A Database Publication
Volume 2
Number 3
August 1989
£2.95
Exclusive review
of 3D Pool!
August 1989
GREAT DEMOS! GREAT UTILITIES!
• Trained Assassin: Have you t Model Universe: Create your
the skill to survive the test? very own solar system.
• Raider: Can you defy gravity • DiskChecker/DiskSalv: No
in your wandering spaceship? more corrupt disc problems.
To load: Switch on and insert disc
Full instructions are in the August issue of Amiga Computing
The disc you're al
been waiting for
A MEGABYTE OF SUPER SOFTWARE
THE AMAZING AMIGA . . .
1084S STEREO/COLOUR
MONITOR f ICQ AA
Compatible with PC, % l/V
Compatible
Amiga, C64c, C128
+ £5.00 post and packing
Pack Includes:
A500 CPU. Mouse, P.S.U.,T.V. Modulator, Very
First Tutorial, Workbench 1*3, Basic, Extrasand
Manuals.
PLUS POSTRONIX BONUS PACK
WORTH OVER £250 which includes 10 Blank
Disks, Disk Storage Box, 10 Excellent Games, Mouse Mat.
Mouse Bracket (Mouse Holder) Deluxe Paint.
£ 399.00
f £5. IK) post and packing
AMIGA 500 plus DISK DRIVE AMIGA 500 + 1084S
Instruction Manuals, Extra Disk, Workbench 1*3, P'T'T^rfcT^ f\ /
The Very First Tutorial, T. V. Modulator, Photon O 1 LKLU/
Paint, Mouse PLUS additional Amiga Compatible C*f \ I /"VTTn A H /~V\TT r F/~VH
Disk Drive and 10 Blank Disks. LULU UK MUM 1 UK
£ 449.00
+ £5.00 post
and packing.
(including the
Amiga 500 deal)
£ 649.00
+ £10. (K) post and packing
£ 229.99
MPS 1200P
+ £5.00 post and packing
The Commodore MPS1200P printer presents the state of the art in dox matrix printers, with all the features of a printer that
would cost much more. The MPS1200P is designed to be like three printers in one. It can act just like an Epson FX printer, or
with the flip of a switch, it can act just like an IBM Graphics Printer with IBM Group II-I character set (Danish/Norwegian
character set ) support. It can also print all the characters available with the Amiga in the Amiga configuration.The MPS 1 200P
is capable of all the printing functions you would expect, as well as some additional features you may not expect.
MPS 1500C COLOUR PRINTER £199.99
+ £5.(X) post and packing
A. TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS
PRINTING TECHNIQUE Impact dot matrix (9-needle print head).
DRAFT MODE - matrix: 9 vertical dots x (5 + 4) horizontal dots; - print speed: 120char/s, at 10/char in
TABULATION SPEED 2 char/s
PRINTING DIRECTION bi-directional, with optimised head movement
PRINT PITHES 10 char/in to 24/char/in programmable from line, and in SET-UP mode
LINE FEED - l/6in (4.23 mm). 1/8 (3. 17 mm) and 7/72 in (2.4 mm); -n/216 in and n/72 in.
CHARACTER SET ASCII characters and special characters.
MAX. PRINT LINE LENGTH 40 top 192 characters, according to print pitch selected.
AMIGA 1010 DISK DRIVE
Amiga 3.5" external drive. Capacity 880K
PLUS FREE DISK
STORAGE BOX &
10 BLANK DISKS
A501 RAM
PACK
512K for the Amiga
£ 149.99
-l- £5.00 post and packing
£ 149.99
+ £5.00 post and packing
ICOSTROLLER
ICONTROLI.ER
(controller is semi permanently
mounted on your computer console,
(controller leaves hands on the
key board while executing Icon
commands with your fingertips.
£ 15.99
STARFIGHTER
Compatible with Sinclair
Spectrum. Commodore. Atari
Computers. Atari 2600 Video
Games Systems.
£ 14.95
CHALLENGER DELUXE
Compatible with Spectrum (with
optional interface). Commodore.
Atari 2600 Video System. Atari
Computers. Amstrad computers.
A) 1750 RAM EXPANSION M0D11E FOR CBM 128
Simply plug it into the expansion port on your CBM 128 and 512K Bytes of
additional Ran arc available.
B) 1351 COMMODORE MOUSE
The Commodre 1351 Mouse is controller designed for use wth the CBM 64/128.
0 1764 RAM EXP ANSION MODULE FOR COMMODORE M
How do vou get a total of 320K Ram on vour M. just plug in the 1764 Module.
* £ 149.99 . £ 19.99 c £ 99.99
All prices + £5 00 post and packing.
CHEETAH 125+
Compatible with Spectrum.
Commodore. Atari 2600 Video
System. Atari. Amstrad PC.
Amstrad.
SEIKOSHA
PRINTER
SEIKOSHA
PRINTER
Compatible with most
makes of Commodore
computers. Features
variety of fonts including
graphics and near letter quality , reverse printing, italics.
tractor feed and paper seperator. Comes complete with serial £ 159.00
£ 8.95
TAC 5
CONTROLLER
JOYSTICK
Compatible with Atari.
Commodore.
£ 13.99
cable.
SLIKSTIK JOYSTICK
CONTROLLER
Compatible with Atari Computers.
Atari Games System. Commodore.
*■ £J 00 pm! tad piciiat
£ 6.99
COMPETITION PRO 5000
Compatible with Commodore M and
Vic 20. Sinclair ZX Spectrum (interface
required).
£ 14.95
RAM DELTA DELUXE
MICROSWITCH JOYSTICK
Compatible with Atari computers and
Video Games Machines. Amstrad PCW
(with adaptor). Spectrum
(with adaptor). PQ QQ
Commodore dt7 %JJ
TAC 2 CONTROLLER
JOYSTICK
Compatible with Commodore 64
and Vic 20. Atari Computers.
Atan Game Systems.
£ 10.99
MICRO HANDLER MULTI
FUNCTION JOYSTICK
Compatible with Commodore. Commodore
C16'+4 (adaptor required). n/l% .
** £ 24.95
ONLY AVAILABLE FROM
A whole new range of innovative
computer covers, made from
durable clear plastic. Designed to
fit your computer perfectly ... not
only safe from dust but also all
forms of accidental damage.
LTD
C64 OLD STYLE
£ 6.99
C64C NEW STYLE
£ 7.99
AMIGA 500
£ 9.99
ATARI 520ST
£ 9.99
ATARI 1040ST
£ 9.99
.postronix
tmwm
ES IF YOt K10UJRE A FREE CATALOGUE PLEASE TICK □ •
hum star trrmofT cue
TO
n
<u l»
TUTS
1541
DISK DRVE PACK
AND MORE BESIDES!
THIS TOPICAL GAMES
COMPENDIUM OFFERS A TRUE
SPORTING CH ALLENGE
Pack contains: C64c Computer 1530
Datasette. Quickshot Joystick. Matchpotnt
(Tennis). Snooker. World Championship
Boxing. Daley Thompsons Supertest.
Hypersports. Basketball. Matchday 11.
Daley Thompsons Decathlon. Basket
Master. Track and Field.
PLUS POSTRONIX BONUS PACK
OF £100 OF FREE SOFTWARE
£ 149.99
+ £5.00 post and picking
1541 II DISK DRIVE PACK
Pack includes:
1541 1] Disk Drive. 10 Excellent Disk Games. 20 Blank
Disks. 5V4" Diskette Storage Box. AND GEOS!
£ 169.99
+ £5.00 pos: and packing
com
AN EXCELLENT PACK PROVIDING
HOURS OF ENTERTAINMENT FOR ALL
THE FAMILY
Pack indudes: CWc Computer 1530 Data Cassette. Quickshot II Joystick.
Personal Hi-Fi. Commodore Juke Box Audio Tape (10 Hits). Yamaha
SHS10FM Digital Keyboardwith Midi.Ghostbuster. Rollaround.TauCeti.
Agent XU, Surprise Game.
Plus: POSTRONIX BONUS PACK OF £100 OF
FREE SOFTWARE
only £ 199.99
+ £5.00 post and packing
THE HOLE YKOOD
PACK
A GREAT DOUBLE THEME PACK
OFFERING THE BEST OF HOLLYWOOD.
PLUS A COMPENDIUM OF T.V. GAME SHOWS
Pack includes: CMc 1530 Data Cassette. Quickshot II Joystick. The Great
Escape. Miami Vice. Platoon. RamNv Top Gun. Even' Second Counts.
Blockbusters. Bultseve. Trivial Punuit. Knptoo Factor.
Plus: POSTRONIX BONUS PACK 0 NLY £ 149.99
OF £100 OF FREE SOFTW ARE ♦ £5.00 post and packing
OCOMMODOftI \b.
L ARGE STOCKS OK SOFTW ARE & ACCESSORIES FOR ALL 16 BIT, 8 BIT COMPITERS - ALSO
ALL MAJOR GAME CONSOLES -PHONE <0604) 791771 NOW WITH VOI R REQUIREMENTS}
OFFER APPLIES TO L.K. ONLY. OVERSEAS ORDERS CHARGED AT OVERSEAS RATE.
Managing Editor
Derek Meakin
Editor
Simon Rockman
Assistant Editor
Jeff Walker
Production Editor
Peter Glover
Art Editors
Mark Nolan
Doug Steele
News Editor
Don Lewis
Advertisement Manager
John Snowden
Advertising Sales
Wendy Colburn
Editorial:
0277 234434
Administration:
0625 878888
Advertising:
0625 878888
Subscriptions:
051-357 2961
Telecom Gold:
72AIAG001
Telex:
9312188888 DB
Fax:
0625 879966
Prestel Mailbox:
614568383
Published by:
Database Publications Ltd,
Europa House. Adlington Park,
Adlington, Macclesfield SK10 4\T.
ISSN 0952-5948
Amiga Computing welcomes articles for publi-
cation. Material should be typed or computer-
printed. and preferably double-spaced. Program list-
ings should be accompanied by disc Please enclose
a stamped, self-addressed envelope, otherwise the.
return of material cannot be guaranteed. Contri-
butions can only be accepted for publication by
Database Publications Ltd on an all-rights basis.
© 1989 Database Publications Ltd. No material may
be reproduced in whole or in part without written
permission. While even' care is taken, the pub-
lishers cannot be held legally responsible for any
errors in articles, listings or advertisements.
Amiga Computing is an independent publication
and Commodore Business Machines / i'.K .) Ltd is.
not responsible for any of the articles in this issue or
for any of the opinions expressed.
News trade distribution: Europress Sales and Dis-
tribution Limited. Unit 1. Burgess Road. Ivyhouse
Lane. Hastings. East Sussex TN35 4NR. Tel: 0424
430422.
Rl™
V# NEWS
Hot news from the US on Kickstart
version 1.4, the Amiga 3000 and new
add-ons. Plessey to build a mini-
Amiga. Plus full show report.
AMIGA ARCADE
FUTURE
FORECASTS
The latest gossip from the top
software houses. Jeff Walker gets the
inside info from Coktel Vision,
Hewson, Mirrorsoft and friends.
AMIGADOS
PUBLIC DOMAIN
UNDER THE
WORKBENCH
Setting up a hard drive need not be
complicated. David Foster turns Prep,
high cyl and partition from jargon to
understandable English.
PROJECT
PLANNER
Knowing who is free to work on a
project makes planning very much
easier. Now there is a program which
should automate the process.
FAT ANGUS’S
SWEET PD
What does Fred Fish look like? Who
supplies the best PD programs?
Where can you get a free club plug?
Why, follow Fat Angus and find out.
August 1989
gr EAT DEMOS! J
le'sldll ln SSaSS - n: Have you •
e skl11 10 survive the test?
a'der: Can you defy gravity m
your wandering spaceship^ #
_J^Joad: Switch on i
Details of the two playable demos
squeezed onto the best cover disc you
have ever seen. Plus how to use the
great PD utilities which will save you
from disc disaster blues. Instructions
on how you can earn up to £1,000 by
contributing with the first ever all
Amiga give-away. Don’t just dream
load up the disc and give it some
stick.
CRAMMED INTO
A MEGABYTE
4 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1989
■CONTENTS!
HARDWARE ■ ART
SPEED UP
BOARD
The animate-turbo board uses the
advanced 68020 processor, so how
come it can make your Amiga run
slower? John Kennedy explains.
If you are not happy with the hard
copy from your art program then
some software from Gold Disk will
cure the low resolution blues.
NAFFWARE
■
FEATURE
WORD PROCESSING
DISASTER
The golden turkey of the month.
Software which is so bad it is funny.
DJ Walker-Morgan is the unlucky
naffware reviewer who gives it 7%.
HARDWARE
SPOTTING
THE VIRUS
How do you know if you’ve got one?
Can they survive switching off? If you
want to prevent an infected boot
block check the guide to safe saving.
AMIGABASIC
IDEAL 40 MEG
HARD DRIVE
Super quick, it auto-boots under
Kickstart 1.2 and stores twice as
much as the Commodore unit. No
wonder Jeff Walker bought his.
THE MODEL
UNIVERSE
It has taken Pioneer 10 over 17 years
to explore the solar system. You and
vour Amiga can do it in an evening
with Alastair Scott’s help.
HINTS
il ll GAME
VJ VJ KILLER
Suffering from joystick jitters? Do you
spend more time looking at the
loading screen than zapping the
sprites? Dr Tennant has the cure.
COMPETITION
69
WIN SIX
HARD DRIVES
Ideal Hardware are really nice people,
so nice they have given us six 40 meg
hard discs to give to you. Prizes
worth well over £3,000.
LETTERS
91
YOUR RIGHT
TO WRITE
Re-inventing shareware, your views
on games and some regular help for
curing problems if you have one of
the 1,041.000 Amigas in the world.
GAMES REVIEWS
• Trained Assassin - why it was
chosen for the disc.
• Joe Barbara plays 3D pool - join
the cue to play.
• Welcome to the Powerdrome.
Top speed racing action.
• R-Type may not be the best but
sets the standard.
• On the Rampage with a monster
hit from Activision.
• Infocom cracks the graphics
barrier with Zork Zero.
• Squared-eyed Ocean runs the
Gauntlet, a TV terror.
• Take Elite, remove the good bits
and call it STAG
• Balance of Power. Would Bush
press the red button?
• Ferrari F40s add 200mph
glamour to Crazy Cars II.
• Vindicators ST authentically
reproduced by Domark.
• Take a walk on the Dark Side.
More Freescape 3D fun.
• Demonware puts some evil
colours behind centipede.
• Tom and Jerry may be cute but
they fail at gameplay.
August WHO AMIGA COMPUTING 5
Enter the brand new Computer Shopper Show - the ultimate
venue for a Christmas shopping spree for you, the Commo-
dore Amiga user.
More than 100 of the 250 stands will be selling Amiga
products, making it the biggest Commodore event of all time
-and Commodore themselves will also have a feature stand.
For three days in November, Computer Shopper will
transform London’s Alexandra Palace into the world’s
largest computer hypermarket.
The choice of Amiga products will never have been
greater - nor will the number of special offers.
Order your tickets for the Computer Shopper Show today
by returning the coupon alongside with your payment or
telephone 051-357 2961 for credit card bookings.
The Great Hall,
Alexandra Palace,
Wood Green, London N22
10am -6pm
10am - 6pm
10am -4pm
Friday , November 24
Saturday , November 25
Sunday, November 26
Sponsored by
Computer
Shopper
Organised by
DATABASE
EXHIBITIONS
Please supply:
□ Adult tickets at €3 (save £1 )
□ Under 16s tickets at £2 (save £1 ) £••
□ Family tickets at £9 (save £5) £••
Total £..
D Cheque payable to Database Exhibitions
□ Please debit my Access/Visa card no.
Expiry date:
Admission at door:
£4 (adults)
£3 (under 16s)
Advance ticket orders
must be received by
Wednesday, November 15
Name
Address..
Postcode Signed.
PHONE ORDERS: RING Show Hotline: 051-357 2961 Please quote credit
PRESTEL ORDERS: KEY • 89 . THEN 614568383 card number and
MICROUNK: 72.MAG001 full address
POST TO: Computer Shopper Show Tickets, Database Exhibitions,
PO Box 2. Ellesmere Port. South Wirtal L65 3EA.
A738
■ AMIGA SCENE ■
Stores go for games
New hardware
on way
T HE Amiga 3000 is
shaping up to be an
amazing workstation. Based
on the fast 68030 processor,
it will still be Amiga-
compatible but unlike the
A2500 it will not have a
68000.
This means any program
which does not run on a
68020/68030 machine -
something which uses self-
modifying code - will not
work on an Amiga 3000.
The machine is in the early
stages of development, so
ideas such as individual
serial numbers in each
machine now being dis-
cussed may not make it to
the final release.
A stepping stone between
the A2500 and A3000 will be
the A2630. This is the Com-
modore 68030 card which
runs about 10 times faster
than a standard Amiga.
Based on the A2620 card it
will take up to 4 meg of ram
with more on an additional
daughter board. Its designer,
Dave Haynie, says it is a far
more advanced system than
other ‘030 cards which use
the high level of com-
patibility between the ‘020
and ‘030 but fail to take
advantage of the bigger chip.
The A590 is a better hard
drive than the A2090 so the
A2090 is being upgraded
with the 2091 which has the
high quality DMA/SCSI
interface and can take 2 meg
of ram.
Only one new product
looms for the A500, and that
needs other computers. The
A560 and A2060 are net-
work cards which allow
Amigas to be linked, not just
to each other, but to PCs,
Macs and other ARCNET
systems.
Distributor
closes down
S OFTWARE distributor
Brown Wagh Direct of 2
Hazlitt Mews, Hazlitt Road,
London has ceased trading.
Amiga Computing has been
asked to advise readers that
no further orders are being
fulfilled.
A MIGA games players
can now reap the
benefits of a High Street vote
of confidence in 16 bit lei-
sure software. W.H. Smith
has trebled its commitment
to Amiga games and Boots is
to double stocks.
“Selling software is what
we do well, and the 16 bit
market is the way things are
going’’, said computer buyer
for Smiths Sean Willis. “We
are intending to put 16 bit
into a lot of the smaller stores
that do not stock it at the
moment’’.
As a result of the recent
decision, the number of
Smiths outlets with Amiga
games has risen from 43 to
118. Over at Boots, software
buyer Rose Graham told
Amiga Computing that its
decision will not only
increase the variety of Amiga
titles in its main store but
will also boost the number of
stockists.
At present 240 Boots stores
take software but the
emphasis is on 8 bit. Only 70
take 16 bit and this will
rocket to more than 120.
“It is just a matter of
timing’’, said the spokes-
woman. “Boots decided that
having stocked 16 bit for
some time, now was the time
to increase this. We have got
to keep up with market
changes”.
Pointers to
the greys
W ARNINGS have gone
out from Commodore
that people buying grey
imports of its Amiga 500
could find themselves out on
a limb.
Aware that machines are
being imported from Hol-
land and sold cheap, Com-
modore is taking action
against dealers found to be
stocking the rogue machines.
It will also refuse to carry out
warranty work.
A spokesman for CBM’s
technical support depart-
ment told Amiga Computing
there are a number of ways
to recognise such imports.
All A500s from the UK
have bar codes both on the
machine and on the pack-
aging if they have come from
Commodore in the last 18
months. The power supply
on machines from Holland
may be 220V rather than
240V.
Unless documents are
being translated or forged,
the machines could have a
Dutch manual and would
not have the 12 month UK
warranty which goes with all
Commodore machines.
“If users ring up with
technical questions, they will
still be helped because it is
very difficult to link them to
the grey imports”, said the
spokesman. “Because of the
absence of the UK warranty,
no support will be given on
that. Commodore is aware
that there is a problem and is
doing everything possible to
stamp it out”.
No go area
S OFTWARE cassettes and
discs will soon bear an
anti-piracy logo which is the
latest move by FAST, the
Federation Against Software
Theft.
Being designed by soft-
ware house Psygnosis, it is
likely to be based on the
well-known red circle and
diagonal line symbol for
prohibition.
It is hoped that when the
logo is finished, publishers
will be persuaded to use it on
their software as a warning
against copying.
Don’t believe
all you read..
W HEN you don’t have
anything to boast
about - shut up. Unless you
are desperate, then shout so
loud about something which
is mundane that people will
believe you have something
special.
So if you come across an
exclusive review of Commo-
dore’s super new A2500 read
it very carefully. You will
find that the machine is an
A2000 with Commodore’s
A2620 processor card, a
machine Amiga Computing
reviewed last March.
And if you see a review of
Kickstart 1.4 don’t believe it,
the software isn’t finished.
Amiga Computing had the
first full report in April. Now
we can spill the beans on
some of the newest features.
Kickstart 1.4 is a very dif-
ferent beast to 1.3. While the
changes between 1.2 and 1.3
meant that some badly writ-
ten programs still worked by
dint of good fortune, with 1.4
they will go belly-up.
The differences are
worthwhile. For a start it
looks a lot better with
improved designs of icons
and drawers. Workbench
and CLI are better integrated
which will hopefully help to
de-mystify CLI for new
users.
The Arexx programming
language, included as stand-
ard, allows multi-tasking
programs to be linked. So
from inside your word
processor you can send a file
to the DTP program which
will then spool a file to disc.
It’s the kind of command
language invented for big
systems which are only
useful on micros as powerful
as the Amiga.
While some of the
improvements are useful,
one is essential. This is
support for the Enhanced
Chip Set. With ECS Fitted, an
Amiga can use 1 meg of chip
ram and display a flicker-
free 640 x 512 image
although this will need an
Turn to Page 8 ►
August 1989 AMIGA COMPUTING 7
Amiga 2000 smooths
those cartoon capers
W HEN your favourite
cartoon character
chases his adversary round
the screen, it’s quite likely
that his movements have
been coordinated by an
Amiga 2000.
A system based around the
Amiga 2000 is now speeding
up the production of
cartoons, making life easier
for the animators and
improving end results.
Called the Chromocolour
Line Tester, it has been
developed by Chromocolour
Animation Supplies and
Equipment (01-636 2103)
which provided all the anim-
ation kit used in Who
Framed Roger Rabbit.
Rolf Harris built his recent
Cartoon Club television pro-
gramme around it and plans
to use it for another series,
Steven Speilberg is using it
for his sequel to An
American Tale, a host of top
film companies have bought
it and even the giant Disney
corporation is poised for a
massive order.
It has also been found that
teaching animation to chil-
dren with the line tester can
prompt computer literacy
and improve other aspects of
education, particularly for
those with learning diffi-
culties. This has been proved
by Stan Hayward, creator of
Henry’s Cat, who has used it
in a Kilburn school with dra-
matic results.
The line tester teams up a
video camera, digitiser and
the Amiga 2000 to shoot
animation sequences and
play them quickly so timing
can be adjusted and move-
ments plotted before acetates
are painted.
At present the top profes-
sional system costs £10,000
but there are plans to
develop a £2,000 version
for education and to make
a system based on the
Amiga 500 for the deomestic
market.
Communications partners David Bromley, sales director, and
David Underwood. Istel Inet managing director, with Derek
Meakin, chairman of MicroLink.
M AJOR changes are
being planned for
MicroLink, the rapidly-
growing electronic mail
service. It will leave Telecom
Gold and enter into a part-
nership with a new telecom-
munications giant, Istel Inet.
Istel Inet is a partnership
of two major international
names in the field of data
communications, Istel and
Bell Canada Enterprises.
“We have long been faced
with restrictions that have
prevented us developing the
service in the way we know
our subscribers would like”,
said MicroLink chairman
Derek Meakin. “We feel that
the time has come to break
away from Telecom Gold
New role
for MicroLink
and open new doors.
“The result will be a con-
siderable expansion of
services available to anyone
with a computer, a modem
and a telephone”.
Many of the present facili-
ties offered by MicroLink
will be improved and the
new service will also include
news, sport and weather, a
comprehensive financial sec-
tion, plus on-line shopping.
Computer conferencing -
a service long requested by
MicroLink subscribers - will
also be introduced.
Waiting for Kickstart 1.4
expensive multi-sync moni-
tor.
The Fat Agnus chip, which
gives more elbow room to
chip ram, is currently being
fitted to new A2000s. A
batch of 500s went on sale in
Germany with 1 meg chips
but that was a mistake at the
factory.
The Fast File System,
which has won friends in the
hard drive-owning com-
munity has now come to
floppies.
It will speed up disc access
2 to 2.5 times. Old format
discs can still be read, writ-
ten and created, but this is
the area in which Amiga
Computing suspects most
things will fail to work.
Intuition now features
auto-scrolling, custom gad-
gets and new string gadgets,
which will lead to better
requesters and a special kind
of window which is cha-
racter mapped. Currently all
text on an Amiga screen is
plotted a pixel at a time. The
new mode plots whole
characters at a time, which
should be very much faster.
Major changes have taken
place with Preferences. At
the moment the Preferences
program writes out a file
8 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1989
■AMIGA SCENE*
P LESSEY is making
Amigas smaller. The
aerospace company is
working on the next gener-
ation of in-flight entertain-
ment. Instead of trying to
watch a film with all the rude
bits taken out over seat backs
in the half-dark and wishing
the chap in 27D would shut
his blind, you can play with
an Amiga.
The system will build an
Amiga into every seat with a
small LCD screen set into the
back of the seat in front. The
passenger will be able to
watch the film on this screen
or play games. All the
A DEAL now set to top the
£1 million mark has
been signed between HB
Marketing (089-544 4433)
and audio visual firm OEC
under which HB is supp-
lying genlocks and other
Amiga peripherals for use
with OEC’s audio visual
presenter Teleslide. It is also
to give advisory support on
use of the Amiga, which con-
trols this latest product.
“The initial agreement was
worth over £500,000 but
since then it has risen closer
to £1 million”, said Julian
Swallow of HB. ‘‘It is an
ongoing relationship which
will bring us even more
business and obviously we
are over the moon. We have
had two and a half years
experience in both hardware
and software for the Amiga
called System-configuration.
With 1.4 the file will not only
be written by Preferences but
will be expandable from
other programs.
The changes involved with
Kickstart 1.4 are so major
that the release must be a
long way away.
Workbench 1.3 took more
than a year to be released
from the first announce-
ments. You can get a pre-
release version of 1.4 if you
buy the £1,700 Moniterm big
screen, but for ordinary
users not only is it not fin-
ished it is probably too
buggy to be worth rushing
into.
Airborne
gameplay
Amigas will be networked so
passengers can order duty
free goods, reserve hotel
rooms and through a link to
the planes flight computer
see where they are.
To produce this system
Plessey is doing a lot of
development work on the
Amiga, some of which may
filter down to the ordinary
Amiga user. We want to play
a multi-user flight sim
against 200 other passengers.
Business
is booming
and this is now paying off’.
HB is shortly to extend its
range of Amiga-related
products with the Amiga
Virus Protection Toolbox
developed by Abacus in
America.
“The package contains a
book and software”, said Jim
Oldfield of Abacus. “The
book describes the
phenomenon and the meas-
ures you can take to protect
your computer system from
the harmful effects of a virus
and the software hunts down
suspicious programs”.
With HB awaiting stocks
from America, the UK price
has not yet been fixed. It sells
for $59.95 in the US.
ZCL into
education
D istributor zcl (0543
414817) has become one
of Commodore’s authorised
educational distributors to
the trade.
David Cheetham, ZCL’s
national account manager
for Commodore products,
said: “We are already one of
the biggest leisure suppliers
in the country and we are on
target for the business
market having taken on
Commodore’s PC and Amiga
2000s two months ago. A
move into the education
market seemed like a natural
progression”.
Amiga in class at Tivetshall Primary School
Schoolroom Amigas
collect top marks
N OW two thirds of the
way through its nine
month preliminary stage,
Commodore’s Primary
Project is bringing some
startling results in schools.
It was launched in January
to assess the potential of the
Amiga 500/2000 for teaching
in primary schools.
The pilot project started
with schools in Somerset,
Norfolk, Humberside,
Berkshire and Cheshire
being supplied with Amiga
500s by Commodore. They
also received suitable word
processing software.
Impact on classrooms has
been notable according to
the supervisor of the project,
Wiesia Okon, of Commo-
dore’s education division.
“I have found that chil-
dren are expressing them-
selves through the computer
on a number of levels, as
well as actually doing
something such as painting
on the Amiga. There is
always a lot of talking and
discussion going on around
the machine”, he said.
“The stimulus that the
Amiga can give to encourage
group work fits in well with
the IT philosophy of primary
education. The computer
enhances and complements
the work already done by
teachers and pupils in the
classroom”.
Surprised by his pupils’
reaction to the Amiga was
Richard Adams, a teacher at
Holway Community Junior
School.
“All the children have
been extremely enthusi-
astic”, he said. “Children
with quite severe learning
difficulties are suddenly on
an exciting par with their
peers. So far the Amiga 500
has brought out qualities in
some children that I did not
know existed”.
The same effects were
noticed by Ian Holl-
ingsworth, headmaster of
Tivetshall County Primary
School in Norfolk.
“I have found the children
to be less inhibited than
adults in their use of the
computer” he said. “The
Amiga’s mouse has made it
very accessible for pupils
with the art package Deluxe-
Paint II creating a discussion
point for lessons”.
Findings of the exercise
will be used by Commodore
to make the Amiga compat-
ible with everyday teaching
practices as part of the com-
pany’s ongoing assault on
the education market.
August 1989 AMIGA COMPUTING 9
■AMIGA SCENE*
Bargain hunters’
delight
fw Commodore
computer show
Simon Rockman reporting
Commodore will sell you something warm to snuggle
up to - no, not an A500 power supply
W HEN 16k was a lot of
memory, it was the Pet
Show. With the popularity of
the 64k machine it became
the Commodore Show. Per-
haps the 13th Commodore
Show should have been
called the Amiga Show.
Downstairs bore a
resemblance to a Far Eastern
street market as masses
bartered for everything from
£1 mouse holders to £650
A2000s. Shows have always
been a good place to buy
blank discs. At the Novotel
70p each bought good qua-
lity double sided discs if you
shopped around.
Whatever your interest or
budget there was something
to be picked up. Power
Computing was doing some
good deals on its range of
hard drives which offer
super fast Quantum units as
an option.
The 25Mhz 68030 cards
which should speed up an
Amiga tenfold spent the
show stuck in customs. Even
I dug into my pocket to buy a
1.3 rom.
C OMMODORE itself
announced an entire new
range of merchandise, which
in non - salesmanspeak
means gifts with the Commo-
dore logo - from a Commo-
dore teddy to key rings and
mugs. In true computer com-
pany fashion the wallets
were not yet available. No
doubt they are still writing
the manual.
Still, if you really want to
snuggle up with a little teddy
contact Commodore on 0628
770088. In all other respects
the Commodore stand was a
disappointment. No machines
with the Enhanced Chip Set,
no hi-res A2024 monitors
(the Commodore version of
the Moniterm reviewed last
April).
The nearest anything got
to being new was the A590,
reviewed last month. This
succeeded in frustrating me
since they are not on sale yet
and I want to buy one.
The show saw the public
announcement of the Amiga
Computing cover disc,
which led to a rush for sub-
scriptions at the old price. If
you Filled in a survey form to
tell us what you want on the
Bargains galore for show visitors
disc, thanks. If not send us a
letter - we’d love to know.
Thanks to Fred Fish and
some like-minded followers,
the Amiga has more, and
better organised, public
domain software than any
other modern computer. A
sign of this is the flourishing
club run by 17 Bit Software.
This was one of the busiest
stands as Amigaphiles
queued to see what was new
and fill gaps in their PD
collection.
Two products from ASAP
had a low-key launch. The
Amidrive was shown, but
having only just gone into
production was not for sale.
The First shipment had been
sent to people with outstan-
ding orders.
Aminet, which is a low-
cost network developed for
use in schools, was the
second ASAP product to
make its debut.
Hi Tension is classed by
Commodore as a VAR,
which stands for Value
Added Reseller, and sells
Amigas as part of a package
by adding its own custom
add-ons. Demonstrated at
the show was an incredibly
powerful video card capable
of animating a 1024 x 1024
pixel display in colour. For
more details contact Hi
Tension on 0252 344454. If
your pocket is not too deep
have a look at its 16 colour
desktop utility, Icon Paint.
While the Amiga leads the
field in many areas it lags
behind in one, accounting
software. Equinox Business
Systems aims to Fill this gap
with Small Business
Accounts, a comprehensive
package with balance sheet,
profit and loss, budgets,
VAT, a full audit trail and
quick ways of checking prof-
itablity.
There are extra modules
for more advanced users and
a £30 personal version for
controlling day-to-day
finances. For more details
contact Equinox on 01-729
0990
T HE most exciting stand
was Amiga Centre Scot-
land which always has inter-
esting bits and bobs. Among
them was a high resolution
24 bit colour graphics card
running through the PC
Bridgeboard to display
Sculpt Animate 4D images.
They were of television qua-
lity and “only took about 15
hours to render on an ‘030
machine”. Make that over a
week (just calculating) on a
standard Amiga.
Amiga Centre Scotland
also had Digiworks on sale
for the First time and a new
static ram board which
retains its memory even
when the Amiga is switched
off so you can auto-boot
from the ram disc. No price
has yet been fixed. Amiga
Computing will be
reviewing it soon.
I was really impressed by
Rob Munday’s Hologram.
Produced at the Royal
College of Art where Rob is a
lecturer, it gave a 3D view of
an image from Sculpt 3D.
The first ever home
computer-produced holo-
gram, it will be very impor-
tant as this technique will
lead to colour holography.
For more details on any of
the Amiga Centre Scotland
attractions contact 031-557
4242.
10 A MICA COMPUTING August 1980
Personal callers welcome
SK MARKETING
► ► ► COMPUT ER S UP PLIES 4 i j
10 Fulham Broadway, London SW6 1AA
LONDON'S LEADING
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
AMIGA HARDWARE
SKM A500 PACK
★ A500 Computer
★ TV Modulator
★ Photon Paint
★ 9 Star Games
Plus
★ Free Dust Cover
★ Free Mouse Mat
All Only
£399
TV Modulator £23
Philips 8833 Monitor £259.95
Commodore 10B4S Col. Monitor £259.95
A 501 Ram Expansion/Clock £129.95
Commodore A1010 3.5* Drive £89.99
Cumana CAS354 3.5" Drive ♦ PSU .. £1 16.99
Cumana CAX1000S 5.25' Drive £125.99
Cumana CAS 1000S 5.25’ Drive
♦ PSU .. £134.99
PRINTERS
Micro Peripherals 135+ £149
Star LC10 £192
Star LC 10 Colour £248
Star LC24 10 ....£332
Star NB24 10 £539
Star NB24 15 .....£626
Epson LX800 .....£212
Epson LQ500 ....£340
Epson LQ850 £510
Epson LQ1050 £656
Epson FXB50 (New in) £379
Epson FX 1 050 (New in) £478
Citizen 120D £156
Panasonic 1081 £167
NEC P2200 £340
NEC P6 Plus £546
NEC P7 Plus £679
Amstrad DMP4000 £305
Epson Laser GQ3500 £1426
Panasonic Laser £1724
Hewlett Packard Jet 2 £1815
Panasonic 1 124 (New 24 Pin) £305
Panasonic P1 180 £190
COMMODORE
AMIGA 2000
★ Latest B2000 Model
★ 1084S Colour Stereo Monitor
★ 20Mb Hard Disk
★ PC-XT Bridgeboard with
Floppy
ALL ONLY £1559
BOOKS
Advanced Amiga BAS 1C £ 1 6.95
Amiga Applications £16.95
Amiga BASIC Inside & Out £18.95
Amiga DOS Express & Diskette £27.45
Amiga DOS Manual £22.95
Amiga DOS Ref Guide £14.95
Amiga Gd Graphics Sound Teieco £17.45
Amiga Handbook ...£15.95
Amiga Hardware Ref Manual ....£22.95
Amiga Intuition Ref Manual £22.95
Amiga Machine Lang Guide £19.95
Amiga Machine Language £14.95
Amiga Microsoft Basic Prog Gde £18.45
Amiga Prog Handbook Vol. 2 £23.95
Amiga Prog Handbook Vol. 1 £23.95
Amiga Programmers Guide £16.95
Amiga Programmers Guide £18.45
Amiga ROM Kernel Ref Man Exec £22.95
Amiga ROM Kernel Ref Man Lb £32.95
Amiga Tricks and Tips £14.95
Amiga for Beginners £10.95
Becoming an Amiga Artist £18.45
Beginners Guide to the Amiga £16.95
Etementry Amiga Basic £14.95
Inside Amiga Graphics £16.95
Inside the Amiga with C 2nd Ed £20.95
Kickstart Guide to the Amiga £12.95
Programmers Guide to the Amiga £23.95
The Amiga £16.95
SKM SPECIALS
1 Sonv 3.5- DS/DD
£23 00 1
80 Col Space Saving Printer Stand £28.75
Storage Box (100) „
.£10.00
Mouse Mat
...£5.75
Dust Cover
...£6.95
Printer Dust Covers
...£5.75
A4 Copy Holder H33
.£17.25
4-Way Anti Surge
.£17.25
PROFESSIONAL AMIGA SOFTWARE
Superbase Personal
Superbase Professional
Sunerbase II
,...£64.95
..£169.95
...£64.95
WordPerfect
..£149.95
Protext
£64.95
Superplan
.... £75.95
VIP Professional
...£140.95
Assembler
.... £49.95
Amiga File
Pascal
-
....£49.95
£59.95
Toolkit
....£29.95
Comic Setter
....£49.95
Photon Paint
.... £49.95
Animator/Images
... £89.95
Animator
....£39.95
Animator 3D
Impact
....£99.95
£54.95
Video Title
....£99.95
Dlgipaint
.... £39.95
Sculpt 3D
Draw Plus £149.95
Express Paint £49.95
Audio Master £39.00
Sonix £44.95
K-Spread II £49.95
K-Data £34.95
K-Seka £34.95
K-Roget £34.95
K-Gadget £19.95
K-Text £14.95
K-Comm II £34.95
TheWorksI £119.95
Drum Studb £29.95
Schbble 2.0 £39.95
Kind Words £40.00
Publishers Choice £89.95
Analyse £39.95
TV Show £49.95
TV Text £49.95
Deluxe Paint II .. £49.95
Deluxe Paint III £69.95
Write ♦File - £59.95
Afterburner £1650
Aien 9yndrorm OB98
Animate Retei* £15 05
Amageddon Man _ £16 95
Archipelagos £1695
Archon II Adept
£1696
Aram ...........
£23 00
Arkano to
£1840
Army Moves
£1695
Arard The World In BO Days .£13.95
A tax
£14 95
Autodial
£1695
£15 95
Bad Cat
£1895
Balance d Power
£2243
Baflrader ,
£13 95
Balisttx
__ £1695
Bartanan Palace
£1395
Barbarian Psygnocis ....
£1695
Bards Tale
£1695
Bards Tale 2
£1695
Batman Caped Crusader
£1595
BatleTech
£1999
Batle Chess
£23 00
Bitlebawtu
£23 00
Bermuda Project
£1595
Better Dead Than Alien
£1595
Beyond Zork
£16 95
Bio Challenge
£1695
Bionic Commando
£1895
Black Lamp
- £13 95
Blasterads ...
£1695
Blood Money
£1995
BMX Simulator
— £1202
Bombwial
£1695
Bream
£1395
Buggy Boy
£1898
Butcher Hi
£1495
Cafetoma Games
£1695
Capone
£1995
Captain Blood
£1695
Captain Fu/
- £1295
Carrier Command
.£1650
Championship Gdf
£2995
Chess master 2000
£1995
Chrono Quest
£1995
Circus Games
£1695
Computer Hits
£1995
Coercion
£1650
Crick
£13 95
Craps Academy
£1695
Crash Gar rat
£15 95
Cra/yCars
£1695
Crary Cara 2 -
£1695
Custodan
£14 95
Cybemod
£13 95
Daley Thompson
£1650
Dark Caste
£1955
Deep Space
£1995
Del Con 5
Defender ol he Crown
DejaVu
£1695
£1895
£1895
Oenans
£1850
£1495
0NA Warrior
Double Dragon
£13 95
£1650
Dragons Lair
£2995
Dragonscape
Dream Zone
£14 95
£1795
Drier
£1695
Destroyer
Oungeon Master
Dungeon Master Editor
Eagles Nest
£1692
£15 95
£8 63
£1395
Ebonstar
Echdon
£1896
£1808
Eco
£1896
Eli mentor
£1695
Elite
£16.50
Emerald Mines
Empire
£1395
£23 00
Empire Stokes Beck
EntgMenment
.£1395
£1595
Espionage
£14 95
Face Off
£1595
Falcon
£1995
Fernandez Must Die
Ferrari Formula 1
£16 50
£1695
Feud
£8 06
Final Command
£1705
Fire 8 Forget
£1605
fire Bngade ......
£23 00
Fire rone ...
£1605
Fish
£1650
Flight Simiielor 2
Rintstones
r36 80
£1405
Footbal Director 2 £16 95
Footbal Manager 2 Expanscn £10.35
Footbal Manager 2 £1 4 95
Fouxsabons Waste £1695
Fright Mght £13 95
Galactic Conqueror £15 95
Gtedragons Domain £17.95
Garbetd riRM
Garnson
£1840
Garnsan2
£16 05
Gantlet II
£1695
Gee Bee Air Rally
£1695
£1995
£1688
£16 95
GFL Oiampionshp Football
Ghosts & Gobkns
Gddrurmer
Gddrunner2
£13 95
Gdden Path
£13 95
Gdd Rush
£1995
LEISURE SOFTWARE
Green Beret . .
. £16.95
Mean IBGolt
£1995
Growth
— £13.95
Menace
03.95
Gryror
£1695
Mercenary Compendium
0695
Guto d Thieves
.... £16.95
Uday Mouse
06.50
Girt ship
.....£19.95
Mooproee Soccer
£1695
Hardbtel
.....£16.95
Mke tot Magic Dragon _
0395
Hawkeys ...
£13 95
Mtenium 22
£1995
Hettoent
£13 95
Wndlghter
0650
H alter 6k dter .
....£13 95
Mm Gdf
0995
Heroes of the Lance
— £1995
Motor Massacre
0395
Highway Hawks
.£1695
Navcom6
£1795
Hridifeker
£19.95
Nebulus
03 95
Hdlywood Hj.rtx
£1 4 95
A New Beginmng
0395
Haywood Pdrar .
£13.95
Nqd Mansell Grand Prtx
0695
Hostages
£16 50
N^htraider
04.95
Hot Shot
£1395
No Excuses
0695
Modal
£16.95
Obirterator....
......£1892
Hd Foottal
£16.95
4 x 4 Off Road Racing .
... .£1995
Hunt For Red October
.....Cl 5 95
Offshore Warrior
06.50
Hybris
.....£16 50
Operalon Wotl
06 50
Ikan Warriors
£1695
Operaton Neptune
£18.98
International Karate Plus ....
£1795
Outrun
0995
1 Ludncus
£15 95
Overt ander
05 95
Impact
£12.02
Pscmanii
...05 95
Impossible Mission 2
Cl 7 95
Pec Land
03.95
Indoor Sports
— £16.95
PwJon
03.95
Ingrids Bade
Cl 4 95
Pawn _
05 95
Insanity Rght
— Cl 6 95
Peter Beardsley Soccer _
04.95
Interceptor
0695
Phantasm
04.95
International Soccer
£14.95
Pinball Wizard ...
03.95
Iridan
Cl 5.95
Pnk Panther
03.95
Jet
D048
Pioneer Plague
... £16.50
Jewels d Darkness
0595
PWoon
0650
Jinx ter
Cl 7.95
Ptondered Hearts
£2013
Joan dAic
— Cl 6 95
Pd« Quest
09.95
Jump Jet
0695
Populous
£1995
Karate Kid 2
0892
POW
0995
Kennedy Approach
05 95
Power Struggle
04.95
Kingof Chogo
0995
Prtocus Metal
.09.95
Kaig Quest 3 Peck
..... 0895
President s Missing
.0650
Knight Ore
0595
Prison
0695
Knstal
0995
Purple 8*tum Day
0650
Lancelot
.0395
OBal
03 95
Larne & TheArdies
0495
Quadra! ten
0650
Last Dud
03 95
dues Ion of Sport
07.95
Laederboerd Bird*
— .0695
him
£24.73
Leathernecks
Cl 3 95
Rambo3
0595
lad Storm
04 95
Raxhkv tie8fcrs
0895
Legend of the Sound
0896
Realm of Trdts
£1695
If sura Scat Larry
.07.95
Rebel Cherge at CMumanga . £24 96
Ltsura Sat Larry 2
0995
Return to Gents*
03.95
Levtaffan « _.
0495
Return to Atlanta
£2013
IMA let De
Cl 4 95
Return d the Jedi
0695
Lombard RAC Ralfy
— 0650
Rrgside
0695
Manhattan Dealers
0695
Road Blasters
07.95
Manhunter
0995
Road wars
05.95
Mena Wnttacers Xmas Bex
...01.95
Robocop
05.95
Rocket Rawer
Rocktords ftot
Roger Rabbit
0895
0395
£1995
Techno Cop
Teenage Queen
TerrorpoCS .. ...
0595
0395
. .0898
Rding Thoidar
0695
Test Drive .
£1005
Romanic Encounters .
£1650
Titos
£1395
R-Typ»
„ 0795
Thexder
£1795
Run the GarnOet . .
0995
Three Stooges
. £2195
Running Man .....
£1695
Thirds rbbdt
0995
Sargon III Chess
£13 95
Thundercsts
£1695
flMgi
0995
Tiger Road
0795
8corpo
0650
Tima A Magk
...0395
Bcorpon
0695
Tima BwkJta ,
£1395
Scrabble Ddua
03.95
Times d Lora
...0595
801
£1995
Times earner
...0995
Seven Cites of Gold
0695
Tracers
....£1898
Sinks Force Harrier
0698
Tracksuit Manager
£1495
Shadow gate
0650
Triad
£22 95
Sherlock Riddle
06 95
Trivial Pursuits
0595
Shogun
09.95
Turbo Cup.
04 95
Shoot am up Gonstruclan Set . £16.95
TV Sports Football ....
£1995
S<de Arms
£1695
Ultima 3
£1695
S4mt Service
0695
Ultima 4
£1695
Seibad 0995
Universal Mlitary Simulator
.0695
Sul tb tel
£17.95
Uninvited
£1895
Seytoc
0695
Vampire Empire
0395
Sky Fck 2
£1895
Vedorbal
£1395
Sip Stream
0395
Verminator
£1595
Sorcery Rus ..
..07.19
Victory Road
£1895
Space Ouest 2
0795
Virus
£1895
Space Ouest 1
07.95
Voten
£1995
Space Sal ..............
0695
Voyager
£1995
Speed Ball
£1650
Wanted
£14.95
Sotting Image
£13 95
War In Middle Earti
£1395
Sterleet
£2013
Warkxks Quest
£1395
Star Qider
£1595
Whirl gig
£1395
Ster Glider 2
0650
£1095
Star Goose
0995
Wnltr Oympad
0395
Ster Ray
d«J5
Ward Wars
£21 95
Ster Wars
0395
Wimal
... 0650
Steve Dana Snooker
-.03 95
World Class Leadtrboard.
0795
Sir C ivy
£1695
World Tour Gdf
-.0795
Street Fighter
£22 43
Xenon
£1695
Stop Poker 2
£1695
ZakMc Craken
. £2095
Summer Olympiad
03 95
Zany Golf
0995
Super Haig On
£1995
Zork 2
0595
Sword of Sodan
£1695
Zjrnaps
.06.95
01-381 6618
(24 Hours)
Callers Welcome
Fax No. 01 381 0528
_J A top quality sound sampling
system at a realistic price.
Q lOOSs machine code software for
realtime functions.
HlRes sample editing.
Q Realtime frequency display.
Q Realtime level meters.
Q Files saved in IFF format.
Q Adjustable manual/automatic
record trig level.
Q Variable sample rate fle playback
speed.
r} Separate scroll line waveform
windows & zoom function with Edit
windows for fine accurate editing.
^ 3D shot of sound waveform. Wave
editor to design your own
waveforms or adjust existing ones.
PJ Microphone Jk line input 1/4" Jack
A Din connections.
Software files can be used within
other music utilities.
ONLY £69.99 PLEASE STATE A500/1 000/2000
To complement the Sample 8tudio the
Datel Jammer gives you a 5 octave
keyboard to play & record your sampled
sounds.
FEATURES:-
0 4 track sequencer up to 9999 events.
0 Tempo A Beat controls.
0 Mixer Controls on Instruments.
0 Load A Save sequence.
0 Works on standard IFF file sounds.
MIDIMASTER
J Full Midi Interface for A500/1000/
2000 (please state model).
_J Compatible with most leading Midi
packages (including D/Music).
J Midi In Midi Out x3 - Midi Thru.
J Fully Opto isolated.
No need to pay more - Full Midi
standard.
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Z' SPECIAL OFFER!! \
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MANAGER TOGETHER FOR
ONLY £59.99 J
PRINTER LEADS
_] 25 pin 'D* to 36 way Centronics
parallel lead. 1.2m length.
J| A500 or 1000. please state.
ONLY £8.99
MIDI MUSIC
MANAGER
A TRULY PROFESSIONAL
MIDI PACKAGE AT A
REALISTIC PRICE
Play sampled sounds on Amiga from
any Midi track.
Full dubbing - listen to one track
while recording another.
J| Works with many Midi interfaces
including Datel Midi Master (see Ad)
J 8 realtime Midi tracks for record/
playback.
Adjustable track length • limited
only by available memory.
Jl Works with standard IFF flies.
ONLY £39.99
MIDI CABLES
J Top quality.
_J 3 metre length.
ONLY £6.99 pair
UNBEATABLE VALUE
DATA
ACQUISITION
UNIT
Turn your Amiga into a sophisti-
cated measuring instrument
capable of measuring a wide range
of data inputs.
Sample A display events from
microseconds to hours- with
amplitudes from milivolts to 50
volts.
J A Hardware/Software package with
very high spec, including:-
DIGITAL SCOPE DISPLAY 2 channel
inputs. Manual or continuos display.
Timebase 500ms/dlv to 20us/div-
accurate to 5%.
_| 6 bit flash conversion gives 2
million samples/sec.
PLOTTER DISPLAY
_| Timebase range 1 sec to lOhrs per
plot.
All features found on units costing
thousands of pounds.
ONLY £99.99
PLEASE STATE A500/1 000/2000
AMIGA
DIGITISER
Q 256 x 256 display with 16 grey
levels.
^ Realtime frame grab l/SOth
second.
Q Takes standard composite Video
input from camera or Video
recorder.
Q Screen update 1 frame per second,
single, continuous or buffered
display.
Q Load, Save facilities Including IFF
Save.
Q Edit picture, cut, copy, paste and
undo.
rj Special effects, reverse, negative,
mirror, compress, etc.
Increase the width of the display
to 320 x 256 automatically or
manually.
[J Plugs Into the parallel port of your
Amiga 1000/500/2000.
f) Comes complete with it’s own
power pack.
ONLY £89.99
DEEP SCAN BURST NIBBLER
\ Wt —
Hj Copy an entire disk in under 60
seconds.
Works with one drive up to four.
_J Multiple copy option allows you to
make many copies from one
original.
J Copy 1 or 2 disk sides - up to 80
tracks.
_J Full verify option.
J Compatible with A500/ 1000/2000.
Easy to use Icon driven programme
takes the mystery out of disk
backup.
J Special format parameters for non-
standard formats.
ONLY £29.99
NOTICE 1988 COPYRIGHT ACT
DATEL ELECTRONICS Ltd. neither authorizes or condones the use of it s
products to reproduce copyright material. It is illegal to make copies ot such
material without the expressed consent of the copyright owners or thier
llcencees.
AMG 3
PATEL ELE CTROfli
EXTERNAL 3.5" DISC DRIVE
J
J
u
J
□
□
Slimline extra low profile unit • only 6"
Top quality drive mechanism.
Throughport allows daisy-chaining
other drives.
A superbly styled case finished in
Amiga colours.
Fully compatible.
1 meg unformatted capacity.
Good length cable for positioning
on your desk etc.
long!
ONLY £149.99 twin drive
ADD £5 FOR COURIER DELIVERY IF REQUIRED
EXTERNAL DRIVE SWITCH
IJ Switch in/out of external drives.
;_] Save on memory allocated for drives
not currently in use.
ij DF1 & DF2 controlled.
_J Fits between computer & driver(s)
ONLY £9.99
GENISCAN GS4000 AMIGA
SPECIAL
VALUE
“ACK
STEREO BOOSTER
SYSTEM
REPLACEMENT
MOUSE
_J Available with/without calender/
clock option.
_J Simply plugs internally into A500
slot.
J Switch in/out with switch supplied.
J Fitted in minutes - no soldering etc.
Accepts 41256 DRams (zero K
fitted).
_] With calendar/clock onboard time/
date automatically booted.
J Battery backed to retain time/date.
ONLY Cl 9.99
FOR STANDARD CARD TO
ACCEPT 51 2K
ONLY C34.99
FOR VERSION WITH CLOCK/
CALENDAR
NB THESE PRICES ARE FOR BOARDS
WITHOUT RAM CHIPS. PHONE 0782
744707 FOR RAM PRICES.
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ALL ORDE
YORI\
ATCE
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GOVAN ROAD. FENTON, STOKE-ON-TRENT, ENGLAND.
SALES ONLY
TECHNICAL ONLY
0782 744707
0782 744324
High quality direct replacement for
mouse on the Amiga.
i_J Teflon glides for smoother
movement.
_] Rubber coated ball for minimum slip.
J Optical system counting - 500/mm.
ONLY £ 29.99
COMPLETE
r SPECIAL OFFER
COMPLETE WITH DELUXE PAINT II &
DELUXE PRINT FOR ONLY £189.99
. INCLUDING HARDWARE/SOFTWARE
High quality miniature 3 way
speaker units in die-cast
aluminium shelf enclosures.
J 30 Watts 8 ohm each.
ONLY £39.99 pair
_j Boost the output of your Amiga in
glorious stereo.
J 30W + 30W power amplifier.
J 5 band graphic equalizer.
Complete with cables for A500/
A 1 000/ A2 000 models.
[_] Slimline colour matched metal
case with built-in mains power
unit.
J Headphone socket.
An easy to handle Handy Scanner
featuring 105 mm scanning width &
200 dpi resolution enables you to
reproduce graphics & text on your
computer screen.
Adjustable switches for brightness
& contrast.
ij A powerful partner for Desk Top
Publishing.
J With Geniscan you have the ability
to easily scan images, text &
graphics into the AMIGA.
J
J
J
J
J
Powerful software allows for cut A
paste editing of images etc.
Save images in suitable format for
most leading packages including
DELUXE PAINT etc.
Printout for Epson compatibles.
Package includes GS4000 scanner,
interface & Scan Edit software.
Unmatched range of edit/capture
facilities simply not offered by
other scanners at this unbeatable
C pedal offer - free mouse >
mat + mouse house
( worth C7.99). y
LOW COST BAR
CODE READER
Low price Bar Code Reader.
Model 420. high performance, low
cost Bar Code Reader.
_] Works with any Amiga/ST computer
system (please state which) via the
RS232 interface.
J Features a built-in self-testing
function.
Features a diagnostic indicator.
J Can read codes ELAN. UPC. Inter
leaved 2 of 5. Code 39. CODABAR.
J Comes complete with wand, ready
to go.
[J Easy to install.
ONLY £189.99
AMG 3
' M
T HIS month sens tin?
release of the third film
in the Indiana funes series,
and along with it tin! I.ticas-
t i I in computer game tie-in.
Details are thin on the
ground just now - US Gold is
keeping quiet until its hig
release at Stringfellows, a
night club so famous they
don’t bother putting the
address on the invites.
However, it seems Indiana
|ones and the l.ast Crusade
will have you scrambling
across a rumbling circus
train, battling against savage
rats, playing a human flv on
granite castle walls... all in
an attempt to track down tin;
elusive Holy (trail.
Following the all-format
arcade game, l.ucasfilm will
hi! releasing a Hi hit only
adventure based on the same
pl^<Morc news next month
whffrn we get hack from the
hig event.
In liis spurn limn Hnrrissnn
Tort I rnjoys underground hung
gliding nnd listening to h.irtl
Mr Whippy rides again
HMfcfc-
Indiana Junes and two YTS, workers prepare
Stringfellows for the big launch
Courting success
IMA GEWORKS is devel-
oping the ultimate tennis
sensation, Passing Shot -
a Sega coin -op licence.
The game simulates a
grand slam season, with
doubles or singles cham-
pionships taking place
across the globe, covering
both clay and grass
courts.
Start warming up for
Passing Shot now, it'll be
out in the autumn, just in
time for the indoor
season.
w-
Carry on
sniggering
SEX Vixens from Outer
Space was released last
year amid a wave of
smutty sniggers. It was an
adventure with graphics
about a colony of beauti-
ful sex-starved female
clones from the planet
Mon do.
Coming soon from Free
Spirit Software of
Kutztown, USA, is a
sequel, Planet of Lust. It
will once again star Brad
Stallion as captain of the
spaceship Big Thruster.
In a tacky plot featuring
Dr. Dildo and Princess
Orgasma, your mission
will be to destroy a force
field around the planet
Erotica.
u The music and sound
effects are quite unique , ”
says programmer Joe
Hubbard.
I expect they are. Yawn.
Time is on their side
O XFORD Digital Enter-
prises has spent the past
year researching techniques
fof generating highly realis-
tic animation on the Amiga.
The upshot is a combination
of high frame rates with
video-generated images of
animation positions.
The First game to use this
new technique will be Time,
an animated role-playing
journey which takes you
through the ages.
It starts at some time in the
future in the gallery of a
satellite orbiting the earth - a
futuristic Madame Tussaud’s
filled with statues of very
famous and very dead
people.
Your quest in Time will
take you back through the
ages to meet the folk these
waxworks were modelled
from, people like Julius
Caesar, Merlin and Leonardo
Da Vinci.
When Finished, Time will
feature more than 200 fully
animated characters, each of
which will be depicted in
mid-shot as a 60 pixel high
smoothly animated cha-
racter, or in extreme close-up
as a full screen animated
face.
There will be 10 major
playing areas, which them-
selves will contain 10 hori-
zontally scrolling scenes. All
characters will act indepen-
dently of the player, trans-
ferring objects and shifting
alliances as the game pro-
gresses.
Techniques borrowed
from the cinema - like fast
cuts from long-shots to close-
ups - promise to bring the
game to life like none before.
ODE is developing the
flagship version of the game
on the Amiga. It will be
released in the autumn on
the Empire label.
14 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1989
All the latest news on
the games software scene
Active goes for world domination
OUTH London public
relations company Active
Sales & Marketing has added
Bethesda Software of
Maryland, USA, to its grow-
ing list of international
clients.
Bethesda’s first release
with Active is Wayne
Gretzky Hockey - a
misleading title if you don’t
know he is an American ice
hockey hero.
The game features
digitised fights, animated
penalty calls and an instant
replay feature. You can con-
trol any player, coach from
the bench or sit back and
watch the computer control
both teams.
Detailed 3D graphics
highlight the intricate
stickwork and skating of
each player on the ice, while
the alternative view from
above is the perfect vantage
point from which to apprec-
iate the game’s offensive and
defensive strategies.
Wayne Gretzky Hockey
has been voted best sports
simulation of the year by the
American Software Pub-
lishers Association. It’s
release in the States caused
The Washington Post to
write: “...it could be the best
sports simulation yet”.
Out in the UK now, it costs
£24.99 and we’ll be taking a
timeout half way through the
third period to give it a full
appraisal next month.
On the continent, Active
represents the UK interests
of French labels Coktel
Vision and Tomahawk, plus
the German games house
EAS. Until this month EAS
had been building itself
quite a reputation for
excellent graphics and
absorbing gameplay. Then it
released Stag, which has
scored an all-time low of 11
per cent in this month’s
Arcade.
This will inevitably affect
the reception of its next few
releases - Roll-Out, Wangler
and Black Magic. But
Kayden Garth, a D&D type
game, should go a long way
towards putting EAS back
on the map.
Kayden Garth is the name
of a prisoner detention
planet, only the prisoners
have escaped their chains
and you’ve been given the
job of putting down the
rebellion.
The game contains 30
dungeons to explore and fea-
tures some marvellous 3D
and bird’s-eye view
graphics. EAS estimates
there is 60 hours of playtime
in Kayden Garth, which is
out now priced £19.95.
Active also does the PR
and sales in the UK for the
Impressions label, the first
release on which, Raider, is
featured on our cover disc
this month.
The follow-up to Raider is
Chariots of Wrath, a game
which has caused the mighty
Mirrorsoft to question its
ancestry. Apparently the
screenshots Active dis-
tributed bear a resemblance
to MirrorSoft’s big summer
release, Xenon II.
The screenshots we
received were so badly
blurred and over exposed
that they resembled nothing
more than a bad accident.
Chariots of Wrath is being
hyped as an arcade epic -
“the most amazing shoot-
’em-up yet for the Amiga” it
says here.
Written by the team
responsible for Sidewinder
II, it features in excess of 300
combinations of weapons
and seven totally different
game types.
Some of the meanest and
ugliest end-of-level aliens yet
are promised, all of whom
will be trying to prevent you
rescuing the inevitable
captured princess.
It should be in the shops
by the time you read this,
priced £24.99. Watch these
pages to see if it’s all just
hype.
Not even jetsetter Robert
Stallibrass, the driving force
behind Active Sales, can do
anything about a Paris traffic
jam
REVIEWED
THIS MONTH
95% Trained Assassin
91% Powerdrome
88% Balance of Power
87% Zork Zero
86% R-Type
83% 3D Pool
73% Evil Garden
68% Vindicators
67% Artura
64% Dark Side
61% Rampage
51% Tom and Jerry
47% Gunship
43% Crazy Cars II
43% Run the Gauntlet
11% S.T.A.G.
MAX HACKS
# 3D Pool
# Baal
# IK+
# Lords of the Rising
Sun
# Scorpion
# Silkworm
Gallup Chart
1 Last
Month
V Populous
1 Electronic Arts
I £24.95
l
ft Lords of the Rising Sun
/ Electronic Arts
L £24.99
Nl
E
ft MicroProse Soccer
\ MicroProse
%) £24.99
Nl
E
M Forgotten Worlds
/I US Gold
™ £19.99
Nl
E
p ‘Gunship
*t MicroProse
J £29.99
Nl
■
/ Blood Money
ft Psvgnosis
V £24.99
1C
1
m KickOff
7 Anco
# £19.99
Nl
|
A Silkworm
X Virgin Games
V £19.99
Nl
■
ft Falcon
U MirrorSoft
7 £29.95
3
1 tX Millennium 2.2
I Electric Dreams
1 V £29.99
Nl
■
August 1989 AMIGA COMPUTING 15
No more nudes for Tomahawk
F RENCH games label
Tomahawk has its sights
well and truly set on 1992.
Not satisfied with being part
of one of the top three houses
in France, Tomahawk is
ready to invade Britain and
Europe in a big way.
The label was launched
earlier this year as a sister to
Coktel Vision, which has
already had a taste of the dis-
cerning British with the
success of Freedom (80%,
A mC February 1989) and the
failure of 20,000 Leagues
under the Sea (15%, AmC
March 1989).
You’ll remember Tomah-
awk’s first release,
Emmanuelle. It sank like a
brick, scoring 37% in the
June issue. But it served its
purpose in getting the
Tomahawk brand name
known.
Sensational publicity stunt
over and done with, Toma-
hawk has announced its
release schedule for the
coming months. And it’s
looking good.
Already in your shops is
African Raiders, a game
which the company
modestly understates as a
“simulation of driving’’.
It’s a whole lot more than
that. Have you ever played a
driving game and wished
you could whizz off in any
direction under the sun?
Well now you can.
African Raiders is a race
from Tunis to Dakar across
the burning sands of the
western Sahara. There is a
track - for those who want to
follow it - marked out with
oil drums, but it takes a
winding course and sticking
to it isn’t going to get you
home first.
The game comes with a
poster which also serves as
an accurate map. Within it’s
limits you can travel in any
direction you like. Not just
north, south, east and west,
but right around the 360
degrees of the compass.
You can even reverse. In
fact situations crop up
regularly where going
backwards is the only way
forwards.
Leaping and bounding off
the beaten track at more than
200 kph has its hazards.
Great herds of camels
sleeping behind rocks
inhabit some areas. Other
districts are littered with
bones - last year’s models,
says Tomahawk.
Quicksand is all over the
place. Which is where your
selectable two-wheel or four-
wheel drive comes in handy.
Doesn’t help much in the
graveyard though, where the
rusting wrecks of unsuc-
cessful competitors - bikes,
buggies and jeeps - stick up
out of the dunes like
tombstones and stop you in
much the same way as do the
camels.
All the hazards are marked
clearly on the map. Careful
drivers will avoid them.
Explorers and burn-it-up
merchants will deliberately
seek them out.
Tomahawk boss Roland Oskian
has a wink and a smile for the
hard-to-please British
It’s fast, it’s fun and it’s in
the shops now priced at
£19.99. We’ll have a full
review next month.
Hot on the heels of African
Raiders will be The Legend
of Djel, a point-and-click
adventure featuring 30 sup-
erbly drawn screens. Set in
the Middle Ages, you live in
one of four imaginary king-
doms, all of which are suf-
fering from different
problems due to circum-
stances under the control of
neighbouring lands.
Your mission is to rescue a
sorcerer’s daughter - repre-
sented on-screen by a (non-
tacky) rendition of the
graphics artist’s girlfriend -
Above: Superb graphics in The Legend of Djel add to the atmosphere
Left: ESS Hermes blasts into orbit in this early Amiga version screenshot
Horror at Lizard Breath
and collect the bits and
pieces which will bring
health and prosperity to the
four kingdoms once more.
Enroute you will have to
solve some fiendish puzzles
and have the weirdest shoot-
out you’ve ever seen.
The Legend of Djel will
come on two, maybe three,
discs and will cost £24.99.
Still under construction
when we went to France
recently to investigate the
Tomahawk phenomenon is
ESS Hermes. This game will
put you in full control of the
European space shuttle right
down to working out your
flight path, and will give you
a choice of various missions.
On the flying front you can
try landing, atmosphere re-
entry or special manoeuvres,
after which you can turn
your hand to running a satel-
lite park or setting up an
orbital space station.
In the re-entry sequence,
the only animated part of the
game we were able to see -
running on a PC of all things
- you are presented with a
3D representation, of the sky
ahead viewed from behind
your craft (like Afterburner).
Hard to judge a whole
game on one sequence, but it
looked good enough to leave
us wanting to see more.
Cinemaware says it came from the desert, but we have evidence that it came from the Watford Gap
H aving successfully
translated gangster
movies, comedies, Saturday
morning matinees and
adventure films into com-
puter games.
Cinemaware has now
turned its attention to the
tongue-in-cheek horror
genre with It Came From The
Desert.
The game is a tribute to the
Big Bug fdms of the 1950s
and is set in the isolated
community of Lizard Breath,
Arizona. One day a meteor
strikes nearby and mys-
terious events and disap-
pearances start to plague the
town.
You are cast as a young
scientist determined to get to
the bottom of the affair. In
doing so you will risk your
life as you face creatures
spawned from the sup-
ernatural.
Cinemaware claims it is
the biggest arcade strategy
contest ever created on a per-
sonal computer.
Now where have we heard
that before?
Watching the detectives
I NLAY cards are usually
full of rubbish about how
the Qwerties are Fighting a
terrible space war with the
evil Yuiops. Electronic Arts
has sent us details of The
Hound of Shadow, which
has a plot that sounds a bit
like this.
According to EA it is a
role-playing adventure game
with an underlying sup-
ernatural theme. Using
Eldritch Games’s special
Timeline role-gaming system
it shares the feel of the
Cthulu Mythos which was
developed by the author H.
P. Lovecraft.
You create a character
based on one of six profess-
ors with different options for
sex, nationality and
proficiency in more than 50
skills. Set in the sepia tone of
Chris Elliott and Dick Edwards
of Eldritch Games on the trail
of The Hound of Shadow (It's
behind you.)
the mid ‘20s, this is an histo- The Hound of Shadow is
rically accurate detective scheduled for release late
game. September, price £24.99.
■AMIGA ARCADE*
Imageworks does it first
H AM is unique to the
Amiga - and to think it
was nearly taken out of the
design because Jay Miner,
the chip designer, didn’t
think it was particularly
useful.
Unless you want impress-
ive static screens you might
think Jay was right. If you’ve
tried cutting out a brush with
Photon Paint you will know
that HAM leads to slow
sprites and furry edges.
Imageworks has cracked
the problem to produce
DDT, named after the CP/M
utility Dynamic Debugging
Tool. The result is an amaz-
ingly colourful game with
some incredibly detailed
objects.
DDT may only be NTSC, but all 200 lines
are HAM - the First game ever to do so
You’ll need the resolve of Maggie and the skill of Fatima
to kill the snarl of Castle Warriors ’s big red dragon.
Parisian poison
F ollowing the success
of Bio Challenge, Paris-
based Delphine Software’s
second UK release is to be
Castle Warrior, a six level
arcade-style action game.
You take the role of Prince
Edred the Brave, heir
apparent to the throne of
Pacifia. Your father, Edelred
the Good, has been poisoned
by the evil wizard Zandor
(the Nothing).
Rather than rushing to the
treasury to count all the
money you’ll be coming
into, you decide a better
course of action is to go off
on a quest to force the anti-
dote from the evil wizard.
To reach him and gain the
potion you will have to battle
through subterranean cav-
erns filled with deadly
monsters, spear the massive
red dragon Olisos, paddle a
canoe along an underground
stream dodging rocks and
falling stalactites, defeat the
huge demon Jibba, and
dodge Zandor’s spells.
In the final level you will
have to dodge more mighty
dragons as you fly high
above the clouds on your
victorious journey home.
Sounds lethal. Out “real
soon now” at £24.99.
Hewson backs private enterprise
C OMMODORE 64 owners
may remember enjoying
Battle Valley from Hewson.
The programming team,
known as Creative Thought,
did. In fact they enjoyed the
game so much they wrote
their own version for the
Amiga.
Hewson, being suitably
impressed, sorted out some
whizzo music and bought
the program from them.
The plot is simple;
winning is not. The world is
almost devoid of missiles
and people can live in peace
- except that a gang of
terrorists has made off with
the last two missiles and is
threatening to unleash them
on world capitals.
The missiles are hidden
behind well-defended bases
in the desert of Battle Valley
and can be captured using a
tank. Unfortunately the tank
can’t cross bridges which
have been blown up by the
Battle Valley from Hewson
features three levels of
wonderful parallax scrolling
terrorists.
You need to repair the
crossings and take out defen-
ces using a helicopter gun-
ship. Once the way is clear
you can use the tank to mop
up the last resistance and
capture the base.
At either ends of the beau-
tiful, smooth scrolling land-
scapes are the missile silos.
Can you make it that far and
save the world? It’ll cost you
£19.99 to find out. Release
date August.
FIR ST
micro
HARDWARE & SOFTWARE
SPECIALISTS
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EBBLAKE IND EST.
VERWOOD, DORSET
EXC. VAT
0202 813176
FREE DELIVERY
AMIGA A500
INCLUDING:-
• MOUSE • WORKBENCH
• UTILITIES • MANUALS
• BASIC • TUTORIAL
• TV MODULATOR
£305
AMIGA B2000/
PHILIPS 8833
INCLUDING:-
• MOUSE • WORKBENCH
• BASIC • UTILITIES • MANUALS
• XT BRIDGE BOARD
• 20Mb HARD DISK
£1390
AMIGA B2000
INCLUDING:- MOUSE • WORKBENCH
• BASIC • UTILITIES • MANUALS
too cl
AMIGA A500
+ FREE £220 SOFTWARE
INCLUDING:- -PURPLE SATURN • HOSTAGES
• INTERNATIONAL SOCCER • WINTER OLYMPIAD
• SPITTING IMAGE • STARGOOSE • BACKLASH
• QUADRALIEN • ELIMINATOR
• FANTASTICK F3 JOYSTICK
• TV MODULATOR
AMIGA A500/
PHILIPS 8833
£520
AMIGA B2000/
PHILIPS 8833
INC ACCESSORIES
£1049
A500 HARDWARE
A500 + TV MOO £305
A500 + £200 of GAMES £339
A500 + 1084(S) HIGH
RES COLOUR MONT £520
A500 + IBM DRIVE £399
AMIGA EXTERNAL
DRIVES
Cumana Cax 354E £87
AF880 £78
RF302C £74
Supra 20mb H/disk £499
A All drives Imb + on/off switch A
AMIGA ACCESSORIES
A501-5l2k RAM £113
TV Modulator £22
Mouse Mat Call
Amiga dust-cover Call
3.5 135TPI DS/DD Call
COMMODORE C64
C64 Hollywood £129
C64 Entertainment £173
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+ bridge BD + 20mb H/disk ...£1390
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20 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1089
See page 87 for trick shot tips
RLANDO is famed for Frak!,
his cutesy Beeb game which
was ever so badly ported to the C64
by Statesoft. His is also the name
behind a number of quite brilliant
Acornsoft titles. Now Orlando has
discovered the Amiga, and has
ported his 3D Pool game from the
Archimedes and ST.
This is a pool game like no other. It
aims to simulate the game from the
position of a player. The big 0 says
this is the reason you can’t see the
table from directly overhead.
Even if you stood on the table -
before the manager kicked you out -
you wouldn’t get a proper overhead
view. You would see your feet and
the light would get in the way.
So what you get is what you see - a
player’s eye view of the table. Except
there is no cue. The white ball is Fired
along the player’s line of sight with
top-spin and bottom-spin relying on
the viewing angle. Side-spin is
selected from an icon at the top of the
screen.
Although you move around the
table, the lack of a floor sometimes
makes it feel as though you are
staying still and throwing the table
around.
The mouse mechanism takes some
getting used to. Since both 3D Pool
and Virus started their respective
lives on the Archimedes, it might be
something to do with Acorn pro-
grammers being able to cope with
sensitive mice.
Pool is a short game, which makes
it more exciting than snooker. Even
so, 3D Pool heightens the competi-
tion by providing a number of
computer-generated opponents who
play at different strengths.
You can either practice against an
individual or take part in a tourna-
ment in which the players are drawn
at random. The final is played against
Maltese Joe Barbara.
Once you have proved you are the
hottest cueman to have laid hands on
a mouse you can have a go at the trick
shots. These display numbers for the
angles involved and have you trying
to puzzle over how to get balls into
the right pockets. After you have
solved the 19 tricks you can set up
your own using an editor.
From the initial title screen - which
was digitised using SuperPic right
With pockets this big, who needs a handbag?
here in the Amiga Computing office -
to the roar of the crowd as you defeat
Mr Joe, 3D Pool is great. It is play-
able, slick and technically brilliant.
Fully Amigaised to use sampled
sound, a 256 line PAL display and
blitter routines, the result is better
than the ST. But then why else did
you buy an Amiga?
Simon Rockman
liD Pool
£24.95
\ ti crop rose Firebird
Sound
Graphics
Gameplav
rn
Value
Overall — 83%
G IVE an infinite amount of
designers an infinite amount of
time, coffee and money, and it’s easy
to make a completely original com-
puter game. If the coffee’s a problem
you could always set about taking an
old idea and “originalising” it.
For example, you could take
Centipede and add some of the ideas
which made Arkanoid different from
Breakout. The resulting game would
end up tolerably close to
Demon ware’s Evil Garden.
The box is the First main hazard;
not merely is it huge, silver and diffi-
cult to open, but it has Beware of
Demonware writ large in red all over
it. Somehow I think this is meant to
be a threat rather than a warning.
The plot: You, a successful mer-
cenary, have the job of clearing a
garden planet of mushrooms, alien
centipedes and other beasties.
Centipedes are relatively innocuous;
they are only nasty on contact and
the bits you have shot off them
become more mushrooms.
The spider usually haunts its web
under the score panel, but once in a
while it comes out to bounce around
and drop mines.
Fleas fall from the top of the screen
at an enormous rate. They’re very
hard to hit and leave a trail of mush-
rooms behind them. Other beasties
appear every so often to say a big Hi
HERE can be few people who
have not heard of Tom and
Jerry, the funniest double-act ever,
responsible for bringing more gratu-
itous violence to our screens than
Rambo, The Professionals and East-
Enders combined.
With the exception of the later
cartoons, which at a generous assess-
ment were rubbish, most of their
adventures have stood the test of time
and still manage to be funny at the
Fifteenth time of viewing.
So if it works for a cartoon, the
same zany formula should work for a
computer game. Right? Well it’s a
good theory.
The game’s opening credits are
promising, with accurate renditions
of both characters, and the Amiga’s
sound capabilities reproduce Tom’s
manic laughter perfectly. The action,
EVIL GARDEN
Can you dig it?
and drop the occasional bomb on
you.
This plot will be familiar to both of
the Millipede fans, Atari’s less suc-
cessful Centipede sequel. What is
new is the pumpkin, which gives
bonus weaponry when shot.
The standard issue peashooter-on-
a- stick can be upgraded, with a little
luck, to a shielded turret with boun-
cing bullets and an orbiting follower.
As in Arkanoid, extra lives and a
doorway to the next level can be got
by picking up pumpkin remains.
Not surprisingly there is the stand-
ard issue mystery prize, which is
often a feature which stops you
shooting quickly. In the Equally Nice
department is the little pill which
turns all the mushrooms into
centipedes. The screen becomes full
of the beasties, all heading your way.
Every so often you get a bonus
screen which has a huge Audrey II
type plant spitting things at you. Hit
it often enough and it’s biggus bonus
time. Apart from that, there’s nothing
really new. Nothing new apart from a
full PAL screen, chock full of fast
moving (small) sprites.
Two, three or four players? No
problem. Two players simulta-
neously? Likewise. All this and 1
meg enhancements too.
A useful few minutes can be spent
reading the manual while the game
loads - it takes far longer than you’d
expect. In fact, Evil Garden seems to
take at least twice as long to load as it
did the last time you loaded it. And
even when the drive light goes out,
it’s only pausing between loading
sessions.
Once you’ve run out of lives the
disc graunches away and takes at
least five seconds to tell you that it’s
game over time.
Despite the minor loading groans,
and the irksome “Type in the word’’
routine - which only gives you one
go and swaps Y and Z around - Evil
Garden is quite some game.
The learning curve has been set
just right, so you won’t feel left out at
the start. What does worry me is that
the last Centipede clone I saw cost
£1.99. Although it didn’t have half
the prettiness, it had most of the fea-
tures. Stewart C. Russell
TOM AND JERRY
Downhill all the way
such as it is, takes place in various
places about the house that are linked
by Jerry’s mouseholes.
The aim is to guide Jerry through,
rooms, over shelves and furniture,
devouring as much cheese as pos-
sible within the time limit of 500
seconds. Tom is in hot pursuit and
for every time he catches Jerry you
lose 30 seconds. Jerry risks losing a
lot more.
You can fight back by dropping
books, bananas, bowling balls and
other sundry items of cartoon
mayhem on Tom and, when all else
fails, you can escape down the
nearest mousehole.
While inside the mousehole you
have to dodge a series of explosive
obstacles and traps at high speed,
accompanied by a soundtrack that
sounds as if it’s played by a turbo-
Making a meal of a simple idea
Tom unit lorry
£24.99
Magic Bytes
Sound W^MMK
Graphics m
Gameplay ^■Iltlllll
Value -MB- I I 1 1 I 1
D
Overall - 51%
charged Russ Conway on a Bon-
Tempi organ.
After about 30 seconds or so it all
becomes very boring indeed, which
is a shame because the concept is
good and the graphics aren’t bad.
There must be scope for a good Tom
and Jerry game somewhere. This one
isn’t it.
Mike Rawlins
August 1989 AMIGA COMPUTING 21
C OULD you never find anyone to
put the cars back on the track for
you when you were playing Scalex-
tric? Did you ever wonder why moths
beat themselves to death on light
bulbs? The answer to the first prob-
lem - and perhaps the second - is
now presented in the form of Pow-
erdrome.
This is a very innovative imple-
mentation of the old favourite racing
game. Pole Position. Where Pow-
Flying in the face of the impossible
Look u hat has escaped from Starglider
the top of a tunnel is yellow and
black then it is curving down ...
There are seven different tracks,
each with its own set of interesting
features which need a different style
of driving to negotiate.
Hazards to watch out for are
storms - complete with excellent
lightning which impedes your
engines unless you stop off in the pits
for a change of filters - and the other
drivers.
You have four opponents, each in a
different kind of ship, who will all try
to hassle you. Collisions are quite
rare but can be nasty when they
happen. Keep a look out in your rear-
view mirror.
There is a very workable datalink
option for playing against a similar
minded Powerdrome owner
communicating via modem or serial
cable. The game thoughtfully allows
you to copy it for this purpose.
If the unfortunate should happen
and you prang a wing or, worse still,
the nosecone, you can pop into the
robopits for a speedy repair. Here
entire sections of your ship can be
replaced. You can even get a Quickfit
erdrome really takes off (pun
intended) is that the cars have
become jet aircraft which race
around tracks resembling the M25 of
the future.
The track features bumps, bends,
flyovers, tunnels, chicanes and, just
when you thought it was getting
mean, worse things which I won’t
even attempt to describe. It’s more
fun finding out for yourself.
The track is a kind of channel with
banked sides, divided into equal che-
quered sections to give the sensation
of speed as they flash past. They also
serve as roadsigns.
If the embankment is coloured red
and white there is a bend ahead, if
H elicopters are not flown
like aeroplanes. This is why
choppers have their wings on the
roof, spinning around at 280 rpm.
The angle at which the blades hit
the air - known as the collective -
controls the amount of lift. By using
the joystick you control the overall
tilt of the rotor blades - the cyclic -
and this moves the ‘copter forwards,
backwards, left and right.
This is made easier on the Amiga
by having an overlay which reminds
you of the controls needed. Then
there are all the weapons to control
and select, because not only are you
expected to fly the thing without cra-
shing, but you have to shoot lots of
people at the same time.
Before you climb into your $8m
dollar chopper you select your duty
assignment and determine the level
Overall - 47%
of difficulty by specify ing weather
conditions and troop strengths.
After a short briefing you can
decide whether or not you want to be
chicken and call in sick. If you do
choose to accept the mission, you
have the opportunity to become a
hero, earn medals and probably get
killed in action.
Start the engine, engage the rotors,
increase the collective, put out the cat
and cross your fingers.
Catamaran’s are legal in this America's cup
engine.
If you have the time you can pop
back to the tune-up screen for a bit of
adjustment - very handy in the prac-
tice laps. Occasionally you may have
to refuel here during long races. All
the repairs are accompanied by nice
stereo sound effects.
Your ship is flown like an aircraft,
rather reminiscent of Elite. Control
may be mouse or joystick. The pro-
grammer seems adamant that mouse
control is superior in terms of
response time and it is recommended
for the serious contender.
But although I tried very hard, it is
similar to other mouse-driven games.
Unless you have an AO sized mouse
mat and long arms, it’s a bit difficult.
Additional controls from the key-
board include an overhead display of
the track with all the participants
marked on it, a readout of the current
positions and a really useful timer
which gives the difference between
you and the lead car or the lag
between you and second place if you
are leading.
It takes a while to get used to the
controls, so the programmer has
included a “centre field" option, like
a set of magnetic stabilisers which
pushes you towards the centre of the
track.
The field reduces your top speed,
but it is fully adjustable, so you can
gradually lower it as you feel more
confident and more determined to
beat the best lap times.
For those very special moments the
Typhoon craft is equipped with
afterburners - handy for excessive
speed and reckless driving on long
straights. Overuse of them causes the
twin engines to bum out. If you use
them in the tunnels you’re racing
towards an early grave.
The graphics are remarkable, won-
derful and fantastic. Don’t be
surprised if you find yourself falling
out of your seat as you try to take a
sharp bend - good use of the blitter
which suggests the programmer did
a deal with Beelzebub.
The sound effects are some of the
best I have heard. Wonderful stereo
imaging and varying engine noises.
Addictive, fast and professional, this
Overall — 91%
must be the definitive racing game.
As Frankie almost said: Welcome to
the Powerdome.
Green
After checking the map you- can
select your target and head off in the
right direction. You have the usual
split cockpit display with slightly
more than half the screen taken up
with dials and warning indicators.
The view out of the window is a
solid 3D display, but not up to the
standards we Amigans.
For a computer with such
capabilities the landscape is bland
and slow. Enemy planes are simple
prisms which move casually past
you. All in all it is very disap-
pointing.
The manual, on the other hand,
goes well beyond the call of duty
with details about everything and
anything.
Four battle scenarios and a training
mission are supplied. These
tastefully chosen war zones range
from shooting communist guerillas
in South East Asia to invading
Grenada all over again.
Sound effects are satisfactory
helicopter-type noises and simple
biffs and bangs whenever things
explode. The opening credits are well
worth seeing and hearing - look out
for them next time you are in a shop.
And give it a good test before part-
ing with your money because my
review r copy, which by all accounts
was a full release version, crashed
several times.
As for realism, well I have never
flown a helicopter, so apart from the
crashes I can’t be sure. Everything
seems to be sensibly done, but after
playing Gunship for a while I have
no urge to actually go out and fly a
helicopter.
John Kennedy
As w arlike as ever
Consratu lat i ons Arnica Conput
Your perf ormance durinsr ti*ai
superior, you receive the Na
August 1989 AMIGA COMPUTING 23
■ REVIEWS!
Lose control of yourself
Run the Gauntlet
£24.99
Ocean
countries to represent. The game will
then select, apparently at random, a
set of three special events for you to
compete in. These are mostly three-
lap races around a four-way scrolling
landscape.
In the corner of the screen a small
map is supplied to confuse and
annoy you - it rather cunningly bears
little or no resemblance to the actual
playing area.
The computer controls the two
other competitors in the race. You
cannot play directly against your
friend, and all events are scored by
the time you took to finish. During
the race the other computer players,
whether boats, hovercrafts or cars,
simply refuse to let you pass.
If you should bump into them, you
will automatically go into a time-
wasting spin. The computer-
controlled boat will carry on as if
nothing has happened.
Exactly the same thing occurs if
they crash into you, which is not
what you’d really go so far as to call
fair. To make things even worse,
some psycho is shooting at you.
Trying to steer your player around
the screen is so difficult as to make
play impossible. Just when you think
you have got the hang of it, some prat
will shoot you and stop you taking
first place. Why? I don’t know. I’m
sure I would have remembered it if it
had been in the TV show.
If you win, or least not come last,
you will take part in the next event. If
you are really unlucky you will win
all three and take part in another
series.
Graphically Run the Gauntlet is
quite good. With digitised static dis-
plays plus passable landscapes and
sprites, good use has been made of
the Amiga hardware. Your little boat
will even leave a shimmering wake
as it vainly attempts to take part in
the race.
However, the music must be the
worst I have heard. A tedious little
sampled ditty plays over and over
and over again. Even the point when
the tune starts and stops hasn’t been
blended together, so it sounds exactly
like a record playing with a stuck
stylus.
The only saving grace is 10
seconds of Martin Shaw sampled
from the TV saying what a fun time
you are going to have. Martin Shaw,
if you remember, was the one with
the curly hair from the The Profes-
sionals, a TV series banned because
of excessive violence. His idea of fun
is, therefore, to be treated with
suspicion.
Run the Gauntlet must rate as the
least enjoyable game I have ever had
the misfortune to play. How Ocean
managed to fill not one, but two discs
with such tedium is a miracle of
modern 16 bit technology.
John Kennedy
Sound
Graphics
Gameplav
Value
Overall -
This must be one of these new toll roads we've read about
If you've got three eyes, perhaps you will be able to read the map
T> T TAT HPTTT 1 P \ T TXTT'T FT
R UN the Gauntlet is a game
played on an international scale
with four teams from Britain, Hol-
land, Australasia and the USA, all
racing against one another in every
type of motorised vehicle known to
mankind.
The action starts by allowing you
and a friend to choose one of the four
24 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1981)
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• IBM Compatibility with Optional S/W
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■ REVIEWS!
annals of Quendor.
Zilbeetha, a beautiful
Maiden, somehow angered an
evil nase, and uas placed
FKlgC. 4HU Y/dS pi
unden enchantment and
tunned into a crystal onb
on th#<i«ny day that she
Has to be «ed. The
heartbroken snoom, «ho is
always depicted hoi dins a
fnagile Wflfflii sough t he I
returned to
The first and the last?
win at this game!
To anyone who has played a Zork
adventure the [ester will be a familiar
character. He sometimes helps,
sometimes hinders. He is fond of rid-
dles and will often stop and give you
one to solve. If you can’t fathom it he
will not let you pass. An example of
one of his riddles is:
One night four men sat down to play t
They played and played till break o f day /
They played for money: not for fun /
With separate scores for every one /
And when time came to square accounts /
They all had made quite nice amounts.
What were they playing? I'll give
you a clue: They were not playing
cards.
Graphics have been used to great
effect throughout. At the top of the
screen is a compass, so instead of
tediously typing letters you can click
on the direction with the mouse. This
idea is carried further with an on-
screen map.
Apart from adding graphics,
Infocom has made improvements to
the parser. It has always been a cut
above the competition, but now it is
even better with even more useful
features.
One thing I am not too happy
about is the on-line help. Type “hint”
at any time and you can get full sol-
utions to all the puzzles.
Infocom does suggest you don’t
make too much use of this feature,
but it is all too easy to give up on a
problem at an early stage. The first
Infocom adventure I played - Planet-
fall - took me more than six months
to complete; I finished Zork Zero in
less than a week.
It is hard to criticise Infocom
adventures. They are so good. This
one could do with more graphics and
a better plot. Nevertheless. I enjoyed
playing Zork Zero very much and
have no hesitation in recommending
that you buy it.
Alex Aird
EGABOZ the wizard, wearing
a zap-me-quick hat, has
cursed Lord Dimwit Flathead’s Great
Underground Empire. Your task is to
remove the curse and claim a reward
of half the wealth of the kingdom.
After casting the curse, Megaboz
disappeared in a cloud of smoke,
leaving behind nothing but a scrap of
parchment. Written on the parch-
ment, which is contained in the pack
of goodies that comes with the game,
is what you need to do to remove the
curse.
The pack forms the nicest kind of
protection system you will Find. The
disc itself is quite unprotected and
can be copied easily. But without the
pack you will never be able to
complete the adventure.
One item is a Flathead calendar for
the year 883 GUE. This contains all
sorts of hints and tips such as: “Bot-
tomless pits are the second-leading
cause of death in Flatheadia”.
Needless to say you have to negoti-
ate a bottomless pit, but make sure
you have a light or you might get
eaten by a Grue.
Grues are familiar things to anyone
who has played an adventure written
by Steve Meretzky, the 32-year-old
New Yorker with a penchant for
melted cheese. Who can forget his
pizza in the toilet in Leather God-
desses of Phobos? Did you ever try to
eat it?
In Zork Zero Meretzky has written
an adventure which is light hearted
and at times excruciatingly difficult.
It takes a certain type of mind to
dream up some of the puzzles.
At one point you need to show the
[ester something that has never been
seen before and will never be seen
again. The answer is to show him a
walnut and then eat it. But to open
the walnut is a different matter. With
a magic wand and a lobster you
should be able to Find a way.
This is a new departure by Infocom
into graphical adventures. The com-
pany always said it would never add
graphics to games until it could do
the job properly. In some adventures
the graphics bear little relationship to
the story, but in Zork Zero they are
part of the puzzle.
There are several little games to
play which rely on graphics. One
such is Double Fanucci, a card game
with weird rules. You play against
the [ester. If the [ester discards the
Three of Fromps, should you ionize
your Two of Lamps or muttontate it
instead? Don’t forget, you have to
H This is one of the oldest
and dearest lesends in the
Zork Zero
£24.99
Infocom
Aura ELL LI I I I I II II I I
st.ry
Graphics W I I I I I I I I l<W I I I
Overall - 87%
26 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1989
commodore
FROM £349!
'Amiga
■ Amiga A500 complete, now only £349
■ Amiga A500MM with 1900M £429
h*gh-res mono monitor
■ Amiga A500M with A1084S
£585
£895
Prices Include VAT, delivery & warranty.
Please add £15 for overnight delivery.
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On-site maintenance options available.
hi-res storoo colour monitor
■ Amiga B2000 with 1.3 Roms
and Work Bench 1.3 Software
■ Amiga B2000M As above, plus £1125
A1084S stereo colour monitor
■ Amiga B2000 XTM As above. £ 1 395
plus PC-XT bridge board & 5r drive
^B200^0n^Hdg^^oar^^^084^^^0M^Jhar^d|s|^1595^
PERIPHERALS
I A2286 PC-AT board & 5$" drive £775
I A2088 PC-XT board & 5j" drive £349
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■ A501 plug-in RAM/clock 512K £ 1 25
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Why not enjoy the free Teletext databases
with tho MIcroText Teletext adaptor. . Fully
programmable, with Faatext facility, instant
access to last 16 pages, double page view,
telesoftware loader, auto-atart/background
operation... Pages can spoken, printed as ASCII or graphics, saved as ASCII or DIF Wes...
With digital tuning for crystal dear colour TV/sound reception on any A1081/1084/CM883C
monitor... Now displays satellite weather maps tool Available from stock for only £139!
'/AMIGA
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„ , PRODUCTIVITY
AMIGA
SuperBase Personal
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•• Professional v3
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Maxlplan 500
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The Works
Relational database power, without programming!
As above, plus text, mail merge, batch entry etc.
With Forms Editor and DML programming language
Pro Spreadsheet with business graphics, time planner
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£1595
39.95
4495
24 95
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Personal Tax Planner UK Income Tax computation program, from Digita 39.95
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SuperBack Backs up 20MB In 20 minutes, any Amiga hard drive 39.95
B.A.D. Disk Optimizer Speeds disk access up to 500%, WorkBench or CU 34.95
KlndWords v2 £44.95 ■ System Programmer’s Guide 32.95
ProText v4 79.95 ■ AmigaDos Inside & Out 18.45
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I Works Platinum Edition Integrated Wordpro/Database/Spreadsheet/Comms
SuperPIc real-time PAL colour digitiser and genlock £495!]
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£69.95
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34 95
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319 95
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Fantavlslon
Photon Video Cell Animator
3D graphics and animation for the professional user
Professional video titter with fonts, extra fonts available 169.95
The ultimate drawing tool. Uses vectored graphics. 129.95
Pro CAD pack with autodimenston. unlimited zoom etc. 179.95
Entry-level CAD system 89.95
Professional CAD system (needs 2MB) 399.95
12x12 Graphics Tablet with fast dnver software 425.oo
625.00
295.00
59 95
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£105 00 ■ H
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£225
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£499
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£45.00
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ART, GRAPHICS & CAD
Deluxe Photolab
£49.50
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£32.00
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£49.00
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£99.00
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£79.95
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£35.00
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£40.00
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£325.00
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Pro Sound Designer Gold £79.95
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273000
R-TYPE
Setting the benchmark
E VERY court case has two
winners - the solicitors. R-Type
is the result of another case where the
losers won. Factor 5, a German soft-
ware house wrote a scrolling shoot-
’em-up called Katakis.
This was published by US Gold
until Activision complained that
looked too much like R-Type,
a licence Activision guarded with
zeal, as you would if you had paid
Irem. the Japanese originators, lots
and lots of yen.
US Gold had Katakis modified to
like R-Type and called the
Denaris. So Factor 5 wrote two
games which looked pretty similar.
But the best was yet to come. Katakis
was such a good R-Type ripoff that
the Germans were chosen to produce
the official version.
They have done a brilliant job.
Purely in the interests of research I
visited an arcade to check out the
I used not to be very good at
R-Type, but after three days’ inten-
sive practice on the Amiga version I
sailed through the first two levels of
the arcade version.
Friends in the arcade were well
impressed. This reveals two things
about the conversion. First, the
timing and feel are spot on. Second,
the Amiga version is much harder
than the coin-op with standard set-
tings.
Increased difficulty is no bad thing.
At 20p a go there is a strong disin-
centive to practice. If you’ve shelled
out 100 times the amount and then all
the games are free, you’ll play until
your fire button finger is sore. Then
you will play some more.
The programmers clearly know
and love the Amiga. The game oozes
slickness. Graphics are not quite up
to the monev-munching original but
they are pretty close.
Speed does not seem to be affected
by swarms of encroaching aliens, the
massive end-of-level guardians nor
your unleashing megatonnes of death
by building up loads of weapons.
Pick up a shield, ripple lasers, side
firing lasers, seeking missile and
some side shields and no enemy
poses a real threat. But if your finger
slips on the sweaty trigger and you
lose a life at a crucial moment, it is
still playable.
Dedicated gamers will argue that if
you lose extra weapons early you
might as well give up and go back to
the start. This takes some patience
because you have six credits and the
temptation is to use them regardless
of tactics.
A well-programmed conversion of
one of the best games in the arcades
is the most you can hope for. The
music doesn’t grate, neither is it
great, but the result is spot on.
Denaris may be a better game for
its deviation from the original, but
R-type is the benchmark by which
other games of this ilk must be
judged.
Simon Rockman
R-Type
124.HH
Electric Dreams
Overall - 86%
28 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1989
■ REVIEWS!
VERYBODY must have at some
stage in their life watched a film
and wished they could be the hero.
Well if your hero is the same as mine,
Godzilla in The Beast That Ate Tokyo
(b/w 1949), your hour has come.
Rampage puts you in the role of
one of three towering monsters: a
giant King Kong type, a vastly over-
sized werewolf or the old favourite
Godzilla. What is your objective?
Simple - smash, maim, kill, destroy,
obliterate ...
Each scene begins with our
assembled heroes on the pavement
outside some suspiciously fragile-
looking buildings. Do what comes
naturally. If you find it hard to get
motivated into all this anti-
humanitarian destruction, think of
what destruction on this scale will do
to all the estate agents and insurance
salesmen.
When the place is completely
decimated you move on to the next
town - of which there are 738, all the
way from Peoria to the dark side of
the moon.
In an effort to prevent you from
turning the civilized world into a
Beirut lookalike the Army has pos-
Rampage
£24.99
Activision
itioned SWAT teams in cunning
vantage points from where they
assault our metamorphic monsters.
King Kong will have more to deal
with than a few pathetic biplanes this
time as a few helicopter-gunships
enter the fray, straffing wildly.
Later tanks appear with more
advanced firepower, which can
cause a fair amount of pain judging
by the expression of the stricken
beast.
Each hit you take may not inflict
much damage, but it all adds up. The
only way you can make up for this is
by eating regularly. What do you eat?
Well, as you are climbing the sides of
buildings, smashing as you go. you
may notice that some kind people
have left out some food, milk, toast or
even their goldfish for you.
If they haven’t, that’s OK because
you can always eat the people and
have a few choppers for dessert.
Up to three people can play at a
immitfilCU
Sure to be a monster hit
Hey, Harry, what’s your pet monkey doing on the roof? Well, they told me it weren’t allowed in the flat
time, though using the keyboard is
verging on the impossible. If the
players are not friends, you will be
pleased to know the monsters can
beat each other up as well as the
buildings.
There is not much by way of a plot,
it’s just mindless destruction, which
is perhaps is more honest than many
games on the market that try to dress
up violence, destruction and general
bad behaviour as being brave and
noble as long as there is a cause to be
championed.
There is no “fight the good fight”
here unless you’re in the Animal
Rights Militia. There is a small
amount of romance though. Occa-
sionally a girl will appear in one of
the windows. She can be rescued for
extra points. You can eat her
afterwards, of course.
Graphically the game is very pretty
and the animation of the monsters is
excellent, from the defiant growl and
shake of the fist to the way they cover
their eyes when they fall off a
building.
Sound is adequately supported.
There are some nice stereo effects
with the toppling buildings and a sat-
isfying chomping noise when the
beasts tuck into a human.
Green
i F
■REVIEWS!
"I
traditional Big Nasty Dragon. It
serves as a good warm up for the rest
of the game and has enough initial
wow-value to keep any gonzo
arcadist happy.
The second level scrolls down the
way, which causes some problems
because your main weapon shoots
horizontally. It has bubbly scenery,
not dissimilar to Starquake, the old 8
bit Bubble Bus classic. It is extraor-
dinarily difficult, far more so than the
third level, and could spoil the* game
if you can’t suss what to do.
Level three has a desert-cum-
ancient Egyptian feel to it, but has the
added twist of seemingly solid scen-
ery, which can only be got past once
shot.
It’s a good level, loads of traps for
the unwary and just as many for the
fully clued-up. It scrolls horizontally
but, unusually, from left to right.
Level four isn’t for the weak of
stomach, nor those who have eaten
within the previous hour. It’s got
flying eyeballs, leaping protozoa, and
tracker tumours. This has got to be
one of the most tasteless levels of a
computer game I have ever seen, but
is a difficult blast because the scenery
moves upwards. Me, I nearly lost my
lunch.
The final level is everything a final
level should be; excruciatingly diffi-
cult, but with features learnt from
previous levels. It is uncomfortably
similar to R-Tvpe and more difficult
than all the other levels put together.
When you cop it - notice the
“when”, not “if’ - you get put back
to the very start of the level; a pest,
but you should have learnt what you
did wrong and will be able to avoid it
next time.
The team of Burt on coding, Derrett
and Law on graphics, and Harris on
sound has made Trained Assassin a
very fine game. Better, even, than the
last DMS offering. Scorpion.
Everything moves quickly and
smoothly without fuss or flicker.
The presentation is much better
than in Scorpion, with a very nice
Tim White illustration on the box.
poster and title screen. The effects,
although loud and atmospheric,
aren’t much more than OK. The same
cannot be said for the title tune,
which even manages to sound good
through headphones.
I appreciate that rather one-
dimensional scrolling shoot-’em-ups
may not be everyone’s pot of Dar-
jeeling. but Trained Assassin appeals
to me.
It doesn’t say anything new. but it
is of a standard that could probably
survive unaltered in a real arcade. As
good as the Amiga is, few' games
could manage that.
Stewart C. Russell
impressive sounding, is it? But read
on.
There’s a fair amount of money in
the trained assassin business: there’s
equally as much in the untrained
assassin business, but it goes to the
next of kin. There would certainly
need to be big cash involved to face
King Rhizofiagellates's hordes of
nasty things, all of them with more
kick than an uprated onion bhaji.
The standard weapon deals quite
adequately with the first few waves,
but things very soon get out of hand.
You'll need the laser and the
orbiting-buddy weapon to even think
of getting rid of them.
Each stage can be learnt; in fact it’s
vital to do so because some bits are
dead ends and you get crushed by the
relentlessly scrolling scenery. There
isn’t as much scenery as you'd expect
in an arcade machine, but there’s
certainly enough to get in the way.
The first level has slightly futuristic
bits all over the place, like a
simplified R-Type. It’s fairly predic-
table once you learn where to go and
what not to do and ends with a fairly
Trained Assassin
£ 24.95
Digital Magic Software
I Sound
Graphics
Gameplay
Value
O NE of life’s more cuddly ironies
has to be the arcade conver-
sion. We spend many hours and
pounds for the thrill of seeing our
initials on the screen in a (possibly)
rather dodgy establishment. After a
while we dig out some more cash to
spend on the home computer conver-
sion, which we batter away at for a
few days.
All we get to keep is our initials on
the screen and a very short-lived hit
of adrenalin. The other parties
involved get our money in large
quantities. Who gets the better deal?
he asks in a concerned Channel 4
consumer programme kind of a w r ay.
Because conversions cost pub-
lishing houses a lot of money,
wouldn’t it be cheaper to nick some
good points from popular games and
add a completely flimsy to the point
of being see-through plot?
Wouldn’t Robert indeed be your
parent’s sibling? Ah. but games like
that are easily found - in the bargain
bin. at the back of the software
drawer, in a skip...
Without polish or class, or at least
some good honest hype, more money
is lost than saved.
Currently, Digital Magic Software
- or DMS to those who want to sound
in with them - are doing with arcade
games what Frankenstein did with
dead bits, although with a slight dif-
ference. Frank took the best bits but
kind of spoiled them all when joining
them together. DMS takes good
ideas, stitches them together with
good coding and the joins are no-
where to be seen.
DMS, to use another tedious anal-
ogy, are the Classic Car restorers of
the computer entertainment world.
Trained Assassin has got more
arcade elements to it than a fan heater
on Brighton Pier. On the lowest level
it’s a scrolling shoot-’em-up with
add-on weapons; no chocolate
watches awarded for originality.
It’s got five levels. “Zz zz zz,”
comes the reply. It’s got a tiny plot,
all about destroying King Rhizo-
flagellates and creatures “whose
touches are fatal”. With one mighty,
apathetic accord, humanity manages
a deafening “ !" Not very
rail - 95%
30 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1989
BYTE BACK
Ring us now! 0636-79097 we’re programmed to help
DELIVERY
SERVICE
. . . and the keenest prices
GUARANTEED RETURN OF POST Delivery on ALL Stock items!
GAMES
After Burner
Airball
Alien Syndrome
Alternate Reality
American Ice Hockey
Annals of Rome
Archipelagos
Baal
Balance of Power 1990
Ballistix „...,
Barbarian 2
Bards TaJe ..
Bards TaJe 2
Batman the Caped Crusader ..
Battle Chess ..
ONLY! ■GAMES
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ONLY! ■ BOOKS (Abacus) ONLY!
...16.90
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16.90 |
Bio Challenge
16.90
Blasteroids
16.90
Bombouzal
13.90
Breech .
Buggy Boy ..
Butcher Hill
California Games
Captain Blood
Captain Fizz
Carrier Command
Chess master 2000
Chrono Quest
Chuckie Egg
Chuckie Egg 2
Corruption
Cosmic Pirate
Crazy Cars II
Dark Fusion
Denaris
DNA Warrior
[ Dragon Ninja
Dragons Lair
Emmanuelle
Federation of Free Traders ....
Ferrari Formula One
Fight Simulator 2
Jet ..
‘Scenery 7 or 1 1
‘European scenery-
‘Japan scenery
Football Director 2
Football Manager 2
Fright Night
Fusion ..
Galdregons Domain
Games - Winter Edition
Garfield
Gary Linekers Hotshots
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Hybfis
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Interceptor
International Karate Plus
Kennedy Approach
Kenny Dalglish Soccer
| S.E.U.C.K
Lancelot
Last Duel
Leaderboard BIRDIE
LED Storm
Lombard RAC Rally
Lords of the Rising Sun
Manhunter New York
Menace
Mortville Manor
Operation Neptune
Operation Wolf
PacJand
Pacmania
Paladin
Phantom Fighter .
Pioneer Plague ...
Police Quest
.16.90
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Populous 17.90 ;
R-Type
Reach for the Stars
Real Ghostbusters
Realm of the Trolls
Roadblasters
Robocop
Rocket Ranger ..
Romantic Encounters (18+) ..
Run the Gauntlet
Scrabble Deluxe
Shadowgate
Space Harrier
Space Quest II ..
Speedball
Steve Davis World Snooker..
..16.90
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“‘ALL COMPUTERS INCLUDE * * *
Mouse. Manuals. Modulator, Tutorial 1Mb
Disk Drive, (NEW) Kickstart 1.3
AMIGA A500 Computer .. £369
AMIGA A500 Games Pack £399
1084-S Monitor 289.00
A 501 RAM/Clock Expansion .. 135.00
miniGEN 99.90
STAR LC10 Printer (Mono) ..229.00
STAR LC10 Printer (Colour) 259.00
(All printers indude leadl)
Cumana3.5‘ 1Mb Disk Drive 99.00
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9.90
•Data Disk
6.90
Super Hang On
19.90
Sword of Sodan
16.90
Tales of Lore
16.90
Tech
16.90
Teenaae Queen
13.90
Teat Drive II
19.90
“Teat Drive II Cara
•Teat Drive II Scenery ..
11.90
Titan
TV Sports Football ...
Ultima IV
Voyager
War in Middle Earth .
WEC LeMans
Willow
World Tour Golf
Zak McKracken
Zany Golf
16.90
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SPECIAL PACKS
ONLY!
PACK 1
*1010 Disk Drive
* A501 RAM/Clock
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.360.03 239.90
PACK 3
‘ MPS 1230 Printer
* A 501 RAM/Clock
‘ Superbase Personal
.43936 279.90
PACK 4
* A501 RAM/Clock Expansion
*1010 Disk Drive
‘ MPS 1230 Printer
.59936 399.90
ART & MUSIC
ONLY!
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52.50
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59.90
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59.90
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1 CHILDRENS
ONLY!|
Deluxe Paint 3
64.90
AB Zoo
9.50
Dftlnxft Photol ab
aq on
Fun School 2 (-6Z6-8/8+)
Dedmal Dungeon
13.90
29.90
Deluxe Video
DaIuta MiKif* Cnn Opt
79.90
aq on
Kid Talk
29.90
L/OIUAO lYlUdlW V^Ull. Otj i •••••••
rWtsinn
AQ on
ConSOUNDtration .. 27.50
Matchit 27.50
ROBOT READERS - WITH SPEECHI
Aesops Fables 19.90
Chicken Little 19.90
Little Red Hen 19.90
Three Little Pigs 19.90
Ugly Duckling 19.90
COMPILATIONS ONLY!
DigiviewGold (PAL) 119.90
I Fantavlsion 34.90 I
Instant Music
Modeler 3D
Pixmate
Pro Sound Designer .
PRECIOUS METAL
Xenon, Capt. Blood
Crazy Cars, Arkanoid II
... 16.90
TRIAD - 3 Game Pack 1 8.90
Barbarian, Defender of the Crown, Starglider
HIT DISKS (Vol. 1)
Goldrunner, Karate Kid II
Jupiter Probe. Slaygon
....16.90
HIT DISKS (Vol.2)
Major Motion, Time Bandit
Leatherneck, Tanglewood
....16.90
MEGAPACK 16.90
Plutos, Mouse Trap, Seconds Out
Winter Olympiad. Suicide Mission
SUPER 6 16.90
Thai Boxing. Karting Grand Prix, Grid Start.
Flight Path 737. Las Vegas. XR35
| Photon Paint 2
69.90 !
Scultp 3D (PAL)
59 90
Director Toolkit
29.90
Ultimate Sound Tracker
27.50
ACCESSORIES
ONLY!
Locking Disk Box (30+)
5.90
Locking Disk Box (50+)
7.90
Locking Disk Box (100+)
9.90
Media Box (Holds 150)
19.90
3.5* Disks DS/DD (xIO)
9.90
3.5* Disks DS/DD (x50)
45.00
Box of 10 SONY Disks
15.90
Furry Mouse Cover! .
6.90
Mouse Bracket
2.90
Mouse Mat
5.90
Keyboard Cover
5.90
Amiga for Beginners 12.90
Amiga Basic Inside and Out 18.90
Machine Language 14.90
Tricks and Tips 14.90
System Programs 32.90
Amiga DOS Inside and Out 18.90
Disk Drives Inside and Out 27.90
Disks to accompany books .....
13.90
LANGUAGES
ONLY!
Aztec C Professional
99.90
Cambridge Lisp
112.50
GFA Basic (V.3)
59.90
Hisoft Basic
64.90
Hisoft Devpac Amiga 44.90
Lattice C (NEW Version 5) 179.50
MCC Macro Assembler 47.90
MCC Pascal (Version 2) 64.90
Modula 2 Developers 1 14.90
UTILITIES
WORKBENCH 1.3 (NEW) .
AmigaDOS Toolbox
BBC Emulator
Virus Killer
RAM Manager
ONLY!
...14.90
...39.95
...39.90
9.90
3.00
X-Copy
29.90
(Superb Disk Copier)
City Desk ..
Descartes .
DigiCalc ....
..79.90
..24.90
..29.90
GOMF-Tho Button 54.90
Home Accounts .
Kind Words
..49.90
..34.90
Publishers Choice -
Indudes: Page Setter 1.2
Kind Words 2. Headline Fontspack
Artists Choice Artpack
Softwood Write File
SuperPlan ..
Superbase Personal 2 ....
Superbase Professional..
X-Copy (Disk Copier)
..22.90
..37.90
.69.90
...69.90
...69.90
...69.90
.174.90
....29.90
ONLY!
..17.90
..59.90
..37.90
.. 59.90
JOYSTICKS
Joystick - Mouse Extension .. 4.90
WIZ CARD controller 2.90
Challenger 6.90
Quickshot II 7.90
The Navigator 12.90
Cobra (NEW) 12.90
Cruise (Clear) 13.90
Competition Pro 5000 14.90
Competition Pro Extra 15.90
Arcade Joystick 16.90
BARGAIN BASEMENT
1 = £ 7.90 2 =£ 13.90 3 = £ 19.90
Knight Ore
Strange New World
Tetra Quest
Goldrunner II
Bionic Commandos
Bobo - Stir Crazy
4x4 Off Road Racing
Strike Force Harrier
Return to Genesis
Karate Kid 2
City Defence
Spaceballs
Major Motion
Mach 3
Final Assault
Eif
Dugger
Wizball
Whirligig
Iridon
Terramex
Ebonstar
The above is just a small selection of our VAST stock of AMIGA software!
Callers welcome; Normal Office Hours - 24 Hour Telephone Service!
BYTEBACK
DEPT AC, 6 MUMBY CLOSE, NEWARK, NOTTS NG24 1JE
Cheque, postal
orders or credit
card facilities
are available
m
7
1 VISA
X^r
August 1989 AMIGA COMPUTING 31
PPARENTLY in the year 2567
Earth gets destroyed. A big
shame. Some survivors, who
presumably had been out walking
the dog at the time, decide to set up a
trading company. They plan to
exploit the alien worlds, all of which
have less sense of economics than
Nigel Lawson. With a small cargo
ship they ply the spaceways trying to
con anything they meet.
This is the plot to Stag. It seems a
little familiar, right? It sounds a little
like Elite, doesn’t it? There is a subtle
difference though. Elite was good. It
had animation. It had gameplay.
Above all, it was fun. Stag, on the
other hand, is pathetic.
It has been semi-converted from a
German game. I say semi-converted
because it is only partly translated
into English. A few
things have been
left out. Like
grammar. And sense.
It doesn’t really
matter - you don’t
have to under-
stand it to realise
how terrible it all is.
Another stunning
concept is that the
game is completely
mouse driven. In
itself not very original,
but the underlying
philosophy of making
it completely im-
possible to do any-
thing without having
to make 67 factorial
button presses and
generally work the
ball off your mouse is.
1 expect EAS will be bringing out a
mouse-only text adventure next. Or
perhaps a word processor where you
choose your next phrase from one of
8.000 icons.
Trading means haggling with
strange creatures over a limited range
of goods. When I say haggle I mean it
in a strange new sense of the word
where you tell the other bloke his
price is way out and he tells you to go
away. Not much scope for
Thatcherite entrepreneurial acumen
there.
You are not given information
about any of the other planets, so it’s
pot luck whether they actually want
the stuff when you get there. Oddly,
the entire galaxy lives on a diet of
milk and alcohol Perhaps they listen
to too much late 70’s rock music.
The space flight sequence is the
best part. This does not mean it is
good, it’s just better than the rest.
Does the ship glide silently and
majestically through stardust
panoramas? No. It flies though
squares. Or space-streets as EAS
would have it.
It’s very reminiscent of Master-
tronic’s Chase, which can only be
bad news. If the ship hits the sides it
loses shields and eventually disinte-
grates. Amazing.
Sometimes pirates attack your
ship. You will know when this hap-
pens because you will suddenly stop
flying through squares and some text
will appear telling you that some
pirates are attacking your ship. Just
as well. You would never work it out
otherwise. Some small blobs appear
on the screen. They get bigger. You
die.
Amazingly EAS has password
protected this offering. Perhaps the
company reckon software pirates are
as stupid as the ones in the game. If
anyone is doing a bit of shady
dealing here it is EAS trying to
offload this lack-lustre effort for
twice the price of the original Elite.
Green
S.T.A.G.
£ 24.95
EAS
Overall - 11%
Advisory: Nicaragua
□a
This is ;
touch
risky.
I don't
think we
can win
this,
He can go
either way
here.
He can go
either way
here,
of Influence: Neither
_ . t rarpant terrorist*
pate of change: Insurgency growing
■gjjf- ttsA m
RelationgHfiMp
Slit Aid: $8 milion
laspfAid: $188 milion
Iatpf-jvt: 8 troops
latrr-pefc: 8 troops
warn
$488 milion
$8 milion
188,888 troops
8 troops
H ERE we have one of those
games where even the Amiga’s
sound chip wouldn’t be good
enough. You need a recording of
Ride of the Valkyries (Wagner’s Ring
Cycle, Deutsch Gramaphon) and the
urge to destroy your fellow man. Ah,
the fun of world domination at the
click of an icon.
A well written manual takes you
from clumsy amateur to world psy-
chopath in gentle stages. One or two
can play, with the option to be the
American Eagle or the Soviet Bear.
The computer is a good opponent.
There is no blood, gore or offensive
language; no smutty pictures or
blood curdling screams. This pro-
gram looks at the academic side of
war and peace and reacts well to
player input.
The initial simple settings guide
you through a predetermined set of
moves to show what effect different
decisions will have. After this you get
to try out the various menu options.
A wrong decision could accelerate
you to Defcon 1 and the chance to
wipe out the entire planet.
If perchance you do cause thermo-
nuclear global conflict, a simple text
S OMEBODY somewhere is doing
a rather nice line in hot motors.
The FBI want this stopped. The
annoying thing is that the felons are
corrupt policemen who can bring the
law to bear on anyone they take a
dislike to.
So those awfully nice FBI people
have called you in and given you an
F40 with a neat line in bolt-on
goodies.
You must drive across four states
before the corrupt policemen
roadblock all the exits. Your on-
board computer will tell you which
freeway exits to take, but won’t know
if the way is blocked or not.
Cruz r Cars II
£ 19.95
Titus
sound Main 1 1 1 rm
Graphics 1 I I 1 1 I I
Gameplay ^^^BHZEDZEEDID
Value I— | | | 1 | | |T1
Overall - 43%
The radar detector can tell where
the nearest police car is and can be
used to check for roadblocks. It’s also
very handy for keeping clear of
32 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1989
■ REVIEWS!
BALANCE OF POWER
Let’s not beat about the Bush
screen tartly informs you that there
will be no animated mushroom
clouds. There are no rewards for
failure.
I can’t stop playing Balance of
Power. What started as a few
decisions about whether to drop
troops or dollars somewhere has
escalated to form a habit. The further
I get, the more I want to do.
There is always something new
around the corner and the inclusion
of 80 countries, all reacting indepen-
dently, means that there is no chance
you will exhaust the possibilities. If
you get stuck, a crisis advisory
service appears at decision time and
gives you a clue as to which way to
turn.
You start in 1989 with a reasonably
stable planet. If you can maintain
stability the game can last eight
years, after which the winner will be
the side with the most prestige. I’ve
played solid for 14 hours and
couldn’t last longer than three years.
Then again, I always was quick on
the button.
To help you to decide whether to
give a country aid in cash or troops, a
screen lists the political persuasions,
stability and stuff like that. If you are
playing as the good ol’ US of A and
you give too much help to neutral
Sweden, uncle Gorby gets a tidgy bit
miffed and puts you in a precarious
position. Ouch.
I started at the beginners’ level and
worked through intermediate and
expert. As I went up each level and
gram used got more complex, the
results I got began to mirror history’.
There’s nothing like a bit of real-
ism, so I got out the history’ books
and looked up a couple of the more
delicate diplomatic situations from
the ‘sixties, when the Bear and the
Eagle were at each other’s ambas-
sadors.
I couldn’t hope to simulate them
accurately, but the basics were there.
Using the world as a three-
dimensional chess board, I made the
USA moves to see how the USSR
would react.
I then reversed the roles and
played the USSR. As both sup-
erpowers had blamed each other for
the initiative in the ‘sixties, it was
interesting to note that the only way
to get a similar result was to cast the
USA in the role of aggressor. Tut-tut,
President Johnson. And you said it
was them.
In the levels up to expert the game
takes the rather simplistic us-and-
them stance. It only calculates the
reactions of the two main powers and
anything else brought into direct
action.
In the final multipolar level Bal-
ance of Power gets closest to reality'
with the computer calculating the
reactions and decisions of all 80
countries.
In fact it’s quite uncanny. The
results at this level were accurate
enough to write a newspaper article
Balance of Power
£24. 9!l
Mind scape
Overall — 88%
which wouldn’t have looked out of
place at the time.
If this sort of simulation can get so
close to actual events, perhaps we
should send Bush and Gorby an
Amiga each and let them get on with
thermonuclear war in the comfort of
their own palaces.
Keith G. Pomfret
Watch out for the China crisis
pn a r 7i7 p a nr ji
One to steer clear of
honest policemen, who take extreme
exception to the speed limit being
exceeded by 145 mph.
The F*BI has rigged the engine to
explode if you don’t make the
checkpoint in the set time.
The engine also happens to
explode if you hit anything - car,
lamp-post, bollard - or travel too fast
for too long off the road.
And that’s all there is to it.
CC2 is difficult and very frus-
trating. It must be the only game to
give a car inertia - it becomes very’
easy to spin uncontrollably at high
speed.
What Titus hasn’t put into the
handling is the natural way steering
wheels return to their centre position.
I don’t know how Titus can keep a
straight face when it claims that the
screenshots on the box are the same
as the graphics in the game. They’re
not, they are re-touched saved
screens, not ones from the game.
With the handling of an elderly
2CV, the sound of a sewing machine,
and graphics which wouldn’t be
noteworthy on the machine which
starts with an S and ends with a T,
Crazy Cars II will appeal to
somebody I’m sure. Possibly one for
a connoisseur of the truly mediocre.
Stewart C. Russell
tank to
Smart
penally
of hand,
top level your
control centre,
iuable source of
you don't mess up and
..ith the rest cpPL
you choose to play this the two-
way the dominant player can
Dark Side
£24.95
MicroStatus
Overall - H4%
W ELCOME to another adven-
ture using the Freescape 3D
environment, Dark Side, the
successor to Driller, set 200 vcars
later. It stars those enemies of the
Evath, the Ketar, in another bid to
destroy life as we know it.
It all started with a probe passing
over the dark side of the moon
Tricuspid detecting a plexar just
before being destroyed. A plexar is a
giant construction designed to Fire a
high-energy particle beam at Evath.
blowing it apart. It is fed bv Energy
Collection Devices - or ECDs - which
resemble crystals atop poles.
Your mission is to destroy the
plexar. but more immediately you
must starve it of energy, thus slowing
down the countdown to the time of
Firing.
As soon as you see an ECD, shoot
it. If it is in a line of others it will
re-charge immediately, so the devices
aside it must be destroyed First. Other
things to worry about are the Plexors,
1
n a pv
Challenging
g alien
which are tank-like defenders, the
slab-like power porters and the tele-
pods, which must be activated by
hidden crystals.
You start in a sector of the moon
guarded by a plexor and decorated
by a few tree-like constructions.
Moving forwards in full 3D, .the First
objective is to avoid the plexor and
penetrate the next sector where you
can destroy an ECD.
34 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1989
■ REVIEWS!
VINDICATORS
Tanks, but no tanks
Uni than the ultii
nick all the good bits, leaving the gar-
bage to the other sucker. You people
wouldn’t do that, would you?
Once you’ve endured the tacky
spaceflight scene, and man is it tacky,
you get to the next space station,
which has a few less nerds and loads
more tanks. In fact, tanks a million!
iSpike Milligan s the one to blame for
that one.)
The graphics are, as they should
, totally faithful to the arcade, with
all the right things appearing at the
right time. The sound is exceedingly
faithful to the arcade as long as you
are used to hearing it through several
layers of old socks. It’s fuzzy and
frankly it stinks.
One small problem surfaces when
large amounts of scenery start
appearing. The dum thing slows
down to a snail’s pace because the
programmers felt they had to use
software sprites to achieve the
desired effects.
Hmram, they probably had to use a
200 line screen for the desired effect,
too. And that desired effect, dear
readers, is to make the Amiga con-
version a quick job after the ST one.
The programmers claim memory
problems.
Don’t get me wrong, Vindicators is
an exceedingly playable game that
stopped me toying with Daleks for a
while. The graphics are good, it’s just
that when things start getting sticky
they also start getting slow.
The B52 board - that’s what’s in
the A500 - is capable of a lot more
than just a bare 6B000: the conver-
sion is faithful, but not well done.
if Domark hadn’t cut corners. Vin-
dicators would probably have got an
ExctitDenqe gong. At least we haven’t
been charged an extra fiver for a poor
ST port.
Stewart C. Russell
cmr
Come back then and enter a
building w’hich houses stores of
shield and fuel materials. Getting into
the building is easy since the demo
mode shows you how to do it.
Although it feels like you're
driving a tank, you are actually in a
spacesuit and can look up and down,
tilt- the angle of perspective, even
fire-up your jet pack. The trouble
with these movements is that they are
fairly laborious.
Movement forwards and
backwards is relatively smooth and
fast, sideways movement is very slow
and jerky. Considering that only
around half of the screen is being
used, this is disappointing.
The jet pack activated, take to the
sky - or what passes for one - and
zoom into the buildings, down the
corridors and round the construc-
tions in search of crystals and ECDs.
While some situations are familiar
- corridors in buildings and surface
features outdoors, for example -
some of the features indoors arc very
strange and infuse a sense of
something completely alien. Very
unwelcome to the eye. Plus it’s diffi-
cult to figure out what is what.
The sound effects are goodish. but
there aren't enough of them. You’ll
soon tire of seeing and hearing the
plexar destroying Evath every time
you blow r your mission impossible.
Nevertheless. Dark Side is a
challenging and worthy addition to
the Freescape stable. It is slow and
thought provoking and will certainly
be welcomed by devotees of the 3D
arcade adventure. But be warned, it
isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.
Duncan Evans
August 1989 AMIGA COMPUTING 35
h* ajssSW
} »* obe '
'iOg&Z
\ W 0 otortu° 8ie v
^goV«' FW *
HR R 111
POWERPLAY pack 1
Our SUPER VALUE POWERPLAY PACK 1 offers you
the chance to buy your Amiga A500 with ELEVEN
GREAT GAMES FREE to start you off right. Not only that
we also include ABSOLUTELY FREE, a Mouse Mat, TV
Modulator and a Tutorial Disk. This adds up to an AMAZING
AMIGA SAVING OF €264 ! ! ! _ _ . . m ,
m ■
POWERPLAY PACK 2
If you thought Powerplay
Pack 1 was good value
just look at our
Powerplay Pack 2!
GRAPHICS HARDWARE
NEW LOWER PRICE
PACK 2 contains
the super "Powerplay Pack 1 "
plus a CBM 1084S colour monitor -
See those games. Hear those games
WITH ADDED REALITY !
IN.B. Powerplay Pack 2 doesn’t include a TV Modulator)
— ACCESSORIES —
MINIGEN
Add computer graphics to
your own videos easily ! ! !
Connect to your Amiga's
RGB port and domestic
video equipment to mix
graphics and moving
pictures
MOVIE MAGIC Qr
ATONLY L 1 I O.OD
DIGIVIEW GOLD
Digitise static colour
images in IFF format at all
resolutions from 2 to 4096
Colours up to 640 x 400
Pixels (Requires video camera
or video with clear picture pause)
ONLY £129.95
Take our Powerplay Pack 2 and
add (to your choice) a Citizen
1 20D OR CBM 1230/1250 Printer n (y.
for that COMPLETE AMIGA
HOME ENTERTAINMENT
SYSTEM
£749
POWERPLAY PACK 4
Take our Powerplay Pack 2 and ^
add (to your choice) a Citizen
1 20D OR CBM 1 230/1 250 Dl jSlNH S:>
TrJUST
Pnnter with "The Works”
integrated Professional
Software instead of
Powerplays games
MICROBLASTER JOYSTICK
New. Sturdy, arcade quality,
fully microswitched, normal
Et rapid fire- 12 Mth Warranty
£ 12.95
£ 18.95
TAKE CONTROL
ZIPSTICK SUPERPRO'
Professional quality with that
"Perfect Feel", autofire
1 2 Month Warranty
— BLANK MEDIA —
B U LK DISKS (Prices per 1 0 disks)
3.5" DS/DD £9.95 - with library case £10.95
Commodore The Original Diskette
C High quality branded
media, fully guaranteed
SUPERB VALUE. . .
Higher Quality. Box of Ten 3.5” DS/DD
Lower Price Only £14.95
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COMPARE OUR SERVICE
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M
1 2 MONTH WARRANTY • If goods prove to be
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CREDIT TERMS
Gordon Harwood Computers are licensed credit
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1 2-36 month H P terms are available (subject to
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(Applications are required in advance)
□ Examples quoted are based on 36 months
with no deposit
A
DATA STORAGE DEVICES
30 MEGA BYTE HARD DISK
Real power for your Amiga, connects directly
through sidecar expansion bus. Ultra reliable,
built in power supply & fan, styled to match
your Amiga.
MEGA STORAGE
AT ONLY
£399
(includes 1 2 months replacement warranty FREE,
optional 24 months available)
CUMANA DISK DRIVES
All Cumana drives feature enable/disable
switches, 1 meg capacity, compatible with
A500, A1000, A2000 and PCI.
2nd drives powered from computer,
3rd drives have internal power supplies.
(5.25“ drives are 40/80 Track switchable)
CAX 354-3.5"
2nd drive
CAS 354-3.5"
3rd drive
CAX 1000-5.25"
2nd drive
CAS 1000-5.25"
3rd drive
/
SAVE MONEY
SAVE DATA
V
£ 99.95
£ 124.95
£ 129.95
£ 139.95
PRINTERS
Our range of 9 Pin dot matrix printers include
the following features. . . .
Standard centronics parallel port for direct
connection to Amiga, PC’s, ST, Archimedes
etc; Tractor and friction paper feeds.
CITIZEN 120D FULL2 YEAR WARRANTY
Very reliable low cost printer, interchangeable
interfaces available for RS232 or Serial type for
CBM 64 etc. £149.95
COMMODORE MPS 1230/1250
Both supplied with dual interface, ideal for
C 64/1 28/1 6/+4 or Amiga etc. £159.95
COMMODORE MPS 1500C
High quality colour printer manufactured by
Olivetti, Epson JX 80 compatible £199.95
STAR LC 10
Multiple font options from front panel, excellent
paper handling £199.95
STAR LC IOC
Colour version of the popular LC 1 0 allowing
the effect of full colour on screen dumps
£239 9 5
FREE! PRINTER CABLES
To connect to a variety
of computers
(Please state type when ordering)
SOFTWARE
A
MONITORS
COMMODORE 1084S
Manufactured by Philips, 14“ High res. colour.
Stereo Speakers, Allows full use of your Amiga's
80 column text display and High Resolution or
Multi-Colour Graphics Modes.
AMAZING
VALUE
AT ONLY
NEW LOWER PRICE
PHILIPS CM 8833
14" Stereo colour monitor with Green Screen
Switch - Better clarity of text
£229
SUPER
SAVER
AT ONLY
£239
NEW LOWER PRICE
FREE LEADS!
1084S - Supplied with leads for Amiga. C64.
Cl 28 and standard colour IBM PC compatibles.
CM 8833 - Please specify your computer for
correct FREE connection leads.
AEGIS VIDEO TITLER
for use with Genlocks
such as MINIGEN £99.95
WORKBENCH 1.3
Latest version of Amiga
OS with many additional
features £14.95
THE WORKS
Integrated w p, mailmerge.
spreadsheet, pro database
multicolour graphics £79.95
BBC EMULATOR SOFTWARE
BBC Basic at six
times the speed £49.95
HARDWARE UPGRADE
COMMODORE A501 RAMPACK
Now you can see those extra
features in your software such as
enhanced graphics, better sound
etc. Extra 51 2 K RAM
& Real Time Clock
£139.95
&£>24HR ORDER LINE - 0773 83678 1 ©
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Under the
Workbench
Setting up a hard disc can be very confusing
as you juggle file systems, formats and
manuals. David Foster shows the path to take
W HY is life never simple?
When I bought my Amiga
2000 I specified a hard disc and
Workbench 1.3. When it arrived, the
disc was already formatted with a
Workbench boot disc set-up. The only
trouble was that it was installed with
Workbench 1.2. As I wanted to use
1.3, the only solution was to start at
the beginning, re-format the disc and
re-install Workbench.
Commodore, largely
because of poor
documentation, has a
knack of turning simple
tasks into epics of trial
and error. The Workbench
1.3 manual is an
improvement, but you now
have to flip between it and the
2090 hard disc controller guide to
decide which bits are relevant. Two
or three pages in Appendix A of the
Workbench 1.3 manual cover hard
disc installation after a fashion.
One of the drawbacks of the A2090
hard disc controller and the Fast
Filing System (FFS) is that the whole
disc cannot be formatted as a FFS
disc because the A2090 automatically
attempts to mount the First disc
partition as an old filing system
(Oh'S). This has been Fixed with many
of the more recent interfaces such as
the Commodore A590.
The solution is to partition the drive
into two logical drives, the First of
which is formatted as a standard
drive, called DH0: the other formatted
as an P'FS drive. The procedure is
quite straightforward, or it would be
if you didn’t have to dig the
information out of two or three
different places.
If your hard disc is already
formatted and contains any data the
first thing you should do is back it up
on to floppy because the process of
installing the FFS destroys all data.
Understanding the procedure
carried out by AmigaDos to initialise
the hard disc for use might make
things clearer later on. AmigaDos
automatically mounts the floppy as
DF0: f because BindDrivers, one of the
command lines in Startup-Sequence,
has built in drivers for DF0: and, if a
hard disc is present, it attempts to
mount a hard drive called DH0: as a
standard hard drive.
If you add any further drives, or
partition the hard drive into a number
of logical drives, you must tell
AmigaDos that you have done so.
This is done by making entries in
Mountlist and then mounting the
drive.
Mountlist is a text Fde and may be
edited with ED, or any Ascii text
editor. The layout of the entries
follows certain rules. You will Find
that sample entries are already
included which need altering or
duplicating to suit.
Just making entries in Mountlist
does nothing and you have to mount
the drive with the Mount command,
using the name of the drive involved.
Mount FSl: would mount the drive
defined as FSl; in Mountlist. You can
use Mount commands from the CLI,
but would normally put them into the
Startup-Sequence.
Once mounted, the drive is ready
for use, but its icon is not displayed
until the drive has been accessed with
a command. Just CD and the drive
name is sufficient.
Make copies of the Workbench 1.3
disc and HDInstall disc - never use
the originals - then switch off and
re-boot the computer from the copy of
Workbench 1.3. Make a copy of the
38 AMIGA COMPUTING August li?8!)
■PROGRAMMING!
Figure I: Installing a cylinder DHO: partition from start to finish
Mountlist file in the Devs directory of
the Workbench disc with a different
name so that if you get things wrong
it is only a second’s work to copy it
over the messed up one and start
again. You are now ready to begin the
real task.
Insert the copy of HDInstall into the
floppy drive and click on the disc
icon, then double click on the Install
icon to load the program. The first
thing you get is a warning about the
procedure completely clearing the
hard disc of existing data.
P LUCK up courage and select Yes
to continue. The program will
check Mountlist and copy the hard
disc driver and other files on to the
Workbench disc. There is a final
chance to escape just before the
program does anything more than
copy the necessary files on to the
Workbench disc.
You are then asked whether you are
using a SCSI hard disc. In most cases
the answer is No unless you have
specifically requested such a drive
and the program then asks whether
the first ST506 drive should be
Propped. Answer Yes. The purpose of
Prep is to specify the type of drive
and its specifications. It must be run
to prepare the hard drive.
A list of drive types appears for you
to select the one you are using.
Things are not always as obvious as
they seem. My drive is an Epson
ST506 type, but the Epson entry in
the list was for a SCSI drive. If you
are unsure, check with your dealer. If
your drive is not on the list select
option 0 for a User Defined drive and
answer the questions.
The first few questions are about
the drive’s specification. If none came
with the drive you might have to ring
the supplier to check. I did so, to
check that mine was, in fact, a bog
standard one of the type used by
many IBM PC computers, with four
heads, 615 cylinders and 17 sectors
per track. The required answers to the
questions are shown in Figure I.
You are next asked for the last
cylinder being used by the first
partition of the drive. AmigaDos takes
cylinders 0 and 1 for its own
purposes, which means that the
lowest cylinder of the first partition
starts at 2.
AmigaDos automatically installs the
first partition as DHO: All that Prep
needs to know is where the first
partition ends. Prep already knows
that it starts at cylinder 2. I decided to
make partition one - DHO: - as small
as possible.
The 1.3 manual suggests that you
might like to make DHO: large enough
to hold the contents of a Workbench
disc, primarily so that you can re-boot
from the recoverable ram drive RAD:
if you have enough memory for all
the required files. This process also
requires many of the Workbench files
to be present on DHO:.
I chose not to make use of this
feature, so gave DHO: only two
cylinders - 68k, the minimum
permitted - and subsequently
installed Workbench on the FFS
drive.
The final question requires a little
explanation. Often when a hard disc
is produced parts are not quite up to
standard. You need to tell the
program where they are so that those
parts of the disc can be marked
unavailable. There is usually a list
stuck to the disc.
You have a final opportunity to
abort the procedure, or continue to
Prep the disc. Prep creates the device
RESO: which consists of tracks 0 and
1, used by AmigaDos for its own
purposes and not available to you.
If you make changes to the settings
in Mountlist for the device RESO: you
must re-run Prep before you can
mount or format the hard disc
successfully.
Now re-boot the computer again,
load Mountlist into a text editor and
check that the entries for RESO: are
correct. Check that the Unit entry is 1
for a first hard drive of the ST-506
type and that Surfaces - the number
of heads - and BlocksPerTrack match
those for your drive. Don’t make any
other changes but check that LowCyl
and HighCyl are 0 and 1 respectively.
Look through the Mountlist file;
you should find an example entry for
a device called FAST: You can
change its name to anything you
want. I chose FSl:.
The majority of the entries should
be the same as those for RESO:, but
you must change the LowCyl and
►
August 1989 AMIGA COMPUTING 39
■PROGRAMMING!
Check your software installation
Two types of drive are commonly used with the Amiga. SCSI and
ST506 types may both be used with the Amiga 2090 and 2090A
controllers, but only the ST506 drives are normally supplied by
Commodore. This is not true of some third party supplies, so check
which you have before setting up. It is assumed in this article that you
will be installing an ST506 drive. The software installation is
essentially the same for both types, with the following differences:
ST506
SCSI
Description
RESO:
RES2:
Device name for cylinders 0 and 1, used by
AmigaDos
Unit=l
Unit=3
Used in MountList RESO: and FFS partition
definitions.
DHO:
DH2:
Drive name for first partition of first hard
drive.
Further partitions may he called whatever name you choose to give
them in Mountlist.
◄
HighCyl values to suit the size of your
partitions. In my case, as DHO: is
using cylinders 2 and 3, the entry for
LowCyl needed changing to 4 and
HighCyl to 611, as I wanted to use the
rest of the drive as one partition.
If you want more than one partition
in addition to DHO:, set HighCyl to
the value you want for the top of the
first FFS partition, then copy the
whole entry for FAST: and change
LowCyl for the new entry to start at
the next higher cylinder and the top
with the highest cylinder you want
and so on until you have created the
number of partitions you want and •
used up all the cylinder. Don’t forget
to give the second entry a different
name from the first, by changing
FAST: to something else, say FS2:
Mountlist can then be saved and it
is time to format the different
partitions. This can only be done
from the CLI. DHO: will have been
mounted automatically when you re-
booted the computer, so you can just
type:
FORMAT DRIVE DH0: NAME MyNane
Once DHO: is formatted it is time to
format the other partitions. Before you
can do this you must mount each
drive. Enter:
MOUNT FS1 :
or whatever description you gave the
entry in Mountlist, and follow this
with:
FORMAT DRIVE FS1: NAME MyNane2 FFS
Don’t forget to add the FFS to the
end of the command this time, so that
the partition will be formatted as a
FastFileSystem drive. Repeat the
procedure of mounting and
formatting for any further partitions
you have created.
You are almost finished now, and
you should find that if you type:
CD FS1 :
the new drive responds to other
commands such as Info or Dir. If
everything is OK make changes to
Startup-Sequence so the new drives
will automatically be mounted every
time you boot the computer.
Now copy the Workbench files
from floppy to your hard disc as some
of them will be required when you
boot up.
In the S directory of your floppy
you will find a file called Startup-
Sequence. hd. This is the one you
need, and its name must be changed
to Startup-Sequence. Delete the
original Startup-Sequence file on the
floppy as you won’t need it again and
rename Startup-Sequence. hd to
Startup-Sequence.
Load the new Startup-Sequence file
into ED and find the BindDrivers
command. Insert lines after
BindDrivers, the new Mount
commands for each partition - except
the first - DHO:. Further down the file
you will see a line assigning SYS to
DHO:. You should change DHO: to the
name you have given the drive
partition which now contains
Workbench.
Save the file and you will then be
able to reset the computer and boot
from the floppy drive. You can make
improvements by editing the Startup-
Sequence files on the floppy and hard
discs.
Startup-Sequence on the floppy
uses an Assign >NIL: DHO: EXISTS
line. This checks to see whether the
drive is present. We know it is, so
comment out the line with a semi-
colon and also the If Not Warn line
and all the lines from and including
Else to the end of the file.
Now load the Startup-Sequence file
on the hard disc and comment out the
BindDrivers line, as the command has
already been issued from the floppy
disc. You might as well change the
SYS:System/SetMap usal line to read
SYS:System/SetMap gb, so that the
keys do what you expect.
As a little extra bonus, I also
include the following line
immediately before the EndCLI line at
the end of the file:
NewSheU 'NEWCON : 440/ 1 50/200/50/She U*
This provides a small CLI window
in the lower right corner of the
screen, on top of the Workbench
screen, so that I can either use the
mouse or issue CLI commands
directly from the small window.
Guide to setting up
1. Back up any existing data on the
hard disc to floppy, for possible
later restoration.
2. Make working copies of
Workbench 1.3 and HDInstall
discs.
3. Run the Install program, found
on the HDInstall disc.
a) . Select option 0 from the list
of hard drives.
b) . Answer questions about
number of heads, cylinders, and
so on, according to the drive
you are using.
c) . Specify last cylinder number
of first partition.
d) . Select default for AmigaDos
buffers.
e) . Mark bad blocks, if any.
f) . Complete Install procedure.
4. Re-boot computer.
5. Check Mountlist file for correct
entries and adjust to suit your
drive if necessary. Add new entries
for partitions.
6. Format DHO:
7. Mount and format each further
drive partition, according to the
names you gave them.
8. Copy required files on to hard
drive.
9. Alter Startup-Sequence as
necessary.
40 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1989
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ViWiW
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For everyone who owns one of these computers, CLUB68000 offers members software, hardware and accessories at
huge savings off recommended retail prices ! Each item has been carefully chosen to offer the best value and quality .
HERE'S WHAT YOU GET:
When you join you will receive a free games compendium and a free catalogue every 3 months
100 GAMES
■_MLaLM — MJBMMM Ml 1
Mamhar
LE.D. Storm
.....15.95
Lombard RAC Rally
15.95
Leisure Suite Larry II
19.95
Last Ninja II
15.95
Lords of the Rising Sun ...
19.95
Manhunter
15.95
Mayday Squad
12.95
Microprose Soccer
15.95
Navy Moves
15.95
Operation Wolf
15.95
Operation Neptune . . . ... .... .
15.95
Personal Nightmare
12.99
Pools of Radiance
15.95
P.O.W
12.99
Prison
12 95
Precious Metal
15.95
Police Quest II
19.95
Populus
15.95
R-Type ....
15 95
Ram bo III
15.95
Robocop
15.95
Run The Gauntlet -
15.95
Runnng Man
15.95
Steve Davis Snooker
12.95
Shoot Em Up Con. Set
15.95
Member
Afterburner 15.85
Alien Legion 15.95
Archipelagos 15.95
Batman 15.95
Battle Chess 15.95
Ballistix 12.95
Billiard 12.95
Bio Challenge 15.95
Battle ha rwks 1942 .. 15.95
Blasteroids 12.95
Blood Money 15.95
Bloodwych 15.95
Barbarian II 15.95
California Games 15.95
Capone 12.99
Collossus Chess X 15.96
Cosmic Pirate 12.95
Crazy Cars II 15.95
Danger Freak - 12.95
Darkside 15.95
Demons Winter 1 5.99
Dragons lair 29.95
Dungeon Master 15.95
Denaris 15.95
Dragon Ninja 15.95
RRP
24.95
24.95
2494
2495
2495
19.95
19.95
2495
2495
19.95
2495
24.95
2495
24.95
29 99
2495
1995
24.95
1995
2495
24.99
44.95
24.95
24.95
2495
Elite
15.95
Flight Simulator II
27.95
Falcon FI 6
19.95
Fed. Of Free Traders
19.95
Forgotten World
15.95
FI 6 Combat Fighter ..—
15.95
Gunship
15.95
Games Winter Edition
15.95
Games Summer Edition
15.95
Gauntlet II
15.95
Gal dr ego ns Domain ......
12.95
Grand Monster Slam
12.95
Hawkeye
12.95
Heroes of the Lance
15.95
Hollywood Poker Pro
15.95
Hostages
15.95
Hybris
15.95
Interceptor
15.95
International Karate
15.95
Joan of Arc - ....
12.95
Kick Off
12.95
Kristal
19.95
Kings Quest IV
19.95
Kennedy Approach
15.95
Kutt
15.95
RRP
24.95
39.95
29.95
29.95
24.95
24.95
24.95
24.95
24.95
24.95
19.95
19.95
19.95
24.95
24.95
2495
24.95
24.95
24.95
19.95
19.95
29.95
29.95
24.95
24.95
RRP
24.95
24.95
29.95
24.95
29.95
24.95
19.95
24.95
24.95
24.95
24.95
19.99
24.95
29.99
19.95
24.95
29.95
2495
24.95
24.95
24.95
24.95
24.95
19.95
24.95
Star Glider II
Speedball
Sword of Sodan
Super Hang On
Space Quest II
Time Scanner
Times of Lore ......
Tiger Road
Thunderblade
Triad (3 Games)
Talespin
Tom & Jerry
Typhoon Thompson
UMS -
Ultima V
Victory Road
Vigilante
Vindicator
Voyager
Wee Le Mans
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Willow -
War in the Middle Earth
Zany Golf -
Member
15.95
15.95
15.95
19.95
15.95
19.95
15.95
15.95
15.95
15.95
19.95
19.95
15.95
12.95
15.95
15.95
15.95
9.99
12.99
15.95
15.95
19.95
15.95
15.95
15.95
RRP
24.95
24.95
24.95
29.95
24.95
2495
24.95
24.95
24.95
24.95
29.95
29.95
24.95
19.95
24.95
24.95
24.95
14.99
19.99
24.95
24.95
29.95
24.95
24.95
24.95
AMIGA PROFESSIONAL SOFTWARE
64 Emulator 2.0
Aegis Animator/Images
Aegis Draw 2000
Aegis Modeller 3D
Aegis Sonix
Aegis Audiomaster II
Aegis Videoscape 3D
Aegis Videotitler
Aztec C Prof
A Talk III
BBS PC
Benchmark Modula 2
Butcher
Comic Setter
Comic Setter Art 1
Comic Setter Art 2
Comic Setter Art 3
Cambridge Lisp
Caligrapher 1.05
Critics Choice
Dos Toolbox
Digiview Gold
Deluxe Paint II
Deluxe Music
Deluxe Video
Deluxe Photolab
Member
64 Emulator
44.95
3D Animation
69.95
Cad Cam
149.95
Cad Modeller
44 95
Music
39.95
Music/Midi Sample
......3995
Cad Animation
89.95
Desktop Video
69.95
Prog. Language
186.95
Communications
59.95
Communications
89.95
Prog. Language
97.95
Utility
21.95
DTP Comic ....
47.95
Super Heroes
12.95
Funny Figures
12.95
Science Fiction
12.95
Prog. Language
104.95
Font Editor
62.95
Text/SpreatVDBase
104.95
Utility
34.95
Video Digitizer
99.95
Draw/Graphics
55.00
Music
47.95
3D Video Animation ....
69.95
Animation Ham
RRP
69.95
109.95
229.95
6995
59.95
5995
149.95
119.95
249.95
79.95
119.95
139.95
29.95
69.95
1995
19.95
1995
149.95
89.95
149.95
49.95
129.95
79.95
69.95
99.95
69.95
Deluxe Print II
Drum Studio
Digicalc
Devpac II
Digipaint
Dos To Dos
Director
Director Toolkit
Design 3D
Dynamic Drums
Dynamic Studio
Fantavision
GFA Basic
GoldspeH II
Gomf 3.0
Hercules Copy
Home Account
Introcad
K Comm 2.0
Kind Words II
Lattice 5.0 Dev.
Lights. Camera. Action
MCC Pascal
Magnum Turbo
Macro Assembler
Mailshot Plus
Member
Print Utility 34 95
Prof. Drum Track
6.95
Spreadsheet
27.45
Prog, language
41.95
Draw/Graphics
.....27,45
Transfer Utility
27.45
Desktop Video
41.95
Utility
21.95
Cad Elect/Technic
47.95
Prof. Drum Track
69.95
Music .....
69.95
Animation
29.95
Prog. Language
49.95
Spelling Checker
27.95
Guru Buster
27.95
Copy Program
6.95
Home Finances
27.95
Cad Elec/Technic
41.95
Communications
21.95
Wordprocessor
34.95
Prog. Language
179.95
Desktop Video 39.95
Prog. Language 62.95
Disk Turbo 6.95
Prog.Language 49.95
Mailmerge 34.95
RRP
49.95
24.95
39.95
59.95
39.95
39.95
59.95
29.95
69.95
99.95
99.95
49.95
69.95
39.95
39.95
24.95
39.95
59.95
29.95
49.95
249.95
59.95
89.95
24.95
69.95
49.95^ Copy
nw i
Movie Setter
Omegafiie
Publishers Choice
Page setter
Professional Page
Photon Paint 2.0
Pixmate
Photon Video
Professional Draw
Power Windows 2.5
Pro Video
Promise
Quarterback
Synthia
Superbase Personal
Scperbase Personal II
Superbase Prof.
Sculpt 30
Studio Magic
Superback
Turbo Silver 3D
Text Ed Plus
Video Generic
Wipe Master
Word Perfect 4.2
Workbench 1.3
Desktop Video
Database
DTP
Member
49.95
6.95
79.95
DTP
54.95
DTP
199 95
Draw/Graphics ......
49.95
Utility
34.95
Desk Top Video
69.95
Cad/Graphics .........
97.95
Utility
48.95
Vdeo Animator
118.95
Spelling Checker ...
6.95
Harddisk Utility
34.95
Music/Midi
59.95
Database ...............
59.95
Database
69.95
Database
179.95
3D Animation
62.95
Sample/Midi
48.85
Harddsk Utility
34.95
3D Animation
97.95
Utility
34.95
Desktop Video
59.95
Desktop Video
59.95
Wordprocessor
169.95
1.3 ♦ Manual
12.95
Nol Copy Program
-....19.95
RRP
69.95
24.95
119.95
79.95
249.95
89.95
49.95
99.95
139.95
69.95
169.95
24.95
4995
79.95
79.85
99.95
249.96
8995
69.85
49.65
139.85
49.65
79.85
79.65
228.00
19.85
29.65
CLUB 68000 INTRODUCTORY OFFER
Fill out this coupon and return it to CLUB 68000 Ltd. Your only commitment is to pay £10.00 for one year's membership
of CLUB 68000. Mail this coupon to CLUB 68000 Ltd., Suite 1, Wickham House, 2 Upper Teddington Road,
Hampton Wick, Kingston on Thames, Surrey KT1 4DP
Please send me .
Name.
Address .
Type of computer .. Membership £10.00
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512K RAM EXPANSION FOR THE A500
The 512k card from memory expansion systems is probably the
cheapest way to expand your A500. M.E.S. have used the latest
high capacity dyrc
compromising qu
underneath the I
memory 'on/off s
systems is probabj^
M.E.S. have used
keep costs downH^hout
into the expansion
useful expansion memory 'orj'j*
memory expansion systems i
expand your A50 0. M.E.S.
dynamic rams to
heljQeep costs down without
Ijgg info the expansion slot
P/
the la
without
slot unde
memory 'on
systems is probcl
M.E.S. have used ?
icofl I I
matures
a
apest way
a is
re Ip
>lugs
tures a
ird from
ist way to
[gh capacity
'compromising
underneath the
memory 'on/off
tension systems is
l 500. M.E.S. have used
To help keep costs down
plugs into the expansion
F3:ures a useful expansion
aTTPfrom memory expansion
fst way to expand your A500.
opacity dynamic rams to help
keep costs down without compromising quality. The card plugs
into the expansion slot underneath the keyboard, and features a
useful expansion memory 'on/off switch. The 512k card from
memory expansion systems is probably the cheapest way to
Dept AC
■REVIEW!
Steve Rackley looks at Project Master
and comes up with a cheaper solution
D URING idle moments I’ve often
wondered about the usefulness
of management tools. Do they serve a
purpose beyond keeping managers
busy and giving them something to
justify expensive hardware on their
desks?
Project Master splits a job into
stages. You give the system your
estimates as to how long each step
will take. You then add estimates for
the cost of each step and the
resources needed. Some steps may be
concurrent, so that if you have
sufficient resources the steps can be
carried out simultaneously.
The system calculates total time
taken, total costs and resources. It can
also calculate critical paths, the tasks
which must be finished before the
project as a whole can proceed any
further.
Then by entering real data as it
becomes available, for example how
long a step took or how much a
certain resource actually cost - often
nothing like the estimate - the system
updates its totals and revises the
overall timescale to take account of
late or early (ha ha!) completion of
the tasks. It’s this copious re-entry of
data that makes a project management
system’s data entry facilities so
critical.
Project Master’s features include the
ability to produce time, cost and
resource charts giving a graphical
representation of the duration and
cost of each task, with statistics such
as critical and maximum paths,
progress and cumulative costs
including percentages of estimates.
I NITIAL data entry is laborious;
keeping everything up to date is
almost as bad. Project Master works
happily with incomplete data, giving
you as much information as it can
from the input provided, but that is
no excuse for the poor design of the
data entry stage.
Charts can be printed and plain
reports produced. Resource charts are
an easy way to highlight idle
resources or show' up overlap caused
by allocating the same workers to two
concurrent tasks. Project Master
doesn’t warn of this sort of thing
automatically - it allowed me to
allocate one person to three
concurrent tasks, spending all of his
working week on each of them.
Compared to similar offerings on
the PC, Project Master doesn’t seem to
offer anything special, but does lack
some features found on more
expensive products, such as the
ability to specify the extent of a
resource’s availability.
I’m not a project manager, but I
know a man who is. In his opinion
perhaps the single most important
feature of his expensive PC software
is its ability to set up a “resource
pool’’, which is independent from any
project and includes individual
calendars.
When holidays are booked, they are
entered and reflected in all future
calculations. The lack of such features
relegates Project Master to the
amateur scale, which in turn casts
doubt upon its entire worth.
I work in a large office where
several software projects are always
under way at once. Although most of
the managers have tried tools such as
►
August 1981) AMIGA COMPUTING 45
■REVIEW!
◄
this, they generally give up on them
as being more trouble than they’re
worth. An exception is one colleague
who is using a package costing
around £1,000 to control several large
interrelated projects involving dozens
of people and other factors over a
two-year period. I’d hate to try that
with Project Master.
If this kind of software is to earn its
keep, it has to be easy to use. I’m
afraid Project Master just isn’t,
although it seems so at first sight. It’s
very well presented, it multi-tasks
beautifully, and it is fairly well
documented. But this type of software
stands or falls on its ease of input.
Project Master falls. Dates must be
input with separating hyphens.
Rates of pay can only be given as a
whole number of pounds or dollars
per hour, which could give some
pretty large discrepancies on a major
project. I found that going back to
look at a previous task in the middle
of entering a new one lost half the
data in the new task.
I’ve got a better project
management aid. It’s called pencil
and paper.
REPORT CARD
Project Master
Brown VVagh 0101 408 395 3838
$195
EASE OF USE ill I 1 1 1 1 1 I I 1 1 I I I
Input is of great importance, and it just
isn 7 up to a professional standard.
SPEED I I I I I I I I II I I 11 1 I
Really needs a hard disc. Hardly the
software’s fault, but still relevant.
VALUE IJ.I-LU 1 II 1 1 1 III 1
As these things go. it’s reasonably
priced, but its quality reflects this.
While any attempt to produce Amiga
software aimed at corporates is
laudable, this is a disappointment.
k - j! . . ....
m m
nm STATISTICS
Softvart.PLN S<
■
The lack of powerful
features relegates
Project Master to the
amateur scale, which
in turn casts doubt
upon its entire worth
DISCOUNT SOFTWARE
FOR THE AMIGA
GAMES:
Archipelagos £16.95
Balance of Power 1 990 £1 7.95
Blood Money £16.95
Colossus Chess £16.95
Dragon Ninja £18.95
Galdregons Domain £13.95
Gunship £16.95
Hawkeye £13.95
KickOff £13.95
Lancelot £14.95
Lombard RAC Rally £15.95
Lords of the Rising Sun £19.95
Millenium 2.2 £18.95
PopuluS £18.95
Running Man £18.95
S.D.I £18.95
Super Hang On £16.95
Test Drive 2 - The Duel £18.95
War in Middle Earth £15.95
BOOKS:
Elementary Amiga Basic £14.95
Kickstart Guide £12.95
Amiga Tricks & Tips £12.95
Advanced Amiga Basic £16.95
Amiga for Beginners £10.95
Amiga Machine Language £12.95
Amiga Microsoft Basic £18.45
Basic Inside & Out £18.95
The C Language ...£23.95
PHILIPS COLOUR MONITOR CM8833
with stereo sound
OUR PRICE £229.95
WORD PROCESSING;
Protext V4.2 Latest Version £64.95
Kind Words 2 £39.95
Microtext £15.95
S PREADS H EE TS;
Home Accounts (by Digita) £20.95
Digicalc £26.95
KSpread II £49.95
Maxiplan 500 £89.95
Personal Tax Planner £29.95
GRAPHICS;
Deluxe Pamt 3 £59.95
Digi Pam: £41.95
Photon Paint 2 £68.95
P R OG RA M M ING;
Hisoft Basic (includes extra book) £59.95
Hisoft DevpacV.2 £39.95
K-Seka £34.95
Metacomco Pascal £68.95
DATABASES;
K Data £34.95
Microbase £15.95
Omega file £18.95
SO-LLNP;
Amas Midi/Sampler £74.95
Adrum £29.95
Aegis Sonix £44.95
EDUCATIONAL;
each has 8 games
Fun School 2 2*6 years £13.95
Fun School 2 6*8 years £13.95
Fun School 2 8-12 years £13.95
ACCESSORIES;
Mouse Mat £3.95
Amiga Keyboard Cover £3.95
Amiga to Centronics F. nt Lead £6.95
Quickshot Turbo Joystick £10.95
3.5 Head Cleaner £5.95
Comp Pro 5000 Joystick £12.95
A500 Ram Expansion (inc. Clock) £139.95
PRINTERS;
All printers listed have a ten inch (AA) carnage, are Epson
compatible, and feature friction and tractor feed mecha-
nisms for continuous or single sheet paper. All prices
include the necessary cable
PANASONIC KXP-1081 New Low Price
Offers all the draft mode text sizes of the Epson FX com-
patibles and offers N.L.Q. in all sizes and effects. Well built.
very reliable, highly recommended £159.95
STAR LC-10
As well built and reliable as the Panasonic. Has four N.L.Q.
fonts (typefaces), in combination with all sizes and effects.
New low prices makes it well worth considering £195.95
STAR LC-10 COLOUR
All the features of the LC-10. but with a seven colour option.
Uses the Epson JX80 printer driver from Workbench ♦
others £249.95
STAR LC 24-10
24 pin version of the LC-10. Has 5 excellent letter quality
fonts available with all sizes and effects. Two extra effects,
outline and shadow are also featured.
Good value D39.95
j DISCS:
Bulk 3.5 Discs 10 off
£9.95
Bulk 3.5 Discs 20 off
£18.95
Sony Branded Box of 10
£15.95
All goods offered subject to availability. All prices include VAT & Delivery. Overseas orders welcome. Please write for prices.
Callers welcome; Monday to Friday 9.30 to 5.00. Saturday 10.00 to 4.00. Please send cheques/POs to:
Proprietor; M. J. Cooper M.J.C. SUPPLIES (AMG)
40a QUEEN STREET, HITCHIN, HERTS. SG4 9TS
Tel: (0462) 421415/32897/420874 for Enquiries/Credit Card Orders
46 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1989
[ ^.^eofGuafi^^S challenge
• Code Boxes: Disc?* to tra ^l
1 ?J' ster y machine arith metic
'^:A ti „,, ch ^/ T 6 ™* g fo d . s
• r ^dy% M o, e C °^rf 0/
• lVr *e Jl >0m: 'd??, erirn '
• Co/ 0 * fetter. A? ">tr 0
W" 6 '.' " - Which spying »'
Sh oPP' &re: ? un auction to
MathS !fe Hunt: ,ntr ns with ang
Treasure fo grips * , a ,jng
Tre „re" Get to 9 ' jg S selati
Caterp' ,,ar L
Number ju
Now children can really have fun while learning,
Fun School 2, designed by a team of education-
alists, is available for three age groups: Under-
Fu ” School 2 fn
6s, 6-8 year olds and 0ver-8s. Each pack comes
with eight colourful and exciting programs, a
colourful button badge and detailed instructions
giving educational help.
The computer itself monitors the child's
progress. The skill level - initially set by parents
- is automatically adjusted to suit the child's
ability.
Now children can enjoy using their parents'
computer while they learn at their own pace.
Available for:
Spectrum, Commodore 64,
Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro/Electron
£ 9.95 (tape) £ 12.95 (disc).
Also: Atari ST, Amiga, PC £19.95
(PC version released in June)
DATABASE
F.DUCATIONA 1 .
SOFTWARE
Format
Under-6s
6-8 years
0ver-8s
Tape
Disc
Tape
Disc
Tape
Disc
Spectrum
9094
9095
9096
9097
9098
9099
Commodore 64
9064
9065
9066
9067
9068
9069
Amstrad CPC
6179
6180
6181
6182
6183
6184
BBC Micro/Electron
2239
2242
2245
BBC B+/Master 40T
2240
2243
2249
BBC B+/Master 80T
2241
2244
2250
Atari ST
9192
9193
9194
Amiga
9842
9843
9844
PC 5.25"
5764
5765
5766
PC 3.5"
5767
5768
5769
Send to: Database Direct, FREEPOST,
Ellesmere Port, South Wirral L65 3EB.
Access/ Visa orders: Tel: 051-357 2961
Please supply Fun School 2 for the code
number(s) circled
□ Cheque payable to Database Software
□ Please debit my Access/Visa card no.
I I I I I Mill I I L-l— I Mill
Expiry date 1 / I
Signed
Add £2 per program Europe & Eire/£5 Overseas
Name
Address-
Postcode.
AMC8
I switch Trained Assai
° n y ° ur Ami
Pop the cover disc i
for i’h^u, a / ew sec °‘
or the Workbench ft;
double click on the CDo
lcon - When ,he di
window has " °
double dick on^H
t*44M4
Trained Assassii
DIGITAL Magic Software
has pulled off a real coup. Its
first two games releases have
won Amiga Computing
Excellence awards. And
when we first saw Trained
Assassin, we knew we
wanted this game for our
debut cover disc.
The folks at Digital Magic
Software chose to give you
level four, the Chasm of
Skulls. It’s got flying
eyeballs, leaping protozoa
and tracker tumours - a level
not for the weak of stomach.
Even our most hardened
games reviewer almost lost
his lunch.
Shoot the eyeballs for
points before they jump out
of their sockets. Pick up the
extra weapons, but watch
out for the relentless scrol-
ing - you might get
squashed.
As a budding assassin you
need to know how to make
the most of the weapons. The
attract mode screen descri-
bes some of them. It also
advises you to press Help for
extra descriptions. Don’t
bother, the second page isn’t
included in this version.
All the weapons autofire.
There is no need to set the
48 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1989
„ A “autt
1989
first cover disc
M p
U T
I N
G
<*ur
UT tmfs<
0 load
S*"tch o
switch on your joystick, just
hold down the fire button.
You can’t turn and shoot.
This is so you can floe and
fire.
Remember to let go of the
trigger if you want to flip
round or shoot in another
direction. Once you have
some of the more powerful
weapons, the way you are
facing becomes very
important.
If you need to take a trip to
the bathroom or rest an
aching index finger, hit the
D»sl
ctf
,kSaW
IS
run
from
or
Shett
and
in
s\mp^ c f\ ^nVskCopy
used
the
very
0 /
m
uch
tike
Dis*
DiskSalv
Del key to pause. If you are
doing so badly you are
ashamed of the score, press
Esc to quit.
Because of the way the
program has been
compressed to save space on
the disc, vou may have prob-
lems loading it on an
unexpanded 512k machine if
you have a second drive
plugged in or if you have run
another program first. The
remedy is simple: Switch off,
unplug any memory hungry
peripherals, switch on and
try again.
IJIJJJ7
WHOLE GAME
THE trouble with playing
one level of Trained
Assassin is that half-an-
hour later you want to
play another. Don’t panic!
We’ve thought of that.
So sure are we that
you’ll want more of this
mindless mayhem which
scored 15/15 for game-
play that we’ve got our
mail order boys and girls
to stock up on the full
version.
And as a special treat
for Amiga Computing
readers, we’re knocking a
fiver off the the retail
price, which means you
can pick up this coin-op
quality game for under
£20. Check out Page 52
for full details.
DiskSalv VI. 40 Copyright (c) 1989 by Dave Haynie
Salvage FROM Device DFO: TO Path DF1 :
DEVICE
s
trackdisk. device
(DFO:)
UNIT
s
0
FLAGS
= 0
HEADS
=
2
SECTORS
= 11
LOCYL
=
0
HICYL
= 79
L0BL0CK
=
0
HIBL0CK
= 1759
RESERVED
s
2
MEHTYPE
= 3
ROOT BLOCK
=
880
DISK SIZE
= 1760
Scan Range: START 2, STOP 1759, Expecting Standard FlleSystem
Should I continue [Y]
Figure I: The first step to a healthy disc
DISKSALV is a program
designed by Dave Haynie of
Commodore US to salvage
any files and directories from
a damaged AmigaDos file
system device - hard or
floppy - to a good one.
This is version 1.40 - the
very latest update which
works with the AmigaDos
Fast File System (FFS). It
fixes all the bugs found in
previous versions.
To recover files from a bad
disc in DFO: and restore them
to a good disk in DF1: you
would type:
disksalv FROM df 0: TO dfl:
The FROM and TO key-
words are optional if the
input and output devices are
kept in that order. In use,
DiskSalv will immediately
print to the screen the detail
shown in Figure I.
At this point, pressing
Return will start the recovery
process, pressing N followed
by Return will abort.
There are quite a few
options in DiskSalv that will
modify in various ways the
recovery action, including
ASK, which allows the disc
salvage to proceed inter-
actively instead of auto-
matically. You will be
prompted at each file or
directory.
Entering Y will recover
that file or move into that
directory. A reply of N will
skip that item. Replying ?
will list all the valid options.
Typing A will recover
everything left at the current
directory level, U will skip
everything left at the current
directory level and Q will
quit the program completely.
Full details of the program,
the options and the error
messages are included on
the disc in the file Disk-
Salv.doc. Double-click on
the icon and read the docu-
mentation before using the
program for the first time.
# IF you are not a sub-
scriber and your disc does
not work, please send it
to: Direct Disc Supplies
Ltd, Dept Amiga
Computing, Unit 19,
Tcddington Business
Park, Station Road, Tedd-
ington, TWll 9BQ. You
will be sent a new disc.
• IF you subscribe to
Amiga Computing and
your disc has been
damaged in the post,
please send it to: Database
Direct, Amiga Cover Disc,
FREEPOST, Ellesmere
Port, South VVirral L65
3EB. You will be sent a
new disc.
# IF you damage your
disc - for instance if the
dog has chewed it or your
mum has washed it - you
can get a new one by
sending £1.50 to: Direct
Disc Supplies Ltd making
your cheque or postal
order payable to Direct
Disc Supplies Ltd.
Now turn to next page
August WR9 AMIGA COMPUTING 49
What you'll find on our first cover disc
ONE of the most addictive
games ever released on 8 bit
machines was Thrust. Fancy
graphics were sacrificed to
make room for the best
gameplay this side of Tetris.
Many an addict found
himself playing through the
night, battling bravely
against the seemingly impos-
sible forces of gravity and
strategically placed gun
emplacements.
Imagine a 16 bit game with
that sort of playability but
with great graphics as well.
Raider is that game.
To load: Raider boot up
the cover disc, open
CD001 and double-click
on the Raider icon.
You can re-define the
playing keys to use either
joystick or mouse. Don’t
bother, the keyboard is the
only sensible way to play.
The default keys are:
Thrust
Fire
Shield/tractor
Rotate left
Rotate right
Pause
If those don’t suit, you can
re-define the keys to your
favourites. Don’t worry
about Vis, the visibility
torch, you won’t need it until
you buy the whole game.
Press P at the re-define
screen to enter a password
and go straight to the more
difficult second level. We’ll
leave you to discover the
identity of that four letter
word for yourselves.
As you use thrust, your
fuel decreases. The amount
you have on board is shown
at bottom left, the upper of
the two counters. Extra fuel
can be gained by picking up
the blue capsules with your
tractor beam. This is direc-
tional - you do not have to
be exactly over a capsule to
grab it. A warning siren will
sound when you are low on
fuel.
On the right-hand side of
the status panel, the middle
light (green) remains lit for
as long as fuel capsules are
available on the current
planet.
The bottom, orange light
remains lit while the end-of-
level bonus is still available.
If you successfully
complete the first level the
password to the second will
be given to you.
The mission consists of
collecting green cogs which
are hidden from you at the
start of each level by a cun-
ning cloaking device.
Let gravity do all the work
- only use fuel when you
have to. You should rarely
have to thrust downwards.
Don’t shoot the fuel
capsules, but blast away at
everything else - ammo is
free. Be careful not to get too
close to something you are
shooting. You will die if you
are caught in the explosion.
To shoot a difficult gun
emplacement, drift into its
line with your shield on and
blast away.
Once you have blasted all
the bases, the top light of the
three - blue - will be lit let-
ting you know that the cog’s
cloaking device has been de-
activated.
You must hunt down the
cog, collect it with your trac-
tor beam and thrust away
from the planet to finish the
level. Pressing Esc in pause
DO you often copy software
on to floppies to take home
from work or for archival
purposes? Every once in a
while, do you find that errors found. To check a disc DiskChecker will print
something has been written type: statistics about the device
incorrectly to disc? Are you and then read through each
sick and tired of this? You DISKCHECKER sector on the disc. It will
are? Then you need Disk- I his program runs from a report any errors encoun-
Checker. ^LI or Shell. Io check a tered by error number.
This program, based on disc *yP e: DiskChecker j n addition, if the error is a
DiskSalv and written by C. [option] <device-name> valid Trackdisk.Device error,
Harald Koch of Toronto ear- where device-name is the the program will print a
Her this year, will read every name of a disc device - descriptive error message,
sector on a hard or floppy DFO:, FFO:, DHO:, RAD:, There are two options: -q
disc, reporting any read and so on. (a hyphen followed by lower
case Q) performs the check
quietly and only reports
errors encountered.
The second option, -v (a
hyphen followed by low-
ercase V) performs the check
verbosely displaying data
about every sector checked.
So to check a disc quietly in
the internal drive, type:
The program will abort if
50 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1989
with no extra memory nwv
ox peri once d i ffi cutties
running it if u second disc
drive is fitted or if another
program has been run before
Raider. If the program hangs
with a blank screen remove
the disc, switch off, wait 20
seconds and try again.
|JJJ£
WHOLE GAME
After completing this
demonstration version of |
Raider, you’ll want to get
your hands on the real
thing - the other 38 levels
which scored 15/15 for
graphics and caused our
reviewer to comment:
“The graphics used to
define the various planets
and moons are won-
derfully drawn and
smoothly scrolled in all
directions. Every new
landscape is a joy to look
at and explore”.
Never fear, mail order is
here. Turn to page 52 to
read full details of how to
get hold of Raider for just
£14.95.
WE are looking for original contri-
butions for the Amiga Computing
cover disc. If you think something you
have written or drawn is good enough
to share with everybody else who reads
the magazine, send it along and we will
have a look. If we like what we see, it
could earn you up to £1,000.
Please let us know if your submiss-
ion needs any files from the
Workbench disc. Programs which use
the Amiga’s built-in speech can be par-
ticularly greedy in this respect.
If your program is clickable from
Workbench, feel free to design an
original icon. In fact, we’ll pay small
amounts for good icons, even if there is
no program attached. But don’t make
them too big. And please use the stand-
ard Workbench colours.
Bear in mind that a program which
does not run on a 512k machine would
have to be exceptionally good to make
it on to the disc.
Please enclose this coupon, or a
photocopy of it, with your submission.
Include a file on the disc with full
documentation, your name, address,
phone number and a few details about
you and your kit. Don’t forget to
duplicate on the disc label the program
name, your name, address and phone
number. If you want your disc back,
enclose the correct amount in stamps.
Name....
Address,
Age years
Daytime phone after.. ..am
Evening phone after.. ..pm
Submission name
Submission size bytes in total
NOTE: We will accept submissions up to 500k in total length, including
documentation. But the shorter your submission, the better chance it stands
of getting on to the disc. If it is a compiled program, include all the source
code, but do not count this in the size of the submission.
Write a brief description of your submission below. If it consists of more
than one file, describe what each file is for. Attach an extra sheet of paper to
this form if necessary:
you type Ctrl-C or Ctrl-D.
DiskChecker tries to make
certain sanity checks about
devices. It will not let you
check CON:, for example.
However, these checks are
far from perfect. You will
crash your machine if you
try to check SER:, PAR: or
PRT:. Make sure the device
statistics printed look
reasonable before pro-
ceeding.
DiskChecker does what it
says, and will only check
discs, not Amiga devices.
Sign this declaration:
The stuff on this disc is mine. I didn’t nick it off someone else. It hasn’t been
published before and I haven’t submitted it elsewhere because I want
Amiga Computing to publish it.
Signed Date
Post your submission to: Jeff Walker, Amiga Computing, North House,
78-84 Ongar Road, Brentwood, CM15 9BG.
Trained
Assassin
TO ORDER
PLEASE USE
THE FORM
ON PAGE 95
This blockbuster combines the best
features of some of the most popular games
ever to have appeared on the Amiga.
It features five action-packed levels with
different varieties of scrolling and
gameplay, with the fifth level guaranteed
to raise your joystick's temperature by a
few degrees (if not your own).
"Trained Assassin is of a standard that
could probably survive unaltered in a real
arcade - few games
could manage that. " -
Stewart Russell,
Amiga Computing. I £19.95
RRP £24.95
Our Price
52 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1989
Disc bargains!
Send for the full version of the great games on this
month's Amiga Computing cover disc - and SAVE £10!
Skill and determination are the qualities
you'll need in vast amounts if you're
going to fully master this game.
Your mission consists of collecting
pods by hovering above them and
switching on your tractor beam,
but all the time you have to take
into account the effects of intertia
and gravity, controlling your ship
as smoothly as possible - to avoid
colliding with the planet below.
"The graphics are wonderfully
drawn and smoothly scrolled in all
directions. Every landscape is a
joy to look at and
explore... delicate,
addictive gameplay. "
- John Kennedy,
Amiga Computing.
RRP £19.95
Our Price
£14.95
Money for
nothing
Pssst, want a free plug for your
PD club? Fat Angus’s fourth
floor office is the best
place to find one
it’s got to be worth another
paragraph.
Remember when digitised music
first appeared on the Amiga and we
all went Fheeeeewwwwww corrrrrrr
I j I* ***** |^ **★* an( j a j| th a t? Nowadays
it all sounds similar, uses the same
samples and has that infuriating
electronic drumkit that Kraftwerk
threw out in the ‘seventies.
17 Bit 323 uses all those predictable
digitised delights that are apt to make
us yawn but young Sixsmith, the
Programmer/Compiler, has welded
them together in a rather pleasant six
minute rendition of something by
Vangelis. The accompanying
slideshow is simple but effective. The
overall effect is slightly stunning.
Arghhhh, I’ve done it again.
Slightly stunning. As you read this,
think of the poor old sub editor,
whose job it is to remove nonsensical
drivel such as “slightly stunning’*
from this article. I’m sure that as he
►
M Y guru is busy meditating but
while he was away doing
grinding-halts to my machine I
received a package from a cheeky
chap who reckons he can find his
way into Amiga Computing on the
merits of his work. A cunning ploy to
slip past the armed guard in the
lobby, abseil up the stairwell and
arrive at Angus’s linen cupboard in
the fourth floor washroom.
David French, or David French
Software as he prefers to be known, is
one of the growing band of speedboat
drivers who realise that at the age of
13 there is more to life than
modelling life jackets.
Swapping throttle and surf for
Amiga and mouse, he’s tied up his
powerboat and left the swell of the
ocean for the smell of the keyboard.
Not content with sending me discs
which make good drinks coasters, he
sent me a swatch of newsletters
wrought from his own fair nine pins.
Taking the discs in reverse order
(scsid eht) there’s a collection of virus
killers, including the very useful
VirusX and the pretty but not too
delicate Blizzard. With the Prat
Quotient on the increase, it’s not
enough to set the write-protect tab on
the disc. Everyone must have some
sort of virus protection.
The disc autoboots to a choice
screen. It’s here that I may fall out
with young French. He’s included
that damn awful progette that makes
the screen undulate as if you’re
looking through rippling water. It’s
OK for a minute or so but there’s no
room for it on a serious collection of
virus fettlers.
The second disc is a collection of
PD utilities, 600k of them trawled
from other discs and assembled as a
sort of general purpose disc dabbler’s
toolkit.
Hiding on the third and penultimate
coaster is a wee beastie by the name
of Diskmaker. Frenchie describes this
as “a minor utility by myself that runs
from Dos and prepares discs for
booting’’. At present this only works
for rich people, but a version for
single drives is imminent.
The final disc will have to wait
until another day for its international
debut because I’ve used one hot cup
too many on it and it’s gone to that
great random access in the sky. The
newsletters are informative hints and
tips written in a zingy and easy to
read style. Their style and content
leads me to believe that we’ll be
hearing more from David French.
M ARTIN at 17 Bit must get
Angus’s award for turning
out the largest amount of quality PD
the quickest. I can’t remember
whether I’ve burbled about 17 Bit
Disc 323 before, but even if I have,
August 1989 AMIGA COMPUTING 53
WIN
this solid sii
Grail, worth £,
in the exciting
for the Holy t
competition,
details in ever
Inside every box there’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 competition.
ravel back to the
:•! Age °f Chivalry when
knights were
knights were bold,
galloping across the countryside
and rescuing damsels in distress.
Level 9 recreate the time of
wizards and the Knights of the
Round Table in their greatest
adventure yet. Lancelot consists of
three interlinked adventures, spanning
the complete saga from the foundation
of the Order to its finest hour - the quest for
the Holy Grail.
Guide Lancelot through his many exploits at
Camelot, battle with wayward knights, and win the
love of Guinever and Elaine.
The challenge which has fascinated treasure hunters
through the centuries is now yours - and you’ll need all
Level 9
a
Hi
i
F T WA R
Please send me the following Lancelot (tick the format you require):
* Text only
£14.95
T
ape
c
)isc
Atari XL/XE
7063*
Llz^d
Amstrad CPC
6171 *
Apple II
1062*
BBC Master
2192
Commodore 64
9003*
9004
MSX 64k
9093*
Spectrum
9091 *
£19.95
Disc
Atari ST
9155
Commodore Amiga
9522
Amstrad CPC/PCW/
Spectrum Plus 3
6172
IBM PC and Compatibles
5724
Macintosh
1053
Tape versions come
with three cassettes
In every package
Dealers: Ring Diane O'Brien on 0625 878888 for
your free Mandarin Software Information pack
□ I enclose a cheque for £ (including VAT
and p&p) made payable to Mandarin Software
□ Please debit my AccessAflsa card no:
I I I I I I I I I I Mill I I I II
Expiry date: /
Signature:
Name:
Address:
Postcode
SEND TO:
Database Direct, Freepost, Ellesmere Port,
South Wirral L65 3EB. Tel: 051-357 2961
AMC8
◄
arrived at it he drooled with
anticipation and pulled out the blue
pencil. Alas for him, I’ve gone on to
tell you what he should do.
If you’re reading this and there isn’t
a reference to “slightly stunning” two
paragraphs back, then the sub editor
has deleted it without reading the rest
of this. Have him taken out and shot.
The Starship Enterprise leaving the
spacedock demo on 17 Bit 329 has
lost some of its sparkle, which brings
me to a valid point. If I'd wanted a
machine that gave me pretty pictures
and sound, I’d have bought a video
recorder. For a couple of hundred
pounds it will run animation and
sound for four hours. I mean, it’s nice
to see the Amiga stretched to its
capabilities, but if a Film company
were to put four shots of the
Enterprise leaving a dock in space on
a video, we’d consign it to the bin.
Mind you, I got a buzz from
watching Arthur Fairclough (three
doors up the hill on the left) drop his
jaw in amazement and head off to the
local paper to put in the following
classified ad: FOR SALE. Atari STFM.
Only 2 weeks old. Still in box.
Unwanted gift.
That’s all very well, and at least it
got Arthur a decent computer, but 1
still feel that demos of this sort have
to be looked on as a consumable that
may only be watched a few times and
then either consigned to the disc box
or reformatted.
F OLLOWING John Kennedy’s
advice in the Basic series last
month, I decided to look to the
chocolate digestive as an alternative
data storage medium. But although
it’s a good standby, the constraints of
a single sided 178k format is too
restricting for my purposes. So I
delved deeper.
I’ve found that chocolate Hob Nobs
will format to about 440k, but again
they are only single sided. My finest
result was to use a Burton’s Wagon
Wheel as a 20 meg removable hard
disc, taking advantage of the alternate
layers of chocolate, marshmallow and
biscuit to distinguish the different
plattens. Only problem there is that it
needs to be kept cool or your
Fred records a gold fish disc
programs all run together.
Less of the frivolity and back to the
serious stuff.
Public domain software is arriving
so thick and fast that it would need a
magazine all to itself to cover
everything. It is easy to keep on
looking for the new stuff and forget
the old, so every month I’m going to
blow off the cobwebs and tackle a
couple of golden oldies.
And where better to start than with
a goldfish. There are two ways to get
a goldfish - win one at a fairground
or send Fred Fish some money. I
chose the latter, and for a mere five
US dollars each plus five dollars
postage, Fred sent me some goldfish.
Goldfish discs are selected popular
goodies from the Fish collection put
on to a compilation disc. On the
original discs Fred usually includes
the source code but on the goldfish
you get just the program and
documentation.
This saves a lot of space and makes
for a disc absolutely crammed with
buckets of programs. The
documentation has a note saying
which Fish disc has the original and
therefore the source code, thus
making a reasonable compromise.
First into the deep fat fryer was
Goldfish 1, a collection of games and
things. It has the ever present Triclops
and Gravity Wars plus a directory
called Cutestuff which contains a few
of those silly little progettes that make
Workbench misbehave.
There is the one that tilts the
screen, the other one that makes the
windows bounce around the screen
and a nasty little varmint that causes
the screen to become like a slightly
out of tune TV with a snowy effect.
Goldfish 2 is a tidge more serious
with C-Shell and a few other straight
faced programs. There are a couple of
PD comms utilities as well, but
despite its permanent frown, it’s still
good value.
Sitting next to a portion of chips is
Goldfish 3 with its zillions of neatly
ordered utility progs. SunMouse,
DiskSalv, IconType, ID Handler
DropShadow and about umpteen
more make this one a contender for
the most crowded disc of the year.
You can read more about DiskSalv on
the cover disc pages because we’ve
given you the latest version on the
front cover this month.
Y orkshire has 7,943 telephone
boxes. And if Datameg of
Canada succeeds, each one of those
will have a universal socket
connector. Undergoing trials in
Ontario at present, the connector is a
simple addition to any payphone
allowing direct connection to a
modem.
Designed by Mick Saunders, it was
a product of necessity. Mick lived in a
college house where the only line was
a payphone. No more installations
were possible, so he made
modifications to it.
It worked fine and Mick was able
to download from his favourite PD
bulletin boards. His cousin Eileen
brought a diagram home to the UK,
and with some changes to voltage it
has been working in a phone box in
West Yorkshire since April. The price
is to be set at £12.50. Ho-hum, if you
had a hundred grand to spend you
►
August WHS AM Id A COMPUTING 55
◄
could do the other 7,942 boxes and
still have enough left to buy an
Amiga, a good monitor and some
software.
Good old Vic West, the Calor Gas
Man. He came round with yet another
pearl of wisdom last week. “I won’t
come in,” he said. With all these
viruses about, you can’t be too
careful.”
“It’s OK, we haven’t been ill,” 1
said.
“No, no, not you,” he whispered.
“It’s your computer I’m worried
about. I wouldn’t want my BBC Micro
to catch anything off your Amiga.”
Still, I suppose I can’t expect any
more from a guy who savs that the
BBC implementation of Elite is the
best.
Importers beware. As well as
rumours of a new tax on software
any program you import from abroad
attracts vat at the standard rate of 15
per cent. I was leafing through some
Stateside mags and saw what looked
to be a bargain.
After I’d added postage both ways,
the price of packaging, the loss of
funds in the exchange rate and the
dreaded vat, it would have cost me
£16 more and taken a month longer
to get. The Romans used to say caveat
emptor. For the benefit of those who
only use living languages it means:
Buyer beware.
This column wouldn’t be complete
without a word about quilted
anoraks. I was taken to task for my
shoddy treatment of train spotters last
month. One reader invited me to
stand on the end of the platform with
a bunch of his friends and savour the
delights of waiting for 13200, the first
of the English Electric type 4s. to
steam past.
“How can a Diesel steam past?” I
asked.
“Don’t be pedantic,” I was told by
WHERE IN THE WORLD?
David French Software, Gateacre,
Devon Road, Salcombe, TQ8 8HQ.
(Tel 0548 842965).
Fred Fish, 1346 West 10th Place,
Tempe, Arizona 85281, USA. (Tel
0101 602 894 6881).
17 Bit Software, PO Box 97,
Wakefield, WFl 1XX. (Tel 0924
366982).
Trevor. He’s one of Ralph’s friends.
Sheesh! Three and a half hours
waiting in a Nor Easterly gale to be
told by a leering BR employee that it
was diverted by the Settle-Carlisle line
and was now cosy and warm in
Palmadie shed.
Still, Ralph’s mum’s homemade
vegetable soup from the thermos
made up for the cold and all those
quilted anoraks. I never saw anyone
wear one with the pixie hood up
before.
v.v^w^w.v.v.v.w
PUBLIC APOLOGY
M.D. Office Supplies would like to take this opportunity to apologise to all its
competitors. We shall with immediate effect supply direct to the public.
Computer discs. Storage boxes, etc. AT BELOW WHOLESALE PRICES
5k 5.25" DISCS & BOXES 0
25 5.25* DS-DD 96 TPI with 50 Capacity Lockable Storage Box £12.49
50 5.25* DS-DD 96 TPI with 100 Capacity Lockable Storage Box £18.49
75 5.25* DS-DD 96 TPI with 100 Capacity Lockable Storage Box £23.49
100 5.25* DS-DD 96 TPI with 100 Capacity Lockable Storage Box £29.49
200 5.25* DS-DD 96 TPI with 2 100 Capacity Lockable Storage Boxes £54.99
OUR 5.25* DISCS ARE VERY CAREFULLY SELECTED TO GIVE YOU 100%
ERROR FREE PERFORMANCE. EACH DISC IS OFFERED WITH OUR 100%
MONEY BACK GUARANTEE AND IS SUPPLIED WITH LABELS
3 % 3.5" DISCS & BOXES 3 %
25 3.5* DS-DD 135 TPI with 40 Capacity Lockable Storage Box £22.95
35 3.5* DS-DD 135 TPI with 80 Capacity Lockable Storage Box £31 .95
45 3.5* DS-DD 135 TPI with 80 Capacity Lockable Storage Box £37.95
55 3.5* DS-DD 135 TPI with 80 Capacity Lockable Storage Box £44.95
65 3.5* DS-DD 135 TPI with 80 Capacity Lockable Storage Box £49.95
75 3.5* DS-DD 135 TPI with 80 Capacity Lockable Storage Box £54.95
OUR 3.5* DISCS ARE VERY CAREFULLY SELECTED TO GIVE YOU 100% ERROR
FREE PERFORMANCE. EACH DISC IS OFFERED WITH OUR 100% MONEY
BACK GUARANTEE AND IS SUPPLIED WITH LABELS
HIGH DENSITY 5.25" DISCS
25 5 25* DSHD 1.6MB plus 50 BOX £21 99
50 5.25* DS HD 16MB plus 100 BOX £41.99
100 5 25* DSHD 1.6MB plus 100 BOX £69 99
HIGH DENSITY 3.5" DISCS
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30 DSHD 3 5* DISCS £57 99
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MAiV.W.V.V.V/.'.V.W,
■HARDWARE!
M OTOROLA chips are rather
remarkable in the computing
world insofar as they are very
compatible. The least powerful
member in the family is the 68008, as
used in the QL. This was hampered
by an 8 bit address bus and only
really took off in the control
mechanisms for washing machines.
The 68000, which we all know and
love, has a 24 bit address bus and 16
bit internal registers. That is, it can
move data internally 16 bits at a time.
It works at a clock rate of 7.16MHz -
a respectable rate of knots - but there
is always room for improvement.
The model up from the 68000 is the
68010, which is slightly faster because
it has an internal ram cache. Here the
processor remembers the last couple
of bytes it was looking at and a few
bytes on either side for good measure.
After completing execution of an
instruction it checks to see whether or
not it can use the data held in its ram
instead of reading the slower main
memory. If it can, the operation is
much faster, since no external
accessing has to be carried out.
The 68020 goes one step further
because it is a 32 bit processor. This
sounds wonderful until you realise
that the processor needs two cycles of
the 7.16MHz clock to read the data
from the Amiga’s 16 bit ram into its
registers. The Animate Turbo Board
counters this problem by upping the
clock rate to a whoppingly fast
14MHz.
Unfortunately - isn’t there always
an unfortunately? - the rest of the
custom chips in the Amiga will still
chug along at 7MHz, limited by the
speed the processor can get the
operating system data from the roms.
The nett result is that when you
switch the computer on you won’t
notice the difference.
The other important chip which
you can fit to the Animate Turbo
Board is the 68881 maths co-
processor. This shares the data and
addresses buses with the processor
and whenever it sees a maths
instruction go by it says: “Hold on, I
can do that one!” and tells the
processor the answer. Because it
works at the upped cycle rate of
14MHz, the chip is very fast. The co-
processor is now supported in the
libraries supplied with the latest (1.3)
version of Workbench, which means
any C or assembler programs you
write can take full advantage.
Fitting the board on an A500 First
involves removing the outer case and
waving bye-bye to the warranty. The
►
Undercover
operation
John Kennedy lifts the lid on a 68020 for the A500
August 1989 AMIGA COMPUTING 57
■HARDWARE!
FLOATING POINT
68020/68881
68000
10000 functions
256000 functions
4.7 secs
48 secs
17.5 secs
150 secs
SAVAGE TEST
68020/68881
68000
2500 iterations
0.46 secs
59.6 secs
SIEVE TEST
68020/68881
68000
100 iterations
27.2 secs
45.72 secs
WHETSTONE TEST
35.82 secs
213.06 secs
Timings of the demonstration software - all very r impressive, Tm sure
◄
outer case is held in place with half-a-
dozen small screws with Allen key
heads. These are easily removed with
a pair of long-nosed pliers - or the
correct official Commodore tool - and
the case lifts off to reveal the large
metal RF shield. More screws hold
this in place. Removing the shield
will allow access to the unsuspecting
68000.
Taking out a large chip is always a
heart-in-the mouth process, especially
as the First time it is removed the fit is
very tight, causing that horrible noise
which sounds like something very
valuable being slowly broken.
Once the 68000 is removed the new
board can be inserted into the vacant
socket. This is where the First
problem becomes apparent because
pressing the board home can displace
a small capacitor mounted nearby. In
my case it didn’t break off, although it
was a very close thing. The second
problem comes to light after the
board is fitted - there is no longer
room for the metal shielding, leaving
no choice but to reassemble the
computer without it.
Powering up revealed a black
screen. This was a tense moment. A
thorough investigation traced the
problem to the power supply plug
which had not been inserted properly
into the socket.
S UPPLIED with the board is a
disc of software which
demonstrates the speed of the new
system. These timings are reproduced
in Figure I, while Figure II shows the
times taken to produce a ray-traced
coffee cup with Sculpt Animate 4D.
Using the board from AmigaBasic
reveals some interesting results. Of
four programs written for testing
purposes, dealing with floating point
operations, integer operations, string
operations and graphics, only the
floating point program showed any
signs of a speed increase, and then
only a touch faster. If the programs
were compiled with Hisoft Basic,
which uses the 1.3 maths libraries,
the difference would have been
greater. AmigaBasic uses its own
routines which ignore the 68881
(curse you Microsoft).
Other programs actually ran slower
by a very small amount, probably due
to the increase in processing speed
being absorbed by the need to access
ram twice as often. Other accelerator
boards solve this problem by
supplying a healthy quantity of 32 bit
ram - usually at least 2 meg. This is
why other accelerator boards cost
several times as much as the Animate
Turbo Board.
A very worrying point is that some
software, including LED Storm, will
not run with the 68020 processor in
place. Fitting the board is definitely
something you want to do as little as
possible. Having to remove it to run
certain programs is a serious no-no. It
is academic whether this was caused
by illegal code on the part of the
programmer or as a consequence of
the internal, ram cache of the 68020 -
the software did not run and needed
the 68000 refitting before it would.
W HEN money is no object and
a heavily maths-dependant
piece of programming is needed, this
board will do the job nicely. When
using software such as Sculpt-4D, the
speed increase is considerable.
However, when using AmigaBasic
the program will usually run slightly
slower than if it was using the good
old 68000. Programs must make
special use of the maths libraries to
effect any speed increase.
To an average programmer like
myself the Animate Turbo Board is
nice, but too expensive to be
worthwhile. The money would be
better spent on a hard disc.
REPORT CARD
Animate 68020/68881 Turbo Board
£498
Amiga Centre Scotland 031-557 4242
EASE OF USE I I I I I 1 I..I.J 1 I I 1 111
A very worrying point is that some
software, typically a good game, will
not run with the 68020 in place.
SOFTWARE —
Supplied with the board is a disc of
software which demonstrates the speed
of the new system.
SPEED I I I I I 1 II I I I I I I 1 I
Programs must make special use of the
new maths libraries to effect any
increase in speed.
VALUE I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
Too expensive to be worthwhile.
OVERALL 53%
The money would be better spent on a
hard disc.
MODE
68020/68881
68000
Speed-up
Painting
12.4 secs
25 . 1 secs
202.4%
Scan! i ne
painting
34.3 secs
62.2 secs
181.3%
Snapshot
903.2 secs
2416.6 secs
267.6%
Some real results using the board with Sculpt Animate 4D. The
times are those taken to produce a full image of a coffee cup
58 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1989
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August 198!) AMIGA COMPUTING 59
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60 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1089
■ WORD PROCESSING!
imperfect
E DITORS are one of those things
we all argue over. Like
languages they all have their good
and bad points; like languages there
are those who love their editors, and
loathe all others.
TR TextEd is different. Nobody will
love it. It falls untidily between light
modification editors like
ED and the power editors like
MicroEmacs.
It comes on one disc, which does
not have Workbench installed on it
silly, because Commodore has gone
out of its way to make that as easy
and cheap as possible. There is no
excuse for not having it as the disc is
only half full.
Once you have booted Workbench
and opened the TR TextEd disc you
can load the program. Click the icon,
and up it pops. Kerpow. It decides
that your Workbench colours aren’t
up to scratch, and sets its own. There
isn’t a good reason for changing the
colours, as it runs on the Workbench
screen. It’s just done to annoy you.
You are now running. The first
thing I usually do is hit the Help key.
TR TextEd says in the bottom left of
its window: “Help is active”. You see,
this is a help system which now
wants you to press a key or make a
menu selection. No index or menu of
functions.
On its own this kind of Help is
practically useless. Of course TR
TextEd surpasses itself when you
press a key because then it asks for
disc volume HELP.
And where is HELP? It’s a
directory on the TR TextEd disc, and
you’ll have to get a CLI up and do a
“Assign Help: DFl:Help”, and then
you’ll get Help. I hope you are
following all this, because the novice
user won’t.
The final indignity in the system
appears if you resize the TR TextEd
window. Make it smaller than 73
columns and Help ceases to work
because it doesn’t pop up it’s own
August 1989 AMIGA COMPUTING 61
■ WORD PROCESSING*
◄
window, but uses the edit one, which
is formatted to - you guessed - 73
columns per line.
So after being irritated by the Help
system, on to edit a file. Select Edit
File in the menu, and up pops a
requester. No, not a file request like
practically every other Amiga
product, just an Enter a Hie name
requester. Unforgivable. File
requesters aren’t hard to write, and
there are plenty of editor requesters
which you can duplicate in function.
But there you go.
C ATALOGUING misfeatures goes
on. Mouse positioning? Only on
the current screen, and no scroll bars,
and you can’t double click to mark
start and end of block.
Status lines? Two, one at the top
telling you the usual bits, like Line,
Column, Insert Mode, if Search is
case sensitive, the Ascii value of the
character you are on and how big
your line buffer is. Then at the bottom
of the window two lines are wasted
telling you what your right hand
margin is set to when there’s space up
on the top line.
Cut and Paste? Apart from the
confusion of options, it turns out that
you can only do this on complete
lines, so no snipping that function out
of that bit of C code. Crude is not the
word for it.
It keeps on in this vein. The fonts
option which will only use non-
proportional 8 point fonts unless it’s
its own deformed 8 point font.
Eventually you’ll get to the keyboard
layout. All the functions which aren’t
on the menus are on the function
keys, with combinations of Shift Alt
and Ctrl. Lovely and easy to program,
especially as you can’t reconfigure
them.
The more I played with TR TextEd
the more irritated I became with it.
The manual, a demonstration of why
you must never let the programmer
write the manual, says the author had
18 years of working with mainframe,
mini and micro editors. He must have
used some damnably weird and
hideously cut-down editors to
produce this one.
I can’t recommend TR TextEd. The
version I had was V3.0, and quite
honestly, if it’s taken this long to get
to this, it’s going to be a long while
before it becomes a worthwhile
editor. You get better (ED and
MicroEmacs) on your Workbench
discs, and much better editors are
available commercially.
REPORT CARD
TR TextEd
HB Marketing 0895 444433
£29.95
EASE OF USE LI I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
There are always people who buy
things out of masochism. If you do,
you 'll like this one. Quite a lot.
speed him ii mi mn
Lovers of the cack-handed user
interface will rejoice in complicated
fixed function key combinations.
Does anyone want to buy my copy?
OVERALL 7%
A generous score for a program with
absolutely no redeeming features.
S.O.O. IV! AIL ORDER
AMIGA HARDWARE
SOFTWARE
Amiga 500 From £359 99
Amiga 50(yi084S £614 99
A1010 Disk Drive £99 99
A1084S £259 99
A501 Ram
Expansion/Clock £134 99
A520 Modulator £24 99
A590 20 Mb Hard Dnve Ring
Vortex 40Mb Hard Dnve £544 9 9
CUMANA
1Mb 3 5* Dnve
£89 99
1Mb 3 5' Drive ♦
PSU
... £116 99
1Mb 5 25' Dnve
£121.99
1Mb 5 25* Dnve ♦
PSU
£133 99
Benchmark
SOFTWARE
Woro Processing
Spreadsheets
1
fWkpr TpxI
P101 00
Dmicalc
£29 65
Pvrpllonro
f 148 25
K-Spread 2
£44 45
CaUCIICiPLC .
Kind Words 2
£42 00
Maxiplan A500
£80 85
Micro Text
£14 80
Maxiplan Plus
£121.25
Protext
£74 00
Superplan
£74 00
Devpac 2 £44 45
GFA Basic £48.15
Hisoft Basic £59 30
Lattice C V5 £178 25 Aeg.s
Lattice C** £3T ft ™
Utilities
£33 65
Desk Top Publishing
Pretext Filer £18 50
Protexl Office £25 90
Pro Wnte V2 0 £75 80
Text Pro £42 00
Transcnpt £33 65 ‘
Word Perfect V4 1 £192 80
Wnle & File £74 00
Diskwick
Databases
Acquisition VI 3
£209 95
Data Retneve
£40 40
Micro Base
£14 80
Microfiche Filer
£67 35
Microfiche Plus
£117.90
Superbase Personal
£44 4 5
Superbase Personal 2
£74 00
Superbase Prof
£185 30
C.A.D.
Aegis Draw 2000
. £188.95
IntroCAD
£50.50
Pro Board
£14320
Pro Net
£143 20
GOMFV3 0 „..
I 1 G0MF Button
(Languages/Ass. /Compilers! Grabbit
Interchange
Absott AC Basic £164 30 K-Gadget
Absott AC Fortran £248 50 Lions Fonts
APL 68000 £99 95 Mailshot
A-Rexx £33 65 Mailshot Plus
Project D
£33 65
Quarterback
£42 00
Studio Fonts
£25.25
Superback
£44 35
The Calligrapher
£75 80
Transformer
£26 25
X-Coov
£25 25
| Arts/Graphics/Animation |
Aegis Ammagic
£58 90
Aegis
Animator/Images
£87 20
Aegis Impact
£53 30
Aegis LC Action 1
£48 45
Aegis Modeler 3D
£58 95
Aegis
Videoscape 3D
£121.00
Aegis Video Titler
£93 00
Cormc Setter
£42 00
Come Setter Clip Art
£16.80
Deluxe Art Parts
£8 40
Deluxe Paint II
£42 00
Deluxe Paint III
£67 35
Deluxe Photolab
£58 95
Deluxe Print II
£42 00
Deluxe Productions
£11790
Deluxe Video
£58 95
Design 3D
. £67 35
DigiPamt
£33 65
Express Paint
£58.95
Fantavision
£35 00
Icon Paint
£1300
Movie setter
. . £67.35
Page Ffcpper ♦ F/X
£80 85
Photon Paint
£51 85
Photon Paint 2
£66 70
Photon Paint
Exp. Disk
£14.80
Photon Paint
Cell Arem
..... £80.85
Photon Vid
Trans Cont
£161 70
Pixmate
Pnntmaster Plus
Pnsm Plus
Professional Draw
Pro Video CGI
Pro Video Plus
£42 00
£40 40
£50 50
£11790
£134 75
£210 55
Sculpt 3D
Sculp: 3D Animate
Sculp: 4D
£68 80
£10045
RING
Spntz
£40 40
The Director
The Directors Toolkit
Turbo Silver
£50 50
£25 25
£117 90
Turbo Silver Terrain
TV Show
£1680
£75 80
TV Text
£75 80
'Future Design £2100
'Human Design £2100
'Intenor Design £2100
'Microbot Design £21 00
Music
Aegi
Deli
luxe Music
£58 95
£48 45
£58 95
Dynamic Drums RING
Dynamic Studio RING
Hot n’ Cool Jazz £8 40
Instant Music £21 00
Please ring for prices/availability on any hardware/software/peripherals not listed. (Full price list on request)
X CAD
£387.50
Please make cheques/postal orders payable to SCC MAIL ORDER. A I prices are inclusive of V.A.T.
All software delivered free (UK only) Hardwara'Peripheral Carriage rates on request
ALL PRICES CORRECT AT TIME OF GOING TO PRESS All items subject to availability.
S.C.C. MAIL ORDER
29 Crowtree Road, Sunderland SRI 3JU. Telephone: 091 565 5756
Music studio £18 50
Music X Ring
Opusl £84 20
Pro Midi Plus £28 30
Pro Midi Studio £117 90
Rock n 1 Roll £8 40
Sound Oasis £117 90
Studio Magic £58 95
Synthia £79 95
Ultimate
Sound Tracker £29 65
| Communications 1
A Talk III £67 35
BBS PC £10100
Ruby Comm £83 40
1 Educational ~]
AB Zoo £11 oo
Aesop s Fables £21 00
Animal Kingdom £33 65
Chicken Little £21 00
ConSoundT ration £26 90
Decimal Dungeon £33 65
Descartes £25 25
Designasaurus £35 00
First Shapes £26 90
Fun School 2 £14 80
Galileo £48 50
Goldilocks £21 00
Intellitype £21 00
Kid Talk £26 90
Utile Red Hen £21 00
Match-lt £26 90
Math-A-Magcian . £33 65
Math-A-Mation £58 95
Math Talk £26 90
Math Talk Fractions £26 90
The Ugly Duckling £21 00
Three Little Pigs £21 00
Bundles
Cntics Choice £126 30
Publishers Choice £84 20
The Works ...... £86 25
The Works
Platinum £162 75
62 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1969
Lombard
See the drive^teer^nc^^t
smoothly through e*rh of th ^
Dhve aown tw,sty lanes ™ "
srnncredible 3 D view nf tho
WfZ77
'****lG
J P ° r repair your car at i
well-equipped workshop
iny Screenshots from Ar m
1*1
IS
m
a
Five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . . one . . . CO!
Your 300bhp Ford Group A Sierra Cosworth roars away from the
starting tine, skidding round hairpin bends, as you speed through
unfamiliar, ever<hanging terrain ...in a race where every fraction of a
second counts !
Lombard RAC Rally recreates all the excitement of the world-famous
rally - with the help of RAC drivers who guarantee its authenticity.
Complete the five stages - down winding tracks, through verdant
forests and over precarious mountain ranges - with the additional
hazards of night driving and fog.
Repair damage and add new features to your car in the workshop,
and earn money for spares by taking part in a TV interview.
This is the official simulation of a lifetime ... will your skills measure up
to the challenge?
• Inside every box: A detailed 16-page booklet containing a
history of the rally and technical specification of the Cosworth, 15
maps to help you plot out your course, and a colourful sticker to
commemorate your participation In the rally.
SOFT WA R E
in association with
'Totally addictive ...a breath of fresh air' - Atari ST User, January '89
' Thoroughly engrossing . . . highly recommended. . . the best controls I've
encountered in any computer race game' - Computer and Video
Games, January '89
'The definitive racing game . . . Overall 95%' - Computer Gamesweek,
November 5-15, 1988
'An absolute must? -SJ Action, January '89
Please send me Lombard/RAC Rally for:
□ Atari ST □ Amiga □ PC (5
191571 196291 ( 5728 )
□ I enclose a cheque for £24.95
made payable to Mandarin Software
□ Please debit my AccessA/isa number:
Signed—
Name
Address.
Postcode
Database Direct, FREEPOST. Ellesmere Port , South Wlrral, L65 3EB
Tel: 051-357 2961. Postage: Add £2 Europe/Overseas £5
AMC 8
□ PC (3'/2")
( 5729 )
Expiry date
/
II I I I I
I
I
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I
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I
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W RITING for a computer
magazine is not all it’s
cracked up to be, especially when the
editor plonks a lump of hardware on
your already overcrowded desk and
requests 1.200 words by Friday. No
sweat.
Then you remember the magazine
has reviewed three similar lumps of
hardware in the past six months and
you are expected to find something
new to say. Words flow like cold
treacle. Ah, the joys of computer
journalism.
Luckily for me the Vortex System
2000 has a lot to offer over and above
the features of your bog standard
Amiga hard drive. For a start, it’s not
just for the Amiga. It comes in two
bits - the 40 meg drive, a stylish grey-
white metal box about 9in square by
2.5in deep, and something called a
Personality Module.
The Vortex Personality Module
makes it possible to fit the System
2000 hard drive unit to any number
of computers. Modules are* currently
available for the Amstrad PCW. PC
and PPG ranges, the Schneider kuro
PC. the PS2 Model 20 and other IBM
compatibles plus, of course, one
module for both the A500 and A1000.
Before you gut excited, this doesn’t
mean you can remove vour formatted
Amiga System 2000 hard drive, attach
it to the Personality Module on your
PC and immediately start reading and
writing to it. You have to reformat it
first, losing all your data.
But it does mean that if you decide
to change your computer system, a
tried and trusted hard drive is jiist a
£195 Personality Module away. It's
probably a feature we loyal Amigans
will never use, but it’s nice to know
it’s there.
Inside the paperback-sized module
is the Vortex developed Amiga BIOS
cprom. It gives the System 2000 some
pretty amazing autoboot facilities.
If you haven't upgraded to the
Kickstart 1.3 rom vet, don’t bother -
this box of tricks will do what
Commodore says can't he done: It
will autoboot from Kickstart 1.2 and
Kickstart 1.3. It will also autoboot
from a Workbench 1.3 FastFileSystem
partition. With a typical Startup-
Sequence you can expect to be up
and running in under 10 seconds.
M IRACLKS have to be paid for.
To autoboot from KS1.2,
about 100k of memory needs to be
reserved for the system. With the four
64 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1989
■ HARDWARE!
If we told you that we know of
a 40 meg hard disc which
autoboots in under 10 seconds
from Kickstart 1.2 or 1.3, you'd
probably tell us to pull the
other one. But Jeff Walker
discovered that the Vortex
System 2000 is all that it
claims to be
Sijigjijg l
V ^
n : '■ '■
5 , *
> 1
% y
</4te
default 10 meg partitions grabbing
about 30k each, this doesn’t leave
much elbow room on a vanilla A500.
Depending on what you are doing in
your Startup-Sequence, you’ll only
have about 200.000 bytes free after
loading Workbench - nowhere near
enough to do any serious computing.
If you have a KS1.3 machine, the
System 2000 doesn’t need that 100k
so you’re left with around 300k free,
which is perhaps just enough to run
one application. Multi-tasking? Unless
they are very small programs, forget
it.
So you’re going to need more
memory, which - as long as you have
the cash - isn't a problem. 512k in the
A500 trapdoor will do to start with.
It’s what I used to review the system.
If you want to fit more, the
Personality Module has a through
connector on to which you can push
a 2 meg expansion.
Having been brought up like a
good boy to believe that it was
impossible for a bard drive to
autoboot from KS1.2, 1 was interested
in finding out how Vortex had
worked this miracle. The West
German company is insistent that it
hasn’t broken any rules. “We’ve
patched Workbench." is the official
line. And indeed, below the (c)
Commodore et al bumpf on the
supplied Workbench disc is Vortex’s
own copyright message.
Commodore technoboffins have
their own theories as to how the
System 2000 works. Randell Jesup,
programmer of the A590’s
HDToolbox, reckons that “drives
which autoboot under KS1.2 take
advantage of the diagnostic vector
used for testing the. machines in
production. It works, but is not
recommended in general".
1 can confirm that it does work. In
fact it works very well. Over a period
of two months the System 2000 has
done me proud. It has not fallen
down and l have yet to find a
program that won’t run with the hard
drive plugged in.
This doesn’t mean every program
ever written is going to run. although
Vortex says that if any software does
not work with the Personality Module
attached, it’s because that software is
breaking the rules, not the System
2000.
Nevertheless an option is at this
moment being added to cut out the
August 1989 AMIGA COMPUTING 85
Opening up the Personality Module reveals the ABIOS chip which drives the System 2000
The non-standard hard drive port has been developed
by Vortex to give high data transfer rates
◄
hard drive on boot-up. Holding down
the left mouse button while the
system is initialising will prevent the
Personality Module from activating.
This has been included so that users
who are short on ram will be able to
run their larger programs without
having to remove hardware from the
expansion port. A little thought goes a
long way.
The software is good stuff, although
if you’re not a meddler you’ll have
little use for anything except the
public domain hard disc backup
program. This is because Ideal
Hardware of Surrey, Vortex’s
distributor in this country, supplies
the System 2000 ready formatted and
partitioned with the contents of the
Workbench 1.3 already copied across.
It really is a case of plug it in, switch
on, and go.
Plugging it all in could be a
problem if you are short of space. A
sturdy cable runs between the
Personality Module and the hard
drive, but it is only a couple of feet in
length. Much longer and the drive
would suffer read/write errors. This
means the drive unit has to be
positioned either directly to the left of
or behind and to the left of your
A500.
I have one of those split level tables
that has a shelf above the main table
on which to plonk a monitor. The
System 2000’s lead is just long
enough to allow it to sit up there.
I’m a meddler. I like turning knobs,
pushing buttons and typing
commands just to see what happens.
The first thing I do when I get my
hands on a hard drive is fiddle with
the partitions. Usually it’s a real pain,
even when you know what you’re
doing. Vortex has made altering the
System 2000’s default partitioning
dead simple.
You run a program on the
installation disc called Part. It
presents you with some information
66 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1989
■HARDWARE!
on how the partitions are currently set
up, and then asks five questions
about how you want your new first
partition to look. It gives intelligent
defaults. The only question you need
to think about is length. The figure
right shows my responses to set up a
single 40 meg partition - all 803
cylinders under one roof.
Following the partitioning process,
which is over in seconds, you have to
format them - or it in my case. This
involves re-booting from the
Workbench disc, opening a Shell and
using the normal AmigaDos Format
command specifying the FFS option
to get the FastFileSystem format and
QUICK so you don’t have to wait an
hour for playtime.
All that’s left to do is copy the
entire contents of the Vortex
Workbench disc over to the hard
drive and away you go. Literally five
minutes after starting the process it’s
finished and done with. Painless.
M ore good news: Vortex is
making the setting-up process
even more user-friendly. It is being
re-written to be totally icon driven.
Ideal Hardware says the new software
should be ready about September.
You will be able to upgrade if you
buy a system with the old software.
One of the things you normally
have to do when setting up a hard
drive is add the partition details to the
Mountlist file in the Devs: directory.
Not with the System 2000 you don’t.
It comes with a file called Vmountlist
which the system reads along with
Mountlist on startup. Neat.
But to make roses smell sweet you
generally need a bit of quality dung.
The System 2000 has a real stinker.
There are two ports on the Personality
Module, the back one for plugging
the System 2000 into, the front one
originally intended for piggy-backing
another hard drive. But the ports are
not SCSI, and the piggy-back option
isn’t available.
The front port instead serves as the
correct hole to plug the lead into if
you are fitting the unit to an Al,000.
So if you’re looking to stack up a
couple of hundred megs of hard
storage, you’ll have to look elsewhere.
German manuals rarely translate
well into English, and the one I got
with the System 2000 is no exception.
Because of the excellent software,
however, the manual was only
needed to convince me I was pressing
PART for System 2000 on the . Commodore Amiga
(c) 1988/89 vortex Compute rsysteme GmbH
The harddisk has 4 heads, 26 sectors per track and 803 cylinders
and has a capacity of 40.8 MB
Existing partitions:
1 .Partition:
2. Partition:
System 2000 Ins
StartCyl = 1
Length = 200
FastFileSystem
3. Partition:
System 2000 Ins
StartCyl = 201
Length = 200
FastFI leSystem
4. Partition:
System 2000 Ins
StartCyl = 401
Length = 200
FastFileSystem
System 2000 Ins
StartCyl = 601
Length = 202
FastFI leSystem
Please enter new partition data
Abort entry with <End> <RETURN>
Taking over the defaults with <RETURN>
The first Partition should beglnn with cylinder 1,
the lower cylinders are reserved for the harddisk and
partition data ! !
One cylinder equals a capacity of 52.0 KByte
Startcyl inder: 1
Length: 802
Log. Name: DHO
Name: HardO
FastFileSystem? y
Startcyl Inder: End
The partitioning
program is the
picture of user-
friendliness.
Soon it will be
totally icon
driven
the correct keys at the correct times.
Not to worry though, it has been re-
written to make more sense.
In a way this is a shame, because
there are a couple of screamers in the
original. I may have the only hard
drive in the world which has a
backside.
T alking of backsides, in the rear
of the manual is an appendix
containing C listings and details of
how to call the Vortex driver from
your own software. Techies will need
this, because instead of using the
Amiga’s Trackdisc. Device this hard
drive is driven by the System 2000’s
custom Vortex. Device. The associated
.H and .1 files are on the installation
disc.
This kind of documentation is a bit
heavy for me, but no doubt
programmers will be glad of it and
will understand every word.
In use the System 2000 has a good
feel to it. It’s quick and solidly built. I
liked it. In fact I like it so much I
bought it. Pingpong dor technik and
all that.
REPORT CARD
Vortex System 2000
Ideal Hardware 01-390 1211
£573.85
EASE OF USE I 1 I I I II I II I I I I I I
Plug it in, switch it on and away you
go. No setting up needed, but easy -
and fun - to change things if you ’re a
born meddler.
SOFTWARE I I I I I I II II I 1 I 1 1 I
Extremely user friendly. A lot of
thought has gone into it and it is being
continually upgraded. The addition of a
PD backup utility is a nice thought.
SPEED I I I I I I I I I I 1 I I I I 1
Hard drives are getting quicker all the
time. Being able to autoboot from a
WBi.3 FastFileSystem partition makes
this the one to beat for speed.
VALUE I I I I I I I I 1 1 1 I 1 II I
Although almost £200 more than the
CBM A 590, the Vortex System 2000 is
faster, has twice the storage capacity
and autoboots from KS1.2 or 1.3.
OVERALL 92%
Except for the lack of a piggyback
option, the System 2000 is hard to
fault. Most users will find 40 megs
more than adequate for their needs.
August 1989 AMIGA COMPUTING 67
All prices include VAT /delivery
SPECIAL OFFER AMIGA PACK
All-new special Amiga 500
★ Amiga 500 computer
★ TV Modulator
★ Mouse & Mouse mat
★ Joystick
★ Zynaps
★ Return of the Jedi
★ Custodian
★ Powerplay
pack includes the following:
★ Mercenary
★ Eliminator
★ Hellbent
★ Bubble Ghost
★ and 1 extra game free,
while stocks last!
★ plus 5 disks of
public domain software
All this for only £399.00!
Amiga 500, including TV modulator £359.00
A501 RAM /clock expansion for Amiga 500 £129.00
Pye 15" FST TV/Monitor model no. 11 85, Inc. Amiga cable £269.00
ITT CP3228 16.5" FST TV/Monitor with remote control & cable £229.00
Philips CM 8833 colour monitor suitable for Amiga 500 £229.00
Philips CM8852 monitor as above, but higher resolution £259.00
Philips TV Tuner AV7300. use with any composite monitors £74.95
X-Copy powerful new disk copier £27.95
Word Perfect £149.95
Superbase Personal £69.00
Superbase Professional £179.00
A500 Dust Cover £4.95
vortex system 2000 hard disks
Now available - Vortex ‘System 2000’ hard disks, offering versatile
high-capacity storage, suitable for use with the Amiga 500 and Amiga
1000. The units are of a high specification, with a formatted capacity of
over 42Mb and an average access time of 45Ms. The system consists of
a hard disk base unit, cables and an Amiga interface module, with utilities
software including an autoboot facility and a hard disk backup utility.
System 2000 40Mb Hard Disk package .". £529.00
All prices include VAT/delivery & cable
Hugely su
9 pin printer, the
Sta? LC10 provides 4 NLQ fonts (with
96 print combinations) at 36cps and
144cps draft. Has a large 4K buffer
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.
Wc use and recommend Star printers
since they oiler an unbeatable com-
bination ol leaturcs. print quality,
reliability and value. Make the sensi-
ble decision - qel il right with a Star
printer at our special, all in. prices.
Only £189.00
Colour version also available,
Only £239.00
Prices include 2 extra
black ribbons free of charge.
Star LC24-10 feature-packed multifont 24pin printer £319.00
Star SF-10DJ / DK cut sheet feeder for LC-10 / LC24-10 £64.95
Star NB24-10 24 pin printer 216/72 cps,
including cut sheet feeder and 2 extra ribbons £499.00
Stan NX-15 good value wide carriage 9 pin printer £329.00
Panasonic KXP1081 reliable 9pin 10" printer 120/24 cps £169.00
Panasonic KXP1180 super new 9pin multifont 11.7" carriage £199.00
Panasonic KXP1124 good quality new multifont 24pln £319.00
Panasonic KXP-37 cut sheet feeder for KXP1 180 £95.00
Panasonic KXP-36 cut sheet feeder for KXP1 124 £109.00
Epson LX800 popular 9 pin 10" 180/25 cps £199.00
Epson LQ500 24 pin 10" 150/50 cps £319.00
Epson EPX-200 cut sheet feeder for LX800 / LQ500 £74.95
NEC P2200 budget 24 pin 168/56cps £319.00
Citizen 120D budget 9pin 10" 120cps £139.00
Citizen HQP-45 bargain value wido carriage 24pln £399.00
Mannosmann-Tally MT-81 9 pin 130/24cps £149.00
3.5" EXTERNAL DRIVES
using Citizen drive mechanisms
• Suits Amiga 500 or Amiga 1000
• Top quality Citizen drive mechanism
• On / Off switch on rear of drive
• Throughport connector
• One megabyte unformatted capacity
• Slimline design
• Very quiet
• Long cable for location either
side of computer
• Full 12 months guarantee
Ultra low price!
£ 74.95
inc.VAT and
delivery
Now available - Our New
Low-cost 5.25" External
Floppy Disk Drives
We are now supplying the new, good quality
RF542C 5.25" floppy drive compatible with
the Amiga. Quiet in operation, the unit is
colour matched to the Amiga, and has a
throughport connector. The drive is capable
of a number of configurations including
40/80 track switching and 360/720K format,
giving full 'Transformer' compatibility.
Only
£114.95
including VAT
& delivery
3.5” Disks
How to order from
BzSlEinmZB
All prices include VAT and delivery. Ex|
press Courier delivery £5.00 extra.
10 Bulk packed DS/DD 3.5" disks
with labels, fully guaranteed £1 1.95
[><] Send cheque , Postal Order
or ACCESS/VISA card details
Evesham Micros Ltd
63 BRIDGE STREET
EVESHAM
WORCS WR11 4SF
© 0386-765500
fax 0386-765354
telex 333294
25 bulk disks as above £27.95
10 disks as above with plastic case £13.95
25 disks as above, with 40 capacity
lockable storage unit £34.95
Kodak DS/DD 3.5" disks, top quality
storage media. Box of 10 £17.95
S
n
Phone us with your
ACCESS or VISA
card details on :
S 0386-765500
Go\t, educ. & PLC orders welcome
Same day despafeh whenever possible
All goods subject to availability, E.&0.E.
Open to callers 6 days, 930-530
ill
\Also at: 1762 Persborc R<L, Cotteridge, Birmingham B30 3BH Tel: 021 ASS 4564 I
r,a AMIGA COMPUTING Aiiftust 1989
YOUR Amiga has a hard life,
regularly saving the universe
and your valuable data files,
indulging your artistic fantasies
with Deluxe Paint - and other
fantasies with Teenage Queen.
It is time your Amiga was
given a present, and the ideal
thing is a hard disc. The System
2000 drive from Ideal Hardware
is an amazing unit. It autoboots
under both 1.2 and 1.3 Kickstart,
runs incredibly quickly and
stores 40 meg of data. Supplied
complete with the easiest to use
utilities Amiga Computing has
seen, the System 2000 has
proved popular with many of
Britain's leading software
houses.
If you went into a shop and
bought a drive, a pretty sensible
thing to do - your Amiga will
love you for ever after, a System
2000 would cost you £573.85.
But you can win one without
paying a cent - 19p for a stamp
yes, a cent no.
In fact this is no measly one-
prize competition, the chaps at
Ideal Hardware being truly won-
derful human beings are offering
SIX System 2000 drives as
prizes. All you have to do to
stand a chance of winning one
of these is answer five simple
questions and send in the form
to us.
The ideal
HARD DISCS
1. Ideal Hardware import and
support the System 2000 hard
drives. Where are they based?
(A) Surrey
(B) Manchester
(C) Glasgow
2. The System 2000 uses a spe-
cial device which allows the
drive to be used with different
computers. What is this
device called?
(A) A SCSI interface
(B) A Personality Module
(C) Disc support unit
3. The hard disc, sometimes
called a Winchester, was
invented by
(A) Charles Babbage
(B) IBM
(C) Sir Clive Sinclair
4. The System 2000 was
designed by a company called
Vortex. Which country is
Vortex in?
(A) Germany
(B) England
(C) Canada
5. Which special file is used by
the Vortex System 2000?
(A) Vmountlist
(B) Startup-Sequence
(C) Narrator.device
Rules
(1) The first SIX correct entries opened in the
Amiga Computing office on September 1, 1989,
will win one of Vortex fabulous System 2000
hard disc drives.
(2) You may photocopy the form, but only one
entry is allowed per reader. Anyone found
entering more than once will have ALL entries
disqualified.
(3) Employees of Database Publications or their
associated companies may not enter.
(4) The editor's decision is final.
1 □
2 □
3 □
4 □
5 □
Name ....
Address
Postcode
Send to: Amiga Computing, North House,
78-84 Ongar Road, Brentwood, Essex CM15 9BG.
August 1989 AMIGA COMPUTING 69
I AGGEDNESS won’t do when
you’ve a quality publication to
1 . Just imagine if your Amiga
Computing was full of grainy
pictures. What do you mean, it’s like
that already? If it was, nobody would
take it seriously, or at least no more
seriously than it’s taken now. So the
difficulty of producing computer
artwork is in eliminating the inherent
pixellation.
Graphics on the Amiga are great as
far as they go, which admittedly is a
fair old distance. Like 99 per cent of
all known computers, Amy uses
raster scan graphics, allowing a large
number of colours in a high
resolution with a low memory
overhead. This produces lovely on-
screen effects, but when magnified
they can appear blocky. Unless you
use some very cunning smoothing
techniques, lines will appear jagged
when output to a printer.
In much the same way as the old
Asteroids machine worked, objects
can be defined on screen by a series
of points. No matter how much they
rotate or enlarge, they keep their
smoothness. This is not strictly
possible on the Amiga, not unless
someone has produced an advanced
vector scan graphics system for us
and hasn’t said anything. With
Professional Draw though, it’s the
output that is important.
ProDraw lives on two discs and is
accompanied by a 128 page manual.
It needs a meg and one drive
minimum. The program disc is
virtually a full Workbench 1.3
distribution disc, complete with all
the improved printer drivers.
UTPUT is either to a
Preferences graphics printer or
to a PostScript page printer.
PostScript, which was developed over
there by Adobe Systems, is a method
of describing objects on a page for
typesetting. Rather than being a
control code based system, it is an
English type language. Mid-range
laser printers speak it, as do vastly
expensive Linotronic 2400 dpi
machines. If you feel the urge tor a
Linotronic coming on, you’ll need
another couple of mortgages first - 70
biggies might buy you one, cable
extra.
Hiding behind an outrageously
large icon is the 270k main program.
Default display mode is interlaced, so
either change it pronto or don the
Polaroids to cut down the painful
flicker. The default mode is also the
most memory hungry because all
pictures are shown as Wysiwyg in
colour. The menu bar allows this to
be changed, plus the defaults can be
reset using Info’s Tool Types once
you’ve decided which settings suit
you.
The right-hand side of the screen
contains all the tools and gadgets that
ProDraw has to offer. Initially it may
seem quite limiting that there are only
six drawing and six editing tools, but
each is very versatile.
The Pen tool creates bezier curves
and straight lines. Beziers are defined
by two points and an initial curve
gradient, consequently a low drain on
ram. They are initially a real pain to
get right because their formation isn’t
naturally intuitive, but the smooth
curves produced once they have been
mastered are worth any amount of
What would you draw with an art program
that offers the finest quality your printer can
deliver? Stewart C. Russell drew a blank
watch i n
pain
diy
70 AMIGA COMPUTING, August 1080
■GRAPHICS!
cursing.
The Text tool can produce two
fonts, Times and Univers, from 24
point (third of an inch) to 144 point
(two inch) at any angle. Each
character is built up from a series of
beziers, so a full set takes up well
over 100k - very tight on a one meg
system.
Gold Disk really intends ProDraw
to be a companion program to its
Professional Page DTP package,
which handles fonts quite a bit better.
Still, the two typestyles are very plain,
and something like Gothic would
have been nice to see.
T HREE of the tools produce
pretty much what you’d expect
from their icons - Ellipse, Rectangle
and Rectangular Grid. The final tool,
Freehand Bezier, is a boon for people
who can’t draw curves smoothly. It
takes a curve traced by the pointer
and smooths it according to the
number of direction changes made.
This tool, when coupled with
ProDraw’s ability to import bitmaps
as tracing templates, allows artistic
no-hopers like me to produce
bearable artwork.
The bitmap is converted from a
multiplane, multicolour image into a
four grey-scaled representation the
width of the page. ProDraw doesn’t
seem to keep a copy of this reduced
form in ram on a one meg machine,
so zooms cause very lengthy recalc
periods. Sometimes the wait can seem
so long that AmigaDos 1.6 will be
released by the time it’s finished,
especially with a 32-colour bitmap.
Stick to two-colour or four-colour
bitmaps and all is sweetness and
light. Nearly.
T HE six editing tools are
immensely powerful,
occasionally at a price. Object-
described graphics take up a lot of
space, so many thousands of
relatively simple calculations need to
take place after every movement.
Objects, or groups of objects, can
be resized using a fairly speedy
process. If colour Wysiwyg mode is
selected the screen is redrawn a
couple of times, slowing affairs
down a tad. The Rotation tool
allows faultless rotations to
take place about a point.
►
A bitmap imported from a fractal scenery generator
Default
display
mode is
interlaced,
so either
change it
pronto or
don the
Polaroids
to cut
down the
painful
flicker
The right-hand side of the screen contains all the tools and gadgets
August WHU AMIGA COMPUTING 71
Probes a
r °f their
Vo'ur
gravity We/,
Euclidian Si
Patterns
n ° n( o disc
Pioneer Probe Mk IV - a self-replicating robotic spaceship
- is out of control , destroying all life as it travels from
planet to planet in the Starion Cluster. Your mission is to
stop the spread of the plague before it's too late.
• Drone flight patterns that you can program to soak up energy from the city below
• Carefully-designed instrument panel - to help you plan your strategy
• Your performance analysed to show your strengths and weaknesses
t Dazzling HAM-mode graphics: 4,096 on-screen colours
Eight-directional scrolling over a detailed cityscape
Stereo music score and digitised speech
acPk>»f ar 't 0Hr '
SOFT WA R E
In association with
Please send me Pioneer Plague for the Amiga.
~ I enclose a cheque for €24.95 made
payable to Mandarin Software
□ Please debit my Access/Visa number
i i i i n II I II i i I
SaFl
Europa House, Adlington Park,
Adlington, Macclesfield SK10 4NP.
Expiry date
/
9828^1
I
Signature .
Name
Address ..
Postcode
Send to: Database Direct, Freepost, Ellesmere Port,
South Wirral L65 3EB. Tel: 051-357 2961
^ Postage: Add €£ Europe/Overseas €5 AMC8J
■GRAPHICS!
◄
If there are many points - as in a font
character - the process is irritatingly,
though understandably, slow.
By far the most powerful editing
tool is Distortion. A selected group of
objects is enclosed in a rectangle,
which can be stretched and bent as
much as you want. A gentle touch of
the spacebar sets the Distort algorithm
churning into motion. Depending on
what mode you’re using, whether
there’s a bitmap template visible and
the number and complexity of the
objects, this process can be almost
instant or can take two to three
minutes. This is bad if you decide
that you need to tweak it a bit more -
another two-minute wait ensues.
The manual makes no mention of
the amount of calculation that is
going on in every edit. A little
paragraph would certainly not go
amiss to the effect that the user might
be a little more sympathetic to the
developer’s plight. But ProDraw is
touted as a professional package, and
in that respect should live up to it.
Even moving the Null pointer - the
basic system pointer - about the
screen produces momentary Zzzzs.
ProDraw needs its manual since so
many of the commands are not
immediately obvious. There is a good
tutorial section and a very good
condensed reference section in the
back for advanced users who can’t
quite remember how to access the
more obscure commands. Most of the
menu bar commands can be accessed
using Ctrl + key or Alt+kev
combinations, so muriphobes are well
catered for.
G RAPHICS packages may have
all the features in the world but
can be spoiled by an appalling front
end. ProDraw uses the standard
Intuition environment to a laudable
degree and the manual gives a very
good description of each of the tools
and gadgets. It might take a couple of
extended sessions to get it working
properly, but all the cursing and
head-scratching will be worthwhile.
One thing a professional package
should not do is Guru - sometimes
ProDraw runs out of ram and gives a
custom recoverable alert, sometimes it
meditates for no adequately explained
reason.
A major crime in the manual is that
it doesn’t tell you about the online
context sensitive help. This function,
PROFESSIONAL
DRAW
GOLD DISK
The Text tool can produce Times and Uni vers from 24 up to 144 point
accessed via the Help key, will
produce a useful screen of the options
currently open to the user and a brief
summary of what each does. You’ll
still need the manual, but it will save
shifting the pile of floppies which
forms over every open computer
manual.
Will ProDraw allow the artistically
inept to produce fabulous pictures?
The short answer has to be no. In the
same way a word processor does not
instantly bestow on the user the
literary skills of a great author,
ProDraw won’t put you in the
Salvador Dali league.
The program has extensive support
for clip art. Unfortunately only three
This dump was produced
by a 24 pin Epson LQ-500
clips come with the package, so
unless Gold Disk produces some clip
art discs, it’s build-your-own time.
This is easy enough to do, but a little
more help would be appreciated.
Friends could be won and people
influenced if Gold Disk expanded
this, and the fonts, section.
ProDraw’s most notable feature -
and the one which will sell it - is that
all illustrations are saved in
Encapsulated PostScript Format
(EPSF). Many “real” publishing
programs talk EPSF, such as Aldus
Pagemaker and Xerox Ventura
Publisher, neither of which have hit
the Amiga. PostScript handles colour
separation if your printer can, but it
will be of more use to those with a
phototypesetter.
Colours can be described using rgb
values or by yellow magenta cyan
(ymc, as used in printing) which can
either appear as a close
approximation of rgb or can be set to
the user’s preference. This allows
colours which are similar to be
discernably different on the screen.
Little touches like this show that
useful research went into the
planning.
If a printer can produce graphics,
ProDraw will probably support it. It
has the full complement of
Preferences 1.3 printer drivers plus all
►
August 1909 AMIGA COMPUTING 73
■GRAPHICS!
◄
the smoothing and dithering
parameters. Since my Linotronic 300
with raster processor and furry dice is
in for repair (cough) I had to make do
with my trusted though not altogether
fast Amstrad DMP2000 Epson
compatible.
Results were as good as can be
expected, and it certainly didn’t hang
around. This speed increase is
effected by ProDraw splitting the
image into horizontal strips,
translating from objects to bitmaps
and outputting the results via a
standard driver. The only slight glitch
here is that ProDraw doesn’t always
calculate the number of strips
correctly. So if it says five strips,
sometimes it really means six. This in
no way impairs the output, but is a
little disconcerting.
T HERE is nothing in the package
that doesn’t work in the way
that Gold Disk meant, it’s just that
some of them are unbearably slow. If
I was very forgiving I’d put all
ProDraw’s faults down to the fact that
the copy reviewed here is vl.O. Gold
Disk claims unlimited telephone
support and a newsletter, but the
economics of supplying them from
Ontario to the UK are likely to shy
away all but very rich people.
The program would certainly
benefit from at least two or three
megabytes of ram and possibly a co-
processor to speed up calculations.
Currently it runs at well under the
speed of the behemoth AutoCAD on
the utterly pedestrian PC. Those who
know how quickly AutoCAD redraws
the screen will feel a homecoming
with ProDraw.
It will happily import and export
pages from and to Gold Disk’s
ProPage, but only versions greater
than or equal to 1.2 because earlier
ones don’t support EPSF. The Amiga
has yet to gain full acceptance with
the DTP crowd, who currently seem
rather besotted with Macs.
With a bit of a rewrite to increase
the speed, and some more fonts, this
package could become a serious
contender and really merit its
“Professional” title. In its current
form, despite the relatively low price,
ProDraw is just too slow.
REPORT CARD
Professional Draw
HB Marketing
£139.95
EASE OF USE I I I I 1 I I M I I I I I I I
Good results need practice and lots of
thumbing the manual. Handy online
help. Capable of professional quality
colour separations.
SPEED [Hi l l ! I 1 I I 11 I II
Bring a pillow and a good book,
translations can take several minutes.
value miTmimirn
Worth it if you need high quality
output often, but too costly for the
occasional flvposter. Perhaps a little
cavalier with ram.
OVERALL 64%
Professional by name and by output
quality. Rewarding to use, but the
irrational snooze periods will annoy all
but the very' patient.
O M P U T I N G
Mail Order Offers
TO ORDER PLEASE USE THE FORM ON PAGE 95
Don't miss these
back issues
February 1989 issue
Shoot-em-up construction kit. New series on Basic and
machine code. Digita's Mailshot takes the pain out of
postage. Datel sampler sounds off, but a magic box will
make the Amiga sound much better. E-type - the typewriter
emulator - filed under WPB. A cheap but great modem from
Amstrad. K-Gadget - programmers’ friend or fiend? Best
Amiga toy yet - the Microtext teletext adaptor.
March 1989
Hisoft Basic Compiler undergoes a speed trial. Deluxe Print
shows its colours. A listing in C to scan a disc for IFF
pictures. Dragon's Lair review and play tips. Programming
functions in Basic. What went on at the Developers'
Conference in Germany. Max the Hacks shows how to win at
Rocket Ranger, Roger Rabbit, Out Run and Elite. Jez San
puts the official Commodore speed-up board through its
paces.
April 1989 issue
Big Screen Hero - we can't take our eyes off the monitor
with a 1008 x 1008 resolution. Triangle TV, the company
which married the Amiga to commercial video, tells its tale.
Gen up on genlocks - we look at the four main contenders.
Superplan, the businessman's menage-a-trois flexes its
muscles. Zoetrope, animation at a price. Amigas by accident
- we meet the Burocare think-tank.
May 1989 issue
Gold Disk's MovieSetter - cartoon capers on-screen. GFA
Basic roasted, The Amiga Show in the Big Apple. Prettier
icons with Icon Paint. Opus-1 plays specialist music. Learn
how to use functions from Basic and the Move command
from machine code. Sam Littlewood looks at the different
forms of ray tracing and rendering. TR Sketch dragged to the
trashcan. WordPerfect Library fares a little better. Plus a
mega collection of games including the earth-shattering
Populous and the truly cosmic Cosmic Pirate.
June 1989 issue
July 1989 issue
Exclusive review of Commodore A590. X-Cad designer, the
Amiga program which leaves AutoCad in the Shade.
Pagestream - quality DTP on a low budget. Essential tips on
how to make more room on your Workbench disc. Musical
scores ten out of ten with Dr. T's Copyist Professional.
Teaching is more important than Education, a look at
Amiga's in schools. Plus a packed games review section.
Deluxe Paint III - the number one art program gets better
with animation. Scorpion heads up the games. The
Aprodraw graphics tablet, using lines from Basic. Sculpt-
Animate 4D reviewed - a bargain at £400? The best of the
Public Domain and the CMI processor accelerator run
through its paces at 14MHz.
74 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1989
or
Public Domain Software
Mega Packs consist of 3 disks for only £6! fully inclusivel
♦ Mega Pack 1: Business Pack 1. word processor, database.
spreadsheet.
♦ Mega Pack 2: Communications Pack l. 3 disks full of
telecommunication software.
♦ Mega Pack 3: Graphics Pack 1. graphics packages and utilities.
♦ Mega Pack 4: Animation Pack 1. stunning graphic animation
demos.
♦ Mega Pack 5: Picture Pack 1. packed full of the best Amga
pictures.
♦ Mega Pack 6: Demo Pack 1. the most fabulous graphics and
sound.
♦ Mega Pack 7: Amiga Basic Pack 1. 3 disks full of Amiga Basic
programs.
♦ Mega Pack 8: Game Pack 1. adventures, board games and
shoot 'em ups.
♦ Mega Pack 9: Picture Pack 2. packed full of the best Amiga
pictures.
♦ Mega Pack 10: Demo Pack 2. the most fabulous graphics and
sound.
For our full catalogue of Amiga pubSc domain software send a medium sized stamped
self addressed envelope. Make checues and postal orders payable to*Purpia p.D.
Send Visa or Access card details to:
Purpla p.D. / Bartholomew Road. Bishop's Stortford. Herts. CM23 3TP
Telephone 0279 757692.
o^°
y&f
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EVERY MONTH
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Note to newsagent: Amiga Con. }putlng thou Id be
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All prices exclude VAT and de-
livery charges
E&OE all prices subject to
change without notice
All collections made by prior ar-
rangement from our warehouse
Pleaseadd £1 WAT forconsum-
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items for 3 working day delivery
AMIGA HARDWARE
A500 Complete .. 312.00
A500+TV Modulator 324.00
A500+£200 worth games 335.00
A500+1084S H/Res Col 520.00
A500-f Philips Med. Col 489.00
AMIGA ACCESSORIES
A501-512K Ram .. 113.00
TV Modulator 22.00
Mouse Mat 4.00
DATAPLEX DRIVES
1MB 3.5’ External Drive .... 68.00
1 Mb 3.5’ Internal Drive 63.00
2Mb 5.20’ Floppy Drive 106.00
DATAPLEX HARD DRIVES
20Mb Drive A500/1000. 476.00
30Mb Drive A500/1000 529.00
60Mb Drive A500/1000 910.00
20Mb Drive A2000 470.00
30Mb Drive A2000 779.00
Please ring for other capacity drives
PHILIPS MONITORS
CMB033 14’ RGB/CVBS Mon 189.00
BM7723 14’ Amber Monitor 89.00
CM8852 Hi Res Col Mon 249.00
PRINTERS
Amstrad LQ3500 Dl 244.00
Amstrad DMP4000 227.00
Amstrad LQ5000 Dl 329.00
Brother HR20 Daisywheel 318.00
Brother HR40 Daisywheel 688.00
Quendata DWP1 1 20 1 6cps 1 69.00
Canon PJ1 088 Inkjet Col 420.00
Dot Matrix Range
Citizen 1200 110.00
Citizen 180E 127.00
New 24pin Swift 24 255.00
Colour upgrade for Swift P.O.A.
Citizen MSP 15E 188.00
Citizen MSP 40 228.00
Citizen MSP 45 ...252.00
Citizen MSP 50 292.00
Citizen MSP 55 322.00
Citizen Premier 35 364.00
Citizen HOP 40 (last few) 295.00
Citizen HOP 45 (last few) 295.00
All Citizen printers come with 2 year warranty
Epson LX800 153.00
Epson FX850 ..
283.00
Epson FX1050
Epson EX800
377.00
425.00
Epson EX 1000
581.00
Epson LQ500
249.00
Epson LQ850
404.00
Epson LQ1050
542.00
Hewlett Packard
Thinkjet
265.00
Quietjet
343.00
Deslqet 443.00
Desk et ♦ 535.00
PaintJet 665.00
Ruaced Writer 865.00
All Hewlett Packard Printers come with 12
months onsite warranty
Star LC10 Mono 153.00
Star LC10 Colour 195.00
Star LC24-10 252.00
Seikosha SP180 9pin 80 col lOOcps F/T .. 105.00
Seikosha SP1200 9pin 80 col 120cps F/T 119.00
Seikosha S180 Al 80 col. 24 pin 224.00
NEC P2200 265.00
NEC P565XL 814.99
NEC P6+80 Character 414.00
NEC P7+136 Character 534.00
Colour Upgrade Kit 80.00
Panasonic KXP1 081 128.00
Panasonic KXP1124 249.00
Sheetfeeder 89.00
Panasonic KXP1180 165.00
Panasonic KXP1592 253.00
Panasonic KXP1595 344.00
Panasonic KXP1540 428.00
NEW Mannesmann Tally Launch Offer
MT81 (Dot Matrix) 110.00
Sheetfeeder 62.00
Serial l/F 62.00
NEW Colour Printer from Olivetti
The visible benefits (dot matrix)
DM1 05S 189.00
NEW Mannesmann Tally Inkjet (black) The MT90
at only 375.00
Optional sheet feeder 99.00
RIBBONS
Various ribbons in stock, please call for prices.
Professional repairs carried out
Another branch opening shortly
August 1989 AMIGA COMPUTING 75
AMIGA
AUDIO
- NEW, CHOOSE
TRILOGIC
Y
STEREO VERSION
Both Amiga audio digitisers give superb performance. unsurpassed at the price No
software is supplied, since they are fully compatible with Perfect Sound, Prosound
Designer. Audiomaster, and Datel's Prosampier Sampling rates up to 60KHz are possible
depending upon the software An audio lead is supplied for connecting to the headphone
socket or line output of a radio, personal stereo, keyboard etc Full instructions are
included, and the mono version also has an L E D overload indicator A public domain
' Sound Workshop" disk is available which has demo versions of Audiomaster & Perfect
Sound etc
• 'Comprehensive in its capabilities" WHAT
• "VdeoStudio impresses greatly * VIDEO
THE ZVP VIDEOSTUDIO PACKAGE IS A COMPLETE EASY-TO-USE VIDEO POST
PRODUCTION SOFTWARE UTILITIES SUITE. FEATURING
GRAPHIC A A chcace from up lo 4096 colours
SPECIAL A A kbrary ol Wipe. Fade effects and Border (mask) patterns
EFFECTS lor use with gentocked video
MONO DIGITISER £27.99 POST FREE STEREO DIGITISER £37.99
SOUND WORKSHOP DISK £4 99 POST FREE IF PURCHASED WITH DIGITISER
ADAPTOR FOR AI000 £2.00
EXTERNAL 3.5" DISK DRIVES
• 880K FORMATTED CAPACITY
• THROUGH POST • VERY QUIET OPERATION
• SLIMLINE STEEL CASE • LOW POWER CONSUMPTION
3 5" DRIVE WITH ON, OFF SWITCH. £79.99 POST FREE
AMIGA MONITOR & PRINTER LEADS
RGB TV & MONITOR LEADS
We have leads to connect all AMIGAS to your TV or colour monitor %
provided it has an RGB input socket All leads give a much clearer
picture than using the AMIGA MODULATOR, permit ALL 4096 colours \+
to be displayed and include the audio lead (to give stereo with stereo tv's). ^ ™
ORDER AL 1 FOR TV's WITH 21 PIN EURO (SCART) SOCKET
FITS PHILIPS. FIDELITY. SONY. GRUNDIG. NORMENEDE. ETC
ORDER AL 2 FOR FERGUSON TV s WITH 7 or 8 PIN DIN SOCKET
MODELS MC01 & MC05. ETC ONLY £9.99
ORDER AL 4 FOR HITACHI & GRANADA TV's WITH 7 PIN DIN
SOCKET MODELS CPT1444. ETC ONLY £9.99
AMIGA TO MULTISYNC MONITOR (analogue RGB) ALII £9.99
MANY OTHER AMIGA MONITOR TV LEADS LISTED IN OUR FREE CATALOGUE.
OUR LEADS ARE GUARANTEED TO WORK WHERE OTHERS DON'T'
LEADS ALSO AVAILABLE FOR ATARI ST RANGE PLEASE CONSULT US IF IN DOUBT
ONLY £9.99
NEW - MONITOR SHARER
SHARE 2 COMPUTERS WITH ONE TV/MONITOR
Plug-m the scart leads from any two computers eg AMIGA & ST. and
connect the SHARER to the tv or monitor's scan socket. Just press
the switch to instantly select either computer MSWI £15.99 • ^
OTHER LEADS
AMIGA 64 EMULATOR LEADS AEL 1 ONLY £4.99
MODULATOR EXTENSION LEADS MEL 1 ONLY £8.99
AMIGA PRINTER LEAD - Parallel Type 1 5M long . AMP 1 ONLY £6.99
3 0M long. AMP 3 ONLY £9.99
AMIGA A500 BBC EMULATOR LEAD BE1 ONLY £7.99
AMIGA A500 TO SERIAL (RS232) PRINTER 1 5m RSI ONLY £9.99
AMIGA A500 TO MODEM (25W D ) 15m RS6 ONLY £10.99
AMIGA NULL MODEM LEAD - LINKS TWO A500s 1.5m RS5 ONLY £7.99
AMIGA TO HIFI LEAD 3m 2 PHONO PLUGS EACH END HL1 ONLY £4.99
AMIGA TO HIFI LEAD 5m 2 PHONO PLUGS EACH END HL2 ONLY £5.99
OTHER LENGTHS OF LEAD AVAILABLE - PLEASE SEE OUR CATALOGUE
EXTERNAL DRIVE SWITCH FOR DFl ADE3 ONLY £8.99
EXTERNAL DRIVE SWITCH FOR DFl & DF2 . ADE4 ONLY £10.99
PLEASE STATE WHICH AMIGA YOU HAVE WHEN ORDERING
Wr-
MOUSE/JOYSTICK SWITCHER
• NO MORE UNPLUGGING MOUSE WHEN JOYSTICK REQUIRED
• EXTENDS THE J»ORT FOR EASIER ACCESS
• SAVES WEAR & TEAR ON THE MOUSE PORT
• PUSHBUTTON SWITCH CAN BE OPERATED WHEN THE COMPUTER IS ON
A VERY USEFUL GADGET - ONLY £ 10.99 order as DJA1 ^
AMIGA MINI STEREO AMPLIFIERS
MINIAMP 2 combines a mini stereo power
amp with two neat speaker units which connect directly to your
AMIGA They are ideal for use with mono TV'sA monitors. & simply
plug in for instant stereo sound You'll be amazed at the difference
MINIAMP 2 WITH REMOTE VOLUME CONTROL & ALL LEADS ONLY £19.99
MINIAMP 4 comprises separate 4 watts per channel high quality mint stereo amplifier
with loudspeaker, headphone socket, separate speaker units with 4" twin cone drivers,
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76 AMIGA COMPUTING August 198!)
■VIRUSES!
T HERE have been many
important landmarks in the
development of computers. Apart
from the obvious ones like the
invention of the transistor and silicon
chip, there is the modem, the hard
drive, the high level language
compiler, the multi-tasking operating
system and the virus.
The amazing thing about the virus
is that it is a program which can
operate and duplicate itself without
the consent of the user - a major step
which doesn’t do anything much
except pass control back to
AmigaDos. The SCA virus hides itself
in memory in such a way that it can
survive Ctrl+Amiga+Amiga. When
this happens it puts a copy of itself on
the disc you reboot from, so it can
spread slowly but surely through
your floppy collection.
Since the virus causes no damage,
you might never know about it if a
message didn’t come up after every
16 reboots. The exception to this is if
none of the above deficiencies. The
only way to kill it is to turn the power
off and on again. This is bad for the
Amiga’s electronics, but extreme
measures are needed here. Leave the
machine to cool off for about 20
seconds before turning it back on,
boot from a guaranteed clean disc
and Install every infected disc.
Like many modern viruses, Byte
Bandit causes deliberate damage.
When it first came out I instigated a
policy of inspecting the boot block of
every disc I got, looking for
suspicious text.
About a week ago a virus got past
my defences and infected five discs
before I noticed it interfering with the
system’s operation. I tracked it down,
disassembled it and named it the YH
virus after one of the intelligible
pieces of Ascii in its code.
Everyone else seems to be calling it
the DASA virus after the other piece
of intelligible Ascii in its code. OK,
now I know that DASA and YH are
suspicious text, but this sort of thing
renders the old technique ineffective.
Something
wonderful
has happened...
When this message appears on an Amiga's
monitor you know that the virus epidemic
has infected you too. Russell Wallace
traces its history and dissassembles the
mystery within the micro
towards independent computer
systems. Of course, the purpose of
this article is not to extol the virtue of
viruses, it’s to tell you how they work
and how to make sure they don’t on
your system.
The SCA virus was the first to
appear on the Amiga, indeed among
the first to appear anywhere. It is
located on the boot block - sectors 0
and 1 of a disc - containing up to lk
of code which is executed on boot-up
before the Amiga does anything else,
including execute the Startup-
Sequence.
The boot block isn’t really of much
practical use except for copy
protection systems, but it’s a great
hiding place for viruses.
When you Install a disc you write
some standard code to this block
the virus overwrites boot code that is
being used for something like loading
a game, which will make the disc
unusable.
The SCA virus is pretty feeble by
today’s standards. It deliberately
announces its presence and it only
infects discs you boot from rather
than every disc you put in the drive.
Even when it’s in memory and has
control of the Amiga, it does nothing
to stop you inspecting discs and
killing the copies of it you find.
It can even be vaccinated against by
SCA Protector, a program which puts
a fragment of the virus code on the
boot block to make SCA think the
disc is already infected so it will not
write itself to it.
The Byte Bandit virus is the next
step up the evolutionary ladder. It has
So what can you do?
Nowadays you should examine the
boot block with a sector editor - there
are many in the public domain and I
use SmartDisk. If the boot block
corresponds byte for byte with an
Installed disc - check the first 40
bytes and ignore the checksum in the
second group of four - it’s OK. If it’s
a recognisable virus take appropriate
action. Otherwise boot it. If
something like a title screen appears
before or instead of the standard CLI
window, it’s probably OK, the strange
boot code is doing something other
than infecting your system.
If the CLI window comes up, the
disc is suspect. Remove it from the
drive, turn the power off and on
again, boot up AmigaDos and sterilise
the sick disc with the Install
command. To avoid risk of a virus
getting past your defences and
infecting your CLI discs, have one
disc that you never put in any drive
except to boot up after power on. I
use my original Workbench disc for
this. A virus killer such as VirusX
►
August 1989 AMIGA COMPUTING 77
■VIRUSES*
◄
will provide further protection.
There have been rumours of boot
block viruses that can survive Install
and viruses that can live on in the
battery backed-up clock, even with
the power off. I can assure you that
this is theoretically impossible. To he
executed on boot-up, a virus has to
have some code in the first 40 bytes
of the boot block, and these 40 bytes
are erased by Install. And the Amiga
never looks for executable code in the
clock.
T HE method I have outlined will
provide a virtually invulnerable
defence against boot block viruses. So
what other kind are there on the
Amiga? Until recently there were
none. Then came IRQ.
This stands out from the crowd in
that it is not found in the hoot block.
Instead it attaches itself to executable
programs, one of its prime targets
being commands in your C directory.
You download or otherwise acquire
a new program which happens to be
infected. You execute this program.
The virus then attaches itself to
memory by taking over a machine
code vector. You run a program
which, unbeknown to you, uses that
vector.
IRQ opens your Startup-Sequence,
picks the first filename it sees in it,
sees if it’s executable and, if it is,
writes itself into that file. If the file is
not executable, the virus will try to
write to the Dir command file on that
disc.
IRQ is mostly a harmless joke. It
changes the title bar of the initial CLI
window when you boot and it will try
to write to any disc inserted, thus
bringing up the Volume whatever is
write protected requester whenever
you insert a write protected disc. It
will not kill commercial programs, it
doesn’t attack anything, it doesn’t do
anything malicious. It’s not nice to
have around, but it’s certainly better
than a rash of Byte Bandit.
Versions of VirusX 3.0 and greater
will deal with IRQ and, funnily
enough, this virus will not work
under Kickstart 1.3 - you will get
Software Error requesters whenever
you run an infected program. Another
public domain program called KV -
for KillVirus - will check a whole
directory’s worth of files for this
specific virus.
Viruses like IRQ present a deadly
threat to computer owners,
particularly as hard discs are
becoming more widespread. Some
will gradually destroy data over many
weeks so that by the time you’ve
detected the cause of the damage
hardly any of your files are intact,
backups included.
The most important protection
against viruses is paranoia. Inspecting
and sterilising discs should be
automatic, pot something ever to be
forgotten.
Always think of an unknown disc
as a possible threat. This is the most
important computer game of all. It’s
great fun killing viruses, and even
more fun taking them alive and
disassembling them. But the stake
isn’t a little blip at the bottom of the
screen, it’s your software and data.
Travel the globe
with the best in
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UFO, Right Simulator. ThunderChopper.
Jet, Stealth Mission, and Flight Controls I are
trademarks of SubLOGIC Corp. IBM screens
shown. Other computer versions may vary.
■PROGRAMMING*
Creating
a model
u n i verse
Forget the bikinis and bathing bimbos,
Alastair Scott shows you that with
AmigaBasic you can watch heavenly bodies
which are out of this world
M OST people think of Galileo
as the inventor of the
telescope, however it was invented in
1608 by a Dutchman, Hans
Lippershey.
Exactly 100 years later history was
equally unfair to George Graham, the
inventor of an ingenious machine
which displayed the motions of the
planets around the Sun with correct
velocities and periods of revolution.
Four years later John Rowley built a
similar device for his patron Charles
Boyle, Forth Earl of Cork and Orrery,
who took no part in its design or
construction. It was eventually named
after him.
This program simulates an orrery
by using the laws of celestial
dynamics. Given six variables which
define the size, shape and orientation
of a planetary orbit, these laws give
the position of the planet relative to
the Sun for any time you choose,
taking just a few program lines to do
so. You need to enter three pieces of
information to get started - the three
►
August 1989 AMIGA COMPUTING 79
Look for reviews in
Commodore User ,
Popular , The One,
C&VG, Ace,
ZAP, The
Games Machine
and Amiga User
International soon!
To enter our competition please send your warranty cards of
TARGHAN and complete the following:
I like the game Targhan because
Send your entries to: UNIT 1 (Rear of 7), WELLINGTON ROAD, SANDHURST,
SURREY GU17 8AW S (0252) 877431-879718 • Fax: (0252) 877431
Closing date September 1, 1989.
I Far from Ederigarhn is the castle of the evil I " — _
one.
- Far from your village, a lord keeps the J
secret, such a powerful lord that he cannot be human, a
creature floating a world thevt dies and grows again . . .
Targhan is probably the most stunning game you'll ever play.
Targhan is an adventure-action game with more than 120 landscapes and
40 different characters. The game is playable on either keyboard or
joystick.
_ The game offers digitised sound and outstanding graphics.
^ It will be released on Amiga, Atari and PC
2 j| “WT io (EGA, VGA and CGA) by the end of May. The
0111 I IRK! ff* tl li^) qame will run on both colour and mono
■ PROGRAMMING!
◄
steps to heaven if you will:
• Due to the huge spread of sizes of
their orbits, all nine planets cannot be
displayed onscreen at once. Pressing I
displays the inner planets - Mercury,
Venus, Earth and Mars. Pressing O
displays the outer planets - Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
• The date is typed in in the form
dd,mm,yyyy. For example: 15,6,1989.
• The planets are displayed using
“snapshots” separated by the step
time. Use values of 3 to 10 days for
the inner planets and anything more
than 50 days for the outer planets.
Once these parameters are entered
the screen clears, the Sun is drawn in
the centre of the screen and the
planets begin their gravitational waltz,
which only ends when you press the
Escape key.
A small diagram of Earth’s position
relative to the Sun appears
simultaneously at the top left of the
screen - useful for when you are
studying the outer planets. The
current date is continuously updated,
it appears in red at the top right of the
screen.
Holding down the left mouse
button displays a window with the
name of each planet visible, its
angular displacement and its distance
from the Sun in astronomical units:
One astronomical unit (AU) is the
average radius of the Earth’s orbit, or
roughly 93 million miles. Releasing
the button removes the window and
lets the show go on. Finally, Right-
Amiga-S freezes the program until
you press another key, and Right
Amiga-fullstop returns you to
AmigaBasic.
S TUDY the planets’ motion for
any appreciable amount of time
and you will see many interesting
features, the swifter inner planets
overtaking the slower outer ones, the
elliptical rather than circular shape of
most orbits, particularly in the case of
Mercury and Pluto and Pluto crossing
and re-crossing Neptune’s orbit. Try
dates around 1999 for an example.
You can find the times when
planets will be easily visible from
Earth or lost in the Sun’s glare, where
the planets were when Aunt Madge
and Galileo were born and when the
planets are all in a line so you can
hide in the coal bunker before
Armageddon comes. And so on.
My main programming problem
was how to display the planets
without making you have to type in a
gigantic program or causing the
crashes AmigaBasic is prone to.
Calculating the planets’ positions is
easy, and the program is quite simple
in structure. One unexpected problem
was that there is no built-in constant
PI, unlike most other Basics, so I
defined the variable pi=4*ATN(t) as
an exact equivalent in the Params
subroutine.
I ruled out bobs and sprites. There
are nine planets, and typing in line
after line of numbers representing
each graphic would not be very
appealing. Anyway, Orrery uses 16
colours in lo-res, whereas
ObjectEditor uses four colour med-res
and is meant for graphics much larger
than the ones I needed.
I thought about using GET and PUT
to pick up and display the graphics.
This seemed quite promising because
these commands are fast and give
smooth animation. But they are
poorly error-trapped. A typing
mistake resulting in PUT being used
with a non-existent array or a position
off the screen would mean a Guru.
My chosen method is the most
satisfactory and needs the least
typing. The subroutine Put. planet
draws a small filled circle of
appropriate size and colour to
represent the planet and adds a few
details - continents for Earth, the
Great Red Spot on Jupiter and a white
ring for Saturn. It also stores the
screen coordinates of the image in the
arrays qx() and qy(). On the next pass
of the program the planets’ new
coordinates are calculated in px() and
py()-
Immediately before the new image
is drawn, subroutine Clear. planet
wipes the old one by drawing a black
box over it. As there are no
calculations between these two steps,
the movement appears reasonably
smooth.
Why not wipe the image simply by
redrawing it in black, you may ask.
Well, the Amiga’s CIRCLE command
is slow - you can see the separation
between unfilled and filled circles
even with the small ones used in the
program - but drawing a box, filled
or unfilled, is extremely fast.
L OOK at subroutine Small. It
draws the Earth-Sun picture
using only three boxes - two for the
bodies, preceded by a black one
which completely wipes the previous
picture. It is so fast there is not the
slightest trace of Bicker, despite the
crude method of clearing the area.
It may seem awkward not being
able to use lots of sprites and fancy
redefined character sets when writing
a program for someone else to type
in. However, circles, lines, boxes,
points, patterns, areas and ingenuity
will serve you well.
There was no need to use fancy
manipulations of mouse and menu
bar because there are not enough
►
August 1989 AMIGA COMPUTING 81
■ PROGRAMMING!
◄
inputs or actions while the program is
running to make the several k of extra
programming - and subsequent
typing in - worthwhile. If there were
provisions in AmigaBasic for gadgets
and input fields without resorting to
libraries (curse you, Microsoft) the
program could have looked more
professional.
Windows are useful though:
WINDOW 1 is the main one and
WINDOW 2 is the smaller one which
displays the orbit parameters. It
vanishes without disrupting the area
it overprints. How many other Basics
could do that?
' The Model Universe
’ By Alastair Scott
' ( c ) 1989 Amiga Computing
Start:
SCREEN 1 ,320, 200,4,1 : WINDOW 1 , “Orrery”, ,30,1
OEFINT x-z:DEFDBL a-v
DEF FNrange (k)=k-360*INT(k/360)
PALETTE 0,0,0,0:PALETTE 1 , . 5 , . 5 , . 5 : PALETTE 2,0,0, 1
PALETTE 3,0,.72,.88:PALETTE 4 ,0 , . 5 6 , . 2 : PA LETT E 5,0, .8,0
PALETTE 6,1 ,0,0:PALETTE 7, 1 , 1 ,0 : PALETTE 8,1, .52,0
PALETTE 9,1 , 1 ,1 : PA LET T E 10, .7, .7, .7
GOSUB Parans
FOR phi =0 TO 2*pi STEP pi/6
LINE ( 150,92) -( 150+4*COS( phi ) ,92+4*$ IN( phi ) ) ,7
NEXT phi
COLOR 2: LOCATE 8,2 : PR I NT^Ea r t h"
COLOR 10: LOCATE 23,1
PRINT’Press button for data or Esc to restart";
LINE(10,10)-(50,50) ,2,b
WHILE INKEY$oCHR$(27)
FOR z = Lo TO hi
ecc=e It (z,4)
an1=FNrange (.985647332#* julday/e It (z,D)
an2=radian*(an1+elt (z,2)-elt(z,3))
psi=FNrange(an1+elt (z,2)+twodeg*ecc*SIN(an2) )
phi=radian*(psi-elt(z,3))
rad=elt(z,5)*(1-ecc*ecc)/(1 + ecc*C0$(phi ))
rad(z)=rad
psi (z)=psi
px(z)=150+scale*rad*CO$(psi*radian)
py (z) =92-s ca le*rad*S I N( psi* radian)
NEXT z
GOSUB OaterGOSUB SmaLlrIF MOUSE(0)THEN GOSUB Info
FOR z=lo TO hi : GOSUB Clear. pLanet :G0SUB Put .planet :NEXT z
j u Ida y= julday+stime: juli an= julian+stime
WEND
RUN
Small:
anl = FNrange ( .985637094#* julday)
an2= r ad i an* ( an 1 -3. 76286301#)
phi = FNrange (anl +98. 83354+ twodeg*. 01 671 8*S IN ( an2 ) )
LINE(11,11)-(49,49),0,bf:LINE(29,29)-(31,31),7,bf
LINE(30+16*COS(phi*radian),30-16*SIN(phi*radian))-STEP(1,1),4,bf
RETURN
Info:
WINDOW 2, ’Information", (20, 40) -(210, 90) ,16,1
FOR a=lo TO hi
COLOR 10
template!** \ V ###"+CHR$( 1 76)+" ##.##AU”
PRINT USING template$;planet$(a),psi (a),rad(a)
NEXT a
WHILE MOUSE ( 0 ) : WEND : WINDOW CLOSE 2 : RETURN
Put. planet:
x=px(z) :y=py(z)
CIRCLE(x,y),cir(z) / col(z),,,1 :PAINT(x,y),col(z)
IF z=3 THEN GOSUB Earth
IF z=5 THEN GOSUB Jupiter
IF z=6 THEN GOSUB Saturn
qx(z)=x :qy(z)=y: RETURN
Earth:
LINE(x-1 ,y-1)-(x-1 ,y+1 ) ,4: LINE(x+1 ,y)-(x+1 ,y+1 ) ,4:RETURN
Jupiter:
LINE ( x-2,y+2) -( x-1 ,y+1 ) ,6,bf : RETURN
Saturn:
LINE(x-4,y)-(x+4,y) ,9: RETURN
Clear. planet:
x=qx(z) :y=qy(z) :LINE(x-4,y-4)-(x+4,y+4) ,0 ,bf : RETURN
Params:
RESTORE Planets
FOR a=1 TO 9 : READ planet$(a) ,col (a) ,ci r (a) : NEXT a
pi =4* ATN ( 1 ) : radian=pi / 180: twodeg=2/ radian
COLOR 9:PRINT:PRINT SPC(6)”Inner or outer planets? *;
plS=~
WHILE INSTR(’*I0’,pl$)<2:pl$=UCASE$(INPUT$(1)):WEND
COLOR 6: PRINT plS
COLOR 9 : PR I NT : PR I NT SPC(2)’Starting date ( DD ,MM, Y YYY ) *;
COLOR 6:INPUT”,day,Bonth,year
COLOR 9 : PR I NT : PR I NT SPC(8)"Step time (days)
COLOR 6:INPUr,stime
planet=ABS(pl$=’D
ON planet+1 GOSUB Outer, Inner
yr=year :mo=month
IF month<3 THEN y r=y r-1 : mo=mo+ 1 2
a=yr\100:b = 2-a+a\4: c=INT (365 - 25*y r) : d= I NT ( 30 . 600 1 * (mo+ 1 ) )
juli an=b+c+d+day+ 1720994. 5#: julday= juli an-2444238. 5^
C LS : RETURN
Outer:
lo=5: hi =9: sea le=2: RESTORE Outer. data :G0SUB Get .data : RETURN
Inner:
lo=1 : hi =4: seal e=50: RESTORE Inner. data:GOSUB Ge t . da t a : RETURN
Get. data:
FOR a = lo TO hi : FOR b=1 TO 5 : READ elt(a,b) : N EXT b , a : RETURN
Date:
f = 1 NT ( julian+.5)
IF f<2299161& THEN
a=f
ELSE
g=INT((f-1867216.25#)/36524.25):a=f+1+g-g\4
END IF
b=a+1 524
c=INT((b-122.1)/365.25)
d=INT (365 . 25*c)
e=INT((b-d)/30.6001)
day=b-d-INT(30.6001*e)+julian-f
IF e>13.5 THEN month=e-13 ELSE month=e-1
IF c<2.5 THEN year=c-4715 ELSE year=c-4716
IF »onth<3 THEN year=year+1
month$=MID$(ManFebMarAprHayJunJulAugSep0ctNovDec r ,fflonth*3-2,3)
COLOR 6: LOCATE 2,28:PRINT USING’## & ####’;day, months, year
RETURN
Inner. data:
DATA .24085, 231. 2973, 77. 1442128,. 2056306,. 3870986
DATA .61521, 355. 73352, 131. 2895792,. 0067826,. 7233316
DATA 1 .00004,98.83354,102.596043, .016718,1
DATA 1.88089, 126. 30783,335. 6908166,. 0933865, 1.5236883
Outer. data:
DATA 11. 86224, 146. 966365, 14. 0095493,. 0484658, 5. 202561
DATA 29. 45771, 165. 322242, 92. 6653974,. 0556155, 9. 554747
DATA 84. 01247, 228. 0708551, 172. 7363288,. 0463232, 19. 21814
DATA 164. 79558, 260. 3578998, 47. 86721 48,. 0090021, 30. 10957
DATA 247. 691, 209. 439, 223. 5224,. 2502, 39. 409
Planets:
DATA Mercury, 9,1, Venus, 7, 2, Earth, 2, 2, Mars, 8, 2, Jupiter, 7, 3
DATA Saturn/M/Uranus^^Neptune/S^/Pluto^l
82 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1989
Cr
SUPERDEALS
Sixteen Bit Superdeals from the Sixteen Bit Specialists!
CUSTOMERS PLEASE NOTE! When comparing prices remember ours include fast delivery by courier
r—.-i - hi A iunrNA A crTri rr >'-"
{new}
AMIGA A500 +
500 AIR MILES
£449
fNEW<
Air Miles pack includes everything in our Amiga
System 1 pack PLUS:
★ Spritz Paint Package
★ Disk wallet for 23 disks
★ Star Ray
★ Who Framed Roger Rabbit
★ Nebulus
★ Plus 10 other free games worth £230
★ PLUS 500 free Air Miles, that's enough for a return
flight to Paris, Amsterdam, or Brussels.
Amiga A500 System 1
£365.00
Inc Vat and Next Day Delivery
System 1 includes:
★ Amiga A500 51 2K Keyboard with Built-in 1 Megabyte disk drive
★ Free TV modulator worth £24.99 allowing you to use the Amiga with a normal TV
★ Amiga BASIC. Amiga EXTRAS 1 3. Workbench 1 3 PLUS the Amiga Step by step Tutorial
★ Ail leads, manuals PLUS MOUSE and mams plug'
Amiga A500 System 2
£385.00
Amiga A500 System 1 plus over £280 worth of software, comprising
10 games and either Spritz or Photon Paint graphics package
EXTERNAL DISK DRIVES
Amiga A1 010 1 MEG £139.00
CumanalMEG £99.95
NEC 1 MEG £89.95
PRINTERS
Seikosha 80 column NLQ (inc lead) £1 39
Seikosha 80 column 24-pin LQ (inc lead) £279
Star LC10 including interface lead £199
Star LC10 colour including interface lead £249
Citizen 120D including interface lead £159
NEW! AMIGA 1 MEG! £499.00
Announcing the new Amiga 1 meg - an A500 system 1 with fitted 1 megabyte memory expansion and clock
card PLUS TV Modulator AND DRAGON'S LAIR a six disk 1 meg megagame'
AMIGA 1MEG+ £519.00
Our Amiga 1 meg ♦ also includes the £230 worth of games software normally given
with our A500 System 2 Games Pack
MONITORS
Commodore Amiga A1084 Stereo colour monitor inc lead .
Philips CM8833 stereo colour monitor inc lead
.£269.00
£249.00
CREDIT CARD ORDERLINE Tel: 0908 78008 (Mon-Sat 9am - 6pm)
To order either call the order line above with your credit card details OR make a cheque/PO payable lo Digicom Computer Services, and send It with your
order to the address below. Callers are also most welcome at the address below
DIGICOM
Unit 36, Wharfside, Fenny Stratford, MILTON KEYNES MK2 2AZ
All prices include VAT and delivery by courier
Authorised Amiga 2000 Dealer
Telephone Hotlines:
Sunbury (0932) 781257
(0932) 780103
Fax : (0932) 780367
The all-new Commodore B2000 solutions now
available - systems including 8Mb RAM, 2T FST
Monitor, 68020 Co-Processor, A2094 Autoboot hard
disk, Internal Genlock etc.
QU.QTAT1QN5JMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE
Amiga A500 c/w TV Modulator, 5 P.D Disks 370.00
Amiga A500 c/w 1084S Stereo Monitor 619.99
mini-GEN genlock 99.95
A501 512k RAM expansion for A500 130.00
External 3.5* Quality Cumana Disk Drive 99.95
PROFESSIONAL PERIPHERALS
Rendale Broadcast Genlock 750.00
A2058 B2000 RAM Card c/w 2Mb 649.00
15* High Resolution Multisync Monitor 885.00
2T Flat Screen Multisync Colour Monitor 2770.00
40Mb Autobooting Hard-Disk 1150.00
Amiga 2000 AT Bridgeboard 861.00
PRICES INCLUSIVE QF VAT @ 15%
Generous Discounts available to PLC*, Limited
Companies, Government authorities, ICPUG
members and all Consultancy Agencies. Please Call.
The new Commodore Amiga 2000 systems now available. For perfect
solutions for your DTP/Audio Visual/CAD/Presentation needs, call one of
our Commodore-trained expert* today. Full training and Support available.
VISA
New Catalogue now published - please call for your complimentary copy.
Eazyprint Computers, Denmar House, 30 Scotts Avenue,
Sunbury - on - Thames, Middlesex. TW16 7HZ.
August 1 98 f) AMIGA COMPUTING 83
If you have a video camera - or just
thinking of getting one - you'll find
Video Action! your passport to an
exciting new world. No dull technical
reviews but pages packed with help
and advice - written by experts in a
language anyone can understand.
You'll find all
you need to know
about lighting,
scripting, directiiig,
sound dubbing . . .
and the magic of
desktop video -
using a home
computer to
create titles and
captions and
generate your
own startling
special effects.
ORDER FORM
The bright new magazine that
shows you how easy it is to
make your own video movies...
Please send me the next 12 issues of Video Action !
for the special price of f!3 (normally Cl 8)
(1530)
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■SOFTWARE-
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TD1 1SW
Tel: 0896 57004 a
(24 hours)
AMIGA LEISURE
30 Poof
17 95
African Raiders
14 95
Afterburner .
16 45
Airborne Ranger
17 95
Archipetagoe
18 75
Aslarolh .
17 95
Balance of Power 1090
18.75
Barbarian II
15 95
Battlehawks 1 942
19 95
Bio Challenge
17 95
Btood Money
17.95
Bkxxferyche
17 95
Bridge Player 2000
14 95
Carrier Command
1645
CasCo Warnor
17.95
Chariots ol Wrath
17 95
Cotosus Chess X
18 75
Cosmc Prate
16 45
Dark Stoe
17 95
Data Storm
17 95
AMIGA LEISURE
HighSto* 14 95
Hollywood Poker Pro 18 75
Hostages 18 45
Hybri* 18 75
it Came From The Desert 22 95
Jaws 14.95
Journey 22 95
Ken Dagtetsh Manager 14 95
Kennedy Approach 16 45
Kick Oil 14 95
Kngs Quest Tnple Pack 17 95
Kuft 17 95
Last Ninja 2 17 95
Licence to Kill 17 95
Lombard RAC Rally 16 45
Lords ol The Rising Sun 22 95
Man hunter NY 22 95
May 0«y Squad 14 95
M crop rose Soccer 18 75
Milenium 2 2 18 75
106 A Chllwall Road
Beeston
Nottingham
NG9 1ES
Tel: 0602 252113
AMIGA LEISURE
Spherical 14 95
Star Ghder II 1645
Star Wars 14 95
Steve Dam World Snooker 14 95
Super Scramble 14 95
S*ordof Sodan 19 95
TaJespin 22.95
Tank Attack 17 95
The Duel - Test Dnve II .22.95
The Krsstal 21 S5
The New Zealand Story 17.95
Thunderbirds 17.95
T *nes ol Lore . 17 95
Time Scanner 18.75
TV Sport Football 21 .95
Typhoon Thomson 17.95
Univ. Mil Sim .... 16 45
Ultimate Golf 14 35
Voyager 17 95
Wanderer 14 95
War in Middle Earth 14 95
Fast delivery on all stock items by 1st Class Mail in UK. Special overseas service by Air
Mail worldwide. Credit Card orders accepted by Phone or Mail.
Credit Card Order Telephone Lines: North. Scotland. N. Ireland. Overseas -0896 57004
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AMIGA LEISURE
08)8 Vu II 17 95
Demons Wntar 17 95
Dommator 18 75
Double Dragon 16 45
Dungeon Master (1 Meg) .16 45
Elite 16 45
Emmanuelle (adults only) 1 4 95
Falcon Mssion risk 14 95
Flying Shark 17 95
F O F T 24 95
Forgotten Worlds 14 95
FI 6 Combat Pilot 15 95
F16 Falcon 20 95
Fnght Night 14 95
Fun School 2 14 95
Gemm Wmg 14 95
Gddrush 17 95
Grand Monster Slam 1 4 95
GunsNp 17 95
Hawkey* 14 95
AMIGA LEISURE
Navy Moves 10 75
Operation Woll 17 95
Outrun Europa 14 95
Poraonal Nightmare 18 75
Phobia 17 95
Police Quest 18 75
Populus 18 75
Power Drome 18 95
Prospector 18 75
Rampage 18 95
Red Heat 18 75
Rick Dangerous ! 17 95
Run the Gauntlet 18 75
Running Man 18 95
RVF 17 95
Savage 17 95
Silkworm 17 95
Shoot 'em up Con Set 22 95
Sleeping Gods Lie 17 95
Space Quest II 16 75
Speedbal 16 45
AMIGA LEISURE
Wee Le Mans 17.95
We«rd Dreams 16 45
Wcked 17 95
Xenon II Megablast 22 95
Xeno Phobe 1 7 95
Xybots 14 95
SPECIAL OFFER
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Cheetah 12S» 6 95
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Comp Pro 5000 12 95
Comp Pro Extra 14 95
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*********************
Please make cheques and postal orders payable to WORLDWiOE SOFTWARE. All prices include postage
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.LC— : - 6 >C 7 cjL
El
TEL: 0983 79 496
ACCOUNTS
Accounts Payable 41.40
Accounts Recei /able 4140
General Ledger 41.40
Inventory Control 4140
InvoicinafSales Ledger 41.40
Financial Cookbook 40.25
Home Accounts 22.77
Small Business Acc 64 63
W0R0PR0CESS0RS
Becker Text 96.37
Excellence 134.78
Kmdwords 2 35.42
K-Text 2 43.70
LPD Writer 1 96 37
Microtext 14 95
ProText 64.86
ProWrite 2 67.39
TextPro 39.10
TextCraft ♦ 39.10
VisaWrite Desktop 69 92
WordPerfect 4 1 169.97
Write & File 1Mb 69 69
SPREADSHEETS
DGcalc 29.90
K-Spread 2 49 91
Maxiplan A500 69.92
Maxiplan Plus 109 48
SuperPtan 67.85
VIP Professional 73.37
DATABASES
Acquisition vl. 3 159 85
Data Retrieve 42 32
Data Retrieve Pi o 160.77
db MAN 109.94
Form Master 40.02
K-Data 34.96
MailShot Plus 36 34
Microbase 14.95
MicroFiche filer . 58 88
SuperBase Personal 40 94
SuperBase Personal 2 . 69 92
SuperBase Professional 156 40
COMMUNICATIONS
A Talk Plus 67.16
A Term 49.91
Aegis Diga 41,40
BBS-PC 99 82
K-Comm 2 22.77
COMMUNICATIONS continued
On Line
.40.02
Ruby View/Term
DESKTOP PUBLISHING
.71.99
City Desk vl . 2
.79 35
Page Setter
.62.10
Page Setter Laz Driver
.29 90
PageStream
11684
Professional Page vl.1
174 80
Shakespeare
GRAPHICS
.109 94
Comic Setter
.37 95
Deluxe Paint III
.60 95
Deluxe PhotoLab
5037
Movie Setter
48 99
Zoetrope
COMPILATIONS
...77.97
Critics Choice
.11155
Publishers Choice
,..74.75
The Works
...69 92
UTILITIES
AIRT2
54 97
AmigaDOS Express ...
. 24 15
Arexx
29 21
Ashas Caligrafonts ...
.45 31
Award Maker Plus
.29 90
B A D. Disk Optimiser
33 58
BBC Emulator
.39 33
Calligrapher
CLI-Mate
.72 45
.29 44
Cygnus Ed
...74 98
Designosaurus
.29 90
Disk 2 Disk
.28 06
Disk Master
...31.97
DiskPro & Dimmer ...
.21 85
Diskwick
.39 79
DOS 2 DOS
.29 90
Encore
.4991
UTILITIES continued
Enhancer 1.3
14 72
E-Type
.39 79
Face II
2139
Family Tree
39 79
Fine Print
3979
Flipside
25 07
Flow
.79 81
Gizmos Prod. Set v2
19 78
GoldSpell 2
23 69
Gomf 3
23 69
Comf, The Button
49 91
Grabbit
.23 69
Interchange
3933
Interchange Modules
.19 78
JDK Images/Video Fonts
39 79
K-Gadget
23 92
Kara Fonts
.44 39
Life Cycles
.29 90
Lions Fonts
50 37
Matharration
.50 37
Maxidesk
5612
Newsletter Fonts
23 69
Outline
35 88
Power Windows 2.5
5037
Project D
29 90
Quarterback
.3611
Studio Fonts
. 23 69
Superback
.39.79
Text Ed Plus
.42 32
Virus Inf. Protection
39.79
Word Perfect Library . .
. 88.09
WShell
.31.97
X-Copy
. 23.69
DISKS (10‘s) KAO branded Japan
3.5‘ 135tpi 880K 13.80
5.25' 48tpi 360K
. .6.90
5.25* 96tpi 720K
9 20
Richard Howe & Angela Hammet
Applied Research Kernel
Corve Farmhouse, Chale Green, Ventnor, P038 2 LA, U.K.
POSTAGE: UK Free, Europe £2, World £4, Swiftair ♦ £2
COMPANY: Amiga/OL Specialists, established 3 years
V.A.T.iAII prices include U.K. V.A.T. at‘l5%
CHEQUES: London Sterling payable to A R K.
EXPORT: Remove U.K. VAT. (=Price/1 15)
PRICES: Are subject to change
84 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1989
ONCE DRAWN A PICTURF
CAN BF CHANGED IN
HEIGHT. WIDTH A COLOUR
LINK TEXT BOXES TO
CHARACTERS AND ALLOW
MULTIPLE CHOICES IN I HE
BOXES
OVER 100 COMMANDS ARE
AVAILABLE FROM THE
DEVELOPMENT MENUS
POSITION A CHARACTER BY
SIMPl Y CLICKING A DRAG-
GING WITH IHF MOUSE
AND CAN APPEAR MANY
TIMES OS MULTIPLE PAGES
ATARI ST
THE INTERACTIVE PROGRAM CREATOR
WHAT IS IT?
Talcspin is a package which allows the collecting together of drawings, texts and
sounds onto a series of pages together to form an interactive story, guide or textbook,
which is read purely by clicking the mouse on the drawings or texts. Variables may be
used to control the flow of narrative or record progress made. Talespin itself is entirely
mouse-driven and very user-friendly, requiring no programming skills for its use. It
includes an art package as well as importing Neochrome, Degas or IFF picture files
and also imports ST-Rcplay or Amiga A.M.A.S. created Digitised Sound. The use of
sound is optional. Its facilities include giving full details of disk space usage, location
of all pages referring to any particular page, drawing, sound or variable, completely
interactive development allowing changes to any part of a title at any time, the copying
of drawings and sounds from other titles, the ‘chaining' to other titles allowing the
spreading of a story' or textbook across several disks, and the provision of Demo
mode, which allows a title to run on its own for demonstration purposes.
WHAT IS IT FOR?
It can be used to create interactive adventure games, for profit, pleasure or instruction.
Or in business to create a sales demonstration, or product servicing manual. Or in
education: either using Talespin itself to teach the design and logic of computer
systems in a non-technical way, or using Talespin as a vehicle for the teaching of any
other subject. Or create an expert system with it. Or a school magazine. Or . . .
CREATE YOUR OWN COMMERCIAL PROGRAMS
Once you’ve finished developing your program whether it’s an adventure, an
educational program or other you can lock your program so no one can enter the
development mode.
TALESPIN comes with a public domain display program called “Telltale” with this
you can distribute your own programs or offer them to publishers.
COMPLETE AND COMPREHENSIVE MANUAL
The manual comes as a complete Tutorial with a scaled down version of “The Grail”
adventure and also a comprehensive reference guide.
TALESPIN COMMANDS AVAILABLE
‘choose; create title ‘Save position ‘load position ‘ Select driver/ folder ‘auto start
‘demo program ‘help ‘ drawing define ‘page define *sound define ‘ variable define
‘turn to another page *add drawing to page ‘ modify palette ‘ select background
colour ‘Page entry options ‘ List conditions ‘list; set variables ‘move drawing ‘swap
colour ‘shrink reverse drawing ‘change drawing order ‘add /edit/ delete text ‘add/
delete chain sounds ‘locate item ‘show disk space ‘show drawing/ sound /page size.
REVIEW FOR TALESPIN
ST USER: ‘ Microdeal is putting its money where its mouth is and exhibiting
justifiable faith in a very good product .’
MICRO COMPUTER MART: * Talespin in my opinion, is a highly commendable
program. *
ST/ A M IGA FOR M AT: ‘ Graphics cleverly used for variety — Talespin offers the
opportunity to create an RPG type of adventure game
which STAC and STOS certainly won Y. '
COMPUTER GAMES WEEK: Talespin gives the programmer all the scope he
could possibly need. ’
ST ACTION: Talespin has brought the task of adventure creation within the reach
of everyone!"
* If you have a modem, phone our BBS — (0726) 65422 — & download Talespin
demos written by users. * 30 day money back guarantee.
TO ORDER
SEND TO: MICRODEAL
PO BOX 68 St Austell
Cornwall PL25 4YB
Allow 28 days for delivery
BY PHONE
WITH CREDIT CARDS
TELE (0726) 68020
£29.95 (incl P&P)
Please send me Talespin at £29.95 (incl P&P)
I OWN A □ ST □ AMIGA □ IBM
□ Cheque enclosed made payable to MICRODEAL
□ Please debit my credit card account Expiry date
Name . .
Address
Signed:
Joystick jihad
wheels before leaving base by using
the Check Car command. And if you
are attacked by bikers use the
nightstick which is inside the car.
Thanks, Stephen.
At the end of his letter Stephen says
he is having trouble with Guild of
Thieves, so it is lucky that Darren Self
has written in from Berkshire with
some tips. 0,ne of Stephen’s problems
is crossing the coloured squares. The
solution is to follow the rainbow
backwards - violet, indigo, blue,
green, yellow, orange, red. Thanks a
bundle Darren, Mr Postie will be
bringing you a present.
T HERE is one game, one very,
very special but difficult game,
which has won the hearts of all at
Amiga Computing - Silkworm. There
are two versions with different cheat
modes. For early versions get to the
controls set-up page by pressing F10
from attract mode, hold down Help
and press Fire to get infinite lives.
If you have a later version press
F10 from attract mode for the controls
page and type SCRAP 28. The single
space between P and 2 is important.
The screen will flash once. You now
have infinite lives.
Pressing Fl-FlO will slow the game
down from normal (Fl) to a crawl
(F10). Pressing 1 to - (minus) lets you
jump levels.
Scorpion was the rave game in the
S OMEONE with his own
keyboard steroids is Stephen
Walker from Basingstoke. He is so
good at Police Quest it’s criminal.
Stephen says all the telephone
numbers you should need during the
game are 555-6674 for Lt Morgan and
555-9222 for the taxi firm you need to
get rid of Sweety in the hotel room.
Pressing 0 on the phone in the hotel
gets two more useful numbers.
Stephen also says that after talking
Max the Hacks, the
man who is so good
at games he can play
I Spy with his eyes
shut, shows you how
to be as good as he is
to the hotel barman you should say
“gamble” to get further in the game.
When you join the first poker game
don’t quit. Try to win by getting more
than Si, 000. In the second game it is
harder to win, so just play 40 hands
without running out of money.
When asked if you talk business
answer “yes” and follow the man up
to the top floor. Before entering the
apartment use Ctrl-D to call your
backup. Always check the car’s
86 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1989
■ H I N T S ■
Arr. Max lad . . .
June issue. It may be good, it may
have great sound and sprites but the
regular quota of lives just isn’t
enough. To get lots more lives (about
eight I think), type INPORTLIGAT
into the high score table. There are
other things you can type in. CRL is
one, Clement is another. Try them for
a laugh.
Lords the
hard wav
R EADERS who took the editor’s
advice last month and stopped
eating so they could afford a
Commodore hard drive are probably
looking for some games to put on to
it. They are also probably very
hungry. Ian Mackenzie from page 93
of my London A to Z has some advice
for them.
Since you can’t eat Cinemaware’s
Lords of the Rising Sun, however
yummy the graphics are, you can put
it on the hard drive, despite the
message from Mirrorsoft saying you
can’t. Make a directory for the
program and call it “Lords”.
Using CLI, copy all the files using
the line copy dfO: dhOdords all. Do
this for both discs. Then edit your
Startup-Sequence file to include the
lines assign RisingSunl: dhOdords
and assign RisingSun2: dhOdords.
Then whenever you want to run the
program make sure disc 1 is in the
floppy drive and type run Main. The
game needs the floppy for the disc
protection, but actually loads off the
hard drive.
Baal is not what one sheep said to
another, but the name of a game from
Psyclapse. Jerome Sanders from the
Netherlands has sent in some tips and
is going places. The particular places
are the grid locations in X-Y format
for objects.
You will find things
at 00-53, 12-62,
17-28 where you
will get weapon
number 2), 28-50
- where you will
get weapon number
3 - and 36-28,
24-04, 48-02, 48-65
and 48-65 which
is the exit to level 2.
Note that from
40-02 to 48-65 is too
August 1989 AMIGA COMPUTING 87
SEVENTEEN BIT SOFTWARE
The UK's leading supplier of European PD Software, as seen at the
Commodore Show, Novotel, London.
Seventeen Bit are pleased to announce the...
AMIGA COMPUTING PACK
Containing the following discs...
Disc 404 - 1 7Bit Supreme sounds Vol 1 . excellent jukebox featuring a brilliant modem version of
Toccata by Allister Brimble and more...
Disc 423 - A special compilation of Star Trek Animations for ALL Amiga machines, animations by
Tobias Richter. Compiled by us.
Disc 424 - The first of the popular Quickstart III discs containing some top-class utilities (includ-
ing CLIwizard to tame the CLI) and three top-notch PD games (Gravattack, Invaders
and Tiles) also includes VirusX 3.2 to banish all current forms of vims.
Disc 421 - A special compilation of Ray -Traced images created by Adrian Purser via his own pro-
gram, still under development, stunning 3D graphics and shows just what is possible.
Plus!! Issue six of our latest disc-magazine. Plus!! Free membership to Seventeen Bit
(No obligations!) and access to the full range of PD discs
ALL THIS FOR ONLY £10.00 Inclusive of P&P etc!!!
All discs available to members at £2.50 each, coming VERY soon.. NEWSFLASH!! a brand-new disc-
magazine for Europe created by UGA and 17Bit. Exclusive distribution in the UK by Seventeen Bit
Software, write for subscription details (only £3 per issue).
Quickstart III pack still available for just £5, contains 3 hi-quality PD compilations.
SEVENTEEN BIT SOFTWARE
PO BOX 97, 1st Floor 2-8 Market Street,
Wakefield, West Yorks, WF1 1XX
Telephone 0924 366982 (24 hours)
MK Mail Order Offers
■ see through calculator.
■ FREE with orders
I over £25*
Using state-of-the-art technology this
calculator has an invisible membrane keypad,
runs from solar cells (so you'll never need any
batteries), and because it's only the size of a
credit card it fits easily in your wallet or
pocket.
This exclusive limited edition calculator can
be yours for just £7.95 - or we'll send you one
ABSOLUTELY FREE with every order over £25!
• UK orders only (not subscriptions). Subject to availability
TO ORDER PLEASE USE THE FORM ON PAGE 95
88 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1989
■ H I N T S ■
Archer MacLean’s codes for
International Karate Plus
◄
far. Make a stop at 17-28 or 36-28 and
take a new power cartridge before
you continue to 48-65. When there are
two cartridges leave one behind at the
first visit.
Level 2 has fewer stopping points,
but often more than one object per
location. Hop through these. 12-16,
30-32, 24-00 and 12-53 are the resting
place of weapon number 4 and the
exit to level 3 and the battle with
Baal.
You don’t have to go to all the
places in this order, but on level 1 it
is wise to get weapon 3 as soon as
possible. The best approach to level 2
is to go to 12-53 twice, once to get
weapon 4 at the first opportunity and
then again when you’ve picked
everything up and are ready for Baal.
Finally Esther, some solutions to
trick shots from Firebird’s Maltese Joe
Plays 3D Pool. Shot 1: 0768 024 63
10. Shot 2:1002 041 63 09. Shot
ARCHER likes to send messages to
people he knows in his games.
You can read them if you know
what to type. Some codes change
what is happening, but don’t swear
twice or the program will reset.
Just type them in.
FISH, BIRD, PAC, and PERI make
different things happen.
SLAN produces a line of slanted
text.
FAST speeds up the music while
you hold down the letter T.
FILT turns the music filter on.
3:0032 100 63 00. Shot 4:0962 024 63
00 and Shot 13:0004 054 58 20. A
great game, you’d be daft not to buy
it. OK, Orlando?
That’s all for this month, I’m off to
wax my joystick ready for next
DATE shows when the program
was written.
TITL jumps back to the title
screen.
FREZ will freeze the game. Great
for screen shots.
GERM changes all the messages to
German.
UK turns them back into English.
ARCH, EDHK, FOOK, ANGL,
SHAH, ANBK, STEW, GPZP,
SIMR, SUNL and JACQ are all
friends.
JUMP is an advertisement for
Archer’s custom jumper service.
month’s top tip bashing, but I need
help. So if you have a hint or a hack
pop ‘em in the post to Max The
Hacks, Amiga Computing, North
House, 78-84 Ongar Rd, Brentwood,
Essex, CM15 9BG.
PROG
SEND FOR FREE
BROCHURE PACK
ORDER NOW - 24 HR
CREDIT CARD HOTLINE
> 0395 270273
At last, an inexpensive and
genuinely easy to use
spreadsheet program.
Command and menu-dri-
ven, 51 2 rows, 52 columns,
programmable function
keys, text overflow and
much, much more. Simple
enough for the beginner,
powerful and fast enough
for the professional.
A calculated
best buy
£ 39.95
♦ MAILSHOT ♦
A powerful menu-driven mailing
program using a unique system
for on screen scrolling of labels
This WYSIWYG (what you see is
what you get) system means that
any label format you define on
screen will be identical when
printed.
As well as powerful sowing and
searching (search for anything,
anywhere!), Special Routines
include detection of duplicate
labels, surname sorting and many,
many more. For business useis,
MAILSHOT PLUS is also available.
Why set
iZf ,Us £ 24.95
♦ HOME ACCOUNTS ♦
ideal for both home users and small
businesses Supports workbench and
multitasking, simple to use, this com-
plete home accounting package will
cater for up to 10 income accounts
(e g., bank, credit card, HP) and 60
categones of household expenditure
(eg, mortgage, rates, food, etc.) with
optional budgeting The program will
automatically handle 100 Standing
Orders, etc , and allow you to produce
your own statements to check bank
account(s)/charges, credit cards, etc
Process up to 300 transactions per
account per year Comprehensive re-
porting facilities include detailed
statements, budget forecasts, pie and
bar charts, etc.
You'll wonder how you
ever managed f QO QC
without it! yliifj
♦ DAW-DAY ♦
A comprehensive diary planner
which is eaua ly suitable for the
business or at home includes
built-in mteihsent calendar,
search/sort, printing, weekly/
monthly planners, etc
For the
best laid
plans
£ 29.95
♦ HYPE ♦
Transform your existing computer into
a fully fledged typewriter, displaying
and printing text instantly Ideal for
form-filling, adcressmg envelopes,
memos, etc Character by character or
line by line printing (with word-wrap,
justification, etc.)
The emulated
typewriter
£ 39.95
DIGITA
INTERNATIONAL
TOP QUALITY PROGRAMSATMAGICAL PRICES
All software written in the UK Prices include VAT & P&P (add £2 00 for export)
\~PIEASE RUSH ME BY RETURN (enter Quantity F
! met
DGCALC
£39 95
HOME ACCOUNTS
£29 95
MAILSHOT
£24 95
MAILSHOT PLUS
£49 95
DAY BY DAY
£29 95
E-TYPE
£39 95
DEMO DISC
£295
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August 1989 AMIGA COMPUTING 89
TransUv.ons
financial
inlonMtwn
Typeset
Computer
oe*$
TetestoPP^
Great iuro
OictionarV
KC datai»se.
Urffftoow*9
Overseas
qlMW
electronic
dltnlfl*
FtaSW
Look what s
waiting for
?&JSSSt
Four years' continual development have made MicroLink into
the COMPLETE communications and information system for
everyone with a home or business computer.
And it's so easy to use. From your keyboard, linked to a
modem and phone, you can directly key into an ever-growing
range of services, both in Britain and around the globe.
Every day thousands of electronic mail messages pass between
MicroLink subscribers throughout Britain . . . and many other parts of the
world. From their keyboard they can also send telex and fax messages,
without the need to buy expensive equipment.
MicroLink can be used with ANY computer, from a tiny hand-held
Psion Organiser or Z88 portable to the most sophisticated computer
of all. And from anywhere where there is a telephone point.
So if you want to speed up your mail, tap into a weather satellite,,
carry out company searches, obtain free legal and financial advice,
order flowers, book theatre tickets, negotiate a mortgage, help
yourself to free telesoftware programs - or go adventuring in the
land of Shades, the world's biggest multi-user game - then there's
only one answer - MicroLink.
One number to dial
one securit y password
one simple lo g-on
and you're on ly a
ke ystroke away from
the best information
and entertainment
services now available.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT fTlkroliDh
Please send me Name
more facts about Address
microliDh
Send to: MicroLink , Europa House , Adlington Park, Adlington, Macclesfield SK W 4NP. AMC7
FREE* for a rnonth ’
Wheny° usenu .. M.rrnLink, y t u- c
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■LETTERS!
Piracy and copyright
WHY cannot consent be given for
software to be copied at home in
return for a royalty fee covering
programming costs?
This would give each copy the legal
status of an original in terms of
copyright and enable those who wish
to pay for the use of the software, but
cannot afford the overheads of
commercial distribution, packing,
copying and advertising, to do so.
E.O. Hobden,
Lincoln.
Such a system exists, it ’ s called
shareware. Software is freely
distributed on the basis that if you
like a program you will send the
author some money.
This is much more popular in the
US, where users are more honest
about coughing up. We will be
bringing you some of the best
shareware on future cover discs.
Please send the authors a
contribution. We will be.
Next move?
MY interests lie in the field of art and
animation. At present I have Deluxe
Video and Deluxe Paint II and am
contemplating buying Aegis Animator
and Images along with a music
compilation software of some type, as
a suitable package.
But here are my main expansion
considerations: Should I invest in an
A501 memory extension, a dual 3.5in
second/third disc drive, a single
floppy drive or upgrade completely to
a more powerful machine, such as an
A2000?
Marcus Barrett,
Somerset.
We would go for Deluxe Paint III as
an animation package. If you have
DPaint II it is a cheap upgrade (£30),
and very easy to use. You will need at
least 1 meg of ram, preferably more if
you want to produce a decent
animation.
A second drive of some sort is a
must and for these reasons go for the
Commodore A590 Hard Drive Plus.
You can add ram more cheaply than
buying an A 501 and it saves floppy
shuffling because everything fits on to
the hard disc.
Leaving home ain’t easy
WOULD it be possible to connect the
Plotmate A3M plotter I am using with
an Archimedes in school for GCSE
technical drawing to my Amiga A500
for use with programs such as Aegis
Draw 2000?
A friend is planning to buy an
Amiga A500 but is moving to Canada
soon. I know that the PAL and NTSC
systems are different, but would
buying a Commodore hi-res monitor
solve the problem of running
European software on an American
machine, or would it be pointless
buying any software here before
moving to Canada?
R.S. Jones,
Gwynedd.
There should be no problem using
the plotter with your Amiga and
Draw 2000. Have a look at X-Cad
Designer.
Some programs are deliberately
Tixed so that they will only work on a
PAL or NTSC system, not both.
Buying a Commodore monitor will
not solve the problem.
The best solution is for your friend
to wait until he gets to Canada and
buy everything out there. Check any
software bought here carefully.
Sounds better
ONE small piece of knowledge has
escaped the entire Amiga population.
The Amiga possesses an audio filter.
This amazing piece of hardware can
be switched off unless you have an
A1000 and you get all your treble
back. It is very simple to do, and can
be achieved by the following machine
code instructions:
9SET #$H,SbfeH1 Power light off, filter off or...
BCLR *$l1,$bfel01 Power light on, Filter on. or...
BCH6 *SL,$bfefl0i Toggle state of filter
Will all software developers please
take note.
Please plug my bulletin board: If
the line isn’t dead and I haven’t been
cut off, you can call it on 0362
698867. It runs on a Beeb at the
moment, but I have almost finished a
new package written in 68000 for the
Amiga.
One last point. Our group (The
TMB Dev.Corp) is currently working
on a new game for the Amiga. We
need original music rather
desperately. If you think you can
help, get in touch with us.
Toby Simpson
Spixworth, Norwich.
Hi praise
WELL, what can I say! I am 29 years
old, and for a very long time now I
have had an addiction for computer
games. It is all very well being able to
beat the highest score on the games in
the pub, but when you come down to
realise how much money you have
spent at the end of the evening, it
hurts.
I very soon came to the opinion
that the Amiga was by far the best
value for money. I have read all the
magazines that are going around for
it. I am not creeping by saying this
(oh yes you are - ed) but your
magazine leaves all the others
standing.
Your games reviews could not be
bettered; in fact I won’t buy a game
unless I have heard what you have
got to say about it in the first place.
When you show screen shots they are
very clear images.
I bought my computer originally
just to play games, and to save myself
a lot of money. Because of your
magazine, I am now interested in
expanding my Amiga and learning
how to program it myself.
Now I can get down to why I
originally started to write this letter. I
am that enthralled by your magazine
that I would like to be able to boast
about having the full collection on my
bookshelf.
I have numbers 5,7,8,9,10,11 and
would very much like to know if it is
possible to obtain the copies I am
missing. Also, do you supply a binder
to keep them in mint condition? If so,
please let me know the price as soon
August 1989 AMIGA COMPUTING 91
■LETTERS*
◄
as possible, and I would forward a
cheque straight away.
Chris Maynard,
New Milton, Hants.
We suppose vou want a freebie? Well,
it is nice to be appreciated. Back
numbers and binders are available
from the subscriptions department
which is on 051-357 2961. Take out a
sub to get the binder and a host of
other goodies free.
Talking windows
PLAYING around with the Say
command under Workbench, I have
found it impossible to alter the pitch
and speed of the computer’s voice. I
have tried every possible combination
of inputs in the phoneme window, all
to no avail. The manual talks about
changing all parameters together -
but how?
Mr P Ambrose,
Southampton.
The obvious thing to do when using
Say by clicking on the icon is to type
into the phoneme window the string
you want to have read followed by
the option. This is wrong on both
counts. You should type the option
followed by the string into the input
window. Click it in first.
Clickable scripts
UNDERSTANDING CLI makes using
the Amiga very much easier. I’ve
written several batch files to do
various tasks. To access them I have
to go into CLI and Execute them.
I thought it would be a good idea,
however, to create an icon for the task
and be able to run it from Workbench
without needing to open CLI.
Unfortunately, all I know how to do
is edit an icon using ICONED, which
is no good. Could you please supply
me with a solution if one is available?
Many thanks.
Martin Lea,
Lancs.
Once again the solution is in the
public domain. Get a copy of Fish
disc 65 which contains the ICO NX
program. This will help you create
icons for all sorts of programs.
Stop frame
CONGRATULATIONS on such a
superb magazine. The Amiga is a
brilliant computer and deserves such
support. The main thing I use my
A500 for is art and design. I would be
grateful if you could supply me with
details on digitising pictures - video
digitising and so on. I am most
interested in this field and would
welcome your response.
C. Hoper,
Portsmouth.
DigiView Gold produces the best
digitising results - a full colour image
using filters. It costs £150 excluding
the black and white camera. It is
available from HB Marketing on 0895
443333. DigiPic and SuperPic from
Precision (01-330 7166) grab frames
faster. DigiPic was reviewed in our
June 1968 issue.
Misleading adverts
SURELY you check adverts before
publishing them in your magazine, if
so, why don’t you notice errors like
“comes with Kickstart 1.5” What?
Jumpstart 1.4 is around and available
if you’re a registered developer, 1.5 is
still “erm, we’re thinking about it”.
It is either their name for their own
product, if so it shouldn’t be allowed
as it misleads people, or a typo - but
the same error has appeared in two
magazines. Just a tiny little bit of
checking would eliminate that sort of
thing.
Martyn Oakley,
Surrey.
Ads are checked to make sure they
are legal, decent, honest and truthful.
They are not checked for stupidity.
The editorial department and
advertising departments work
separately. This is good because it
removes any likelihood of us saying
that Wizzo Games' latest is also the
greatest just because the ad
department have their eyes on
Wizzo s budget .
Any company which advertises
things it doesn't have hurts itself in
the end by ruining its reputation.
Only the best
WHY review totally useless games?
Please, in future, only review games
that we want to buy. If it is a waste of
disc space we don’t want to know.
Why don’t you make a list of all the
amazing games we ought to buy?
Here’s a couple of mini reviews to
start you off...
POPULOUS: Brilliant. Everyone
ought to have it. Granted, it’s ported,
but that’s a small price to pay for
such an addictive game. Takes on a
whole new meaning when played
over the serial port — friends become
immortal enemies in seconds.
But watch out, if the game gets
mega-complex it collapses over the
serial port and won’t continue. It
seems that if your cable is high
quality you may be OK.
INTERCEPTOR: Classic.
SUPER HANG ON: Amazing non-
ported game. Great fun with the built-
in cheat mode using the machine gun
on the front.
PACMANIA: Really shows off the
Amiga’s abilities. For a real laugh
play it next to the ST version.
Good points... yes, there are some.
The paper you print your magazine
on is very nice. Most posh! Nice logo
on the front, good use of colours. A
sense of humour (I hope).
No, really, your reviews are good,
and on the whole accurate. The news
pages are informative. In fact, apart
from all the stuff above, the magazine
is perfect!
Matthew Likierman,
London W8.
Unless we review the naff games how
do you know which ones they are?
Besides, the evil reviews are the
funniest to read.
When is IFF not IFF?
PLEASE advise me. I have Kindwords
and while, I am happy with most
aspects of the system, I am very
disappointed with the graphics.
The manual is quite straightforward
in its instructions for using graphics. I
will quote the relevant passage:
"Kindwords allows you to insert
graphics made by any program which
saves pictures in IFF format. You may
insert low res or medium res images".
I use Photon Paint graphics which
are IFF format. No matter what
picture I try to insert - even just a
simple black and white line drawing
of a square, for example - the
message; “Not IFF Format” appears
on the screen.
S. Palmer,
Luton.
Photon Paint only works with hi-res
HAM images. Kindwords needs
medium or low-res images. A word
processing program which supported
4,096 colour HAM mode would run
too slowly to be useable. Have a look
at one of the non-HAM art programs
such as Deluxe Paint.
92 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1989
Mai! Order Offers
Just how good is Protext?
.merely the best word
processor for the Amiga’
- Reviewed in
Amiga Computing,
January 1989
Protext is acknowledged by many as THE word
nrocessor for most home micros , and the Amiga
version is no exception. What you get with Amiga
Protext is a powerful workhorse with a proven frac
record * saving of £20 off the retail price of the
new version 4!
Press comments
Automatic reformatting of text
Page breaks shown during editing
Can spell check as you type
Over 70,000 word English dictionary
Macro record mode
Footnotes
Menu driven configuration program
Auto indent for program editing
Line drawing
Fast and flexible find and replace
Powerful mailmerge facility
Box mode for creating columns
Edit two files at a time
Keyboard or mouse operation
"For power and value for money, I don't think
that PYotext can be beaten. It can be used as
simply as you choose, or can handle the most
complex mailmerge routines... in short, it can be
what you want it to be". - Micronet
"Anyone w,» a profes.ional interest in »ortl, i. likely to M " P>»
~ package — «
I- if - - ' <* "n,
,«Y serious consltterstion". - Amend "olessione, Computing
ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY, USING THE FORM ON PAGE 95
Mail Order Offers
At last, an inexpensive and very easy-to-use spreadsheet that's simple enough for
beginners, yet sophisticated enough for professionals.
Digicalc is both menu and command driven. It is fast, with all calculations being
performed instantly, and the spreadsheet is constantly updated.
The manual has been carefully designed to cater for all types of user, from the novice
to the expert. It includes a tutorial with step-by-step instructions, a glossary of
computer terms, a quick reference card, a full reference section and a comprehensive
index.
"I really liked the package to begin with, and first impressions are important... Digita
deserves full marks for the way in which the menus and command driven operations
have been implemented... It's a no nonsense spreadsheet... Pd certainly recommend it
for general purpose spreadsheet work". - Rex Last, Amiga Computing , December 1988.
RRP
£39.95
OUR PRICE
TO ORDER PLEASE USE
THE FORM ON PAGE 95
Reviewed in the December
issue of Amiga Computing
TYPICAL APPLICATIONS
• Home budgeting
• Investment project appraisal
• Comparing rent/lease/buy options
• Processing results of experiments
• Engineering calculation models
• Education
SMALL BUSINESS APPLICATIONS
• Cash flows
• Profit and loss statements
• Balance sheets
• Purchase orders
• Invoices
• Costings
• Stock control
• Sales/purchase/nominal ledgers
• Payrolls
• Price lists
£29.95
OMPUTING
Mail Order Offers
SU0RR
OFFER
Sells for £39.95 . . . but yours
FREEf
• . . when you subscribe
to Amiga Computing
SAVB
n ea,r/ y
£4 Qi
,t Offers all^h^fea^urw^fou* cou!<f th' f 1° Sp ' eadsh «** in its price
9ivi " 9 awav an exc,usive
12 month
subscription
Cover price
£35.40
Offer price
£29.95
SAVE £5.45!
24 month
subscription
Cover price
£70.80
Offer price
£54.95
SAVE £15.85!
Some of DG Calc's
numerous features:
* 512 rows by 52 columns
* Menu or command driven
* Adjustable column widths
f Text overflow
h Instant recalculation
* Integrates with other programs
h Window feature
1 User definable formulae
' GOTO feature
h Password protection
' Cell justification
powerful line editor
UNDO feature
Beginner's tutorial
Supports keyboard or mouse
UK only
To place your
order, please
use the form
opposite
Offers subject
to availability
All UK prices include
postage, packing & VAT
All overseas orders
despatched by Airmail
Valid to 31.8.89
OMPUTING
Annual Subscription
Including DG Calc (UK only)
12 months
UK £29.95
Europe & Eire £34.95
Overseas Airmail £49.95
NEW
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NEW*
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Overseas Airmail £91 .95
RENEWAL
9555
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9551
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9552
* New subscriptions commence with the next issue
Back Issues
(seepage 74)
February 1989-July 1989 bundle
£9.95
9852
Add £3 Europe & Eire / £12 Overseas
February 1989
£2.10
9708
March 1989
£2.10
9709
April 1989
£2.10
9710
May 1 989
£2.10
9711
June 1 989
£2.10
9712
July 1989
£2.10
9713
Add 50p per issue Europe & Eire / £2 Overseas
Lombard RAC Rally
(see page 63)
Add £2 Europe & Eire / £5 Overseas
£24.95
9829
Protext Version 4
(see page 93)
Add £2 Europe & Eire / £5 Overseas
£79.95
9530 | |
Lancelot
(see page 54)
Add £2 Europe & Eire / £5 Overseas
£19.95
9522
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(see page 52)
Trained Assassin
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Fun School 2
(see page 47)
Under 6 years
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Over 8 years
Add £2 Europe & Eire / £5 Overseas
es»
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£19.95 9843
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Telephone: 051-357 2961
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The Works!
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Database
Organizel Database with form
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Analyze I Spreadsheet including
graphs and macros.
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PD Ranges Available:
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96 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1969
THE COMPUTER STORE
A500 Second Drive Quiet NEC Mechanism
Able/Disable Switch Through Port
and Full Metal Jacket £79.95
A 501 Ram Expansion £129.95
Amiga 2000 Internal Drive £69.95
3 1/2“ DSDD with 1 for 1 guarantee (each) 80p
3 1/2“ DSDD with 1 for 1 guarantee (50) £38.00
3 1/2“ DSDD with 1 for 1 guarantee (100) £75.00
3 1/2“ DSDD Branded with 2 for 1 guarantee (10) £12.99
3 1/2“ 2 Meg Branded with 2 for 1 guarantee (10) £24.99
Single Disc Cases (20) £4.00
Disc Box Holds 30 3 1/2“ Discs £4.99
Disc Box Holds 60 3 1/2" Discs £7.99
Printer Lead 1.8m long (PC/ST/Amiga) £6.99
23 Way D Socket (make your own monitor lead) £3.95
Caspell's Ribbon Refresh Re-Ink your Fabric Printer Ribbon
160ml can will Re-Ink around 30 Ribbons. Save PoundsI ..£7.95
Amiga Basic Inside And Out
(Abacus) ....
....£18.95
Amiga C for Beginners
(Abacus) ....
....£18.45
Amiga DOS Inside and out
(Abacus) ....
....£18.45
Amiga DOS Quick Reference
(Abacus)....
....£13.95
Amiga Disk Drives Inside and out
(Abacus)....
....£27.95
Amiga Machine Language
(Abacus)....
....£14.95
Amiga Systems Programmers guide
(Abacus) ....
....£32.95
Amiga Tricks And Tips
(Abacus) ....
....£14.95
Amiga For Beginners
(Abacus) ....
....£12.95
Advanced Amiga Basic
(Computel) ....
....£16.95
Amiga Applications
(Computel) ....
....£16.95
Amiga DOS Reference Guide
(Computel) ....
....£14.95
Amiga Machine Language Guide
(Compute!) ....
....£19.95
Amiga Programmers Guide
(Compute!) ....
£16.95
Beginners Guide to the Amiga
(Compute!) ....
....£16.95
Compute's 1st Book of the Amiga
(Compute!) ....
....£16.95
Compute's 2nd Book of the Amiga
(Compute!) ....
....£16.95
Elementary Amiga Basic
(Compute!) ....
....£14.95
Inside Amiga Graphics
(Compute!) ....
£16.95
Kids and the Amiga
(Compute!) ....
....£14.95
Amiga DOS Manual (Bantam/Commodore)....
£22.95
Amiga Hardware Ref Manual
(New Edition) ....
£21.95
Amiga ROM Kemal Ref Includes
(New Edition) ....
£28.95
Amiga ROM Kernal Ref Libs & Devs
(New Edition) ....
£29.95
Unit 82 In Shops
2-8 Greenwood Way
Chelmsleywood Shopping Centre
Birmingham
B37 5TL ^ CALLERS
® 021-770-0468 ^- WELC0ME
3.5’ DISKS
T
BLANK
DISKS
i£.m
CERTIFIED 7*r EACH
4 4 BULK PURCHASES 4 4
150 + AT ??r EACH
250 + AT 71 p EACH
350 + AT 70 P EACH
PREFORMRTTEP
VAM1SA 8S r EACH
JKATARI ST 85 r EACH
5.25" B
CSRTFED 24 r each
+ 4- BULK PURCHASES. 4
150 + AT Z2. EACH
250 + AT 21 r EACH
350 + AT 20p EACH
LOCKABLE
DISK BOXE
l§:@
50 CAPACITY 45.99
lOO CAPACITY €7.99
5.25- H
50 CAPACITY 45/4-9
lOO CAPACITY 47/4-9
PERIPHERALS & SOFTlUflflE
0101035' DISK DRIVE £7*9?
O'AaT/GA MOUSE £24.99
FUTURE-*- SOUND 500 £? 4.9?
mini GEN £77.99
RENDALE 8882 G ENLOC K £267.77
W /gold\ £n 7.97
▲ ECI % AMM*4* £6277
▲ECI5^ Wm £5177
Kind Words 2.0 £44 .77
DELUXE PAUITIIF £7131
WE ALSO STOCK A VAST RANGE OF GAMES AND VARIOS OTHER
PROGRAMS FOR ST, RMWA , ATARI XE UCS 2GOO.
WALS0 70Y3TICKS.CABUIS,C0HPirT«RS,DUSTC0VlRS ETC M
BOCKS - PLEASE RIN 6 y
2 WATERLOO RD.
CHESTER CH2 2HL
SALES: (0244)312744
DESPATCH: (0244) 312675
NO PAYMENT WILL BE CASHED UNTV. OftDCR ■■■
IS DESPATCHED. - GUARANTEED!!! [ VIC A I
PLEASE HDD 75 ' ON ORDERS UNDER £15
X
W
O
X
ffl
</>
25
%
I— I
CO
H
5.25’ DISKS
C*IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF COMMODORE BUSINESS MACHINES
J AMIGA IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF COMM 000 RE BUSINESS MACHINES
AEGIS IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF AEGIS
DIGIVIEW IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF NEWTEK
DELUXE PAINT III IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ELECTRONIC ARTS
KINDWORDS IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK
MINIGEN IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK
RENDALE IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK
FUTURE SOUND IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK
August 1989 AMIGA COMPUTING 97
PUBLIC DOMAIN NEWS
New Chiron Conceptions
Chiron Conceptions are a great new collection of Public
Domain Compilation disks. Each disk is just £4.00 and is packed
with programs relating to a specific area of interest. Below is
a listing of just some of the disks in the collection. If you would
like the full list send an SAE or phone.
Chiron Conceptions
£4.00 each
CC16: Ray Tracing - create
your very own ray traced pics.
CC25: Utilities - some useful
utilities for a variety of tasks.
CC33: Games & Demos -
includes Milestone, Startrek,
Zoing! & more.
CC35: AmigaBasic Progs -
full of Games, Applications &
Educational programs.
CC49: Sound Digitizer
CC50: Animation Demos
CC51: NASA Digi Pics -
HiRes digitised photos of the
Space Shuttle taken at NASA.
Other Disks at
£3.00 each
O FISH 1-204
O FAUG 1-75
O PANORAMA 1-72
O SLIPPED DISK 1-40
<> AUGE 1-25
O TBAG 1-23
O AMICUS 1-16
Catalogues available
write or phone for details.
STOP PRESS
for a limited period we are of-
fering one FREE disk when
you order five:
rut amqa to u&f?Af?y
140 Rushdale Road. Sheffield S8 9QE
tr (0742) 588429
AmigaTEX
AmigaTEX provides a powerful alternative in document
preparation. It enables you to typeset complex or long
documents, especially those of a technical nature such as user
manuals or journal papers. It gives you true typeset quality with
kerning, ligatures, full floating accents, mathematical and
technical symbols and the ability to produce tables and special
formats. AmigaTEX will accept input from any text editor or
word processor and with its built-in screen previewer, a
document formatter of mainframe power becomes available.
Also included with AmigaTEX are LaTEX - a document
formatter with dozens of preformed styles, SliTEX - a slide
generating macro, and BibTEX - a bibliography database
program. AmigaTEX is fully fie compatible with other versions
of TEX.
Printer drivers are available for most printer types and the com-
plete set of Computer Modern Fonts is included. A companion
program METAFONT is available for those who wish to create
new fonts or modify existing ones.
AmigaTEX is £125 and printer driver sets (laser series,
Epson FX series, NEC P6 and Epson LQ series, HP
DeskJet) are priced at £75 each. METAFONT is £50.
All prices include VAT and carriage.
Access and Visa accepted.
For further details and free demo disk write or call:
THE TEXT FORMATTING COMPANY
14 OSBALDESTON ROAD, LONDON N16 7DP TEL: 01-806 1944
ADVERTISERS
*
INDEX
17 Bit Centre
88
Amiga PD Library
98
Amigatex
98
Amiga Users Group
76
Amtech Computing
96
Applied Research Kernel
84
Byteback
31
Calco Software
27
Castle Software
60
Cestrian Software
97
Club 68000
42,43
Computer Shopper Show
5
Computerstore
97
Database Educational Software
47
Dataplex
75
Datel Electronics
12,13
Digicom
83
Digita
89
Easyprint
83
Evesham Micro
68
First Micro
19
Gainstar
80
Gordon Harwood Computers
36,37
Mandarin Software
54,63,72
Maze Technology
76
MD Office Supplies
56
Memory Expansion Systems
44
Microdeal
85
MicroLink
90
Midland Microsoft
59
MJC Supplies
46
Palace Software
100
Postronix
2,3
Power Computing
25,27
Purple PD Software
75
Shield Computer Services
98
Silica Shop
99
S K Marketing
Softsellers
Sublogic Corporation
78
Sunderland Computer Centre
62
Trilogic
Worldwide Software
84
ST & AMIGA REPAIR CENTRE
£55.00 FIXED PRICE REPAIR
Includes - courier delivery, parts, labour, full service and
V.A.T., 90 day warranty, 5 day turnround
(subject to parts availability)
All our engineers are fully experienced in 1 6 bit technology
Estimates given for:
A1000, 2000, Mega ST, Monitors, Printers and
customer damaged units
Dealer enquiries welcome
SHIELD COMPUTER SERVICES LTD
50 Flixton Road, Urmston, Manchester M31 3AB
Tel: 061-747 31 85 Fax: 061 -747 0515
98 AMIGA COMPUTING August 1989
FREE!
- BARBARIAN, ULT WARRIOR - by Palace
FREE! - BUGGY BOY - by Elite
FREE! - IKARI WARRIORS - Dy Elite
C~ Commodore
FREE! - TERRORPODS - by Psygnosis
FREE!- THUNDERCATS - by Elite
FREE! - WIZBALL - by Ocean
+VAT=
£399
J m ;■ 1 I II III [ I I includes
FREE UK
■I DELIVERY
The Amiga 500 is one of a new breed of technologically
advanced computers, which are now emerging as the new
standard for home computing, based .around the new Motorola
68000 chip The A500 has 512K RAM and a 1Mbyte double
sided disk drive built-in. It can be connected directly to a wide
range of monitors, or to a domestic TV set through a TV
modulator Designed with the user in mind, the A500 features a
user friendly WIMP environment and comes supplied with a free
mouse And. when you buy your Amiga from Silica Shop, the
UK's Nol Amiga specialists, you will experience an after sales
service that is second to none, including a technical support
helpline and free newsletters and price lists Return the coupon
below for our current information pack, which will give details of
the Silica service and the very latest Silica Amiga offers e&oe
FREE! - INSANITY FIGHT - by Microdeal
FREE! - MERCENARY COMP - by Novaqen
FREE! - ART OF CHESS
SPA
WHY SILICA SHOP?
Belore you decide wher lo buy your new Commodore Amiga computer.
wt> suggest you consider very carefully WHERE you Duy it There are
MANY companies who can offer you a computer a lew peripherals and
the lop ten selling Mies There are FEWER companies who can oiler a
wide range ol producis lor your computer as well as expert advice and
help when you reed >t There is ONLY ONE company wno can provide
me .argest range ol Am ga related products in the UK a lull time Amiga
specialist technical neipi re and m-depth alter sales support including
lf..*e newsletters and broom, res delivered to your door tor as long as you
require alter you purchase your computer That one company is Sdica
Shop We nave Deen estaolished m the home computer field lor ten years
and can now claim to meet our Customers requirements w;tn an accuracy
and understanding wnich is second to none Here are |ust some ol tne
things we car oiler you
THE FULL STOCK RANGE: The largest range of Amiga
related peripherals, accessories, books and software in the UK
AFTER SALES SUPPORT: The staff at Silica Shop are
dedicated to help you to get the best from your Amiga
FREE NEWSLETTERS: Mailed direct to your home as
soon as we print them, featuring offers and latest releases
FREE OVERNIGHT DELIVERY: On all hardware orders
shipped to Silica Shop customers within the UK mainland
PRICE MATCH PROMISE: We will normally match our
competitors offers on a same product same price' basis
FREE TECHNICAL HELPLINE : Full time team of Amiga
technical experts to help you with your technical queries
But don't just take our word for it Complete and return the
coupon below for our latest Amiga literature and begin to
experience the Silica Shop specialist Amiga service
1 PHOT
pack!
A500 Computer
£399.99
TV Modulator
£24.99
Photon Paint
£69.95
TenStar Pack
£229.50
TOTAL RRP:
£724.43
LESS DISCOUNT:
£325.43
RACK PRICE M
£399
I1084S MONITOR
PACKl
A500 Computer
£399.99
1084S Colour Monitor
£299.99
Photon Paint
£69.95
TenStar Pack
£229.50
TOTAL RRP:
£999.43
LESS DISCOUNT:
£350.43
PACK PRICE s:
£649
uJ
SILICA
When you buy the Amiga 500 from Silica Snop. you will not on y
get a high power, value for money computer, we will also give
you some spectacular free gifts First of all, we are now including
a TV modulator with every A500 stand alone keyboard, so you
car plug your Amiga straight into your TV at home (the
modulator is not ncluded with tne ASOO^AiOSAS pack as it is not
required for use with monitors) Secondly we have added a free
copy of Photon Paint, an advanced graphics package with art
RR 3 of £69 95 Last (ana by no means least'), so that you can be
up and running straight away, we are giving away the sensational
TENSTAR GAMES PACK with every A500 purchased at Silica
Shop This pac* features ten top Amiga titles which have a
combined RRP of nearly £230' Return the coupon tor details
FREE TENSTAR PACK
make sure you gel the best
deal possible That is why we
are giving away the TENSTAR
GAMES PACK worth nearly
£?30. aosolutely FREE with
eve r y A500 purchased from us
The TenStar Games Pack inc-
ludes ten titles for the A500
each individually packaged in
its own casing with instructions
Amegas
£14.95
Art Of Chess
£24.95
Barbarian. Ult Warrior
£19.95
Buggy Boy
£24.95
Ikari Warriors
£24.95
Insanity Fight
£24.95
Mercenary Comp
£19.95
Terrorpods
£24.95
Thundercats
£24.95
Wizball
£24.95
>: £ 229.50
£229.50
INC VAT
YOU OWN AN AMIGA?
II you already own an Amiga computer and would line lo be registered on our mailing list as an
Amiga user, let us mow We will be pleased to send you copies ol our puce lists and newsletters
FREE OF CHARGE as tney become available Complete me coupon and return it to our Sidcup
orancn and oeg.n experiencing a specialist Amiga service tnat is second to none
SILICA SHOP:
SIDCUP (& IVIa.il Order) 01-309 1111
1-4 The Mews. Hatherley Road. Sidcup. Kent. DAI 4 4DX
OPEN: MON-SAT 9am - 5 30pm LATE NIGHT: FRIDAY 9am - 7pm
LONDON 01-580 4000
52 Tottenham Court Road. London. W1P OBA
OPEN: MON SA T 9 30dm 6 00pm LATE NIGH T. NONE
LONDON 01-629 1234 ext 3914
Selfridges ( 1st floor), Oxford Street. London. W1A 1AB
^^PEN^O^Ts^^n^^^^T^LAT^^IGHj^HURSDA)^dfT^pn^^
To: Silica Shop Ltd, Dept AMCOM 08/89, 1-4 The Mews, Hatherley Road, Sidcup, Kent DAI 4
PLEASE SEND ME FREE LITERATURE ON THE AMIGA
Initials
Surname
44D)^
IIGA j
Postcode
Do you already own a computer
.If so. wh ch one do you own’’
J
SpssiSi
Your Kin
You have 01
to find the A
m
SOFTWARE]
