EXPERT ADVICE • TOP TIPS BUYS MORE FACTS % t^t^ Doqs Hotlinks make laying out pages with Pagestream a doddle? DTP: page 81 How to use your Amiga to add top-notch titles to your home videos... Video: page 73 ISSUE 16 • AUGUST 1992 • £1.50 • YOUR DEFINITIVE GUIDE Got Gajits' Sequencer One? - then you should check out Hit Kit MIDI: page 122 It's easier than you think to program a neural network on your Amiga. ..Al: page 44 ave on phone bills up your own Amiga bulletin board! Comms: page 86 All the latest low-cost and no-cost software PLUS where to get fonts PD: page 141 - your problems We just love 'em Nothing's too tough for I 3D Graphics, Printers, Music, BASIC Beginner or expert - Hard disks. Scanners, Accelerators.. we've got the solutions - The top 200 Starts Oh pi ♦ • • 8| uiurei 1 PUBLISHING ■ II III ■ nil i Commodore A600 > • v The new compact AOiK) from Commodore Built-in TV modulator Workbench i\ Kfckstart l , Rnhanced chip set MB of chip RAM O II)!- hard disk controller built-in / Credil card size RAM & ROM slot f A600 £399 A600 with 20MB £499 A600 with 40MB £599 AfiOO with 80MB £699 New PC880B \u\\ wnti X-Cop) Professional! Power Computing have teamed up with Cachet of Germain to brin^ you the ultimate in disk backup systems ^^ The new PC880B disk dnve can lx.» used ilirecilv with the X Cop\ Professional cyclone sntiuare ^ withoul am extra tables or interfaces This gives you the the power and reliabilm rj| the proven \ ulone' backup software with the conve- nience of the PC880B floppy drive. so now you tan have two backup systems bin/' and 'Cyclone' available at the touch ol a button! =5 And the PC880B still has our unique switdiablc anh virus mode, preventing all write accesses to PC50 1 RAM Card ( >ur RAM IxuriJ is designed Specially lor the new A 500+ uimpiUei and comes With 1MB of RAM on board to expand your niemorv to -Mil of chip RAM. Plug in and go operation "tits Into tr.qxioor). Gives you a total ol 2MBol chip RAM £49 32 chip RAM card £39-95 8 rvi B for any A500 th e booiblock ot your floppy disks Ml ? j A600 Memory Cards Q K New RAM boards for the Commodore A600 £POA iscellaneous ><2 tO In Maxell disks, optical mouse Xipstick £45 ** Power Mouse £15 Optical Mouse £29.95 it you all ready own a PC880B. and the Cyclone copier, a hardware upgrade is available to take your drive up to the latest specification, New PC880B with Blitz & X-Copy £90.00 New PC8H0B (Cyclone compatible) £75.00* Cy< lone hardware upgrade for existing PC880B V owners £15.00 - •ihh Jtivc Is avaltthk oolj lo REG15TERKD OWfftffl »■' X i CJ '"' '< " M,,njl Vou musi provide pr<« >r ol punhjM.- >rd MK42 7PN Ring your credit card order thiough on 0234 843388 (10 lines) or Fax on 0234 840234 Technical helpline 0234 841882 All prkv.s include vat. dcli\ m jnd arc aubjeci 10 change Spet Ifluiilonii art *ubted t*> change withoul notice N<*xi d») cJdivci) u ft (UK mainland tmlj » all edged hmcr 4 nuipuilnit Trance ISHkl VokHBf"^!! ttu Pimrri itmpuiime I v \ IH^iribui»rforPwwcrt»impoilnK n, DHksHi Vm Pucrio D> BuoMn aei w 22 Td icifti sm t'\ I'M, W E L C O AT A GLANCE GUIDE To help you find what you want quickly and easily, this is a cross- referenced list of all the products and subjects covered in this month's Amiga Shopper. The subjects covered in Amiga Answers are detailed on page 45; the many PD programs covered on page 146 are listed there. The page numbers given are for the first page of the article in which the product is mentioned. A570 139 A600 13 Amiga Answers 47 AmigaDOS 92 AMOS 98 Artificial Intelligence 42 Bulletin boards 86 Buying advice ' 151 CD-ROM 137 CDTV 137 Comms 86 Competition 154 Desktop publishing 81 DTP 81 Education 78 For sale 140 Graphics 16 HAMA 290 genlock 76 Hit Kit 126 Hotlinks 61 Letters 13 Listings 70 Mail Order 135 MIDI 122 Modems 86 Music 122 Neural networks 42 News 7 PqgeStream 61 Product Locator 152 Professional Calc 131 Programming 70,108 Public domain 141 Reader ads 140 Scala 2.0 139 Shareware 141 Shades 61 SID 2.0 141 Smoothtalker 76 Spellbound 78 Subscriptions 114 Talking Shop 13 User groups 112 Video 73 Word Processors 16 Are there any products or subjects you'd like us to take a look at? Well, just drop a line to: Amiga Shopper, 30, Monmouth Street, Bath BA1 2BW. espite last month's somewhat surprising news that Commodore had decided to cease production of the A500 and concentrate on a new range represented by the entry-level A600, there's still no news on what might fill the gap between that machine and the A3000. Commodore has always refused to speculate on new machines before they're launched - even to the point where the first you hear about them is someone ringing in to say that they've just bought one in Dixons or wherever! But they will go so far as to intimate one is on the way and it seems pretty certain, talking to developers, it's a replacement for the A2000. If you look at the letters pages this issue you'll soon see what the majority of readers think about the decision. Throughout my replies I've tried to stress that I personally believe all is not doom and gloom. Neither Commodore, its developers nor third party manufacturers and publishers are likely to dump a machine range that's sold 1.2 million units in the UK alone. That the A500 is no longer the state of the art is unquestionable - it's just that its replacement leaves a lot to be desired. PUB1K DOMAIN HARD DRIVING There are thousands of Amiga programs which are available for little more than the price of a disk. And many more which allow you to try the software free before you buy. Each month in Public Domain World we examine the best of these programs and explain how to get hold of them. This month our resident PD sampler, Ian Wrigley, scans through his latest batch to focus on SID 2.0 the great hard disk manager and samples a whole bunch of new fonts. Public Domain World or... cor baby that's nearly free.. as we call it, starts on page 141 Commodore would have been much better off delaying the decision to cease production of the A500 until a new machine with a faster processor had been brought to market. That way it could have saved a considerable amount of face. As it is, it has lost credibility. So, in this big meanwhile, what's a poor A500 owner to do? Hang on in there! Buy the new chip set so you're assured of future software compatibility, wait for someone to release an adaptor which'll let you hook up forthcoming A600 peripherals... and relax! Sfa*tf Editor 13 PAGES DEVOTED EXCLUSIVELY TO ANSWERING YOUR QUESTIONS Every month in Amiga Answers our panel of experts answer more genuine reader questions than any other Amiga magazine. And for beginners our easy Expert Tips will help you get to grips with your Amiga, and understand the other features in this month's issue. We answer questions every month on Workbench • The CLI • Comms • Programming • DTP • Video • Business software and more. THE ANSWERS START ON PAGE 47 FOR A FULL LIST OF CONTENTS, TURN THE PAGE Your guarantee of value # This magazine comes from Future Publishing, a company founded just seven 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, and you need it fast. So our designers highlight key elements in the articles by using charts, diagrams, summary boxes, annotated photographs and so on. 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 of our magazines is like joining a nationwide user group. Better value for money. More pages, better quality: magazines you can trust. uiure PUBLISHING The home of Britain's finest computer magazines: Amiga Shopper • Amiga Format • Amiga Power • Public Domain • Commodore Format • PCW Plus • PC Plus ST Format • Your Sinclair • Sega Power Amstrad Action • PC Answers • PC Format Mountain Biking UK • Needlecraft • Classic CD • Cycling Plus • Photo Plus • Total! and millions of other top-sellers in the pipeline AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 1 6 • AUGUST 1 992 ^ LOWEST PRICES GUARANTEED! CORTEX '/« Mb RAM EXPANSION lor the Amiga A500 ^n io 8 , h .9M U ^~n e n tSp ■Mttfll Acinus' compa<* , "> lof imo wr»r urn L6* prowe enawe/diww- »** '• Avalble «* or **wu. batWV-bacMd ciocK; calendar modul* CLOCK C22.95 £17.95 GVP 8Mb RAM EXPANSION for the Amiga A1 500/ A2000 Fully implemented auto;CO«}«« . Zero wait states • Uses MX8M SIMMs 2.4, or 8Mb configurations. 2Mb £159.00 4Mb 8Mb ROM SHARERS ^^L r^ *2 04 Kick^'art ROMS • ROM sockets .to aiwwlo* luture exoansion. As above but with 2 petition slide switch £26.95 £16.95 KICKSTART ROMS V1.3 rom V2.04 KICKSTART HUM £29.00 £33.95 immmimiiwu CORTEX 8Mb RAM EXPANSION for the Amiga A500/A1000 The ONLY RAM upgrade approved by Commodore UK • Fully compatible with A500 plus for 10Mb maximum RAM ■ External fitting (Warranty remains intact) ■ Through port (covered by blanking plate) • Fully implemented auto- configure • Zero wait states • Compatible with A590 and all major hard disks ■ UseslM x 8bit or 1M x 9bit SIMMs • Complete with its own power supply unit (UK, US, or EURO) ■ FullyAlOOO compatible • RAM test software. CORTEX 1 Mb MODULE FOR A500 plus Gives 2Mb CHIP MEM • plus Ultra low power design • Low component count for maximum reliability ■ Available populated to V 2 MB or 1MB 1/2 Mbl 1 Mb C25.95lC39.95 2Mb I 4Mb £185.00|C241.00I£353.00 * s GVP IMPACT SERIES 2 HARD DISK WITH RAM (A500HD8+) 52Mb Hard disk system with up to 8Mb of RAM • Factory-fitted Quantum Pro-drive. 11ms access • Uses 1M x 8bit SIMMs (see RAM CHIPS section for prices) • Game switch (hard drive disable) and power supply. 52Mb I 120Mb I 240Mb E359.00l£499.00|£799.00 Other GVP products availble: call for prices ENHANCED CHIP SET (E.C.S.) UPGRADES £36.95 EXTERNAL FLOPPY-DRIVE High-quality silent mechanism • Through-port • Enable/disable switch, 8372A j Fatter Agnus 8373 Super Denise £34.95 £47-95 MegaCh.p 2000 with Super Agnus (allows 2Mb to be '-»ed to A500/1 500/2000) See KICKSTART ■ ROMS' for ROM upgrade. £199.00 GVP Full range available including new mini-slot AT-Emulator. Price promise applies! J RAM CHIPS PRICE PROMISE Cortex will match any genuine once offered by one of our U.K. competitors on goods that are m stock on a like-for-iike basis This otter applies at the time of purchase onty and does not apply to pnees offered in sales of bankrupt stock. clearance or dosing down sales 2 YEAR GUARANTEE All product bearing the Cortex brand name cames a 2-year guarantee Other products m this aoVertement carry a t year guarantee AA pnees indude VAT and postage & packaging All products shipped same day where poss**e Allow 14 days for delivery rf ordering by cheque. Make cheques/ PCs payable to CORTEX.. 1M * 8 bit SIMMS (for Cote*. GVP etc) each I GVP etc) each 256K x 4 M DIPS (for A590 2091 CO*, mm f SS !"!jMD'Ps (tor okfer A^OW cards) EACH 1M*< ibrt static - column rnodo ZlPs (tor A3000) EACH £29.00 £ 112.00 £3.49 £3.49 £19.95 DEPT AS, CORTEX DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY LTD, BRITANNIA BUILDINGS, 46 FENWICK STREET, LIVERPOOL L2 7NB. • 24 HOUR SALES TELEPHONE: 051-236 0480 24 HOUR FAX: 051-227 2482 AMIGA SHOPPER Issue 16 August 1992 Editor; Andy Storer Deputy Editor. Cliff Ramshaw Layout Sub-Editor; Diana Taylor Production Editor: Alison Harper Consultant Editors: Jeff Walker, Mark Smiddy Contributors; Jaaon Holborn, Paul Overaa, Gary Whiteley, Phil Harris, Ian Wrigley. Philip Gladwin, Jolyon Ralph, Toby Simpson, Wilf Rees Guest Composer: J S Bach Ad Manager: Margaret Clarke ■ ■ Senior Ad Sales Executive: David Eckett Production: Richard Gingell Production Technicians; * Simon Windsor, Chris Stacker, Jerome Clough Assistant Publisher: Stuart Anderton Circulation Director: Sue Hartley Promotions Manager: Michele Harris Group Publishing Director: Greg Ingham ABC audited circulation: July-December 1991: 45,209 copies/month Printed by Redwood Press News Trade Distribution - UK: Future Publishing 0225 442244 Worldwide: MMC Ltd 0483 211678 This magazine is copyright © 1992 Future Publishing Ltd. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without written permission. We welcome contributions for publication but regret that we cannot return any submissions. Any correspondence will be considered for publication unless specifically stated otherwise. Editorial 30 Monmouth Street, Bath BA12BW Tel: 0225 442244 : Fax: 0225 446019 E-mail: amshopper @cix.compulink Advertising Rayner House, 23 Higher Hillgate, Stockport SKI 3ER Tel: 061-474 7333:Fax: 061-476 3002 Subscriptions The Old Barn, Somerton TA11 7PY Tel: 0458 74011 So how about winning another year's free subscription then chaps? - This month all we want you to do is send us the name of the actor who the girlie, who starred in the MvilyvYvvU mwYiv referred to in these pages, fell in love with in that film. You got it? Then just send it in to: I go into a sweat just thinking about her in that chiffon dress', Amiga Shopper, 30, Monmouth St, Bath, BA1 2BW. First out the bag wins 12 free issues . Oh, and last Ish's winner was NP Wilson - well done NP - yep it was Tony Hart's Vision On. News 7 If the demise of the A500 weren't enough, we now hear rumours that Nintendo plans to buy Commodore! You respond to Commodore's decision to cease production of its most popular Amiga and there's flak flying left, right and centre! 42 Artificial Intelligence The third part of our new series revealing the secrets of neural networks and practical Al programming The biggest collection off handy Amiga advice ever published with sections full off essential tips on: printers • desktop video • 2D & 3D graphics hard drives • word processors • Workbench RAM expansion • DTP • sound sampling BASIC • comms • accelerators • Shell C • scanning • music composition spreadsheets and Assembler... Phew! Are these twenty pages you can afford to miss? DIY Listings How to write your own Search and Replace text utility courtesy of reader, and £20 winner, Fu Sang Li Video 70 73 How to get the most from a video titling package PLUS: HAMA's new 290 genlock put through its paces Education 78 We show you the best way to present your data, graphs and stats PLUS: How to improve your spelling Desktop publishing 81 Jeff Walker checks out whether the Hotlinks data exchange system for PageStream does the biz The world of Comms 87 Let the Amiga world come to you! We show you the easy way to set up your bulletin board AmigaDOS 98 Why bother buying an off-the-shelf appointments scheduler when you can code your own the easy way! AMOS 108 More tips on better AMOS programming PLUS: how you can win a free copy of the forthcoming AMOS Professional Programming 108 Cliff Ramshaw continues his BASIC attempts to beat his Amiga at Noughts and Crosses A problem shared is a problem solved! 13 PAGES of your worst nightmares diagnosed by our unrivalled panel of experts. Absolutely nothings too tough for these guys - just try 'em! Expert Tips How to choose the programming language for your needs 119 MIDI Music 122 Can Gajit's Hit Kit add-on for its popular Sequencer One package make your music composition a cinch? Business 131 Is Professional Calc from Gold Disk, the successor to Advantage, the only Amiga spreadsheet you'll ever need? Amiga CD 138 Andy Storer looks at a new easy-to-use CDTV authoring system which could make you a lot of money ffilW Public Domain World 141 Could all your hard disk problems be solved for free with SID 2.0? PLUS: where to get hold of oodles of fonts - well 281 anyway - for next to nothing Product Locator 137 We rate all the Amiga hardware on the market in this easy access, at-a-glance guide to the top products Win Easy AMOS! 1 54 Yep. we have 15 copies of this programming package to give away. All you have to do is answer 3 easy questions! AMIGA 5 IlleServe *% of Hampshire Established 7 years NEW Amiga Workstation /Expansion System Monitor stand with sherf for rJnves etc. Strong metal construction modo from 14SWG steel epoxy coated Amiga colour. Special price LZ / . DU A/6>i/v Pr/'ce Citizen 224 24pin Colour* Pnhanrtd 94p#n printer * optional colour with #»«y to um control panel £ ytw warranty. Prtec with ooWc & paper Mono £209 Cotour £219 Amiga printer driver £5.00 All Citizen printers have 2 year warranty Swift 24E Enhanced 24pin. Colour printer with cable & paper £269 Citizen Swift 9 with cable & paper Mono £1 69 Colour £1 79 Citizen 1 20D + with cable & paper £119 Panasonic KXP1 1 23 Probably the bast 24pin mono printer available. With cable & paper £179 Panasonic/Epson KXP1170 9pin 134 KXP1124i 24pin 227 KXP2180 9pin Colour .... 189 KXP2123 24pin Colour... 269 Epson LQ570 24pin 265 Epson EPL-4100 Laser.. 680 Epson EPL-8100 Laser.. 1115 Prices include VAT cable & paper Naksha Mouse for Atari ST & Amiga with house & mat £21.50 Squik Mouse for Atari ST & Amiga £13.90 Midi Interface 4 channel Midi Interface for Amiga £29 Or. Ts Midi Music Software Inot suitable for A500+) £9.95 New Price HP Deskjet Colour 300dpi colour inkjet printer. Colour laser quality at 1 /1 of the cost. 3 year warranty. Price with cable & paper £529 Deskjet 500 HP 300dpi Inkjet printer. Laser quality at dot matrix price. 3 year warranty. With cable & paper £359 Printer Drivers Citizen Swift Colour 5.00 Canon BJ-10e 4.95 Deskjet 500 Colour 9.95 Printer Dust Covers most types in stock from £4.70 inc vat Hard Disks Floppy Drives Supra 500XP52M fofASOO £299 Commodore A590 £249 20M Hard Disk for A500 GVP Series 2 52M forA500 £359 GVP Series 2 120M forA500 £469 GVP Series 2 52M forA1500 £279 Cumana CAX354 The most refcabie drive you can buy 1M external while stocks last Commodore A1011 1M external £49,90 While stocks last Roctec R0CUteRF382C 1M external £56 1 M Simm Suitable for GVP Hard Disks etc. £29.90 per 1Mb £29.90 Amiga 600HD 20Mb internal Hard disk & software £449 GVP Series 2 120M £419 Hard Disk for A1 500 A2286 Bridgeboard CBM 286 Bridgeboard for A1 500 £319 Amiga 600 Standard A600 with full software £349 Amiga 1500 with full software pack £499 1 12 Meg Ram + Clock £24.95 New Price Canon BJ-10ex 360dpi Inkjet printer with cable & paper £229 Star SJ-48 360dpi Inkjet printer with cable & paper £219 Star LC200 with cable & paper £179 Star LC20Mono 9pin 129 LC200 Colour 9pin 179 LC2420 Mono 24pin 189 LC24200 Mono 24pin .... 209 LC24200 Colour 24pin .. 259 Prices include VAT cable & paper Kickstart Upgrades Commodore 2.04 full upgrade 79.00 Kickstart ROM only v2.04 .... 41.50 Kickstart ROM only vt. 3 29.00 Phoenix Rom sharer 24.95 VXL30 25MHz Accetarator ..239.00 Fatter Angus custom chip .... 37.50 A590 or Supra Hard disk PSU 49.00 Naksha Scanner 200 to 400dpi. 1 05mm nr \r\ width with express-IT £ y y software Commodore 1 084SD 14" Colour Monitor with cable dot pitch 042mm A500 PLUS Cartoon Classics full software pack £329 £219 While stocks last Philips CM8833 mk2 Colour monitor with cable £199 UK. 240V mains +F19 game Accessories SONY DISKETTES SONY branded (lifetime warranty} 000% certified error free) lOx 3.5* DS/DD 135tpi 7.50 50x 3.5" DS/DD 135tpi 32.30 100x3.5" DS/DD 135tpi 59.93 250x3.5" DS/DD 135tpi 141.00 1kx 3.5" DS/DD 135tpi 540.50 Joystick/Mouse twin extension 4.70 3M Joystick/Mouse lead .... 3.75 A500 Printer cable 7.95 Modulator/Disk Extension 10.95 23way Plug or socket 2.95 A500 Dust Cover 4.70 Mouse Mat (thick soft type) .. 4.95 Mouse House 2.95 1M internal 3.5" drive 49.00 A500 replacement PSU 39.00 A590 replacement PSU 49.00 l/2Meg Ram NO Clock 23.90 Rocgen Plus - Genlock + ... 129.00 DISKETTES SONY/DYSAN bulk (lifetime warranty) (100% certified error free) 10x 3.5" DS/DD 135tpi 5.95 50x 3.5" DS/DD 135tpi 21.86 100x3.5" DS/DD 135tpi 39.60 250x3.5" DS/DD 135tpi 94.88 Ikx 3.5' DS/DD 135tpi 353.68 40 x 3.5" Diak box with lock .... 5.49 100 x 3.5" Disk box with lock .. 7.50 Carnage on 50+ disks £3.53 Phone for our 60 page catalogue EDUCATIONAL AND GOVERNMENT ORDERS WELCOME All products have a 30 day money back & 1 2 month warranty. Prices are subject to variation without prior notification. Established 7 years. 3 minutes from M27 Junction 1 1. Free parking. Open 9 to 5.30 Monday to Friday & 9 to 5 Saturday Postage 94p or £3.53 Securicor £6.46 (£5.50 +VAT) CM ID 3 UleServe Larger items dekvered by Securicor Amiga/Shopper Dept. 40-42 West Street Ponchester Hants P016 9UW T«4: 0705 325354 Best for service Best for service E W S «W BOSS FOR COMMODORE SHARE Is Kcll) Sumner oct to take Steve Franklln'R place ac the managing director of Commodore UK? Kelly Sumner Is expected to become the new MD Of Commodore UK. According to industry rumours and as reported in the trade paper CnV. Sumner is to take over the post that Steve Franklin has filled for the last five years. Franklin is to take a management role with Commodore's CDTV project. We spoke to Kelly Sumner, but he would offer no comment on the rumours. An announcement regarding the change is expected to be made at the end of June. Next month's Amiga Shopper will carry an in-depth interview with the new MD. COMMODORE COUP AT MULTIMEDIA AWARDS Three multimedia titles running on Commodore machines won awards at the British Interactive Multimedia Association Awards this year. The Vistrain police training system, first reported in issue 12. was winner in the Productivity category. Developed by the National Computing Centre and the Scottish Police College, it uses a Commodore PC and Amiga 2000 with genlock to teach police officers how to control crowds. The Consumer gold award went to Cloudscan's CDTV Karaoke Hits One. while Eurotalk's CDTV title Learn French With Asterix was winner of the European category and second in the Education section. The awards bode well for Commodore's multimedia hopes, despite the public's current lack of enthusiasm for CDTV. To counter the lack of interest, the company has released the Multimedia Pack, a bundle consisting of a CDTV. a keyboard, mouse and disk drive. Essentially an A500 with a CD-ROM, it sells for £599. Console giant Nintendo Is to make a takeover bid for Commodore International, It has been rumoured on the New York Stock Exchange. The rumours began late in March, when a prominent analyst described Commodore's stock as 'the single best value in the computer industry*. At the time. Commodores share price was quoted at $14 3/8. The analyst predicted the company's share would be at $25 by this time next year. The price of Commodore's shares immediately began to rise following the speculation. Commodore executives were unavailable for comment, and a spokesperson for Nintendo of America denied the speculation. The rumour had not specified whether it was Nintendo of America or its parent company Nintendo of Japan which was to make the bid. so speculation continued. Industry sources m Japan told Amiga Shopper that Commodore directors had met with Nintendo executives at Chicago's recent consumer electronics show and were only weeks away from signing on the dotted line. By the close of business on 26 March v Commodore's share price had risen $1 3/8 to $15 3/4. while the share prices of computer companies such as IBM. Hewlett Packard and Compaq were falling. The takeover would offer both companies benefits. Commodore would gain Nintendo's immense marketing power and a huge cash injection which could, conceivably, be plowed into further research and development. Nintendo, already in a position of near-dominance of the console market, would gain the best possible position in the home computer market without having to develop its own line of machines. The Amiga market would almost certainly burgeon, creating much more interest from third party hard and software developers. Perhaps the acclaimed Mario Brothers game would finally make an appearance on the Amiga. Nintendo is certainly in an acquisitive mood at the moment. It has recently paid $75 million for the ownership of the Seattle Mariners football team. An answer to the C programmer's prayers comes In the form of the Amiga C Encyclopedia. The encyclopedia consists of six manuals contained on 12 disks, and is compiled by the Amiga C Club, based in Sweden. The information contained on the first ten disks is widely available in the public domain, but the last two are only available by registering with the ctub. In total the encyclopedia contains 175 fully executable examples along with source code. All are compatible with Workbench 1.3 and Workbench 2, and follow Commodore's programming guidelines. Subjects covered are the basics of C and the Amiga, using Intuition. using graphics, accessing the operating system, using devices and using sound. Snippets likely to interest coders are explanations on sprites and BOBs, 3D routines and creating copper lists. In addition to the encyclopedia. registration with the club offers programmers many other benefits. Anders Bjerin. the ctub's organiser, offers to digitise members's pictures in colour, as well as sampling sound effects. He also undertakes to help members with their C coding problems by answering questions, giving advice and helping during the debugging stage. The Amiga C Club has been in existence for two years, and currently has 150 registered members. Registration costs £45. for which members will receive the complete Amiga C Encyclopedia. If you already have the first ten disks of the encyclopedia, then registration is £30. Anders requests that you don't send him cheques. Anders Bjerin can be contacted at: Datra, Amiga C Club. Anders Bjerin, Tulevagen 22, 181 41 Lidingo, Sweden, Could Mario, the famous computer games character, soon be making his appearance on the Amiga? There has still been no official comment from either Commodore or Nintendo. If there is any truth to it. the facts will be revealed in the next two months or so. It would be impractical for the two companies to undergo large scale change afterwards, during the much busier sales period of Autumn. Amiga Shopper will keep you posted on any further developments. IT'S A SIM Famous computer game SimCity is being used to test artificial Intelligence software used In urban planning. Scientists from the University of Chicago are using the game from California-based Maxis to put their Al system through its paces. H1S0FT AND KUNIA AGREE HiSoft has become the manufacturer and promoter of Kuma's line of office application packages following an agreement between the two companies. HiSoft. well known for its popular range of software development tools, will be taking over all of Kuma's business oriented software. Existing users of Kuma software will be given technical support from HiSoft. The company will continue the development and enhancement of Kuma's packages. The handing over of its software leaves Kuma free to concentrate on publishing its expanding range of technical books. HiSoft * 0525 718181. Kuma » 0734 844335. AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 16 • AUGUST 1992 E W S PRINTER PROMO OKI Is offering buyers of Its LED page printer a selection of free gifts in an effort to sell more units during the quiet summer period. The 0L810 uses Light Emitting Diode technology to produce laser quality output with less moving parts and, in theory, greater reliability and efficiency. Buyers of the printer before 30 September can choose one of four fTOfi gifts or buy an OKI portable plionc for £39 (it normally costs £289). The gifts on offer are: an Olympus Superzoom camera: a Sony Personal CD Player: an OKI car phone; and a dual bin upgrade for the printer itself. The OL810 costs £1,499. OKI w 0753 531292. AMIGA IN INDIAN STORM Canadian-based Integrated Solutions has used the Amiga as the centre of an interactive presentation system, initially used to re-create the atmosphere of an Indian encampment. The Interaction System debuts at Wanuskewin Heritage Park, Canada, where it will be used to create a soundscape that helps to 'convey the intimate spiritual connection this culture feels towards the land'. The system is made up of an Amiga running ARexx. Geodesic Publications' AirLink and The Blue Ribbon SoundWorks' Bars&Pipes Professional. It is connected to 24 speakers concealed throughout the park and a lighting board to produce changes in daylight and storm effects. Motion sensors are connected to the Amiga so that it can randomly choose a 16-bit digital sound sample to play through any particular speaker when a visitor approaches. The overall volume of the sound is also varied depending on the number of visitors in the park at any one time. The most spectacular effect created by the Interaction System is a storm, for which it uses both visual and audio techniques, including high- powered sub-woofer speakers to shake the floor. Each storm is different by virtue of a random number generator, although always following a natural progression. Integrated Solutions can be contacted on « 0101 306 5652061. COLOUR SCANNER GIVES AMIGA ADDED DTP CREDENCE NEW COLOUR SCANNER A flatbed full colour scanner for the Amiga has been released by Epson. The Epson GT-6000 is an A4 scanner that plugs into the Amiga's parallel port and will scan documents at a resolution of up to 600 dots per inch in up to 16 million colours. Software to use the scanner has been created by ASDG. maker of the Art Department image processing software. The scanning controller software comes in two forms. It can either be integrated into Art Department as a new module, or used as a stand- alone program. One of the big advantages of the program is that it can save scans direct to disk, so that scans can be taken by users without huge Quantities of memory. Zone is to distribute Dr T's brand new Boom Box program. Boom Box is a program for the Amiga that simulates a ghetto blaster and enables the user to trigger samples in real time a la rap or house mixes. As well as supplied samples. Boom Box will accept samples created with other packages. A price has yet to be confirmed, but it is expected to be in the region of £35. Zone is also selling Dr T's Composer Quest, a musical title for Commodore's CDTV. The program contains information on music from 1600 to the present day. including colour screens and 60 musical performances. Biographies of composers can be called up. as can definitions of musical terminology. A trivia quiz is also included. Composer Quest costs £69. The generic editor/librarian XOR The release of the Epson scanner and ASDG's software takes the Amiga one step closer to acceptance as a serious machine for desktop publishing. Commented Keith Howell of MB Marketing: "It has opened up a new price point for full colour A4 scanning. The nearest Excellent results from Epson's full colour A4 flatbed competitive product is scanner Sorr y y° u can,t see the colour considerably more expensive." for a total of £1303.80 by HB Epson « 442 61144. ASDG Marketing tr 0753 686000. w 0101 608 2736585. The scanner Look out for a full review of the plus ASDG's software is being sold scanner in next month's issue. has been updated to contain 150 profiles. It can be used with the KCS sequencer to enable real-time editing and recording of sound profiles. Some of the new profiles included in the latest version are for the Boss SE50 effects unit, the Wavestation A/D, the Wavestation EX and the Roland R8 drum machine. Existing owners of XOR can obtain the update from Zone for the price of postage and packing. The product itself retails at £219. although users of Zone's products can buy it for £159. Zone intends to run two seminars during August and September. Fixed dates or prices have yet to be announced, although one seminar will be for beginners while the other will be for existing users of the KCS sequencer. Zone » 071 738 5444. Dr T's Music Software » 0101 617 4551454. DIAMOND SHARES IT OUT The Computer dealer Diamond Is hoping to float itself on the Stock Exchange and issue shares to the public. This move follows a suggestion for a merger by a technical company already listed on the Stock Exchange. Since Diamond will be the majority share holder, the resulting company will be called Diamond Computer Systems PLC. Diamond recently payed a seven figure sum to take over the beleaguered Microbyte dealer chain. FISHY VIRUS ALERT A new virus has been discovered on disk 622 of the Fred Fish public domain library. The disk contains two versions of Challenger, a quiz game. The English version is safe, but the German version when run will copy a trojan bomb to either the user's hard disk or Workbench system disk. It is believed that the virus was created and distributed by the author of Challenger himself. No current virus checkers will spot the infection. Its effect is to print up a message on 24 July each year. The computer is unusable on this day. If you have any worries about this virus, contact the Virus Research Centre » 0942 895320. ••• siop pms ••• FMG CRASHES Commodore's official repair centre FMG has ceased trading. The company, which repaired all of Commodore's machines under warranty, ceased trading at nine o'clock 17 June. Commodore is currently hoping to be able to carry out repairs itself. If you have a faulty machine under warranty, call Commodore Customer Services « 0908 368222. A spokeswoman for Commodore could make no comment on the status of machines already at FMG. AMIOA SHOPPER • ISSUE 1 6 • AUGUST 1 992 ci writer's dream vH brdworth —" -f Tlie graphical nature of Wordworth® makes produnng docunicnh raster and easier. The WYSIWYG display shows exactly how your printed document will look, different fonts, styles and cizps. headers and Footers graphics and so on. Commands are grouped under a s of pull-down menus dicessible either by the mou» or keyboard. Frequently used commands have on-screen icons, including Help, should you need it. Expenence the look and feel of the new and exciting WB2 (even if you use WBl3i. Each document is a separate multi tasking window, which means you could for example, print one document while editing another. Digita's® innovative Human Interface Protocol'- is incorporated setting a new standard in speed, style and elegance. "It HIP system is intuitive and a pleasure to use." ~ thank you Amiga Shopper, it's nice to be appreciated. Graphics have always been the Amiga's strong point. Now it's better than ever Pictures from Deluxe Paint can be placed in a document, and then sized, scaled and dragged (text automatically reformats around the image). ■E> ^^^^^^i^^^i « ii **^«ai <*.** L lABCabd p mm L -A Wordworth's enhanced fonts will give you the very best printed quality. You can also print special symbols, such as boxes, arrows and so on. Better still, you can mix graphics, Wordworth's enhanced fonts, Ami >nts ( Colorfonts and your printer's own internal fonts, all on the same page. There's even a driver for Postscript printers. You needn't worry about your existing information - Wordworth will let you open documents from most word processors, including Kindwords. Protext and Wordpertect (you can also mailmerge with Superbase). When Amiga Format said "a new word processor that will give the rest of the world a run for its money" they weren't joking. Wordworth is written in the UK by Digita. Which means you'll be using an English Collins spelling checker and thesaurus, and you'll know where to come for professional support. The only way to really appreciate Wordworth is to use it. Phone 0395 270273 for more information or, write to Digita, FREEPOST. Exmouth EX8 2YZ. Wordworth costs £129.99, which includes VAT. postage and pa< king; and when purchased from Digita, comes with a 7 day money-back guarantee. If you already own a word processor, for a limited period only, you can trade-up for just £89.99 by returning Ul Original disks to Digita with your order. Summing up. Amiga Shopper said: "Pounds-per-feature no other Amiga word processor comes close. Wordworth is what every owner of Kindwords would wish they had." Dreams become reality with Wordworth. Wbrdworth Machine support Written .specifically for the Am Fully support* WB VU and V: 00 All medium Of hifth resolution modes 'mono and colour) Requires 1MB ot memory , ® DIGITA INTERNATIONAL software thats right i Woftfctfcvthi* ivabMe frocnMt ' . W H Smith *nd ill gond computer rrtadmor tolhr Digita International Ltd Black Horse House I xmouth EX8 1JL ENGLAND Tel 0395 270273 Fax 0395 2*6893 - A mti OfcgiU logo Ww logo in <•*'! Mfv*f*» ftftwf«d Whtwr iJuh ryb #rr u»drm*rk> of DteUi Holdim i id AN .it owntn w acfcnowbdgtd ^>>ld %«*^t to 4tjnuUitJ mnd Horn of **!«■ V h 0\ • • • E W S KD ROM SWITCHER ICD haft released KlekBaek, a ROM ftwttcher for all Amiga computer*, including tho A600. KickBack win enable users to choose between versions 1.3 and 2 of Kickstart. It requires no soldering; ll connects Instead via a ribbon cable, which also solves any conflicts of space with internal accelerators and so on. A particular ROM is selected by holding down the (Amiga] and [Control] heya simultaneously for o fixed period. After this a tone will sound, informing the user that the ROM hoa been switched, end ateo which ROM is now being used. The user may also choose which of the two ROMs is to be used as the default on boot up. KickBack costs £27 and is available from Silica Systems » 081 309 1111 and HB Marketing « 0753 686000. ICD IS on * 0101 815 9682228. FIRST REAL WORLD APPLICABLE NEURAL NETWORK FOR AMIGA LAUNCHED NEURAL NETWORK SOFTWARE American-based software house MegageM has released a professional neural network package for use on the Amiga. NeuroPro 2 uses a three layer back- propogation system with up to 256 cells per layer and up to 131.072 connections in total. It utilises a Workbench 2 look and feel to make its application in pattern recognition, speech recognition, language translation and so on as easy as possible. Control from ARexx is also possible. The system makes full use of the Amiga's graphical abilities to show the workings of all network operations and data objects. Data can by input at up to 256 bits at a time, in the form of ASCII text, HOME OFFICE mini Office PROGRAM TO BE RELEASED fPMKn There'll be no escaping extra office chores with Europress' Mini Office for the Amiga Europress is to launch an Amiga version of Its popular Mini Office home business package. Mini Office was originally released for the Commodore 64 computer in 1984. It has been updated for the Amiga, and consists of an integrated word processor, spreadsheet, database, graphics program and set of disk utilities. The word processor may be used in conjunction with the database and graphics modules to produce mail merges. A variety of graph forms are supported, including bar. line and pie charts. A price has yet to be confirmed, although it will be between £60-80. Europress « 0625 859333. SOUND AND PICTURE COMPETITION Elite Publications is organising a three pronged competition for creative Amiga users. The first of the categories is still images, which is sub-divided into hand drawn images using packages such as Deluxe Paint, hand drawn images from HAM art packages, and images created with the aid of a computer, such as ray-traces and fractals. The second category Is for moving pictures, which can be submitted as either ANIM files, stand-alone demos or on VHS video tape. Prizes for both of the above categories are £300, £70 and £30 vouchers for purchases from Trilogic Computers. Sound samples and music form the third category of the competition. Sound effects, instruments and music are permissible. Entries to the competition must be either in IFF format or on audio tape. The best ten entrants will receive a TechnoSound sampler and have their work released into the public domain. The closing date for the competition is at the beginning of September. For further details call Elite Publications « 0733 571109. _^_ J ■•»' J 1 •• ■ 1 ■ - ' • • • 1 * » - ft p 1 1 1 1 1 .... I t 1 1 1 !'<••*•< ■ " « ■ • * 1 M *»» * ~1 *~ * 1 - * * arbitrary bit arrays or as arrays of pixels. The package requires a maths co- processor to run, and a minimum of 1.5Mb of RAM, although 2.5Mb are recommended. It is available at an introductory pnee of $199.95 until the end of August, after which It will sell for $299.95. A demo version, which NeuroPro 2 has a graphical front end to facilitate Its doesn't need a maths u *® in real worid 9ltuat,ons - You'll need a big Amiga! co-processor to run. is available for $12. MegageM • 0101 805 3491104. TITIECEftRVinEnr,PAPUEP< Videographers may be Interested In users to add captions and titles to a new package from Elite their masterpieces. Graphics. Subjects covered by the Videopack is a set of eight package include weddings. disks containing animations, engagements, festive holidays. backgrounds, ANIM brushes, text sport and children. A minimum of brushes and special effects, all of 1Mb is needed to make use of the which load into version III or IV of animations. Deluxe Paint. The package is Videopack costs £24.99 from designed to help desktop video Elite Graphics « 0827 288348. Mastering AmigaDOS 2 Volume Two has been updated to take Into account the commands Included In version 2.04 of the Amiga's operating system. The book, written by Mark Smiddy, gives an alphabetical listing of every command available under AmigaDOS. from version 1.2 through to the very latest. It includes appendices that deal with error codes, viruses, the Interchange File Format and the Mountlist. Mastering AmigaDOS 2 Volume Two costs £19.95 and is published by Bruce Smith Books tr 0923 894355. Relax In front of your Amiga with a good book - this one's packed full of info MORE FONTS... George Thompson Services has released a collection of Compugraphic fonts. The collection, the first of many, comes on three disks containing a total of 37 fonts. They are suitable for use with all versions of Professional Page, PageSetter 2, PageStream 2.x and Workbench 2.x via the Fountain utility. The pack costs £9.99. George Thompson Services » 0707 664654. 1 A AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 16 • AUGUST 1992 E W S BOOK FOR BASIC PROGRAMMERS A new book for Basic programmers has been released by K&M Publishing. Called Creative Basic, the book is by D Martin Evans and consists of a variety of functions, procedures, subroutines, programs and tips to aid the Basic programmer. String manipulation, dates, numeric functions, box drawing, menuing. conversions, indexing and full screen editing are all covered. The programs are written in Turbo Basic, and it is claimed by the publisher that they will be easily convertible to other dialects. Creative Basic costs £5 from K&M Publishing * 0490 2328. PRINTERS GOING (HEAP Kodak Dlconix 150 Plus printers are being sold cheap by Morgan Computers, specialists in surplus and excess stock computer hardware. The printers, which retail for £345. are being sold for only £150. They are portable ink jet machines capable of up to 150 characters per second. They connect to the Amiga via the parallel interface and are capable of both Epson and IBM emulation modes. Morgan Computers » 081 575 0055. LEARNIN GERMAN MKLAUS WIRTH'S LATEST LANGUAGE TO BE RELEASED FOR AMIGA Verstehst du diese Frage? If not you'd best get hold of Micro German Educational software house LCL has released Micro German, a package designed to take students up to GCSE standard in German. With the aid of graphics and sound the package teaches written and spoken German. It joins LCL's Micro range - Micro Maths, Micro English and Micro French. LCL hopes that the package will appeal to business people, as well as students, thinking in terms of the forthcoming single European market. A program to automatically generate business letters is incorporated. Micro German costs £24 (plus 99p postage and packing) from educational software stockists or direct from LCL « 0491 579345. PROGRAMMERS' DREAM Real Time Associates Is to the first commercial version of Oberon-2. Oberon-2 is the latest brainchild of Nicklaus Wirth, creator of Pascal and Modula-2. The mam advance it offers over Modula-2 is the addition of object-orientated features. These enable the programmer to treat the data, rather than the program itself, as the most important feature of the application under development. Such a methodology is thought to aid the rapid production of reliable code. The package released by RTA is called EXTACY. It is not a compiler as such, but rather a set of two translators. One is a Modula-2 translator, the other an Oberon 2 translator. Both produce C code which must be further compiled with a package such as SAS/iattice C. With EXTACY, the programmer is at liberty to write part of an application in Modula-2, part in Oberon-2. and part, perhaps the Amiga specific areas, in C. and then link the whole lot together. The C code produced by the translators is said to be very efficient; although the programmer is free to optimise or modify the resulting C code as necessary. A program is currently under development that will convert the Amiga C include files into Oberon so that the system can access all of the Amiga's facilities. It will either be included with the finished EXTACY package or supplied as an update. EXTACY will cost £150 from Real Time Associates » 081 6567333. HUNTING FOR FONTS EM Computergraphic has Just been named as the sole UK distributor of American-based Computer Safari's collection of fonts. The fonts are Adobe type 1, which means that they can be used directly with PageStream or with Professional Page after conversion by Professional Page's Fontmanager program. The first sixteen disks in the collection, which each contain three fonts, cost £7.99 each. A further eight disks are available with slightly more esoteric fonts for £12.99 each. LICENCEWARE REGISTER ESTABLISHED A number of UK public domain houses have formed a single organisation to deal with the distribution of llcenceware. Called the Central Licenceware Register, or CLR. the organisation aims to distribute all of the currently available licenceware disks under a single label, putting an end to the divisiveness usually associated with licenceware. Any PD library which is a member of the scheme will be able to distribute the entire range of disks. Prices are to be fixed at £3.50 for a program based on one disk, £4.50 for one based on two. There are currently 17 titles in three categories: educational, utilities and games. All disks will be badged with CLR's Hydra logo. Licenceware programmers will benefit by being sent £1 for each disk sold.* Libraries wishing to join the CLR scheme or programmers wishing to submit software for distribution should contact their nearest participating library. These currently include 17 Bit Software, Blitterchips. Essex Computer Systems. Goldstar EC, Loadcrest. NBS, PD Soft. Start Computersm Valley PD and Virus Free PD. NEW CHROMA KEY UNIT Desktop video enthuslats will be pleased to hear of a new chroma key unit launched by RocTec. The RocKey retails for £351.33 and, when used in conjunction with a genlock, enables users to superimpose live video over graphics or video, display graphics in front of video, substitute the brightness portion of a video source with a keyed image, embed graphics in video and embed video in graphics. The product is to be marketed by Jessops photographic stores and HB Marketing » 0753 686000. Jessops will be running a competition until September 1 in which any buyer of a RocTec genlock will be eligible for winning a RocKey unit. In addition to these disks. EM Computer-graphics is distributing a number of public domain and shareware fonts which have been sourced from America and Canada. Volume 3 contains 34 fonts for use with PageStream only. It costs £5. Volumes 4 through 7 each contain between 60-80 Adobe type 1 fonts across five disks. Each volume costs £12.50. For more information on the above contact EM Computergrapics » 0255 431389. SAMPLE LIBRARIES FOR AMIGA Walkabout Music has released a collection of sound samples on 25 disks. Each sample is taken directly from a studio master at twice the rate used in public domain sample disks. The disks are divided into different categories, including African. Indian. Arabic, guitars, strings and brass. Each disk costs £2.50. or £19.95 for 10. with an additional £1 for postage and packing. Walkabout Music tt 072681 3807. DIARY DATES July 19: All Formats Computer Fair. National Motorcycle Museum, Solihull. ? 0225 868100. September 5: All Formats Computer Fair. National Motorcycle Museum. Solihull. « 0225 868100. * September 12: All Formats Computer Fair. Sandown Racecourse, Esher. •b 0225 868100. AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 16 • AUGUST 1992 1 1 MEMORY EXPANSION HOENIX PRODUCTS i r h PHOENIX 1 // With its modern compact fimi portabl* w«dg* shape design, the new 600 comtt wilh the following features as standard 1Mb of RAM as standard (eipandabiel • KickslarVWorkbench 205 ' Built in TV modulator • standard smart card slot * Trapdoor expansion port • 2 * joystick/mouse ports ■ Optional internal IDE hairl drive • State ol the art surface mount technology A 600 (includes Deluxe Paint * 1 software trrje)....£ 3 1)9.99 A 600 HD (including 20 Mb Hard Drive) £469.99 AVNUfUt NOW ..-STOP PRESS .. ftllABlf NOW ....STOP PRESS Phoenix 1Mb upgrade! to 2 Mb) A600 Keyboard switchable ROM Sharer .£ ALTERNATIVE!^' 1 Purchase the A600 as pari ol our Unbeatable Value PHOENIX POWER PACK, which includes over £100 of quality software and accessories. Probably the best bundle around, just look at what you get) .rTiml!ni4TTafi Rick Dang* Tew 2 Joystick Capacity 3 5" Disk Box 8mm Mr i Phoenix Power Pack <*...aso<» i (includes Deluxe Paint > I software title) Phoenix Power Pack (w^moohoi .-£499.99 NOW BACKED BY A 12 MONTH ON-SITE WARRANTY! Son of Phoenix Power Pack Buy the following top quality items together and save rt more money on accessories. Comprises of: 100 . 35* Disk Box • 10 3.5 Disks * Labels • Top quality icroswitch Joystick • 8mm Mousemat • Dustcover STORAGE Disk Box lo Lap S/ISK DOa tJ woD *■••■••••■>••■••••••••••••>••>*.>•..>. ...».>. ul jR DUX £150 price point of a games console. Hence the A600. DO THE WRITE THING Having just upgraded my three-year- old Amiga 500 to a new A500 Plus, I was horrified to road that Commodore is withdrawing support for the A 500. in my opinion. Commodore has let us A 500 owners down once too much. I for one will not be downgrading to an A600 to stay compatible, nor can I afford to trash my Amiga system for an A1500 or B2000. Therefore, unless Commodore at least compromises, I for one will not be continuing to support its products. For that money I can buy a nice lGMhz 386 PC with a 40 meg hard drive. I have written to the managing director of Commodore UK. Mr Steve Franklin, and the managing director of Commodore USA, expressing my views, and I would strongly urge other users In my position to put prlnthead to paper and do likewise. It Is time that Commodore learned to support Its customers, and not abuse them. David French Salcombe You might therefore like to know that coincidentally. or un-coincidentally depending on how conspiratorial you are about these things. Commodore UK has a new MD - Mr Kelly Sumner. "/, for one, will not be downgrading to an A600 to stay compatible" ON THE OTHER HAND The A500, Commodores entry level model for the past few years, was a great machine for its time. Unfortunately, everything must come to an end and In the computer industry lifetimes are often shorter that of a hedgehog crossing the Ml. Next up the line are the A1500/2000 series computers. Excellent machines and almost Infinitely expandable, but I don't think that even these will defy the grim reaper for much longer either. Finally the A3000. the top of the range and definitely top of the price range Amiga. A marvellous machine held back by the fact that it costs almost as a much as an annual season ticket from Brighton to London on British Rail. The good thing Is that, at this time, only two series of processors are widely used on the market. The 680x0 and the 80x86 CPUs, both of which are available to Amiga users via accelerators and Brldgeboards, which means that current users won't be left out. As for chip upgraders - well at least Commodore released models with the ECS and Kickstart 2, which saved people who bought their machines in the last six months from forking out on upgrades, and those who have old models can buy an upgrade and have It fitted quite easily and cheaply. Even If you want the Super Agnus chip with 2Mb of Chip RAM, third party manufacturers have made an adaptor for ASOO and A1500/2000 machines. But because of the way the A600's motherboard Is made, they will have great difficulty in upgrading that. As for the 'credit card' slot on the A600. I doubt If many Items that aren't already available for the A 500 will be manufactured for It until it's known Just how popular the machine Is, and even then I'd bet my last penny on a third party manufacturer producing an add-on with the Gayle chip and a 'credit card drive' for existing machines. Personally. I think that the A600 machine is just a bridging machine for a better A800 or A2200 running a 68020 CPU. and won't last for long. I believe the A1500/2000 series will soon die a natural death. Hopefully Commodore will reduce the price of the A3000 enough to make that the mid-range machine and a new A4000 model the top of the range. Either way, unless Commodore makes a radical change to AmigaDOS and Workbench, existing users shouldn't be left out too much. Preferably, Commodore's 'Power Up', the machine upgrade system, should be made more comprehensive as to allow more users to upgrade with better deals. After all, if it wasn't for Amiga lovers all over the world, there wouldn't be anything to upgrade anyway. By the way, I'm an A 1500 user so my machine could be phased out as quickly as the A500. Although this worries me, I have to look at the future, and personally I'd rather have a new range of Amlgas than no Amlgas at all. Kevin Breldenbach Heme Bay A good, positive angle there Kevin and one which I think is the best way to reflect on this whole development. It's got to be only a matter of time before some enterprising third party company brings out an A500 to A600 add-on connector. As I said earlier, sheer force of numbers will dictate it. QUICK GOODBYES 1 I think the A600 will fall to sell like the A500 did. It certainly Isn't an improvement. RL Hughes Dariaston I feel this is a great kick In the teeth from Commodore to all one million of its supporters. Julian Baum Chester Commodore needs to take a serious look at Sinclair. Watch out! - you're heading the same way. PBetts Leydene The A600? I like It, but It should have three things, battery power, LAN and a screen in a clam-shell lid. Graeme Bell Glasgow Commodore could have warned its users that the A500 was to become obsolete. Mr JA Ettles Bury tee BUT THEN AGAIN.. I was horrified by the announcement that Commodore is to junk the ASOO and A500 Plus, mainly because of Its crass idiocy in treating one million owners as If they were Just a set of sales statistics. I bought my A500 a year ago, not for games, but because It was cheap, and went on to discover what a great number of things one can do with It: designing knitwear for my knitting machine with DPalnt, corresponding with friends and business people, desktop publishing and the whole world of PD programs which Is a revelation. I don't want a costly all-singing, all dancing, high-spec machine to do all these bits and pieces, nor do I want an A600 which Is mainly for games. What I want are improvements to the A500 and A500 Plus and a bit of continuity. I definitely don't want an "end of the line" announcement which is. to say the least, a slap In the face for one million Amiga owners. Commodore has really flipped Its corporate lid this time around! Margaret Haedicke Bridgewater Somerset I think you just have to rest assured that third party developers and publishers will provide the continuity you are looking for Margaret. But by all means have a good moan in the meantime. "\ don't think the Al 500/2000 series will defy the grim reaper either" A BUNCH OF CYNICS? I purchased an Amiga A500 Pius in November 1991. Never having owned a computer before It has been a challenge to be able to use it In a productive manner. Seven months later I have managed to get to grips with some aspects of Its use. It comes as a great disappointment to learn that the A 500 range of computers is now no longer In production. It Is my opinion that Commodore has little commitment to Its existing customers. This is displayed by the cynical comments of Commodore's representative, Kelly Sumner, in Amiga Shopper's July Issue. Computers are unlike most Items which are purchased in a shop as they rely heavily on software and hardware produced and supported by independent companies. This could be adversely affected by the news that the A500 range of computers will no longer be produced. My other concern Is, If in the future my computer should require repairs, will spare parts be readily available? Derek Brown Kilmarnock Ayrshire I can only imagine that spare parts will always be available if there's sufficient demand for them. It's like old cars. I have a 1969 BMW which is no longer 'officially' supported but you just find that small companies turn out 'cloned' spares, mostly at significantly cheaper prices than the 14 AMIGA SHOPPER ft |«Uf }(> « AUGUST 1992 LETTERS originals. In any case, I guess there's literally tons of A500 spares out there - look at how many Amigas need fixing! (Only Johing- admission 2). MURDER MOST FOUL I road with Interest your article on the death of the A500 Plus. I have quite a few friends with Amigas and all of them said that this is the end of tho Amiga. A lot of third party m.mtil.if turr-rs are going to either stop making extras for Commodore computers or just produce add-ons for tho now brood. Commodore has constantly ignored the people who have Qupperted It (and made it vast profits) and hampered developments by others who could have pushed the Amiga forward, by refusing to allow its chips to be used - take for instance the few failed attempts to produce a lap top by German and American firms - these could have opened huge new markets but, no, Commodore nas scuppered every attempt to bring such machines out. Well, as far as I can see. once again It's the end user who Is left out. When the new Plus came out It was hailed as the new wonder to take the Amiga ^__^^^^^^^ Into the 90s. Now all those people who bought new 500s or upgraded their 1.3s have been dumped by Commodore. I myself have spent nearly £1750 on Commodore hardware in the past year and now I am seriously thinking of selling "— — ^— — up and buying a PC, at least I will be able to keep up with changes thanks to the way the PC is set up, ie upgrading a 286 to a 386 is easy. just spend £150 and insert a new motherboard - no problems. If Commodore had any sense rt would have released a 500 or 1500 with a faster processor at least a year ago - the prices of such things have been dropping for ages but, no, It stuck blindly to the same old 68000 with the exception of the 3000. The Amiga is now at the same stage as the Speccy was two years ago and we all know where that Is now... and you cannot say that ft will not happen to the Amiga as there are over a million of them In the U.K alone and that will keep It going. The humble Speccy had sold over 3 million In the UK, even before the 128 was released and that didn't help ft. The way forward Is not by alienating people who have invested lots of cash and time In Commodore's products, but by bringing out sensible upgrades with as much compatibility as possible with older models. This gives people the chance to buy upgrades at a reasonable price, not bringing out stupid things like the 600. Who in their right minds is going to develop for this? I can just see software houses investing in the smart-card port idea when the Amiga scene is dying: all they are going to do is move into PC and console markets; why invest in the smart-card if Commodore is going to bring another computer out in a few months with yet more stupid slots, etc? To save the Amiga, the people say Commodore should trash the 600 and any machines based round ft that they might be bringing out, and go back to the 500 Plus/1500 but stick a 68030 cpu and 68882 fpu In some of them running at 25MHZ/33MHZ with a SCSI interface. R.I.P. the Amiga - killed by Commodore's inability to support end users. Bom - June 85. Murdered - May 92. M Barker Hull "If Commodore had any sense it would have released a 500 with a faster processor at least a year ago" I take your point about the Spectrum but the situation here is different. It's not as though you can significantly upgrade a Speccy by sticking in a 68040 card is it? No. The Speccy died because it was superseded by technological -7— advance. With the Amiga you can at least transform its power beyGnd belief and. with emulation, even run a 386 PC. MISUNDERSTOOD YES... It seems to me that Commodore has completely misunderstood where the A500 series now lies in the market place, namely that It is an upgradeable affordable machine capable of being used as a simple games machine or for more serious business purposes after improving the machine internally as well as externally. People are able to improve the performance of the A500 gradually as their pocket allows. My A500 for example has a Microbiotlcs VXL30 25Mhz accelerator board now with Co-Pro, an A590 fitted with 40 meg drive with two meg memory expansion and a SuperRam 500RX 2 meg ( at present) also a Rendale Genlock all of this added gradually. With the "/n short I think Commodore is very slowly committing suicide // scrapping of the A500 you will not have a machine in the A500 price bracket that can be turned In to a more powerful machine. Certainly ft would seem Impossible to improve an A600 In such a way! In short I think Commodore is very slowly committing suicide. It has developed two flexible machines (thanks largely to third party suppliers) called the A500 and the Plus. There is a huge network of companies supporting the A500 and it has a large amount of users. But It's been all thrown away. Wake up !! Mr G Scott Bognor Regis BUT UNEXPANDABLE? What on earth is Commodore doing switching to SMT (Surface Mount Technology). It makes the A600 virtually Impossible to expand to any large degree. This will stop a lot of people from buying them; for instance, small business' which need an emulator won't buy them, because none of the emulators can be plugged in. As a side effect of SMT. people with A500s could be worried about future expansions not being made for their machines. Also, what happens when Commodore releases new versions of custom chips? Can you see Amiga owners all over the country trying to solder a new Agnus Into the thing? It's difficult enough for a professional to do. As I see things at the moment Commodore needs to do one of two things (or both) if they want to stay on top. Either lower prices all round, (drastically In the case of the A3000) or upgrade the machines by a large amount so people are getting good value for money. I see room for four versions of the Amiga. The A600 for the games player. The A2000 for the serious home user. The A3000 for the professional on a budget. And lastly, the A4000 (with a 68040 CPU) for the professional who needs serious power. Stephen Boddy York - I don't think you should assume the A600 is unexpandable in the way you refer. It has a pretty decent 25-pin edge connector which opens up to the outside world of add-ons - it's just that CBM has caught everyone on the hop and there's none available yet. Time will tell... QUICK GOODBYES 2 Why didn't they give the A500 a faster processor, new custom chips and take notice of the tremendous Industry support out there? Build on success, not kick it in the teeth. John Ward Derby The only people who will enjoy the new A600 are the sort of people who think Mario and Sonic are the best thing since Space Invaders. Ian Shillito Uxbrldge All in all I think the A600 is a cut- down A 500 games console not worthy of the name Amiga and the sooner it dies the better. OrahamSmfth N Featherstone NOW the A500 Is dead, Commodore is bound to kill off the A2000 as well. It's OK to say trade-in buy a A3000 but they're overpriced and buying a 040 card for my 2000 would be cheaper. Robert Hart So there you have it.. .except for this: COMMODORE IS DEAD Stupid... idiotic... insane... the list goes on. There's sure to be loads of comment and anger over the loonies at Commodore scrapping the A500/A500 Plus - suffice to say I will personally never purchase any product by them ever again. Kev Allcock Stockport Just one of the many letters that seem to sum up 'the feeling on the street'. Depressing stuff maybe but take it from me - there's loadsa life in the old dog yet! NEXT MONTH TALKING SHOP will return to Its normal format - so get writing on anything and everything under the Amiga sun and send It to me, Andy Storer, at: Talking Shop, Amiga Shopper, 30, Monmouth St, Bath B A 1 2BW. AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 16 •AUGUST 1992 15 200 TOP TIPS HARD DRIVES Here it is - the greatest collection of Amiga tips ever printed. From programming in assembler to word processing, we give you the hints that ensure you get the most out of your machine. One basic tip before vou read on: subscribe to Amiaa Shoooer hard drive is one of the most essential purchases for all Amiga users. Choosing and using a hard drive can be tricky; there are quite a few different drives on the market, some are excellent, some arc real stinkera. How do you work out which is the best to buy? And once you have your hard drive, how should you go about using it. And how should you make sure your hard drive continues to perform flawlessly? 1 Space - Work out how much hard drive space you really need. Remember that each floppy disk you install on your hard drive will eat away nearly 1Mb of your precious storage. Don't expect to be able to install many games on hard drive. Most games are copy protected, so check on the boxes to see if they will allow hard disk installation. If you're only interested in word processing you can probably get away with a small 40Mb or 50Mb hard drive (the 20Mb drives still sold by some companies, in particular Commodore, are really not worth considering unless on a really tight budget). Desktop publishing, graphics, databases and programming require a little more space to work, and if you're going to do any multimedia work you're looking at big (500Mb+) hard drives. 2 Plug-in and go - Unless you know your SCSI terminators from your Rigid Disk Blocks, make sure you buy your hard drive and controller together and make sure that the drive ts Preformatted and installed by the supplier. This will mean you can plug in and go when you get your hard drive home, and you won't be frustrated with trying to get installation programs working. Under no circumstances be tempted to buy a hard drive cheap from an auction. Most of them don't work, and those that do will be almost impossible to link to the Amiga. You may think that £50 for an 80Mb drive is cheap when you buy it, but it's an expensive doorstop when you can't run it. 3 Drive mechanism - Check what type of drive mechanism is being supplied; most are SCSI, but some are XT or AT IDE drives. In general. SCSI is the best (as it will allow you to add up to six more drives. CD- ROMs, tapestreamers or other devices to your system), whereas IDE will only allow one extra hard drive to be attached (and on some controllers none at all). AT IDE and SCSI drives are more or less the same speed, but XT IDE and ^^^ w ^^fl L * ^^^. ^^ ^^^^ y ^^ i ' . L^^s ^m What's so hard about a hard drive? Get to grips with tips numbered one to ten and you'll be able to plug in and go! MFM/RLL drives are much slower, and should be avoided. 4 Drive standards - Commodore, when designing its new generation of Amiga hard drives (the A590 and the A2091) published a specification for hardware manafacturers to follow so that different drives and controllers from different manufacturers could be compatible. Fundamental to this is a feature called Rigid Disk Block (RDB). It means that a small table of information about the drive including where the partitions are set up. what file system they are using, and their names is written to a block on the disk. Any controller using the RDB system can then look at this block and correctly identify and use the drive, so a hard disk formatted on a Commodore Amiga 3000 can be read fine when plugged into the back of a GVP Impact 500 controller. This may not seem useful, but it means that software (such as drive optimisers and disk repair programs) can be written to function with all such controllers. Not all controllers support this. GVP. Commodore. Supra. IVS. ICD. Nexus and Microbotics controllers support RDB; some others do not. 5 Extras - Controllers vary widely in extras supplied. Some have room for expansion RAM to be fitted. often up to 8Mb. With Amiga 500 controllers check how much the full 8Mb will cost, in some (for example the Supra and GVP). using 8Mb requires expensive lMbx4 chips. Other extras to look out for are a SCSI through port (for adding contioved en pogt 18 16 AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 16 • AUGUST 1992 ROCHARD RH800C EXTERNAL HARD DISK DRIVE FOR THE A500 AND A500+ « SW1 your Amiga and be amazed at the speed with which it « ■ If you're | rive for your Amiga, lis should be high i your list AMIGA SHOPPER REVIEW MAY 1992 streamline plastic casing for perfect fit to your A500 or A500 Plus upgradable HDD capacity (40MB and avove) with user friendly installation supports 2 IDE hard drives external SCSI port supports up to 7 extra SCSI hard drives or other SCSI periphals expandable to 8MB SIMM memory in 4 easy steps game switch ensures complete compatibility with game softwares can be used solely as a 8MB RAM expansion Augoconfig compatible and auloboot with Kickstart 1.3 and above auto power sensing reliable external power supply unit included ROCTEC 52MB SCSI.0K £339 105MB £1QQ SCSI,0K iw ORDERS CONTACT: 316 SUPPLIES, SULLYVIEW INDUSTRIAL ESTATE. BARRY, SOUTH GLAMORGAN. CF6 3BE (0446) 421316 ORDERS CONTACT: EVESHAM MICROS LTD. UNIT 9. ST. RICHARDS ROAD EVESHAM. WORCS. WR11 6XJ (0386) 765500 DEALERS ONLY CALL: ZYE TECHNOLOGY LTD.. UNIT 2. ALPINE WORKS. OAK ROAD. CRAWLEY. WEST SUSSEX RH118AJ (0293) 538666 M i T I D iiffBPrf A* MnduriHl to / *c Humu tmnenttttn 0292 775ft / 1 200 TOP TIPS HARD DRIVES/2D PAINT PACKAGES N> rofttinunH from pngn 16 oxtcrnol drives), a game switch (for disabling the hard disk to load floppy based games), and an external power supply (essential if you've got a hard drive plus Fast RAM). 6 Through porta - If you've got an Amiga 500 and you've already got a dovice plugged into the oftponoion Docket to the left of the Amiga, you may have to remove this to use the hard drive. While some hard drives and other devices have through ports, these are notoriously unreliable, and you don't want your hard drive to crash while you're in the middle of saving something. 7Vlru« alert - Once you novo got your hard drive up and running you should install a virus checker on your machine to avoid infection. The only types of viruses that con infect a hard drive are file viruses'. The hard drive does not have a boot block' In the some way that a floppy disk has, co virucoe cannot infect it this way. Always boot with your hard drive if possible; if you have to boot with a foreign disk disable the hard drive if you can. Another good way to avoid viruses is to upgrade to Kickstart 2.04 - most viruses do not work under the new operating system, particularly the nasty Saddam virus. 8 Backing up - Back up your hard disk regularly. It is well worth investing in professional backup software {Quarterback 5 and Ami Back are two of the best) to do the job properly. If you've got a large hard disk you will either need a lot of blank disks and a lot of spare time, or a SCSI tapestreamer. which can back up over 500Mb in one go. 9 Fragmentation - You may find that after a few weeks use your drive will seem to slow down, this is because the disk is fragmented. Files are not always stored in one lump on the disk: sometimes, if there are no gaps large enough for the file to fit in one place, the file will be split Into several fragments' which are placed on different physical areas of the disk (although it will still appear as one file to the Amiga). When you try and load this file it will take much longer (as it has to load several small parts). To cure this you need to 'defragment' your hard drive. To do this you can back up all the files on to disks, reformat and restore all the files, or use a program such as Quarterback Tools to defragment the drive (Always back up the drive before defragmenting). 1 /\ Parking - Most hard drives JL" have autoparking (when the power is turned off the drive heads move to a safe place for transit). All modem SCSI drives autopark, so you'll never have to use the Park programs provided with the drives. Only elderly A590s need to use Park: modern A590s have SCSI drives which autopark. Virtually every Amiga owner in the known universe owns a 20 paint package. Whether you use DPaint or Photon Paint, DigiPaint or SpectraColour, here's a few tips to help you get the most from your pixel punching program. UHAM - Amiga paint packages generally come in two flavours - HAM {Photon Paint 2. DigiPamt etc) and non-HAM {DPaint 3. Express- Paint etc). Although several paint packages are not starting to bridge this gap (notably DPaint 4), which type of paint package to buy is a difficult decision. Generally though, always go for a non-HAM package first and move up to HAM later. HAM can be a pain to work with, so you'll find a non-HAM paint package much easier to contend with. •| C% Basic tools - When choosing 1m a HAM paint package, check that your chosen program includes all the basic painting tools. Many HAM paint packages are available that offer a multitude of power (but often useful) extra features, but fail to deliver basic painting tools. DigiPaint 3 is a good example of this. Although it is arguably the fastest and most capable HAM paint package available, it lacks a fill tool. DPaint 4 is a very capable HAM paint package but it can be painfully slow. 1 O ' ma 6 e processslng - A good XO companion product to any 2D paint package is an image processing program such as ASDG's Art Department Professional or Progressive's PIXmate. These can be a godsend when you need to convert images between different formats (a low resolution picture to high resolution, a HAM picture to 32 colours etc). Unless you're working with 24-bit images. PIXmate is the best image processing program available. It's available from Silica Systems on 081 309 1111. M Shading - Realistic shading effects can be achieved quickly and easily within DPaint using its excellent 'Smooth' facility. To create graduated shading between two colours, create a spread of colours between the two colours you wish to blend and then use the Freehand Dotted tool to smooth over the border. This can be very effective when used on postensed images. "1 Q Changing size - If you need to A O resize an image to either low. medium or high resolution within DPaint, simply alter the page size to the same as the screen mode you desire. DPaint will then ask you whether you want the bitmap stretched or compressed to fit the new page size. Although the image will still be saved in the original format, just select 'Cancel' when DPaint asks you whether you wish to change the screen mode when the image is loaded into a screen of the desired mode. 15 Colour conversion - If you need to convert a HAM picture to 32 colours or less under DPaint 4. set the screen mode to the mode that you wish the image to be converted to and then load the HAM image in as if it were a 32 colour image. DPaint 4 will then convert the HAM image to 32 colours for you, removing the need to use a separate image processing program. DPaint 3 has a similar facility, but it cannot handle HAM images. Unravel the mysteries of shading, colour conversion and Image processing with tips 11 through 20. Never before has handling DPaint been this easy ■| /J Stencils - Large unconnected A \3 areas can be re-coloured without affecting other areas of the same colour with ease using DPamt's stencil function. Simply select the Stencil function and then mark the colour that you wish to recolour, click on 'Invert' and then Make'. You can then recolour the areas in question in bulk using the filled rectangle tool without messing up any of the colours that surround them. The Stencil is very powerful but few users seem to use it to its full potential. 1 W Mono digitising - If you do a X f lot of digitising using a mono video digitiser such as VidiAmiga. then get your hands on DigiPamt 3. DigiPaint 3 has a very powerful 'Colorize' function which enables you to apply coloured tints to any area of a monochrome images. The results are very impressive indeed. If you can't quite stretch to the price of a colour digitiser. then DigiPaint 3 provides a quick and easy method of adding colour to any mono image. 1 Q Extra HalfBrite - Alth °ugh the It/ Amiga's rather obscure Extra HalfBrite mode is usually pretty useless, it can be very useful indeed for adding shading effects to images with DPaint. Say for example you wanted an object to cast a shadow on to another object within DPaint. All you would have to do is to pick up the object that is to cast the shadow as a brush, select 'HalfBrite' from the Mode menu and stamp the brush down where the shadow is to appear. The brush will then be pasted down using darker shades of the pixels in the background. 20 Background and foreground - If you need to mix a background from one image with the foreground from another (both with different palettes), reduce both to sixteen colours in low resolution, load in the first, pick it up as a brush and then save it off to disk. Load in the second image then load in the first in its brush form and then select Remap Colours'. DPaint will then automatically mix the two images and create a new palette that retains both palettes. 18 AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 16 • AUGUST 1992 WORKBENCH/RAM EXPANSIONS 200 TOP TIPS Preferences Vi,3,tB EJUS. Reset 38 Jan 92 17138 Key Repeat Delay Short I > | Long Key Repeat Speed Slow f TlFast Workbench Interlace Prom screen size to mouse speed, you can customise your whole set-up with the aid of the Preferences screen. Printer and serial port (used for modems) BOttlngc can also bo altered Much of the Amiga's power goes unnoticed by the new user, who Instead often becomes frustrated at Its apparent inability to carry out a simple task. Much of this frustration can be avoided by learning the little tricks and tips that make life easier. So off we go with ten tips for getting to grips with the Amiga's Workbench. Avoid all that tiresome rummaging through countless reference manuals. Read on, and become a power user... 21 Drawers - These are a convenient means of filing programs and data. Placing sometning in a drawer is a matter of selecting its icon, dragging it over the drawer and releasing it. A new drawer is created by making a copy of the existing Empty drawer. (Select Duplicate from the Workbench menu). This can be renamed and placed wherever you like. Have an organising principle behind your drawers. You might choose to place all of your DTP software in one drawer, all of your programming languages in another, and all of your graphics files in a third. There moy well be drawers within each of these, determined by each package's requirements. C\ f\ The Trashcan - Get rid of an £i m unwanted file by dragging this icon into the Trashcan; even a drawer and its contents can be deleted this way. Nothing is actually removed from the disk until you click on the Trashcan and then select Empty Trash from the Disk menu. Until then you can double click on the Trashcan and it will reveal its contents in a window. f\ O Snapshot - This repositions £i O icons and windows. If you want to move an icon to a different area in its window, select it and move it to its new home. Then select Snapshot from the Special menu, thus storing its new position. Windows can be moved around the Workbench screen and re-sized in a similar manner - to do this the window alone must be selected. You can Snapshot several icons by multiple selection. While holding down the [Shift] key, select each icon in turn by single clicking on it. They should all become selected. Now choose Snapshot; all of their new positions will be remembered. O Fi Preterences ~ Tne Preferences £i T" program, found in the Preferences drawer of Workbench, enables you to customise various Workbench settings: screen colours can be altered with the slider controls at the bottom left of the screen; the sensitivity of the mouse can be adjusted such that a physical movement corresponds to a varying degree of movement in the screen pointer; and the delay between a left mouse button double click can be altered, as can the key repeat speed. You can choose between having 60 and 80 characters in a column - 60 columns is easier to read on a TV. There is also a choice between interlaced and non-interlaced screens. An interlaced screen has twice as many horizontal lines in it, and as such it can display twice as much information, C\ [* Initialize - This prepares disks £i %J for use by the Amiga. Any blank disks you buy must go through this process before anything can be stored on them. If you initialise (sometimes called 'format') a disk already in use, then all information stored on the disk will be lost. To initialise a disk, put it in the drive, click on its icon once and select Initialize from the Disk menu. O #? Duplicate - This copies the M \J entire contents of one disk to another. Click on the disk to be copied and then select Duplicate from the Workbench menu. You will be asked to periodically insert the source (the disk you are copying from) and the destination (copying to) disks as the process goes on. Duplicate can also be used to copy files. Select the icon and then Duplicate. C% *y Copying files without icons - mt f This is often necessary when copying PD programs to Workbench or hard disk. If a file doesn't have an icon, the only way you can see it is via the Shell. Open the Shell and make the Dir. Copy and Makedir commands resident by typing: resident c:dir and so on. Then insert your PD disk and find out what is on it by typing 'dir'. Transfer each of the listed files to your destination disk using the Copy command: copy df0:Pil«Of Interest J MyDiek: Other files will be held in directories. If directories with the same names already exist on your destination disk, then copy the files into those directories. Otherwise, make a directory of the same name on the destination disk: makedir MyDisk:NewDirectory and then copy the files across. C\ Q Info - Among other things, Ld O this Workbench menu option can be used to link a project with its parent application. If you have a program written in AmigaBasic. then you can write the name of its application and where it can be found in the Default Tool box of the file's Info window - in this case 'Extras 1.3:AmigaBasic'. You can then use the project by clicking on its icon instead of having to click on its application first and loading the project from there. If you later move the application to another disk, you can modify the Default Tool box in the project's Info window to point to the application's new location. O O SetMa P ~ Tn,s le,ls lne Amiga Li J/ which national keyboard you are using. It is found in the Systems drawer. Click once on SetMap. select Info from the Workbench menu, click in the Tool Types [Add] box and type the following: KEYMAP=gb {The first word must be in capitals.) Press [Return] and click on [Save]. Now run the SetMap program by double clicking on it. thus setting up your keyboard as a British one. Q A RAM Disk - The RAM disk can O \3 be used like an ordinary floppy disk, but is faster and its size is limited only by the memory available. Penodically save your work to floppy, because a power loss or a reset will erase its contents. uying the right RAM expansion to suit your needs can be a bit of a minefield - especially if you have one of the traditionally more limited machines such as the A 500 or even the latest A600. If you have a bigger model the choice Is generally more limited - but the options are better. 31 How much do you need? - This depends a tot on the type of applications you intend to run. For most jobs, other than playing games, consider 1Mb to be the absolute minimum. The more complex the application, the more memory it will require. Incidentally, the size of an application does not determine its RAM requirements - a program just a few bytes long could literally grab GIGAbytes of RAM in one go. In practice of course, this rarely happens, but assume most packages (ontiavtd on pogt 21 AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 16 • AUGUST 1992 19 £p & s& h <^ s^ ROCLITE 3.5 SLIMLINE DRIVE Amiga Format says 'beautifully mad© slimline drive, quick and qutet with ail the extras - 86%' ♦ 3V 880KB Ejftemai Dftve ♦ AcceBttme 3ms trocfc to ttock 4-0.9' high ♦ EnoDto/dbaDle switch ♦ 23 pm pass through socket 4» Allow, connection to a 3rd drive £54.95 MITSUBISHI DISKETTES 3.5' MICRO FLOPPY DISK MF-2DO 3.5' D5DD 135lpi 1MB Ibox 2-5 boxe» £6.93 £6.46 MF-2HD 3.6' DSHD I 35tpl 2MB Ibox 2-5 boxes (14.00 512.90 5-10 boxes £6.22 5-10 boxes £10.00 ' Our diskettes ore 100% error free and carry a lifetime guarantee. We only sell top quality products! I NO APOLOGIES JUST QUALITY! QUALITY DISKS! QUALITY VALUEI FREE STORAGE BOX! 3; DISKS MITSUBISHI DSDDIMb DSHD 2Mb m £12.92 £25.80 50 061 200 3i DISKS .£31.10 £60.00 £110.00 £5000 £95.00 £180.00 UNBRANDED 50 100 200 500 DSDDIMb 521.15 £41 12. £7990 £182.12 DSHD 2Mb. £17.00 ..£32.50 £64 00. £122.20 ADD UP STARTER PACK includes ♦ DUSTCOVER. ♦ MOUSE MAT £9.99 ♦ 3.5- CL£ANING KIT ♦ 5 x 3.5" DISKETTES 3 5 LOCK ABU STORAGE BOXES /uu«_upactiY tivvs 40Capaciiy £5.50 lOOCapacity £0.95 25 Capacity £3 95 80 Capacity £6 50 10 Capacity £0 65 50Copoclty £6.25 MavertCk QS128F F»aht< f «Y JOYSTICKS £14 95 Qulckshot Turbo £9 50 £8 95 SpeedWng Autoflre £10 50 £9 95 Cheetah Bug . £13 95 ACCESSORIES ■ ■ f - Mouse Mat Moure Pocket 2 p*ece Universal Printer Stand Mullfunctlon Printer Stand , Monitor Stand, (tilt/swivel) O.D wieonina Rl* i . . i Computer Cleaning Kit. 14* Colour Screen Filter Monitor Ptynth Mouse Pad Station includes mouse pad. mouse holder wrist rest and pen/penc« tray ADDUP Starter Pack tor IBM users mc 5 * 3.5* DSOD. 1 x mouse mat. I ■ 3 5 - cleaning kit and 1 * keyboard dustcover 80 capacity BANX storage box CAKES AND SWITCHES ■ ■ ■ ■ -•+■ »-* Parolel Printer Cable RS232 EXTENSION CABLES CENTRONICS PLUG TO PLUG DATA SWITCHES - MANUAL 2 pfinlea fo ' compute' 2 computers to 1 printer 4 computers to 1 printer 2 computers to 2 printers 2 metre 3metre 5 metre ' Kj iTT^Tr^r x merr e 3 metre . 5metre lOmetre 2 metre , 3 metre 5 metre Poranei £13 50 £1350 £21.00 ""•"" ..£2 50 ..©35 .£3.95 £595 £1599 £12 95 £2.25 £9 95 £9 95 £22 96 £6 99 £9 99 £9 99 £5.25 £9.50 £13.95 £22.50 .£6.50 .£8.95 .£10.95 £20.50 ...£9 50 £1150 £16 95 Serial £13 50 £1350 £20.50 l*° *o ROCGEN PLUS GENLOCK ♦ User friendly design. easy Instalation ♦ Video-Thru & RGB - Thru Ports ,♦ vanaple fading effect: inversion of overlay function ♦ key-in port for expan- sion with externol keying device ♦ Compatible with all Amiga models & Commodore CDTV £175.00 MICE & SCANNERS ROCTEC AMIGA MOUSE rm3000 Superbly styled, ergonomlc design Smooth precoe operationl 20Oc»pl/500mm/5ec £13.95 OPTICAL MEGA MOUSE 6leod.300dpl £29.95 NAKSHA SCANNER for Amiga 500 £1 15.00 DAATASCAN PROFESSIONAL A625 SCANNER 2/3/400 dpi £170 00 MONITORS PHILIPS CM8833/1 1 STEREO 14 - COLOUR MONITOR. Covered by a 12 month warranty includes connecting cable, green screen switch UK specifications £229.99 SPECIAL OFFER Free storage box with every 50 disks ordered BEST BUYS SAVE£££ s ROCTEC MOUSE QUICKSHOT TURBO JOYSTICK ADD UP STARTER PACK OUH PRICE £28.50 6&M- ROCTEC MOUSE MOUSE PAD STATION 3.5" CLEANING KIT 10 3.5' DISK IN PLASTIC BOX SXtt OUR PRICE £23.50 t)^l ROCTEC SLIMLINE DRIVE 10X3.5' DISKS IN PLASTIC BOX 3.5' CLEANING KIT. 100 CAPACITY STORAGE BOX SJfrGS OUR PRICE £63.50 6eal SMrTT UNIVERSAL PRINTER STAND. AMIGA DUST COVER. 1 REAM A4 PAPER. 14- SCREEN FILTER. KEYBOARD STATION. OUfl PRICE £35.50 f*M- ADDUP AMIGA A500 PLUS UPGRADE. 1Mb EXPANSION BOARD. 14" SCREEN FILTER. 50 x 3.5- DISKETTES. 50 CAPACITY STORAGE BOX, £U#S0 OUR PRCb £93.95 AMIGA UPGRADES ADDUP A500 Plus 1 Mb RAM expansion board £63 95 AMIGA EXTERNAL FLOPPY DRIVES A0OUP Dora L>mj 3 5' rvoppy orr^e simine T ftopov drtve £5595 INTERNAL RAM EXPANSION Amiga A501 RAM/clock expansion unit 500/500 Plus £99 50 Amiga A2508 8Mb RAM board 1500/2000 £345.00 GVP SIMM 32bit 1Mb Upgrode- 60ms 1500/2000 £6600 GVP SIMM 32bU 4Mb Upgrade -60ms 1 500/2000 £195.00 LASER PRINTERS DOT MATRIX Brother Ml 309 9pm SOcol £175.00 Citizen 120D9 pin SOcol £12500 Citizen Swift 9 pin SOcol £155 00 Star LC200 colour 9pm £160.00 Brother 1324 24pin SOcol £230.00 Star LC24-200 colour 24pln £225.00 Cr frzeo Swtft 24 24pm ..£199.00 Brother HL4V £765.00 Brother HL4 PS £1400.00 Brother HL8E £1150.00 Brother HL8V , £1250.00 HP LaserJet III £835.00 StarLP4 £725.00 Canon LBP4 £705.00 Canon BJ10E £22500 HP Deskjet 500 £385.00 HP Deskjet 500 colour £57500 INK -JET PRINTERS HOW TO ORDER BY PHONE 0446 421316 BY FAX 0446 420404 BY POST 316 SUPPLIES LTD 7/8 TY VERLON INDUSTRIAL ESTATE, BARRY, SOUTH GLAMORGAN CF6 3BE Acces ALL PRICES INCLUDE VAT CARRIAGE COSTS All ORDERS ARE NORMALLY DESPATCHED TO YOU WITHIN 48 HOURS OF ORDERING Please add S3 60 per order tot carnage up fo i2k*os Over 12 tokx chargea w RAM EXPANSIONS/BASIC PROGRAMMING 200 TOP TIPS limited power modules capable of driving about 2Mb RAM and a single external drive. Internal RAM expansions will cause extra drain and may shorten the life of both the PSU and the machine. External units are less of a problem since most come supplied with (or support) an extra PSU. If you need 2Mb or The Cortex 1Mb - te easy to install that the Instructions are on the back of the box (ontmocd fiom page It require twice their own size (in bytes) of RAM ana you won't go Tar wrong. Oa What will ,1 O M coat? If one thing is certain. PAM is never cheap and the price fluctuates all the time. Interestingly, the price (and availability) of silicon is often blamed although few RAM chips are manufactured from silicon and utilise a system of evaporated metal oxide. The price of an upgrade is determined by two major factors: basic capacity and upward expansion. The basic configuration determines the initial price. The type and design of the expansion fixes the future cost - this point is especially applicable to A500 expansions. Q Q Wi " rt ** compatible? - OO Owners of A2000 and similar machines should have few problems with compatibility between boards since the expansion bus system is quite well defined. The problem is aggravated with the A500 since some manufacturers shoehorn their internal boards into the memory map with software patches. More costly, external expansions such as those made by Supra, Power and Cortex use a well defined standard called Autoconfig IM which solves most, if not all, the problems. The final proof of the pudding is testing it - and then it's often too late. If budget allows, slick with external boards. {One exception to this rule is the 512K and 1Mb trapdoor cards.) O Fa Is power drain a problem? - O^ Again, this is something where the bigger machines score over their baby brothers. On larger Amigas, the internal PSU is designed to cope with large RAM expansions and other cards. The story with the A500/600 is somewhat different though. Both these machines have The Zydec 512K - one add-on for the A500 and the A500 Plus you definitely shouldn't forget more, prefer one of these to the internal option. 35 Four or 16 chips? - In theory at least. RAM is RAM and the story ends there. Chip manufacturers are always getting more bytes per- inch and therefore, the number of chips required to fulfil a certain memory requirement drops. An interesting aside to this is: as the chip count is reduced so are both the power consumption and the heat dissipation. Also, four chip designs are less complex, cheaper to produce in large quantities and probably more reliable. Given the option, the lower chip count is usually the better bet. 36 Chip or Fast RAM? - This question only applies to the A500/600 and A3000 machines. The first expansion you buy will probably be Chip RAM since these are the cheapest. (On the A3000. you can swap the bits around as you add more RAM.) The vast majority of applications don't care what sort of RAM you have - so long as there is enough to go around. Chip RAM is gobbled up by screen displays and the sound system so this is the most important. Q ^f 512K trapdoor expansion O I with the A500 Plus - As a rule this is a waste of money, unless the budget is tight. RAM added to the trapdoor is automatically mapped for the custom chips and the A500 Plus supports 2Mb of CHIP RAM. As has already been mentioned. Chip RAM is the most important for most applications, so get as much as you can afford. The choice for A600 owners is much more limited at present, and it seems unlikely a 512K expansion of this type will be produced. Such a device would be a white elephant anyway. O Q Throughports - Sideways RAM O O expansions for the A500/500 Plus come in two groups: those with throughports and those without. In a perfect world. Autoconfig™ should take care of RAM in any number of external devices up to the machine's theoretical memory limit. In practice throughports can be more trouble than they are worth: some A590s for instance are known to suffer problems with the Supra 500RX. However, a RAM expansion without a throughport is a dead end - so if you cannot afford a combination unit, prefer the design with a throughport. Q Q PC emulators? - Some of the O %J more recent hardware based PC emulators such as the new Vortex card for the A1500/2000 series machines have their own RAM anyway. Emulators for the A500/500 Plus are more problematical. Both AT- Once and the KCS Powerboard will use any Autoconfig™ RAM - the KCS system supplies its own RAM anyway. If you have a PC emulator, or intend to buy one. avoid internal RAM expansions - especially those with software patches. /i f\ ComD,natlon units ~ Combo TTvJ cards, those incorporating RAM expansions with accelerators, hard disk controllers - you name it - are always going to cost more in the short term because of the extra bits. However, on the A500 at least, combinations represent very good value for money because they can save a lot of incompatibility problems in the future. However, you should be careful to choose a card which will fulfil your RAM requirements both now and in the future. The A590, for instance, only supports an extra 2Mb of on- board RAM. This might seem attractive initially, but it soon gets used up. A1500/2000 owners have it easier and there are generally less compatibility problems. asic Is by far the most popular programming language. Just about everyone who has ever begun to program has started with Basic. It Is easy to learn, easy to understand, and offers far more power than many people think. Here are some tips to help the would-be programmers (and the more experienced but lax programmers) on their way: Fa "I Design before you code - 4 X Always create a logical 'blueprint' of the program you wish to write. You are not aiming for perfection, just something to guide you on the way! Fa C% Documentation - Do produce TA at least skeleton documentation while you are developing the program rather than afterwards. This way the program is still fresh in your mind. Fa O Use comments - It may be ^O obvious to you now what actions your masterpiece performs, but it may not be in a couple of years! Use comments to divide the program into named sections to make the program far more readable. See Figure 1 on page 22 for an example. Fa Fa Clear variable names - ^T" Nowadays Basic allows the use of long variables names, so make the most of this facility to create helpful, descriptive, code. Admittedly code written in this style will take longer to type, but it is guaranteed to make more sense than the cryptic use of variables named 'A', 'B' and so on. Fa J* Minimize the use of globals - T"»jGlobal variables are variables which can be accessed (and changed) from anywhere within a program. Although they are useful at times (error indicators and program exit flags are examples of where global variables can be used to good effect) it is usually better to create isolated procedures which work with local copies of any data that is passed to them. Fa f* Keep your code clean - Isolate ^ vf any control sequences that your program might need so that the main body of code is not littered with awkward-to-read statments like this MIDI/serial-port related fragment... AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 16 •AUGUST 1992 21 200 TOP TIPS BASIC PROGRAMMING/DESKTOP PUBLISHING PRICT* 1,CHR$(4H90 OR J channel) +CHRS (note) +CHR$ J Embedding these types of control sequences will make your programs look messy and more difficult to maintain. The best idea is to isolate the sequences into separate subroutines or functions. For the above example the preliminary user defined function dpfinition... DE¥ raNoteonS(note,ch)«CHR$ J (&H90 OR J ch ) tCHRS ( note ) tCHRS < 64 ) would enable the rest of the program to send its data by using the more readable expression... nuwTffi, J FNNoteOn$ ( note , channel ) A m Isolate I/O Code - Try to T^ I eliminate all I/O and machine dependent statements from the main parte of rode. Instead access these facilities indirectly. You do not want statements such as the following... PR0MPT$="Please enter a J record number" COLOUR 1,4 SAY TRANSLATES (PROMPTS) J INPUT This would mean that the program was linked to the computer on which the program was writtten. The best idea is to reference the facilities using function calls, subroutines or, subprograms... REM COLLECT - MATRIX COLLECT: FOR RCW%=1 TO N% FOR C0LUMN% = 1 TO N% PRINT'A (-;R0W%;-,*;C0LUMN%;-) ... "; INPUT TT0 AND S <6) THEN ON J S GOSUB A, B, C, D, E where A, B. C. D and E are the subroutines which perform the processing associated with the five values. During development some of these may be non-operational (or nonexistent), so you need some way of preventing certain subroutines from being executed. Suppose you wanted to prevent subroutine C from being used in the above example - just replace the reference to subroutine C with a reference to a subroutine that does nothing, like this... IF (S >0 AND S <6) THEN ON J S GOSUB A, B, DoNothing, D, E The approach is useful when you have a large number of possible test values and where not all values require a subroutine to be executed. One example is the execution of routines performed when control characters are detected. On the basis of detecting keypresses related to particular control codes you may wish to perform certain subroutines but in all probability you will not wish to support all possible control characters. Executing a 'Do Nothing" routine for all control characters that you do not wish to support provides an easy solution. f, t~\ Plan for the unexpected - ^2/ Your program should be user- friendly but don't expect the user to be program-friendly. Assume that the user will make all possible mistakes as far as use and data input are concerned and plan so that your programs do not come to a grinding halt when a user puts a wrong disk into the drive or supplies a wrong input value. Programs should provide error messages (and helpful prompts) to guide the user back on course. C| /\ Keep It simple - Clarity will 4j vf pay off. Remember, one day you may need to look at (and understand) the code you wrote years ago in order to make changes. Pw hether vou are producing the occasional single sheet flyer, a fanzine or even a whole book, you'll find the following tips Invaluable for getting the very best results out of your desktop publishing package. J* ^ Memory considerations - To %J X conserve memory (and increase the speed at which the program operates) work on a 2- colour non-interlaced screen. Professional Page has switches for this in its Preferences menu; PageStream users will need to alter the Tool Types of the program's icon so that C0L0RS=2 and INTERLACE=No. Memory can be further conserved by opening the program on the Workbench. Alter PageStream's or Professional Page's SCREEN Tool Type so that SCREEN=Workbench. Alternatively, Professional Page users can open the program on a 2- colour non-interlaced screen and then switch the Workbench off from the Preferences menu, which conserves even more memory. £ C\ Keeping It fast - O^Compugraphic fonts, bitmaps and structured drawings all take time (and memory) to render, so it makes Is DTP a prickly subject? Scaling down pictures and other DTP tips will become second nature with the tricks of the trade presented on these pages 22 AMIGA 5H0PPIR • ISSUE 16 • AUGUST 1992 DESKTOP PUBLISHING/SOUND SAMPLING 200 TOP TIPS sense to cut as many corners as possible. • Professional Page users - Once you have a bitmap scaled to the size you want it. X-out the graphic by selecting the Hide button in the Alter Current Box requester, if you're working with a structured drawing, make sure wireframe mode is on. or else vou 11 nave to wait ror an the mi patterns and line thichncsacs to render. When come text has been imported and requires no more editorial changes, hide the boxes containing that text so that it gets greeked' instead of rendered. • Pagestream users - You can't tilde individual bitmaps, so import, size and position all the bitmaps vou require right at the start, then toggle the 5huw pictures option in tne view menu to cross them all out. f* Q 24-bit pictures - Professional \J O Page usccj do nut need lots of memory to import 24-bit pictures, out tneyii need a fair on to oe aoie to print them to a Preferences printer. The Amiga's printer. device supports only up to 4,096 colours. so it you are printing to a non- PostScript printer you may as well convert your 24-bit pictures down to HAM to save memory, time and disk space. Remember that HAM pictures can be interlaced, but they must be lo-res, so scale the width to 50 per cent of the height to keep the aspect ratio. J* yj Bitmaps - Amiga bitmaps •3^ have a resolution of 75 dpi. To reduce the Oluchineaa of printed output, scale bitmaps down (within the DTP program) to at least 50 per cent. If your printer's graphics output resolution is 300 dpi. 25 per cent is the smallest you can go before the software has to start removing data from the bitmap; if your printer is 240 dpi (9-pin) that figure is 31.25 per cent, for 360 dpi printers (24-pin and bubble jet) it is 20.83 per cent. [■ [■ Squaring pixels - Screen Vv pixels are not exactly square, and at some resolutions (like med- res) they are positively rectangular. You can help tne UTP software to make a better job of scaling and printing them by preparing bitmaps beforehand by converting them to hi- res interlaced format. Do this with Art Department by selecting Hi Res and Lace from the screen controls panel, and then (if necessary) enlarge the Y dimension (height) by 200 per cent. Do this in Deluxe Paint by selecting Screen Format from the Picture menu and selecting the Hi-Res button. When the software asks if you want the image stretched to fill the page, say 'Yes'. If your bitmap contains too many colours for hi res mode, convert to lo- res non-interlaced. K H Mono P r,nt,n g - If you are %J \J printing to a monochrome printer then there's not a lot of point in using coloured pictures, converting them to 16 levels of grey beforehand will save time and memory. The best tool to do this with is Art Department Professional, but Deluxe Paint is also able to convert to 16 greys, even from HAM. although you have to put some work in. First load the picture and then change its Screen Format to 16 colours. Then bring up the palette tool and change colour to black and colour 15 to white. Click on the black colour, click on Spread, click on the white colour. Now select Remap from the Color menu to get the picture looking normal again. J* W Screen frequency - O I PageStream users can take advantage of the Screen Frequency feature of the Edit Coordinates requester to get better greyscale output. If your printer is 300 dpi, make the screen frequency figure 75 to get the printer to produce 16 greyscales. Increasing that figure to (say) 100 will give you a higher apparent output resolution (the dots will be printed closer together), but fewer levels of grey will be produced. Decreasing the screen frequency to (say) 60 will allow more levels of grey (handy for 256 greyscale TlFFs) but the apparent resolution will decrease as the dots will be printed further apart. 360 dpi printers should have a screen frequency of 90 to get 16 greyscale output. 240 dpi printers should have a screen frequency of 60. (■J Q TurboPrint Professional - %J O Professional Page and PageSetter II users will get much better greyscale output if TurtyoPrint Professional is doing the dithering, rather than Preferences. If you find that pictures are coming out too dark, adjust TurboPrint s Gamma Correction upwards slightly and try again. Each picture will be different, so you will need to experiment each time to get the best results. If you have more than one greyscale picture on a page, you may have to compromise with a happy medium. g Q Colour printing- You're \J \J asking a lot for a 9-pin. 24-pin or inkjet printer to give you top quality colour output of HAM pictures. Each picture, and each printer, will give different results, but one trick you can try in order to get better printed output is to convert the HAM picture to 32 colours (or fewer) before importing into the DTP package. Again. Art Department Professional is the best tool to use. but Deluxe Paint can do a similar thing by simply changing the Screen Format to 32 colours and letting it compute a new palette. The picture won't look as good on-screen, but it will probably print better. £ f\ Using the RAM disk - When 0\/ you are printing a desktop published page to a Preferences printer you are basically dumping a massive picture. It takes time for the software to create that picture in memory, time to transfer it to the printer, and time for the printer to print it. You can speed things up. if you have the memory, by using the CMD tool in order to send the output to a RAM file instead of the printer, and then using the Copy command to send the file to the printer for printing. Double click the CMD icon, and then 'print' your page or document. When it has finished, quit the DTP program and open a CLI or Shell. Type the command COPY RAM:CMD FILE TO PAR: and the page/document will get printed. Depending on what you are printing, this method can reduce printout times by up to 25 per cent. If you can afford It, then dump the sample editor that came with your sampler and treat yourself to a copy of AudioMaster 4 f your samples don't quite I come up to scratch, or you're confused by the plethora of poorly documented Sound Tracker programs around, read on and gain some handy Insights into the world of Amiga sound f+ 1 Quality - The quality of the \J X samples that are obtainable from any sampler will only be as good as the source signal that you feed it. If you're sampling from a crummy tape deck, then the results that you get wont be that good. Unless you're sampling real world sounds (speech. for example) then always try to sample from CD. Even the cheapest CD players will consistently give you much better results than audio tape simply because of the cleaner audio signal that a CD can output. £JO Leads - Another equally \j£i important factor to consider when you sample from an audio source is the quality of the audio lead that you use to connect the sampler and your audio source together. Many samplers come with their own sampling lead, but these are rarely any good. If you can spare a couple of pounds, then take a trip to your AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 16 • AUGUST 1992 23 200 TOP TIPS SOUND SAMPLING/COMMUNICATIONS local music technology store and treat yourself to a professional audio lead. Considering their relatively low price (about £5 for 3 metres), these leads will substantially increase the quality of your samples. /J O Microphones - If you're DO sampling real life sounds, then a decent microphone is a worthwhile purchase. Many samplers do como with thoir own microphones hut I have yet to see a microphone that could be described as anything oilier than a tolal waste of space. Once again, a trip down to your local music technology store will be well worth the effort. Have a chat with the salesman - he will be able to advise you on which microphone is best for you. You may have to pay at least £40 for a decent mike, but the results will be worth it. £*/a Stereo and mono - When "t? purchasing a sampler, don't Ignore mono samplers in favour of the trendier stereo units that hove flooded the market To be perfectly honest, stereo sampling on anything other than a Fairlight or a Synclavier (two professional samplers with price tags to match) is a complete waste of time. Stereo samples not only use up twice as much memory as a mono sample, but they also restrict you to Wave goodbye to the MIDI blues. Sampling's a cinch with the tips numbered 61 to 70 sampler, it may be worth your while ditching the sample editing software bundled with the sampler in favour of one of the stand alone sample editor programs now available on the marKet. These may cost you anything from £50 u-*-Qct*MEO-Profiuion*Hv3.oo) FILES HISC [iDBB vol / ?** * ■ VOL H£H Qfl FILTER U ti 13 STS SPUD 833/63 IMSTR MIDI SVHTH ▼ 0EL CHANNELS „„ flftY SON* COMT. 50NG BLOCK TRANS ShPED I INSj 1 5 I 7 Q HAV ILOCK COMT. ILOCK ED j T RANGE SLIST nm 889/812 12 1 w chad !!!!!m8i < ► 8i/8i 888 B-2 18 ', 882 — 88889— — HfH~ 887 — 88888- 188 A-2 18888- 189 — 88888- 118 — 88881- Sll — HMh 1888 8888*-? m 8888V81 48881 88881- 88881- 8888*81 4888I-- 8888 88881 88888- - 88889— 88888 II * * I T TT TT 8888BF-2 78881- 88889— 88889- 888881612 78889- 88889-- 88889- 88888F-2 78888 88881- 88888- 88888F81 48888- 88888— 88888- 88889H 48888- 88888--- 88888- 88889TI1 48898- 88888- 89888- 88889- 88889 988 88888- 88888- 99999- 88888- 88888 99989 559152/ MI8?7? 1 1 1 1 1 1 f 1 1 mum 1 1 1 ii ii in i m " II I I III II I | M I I I II I M I | II I I I I I I I I I III I II I Choosing a Sound Tracker utility can be confusing unless you know what to look for. OctaMED shown here is one of the most fully featured available a maximum sampling rate of just 29KHz. Very few packages support stereo samples, so you're unlikely to ever find a use for this facility. If the sampler produces good quality mono samples, then that's the one to go for. f* £? Editing software - For the vJO best results from any upwards, but they're streets ahead of any of the bundled packages available. The current top two sample editing packages on the market are SunRize Industries' Audition 4 and Oxxi/Aegis' AudioMaster 4. Both of these packages are available from HB Marketing on 0753 686000. /^ /> Sampling - If you vJvlare serious about your sound tracking sessions, then an absolute must is a sound sampler. Although most trackers come with a wide selection of sampled instruments, owning a sampler will allow you to grab your own instruments adding a bit of individualism to your tracker tunes. If you can, always go for a Sound Tracker which has sampling facilities built into it. This will enable you to grab instruments, edit them and use them within your tunes without ever having to leave the comfort of your Sound Tracker. /J P9 Commercial software - O I Although virtually all Sound Tracker utilities are the same, there are commercial trackers available which are worth checking out. One such program is OctaMED 2 (soon to be upgraded to OctaMED Professional), a fine commercial tracker written by Teijo Kinnunen, the author of the PD tracker clone MED. OctaMED 2 costs just £20 and is far superior to the PD trackers. It offers score editing and the ability to play up to 8 samples simultaneously. For serious tracking. OctaMED 2 is a must. /J Q Construction - Song U O construction is one aspect of Sound Trackers which confuses many people. Songs are built up within a Sound Tracker by linking together the patterns that you define. Somewhere within your Tracker will be two controls marked 'Song Position', Pattern' and 'Song Length'. Song Position is simply a counter which dictates your position within the Song. Pattern defines which pattern number should be played for the current song position value and Song Length tells the Tracker how many Song Positions there are in your song. r» Q Modular format - When \J %J choosing a Tracker, always check that the program can load and save modules in standard SoundTracker format. SoundTracker modules are a standardised file format for Tracker songs which will enable you to load and play your songs within other Tracker packages and even programming languages such as AMOS without having to convert them first. AMOS now includes direct support for SoundTracker format modules, so a Tracker that can save m this format is far more useful. 7 f\ Preset " sts " Many older • v/ Tracker utilities were tied to a system of preset lists containing a list of sampled instruments that the program new about. Although these could well be spread across several disks, there was no way of loading a sample that was not in this preset list without exiting the program and editing the preset list from within a separate program. Always check that the Tracker that you choose is not tied exclusively to a silly preset list. Most modern Trackers allow instruments to be loaded from any device including hard disks (some early trackers didn't support hard disks!). Modems open up a whole world of fun: exciting boards, free software, new friends and big telephone bills. Communications is notoriously expensive but with Amiga Shopper by your side, you'll be able to save money, and get more out of your modem with our top tips. n "1 Use Mercury - The easiest f X way to save money during comms work is to cut down the size of the telephone bill. Apart from buying a faster modem the simplest way of doing this is to subscribe to Mercury. For under a tenner you get about 20 per cent off non local calls - well worth a try. ^Q Keep a log - Use the log • £i facility of your comms package to keep a record of your visits to each BBS. There are a couple of reasons for wanting to do this. Firstly, it enables you to go back over any contnved on page 26 24 AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 16 • AUGUST 1992 Computers Unlimited 25 MHz 80386SX PC/AT Emulator for Amiga 2000/3000/3000T. PC/AT Slot Support. Max. 16MB PC/AT RAM ^ Up to 4MB for Amiga. MS-DOS IDE Hard Disk Interface and HD Floppy Disk Controller* (2,88 MB). i Gate fs Golden Gate 6 Golden Gate is the 25 MHz 80386SX PC/AT emulator for Amiga 20OO/3OOO/30O0T As a bridge-slot-board it closes the gap between the Amiga's PC/AT (ISA) slots and the Zorro slots ISA expansion boards like EGA/VGA graphics cards. LAN controllers, RAM expansions or SCSI host adapters are accessible under MS-DOS. Golden Gates PC/AT RAM expansion can be configured to a max of 16 MB (SIMMs). Up to 4 MB of this RAM are available under AmigaDOS. 512 KB RAM are already installed. Golden Gate uses RAM expansions and Commodore compatible hard disk subsystems in the Zorro slot. Golden Gate's IDE interface supports AT bus hard disk subsystems under MS-DOS. A Golden Gate supports flicker fixing cards and accelerators. Authorized Dealer SILICA SYSTEMS Mall Order Hotline 081-309 III! London Shops 081-580 4000/071-629 1234 SldOJpShop 081-3028811 Golden Gate integrates the internal and external 360 KB and 720 KB Amiga floppy disk drives. •With the optional 82077A floppy disk controller up to three internal and external HD floppy disk drives with 1 .2 MB: 1 .44 MB and 2.88 MB can be used w With a standard Amiga monitor and no further graphics card the following video emulations are available: CGA with 16 colours. EGAWGA monochrome graphics, Hercules. Olivetti and ToshibaT3l00. Windows 3 runs unrestrictedly in the enhanced 386 mode and the protected mode. Golden Gate runs fully as a task on the Amiga. Cold. iolden Gate is compatible with Kickstart I 3 and 2.0. A With the optional 80C387SX arithmetic co-processor the performance can be increased. j^ The Amiga mouse is emulated as a serial Microsoft mouse. The Amiga keyboard works as a PC keyboard. ± The serial interface can be used as COMI/COM2; the parallel interface as LPT I under MS-DOS A Golden Gate offers sound. RTC and CMOS RAM. A An external option connector for future expansions is integrated. Yes. I would like to get more information about the vortex PC/AT emulators. \ it VORTEX COMPUTERSYSTEME GMBH FALTERSTRASSE 51-53 • 0-7101 FLEIN TIL 4971 31 /59720 • FAX 4971 31 /55063 □ 80286 ATonce 80386SX Golden Gate With the Installation the guaranty might be voided All company or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks o/ their respective holders Golden Gate and AToncCare registered trndwiwrifflcrfvorlMcComputereyslemeGmbH Distributed in the UK by SDL, 10 Ruxloy Comer Industrial Estate Edglngton Way. Stdcup. Kent. DAM 5SS. Tel Oft I -300 5000 Fax 081-300 W40 200 TOP TIPS COMMUNICATIONS Inspired by the comma tips and you don't have a modem - well, lucky for you, a Hyundai modem Is one of the bargain buye on our mall order pages trntintd frta ftft 24 problems you had and see what the reasons were. If you had trouble downloading a file for instance, you can check to see if you spelt the name wrong. Secondly, you can use the log file to read messages you didn't have time for, or to go back over a conversation with the sysop and write down that telephone number. Py O Know your software - Your f O communications software has been designed to provide you with the facilities to get the most out of your comms work - use it! Get to hnow what facilities are there, and how they work. Things like the scrollback facility in NComm are particularly useful. A few minutes spent learning how your package works will pay off the first time you need to show the sysop a piece of a message you just read or you want to write down some information offline. ^ Fa Know your BBS - Every I TT minute you spend on-line is another minutes worth of charges. Become aquainted with the boards you call regularly. Take a look around, even at areas you aren't interested in at the moment, and try to remember where all the interesting things are kept. Learn how the file search facilities work; it will make it easier when you need to find that elusive file. You can use your log files to go back over the board offline, especially if you are looking for something in particular. Once you know where it is you can go straight to it when you get on-line, saving time and. more importantly, money. Download the file lists and keep them for later, it is much easier to find a file off-line when BT aren't involved. n £f Off-line readers - I O If you are a member of a conferencing system such as CIX or CompuServe, or you enjoy reading the messages on your local BBS then get yourself an off-line reader. Offline readers allow you to read all the messages you want in the comfort of your own home, without the shadow of the phone bill hanging over you. Although the download size for an off- ne reader can be pretty large, often a couple of hundred kilobytes of data, the savings are well worth it and it will pay for itself within a few days of using it. If you don't read the messages on your BBS. you're missing out on an important aspect of comms, the chance to make new friends, and find out things you never knew you didn't know. Give it a go - you don't know what you're missing. 7 f% Scrlpt8 " lf vour § \J communications program offers you a script facility, use it. A good script can save a lot of time, and also protects you against accidents such as you forgetting your password. As you are using a board, think about how scripts could be used to automate processes other than logging on. Downloading files is one particular case in point, where the same information is entered every time the operation is performed and a prime candidate for a script. ^A^Stay friendly - Remember. • f when you are calling a BBS you are a visitor on another persons' computer. That person has kindly spent a lot of their spare time and money to create somewhere for you to call, they don't want you messing about. Follow these guidelines and you won't upset anyone: • Be polite. People don't call bulletin boards to be insulted or offended. more time on-line, and be allowed to download more software. • Follow the rules. Read and abide by the rules of the BBS. It's not difficult and it will save a lot of hassle. • Don't drop the carrier unless you absolutely have to. The most annoying thing for a sysop is a user who can't be bothered to log off. Hanging up in the middle of a session can cause problems, sometimes even taking the board offline. • Don't hassle the sysop. Don't keep paging the sysop if you have a problem - leave him a message. Even the most friendly sysop will get fed up of being continually paged, and a message will save you money as well. The Connections Interdlal modem - another favourite. No more muddles with modems when you've followed our top comms tips Bear this in mind when you are leaving messages. • Upload files. To be successful a board needs to keep a steady flow of new files. Most sysops will try and do this anyway but if every caller uploads a couple of files a week, the sysop's job is made easier and the board becomes more successful. You'll also be given higher security. S vsten Irj flfl ffT Cqm Translate Screen Phone Dial 1st at* ASCII CaptureQ-T Start ASCII Send OS Message Upload OY Download CJD Upload QU Server Corwtands Options Protocol Default Directory! Load Scrollback Save Scrollback View Scrollback Search In Buffer Save Marked Block ISend Marked Block Disable Addin >/ Xnoden CRC 1/ Chop Files GAR protocol GAR host node 2 ho den Resune >/ Znoden AutoDl Znoden AutoUi V 2»oden ACK Remit Host Kernit IK E-XPR Setup E-XPR Query y/ Create Icons 78 t4M;8fi •l::* M:ll NComm is one of the most popular comms packages. But remember a package Is sometimes only as good as its user Always hang up - Always hang up when you leave a board. It doesn't happen often but sometimes a bug in the bulletin board software will cause it to not drop you off the line when you exit. You will then end up there sitting on the line clocking up a huge bill. The most well known example of this is a bug In CIX which after logging you off and telling you to hang up. sometimes places you back at the login prompt. On a multi- tasking machine such as the Amiga it is all too easy to swap to the Workbench screen and begin playing with the software you've downloaded, leaving the comms package sat at the CIX prompt. 7Q Don * ,eave '* alone ~ Comms f %J packages are wonderful. scripts are wonderful, off-line readers are even more wonderful. Unfortunately they are far from perfect. No matter how good you think your script is. you should never leave it running when you aren't around. It is easy for a stray bit of line noise to upset the script completely. When this happens, one of two things will go wrong. The most likely scenario is that the script will just stop and stand there clocking up on-line charges until the BBS times out and throws you off. Worse though is the script that wanders off on its own through menus it was never supposed to see. trying to download files and leave messages to people who don't exist. A A AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 16 • AUGUST 1992 COMMUNICATIONS/USING THE SHELL 200 TOP TIPS Q /\ Support your sysop - Bulletin 0\J boards are usually run on a voluntary bacis. The system operator gives up his free time, and very often a substantial amount of money, to provide you with a service. Apart from respecting his wishes, uploading files and generally being a nice person, there are plenty of ways you can encourage your sysop. When you first visit a ooara. let the sysop know what you thought. Be constructive though, simply saying that you didn't like it is no use. The opposite is true as well, just saying that you liked the board isn't much help. Try and offer at least some suggestions as to why you liked it, and any areas that could be improved on. Report any problems you may have to the sysop. Particularly things that could be considered "bugs". For instance, if a particular menu option doesn't work, let him know so that he can fix it. Finally, if the board has a membership scheme, and it's not too expensive, join it. Not many boards do have a scheme but supporting those that do is well worth the little cost. Not only do you get increased access but it encourages the sysop to do more with the board, something that benefits everyone. another disk, and AmigaDOS will look there instead for the required directory. Getting a list of the files held in the Joyce directory, held in the Irish directory, all on the disk ModernLit. would be done as follows: Dir ModernLit : Irish/ Joyce It is possible to specify which files you want to list by the means of a wildcard. Represented by the '#?' characters, a wildcard means 'any characters'. The Dir #? command will behave exactly as normal, but the Dir #?.iff will only list those files whose names end with '.iff. Q 1a CD - This command changes O^the current directory (the one which will be listed with a simple Dir command, and which is named as part of the AmigaDOS prompt). Followed simply by a '/' character, it will move one level up in the directory hierarchy. Followed by a ':*, it will move to the root directory copy graba:#?.iff article: 87 ome operations on the Amiga are made so much oaaicr by using the Shell. Some operations Just can't be done Any other way. Using the Workbench Is all very well, but it's only once you click on that Shell icon that you can really get your hands dirty and find out exactly what Is going on. Here we provide a brief introduction; If you need more information don't forget our regular Cracking The Shell column by Mark Smlddy. which covers Just about every conceivable use of AmigaDOS. Q "I Flloa - A file is a collection of O X information stored on a disk. It could be a program, or simply a group of data for use by other programs. Each file has associated status information stored with it, which records such things as when the file was last altered and whether or not it is a program file. All of tho Shell commands are held on disk as program files. QO Directories - These are the OsW Shell equivalent of Workbench drawers. They are arranged in a hierarchical, tree-like fashion, and may contain further directories and files. Take a look at the above diagram for an illustration of this idea - often it's easier to think pictorially. At the top of the hierarchy is a directory termed the root'. It is denoted by the ':' symbol. The root directory of another disk is specified by the disk name followed by a root (ModernLit:) English 1 American 1 1 Irish (ModernLiUrish) I 1 French Yeats Joyce (ModernLit :lrish/Joyce i Ulysses < ModernLit Insh/Joyce'Ulysses Directories are organised in a hierarchical structure often called a 'tree'. In fact, the shape is more like an upside down tree, with the root at the top. The AmigaDOS path to the directories Is shown In brackets colon. A directory further down the hierarchy is specified by supplying its name after the colon. If the directory Is not immediately below' the root, then any intervening directories must also be named, each of them being separated by a '/' character. QQOIr- Dir is an AmigaDOS OO command that produces a listing of all the files held in a directory. Normally, the listing is given for the current directory - the one named in the Shell's prompt. Any directories held within the current one are marked '(dir)*. It is possible to get a listing of files in a different directory by using that directory's name (and those of any others between it and the current one, all separated by the '/' character) as part of the command. If the directory is above the current one in the hierarchy, then the '/' character must be used before the directory name to instruct AmigaDOS to look one level up. Alternatively, the ':' character tells AmigaDOS to look from the root directory on the disk. Precede this with the name of of the current disk. A directory name can also be specified with CD. but if it is anything other than directly below the current directory in the hierarchy, then a path to it must be specified. 85 Makedir - This creates a new directory inside the current one. The name of the new directory is specified as part of the Makedir command, but must be separated from it by a space. The newly created directory will initially be empty. Q d Co Py " Tne cop y command. O O funnily enough, copies files. Following the command comes the source file, then, after a space, the destination where the copy should be placed. Both source and destination can be specified with full AmigaDOS paths. If the name of the destination file is omitted, then the source file name is used. In this case, wildcards can be used to copy several files with only a single command: RAM: - This is the RAM disk, behaving like an ordinary disk although much more quickly and with the information held in memory. If you are using a single drive machine, it is useful to copy often used commands into RAM: so that you won't have to insert the Workbench disk whenever you use *one of these commands, thus saving time and irritating disk swapping. The RAM: disk can also be used as an intermediary store when copying groups of files from one disk to another on a single drive system. ft ft Ust ~ This is an advanced O O form of the Dir command. As well as listing the files in a directory. it will display the status information and size of each file. The command has many other possibilities. Its output can be sent to another file by use of the command To following it. followed itself by the name of a destination file. The options available are far too complex to go into here in such a short space - refer to Cracking The Shell each month for more details and handy tips. QA Startup-sequence - This is a O %J text file containing a number of AmigaDOS commands. The startup-sequence is a type of file which is known as a script. It behaves in a similar manner to a program when run. Each of the commands in the file are executed in turn, as if a user were typing them one by one at the keyboard. Think of it as a way of creating your own AmigaDOS commands by joining together existing ones. The startup-sequence is a specialised script which is executed every time the Amiga is switched on or reset. It performs various set-up functions, such as telling the Amiga which nationality of keyboard to use, and where to look for certain, often used files. It is possible to modify the startup-sequence, although it's advisable to make a back-up first, using the Copy command (only ever do this with a copy of your Workbench disk, as tampering may stop your Amiga from booting up altogether). QAEd-Edis the AmigaDOS text %J "editor. It is like a very simple word-processor, and is mainly used for creating and altering script files such as the startup-sequence. Just type Ed at the prompt to use it. AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 16 •AUGUST 1°*2 *J 200 TOP TIPS CHOOSING AN ACCELERATOR fej-fWEUlS? '.in>ii ii^uiji 1 / i'-j'^hriljlii i fji^ij I ^/iijjj I J^j £yj* fj/j You A5W "IfR A2HHR A25W-2I MM -25 CPU Clock; FPUClwk: il-iw. I ^i;- Inst Cacte: » IBurst Node: ON Data Cache: vN DBurst HodelvfF MdJiMti MMU Status: OH MCwM: — ^iii. JibJj' I ''-'- HJl^ill.l .iOiiii mm ji^i^" jj-ujjm,: j.;-jsj iiajIiiLjUl 'Jvl/.j'-rSJ The program above is used to rate the speed of your accelerator compared to standard Amiga set ups, just so you can bo sure your machine really is fast rvt to a hard disk, your accelerator could be the most expensive add-on that you buy for your Amiga, and in some cases they can be more expensive than your Amiga Itself. Consequently, with the huge jungle of different ones you can get, It Is vital that you get the right one for you. The accelerator market can be very confusing, not only because of the range of models, but also due to the range of prices. The cheapest ones start at under £15 for a 68010 chip, and If you have the money it Is quit© possible to spend over £1.500. With this in mind. I shall attempt to untangle this and make that decision a little less of a headache. A 1 Do you really need one? - %J A Accelerator cards are for running high powered applications, such as DTP or ray tracing, much raster, ir you ]U5t use your machine for occasional word processing, games and perhaps some AMOS programming, it is unlikely that you need a fast accelerator card - your money would probably be better spent on a large hard disk or other hardware add-ons. Q rt Consider your needs - You %J £d can save a lot of money at this stage. If you do a lot of ray tracing and other processor intensive graphics work then you definitely need a good FPU {Floating Point Unit), either a 68882 or a 68881. If you are on a tight budget and are buying your accelerator to generally speed up your Workbench and programming environment, you probably don't need to worry about such gadgets as Memory Management Units, or possibly floating point co-processors, and it might be better to consider getting a faster, or better processor instead. O *i Hard diftk contro " ers " Quite 5/ O a few of the A1500/2000 accelerator cards come with built-in fast SCSI hard disk controllers. These are well worth considering if you do not already own a hard disk card - they will be considerably faster than ordinary plug in cards as they are specially optimised to work with the faster processor and faster 32-bit RAM. Q Fa 32-blt RAM - From the 5/^X68020 upwards, the processor is 32-bit. This means that it can access a whole 32-bits (4 bytes) of data in one go. All current Amigas except for the A3000 series have 16-bit RAM, which means that whatever the processor is. 68020 '030 and 040 included, they can only ever get 16 bits. 2 bytes in one go - half their potential performance. By spending a little more money on your accelerator card, you can get it with some 32-bit Fast RAM on board. If your programs are running in this 32-bit fast RAM they will run at the full potential of your processor. You really want 2Mb or more 32-bit RAM. preferably 4Mb. If you are not able to afford fast 32-bit RAM on the card, think about getting a card that has the facility for you to add some at a later date. Qf- MMUs and the %7 O 68030EC - Programmers and developers buying accelerator cards need to watch out for the 68030EC and 68040EC chips. The EC stands for 'Economy*: to save cost on the chip Motorola removed the MMU (Memory management unit.) The MMU is vital for Virtual Memory operating systems, such as Unix, in which part of your hard disk will act as an extension to your available RAM. The Amiga operating system does not currently support Virtual Memory, but if you intend to buy or use Amiga Unix, then you must avoid the EC chips. Likewise developers may find the MMU useful, as it is able to trap and report illegal memory accesses. Amiga developer programs, such as Enforcer, are invaluable for large Amiga applications development, because, if your program does something naughty, it reports it down the serial port so you can see what happened and where the fault was. Q /■* MHz-age and MIPS MFLOPS %J \J - There are two basic performance figures that will show you how fast an accelerator card is. These are MIPS and MFLOPS. MIPS stands for Millions of Instructions Per Second. For a normal 68000 chip this is less than 1. A 25Mhz 68040 could manage over 20 MIPS. which would make it as fast as 20 A600s. MFLOPS stands for Millions of Floating Point instructions Per Second. There are a number of things that affect both these figures. One is the MHz (MegaHertz). or clock speed, of the processor, the other is the availability and speed of 32-bit RAM. As a reference, a standard stock A600 runs at 7.14Mhz, and a stock A3000 at 25Mhz. To get the best from 68040 cards you really need fast 32-bit RAM (wth 60 or 40ns access time). You would be well advised to steer clear of slow 68020 cards, as for very little extra money you can get the 68030 chip which is far superior. Q m 68000/68010 options - %J I These are the cheapest of the accelerator card options. In the case of the 68010 upgrade, it simply involves buying a £15 68010. 8 or lOMhz version, from an electronic components supplier, removing your existing 68000 chip and replacing it with the 68010. It is a plug in and go option. You will notice a small increase of speed, of up to 20%. There are also several 68000 upgrades, whereby a small card fits The G-Force 040 Accelerator speeds up your machine, just as these accelerator tips accelerate your learning curve... in your existing 68000 socket and doubles the clock speed of the chip to around 14Mhz. These cards cost around £200. and their value is doubtful. If you are going to spend this amount of money it may be better to wait for a cheaper 68020 or 030 card. Q Q The 68020 - The 68020 was U O the first of Motorola's full 32- bit microprocessors. It is capable of reading a full 32-bits of data at a time if it has access to 32-bit RAM. The chips have an on-board cache, which enables the processor to work much faster on loops and other tight code by storing information in its own internal ultra-fast RAM. The 68020 is available in clock speeds from 16 to 33Mhz. (Although the 33Mhz version of the chip is brand new.) The 68020 does not ship with a MMU as standard: the Commodore card has a seperate MMU chip on the card, but if you want a 68020 with an MMU from another manufacturer, you will have to check. 99 The 68030 - The 68030 has the MMU built into the processor, although the EC version of the chip has omitted this. It is faster than the '020 chip, having had its instruction speeds sped up. A 68030 clocked at 25Mhz will run about one and a half times as fast as a 68020 at the same speed. Cache sizes on the 68030 are also larger than the 020. 68030 chips are available at speeds from 16 to 33Mhz. although 40 and 50Mhz versions of these chips are planned. A 25Mhz 68030 chip will manage around 8-12 MIPS and about 2-2.5 MaOPS. 1 /\ /\ The 68040 - Currently X \J \J this is the flagship of Motorola's processing chips. Technically it is nearly a RISC chip, as it is able to execute, on average, one instruction every 1.3 cycles. This means that a 25Mhz 68040 chip can Oft AMIGA SHOPPER • I55UE 10 • AUGU5T 1992 PROGRAMMING IN C 200 TOP TIPS run at about 21MIPS. This is twice as fast as a 25Mhz 68030. Another advantage of the 68040 is that the FPU is built in. This makes it even faster, as the FPU has been optimised to run at high speeds on the same piece of silicon as the 040 Chip. Unfortunately some of the more complex Floating point operations could not be fitted on. and have to be emulated in software. This is of little consequence, however, as the 68040 chip is so blindingly fast. Motorola also produce an EC version of this chip, without the twin MMUs. 68040 chips are current available at clock speeds from 25Mhz to 33Mhz. giving a maximum MIPS of around 29. Faster 40 and 50Mhz versions are planned. }m- i V-Vtt*i* t ; y nmth ■ • tATpnCnIob^l i «% t cur r ^.coi); ":j"*^u?hVfS^n! |, r l - |, - K ' v,; pi>: tfiii:; ■Ti;rM n ^■dniwiii mi (I*xt rolrv noO . rr*i5 IT The above Mandelbrot generator Is being edited In the LSE screen editor supplied with the excellent SAS/Lattice C development program may be a brilliant language but unlike languages like Pascal and Modula 2, It does little to guide or force the programmer into adopting good coding habits. All Is not lost however because the following tips should put some of those 'potential coding nasties' well and truly out of harm's way... m Parameter passing - One of C's greatest strengths is its parameter passing facilities. Design code units that make the most of this facility. When a lot of data is involved however parameter passing can add a significant overhead so the best idea then is to create structures which represent the parameters and then pass a single pointer to the parameter block. ■| /*\0 Brevity - Avoid highly J. Um compressed code styles like the plague. Despite the fact that C would allow this code fragment: if (key«ESCAPE) < ClosePilesO; DisplayMessage (CLOSING) ; WaitToQuit ( ) ; ) to be written along these lines... if(k==E){CF();DM(C);WTQ();} you'll gain absolutely nothing by doing so in the long run. The code will not run more quickly and trying to understand programs years after you've written them in this type of condensed form would be a nightmare. 1 f\ Q Re-useable code - Write X \/0 functions that are generally useful. Re-used code rapidly becomes bug-free code and of course using pieces of existing code in this way reduces the effort required to write your programs. "1 /\ fi Public domain compilers - X \J ^ Without detracting from some of the excellent work that people put into public domain software you should be aware that in using a public domain compiler you may not be able to place so much dependence on the compiler itself. Rightly or wrongly professional programmers tend, in the main, to assume that a program which compiles without error is syntactically correct. To suggest that they use a compiler where this might not be the case would be extremely disconcerting to them. Public domain software, especially something as large and as complex as a compiler, is unlikely to ever achieve the reliability and stability of a commercial product. If you are using a public domain compiler it is probably wisest to take extra care in this area so that you assume as little as possible about the errors the compiler can catch. *f /\ f* Re-useable modules - X \J%J Modularize and compile units that are generally useful. In the same way that individual functions are more useful when written in a general way so also are precompiled modules that have a well defined interface and this of course takes us into the world of the ADT (abstract data type). The philosophy underlying the ADT Is basically simple: by defining the important, le useful, properties of an abstract data structure, and defining which operations will be allowed, we can build an ADT description. When translated to real code this blueprint' becomes a data structure* building block which can be used to solve problems. By way of an example let's take a fairly simple ADT type, the queue. A queue is a set of objects logically arranged in First-ln-First-Out (FIFO) order. The type of operations which can be usefully associated with queue structures are well known... we need some means of initializing, adding items to, and retrieving items how intermediate macros calls have been used to enable me to work with any size of queue object using just CreateQueue(t), AddToQueue(s.x). RemoveFromQueuets.x). KillQueue(s) and QueueEmpty) ■define RemoveFromQueuets.x) RemoveFrocnQ(s, (UBYTE *)&(x)) ne KillQueue(s) KillQ(s) #define Queue£*npty(s) QBipty(s) * These are the prototypes for the underlying- queue access routines which do the real work */ QUEUE *CreateQ(UL0N3 unit_size) ; void KillQtQUEUE •descriptor^) ; BOOL AddToQ (QUEUE "descriptor^, UBYTE *data_iten\) ; BOOL RemoveFromQ (QUEUE *descriptor_p, UBYTE *data_item) ; BOOL QBrpty (QUEUE *descriptor_p) ; An ADT queue header that provides simple user-Interface functions from, the queue in the proper FIFO order. There's not the space to go into internal coding details but that's not particularly important anyway. What is important is that you should aim to create a programmer-friendly interface so that the module can be used without the programmer knowing how it is implemented. The header file given in Listing 1 shows a way which allows each new routine to be tested as it is written (the so called 'incremental testing' approach). Once you've got the program running then by all means make any improvements, or use any additional coding tricks, that you feel are necessary. 108 functions - Development of routines AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 16 • AUGUST 1992 20 200 TOP TIPS PROGRAMMING IN C/NAND SCANNING using Ihe 'nested function' approach is good in theory but in practice, when many nesting levels are used, the parameter passing overhead that can build up can be significant factor as far as execution speed is concerned. To get speed increases just eliminate the unessential internal calls whilst leaving the function's mam parameter interface intact. 1 |~|Q Assembler patches - X \J %J Remember that if you use assembler patches you can. with ANSI C get the compiler to check your usage of the patch by creating a suitable prototype. If, for example, you've got a piece of assembler code which represents a GetNextTextLine() function that expects to be given a pointer to a line of text and returns a pointer of the same type you can force the compiler to check your use of the assembler function using a prototype like this: TEXT *GetNextTextLine(TEXT J •cextlinej)); no Pointers - The use. or rather misuse, of pointers can cau5e programmers serious problems and because of this it's wise to adopt a convention of naming pointer variables using a _p suffix. This obviously doesn't stop potential misuse, but it is a useful reminder that a pointer variable is being dealt with. It therefore goes some way towards helping reduce the likelihood of inadvertant misuse. A fatal, and common, pointer slip involves non- initialization. The programmer declares and uses a pointer variable, but forgets to set it to a suitable initial value (or perhaps sets it to an incorrect value). With the Amiga many system structure pointers are used. When, for example, an Intuition Screen is opened the OpenScreenO system call returns a pointer to an Intuition Screen structure. This type of system call code: global_screen_p« (struct J Screen J * ) Open. Screen ( tNewScreen ) ; in most cases would function correctly, ie the OpenScreenO call would set the global_screen_p pointer variable to the appropriate Screen structure address. The trouble is that, although the code itself is correct, it's not possible to guarantee that this line of code will always work. Why? It is because the Amiga's system routine OpenScreenO may itself fail - if your Amiga is already using most of its RAM then OpenScreenO will not be able to allocate memory for a new Intuition Screen. The system tells you this by returning a NULL (zero) pointer rather than a valid Screen structure address. The result? If you did not check for a 'non-NULL pointer' value your program would crash the moment you made use of the global_screen_p variable. It is because of the possibility of system call failures that all Amiga system calls should be tested to see that they have been successful. sing a hand scanner to transfer Images to your Amiga con sometimes seem like a trial and error process. But follow these handy hints below and you'll find that you're getting superb scanning results every time. scan better than a black-and-white photograph of the same thing. 112 in Picture quality - Choose a suitable picture to scan. The quality of the scan will always depend on the quality of the original image. It's not true that black-and-white photographs produce better results than colour ones: what's important is the amount of contrast. A good quality, bright and colourful photograph taken in strong light will The right surface - Always scan on a flat surface. If the surface on which the image is printed is uneven, slippery, or too small for the scanning head to roll over it smoothly, place a sheet of clear plastic or acetate over the image before scanning. If you haven't got a clear sheet of plastic then buy one of those clear A4 paper sleeves that stationers sell, and slip the image inside it. 113 Lighting - Avoid scanning near a strong light source. Because the scanner works by shining its own light on the image and measuring the brightness of the light that is reflected, you must make sure that there are no bright lights shining on the image or the top of the scanning head. Changes in the ambient lighting level can also affect the scanner's performance. If you are scanning from a book with thin pages, there is a chance that light emitted by the scanning head will be absorbed by dark images on the reverse side of the page. When this happens, turn the brightness wheel up and scan again. adjust the brightness control with software that scans in real-time is to move the scanning head on to the darkest part of the image and roll the head backwards and forwards over this area while gradually decreasing the bnghtness until the dark area just appears black. Touch-Up users will have to wait between scans for the software to process the image, but the principle is the same. 114 Resolution - Scan at the maximum resolution possible. This will usually be 400 dots per inch (dpi), which will produce a large bitmap that can be scaled down to get the best possible resolution from your particular printer. Amiga bitmaps (IFF ILBMs) have a resolution of 75 dpi, no matter how 3 116 Moving the head - Move the scanner head at a constant speed. Always remember that a single, slow and smooth pass of the head over the image is better than a series of small jerky ones. As the head passes over the image it is taking in an awful lot of information and passing it on to the computer. If you drag it too quickly it won't be able too keep up with you and the resulting scan will either be Oth>r If the image is too wide to scan upright software to rotate it by 90 degrees large or small the picture is. Scaling not only changes the printed size of the picture, it changes the output resolution. Note that we are talking about output scaling here, not scaling or resizing a brush in an art package. Halving the output size of the picture increases the resolution by a factor of two, to 150 dpi - the image still contains the same number of dots, but they are being printed half the size. Reduce the picture to 25 per cent of its original size and the resolution soars to 300 dpi. This is handy if you have a 300 dpi printer, such as a laser or inkjet. but not if you have a 24-pin dot-matrix or bubble jet printer, which have output resolutions of 360 dpi. To cut a long story short. 360 dpi printers get the best results when images are scaled down to 20.8 per cent. 1 -1 £? Brightness - For your first 1 ID practice scan, set the brightness wheel to the lightest setting possible. The best way to scan it sideways and then use the corrupted, have bits missing, or appear 'squashed' on-screen. 117 Pressure - Don't apply too much downwards pressure on the head. The height at which the scan head rolls over the paper has an effect on the image brightness. Pushing the head down on to the paper excludes ambient light from getting in underneath the scanning head, adding to the illumination of the picture, and consequently the amount of light reflected from It. Result? It makes it darker. So if you press downwards too hard you will muck up the brightness setting that you carefully adjusted. 11 ft Dra 6g |n 8 - Drag the head A O in a straight line. Use a straight edge to drag the edge of the scanning head against, like the spine of a thick and heavy book - a telephone directory is ideal. The book needs to be heavy so that it doesn't slip if you accidentally push the scanner against it too heavily. 30 AMIOA SHOPPER • ISSUE 16 • AUGUST 1QOQ HAND SCANNING/DESKTOP VIDEO 200 TOP TIPS Leaning on the book with your elbow gives it extra stability. 11 Q Keeping it straight - If you J. *J find that the head is still not scanning in o straight line then it probably means you are pressing down too hard. There are two solutions, either ease up on the pressure you are applying or get another heavy booh and place Its spine on the other side of the head, parallel to the first book. This makes a gully along which you can pull the scanner without any chance that the head will wander. 120 Problems of width - If a picture is too wide to scan but not very high, scan it sideways and then rotate the IFF by 90 degrees. This is illustrated in the screen grab on page 30. Only the Datel Handiscan software is not capable of rotating scans in this way. If the picture is too high to use this trick, then try scanning the image in two parallel strips and then joining them together. Scanning two parallel strips is quite difficult but not impossible. Use the spine of a heavy book or even a ruler to guide the scanning head. Try to apply the same amount of downward pressure on the head for both scans and ensure that the ambient lighting level remains the same. esktop Video can have a variety of meanings, including using your computer to produce and display graphics and animations, digitising, video titling, multimedia presentation and video production, either on or off the desktop. For me, there are three main ingredients which contribute to DTV success. These are hardware, software and application, which, when mixed together in the right proportions, make for good productions. m Quality - Whatever your DTV production, quality should always come first. This doesn't mean buying broadcast equipment - it means using what you have to the best of its ability. But if you are recording to VCR it does mean using the highest quality video tape you can afford, since skimping here will invariably let down even top quality computer output. \ f)f) Planning - Think about \.£i £i your projects. Prepare alternative strategies. Brainstorm. Doodle. Fool around with your paint program or titling software. Work up a storyboard. Determine what you can do with the equipment available and that what you require can actually be achieved. You may need to decide how to put an animation together from various component parts - some pictures here, some 3D work there, and some words from somewhere else. You will often have to find a work-around to achieve what you want and familiarity with production techniques and equipment will pay dividends here. 1 C\ Q Experiment - Don't be JL £i O afraid to experiment. If you have a few spare minutes and you're tempted to get blasting with your favourite shoot 'em up. try out a few ideas with Deluxe Paint instead. It can be just as much fun working up an idea successfully, knowing that at the same time you are adding to your repertoire and knowledge. The more strings you have to your bow the more ideas and techniques you can contribute to a production. 1 O Fi Software ■ Learn tne fu " ImT capabilities of your software. And be prepared to buy what you need to do the job. If you need high quality titling there's no point in using a lores PD program. If you want animation you'll need a program which does what you want. We all have our favourites - I personally like Deluxe Paint, Scala and Broadcast Titler 2 for good quality video work, but if your needs are lesser there is plenty good software now available. m Colours - If you plan to work on video, colours can be crucial. The lower the standard of video format you are working on. the worse the colours may be affected. Watch out for deeply saturated colours, especially deep blues and reds, as they tend to look very smeary, particularly when transferred to VHS. Try to record your graphics direct to the master video tape to avoid the extra "generations" caused by editing. Don't forget that there is a marked difference in quality between crisp RGB and any composite video signal. 1 9 fi Good s rabbln s ■ lf vou J- mi vl plan to grab images from a video camera it's best to mount it on a tripod or copy stand to avoid camera shake. Have plenty of diffuse lighting to illuminate your subject evenly - fluorescents are good for this. Avoid hot spots, as these will tend to "burn-out" the digitised image. If you have a black and white camera you will need to use the colour filters provided with your digitiser to capture colour images. If you are using a colour camera or VCR you'll need an electronic colour splitter to separate the video signal into the red. green and blue components required by the digitiser. The VCR must also have a rock-solid freeze frame or you'll find that the grab is all shook up and looks rather nasty. Digitise in the highest resolution you can, as you can always convert images down the scale, but they won't look good if you need to convert then up. 1 n^y Presentation - In the early A £d I days of the Amiga. DTV was confined to simple slide shows of IFF images. Now it's possible to put sound and vision together and play some very complex sequences back, thanks to programs like Scala, them on self-running disks for distribution. 1 O Q The big picture - When A m O working for video applications it's very important to use an overscan screen format for your graphics. Most good software has overscan support these days, though there seems to be no agreement as to what the overall dimensions should be. Why overscan? Well, if you output a standard Amiga screen to video you'll notice that it doesn't fill the full TV screen. Overscan screens are significantly larger than this standard size, and therefore cover the entire monitor area. A typical example would be an overscan size of 704 x 566, while the normal screen size would be 640 x 512. 1 QQ Fine words - If you are M-£i%J doing video titling you'll need some typefaces. Many programs come with a reasonable selection to get you started, and you can use the ones that came with your Amiga, but inevitably you will need more. There are many sources of commercial fonts, and a lot of PD ones. Choose large typefaces wherever possible, as they can be shrunk down for more flexibility and they will look better in hi-res modes. Better still, go for Color fonts or anti- e i i i i i i i i i l i i i i i i i i i i v The dark area represen a standard Amiga screen, The dashed line is the edge of a TV screen. The light area is an over- scan image. It reaches past the TV boundary. Screen size is a very important thing to bear in mind when getting into desktop video - see tip 128 AmigaVision and Tne Director, amongst others. Whole productions can be generated from your Amiga, with the control being handed over to software, and with their built-in transitions such programs can save the cost of putting everything together in a video studio, for all you need now is enough memory and storage space to hold all the components of your presentation. Then you can lay them straight to video-tape or you could even provide aliased fonts. These will impart added slickness to your titles. Or, if you don't need too many letters on screen, design your own titles screens with your favourite paint software. 1 Q A Watch TV - Television is a X O vl free source of DTV knowledge in your own home. Watch business, news and sports programmes, current affairs, wildlife and Saturday mommg kids shows. In AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 16 • AUGUST 1993 31 200 TOP TIPS DESKTOP VIDEO/MUSK COMPOSITION fact, watch everything you'd normally watch, but be more aware of how the professional directors on TV do things. You'll be able to pick up quite a few ideas this way and adapt these to your own taste. TV doesn't have all the answers but it can teach you plenty about presentation techniques. Watch the way they use colour and layout, what kinds of text work well, and what kinds of backgrounds are used. Notice how information is usually presented cleanly and simply, and is easy to quickly digest. Borrow from TV, use ideas you like. You may not get the quality the BBC gets, but you'll be on the right track. omposition he great thing about using your Amiga to create music is that the whole job becomes significantly easier and almost everyone can achieve good results from the moment they start. Here are some goodies to help all you budding rock-stars out there to get the most from your musical endeavours. m Section It off - Create song sections that are meaningful rather than incorporate everything into a large single sequence. Plan your songs using beginnings, ends, verses, choruses, 132 Some of SuperJAWs internal sound editing facilities and so on and label sequences so that their purpose is obvious. If, for instance, you have a song that has a number of different verse sequence variations then call them versel. verse2 and verse3 and so on. Most sequencers allow songs to be created in this way and being able to build the final song by linking the various sections together makes it very easy to alter arrangements. Re useable libraries - Build libraries of your favourite riffs, drum parts or even control sequences, in a form which allows re-use with the minimum of effort. In fact whenever something is created which you think is likely to be of use in the future... isolate the track/tracks of interest and save them separately from the main composition. You can even store single bars of completed songs of various styles containing bass, drums, keyboard data and anything else other than the main melody line. If you collect fragments based on common chord types (major, minor, 7ths, diminished and so on) then you'll be able to piece together backing tracks very easily indeed; read n the appropriate style library's chord bar, protect the drum part from transposition, and then transpose that bar to give the required chord. Clone as many of those bars as needed. then read in the next library fragment and repeat the process ad infinitum. Lazy? Never, after all... you still have to do the transposition and copying operations yourself! 133 MIDI channels - Standardise the use of your MIDI channels so that you get used to seeing particular instruments on particular channels (eg channel 1 for drums. 2 for bass. 3-6 for other synth modules and so on). This type of consistency has a number of benefits: firstly, it makes it easy to recognize sequence data, and this leads to fewer silly mistakes when editing. Secondly, it eliminates the need to physically alter the receive/transmit channels of the equipment itself when working with your own, previously arranged, material - this again makes life easier. 134 Voice doubling - Sequencer users can do and used as the basis of your own compositions (again using either midi or internal IFF sounds). 1 Q7 Tricky ideas - When you lO f are stuck for ideas or your songs are beginning to sound monotonous use a few standard tricks to add some variation. Having created a reasonable melody or chord progression in one part of the song try things like reversing the theme, mirror imaging the first part of it, or adding a third harmony to the melody line - these types of alterations will all f » Virus Blocker built-in (switchable) Anti-dick & FSt included £125 li ard u r bo Features 100-400 DPI scanning resolutions *■ 64 Grey.scales Thnj'port for printer *65 Viruses, disk swapping, clicking drives, disks which I ■ won't back up. Is there no end to the whingeing <>l the Amiga user? Memory Board for A500/A600. \: 7 Software Full screen image editor Interlace mode on/off Edit true greyscale ik colour images Fully multi-tasking -^ Editing Cut rectangle, cut bfiSOO, crop, flip, rotate, Kale, j drawjines, circles. boxes , elipses. tree-hand, - x \ zoom mode ~ Scanning N* I Oique True feel' real time scan mode - know At Power we want to tell you )ust where vou can stick your disks and worries. In fact we'll you The slot in this picture belongs to our PC880B. the first intelligent disk drive Insert a disk Past uS(MK) processor already installed on Ixiard NOw you can back up at lightning speeds using Fu!!y .„„» .configuring, DMA compatible fast RAM the inbuilt Blitz Amiga hardware*, with free Si A- J^ Expand up to 8MB (Ok installed) ^ , Memorj 8 uHOOO CPU can run with doubled clock "raieol M 28MHz ware, (even if the disk is atari or PC) and if your computet has a virus the PC8K0H will stop it being written to the bootblock of any ol you drives, though you CM still live files as normal When vou do not warn these features, switch them ^\ instantly il you are scanning the image too quickly ^^ oil' and the PC880H wi! sit quietly, without dick- : Automatic selection of 100-400 I > PI ■ 0i Produce true greyscale images V ing, pretending to be simply an extra drive lC A c t u a I Amiga Sere c n Shots Amiga can only display 16 grayscales e PC880B, the onh drive 10 introduce BlltZ Amiga the Power aim click de\ u e and to combat ^Jj viruses, is only available direct from Power, priced at nisi Jb65 Optical S12K shadow RAM on extra memory bank for shadi '\\ ing the operating system out of ROM < >i from disk £169 Kickstart ROM switch The Power Kickstan ROM switch fits into any A500 or A 500+ and can be lilted with up to 3 Kickstan ^\ ROM s. It can be enabled when switching on the li Amiga, giving all the benefits of the new versions c Kickstan and the use of old games and software £17.95 £59-95 is o Kickstan ROM Switch (Bare) Kickstan ROM Switch with 2XM od e m s .(V.R EYSCAL AT E in< \ \l" C O I- O I' R oupra C n Supra i ax Modem Plus We have noticed how pricey unintelligent drives l-^ Supra Fax Modem v32 BIS jj are Perhaps, u's your turn to tell people where to LijC Supra Modem 2400 (External) >* slick it. )^ supra Modem 2400 Plus (EHemal) 'supra Modem 2»O0 ZIplus (Internal) 1 Same Address i k jt r ' ' thr likr u Oct hifrfi drn*V n lui> IIKKMU vu Duma Di BuanHMBgi WI HUFMttMU PtmcT i 'imputing \r*i*t \** I Wll PiU A f / .\o Xj r>" m** ^%r Make cheque- psj able I wer ComputinK Ud hill in yuur older form and send it GO Power Computing Ud I nil x Raifton Road Wobum Road industrial Estate kempston Bedford MK427PN Ring your credit card order on 02 *> t JH3388 or lax on 023* 0402*4 All prtrt^ in* luiic VAT. ik a li\m am! ate wtrf taflgl Sjxn tficiiKim .»"* Mibjetl 10 1 binge without notice Natl dny ddMfy 44.90 K numLind only; AlIlMLkiiurks Jikih>wk\lgtxl Pdwtt * ompuiinit I J \ liu I'A 19106 P 200 TOP TIPS MUSIC COMPOSITION/WORD PROCESSING continued from page 132 1 QQ Sysex messages - Avoid X O U the use of embedded cysex messages in your song sequences because in the main they'll make the data difficult to port (having said that, a few generally recognised sysex messages do exist). When you get to the stage where you have hundreds of arrangements, then the last thing you'll want is to have to edit all of them just because you've changed one or more pieces of your MIDI equipment. The best idea is to start as you mean to go on and, if you are intent on making regular use of sysex facilities, isolate the sysex data into a separate 'control sequence' so that, if the occasion arises, it is at least easy to replace or eliminate. 1 ijA Cheat the beat - There is X T 1 " a lot of non-copyright MIDI/music material around in the public domain and very good some of it is too. Similarly lots of synths, sequencers, and drum machines come with any number of pre- programmed demo tunes or drum patterns. Providing you do not steal something clearly marked as copyright there's nothing to stop you borrowing ideas from the examples you hear. Either write it out as a MIDI file or. if it is an external unit like a drum machine then just link it to your sequencer and record the output. Remember though that you will need to maintain proper bar divisions so it'll be necessary to set the external unit up so that it generates MIDI clocks and set the sequencer to 'external sync' so that it uses the externally generated clock data rather than its own internal clock. word processor Is probably one of the most sought after Amiga ap- plications. Just about everyone has a need to write. It may be nothing more than personal notes, or letters to the bank manager. But It may be you have ambitions as a professional writer. or that you have to compile attractive-looking business reports. The costs and facilities of word processors vary considerably. It's therefore important to have a clear idea of your needs, and of what the various packages supply, before parting with your cash. Here's ten pointers to bear In mind: 1 Fi 1 Gra P n,cs " Not a " word ItI processors support graphiGOi and of those that do, some offer better facilities than others. Before investing in a word processor with graphics facilities, decide whether you really need them. Remember that the primary purpose of a word processor is to help you write. If graphics are important to your work, you may be better off with desktop publishing, which will give you far better control over graphical output. on. If your printer is fairly basic, with only one or two fonts, then control codes aren't that important, but if it has lots of fonts built-in for you to play with, then you'll want a word processor which enables you to send control codes to it to make use of i' and 'w' in this text. The standard Amiga font is not proportional - all letters take up the same space on the screen. Some word processors will enable you to use proportional fonts on-screen, and send these to your printer. However, these tend to be slower - updating a screen containing a proportional font is a much more complex process than one with an ordinary bitmapped font. Whether you need this facility depends on how professional you want your output to look. Again, if the quality of your documents is really important, it might be an idea to look at a system comprising of a basic word processor and a DTP package. None of the word processors currently available will support a printer's built-in proportional fonts. \ Fi Fi Number °' documents - If X ^Tc you're doing nothing more than writing letters, you're unlikely to need more than one document open at a time. If. however, you are involved in creative writing, the facility to cut text from one document and paste into another can be invaluable. Just about every word processor will enable you to have more than one document open at once, but different packages set different limits on how many can be open. Available memory will often be a limiting factor. Bear in mind that programs which make use of colour and graphics in documents will use much more memory for each opened document as well as running progressively more slowly. Being able Hwdworth vl.|B13 1991 Digit* International Ok V«5 PM i -*■ 1 If m* limb if artearaftces as a frMlitr, cm u«kt s*j tkat ranters scare! fir icssaccs duck eras tke f recti er: icssaecs *Vich com f ro. tke i*k of Ike risikle. M this, net ketatse all paiitefl arc Platmsts, bet because the* leek Si kartV TWhccwI tfcis wj eariei 1 beck, ad especially nken unlm* m art, ick lereer ictites is li acknwleeje Ike absolutes *A universal* duck, ke iisists lie bekine 1 tke surfaces if tkincs. He coesn'l have a treat deal U say aboat these aksilvl.es, M asks is U be content lilh tens like tke essential, Ike invisible, Ike sacred er tke real, as if tke Hire's tkecselves, floating free of m diseertikle uWw or Mtatkjsics, can aisier tke ecestims Ike? raise kj tke sinrle ureency ritk nkicb tkci re lUerct 1 . f cr te tkei cat'L: mnj vet I fwmi mself IwrrmM tkroek tkese essavs, eatue tkee. et, as iM reall) WhetM 1 Lkei well 1 feci 1 tke keaeer tkci create! 1 . 1 Wordworth Is one of the most popular and professional Amiga word processors, but Is It really what you require? Perhaps you need DTP? a m 142 Control codes - These are ayout instructions which are sent to the printer. They do things such as change fonts, sizes, switches from bold to italic and so them. If you need to send control codes, be sure that the package you have in mind supports them - most don't. I Fi Q Proportional fonts - These ItO consist of letters which are of different widths, such as the to type faster than a word processor can display is a real irritation. 1 A f* Spelling checker - All but X ^T O the cheapest word processors come with spelling checkers. A spelling checker is a pretty useful utility, but it should never be relied upon one hundred per cent to correct your text. Also, don't forget that word processors from American manufacturers will have American dictionaries, in which many words will be spelt 'incorrectly'. Some of the better word processors have several dictionaries against which they can check your work. With these programs, text will be checked against a dictionary of commonly used words before a larger (and therefore slower) dictionary is consulted. This is useful if you have large documents to check. Another thing to look out for is the facility to create more than one user dictionary {in which you can enter your own words, unrecognised by the computer's dictionary). Having more than one user dictionary means you can store sets of esoteric words relating to different subjects. If you intend to create large documents, another good facility is the ability of the spelling checker to go through the whole document before querying any words. That way. you don't have to wait for requester after requester to appear as the checker churns through your text and all the instances of the same word mis-spelled several times throughout the text will be corrected with only one entry from the user. 1 Fa £• Thesaurus - Not many J. T"0 packages include a thesaurus, but then again not many people need one. Computer thesauruses tend to be pale shadows of their bookish counterparts. Don't let the inclusion of a thesaurus in a package sway you overmuch in its favour. \ Fa^ Columns - Some lTl packages enable you to format your text in several columns across the page, which can be handy for producing newsletters and the like. However, if you intend to make a great deal of use of this facility, and you require a good deal of flexibility in the formatting of your text, again you might be better advised to look at a DTP package. The multi-column facilities of word processors are OK, but basic. One thing to look out for is the ability to insert column breaks in your text, giving you greater freedom in deciding which text goes where. 1 Fi ft Content$ • Tne ability oi a l^O word processor to form a list of contents or an index based on user-selected words can be a boon when producing a report or technical documentation. 1 f Q Headers and footers - X ^ 2/ These are short sections of text that get printed at the top and ^M AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 16 • AUGUST 1992 WORD PR0CESS0RS/3D MODELLING 200 TOP TIPS bottom of every page. They are useful for just about anything beyond simple letters. Look out for the facility to use different headers and footers for left and right-handed pages. 1 p* f\ Mail merge - This Is the X Jl/ ability of a word processor to take name and address information from a database and place it in a document. This is handy if you intend to use your word processor for business and will be writing a lot of standard letters (those in which the main text is the same tor each recipient). Look out for the facility to choose names and addresses from the database according to user-specified sort criteria (only sending letters to people tn London, for instance). D programs have been appearing for the Amiga since it was first launched. One early offering, Vldeoscape, has since evolved into Lightwave, the powerful software which is the heart of the Video Toaster's 3D system. Other programs, such as Imagine and Real3D, have also been developed extensively over the years, though some, particularly Sculpt 3D, have almost faded away. As Amlgas become ever more powerful, 3D software continues to push at the boundaries of reality. But whatever the power, 3D requires sustained Input from the user. Here are ten tips to help you towards virtual reality. 1 C "1 Speed and time - 3D work X %J X is very time and memory intensive. Some serious software now requires at least 1Mb of Chip and 2Mb of Fast RAM just to get started. I'd advise you to add as much RAM as you can - you'll need it. Also add a largish hard disk, because you'll need somewhere to keep your 3D objects and textures, as well as your renderings. And. especially, add an accelerator, the faster the better. Otherwise you'll quickly become frustrated with the snail's pace that your Amiga seems to work at. Of course, while none of these items are obligatory, any serious 3D work, particularly in 24-bit, will really benefit from any or all of the above. A tape streamer might also come in handy for those large sequences of images which will ultimately be transferred to video-tape. ^ 5 i\ Is ray tracing necessary? 1i)m- The answer is often no. Annougn many images do look prettier when raytraced, it can be a waste of precious rendering time and the final product may benefit only marginally over a non raytrace rendered image. Weigh up the benefits of including shadows, refraction and true reflections. Use reflection mapping instead if your software allows, as a simple two or four colour reflection map can make a major difference. 1 ff Q Keep cool - 3D modelling luO and animation requires high levels of concentration and patience. And even then the failure rate can be high. Conceptualising a 3D solid and translating it into a wireframe representation in a 3D modeller can require some bold leaps of imagination. Be prepared for a long learning curve. Patience, practice and regular saves will help keep you out of the 3D straight jacket. "1 E* JJ Sleep on It - Don't waste X t_l ^ precious computing time rendering frames. Let your Amiga do the hard work while you take a well- earned rest. Even with multitasking. 3D rendering can be very time consuming, with frames often taking many hours to complete on non- accelerated machines. So while you dream about reality, let your computer handle your virtual dreams and have them ready for you in the morning. 1 Pp Get converted - Instead lOiJof building your object from scratch it is often simpler to take a 2D image and convert it to 3D with a program like Pixel 3D or Race Trace. Some recent 3D software, such as Imagine, have built-in 2D converters, though they can be a little flaky. It's amazing how much time and trouble you can save by digitising or painting a company logo and converting it for that flying logo extravaganza. Don't forget that it's also possible to use a file format converter to transmute an object from one particular format to another. Two programs spring to mind for this - Interchange and, once again, Pixel 3D. You'll wonder why you wasted all that time before. "I £*/* Tape or disk? - How you X «J \J output your work depends on your needs. In most cases the choice will be between video-tape or computer disk. The best quality will obviously be obtained by saving all images and animations on disk and playing them back on an RGB monitor. But for many purposes this is either impractical or downright impossible and video is usually the preferred method, with animations either being played back directly to tape via a quality RGB encoder or genlock or by single frames being recorded consecutively to an accurate, time-code equipped VCR. The frames will usually be of 24-bit quality and the VCR will be a professional model. 1M How many bits? - 24-bit X «J f devices undoubtedly provide the best-looking output, but they are expensive, with the up is. or where your current position is in relation to 0.0,0, then you are quickly lost! Understanding of the notional 3-dimensional space within the software is a must. If you aren't sure about something, pencil and graph paper. Lego bricks, or whatever you need to bring you back to the real world can be a big help. Setting a notional scale for the world is also extremely helpful. As 3D software space has no absolute dimensions you should impose your own measurements. Think in metric, or feet and inches, but stick to one system and you'll have a better sense of scale. "I J? Q Lighting -In most cases X «_J *J at least two light sources are desirable to get a good image. Use a mixture of ambient (environmental) and lamp source lighting. This will at least give you a crude representation of lighting in the real world. In other cases multiple lights are needed. When you light a scene, think about how tight might enter in reality. One light source is often the brightest (the Key light) and the Tactical tips for taking your 3D modelling into another dimension. As you can see from this picture, some superb effects can be achieved cheapest costing around £600 and offering little other than video output. While 16. 32 or HAM colour formats all have their place, they aren't always acceptable for quality 3D applications. Some programs produce animations in proprietary formats for playback directly to tape or monitor, though the size of these is limited by onboard RAM. Another option is to use DCTV. which can play animations back in high-quality DCTV format. Whilst there is a trade- off in quality against 24-bit. DCTV anims are pretty space-efficient and provide a way of getting close to 24- bit motion playback. "I G Q The world - Understanding X O O the 3D world is paramount. If you don't know where others fill the scene with dimmer light. Less ambient light will give a moodier feel to your image. 1 £*f\ Pebble dashing -Often it X \j\J really isn't necessary (or practical) to go to extremes in modelling all the minute details of an object. If your software supports surface mapping you should make use of it as it is a very useful feature. For example, you want to build a row of houses for the background of an animation. By using surface mapping to apply a 2D IFF image of a house front to one side of a simple cubic shape you not only avoid some extremely time- consuming and difficult modelling, but also reduce memory usage dramatically. AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 16 • AUGUST 1992 35 200 TOP TIPS PRINTERS Judging by the vast numbers of printer queries which appear again and again In our Amiga Answers mail bag. printers pose a few problems to many of you. That's why we've devoted a massive 20 per cent of out tips to printers... 1 /J 1 Plugging it In - Never. lUl ever, plug a printer cable into the printer or the Amiga while the printer or the Amiga is switched on. Some tech-heads will tell you mere is no problem with doing this. that there is no power travelling along the parallel cable so no damage can be caused, but this not always the case (see tip 162). If you are using a serial printer this tip is especially important because there almost certainly will be power travelling along the serial cable. •| /JO Parallel port - The Amiga's A Om parallel printer port is not completely standard, it sends power along a couple of lines that standard parallel ports don't use. This is so that peripherals can take their power from the parallel port rather than a separate power supply. DigiView does this, and so do all Amiga sound samplers. A standard (IBM PC) parallel printer cable does not have these lines connected, and this is the type of lead you need to connect your printer to the Amiga's parallel port. There will be no need to alter such a cable in any way, it will work 'straight out of the box'. But avoid leads that are made out of ribbon cable, it is likely that all the lines in such a cable will be connected, and you will end up frying the printer, the Amiga. or both. "I /JO Serial port - Connecting a A QO serial printer to the Amiga's serial port is a black art. While the Amiga end (obviously) remains the same, the connections at the other end will be of the printer manufacturer's invention. You will need a special lead; you certainly won't be able to walk into a shop iind fl- 'or :i r-orinl lond to ronniTt my Amiga to such-and-such a printer'*. A lead will have to be made up specially, and for this you will need details of the printer's serial port. These details should be in the printer manual, and you'll need to give this and your Amiga manual to somebody who knows what they are doing. If the serial lead is wired wrongly, you will at the very least (and instantly) blow up your Amiga's serial port. 164 Bargains - Resist every temptation to buy an old Amiga. Don't accept printed output from under the counter as proof that it works, you want to see it working for yourself. If the retailer's response to any of these questions sounds at all nervous, assume that the printer will not work properly with the Amiga because there isn't a specific printer driver for it. Repeat this process with as many retailers as it takes until you find one that knows what it is talking about. *| /? f! Claiming your rights - A U\J When buying a new printer, make the retailer write "For text and graphics use with the Amiga" on the receipt. When you find out it doesn't work Don't settle for anything less than print perfection - test out our tips and see your printing improve In leaps and bounds, whatever your printer printer at a knock-down price at an auction or car boot sale unless you know for certain that there is an Amiga printer driver for it. You will need to know what popular printer the knock-down printer emulates in order to find a driver. If you're lucky these details will be in the manual under the 'specifications' section, otherwise you'll need to phone the m^m^mmm^m manufacturer and ask. Then comes the frustrating task of finding a driver that works with that emulation. If you buy an old, manual-less serial printer at an auction you have almost certainly thrown money down the drain. "Resist every temptation to buy an old printer at a knockdown price at a car boot sale." properly you can return it and ask for your money back because the printer does not do the job you bought it for, as written down by the retailer on your receipt. This is your statutory right as a consumer. ■| /J Py Profusion of Ps - If you A O f are getting Ps or other weird characters ^^mmm^^mm printed at the top of the first page of every printout, check that you have a current version of 'printer.device' in the DEVS directory of the disk you booted from. Open a CLI or Shell to full screen size and enter the command line: 1 /*£* Compatibility - When lOO buying a new printer, ask the retailer if that model of printer will work 100 per cent perfectly with the Amiga. Ask which of the supplied Workbench Preferences printer drivers you should use. And then ask to see the printer working in both text and graphics mode with the TYPE DEVS: PRINTER. DEVICE HEX Press the spacebar once to halt the listing before it scrolls out of the window. About half way down the page, on the right-hand side, you'll see a version number, followed by a date. Your version should be at least 35 point something, and dated 1988 or later. The version of printer.device distributed with Workbench 2.04 is V35.603; the version distributed with Workbench 1.3.2 is V35.563; with Workbench 1.3 it was V35.562. All these versions should work OK. The version of printer.device distributed with Workbench 1.2 was V33 (Revision 132). and is the one that is causing some programs to print out strange characters at the top of pages when used with Workbench 1.3 or later. 1 £J Q Epson emulation - If you A O O are getting strange results from an Epson compatible printer and an Epson compatible printer driver that are supposed to work together perfectly, check the printer manual to see if the printer has an IBM emulation as well as an Epson emulation. If it does, check the printer's dip switches to make sure they are set for Epson emulation. This may sound like an obvious tip. but printers that the manufacturer is aiming at the "professional" tie PC) market almost always come set-up for IBM emulation. "1 f*(\ Ribbon Ink - Never use A O %J Qumk or stamp pad ink (or anything else like that) to re-ink a monochrome printer ribbon. And for heaven's sake don't let anybody convince you that it is OK to use WD40 or any other type of 'duck' oil. Proper ribbon ink contains a special type of lubricant that not only helps the pins in the head move in and out. but also transports the large amounts of heat generated by the pins away from the printer head. If the pins get too hot they become brittle or soft and are liable to snap or bend a little bit and get stuck. The classic symptoms of this are very noticeable horizontal white lines on graphics dumps, and bits of letters going missing in text printouts. There is proper stuff available, called Re-inK. that will re-ink between 20 and 100 ribbons, depending on the size of your ribbon. It costs about £12 per "future friendly* spray can. For more details call the Re-inK help line on 0202 666155. 1 7n Refl " ktts " lnk,et printer Jl I \J owners can save money by buying re-fill kits instead of new cartridges. There are various companies selling these kits, Systems Insight (0707 276913) for example, which cost about £20 and normally include a syringe and enough ink for about five re-fills. Colours are also available. m Technical line - If you are having bad problems with your printer, it is always worth calling the manufacturer's technical help line. These lines tend to be quite busy, so you may have to call quite a 36 AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 16 • AUGUST 1992 PRINTERS 200 TOP TIPS few times, or hang on the line for a while, until you can get to talk to somebody. In my experience I have found the following companies to be especially helpful, and most of them know quite a bit about the Amiga and Amiga applications: Star (« 0494 471111). Citizen (« 0895 272621). Canon (• 081 773 3173). Brother (• 061 330 6531). and Facit (w 0634 868000). 170 Being nlce - Strictly 1 Im speaking, pnnter manufacturer technical help lines are for the use of printer dealers and distributors, not for customers, but if you eaten tnem on a good day ana you throw a few compliments around. you'll be surprised how helpful they can be. If you steam in with the -it's your legal responsibility" approach. or explain to them that "this phone call is costing me a fortune", expect to rw» politely requested to take your problem to the dealer from which you bought the printer. 1 ^Q Deksjet owners - DeskJet 1 I O 500C owners will be pleased to hear that the latest version of TurboPrint Professional comes with a DeskJet 500C driver. If you've already bought TurboPrint Professional and want an update you will need to contact IrseeSoft direct. The address is on the back of the manual. If you own a DeskJet 500C and are considering buying TurboPrint Professional, do ask the retailer, before you buy. if this is the version that comes with the DeskJet 500C driver. 1 ^ A PostScript support - If J. • TT you are considering buying a laser printer, think long and hard about whether to buy one that supports PostScript. While the cost of the printer will be slightly more, there are enormous advantages to using PostScript over LaserJet emulation, not the least of which is the fact that there are no proper LaserJet II or III Amiga printer drivers yet. *| PJ P* PostScript software - lit) Before buying a PostScript printer keep in mind that the software you are using must also support PostScript, and that if you want to use the printer to create A4 desktop published pages then 2Mb of printer memory is a realistic minimum. If your A4 pages use lots of downloaded fonts (as opposed to the 35-ish fonts that will be built into the printer), then you will need more pnnter memory. Also, make sure that the Implementation of PostScript inside the printer is a modern version and 100 per cent Adobe standard, some aren't. "1 *7 /? Colour separations - If 1 I U you are outputting PostScript colour separations, remember that the screen frequencies (lines per inch) and dot angles are extremely important. Professional Page users should note that the default values supplied in the Output PostScript requester are not "suggested" or "tried and tested" values, they are simply arbitrary numbers. Screen frequencies and dot rotation angles must be discussed with the bureau which is doing the films for you. otherwise you'll end up paying for wasted films and time on the imagesetter. If the bureau doesn't understand what you are talking about or says or implies that "it doesn't matter", go to another bureau toot-sweet. 177 Page width - The PostScript page width is very important. If you specify a width of PostScript page wider than that which the bureau's imagesetter can handle, most imagesetters will happily accept the input... trundle, trundle, trundle... but will output nothing. However you will still have to pay for the time on the imagesetter because it was your mistake. The maximum width of film imagesetters can take differs depending on the model of ^^m^m—m imagesetter being used. You must ask the bureau what width of PostScript page you should use. Remember that if you want cropping and registration marks, these marks will be printed in the area between the edge of the physical page and the edge of the PostScript page. "Cafcfi them on a good day, and you'll be surprised how helpful manufacturers can be." and plate - and that's as well as the four plates for the cyan, magenta, yellow and black separations. Don't assume that the bureau knows or understands about the Pantone colour system. Ask beforehand or you'll end up having an argument about whose fault the 'mistake' was. And unless you ^MM^Hhave deep pockets. ask about the cost of using Pantone colours before the bill gives you a heart attack. 179 178 Pantone colours - Professional Page users should note that each Pantone colour used requires a separate film This is a list of popular current printers for which there are known printer drivers that work perfectly and take full advantage of the printers' facilities, in cases where the software that is doing the printing allows. It Is certainly not a complete list, but we get more letters about these models of printers than any others. None of the drivers in this list come with Workbench. Citizen Print Manager is available from Citizen (w 0895 272621). all the others are on various Jamdisks, available from JAM on « 0895 274449. Note that at the time of writing there are no proper Amiga printer drivers for the Hewlett-Packard DeskJet Plus. DeskJet 500, DeskJet 500C, LaserJet Plus, LaserJet II. LaserJet IIP. LaserJet ill and LaserJet HIP. If this fact annoys you. phone Hewlett-Packard (« 0344 360000) and give its technical boffins an ear-bashing, then phone Commodore (» 0628 770088) and give the people there an ear-bashing too. It should also be noted that Canon. Star and Citizen have gone out their way to ensure that there are Amiga printer drivers for at least some of their current models. PRINTER MODEL/S Canon BJ-lOe/lOex Canon BJ-300/330 Canon BJC-800 Canon LBP-4/8 Citizen printers Commodore 1550C Epson FX-850/1050 (or emulation) Epson LQ-850/1050 (or emulation) Epson LQ-1000/1500 (or emulation) Epson LX-850 (or emulation) NEC 24-pins Panasonic KX-P1123/1124 Star LC-200 Star LC24-10/15 Star LC24-200 Star SJ-48 Star XB24-10/15 DRIVER NAME CanonBJIO CanonBJ300 coming soon CanonLBP Citizen Print Manager Star9Plus Star9Plus EpsonQPIus Star24Plus Star9Plus Nec24Plus PanasonicPlus Star9Plus Star24Plus EpsonQPIus Star24Plus Star24Plus Printer trouble - if after telling an application to print something, nothing happens and then after about 30 seconds a 'Printer Trouble' system requester appears on your screen, this means the printer driver has been trying desperately to send data to the printer, but the printer has not sent back a message saying that it has received that data. This could be due to several things... Is the printer switched on? Is there paper in the printer? Has the paper jammed? Is the printer on- line? Are you using a proper printer cable? Is the printer cable plugged in? Are you using the correct printer driver? 1 Q A Opening the printer lOU device - If when trying to print you end up with a "Cannot open printer device" system requester, this (normally) means one of two things. Either some other application that you are multitasking is using the printer (and therefore already has the printer device open), or some required system files are not where they should be. Luckily both these problems are easily remedied... This mostly happens when you create your own 'boot-up' disks and forget to copy the pnnter.device' or paraliel.device' file into the DEVS directory of the boot-up disk, or you've forgotten to copy the printer driver into DEVS/PRINTERS on the boot-up disk. The answer to this problem is to work backwards. Instead of creating a boot-up disk from empty, copy the Workbench disk, remove the files and directories that you do not need, and then copy your application on to the copy of the Workbench disk. Do note, however, that unless you know precisely what you are doing, you should leave the DEVS. L. UBS. S and SYSTEM directories exactly as they are. c Mtiavtd on poojt 40 AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 16 • AUGUST 1992 37 - \ 1 THE ALL J*ff3^ AMIGA 600 PACK ** y *^ Very Lal.sl Amiga f .a it On-sife maintenance * KrCKstart/WofVbench 2.05 * Built-in TV/Modulator * Smart Card Slot * IDE Hard Disk Controller (Optional 20Mb inrornal hard disk) Exclusive to Futureworld* ■MM AoOOPock AoOOJirtc DPo.nt III 4 gam.) RRp £399 99 Ajtro Ten Game* Pack RRP £229 78 Gf A Bosk RRP £49.95 TOTAL RRP £679 72 lot yours for an unbelievable £399.99 r\ A600 HD Pack: Aj above but featuring 20Mb Hard Disk TOTAL RRP £779 72 But yours for an unbelievable £499.99 Ni: HD VERSION DOl5 NOT INClUOl DPIII OR GAME ALL OUR A500 PLUSES COME WITH A MASSIVE 2 ME6 OF AMKrtWVi^iSfSPU Only vetlion g"° ,a Megobyl (RAM 1 MEG UPORABE BOARD f^urnl'Oitopiayy^' = M NIGHTS HOUDAY*C C N(NG up £349 95 Rffp £229.71 MP £7.t» «»£6vv nrv* fr|#r . Backup U*** GAMESMASTER PACK A500+ CARTOON CLASSICS PACK D C7Q0 o 2 MEG RAM BOARD (lat«si blu* pcb dttign) P cq ft< l^aHMvyouf A500t to a muuv* 2 mtQAbyitf o* RAM HKr £ JT.Vii ASTRA TEN GAMES PACK Otftttlorm * Ounp^on QlfMI • E Mc#on • Grind M*ti* Slim • *UJ Qiovm Pow«o>ty • RVF Hond* - ShuirupMfc Ca** ■ Soccer • TowtH of BflM (PVB Ail QAmo» indfWfciAfy ptcfcAQMft WICKED 40 GAME PACK 2 FIGHTER MICROSWITCH JOYSTICKS Not ori# Dwl TteO O^ilHty OylliCU QUALITY MOUSEPAD TAILOR MADE DUSTCOVER •PLUS- FD DISK PACK CONTAINING Wvtffoimav • So>Mdtf - Baouc IM* ' R °"" ,0NAl "««C PACK £2-252?? 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