A Database Publication
AMIGAPOWER
Control your Amiga
with ARexx and
WShell
The ultimate
in document
AMIGAVIDEO
The easy way to
■ create your own
professional titles
AMIGATOUR
Why Fat Agnus rules
the roost, with some
sound help from G
processors?
AMIGAQUEST
Shades: The fantasy
land at the end of
your telephone line
AMIGAGAMES
• Virus
• Nebulus
• Corruption
• Bubble Ghost
• The Bard's Tale II
• Summer Olympiad
ComicSetter's here!
DTP for young trendies is only
JO minutes away from reality
...and more!
Persona] callers welcome
Opposite Fulham Broadway
Tube Station - District Line
AMIGA HARDWARE
Arkancmj
fterier Dead Than Ak*n
CTB.95
£13.95
£16 35
£13 95
■Bionic Commando
£ 16.95
Bermuda Project .......
Beyond ZorK
- ,.£15 95
£16.95
RLisi.*.ilr .
,,, ,,£6.95
Backlash
£13 95
Bavarian Psyonraxa
9 MX Simula tor
£16.95
£1045
Black Lame £l395
Bar&Ariari p*lsc*
Ballraidaf
£13.95
£13.95
9anle£hjps
£16.95
Baiarice ol Poorer
0 ac Cal
. £19.95
£16.95
&cbWlnner„ u .,.,. u
ftardfl Tai* i or 2
Corrupflmn
£16.95
..£1695
£16. 95
C&iiiornu Game*
£16.95
Captam tllood .
C16.95
Carrier Comrr^nd
Chudby Greiie
Combal School
£16.95
.. £15 95
£16.95
Crack
Crash Garfen
CrajyCara.
Chessnnasier 2000
£13 95
£16.95
£13.95
£15 95
Deslroyer
£1645
Dick Special
£15.95
Dartt Castle
£16.50
Delender Of Crown
£19.95
. . . £19,95
Delung Video
£39.95
Deluxe Print
£15.95
Deluxe P'odiXTun
, £79,95
Deluxe Peini 2 . , ...
. C39.95
Dungeon Masler
£15 95
D*iuce Mu*ic Con Set
£39,95
Faglss Nest
£13 95
Ebonstai
£1595
Eckwion
£15.95
SK MARKETI NG
> i ► COMPUTER SUPPLIES 4 j j
10 Fulham Broadway, London SW6 1AA
(24 Hours) Telephone 01-381 6618/9. Fax: 01- 381 052B
LONDON'S LARGEST
J LMKZ4
DEALER
COMPARE OUR PRICES BEFORE ORDERING
FOR UNBEATABLE OFFERS!!
Export, Government and Educational orders welcome
All Prices Incl VAT
Carriage Free/Mail Order
Immediate Despatch
A5QO £375
• Amiga A 500 complete,
now only „ ...£375
• Amiga A500 wilh TV modulator . £395
• Amiga A 500 with 1 900M high res
mono monitor C4S0
• Amiga A500 wi th A10S4 high res
colour monitor EBlO
• TV Motfulalor ..£23
• Philips B833 Monitor £270
AMIGA B 2 Q 00
• Amiga 82000 with tMta RAM,
&B0K 3.5T disk, mouse, software
£1070
• Amiga 82000 as above, plus
A 1084 hi- res colour monitor ....£1290
• Amiga B2&0Q TM as above.
plus PX XT bridge board & floppy ......
£1745
• Amiga 1 004 Monitor £2 1 0
• A2010 Internal 3.5" Drive .... £1 75
• A.205 2 2Mb RAM Expansion £399
Adv Art Sludlio £15 95
Alien Syndrom* Cl 3.95
Aaaargn £16.95
Armageddon Man ... .. £16.95
Aultxt j&i Cl 7.50
Arcl»c Fox. ..... £15.95
Advanced Conn ruction Sel n l .95
Army Moves Cl$.&5
PRINTERS
1 Micro Peripherals 135+
£149
Star LC lO
£192
1 <ti»innn^nr NSI 1
Star LC24 id
... C3l$
Star NBS4 io
,..£500
Star NB24 t*
... £625
Ep*on LX800
... £217
Ep*on LQ500
...£940
Epson LQ650
.,,£510
Fpeon LQ105Q .....„,„„, r „, r „, r „.^.. r
... £656
Epson FXflSO [Nsw imp
£379
Ep*on FKl050tN*w klj
... £47®
Cittren 120D
... £156
Penaeonio 10&1
£171
NEC P2200
... £316
NEC P6 Plu*
... E&46
NEC P7 Pkrt,
...£679
Juki 6100
... E29S
Am*|rad DMP40C0
..,£306
Epson la*er GO35O0
.£1396
Panasorvtc Laser
.£1646
H*wmi Packard JsV2
PROFESSIONAL AMIGA SOFTWARE
WORDPHOCESSJNG
Kind W<*4* .
LPDWdltr
PrtalW IT} D
Tw.1 Pm
Acqmvticn VI .3 ..
Dak n*tii*v*
Daw P*e^a ner
DESKTOP PUBLISHING
Kai Crifc -
KSffwl?
Log*™ VI .IS
Maxtor, AW
Manpun rm
HrtP ProkawnP
SKWI SPECIALS
Sony 3.6" DSrDD ElS.OO
SO Col Spats Saving Primer Stand £45.00 1
Kioraoa Elo* riDOl Cl 0.00 1
Meuea Mai
... £5,75
Duet Cover
Printer Oual Cowers
.£10.00
...£5.75
A4 Copy Holder H33
.£17.25
4 Way Anti Surge ,
Konix Spwdkjng Joystick
.£19.00
£20.00
ACCOUNTS
Elduniu Uinagemenl
C314
Cl 31
Fk*™J &«A !» <A _...
raa
MUSIC
A
C27
Aegis. Audi cxnMWr
ne
Aegis Swim V2 0 . ..
r+x
QsAjla Wrif
CM
Pro Mdi SW : i-W
Pro Sowid Dniyiv SjW
£131
ree
Th* 4h*M Ssj*o
C24
Drum &hid» .
HI
Inateil Music
rta
LANGUAGE
AfrfewlC
AC/f Man „
,„„.CH7
C224
CM?
APC Eeooe
C79
. .. E44
Ax!*c ^Pinfwwnnd
El 52
4tWc C D*v«lcp«
Aj-u.1 r. r-.ni-n™:,.
esmXvnsrlk t
CZJ1
raafi
Cl 06
Prof*Micn*l fag*
FHAdiahw PX.A
Pi.muJvFajhw Pror
A eg i a Ani m m Son Am eg aa
AagiaAitpac 1
A*gi* ima^aa. .
4#gi* knfnKt
A*gi* VidaoacapaJD
Aagia Vk)*o T*ar
Annata 3D
CMu.* RrMYI.2 .
Dakna Prcductona
Dkujn'WdaAl.2
D^PliR
Eip*W P*r,[ VT D
fjjrmi n Ffcghl
Pt r, m i »t« PIlk
Prnanaatw Ctp Arl
PrwmPlua VI 2
Pro Vidaa
Pro Vita Font Utawy .
Stuk*» _....
Sculpt 3D Anwnaba
TV Taut
TV Show
... . 12*
tie
LEISURE SOFTWARE
E mer aid M mes
r „. m „, r .. £13.95
KnigM Oe
£13 95
Srfiftad ,.
£19.95
Fnhghcennwir
E15 95
Lend oi Legend*
£16.95
Skyfox
£11.95
Exolon
£15.95
LeatJerbaard
....... £16.95
Starii*«i ,. ,
£16 95
EPT
, El 5 95
Levi at hen
£13.95
Seven Cciee of GoW ....
£11.95
E art Weaver BageCxa II
£16.50
Leather -Goddess,
£19.95
Star Glider , ,, .
. „ ,£15.95
ECO
£16.96
Legend ol Ihe Sw«d
£16.95
Star Glxter 2
£16.95
Fight Slm2
............ E26 95
Leathernecks
£13 45
SDI
£19.95
Soenery Diac 7 or 1 1
£15.95
Marble Madneea
£13.95
Star War*
£13.95
Scenery Disc Europe
£1595
Wars f:np»
.. ,.£13.95
Space Quest II
£14.95
Faery Tak* Adventure
CM 95
Mercenary Comp
£16.45
S. F. Harrier
E1 £ .9S
Flghlpath 737
£6 95
Mickey Mouse
. .£13.95
Sdewandar
,._.L. .DO
Feud
, £6 95
£16.95
Terramax
£13.95
Flntslones
£13.95
MachS
Thexder
£15.95
Football Msn?g<pr 2
£13.96
Mean 18 Golf
„„„. £17.95
Time Band**
. ,. .£13.95
Ferrari Formula One
£16 95
Nebula ,
£15-93
Tracers
£16.95
Ffiundaixsni Wail*
£16.95
Nightraidef
£13.95
Terri* .....
£13.95
Frighmighi
. ...... £1 3 95
Nerd 6 0*n
£15.95
Torrorpods
£16.95
£15.95
Obke+alor
...... £16.45
Three Stooges
£19.50
Garieid
. .. . £13-95
Peter ABardeley Soccer
£13.95
Trinliy
£10.00
Qryzw
..£16.95
Phamaem
. ,,,.£13.95
T eelorive
£16.95
Gun*h<j
.. . £15.95
Power Struggle
£10.45
Time A Magik
. £13.95
GT Giana Sisters
£15.95
Phornn Paim ...^
£49.95
Unhr Military Sim
...... Cl 6.96
Golden Paih
£13 95
Plundered Heari*
£16.45
Uninv«ed ...... ......
£16.95
Goldnjnnef
£17,95
Pod ..
£6.95
Vlfu*
£13.95
Gold runner 2
£13.95
Platoon
£15-95
VaiTpira Eirpire ...
£13.95
Guild ol Thieve*
£15.95
Pink Panlhar
r „. r ..C 13.95
Vyper
....... Cl 096
Gee Bee Air Rally
£16 95
Pokoa Quest
£13.95
Vermlnaior .
C1S95
Garrison £15.50 Pandora
Garrison 2.. £16.95 Pawn ...
Halter Skefler £1195 Quadralten ..
Hitchhike* £19.95 Q Ball
Hck Football 1 18.95 Ouican
HoHywood Hijinx £10.00
Hollywood Poker Cl 3.95
Hunt lor fWOCldber ,.,,,£16.95
Interc^rter ...£16.95
indoor Sport* Eie.9S
IrT^afit E 1 0.45
ln*anilv Flight ..,..£16.95
Instant Music .... £19.95
inietlityoe E2i 00
InlematNjnal Soccer „... £13.95
J* ., £24.95
Jerk* ...... El 5 95
Joe Blade £6 95
Jmsder T £1 5.95
Jewels ol Darkness £t3.95
Karat* K*d 2 ClMA
Kings Queer 3 Pack £>9.95
Kina C4 Cht^flO £19,95
Kcfcata/": J,. £7.00 Silent Service ..
Cl 9.95
....... .,,.,,£17,45
Cl 3.95
- £21.50
Rockel Ranger £l7.4S
Wrath or Nikademus .
Whirligig ....
Winter Olympiad
WirbaJI
Xenon
Zork 2
Zynape
....£1745
...E13&S
£13.95
... £1395
....£16.95
..£1295
....£16.95
RBTurn to Genesrs
Rervm to Atlanta
£13.95
£16.96
Roadwars
...... £13 95
Sargon Ml Che**
Slar Ray
Soccer S^fKerTkS
C14.3S
£17.45
£10.45
Slock marked
£13 95
Slormtrooper
„ r „..£13.95
Slrp Poker 2
Summer Olympiad
£10.45
. £1395
Siwlcick Riddle
£16.95
Shadcwgate
....,,.£16.95
Sanrinei
,.£1395
Scrabble Deluxe
£13.95
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LOOKING FOR SOMETHING
OUT OF THIS WORLD?
You’ll find it at
o
10am -6 pm Friday, Nov 18
10am-6pm Saturday , Nov 19
10am -4pm Sunday, Nov 20
Experience all these
special features:
* Visit the sensational Commodore
Graphics Workshop,
* Drop in and hear all the latest sounds
in the bouncy Commodore Music
Room.
* Take part in the free Christmas Card
Design com petition, with a major prije
every day.
* Meet Adam Faith and Anita Dobson,
the stars of new hit musical Budgie,
* Get al I you r tech nical qu eries
answered at ICPUG's question
and answer sessions.
It all adds up to an experience
yoir f ll never forget.
The 12th Official
'commodore
computers i
Advance ticket order
Please supply:
O Adult tickets at £4 (save £ 1 ) f_ I
□ ti rider- Ifcs t taker a at £2 . 50 (sate £ 1) £ I
Total £
□ Cheque enclosed payable to Database Exhibitions Ltd.
Please debit my cred It Card account: □ Access. □ Visa
L_L i i_
Expiry date: Q
-1 — 1 — LI L I 1 I it I I I I I
□
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iXL ibi
tickd enfer
Name , . .
Address
POST TO: Conn
■■J Signed 1
t Computer i
Oatah«$c Exhibitions. Europe Hpuse, Adlingtan Perk,
AdliiUrton. Macclesfield SK1Q 4NP.
PNOtit ORDERS; Ring Show Hotline: 0625 879920
fflESlH ORDERS KEY S9, THEN M456S3S3
immUHK TELEWM SOLD ORDERS: 72 MAG001
Please quote credit card number ana full address
Champagne Suita &
Exhibition Contra
No vote I, Hammersmith, WS
Mo matter which Commodore machine
you use - from the C64 up - you'll find
just what you are looking for. All reading
companies servicing each sector of the
Commodore market will be on hand to
demonstrate their latest developments.
Traditionally the liveliest Commodore
event of the year, this pre-Christmas show
- with hundreds of special offers - is one
you just cannot afford to notes.
You can evep saw? £ i a head before you
get there by ordering advanced tickets
using the form opposite
Prow to get there “I
i Nearest tube station is Hammer-
smith (Piccadilly, Metropolitan & District Lines).
By Bin; 266. 714. 716, 290. 30, 72. 73. 74
Car parking facilities available at the hkmrtel.
DATABASE EXHIBITIONS
Managing Editor
Derek Meakin
AMIGA SCENE
Gmp Editor
Alan McLarhlati
Editor
Simon Rockman
Production Editor
Peter Glover
Art Mims
Mark Nolan
Ikufi Stole
Editorial Assistant:
Elaine Rawlins
News Editor
Mike Cowley
A drastisMiieflt Manager
John Snowden.
Advertising Sales
Wendy Colbourne
Edferab
0277 JJU5B
Aiministivljqn;
MSI fTBEBH
Advertising
0025 07BMB
Subscriptions;
1)025 879M0
TeIbchi (kid:
72MAG®]
Telex;
wnj^asfiurffl
Ff«:
0*21 079966
ftwte f Mailbu*:
t]4»U63
Published by:
Database Publications Ltd.
Europa Ifojso, .Uliitgto Park.
Adliu^an. Macclesfield SKlC 1NP,
Database Publications is a
division of Enropress Ltd
ISSN CH 52 - 51 MB
Amiga Compultng MtaMJf aTlitle! Ear pnhLi-
catinn. Material should be IrjiRii nr compislur-
priined, aod prpfRrai) I v da u b I c- spited . Program lisa-
in gs should k dtomyafiLed by disc. Please enrlraF
a stamped, sttf-alklrsrad envelope. dhmrise Ik
rtfun nt material cannot be guaranteed. Contri-
bubann an only be oKepted. fa* publication by
Database Publications Ltd m an all-rigbls basis,
ig 19BR Database Pubbcalwns lid. tai material may
be reproduced in wbofe nr fo pari (riduwl written
permission. While awry care is lalten. Ik pub^
Hillers canod iw held l^alh responsible for any
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Adzu'jfa GanfJHifiinj « an independent {Mbtic&litf't
mi CiumnmAMiff Business lactone? fUK-l ltd is
ear raspMsibieiw any of ite arfrcfa in lAis issitf or
for m of the pfueHms Mpeaetf,
News trade distnbtfiiuti: Enropress ami Db-
tnhubon Limited. Uit t, Burges Rond. bybuiK
Uoe, Hastings. East follHX TN35 4NR. Td: 0424
*50422.
7 LATEST
NEWS
As Commodore winds up for the big
Christmas push there is a host of
companies geared up to make sure
the Amiga triumphs this year.
AMIGA SCENE
COM MI fNICATIONS
ADVENTURES
I I SHOW
REPORT
The recent PC Show at Earls Court
saw the launch nf a host of new
games software and peripherals. We
highlight this major industry event.
1 ^
-A. \J SHADES
Down at MicroLink central there is a
world within an office. It's a land of
Shades, where danger lurks and
adventurers act out their dreams.
AfTIVF
ADVENTURING
Electronic Arts proves that Bard's Tale
can be bettered and Rainbird finds
something Corrupted coming nut of
Magnetic Scrolls and into the city.
CnmicSetter Page 20
COVER STORY
I I COMIC
md GENIUS
Desktop publishing can be great fun.
We try ComicSetler, the program
which will have you printing out
comics before Paula can say Shazam!
REVIEW
/ f \ AMIGA
M BOOKS
An expert panel looks in depth at an
assortment of books from Abacus and
Compute! written to master machine
code, Basic C and Deluxe Paint
BUSINESS
DTP WITH
amigatex
Learn a language to publish on your
Amiga, The home computer version
which puts mainframes to shame but
needs hours of study to master.
4 AMIGA COMPUTING November 114B8
PROGRAMMING
MINI'S
I
Q O
1 fl AREXX AND
XJ WSHELL
We review two programs which work
together to provide an integrated
environment for complete control of
the Amiga's multi-tasking facilities
SOFTWARE
AMIGA
ARCADE
Whirligig myth exposed, a medal for
Nebidus, some Seoul searching and
a Vims you won't mind Catching
from the publisher of Corruption.
DTP w r rfh AmigaTex Page 33
"C GAME
KJ KILLER
Max "The Hax” dishes out (he (rusty
Speedkings Eo (he gamesters for hints
with Faery Tale, Skyfox, Mercenary,
BMX Simulator and Starwars,
HARDWARE
§ 1 , INTO THE SILICON'
KJ XJ UNDERWORLD
Fat Agnus refreshes Che ram other
chips cannol reach. Rupert Goodwins
explains why she needs some help
from a little chip called Gary.
DESKTOP VIDEO
WINDOW
WONDERLAND
The Amiga was made for television.
DJ Morgan Walker looks al ways (o
spruce up the sights in your High
Street video shop with an A50O.
PROGRAMMING
PLAIN MAN'S
GUIDE TO CLI
Make the most of Amiga Dos with the
Command Line Interpreter. Phil South
explains some of the more useful
commands on your Workbench disc.
LETTERS
FROM OUR
POSTBAG
Silly things in Starglider, Kind Words
strike back, plus your latest news,
views and gossip on everything (hat
happens in the land of Robo city,
Active Adventuring Page 14
Into the Silicon Underworld Page 56
Read about the growing
rule of the Amiga in
home video-making
month after month in
Video Action!
Get the latest issue from your newsagent,
or send £1,50 (post free) to:
Video Action! Euro pa Houses Adlington Park,
Adlington. Macclesfield SKID 4NP,
November imn AMIGA COMPUTING 5
Link your Amiga to the outside world wither.
mkroUnk
Electronic mail; - The cheapest
and fastest form of
communication possible. It costs
the same to send a message to
one mailbox as to GOO'
Telex - Link up with 96 r 000 telex
subscribers in the UK and 1.5
million worldwide. You can even
send and receive telexes after
office hours or while travelling.
Telemessages - Type in your
message before Bpm and
delivery is guaranteed by first
post the next day {except S unday K
anywhere in the UK and USA.
Tele-booking - Reserve train and
theatre tickets, check flight details
worldwide, or order from a vast
range of products - from flowers
to floppy discs.
Advice - on a team of pro-
fessional, legal and financial
advisors as and when you need
them, for both business and
personal problems,
Company Obtain facts about any
British limited company in
seconds, and fully analysed
financial information on over
100,000 companies.
Translation - Access the biggest
and most up-to-date
multi-lingual dictionary
in the world, with
over 400,000 words.
News - Use the powerful search
commands to pinpoint vital
business information from the
world's leading news services,
newspapers and periodicals
Radiopaging - If you also have a
pocket radiopager you'll be
alerted each time an urgent
message arrives in your mailbox.
So you're always in touch.
Gateways - Get through to New
York in just five seconds - or key
into the EEC computer in
Luxembourg, which links you to
600 databases throughout Europe.
When you join MicroLink you've got
the whole business world at your
fingertips — 24 hours a day. You'll
have immediate access to ALL the
facilities offered by Telecom Gold
... and a great deal more besides.
&
Typical com ms packages
Pace. Nightingale V21 , V23
manuaf-diaf modem +■
ffubycomm Software + RS232
fead (£199 inc carriage St VAT)
Pace: Linnet V2h V23 autodial
modem + ffubycomm soft
ware + RS232 fead (£257 inc
carriage and VAT}
Miracle: WS4000 V2f, V23
autodial modem + Ruby-
comm software + Ft S 232 iead
(£288 inc carriage & t VAT)
Mora than
90 per cent
of subscribers
can conned to
the MicroLink
computer at
local call
rates.
■
SI
All you need - apart from your Amiga - is a
modem, which plugs into your telephone wall
socket and suitable communications software
We have provided a list of possible combin-
ations (left), ranging from the very cheapest to
ones which can automatically dial the Micro-
Link telephone number and connect you
directly to the service - all you have to do is
type in your personal security password.
Whichever equipment you use. you will be
able to call MicroLink, open your mailbox,
save to disc any messages waiting for you,
and disconnect in as little as two minutes.
i
J
TO FIND OUT MORE
Fill in the coupon and
send it to the address
below. You will receive
full details of services
and costs, together with
an application form.
Complete this and
within days you and
your Amiga will be
able to use all the
services of MicroLink
and Telecom Gold.
k
Please sand me full details about MicroLink, and information
sheets about She following hardware and software options
I pi ease circle!;
ABC
Name.
. Address-
Send to: MicroLink, Europe House, Arlington Park,
Adlington, Macclesfield 5K10 4NP
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■ AMIGA SCENE
Key to Amiga’s
success... the C64
Amigas keep
it clean
A MIGA 2000 computers
are cleaning up at Lever
Brothers 1 new £12 million
soap making plant at Port
Sunlight.
The machines - housed in
special protective casings -
fully control the flow of soap
constituents through eight
miles of pipe by means of
1,500 sensors.
"We felt PCs just weren't
man enough for the job",
said project control engineer
Chris Fox. “That's why we
chose Amigas.
“We have no way to run
the plant other than via the
Amigas - there are no fall-
backs, no manual controls,
"It was a conscious
decision to design the new
plant so that it runs fully
automated or not at all".
An in-depth report on how
the Amiga 2000s control the
new plant - opened by The
Queen - will appear soon in
Amiga Computing,
though he stressed he was
talking A500 machines.
“The Amiga is now THE
lfi hit product as recognised
by the trade; dealers see the
perceived benefits over our
nearest competitor”, he
added.
To boost sales there is a
new concerted promotional
effort centred on the Amiga.
The national TV and poster
campaign will cost several
million pounds.
Franklin ruled out the pos-
sibility of a bundled Amiga
because he said the price
would be counterproductive.
And he decried critics of
the Earls Court event.
Holding a trade publication
with the headline +H PC
Show: Same as it ever was"
he said: "This sort of thing
upsets me.
"The show isn't the same
as it was, and neither is the
computer business - there's
a real buzz about the place
this year.
"There's a lot of business
being done here and a gen-
eral feeling of optimism
about the future".
K EY to the Amiga's
ongoing success is the
humble C64, says Commo-
dore boss Steve Franklin. He
was explaining his com-
pany's philosophy in an
interview with Amiga
Computing deep within the
bowels of Commodore’s
massive stand at the PC
Show.
Many observers expressed
surprise that Commodore’s
only real product news at
Earls Court concerned two
bundles built around the
venerable C64,
"People forget lhat a new
generation of computer users
is coming through”, said
Franklin. "The kids of today
are the business users of
lomorrow and we have to
look after them, get them
involved.
"We’re remaining strong
in the a bil market to encour-
age these youngsters and
hring them into computing.
Games players today are
Amiga users tomorrow".
Franklin revealed thal
Amiga sales in the UK are
now between 60 and 65,000,
/tn operator, surrounded by
some of the eight miles of pipe,
checks data on his specially
encased Amiga 2000 at Lever
Brothers ' new Port Sunlight
Soap plant.
Disney
film deal
re-promoting the film again
this Christmas”, said Active
managing director Robert
Stall [brass
Future titles from Coktel
for the Amiga will include
Freedom. Emanuelle, Peter
Pan and Terrific,
Active has also signed
marketing agreements with
German software house EAS
for its hit release Zero
Gravity,
Other pre-Christmas
releases from the same
source will be boxing simu-
lation Ringside, and a three-
game Amiga compilation.
M arketing and dis-
tribution rights to
products from French and
German software houses
have been acquired by
Active Distribution (U1-3H5
7622].
They include the Walt
Disney licence for an Amiga
version of Jungle Book from
French publisher Coktel
Vision.
"Jungle Rook is a classic
film which appeals to young
and old and Walt Disney are
Shot from the Amiga promotional campaign
New plotters
launched
Munsters
move in
a I lei interfaces as standard,
.0125mm resolution, 42cm/
sec speed in all directions,
and toothed drive belts,
All have auto pen capping,
pen select and point of origin
setting.
There is also a novel fea-
ture of pcn-to-stock return if
no command is received.
based on the old TV series
recently revived on Channel
4. The programming duo of
Peter Harrap and Shaun HoJ-
lingworth of Teque and Pac-
mania fame are behind the
arcade game, which will he
released this month, price
£24.99.
A NEW r range of A3 plot-
ters has been launched
by Roland Digital fl)l -J347
5665). The high precision
machines are priced between
£795 and £1,295.
They have serial and par-
A NEW sister label to
Alternative Software
called Again Again (0977
797777) has been launched.
Its first game for the
Amiga is The Munsters -
.V(j i r emtnrr 1 988 AMIGA COMPUTING 7
ON sale for the first time
at the show will be two
un iq u e prod u cts from
Trilogic which alio w
users to get the most from
their Amiga's sound
capabilities.
Mini Amp 1 drives one
or two pairs of stereo
headphones, is easily con-
nected to and powered
from the Amiga - and
allows you to lis ten in
stereo in complete pri-
vacy , Its big brother t
Mini Amp 2, has two
compact speaker units.
Tri logic's budget-
priced Audio Digitiser
lea turns adjustable input
level, and an overload
indicator to ensure con-
sistently good results.
No software is
supplied, since the
Digitiser works with most
readily available commer-
cial programs , including
Audiomaster, Prosound
and Perfect sound.
Amiga sound and
graphics star in
Christmas Show
T HE Commodore Christ-
mas Show, being held
from November 1R to 20 at
London s Navotel, promises
to be bigger than ever — and
Commodore is forecasting
“an all singing, all dancing
type event".
Undoubted star of the
show will be the Amiga,
which will be put through its
paces in two new major
attractions - a Graphics
Workshop and a Music
Room,
Involving the UK's leading
lights in the use of both
sound and graphics on the
Amiga, they will provide
platforms to illustrate the
huge potential for the
machine in these areas.
And, again for the first
time, the show will provide
the venue tor a Xmas Card
Design Competition, A bank
of Amigas w T ill be at the dis-
posal of any visitors who
would like to enter the
competition, with a major
prize being presented daily
by a celebrity judge.
Commodore is once more
reaching for the staTS for the
show, with Adam Faith and
Anita Dobson - both
headlining the new West
End musical Budgie - among
those scheduled to put in an
appearance.
And ICPUG has revealed
that it is to have a significant
presence at the Christmas
show, hosting regular ques-
tion and answer sessions and
presenting demonstrations
on the Midi scene and
Comal.
More than 100 exhibitors
will be in attendance - many
of them using the show as
the launching pad for new
Amiga products .
* •k ★
A DOUBLE first will be on
offer front Micro Way, with
the company's first product
for the Amiga making its
European debut at the show.
MicroWay's Flicker-Fixer
board provides stable pic-
tures in high resolution
mode, making the Amiga a
very practical alternative to a
PC or AT for CAD and DTP
applications.
“The Flicker-Fixer allows
the Amiga display to achieve
its full potential", says
Microway managing direc-
tore Simon Shute. “And
that's something it has never
done before".
+■ ■+
AN informal - and noisy -
welcome is promised for vis-
itors to the 17 Bit Software
stand.
17 Bit is keeping a special
attraction under wraps until
the last minute, but visitors
will certainly have a chance
to learn more about the com-
pany's club, which offers a
disc-based magazine, tech-
nical help and access to a lib-
rary of more than 300 Amiga
public domain programs,
★ ★
A SPECIAL product at a spe-
cial price will be on offer
from Meedmore. who will be
launching a new higher
accuracy Ughtpen and an
enhanced 16 piece suite of
software.
Fully menu driven and
incorporating architectural
and electronic design aids,
the software features pixel-
accurate freehand drawing.
All sorts of graphics
utilities are provided - in a
choice of 16 colours,
* * *
LEADING software pub-
lisher Microdeal will be
previewing several major
games at the show, including
International Soccer, Fright
Night, Turho-Trax. Tatra
Quest, Replay, Airball and
Major Motion - all priced at
£19 ns.
Also available will be VTX
On-line, a graphics-oriented
communications package.
HIGHLIGHTING the Amiga’s
graphics capabilities, Pre-
cison Software will be dis-
playing several new and
upgraded products.
The Professional Ani-
mation Sequence Editor
offers owners of any Amiga
paint package the means to
turn cartoon sketches into
full-blown animations, while
Page Flipper Plus F/X
provides the full power of
desktop video.
Precision is also intro-
ducing Charon 5, an 11 level
5,40(1 screen epic which
combines strategy with
arcade action.
And Precision's Superhase
range will be out in force,
including the new Superbasn
Personal 2 with added mail-
merge and text editor, and
the upgraded Supcrbase Pro-
fessional.
Also on the Precision
stand will be an extensive
range of Amiga software and
peripherals — all w r ith special
show discounts, and many at
“silly" prices,
* * *
VISITORS with a preference
for hard copy won't be
neglected - George
Thompson Services will be
using the show to Launch its
latest book. Professional
Results with Deluxe Paint II.
Full of tips and tricks and
accompanied by more than
200 illustrations, the book
combines basic techniques
with Amiga graphics power.
Subjects tackled include
slide production* video
backgrounds and landscape
design.
A new agreement means
that Frontier Software has
added the Supra 's Amiga
hard drives to its range of
products - and they'll all
be on display at the show.
The high performance
Amiga SupraDrivcs are
available in 20. 30 and
60Mb capacities for the
Amiga 500, 1 000 or 2000,
fl AMIGA COMPUTING November imn
■AMIGA SCENE!
Amiga's
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be dis-
w and
I Ani-
EditoT
Amiga
sans to
*s into
i* while
; F/X
war of
intro-
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which
with
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and
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Fax and
wizardry
L ATEST additions to the
fast-growing range of
facilities on MicroLink (0625
B78888) include fax and the
cult adventure game Shades,
Derek Meakin, head of
MicroLink, said: "Our plans
are to offer subscribers a
multiple fax service which -
like our telex service - will
allow subscribers to send a
message to up to 50
News and
views
T WO Amiga 2000
machines have been
helping visitors to the New
Forest get the most out of
their holidays this summer.
The computers were
installed in the New Forest
Museum and Visitor Centre
to provide an interactive
database containing infor-
mation about the famous
tourist attraction.
Hundreds of digitised
addresses simultaneously.
One of the world's most
popular interactive adven-
tures, Shades allows up to
128 people to play at any one
time.
MicroLink subscribers
will now be able to join the
more than 6,600 people from
around the world who have
attempted to achieve the
exalted rank of Shades
wizard — a feat accomplished
by less then one per cent of
participants.
photographs of local beauty
spots, wildlife, recreation
facilities and places of gen-
eral interest are held on the
Amiga databases.
When a visitor wants
information about a par-
ticular subject a single key-
stroke brings up a series of
menus and displays.
People can plan their
expeditions by using a spe-
cially designed keypad
which calls up animated
sequences of various
activities.
Programmer
shortage
A S Christmas approaches
more and more shops
seem to be saying that the
Amiga is comfortably out-
selling the ST, with a couple
of major London shops
having stopped selling the
Atari.
The success of the Amiga
has rebounded on software
houses which have found
that there is more work than
there are programmers to do
it.
CRL and Argonaut soft-
Art for
art's sake
G EORGE Thompson
Services is to launch a
new book called Profes-
sional Results with Deluxe
Paint II, Aimed at the novice
artist it teaches drawing
techniques as well as how to
get the most from Electronic
Art's much loved program.
ware have both called Amiga
Computing asking for the
names of programmers who
might be interested in
working in-house. With a
large number of pro-
grammers wanting to work
at home it is the really big
projects which require coor-
dinated teams which seem to
be suffering most.
Clement Chambers of CRL
said he wanted a "red hot
fiSOOO programmer and a
competent coder", One soft-
ware house said it would
take on as many good pro-
grammers as it could get.
The book looks at ways in
which to get your picture
into and out of the computer
using traditional art methods
and video, The comic strip
advice should be especially
useful to anyone using
DPaint with ComicSetter.
The book will cost £24.95i
and is available with two
discs of utility programs and
clip art for £44,95
New Workbench is
here at long last
JIM BUTTERFIELD
reporting from Canada
W ITH the year 2000 a
scant 12 years away,
some Commodore public
relations types are thinking
in terms of a "This is the age
of 2000" campaign for the
Amiga. Long before the year
2000 arrives, however, it
seems likely that mainstream
Amigas will carry higher
numbers 2500, or even the
fabled 8000.
Users are still chattering
about the great 3000 hoax
perpetrated on a USA west
coast user society. The
machine was really a clev-
erly redecorated Apple,
shown by a group claiming
to be Commodore VIPs. The
date of the club meeting?
April l t of course.
The long-awaited Work-
bench 1.3 system has finally
almost arrived. A Commo-
dore spokesman said that 1,3
is "released, but not yet
shipping’". It’s high time,
especially considering that
Commodore has shipped a
number of Amigas with 1,3
Kick start roms in place.
New users might be
puzzled to see the initial
screen showing a hand
*]im Butterfield, whu
lives in Toronto,
is acknowledged
world wide as the
Commodore
guru
holding a Workbench 1.3
disc - before that disc ver-
sion was available)
As a matter of interest, it
seems likely that there will
be no regional differences in
the various releases.
Europe may not get exactly
the same discs as will be
seen in the USA and Canada,
The 1.3 Workbench disc is
getting quite full, to the
extent that printer drivers
and fonts have tended to
migrate to the Extras disc.
The 2084S monitor is now
available. It's similar to exis-
ting Amiga monitors, but has
stereo sound.
Computer shows here still
have the original 1,0 Devel-
oper’s Kits for sale at greatly
reduced prices. Sometimes
they come with weighty
(Literally) documentation:
sometimes the individual
elements, such as C compiler
and MetaComco assembler,
are packaged as a separate
unit.
Some users are fearful of
buying material that is rela-
tively dated, but it's a
bargain.
November AM/GA COMPUTING 9
Commodore was packing no surprises
ALTHOUGH Commodore
was boasling the largest - il
certainly had just about the
most imposing - stand at this
year's PC Show there were
no big surprises there for
visitors lo Karls Court.
Commodore's huge black
pyramid contained a 10U-
seater theatre offering pres-
entations of third party
products. Remainder of the
public access floor space
was given over to hands-on
opportunities to play with
existing Commodore tech-
nology.
With nothing really
newsworthy to promote*
Commodore marketing man-
ager Dean Barrett was left
mouthing vague generalities
such as; “1988 is definitely
turning out to be a great year
for us - the impact of our
price restructuring in the
summer for the Amiga 500 is
now starting to have a dra-
matic effect".
But he promised: “We will
he taking a stronger stance
in all of O'Ur key markets
over the next 12 months".
Meanwhile it was left to
third parly suppliers to
provide interest for Amiga
users.
This again seemed to
centre on the games sector,
though there was a
scattering of interesting seri-
ous packages on view
around the show if you
looked hard enough.
MICRO DEAL [0726 68020)
unveiled its new Replay
Editor version 4.0 software
incorporating mouse con-
trol, multi sample presets
and midi interface facilities.
It has full mouse and drop-
down menu control, extra
frequencies on 50 and
61 KHz in HiFi mode, trigger
on sample and replay with
adjustable sensitivity, and a
real time oscilloscope with
freeze frame,
Michtron UK (0726 68020)
introduced US import VTX
On-Line, a graphics ori-
entated 1200/75 baud tele-
communications package for
the Amiga.
It includes online help
with manual references, full
scripts with automatic script
generation, clipboard com-
patible window buffer, tw r o-
window conferencing chat
mode and dual user
interface.
There is DEC VT-100 and
Tektronix 4014 emulation,
automatic graphics zoom
mode, CompuServe GIF
graphics and multiple file
transfer protocols including
Ascoi, Xmodem, Xmodem
IK, Ymodem, Kermit and B
Protocol, Price £59.95.
Cherry Electrical Products
Big peripherals line-up
(05827 63106) launched a
new graphics package. Its
enhanced digitiser driver
enables the Cherry A3
Graphics Tablet Mk 3 to
emulate the Amiga mouse.
The £550 digitiser pack-
age, price £550, consists of
A3 graphics tablet, 4-key
cross-hair cursor puck,
stylus, calculator- type mains
adapter and cabling.
HiSoft (0525 718181)
introduced Ihe new version
of Us popular - but two-
years-old — assembly lan-
guage development system
Devpac Amiga.
Improvements to the
assembler include multi-
section code, long labels,
local labels and a binary
include directive.
But the biggest single
improvement over the
original product is that both
assembler and debugger are
available instantly from
within the editor and pro-
grams can be assembled
directly to memory. Price
£59.95. Cameron UK [01-499
7517) was showing its £299
mouse-like Handy Scanner
and Amiga version of its
£590 flat-bed Personal A4
Scanner.
Hugh Symons Distribution
(0202 7457441 entertained
visitors with an Amiga
hooked up to a trio of Roland
synthesisers and running Dr
T KCS sequencing software.
On the bookshelves at
Dabs Press (061-766 8423)
was the new Dab d hand
Guide to Amiga Dos. Written
by Mark Burgess it costs
£14.95 and should be avail-
able this month.
Games war hots up
MicrodfwPs Replay in action
THE battle for supremacy in
the Christmas games market
started in the Earls Court lei-
sure hall where Ocean and
US Gold faced each other in
a war of the decibels.
"We've been number one
at Christmas for the past two
years with Gauntlet and
Outrun and we intend to be
there again with Thunder
Blade - the most popular
coin-op in Europe this year”,
said US Gold sales boss
Geoff Rrown.
"This will be backed up by
Summer Games, LED Storm
from Capcom and many
others",
US Gold (021-356 3388)
also announced impending
Amiga releases Realm of the
Trolls, Joan of Arc* Starball,
Tiger Road, Last Duel,
Human Killing Machine,
Black Tiger and Forgotten
World - all due out between
now and next March.
Across the aisle at Ocean
(061-832 6633) sales man-
ager Paul Patterson said:
"Last year people laughed
when we said we’d have five
games in the top 10 - hut we
did it.
"This year we're aiming to
fill the top five places, and
we can do it with the likes of
Batman, Rambo III, Dragon
Ninja, Robocop, Operation
Wolf and Wee Le Mans - all
available on the Amiga at
£24.95.
"These days we're looking
for around 100,060 sales for
everything we produce".
Ocean and US Gold won’t
have things their own way,
however. They can expect
plenty of competition from
Telecom so ft's Rain bird and
Firebird labels (01-379
6755),
Due from Rain bird are
Fish! and Verminator. with
Weird Dreams and Deja Vu
IlrLost in Los Angelas
"coming soon" - priced
£24,99 each.
Firebird has released an
Amiga version of the David
Rraben and Ian Bell classic
Elite in glorious 3D graphics,
price £24,95. Hot on the
heels of Elite, Firebird's
November release will be
Blazing Barrels by I com
Simulations, price £19.99,
with Savage, written and
programmed by Probe Soft-
ware, to follow,
Hewson (0235 832939)
Id AMIGA COMPUTING Noronber HHIS
Z88 laptop latest
1o
WITH the availability of data
transfer links between the
to
Amiga and Z88, there was
iga
much interest in the latest
to
software for the Cambridge
Computer laptop.
or,
Spell-Master from Com-
a
puter Concepts (0442 63933)
:ri«
is a £59 easy-to-use text
iw
editor with integrated 60,000
cm
word spelling checker. Text
)
dream can be loaded into the
text editor and spelling
checked using the quick-edit
facility.
On a smaller scale,
Wordchip from Harvester
Information Systems (01-831
2331] contains 30„000 words
and costs £49. 95, Also from
Harvester comes Data
Organiser for simple record
keeping, price £39,95.
Due for release at the end
of the year, priced £69. zBase
database from Word mongers
(0296 4 37878) has a fast
search facility plus the abil-
ity to index data and output
files for further processing of
business applications such
as sales order processing and
stocktaking.
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also previewed a strong all-
action Christmas line-up for
the Amiga in Nebulus. Elrrni-
nator, Stormlord and
Astaroth - all priced £19.99
- plus Kalashnikov which is
due out early in the new
year.
The new 1 mage works
label from Mirrorsoft (01-377
4645) fulfilled its promises to
supply Amiga users with
sophisticated action games.
On view were air comhat
simulator Sky Chase and
abstract puzzle game Bom-
buzal, price £19,99. plus Fer-
nandez Must Die and
SpecdbalL price £24.99.
Interactive Cinema ware
from Mirrorsoft to follow
Defender of the Crown
includes Rocket Ranger,
price £29.99, Lords of the
Rising Sun, price £24,99,
with TV Sports Football -
“so real it sweats" - to follow
in the New Year.
Dungeon Master is on its
way for Amiga users from
FTL. Other Mirrorsoft
projects include Bismark,
Theatre Europe and Water-
loo - all from strategy spe-
cialists PSS. priced £24.99,
Firezone, Final Frontier, Sor-
cerer Lord and Harpoon will
follow.
And Mirrorsoft will be
releasing an Amiga version
of Falcon AT. the award-
winning fighter plane simu-
lation From US publisher
Spectrum Holobyte, From
the same source in the New
Year will come PT-109.
Mandarin Software (0625
878888) made a stunning
debut in the Amiga enter-
tainment marketplace with
Pioneer Plague - the world's
first 4,096 (HAM) colour
mode game and the only
package specifically devel-
oped to take advantage of the
Amiga's hold and modify
graphics facility. Price
£19,95.
’There's nothing like it
around’"* said Mandarin’s
Chris Payne, "As a giant leap
forward it can fairly be lik-
ened to when technicolour
took over from monochrome
film",
Also Launched by Man-
the£
PERSONAL
COMPUTER
Microdears Turho-Trax
darin were Lancelot and
Lombard/KAU Rally, priced
£19.95 each. Tri-adventure
Lancelot is based on the
Arthurian legend - there’s a
chance here to win a £5,000
replica of the Holy Grail -
while Lombard/RAC Rally is
bang up-to-date, faithfully
recreating the gruelling
cross-country journey of a
300bph Ford Sierra RS
Cos worth.
Microdeal (0726 68020)
concentrated on three new
Amiga titles - an arcade
game based on the film
Frightnight, spv-chase Major
Motion and model racing car
simulation Turbo-Trax. All
are priced £19.95.
Christmas offering from
Prism Leisure (01-804 8100)
is The Krista 1 - not cheap at
£29,95, but the three-disc sci-
ence fiction odyssey pro-
grammed by Fission Chip
Software is already being
hailed as "the game of the
decade".
Grandslam (01-247 6434)
launched Us Amiga versions
of the Namco coin-op
classics Pac- Mania and Pac-
Land, both priced £19,95.
Big Apple (01-368 5545)
recreated downtown Man-
hattan on its stand to present
its First Amiga product
Oops!, an addictive strategy
maze game priced £19,95-
Novagen Software (021-
449 9516) gave pride of place
to an entertaining demon-
stration of Paul Woakes’ pro-
gress on his 16-bit block-
buster Damocles, sequel to
Mercenary and due out for
Christmas,
The team at Domark
(01-947 5622) shared its
stand with Margaret
Thatcher, But it was only the
Spitting Image version of the
Prime Minister, there to pub-
licise Domark *s latest
licence.
Domark was also
previewing a number of
other leisure products due
for launch soon. They in-
cluded The Computer Mani-
ac’s Diary, Return of the Jedi,
Genus II - Trivial Pursuit
(prices as yet undecided) and
Live and Let Die, price £24.99.
SmvBi berlQ/W AMIGA COMPUTING 11
THE AMIGA CENTRE
77/79 Rochester Row, London SW1
01-931 7161
SELECTED ITEMS
Micro-Systems
- Excellence vl .1
£229
Precision
- Superbase Professional
£224
Gold
-Professional Page vl .1
£249
Cameron
- Handy Scanner
£299
Electronic Arts
- Deluxe Photo Lab
£69
Easeware
- Homebuilders Cad
£149
Spirit
- 1 .5 Mb Expansion CA500
£499
Interstel
- Empire
£29
Microsearch
- Headcoach
£39
Rainbird
- Carrier Command
£24
- Starglider II
£24
- Corruption
£24
All prices include VAT. Add £2.00 for postage
UK/Europe
Monday-Saturday 10.00am/6.00pm
Access/Visa/Eurocheques accepted
n AMIGA COMPUTING November isa/r
■ADVENTURE!
On line to fantasy
Neils Reynolds on the story behind Shades,
the fast-growing multi-user adventure
D EEP in the wooded wilds of
Southern England t far beyond
the Stockbroker Belt where no Yuppie
has ever ventured, lives a mysterious
being who has created a strange and
mystical land. He is the Arch Wizard
Hazeii - adopting the name of Neil
Newell for everyday use - and the
land is Shades.
No longer a figment of his
imagination. Shades has been made
accessible to any mere mortal who
has the use of a telling bone, a
modem and who is enrolled in Ihe
fabled society of MicroLink /Telecom
Gold and Micro net.
The Arch- Wizard first became
interested in multi-user adventures
when he encountered the original
multi-user game MU Li running on a
mainframe at Essex University.
However, he soon felt that the game
could be improved in many areas,
and what started as a hobby was soon
taking up all his time. So it was that
the Land of Shades came into being
and mild-mannered Neil Newell
became Ha seen. Arch Wizard,
Shades is a vast sprawling
landscape where lost souls, knights,
wolves, witches and wizards prowl
looking for treasure or trouble - or
both. You create your own
personality within the game,
travelling through the mysterious
kingdom, forging alliances and
fighting battles in your quest for
treasure.
You strive to work your way
through 13 ranks of Innocents,
Soothsayers, Necromancers and
Warlocks until you attain the ultimate
rank of Wizard or Witch - depending
on your own personal inclination,
In this true multi-user game, other
travellers you meet in Shades may be
computer generated, but are more
likely to be insomniacs attached to a
telephone line anywhere in the
country. The character you are talking
with could be your next door
neighbour or a lighthouse keeper in
the Orkneys - players have been
known to log on from all over Europe
and as far away as New Zealand.
There is no denying the party
atmosphere of Shades. Even those
who are not accomplished
adventurers can enjoy the game,
talking lo other players, acting out
fantasies or just getting used to the
game at their own pace.
Help can be asked of fellow
travellers, but then you are never sure
whether their advice can be relied
upon,..
There is much on offer to serious
adventurers too with brain-curdling
problems to solve, a whole babble of
heasties and nasty characters to deal
with anti promotions to achieve - by
fair means or foul.
So the adventure does not become
too crowded and all players have a
good opportunity at treasure-
grabbing, Up to 16 independent
games can be running at one time
and you can choose which of them to
join.
You are also told who is playing in
which game, so that if you have an
especially good relationship with
another player - or a vendetta to
pursue - you can join it, if there's
room.
Starting out is made easy for the
novice by a special introduction area.
This leads you into the game with a
full information centre about the Land
of Shades. Progressing through this
you eventually arrive in the Land
proper and your quest begins.
Shades currently has a user base of
more than 0,000 players. Of these
only 40 have achieved the ultimate
rank of Wizard - given special
powers and privileges so they can
directly affect the progress of the
game.
Indeed, even the all-powerful
Hazeii himself treads the paths of the
Land (sometimes invisibly) and his
wrath is said to be terrible if roused
by those with ideas above their
station.
The fantasy is constantly under
development and new locations are
currently being designed and built
into the game as the Arch Wizard
concocts ever more fiendish devices
to entrap the unwary travellers in the
Land of Shades.
• A regular tour o f the mystical land
of Shades starts in next month s
Amiga Computing.
Shades is a vailable on:
MicroLitlkf Telecom Gold key > Shades
Micro n et/ Presto) key 'Shades#
u n »ve arrived 1
Tina the tor Sfen
««i by . ahrlel ,
Ftrmwiijh F.&nfi ill STllJi fl&AC
Adventuring through the Land of Shades;
Keying WHO shows the [flayers currently in the
9 game
November ittfifi AMIGA COMPUTING 13
Dave Eriksson fights
demons from EA and
mammon from BT
L| OLLOWfNG the success of The
jL Bard's Talc, Electronic Arts has
now released the Amiga version of
The Bard s Tale H - The Destiny
Knight, If part one was tough going
then wait until you enter the realms
of part two. Part three is also in the
pipeline - heaven help us.
Bard's II is a role playing adventure
similar in format to its predecessor.
Puzzles are much improved, with
many cryptic clues to be found and
interpreted before each stage may be
completed.
The story continues from where
Bard's I stopped. Members of your
team were looking forward to living
off the tales of their exploits, hut this
is not to be. Evil still stalks the land
and it is their fate to solve the mystery
of the Destiny Knight.
They find themselves in the
Adventurer's Guild in the town of
Tangramayne and their first task is to
hk rescue a local princess. She has been
abducted and is being held at the
bottom of a four level starter
dungeon that will hone your
team for the more serinus work
« to come.
After this, they leave town and
travel through the wilderness to
consult the Sago, He offers advice
throughout the rest of their quest - to
14 AMIGA COMPUTING November 1988
■ADVENTURES®
PWizheln
PD^agortwajid
PDeithpinQ
Speedboot s
Sen Arrows
{?Pipes of Part
CROM
find and restore the seven segments of
the Destiny Wand.
Towns and places in the wilderness
must be visited, mapped and their
puzzles solved before the final
objective can be achieved.
Follow the instructions to copy the
master disc and create a character
disc and you are ready to start. As
before, six ready made characters are
provided, you may use them, create
your own or import characters from a
Bard's 1 disc.
When you create a character you
first choose his race - human, elf,
dwarf, hobbit, half-elf, half-ore or
gnome. Random values are given for
strength, dexterity, intelligence,
constitution and luck. If you do not
like what you are, you may re-roll
another set. Finally you must decide
class: Warrior, paladin, rogue, hunter,
monk, bard* conjurer or magician,
and name your traveller.
Classes have different abilities so
read the instructions carefully before
choosing, Initial attributes are
important, especially in relation to the
proposed class - strength to a fighting
man, intelligence to a magic user*
dexterity, constitution and luck to all.
Although you can take out a team
of seven t it is often desirable,
sometimes necessary, to leave one or
more slots free. These may be
occupied either by creatures you meet
nr by others called to your aid by
your magic users. Friendly dragons
are useful long range weapons in
areas where magic does not work,
A Bard can both fight and cast
spells by singing special songs.
Singing is thirsty work and between
drinks he can only sing as many
songs as he has levels of experience.
He is a pretty weak magic user but
his ability to use magic instruments
can make him very useful. Cold horns
can freeze a number of foes and
Death Drums administer the coup de
grace to almost anything!
Bard s II differs from Bard's 1 in
several ways but the most important
are the option to save your game
position outside the Adventurer's
Guild, its recognition of distance and
the use of missile weapons.
The first four team members may
directly attack creatures up to 10 feet
away. Other ranks of assailants may
he as far away as 90 Feet and maifi
only be attacked by magic or missile
weapons
The team may only move Forward -
At Garth s Equipment Shoppe there is a large range of items for sale
10 feet a turn - when there are no
opponents within 10 feet. One strong
creature can hinder the team’s
advance while archers, dragons or
magic users are showering death from
afar.
One particularly unpleasant
situation you will become familiar
with is a magic user at 90 feet
creating a series of further magic
users or death-dealing Slayers
between him and you. Some of these
additional magic users creating
further magic users.
The cities are smaller than in Bard's
I and are easier to map. There is a
map of Tangramayne in the
instructions which shows all the
useful places to visit.
K ILLING monsters adds both to
your experience and purse. As
experience grows, visit the review
board; if experience is high enough
you will gain a level. This is
important as an increase in level adds
to hit and spell points and also to one
of your main attributes.
Greater hit points enable you to
take more damage and spell points
determine the number of spells that
may be cast. Loss of hit points in a
fight can be restored by visiting a
temple - in exchange for some of
your hard won gold. Spell points
slowly restore as time passes, visit
Roscoe’s Energy Emporium and you
can buy them back - for more gold.
As in Bard's I, the initial stages are
not easy. Each character starts with
only a few gold pieces and must visit
Garth's Equipment Shoppe to buy
weapons and armour. Each item of
armour will reduce your armour
class? which in turn reduces damage
sustained in battle. With such little
money, you can only buy fairly low
quality equipment.
Money Is all-important, for better
equipment, to heal wounds and as
payment to the review' board for
magic users to learn more spells.
Items found on your foes may either
be used or sold at Garth's, You can
cheat a little by creating additional
members, pooling their money and
then deleting unwanted characters.
As in Bard's f, low level warriors
are expendable; concentrate on
keeping higher level characters alive
and improving the levels of your
magic users.
Importing high level characters
from Bard's I seemed too much of a
cheat, so I only transferred a very rich
magic user and started from scratch
with the others. Even so it was bard
work keeping the team alive through
lhat first dungeon, As a reward for
success, their experience was bumped
up to 200,000.
Even with the levels that this gave
the party, the other dungeons were no
walkover and that original imported
magic user is still with the team.
All special areas are loosely called
dungeons, even if they arc in fact
towers, crypts or fortresses. In all but
the first, they end up with a timed
puzzle snare. Once this section is
entered, there is no turning back and
November AMIGA COMPUTING 15
©Oofe
710#
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A 500 CnrrpuCa? jfluilt in 3.5' P»k Drive)
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A 500 [a* above) wtih printer
Cdcwr M«nh
Monitor ..
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ASM T.V, Modulator
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Pack Plus twrtlary backed dock
E&99.90
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P „ £129*26
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2 nd External DISC Drive tor ASOO „
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Oi « Bor* (Uddk » Decs)
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Word P<
X Cad ,
VWeoerape 3E>’irJIL, £1 42.75
WB^dPeSect 4,10,.„.„
..£34,95
..034.95
Zuma Font* II — — —
luma Font* III
Excellence £198 86
Light*, Camera, Action £ 57.90
E50.L_
£50.50
£29 50
£115 00
£95 50
£110,00
£1 75.50
£325. DO
£24.50
£24.50
£24.50
£135.00
£39.50
birthday
CELEBRATIONS
on Stand 105
Commodore Show
Nov o to I F Hommoramith
1Sth-20th November
JOIN US
i6 AMIGA COMPUTING November 1988
■ADVENTURES!
you cannot save or pause the game.
You must solve its puzzle or die.
If you have saved at fairly regular
intervals death in a puzzle snare is
not such a catastrophe, as you can
always Teturn for another attempt.
Dungeons are mapped on a 22 by
22 grid, but they scroll round and if
you keep going east you could come
back to where you started. Map
dungeons very carefully, you must he
certain that you have been
everywhere. Messages written on
walls or spoken by magic mouths are
nearly all vital clues to either the
puzzle snare in that dungeon or to
gameplay elsewhere.
Some areas forbid any form of
light. These parts often contain
spinner squares, where you are
magically spun around, Using the
Bard's song to produce light, or a
magical item like a Day blade, will
produce a short burst of light - just
enough to check your orientation.
Creatures met in some dungeons
are very powerful and it is no
dishonour to retreat If one otters to
join your team, accept and view its
hit points with horror. On several
dungeon levels I found the only way
to survive was to run.
Your magic users start out as
conjurer or magician, each with
different sets of spells. With progress,
they may change class to sorcerer,
wizard and finally archmage, The
archmage has some powerful spells,
but it takes a long time to master this
level .
Lots of interesting items are found
in the loot from defeated foes. Many
have magic capabilities - experiment
to find out what they do. The sage
may tell you about some of them. The
dungeons also have clues on what to
ask the sage, hut he charges more the
further you progress.
S AVE before entering his huh if
you do not offer enough money,
return to a guild and load game. You
will then he hack outside the sage's
hut ready to offer a little more gold.
Offerings arc not cumulative - it has
to be enough hrst time.
Bard's II uses a lot nf memory and
it is unwise to use two disc drives as
the small amount of memory used by
the second drive can occasionally
cause ihe program to crash. For
safety, make a back up character disc
Warriors are an important component n f the party
at fairly regular intervals.
Commands may be given via the
keyboard or mouse and w r ork very
smoothly. The graphics, both of the
scenery and the creatures you meet
arts good.
If you get really stuck, Electronic
Arts Customer Service Department is
happy to help on 0753 4B465, It also
provides an excellent clue hook,
complete with dungeon maps for £5.
M ANY people believe that
Infocom produces the best
adventure games. This obviously
depends upon the type of game you
favour, active or passive. Is it a total
mind bender or do you prefer the
adrenalin to be pumped as well?
If you are for the mind-bender type,
you may have to consider someone
else taking over the lead position.
Corruption, written by Magnetic
Scrolls and distributed hy Rain bird,
must surely be the nearest contender
we have yet seen as a genuine
replacement to Infocom *s past
successes.
Your knowledge of the plot at the
start is minimal. All you have is that
your name is Derek Rogers, a
financial whiz in the City, Having
shown a talent in dealing with today's
money markets, you have been
offered and accepted a partnership
from David Rogers - that could cause
some confusion for a start *§Sl4r
The new job seems almost too good
to be true. You just love your new
BMW with its built-in everything.
Back in the office you find that your
new secretary is somewhat
uncommunicative and that you do not
even have your own phone, but as the
firm is moving to new premises
shortly you are not that worried - or
are you,..
Initially it is the little things that jar.
like the mention of the Serious Fraud
Squad In the dealing room and being
rather roughly excluded from a
meeting between David and the
company’s legal adviser.
As you start to look around the
feeling of unease grows and the
discovery of your firm’s cheque for
£60,000 made out to a wanted
criminal is definitely causing cold
chills to run up and down your spine.
A fairly short spin at the keyboard
will convince you that being framed
for insider dealing is only one of your
worries. Two successful attempts on
your life must make you wonder if
there is more than coincidence in the
fact that you and your new partner
are both D. Rogers.
T HERE are plenty of things to
find and manipulate in
Corruption, but the crux of the game
is timing and character interaction.
Everything possible must be
examined and noted, Clues found in
this fashion can then be tbit to other
r TELL
E+ii replies a fresh
Hub of enquifteT may be built up.
Each command you input makes
November J9S8 AMIGA COMPUTING I?
■ADVENTURES
the on-screen clock tick on one
minute, Not only does this mean yon
must clock watch to ensure you have
time to get to any appointments, but
also that people and items of interest
may appear and disappear as time
goes by.
Unless you have an exceedingly
good memory you must make notes
of what you have spoken about with
various people. Some events and
replies will only happen if you have
completed specific actions.
As time is important, you will
certainly be using the save facility 7 . If
you return to a previous save you
must know what you have said and
what you have yet to say.
The box contains some vital
information presented In the form of
sheets from a filolux notebook and
also an audio cassette. The latter you
will be cued to play at the appropriate
time and is a lovely example of how ,
with clever editing, an innocent
conversation may be used against
you.
Graphics are as good as any yet
produced by Magnetic Scrolls and not
surprisingly concentrate on people
rather than scenery. There are the
usual frustrating-to-key-in ciphered
hints and at first glance they seem to
be less useful than in the past. This
may be a mistake, as Corruption is
REPORT CARL)
CORRUPTION
Magnetic Scrolls.' Ruin bird
£24.95
STORY UNE
A plot that could win an Oscar.
AURA
Has you on the edge of your seat
STA Visa PO IVER
A daunting problem to solve in time.
GA MEPLA ..
fine interpreter makes all possible.
Good if you ve got the staying power.
DIFFICL LTV
| Not easy but dedication pays off.
OVERALL
Very good, but not for those who like
to take their time finding things
not an easy game to solve and
without sensible help some less than
zealous players may falter on the
wayside.
REPORT CARD
THE BARD'S TALE 1 1 - The Dustiny
Knight
Electronic: Arts
£24.95
storyline.
j Vo frills plot with twist in its tail
AURA
Only when your party limps home with
its dead and wounded can you relax.
STA YING P( f WER . I
Many many days of concentrated
action.
G A MEPLA Y
Proven system with even more features
| VALUE
Lots to find r lots to do in Bard land
DIFFICULTY,...,
Survival and mapping not always easy,
mi new teems should stay near temples.
OVERALL
A good mix of tactics and cerebration.
I a AMIGA COMPUTING November
ONLY
REPLAY® PROUDLY PRESENTS...
The New Microblaster Joystick,
professional arcade quality, fully microswitched
for the ultimate in game control.
ORDER TODAY AND TAKE CONTROL!
FEATURES INCLUDE
1. Ergonomically designed handle and
base for smooth, accurate and
comfortable playing action.
Steel shaft for extra strength & durability,
3- way arcade quality microswitches
giving greater sensitivity end precision
controlled movement.
■MM Compumart are
)))■ the Officially
\\VW An pc 'ii.cc Sole
\\\» UK Dealer for
Replay Joysticks
4. Non-slip rubber feet on base for secure
table mounted operation.
5. Large, duel-fire microswitched fire
buttons for left or right hand operation.
6. Extra long 1.4 metre cable allows more
choice of player position.
7. Switchable norma l/rap id fire options
for extra player control and higher scores.
Suitable for use with a wide range of
computers and video game machines.
Compumart Ltd., Jubilee Drive, Loughborough, Lelcs. LEllOXS, Teh (0509) 610444
ORDER TODAY AND TAKE CONTROL!
PLEASE RUSH ME _ J0YSTICK(S)@£12.95 each .
Total enclosed £
Type of com pu ter owned
Despatched same day. Allow maximum 7 days delivery.
Please deliver to:
Na me Da te„
Add re ss _ __
Postcode __
Pric& inc. VAT. free postage & packaging U.K. only subject to avail ability. E &. O.E.
( 0509 ) 610444
24 HR HOTLINE
to order using
ACCESSA/ISA
or complete the
coupon and send with
a cheque/ P.Q. to:
COMPUMART LTD
DEPT. AC
FREEPOST
LOUGHBOROUGH
LEli OBR
CO/^C
GENIUS
Holy laserjets, Amiga man! Rupert Goodwins
draws his conclusions on a program which
makes desktop publishing more fun than
picking up a Penguin
F OR a machine that tells lousy
jokes, the Amiga has great comic
potential. The worlds of the Great
American Comic Paper - colourful,
loud and picture-based — and the
Amiga - colourful, loud and picture-
based - were destined to mush from
the beginning.
Some might call it karma, others -
noting Andy Warhol at the Amiga
launch and the similarity between the
technical documentation and certain
underground publications ot the late
'60s - would call it sound marketing.
Perhaps it’s all the same thing.
Whatever, the Amiga now has a
desktop publishing (DTP) program tor
the twilight world of superheroes,
Snoopy and shazaiTL Comic Setter
from Gold Disk - producers of
Professional Page, probably the best
Amiga DTP program - it- designed to
let the would-be boy (or girl} Marvel
churn out then own si dps,
newsletters, posters and even
complete comics.
|P?omes with plenty of graph
knowledge of the rules and tradhm
of comic layout and style, and needs
at least a megabyte of ram. But for
those teetering between a second
floppy or that extra half-mug of
silicon, it is quite happy with just the
one drive on an A500,
A swift double-click on the all-
action icon from the Workbench - it
comes with 1.3, of which mor
brings up the main screen. It all 1
familiar enough to anyone who's
dabbled with painting, drawing o:
DTP programs — a black title bar
along the top of the screen, a selection
of cryptic icons along the I eft hand
side and a large blank area in the
middle.
T HERE are the familiar palette:.
paintbrush and circle gadgets,
but what of the stern face, the kissing
turtles and the mouth with straw?
Time lor the manual.
In fact, the manual will have been
consulted before arty work gets done
anyway, as we lucky Europeans have
to pass the “Page 35, line 2, word 4 t+
test before we are recognised as
friends. Nasty nasty. I have a certain
sympathy for Gold Disk, but it will
take the hacking posses less time to
rip off than Clark Kent's shirt while
the rest of us will be cursing lost
20 A MIGA COMPUTING November 19itS
■ R E V I E W ■
BPociinenTs
Magnify
A2
than
BFullpage
A 3
B Fast
Shcu Boxes
RShou Gadgets
>TH
Units
Interlace
KJ
Page Cache
nHorkbench
Available Me hop y, . .
manuals deep into the night
After that it gets hetter. and fast.
The manual takes the new user
through a mouse-on tutorial 10
minutes into which a recognisable
comic strip is taking shape on the
1084. Those expecting to launch
straight into a Watchman cloning
session will he disappointed though,
as comic setting proves to be much
more of a science than is apparent
from the dog-eared publications
weighing down the shelves in
Forbidden Planet,
The first part of the tutorial is a
quick tour of all those gadgets. The
mouth- with -straw is in fact ne
Drawing Mode Cudgel {silly me - it's
a T-square and a triangle), and
switches between structured and
bitmap drawing modes. These two
modes are right at the heart of the
way ComicSetter handles graphics.
The face is Bitmap Create; a way into
the painting capabilities of the
program, and the kissing turtles are
for text entry. Sometimes I wonder
about icons...
L OOK at any comic 1 and the page
will be divided into panels.
There's a tool for this, which allows a
panel to be placed anywhere on the
atnd
later. A menu option generates a
pagafii] of panels, all lined-up and
ready for action. This is I' common,
theme o| GumicSetter,
While the novice is just getting
going there is a lot of hand-holding.
Things happen automatically; items
are align i d to a grid, graphics clipped
to fit the space availabJefboxes
appear whets something is about to
happen. All this results in
professional output with a minimum
►
Zoom in to add detail
November 1988 AMIGA COMPUTING 21
Castle House,
11 Newcastle Street,
Burslem,
Stoke-on-Trent,
ST6 3QB
Tel: 0782 575043
AMIGA SPECIAL
Lurking Horror
8 99
Army Moves
....14 &
OFFERS
Leather Goddess
...9 99
Silent Service
-M- 15.99
Whitness
....7,99
Soccer Supremo
9 99
Fernandez Must Die
. 14 99
Suspect
7 99
Flintstones
1299
Football Manager tl
11.99
Moonmist
7 99
Gee Bee Air Rally
,..15,99
Outrun.,,,, ,
14 99
Barbarian It
.14 99
Balance of Power
.17.99
1943
. 17 99
Return to Genesis
,11 99
Bermuda Project
1499
Par 3
, 17 99
Alien Syndrome
,12 99
Beyond the Ice Palace ...
.... 15 50
Sancophaser
14 99
Starfleet 1
,16 50
Buggy Boy
*.** 14 99
Motorbike Madness
9 99
Empire
.16.50
Deja Vu
1799
Zoom
12 50
Aaargh!
.11 99
Faerytale Adventure
*,* 18 99
Around the World in
Bards Tale l
.15.99
Emerald Mines
12 50
60 days
, 12.99
Bards Tale it
..15.99
Fire Power
„„ 15 99
Lancelot
Bubble Bobbie
.11 99
Fortress Underground
9 95
Menace .
..12.99
Space Harrier
14 99
Jet
,,24 99
Maniax
.12.99
Hacker IE
4 99
Obi i to rater .
,,15.50
Revenge II
...699
Hacker
..,.4 99
Vyper
9.99
Fantavision
. 24 95
Division \
....4.99
Uninvited
,,17.99
Druid II
. 11.99
Mindshadow
, ...4.99
Thundercats
....15 99
Drum Studio
. 12 99
Alien Strike
3 99
Sidewinder . ...
6 99
Star Wars
.11 99
Ball Raider
...399
Shadow Gate
,.,15,99
Ne bolus
,,14 99
Jigsaw Maniac
3.99
Hunt for Red October ....
,15.99
Cybemoid
14 99
Sky Fighter,,
,399
Speed Ball
15 99
Zynaps
14 99
Shooting Star
2 99
Combat School
,,15.99
Netherworld
. 14 99
Space Port
2.99
Garfield
,.,,12 99
Virus
12 99
Pac Boy
,399
International Soccer
12 99
Whirligig
12 99
Morteville Manor
.14 99
Iron Lord
..,.17.95
Starglider II
., 14 99
Overton dor
.,14.99
Bat
.... 16 95
Empire Strikes Back
12 50
D, Thompsons Ofympic
Land of Legends ............
.,,,16.50
Garrison II
14 99
Challenge
.15 99
Miekey Mouse *
,,.15.99
Fire and Forget
14 99
Corruption
.1499
Operation Wolf
,.15.99
Earl Weaver Baseball ......
16 50
Platoon
,.14.99
Excefon
14.99
interceptor
16 50
Three Stooges ,...,
.,14,99
Hotball
,,,,15 99
Leathernecks
12 50
Tetris
6.99
Chrono Quest
.,.19.99
Pacmania
14 99
Gettysburg ,
17 99
Captain Blood
.15.99
Star - Goose
12 50
Hollywood Poker
,„,499
Dungeon Master
15 99
Mercenary Compendium
..11.99
King of Chicago
. 19,99
Tanglewood
12.99
Carrier Command
.,14,99
Test Drive
.16.99
Univ Mil Sim
,15.99
Bomb jack
.. 14.99
Thunder Boy
.,.6,99
Beyond Zork
16.99
Ultima 4
..14,99
War Zone
mm 3.99
Port of Call
,27 99
World Tour Golf ....
.,15.50
Prisoner of War
19 99
Pac Land
,,15 99
Winter Olympiad '88
..,,699
Sword of Sedan
. P.O.A.
Night Raider.
..,,14 99
Strike Force Harrier
.,,.8 95
Witness *,„ „*«
.7.99
Phantasm
.... 14.99
Dark Castle
,...895
Bone Cruncher
...999
Gi ganoid
,*, 10.50
Powerdrome
16 99
Peter Beardsleys Soccer .
..12.99
Rockford
,,,,12 99
Skate or Die
16.99
Sherlock
,*, 9.99
Narcom 6
,..12.99
Fusion
16 99
A Mind Forever Voyaging
.,.,899
Weird Dreams,
,,,16 99
Intant music
.. 16 99
Crazy Cars, .....
.... 7.99
Deja Vu 91
,,,16.99
Battle Chess
16 99
Cogans Run
....4 99
Fish
,*,16 99
Deluxe Video .....
46 99
Championship Cricket
9,99
Hostages
„ 16.50
Deluxe Photo Lab
46 99
Rugby League
9 99
CD Music
10.50
Deluxe Paint 11
46 99
Capone
,19 99
Stunt Man
,..13.95
Verminator
, 15 50
Ikari Warriors
„ 14.99
Warlocks Quest
....12.99
Rocket Ranger .
..16.99
Sub Battle Sim
17 99
Macadam Bumper
.12.99
Sex Vixens from Outer
Vector Ball
9.95
Spider Tronic
12.99
Space
.24 99
Street Fighter
. 16.99
North and South
... 1599
Elf
595
Gariy Med
14.99
Operation Nempune
. 15 99
Seconds Out
....6,95
Sinbad
. 16,99
Action Service
,,12 99
Rocky
....4,95
S.D.i.
16 99
Wanderer 3D
.... 16 99
Othello
4 99
Black Lamp
.12.99
Question ot Sport
16 99
Western Games
.*,.4.99
Elite
,14 99
Space Hairier II
,,16.99
Kwasimodo ...
3 99
Xenon
12 99
Paper Boy
16 99
Diablo,..
,„,3 99
Ebon Star
..14,99
Live and Let Die
16,99
Hard Ball
...6 99
Pandora
,11 99
Ghosts and Goblins
16 99
Bureaucracy
„.,8 95
Jinks
.16 50
Fire Zone ,
.,16.99
Hollywood Hijinx
...899
Bionic Commando
.14 99
TV Football
19 99
Nord and Bert
..,.7 99
Chubby Gristle
.11 99
Bombuzat
16 99
Plundered Hearts
,,,,7 99
Better Dead Than Alien
,12.99
Bis mark
16.99
Battleships 12.99
Driller ,.,.16.50
Robbeary 12.99
Highway Hawks .... 13.99
Deep Thought 16.99
Wizards Castle ,„„.13.99
Summer Events 13.50
Scorpio .., 13 50
Holler Skelter ...10.95
Alternate Reality 12 99
Victory Road 16.99
Guerilla Wars 16.99
Batman 16.99
Rambo III .16 99
Dragon Ninja ,,.16.99
Wee Le Mans 16.99
Robocop .... „ 16.99
Frontier 15 99
Blazing Barrels 12 99
Lombard Rally Sim ... 13.50
Strange New World. 7. 99
Alter Burner 14.50
Black Tiger ...17 99
Federation of Free Traders 21 99
Lords of the Rising Sun 21.99
Ultimate Golf 14.99
International Karate + 1 3.99
JUST ARRIVED
SPECIAL CLEARANCE PRICE
Pro 5000 Black Joystick
RRP 14 95 Our Price 10 50
Pro 5000 Clear Joystick
RRP 15 95 Our Price 11.50
MOUSE BRACKET
Fits lo the side of your computer
and holds your mouse safely
SPECIAL PRICE
2.99
Have you mleaed our
Special Offer* 7
Crazy Cars 7,99
Sherlock, ...9 99
Tetris .6 99
Hardball ,„„,*,*,* 6 99
Gettysburg 17 99
Winter Olympiad 86 ,6.99
Universal Disc Drive
Cleaning Fluid 1.99
Antistatic Spray .199
Antistatic Foam Gleaner .. 1.99
Antistatic Screen Cleaner 1.99
or all 4 plus doihs, brushes etc
only £5.95
DON'T GET RIPPED OFF
THIS CHRISTMAS
COME TO THE
PROFESSIONALS Elll
Most goods sent by return
ofpost New releases send
day of release.
Please note We use 1st class
post and offer 1st dass service
We offer a fast reliable service by return of Post! Cheque's P.O's to:
CASTLE COMPUTERS
Any games not listed phone our Hotline Now on 0702 575043
22 AMIGA Xtjvumkcr iliiiS
-
■ R E V I E W ■
of fiddling, keeping enthusiasm
alight, When some skill has been built
up, then the aids can be turned off for
a freer, more exciting format.
Once some frames have been
placed on screen, one is selected -
click on it, of course. Putting some
graphics on it is a matter of choosing
Import Graphics from the Project
menu (why no gadget?), when the
pointer changes to an inverted L,
Plonking this on a frame and
dragging out a rectangle defines an
area to clip the graphics to. Then a
picture is, er, picked from a standard
directory listing window.
About pictures: ComicSelter can
work with any IFF picture, so yes you
can Dpaint up some tides, scan in the
dog or sample Noe! Edmonds (have
you no shame?) from the video. You
can even, if possessed of the
technology and a disregard for
intellectual property rights, nick fudge
□read with a hand-held scanner and
set him to work sweeping the streets
of Gotham City. Holy Moebius,
Robin!
C OM1CSETTER comes with a
disc of standard- issue superhero
clip art, various flying women in
swimming cuzzies [what is it with
superheroes and near-nudism? A1
least the baddies have the decency to
wear suits), arms, legs and lasers.
There are at least three more two-disc
sets of art, with about 60 different
frames with up to 20 separate pictures
per frame - Superheroes, Science
Fiction and Funny Figures. All
omcSettw vlJ PAL Doe l karts
Naked people are part of the supplied dip art
American politics culture is here.
When the picture appears in a
window it can be clipped out by
lassoing it with a line drawn around
the relevant bit| or a rectangle
corresponding to the space available
in the frame can be moved over the
artwork*
Since most of the pictures provided
don't fit in the window, if the pointer
is moved off-window the graphics
scroll in from that edge. This is an
odd mechanism that works very well
once the initial idea is grasped;
GomicSetter uses it often when a
window is too small for the graphics
its displaying.
Once a picture is in a frame, the fun
begins, There's a gadget with a b in a
speech balloon, which even a nitpicky
reviewer can understand, Select this.
C J
| Jagged
| Em |
/ n
!
'-p
.
A
It Peaks
U
Peak Height (9 - 199)
£35 wi
it if
insu
OK
Cancel t
OK, I'll
—
Won
tha
he adi
User-definable speech hubbies
drag out a rectangle on the frame and
a balloon appears. This can he in
several styles - chosen by double-
clicking on the gadget - standard oval
speech, p lumpy "thinks**/', clipped
rectangle for titles and spiky for
“voice from the radio".
In the fine tradition ComicSelter is
establishing, the ardent balloonist can
even define the number of peaks in
the spiky and thinks formats. Text is
then typed in, again in one of several
Fonts {the usual gemstones and a
couple of comicbook lettering
specials, which can be used in any
other application., aren’t standards
wonderful). Bold, italic and underline
can be mixed, together with some
formatting commands like newline,
Text is automatically positioned for
the best fill.
Jly holding down Ctrl and clicking
on the speech balloon, a tail can be
drawn out To the mouth/doscst
applicable alien orifice of the speaker.
Instant, perfect speeches.
S PEECH balloons arc structured
graphic items, whereas graphics
bitmaps are unstructured. The
difference is that all ComicSettcr
knows about the latter is their size,
whereas the structured items are
displayed from a set of details about
the start and end of lines, the radius
of curves and so on.
Structured items take up less
memory as a rule than bitmaps, and
can have their fundamental structure
changed. Bitmaps can only be edited
hy setting pixels or drawing lines on
top of them, although Comic Setter
YutwnAer tim AMHiA CXMHrnXd z:i
■REVIEW!
can flip them horizontally or
vertically and resize them - an
amazingly useful way to neaten up a
comic ,
Onto the frame with the figure and
the speech balloon mnre pictures can
be layered, some text can be added,
all the individual items can he moved
around by the usual select, drag with
the hand pointer and drop, and
freehand graphics can he tacked on.
The draw /paint capabilities of the
program are extensive. Squares*
circles and other polygons can be
created and filled with colour or a
pattern - there are 25 patterns, and I
couldn't find a way to edit/ create new
ones,
U NUSUALLY, Rezier curves are
provided. These are curves
defined by a set of four points to
which the computer fils a smooth
curve as best it can. The manual gives
up a Little on describing exactly how
this works, recommending — as any
sensible reviewer would - 10 minutes
experimentation as worth any amount
of earnest text.
There arc airbrush and smear tools
for fudging the issue* and a
paintbrush to make fine changes,
Once any of these tools have been
used, the results are part of the
bitmap and cannot be individually
altered or deleted. There is a single-
step Undo command, which can
sometimes extricate the
fumblefingered. Sometimes.
The manual recommends frequent
savings to disc of work in progress, a
sentiment strongly endorsed as often
a naff idea only comes to light 30
minutes later when undoing the
damage is unthinkable.
Large-scale changes to finished
pages are possible by using the Edit B
command menu; items can be cut,
pasted* copied, aligned* grouted
together for a quick move, in short
anything you might want to do can he
done. They've thought of ii first
The only gripe in this area is the
single-item Paste buffer. It would be
nice to maintain a short list of cut
items to work from. Something of the
sort can be synthesised by careful use
of the save command, but it's not easy
to avoid mistakes. That's my excuse.
The complete page cab he
displayed in various ways. AM at once
is useful for an overview of the
general layout and flow of the visuals,
although there is nowhere near
You can quickly build a pa#e with Clip Art
Much more fun than regular text
enough resolution to make out words
or picture contents. From there, the
page can be magnified by 50* lQQ jM ffite
200 per cent; the 100 per cent being
the most useful for working within a
frame and the 200 per cent good for
individual pixel picking. Interlace can
be turned on or off at will; on for
crystal clarity with a headache within
five minutes or off for flit kerfree
work and eyes irair/wi thin 10,
There's a memory limit, depending
on the amount of grunk onscreen, of
about two/three page*. ComicSetter
has a page caching feature* which by
shuffling finished or otherwise
inactive pages off to disc makes the
only limitation to comic size the spare
space on the floppy or hard disc.
"AGES or panels can be saved as
tlFF files, which means such
luxurious special effects as your
favourite paint package can furnish
can be used. ComicSetter makes good
use of the graphics-oriented
environment the Amiga provides in
general; it is. of course, a well
behaved application and lives
peacefully with whatever desktop
doobries normally inhabit the
memory.
The final stage in any comic's life
is, of course, the printing. ComicSetter
comes, as mentioned, with bits of
Workbench 1,3* namely the printer
drivers. These include better laser
printer support, as well as such
salivatious beasts as toe Xerox 4020,
There are ma ny g linting, options, to
do with page size* kind of greyscaling
to convert colourful graphics to
monochromatic Output and Such
familiar themes*
Unfortunately, the Epson drivers on
rm copy of ComicSetter failed to
drive my printer into anything other
than a muted clicking; however a new
set of drivers from the most recent 1*3
Workbench cured the problem,
A ND since ComicSetter is quite
happy to work with the
humble E|Son-compatible £150-and-
if s-yours-fohn printers that infest the
face of the planet* it is not impossible
to finish the opus at home, then strike
a deal with the local computer dealer
to let you churn out a polished
product on a Saturday morning on
his Laser jet in exchange for some
fancy display material, W f ho knows,
you might convert an IRMhead into
an Amigalover, because there's no
IRM PC in the world that can do what
an expanded Amiga 500 with
ComicSetter does.
The Final bit of the manual, called
Comic Tips, is a small collation of
hints to help the final product look
professional. There are a number of
24 AMNIA COMPt Tl\ C Xmtmbvr IfWH
4M t ***:********4-*3t)|-*i|**it**:'1-*^*fr*:4****:4**4»*4-4'4-* ,
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the Independent
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is the largest and most helpful
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• Many local groups with regular meetings
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contains over 200 disks
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for software
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For serious users joining ICPUG is a must.
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Amiga BASIC - Inside £ Out (Abacus) (D) Cl 6--9&
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Amiga USar^ Guide to Graphic*. Sound, Telecom (Bantam) E16.9S
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Programming th* $0005 (Sybex) £22,95
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SAVE £‘*1 AlftGA UTILITIES Prices inc. VAT1
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£9 95
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*****************************************************
with the
Xerox 4020
Colour Ink Jet Printer
is what you get
With NLQ too!
The XeroK 4020 colour ink-jet printer makes the most of your Am
colour pictures, printing clear, bright Images silently in 7 d is tine
colours and over 4,000 shades at 240 dots per inch resolution.
the- Xjceo/ 4.020 bandies oil ^que, conaespondcixe and 6cefc-top
pu&tishmj needs loo/ choose f^om i; resident fonts In various s
and achieve neat teen qwtffty wsait® at a heaithy 40 ep9,
Jferw 4020c Hat M M&l prinffri
Available from your local dealer or direaly from
Precision Software Ltd 6 Park Terrace.
Worcester Park, Surrey KT4 7)Z
Telex 8955021 Precis G
Precision
Software
■REVIEW
<
American books, available from
specialist booksellers like Forbidden
Planet, that say much the same thing;
how to produce a smooth flow of
images that direct the reader's eyes
and build up to a strong climax, how
to suggest time passing or changes of
plot, IPs not nearly as popular a field
of study over here as it is in the
States, where comics are taken
seriously by a lot of people.
T HAT then is Comic Setter, at
least in outline. There are a lot
of unmentioned details, most of
which are nice and just what you
want, fust when you want them. To
cope with all the things that can be
done to an object, there arc a number
of non- obvious special tricks but
these are necessary and once learned
come naturally,
This is t alas, version 1,0, and this
shows occasionally; graphics did get
corrupted from time to time (slightly,
nothing unfixable, but odd}, the
pointer stayed in Zzzz mode during
menu selection, options - mostly
bitmap editing — were unselectable
until an unconnected action woke up
some slumbering subroutine, and on
one occasion Cut and Paste put the
mouse into a drunken stagger with
nothing happening for five minutes.
Then I was treated to an Instant
replay of all the things T'd tried to do
in those live minutes, after w r hich all
was well.
This might sound frightening, but
apart from the last incident
ComicSetter remained usable and fun
- boy. is it fun - and at no time did it
lose data or crash.
According to the About... menu
item, there have been eight people
working on ComicSetter. and they've
been at it for quite some time. Apart
From amazement that anything
coming from a programming team
that big hangs together so well (these
guys must love comics), I'm
impressed. It's a wonderful program,
capable of w r onderful things. More
than that is up to you.
As for me? T always wanted to be
an underground artist in the ‘60s.., the
90s will do just fine.
REPORT CARD
ComicSetter
Gn Id Disk 'HR Marketing mm 444433
£69.95
USEFULNESS
NotJhe kind of thing you’d use for
writing to the bank manager but greet
for sending fetters to friends .
EASE OF USE,
Guides you slowly with well chosen
defaults, Would benefit from a longer
tutorial section and more explanations,
INTUITION.
Opens up a new workbench r multitasks
perfect ly but is very' rjrn hungry.
SPEED .
Re-drawing frames is time consuming,
but probably as fast as can be coded.
Seventy quid for a program which
appeals so much to younger users is a
lot. For a top notch DTP program it is a
bargain.
OVERALL 84%
A good score which could earn another
10 per cent by fixing a few bugs and
cutting the price,
A. MAS
Amiga
Sampler
The Hardware
A.M.A.S is a full feature 8-BIT STEREO
audio digitiser complete with a full
* MIDI i '
THE MIDI SUPPORT
Selectable MIDI channel. OMNI/POLYPHQN 1C
operation (with up to 4 voice POLY). MIDI
Hardware compatible wilh many other MIDI
software packages already available for the
AMIGA, no other extras are required.
implementation MlCl interface, all built into “JJKjtn caiVbe assigned t^a MIDI
th “ ha ' H — SEJSilT car bl Capped
the SAME stylish wedge shaped hardware
unit which fully complements the computer,
no messy extras are required. The digitiser
accepts mono or stereo inputs via its fine
input sockets and Is provided with an extra
microphone input socket for direct vocal
signal input. The MIDI sockets comprise of
MIDI IN, OUT & THRU. Hardware versions
exist for the A 1000 and A5QO/20Q9 formats,
The Software
THE SAMPLER/ EDITOR
The ultimate graphics/mouse user
Leh, rigr
iling
2flKfiz,Dual real time oscilloscopes.
interface.
sampling
ight or stereo
Sampling rates of up to
(1 for each channel.) Real time spectrum
analyser. Auto record trigger on input
level. Up to 8 ' BANKS' on 2 Meg machines
(200-250k req. per bank) Up to 10 stereo
samples per bank. Load & Save samples
RAW or IFF data formats. Filter ON /OFF for
computers inbuilt filter where applicable.
All editing facilities work in stereo or mono.
Editing includes: -
CUT, paste, insert, delete,
COPY. OVERLAY (MIX), REVERSE,
FADE IN /OUT, VOLUME,
UP/DOWN, SAMPLE SHRINK/
STRETCH, FILTER, STEREO
PAN. STEREO "BOUNCE”.
CHANNEL SWAP.
across MIDI Channel range. Samples may be
played from AMIGA keyboard (MONO only).
Plays samples from currently selected sample
BANK. Single BANK load/
save operation.
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November 19 ft ft AMIGA COMPUTING 27
Bookcase
The Amiga is a powerful beast, and there
are plenty of books explaining how to exploit it
Our team of experts takes five
Using Deluxe Paint II by Steven
Anzovin,
D ELUXE Paint IT is probably the
best art program yet to be
released for a home computer. It
offers the user tremendous graphics
power while at the same time
maintaining a user friendly
environment. Because of this, it can
appeal both to the total computer
novice and the experienced computer
artist, not to mention those budding
artists who are unfamiliar with
computers.
However, even the easiest to use
program can appear a little daunting
when you first load it, especially with
one as complex as Deluxe Paint II,
But not to worry] A book exists that
will dispel all your fears and banish
all confusion. No more will such
things as rotating brushes and
perspective fills be shrouded in
mystery. The book Using Deluxe
Paint II by Steven Anzovin is an
essential guide to doing just that. It
has a friendly, readable style and
gently tutors the reader through all
aspects of Deluxe Paint ITs features,
Although versions of the package
exist for the Amiga, the Apple IIGS
and the IBM PC, this book only deals
with the first. Since it takes pains
to explain various machine specific
features, this limits its value to the
IBM PC user. Despite this however,
most of the book is useful regardless
of which machine you're using.
Anzovin starts with some fairly
basic introductions to the program
environment, the nature of computer
graphics, and the advantages and
disadvantages of using a computer for
artwork. It also mixes in an
introduction to art concepts and how
the computer can lake the pain out of
tricky freehand art constructs such as
circles, ellipses and straight lines.
If you find this introduction too
simplistic, the author suggests that
you skip ahead to the more involved
chapters. Although some may find
introductions of this nature a little
patronising, I would disagree. Even
an experienced artist or computer
user might find something new, even
fundamental.
After the introduction the book
talks the user through the use of the
different graphics utilities of the
program. These are what sets Deluxe
Paint II apart from all the other arts
packages. The sheer power and
flexibility with which you can
manipulate your artwork, both as a
whole and as specially captured
areas, is incredible.
Th'e book uses worked examples to
take you through topics such as the
custom brushes, use of colour,
drawing tools, text, patterning and
perspective. It finishes with a step by
step guide constructing a picture
using many of Deluxe Paint ITs
special features.
The use of brushes, perspective and
perspective filling are about the most
complex features of the program to
master and use to full effect. For the
user who likes to be spoon-fed
information, this situation is ideal. It
is good to see a book where no aspect
is glossed over.
I have only one serious complaint,
and this concerns the description of
aliasing and anti-aliasing, which is
weak. The book doesn't really explain
what anti-aliasing is, and also how
very significant an effect it has on any
form of computer artwork,
Since aliasing - the staircasing
effect - is the biggest gremlin of any
graphics system, the book should
have devoted a Lot more time to
explaining what it is and how to
reduce it.
The division of the work area - the
monitor screen in this case — into
finite areas of colour (pixels) is the
primary difference between
conventional and computer artwork.
Aliasing is the most immediate by-
product of this media transition, and
as such deserves close attention.
There are a few other minor
weaknesses in the text. The chapter
on use of colour could have been
more. Although the book refers to the
emotional impact of colour and how
powerful this aspect can he, I felt that
more could have been said about the
physical nature of light and how it
interacts with the presence and lack
of an atmosphere to produce the
colours we see in everyday life.
Also, the human eye loses
sensitivity to colour as the light level
is reduced, and so as night falls, the
colours wc perceive fade to black and
white. None of these facts were
mentioned.
This is on the whole a very well
thought out and w r ell presented book,
I would say that for someone just
entering the realm either of computers
or artwork using Deluxe Faint II, it is
a must.
For the experienced computer user
or artist using the program for
whatever reason, the book is
definitely well worth considering as
your next purchase. Deluxe Paint II
took the traditional agony out of
conventional artwork and gave new
scope to artists everywhere.
Christopher Humphries.
28 AMIGA COMPUTING November was
■ REVIEWS!
AmigaBasic Inside and Out by Hann as
Rgheimer and Christian Spanik
A FTER seeing the name Abacus
on the cover of this book I
must admit I started reading with
much trepidation. This American
publisher has produced a large
number of books about the Atari ST,
all translated from German originals,
the quality of which varies from OK
to poor. This is the first Amiga book
of the same pedigree that I have seen
but I'm pleased to say that this is a
quality product and genuinely useful.
There are more than 500 pages,
with nearly 400 devoted to tutorials
covering a range of Amiga Basic
topics. The opening is aimed at the
raw beginner, someone who has used
neither an Amiga or any Basic before*
though I feel readers with no previous
Basic experience at all will soon gel
out of their depth. The authors start
slowly enough, but dive into more
advanced Basic topics very rapidly -
arrays and multi-dimensional arrays
get no more than a couple of
paragraphs* for example.
Assuming you have some Basic
experience, the introductory sections
describing the use of Workbench and
Intuition should be enough for new
Amiga Machine language by Stefan
Dittrich
T HE Amiga has brought high
power, a combination of the
hardware and systems software that
exploits It to a large numher of
people. The profusion of display
hacks, interesting applications, and
games amply demonstrates this
power. However, for the large
number of users to take advantage of
it for their own purposes, they must
find out how to get at it.
The systems software for the Amiga
has been developed with a mixture of
C, Assembler and BCPL. There now
exist compilers and interpreters for
many languages, allowing varying
levels of access to the system.
However, to take things to the limit,
the solution is usually to head for the
silicon and develop in assembler.
Amiga Machine Language is aimed at
people who wish to use 68000
Amiga owners to get used to their
machines.
The beginning of each chapter has
a teaser program - something short to
type in and run which produces an
interesting effect, though the reader is
unlikely to understand it at this time.
By the end of the chapter though all
the relevant areas have been
described in enough detail for full
understanding. A good rendition of
the Star Wars theme opens the sound
chapter.
The main emphasis is on graphics,
detailing the low-level operations
together with windows, screens and
even IFF file formats, culminating in a
nan-trivial drawing program. Other
chapters detail serial and random
access file handling, speech and
Sound, all handled in an easy and
fun-to-read way, with useful
programming examples.
My only reservation about the book
is with some of the programming
style - while line numbers are not
used, labels are, together with
GQSUB and the dreaded GOTQs, One
of the most important features in
AmigaBasic (and other modem
Microsoft Basics) is the concept of
SUB-programs, but these are
mentioned only briefly.
There is also one very dubious
assembler to take advantage of the
Amiga hardware and operating
system.
The book starts out with an
overview of the Amiga's architecture,
and then moves onto the 68000
processor. This section does not
provide enough to learn all about the
68000 from scratch. Given a
knowledge of programming and a bit
program line involving a conditional
SHARED statement, something that is
poor style and completely un-
compilable (believe me, l know about
compi ling Amiga Basic) .
The appendices include a complete
reference section on all the
AmigaBasic keywords and error
messages, together with guaranteed
error-free program listings. Helpfully
a disc is available for £9.95
containing all the programs.
This is a very good book for any
AmigaBasic programmer, both as a
tutorial and reference work. Pm
pleased to say that the US dollar price
has been fairly converted to pounds
and it's well worth £16,95,
Andy Fennel
about other processor's architectures,
it would give enough to be going
along with.
The next chapter explains how to
use three different assemblers. The
example code in the book is written
using the AssemPro assembler and
the text often references it. The other
two assemblers covered are the
Metacomco product and the K-Seka
assembler. K-Seka gets a full
description, Assempro a fairly simple
one and Metacomco one page.
Having covered the processor and
how to get code to run on it, chapter
four covers simple hit bashing, not
specific to the Amiga. This serves to
introduce writing programs without
the complications of the Amiga,
The book then starts covering the
Amiga itself, starting with some of the
hardware registers. The areas covered
are the keyboard, timer, mouse,
joystick and sound. The more
powerful areas such as the blitter,
►
November t*m AMIGA COMPUTING 29
Copper* video generator and discs are
ignored.
Having really bashed silicon up to
this point, the focus moves to above
the operating system. The Amiga
systems software revolves around
libraries, and the work needed to call
these is explained. Coverage of the
libraries themselves is limited.
Various methods of I/O are covered -
speech, screen, keyboard, printer and
serial. Next comes coverage of how to
access the disc, both at the file system
and sector level,
A whole chapter is devoted to the
use of the Intuition library. This
covers the use of screens* windows,
requesters, menus and gadgets. This
coverage is hy no means complete*
but does give a grasp of the
commonly used areas.
Finally, a short chapter explains a
couple of more advanced areas of the
68000, namely Supervisor Mode and
exceptions.
1 found the style of the book to be
low level* somewhat reminiscent of
the days when machines were
hardware and operating systems
scarce. There are good reasons for
bypassing an operating system, hut
old habits and laziness are not among
them.
The coverage of the Amiga is
nowhere near complete, many areas
are left totally untouched, both al the
hardware and operating system level.
To be fair, the Commodore
documentation stands at several
inches of A4 size books, and nothing
short of microfiche techniques is
going to get that into a 250 page
hook. There is nol much in the way
of explanation of the Amiga features
being used - the style is more
oriented towards "recipes" +
This book will not reveal the secrets
of the Amiga, but for a first dip into
the system by someone who has
programmed before, it is fine. To
produce progams of any weight will
require other texts. I was interested to
note that an advcrtisment in the back
of the book for AssemPro had the
following small print: "Machine
language programming requires a
solid understanding of the Amiga's
hardware and operating system. We
do not recommend this package to
beginning Amiga programmers",
Sam Littlewood
Amiga Tricks and Tips by Bleek,
Maelger and
T HE Amiga is supplied with
Microsoft's AmigaRasic. This
has some built-in support for the
Amiga's features, hut not the whole
range. To really start exploring these
capabilities requires a good
understanding of AmigaBasic and the
ability to get directly at the operating
system From within it,
Amiga Tricks & Tips is intended to
aid this understanding and ability, as
well as briefly covering other areas of
the system, It uses AmigaBasic
exclusively for programming* no
other language being covered.
The first chapter talks about the
CLL This is not a complete
description. It covers solutions to
common problems, an overview of
the new CLI commands in version
1.2, and a collection of script files.
The last do things like setting up
commonly used commands in RAM:
and implementing a simple print
Learning C: Programming Graphics on
the Amiga and Atari ST by Marc B.
Sugiyama and Christopher D. Metcalf
T HIS attempts to be two books in
one* the first half a C primer,
while the second deals with graphics
algorithms. The 4GD page volume is
spiral bound, so it lies tlal on the
table making listings much easier to
type in.
The C primer section is aimed at
programmers with experience of
Basic or Pascal and with a knowledge
of the lower level aspects, such as
pointers* bits and bytes. Users
without such knowledge will find this
section vary hard going.
As a C primer it works reasonably
well, but doesn't start well; The first
function listing does not agree with
the text describing it, something
which took me ages to work out.
Complete C beginners may well give
up by page 17. This was the only
serious typo 1 noticed though, so
perseverance is worthwhile.
The book attempts to be useful to
spooler. This chapter also covers the
startup sequence script.
Attention moves on to AmigaBasic.
The first subject is writing graphics
code. The technique used is to call
the operating system graphics and
windowing routines directly from
within Basic* giving increased speed
and flexibility.
A large amount of the text is
devoted to example programs. Some
of these, such as the full IFF picture
display program, are quite powerful*
providing good code for use
elsewhere. The section goes to a fair
both Atari and Amiga users* catering
for five different C compilers. A
header file is listed at the back to
make the graphics calls the same on
both machines, This method generally
works, also allowing incompatibilities
between compilers such as integer
sizes to be avoided. C is not as
portable as it is supposed to be.
The listings are presented in a
typeface which makes it very' difficult
to distinguish between the = and = =
operators* something which any C
programmer will tell you makes a
huge difference. Most of the programs
are large and the optional disc at
£G.95 is recommended if you want to
experiment with the book's graphics
section,
Having introduced much of C, some
of it less detailed than others, the
authors start on the graphics section
proper. If you want to find out how
Intuition, the graphics library or the
Copper works* this book is not for
you — all the Amiga-specific calls are
hidden away in a header file. The
graphics algorithms presented are
general methods for producing two
30 AMIGA COMPUTING November 1 98ft
■ REVIEWS!
y
s
>
t
depth, covering Intuition, fonts, 3D
vector graphics and palette
manipulation.
The next chapter does not expose
any more features of the Amiga; it is
about user friendliness. This talks
about, and has large amounts of code
for, cemunicating with users. Ideas
like sliders, selection from tables,
rubber-banding and animation are
explored.
Chapter 5 deals with the use of
AmigaDos from within AmigaBasic.
In a similar way to the graphics
section, the limited functionality of
Amiga Basic is bypassed in favour of
heading straight for the operating
system. The examples implement
routines to rename Hies, search a
directory tree, read a directory listing
into an array, call CLI commands and
so on.
Chapter 6 dives into the internals of
AmigaBasic. II discusses the format of
the saved programs, and provides
several long utilities. These do things
like generate cross-reference listings.
list variables, and display files in
hexadecimal The main coverage this
chapter provides is of the various file
formats associated with Amiga Basic.
A brief Interlude follows, which is a
short coverage of the Workbench.
Included in this is how to read and
write Preferences from within
Amiga Basic, and coping with the Info
screen of Workbench,
Icons are a target of much
creativity, the next chapter describes
how they can be created from a
program. The example programs
allow creation of icons, including
icons with two images associated
with them.
Chapter 9 is back on the subject of
real users, and is about making
programs robust in the face of
possible errors. Example code is given
for testing various situations, like a
file not existing, or the user giving
bad input.
Chapter 10 focuses on effective
programming in AmigaBasic. It
describes the steps needed to make
and three dimensional graphics,
shading, and hidden line removal,
A nole of caution - the reader
needs a good understanding of maths,
particularly coordinate systems,
vectors and matrices to understand
the majority of the hook. Don’t worry
if your maths has got a hit rusty, I
must admit several sections caused
some areas of my brain to be accessed
for the first time in many years. If you
haven't done O level maths don’t try
this book, though A level students
will be OK.
If you want to know about general
graphics methods, as opposed to
specific Amiga features, this is a good
book. Ii doesn’t detail many alternate
methods, four dimensional matrices
are used for 3D objects but some
arcade games get away with 3-
dimensiona I matrices. However, the
methods described are detailed both
mathematically and in actual C code,
I was a little worried by the Atari
ST-specific code, as it contains two
serious errors, neither of which
should prevent the code from
working, but the Amiga code looked
fine to me.
This hook does a reasonable job of
introducing C and explains complex
graphics operations in about as
painless way as is possible, though a
good understanding of general
programming for the former ^nd
mathematics tor the latter is also
required.
Andy Berm el
AmigaBasic run the same code faster,
and gives benchmark programs that
show how various aspects of the code
can affect speed.
The final chapters give some
coverage io some aspects of
interfacing AmigaBasic to the rest of
the system, how to write library files
allowing AmigaBasic to call code
written via a compiled language and
how to access the Amiga devices, in
particular the sector level disc device.
The title of this book is somewhat
misleading, It would be better named
something like AmigaBasic
CookBook. If you are using
AmigaBasic then there is a lot of
useful code here, but in many cases,
not much explanation of what the
code is up to.
In conclusion, if you are interested
in getting performance out of
AmigaBasic, this hook will interest
you. It is not however a reference or
tutorial for either the Amiga or
AmigaBasic,
Sam Little wood
Using Deluxe Pain I II
Compute, £17.95
Amiga BASK' Inside and Out
Abacus. £lfi.95, program disc £9 95,
disc and book £24.95,
Learning C: Programming Graphics an
the Amiga and Atari ST
Compute. £17.95, program disc £9.95,
hook and disc £24.95.
Amiga Machine Language
Abacus £12.95. program disc £9.95.
disc and book £20.95.
Amiga Tricks and Tips
Abacus. £14,95, program disc £9,95,
disc and bonk £22,95.
•A// these books are available from
16-Bit Software (0706 43519). Amiga
Computing would like to thank them
for supplying the review copies.
November 1988 AMIGA COMPUTING 31
AMIGA PERIPHERALS
A MICA GOO
games software
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Disk Cleaning Kits only E4.95
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Currans 3.5- Owe * Philips 0633 Colour Morilg
Add CM I of ASM wHh modulator end E» lor £75.80 SoHw*™ Pi*
— - _ ' ^Litiw. Manual! + Tutorial *#
** All Amiga A5OT comes wilfi DPiihL Base, Workbench. Ulriiti
* Cumana CAX354 880K Drive 3,6“ (AIM or A500)
A Arriga A1D84 Cobur Monitor (New Modaft
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A MR 165 Prin1eM4»on Gorrpalitte, NLQ Dram 165CPS
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32 AMIGA COMPUTING November IfiHt t
■ REVIEW!
■ i
*r.*-
kk^
■■ i .^i :■■:
Aizirjcj.Tj.’^,
'
t mA I 1 9 t"i
L | | I
r ^B \ I ;:!••. 1 I- \ ^ V - I i-J." I I \ i m f B
miwmmm ml j>h
^B _ ^B I
9
AmigaTgX
8r»o.r5 1...J
Typesetting
for experts
Paul Ockenden looks at a publishing package
which has been ported to the Amiga from a
mainframe — and outperforms the original
\j\j HEN I bought my first Amiga
* ir I was expecting it to bo able
to produce beautiful documents,
using ite high resolution graphics
and multiple font support.
I wonder how many other Amiga
owners were as disappointed as I was
when 1 printed my first document
from Notepad. The characters
appeared very jagged, and Jacked
sharpness. Like a fool. 1 thought thal
the problem was my cheapo dot
matrix printer, so I went mad and
bought a laser printer, only to
discover that the problem was not the
printer at all.
The trouble is that high resolution
on the Amiga screen becomes
decidedly Jow resolution on the
printer - even a cheap printer has a
horizontal resolution of 1,750 dots,
whereas the Amiga oniy manages
640.
I now know the solution to my
problem - AmigaTeX, It abandons
the Amiga fonts, resolutions and
printer drivers, and in doing so
produces the finesl quality output I
have seen from my setup. My laser
printer is able to produce documents
at its full 300 dots per inch, with a
selection of thousands ol fonts. And
my dot matrix is able to produce such
high quality output that I wonder
why I ever h ought the laser printer,
AmigaTeX is a commercial version
of the TeX typesetting system. TeX
was written by Prof. Donald Knuth of
Stanford University towards the end
of the 1970s, and is in the public
domain. Versions can be found on
almost every popular computer
capable of supporting a megabyte or
more of memory.
Radical Eye Software has taken the
basic public domain version of TeX
and added numerous features, making
AmigaTeX one of the most useful and
productive TeX environments
available on any computer. It is not
uncommon to find commercial
versions of TeX — a quick flick though
the pages of the US magazine Byte
will reveal several for the PC and
other machines.
Note that the word TeX isn't
pronounced how you might expect.
To quote from The TeX book by
Knuth: ''Insiders pronounce the X of
TeX as a Greek chi, not as an x, IPs
the ch sound in Scottish words like
November J9BR AMIGA COMPUTING 33
■ REVIEW*
loch or Herman words like aeh, When
you say it correctly to your computer,
the keyboard may become slightly
moist",
AmigaTeX - or indeed any version
of TeX - is capable of really
outstanding results. Tt can be used for
anything from simple one page flyers
and CVs to complete books - pop into
your local technical bookshop and
inspect The TeXhook which was
typeset entirely using TeX, It
automatically copes with ligatures,
kerning and a host of other
typographical problems. It is also
very good when it comes to
mathematical formulae, and its
hyphenation algorithms are second to
none.
D ON'T fall into the trap of
thinking of TeX as a simple
document generator such as Notepad
or Word Perfect. It is a document
compiler, much like one of the C
language compilers - and nearly as
difficult to learn in its native form.
You w ill have to supply vour own
favourite editor and produce an input
file for TeX, w hich looks not unlike a
computer program in places. It then
works on this input file and produces
a device independent (or DVI) output
file.
Using most other versions of TeX,
you would feed the DVI file to a
converter program which would
produce output suitable for your
printer. No matter what device you
used for your output, the layout and
fonts would be exactly the same -
only the resolution would change.
The disadvantage of this method is
that if you make a simple change you
will have to print the whole
document again to sec what effect
that change had. This can be very
wasteful of time, papeT and printer
ribbons,
AmigaTeX avoids this waste by
providing a screen pre viewer. This
Intuition-based program allows you to
view your document on screen at a
variety of resolutions before
producing your final copy. What is
more. Radical Eye has provided file
tracking between the TeX compiler
and the previewer, Using this facility
you can have TeX, your editor and
the previewer all running at the same
time, with the p reviewer
automatically displaying the output
from the compiler without any action
by the user. (Eor the more technically
minded, AmigaTeX also fully
supports ARcxx, allowing a
completely integrated development
environment)
While preparing this review l paid
a visit to the local university - all
universities seem to use TeX - to see
what they thought of AmigaTeX, and
I discovered that they were already
using it. Apparently they used to use
TeX on a VAX minicomputer, hut
when they got a Macintosh they
started using MacTeX exclusively.
However since the university boughl
a copy of AmigaTeX the Mac has
been neglected, and students are
queuing up to use the Amiga.
They are using an add-on called
LaTeX, which takes most of the
heartache out of producing a
document. You just state the
document type - thesis, report, article,
letter - and mark the beginning of
chapters and sections. Everything else
is taken care of for you, LaTeX is
included with AmigaTeX package as
standard.
There is no documentation on the
TeX language with the AmigaTeX
package, just like you don't normally
get a book on C with a C compiler.
For that you'll need a copy of The
TeXbook or LaTeX, a document
preparation system. However, a well
written manual is provided giving
details on installing and running the
compiler and pre viewer. The manual
is laser printed and is supplied in a
standard ring binder (the manual is
also provided in TeX source on one
of the discs).
Depending on which printer driver
you order, TeX comes on up to 20
floppies. At first you will be doing
quite a lot of disc swapping, but due
to a caching system built into
AmigaTeX, this is reduced a lot after
using the system a few times. Most of
these discs contain fonts, both for the
previewer and the printer drivers.
Interestingly, Radical Eye uses a dual
colour coding to identify the discs,
and this seems to work quite nicely
("please insert disc brown. blue in any
drive")*
A LTHOUGH you can use
AmigaTeX on a 512k machine,
I would suggest that you really need
iMeg (AmigaTeX is very' happy on a
hard disc: machine). Drivers are
available for the QMS KISS, QMS
Smart Writer, Hi 1 LaserJet Plus, and
PostScript laser printers; The Epson
►
ve Up to the Typesetting Power of AmigaT
ides a powerful ahem alive in document
gives you the power to typeset complex
ts* especially those of a technical nature
nutls or journal papers. It gives you the
be called typesetting. Compare it with
. the market*
Quality
it put of unparalleled quality. This goes
erning and leading capabilities of conven-
jublishing programs; T^X uses ligatures,
enation and special line and paragraph
Ermf to yield typeset quality output.
Alignment Power
Output Device Independ
TfcX, provides output identical to within t
printers used. Your page will appear on y
printer la the exact format and poeltieiiiii
printer or typesetter* You can. use your E
a home proofing device for the laser print
or use the laser printer to see your pages
them to be printed on a phototype setter.
Interactive Environment
on the Amiga provides the beet TE
currently available anywhere. The power!
and message-passing capabilities of the A
to edit* compile, preview, and print all at
Amigal^pC has been heavily optimised t
J
The previewer saves paper and time
i4 AMIGA COMPUTING November I3BS
Public Domain Software
for the Amiga
from £3 per disk all inclusive
* Over 400 disks!
* Membership not necessary
* Fast service
MEGA PUBLIC DOMAIN PACK
Wa hlvi on* of Ih* |*rg*al oollKtton*
PD Mftmr* fw Ih* Amiga Hi Ih* UK.
W*cUtt*rrtly Block;
O FISH 1145
O AMlCUS 1-56
O SLIPPED DISK HO
O FAUG HOTMIX 1 70
All Ih* *bov* *r* £3 *ach * 1 FREE
wtwi you ordar 10
rftait * A ivallabl* lor Q
W* >l*o hava
O PANORAMA 1 -65
O AUGE 1-17
£4.00 *aoh + -dob Trve whan you orator 10
CalaJoflu* disk *2 - C3.00
Our own special selection
£4.00 Each
O AP0L J3 ASSEMBLE Y LANGUAGE
COLLECTION
O APDL *4 AMIGA ADVENTURES
O APDL #6 GLI HELP
Confuiaad by CLI? This Dili's lor you
O APDL 47 LANGUAGES
Lisp, Pralqo Logo. Forth
Q APDl #6 AMldiDISK DOCTOR
Lifa saving programa!
O APDL *10 MANDEL SHOT
COLLECTION
O APDL ri? AMIGA SONIX
Lstjmir Affloj sound oM
O APQL 414 BEST ARCADE GAMES
Q APDL 4 15 BEST BOARD GAMES
fiscknammon, Qthilkj, Yaht*** *fc
O APDL f 1 7 0US INESS COLLECTION
Editor, ur**d*h*al & database
O APDL 922 M USIC BOX
12 Gr*«t Tunes
AMIGA EXTEHNAL DISK DRIVE £99.95
A 501 51 2K RAM EXPANSION £139.95
AN prices are fully Inclusive end post free
★ NEW! *
PD Software now available for C64/128
Please write dr phone tor a list.
A JOIN THE CLUBT Interested In Joining our user dub?
Write or phone lor details *
THE AMIGA PD LIBRARY
| Dept AC1 1 , 140 Rushdale Road, Sheffield S8 9QE |
PD Hotline 0742-588429 (9am-9pm)
"Friends, I've called this meeting to discuss what we can do about
GEORGE THOMPSON SERVICES First they bring out a P.D.
STARTER PACK [8 disks] then follow it up with a MEGA DEMO
PACK {? disks). Each for only £19,99 Not content with this they put
us out of business by including in the September issue of JUMPDISK
a Root Block transfer program and the very latest Virus Checker, all
for £8.50. Now with over 300 quality PUBLIC DOMAIN disks at their
fingertips they release the MEGA P.D. LIBRARY PACK! Two disks
packed hill of detailed P.D. listings plus tutorials, hints and tips and
a complete JUMPDI5K MAGSCAN. There's a pair of 3D glasses for a
great new 3D Space Game they've included that even I can't stop
playing I dread to think what they’ve planned for the Commodore
Show! Let s Lake a vote on it. OK we agree! We order the Mega PD
Library Packet £4.99. After all if wo can’t beat them we might as well
join them and enjoy it in the process."
We are GEORGE THOMPSON SERVICES. Dippen. Brodick, Arran.
Scotland KA27 8RN, Telephone: (07? 082) 234 Please send a
oheque/P.O. for the appropriate amount and we will do the rest.
DISCOUNT SOFTWARE
FOR THE AMIGA
GAMES:
Arcade Classes ... £13.95
Annals of Rome £ 15.95
Backlash £12 .95
Babble Bobbie £12.95
Carrier Command £15.95
Eagles Nest £12.95
ECO---- £15 95
Ebon Star £15.95
Rintstones.. £12.95
Football Manager Jl £14.95
Golden path £12.95
Goldfumw ,... r ... £1 S 95
Guild ol Thieves £15.95
Lancelot £12.95
Pink Panther .£12.95
Rollling Thunder £ 1 5 95
Siar Glider II £ 15.95
Siir Crazy £12.95
The Pawn £15.95
Time Bandit £12.95
Time A Magik £12,95
Tetris.., £12.95
Tracers „ £15.95
U-MS £15 95
Virus . „ £13 95
WjNhflifl £13.95
WizbaJI £12 95
Fireblasier _...£6,95
Joe Blade -.. EE 95
Protector ., ...£6 95
Space Stations £6.95
War Zone . ...... £6. 95
BMX Simulator ,,...£9.95
Eye .£9.95
Power Struggle £9.95
K Text ... , Call
Krnd Words . £4i;.95
Scribble ....£69 '95
Viza Write _ £69 .95
uigicaic
KSpread II
£26.95
f 4^ ns
„. „ GRAPHICS:
InlroCad
£41.95
£44 95
Photon Paint
£49.95
Hisoft Devoac
.... £39 95
Metacomoo Pascal
£6B 95
True Bas»c
£49.95
K 0aa PATABASES:
£34 95
Superbase Personal
£68.95
„ ^ iJ CPMMS:,
K Comm II
Aegis- Data .,
.,.....£34.95
£43 95
Face Linnet Modem
.,.£144.95
„ SOUND:
Adrum £29.95
Pro Sound Designer ..,,,....£59.95
Sound Design Software £27,95
ALL PRICES INCLUDE VAT
& DELIVERY
Mouse Mai £4 95
Am iga Keyboard Cover ... r3.95
Print Lead (cent) £6.95
Guickshot Turbo Joystick £t t .95
3 5 Head Cl eaner £7.95
PRINTERS:
Panasonic 1081 ; 80 Column, 1 20 cps ,
Friction & Trader £1 69.95
Star LC 10: 80 Column. 1 44 cps,
Fhcton & T ractor £239 .95
Star LC 10 Colour: As above with
seven colour option £279.95
Star LC 24 1 0: 24 pin, 1 70 cps.
Friction A Tractor .£379.95
Elementary Amiga Basic - £14.95
Kickstart Guide £12.95
Amiga Tricks 4 Tips £12.95
Advanced Amiga Basic ..... £16.95
Amiga for Beginners £10.95
Amiga Machine Language £ 12.95
Amiga Microsoft Basic . ,.£iB.45
DISCS ft BOXES:
Bulk 3.5 Discs 10 off
.,£9.95
Sony Branded Bo* aMD
£15.95
Oise Bo* holds 50
£6 95
Disc Bo* holds 100
£7.95
AH goods offered subject to availability. Overseas orders welcome - Pleas# write tor prices. Callers welcome: Monday to Friday 9,30 to 5.00, Saturday 10.00 to 4 00
Please sand cheques/POs to:
. M.J.C. SUPPLIES (AMG)
mm 40a QUEEN STREET, HITCHIN, HERTS. SG4 9TS
Tel: (0462) 421415 for Enquiries/Credit Card Orders
November mutt AMIGA COMPUTING 35
5TAH PRICE RISE
Dirt \Q EiC Irvy Sl.ir 'nispd the*ir |
prices lioin luE BcpI-CifllJOe Ouif ]
pnccs iPliDcl MliS ClhiingO Please I
reme mbDi tins frhen comparing pnces
Huguly successful 9 pin prirrter, ,the /k i 00*10 f%t\
Star LC1 0 provides 4 NLQ fonts {with QniV ulj.UU
W^"n“t a ^bTr Colour vmlon also available,
and IBM/paraJlel interlace buiilt in, A n | u CO AQ flfl
includes a comprehensive front panel vlllj LtW.uu
operation and features paper parking, phww include 2 extra
allowing single sheets to be used „ f 21™
without removing tractor paper. black rlDOOnS tree Of Charge.
All prices include VAT /delivery
SPECIAL OFFER AMIGA PACK
Out new special offer pock Includes the following:
★ Amiga 5 DO computer * Grid Start
A- TV Modulator A Demolition
★ Mouse & Mouse mat A Quiz Am
A Joystick * Black Shadow
★ Deluxe Paint A Las Vegas
A Karate Kid II A plus 5 disks of
A Sky Fighter public domain s/ware
The total retail value of extras supplied Is 5370,45.
All this for only £399.00!
Pye 1052 TV/Monitor excellent medium res. picture, with
lull remote control as well. Lead supplied, next day delivery ... £i 99-00
philips CMBS33 colour monitor suitable lor Amiga 500 £259.00
Philips CM 9552 monitor as above, but higher resolution £299.00
Philips- TV Tuner AV73M, use with any composite monitors ..... £79.00
Word Perfect - £149.95
Superbase Personal £59.00
Superbasa Professional £1 79.95
Logistix — — — £7395
Amiga 500 Oust Cover, prated your computer E4.95
Cumana 5.25" External
Floppy Disk Drives
(model CAS 1000 S)
We are now supplying whisper quiet slimline 5.25' floppy
drives for the Amiga user from Cumana, The Transformer 1
compatible drive features an integral power supply, 40/80
track switching, 36Q/72QK formatted storage capacity and
through port connector. It also has an oiVoff switch which
effectively unplugs the f— — ft-i rA
drive from the Amiga OllIV fcl 051 195
when it is not required. J
and IBM/parallel interface buiilt in,
includes a comprehensive front panel
operation and features paper parking,
allowing single sheets to be used
without removing tractor paper.
Star SF-10DJ cut sheet feeder for LOIQ — £64.85
Star LC24-1Q feature-packed multifont 24pin printer £339.00
Star NB24-1G 24 pin printer 216/72 cps,
including cut sheet feeder and 2 extra ribbons £499.00
Star Laserprinter & high specification 6 ppm / 300dpi laser,
{price inc. 1 year on site maintenance) £1795.00
Panasonic KXP1031 reliable Spin 10‘ printer 1 20/24 cps . £169.00
NEC P2200 budget 24 pin 168/56cpe ^22
NEC cut sheei feeder for P2200 printer ™- ™
Citizen 1 20 D budget 9pin 10* 120cps S^SS'SS
Citizen LSF-1Q0 budgetl 50/30cps 10" carriage £169.00
AMIGOS low price hard disks
'Amigos' good value hard disks now available, incorporating ever-reliabie
Seagate mechanisms with an average access lime of 65ms for 21Mb and
30Mb, and 40ms tor 40Mb and GQMb versions. Including coding fans, they
are smartly and sturdily cased in beige, colour matched Id your Amim. They
are even strong enough 1o stand youf monitor on top. Software inducted.
21 MEG £399.00 40 MEG £549.00
30 MEG £469.00 60 MEG £649.00
3.5" EXTERNAL DRIVES
using Citizen drive mechanisms
Project
disk backup utility
Probably the best and most
complete 3.5" disk copier for
the Amiga user. Can even
copy MS-DOS, Atari ST,
CP/m, Xenix and Archime-
des disks. Because of the
high specification of the
Amiga drive, this copier is
orobablv the best for the
probably the best for the
Archimedes or ST. Also in-
Ift f PQA AC dudes track editor. Updates
wMly Ul-93 will be available in the future
WA _. . as and when new software
inC.VA I /delivery protection schemes arise.
3 . 5 " Disks
..PRER a
.v
• Suits Amiga 500 or Amiga 1000
• Top qua Uly Citizen drive mechanism
• On t Oft switch on reft r of drive
• Throughport connector
• One megabyte unformatted capacity
• Slimline design
• Very quiet
• Long cable lor Ideation either
Bide of compute;
• Full 12 months guarantee
Ultra low price!
£89.95
inc.VAT and
delivery
Evesham Micros
Phone us with your
ACCESS or VISA
card details on :
IT 0386-765500
All pdee* Include VAT and delivery. Next day delivery ES JO extra.
fwl Sout cheque, Postal Order EVOShfiltl MlCfOS Ltd
or ACCESWISA card details] 63 BRIDGE STREET
1 EVESHAM
WORDS WR11 4SF
c D 0386-765500
lax 0366-765354
tslax 333294
.16 AMIGA COMPUTING Novamber 19M
■REVIEW!
*
LQ series, the Epson MX series
(including the JX, PX. EX, FX, RX,
TX, and so on) and compatibles, the
Citizen 150-D, the NEC P6/P7 series,
and the ImageWriter II. Other drivers
are developed on request.
There is no UK supplier of
AmigaTeX at present, all sales and
support being handled from the USA.
The reason is that Radical Eye is only
willing to grant distribution rights to
a company which is able to prove a
high degree of expertise in both TeX
and Amiga-related topics, and so Far
ii hasn't found such a company in the
UK.
I found both the Sales and support
service was better than that provided
by most companies based in the UK,
All letters seem to he answered by
return of post, and Radical Eye
usually sends out updated discs to all
registered users the same day that
hugs are reported.
I would thoroughly recommend
AmigaTeX to anyone looking to
produce top quality documents on
their Amiga. It may take a bit of effort
to create your first few documents,
but the effort is well worth it.
REPORT CARD
AmigaTeX
Radical Eye Software Box 2081
Stanford CA 94309 USA.
$200 for AmigaTeX, plus SI 00 per
printer driver.
USEFULNESS
The ability to produce documents at
the maximum resolution of a printer is
something which has been missing
from the Amiga.
EASE OF USE ■■■HLIIE]
Although the previewer and La TeX
help a bit there is no doubt that TeX
takes some learning
The previewer is well integrated into
the Amigo environment but the
compiler and printer drivers remain
CLI based.
SPEED ■MBHTZTil
Much of AmigaTeX has been re-written
in assembler, and I found it ran faster
than TeX on the VAX at work!
VALUE m
$300 is not nut of keeping with other
commercial versions of TeX for PCs
and the like, and this version is one of
the best available
OVERALL 85%
An impressive product, A must for any
business user , or anyone job hunting in
need of a good CV.
Typeset Quality
H piwuk output 4 impitilfey q&tlity, Ib p«
hr tqsad itakaiaj mi Induig cipilnlitaofcc^
bn*l dttbopfnbiuliuif propiou; T£X net lijihwi,
yt w ike lua printer lo m js ir pipt before p
tkemlo be pnafted oa t pkoiotypejctlcr
Interactive Environment
sec Typeset QualityW
TeX\ provides output of unparalleled quality,
he kerning and leading capabilities of conven
ublishing prolans; \teX\ uses ligatures, automatic hyphenation and
TfcX oc ike imjp provide* lie bed emrJ
Id Ike lira
i mi comp;
- Thi s goes fan beyond
conventional desktop
Special line and paragraph breaking algorithm to yield
WP feX^==—
Transcript uritten on saj^leJog,
pis is CI*X, Aniga Version 2 Je (preJoaded fronatspliin 88*2.211
**SU*](
(sWW.ttx Ell
LaTex reduces the problem inherent in a com plicated script language
A page from the sample fife
Xmuntber IfttSt t AMIGA COMPUTING 37
Mission
Control
Sam Littlewood reviews ARexx and
WShell, programs which give your micro the
script-} ike control to which mainframe users
have become accustomed
T HE two packages reviewed here
do not produce attractive
pictures or mind-bending sounds. So
can two text based, silent products
really be something to talk about?
“Yes” is too short an answer to be
called a review,
ARexx »s a faithful implementation
of the Rexx language which was
designed by M. Cowlishaw of the
IBM UK Scientific Centre. A feature of
this design was the active feedback
from users, resulting in an easily
learnt and used Language.
The language is interpreted, and is
aimed at writing macro scripts for the
basic operating system or other
packages, ARexx is a compact 30k
library* written in assembler. II hears
no comparison 1o the usual cryptic
script languages; it is a clean and
simple language that holds no horrors
for anyone who has dabbled in
programming before.
An aspect of ARexx that makes it
not just another [albeit good)
J8 AMIGA COMPUTING November 1988
■PROGRAMMING*
language is the ability to
communicate with other packages,
which can invoke a Rexx program 1
just as a Rexx program can send
commands to the package.
WShell was developed by the same
person as ARexx, and is implemented
in the same manner, in this case 10k
of assembler. The Amigados CLJ is
not ideal for regular use. The user
interface is little different from that of
a paper teletype, and speed is not a
feature. WShell is one of several
products that aim to rectify this
problem, others being the Metatomco
Shell, the new shell on Workbench
1.3, and several public domain
programs,
A FACILITY that WShell is
totally lacking and that most
other CLI replacements provide as
their main feature, is line editing and
a history mechanism. This is not a
gross omission - such features are
handled by a separate package, the
shareware program called ConMan.
This was written by the same author
as WShell and ARexx, adding line
editing and history to any CON:
window, whether it is WShell, the old
CLI or your own program. Conman is
provided with WShell and has been
a vai liable through the Fish discs for
some time.
A Rexx comes on a single disc
accompanied by a 1 50 page manual,
It does not require two disc drives or
extended memory. Installation is
simple, well documented and there
were no problems. The visible aspect
of ARexx is a set of small commands
which are copied into the C:
directory. The functionality is
provided in the form of shared
libraries which are copied into the
LIBS: directory .
T HE ARexx interpreter is not run
for every script; it is based
around a single process called the
resident process. This is usually
started at bootup, and lurks in the
background until needed.
The resident process can handle the
execution of many Rexx scripts at
once by virtue of multiple tasks. A
command rx submits a Rexx script to
the resident process. The interpreter
does not include an interactive means
For typing scripts in. They have to be
created using a text editor and then
sent to the interpreter. This script is
/*
* ftexx uses C style cements
* Tti e say' insructipri simply prints put it argments.
*/
say 'hello, world'
Listing /
/*
* A s tuple variable -
*/
say something /* prints SOMETHING *1
soist hiitg*42
something /* prints 42 */
say 2+ftEVEWSi (something)' /* prints 4$ (REVERSE reverses a string)*/
* A coepound variable -
*/
9oiething=$AN
Surnaae.SAN = 'Littlewood'
say Surnanetsaaething /* prints Littleucod *f
Listing II
then interpreted! possibly
concurrently with other running
scripts. The 30k occupied by the
resident process does not have to be
dupheared for each new script.
In the tradition of first programs
Listing I shows a simple rexx
program in the file greet. rexx.
This can be executed from the CLI
by typing rx greet, and providing the
resident process has been started it
will print that well know greeting.
The rx command is not necessary if
WShell is being used, “greet” could
be typed, and WShell will recognise it
as a Rexx script and submit it to the
interpreter,
Like most iangauges, Rexx has
variables, There is however, only one
JVottaimfar 1988 AM Ifi A COMPLETING 39
■ A50G, A1000 and A2000 SupraDrrves
■ 20, 30 and 60 Megabyte drives
available
■ SCSI expansion port for additional
SCSI devices
■ Format drive into as many as five
separate partitions (you can use the
new Commodore file system on some
partitions while still using the old file
system on others)
■ All A2000 drives mount internally
■ A2000 SupraDrives feature Direct Memory
Access (DMA) interface for high-speed data
transfer
■ 1MB and 2MB Fast RAM expansion
capability (on A50Q SupraDrives)
■ Hard disk utilities included
■ Full Amiga bus passthrough
■ Climate included free with every drive
(usual cost £34.95)
■ Built-in power supply
■ Comprehensive twelve month
guarantee
AMIGA 500 SupraDrive
AMIGA 2000 SupraDrive
AMIGA 1000 SupraDrive
Mow you can turbo-charge your Amiga with a SupraDrive hard disk and bring it to its
true performance. A SupraDrive will speed up dsk transfers by as much as 500% and
also eliminate the tedou s task of constantly swapping disks i n and out of the floppy drive.
Directories, icons and graphics wilt appear much faster and programs will load quicker.
The SupraDrive for the Amiga 500 consists of two parts. The SupraDrive SCSI
interface plugs Into the Amiga & expansion bus and converts the computer's signals into
SCSI (Small Computer Standard Interface) and also indudes space lor mounting 1 MB
and 2MB Fast RAM expansion boards The SupraDrive hard disk then connects to this
interface via the inducted cable [which supplies power from the drive unit to run toe
interface and RAM boards - saving unnecessary strain on the AHJG’s own power
supply). Other devices can be added by simply plugging them into toe SupraDrive s
SCSI expansion port.
The SupraDrive indudes features that toe competition forgot. Its fully buffered Amiga
bus pass-through is designed to ensure compatibility with RAM boards, digitisers and
other boards that you may want to connect to your Amiga. Also included is a SCSI
expansion port on the drive to allow you to connect addttonal hard disks, tape drive, CD-
ROMs or other SCSI devices to your system.
The high performance A2Q00 SupraDrive lakes lull advantage of the sophisticated
architecture oi the Amiga £000 computer. Its DMA interface board can plug into any
Amiga 2000 Zorns slot and features custom FLA (Programmable Logic Anay)
semiconductors to insure toe highest possible performance. This interface features full
auto configuration and includes an extra SCSf plug for connecting addtfonal external
hard disk drives or tape back up devices.
in stalla non of the A200G SupraDrive is simple and can be done by an inexperienced
person in less than 10 minutes. All you need is a Phillips screwdriver - everything else
is included. All you need to do is remove toe top of the Amiga's case, install the hard disk
into the 3 5* or 5.25' drive chassis, plug in toe interface board and connect toe included
cables Reassemble the case and you will have a working SupraDrive inside your
Amiga 2000!
For more details and prices, please contact your local dealer or Frontier
Software,
See the Amiga SupraDrives on Stand 89 at the
forthcoming Commodore Show - The NovoteJ,
Hammersmith on I8to-£0to November,
Frortier Software
P.O. Box 113, Harrogate, North Yorkshire HG2 OBE.
(0423)67140/530577. .
40 AMIGA COMI’t rilNG November «MW
■PROGRAMMING*
/*
* £ x a ■ p L e of control of flow
+/
say 'Enter $ number greater than one *
pull vat - /+ PULL reads data froi the input into a variable +/
select
utien DATATYPE ( va L > *= NU»' then
say That was not a number'
when val <1 then
say 'That was Less than one
otherwise do
say 'Uow - you gave me what I asked for'
do i=1 to val
say 'Loop:' i
end
end
say 'Now, type YES'
do untiL j - VE$
pull j
end
f*
* E*aflpLe of subroutines and functions
* Output IS:
* F 0 0 is; Msin-foo Bftfi is: Hy5ub-bar
* flyFunc returns 4
Listing III
f ops'Kain-foo'; bar='Hai n-bar
call fly Sub
say 700 is;' foo ' BAR is: bar
say 'flyFunc returns' flyFunc (4)
exi t
/*
* Subroutine, all its variables are local, except for £bar'
+/
NySub:
PROCEDURE EXPOSE bar
foo='fly5ub-foo'; bar- flySub-bar'
return
I*
* Function, no PROCEDURE, so all callers variables are exposed
*/
Listing IV
flyFunc :
arg i /* Crab the argument into i +/
return 2*i
<
sort of data, a string of characters.
Numbers, integer or Hooting point arc
stored as a text representation. Such
as 42,3, The interpreter decides the
meaning of the data according to the
context in which it is used.
There are two sorts of variables,
simple and compound. Simple
variables are just that. Compound
variables are like multi dimensional
arrays, bu( arc indexed by arbitary
strings as opposed to integers,
T HE syntax for referencing a
compound variable is a base
name followed by the indexing
symbols separated by dots. Variables
do not require declaration or
initialisation; an uninitialised variable
has the value of its name as an
uppercase string. Listing II shows
some examples of variable
manipulation.
Control of execution How is of the
style found in most high level
programming languages, the Familiar
IF... THEN,., ELSE works as usual.
Execution involving blocks of code
such as loops is based on one pair of
instructions, DO and END, The DO
instruction can he followed by
information that describes what sort
of block this is. The SELECT
instruction provides something akin
to a case or switch. This is shown in
Listing III .
Loops can be based on iterating a
variable, continuing while something
is true, continuing until something is
true or forever. In addition, the loop
can be broken out of, or the next
iteration can be skipped to.
The examples have used an
instruction for input - FULL - which
is the tip of an iceberg called parsing.
A string for instance, a user’s input,
command line arguments or a
variable, can be broken up and the
individual pieces assigned to
variables. The breaks can be at spaces
or particular columns,
NGTHER area that the
examples have touched upon is
that of built-in functions. The large
number of these cover a wide range
of areas from string handling that
leaves Basic in the cold, converting
data from binary to hex to strings,
manipulating Files, to using a pool of
variables common to all Rexx
programs.
Subroutines and functions are part
of the language, and can have their
own local variables, A subroutine or
function indicates that it would like
local variables by using the
PROCEDURE instruction. Listing IV
shows that i| is possible to select
some variables that will not be local,
but can be imported from the calling
environment.
People do not write perfect
programs, and ARexx has a
debugging and tracing system to cope
with this. The system is conceptually
very simple - tracing can he turned
on for various events, such as all
instructions, errors or calls.
When the appropriate event occurs
the line or data is printed out. This
can be to the same window as the
program was run from, or a separate
debugging window. If interactive
debugging is turned on the user is
prompted to type something. Just
pressing Return will cause the
program to continue.
Typing = will re-execute the
instruction. Anything else is taken as
an ARexx command and interpreted,
and the user is prompted again. This
allows variables to be printed and
modified and the errant code re-
executed.
Interaction with other applications
takes place through the Amiga’s
message ports. ARexx creates a
message port called REXX, and any
program can call it up. Sending the
name of a script causes the ARexx
resident process to look for the script,
either in the current directory or the
REXX: directory if it is assigned. It
then starts a new task executing that
script, It is also possible to send a
Rexx script as a message itself -
useful for simple operations.
If a program provides a named
►
November Mftft AMIGA COMPUTING 41
■PROGRAMMING*
A
message port, Rexx scripts can direct
commands back to the program. This
allows applications to use ARexx as a
script language, having only to
provide the specialised functions
particular to the application, not a
whole language.
In addition, if several applications
support ARexx a script invoked from
one can draw upon the resources of
them all to get a job done. A script
invoked by an editor command could
grab information from a database,
chew it about, and then put it in the
text being edited. Listing V shows a
script which uses a compiler driver
and editor.
Writing your own programs to use
or be used by ARexx is a relatively
simple task. The necessary include
files and libraries are provided, and
the manual covers the process in
detail. Typically, 1 or 2k of code may
be needed, possibly a lot less. The
Languages supported are C T
Benchmark Modula-2 and assembler,
A REXX can be extended by
writing function Libraries in
one of the above languages which
behave as if they were the built in
functions. Again, the necessary files
and documentation are provided,
ARexx comes with two of these
libraries donated by users. One is an
extended maths package and the
other an interface to the ARP library.
One of the most useful things in the
ARP library is a general purpose file
selector window. When called a
function pops up a window and
allows you to mouse around and
select a Tile, The name of the file is
then returned from the function.
The ARexx manual is excellent. It
was produced on an Amiga using
AmigaTeX, and is clear, concise, and
covers all aspects of the lan gauge. In
relation to the price of the product it
really gives cause for thought about
the quality of manuals on other, far
more expensive products.
ARexx is a \vell documented and
robust implementation of a good
language. It fits into the Amiga
system extremely well, and does not
occupy much in the way of disc space
or memory. It ts fast - obviously not
as fast as a compiled language - but
much better than AmigaBasic.
That still leaves the question, do
you need it? If you are programming
on the Amiga, then I would
wholeheartedly recommend buying it.
If you are more of a user then things
/+
* Try to eotpile the rvaned t file, and then juip to the first
* error, UsuaLly invoked from editor.
arg cotpi Lea rg 5 /* grab the arguments +/
/*
* ADDRESS selects a port to send comiafids to
+/
ADDRESS 'CC'
■ d o « p i L e ' coipileargs f* Tell the c o m p i L e r driver to go *!
'next-error' I* Ask the conpiLer uhat the first error was *i
if resu Lt = " then exit f* If none, go away *t
parse value result fiLe L i nenurabe r errortext
ADDRESS 'UEHACS' /+ Start talking to the editor *1
■find-f i Le' f i le
'goto- L i n*' linenuiber
'write-message 'Error:' err&rtext
become less clear. The number of
packages that support U is limited,
hut likely to grow. On its own, it does
provide a good fast language that is
easy to use for text- bashing and
calculations.
If you are inquisitive and bored
with AmigaRasic, I would
recommend it. If you use the Amiga
solely to run applications, then it is
worth huying ARexx when the
applications you use support it.
W Shell is provided on a single
disc with a GO page manual.
The installation is similar to that of
ARexx, some small commands need
to he copied into the c: directory, and
a shared library is copied into LIBS:.
A setup program is included to do ail
this for you with no problems.
WShell uses a shared library, so each
new command window does not
require a new copy of the code.
However, the shared code is still only
10k: WShell is not memory-hungry.
The most noticeable thing after
installing the program is not
Wshell itself, but Con Man, the
replacement console handler that
provides line editing and a history
mechanism. The current Line can be
edited using the cursor keys, words
can be deleted and the cursor moved
a word at a time.
Previous commands can be
retrieved and edited by using the Up
and Down cursor keys, as well as by
searching. Pressing F6 after typing a
few letters will go back in the
command history and try to find a
command that starts with the same
letters.
A particular honus for those who
Listing V
use other computers is that ConMan
handles Control -S and ControLQ,
stopping and starting the output.
The Con Man features arc available
to anything that uses a CON: window.
It also allows much greater control
over the style of window opened,
windows can be borderless, have a
Close gadget, not have a sizing gadget
and so on.
W SHELL itself is compatible
with the existing CLI, and
will respond to the same commands
and run the same programs. A new
WShell is create with ncwwsh in
much the same way as newcli.
Newwsh can be given arguments
FROM and CMD’ If FROM is used a
named file is executed before
commands are read from the user.
CMD specifies a command to be
executed directly. New T wsh can have a
info file associated with it, and both
FROM and CMD can be put in the
option list. Using CMD allows batch
files to he run from icons. Since
WShell can comunicate with ARexx,
this means that ARexx programs can
also be run from icons.
WShell provides aliases, for
example, Ink could be an alias for
"blink libic.o main,o resio to foo lib
Libdc.lib lib:amigadib". There is no
need for a separate batch file. At a
simpler level, it allows abbreviations
of common commands such as f to
dir, cat to type, mv to rename and so
on,
A feature of the old CLI was that all
of the commands existed on disc. The
time taken to load them resulted in a
poor performance. One solution was
►
42 A MILA COMPUTING November 1988
TRYBRIDGE SOFTWARE
DISTRIBUTION
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The
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Kavemher 1988 AMIGA COMPUTING 43
■PROGRAMMING!
ARexx compatible
programs
The usefulness of this aspect of
ARexx is dependant upon how
many applications provide an
appropriate interface. Currently,
the following products are
known to have ARexx interfaces:
AmigaToX: Typesetting package
TxEd-PIus: Text editor
CvgnuS’Ed: Text editor
C*A.P.E.68k: (iflOflfl development
system
Microfiche Filer Plus ; Database
W Shell: CLI replacement
Magellan; Al expert system
Precision Software will be
providing ARexx support for
Superbase Professional, and are
considering it for Logistix. In
addition, several public domain
programs have the necessary
support.
to put commonly used commands in
RAM:, but that took up precious
space.
WShell has two speedups. Some
commands are built in, such as IF, CD
STACK. The second speed-up is
resident commands. Putting
Commands in RAM: is fast, but wastes
space, the file occupying memory in
RAM:, When it is executed, it is
copied out of RAM: and more
memory is allocated for the executing
copy. In addition, every instance of
the program running has its own
copy of the code.
Y OU can write programs so that
all running copies share the
same code but have separate data,
and the code is the only copy of that
code in memory, These programs can
be made resident. They are loaded
once into memory, and in effect
become built-in commands. Most of
the CLI commands can be used this
way, with an immense performance
increase,
WShell has Some extra built-in
commands, in particular, PUSHCD.
and PQPCLf These allow 7 you to push
the current directory on to a stack,
move somewhere else, and then pop
the old position back. This is great for
wandering off for a quick explore,
without having to remember where
you were when you started.
Previously, commands could have
their input and output redirected to
files with >, < and >>, WShell adds
piping with the I symbol. The ouptut
of one program can he redirected to
the input of another, concurrently
executing, program. For example, the
output of a compiler could be
redirected to a program that displayed
things a page at a time, having had
everything but the error lines
removed with the line compile find
Error pager
The prompt used with WShell is
highly flexible, it can include a wide
variety of information, such as the
current directory, the lime, the return
code of the last program, colours and
so on. If this is not enough, a
program can be executed as part of
the prompt. This could he used to
show the status of some background
task.
I T is possible to put this
jL information in the title bar of the
window. For example, the CLI
number and the current directory. A
parficularUy good aspect of WShell
with respect to windows is that it can
handle the Close gadget, having the
effect of EndCLI.
An added bonus on the WShell disc
is the inclusion of the ARP, or
A mi gad os Replacement Project, This
is a shareware development that aims
to replace all the CLI commands with
smaller faster alternatives.
The ARP commands are highly
compatible with the originals, but
have been made more regular. All
produce a consistent Help message,
and all accept wildcards for
filenames.
An additional advantage is that they
can all be made resident with no
problems, It does not yet cater for
Workbench,
The manual provided with WShell
is somewhat more terse than that of
ARexx, hut is written and produced
with the same quality. An annoying
omission is that it docs not cover the
programming interfaces very heavily.
WShell can be extended, and ConMan
can have different editing keys setups,
hut the manual does not cover it
properly,
WShell is an excellent product, It
provides some of the most powerful
extensions seen in a CLI replacement,
for very little memory loss. If you are
interested in using the CLI, or have
already been driven crazy by it, then
W r Shell would he a rewarding
investment.
REPORT CARD
ARexx
William Dawes Ami gn Centre Scotland
031*557 4242
09
USEFULNESS
While ARexx is a good language it is
onlv really usefuf if you have a
program which uses its protocols
EASE OF USE r .
Takes a little learning, but i vhen
mastered it eliminates mundane tasks.
ixn /mew..,. ^MTim
Very much a CLI tool with only
indirect access to Wimpy controls, but
makes the most of multitask mg.
Being interpreted. ARexx is not
particularly last hut it reduces the time
you spend key bashing.
A language for £39? A bargain, it has
specialist uses but meets those
objectives welt.
OVERALL 77%
The kind of powerful hacker's toot
which sets the Amiga apart from lesser
computers.
REPORT CARD
WShell
William Hawes ‘'Amiga Centre Scotland
031-557 4242
£32
USEFULNESS .
As a means of support for ARexx and
ConMan it works well, otherwise a
simple CLI replacement
fast of ust ■cmrEm
Command lines are not supposed to be
easy to use, just rapid. Makes CLI less
of a pain.
iat tuitiox i * nmni ]
Economical with ram , and built to
multi task but really an expert's front
end.
SPEED.
Not a major factor . hut tight assembler
code means that it is quick as well as
small.
VALUE .,
With so many PD sheds around, and a
free one due with Wtt 1.3 it needs this
low price.
OVERALL 62%
Vet another shell, only ARexx makes it
special - but that is enough to justify
the low price.
44 A MIGA COMPUTING November I fttifi
this solid silver
Grail, worth £5,000,
in the exciting Quest
for the Holy Grail
competition, Full
details in every box,
Please send me Lancelot on O cassette O disc
F ° r: — {slate machine)
O / enclose a cheque for £ _ ( including VAT and p,
made payable to Mandarin Software
D Please debit my Access/Visa number; ^ x P tr y date: [
Signature
Name—
Address
Postcode
Send to; Mandarin Software, Europe House,
Adtinfiton Park, Adlington, Macclesfield SK 10 4NP
Enquiries: 0625 679940 Order Hotline; 0625 B7992U
VeisUui
inside every box there f s a detailed guide to
playing Level 9 adventures, a background story to
the classic legend, a parchment map of Arthurian
England — and full details of how to take part in
the Quest for the Holy Grail corn petition.
\0Wiimi\
SOF TWA rY£
level 9
4
Format
Tape
Disc
Price
Atari ST
•
£19,95
Amiga
#
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Amstrad PC, IHM PC
and compatibles
•
£19.95
A ms trad CHC/PCW
Spectrum Plus 3
•
£19,95
Commodore 64
•
m
£14.95
Spectrum
•
£14,95
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•
£1 4,95
\Alari XL/XE
w
*
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BBC Master
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m
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hi?
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By selling direct we can provide
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Should any item purchased from
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2nd PRINTER INTERFACE
Use your Amiga’s serial port to
drive a second Centronics
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required.
MIRACLE SYSTEMS
NBC, Dean Road, Yate, Bristol BS17 5NH
Telephone orders welcome on (0454) 317772
Jfi AMIGA COMPUTING November 1983
The technical achievements in
Nebulus arc impressive, the graphics
are beautifully illustrated and sup-
erbly animated. The colour scheme
used is gorgeous and it seems at
times lhat even more than 32 colours
are on the screen.
The music at the start of the title
page is very effective, and spot effects
are some of the best I've heard on an
Amiga. Not only are they well sam-
pled, but their interaction with the
game have also been well engi-
neered.
I can't recommend this one highly
enough, it's one of the most
refreshing and enjoyable games I’ve
had the pleasure of playing this year.
If you only buy one game this
month nmfce sure that it’s Nebulus
and you won't be disappointed.
Chris Holmes
The toww is reflected in the surface of the water using a mathematical formula
D OWN on the planet Nebulus all
is not wed. Someone has been
building giant towers in the middle
of the sea - and they didn't even
apply for planning permission.
Awakening from your morning
nap in the offices of Destrudo Inc,
you are told by your boss about your
latest destruction job which involves
the new Mk.7 Min-Sub and a pay
rise.
The submarine surfaces at the base
of each lower w ith an almost effec-
tive burst of sampled sound. Your
task is to climb to the top of the tower
- which is stewn with ledges, tunnels
and lifts - within the allowed time.
i Excellent®
Some of the ledges dissolve, while
others are slippery causing you to
slide comically. Flashing blocks,
bouncing balk and strange creatures
are intent on knocking you off your
balance. You are equipped with a
blaster that if fired accurately can
stop or destroy some hazards.
The most amusing part is being
knocked off a ledge and landing back
on a lower level or in the sea. You
only lose a life if you tumble into the
water, so the higher you are the safer
things become.
If by some minor miracle you
manage to reach the top of the tower
you enter the final door. A destruc-
tion sequence will be set off, the
tower collapses and bonus points
awarded for the time left, When a
tower has been destroyed you get
back in your submarine and travel
underwater to the next tower. Trav-
elling from tower to tower you can
collect bonuses, catching fish by
shooting air bubbles.
Nebulus was designed and pro-
grammed by John Phillips initially
for the Commodore 64 and has been
converted perfectly by the same man.
Although [he design is veiy simple,
some of the mechanics used to create
the rotational 3D scrolling and Ihe
multi-layer parallax scrolling on the
underwater game are most complex.
The rotational scrolling runs at 25
frames a second while the
underwater scene is nearly twice as
fast. The lower is reflected in the
surface of the water using a math-
ematical formula.
Watch out for the aliens
^member 19BS AMIGA COMPUTING 47
BIRDIE
E VERY once in a while a game
arrives which blows the
competition clean oul of the water,
Leaderboard Golf was one of these,
and whan il first arrived on the C&4 it
marked the beginning of a new era in
computer sports simulation. Not least
hecause ill made computer golf a
playable game.
Before very long the much
anticipated sequel arrived in the form
of Leaderboard Tournament, Using
exactly the same formula as the
original the new game added features
like the driving range, hole skipping
and tougher courses,
The Amiga versions of both games
promised, once again, to be standard
setters and’ so they are - with a few
extra features to boot. Bui since
they've been around for a while, US
Gold has revamped the re-release
with a two disc pack for the price of
one. Considering Ibe bundle includes
a score card, maps and stand-up club
power guide, it represents very good
value lor money.
The game is played entirely in 3D,
viewed from behind the golfer. At the
start of each shot you selecl a club
from three woods, nine irons or a
pitching wedge. The distance to the
4 E
Winds 1
E
E
^ i
®Club iw|
233 Yards
||Power E
fjsnap I
_ F
TOP
Fore!
hole is displayed to aid your
decision, even though the flag may
be hidden by trees, across a lake or
whatever.
Next, using the mouse a small
crosshair is positioned to set the
direction of the shot,
Now comes the tricky bit. Pressing
the right mouse bull on starts the
backswing and the power meter
starts to climb. Releasing the button
sets the power and starts the
downswing phase.
Alter the dowmswing comes the
snap indicator. Correct liming here is
essential to ensure the ball is hooked
or sliced the way you want.
On the beginner level, the snap fea-
ture is disabled as are the winds -
yes, it includes every golfer's night-
mare - making things a lot simpler
until you gat used to it. Some other
obstacles are always present, of
course. The trees for example - a ball
on the rough is worth two in a tree.
And last but not least the bunkers
and lakes - just as tough as real life. I
assure you.
When you make il to the green the
club selection changes to a putter
automatically. Now you have to
judge the shot power and angle given
the lay of the green and the distance
to the hole.
Even if you already have one uf the
originals. Birdie is well worth the
outlay. If not, get it anyway.
Mark Smiddy
Birdie
VS Gold
£ 24.95
BUBBLE GHOST
Don't lei if spoil J; yeu r
C UTE is the right word to l
describe this rather simple but
fun game. There are 40 screens to
conquer and the objective on every
one is exactly the same - to push a
floating, iridescent bubble from one
side of a room lo the other without
bursting the fragile sphere in the
process.
The bubble-pusher is a small, 1
appropriately dead-white ghosl
which is guided around the screen by
moving your mouse in the desired
direction. Pressing the left or right
hand mouse button causes the phan-
tom to rotate in a clockw ise or anti-
clockwise direction Asteroids style.
The only means the ghost has of
getting the bubble to move is by huf-
fing at it - a press of the shift or space
key causes the spook to puff oul its
cheeks and exhale. Providing the
spook is close enough, the bubble
will float away for a short distance,
propelled by the ghostly breath.
As you know, ghosts can pass
through solid matter and in this case
such matter includes the bubble.
However, although the ghost is
immune from coming to grief on any
objects, the bubble is not. Should it
touch any solid item, the bubble will
pop with a satisfying "Flink",
When this happens the little spook
turns to face you, scowls and lets rip
with a short buret of angry gibberish.
The game is over when you’ve buret
five bubbles - allhough extra
bubbles, can be earned by taking a
trickier route.
Each screen represents a room, The
hubble is usually positioned on one
side of the room with at least one exit
at another - another includes the
ceiling and floor.
Every room is different and in
addition to an increasingly more dif-
ficult maze- like configuration of
walls and passageways, also features
a variety of obstacles such as lit
candles, electric fans, spikes, ret-
racting needles, arid assorted pointy
objects.
To add to the fun, a timer ticks
away - the quicker you get the
bubble Id the exit, the higher the
bonus. Failure to make it to the exit
before your time runs out only results
in your failing to score any bonus,
no! the loss of a life.
There are some neat points to the
game. The ghost turns bright red and
chokes if he puffs away for too long
in one go - this temporary seizure is
accompanied by the sampled sound
of a cough and wheeze.
The ghost can blow other light
objects besides the bubble. And
trying to manouevre the bubble past
a moving fen which blows il every
which way is a real test of your
patience and dexterity.
The title music is pretty good -
unfortunately, it is only heard once,
immediately after Ihe initial loading -
hut other sound effects are few and
far between.
The graphics are fairly modest and
uninspired and animation quite lim-
ited, although the ghost is nicely
realised - cute and cuddly, if you like
that sort of thing.
Although Bubble Ghost is quite
novel and is enjoyable, harmless and
ever-so mildy addictive, the fun and
challenge per pound sterling does
not represent a good long-term
investment Nice, but at this price not
that nice.
Bob Chappell
Bubble Ghost
mm
Inh^mmes
4fl AMIGA COMPtmKG Mnvembsr 1906
m
SUMMER OLYMPIAD
T HE Seoul Olympics have been
and gone, bul despite that
Tymsoft is cashing in with another of
ils sporting simulations. However
like many companies, Tynesoft has
been criticised of late for converting
ST games directly to the Amiga. After
all, the two machines share many
similarities - with the ST coming
second every time. So has Tynesoft '$
learn breathed life into the Amiga
version?
This new -offering is supplied ora a
single disc containing a staggering
1.2Mb of programs and data, which
seems good value for money. There
are five events - sheet shooting,
diving, fencing, 100M hurdles, and
triple jump. The opening ceremony
is featured hut surely couldn't be
called an event.
As the game boots, the screen
opens out requesting the names of
the competitors - up to six people
can play at once. While selecting
your home nation, its flag is dis-
played waving in the breeze. This
doesn’t add anything to the game f but
it gives the feel of a professional and
well designed product - a taste of
what is about to be unveiled.
The first event is skaet shooting. In
essence, this is a variation on the old
duck shoal theme, although there's
the option at the start to use a joystick
or mouse - it’s easier with the mouse.
Pressing the fire button selects which
is required automatical ty.
Ynur marksman stands a full half
height in Ihe screen and as you move
the targetting circle his whole body
moves aiming the gun - no Surprises
here.
However, as the circle reaches the
left or right hand edge, the screen
scrolls sideways - beautifully
smoothly, clouds and other scenery
add tn the effect.
Press the left button lo pull, aud a
skeet whistles across the screen from
one of the catapults, subtending a
beautiful arc through the air.
Initially, I was so surprised by the
graphics, I completely missed the
point of what I w r as up to,
There are seven stations in all with
a mixture of singles and doubles. For
each skeet launched you get one shot,
and two can be in Ihe air at once -
although some seem to move rather
too slowly.
Next up comes Ihe diving, and
memories of poor Greg Louganis
bashing his head on the springboard
come flooding back. Diving in
Olympiad is from the 10 metre board,
Control is by joystick only with
four directions used to pike, tuck, roll
and straighten up for a good entry,
Marks are determined by the number j
of rolls, pikes and twists you
complete and (he quality of your
entry - sorry folks, belly flops won't
do.
When the time came for the triple
jump I thought it was my birthday.
Nq problem this. Rattle the joystick
like there's no (omorrow. press lire at
the right time - and hop-skip-leap
into the sand.
Needless to say T forgot about the
angle control. And while getting the
perfect 45 degrees on take off isn't too
hard, you’ve got to keep it near there
for the whole sequence or else you
won't make the sandpit.
I've always fancied a quick riposte,
So, now was my chance as the cur-
tain raised on Tynesoft s interpret-
ation of fencing.
Launching in with typical Forester
charm, I was soon foiled neatly by
my computerised opponent. The
only way to bcal the sucker is wilh
cunning, but you have to go three
rounds to qualify and the computer
gets better with each.
At long Last came the joystick-
bashing finale to the Summer
Olympiad, Deserving!) 1 , it’s graphi-
cally the best. Let's face it, the 110
melres hurdles doesn't sound very
thrilling - until you place the view
behind the compelitors.
Couple this to a nice 3D sequence
where the camera drifts into position
behind the player and you have an
amazing event. As usual, speed is
controlled by frantic joystick
wiggling, the fire bulton being used
to jump.
Once again Tynesoft has produced
a winner, albeit an expensive med-
alist. Both the still and moving
graphics 'are very good, the gamep I ay-
addictive.
The sound is lacking in places, but
the title music makes up for it - play
this on your hi-fi and boogie on
down. On your marks, gel sei, go -
down to the shop and experience
Seoul for yourself.
Julia Forester
Summer Olympiad
£24M
Trmmft
Overall - f>2%
November J9ffl AMIGA COMPVTtlva 49
■ REVIEWS!
BOMB JACK
C OIN -OP conversions are still
being churned out and here's
another. Bomb Jack is looking a little
long in the tooth now, having been
around for the 8 bit machines for
some time, and its age clearly shows.
This conversion, while competent
and fun to play, does nothing to make
use of the Amiga’s potential, yet costs
a whole lot more than those for far
less powerful machines.
The game consists of six differently
backdrop ped screens whose prime
constituents are platforms, bombs
and aliens. The bright-red, fused
bombs are liberally strewn and must
he defused before progress can be
made to the next screen.
Bomb Jack, the hero of the game, is
a diminutive caped crusader, not a
little unlike the Mighty Mouse of
cartoon fame. His task is to fly
around and make contact with each
bomb, thereby defusing it.
The platforms are there both to
help and hinder him in his duties.
The aliens flit around trying to make
contact with Bomb Jack - one touch
and he loses one of his three lives.
Each of the six backdrops, which
are quite attractive even if they do
serve Little purpose other than orna-
mentation, represents a country. For
instance, there’s the pyramids and
Sphinx in one, the Acropolis in
another and what I take to be a
French chateau in yet another. Once
you've completed the six screens,
they recycle with a new platform
layout
Bomb jack tends (□ float rather
than fly - when he's on solid ground,
the fire button launches him
upwards. He continues !o float
skywards until he runs out of steam
(or humps his head on a platform)
and he descends slowly earthwards.
While he is floating he can be guided
to the left and right.
When Bomb lack touches .an alien,
he does nolhing more exciting than
spin a couple of times to show that he
has lost a life.
Animation of the aliens is similarly
basic. These beings, some of which
look more like unbaked gingerbread
men than creatures from outer space,
move gently aboul the screen trying
to hamper Bomb jack's mission.
After the loss of a life, Bomb Jack is
replaced on the starting position of
that screen but, thankfully, any
bombs already defused do not
reappear.
Other objects pop up from lime to
time and must be touched for bonus
points, and extra lives. The game can
be played by one or two players with
one or two joysticks.
There is also an option to turn off
the music. 1 suggest you use it.
On the plus side. Bomb Jack is
simple lo play, slightly addictive and
the backdrops are pleasing lo look at.
On the minus side, the game lacks
depth and variety and is far too
expensive for the limited entertain-
ment it offers.
If it were Less than a tenner then Fd
say go get it - but at its current price.
Bomb Jack is definitely not good
value for money.
Bub Chappell
Pretty graphics Fail to hide poor animation
NETHERWORLD
N etherworld is Hew son's
first dip into the Amiga market
having been programmed by
Jmagitec, designed and developed by
the Finnish programmer Jukka
Tapani maka.
The game is set in a world of fanta-
stic structures and wonderful beings.
Y ou are trapped in this mystic place,
and the only way hack to reality is to
collect enough of the local currency
to pay your way out, otherwise you'll
A mird game of teleports and diamonds
spend the rest of your days dodging
acid bubbles and dragons.
The aim of the game is to collect a
set number of diamonds within a
time limit and then exit through a
teleport. After each level there is an
intermission, and an extra life is
awarded if this is successfully
completed.
The playing area consists of fea-
tures which can assist or hinder your
quest. For example a brick smasher
will shatter a wall and allow you
access to the diamonds,
Teleports can whizz you to random
iocalions within the playing area in
times of emergency, and demon kil-
lers allow you lo destroy deadly foes
simply by touch.
Extra lives and invulnerability can
be picked up as surprise bonuses, but
these are not advisable as they could
also result in an uncontrollable ship
or reversed controls.
1 am a little lost in summing up just
how good or had this game is. The
graphics are consistent throughout
and the multi directional scrolling is
very smooth- The sound effects arc
run of the mill hut the music which
accompanies the title page is very
good.
Netherworld is a well designed
and executed game on 8 bit com-
puters but on the Amiga it doesn't
quite make the grade, True, it has
some nice features and original
touches like alien generators, but at
the end of the day it's poor VFM.
At the same price you could go out
and buy Hewson's other new release
for I he Amiga, Nebulus, which is a
far more entertaining investment.
Gary Willson
XelhernoHd
£ 19,95
Kenton
5ft AMIGA COMPUTING November
■REVIEWS!
VIRUS
Most of the game is learning to control the hover plane
V IRUS is a g a me with a history, IE
started life on the Archimedes*
for which Acorn wanted a really
good demo. They contacted David
"Elite" Braben* well-known miracle
worker for brain-damaged micros,
who some time later came up with
Zarch.
For reasons still not likely to con-
vince anyone of Tdccomsoffs sanity,
the game lost some features -
Firebird deemed the smart bombs
silly, and gained some new aliens
along with the name Virus during its
trip to the Amiga. But here it is,
nonetheless.
Virus is a shool-cm-up. Compared
to others of the ilk it's like selling an
ST to someone who's seen an Amiga
- fiendishly difficult - but apparently
it can be done
Your Hoverplane flies over a
patchwork landscape. It is not alone;
a range of aliens has also taken a
liking to the area and they are
determined to turn it red. They do
this by seeding the old green and
pleasant with viruses, whereupon the
crops fail, the people starve and you
- yes, you - gel to go out there and
manna lisc the critters.
The most difficult thing about
Virus is controlling the hoverplane. It
flies straight upwards when the
mouse is dead nn the spot it was on
when the plane was launched. If the
mouse is moved away from that spot
the plane tilts in that direction.
Firing the rocket under the plane
will start it moving thus wards, but as
the mouse is moved farther away
from the central point the plane tilts
more and more until it is upside-
down. The rocket motor now points
Upwards, and will propel the plane
into (bat glorious quilt of a conn-
try side at a speed which seems
impressive the first five or ten times
you see it,
By the thirtieth time you’ve exam-
ined the interesting geology of ten
feet under, you will have found that
the mouse is so sensitive it bursts into
tears during Blind Date.
It is a moment of considerable
triumph when the plane is steered
towards that blip on the radar and
gets close enough to hear the chilling
whine* let alone close enough to see
the circus lent decor of the alien
seeder. Now all that needs to happen
is to hit the blighter - just dip Ihe
nose a little to aim and*,, oh well, you
always wanted to he a landscape gar-
dener.
Eventually it does prove possible to
steer ihe plane well enough to hit the
seeders with the laser gun. The best
strategy, to spiral downwards and
spray away like an incontinent hippo
on a hdterskcller. pales when you
notice that every blob fired results in
a point taken away from your score.
Negative scores are not uncommon
in the early days.
You have three short-range guided
missiles, which if fired from too low
an altitude, are also liable to take up
gardening. However, it is possible to
rise to the flight ceiling and let off the
missiles with a fair chance of hitting
all three seeders on the first screen.
This leaves you nothing but your
wits and the laser to cope with the
bombers, drones, mutants, pests and
fighters which infest the later
screens. You get an extra life and
missile every 5000 points* it says in
the notes, I believe these, as so far
their description of all those deviants
has proved devastating ly accurate.
There are so many ways to die**.
If this sounds too* loo nasty, then
rest assured that the graphics are
wonderful - the first shool-'em-up
that really works in a three-
dimensional landscape - the sound
just right, even down to Ihe little
plips and plnshes when you manage
to get as far as the ocean before cra-
shing, and Ihe animal ion of smoke,
particles and almost everything else
scrumptious. The sense of achieve-
ment when you hit something is
almost incidental.
You haven't lived till you've died
in Virus,
KaventberUm AMIGA COMPUTING 51
—
■ REVIEWS ■
QUADRALIEN
L QGOTRON was reknowned for
little In the gaming field except
for Xor, a strategic 2D maze game.
Suddenly, after the excellent Star
Ray, the company has hit the Amiga
scene with a bang. The next release is
Quadralien, a sci-fi puzzle game with
shooting, back in the Xor tradition.
As well as a reactor heading for
melldown the luckless player has to
contend with an invasion of aliens, a
rogue computer, and a whole host of
fiendish puzzles. The reactor, known
as Astra, has three levels comprised
of six chambers and the reactor core.
The complex part of this game
comes in the form of slave droids
which cither repel or attract, just like
magnets, and supposedly control (he
plant's day-to-day mainlainance. The
whole thing is rather confusingly
retard to as the Dynamic Magnetics
System of Entropy Control or
DyMSEG
The primary aim is to avoid a
meltdown by preventing the core
temperature from getting too high, or
the operations energy from sinking
too low . Plus finding and destroying
the Quadralien Mother.
To reduce the plant’s temperature
you must maneouvre one of your
droids so that it sends water barrels
down chutes, or reduce the entropy
level which is a measuure of the
movement of the DyMSEC, Tortuous
or what? You control two from an
initial selection of six droids as they
run around the various mazes, shoot-
ing obstructing objects and
absorbing others.
Each droid has its own special cha-
racteristics, from using a headlight to
illuminate a darkened chamber to
brute strength when shoving objects
out of the way. The correct choice of
droid depends on which environ-
ment you are confronted with.
What makes the game interesting,
or stupifyingly dull depending on
your point of view, is the way the
various objects on screen interact
with each other. So in order to create
a certain effect or reach a certain
place it is first necessary to work out
where everything is going to end up.
There are loads of different types
of objects, plenty of options for
making the game more playable,
such as code words to bypass the
lower levels once completed, and a
number of ways in which it can be
tackled.
David Whittakers music is pleas-
ant enough, but the crude flip screen
scrolling is irritating, and although
the graphics are serviceable,
Quadralien isn't pushing frontiers
back in any department. I found it all
a little tiresome ,
Mark Luckham
Quadralien
Logotnm
£19.93
Sound V*
Graphics
O NCE upon a time, before the i
fateful day when Clive Sinclair
got his first tricycle, computers were
rare. Huge metal cabinets filled with
valves and filling large areas of uni-
versity labs, they were designed and
used by mathematicians.
It was confidently predicted that
there would only ever be six com-
puter in Britain because it would be
impossible to I rain enough math-
ematicians to operate more. The
mathematicians got quite excited by
this, sensing a chance for a real job at
last.
But sanity prevailed. Nowadays,
any intrusion of mathematics into
computing is viewed, quite rightly,
with suspicion. On odd occasions a
pure mathematician does chance
across a computer; a progeny of just
such a strange match is Whirligig.
Take the game screen. In the
middle sits a comfortably familiar, if
a little angular, 3D shaded spacecraft.
Shame about the colours, but you
can't have everything. But the area
around the craft isn't yer ordinary
hard interplanetary vacuum in which
a thousand heroes have died, my
goodness no. It's eigenspace. Come
eigen?
Eigen is numberwallah jargon for -
among other things - solution. An
eigensomething is a something
which matches the conditions, so an !
cigenbus lor East Ham is the number
15
An eigenspace has a number (from
one to four billion), and a combin-
ation of si ar gates (finks lo other
cigenspaces], missile, chaff and fuel
depots and even the occasional per-
fect solid. Missiles and fuel are stand-
ard space game issue - except that if
you fire a missile and there's no
target they loop around and hit you -
and chaff is an electronic fog that can
confuse attacking ships.
You'll find a fuel store in an
eigenspace which can be divided by
2 after you take 1 from it (so 5-1=4,
which divides by 2, so in 5 you'll find
fuel), likewise missiles in sectors that
can be divided by 3 after taking away
1, and chaff in sectors that do die
same by 5, Perfect solids - of which
there are just five - have to be collec-
ted; get the set and return to Earth’s
Golden Age. That's 19&B, according
to the book; a sobering thought.
All this wonderful numbererun-
I ching means that, if you have a doc-
torate in integer mathematics, you
can plot a course around the network
of eigenspaces. If you don't, you're
/ jmwmmmm i- A
— A,J
Computed shading on iprites
reduced to playing the game, and
talking of coarse plots...
The only fun about is shooting at
the ships which guard the solids. As
some of these are invincible, you
might have to run away.
This game is for retired professors
who find spreadsheets just a little loo
exciting for the old ticker. Mediocre
graphics - sprites dressed up as 3D
solids with a light source - poor
mouse control and frustrating screen
changes, combined with hyperactive
marching music, might put the rest of
us off Spend your twenty quid on
| Russell fr Whitehead's Principia, it's
much livelier,
Rupert Goodwins
11 Airfighf
Firebird
£19.95
- 21
H 2 A MIC A COMPfrilNG jVcji ember 19 m
■GAMES!
There's magic
in Cornwall
F IRST off, Giles Lovegrove from
Cornwall offers some help with
Faery Tale, He advises that the jade
skull kills all your enemies on the
screen, Crystal orbs allow you to see
hidden doors, green jewels enable
you to see at night, magic rings freeze
your enemies and blue stones telepoit
you when you are in a rings of stones.
In houses w here there is a fire there
will also be an object. Press look and
it will appear. All the forts which lead
up from the village need a green key.
The only one you need is the first fort
on the left and you can get into that
without the green key by walking
along the left wall and going through
it halfway up.
Straight down from the village is
the city of Marheim. Don't bother
going into the palace, because the
king tells you he can't help and you
cannot draw your weapon. If you
cross the river behind the village and
follow' the coast up you will
eventually come to a raft which is
helpful
J ONATHAN Good has some hints
for BMX Simulator. He says that
on level tw r o the best line is to come
out of the first turn and come off into
the rough. Staying on level two, if
you are riding along the straight and
the fence is on your opponent's left
you can go through the fence and
then through a gap to the finish.
Sneaky huh?
On level three you should go round
the hill up the side and through the
flag when you cannot go over the hill,
but watch out for the cone, Having
made it to level four, the bikers
should take the inside line and
overtake the computer at the tyres
near the finishing line. It is best to go
over the starting line, missing out the
top left-hand corner.
Rut Jonathan is not just good at
pedalling, he has some airborne hints.
First for Sky fox, where he suggests
that you kill all the planes first, then
the installations, refuel and finally
knock out the tanks.
His hints for Mercenary are pretty
good. Fly the Dominion dart to 350
metres, level off to a speed of 1,7R1
kph and fire a missile. Pick up the
missile w r hcn you get close enough
and then land. Go to UBU8 and take
the crashed inter galactic craft to 0800.
Leave the ship and go through the
triangular door. This leads to the
author’s cheat room, w'here you will
find keys to all the doors, the ability
to carry lots of items and get out of
jail free cards
Amiga Computing itself is truly
international. The last tip has winged
its w r ay from Victoria in Australia. No
not someone called Victoria, it's
actually from Keith Fung. He's a Star
Wars space ace and offers these tips:
In space fire only at the fighters in
the middle third of the screen. This
means you can shoot all the fireballs
bcfor*e they hit you. Concentrate your
fire against Darth Vader's ship,
although you cannot destroy it, you
get twice as many points, Closely
spaced hits do not allow him to take
evasive action.
Use the time while Darth is stunned
to take out fighter escorts. Try to find
the Darih Vader ship w'hen the level
draws to a close and get as many
shots as possible in w'hile he fiees.
As you fly over the surface of the
Death Star memorise the patterns of
the towers as they rise. Shoot slightly
above the tower, allowing it to move
into your fire. Work methodically
^ - V
from left to right, taking the towers in
turn. It's quicker than random
blasting.
Do not try to follow' a tower to the
lop of the screen, Wait for it to
reappear later. Be sure to shoot
fireballs. It is more important to
defend your shields than to destroy
all the lowers.
In the trench you can use the Force,
This means not shooting anything
until the exhaust port appears. Fine
for the first few times around, but
things get tougher and you have to
rely on your weapon. Do not bother
trying to shoot the fireballs which are
not going to hit you, they are not
worth risking shields for,
Since you are safe if you touch the
floor or sides of the trench, use this to
dodge the enemy fire. The fireballs
move comparatively slowly towards
your current position so do not fly in
line with a gap until the last minute,
this will lead the fireballs astray.
Try and keep low, as this is the best
position for weaving (whereas you arc
best off keeping high in the arcade -
cd). Perhaps the best tip Keith offers
is to turn the mouse mat vertically to
remind you to keep within the middle
third and to help you dive and climb
more quickly.
Max " The Hacks 1 ' Tennant is the master of
game play. Whatever the game hell win at it
fair means or foul — often with a little help
from his friends, if you have a tip fora game
send it in. For every one we print well send
you a game from the collection in our goodie
dra wer and a fabulous Konix Speed king, as
used by all serious joystick jockies
November IBSH AMIGA COMPUTING 53
DAUEL ELECU^OniO
• A top quality smimd sanptoig system at a raubsiln
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• EtealUme frefi'jK'in^ dtspl»j
• Rftaltinm IkvkI id««b
• Fites eaued in DY fomat.
V Adjustable manual, ajtoaatJG rttord trig le*rei
• l&rtabJe sac. pie rate and piaybaci speed.
• Separate scmll Ut» waveform windows plus uwrn
hinetioG with Bdit wjhIqwb fee line acimrate Bdihog.
• Hardware cuitjiatJti wtth tariy othor wltwiur
packages.
• SuRwara flies ®an be used withir. other mesa:
jtlllUaa
• Reveres, E<py ion. dear plus ether edit (acuities.
• Eifmrophone and iir.e input V Jack and Din
~ eariMttldiw
V 3D shft oi sound wavalterr. Waira editor 10 design
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OMLV £69.99 ooHFWffc fmiK, vlmji utoti woo/jooo/iooo
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• Use as a PnJU- track Mjttj recording eSudJo
• Works with many Midi interfeaea LncJuding
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OMLV £39.99 COMPLVTV
• Editing laeutieb for corrwtwrtg and track
jKitning ate.
• Interna] or External Midi deck eontrd
• Play sampled aounfle on Amiga, from any
Midi track .
• Full dubbing - listen to one track white
recording another
• Perfect companion far Pro Sampler Studio or
any music application
□ DATEL JAMMER
Tb complement the Sample Studio the Date!
Jammer gives you a 5 octave keyboard to
play and record your sampled sounds,
fllroiili
• % &ad Z new chords
• A track sequencer up to 9909
events.
• Tempo and Beat Controls.
• Mixer Controls on Inatrumonte.
• Load and Save sequence.
• Works on standard TFT (Ue sounds,
I J MIDI MASTER
• Full Midi Interface for A500/
EG00/1GQ0 (Please state model)
• Compatible with most leading
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• Midi In - Midi Out x 3 -
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• Hitman like dexterity - with 5 Axle of
movement It ia so versatile, ft can manip-
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• Easily Controlled using £ Joysticks [ any
9 pin tyre) cr connect to your Amiga
with cur interface 4 Software to give
Computer/Rolwtic control (see Interface
offer}.
□ INTERFACE OFFER
• Unique Scftware/Hardware package to
alow you to interface your Amiga with the
Bobotann.
• Tram mode allows you to stone and then
repeat movement sequences
• Very easy to use.
J DATA ACQUISITION UNIT
• toam your Aaiiga info 4 scpfusticatal naasurj^
lustrum mt capi&le of maaflurinf a wide rejigs c f data (
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Mya/Hlv, - accurate to 6%
9 6 bit Casli conTerfllBU gtree 2 mlUtooa fiifflj)lae.'!S 8 c
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• Uses 4 HP2 batteriaB (not supplied ) to
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• Self contained, ready to use
Joysticks).
only £ 49.99
This Interface is not nseded to use the I
ftobotann but interfacing with your Amin
hsA ifFpnf mcaihlftiec
has great possibbties..
F Bease Sate Amiga modal
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• DDK) holds 40 W disks Mlsabh.
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• DD80 holds 80 disks lockable,
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• Disks - 3V a ' T D/DS/D.
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oNL<r £24.99 n»n.
□ PRINTER CABLES
• 2S pin 'D’ to 36 way Centronics
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9 A 500 or 1000 please state.
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L
Into the
silicon
underworld
Rupert Goodwins takes a final look at the chips
which make the Amiga go kerpow in the night
T HB denizens of the Amiga’s
underworld have a wide variety
of jobs, Paula sings, Denise paints,
and Fat Agnus drives a bus. And
juggles. Fat Agnus is the second
cleverest chip in the Amiga, after the
68000 processor, and together with its
(herY One never knows) sidekick Gary
controls most of the rest of the
circuitry.
The diagram on page A- 11 of the
Amiga 500 manual makes Fat’s
(perhaps not) central role pretty clear.
At the bottom is that valuable
resource, the computer's rani.
Connected to it are old pals Denise
and Paula, the 08000, and slap in the
middle is Fat Agnus.
All of the chips are hooked up to
the ram’s data bus, along which all
the information about graphics, sound
and programming flows. Bui only
Agnus is connected to the address
bus, which tells the ram chips which
56 AMIGA COMPUTING November J<Mfl
chunk of information to make
available when.
Before delving into the ways in
which Agnus exerts total control, it’s
worth taking a closer look at the
address bus. The Amiga can
comfortably handle one megabyte of
memory, One megabyte - 1,04a, 575
separate locations - is 1 followed by
20 zeros in binary, which means that
the address bus needed to gel at all
the memory Is 20 bits wide. But
Agnus’ link to the ram chips is only
nine bits wide. Some mistake?
The ram chips used by the Amiga
(and all other small computers these
days) are Drams - dynamic random
access memory. Like most other
chips, they're made out of small
slivers of silicon. Silicon is a
semiconductor - in some
circumstances it conducts electricity,
in others it doesn't,
Tn Dram chips, most of the on-chip
area is dedicated to banks of
capacitors which store charge. That’s
how memory remembers - a
capacitor is either charged up or
discharged depending on whether it
has a digital one or zero. Each bit of
memory has its own capacitor which
is charged up (or not) when the
computer writes a one (or a zero) to
the memory location. Next time the
computer reads that bit of memory,
the memory chip checks the state of
the charge on the capacitor and
reports a one if it's charged, a zero if
not.
Unfortunately, cramming 256
thousand capacitors into an area the
size of a ram chip means that each
capacitor is very small, Small
capacitors can't hold much charge,
and they also have the embarrassing
habit of leaking.
Zi CAPACITOR is two
JL JL conductors separated by a non-
conductor, and on a chip that's two
areas of conductive silicon
sandwiching a non-conducting
region. And non-conducting silicon
isn’t as good an insulator as a full-
timer like rubber or plastic, so what
little charge the tiny capacitors can
hold vanishes in a few hundredths of
a second.
To overcome this forgetfulness, any
circuit which uses Drams needs to
refresh them. This amazingly
technical term — perhaps the
designers of the first Drams couldn’t
quite face up to the embarrassment of
having a REMIND signal - means that
the computer needs to read each bit
of memory at least once every so
many milliseconds. Reading the bit is
enough - the rest of the ram circuitry
can then lop up the capacitors if
needed.
This has to happen regularly,
otherwise programs and data can
become corrupted, and it needs to
happen independently of any other
memory operation that might be
going on. Stand up Agnus, and go get
the refreshments.
The mystery of the nine address
■HARDWARE!
lines is solved by a Sherlockian
inspection of the internal strocture of
the Dram chips. The memory
elements are arranged in a grid with
separate row and column lines, an
arrangement which not only make
sense electronically but also makes it
easier to get at sections of memory
when needed for refresh purposes,
An individual bit is accessed by
setting up first row and then column
addresses: in the memory chips used
in the Amiga there are 512 rows and
512 columns giving a total of 256
thousand separate locations - a 2 5 Ilk
chip. 512 is nine bits of binary, which
happily coincides with the width of
the address bus between Fat Agnus
and the memory circuitry.
There are also some other signals -
RAS and CAS, standing for Row
Address Select and Column Address
Select, which tell the chips what to do
with those nine bits. To complicate
matters, there are two RASs and two -
CASs; the two CASs go to two banks
of chips to speed things up. Ram
chips can only shovel the information
in or out at a certain speed, because it
takes time for signals to travel within
the chip and the transistors that route
the signals to switch.
With two separate CASs, one bank
of chips can be partially set up while
another is busy producing or
accepting data, thus eliminating at
leasl part of the delay between
reading bytes. The separate RAi? goes
►
Apolonia Software - presents
COMPUSHOP 1
The best prices for the Atari ST and the Amiga Hardware and Software.
Just have a look at some examples:
SOFITHARi MADSIBlWACBII
tivp (M«*cornco> - Atari/ AiTitg* „ £143.75
Pascal (Wetacomco) - AWi/Amiga - — ••• £83.95
Devpac ST-VZ-OO - Atari/Amiga — W® “
Superbase Personal - AlHrvAmigd, — * £77.23
Cr«ring your own adventures tor run (/ tale E29.0A
Acquisition - Amiga * VVS.W
DlgppaJet (PAL) - Amiga —
Dlgnrlaw 3>0 (Inc Adapter) - Amiga £136.00
Digi Droid - Amiga ,££&-5Q
Photon Part- Amiga £53.50
Exprfttl Paint V.2.0- Amiga ,....£45.30
Faocii - Amiga
F Basic - Amiga £55.50
X C ®d Amiga £333, 50
PrdwrH* V.2.0 - Amiga ............ £65.00
Kindworde- Amiga — —i*<i — £30-50
Anajyiel V.2.0 (Brown Wiwgh( - Amiga. r ,._ £107 ,75
ScribtHel (Brown Waugh) - Amiga _.^. U .„™,.-£BS.QQ
Orgatllzal (Brown Waugh) -Amiga ....._ £05.00
BBS- PCI (Brown Waugh) - Afflfrgn EB5.00
Publisher 1QC0 (Brown Waugh) - Amiga £160.00
Music Studio (Activision) - Amiga £20-00
Latice C (Metaoomoo) - Amiga .... £230-00
Lelice C. PrOtl (Meioomeo) - Amiga — -m— . E2-30.M
Stu*o Magic- Amiga — ,.,,,.....£50,00
Prasouhd Designer (CampM*) - Amiga : £S5.00
Presound (Software only) - Amiga £27.00
Pr-Dsflond Designer with Midi - Amiga — ..£76.50
Promidi (Midi sampler (of PSD) - Amiga - £27 0C
Presound Toolkit - Am*ga £27.00
Triangle 5JZ&" with PC Ditto - Atari £199.00
Triangle iMb and Drive - Amiga - JJJ-JJJ
Tmangle Internal A2000 3.5’ Ktt
Cumana 1Mb 2nd Drive - Amiga — — «« £1 25.00
Miracle WS20OO Modem - Aiari/Amiga M .— „„£1 15.00
Miracte W$40M Modem - AlaiVAn^g* — £169.00
Linnet Modem - AJarvAiraga -
Series Fduf Zl 23S Modem - Alar i/Aflwja £260-00
Nightingale Modem (Man dial) - Am*ga lO-M
RS23Z Modem Cable - AtarV Amiga E12.W
Printer Cable - Anega/5T ij!? ??
Epson LX800 Oot Matrix 9 Pin Prim «*»— £277.50
Star LC 10 - Mono/Dat Matrix* Pto E240.00
Star LC 1 0 - Coiour/Ddl Matrix Pin ,.„.h - £2fi0 - w
Star LC2* - 10/24 Pm-Muhilont C397-5S
Star Leserprintef 5 (1 Mb Standard) £1740.99+ VAT
Eidersoh Oapbic TaWet - AlarVAiwga £239. 03+ VAT
Amiga 500 + Starter Kit E31 S.HJ+ VAT
Ai above + Modulelof £336.00+ VAT
Amiga &M + 1084 CDlouf Mon + Starter £543 .30* VAT
Amiga 500 Business Pa ck (AJ&00 + Mono Monrtor *
Printer + The Work* + Transformer-Mand
Text ISM’PC Emui CSM.Za+VAT
Amiga 500 as above but wvith A1064 Colour Monitor Instead
at the MdriO Monitor
Amiga Modulator A520 E23.50
A501 Esp. Board wllh Clot* — ”• CHO W
Amiga 1 0B4 Cckwr Monitor ,.„... £245,21+ VAT
A £976.60+ VAT
Amiga 200 + 1 0S4 Cole** Mon ..,.-£1161 .75+VAT
Micron 2Mb Mem. Expansion -A20O0 £370.42+VAT
Mwan 2Mb Mem. ExpahW. -A50Q/A1000 £391.724 VAT
Pro Flam2O0O (9Mb Flam) Dnpoputaled £196 OCuVAT
FticAer Fixer ...... ..£201 .50+ VAT
Genlodt A500/A20W-(Afl»02) £2 12.60+ VAT
Pr-Off, (3*nlo dr A500/A2000- (A08O6-) £606.00+ VAT
Partea VUon (Real Time Vld. Digit) £151.13^VAT
A1010 IMb 2nd Drive [AJl Arntgas} £l 1 7.04+ V AT
Midi Interlace (Standard Serial) - Amiga £25.00
Pin lips SCMS833 Sleriw Col. Mon . £239 .1 0* VAT
CM6652 High R« Co* Mon £269.2(>+VAT
Amiga 1900M Mona Monitor CM 10+ VAT
Monitor Slabon (Tilt A Swivet lor *U 1 2" A 14"
Morwtore - „.^,.£l 9.95
Mouse Masler (Unigu* Mouse A JoyeSCk twitch -allwrt
carwetaiari cf 2 joystidks A a mouse or any otfier wriraller
- With any combmeJlon that you'll raquira - no unplugging
cables - the beet mOuse^yetir* p«l CftMifollef ) - Atari/
Amiga — ... E21 .00
Mouse Paih (The best moui* mffl around, special erat-slaSe
a unrque surtsoe lor a tener gnp a short dtslanM iravet.
perfect tar any moiisa on any oompuler .„ £5-50
Monrior Stands (very elegant and epeoeHy made to th any
Atari Of any Amiga Computer* - “*'2?
Disk Boxes: *3x3.5’ DisKt — £8.96
Disk Boxes: B0k3 6" »«ks - H 0 «5
Disk Boxes: 1 00x3.5’ Disk* ,.„,„,„..^...£l2-96
D»sk Boxes. 120«3.5 H Disk* £13.85
Disk Bqxbs: 50*6.25’ Dislu “
Disk Boxes: 1 20x5.26’ 0l*k* - 413 w
Promid, (Mid. sampler i* -«™ g a --- 71^“ Drivetor 2000 C620-00 DiskSoxes: 120x5.26’ Disks ti^
^ COMPUS^P, ^ ^ ^ ■'
STOP PHESS. LOOK? 3?' Discs (DSDD) 1 0 lot £1 I OC, lortji OO.Wkr ... rt8MM
FOflTHE BEST PRICES FOR ALL ATAfll-AMIGA HARDWARE (Compultrs. RM|*arals ealCOMPUSMOPI, it 01-738 MOO
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APOLONIA SOFTWAHE, OPT AC11, SOUTH BANK BUSINESS CENTRE, UNIT 25(1*), THAMES HOUSE, 140 BATTERSEA PAHK ROAD, LONDON SW11 ANB.
Mail Order only. 5p«dy livery. Ko hidden extras.
APOLOtttA SOFTWARE - THE COMPANY THAT CARES!
C: EAZ YPRIN T C:
Commodore
■ (.ommop pit , ^
THE SINGLE SOURCE FOR YOUR AMIGA NEEDS
MAIL ORDER/SALES - Telephone: STAINES (0784) 66744
EXTERNAL 3.5" DISK DRIVES
- CUMANA, RF30ZC or AF880 -
ONLY £88.50 incVAT
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COMMODORE MPS1200P
TOP QUALITY DOT MATRIX PRINTER
£129.95 Inc VAT
THE EAZYPRINT TULL SYSTEM 1
■ UK SPEC AMIGA A500 inc workbench, extras, basic, tutorial
■ Commodore 1094 colour monitor
■ External 1 Mb 3,5‘ drive
ONLY £655 inc VAT
- As above with MPS 120QP Commodore printer,,.
- As above with A510 RAM * ■E764
Other specifications available - please call
(0784) 66744
ANY OF OUR PRODUCTS MAY BE ORDERED WITH MASTER
CARD OR ACCESS FOR SAME DAY DESPATCH
Amiga A500 *-360
1084 Monitor
Supra SISK Ram -—•“3
ASCII 51 2K Ram ....£110
TV Modulator -“4
LC10 Colour -■“‘>8
Amiga B2000
XT Brldgeboard - ..........£300
20Mb H ard Disk £330
I A500 BUSINESS PACK:
- A500 Computer
- 1084 Monitor
- MPS 1200P Printer
- "The Works"
- ■Transformer"
£780
inc VAT
ALL PRICES INCLUDE VAT AND ARE BASED
ON CASH SALES
PLEASE CALL FOR POSTAGE & PACKING COSTS
Pfe EAZYPRlNT^Dept. AMC), NORTHUMBERLAND HOUSE, DRAKE AVENUE,
GRESHAM ROAD, STAINES, MIDDLESEX TW18 2AP
Official Company/Gove rnmant orders accepted. Please add £1 5 courier charge on goods under £900. Software post FREE
as T V//6X COMFi TlNC \< winter 19XH
■HARDWARE*
November 1988 AMIGA COMPUTING r,9
want to get at the memory first, and if
so who has priority.
If Paula is going to need to read the
memory at the same time to get some
sound data, then the Agnus/Gary
team prevent the processor from
making a conflicting memory request
by stopping a signal that says Data
ready (DTACK — Data Acknowledge]
to the BBUUO.
The processor just thinks that the
memory is slow today, little
imagining that some extra read
commands are being processed under
its nose. Perhaps Agnus isn't the
second cleverest chip after all...
D eciding priorities is one of the
trickiest parts of Agnus’ job.
After all, the other chips covered so
far rely on Agnus to provide the right
amount of data at the right time.
Looking al the top righbhand corner
of the block diagram of Agnus on
page A-17, there is a box marked
BUFFER/MUX.
MUX is short for Multiplexer,, a
device for combining two sets of
signals on to one set of wires.
Television has a crude MUX - if
you’re watching BBC you can tell
from the title music whether you're
watching the news or East Enders.
The same channel carries both
information and entertain men t f and
even East Enders, but special signals
let the recipient (you) tell the
difference.
The MUXs in Agnus combine [at
the top right hand comer) signals to
the internal workings of the chip itself
and the control registers of the other
chips in the Amiga. What chip gets
which information depends on the
multiplex signals generated, but by
combining many signals on to one set
of wires the computer is kept both
cheap and reliable. You do want a
cheap, reliable computer, don’t you?
B ECAUSE all of the Amiga’s
functions have to be carefully
synchronised, the controls of the
various chips have to be run from one
source - Agnus.
Another way in which Agnus keeps
the computer running smoothly is by
controlling the clock. Most of the
circuits in the Amiga are
synchronous; they do their business
in lime to each other. Railway
carriages are synchronous because
they are all driven from one engine; a
convoy of Ford Sierras taking a set of
sales executives to a wingding is
asynchronous - individual drivers can
decide to pop into a service station or
do 120 mph instead.
In a computer such as the Amiga,
all the different functions have to
operate in step, and the signals they
get to keep them that way are all sent
from Agnus.
The video bits of Agnus are clever
in their own right, Because Agnus
controls all the DMA [Direct Memory
Access - doing things to the contents
of memory without getting the
processor involved), it is the perfect
candidate for the job of moving bytes
around video memory, a job also
known as blitting.
Blitting is a tricky business. On a
plain , toast-with-no-Marmite
flavoured computer, moving images
around the screen is a matter purely
for the software, Somewhere in
memory, a set of numbers
corresponding to the shape to be
moved is stored. These are copied to
the addresses in memory that are
displayed at a certain position on the
►
to the extension ram, and together
with other signal switching within
Agnus and Gary lets the 68000 read
and write the extension ram while
Agnus does video things with the
lower 512k. Sounds fast, and it is.
It's a compromise though, as on an
unexpended Amiga with only the one
block of 5 1 2k the video and the
processor fight it out for dominance,
and the video has the chips in its
favour. So the 68000 spends a
reasonable amount of time doing
nothing but waiting for Denise to
finish displaying.
This can be avoided only if the
video and the processor have two
separate busses, which needs more
and bigger chips. This is expensive.
Hence the compromise - do you want
a computer that's fast, or one that's
cheap? You want both?
All this gets trickier, because even
the compromising has to happen very
fast. If the 68000 decides it wants to
read a word from address 563, Agnus
[in concert with Gazza) has to decide
whether something else is likely to
■HARDWARE
scree n.
When Ihe image has to be moved
the numbers have to be copied to the
new area in memory, and the old
image erased, All this has to be done
by the alter memory commands in the
processor, and during the time this
takes no other processing can be
done.
With blitting, the picture to be
displayed is held in a part of memory,
as before. But the process of moving
it is left to the display hardware - all
the processor has to do is give
enough information (like the start
position, the end position and the
boundaries of the area to be moved)
and it can go away and process
something more important like the
inside tentacle measurement of the
next alien to appear.
Once the blitter has been given its
instructions, it converts them into
memory addresses and timings, and
proceeds to move the data through
memory by reading information from
one address, storing it, and then
writing it to a new address, Then it
does the same for the next address.
But what is the next address? How
does the blitter convert from the
information given to it by the
programmer to real memory
addresses?
The conversion process can take a
certain amount of maths, as the
relationship between a data pattern in
memory and the position of the
resultant picture on screen is a
complex one. Hence the Copper
within Agnus, a co-processor that can
do a very limited hut very relevant
number of mathematical operations
on image-related numbers.
I MAGINE you had a bit of graph
paper with a circle drawn on it,
and you had to write down the maths
to draw a similar circle on another
part of the paper. That's the sort of
calculation that has to go on when
Agnus is blitting.
All of the different functions that
Agnus controls go into the biggest
block on page A-17, the ram address
encoder. This decides from all the
information provided from all the rest
of the Amiga circuitry {Denise would
like the next byte of information for
the current window now, Paula needs
to. get the next four bytes of sound
data for voice three) what the actual
numbers to throw at the ram chips
should he,
There are a lot of things to consider
- Paula has been programmed to use
such-and-such an area of memory,
and if the chip is so far into
producing a sound then it needs to
get information so far from the
beginning of the area - but all of
them have to he turned into address
numbers which the MUX can convert
into row and column addresses for
the ram chips.
In the end, Agnus spends its time
converting numbers from those which
are convenient for the programmer,
and the custom chips which the
programmer controls, into the
addresses which the ram chips can
understand.
It's a dirty job, but someone’s got to
do it.
SAVE ££££s SAVE ££££'s SAVE ££££'s SAVE ££££'s SAVE ££££s SAVE ££££■« SAVE^’s
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SAVE SAVE tllEts SAVE ££££'6 s/vfe ££££ e SAVE ££££ S SAVE ££££'s SA^E ££££'*
m AMIGA COMPUTING November 1988
■FEATURE*
, BBC USI"S
afld Phu '®' 1
a serve” created
thicker* «'
KODAK
KODAK
Chamo^
g&aA
'faa^ a .
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)QWarop‘ or1 '
amP ionE
Getting the picture
Video Video ... something else to do on your Amiga.
DJ Morgan- Walker entertains the High Street
W HAT can you do with the
Amiga's graphics apart From
amaze your friends? It was a question
I asked myself the other day, while
sitting in the local video store,
watching the trailer tape of new
movies. Then it came to me. The
trailer didn't have any special titling.
What would it be worth if I could
customise the tape for the video store,
just as a little project to while away
the evenings
The first thing to do is make up the
Amiga images. There are plenty of
ways of doing this - you probably
have a copy of Deluxe Paint, Like all
creative things on the Amiga t the
important rule is to practice and
kno\v what you are aiming for. In my
case it was simple text titles. So, the
first thing is that you can sacrifice
colour for resolution - 32 colours
may be impressive, but when
someone’s trying to read text it's just
confusing. The best mode to go for is
lb or 8 colours and 640x200.
So load up your Deluxe Paint and
set it for that resolution. Now pick
your font. Don't pick a small font Like
Topaz-8 or 9, Remember that this
picture is going to have to be read on
a normal television display. If
possible, work on a composite colour
monitor, Gr better still work on the
display you are aiming to use. Don’t
judge the display by what you get on
an RGB monitor, as this can mislead
you into thinking something is clearly
drawn, when on a TV it'll smear and
smudge.
For your first title, practice not on
the black background that Deluxe
Paint gives you, but on a light grey
background. Why? Well, when you
display on the TV screen, you won't
rely as much on the colour and
sharpness of the TV and the display
will look much better;
Until you are confident, a good idea
is to use the Grid feature in Deluxe
Paint, This will help you line up your
text. Now choose your text colour,
hut don't choose white, for the same
reason that you don't use black for a
background.
Before you put any text on the
screen, press KID to remove Deluxe
Paint's menus. It'll give you a better
idea of the finished picture.
Y OU can now type in the text. If
you don't position it correctly,
use DPaint's brush facility, cut out the
text, move it somewhere else and
delete the old text. It’s easier than
brushing out the old text and retyping
it.
Once you have the text on the
display use DPaint to add some
graphics of your own. Electronic Arts
sells a lihrary disc with a lot of ready
made artwork. Keep it simple though
►
November 19SS AMIGA COMPUTING 6J
■FEATURE*
<
and don’t clutter up the display.
Thanks to most software designers
using the IFF format for storing
pictures, there are public domain
discs with graphics you can use too.
in fact you can use graphics generated
by most Amiga programs.
There are plenty of other ways to
get a good picture on the screen.
Deluxe Faint li and the more
advanced paint packages like Photon
Paint come to mind immediately. The
technique is basically the same for
these packages, but you can do
“special” effects like perspective
lettering much more easily.
Always make sure that the text is
still readable when you do this - you
might know what it is meant to say,
hut half a dozen pixels at the end of
the line of text usually doesn’t mean
much to most people. And be careful
to make sure that your text doesn't
melt into shaded backgrounds.
If you want to get even better text,
it may bo worth looking at a
dedicated titling program like
TV*Text from Zuma, TV*Text is
designed just for titling so don't
expect fancy brushes or spray paint
here. What TV*Text does have is its
own range of fonts, like ‘fast’ and
l swiss\ and these are available in a
much larger size that traditional
Amiga fonts, even up to 102-Point.
W ITH TV*Text, you enter the
text, then the program treats
it in a manner you select, for
example, with a black edge, yellow
hody and a black shadow cast on the
background. You can then position
that text on the screen, The TV "Text
lettering looks very professional, and
you can save the pictures in IFF
format to pick them in any of the
paint packages.
You are going to need the A510
modulator for displaying pictures on
the TV set, but you aren't going to use
the modulator output. You are going
to use composite video. That is the
signal which comes out of the phono
connector on the left side of the A510,
marked Video out. You'll need a
to go from there to the Video in
socket on the back of your video
recorder.
We are using the composite video
to improve picture quality. If we used
the TV output of the ASIA, the signal
from the Amiga would have to be
encoded and decoded twice (once by
the A510 and the VCR and once by
the VCR and the television). Using the
composite video eliminates one of
those stages and improves the picture.
Connect up your television to the
VCR as normal, and set the VCR to
display the picture from the Video in
socket. You should now get your
Amiga display on the TV, via the
VCR, You are ready to roll.
By now, you should have put
together a selection of pictures you
want to display. The Amiga offers a
number of ways to display them for
recording. Slideshow is a shareware
program which can pick up IFF
pictures and display them by fading
the images in and out or rolling the
picture on to the display.
Using this basically consists of
copying all the images on to a disc
with the program, creating a text file
of commands which will tell
Slideshow which pictures to load and
how to put them onto the screen, then
running those commands. With
Slideshow, there's usually a File of
documentation, so read that for more
detail.
But Slideshow is only the start of
what you can do. One presentation
technique you can use is displaying
the pictures and text through a 2D
animator like Aegis Animator or
Fantavision. Using these programs,
you set up the animation so that it
loads in your pictures, and then does
some animation over the slide. Add a
logo and make it rotate while the
slides change, or animate a pointer to
pick out text. The drawback here is
that many of the animators don't
allow for sliding or wiping
backgrounds.
P ROGRAMS like Deluxe Video do
allow for this, though they are
harder to get “instant” results than
are the animators. But, as ever, the
more work you put in the more
impressive the results.
So, we have covered here how to
use your Amiga as a video source, to
generate graphics. What we haven’t
covered is mixing the Amiga's video
with other video sources - which
we'll get to in a future article,
Where to get your
video goodies
Ageis Animator
HB Marketing
0805 444433
£103,50
FantaVision
Amiga Centre Scotia nd
031*557 4242
£39,00
Deluxe Video
Electronic Arts
0753 49040
£69.95
TV*Text
Zuma/HB Marketing
0895 444433
£69.95
Photon Paint
Activision
0734 311668
PASE from Precision , made for television and used by Network 7
62 AMIGA COMPUTING November JMfl
NEW FROM'
NEW - AMIGA AUDIO DIGITISER
iTRfLOGIC
Wy
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Sllpft- f*ril>f fhWOS. Wth «J| v5t»WP w) QAflrtwd tE & >"d
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Trilogic. Dept, A.C. Unit t.
253 New Works Road, BradlorcJ BD12 OQP.
Pro Sound Designer is the ultimate sound
sampling system for the powerful Amiga
computers. The advanced user interface makes
capture . manipulation and playback of real sounds
in mono or true stereo surprisingly easy , with full
editing and processing facilities for professional
results f A Midi controller and Programmer's Toolkit
are also available as optional extras .
PRO SOUND DESIGNER features incredible toots to record and
manipulate mono or stereo samples: ■ holds up lo 8 samples in
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editing functions * cut ■ overlay * dynamic buffers * volume &~fade
controls ■ looping ■ kHz rates from 1 to 32 in 1kHz stops * also
compatible with Future Sound and Perfect Sound hardware * For
all PAL Amiga computers -
JMul *lt WT
Complete System (incl. 8-bit stereo hardware)
Complete Midi System find, Pro Midi Plus) ., .
Software Only (for use with other hardware) ...
tor Ptc Sound 0**1 goer
Pfogfanvnart Toortui; .^£3d.95
Saitfie Disks |Eacl» £4 65
Slereo Lsagl C3.95
PRO MIDI PLUS allows you to take samples recorded using Pro
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Midi keyboard as instrument voices. * Up to 10 samples can be in
memory at once ■ 2 channel polyphonic * full control over part of
sample to be played * fade in/fade out controls ■ full keyboard splits
* octave shift * midi channel selection * for fun or serious use * for
all PAL Amiga computers *
mwamm
Pro Midi Plus Software Only
Midi Interface Hardware
C34 95
. £34,95
Available by mail order or from better dealers.
EfDERSOFT
* Unit PT * Royal Mill* ■ Esher * Surrey ■ KTlO 6 AS - Tel: 0372 67202 *
THE GAMES
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Games.Sfrategy
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Lancelot.........
£13.95
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El 6.ft5
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-£13 95
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£16 95
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El 6 95
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....£20.95
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£16.95
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....£29.95
Ultima 3
£16 95
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£1 6.95
£20 95
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El 6.95
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£1695
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...£13,95
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-,..£16,95
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£16.95
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*.„j, £16-95
Three Stoogos
,...£20,95
Business
Federation ol Free Traders .
-£20.95
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— £74.95
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,,,.£13.95
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.**,£184.95
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...£16-95
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£74 95
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,.,,£13.95
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,..,£109,95
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.£16.95
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£44 35
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.,,,£16.95
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£51.95
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£1695
Lattice C
....£139.35
F/A 1 g Interceptor ..£16-95 Photon Paint , £51 .95
Send SAE for full price list, stating machine
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but please allow 7 days
Please make all cheque a/POs payable to:
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for your AMIGA requirements
Commadcrt Amijji Gjm*t
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.. E24.94
£2021
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bo id
Seconds Out...
„ E19 95
£16 W
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mzt
Cflrwwdor* Amlgi Saftwiri
AC FORTRAN
C2D6 94
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£46.7!
Atgav 30 (PALI
£14$. 75
£11491
E39 95
£3296
Arwndkxi ElMt
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£28 ffl
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Amiga 51 2K inc 3.5" D/Orive Mouse £369.00
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Amiga 51 2K inc 3.5" D/Drive Mouse +
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EAOE
64 AMIGA COMPUTING Xtu vmher 1 flffff
INTERFACE*
COPY’S
a real
power
pack
A MIGADOS is a multilayered
beast, siding as it does
between the machine and
Workbench, First it is the operating
system of the Amiga, calling all the
shots at machine level to get the
machine started and running once it's
up. Second, it's open to commands
from a Command Line Interface, our
friend the CL1. It is also the only
means by which you can edit,
exchange and generally twiddle with
files on disc.
Although this is a tricky thing if
you are used to an entirely window
oriented system like the Macintosh, it
has to be learned. But to be honest
they've heen doing it this way for
years, and there's a good reason for
that. Files on an Amiga disc can be
moved around in all sorts of ways,
and the AmigaOos bit in the manual
makes alt kinds of references to the
power of AmigaDos in handling files,
OK, so what are these powerful
features?
C OPY is a good example. You
can COPY a file to another disc,
or another directory on the same disc,
sure. But did you know you can
COPY a file to the printer? Or to a
window on the screen? Or indeed to
any device used by the Amiga? This
Phil South delves deeper into the workings of
the Amiga ’s OS, and checks out some useful
file utilities built into AmigaDos
is all part of the Amiga’s open
architecture.
All functions of the computer, due
to the fact that locations in memory
are not exclusively for the use of any
one part of the operating system, are
ASSlGNed to logical devices, as I’ve
said before, But another brilliant
piece of design means that you can
use the same call to any device and
get a different result. COPY a file to
window:
COPV filename TO CON: 10/10/^00/100/
and it prints up in the window
defined by the CONr. COPY a file to a
printer, the same statement notice:
COPy filename TO PUT :
and it prints it up on your Preferences
printer.
But the same structure goes for the
redirection of data streams, This is
something you'll be more interested
in when we ah get the PIPE: device in
WBl.3, but for now the redirection of
files and data is governed by the <>
symbols, usually referred to as "angle
brackets”.
And lo and behold, what do we
find but the same sort of file handling
ease:
DATE > f i Lename
TYPE f i Lename
sends the DATE stamp to a file called
'filename' and then TYPEs it up on
screen. How about this one:
DIR > catalog
dirs the current directory, and instead
►
Novttmlmr 19Q8 AMIGA COMPUTING 63
■INTERFACE*
little number:
TTPE .info opt h
m $: F34CA813 mmi 9 00000230 00000041 .l 9.,.x...a
0010: 45737061 6*73496* 4E0A436C 6F636&06 Expansion. Clock,
0020: 5 J63656C 6C0A5072 65666572 656E6365 Shell .Preference
0030: 730A5574 696C6974 6965730A 53797374 s .Uti Li ties.Syst
0040: 656&0JH5 60707479 0A547261 736&6361 ei. Empty .Trashca
0050: 6E0A n.
<
of sending the file to the screen,
stores it in a text file called ‘catalog 1 .
You could make a file of all your disc
catalogs this way. Another of these
fancy file utility commands is called
JOIN. This is a much more
complicated command, which cleanly
and simply joins, or concatenates, up
to 15 files like so:
JOIN disci d i sc 2 dm3 disc4 di&cS AS
disc Li st
This is not to be confused with
LIN King, a process you encounter in
writing programs with compilers and
the like, but nevertheless it is a
powerful command for the handling
of loose text files.
And talking about text files, most of
you will use TYPE in the same way as
it is used on a EC, to flash the
specified text file on the screen in a
generally quick and dirty fashion. Hut
did you also know (hat you can TYPE
a binary file too? Yes, how about this
Interesting, huh? It gives you a hex
rendering of the file, plus an Ascii
dump down the side. So that's whaf s
in that .info file, eh?
F INALLY, a command which
doesn’t see much use in the CLI
is SEARCH. With this you can search
directories, subdirectories and text
files for strings, I used it the other day
with the Fish Disc Catalog, The
catalog conies on disc and finding a
program can be hazardous to your
health. The most useful reason for
using SEARCH rather than flipping
through by hand is that there might
he an update to the program you’re
looking for later on in the disc.
You can get SEARCH to look for
ALL entries of a string on the disc,
from all directories, anti log the
searching into a text file by
redirecting the output from the screen
to a file marked "searcher" or
something. Then you can go out for
bite, watch TV t or even run it as a
background task as you use another
program.
• If there is anything you would like
to see explained in depth, please
write to: Plain Man 's Guide, Amiga
Computing, 78-84 Ongar Road,
Brent wood, Essex, CM 15 9BG -but
remember we can only answer
questions through the pages of the
magazine*
T^taee Mail Order Offers
...her* <*>*9°
Brian Clough's Football Fortunes is a
football management game with a big
difference, in an exciting departure from
earlier simulation games it combines an
excellent range of computer based features
with a fascinating board game.
Can you compete with human and
computer managers to successfully steer
your team through the season, using your
skill to make ft stronger as you proceed?
With the program you get a large playing
board, over 100 player cards, stacks of
money, some counters and a comprehensive
instruction manual. And for only £12,49 -
less than half the recommended retail price
- you're guaranteed hours of inexpensive
yet intense* action-packed excitement!
X Get in on the action and see if you can
menage a team as wed as Brian Clou gh!
To order
your copy*
please
turn to the
form on
Page 73
This has
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RRP Our
624.99 price
£ 12.49
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ma
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Form* Fknht
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COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN
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Dynamic CAD V2.3 .
£371
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Fro Sound Dawynar a.rti
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UJ
TREMENDOUS NEWS FOR
ALL AMIGA USERS
Britain's leading technical
innovators now offer their superb
range direct to you at prices that
make peripherals affordable
NOW
AM35S - 3 5“ 1 Megabyte External Disk Drive, with the best NEC
1036A high technology mechanism in a neat slimline casing with thru-
port. This drive is suitable for ell models. Total power consumption is
less than 0 50 watts. Your Amiga power supply wont even notice the
extra drive but you will wonder now you ever managed without rt'll
PRICE ONLY £86.50
if a * * # * +
AM5S- 5.25“ 1 Megabyte 40/50 track switchable diskdrive using power
from the Amiga socket via the single connecting lead A very compact
stylish metal casing ensures a robust trouble free We
*******
AM5S+ - 5.35' 1 Megabyte 40/50 track switchable disk drive, high per-
formance drive unit with integral power supply An essential addition (or
PC emulation programs in 40 track mode or as a direct second drive
using much lower priced 5.55“ diskettes
UNBEATABLY PRICED AT ONLY £115.00
***** * A
AMMD+ - Power computing innovation has produced the incredible
mufti -dnve. A superb combination 3.5' and 5 25“ disk drive unit wilfr
integral high capacity low noise toroklaJ power supply This new very
compact unit plugs directly into your Amiga Each drive has an unfor-
matted capacity of 1 megabyte and uses double sided double density
diskettes The 5 25' drive is switchable 40/60 tracks - ideal for PC
emulation programs, Drive settings can be changed for A500/A 1000 or
A 2000 models. A thru-port is provided for additional drives to ba added
FANTASTIC VALUE FQH THIS OUTSTANDING UNIT AT £199.00
(Please state A500, A1000 or A2000 version)
*******
BARE DISK DRIVES:
NEC 3.5“ 1Q36A £74 00
NEC 3.5" 1037 *
Mitsubishi 5 25“40/80 track 1 Mbyte £69 00
********
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software - instant graphic capture from illustrations, drawings, text,
ogos on any paper.
AMAZING PRICE AT ONLY £320.00
*******
MONITORS:
Philips 12" mono green screen £85 00
Philips 14' Colour CM8G33 with lead £225.00
NEC Multisynch 14' colour high res £499 00
**** ***
PRINTERS:
Citizen LSP10 (Tractor/FrictioiVNLQ) £175 00
Star LC10 £189.00
Star LC10 CL Colour Printer £249.00
*******
AMR5-512K Ram expansion
able on board balteu^Us hi
ust plugs Pfi^ti| Ae^ilour system that
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going up everflfiy so grab this bargai^iwle you can at just £110.00
*******
AMR5U - 5 1 2K Ram card as above but with all the components in place
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LIMITED NUMBER AVAILABLE AT £28.50
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Leads/Cables/Adaptors for all applications
POWER COMPUTING
44a Stanley Street, Bedford MK41 7RW
Tel: 0234 273000, Fax 0234 270133
Export Welcome Prices indude VAT and delivery
■ ■ >! ■■■■! I ■■■■ ■ ' ■■ ■■■■■■
built in real time dock and recharge-
k eed ncH/vait-jlaH^xtra flam card
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THE NUMBER 1 DISK SUPPLIER
*★★*★**★★★*★*★★★*★★★★*★★★★★★★★★★**★****★★★**★★**★***★★★
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★
★
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We at M.D* Office Supplies would like to take this opportunity to apologise to all our
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25 50 100 ISO
Single Sided 135T P.I ...22.95 41.95 79 95 116.95
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■LETTERS
Slarglider quirks
I HAVE been playing Slarglider IT
since il first came out and have found
a couple of quirks. If you fly out of
the Solicc system and keep going you
come to a second solar system. This is
a reflection of Solicc, with everything
working backwards. It takes about an
hour to reach this reflected sun and
doesn't seem to offer any advantages.
Another “feature” of Starglider II is
a timewarp in Paint with Rnlf. If yuu
type all nines you get the message
“Timewarp A UB 02”. 1 suspect that
this is a game killer mode but can't
gel it to do anything. Incidentally, my
local shop said that they only had
Atari ST copies but after reading
about the ADLS disc format in your
magazine I bought what they said
was an Atari disc and it worked
perfectly on my Amiga,
Marc H Union ,
Wilts,
Sound advice
WHENEVER 1 rebool the Amiga the
1084 monitor shows blurred black
lines across the screen. Is this
normal/ 1 am also having problems
with the synthesiser voice. The output
is locked on a rohof s voice, Should I
take my machine hack to the shop?
Mohammed Saced,
Bradford.
Try looking at another machine The
A miga cycles through dark red, dark
grey, light grey f red, green, blue and
yellow on power up. These will
identify a fault to an engineer if the
Screen freezes on a colour,
Black lines over the hand which
asks for Workbench is a fault which
should be looked at , Your speech
problem is more puzzling. If the robot
voice works then all the voices
should. Experiment with the ST Y
command from Basic, We suspect you
will llnd that you have mis-read the
manual .
don't need an Introduction. Why
don't you have book reviews as a
regular feature?
fagbir [.ally,
Wol ver ha m pton
You 'll find that wo have assembled a
panel of expert book reviewers and
intend to feature as many reviews as
ive can. The Addison Wesley books
are an essential purchase for the
serious programmer A cheaper
alternative is Kickstart from Ariadne
{ 01 - 960 0203} or Compute s Guide tn
A miga Dos . Many of the advertisers in
Amiga Computing arc good at
recommending books which suit
specific needs.
Goodbye cruel words
I HAVE just finished reading the
review of Kind Words, the low cost
word processor. I have been using the
program for two weeks and up to
now cannot say I have found any real
fault with it.
T suspect that Mr Tomlins was
expecting loo much from this
program. As a word processor it is
very good. In my opinion better than
either Textcraft or Scribhle; that is not
jusl my opinion, several of iny
colleagues have the same view.
The most important thing is that it
is low cost. The Disc Company has
produced a word processor which
does not burn a hole in the pocket, I
know of at least half a dozen people
who have bought this program.
It is very easy to use. I have used
WordPerfect, and it took me at least
two days to read the manual The Iwc
programs cannot be compared, How
Mr Tomlins even dared mention such
an expensive program in his review l
Machine code only
I RECENTLY bought an Amiga 500
and want to start programming in
assembly language using Intuition.
However I can’t find any books which
explain how to use Intuition in
assembler. I know 68000 already, so I
Write to: The Editor , Amiga
Computing , 78-84 Ongar Ruud,
Brentwood, Essex , CM 15 9BG.
We T ll send the writer of the best
letter each month a program from
our goodie dra wer .
cannot understand.
It is unfortunate that everyone
compares products to industry
standard programs like WordPerfect
and Lotus 1-2-3. I feel that everybody
has their own opinion as to which
one they like to use,
1 think that the only way to get a
fair review of any business program
is to let several people Itv it out for a
few weeks, then and only then can an
honest review be made.
I rate Kind Words very highly. The
manual is very well set out. [ agree
that perhaps there should be more
tutorials to help the first time user,
hut if one tries each command in turn
it soon becomes quite cas^y.
1 use the program with *1 Mb and a
second disc drive, and everything
works to my satisfaction. The most
important thing is that the program
has got is the SuperFonts with the 1,3
printer drivers.
I am very impressed with the
quality of the printout whatever the
printer I use. So far 1 have tried the
Citizen 12DD, Amslrad DMP 3000,
Star LC10 and Epson RX80 I must
admit that it can he a very slow
process to print out a whole
document, but this is not such a bad
thing, I believe that further drivers
will be coming out soon,
T have found one or two minor
problems with the graphics, but
having this facility in the first place is
a real bonus. The main reason I
bought Kind Words was the spelling
checker, which I have found to be not
only one of the best I have tried hut
because it resides in memory it is also
one of the quickest.
Mr Tomlins gives the impression
that he doubts that it really does
contain the claimed 90,000 words. I
think his suspicions are unfounded. 1
have found Kind Words to be very
good value for money. Of course this
letter was written using Kind Words,
I B Palmer,
Havant
Expensive Amiga
IT seems to me that there is a
prevailing prejudice among
companies which support the Amiga
in terms of both hardware and
software that if you can afford to buy
an Amiga you can afford to pay the
top price for anything else you need
to build up your system.
It seems a pity that when
Commodore lowered the price of the
Amiga the supporting companies did
not follow' suit.
Peter Whitaker,
Hull.
Xovumbur urn A MIKA (XtMPVTWG
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Terrorpods
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Ot>l iterator
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Balance of Power
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Star Wars
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Football Manager II
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1 89.95
1695
WordPerfect
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149.95
...24.95
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75.95
13.95
VIP Professional
228 85
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49*95
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139 95
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59 95
...19 95
1296
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29 95
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Toolkit
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34.95
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Macro Assembler
...69.95
49.95
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1599
Home Accounts
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19 95
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Photon Paint
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49 96
13.95
Animator images
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89 96
-19-95
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Animator
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39.95
..19-95
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99 95
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Impact - ,
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64.95
14 95
10.95
Video Title
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99,95
1995
13.95
Digipeint
59.95
39,95
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13 95
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79.00
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Draw Plus
196.95
149.95
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Express Paint
69 95
49 95
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39 00
1995
Sons*
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44.95
. 19,95
12.95
K Spread 11
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49.95
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16.96
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34.95
24 95
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16 95
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24 99
16.99
K-Gadgel
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19.95
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K-Texi
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14.95
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K-Comm II
..49.95
34.95
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The Works!
149.95
119.95
14.95
10.95
Drum Studto
..39.95
29 95
..29.95
19.99
Prcwilte
..75.00
49.95 ‘
AMIGA ADVENTURES RHP OURS
Jinxter 24.95 16.95
Guild of Thieves 24.95 f 6 95
Mindfightar 24 99 15 99
Deja-Vu 29 95 19.95
Curuption 24.95 15.99
Uninvrted 29.95 19.99
Kings Quest Triple 29 99 19.95
Hikto H*ers Guide 29 99 19.95
Leather Goddess 29 99 19 99
Ptondered Hearts 24 99 16 99
Station Fail 29.99 1 9 99
Phantasielll 24.99 16.99
Time & Magik t9.95 16.95
Legend of the Sword .. .29.95 19.95
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ST /AMIGA
LEISURE
Aaargh ...... * ....£13.50
Annals of Rome £16,20
Arcade Classics £13.20
A re na £2 2, 50
A mega s ,* ...„ „„„ „ £i 6, 20
A rka n oids £1 6. 20
Balance of Power £19,40
Barbarian (Palace) £13.50
Ba rba ri an (Psyg nosis) „ . E 1 6 .20
Better Dead Than Alien ... £13.50
Beyond The Ice Palace £17.20
Carrier Command .♦.*.*«* £16,20
Championship Golf £22,50
City Defence £10.00
Crazy Cars £16 20
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Elf £12.50
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Flight Sim, II. £26,40
Scenery Disk 7 £16.00
Scenery Disk 11 £16.00
Scenery Disk Europe ....£13.50
Scenery Disk Japan .,£13.50
Football Manager II £13.60
Garrison II ,......,.,..,£16,20
Gauntlet* £16-20
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Gun ship £16,20
Hunt for Red October + ,„.£16 20
Insanity Flight £16.20
LEISURE
Jet,.... .£25-50
Mike the Magic Dragon £10.00
Obli fe rator ... ..£16,20
Peter Beardsley Football.... ....£12.50
Pink Panther.,. ,...£12.50
Ports of call £25.50
Rolling Thunder £16,20
Sentinel *,. + .C13.S0
Silent Service £16.20
Terra mex 1 3 , 50
Ultima III ,....£16.20
Xennon £13.20
UTILITIES
Access 64 for A 500 £46.50
Access 64 for A1000 ..£46.50
AC/Basic Compiler ..£107.50
AC/Fortran ... ....£170,00
Analize ...,£125,00
Analise II £56.50
Azetec C Comp, Prof £155.00
Azetec C Comp. Dev Ip ...,,,£233,00
Azetec C Commercial £307 .50
Calligrapher VI. 05 £62 50
City Desk 1.1 ,,£76,50
Climate £28.50
Data Retrieve ... .£44.50
Digi Paint £42.00
Dig! View ... £102-50
Di rector ... £44 , 50
Disk Master £29.50
UTILITIES
Excellence ....£170.00
Express Paint £50.00
I n t roCad .. £42 .00
IC-Seka 68000 Assem. 1,5,,... ..£37.30
Lattice C 4.0 ... £132,50
Lattice Prof. .......,,.£225,00
Lisp ,... .,£101.50
Micro Assembler £63. 50
Maxiplan A500 .,,,£72.00
Maxiplan Plus £110.00
Music Studio £21,50
Page Flipper £25,60
Page Plus £93.50
Page Setter £90.50
Pascal 2.0 £65,50
PixMate £36.50
P ro-S 0 u nd Des ig ner , „ , +1 „ „ . „ 56.00
Pro-Sound Software £25.50
Publisher 1000 .....£148.50
Scribble .£72,50
Shell..... . ..,.£34.50
Superbase Personal £75 00
Superbase Prof. £195,00
TextPro £42.80
ToolKit , „ . £29.50
TV Show ...... £61 ,50
Word Perfect £171,50
BLANK DISKS 3-5' DS/DD (10) £10.50
5.25 DS/DD (10) ..£5.0 0
All with labels I
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70 AMIGA COMPimNG Km ember 1988
Order Offers
For only £17.95,
saving £7 f order
your copy today
and see if you can
solve the mystery
at Mortviffe Manor.
AMIGA
RRP
£14.95
OUR PRICE
£9.95
MORTVILLE MANOR
Julia, an old friend of yours has mysteriously died at Martviile Manor. So,
strongly suspecting foul play, you set off to determine how she died.
Throughout the game characters talk to you fn heavy French accents,
while haunting digitised sound effects such as hooting owls and church
bells are sprinkled in strategic places.
As reviewer Bob Chappell said: "This two-disc adventure has got
the Jot - text, digitised music, sound effects and colour graphics".
SAVEl
£5
RRP £24.95
OUR PRICE
£17.95
BONE
CRUNCHER
You are Bono, a friendly dragon,
residing in a picturesque sea-castle.
As a shrewd business-dragon, keen on a
"nice little earner", you make your living
by selling soap to the giant monsters who
battle in the sea surrounding the castle.
With the aid of your business partner,
Fozzy, you produce the soap by collecting
skeletons from the castle's caverns and
then boiling the bones in a cauldron.
However, the castle caverns are fraught
with danger: there
are monsters
who will kill you,
spiders who will
eat you alive,
and glooks who
will block your
path.
A smash hit on
the BBC Micro,
Bone Cruncher is
a soap-opera not
to be missed. For
just £ 9.95 , this is
definitely a
game you should
have in your
collection!
Order your copies NOW, using the form on Page 73
:4m*. Mail Order Offers
OlML^
FOR THIS.. f i
And this latest arcade smash conversion from U.S. GOLD can be yours
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Rolling Thunder is a game of intense action, intrigue and heroism.
A secret society is threatening to conquer the world, while the Rolling
Thunder undercover police organisation is assigned to expose the
conspiracy. Your role as top agent — code name Albatross — is to
invade the enemy headquarters to complete the mission and free
allies who have been held hostage.
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and a subscription to
MicroLink.
Fax is just another of the
many new services now
available on MicroLink,
Britain's fastest-growing
electronic mail provider
-si**-*
Details from 0625 878888
ADVERTISERS' INDEX
16 Bit Software.,. - 25
Amiga PD Library 36
Anco Software....,., -.76
Apolonia Software..,,,,. 5B
Ariadne Software.... 43
Byteback - 43
C64 Centre .12
Castle Computers ,.22
Cantec ,....,,...-68
Cestrian Software .......... 75
- k .,...,,...,.15
Cl
Commodore Show 19
Gompum art . .... ....... 3
Cottage Software.. *. 27
Cut Price Software. ...I ...,,, r - .....70
Database Exh ibitions... -1 9
Datel Electronics 64,55
Delta Computers 64
Digits international — 27
Eaayprmt 58
E ids rsoft .. - ■ — - - .63
Evesham Micros -..36
Frontier Softwa re .40
George Thompson Services 35
Hum gold Computers Ltd-... ........ 64
1C PUG 2S
M anda rin Soft ware... -45
MD Office Supplies 69
Melton Computer Supplies— -62
MJC Supplies 35
Miracle Systems — .....46
M icrodeal — — .26
M icrol i n k ..... ..... — . —6
Power Computing 67
Precision Software —25
SCC Mail Order-. 67
Shacksoft...— — 74
SK Marketing 2
ST Amiga Club— 74
Syntax -70
The Games Shoppe-.,—,, 64
Tunlesoft Software Ltd ... —32
Trilogic .—-63
Try bridge Software Ltd — ,,,..43
World wi de Softwa re — 64 |
ST & AMIGA OWNERS
• Have you ever bought software only lo find its not whal you expe cted?
• Would you like to buy software, har dwaie , peripherals & consumables at prices
only available to dealers?
• Are you thinking of buying an ST or Amiga?
We can supply members with:
Amiga's from £341 .50 and 520 STFM's from £250
Xaro* 4020 colour ink jet printer from £1000,06
External Drives from EBS.GHJ
Blank Disc's DSDD Unbranded (Memorex) 25 for £25.00
Alt prices are fully inclusive. Noitvnp to add.
Save up to 35% on ell software, not Just games
Wo supply a foil product range from A to Z
If you answered yes to any of the above questions then send an s.a.e. to
ST & AMIGA CLUB
(Dept AC). PO Box 3, Openshaw, Manchester Mil 4FZ
F<?r futi delate And *ppfica(«n torm
Don't tnrcl Wfrfr mnyottUr CtuO unU 1 / >wV# cfi*ekmd u* twt (tf*t
SHACK SOFT
MOUSE MASTER
Are you tired of fumbling , 1
under or behind your com- * \
puter lo swap your mouse
and joystick cables 7 Are
your cables and computer connectors worn out from all the
plugging and unplugging? Then Mouse Master is a must
for you! . , „
Mouse Master is an innovative switchbox that allows you
to instantly select either your mouse or joystick <or other
controller) in port 1. A switch on the top does the
swapping for you! Additionally, port 2 is brought out to
" " J '* ible. “ ‘
^ P J ■■ A
make all the ports easily accessible. £24.95
MONITOR STANDS
Specifically designed for igc with your AMIGA 500 with
i slot cut for the disk drive. Your Amiga Tits rKfltjy under
your monitor with no untidy leads in view. £19.95
Quality
Mouse Mils
Only £6.95
UNIT 11/17. While Hays South
Wesl Wills Trading Instate
Westbury, Wiltshire
(0373) 858031 (2 Lines)
74 AMIGA COMF1 '"1'lXt; Stnnmber 1908
NEW BULK DISC
PACKAGE DEALS!
3.5" Discs
40 Discs + 40 Capacity box £33.99
80 Discs + 80 Capacity box .£74.99
5.25” Discs
50 Discs + 50 Capacity box ...... £17.99
100 Discs + 100 Capacity box ...£34.99
LOCKABLE DISC STORAGE BOXES
35" 5.25"
40 capacity.. £5.49 50 capacity £5.49
80 capacity £7.49 too capacity £7.49
Plastic Storage Box - holds 10 (State 3.5” or 5.25*) 75p
ST or AMIGA?
Ring us NOW for our ultra low prices
on these two leading computers
UP TO 35% OFF ALL 16 BIT SOFTWARE
e.g. Menace (Amiga) £13.97 Starglider II (ST/Amiga) £17.39
ALL PRINTERS NOW WITH FREE BOX OF PAPER
Branded discs: Sony, TDK, Verbatim, Dysan 3.5" Discs
FULLY GUARANTEED MEDIA - BEST PRICES IN UK!
CHEAP! CHEAP!
3.5” DISKS 3.5"
10 £7.30
25 £18.00
50 .£35.50
75 £52.50
100 £69.00
UNCERTIFIED,
52 Brook Street, Chester CHI SDN
3.5" BULK DISCS
BY PHONE 0244 31 2666
| ! Postage: All orders under £1 5.00 add
7Sp Overseas £3 Over £15 00 FREE
BY POST TO ABOVE ADDRESS
BY FAX 0244 314635
I All prices Inc. VAT
BY TELEX 61 556 CARIB A G
EMERALD MINE
A giani arcade adventure which has
received rave reviews. Each level
has its Own unique solution and
requires ingenuity and dexterity to
complete. One player or two players
TEAM action tor added enjoyment,
AMIGA £14-95
C8M64-PLUS 4 £.7,95 (D) £9.95
s
MANIAX
Maniax relentlessly pursued by
the creature undertakes to clear
the thick, fog engulfing the world
capitals, An addictive game
requiring quick thinking and
action.
AM IGA- ST-1 BM £19 95
CBM04 PLUS 4 £7.95 (D) £9.95
ROBBEARY
B^riiS. an agile and clever bear has
targeted a tam&us 24 timers store lor
his last and most daring ROBBERY.
Wilh no alarms or visiWe guards and
fabutous treasures, yet it has been
avoided like the plague by the
criminal fraternity Ben« soon
discovers why?
AMIGA £19.95
HIGHWAY HAWKS
Grand Prix driving skills is essential
to negotiate the crowded highway at
speed. Obliterate the assassins cars
and the ones that get in your way
but keep the tiger in your lank ted,
the engine cool and the lyres and
steering intact. Acquisition of faster
cars and lethal weaponary depends
on your driving and trading skills
AMIGA £19.95 (2 DISCS}
QUANTOX
Progress through 24 levels of this
fast and furious action. Lightning
responses are secondary to the
strategic choices between better
weaponry or better defence.
AMIGA E 14.95
FACE OFF
Experience the sheer pace and
exhilaration of ICE HOCKEY. Be
prepared for the body checks,
fouls and rough play. League
competition, 1 or 2 player option.
AMIGA- ST- IBM £14.95
STRIP POKER El PLUS
A sizing evening with
Sam & Donna
AM1GA-ST-IBM-ARCH. £14.95
SP AMS MSX BBC ELECTRON
CBM64-PLUS 4 £7.95
STRIP POKER II PLUS DATA DISCS
Requires Strip Poker [] Plus disc
to load
Disc 1 Beverly & Dawn
Disc 2 Lee & Roy
Disc 3 Suzanne & Bianca
Disc 4 Rachel & Kim
AMIGA ST £9.95
MICRO TEXT MICRO BASE
Ideal for home and business use, Menu driven to enable a novice to use
powerful capabilities with minimal reference to the tutorial manual.
Micro base - a powerful data base with fast SEARCH and SORT facilities
includes a very flexible label printer. Sorted files can be used by the Micro Text
word Processor to send personalised letters. A boon to any Club Secretary.
AMIGA £19,95 EACH
BEVERLEY
ANCO SOFTWARE LTD, UNIT 9*10 BURNHAM TRADING ESTATE
OFF LAWSON ROAD, DARTIFORD, KENT DAI 5BH TEL: 0322 92513
MAIL ORDER HOTLINE: 0322 522631 FAX NO: 0322 93422
PAYMENT BY CHEQUE, P.O., VISA OR ACCESS