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ABUG #49 JULY 1987
CONTENTS
Diary l
Eukeka* It's Archimedes l
Acorn User Show 2
ARUG Library 2
What's in the Mags? 3
Computer Repairs 4
Cover Credits 4
For Sale 4
\BUG NEWSLETTER #49
JULY 1987
DIARY
The next few meetings will be
held on:
5 August
19 August
2 September
16 September
All meetings are held at the Sheffield Trades and Labour Club,
Duke Street.
Please note that there is a three week gap untii our next meeting
on 5th August.
EUREKA! IT'S ARCHIMEDES!
So, as predicted in our last issue. Acorn have introduced their
new RISC-based machine. There are full descriptions of it in all
the Beeb magazines, with reviews promised*for next month, so all
I 'm going to do here is give a brief description of some of its
main features.
Acorn have announced two series of machines, the A300 and A400,
with two models in each. The A300 series carry the BBC badge,
and are available in small quantities now, and will go on general
sale in September. The more expensive A400 series will carry the
Acorn badge, and will go on sale next year.
The A300 series have 32-bit processors, 512K of ROM, which
includes an operating system called Arthur (why have they given
it a silly name?) and BBC BASIC v. There are 18 screen modes,
plus three extra for use with multi-synch monitors, with a choice
of up to 256 colours from a palette of 4096. Because there is no
dedicated teletext chip. Mode 7 occupies 80K, rather than the IK
it takes in the earlier models! Text can be displayed up to 132
columns wide.
Sound enthusiasts have eight "voices" to play with, which can be
spread across a stereo 'sound stage’ from far left to far right.
There is provision for stereo headphones to be connected, and
also an interface for outputting to a hifi, although there is
only a single internal speaker.
on the hardware side. Acorn have settled on 3.5 inch drives, as
fitted to the Compact (and the new IBM PS/2). The 300 series
have a single 1Mbyte floppy drive, with room for another to be
fitted inside the case (for £144 in VAT). A 20 Mbyte winchester
can also be fitted for an extra £574 inc VAT. The keyboard is
considerably larger than earlier BBC models (103 keys) and a
three-button mouse is included in the package.
The two machines are designated the 305 and 310, with the final
two figures indicating the amount of ram. The 310 has l.OMbytes,
with the 305 having 'only' O.SMbytes, but this can be upgraded to
the full 1M for an extra £102 inc VAT.
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ABUG NEWSLETTER #49
JULY j 987
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Arthur has a GEM-1 ike interface called Desktop, manipulated with
the mouse, and including windows. Although the machine does not
allow true multitasking, the speed is such that it can appear to
be doing several things at once. Another new feature i ^ °
of ’ podul es ' , two of which can be fitted internal 1 v ft- 3 system
time, to provide additional features. The backplane any ° ne
this to be done costs £29 extra inc VAT. External podules aff
also allowed, so watch for the add-on boxes to appear
podules to be released shortly are a MIDI interface and a rdm
extension. In the pipeline are a modem and an MS-nns
co-processor. Acorn have produced a booklet detailing software
available now or shortly for the new machines.
The BBC has confirmed that it is to continue its association with
Acorn, which has brought complaints from such as Research
Machines (makers of the Nimbus). BBC Soft has already announced
two titles for the Archimedes, one a comms package and the other
a word processor. Both will be released later this year.
Prices range from £920 for the 305 without monitor through £1235
for the 310 with colour monitor, to £1810 for a 310 with colour
monitor and Winchester 20Mbyte hard disc. These prices include
VAT - note that the £799 which Acorn quotes in its advertisements
excludes VAT.
Dave Brown
ACORN USER SHOW
The 1987 Acorn User Show is being held at the Barbican in London
from 24 - 20 July, where the Archimedes is sure to be the star
attraction.
ABUG LIBRARY
Below is the present state of the Library:
BOOKS (Lending fee: £1)
Advanced User Guide Bray,
Advanced Graphics
Assembly Language
Forth on the BBC Microcomputer Richard de
Functional Forth for the BBC computer
Graphic Art for the BBC computer
Making Music on the BBC Computer
Disk Systems for the BBC Micro
Interfacing the BBC Microcomputer
Guide to the BBC Rom
Advanced Sideways RAM User Guide
Service Manual
Using Wordwise Plus Xwith disc)
Wordwise Plus Programming Ideas (with disc)
Dickens & Holmes
Ange11 & Jones
Ian Birnbaum
Grandis-Harrison
Boris Allan
Boris Allan
Ian Waugh
Ian Sinclair
Colin Opie
Don Thomasson
Bruce Smith
Acorn
Paul Beverley
Paul Beverley
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ABUG NEWSLETTER #49
JULY 1987
SOFTWARE (Lending fee: £l>
Masterfile (40 track disc with instructions)
Spellcheck (2 x 80 track discs with instructions)
3D Graphics Development System (2-40track discs +
Graphito (cassette + manual)
Solidisk Volumes 1-10 (4 x 80 track discs)
Multifile (cassette)
MAGAZINE SOFTWARE (Lending fee: 50p or 25p if not taken away)
Micro User Cassettes: Vol.1 No.2, Vo1.3 No.4 to Vo1.4 No.2
Discs: Vol.2 Nos.11 & 12, Vol.3 No.5 to Vol.4 No.7
(we no longer subscribe to Micro User software)
Acorn User Cassettes: Graphics, July, Aug, & Sept '85
Discs: Graphics, Gallery, from July '85 to date
Beebug
Beebug
manual) Glentop
Addison-Wesley
Solidisk
Bug-byte
Beebug
EF
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Cassettes: from Vol.2 No.10 to date (except Vol.3/8&9)
Discs: from Vol.4 No.2 to date
Mike Robinson (The Librarian)
WHAT’S IN THE MAGS?
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A & B COMPUTING, August 1987, Vol 4, #8, lOOpp, £1.50
Features: ... ~*
Archimedes / Data transmission / Packages for home office /
i Learning Logo / Variable structures in Pascal
Programs:
Spell Master utilities for Wordwise Plus / Skywatcher 3
astronomy program
Reviews:
Acorn 'Co-Pro Adapter’ /Music 4000 Keyboard / Barry Box /
Arcade Games / Unistat II statistics software / Educational
software for language teaching / Microbrush Graphics System
/ Electron Plus 5 / Printers under £300
THE MICRO USER, August 1987, Vol 5, #6, 140pp, £1.25
Features:
Archimedes / Online adventures / Midi / Writing a book /
Using sideways ram for data storage / Adventure games, inc
Snowball map pt 4 / Ceefax guide for July
Programs:
Survive game / Wallpaper estimator / Snapper upgrad'e /
Adventure programming: accepting players’ instructions /
Program library / Mailing lists
Reviews:
Arcade games / Key educational database
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ABUG NEWSLETTER #49
JULY 1987
ACORN USER, August 1987, #61, 162pp. £1.30
upofures*
Archimedes / AU Show Guide / Music teaching / Multiply and
divide in assembler / Making music / Uses of micros f
Programs^ compressi0 n / calendar / One line graphics programs /
Multi-tasking in BASIC / view function key program
Games / Genie desktop program / ACP’s Advanced Control Panel
/ Avon's crashproof / KM's System Utility rom / Flight
simulators
Dave Brown
COMPUTER REPAIRS
In the last issue we mentioned a Guardian report about Model B
spares drying up after 1989. Acorn have written to The Micro
User calling this story ’utter rubbish’. They say that the
Master contains all the customised components used in the Model
B, and state that they will be available for at least five years
after the Master is discontinued, ’and we don t know when that
will be’. They told Micro User, ’As long as there is a demand
for parts, we’ll keep supplying them’, and pointed out that they
are still supplying spares for the Atom.
COVER
This month’s cover was designed by Ian Brown.
FOR SALE
Oki Microline 80 dot matrix printer. 40/80/132 column
printer with block teletext type graphics. Centronics standard
interface. Friction or form feed. £75.
TRS 80 line UII (DMP100) 80 column dot matrix printer. Dot
addressable graphics. £80.
LVL/Leasalink 40 track dual drive. No data or power leads,
will separate. £40 each or £70 for both.
Torch (CPN) Z80 second processor. 64K ram. Perfect Writer/
Speller/Filer/Calc integrated software, BBC (Z80) Basic and
manuals. £180 or will consider exchange for Music 5000 or
Teletext Adapter.
For any of the above, contact Pete Frith on Sheffield 459165
(after 6pm).
Acorn graphic printer AP 100 A, in good condition, complete with
manual and leads. £100 ono. Telephone Dronfield 416230 after
6pm.
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