 



First off, you'll need a computer. I 'd 
recommend a Commodore Amiga. 
But then you knew that, didn't you? 

In the mode 

Another damn useful piece of kit is a 
modem. It turns your data into 
something the phone lines can 
handle. There ore two types of 
modem - manual and automatic. 
Manual modems are cheap (pay no 
more than about £50), very slow 
(300 bps, or 30 cps) and require a 
telephone alongside to do the 

continued on page 48 



JARGON BUSTING 

BBS: Bulletin Board System. The name comes from the American college bulletin 
board (rhe cork and drawing pins type) which rs a traditional meeting and 
trading place. 

BPS: Bits per Second. The number of data bits sent down a line in arte second. 

CPS: Characters per Second. Since there are usually 10 bits per character in 
asynchronous comms, the cps figure is usually one-tenth the bps figure. 
With data compressing modems (those with MNP level 5 or greater) the 
bps/cps ratio is often higher, as more data is packed into the same number 
of bits. 

DOWNLOADING: Receiving data from a bulletin board. 

ECHO: A Fidonet public message area. Queries, comments, complaints, statements 
and plain trash from your area just waiting to be read and replied to. 

FIDONET: A network of bulletin boards spanning the globe. The day's Echo 

messages from one bulletin board are bundled together and sent to other 
boards late at night. 

HAYES: A company that devised the standard command set for automatic 

modems and makes solid but pricey modems to this day, Hayes commands 
are sometimes called AT commands, as every command is preceded with 
the letters J AT' 

LINE NOISE: Random bursts of spurious characters caused by natural happenings 

in the phone line. Virtually unknown at low data transfer rates. 

MNP: Microcom Network Protection is the mast common error correction system 
for modems, MNP level 2 corrects errors by re-transmitting bad data 
blocks, levels 3 and 4 try to regain the speed lost by MNP 2 by 
reorganising the data, and levels 5 to 10 compress and repackage the data 
for maximum throughput. 

OFF-LINE MESSAGE READER: A program that allows you to quote from, reply to 
and compose messages once you've disconnected from the board and 
don't have phone charges to worry about. The next time you log on, you 
can upload all your messages in one go. Not for neophyte comms people, 

ONLINE TIME: The amount of rime per day that you can use the board* 

Unregistered users have limited online time but registering often gives 
unlimited online time and downloads. 

TROUGHING: The nasty practice of always downloading and never uploading. A 
very bad habit. 

SCROLLING BBS; Uses 80x25 screen format, which scrolls as data is received. 
Simplest form uses no special control codes. ANSI graphics give 8-colour 
line and block graphics. The most common type of BBS. 

SYSOP: System Operator of a bulletin board. Generally a 'salt of the Earth' 

character who provides a BBS as a hobby, and not for profft. Hug a Sysop 
today (well, metaphorically, at least). 

UPLOADING: sending data to a bulletin board 

VIEWDATA BBS; Uses 40x25 paged Teletext format. Not very common on the 

Amiga scene since the traditional Viewdata (v23, 1200/75 bps] baud rate 
is not easily supported by the Amiga. A peculiarly European phenomenon. 



Keep it COMMing 

Scottish Opus is my local bulletin board. Even though it's net an 
Amiga board, you have to go through pretty much the same 
sequence to start off on any BBS. 

I logged on under an assumed name (a bad thing to do, but I 
did have the sysop's permission) to demonstrate just what a new 
user can expect to see. 



1 Dialling - NComm's telling 
the modem (o dial the number, 
and wait For an answering 
carrier tone. Here I'm running 
1 200 bps, 8 bits per character, 
no parity checking, and one 
stop bit per character; a 
reliable setting to try any new 
board. If your comms package 
supports it, enable ANSI (or 
IBM) characters if you want some slightly more interesting displays. 

2 Connected - Straight on, first time; if you pick your time right (like 4. 1 9pm 
on a Saturday), you'll walk right in. The wrong time (say 9.30pm on a 
weekday) and you might 



Hliallins Scottish Opus,, .AttttmW» 



Nunter: 889 7863 

Speed; 1286 

Courier) t; Local 

Script: (none) 

Retries: 8 

Next: Scottish Opus 2 



Esc/Abort iSpace/Nexti Dsl/Renove 



OPUS-CBCS nl. 14 



/? r 
// / 
i/ / 

D I 

/ 

/ 

\ 

/ . 
/_/\ 

D / 



~~7 
/ 



c. 



n — s\ 
w. 
w 

\\ // ctmsi 

// w 
// // 
// // 
w // PUS 



spend half an hour 

trying. Connecting is the 

most difficult part; once 

you're in, the worst you'll 

be asked is a few 

questions. Some boards 

require you to press [Esc] 

twice; if you know you 

are connected but aren't 

getting anywhere, tap [Enter] a couple of times to wake the board up. The 

'CAP' at the bottom of the screen shows that I've started to spool the session to 

disk. Text at 1 200 bps is just at the edge of comfortable reading, any faster 

and it becomes virtually impossible. Don't worry, all boards page the screen so 

you will have time to read what is going by. 



LINE tt 1 



Mhat is vn it FIRST naiw: 5'ru.n 
Khar is your LAST naMe: Renal dsao 
Srruan Renal deal* (V,nl? <■ 



Which Language would van like to use* 

:'. ! ! ! ! ! Kuril 

3 Sinensis 

< Italians 

5 Dutch 



Select: 1 



to select your secret password, 



A password Hust lie a single ittnl (NO SPACES). It cm he as long 
as 15 characters ajid cao include letters, nouuers, or punctuation 
Ihere is NO difference uetween uppercase and lowercase letters, 

■ you will need it to Los on again in the 



Type the password you plan to use 
on this ..'.'v. 1 



3 New User - Everyone 

gets asked their name before 
being given access to the 
boord, Scottish Opus doesn't 
know of a 'Struan Ronaldsay', 
so starts asking questions 
Choose a password (make 
sure it's a different one for 
every board you use). And I'm 
in, this time for real. 



4 Policies - After being asked 
a few more questions about 
IBM/ANSI characters, you get 
the bulletin board's policy 
statement. The sysop expects 
good behaviour and general 
abiding of laws. You would be 
wise to respect these policies; 
many a law-abiding sysop has 
shut down in disgust at the 
conduct of a few entirely 
inconsiderate users. 

continued on page 48 



En moo see 1 or 2 stars inside the q,unte Marts? 11,21 
Use the OTed full -screen editor [V,n,?;he]pl? <i 

Use UN -PC characters K,i>,?=)telp]? y 



Scottish Opus CSCS 

SlfSTEH POLICIES 

If you have leased on under in alias or suite other silly naite, 
please log off and re- log under your PROPER nane. There are NO 
HACKING areas en this Be so there s no point in using an alias. 
Dubious nanes are DELETES within 24hrs. Nultiple entries under 
different nanes kill NOT he tolerated. 

All callers to Scottish Opus have full read/vrite access to all 

the Message and file areas, there are no hidden area:. 

This BBS is non Machine specific, I will accept projrans Tor any 
Machine for tne download areas, ALL software is PUBLIC MHADI or 
SHAREWARE. All uploads are verified as beinsr non conMerct.al 
hefore he ins Made auailahle for downloading. 



AMIGA 5HOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 



COMMS 



continued from poge 47 



hlietii 23:13:11 

Gwioo Sifcson lias vlcadEe m Alar i persien or 0* Crr 
H»sta»r eeisVr. It's tailed XTKSI2H aid tin t; found in n 

~ fill! — 



ss eft Hip 

S".!;- W«"SHjaS"HiSBVi» , Sfifi either « this 
II frail 0» ■(■ Cftmi ibnii m gr u. aw etier D thai swirls 
it. Htm area til lis fWMO [rwi Ilitk Swwreille , 
t SS.iS' Sg." l «iSf* )"»» Viti* if tlr Tietwos in aroa la, thw 

w iMGim, inn, em i hi mi. 

*™ **}.»« j i*j rue ciiici mhwh »d «i 121 ks tk ijttst Die 
mmn hi ri 1*211 fit h>»! hs wi.im awi in »,. Br. 

John hi] Ins uploaded ia Achireees pnuran called. Id in area IIS. 



lnuli 

WIS 
Message 
Ispistw 
List Users 



re section 



File Sect inn 
Veil for SjsOp 
li;j-:^ S:,i^ 



•til let io 
Cjiajisp setup 

■Ft 1st K 



StlSistics 
Hills Nee 

fiocdhue (Losr,golf) 



5 Main Menu - After the 
Quote of the Day and the 
day's news bulletin, we get 
to the Main Menu. I could 
Register, gaining longer 
online time in exchange for 
my name, address and 
telephone number. The bold 
character set is a trick that 
ANSI graphics con perform. 



6 Message 
areas - M is For 

Message Section. 
So many different 
Fidonet areas, but 
the one I'm after is 
area 32 on this 
board - the Amiga 
Europe echo. 



[11 Genera] [4] Sfsdp / Persona] E£l Matrix Hail 



ECHO- N 
Ell] Scottish Chit 
It 11 Penpal 
[12] Cohmh Bonn 
[13] Internal] una] Kail 
1141 Sales < Hints 
111] Kusic 
lit,] CD Music 
[171 Astronoeiv 
[IS] 5F I Fantasy 
[[91 Files, video etc 
12K1 Hotorias 
121] Ask Cogs 
[22! Satellite 
12]] Green Issues 
[HI Star Trek 
[251 En AstrtKiMi 



I I Kit SklE 
[311 IHf PC 
1311 Atari ST 
[32] jheiu 
[321 ArcliiHfes 
I Ml BBC 
[351 Art trad 
[311 FSIOH 
[371 Apple MAC 

[391 HDI 

[Ml Gen. Hard, are 

HI] LAM 

[42] Electronics 

H3I >ari inks 

[44] 1ST Mndpns 



AREAS 
t5l] Coups 
[511 Opus Xprpss 
tS2 1 Bis Hew / Alls 
(Ml Radin HAM 
151] Haderis 

(SSI SesiViH 
(371 HirJok 
[51] J.r.P, 
in I Vims 
1611 FligM Sin. 
I(U Canluj 



1(21 C Prcwanh 
Ten. Proar. 



1631 Gen. 



ifflftr-Sir" 



Hi tor Be If 

veils "wans" 
it the right 

(SPACEXBETUHO creates i blast 



' lines 
t narfi 



autenaticallo - na need tn press KETDtl 
n. Press Hi™ (nice ti <niit the editor, 
'me hetieen paragraphs. 



Press DUES la continue 

I'- 1 peclm Hcai'dlp 

FROM Strua.it Ronaldsay 

$IMCT,..!le: JH-C0MH 1.12 



1: So then, if JR-cotM 1,12 the conns progran w 

2: or .ill d.pil- in -the "tool NCin people still I 

3: it? 



Slue 

lei line 
Select: ■ 



Edit 

JsubJecl 



we all hem waiting fir 
an eacuse Knot* to use 



Ins line 
'Help 



7 A Typical 

Message - Here's a 
reply to someone's 
memory problems. 
The sender has used 
an off-line message 
reader to quote from 
the original and build 
up a reply. The 
Origin line shows 
where it came from - 
Declan's BBS in 
Dublin, Eire. 



8 Take a Message 

There was some 
debate over the merits 
of newest version of 
JR-Comm, so I wanted 
the truth. Should 1 stay 
with NComm and its 
little quirks, or go to 
JR-Comm and get 
thoroughly confused? 



Tron: BmIjo Kcardle 
Subject: Re: JYfc-si] 



B-.S 1144, ZHIar-n 13; 21: 



lei lie mote your nessage of (22 Hit 91 li:«2:5t> 
about (Be: RArl-SMuWOR ■ ■ ■ ! > , nhere nou urite: 

JM> Why do van need ttewr* It $211111? Tn run XiekStart 2.1? 

Because ueu aV 

;-) pen tan. 

— WCed e3,5c / Trapdoor 
# Oriflin: Anlpa, i*|i coHprohtse? IipcBBK + 353-1-882454 12:253/198) 



ECHO area 32 

A.»pj Clianae 
Biter Message 

ShUW" 



e Anisi H 
Hexl (Ppail Hsa: 
Replv 
List (brief) 

I (lCJp5ff> 



Price nss 
=read nen-step 
{ei« Ew Hill 
Kill Hpssase 



L -p "i ■ i 

• I-,, 



Yljh It IS possiblp but Hie driME ffDES upsidE dflwnttt 

As EDr tinins Prrnrs niLntpil li^ cnnnodD]'P and nt]ipr UiDtfjFdsFablE ppflp]f 
eli .i I llau Liy true but it wgrks -;, i.;.i.-,ii 

» Orisin: « SE.ern Side Its w Gloucester [«-(B>452-(113421 I2:2S8/4!81 



rrcii: 
Subject: 



Strum Ronaldsap 
letl j. Hurdle 
Re: JR CO* 1.42 



Msf 1152. 3IHUP-91 It: 31 



Se then, is JR-CUPH 1.82 the cqiihi progriH lie hiue ill been Ml tins lor or 
will dyed-in-tbe-vcol NConh people still hive in excuse enotr. tc use it? 



— v-us-CBCS 1.14 
« vrijin: Scottish Opus, Olisse* Ilinel, Ml SIS 7BS3] (2:259/2.1) 



hh This is 1 reply te 1147. 

[1321 Highest: 152 
KIT) apei 32 . 

Area Change 
Tnttr nessaso 



* Anijia n 
Heat (Dead Hsi) 

leplp 

list Ibl'iEfl 

(lnsod) 



Prim' nsa 
?ead non-st&p 
Scan for Hail 
1111 Message 



Current nsp 
'read original 
Inquire 
' KELP 



ii".,i 
' in 



the last one, as observant folks will notice From the clock 
I've gone to the File section, then changed to the Amiga 



9 There's an Echo 

in here - And there's 

my message, as it will 
be seen by the 
thousands of Amiga 
people in Europe 
within a few days. All 
this for just the price of 
a phone call. More 
Files than you could 
shake a stick at 
This was a 
different session from 
From the Main Menu, 
specific section 



2[.9S4 85-12-98 Supers Anisao graphics deno 

25515 82-82-91 Amga Conns package 



23149 S5-S1-89 Asteroids for the Amga 
.43915 22-12-98 Crusaders pntrp for the 1 
48523 lo-82-91 Core Liars, including source 



H3915 22-12-98 Crusaders pntru fur the Tabasco cohpetitien 



?«!4 11-11-18 3D rotating o___ 

125124 12-12-98 Husic Bptw (nr Amga 

13312 31-18-89 Bis! copiir 

18171 2MT3-89 Kanipu]itp tire load addrpss nf file 1 

7378 84-83-98 Graph its. dp no 



1 File List - Scottish 

Opus has a 

reasonable Amiga file 

section; Amiga based 

boards have more. 

Files are archived for 

safekeeping and faster 

downloading; each 

different archiving 

program gives a different filename extension - Arc gives *.ARC, Zoo, not 

surprisingly, *.ZOO, and the newer Lharc generates *.LZH archives. You'll 

need the right archive program for the job - they are not intercompatible. 



(0KA.L.H 
COrM.LZH 

EOSHCAK 

(RIMER. LZH 

CRHR184B.LZH 

CIBtr.AK 

CTCIE.LIB 

CtUOHE.ARC 

DATAHUHJI.ARC 

IA2211.RB 

■was 

HHO-IILMK 
DIHO-DHZ.HHC 

HUGHS. ARC 
M5J5A1V.ARC 
IB. LSI 
MOUSE, AM 
MOUJt.MIC 



211712 85-11-88 Hore Ql-aphics/Husic 8e»W5 
"IOC graphics/Music del» 
ndp]ete anil recover corrupted disfcs 



127744 tJ-ll-t_ 
17531 M-ll-lt 
7517 14-13-91 foul 

13448 lt-82-B9 ^runhen luuse, lias a strange el 

185JB 25-82-19 Home utility, rp perse of Bit-7r» Hr SI" 



on poge 53 



continued from i 



e 47 



dialling. You dial up a BBS, wait for 
the carrier tone, hit the Connect 
button, put the phone back on the 
hook and you should be connected. 
They are reliable, but no use for 
downloading or uploading software 
due to extreme lack of speed. 

Automatic modems range from 
around £ 1 00 for the very slowest to 
well over £1000 for top line 
machines. These machines will dial 
for you and can be set up through 
software, not by pushing buttons on 
the modem. They mostly use the 
Hayes command set to talk to the 
computer and most comms software 
is preset to use these commands. 

You pays yer money 

The more you pay, the faster a 
modem you get, and the less you'll 
have to pay BT to receive the same 
amount of data, A v22 modem 
(1 200 bps) is fine for calling local 
boards for mail and small 
uploads/downloads. 2400 bps 
(v22bis] modems bring more 
flexibility, but suffer from line noise 
unless precautions are taken. Expect 
to pay over £200 for a v22bis 
modem, which will include the v21 
(300 bps) and v22 standards. 

The 9600 bps scene is a bit 
more confused; there are two 
incompatible standards, HST and 
v32, and either machine will set you 
back over £500. You have to be 
pretty serious to throw that sort of 
money about, but then an extra 
£200 on top will get you a modem 
capable of both standards. 

Error-correcting modems are a 
subset of the automatic market. These 
use special protocols at both ends of 
the telephone line to reduce the 
effects of line noise. More advanced 
error correcting modems con 
compress the data by up to 50% 
before sending. Expect to pay 
around £300 for a data- 
compressing, error-correcting v22bis 
MNP 5 modem - capable of putting 
text down a good phone line at 
around 480 cps. 

BT Approval might add a lot to 
the price of a modem, but it also 
removes the slight possibility of 
falling out with a company that in no 
way monopolises the market; it's just 
that you can't make local calls 
without them unless you live in Hull. 

Unless you've got a Bridgeboard, 
you'll need an external modem; 
internal devices go inside PCs. You'll 
probably get a modem that can do 
v23 (1200/75 bps} along with other 
speeds. Amigas and PCs aren't good 
at 1 200/75 split baud rate, so 
unless you get deeply into Viewdata 
BBSs, you'll probably never use it. 

You'll also need a cable: o small 
thing, but much angst can be saved 
by ensuring thai all the lines you 
need are connected between the 



Attack of The Tomato- 
Flavoured BBS 

A sysop of a small BBS called me 
up and virtually demanded a 
mention. When I say a small 
BBS, I mean it - it runs on a twin 
floppy A500. It's colourful (ANSI 
graphics everywhere), and nicely 
presented. It's called The Tomato 
Flavoured BBS, if s on '- 081 560 
6251, and supports up to v22bis. 

The only drawback is that 
TFBBS is only on-line from 
10.30pm - 5.30pm; the sysop 
uses the phone for other things in 
the evening (oh yus?). Give it a 
call if if 5 local, but don't you 
dare call outside the 
recommended times, okay? 



computer and modem. Don't use a 
cable where all 25 lines are 
connected straight through either; a 
weirdness in the wiring of the 
Amiga's serial port means that you 
could damage your computer with 
such a cable. 

If you don't want to build your 
own cables, wander along to a 
reputable supplier and say you want 
a cable to connect an Amiga (state 
model] to a Hayes-compatible 
modem. If they don't know what 
you're talking about, they don't 
deserve your custom. 

Going soft- 

As for any task involving your 
computer, you'll need the 
appropriate software. Comms 
software is a very personal thing, 
and the only way to find one you like 
is by trying them all. This isn't as 
expensive as it sounds, as all the best 
comms software is shareware. 

Here are the features to look For: 

• ASCII Capture/Send - ASCII 
Capture allows you to browse 
through your BBS session once 
you've logged off, and possibly 
compose replies for the next time you 
log on. ASCII Send tips a prepared 
text file down the line so your 
messages are spelled properly. 

• Online timer - It tells you how long 
you've been on the phone. Clever 
software keeps a log of all calls, and 
the really clever stuff estimates the 
phone bill from your call log. 

• Phonebook - Stores the names, 
telephone numbers and baud rotes of 
all your favourite bulletin boards and 
dials them at a mouse click. Of 
absolutely no use whatsoever to 
manual modem users. 

• XModem and ZModem File 
Transfer Protocols - You can't just 

continued on poge 53 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1 99 1 



Supra Modems 



Modems from £55 

Supra 2400 (V22bis) £125 

Supra Plus (V22bis + MNP5 + V42bis) 

9600 baud £220 

Supra MNP (V22bis + MNP5) 4800 baud £175 

Ideal for Ataris, Amigas & PCs 

Supra modems are guaranteed for four 

years and are auto-dial, auto-answer, and 

fully Hayes compatible. 

Supra Approved Distributor 



Open till 8pm 



081-566-3639 



Open till 8pm 



SUPPLY SOLUTIONS, PO BOX 2136, 
LONDON, W1 3 8QJ 



SWITCHBOARD 

75 Kirkmuir Drive, Stewarton, Ayrshire, KA3 3HP. 
TEL: (0560)85296 FAX: Voice Request 

HEWLETT PACKARD 
PRINTERS/PLOTTERS 



£349 



£399 



Deskjet 500 

3 year warranty 

PaintJet 

Colour Deskjet 
1 year warranty 

HP7440A Color-Pro 
8-pen Plotter £369 

1 year warranty 



Prices exclude VAT 



ALL MAJOR CREDIT CARDS 
ACCEPTED 




COMMODORE 
HARDWARE 



AS0O Options torn 32499 

A500 1 Meg Screen Gems ..,.384. 99 

A500 Class of 90's 544.99 

A500 Hist Steps 544,99 

A150Q 6S4.99 

A15003Mb5£Mb HD 1199.99 

A3000 16MH2 + 40Mb HD .2159.99 
A3000 25MHz + 40Mb HD .2554.99 
A3O00 25MHz + 

105Mb HD 3074.99 

A1084S Colour Monitor 254.99 

A1950 Multisync 439.99 

A59020MbHD 289.99 

AS90 SOMb HD + 2Mb Ram, .379.99 

A1011 1Mb 3.5" Drive 79.99 

A501 Ram Expansion/Clock 57.99 

A5B0 TV Modulator 24,99 

Philips 8833 MM 544.99 

Citizen 120D + 134,99 

Cit«en1S4D ...199.99 

Citizen Swift 9 194.99 

Citizen Swift 24 289,99 

Swift 9/24 Colour Kit 34,99 

StarLC-10 159.99 

Star LC24-10 ...209 99 

StarLC-200 , 214 99 

StafLC24-S00 , 254,99 

Star LC24-SO0 Colour 299.99 

Cumana 1Mb 3.5" Drive... . 64.99 

M501s Ram ExpansionClock 34.99 

AT Once 179.99 

Hitachi Camera A Lens 224.99 

Digiview 89,99 

Vidi Amiga 95.99 

Golden Image Scanner 199.99 

Type 10 Handy Scanner 135,99 

Minigen 102.99 

Genlock + Home Titter 139.99 

Designer Modem , 109.99 

Linnet Modem. „ 161.99 

AMAS 71.99 

Audio Engineer Plus 169.99 

Mastersound .29.99 

Perfect Sound ,49.99 

Naksha Mouse 19.99 

Contriver Trackball 29.99 

Marconi Trackball 47.99 

Universal Printer Stand 6,99 

Centronics Printer Cable 4.99 

CS232 Cable 7.99 



Scan Cable 8.99 

3.S' 40 Capacity Box 4.99 

3.5" 80 Capacity Box 6.99 

10 x Sony Bulk 3.5" 5.99 

50 x Sony Bulk 3.5" 24.99 

100 x Sony Bulk 3.5" 44.99 

10 x Sony MFD2DD 3.5" 9.99 

10 X TDK MFSDD 3.5" 9,99 



LANGUAGES 
COMPILERS ETC. 



AMOS.. 35,95 

ARexx , 33.95 

Devpac2 41.95 

GFA Basic V3.5 Compiler 23.95 

QFA Baste V3.5 Interpreter. 39.95 

Hisoft Basic 54.95 

Hisoft Extend 14,95 

K-Seka Assembler 35.95 

SAS (Lattice) CV5.01 174.95 



ACCOUNTS 



Cashbcck Combo 47.95 

Cashbook Controller 35.95 

Final Accounts 22.95 

Home Accounts 20.95 

Personal Fin Manager £2,95 

Small Bus Ace Cash 57,95 

Small Bus Ace Xtra 81.95 

Systems 35.95 



UTILITIES 



SAD 31.95 

Cross COS 21.95 

Diskmaster 39,95 

GB Route 27.95 

Power Windows V2.5 54.95 

Quarterback ...39.95 

X-Copy Professional,. .35.95 



TITLING/EFFECTS/ 
PRESENTATION 



Broadcast Titler 2 189.95 

Elan Performer 2 51.95 

Home Titler 34.95 

Hyperbook , 54.95 



Pro Titler .1 56.95 

Pro Video Post 212.95 

Scab ...189,95 

Title Page 1 34.95 

TV Show V2 56.95 

TV Text Professional 94.95 

Video Effects 3D 134.95 

Video Titler 3D 84.95 



Primary Maths 3-12yrs 20.95 

Prof Looks at "Words 19.95 

Pro! Makes Sentences 1 9.95 

Prof Plays a New Game 19.95 

Spell flock 4-9 14.95 

The Three Bears 19.95 

Things to do with Numbers ..£1 4.95 
Things to do with Wbrri 14.95 



CAD/3D/GRAPHICS/ I WORD PROCESSORS 
ANIMATION 



3D Professional. 234,95 

Amiga Vision .95,95 

Deluxe Paint III 59.95 

Deluxe Print II 35.95 

Deluxe Video 111 74.95 

Disney Animation Studio 84.95 

Imagine 189.95 

IntrctAD Plus 94.95 

Photon Paint 2 ..29.95 

PIKmate 38.95 

Professional Draw V2 .99.95 

Spectracolour .58.95 

Vista .51.95 

X-CAD Designer 89,95 



EDUCATIONAL 



Better Maths 12-16 yrs 19.95 

Better Spelling Over 8 19.95 

Fun School 2 Under 6 14.95 

Fun School 2 6-8 14.95 

Fun School 2 Cwr 8 14.95 

Fun School 3 Under 5 17.95 

Fun School 3 5-7 .17.95 

Fun School 3 Oer 7 17,95 

lets Spell at Home 14.95 

Lets Spell at the Shops 14.95 

Magic Maths 4-8 yrs 19.95 

Maths Mania 8-1 2 yrs 1 9.95 

M Beacon Teaches Typing 22.95 

Mega Maths A-Lerel 20.95 

Micro English GCSE 20.95 

Micro French GCSE 20.95 

Micro Maths GCSE 50.95 



Excellence 2,...,-,,, 84.95 

Kindwords 2 ., 35.95 

Penpal 85.95 

Pretext V5 105.95 

Pro "Write V3.1 102.95 

Scribble Ptetrnum .42,95 

Transwrite 31.95 

WordPerfect 192.95 



DATABASES 



K-Data , 35.95 

Prodata 55.95 

Superbase Personal ...,26.95 

Superbase Personal 2 64.95 

Superbase Professional 164.95 

Superbase Professional 4 259.95 



SPREADSHEETS 



Advantage 75.95 

DGCafc .^7,95 

K-Spread2 43.95 

Syperplan 64.95 



DESKTOP PUBLISHING 



Gold Disk Type each 31 .95 

Outline Fonts , 99.95 

Pagesetterll 46.95 

Pagestresm V2.1 144.95 

Prodips .21.95 

Professional PageV2 18995 

Structured Clip Art 31.95 

Templates. 34.95 



Advanced Amiga Basic 18.95 

Adv. Sys. Prog. Gde * 32.45 

* 3D Graphics Prog 18.45 

Amiga Applications 16.95 

Amiga Ass. Lang. Prog 14.45 

Amiga Basic In/Out 18.95 

Amiga C Adv. Prog .32.45 

* C for Beginners 18.45 

Amiga DOS 14.95 

Amiga DOS IrVOut 18.45 

Amiga DOS Ref Guide 14.95 

Amiga' Desktop Video 18.45 

* Desktop Video Gde 18,45 

* Disk Drives In/Out 27.95 

Amiga for Beginners 12.95 

* Graphics In/Out 32.45 

* Hardware-Ref. Man 21.95 

Amiga Mach Lang. Gde 21.95 

Amiga Machine Lang 14.95 

* Prog Handbook Vol 1 ..£4.95 

* Prog Handbook Vol 2 23.95 

Compute* Prog Gde 17.45 

Weber ♦ Prog Gde. 20.45 

" ROM Kernel Man Auto. 28.95 

* BOM Kernel Man Lib .29.95 

* System Prog Gde 32.95 

Secomming an * .Artist 18.45 

Beginners Gde to * 16.95 

Computes 1st Book" 16,95 

Computes 2nd Book * 16.95 

Elementary * Basic 14.95 

Inside * Graphics 16.95 

Kids & the Amiga ....15.95 

Mapping the Amiga 20.95 

Maters Amiga DOS 2 17.95 

Prog Gde. Id Amiga 23.95 

* Indicates Amiga in title 

68000 Assem Lang Prog 51.95 

68000 User Guide 8.95 

Programming the 68000..,,. 53.95 

Teach yourself 68000 8.95 

40 Great Flight Sims 13.95 

40 More Great Flights 14.95 

40 Great Sub AoVs 13.95 



COMMUNICATIONS 



'Please make cheques/postal orders payable to SOFTMACHINE, All items subject to availability 
Alt prices include V.A.T & UK Delivery. All prices subject to change without notice E SO E 

SOFTMACHINE 

Dept. AMS 5, 20 Bridge House, Bridge Street, Sunderland SR1 1TE. Tel: 091 510 2666/2777 Fax: 091 564 1960 



ra 



F19 Stealth Air Combat 14.95 

F1 9 Stealth Fighter 13.95 

Falcon Air Combat 14.95 

Flight Sim Odyssey., 1 4.95 

Filing Flight Sim 7,95 

Gunship Academy 1 +.95 

Jet Fighter School 11.95 

Jet Fighter School II 14.95 

learn to Fly Flight Sim 14.95 

Sub Commander. 12 95 

Take Off Flight Sim 15.95 

Up & Run Flight Sim 8.95 

BBS PC 91.95 

GPTerm 47,95 

K-Cornm2 35.95 

Audiomaster 111 .47,95 

Bars S Pipes 172.95 

DrTs Copyist App 76.95 

Or Ts Copyist DTP 201.95 

DrTsRCS 169.95 

DrT'sKCS Level II 549.95 

DrT'sMRS .31.95 

DrT'sTigerCub 84.9S 

Quartet 35.95 

A10 Tank Killer 28.50 

F1 6 Combat Pilot 17.99 

F16 Falcon .Call 

f 1 9 Stealth fighter 51.50 

F29 Retaliate* 17.99 

Falcon Mission Disks Call 

Flight Simulator If .24.99 

Flight Sim Scenery -.10.99 

Gunship 17.99 

M1 Tank Platoon 21.50 

Mig 29 Fulcrum 24.99 

Proflight Call 

Team Yankee 21 JO 

UM5II 21,50 



Z 

Z3 



O 
x 

< 

O 



49 




torpqwety^ 




IJJPM $PB!Stt !M$!& 

THE ANSWER TO YOUR DISK DUPLICATION PROBLEMS 



□ SYNCRO EXPRESS IS A HIGH SPEED DISK DUPLICATION SYSTEM THAT WILL PRODUCE COPIES OF YOUR DISK IN AROUND 50 
SECONDS!! 

_j Syncro Express requires a second drive & works by controlling it as a slave device & ignoring the computer disk drive controller 
chip whereby high speeds & groat data accuracy are achieved. 

J Menu driven selection of Start Track/End Track up to 90 tracks. Q Ideal for clubs, user groups or your own disks. 

J Very simple to use, requires no user knowledge. [ | The most powerful Disk Copier ever conceived. 

J Also duplicates other formats such as IBM, ST etc. \ 

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Allows you to generate more arid even infinite lives, fuel, ammo, etc. 
Perfect as a trainer mode to got you past that 'impossible' level. Very 
easy to use. 

IMPROVED SPRITE EDITOR 

& you to view/modify the whole sprite set 
-prites, RANGE OF IMPROVED FEATURES. 

VIRUS DETECTION 
Comprehensive vipus detection and removal features to protect your 
software investment. Works with all presently known viruses. 

save PICTURES AND music to disk 
Pictures and sound samples can be saved to disk. Files are saved 
directly IFF format suitable tor use with all the major graphic and music 

■* ~s screen waveform. 

SLOW MOTION MODE 
Now you can slow down the action to your own pace. Easily adjustable 
from full speed to 20% speed. Ideal to help you through the tricky parts! 

RESTART THE PROGRAM 
Simply press a key and the program will continue where you left eft. 

*JL*L STATUS REPORTING 
At the press of a key now you can view the Machine Status, including Fast 
Ram, Chip Ram, RamDisk, Drive Status, etc. 

POWERFUL PICTURE EDITOR 
Now you can manipulate and search for screens throughout memory. 
Over 50 commands to edit the picture plus unique on screen status 



"overlay" shews all the information you could ever need to l. ^. 

No other product comes close to offering such dynamic screen handling of 

frozen programs!! 

MUSIC SOUND TRACKER* ' * 

r you can find the complete music in programs , 
demos, etc. and save them to disk. Saves in format suitable for most track 
player programs. Works with loads ol programs!! 
■ AUTOFIRE MANAGER 
From the Action Rqptay II preference screen you can now set up autofire 
from to 100%. Just imagine continuous fire power? Joystick 1 and 2 
set separately tor that extra advantage! 

DISKCODER 
With the new "Diskcoder" option you can now 'tag' your disks with a unique 
cede that will prevent the disk from being loaded by anyone etse. Tagged" 
disks will only reload when you enter the code. Very useful for security. 

PREFERENCES 

Action Replay If now has screen colour preferences with menu setup. 
Customise your screens to suit your taste. Very simple to use. 

I DISK MONITOR 

Invaluable disk monitor - displays disk information in easy to understand 
lormat. Full modify/save options. 

DOS COMMANDS * 
Now you have a selection of DOS commands available at all times - DIR, 
FORMAT, COPY, DEVICE, etc. 

DISK COPV 
Disk Copy at the press of a button - faster than Dos Copy. No neei 
Workbench - available at all 1 

BOOT SELECTOR 
Either DFO or DF1 can be selected as the boot drive when working with 
Amiga Dos disks. Very useful to be able to boot from your external drive. 



■S A MACHINE CODE FREEZER MONITOR WITH EVEN MORE PO r 

EVEN Ml UDING 30 COLUMN Dl! PLAY AMD 5 WAY SCROLLING:' 

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trozen picture Play resident sample Show and edi I all CPU registers and flag Calculalor Help command Full search feature * 

s you lo see and modify all chip registers - euen write only registers Notepad Disk handling • - 
show actual track, Disk Sync, pattern etc. Dynamic Breakpoint handling Show memory as HEX, 
ASCII. Assembler, Decimal Coppe r A sse m ble Disassemble - now wit h s utfi x n a m es 



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Unique Cuslon Chip Editor 



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T»ifl backup f nriliiies ;o J this producl are designed so repfodvas oriy Htitvrare sucfi aa Putilc Domain materia.. 

lo make baxSupa naa been dearly given. 
Ic :r. illegal lo make m|mb. even tor ytrur own usn. d copyright materia), wilrwul iha express 
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AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 •"JNE 1991 



51 



The New 1 Meg Amiga From Digicom 

Following The Huge Success Of Our F-19 Digistar Offer, We At Digicom Are Proud To Present The Meanest Pack Available For 
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Includes: Amiga A500 Computer 512K Keyboard PLUS A501 512K RAM/Clock Expansion Fitted To Give 1 Meg Memory Total 
• Built-in 1 megabyte DS/DD 3.5" Disk Drive • Multi-Tasking Operating System • Latest Kickstart And Workbench 1.3 • 
Superb 4096 Colour Graphics • Speech Synthesis • 4 Channel Digital Stereo Sound • Notepad Word Processor • Commodore 
Mouse Plus 3 Owners Manuals • Amiga Basic Program Language • T.V Modulator And All Connecting Leads And Cables 

Plus This Great Software : Shadow Of The Beast 2 • Days Of Thunder 
• Back To The Future 2 • NightBreed • Deluxe Paint 2 

Plus Exclusively to Digicom 

Bring The Atmosphere Of The Arcade To Your Home With The 
Arcade Smash Hits Pack From Sega, Incorporating Five Of The Most 
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1 T S l ? er 2" Shinobi D After 

r p Blade Burner 

Plus : A High Quality Microswitched Joystick, 
Amiga Tailored Dustcover, 10 Blank Disks And 
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Notice : The Memory Upgrade Supgtfetf^itiTTfitrOfter Is The 
Official Commodore A501 Ram Expansion Worth £99.00 ANY 
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THE GAME 
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Free AmigaWW Lead And Monitor Dust Cover *■' vJ ** O • W W 

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Free Printer Dust Cover & Lead a*\J**\J • W 



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C O M M S 



continued from page 48 

send a binary file down o telephone 
line and expect it to come out the 
other end unscathed. Some method 
of error checking has to be used so 
you can re-transmit the corrupted bits. 
One of the oldest protocols is 
XModem; it sends checkup data 
every 1 28 bytes. It's quite slow, but 
there isn't o BBS in the universe that 
doesn't support it. The current 
protocol of choice is ZModem. Data 
is initially sent in 1 K packets, but if 
errors occur, the packet size is 
halved [down to a limit of 64 bytes) 
until a successful transmission is 
made. Zmodem con even restart from 
where an aborted transmission left 
off; it's a very flexible and fast 
protocol which is nearly universally 
accepted these days. 
• ANSI Graphics - 8 colour 
character graphics, originally used 
by DEC and IBM. Simple pictures 
and animations can be built up by 
sending long strings of control codes. 
It's pretty, but tends to be rather slow 
at 1 200 bps or less. 

If you're stuck for what to buy, 
here's a selection of nifty comms 
programs that should get you started. 

AZComm 1.0 

(Fish Disk 171) 

This little public domain package is 
really old and primitive looking; it 
doesn't support ANSI graphics, it has 



UK BULLETIN BOARDS 

While by no means an exhaustive list, here 
are a few BBSs to get you started; 

England 

North East - Grimsby 

Code-o-molic n 0472 3603 1 1 

North West - Carlisle 

Scorpion's Nest n 0228 26478 

Midlands - Birmingham 

ThePlug-Ole »021 472 0256 

South East - Cheam 

Cheam Amiga BBS • 081 644 8714 

South West - Gloucester 

Severn Side BBS n 0452 611342 

Severn Side isn't Amiga specific, but is a well 
established board and consequently a good 
source of information about local boards. 

Scotland 

Scottish Opus, Glasgow - 041-880 7863 

Although Scottish Opus runs on a PC, it's a 
big and busy board with a quite reasonable 
Amiga tile section and good connections to 
almost everywhere else. 

Wales 

Public House BBS, Cardiff n 0222 221 168 

Public House runs a subscription scheme at 
£10 a year which gives users longer access 
times and £2 oF 'free' Fidonet moil credits. 

Northern Ireland 

No luck here, all the numbers thad were out 
of dote. You could try giving DecBBS a beF! 
across the border to find out what's going 
down in your locale. 

Eire 

DecBBS, Dublin ir 010 353 1 882454 

A seriously neat board. The sysop Declan 
McArdle is a mine of useful information on all 
things Amiga in the Emerald Isle. 



no online limer and it doesn't take 

advantage of a PAL screen. But what 
it does have is the minimum 
acceptable number of Features in the 
smallest possible space. It has ASCII 
Capture/Send, reliable XModem and 
ZModem file transfer protocols, and 
a simple phone book. 

JR-Comm 1.01 

If JRComm doesn't support it, it 
doesn't exist. Every single nuance of 
every possible feature has been 
thought of, to the extreme detriment 
of ease of use. This piece of 
shareware is well supported and 
widely used. The distributable version 
has delay screens built in; the 
registered version does not (costs 
around US $40). 

NComm 1.9 

(Fish Disk 356) 

Sharing the same roots as AZComm, 
NComm 1 .9 has all the features you 
could ever wish for, is reasonably 
easy to use, but is only passably 
reliable. It's my terminal of choice, 
and is being upgraded at this very 
moment. This one is giftware - you 
send the authors a gift of whof you 
think the program is worth to you. 

Finally, and fairly importantly, you'll 
need a telephone line. !f you are on 
a big budget, get one installed just 
for your modem. This saves temper 
tantrums when some innocent picks 
up the phone when you are 99 per 
cent through a 300K download. {JQ 

ooocxxxxx) 
Shopping List 

Modems come in many shapes and 
sizes. Expect the following prices: 

Manual: 300 bps ©150 

Automatic: 1200 bps ©I 100 

2400 bps £200 and up 
9600 ftps £500 and up 

Look out for a major comparison test 
feature in Amiga Shopper issue 6, on 
sole September 5. 

Hayes-compatible cable @£10 

Software: 

There's plenty available in PD land. 
See 'Going soft' for some good starters. 

Good connections: 

British Telecom offers the biggest 
telephone network, but Mercury is about 
20-25 per cent cheaper and has better 
line quality. However, you can't moke 
local calls with Mercury and you need a 
tone-dialling phone with at least one 
permanent number memory. 
For up-to-date call charges, contact: 
Telecom - *r 100 and ask for 
Customer Services 
Mercury -it 0800 4241 93 \ 

Above al), for all the 
above, shop around. 




Tilt area I 13 
Airea Ckange 
P :■ n i.-n I n : ' 
?) tor 
SeIfcE 



FMle 



Dh 



(SLCw) 



■!>■/: 



z>iwdr 

X'oJ... 

Ylsranlr 

HIjJpiiJ 

SHihii 

Tltlink 

Alscii 

8JQUI7 



3 2 no fc t, torn L s*d , VVttnmVttUttYttttttttttWWttttV 14 



File nan*; conn.li/i 

Status: Receiving binary file,*. 
Blocks: 2 

Bytes; im fill sizs: 25515 

Elapsed: fiti :*«:!£ ExFtcttri.; M WK 

Errors: rJ Tiheouts: 8 

Last err: (ion?) 
Ww vitt: 113 
Directory; ncoiH^dounloads 



Select: I 

What do you uant to receive' COeM-LEH 
File: i-hi:.:?!' 
Size: 25515 s' 
Tine: znodsn:: 



tes [28! s-blhi 

:32 ■nodwtrliitettf sea I ink*: 14 



Begin receiving nan or send several C«inWL-X J s tn cancel. 



continued f rem page 48 
1 1 Downloading - I 
decided to go for 
COMM.LZH, the original 
and basic Amiga cornms 
package (the ancestor of 
both AZComm and 
NComm). Considering I'm 
only logged on at 1 200 
bps (giving a theoretical 
transfer rate of 1 20 cps) the 
ZModem protocol is giving 
me a respectable 1 1 3 cps 
error-free transmission. 



T 2 An Upload a day 
keeps the Sysop at 

bay - Not quite, but 
uploads keep a BBS fresh 
and usable. I've got a 
little program archived 
and waiting in RAM: to 
be ZModem ed down the 
line. 1 know the board 
doesn't have it, because I 
wrote the program. 



Alseii 
■5 J'SUZT 



(cancel the transfer) 



Select: 2 

What do you want to 
File: Cowi.lzh 
Size: 25515 bytes < 
Tint: moderns: 32 x 

Hode: Snoden 



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13 Uploading in 
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the process will all be 
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14 Describe the 
Upload to me, Sir - 

It's precis time - describe 
your upload accurately in 
under forty characters. 
My little archive does 
only one specific thing 
(resets the machine if the 
old PAL/NTSC Reset bug 
occurs] so describing it is 
relatively easy. 



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Statistics Minn hrnii Ghodeye 



Leave i note tc Donald Uhantiel] [y,N,?=help 

Thanlcyou for calling Scottish Opus, Strcan, 

Your call duration teas 12 Hinutrs. 

Your Uyload/Dnmload ratio is 1:1. 

n / — 

// / 

1/ / 

n I 

/ 

i / 

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/ . 

/ A 



ScdttLsl 



□ 



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941 - til - 7163 V31, 22, 13, mis 

" n, litis, HST 



HI - til - 7345 V£l. 



1 5 Logoff - Struan's 
seen all he wants to see, 
and hits Goodbye at the 
menu. He doesn't want to 
say anything to Donald 
the sysop (though a "Hi, 
Nice board" wouldn't go 
amiss) so the board goes 
through its IBM character 
set goodbye sequence. A 
few characters of line 
noise squeeze their way 
through before the 

modem has a chance to say NO CARRIER, in the inimitable way that only 
Hayes compatible modems can. The phone line has been dropped, and can 
now be used by other people. 

So long, and thanks for all the files 

The two sessions shown above took seven units of telephone lime at a cost of 
about 36p. That included a great deal of time spent grabbing screens, so it 
shows that calling a local board is not at all expensive. 

Many thanks are extended to Donald Whannell of Scottish Opus BBS for 
his kind cooperation in compiling this article. 



Lncal tiw is now 16:36:23 en 3d Kar 91, 
NO CAPPJEP 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 •JUNE 1991 



GRAPHICS 




"The Amiga quite rightly has 
the reputation of being the 
computer for low-cost graphics 
applications. I'll show you how 
to get the best from all the hard 
and software in this fast- 
growing field of activity." 

Phil South 



One of the great top-of-the- 
range digitisers, 
ColourPic byJCL Business 
Systems, has fust come 
down in price, so it seems like a 
good opportunity to do a Full review 
of this very sophisticated and 
powerful piece of hardware. 

What is it? 

ColourPic is o real-time colour 
digitiser. What that means is that you 
can watch a TV picture through it 
and when you bang a key on the 
Amiga keyboard the picture freezes 
and can be captured in the Amiga's 
IFF picture format in any resolution. 
(Note: a special memory upgrade 
must be fitted to the basic unit to 
allow interlace mode to be used.] 
Once you've grabbed the image it 
can be saved to floppy or hard disk 
For later use in multimedia, graphics 
or DTP programs. 

ColourPic is fixed up by 



Take your 
ColourPic 

In this month's graphics column Phil South explains 
the ins and outs of video digitising and reviews the 
recently down-in-price ColourPic digitiser from JCL 




ColorPic is housed in a plain, light artillery-proof metal box - more than 
tough enough to withstand the slings and arrows of an outraged Snouty, 
though he calmed down quite a lot when he found out how good it was. 



connecting the lead to the parallel 
port, then putting a lead from the 
video out on your video to the video 
line in on the ColourPic. You can also 
connect another monitor or TV set to 
the back of the ColourPic to see 
which frame you've grabbed. This 
isn't absolutely necessary, although 




K5K 



This fine, if congested, example of an 
ColourPic demonstrates the pressing 



image grabbed from video with 
need for people to use buses. 



it's so simple to rig I can't see why 
you wouldn't do it. The device comes 
with a disk containing the driver 
software - a simple menu driven 
interface allowing you view, grab 
and select resolutions. 

The basic process involves 
freezing a picture in the frame-store 
part of the machine, then setting the 
digitiser part off which scans the 
picture into memory as separate RGB 
components and assembles them 
together as an IFF file which it 
displays on screen. You can then 
save the grabbed picture to disk, or 
grab it again if the image isn't quite 
what is required. 

Big lump of HAM 

The machine works with a minimum 
of 1 Mb of RAM, which isn't 
surprising considering that HAM 
pictures take up so much space. 

You begin by making a copy of 
the master disk and then running the 
system from the copy. There were no 
instructions on how to install the 
software on hard disk in the manual, 
though this shouldn't be a problem to 
a user of reasonable intelligence. 
Simply create a directory with the 
some name as the disk, copy all the 
files into it, then assign the directory 
to the same name as the disk. (Note: 



BEGINNERS 



The Amiga is a very special 
computer, No other machine has 
the same creative edge, and no 
other has the same possibilities 
for creative graphics processing. 
So one of Hie most entertaining 
things to do with graphics on the 
Amiga is digitising. This means 
you take a real-world graphic, 
such as a photo or artwork, and 
digitise it, which means turning it 
into digits in the computer's 
memory. Once in memory, it can 
be displayed on screen in 
whatever graphics standard the 
computer employs. The picture is 
scanned in one line at a time and 
the colours or shades of the 
original are turned into bits on 
the screen, so what you have is 
a bitmapped version of the 
original thing. It's just electronic 
photocopying really. 

Once you have the screen in 
the memory of your computer, it 
can be saved to disk, or loaded 
back into a painting program for 
touching up or adjustment. 
Finally, it can be pasted into a 
DTP document, or just printed 
out. Digitised graphics can also 
form the basis of your artwork 
by giving you very clear outlines 
to draw from. 

So how can you buy a 
digitiser and how can you get 
the best from it? See the Good 
digitising guide opposite. 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1 99 1 



GRAPHICS 



this process works For almost all 
programs unless the programmer 
does something really silly, such as 
making reference to something that 
isn't on the system, like DH2:, 
WORK: or even DF I : - particularly 
annoying if you use an A-Max II 
Emulator like I do. 

Once you have connected a 
nonitor or TV to the ColourPic the 
aicture that is going through it can be 
adjusted with the Brightness, 
Contrast, Saturation and Hue knobs 
on the Front of the unit. These enable 
/ou to get the best image possible, 
given the lighting conditions of your 
ramera or the video you are 
grabbing from. Once you have the 
sicture set up, the picture can be 
rozen by pressing the Z key on the 
keyboard. Once frozen in the 
nemory of the ColourPic, the picture 
:an be imported to an IFF format by 



Good digitising guide 




Is a top-flight video digitiser, 
lolourPic's high performance is 
able to plonk you on cloud nine. 

iressing the I key. And that's it. 
iimple as taking a picture, but with 
nore equipment between you and 
ne original image, that's for sure. 

iott and beslotted 

Vithin the software there is the 
opacity to store up to four images in 
lemory locations, called slots A, 8, 
" and D. The software allows you to 
efer to these slots at any time and 
ven move the pictures around from 
lot to slot. Fetch - the F key - gets a 
iicture From a slot and Return - or 
le R key - sends the currently 
isplayed pic to the slots. The reason 
3r these slots is to allow you to work 
>n a picture with the tools and then 
ave it part way along to achieve 
ifferent results. 

The tools are Contrast, 
rightness, Clip, Threshold, Quantise, 
list Equol, Report, Reset, Sharpness 
nd Edge. Contrast adjusts the 
slalive intensities of the pixels in the 
icture, which allows you to make 
le best of some dodgy lighting when 
robbing from video. (You have no 
antral over the intensity of the video 
ghting after all). The range car be 

Continued on paje 56 



The first thing you'll need is a digitiser. This is a 
piece of hardware that plugs into your parallel 
port and gives you the ability to port pictures 
into your Amiga. Which one you choose is up 
to you, although here are o few rough 
guidelines to be going on with; 

• The one you'll hear mention of more often 
than not is Digi-View. This is a little white box 
that sits at the back of your computer and 
accepts input from a black-and-white or colour 
video camera or video. If you use a colour 
camera or video you'll need a RGB splitter box. 
Why? Well, Digi-View wos designed for use 
with b&w cameras, so in order to get a colour 
image out you have to either hold up a red, 
green and blue filter in front of the lens, or you 
hove to intercept the red, green and blue bits of 
the picture electronically; hence the splitter. 

• There is another way you can go, and this is 
__—-_______, a ' so down at the low end 

of the spectrum, with the 
VI Dl Amiga. Whereas the 
Digi-View is a straight 
digitiser by which the 
image grabbed has to be 
a still frame on a video or 
H a still picture from a 
camera, the VIDI is a 
frame grabber. This 
means that the machine 
grabs the frame you want 
to digitise on the hop, 
white the video or camera 
has a moving image on it. 
The picture is sampled 
every so often, and so 
quickly that when you press the grab key on 
the keyboard, the last 1 5 frames con be 
viewed or saved. The device stores oil the 
monochrome images so you can either save 
them all or just pick the best of the bunch. You 
can use an optional extra RGB splitter box to 
get colour images, and in this way get full 
colour images similar to those grabbed with 
Digi-View. 

• At the top end there's the likes of ColourPic 
or SuperPic {see full review) frame stores, 
which are more like the kind of things you get 
in TV studios. They allow you to freeze perfect 
frames from a normal video source. Once the 
frame has been stored in the memory of the 
ColourPic, you can take your time to grab the 
RGB components from the stored pic. 

• Right at the bottom of the scale there are 
hand digitisers (ike Datel's Handy Scanner. 
They are like miniature fox machines. Roll one 
across the image and it scans the picture into 
the computer tts a black-and-white image. The 
image can be grey scaled using a dithering 
pattern, but this isn't to be recommended. 

On a scale of picture quality I'd rate the 
ColourPic first, Digi-View second, then the VIDI, 
with the hand scanners coming last. Cheap 
frame grabbers always give you a slightly 
degraded image, but for the price you have to 
admire the quality you do get from the VIDI. 
And the hand scanners quality will depend an 
the quality of the image you scan from, plus 
your dexterity in handling the device. 

As to which one you need, first work out 



what it is you are going to be digitising and 
from what. There ore three categories: 

O From Video 

If you need to get colour images from video 
tape, then the ColourPic is the ideal thing. If 
you just need fairly rough working images 
from video then the VIDI is just the ticket. VIDI 
also comes out tops if you are working to a 
very strict budget [aren't we all?). Digi-View 
works okay with a video splitter, but really use 
with a camera is its true forte. 

© Using A Camera 

Digi-View is good quality and works in all 
resolutions from two-colour low-res up to 
4096-colour dynamic HAM. If your images are 
flat, like photographs or artwork, you'll like as 
not need to look at the Digi-View device and a 
cheap mono camera. You can take pictures of 
real life using Digi-View, but the scene has to 
be completely static to scan in properly. You'd 
be far better off taking a picture first and then 
pointing Digi at it. 

© Scanning 

As well as the hand scanners that do poor 
grade black-and-white, there are some very 
good flat-bed and tabletop scanners, 
particularly those mode by Sharp, such as the 
JX-100. They scan flat images in colour and are 
capable of providing extremely good quality 
images - scanning in 24-bit images for DTP 
purposes, for example. So If your needs are for 
high quality and DTP, then you will be needing 
to spend o bit on a proper scanner. 



DigiTips 



finally some tips about how to get the best out 
of digitisers. You will always lose quality when 
grabbing pictures on the fly with all but the 
most expensive units, and VIDI is only mono. 
But you can improve your pictures no end with 
any digitiser, even a home made one, if you 
follow these handy tips: 

• Always use plenty of EVEN light, light is 
important as this increases the contrast in the 
finished picture. It's a common mistake to try 
and take a picture m semi-darkness. Video 
cameras are not very sensitive to light, so 
drown the thing with illumination. 

• Always use steady camera mount. A copy 
stand is useful, one on which you can mount 
the camera pointing down at a baseboard and 
angle two lights for the best coverage, 

• When using cheaper digitisers, use a mono 
camera and filters as this gives a better result. 
It cuts down on the kind of herringbone 
patterns my video columnist friend Gary 
Whiteley is always complaining about. 

• If you intend using o high quality full-colour 
frame grabber and want to do overscan 
interlace pictures in HAM, make sure you have 
a fatter Agnus chip, as 512K of chip memory 
just won't be enough. 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 •JUNE 1991 



ss 



GRAPHICS 



Continued from page SS 

adjusted all the way; in other words, 
if you press the down contrast button 

a lot you'll eventually end up with a 
black frame. What Contrast is 
actually doing is halving or doubling 
the intensity of the contrast between 
the darker and lighter pixels. 

Brightness works in a similar 
way, except that it lightens or 
darkens all the pixels in the picture at 



Quantise trims the amount of 
bitplanes used in the picture - for 
bitplanes read colours. If you want to 
reduce the number of colours in a 
picture, Quantise it. The resulting 
picture is recalculated to include as 
much detail from the original pic. 

Hist Equal is a Histogram 
Equalisation tool. The 'histogram' is a 
sort of bar graph representing the 
distribution of colours or shades in a 




This shot was taken 

from an altitude of about three feet - the height of Snouty's test bench. 

Desktop video beats the chore of gathering one's own video footage. 



once. Like Contrast, it should only be 
used sparingly or your pictures will 
start to look a little bit odd. Okay if 
that's what you want, but if you want 
a more lifelike effect then it's much 
better to go steady. 

Clipped tones 

Clip is a more subtle treatment, and 
this allows you to reduce the intensity 
of a range of tones in the picture. For 
example the glare in a highlight can 
be reduced by clipping it slightly, 
making the whole effect more subtle 
while not affecting the lower tones in 
the grey scale. 

Threshold is a similar effect to 
Clip, but this one changes colours 
above a certain mark to white, and 
those below to black, giving a very 
good high-contrast image instantly. 
This is very good for black and white 
DTP programs that cannot handle 
greys too efficiently. 




Down by the river, digitising gets 
lively with some fast-moving 
action for grabbing on the fly. 



picture. Hist Equal tries to even out 
the distribution of shades to make the 
picture a little more even. 

Report displays the histogram I 
just mentioned and counts pixels at 
each of the 64 shades that Colour Pic 



"ColourPk has 

more features 

than a man with 

three heads" 



can handle. This may or may not be 
important, but it's a jolly nice little 
bell and whistle. 

Sharpness scans the picture and 
sharpens up the boundaries between 
the shades, making them better 
defined and having the effect of 
sharpening the entire picture up. If 
you do this more than once the 
image can look a bit cheap and 
synthetic. A lot of the subtlety in 
digitised pictures is created by their 
very fuzziness, as the eye makes up 
for any detail it doesn't see. So this 
effect should be used sparingly, 
unless you really want to make your 
pics look weird. 

Close to the edge 

And finally there's Edge, which does 
a very sophisticated trace of your 
picture and produces an image 
which is a good starting point for line 
drawings of the image. The 
boundaries of each shade are 



followed to see where they go, then 
the colours either side of the line are 
removed, leaving a very strange line- 
strewn contour map-style image. You 
can clean it up in a paint package 
and use it to produce line drawings 
using the basic shapes that the 
digitised image provided you with. 

As a safety measure, you can get 
the picture back the way it was 
before you started messing with it by 
pressing F for Fetch to get the picture 
back from it's slot. 

Another effect at your disposal is 
MultiCapture. This automatically 
drives the freeze button and Import 
button to grab a sequence of images. 
The reasons this would be employed 
, are for Noise Reduction or for 
I special effects. The effects are just 
I those you can get by re-capturing the 
same image over and over, but while 
moving something in the frame. An 
odd effect, but some people like it. 
The noise reduction angle is for use 
with certain cameras that produce 
extra picture 'noise' in low light. 
MultiCapture solves this problem by 
capturing the same pic over and over 
to average between them, thereby 
evening out the problems. 

Ooh yummy 

ColourPic is the most enjoyable 
digitiser I've ever used, and its 
quality is astonishing. 

My one criticism is that it's hard 
to get animations from video without 
using the still frame a lot, and even 
on my expensive machine [Poser - 
Ed] the quality is worse from still 
frame than it is from moving video. 
Why this is I can't really tell without 
getting Gary to run an oscilloscope 
over the signal. (Even then I suspect, 
knowing us, we'd get all excited 
about the patterns on the scope and 
forget what it was we were actually 
looking for]. But this minor winge 
aside, I have to say that the pics we 
got out, even with my scratty old 
video tapes, were the best quality 
I've had out of □ digitiser. With a still 
camera, the quality is even better 
and nothing shows this off more than 
the demo pictures that are supplied 
with the program disk. 

There is another version of 
ColourPic called SuperPic, which 
incorporates a genlock - an extra 

oooooooo^ 
Shopping List 

ColourPic £399.00 

SuperPk £499.00 

Prices include VAT & courier delivery. 
JCL Business Systems 
Knowle Farm Clock House, 
Wadhurst Rood, 
Front, E Sussex 
TN3 9FJ 
= 089275791 




device for overlaying Amiga 
graphics on video pictures, 
Obviously this is more expensive ond 
only any use if you intend doing a lot 
of desktop video. 

In short, ColourPic is a cracking 
piece of kit and will find a good 
home with anyone who needs to 
grab images from video sources. ff'Vl 



Checkout 



ColourPic 

Construction 9/10 

The unit is housed in a very sturdy metal 
box and nothing short ol a direct hit with 
an anti-tank weapon will even dent it. 1 
haven't tried this as my anti-tank weapon 
is at the menders. 

Flexibility .8/ 1 

Colourpic is very flexible, though I 
wouldn't like to try and Fold it into a 9 w x4" 
envelope. The unit offers many ways ol 
grabbing the very best quality images 
from a variety of dodgy sources and 
features some very powerful tools to make 
the best of what you have to work with. 

Features 10/15 

ColourPic has more features thon a man 

with three heads. The range of tools 
makes it a very powerful machine and the 
inclusion of hard-wired knobs on the front 
of the casing means you don't have to be 
a contortionist to moke it work, unlike 
some units I could mention. 

Ease of use 15/1 5 

Using the thing couldn't be easier. As a 
wise man once sold: "If I could use it ond 
be up and running within five minutes, 
then so could you." 

Speed 9/15 

The speed is good, but in the field of high- 
quality digitising, it is never desirable to 
rush things too much, A foster processor in 

your Amiga would be o boon. 

Documentation 8/ 1 

Not a lush and wefl-produced manual, but 
concise and informative nonetheless, I 
managed to figure out how the thing 
worked without it, so it's not really 
necessary, but a good fall-bock for some 
of the more advanced features. 

Price 21/2S 

A bit rich for most people's blood, but 
putting it into perspective, it is a digitiser 
ond splitter in one neat box. You would 
have to pay about £200 extra for the 
nearest equivalent" of the same quality. 




80/100 



While too expensive for casuol use, the 
unit is a very high quality and reliable 
solution. If you need quality and a 
professional spec, then you can't really go 
far wrong with this box. It may not be up 
fo broadcast standards,, but ColourPic is 
easily the highest quality enthusiasts or 
desktop video-style digitiser. If you run a 
small TV studio, are o multimedia author 
or fust a hardened finkerer with £400 
burning a hole in your pocket, this could 
well be the unit for you. 



56 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1 991 



AMIGA 500 MAMMOTH 
7: MEG UPGRADE 

LATEST DESIGN INCORPORATES 'CHIPMEN' OPTION AT NO EXTRA COST! 

lrrrna r )C'j computer memory frorr normal / megabyte 
to 1 megabyte 

• Includes disable switch/incorporates high quality silver 
coated pin connector 

® 1 6 bit technology 

$ Fit in minutes 

• Direc! replacement of Commodore A501 expansion 
§ Includes "CHIPMEM OPTION" - Phone for details 
5 1 2 month warranty , 
C In stock now! 




$»•* 



Price includes VAT and post 
and packing 

Tel: 0582 491949 



unmi.H maof. 



Send order with payment to: 

WTS ELECTRONICS LTD, Chad End Lane, Luton, Beds LU4 8EZ 






AMIGA REPAIRS 

JUST £44.95 inc. 



* Commodore registered repair centre 

* Over 10 years experience with Commodore computers 

* 20 qualified technician engineers at your disposal 

* We will undertake to repair your Amiga 500 computer for just £44.95 including 
parts, labour, VAT and post & packing 

* Most computers should be repaired within 24 hours of booking in. 

* Prices include full service check, overhaul, soak-test and replacement of power 
supply unit if necessary 

* Repairs to keyboard and disk drive also included (£25 extra if these units are 
unrepairable and require complete replacements) 

* All repairs covered by a 90 day warranty 



Upgrade your Amiga from 51 2K to 1Mb of memory for just £25.00 

SPECIAL EXCLUSIVE OFFER: 

Jf you submit your computer to ourselves for repair, enclosing 

this advert along with Just an additional £25, we will supply andfit 

a 51 2K memory expansion at no extra cost. 




z 

3 



How to take advantage of this exceptional offer: simply send or hand 
deliver your machine to the workshop address detailed right, enclosing 
payment and this advert and we wit! do the rest. (If possible please 
include a daytime telephone number and fault description). 
* If you require 24 hour courier to your door, please add £5 else your 
computer will be sent back by contract parcel post. 



WTS ELECTRONICS LTD 

STUDIO MASTER HOUSE 

CHAUL END LANE 
LUTON, BEDS, LU4 8EZ 

Telephone (0582) 491949 - (4 lines) 

WTS reserve the right to refuse machines that in our opinion are tampered with 4 to an extent 
beyond reasonable repair 



O 

i 

< 



57 



DISCOUNT SOFTWARE 

For the Commodore Amiga 






AMIGA A1500 ■ E679.95 

Package includes A1500 computer with 1Mb 
Ram, 2 drives, Deluxe Paint III, Works 

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Price includes VAT and courier delivery 

A1500 plus 1084s colour monitor £919.95 



AMIGA SCREEN GEMS 

Includes Deluxe Paint II and 4 Top games 

+ Free '/2 Meg memory expansion 

MX PRICE £384.95 

with Cumana 2nd drive add £60.00 



COMMODORE A590 
HARD DRIVE 



20Mb Auto boots from WB 1 .3 
MJC PRICE £284.95 

with extra lMeg fitted £319.95 

with extra 2Meg fitted £349.95 



NAKSHA UPGRADE MOUSE 

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AMOS - The Creator - V1.2 

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CUMANA CAX 354 
DISK DRIVE 

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includes thru port, disable switch and No 

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DISNEY ANIMATION STUDIO 

great new animation package 
MJC PRICE £74.95 



PHILIPS 8833 MK2 MONITOR 

Including cable and delivery 
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MEMORY EXPANSIONS 

l /2 Meg internal expansion for Amiga 500 

Battery backed clock and disable switch uses 

latest 4 chip technology - will not invalidate 

your warranty. 

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PROTEXT Version 5 

A very fast command based package now with 

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PROTEXT V 4.3 £64.95 

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COMPLETE COLOUR SOLUTION 

Package includes Vidi Amiga, Vidichrome and 

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ZVP VIDEO STUDIO 

Great Video Production package - call for details 

(requires 1 Meg + 2 drives) 

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RENDALE 8802 GENLOCK 

Great value Genlock offering both Foreground 
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great value mono sampler £29.95 



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AMIGA EDUCATIONAL 



FUN SCHOOL 2 \ 

Education a I ly ba sed ga mes - \ 

8 programs per disk: 

Fun School 2 for 2$ year olds 12.95 

Fun School 2 for 6-8 year olds 12.95 

Fun School 2 for 8-12 year olds 12.95 

FUN SCHOOL 3 

5 educational games with great graphics: 

Fun School 3 for 2-5 year olds 15.95 

Fun School 3 for 5-7 year olds 15.95 

Fun School 3 for 7-12 year oids 15,95 

Learn to Read with Prof: - builds a complete reading 

course for 4-9 year olds 
PT 1. Prof Plays a New Game ■ includes 

audio tape & 5 booklets 19.95 

PT 2. Prof Looks at Words 19.95 

MAVIS BEACON TYPING TUTOR 

The tun way to learn typing with games, rhymes and 
custom facilities. (12+) 
MJC PRICE £19.95 



KOSMOS SOFTWARE 

Answerback Junior Quiz - is a quiz based game 
containing 750 general knowledge questions for 6-11 
years 14.95 

Fact File Spelling - extra 500 questions pack for use 

with Answerback Quiz 7.95 

Fact File Arithmetic 7.95 

Answerback Senior Quiz - is again a general 
knowledge quiz for 12+ years 14.95 

Kosmos Language Tutors - useful as an aid to 
learning a language. Vocabulary of some 2500 words 
split in to 20 specific groups. 

French Mistress (12+ years) 14.95 

German Master (12+ years) 14.95 

Spanish Tutor [12+ years) 14.95 

Italian Tutor (12+ years) 14.95 

Sesame Street - Letters For You featuring Digitised 
Sesame Street voices - fun way to learn the alphabet. 
(3-6) 15.95 



DISNEY EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE - yes software 
from the world famous Disney Studios - with great 
sound and of course great graphics. 

Mickey's Runaway Zoo - for 2-5 year olds - 

for identifying and learning numbers 19.95 

Donald's Alphabet Chase - for 2-5 year olds 

for discovering the alphabet ..19.95 

Goofy 's Railway Express - for 2-5 year olds 
for learning colours and shapes 19.95 

LCL Educational Software - a well presented step 
by step method - developed by practising teachers. 
Features up to 35 programs per pack. 

Primary Maths Course (3-12 years) 19.95 

Micro Maths (up to GCSE level) 19.95 

Micro English (up to GCSE level) 19.95 

Micro French (up to GCSE level) 19.95 

Sesame Street - Numbers Count - digitised sound 

and a colouring book - for learning numbers. 

(36 years). 15.95 




la 



PRICES INCLUDE VAT AND POSTAGE TO THE U.K. 

Education, Local Authority and Government orders welcomed. 

Overseas customers also welcome, please call or write for quotations. 

Ail goods subject to availability, alt prices subject to change without notice. E&OE. 

CALLERS WELCOME 9.30 TO 5.00 (6 days) 

M.J.C. SUPPLIES (ASH) 

2 The Arches, Ickniefd Way, Letchworth, Herts, SG6 1UJ 
Telephone orders and enquiries: Letchworth (0462) 481166 (6 lines) 

Fax:(0462)670301 




EUROOAHD 



Proprietor: MJ Cooper 



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AMIGA SHOPPER t ISSUE 2* JUNE 1W1 



AMOS 



AMOS 
Action 



"There are all kinds of programs 
available written in the terrifically 
powerful AMOS programming 
language. Each month I'll be 
taking a selection apart to see 
how they tick, so you con learn 
how to become as famous with 
AMOS as the experts." 

Phil South 



This month Phil South exposes the 
innards of various utilities, demos 
and games written in AMOS Basic 



Welcome again to the 
AMOS column, the 
place where every 
month you can find 
tutorials and lots of hints and tips For 
use with Mandarin Software's AMOS 
Basic interpreter. 

Free game zone 

As the PD and AMOS editor on AS, 
I'm the only person allowed to 
mention the 'G' word in these pages. 
But that's okay, as I'm always 
looking at the technical side of 
games programming using AMOS. 
Two games caught my eye this 
month, and even though both are 
made using AMOS, and no other 
form of programming, they wouldn't 
look out of place on a disk you 
would pay through the snout for. 




Syntex are pretty mean dudes on 
the old music tront. Just listen to 
that beautiful music score ... what? 
You can't hear it? Well turn up the 
volume on your magazine then. 



Fortunately both games are available 
from the AMOS PD Library, so you 
can hang on to your hard-earned. 

The first is Wooden Ball 
(APDI 30] by Petri k Holmslremi of 
Sweden; a sort of Speedbatl clone. 
The quality of this game is suc-i that 
it's quite hard to think how it could 
have been done in AMOS. But I 
guess that is just another example of 
how mega-stonkingly good AMOS 
really is as a development language. 
The graphics are really top notch, 
and that is the clincher really. But 
apart from the GFX, the code itself is 
impressive and well worth a LIST. 

The other game is Balloonacy 
(APDI 15) by certified nutter Delboy 
Dodson, a hilarious variation on the 
old Bomber Run Basic game, in 
which you fly by a row of 
skyscrapers and bomb the Hell out of 
them so you don't fly into them. 

Balloonacy is very funny and, in 
it's own way, very addictive. I've 
decided to show you one of the 
routines just to demonstrate the 
author's skill. It governs whether the 
lights in the buildings are on or off 
depending on if the building has 
been bombed or not. As you beat the 
buildings down with your bombs, this 
routine checks to see if the power for 
the lights is still on. 

Procedure BUIU>INe_LIGm'S 

If B01LD__HIT>-(BniLD_TOT/2} 

and LIGHTSOUT=FalBe 
If Rnd(3)sl 

LIGHTS 

Else 



Snouty roots for tips 



Every month I will be printing 
hints and tips on AMOS from my 
own sources and from you, the 
readers. If you hove any hints and 
tips (preferably accompanied by 
mini listings) you want to send 
me, whack them on paper or a 
disk and send them to: Phil South, 
AMOS Column, Amiga Shopper, 
30 Monmouth Street, Bath BA1 
2BW. Or you can e-mail me on 
CIX (snouty@cix), Micronet/Prestel 
(219997854) or Telecom Gold 
(74:MIK2077). 

Amend Alert 

On page 1 7 of the AMOS manual 
it says you can test the ALERT box 
by typing in the following: 

ALERT [50, 

"Exterminate" , "Stephen" , "Yep ! " " 

Hope!", 13] 

In fact the proper command is: 

ALERT [50, 

"Exterminate" , "Stephen" , "Yep i "" 
Nope ! " , 1, 3] 

with an extra comma between the 
1 and the 3. 

Slide it in 

You can make yourself a nice little 
slideshow program in AMOS by 



using the following formula: 

Music 1 : Hide : Curs Off 
Screen Open 0, 640, 256.2, Hires 

MAIN: 

Load Iff "df0:picture 1",0 

wait Key 

Load Iff "d£0: picture 2",0 

wait Key 

(and etc... until:) 

Load Iff "dfO: picture 10", 

Wait Key 

Fade 5 : Wait 75 

Music Off 

End 

Load the <music>.abk file before 
you run it and hide the mouse 
pointer and cursor to keep the 
screen clear for your pictures. The 
fade must have a wait after it as 
the program will just proceed 
unless you hold it up. The formula 
for how much waiting you have 
to do is to multiply the fade 
speed, in this case 5, by 1 5. So 
this fade is quite a fast one and 
you only need wait 75 clicks 
before going on. If this is a demo 
of your graphics ability, then why 
not float some sprites at the same 
time. And how about a nice 
scrolly message too? 



If Rnd(15)=l 

Plash Off 

Colour 13,$FFB 

Flash 31, Fj 
End If 
End If 

End If 
If 
BOILD_HIT> ( (BUTLD_TOT/4) *3 ) and 

LIGHTSODT=False 
LIGHTS 

Flash Off 
Colour 13,5996 
Flash 31, F$ 

LIGHTSOUTuTrue 
End if 
End Proc 

The really surprising thing about 
AMOS is the number of demo crews 
that are emerging using the thing. I 
would have thought that the average 
demo type wouldn't touch any kind 



of Basic with a six yard cattle prod, 

but you'd be surprised at how adept 
some of these guys are. The best 
demos I've seen just recently are by a 
guy calling himself Benson and a 
crew called Syntex, 

JJJuddery demos 

Up to now a lot of the scrolly demos 
I've waded through are a bit juddery, 

but both these demo makers seem to 
have cracked this nut for good. 
Smooth scrolls and very entertaining 
music is all over the shop, most of 
which is original, I hasten to add. Try 
out disks APD 99, 125, 129, and 
131 for samples of what these guys 
are up to, 

AMOS PD disk LPD9 contains 
I AMOS Assembler, for those of you 



JARGON BUSTING 

.ABK: This is AWlOS's way of storing graphics and sound data. As it uses a different 

data format to the standard Amiga one (IFF), conversion programs must be 
used on sprites, pictures and music created with non-AMOS utilities before 
their Inclusion In your AMOS program. 

COPPER: The Amiga's graphics CO-P Processor. It can be instructed to change the 

parameters of the display as It Is drawn on the screen, so allowing screens ot 
different modes to be visible et once, or rainbow effects whereby many more 
colours can be seen than normally permissible in a given screen mode. 

INTERLACE: Interlace is a method used to double the apparent vertical resolution of the 
monitor by alternately refreshing the screen at a slight vertical offset, thus 
squeezing an extra tine between each of the lines of a non-interlaced screen. 

NTSC: National Television Standards Committee. This is the name for the TV colour- 

coding system used In the USA and other countries. It has 525 lines, running 
at 60 fields and 30 frames/second. It is often, and perhaps unfairly, japed at 
as Never Twice the Same Coiour by PAL standard users. 

PAL: The other main TV colour coding system (with the exception of France's 

SECAM system), which is in use around the world and was developed by 
Britain. PAL refers to Phase Alteration Line. In fact, there are several hybrid 
PAL systems in use, all ot which are slightly different. 

RAMOS: The AMOS runtime system, which enables your AMOS programs to run 

independently ot the full AMOS package. It acts as interpreter for AMOS code. 



AMIGA SHOPPER* ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 



AMOS 



AMOS News 

I got AMOS version 1 .23 
through and it improves some 
features from 1.21. AMOS 
now works properly on NTSC 
screens. The =NTSC function 
returns true if AMOS is 
running in NTSC; false if in 
PAL. Interlace is covered and 
is used by adding tlaced to 
the screen resolution when 
opening a screen, ie: 

Screen Open 

0,320, 512, 16, lowres+ laced 

Input and Sequential File bugs 
are now fixed, though I never 
found any problems. Other 
details of AMOS 1 .23 and 
news of further updates will 
be covered in the AMOS Club 
Newsletter. 

May be available 

Also new are the AMOS 
Compiler and AMOS 3D. 
These are being finished as I 
write and should be available 
in May, The initial version of 
the compiler was moderned to 
Mandarin Software on March 
24 and, after testing with as 
many PD programs as can be 
found, Mandarin will be 
releasing it. 

It is a stand-alone 
program at the moment and 
not linked to part of the 
AMOS system like the STOS 
Compiler was. AMOS 3D is 
coming along, manual and 
object editor-wise, but still 
needs tickling. 

Another newie is AMOS 
TOME - a map editor for 
games - by Aaron Fothergill. 
Andrew Bray brook used the 
STOS version of TOME to 
make the maps for Rainbow 
Islands, which shows what a 
powerful utility it is. You don't 
have to make maps for AMOS 
programs, just create them 
using the editor and save 
them to create the rest of the 
program in C or assembler. 
Simple really. So keep your 
eyes peeled for AMOS TOME, 
or call Mandarin on 051 357 
1275 for details. 



out there who are not just a pretty 
face but a pretty mean coder too. 
The tricky thing about AMOS 
Assembler is that you just embed the 
machine code you want to run in 
your program, as in the panel to the 
right. All the lines are read in as C$, 
then the assembler is activated and 
oil thel code you typed in is 
assembled and run. 

The demo programs are short 
and, to be really honest, I can't tell 
how it works, but you can take it 
from me that it's totally brilliant. The 
basic program to get you going is 
included, plus a bunch of example 
programmes to demonstrate the 
Fastness of the thing. 

The results are nothing less than 
gobsmacking, especially the fast 
Mandelbrot program. (Okay, so 
fractals are boring, but not this fast 
they're not.) If you like assembler, 
then this is the PD disk for you mate. 
One thing 1 would like to see is a C 
compiler written in AMOS, Now that 
really would open a can o' worms. 

Over the rainbow 

Ever wondered how the experts 
construct those amazing rainbow 
copper patterns in their programs? 
They are very clever, but now you 
can very clever too. 

One of the most interesting 
pieces of software to come out of the 
AMOS PD Library lately is the 
Rainbow Warrior program (APD 76] 
by Spadge (ako Marlyn Brown). This 
program lets you construct and save 
rainbow copper patterns for use in 
your programs and it uses the mouse 
to let you draw them on screen. After 
drawing the rainbow of your choice, 
it can be saved to disk in a variety of 
useful formats, such as AMOS 
program code, K-Seka and Devpac 
assembly language, raw code - in 
fact, anything useful. 

The program is written in AMOS, 
and to run it you could either load 



Machine code embedded wilh AMOS Assembler 



AMOS Assembler can 
make your listings run 
as fast as my nose after 
a particularly hot chilli. 



C$=C$+"Chaos_Curla : * 

C$-C$+"msTe.l a3,iS;" 

CS»C$+»add.l #4*4, S3;" 

C$^C$+"mave.l (a3}+,d0?move.l (a3)+,a.6j* 

c$=c$+"irove.l #4, d6 i" 

C$=C$+"3.ea plane_0,a0i" 

c$»C$+"lea plane l,al?" 

CS-C$+"lea plane_2 , a2 j " 

C$*c$+"lea plaae_3,a3;" 

c$=c$+ rt lea plane_4 , a4 ; " 

CS*c$+»iB(jve.l #J19,dljmov«.l #255, d2j" 

C$=C$+"loop:" 

C$=C$+"moveni. 1 ai/d2 r - (sp) s" 

CS*C$+"bts't #6,$b£e001?bn,e.b no„a^iit "movent. 1 < spj+, 31/32 ;rts;" 

C $ =C$+ Fr no_qui t : ** 

C$=C$+"add.l 4£a5),dl ; add.l (a5),d2;" 

C$=C$+"move.l dl,d3;muls d3,d3,*ler.l d0,d3j" 

C$=CS+"move.l d2,d4;muls d4, dollar. 1 do, d4;" 

c$.c$+"nove,l #0,d7j" 



AMOS and load the program, or bolt 
RAMOS to it and run it from an icon. 
The program saves its AMOS code in 
ASCII format so to use the code it 
saves just Merge ASCII. 

The resulting code looks a lot like 
that in the panel below. In fact, just 
tap this in to see what happens. To 
adjust the code so it doesn't print a 
duff screen over the bars, open a 
screen before you go into the bars 
routine, using: 

Screen Open 0,320,256, 2, Lowres 

and maybe even a Wait Key before 
the RDATA label, and you'll see the 
difference. Or you could change the 
Colour Back command For Cls For 
the same effect. 

Accursed cursor 

One criticism is that the cursor in the 
program prints lines on the screen 
□bout a centimetre above itself rather 
than actually on the cursor. This is a 
bit of a fag, but presumably it will be 
fixed in later versions. 

This is only version 1,01 and 
Marlyn says In the docs that it is a 
wee bit buggy, so keep up with the 
new updates. 

It seems to work OK though and 
many of the disks I've been getting in 



the AMOS PD Library have used this 
utility to create their copper bars. 
That's all we have time for this issue. 
Write in and show me what you've 
been doing with AMOS. Better still, 
send in a disk and I'll tell the world 
how skiilo you are. Many thanks must 
go to Sandra Sharkey for her help 
with the programs she sent me. 
Sandra does more to further the 
cause of AMOS than just about 
anyone I know, and she's doing a 
brilliant job up there in Wigan. Big 
hand for Sandra ... (yayyyyl) Triffic. 
See you next time, f VI 

ocxxxJoooo 
Shopping List 

All APD discs £2.50 

All LPD (license ware) £3.50 

from AMOS PD Library 

25 Park Road, Wigan WN6 7AA 
« 0942 495261 

Amos - The Creator £49.99 

by Mandarin Software 
Database Direct, FREEPOST, 
Ellesmere Part, 
SauthWirral L6 3EB 

= 0513571275 




Rainbow Warrior's merged ASCII 

Rem 

Rem * Created with RAINBOW warrior - Amos Copper 

Generator * 

Rem * Yup, you can blame good ol' Spadge for this 

one ... * 

Rem 

Set Rainbow D, 0,280, ","",*" 

Rainbow 0,0. H 280 

Colour Back Q 

Res Core RDATA 

For C=0 To 279 : Read CVA : RainIO ,C| =CVA 

Next C : View 

RDATA: 

Data $0,$O,$0,50,S0,SD,$O,$O 

Data $0,$0,$0,50,SO,$0,$O r $0 

Data $O,$O,$O,S0,$O.$O,$0,$0 

Data SO, SO, $0, SO, $0, SO, SO, SO 

Data $o,$o,So,so,$o,$0,$o,50 

Data $O,$0,50,$D,$D,$O,$0,$0 

Data $0, $0,50, SO, SO, $0, $200, $300 

Data $4O0,$500,$600,$7 00,$B00,$9O0,$A00,5D0O 

Data $CO0,SB00,$A0O,$90D,$800,$700,$6O0,$50Q 

Data $40D,$0,$0,$0,$0,$0,$Q,$0 

Data $0,$n0, $220, $330, $440, $5 50, £660, $770 

Data $8a0,S9 90,$AAO,$BB0,$CC0,SDDO,$EE0,$FF0 

Data $FF0 , SEEO , SDDO , $CC0 , $BB0 , SAAC ,$990, $880 



Data 

Data 

Data 

Data 

Data 

Data 

Data 

Data 

Data 

Data 

Data 

Data 

Data 

Data 

Data 

Data 

Data 

Data 

Data 

Data 

Data 

Data 

Data 

Rem 

Rem 

Rem 

Rem 

Rem 



$770, $660, $550, 
$0,$0,$0,$0,$0, 
50,SD,$0,$0,SO, 
S0,SD,$O,$0,$0, 
SO, $0, $3, $4, $5, 
$9,SA,$B,SC,$D, 
SE,$D,$C,SB,$A, 
$6, $5, $4, S3, SO, 
$O,$0,$0,$0,$0, 
SO,$C,$0,$0,$0, 
$0,$C,$0,$D,$0, 
$0,$0,50,SD,SD, 
$0, $0,50, SO, $0, 
$0,$0,$0,$0,$0, 
$0,$0,$0,$0,$0, 
$0,$0,$0,$0,$0, 
$0,$0,$0,$0,$0, 

$o,$o,$o,$o,$o, 

SO, S0,S0,$O,$0, 
$0,$0,$0,$0,$0, 

$o,so,$o,$o,$o, 

S0,S0,$0,$0, $0, 
$0,50,$0,$0,$0, 



5440,5330, $220, $0,$0 

$0,$0,$0 

$0,$0,$0 

$0,$0,$0 

$6, $7, $8 

$E,$F, $F 

$9.$9,$7 

$0,$0,$0 

$0,50, So 

$0,$0,50 

$o,$o,so 
$o,$o,so 

$0,S0,S0 
$0,5 0,50 
$0,50,50 
$0,$0,$0 
SO, SO, SO 
$0,$0,$0 
$D,$0,$0 
$0,$O,$O 

so, so, so 

$Q,$0,$0 

so,$o,$o 



* Alter the values ill the RAINBOW and SET RAINBOW* 

* to position and control the rainbows . see the * 

* manual to check or; Y positioning. Length and * 

* which colour It is to efiect.. Have fori) * 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1 99 1 



61 



VIDEO 



Image conscious 



"As a professional video 
producer, I know what features 
software needs to be really 
useful. My aim is to cut through 
marketing hype and reveal the 
full facts to help you choose 
what is best for you/' 

Gary Whiteley 



Broadcast Titler 2 



Broadcast Tiller 2 comes on a single 
disk which carries the main program 
and a utility to convert standard 
Amiga bitmapped fonts into the 
compressed formatrequired. 

Loading is simple - boot with the 
disk, select the Fl key and, after a 
message telling you how many pages 
you have available (according to the 
amount of fast RAM available in your 
machine - I get 400 with 3.5Mb, 
200 with 2Mb), the main program is 
quickly up and running. Hard disk 
users double-click on the EST icon. 

One at a time 

In order to use the Amiga's 
capabilities to the full, Broadcast 
Titler 2 takes over the machine, 
precluding multitasking. But this won't 
bother folks who are reasonably 
organised and who have prepared 
their backgrounds and other items in 
advance anyway. Incidentally, you 
don't need to reboot the machine to 
exit. 5imply hit CTRL and ESC 
together to return to the Workbench 
screen if that's where you ran the 
program from. 



Expo systems expert Gary Whiteley rates the 
performance of two video presentation programs 
that aim to help you smarten up your image 



When you've spent a lot of time using 
your Amiga for video production, 
you'll know how important it is that 
your presentations or titles look 
good. Because if they don't, they won't get their 
message across - and if that happens, they've 
failed to do their job. 

This month I'm taking a look at two software 
packages that that set out to help you get your 
presentations right. They're both full of useful 
features, but where Broadcast Titler 2, by 
Innovision Technology, pronounces itself a 
'Broadcast Quality Character Generator', Digital 
Vision's Scala 'wishes to be known as a 
'Professional Presentation Package'. In many 
respects each package crosses over into the 
territory of the other, though it is their individual 
specialisation that separates them. 

Broadcast Titler 2 claims to 'combine the 
high-end functionality of dedicated video 
production equipment with the flexibility and 
cost- effectiveness of Amiga Desktop Video 
Systems'. It features anti-aliased fonts, a host of 



special effects and text editing and layout 
functions that set out to help you work both 
quickly and creatively. 

Scala is a similar kettle of fish, with many of 
the functions of Broadcast Titler 2, plus some 
new ones of its own, such as Layouts, Symbols, 
printer output {including Postscript), interactive 
playback and the ability to incorporate 
animations into a presentation. According to the 
manual, Scala was developed 'to create an 
easier to use, more powerful and more complete 
presentation and desktop video system for the 
Amiga computer. We want normal people to be 
able to present their thoughts and ideas in a 
quick and elegant manner'. 

Other common features include both mouse 
and keyboard operation, the loading of pre- 
p re pa red ASCII and IFF files, multiple colours and 
text effects such as outlines and shadows. Hard- 
disk users can install the programs for faster 
access. Each program has its own strengths and 
weaknesses. So, in strictly alphabetical order 
only, let's get to work. 



Broadcast Titler 2 will work on any 
Amiga including the A3000, and 
with Workbench 2.0, but a minimum 
of 1 .5Mb RAM is needed in order to 
load pictures. Any further RAM will 
be utilised to allow more pages, fonts 
or pictures to be loaded, as these are 
all kept in RAM for faster access. If 
running on an A3000, it can. also 
support Super High Res Mode [for 
extra quality). 

Once the program has loaded, 



This Review Of 



ih# IS A '^0 M'"' *j$k IMP* M^" M"'ik **#' lit 







Brought to 

you by 



AMIGA 



<^ji*l ^/« •* -w£«*«J 



Images like this tasteful and apt screen are quite simple to put together 
and are just the ticket for introducing an impressive presentation. 



the main text editing screen appears, 
which has a small menu across the 
lower part of the screen. Most of the 
controls can be accessed through this 
and subsequent menus, allowing far 
the loading of fonts, scripts, pictures 
and ASCII files, font selection, colour 
palettes, effects, layout parameters 
and so on. 

Taking each of these controls in 
turn, from left to right we have: 
FONT, LINE, PAGE, PLAY and FILE, 
followed by five buttons that allow 
you to move back and forth between 
your created pages. The buttons are 
activated by clicking on them. 

Taking control 

FONT opens a menu from which you 
make selections of typeface, 
shadowing type (solid or cast) and 
direction, outline size, face colour, 
anti-aliasing and pattern fill - a great 
feature by which the face of a font is 
remapped by an IFF brush. This lets 
you use all kinds of pretty effects, like 
polka-dots, air brushing or indeed 
whatever you like. Changes to the 
parameters are shown on □ letter 'A' 
which represents your chosen font on 
the screen. As with all the Broadcast 
Titler2 menus, clicking the right 
mouse button or pressing [ESC] will 
exit you back to the main menu 
screen. Now, when you type onto the 
main screen you will be typing with 
your selected font and style. 



LINE: Within this menu are four sub- 
menus called EFFECT, PALETTE, 
PICTURE and PATTERN. The EFFECT 
menu allows you to control what 
happens to each or any line of text 
when it is played back as part of a 
sequence. So you could make the 
first line slide in from the left, then the 
next line fade up from the 
background colour and so on. There 
are 1 6 of these line transitions to 



"You can also use 
Broadcast Titter 2's 
demo disk to make 

your very own 
auto-booting 

presentations/' 



choose from. They work in 
conjunction with page transitions, so 
you may have a page that slides up 
from the bottom of the screen and 
then the lines appear on it according 
to their own transitions. The PALETTE 
menu is where you make colour 
changes to either lines or pages and 
these happen live on the screen. You 
can have 16 colours per line and up 



62 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 ©JUNE 1991 



VIDEO 



to 320 colours per page. The 
PICTURE sub-menu is where the 
placement on-screen of previously 
imported pictures (16 colour, hi- 
resolution overscan) is carried out. By 
adjusting the position of the top left 
corner of your picture, you can 
determine where it appears on- 
screen. This is useful for positioning 
an image smaller than the screen 
size. Finally, the PATTERN sub-menu 
gives you the option of placing 



"There are infinite 

combinations of 

line and page 

transitions that can 

be made," 



various different preset patterns 
behind text, such as shaded Fills, 
boxes and so on. 

Menu master 

PAGE is the largest of the menus, 
listing all your current pages. From 
this menu you access sub-menus for 
EFFECT, LAYOUT, PALETTE and 
PRESTO PAGE. You can also copy, 
paste, insert, delete and append 
pages here. The EFFECT sub-menu is 
probably the most important menu, 
for it is where you gain access to 
more than 70 page transitions (some, 



such as weave, sail and flip are 
really neat, but much too difficult to 
describe) which you then assign to 
your chosen pages, along with 
parameters for the speed of the 
transition and the amount of time to 
wait before the next transition takes 
place. Selection is very easy; just 
click on a button, set your times and 
exit. If you wish to repeat the same 
effect over a series of pages, this is 
easily accomplished too, LAYOUT 
sets the text justification, defines the 
horizontal position for crawling text, 
sets tabs and various screen and 
crop margins. PALETTE has already 
been described, so that leaves 
PRESTO PAGE, which simply marks 
the selected page as a Presto Page. 

Playtime 

PLAY provides options for playing 
back sequences in various ways. 

These include playing from the 
current page or from the first page, 
looping, playing pages at random or 
waiting for a key to be pressed 
before the next page shows. There is 
also □ GPI (General Purpose 
Interface) button which can be be set 
to cause a sequence to be triggered 
either From an external device or by 
the mouse. This means that a 
sequence will start immediately it is 
triggered - ideal for video editing 
applications. Function keys can also 
be used direct from the main screen 
to initiate the various forms of 
playback. The PLAY menu also 
contains the DRAW PRESTO PAGE 
option, in which Presto Pages are 



JARGON BUSTING 

ASCII: American Standard Cede for Information Interchange. It is the 

data storage method commonly used when we type text files and 
enables data to be exchanged between different computers. 

A method of storing animation frames, developed by Sparta film, 
whereby only the changes between successive frames are stored, 
thus saving significant amounts of space. 



ANIM: 



HAM: 



IFF: 



Hold and Modify is on Amiga graphic mode allowing all 4096 
colours to be displayed at once, with certain restrictions. 

Interchange File Formal is a means by which data from different 
graphics or sound sampling programs is saved in a compatible way. 

CHARACTER GENERATOR: A video device used to generate text and transitions for 
transfer to tape. 

INTERACTIVE: A method whereby the user can make on-screen choices as to what 
happens next during the playback of audio or visual information. 

FAST RAM: Any extra memory which is not chip RAM. The custom chips cannot 
access it, and because such accesses to chip RAM can block out the 
central processor and slow down its accesses, fast RAM is faster. 

GPI: General Purpose Interface - a device used to convert the output of 

one system to an input acceptable to another. For instance, using a 
suitable GPI, you could cause a video edit controller to trigger the 
Amiga to play back a picture sequence. 

TELETYPE: A method of making text appear on a line by adding it a character 
at a time from the left until the line is complete. 

TRANSITIONS: Are used to change from one image to another by employing such 
effects as wipes, fades, cuts, teletypes and so on. In video, 
transitions are normally carried out using a vision mixer or Special 
Effects Generator (SEG). 

WRAP AROUND: This is what happens if you are typing text and you reach the 
end of a line during a word. The whole of this last word will be 
moved to the start of the next line. If there is no wrap around, text 
entry continues to the end of the line and continues on the next, 
regardless of any split words it creates. 



Take any 8 Color IFF Brush 
and Place it over any Font Style 



*L# M M m, ~Jf jtm Jk JL*P Mm. K*~J %^ M. M.+ 



INE OF EX 



The process of rendering your corporate message illegible is made 
supremely simple with Broadcast Titter's pattern-tilled text facility. 

particular page as an IFF picture file. 



generated before display, and a 
button for access to a SCREEN 
OPTIONS menu whereby the screen 
display position con be set and a 
status bar turned on or off so that a 
user can be prompted while calling 
up pages randomly. This status bar 
will not be output via a Genlock, 
giving Broadcast Titler 2 the 
possibility of live TV-style output via 
visual cueing. 

File under F 

Finally, there's the FILE button, which 
is used to load, save and clear 
sequences, load other fonts and 
pictures For use in Broadcast Titter 2 
and load ASCII files to be read 
directly as text. Loading and saving 
is done through directory lists, which 
can be a little slow at times. From this 
menu you can also save any 



Broadcast Titter 2 is actually 
pretty simple to use. I made up 
several pages and ran as many of 
the various line and text transitions 
on them as I could. The rolls are 
smooth and can be set to varying 
speeds - or, if you only have a fixed 
amount of time for a roll sequence, 
the whole lot can be made to fit that 
time. Crawling is also smooth and 
placing the crawl line on the page is 
straightforward. There are almost 
infinite combinations of line and 
page transitions that can be made. 
For example, you could have your 
background slide in from the right 
and then all the text teletype onto the 
page, line by line, from the left. Or 
you could display page after page 
using different transitions for each. 

Continued on page 64 



* PAGE EFFECTS * 

* Credit Roll & Crawl Effects 

* Spirals, Sail, Checker, Paint, 
Pyshes, Flips, Wipes, Builds 

* 32 Level Cycle & Flash 

* Pause Page during Playback 

* LINE EFFECTS * 



Everything from double vision to sea sickness can be induced in potential 
clients with Titter's plethora of picture shifting functions. 



AMIGA SHOPPER •ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 



63 



VIDEO 



SWISS 100 



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fwIOO C## MINERVA 25 

SWISS SO . MINERVA 37 

swiss 37 M IN ERVA 50 

ST" MINERVA 67 

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IJHIDiiIeII #" mJmm m *M 
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Four fonts come as standard with Broadcast Titter. If you want more, 
extra gadgetry is supplied to help you phrase things more dynamically. 



Continued (ram page 63 

Text entry is reasonably easy, 
although you hove to access the font 
menu from time to time if you require 
different fonts or attributes. The 
program does not incorporate wrap- 
around for text, so if a word is too 



"You can mix 

fonts on lines, in 

different colours 

and sizes with 

different shadows" 



long for o line it will be broken up 
from one line to the next. This is 

particularly annoying when importing 
ASCII files, as they end up as a right 
mess if you haven't thought about 
their format first. You can mix fonts 



on lines, in different colours and 
sizes and with different shadows and 
outlines. One Font can simply be 
replaced by another if you wish. Text 
can be justified left, centre or right, 
but cannot be italicised or set bold. If 
you need sloping or bold text then 
the font you use will already have to 
be like that. Text is kerned 
automatically, but you are able to 
space the letters of your text out 
more, or tuck them closer together. 

First fonts 

Four fonts (in various sizes) come 
with Broadcast Titler 2. If you require 
other fonts, you will hove to convert 
them to the compressed .bif format 
used by the program. This is easily, if 
somewhat slowly, done using either 
the Font Converter program supplied 
or the optional Font Enhancement 
software. 

The converter program will 
convert any Amiga or Color Fonts as 
they are. The Enhancement program 
will additionally allow you to 



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The great thing about developing presentation software is that you have 
an in-built opportunity for advertising yourself. Innovision knows this. 



accurately resize any font to your 
requirements and also provide it with 
anti-aliasing. Once converted, the 
Font takes up much less space than it 
originally did, but it will only work 
with Broadcast Titter 2 

If you want to see the program in 
action at a dealer near you, ask them 
to play the included demo disk - it 
really is eyecatching. If you can do 
this sort of thing with Broadcast Titter 
2 then you're on to a winner. 

If you go as far as buying it, you 
can also use the demo to moke your 
own auto-booting presentations, so 
it's not simply a disk which you look 
at, say "Aaah!" and erase. 

In all then, a pretty effective 
package that is capable of giving 
impressive results. Though it can be a 
little tricky to work with as far as 
getting your deathless prose into the 
program, the quality of the Final 
image should certainly help put a 
little vim into your character. 



Checkout 



Broadcast Titler 2 
Documentation 9/ 1 

Comprehensive A4 manual with helpful 
Mortals end easy-to-understand English. 

Ease of use 7/10 

Text entry is not always as simple as I'd 
like, but most of the menus work efficiently 
and quickly. The keyboard shortcuts are a 
great bonus, likewise the use of cursor 
keys to scroll through selection button lists 
and direct number entry to modify 
numerical parameters. Easier italic, bold, 
underline and text movement would be 
helpful though. 

Speed 12/15 

Playback is generally Fast and smooth, 
and the Presto Page function helps if there 
are problems. Time intervals can be set 
dawn to tractions of seconds if necessary. 

Features 15/20 

As a Character Generator it has a lot of 
useful extra features and good roll, crawl 
and teletype transitions into the bargain. 

Quality 16/20 

High quality, especially with anli-aliased 
fonts and the use of Color Fonts. High 
resolution, PAt overscan graphics are 
used throughout. 

Price 20/25 

Broadcast Titter 2 certainly represents 
reasonable value for money (as 
'professional' software goes], especially in 

terms of video costs generally and the 
high quality of its output. 

Wlil*JJmt- 

Broadcast Titler 2 works well, with smooth 
transitions. It can be a little awkward 
when you're mixing fonts and pictures 
together on a page - especially if you are 
also using Color fonts, since the polette 
requirements can take some mastering. 
Text entry could be improved. Transitions 
and anti-oliased fonts ore good and 
overall the program gives excellent results. 



79/100 



SCALA 



Scab arrives in a biggish box, 
enclosing a ring-bound A5 manual 
which contains 8(1) disks. But don't 
panic just yet. There's the program 
disk, of course, and then a disk of 
typefaces, scripts, symbols, layouts 
and palettes, another disk of 
typefaces, and five disks of beautiful 
quality background images. 

Drive it hard 

If you have a hard-disk you can 
install the whole lot (if you wont). If 
you don't, then Scata will run from 
disk perfectly well. But you do need 
1 Mb of chip RAM (another one in the 
eye for Al 000 users) to fully use all 
the program's capabilities. You'll 
also need at least 1 Mb of fast RAM, 
but the more you've got, the merrier 
as Scata can play back animation 
files (in the ANIM format] and can 
work In many current display modes 
(including HAM]. 

Since Scata is more specifically a 
presentation package, it has features 

BUTS 

A scala b a lodder-like structure, 
as found to the canals of the 
cochlea, which makes it an odd 
name for a presentation package, 
and an even odder name for a 
Madrid opera house. 



BOBS 



that aren't found in Broadcast Titter 
2, such as Interactive Buttons, ANIM 
loading and its own language, 
VISUAL, for writing presentation 
scripts directly if you wish. It is also 
intuitive to use, provided you have 
some intuition yourself. I did get 
confused occasionally early on, since 
there are menu ideas here that I 
haven't seen before - and that's one 
Hell of □ surprise after five years as 
an Amiga user. 

Although there are enough 
backgrounds to keep you happy for 
a good while, you'll want to use a 
paint program to make new 
backgrounds and brushes (known in 
Scala os Symbols) to add to your 
work. And if you require more fonts, 
these can be loaded from disk. 
Unlike Broadcast Titter 2, Scaia uses 
ordinary Amiga fonts. 

Well, enough of this preamble - 
let's dive right into the package and 
have □ look around. 

Scala in proportion 

On loading, a grey screen appears 
with a lot of blank spaces on it. This 
is the Main Menu. At the bottom are 
eight buttons: four used for page 
functions (New, See, Change and 



64 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 ejUNE 1991 



VIDEO 



~~ 



liU.,i J ,iUii*iiaj,iU 





Scala helps you produce neat backgrounds over which all kinds of 
images can be laid, including, for the adventurous, your own animations. 



Delete), two for loading and saving 
scripts (Load Script, Save Script), one 
to run sequences (Run!] and the last 
to enter the System Menu [System], 
More on these later. 

In the top left there's a slanting 
exclamation mark (the Scala symbol). 
Click on this to exit the program or 
clear the current script (but be careful 
- if you have no pages made you 
will be dumped straight out without 
warning). The rest of the blank space 
is a grid waiting to be filled up with 
pages. To start filling it, click New 
and we're into another Menu - a 
Requester Menu this time, with a row 
of buttons on the right-hand side and 
lists of available drives on the left. 



"Using ScalaPrint, 

Scala is able to give 

you hard copy of 

your script as 

\icsortext" 



graph\ 



From here you can select o 

background for your page, or simply 
click on OK to set up a blank page. If 
you load a picture, it will be 
displayed in its original format (if 
Scala can accept it). If that format is 
HAM, a warning is given that text is 
not recommended on HAM images 
(because it actually doesn't look very 
good due to inherent problems with 
HAM overlays]. You could also elect 
to load an animation. You will then 
be asked to set the playback speed 
(up to 50 frames a second] and the 
number of times the sequence should 
repeat (1 to infinity). 

Once you've selected your 
picture, text can be added to it 



[although if you load an ANIM you 
can only add text to either its first or 
last frame). The Text Menu will then 
be loaded automatically, and you 
can see the background image with 
a set of buttons taking up the lower 
third of the screen. 

Text and symbols 

Text is entered simply by placing the 
text cursor anywhere on the screen 
and typing. At any time you can 
change the typeface, any of its 
attributes, such as colours, outline, 
shadows and 3D effect, bold, italic 
or underlined. Symbols (multi- 
coloured brushes] ore equally easy to 
use and they can have many of 
Sco/a's text attributes added to them. 
They can even be re-coloured if they 
are single colour. Text and symbols 
can be easily moved, once they are 
on screen, simply by selecting move, 
clicking on the item you wish to move 
and dragging it to a new position. 

A grid (called Net in Scala] can 
be set to help placing. Multiple items 
can be moved by first dragging out a 
box around them and then moving as 
above. Changing colours of text or 
attributes is as easy as selecting your 
required colour from the palette bar, 
then clicking in the coloured square 
on the chosen attribute button. 
Keyboard shortcuts are available for 
many functions. 

From the text menu you can also 
access other menus, such as Layout, 
Load and Palette. In the Layout menu 
are the settings for attribute 
parameters, such as shadow size, 
italic slope, underline size, character 
spacing and so on. These can all be 
changed and will affect only the text 
line that you have selected. Changes 
take place in real time, on screen, so 
you can see what you ore affecting 
and how. Any layouts generated con 
be saved far future recall, so if you 
want to make a page with a certain 



layout it's easy to do. An IFF picture 
file of the current page can also be 

saved from here. 

The Load menu enables you to 
select items such as text files, other 
backgrounds, symbols and layouts 
for the current page. As it suggests, 
the Palette menu is where adjustments 
can be made to the current colour 
palette. You can load and save other 
palettes, set colour spreads and 
toggle colour cycling here too. 
There are two other important buttons 
on the Text menu - Buttons ond List. 
The former is for setting up the 
interactive features of Scala. For 
instance, if you had a page that you 
wanted to use as an index for an 
illustrated catalogue, you could drag 
out a box around a word (let's say 
Computers) and use it to tell Scala 
that when the user clicks on the 
Computer word, the display will jump 
to a specified section of the 
catalogue and display further 
information related to computers. 



BLITS 



Minerva, the popular serif type- 
face, sham its monicker with the 
Roman Goddess of wisdom, 
identified with the Greek Athena, 
But a more Mills and Soon origin 
can be found bock in 1 800, when 
London-based Minerva Press 
made a mint publishing 
sentimental novels. 

BOBS 



Adding Buttons is best done when 
you've made the pages you wish to 
jump between, as this will make 
testing much easier. Up to ten 
interactive buttons can be placed on 
ony page you like. 

The List menu shows a list of oil 



the items on the current page so line 
transitions con be set for them. For 
instance, you may want a line of text 
to slide in from the left. This is where 
you do that. Click on the Wipe 
button to the right of the List label, 
and you'll be presented with a 
pictorial menu of 49 Line transitions. 
Click on one to choose it. Each item 
on a page can have a different effect 
added to it, including Symbols. The 
speed of the effect can also be set, 
along with the amount of delay that 
happens before the next effect tokes 
place. These effects become port of 
the current page and can be viewed 
before saving. 

When you're satisfied with the 
page, it is saved and its name (or the 
first words on the page if you didn't 
rename it) is disployed in the Main 
Menu from where we started. Now 
we've got a page we can set a Page 
Effect on it, in an identical manner to 
setting a Line Effect. 

Click on the Wipe button to the 
right of the Page label ond a pictorial 
menu appears - this time with Page 
transitions. As with Line effects, all 
you need to do is just point and click 
to choose. Speed and delay can be 
set for Page effects as well. 

If you have a sequence of pages 
(or lines on a page) where you wish 
the same effect to apply, there is a To 
End button which will make all the 
effects to the end of the sequence (or 
page] the same as the current one. 

Playing your masterpiece 

When you've put a few pages 
together, they can be played back by 
pressing Run on the Main menu. If 
you haven't changed anything in the 
System menu, the sequence will 
change every time you click on a 
mouse button (left for backwards in 
the sequence, right for forwards) and 
a small counter will show what page 
you are on. [ESC] will stop playback 
Continued on page 66 



17 TYPEFACEST 
49 LINE EFFI 

51 JPA 






There are a fair few facilities to be had within Digital Vision's Scala, and 
the demo sequence is in no way afraid of blowing its own trumpet. 



AMIGA SHOPPER* ISSUE 2 • JUNE J 991 



65 



VIDEO 



But what's it all for? 

Broadcast Titter 2 or Scala can be us&d to dynamically 
display advertising, news, messages, poetry, weather 
maps and other types of information, in ways that are 
eyecatching and interesting, in both text and pictures. 
And of course you could always transfer your 
presentations on to video, on their own or, better still, 
combined with other video images and sound. Scala can 
also be used interactively by incorporating Buttons into 
each or any page, allowing the user to make selections 
and then be branched off to pre-determined pages for 
further information. 

Outstanding features 
Broadcast- Tifler 2 

• Anfi-aliased fonts - no jaggy edges. 

• Scrolling, crawling and teletype effects for text. 

• Can use Color Fonts or any other Amiga font (after 
conversion). 

• Needs only 5 12k of chip RAM. 

• Full overscan in 16-eolour hi- resolution. 

• Fonts, pictures and pages in RAM for fast access. 

• Up to 320 colours per page. 

• Automatic patterned text fill with IFF images. 

• Over 80 transitions for screens and text. 

• Optional Font Enhancement software for creating 
anti-aiiased fonts from 1 2 to 200 lines in sire. 

Scala 

• Uses any bitmapped font (except ColorFonts). 

• 3D extrusion effects on fonts. 

• 1 7 quality typefaces included. 

• Interactive functions. 

• Printer output (including Postscript), 

• 59 high quality art backgrounds included. 

• 1MB CHIP RAM required. 

• Works in all graphics modes, including HAM and 
overscan. 

• Easy styling of text text and symbols. 

• Loads and plays ANIM files in presentations. 

• Over 70 transitions for screens, objects and text. 

• Easy text and object manipulation. 

Keys and functions 

Many of the option buttons in Broadcast Titler 2 can be 
used in conjunction with keyboard shortcuts, such as 
using the cursor keys to scroll up and down lists, or 
directly entering numerical values for parameters. For 
example, once you've highlighted the font selection 
button, using the up and down cursor keys will move 
you through the list of available fonts showing each one 
on the screen as it is listed. 

Presto pages 

Pages defined as Presto Pages can be pre -generated to 
remove problems such as more complex pages 
rendering too slowly and causing delays in the 
playback of a sequence. 

And so to work... 

A typical session with Broadcast Titfer 2 or Scala would 
involve creating one or more pages, defining how these 
pages will be sequentially or otherwise displayed, 
saving a script for the new sequence, and finally testing, 
refining and using the result. 



Continued (ram page 65 

at any time, [f you have interactive 
Buttons, you will need to activate 
them first by entering the System 
menu and selecting Buttons, (which 
will be marked with o tick if it is on) 
and either Mouse or Joystick as the 
trigger method. Buttons will now be 
active during playback. 

From within the System menu the 
counter can be repositioned (or 
toggled on or off), or you can toggle 
the pointer, toggle loop play [and set 
the number of loops) or set the whole 
sequence to only appear line-by-fine. 
And if you feel like changing the 
menu colours there are preset 
palettes for this. The Workbench 
Screen can be toggled on or off or 
information about the disks and 
memory currently installed in your 
computer can be addressed. 

Using ScalaPrint, 5ca/a is able to 
give you hard copy of your script as 
graphics or text. It supports 
Preferences or Postscript printers. 

Stretching Scala 

So Far, the program seemed to be 
doing far too well for decency's 
sake, so as a final test, I thought I'd 
try to push Scata beyond it's limit. 

I set up a sequence of two ht-res, 
1 6-colour pages with backgrounds, a 
la-res ANIM of 1 5 black-and-white 
digitised images, two HAM screens 
(one interlaced) and an interlaced, 
four-colour ANIM file. If this didn't 
give the thing a headache then 
nothing would. 

Everything played back in order, 

ocJoocxxJoo 
Shopping List 



Scab £249 

by Digital Vision 

Distributed by 
Silica Distribution Ltd, 

1 -4 The Mews, fatherly Road. 
Sidtup, Kent, DA144DX 
■a OBI 3091111 

Requirements: Any Amiga with at least 
1MB of thie RAM and at least 1MB of fast 
RAM - hut as math as possible. A hard disk 
will help, as would a second disk drive if you 
don't have a hard disk. Scab supports faster 
processors such as the 63020 and 68030, 
which will increase animation speed. 

Broadcast Titler 1 £234 

(£199+VAT) 

by Innavision Technology 

Distributed by 
Amiga Centre Scotland, 
4Hart Street Lane, Edinburgh EH13RN 
«■ 031 557 4242 



Requirements: Any Amiga, 
with at least 1.5MB RAM. 
Additional RAM and a second 
disk drive are recommended. 




on time, and with the transitions I 
had set. I must confess, I hadn't got 
the Amiga multitasking at the time, 
but even so, Scala put up an 
absolutely ripping performance. Nice 
one Digital Vision, f ^jt 



Checkout 



Scala 

Documentation 7/ 1 

My main quibble here is a lock of 
contents index. Otherwise, the manual is 
OK, if at times a little vague, II you run 
Scab from disk you may be left Feeling 
confused at times. Fortunately, ASSIGN 
commands from the CLI are there to get 
one around most problems, More details 
for disk users would be helpful. The 
tutorials are fine though. 

lose of use 9/10 

Once you've got used to if. Scab is 
supremely easy to use. Menu access is 
straightforward and logical and most of 
Scab can be mastered very quickly. 

Speed.. .....13/15 

Playback is smooth, although Scab is 
necessarily memory hungry, especially in 
hi-resolution. If you wanf fo run large 
sequences without glitches then you'll 
need lots of RAM. Interactive response is 
extremely good and ANIM fifes play 
without any problems. 

Features 1 6/20 

It is a shame that Scab does not handle 
text scrolling and crawling. The print 
feature is OK, but it only seemed Co print 
out background images for me, with none 
of the overlaid text, However, the facility 
to use mixed display resolutions is more 
than welcome. 

Quality 17/20 

Scab scores higher than Broadens f Titief 
2 because of the great background art. 
But os with all software, you get out what 
you put in. 

Price 20/25 

Scab casts, a little more than Broadcast 
Tithr 2, but then you get all the extra fonts 
and backgrounds. I wonder what it would 
cost if you just wanted the basic 
programs, without the art work and extra 
fonts? JF you were a DIY fan, this would 
be a great bargain. 



Tim 




82/100 



Everything in 5ca/o is easy to operate and 
great results can be obtained very quickly. 
Obviously, the harder you push it, the 
more memory you will need (I must admit I 
did crash Scab several times, but I was 
multi-tasking it quite heavily with only 
2MB of fast RAM on board). The quality, 
especially in hi-resolution, is very good, its 
interactive features work Fine and many of 
the typefaces are great. As a presentation 
package I think this one certainly has a 
bright future. It needs a few more features 
(such as scrolling and crawling, and 
smaller time increments) if it is to be a 
truly all-round presentation and video 
package, but no doubt if enough of you 
want these features, Scab will odd them. I 
personally liked it a lot. 



AMIGA SHOPPER * ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 



BUSINESS 



BEGINNERS 



The term PC is a generic 
abbreviation for personal 
computer usually associated with 
the IBM PC. The Dictionary of 
Computing and New Information 
Technology defines the term as: 
"a synonym for microcomputer, 
generally used to suggest that the 
computer is suitable for use in the 
home." Confessions of a 
Computer Journalist defines the 
term as: "PC - personal computer. 
Your electronic buddy; thought by 
some to be one of the major 
underlying factors in the UK 
divorce rate." 

PC on the premises 

From this premise we can devise 
that the PC is a computer for use 
by one person - a desktop, 
laptop, palmtop - even your brain 
is a very powerful personal 
computer. Nevertheless, the 
original argument still holds. IBM 
coined the phrase PC with their 
original machines and it stuck. 
Therefore, any type of machine 
based on IBM's original design 
specifications (or one that is 
capable of emulating them) is a 
PC or PC clone. 

The original PC (some are still 
around) was based on Intel's 
8088 CPU; a fairly rudimentary 
eight-bit design. It came in three 
parts: Keyboard, base unit (with a 
single, 5.25" 160k floppy drive) 
and VDU. It was text only and 
had no colour whatsoever. Even 
in 1980, that was nothing to write 
home about, but IBM's reputation 
for producing solid machinery 
assured them a place in what 
proved to be a massive market, 

Popular modular 

The PC's modular design {a huge 
success) soon meant everyone, his 
uncle and probably auntie too, 
was producing something for the 
machine. Graphics were swiftly 
added, as were hard disks and 
colour displays. Later, when Intel 
introduced the 80286, IBM came 
up with a design based on that - 

continued on page 68 



Down to 

business 

When is an Amiga not an Amiga? 
When it's a PC. Mark Smiddy 
explains - aided and abetted by 
the KCS Pov/erboard PC emulator 




"Computers in business is 
about increasing productivity 
and, therefore, making money. 
As the owner of a small 
business, I know what gear 
will do the business." 

Mark Smiddy 



When KCS First 
introduced their 
Power board it was 
greeted with 
rapturous applause. Now that the 
beast has been around for some time 
a contender for the crown has 
arrived - but KCS has not been 
standing still: adding support For the 
A590 hard disk. It has also come 
down in price to just over £233 
(accounting for the new VAT rate). 

I've got the power 

There cannot be many people who 
haven't heard of the Powerboard, but 
for those new to the machine, here is 
a quick round-up of the major 
features. Primarily, Powerboard is an 
IBM PC emulator based on an NEC 
V30. In theory, that gives it 100 per 
cent software compatibility with all 
existing PC software. 

In practice, there are a few elite 
applications that refuse to run on 
anything less than a 386 with a 387 
doing their maths, but these are in 
the minority, The vast majority of 
software written for the PC will run 
(up to a point) on the humble 8088; 
and for simple jobs like word 
processing these are generally all 
that's required. 

Designed for the 'trapdoor' RAM 
slot on the A500, it comes with its 
own processor, 1Mb of RAM and a 
real-time clock. Running in Amiga 
mode, Powerboard adds a 51 2k of 
normal expansion memory ond 5 1 2k 
private memory configured as a RAM 
disk. In PC mode, it acts like a 1Mb 
XT with 704k free memory and 1 92k 
oF extended memory. 

The snag is, Powerboard only 
'runs' PC programs, all the I/O must 
be handled by the Amiga hardware 
and that is where the emulation part 
comes in. Everything from the 
keyboard to the screen has to be 
emulated in software - and this is 
one giant task. 

Fortunately, it does mean all 
upgrades are supplied in software 



MMsdtWDOS 



MwosoftM&DC&Shel 



^imm^. 




There's a goodly amount of documentary support supplied with the KCS 
Powerboard. However, the emulator docs lag behind the hardware. 



and don't involve having to crowbar 
your machine open. 

installation 

Installing the Powerboard is a snap. 
Just unplug your machine, remove the 



"If you only ever 
use an XT done, 
like the bottom-end 
Amstrad units, you 
may be hard- 
pressed to tell 
the difference/' 



trapdoor expansion cover, plug it in 
and you're ready to go. It really is 
that simple and takes about two 
minutes - allowing enough time to 
plug all those peripherals back in. 



Once in place, starting first-time in 
PC mode is a simple as booting a 
disk - so anyone who can manage to 
load Revenge of the Blasterons could 
manage with this one. This first stage 
only starts the board and hands 
control over to it; from then on you 
are left in the strange and totally icky 
PC environment. 

Powerboard is supplied with MS- 
DOS 4.01 , so starting the 'PC is 
simple - although you must replace 
the Amiga boot disk with a PC boot 
disk first. A dual-format Amiga/PC 
disk would be nice but is almost 
certainly impossible. (Yes, I know it 
can be done with the ST but an MS- 
DOS stores parts of its operating 
system in the boot tracks.) 

Getting kinda hectic 

Software installation is a little more 
tricky. Powerboard - like all 
soft/hardware based emulators - has 
a software interface between the 
Amiga hardware and the PC BIOS. 
This allows you to set up a variety of 
different parameters in the PC 

continued on page 68 



AMIGA SHOPPER* ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 



BUSINESS 



continued from page 67 

environment: the number of colours 
you get in CGA mode, the disk 
drives and so on. 

This would be OK if the 
installation software was a bit more 
helpful, but the software is evolving 
faster than the manuals. According to 
the manual, holding down the left 
mouse button brings up a language 
menu. This technique proved so 
unreliable I eventually had to run the 
PC preferences program from CLI; 
even then, the configuration refused 
to work. Curiously enough, one of 
the undocumented features was a 
Turbo button. According to Bitcon 
Devices, this increases the speed on 
some machines from 8 to 1 IMhz, 
even though the manual says this 
cannot be done. Turbo is optional 



because about one per cent of 
Amigas refuse to run it. 

Once running, the emulation's 
configuration can be changed by a 
simple hot-key combination not used 
on the PC. This brings up a setup 
screen allowing you to change 
colours and so on. 

PC or not PC? 

Powerboard, as I see it, will have 
two main users: those who buy it as 
yet another expansion and those who 
get it to run their PC software. 

The PC crowd are likely to be in 
the majority, so out came that classic 
piece of PC Shareware, As-Easy-Ai 
4. This is one of the best 
spreadsheets on the PC, boasting a 
high compatibility with Lotus 1-2-3 - 
and more powerful into the bargain. 



PC-style graphics turned out reasonably well. In fact, most programs ran 
without any trouble whatsoever, but a few ended up crashing the PC. 



JARGON BUSTING 

386, 386SX, 386, 486: Increasingly powerful versions of the 303E chip found in the 
original IBM PC and designed by Intel, The correct name (number) of 
each of these should be prefixed with '80', but few people ever 
bather. Intel even use me abbreviations as trademarks. 



CGA: 



EGA: 



Hercules: 



MDA: 



MS-DOS: 



PC Clone: 



TSR: 



VGA: 



Colour Graphics Adaptor. Should be crummy graphics adaptor. Sick 
bags at the ready, CGA gives four colours from two fixed palettes in 
low-res, 320x200: cyan, white, magenta and black or red, green, 
black-and-white. The higher resolution mode: 640 x 200 is black- 
and-white only. 

Enhanced Graphics Adaptor, Somewhere between CGA and VGA, 
Offers a higher resolution and better range of colours than CGA. 
Considered to be the minimum workable colour setup. 

Monochrome graphics and text card - found in many cheap clones 
but still quite workable. 

Monochrome Display Adaptor, Just that. Text only with three states: 
off, on and high-intensity. This mode will do for word processing or 
data processing at a pinch and precious little else. 

Microsoft Disk Operating System. It's a bit like AmigaDOS - only 
many commands are internal. Shell editing is crude prior to Release 4. 

IBM PC compatible computer based an one of the Intel B067 or 
80xxx series CPUs, and with similar hard/software configuration. 

Terminate and Stay Resident. The nearest thing to full multi-tasking 
low-end PCs have to offer. It allows more than one program to reside 
in memory at once and be recalled by a hot- key. 

Video Graphics Array, High-resolution colour or monochrome 
graphics system. 80 columns by 25 or 50 line text and a huge range 
of colours - sometimes 256 (on screen) at o resolution of 1024 X 768. 




As-fasy-As supports o variety of 
screen modes, ranging from Hercules 
to EGA. It storied in CGA (nothing 
surprising there) but come to draw 
graphics and none of the usual yukky 
CGA colours. The CGA emulation is 
interesting because of the way it has 
been done. Replacing the diabolical 
chunky characters normally 
associated with CGA, was (what 
appears to be) Topaz font. 

Next, out came my Favourite 
word processor - Amor's Protext 5. 
The PC incarnation has some superb 
features like support for EGA and 
VGA 43/50 line modes and 
graphics - so if anything could give 
the Powerboard a pounding, it would 
be this. Word processors like Protext 
are a good test of screen update 
because you will spend a lot of time 
moving through the text. 

As before, the Powerboard 
proved surprisingly usable. Although 
not quick, Protext behaved very much 
like it used to on my old Commodore 
PC-10. Not surprisingly perhaps, the 
graphics mode was less than good. 
However, it was interesting to note, 
the 43-line mode was supported, but 
only in graphics mode. This is a little 
strange because Protext supports 43 
lines in graphics and text modes, and 
then only with EGA. Curiously, an 
interlaced display was present, as if 
Hercules was being used. 

Although o good search of my 
hard disk revealed nothing old 
enough to only support MDA or 
Hercules, it did give me the 
opportunity to try out a number of 
different Shareware and commercial 
demonstration packages. Everything I 
tried ran perfectly, including TSRs, 
although a few crashed the PC. 

Although this is a games-free 
magazine, I had to try a few in the 
interests of completeness (oh, sure - 
Ed). Captain Cornk requires EGA 
ond would not run, so that idea went 
out of the window. Popcorn, a French 
Arkanoid clone, worked beautifully in 
the grotesque CGA colours, as did 
GlohWar, a shareware Risk clone. 
Insanity - a maze game - 
demonstrated the staggering speed 
with which the Powerboard's 
software emulates the screen. 

Fractious freeware 

One final test of the screen support 
was offered by a Freeware 

application Fracttnt. Fractlnth 
tailored to draw fractals like the 
Mandlebrot and Julia sets, only it's 
very fast and supports almost every 
graphics card under the sun. This 
confirmed that the board does 
appear to be fully compatible with 
IBM CGA. 

The PC hos a modular design 
lacking in the Amiga - certainly in 
the A500. For instance, the PC 
supports two printer ports and two 
(sometimes four) serial ports; the 



continued from page 67 

now commonly called 
the AT. 

But the clone 
makers were 
already hot on Big Blue's heels 
and just as soon as ISM came up 
with a new design, the clone 
makers had something better. 

The clone war 

As time progresses this becomes 
more and more the norm: IBM 
set a standard and everyone 
else makes something better. 

Even the 8088/86 CPUs used 
in those early designs hove been 
improved by one third-party. 
NEC's V20/30 are pin-for-pin 
compatible chips and use less 
time to execute many of the 
more common instructions. This, 
in effect, speeds the whole 
machine up a little. 



Amiga only has one of each. A lot of 
software makes use of these facilities. 
For example, many third-party mice 
plug into the one serial porl leaving 
another for a modem. Also, internally 
the machine can a large number of 
expansion cards (my PC has a total 
of eight slots). 

The Powerboard gets round these 
limitations in any way it can: 

Disks: The PC supports a variety of 
for mots, from the 40-track, 8 sectors, 



BLITS 



"Just to prove that there is more 
to Australian soaps than Kylie, 
Jason, Craig and Darmi," writes 
Roy Startup, our antipodean 
correspondent, "t have noticed, 
after extensive research, that 
Paul Robinson, head o! the 
Robinson Corp (Neighbours) uses 
an Amiga 500 to run the whole of 
his multi-national conglomerate. 
A damn good jab it does too. " 

BOBS 

single-sided, 1 60K dinosaur to the 

latest 1.44Mb 3.5" floppies. 
Powerboard will support everything 
but the 1 44Mb (2Mb unformatted) 
drives because the Amiga's drives 
cannot run at half speed. Now 2Mb 
drives are coming on the market for 
the Amigo, it remains to be seen 
whether or not KCS will upgrade the 
software. In the meantime, it is, at 
least possible to read 40 track disks 



68 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 ©JUNE 1991 



BUSINESS 



in an 80-track drive thanks to the 
double-stepping option. 

Mouse: The Amiga's mouse port is 
redundant for the PC side of things, 
so the Powerboard simulates a 
Mouse Systems serial mouse 
addressable on COM1 or COM2. 



"The PC is a 

computer for use by 

one person - even 

your brain is a 

very powerful 

personal computer." 



The mouse stays where it is and the 
software handles the tricky bit. Two 
caveats with this: a mouse driver is 
not supplied For the PC mode - so 
some programs will still be stuck with 
the keyboard. Second, there is no 
support for bus mice either. Bitcon 
Devices say the mouse should be left 
on COM2 where it will be 
compatible with either the Naksha or 
GMouse drivers. 

Parallel and Serial: Only one 

printer port is supported by the 



Amiga's hardware, but the software 
ensures this can be addresses as LPT 
1 , 2 or 3. Similarly, there is only one 
serial port. This can be accessed as 
COM1 or COM2 at a maximum of 
4800 baud; some metal-bashing PC 
packages are actually capable of 
31,250 baud. 

Joystick: Yes, even the PC can use 

joysticks. However, PC joysticks are 

generally analogue - not switched 
like most Amiga sticks. There is no 
mention oF which type is supported 
by the emulation and I have not been 
able to Find out. 

Other Hardware: 

Those expansion slots are going to 

be a problem. A large amount of PC 
hardware comes in the form of 
internal cards - hard disks, extra 
serial and printer ports and so on. 
There is no way to utilise these on an 
A500 because the 500 does not 
have the hardware - not even if you 
slap a Bodega Bay on the side. 

The most important internal 
expansion is, of course, a hard disk. 
Many PCs come with one fitted as 
standard - usually about 20Mb these 
days. KCS has recently remedied this 
problem by adding support for the 
A590. Basically, this involves having 
to re-install the hard drive from 
scratch - adding an extra partition or 
reusing an old one. 

Whichever way you look at it, 



EMULATION SPEED CHECKS 

A lot of wibble has been written about speed tests - 
Landmark, Dry stone, Whetstone, Damprock, 
Moistpebble and so on - and a lot more will, no doubt, 
be written in the future. The fact is, no matter how fast 
an emulation manages to achieve in pure execution 
speed (with or without RAM access) what makes the 
difference is the screen update. This is the deciding 
factor: it doesn't matter if the thing runs 700 or 800 per 
cent faster than the 4.77Mhz IBM PC, unless the screen 
can be drawn quickly enough, few users will notice the 
difference. This problem is inherent in any emulation - 
whether it is hardware, software or a combination of 
the two. 

For those with a thirst for absurd figures, here are 
the results: 



Test 


Powerboard 


Powerboard 
turbo 


AT 8MHz 


ATI6MH1 


Norton Index 


3.6 


4.4 


7.8 


1S.6 


V20 Timer 


22MHx 


29MHz 


27MHz 


57MHz 


Relative PC 


220% 


240% 


395% 


805% 



For comparison, I used my my bespoke 286 clone. The 
tests prove how statistics can lie. The Norton Index 
proves that the AT is a faster machine, but the V20 
Timer also shows that, under certain circumstances, the 
Powerboard is faster than an AT clone. 

Note that the AT timings are not applicable to the 
AT-Once, We'll be running that comparison next month. 




*mtM^*mittmmi#mmi*im&tm*mt^immmMm 


I§ thf feiieS Sii^sti ym m$ tmi$%& It %m&im &%*£% f 


H*l! t* 




) 



Checkout 



Classic PC Shareware, As-Easy-As looks much more fun on the Amiga, 
with normally clunky characters rendered in the much sexier Topaz. 

this means giving up some space for 
MS-DOS to use - and 20Mb is not a 
lot to go sharing around. However, 
many applications will not run from 
floppy, so this was an essential 
upgrade. Hard drive support is very 
hardware specific, but KCS is in the 
process of adding new hard drives 
all the lime... 



Dodgy installation 

There isTittle to Fault the KCS 
Powerboard - with the exception of 
the iffy installation software and 
dubious instructions. 

This is countered by the excellent 
telephone support offered by the UK 
distributor, Bitcon Devices. Once up 
ond running, the Powerboard turns 



"IBM sets a 

standard and 

then everyone 

else makes 

something better" 



the Amiga into an adequate (if not 
shattering) PC just by booting a disk. 
This cavil only applies if you are used 
to a Fast 286 or 386 and expect the 
same kind of performance; don't. If 
you only ever use an XT clone, such 
as the bottom-end Amstrad units, you 
may well be rather hard pressed to 
tell the difference. 

The Powerboard will never 
replace a proper PC, because it uses 
Amiga hardware, but if you need to 
run PC applications, it is a cost- 
effective and trouble-free upgrade. 
Updates to EGA (and possibly VGA) 
and support for other hard drives are 
expected soon. As this is all done in 
software, the fee is nominal to cover 
replacement disks and postage. »*; T/i 



KCS Powerboard 
Features 7/ 1 

Plenty of emulation options and complete 
with MS-DOS 4.01. 

Documentation 4/ 1 

MS-DOS documentation is plentiful - 
emulator documentation lags behind the 
product. 

Stability 20/20 

Faultless operation in PC mode from day 
ore - very beginner friendly. 

Compatibility 1 7/20 

Most legal applications should be OK. 

Limited by Amiga hardware. 

Speed 22/25 

OK for applications intended for the PC/XT 
- amazing screen update. 

Price 12/15 

The cheapest XT clone ever supported by 
Amiga hardware. 




Excellent - will take some beating. 



ooooooooo 
Shopping List 

KCS Powerbourd .£1 99+VAT 

{Includes MS-DOS 4.01 end GW 
Basic) 

by Kolff Computer Supplies B V 

Kuipershaven 22, 
3311 AL Dordrecht, 
Holland 

UK supplier; 
Bitcon Devices Ltd 
89 Bewick Rood, Gateshead, 
Tytie-ortd-Weor,NEB]RS 
^0914901919/1975 

KCS Powerbourd is 
distributed as XT Emulator 
in the USA by Pulsar, 




AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 ejUNE 1991 



69 



"I'm a professional musician, I 
know what gear is needed to 
get the right sounds at the right 
price and I'm here to pass my 
experience on to you so you 
know what the best buys are." 
Jon Bates 



Coming in at a shade under 
£90, the main thrust of 
Sequencer One is that it 
should appeal to beginners 
and, therefore it's cost should reflect 
that. On the other hand it needs to 
have enough facilities to appeal to 
the slightly more aware. 

It's always a tricky line to tread; 
how much do we give the punter for 
this price? Gajits seems to have the 
balance about right as you will see. 

Good news week 

The good news about Sequencer 
One is that it will run on the A500 

and also supports internal voices. 
Four channels of internal voicing plus 
the 1 6 Midi channels makes up a 
total of 20 channels, which you could 
run simultaneously. However, for the 
beginner starting out, maybe without 
any Midi gear whatsoever, it is 
possible to create music using just IFF 
samples. A selection of IFF samples is 
thrown in with the package to save 
you the bother of hunting around and 
there are sets of pre-written patterns 
in lots of styles which you can pull in 
to start creating music straight away. 
More on this later. 

After booting up and allocating 



First in line 

As previewed in last months Amiga Shopper, Jon 
Bates gives the full run-down on the impressive 
Sequencer One from UK software house Gajits 



the size of the chip memory - 
necessary if you want to run samples 
as well - the main screen pops up. 
This is split into three main areas: 
transport, tracks and cue sheet. 
Transport is laid out with the familiar 
cassette recorder icons with song 
position and time elapsed counter 
displays. The tempo, like many other 
numeric displays, is altered in two 
ways. You either click once and enter 
the value manually from the numeric 
keys or you double-click and move 
the cursor (now transformed into o 
pointing finger) up and down the 
screen. This is a Gajits trademark 
which was used in their Roland voice 
programming software and is a very 
fast way of entering and changing 
data when using the main screen 
displays. A click on left-hand button 
confirms the new value. 

For the tempo setting there is a 
third, and rather smart, option. From 
the Options Menu you select Click 
Tempo; this lets you hit the mouse 
buttons at the speed you think the 
music should go at and Sequencer 
One works out the correct speed for 
you. Two main modes of recording on 
any track are supported. The 
ordinary mode deletes any data that 
was previously on the track whilst 
Dub adds on top of it. 

Although not immediately 
obvious, you can get rid of the last 
overdub by hitting Undo in the Track 
Menu. Combined with the Loop 
facility, which cycles between the 
start and end positions chosen, this 
makes for handy practise for putting 
good solos, or any other part, 



Sequencer One 



@ Gajits 1991 



81 
82 

83 
84 
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86 
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89 

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88 



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Sanple NaMe 



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Snare_Drun 
Closed_Hi_Hat 
Slap_Bass 

Syn_Bi>ass 




Size <K) 

4 5 

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12 



Sequencer One 










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By sorting out the sounds to internal channels you can hear them and 
play them if you have a Midi keyboard connected. 



Pull the samples Irom the disk and give them Patch/program numbers. 



together. The Auto button here is 
actually auto-rewind; if no limits are 
set, Stop takes you back to bar 0. I'm 
still not convinced that not having a 



"To make the most 
of memory, mere's a 
Strip/Thin operation 

letting you specify 

what data the track 

doesn't need/' 



count-in is a goad idea. Although 
you can use any number of bars as 
your count-in before you start playing 
and it takes up no data space in the 
memory, it does seem odd having to 
always start at bar 3: it could also 
mean some fiddling around if you 
are trying to synchronise the Amiga 
with another sequencer: you would 
have to add two bars to the other 
sequencer pattern or delete the first 
two bars of each track after you have 
finished building up the music. 

To the right of the Transport 
controls is what is termed the Midi 
Activity Meter. This actually gives you 
a visual representation of data either 
passing through or being output from 
the Amiga. It is set up on the 1 6 Midi 



channels and the four internal 
channels and does not correspond to 
the track numbers. 

The Track display is the left-hand 
upper half of the screen. Although 
you can only see 1 tracks at any 
one time, there are in fact 32 tracks 
to record on and these are accessed 
by the scroll bar and arrows on the 
left. Tracks are active if the triangle is 
black and they are deselected by 
clicking on the triangle. Up to 16 
characters can be used to name a 
track: double clicking on this area 
pulls up a detailed information 
window which shows exactly how 
many notes are used, volume and 
pan details and other sorts of data, 
like pitch bend and modulation are 
present. Midi or internal voice 
channels are set on the main screen 
and the figure after the track name is 
the voice number - known in the 
Midi code as the Program Change 
(but you knew that 'cos you read last 
month's article on Midi]. The circle 
indicates the track that is currently 
being recorded on and is active for 
eaiting purposes. 

Right on cue 

The Cue Sheet, referred to in the 
program as a Marker List, to the 

right-hand side of the upper screen is 
really a reminder note pad of where 
each section occurs. One neat little 
feature is that you can drag the bar 
position from the transport section up 
to this sheet by just double clicking 
on the counter and then placing it in 



70 



AMIGA SHOPPER* ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1993 



m 



t 



'J f i J n 



t 



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MUSIC 



the list. The reverse is also possible; 

when your cue list is full of lots of 
named sections you can jump to that 
point in the song by double clicking 
on the marker list counter. 

One of the prime areas of 
importance in any sequencer is the 
Quantize option. Available from the 
Track Menu, Quantize is kept fairly 
straightforward here and is applied 
to the track with the record icon 
against it. From a basic set of note 
values one selection can be chosen 
to line yours up against, although it is 
possible to use any quantization 
interval by altering the number of 
clock ticks. Only two options ore on 



JARGON 
BUSTING 

QUANTIZE: The process of finely 
altering the timing of 
individual notes, perhaps 
because they have been 
inaccurately entered 'live', 
to bring them in line with 
the beat of the music. 

MULTI-T1MBRAL: The ability of a synth 
to ploy different notes using 
different voices (or timbres] 
at the same time; for 
example,, arm thai could 
play a drum sound, a bass 
and a piano. 

SEQUENCER: A piece of software on a 
computer (or sometimes 
built into a keyboard) which 
stores musical scores and 
transmits this information in 
real time via MIDI to 
synthesisers which will then 
play it. Some sequencers 
have the facility to receive 
and memorise MIDI 
information from a music 
keyboard so that music can 
be entered 'live' instead of 
note by note. 

PITCH BEND: The ability to vary the 
pitch up or down of any 
note by using either a 
wheel or joy stick type of 
control mounted on the 
.synth, usually to the left 
of the keyboard. 

MODULATION: Often controlled by 
either a second wheel or 
side to side movement 
of the joystick. This will 
alter the sound according 
to the way it has been 
programmed; usually in the 
form of a vibrato - the note 
wavers in pitch and the 
amount it dees is controlled 
by the Modulation control. 

PAN: Corresponds to the 

Balance control on your 
stereo system - moving 
the sound from Jeft to 
right. Midi is able to 
control this and position 
the instrument or move it 
about provided that the 
output from the synth or 
module is stereo! 

VOICING SOFTWARE: Software that 
'talks' to the sound creating 
section of a synthesizer or 
tone moduls and creates 
new sounds and multiple 
patches (combinations of 
sounds on different 
channels), This is usually 
combined with a library/ 
database form of sound 
storage and graphic display 
of waveforms; often with 
automatic voice creation. 



:S 



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offer; 'keep note length' or 'keep 

note off time', which either move the 

note completely or just the storting 

point. It would have been nice to see 

a 'quantize strength' option which 

would mean that notes were not 

exactly lined up but had o degree of 

flexibility to keep them from being 

over precise; this adds 'feel' to many 

a track and I guess it's 

an option Gajits should 

bear in mind For a 

future update. 

The 'Undo' from the 

same menu will 

remove the last 

quantize operation if 

you didn't like it. From 

this menu you can 

transpose the whole 

track, tidy up 

unwonted notes, shift a 

track forwards or back 

in time - useful for 

creating 'echo' effects 

with a duplicated track 

- scale the velocities 

up or down so that the 

sound has a greater or 

lesser impact and even alter what is 

called 'continuous data'. 'Continuous 

data' is data output (and recorded) 

from controls such as pitch bend, 

after touch, modulation etc: all these 

parameters can be altered. 

Twin options 

For all these alterations, Gajits has 
chosen to give you two options. You 
can either add a specific value to 
each parameter as recorded or you 
can have a 'scale' option which 
multiplies the note/event/data by the 
factor you define. In the case of 
altering note timing (called 'event 
time' in the menu) this can make one 
section of music squeeze up or 
expand to fit a specified time, and 
with two decimal places of accuracy 
you can be pretty specific I Quite 
often there is Midi data superfluous 
to requirements; say you have after 
touch data recorded on a drum track 
or velocity sensing on an organ both 
of which are not used 
with these specific 
sounds. 

To make the most 
of the memory you 
have a Strip/Thin 
operation which lets 
you specify what data 
the track doesn't need 
and within what areas 
it can be dispensed 
with. 'Strip' gets rid of 
all the data whereas 
'Thin' takes every other 
occurrence of the data 
which you might use to 
economise on pitch 
bend or velocity data. 
From the menus there 
are other options. 
'Metronome' sets up 



either an audible click or a user- 
defined Midi note number and 
channel. Midi data can be filtered as 
it enters the Amiga and/or can be 
redirected to other functions: 
aftertouch could be reassigned to 
another area under Midi control, for 
example Pan, 

Sequencer One is also well 



load this common format, Some 
synths don't always respond to the 
'note off' Midi control and so there 

are optional messages that the 'Stop' 
control can send on individual 
channels so you aren't left with notes 
'hanging' when you stop playing or 
recording. We have looked at most of 
the features of this software but have 



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Loading from Hit Kit there are literally hundreds of styles, phrases and 
drum patterns for you to choose from. 



equipped to synchronise with 
external devices, such as other 
sequencers or drum machines, by 
either controlling them or becoming a 



BUYS 



The late Russian composer Igor 
Stravinsky had some heartening 
words for advocates of sound 
sampling: "A good composer does 
not imitate; he steak " 

■ & BOBS 

slave to their controls. It will also save 
and import songs in Midi file format, 
which enable it to be loaded up into 

any other Amiga sequencer that will 



excluded the most important; editing, 
There is only one way of editing 
actual notes. The graphic 'piano roll' 
with keyboard turned through 90 
degrees shows the notes as 
blobs/oblongs scrolling from right to 
left and an upright scroll bar shifts the 
range of notes displayed to 
accommodate the full ten octaves that 
Midi allows. 

Drag factor 

Sadly you cannot drag them about 
but have to click on each one and 
alter it in the information window that 
pops up and, unlike editing pages in 
other sequencing software, you can't 
hear the notes you are manipulating. 
Not a quick way of editing but quite 
secure nevertheless. Deletion of notes 
is handled in much the same way: 

continued on page 72 



Sequencer One 




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The Block Edit screen. The one-bar pattern, loaded from the Hit Kit is now copied onto 
tracks 6,7, and 8. You can see these just to the left of the Strip/Thin window which is 
being used to weed out all those unwanted notes for the drums. 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 •JUNE 1991 



71 



MUSIC 



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continued from page 71 

engage the Delete function and click 
the notes out of existence. 
The grid size can be 'zoomed' for 
close work and step entry is via an 
overlayed screen keyboard but you 
cannot hear what is actually played 
as you enter it. You can flip from 
track to track without returning to the 
main screen though and play the 
piece as a whole as the transport 
screen is still visible although only the 



started without too much trouble. In 

doing this you will be able to see the 
editing and block copying 
manoeuvres first-hand. If you're 
thinking of buying this program, keep 
this copy of Amiga Shopper handy 
when you start using it. 

First of all, clear out any 
superfluous bits of music by hitting 
'New Song' ond then load a 
selection of sampled sounds into 
what is termed as the 'Sample 



Sequencer One 



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Editing the notes in each track: behind the note information window you 
can see the grid with the notes represented in 'piano roll' style. 



track number is displayed and not its 
name, instrument and/or Midi 
channel. Block editing is the means 
of cutting, pasting and deleting 
sections of the music in a macro 
sense as it gives you an overall 
picture of the tracks and how they 
are filled; again you scroll to see all 
the tracks. Maybe it would have 
been on idea to somehow have the 
cue sheet visible as you can get a bit 
lost with this sort of editing when you 
add new sections and copy or insert 
other sections and it would have 
been handy to see the names of the 
individual tracks. 

Dicing with data 

Data is chopped, put into the 
clipboard and copied either all 
together or track by track and 
individual blocks can be saved and 
loaded, a feature that will come in 
very handy as you will soon see. 
Since Sequencer One can be used, 
at a pinch, without any extra Midi 
equipment, here's how you would get 



Palette'; the size and number of 
samples you can load in depends on 
the memory space you have 
allocated, size of each sample and 
what memory you have available. It 
is worth remembering that instruments 
like drums usually take up less 
memory than, say, the piano. Each 
sample is allocated a program 
number. Back on the track page 
define which channels will be active. 
The choice is either left or right and 
then priority left or right. What each 
track plays is determined by which 
program number you choose. 
Although you can't enter notes from 
the QWERTY keys, unlike some 
programs (another option for the 
update, lads?], there is a free disk 
called The Hit Kit that comes bundled 
in with the software. 

This has a whole host of phrases, 
loops and sequences in lots of 
different styles, Each file [The Style 
File, anyone?) also has 
characteristics such as style and type 
in sub-files. The latter suggests what it 



Sequencer One 










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The main screen now full of Beethoven's funky third symphony!: the cue 
sheet on the right lists the main sections. 



should be used for: chord, bass etc. 
They are not complete pieces of 
music but make up a very flexible 
version of the built-in 
accompaniments found on the self- 
accompanying variety of single 
keyboards. The manual comes in a 
text file and explains in detail how to 
get the best out of if. The Hit Kit is 
aimed really at the Midi user and is 
actually set up for the Roland drum 
kit, the same as the new General 
Midi standard, but it is possible, 
although fiddly, to adapt it for the 
internal samples, tt would have been 
an idea to have part of The Hit Kit set 
up for the internal samples: some of 
the demo tunes use the samples so 
why not The Hit Kit? 

Getting started 

First of all, load up a few samples 
and allocate them program numbers. 

A good tip here is to Save Setup 
on your copied program disk as if 
will automatically boot these samples 
up every time. 

Next, dive into the track page 
and name each instrument, allocating 
a voice channel and correct program 
number. Put The Hit Kit in the drive 
and now select Block Load. Using a 
spare track, load up just one bar of 
drums - most of the patterns are only 
one bar long anyway. This puts the 
pattern into the Clipboard, ready for 
Cut and Paste operations. 

Moving to the Block Edit page, 
which gives you an overview of all 
the tracks and whether Midi data is 
present on any of them. Paste the 
Clipboard into bar 1 of tracks 6, 7 
and 8. 

The first problem to overcome is 
that the drums are put together on 
one track. We have to separate them 
out into three tracks: bass drum, 
snare drum and hi hat. The more 
observant of you will see that 1 have 
named the bass drum a 'kick' drum 
on the screen. I got into this habit 
some time back as it saves me 
getting it confused with a bass guitar 
or other bass instrument when 
working away at full tilt. By jumping 
to the Edit screen and clicking on the 
notes displayed on the editing grid, I 
can see that the bass drum is the note 
BO. Diving into Strip/Thin delete all 
notes above this number (CI 
upwards). I am left with a track of 
kick drum beats. 

The same process is repeated for 
the next two tracks so that I isolate 
each individual drum; you have to do 
this process twice to isolate the snare 
drum. This is the most complex part 
of the operation. Once you have 
sorted out the drums for the internal 
samples, and this may involve 
altering and transposing the notes up 
or down an octave to get the best 
sound, you are on your way. Minor 
corrections can be altered with the 



editor and step editor functions. You 
should then have a one-bar rhythm 
pattern which can be copied and 
repeated as much as you like using 
block operations. Other patterns can 
be assembled and strung together 
using both note and block editing. 

Summing up 

Whereas Sequencer One is not the 
omnipotent tool that has features 
falling out of every menu, it has more 
than enough for you to perform 
everything you should need to do 
and I found that there was nearly 
always a way of getting around what 
seemed to be a problem. So far as I 
could tell, it will multi-task quite nicely 
with voicing software although the 
voice changes that you make are not 
recorded by the sequencer. 

All things considered, it has to be 
the budget priced sequencing 
software for the Amiga at the present 
moment. And if you get completely 
stuck when operating it, then Gajits 
very kindly offers a helpline service 
during office hours. Nice. ^■I'l 

ocjoooooo" 
Shopping List 



Sequencer One 

by Gajits Music Software 

l-Mex House, 

40 Princess St, 

Manchester 

M16DE 

<r 061 2362515 




Checkout 



Sequencer One 
Documentation 16/20 

Well written and comprehensive and helps 
the First rime buyer quite well with an 
overview of sequencing and MIDI. 

Functions 1 5/20 

Has all the functions you could reasonable 
expect without becoming exotic. 

Speed 17/20 

Editing a bit slow in operation but all 
functions actually work so fast that old 
'zzzt 1 hardly ever appears. 

Ease of use,. 17/20 

Nice simple layout means that it is easy to 
get to grips with. 

rlJw ********************** 1 O/ *V 

Just about pips the competition in price 
and offers the same if not better facilities. 



**"ll^f| 



83/100 



With me support of internal voices, IFF 
samples and The Hit Ktfthrown in, coupled 
with it's clear presentation and approach, 
Sequencer One deserves to be port of 
every Amiga owner's music software. 



72 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 ejUNE 1991 



ON TRIAL 



Think about it 



MARK SMIDDY checks out Thinker 
2 - Poor Person Software's own 
vision of hypertext for the masses 



.BEGINNERS 



Hypertext is a really dreadful 
buzz phrase, probably coined by 
some pseudo- intellectual to 
describe the computerised form 
of a cross-reference, The idea is 
not new - dictionaries and 
reference manuals hove been 
using the system for years, If 
you arrived at this description by 
reading the cross-reference in 
the Jargon Busters glossary, you 
made the manual equivalent of 
a hyperjump! 

In the same way, many of 
you will have arrived at this 
review by locating it on the 
contents page - an outline of the 
contents. So, you read the 
outline, made a hyperjump to 
the beginning of the review, 
browsed through for the Jargon 
Busters, and finally made 
another hyperjump to the start 
of this. Some of you will have 
browsed through the magazine 
and got here directly. 

As you can see, any good 
reference manual or well- 
organised magazine, such as 
this, consists of many outlines 
and cross-references. In that 
way, the reader can study the 
things he or she needs to know 
quickly and skim or ignore the 
uninteresting or irrelevant to 
them. Hypertext experts will 
probably ignore this panel (or 
glance at it out of curiosity). 

So what, you may wonder, 
is the point of all this hype about 
hypertext? The best way to 
explain this is by a graphic 
demonstration. Go to the 

continued on page 74 



Thinker is a hypertext engine 
so if you have never heard 
of hypertext, nip to 
Beginners Start Here for a 
quick introduction. Hypertext, as we 
all know, is a form of word 
processing, by which documents can 
be read by subject rather than 
linearly. Moving through o hypertext 
document is all about selecting 
something that interests you and 
letting the engine search out and 
display the references. 

So, beginners reading this review 
on a hypertext word processor could 
simply click Beginners Start Here and 
the program would whizz them off to 
on introduction on hypertext. 

Hyper market 

Hypertext processors, such as 
Thinker, are aimed at two sorts of 
people: users and creators. The idea 
is that the creator uses the engine to 
write a hypertext document, then the 
user loads the document and uses it. 
This has worked very well for similar 
systems like HyperCard on the 
Macintosh. The question is though, 
can the less well-known Thinker get 
the same foothold. One distributor 



OUTLINE 1 

(no clipping active) 

Outlining 
Clipping 

What is clipping? 
In on outlined section 
<Seetion> the clipping level is 
used to determine how much 
information is displayed. If 
clipping is set to one, only the 
main headings wilt be shown. 
Set to two and the headings 
and their subordinate 
headings will be available - 
along with any subordinate 
text at the same level. 
How to use clipping 

Organising your ideas 
In this section you will 
learn how to organise 
your thoughts, ideas, 
expectations and desires 
for a better life. 
What ideas? 
That's a good ideal 
Setting clipping levels 
Printing 

See Jargon Busting 







^&^ 


"Claimed to be the most recent 






V/ J5~^ Y^m 


development in computing, 
hypertext is set to revolutionise 
interactive learning, but can it? 
I'll be here to tell you what it is, 
what it does and what it means 
to you, and bringing you all the 
latest news as it happens." 

Mark Smiddy 



described it as "belonging to a 
limited market sector" though he 
probably meont it won't sell. 

As a word processor, Thinker 
can only be described as being 
slightly less than crude. Layout and 
formatting options are not available, 

buts 

Pure hypertext can trace its roofs 
hack to Doug Irtglebatl's work at 
SRI's Augmentation Research 
Laboratory - however the 
quintessential idea has been 
around almost as long as the 
published word. 



BOBS 

although a word wrap is available 
which makes it better than the editors 
supplied with the system. A spelling 

checker is supplied, but only has a 
tiny dictionary of just 30,000 words 



stored as a hash table. 

This method is very compact but 
it will occasionally miss a misspelt 
word - about one divided by the 
number of words in the dictionary, or 
1/30000 - so that is unlikely to be a 
real headache. Adding user words to 
the dictionary is painful and Poor 
Person Software recommends no 
more than 1 0,000 words should be 
added. If you have one, a good 
word processor, Protext 5 for 
example, would be better for 
authoring the text. 

Hypertext processing is where 
Thinker really comes into its own 
because this, after all, is what it's 
designed to do. Links ore inserted in 
the text by delimiting them with < 
and > from then on the link is active. 
However, a link is no goad without 
something to link to - a statement. 

Statements are introduced by 
double-clicking the right mouse button 
- which pulls up a quick menu - 
deciding where the statement should 
go and adding it. In theory at least, 

continued on page 74 



37 



W| 



< Jfttfedact lenHntroduct ion 

If vou follwthe instruct tons carefully vou tton't get tost, Ym «as 
always: use Junp Origin (select: Jimp Srigin froti the imp Semi) to set 
fcask here* : . . 

this tutorial illustrates softest the mtre important features of 
Ttumier-. Far instance the word "statesent" is defined elsetihere in 
this document. To see the definition of "state«ent" sinpjy put the 
; egrseivesgr tijf wtrg statement and double click the left nouse button, 
Select tfe« Kindow f reji the requester that peps up. The def intt'um 
m staienent appears in a neu uindw. Close the new oindOM by 
selecting the window close gadget in the tippet* left corner. 



£6jrsp f Select the ttjwp gadget at the top of the »indott and then 
PQSiUah trie^hapd^io :thai the poS titer Is over this s tat erieni and press 



the I eft: f»euse out ton ... 

CJunping) itev. tie trill mo e this ttindttu to the definition of "return", 
r: After doing this tie «*tt uant to return to this statement to read ndre 
! instructions in the tutorial, Juap Return is used to return to 
i -weiMOMs places in the detu««Bti The instructions for Amp Return are 
[:: found (n the definition of retitrn". Place the pointer, over the aerd 
return anrl double click the l*ft nouse button, Selttt "This Hisdda" 

: f reft the; cohfirnat ion requester, : 

CJuttp-LtnltJ Me have now Jutiped [to _ labels within this document and 
Thinker does not have the flashest on-screen display you could ever 
wish for, but then it's not the most expensive piece of software either. 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1 991 



ON TRIAL 



JARGON BUSTING 

Clipping: In an outlined section (see Outline) the clipping level is used to 

determine how much information is displayed. If clipping is set to one, 
only the main headings will be shown. Set to two ond the headings 
and their subordinate headings will be available - along with any 
subordinate text at the same level. The number of clipping levels and 
their affect on the text are determined by individual applications* 
Outlines 1 to 3 may give you a better idea. 

Hyperlation: A run-time module created by a hypertext or hypermedia application 
package. 

Hyperjump: A direct jump to a hypertext reference. See Hypertext. 

Hypermedia: Hypertext document with pictures, sound and even new applications 
embedded within itself. This review is a form of hypermedia* The 
illustrations on these pages are referenced by indices in the text. 



Hypertext: 



A text processor with hyperjump facilities * 
for an in depth discussion. 



see Beginners Start Hers 



Hypertext engine: Software used to drive a hypertext application. 

Label: The opening text at the start of a hypertext statement. Each entry in 

this glossary can be thought of as starting with a Label. See Link. 

Link: Embedded at any paint in the text, links are used as pointers to labels. 

See Label, is a link to somewhere else in the glossary. 

Outline: A group of subjects organised by type (usually). Each outline has a 

heading describing its contents. For instance. Jargon Busters is an 
outline for this glossary. Similarly, the contents page is a simple 
outline of the articles in this magazine. Embedded in the contents, are 
outline headings for articles by group: Features, Reviews, Tutorials, 
Regulars. Open sections of outlines are usually indented to separate 
them from the rest of the text. See Clipping and outlines 1 to 3. 

Plex: A group of statements and any subordinate statements embedded 

within them. It probably derives from plexus which is an intricate 
arrangement or network. Plex also sounds like flex which is very 
spooky and is the first syllable of the word plexor, which is probably 
what the editor will use on this writer when he reads this. 

Statement: Thinker term for a block of text - a paragraph. Statements are 
preceded by a Label. See Label, Link. 






continued from page 73 

every word in a Thinker document 
can be a link. However, the use of 
angle brackets as link delimiters, 
besides being ugly <see ugly>, <see 
what I mean>, can be replaced by 
highlighting in one of several styles 
defined by the program. Many links 
can point to the same statement, and 
it is even possible to have statements 
with the same link name. In this case 
Thinker pops up a requester showing 
a small section of text from each 

Thinker2:exawpte 



TTTF" 

:: 3: ■ 



statement and asks you to choose the 
one you want. 

When you click on a link, Thinker 
brings up another mini-menu, asking 
where the statement should be 
displayed: this window (the current 
arte) other window (if one is already 
open] and new window. Up to eight 
windows can be opened af one time; 
each showing a different statement. 
This is (air enough, but Thinker 
displays a window full of information 
for every statement link it resolves. 



Select "Revert" f.rtwv the Project Menu, Repeat the above' 
instructions but select "Dour" at the coiiftrtiat tea. NOTE y 
have to Jump tank "neve" to return to the noue instruct ions 
Delete Mod if icat tons operat tan loses the anchor posit ion. 

<eopy> Copying .: statements. 

Repeat the "Hove" instruct ions but start with the Copy gads 

You are now r-eadv to expeHnent utth Thinfeer with some confid 
Tafce the tine, to becarte fan t liar with all the opt ions before 

" : example ^^r _■ I EXIicbl ■ 

an outline. Use Insert 
trie structure. : Then go feaci 
pa find that sou want to 

Branch" or rtoue "Group' 



Thinker 2; example 


ir~p .'J.! 83.1 SI 


m 


)..• :. -s - jj; " ;■."?„■■ 


:■.:»:■.■. t CUP: HI'. ■ M 




*'.';", 1 i *' '" 


i, Jap 


i ■: 5 . HI . .■■■•ill 



<weve> Moving statements 

Select the HoVe gadget at 
the top of the window. 
Select the "Branch" option. 
Select the "Hark" option. 
Point the finger at the 
statement that begins 
"(move) Jfov ing statements" 



EJ has suitor d i nat e stat ement s 
™f examples of copying and 



Quirks freely abound in the user interface, which is a wee bit daft 
considering the easy-reference ethos fundamental to the idea of hypertext. 



OUTLINE 2 

(Level 3 clipping in operation) 

Outlining 

Clipping 

What is clipping 
In an outlined section 
^Sections the clipping 
level is used to 
determine how much 
information is displayed. 
If clipping is set to one, 
only the main headings 
will be shown. Set to 
two and the headings 
and their subordinate 
headings will be 
available - along with 
any subordinate text ot 
the same level. 
How to use clipping 
Setting clipping levels 

Printing 



This is often rather confusing because 
several statements, and therefore a 
lot of needless information, can be 
displayed at once. 

Thinker links 

In Thinker, links can point to more 
than just other statements in the text. 
IFF pictures can be displayed either 
in a Thinker window - where it is 
limited to four colours and the size of 
the window or in a separate screen. 
A Workbench tool or project can be 
attached to a link, provided it has an 
icon; this being a limitation of 



BLITS 



Thinker gets its name (and logo) 
from Augoste Rodin's famous 
sculpture, The Thinker, which he 
created around 1905. 



BOBS 

Workbench, not Thinker. Links can 
also be attached to an ARexx port or 
a CLI window. 

Assuming all this works as its 
supposed to - and to be fair, 
everything supplied with Thinker 
worked fine - then the system can be 
considered a true hypermedia sub- 
system. I would hesitate to call it a 
complete system because it lacks 
several key features. For instance it 
cannot play IFF animations, sound 
samples (or music, assuming 
someone wanted to), though it can 
call external software to do that. 
Also, there seems to be no way to 
communicate a mouse position back 
to the program, even using ARexx as 
an intermediate port. 

But why would you want to? 
Well imagine you wrote a hypertext 
document explaining the workings of 
an internal combustion engine. That 
is a typical ease in which diagrams 



continued from pnge 73 

contents page of 
the magazine, 
locate this feature 
in the reviews section and turn to 
its first page. 

Welcome back. If you 
followed those instructions, you 
just lost your page, found it and 
came back again. You probably 
found this part of the Beginners 
section by remembering where 
you were. Now turn to the 
AmigaDOS feature and read the 
beginners section. 

Back again? Still with it? As 
you can see, as a publication 
contains more and more cross- 
references it becomes 
increasingly difficult to keep 
track of where you are, let alone 
remember what you have just 
read. Hypertext gets around this 
problem by keeping track of 
each reference and possibly 
displaying more than one at a 
time. Just as you would in a 
book or magazine, you retain 
full control over what you read 
and what you ignore. 

Real world media 

A Chinese proverb states, "One 
picture is ■worth a thousand 
words". Whoever wrote that 
must have devised the Chinese 
alphabet, but the saying holds 
nevertheless. Very frequently 
authors punctuate their text with 
graphics. 'See Figure 2.4.3' for 
instance might belong to figure 
3, in chapter 2, subsection 4. 

When the text is written, that 
figure probably sits on the same 
page, but in the finished article it 
could be almost anywhere! 
Colour 'plates' are rarely 
inserted on a page of text, more 
likely they will be bunched 
together somewhere else in the 
volume. Now you have to go 
scooting off to find the darned 
thing - wouldn't it be better if 
the picture was among the text it 
related to? This is the sort of 
thing hypertext engines are 
good at. Just select the reference 
and if is displayed. 

In a well laid out book or 
magazine, you would rarely 
have to skip more than two or 



74 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1 99 1 



ON TRIAL 



three pages. But 
wait. Let's imqgine 
^ 'you're writing a 
book on 
ornithology. You could have 
pictures of the birds, the 
descriptions of habitat, mating 
rituals etc. What if you wanted 
to show how a bird flies? 

A series of diagrams would 
do - accompanied by a fairly 
lucid description. However, an 
animation would be much better. 
It could be done in a book by 
flipping pages quickly, but that is 
not very effective. A hypertext 
engine could play the animation 
by calling an application to do 
the job. This could allow 
'readers' to study the flight in 
detail, adjust the speed or even 
play it backwards. 

Now comes the crunch. How 
do you describe the mating call 
of a song thrush in words or 
pictures? You could put a tape in 
with the book, but hypertext 
comes to the rescue again 
because a reference could easily 
be attached to a sound sample. 

Who needs it? 

Judging by that description you 
might think hypertext is the best 
thing since diced carrots, but not 
everyone agrees. Although the 
idea is an old one, realistic 
implementations are only just 
coming out, The first biggy was 
the Macintosh application, 
HyperCard. Since then there have 
been a rash of similar things - 
UltraCard, Thinker, DUNE and 
Can Do to name four. Thinker is 
the simplest and follows the idea 
of hypertext more closely than 
the others which are more 
graphics oriented. 

However, some are of the 
opinion that computerised 
hypertext is a bad idea. You 
know where you are just by 
looking at the page number of a 
book. Thumbing it has a more 
personal feel than skimming a 
hypertext document. It can also 
be argued that a book is more 
portable. Although a massive 
hypertext document can be fitted 
on a single disk, it still needs a 
computer to run on. 



OUTLINE 


3 


(Level 1 clipping operating) 


Ouriinina 




Printing 





are required. So you click on the 
diagram link and up pops the 
picture. Now let's assume joe Bloggs 
wanted to know about valves. At the 
very least Joe should be able to click 
in a 'bounding box' on the picture 
and get taken to the description of 
valves. This might be possible with 
Thinker if you used, say, AMOS or 
GFA Basic, to handle picture and 
getting the mouse reports. Then you 
could use ARexx to pass the message 
back to Thinker. Lost? Programmers 
might be oble to follow that, but the 
sort of users Thinker is aimed at are 
unlikely to be able to. 

On the good side, Poor Person 
Software does supply an adequate 
tutorial in the otherwise fairly short 
(96-page) manual. They also give 
away Tinydraw - a miniature 
drawing package. Like Thinker, it's 
anything but flash - but it does the 
job of producing simple little 



BLITS 




Hypertext references are just an 
electronic version of footnotes or 
cross references. 



& BOBS 



sketches. Being object-oriented, it's 
easier to use for multi-thumbed artists 
like yours truly. 

Best of all, they give away loads 
of little demos showing how the 
package works with examples of just 
about everything from a miniature 
database to a cookbook with some 
interesting recipes (cordon bleu 
Smiddy strikes again). Most 
examples are contrived to illustrate a 
point but are nevertheless very 
welcome. It makes my blood boil to 
receive a 300 quid package, with a 
2000 page manual and no examples 
whatsoever. For this, Poor Person 
deserves a hearty pat on the back. 

Well thunk out 

Thinker is a great idea, or at least a 
reasonable attempt at implementing 
a good idea. The biggest fault with 
the package lies in its most important 
feature - the user interface. Although 
the main display is easy enough to 
use, the gadgets surrounding it ore 
tricky to get to grips with as there are 
just too many of them. The designers 
could iearn a lot from simple text 
viewers like PPMore. It works with 
Workbench 2 (just) which is a bonus 



A good feature is 
the welter of demos 
supplied with the 
package, from a 
mini database to a 
cookbook. 
Hypertext novices 
should be able to 
glean much useful 
Instruction from the 
way the demos are 
organised, but will 
have to think harder 
when putting their 
own tomes together 
as the profusion of 
gadgets that 
surround the main 
display could have 
many going back 
to their joysticks j 
for a quick game / 
of Braindeath J| 
from Another p 
World in shock. ^ 



mwr~ 



fiorair 



UW\ 



^ajreitsirts: 

. Pecaii fcit&r Sauce tSee <?ec3Bfeatter>r 

Weaker* Siu-E* C5e$ *nfu&i*r*>)* 
■• vim mx". ■ ■• 
.. t. tjj„i*»ttn" ... 

i m rleur tsse--stloBr>i ' " 
. .fefl^tabte^s'U'for- friMr»g-{$H <9U>V 

I tfc e aar*5* t? ctjftppM paeans £or? F&ast*6> -tor 

b w stfiwItre-Nsssri fish fill 







iffel? «a 




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SK 



for those who 
have it, but the 

additional 
window zooming 
gadget still 
appears on the 
new system even 
though it is 
already present in 
Intuition. Since it 
is Workbench 2 
compatible, the 
file request needs 
work too. 

It is not 
particularly fast, 
but usable 
provided you 
create your text in 
a proper word processor. Poor 
Person Software recommends using 
FACCII a (cache-based] disk 
accelerator to help speed disk 
access. I have not tried this, but even 
using FFS on a floppy I did not notice 
a great improvement, All this aside, 
Thinker does a reasonable job of 
hypertext without the frills. It is not an 
absolute must-buy. More worth 
thinking about really, QJ 

ooooooooo 
Shopping List 

Thinker 2.1 $80 

Poor Person Software 

3721 Starr King Circle, Pola Alto, CA 94360 

USA * 0101 4154937234 

Not generally available in the UK, but 
Creative Computing, of 4453 Redondo 

Beach Blvd. Imvndnle, California 90260 
(it 0101 213 214 000) charge an extra 
S30 carriage to send a copy. 
Otherwise, try: 
HB Marketing 
Unit 3, Poyle 14, Coin brook, 
Berks, SL3 0DX 
** 0753 6800363 



<**« 



■■••jf*,- 



.*«*.: 






£*tfT(£ . 






:; r$e\t*ct' ":Revert" f r*» the ■ fro jtsciT WiJyi-. . ftepe 

■■ instruct ions but s.<Mect "»««n": at the conftn 

tjawe to Juijp tlftif "wove" t* retuwt to thV tie 

:- j&#t^te Bodvf ie.at iotis operation ' los-es the anc 

i COPV ? CQPVfXftB : &t at eights .: 

Repeat the "*Mov«" instructions but start *Mt 

You sp&- now ready t:o exp^ : il*enfc with Thinker w 
Take the iirw to fcecone tarn Kar with at t the 



Return Qriq in 



Up 
Free 



Cm o v b ) ■■ M ow t Ft g s t at erten 1 s 



«; an:«ut-t in 
n* s*r*iet«r; 
leu f « red t ha 
Branch" o 



at 



Select the Howe gadget 
the tap of the mndou. 
Select the "Branch - * option. 
Select. the "Hark' option. 
Point the finger: at the 
st at sweat: that: feegifts 
' Cnowe? Moving stateriei»ts" 
and: sete-et-t:he: : s-tat:e«e»t bv 
».r/.ess..i.ttfl:::.:the:.- :.lef :t :. aeuse. „..■..■.::.■„.: 



■ 



Qhas subordi 

Tr examples 

I 

j, t ches locat 




Checkout 



Thinker 2 

Ease of use 10/20 

Quirky user interface hampers the whole 
idea of hypertext. 

Features 1 0/20 

Nothing flash, but at least it supports 
ARexx and Workbench 2. 

Documentation .........7/1 5 

Thin on the ground with no illustrations to 
back it up. 

Presentation 4/10 

Looks cheap, because it is cheap. 

Speed ....5/15 

Slow from floppy disk - but usable if you 
can wo if. 

Value: 7/20 

The user interface could really do with 
more work to make it worth the money. 



Mom 



43/100 



Still looks basic, still tricky to learn. Not 
bad, but not brilliant. 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 •JUNE 1991 



75 



£t commodore 




Prfcns Include VAT, cMlvi-ry K warranty. 
Plnase i«M £15 tor overnight delivery. 
All systems are tested before despatch. 

On-site maintenance options available. 



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H Amiga At 500 wilh 20MB £895 

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3S.95 

33.80 

40,95 

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99.95 

79.90 

57.95 

30.95 

40 65 

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39-95 

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Amiga 1500 fine software) 66 

Amiga 1500 jinc monilor} 91 

Amiga 20003000 (inc. Unix} PI 

(lull range of Amiga expansion car< 
available eg,) 

XT Br*fo.eooefd 19 

52Mb Quantum H'Drivs 56 

(inc Hardframo card} 
Printers:- 

CMwnSwtftQ 19 

Citizen Swift 24 28 

Slar LC20Q colour 20 

Star LC24 -200 colour 29 

{All Citizen printers have a 2 year 

guarantee} 

Large range ol Bu&bleje;.' rnttjej In 

printers available. 

Naksha Mouse 2 

P.C. EMULATORS 

AT-Once {AT Emulator) 18 

KCS PC Powertward 22 

{Large range of P. C. software 
available}. 

SOFTWARE BUNDLES 

Gold Disk Orflce 10 

Works Plalinum 6 

TV Show + TV Tent. 9 

ADV STRATEGY & FLIGHT SIMS 

BAT 2 

Betrayal 1 

Chaos Strikes Sac* t 

Damocles 1 

Fi9$teaitnFtohier 2 

Flight Sim II 2 

Loom 21 

Mig29 Fulcrum 2 

Operation Combai 1 ■ 

Powermonger 2 

Speedba)l2 I 1 

UttmaV 2 

UMSII 2 

Waroame Const Motion Sel 2 

Warlords 2: 

Tin* s iusi a small example of our 
AMIGA related range. (Modems, 
Oendocks etc). 

Fe-lnk: - Ribbon re-inking spray 
available @ £11 .65 pet can. 31' 
DS/DD untnanded disks £5.00 for 
C22 50 lor 50 Mos1 items of Kttftt 
have a 2D- 30% discount Off the RF 

■ Gremlins 2 {only 2 left} .£1' 

Mulant Nlnja Turtles (1 ofl) EH 



Phone for prices of ICD products/ upgrades/ help & advice, in J act. anything to do with the A -nig; 
Personal import service now available 



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Terms; Postage. VAT inc. Most items normally dispatched within 24hrs. 

EX PO RT.'B F PP.' E D UC ATI ON orders welcome. Prices, subject lo variation. 



HARD WA R E 



Rat race 

Mark Smiddy checks out yet 
another brand new hi-tec rodent 




ice come in a variety 
of types and there has 
been a recent spate of 
them since the success 
of Naksha's. The Truemouse is aimed 
at the budget end of the market. 

Outside... 

From the outside, Truemouse looks 
very much like every other recent 
design. Smooth curving lines make It 
pleasing to the eye and comfortable 
in the mit. The two buttons hinge 
about two-thirds From the back of the 
case and drop over the front where 
they blend in nicely. The 1 .8-metre 
cable leaves plenty to spare and is 
terminated with a small cable grip. 



Underneath, the unit is switchable For 
both Amiga and ST, avoiding the 
need For adaptor plugs. There are 
Four little Teflon pads, allowing the 
rodent to glide over almost any 
surface. However, they could wear 
out faster than the larger ones Found 
on other designs. 

The Truemouse achieved a 
resolution of 200 DPI - adequate but 
nothing special at the price. This 
means a movement of 3.25" to move 
the pointer across the screen. 

Internally, some savings have 
been made. The circuit is based on 
low cost transistors instead of the 
normal integrated circuit. The 
choppers are standard enough, but 



only one LED/LSD pair is used For 
each direction, whereas the Naksha 
uses two. This accounts For the 
reduced resolution. Also the small 
idler wheel was prone to slipping its 
mounting when the unit was uncased. 
A minor point? In normal use this is 
unlikely to happen, but iF the unit was 
dropped or bashed this could render 
the entire mechanism useless. 

The two buttons impact directly 
with the microswitches instead of a 
lever mounting, which suggests that 
they are of low quality and prone to 
wear, and that the plastic pins will 

OOOOOOOOO 

Shopping List 



Truemouse........... 

distributed by Zydec 

1*038645999 
available Iron most 
major distributors 



..£17.95 




JARGON BUSTING 

Chopper: (Also known as on interrupter). A small spoked or slotted wheel which 
interrupts the light from the LID. As the chopper disk rotates (caused by 
moving the mouse) it makes the LSD pulse. Count the pulses and you 
can work out how far the mouse has travelled! (Direction coding is a 
little more complex.) 

LED: Light Emitting Diode. Small semiconductor device which emits light 

when a current is passed through if one direction only. 

LSD: Light Sensitive Diode. Like an LED, only this one only allows current to 

pass when light is shone on its surface, LSDs are sensitive to light of 
different wavelengths and are usually matched to similar LEDs. They 
work just like a very fast, light-sensitive switch. 



^H\ 





A mouse that goes cheap? What on 
Earth is the world coming to. 



wear away in time and give rise to 
the same thing. Finally, the cord grip 
at the end of the case looked a little 
flimsy, so I was tempted to give it 
some stress testing. But that can wait 
For the complete rodent round up. 

The Truemouse has its faults, like 
anything else, Economies have been 
made here and there, but these have 
been passed to the consumer. 

It is not a cheap product hiding 
under an expensive cose. It is most 
definitely a budget mouse in an 
attractive one - and For those on a 
tight budget, it's worth it. CQ 



Checkout 



Truemouse 

Ergonomics 18/20 

Very comfortable with a nice glide. 

Style 4/5 

The ST/ Amiga switch gives it the single- 
lead edge over, say, the Naksha. 

Accessories 0/ 1 5 

Just a mouse sans accoutrements. 

Buttons 20/25 

The oversized selection button is a nice 
innovative idea - but a little spongy. 

Resolution 4/10 

At 200 DPI it is on the poor side. 

Value 22/25 

It performs well For the money. 

BEE 

An attractive budget mouse that should 60 
well os a replacement for the old mode., 



69/100 



Sounding off 

Mark Smiddy gets down to some 
serious eardrum bashing with the 
ZyFi amplified speaker system 



Few Amiga owners could hove 
failed to notice the phono 
plugs located by the joystick 
ports on their computer. 
Usually these are connected to o 
stereo monitor or hi-fi. Now several 
manufacturers have come up with 
amplifiers and extra speakers. 

Ear, wot's all this 

So, enter the new ZyFi offerings. At 
90* 1 25*250 mms, they seem just the 
ticket for anyone who takes their 
sound seriously. The smart, midi-sized, 
trendy black boxes hold three drivers 
mounted in a bass reflex arrangement. 

The main lead taken from the 
Amiga to the combined amplifier/left 
speaker is under a metre long; not 
enough for wall mounting. Similarly, 



the lead from the left to right-hand 
speakers is 900mms long and very 
thin. It is not meant to take more than 
a few hundred mAmps at best. 

A quick check on the PSU ratings 
confirmed this. The maximum rated 
output is 9 volts @ 800mA - or 7.2 
watts - by the time that reaches the 

ooooooooo 
Shopping List 



speakers I'll be surprised if it's one 
third of that. It does take batteries too, I 
which might improve things, but that is 
an expensive and short-term option. 

Inside, the design is crude and 
cheap - barely enough to work. 

But what do they sound like? 
Perhaps the ZyFi sounds better than 
the design suggests ... well, no. There 
Is no bass to speak of, the mid-range 
is nothing to write home about and the 
upper reaches are tinny. Power? Don't 
expect your teeth to rattle. 

The ZyFi is o good looking attempt 
to improve the Amiga's sound. It looks 



ZyFi Stereo Speakers 

distributed by Zydec 
= 0384 45999 
available from most 

major distributors 



£39.95 





They look good, smell good and, by 
golly, they sound naff. Oh well. 



excellent, but where sound is 
concerned it is less than average. 
Even if the output was increased to 10 
watts per channel I doubt it would 
sound much better. If stereo is your 
thing, there are several other units 
around that are worth inspecting. I' J.-I 



Checkout 



ZyFi 

Style 18/20 

Look very high-tec. 

Sound 6/20 

Reasonable mid-range and top end, but 
little bass despite the bass-reflex design. 

Power 2/20 

Not so you would notice. 

Design & build 15/20 

Sturdy construction,, but poor design. 

Value 5/20 

Look great, sound dreadful but at least 
they give away a PSU. 



IrftrWfJf 



46/100 



In principle, a great idea but rather poorly 
carried out. 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 ejUNE 1991 



r 



HlnCppiin o f Hampshire 



Best for service 



Star 



LC10 ribbon £4.70 inc. 
Black ribbon £6.40 inc. 
Colour ribbon £12,90 inc. 




LC10 Mono 

£152.00 (E1 29.36 + VAT) 

LC200 Colour 

£209.00 (£177.87 + VAT) 
(with Cable & Paper) 



Panasonic KXP1124 

(24 Pin) with cable & paper 
£229.00 (£194.89 + VAT) 



Panasonic KXP1180 

with cable & paper 
£155.00 (£131.91 +VAT) 



Panasonic KXP1123 

(24 Pin) with cable & paper 
£199.00 (£169.36 + VAT) 



PRINTERS 

Inc. VAT 

Citizen 1240 (24 pin) £199.00 

Panasonic KXP 1081 £145 00 

Epson LX400 £148.05 

Epson LQ400 (24 pin) £232.00 

Epson LQ550 (24 pin) £329.00 

Swift 24 Colour option £36.00 

XB24-10 Colour upgrade £37.95 

Printer prices inc. cable & paper 



Amiga 1500 

£665.00 inc VAT 



1Mb SCREEN GEMS 

£369.00 inc VAT 



Screen Gems Pack 

£355.00 inc VAT 



Amiga 500 

£315.00 inc VAT 



Accessories 

Inc VAT 

Joystick/Mouse twin extension. ..£4. 70 

3M Joystick/Mouse 3M ext £3.75 

A500 Printer lead £7.95 

A500 to Philips CM8833 lead ..£7.95 

Modulator/Disk Extension £10.95 

23 Way Plug or Socket £3.45 

A500 Dust Cover £4.70 

Mouse Mat (thick soft type) £4.95 

A501 Memory Upgrade/Clock.. £4 5. 00 
KCS Powerboard 740K & IBM..£224.90 

Mouse House £2.95 

Marconi RB2 Tracker ball £49.00 

Vidi video frame grabber £110.00 



NAKSHA MOUSE 

with house & mat 
£22.00 inc VAT 



STEREO SPEAKERS 

High Power £39.00 
Standard £24.90 



1.5M Ram + Clock 
£39.50 inc VAT 



Phone for Amiga Software catalogue. 
Many titles inc. Educational. 



StarLC24l0 

(24 pin) with cable & paper 
£199.00 (£169.36 + VAT) 



Star LC24-200 

(24 pin) with cable and paper 
£249.00 (£211.91 +VAT) 



Star LC24-200 Col 

(24 pin) with cable and paper 
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HP Deskjet 500 

with cable and paper 
£435.00 (£370.21 + VAT) 



Citizen 120D+ 

with cable and paper 
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Swift 9 Colour 

with cable and paper 
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Swift 24 Colour 

with cable and paper 
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CBM 1084S 

with cable 
£249.00 (£211.91 + VAT) 



Philips CM8833 Mk 2 

with cable 
£229.00 (£194.89 + VAT) 



Cumana CAX354 

External 1M Drive 
£65.00 (£55.32 + VAT} 



A590 20M Hard Disk 

£269.00 inc VAT 



1/ 2 Meg Ram + Clock 

£32.95 inc VAT 



DISKETTES 

SONY branded 

{100% certified error free) 

Inc VAT 

10 3.5" DS/DD 135 tpi £7.50 

50 3.5" DS/DD 135 tpi £32.30 

100 3.5" DS/DD 135 tpi £59.93 

1K 3.5" DS/DD 135 tpi £540.50 



DISKETTES 

(lifetime warranty) Sony Bulk 

{1 00% certified error free) 

Inc VAT 

10 3.5" DS/DD 135 tpi £5.95 

50 3.5" DS/DD 135 tpi £19.80 

100 3.5" DS/DD 135 tpi £37.95 

250 3.5" DS/DD 135 tpi £82.25 

1K 3.5 DS/DD 135 tpi £309.03 

50 x 3.5" Disk Box with lock ....£5.99 
100 x 3.5" Disk Box with lock ..£7.50 



Phone for our 40 page catalogue 

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FREE C Compiler and Programs Disk! 

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A M I G A D O S 



BEGINNERS 



In this month's Cracking 
the Shell I have made 
several references to 
command 'templates', so it 
is time to explain what 
these are. Templates are 
used to break down what 
you enter into manageable 
chunks. Think of them as 
filters, in which each 
'argument' or option only 
fits one part of the 
template. Most commands 
can be forced to give their 
templates by entering the 
command followed by a 
query. Try this: 



Returning to the adventure 
game analogy, consider 
this command: 

INVENTORY 

This is a standard 
command found in many 
adventure games, usually 
abbreviated to INV, which 
lists the objects held by the 
player. This is similar to 
DIR (directory) in 
AmigaDOS which lists the 
contents of the current 
directory. Now consider 
the verb ATTACK, which 
must have an object to 
work with - in AmigaDOS, 
a required argument. Take 
this for instance: 

ATTACK DWARF 

We are giving a command 
to attack something. 
ATTACK is the command 
(verb) and DWARF is the 
argument (noun). Many 
games allow you to specify 
which object to use. In this 
case you could supply an 
optional noun such as: 

ATTACK DWARF WITH SWORD 

In AmigaDOS, command 
arguments given in this 
way are called keywords, 
rhe command remains the 

continued on page 80 



Cracking 
the Shell 

Mark Smiddy gives a neat and tidy 
account of disk housekeeping with 
AmigaDOS and reveals hov/ such 
terribly organised behaviour relates to Workbench 




"AmigaDOS is looked upon 
with trepidation by some, so I'll 
show you the quickest and best 
ways to find your way around 
the Amiga's operating system," 
Mark Smiddy 




Isk housekeeping on any 

computer is one of the 
most important and time 
consuming tasks of all. It 
tends to be tedious in the extreme, 
yet still has to be done from time to 
time. Sometimes, when a disk starts 
showing signs of wear, you simply 
do not get a lot of choice. 

As with most things, there is a 
right and a wrong woy to go about 
it, so here's some advice on how to 
get speedy and organised results 
from your housekeeping (sounds like 
an ad for a vacuum cleaner]. 

So, first things first, before you 
can start writing data to a disk, if 
must be formatted (initialised). You 
can do this quite easily from 
Workbench using the Initialise 
command, but the Shell allows 
access to several more options. 

Correct format 

Format in version 1 .3 has the 

following synopsis: 

FORMAT DRIVE «3rive> NAME 
<narae> [NOICONS] [QDICK] 
[FFSINOFFFS] 

A typical command line, fust to get 
things started, looks like this: 

1>F0RMAT DRIVE df : NAME 
MyDisk 

And the computer would then 
respond with: 

'Insert disk to be 
initialised in drive dfO: and 
press RETURN' 

It can readily be seen that this is a 
rather long-winded way of going 
□bout things, especially since it is 
necessary to type DRIVE 
<drivenome> and NAME 
<diskname>, However, it does avoid 
you having to rename the disk 
afterwards as you would have to do 
in Workbench. 

Because FORMAT is not 
connected to Workbench, it is easy 



to accidentally format a disk that is 
currently in use by another process 
(application) - be sure to watch out 
for this as it can be pretty damn 
annoying when it happens. 

The other options - usually called 
switches - will be new if you have 
previously only ever formatted disks 
from Workbench, It's a simple 
procedure to use a switch, as all you 



BLITS 

DMCOPY can format a blank 
disk during the copy operation for 
you - this happens automatically. 




St BOBS 



need to do is add its name to the end 
of the command line: 

1>F0RMAT DRIVE df : NAME 
MyDisk NOICONS QUICK 

Here's a quick rundown of what the 
various switches do: 

• NOICONS: This tends to be 

slightly confusing because it gives the 
impression (hot the disk will be 
iconless. !n fact, this option speeds 
up the formatting process slightly by 
not creating a Trashcan directory and 
by copying the trashcan dot-info file 
from the Workbench disk. 

• QUICK: This option is a fast way 
of cleaning an old disk. It just formats 
and initialises the boot track (track 
zero) and the root directory (track 
39). Formatting, for those of you not 
in the know, is the process of laying 
down the timing marks and sectors; 
initialising is the process of placing 
AmigaDOS specific information. 

The QUICK switch is only meant 
for disks that have been previously 
formatted. If your disk is unfortunate 
enough to have come down with a 
really nasty case of read/ write 



errors, then, of course, it must be 
completely reformatted. 

• FFS: This forces FORMAT to 
prepare a disk for use with Fast Filing 
System. FFS is not available for 
floppies prior to AmigaDOS 2 and 
will cause the machine to crash, It 
can be used for hard disks, but most 
installation software supplied with 
hard disks will do this for you. 

• NOFFS: This is, in fact, a bug. 
FORMAT defaults to formatting with 
OFS (Old Filing System) anyway. 
This option was removed in 
AmigaDOS 1.3.2 - the version that 
is now being shipped out with most 
new machines. 

Users lucky enough to have 
Workbench 2 may have noticed 



Tip of the month 

Here's a quickie for those 
who despise the long 
winded format of the 
FORMAT command. Called 
QF - Quick Format - it 
takes a single parameter 
and formats a disk called 
Empty. The trashcan can be 
suppressed by adding 
NOICONS. 

ALIAS QF FORMAT DRIVE [] 
NAME Empty 

Usage: QF <drive> 
[NOICONS] [FFS] [QUICK] 



QUICK ond FFS are available 
directly from Workbench. 

The other main "complete disk" 
function available from the Shell is 
not strictly for housekeeping, but if is 

continued on page 30 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 



79 



AMIGADOS 



continued from pap 79 

very useful to know. DISKCOPY is 
used to copy an entire disk. Like 
FORMAT, this function is also used 
by Workbench - Duplicate to be 
more precise. [Have a go at opening 
the info box For a Workbench disk 
icon and you will be able to see that 
SYS:System/Diskcopy is actually the 
default tool.) 

The power of the shell becomes 
apparent once more. DISKCOPY has 
the following synopsis: 

DISKCOPY [FROM] <drive>: TO 
<drive>: [NAME] 

The words in brackets [] are optional, 
therefore a typical dual drive copy 
might look like this: 

1>DISKC0PY dfO: TO dfl: 

the same follows if you only have a 
single drive: 

1>DISKC0PY dfO; TO dfO: 

The command prompts you to insert 
the source and destination disks 
before storting in either case. This 
feature can be overridden, but such 
potentially dangerous techniques can 
wait until you are much better 
acquainted with the system. 
You may also note that 
DISKCOPY only takes drive names as 
parameters - volume names 
(Extrasl .3:, MyDisk:] will not work. 
Also, it is not possible to duplicate 
disks of different types or sizes. For 
instance, see what happens iF you try 
to execute the following line: 

1>DISKC0PY RAM: TO DFO: 

Un oeuf 's enough 

But enough of all that stuff. Most of it 
can be attempted from Workbench 
anyway, but from the Shell you can 
name the destination disk. 
Workbench normally does this by 
naming a disk 'Copy of XXXXX' 
which is actually rather irritating. 
When used from the Shell, 



DISKCOPY copies the old name on 
the new disk. 

Even so, although both disks 
appear identical, the use of 
AmigoDOS ensures that they are 
unique. [This may seem irrelevant - 
but if you have a legal DOS copier 
like TurboBackup, make a copy of a 
Workbench disk and try mounting 
both disks at once ...) 

If you want to give a disk a 
different name after copying It, here's 
how. The NAME option is a keyword 
and takes the name of the destination 
disk as a parameter. This example 
copies the disk in drive zero onto the 



1>DISKC0PY dfO: TO dfl: 
Work 



NAME 



Before we move on, it's time for a 
quick word or several about 
AmigaDOS naming conventions. 

For historical reasons. 
Workbench and AmigaDOS both 
support spaces in object names - that 
is: disk (volume), file or directory 
names. This is generally OK at 
Workbench level, but when it comes 
to AmigaDOS, spaces are an 
absolute nightmare. This is because 
AmigaDOS uses spaces to delimit 
command arguments. That is to say, 
every argument must be separated 
from the command and other 
arguments by at least one space. 
Imagine you have a disk called 
'Copy of Workbench 1 .3'. Now to 
obtain a directory of that disk [by 



BUTS 

DISKDOCIQR is a much 
misunderstood rescue program 
that can even restore a partially 
formatted disk. 

BOBS 

disk in drive one; and names the 
destination disk 'Work'. 



volume name) you might type the 
following line: 

1>DIR Copy of Workbench 1.3: 

to which AmigaDOS responds with: 

'bad arguments'. 

DIR has assumed the disk is 
called 'Copy' and taken the rest of 
the line as other switches. Since these 
switches are not present, it 
complains. The correct version is: 

1>DIR "Copy of Workbenchl . 3 : " 

This line will work because the 
volume name is enclosed in quotes 
and the spaces are taken as part of 
the name. 

Workbench allows spaces in 
filenames because it does not have to 
interpret instructions in the same way. 
In either case, make sure you avoid 
spaces whenever possible. 

In version 1 .3.2 the following 
options were added: 

• MULTI: This switch tells Amiga- 
DOS to make more than one copy of 
the source disk. If a bug appears, it 
can cause this feature to fail. 

• NOVERIFY: This switches off 

verification of any unformatted 
destination disks. It speeds up the 
process slightly, but is not 
recommended because the integrity 
of the data might be at risk. 

• The FORMAT and DISKCOPY 

commands do not belong to 
AmigaDOS - they live in the System 
directory. Mind you, for most 
purposes this will not matter. 

It's OK, I'm a doctor 

Almost every old-timer will have 
experienced those heart-stopping 
messages: 'Error validating disk' and 
'Disk structure corrupt, use 
DISKDOCTOR to correct it' at some 
time. Quite a lot has been said 
against DISKDOCTOR, but it does a 



IDDY'S RED HOT TIP 



Here's a lime tip for beginners and experts 
alike who cannot remember how each 
command behoves, tt uses LIST to create a 
special alias for all commands so they always 
present their command line templates: 

ls-IilST >RAM: KELPME C:#? LFORMAT * ; %S*nALIAS 
i>EXEafflE RAM : HELPKS 

The first fine creates a script file in RAM: called 
'hefpme' formatted tike this for every file in the 
Cs assignment; 

ALIAS <command> <path and ccffnmand> ? 

For instance if C: contained just CD and DIR, 
'heipme' would look like this: 

} Workbenchl . 3 : G 

ALIAS DIR WorWxsncia.SsevmR ? 



;Worktoe&c&L.3:C 

ALIAS CD Workbenchl. 3 :C/CD? ■ 

although, in real terms, the list will be much 
longer - two lines for every command in C;. 
When mis file is executed, it is no longer 
necessary (or possible) to supply arguments to 
each command. Instead you just give the 
command without parameters and it presents 
the list of parameters it requires: 

1>BIR . 

t»HE,OPT/K,ALL/S,BIRS/S, JOTBR/S, FIUES/S: 

AH you have to do is enter the parameters as 
usual and press Return to activate the 
command. This is useful if you Only have a 
single disk drive because transient commands 
are pre-loaded so, you cart swap disks without 
having the hassle of getting the wrong 
directory etc. 



same, but we add 
a keyword 
modifier WITH 
and its argument, 
SWORD. As a final 
modifier, let's specify 
exactly how we want to 
kill the dwarf: 

ATTACK DWARF VICIOUSLY 
WITH SWORD 

VICIOUSLY acts like a 
switch - it tells ATTACK to 
act in a certain way. If 
ATTACK was written with 
an AmigaDOS command 
template it would be: 

ATTACK ? 

NAME/a, WITH/k, VICIOUSLY/ S : 

It is broken down thus: 
NAME/a: Object or 
creature the command 
will act on (required). 
WITH/k: Object used for 
the operation (optional). 
VICIOUSLY/s: How the 
arrack is to be carried out 
(optional). 

Notice how the switch 
(VICIOUSLY) can appear 
at any point after the 
command - the position is 
not important. Now let's 
re -w rite the line: 

ATTACK DWARF VICIOUSLY 
SWORD 

This does not make any 
sense because the 
preposition WITH is 
missing. The parser 
doesn't know what was 
used to hit the dwarf. 
Applying this to 
AmigaDOS is simple. Call 
up the command template 
for DIR like this: 



NAME , OPT/K , ALL/ S , DIRS/ S , I 
NTER/S,FILES/S: 

DIR has six possible 
arguments in version 1 .3, 
though none are needed 
to get going. They are: 
• NAME: The name of the 
directory, path, device or 
assignment that DIR will 
search. If NAME isn't 
given, DIR mil default to 



80 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 •JUNE 1991 



AMIGADOS 



searching the 
, current directory. 
• OPT/K: 
Keyword retained 
for compatibility with 1.2 
version. Takes character 
argument: A, D, I, Al. 

• DIRS/S: Forces DIR to list 
directories only. (Equal to 
OPT D.) Mutually exclusive 
to FILES/S 

• ALL/S: Search down 
through the hierarchy from 
the current directory and 
all its sub-directories. 
(Equivalent to OPT A.) 

• INTER/S: Enter 
interactive mode. Leave if 
for now, I'll cover it soon. 
(Equivalent to OPT I.) 

• FILES/S: List files only - 
this option is mutually 
exclusive to DIRS/S. 

Try these command lines: 

1>DIR 

1>DIR OPT A 

1>DIR ALL 

1>DIR DIRS 

1>DIR PII£S 

1>DIR DFO: FILES ALL 

1>DIR Extrasl.3: FILES ALL 

Summary 

/a: Required argument. 
Something must be 
supplied in this position for 
the command to work. 
/k: Keyword. Optional 
arguments, which take 
arguments themselves - 
usually filenames. 
/s: Switch. Optional 
argument telling command 
to act a certain way, 
The following only appear 
in AmigaDOS 2: 
/n: Numeric. The 
parameter needs a 
numeric argument. 
/m: Multiple. One or more 
parameters can be 
specified, up to the max 
length of the command 
line. Replaces the ",,,„," 
construct in older versions. 
/f: Final. This argument 
MUST be the last one on 
the command line - 
everything present on the 
line is read up to the 
carriage return. 



reasonable job at salvaging disks. 

The best way to see 
DISKDOCTOR in operation is simply 
to try it out for yourself. For this 
example it would be very wise to 
make another copy of your 
Workbench disk. Now have a go at 

buts « 

With AmigaDOS you can copy 
files io almost anywhere - thai 
includes the screen, punter or 
even the speech system. 



BOBS 

Formatting the copy using the 

following command: 

1>F0RMAT DRIVE dfO: N2VME 
Blast QUICK 

However, don't Forget to specify the 

QUICK switch or the example just 
will not work. 

And now you're ready to start 
DISKDOCTOR. It only takes one 

parameter - that is the name of the 



drive you want it to work on: 

1>DI3KD0CT0R dfO: 

As you watch, DISKDOCTOR will 
reconstruct most of the disk before 
your very eyes. This does take a 
while, but it is surprising how much 
information can be retrieved. 

It is" all thanks to the way 
AmigaDOS arranges information on 
the disk, so at least something good 
came out of it. 

DISKDOCTOR is not capable of 
retrieving data that has been lost in 
bad areas of the disk - these show 
up os HARD ERROR @ Track X 
Surface Y. IF DISKDOCTOR 
encounters a File belonging to a 
directory that has been lost, that File 
is placed in the roof directory. 
Nevertheless, unless the disk is very 
badly damaged, it is usually possible 
to reformat and re-use it. 

The command can present you 
with over 25 errors and messages so 
there is not nearly enough room for 
them here. IF enough people write in, 
then I'll run them as a series complete 
with explanations, ftt 



AmigaDOS master class 



This is where you propellerheads 

can get stuck in to some nasty little 
problems. Since these are intended 
for experts, I will keep explanations 
to a minimum. This potboiler started 
life on CfX late one evening - 
someone wanted COPY to act like a 
PC. That is: if a source directory is 
not specified, COPY duplicates the 
file in the current directory, ie: 

1>CD RAM; 
1>C0PY S:SPAT 

This is not possible because COPY 
requires two arguments. 

Either argument can be 
replaced with "", but this is messy. 
The solution therefore is to use an 
alias. I've called this one CCOPY - 
Current Copy; the name is not 
important. It is defined as Follows: 

ALIAS CCOPY COPY [] "" 

Add this to your Shell-startup script 
so it will be available at any time; 
all the normal COPY options ore 
available too. Usage: CCOPY 
<file> [options]. 

This is all very well, but you 
have to remember which version of 
COPY to use depending on the 
situation. To get around this, it is 
necessary to write a small script to 
make COPY intelligent. If a 
destination is supplied it works like 
AmigoDOS; if not it behaves like 
MS-DOS. The script is defined thus: 

.key 

FROM/A, TO, ALL/S , QUIET I s , BUF/K, 
CLONE/ s, DWES/S , NOPRO/S, CCM/S 



.bra { 

. ke: | 

.def BUF 200 

.def TO NOTHING 

IF {TO} EQ "NOTHING" 

ECHO "Copying from: {FROM} TO 

* NOLINE 

CD 

COPY (FROM} " (ALL/s} 

{QUIET/s} {CLONE/s} {DATES/s} 

{NOPRO/s} {CQM/s} BUF={BUF) 

ELSE 

ECHO "Copying from: {FROM} TO 

{TO}" 

COPY {FROM} {TO} {ALL/s} 

{QUIET, s} {CLONE/s} {DATES/s} 

{NOPRO/S } {COM/s} BUF={BUF} 

ENDIF 

This script mirrors the original COPY 
command very closely although a 
few embellishments have been 
added - displaying the source and 
destination directories for instance. 
Also, the destination is no longer a 
required argument. To use this, 
simply type it into your favourite 
editor and save it in S:. Now set the 
"S" protection flag and it works like 
the real thing. It relies on an 
undocumented feature of 
AmigaDOS 1 .3 in that switch (/s) 
arguments are supported. This may 
not apply in AmigaDOS 2 or ARP. 

Most scripts, and this is no 
exception, work best from hard 
disks or when the script commands 
- IF, ELSE, ENDIF, ECHO and 
EXECUTE are resident. 



JARGON 
BUSTING 

AMIGADOS 1 .2 \ Now generally out of 
dale, but stijf used 

occasionally, 

AMIGADOS 1 .3: The most common 
revision of AmigaDOS in 
general use, 

AMIGADOS 1,3.2! SlighHy updated, 
enhanced and partially 
debugged version of 1.3. 

AMIGADOS 2: The latest and greatest 
version so far. Only 
available for the Amiga 
3000 series at present. 

ARP; AmigoDOS Replacement 

Project. The MicroSmith's 
version of AmigaDOS - 
thought by many to be 
better than AmigaDOS, 
and certainly more 
friendly in many respects. 

FFS: Fast Filing System. 

Improved version of the 
file structure which is 
Faster, although slightly 
more prone to errors. 

OFS: Old Filing System. 

SCRIPT: Meta- AmigaDOS 

command built from other 
AmigaDOS commands. 
More usually referred to 
as a hatch file on other 
systems. 

WHITE SPACE: Any printing character 
which does not display 
something on the screen. 
A space is a typical 
example. 



Got a Problem John? 

If you are completely 
bogged down with any 
aspect of AmigaDOS 
whatsoever, drop me a 
line detailing the nature 
of your conundrum. Send 
it to: Mark Smiddy, 
Amiga Shopper, 30 
Monmouth St, Bath BA1 
2BW. I'll do my level 
best to lose it on my 
desk - er, figure out an 
answer that is. 

Sorry but no personal 
correspondence can be 
entered into, no matter 
how huge the bribe with 
which you may try to 
tempt me. Well, within 
reason. Desperate 
persons, with no regard 
for telephone bills, can 
EMail me on CIX 
"SMIDOID" or find me 
lurking in the Amiga 
Shopper conference. 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 



EDUCATION 



Child's play 



"As the mother of two livery 
kids I have tested out software 
in the toughest manner - on the 
children themselves," 

Pat Winstanley 



Pat Winstanley delves in to the 
untapped wealth of Amiga 
educational software currently 
available for the little ones 



This month I will be taking a look af 
Amiga software available for the under 
eights. In case you missed issue one I will 
repeat the point that age categories 
should not be taken too rigidly. My six and 
eight-year-olds still have a great deal of fun with 
software intended for toddlers as well as the 
more advanced packages aimed at top juniors. 
Despite the apparent dearth of educational 



software around, there is in fact a wide range 
available - if you know where to look. The 
following packages include the best I have seen; 
in particular those the young testers have had to 
be bodily yanked away from. Many of them 
also have me pleading "Isn't it my turn yet?", 
since that's the only way I can play with my 
beloved machine when they are home from 
school - like the recent two weeks of holiday. 



READING 



Learn To Read With Prof 

Intended to take non-readers from 
First steps to a reading/ 
comprehension age of around early 
junior, this set of four packages is 
something of an enigma. 

Perhaps my local testers are 
becoming a little blase, but none of 
them were 'grabbed' by the 
packages to the extent of asking for 
them again. While a solid reading 
scheme, the presentation smacks af 
'school' and forgets that when using 



I hesitate to mention the name, but 
suggesting to the local school that 
copies are purchased for the 
Archimedes would probably be an 
excellent (and wiser) step than 
spending out for home Amiga 
versions. If you do want copies for 
the home, the most suitable children 
are those with little computer 
experience and reading difficulties. 

The Three Bears 

The adventure format is surprisingly 
under used for children's software 
which is a shame as it offers reading, 
spelling and understanding topics 




Architectural appreciation reaches new heights In The Three Bears. 
Perhaps Prince Charles should get a copy for William and Harry? 



educational software, children like 
some spice to reward their efforts. 
However, the series has been 
very successful in schools - 
presumably with non-computer-literate 
children and those who are put off by 
the pen and paper approach. 



simply by its structure. 

The Three Bears is a very simple 
adventure based an the fairy tale of 
the same name and sets the child the 
task of rescuing baby bear who has 
been spirited away by the evil witch. 

Using a very simple on-screen 



map the child wanders around the 
playing area, meeting wolves, 
wizards and other assorted nasties. 
Most inputs required are restricted to 
one or two letters in response to an 
either/or question. In addition some 
spelling questions are asked. For 
example "What letters are missing 
from this word ( _pplj?" 

A nice touch is that answering 
'No' when the child is asked to help 
elicits responses from the program 
such as 'Don't be unkind.' and then 
takes the child on to the next step 
anyway. This raised several smiles 
among the testers. 

Donald's Alphabet Case 

For children just beginning to 
recognise different letters, this is a 
worthwhile offering. Based on the 
Disney character and using cartoon- 
standard graphics, the game has the 
child watching out for all the 
disguised letters that have invaded 
Donald's house. 

As a letter appears on the screen 
Donald tries to catch it, but only if the 
relevant key is pressed to alert him to 
its presence will he be able to find it. 
If no action is token (or the wrong 
key is pressed] Donald continues to 
wander around the room searching 
away while the letter uses its 
camouflage to hide and performs 
cheeky actions such os sticking its 
tongue out behind his back. 

Intended for pre-school children, 
my own older brood found this game 
delightful and they enjoyed working 
their way through the alphabet to see 
what sort of comical situation would 
appear next. 

The one reservation I have is that 
all of the letters are upper case, 
which could be extremely confusing 
for a beginner-reader struggling to 
come to terms with the upper and 
lower case alphabet. 



'RUING 



Let's Spell 

Aimed at the younger child, let's 
Spell gives a good grounding for 
those learning letter sounds for the 
first time. Two versions are available, 
eoch taking a familiar area and the 
objects found there. The idea is that 
clicking on an object in the main 
picture brings that object up on an 
alphabet screen. 

The aim of the game is for the 
child to spell the name of the object 
by clicking on the correct letters. As a 
letter is selected, the sound of the 
letter is spoken using clear sampled 
speech. Since the letters are 
enunciated as 'ah', 'buh', 'cuh' and 
so on, the child is helped in the 
difficult task of stringing sounds 
together to make words as well as 
that of linking sounds to letter shapes. 

The two areas are 'At home' and 
'At the shops', and versions are also 
available in French. Nicely self- 
contained, very little parental help is 
needed - in fact adults are advised 
to retire to another room to avoid the 
sampled speech as soon as possible. 

Things To Do With Words 

Having picked up the basics of 
reading, the child's next step is to 
master spelling and this is where 
TTDWW comes in. The package is 
split into three games - anagrams, 
jumbled sentences and word hunt. 

Anagrams simply presents a 
jumbled word on screen and asks the 
child to type in the un-jumbled form. 
jumbled sentences does the same 
with words rather than letters. Word 
hunt is rather different, involving 
finding words made up of some or all 
of the letters of another word. 

I found that children needed a 
good deal of help with this package 
- not the fault of the programs but 
simply the inherent difficulty of the 
games. With word hunt in particular, 
playing became a family effort; the 
children finding simpler and more 
obvious words with the adults 
searching out more obscure spellings. 

Aimed at school age children, 
this package is great for reinforcing 
spelling and word building skills. 

Kidstype 

Having cracked spelling (or at least 
when the child is confident enough to 
string letters together in a rough 
approximation of a word) it is time to 
encourage composition. Regardless 
of spelling accuracy, most children 
love to write their own stories and 
Kidstype is an excellent vehicle to 
help get them started. 

Based around a simple word 
processing program, Kidstype 
combines typing with pattern design. 
Around the screen are various icons 
on which the child can click to select. 



M 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1 991 



EDUCATION 



The complete alphabet is available, 
each letter embedded in a picture of 
an object beginning with that letter. 
When selected, the whole letter- 
picture appears at the cursor point. 
Alternatively, letters can be typed 
from the keyboard, in which case 
they appear in large, lower case 
letters on screen. The two styles can 
be mixed at will giving very 
interesting effects . 

Also included is a game in which 
the child chooses a picture letter then 
tries to spell the object pictured. The 
words and pictures supplied with 
Kidstype may be modified simply by 
accessing the lists on disc, which 
serves to make this an entertaining 
and versatile package. 



RITHMETIC 



Mickey's Runaway Zoo 

Another game aimed at toddlers and 
based on Disney characters, the plot 
involves recapturing all the animals. 
For each species, a different number 
of escapees must be found by 
selecting the correct number on the 
keyboard to match that shown on 
screen. Once the number is typed, 
that quantity of animals march one- 
by-one to the collecting cage, thus 
setting the context of the magnitude 
of different numbers. 

As with the other Disney games, 
there is very little for the child to 
actually do but an awful lot of 
delightful animation to watch. 
Although parental help is not 



STICKY LABELS 

Young children begin learning 
the alphabet using lower case 
letters, progressing to upper 
case in the later infant school 
stage. Because of this, the 
keyboard with its upper case 
letters can be pretty confusing 
and can often get in the child's 
way when something needs to 
be typed in. 

To get around the 
problem, simply cut some self- 
adhesive labels into small 
squares, write a lower case 
letter on each, then stick the 
pieces over the corresponding 
keys. Unless you are a touch- 
typist, you'll find this pretty 
weird but it really does help 
the children. 

Eventually the letters wear 
out and the children grow up. 
Then it's the work of a 
moment to remove the sticky 
bits and restore your precious 
keyboard to its original state. 




Henrietta bravely climbs a rope, with help from accurate addition by the 
child, in order to prevent a ducking in custard in Hooray for Henrietta. 



required for most children, the 
greatest benefit will come from sitting 
with the child, counting oloud and 
talking about what the child can see. 
While smaller children will need 
some help with this game, those 
beginning to recognise written 
numbers will manage the keypad on 
their own. Or the child could be 
encouraged to shout a number for 
Mum to press on the keyboard. 

Game Set And Match 

Along with numbers, children spend 
a much early learning time matching 
shapes and colours. This package 
consists of a variety of matching tasks 
ranging through simple colours or 
shapes to numbers and coins. 

The format is similar for each 
game. Along the top is a range of 
possible colours, shapes or numbers 
while a box below contains the 
match. A highlight square moves 
along the choice range and the child 
must stop the square on the correct 
choice. Alternatively the top row cart 
contain a sequence of shapes with 
the lower box displaying a changing 
range one-by-one for the child to stop 
when a match is made. 

Tucked in as extras are a 
reaction timer and a higher/lower 
game. The latter is not guesswork like 
the TV game, but a comparison task 
- is the last number shown higher or 
lower than the previous one? 

Given that this pock is aimed at 
young children, I feel too much 
emphasis has been put on program 
reaction rather than the child driving 
the the game. My six year old 
became frustrated with the package 
as even on the lowest speed, by the 
time he had decided on an answer, 
the game had moved past him. 

Magic Maths 

For the infant school child, coming to 
grips with addition and subtraction 
Magic Maths offers a range of five 
activities designed to practise and 



reinforce lots of new skills. 

Each of the activities is presented 
in a simple manner. Thus 'Driver' 
shows a picture of o school bus and 
a sum. each time the sum is 
answered correctly, a child appears 
inside the bus, which then drives off 
to a new screen. Once the bus is full 
the computer congratulates the child 
with speech and a flashing screen. 
Other tasks include the use of scales 
where the child counts the objects 
weighing down one side of the scale 
then supplies the appropriate number 
to balance them. Alternatively, a sum 
can be the weight, the answer to be 
calculated for balance. 

The beauty of this package is that 
animation and speech are used in a 
non-distracting yet satisfying way so 
that the child can concentrate on the 
'work' while enjoying the computing 
environment at the same time as an 
unobtrusive background. 

Hooray For Henrietta 

Taking animation o little further, this 
game uses arithmetic questions os 
obstacles to progress. The plot 
involves Henrietta rescuing her 
appaling prospective bridegroom 
and rescuing his wedding clothes. 
For each of the four disciplines 



■Lies t ion 1 
Score : - i™ 




Henrietta is presented with a task to 
perform. Thus the addition section 
sees her climbing a rope (against the 
clock) to reach a lever. Once pulled 
the lever allows Henry to escape a 
ducking in custard. 

Although reactions are needed to 
avoid the count-down, a generous 
time limit is given so the child is not 
too rushed. The main drawback of 
the game is simply the game aspect. 
Since failure sees Henry drenched in 
custord the child is sorely tempted to 
deliberately give wrong answers. 
Scetlander presents its range as 
gomes with an educational content 
rather than educational software, 
and Hooray for Henrietta is certainly 
the former. For children who shy 
away from the more formal 
presentation this is a good 
compromise between fun and work. 



LUCKY DIP 



Fun School 3 (under 5) 

Database certainly picked a winner 
when it developed the Fun School 
range of games. Now in its third 
incarnation covering three different 
age ranges each time, the series has 
become the yardstick [should that be 
metre-stick these days?) by which all 
other education software for popular 
machines is measured. 

The pack contains six different 
games, all simply but beautifully 
onimated with sparse but apt sound 
effects Presentation is outstanding, 
with a simple visual menu system 
which even the youngest child con 
master without help from an adult 
after an initial introduction. 

The games cover counting 
objects, matching letters, matching 
shapes and colours, matching words 
to pictures, matching words to 
actions and painting luridly coloured 
farmyard scenes. In each case, skill 
levels can be adjusted by the 
child/parent or automatically 
handled by the computer. 

Tots rapidly become hooked by 

continued on page 84 





How nany? 



Magic Maths uses a set of scales to make some addition problems, 
whereby the child has to work out how to make them balance. 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 •JUNE 1991 



EDUCATION 



continued Iron) page 83 

the package (and so does a certain 
twelve year old of my acquaintance 
together with a variety of quite 
fascinated adults). 

Fun School 3 (5 - 7) 

As with the under 5's pack, this disk 
too offers the same high standard of 
presentation and ease of use, only 
the activities changing to reflect the 
higher age group. 

In this selection are: a shop in 
which the child practices pocket 
money economy, a simple time tutor, 
a retrieval-only database with 
fascinating subjects such as 
dinosaurs; a frog who does anagram 
sums; a route finder in Logo style; 
and an opportunity for the child to 
learn about electrical circuits. 

The fascination of this pack is just 
as great as the younger version, with 
all ages keen for 'just one more go'. 
Both packs are highly recommended. 

Puzzle Book 

Whereas the Fun School series offers 
a range of games with fairly obvious 
application to the three 'R's, the 
Puzzle book range presents tasks 
with rather more obscure topics. 

As the title implies, the range is 
more along the lines of logic 
problems than straight 
arithmetic/spelling and in this respect 
it works very well indeed. 

The disk contains six games 
covering Dungeon Mosfer-style 
mazes, clock patience, a modern 
version of the classic game of Mm, a 
word hunt (use the letters of a word 
to make as many new ones as you 
can), a reaction timer on the lines of 
Snap, and Magic Squares in which a 
grid must be filled with numbers to 
make row, column and 
diagonal totals equal. 

Starting age for the 
pack would be about late 
infant school level, but 
there is plenty of 
challenge for adults too. 
An excellent choice for the 
whole family. 

Sesame Street 

For the youngest children 
who are not yet ready for 
formal education, but 
want to join in on the 
computer, have a look at 
the Electric Crayon range. 

Taking characters 
from popular children's 
shows such as Sesame 
Street and those dreaded 
turtles, the packs each 
consist of around thirty 
screens of line drawings 
for the child to colour. For 
instance, letters for You 
has a screen for each 
letter of the alphabet with 
a picture of one of the 




"Ah, ha, haaa, three rabbits in hats" counts the Count and waits to be 
coloured in, in the simple Sesame Street painting program. 



Sesame Street characters and the 
letter that needs colouring in. 

With simple icon-driven controls 
and the ability to rub out mistakes, 
children will be absorbed for hours. 
These packs are a simple, fun way 
for small children to learn mouse 
control and familiarise themselves 
with the computer. 

Play It Safe 

Education is also about learning how 
to survive safely in the everyday 
world. And it's not only children who 
need educating about safety - most 
accidents to small children take place 
in the home where parents have 
carelessly left things lying around. 

This game aims to educate 
children about the hazards to be 
found in their everyday environment 
and does so extremely well. The plot 
is that loads of nasty creatures have 
invaded your house and left 
dangerous situations all around. By 
controlling a teddy, you must enter 
each room and identify the hazards. 
Each room has a random selection of 



hazards and, when one is found, a 
jigsaw piece of the monster 
responsible is collected. When the 
jigsaw is complete the, room is safe. 
This game is well presented and 
the best and most original offering I 
have seen for some time. 
Considering that it is Licenseware 
and costs only £3.50 it's a must for 
any child. 

Pick A Puzzle 

By the some author as Ptay it Safe, 
but PO this time, is a jigsaw 
generator with a selection of puzzles 
and several levels of difficulty. 

At its simplest level a picture 
stored on the game disk is cut into 
pieces which can be selected and 
placed by mouse clicks. Go up the 
levels and you'll be presented with 
flipped and rotated pieces - with no 
jigsaw grid lines as guides. 

The pictures are perhaps a little 
hard, but with some thought it should 
be possible to create your own 
pictures using a paint package for 
incorporation in the game. fTfr 



Checkout 


Software Education Ease Flexibility Addiction 


Overall 


value of use factor 




Learn To Read 25 18 8. 10 


61 


Three Bears 15 ,20 5 15 


55 


Donald's Alphabet 15 20 2 25 


62 


Let's Spell 25 25 5 ,20 


75 


Things To Do 25 20... 5 15 


65 


Kidstype 25 25 5 20 


75 


Mickey's Zoo 15 20 2 25 


62 


Game Set & Match ...20 15 5 15 


55 


Magic Maths 25 20 5 15 


65 


Fun School 3 25 25 8 25 


83 


Puzzle Book 1 20 .....25 8 . 20 


73 


Sesame Street 15 20 5 25 


65 


Play It Safe 25 20 5... 25 


...75 


Pick A Puzzle 15 20 5 25 


65 


1 


Hooray For Henrietta 20 20 5 20 


65 






J\ jmifw A And those of you with less than 
fllvPrflr 50/ 1 00 ton see me after class. 













ooooooooo 
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Donald's Alphabet Cose £24.99 

Mickey's Runaway Zoo £24.99 

by Wait Disney Computer Software 

500, 5th Eueao Vista St, 
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= 0101818 567 5360 
Distributed in UK by 
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Game Set And Match £20.39 



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AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 



PROGRAMMING 



Breaking the 
language barrier 



Which is the best programming 
language for you? Multi-lingual 
Cliff Ramshaw assembles an 
exhaustive survey to find out 




espife the profusion of 
languages available, you 
might be surprised to learn 
that Arnigas 'understand' 
only one: 68000 machine code. In 
fact, machine code is all that any 
computer understands, but the exact 
dialect depends on the particular 
central processing unit - that is, the 
chip in your computer that does the 
computing and controls oil the other 
chips, hence it being colled 'central'. 
Machine code is stored as a 



"What is binary? 

It alt goes back 

to the time of 

ancient Athens." 



series of consecutive numbers in the 
computer's memory. Memory chips, it 
should be borne in mind, are 
different from the processor, which 
fetches information from memory 
using an address system of 
numbers - one number per 
location in memory. 

A device called a memory 
bus handles interactions 
between the processor and 
memory. The bus transfers data 
to and from the memory 
according to the addresses that 
the processor specifies. 

The processor does have a 
certain amount of memory 
inside it, divided up into what 
are called registers. Some of 
these registers can be used by 
a machine cade program 
(there are 1 6 of these in the 
68000], and can be accessed 
much faster than ordinary 
memory as the processor 
doesn't have to use the memory 
bus. Other registers ore private 
to the processor. An example 



of this is the Program Counter (PC] 
register, which holds the memory 
address of the next instruction to be 
executed. Eh? Well, when o program 
is running, a number is read in, or 
'fetched', from the area of memory 
that the PC points to. Then the PC is 
moved on one, so that it now points 
to the next instruction in the machine 
code, and the number already 
fetched is executed as an instruction 
by the central processor. This done, 
the processor fetches the new 
instruction pointed to by the PC, and 
the whole thing is repeated. 



"Learning how to program can 
seem a daunting task to the novice. 
But once a few simple principles are 
understood, things fall easily into 
place. Having written a host of 
commercial programs, I can help 
you through the language barrier so 
you and your routines will be up 
and running in no time." 

Cliff Ramshow 



Balancing registers 

These instructions ore typically very 
simple, perhaps adding the contents 
of two registers together (and, of 
course, storing the result in one of the 
two registers) or putting a particular 
value held by a register into a 
specific area of memory. 

You can probably see that, as 
well as holding instructions for the 
processor to execute, memory is also 
used to hold the results of 

ffUlMUBS.b, 



calculations arrived at by the 
instructions. These results are termed 
'data'. As far as memory is 
concerned, there is absolutely no 
distinction between instructions and 
data. If the PC should point to an 
area of memory holding data rather 
than instructions, the processor would 
assume that it was dealing with a 
sequence of instructions and 
probably comeoffand hurt itself. 
Suffice to say, the results would 
certainly be unpredictable. 

And that, basically, is that. 
Advanced processors, such as the 
68000, have quite large instruction 
sets, including instructions that can 
carry out such clever things as 
multiplications and divisions. Even 
so, it is obvious that machine code 
works on a very simple level. To 
create a program of any complexity 
requires an awful lot of machine 
code instructions. 

Computers work exclusively with 

numbers. Not just any old 

Y"\ numbers, but binary 

£j numbers. Why 

d binary? 

What 




is binary? It all goes back to the time 
of ancient Athens. Aristotle 
developed a system of logic, 
whereby a statement (termed a 
'predicate') can be either true or 
false. For example, take the statement 
'it is raining'. Sometimes it is true, 
sometimes it is false. 

Much later this was developed 
into an algebra (simply a means of 
manipulating such statements) by 
George Boole, Called Boolean 
Algebra, it supplies a number of 
simple 'operators' that can be 
applied to logical predicates, again 
giving values that are either true or 
false. If we have two predicates - 'it 
is raining' : 'I am outside' - then the 
predicate T am getting wet' is true if, 
and only if, the first and the second 
predicate is true. 'And' is known as a 
logical operator. 

Logical/ Captain 

Two-state logic, as it is sometimes 
called, lends itself particularly well to 
electronics, where the value 'true' 
can be represented, say, by a signal 
of 5v, and 'false' by 0v. Logic circuits 
are built taking one or two input 
signals and supplying one output 
signal. So on AND logic gate will 
output a signal of 5v if both 
of its inputs are set to 5v; 
otherwise it will output Ov. In 
this way, very complex 
circuits can be built up, 
using nothing but the 
concepts of truth and falsity. 

Which is where binary 
comes in. In maths circles, 
the number system we 
normally use is termed 'base 
10' or 'denary', because we 
represent values between 
zero and nine with a single 
continued an page 86 



AMIGA SHOPPER* ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 



PROGRAMMING 



continued from page 85 

digit. Values over this require two 
digits, with the left of the two digits 
representing the number of 10s. This 
might sound obvious, but it doesn't 
actually stop there. It is possible to 
use systems with different number 
bases. Binary uses base rwo, 
meaning that a single digit can 
represent either a zero or a one. (A 
binary digit is colled a bit.) In the 
cose of a two-digit number, the left- 
most digit represents the number of 
twos in the value. For three digits, the 
left-most represents the number of 
fours (equivalent to 100s for a 
denary number), the middle 
represents the number of twos 
(equivalent to the 1 0s) and the right- 
most is the units - either one or zero. 
So the binary number 101 is 
equivalent to the denary number 5. 

A direct correspondence con be 
drawn between two-state logic and 
binary - a one can be used to 
represent truth, a zero for Falsity. 
Using a number of simple logic gates 
(the AND gate, Far example), circuits 
can be built to perform such Functions 
as addition or subtraction. Take this 
a stage or two further, and you have 
a central processing unit. For 
memory, all we need is a circuit that 
will always output either a 1 or a 
until an input signal comes along to 
tell it to change (either to a or a 1). 
Again, this can be accomplished 
using a small arrangement of logic 
gates. Memory is normally organised 
in groups of eight bits, known 
collectively as a byte, holding 
numbers between zero and 255 (the 
binary number 11111111 - that is, 
eight ones, or bits - equals the 
denary number 255). 

High numbers 

IF this is the case, how then can 
computers handle numbers greater 
than 255? Well, in the case of the 
68000, memory can be viewed in 
groups of 1 6 or 32 digits, as well as 
eight, giving rise to ranges of zero to 
65,536 and zero to 
4,294,967,296. Even so, what 
about decimal numbers and words? 
These are implemented through 
software. Alphabetical characters, 
among others, are represented by a 
code known as ASCII (American 
Standard Code for Information 
Interchange], by which each 
character has a corresponding 
number [in a range of to 255} that 
is translated when the text is 
displayed. Decimal numbers are 
represented in what is known as 
floating point Format, the specifics of 
which can vary depending on the 
system used. 

Obviously, writing machine code 
as a sequence of 1 s and 0s would 
be a real pain. For this reason, 
numbers are usually written in 
hexadecimal instead of binary. 



Hexadecimal is a number system 
using base 1 6, where eoch digit has 
□ value between and 15. To avoid 
confusion (or possibly to create it, 
depending on your point of view] 
digits above nine are represented by 
the letters A to F. So the hexadecimal 
number AF is equivalent to the 
denary number 1 75. 

In-the bad old days, people used 
to enter machine code in 
hexadecimal form. This is an 
extremely error-prone business. 
Nowadays, people use assemblers. 
With an assembler, instructions are 
entered in a text file as a series oF 
short words known as operators. 
Some of these operators are followed 
by operands - that which the 
operator operates on. Most operands 
are memory addresses, ie: □ number 



The number bases 



Denary 


Hexadecimal 


Binary 


O 








1 


1 


1 


2 


2 


10 


3 


3 


11 


4 


4 


100 


5 


5 


101 


6 


6 


110 


7 


7 


111 


8 


8 


1000 


9 


9 


1001 


10 


A 


1010 


11 


B 


1011 


12 


C 


1100 


13 


D 


1101 


14 


E 


1110 


15 


F 


1111 


16 


10 


10000 



corresponding to a particular 
memory location, as distinct from the 
value (or 'data'] actually held in that 
memory location. A typical instruction 
might be to take the contents of a 
location in memory and store it in a 
processor register, It might look 
something like this: 

MOVE.L My Screen, AO 

MOVE.L is the operator, or 
instruction; it moves data from one 
place to another. AO is one of the 
processor registers, MyScreen is an 
assembler label - another of the 
advantages assemblers give over 
programming in hexadecimal or 
binary. It means the same thing as a 
memory address, but is easier For us 
to understand. The memory address it I 
corresponds to must be defined as a 
number by the programmer at the 
beginning of the program. 

Once the program has been 
written (using an editor or possibly a 
word processor) the assembler goes 
through it line by line and converts it 
all into machine code instructions - 
numbers. With older assemblers, the 
resultant code, called 'object code', 



is incomplete at this stage - it still has 
to be 'linked' with any external 
routines or libraries that it might use. 
Object code is pretty much the same 
as machine code, but with certain 
gaps in it. These gaps occur 
whenever the compiled program uses 
parts of another program. 

Pick 'n mix 

In practice just about every program 
uses bits From other programs. Even 
the simplest operation, such as 
outputting characters to the screen, is 
done by calling a prewritten routine 
(a routine being a program, or part 
of a program, written to perform a 
specific task). This routine is left out 
when the user's program is compiled 
and has to be linked with it 
afterwards. For this, surprisingly 
enough, a linker is used, 

A linker joins together the various 
pieces of object code and sorts out 
all the references they make to each 
other that had been left as gaps at 
compilation time. The result is 
executable machine code. 

Even with an assembler, writing 
machine code can be more hassle 
than it is worth. Because the 
instruction set is small, the 
programmer must string a lot of 
instructions together to achieve the 
simplest effects. A really large 
program can be immensely difficult to 
write: not only does the programmer 
have to worry about the intricacies of 
where data is stored, etc, but he or 
she must also keep an overall view of 
the problem in mind. It is not difficult 
to make errors. Furthermore, if the 
program is required to run on a 
machine with a different processor, 
the whole lot has to be re-written. 

Various programming languages 
have been designed to help alleviate 
these difficulties. Languages such as 
Fortran, one of the First 'high-level' 
languages, allow the programmer to 
forget about the Fiddly details and 
concentrate on the overall structure of 
the program. The basic building 
blocks of o high-level language are 
usually composed of many low-level 
or machine-code concepts. An 
advantage of this is that, in theory at 
least, a Fortran program written on 
one machine should work on any 
machine supporting Fortran. 

Programs are written as text files, 
adhering to the particular language's 
rules of syntax (the 'form' of the 
program, as opposed to a program's 
semantics or 'meaning', which, of 
course, is decided by the 
programmer). These text files are 
completely unintelligible to the 
computer, which understands nothing 
but numbers. For this reason, some 
sort of translation is required. 

There are two established 
methods of translation: compilation 
and interpretation. Both have their 
advantages and, not surprisingly, 



both have their disadvantages. 

The simplest of the translation 
methods to use and understand is 
probably that of the interpreter. The 
classic interpreted language is Basic. 

An interpreter is a program in 
itself, a piece of machine code 
executed by the processor. It works 
on a program written as a text file 
and goes through it statement by 
statement, (A statement is simply an 
instruction in the language in 
question, but more powerful than a 
single machine code instruction.) The 
interpreter has a set of rules for what 
makes a valid statement, and checks 
each statement in turn against these. 
Assuming the statement is valid, the 
interpreter will then execute a piece 
of machine code corresponding to 
the 'meaning' of that statement. 
Typically, a single Basic statement is 
equivalent to a great many lines of 
machine code. 

Interpreted languages usually 
come with their own editors, so that 
typing in a program and executing it 
are straightforward operations. If the 
programmer wants to make an 
alteration, this can be done directly 
to the text and the program can be 
re-executed there and then. This 
makes interpreted languages 
excellent for beginners and for 
development work where a lot of 
program tweaking is necessary. 

Non comprend parse 

UnFortunately, a program written in 
such a language can only be used 
with the interpreter; it is meaningless 
by itself. An interpreter is a large 
program, since it must be able to 
deal with all of the possibilities as 
defined in the language, so a Basic 
program and a Basic interpreter 
together make up a large and mostly 
redundant piece of code. 

Furthermore, the program has to 
be re-translated every time it is 
executed, which slows if down 
considerably. For a simple Basic 
program like: 

10 PRINT "Hello World" 
20 GOTO 10 

The First line is interpreted and a 
piece of machine code is executed to 
output the characters 'Hello World' 
to the screen. Then the second line is 
interpreted, and the interpreter 
realises it has to jump to a line 
labelled '10'. It then has to search 
through the program (mercifully short 
in this case] to find the line labelled 
'10' and continue from there. By now 
it has completely forgotten what line 
1 meant, so it has to re-interpret if 
before it can perform the output 
again. Stopping the program and 
running it again would mean that the 
whole lot has to be translated once 
more. Clearly not an ideal situation. 

While on the subject of 
interpreters, it is probably as well to 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 t JUNE 1991 



PROGRAMMING 



mention scripts. Scripts are simply a 
collection of operating system 
commands contained in a File. This 
file is executed by typing EXECUTE 
filename, where filename is the name 
of the file containing the script. 
EXECUTE is itself an operating system 
command. Such commands are used 
from the CU or shell (a text-based 
method of interacting with the 
Amiga, as opposed to the graphic 
interface of the Workbench], Each 
time a command is typed, the 
operating system searches through 
the disk and if it can find a file with 
that name, it loads it and attempts to 
execute it. At the simplest level, a 



script saves typing the same 
sequence of commands over and 
over again. Once a script is 
executed, each of the commands it 
contains is executed in turn as if they 
had been typed at the keyboard. 
An example script might be: 

cd sys:mysource/c 
dir 

which would set the current directory 
to 'sys:mysource/c' and then give a 
listing of the files located there. 

Because AmigaDOS is a 
relatively sophisticated operating 
system, more impressive things can 
be accomplished. AmigaDOS scripts 



have a limited understanding of the 
idea of variables (places where 
values can be remembered and 
subsequently changed). 

Scripts can accept parameters (in 
much the same way that the 
command 'cd' in the above example 
took the parameter 
'sys;mysource/c'j. They also allow 
simple control structures to be 
created, giving the programmer the 
opportunity to control the flow of 
execution in a program in a similar 
manner to that of Basic or C. 

However, programs written in 
AmigaDOS are difficult to read, and 
because of the limited number of 



error messages AmigaDOS supplies, 

they can be murder to debug. 

Compile a pile 

Compilers, on the other hand, 
translate a program wholesale. Like 
interpreters, they work on programs 
in the form of text files (known as 
'source code') but they don't execute 
them. Instead, like assemblers, they 
produce object code which then must 
be linked to create an executable 
machine code file. 

Once a program has been 
compiled, it stays compiled. It can be 
run as many times as you like, 

continued on page 88 



BREAKDOWN OF AN ITERATIVE PROGRAM IN BASIC AND ASSEMBLER 



Comments 



Basic 



Assembler 



First define our variables; .T and '}' [or 45 and d6J ate 

the iteration counts, n \d7) is; the value of the factorial. In 
Basic, variables generally don't have to be declared 
unless you want to specify a particular size .and; type, In 
assembler, it's easiest to use the processor registers • if 
more variables ore needed, you have to start allocating 
memory -for fhem . a5. holds' the address of- the siring '. . ; 
where all the results are written before -output inlf» 
assembler version 






. DEFIMT l,j 
DSFLMG n ■ 



to 



* now do -'our factorials 



Set op the externa! loop using i os the count. Basic 
allows this to be done with the 'FOR:,. NEXT' construct - 
with assembler it has to be done stage by stage; 



OS i=l TO 



Set the answer to .1, initially 



Set up the internal loop using j os the count. 



n becomes equal to its old. value : multiplied by j 



end the internal loop 



EEEXT.'.jj 



print i and its factorial, n 



end Hie externa! loop 



The examples 

Each of the programs shown prints out a table of factorials for values between I and 8. ■ . 
After 8, the factor Eats begin to' get very big very quickly. ' 

Tablet: 

Factorial - the iterative way 

The idea here is to have two bops, one inside the other. The outer one' uses :-a variable m 
a counter, starting at one and having' one added 16 it 'each time the loop executes.: After; ■ 
the counter has exceeded eight, the loop finishes. The inner one is used to compute the . 
factorial for each of the Counter values given by the outer one. 

Baste 

Basic, standing for Beginners' All Purpose Symbolic instruction Code, was originally 
designed as a language to teach people to prog nam before they learn! enough- to go; on 
to bigger and better languages. It's largely because of the home computer boom thot 
Basic has survived as well as it has. Onihe way it has improved enormously and taken 
on many of the features of so-called better languages. 

AmigaSasic, along with most oiher variants, is interpreted, which means it is slow. 
Also it won't olfow recursion; The two biggest alternatives, H'iSaft Basic and GfA ftasrc. 



■#0,d5 



'#1,37 



rroveq. 

/adder, b 

move . b- 

addi.b 

;' HKJVe , b 



#i',d6 

n : ,m 
*p, ae 

do, Ia5 



increment i 
turn i- to 
ASCII and put 
in output;'. 



. IttUiU' 



n=n*] 



im. 
adclci.b 
bra ■' 



d5,d6 

done 

#l,d6 

■nextj 



does. t=j 
yes? finished 
no? 3=3+1 
do it again 



;B;: 



addouf put .37 (the 

; result) onto 
■; ■ output 



#8,d5 
■ nexti 



does i=a 
if not, go 
; back for 
'j next 



both will jcmd compilers ate aval table for bom). AMOS is another interpreted Basic, 
although a compiler is due in the near future, but currently it will not support recursion. 
■Btlfz Basic, :by; Memory And Storage technology, is a new addition to the scene, 
similar :"m many ways to AMOS, but compiled. Also available is Cursor (FF 347}, a 
public .domain compiler for AmigaSasic, but it wiH hot handle some of AmigaFJasic's 
mare advanced features, 

:■ ISre.chosen AmigaBasieto show theiterative method, since it is the one language 
that everybody has access to. 

Assembler 

A' recursive assembler solution could' have been written, but it would have just been a lot 
more difficult to do. Because the multiplication was done using the 68000 MULU 
instruction, which takes two 16bitn umbers : {te, with a maximum size of 65535), the 
.routine won't, work tor arguments bigger than nine. 

"Hie program was written and assembled with HiSoft's Devpcc 2, An alternative 
: package is; Argonaut Software's AraAsm package.'. 

■ The segments of the code needed to open and close ihe DOS library and to output 
■ the results held in dTate not included -they would .have trebled the length of the listing. 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1 991 



PROGRAMMING 



continued from page 87 

without ever having to be translated 
again. And whereas an interpreter 
carries with it code to handle every 
eventuality the language might throw 
up, compiled code is task specific. If 
the program never makes output to 
the screen, then the linker won't 
bother including the code to print to 
the screen. (This rather depends on 
the intelligence of the linker, 
however. Some of the older ones can 
be quite inefficient,] 

Although compilers produce 
machine code, this code tends to run 
slightly slower and takes up more 
memory than the equivalent program 
written directly in assembler. Such is 



the nature of compilers: they are 
programs designed to cater for all 
the language's possibilities. 
Programmers can spend all the time 
they like trying to find the best 
possible set of machine code 
instructions to perform a task. 
However, it is much easier to write a 
long program in a high-level 
language, and the speed 
disadvantage is negligible unless the 
program needs to be very fast. 

One of the main disadvantages 
of a compiler is the so-called 
development cycle. To create a 
program, the programmer first of all 
has to load an editor and type the 
statements in as text. Having done 



this, the whole lot must be saved as a 
text or source file. Then the compiler 
is loaded; and it sets to work 
producing an object file. After that, 
the linker has to be loaded and 
made to produce an executable file. 
This file is then loaded and executed. 
If the program has a mistake in it, the 
editor has to be loaded and the 
original source file checked through 
and modified. Then compilation and 
linking has to be done all over again. 
It con be an infuriating business. 

The best solution is to have both 
an interpreter ond a compiler for the 
same language. When a program is 
still being written and tested it can be 
done with an interpreter; once the 



programmer is hoppy with it he or 
she can compile and link it to create 
a finished product. 

In fact, not all compilers produce 
machine code. Some produce 
assembly language code which then 
has to be translated by an assembler 
into machine code. Others produce 
an intermediate code which is then 
executed by an interpreter. An 
example of this was the p-code 
created by early Pascal compilers. P- 
code is similar to machine code, but 
is not processor specific, so a small 
interpreter has to be present 
whenever the program is executed to 
make the line-by-line conversion into 
machine code. 



BREAKDOWN OF A TYPICAL RECURSIVE PROGRAM TO CONTRAST 





Comments 


c 




PASCAL 




Program titles - only required by Pascal and Modulo 2 






Program ' Factor ial ; 




include necessary libraries for input and output - in the 
case of Modula-2, these have to be linked in. 


:ftinc. 


.ude' <;stdio.h> 


{51 "cthl :pcct/lnclude/scrinql.ib.i*} '■ 




Definition of function to compute factorial, taking an 
integer j as a parameter. For AmigaDOS this must be 
saved as a file called 'factor'. 


fact ( i J 


1 .Kjn^tion Fact!j : Integer) : Integer ,- 




if j is. 1 , then return the answer 1 




■if ij==l) 

return ( 1 ) ,- 


if j = l then 

Fact:'=l. 




Otherwise, the answer returned is [ multiplied by the 
' factorial of (j - 1 j. In AmigaDOS, several temporary files 
have ta be used for recursion to take place. 




else 

return ( j * fact £ j - 1 1 ) ; 


else 

FacCts ( j*Fact ( j-1 j j ; 
[ artel ; 




■Main harness segment which loops between 1 and 8. 
for logo, it is defined as a function which must be called 
' with 'Factorial t'. The AmigaDOS version must be saved 
as a file colled 'factorial'. 


main£ ) 
r 




Declare E as an integer variable For our loop 




jnsi gned int i ; 


var i: integer; 
, begin 



Set up the'loop 






for i:=l to 8 ao begi 



print out i and the the factorial of i, by calling the 
function 'tact' with i as an argument 



L'.rj.nti £*%d 



•d\n" 



fact ( i i 



Write (i) ; 
Write C" "j; 
WriteLr. IFact ( 



End of the iterative loop. In both toga and AmigaDOS 
this is done by calling the main function again- with the 
count variable i as a parameter. 



end; 



and. 



Factorial - the recursive Way 

In this case we have two separate segments of code. The first Is a loop which counts from 
one to eight, as in the iterative examples. Each time through the loop, the second 
segment of code is called as a function. The function - in this cose the bit that actually 
computes the factorial - is executed and, once it has finished, it passes control back to 
the statement immediately following the one that called it. [The computer keeps a track of 
where each function is called from, so the factorial Function could be called several times 
from several different places in a large program, and control would always be returned 
ta the correct place on completion of the function.} 



C is almost certainly the most commonly used language on the Amiga, ft is a- compiled 
language and therefore pretty damn fast (probably the fastest next to assembler]. 

Because it allows easy access to the low-level facilities of the machine (as does 
assembler), but combines this with the structured elements of a high-level language, it is 



on excellent choice for interfacing with or, indeed, writing an operating system. 

The program above was written in SAS C 5.10. However, it should work equally 
welt with Manx's Aztec C. There is quite a large number of public domain compilers 
available far the Amiga, including North C (PDOM 211) and PDC (Fred Fish disk 351). 
See the shopping list on page 90 for a list of all the compilers, assemblers and 
interpreters mentioned in this article. 

Pascal 

Pascal, another complied language, was originally designed by Niklaus Wirth as a 
tutoring language. As with Basic, it achieved much more success than was expected, and 
has been enhanced by the many libraries written far it since its inception. Many 
commercial programs are written in Pascal. . 

The program was compiled with PDQ, the public domain Pascal compiler an Fred 
Fish disk 339. There are no commercial Pascal compilers available for the Amiga as yet, 
although HiSoft plan to release one. in the near future. 



88 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 •JUNE 1991 



PROGRAMMING 



Most languages you are likely to 
come across are what are known as 
procedural languages. Programs 
written in such a language carry out 
one procedure or activity after 
another in an ordered sequence 
determined by the programmer. 
However, there is another type of 
language - on the surface of it, 
completely different from the 
procedural variety - and that is the 
Functional language. 

Programs operate on data. They 
take data as input, do something with 
it and produce data as output. This is 
analogous to a mathematical 
function. For example, the multiply 
function takes two numbers as input 



and returns the product of these 
numbers as output. It gives a 
'mapping' between one set of 
numbers and another. Two numbers 
in one set always yield the same 
number in the second set. 

Def your func thong 

Functional programs are made up of, 
surprisingly enough, function 
definitions. Low-level functions, such 
as multiplication, addition and so on, 
are predefined in the language. 
Other functions can be created by 
combining these together; 
combination of the resulting functions 
can create even more powerful 
functions. The net result is one top- 



level function. When called with 
some input data, this Function will 
return the required output. No 
ordering is specified by the 
programmer; there are no possible 
operations other than function 
definitions. 

One of the advantages of 
programming in this way is that 
functions are amenable to 
mathematical reasoning. It is possible 
to look at a program and prove that 
it will give a certain output for a 
certain input. It is common 
knowledge that there is no such thing 
as an error-free program, and finding 
all the errors in a procedural 
program is largely af matter of trial 



and error (as it were). 
Functional languages are nearly all 
interpreted. They are still almost 
exclusively the preserve of the 
academics. The most common 
functional language is Lisp (from List 
Processing, a list being a method of 
storing data], which is used for 
research into artificial intelligence. 

Looked at from another way, one 
program is pretty much the same as 
another. You would expect a 
program to multiply two numbers 
together to give the same output for 
the same input whether written in C, 
assembly language or Lisp, All 
programs can be viewed as 

continued mi page 90 



THE WAYS IN WHICH IT IS EXPRESSED IN VARIOUS LANGUAGES 



MkODULA 2 



Logo 



Dos 



MODULE factorial; 



FROM XnOut IMPORT 

Wr i t eCar &> Wr it eLn , Wr i t eS t r irsg ; 



?R0CE; 



act!i: CARDINAL) ; CARDINAL; 



TO Fac 



IF (jal] THEN 






RETURN tj*fact(j~l)! ; 



OUTPUT <:j*Fact : j-l) 



2C; 



END fact ( 



ENI 



TO Factoric 




if val »-{j};" EQ "1»- 

echo "(result) ' 



else. 

eval {j}-l to t:j ifcrmat 

eval (result }*J{j}-l) to t:£act 
lformat.".k i*il,bra <*n.ket ) *nEX£CUTE 
«t:j Mill: factor result=%n ?*n» 

execute f: fact 
end if 



.key i 
.bra { 
.ket. } 



~SRDIt$&,; 



BBGIM 



FOR i;=l TO 8 DO 



feit«Cardii,'l) ; ■ 
WrireStiingf * 
WricaCard ( fact ( i) , 
5'i'riteLnU ; 



PRIK 



Fact :i] 



END; 



EKD 



Modula-2 

This tithe successor to Pascal, written by the same person, but with many of the features 
that C oFfers. It is a compiled language. Programs in Modula-2 are written as a collection 
of modules which may be compiled and tested separately, according to the design 
philosophy of breaking problems into small, manageable segments. 

C also allows this approach, but in Modula-2 the permissible interactions between 
modules may be defined very closely by the programmer, so the compiler con easily spot 
the erroneous use of any particular module. 

The compiler used was ' A+L's M2 Amiga. Modula-2, a public domain compiler, is 
also available on PDOM cjO. 



Logo is an unusual one. Most of its commands are concerned with moving an imaginary 
turtle around the screen and letting it leave a trail behind it, the idea being that young 
children can learn programming by seeing immediate graphical results from the 



Factorial ;;.-" 



Jef i '1 



echo "'{i}: " noline 
execute factor {i} 
echo >env:tmp{$$} {i} 



eval >nil: <env:tiap{$$) to=env:i{$$j 

valae2kL op=+ ? 

if .val $i{$$> not G" 8 

execute <env : i { $$ } >nd 1 : 
factorial ? 
endif 



programs they write. Although interpreted, it allows recursion and the creation of 
sophisticated functions by the inclusion of smaller, simpler ones. 

Despite its humble aims, it is stil! powerful enough to handle our Factorial function. 
It is not recommended for speed intensive applications, however! 

The version used was Afogo, a public domain interpreter available on APDC 25. 

AmtgaDOS 1.3 

Just to show it-can be done, here is a version of factorial written in AmigaDOS script 
language. The two sections have fo be written and saved separately; the controlling 
program as 'factorial', the program that actually computes the factorial as 'Factor' 

Note that the controlling program uses recursion to implement an iterative loop. 
Normally this wouldn't be necessary, but there seems fa be a bug when skipping back to 
a label if another script has been executed in the meantime. 

Recursion is one way around this, bul unfortunately, the code is not exactly easy to 
read, and it runs very, very slowly. 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 »JUNE 1991 



89 



PROGRAMMING 



continued from page 89 

functions; as black boxes (of which 
the insides are unimportant) that give 
certain outputs for certain inputs. So 
what is the difference between each 
of the languages? Some are 
designed with certain tasks in mind, 
so those particular tasks are simpler 
to perform in such languages. For 
instance, Basic is designed to allow 
string handling (a string is a list of 
characters - a word, For example, is 
a string of letters] and so has specific 
commands to create strings, add 
them together, remove chunks From 
them, and so on. Modula-2, on the 
other hand, has none of these 
facilities as standard; they can either 
be called from a Modula-2 library or 
written by the programmer using 
simpler elements of the language. 

Sometimes, a language will be 
particularly specialised towards a 
certain task, such as Lisp towards 



Languages - a quick guide: 

• AmigaDOS - best used for 
those simple utilities that make 
a programmer's life easier. 

• Assembler - can be used for 
anything, but is only used for 
large programs if speed and 
compactness are important. 

• Basic - primarily for 
beginners, but can be used for 
text and numerical processing. 
It's good for simple games too. 

• C - ideal for accessing low- 
level system functions, writing 
operating systems and games. 
Almost as fast as assembler. 

• Logo - a graphics-oriented 
educational language, best 
used for producing fractal and . 
spirograph-style drawings. 

• Modula 2 - an educational 
language. Reasonably fast. 

• Pascal - predecessor to 
Modula-2. Similar capabilities. 

Other languages available in 
the public domain include: 

• Forth (APDC 25) - a low-level 
language used for systems 
programming. 

• Lisp (FF 1 8 1 } - a functional 
language used for artificial 
intelligence applications 

• Prolog (FF 140+141) - used 
for expressing logical 
formulations and artificial 
intelligence research. 

• Smalltalk (FF 37) - a slow 
general purpose language 
based on the idea that data, 
rather than, program t ,. t . . ^ 
statements; are the important 
objects in a program. 



artificial intelligence. Although any 
Lisp program could be re-written in 
assembly language, it would not be 
sensible to do so if the program was 
of any length. 

Certain applications demand 
certain languages. In the factorial 
comparison tables on pages 87 to 
89, you will see several versions of 
the classic factorial program, each 
written in a different language, 
pointing out syntactical differences. 

Factorial is a mathematical 
function much used in statistics. The 
factorial of a number n is written as 
nl, and is defined as: 

n! = r.*(n-l)*(n-2)*(n-j) *3*2*1 

which is to say that the factorial of a 
number is the result of multiplying all 
numbers together between one and 
the number in question. Defined as 
such, it is only applicable to positive 



BUYS 



A compiler is a program which 
takes another program as its 
input. Is this program a program 
or is it data? If the compiler is 
written in a high-level language, 
and made to compile itself, is the 
compiler a program or data? 

» 8t BOBS 

whole numbers. 
There are two quite different 
approaches to produce a factorial 
program. The first, known as an 
'iterative' method, can be done in 
any language. It is called 'iterative' 
because the program goes through a 
series of iterations before the result is 
produced. Three variables are 
required to do this. Variables are 
rather like the letters used in algebra; 
they are words (or single characters) 
that represent numbers. Whenever 
such a word is seen within a 
program, it is understood to be 
referring to the number that it 
represents. 

In Basic, a value is assigned to 
the variable 'Fred' by typing: 



Fred 



10 



Then if the statement 'PRINT Fred' is 
typed, the number '10' will be 
output. Variable names can be 
substituted for numbers in 
mathematical expressions, so that 
typing 'PRINT 12+Fred-4' would 
output the result '1 8', 

In the case of the factorial 
program, the first variable we need 
has to hold the value of the number 
whose factorial we want to find. 
We'll call this variable 'I', 

We also need a variable that will 
hold the result of the program. This 



variable, n, has an initial value of 1 . 
We want to multiply n by every 

number between 1 and i, according 
to the definition of factorial. To do 
this we use a third variable, j. This 
begins with a value of 1 . We 
multiply n by j, then increase j by one 
and repeat the process. This goes on 
until j exceeds the value of i, by 
which time n holds the factorial of i. 

The second method uses a 
technique called 'recursion'. A 
recursive function, put simply, is one 
that makes reference to itself in its 
definition. With the factorial, the 
function definition is: 

The factorial of a number n = n * 
the factorial of (n-1) 

n is known as the parameter of the 
function. Substituting 4 for n and 
working through this, it expands to: 

The factorial of 4=4*3*2*1* 
* -1 

What we actually we want is the 
factorial of 4 = 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 . To do 
this we have to modify our definition 
by including a 'base case'. This is a 
termination point, a part of the 
definition which does not make 
reference to itself. What we want is: 

The factorial of n = 

1, if n is 1 

n * the factorial of (ri- 
ll , otherwise. 

If you imagine the computer working 
through this, with n=4, it will try and 
multiply 4 and factorial of 3 together. 
This means that the factorial function 
has to be called once more, but with 
n=3. And so on until n-1, at which 
point the function actually produces a 
result. Then the function that called 
this bottom-level function can also 
produce a result, and the function 
that called that one, and so on. 
Eventually, the function called with 
n=4 returns the final result. Each time 
the function is called, the variable n 
refers to a separate value from that 
which it referred to in the calling 
function. The variable is known as a 
'value' parameter. This is because, 
when the function is called with a 
variable as an argument, this 
variable's value is copied into the 
parameter n. But although n and the 
argument have the same value, they 
are not the same variable. If n is 
modified within the function, this will 
not effect the value of the variable 
used as an argument. Not ail 
languages allow the use of value 
parameters, so not all languages 
allow recursion. 

Finally 

Hopefully you now have a better 
idea of which programming 
language would suit you. Next month 
I'll be testing each of the compilers 
available to see which produces the 
fastest, most compact code. > H 



ooooooooo 

Shopping List 

Bask 

HiSoft Bask (compiler) £49.95 

from HiSoft 

The Old School, Greenfield 
Bedford, MK45 5DE 
-=■ 525 718181 

GFA Bask (interpreter) £50 

from Gf A Data Media 

(compiler, interpreter required £30) 

Box 121, Woklnghom 
Berkshire. RGl 1 1 FA 
a 0734 794941 

AMOS [interpreter) £49.99 

from Mandarin Software 
Freepost, Eilesmere Port 
South Wirral, L65 3EB 
a 051 3571275 

Bliti Bask [compiler) £69.99 

from Siren Software 
84-86 Princess Street 
Manchester, Ml 6WG 
a 061 228 1831 

Cursor [ff 347) [compiler) £3 

from (among others) 

Public Do mi not or 

PO Box 801, Bishop's Stanford 

Herts, CM233TZ 

"0279757692 

Assembler 

Devpart £59.95 

from HiSoft 

AtgAsm £59.95 

from Argonaut Software 
66b The Broadway, Mill Hill 
London, NW73TF 
« 081 906 4253 

c 

545 C 5.1 £229 

from HiSoft 

Manx's Alter ( Professional ..,£129.95 

from Precision Software 

Developer's £229.95 

6 Park Terrace, Worcester Park 
Surrey, KT4 7JZ 
* 081 330 714 

MwriC{FD0M211) .£3 

from Public Dominator 

PDC(FF351) .£3 

from Public Dominator 

Pascal 

PCfl(FF339) £3 

from Public Dominator 

Modula-2 

A+t'smAmiga £125 

from Real Time Associates 

Conning House 

59 Canning Road, Croydon 

Surrey, CR0 6QF 

b fill 656 7333 

Modula-2 [PD0M 60) £3 

from Public Dominator 

Logo 

JlloplAPDCZS] £3 

from Public Dominator 




AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 



ASSEMBLER 



PROGRAMMING 



Vector Check 

In last month's Amiga Shopper Jolyon Ralph gave you the first half of 
fits VectorCheck program. As promised, here is the rest of the code 
that you v/ill need to complete the program and get it up and running 



STRUCTURES 



These are the complete structures 


for EXECBASE, GFXBASE and 


INTUITIONBASE. VectorCheck 


reports on a selection of these 


system variables, there's nothing 


to stop you enhancing the 


program to report on the others. 


Execbase 




BYTE NAME 


TYPE 


LibNode 


Structure 


34 SoftVer 


UWORD 


36 LowMemChkSurrt WORD 


38 ChkBase 


ULONG 


42 ColdCapture 


APTR 


46 CoolCapture 


APTR 


50 WarmCapfure 


APTR 


54 SysStkUpper 


APTR 


58 SysStk Lower 


APTR 


62 MaxLacMem 


ULONG 


66 Debug Entry 


APTR 


70 DebugData 


APTR 


74 AlertData 


APTR 


78 MaxExtMem 


APTR 


82 ChkSum 


WORD 


84 IntVects 


Structure 


276 ThisTask 


APTR 


280 IdleCount 


ULONG 


284 DispCount 


ULONG 


288 Quantum 


UWORD 


290 Elapsed 


UWORD 


292 SysFlags 


UWORD 


300 ResModules 


APTR 


304 TaskTrapCode 


APTR 


308 TaskExceptCode 


APTR 


312 TaskExitCode 


APTR 


316 TaskSlgnalAlloc 


ULONG 


320 TaskTrapAltoc 


UWORD 


322 MemList 


Structure 


336 ResourceList 


Structure 


350 DevkeList 


Structure 


364 intrList 


Structure 


378 LibList 


Structure 


392 PortList 


Structure 


406 TaskReady 


Structure 


420 TaskWait 


Structure 



continued on page 92 



This month I'll start by 
explaining what VectorCheck 
does, and how useful it is. 
Basically it is a program that 
keeps track of a lot of the Amiga's 
important internal system addresses, 
things that most of the time you 
would never have to touch. It can tell 
you some interesting things about the 
way your system is set up. 

For example, VectorCheck gives 
you the current address of Four 
important system libraries. You will 
Find that these addresses vary from 
machine to machine, and even on 
the same machine they will 
sometimes be in different places, 
depending on what software you 
have run. 

Moving experience 

This demonstrates the most important 
aspect of programming on the Amiga 
- something most people who come 
to the Amiga from another home 
computer don't realise - that hardly 
anything in memory is at a fixed 
location. Things tend to move about 
all over the place. 

For example, on your machine 
the Exec library location will 
probably be either $676 or 
$c00676. On my Amiga 3000 it is 
at $7c007cc, though if I boot up 
again it might be somewhere else. 

It's very easy to think that just 
because your machine always comes 
up with one value, that it's the only 
value For all machines. The Amiga 
doesn't work that way. You have to 
assume that everything can (and very 
likely will) change. The only 
exception to this is EXECBASE, which 
we talked about last week - a pointer 
to EXECBASE is always stored at 
location $00000004. 

Last month I talked briefly about 
the structure of a library. It consists of 
a table of J MP $xxxxxx commands 
extending backwards in memory 
from the library base address. As I 
mentioned in that article, there is also 
code after the base address in 
memory. It's important to remember 
that the library's so-called base 
address actually points to somewhere 
in the middle of the library structure 
in memory. 

The rest of the code and data 
that sits in the library is made up of 



two components. First, libraries 
loaded from disk (info. library, 

diskfont. library, for example) have 
the code for the actual library 



// 



Hardly anything in 
memory is at a 
fixed location. 
Things move all 
over the place" 



routines following in memory. ROM- 
based libraries don't; the routines for 
these are stored in ROM. 

The data that immediately follows 
the library base address is called the 
library base structure. This contains 



all sorts of useful information that the 
library can tell you, and that you can' 
tell the library in return. 

The most important of these is the 
EXECBASE structure. It is 588 bytes 
long and consists of lots of system 
variables. It can tell you what 
processor your program is running 
on, whether it is a PAL or a NTSC 
machine, what tasks are running, 
and plenty of other useful things. 

My VectorCheck program 
displays some of the following values 
for you: ColdCapture, CoolCapture, 
WarmCapture: these are all usually 
set to zero. They are addresses for 
programs that are run only when the 
Amiga has been reset. Some 
recoverable RAM disks will use these, 
but it's also the favourite hiding place 
of viruses. 

A virus. killer will usually only 
check memory for certain types of 

continued cm page H 



JARGON BUSTING 

APTR: Amiga PoinTeR, a 32 bit address pointing to something in memory. 



BIT: 



A binary digit, with a possible value of zero or one. 



COPPER LIST: A series of instructions (i.e. a program) for the Amiga's display 

co-processor. This is responsible for performing all the clever changes 
that allow {for example) the top of the display to be in la-res and the 
bottom to be in med-res, both with different sets of colours. 

INCLUDE FILES: supplied by Commodore, provide all the offsets needed to access 

system library routines, and the formats for all system structures. 

NTSC: National Television Systems Committee, the North American television and 

video standard. 

PAL Phase Alternate Linescan, the television and video standard used in the 

UK and most of Europe. 

SIGNED/UNSIGNED: Normally, binary numbers are treated as always positive 

(unsigned). If negative numbers are required, then a system known as 
'two's-complement' is used, whereby the most significant bit is set to zero 
if the number is positive, one if it is negative. The value of such a negative 
number tan be found by subtracting from it the number one greater than 
the maximum possible for the given number of bits* So for eight-bit two's- 
complement, 255 represents the number minus one (found by subtracting 
256 from 255). 

STRUCTURE: A collection of longwards, words, pointers, bytes and/or other 
Structures defined in a particular order in the include files. 

TASK: A program running in memory. Under multi-tasking, each task appears to 

have its own 68000 processor, without having to worry much about other 
tasks interrupting it. 

UBYTE: An unsigned byte, consisting of eight bits, capable of holding a value 
between Oand 255. 

ULONG: An unsigned longword, consisting of 32 bits, capable of holding a value 
between and 4294967296. 

UWORD: An unsigned ward, consisting of 16 bits, capable of holding a value 
between and 65536. 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 



ASSEMBLE 



PROGRAMMING 



continued (ram page 91 

virus, but if you make sure that these 
three vectors and the KickMemPtr and 
KickTagPtr are all clear, you are safe 
from almost every virus threat. 
Note that the VectorCheck 
automatically updates every second. If 
you think a program of yours might 
contain a virus, run VectorCheck, 
check the values, run the program that 
you think might by dodgy, and look at 
the VectorCheck screen. If these values 
have altered, then you've probably 
got yourself a virus. 

Structures & stuff 

And now, here are some explanations 
of information to be found after the 
base addresses of the three common 
libraries listed in the Structures column, 
starting on page 91. 
SysStkUpper,SysStk Lower: 
This shows whereabouts in memory 
the system stack is. Fiddle with these 
at your peril! 
MaxLocMem: 

Gives the size of chip memory In your 
system. This will either be $80000 for 
5 1 2k chip machi nes, $ 1 00000 for 
1Mb chip machines, or $200000 for 
machines with 2Mb chip memory 
[only the Amiga 3000 at the moment). 
MaxExtMem: 

Points to the end of extended memory 
(slow memory). This is the memory 
which lives outside the Amiga's 8Mb 
fast memory map ($200000 to 
$9fffff). It's called slow memory 
because it doesn't have any of the 
speed advantages of fast memory, but 
it isn't chip memory because the 
custom chips can't access it. The 
memory in the A501 5 12k card for 
the Amiga is slow memory, as are 
most of the 1 .5Mb cards for the 
A500 MaxExtMem will be set to $0 if 
you have no slow memory, to 
$c80000 for most people with an 
A501 , and possibly to $d00000 or 
$d80000 if you have a trap-door card 
with more than 5 1 2k on it. 
Debug Entry: 

This is a pointer to the built-in 
debugger in the ROM, called 
ROMWack. When the machine 
crashes you have an option to run the 
built-in debugger rather than Guruing. 
Most people don't know this, but if 
you press the right mouse button 
instead of the left button when the 
Amiga crashes, the debugger is 
automatically loaded. 

The downside of this is you need 
another computer, or terminal, 
connected to your serial port to use it, 
but by altering the DebugEntry value 
you can set your own debugger to be 
used instead. Most other debuggers 
use the serial port as well, but a friend 
of mine is writing a monitor that 
displays everything on the Amiga. 

Sometimes you can recover from a 
guru very easily using o debugger and 
return to multi-tasking. 



The other libraries have base 

structures too, and I've also given 

some information from the Graphics 

library and the Intuition library. 

AetiveView: 

Displays a pointer to the current active 

view. A view is a structure that 

contains information about the current 

display. Intuition has its own view, 

and all screens and windows are 

displayed an the same view. Some 

programs bypass Intuition and create 

their own view. 

Coplnit, Long Frame, Short Frame: 

These are the pointers to three system 

copper lists. The first is the small initial 

copper list that jumps to either the 

LongFrame or the ShortFrame list. The 

ShortFrame list is only used when there 

are interlaced screens being 

displayed, at which time the 

LongFrame and ShortFrame lists are 

called alternately. 

BlitOwner; 

Points to the task that has control of 

the blitter. If you want to use the blitter 

directly, you must use the OwnBlitj) 

and DisownBlitj) commands to make 

sure no one else is trying to use the 

blitter at the same time. This tells you 

exactly which task is currently owning 

the blitter. Most of the time it should 

be zero. 

Acti veWi ndow: 

Tells you which window is currently 

active, if you had not already 

guessed. All input is directed to the 

IDCMP connected to this window, 

ActiveScreen: 

Tells you the screen containing the 

active window. 

FirstScreen: 

Tells you the address of the top screen 

in the Intuition view. If you want to 

check to see if your screen is at the 

front, this is where you look. 

Copper lists 

Finally, as I promised last month, a bit 
on user copper lists. If you read the 
Hardware Reference Manual, it 
explains how to set up copper lists by 
direct register poking. If you read the 
ROM Kernel Reference Manual it 
explains briefly about setting up o user 
copper list structure, but not very well. 
The example code given in the book is 
wrong, and it's only relevant for C 
because it uses macros which are not 
available in assembler. All the 
commands below are found in the 
Graphics library. 

To set up o user copper list you 
first have to allocate some memory for 
a UCopList structure. (It doesn't need 
to be chip.) Once you've done this, 
you have to call the (undocumented) 
UCopperListlnit command. The format 
for this command is: 

UCopperListlnit ( UCopl i st , 
' NumberCommands ) 



continued from page 91 




154 


SpriteReserved 


BYTE 


434 SofHnts 


Structure 


155 


bytereserved 


BYTE 


514 Last Alert 


Structure 


156 


Flags 


WORD 


530 VBIankFrequency 


158 


BlitLock 


WORD 




UBYTE 


160 


BlitNest 


WORD 


531 Power Supply Frequency 


162 


BlitWaitO 


Structure 




UBYTE 


184 


BlitOwner 


APTR 


532 SemaphoreList 


Structure 


188 


TOFWaitQ 


Structure 


546 KickMemPtr 


APTR 


210 


DisplayFlags 


WORD 


550 KickTagPtr 


APTR 


212 


SimpleSprites 


APTR 


554 KickCheckSum 


APTR 


216 


MaxDisplayRow 


558 ExecBaseReserved 






WORD 




Structure 


218 


MaxDisplayColumn 


568 ExecBaseNew Reserved 






WORD 




Structure 


220 


NormalDisp lay Rows 










WORD 


Gfxbase 




222 


Norma ID isp layCol u mns 


BYTE NAME 


TYPE 






WORD 


LibNode 


Structure 


224 


NormalDPMX 


WORD 


32 AetfView 


APTR 


226 


NormalDPMY 


WORD 


36 copinit 
40 cia 


APTR 
APTR 


228 


LasfChanceMemory 
APTR 


44 blitter 


APTR 


232 


LCMptr 


APTR 


48 LOFlist 


APTR 


236 


MicrosPerLine 


WORD 


52 SHFlist 


APTR 


238 


MinDispl ay Column 


56 blthd 


APTR 






WORD 


60 blttl 


APTR 


240 


reserved 


Structure 


64 bsblthd 


APTR 


Intuitionbase 




68 bsblttl 


APTR 


BYTE NAME 


TYPE 


72 vbsrv 


Structure 








■ 







LibNode 


Structure 


94 timsrv 


Structure 








106 bltsrv 


Structure 


32 


ViewLord 


Structure 


128 TexrFonts 


Structure 


50 


ActiveWindow 


APTR 


142 DefaultFont 


APTR 


54 


ActiveScreen 


APTR 


146 Modes 


UWORD 


58 


FirstScreen 


APTR 


148 VBIank 


Byte 


62 


Flags 


ULONG 


149 Debug 


f 

Byte 


66 


MouseY 


WORD 


1 50 BeamSync 


UWORD 


68 


MouseX 


WORD 


1 52 system bplconO 


WORD 


70 


Seconds 


ULONG 






74 


Micros 


ULONG 



commands you will need. Remember 
that each MOVE and WAIT you issue 
are one command each. CBump is not 
a copper command, so it doesn't 
count. 

Once this is done you can add 
your copper commands by the 
following: 

CMove (UCopList , Register , 
Value) 



-372 Al 



DO. Dl 



DO is the hardware register to poke 
(the full address, $dffl80 for 
example), Dl is the word length value 
to poke into it ($0000 for example). 

CWait {UCopList, Y , X) 
-378 Al DO Dl 



-594 A0 DO 

■ This will add a WAIT instruction to 
It's safe to over-estimate the number of I your copper list. 



CBump [UCopList } 
'-366 Al 

You MUST issue a CBump command 
after each CWait and CMove 
command. This moves the copper 
pointer along, otherwise each new 
command would end up overwriting 
the last one. 

Once you have finished adding 
commands, you must do a CWait for 
an impossible position (10000,255 is 
the standard wait) which will tell the 
copper list where to end. 

After that you must disable multi- 
tasking with Forbidfl and set the 
vpJJCoplns pointer in your Viewport 
structure to point to your UCopList. 
Then enable multi-tasking with Permit]), 
call the Intuition RethinkDisploy]), and 
your copper list should be running. 
Now go to page 97 for the 
second part of VectorCheck. CD 



92 



AMIGA SHOPPER* ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 



EDUCATIONAL 



Answer Back Junior .£13.99 

Answer Back Senior £13.99 

Better Maths (12-16).... £16.99 

Better Spelling (8-14) E16.99 

Dinosaur Discovery Kit £16.99 

Discover Chemistry £13.99 

Discover Maths £13,99 

Discover Numbers £13.99 

Discover the Alphabet £13.99 

Discovery Maths £14.99 

Discovery Spelling £14,99 

Donald's Alphabet Chase £13.99 

First Letters & Words £16.99 

First Shapes £16.99 

French Mistress £13.99 

Fun School 2 (under 6) £13.99 

Fun School 2 (6-8) £13.99 

Fun School 2 (8+) ..£13.99 

Fun School 3 (under 5). £16.99 

Fun School 3 (5-7) £16.99 

Fun School 3 (7+) £16,99 

German Master £13.99 

Goofy' 5 Railway Express £13,99 

Hooray/Henrietta £16.99 

Italian Tutor £13.99 

Junior Typist (5-10) .£12.99 

Kid Talk .,.£16.99 

Lets Spell At Home £14.99 

Lets Spell At Shops £14.99 

Magic Maths (4-8} £16.99 

Math Talk £16.99 

Maths Mania (8-12) £16.99 

Mickey's Crossword Maker £13.99 

Mickey's Runaway Zoo £13.99 

My Paint , £22.99 

Postman Pat £6.99 

Prof. Looks at Words £16.99 

Prof. Makes Sentences £16.99 

Prot. Plays a new Game £19.99 

Puzzle Book Vol 1 £14.99 

Puzzle Story Book £16.99 

Rhyming Notebook £16.99 

Spanish Tutor £13.99 

Spellbook (4-9) , , £14.99 

The 3 Bears £16.99 

Things to do with Numbers £14.99 

Things to do with Words ....£14.99 



• EASTER SPECIALS • EASTER SPECIALS • 



CUM AN A 

EXTERNAL DRIVE 

+ 10 DISKS 

ONLY £66.99 




1(2 MEG UPGRADE 

£29.99 
12 MEG + CLOCK 

£32,99 




DISNEY 

ANIMATION 

STUDIO 1 MEG REC, 

ONLY £79.99 




STAR LC-200 

PRINTER 
ONLY £219.99 




GENGiS KHAN 
ONLY £22.99 




PHILIPS 3833 

MONITOR 
ONLY £269.99 




PHOTON VIDEO 

CEL ANIMATOR 

1 MEG ONLY £34.99 




DISK BOXES 
40 LOCK ABLE £5.99 
80 LOCKABLE £7.99 








JOYSTICK 

PYTHON TURBO 3 

ONLY £7.99 




TOPSTAR 
JOYSTICK 
ONLY £19.99 



NAKSHA MOUSE 

NEW LOW PRICE 

£19.99 




1.5 MEG UPGRADE* 

CLOCK 

ONLY EB4.99 








STAR LC 24-200 

COLOUR PRINTER 

ONLY £289.99 




LEMMINGS 
ONLY £16.99 








BULK DISKS 

10 -£6.99 

20 - £9,99 

50 - £24.99 

100 - £39.99 




BUBBLE BOBBLE 
THE ALL TIME CLAS- 
SIC ONLY £14.99 




COMMODORE A590 

HARD DRIVE 

£279.99 




14" MONITOR 

STAND 
ONLY £12.99 




PRO 5000 

ARCADE JOYSTICK 

ONLY £11.99 




JETFIGHTER 
JOYSTICK 
ONLY £12.99 



This Is a small selection of the software and accessories we carry. For 

further details please phone for a catalogue or see our 

advertisement in Amiga Format. 



POWERPACK - ONLY £17.99 

Xenon 2. Bloodwych. TV Sports Football, 

Lombard Rally 



AMERICAN DREAMS ONLY E6.99 

Bubble Ghost. Operation Neptune, Hostages, 

Super Ski 



SOCCER MANIA ONLY E9.99 

Football Manager 2. Microprosc Soccer. . Gazzas 

Soccer, Football Manager World Cup Edilion 



FUTURE DREAMS - ONLY £6.99 

Warlocks Quest, G-Nius, Spidertronic, 

Purple Saturn Day 



WHEELS OF FIRE -ONLY £1 4.99 

Chase HQ, Turbo Outrun, 
Pcwerdrift, Hard Drivin' 



EUROPEAN DREAMS ONLY E6.99 
Slir Crazy - Bobo, Teenage Queen, Action 

Service, Billiards Sim 



PLATINUM COLLECT EON - ONLY £17.99 

Ghouls N Ghosts, Strider, 

Forgotten Worlds. Black Tiger 



SUPER QUINTET - ONLY £6.99 

Hostages, Bubble Ghost, Warlocks Quest, 

Passengers on trie Wind 1 & 2 



UTILITIES 



Aegis SoRix £14.99 

A.M.A.S £79.95 

A.M.O.S £32.99 

Animation Studio £79.99 

Can Do £69.99 

Comic Setter £39.99 

Deluxe Music Const. Kit £49,99 

Deluxe Paint 3 £59.99 

Deluxe Print 2 £34.99 

Deluxe Video 3 £59.99 

Devpac2.... £44.99 

Digicalc £27.99 

Digi Paint 3 , £59.99 

DigiviewGold £119.99 

Hisoft Basic £59.99 

Home Accounts £22.99 

Kindwords £37.99 

Lattice C V5 £169.99 

Mastersound.... £32.99 

Mavis Beacons Typing £19.99 

Movie Setter .......£39.99 

Musix X 1.1 Version £89.99 

Music X Junior £49.99 

Pagesetter2 £49.99 

Pagestream £99.99 

Pen Pal £99.99 

Photon Paint 2 £14,99 

Photon Video £34.99 

Prodata £59.99 

Professional Page V2.00...... .£149.99 

Protext Ver. 5 £109.99 

Pro Write 3.0 £109.99 

Quartet £34.99 

Sculpt 4D £399.99 

Sound Express £34.99 

Superbase Personal 2 £29.99 

Superbase Professional £149,99 

Superplan £79.95 

Transwrite ..£59.99 

Virus Killer £8.99 

WordPerfect..., £179.99 



SCREEN GEMS TURBO PACK 1 

Featuring: A500, P.S.U., modulator, mouse, Nightbreed, 

Days of Thunder, Back to the Future, Deluxe Paint 2. 

Shadow of Beast 2, plus Powerpach compilation, 10 

blank disks + labels, mouse mat, dust cover, 40 lockable 

disk box, disk cleaning kit, Microblaster microswitched 

joystick. 

All for only £399.99 

Inc. VAT & courier delivery 



AMIGA A1500 MEGA PACK 

Featuring: 1 Meg of memory, 2 3.5" disk drives, 8 expan- 
sion slots, compatibility with all Amiga A200O peripherals, 
keyboard, mouse, 1084S colour monitor, plus the com- 
plete software package to get started incl. The Works: 
Fully integrated word processor, spreadhseet and 
database, Deluxe Paint 3, Their Finest Hour, Populous + 
Promised Lands, Sim City + Terrain Editor, Battlechess 
and Microblaster microswitched joystick. 
Unbeatable value @ £999.99 
inc. VAT & courier delivery 



SCREEN GEMS TURBO PACK 2 

Featuring everything in Turbo Pack 1 PLUS the 
official Commodore 1/2 Meg expansion board already fit- 
ted and ready for action, giving you a full 1 000K of mem- 
ory. 

All this lor an Incredible 

£409.99 
inc. VAT & courier delivery 



Turbosoft 

Unit 6 & 7 Acacia Close, 

Cherry court War Industrial Estate, 

Stanbridge Road, Leigh ton Buzzard, 

Beds. LU7 BQE 

Opening hours are: 

Monday to Friday 9.00am to 5.00pm. 

Saturdays 10.00am to 4.00pm 

All prices include vat 

Tel: (0525) 377974 
Fax: (0525) 852278 



See us on stand E26-E28 

at the Computer Shopper 

Show, Alexandra Palace. 

10th - 12th May. 

Many special offers 

to save you ££££££ 



Maps show direct routes 
from the motorway and A5 



LEIGHTON BUZZARD 




HOW TO FIND US 



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AMIGA SHOPPER JUNE '91 



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payable to Turbosoft 



Credit card orders taken, payment cashed only on 
despatch. Orders under £5 add 75p P&P per item. 

For First Class add 75p P&P per item UK only. 
EEC countries add £2.00 per item. Non EEC coun- 
tries add £3.00 per item. Express airmail £4.00 
per item*. All items subject to availability. All 
prices subject to change without notice. E. & O. E. 
Please note: Mail Order companies may take up to 
28 days to deliver goods Jrom receipt of order. 
Please allow jbr cheque clearance 



THE ONLY WAY TO 

GET THE MOST 

OUT OF YOUR AMIGA 




Contains all 
this and more... 

The Amiga's History 

Software Creativity guides for beginners and experts: 

Word Processors • DTP • Graphics • Digitisers • Scanners • Music • 

Databases • Spreadsheets • Accounts • Video • Education • Multimedia 

The Amiga inside and Out: 

Beginners • The Chips • Easy Workbench and CLI • Hardware Upgrades 

• Printers • Programming Languages • Games Programming * 

Communications • Emulators • Odd uses for the Amiga 

The Public Domain Scene 

Workbench: Top Tips for Software and Hardware 

Gamebusters: 100 top games tipped 



Gat the Most out of Your Amiga has been hand crafted 
by Amiga Formats Editor Damien Noonan to be the 
most complete guide to using the Amiga. 

In 1 72 information-packed pages It aims to provide 
advice on all aspects of the Amiga scene: what soft- 
ware to buy, how you can get it free through the PD 
libraries, how to solve those tricky technical problems, 
where you're going wrong with a game you can't beat. 

You can get all this for the bargain price of only £9.95. 

Alternatively, for a mere £4 more you can also have two 

880K disks absolutely packed with the most useful 

utilities and the most entertaining programs, carefully 

picked to be the essential collection from the PD and 

elsewhere. 
Start getting the most out of your Amiga! 



PRIORITY ORDER FORM 

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PUBLIC APOLOGY 

YES FOLKS, WE ACTUALLY APOLOGISE TO ALL OUR COMPETITORS, 
AS WE SHALL BE SUPPLYING DISKETTES, ACCESSORIES ETC. AT 

UNBEATABLE PRICES 
CERTIFIED product • Unbeatable prices • Amazing value 



••••••••••••••••••••••••-a-***** 

* - - < 



3.5 



J.J" 'Magic Media' DS DD discs 



3.5 



25 DS DD 135 TPI DISCS WITH OUR DELUXE STORAGE BOX , £1995 

50 DS DD 135 TPI DISCS WITH OUR DELUXE STORAGE BOX , £29.95 

75 DS DD 135 TPI DISCS WITH OUR DELUXE STORAGE BOX £39.95 

• • ••• + ••••*•• + + •*••••• + •••••• 
i 100 DS DD 135 TPI DISCS WTTH OUR DELUXE STORAGE BOX.... £42. 95 + 

* 200 DS DD 135 TPI DISCS PLUS 2, DELUXE STORAGE BOXES £69.95 

* 300 DS DD 135 TPI DISCS PLUS 3 DELUXE STORAGE BOXES £99.95 * 

* ••••••••••••••••••••••••-A-**** 

'Magic Media' is our own brand of carefully selected Diskettes. We boastfully claim these Discs to be the very best quality available. 
100% certified, tested product, simply the best. YOU CANNOT BUY BETTER 



5.25 



5.25" 'Magic Media' DS DD discs 



5.25 



20 DS DD 5.25" QUALITY DISKETTES WITH OUR DELUXE STORAGE BOX £13.95 

50 DS DD 5.25" QUALITY DISKETTES WITH OUR DELUXE STORAGE BOX ..£19.95 

70 DS DD 5.25" QUALITY DISKETTES WITH OUR DELUXE STORAGE BOX £23.95 

100 DS DD 5.25" QUALITY DISKETTES WITH OUR DELUXE STORAGE BOX £29.95 

200 DS DD 5.25" QUALITY DISKETTES WITH 2, DELUXE STORAGE BOXES £54.95 

What can we say, simply these are the best value money can buyAThese diskettes are packed in 1 0s, certifictaed, tested, 

1 00% quality product. 



'Magic Media' HIGH DENSITY 3.5" DISCS L 

10 DS DD3.5" 1.44 MEG DISCS IN LIBRARY CASE £14.99 

30 DS DD 3.5" 1.44 MEG DISCS WITH STORAGE BOX £39.95 

50 DS DD 3.5" 1.44 MEG DISCS WITH STORAGE BOX.,, £49.95 

100 DS DD 3.5" 1.44 MEG DISCS WITH STORAGE BOX £64.99 

(AS EVER LIFETIME GUARANTEED, 
UNQUESTIONABLE QUALITY) 



'Magic Media' HIGH DENSITY 5.25" DISCS 

10 DS HD 5.25" DISCS IN LIBRARY CASE £6.99 

30 DS HD 5.25" 1.2 MEG WITH DELUXE STORAGE BOX £16.95 

SODS HD 5.25" 1.2 MEG WITH DELUXE STORAGE BOX £27.95 

70 DS HD 5.25" 1.2 MEG WITH DELUXE STORAGE BOX £38.95 

100 DS HD 5.25" 1.2 MEG WITH DELUXE STORAGE BOX £42.95 

(AS EVER LIFETIME GUARANTEED, UNQUESTIONABLE QUALITY) 



ACCESSORIES 

100 CAPACITY 3.5" LOCKABLE STORAGE BOX , £7.95 

100 CAPACITY 5.25" LOCKABLE STORAGE BOX £7.95 

3.5" OR 5.25" PACK OF 5 LIBRARY CASES £4.95 

TILT N TORN MONITOR STAND £12.95 

UNIVERSAL PRINTER STAND £7.95 

PROFESSIONAL PRINTER STAND , £24.95 

3.5" OR 5,25" HEAD CLEANERS £2.95 

DELUXE MOUSE MATS £2.95 

ROLL OF 1000 3.5" DISKETTE LABELS .£12.95 

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'MICE 

LOGITECH 3 BUTTON PC/XT AT COMP. 100% MICROSOFT 

COMPATIBLE, LOADED WITH FEATURES £29.95 

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COMPATIBLE, SUPERB QUALITY £39.95 

DEXXA 2 BUTTON PC/XT COMP, A BUDGET MOUSE GIVING 
EXCELLENT VALUE £24.95 



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MANUAL 2 WAY SERIAL DATA SWITCH £12,95 

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PLEASE ENSURE YOU STATE CORRECT CABLE WHEN ORDERING 



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purchased in bulk. Please ring for our UNBEATABLE 'On The Spot quotes. 

We believe we can BEAT any genuine price advertised. In fact we GUARANTEE it. 



DISC DRIVES 

AMSTRAD 1512/1640 3,5 DS DD EXTERNAL DRIVE 


£99.95 


IBM XT/AT 3.5 DS DD EXTERNAL DRIVE 


£99.95 


IBM XT/AT 3.5 DS HD EXTERNAL DRIVE 


£105.00 


IBM XT/AT 5.25 DS DD EXTERNAL DRTVE 


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IBM XT/AT 5.25 DS HD EXTERNAL DRIVE 


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SHARP/TOSHIBA, EPSON, LAPTOP'S 

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( 



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J 



A500 "no software" £304.95 

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A500 "Class of the 90's" Call 

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A590 "20Mb Hard Disk" ; £269.95 

A1500 "Base Unit + Software" £659.95 

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A1084SD "Colour Monitor + Cables" £254.95 

Philips CM8833/2 Colour Monitor £234.95 

Citizen Swtft 9 Colour Printer + Cable £219.95 

Citizen Swift 24 Colour Printer + Cable £299.95 

Citizen Swift 24X Colour Printer + Cable £399.95 



c 



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Z88 to Amiga "comms link + Software' £24.95 

STD "dialling codes at a glance" £14.95 

Printmaster Plus £29.95 



c 



AMIGA CONSUMABLES 



J 



Mouse Mat "High Quality" , £2.95 

Mouse Holder .....£2.50 

10 Sony Unbranded Disks + labels £4.95 

50 Sony uhbranded Disks + labels £19.95 

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Available for most popular 
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tflfr 



Kosmos are specialist producers of Educational 

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Write or telephone for a FREE 20-page BROCHURE 

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PACK 

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— HEW! - LIFE ORGANISER ■ 

This package will really make a difference to the efficiency of your life. "Life organiser" is beautifully 
designed, easy to use and yet sophisticated, powerful and intelligent. This program Is skilfully structun 
to take everything you wish \o remember and presenl it in a useful and friendly way. Calendars (Any 
year/month from 1 AD to 300CADI), address book, label/address printer, diary, reminders, birthdays, 
anniversaries, bills, payments, record of spending, appointments, meetings, notes, memoirs, daily 
timetable, set up your own system etc. etc Powerful search facilities will automatically hunt down the 

information you want. Cassette recorder type comrols allow you to step through your information. 

Powerful MDE facility {Minimum Data Entry) allows you search, cross reference and copy informatioi 

between eniries. Entries only need to be entered once for regular events e.g. weekly, monthly etc. Ide 

lor business or home use. Once you have used "Life organiser" you will be lost without ill Every 

package comes with a tutorial booklet and example files. Quality software at £19.95 

THE NEW - "BEGINNER'S GUIDE 10 AMIGADOS" 

This is a clear and well thought out guide to AmigaDOS. It is a highly effective way to take you from j 

beginner to an expert on AmigaDOS. It takes you by simple steps, with many examples through the 

powerful AmigaDOS commands. The emphasis is on learning through experience and doing not jus 

reading like most other books. In no time at all you will master a fast, powerful and customised operate 

system... you can easily include your own pictures, messages and programs. This very popular packaj 

has now been COMPLETELY updated to cover all AmigaDOS versions. The package consists ol a 

guidebook, a tutorial DISC, a crib card and many other exerting and interesting programs. The guide 

includes an incredibly fast picture loader, a password system, a gallery of high quality pictures, a vane 

of boot up sequences, other high quality programs and much, much more. ..Guide book. Disc, Cribcar 

etc. only £13:95 

WIZARD'S GUIDE TO BASK 

This guide is a Quick, effective and enjoyable way to learn Basic. Your confidence and skills will rise 
rapidly. In no time at all you will be wriiing Impressive programs. The guide has a sophisticated etectroi 

book - You can get help in the form of text, moving demonstrations, graphics, sound or speech with jus 
touch of a button. The course starts at beginner level and carefully rises to expert level. You will learn 
master graphics, colour, sound, movement, speech, windows, menus, dataprocessing etc. Hundreds < 
example programs and demos are included on the two discs. This is a value packed package which w 
leave you with a wealth of knowledge and expertise ■ £13*95 

MASTERPIECE 

The great paintings of the world are displayed on your Amiga using thousands of colours in pictures c 

outstanding quality, "THE BEST PICTURES I HAVE EVER SEEN ON THE AMIGA" reported a recen 

review. Two discs packed full of pictures and comprehensive notes take you on an enriching irip inlo tr 

world of art. Outstanding value - EB.95 

*** HEW DIMENSIONS "* 

Some of the most impressive effects yet seen on an Amiga. You will find that graphics and pictures flo, 

before your eyes in front of your screen I The depth of Ihe pictures extends up to ten feet into the scree 

These fantastic effects have to be seen to be believed. Included on the disc are generous numbers of ; 

pictures, 3D graphics, 3D games and a 3D art program. We even provide a tutorial to help you desigr 

your own 3D effects on a paini package or write your own 3D programs. Included in this excellent 

package are two pairs of 3D specs Normal price £13.95 Ihif month ally El 1,95 

EXTRA VAIUE! 

Buy two or more of the above products and benefit from the following discounts.... 2 products - £ 

dif<aunt r 3 products £3 dlicoant, 4 products - E4 diuovnt etc. 

Discounts are given on the TOTAL value of the order. 

UK P&P - FREE and by FIRST CLASS post. Overseas orders welcome - Europeans please add 5Qf 
Outside Europe please add £1 .50 for airmail. All payments In pounds sterling please. 

Cheques / P.O. 's to: WlZUFCl SoftWOte pep!. AMS1) 
20, Hadrian Drive, Redhifls, Exeter, Devon. EX4 1SR 



ASSEMBLER 



PROGRAMMING 



continued from page 92 



VECTORCHECK LISTING PART II • VECTORCHECK LISTING PART II • VECTORCHECK 


LABEL INSTRUCT 


OPCODE COMMENT 


LABEL 


INSTRUCT 


OPCODE COMMENT 


* Second half of Vector check program. 




CALLGRAF 


Text 


* Type this in after last month's code. 




rts 








hex2text 




; converts dO into 


section 


subrout ines , code 






ascii hex string at <a0) 


Updatevecs move „w 


»S18,VPos 




moveq 


#7,dl 


move . 1 


#50, HPos 


-Ipl 


rol.l 


#4,d0 


move . 1 


#Title68k.msg,line2pri.nt 




move . 1 


d0,d2 


bsr 


print 




and.b 


#15, dD 


add + w 


l9,VPos 




cmp.b 
ble. s 


#9,30 
.lesslO 


lea 


vec69000,a5 




addq.b 


#7,d0 


-.^H 


vec68000.msg ,a4 


.lesslO 


add.b 


#530, do 


moveq 


#16, 36 




move.b 


do, (aO)* 


. lp move . 1 


(a5J+,aO 




move.l 


da.dO 


move. 1 


faOl.dO 




dbra 


dl, .Ipl 


roove.l 


a4, line2print 




rts 




bsr 


printstring 








lea 


31(a4l,a4 




section 


vecdata,data 


dbra 


di , . lp 


vecSBOOO 


del 


0,B, 12, 16, 20, 32, 36, 40, 44, 100, 104, 108, 112, 116 


add.w 


#14, VPos 




del 


120,124,126 


move.l 


flLib . msg , line2print 


libs 


del 


4 , _Gf xBase , _IntuitionBase,_DD5Base 


bsr 


print 


execvec 


del 


ColdCapture,CoolCapture,WaoiCapture,SysSckUpper 


add.w 


tB,VPos 




del 


Sys5tkLower,MaxLocMem, MaxExtMem, Debug Entry 


lea 


libs, a 5 




del 


Ki ckMemFt r , K i GkTagPt r 


gfxvec 


del 


gb_Actiview,gb_copinit,gb_LOFlist 


lea 


libs, msg, a4 




del 


gb_SHF list, gb_El i t owner 


moveq 


»3,d6 


intvecs 


del 


ib_Activewindow, ib_Activescreen, ib_Firstscreen 


. Ip2 move . I 


(a5)t,s0 








move , 1 


(aO) ,d0 


HPos 


del 





move . 1 


a4, ldne2print 


VPos 


dew 





bsr 


printstring 


line2print 


del 





lea 


31 <aa) ad 








dbra 


d6 , . Ip2 


colourtable 


dew 


$0eb, $0dc , $0cd, $0be , $0af , $19 f , $28f 




dew 


$37f,$46£,$55f,$64£,$73£,$82f,$91£,$a0£ 


move.w 


#$lB,VPoe 




dew 


$b0e, $cOd,$d0c, $eOb,$f0a,$£lS,$f28,$f37 


move. 1 


#37 0, HPos 




dew 


$£46,$f55,$£64,$f73,$£e2,$f91,$faO,$ebD 


move. 1 


ttSxecbase.msg, line2print 




dew 


$dcO,$cdD,$beO,$afO,$9fl,$8f2,$7f3,$6f4 


bsr 


print 




dew 


$5f5,$4f6,S3f7,$2fB,$lf9,$0fa,$0 


adcLw 


#8, VPos 












MyCmap 


dew 


0,$E££,$888,$444,0,0,0,0 ; colour map 


lea 


execvec, a 5 






for screen 


lea 


execvec . msg , a4 




dew 


0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 


moveg 


#9,36 




dew 


O,$88B,Saaa,$ccc,O,0, 0,0 


. lp3 move . 1 


(a5l+,d0 




dew 


0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 


move- 1 


4,w,a6 








move. 1 


ta6,d0),d0 


Title6Bk.msg 


:;,-.:. 


'68000 Processor vector values ' 


,0 


move. 1 


a4,line2print 


vec68000.msg 


dc.b 


'Reset SSp ($0) soooooooo ■ 


,0 


bsr 


printstring 




deb 


'Bus Error $00000000 


,0 


lea 


31 (a4) ,a4 




dc.b 


'Address Error $00000000 ' 


,0 


dbra 


dS, ,lp3 




dc.b 


'Illegal Instr $00000000 ' 


,0 








dc.b 


'Div by Zero $00000000 


,0 


add.w 


#10, VPos 




deb 


'Priv, violation $00000000 ' 


,0 


move.l 


ttGfxbase.msg, line2print 




deb 


"Trace $00000000 ' 


,0 


bsr 


print 




deb 


'Axxx emulation $00000000 ' 


,0 


add.w 


#8, VPOS 




dc.b 


'Fxxx emulation $00000000 


,0 


Lea 


gfxvecaS 




dc.b 


•Level 1 Int $D00OD0OO ' 


,0 


Lea 


gf xvec , msg , a4 




dc.b 


'Level 2 Int $00000000 ' 


,0 


moveq 


#4, as 




dc.b 


'Level 3 Int $00000000 ' 


,0 


. Ip4 move . 1 


(a5l+,d0 




dc.b 


'Level 4 Int $O0O000OD ' 


,0 


move. 1 


_G£xBase, a6 




deb 


'Level 5 Int $00000000 ' 


,0 


move.l 


(a6,dOI ,d0 




dc.b 


'Level 6 Int $00000000 


,0 


move.l 


a4, line2print 




dc.b 


'Level 7 Int $00000000 ' 


,0 


bsr 


printstring 




dc.b 


'Trap #0 $00000000 ' 


,0 


lea 


31la4) ,a4 


Lib. msg 


dc.b 


' Current library locations ' 


,0 


dbra 


d6, .lp4 


libs .msg 


deb 


'Exec. library $00000000 ' 


,0 








deb 


'Graphics. library $00000000 ' 


,0 


add.w 


#10, VPos 




dc.b 


'Intuition. library $00000000 ' 


,0 


move. 1 


#Intbase.msg, line2print 




deb 


'DOS. library $00000000 ' 


,0 


bsr 


print 


Execbase.msg 


dc.b 


Execbase structure info 


,0 


add.w 


#a,VPos 


execvec .msg 


dc.b 


'ColdCapture S0OD00O00 


, 


lea 


i[itvecs,a5 




dc.b 


'CoolCapture $00000000 


,0 


lea 


intvecs.meg,a4 




dc.b 


'WarmCapture $00000000 ' 


,0 


moveg 


#2,d6 




deb 


'SysStkUpper $00000000 ' 


,0 


. Ip5 move.l 


Ia5)+,d0 




deb 


'SysStkLower $00000000 ' 


,0 


move. 1 


_IntuitionBase,a6 




deb 


'MaxLocMem $00000000 ' 


,0 


move. 1 


laE.dD) ,d0 




deb 


'MaxExtHem $00000000 ' 


,0 


move, 1 


a4 , line2print 




deb 


'Debug Entry $00000000 


,0 


bsr 


printstring 




deb 


'KickMemPtr $00000000 ' 


,0 


lea 


31(a4),a4 




deb 


'KickTagPtr $00000000 ' 


,0 


dbra 


d6, .lp5 


G£xbase.msg 


deb 


' Gfxbase structure info ' 


,0 


rts 




gfxvec. msg 


deb 


'Active view $0'0000000 ' 


,0 








dc.b 


'Copinit address $00000000 ' 


,0 


print string trove. 1 


line2print, aO 




dc.b 


'Long frame cllst $00000000 - 


,0 


lea 


$14(a0) ,a0 




deb 


'Short frame clist $OD00O00O ' 


,0 


bsr. s 


hex2text 




deb 


'Biit Owner $00000000 ' 


,0 


print move.l 


HPos , do 


Intbase.msg 


deb 


' Intuit ionbase structure info ' 


,0 


moveq 


#0,dl 


intvecs. msg 


deb 


'Active Window $00000000 ' 


,0 


move . W 


VPos , dl 




deb 


'Active Screen $00000000 ' 


,0 


move. 1 


MyRastPort , al 




deb 


'First Screen $00000000 ' 


,0 


CALLGRAF 


Move 








add.w 


#8, VPOS 


DOSName 


deb 


*dos , 1 ibrary * , 


move.l 


MyRastForC , al 


GfxName 


deb 


"graph ic s . 1 i brary " , 


move. 1 


Iine2print,a0 


intName 


dc.b 


"intuition , 1 ibrary " , 


moveq 


*$ld,dO 


MvTitle 


deb 


"Vector checker by Jolyon salph. (CI iL'fligs shopper 1991. ",fl 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1 991 



93 



CUMBRIA'S LEADING P.D. SUPPLIER 

AT LAST NEW AMOS DISKS JUST ARRIVED AND ABOUT TIME TOO! 

3-5" DISKS ONLY £3.00 FOR PKT 10 

INCLUDING LABELS + £1.15 carriage per 10 



D45 Punk Crac Megademo 
D42 Puggs In Space 
D69 Photomontage III 
D70 Batman Trie Mouie 

Demo 
D6S Showbiz Animation 
D59 Mike Tyson Animation 
D49 Monty Python Demo 
078 Bat- Dance Demo 
D79 Walker Demo 

(2 Disk. 2 Meg) 
D62 Acid Force Compilation 

AMOS LICENCEWARE 
(£3.50 EACH) 

ZL1 Colouring Book 
ZL2 Arc Angels Math 5 
ZL4 Thingrmajig 
ZL5 Jungle Bungle [1 Meg i 
ZL8 Worki Play (1 Meg) 
ZL9 Amos Assembler req 

Amos 
ZLtO The Word Factory 
ZLl 1 Go Getter Game 1 1 Meg) 
ZL12 Hypnotic Lands 

ADULT GAMES 

AVAILABLE 
OVER 18s ONLY 

NEWS 

IRAQ Iraq us USA Demo Disk 
UTILITIES 

U28 Soundlracker V4.0 
U2t N.B.S. Speedbeneh 



U32 Clight 

U34 Amiga M.CAD V1 .2.5 

1129 Prolrackei 

U24 New Amiga Sample Player 

U23 MEDV2.01 • Music Edit 

U 1 1 NASA backup disk 

U18 F- Copy 3 

U26 Midi utility dish 

U39 New 8 track snundlracher 

U37 Soundmoise'Startra 

(2 disks) 

U27 Video progs (2 disks) 

U31 Copiers t 

U40 NoisetrackerVLU 

U22 Visicalc - Spreadsheet 

AMOS PD. GAMES (£1.99 
each) 

ZI02 Chain Saw Dealh 

Z103 Pick Up A Puzzle (1 Meg) 

21 10 Cross Fire (1 Megl 

Z130 The Wodem Ball -(1 Meg) 

ZI15 Balloonachy (1 Megl 

2 1 37 Tile Tfite H 1 Meg) 

AM05PD, DEMOS (C1 99 

EACH) 

Z124 Bob's Manic's Demo 

11 Meg) 
Z129 Music Demo 1 
Z13! Armageddon Demo 
ART 

A30 Fantasy VI 
A29 Disney 1 (Pictures & 

Musicj 
A15 Destination Doclands 
A 1 4 Police Car Animation 



GAMES 

G1 Amoebi. Asteroids. 

Cosmor 
G5 Lingo. Bally. Nightworks 
Q6 Packman 87 
GB Startrek 3 1 Meg (2 disks) 
G10 Start rek 2 1 Meg (3 disks) 
G12 Breakout con kit 
G14 Emerald Mine 3 
G21 Paranoid 

(Arkanoid Clone) 
G22 Puzzle pro & puzzle make 
G23 Train set 

WOHD PROCESSING 

W1 Word Wright 

W3 Uedit with Amigaspell 



SUPPLIES 

3.5" disks Pkt 10 £3.00 +1.15 

Deluxe Paints £51.97+3.45 

Deluxe Print 2 E33.47+3.45 

3.5" Second drive. . £59.95+3.45 
51 2K Ram expansion 
£39.50+3.45 

Kind words V2 

R.R.P. £49.95 
Special C32.47+E3.45 



SUPERBASE 2 PERSONAL 

WITH FREE 

SUPERPLANil MEG) 

WHILE STOCKS LAST 

WORKBENCH SPECIAL 

E94.ap>E5.75 



MASTERSOUND HARDWARE & SOFTWARE ONLY £26.67-^3.45 
SEND 3 x 22P STAMPS FOR A DISK WITH CATA LOGUE & W.P. PROG 

ALL DISKS 



99 p 



CARRIAGE FOR 
EVERY 1 -10 
DISKS £1.15 
i.e. 7 = £1.15 

20 = £2.30 



FRED FISH 300 TO 350 AVAILABLE 

WE STOCK THE COMPLETE STOCK 
OF AMOS P.D. & LICENCEWARE 



WORKBENCH P.D. DEPT AS9105 

IBuccluech Street 
Barrow-in-Furness 
Cumbria LA1 4 1SR 

Tel (0229) 473609 



We can only take 

phone calls 

after 7.30pm 

BBS after hours 

- 30D 1200 2J0O ftps - 



Price subject to change wilhoul notice 1 

Otters while stocks last! 

All prices include VAT 

All sales subject to our Irade terms at trading 



a II a n a n AiiAnAnAnAnAHAHAn 



AUTHORISED DEALER FOR * AMIGA * STAR * 

I AMIGA (UK MODELS ONLY) 

| Amiga BOO: B2000 + 10S4SD +- Twin Floppies + The Works! Plat .£938.00 1 

DPaint 3ffiattle Chess/Sim City/Popu [us/Their Finest House 

I As above without monitor £679 00 1 

I WHY NOT ENHANCE YOUR A1500 WITH ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWINC:- 

I Supra 4SY80Mb Autoboot Drive Card , ,£319/399 I 

SUPRA DRIVES INCLUDE EXPRESS COPY BACKUP & CLIMATE S/W 

J XT Bridgeboard + 5,25" Drive + MSDOS 4.01 .£199,00 1 

| AT Bridgeboard + 5.25" Drive + MSDOS 4.01 .£639.00 1 

Supra 8Mb RAM Board Pop 2Mb , „ XI 79 00 

Supra 8Mb RAM Board Pop4/b78Mb i27W379/479 

Hi-Res Video Card (Flicker Fitter) , jE219 00 

A500 SCRKEN GEMS Pack INCLUDING 512K RAM/CLOCK £379.00 

A500 Base Pack „ X)ig 00 

Commodore 64C NIGHT MOVES Pack .£149 95 



PRINTERS 

Citizen 120D+ .£135.00 

Star LC-10 £159.00 

Star LC-200 Colour £209.00 

Star LC24-10 £209.00 



Star LC24-200 .£259.00 

Star LC24-200 Colour ,£299.00 

Star XB24-10 24 pin 

I NC COLOUR OPTION .£399 . 00 

Okimate 20 Ribbons/Heads/Paper PHONE 



MONITORS 

Commodore 1084S Stereo , ,£259.00 

Philips 8833-11 Stereo Colour .£249.00 

Interquad Hi-Res Multi Scan 0.28mm Super VGA .,.£329 09 

DISK DRIVES 

A590 Autoboot 20Mb ._. £289.00 

A2000 Internal 3.5; p & p £2 £69.95 

A500 Replacement Internal 3.5" p & p£2 £69.95 

Roctec Super Slim Amiga Ext 3.5" Metal Cased „ p & p £2 .£59.95 

MISCELLANEOUS 

KCS PC Board for A500 inc MSDOS 4.01 p & p£2 .£219 00 

A500 RAM/Clock 512Kb with Disable Sw.... free p & p ..,..£39.00 

RAM Chips for A590/2091 per 512Kb ■ ......£22.50 

A500 Compatible Power Supply ■ , , £49 00 

Kickstart V1.3 ROM for A500/2000 ..„." .£29 00 

1Mb Fat Angus S372A " £75.00 

C IA Chip 852 „ .,..' £ 1 6 .00 

Vidi-Amiga PAL Frame Crabber inc filters " il29,00| 

RGB Composite Video Splitter " £69.95 1 

Surge Protector 4- Way Block/13A Plug ...p S p £2.^16.95/12.951 

All Prices prtclude 17 5% VAT Carriage £5 lecnress £] fli Price* suhiect tn c hand? wilhfti it nntire FXFnl 



i 
1 



a T>dta Pc Softtvane £td £ 



luswarp Lan 
TEL/FAX: 



a n An a n aii a n a 11 a iia n a n a n a n a 



EI^S£2z Upgrade your Amiga 500 



512K extension with clock 

* Top-quality PCB and connector for total reliability 

* Latest 1 meg D RAMs for low power consumption 

* Auto-recharging battery-backed real-time clock 

* Memory enable/disable 

* Compact design 

* Easily fitted in seconds. No risk to your warranty 



No frills or gimmicks. Just a quality 
product at the best price you'll find. 



Also available: 

* 512K extension without clock 

* Half meg card with clock (no RAMs) 

* Half meg card (no RAMs or clock) 




£25.99 * RAM chips per % meg set £16.65 

£15.50 * V-h. meg extension with clock £79.95 

£1 1 .50 * IV2 meg card with clock (no RAMs) £30.00 



Credit card hotline 
24 - hour service 



0734 890588 



Same day dispatch 
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E3 



Virgo Developments Ltd, Sapphire House, Fishponds Road, 
Wokingham, Berkshire, RG11 2QJ. 



VES* 



READER ADS 



WANTED 

Wanted. Sculpt Animate 4D or Turbo 
Silver for 2D oriist who's bored with o Hat 
screen. Andy Turner, Apartment 1 r 
Torbanl Guest House, Croegoch, Dyfed, 
Wales SA62 5JN 

Wonted: Zork Zero. New or second 
hand. State your price. No pirates. 
Rob Dales, 3 Dobson Grove, Beeston, 
Leeds LSI 1 5PE. Tel (0532] 701 75B 

Modem. An/ speed up to V22bis, Hayes 
compatible, BT approved, cable, manual. 
Preferable with MNP connection. Amiga 
compatible only. Tel. Neil after 6 pm on 
(074488} 2835. 

I'm looking Far a KCS PC powerboard 
and an action replay MKII cartridge. 
Sensible prices only. Write to Mark, Sox 
H, Esyllt, Plas Gwyn, LlandaFf, Cardiff 
CF5 2YQand include phone number. 

Please can some kind soul sell me their 
copy of Shanghai by Acti vision? I'm 
getting desperated Pnone Sara on (0603] 
407060. 

Colour monitor for Amiga A500, 
condition nor important but must be cheap 
and in working order. Phone Mick on 
(0322) 5583B9 or (0060] 546650. 

A59Q Hard disk drive wonted. Please 
phone John on |08l) 462 2713 (home or 
(081)681 2666 (work). 

Wanted! Amiga artists for graphical 
production of AMOS related projects, 
100% reply. Send example stuff to Mark 
Venn, 3 Britten Drive, Goodie ig-h Rise, 
Barnstaple, North Devon EX32 8AQ. 



Minigen Genlock or similar cheap 
Genlock. Tel. Steav on (0782| 48287. 

Want to swap DPpaint 2 marual for 
Devpac 2 manual. Write to: Mick, 70 
Lonsdale Street, Nelson, Lanes. 689 9HG. 
No photocopies please. Hi to Sparkey 
and Sonic. 

Action Replay wonted new or old model. 
Must work! Also some decent PD utils. Far 
the Action Replay, I will pay £35 and for 
the PD appro* 50p without disks. D. 
Leadsom, 18 Scarisbriek New Road, 
Southport, Merseyside PR8 6PV. Tel. 
[0704) 532640 between 5pm - 8pm. 

Second hand Citizen 120D or Star LC10 
mono printer. Tel. Ian on {0493) 651669 
after 5 pm any week-day. 

Amiga H/D SCSI wanted lOOmb. Phone 
Dennis on (0603) 250740. 

Our group requires coders to join our two 
other coders, we have two extremely 
good graphic and sound artists, Tel. 
Simon (081)398 6289 or Mark on (081} 
398 6071. 

BBC MOD B with disk drive and cass 
player wanted. Please contact Egil 

Lovang, Molzfeldts Gt. 7, Oslo 1, N- 
0187"or lei. Norway 2-17-71-80. 

Help! I would like Pacland for the Amiga. 
Searched everywhere for it to no avail. 
Please help me. Will pay Far it. Contact S 
Johnson, 133 Guildford Street, Grimsby, 
South Humberside DN32 7PW, 

Postage stamps For charity. Also broken 
A500 internal disk drive to mess about 



with please. B. Beltan, 5 Nep Close, 
HenField, Sussex BN5 9HB. Tel. (0273) 
492885 

Cheap Modem for Amiga A50Q. Will 
pay up to £70. Software not required. 
Also, for sale, Cumana external drive. 
John Mullen, 62 Lonsdale Street, 
Workington, Cumbrio CA14 2YD. Tel. 
(0900)61574. 

Demo group Goldfire seeks goad graphic 
artist, ideally in South East, Tel. Tom on 

(0462)457514. 

Wanted: Diskdoctor Cbne and any good 
P.D. music somple rippers. Have good 
number of P.D. disks to swap in return. 
JamBs Bell, 29 Westonbiry Court, Ebley 
Close, London SE15 6BH. 

Wanted Now! I need a 2nd hand colour 
monitor or portable TV before the wife 
kills me for hogging the telly. Save my 
lirelll Tel S Crevillen on (051) 645 5922. 

Wonted: Good condition second hand 
disk drive and 0.5K ram. Will pay good 
price. Also back issues of Amiga Format 
1 to 1 5 wanted + disks. Andrew Monk, 
Mendale, 22 The Strand, Mablelhorpe, 
Lincolnshire LN 12 1BG. Tel. (0507} 
477428. 

Amigo 500 wanted desperately, in lull 
working order, with documentation. Cash 
awaits, will collect within 100 miles oF the 
WatFard area, Tel Trevor on (08 1] 42B 
0332 evenings- 
Wanted: Hard drive for Amiga 1000. J. 
Bryson, 37 Kingsdown Mobile Homes, 
Kingsdown, Swindon SN2 6PG. Tel. 
(0793) 827663. 



Only £5 to sell your used hardware 
and software in Amiga Shopper 

Sell your excess hardware and software with Amiga Shopper Reader Adverts. Just fill in the form and send 
it to us along with a cheque (made payable to Future Publishing) or postal order for £5. But BE 
WARNED. This magazine is not a Forum for selling pirate software or other illegal goods. Software must 
include all issue disks, manuals and a signed statement that all other copies have been destroyed. Please 
advise us if you are offered pirate or copied software by advertisers, All ads are accepted in good 
faith. The editor reserves the right to refuse or amend ads. We accept no responsibility for 
typographical errors or losses allegedly arising from the use of this service. 

Trade ads will not be accepted and this includes anyone wishing to advertise 

the sale of PD software. 



Issue 2 

Name 

Address 

Post code Date. 

Tel.... 



Tick one box to 
show required 
section heading 

For sale.. 

□ 

Wanted ... 

□ 
Personal . 

□ 

Fanzines . 

.□ 


Use one $paca for each word to o maximum of 30 word$ m black capitoh 































































Deadline; Unfortunately we cannot guarantee an insertion in a particular issue, 

\ have read and understood the conditions For the inclusion of my ad. 

Signature 

Return to: Reader Ads, Amiga Shopper, 30 Anonrnourh Street, Bath, Avon BA1 2BW 



1 



The Pennine Amiga Club; requires 
members For our free user group. For 
more information contact Simon at 1 93B 
Oakworlh Road, Keighley BD2 1 IRE. 
Greets fly out to Paul at Ultimate P.D. 

Free box of disks to the first person lo lend 
me the manuals and disks For an Amiga 
2000 XT Bridge Board. Tel. Stuart (0224| 
323737. 

Fellow Amiga owners - have you got 
hidden away somewhere any J old' 
computers you want to sell e.g. ZX81, 
Electron. If so., lei. (061 ) 797 0*79. (I 
collect computers). 

Wanled: books, hardware, software, 
chips r drams, boards, P.C., C.P.U., and 
keyboard. Anything Amiga related. Send 
details to FJ, Saunders, 23 North Street, 
Burnley BB10 1QJ, Lanes. 

"A590 Users Group" and Public Domain 
swaps. Second hand "Nordic Power" 
cartridge. Also, for sale; £30 o.n.o. 
Contact Alex, 26 Milldown Ave,, Goring- 
on-Thomes, Reading, Berks RGB 0A5. 

Wanted: Predator for the Amiga. Will 
swop Outrun, Bionic Commando, or Joe 
Blade 1 and 2, Write to CJ. Slerland, 59 
Tennis Court Drive, Leicester IE5 1AQ 

A mail merge program that can work with 
the word processing program "Scribble" 
on an Amiga 500. Very important. 
Contact jo meson (03671 240913. 

Please does onyone out there have a disk 

of U.S. Gold's J 'Side Arms" for sale or 
swap. I just can't get one anywhere. 
Please hdp I Stephen Keen, 34 Elizabeth 
Place, Pewsham, Chippenham, Wilts. 
SN15 3UP, TeJ. 10249 6603 B0 evenings. 

Serious stuff. l J m currently compiling a 
serious PD software collection. Fractals, 
Utilities, Graphics, etc. for distribution. 
Send lo D L Bainbridge, 16 George 
Slreel, Ystrad Mynach, Hengoed, Mid- 
Gbm CF8 7BJ. All disks returned. 

FOR SALE 

Disk boxes 40 cap £4, B0 cap £8. Also 
Amiga games Narc £10, Street Hockey 
£ 10 or exchange far other titles. Tel. John 
on (0292) 284 862. 

Commodore 64K with dolasafe, 2 
joysticks +■ £400 worth of games 
software. Leads and manuals included. 
Sell for £275. Buyer must collect (Ipswich 
area). Tel. Daniel on (0473] 681437 
after 6 pm please. 

Radio controlled cars Tomiya Hornet and 
Supers hot. Many spares for each. Fully 
balanced, manyexlra modifications, only 
have one set of radio gear. Sell both for 
£150 Tel. Phil on (0734} 474589 

Poce V21 V23 intelligent modem, boxed, 
with manud, no leads, £45. Video 
sender WV05G with power supply, leads, 
boxed, £25. Tel. Neil on (05 1) 426 
0138after5pm. 

Amiga A500, 10845 Monitor, Ext disk 
drive, 51 2K ram exp, no inst manuals, 
lots of magazines, disk box, mouse and 
mat, several gomes £700 o.n.o. Tel. 
Mark on (0689] 857673. 

Printer acoustic cover with cooling fan, 
£24. Tel. Tom on (0992) 4601 21 . Herts. 

Datel ram-master II 1 .5 meg expansion 
card. As new. £60 o.n.o, Tel. Richard on 
(061)225 1663 after 6.30 pm. 

For sale: Korg DW B000 synth - poly, 
midi eompj digital, down loadable. £300 
o.n.o. Tel. Andy on [0253) 724607. 

Amiga 2000, two 3.5" and one 5 .25" 
disk drivei PC/XT boord, eight original 
boxed games, colour stereo monitor 
mouse and mat, 2 joysticks. Action Replay 

MKII, 20mb hard drive. £975. Jason 
Pope, 66 Aylmer Road, East Finchley, 
London N2 0PL Tel. (081)341 7541. 

Epson FX 800 printer W.G.C. 9 pin 



complete with manual. Good working 
order, £60. P. Kraziecki, 1 1 2 Farmhold, 
New Ash Green, Kent DA3 BGD. Tel. 
(0474] 372140. 

Amiga A500 Kickstart 1 .3 still as new, 
boxed joystick and lots of games only 
£3 1 5 or £350 with 1 meg memory. Tel, 
Tim on [08 1 ) 203 8373 after 6.30 pm. 

Reol 3D pro: new ray-tracing/animation 
package. lmb+ complete with box, 
manual, disks etc. RRP£343, sell for 
£200 o.n.o. Tel, Chris an (071) 263 
5006 (eveningsl. 

Megadrive For sale (JAP/PAL] inc. mon- 
itor/TV lead, two mega games: Shadow 
Danger and Thunder Force III. Brand new 
VGC £1 30 inc. P&P. No time wasters 
please. Tel. Julian on (0742) 436542. 

Amstrad PPC 5 1 2 portable, single drive. 
As new. £300 + postage, with Wordstar 
express thrown in!! Contact Emma Broxup 
at Dalbeattie House, Oaky Balks, 
Alnwick, Northumberland NE66 2QD. 

Amiga 2000 J A' 1 1/2 meg with 1084 
colour monitor and additional interval 
Floppy drive £550. Easyl tablet 2000 
£120Okimate 20 colour printer £75. 
Phone Pete on Basildon (0268) 734507. 

C64 Data cassette disk drive printer 
mouse light sun games on disk and tape 
£225. Operation Thunderbolt and 
Rainbow Islands, Amiga games unused 
boxed £25 the pair. 
R.Jones, 12 Highfield, Socriston, 
Durham, DH7 6HN Tel. (091)371 1781. 

Pretext ver 5-04 as new. Also same 
games. Best offer secures. Phone John on 
(031)462 271 3 [home] or (031) 681 
2666 (work]. 

Kindwords V2 to swop for copy of Cross 
Dos, (Dos4a-Do5 not wanted). Phone Tony 
on (051] 426 5989 -evenings. 

Digi-View gold version 4.0 including Digi 
paint. Hardly used. Best offer will be 
taken. Phone Damian on [0253) 828308. 

Oki Microline 84 XS 9 pin wide carriage 
printer. Stand, manuals, no box, £150 
o.n.o. Fairly heavy, must be collected. Tel 
Crafts Hill (0954] 780856 after 7 pm. 

Okimate 20 col printer, £110. Contact J. 
Quintin, 7Cotterall Court, Bowthorpe, 
Norwich NR5 9AZ. Tel. (0603) 746600. 

Amiga games Drakkhen, Treble 
Champions £6 each. Edition one 
compilation £9. All boxed. Back issues 
N.C.E,, Amiga Computing, Amiga User, 
etc. 65p-£ 1.10 including postage. Tel. A 
Foster on (0703) 676949 after 7 pm. 

Modem WS4000 V21 723 Autodial 
Autoansw, original packaging with PSU, 
cable, and manual. Hardly used. £65. 
\ Contact S Gibson, 19 Sutherland Street, 
1 Seaham, Co. Durham SR7 0AX Tel. (091] 
581 2021. 

2.5Meg Amiga 500, Philips CM 8B33 

monitor, external drive, video machine, 
software, utils, and games. £1400 o.n.o. 
Call Simon (06 1 ) 440 986 1 . No time 
wasters please. 

Pod scat graphic tablet with latest driver 
software, great gear but I'm not a good 
enough artist, so only £1 20. Tel. 
Warrington (0942) 270417. 

Star LCI (mono) printer, sheet-feeder 
and dust cover included. Sorry, no cable. 
Just over a year old, very good condition, 
£100. Call Marc anytime on Luton 
(0582) 429928, 

Modem Supra 2400 V2 1 V22 V22bis 
boxed as new with cable and PD comms 
software £90. Tel Steve on 0782 48287. 

For sole: RVF Honda £6. I would like to 
buy a modem. Do you hove one for sale? 
Tel. Kevin an (0453] 883481. 

Amiga 500 complete with A590 hard 
drive with 2 megs ram fitted. Extra floppy 

continued on page 100 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 



READER ADS 



tonlinued from page 99 

drive 1/2 meg Internal expan. £550 the 

tat or will split. Tel. Milton Keynes (090S) 
677176. 

Linnet 1200 modem: V2l, V22, V23 
(1200/1200, 1 200/75 r 3 00/300). As 
new, still boxed. Co&r £230 r will sell For 
£150. Sreve Mew, 42 Dove Court, 
Coisfer-^n-Sea, Norfolk NR30 5UH. Tel 
(0493( 377418. 

Atari trok ball for sale. Works with Amigq 
games eg. Out Run. £5 o.n.o. Tel, Sam 
on (0323) 645347 anytime after 4 pm. 

Amiga A500. Official A801 ram 

expansion, cumcnc ex) drive. A590 hard 
drive with 2 meg extra memory. Joystick, 
movie r mot, disks etc. A5°0 still under 
warranty. £300. Tel. (0629) 56772. 

BBC B, Tape recorder, joys-tick, leads, 
books, manuals, lots of games, mags, in 

very good condirfon. Only £150 an. o, 
Tel. (0734(576408, 

laser primer HP lasersel II 1 .5 meg 
memory, boxed OS new, serial or parallel 
interface, excellent 1 quality £800 o.n.o. 
Andy Spencer, 16 Margaref Close, 
Whitley Wood, Reading RG2 BPU. Tel, 
[0734 B763B3, 

For sale: Seikosha 1 200 Al 9 pin printer 

with all connech'ng leads, and manual 
prints at 1 20 CP5 draft end 1 9 CPS NLQ. 
Only £1 15 Tel. Gosport 522199 For 

detajfs. 

Pra.Sound designer sampler, sampling 
rote up to 32KHZ and all the standard 

editing Functions, complete package, 
original software, hardware and manual. 
Boxed as new, £35. Tel. Keza on (081) 
946 1091. 

Amiga games for sale, Rainbow Islands 
for £10, Barbarian for £5. Amegas, An 
of Chess, Insanity Fight, Mercenary, 
Thundercals, Wizball - all £1 . Tel. 
Anthony on (0727) 22 1 946. 

Amiga s/ware. ZVP video studio £55 inc r 



post. TV text £45 inc. post. 9 various 
games £2 - £5 each. £35 the tat inc. 

post. Tel. John on Salisbury (0722) 
790776. 

Amiga orig. games, lots of titles cheap! 
Sae 13 Bournville Lane, Birmingham or 
teL [021 1 459 7576. PO swap wanted! 
Also 1/2 meg sale £28 fnc! 

The works platinum edition word 
processing database spreadsheet £45. 
BBC emulator £20 x-nzopy professional 
: £20, their finest hour £10. Tel Form by 
(0704B) 77172 after 6 pm for further 
details. 

Sim City and Terrain Editor £10, 
Populous and The Promised lands £10. 
Td. Tormby (0704B| 77172 after 6 pm 
for more info. 

Loads and loads of games for sale or to 

be traded, all boxed + instructions, all 
new titles ond cheap prices. For more info 
phone Steve on (081) 554 1119, 

Back issues Zzapl 4,5,3,10-52. Sixty 
issues £20, TGM 1 to 2 1 £15, Ace 1 - 2 
£5, Cusor 30 issues £15, P&P extra. All 
in fair condition. Tel. [061(560 6116. 

Amiga games for sole. Like Fighter 
Bomber, The Pawn, Dork Side, Imperium, 
F-29 Retaliator, etc. All originals and in 
good condition. Write for Full list - you 
pay postage. MrT. Leng, 24A Highcroft 
Avenue, Alperton, Wembley, Mjddx. 
HA0 1TG. 

C64' for sale. Data cassette leads, dust 
cover, etc. Over £200 worth of games. 
Perfect condition all boxed. Price £ 1 20 
o.n.o. Tel. Chris on (0947) 601751. 

Amos - The Creator, brand new VI ,2, 
£25 or will swap for Powermonger/Lotus 
Esprit or similar. Tel, Mick on (0604) 
537946 {evenings}. 

Printer 9 pin Panasonic 1 ISO with 
manual, hardly used, great print, £100. 
Tel. (081] 9045100. 

Back to The Future II, Days oF Thunder, 



rVioonwalker, Guardian Angelj all 
packaged, as new, sell all for £25 or 
swap for 2 latest games. Tef. Paul on 
<0277] 65 650 B. 

Amiga A500 2M6 Ram, A590 Hard disk, 
external floppy, colour monitor, loads of 
software, only £850. May split. Tel. Andy 
on (0463] 782755. 

VIDI Amiga video frame grabber. Only 
£65. Tel. Andy on (0463, 782755. 

A-Max Mac emulator inc. hardware and 
Mac Roms, also system disks. Only £100. 

Tel. Andy (0463) 782755. 

Oki^Mote 20 colour printer, spare 
ribbons, only £100. Tel. Andy on (0463) 
782755, 

X-Qut, Driv'n Force, F29 Relaliotor, Days 
of Thunder, Batman, oil £12. Write to: M 
Aitken, Denchworth Manor, Nr. 
Wantage, Oxon, Also Chase HG, Indy 3 
adven. £8 each. £14 both. 

Amiga 500 expansion shell kit For sale. 
Call Robert on {0B1 1 907 0042 

Commodore 64 for sale with disk drrve 

and printer, music maker, joysticks and 

lots oF software on disk or tope. £250 
o.n.o. Contact Harold Garvin, 26 
Newmarket Street, Coleraine, Co. 
Londonderry BT52 TEH. 

Original Amiga games to sell From £4.50 
eaen, plus loads of PD to swap on a one 
to one basis. 1 00% reply, Please write For 
printed lists of titles to: Stuort Hardy, 33 
Fir Tree Drive, Wotes, Sheffield S3 1 8LZ. 

Original A500 Power Pack £20 o.n.o. 
Tel. R BanfroFr [06891 &S7527 (SE 
Ion don Area). 

Amtga 500 +A501 Ram Expansion 
+ 1 08 1 monitor. All boxed, as new 
complete with lots of games, mags, PD 
and serious software. £550 o.n.o. Tel. Al 
on (0272) 429357 (evenings). 

Amstrad CPC61 28 ■+■ colour monitor 
+DMP2000 printer, Protext disc, all 




manuals included. Bargain at £300 
on, o. Contact Roger King, 1 Outlack 
Road, Armagh, N. Ireland 8T60 2AN or 
Tel. Armagh 526324. 

Look) Old model C64, 1541 disk drive, 
C2N tape recorder, cartridges, joystick, 
mags, 379 original games and other 
software on tape and disk, only £250 
o,n.o. Tel. Howard on (02406J 3273 
(Bucks.) 

Citizen sheet feeder bought for £80, will 
sell for £30, Never used. Also printer 
wanted E T 50 tops for Amiga 500. 
Contact John on (0749] 679250 after 5 

pm. 

MIG29, Their Finest Hour, Populous, £10 
each. Tel. Alan on [0860) 863083. 

Publishers Choice includes all you need 
for DTP. £65 ono. Tel. R. JeFfery on 
Derby 8)0194 or Ripley 607490, 

Pro Page O.T.P. offers or swap For outline 

fonts or other D.T.P. or graphic Amiga 
Modulator. Offers. Tel. P, Freeman on 
(0947) 82000a. 

2MB 256X4 Ram, £75 Inc. pAp 6M8. 

Tel. Christopher on (0926) 334897 
(evenings). 

Printer, Amstrad Dmp 3160, 9-Pin dot 
matrix, NLQ, Bald, Italic, etc. Full working 
order. No lid. Tractor and friction Feed. 
Comes with two ribbons ond instruction 
manual. £100 o.n.o. Contact Richard 
Rickwood, 86 Brooke Road, 
Wallhamstow, London El 7 9HH artel. 
[081)521 32l4after4pm. 

Amiga Batpack, A5Q1 memory upgrade, 
star LC 1 GC printer. Philips CM8833 
colour monitor, external drive, Midi 
interface, Music-X, leads, covers, s/ware, 
books, boxes, for only £600! Phone Steve 
on [071] 383 4562, 

2 ZX Spectrum (48K), all leads supplied. 
There is no disk drive. Both joystick 
Interfaces are supplied. Also 1 original 
game and 2 ZX Spectrum starter cassettes 
(£50 per Speccy). Contact Eg, 59 



I Grange Farm Cresc. Newton Weslkirby, 
Wirral L48 9UD teL (051] 625 52B0- 

' Star LC-200 colour printer £165 as new. 
| Reason for sale - need colour inbet 

printer. Any offers. Contact Alan Gordon. 

21 Mt, Pleasant, Guiseley, Leeds, W. 

Yorks. LS20 9EB. Tel (0943) 870070. 

ICD AdSpeed Amiga 16 mHz 68000 
Board, Brand new. Unopened unwanted 
gift. Worth £200, Sell For £1 30 or swap 

for 2mb Ram and Boord for 1 32000. Tel. 
Nigel on (0462J6B2140. 

Amiga games - new h"Nes, amazingly low 
prices, external drive-ex. cond., slim size, 
highly reliable, around £50. Anyone got 
any Don/Sullivan Blulh games for sale? 
Contact James on (0939] 260617. 

Amiga gomes, near new: Shadow of ihe 
Beast I!, Night breed, Bock to the Future 
II, Days oF Thunder. £40 for the lot. Will 
separate. Tel Y Wong on [0744] 2481 1 . 

Spritz Gunship Photon Storm the Seven 
Gates oFjambala, Skidz, Pyramax, Dark 
Side, Weird dreoms. For sale £5 each or 
all For £30. Contact K. Connaughton r 35 
Nevendon Road, Wickford, Essex SS 1 2 
0LN or tel. (0268)763135. 

SCI, Rainbow Islands, Football Man. 2, 
Battle Squadron, World Soccer, Italia 
1990, Or Dooms Revenge, Captain 
j Blood, Veclorball, worth £1 10, Will sell 
for £50. Tel. Nick on (081 1 856 9333 
after 4 pm. 

A500 Batman Pack, 1 4" colour TV, text 
printer, and over £200 of software 
Worth £800, Will sell for £600 ono Tel. J 
Carteron{021}770 0505 after 6 pm. 

Serious Amiga software, Digifa Home 
Accounts £15, super base personal Data 
Base £15, Hi-soft Devpac £15 or all 3 For 
£40. TeL M Byllard on (0752) 76742 1 . 

Spirit 2MB mem. board for Amiga A500. 
Fully populated. Still in box. As new; Tel. 
Adrian anytime Runcorn [0928] 565504. 

continued on page 102 



VISA 



DATAPLEX 
COMPUTERS LTD. 

129 Bath Road, 19 High Street 

Slough, Swindon, 

Berkshire. wi it B hire 

SL1 3UW WlltsMre 

Tel: 0753 35557 Tel: 0793 488448 



SHOWROOM 
Open: 
Hon - Fri 
9.30 . S.30 
Saturday 
9.30 - 4.30 
MAILORDER 



£1.50 

Hardware 

£8.00 

Prices 

excluding VAT 



Add £3.65 P&P, add £4.00 for 3 day delivery, add £8.00 2day,£lOM 
next day (from despatch) Cheques will be held for clearance 



AMIGAS 

Amiga 500 £3 1 5 

Screen Gems 1Mb £373 

ClsssoflhcWs £521 

First Sleps £5 Z 1 

Cumana dri ve . £65 

jMcg ivo clock , .£31 

i Meg + elect £35-50 



ACCESSORIES 

Mouse mm .£2.75 

Zipslick £11.50 

Jetrlghler £12.50 

Cheetah 1 25+ £3 

1000 labels £8 

Printer lead .£8.50 

Naksha mouse £28 

Dusl cover .£5,50 



ATARIS 

Discovery Pack £249 

For new 520STE bundles 

call for low prices 

Ext drive ,£72 

Dust cover £5 

lYnde/Govertimnrl/Sdrool orders 
welcome 



BCS LTD, 349 Ditchling Road, Brighton E.Sussex BN J 6,1,1 

Tel 0273 506269 or 0831 279084 

Trade/government/edueation orders welcome 



AMIGA A500 
HARDWARE 



Amiga A500 Screen Gams + 

1 Meg Pack £309 

Amiga A500 Screen Gems Pack + free 

disks + 10 extra games pack £345 

Amiga A500 1 Meg Class of 90's £459 

Amiga A500 1 Meg Class 

of 90*s (First Steps) £459 

Amiga A1 500 Computer £549 

Amiga A1500 + 1084S monitor £759 

Amiga A 1500 + Philips CM 8833 MKIIE725 



SPECIAL OFFER 



Amiga A5Q0, 51 2K, Flight of 
Fantasy Pack... £279.00 

While stocks last 

Amiga A500 + TV Mod + Mouse +■ 
system disk + manuals only £269 



ATARI COMPUTERS 



Atari 520STFM discovery pack 

includes 4 games... £240 

Atari 520 STE Turbo Pack includes basic 
STOS and 7 games + 

Joystick £310 

Atari 1040 STE extra pack includes ST 
Words, ST Gale, ST Basic, ST Graphics, 
Hyper-Paint, STOS, 1st Basic, Print 
Game £399 



AMIGA/ATARI DRIVES 



1 Meg 3.5" internal £49 

1 Meg 3.5" external £60 

1 Meg 5.25" external £90 



ACCESSORIES 



512K Ram +■ clock ,.,..£39 

Joystick £10 

10 Blank disks in library box £8 

Mouse Mat £3 

Amiga/Atari Mouse £29 



MONITORS 



Philips CM8833 MK II Colour 

Monitor + FREE Lead ..£189 

Commodore 1 084S £199 

SM 124 (Atari) £99 

Star LC10 Mono £129 

Star LC200 Colour (9 pin) £180 

Star LC24 200 (24 pin) £210 

Star LC24 200 Colour £245 

Star LC24/10 £175 

Panasonic KXP1 1 24i + lead ,....£239 

Panasonic KXP 1123 £180 

Panasonic KXP1 624 £329 

Citizen 120D + £120 

Citizen Swift 24 + Colour Upgrade ..£259 
Citizen Swift 9 + Colour Upgrade ....£185 

Epson LX400 £126 

Epson LQ400 (24 pin) £199 



LASER/INKJET 
PRINTERS 



PLEASE CALL FOR PRICES 



PAZAZ! 



THE ONE STOP AMIGA SHOP IN SCOTLAND 



Everything for your Amiga at real sexy prices! 

Midi/modems/video/scanners/printei-s/monitors/ 

disk drives/ram/software/books etc 



Amiga 

500, 1500/2000 &A3000 

at very competitive prices. 



We can supply the Amiga A590 Hard disk fitted 

with up to 2Mb Ram for your A500 

or 

We can also supply and fit hard cards/disks to 

your Amiga 1500/2000/3000 

Ring us for the best prices on Ram boards and 
chips for any Amiga configuration 



Have a look at the first Amiga CD Rom Drive - Newly 

imported from Xetec in Kansas. Supplied with a CD 

containing over 500Mb of PD software. 

Send a disk + 50p or £ 1 for our latest PD list. 






Pazaz!, 14 Douglas Street, Dunfermline, 
Fife, SCOTLAND KYI 2 7EB 

TEL/FAX 0383 620102 






MAKE YOUR 



AMIGA 



EARN! 



Yes making money with your Amiga becomes incidental when you know how. Your 
micro is, if only you knew it, a gold mine. The size and make is irrelevant. Make the 
initial effort NOW by starting your own 

HOME BASED BUSINESS 

This may be the most important move you will ever make! 
REMEMBER: You'll never get rich by digging someone else's "ditch". Anyone in the 
country, including YOU, can become very rich in a relatively short period of time just by 
doing a few basic things! It's more rewarding than playing games. The benefits are 
many and varied. Full or part time. For FREE details send SAE. to: 




31,PILTONPLACE(AS2) 

KING AND QUEEN STREET, 

WALWORTH, LONDON SE17 1DR 



Af u s x 



Af 



Q t r'\ * 



The Matrix is a source of data for the computer musician. Musicians can access texl, score, 
coloured graphics, musical performance and NEW INSTRUMENTS for their SYNTH from thair 
computer. NEW - from Hands On - Hit sequences lor the Amiga in Music-X and MFS format. 
BAD THRILLER RELAX NIGHTBIHDS EVE OF THE WAR EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE WHATS 
LOVE GOTTA DO WITH IT KNOCK ON WOOD Sequences cost £20.95 for ANY FOUR HITS. 
Our catalogs are on disk, along with software for £2.00 

NEW Korg Ml Data Disk - 500+ voices WITH software 

that lets you transmit & receive AM. r>ATA from Ml to disk only £30. 

ALSO Kawai Kl/r/m Data Disk - as above for £30. AMIGA or ST. 

Amiga Matrix issues 1-4 are available now. Issue 1 has Korg Ml SAMPLES 

in IFF format +8VST software. Issue 2 has 250+ voices for Roland D5/10/20. 

Issue 3 has FB-01 Editor. From Issue 2 Music-X sequences and Oktalyzer 

Songs are included. 

The Matrix is available for the ST & AMIGA for £10 per issue. 

Or you may buy ANY FOUR ISSUES for £35. 

Prices include P&P costs WORLDWIDE Please specify computer when ordering 

Music Matrix 1 * Main Street East Wemyss SCOTLAND KYI 4RU 

VISA PHONE 



ACCESS 




AMIGA BOOKS 



:< Visit us on Stand B1 8 & 
& Computer Shopper Show > 



Amiga for Beginners.. £12,95 

Amiga Machine Language £14.95 

Amgla System Prog. Guids £29.95 

Amiga DOS Inside & Out £1 S.95 

Amiga C for Beginners £1 6.95 

Amiga Desktop Video Guide £16.95 

More Tricks & Tips £14.95 

Making Music on the Amiga £29.95(d) 

Amiga Kernal ROM; Libs & Divs £29.95 

Amiga Hardware Ref. Guide £21.95 

Advanced Amiga BASIC... £16.95 

Amiga DOS: A Dabh and Guide £14.95 

Getting the Most from Amiga..... £9.95 

First Book of Amiga .£14.95 

Elementary Amiga BASIC £12.95 

Amiga Desktop Video Workbook ....£29.95 (d) 

Inside Amiga Graphics £14.95 

Programming the 68000 (Sybe>:)....£22,95 

Leisure Suit Larry Story £11 95 

Jack Nicklaus Computer Golf £10.95 

Official Book of Kings Quest .£9.95 

(d) - includes disk. Send SAE 



Amiga BASIC Inside & Out £18.95 

Amiga 3D Graphics in BASIC £16.95 

Advanced System Prog Guide .......£29.95 

Amiga Disk Drives inside & Out £24.95 

Amiga C for Advanced Prog £29.95 

Amgia Graphics Inside & Out £29.95 

Amiga Printers Inside & Out £29.95(d) 

Best of Tricks & Tips £24.95(d) 

Amiga Kernal ROM: Includes £28.95 

Mapping the Amiga...... £1 9.95 

Amiga Assembly Language Prog .,.£12.95 

Amiga DOS Quick Reference .,.£8,95 

Becoming an Amiga Artist £1 6.95 

Second Book of Amiga......... £14.95 

Kids S The Amiga £13.95 

Amiga Companion £14.95 

AmigaDOS 2 Companion £22.95 

AmigaDOS Ref Guide 3rd Ed £18.95 

F1 5 Strike Eagle Handbook .£10.95 

Falcon Air Combat , £12,95 

Gunship Academy £10.95 

for our new descriptive catalogue 



Free delivery in UK and Europe and surface mail worldwide. 
Add 30% for airmail outside Europe. Access & Visa accepted 



DTBS 

18 Norwich Avenue, Rochdale, Lanes OL1 1 SJZ 
Tel/Fax 0706-524304 






PICTUREWARE© 



©N.J.N. Williams 1991 




Commodore Amiga IS TlERE 1 1;*- c 

Unbelievable quality ^Ss n. 
Amazing valueir o, ^Af 
Incredible furrtl'P&j £ ' 

Available in 

4096 Colour HAM 

& 

32 Colour IFF 

Please specify 

when ordering 

FOR FULL DETAILS 

PLEASE SEND SAE 

i Stx+dtsks post free 

Give your Paint Package a treat! A stunning photograph to work from!! Put 
life into your DTPADTV: wonder at the quality, let your imagination run wild!!! 
See before you buy!!! . Catalogue disk No.1 is 90p & 50p P&P and 
forms part of our 3 disk demo set which is £3 post paid. Please specify 
IFF or HAM demonstration disks. Single demo disks also 90p & 50p P&P. 

On Picture ware© Catalogue Disk One Are> 

People Disks 1&2 We can accept African Animals Disks 1 &2 



ONL YA VAILABLE FROM 

NIKWEUAMSl 

BROADCAST! 

COMPUTER 

PICTURE 

LIBRARY 

0792 470503 



I One disk £4,99 
■ Two+dsks £4.50 each 
I Up to five disks £1 P&P 



Children Disks 1&2 
African Famine Disks 1&2 
The Nude Disks 1&2 
Edwardian Photo's Disks 1&2 
Art In Photography Disks 1&2 




Sifverback Gorilla Disks 1&2 
Views of Vietnam Disks 1 &2 
African Pygmies Disks 1&2 
Motorbikes Disks 1 &2 
FtnQew On Location Disks 1&2 



Cheques 
Postal Orders 

During Pictureware's© development we've .created pictures in all sizes and 
formats. We're providing them for your fun and entertainment on SPECIALLY 
PRE-FORMATTEB FLOPPIES. £9 for 10 disks, post free! No guarantees 
on this exceptional offer, if you like the pictures use them, if not delete them 
(much quicker than a disk format), and use the disks as blank floppies!!! 
rnrr /"^CCiTO J II With every order of six Picture ware© disks 
mCC UrrCn.'J.' we are giving away FIVE FREE SPECIALLY 
PRE-FOTvlATTED FLOPPIES!!!! (Worth 90p each!!) 



(Offer closes end of June 1991) 



aBIBIBIBIBJBJBlrJIrJIrJIBBfr 



'Y\,%^L'S 



"YOUR GRAPHICS WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!!!" 

Orders by post to:- Nik Williams Broadcast, Aspect House, 

21 Brynmill Crescent, Brynmill, Swansea, SA2 0AL. 

Please allow 21- 28 days for delivery, 'phone for urgent orders 

24Hr Credit Card Phone/FAX Hotline 0792 645946 

(When ordering by telephone please wait for FAX tone to finish, 
at which point you'll be connected to our telephone system.) 



READER ADS 



continued from page 100 

Video Generic Master and Video Wipe 
Master. Offers? DJosmin, Rascrea, 
Church Rd. r Fiddinglon, Bridgwater TA5 
UG or tel. (0278)732619, 

1 4 genuine unused boxed games 
unwanted gifts inc. Photon Point, F29 
Retaliotor, Rainbow Islands, Cricket 
Captain, all For only £50. Will sell 
separately. Ring and rnoke an offer! Tel. 
Keith weekends on (023] 024940. 

LC10 colour printer as new, fully boxed 
with cable and manual. £145, Tel 
Ajinder on (0533) 703090. 

Amiga games cheap boxed wilh manuals 
(Xenon II, Residi, etc.] Also lots of 
Spectrum H/ware, mags and s/ware 
(multiface 150 games 150 mags] Phone 
Colin Far offers/details on (0767) 
600533 after 6 pm please. 

Amiga origin of s/ware half price! Deluxe 
Paint 3 £37.50, Amos £25, GFA Basic 
[with compiler] £35, Deluxe Productions 
£37.50. Tel. lain evenings or weekends 
on (081)675 6419. 

Amigct A500 hard drive. BoxBd r brand 
new. Paid £399, will sell For £200. No 
offers! Tel. G Perry on Camberley (0276} 
35561. 

Pro. Page 2,0 - unwonted upgrade £80. 
Music-X VI. I, new, boxed, £50, 1MB Fatter 
Agnus £50 (incl. Fitting if required]. Tel. 
Richard on (08 1 ) 650 4696 after 6 pm. 

Sinclair QL Micro cassettes R5232 lead 
For printer and comms wore! pro Data 
Base r spreadsheet, s/ware, Psion, Chess 
mags, manuals. As new. best offer. Tel. 
Dough on (0827) 71 2560, 

Commodore 64C computer, one year old 
V.G.C. -+ joystick, light gun and 40 top 
games £100+ o.t.o. Also Speccy 48 with 
games ond lopedeck. Will sell everything 
separately. Tel. Steven on Knowle (0564) 
772903 (evenings}. 

For sale MPS 1 550C colour printer, 
hardly used, with lead, £125 o.n.o., also 
Midi interface + leads + software, worth 
£100. Will sell for £50 o.n.o. 
Christopher Price, 54 Burland Avenue, 
Claregate, Wolverhampton, WV6 9jL. 
Tel. (0902)741744. 

Amiga 500 for sale, £250, A590 hard 
drive with 2 meg ram, £275, external 
drive £25, Philips CM8833 monitor, 
£200, or £700 the lot. Tel. Richard on 
Sevenoaks [0732} 459483. 

CBM Pet 8096 5K system for sole, 
includes double disk drive and printer. 
Any offer considered. Tel. Azim on 
(0533) 419964. 

Sega Megadrive Fantastic condition. Two 
months old, barely used. Plays 
US/UK/Japan games. Two gomes; John 
Madden Football, Super Monaco GP. 
Joypad and joystick. Bargain £200. Tel. 
Paul on |0923) 263511. 

For sale 80 3.5 SonyDS DD Disks for 
£60 inc. slickers, brand new. Plus Free 
Amiga Turtles game. Tel. Lee on (081) 
225 1157 

Pro Page VI, 3 including transcript, £70, 
advantage spreadsheet btesf VI , 1 , £50, 
Turbo Silver, £50. Tel. Roger on (02 1 ) 
308 Bl 83 - Answer phone for messages. 

Amstrad CPC61 28 with colour monitor 
advanced art studio, mouse, mot, tape 
recorder, 40 games etc. £300 o.n.o. Tel. 
David on Coventry (0203) 416148. 

Amstrad CPC 464 green screen 

modulator for TV plus gomes. £90 o.n.o. 
B. Pesticcio, 6 St. Martins Ave., Heaton 
Norris, Stockport, SK4 2JF. Tel. (061) 
432 29BQ. 

Amiga 500, eight months old, exquisite 
condition, BBC emulator, Star Wors, 
Deluxe Paint II and many beautiful games, 
plus two joysticks, mouse and more. Tel. 
Philip on (051) 327 1638, 



WS4000 Modem V21/V23 with PSU, 
Manual, and can supply PD comms sox if 
required. £40 plus p&p Far a cheap start 
in comms, Tel, Dave on (08 1) 661 1057. 

Amiga Stereo power amp + speakers 
[50 W). Hear the difference I £35 inc p&p. 
Cheque/PQ toJP Hammond, 7a Abyss- 
inia Street^ Wavetree, Liverpool LI 5 0EX, 

Checkmate 1500 plus hard drive fitted 
internally. Also A 1010 drive 1 meg 
memory 300+ disks. Great For serious 
user or small business. £700 o.n.o. (See 
to believe). 5teve Wood, 25 Nightingale 
Lane, Wellingboro NN8 4TP, Please write 
or call round, 

CPC 464 mono, disk drive, T28K, stereo 
lead, 100 gomes, 30 mags, 3 joysticks, 
worth over £600, All in superb condition, 
packed with manuals. £300o r n.o. Tel. 
Quentln on (0233) 624904 evenings. 

Twelve games in good condition. All 
boxed with full instructions including 
Shadow or the Beast 1 , Robocop 2, 
Roger Rabbit, Fish, Nighlbreed, also, 
Amos the Creator. From £5 each. P. 
Holmes, 1 Byron Close, Dronfield, 
Sheffield 518 6NG. Tel. (0246) 419123. 

. Okimate 20 printer, brand new, never 
used £55, Large, tractor feed Texas 
instruments prinler £10. Tel Ruth [0766] 

; 830157 between 6-9pm, N Wales. 

Amstrad CPC464 with disc drive, extra 
memory, midi interface, sampler, mouse, 
WP packages, speech synth, various 
gomes plus professional software 
packages. Over £ 1 000 worth of stuff. 
Will sell For £350 o.n.o. Paul Hollow, 1 
Trimms Green, Sawbridgeworth, Herts 
CM21 0LX. Tel. (0279)723843. 

C.B.M. 64 working order, 100 games, 
manuals, 1 joystick, good condition. Old 
style case. Only £1 50 o.n.o. Tel. Gary on 
(04B3) 571748 after 4 pm weekdays or 
week ends. 

Phanebox, stores over 200 names and 
addresses. Very user friendly. Fully 
documented. Price £4 p&p included. Sae 
for details to Mr N Rutherford, 1 52 Prince 
Avenue, Southend^on-Sea, Essex SS0 
0NW 

Amiga A500 VI .2 with 0.5 meg 
expansion and exl drive. Complete with 
original software and a couple of games. 
Boxed ond in VGC. Yours for £280 
o.n.o. Te. S Watkins on Swindon (0793) 
764915. 

Spectrum +2. 128K. £300. Software. 
Original tides. Good condition. £90 
o.n.o. Thomas Heath, 32 Bridgnorth 

Road, Stourton, Stourbridge, W, 
Midlands DY7 6RT. Tel. (0384) 872002. 

Amiga 500, 3 years insurance worth 
£57+, 6 months old, 
Kick start/ Workbench 1.3, many new 
titles, mouse mat, dust cover, everything 
boxed withi all manuals, Canfocl Akhtar 
on [081} 541 1319. 

Amiga Trilogic Stereo sampler MKII, full 
instructions, boxed complete with sampler 
software and printer thru port. Worth 
£54.99, Will sell for £25. Julian Smith, 
45 Maplecroft Crescent, Sheffield S9 
1DN. Tel. (0742)438542. 

Adventures: Leather Goddess of Phobos, 
Jinxter, Burocracy, Gnome Ranger, Ingrid 
Back, Also some arcade games. Afislair 
McBoin, 52 Fox Covert Ave., Edinburgh 
EH12 6UH. Tel. [031)334 7201. 

Amiga 500 +A501 Ram expansion, 
+ 10B1 High res monitor, all boxed, 
perfect, complete with manuals, mags, 
loads of gomes and serious software, etc, 
£490 o.n.o. Tel. A. Hubbard, Bristol 
[0272} 429357 evenings. 

Swap Korg DW 8000 Pro digital synth 
(fully midi compt, fully programmable} for 
CBM A590 hard drive. Inc's manual 
leads, Amiga interface, £240 o.n.o. Tel. 
Andy on (0253) 724607, 



Amiga games - Karate Kid 2, 
Goldrunner, Jupiter Probe and Slaygon. 
All sealed as new -unwanted gifts. £10 
Ihe lot. Tel. W. Jones on [0348} B72435. 

USA Amiga mags back issues. Amazing 
Computing, Amiga World, Transactor, 
Journeyman and Apprentice. 1986 
onwards. Scarce, rare, interesting. Need 
the space! Only £1 .50 each. Post paid. 
Tel. W, Donald an (0795) 475420 now. 

To swap best Digitizer for next best. 

Contact me! Digi view 4 For VIDI Amiga +■ 
VIDI Chrome, no snags. I just wont a real 
time digiriser. Boxed as new I Chris 
Caines, 13 Dial Lane, Down end, Bristol 
8S16 5UK 

Commodore 64 inc. disc drive, joystick, 
mags, disc box, all leads, disc hole 
puncher, too many games lo list. £200. 
Tel. Florian on (0364) 72096. 

Photon paint - unused original - with 
manual -still shrink-wrapped! £6. Tel R. 
Luxten on (067} 55 2180. 

Amigo B2000, 3mb ex, 2 x 3 1/4 drives. 

Extras (Genlock, Midi Interface, etc} and 
programmes. £800. Fromegrabber V2.0 
£300. All boxed and immaculate, Tel. R. 
Yee on (0252} 71 2085 after office hours. 

Amiga 2000 Workbench 1.3 Philips 
stereo monitor XT Bridge board with Dus 
4.01 AST Sixpak-f lus board 2 x 20mb 
hdd lOmb partitioned For Amiga external 
3 1 /2" FDD For XT/Amiga use also Amax 
Mac emulator +Roms. Offers, Tel. Samuel 
on (061} 677 0437. 

Amiga 500 1 meg 2ND drive Star LC 10 
colour printer, sampler Midi interface plus 
aver £2000 worth of software including 
Music-x, Publishers Choice,and many 
games. Bargain £650. Tel. David on 
(081)541 1032, 

Rombo VIDI Amiga and VIDI chrome, 
--eczc r, oTf: herd ware end software, 
offers to Vincent on £0734} 701289 or 
swap For printer or power twin disk drive 
or internal. 

Commodore Amigo Class of 90's 1MB 
extra disc drive 10&4SD monitor ond 
Deluxe Point III, Kick Off II and other 
software, £650 o.n.o. Tel. Richard on 
Wigan (0942) 34324, 

Professional Page VI. .3, original, 
unregistered, complete £100. Tel. Peter 
on [031 ) 462 1 362 evenings. London SE. 

Radio twin cassette with high dubbing. 
Excellent condition. 2 months old. 
Originally £79.99. Will sell for £50 
o.n.o. Also, Spectrum games For sale. el. 
Mark on (091) 252 2401. 

Pholon paint 2.0 unused £25 or P.X 
Against Flight Sim. Progs. F32 Scenery 
disks, F16, Gunship, Mig 29 etc. Also, 
blank Amstrad 3" disks. Five for £5. Tel, 
Mick on [0322)558389. 

Dacom Systems 2424 MNP Error 
Correcting Modem + Ncomm Amiga 
software. £1 80 o.n.o. Would rather part 
exchange for Amiga hard disk (up to 
£1 00+ modem for disk], Tel, John on 
Hitchin (0462) 458742. 

Amiga A500 expanded to 1MB plus 2nd 
cumana disc drive, all leads and 
workbench disks, loads of games sampler 
etc. £400. Stuart Cope 60, Farmlodge 
Grove, Malinslee, Telford, Shropshire TF 3 
2HN. Tel. (0952)503110. 

Seikosha mono 5P-1200 A19 pin printer 
prints at 120/19cps comes with tractor 
teed, owners manual and all connecting 
leads For Amiga 500/2000, Qnly£l 15. 
Tel. K. Hayward anytime between 8 am - 
8 pm on (0705) 522199. 

Master sound sampler with cartridge, 

software. GFA basic interpreter, compiler 
software with manuals. Hardly ever used 
£70. Contact Dove Brooks, 7 Molly 
Huggins Close, Weir Road, Balham, 
London SW1 2 0LT. 

Amstrad CPC 464, disc drive, mono 



monitor, TV modulator, joystick, 100 
games, IQO's magazines, word 
processor, multiface, bargain only £200. 
Tel, Gary on (0480) 61253. 

Alegra 0.5mb memory exp. unit for 

Amigo 1000. Can be upgraded to 2mb. 
£ B0 o.n.o. Also dot matric and daisy 
wheel printer for sale. Tel. P, Ducker on 
(0305) 770453 after 6 pm. 

Professional Page VI .3 new original 
unregistered. Tel. Peter on (081) 462 
1362 evenings. 

Serious software prowrite 3.0 £40 
DPAINTZ £10 swift animate 4DJR £30 
Pageserter II £30 Analyse £20, Photon 
Paint £10, Amiga Vision £50. No oFfers. 
Tel. Howard on [071) 582 7421. 

Various games for sale or exchange. 
Twenty in total. Also synthesiser and 

modem. No reasonable offer refused. Tel. 
W, Wiedenheoft on (0767) 317B97. 

Angus (8371} chip £20. Kick Startl.2 
chip £ 1 5. STD mouse and holder £ 1 
plus pip. FF I ond Roger Rabbit to sell or 
swop. Tel. Viper on [0473] 713715 
between 6-9 pm. 

Amiga 500 1 meg second drive, some 
software, colour TV, Fatter Agnus 
Machine £350. Tel (0425) 654460. 

A500 with LC-T0 colour printer. All leads 
manuals etc. Supplied under warranty. 
Colour monitor, loads of games etc. Will 
sell separately but prefer to sell as whole 
£700 o.n.o. Morcos Scriven, 
Tangtewood, Half Noon Lone, Redgrave, 
Suffolk. Tel (0379) B90306. 

Unwanted gift Their Finest Hour, 
BaHlehawks, F29 Retaliated Ail boxed 
and complete. £10 each. G. Briggs, 63 
Rievaulx Way, Guisborough, Cleveland 
TS14 7AY. Tel. (0287} 633084 

Amiga 1/2 meg memory upgrade with 
battery backed clock, little used £20. Also 
Psion Organiser xp model 32K rom ond 
extra software, boxed with manuals 
£100. Tel. M. Atkinson, (0532) 610662 

1 Amstrad PPC512 Fully IBM compatible, 
portable computer with twin 3 1 /2" 
drives wilh printer, monitor and software. 
£350 onoTel Fahim on (041) 339 2200. 

Amiga System Programmers Guide 
[Abacus) £17, CP80 printer Epson 
compat., little used £50, Fun Scbool-3 
Over-7s £10, Battlechess £10 or sensible 
offers. Tel A. BraH on (0225} 873033 
evenings. 

Sinclair Z8B laptop computer with 1 28K 
ram upgrade, serial to parallel printer 
lead, RS232lead, power supply £180 
o.n.o. or will exchange for Amiga 
peripherals, Tel. D.Robertson Ley I and 
(0772) 453470. 

Panasonic KXP 1081 prinler with extra 
ribbon. V.G.C. £100 o.n.o. Also source 
codes and programming contacts wanted, 
No swappers. Contact Darryl, 168 
Furlong Road, Goldthorpe, Rotherham, 
South Yorkshire or lei. [0709) 8&1257. 

14 original games for sale including: 
Lotus Esprit, Midwinter, Super Cars, 
Xenon 2, Xybots. Each game is halF price 
or less"! Tel. Trevor on (0934) B33736 
after 6 pm For more details. 

Protexfr 4.2 complete with 2 disks and 
322 page manual, cost £99.95. Sell for 
£35 plus p&p or exchange oF video tiller, 
DTP etc. D Whittle, 18 Russet Close, 
Worcester WR2 6EL Tel (0905) 424066. 

Amiga games Drakkhen, Treble 
Champions. £6 each. Edition One 
compilation £9. All boxed. Back issues 
N.C.E., Amiga Computing, Amiga User, 
etc. 65p-£1.10 includes postage. Tel. A. 
Foster on (0703) 676949 after 7 pm. 

Amiga A500, Memory expansion, second 
disk drive, loads of original games and 
other soFrwore. Bargain at only £350. Tel. 
Mike on (071) 249 2313 after 6 pm. 



40M hard disk for A500 vortex model, 
Autobool, £350. Star LC-10 colour printer 
£130. Commodore 10845 colour 
monitor £140. Also games! Tel. J. 
Cameron on (0463 790340 for details. 

Sharp JX-9500 laser printer, 3 months 
old, cost £ 1029, hardly used, will accept 
any offer around £875, has to be seen I 
Tel. Michael on (08 1 \ 504 41 77. 

Days of Thunder, Shadow oF the Beast II 
£10 each o.n.o. Back to the Future £7 
o.n.o. Tel. Stephen on (0745) 591432 
after 5 pm. 

Genlock NMO 8802 6V Video title 
program: £230 o.n.o, Also, wanted: 
Hard drive A590 with 2 m6 & new video 
title program. Hemanl Mistry, 72 Leire St., 
off Melton Road, Leicester Lfc"4 6NT Tel. 
[0533) 664682. 

One Geniscan 4500 complete with 
version III software. Very goad condition, 
at only £1 1 inc p&p. Tel. Ray on 
((092575} 5316. 

Do you use the CU? CLI bench contains 
more commands and other extras. Send 
50p and blank disc to B. Vince, 5 1 
Anglesey Ave,, Hoilsham, East Sussex 
BN27 3BQ. 

C64 For sale including mouse and paint 
program. Lots of games, excellent 
condition, all boxed. Only £100. Tel. R, 
Roberts on (08 1 ) 960 088 1 after 5 pm. 

PERSONAL 

Amos contacts wanted. For hints, lips and 
demos write to Paul Thompson, 1 2 
Shadows Lane, Mossly, Ash ton under 
Lyne. OL5 9BS 

Interested in Virtual Reality? Wan! to 
swop info/idea 5 on the Future? Write 
now! Also Amigo PD, swop yours for 
mine. Ian, 29 New England Rood, 
Brighton, Sussex BNI 3TLJ. 

Hit I'mo 15 year old fun lovin' mole 
looking for a 14-15 year old female pen 
pal. Write to; John, 52 Bramhall Lane, 
Davenport, Stockport, Cheshire SK2 6HZ. 

All Format 1 00 page colour magazine 
including cheats, lips and great offers. 
Send sae to Dave Clark, 3 Thornton 
Terrace, Palmersville, Tyne & Wear NE1 2 
9QH for details. 

Help needed with C language. I know the 
very basics but am finding it difficult. 
Paul, 84 Beresford Road, Lowestoft, 
Suffolk NR32 2NG. 

Jez of Arena says Yo! To: Red Devil, 
Mantra, Brick, Maxtor, Bilbo (where is my 
video?], Adom-M*, Andy, Ian JCTC, Mole 
and Dan of Anarchy!!!. Phone mesoonl J 
Dutton(0704) 7B493. 

FANZINES 

Here Be Drogons,. New computer mag, all 
formats, news, reviews, features, etc. 
Only £ 1 .50 including P&P. Send cheque 
payable lo; Here Be Dragons, 34 Paslon 
Road, Mundesley, Norfolk NR1 1 8BW. 

Quortz-new Amiga fanzine inc. games, 
music, art, cheats, ufls, elc. Only £ 1 .50 ■ 
50p P&P. Send to Martin Turner, 3 Ellis 
House, Shernhall Street, Walthamslow, 
London E17 9JA. 

Where To Camp in France. The best 
computer fonzine ihe world has ever 
sesn. Now Amiga owners can enjoy it 
too!. 5end £l 50 now to Peter 
Templeman, 1 7 Cornerstone Dr. Acklam, 
Middlesbrough, Cleveland TS5 Bjj. 

Great new Amiga fanzine' Amoeba 
Quarterly. Send sae for details to David 
Black, 369 Wanstead Park Road, llford, 
Essex IG1 3TT. 

DNA Disk based mag. Loadsa utils, lips, 
PD, games and serious slufF reviews. £2 

Ihe (oHICheques/PO payable to F. Res. 
Contact: DNA, 3 Cypress Walk, Barrow 
in Furness, Cumbria LA 13 0JY 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 




(- \ f~\ f c\-\ i \r 



(lV(A( 



-i j .1 
J Vi 



TM 



OFFICIAL 

DISTRIBUTOR 



OWD-MECMWHICAL 
MICE 




Atari ST 

Commodore Amiga 
ST/Amiga switchable 
IBM Serial 
IBM PS/2 
Amstrad PC Bus 



£19.95 
£19.95 
£24.95 
£24.95 
£19.95 
£19.95 



tfWjpSCflb&iERS 



r 




Commodore Amiga 
Atari ST 


£39.95 
£39.95 


IBM PC Serial 


£39.95 


v 


J 




ST with Touch-Up £199.95 

Amiga with Touch-Up £199.95 

IBM PC Multi-directional £199.95 



COHVPI/ESS MICE 


Atari ST 


£39.95 


Commodore Amiga 

IBM PC Serial 
v 


£39.95 
£39.95 



( THE fy^SlStt 

The brush is a new slim 
mouse which is used 

like a pen. 
It's ideal for artists. 



Amiga 
ST 



£39.95 
£39.95 



OPEN TO THE 
PUBLIC 

Prices include P&P 
and VAT at 17.5% 

Overnight courier service 
available at extra cost 

Please telephone 
for availability 



OPTICAL MICE 




Atari ST 

Commodore Amiga 
ST/Amiga switchable 
IBM PC serial 
IBM PC with Dr. Halo 
Amstrad PC bus 



£35.95 
£35.95 
£39.95 
£39.95 
£49.95 
£35.95 



2Mb Amiga 500 expansion unpopulated £29.95 

2Mb Amiga 500 expansion populated £129.95 

512K Amiga 500 expansion with clock £29.95 

2Mb Atari ST expansion unpopulated £29.95 

2Mb Atari ST expansion populated £149.95 



Golden Image (UK) Ltd, 
Golden Image House, 

Fairways Business Park, 
Lammas Road, London, E10 7QT 
Tel 081-518 7373 Fax 081-518 7585 

Trade Enquiries Welcome 

Credit card orders accepted by phone. 

Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, Amstrad and IBM are all registered 
trademarks of their respective owners 



WE MUST BE MAD 

Due to massive bulk buying and low cost advertising 

we can offer you high quality European manufactured 

disks at these extremely low prices 

» DSDD ^ J K INC VAT- 
DISKS MISLABELS 

250 + @29p each; 500 + @ 28p each; 1000 + @ 27p each 
ALL DISKS CERTIFIED 100% ERROR FREE 



SONY 3.5" 38p 



3.5" DSHD... 
5.25" DSDD. 
5.25" DSHD. 




New! High quality DSDD 
Mitsubishi 3.5" bulk disks. 
100% error free, with label. 

3.5" DSDD, blue 30p each 

Branded disks 

3.5" Sony 68p each 

3.5" 3M 73peach 

Amiga Memory Upgrade 

O.SMeg w/o clock £28.00 

0.5Meg with clock £32.00 



Disk Storage Boxes 

3.5" 40 capacity, locks E3.5G 

3.5" 80 capacity, locks £4.30 

3.5" 100 capacity, locks £4.95 

Accessories 

Mouse Mats £1 .95 

3.5" Disk cleaning kit £1.80 

3.5" Disk labels £1.50/100 

Amiga dust cover £2.95 

Amiga 3.5" ext drive £58.00 



DSDD BULK 



Cheques/PO's to; Redlaw Resources, STF Offer 
74 Durban Road, Patchway, Bristol B512 5HQ. 
Please add £3.50 for P&P Tel: (0272) 760600 



100 Capacity Disc Box. 



Mouse Pockets.. 

Printer Stand 

Posso Box 



...3.75 50 Capacity Disk Box. 



...1.50 Mouse Mat 

,,.3.75 Amiga Dust Cover 

,15.00 Atari Dust Cover 



Amiga 512K RAM Expansion with clock. 
Amiga/Atari External Drive 



[THIS MONTHS 200 3.5" DSDD DISKS C£ QC 



SPECIAL OFFER + 2x100 CAP BOXES 



Please add £2.85 p&p/next day £6.50. Cheques/POs to 
PLC COMPUTER SUPPLIES (Dept ASH) 
11 Meakin Avenue, Clayton, 
Newcastle, Staffs ST5 4EY. 



[TELESALES HOTLINE 



CLUB AMIGA 

24 Hour Helpline 

Make New Amiga Contacts 

Access To The Cream of PD 

Newsletters 

A year's membership for £5! 

All of the normal benefits of belonging to a nationwide 

club, plus you can talk to our team of Amiga 

experts at any time, day or night! 

To receive your membership number plus the 24 hour 

Telephone Helpline number - send your name, address 

and a cheque/postal order for £5 payable to 

CLUB AMIGA, 5 Bowes Lea, Shiney Row, 

Tyne and Wear DH4 4PP. 

Or send an S.A.E 

for more info. 



z 



O 



5 





Amiga Hard Dislcs and Ram 




Fujitsu 3.5" SCSI Hard Disks 

43Mb, 25rns, I" high £199 

90Mb, 19ms .£349 

1 35Mb, 19ms £469 

?80Mb, 19ms £520 

All Fujitsu drives fully support synchronous SCSI transfer 
(with Amiga 3000 and some Amiga 2000 controllers) 


Plus 3.5" SCSI Hard dislcs (Quantum) 

52Mb, I7ms, I" high £249 

85Mb, f 7ms, 1" high £399 

105Mb, 17ms, 1" high £439 

120Mb, 15ms £499 

170Mb, 15ms £689 

210Mb, 1 5ms £749 

All Plus hard disks have a 64kb inbuilt cache 
which gives an 1 1ms read access time. 

Quantum is a subsidiary of Plus Development 




Ta pest reamers now available! 

1 50Mb SCSI tapestreamers now available. 
Prices start at £399. Please ring for details. 




FREE PUBLIC DOMAIN 

Buy any hard drive over 1 00Mb from us, and we will put 

on as much free Public Domain software for the Amiga 

as you want! Just say how much you want, you can list 

specific Fish disks (1 to 410) in your order if you wish. 




Seagate, WD, Toshiba, Maxtor 

Far too many drives to list here, please ring for details 
and prices. MFM, RLL, ESDI, SCSI and AT drives available. 






Almathera Systems Ltd. 

Tel (081| 683 6418 Fax (081) 689 8927 

Challenge House, 616 Mltcham Rd, 

Croydon, CR9 3AU. 

All prices Include VAT and delivery. 

Data cables and 5.25" mounting frames are extra. Free PD can only 

be provided for controllers that support Commodore's Rigid Disk Block 

standard [CBM A2091 &A590. GVP Series II. Microbotics Hardframe, 

ICD etc). Please check your controller manual. 

Ail prices are correct at time of going to press. E&OE. AH trademarks respected. 


Amiga SCSI controllers 

You will need a SCSI controller to use any of the hard 

drives listed above. Please ring for the latest prices on 

ICD, Microbotics and Commodore controller cards. 




RAM Chips 

256x4 80ns DRAM fforA590, A2091, A540, etc.) ...£38 per Mb 

1 Mbxl 80ns DRAM |forA2058, 8-Up, etc) £40 per Mb 

1 Mbx9 80ns SIMMS |for GVP Series II, etc) £42 each 

4 Mbx9 80/70ns SIMMS £Call 



BUYERS' GUIDE 



BUYERS' GUIDE 

Amiga Shopper £ quick-reference super-test summary for the 
discerning buyer of hard and floppy disk drives for the Amiga 



ft REVIEW # HARD DRIVE REVIEW • HARD DRIVE REVIEW • HARD DRIVE REVIE 



ooooooooo 
Shopping List 

GVP Series II A500-HD+ 

(50Mb) £599 

from Power Computing Ltd 

GVP Series II A2000-HC+4 

(173Mb) £849 

from Power Computing Ltd 

44a Stanley Street, 
Bedford 
MK41 7RW 
» 0234 273000 

Expansion Systems DataFlyer 500 

(48Mb) £389.95 

from Trilogic 

Expansion Systems DataFlyer 

2000148Mb) £349.99 

from Trilogic Unit 1, 
253 New Works Rood, 
Bradford, 
BD120QP 
"0274691115 

SupraDrive 500XP (40Mb),.£489 
SupraDrive WordSync 2000 

(52Mb) £449 

from Surface UK 

5 Rockware Avenue, Greeriford, 

Middlesex, 

UB60M 

w 081 566 6677 

and 

WTS Electronics Ltd 

Studio Master House, 

Chaul End Lane, 

Luton, 

Beds LU4 8EZ 

"0582491949 

But try shopping around. 

Amiga A590 (20Mb) £299 

Amiga A2094 and A2090A 
controller board 

(40Mb) £1 09.80 

from various suppliers. 
Don't forget to 
shoo arouad. 




BEST BUY 




• 500 • 500 • 500 • 500 • 500 • 500 • 500 

(A500) GVP IMPACT 11+ 50MB (A500) COMMODORE AS90 



Superb build, excellent aesthetics and 
blinding speed make this the best A5O0 
drive featured. And from what we saw, it 
will take some beating. The only choice 

For the power user with money to burn. 



No, we have not gone totally potty. It's 
slow and only offers 20Mb of storage, 
but it's a good workhorse for under 
£300 and guaranteed to be 1 00% 
reliable with other Commodore kit. 




si^OSSSSC 



The GVP Impact II is the tops when it comes to A500 hard drives. 



• 2000 • 2000 • 2000 • 2000 • 2000 • 2000 



SUPRA WORDSYNC 2000 



GVP SERIES II A2000 HC+8 



It is the fastest drive we tested, comes with The review model had a 173Mb drive, 



plenty of storage for the price, and it all 
fits in a single expansion slot. It comes 
with versatile, user-friendly software too. 
What more could you ask? 



but Power sells a 40Mb one for £399. It 
performs almost as well as the Supra, is 
supported by good software, and has 
the capability to add RAM on board. 




On the 2000, the Supra Wordsync comes out as the best of the bunch. 



This buyers' guide is 
compiled from the 
comprehensive 
floppy disk survey 
conducted in the free sample 
issue of Amiga Shopper, 
given away with issue 21 of 
Amiga Format, and the 
exhaustive hard drive trial 
published in AS issue 1 , We 
have included as much 
information as possible to 
help you make your buying 
decision. 

For a fuller analysis you 
should purchase the relevant 
back-issues containing the 
complete surveys. Amiga 
Format issue 21 can be 
bought for £3.85 and details 
on getting hold of issue one 
of Amiga Shopper can be 
found on page 111. 

Our buyers' guide pages 
will be updated as often as 
possible to ensure you get 
the fuil Facts on all the top 
hardware and software 
available for your Amiga, 
We take great care to 
ensure the accuracy of our 
advice, but if you are aware 
of any inaccuracies or 
omissions from the guides, 
please notify us in writing so 
that we can continue to give 
you the most comprehensive 
and up-to-date Amiga 
information possible. 

The guides will be run 
on a rota basis as we 
conduct more and more of 
them, because in a few 
months time there won't be 
room to run all of them in 
one issue. 

If there is a comparison 
we haven't done that you 
are keen to see or there are 
any rating categories we 
have not included that would 
help you to make your 
buying decision, then let us 
know about them. The 
address for updates and 
corrections is: 
Buyer's Guide Update, 
Amiga Shopper, 
30 Monmouth Street, 
Bath BA1 2BW 

continued en page 1 06 



AMIGA SHOPPER •ISSUE20JUNE 1991 

; 



10J 



BUYERS' GU D I 



continued from page 1 OS 



Hard drive tests 

Unlike floppy drives, the hard variety perform at 
differing speeds depending on the disk controller 
and the actual disk drive supplied with the unit. 

See the figures for how the drives performed. 
The first thing was to measure the time taken for a 
low- level format. Normally, hard disks are 
supplied already formatted, with Workbench and 
Extras {and sometimes some manufacturer specific 
tools) installed. But in some cases it might be 
necessary to re-format: ie, if you need to change 
the number or size of the partitions. The timings for 
the format are given in seconds per 1 0Mb, since 
larger drives obviously take longer to format. 



The time taken to format and initialise a boot 
partition of 10Mb - the partition where all 
subsequent tests were performed - was also 
measured. 

Having done this we installed Workbench on 
the partition (each of the models come with 
software to do this) and measured the time taken 
for a cold boot from the hard disk. 

To simulate the performance of the drives in 
everyday use, we used DiskSpeed 1 .0 by Michael 
Sim of MKSoft Development. This creates 256 files 
on the disk, scans the resulting directory list twice 
and then deletes the files, taking timings for each 
in terms of number of operations performed per 
second. A seek and read test is then executed, 



whereby a 256k file is created and sections of 
data at the beginning, middle and end of this file 
are sought and read 1 50 times each. It also tests 
the speed at which the drive can write and read 
raw data. Results are given in number of bytes 
read/written per second. 

Once these tests were done, we ran them 
again but this time with a HAM picture at the front 
of the screen. The reason for this is that the custom 
chips have to do a lot of work to display a HAM 
image, and there will be some contention between 
them and the hard disk for access to memory. 

Finally, we measured how long it took for a 
typical program to load from each drive. For this 
we chose Deluxe Paint III. 



ID TESTS • HARD DRIVE SPEED TESTS • HARD DRIVE SPEED TESTS # HARD DRIVE SI 




Amiga A2094 
Dalaflyer 2000 
GVP A2000-HC+8 
Supra Drive 2000 

A2000 speed 
tests show 
speed of file 
handling and 
directory 
access, with 
Oataflyer on a 
flyer in seek 
and read. 




Amiga A2094 
Dalaflyer 200C 
GVP A2000.HC+8 
Supra Drive 2000 

The raw read 
speed tests 
show the 
Supra Drive to 
be streets 
ahead of the 
pack, with the 
GVP snapping 
at its heels. 



4501 
400 I 
350 I 
300 j 
2501 
200 1 



1001 



Normal : ^ | 



With HAM 



0.5k 



4k 



32k 



0.5k 



4k 



32k 



[ Amiga A2094 
I Dalaffyor 2000 
GVP A2000-HC+8 
Supra Drive 2000 

Again, the 
Supra and 
GVP lead the 
field in the 
raw write 
stakes, but 
Dataflyer runs 
well with a 
0.5k buffer. 



2201 










200 


Normal 1 




With HAM „ 




180 


1 




1 | 




160 
140 


I 






M 


120 
100 


1 1 


1 


j li 






■ 


SO 






1 Hi 




60 
40 
20 


: J . 1 


! 




J 11 











m&«i RS«S !K»* SB! 





& «*&* & 



* . **» 



tjp 



^ v *# 



^ 






+* 



Amiga AS 90 
Dataflyer 500 
GVPA500-HD+ ' 
SupraDrive 500 XP 

There was little 
in it as all A500 
drives turned in 
a fairly even 
showing for the 
file handling 
and directory 
access speed 
shakedown. 




Amiga A J 90 
Dotoflyer 500 
GVP A5Q0-HD+ 
SupraDrive 500 XP 

The GVP left 
the rest for 
dead at higher 
buffer sizes, 
with the Supra 
500 taking the 
raw read speed 
honours down 
there at 0.5k. 




32k 0.5k 4k 



Amigo A590 
DotoFlyer 500 
GVP A500-HD+ 
SupraDrive 500 XP 

I Again, the all- 
singing GVP 
did ail right at 
raw write, with 
the Data Flyer 

I fading away 
badly as the 
buffer was 
cranked up. 



li 

1.0 
0.9 

o.a 

0.T 
0.G 
0.5 
0.4 

0.3 
0.2 

0.1 

o 



Raw Read 

n 
■ 


1 : 


Raw Write 






1 & 


| 


| 








It 


& ■ Sss 


>SS 









0.5k 



4k 



32k 0.5k 



4k 



32k 



DF0: |OFS] 
DfO: (FF5) 
RAM: (OFS) 
RAD: (OFS] 
RAD: (FFS) 

Now compare 
how other 
devices fared in 
the raw read 
and write tests. 
Notice the 
difference 
between RAD 
and RAM. 



Hard drive speed test results 


Sizing 


UP 




Drive Format 10Mb 


Cold Boat 


Load DPaml III 


DIMENSIONS (mm) 




Partition (sets) 


(tecs) 


(sees) 


Length 


Width 


height 


A2Q94 605 


35 


9 


N/A 


N/A 


N/A 


Dntof Iyer 2000 245 


40 


3 


N/A 


N/A 


N/A 


GVP 2000 110 


40 


2 


N/A 


N/A 


N/A 


SupraDrive 2000 N/A 


45 


3 


N/A 


N/A 


N/A 


AS»0 205 


45 


3 


260 


112 


45 


Dalaflyer SOD 240 


35 


2 


377 


145 


62 


GVP 500 520 


23 


1 


330 


135 


62 


SupraDrive 500XP N/A 


58 


2 


285 


107 


60 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 



BUYERS' GUIDE 



Floppy disk drive suppliers 



When you make your choice of disk drive, where 

do you go? The first stop will probably be your 
local dealer, but few dealers stock the floppy 
drives listed here - at least, not under their own 
names. Many distributors now value-add to third- 
party disk drives by packing them in Fancy boxes 
and giving things away with them. This is in 
evidence with the Roctec units, which we believe 



are badged as Qtec (from Tri logic on 0274 

691 1 1 1 5) and Xetec. There's nothing at all wrong 

with this, but it helps to know exactly what you are 
buying. If in any doubt, get the dealer to open the 
box and take a look for yourself. 

Drives most commonly found at local specialist 
dealers tend to be the ever-popular Cumana 
models, whereas those sold by mail-order firms are 



usually made by Power Computing. Again, if in 
doubt, make sure to ask your dealer. 
Roctec units are more difficult to find in their native 
form. Anyone interested in getting one of the 
slimline models can contact Roctec's importer, 
Direct Disk Supplies. 

The Commodore A101 1 is Freely available; 
any Commodore appointed dealer will either stock 
them or be able to order them. However, you 
should not contact Commodore directly as 
Commodore doesn't sell them directly. 



tlVE TEST RESULTS • FLOPPY DRIVE TEST RESULTS • FLOPPY DRIVE TEST • FLOPP 



Drive 


CBM 


Cumana 


Power 


Power 


Golden 


Roctec 


Roctec 


Roctec 




A1011 


CAX354 


Single 


Dual 


Image 


RF302 


RF332 


RF504 


Internal PSU 


No , . 


.No 


No 


Yes 


No 


No 


No 


No 


Throughport 


No 


Yes 


Yes 


Yes 


Yes 


Yes 


Yes 


Yes 


Compatibility 


OK 


OK 


OK 


OK 


OK 


OK 


OK 


OK 


Disable switch 


No 


Yes 


Yes 


Yes 


Yes 


Yes 


Yes 


Yes 


40/80 track 


No 


No 


No 


No 


No 


No 


No 


Yes 


Height (mm) 


50 


35 


32 


66 


46 


32 


22 


52 


Width (mm) 


135 


116 


107 


107 


143 


103 


115 


148 


Length (mm) 


200 


200 


223 


241 


223 


208 


192 


280 


Weight (g) 


1,000 


700 


1,000 


2,010 


1,000 


940 


880 


2,000 


Lead length (mm) 


490 


610 


580 


640 


790 


685 


675 


665 


Plug type 


Moulded 


Shell 


Shell 


Moulded 


Moulded 


Shell 


Shell 


Shell 


Anti click 


No 


No 


Yes 


Yes 


No 


No 


No 


No 


Build 


Good 


Good 


VGood 


V Good 


Good 


VGood 


VGood 


VGood 


Casing 


Plastic 


Plastic 


Metal 


Metal 


Plastic 


Metal 


Metal 


Metal 


Fixing 


Screws 


Clips 


Screws 


Screws 


Screws 


Screws 


Screws 


Screws 


External finish 


VGood 


VGood 


Good 


Good 


VGood 


VGood 


VGood 


Good 


Repel solvent 


AC 


ABC 


ABCD 


ABCD 


ABC 


ABCD 


ABCD 


ABCD 


Repel fire (30s) 


No-1 


No -10 


Yes 


Yes 


No -15 


Yes 


Yes 


Yes 


Repel scratches 


Yes 


Yes 


Yes 


Yes 


Yes 


Yes 


Yes 


Yes 


Repel liquids 


No 


Yes 


Yes 


- 


Yes 


No 


No 


No 


Repel dust 


No 


Yes 


Yes 


Yes 


Yes 


Yes 


Yes 


Yes 


Extreme stress 


Pass 


Fail 


Pass 


Pass 


Pass 


Pass 


Pass 


Pass 


Pull b'away (g) 


400 


800 


400 


1 ,600 


1,000 


1,000 


600 


2,600 


Pull running (g) 


400 


200 


400 


1,400 


800 


1,000 


400 


1,800 


Mechanism 


Int 


Ext 


Ext 


Ext 


Ext 


Ext 


Ext 


Ext 


Eject throw (mm) 


7 


2 


2 


7 


7 


2 


6 


- 


Eject pressure (g) 


600 


700 


700 


600 


800 


700 


800 




Price 


£99.99 


£74.99 


£65 


£110 


£84 


£65* 


£65* 


£99* 


* These prices may vary < 


greatly depen 


ding on the su 


pplier and bac 


ged name. 











Summary of test criteria 



THROUGHPORT: Throughport 
compatibility test determined if drives from 
different manufacturers could be connected 
to each other 

REPEL SOLVENT: Four different solvents 
and bleaches commonly found in the 
household environment were used, 
ranging from 'A*: a mild bleaching agent 
to 'D J : a powerful solvent. Five ml was 
applied to the case and allowed to stand 
for 20 minutes. The cases were then 
cleaned, dried and inspected for damage. 
A letter here indicates a pass. 
REPEL FIRE: A yellow flame was ployed 
on the casing for 30 seconds or until the 
surface showed visible signs of damage. It 
was known that the plastic cases would 
not survive; the figure shows time recorded 
before blemishing. 



REPEL SCRATCHES: A sharp stylus was 
scraped along the drive's casing until the 
covering became perforated. All of the 
drives reviewed performed equally, 
REPEL LIQUIDS: 300 ml of damn fine 
hot coffee was poured over the drive 
casing. A pass indicates that although 
liquid entered the case, it did not touch 
any sensitive components. The test was not 
conducted on Power Computing's dual 
disc drive as it is mains powered and 
would hove frazzled our reviewer. Don't 
try this at home kids. 
REPEL DUST: A known amount of fine 
powder was sprayed directly at the drive 
door under slight pressure. A fail indicates 
that mare than 20 per cent of the powder 
.entered the mechanism. 
EXTREME STRESS: First, the drive was 



swung pendulum-Fashion by its lead. 
Second, a large man stood on the casing. 
A pass indicates that the case did not 
crack or come adrift from its lead. 
PULL BREAKAWAY: The amount of 
force [calculated as weight in grammes) 
required to start the floppy drive moving 
across an arbitrary surface when it is 
lugged by its lead. 

PULL RUNNING: The force required 
(calculated as weight in grammes) to keep 
a drive moving across an arbitrary surface 
when pulled along by its lead. 
EJECT THROW: The amount of eject 
button protruding from the unit when a 
disk has been inserted. 
EJECT WEIGHT; The amount of force 
required to eject a disk using the drive's 
eject button. 



AijJULfcl 

BEST BUY 



POWER DUAL DRIVE 

Quite simply, the best all-rounder of 
the lot. The internal PSU means no 
strain on the A500's power unit. The 
double-deck configuration is cost- 
effective - cheaper than two single 
drives. While not quite as attractive 
as the Roctec or Cumana singles. 
Power's dual drive still looks very 
good on a desktop. 



bct JllJrrZil 



BUDGET BUYS 



ROCTEC RF302, RF332 
AND POWER SINGLE 

All these can be picked up for £60 
or so. Strong construction, good 
design and durability oil serve to 
make them the obvious choices - not 
forgetting the Power drives' brilliant 
anti-click feature. 



ooooooooo 
Shopping List 

See test results for drive prices. 

CUMANA: 

Pines Trading Estate, Brood Street, 

Guildford, Surrey 

G3 3IH* 0483 503521 

GOLDEN IMAGE 

Golden Imoge House, Fairways Business 

Pork, Lammas Road, London 

El 7QT« 08 1518 7373 

DIRECT DISK SUPPLIES 

Unit 1 9, Teddington Business Pork, Station 

Road, Teddington, Middlesex 

TW1 1 9BQ n OBI 977 8777 

POWER COMPUTING 

44a Stanley Street, Bedford, 

Beds MK41 7RW 

« 0234 273000 




AMIGA SHOPPER ©ISSUE 2 »JUNE 1991 



SAFE SHOPPING 



BUYING ADVICE FOR 
AMIGA SHOPPERS 

Whether buying over the phone from adverts in Amiga Shopper or at 
a local computer store, here's our advice on how to avoid problems. 

BUYING IN PERSON 

• Where possible, always 
test any software and 



hardware in the shop, before 
taking if home, to make sure 
it works properly. 

• Make sure you have all the 
necessary leads, manuals or 
other accessories you need. 

• Don't forget to keep your 
purchase receipt. 

BUYING BY PHONE 

• Be as clear as possible 
when stating what you want 
to buy. Make sure you 
confirm all the technical 
details of what you are 
buying. Some things to bear 
in mind are version numbers. 



memory requirements, other 
required hardware or 
software and compatibility 
with your particular model of 
Amiga (that is, make sure you 
know which version of 
Kickstartyou have). 

• Check the price to make 
sure it's the same as the one 
advertised. 

• Check that what you're 
ordering is actually in stock. 

• Check when and how the 
article will be delivered and 
that any extra charges are as 
stated on the advert. 

• Make a note of the date 
and time when you are 
making the order. 



PROBLEMS WITH AN ADVERTISER? 

We want to ensure that buying mail order through Amiga Shopper is 
a straightforward, hassle-free experience. 

Taking the advice offered on this page will help make it so. But if, 
despite this, you run into problems - for example, failure to deliver 
goods within 28 doys, without reasonable explanation - we will do 
our best to help sort things out. 

Simply contact our Customer Liaison Officer, 
Helen Kennedy at 
Future Publishing Ltd, 
30 Monmouth Street, 
Bam BA1 2BW, or give 
her a call on 0225 
442244 ext 2 176 

Be ready to supply her 
with details of the 
advertisement you 
responded to, the goods 
ordered and precise details 
of the problem encountered. 
She will then do her best to 
solve your problem. 
However, please bear in 
mind that your first contact |n 
any enquiry should be direct 
tothecampartyyouhave 
ordered from. In 99 coses 
out of 1 00 they will be able 
to resolve any difficulties. 




Customer Liaison Officer, Helen 
Kennedy, wilt try to sort out any major 
problems with advertisers. 



BUYING BY POST 

As with buying by phone, you 
should clearly state exactly 
what it is you are buying, at 
what price (refer to the 
magazine, page and issue 
number where it's advertised) 
and give any relevant 
information about your system 
set-up where necessary. You 
should also make sure you 
keep copies of all 
correspondence both to and 
from the company concerned. 

MAKING RETURNS 

Whichever method you buy 
by, you can return it if it fails 
to meet any one of the 
following three criteria: 

• It must be of 'merchantable 
quality'. 

• It must be as described. 

• It must be fit for the 
purpose for which it was sold. 

If it fails to satisfy any or all of 
the criteria, then you are then 
entitled to: 

• Return it for a refund. 

• Get compensation for part 
of the value. 

• Get a replacement or free 
repair. 

When returning anything, 
ensure you have proof of 
purchase and that you do it 
as soon as possible after 
receiving it. For this reason it 
is important that you check 
the hardware or software as 
soon as it is delivered to 
make sure everything you 
ordered is there and works as 
it is supposed to. 



HOW TO PAY 

Paying by credit card is the 
most sensible way, whether 
buying in person, by post or 
on the phone, because you 
may be able to claim the 
money from the credit 
company even if the firm you 
ordered from has gone bust 
or refuses to help sort out 
your problem. 

Otherwise, pay by crossed 
cheque or postal order, but 
never send coins or notes 
through the mail. 

GETTING REPAIRS 

Always check, when buying 
hardware, the conditions of 
the guarantee, servicing and 
replacement policy, so that 
you know what level of 
support to expect. Always fill 
in and return warranty cards 
as soon as possible and 
make sure that you are aware 
of all the conditions contained 
in the guarantee. 

BUYING PD 

Even though buying PD 
software is relatively 
inexpensive, you should still 
apply the same rules of 
confirming all transactions as 
clearly as possible and 
making sure that you keep 
accurate records of all 
communications. 

Shopping around is still 
important when buying PD 
because different houses 
charge different prices for the 
same disks. There is no set 
pricing structure for disks, but 
bear in mind that PD houses 
are supposed to be non-profit 
making operations. CD 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1 99 1 



™™™*gggjgjT!g^jgjTgjTTgT^^ 



WJJ^WJ AV-. ■.■■■■.■■.■■■■■■■■.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■-■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■•■ 



U. i . i .WJJ.W.W.'.W.U. i . i . i .i. i . i . i . i . i . i . i . i . ' 



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BY PHONE 

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BY FAX 

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BY POST 

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COMPUTER SUPPLIES LTD 

UNIT 3 

RAILWAYS NT. CENTRE 

SHELTON NEW ROAD 

STOKE ON TRENT 

ST4 7SH. 

ALL PHICES INCLUDE VAT 



2.95P&PPER ORDER 

9.00 NEXT DAY 
(UK MAINLAND ONLY) 



REMEMBER !!! 



..WE UTY 

D!SKETTB',OUR 3.5" DISKETTES 

rfJLOAND.QUfl 

5.25" DISKETTES ARE MADE BY 

ATHANA.WEDONOTSELLSUB 

ISKETTESFROM 

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SPECIALS 

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-7*95 64.95 

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3435 22.95 

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*50 7.99 



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109 



SHAREWARE & 
PUBLIC DOMAIN 



AMIGA FROM THE USA 



Qty of disks in brackets 

Deskbench 

Customize your W. Bench 

Toolkit 

Desktop: Icons: Print etc 

Something For Nothing 

Surpri se ! Surpri se ! 

Animation Set 

The best animation demos 

Graphic Goodies 

Iconomania: Paint utils etc. 

Video Tools 

VPG: Slideshow: IFF etc. 

Video Font 

30 typefaces, various sizes. 

Font Tools 

Utils for Amiga fonts 

Telecomms 

All you need for Telecom 

Jokebench 

Demos: Pointers: Emulators 

Icon Collection 1 

Icons for all 

Harv Laser Top 20 

ARP: Iconmeister: Sound: Screen: 

Newzap: Comm etc. 

Fun 

Fractals: Personality tests etc. 

Dropcloth 

4 dozen pictures for screen decoration 

in W. Bench 

Fontlib 

Library of fonts selected by icons 

Display 

Pictures: Animation: Music: 

A program to use with them all 

Games 

70 super games on 7 disks at 

a Special price of £151 



Free Catalogue with 
every order 



DISK PRICES 

1-4 £3 each 

5-10 £2.50 each 

10+ £2.00 each 

Plus £2.50 P&P with all orders 

Credit cards accepted 



VISA 



\S/I-L-K Software 

158 London Road South, Lowestoft, 

Suffolk NR33 0BB 
Tel: 0502 582618 Fax: 0502 517057 



FREE DEMO DISK 



Did you miss 
Issue One? 

Then here's your chance to grab one of the last 
copies going. Use the form opposite to claim 
your first issue of Amiga Shopper. Just £1 .50 
including postage and packing. 

Don't miss 
anymore 

Whilst you are sending off for Issue One 
it makes sense to subscribe now so you 
don't miss any further issues and 
bargains. For just £1 1 .98 you will get 
the next 1 2 issues delivered direct to 
your home plus a special sampler 
disk - a gift with our compliments. 
You know it makes sense. 
Do it now. 




Mauler* 

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Use the form opposite to place your order. 



N YOU SUBSCRIBE TO AMIGA SHOPPER 



BUYS. 




The free demo disk not only gives you a chance to test out three superb 
programs, but gives you the chance to save money and get more from 
your Amiga. On it you will find: 

AMOS demo from Mandarin - find out why this programming tool 
has taken the Amiga world by storm and discover some useful 
examples that will be featured in our AMOS column. 
Devout 2 demo from HiSoft - test out the highly acclaimed 
assembler program that's used by many top programmers and 
then take advantage of our special discount voucher to purchase it 
for £39.95 instead of the usual £59.95. 
RealThings demo from RGB Studios - delight to the demo that 
allows you to design, build and fly your own butterfly using 
Deluxe Paint III. Then take advantage of our special offer to get 
hold of an exclusive tutorial on disk for £1 2,95 that will help 
develop your art and animation skills. 

If you wish, you can purchase the demo disk separately for 
just £1.75. Use the order form below. 



12 issues of Amiga 
Shopper delivered to your 
door for just £11.98 

Don't run the risk of missing the latest news, expert advice and best buys for your 
Amiga. Complete the coupon below and return it now or call our credit card hotline on 



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Ptae tick the suastription you require □ UK £11 .98 Q EUROPE £25.98 O REST OF WORLD £51 .98 

All overseas subscnptioris ote sent by Airmail for speed and safety and the cost is included in the above pfites. This ensures you jet your topy of AMIGA SHOPPER os fast os possible so you don't miss any bargains. 

Please send me □ BACK ISSUE N0.1 £1.50 □ SAMPLER DISK £1.75 Q BINDER £4.95 



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Q CHEQUE Please make cheques payable to FUTURE PUBLISHING LTD and send 
together with this card to in on envelope the following oddress: 
AMIGA SHOPPER, FKEEPOST, Somerton, TA1 1 7Bt 

N.B. THIS OFFER CLOSES OK 30TH JUNE 1991 



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KAMMl 



MEGA BLITZ! 

THE ONE STOP SHOP FOR AMIGA PD SOFTWARE 

THIS IS JUST A SMALL SELECTION OF OUR VAST LIBRARY 



UTILITIES 



PDU ID Word Processing+Databasing 
PDU 16 Air Tunnel Simulation 
PDU 23 Fish#1 1 A68K Assembler 
PDU24Fish#114CDocs 
PDU 26 Fi sh#1 33 Console Handler 
PDU 27 Fish* 136 Create own puzzles 
PDU29Fish#140/141 SBProlog2disks 
PDU 31 Fish#143 RIM Database 
PDU 32 Fish#1 44 Analytic spreadsheet 
PDU 38 Fish#1 85 Official CBM IFF disk 
PDU 43 Fish#203 Assembler S C eg 
PDU44Fish#215MandelvroomV2.0 
PDU 45 Fi sh#2 1 D Scientific calculator 
PDU 46 Fish#21 3 lcons(300 in 8 colors) 
PDU 51 F sh#21 9 Astronomy program 
POU 52 Fish#52 A-Z Text Editor 
PDU60Fish#237CLIprint 
PDU 70 Fish 1 93 Keymap Editor 
PDU 72 SID VI -06 Tha ultimate disk util. 
PDU 74 C- Manual 
PDU 78 File Arch iver 
PDU 80 Fonts and Surfaces 
PDU 81 Disksalve 1.3 
PDU 82 Scale, Wordwrite 
■ PDU 98 Celtics Demomaker 
PDU 99 Ham Radio utils[5disks) 
PDU 101 Menu-Maker 
PDU 102 Label designer 
PDU 103 Icon-Maker 
PDU 104 Icon-Mania 
PDU 105 Crossword Creator 
PDU 118 Various CLIutils 
PDU 1 46 Grocery + Video list maker 
PDU 149 icon Fun 
PDU 151 Fixdisk-disk repairer 
PDU 164 Games Music Creator 
PDU 1 68 Vaccine-Booster(Virus killer) 
PDU 169 QuickBase- Database 
PDU 171 Fish#3l 5 Draw-map 
PDU 1 75 Fish#288 Piotdata 2D 
PDU 185 ANC22 (Excellent utfls) 
PDU186FalconBootblockCreator 
PDU 1 89 Bootblock Copier 
PDU 194 Pman Virus Killer 
PDU 198 Synchro Packer V4.6 
PDU 200 Virus Killer Pro V2.0 
PDU 207 PerfectSound V1 ,93 
PDU257Fish#349MED 
PDU 262 MED Modules 



DEMOS 



PDD1 Anarchy Demo 

POD 3 Cult Demo disk 

PDD 4 Deathstar Megademo(2 disks) 

PDD 7 Elvira Demo 

PDD 14 RAF Megademo(2 disks) 

PDD16RobocopDemo 

PDD 1 7 SAE Demo#1 2 

PDD18SAEDemo#19 

PDD19SAEDemo#21 

PDD20SAEDemo#25 

PDD21SAEDemo#32 



PDD 31 Anarchy-Ooh its obscene III" 

PDD 51 Hacktrick#1 Arsewipe 

PDD 52 Hacktrick#2Smashingdayout 

PDD55Kefrens Megademo 8(2 disks) 

PDD 60 NitroAC Demos#22 

PDD 62 N o rth star Megad©mo#2 

PDD 70 Rebels Megademo 

PDD 71 Red Sector Demo 

PDD 72 Red Sector Demodisk#4 

PDD 73 SAE Demos#23 

PDD 74 SAE Demos*36 

PDD 75Scoopex Demos 

PDD 76 Scoops x M egade mo 

PDD 90 Trilogy Demos#4 

PDD 91 Trilogy Megademo#1 

PDD 93TWIDemo+Virus killer 

PDD 94 Vortex Megademo 

PDD 96 Magnetic Fields Demo#36 

PDD 97 Predators Megademo(2 disks) 

PDD 99 Semtex Megademo 

PDD107Budbrainl(2disks) 

PDD 1 15MagneticFieldsDemo#40 

PDD 1 1 6 Magnetic Fields Demo#41 

PDD 130 Chubby Brown 

PDD 131 CrionicsDemo 

PDD 1 32 Giants Megademo(2 disks) 

PDD 134 Magnetic Fields Demo#45 

PDD 138 Page One Demo#1 

PDD 1 39 Page One Demo#2 

PDD 1 40 Page One Demo#3 

PDD 141 Page One Demo#4 

PDD145SAEDemo#31 

PDD 152 Flash "No Brain Wo Pain"(2) 

PDD 1 53 Billy Conn ally Demo(2 disks) 

PDD 1 60 Hacktrick-Rave-on" 

PDD165SAEDemo#35 

PDD166SAEDemo#39 

PDD177Budbrainll 

PDD 1 79 Crionics Total Destruction 

PDD180DMOBVectordemo 

PDD 186 Flash De mo s#2 

PPD 209 Rutger Demodisk 

PDD2l2SpacePack#32 



ANIMATION 



PDA 9 Knight Animation) 1 meg) 

PDA 1 2 Agatron Star Trek Anims 2 

PDA 1 3 Agatron Star Trek Anims 1 7 

PDA 14 Puggs in Space 

PDA 15 Moonwalker Demo 

PDA 18 Miller Lite Advert 

PDA 31 Nude Girls Anim 

PDA 34 Basketball Anim 

PDA 35BFPOSIideshow(18+) 

PDA 36 BFPO Slideshow#2(18+) 

PDA 37 Busy Bee Anim 

PDA 41 DigiviewerSlidsshow 

PDA 42 Dragons Lair Demo 

PDA 44 French Hom[1 meg) 

PDA 45 Monocyde & Sportscar(1 meg) 

PDA 47 HolstenPils Advert 

PDA 48 Magnum Jogger Anim 

PDA 49 Mayfai r Vol . Z3 n 03 [ 1 8+ ) 

PDA 50 Mega Clean Show V1 .7 



PDA 54 NASA Graphics 

PDA 56 Newtek Demoree 11 (2)(1 meg) 

PDA57NewtekDemoreel3(2)(1meg) 

PDA 58 Paradise Slideshow 

PDA61Sabrina 

PDA 63 Space Anim s[1 meg) 

PDA 65 Star Trek Anims 

PDA 68 Walker Demot (1 meg) 

PDA69WalkerDemol (2meg,2disks) 

PDA 70 Walker Demo2[1 meg) 

PDA 73 WestcoastCracker#4<18+) 

PDA 74 Bodeans 8ordellQ#1(1B+) 

PDA 75 Bodeans Bordello#4(1B+) 

PDA 76 Playboyf 18+) 

PDA 77 Sam Fox (18+) 

PDA 78 Utopia#l(1S+) 

PDA 79 The Final £cstecy#1 (18+) 

PDA 80 Walker Demo 2(2 meg,2 disks) 

PDA 8 1 Ray T race Art. D B W Rende r uti I 

PDA86Utopia#4(18+) 

PDA 89 Bodeans Bordello#9 (18+) 

PDA 90 Bun sen Burner- Jet Fighter anim 

PDA 92 D. Landers Sci - fi Show# 1 

PDA 93 D.Landers Sci-fi Show#2 

PDA 95 Magician/Jogger Anims 

PDA 97 Mike Tyson Knockout disk 

PDA 106 Back to the Future li anims 

PDA 1 08 Adams Family 

PDA 1 1 Bru ce Lee E nter th e Dragon 

PDA 1 1 Bruce Lee Slideshow II 

PDA 1 1 2 Dragons Lair II Demo 

PDA114 Neighbours Slideshow 

PDA116Terminator 



MUSIC 



PDM 2 Music Invasion I 

PDM 3 Music Invasion II 

PDM 4 Music Invasion 111(2 disks) 

PDM 5 MFI'Electric CLI IV 

PDM 6 Winkers song(2 disks) 

PDM 9 Ride on ti me & Batdance 

PDM 19 Bad-M.Jackson 

PDM 20 Bat Dance 

PDM 27DMOB Megamusic III 

PDM 28 Enemies Music III 

PDM 30 Digital Concert II 

PDM 31 Digital Concert III 

PDM 33 Halloween 'Follow !ho Sign '(?) 

PDM 35Think were alone now-Tiffany 

PDM 36 Land of Confusion -Genesis 

PDM 3S Miami Vice Theme (4 disks) 

PDM 40 MFI Vangelis Demo 

PDM 65 Digital Concert IV 

PDM71NoiseplayerV2.40 

PDM 72 Popeye meets the Beach boys 

PDM 80 Digital Concert VI 

PDM 82 Freddy Kruger 

PDM 83 Kefrens Jukebox 

PDM 84 Madonna-Hanky panky 

PDM 85 Miami Vice-Crockets Theme 

PDM 87 RIP Eruption 

PDM 88 Slab Music 

PDM 91 100 Most Remembered C64 tunes 

PDM 95 Hi-Fi Demo 



PDM 1 04 BassX#5 Power Remix 

PDM 105 BassX#6 Sydney Youngbtood 

PDM106BettyBoo 

PDM109DepecheMode 

PDM110DMOBMusicl 

POM '■• DMOB Music II 

PDM 1 1 2 DMOB Music IV[2 disks) 

PDM 1 17 Flash Gordan (2 disks) 

PDM 118Hacktnck'Loadsamoney' 

PDM 120 Laurel & Hardy (2 disks) 

PDM 125 Mr Food (2 disks) 

PDM128NASPV2.0 

PDM 131 Petshop Boys Rem ix#1 

PDM 132 Petshop Boys Remix#2 

PDM 142 The Amiga Chart III 



GAMES 



PDG 1 Star Trek- Final Frontier^ disks) 

PDG2Startrek (3 disks,2 drives) 

PDG 5 Card & Board Games 

PDG 16 Marble Slide 

PDG 19 Destination Moonbase 

PDG 21 Boing the Game (2 disks) 

PDG 26 Treasure Search 

PDG 31 Moria 

PDG 32 Legend of Farghail 

PDG33Arcadia(Breakoutstylegame) 

PDG 34 Dynamite Dick 

PDG 35 Pair It 

PDG 36 Snakes & ladders'Reversi 

PDG 37 Super Quiz 



CLIP ART 



There is a total of 10 disks in the clip 
art range .All are in IFF Format & are 
ideal for DTP.There are loads of 
images to choose fro rn, ranging from 
fancy borders to special occasions 
& from people to animals etc etc. 



WE ALSO STOCK 

AMOS DISKS 

Variousdemos/musicandgames 

MAGAZINE DISKS 

Amiga Format & Com puti ng 

DOCUMENT DISKS 

Game Hints/Solutions etc etc 



•Ctft PACK1&& 



Home Buisness Pack 

This 8 disk pack contain s:- 

Spreadsheet 

Woid Processor 

Amiga Spell 

Memo-pad 

Inventory 

Database eic etc 

A must for home accounts! 

110-00 incl. 10 cap. box. 



&^PACK2&ft 



Demo Pack (10 disk pack) 
Budbrain 1(2 disks), S 2 

Magnetic Fields #40 
Magnetic Fields #41 
Keferens Megademo(2 disks) 
Puggs in Space 
Fillet the Fish 
Scoopex Megademo 
A great starter pack 
£11-00 incl. 10 cap box. 



&& PACK 3** 



Music Pack (10 disk pack) 

Helloween (2 disks) 

Cryptic Glidescope II 

Beal masters III 

J.M.Jarre 

Noi sep layer V2.4 + Sample(2) 

Freddy Kruger 

Crockets Theme 

100 C64 tunes 

£11-00 incl. 10 cap box 



^*PACK4A* 



Adult pack (10 disk pack) 
Sab.- ina, Sam Fox (2 disks) 
Bodeans Bordello #2 
Bodeans Bordello #3 
Bodeans Bordello #10 
Bodeans Movies 
West Coast Cracker 
BFPO#1,BFPO#2 
Utopia #1 
£11-00 ind."10capboK 



DISK PRICES 

1-9 £1.50 

10-19 £1.25 

20+ £1.00 



FREE CATALOGUE ON DISK 
FREE P&P ON EVERY ORDER 



UK ONLY 

Please add 25p per disk lor 
Europe 50p per disk for World 

WE ACCEPT ALL MAJOR CREDfT CARDS 

PLEASE MAKE CHEQUES PAYABLE TO:- 

PD DIRECT 



PD DIRECT 

HOW TO ORDER:- 

^J 0782 208228 

PD DIRECT DEPT ASH 

I r^N RAILWAY EHT. CENTRE 
SHELTON 
STOKE-ON-TRENT 
STAFFS.ST4-7SH 

FAX 0782 281506 



pwiJIJmM 



BEGINNERS 



Public domain software is 
free to anyone. That's right, 
even you. The concept of 
PD was borrowed from 
early mainframe systems 
where hackers, as the 
original computer freaks 
were called, produced 
programs and distributed 
them to their friends and 
fellow hackers, asking for 
no other payment than 
eternal fame and glory. 

A PD program is one 
you can copy and use for 
free, provided you credit 
the author and pass on any 
documentation is 
distributed with it. 

So, with all this free stuff 
flying about, what can you 
get? There is stacks of 
handy software about, 
including utilities, 
applications, demos 
(graphics, games and 
music), disk magazines and 
much, much more. 

If you haven't got a 
modem to download 
software from a bulletin 
board, you'll have to buy 
some. But you thought PD 
was for free. It is, but 
disks, postage and the 
wages of those who sit all 
day at the copying machine 
aren't, so be prepared to 
pay between 99p and 
£2.50 per disk. 

The price you pay is up 
to you, although some 
people get a bit cross at 
paying £2.50. It depends 
on where the PD house 
buy 5 its disks and the cost 
of duplicating software. If 
the supplier has built its PD 
operation into an existing 
business, that can help 
bring overheads down. 
Anyway, it's up to you. 
Some 99 p houses are good, 
others are terrible. 

The only way to find out 
for sure what is worth 
having is to send off your 
99p, suck it and see. 

Or, even better, to make 
sure you read Public 
Domain World in Amiga 
Shopper every month. 



Software 
for free 

Phil South dons deerstalker and 
elephant gun to hunt down more 
bargain goodies lurking on the 
wild savanna of the Public Domain 



~*ssyj 



"Every month I'll be 
looking at all the very 
best PD software and 
reviewing a huge range 
of PD interests." 

Phil South 



Welcome back to the 
Public Domain, where 
software is free, pigs 
fly and sheep wear 
peopleskin jackets. It's fun being able 
to swap software willy nilly, although 
you should make sure that the 
software you are swapping really is 
public domain. Do you read all the 
docs on a disk before copying or 
spreading it? You should, because 
some could possibly be shareware, 
or even licenseware. 

Shareware means that although 
you can copy the disk and give it to 
people, both you and the person you 
give a copy to must both pay the 
shareware fee. Licenseware is 
different. Although you get it through 
a PD house, it is licensed to that PD 
house by the author and he gets his 
own cut of the sales. 

Right, lecture over. Let's take a 
look at what's on offer from this 
month's selected suppliers. First off ... 



1 7 Bit Software 



Seventeen Bit Software has been 
around for a while and boasts some 
1000-odd disks in its catalogue. The 




"Hey Blackie, do you get many floppies at One-Eyed Jacks?" Audrey 
takes a Fenn-tastlc detour from Twin PeaksXo the Public Domain. 



foundation of the 1 7 Bit name has 
been graphics and demos, and this is 
really what it specialises in. 

Apart from the demos it is famous 
for, the company also supplies the 17 
Bit Update disk magazine (1 2-issue, 
£9.95 plus 16-page paper mag) and 




You may have seen fractals, but get your head around 17 Bit's Trial 'n' 
Error Utilities disk on which global update acquires new meanings. 



the excellent UGA Newsflash disk 
mag (£2.99 for two disks). As well 
as all that, the Firm has branched out 
into commercial software with Team 
1 7, The first game from this crew will 
be out very soon; a half-megabyte 
game (although most future releases 
will be 1Mb only) priced at £9.95. 

Team 17 is based around a 
bunch of ultra-talented 1 7 Bit 
regulars, such as Martyn 'Spadge' 
Brown, Nico Francois, Allister 
Brimble, and Tobias Richter, so the 
quality of the coding and graphics 
should be very good indeed. 

When I told the folks all 7 Bit 
about the PD column, they reacted 
with typical gusto and sent me a 
stack of disks that would choke an 
elk. So here is the cream of the crop. 

Trial' 1ST Error Utils 
(disk 838) 

A fun-packed disk, choc-full of very 
interesting utilities. There are loads of 
them so here is a selection: 

Fractals is less yawn some than 
some fractal programs I've seen. It 
does a range of fracs you very rarely 
Continued on page 1 1 S 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 eJUNE 1991 



IF YOU'RE THINKING VIDEO 

THEN SOONER OR LATER YOU WILL HAVE 

TO THINK ABOUT COPYRIGHT FREE MOOD MUSIC. 

CALL THE SIRIUS VIDEO COPYRIGHT 

FREE MUSIC LINE ON 

0898 343352 

TO FIND OUT MORE. 

(Max call times 6 mins) 
Calls charged at 34p per min cheap rate, 45p per min all other times. 




AMAZING PRICES - ONLY 85p PER DISK !! 



DE0050 EVIL DEAD DEMO ■ DEOOSl BUDBRAIN II 

DE0007 BUDBRAIN I DE0001 DEATHSTAR #2 

DBG020 RED SECTOR #2 MUtCCC DIGI CONCERT 6 

MUM) TITANIC5 MUSIC DISK DE0021 TOTAL RECALL 

MU0027 ACID MUSIC DISK UT00Q7 POWER PACKER 



HUNDREDS OP TrnJiS CATALOGUED 

si;nd sai; i-ok rji.l list 



MAKE CHEQUES/POSTAL ORDERS PAYABLE TO: 

W.M.P.D. 

33, SPRINOH1LL RISE WRIBBENHALL 

BEWDLEV, WORCS. DY12 1EA 

TEL: (0299) 402747/400490 



POSTAGE: £1.50 UK / £2 SO OVERSEAS 

* = 1 Meg / # - No. Of Disks 




AMIGANUTS UNITED 



169, DALE VAlLEy ROAD, HOLLYBROOK, 

SOUTHAMPTON, SOI 6QX 

Phone 0703 785680 Mon-Fri 10am-6pm 

Official UK distributors of 

the great MERLIN software from U.S.A. 



790: 

in, 

83!r 
839: 

SIB: 
901: 
906: 
907: 
910: 
918; 
922: 
924: 
933; 
939; 
946: 
950; 
962; 
965: 
944: 
«»; 
971: 



70S; 
876: 



899; 



973 



990: 




521 : ALL NEW STAR TfiEK, with authrj rsed Engli<h instructions 
576: EDUCATION pacl-ed with piojjs fen the children 
581: HO.V1.06. Find the CU a sIcg'Thenyou rased this prog 
440; GAMES including the Tram Set. A must for the kids. 
649; bljogkaIn Two disk megademo, (for adults only). 
700i 0-COFVV1. Excellent copier program. Full insttucrjerri. 
72S: UTFIS. The famous* Boot-Shop, Boot-Kit + others. 
NorthC VI .3. Of special interest to users. {? disks) 
STAttTRLKKER. Music util - disbnasterVSS other utils. 
STAR TREK. LIS version. Requires 1 Meg min & 2 drives 
TEX1PEU5 2.E0 This is an excellent PD*vordpro package 
C-LIGHT. Ray (racing package, A must for the artist 1 
r^FRENS. Excellent powerrnenu & font designers. A gced utility 
AMI-FX issue 2 A must tor fractal fans. (3 disks, 1 fvteg) 
DVWAMmE DICK Dig lot treasure, iKad the bats' Good 
5n.^.'L'j fi LADDERS CAME. This is a must for all ages 
RAIR-IT. An excellent educational game for the Puds. 
THE Mi EMULATOR. Details oF hardware required, en disk 
RAD BIRO. Amm by Dr. Gsrdalf (1 Meg -excellent) 
GAMES. Gerr^'Boomerangi'Dominion/Shark/star Tre* 
A-GEME. Genealogy. This is the new V3 (1 Meg mm) 
FRAXIONS New megademo. "The Wall' It's geed! 
ANMCr-r/ Demos collection. Plus a tiaid to pisy 3D game 
THE EVIL DEAD Can you kill me Eomtses 7 
BEEBLE Unusual pics wnh 7 music tracks By Desire 
S.A E. AMAZING TUNES II Outstanding! (3 dote - 1 Meg) 
BUMRAIN MEGADEMO II Anothet good 'n from Sudb'a^ 
FILLET THE fiSH. A fun anmatjcn for ail ages 
NEW MASTEt VF8U5 KILLER VS. 1011s 105 oj the pests' 
1017; CHAOS (SOCK A good fractals kalaidascope show (1 Meg) 
T01B: H rv<A.i-FAD A v.,-- ■■ ii vM.r/- 1..- -a-- c ■>_.■: : : :.:< Jonel 
1021; CCWOTE5. The latest COYOTE animation. (1 Meg) 

...... THE u g T | NG gELCW is FROM OUR ItCEWCEU PBOGftAMS ♦**♦♦* 

AMIBASE PSOfCSSIOmt ThE re a good database prog 

CI Meg Amiorof II coming soon It's fantastic! Watch this space) 
QUIZMAST ER Think you know it all? well now you can prove rt. With full save and re- load 
facility (1-4 players) Good 
1 ACROSS 9 DOWN Complete crossword program. {2 disks) 

Data drsfc numbeis P and 3 available rcw for only £9 00 each 
MATCH-WORDS Solve those crosswords/anagrams easrtyl 

Into coding? - Oi want to leam? The Amiga Coders Club is for you 
ACC 1-4: introductory rssue to the famous Amiga Coders Club 

ACC disks are packed with sccrce, twits, tips from marry of the well known code/s 
that are on the Amiga scene today. Wctth collecting! Issues 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, IS available, 
f Disfcs are £3 00 per issue) IMPORTANT! The ACC Club is tor those usir-g Devoflfc etc. 
MEDV3 is here! The very kites! music utility from Teijo. 
Its oresertatior. is absolutely brilliant 1 Get this how* 

MOD PROCESSOR VI .8 by Steve Marshall. Marry rew additions, execute modules and cr p»cs - 
Adjustable picture heightwrdth will kHd crunched modules as vvell! An excellent utility 
C manual V2ftcxn the Amiga c Club. Packed with help/advice samples of C code etc. Now 
auto-booting, (en 4 disks) 

IMPORTANT! The Amiga C Club is for those using 'C asseivt i:is 

"■ EIGHT CHANNEL OCTAMED IS COMIMS 1 WATCH THIS SPACE FOR DETAILS "• 

Free disks + free progs * hee membershio - a thousand detailed ptogs phis seme games to play on the mam catalogue disk £1 00 

(PRICES INCLUDE RETURN POST AND PACKING) 

The February update to our main catalogue is available for El .03 (Feb update contains only the latest additions to the library) , 



E4.W 
02 (X 
£-2 IK 
£E<X 
£3<X 
£2.5( 
02.5C 
05 (X 

Le.oc 

£4.0£ 
£2.0C 
£5,50 
02.50 
£4.50 
£2 00 
£2 00 
£5 00 
£2.00 
£1.50 
02.00 
£2.00 
£1.50 
£1 50' 
£1.50 
£5.50 
£4J» 
01.50 
£1 50 
£2.00 
£150 
£2.00 
£1.50 

02.00 



£3 00 
£5 00 



£2 00 
£1.50 



£3 00 
£3.50 



06 00 



C.L.S 

CANHAMS LEISURE SOFTWARE 

The only PD company to employ artists musicians and 
coders to write PD software 



FREE 

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ALL ORDERS 

OVER £20 



if FREE! PD disk of your choice with every order 

• Spend over £1 (99p a disk) 

• Fast & Reliable service 

• SPECIAL OFFERS OF COMPUTER SOFTWARE 



£1.50 a disk or over 10 99p each/all guaranteed/D1 = diskl/* = 1 meg only 



ACCESSORIES 

t Meg Upgrades £29.99 

i Meg Upgrades with clock .£32.99 
Mouse Mats £3.99 

3i" Cleaning Kits £2.99 

DISK BOX ES, 

40 Capacity 3.5" ., £4.50 

80 Capacity 3.5" £6.99 

120 Capacity 3.5" £9,99 

BLANK GUARANTEED DISKS 

10 Disks (boxed) £4.99 

50 Disks {50+ disks incl 

labels) £17.99 

100 Disks £32.99 

* BULK DISKS 29p EACH 
PLEASE PHONE * 

LATEST PD 

560 Robocop 3 demo 

627 Iron Maiden Slideshow 

632 Scarecrow 

634 Adam's Family demo* 

596 Rebel's Candy Land 2 

549 Rebel's Megablast 

583 Slabby Music 

582 Pink Floyd D1/D2 

554 MC Hammer 

574 Pet Shop Boys Maniacs 



ANIMATION/SLIDESHOW 


1 08 Heavy Metal 


199 BATMAN animation 


361 Betty Boo 


465 Bruce Lee 


501 Laurel and Hardy D1 


279 Computer Films 


502 Laurel and Hardy D2 


497 Creepshow 


459 Money For Nothing 


494 Fillet Fish 


508 Madonna Rescues Me 


498 Ghost Pool * 


517 Genesis Land of Confusion 


289 INDIANA Jones * 


521 Groove In The Heart 


444 Madonna Animation 


511 Pump Up The Jam 


366 Porky Pig 


509 Suicidal Blonde D1/D2 


479 Ugiy Mug 


534 Bartman Music with anim 


495 Showbiz 


D1/D2 


360 Neighbours Slideshow 


598 Time Travellers Music 


350 Star Wars II* 


546 Black Betty 


180 Mike Tyson 


291 New Music Volume 1 


464 Roadrunner Cartoon 


512 Hi-fi 


B46 Iraq Demo 


539 Black Box D1/D2 


647 Turtles Slideshow Vol 2 


547 Crusaders Sweet Music 


561 Gulf Slideshow 


179 Crusders Bacteria 


533 Madonna + Friends Slideshow 


368 Crusaders Freak Out 


480 Stealthy Two 


434 Crusaders Hot-wired 


621 Garfield Slideshow 


164 Crusaders Tunes 


518 Joker Slideshow 


315 Crusaders Audio-X 



MUSIC DEMOS 

449 Do the Bartman 

337 Erasure Mix 

336 Kylie Made in Heaven 

338 Madonna Hanky Spankey 
211 Freddy Kruger Rap 



UTILITIES 

362 57 Utilities 
469 Action Movie Maker 
359 C64 Emulator 
532 Spectrum Emulator 
506 ST Emulator 



377 Graphics Management Vol 1 

428 Midi Tool Kit 

448 Reaper Copier 

405 Sample Scanner 

503 Disk Magazine Designer 

576 Spreadsheet 

559 Dope Intro Maker 

578 Sid Workbench 1 .06 

579 Label Designer 

580 Quickbase/Mail Management 
112 Soundtrackers Programme 
443 Sound Workshop 

68 Word Pro Plus 

631 Electric Train Set 

558 Tetra Copy 

426 Pumpy Copier 

277 Zero Virus Free 

592 TV Graphics/Fonts 

411 I.S.S Clip art 

624 Cryptic Utilities 17 

536 Jazz Bench 

1 70 Perfect Sound 

425 Drive Select 

373 Sound Applications Vol 1 

485 Database/Spreadsheet 

462 Simple Accounts 

537 Rotate 3D 

599 Darts Side Utilities 



GAMES/PRODUCT 
DEMOS 

452 Bart Simpson Game 

001 Dungeon Master 3* 

41 Kick Off 3 

490 Break Out Construction Kit 

492 Pacman 

493 Quiz Master 

649 Wheels of Fortune 

647 CLS Games Vol 1 

446 Middle East Mania 

254 Monopoly/Cluedo and others 

290 PsuedoCop 

457 Star Trek US Version D1/D2 

638 Xenons 

615 Eat Mine 

605 Frantic Freddy 

604 Castle of Doom 

602 Computer Conflict 

601 Agatron Games 

471 Werner 

367 Weltrix Game 

478 Tennis* 

ADULT GAMES AVAILABLE 

(STRICTLY OVER 

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PLEASE CALL 



Send SAE for full PD/Software list/STOP PRESS!! AMIGA SWAPPERS WANTED!!! 



Please make cheques payable to: Mark Canham, PO Box 7, Bletchley, Milton Keynes MK2 3YL (Tel: 0908 640763 between aam and 7 P m). 
POSTAGE: Free with every order over £6 otherwise please add £1.50 with every order) 



PUBl|DpMAIN 



Continued from page 1 13 

see, as well as mapping 3D Fractals 
onto a sphere, which I haven't seen 
done anywhere else. 

DIED is the Digital intelligence 
EDitor, a text editor For programmers, 
□nd it looks very nice. Don't confuse 
text editors with word processors 
though. Text editors are for preparing 
source code and a little bit of 
documentation. The facilities you get 
in them reflect that kind of use. 

PCopy is a copying program that 
doesn't copy anything other than 
AmigaDOS disks. This may sound 
like no use at all, but it is a very user- 
friendly program. IF you've ever been 
stuck at a computer show duplicating 
disks and answering questions at the 
same time, this will impress you. The 
program prompts you at every stage, 
so you always know where you are. 

Double Action is a file cruncher - 
a bit like Powerpacker - written, in 
this case, by Vince of Tristar. The 
program compacts files so they can 
still be run as normal, but take up 
much less disk space. 

Formatter is a new fast format 
program that works on Workbench. 
Start it by clicking the icon and a 
little multitasking window appears on 
the screen. Altering the buttons and 
pressing GO formats a disk much 
faster than in the usual stupid 
AmigaDOS way. It does it better than 
by the regular method of selecting 
the disk, using the Initialise menu and 
waiting till the cows come home 
before you can do anything else with 
the disk. The other neat thing about 
Formatter is that it allows you to type 
a name for the disk as you format it; 
something more meaningful than 
Empty or Blank. If you know what the 
disk is to be called then you can 



name it in the first place, which is 
much more elegant. 

And then there's PBor, a program 
that lets you re-design the pattern on 
the drag bar of your windows. Why? 
Oh well, it's a bit of fun I suppose. 
You design the bar, then save it to 
disk. Not only does it give you an 
icon to click and change the pattern, 
but magically the icon has a little 
drag bar on it with the pattern you 
designed on it. Pretty impressive. 
Some coders just make you want to 
spit, don't they? 

All the utils on this disk are, at 
the very least, a bit on the interesting 
side. At best they are extremely 
useful. I can think of at least Four of 
them I would install on my hard disk 
right now as they'd really improve 
my productivity. If I actually had any 
productivity to start with, that is. 
Value for money 9/ 1 

Light Cycle Demo 
(Disk 861) 

This is a really stunning bit of 
animation and destined to become a 
classic. It's a shame the subject is so 
old, but then Iron is a cult film so it 
may be okay to still use it in modern 
demos. This is a reet big animation, 
□nd only works in 1Mb machines. It 
goes on for ages, and I really don't 
fully understand how the author 
managed to cram all those graphics 
and sounds into it. The samples, all 
taken from the video cassette of the 
film, I assume, are very long and 
quite finely detailed considering the 
length of them. A very fine balance 
has been struck between sound and 
action, and almost everything that 
happens on-screen has a sound 
effect. A tasty piece of work. 
Value far money 10/10 




Bags of sound and action is on offer in the Light Cycle Demo as Jeff 
Bridges and his chums storm around the innards of your machine. 



COMMAND.COM 
(Disk 866) 

This is a special command set for 
single-drive users. It gives you a set 
of DOS commands in RAM, which 
means you can put disks in and out 
of the drives and use them without 
always having to put the WB disk 
back in. The program installs itself, 
and you can even apply it to other 
disks [ust by typing INSTALL 
COMMAND.COM. 
Value for money 7/10 

Share And Enjoy 
Amazing Tunes II 

(Disks 842-844} 

A really great music demo, with 
some very good graphics and 



animation to accompany the huge 
range of tunes from various crews. 
The tunes are very skilfully 
programmed, but it's a shame that 
the SAE team supplies the disk in a 
copyable but not Workbench- 
readable disk. This means that 
although the disks will boot, you 
can't look at the tunes and take the 
sequences or samples apart. Such a 
facility would have been very 
instructive, and it's a pity that SAE 
was more interested in showing how 
complex it can make a disk format 
rather than thinking that someone 
might learn something from the 
music. An extremely good set of disks 
though, and well worth a look. 

Value for money 8/10 

Continued on page 1 16 



rr o' Fish • Fillet o' Fish • Fillet o' Fish • Fillet o' Fish • Fillet o' Fisi 



F 



red Fish is one of the most prolific collectors 
of PD software on the Amiga, and his 
collection borders on 500 disks. The Fish 
Disks are one of the most popular ranges of 
PD software available for the Amiga, for their 
mixture of games and utils. As you can see from 
some of the listings, Fred chooses only the most 
interesting stuff. So check your favourite PD library 
for the Fish Disk, or take a look at this listing of 
recent additions to the Fish List. 

Disk 421 

DMouse: A screen & mouse blanker, with auto 

window activator, mouse accelerator, popCLI, pop 

window to front, push window to back, etc. 

EZAsm: Combines parts of the 'C language with 

68000 assembly, giving it the 'feel' of a higher 

level language. 

NoVirus; An excellent anti-virus utility. 

Zon: An arcade/ ad venture game mixing a unique 

blend of puzzle solving and arcade adventure. 

Disk 422 

Gravity: A program that simulates movement of 
astronomical objects under the influence of gravity. 
Imploder Allows you to reduce the size of 



executable files while they retain full functionality. 
PopUpMenu: Enables you to use pop-up menus 
with programs that use standard intuition menus. 
SystemTracer: A tool to view and manipulate 
various AmigaDOS 1 .2 and 1.3 system structures. 
TrackDOS: A program that allows easy transfer of 
data between DOS, memory and trackdisk. device, 
TrekTrivia: Very nice mouse-driven trivia-type 
program for Star Trek fans. 

Disk 423 

Hollywood: An easy-to-play trivia game with such 
subjects as M*A*S*H, Star Trek (old and TNG), 
Indiana Jones, general television trivia, and more. 
LCDCalc: Probably the prettiest looking four- 
function [with memory) calculator ever written. 
Pogo: Another of Eric Schwarz's cute animations. 
SetRamsey: A program that ollows you to test the 
current settings of the RAMSEY ram controller chip 
on an Amiga 3000 under Kickstart 1.3 or 2.0, and 
change them if you wish. 

Disk 424 

AutoCLI: A 'PopCLI' type replacement that works 

with WorkBench 2.0. 

MED: A music editor much like SoundTracker. 



TurboTitle: A program created for the purpose of 

subtitling Japanese animation films and to create a 
standard Amiga subtitle format. 

Disk 425 

A-Gene: Demo version of a shareware genealogy 

database program. 

Check Book A checkbook recording program to 

be used as a companion to a checkbook register, 

not as a replacement. 

Downhill A skiing arcade game. 

Head Games A shoot-em-up game using SEUCK 

game constructor, with digitized heads as enemies. 

Disk 426 

Con man: Extremely useful replacement for the 

standard console handler. It provides line editing 

and command line histories 

Metro: City planning game. 

Rick Parks Art: A collection of artwork from Rick 

Parks, one of the leading Amiga artists in the USA. 

Disk 427 

Blackjack: A program that can simulate nearly 
any casino blackjack game in the world. 

Continued on page 116 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 »JUNE 1991 



115 



PUBLIC DOMAIN 



Continued from page 1 1 5 

Fenn-Tastic Vol 1 

(disk 830) 

Sherilyn Fenn is the actress who 
plays the sexy, and slightly bonkers, 
Audrey Home in the cult TV show 
Twin Peaks, and this is a slideshow 
devoted to her. 

There are no nudes here, if that's 
what you're thinking, just video grabs 
from the film Two Moon Junction, 
Twin Peaks, and a television 
interview of Sherilyn on The Word. 

There ore two more disks of pics 
For all you Sheriphiles: disk numbers 
831 and 848. 

Value for money 5/10 

(8/10 if you like Ms Fenn) 



Can Do PD Library 



The CanDo PD Library has just been 
set up to support Innovatronics's 
CanDo Amiga authoring system, by 
which a lot of very powerful 
programs can be created. 

The First three disks are brimming 
with good ideas and, although most 
have been made able to run so you 
can't edit them with CanDo, some 
are easily altered to your own ends. 
IF you don't have a copy of CanDo, 
then you really ought to try it. 

The CanDo PD Library invites 
contributions from CanDo users and 
gives a free CanDo T-shirt for the best 
bit of PD received every month. So 




Galloping all-terrain hardware! What awesome weapon could have put the 
willies up this AT- AT from NBSs well animated demo disk? See page 118. 



get your CanDo applications off to 
the library at the address given at the 
end of this article. 

CanDo 
(disk 1) 

The first disk contains a lot of utilities 
and games. Some of the programs, 
especially the stand-alone decks, 
have been given new icons so you 
wouldn't even know they were 
CanDo applications if you weren't 
getting them off the CanDo PD disk. 

RexxBrowser is an ARexx comms 
program that lets you operate ARexx 
manually, sending data between 
programs that have an ARexx port 
Fitted to them. (If you don't know 
what ARexx is, then I'll just say it's a 
very useful system tool which enables 
different programs to send data back 
and Forth.) For example, I sent a 
message to my copy of Transcript, 
which was multitasking away behind 
my workbench, and it opened a fresh 
document. I could have passed some 
text to the document too, but my 
knowledge of ARexx is a little shaky. 

Key2C is a resident C reference 
manual that reminds you of all 
manner of important C commands - 
very handy for your average new C 
author who is unsure of the basics. 

Silmon is a version of the Simon 
guessing game that was a very 
popular plastic computer toy of the 
late 1970s, as I recall. 

Chameleon is a program that lets 
you store all manner of different 
colour schemes for your workbench. 
Value for money 8/10 

CanDo 
(disk 2) 

The second disk contains more 
utilities and games. This time it 



includes some very hard games to 
program by any other means, such 
as a Tetris clone called CanTrix. 
VideoLib is a library for your video 
cassettes, which can be added to so 
you can catalogue your entire 
collection in one easy-to-use 
program. Senso is another Simon 
game, but this time a bit more 
complex. There are some nice 
graphics and a bit of sampled music 
by the Swiss band Yeilo. XtraTools is 
a couple of bolt on modules for 
CanDo which enable you to read 
keys from the keyboard a bit more 
readily There's also another ARexx 
program that sets up two windows to 
demo how ARexx communicates 
between windows. Type into one 
window and it is read by the other. 
Value for money 5/10 

CanDo 

(disk 3) 

The last disk contains a graphic front- 
end for the Manx C compiler and a 
bunch of programs by two guys 
called Mike Ford and James Palmer, 
James has a game called Duck hunt, 
and you can probably guess how it 
goes. It's quite hard and I didn't 
really hit anything but two ducks. So 
good luck on that one. 

Mike Ford obviously has a more 
technical bent as he supplied two 
programs. Mm/bench and Mini ARC. 
The first program allows you to find 
and execute a program from your 
hard disk without having to search 
around on the disk for it. Good For 
any programs you use regularly. And 
the MiniARC program is a sort of 
front-end for any archive programs 
you might have, like ARC, tharc, zoo, 
and zip. The program opens a 

Continued on page 1 1 8 



Fillet o' Fish • Fillet o' Fish • Fillet o' Fish • Fillet o' Fish • Fillet o' I 



Continued from page 115 

Chemesthetics: A program that draws molecules 

using the Calotte model. 

Cyrillic: Russian 12-point font. 

STV: Simple text viewer with mouse and keyboard 

scrolling, text search and hooks to be launched on 

to custom screens. 

Disk 428 

BCBMusic A set of three original songs written 
and composed using the freely distributable MFD 
2,1 music editor. 

CyroUtils: Four handy animation utilities from 
Cryogenic Software. 

ShadowMaker: Demo version of an Intuition- 
based font shadow generator. 
Train: An electric train contruction set game. 
WonderSound An additive hormonic instrument 
design tool, with a separate envelope design 
window and 16 relative harmonic strength and 
phase angle controls. 

Disk 429 

ATCopy: A program fo copy files from the Amiga 
side of a system equipped with a PC/AT 

bridgeboard, to the PC side, using wildcards. 



Climax: A command like NewCLi or NewShell, 

except that it creates a borderless CLI or Shell 

window on a custom screen 

Dr: An alternative CLi directory lister command, 

FixCLI: A tiny pure command which fixes problems 

with Cll's not created by other CLI processes. 

MoveSYS: Reassigns SYS:, C:, S:, L, LIBS:, DEVS: 

and FONTS: to a new disk or directory in one step. 

RunBack: A very compact version of the popular 

utility for starting a CLI process in the background, 

without preventing the CLI window from closing. 

Scrub: A floppy drive cleaning program that 

automatically detects which drive has a cleaner 

diskette in it. 

Timer: The timer device made easy! 

Tripppin: A Workbench game based on an out-of- 

print board game. 

Uedit-Stuff: A variety of configuration material for 

Uedit. 

V: A front end for Commodore's More, or some 

other text viewer that can be made resident. 

Disk 430 

Lotto: Small lotto number selector with C source. 
Pointer: Enables you to use the SID sleepy pointer 
in your own programs. 



ScutprTools: Programs to create objects for use in 

Sculpt 4D. 

SmartFields: SmartFields is a replacement for 

Intuition string gadgets. 

Disk 441 

Deksid: A disk and file hexadecimol editor. 
DiskPrtnt: Prints labels for 3.5" disks, primarily for 
PD library disks. 
Dme: Version 1 .42 of Mart's text editor. 

Disk 442 

ToolManager: Use to add your own programs to 
the tools menu of the 2,0 Workbench. 
UUCP: An implementation oF uucp for the Amiga, 
including mail and news. 

Disk 443 

DICE: Dillon's Integrated C Environment. 

UUCP: An implementation of uucp for the Amiga, 

including mail and news 

Disk 444 

ChinaChallenge: A Chinese tile game, similar to 
Shanghai or Mahjong. 

Continued on page 1 1 8 



116 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 • JUNE 1991 



P. D DISK PRICES DEMOS & ANIMATIONS 



1 - 9 disks = £1 ,50 each 
10 -19 disks = £1.25 each 
20 or more = £1.00 each 

PLEASE NOTE: 

2 disk sets are charged as 2 
single disks, 3 disk sets as 3 

single disks, etc. 



POSTAGE 



is included in the price 

if you live in the U.K. 

Europe add £1 .50 to order 

Rest of World add £2.50 



TELEPHONE ORDERS 



may be made using any 

Visa, Access or Mastercard 

on 

(0709) 829286 



A CATALOGUE DISK 



is available free of charge. To 
obtain yours, send us a 

stamped addressed 
envelope (9" x 6"), or ask for 

one with your order. 



ABBREVIATIONS USED 



*= 1 meg needed 

(X) = 16 and over only 

{please state age) 

Figures in brackets refer to 

number of disks in set. 



WE ALSO STOCK 

FRED FISH DISKS 

AMOS P.O. DISKS 

& 

T.B.A.G. DISKS. 

ASK FOR THEM 

BY NAME! 



P. D, PACKS 



8 disks for £1 

A great way for new Amiga 

owners to check out what p.d. 

is all about Each pack 

contains 8 disks and is just 

£10 par pack! 

GAMES PACK 

37 Titles on 8 disks including 
Asteroids, Tiles, Bally 2, Sya, 

Pool, YachtC. Invaders, 

H-Ball, Fruit Machine, Block 

Oft, Shootout, Peter's 

Quest and many morel 

DEMOS PACK 

Some of the most popular 

demos in the library: Gome, 

Wtld Copper, Cebrt 90, Elvira, 

Mental Hangover, Rebels 

Megademo 2, Pain Is Just The 

Beginning, and Popeye Meets 

The Beachboyst 

SOUNDTRACKER SPECIAL 

The great PD music maker, 

plus instruments, songs, 
modules, rippers and more! 
Make music or just have fun I 

HOME BUSINESS PACK 
A suite of programmes tor 

those who went to dabble in 

the serious side: Nag, Bank'n, 
Journal, QBase, Spread. 
Wordwright AmigaSpell, 

Inventory, MemoPad & morel 



016 Space Ace Demo 

085 Red Sector Megademo (2) 

089 Gymnast Animation * 

103 Wild Copper Demo 

107 RAF Megademo (2) 

127 NewTek Demo (2) * 

157 Cool Cougar Animation * 

161 Kylie Minogue Demo (2) 

240 Puggs in Space Cartoon 

261 Deathstar Megadamo (2) 

280 Tree Frog Animation * 

288 The AMOS Demo 

298 Unicycle Animation * 

399 NewTek Demo 3 (2) * 

447 Mk:ro Mix Demo 

483 Elvira Demo 

499 Showbiz Animation * 

568 Wings Animation 

646 Predators Megademo (2) 

711 Arcadia Megademo 

744 Red Sector Cebit Demo 

747 Popeye Meets Beachboys 

762 The Run Animation * 

771 Gongaman Animation * 

773 Shark Animation* 

821 Popeye Demo /Game 

825 Bud brain Megademo (X)(2) 

B53 Dragons Lair Demo * 

854 Bread/Home & Away Demo 

865 Coma Demo 

881 Flash Megademo (2) 

895 Trip To Mars 

897 Sccopex Mental Hangover 

903 Shadow of Beast 2 Demo 

906 Madonna Cartoon * 

944 Magnetic Fields CD Demo 

946 Subway Clapping Hands 

947 Mars Right Animation * 
954 Teenage Turtles Demo 
964 Operetion Varkl 



GAMES DISKS 



045 Golden Fleece Adventure 

117 Monopoly 

135 Classic Board/Card Games 

172 Raschbiar Game 

195 Electric Train Set 

251 Blizzard 

314 Breakout Construction Set 

315 Return to Earth 

496 Holy Grail Adventure * 

496 Wanderer Game 

648 Star Trek (USA) f2) * 

680 Learn & Play (2) 

689 Eat Mine 

727 Star Trek (Ftchter) (2) 

766 Treasure Hunt (Age 6-10) 

823 Pseudo Cop Game 

957 Pipeline 

962 Dripl 

987 Snakepit 

991 Jeopard* 
1004 Games Disk 9 
1064 S.E.U.CK, Games 
1113 Wet Beaver Games 
1230 Dragon Cave 
1245 Flings of Zon * 
1283 Sub Culture 
1408 APDS9: Super Quiz 
1411 APD6 2: Arcadia 
1434 APDB5: Reversi / Snakes 
144S APD96: Pair-It 

1509 APD102: Cheinsaw Death * 

1510 Pick Up A Puzzle (2) * 
1512 Picture It (2)* 

1517 APD1 10: Crossfire* 
152DAPD115:Balloonacy 
152B APD130: Wooden Bell * 

1531 Simon Says/Space Maths 

1532 AP0137: Tile Trial * 

1533 The Jar* 
1539 Megeball * 



UTILITIES DISKS 



051 Visicalc Spreadsheet 
081 UEditWord Processor 

110 Disk Utilities 

111 Grafix Uti lities 1 
116 Grafix Utilities 2 
119 Amiga MCAO 
152 Virus Killers Disk 
180 Pag esetter Clip Art 
210 Icons! 

259 Ultimate Boo tb lock Coll. (2) 

343 Intromaker 

346 TV Graphics (2) 

348 APDC 25 (Programming) 

353 ShoWiz 2.0 

354 PowerPacker 2.2a 
380 PO Spectacular 

410 DPeirtt Cartoon Brushes 
442 DPairtt Fonts Disks (4) 
456 Chet Solace Extravaganza 
458 HAM Radio Special (5) 
495 ClickDOS (CU Helper) 
516 A68k Assam bler/C Compiler 

536 Red Devil Compacting Utils. 

537 Red Devil Utilities Disks 
546 Iconmanial 

571 Jazzbench 
580 Dope Intro Maker 
591 Business Card Maker 
595 Amateur Radio Disk 

632 MessyDOS 

633 Analytical 

642 C Manual 

643 SID v1 .06 

661 Programming Disk 
682 Sound Applications (2) 
684 Video Applications (2) 
697 Graphics Management (2) 

901 THE Comma Disk 

902 QED Text Editor 

950 Mercenary Virus Killers Disk 



A^- 




NO PRICE INCREASE , A 
at _ -JM& 



CramrM* 



DEPT. AS, 145 EFFINGHAM STREET, ROTHERHAM, 
SOUTH YORKSHIRE S65 1BL 



DEMOS & ANIMATIONS 



966 Bloodsport 2 
1001 Station at Khern ** (3) 
1008APD22: Fun School 3 Demo 

1033 At the Movies *» 

1034 Stealthy 1 Animation * 
1043 Razor 1911: Vertical Insanity 
1 053 Not 9 O'Clock News 3 (2) 

1088 Epic Demo * 

1089 Not 9 O'Clock News 4 (2) * 

1092 Pharaoh Animation * 

1093 DPaint 3 Demo (2) * 

1105 Crionics Neverwhere Demo 

1110 Fractal Right 

1188 Fillet The Fish 

1190 Pussy : Innership 

1200 Raiders of Lost Ark Anim * 

1229 Bud brain 2 

1231 Awesome Game Demo 

1235 Kickboxer Demo 

1238 Evil Deed Demo (X) * 

1246 LSD: Comix Disk 1 

1256 Killing Game Show Demo 

1271 Legend of Billy The Kid * 

1275 Penguin Animations 

1280 Horizon: Sleeping Bag 

1287 Wrath of the Demon Demo 

1400 AF-D51; Weird Science 

1453 More Aarotoons * 

1474 System Violation Demo * 

1477 Ecstasy Demos * 

1607 APD100: AMOS Demo 2 

1516 APD109: Weird Science 2 

1518 Panthorus Megademo (2) * 

1524 APD124: Bob Maniacs* 

1525 APD1 25: Benson Demo 2 * 
1629 Armageddon Damo * 

1540 Amy .vs. Walker Anim. * 

1541 Batman Animation * 



SLIDESHOWS 



078 Vallejo Fantasy Art (2) 
082 Ray-traced Pictures 
163 NASA Slid eshow 
167 Digiview Slideshow 
171 Patrick Nagel Pictures 
185 Escher Slideshow 
238 TV Sports Basketball 
282 Forgotten Realms 
617 Neighbours Slideshow 
725 Diggy Piggys Slideshow (2) 
742 Madonna Slideshow 

767 Cinemaware Slideshow 

768 Action! 

614 Viz Slideshow 

631 Utopia Cartoon Slideshow 

863 Scream Queens (2) 

878 Sun Connection: Slide 3 

891 Creepshow 

899 Madonna Slideshow 2 (2) * 

942 Garfield Slideshow 

968 Gorezone Slideshow (X) 
1044 Desert Island Slideshow 2 
1051 Total Recall Slideshow 
1062 Golems Gate Slideshow 
1073 Fraxion Fantasy Slideshow 
1092 Annie Jones Slideshow 
1085 Comic Slideshow (X) 
1 1 03 Girls of Sports Illustrated 

1210 Turtles Slideshow 

1211 Fractal Fantasy 

1232 Jmi Hendrix Slideshow 

1242 Back to the Future 

1272 Nemesis: Prologue 

1277 Fraxion: Divine Visions (2) * 

1279 Forgotten Realms '90 

1475 Nemesis: Chapter 1 (2) * 

1480 The Age of Sleek 

1 623 APD1 21 : Nik Williams Demo 



UTILITIES DISKS 



1022 AMOS/RAMOS Update 1.21 

1023 Future Composer 
1058 Zero Virus V3.0 
1071 NoiseplayerV&O 

1078 Prophecy: Fractal Scape 

1079 Prophecy: Coder Mag 1 
1095 Catalogue Workshop (2) 
1097 DTP Clip Art (2) 

1099 Video Graphics (4) 

1117 Geneaobgy* 

1198 Sou nd tracker V4.0 (2) 

1222 Picture Format Converters 

1225 Hardware Projects Mag 

1228 ST Emulator 

1234 Tetra-Copy 

1253 Red Devil Utilises 5 

1265 Opti Utilities 1 

1265 Cryptic Uti lit es 17 
1269 SpectraPaint 

1273 CLight 

1274 Star Trekker 1.2 Music Prog. 

1266 Mandlebrot Generator 1.85 * 
1294 Chaos & Fractal Programs 
1360 DKB Trace (Fish 397) 

1366 Rx Disk (Fish 403) 
1383 Menu Writer (FiBh 420) 
1385 Art of Virus Killing 
1432 APDB3: AMOS Paint 

1450 New SuperKillers Disk 

1451 EtactroCAD 

1452 AmiBase 
1473 ARP 1.3 

1514 APO107:AMOS Progs. 6 
1821 FS3 Sprites (needs AMOS) * 

1534 MED V3.0 

1535 Master Virus Killer V2.0 

1536 North CV1.3 (packed) 

1537 North CV1.3 (unpacked)(2) 



MUSIC DISKS 



022 Sound Atax 

044 Batdance Remix 

052 Awesome Sounds 

061 J M Jarre - Definitive 

166 Vang el i a * 

187 Crusaders Audio X 

237 Zee's Hip Hop Music Disk 

336 Girls Need Love 

398 Powerlords: Power Musix 1 

407 CD Player* 

409 Crusaders: Freakd Out! 

424 Made in Heaven (2) 

497 Amiga Chart 5 

516 Bop us Polupus 

534 Vision Music Masters 

562 Music Invasion 3 (2) 

654 Powerlords Power Musix 2 

713 Flash! - Queen (2) 

722 Beatmaster Club Mix 

724 Technotronic Remix 

746 Crusaders Bacteria 

824 Digital Concert V 

833 DJ Disco Leif 2 

857 900 / Oxygerte Remix * 

866 Pan III Music Disk 

870 Bruno's Music Sox 2 

910 Darkling Lords Music Disk 

914 Special Brothers Music 2 

922 Phalanx Beatbox 

924 Game Boy Music Disk* 

930 Rebellion 

935 Madonna: Hanky Panky 

941 Sound tracker Jukebox 

959 Scorpions : Eargasm II 

969 100 C64 Games Tunes 

970 The Comic Strip Remix 
976 Scoopex: Beast Son* 
982 E & L: Get Upl 

986 Amaze : Revolutions 
993 PSA Music Qemodisk 1 
1026 Digital Concert VI 
1061 Captured imagination 
1068 Exile Chipahop 
1077 Superior Sounda V1.1 
1107 Stop Right Now! * 
1243 Chip Music Feetival 
1248 LSD: Supreme Music 1 
1284 Cave: Synthetic Power 
1292 Crusaders Does Genesis 
1505 APD98: Music 24 
1508 APD1 01 : Auto Player VI, 1 b 
1522 APD120: Music Player * 
1527 APD129: Music Demo 1 



ACCESSORIES 



3,5" BLANK DISKS 
10 FOR £4.99 

WITH DISK BOX £5.99 
50 FOR £22.50 

WITH DISK BOX £26.50 
100 FOR £39.99 

WITH DISK BOX E44.99 



DISK BOXES 

FUP-TOP 
10 capacity .... £1.49 

LQCKABUE 
40 capacity .... £4.99 

50 capacity £6.98 

80 capacity £7.99 

100 capacity . . . £9.99 

MISCELLANEOUS 

Mouse Mat £2.99 

Keyboard Cover £3.99 

Monitor Cover £5.99 

Printer Cover £4.99 

Mouse House £1.99 

Drive Cleaning Krt . . . £2.99 

Printer Cable £6.99 

Stereo Leads (2m) . . . £2.99 

1,000 disk labels .... £12.50 

VHS Library Cases 

£6.99 for 10 

"CRAZY JOE'S" LOGO 

T-SHIRTS (M/L/XL) 

White . . . £3,99 

SWEAT SHIRTS (M / L /XL) 

White , , . £8.99 

(PLEASE STATE SIZE) 



J MX 



™mm™± 




Aha! The squirrel strikes back with a standard E wok-issue can opener. I 
get the impression there's a very strange imagination lurking at NBS. 



Continued from pnge Mi 

window on the workbench and lets 
you archive any files you might have 
in a very swift and interactive way. 
So much better than all that fiddling 
around with the CLI. 
Value for money 7/10 

So the efforts of CanDo library get a 
great big heart/ slap on the back 
from me. If the forthcoming disks are 
anything like as good as the first 
three, then CanDo could well 
become one of the most 
indispensable libraries around. 



Best of the rest 



Demos 

There was a time when you really 
had to scratch around for demos of 



any real quality. Now they're all over 
the place. Here's this month's batch. 

Squirrel and AT-AT 

(NBS) 

A very amusing animation with o 
sexy squirrel girl chasing an AT-AT, 
just like in the Imaginetics demo of 
the golden age. It's good to leave 
running on the monitor when you 
leave the computer for a while. You 
should see people watching it to see 
if anything else happens. 
Value for money 5/10 

Popeye Game 

(Amiganuts United 1019) 

A demo featuring a clone of one of 
those tiny pocket-video game-watch 
things. Very amusing and, although it 
doesn't do much, it's very addictive. 
Value for money 6/10 



Fish Tank Simulator 
(Comp-U-SaveX281) 

A fine piece of concept art, but as a 
program it bores after about ten 
minutes. Nice for owners of big hard 
disks and memories to try to patch it 
in if you don't touch the mouse for a 
longish while, ho ho ho. I fooled 
somebody who came to see me the 
other day. They actually thought J 
had a fish tank in my office, Nice 
digitised pics of fish, though it loses 
points for the lack of animation. It 
would be nice to see a real Full 
Motion Video version of this idea for 
CDTV. Now that's what I'd call a 
piece of shareware. 
Value for money 4/10 

Utilities 

Another nice trend at the moment is 
the upsurge of the utility in the public 
domain. There was a time when you 
had to get a Fish disk if you wanted 
any utils (although they are a good 
source, as we'll see in a minute). 

Now there are some houses that 
specialise in utilities and utilities only. 
And the quality has really gone up 
too, but the price you pay for this 
progress is shareware and 
licenseware. But please, as I said 
before, do make sure you pay for 
these disks and don't just copy them 
from a friend. Most of them are very 
cheap, and your contributions keep 
these guys going. 

Red Sector Demo Maker 

(Virus Free 1202) 

This is a brilliant demo making 
program from Red Sector which 
allows you to make your own demos 
with logos, music and vector 



graphics, just like the pros do and 
with the barest minimum of Fuss. 
There isn't much in the way of docs 
on the disk, so you will have to make 
it up as you go along, but very good 
it is. There are some default setups on 
the disk to get you going, but after 
that it turns into an uphill struggle. 
Value for money 8/10 

OctaMED 
(Amiganuts pre-release) 

An eight-channel version of MED 
from the writer of MED 3.0. 

This really is a startlingly good 
product, and although it is only o 
beta test version, I'm told that the 
Finnish author is beavering away to 
bring it to market ASAP. Fantastic 
editing, just like MED 3.0, but with 
eight channels to play with. 
Value for money 10/10 

C Programmers' Guide 

(Amiganuts United 990) 

A four-disk set with C source code 
and docs plus compiled examples. 
The guide takes you through 
everything you ever wanted to know 
about programming in C on the 
Amiga. Copy these examples and 
you'll be on the way to expertsville. 
Value far money 7/10 

G'night from Snouty 

If you have any questions about PD 
or some viewpoint you might like to 
share with me, then why not drop me 
line at PD, Amiga Shopper, 30 
Monmouth Street, Bath BA1 2BW. 
Or why not email me on CIX 
(snouty@cix), Prestel (219997854), 
Telecom Gold (74:mik2077), or The 
Direct Connection 
(uadl 135@dircon.co.uk). f^j 



Fillet o' Fish • Fillet o' Fish • Fillet o' Fish • Fillet o' Fish • Fillet o' 



Continued from pnge 1 1 6 

EliteBBS: An on-line message and file handling 

system. 

MissileCmd: A fast missile command game 

written in assembly. 

RegExpLib Shared library that implements 

regular expression-pattern matching. 

UltraF-4: Demo version of a super graphics-based 

floppy format program that can format four floppy 

disks at the same time and even format disks that 

other programs give up on. 

Disk 445 

MWTape: A tape handler using scsi. device to 
implement serial access to streaming tape devices. 
OptMouse: A program that allows you to use a 
Mouse Systems M3 serial mouse on the Amiga and 
instructions that allow a serial mouse to be modified 
to plug directly into the Amiga mouse port. 
Tar: A port of a UNIX tor clone that can work with 
the TAPE: handler (also on this disk) to read and 
write UNIX tar compatible tapes. 
TurboText: An almost fully operational 
demonstration copy of a new sophisticated text 
editor for the Amiga. 



UUCP: A bug fix for UUCP 1 .08 released on disks 
442 and 443, which had already been finalised at 
the time this fix reached me so could not be 
included there. 

Disk 446 

CanonBJ: A printer driver for the Canon BJ series 
of printers. 

GamePort: Toolkit with link time and shared 
libraries allowing access to the GamePort device. 
Input: A toolkit with link lime and shared libraries 
that allow easy access to the Input device. 
PointerLib: A disk-based shcred library which 
provides programmers with easy access to custom 
pointers and a consistent user-selected busy pointer. 
Post: An excellent PostScript interpreter for the 
Amiga which implements the full Adobe language. 

Disk 447 

AmiBack: Demo version of a new backup utility. 

BackPac: Demo version of a new backup 

program. 

DFC: Disk Format and Copy program. 

FlashBack: Demo version of a new backup utility. 

SMan: A Mandelbrot generation program. 

TCL: Port of Tool Command Language, a simple 



textual language intended primarily for issuing 
commands to interactive programs such as text 
editors, debuggers, illustrators, shells, etc. 

Disk 448 

AmigaPet: Another screen hack by Patrick Evans. 
FifoDev: FIFO; is like PIPE; but is based on 
fib. library rather than its own implementation. 
Mkid: A program identifier database package that 
provides a logical extension to 'clogs'. 
NightMare: A handy little program that uses 
shock techniques to scare people. 
OnTime Holds up a task until a given time and 
then releases it to run, 

PicToANSI: Converts a one-bitplane 320x200 IFF 
picture to a file that displays the picture on any 
ANSI compatible terminal. 
SolitaireX: A solitaire game. 
ST2 Amiga: Con vers Atari ST format relocatable 
executables to Amiga format relocatable 
executables, for subsequent loading into the 
ReSource disassembler and conversion to Amiga. 
Swish: A small simple screen hack that pushes the 
screen around using the view port and simulates a 
floating motion. 

Continued on page 121 



118 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 •JUNE 1991 




ALL PD NOW ON 
BRANDED DISKS ! 



BUSINESS Tl 1 L ES 

358 UEdil Absolutely Fabulous WordPro and SpellCheck 
434 AMWASE FantasUcatly simple 8 Held Database 
49$ HIM DATABASE Comprehensive Relational Dbase 
496 ViSlCALC Powerful Spreadsheet program 
5B9 JOURNAL Keeps records or ail your 

590 CLERK Bank Clark program 

591 QBASE Another Database program 

592 WQRDWRIGHT/AMIGASPELL PD WordProeaasor 

593 BAN KIN Keepftacords all your Bank Statements 

GENERAL UTtLtTIES 

127- 129 TV GRAPHICS DISK 1 Fonts, Backdrops etc. 
340 JAZZBENCH Hew simpler workbench replacement 
345 - 346 Vf DEO APPLICATIONS 1 Video Utilities/Fonts 

354 SID DIRECTORY UTfL read and change your disks 

355 F/SH 327 mtesslDos PC tile reading Systenm 

377 NORTH C COMPILER Just updated lo Version 1.3 If 

378 - 379 - 380 C MANUAL Learn yourself C with this 
460 IC0NMAN1A including ICONMASTER adn more 

464 SOZOBAN C COMPILER plus ZC and A68K Assembler 
25 D-COPY Backup your PD with this great Copier 
538 OlSKMASTER V3.0 Superb CLI replacement f 

600 C - LIGHT Commercial ray tracing program now PD 

601 ELECTROCAD DEMO Electronic Circuit hoard design 
620 M-CAD Ray trace program tor the Amiga 

622 CORSER BASIC COMPILER Speed up your basic 1 
363 MASTER VtRUS KILLER Superb Virus Killer GET IT 

670 A-GENE Geneology program for the Amiga 

671 FFtANZ MEGAUTfLS DISK Font Ed and loads more 

MUSIC AND SEQUENCERS 

118N01SETFACKER 2.0 The Best Amiga Seqeuncer 
453 JAMCRACKER Superb CHIP'SAMPLE sequencer 

603 PROTRACKEP Amiga music Sequencer with MIDI 
122 ST-90 Mega sounds 1 
123ST-91 Lots more samples 

604 ST-92 More Greatest Samples 

605 ST-93 Big Mega Sampies disk 
513 STARTREKKER 1.2 AM.FM Synth,MIDS,S Channels 

A N I MS AND SLIDESHOWS 

137- 138 SiLENTS FANTASY Arty Style pics 
139 REAL 3D Fantastic Ray Traced Pictures 
192 THE WALKER DEMO An old Classic - Brilliant' 
393 FFIACTAL FLIGHT Incredibly fast Flight anim' 

452 ENTERPRISE LEAVING DOCK Very Impressive' 

453 EPIC PREVIEW Game coming soon irom Ocean" 
456 STEALTHY ANIMATION Funny Car loon Style Anlm' 
458 STAR TREK FLEET MANEUVERES Impressive ! * 

623 BATMAN MOVIE As reviewed. Quite funny* 

627 DEMONS SLIDES 3 Very good graphics slideshow 
634 MINER ANIMATION Nice skulpt animation* 

654 RELIANT ATTACKING Another Superb TR Anim' 

655 HUEY 2 Helicopter Taking oft' Reviewed in AF20 

666 STAR TREK FiNGPQNG FlyBy anlm by T.RIchter' 

667 - B68 LIGHT CYCLES Animation from the film TRON " 

GAMES AND PREVIEWS 

296 RA GAME PREVIEW Egyptian type game 
446 BtONlX Superb Arcade ShootEmUp 
448 PACMAN The old classic game on your Amiga 
472 ED-209 Great Shoot-out with turtles Etc. 

509 LEARN AND PLAY 1 Education and Games 

510 LEARN AND PLAY 2 for 4-9 Yrs 

571 TREASURE ISLAND Find that treasure tile 

594 MONQPOL Y The old Classic computerised 

595 BOARD,CARD,ARCADE GAMES Lottsa stuff on this 

596 COLOSSAL ADVENTURE Plus World adventure 
593 BATTLE FORCE Good Strategy War Simulation 
826 THE EVIL DEAD GAME Splat I tnose Dead People 
638 TETRlS 3D You Thought Tetrls was Hard I 

539 MOIRA GAME Adventure fun game 

669 SUBCULTURE GAME DEMO Fast Movin^ ShootEmUp 

672 CHIP Brilliant painter-type same Arcade Quality 



MUSIC A ND DEMOS 

133 CRUSADERS BACTERIA One Of the best Music disks 

153 PUGGS IN SPACE Classic cartoon style demo 

164 SCOOPEX MENTAL HANGOVER The BEST demo ever 

223 DIGITAL CONCERT 3 Mega Music re-mix 

225 DIGITAL CONCERT 5 The Power, Kaos, Touch Ma 

227 JARRE DOCKLANDS Music from the Keyboard King 

252 - 253 BUDBRAIN MEGADEMO Great Demo,may offend 

424 SOUND OF SILENTS Incredible Music disk I 

425 DIGITAL CONCERT 6 Another Mousey remix 

532 CRUSADERS - A FEW TUNES Very well composed 
546 FRAXION FUTURE VISIONS Space sfidesnow.Music 
599 BUDBRAIN DEMO 2 Hilarious action from the Buds 

607 IPAQ DEMO The disk they tried to stop 111 

608 CRUSADERS GENESIS Very nice Genesis songs* 
611 FARTS AND BELCHES No comment .... 

62 i BANGING RAVES 2 Follow up to Banging Raves 
628 AMIGADEUS CLASSIC MUSIC Mozart Amigatised If 

645 SYSTEM VIOLATION DEMO Wicked demo by Anarchy 

646 MADNESS II BY DAN/ANARCHY Its Insane til 

647 HYSTERESIS Fabulous demo by Magnetic Fields 
643 ZARCH MUSIC 3 Some more great musics 

649 EQUAMANIA it Lots of House mixes and more 

650 PHENOMENA MUSIC DREAMS Unbaielvabla Music I 
672-873 SILENTS BLUES HOUSE Superb Music & Game 



BUStneSSpQCk UedU Wordprocassor.Vtsicalc 
and RIM Obese, a great set tor getting going 1 

JUST <4 rilDS Learn and Play Disks 1 and 2 r Puggs 
in Space- A superb set designed tor 5-10 Yrs 

UTILITIES CqL L eCti N More Utilities, Including 
essentials like Diskmasler,Dcopy,TextEd and more 

UTILITY PACK t Packed with loads of utilitles,tnetuding 
the ST-Emulator r and slacks more 

Another great set consisting of 
various utilities to keep you awake utu 3AM ISt 

ti\J I HACrFS. Wanna gel the latest demos before 
I hey even appear in the magazines ! Then this Is for you 

Just like 11 says II! 

DRIP ! 



f , f i * *H Just like j 

(Vd^^tr^jOte I deluding 

GAm s QsLOrE 2 Similar to the above pack with tots 
more superb games to keep you going t 



Each pack has been carefully selected from our huge 
range of public domain software, ^o if you are new to the 
Amiga why nol just grab a tew packs and soon you will 
see what PD is all about for only ... 





3.5" DS/DD BULK 



EACH 



3.5' DATAPULSE 



39 P 



EACH 



£325 



STANDARD FEATURES: SI2K RAM, 1MB DISKDRIVE 
MOUSE, MODULATOR ,4096 COLOURS.ALL CABLES 
AMIGABASIC.3 MANUALS, WORKBENCH DISKS 
SPEECH.4 CHANNEL SOUND , PLUS MUCH, MUCH 
MORE ... 



AS ABOVE PLUS fOUR GREAT GAMES AND A 
PAINT PACKAGE I BACK TO THE FUTURE. BEAST. 
DAYS OF THUNDER, NIGHTBREED AND DELUXE 
PAINT 2. 



^mr mm 

32o £365 



AMIGA PRO PACK £ 1 9. 95 

MOUSE MAT • DUSTCOVER • DISK CLEANER KIT 
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OF OUR SUPERB PD PACKS LISTED OPPOSITE. 

A PRO-PACK WHIN PURCHASED WITH AN AMIGA 
WILL ONLY COST YOU £15.00 I 



PERIPHERALS 



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AND THA T INCLUDES 
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SO CAPACITY DISCBOX 

10 CAPACITY CASE 

6MMMOUSEMATS S.2 

3.5' DISK CLEANING KITS £ 2 

50x3.5' DISK LABELS (MULTI-COLOUR) 

1000 DISK LABELS (7OxS0mm, TRACTOR FED) £ I 9 

ASOO DUSTCOVER £ 2 

A2000 DUSTCO VER £ 8 

QUICKSHOT II PL US M/S £ 6 

QUICK JOY JETFIGHTER £14 

COMP.PRO CLEAR £ I 6 



STARTS 

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A590 HARD DRIVE £299. 00 

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DEMOS 

AS524 Up-front 
ASS86 Amaze Music 
AS614 Digital Concert 6 
AS6I7 Fraxion Horror 
AS664IOOC64Tunes 
AS6B6 Sleeping Bog 
AS687 Kefrens The Wall' 
AS696 Budbrains li 
AS845 Spaced Out Vol, 1 
AS846 Hysteresis 
AS849 Stolen Data 
AS85I Slipstream Demos 

ART 

AS20 C-Llght 

AS346 Busy Bee (1 meg) 

AS401 Fractals 

AS629 Stealthy CI meg) 
AS630 M-Cad 
AS631 Fast Cars 
AS705 Future Visions 
AS729 DBW Render 
AS847 Gorezone Horror 



GAMES 

AS104Pacman87 
AS155 Blizzard 
AS512Tetrlx 
AS579 Drip 
AS605 Bionix II 
AS625 Autobahn 3001 
AS626 Train Set 

MUSIC 

AS114GMC 

AS609 MED V3 
AS623 Soundtracker V4 
AS841 Pro Tracker 
AS842 Slaby's Music 
AS843 Noise Player v2,4 
AS848 Vision Music 
AS850 Reflections II 



BLANK 3.5" 
KAO DISKS 

10 DISKS £6.00 
50 DISKS £24.50 
100 DISKS £45.00 



LANGUAGES 

AS15 68000Assem 
AS1 12 PCQ Pascal 
AS385 C & 68K Source 
AS503 PD 'C 
AS545 AMOS Listings 1 
AS560 AMOS Listings 2 
AS664 AMOS VI .21 Update 

UTILITIES 

AS87 Wordwright 
AS384 Bank N 
AS459 Dope Intro Maker 
AS534 Scoopex Utilities 
AS578 Skunks Utilities 
AS618 Rim Database 
AS619Vislcalc 
AS620 D-Copy 
AS621 ESA Utilities I 
AS632 A-Gene (1 meg) 
AS701 File Crunchers 
AS704 P-Copy III 
ASB44 Giga Utilities 
AS852 CL1 Utilities 



WE ALSO STOCK THE COMPLETE AMOS PD LIBRARY & 
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Wel Beaver Tennis 
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5 Cool Demos 
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IS PD DISKS = CttMM Inc S FREE 

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30 PD DISKS ■ £15.00 

call for details ot discounts on bulk orders 



0¥ER 1400 PD DISKS CATALOGUED. 



Official AMOS PD 

disks now available 



AMOS Licenceware 
£3,50 a disk 



DEMOS. 

1365 Porky Pis Anim. 
1339 Copper Demo 2 
13 IS Sys Violation 
130? Major Del eM 
1306 Evolution 76 
1305 Pfienomina 
1300 Fart&Beteh 
1297 Cloths Peg 
1173 Panic 
1180 Disaster 
1167 Movie Demo 
11 /2 Enforcements 
1185 Thunder Child 



AMAZING 
TUNES 2 

20 fantastic tunes 

3 disks, 1 meg 



843 

JC64 

IMC 
1204 
849 

850 
830 
670 
595 
1209 

832 

531 

530 

509 

1207 

505 

255 

856 

117 

154 

534 

1179 

1184 



GAMES 

Metagalactic Llamas 
Lertrix (Great) 
Master of Town 
Wet Beaver Terwiis 
The Holy GraH 
Breakout Con Kit 
Quiz Master 
Moriopoty 
Carve Runner 
Wacko in 
'■Voider I arc 
Agatran Games 
Blizzard 
Pacman 
Paradroid 
Frantic Freddy 
Drip 

Flaschbier 
Xenon 3 etc. 
Moria RPG 
Track Record 1 meg 
Games disk 1 
Chess etc. 
Mastermind etc. 



UTILITIES 

659 Essenftal UtSs. 1 

] 206 MancFebrot Makef 

1208 Database Wizard 

1078 Essential LMs. 2 

1099 Pro Tracker 1.1 

1202 RSIDemoMake; 

1146 Icon Magic 

1151 (Misfit 

1156 Driver Generator 

1368 Speccy Emulator 

1310 MVK 2.1 

MUSIC 

1320 Slabys Music 

1317 '19 1 

130B Vogue Music Comp. 

1303 imagination 



EXCLUSIVE WARE: 
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Mega fast shoot "em 

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scrolling digitized SFX 

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weapons and more 

EXCLUSIVE TO US 

ONLY £3.99 inc. p&p 

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1322 Flashing Bytes 
1319 OrWTRips 3 

1323 Mat™ Music 3 



ADULT GAMES 

AVAILABLE OVER 

It's ONLY 



BLANK DISKS 
Branded 3.5" disks 

Only 3Sp each 
With any other purchase 



1324 Bloodsuckers 

1327 Triumph Music 11 

1333 Amigadeus 

1334 The Beatles hits 
1338 Turn Up The Bass 

1347 Classin 2 
1353 The Best of RAF 

1348 HotWired 
1217 Equamania 2 
1181 True Energy 



Do the Bart man 

A 3 disk version of 
the No. 1 hit single 
Only £3.00 inc. p&p 



Master Virus 

Killer 2.1 
Can now detect 

114 
vtruses/bootblocks 



rOB JUST £1.00 YOU CAM RECEIVE OUR HIGHtY PRAISED 
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PD CARD/BOARD GAMES £3,96 

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PD GAMES EDITION 1 £4.95 

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PD GAMES EDITION 2 £4.95 

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PD DEMO'S No 1 £4.95 

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PD UTILITIES No 3 £4.95 

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PO ARTiSTS 

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PD MUSICIANS SAMPLES £4.95 

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PD BUSINESS 

HIM (Relational Database). Clerk, 
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Processor, 4 More Databases, 2 Spell 
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PD VIDEO 

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^V\ 



^ 



PUBU|liMAIN 



mi o' Fish • Fillet o' Fish • Fillet o' Fish • Fillet o' Fish • Fillet o' Fisi 



Continued from page 1 1 8 

Disk 449 

Globulus: Demo version of o new arcade game 
that is reminiscent of the old Q-hert game. 
Handshake: A fully featured 
VT52/VT1O0/VT102/VT22O terminal emulator. 
lff2Ansi: Turns any two-colour low-res IFF picture 
into ANSI text that can be displayed on any ANSI- 
compatible terminal. 

Shazam: A picture viewer for Dynamic Hi Res 
images created with Macro Paint, the 4096 color 
high-res paint program from Lake Forest Logic. 
WonderSound Wondersound is an additive 
harmonic instrument design tool with a separate 
envelope design window and 1 6 relative harmonic 
strength and phase angle controls. 

Disk 450 

Amy Vs Walker: Animation from Eric Schwartz. 

MinRexx: A simple ARexx interface that can be 
easily patched into almost any program. 
Tabu: A useful quarter-inch cartridge (QIC) tape 
backup utility. 

UUCP: A bug fix for UUCP 1 .08 released on disks 
442 and 443, which had already been finalised ot 
the time this fix reached me, so could not be 
included there. 

Disk 45 1 

'Liner: A shareware outliner that creates outlines 

Far notes or exports to other programs. 

Convert: Converts 39 different image formats into 

CBM-sfandard 24-bit IFF files For display on devices 

such as Black Belt Systems' HAM-E product. 

ProDrivers: AmigaDOS 1 .3 printer drivers For the 

IBM 4201 and 4202 series of printers. 

RCS: The Revision Control System (RCS) manages 

multiple revisions oF text files, 

RRamDisk: Another recoverable RAM disk. 

Snoop Dos Utility for monitoring AmigaDOS calls. 

Disk 452 

Budget: Program for managing personal finances. 
FLODema: Fioorplan Construction Set demo. 
ImageLob A program that performs image 
processing on IFF pictures. 
MondelPAUG: A version of MandFXP with 



complete on-line help, a fully implemented 
Mandelbrot and Julia set 'movie mode', and many 
improvements in the user interface. 

Disk 453 

AmigaTration: A Concentration-like game for the 
Amiga in which you locate matching tiles on a grid 
that can range from 4x4 (easy) to 3 2x1 2 (difficult). 
Lemmings: Demo a new game from Psygnosis. 
ProjMot: A projectile motion plotter. 
Quick: A utility program specifically targeted at 
hard-drive users to eliminate the frustration of 
launching programs an the Amiga. 

Disk 454 

Decigel A software fix For programs using 
instructions that are privileged on the 
68010/020/030. 

Enforcer: Enforcer uses the MMU to build 
protection over anything that's not legal memory. 
Redaktu: A PostScript program that runs on 
PixelScript to edit other PostScript programs. 
StillStore: A program designed For freelance, 
corporate, and broadcast television. 
Vortex: A universal-accented character converter 
for Amiga, IBM-PC, Macintosh, and C64 files 
written in most west european languages (Danish, 
Finnish, French, German, Italian and more). 

Disk 455 

AngusCopy: A disk copy program with intuition 

user interface. 

ConvMacF: Converts Macintosh type I Adobe 

fonts to a format usable on the Amiga. 

MemMon: A small memory monitor. 

Vlt VLT is both a VT100 emulator and a Tektronix 

(401 4 plus subset of 4105) emulator, currently in 

use at SLAC (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center). 

Disk 456 

Cheatsheet: Compilation of cheats, hints, 
backdoors, passwords, codes, solves, and 
walkthroughs for more than 150 Amiga games, 
CManual: Parts one and two of a complete C 
manual for the Amiga which describes how to open 
and work with Screens, Windows, Graphics, 
Gadgets, Requesters, Alerts, Menus, IDCMP, etc. 



Disk 457 

CManual: Parts three and four of a complete C 
manual for the Amiga. See Disk 456. 
Line: A Shell written to enhance the bare-bones CLI 
with features that many people find useful in the 
UNIX csh, including history, aliases, etc. 
QutckReq: An 'Ask utility' to replace the 'ask' 
command From AmigaDOS. 

Disk 458 

ATCopy: A program to copy files from the Amiga 
side of a system equipped with a PC/AT 
bridgeboard, to the PC side, using wildcards, 
Csh: Version 4.02a of a csh-like shell derived from 
Matt Dillon's Shell, version 2.07. 
GIFMachine: Converts CompuServe GIF image 
files into IFF SHAM and 24-bit ILBMs. 
TeXify: ARexx scripts for CygnvsEd users allowing 
control of Amiga Tex from within CED. 

Disk 459 

AmiDock: An Amiga version of the NeXT's 'dock', 

but more versatile and not as limited. 

Conquest: Lore of Conquest is a war game similar 

in concept to the board game Risk. 

Rxgen: An ARexx library that allows you to call 

any function of almost ony Amiga library from an 

ARexx program. 

XprZmodem: An Amiga shored library which 

provides ZModem file transfer capability to any 

XPR-compatible communications program. 

Zoom: A fast and efficient floppy disk archiving 

utility based on the data compression/ 

decompression algorithms used by Ih.library. 

Disk 460 

JMenu: This program allows an AmigaDOS script 
to display a menu, wait for the user to make a 
selection, either with the mouse or the keyboard, 
and return the selection back to the script through 
an environment variable. 
NetHack: A screen-oriented fantasy game in 
which your goal is to grab as much treasure as you 
can, retrieve the Amulet of Vendor, and escape the 
Mazes of Menace alive. 
ShadowMaker: Demo version of an Intuition- 
based font shodow generator. 



(A 



<A 



Amiganuts United 

169 Dale Valley Road, Hollybrook, 
Southampton SG1 6QX 
» 0703 785680 

Akore Shareware 

7 Fishergate Point, Lwr Parliament st, 
Nottingham NG1 1GD 
» 0800 252221 

AMOS PD library 

25 Park Rood, 
Wigan WN6 7AA 
» 0942 495261 

Anglic PDL 

1 1 5, Ranekagh, Felixstowe, 
Suffolk 1PH 7HU 
w 0394 283494 

Bfitterchips 

Cltffe House, Primrose Street, 
Keighley, BD2 1 4NN 
« 0535 667469 

ConDo PD Library 

1 28 Portland Crescent, 



Stanmore, Middlesex HA7 1 NA 


NBS 




Seventeen Bit Software 


«0B1 204 3954 


1 32 Gunvitle Road, Newport, 


PO BOX 97, Wakefield, 




Isle Of Wight PO30 5LH 


West Yorks WF1 1XX 


Comp-U-Save 


» 0983 529594 


■at 0924 366982 


PO Box 157, Hayes, 






Middlesex UB3 4SR 


PAS Amiga PD Club 


Sofrville 




3 St John's Walk, Stives, 


Unit 5, Stralfield Park, Eteltra Avenue, 


Crazy Joe's 


Cornwall TR26 211 


Waterloovilb, Hants P07 7XN 


145 Effingham Street, Rolherham, 




» 0705 266509 


South Yorks S65 TEL 


POSoft 




* 0709 829286 


1 Bryant Avenue, SoulhendOn-Sea, 


Start Computer Systems 




Essex SSI 2YD = 0702 61 2259 


Barbican House, Bonnersfield, 


Digital Applications 




Sunderland SR6 0AA 


1 1 B Middle Crockerford, 


Public DomirtaFor 


"09! 564 1400 


Basildon. Essex SSI 6 4JA 


PO Box B01 , Bishop's Stanford, 




* 0268 553968 


Herts CM23 3T2 


Vally PD 




* 0279 757692 


PO Box 15, Peterlee, Co Durham 


EMPOL 




SR8 1NZ"091 587 1195 


54 Watnall Road, 


Rrverdene PDL 




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30a School Road, Tilehurst, 


Virus Free PD 


Nottingham NG15 7LE 


Reading, Berkshire RG3 5 AN 


23 Elborough Rood, Moredan, 


« 0602 630071 


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« 0793 512321 


ICPUG 


Sector 16 




PO Box 1309, 


1 60 Hollow Way, Cowley, 


Workbench PD 


London N3 2UT 


Oxford 


1 Buccluech Street, Barrow-in-Furness, 


»081 346 0050 


if 0865 774472 


Cumbria LA14 JSR * 0229 870000 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 tJUNE 1991 



121 



TILL NEXT TIME 



NEXT MONTH 

Issue three of Amiga Shopper is on 
sale on June 6 and is packed with the 
sort of stuff that has already mode AS 
the number one mag for serious users 
of the Amiga. 

We will be speeding you up by 
putting accelerator cards through 
their paces in a comprehensive 
survey and testing out all the 
compilers we can get our hands on. 
Then of course there will be all your 
favourite columns and much more. 

CORRECTIONS 

A slight mix up caused the pictures of 
the DAATAscan and Contriver mice 
to be switched on page 47 of issue 
one. (You just can't trust those mice, 
scurrying ail over the place - Ea) 

Apologies for an omission on the 
order form on the hardware project 
pages. We forgot to leave space for 
you to put your name and address. If 
perchance you have sent off for the 
anti-click kit and forgot to include 
your name and address, we suggest 
you contact Power Computing on 
0234 843388 and let them know 
where to send it. 



EDITORIAL 

30 Monmouth Street, 
Bath BA1 2BW 
« 0225 442244 
Fax: 0225 446019 

We welcome written enquiries, 
but regret that we cannot offer 
advice, guidance or 
information on a personal 
basis, either by telephone or 
post. We welcome 
contributions from readers but 
cannot guarantee to return 
material submitted to us. We 
take great care to ensure what 
we publish is accurate but we 
cannot accept liability for any 
mistakes or misprints. 
No part of this magazine may 
be reproduced in any form 
without permission. 



Editor Bob Wade 
Production Editor Karl Foster 
Technical Editor Cliff Romshow 
Art Editor Julie Stuckes 
Art Assistant Jacquie Spanton 
Consultant Editors Jeff Walker, 
Mark Smiddy, Phil South 
Contributors Stewart C Russell, Mick 
Draycoft, Peter Jones, Jolyon Ralph, Jon 
Bates, Pat Winstanley, Paul Andreas 
Overaa, Gary Whiteley, Janet 
Bickerstaff, Morton Kevelson 
Ad Manager Margaret Clarke 
Ad Sales Executive 
Shaun Lancaster 



GUARANTEE YOUR COPY OF 

AMIGA SHOPPER BY RESERVING 

IT AT YOUR NEWSAGENT 

Don't miss out on issue three of AMIGA SHOPPER. Every serious Amiga user 
in the country is trying to get their hands on this new magazine and you 
don't want to miss out. Over 100,000 Amiga Format readers saw the 
special preview issue and issue one sold out virtually instantly in many 
places. So, to guarantee your copy, either; 

• Make sure you remember to rush into your local newsagent and buy it on the 
morning of Thursday June 1 st. 

# Fill in this form and give it to your friendly, neighbourhood newsagent, and 
they will make sure that it is reserved for you or even delivered to you. [Did 
you know that WH Smith and John Menzies will also save a copy of 
AMIGA SHOPPIR for you?) 



Please reserve/deliver me a copy of Amiga Shopper 

Name 

Address 



TO THE NEWSAGENT - Amiga Shopper goes on sale on every first Thursday in tko 
month. It is published by Future Publishing and is available from your local 
wholesaler. Please return this form to Kate Hodges, Future Publishing, 30 
Monmouth St, Bath BA1 2BW, to enter our free prize draw. 



ADVERTISING 

Advertising Manager 
Margaret Clarke, 

2nd Floor, Rayner House, 

23 Higher Hillgate, 

Stockport SKI 3ER 
| = 061474 7333 
I FAX: 061476 3002 

Ad Sales Executive 
Shaun Lancaster, 

30 Monmouth Street, 
Bath BA1 2BW 
■ 0225 442244 
FAX: 0225 446019 

SUBSCRIPTIONS 

The Old Barn, 
Somerton, 

Somerset TA 11 7PY 
• 0458 7401 1 
FAX: 0458 74378 



Production Deborah Cook 
Publisher Greg Ingham 
Publishing Assistant 

Michele Harris 

Ad Services Tamara Ward 

Circulation Director Sue Hartley 

Caricatures Jolyon Webb 

Photography Ashton James 

Illustration fan Ellery 

Printers Thamesmouth Printing 

News Trade Distribution - 

UK newsstand only: Future Publishing 

0225 442244 

Worldwide: MMC Ltd 0483 21 1678 

©FUTURE PUBLISHING 1991 



'Your guarantee of value' 



This magazine comes from Future Publishing, a 
company founded just six years ago, but which 
now sells more computer magazines than any 
other publisher in Britain. We offer: 

Better advice. Our titles are packed with tips, 
suggestions and explanatory features, written by 
the best in the business. 

Stronger reviews. We have a cast-iron policy of 
editorial independence, and our reviews give clear 
buying recommendations. 

Clearer design. You need solid information fast. 
So our designers highlight key elements 
by using charts, diagrams, summary boxes, 
annotated photographs, etc. 

Greater relevance. At Future, editors operate 
under two golden rules: 

* Understand your readers' needs. 

• Satisfy them 

More reader interaction. We draw strongly on 
readers' contributions, resulting in the liveliest 
letters pages and the best reader tips, Buying one 
ot our magazines is like joining a nationwide user 
group. 

Better value for money. More pages, better 
quality: magazines you can trust. 




Home of Britain's finest computer magazines. 

Amstrad Action • 8000 Plus • PC Plus Amiga 

Format * ST Format 

New Computer Express * Your Sinclair 

Commodore Format • Sega Power 

Amiga Power * Amiga Shopper 

MacPublishing 



ISSUE THREE 

ON SALE 

JUNE 6 



ADVERTISERS 
INDEX 



1st Choice Leeds 33 

16 Bit Centre..... 41 

Almathera 1 04 

Alt Image 76 

Amiganuts 114 

Axe Direct 27 

BCS 100 

Bitcon... 27 

Bruce Smith .78 

Bytes & Pieces 42, 43 

Calco 76 

Chris Longly .....1 04 

CLS 114 

Crazy Joes 117 

CWM 96 

Dataplex 100 

Datel Electronics 50, 51 

Delta Pi 98 

Digicom ..52 

Digita 25 

Dowling 34,35 

DTBS 101 

ESD 76 

Evesham 14, 15 

Galaxy 78 

Golden Image ....94 

GPS 96 

Hart Micros 27 

Hi Soft IBC 

Hobbyte 28 

Home Based Business 101 

Intermediates IFC 

Kernow..... 114 

Kosmos 96 

Ladbroke ...22 

M.D. Office Supplies 95 

Media Direct 1 09 

Media PD 112 

Merlin Express 4 

MJC Supplies 58 

Music Matrix .101 

Naksha 7 

Nick Williams 101 

Official Secrets IFC 

Pazaz 101 

PLC 104 

Postal PD.... 120 

Precision ...19 

Redlaw , 104 

Riverdene 120 

Silk Software 110 

Sims 78 

Softmachine 49 

Solid State OBC 

Special Reserve IFC 

Start 119 

Supply Solutions 49 

Surface -16 

Switchboard 49 

Triiogic 44 

Turbosoft 93 

Virgo 98 

Virus Free PD 120 

Wave 98 

We Serve 78 

West Midland PD 114 

Wizard PD 96 

WTS Electronics 57 



AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 2 •JUNE lWl 






HiSoft New 




All the latest news 
and product 

Information. 



ProFlight 
takes off! 



ProFlight. the extremely accurate and flyable 
Tornado flight simulator from HiSoft, is due for 
release on the Amiga by the end of May 199 1 . 




First released on the Atari ST where it has won 
a high degree of critical acclaim from reviewers 
and users alike, ProFlight is not only one of the 
most technically realistic simulators around but 
it is also tremendous fun to fly. 

You can fly peaceful reconnaissance missions or 
roar into attack after carefully planning your 
combat mission. ProFlight is supplied with a 
comprehensive, ring-bound flight manual for an 
all-inclusive price of £39.95. 



Pascal at last! 



{Q* (G* @ 



A brand-new 
version of the 
popular Pascal 
— ^ language will be 

IN uj S*' *} available soon for the 

^" d Amiga (A500 - A3000). 

Q^ V!^ *& Highspeed Pascal 

originally comes from 
Denmark, (the 'home' of Turbo Pascal), is 
extremely fast and friendly to use and is very 
closely compatible to the immensely popular 
Turbo Pascal on the PC. 

Compilation speed is roughly 20,000 lines per 
minute on an A500 with excellent code 
generation for all the Amiga computers. 

HiSoft is developing the package along with the 
original authors, D-House. Some of the features 
of this exciting new compiler are: 

• Compile to memory or disk 

• Unit concept as in TP5 allowing modular 
development and very fast compilation. 
Many standard Amiga -specific and Turbo 
Pascal compatible units are supplied 



Stand-alone compiler supplied. Multi- 
standard linker. Versatile Make facility 

Source include to a depth of 7 

Inline procedures. Source code control 

using conditional compilation 




The Highspeed Pascal Editor 

• Integrated, multi-window editor with on- 
line help and interactive enor detection 
and correction 

• Numerous examples and helpful manual 

Highspeed Pascal should be available by the 
end of May 1991 at an inclusive cost of £99.95. 





SASC5 



SAS Institute (the parent company of Lattice 
Inc.) has taken over the development and sales 
of the Lattice C 5 compiler for the Amiga and 
released a new version, 5. 10a. 

The improvements and enhancements in this 
version establish SAS C5 as the ultimate Amiga 
C compiler. Upgrades cost £34.95 {ver. 5. Ox), 
£79 (ver. 4.xx) or £99 (ver. 3.xx). 



More 
and 



more... 



In addition to ProFlight and Highspeed Pascal 
HiSoft is set to release a number of other new 
products for the Amiga in early 1991, showing 
our increasing committment to the Amiga range 
of computers. To whet your appetite: 

HiSoft C Interpreter 

The ideal way to learn the difficult C language, 
HiSoft C is an interpreter with a fully integrated 
editor and debugger. Release is due by the end 
of June 1991 at a price of £49.95. 



Use this order form to obtain your HiSott Software directly from HiSoft and we wilt send you a Starter Pack consisting of a quality mouse 
mat (printed with itie Amiga ASCI! set), an attractive disk wallet and 4 double-sided disks, totally tree of cnarge! 

Please send me the following software. 



HiSoft Inspiration 

This exciting new product makes it simple to 
design and use the Amiga's gadgets, requesters 
etc. in your favourite programming language. 
Release date is the end of March 1991. 

Devpae and BASIC 

HiSoft Devpae version 3 and HiSoft BASIC 
version 2 are due out in the first half of 1991. 
Both feature a brand new, multi -window editor, 
much more speed and a great many new 
features. Tick the box(es) below for details. 

Meanwhile, we have some very special offers 
on our existing products - use the order form 
below (you can photocopy it if you wish). 
Devpae 2 and BASIC 1.05 contain coupons 
offering you the chance to upgrade to Devpae 3 
or BASIC 2 for £35 and £45 respectively. 



_i 


HiSoft Devpae Amiga vor 2 


£39.95 


□ 


HiSoft BASIC ver 1.05 


£49.95 


□ 


HiSoft Extend Library 


£19.95 


□ 


HiSoft BASK & Extend 


£59.95 


□ 


SAS . Lattice C 5 


£229.00 


Please send me informal ■ 




j 


HiSoft PrafligM simulator 




U 


HiSoft Inspiration 




□ 


Highspeed Pascal 




U 


HiSoft C Interpreter 




□ 


HiSoft BASIC 2 




□ 


HiSott Devpae 3 i HiSoft Davpae 30 




I wish to pay by: \J Cheque/PO Q Access □ Visa 
Card No: 

Expiry Date; 



1 1 


: "j Signature: 



HiSoft Amiga News 



HiSoft software is available from good computer 
shops. In case of difficulty, you can order 
directly from HiSoft, either by using the order 
form opposite or by telephone. For export 

terms or further details on any of our products, 
please call or write to us. Prices are inclusive of 
VAT and carriage within the UK. 

HiSoft 



High Quality Software 



The Old School, Greenfield, 

Bedford MK45 5DE UK. 

Tel: +44 525 718181 

Fax: +44 525 713716 



ANNOUNCING 



THE 



A5000-B500Q 







ASH THE POWER OF YOUR AM 

▼ JUST ADD TO YOUR AMIGA FOR T 



• BS000-25 Faster than the CBM A3000-2S 
• 500-1000% Faster than your Amiga • 

• Massive 4-32Mh of superfast memory • 
• 100% Software compatibility • 

Plug-in up to a 50 MHz Maths Co-Pro • 
• B5000 has advanced 32-bit Paged-Mode design 

• 32-bit Kickstart — five/ten times faster • 

• Three models — A5000-16/B5000-25/B5000-40 < 



• THE MACHINES • 

A5000-1B: 16.' ; 7 MHz Asynchronous MC68020RC 2-3 MIPS (8 MIPS peak) 
B500O-25: 2600 MHz Asynchronous MC*8030RP S-6 MIPS (12 MIPS peak) 
85000-40. 40.00 MHz Asynchronous MC6C030RP 8-9 MIPS (1B MIPS poak) 
FPU 12.5MHz-50N"f ilC or MC68B82RC 

ASr JO-16 RAM 4 Meoasyies ot 32 -bit RAM 256 x 4 80ns DRAMs 
S5O0O-25 BAM: 16 I 3-t)lt RAM 1024 x 4 80na DRAMs 

BSOOO-40 RA K •_--: ol 32-bi: RAM 1024 x 4 8t>ns DRAMs 

SHADOW ROM: Movg your Kickslart Into 32 oil SUPER-FAST-flAM 
SOFTWARE: 68000 Fallback mo* tor 100% software compel : 
HARDWARE: 100% Compatible with Amiga 500/2000 and add-on cards 
INTERFACE 1: Plugs into 68000 processor socket inside your Amiga 
INTERFACE 2: A/82000 Co-proces= I (for B5OO0-40 only) 



A5OOO-10 

(Price includes 1Mb RAM) 



B ^000-25 

'{Price (nciddes nib A' i lip 



(AU prices inclusive of VAT) 



B5OOO-40 

(Price includes t Yth h' IM) 




SOLID STATE LEISURE LIMITED 






International: -+ 44 



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