L$ 3-65

TRY OUR EASY-TO- ENTER CONTEST

ACORN REPLAY THE FUTURE OF MULTIMEDIA?

EXCITING GRAPHICS FOR ART WORKS! THE A3000/ARC 770263"745000"

PUBLIC DOMAIN • CHORDS PROGRAM • LATEST GAMES 1

The Complete Upgrade Solution

Qualified Dealer 8Mb Memory 410/1 Memory A3 10 Memory - Uses only eight RAM devices - 400 series RAM upgrade kits - Includes free MEMCla upgrade - Suitable for A440, A400/1 & R140 - Supplied witti full fitting Instructions - Four layer printed circuit boards - Fuiiy RISC OS compatible -410/1 to 420/1 requires 1Mb - Courier collection & fitting included - Four layer printed circuit boards -420/1 to 440/1 requires 2Mb - Free MEMCla wtille stocks lost - Courier collection fitting included & -410/1 to 440/1 requires 3Mb 2nd Mb - £99 4th Mb - £199

- - - 2nd to 4th - 8 Mb upgrade £499 1 Mb £35 2Mb £64 3Mb - £98 Mb upgrade £1 15

A3000 Memory A540 Memory cards ARM3 Upgrades

- Uses only eight RAM devices - Uses only eight RAM devices - 3 to 4 times performance Increase - User upgradeable from 1 to 4 Mb - Four layer printed circuit board - Surface mount technology - Four layer printed circuit boord - Three cords may be fitted giving - Four layer printed circuit board - Low power consumption a total of 1 6Mb of memory Suitable for all ARM2 based machines - Available without RAM devices A540 4Mb upgrade - £275 25MHz ARM 3 upgrade - £199 Bare card - £35 Two memory cards - £520 Collection delivery and Installation on 2nd Mb Card - £56 4th Mb Card - £159 Three memory cards - £749 all machines - £35

A5000 Memory & Drives VIDC Enhar^cers

- increases A5000 memory to 4Mb - Increases resolution with all Muitlscon monitors - Ugradeobie from 4 Mb to 8Mb - Doubles desktop work area - 4Mb to 8Mb price Includes installation - Custom modes for Taxon and EIzo monitors - High quality Four layer circuit board - Includes Mode designer software - No special tools required - Free with any multlscan monitor from Atomwide

A5000 4Mb RAM - £110 4Mb to 8Mb RAM - £399 VIDC Enhancer - £25 A540 mode software £5 A5000 2nd 105Mb IDE drive - £299

Syquest removable disk systems Quantum SCSi iHard disc's

- including One cartridge, drive unit and all cables - including drive, metalwork and all cables - - 42Mb removable cartridges Fast 1 6ms access 64K cache - High-flow fan fitted for improved cooling - slim line disc two drives may be fitted in one frame Atomwide Syquest drive unit - £425 - Available as Internal or externol units

Drive - - unit with Oak SCSI card £599 52Mb internal £ 1 99 1 05Mb internal - £299 Spare 42Mb disks - £55 210Mb internal £599 425Mb internal - £949

Oak 1 6bit card - £1 75 External unit add - £75

DTP & Monitors Acorn Machines

- impression II DTP package £130 - Impression junior DTP package £70 A5000 & A5000LC - Free 4Mb upgrade - LBP4 printer including sheet feeder £1045 A540 - Free 4Mb ram card giving 8Mb - EIzo 9060 £399 - EIzo 9070 £599 - EIzo T56Gi £1025 A3000 & A3000LC - Free 2nd Mb RAM

- Taxan 795 £490 - - - Toxan 875 £775 A5000 £ 1 499 A5000LC £ 1 53 All monitors come with a Free VIDC enhancer With Eizo 9060 monitor ASOOO - £1699 A5000LC £1731 Carriage on oil monitors is £7 A3000 - £599 A3000LC - £642 A540 - £2495

- Ail products are cross-compatible

- Combinotion deals available on all products - Dealer enquires welcome - Phone for full detdils on all products ATOMWIDEAll prices exclude VAT at 17.5% but include delivery with the exception of monitors 23 The Greenway Orpirigton Kent BR5 2AY Tel 0689 838852 Fax 0689 896088 Task list Fontasy Original * Text "Sinply fontastic!" SmpHj fmsi!m§(mr^ RuicKey Fontasy Font Trinity, Bold Placard Size quotes I JIHSHart Special Load Fonts Go to DTP TaskList Load Printer Driver Start Inpression HERE RT LAST! Open Letters Directory

fl neu version of the Go back to nain TaskList Task and Nindou Organiser (TWO for short),

Uersion 1,83 has Multiple task lists, which can be locked against unwanted -i^ e I a I » changes (e,g, by pupils) § t> 9 y234 j * WOH ^iT vr A w UUYPB "Exceptionally good sofi ware, Already I can't § A C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|H|H|0|PmR|S|T|U|U|W|}(|viz"|i: iHpression understand how I Managed F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 without TWO!" DocuMen Find and Rep New Style Edit Style Neu Chapter Dicti m 48^ 58^^ 68^ m

Main Hpariina Siih-hpariina Ttalin iil Rnld left Align .. Xentrp I Riaht fllian iFiil hj firmtn^H iiCFS

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sheet package on the Archimedes. start new docimients from, and auto-

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your data. .Multiple scales to compare RRP S196+\'.Vr. Call for education prices and .sice licences. Pipel^ream 4 is ideal for any trends. Personalised Penguin Cjraphics .-\rchimedes, ,^,5000 or .\.S()()0 with 2MH with bars filled by your own draw files to R.\.\I or more. il Grid I Gndy M;nro jAiM dazzle your friends and colleagues, !7m 2265 7284 ,48 ; .2134 834$ ^] j J45 !9m 2970 7738 4« ; ; COLTON software fur a free 21 brochure, complcce and 22«6i «m 1 7263 44 -^ return this eotipon. 1m 2418 ; 7875 ,43 I

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s ; CONTENTS

APRIL 1992 NEWS 7 95 ISSUE 117 EDUCATION 13 ARTWORKS COMMS COLUMN 15

GRAPHICS COLUMN 16

NEXT MONTH 18

LEHERS 22 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 24

SUBSCRIPTIONS 29

SPECIAL NEEDS 50

We look at a selection of hardware that can help in the classroom

ART WORKS FACE-BENDER 53

A BAU animation program to type in COVER ILLUSTRATION DANNY JENKINS TV PREVIEW 54 62 Editor Barry Monk Don't miss the special TV programme, to mark ten years of the BBC micro CHORDS Assistant Editor Karen Donaghay

Technical Assistant Paul James ARC ASSEMBLY 57 mitil mmne: SESIiiiraliail.t.BniialsZ Art Editor Tony Judge

Editorial Assistant Sarah Burns More help with your programming prowess Advertisement Manager

Duncan Pringle CHORDS 62 Deputy Advertisement Manager Learn to make music with our special BAU program Richard Power Sales Executives Areef Vohra, •INFO 65 Jack Manzoor More advice and examples from our monthly selection Ad Production Fiona Andrews

Production Manager Jennifer Jeffrey PUZZLE Publisher Seamus Geoghegan PAGE 84 Publishing Director Michael Potter SMALL ADS & ORDER FORM 85 Editorial Director Christopher Ward TRACE 89 Published by Redwood Publishing,

20-- a BBC Enterprises Company, A software package to convert from sprite to Draw file 120 26 Brunswick Place, London Ml 071-490 6DJ,TeL 1444. Telecom MEMORY UPGRADES 91 COMPETITION Gold 10081 REDOOlMicronet Bureau 919992492. setting and Think your A3 1 needs more Ram? We look at four leading upo ides ad typesetting by Bold Gray Design, 52 Rosebery Avenue, London, ECl R 4RP, 95 Colour by Trumps Studio, Ware, Herts.

Printed by Riverside Press, St lues PLC, The exclusive review of an exciting new design program Gillingham. Distributed by BBC Frontline, Park House, 117 Park Road, Peter- HARD DISC COMPANION 101 borough, © Redwood Publishing 1 992.

All rights reserved. Acorn is a registered Backups made easy? We test out the latest version of Hard Disc Companio trademark of Acorn ABC Computers Ltd. Redwood REPLAY ——- 103 Publishing is a registered , ^ ' " ciaiauser. ISSN 0263 7455. Moving video images on the Arc are finally a reality

FAX PODULE PRODUCED ON 106 103 THE ARCHIMEDES Sending a fax can be as easy as pnnting a page. We examine the evidence REPLAY Aii the editorial pages in PUBLIC DOMAIN 109 BBC Acorn User are C heck out the diverse range of free software produced on a DTP system using Acorn GAMES 112 Archimedes 440/1 and The latest releases for all Acorn gamesters

A540 computers, Com- HELIX BASIC 115 puter Concepts' Impres- A new approach to programming put though its paces sion 2 with Laser Direct pnntersandTaxan^ COMPETITION 120 Win monitors :^^^ a Roland music keyboard!

BBC ACORN USER APRIL 1992 3 572 6 2

Image Outilnar Prehistoric Animals, sprites Micro Studio £16 J. = y--^ Imagine Topolagika £33 Premier ' Circle £71 - ^ ei-:^'-

Fan filters {pack ol 10) ICS £4 Fourth Dim FaxPack CC E289 Ulilily Disc 1 Data Stem Monitor Stand (or A3000 ICS £1 Utility Disc 2 Data Stars •TouchWindow Lindis £234 Utility Disc 3 Data Store Whisper Fan Quieten er ICS £15 Utility Colleclion Data Store View-Mac 3 Human HIGH DENSITY SVa " FLOPPY DISCS Thinking IDE? - Arc/Mac Cable Human Vox Sox Clares E47 Packet 10 £io

•Wa,Waterloo White Magic Fourth Dim £14 White Magic 2 + Designer Fourth Dim £14 ArcLaser Cailigraph £895 Wimp Game Fourth Dim £12 ArcServer Cailigraph £985 Wonderland Virgin £24 Bubble Jet We've got BJ-lOe Canon £205 a brand new Words and Pictures ChalksofI £17 Bubljie Jet BJ-300 Canon £360 World Championship Boxing Manager Bubble Jet BJ-330 Canon £405 Krisalis £20 Laser Direct HiRes4 with 50-sheet Iray CC £695 World Geography Maps, drawfiles Micro Studio £23 - 250-sheet Paper Cassette £99 World Map Study, a EMR Laser Direct HiResS CC £1280 WorldScape Eclipse £1 Laser Direct LBP-4 Card CC £319 World Wildlite, sprites M(cro Studio £1 Laser Direct Qume CC £749 Worra Battle Oafc £13 LBP-4 Canon WorraCAD Oak £75 Refill toner cartridge for Canon EPS £50 Worra Plot Oak £24 New toner cartridge for Canon LBP-4 £59

A- Fire Fourth Dim £17 SCANNERS, DIGITISERS ZsS; A Dabhand Guide Dabs VO £15 Z88 PIpeDream Guide Dabs VO £15 ArcScanner including Epson GT-4000 Zarch Superior £1 Zelanlles Micro Power £14 FaxScan Space lech FX9600AT + Maintenance Amslrad £376 Hawk V9 Wild Vision £199 - A3000 version Wild Vision £278 HARDWARE Image (colour) £589 Image Scanner iota £389 - Colour upgrade iota £98 l-Scan 200 Iriam £539 A5000 COMPUTERS i-Scan 400 £589 Pineapple Colour Video [ Pineapple £195 After VA years' experience in selling 2Mb Hard Disc Colour System Acom £1499 IDE products - A 3000 boxed Pineapple £230 - as above + Learning Curve £1530 Scan-Light A4 £277 (Fir]ance & special purchase schemes available) for - with Sheet Feeder £370 (more than twice that of any Scan-Light Junior £128 MEMORY - A3000 internal £128 rival), we are pleased to announce a new release Scan-Light Junior 256 £199 Fitting extra unless otherwise staled - A3000 infernal £199 f Filling easy f Fitting needs expertise of the Filing Scan -Light Protessfonal CC £825 IDE System by ICS. Completely A3000 2 Mb Non-upgradable f IFEL £55 - as atxjve -t- SCSI interface CC £910 A3000 2 Mb Upgradable t IFEL £63 •Snapshot Colour Video Digillser Lingenully £195 A3000 4Mbt Alomwide/IFEL £149 rewritten in the UK, the new ICS IDEFS offers - A3000 version Lingenuily £275 A310 2 Mb Upgradable soldered t IFEL Spectra RISC £545 -as above + MEMCla £149 improved - A3000 Internal RISC £545 speed and added features such as - as above + MEMC1 a + fitting £200 - A3000 External RISC £565 A3104Mbsoldered+MEMC1a t IFEL £225 •Video Digit iser HCCS protection. - as above + fitting £277 password - as above + fitting + OS3 carriers 12C A5000 2 - 4 Mb Upgradable t Atamwide £109 PRODUCTS A5000 2 - 8 Mb including titling Atomwide £500 Existing ideA users can upgrade for just £15 + AnDi Oddule Baiidon A5000 4 - 8 Mb including titling Atomwide £391 I^C Adaptor (needed unless you A540 4Mb t Atomwide £268 VAT, already have an l=C socket) Baiidon returning the old eprom afterwards. Please MtSCELLANEOUS TO SWI (enhanced llG_Control) Baiidon - bought wilh Oddule specify your interface type. •386C PC Expansion Card Aieph One 4-slot 4-layer Backplane IFEL 9060S Monitor Eizo KEYBOARD COVERS New customers should telephone ICS or contact 9070S Monitor E/zo Seal 'n Type (spill-proof) - Archimedes / A300/400 Fan kit ICS A5000 Kador £14 their local dealer for information on our complete A310 RISC OS Cam'er Board J IFEL -A3000 Kador £14 •A5000 Fitting Kit for second hard disc ICff ARMS i FUNCTION KEY STRIP ORGANISER range of IDE hard disc upgrades. Clares Micro Mouse Clares Arckey ICS VO £3 Dongle Dangle wilh screw fittings ICS -pack of 4 VOE10

HOW TO ORDER FREE ml\ WORTH £57 !

VAT: UK customers please add 17.5% to the total price, except for the when you buy direct or from participating dealers. zero-rated items marked VO. Our VAT number is 595 7258 84.

CARRIAGE IS FREE WITHIN MAINLAND UK IF YOU PAY ON ORDERING. Remember this when you compare prices! You may well find cheaper suppliers (and less

Overseas carriage: If you are paying by credit card we will add airmail and advanced products). But our advice is insurance at cost. Othenwise please add £6 (Europe) or at least £12 (elsewhere) for each software item and send a pounds sterling bank draft payable in England, or Eurocheques for not more than £100 each. - Credit cards are welcome. We do not charge your account until your order Don't take risks has been fulfilled. The name and address for delivery of goods should be as

known to the credit card company. If you are leaving an order on our answering machine please include your telephone number, the expiry date of your card, and your calculation of the total payment due. Official orders are welcome. Payment is due in 14 days. Invoices are Asl< for ICS subject to carriage and late payment charges.

Site licences: please enquire if no price is shown.

All products, prices and specifications are offered in good faith and are subject to change without notice. Your order will receive our attention immediately, but suppliers sometimes keep us waiting. Goods are It's where the ideA came from! guaranteed but we do not supply them on approval.

AUTHORISED ACORN DEALER ICS (Ian Copestake Software)

Dept B29, 1 Kington road, West Kirby, WIRRAL, Merseyside, L48 SET Tel: 051-625 1006 Fax: 051-625 1007 E&OE S039 9aFE24 LICENSED CREDIT BROKER ' s

Sherston I Software presents a unique collection of clip art Split an for the Archimedes, A5000 & A3000 image Now YOU can put words into the mouths of the rich & famous!

About 1 00 superb draw files of the best known people from politics, royalty sport, pop music, TV & film! The mix and match bodies and locations included add to the fun and flexibility. You've sesn tham oil bsFor i\Q^^ liktt this!! I^M Only £1 9.95 + £3.49 VAT from Sherston Software Ltd, Swan Barton, ^3 Sherston, Malmesbury, Wiltshire. SN16 OLH Tel: 0666 840433

What our readers say . pisc

atuiatf^niio'^^' ^ssm^'-Sr ^s>»;^^^i^t;^-- yailf"'r,sure mse vmi*

the most popular subscription lien' .gSfSS"-' texce magazine tievoteU to the Anchimeites, Kings A3000 ami A5000 computers

lUSt

1 nn' nUfl icat roV'^t^ass^P^'" BlSO^-Joeare-' ,an<^^'" Tl! fitly freq^^' od^^m For yot/r subscribtion xtoni (£19.90 a year for UK) tions ..CO«>cOatuia' phone 0727 40303 for' or write to: RISC Developments, 117 Hatfield star' Road, St. Albans Herts AL1 4JS a'^'^ s!r";;ese I ^'f nce and e^'^fmaga^'ro^nainta" S.J' Quote reference M2 and save £1 off your subscription (subscribe for only £18.90)

6 BBC ACORN USER APRIL 1992 -

NEWS IN BRIEF

BIGGER VENUE FOR 1992 • THREE Acorn A5000 compu- ters are at the heart of a new in- store broadcasting system being used by Asda supermarkets. The BBC ACORN USER SHOW superstore chain has set up its own AsdaFM radio station which

WEMBLEY H.\hibiii()n Cenire broadcasts to its 150 outlets via will iinco again be the venue the Astra TV satellite. The three for Iho liliC Acorn User Show ASOOOs control scheduling opera- this Auiumn. tions, CD jukeboxes and an ISDN

Following the success of last (Integrated Services Digital Net-

year's event at the Wembley work) telephone line, which

Conference Centre, which distributes signals to the satellite

attracted over 10.000 people. uploader. The system is provided this year's show will be held in by Norsat International sub-

the larger hall three of the sidiary, In-Store Media. Norsat's Wembley complex. This will European director, Tom Wood- enable visitors to be admitted ford, explained that ASOOOs were more easily and help a\oid the chosen because of their network-

queueing problems which ing and multitasking abilities resulted from Wembley safety which means any one machine regulations last year. could take over the functions of

The show dates are Friday another, guaranteeing reliability. Octt)ber 16 to Simday October A bigger venue will cater for crowds expected at this year's show Archimedes are now controlling 18 1992, although the organ- operations at four other indepen-

isers, Safesell Exhibitions, arc Autumn being a key time for be bigger and better than ever. dent local radio stations - two in

also keeping options open on new products, it is likely that Watch BAU for more details the UK and two in Malaysia. an extra day (possibly Thurs- the company will once again in the near future - meanwhile,

day October LS) for a special use the show as a . make a note in youi" diai'y foi- • AROUND 100 works of art educational pi'eview. Meanwhile, a large number October 16 to 18. created by sixth form students Discussions are taking place of exhibitors from the Acorn Initial enquiries concerning from the London Borough of with Acorn Computers conc- niaiketplace have already stand space should be directed Enfield are being displayed on an erning the company's involve- booked space and early indi- to Safesell Exhibitions. Tel: Archimedes computer, which has ment with the show. With cations are that the show will {0737)814084. been loaned by Acorn to the

Design Council in London. The

computerised art exhibition is

the culmination of a project run DIRECT COLOUR FOR THE ARC by the Borough of Enfield to pro- vide students with some experi-

AFTER the success of the ence in computer graphics. Initial Archimedes-dedicated Laser- designs were drawn on paper or Direct printer range. Computer photographed and then trans-

Concepts has turned its atten- ferred to computer by using tion to the colour printing Minerva Software's Atelier paint

market. The result is program on the Archimedes. The ColourDirect. a 24-bit colour selection of resulting pictures printing package based around was then installed on an Archi- Canons brand-new B.ICK()() medes running an Acorn sprite

colour ink- jet printer. The slide show utility called Picture.

BJCSOO is a 36()dpi (dots per The exhibition will be at the

inch) printer and. unlike some Design Council until the summer. of the cheaper alternatives, the

Canon is said to print true • IN THE March issue we stated blacks resulting in superior that the price of the Aleph One contrast. ColourDirect print- PC card with 1Mb RAM was £595 The BJCSOO used in the ColourDirect package from Computer Concepts outs seen by BAU were cer- plus VAT. It has since been

tainly impressive. Another is 24-bil colour capable, to ColourDirect as a perfect reduced to £495 plus VAT. advantage of the BJCKOO is match the ability of the printer. match for the new AnWorks

that it can print up to A3. This provision also anticipates package, as well as for existing • ACE COMPUTING'S Euclid Rise OS only handles eight- future Archimedes video chip Impression users. Colour- package was used to create and bit colour palettes at present. developments. CC also claims Direct is due shortly and has a animate a ham sandwich for Cen- which limits printed results to its printer driver code, which recommended price of £1995 tral TV's series People Who

256 colours, even though the addresses the parallel port plus VAT. At a later date, com- Count. It will appear on April 1. Archimedes has a selection of directly, is extremely fast and puter Concepts plans to sell Contact Ace Computing on (0223) 4096 colours. However. Com- can work in the background. the printer driver separately. 322559. puter Concepts" printer dri\er Compute!' Concepts sees Tel: (0442)63933.

BBC ACORN USER APRIL 1992 7 The flight sim toolkit contains 5 Rise OS tools

which let you create your own flight simulator!

'.\i -""'^i

)m^m

! Shape -Design aircraft, building, runways,

roads and rivers.

! Model -Aerodynamic a/c mod ^

ilB^'^.

iCockplt-DesigninsfrunJen,t panel and displays. - I World Create your virtual world, set up enemy

airfields, defences and supply lines.,,,,,,*

Available from: Simis Limited, 26 ChittyWmj^Keens Parl<, Guildford, Surrey GU3 3HW Telepfione:4J483) 233048 IDEAS FROM ANOTHER WORLD NEWS IN BRIEF Korn Software Road-

show is to roll once more in May, KEEP an eye on the IBM PC- with five venues between May ctjmpiitible market and. when 11 and 15, starting off in Aber- a good idea comes along, deen in Scotland and ending in make it work on the Archi- London. The schedule is as medes. Thai is ihe strategy ^^^^1 follows; adopted by DT Software, PIBI May 11, Northern College, Aber- which this month launches i* 1^^C^^^P^^ deen; May 12, Mid/South Scot- several new products. H land, (venue to be announced); First is a Floptical 21Mb ^ J^^-M May 13, Cleveland ECC, Morton '^ floppy disc drive. This is a ^^1 College, Middlesborough; May conventional looking 3.5in 14, Education Development Cen^ drive which has ultra-ihin ^L^^t^^^^^^^^^^^^.^ tre, Sandwell;May 15, ILEC magnetic data tracks enabling Centre, London. a much greater recording den- Another roadshow week is sity, instead of the normal 135 planned for November 23 to 27. tracks per inch (tpi) density. For further information contact

Floptical packs have o\'ei" Acorn Computers on (0223) lOOOtpi. A tiny LED optical 245200. sensor is used to guide the The Logitech Fotoman -diq ital image ca ture on the Archimedes heads along laser etched • Dublin-based EMCEE Distribu- grooves. It remains compatible still-video camera. This system The range is made up of 14. tion Ltd has been appointed by with all existing 3.5in flopp} is colour whereas Fotoman is 15. 17 and 2Iin displays. DTS Acorn as its sole distributor in di.sc media. strictly monochrome, but the points out that its monitors the Republic of Ireland. EMCEE's

The Floptical drive is a theory goes that Fotoman operate a scanning range of task will be to build on Acorn's SCSI device and DTS provides images will be considerably 15-38KHZ. ideal for Archi- strength in Irish primary schools the necessary software for shai'per. and of higher resolu- medes screen modes, including and increase the company's pre- operation in the Archimedes tion because the image data is modes !2 and 15. Other multi- sence in secondary schools, environment, The drive is pi'i- first-generation. scan monitors often scan where the main competition ced at £399.95 plus vat and By comparison, analogue between 30-65KH/. which is comes from Apple Macintosh blank 21Mb discs will cost still-video images must first be not suitable foi" lower resolu- computers. around £15 each. digitised, a process which tion screen modes. Marketing director Mike Another new peripheral inli'oduces a certain amount of The 15in and larger models O'Riordan said that he hoped from DTS is Logitech's Foto- distortion, and the luxury of also sport a four-setting video Acorn Learning Curve packs man camera. This is a black colour must be paid for in pre-set to minimise the need to would increase the number of and white solid state camei'a lower resolution. The Fotoman constantly I'e-adjusi the screen Archimedes used by families at which stores up to 32 pictures camera can also lake standard position when changing home, complementing those digitally in on-board Ram. Pic- video camcorder lens attach- between certain screen modes. already used at schools. EMCEE tures are then downloaded to ments. An Arc Fotoman Prices are: 14in. £297.82: will be flying the Acorn flag at your machine via the serial system is £553.15 plus vat. 15in, £485: !7ln, £680.80; and Computex, Ireland's biggest com- port. DTS already .sells an Finally. DTS has a new 2Iin. £1046.76 (plus VAT). puter exhibition, at the end of Archimedes camei'a system range of badged multiscan Contact DT Software on March. The Irish President, Mary based around the Canon Ion monitoi's sourced from Japan. (0223)841099. Robinson, recently opened a new 20-Archimedes computer room at the Good Shepherd Primary WORDS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS School in Churchtown, Co Dublin. • Sherston Software has just grammatical groups. Rise Computer Concepts is released Split an Image, a range

Developments says Desktop expected to release its of cartoon clip art in Draw file

Tliesiitinis will work with thesaurus at a later d.ate. Word format featuring the likes of most applications which 4 Word will be based on the John Major and Frank Bruno. The in\(ilve text editing, including Collins Gems Thesaurus. CC cartoons were drawn by artist Impression and Ovalioiu even hope to make Word 4 Word Paul Hutchinson and transferred

though there is no standardised woi"k in the background, and to Draw format by Sherston who 'hot-linking* in Rise OS. with later versions of Impres- have ensured that the caricatures The dictionary can also be sion, double clicking on a remain easy to edit in Draw. Also RISC DEVELOPMENTS has modified by the user. To save word will start the search induded are a range of bodies to announced Desktop Thc.s- memory, data is accessed from through the thesaurus. The attach the heads to, and a book aunis. Over 1 LOOO key words disc where it is stored in synonyms are then shown a on how to use Draw to make the arc !inke(.l to a dictionary of compi'cssed form. By the time window, and clicking on one most of them. The pack contains about 90,000 synonyms. All this issue of BAU is out. Desk- will replace the selected word. around 100 cartoons and costs the user has to do is type a lop Thesaiints should be on Contact Rise Developments £19.95 plus VAT. Contact Sherston woi'd into a window and sug- sale, at the very reasonable on (0727) 40303 and Compu- Software on (0666) 840433. gested synonyms ai'e listed in price of £19 plus \ at. ter Concepts on (0442) 63933.

BBC ACORN USER APRIL 1992 9 .

FASTER NETWORKING ON THE ARC NEWS IN BRIEF • THERE have been some ETHERNET looks set to become changes in Acorn's marketing a faster solution to networking personnel line up. Most notable

{)n the Archimedes and BBC is the arrival of new education

A30()(). It can work up to 20- marketing manager, Peter Talbot,

times taster than Econet and is from Commodore (see education I'apidly becoming an industry column page 13), Simon Wood- standard for IBM PCs. Apple ward takes on some of departing Macs and Unix machines. Warwick Hirst's former respon- Acorn first provided an sibilities for valued added

Ethernet intei't'ace card for the solutions, within a new profes- Archimedes when the Unix- sional solutions operation, based Ri40 derivative was covering initiatives such the Pro- launched three years ago. Now fessional DTP package, Atomwide Ltd has joined in by Consumer division manager releasing a paii" of Ethernet Bob Coates takes on wider The A3000 version of Atomwides' Ethernet card cards: one is !6-bil version for responsibilities as general mana- the Archimedes' standard ageing Econet system. Alter- system will provide Ethernet ger of consumer and interna-

podule expansion bus. and the natively, it can be employed as networks with an extended tional markets. Corporate affairs other a compact (eight-bit) a way of attaching Arcs to Econel-slyle environment, manager, Brian Salter, also gets version for the A3000's intei"- existing Ethernet networks. compatible with level four file more responsibilities and is now

nal slot. Acorn already provides TCP/ servers. Both versions of the head of publications and events Ethernet on the Ai'chimedes IP connectivity protocols for new card cost £229 plus vat. organisation. can be used as a faster allerna- the latter, and the forthcoming Contact Atomwide on (0689) The reshuffle took place after tivc to the traditional but Acorn Uni\ersal Network 838852. the Computer Shopper Show last December, which was not

regarded as a success for Acorn. SOFTWARE WATFORD TO LAUNCH Although It had a presence at the show. Acorn's stand space was

booked late and there was no SHOW A NEW PC PODULE time to capitalise on its presence.

WHETHER you are are a first- FOLLOWING hot on the heels However, the cai'd is designed • CRADDOCK Computer time buyer or an expert, choos- of the first Archimedes PC to work with Rise OS. com- Systems (CCS) has revealed that

ing software for business and podule from Aleph One, Wat- plete with a multitasking PC it is designing a modular memory home use can be a challenge. ford Electronics has revealed window and access to existing upgrade system which will

Which is why you should tune details of a rival PC podule Rise OS hard disc partitions. enable A5000 users to plug in a in to The Software Show, a 90- designed by prolific ex-Com- Chris Honey says his design total of 15Mb of Ram. The minute programme covering puter Concepts hardware route avoids the display limita- upgrade features a motherboard

all you need to know about expert, Chris Honey. tions of the PC Emulator. which brings total memory up to choosing and using software Apart from sharing the goal which can only partially emu- 8Mb. This involves de-soldering

for profit. Aimed at both busi- of providing a full-speed late a full VGA screen. The the A5000's surface-mount ness and home users, there will hardware-based PC environ- Watford card will have 256K Memcia controller chip, which is

be plenty of advice on choos- ment on the Arc. it is interest- of video memory foi' a sep- why CCS carries out this part of ing softwai'e for a \aricty of ing to note (hat (he two arate VGA monitor, which the fitting. Extra 4Mb upgrades, platforms. including the competing designs diiTer in will also be able display the giving a potential maximum of Archimedes. more than just minor details. Ri.sc OS desktop. 2Mb of 16Mb, are provided in the form Helpful case studies featur- The Watford card will feature system memory will be pro- of small 'daughter cards' which ing companies and individuals a 25MHz AMD 386SX PC vided as standard and there is a plug into the motherboard. Con- making software choices will chip, claimed to be 25 percent socket for an optional maths tact CCS on (0504) 760991 be included. The programme faster than the 20MHz Intel co-processor. Other options will also cover training, .data 386SX processor used by include high density (HD) • HEWLETT-PACKARD has protection, viruses and piracy. Aleph One. While Aleph One 1.44Mb floppy drives, which introduced a double capacity ink- The programme will feature decided to interface its card are now standard on the new jet cartridge for its Deskjet range an Archimedes in the studio. with Acorn's new PC Einiila- A5000. and an expander to of printers. The old version used which will be running popular lor. Watfoi'd Electronics has accommodate up to two half- a sponge to attract the ink to the software, such as Pipedream eho.sen to design what is effec- size PC bus expansion cards. business end of the cartridge. Ink and Impression. There will tively a stand-alone PC which Availability of the Watford reservoir space has been saved also be a special competition can live inside the Archi- card has yet to be confinned, by eliminating the sponge and to win the software featured. medes. In other words. Wat- but managing director Naziv the cartridge case is now trans- The pi'ogram me will be ford's card could have an Jessa hinted that pricing would parent so you can see clearly

very competitive with when the ink is getting low. The shown on BBC 1 at 10.30am optional keyboard and monitor be

on Sunday March 29. British attached to it and two people Aleph One's PC cards, which new cartridge has a typical life of Summertime falls on this day. could u.se a single machine at are already on sale. Contact about 1,000 A4 sheets. The cartri- so be sure to set your clocks the same time - one using Rise Watford Electronics on (0923) dge is priced at £21 plus VAT. back by one hour! OS and the other Dos. 37774.

10 BBC ACORN USER APRIL 1992 Last week, Miss Brown was in a tangle. Her music class wasn't prepared

in time. One group wanted to play the drums, but tiie music budget barely

stretches to a tambourine. Another wanted to write its own music, but it

all got rather messy. In the end, she got them all to sing a round song.

This week, Miss Brown is using Notate. Now composing music is easy

— notes, rests etc. can be placed directly on the screen. Then the music can be played back immediately, and changes made to rhythm, tempo or

pitch. When it's done, they're going to print out their piece -— a nice neat copy for every musician in the class.

Next week Miss Brown is going to introduce 'Music of the World'. African rhythms, marches, rap, pentatonic scales — Nolate can do the

lot. It's even simple to move individual parts between tunes — ever

heard the National anthem with a reggae percussion section?

Notate uses the standard Archimedes 'voices'. The computer can sound Notate offers the following features: like anything from a cow bell to a trombone, from a melodic tom-tom to

a hand clap. And up to eight of these "instruments' can be played at once. Comprehensive support materials

in the manual and on disk Notate IS available now. Miss Brown has a sound sampler attached to her Archimedes too, so she Up to eight individual staves pnced al £59. can record more of her own instruments. Including the human voice. So A wide range of synthesised and A site hcence tor Notate now three students are singing a barber shop quartet — the computer is sampled sounds costs £190 foi a piimaiy humming the fourth part. Ability to use accidentals and school and £330 for a

repeats secondary school Whether you want to play percussion with seven year olds or think theory Full range of time and key with seventeen year olds. ^ signatures with control over tempo compose yourself — <' /"^^S and volume ' v/ith Notate. j f 1 f ^ Automatic checking of note length

relative to the bar space remaining

Easy-to-use tape recorder style

control panel

Chord facility

Mixer controls to adjust stereo

balance and volume of all tracks

Configurable for different levels of

musical skill Editing facilities which, like word LongmaN processing, include cut, copy, move and delete within bars, logotron staves or between compositions

Up to four compositions editable simultaneously 124 Cambudge Science Ability to transpose single parts or Paik whole compositions Milion Road Export and import of MIDI format Cambndge CB4 4ZS

1 files DESIGNED IN THE CLASSROOM Tel (0223)425558 Ability to play via MIDI where a Fa\ (0223^425349 FOR MUSICAL EDUCATION suitable interface is fitted. SQUIRREL 7) r¥t THE REVOLUTIONARY NEW DATABASE FOR ARCHIMEDES COMPUTERS

Squirrel is the easiest to use Modern indexing techniques Images, text and sound may be database yet, allowing simple mean superfast searches every stored in the same database point and click database creation time. and queries.

NETWORK COMPATIBLE INTELLIGENT

Client /server design ensures that Squirrel understands days of the Queries may be made onto other squirrel runs just as well on week, months of the year and popular computers such as an IBM networks as standalone. recognises files from other or Macintosh, even remotely over popular packages. telephone lines.

Single User Version £129.00 + VAT

Econet/Site Licence REPORTING PROFESSIONAL £516.00 + VAT

Fully relational reporting with an Quite simply, the most professional

entirely new graphic approach to database for Archimedes users. Suitable for Acom A3000, A310 and data selection. A400 Series. \ <«. V^ DIGITAL SERVICES LIMITED V^ 9 WAYTE STREET, COSHAM, PORTSMOUTH, HANTS P06 3BS TEL (0705) 210600 NEWS IN BRIEF BULLETINS ON ECONET ROLLING IT • ACCORDING to a recent edi-

BULLETIN is a new snrtware open a window on the first MINERVA Software's Fri^ tion of Private Eye, junior package from the Scotlish- board of messages. The user meArt package can now run education minister Tim Eggar based company XOB. thai may then .scroll the text up and rolling displays from pictures caused some embarrassed gig- will allow users to run a bul- down and read any messages. produced using the package. gles when he opened the BETT letin board on Econet-Iinked each of which has a date The PrimeArt Display Kit Show recently. During his tour he A3000/Archimedes machines. stamp, the name of the sender utility allows pictures created was introduced to Acorn's One of the benetus of a and the intended recipient. using the primary art package managing director Sam Wau- computer network is the ability Using standard desktop techni- to be displayed in .sequence, chope and, considerably to send electronic messages. ques, the user may simply making it ideal for classroom impressed by the power of the

But while electronic mail is view the topics or contribute demonstrations. Acorn machines, suggested that useful, it does not have the their own messages. The rolling displays are pro- it might be a good idea if they advantages of a bulletin boaixl. Bulletin supports up to 20 duced by dropping saved were, er, used in our schools. With Bulletin, individual users simultaneous 'boards* or pictures on to the screens After a short silence, Eggar's may examine messages left by topics, although it is possible directory and clicking on the guide informed him of Acorn's others and reply to them, or to extend this number if icon. It costs £ 1 2 plus vat. contribution to educational hard- initiate discussion on various required. All files are Also, a new version of Pri- ware (found in 85 percent of topics. These can range from encrypted and may only be meArt has a option for use in schools) before moving the min- examination answers to plans read by Bulletin and a special high-resolution mode 21. ister on. for a .school trip. utility provided for the system Other new features include Messages left on Buila in manager - this allows closed support for a Concept Key- • MEANWHILE, as revealed in can be replied to at any time user groups to be established board, options for sticky our news pages this month, and topics may be open to all on less .sophisticated file- menus and brush matching. Acorn has finally appointed ex- users, or restricted to closed servers. Tho.se using the SJ The new version of Pri- Commodore man, Peter Talbot, user groups. Research MDFS have extra meArt costs £79.95 plus VAT. as the new manager of its edu- Bulletin will operate on any levels of security available. including site licence. Existing cation division. Talbot, 38, was

Rise OS (A30flO. Archimedes. Bulletin costs £67 and is u.sers can upgrade for £10 plus national sales manager respon- A5000) computer connected to available from XOB. Bal- VAT by returning their original sible for government and an Econet network. Clicking keerie, Angus. DD8 ISR. tel: discs. Contact Minerva on education business at Com- on the Bulletin icon hai" will (0307)84364. (0392)437756. modore Business Machines. A former teacher, he also spent a couple of years running Granada BIBLICAL Business Centres in London. PARTNERSHIP FUNDING Acorn's sales and marketing director, Mike O'Riordan, said: EXPERIENCE TIGHT budgets are not unusual and colleges in the Wakefield 'With Peter's combination of in schools, but at least one area in the form of matched experience of the education mar- YOUNGSTERS can actually school in the Wakefield area funding. Money donated by

ket, and of sales and marketing, I time-travel through biblical has been able to buy a BBC local industry was matched am sure he will bring to Acorn a events, thanks to a new BBC A3000 computer and software, pound-for-pound by the part- wealth of benefits that will help A3(}()() audio-visual system. thanks to a partnership nership to enable the school to us to continue our leading role Biblewoiid is a 2()-minute between education and local purchase the equipment. within the education sector.' journey put together by the business. Knottingley C of E Karen Rangeley. the part- National Bible Society of primary school recently bene- nership manager, and local A MAJOR step forward in Scotland in Edinburgh. fitted from a cash injection haulage contractor Eddie Sto- • examination administration by It uses six A3000 compu- from Wakefield's Education bart are pictured below with schools has been developed ters, and has both sound and Business Partnership to buy the Knottingley headteacher using the Archimedes. Over 450 visual effects. Inti'cpid yoimg the equipment. The money Janet Taylor and some of her schools will be involved in 'time-travellers" can recon- was made available to schools enthusiastic pupils the project for the submission of struct a digitised picture from exam entries, managed by the a 'visit' to Israel, lest what they have learned from Bible University of Cambridge Local Examination Syndicate and characters, and set out on an Campus 2000, supplier of elec- adventure in Jerusalem at the tronic information services to time of Christ's birth. education. Most of the 'spade The A3000 is also used by work' for the project was carried the society in the administra- out the Archimedes. soft- tion of Bibleworld, which on The ware was then ported over to includes keeping track of visi- PCs, on which the system will tors, as well as developing new run, although there is the pos- programs and ideas. Used in sibility of linking into the UCLES the system is HCCS\ Hard Card. Ovation and Impression project with an Archimedes Campus 2000 is jointly DTP software, plus special machine. operated BT and Times Net- fonts and graphics. by Contact David Cochrane on work Systems, tel: 071-782 7143. 031-337 9701. The new computer funded by a school-business partnership

BBC ACORN USER APRIL 1992 13 —

FaxPack is a fax expansion board for the Archimedes range of computers allowing your computer to take on the job of a conventional fax machine but with the benefits of being fully integrated into the Archimedes.

FaxPack offers full background send and receive capability. You can send a fax simply by selecting the PRINT option from any RISC OS application, with control returned in just a few seconds. FaxPack then proceeds to dial and send the fax while you carry on using the computer.

Receiving faxes is also completely automatic. FaxPack will answerthe phone and store the fax away on your disc while you continue to use the computer. Once received the fax can be viewed on screen (using a special anti-aliased dJsplayto improve on-screen readability) and printed. Any portion of the fax image can be saved as a conventional sprite. Alternatively FaxPack can be made to automatically print on receipt

of a fax, which with a LaserDirect printer, is completely automatic and in the background.

There are numerous advantages of a computer based fax system over a conventional machine:

3 Very high quality, pixel perfect faxes - try sending a fax of 8pt text from a conventional fax machine!

Since there is no need to print, then re-scan a document, FaxPack saves time, paper and money when sending faxes.

Q Rather than junk fax mail wasting your costly fax paper, you can decide to delete unwanted fax files before printing.

By receiving and sending from the computer FaxPack offers a higher level of security than most conventional fax machines.

J FaxPack allows electronic archiving of fax messages and is one step towards the truly paperless office.

Zl FaxPack uses your standard Archimedes printer imiam and so can print on plain paper ratherthan thermal paper.

I i « 1 1 1 « In addition FaxPack can be used as a data modem, to send and receive any Archimedes file or directory of 911 files to other machines fitted with FaxPack. Because of the 9600 baud rate of fax systems and the use of data

compression FaxPack is faster than practically all iM conventional data modems and permits background data transfer.

FaxPack £299 + VAT (£351.32)

iiiiifiiiiilliiiiilllililillliHUiii^

——I li'flilrfl I fif—

—THE FAX EXPANSION BOARD FOR THE ARCHIMEDES WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? NEWS IN BRIEF 9 If you want a huge selection HOW many I'eaders skip over .started? Well all you need is a as little as £50 nowadays and of PD and Shareware software, llu' comms column, thinking modem, a computer and some the comms software will cost with over 2500 programs avail- that it's too complex for them. suitable comms software. A about the same. To get started, able, you should try The Share- Maybe they have watched the modem is simply the box you don't need to worry about ware BBS on (0424) 830654: {8N1,

fihn Wai\iiaines and imagine a which plugs into your phone speed and all that stuff - most ANSI, 300/1200/2400/9600 HST).

v^/hole sub-culture of bolTins. line and your coinputer. It systems that you dial up will Although it is currently biased hacking their way into hidden converts your data into strange adjust their speed to suit your towards PC users, Acorn support

computer networks. noises, sends them down the modem. The only thing to may increase if lots of users log

Well, nowadays it's not phone line into a modem at the remember is that the faster on. Echomail conferences also quite like that, Comms come other end. which then converts your modem, the cheaper your support woHdwide Netmail and into many aspects of life, from the strange noi.ses back into phone bill will be. on-line games such as Tradewars. the cashpoint machine to ord- computer data. Comms software can often

ering in a high street book- The comms software is sim- be bought at the same time as • Whoops! We would like to store. At the home computer ply a package that lets you your modem but be warned - correct two errors that crept into level, playing online games is choose the data to convert into there are alot to choose from. our February column. The correct a favourite comms pastime. strange noises, and send them We will be looking at some number for Silicon Village should So. if you are a computer whi/./.ing down the phone line. over the coming month.s. to be 081-759 6996. Also the price novice, how do you get You can pick up a modem for make your choice simpler. of the Computer Concepts Fax

Pack is £299, not £200 as stated. ARCADE IN ACTION OUT AND Apologies to all concerned! # Have you ever wished you FOR a newcomer, one of the infoi'mation to help keep your ABOUT could send Janet mail, via a bul- best bulletin boards around has discs virus free. letin board system? Well now got to be Arcade. Based in If you're not on Acorn's ONE bulletin board that has you can. Sysop Edward Hobson Croydon. Arcade is probably mailing list. Arcade can also come to our attention has some of The Powerhouse BBS has just

the 'definitive' bulletin board provide any new Acorn press rather unusual concei'ns. set up Janet E-Mail facilities on

for [he Archimedes, and con- releases, often before the Wordsmith BB is designed to his board so that you can send

tains many celebrity names in magazines pick them up. A appeal to any scribes and other messages to friends in universi-

the user log. including support special download .section con- creative folk out there. It ties around the country. The

from Acorn themselves via a tains text-only files of news seems to be the UK home of Powerhouse is on (0829) 782676. comprehensive Acorn Support stories updated the day they writers and photographers and

area and by a number of Acorn arc released. offers many bulletins and 9 British Telecom has just staff who log on regularly. If Arcade is run on a very forums for budding writers to extended its Telecom Gold

there is any new PD software friendly, club-like ba.sis and share ideas and comments. system to link into the interna-

or updates to existing soft- users are always ready to help The sysop is Marcus Harri- tional Tymnet network. Use of ware, you can generally be out newcomers, or anyone son, and to contact Words- the system will start at the

sure that it will go up on having problems with their miths. set your software to beginning of March and allow Arcade first. system. In fact, every so often 8NI and call 071-603 3302 access to over 20 countries,

The latest area on Arcade is a number of users meet up for A completely new BB to try including the USA, Japan and Virus watch. This is a special a diink. usually around the is available on {0795)471515. most of Europe. For more infor-

area containing all the latest London area. Arcade are Called Pettetts Paradise, it is mation, call freephone customer virus killers together with a found on 081-654 2212 or based in Sittingbourne and run helpline on (0800) 282444.

run down of which viruses OS I -6,55 4412. Set your soft- by Graham Pettett. According each will kill and any relevant ware to 8N1. ANSI. to Graham, there's lots of mes- # Some A5000 users may be sages, lots of games, lots of experiencing problems when

' HKi rn ','i; H(C ! ^^^^ files and lots of fun! It also using older style modems. This is supports Fidonet and World- because the serial port on the /\ / ^ / ~ v 1 1 /_\ / / I-' 1 1 l_l i rMTi 'Cm-' C net, running at all speeds from A5000 cannot support split baud l_l v_ 1 _ ^_/ 1 1 _/ _l 300 baud right up to 14.4k rates such as 1200/75. If you

baud. However, this BB is cur- want to log on to bulletin boards '^.'!-pn. iix.i ,n„i.. h... :..;..... i .-;ri| "TTV m 1 rently only available from at this speed, you will need to

1 0.00pm to 7.30pm. upgrade to one that will buffer The Blackcat BBs. based in the computer speed for you,

Penarth. South Wales is

another new BBS to come to • Ever wanted to run a bulletin our attention. Running at all board on your Arc but couldn't speeds from V2I up to V42bis afford the cost of the software?

and boasting 300Mbytes of Carl Declerck has developed the

online storage it caters for first public domain host system

most machine types. If you for Arc users. More details in a know of any bulletin boards future column but meanwhile that you feel deserve our atten- keep an eye out for IRiscBBS on

tion, please drop us a line! bulletin boards or in PD libraries. Arcade; one of the friendliest bulletin boards around Paul Vigay

BBC ACORN USER APRIL 1992 15 ARCOL DESKTOP

EXPLAN'S Arcol graphics package has rt;cciilly under-

gone a number of" changes.

The most inipoitanl one is the ability to work in any 256 colour mode supported by the

Archimedes. Up until now. ii

only worked in Mode 13 and il was restricted by the rather chunky 320x256 graphics.

The new A n -ol DeskiDp insUills itself on the menu bar

- 1 i ke othei" Rise OS appli

cations, but switches to rull

screen when run. A number ol' new tools have been added and existing ones upgraded and

refined. The price is £50 for the single user \ersion and

t250 foi" a site license. Upgrading from the old ver-

sion o\' Avcol to Arcol Desktop will cost £6.50. (All prices NEWS IN BRIEF exclude vat.) READER PIC OF THE MONTH For moi'e details, conlael THIS month's special mention abo\c is one that was pi'o- • The recent BETT show at the Eixplan UK, St Catherines should go to S Goreham who duced using a friend's home- Barbican saw the launch of a House, 20 Plymouth Road. at the grand young age of 75 grown art package on an new A4, 300 dpi colour scanner.

Tavistock, Devon. PL19. lei: has recently turned his hand to A3000 computer. Certainly an The price is remarkably cheap (0822)613868. computer graphics. The sliip inspiring example! when compared to the competi- tion, at £799. The German company responsible for the FREEBIE RAY TRACERS MIDNIGHT launch, called Cebas can be con- tacted at Cebas, Landstrasse 21, RAY TRACING is beeommg also a populai' j^ublic domain EXPRESS W-6945 Hirschberg-Grosssachsen, increasingly popular among ray tracer and has similar fea- Germany, Tel: 010 49 6201 58130

Archimedes users, and many tures to QRT. DABHAND computing is to programs are being eonvei'ted A new addition to the MTV release Midnight Express at • Readers of The Guardian's to the 32-bit format. iVlosi of pack is PVray which supports the end of March 92, Computer section might have

the best ray ti'acers are in fact a nmnber of advanced features This is a presentation pack- noticed Jack Schofield warming

in the public domain, a .source such as texture mapping (tak- age of the same ilk as Type- to an Acorn product!

of quality programs which is ing a scanned image of wood, Studio reviewed last month. To quote Mr Schofield, 'Acorn

often overlooked by the avei"- for example, and using the Midniglu Express will allow Replay was the highlight of last age computer ownei". textLU'e of the wood to provide text to be placed in envelopes week's BETT exhibition at the QRT {Quick Ray Tracer} the surface of an object.) or around curves, but remain Barbican, London.' He goes on to

has been around foi' some time Both of these programs can editable. Arm code has been say that "If anything. Replay now and has been responsible be obtained from many public used throughout, and the pack- looks better than QuickTime on for many of the demos circu- domain libi"ai'ies (see our pub- age is said to be virtually the (Apple) Macintosh.' lating on bulletin boards and lic domain feature on page 109 instantaneous in operation. Mr Schofield, we couldn't

PD libraries. It is fully Rise for some general information.) Predefined palettes are used agree with you more! For those

OS compatible and runs on the You may also be able to obtain for colour adjustment, remov- who didn't make it to the BETT desktop alongside other appli- the progiams from bulletin ing the need to fiddle around show, both Replay and Quick- cations. Pictures arc created by boards such as Arcade featured with colour sliders, as in Time are software packages that describing scenes in special in this month's comms page. Draw. Preset envelopes are enable moving video to be script files, in a similar way to If you know of any other ray also defined and they can be shown on the desktop, without the original Render Bender tracing programs, or even if placed on the page for editing.