Acorn Becomes Element 14 and RISCOS Ltd Is Born Club Changes
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The magazine for members of Acorn becomes Element 14 and RISCOS Ltd is born Club Changes Phoenix OS Shows Calendar 1999 Introduction to Digital Art CD Issue 29 — Spring 1999 It’s Not The Time To Change To A PC irst, a warm welcome to all the another year or so. Also, DVD is Fex-Clan members and other replacing CD-ROMs but new re- Acorn users who have joined us in the recordable versions are still awaited wake of the big upheaval. and will be fitted in later machines. Finally, another year should allow As older established members well time for doubts about the Millennium know, the Club is a non-profit making bug to be stamped out. organisation, run entirely by and for its members, which exists to offer In the meantime, RISC OS 4 will give help and advice. the Risc PC a new lease of life and it is worth waiting to see which of the We are all united in our desire to proposed developments for Acorn- continue using Acorn computers but style machines are likely to come the uncertain future is causing some about. In particular, if the plans for of us to think the unthinkable about producing RISC OS cards for PCs go the possibility of having to change to ahead this would make any future a Wintel PC at some time. But — transition to PCs much easier for leaving all sentiment aside — this is Acorn users. not the time to do so. So, put off any worries about There are a number of good reasons changing from an Acorn for at least for saying this. The dreaded Windows another year when, if you do have to, 95/98 are to be replaced by a much you should at least get a better PC better Windows 2000 (formerly NT than is available now. And, 5), the improved Pentium III chip is remember, the best option of all is still on the way and other new hardware open. In a year's time you may find and software are also coming. But that you do not have to change at all. most of these improvements are not likely to be widely available for Peter Jennings All opinions expressed in Eureka are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Club or its Committee members and officers. CONTENTS 18 Acorn Shows calendar 1999 4 Club changes The latest information and dates Toby Smith takes the Chair in a for your diary. Committee Room reshuffle and there’s an offer you can’t refuse to 20 FileFind take an active part in running the A new shareware text string and Club. filename finder from Austria shows its paces at impressive 5 Club News speed. On disc A report on the Acorn Midlands Show, a look into the Club’s 26 All in a day of a Show Organiser future and a reminder of some of What went on behind the scenes the services offered to members. at the Acorn Midlands Show. 8 Words from the Chair 28 Feedback: Letter filing Our new Chairman is optimistic A suggested improvement for the about the future and reassures that organised way to file letters there’s no doom or gloom in the suggested in our last issue. Club. 30 The 123-CD 10 EasiWriter Pro First steps in mathematics the fun New upgrades to a versatile way. Acorn word processor add extra facilities for Internet and PC 34 Professional Typography Expert users. A CD full of fonts, with a selection * Special offer for members. of useful utilities, offers all the type faces you are likely to need. 14 Site Seeing Go touring in time, from Ancient 38 Introduction to Digital Art Rome to the Millenium Dome, in The first published review of the our latest survey of Web sites new tutorial CD-ROM released by worth visiting. Spacetech in January. 2 Eureka 29 — Spring 1999 42 Around the Acorn world 62 Making Music: Part 2 Catch up on what's been Melodies and rhythm from your happening, including Acorn's keyboard. On disc change of name and plans to release RISC OS 4. 64 Pocket Book Corner Communicating with a Psion and 46 Still worth reading storing all that data. As well as Eureka, there is still a good selection of magazines to 65 Easy When You Know keep you entertained, informed Tips for using Agenda on a and in touch with the RISC OS Pocket Book. computer scene. 66 BETT ’99 48 Easy When You Know Acorn still survives in the big Using Paint, it can be simpler annual educational show. than you think to customise clip art to give you the graphic you 68 Eureka disc changes want. New distribution system for future issues. 50 Rhyme and Analogy A new CD-ROM to teach the 69 The Club' s Discount Scheme young to rhyme and reason, in Full details, a list of participating pictures and play. companies and a photocopiable order form. 54 Getting into video editing The final part of the series deals 72 Meet our active members with the use of complementary More of the people who keep the material. Club running are revealed. 59 Phoenix OS 79 In Eureka 30 Could this be the successor to RISC OS? 80 Club contacts Eureka 29 — Spring 1999 3 Club Changes And A Chance For You Since the last AGM we’ve had a few changes and a bit of reshuffling within the Committee. Mark Smith has stepped down from the role of Chairman after many years in the role. Mark is to take on a special new role for the Club in the wider Acorn scene, information about which will unfold in due course. (Mysterious eh?) Filling Mark’s chair, is Toby Smith, erstwhile Membership Secretary. Toby has been a Club stalwart for many years, and you will probably have read much of his drivel on the pages of this magazine before. Matt Cook took on the role of Membership Secretary during 1998. New to the Club committee is Dave Walker, a figure you may all know from his time at Acorn. Dave’s knowledge and experience of Acorn machines, Acorn industry companies and Acorn users will obviously be of benefit to the Club. So, what is our Committee lacking now? It has a set of experienced computer people. It has a set of people who, it would seem, have done a good job of running the Club for the past years. It has a set of some of the most ‘famous’ names in the field. So what can we be missing? — You. We’ve got a lot of skills. A lot of knowledge. What we don’t have is a huge amount of time. Running a Club of this size is a large and complex task that takes a lot of our private time. As we get older, more responsibilities both at work and at home (and I speak here as newly married and newly re-employed) erode the time we can throw into the Club. As the cliché goes many hands make light work, so if there is anything you think you could do to help, please get in touch; we’d be happy to have you. Toby Smith Chairman 4 Eureka 29 — Spring 1999 Club News Acorn Midlands Show a total of more than 650 visitors t was brilliant to meet so many altogether. IClub members in good spirits at our Show in Birmingham. Thank you to The Club stand was very busy. all who stopped by to have a chat, Membership drives and the special however difficult it was to get near the Clan discount offer were bringing in stand. lots of new memberships and there The Club’s Membership Secretary, Matthew Cook, reports on recent Club events and reveals some of its future plans. Those with Internet access will have were many more renewals. already read the Show review on my World Wide Web Site There was continued call for our (www.escarpment.demon.co.uk), products: PDCD2 (a new CD is to be or seen a review and my pictures in released at the forthcoming Wakefield Acorn user, but for those who have Show), StrongGuard!, Game On! and not this is a little bit about what TypeTutor. happened. Doing a good trade on the other end The Acorn Midlands Show, run by of our stand was the bring and buy The ARM Club and organised by stall, with goodies such as Fast PC John Stonier, was in its third year this cards, CD-ROM drives, Laser Direct time. Printers, much software and my trusty A3000. Attendance was brilliant. We had more than 200 people through the Many other members just popped by door in the first hour. There were to have a chat or share a problem they queues round the building and we had had encountered. Eureka 29 — Spring 1999 5 The Club’s future Contact Lists The Committee is scheduled to have a The club can provide a list of meeting shortly regarding the running members in your area! This of the Club and its activities. I am not information is only provided on going to surprise you by saying that members that have allowed us to the Acorn owning marketplace is distribute their details (a ticked box going to change hugely over the next on the membership form). This can year. Even with small bright lights Ð help to set up a local members© group. the release of RISC OS 4 and so on Ð these are still over shadowed by the These groups are invaluable and fact we no longer have the support of enjoyable.