Volume 2 Number 9 February 1989 £1.95 O M P U T I N G better Basic with HiSoft's Extend BLOW your mintl with Minter's Trip-a-Tron the metal with dirty assembler EXPLORE ' YOUR AMIGA S The complete guide for ALL users 13* J thisissui On seeing the crumbling estates, out-dated roads and rusry budges ol your aty, how many limes have you said "Put me in charge fat a day and I'll make this wretched thing work t How, with Sim City, take the destiny ol the world's greatest cities in hand Or toke charge of a new evolving and growing aty. Become both mayor ond city planner ol a dynamic real-rime simulation. What you should know about the game of the year. BuM houses, streets, lactones, airports, o stadium, or even nudear power plants. Organise urban transport, hire police, firemen, bulldo/e entire neighbourhoods. Raise and collect taxes, balance youi budget, manipulate property values Sim Oty is arVvc. It's loaded with animation and detailed sound effects Build roads, cars appears lay tracks, trams go Build on airport, planes fly. NeKjhbcHjrhoods go upper-doss. Areas deteriorate into slums Small indus- tries grow into huge factories. Everything is managed and animated m real •3 1m. 3- Mini ham: ',»'!. IWU Ml <aM tmit fii« time [very decision instantly inlluencfls the life of your town In o special mode, you can even cause tornadoes, floods, hies ond other disasters at your whim Save San Francisco horn the great earthquake of 1906. Or save Tokyo ol pollution and from ha lomous B-movie monster. Sim City is on oll-obsorbmg unique gome which contains 8 pre-defined sce- narios : eg Son franasco, Tokyo, feo de Janeiro... With it's exceptional depth ol play, it's still simple to play with icons and graphics, without text commands. WIRE PRINT Made coatee An An An La Cit Epi Ep: Ep: FX Design ond build the city of your dreams. Sim City gives you the keys. The test is up to you. WIOWOfilD Volume II hsue 20 'People ploying Sim 0| are complete** pegged •nto the worU they create, disappearing loi hours * WW YORK TIMES "The model is very sophsficaled, yel understandable And |inl os important, if's lun. too" NFOGRAMES 4» MARTENS OVERSEAS MEDIA DISTRIBUTORS LTD mzn. OM HOUSE, 139-141 DOMINION ROAD, OVERSEAS MEDIA DISTRIBUTORS LTD GLENFIELD, LEICESTER LE3 8JB TELEPHONE: FACSIMILE: [0533] [0533] B77733 873999 • TOP QUALITY •CERTIFIED GUARANTEED • 100% ERROR FREE LABELS SUPPLIED DSDD 135TPI £19.50 £33.50 £59.50 £115.00 E247.50 SONY BULK DSDD 135TPI £22.50 £38.50 £68.50 £129.00 £269.00 BUY 200 DISKS AND GET A FREE - 100 CAPACITY STORAGE BOX MINI MUM ORDER VALUE £7,50 CHOOSE FROM SONY OR VERBATIM 1 BOX 3 BOXES £13.90 £12.90 5 BOXES 10 BOXES £11.90 £10.90 Price per box of JO disks 3tt" x 10 £1.95 3V*~ x 50 £6.75 3 16 " k 1 00 £8.90 3ft" x 120 £9.90 • LOCKABLE • ANTI- STATIC • SMOKED LID ► LOCKABLE ►STACKABLE •IMPACT RESISTANT Holds 150 disks £24.50 EXTERNAL DISK DRIVES •AVAILABLE FOR AMIGA OR ATARI -ST 1 fully compatible 1 Slimline design i 1 meg unformatted capacity '12 months warranty NEC DRIVE £79.00 CUMANA £85.00 MANUAL DATA SWITCHES 1 All metat case with rotary switches. Available m RS232 and Centronics. 2 WAY £15.50 4 WAY £24.50 x OVER £22.50 DUST COVERS ^ • GOOD QUALITY •ANTI-STATIC ATARI 520/1040 ST FM £5.50 AMIGA 500 £5.50 PRINTERS Iplease specify) £4.50 YU-S25 K/D PRINTER STAND Madf r* -" ■ 'j«a QlMIiC fMCi wd nfi3« MP* undrnwtfi N pfMK t*n wo r*»» mot* fpecf Hun m» ptrnn kmI' VU S2SA lot 80 col printer £27.90 VU S25B: lor 132 CO*. Minim £32.50 MOBILE PRINTER STAND Ruggett steel dame Height aa jumble bo ike t lot oulput paper & bate shell lot input paoet Self osMtnbty - includes cmicki 60 column £57.50 132 column £74.60 COMPATIBLE PRINTER RIBBONS Amstrad 8256'LQ3500 £3.90 NEC P2200 £4.50 Amstrad DMP 2000/3160 £2.75 Panasonic KXP 1081 £4.50 Amstrad DMP 4000 £4.50 Panasonic KXP 1124 £7.90 Canon PW 1080 £4.25 Shmwa CP 80 £4.50 Citizen 1200 £4.25 Star NL10 £3.90 Epson LQ 800 £3.90 Star LC10 £3.90 Epson LX 80/86 £2.90 Star LC10 Colour £7.90 Epson MX/FX/RXBO/ Star LC24-10 £4.50 FX 1X800 £2.90 BUY 10 GET 1 FREE MANY OTHERS A VAIL ABLE - PLEASE CALL LISTING PAPER 11-9K" 60GSM So. 01 2000 £15.90 PERFECT A4 85GSM £13.90 N COMPUTER LABELS*) * •SELF ADHESIVE • TRACTOR FED Packed 2000 3W".«l T /nj" £11.90 1, 2 or 3 across 4"xl'/ie" £12.90 PRINTER CABLES AMIGA 500/ATARI ST £6.90 CENT/CENT 36M/36/M £8.50 RS232 M/M £8.50 RS232 M/F £8.50 STAR PRINTERS LC10 £169.00 LCIO COLOUR £219.00 LC24 10 £269.00 FREE PRINTER CABLE • BOX OF PAPER "worth £23.80 MONITOR STAND ) m HOLDS 14- MONITOR £14.50 All monitor stands revolve 360" and tilt up to 25° COPY HOLDERS With adjustable arm 80 Column £13.50 132 Column £19.50 £7.90 SUPER MOUSEPAD DIMENSIONS 270- 220 > 6 £4.90 HOW TO ORDER — CREDIT CARD Telephone us on (0533) 877733 (24 hrs) to place an order CHEQUE Please make your cheques payable to: Overseas Media Distributors Ltd. All orders received by noon are despatched same day. II you require goods urgently they can be despatched for next day delivery for £7.50 Managing Editor Derek Meakin Editor Simon Roc km an Assistant Editor |eff Walker Staff writer Nic Veilch Production Editor Peter Cilover Art Editors Mark Nolan Doug Steele News Editor Don Lewis Advertisement Manager [ohn Snowden Advertising Wendy (album Fjutorial. •277 HUM .UminirintHin KUH7MII u:s mm Subwrlptioeu ■MB »1 TrimrnGotd irtmow Tike MMUH he «!S 879966 PMriMttllxn bHHHU A SCENE 7 LATEST NEWS Will Commodore build a 1Mb A500? VirusX4.l) beller lhan ever. 650 meg optical disc launch. I WIK.A tRGADE 15 HOTTEST ACTION Oceans F-29 Reialiator in the spotlight. Not a review of an unfinished game! Nebulus II. Starflight and Rolor previews. Kl'SINKSS PEN PAL 54 Integrating a wordproccssor with a database offers a great package which is helped by Amiga fonts. HAM graphics and Intuition pizazz. Step into F29 technology PuMnhrd bf DaUbur Publiulnms I kl Europa Itouv. Adftn^lun Park. Adliatfon. Mairlsfield SK10 AC ISSN D9S2-S94H Amtgi CaoputiaK wrlrnnn irtwlei fur publi- cflhoo Uiinul Aould be tvptd or tomputn- printed. »nd pnfcnbK douMMBwd. Proia» Itd- did *roM bf inanpuiied bt due Ploue rail* t tumprd. utfdiUmwd cmvlopr. iHhrnrw the return d mattriri aonW br (nmntrrd Contn- un ot#y bf *aepy tor publuDoo bi i PnbliuboQs lid on u ill-nfbli buu £ l«BUrtibtwt , ubliabon»Ud SoaWtuIui bt TTprwimnJ in wbolr or in part mthool writtrn pframioo While van im it I J km. tin peb- barn cuutf b> hrid Itgril? mpauihlr (or uv frron in irtnltf. littmgt or laWnnm-nlii Amirj Campuniy a « m*pwidW puMturfaa W ftunmodin ftawmn Witnmn |L'£J Lrrf B oof mpanaMr far «n oftht wtnir* in dut ruur or far jnr 0/ nW anmianf nprwirrf Nm tnde diOnbotion Europre** Sain md U» Inbunan Lnnrird I mi I. Buijoai Road. Inhuu* Lra. Hvflfv. Eat Sam TNM INR. Tri 0(24 OWL ENTERTAINMENT 58 MISTER'S TRIP-A-TRON Number one in a field of one. There is nothing like UamasotVs light synthesiser. A great way lo relax, and a new language lo learn. MACHINE CODE w\\ I REVENGE OF THE VI \J ROM JUMPERS You can hit the hardware direct and be polite about it. lolyon Ralph tells tales of copper lists and level 3 interrupts, but tidies up after. son wake 68 HISOrTS EXTEND Beat the Basic blues with a library- of useful commands which add more power lo your interperter or compiler without breaking the bank. \1t Sl( 74 MUSICA EX MACHINA Or music out of the machine. There has been one area where the ST has outgunned the Amiga. Now those davs are gone thanks to Music-X. You and your Amig, beautiful musk together 4 AMIGA tit IMPUTING Febrvan- J<«0 ■CONTENTS! GAME KII.LKK GAMES REVIEWS 1 1 80 MAX THE HACKS More action for The Fighters, hints for All Points Bulletin, Fernandez Will Die with help, and Cave Runner infinite lives, as Max fights back. SOFTWAR fl ^Lk ARGASM TAKES Vf JL ON DEVPAC V2.0 Devpac, so long the top tool for programmers now has a new rival to worry about. Need it? The battle lines are clearly drawn. LETTERS EZRA SURF'S POSTBOX He's the dude who's sometimes rude. He's the cool who knows the rule. He's the host who opens the post. He's the getter of your Iptter. - ftp IB Norfl and South wherv General Up learns to five -Pa/p 26 Quartz. It'll knock vour clocks off Hole in one. Enough to fill the Albert Hall US Gold get it right on Outrun second lap You can pull a bird with the Eye of Horns Take on aliens in Xenophobe. And win Clown 'o Mania for those who juggle balls Michael Jackson in Moonwalker fantasy I'ictionary draws a blank scorecard • Plus. Lancaster, Star Command, Dragonscane. • Roller Coaster Rumbler. Rally Cross Challenge, • Dragon Spirit, Magic Marble. Slayer. Kelly X, • Speedboat Assassins. Mindbender. Switchblade, • Shufflepuck Cafe, Toobin. Manic Mansion. Keef the Thief, and (ihostbustcrs n. Enter the Umkught. violence with intellect February MtM AMH.A COMPI'TINO 5 CUMANA HAS THE DISK DRIVE TO SUIT YOUR AMIGA, AS WELL AS YOUR POCKET The Cumana Pedigree Includes C AX 354 CAX1000S 2W t SLIM 25mm DRIVE UNIT FORMATTED CAPACITY 880K AMIGADOS COMPATIBLE DAISY CHAIN CONNECTOR DATA ENABLE/DISABLE SWITCH LOW POWER CONSUMPTION QUIET, HIGH SPEED ACCESS ACTIVE INDICATOR DATA LEAD 5Va", SLIM 42mm DRIVE UNIT FORMATTED CAPACITY 360/88C AMIGADOS & MS-DOS COMR DAISY CHAIN CONNECTOR DATA ENABLE/DISABLE SWITCH LOW POWER CONSUMPTION QUIET, HIGH SPEED ACCESS ACTIVE INDICATOR DATA LEAD 40/80 TRACK SWITCH DLL Designed and manufactured in the UK to the highest standards, all Cumana disk drives include 12 months warranty and are available from area distributors and a national dealer network. Look out for the distinctive packaging in your high street, today! f . Ik- . : The best name in memory CUMANA LIMITED, THE PINESTRADING ESTATE, BROAD STREET, GUILDFORD. SURREY QU3 3BM TEL: GUILDFORD (0483) 503121 All trademarks are recognised and acknowledged AMIGA SCENE One meg A500 on the cards? COMMODORE often makes running changes to the design of the Amiga. This gives them flexibility in the choice of suppliers and gives room for making savings on cost or improve- ments. The latest version of the A500 circuit board indicates we may soon see the A500 with a megabyte of ram as stan- dard. By using the same type of high capacity ram chips used in the A590 new A500s have fewer chips and sock- ets on the board to add more to bring the capacity up to 1 meg. The upgrade will have to be fitted by an approved dealer to maintain the warranty but it should be a cheaper way to upgrade than fitting an A501 type expansion in the trapdoor. As standard, the machine will work with an A501 and this is probably still the best expansion method, since the new Amigas do not have a battery backed up clock. It is not possible to use both kinds of upgrade. The new board Amigas feature the Enhanced Chip Set version of the Agnus chip. Its sister - Denise - is still in prototype form. The ECS Agnus, known variously as Fang2, Fatter Agnus. Obese Agnus and American Tourist, offers a US style 400 line dis- play which fills the screen and one meg of chip ram. Obviously you need the extra 512k to use this feature, so a standard A500 is set to give only half a meg of chip memory. Your dealer can change this by cutting a track and fitting the chips. The ECS Agnus and sockets on the board both point to Commodore selling a lmeg machine. The only thing preventing this from happening is the price of the chips. Steve Franklin. MD of Commodore UK. said that this will happen when Commodore can produce the machine and still sell it for £399. Eight shows in a month! THE globe-trotting Amiga lover could have spent the whole of November going to shows. Commodore's star popped up at AmiExpo '89 in Cologne. Comdex in Las Vegas, The Computer Shopper Show at Alexandra Palace, the Commodore Christmas Show at the Hammersmith Novotel. Computer Graphics '89 again at Ally Pally, the Scottish Computer Show, The Italian Enigma Show and the Dec User Show. Most exciting of these was the Cologne (Kdln to the Germans) show, organ- ised by the American com- panies responsible for the successful US shows. With more Amigas than any other country the Gorman event was bound to be a success, but no one could have guessed quite how successful. More than 11,000 people arrived on the first day, tak- MegQ memory.'Sony's optical disc drive ing everyone there a bit by surprise and totally filling the hall, which was sudden- ly looking a bit small. At certain points during the day the guards had to stop people from entering as a safety precaution. Next day the attendance figure was up to 20.000 The only people not complaining about the cramped conditions were the box-shifters - one German dealer managed to sell over thirty 68030 boards in the first day. Deutschomarks were flow- ing as the faithful bought anything on offer. Commodore didn't have much new to offer, as spec- ulation of an early glimpse at the A3000 proved unfounded. The show had an overall professional bias, with busi- ness slightly outnumbering the games stands. Most exhibitors were German. Scandanavian or from the States. Disappointingly there was hardly any British representation. Hopefully next time round the organisers will have a larger venue and more UK companies will realise that Germany is in the same continent. Those commentators who expected to see the Amiga 3000 launched at Comdex were as disappointed as they were ill informed. The 5.4 version of Unix which will be sold with the A3000 has not been finished yet. It will then have to be ported to the Amiga and tested. Commodore did launch a range of new products. The A2630 card has four meg of ram, a 68030 and a 6B882 maths co-processor. Since the 68030 has the memory management circuitry nec- essary for Unix on the chip there is no need for a 68551 and Commodore's press release was wrong in claim- ing the card has one. The current A2620 is sold in the US bundled with an Amiga in the guise of an A2500. Since this is just a marketing stratagem it is unlikely we'll see the new board 'in the A2500/30 which was launched at the show. We will see the card, although when and at what price is yet to be deter- mined. If other cards are a guide we'll see £1=S1. And at S2.195 that is on a bit more than Atari's nearest rival, the TT. Direct Digital Distribution (0708 754704) used the Computer Shopper show to debut its optical disc drive and interface for the Amiga 500. This uses a combina- tion of lasers and magnets to read, write and magneti- cally erase optical discs. Each disc holds 650 megabytes and they are VirusX 4.0 arrives STEVE Tibbelt swore Amiga Computing In seciecv over tin; new release of the best of the vimshustcrs. Rut now tl is public knowledge we can break the news that the update to VirusX;!. 2 is called version 4.0, not as some people have reported 3.4. The program can cope with several new viruses includ- ing four of the newer mm-boot block type. These are IKQ. RUiuiur. RtlS-'.J mid Xeno. All the Viruses can be detected on disc and in ram. This is a major update and all Amiga owners should contacl a PD library arm get a copy. h'vbruan IMflH AMICA COMt'l WTNG t The word is PROTEXT... Britain's favourite home-grown word processor has now been joined by Prodata, the Arnor database "Pretext - the real joy comes only from using it. I can say without any fear of contradiction it is the best word processor available at the price, in my view, at any price in fact." Am 3/89 "Protext really is the best text processor on the Amiga" ST/AMIGA TORMAT2/89 'Wins hands down as the all round package" ST USER 8/88 7 couldn't be impressed" ... more "So a big thanks to Amor for writing a brilliant piece of software" COMPUTER SHOPPER PROTEXT is now Britain's fastest selling Word Processor on Atari ST and Amiga computers, and is used by many of the leading computer publications and journalists, as well as thousands of businesses. Pretext's powerful features include: • fast spell checker with 70000 word English dictionary. - background printing. You can print and type at the same time. ■ box manlpuation. Columns can be moved around on the screen. • macro recording. Any key sequence can be assigned to a single key. • use of foreign languages • headers, footers and footnotes • flexible configuration program • comprehensive set of printer drivers • Wysiwyg ('what you see is what you get') display shows bold. underlining and italics on the screen. ■ two file editing. You can edit two documents at the same time. - find and replace. Powerful search facility. - mail merging. The most comprehensive mail merging facilities available in any program • 300 page manual with full index. • Swedish version also available. French and German coming soon. Protext was awarded the "Best Buy" accolade in PC Buyers Guide, and was given a bottom line verdict of 5 stars in What Personal Computer? "Protext is probably the most powerful word processor on the Atari ST ST USER 4/88 "the best value for money in word processing on the Amiga" AUI 9/89 "Protext deserves to be the system by which all other word processors are judged ... Amor has given the market a superb product" YOUR COMPUTER 'Amor's Protext 4 is just about unbeatable ... this really is an excellent program" PCAMSTRAD Protext ... truly the professional's choice Just some of the features of Prodata:- • Multiple indexes for accessing data • Full editing facilities for data • Comprehensive printing options • Importing and exporting - Undo changes facility ■ Powerful filtering feature • Easy to use layout design • Password protection (5 levels) And of course. Prodata is fully compatible with Protext. Amiga owners please note that you need 1MB to run Prodata - see below for special price for Prodata plus A501 (512K memory + clock expansion) PRODATA "Designing layouts is incredibly easy" YOUR AMIGA mora Invaltr Utrtn Mtt hint litia naw Fltld I : Mrni 1 fltld S : Mtfrm I Field I I Mtrrn 1 Fltld 7 ; Ml Mdr I field ■ ; It! Mdr I Fltld 1 i Ml Mdr . Fltld II ' Itl Mdr I Fltld 11 : Ml Mdr 1 Field 1? : IflifMw Field U : rn Field U . .:■■>.• mrJrUSUKn£ii FliTd I wr5I»"t 1 1 "1^^ Field II : deurtpitai 1 FulB i»: bin Cm I "Totally menu driven, Prodata must rank among the top database systems... " St USIiR 12/89 "Prodata is a very sophisticated database package, and at £79.95, it is most certainly worth Oxe money" YOUR AMIGA 12/89 "Amor have a quality product at a very reasonable price" POP COMP WEEKLY 19/10/89 ORDER FORM - Send to: Arnor (AC). 61 1 Lincoln Road. Peterborough Please send me {Indicate where applicable): Name PROTEXT v4.2 @ £99.95 Address PRODATA @ £79.95 PRODATA + A501 (Amiga) @ £179.95 Further information Protext demo disc Postcode Computer: PC 5V4" / PC 3'A" / Atari ST / Amiga I enclose Cheque / Postal order (or £ , or debit my Access/Visa card no. Exp. ffe/easwg your micro's potent/a/. . . Arnor (AC), 611 Lincoln (toad, Peterborough PE1 SUA. Tel; 07"$$ 68909 (24 hr) Fax: 0733 67299 fill prices Include VAT, postage arxJ pacWng. Croolt cart ordan will be despatched by return or port II paying by cheque please allow 10- U day* (or delrvery. tl \\Ut;. \ UtMWnxi; H4rwin two ■ AMIGA SCENE ■ interchangeable. The speed compares with a slow hard drive hut has the advantage that the discs are remove- able. The unit is made by Sony and uses what looks like 5.25 inch compact discs in a plastic case. Each disc costs £380 and the drive £4.001). Also launched at the show were a new multi-port card and the A2091 hard disc controller which uses the same chip as the A590 and has room for 2 meg of ram. At $399 without the memory or drive this seems oxpensivc .but is likely to be discounted when it arrives in the near future. The Amiga Centre Scotland Both companies were at the show "to support Commodore", Ocean doing some great half-price deals on latest releases as well as giving out posters and stick- ers. This was principally a chance to buy Christmas E resents, so you wouldn't avo expected many new products. One exception was Trip-a-lron, Jeff Minter's first soiree into Amigadom. The light syn- thesiser, which makes your mind take off when you put a CD on, has been long awaited by Minter maniacs and sold well even on the pleasantly uncrowdcd first day. See the full review in this issue. Bytes and Pieces was balloon race in aid of Capital Radio's Help-A- London-Child - a chance to win an A500. or a trip in a hot air balloon. Despite the fetching Biggies outfit Caroline from Commodore said she didn't fancy a trip in a wicker basket. Commodore put on a good show with Amigas, Music-X, midi instruments and some great sax playing. But most of all the show was about bargain hunting. The prices of half meg ram expansions and second disc drives tumbled. The going rate for 512k with a clock was £65. Disc drivos could be bought for the same sum. Printers were savagely dis- counted. If fact the only (031-557 4242) was at Computer Graphics '89 with its new 32 bit frame buffer. This looks great, but the human eye can't resolve more than the 16 million colours that a 24 bit card gives. The other eight bits are used for informa- tion which can be hooked into video mixer. Reaction at the show has lead to the decision that the card will be genlockable and low priced. That means less than £1.000. The Novotel may have witnessed the first show Commodore has run itself but little changed - the same faces manning the same stands, albeit with some welcome additions. Selling 100.000 copies of any program will make a software house like you and that is exactly how many Batman packs Commodore expected to shift at Christmas. Good news not only for Amiga owners but also for Electronic Arts which has Deluxe Paint II and Interceptor in the pack, and Ocean which will see the boost to sales benefit Batman and New Zealand Story. Disc or discount REGULAR readers may think we've made a tiny mistake tfns month and missed the disc off the cover. We haven't. Made a mistake that is. We have left the disc off. but it is deliberate. After a lot of discussions with readers, and the results of the survey in the disc pages, we decided that a magazine should be a means of education and entertainment, not just a source of cheap software. So we have reverted to the proven formula of doing what we are good at and not pretend- ing to be a software house. With the disc we successfully avoided the approach of charging a software house for a demo, half-filling the cracks with the first PD program which came to hand and then hiking the price, We like to think we gave you a genuinely useful disc which you would keep, rather than one you would for- mat after half an hour. Without the disc we have been able to bring the price of the magazine down to £1.95. We are also able to devote time to things like the tree booklet on this month's cover. More people, especially users new to the Amiga, will be able to enjoy the benefits of the best Amiga magazine. doing some great deals on big hard drives and showed an early version of AmigaDos 1.4. This had the new boot-up sequence but none of the fabby 3d icons. The very fastest hard disc interface is HardFrame from Microbiotics in Texas. UK sales are handled by Oasis, busy answering every ques- tion possible thanks to the presence of the designers and marketing people over from the US. It isn't the cheapest and only works on an Amiga 20C0. but it is the best. The best selling item on the first day seemed to be a £1.99 pack of three paper aeroplanes from the Hamleys stand. Mindscape and Mirrorsoft seemed to have mastered the art of get- ting them to loop the loop. The Christmas spirit of giving was represented by a thing which seems over-priced was the food at the bar. No, little changed at Commodore's first all- Commodore show, Fun for the kinder, too DATABASE Software (0625 659333) has produced a German version of its top selling Amiga educational package Fun School 2. Cross format sales currently stand at 60.000 and Fun School is expected to top the 100.000 mark by the Spring, according to market- ing director Chris Payne. Fun School 2 comes in three age defined sections for children under six; six to eight; eight and over. II was designed by teachers to combine entertainment with a wide range of early learn- ing skills. Bonus buy ELECTRICIAN Michael Graham (24) from Dover-by- Cockermouth, Cumbria won himself a £500 video recorder when he bought the 500.000th copy of Mini Office. Ihe small business package from Database Software (0625 878888). "I couldn't be more pleased both with Mini Office and the unexpected bonus that went with it", he said. Law lore goes online RECENT Department of Industry statistics show that Ihe need to comply with employ- ment law costs the average company more than £5,000 a year. Where health and safoty laws are con- corned this can be as much as £13,500. The best way to avoid these high costs is to get good advice on the rele- vant legislation and that is now available to computer users through the MicroLink communications service (0527 28515). This new facility has been launched by MicroLink in conjunction with profes- sional consultant Premier Employment Services which gives specialist advice on personnel and health and safoty law 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. "Making such a service available to subscribers minimises the risk for man- agement", said MicroLink's head of marketing. Martin Turner. "Instead of going through the lengthy legal process, subscribers to MicroLink can now consult their computor ". The charge is £3 for each inquiry. tfbn,,,n I'HHI AM Hi A aWiniNti H B A lop quail I y stereo sampling system at ■ realistic price. S 10O% machine code loftnn for realtime (unction* V HIRea sample edlilng. M Reallime frequency dliplny Mj Realtime level melera. ^ Files saved in IFF formal S Adjustable manual /automatic record trig level. f f Variable aample rate * playliark ■peed. Separate scroll line waveform windows * 100m function with Edit windows for fine accurate editing. 3D ahot of sound waveform. Wave editor to design your own waveforms or adjust existing ones. Microphone • line Input 1/4" Jar k at Din connections. Software files can be used within other music utilities. ONLY £79.99 please state a 500/1 000/2000 TO COMPLEMENT THE SAMPLE STUDIO THE DATEL JAMMER GIVES YOU A S OCTAVE KEYBOARD TO PLAY ft RECORD YOUR SAMPLED SOUNDS FEATURES:- 0 4 track sequencer up to 9099 events. 0 Tempo A Beat controls. £ Mixer Controls on Instruments. £ Load A Save sequence # Works on standard IFF file eaunda. MIDiM ASTER MICRO MIDI VIDEO DIGITISER M Full Midi Interface for A5O0/ 1 000/ 3000 (plesse state model). 9 Compatible with most leading Midi packages (Including D/Mualc). 9 Midi In - Midi Out x3 • Midi Thru. S Fully Opto Isolated. NLY £34.99 9 A simple low price MIDI Interface ' for the ABOO. 9 All the features found on more expensive units. Fully compatible. 9 MIDI In - MIDI Out - MIDI Tore. 9 Fully Opto Isolated. ONLY £24.99 ^—jB^.vaafaaWlaBBB' A TOTAL MIDI MUSIC save over PACKAGE WC7£ UNBEATABLE VALUE PACK - THE YAMAHA SHS 10 FM MIDI COMPATIBLE GUITAR-STYLE SYNTHESISER, THE ACTIVISION MUSIC STUDIO SOFTWARE PLUS THE MICROMIDL INTERFACE 1 CONNECT TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM £175 256 x 258 display with 16 grey levels. Realtime frame grab 1/SOtb second. Takes standard composite Video Input from camera or Video recorder. Screen update 1 frame per second, single, continuous or buffered display-. Load. Save facilities Including IFF Save. Edit picture, cut. copy, paste and undo. Special effects, reverse, negative, mirror, compress, etc. Increase the width of the dlaplay to 320 x 256 automatically or m a n ually. Plug. Into the parallel port of your Amiga 1000/500/2000. Comes complete with Its own power pack. ONLY £89.99 YAMAHA SHS 10 FM SYNTHESISER KEYBOARD 9 Superbly styled gultar-typc ¥ f f f f keyboard with ahoulder strap. Top quality brandnvne. 2.5 octave keyboard. 25 built-in Instrument and rhythm cholcea. Uses FM synthesis. Full MIDI OUT standard. REE MIDI CABLES ACTIVISION MUSIC STUDIO A fall feature MIDI Recording Studio. A mult I channel aequencer with realtime Input and full editing facilities. Completely menu driven - full Mouse control. 9 Very simple to use. MICRO MIDI INTERFACE 9 This unit connects your computer to any MIDI instrument. M Fully Opto Isolated - MIDI IN, MIDI OUT. MIDI THRU. M Just plug In and go. _ FREE CABLES V 3 metre long MIDI Cables - completely FREEH (normally £6.09). FOR ONLY £99.99 NO MORE TO BUY!! AMG 5 THE ANSWER TO YOUR DISK DUPLICATION PROBLEMS ON BOARD CUSTOM LSI CHIP MAKES THIS UNIT EXTREMELY SMALL & EFFICIENT. V SYNCRO EXPRESS IS A HIGH SPEED DISK DUPLICATION SYSTEM THAT WILL PRODUCE COPIES OF YOUR DISK IN AROUND 30 SECONDS!! Syncro Express require! s tee and drive ft works by controlling It as ■ alare device ft Ignoring Ibe AMIGA dl«k drive controller chip, high speeds ft great data accuracy are achieved. Menu driven selection for Start Track/End Track up to SO tracks. 1 aide, 3 aldea. Very almple to use. require* no user knowledge. Also duplicates other format* auch aa IBM. MAC etc. Ideal for clubs, uaer group* or Just for your own dlaka. No more waiting around for your dlaka to copy. Probably the only duplication system you will ever need! ONLY £34.99 COMPLETE HARDWARE/SOFTWARE U'AKMhr. roi-VRK.in Art wahmmg Idtri t;i*i Irwin*, ntiitu-r 1 1 mi loin - •<• mtlimwr* ilu> > — > • il II • in ■■' ' 1 - |(i> 1JK - - i it . ~ - 1 1 1 1 >i •■ i k4 I ''ii rtotll iixiirn.il T)v I*h k ■.■> |1|ih*h iil Itil* |ii<uIiH I dir itntmvd Ui rillmllM r i. nil -ill»..rr ,ui II *. |i<ilil» iWllillli (IMKILtl hr n*r« tiwii ; ■ ■ <i .i.i .- <m -■ ■ " ' whrir prnnl*MiHi In ma hi* * liurh up lui Ihtii i Vurlv Biivii li l* lllrfril tn titukr inpln nru li>r v>»il iitm liv "I mptnaht mji>"iiiil Mthnui (lir iirrmiwun ■>! Mil ■ - ■ i ■ ■- - - : l - intiK'i il' I'irli I fiwrc SP 11 SCANNER/ PRINTER ONLY £449.99 INC. VA 200 DPI SCANNER PLUS PRINTER!! FOR LESS THAN £450!! *P Comes complete with superb software to scan/edit pictures. IJF Very comprehensive software allows for Capture. Writing. Cut/Paste. Printing. Load ft Save of Imsgea. ED S-CAppcH/ ^ Save to your favourite graphlcs/DTP package - very easy to use. y Easy to Install • coonecta to the Printer Port - ready to scan In minutes. • Up to 16 grey scales or black ft white modes - giving you superb scanned Images *J r Complete - no more to buy. BUT THAT'S NOT ALL... ^ Not only does the 8P11 scan at 200 Dpi - II la also a superb Image printer giving high definition output prints of scanned Images, screen dumps etc. ^ PLUS ■ Ita a Photocopier!! Yes. Just press start and It will deliver a superb photocopy of your original In seconds' TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE? WHY NOT BUY ONE AND SEE - YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED! AMG Ss NEW! **• nmr - * • » 9Ui Go. ONI ADD I AT LAST - A TOP QUALITY, FULL FEATURE GENLOCK INTERFACE FOR THE AMIGA AT A REALISTIC PRICE. 9^ Genlock la the Latest "buxxword" on the Amiga - It'a a device that allow* you to mlz computet tut /graphics with live video picture* bom either a camera or VCR. "Desk Top Video" aa It'a became U probably the teat eat growing productivity application for the Amiga. tO-GENLO ONLY £89.99 COMPLETE 9 With the Datel Pro Genlock, you can do all the thing* prevtoualy only poealble with unit* coating bund re da of pound**'' 9~ Perfect for video titling, caption* or your own animation production* h 9 Unique fader control allow* overlay to fade In or oot. Ideal for fading captlona etc 9 Thla la a complete hardware solution - no *o ft ware to load. TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE? WHY NOT BUY ONE AND SEE - YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED! <y Lock your Amiga to external colour or B/W video signal (camera/VCR etc] • output la a composite combined picture. V Pluga "to ROD port of AOOO/ 100O/2O00. Provides composite video output to monitor /VCR /suitable TV etc. 9 Switch selectable to view video Input/overtey graphic or both (combined signal). 9 Top quality unit features VLSI Motorola chip aa used on commercial devices. 9 Cornea complete with necessary leads etc ■ no more to buy 9 Unbeatable price. STEREO BOOSTER SYSTEM 9 Boost the output of your Amiga In glorious stereo. 9 30W . sow power amplifier with 5 band graphic equaliser. 9 Complete with cables for A8O0/ A1O00/A2O0O models. 9 Slimline colour matched metal case with built-in mains power unit ft headpbouee socket. ONLYC59.99 MATCHING SPEAKERS 9 High quality miniature 3 way speaker units in die -cast aluminium shell enclosures. 530 Watts 8 ohm each. NLY £39.99 pair A590 UPGRADES ^ If you own an A590 hard drive, then you can upgrade It to give up to an extra 2 Megs of Ram to your system. ONLY £69.99 FOR 51 2K (o.a MEO) ONLY CI 34.99 for i meg. ONLY C259.99 for 2 meqs DATA ACQUISITION ICO N PAINT .1.— 8 CHANNE DIGITAL MIXER A unique product to edit and produce your own Individual Icons. Allows for multi-colour (up to 16) extra large Icons for use when customising workbench, disk. Icons, tools, programs, etc. Advanced editing facilities make for test and easy design. DIG ONLY £12.99 Turn your Amiga into a sophisti- cated measuring Instrument cspable of measuring a wide range of data Inputs. SCOPE DISPLAY ■ 2 channel Input* Manual or contlnoos display. Tlmebase 5O0ma/dlv to 20us/dlv- accurate to 9%. 6 bit flash conversion gives 2 million samples/ sec. PLOTTER D I SPLAT Tlmebase range 1 sec to lOhra per plot. ONLY £99.99 PLEASE STATE ASO0/1 OOO/2OO0 9 Now an S channel digitally * controlled mixer for under £100.001! 9 Tola system comes In two parts - a 19" rack mounting mixer - and a superb control program. Use your Amiga to give top quality 8 channel 'digital' mixing. 9 8 inputs via 0.28" Jack sockets. Two outputs via 0.28" sockets. 9 Connects to Amiga parallel port. ^ Control software gives 8 teders with super-One Increments, digital diiplay of levels on each channel, stereo lock for each pair of fader-.. Master fader* with bar graph display of output levela. Suitable fnr mono and stereo applications. When an Ideal mlz has been achieved, then the overall "mix" can be saved to disk for re-load as required - Just like systems costing thousands II ONLY £99.99 COMPLETE f f 9 Complete hardware /software. Auto sero of teders. Top quality analogue and digital circuits give superb results. AMG 5 II cl v - *% v ■ ON ON VERS SB. T RAM i TERNAL 3.5 DISK DRIVE W Sllmlloe extra low profile anil. It Top quality folly compatible drive mechanism. Tnroughport allows daisy chaining Other driven A superbly atyled caae finished Id Amiga coloura. I^p I meg unformatted capacity. 3 Good length cable for positioning on your desk etc. ONLY £1 29.99 twin drive I ADD C5 FOR COURIER DELIVERY IF REQUIRED NEW LOW PRICE ONLY £74.99 SINGLE DRIVE EXTERNAL DRIVE SWITCH ^ Switch In/out of external drives. M Save on memory allocated for v drives not currently In use. ^ DF1 At DP2 controUed. Fits between computer at drlverfs) ONLY £9.99 GENISCAN GS4500 AMIGA X Row with thla superb 512K expansion unit yon can simply plug In more memory. Bring your Amiga up to IMeg Ram In seconds!! Featuring the latest 1 Meg fast Ram chips. Comes complete with dissable switch (not offered by some others. Including AMI unit). Available with/without clock /calendar feature. Clock version has high capacity NICad battery - never needs replacing. Low chip count means extra low consumption. High grade PCB with quality connector. Buy direct from the manufacturer and aave! S Simply plugs Into internal Ram extension slot - no knowledge at all required. NLY £84.99 complete ONLY £99.99 FOR version with clock/calendar complete 51 2K RAM EXTENSION CAR An easy to handle Handy Scanner featuring 10S mm scanning width ft 400 dpi resolution enables you to reproduce graphics ft text on your computer screen. M Adjustable switches for brightness ft contrast. X A powerful partner for Desk Top Publishing. X With Genlscan you have the ability to easily scan images, text ft graphics Into the AMIGA. X Printout for Epson compatibles X Powerful software allows for cut ft T paate editing of Images etc. X Save Images In suitable format for moat leading packages Including DELUXE PAINT etc. X Package Includes G 94 500 scanner. Interface ft Scan Edit software. X Unmatched range of edit /capture * facilities simply not offered by Other scanners at this unbeatable price. SPECIAL OFFER COMPLETE WITH PHOTON PAINT FOR ONLY £169.99 INCLUDING HARDWARE/SOFTWARE X If you can obtain your own Run chips, we can supply the card. X Accepts 16 x 41256 DRams X Available with/without clock ~ option. X Switch d Usable feature. Simply plugs Into Ram espanslon w RllDD _ slot. X Fitted In only minutes ■ no user knowledge required. O NLY £19.99 ONLY £34.99 for VERSION WITH CLOCK/CALENDAR NB. THESE PRICES DO NOT INCLUDE RAM CHIPS LACEMENT MOUSE High quality direct replacement for mouse on the Amiga. Teflon glides for smoother movement. ted bail for minimum slip. Optical system counting - 500/mm. SPECIAL OFFER - FREE MOUSE MAT * MOUSE MOUSE (WORTH C7.99L ONLY £29.99 COMPLETE ALL ORDERS NORMALLT DESPATCHED WITHIN 44 HOW TO ORDER BY PHONE ass 0782 744707 34hr Credit Card Line BY POST Send cheques/POs made paysble to "Datel Electronics" FAX 0782 744202 UK ORDERS POST FREE I EUROPE ADD £1 OVERSEAS ADD £3 PRICES AND SPECIFICATIONS CORRECT AT TIME OF PRESS AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE CALLERS WELCOME - Please reserve goods by telephone prior to visit. DATEL ELECTRONICS LTD.. FENTON INDUSTRIAL ESTATE GOVAN ROAD. FENTON STOKE-ON-TRENT, ENGLAND. SALES ONLT 0782 744707 TECHNICAL ONLT 0782 744324 AMG 5 • A50O5)2XR*m • clock • an/c^f iwiich £69.99 • A500LR Mbyte urd with 512K Ram £129.99 • A500 1J Mbyte card with 1 Mbyte £189.99 • A 5 00 1 8 Mbyte card with 1 .8 Mbyte £299.99 • A500/1000 2Mbyte External £319.99 A 2000 8 Mbyte card 2Mbyte ram £329.99 For everyone who owns an Amiga computer, Club 68000 offers Members, Software & Hardware Accesorles at huge savings off Recommended Retail Prices. Your only committment is to pay £15 for one year's membership. You will receive a free Games Compendium and a free catalogue five times a year. Club 68000 Ltd, Wickhum House, 2 Upper Teddlngton Road, Hampton Wick, Kingston, Surrey. KT1 4DP. Tel: 01 977 9596 Fax: 01 977 5354 WW SPECIAL OFFER ON DISK DRIVES • 33" A2000 Interna! £6499 • 35" External £69.99 • 3 J" with Digital Track Display £84.99 • 3.25" External. 40/80 Track* £9499 • 5.25- with Digital Track Display £109.99 All drives with on/off switch AThrough Port \ COPY 2.0 IIARDW/ ^SOFTWARE • Ultimate back-up utility • Copies 4 disks in 48 sea • Formats disk in 36 sea. • Update service R.R.P. £39.99 Hardware only Software only Upgrade 1.0-20 • Speeds up disc loading • Qued: SupcrfasiTcit bd l • CV Parameter: With Toolkit options Members £29.99 £19,99 £19.99 £750 • Easy to Use • Checks Boouector • Repairs Boots odor (Abo commercial software) Checks links virus For disks, files and disks Disk format and information ONLY £9.99 (While stocks last) With Hardware £19.99 R.R.P- Mrmbcrs Batman The Movie £24.99 £15.99 Beach Volley £24.99 £15.99 Beverley Hill Cop £24.99 £15.99 Blade Warrior £24.99 £1599 Bomber £29.99 £19.99 Cabal £24.99 £15.99 Chaos Sink es Back £19.99 £12.99 Chase HQ £24.99 £15.99 Chess Player 2150 £24.99 £15.99 Continental Circus £19.99 £12.99 Double Dragon II £19.99 £12.99 Drivin Force £24.99 £15.99 Dungeon Master £24.99 £15.99 Falcon Fl6 £29.99 £19.99 Falcon Mission Disk £19.99 £12.99 Fl 6 Combat Pilot £24.99 £15.99 Galaxy Force £24.99 £15.99 Games Summer Edition £24.99 £15.99 Ghoslbusten II £24.99 £15.99 Ghost n Ghouls £24.99 £15.99 Grand Prix Circuit £24.99 £15.99 Hard Drivin £24.99 £15.99 Honda RVF £29.99 £19.99 Indiana Jones Last Crusade £19.99 £1Z99 Infestation £24.99 £15.99 Interphase £24.99 £15.99 II Came from Desert £29.99 £19.99 Knighl Force £24.99 £15.99 Leisure Suit Larry II £29 99 £19.99 I jghtforee (4 Games) £24.99 £15.99 Moon ws Ik ex £24.99 £15.99 Never Mind £19.99 £12.99 North and Souih £24 99 £15.99 Onslaught £24.99 £15.99 Operation Thunderbolt £24 99 £15.99 Paul Gascoigne Soccer £24.99 £15.99 Populous £24 99 £15.99 Powerdrifl £24.99 £15.99 Pro Tennis Tour £24 99 £1599 Red Storm Rising Shadow Of The Beast £24 99 £15.99 £34.99 £24.99 Space Ace £44.99 £31 49 Strydcr £24.99 £15.99 Stunt Car £24.99 £15.99 Stryx £19.99 £12.99 Test Drive 11 £24.99 £15.99 Turbo Outrun £19.99 £12.99 Untouchables £24.99 £15.99 Xenon II £24.99 £15.99 Wild Street £24.99 £1599 • For Amiga 500/2000 • Includes original 1.3 Rom 9 Allows you lo switch between Kicks! art 1.2 & 1.3 • Easy to use 0 No soldering R.R.P. £69.99 Members £49.99 Kicksiart Card without Roms £29.99 Kickstart 1.2 or 1.3 Rom £29.99 LICHT PHASKK (it N Mini Gen Genlock A500 £99 99 • Rendale Genlock 8802 £189.99 • Supcrpic - Video Digitizer. Genlock. Frame Grabber £499.99 • Digivicw Gold Video Digitizer £109.99 • AMAS - Midi/Sound Digitizer £84.99 • Golem Professional Stereo Sound Digitizer £59.99 • Midi Interface A500/2O00or A1000 (iocl. Cable/Software) £39 99 • Boot Selector - Boot from External Dnve £9.99 • Naksha Mouse £34.99 NEC A500/20U0 Hard Disk Actionware Light Gun & ROW. £19.99 • U.S. Action Light Gun Pack - 2 new games/ Gateway to Ypsilon and Tin Can Alley & Light Gun £34.99. • 20 Mbyte, 40 msec, Autobool • 30 Mbyte, 28 msec. Autobool • 40 Mbyte, 24 msec, Autobool • 60 Mbyte, 18 msec, Autobool NEC A2000 File Cards £349 £399 £449 £549 20 Mhyte. 40 msec, Autobool 30 Mbyte, 28 msec, Autobool 40 Mbyte, 24 msec, Auioboot 60 Mbyte. 18 msec. Autobool 99 99 00 00 & TOP 50 PROFESSIONAL SOFTWARE Aegis Anunagic Animation Aegis Modeller 3D Cad Aegis Sen ix 2.0 Music Aegis Audiomasicr II Music/Midi Aegis VidoetiUer Desktop Video Appetizer 8 Business Programs Butcher 2.0 Comic Sella DOS Toolbox Deluxe Paint III Duluic Music Deluxe Video Deluxe Photolab Deluxe Prim II Digicalc Dos lo Dos Digipaim 3.0 Director Design 3D DevpacU Fan ta vision Fun School 2 Home Accounts Home Office Kit K Comm 2.0 Utility DTP Comic Utility Gra/Animauon Music 3D Video Animation Anunaue - Ham Print Utility Spreadsheet Utility Graphics Desktop Video Cad Elec/Tcchnic Prog- Language Animauon Education Financial W-P/Spr/DB/DTP Common ica u ons Member £59.99 £59.99 £52.49 £5999 £8Z49 £24.99 £29.99 £37.49 £37.49 £59.99 £52.49 £52.49 £5149 £37.49 £29.99 £37.49 £52.49 £4199 £59.99 £44.99 £37.49 £1Z99 £22.49 £119.99 £22.49 R.RP £79.99 £79.99 £69.99 £79.99 £109.99 £39 99 £3999 £49.99 £49.99 £79.99 £69.99 £69.99 £69.99 £49 99 £39 99 £49.99 £69.99 £59.99 £79 99 £59.99 £49.99 £19.99 £29 99 £149.99 £29.99 KSeka Kind Word. II Lattice 5.0 Lights. Cam., Action Mailshot Plus Movie Seller Music X Pagcsctlcr 2.0 Professional Page 1 .2 Axsemhler Wordprocessor Prog. Language Desktop Video Msilmerge Desktop Video Music DTP DTP Photon Paint 2.0 Photon Video Professional Dnw Quarterback Synth is Supcrbasc Personal II Supcrbasc Professional AnimaA3raphics Desk Top Video CadA3raphics Hardditk Utility Music/Midi Database Daubs sc Sculpt 3D XL 3D Animauon Sculpt 4D Junior 4D Animauon Sculpt 4D 4D Animation Scribble PlaUnium Wordprocessor Starter Kit K/words 2/Paint/3 Games Turbo Silver 3D 3D Animauon Word Perfect 4.2 Wordprocessor Workbench 1.3 13 ♦Manual X Cad Designer Cad Cam Member £37.99 £37.49 £217.49 £52.49 £37.49 £52.49 £172.49 £59.99 £187.49 £5999 £69.99 £99.99 £44.99 £59.99 £69.99 £174.99 £112.49 £89.99 £374.99 £37.49 £49.99 £104.99 £17249 £12.99 £84.99 R-R.P. £49.99 £49.99 £28999 £69.99 £49.99 £69.99 £229.99 £79.99 £249.99 £89 99 £99.99 £139.99 £59.99 £79 99 £99.99 £249.99 £149.99 £119.99 £499.99 £49.99 £69.99 £139.99 £229 99 £19.99 £114. Hhctiw fnr frw caUkifus, mors than 200 different Hems llow toordan By phone II 977 9596 (Vtea/Accats) By fax 01 977 53*4 By post: Club tBOM. Wkhhstn House, 2 Upper Trridlngtofl Kind. I tamp ton Wkk. KINGSTON. Surrey Ml 4DP y . r.r. Post and Pxk*»r*:Sdftwara: UK 4 EEC II. Nod EEC 13 Itardwart: Courtar Stfka U Prk<* tubkel lo chance without milke Arcana smashes back with style rcade MAX TAYLOR is clearly a resilient man. His company. Arcana Software, hasn't released a game for over a year, thanks mainly to the aborted Mars Cops project. But with a new sales and PR deal with Active Sales and Marketing, it looks like 1990 is going to be the year that Arcana al last gets back to producing high quality software. Seeing the new year in with a bang is Rotor, a strategy shoot-'em- up coded by Danish programming team Systematics. Written on the Amiga with eight-way scrolling in 32 colours. Rotor has gameplay which is a mixture of Thrust and Oids with a dash of Cosmic Pirate. "It runs at 50 frames per sec- ond," said Max Taylor. "We don't believe it," said Amiga Arcade. -Nor did I." said Max Tavlor. "Until I saw it." And neither did we until we To boldly go... STARFLIGHT from Electronic Arts is a big game. It'll come as no sur- prise to you to learn, then, that Starflight is a fantasy role-playing game. The year is 4619 and your mis- sion is to find colonisable worlds, gather minerals, ancient artefacts and learn the secrets of alien races. Not exactly an original storyline, but what Starflight lacks in plot it makes up for in size - 270 star sys- tems and 800 planets, each with almost two million locations. It ail adds up to over one-and-a- half bil- lion locations to be explored throughout the galaxy. Along the way you'll encounter giant gas planets, ice planets, lava planets, rock worlds and ocean worlds. Navigation is aided by a detailed starmap, and no matter what planet you orbit, vital statistics flash on the screen to inform you what lies ahead - atmosphere, mass of plant, hydrosphere, lithosphere, tempera- ture and global weather. Your starship is well endowed with lasers, missiles, shields and armour, but you have been warned only to use violence as a last resort. Communication is the key to the game. If it's not in the shops now. it should be very soon, priced £24.99. Grass m at^ti : : : : : ::: ::::: 1 1 l i ■ n fI flolor- 32 colours, eight-way scrolling. 50 frames a second saw the demo Max sent us. The colours are all there, the scrolling is all there, and it's smooth - smooth enough for us not to argue about the 50 frames per second claim. Rotor uses the Amiga the way it was built to be used, which has caused great problems with the ST conversion. Because of this the game won't be ready for review until after this issue goes to press - there'll be no reviews of demos in this magazine! Stone me looks like we've been burgled NEBULUS was very pretty on 16 bit, but it was an B bit game at heart and it showed. It was not a Hewson success. Now the original programmer is collaborating with German programming team Infernal Byte Systems to produce the sequel, Nebulus II. Pogo returns in his adventure through Nor, travelling from island to island, climbing, leaping and jumping up and down the 16 revolving towers. Expect to see him late spring. REVIEWED 93% Ninja Warriors 90% North & South 89% Onslaught 89% Shufflepuck Cafe 87% Maniac Mansion 82% Quartz 81% Hole in One 81% Mindbender 79% Switchblade 77% Clown-o-mania 77% Moonwalker 72% Dragonscape 72% Star Command 71% Eye of Horns 70% Turbo Outrun 70% Xenophobe 69% Keef the Thief 69% Magic Marble 68% Chostbusters II 63% Rally Doss Challenge 62% Toobin* 61% Roller Coaster Rumbler 58% Speedboat Assassins 53% Lancaster 49% Dragon Spirit 32% Slayer 23% Kelly X 5% Plctionarv Gallup Chart UflMcelh ■tlhing with mines in mil early mock-up tcnenshot of Sebuh A Xenon 2 1 Imageworbi mm £24. % 1 f\ Batman - The Movie J Ocean m £2199 NE A Shadow of thr Beast 4 Ptvgnoeic V £34.95 RE A Kid Off f± Anto ■ £19.99 8 m Stunl Car bar 1% MicroStvIe W £24.95 NE A Beach Volley 1% Ocean W £19.99 NE m Allured Bwrt / Activlilon I £24.99 NE A. Robocop W Oman U £19 99 7 A. Falcon U Spectrum Holobvte V £29.95 NE A Blood wyefa 1 1 Imageworb XV 99 4 AMIGA COMPUTING fanuary 1990 15 AMIGA ARCADE The E-COP study for cockpit design has been used as the husis far the control panel setrctablr displays called up on small VM's. Ilptiuns include- a stute-of-the-arl moving and n eapans information and an aldjushiuned tlm -si an radur "bet ause it looks pn<tt\ 16 AMIGA COMPUTING fanuary 1990 ■ AMIGA ARCADE ■ RPREVIEW The coders OCEAN has found the right people lo write the program. Phil Allsop. Russell Payne and Martin Wright wrote Amiga and ST Falcon for Spectrum Holobyte. Anyono who has anything lo do with the promo- tion of Falcon may have given the impression that the program was written in the US of A. but Runcorn is a more accurate loca- tion. The team has some other games pending. Russell and Martin wrote Flight of the Intruder, which will be out soon from Spectrum Holobyte. Phil - the load program- mer - has many 8 bit titles to his credit and a couple of 16 bit things, including Road Wars and Mayday Squad. Being local means thai the pro- grammers can pop into Manchester to visit Ocean, a significant help with a project of this complexity. Martin Wright: 'F-29 is our toughest protect ytt: The plane SET in the future, F-29 Retaliator uses two planes which are still in development, designed not to be the next generation of fighter aircraft but the one after that. They are the Lockheed F-22. which is still so secret no one outside the Pentagon (or the Kremlin) has seen a photo of it. and the Grumman X-29. The X stands for experimental. In service the name will be changed to F-29. Hence the name of the game. The F-29 is tomorrow's fighter. It has swept forward wings, which give better rates of turn and roll charac- teristics than normal wings. The controls are fly-by- wire, which means a computer looks after little problems like stalls. The X-29 has itty bitty wings at the front called canards which make a stall less likely. All fascinating stuff to plane buffs. To the rest of us it means that the thing should feel like a cross between Interceptor and Falcon, and it should turn better and be easier to fly. It does and it is. drcade game. The program is some- thing of a departure for Ocean. King of 8 bit software, il has realised that the Amiga demands a more mature approach, with more sophisticated software. You are taking part in a war. There are fronts which show where apposing forces are dug in. The three scenarios, including one sea- based one. are based on maps of real places. The actual data came from Cheyenne Mountain in I he American Mid-West and has rivers which skimander and roads which join towns. This gets away from the artificial feel of ruler-straight roads and pyramid mountains which dog earlier games. The missions reflect the multi-role capabilities of the aircraft, escorting carriers, saving your installations from attack and taking out the odd enemy missile installation. Calling it a SAM-" might imply xenophobia and tak- ing sides which would result in the game being banned in the peace loving country of Germany. As with Falcon you can choose a rank, which afFects the amount of skill you need ta play the game. There are lots of options, so a Zulu alert acts as a quick set-up. For advanced missions you'll have to choose the right weapon for the job. In keeping with the theme of the game, they are a futur- istic lot from the Pentagon shop- ping list of the future and include the Backwinder - a sidewinder which you launch rearwards at pursuers. Dogfights are fun, and you have a machine gun for those close a) hand manoeuvres. The feel of flying has been cap- tured with graphic stipple effects which make the plane and land- scape more realistic than the slab of colour style of F/A-18 Interceptor. The drawing speed of 360 polygons per second allows a screen refresh rate of up to 12 frames per second. Controls vary from a very-flasy- lo-fly mouse option to a more real- istic keyboard selection. Making any plane, lot alone a fundamen- tally unstable fast jet, fly straight and level is a skill which takes years to master. Ocean has made things a good deal easier with heavy damping on the roll and by giving the plane a natural tendency 10 fly upright. In the mouse-mode 11 won't even loop the loop. This allows you to concentrate on the problem in hand - fighting the war, and winning. Ocean certainly has a stiff battle on its hands with Activision's Bomber, Digital Integration's F-1B Combat Pilot and Electronic Arffl forthcoming F-117a Aggressor all lined up to fight it out. Ocean clearly has the game to do the job. ■ AMIGA COMPUTING lanuary 1990 17 TT A TATA He's called in the National Guard! H OW many ninjas have you over seen? No, really. I mean. 1 always considered Tooting to be fairly multi-racial but 1 don't think I've ever seen a ninja wash- ing his smalls in the launderette or having a quick pastie and chips in The Dolphin. The point being that seeing as they seem to represent the ultimate in covert operations as witnessed by the plethora of ninja games, you never see them about. Maybe that's because thev're so good at sneaking around or some- thing, but even they must have to nip down the Spar for a pack of fags every now and then, surely? Anyway this is all irrelevant. The sheet-garbed assassin of drug barons' nightmares is back, and this time he hasn't brought anything with him at all apart from a couple of sharp knives and a few shiiriken. The evil Bangler, notorious dic- tator, gangland chief, pap group (no, not really) and fat old Sun reader has succeeded in becoming president. Ho now has the army and police at his control. The rebel heroes have constructed two robotic ninja assassins to track him down to his mansion and deliver rough justice. At first you may be wondering why you have been transferred to the land of cinemascope because there are large tracts of black space above and below tho play area. Ah. but this is in fact a cunning ploy. If you ever ventured into one of those devil's armpits called arcades you will have noticed that Ninja runs on three screens to give a panoramic view. In order to simulate all three screens properly, the programmers. Random Access, had to fiddle about and reshoot in wide-screen format. So there you are. Thev're not that cunning though or they would've flogged off some of the space for advertising. The strategy is not too difficult to follow - just kill everything. Guys wander on, have a go at you and either die or wander off again. You may also encounter rabid dogs, tanks and flying squir- rels not to mention other patrons of the arts martial. It may seem a bit tame, but it is fun, very difficult and very, very absorbing, Cunningness part two: You will be playing for some while and then notice something. Or, more like it. not notice something, because Ninja hasn't stopped to load any- thing in yet. Well, actually it has and it hasn't. It has loaded some- thing in - it just didn't bother stop- ping. Ten million cunning points awarded. Sampled sounds, pleasant graphics and nice animated m amiga comwhw; Fabrmry 1000 ■ GAMES ■ Vin/o Warrior tt9M Virv 'm Suhs Carve Dodge the mortars and shoot the soldiers for exlra shuriken Overall -93% sequences recreate the atmosphere of the arcade. Easy to get into, but there** lots of it and it gets chal- lenging later on. If I was stripped, bound and gagged until I could sum it up in one word. I would say "Mnunmph". Failing that I think "Compulsive" is the mot juste. Green The final conflict - Mr Big goes for the head, but he onlv has six bullets Don't waste vour shuhken - i*hj 7/ need them to kill the auv in the tank h'fbruary 11HHI AMIGA (XJMPt TIMi 19 KLR SPECIAL AMIGA AflOO * 10 Sttr Garnet * Pholon Palnl * Hitman Pack » Ouitcovw * Mouse Mut ALL FOR E399 AMIGA 2000 • BMOO Model * 20 M8 Hard Ota* . PC-XT Bndgo Board • Floppy Orrra • 1064 Stereo Colour Morrtcx ONLY E1495 Penphefal- l-V) • . SUr IC t o SUrLClOCotoi*. SlarLC24tO Star HB2* 10 Epson LXBQO Epson LQ5O0 . ... . C170 E1T5 Epton LQB50- Epson LO1050 Epson FX650(New ln|. . Epson FKIOWfNew In). Panasorsc 1061 NEC P2MQ - raw _ 1344 _ C310 - taw .. reso HOTLINE 0923-89 69 69 PROFESSIONAL SOFTWARE Conl. VORTEX 40mb HARD DISK (350 C4H C1W NECPflPlus CB27 NEC PT Plus CT10 AntatrUOMPaw .. ■ ,- C24B Panasonic WCP 1 1J4 (New 24 Pin» C310 >Q— OPttW (21 ■ Munainwnn Tally MT01 CITS fiOmb Unformated Fast and Rohablo 2 Disks 4 Heads 12 Months Warranty The Utility Software Autobot Facility £525.00 GENERAL . £22 TV Modulator - Philips 8(133 Monitor , OSS Commodore 1064S Cot. Monitor C2S5 A501 Ram e«pansion/&ock C1JS Commodore A10103S Orhe OB Cumar-» CA5354 1 5' Drrre I PSU t1t5 Cuma^CAXtOOOSSJSOrWa C124 CumaneCAS 1 COOS 5-25' Om-e I PSU... £133 A590 20mo MO— "OA Oil Cow n» J V Cleaning Bl BJM WtitWm ci7_» Mouse Mat __ £3-75 ftoreii* Newgator Turbo Junior — B-M Quick Own -, , Cheiinosr E 18.95 C1B.45 C16S5 ctoao C1B.M 118.45 CiB.45 £23 95 Cheetah 13S I ■ Mecnl Qu*c»]oy Superboafd Spe«*infl Come Pro Score ______ Comp Pro Eaton . H N Efl.99 .. 1550 CUM £19.90 E14.Q5 nsoa m h AO-onced Amiga BASIC Amiga 30 Graphics Prog BASIC Amiga AppHcattans — Amiga Assembly Lang Prog — — — — Amiga BASIC Inside A Out Amiga C for Beginners — — Amiga 005 Inside A Out — Amiga DOS Manuel . — Amiga DOS Quack Hotoronce Amiga DOS Rat Guide £1495 Amiga Disk OrWes 1ns.de A Out £27.95 Amiga Gd Graphics Sound Telaco- EI7.45 Amiga Handbook E15 » Atrip Hart— *■ M-.rv.ui t—LM Amiga Inturnon Ret Manuel C22JS Amiga Mac-neLang GuaJe- £19* Amiga Machine Language E14.9S Amiga Microsoft BASIC Prog Gda 118.45 Amiga Prog Handbook Vol t £73 95 Amiga Prog Handbook Vol 2 £23.95 PROFESSIONAL SOFTWARE S4 Emu-Mor 1.0 . - .-- . £43 90 Aegis Animal or Images , — EM 90 Aegio Drew 2000 tl*» Aagis Modeller JO _ _ Aegis Sonla — — Am_ga Tricks A Tlpa.. Armga tor Begsmaci- Becoming an ArrvgaArtsl , Beginners Glade to the Amiga Compute's 1st Boo* of Amiga Compute's 2nd Book of Amiga—. Elementary Amiga Basic .._ Inside Amiga Graphics. InsUe the Amiga wfth C 2nd En rUckitart Gu.de to the Amiga . Kid A the Amiga . E 14.95 £12.95 tlLes £1fl.95 E16S5 £1695 £14 95 E 16.95 £20.95 £13.95 tUM Aegis Audlomaslar II . Aegis Videoscape 3D Amiga Starter KU Arena Accounts — ~ Director Toolkd Design JO C Prof A Telfc ■ BBS PC -— — - Benchmsrk Module 2 Butcher Com* Sener .. - ■ — Comic Setter An I Comic Setter Art I _____ Comic Setler Art ] Cambridge Lisp Calllgrspher 1 05 _.___ . Crtncs CWoloa DM Toolboa — Dig.*" Gold Oekju Paint ■ — . Dekise-uele Oo_-e Video — . — -— - Deluse PnotoleD ...,_, — Deluie Print H — — - Drum Studio Oigietaa Devpac 1 Otgipelnl Director CM 90 £49 00 C3890 CM £64 90 C140.M ._ im £1195 £90 90 as Ml JO CAS m ____.M2 MI Dynamic SiuOla Feniavislon . QFA Baatc Goidspell n Goml 10 ... Hercules Copy . Home Account Home Office "ii "troced .. — 150.90 CM £32 CS7.M £45 CM £46.90 £33 90 E10JO E39.B0 C3S.90 £39.90 K_ Com 30 ..__.. Kind Words II — lattice 5.0 Dev Lights. Camera, Action Magnum Turbo Macro Aesernsesr ■ slishot Movie Setter OmegeMt Put>»BheriChc-ca .. Pageaetiei Professional Page Pholon Pelnl Ifl Piimata — — — — Photon video __ ™ Protesalonal Draw Power Windows 2.5 — Pro VI 0*0 frown Promise _________ C-ertarbaca Synthla Superbese Personal . Superbese Personal II Superbaae Prol Sculpt 3D — — Studio Magic Superbaek Turbo Silver 30 _ Te«1 E0 Ptus Tranacrlpl Video Oenent wipe I . £67 90 C2890 .. £47 JO ...£25.90 .£25.90 £10.90 £21.90 CI JO CM 90 ,-CiOtO __._tJ2 90 £1 71 116 90 £36.10 . E47.70 £4eao CIS 90 ....a* m U3 CiM CM a2.90 CM -C04 90 56 90 ■ tin C04.50 C10M — q CM C40 95 CM MM C39.90 CM Ctt ~_CM C32.90 £34.50 £57.90 4m I KhBt „..-. 4il0*»._fl «4C"fl Ac—— sy _____ MM A/ntji Amwnsr _.. A (Ml - .. AiirrtSeaSJ | __ __ A-Jrwnrii Mano" A;_Ortritu>f — *t_M CHlKI VOl II AltfisslOQOl -______._ Ansric>3 II AMoroffi ___,,,-_ AuMust tm — , — , _ie-c* e' 9o-er _ mm _ _rfi.:* NI|BB mom H Bsrur Bsar» votjy _ -rn^Prgajd * *U rmt . 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[1690 [1*90 [1690 _ _ CI5 » £1690 ('7 90 Clft*> fllM THE GYGUS International Grand Prix Racing i Cycles: International Grand Racing wraps you around chassis of the fastest bikes ✓er built as you compete in le International Grand Prix ot )torcycle racing, teonly motorcycle game with first-person perspective, lse the rush of full throttle teed. Look over the idlebars to see the >ment disappear under k wheels. t 0. >ose from 5 different skill /els. Each level alters the icing ability of the jmpetilion. m M GUiLES I *^| i Internmtionml Grand Prix Racing IflGGOIfDE ES ^ meihg . -Mi Soeeo »hoO Horn IBM PC ventoo AccoJade furop* lid., 14, Tho Lombard Buslnets Centre, 50 Lombard Road, London 5W1 1 35U. Te>l, 01 738 1391 putsymi in the saddle Firstpersonperspectivefortrueracty Will the racer in front blast into the lead or dump his bike trying? Do battle with the world's racers in the sporfs premier events. Choosing either 500cc, 250cc or 125cc class races tackle 15 authentic Grand Prix courses across the world. From Australia to Brazil file down the foot pegs on the most gruelling circuits In motorsport. Who 's got the guts ? Who wants the glory? Who'll emerge victorious to hoist the trophy as world champion? IBM PC & COMPATIBLES OUT NOW £24.99 AMIGA RELEASED DECEMBER £24.99 ATARI ST AVAILABLE FEBRUARY £24.99 CBM 64/128 AVAILABLE MARCH £9.99 Tape £16.99 disk (SPECTRUM and AMSWAD to follow) \ rmi \ nn; Th« beat in entertainment »oll ware* MINDBENDER DO you think you're pretty smart, (to you? Smart enough to out-wizard McDuffin, the great- est mage in the Western Kingdoms? He's been having a littie bit of diffi- culty with his experiments at trans- mitting spells over long distances. As every student of life knows, there are three types of matter: reading matter, doesn't matter and old grey matter Unfortunately it is in the department of the latter that the old wizard is deficient - he needs someone to help direct his spell casting activities. Spell-casting over long distances can be a bit tricky, as we all know. No sooner have you conjured an impressive maelstrom of magic to defeat a rival at a neighbouring cas- tle, than it runs into some itinerant gnome Iwixl A and B and spends its force. Now. it is widely held that spells travel in a straight line. rather like a beam of light. The corollory to this is that a beam of spell can be redirected by means of mirrors and so forth. This is what the old wizard is set to test. Setting up an elaborate array of mirror-bearing gnomes and assorted household objects, he aspires to achieve mastery of remote spell- casting. The softly spoken magic spell must pick up all the magic ingredients, located in effervescing magic cauldrons, before making its magic way to the magic door. Direction of the beam is controlled by making the gnomes change the angle of their mirrors, Some obstructions are to be negotiated, like the polarisers which allow spells to pass through at one angle only, whereas some are to be completely avoided, like the odd bomb lying around the place. It is also to be appreciated that feedback is highly undesirable This way... No, thai way... Erm.. because the old duffer-cum-wizard is prone to overhenting. Other things to watch out for are walls of ice. amoebas, prisms and evil gnomes who have an appetite for cauldrons. Extra fuel can be picked up - old McDuffin cant keep churning it out forever with- out assistance, The puzzles get progressively harder, up to level 50, after which point you are expected to design BEPPO is a complete clown. He is. Honest. Short, big feet, silly hat. Yup he's a clown all right. And what is it that clowns do best? Well, they sort of clown about don't they? Apparently not. Obviously clowning isn't quite as vocational as it once was. One day Beppo comes across a map detailing where he may find trea- sures beyond belief. Exactly what this sort of sensitive document is doing lying about in the path of insignificant clowns is not taken very far down the avonues and cul- de-sacs of rigorous investigation. Anyway, the upshot of all this is that our little friend packs his trunk, says goodbye to the circus and trumps off to explore the 70 levels of wealth and woe that make up the game. Crystals are to be collected to move on to the next level. Various other items litter the play field including acid baths, transporter devices, energy boxes, razor blades and several species of small nasty The blue iquares round Ihe edge are acid baths, ideal far weekend paddlm creatures which will try to kill you. Each stage is a sort of split level version of Pac-man, with the plat- forms connected up and down by The only way is dawn ladders or funnels, occasionally bending round on themselves like one of those perspective-based optical illusions. The wonderful graphics really help to build up this effect, espe- cially the parallax scroll of the grid in the background, which gives a vivid sense of the platform being suspended in space. lumps may be collected, enabling Beppo to leap over 22 AMKIA C()MPI'TI\(; Frbrujn mm) GAMES Mindhmdrr £79.99 dmiilm (iraphus ■ 1 1 Sound IHI^^Hl Graphics ^[^01 Gimeplit ILL* 00 ' Ofll Value "10 Overall -81% your own. They vary in style from being mad dashes against lime (o the sort of logical enigma lhat could perplex even a reviewer. The more cunning of you will have already noticed that this is in fart the sequel to Deflektor, dressed up with a bit of Pratchett. Graphically it is a lot more cute and friendly, with some nice ani- mated touches, though with a game such as this, frills mean very little when the old cogs of cognition are revolving. The puzzle is all. In thai respect Mindbender excels. Green assailants or just to connect with parts of the platform that are other- wise inaccessible. Razors are handy for blowing away the massed hordes of anti-clown watchcreatures that Beppo will encounter. Fleetness of foot (or joystick) is just as important as a highly devel- oped degree of cunning in the fight to stay out of trouble. Most prob- lems are easily solved by Beppo's superior foot-power, though a mind as sharp as the editor's wit is a slight advantage in later levels. Soundwise. the tune plods along doing nothing really spectacular □or having much lo add, but it is competent and not su irritating as to warrant silencing it. Although the game is based on a very simple idea it still manages to be enjoyable and rewarding to play. Clown-o-mania is not difficult or taxing until about a third of the way through. That still leaves over 40 levels of well coded and pleas- ant entertainment. A bargain by anyone's standards. Green 1 ^ 1 i\ JV vj WlVllVlixl\l 1 Ahead groove factor five >Barrett > > // this guy's a Chilian, why is ht> so well armed? 23 Okay 32 Okay 38 Okay 8 Dead 8 Dead e Dead EARTH is little more than a dis- tant memory to the brave pio- neers of outer space. Now. at the distant edge of the galaxy, things are moving along nicely for the descendants. Or at least they were. Bands of wandering space pirates threaten to dostroy all trade links. The threat of invasion by a race of highly developed insectoids looms ever nearer. And who are the robot pilots sometimes glimpsed at the outer reaches of your territory? For some time now Star Command has been doing its best to keep on top of the situation. They've started drafting their troops at an early age, putting them through training and giving them starships in the hope of regaining control before things get out of hand. You control eight such troops. It's your business to decide exactly what training they should undergo and in which areas - like astro- gunning, medical and heavy arms - they should specialise. there are four basic classes - pilot, soldier, marine and esper (psychic warrior). Each of these is further divided into 13 ranks rang- ing from private to grand admiral. Once you have assembled and trained your squad you must equip Losf tn space, not a good place lo be them ready for combat. A huge anay of items is available - 60 per- sonal weapons, including nuclear grenades, flame throwers and laser rifles. 16 typos of armour, four vari- eties of gun sighting equipment, plus numerous others. There is an equally wide choice of starships and accessories. You can't afford most of these in the early stages. So, equipped and eager, it's off to HQ to get your first mission, which will undoubtedly be fairly straightforward. Mine was to find and capture five freight ships. It took me two minutes. Mission in hand, you launch into space, whore you are presented by a star map divided into 1 .024 sectors each containing one or more star systems, which in turn might contain numerous planets. This provides a vast playing area. There are no silly planet names, and the whole galaxy is important during the course of the different missions. Some missions require you to operate on a galactic level, rinding pirates in space, that sort of thing. Others require you to go down to a planet's surface, perhaps for an espionage mission. Combat plays a major part. Slur (Uimmimd £29.99 SSI Overall - 72% There are two levels of this in Star Command - man to man and ship to ship. Man to man offers greater scope for weapon selection and use of terrain. It is the more enjoyable of the two. Should you complete your mis- sion successfully, all surviving squad members will receive a salary according to their rank. This can be used to buy more equip- ment, or maybe a clone for when things get really nasty. Now you can accept a new mission, or just go pirate hunting to boost your finances, The game is totally keyboard controlled, which is a shame. And messages sometimes flash by too quickly to be read, which is a pain. The graphics are extremely poor, even for a role-playing game and the sound effects would have been better left out. Sometimes humourous, some- times frustrating, always thor- oughly absorbing, Star Command is based heavily on the famous Traveller role-playing game. It com- bines the best of both RPG and strategy and is sure to please fans of both. Mat Broomfield t'vbrunn l*W \MICA (X)MPl 'Tl\'(i 2.1 GAMES Death or glory RABID TVophiles may recall a wean' rice-opera which used to pop up occasional)) 1 on BBC2 going by the name of The Water Margin. If you don'l. it doesn't mat- ter - actually, even if you do it doesn't mailer - all I wish lo allude to is a section of monologue which used lo appear at the beginning of Ihe show, and which wenl some- thing like this: "Do not despise the snake because he has no horns, for who may say he will not turn into a dragon. So may one just man become an army..,' There in essence you have the plol of Onslaught. No. nothing lo do with snakes and dragons, but the bit about one man becoming an army. For in the land of Cargore there is a mean son of a tank whose strength is as of 10 and whose ambitions include travelling the world and meeting people, shortly before he cuts them up into tittle pieces and stamps on them. This land is no sceptred isle of And they are all out to get you kings. It is strewn with the count- less dead (and undead) of a thou- sand sieges. The only way to bring peace and harmony lo the blighted soil is to kill everyone. Ho hum - what must be done must, I sup- pose, be done. Strategy is the first element of the game. Upon first embarking lo his duly the player is confronted by a 16 x 16 grid of the land. He may then elect to invade territories neighbouring his own. The indige- nous troops come in several flavours, from bog-standard hill- men with clubs through boar-riders lo kamikazee monks. There are 14 types of tribe in all. each with their own peculiar characteristics and preferred strategies, Enough of all this strategy prat- tle though, all you have to do is fol- low the worms lo the field of dishonour and wade in gore. Destroying everything that comes your way is not always the best policy. You can kill 50 "to the right ■ 1 ixM kiJ * tjf flu* ti r * r * z~m %*M ti* kj ■ • . — m . w r - 11 .. PI ' ■'* — _ — r-T.,.,77 j?L,.^»f7, JUL Ti* * J-* L» "i~ ~ » >W«> ff» *j 1 1"* *■"■* N«MMjnM U- .MM. Hiili.'i- &+*..i».1m w^-'m «■/'■«•"• F kite 4UA .i a 4. 4*A <u -.. i--* J.:.'. *4+ wO. 4i4* 4U& *■ 1 « «m» *•>>••*« m * • V • r m t H. «.* Jl ... ... — m— — ■ • m m • mi m» rmimn ■ -v.... ■ - - ■ - 4< >»■ — '- —'■■■■I •• ■ !! ■ ■ ■ Of • ■ ■ » H^B ■■■■ 1 if*f * 1 ■ 1 f .i i i it M )f if > (t > » ttt if • I- • I • in. 1 I' • il < HI 1 1 1 IV „ .. i i. r • 4 * " t* * * »«* • •• • *• n < p *t ■ « .# n .1 1. J ■* • I. » • ♦ *» * .. I. il You 're o one man army, it's kill or be killed 24 AMIGA COMPUTING Februan- 1990 Oh no'. Sol the boilingoil Voli ■ GAMES ■ Excel] ence of you and 50 to the left and not think it too many, but unless you advance pronto on the enemy ban- ner you will be awash with wave upon wave of demented avengers, Once the enemy standard has been captured, it's off to lay siege to their castle. This is much the same as before but with a nicer backdrop. Finally we come to mind control. This is where you take on thing with lots of arms throwing stuff al you. Easily the most forget- table part of the game. If the enemy should capture your banner first, you must go back itage until either you have won or one side is vanquished. Talismans picked up in combat can be used to flit across the less acces- sible terrain in order to broaden the range of combat. Occasional cru- sades and plagues may result in loss of territory, but those things usually pass. The land may be edited to your own design, to make it easier I sug- gest. Of course, this means that you can also save your current charac- ter-up to 10 on the disc. Throughout are strewn Hewson- class graphics and sound building up an atmosphere for diabolical devastation. Gameplay is fast and addictive but very tough, If you should manage to conquer the land at one sitting I would be very sur- prised. Another Hewson game with ingrained excellence. Green (hmaupit C1BS9 //en mki TOOBIN' Mucking about on the river 1: % RED IT O 09 Overall - 89% WE'RE obviously not in the UK here, since one of the things that menaces your toober in this coin-op conversion (can't say tuber 'cos that's a potato) is an alli- gator. Mind you, as you float noncha- lantly downstream you do get attacked by munching skulls and sea snakes, so it could be just about anywhere. And for Biff and Jet, the supercool tube dudes, this is loo uncool to be real. Some forward- thinking dude has left some six packs floating on the river. These make great ammuni- tion for heading off the various critters that are bent on spoiling your day. Fishermen and airgun fiends on the bank also respond to the old Budweiser treatment, but your ammo is strictly limited to what you can pick out of the water. Your tube is a bit like AmigaDos - it needs to be patched from time to time. These patches are, in effect, the number of lives you have. There are a few other useful objects floating about. There are bonus beach balls and treasuro chests, and once in a blue moon you might happen upon a patch or two. Unfortunately there are far more rocks and branches in the water than there are bonuses, so you've got to be really careful with the steering. For extra points you could try going through some gates for a bonus of up to 1,000 points. If you bounce off a gate, the bonus halves Red water? Must be the Nile and the gate widens for you to try again. These, you might think, are just a slight interlude in the game. Actually, if you are lagging behind and the big bad alligator is on your tail, negotiating a gate is the only way of shaking him. Toobin' has been promised as a conversion for a very long time. This reviewer thinks it hasn't been worth the wait. Sure, there are some bits that aren't completely dreadful - every game has some good bits - but the whole isn't par- ticularly great. The title does have a good exam- ple of colour cycling in a fairly neat waterfall, but the rest of the graphics are small and slow mov- ing. Even though the screen is nearly full height, it's nowhere near wide enough, and the scrolling is dead slow and stop. It's got a nice tune, but then these days what hasn't? The stereo effect has been used well, with a great steel band sound throughout; Thai looks w — painful it's certainly the only lively thing about the game. The twin player option also suf- fers from the screen moving al the rate of the slowest player, at which rate the gnme gets naff PDQ. The whole thing smells badly of a rush job. The original arcade game has plenty of potential for conversion, which the program- mers have completely failed to take advantage of. Stewart C. Russell Toobin Cf&flfl it'ii'>cn Overall - K2 February 1990 AMIGA COMPUTING 25 ■ GAMES ■ It's only a bit of fun ORTH & SOUTH, said Ihe manual. Aha, I thought . Refined ladies with swirling dresses and cleavages that you could drive a steam engine down? Rakish young genllemen and army officers attired with mud stained trenchcoals? Horse and traps racing through burning cities? Passionate emhraces? Scandalous gossip? Unfortunately. North & South is nothing like an American TV mini- series starring Jane Seymour (pity). Instead, it's based on a French comic book series called .' - s Tuniques Blues, but only vaguely. The influence of the books stops at using the characters to set the skill level for the arcade sequences. When a mad bugler and a neigh- ing horse gallop on screen issuing a wild discordant tune, you know that this isn't quite an SSI wargame that's coming up. Moving around a very simple map of the USA - you can play against a friend, which is enor- mous fun. or the computer - you must direct your forces in an attempt to rid the country of the opposing army. As a secondary objective it i& necessary to capture land to bring in tax revenues, which can be used to buy new troops and secure territories through which the rail- road runs. If you lurk around until the opposing army's train is about to set off. you can intercept it by sev- ig its route. This leads into one 4 % a. enn f The field of battlr - make sure outofirv is off! of the arcade sections - a frantic race along the roof of a moving train, reminiscent of Harrison Ford in The Last Crusade. With enemy soldiers popping up and a timer rapidly decreasing, you I must make it to the engine, stop the train and capture the gold. The scrolling is incredibly fast, your character very responsive and the animation distinctly dodgy. Still, it ail fits in with the general pace of the game. The second arcade section, where you try to capture a fort, is exactly the same but has you racing along the battlements towards the fort's flag. War breaks out when Ihe armies meet. The men line up on one of three types of battlefield, often Ahem Guess who chose the wmng, lan%UQge option} The Union launches ils first moan shot punctuated by a river or chasm that necessitates trying to cross a nar- row bridge while boing shelled. If you're playing the computer you'll notice that you are at a slight disadvantage here. You control each element of your army one at a time. The computer, of course, can have the cavalry charging with sabres slashing, the foot sloggers marching and firing, plus the artillery rolling around all at the same time, turning your side of the battlefield into the Sommc. True, you can set the cavalry off and then switch control to another unit, but you can't have two units firing and slashing at once. It makes playing the computer very difficult. The trick is to eliminate the other side's artillery first, which then gives you an almost unbeatable advantage. If this hap- pens to you. start retreating. Fast. Come the end of the war, each side is rewarded with a well ani- mated picture of the boys marching m mm home in victory or a field full of corpses, one of which grins at you. North & South is unlike any wargame or simulation thai you have ever played. The graphics are cartoons and there are numerous engaging touches that add finvour. Best of all, the sound effects and music are fabulous - demented bugling, explosions, horses neigh- ing, and charges, victory and catas- trophe arc all perfectly accompied. Duncan Evans Xorth i- smith C2439 Sound \£\ Graphic* lit Ganwpliy |rDl Value [\J Overall - AO'! 1 1 Car Phone With Marked Items Subject 10 Status DIGIPRO Our Promise Except where stated Our Prices Always Include VAT and we only supply first class goods DIGIPRO Professional Video System .ease Hire £127pm inc VAT Amiga 2000 with XT 20MB Hard Drive 2MB RAM G2 Genlock Hi Res Colour Monitor & Pro Video Plus Cash Price £3218 inc VAT A590 Hard Drive With 2MB RAM Fitted For The Amazing Price of £599.95 (inc VAT) A590 Hard Drive With 1MB RAM at only £499.95 (inc VAT) Car Easy Payments A500 Starter System From Only £3,77 Per Week inc VAT Amiga 2000 XT Systems From Only £47.38 Per Month inc I VAT / Software Specials! Pro Video Pus £249.95 Video Effects 3D £159.95 Pagestream £199.95 Scnbblel Platinum £ 49.95 Hardware Specials SuperPic Frame Grabber £569.00 HP PaintJet £899.95 2MB RAM for A590 Hard Drive £240.00 I full of a! you. k« any lat you hie* are meruus flavour, els and Honied ; neigh - d talas- mpied. i Evans Written Details on Re< 8MB RAM Boards Only ^ -"^C. £49.95 Elan Performer The presentation system that puts your Amiga imagery right at your fingertips! 8MB Fitted £899 inc VAT 4MB Fitted £599 inc VAT 2MB Fitted £399 inc VAT DIGIPRO LIMITED 0703 703030 - 01 905 1 030 lire Purchase from £6.29 pw Enterprise House, Howards Grove, Southampton S01 5PR Unless Stated All Prices Include VAT Orders over £50 Postage & Packing Free Add £1.00 Postage & Packing for all other orders Please phone for prices outside the U.K. A500 Super Home Video System FREE 512K RAM & Titling Software With Amiga A 500 8802 Genlock Titling Software & Modulator )as^^ Cash Price £699.95 inc VAT FREE Video and Genlock Information Packs Available Call Now For Yours! Authorised Commodore Amiga Dealer Dealer, Export, Government, MOD and Educational OrdersWelcome Hire-purchase and leasing finance available. Digipro are licensed credit brokers. OONWALKE Eddie, are vou OK? SMOOTH criminal Wacko [acko has found yel anolher way lo be seen in public without having to leave his oxygen tont. Moonwalker has been a book, a film, a T-shirt, a cuddly tov, <i tvpe MminuiilkiT ctujm t St.nltl Sound Graphics Gamrpla) ' _ _ Value Overall - 77% of dance and now my Emerald Isle homeland has produced a twin disc game. There are four stages, two viewed from above and two from the side. Each stage is preceded by a good animated sequence and accompanied by short repeating sections of sampled M| music, A bit like the video really. The first stage reminds me of my long standing all-time favourite game, Rally-X. Jacko walks around the detailed landscape in a small scrolling window trying to collect parts of his rabbit suit, avoiding the over-zealous attentions of numer- ous fans. The next stage adds a motorbike and the occasional flattened pedes- trian. Don't stop until you get enough green shiny orbs. Then you can transform into a car and jump over a roadblock. Game three, and lacko is clad in white suit, armed with a vicious line in automatic firearms. Sideways scrolling displays the interior of a gaming club where there ain't no sunshine when you're gone. Making sure the baddies have been blown off the wall is the only way to beat it. When you use all the ammo, more has got to be there when you need it, or its bad news all round. The final stage is the real thriller. Our heroic plasticised young thing transforms yet again, this time into a robot with which you don't wanna be starling some- thing. You have lo convince some nasty kidnapper about the way your young girlfriend makes you feel or she's out of your life and it's farewell, my summer love, for over. You will certainty spend more than one day of your life playing this game. The stages are suffi- ciently different to provide interest and sufficiently tough to make it last. The graphics and animations provide the grab factor and if you are a Jackson fan the sampled music will come as an added bonus. |ohn Kennedy Level 3 - not quite as easy as ABC ■ fttJHHHimtHIAKl Mil i\9Ki lilHM By fair means or foul RE you one of those people whose idea of day out with the lads is to go to Blackpool, spend half the day in half the pubs in town, eat three portions of chicken vindaloo at the takeaway and then gu on the roller coaster for a bit of a laugh? Well now you can relive those fun-filled days with Roller Coaster Rumbler. You get all of the excite- ment with none of the mess down the neck of the mate in front. Rumbler is rather like a drunken nightmare version of the seaside ride. It features obstacles, flying saucers, targets and lots and lots of shooting. The basic premise of this 3D filled-polygon ride is that you have 28 AMIGA COMPUTING February 1990 to whizz around the roller coaster track shooting all the objects and obstacles without running out of bullets or causing the car an excess of damage. There is a minumum speed, which increases with every run round the track. Fun for a couple of rides, but after a while it begins to look the same Speed also increases after you heave up the hills and race down the slopes. This builds up to quite an exhilarating rate of knots, but can be pegged back down to that minimum by using the spacebar as a brake - a good idea as you certainly don't have time to shoot everything at the fastest speeds. In the air you can spot flying things and can blow them away for more points. Equally, any poor unfortunate driving around on tho ground as you pass is fair game for annihilation. An extra dimension is added if there is a second player. Another gunsight is provided and he gets to shoot at the same things you are shooting at. I would have liked to have seen a split display and play- ers chasing each other around, but then you can't have everything. Something you do get is a sort of free blast. Using all the 3D rou- tines. Tynesoft has patched in a kind of Starglider 2 variant wherein you fly around aimlessly GAMES Kennedy YOU aren't often given the opportunity to play "the other side" in games with a Middle East flavour, but in Speedboat Assassin you, too. can be that fer- vent Iranian revolutionary. Yes indeed, capitalist pigs around the world require killing as they revel in their docadont har- bours, protected by the warships and mines of Satan himself. I, revolutionary brother Mohammed Evans, have been charged to destroy the imperialist forces of evil and fight to my last breath for the Islamic Revolution. My gunship has dropped me into the harbour of New York, home of the unholiest pigs of all. I weel destroy them. Hay'oee! But what is this? Those sons of Satan have laid mines across the entrance to the harbour. With Cod on my side, surely I can navigate my way through the wind- ing channel, deadly mines hover- ing on either side, BOOOOMMMM! Urk~. ...Cough splutter. Quick, ishmael. speedboat number two. Ha! It seems I must go at the pace of a snail to avoid their deadly clutches. And here I am in the open and ready to teach the Yankee pigs a lesson. But what is Ifallvr Coaster Rummer L24.M lliwsofl Graphics Payability Overall - 61 shooting other aircraft, Fine as a demo, but this hardly qualifies as a game. Once you have been round the circuit a few times, enjoyed the sensation of blowing things up, felt mildly ill at all the heaving, there really isn't anything else to do. Though quite pretty and mildly impressive from a technical point of view. I'm afraid that Roller Coaster Rumbler has as much depth as a puddle. Duncan Evans this? ishmael, you fool! There are no weapons on this speedboat! Quickly, bring the helicopter and drop them down to me. Fah, with all this delay the Americans have spotted me and are sending their own speedboats and warship to intercept me. But I. Mohammed Evans, is more than their equal to the task, Take that, imperial running dog tower. Take tha... BOOOOMMMM! Urk... ...Cough splutter. Those accursed Yankees are as treacher- ous as sin. Ishmael, the third speedboat. Yaaeeyy! That is more like it. All SjwnlhiHit tssowris \ir»in Uatfnrtronir Sound Graphics Gameplny Overall - 58' four towers destroyed and now I escape to bring further glory to the revolution. But what is this approaching? God protect your servant Mohammed, a fat Yankee battle- ship is blocking the exit! All its guns is firing, Oh no, and there were another three capitalist har- bours to destroy as well. BOOOOMMMM! Urk... ...Cough splutter. Ishmael. kindly be telephoning Virgin Mastertronic that its simulation of revolutionary rovenge is far too hard. The detection of the sprites also sucks like a camel. Duncan Evans WHILE the decision to launch Amiga games for under a Fiver is laudable, the ques- tion is: Do you really want to play a game on the Amiga that a soft- ware house considers is a budget title? Ktilh \ C4.9R Mr'in Mii'h-rlninii Sound Graphics Gameplay \ • Overall - 2\\ A spokesperson for Virgin Mastertronic assures me that the company could indeed make money with only a £4.99 price lag. This only works if the overheads are as low as possible. Low over- heads mean very cheap and shoddy packaging and as little time as possible spent knocking up the program. 1 imagine the profit margin on Kelly X will be hitting the maxi- mum because the packaging is indeed cheap and nasty. The pro- gram, which looks like it took all of two weeks to write, is equally cheap and nasty. Kelly X - which, by the by »-as the pre-release name for Xenon, - is a 3D space battle. Fly through space using your Elite-style radar with 10 range settings, shooting government ships and canisters of toxic waste. Aw, an ecologically sound game as well. Avoid being shot since it depletes your shield. Use hyperspace to get out of tricky situations. And that's the game. Kelly X would be pretty damn boring if it worked to perfection. Since it doesn't, it makes it one of the worst pieces of software I've seen. Complete tat. Not worth keeping even if someone gave it to you. Duncan Evans February 1990 AMIGA COMPUTING 29 S*iSien& of C0i»iam ^^^^^^^^^^^ To hi* homeland —he is a symbol of hope. To the Emperor he is a dangerous spark that must he extinguished before il can hceome a flame. Io the Resistance he U a figurehead, a powerful alh if they can onl\ persuade him Id adopt their CMtffc To Gesslcr. ihe man who created him. he is Nemesis. Ges>Jer pushed htm beyond the limits of human endurance . . . and now he i* hack (or revenge. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Available from .ill gmxl computer software stockist*. Should vou ^^^^Tu ^t^^^^^^^ ^^Lm experience any difficulty in obtaining the format of your choice. tffl IF jfi complete the order form and send along with a cheque ^Hfl Wt /J or postal order made payable to: All Saints Developments Ltd VB / ^s-—T^m / to the address below. | / /\^m I Gneco on tbcT crating nciu/ ' , to tne address DOOM ( fTHER VERSIONS QXM/NGSOON.' aV M WV* < SCREEN 71 DEVELOPMENT ft^.ici, , : VWm Yorkshtn-U I ^ :| N rRADEMARK OF ALL SAINTS 1 1 Units V7 Bailevgate Industrial Estate. V FORMAT 'QUANTITY: y All otuen will rv despatched i»rt day nl release. GAMES SPRINT has boon through almost as many variations in the arcades as on the home mif.ro scene. The bird's eye view of a Grand Prix started out in single player, black and white, then added up to four players simulta- neously, and lastly, in Super Sprint, was resurrected as a full colour, mass Drive-in. Rally Cross Challenge is another Super Sprint clone, and looks like a beautifully animated L.S.Lowrv portrait. Up to four players can race at once, using thai rare boast the Special Joystick Adaptor. Otherwise it's a case of fighting for space on the keyboard. If you can't find three other peo- ple, the computer will provide some. The anti-sexism group. Oasis, will be pleased to note that several women drivers are taking part. Then again, perhaps they won't be - the first one is called Sexy Legs. The male racing drivers have equally silly names, like Rev Emup and I.KIllem. No comment. Are Mfl iure this is the wav to Caombe Abbey' Although there are ad|ustmenls you can make to fine tune the cars, I miss the little presents Super Sprint left on the track to race for. Collisions between cars are also a let down - they merely hoot their horns at one another. In fact, at tho start of a race they all sneak round the track in a tight pack, looking like a group of Killer Cars from a Monty Python sketch. In an attempt to maximise the potential of the 68000 processor. "humorous" little sprites pop on to the screen, on holiday from IK* no doubt. Heaven knows what will happen whon we have the 68040 to play with. Nighl racing is worth seeing though - the headlights effect is very clever indeed. Sounds are so-so. conspicuouslv lacking in the Tedious Little Jingle department. Tedious is better than none at all. The graphics, on the other hand. Overall - l>3% are lovely. Yet something is missing. That something which makes a game a success and one you will want to play for more than five minutes. With Rally Cross Challenge it's not hard to put your finger on that something - it's the way the cars are controlled. Until a better standard comes along, we are stuck with tho eight position switched joystick. No amount of different acceleration and deceleration options will make up for the fact that it's too darn awkward to play. John Kennedy TURBO OUTRUN Rev it up and start again p OLLOWING on the heels of 1 Outrun, or more probably overtaking it in the outside lane, comes the sequel, now with added turbo boost The first problem is with the ptui, which seems very compli- cated. As far as it goes the underly- ing premise seems to be this: You have to drive your F40 (which is a Ferrari, not a jet) very quickly indeed from one end of the USA to the other along a giant six-lane motorway. On the way you must avoid hit- ting things and press the fire but- ton every so often to employ extra-super solid rocket booster ihings probably left over from the last Columbia, erm, Atlantis launch. There is something else to do with some girlie and another car which you have to stay ahead of or she runs off with the driver. Maybe she likes to feel the power of his engine. To be quite honest it would be a bit of a relief if she did. If she Spinning isn 't always fatal, it's possible to pull yourself out of it weren't so ugly she might put you off your steering. It would all make more sense if you were trying to outrun the tune, which is pretty painful. Tarmac stretches ahoad you to the far horizons. If all goes to plan you should be having breakfast in Los Angeles - all macrobiotic stuff, of course. But first you must brave the mind-numbing terror of grit on the road, negotiate the snowbound interstates and wind your way along a freeway which seems to have been designed by an inebri- ated nomad with no sense of direc- tion. The race is split up into four stages, where remaining time is converted into an unfeasable num- ber of poinls and super hi-power add- ons are added on by teams of trained adder-onners. The choice is between extra grip tyres, an even bigger engine or an even belter turbo. I can't say I could tell the difference, to be honest. This is also the point at which the girlie usually decides to run off with the other bloke. Bah. women - who needs 'em! Another puzzling thing is the way. jusl after engaging interstellar overdrive and reclining back in your acceleration couch, the odd black-and-white cop car strolls past. The animation is a bit jerky, but you won't notice it when you're going Mach 5 through Chicago. furor* OulBUB Cf9J9 Segal US Hold Sound Graphics tiimvpliy Val ■ Overall - 70'/< Otherwise the graphics are accept- able, though not entirely stunning. All the hazards and lavouts of the 16 stages have been carefully transferred from the arcade machine, This is not a great recom- mendation since the original wasn't very. Original, that is. Interestingly the processed rain forest accompanying the game suggests that the turbo be used sparingly, when in actual fact it seems a physical impossibility to finish most levels without at least one stab at the fire-button. Although certainly better than Outrun the first, and reasonably well converted from the arcade, Turbo Outrun does nothing to lift it above the crowd of good racing games around at the moment Green February 19911 AMIGA COMPUTING 31 ■ GAMES ■ 1 Diabolical double disc debacle of digital death ~4 ^ a The swinging controls on level one »?// (ate so/tip getting used lo OLY cow... Oops, sorry - wrong hype. Ahom. When there's something weird in your outside toilet, who you going to call? Not a plumber anyway. Suffice to say the present day equivalents of Peter Cushing, the Ghostbusters, are back. As you onter the world of the Ghostbusters you will be treated lu a wonderfully animated display of cunning Amiganess, Then, of course, it asks you to swap discs. Oh well. This time large amounts of slime are forming an underground torrent and converging on the downtnwn museum. There is also the small matter of Dana Barrel's (you remember her, played by Sigourney "I'm having a baby" Weaver) little sprog being snatched. The first level of the game con- cerns Ray collecting <i sample of the slime by abseiling down a haunted sewer. Swinging from left to right enables Ray to collect extra weapons, bits of the scoop with which to scoop up the slime at the bottom, and the odd bottle of dutch courage. Floating down through the clouds of steam, ghostly hands come rushing up to meet Ray as he tries to collect the slime. The last, and most difficult, level - beat Vigo Some uncharitable ghosts in the shape of outsized fingers attempt to sever your cable as you descend. Altogether an unpleasant experi- ence, especially from the gameplay point of view - the whole level is too difficult. In contrast, level two is incredi- bly easy. It is possible to get through the whole thing by firing just a few shots. You control the giant Statue of Libert) 1 , hot-footing it down to the museum and pro- tecting gangs of mindless helpers. Nice animation of Miss Liberty, Various squadrons of flying ghosts and denizens of the nether- and rescue the baby worlds attack in formation, bill they're nothing to worry about Lastly the action moves to the museum, whore all you havo to do is rescue the ungrateful sprog from the altar. You cannot just write off this final scene however, because there are still two fearsome baddies to overcome. The first of these is [onosz. He will terribly resist your efforts to snatch the sprog by firing at you. Unfortunately the entire range of death-dealing weaponry possessed by our heroes is not sufficient to give him cause for concern. Likewise Vigo, who emerges from the picture eventually. The opening sequence and the fillers between level feature excel- lent animation, digitised stills and good samples and arranged sounds. Animation and well defined graph- ics are equally brilliant throughout the game, though the disc swap- ping gets a bit of a pain. While Ghostbusters II is undoubtedly* an audio-visual feast, there is little game in it that is fun to play. Rather like a Peter Grounaway film, we arc treated to a high degree of polish and art with very little underlying substance. Green Level two features a beautifully animated Libert] fiAosffaosffln II £2495 Lr/n isifln Sound Graphics GamepUv ■ Mm Over* ill 32 AMIGA COMPUTING Februan 1990 Cleverly written and always favourably reviewed in the press. Digita produces a range of powerful, low cost software for the home and business user. DGCALC Tie 'anv an) mov powerful ipreadafuMt Mailable m Pm p*ca 0>ec»*t * itn 91? f qwi By V cotutm giving 1&J u0 '° MSWcetw Aa »#> all [Vgita prodKB. the ope«e»on ot tne <* deem/ rnoughl out Being e»*t m»n u mouse oi lonwnanrj a> i«tn you II Da at>ie to Man ueing tl *■*» - mmulee tmiitiu v* lew jiM ■ iprf*l*iM« Mtr*« Someol ine feature* •fKfl make il inch good i4iuB If* eqrot-ig o'ASCIi'iiM'or iM*giit>oo win Mf»«i progiimv »d(uetebie column ""dm and tin overflow, programmable tuna«o >eyi (••dm). end a uniflut •"■lowing facility, ao tful you can leot K direen.nl pom & a iheel el the %*rr» Mf* £*jg gg MAILSHOT » you i* need to aend out mailing* or prirri laCM you know how and t>rne<oniurn.ng it ran M mating lure M> tte laMw are printed correct!, Well now aBtnal earning c* *w pail Bete jm Meilihot actually ahowa you fm labeti 0" v»ee« you can type name* and adoretwei m eiecily the correct puce Bui more man tnat. we laWi lit anirnened on tcwt at a corvmucut ineee allowing you lo too" batswa/da and furwarui ID aeanh <ur panOMi keyword* o Id etfi entries mthme mmiirumo"uii • atilitiei include aea'Ovrtg. detection ot duple**, label*, wrfingievan •i^narr«)igiaMliacioai.Sncootaic'Bn>iaDa< Thrarwa id 6a ma iirrteeal and nw MlCM "Wod of craving a ™..noi.v.u*.. £24.95 Sss. FINAL ACCOUNTS The program *»H <•** .ntormaton prepared By Caahbook Contr oliei and produce a complete eat ot aaounfa including * Thai Balance * Trading and P>oM and Loea Account * Balance ' Note* lo lha Aceouna ' firil Aooounfmg ' Ad naporfa may ba produced ai *o Ma w* Conxwra1va't*udga<tic>tfaii1iaoutnH Theraciliryto produce (hew document! quickly, accurately, and regularly it ot anom-oua h«io m running any Du*. net*, targe ot *mal unce one ahowi lha Irua profitability aWiawd. and m cOaf it<a afld air trtgm d «ia buwneaa .n larra o* atatCi and £29.95 E-TYPE P^^^^™^^^^ CLASSIC INVADERS MAILSHOT PLUS Oo row aw hava B cm names and addrauaa at awkward facei C entaropaa or do you eve* need to tin in tnc*y ttrmt or 'AtOCB wnare rha ten nai lo M in aiactr t*nr cgM Met' Ut uaHy you nat« u do rt Oy nana. o> gat yew Vutty «in^ttarcwrtilwcgpooirtandau*! Jott Wetlno) ■aJIWI '^EmulanrtI*Pfwri|a»^anilo™iyour c^tuiai and p"rier inB a t j«y tiacgea rypeW'W. Kajgejini ootd unOerfma lade and ntr* Typa-wytta Bacauaa ii can diipuy and print tail INSTANTLY you can Irte uq your (cm preta **** j n an! Spaca a tew Wnaa to mota to place, and the-iiiartyp-ng Anernatieiyyoucan tiitb lo hn+tjy I <n rr<>0* •f>t3»o"e'i wwd-w'ap i- o-.!:"ii> ipac-ig toVuityoucaneaf ea:n hne6a»'e it ip« iled _ _ _ x.39.95 PERSONAL TAX PLANNER Are you alac'uiei v lure yui> tainan iu<ng nil 0b eorraoty? Plan your own ui win etaa tvi manu-drmn program caicuUn your ncome laa I'atMliiy |4 lu yean inaudedi and provide pernnen'. 1*9 *Dc/ your tax poMon »0u can perform wtaU' catculaDcn to dKiw waya lo mmmitarDu' ta* naSility In tact roe program will edVaa lOuoniNngtauCAai. it you an amazed man. aaaaaiaV n ■ouid be ao<aniageo>ji to rum your wile l income laied Wparaieiy o> not At Tin once wfo Knowa. you w» probafily t"d eirPTP will pay tor iraalhnoi u«>nga ma tirn nma you ■a>< ■ STOP PRESS - Arty ■ - PTP uaar lecaivai la* fetund o" of D.DOD" Adtarcad nreionof Uailanafor inecuiinaia mer ' 'ii-jini .i-i a ffi new »om«arB (u».ng ASCII Mas) * coiurm'UPuiatad lurrmary I deal tor leiepnc* ina. at) ' * aiKa memo linaa oar label Iwitf Del* um\ ' lyattm tor coding datng and adding meaaegM lo eatfi label ' d'fe'em layoua a>aiiao>e <o> noriiontat and •eoc» £49.95 CASHBOOK COMBO Money lavng combmalion pack featuring bom Cainbook Coniroi«e' irtiftna) Accouna-Sa*eE*OX ne C69.96 Exape Irru- uiecu- .e »"•» wil* tne daaa>: toace •nvadar £14.95 £39.95 DAY-BY-DAY Aneiwienrwaytogetorgan-Md Wiiniiyoullbaremnoefl * bemoan and omwrannnananw. rrwetinga and appointment pneme cant to make and to on Aa win ail Dg'a produdi. moulting mkormalion it umpliciiy w and ance entered, you can lee/tn tor keywonS or Ic particular ■ ' ai birfnaayi lo lea wnan one n coming up ixludei month- weekday ptanner autimaw ran^nden lor zrrerdue appcnlmanra montl and week ummary a> a 0anca for lea* man iX ins » ffwi ideal way to make \>jt rOu never maa that impcrsam mmiM again' 1.29.95 Available to the trade fr Digita. GEM. Greyhound. HB Marketing, Lazer, Lelsuresoft, R&R, SDL. ^^^^^ ■^^nawaaSB* DIGITA INTERNATIONAL HOW TO ORDER • CREDIT CAR .iNE "Serious software at a sensible price All software written in the UK Prices include VAT & P & P (add £20Q tor exporti 5 GAMES / suppose a ham sandwich is out of the question? TAKE one remote and mysteri- ous old mansion. Include a kidnapped heroine and naive group of rescuers. For good mea- sure, add a mad professor, a homi- cidal nurse and a teenage commando with a hamster fetish. Put it all together and what have you got, apart from material for a dozen tacky horror films? Yup, that's right, you've got Maniac Mansion. Although this is essentially an adventure, Lucasfilm has managed to dispense with all that tedious typing, and has successfully cre- ated an animated game that is fun to play and enjoyable to watch. It uses a virtually identical control system to its predecessor, Zak McKraken. Initially, you play the part of Dave, whoso girlfriend Sandy has been kidnapped by Fred the mad prof. You placed an advert on the school notice board asking for vol- unteers to assist you in your rescue bid. Before you stand seven appli- cants, each of whom has different abilities in areas ranging from surf- boarding lo physics. Having selected two people to join you, it's off to the mansion, where the game proper can begin. Your group starts on the road jusl outside the house. A sign sets the tone of the game: "WARNING! Trespassers will be horribly muti- lated!" Ignoring this message, you quickly encounter the first problem - how do you get in? The solution is as logical as it is a cliche. Once inside, the puzzles become some- what more obscure. There seem to be so many objects available, but never the ones that you want. Unravelling the intricate web of the plot is a time-consuming but enjoyable pro- cess, At various limes during play the game will be interrupted by brief flashes from other parts of the house, These show what is cur- rently happening to Sandy, who despite her bravery is due lo have her brains sucked out. Each of the three heroes can be controlled individually, and while they will he needed to work solo for much of the time, there are occasions whon cooperation is the onlv solution. Lucasfilm says that the game can be completed with any combina- tion of characters, but the plot will bo modified according to the selec- tions you make. Thus you may play many entirely different games before Iruly completing Maniac Mansion. 1 can't help but draw compar- isons between Maniac Mansion and the cult musical, The Rocky Horror Show. They bolh have a very offbeat sense of humour. There are numerous other similari- ties, all of which serve to enhance the intriguing story line, recreating a Sixties horror atmosphere. Mat Broomfii'ld Mairiac Mansion C19S9 tuca&filnj Gamtt* Overall - 87% M AMIGA COMPUTING February HMO m SANTA IN 3 IN A BED SCANDAL XMAS SALE £75 £68 £309 £489 £499 A500 HALF MEG (WITH FREE 1 MEG DEMO) A500 EXTERNAL DRIVE (NEC/Through Port ON/OFF Switch) A2000TWOMEG (Microbotics 8 Up) A2000 FOUR MEG (Microbotics 8 Up) A2000 HARD CARD (48 Microbotics Hard Frame with 2SMS Seagate Drive) A590 UPGRADE CHIPS HALF MEG £46 1 MEG £90 2 MEG £175 ALL PRICES INCLUDE VAT AND POSTAGE & PACKAGING NEXT ISSUE: LYTHAM MOTEL MURDER EXPOSE TRADE ENQUIRIES WELCOME Send cheques to: Dept AC Memory Expansion Systems Ltd. Britannia Buildings, 46 Fenwick Street, Liverpool L2 7NB (051)236 0480. PRICES ARE SUBJECTTO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE Access 1 VISA (051 ) 236 0480 • 24 Hour Sales (051)227 2482-24 Hour Fax HARDWARE & SOFTWARE SPECIALISTS PRICES exc. V.A.T. CS DELIVERY ^ * SHOWROOM CP 13 LANSDOWNE ROAD BOURNEMOUTH DORSET 4L* EXC. VAT @ (0202) 24927 £5 DELIVERY AMIGA A500 + BATMAN 2 (fate tuvaty INCLUDING:- BATMAN THE MOVIE NEW ZEALAND STORY F18 INTERCEPTOR Buggy Boy Ikari Warriors Barbarian Thundercats Terrapods Amegas Deluxe Paint II -Mega Paint Package Microblaster Autofire Microswitched Joystick 10 Blank 3.5' Disks Mouse Mat Mercenary Insanity Flight Art of Chess Wizball £345 AMIGA A500/ PHILIPS 8833 £476 AMIGA B2000 INCLUDING:- • MOUSE • WORKBENCH - BASIC • UTILITIES • MANUALS £799 AMIGA A500 INCLUDING:- ■ MOUSE • WORKBENCH • UTILITIES • MANUALS • BASIC • TUTORIAL • TV MODULATOR AMIGA B2000/ PHILIPS 8833 INCLUDING:- • MOUSE • WORKBENCH • BASIC ■ UTILITIES • MANUALS • XT BRIDGE BOARD ■ 20Mb HARD DISK £1250 AMIGA A500 BATPACK NEW ZEALAND STORY F18 INTERCEPTOR ■ DELUXE PAINT MOUSE • TV MODULATOR £320 A500/A2000 MONITORS 1084(9) High res monitor £209 Philips CM8833 High res C199 1901 C64 - colour Call 1900 C64 - Mono £119 AMIGA EXTERNAL DRIVES Cumana Cax 354E £79 AF880 £78 RF302C £74 Supra 20mbH/disk £499 * All drives imb * orvotl switch * AMIGA ACCESSORIES A50l-5l2k RAM —...£109 TV Modulator £22 Mouse Mat £4.39 Amiga dust-cover £6.89 3.5 13STPI DS/DD £9.99 PRINTERS NEC 3.5" 1Mb 2nd DRIVE £64 COLOUR PRINTERS Citizen HQP40 £352 Epson EX10O0 £543 Hewlett Packard Paint Jet £71 9 NEC P6+ £469 NEC P7+ £589 Star LC10 £195 Xerox4020._- \ £949 COMPl/TUcPRINTEIb LC24-10 PRINTERS 0 Offly £1 37.00 Hugely successful 9 pin phnter, the Star LC10 provides 4 NLQ fonts (with 96 print combinations) at 36cps and 1 44cps draft. Has a large 4K buffer and IBM/parallel interface butlt In. includes a comprehensive front panel operation and features paper parking, allowing single sheets to be used without re- moving tractor paper. Star LClO(P) 130CDS £139 Star LCiOCotour £189 Star LC24- 1 0 {24 pin) £269 Citaen 120O E105 Commodore MPS 1230 £119 Panasonic KXP1124 (24 pin) ..£279 Panasonic KXP1081 £149 Epson LX800 £158 Epson LQ500 _ £250 Epson FX850 £409 Epson FX1050 £382 Epson EX800 £369 Epson EX1000 „...E419 LASERS Citizen overture HP Laserjet II £1299 £1825 A2000 HARDWARE A2000 . 1mb RAM £869 A2000. 1084(s) monitor - bridge BO * 20mb H/disk ...£1369 A2000. 1084(s) E1049 20mb hard disk — £299 XT bridge BD _ ,-..£299 BATMAN SALE Batman II The New Zealand Story F18 Interceptor Deluxe Paint II CHRISTMAS SALE A501 51 2K Ram expansion £75 inc. VAT & Delivery ALL PRICES EXCLUDE VAT CREDIT CARD MAIL ORDER AND EXPORT HOTLINE H (0202) 24927 OPEN MON-SAT 9am-5.30 pm All prices and manufacturer's specifications subject to change without notice. rro^FiTsTwao, i3Urwdowne Ro^UJournemouth, Dorset, BH1 1RZ | I wish to order | My computer is . enclose cheque/PO tor £ I Or charge my Access/Visa No. I I inc VAT. Exp. date Name Signature | Address I Postcode Tel No: ■ GAMES ■ L J j \ir Hockey for weirdos SPOTTING a sales rep out on the road is easy - he's the guy in the red Orion with a jacket hang- ing up in the back. In the future it'll be easier; just look Tor the jacket. Things have taken a downturn in your life. On the way to closing the biggest sale you'vo ever negoti- alod, your new (possibly red) Nash Sombrero decides to play up, forc- ing you to take the nearest exit Too bad it had to be the one for Wrong Side of Town (Central). Grabbing your jacket from out the back, the only possibility of contacting the AA seems lo be the local bar. This place isn't a quiet martini and wallpaper music estab- lishment. No, in dive terms this one's the Acapulco cliffs. The clientele appear to be what's left after (he dregs of humanity and a variety of other races have decided to call it quits. You can see a phone way over in the far corner, but these people won't let you by until you've proved your worth at the Shufflepuck table. Shufflepuck's like Air Hockey, that ancient arcade attraction that looked like a cross between a snooker table and a steam iron. Each player has a paddlt and the aim is to gel the puck past the l/mks like our ad sales learn are on the binge again opposing player. In this version a point is marked by smashing the glass screen in front of the oppos- ing player. To get through to the phone you've got to beat all light of the local players. They range from wimpy Skip Feoney through the initially good but increasingly tipsy Lexan Sraythe-Worthington to the reigning champion and hard man, Biff Raunch. They have their own style and weak- nesses, but it will take a lot Princess Bejin smiles smelly as she ser )vl another telepathic ace \ r mnic's hip and cool and really laid bock, but he sure ploys a mean game of shufflepuck of playing to beat Biff Raunch or Princess Bejin, the Cafe's number two player who just happens to have a telekineuc serve. Practice can be had by playing any of the players singly or by pro- gramming a robot to be as good or as bad a player as you want. Shufflepuck is simple, but with gameplay that's truly offworld. From the weird intra tune to play- ers' exclamations of disgust, the sound is neatly atmospheric. As this is a straight USA import, it's got a slightly shortened screen, but despite this the graphics carry the game. Stewart C. Russell SlutltlrfmikCilr HhkIi'iIiuiiiI tinphics Gameplav H Value Overall - 89% T" 1 l February IffJO AMIGA COMPIITISG 37 THE SOUTHS LEADING COMPUTER BY POST SERVICE E3 CREDIT CARD MAIL ORDER AMIGA A500 + BATMAN 2 Including BATMAN THE MOVIE NEW ZEALAND STORY MB INTECEPTOH Buggy Boy Ikari Warriors Barbarian Thundertits Terrorpods Amegai Delias Paint II - Mega Palnl Pack ago Micro blaster Auto I In Micro switched Joystick 10 blanks 3.5" Disks Mouse Mat Mores nary Insanity Fight Art of CI Wizball £345 AMIGA A500 INCLUDING: • MOUSE • WORKBENCH • UTILITIES • MANUALS • BASIC •TUTORIAL AMIGA B2000 INCLUDING: • MOUSE • WORKBENCH • BASIC • UTILITIES • MANUALS £799 AMIGA A 5 00/ 1084 (S) MONITOR £469 AMIGA BATMAN PACK INCLUDING BATMAN COVER £320 PRINTERS Citizen 1200 £108 HP Deskjet ♦ Citizen 180E £126 CP2200 Citizen MSP1SE £189 NEC P8* Citizen H0P40 £289 NEC P7+ Citizen HQP45 £299 Panasonic KXP1 081 ... Epson LX400 £142 Panasonic KXP1180 ... Epson LX850 £189 Panasonic KXP1124 ... EpsonFXIOSO £379 StarLCIO Epson L0400 £205 Star NX! 5 Epson L0550 £272 Star LC2410 Epson LQ8S0 £404 Star XB24 1 0 Epson LQ1050 £549 Star XB2415 Epson LQ2550 „ £847 NEC P7* Colour Epson DfXSOOO.... £1078 Star LCI 0 Colour HPDeskjel £449" Xerox 4020 Colour — £544" £254 £419 £538 £126 £156 £256 £129 £289 •"OMPL'TE" WINTERS 1X24-10 £199 £257 £418 £545 £823 £184 £949 COLOUR PRINTERS Citizen HQP40 £349 Citizen MSP50 . — _ £350 Citizen MSP55 £400 Hewlett Packard Paint Jet £589 NEC P8. £504 ACCESSORIES AMIGA EXTERNAL DRIVES AF880 3.5 Drive RF302C 3.5 Drive Cumana Cax 354E A1 01 03.5 Drtve N0MDC30 3.5 Dnve £89 Inc £85 Inc £99 Inc £99 Inc £85 inc A2000 ACCESSORIES DRIVES 2OM0 Hard Disk £399 Inc ' AMIGA or MS DOS 1 XT Bridge Board £399 » VAT AT Bridge Board £675 » VAT ' INT Genlock £179. VAT 5 Mb RAM/B witti 2 Mb RAM 1 £649. VAT t mangle 20Mb Hard Disk .. £459 ♦ VAT /orttxASOOHard Disk 40 Mo £510 Inc mangle 40 MO Hard Disk £579 * VAT :umanaCSA354- _ — £89 Inc :umanaCDA358 £199- VAI 2nd Driver £75 . VAT NEC 2nd DRIVE „..£64 New A500 20Mb A590 HD ...£380 mc COR! These prices be well Batty MONITORS ■ CBM 1084 S Stereo - CBM 1901 Philips CMB852 CBM CGA Compatible Philips 8833 CBM 1900 Mono Atari 124 Mono Atari SC/1224 ...-.£239 Inc £149 Inc -....£260 Inc —£229 Inc £129 Inc £129 Inc £259 inc LASER PRINTERS Brother HL-8e £1409* Epson GO5000 Hewlett Packard Laser Jet li Star LPB £1249 "Inc. 1 year on site maintenance AMIGA ACCESSORIES A501-512KRAM £129 inc Mouse Mat , £4.95 inc Amiga Dust Cover .£4.95 Inc TV Modulator £21 .95 inc Steel Monllor £15.95 inc Standard Amip,a5205T Steel Double £25.95 Inc Monitor Stand Amiga ST COMMODORE C64 C64 Hollywood Pack £149 Inc C64 Home Entertainment Pack £199 inc 1541 C11 51/4 C64 Dnvt £145 inc CHRISTMAS SALE F501 512K RAM EXPANSION £63 B 0202 292195 OpenMon-SatIO- 5.30 ALL PRICES EXCLUDE VAT Mail Order Hot Line Phone 0202 292195 DELIVERY UK MAINLAND mfxzssr 6 F0REST CL0SE lEXSESim EBBLAKE IND ESTATES Urtun 4w*moo>y. VERWOOD C5.VAT DORSET Mexl working «y CIO . VAT UNIT 6, FOREST CLOSE, EBBLAKE IND ESTATE, VERWOOD, DORSET, BH21 6DA o m D > 2j D > I be fu an so wl th dr be w In w dj il l( a ii It u P n P tl I CO ■ GAMES ■ PICTIONARY Is it a bird, is it a plane...? PICTIONARY was a nice game. I say was, because il used lo be played by people, and (he real fun was in how you worked for and against those people. It was a sort of drawing game with rules, where guessing the word hidden in the picture the other player had drawn would move you around the board, lust the kind of thing to play with a group of friends. To make it different from the board game, the computer version uses the gimmick of the Amiga drawing the pictures. Il also looks after the board and rolling the dice for you. But it sadly misses the mark when it comes to the guess- ing part. If the Amiga is drawing one of its pictures, off it goes into a rather tacky black and white sketchpad program where overy line or fill makes an absurd squeak, parp or pop. It's irritating the first time through. Il gels more irritating the more you play it So. the Amiga scribbles away a picture, and once you guess the word you hit the spacebar. Then / wish.. / with... I wish I was playing the board game instead you have to hit Return to say thai you really want to make a guess. Then it finishes the drawing and lells you whal the word was and asks if someone gol il right. If it's a picture where anyone can guess, it has to ask you who actually gol il right. It then makes you click the mouse on the Continue button and then makes you click the mouse on the Next Word icon. This bit is just to make you feel busy, because there is no reason to il. What it actually does is make you feel irritated having lo repeat this monotonous process. If you want to draw your own pictures you have lo play as teams. And even then the game has plastic cards with words on them which you are supposed to use to stop you cheating. More tedium. I tried the game with a couple of friends, but all the computer suc- ceeds in doing is killing any real game interest. The graphics don't help much, being tacky in the extreme with bad colour choices and a singularly static board, most of which can be put down to it being released across fl and 15 bit. machines and catering lo the low- Pictionary £24.99 Domark Sound Graphics Gamrplay Value Overall - 32°/., esl common denominator. Pictionary is an u n sat is factory attempt at computerising a game, both from the technical and game- player points of view. There are too many gimmicks. There is even an option lo save your black and white rough sketches as IFF images. As if Ihe Amiga was short on art packages! D| Walker-Morgan P ■-lie! OHDI fl R So save lo RAM:, only eight chars allowed per filename, no disc catalogue... CRYSTALLOGRAPHY is a fun subject. No, really it is Packed with useful and everyday concepts such as Burgers Vectors and Peierls-N&barro Stresses. It's rivelting reading for insomniacs. This gem of a subject (wit, or what!) doesn't exactly spring lo mind as the plot for a particularly mindless shoot-'em-up, but Firebird has tried. What has happened is some- where, somehow, a crystal lattice has come over all unstable. This has been deemed a Bad Thing, so a suitable bozo has been found (viz. you), plonked in a small space fighter and shrunk down to be small enough to fit into the crystal. To get a rough idea of Ihe required size, ihink of the weeny side of very, very tiny, and Ihen some. Even now, you're still out by a couple of hundred angstroms, which are nothing lo do wilh whal a depressed artificially intelligent QUARTZ Better than clockwork Splitting the nucleus system might have. A rogue nucleus is causing all the trouble. It's big enough - relatively, of course - to cause you real prob- lems with your standard issue weapon, so you must stroll about the nucleus, blasting open quarks to capture the valuable neutrinos inside. Now a neutrino is an incredibly small and fast thing. Travelling through Ihe Earth doesn't causo a neutrino In even blink. Bui that's only in real life. Once you've caught enough of Ihem in Quart/. you can use them to synthesise new and more destructive weapons. The nucleus does ils level besl to get rid of you with an orbiting electron cloud. The more you shoot the nucleus, the faster it spins. Until it splits. Once the nucleus is destroyed, you fly off via an enormous change of scale, through a meteor storm lo (he next crystal. Quartz has been put logelhcr by Paul Shirley, he who wrote the 8 bit classics Spindizzy (clever) and Mission Genocide (violent). All his games have some feature that's neal. The new thing in Quartz is a multi-level scroll, with shadows between and above levels, and a parallax slarfield behind it all. The actual play area is small, and Ihe screen is shorter than it has any right to be, but the effect is gener- ally quite neal. The tune is palatable too, if you haven't had too much of electropop already. There is but one problem. This type of game, though fun and well presented, can't really justify its £25 price poinl, especially since some companies are trying to release bearable games for a fiver. Quartz is certainly good. The lat- tice level is strongly reminiscent of Sinistar. while the meteor storm bit tastes of every scroller you've ever played, so it isn't exactly original. Stewart C Russell Quartz £24.99 Firebird Sound Graphics Gameplay Value Overall -82% febnian HKW AMH.A COMW nM J9 SK MARKETING ► ► ► COMPUTER SUPPLIES <H < 10 Fulham Broadway, London SW6 1AA LONDON'S LEADING AMIGA DEALER Personal callers welcome Opposite Fulham Broadway Tube Station - District Line COMPARE OUR PRICES BEFORE ORDERING FOR UNBEATABLE OFFERSI! Export, Government and Educational orders welcome All Prices Incl. VAT Carriage Free/Mail Order Immediate Despatch AMIGA MA (tOlV A RE AMIGA 500 + FREE SOFTWARE I Amiga 500 + TV Modulator Batman the Movie New Zealand Story Interceptor Deluxe Paint II Dust Cover and Mouse Mat ONLY £375 Inc. VAT! AMIGA 5O0 Including:- Mouse. Wof »t»nch. UMttee. UanuaJs. Tutorial. Modulator SKM price C355 PROfESSlONAl AMIGA SOF lW_.lt DOT MA1RIX PRINTERS SiaiLClO _ _ .... Sla/LClOCotour.- £1B6 — (213 Par-uton, KXP1134 Panasonic KX-P1180 C305 C100 AH0 20MB Hart Dm* ,_, £374.99 Vorla- 40MB Hart drive £499 Ph-ps 8B33 Monitor £230.06 Commodes 108*5 Col. Monitor „ £259 95 A50t Bam EipanslorvClock £124.06 Cornmodofa A 101 0 3.5* Drive £80.99 Video Dinner £9995 Cum ana 3.5" Drive ■„-.,.. £69 05 MES Had Meg Ram Expanse _ £75 COMMODORE AMIGA 2000 * Litest 82000 Modal * 1084S Colour Stereo Monitor * 20Mb Hard Disk * PC-XT Bridgeboard with Floppy ALL ONLY £1495 CLASS OF THE 90's * Amiga 500 + TV Modulator * Midi Master Interface * Deluxe Paint II * Publishers Choice * Maxi Plan 500 * Superbase Personal * DR-T'S Midi Rec. Studio * Amiga Logo a BBC Emulator + Mouse Mat A 10 Blank Discs + Disc Wallet ONLY £519 Inc. VAT! CONTROL CENTRE Insttnt ly Iran slorm your Amtga 500 Into an A 1 0002000 'look s HKo' wsnout any modifi- cation lo ihe computer. Simply slip the 'control centra' over the Amiga 500 and by reason ol Its colour match and contour hugghg design ■ becomus an integral pan of ihe computer isef . • Hides untidy connections at rear of A500 • Holds disk drives, genlocks etc • Easy access to pystick pans ■ Monitor sits aboui A500 £54 .95 Advanced Amiga BASIC £18.95 Arrsga 30 Grannies Prog BASIC El 0.45 Amiga AppHcaiiona , £16.95 Amiga Assembly Lang Prog £10.80 Amiga BASC Inside 1 Out E1B.95 Amiga C lor Beginners _-_._18.45 Amiga COS inside ft Out £ lfl.45 Amiga DOS Manual .., „. £22.95 Amga DOS Outck Reference £1 3.95 Amiga COS Ret Guide £14.95 Amiga DSN Drives Inside ft Out £27.95 Amiga Gd Graphics Sound Teteco £1 7.45 Amiga Handbook ,. ,, , t\9M Arrsga Intuition Ref Manual £22.95 Amiga Machine Lang Guide _ £19.95 Amga Machine Language . £14.95 Amiga Microsoft Basic Prog Quid*. £18.45 Amga Prog Handbook Vol. 1 £23.95 Amiga Prog Handbook Vol. 2 £23 95 Amiga Programmers Guide _ £16.95 Amiga Programmers Guide _ £18.45 Amiga ROM Kernel Ret Man Eiec £22.95 Amiga ROM Kernel Rel Man Lb £32.95 Amiga System Programmers Guide .... £32.95 Amiga Tricks and Tips £14.95 Amga lor Beginners ... _, £12.95 Becoming an Amga Anat _ £ 1 8.45 Beginners Guide to the Amiga £16.95 Compute's 1st Book o* Amiga £16.95 Compute's 2nd Book of Amiga ..£16.95 Elementary Amiga BASIC _ £14.95 Inside Amiga Graphics £16.95 Inside the Amiga *lth C 2nd Ed £20.95 Kckstart Guide to the Amiga £ 1 3.95 Kits ft ihe Amga £15.95 More Tips ft Tricks lor Amiga £18.45 Programmers Guide to the Amiga £23.95 9 out of 10 _. Amiga Doe 1.3 A n imat or/1 mages An-nalor Animator 30 Arena Accounts .... C-Ligbl , , Comic Setter — Delu»e Paint II MM Paint III ***ee«eeeea tee**eeejeeta*teaa Deluxe Print 2 „„___________, Deluxe Music Construclon _. Deluxe Productions Deluxe Pnotolab Daaae VOeo GFA Basic Interpreter GFA Basic Compiler GFA Basic Inlerpreter III.... Hisofl Devpac V2 Hisotl Laruce C ._ Home Accounts Instant Music K-Dala K-Oadgef K -Sella K-Spread III . £29.96 £14.95 m 94 £3995 £90 95 ... £149.95 £38 95 £44.95 £49.95 £64.95 £39.95 ..£54.95 £9995 C54« £65 95 .. £49.95 £3935 £3995 £4295 £17595 £7295 £21.95 i £34.95 £1995 _____ £29.95 £7500 K-Teat __ Kind Words MaMshot Matshot Pkis ... Photon Paint 2. Protest _.. -E14JB £33.95 ,£21.95 £40.95 £54.95 £64.95 £74 95 £4995 £54 95 Superbase Personal n £65.95 Superbase Professorial _____ £169 95 Superplan , £69 95 The Worksl £10995 Video Title £99 95 Zoetrop (5 in 1 package) £79 95 Pubi«ners Choice Sorts ________ Superbase Personal ... LEISURE SOFTWARE »Nat A-a-feftWr Mmc_MM-._« API ASjndtast AimmiiiUwi As—stTHiSWWd Ttttl dwr f__ l_BB_ FMsmta MfcMi-— _t— n r« M M -o. '«* Btrtt aim fmumimss 8_» V—sjr am _ ■star Ds_ hen sie tost COTsTFt-ntfO B_hrd_ — ~km» CSSSSf CwtsnSKod CssShiRd Cs-mrCo— b evJ C_0t W»m» Owr4*ri d 6r_r*- ... Omrre«-r*t_Sjsl a*rr«— imp cai O-toOofWa* Om-stH JCtD OMcssoH ____€« II Or_i <_~a ...... CflP«dhirise CaiO~-_ Oraii CnuyCsnl CM. T>a— son r*nw DM Cm* fe1*ttrdt-Cn—i OSSVS Dwvun CT5B0 CIS BO CM B0 £1*B0 £1196 £1*60 ptM tiflos [1664 £11 90 [1195 neeo £1)90 [1560 £U90 £1794 [14 90 £13 94 £1694 [1690 fit SO £174* C174S £1745 £1744 £15 90 £1190 £1994 £!B90 £1744 114 SO [1745 tie wo £14 90 ..EIMS £14 90 £109* £1490 £1744 CISB0 £1744 £14 00 £1*90 £1994 £1490 £1)90 £1190 £1741 MM £1490 £1*50 £1744 £1154 DO B0 .flu risso Over- ran wsmsf -._._ r>— — »■ DoittiDnqon Dap-Nfcia ______ 1 U*r DrfH> Duns~iHii_f D)"SflS>0U ■ a* (■npirtBtr*n 9-t» . IMwTi (•icon f_m*«« ..—„,..,.. '»*.'» M_>! 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T— 4l*efe TtoeidLa* □ 1 M [1190 [14 90 £1490 £1746 £15 90 (1694 £14 JO [1195 £1745 £1690 [16 90 (tBBO £17 90 COiO [15 90 £14 90 £1495 [14 90 C1741 DO BO £1690 £15 90 £1694 £1745 £1194 £14 90 Omm am-r _ ... tin Tin ■ tn Ha TWO* Towtro<B_« . mmi MB_(-r IBM _ _ fmmw Iu»_l _, TV loom 1 14 U~ir_ WiSr, &—..,(„ MMM VlQtWS Wut VW .v. . «_.v. ■. r MssslMi Wd«_ CMi inairnan] V¥o(W Ia» c»r _____ Xr— D IrortfidH X** -KHcCnSei _-rCal ——Me ________ £1741 £1110 114 90 £1690 [1494 □194 £15 « fi«90 £1695 £15 90 £14 90 [15 90 [1191 [1745 [1745 rjui (1194 [1744 □OBO £1744 £14 60 tlMI £1690 £1660 £1744 £1744 £1745 [1B9C LIMITED OFFERS 01-381 6618 (24 Hours) Callers Welcome Fax No. 01 381 0528 ALL PRICES INCLUDE VAT/CARRIAGE FREE All prices are subject to change without further notice. All goods subject to availability Please note some Leisure DDea are awaiting release ■ GAMES ■ HOLE-IN-ONE Taking a swing for the better I HERE are two ways to write a X golf game. The first is to spend every last ounce of program- mer effort to produce a simulation that is as close to the real thing as the machine allows. This can pro- duce some spectacular results. Bui for those who think that golf is about as much fun as Antarctic nude jogging, there's not a lot to recommend it. The second is to take the basic idea - hitting a small ball towards a slightly larger hole - and just have fun with it. This is what Hole- ln-One Miniature Golf does. It should take anyone with half a brain and one finger about 10 sec- onds to get to grips with the mechanics of Hole-In-One. The playing screen is a view of the green from above. There's a small white rectangle where your ball is placed with an initial click on the mouse, and a small black hole into which that ball has to be propelled. Once the ball has been placed, moving the mouse away draws a line. The length of the line shows the strength with which you'll hit the ball, its direction indicates where the ball will go. Press the mouse button and the ball flies off hopefully to end in the hole. From such a simple basis, Digilek contrives to give a game with as much skill, subtlety and frustration as anything with a plot 10 yards long. For starters, the holes can havo bumps and dips, like a normal golf course, represented by different shades of green. Some care has been taken to get the normal laws of physics right. With skill and judgment the ball can bounce and curve as it would in real life, Practice or a lucky shot can gel the hole-in-one, where a digitised crowd sighs in an impressively impressed way. Half-way through the tutorial course you get the impression that Digitek is admirably perverse. Slowly, features are added - sand, water, moving barriers - that make the shots more tricky and the hole- in-one less likely. Parts of each screen get hidden under bridges, or connected via teleport pads that move your ball instantaneously from one place to the next, The skill with which each new obstacle is introduced in the tuto- rial is finely judged. Towards the end. each new hole generates a feeling of "But that's impossible!", Hoh-Jn-One £24,95 DiRitck Overall -81% followed by the pleasurable sensa- tion of spotting a shot that might just work. There are lots of courses, each with a theme illustrated by pic- tures and the appropriate OK. Saw for a quick swipe around Milton Keynes... fiendishly testing gadgets littering the holes. The game comes with two course discs - the simple ones are merely designed to be tricky, the complex ones start to fiddle with the laws of gravity, logic and eventually your sanity. But each new torture is solvable. This, combined with the very simple user interface, makes Hole- In-One a paragon of addiction. Rupert Goodwins SO, after another swift telling off. Keef was pushed out of the town to survive the perils of the jungle. Realising that he was new to this civilisation, he studied some uf his many notes strewn through- out his clothing, and remembered the history of the Tri-Cily and Tel Mercon. Many centuries ago. a man with- out power or influence rose to become Emperor. Nobody knows quite how. Telloc was his name. Telloc was more egotistical than Duncan Evans, loved himself more than Green, and showed it by plas- tering his name on all and sundry. A city was built called Tel Mercon. After a prophet predicted his future, Telloc had a fortress built and named it Tel Hande. He locked him- self away for many years and forgot about the welfare of his people. Tel Mercon began to look strangely like the streets of London, with peasants begging on the road- side, living in dark corners and alleys. The rich stayed wealthy and the poor grew poorer. Enough was enough. Grouping togother. the streetbound and homeless revolted. They lay siege on Telloc's fortress, while the man himself was locked inside chanting spells he believed would save him from the prophet's prediction. But a single word out of place caused Telloc to disappear in a puff of sickly smelling green smoke. The city rose from the gutter and was renamed Same Mercon, The [ewelled City. Releasing the notes from his grasp. Keef looked around this foreboding place. Survive he must, because at least one elder from his old town had 50 gold pieces riding on him. Keef The Thief is another game in the long line of point and click adventures. Keef begins in the jungle close to the citv of Same Mercon. where ktvf the Thwf £2400 Ehfctromc Arts To get to the treasury you must tickle the princess s fancy Overall - 69°. he can talk to many people and steal from many houses. But Same Mercon has a great police force which, patrols most streets and has an incredible knack for catching low-lifes like you. The objective of the game is to break into the city's treasury and steal a most valuable ancient arte- fact. But the treasure is periodi- cally moved around a maze - pinching it is not as easy as it at first seems. There are a few busty women in the game, all of them quite tempt- ing for a young thief like yourself. I had no luck chatting them up. But then I'm ugly. The game is certainly a chal- lenge, especially creeping into empty houses and walking out with the booty without getting caught. 1 still haven't got the hang of combat and rarely survive an attack. I enjoyed Keef The Thief, but can see that my days as a tea-leaf are numbered. Andrew Banner I'rhruary 1990 AMIGA COMPt TING 41 ■ GAMES ■ ELGIN sat in his agent's office. Shu wasn't a very good agent. Most of the scripts on her desk ended with the main player getting killed. "Besides." she told Elgin in an Annabel Giles cut-glass accent, "there aren't very many parts for marbles in modern computer games. They are passe". He wouldn't have minded, but ever since he put on the boot pol- ish for a roli-on part in Marble Madness as one of the evil spheres which try to knock you off. he had been out of work. Elgin felt rejected and rolled out of the office knocking over the remains of a flower pot which had been hacked to death by some Ninjas earlier that day. Out in the street he met Buster, a friend who worked as an explosion sprite in shool-'cm-ups. Buster was on his way to audition at the fledgeling Sphinx software house. "Tag along", he said. The Sphinx office smell of reformed pirates, people who didn't shy away from composing unbelievably dull electropop durges on dodgey copies of Soundtracker. Buster went into the office to be cast in Thyrid. which Sphinx billed as Come Save Thyras - beat The Guardians of the Elements. Lying on the coffee table under- neath a copy of Playsprite Magazine, Elgin found a dog-eared script. Magic Marble. The plot looked thin. Something about a marble called Marvin travelling across three lands made of small tiles (o save the planet MarbleBlue. Yuk, thought Elgin. And he was right. But the action sounded Ok. Lots of stunts, transforming into a man, walking on the thin ice, bouncing off mirror type devices, turning hoi to melt the ice, becoming inde- structible or suddenly being able to fly. The maze scenes sounded tedious, but jumping ramps was dead exciting. Perhaps Elgin could get a job as a stand-in stuntmarble. Not exactly a high budget pro- duction, but good at combining the skills of learning a map and some adroit movements to get through the three acts. Well crafted so that the skills picked up in the first act are necessary to get anywhere in the second. what somt had cast prob B Dragon, the medieval equivalent of anF-16 ) RAGON Spirit - the very X.J name conjures up a cheap Chinese hellbrew, the kind of elec- tric soup which is bought with multiples of "the price of a cup of tea". Nothing could be further from the truth. It's about Dragons, and we're not talking about the only computer in the world with a processor so slow that you can hear every tick. No, we're talking napalm breath here. The first thing you notice about Dragon Spirit is that it's in the stan- dard Tengen Atrocious Plastic Box, the one that kills all known instruc- tions dead. The second thing you notice is that the loader makes the drive sound like an elephant after a night on the beans. Disc protection is a necessary evil, but when it tries to bend Amy's drive in the noisiest way possible, the evil surely is unneces- sary. Basically, some dumb princess has got kidnapped by some lowlife, and it's Nerdbrain's job to do the fetching. The local quack has convinced 42 AMIGA COMPUTING February 1000 GAMES ining (he ind some through d so thai i first act «here in Remembering what symbols did what would prove a bit tough for .someone like Elgin, who had never had a speaking part, but the Steely cast in the lead would have no problem. But Elgin was wrong. Sound Graphics Gameplay Value ■■■LlLL You even gel a free blue inaible in the box! Overall -69% Bright the Steely burst out of the Boss's office in a cloud of cigar smoke, shouting: "I'm not working for you if you insist on having some metallic tart on the high score screen". He did a double backflip to make the point, not realising that this doesn't look very impressive when you are spherical. "Don't worn'", boomed a voice from the dark. "We'll find another marble to play the lead. Take your 0.8 per cent carbon and stick it where the electron gun don't shine." This was his chance. Elgin walked into the office... Simon Rockman tie very i cheap of elec- ta with i cup of berfrom re're not puter in 90 slow iefc. No. here. x about he stan- ce Box. instruc- iDlice is e drive ' a night cessarv o bend )st way iraieces- irincoss lowlife, do the ivinced you that you're a dragon. "Here," he says. "Eat these dubious mush- rooms. Incidentally, you're a dragon now". So off you fly to kick some heads. Well, give them a thorough singeing at least. And while Ibe subject of heads is still within its sell-by date, you start off with three of them, each capable of blatting out air-to-air and air-to-ground destruction. As you flap your dismal way along the narrow river valley - made all the narrower by the pro- grammers - you realise that it's YABS - Yet Another Boring Scroller. Where a scroll would be described as smooth on the other thing, in Amiga terms this one is found wanting in the rapidity department. It's way too slow. And it gets even slower as more things appear. Everything that could cause a young dragon harm wobbles in a most alarming way. and indeed this is the only reliable method of determining hostile intent. The automatic rapid fire is use- ful, considering the game would be impossible without it. Unfortu- nately it sounds exactly like a very slow marine diesel engine and soon begins to grate. Later moments of the game include exploding phoenixes and the brilliant ruse of recolouring the alligators used in the first level to look like fire salamanders. In payability trials between Dragon Spirit and a dead crab. 9 out of 10 game players preferred the latter. The two clear advantages of dead crabs are that they're edible and they don't try to dismember the disc drive. Stewart C Russell Dragon Spirit Tenurn Overall -49% ni n n On a suicide ride It 's Dentins. So it's not. it's R-fype. No it's not. it's... IT starts well. Like all Hewson games, Slayer has a short, inconsequential plot, which owes more to the Cliche School of Popular Prose than to any amount of imagination. 1 mean, it takes a fairly wild blart of imagination to think that some contiguous luminous phos- phor dots portray the elegant form of a craft capable of flying the vast distances between stars, visiting interesting planets and knocking the Reginald Maudling out of them on arrival. It does, believe me. Whinge numero uno: The load- ing screen, rather than depicting the heroic although not altogether sane descent of a space fighter into some enemy ground station, looks for all the world like a early sixties jet fighter attempting to lance a boil. Another fairly major downer is the huge great grev advert for FAST. Now I happen 'to like FAST, but this load of text is just crying out for some oik of a cracker to put in a pseudo-witticism about how thev think thai FAST aren't that Right, now for the game. Take Scramble, multiply by Zynaps and divide by Denaris, and you have Slayer, give or take several orders of magnitude. Basically, it's a fly along the tun- nel shooting the assorted colours of lBth*19th century British politi- cians nut of anything you should happen upon. At the end of the level there is a big thing that will huff and will puff and will make you implode somewhat messily. Not merely is the scenery deadly, it gets very close together at times, It's much closer together than it should by rights be. said he engaging Incensed Reviewer Tone (which is nothing to do with Spiritual Sky Sandalwood) because we're being short changed by 56 lines again! That makes me so angry I could eat what's left of the ozone layer and still manage a cou- ple of tins of beans for aflers. Many games have been described as addictive; Slayer is contagious. It should be locked up as far away from anything remotely computerised and left there to die. The sound is nothing special, the graphics are equally zero-rated and the gamoplay Is elsewhere (in a negative sense). If you're into awesome grossed- out pestilence. Slayer could just be your mainest groove thing. And if the rest of you are thinking that the oarlier reference to British politi- cians of a bygone age was purely because we reviewers get paid mostly by the word, you could not be further from the truth. It was, in fact, an ingenious descriptive link. Yes. Slaver, is the Pitts. Stewart C. Russell Shyer £19.99 Hewson Overall - XI Fthruan lim AMICA COMHt 77N(.' J.I GAMES XENOPHOBE Two heads is better than one Oh no, I'm gonna get eaten alive! THE earth, which we all know and love and waste vast quan- tities of paper on talking about try- ing to save, is in a bit of a mess. And it's not really its fault either, because external forces are causing the problem. First it was the Martian virus, then it was the satellites vanishing, and now most of the orbiting space stations have gone quiet. From some preliminary scan- ning it seems that the Xenos have taken over all the bases, killing the crews. These Xenos are repulsive. Not merely are they less than pretty, but they'll do anything in their power to get rid of anyone who is trying to get rid of them, A motley crew of mercenaries, old soldiers and psychopaths has been formed to remove the menace, but only two members of the team can be on a base at any one time. This means that two players can play simultaneously, each using half of a split screen. There are five types of Xenos. all of them less than pleasant, all of them the same traditional shade of green. They each cause a health drain to your character, but most of them can be got rid of with one sort of weapon or another. Different weapons and useful items are scattered about on the floor. Some arc needed to get past security systems, which have gone a little doolallv with the alien inva- sion. There isn't any real variety in a game like Xenophobe. Every mission looks roughly the same and there aren't any inter- ludes where you might be able to have a slight rest or gain extra bonus points. Basically, from start to finish it is one of the most frantic blasting games ever to appear in the arcades. There is never any time to think what you're doing and even- tually the whole .thing becomes automatic. There isn't the time to get bored - there's too much to do - but the competitive and coopera- tive elemont in two-player mode is frequently the only thing that keeps a game going. Xenophobe does try, however. There's something kind of cute about the Xenos. The whole thing seems to have the menace of a marauding gerbil. Animation is simple, but smooth. There's a cartoony air to the game. Bui everything's a bit small. Not merely is there a fairly large and admittedly well done Xenophobe banner at the top of the screen, but the bottom bit of the screen isn't used at all, so each player is stuck with a long strip about 80 pixels high. In a one-player game the lower strip is blank, so only about a third of the screen is used. Mind you, the graphics are too well done for this to be YASTP. The tunes are good, MicroStyle includes a tape of the real arcade machine's sound, and they're pretty close. What does worry me, though, is the statement that Xenophobe embodies all that is best in MicroStyle games. If this is true, we could be looking for some quite gifted ordinariness. Fairly good, but cigarwise it's out of the running, Stewart C. Russell ,Yn»»/i/in/« Sound Graphics (iameplay Value Get outta my way or you 're wallpaper Overall - 70° 44 AMIGA COMPUTING February 1000 A ATARI ST and O AMIGA Sixteen Bit Superdeals from the Sixteen Bit Specialists! CUSTOMERS PLEASE NOTE! When comparing prices remember ours include fast delivery by courier. 520 STFM Power Pack £359.00 Inc. VAT and Next Day Delivery Power Pick Includes: * 520 STFM 51 2K Keyboard with Bunt - in 1 Megabyte disk drive and TV Modulator * Over £550 worth ol games software, including OutRun, Gauntlet 2, R-Type, Space Harrier, Super HangOn and 16 more Top Gomes * Organiser Business Software including WORDPROCESSOR, SPREAD- SHEET and DATABASE. * First BASIC and First Music Utility Software. * FREE JOYSTICK AND FREE MOUSE MAI WORTH £4.95. * All leads, manuals PLUS MOUSE and tree mains plugl REMEMBER! Many STb do not come with BASIC - ours come with ST BASIC REV D by Meiacomco. 520 STFM Explorer Pack £279.00 Explorer Pack includes 520 STFM 51 2K Keyboard with built-in 1 Megabyte Disk Drive and TV modulator 1 FREE Game. ST Tutorial and METACOMCO Basic worth £25.00 All Leads. Manuals PLUS MOUSE and FREE Mains Plugl Fret moms mat worth £4.05 1040 STFM Super Pack £439.00 * Includes i megabyte keyboard PLUS £450 worth of Software. Comprising 21 games and Organiser Business Software. Also includes Metacomco BASIC. Mouse Pad, all Leads. Manuals and Mouse. 1040 STFM Business Pack £439.00 Business Pack Includes: * Atari 1040 STFM Keyboard with 1 meg memory and 1 meg built-in disk drive plus TV modulator * £385 worth ol Business Software including MICROSOFT WRITE word processor (£150), SUPERBASE PERSONAL Database (£60) and VIP PROFESSIONAL Lotus 123 Spreadsheet clone (£150), Metacomco Basic (£25) * All leads, manuals and mouse. MEGA 1 Business Pack £529.00 Features: * Separate Keyboard and System Unit ft All the Software included with 1040 STFM Business Pack * Bitter chip installed tar faster graphics Inc SM124 Mono Monitor £628 00 ACCESSORIES Oulckshot II Turbo Joystick c 9 95 Competition Pro 5000 Joystick ....£13.95 Competition Pro with Autorire £14.95 Konlx Speedklng Joystick C1 1 .95 Red Mouse Mat witfi Amiga logo .. £5.95 Plain blue Mouse Mat £4.95 Branded Memorex 3.5* OS OD Disks Box of 10 £13.95 Memorex Disk Box For 40 3.5* Disks £8.95 Amiga 1 12 Meg Expansion £1 1 9.95 Conttol Centra Atari or Amiga £39.95 Contriver Amiga and ST Mouse with FREE Holder and Mouse Pad £20.95 PRINTERS Star LC24-10 24 pin ind. lead ST/Am.ga £249.00 Star LCtO including interface lead lor ST/Amlga £169.00 Star LC10 colour including interface lead tar ST/Amiga £219.00 Citizen 120D induding Interface lead for ST/Amiga £159.00 SEIKOSHA BO COLUMN PRINTERS - AMAZING PRICES Seikosha 9 pin NLO including interface lead tar ST/Amiga £139 00 Seikosha 24 pin LQ including interface lead for ST/Amlga £239 00 Amiga A500 BAT Games Pack £399.00 Inc. VA T and Next Day Delivery BAT Games Pack Includes: * Amiga A500 512K Keyboard with Built-in 1 Megabyte disk drive * Free TV modulator worth £24.99 allowing you to use the Amiga with a normal TV * DELUXE PAINT II and PHOTON PAINT Graphic Packages WORTH over £1001 FREE, onry-tust-released BATMAN-THE MOVIE games software. NEW ZEALAND STORY arcade games software. F 1 6- INTE RC E PTOR - amazing 3D flight simulator software. A further £230 worth of Games Software, induding BUGGY BOY MERCENARY, BARBARIAN. WIZBALL & six more games. FREE MOUSE MAT worth £4.95. Amiga BASIC, Amiga EXTRAS 1 .3. Workbench 1 .3 PLUS the Amiga Step by Step Tutorial All leads, manuals PLUS MOUSE and mains plug) FEATURES: Amiga A500 CLASS OF THE1990's Business & Educational Pack £549.00 * Amiga A500 & TV Modulator * Mdi Interface A Software * Kind Words II word processor * Page Setter DTP * Super Base Personal Database * Maxiplan 500 Spreadsheet * Amiga Logo. BBC Emulator. Deluxe Paint II * Mouse Mat, 10 blank disks and disk wallet AMIGA 1 MEG BAT GAME PACK £529.00 i Meg Bat Games Pack indudes: * Fitted i Megabyte Memory Expansion ♦ Real Time Clock Card * Everything listed for the A 500 Bat Game Pack * DRAGON'S LAIR 1 MEG MEGAGAMEI EXTERNAL DISK DRIVES Atari SF314 1 Megabyte ... Amiga A1010 1 Megabyte i .................. Cumana 1 Megabyte Alan or Amiga NEC 1 Megabyte Atari or Amiga Atan Megafile 30 Hard Disk New' Commooo-o A 590 20 meg hard disk £369.00 A590 Hard Disk & Memory Upgrade installed , Phone •t>*****i<i**»ii*#****4**t*»< *£l 39 .00 ..nin-,-! -- £109.00 finfiiliwHiimiiiiiiiiiMH £99 95 £439.00 MONITORS Commodore Amiga A 1064 Stereo colour Monitor inc. lead £249.00 Atan SC1224 Colour Monitor mc lead „ £25900 Atan SM124 Mono Monitor induding lead £104.00 Philips CM8633 stereo colour monitor Inc. lead for ST or Amiga £259 00 CREDIT CARD ORDERLINE 0908 378008 (Mon-Sat 9am-6pm) To order eiher call the orderiim above Mh your credit card details OR make a chequerPO payable to. Digicom Computer Serves* and send It Mh your order to the address below. Ceasra are atao moot welcome at the address below DIGICOM Unit 36, Wharfslde, Fenny Stratford, MILTON KEYNES MK2 2AZ All prices Include VAT and nexl day delivery by courier. THE SORCEROR'S PACK If you don't think you've got enough to keep you going with the Batman Pack, consider this EXTRA SPECIAL PACK... Let Merin v#.e hs -.vand and as v«fl as the Batman Pack ata* you I get Ten Great Games worth a staggenng £229.50! The Sorceror's Pack consists ot... The Batman Pack as listed above. Amegas. Art ol Chess. Barbarian (he Ultimate Warrior. Buggy Boy. Ikan Warriors, Insanity Fight. Wizball. Thundercats. Mercenary Compendium and Terrorpods' [ ALL OF THIS mm*. £389 1 Mlrlin BATMAN AND MERLIN.. .A DYNAMIC DUO ZAP!, KAPOW!, ZOWEE!, KARUNCH, SMAK!,... That's right, straight from Gotham City (or the Commodore warehouse) comes the incredible, THE AMAZING, NEW AMIGA BATMAN PACK... Now you can laugh as much as Joker and cash in with some GREAT QUALITY GAMES. The Batman Pack includes, ALL OF THE FOLLOWING... Amiga A500 with Modulator, Mouse, 1 Meg Internal Disk Drive, 512KRAM All Connecting Leads. Kickstart 1.3. Workbench 1.3 System Disk, and all Operation Manuals. PlaS f*»& BATMAN THE MOVIE, F 18 INTERCEPTOR NEW ZEALAND STORY & DELUXE PAINT II Inclusive of VAT and Postage! A REAL 'BAT-BARGAIN' AT ONLY. £369 A PACK TO KEEP YOU SPELLBOUND THIS CHRISTMAS! jpM^^GTimofisom(^^wimQ)QMi^ PRINTERS STAR LC10 Mono £169 STAR LC10 Colour £209 STAR LC 2410 £249 NEW STAR LC10 MKII..E189 PHILIPS CM 8833.... £229 CBM 1084-Check Availability CBM 1084S £259 (Due to availability ot monitors, prices may vary. Please phone tor latest information) DISK DRIVES A 590 20Mb Hard Disk £379 VORTEX 40Mb Hard Oisk...£499 CUMANA... CAX354, 3.5" Floppy £S9 CAX 1000 5.25" Floppy £125 A501 RAMPACK £.139 A host ot accessories are available from Merlin Express at competitive pnces. Just phone to obtain a quote for whatever you need 06Q24244-44 ALL OUR PRICES INCLUDE V.A.T. AND POSTAGE (UK Mainland) FOR A0VLR1ISED PRODUCTS. SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY. EftOt ORDERING: Just phone our order line using your Access/Visa card, OR, send a cheque/ postal order with requirement details. (Cheques need clearance prior lo despatch) DELIVERY You choose either, by post at no extra cost, or simply add £5 per large item lor next day courier service. (UK Mainland) WARRANTY: Goods that prove taulty within 30 days will be exchanged for NEW. Alter 30 days, bul within 12 months laults will be repaired at our expense. Merlin EXPRESS LIMITED DEPARTMENT AUI/M2. 5 REDWOOD COURT SALISBURY STREET, NOTTINGHAM NG7 2BQ Telephone:0602 424444 (24 Hour Order Line) GREAT VALUE, THAT'S THE MAGIC OF MERLIN ■ GAMES ■ SO Ihere I was. reading the instructions to Dragonscape on the bus. and I'd just got to the section where it said there is a loud bang and a flash and you find your- self transported lo the magical land of Tuvania. when, what do you know, there was a loud bang and a flash. I looked eagerly out of the win- dow, strapping on my mighty cod- piece, shiny mithril armour and trusty nine-engraven quarierstaff. Where was the mysterious land of magic and heroical conquest? To my disappointment I saw that the bus had blown a tyre, the mithril was really my sandwiches wrapped in bacofoil and the rune- engraved quarterstafl was the walk- ing stick of the old geezer sat next to me. 1 got off the bus in complete dis- gust, reading the rest of the instruc- tions and muttering. "Who writes this rubbish?' I mean, the next section went on about how you mounted this dragon called Carvan, who appar- ently didn't complain at all. and went off in search of the eight arte- facts of Tuvania. How ridiculous, I thought, looking around me. How many dragons do you see in Amos Grove? 1 mean, you can go for days without seeing a human, never mind a dragon. By the time I got home I'd sussed out that you were supposed to fly around on this dragon's back, collecting artefacts one at a time and depositing them on top of an associated icon. Do this with all eight and you were magically transported to the next dimension, there being four dimensions in all. Complete them all and the land is saved and you can re-format your disc or sell it to Dodgy Darren down the market. Hmmm. despite initial scepti- cism, I was ready to experience the world of Dragonscape, I was ready to mount that dragon, lo collect artefacts and torch any one that put his ugly face anywhere near my dragon's snout. I connected the alcohol drip, sat in the specially moulded chair, slid the disc into the drive, and bel- lowed, "Hit mo!" My brother promptly thwacked me across the pate with a meat tenderiser. And there I was, floating along on a dragon torching any sucker that got fresh, while figuring out which object went with what. The shining mithril armour was there again, but hang on a minute, I thought we were supposed to be scouring a medieval landscape, a fantasy land. What's the first dimension? A printed circuit board, with radios, batteries, satellite dishes and bombs as the artefacts and match- ing icons. Erm. orm. something isn't quite right here. Still it's not that hard as long as you keep refreshing your dragon spirit by running over the P icon that floats around. Aha. the next dimension is more like it. Invisible traps that slop the dragon in its tracks, ugly alien type things, proper artefacts, and a nice blasted wasteland for scenery. If the first dimension was very straightforward, just time consum- ing, this one was downright unfriendly. There were people and monsters and strange blue things shooting at me. And umph!. who put that force field there, just as a horde of blob- »« bos were swarming. Aaaarrgghh Later 1 regained consciousness, the drip hanging loosely by the chair, contents exhausted. Was it all a figment of my computer? I checked the bacofoil and deemed that it was. But it was a reasonably satisfying experience I thought. Maybe, I'll try it again. Duncan Evans DrogonScape £24.99 I Mm/ Sound Graphics Pliyabilily Value Overall - 72% j II 004 1 5 This CMffard obriously doesn't use Listerine 00470 • • * I A ft I 4 ft I &£•••••• - - • x"** {{{{{{' • * • ^ I St * * * **1 • ****** :::::A*^:::TniBVt * i iff.— v • - •• ™, _ * * * • PT . • A • > • " • * • - - «L<* f» • • - • - • ■ .... ^^•^J^ i >»*'' Looks like a dragon, moves like a dragon, steers like a cow February 19m AMIGA COMPUTING 47 FUTUREPLACE COMPUTERS 12 Loampit Hill, Lewisham, London SE13 7SW. Tel. 01-692 8700 ALL GAMES SOFTWARE AT 20% DISCOUNT AMIGA A500 BAT PACK Includes AMIGA A500 Computer Mouse, Power Pack, Leads, TV Modulator. Plus Batman, New Zealand Stony, Interceptor, Delux Paint II ONLY £389.00 or £17.33 per month 3V 2 DOUBLE SIDED DISKS DOUBLE DENSITY 135 TPI 10 25 £9.50 £22.00 50. 100 £43.00 £84.00 Please add £1.50 P&P SHOP HOURS Mon.to Fri, 10 to 6 pm Sat. 9 to 6 pm Credit based on 3 year period at 2.65% per month AMIGA A500 PLUS STAR LC10 COLOUR PRINTER INC LEAD £633.00 or £30.28 per month All prices include VAT AMIGA A500 BAT PACK PLUS PHILIPS COLOUR MONITOR £664.00 or £30.32 per month £139.00 Amiga to Scart Lead £14.95 £4.99 Amiga 2nd Disk Drive £89.00 100 Cap Disk Box £10.50 50 Cap Disk Box £8.50 £5.59 STAR PRINTERS STAR LC 10 COLOUR PRINTER... .NOW ONLY £229.00 or £9.95 per month credit STAR LC 10 PRINTER NOW ONLY £169.00 or £8.64 per month credit CITIZEN PRINTERS CITIZEN 120D 9 PIN DOT MATRIX £139.00 or £6.95 per month credit CITIZEN 180E 9 PIN DOT MATRIX £159.00 or £8.25 per month credit MONITORS PHILIPS CM8833 14" MED RES COLOUR MONITOR | 2 SPEAKER STEREO IDEAL FOR THE AMIGA j OUR PRICE £275.00 INC. VAT or £1 2.99 per month credit CREDIT CARD HOTLINE 01-692 8700 Please add £1.50 to all orders under £75.00. All prices include VAT Access - Visa - Diners Club - American Express IA A500 With FREE BAT PACK of software — COMPUTER * ( TROTTER LONG TO OUR SHOWROOMS rtm fciTtAW t* Met \e* r«i*u S«cv *D' *w* on,, £309.00 FIB Wrowof. ro Ty Mc<s.lnv AMIGA A500 Wtth Mouse. TV Modulator. Workbench. Manuals, and BASIC C289.00 AMIGA HARDWARE A1084S Colour Monitor - Stereo Sound £249.21 A1010 External 880K Disk Drive3.6". C93.21 A590 Extomal 20Mb Hard Disk For A500 C326.25 Philips 6833 Colour Monitor with Stereo Sound £199.99 A500 Half Meg Memory Eopanion. C79.95 A600 Half Meg Memory Expansion wilh Clock £89,95 A5O0 2Mb Memory Expansion £399.00 Amiga Mini Genlock £94.90 External 20Mb Hard Disk with SCSI Interface £499.00 Control Centre 'or A500 £43.43 AMIGA 2000/B2000 Amiga 2000 with Keyboard and Mouse (Also full range of Amiga 20O0accessor.es available) £1295.00 Arrnga B2000 with 1084 Colour Monrtot. PC-XT Bndgeboard. 5.25* Disk Drive. 20Mb MS-DOS/Amiga Hard Disk £1 379.00 AMIGA SOFTWARE Workbench 1 -3 for A500 - A Must For All Amiga Owners £1 3.03 Antmagic £69.52 ComicSetter - A Complete Comic Design System £98.95 Deiu«e Paint lit - Graphics and Simple Animation £69.56 Design 3D - For Quick Results And Animation £69.52 DigiviewGold £130 39 Doctor T's Mid* Recording Studto £52.13 MusicX - Senous Musicfonhe Budget Conscious £199.00 PASE - Professional Animator Sequence Editor £65.22 Photon Pami II £78.22 Pro Video Plus - Video Graphics for PAl £217.35 The Works TV Text £78.22 PRINTERS Star LC-10 - THE Number One Low Cost Printer Special Price StarLCtOCotour- Colour At Very blue Extra £169.99 Epson LX8O0 - Epson Quality But A Low Cost. £1 54.70 Epson LQ550 - The Favourite For Letter Quality £299.87 Panasonic 1 180 - 4 Fontsand Fast Printing £169.73 NEC P2200 - Never Beaten For Value Fo* Money £289.00 ACCESSORIES Full range of Amiga accessones available CLASS OF THE 90 s EDUCATION BUNDLE Amiga 500. Midi Choice, Dr T's Midi Recording Studo, BB Programs. Maxiptan 500. plus lots of accessories nierlace. D Paint II. Superbase. Publisher's C EmuLator and BBC £476.25 All PRICES EXCLUDED VAT AND DELIVERY All Qoodi „t>*. mined Next Day Datvtry Servk* on moil popolai Nrvei AJ pnrn suttecl to rhanga **ttoui nobet Official ptaxriau orton accepted from Gosatnmani. local 4nrWrfliei. Ufmvinm and PLCi PrtcB*Spac4ic*wni lutMct to chang* without rowa Al spec* offtn ait subaact to aviUaMty CreiM Cardi not dabttd unti CALL FOR FULL PRICE UST EXPORT AND TRADE ENQUIRIES WELCOME CREDH CARDS NOT DEBITED UNTH DESPATCH <W 0727 37451/47774 HEAD OFFICE COMPUTER EXPRESS LTD CAXTON CENTRE • PORTERS WOOD • ST ALBANS* HERTS • AL3 6XT • (07271 3;«%t • FAX 0727 50811 C 304 Kingshiil Ave. Hayes. M.ddiese. UB4 8BX * 01-841 8744 99 Park Street Lane. Bncket Wood. St Albans. Hens AL2 2JA *O727-72790 SHOWROOM 4 PARKING 85 Washway Road <A56).Sale. Manchester M33 1TQ 061-962 07B0 J4 1046 Covemry Road (A45I, Haymills. Birmingham B25 8DP * 021-772 5212 :: a . ion Centre Rotors Wood. St Albans Hon-. A J 6X7 a 0739-374B1M7774 SPECIAL OFFERS STAR LC-10 Our Christmas Special Price £125.95 or with VAT & delivery C 1 52.31 1st 100 callers only PHILIPS 8833 Colour Monitor, Stereo Sound Medium Resolution £189.95 Order In advance, col loci on Sunday. Large nocks of Atari. Amiga and IBM compataKoe and Printer*. Acc**aon*t*. Software etc. etc. etc ■ GAMES ■ HERE does Second World War mania come from? There arc far too many simulations of aorial combat around, and Lancaster is yet another. What is wrong with the distant past or the future? Couldn't the formal of Theatre Europe be built on? After a black and white loading screen, coupled with loud and nasty stereo sound, a menu screen with about 20 buttons and a wob- bly pointer appears. The buttons select everything from cheat and demonstration modes to the time of day and whether barrage balloons are present or not. With this negotiated, you pick one of three pilots, watch the flight crew enter the plane outside thB hangar and bang the hatch shut, switch to it taxiing out of the same hangar, then watch it take off along a green runway. Once airborne, the scene switches to an excellent map of South East England, then to one of France or Germany, with the plane's progress and the target marked. Before long a voice screams that an attack is about to take place. Messages flash on screen. You are given a view out of the tail gun- ner's dome - shoot everything on sight, the Utile arrow with AIM marked on them pointing to the barrage balloons leave you in no doubt as to in which direction vour bullets would be best fired. After many ambushes you switch to a view of your target from above and get the chance to drop the most destructive bombs ever - when one hits a building, it van- ishes without a trace. You then struggle back home, avoiding more ambushes. If you are hit, the plane slides gracefully to the ground, bursts inlo flames and your pilot records are displayed with "File closed". Graphics are of variable quality. On the menu and inlroduclory screens they are very detailed. On some of the take-off and landing screens - especially the view from above of the sight to be bombed - the graphics are solid and extremely blocky. In one case you are whisked from a hi-res view of the plane with propellors spinning into lo- res where there are no propellors to be seen. The combat screens are a mix- ture of detailed control pane! and Lancaster €24.95 Actual Scrtvnshots Sound Graphics Gameplay Value 1 1 1 Overall -5T\ blocky view wilh some of the graphics looking like products of a modelling package. Enemy planes (rail smoke and spiral realistically before plunging to earth. Complete chaos is simulated well. The sound effects are poor. The voice is very hard to make out. Other effects are nothing special. Despite these reservations, the hackneyed subject matter and the mistakes. Lancaster is a pretty good example of its type. Based on the missions of the famous bomber plane, it is in the usual Amiga Epic format - combat scenes linked via much groaning from the disc drive with pretty graphics and animation, colourful maps, menus and fanfares. It is not a bad game. At least the authors are honest enough to point out where the simulation departs from complete historical accuracy. Alastair Scott T r -j All together now: Who do you think you are kidding Mr Hitler... Vour first Kill! Lets hope y Keep this op! oo oan 0000900 2ZUI2 00 0 2 6 lili ■> • r\ - BI52I " ! ? Those three planes top left are vour lives. You can shoot them duwn if you want ^1 ft Mather will they drop the bomb? fWirii.iM I9W amiga costwiisr; r>l GAMES EYE OF HORUS Discover the secret of the pyramid / didn't know you had dandruff. I don't. I use... BEHOLD! The Tomb of the Unknown King reaches up. yes, towering up even on lo (he heavens. The tomb stands silhouet- ted against the setting sun. flanked only by palm trees bent in homage. You can almost hear the waver- ing strains of Wish You Were Here drifting across the mighty, turgid Nile, swollen with the toars of the damned. I, Horus. son of Osiris the King of Life, bid you welcome and trust you can aid me in my quest. Many thousands of souls are crying out in torment, awaiting release from their underground prison. The evil god Set. embodiment of darkness and general bad egg, hath scattered the dead King's body unto the far comers of the huge tomb. I am bound to gather them unto themselves and make them whole once more. When 1 have achieved this task. Osiris will grant me great strength and that dog-breath Set will be banished to eternity, for- ever. Having a godly aspect, 1 can assume the form of a hawk to fly between the chambers of the lumb in search of the dismembered parts. But curse that snake-loving Set! He hath cast a spell upon the hieroglyphs that bedeck the walls of the chambers. They swarm around in the form of many small animated sprites, sapping my life force and inconveniencing me something terrible. Thank mother Isis for the many amulets scattered around the tomb, frequent as the morning dew. The magic contained in these charms will help me greatly, providing great strength and mysterious com- panions. The many rainbow Pull the other one. it's tot bells on coloured keys will grant access to locked chambers by way of the lifts, driven by a mysterious and ancient power source. The enormity of my task over- whelms me. Even an immortal one as myself is temporarily stunned as the size of my mission is revealed. How many more chambers have been encased in this giant sand- stone sarcophagus? How many eons will it take to fully explore this dark, stone underworld? But now my memory plays tricks on me. Is this a previous reincarnation? Have I been called Roland in the Caves in an earlier life? No. the memory passes and fades into oblivion as the haunting music engulfs me... |ohn Kennedy Kyn of Ifants C24.9A Losofran Graphics H ■ Mil ■ till (iamepliy DM Value ■ Overa 11-71' % nBLAD m EVIL lizard things are swarm- ing all over the place. There's only one way lo stop them and there is onlv one man for the job. Hire. Collect the 16 pieces of the ancient fireblade and you can be a real hiro, sorry hero, Avenge the death of the other Bladeknighls and save the undercity from Havok's reign of havok. Might as well, there don't seem to be many pubs about. The whole game is done in the style of those terrible new Japanese cartoons that you might catch a glimpse of if you wake up too early on a Saturday morning. You know the sort of thing, with robots that turn from Cappucinno makers into ICBM's in the flash of a screen refresh. In the tradition of the Bladcknights, Hiro has had bits of his body chopped off and replaced with velly reriable cybernetics. Exploring the undercity where the required blade bits are lo be found is made harder by the fact that the screen only displays places already visited. This means many passages have to be actively searched for behind the boxes and tunes that litter the underground alleyways, which lends itself more to an adventuring feel than arcade blasting action. The only real arcade elements are the biped alligator things that have to be despatched incessantly. Despite having cybernetic limbs, Hiro hasn't got much in the way of Switchblade C19.9S (irvml'm (Iruphics Suund | ] Graphics | Gamcplay J_ [_[ | | | [I Value Overall - 79 m arms. He starts of with bare fists and feet, which are effective only against the hedgehogs and minor beasties on the first level. You will need to pick up some more advanced weaponry, widely available by punching open certain rocks or by taking a quick sortie behind the packing crates. Various devices will be uncovered which may look painful, but they suit Hiro fine. The philosophy is never to take anything at face value. That might not be a solid brick wall over there. That might not be a vicious alien advancing to savage you - he might want to throw fireballs at you first. Graphics are smooth and well animated, though not overly imagi- native. The shadow effects in the lower digestive tracts of the earth are nice, as are the occasionally flickering lights. Addictive, if not slate of the art, and enough puzzledom to last a good while. fireen Exuminr everything, there are hidden objects and hidden exits all o\vr the place 52 AMIGA COMPI ITIXG February 1 mi ire fists ve only I minor p some widely certain i sortie Various 1 which ey suit (o take it might it there, is alien « might iu first, id well 1 imagi- t in (he le earth tonal ly the art, o last a Grwn plait BYTE BACK Ring us now! 0636-79097 we're programmed to help GUARANTEED RETURN OF POST Dolivory on ALL Stock items! DELIVERY SERVICE and the keenest prices INTERNATIONAL ORDERS WELCOME GAMES ONLY' ■ GAMES com. BMmca of Po*er '990 18.90 Barbarian 2 (Pal**) 15.90 Barbarian 2 (Psygnoels) __ 1 5.00 _ard.Tale2 , 18.90 Baree Chess __ 1B.90 Battle Squadron 15.90 B_flS Tech 1 890 I SHADOW Of THE BEAST 24.90 I Bomber 19.90 CabaJ 18.90 Centrefold Squama 13.90 Chuck* Epo (1 or 2j 13.90 Colossus Chess X , „ 15.90 Conlbct Europe _ 15.90 Continental Circus 15.90 Demone Winter m 19.90 1 DAMOCLES . 19.90 | Dungeon Quest 1 5.90 falcon __________ 18.90 -MeskmCtak , 15.90 Break „ 17.90 Fighiing Soccer 18.90 First Pei on Pinbal __ 13.90 m Simulator 2 or M 29.90 'Scerwy ?. 9 or 1 1 _____ .__._„ 13.90 'Europe or Japan scenery 13.90 'oo(Dal Director? _„ .■„,.. n . ... 13.90 Footbal Manager 2 13.90 F-16Combat P.W 18.90 Galaxy Force 18 90 Games Summ er Edition 18.90 | RAINBOW ISLANDS 16.90 I Garfletd 15.90 Garleid - Waters Tale 15.90 Gauntlet II ____.___.. 15.90 Gettysberg , ,■ ■ 18.90 Ghosmusien II 18.90 Guns tup — , 15.90 Mel Raiser _ 13.90 mtm 18.90 Honda RVF , _ 15.90 Mound of Shadow 18.90 Interceptor - ____.-»„_... 18.90 lote-phaae 18.90 iron TracKen -„,.„„, 13.90 I IT CAME FROM THE DESERT 22.90 } Power Drift .______„.. 18 90 Pipemoy ■_ 1 — i 13.90 Jack NtcMausGoff 1890 Journey , — — 18.90 Karrplflfuppe 18.90 Kenny Daigleh Soccer 13 90 Kingdom of England 15 90 Laser Squad ________ 13.90 LasiN>n)a2 15.90 Ijiatiertoard Bird* 1 5.90 lesure Suit Larry 2 ...„..„..,.„ 24 90 Lorroard HAC Rally 15.90 Lords of the Rising Sun ___ 18.90 Monoooty Deluxe _ 13.90 North and South 15.90 Operation Thundertx>lt 18.90 Outlande _________________ 13.90 Padand _____ 13.90 ^aemanla 13.90 Passing Shoi — t5.00 Personal N^htmare , 18.90 POioruiry 18.90 Poke Oueel 15.90 Populoui 18 90 •Promised Lands _ 8.90 Pro renn_Tour 18.90 Pi7 Thunderbolt .„..„ 15.90 Quartz , , 15.90 Ralty Cross Cftalenge 13.90 Robocop 1 5 90 COMPILATIONS ONLY Scapeghost 13.90 Sim City 18 90 SPACE ACE 29.901 Scrabble Deluxe 13.90 Shoot em up Conaiructidh 18.90 Shjrtlepuck Cafe 1*90 S-nCfly 18.90 Skweek 15.90 Spaco Quest II 1890 Space Quest III 24.90 Startlight _ 18.90 Siorrrixd .-._ , ___. 13.90 Ettrfp Poker a* ._ _ _ 9,90 1 8TUMT CAR , , JM0~1 Super Wonderboy „ '„,„„■,■,, 18.90 S-or0of Sodan 15.90 Sworn c- Twi.^hi lfl.90 Teenage Queen _ 13.90 Tee1 Drive II , _____,. 18.90 •Supercari 1 1 .90 'Cailornia Challenge 1 1 .90 Time 18.90 TV Sports Footbal . 18.90 umouchadlee ______.. 18.90 War m Middle Earth 15.90 Waterloo _ _ _________ 18 90 Weird Dreams 15 90 Xenomorph 18.90 Xenon II - Megabiasi 17.90 Zak McKracken .... „..., 18.90 — D PREMER COLLECTION (2) 18.90 Mercenary. Backlash. Eliminator Custodian THRILL TIME (S GAMES!) | S90 Buggy Boy. Space Ha/rier Live i Let Die, Thundercais Battleships, ikan Warriors Beyond The Ice Palace, BornPfack TRIAD (VoL2] . 15.90 Menace. BAAL. Tetrie UEGAPACK 15.90 Pkrtos, Mouse Trap. Seconds Out Winter Olympiad. Suicide Mission MEGAPACK H 15.90 El. C'rcus Games. Summer Olympiad Formula i G P . Man i.q— Council THE UGHT FORCE _ 18.90 Bio Chalenge. Voyager R-Type. Inl Karaie Plus ACTION AMIGA 21.90 Artura, Deflecto*. Technocop Cybernold, Motor Massacre STARS WARS TRILOGY 15 90 Stars Wars , Empire Strfces Back, Revenge ol the Jedl THE STORY SO FAR (1) 13 90 ikart Wamors. Battleships Buggy Boy. Beyond ice Palace THE STORY SO FAR (3) 13 90 Space Harrier. Thundercatx BorrPtack. Lwo and Let Die PRECIOUS METAL _ 18.90 Xenon, Capi. Blood Crajy car., Arkanoid II HT0ISKS(Voi1) 15 90 Goldrunner. Karaie KkJ II Juprter Probe, Slaygon HIT DISKS (Vol.2) ... 15 90 Mapr Motion. Time Bandit Uvir or nock. Tangletwod SUPER 8 _ 15.90 Thai Boxing. Kan. G P. Las Vegas Grid Start. Flight Path 737. XR35 HARDWARE ONLY! AMIGA A500 Batpeck • 10 game pack 8 joystick AMIGA A500 1084 5 Monitor _._ 51 2K RAM expansion , , ■■ .__ £390 90 359.00 259.00 84.90 STAR LC10 Printer (Mono) .... S TAR LCI0 Printer (Colour) .. (Printers Include lead!) _..„ 199,00 229.00 Cunwma 3.5" 1 Mb Dek Drive Senaior 3.5' Disk Drive . , 99.00 10X0 BUDGET GAMES ONLY! Only: _.90eecht (2 for ClS.90) Action Service Macadam Bumper Sptdartronk; Trauma Wanted Barbarian W.C. leadarboard Captain Blood Phoenli TNT Turbo QT Warlocks Quest Deep Space Bards Tale 1 SALE (Limited!) ONLY! Only: 4.90 each I (5 for £19.90) Desiroyar Flre2one Crystal Hammer Goldrunner Way of links Dragon Bombouzal Spacebafl Vixen Bad Cat Side Arms Sprtling Image Prison Armageddon Man Kelly X Motor Cross Sim. RoaOwars Speedboai Assassin Kckstan ? (Many Mo*e In our catalogueiii) LANGUAGES ONLY! GFA Basic (V.3) _ _.„, Hrsoft Base Htsofi Devpac (2) m— 59.90 -64.90 _____ 44,90 Modula 2 Developers IMJ 0 ART & MUSIC ONLY! TV Show or TV Ten Come or Movie Setter _____ Deiuie Paini 2 52 50 59.90 49.90 59.90 Deluxe Print 2 _____________ Deluxe PhotoLab „ 34.90 — 49.90 Dehiie Music Con. Set Des-jn 3D D-rector (The) •Director Toolkit 49 90 59.90 ..42.90 29 90 DIGIVIEW GOLD (PAL) -_.119.90 Fanla«s«on instant Music Modeler 3D _ Music -X Photon Paint 2 ™„ Piinwie ■■ ■ ■ Pro Sound Designer Sculpt 3D (PAL) , . Sojlp!4D Junor 29.90 _.. 18.90 59.90 149 90 -...69 90 37.90 59 90 9990 Soni_ , •Sonix Soundtrack 54.90 ....12.90 X-Cad designer 89.90 DISKS (DS/DD 3.S") ONLY! Bulk - 100% Guaranteed) 10.. » 100 9 90 J9 90 74 90 SONY fknw -100% Gust 10 50 100 1390 H M «90 AB Zoo (Alphabet luior) Decimal Dungeon _. Fun School 2 (Under 6) Fun School 2 (6 to 8) .... Fun School 2 (Over 8) .. Three little Pes Three Bears ________ The Ugly Ducking Postman P_ Maich-K ONLY! .950 28 DO .13 90 .13.90 .13 90 .19 90 19-90 .19.90 ...8.90 .27.50 Amiga 'or Beginners ..__...__ Amiga Basic Inside and Out . Machine Language „... Treks and Tps ______ More Tricks and Tips System Programs . Amiga DOS Inside and Out _ Disk Drrves Inside and Out ... '2 90 1890 .14.90 ' .i BO .14.90 32 : >: .1890 27.90. 13.90 ACCESSORIES ONLY! 1 locking Disk Bos (50.) — ___ — 7.90 Locking Disk Box (100.) _______... 9.90 Media Box (Holds 1 50) 19.90 Furry Mouse Cover! 6,90 (with cute linle eyes, ears and nose') Mouse Bracket . Mouse Mai Keyboard Cover Monitor Cover SPECIALS AMIGA APPETIZER Write: Word Processor Paint: Graphics package Muse Music program Tile: Punk* game 3.90 5.90 5.90 5.90 ONLY! ....24.90 PUBLISHERS CHOICE 79.90 Includes: Papa Seder 1 2 Kind Wordt 2, Heaalne Fontspadk Artists Choice AriDack GRAPHIC STARTER KIT Aegn Animator. Aeq« D»av* Aegis Images, Clip Art ♦ Araioks Tomb .59.90 UTILITIES Arr.gaDOS Tootjos ...____ BBC Emulator ________ Descartes DigiCak: ... DOS to DOS ExceUence - .._-_„.. Home Accounts ______ Scribble Platinum „. Virus Killer WORKBENCH 1.3 (NEW) _. Works Platinum __ ONLY! 39 95 39.90 24.90 29 90 39 90 1 39.90 .22.90 42.90 9.90 14.90 ... 139 90 X-Copy - NEW Version 2 29.90 (Th9 BEST Backup utility!) JOYSTICKS ONLY! Joystick & Mouse Exlenskjn ... _4.90 Joystick Lead • Smetresl _ 4.90 WIZ CARD controller 3 90 Ouickshol II 7.90 Ouickshot II Turbo 9 90 Cobra (SEW) , — 12.90 Cruiser (CLEAR) 1 3.90 Companion Pro 5000 14.90 Compel* ion Pro Extra ___________ 15.90 Arcade Joystick 16 90 The above is just a small selection of our VAST stock of AMIGA softwnrof Callers welcome; Normal Office Hours - 24 Hour Telephone Service! Cheque, postal orders or credit card facilities are available BYTE BACK DEPT AC. 6 MUMBY CLOSE, NEWARK, NOTTS NG24 1JE Frhmjn iwm AMHiA I.MH'f T/V| .i f m ONCE upon a time there was the typewriter. Press the buttons and the letters appeared on paper. Most word processors are like that. Even with the addition of spelling checkers and other magic, they are still typewriters under the skin. Lately, with the advent of desktop publishing, graphics have become part of some word processors. But there's been little to stretch the parts of the Amiga that other computers cannot reach. Pen Pal is an attempt to change all that. It s an Amiga-only word processor, but instead of conforming to the word processing rules it takes the features and potential of the machine to provide one of the most innovative and well thought out user interfaces to be found on any program on any computer. As well as normal word processing functions, it also crams in simple drawing, graphics and database features. There's a lot to it. Starting it up gives little indication of the depth of the program. At first it looks like any of umpteen packages - tools down the left hand side, menus along the top. scroll bars surrounding a large, blank area where your text will shortly appear. Nothing spectacular, except that it uses a PAL screen. It's when you move the mouse around that things start to pop. As your strangely bent pointer glides over tools or areas, a box appears giving the name of the option beneath. A few minutes playing with the first window proves that Pen Pal uses Intuition - front-to- back and resizing behave exactly as they should. Any remotely experienced Amiga owner will feel at home. Text appears in 11 point Topaz, the default font we're all used to. Everything on screen reflects oxactly what will appear in the final document - the infamous wysiwig - and selecting a now font or a new style produces precisely the expected effect. Font selection is particularly clever in that it allows you to choose the size first and then the font to fit. Pen Pal can import, and subsequently print, any IFF picture, including HAM ones. It handles them in the usual manner of letting you draw a box into which pictures can be placed. It's happy to let you force the graphic to fit the space, or just do a best fit without distorting the proportions of the picture. I was impressed by the way I 1 t i it p m § 1 FPt«lr*\:BiHbisf^/lii1ifis'..riH latatast Item: 111 1 2 3 4 5 i 7 I 1 II 11 As well as a word processor you get a simple integrated database House House Mouse Penthouse Beach House House letch House leach House House House luplex House Tollhouse House House House House House San Frtnciso San Clenente Hahbu Century City Hahbu Tucson SiMj Barbara Santa Barbara Santa Barbara San Francisco Encmo San Francisco Nahbu Pasadena Santa B.vbira Santa Home* San Jose Encino BHs 5 5 4 3 3 3 2 3 5 3 4/4 4 3 4 4 4 3 4 Baths _ Gar age^ 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 3 3 2 3/3 3 2 3 3 3 2 3 4 4 3 Y 2 2 N 2 3 Y 2/2 2 Y 3 3 3 Y 3 Poo) Yes Yes Yes Yes No Ho Ho No Yes Yes No No No Yes No Ho Ho No Price 55, Ml, Ml 54JIMM 51, 411. Ml si. 251. Ml Si, Ml, Ml SMI. Ill 5751,111 SMI, Ml s 511, Ml $451,111 $451,111 $411,111 $411, Ml $411,111 $411, Ml $411. Ml 5351, III S35UM S32.7H.5M Rupert Goodwins wants to be a paperback writer and wonders if Pen Pal is all he needs anything I wanted to do just fell to hand without my having to go off and look up whether it was possible. Pictures are displayed in eight colours. Pen Pal makes an attempt to map others, but with HAM stuff it merely shows a black blob. Graphics can be grouped together, locked into place and have text flowed around them. Whatever mishandling the picture suffers. Pen Pal stores the original internally and uses the resolution and palette it knows about to give the best possible results on printing. With the Forms Fill In option you can use the drawing tools to create a form, and the computer will then refuse to let you type in text anywhere but in the permitted fiolds. The graphics tools arrayed down the screen are simple. Line drawing and box creation, with some fill options, will produce most of the layout tricks you'll see in professional publications. If you want more than that, draw whatever it is in your favourite paint program and import it. Things created with the Pen Pal facilities can be resized, moved around and adjusted ad infinitum. The spell checker has some 100.000 words - all of them American. Although it works well enough, I got confused by the options. I told it to start spell checking from the top of the document but it started from the current position of the cursor and worked its way up. And the program doesn't understand ram discs. It always thinks that the ram disc is completely full and can't accept any more. But the help system is a real winner. It's got lots of text on most features, arranged so that it's as easy to browse through by clicking on entries as it is 54 AMIGA COMPUTING h'ehruary I99tl REVIEW v to find a given feature. The text is a model of clear, concise, relevant information. It is not necessary to refer to the manual for 90 per cent of queries. Given that Pen Pal isn't copy protected, this is a courageous move, and one that I warmly appreciated. To save space on the master disc the printer drivers are held on the second disc and a small program is provided to copy jusl the one you want. Painful, since you have to type the name of the driver exactly, and printer drivers tend to he more incomprehensible than a Polish street map. Font selection allows you to choose the size first and then the font to fit That done. Pen Pal itself knows how to read the installed driver and uses that data to set up various things inside itself to do with graphics printing et al. It will either print full wysiwig or use the printer's own fonts to speed up pure text output. When doing Amiga fonts it takes about four seconds per line of text on my 80 cps Epson-compatible dot matrix printer. I immediately felt at home with this program. Other things worked well - hard drive installation on an A590 was easy and the various hotkeys are well chosen. There arc downsides. One is speed. Data basics PEN PAL'S database is interest- ing. It is really a list manager rather than a full-blown database. It accepts information in various formats, can sort it, merge it with your text, print it out in label format, add up figures - all of the things that a computer really ought to be able to do. Defining a database takes place in a standard Amiga requester with lots of fields to chose from. Data can be text, numbers, currency (Pen Pal helpfully supplies a dollar sign), dates, times... there are even picture and sound types. These are there partially to maintain compatibility with an earlier database written by the same people and partially because future Pen Pals will be able to display pictures in the database. Neither field type does anything at the moment. The definition process creates a list of fields into which you can type your data. Once you've entered it. you can order everything alphabetically, by date, or by any other field. This done, you can create what Pen Pal calls a View. This is a particular set of things you'd like doing to the database - sort in a certain way, prepare the data in columns - and you can have more than one View per database, so you can display or use tho data in various different ways with minimum effort once you've set up the details. It's simple and vory fast. A 100 item database can be searched or ordered in a couple of seconds. In common with many wysiwig editors. Pen Pal can be diabolically slow when doing large, on-screen text operations. Three seconds to paste a 30 word chunk into a 200 word paragraph. The worst problem I encountered was while testing its large document capabilities. I tried to feed it a 30.000 word Ascii file, some 1 70k. After 10 minutes of flashing its very pretty Please Wait icon at me, it died. Now. I wouldn't have minded had it taken one look at the document and told me to go away and find something smaller. I wouldn't have minded as much if it had chuntered away for a while and then said "Burp - I'm full" and let me recover. But on a multi-tasking machine it's not the done thing to gracelessly collapse. Because I tend to write plain text, and lots of it, it's not going to be my personal favourite word processor, mostly because of its lack of speed. I'd recommend it, though, to anyone who wants a fully-featured Amiga word processor to write small to medium documents, do simple newsletters or just the normal, domestic writing that the Amiga should excel at. Pen Pal makes all these things fun. It's nearest rival is Kind Words which although half the price doesn't have the database features, nor the ability to use HAM pictures or standard Amiga fonts. KKI'OKTCAKi) Pen Pal Brown-YVagh/Data Liberation (0983) 405600 £129.95 n EASE OF USE.... Correct use of Amiga menus and requesters helped by intelligent design and an install program. SPEED. Wysiwyg needs processor power, and even helped by the blitter. mixing fonts with colour graphics is slow. Printing speed and quality are helped by using the printer's own fonts. m VALUE minim For a database and wp this isn't too steep, but £130 less discounts is a lot to shell out in one go. (MM ALL A good product, which is well written and deserves to do well, but will probably suffer because of the price. h'hruary 199(1 AMIC.A COMPUTING 55 SIREN SOFTWARE presents AMIGA SOUNDBLASTER Everyone knows that the Amiga has the best sound capabilities available on any popular computer today. Unfortunately, until now, unless you could connect your Amiga to your stereo system you could not fully appreciate the quality of the sound. The Amiga SOUNDBLASTER is a small stereo amplifier that comes complete with 2 high quality 20 watt 3 way speakers. It is easily connected to your Amiga and adds a new dimension to all your games. THE AMPLIFIER This small unit has been designed and built in the U.K. specifically for use with the Amiga. It uses the latest microchip technology to produce a hefty 5 watt per channel of high quality sound. Twin volume controls allow both volume and balance to be set and a LED indicates that the unit is in operation. The amplifier connects to the AMIGA via the two phono sockets at the rear of the computer. Measurements:- 13cm x 1 1cm x 4cm. SPEAKERS The speakers that come complete with the SOUNDBLASTER are 50 watt 3 way speakers and are contained in an attractive hi-tec enclosure. The speakers sound as superb as they look thanks to a powerful 3 inch woofer for all the low tones, a 2 inch mid-range speaker for all the middle notes and a tiny 1 inch tweeter to reproduce all the top of the scale tones. The speakers connect to the amplifier via 2.5 metres of cable for each of the two speakers. Speaker measurements:- 20cm x 1 0cm x 1 2cm. The SOUNDBLASTER package is completed with a mains adaptor to power the amplifier and full instructions. FREE STEREO HEADPHONES FOR A LIMITED PERIOD ONLY We are giving away a pair of stereo headphones free with every AMIGA SOUNDBLASTER for a limited period. These headphones plug into the SOUNDBLASTER allowing you to listen in stereo without disturbing the neighbours. AVAILABLE NOW ONLY £44.99 + £2.00 for postage Payment is accepted over the telephone with VISA and ACCESS cards or through the post by cheque, postal order, eurocheque, bank drafts etc. Send payment to:- SIREN SOFTWARE, 84-86 PRINCESS ST.. MANCHESTER M1 6NG. TEL: 061 228 1831 SPECIFICATION AND APPEARANCE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTIFICATION DEAL DIRECT ALL OUR PRICES INCLUDE VAT & DELIVERY, ALL OUR DISKS CARRY A LIFETIME GUARANTEE. ALL DISKS INCLUDE LABELS. ENVELOPES AND WRITE PROTECTS BULK PACK DOUBLE SIDED DISKS 3 5 DSDD 135 TP1 1 Meg-880k No Name 3.5 DSDD 135 TPI 1 Meg-880k JVCKAO 3.5 DSDD 135 TP1 1 Meg-880k Sony 3.5 DSDD 1 35 TPI Branded Terra 3.5 DSDD Branded SonyWDysan/TDK 3.5' DS High Density 2 0 Meg 3 Maxell branded 5.25" DSOD 96 TPI * 25 disks 10 20 30 50 100 200 6.50 10.50 15.50 24.99 47.99 93.00 6.99 13.70 20.40 30.00 59.00 113.00 7.90 14.99 21.50 32.00 63.00 117.00 7.99 15.50 22.99 38.00 69.99 135.00 10.50 19.99 29.00 47.00 89.99 17B.00 10 1 3 99 A DS High Density 2 0 Meg Son v 3M 2 1 99 3*20 Holder LockaWe Disk Box 6 99 5 25" DSDD 48 TPl 3M branded ' 1 0 disk HI 10 24 99 5 99 each 6.99 DISK STORAGE BOXES 3.5 * 12 Holder Solid Plastic Extra Strong 3.5 ' 40 Holder Lockable 2 keys & dividers 3 5 ' 50 Holder Lockable 2 keys & dividers 3.5' * 80 Holder Lockable 2 keys & dividers 3.5 * 100 Holder Lockable 2 keys & dividers 3.5 • 120 Holder Lockable 2 keys & dividers 3.S ' 94 Holder Lockable — Stackable — Sliding Draw 5 25' ' 70 Holder Lockable 2 keys & dividers 525" ' 100 HokJer Lockable 2 keys & dividers 5 25 _ " 120 Holder Lockable 2 keys 4 dividers 1 89p 4.75 5.50 5.99 6.75 8.99 11.99 499 599 6 99 2 I. 70 9.00 10.50 II. 50 13.00 17.00 22.00 9 50 11 50 1 3 DO 3 2.20 13.00 15.00 15.00 18.50 24.00 with lock 1350 1600 I8.0G THE ULTIMATE 3.5 DISKS WITH LOCKABLE STORAGE BOX OFFER 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3 5 3.5 ' 40 Holder • 50 Holder • 80 Holder ■ 100 Holder " 120 Holder ■ 94 Holder 3.5 ' 1 2 Holder Solid Plastic with 12*3.5 Disks & 10 Disks 11.99 12.50 12.99 13.99 15.99 17.99 & 20 Disks 17.99 18.50 18.99 20.99 22.99 24.00 A 30 Disks 25.99 26.50 26.99 27.99 29.00 30.00 & 40 Disks 3200 33 00 33,00 34.00 35.00 Stackable-Sllding Draw & Lock 8.50 ' 24 Disk Labels All Disks Supplied In These Boxes Are Sony-KAO or JVC HARDWARE Amiga 500 Computer Batman Pack, includes Batman, Interceptor, Delux Paint II & The New Zealand Story, Workbench 1 .3, Klckstart 1 .3, Mouse, Modulator £365.00 Amiga A501 Internal 512* to 1 meg Ram expansion* clock E125 00 Amiga Internal 1 meg Ham expansion E79 95 Amiga 3 5 880k External Cumana Oisk Drive Amiga Double External Disk Drive Amiga A590 20 meg Hard Disk unit Amiga Pro Sound Sampler Studio Amiga Replacement Mouse CB0 0O C138 00 E370 00 C69 00 C2A no PRINTERS Star LC 1 0 Mono Printer Star LC 10 Colour Star LC 24-10 I IS 00 199 00 239 00 12 MONTHS GUARANTEE Citizen 120D 125 00 Epson LX 850 225 00 Epson LO 550 309 00 6 50 14.90 NEC P2200 299 550 13 99 7SO 18 00 OKiMicroiine 182. 192/3 3 99 750 19 99 6 50 1400 OKIMicrolineSO. 82 92 250 4 80 14 50 5 80 1550 Panasonic KXP10B130 3.50 6 50 14 90 6.50 14.90 Ricoh 1300. 1600 3 99 7.50 19 99 650 14 90 SnmwaCPSO'LegendSOa 3 99 7.50 19 99 650 14 90 Star LC tOOrtgMono 2 50 4 80 13 90 7 50 1999 Star LClOOng Colour 6.50 12 00 32 00 850 22 99 ' SrartC24/10 3 99 7.50 18 00 750 1800 StarNLND/NRlO 350 6 50 1490 PRINTER RIBBONS t Amstrad 8256 FN 3 99 AmstradB256MS 3.99 Amstrad9512FN 3 50 Amstrad9512MS 4 50 Amstrad DMP 2000 3000 2 SO Amstrad DMP 4000 3 99 Amstrad LQ 3500 — Brother HR 10'1S2O'40 3 99 Brother M 1 009. 1 1 09 3 99 Canon PW 1080 A 3 99 2 7 50 750 650 6 50 4 80 7 50 6 18 00 18 00 1490 14 90 1450 1 9 B9 7 50 18 00 7.50 18 00 7.50 19.99 Citi;en120D. 1B0E 350 Commodore MPS 801 3 99 Commodore MPS 803 3 50 66GXB0 350 X'NXSO 3 50 100. 1000 3.50 800. LO 500 3 50 LO1000.LQ1050 13.99 2500 4 50 P2 P6 3 99 ACCESSORIES^ Mouse Mal&mm TopOuatrl* Antistatic 2 50 AMr.&f Twin joystick Extenlion I \ 3 99 AtanVAmiga lBMParalieiPrmierCabie 3 50 3". 3.6". 5 25 Disk Cleaning Kits ,■• ''}' I TS Thmgi it Ad|uslobie Copy Holder / f i rJ 3 99 Copjfcfcoider, Aa|u5taoie Moving Arm Swivel ' 1 W PrinteAStand — 80 Column 1 piece 99 Atari Tjkpe 3 Metre Joystick Extension Lead 3 99 Mouse Mat 6mfi 1 99 Mouse House 1 IvV ' 75 Amiga 5p0 DustCaver w r - 2 50 Atari 526V 1040 STCov Thingi Copy Holder Aran ST 4 Player Adaptor Amiga 4 Player Adaptor Monitor Stands 14" 2.50 299 495 4.95 899 JOYSTICKS * 1 2 Cheetah Challenge VJ^4 99 9.00 Cheelah 125* 5 99 11 50 Cheetah Macnl 8 50 16 00 Cheetah Star Probe 11 00 21.00 Pro 5000 Koriix Speed King Konix Navigator Ouickshol fl Turbo Ram Delta Deluxe 9 95 8 90 1050 8 99 750 1950 1600 19 99 1700 1399 Suresnot Standard Turbo Junior Turbo Super .Zip-Slick Super Pro Zip-Stick Supor Pro Autotlre — P.O.A — 3 99 7 00 4 99 9 50 950 18 00 9.99 19 00 SOFTWARE - MANY MORE TITLES IN STOCK TEL 0533 51 3372 TO CHECK AVAILABILITY RoadBiaslers 1350 KickOtl Slargitder II 1 5 90 3D Pool Paperboy 15 90 Hawkeyo Paliadm 14.90 TheDuel Denans 14 90 Xenon II Populous 16 50 Mr Heli CrazyCarsll 1590 TheDuel Action Fighter 15 90 APB TestDnvell 1690 Xyborts AiteredBeasl 18 50 RallyCross Gret/ky Hockey 16 50 Shmobi F-16 Falcon. Mission Disks Vol I 14 90 Fiendish Freddy s Big Top O' Fun 1 5 90 12 90 1490 12 90 17 50 1850 15 99 17 50 13 50 1350 13 50 1590 Lords Ot The Rising Sun Posi S A E For Free Price List Shadow Ol The Beasi War In Middle Earth Kingdom Ot England Saint And Greavsie Honda RVF 750 Grand Prix Circuit Fo/gotien Worlds Dragons Sprit ..!.•— Squad Centre Fold Squares Balman The Movie 23 90 1390 1550 13 90 16 90 1650 15 90 1350 13.50 16 50 19.50 TEL: 0533 471 485 24 HOUR DISK HOTLINE CHEAP CALLS AFTER 6.00PM PLEASE POSTCHEQUEWITH ORDER PAYABLE TO: MIDLAND MICROSOFT. AUI-DEC. MAIL ORDER DIVISION GROUND FLOOR. UNIT22A SYKEFIELD AVE., LEICESTER LE30LB Trip-a-Tron for light relief Nic Veitch floats down through the clouds to spill a saucerful of sequences for all this is the language KML (yes the name does have a strange sound to it). KML is a cunning piece of mental engineering that allows you to program in your own effects. It is. obviously, specially written for this sort of application and has many advanced brain-disintegrating features and commands. Up to eight programs may be run simultaneously by pressing corresponding (and programmable] keys during the performance phase. The program can integrate and run effects and graphics designed with the other modules in the package, so in effect you can create a whole show which runs itself at the touch of a button. THE programming environment is not state of the art wimp stuff, but is quite friendly and simple and displayed in a very legible font, which is the most important thing. Line-entry WELCOME my son. welcome to the Trip-a-Tron. It is with this name, that seems to pay homage to a hippie's favourite pastime and an obscure early synth favoured by certain psychedelic groups, that cultural guru to the enlightened. Joff Minter. has deemed to bless his latest venture into light synthesisers. It all started on the humble 54 with Psychedelia, which returned in cut down form in Battalvx. his concept compendium. Then, in a fit of madness perhaps, ho transferred his attention to various shades of Atari and produced Colourspace. Driven on by little voices in his head, or perhaps his ashtray, he has finally produced Trip-a-TYon for the Amiga. The less hip and with it of you may be wondering what all this light synthesis is about. Well, without getting too uncool and heavy, it is just like a music synth except instead of sonics you will be painting real-time swirling universes of pixels which expand and metamorphosiso and decay throughout a multi-verse like a million bright ambassadors of morning. Got it? Good. Now that that's settled, the show must go on. The first thing it is advisable to do when coming into possession of Trip is to make a really strong cup of tea. pull up beanbag and study the manual very carefully. Thi.-» is actually quite a pleasant experience, since it is entertaining and informative at I he same time, simultaneously oven. THIS cunning little volume comes in the form of an attractive filofax style bundle, the only regret being that it doesn't have an afghan cover. Many questions relating to possible stumbling points are answered early on like why it is called a light- synth and not a light-ukulele. TVicky one that. Dudes who recall earlier versions will be pleased to learn that you don't have to get too far into it just to have a good time - just load up the demo files and have a play with the mouse. Pressing a button does something and moving the mouse does other things 511 AMIC.K aJMFtTtM; Fvbruan 19<M and everything is green and submarine. This is fine, but a new world unfolds for people who take their freak-out weirdo stuff seriously. The foundation llama. ..sorry, stone syntax checking should remove most potential bugs. A sequencer module allows you to pre-program effects to occur at exact instances in a defined sequence. This supports both real-time recording and Keyboard definition ties the keys to the programs you write Hippy hippy shako editing functions, allowing highly complicated combination of effects to he produced. You pick the placo and then chose the time and it does its thing in its own way. Starfields a la Star Trek, are available with controls for adjusting everything from trace length to angular velocity. Set the controls for the heart of the sun! The sillvscopo is the realm of waveforms, both default and user defined. They are used to control the laser-like effects you will see roaming around the demo. It is hard to categorise something like Trip and therefore hard to measure it against anything meaningfully. It is out front in a field of which it is the sole inhabitant. You don't have to spend hours pouring over the manual, you can certainly have as much fun with it as you would with Colourspace by just using the default settings and ignoring KML, but just as musicians love Midi and programmable synths. light artists will find more scope for expression with a programmable light synth. In entertainment terms it is certainly worth more than its weight in tropical plant cuttings. It is nice to see that computers which rose out of what was basically hippy technology in the sixties have now got back to grass roots and repaid their debt to those attuned to a higher level of sensation. Finally, it is hard to write about a Llamasoft product without letting the last word be something awesome. P*TTMN IDIT MTTMN MODS I [©ESS) VSEQ is a (fairly) normal sort of picture squirming manipulation thingy. It takes standard IFF files and also uses its own run length encoded format. Various cunning effects like de-res, rotation, filtering and many.many more are available but it can take a while. Thoughtfully a graphic is included to tell you approximately how long the process is going to take by way of giving you little messages like "Go make some tea " or "Go to the boozer" or as in the case of something adventurous I tried recently. "HIP". Finished frames are once again called by a KML macro. Since everything interacts in this way then- is a nice feel of building something solid from the bottom up. The other colossal advantage of this is that it is not necessary to become intimately familiar with each module before producing something brain damaging, you can take it at your own mellow pace. Ki-POKTCARI) CUIWIMT < l> ■OITXNO! OKCAV-TVFK < STANDARD COLOURSPACK» ^CURRENT LBVBL J INSERT LB VII • ! DELETE Lt"Ei Trip-A-Tron Llamasoft 073481 4476 E34.95 NEXT PREV CLEAR ih DO ROT8 MEM FREE: 2*4 SET CENTRE POINT < |>PXX SIZE X f>PIX SIZE V EASE OF USE.... Some advanced features can be a bit tricky at first. Mouse detection suspect in parts but everything is FUN. SPEED Mulli-tasking macros seem to work well. Video effects take time, but don't they all? VALUE Have you seen anyone selling one cheaper? PREVIEW COLOUR CHANNEL 123456799 FINITO Tlw pattern editor forms an interface between your mind and the machine OVERALL n:v„ Some serious messing about made possible. Minter ought to get a medal. h-bruan /!»!*» AMIGA CUMPt'TtSG 59 DEMO writers have a very bad reputation among "real" programmers. They are accused of being OS destroyers, illegal coders and of perpetrating the worst of all possible crimes, jumping into the rom. This had press is mainly due to the antics of obscure German coders and crackers - hackers is the wrong term to describe these people because they don't break into large computer systems, their only interest is in writing demos and, for some of them, removing protection from games and spreading these "cracks". ■typically these crackers write a domo using the K-Seka assembler — because it is the most similar to the assemblers they used on the C64. They will put in enough code so that it looks like it works and then bung it in the post next morning to all their friends. There is nothing wrong in programming like this if you are just writing a demo for you and vour friends. In most cases the authors of these demos do not expect them to end up in public domain libraries or reach the general public. The problems begin when these coders find that after writing a few demos it is quite easy to write a game. But do they make sure that it works properly on all Amigas? No. It therefore seems an obvious thing for all coders to stick to the rules, especially new coders. NOWADAYS the problem lies not in whether to obey the rules or not. but what the rules exactly are. If you take Commodore's words on the subject you might think that everything you do has to be done by using libraries and devices, not touching anything low level like the custom chips. Of course. Commodore does not mean this. What the boffins there point out is that as the Amiga is a multi-tasking machine, if you don't access it via the operating system the Amiga will not bo able to cope with handling all the different tasks — trying to lake over the screen, trying to read the keyboard at the same time, trying to use any other aspect of the Amiga's input or output. In this respect using the operating system is the only way to program the Amiga. But that is only if multi- tasking is necessary for your program. If you try to make a game multi-task you will soon get rather annoyed when it slows down or stops each time you put a disc in the drive or move the mouse. Commodore built two library functions for people who do not need to multi-task - Forbid(J and Permit(). Forbid turns off multi-tasking, so any other tasks running are suspended, giving your program 100 per cent of Revenge the rom wai l : section base, code c opt c-,o* ■ove.l 4.w,a6 isr -132U6) lea gfxl1b,i1 moveo. 00, dO ■ove.l llf -S22S(a6> tst dO beq error •ove.l D0,gf*bse •ove.l 'screen, dO move . v d0,plQl swap dO •ove.w dO,plOh swap dO add. 1 110240, dO •ove.w dO,plH swap dO ■ove.w dO,plih ■ovt. t gf >bse,a6 add. 1 IJ32,a6 •ove.w »$aO,Sdff096 ■ove. 1 (a6),oldcpr ■ove.l Inewcpr,(a6> •ove.M *S8080,Sdff096 ■ove.M «8O10,Sdft09a ■ove.l S6c.w,old ■ove. t *new,$6c.w i have to do now in our it. Alt the interesting btst S6,Sbte001 bne.s mil ■ove. 1 old,S6c.w ■ove.l M10,Sdff09a •ove. 1 gtxbse,a6 add. 1 *S32,a6 ■ove.w #J0080,SdH096 ■ove.l oldcpr,(a6) ■ove.w #S8080,SdffQ96 ■ove.l gf *bse,al ■ove.l $4.w,a6 i«r -S19e(a6) ■ove.l 4.w,a6 isr -t!8ta6) ; Written with Devpac v2.14. ; Put into chip aeaory. ; Mo case sensitivity, optiaiie on ; Get eiecbase. ; Turn off •ulti-tasking. ; Open graphics library. ; Store screen address in copper list ; That's pee el I zero ell. ; Site of one bitplane. ; Second bitplane (pee ell one ell) ; Set up copper Int. ; Store workbench copper list ; Use our copper list. ; Enable level 3 interrupt. ; Store old level 3 interrupt. ; Use our interrupt. ; Test for left louse button. ; Wait if not pressed. ; Else return to workbench, ; Disable copper interrupt. ; Copper list. ; Close graphics library. ; Execbaie. ; PenitO - restart ■ulti-taskin* GO AMIGA COMPUTING February WHO ■ PROGRAMMING ■ the Amiga to play with. PennitO turns multi-tasking back on again for when you exit your demo back to CLI. Once you have turned off multi- tasking it is perfectly safe to "hit the hardware", assuming you do this in an orderly fashion and clear everything up before returning to AmigaDos. Whatever you are writing, a demo or a game, you have to follow a standard set of instructions to kill the system, set up your screen and everything else your demo needs. 1 have written a file called BASE.S (Listing I) which 1 use for the basis of all my productions. It starts by opening the graphics library. Although I do not use any graphics library functions in the program, 1 need the address of the library to tell me whore the workbench copper list is stored. I then have to create my copper list. The main problem with my copper list is that 1 do not know where my bitplanes are going to be in memory because AmigaDos will load this file into whatever chip memory it can find. Some less-experienced coders think that they can take a piece of memory, say at $70000, clear that and use it for their screen, regardless of whatever else may be there at the time. While that will work most of the time on a 512k Kickstart 1.2 Amiga, it will generally fall down on any other system. If you have anything else in memory before running, it probably won't bo thoro much longer. Obviously this is not a very good idea, although I still keep coming across people who do it. What I do is to put zero into the bitplane addresses in the copper list — SoO to SeO in the example listing - work out the addresses of where my bitplanes are. and stick it into the copper list. MOVE.L #screen.dO gets the screen address, and then it is transferred into the relevant places in the copper list a word at a time, WITH this method, not only are you guaranteed not to rub over something that is already in memory, but it will work regardless of where it is in chip memory. The easiest and cleanest way of setting up a copper list is to put your list address into the Workbench copper list address pointer - part of the graphics.llbrary structure. First you must save the current value of this pointer so it can be restored on exit. One odd command you may notice in my copper list is $9c.$8010. This generates a level 3 copper interrupt. What is a level 3 copper interrupt, I hoar you ask? Well, it's funny you should ask because that's what I'm going to talk about next. Anyone who has programmed inferior processors to the 68000 series >• Jolyon Ralph addresses the problem of politely trashing the operating system of jumpers error: toveq 10,(10 ; Exit routine, rti new: seven. I dO-d7/aO-a6,-(sp> ; Save all registers. and.w I$10,$dff01e ; Check if it is copper interrupt, beq.s out ; If not, skip this code, ■ove.w fS10,Sdff09c • This interrupt code is catted once every 50th second (on PAL lachlnes) • until the left button is pressed end the interrupts ire disabled. addg "1,toL0 ; Change the foreground, lubq #2,col1 ; Change the background. out: aoven.L {sp)+,dO-d7/aO-a6 ; Restore registers. • The following JSC instruction ($4ef9> is altered by the beginning of • the prograi. This sort of self-todifylng code Is frowned upon by "real" • coders, but it doesn't half work a lot easier than any other iethod. dew S4et9 ; J S o instruction old; del 0 oldepr: del 0 ; Workbench copper list newepr: dc.w $100, $2200,$10?, $0, $104, $a,$108,0,$t0a,0 dew $92,$S8,$94,$d0,$8e,$2c81,$90,$2cc1,$e0 plOh: dew 0,$e2 plOt: dew 0,$e4 pith: dew 0,$e6 plH: dew 0,5180 ; Foreground and colO dew 0,$182 ; background colours, coll dew 0 dew $9c,$8010 ; Call copper interrupt. dew $ffff,$fffe ; End copper. gtxlib: deb "graphics. library"^ even gfxbse: del 0 screen: dcb.b 10240, XI 0101 01 0 ; Screen full of lines, dcb.b 10240,0 ; Screen blank. end i End of listing. MwruMrfMfl AMIGA COMPUTING 61 ■ PROGRAMMING ■ - like the 6502. Z80 or 80386 - will suroly have come across interrupts at one time or another. Basically, an interrupt stops the execution of whatever the processor is doing at the time and makes it go and run another routine before returning to carry on with what it was up to in the first place. What this means in practical terms is that the main program can just sit and wait for the left mouse button to be pressed while the interrupts go off and do all the clever work. THE nice thing about interrupts is that they are called at regular time intervals, in this case every 50th of a second. This means you can write a routine which moves a series of sprites, for example, around the screen by one position. As the routine is called every 50th of a second it gives the Illusion of smooth movement You will find these interrupts referred to as "exceptions" in a lot of literature because Motorola decided to be different to the rest of the universe, which calls these things interrupts. As interrupts are interrupts whatever type of processor you are using, 1 will continue to call them interrupts. There is no need for companies to add to the list of computer jargon unnecessarily. In Listing I you can see how to set up the simplest type of interrupt, the level 3 copper one. The Amiga system uses level 3 interrupts for all sorts of things. They are generated when a new disc is inserted, for example. Therefore we must be careful not to Irash this interrupt and allow the system to carry on its necessary interrupts after our program has finished. This system interrupt routino is at a fixed routine in rom. I could tell you where this is, but as it changes from version to version of Kickstart, we will have to work out where it is instead. As it happens, it is very easy to find out where this routine is - you just read the contents of S6c in memory. To set your own interrupt routine you have to write the address of your routino into $6c and enable level 3 copper interrupts. This is done by moving $8010 into Sdff09a (INTENA). From then on, any write of $8010 to $dff09c (INTREQ). the interrupt request register, will cause the CPU to jump to the interrupt routine pointed to at address $6c. The copper move $9c,$8010 creates the desired effect. OUR interrupt routine begins with a MOVEM instruction that saves all the registers on the stack. It has interrupted the 68000 at an unknown point in our main program. OK, our main program is only two lines long this time, but it is a good idea to get into good habits and save all the registers at the beginning of an ALL OUR PRICES INCLUDE CARRIAGE & VAT HSV COMPUTER SERVICES LIMITED (AMC) 23, Hampstead House, Town Centre, Basingstoke, RG21 1LG. Lockable Disk Boxes 50 x 3 1.2" £5.95 100x3 1/2" £7.95 Stationery... Stationery... Stationery... 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Most lit through your letter-box. • 7-day hotline, until 8pm weekdays. 10 to 5.30 Saturdays. 11 to 5 Sundays. • Written notification ot delays and instant refunds on request • No commitment, no obligation to buy anything and no "minimum purchase". ■ The best games, carefully selected, available at extraordinary prices. Can you afford not to join? All for "«£5.00 We re miles cheaper than elsewhere Below are a selection of offers at prices you might not believe Vou can buy games at (he same lime as joining - or join now and select trom our lull catalogue All Items advertised are only for sale to members and are subject to availability Note Upgrade to Official Secrets is offered to members of Special Reserve Amiga Software , is it * *B l?» UTtHtDBLAST I5M *M( H1CAH CE KtCOE' nn AOjwtJun* igoo ARCuFELAQOS 15*1 ARTMIRiMOCOMi ISM It*. »**Ct C* POVIFI 1990 IS4B BALLYHOO INFOCOM) Ik a* •ANOKOK IS 09 BAHe*P*S T ;PALACE> i| O WeMtUN.-'PSVGMJS*! UN IWI TALE I 7 N "AHOS TA1 i * is 19 OATMAttCAPf OCfP.ISOffl '54* ■OWN the MOVIE ... 'Si* BATIK Of AUSTERUTZ IB At BATTLE SQUADRON IS 9* BATTLE VALLEY |?.g BATLEHAWHit <UJ <t*» BATH { TECH <IN» OCOM) IB 4* BEACHVOUfY ISM BEYONOOARKCASTlt 1599 BLADE WADBCS is 99 ■ L I'OHl ■ 1419 BIOOOWVCH . 1946 BlOOOWYCh HAT A t*'S» 9 99 BOMBER it 40 BRIDGE PI AVER NCD U49 C tiQHT 314.9 CABAL IS49 CARRIE" COMMAND t|49 CARTHAGE 19 49 CAST- E rtArtfUOB IS 49 OHANKMOf 5HAOLI* 14 99 CHASE HQ is 99 c-essmaster/iw isai COLIOSU*. CHESS I t**9 COMFlCtCunOPE »6*9 COMr«NTAl CIRCUS <?*• CORRUPTO. (U«CnOUSl '1» COSMCR-RATl 1S49 CUTHHOATS 1649 DAMC&E5 IS 49 dayotheviwr 1699 OEJAVUI i& 19 DELU«£ MjSC CONE SET 16 47 Ot v UQ MNT ■ 9149 DBH0M rOMB . iiM CXMOfiSWIHTin'WIi 1'4( DOUBLE OflAOCM 1 1 i ig Dfl DOOMS REVEIlGE 16 46 ORAQCW Si^RlT . . IJ.99 ORAOCMSlaik H UIO 29*9 DAAooNsorfuuiEiBsn ir«* DKAXKMEti t«99 Dftfvwa 'ORce 1949 OUWJION MASTER " MEG. >916 OU»-iEON MASTER EDITOR 7.4* OVHAUiCDCBUOGfR <64t (599 Elvira mistress or dam 1949 fMPfflORO' '"t VMS '349 LM>iAW T£R .tNFOCOMI 1999 EVEDtHOnUS 1999 F 16 COMBAT PILOT IS 91 F16>ALCON 1149 c f RE TAl. iaTOR 19*9 FAERY lAlf 11M 'ASTBHf A" • ED Of FR(( TRADERS FIENDISH I REUS fBQ TOP FIFTH GEAR FISH' ;MSCROUSl EvASHOWOOH i . >;■•• ';«*..>. Arnn : FOOTBALLER Of 1ME YEAR FUMBCMO0L?l?*YRSl FUN SCHOOL 7 iM YRSi FUM SCHOOL 2 l*. YRS) IUIURE «VAfS QAiORCOOHS DOUAM GAUNTLET t JlMIH AIM . GETTYSBURG iSSil G"OS 1 BUSTERS " OHOULS »T GHOSTS QOPJE OKO NORMAh LA. T OCX ' ORlDinON iU S lOOTBAll I OJIISHIP HARD C*VV*« MARIE Y DAVIDSON HAWfcEVE HtWSOH PREMIER VOL' HEWSON PREMIER VOU •"ILSFAHIfSll. MOUVWOOO HU*» HONDA "V* 750 MOUND OF SHADOW NDIAHA .(ONES (AC'AX, •4CMANA JONES (ADVl INFESTATION ,Mf HPNA5E IRON LORD IRON TRAOEO IVANHOE JAC" NCCLAJJSGOI F JO BAN _.N4UR,M.SCROti5; AJunrrtY i NFOCOUl .AMCfnRUPPE am ■EEF THE IHCF ■ INN. 0*1 Gl ISM SOCCER • O OFf ■ iC» OFF ElPAN&ON DSK ■ IlilNOGAME S"OW WNOWOROfl JOiWRi ■MOioucsri ?iip*f> ■HBMTFOAGE LANCASTER I ANCELOT (LEVEL g< LASER SQUAD 1 E *'Jl H BOARD BUM . KISURE SOU LARRY I LffSUlE SOU I ARFIY J I EONAPOO 1 CI UCE TO K4L l*( AND DEATH L.OHT FORCE UVERROOL ■ ■ Ml,. Mil »«LI I LOROS OF THE RISING SUN LUAKMa HORROR WfUffl* NEW YORK MAN i AC MANSION 1KMMOM lOCCEtl MO0MMBT (INFOCOM; For the serious gamer! Members ot Official Secrets get all the benefits of Special Reserve plus: ■ Confidential. Our 32 page bi monthly magazine is essential reading for those interested in adventures or role playing games Wntten by experts. Confidential has covered everything from How lo Host a Murder lo Which F16 Flight Simulator? Our agents, led by the Master Spy known as "The Boss Upstairs" seek out the secrets of RPG's. FRP's. MUG's, PBM"s. Leisure Suit Larry. The Russians, Elvira • Myth. Written by Magnetic Scrolls, authors of The Pawn, exclusively for members ol Official Secrets Myth is a small adventure set m Ancient Greece In it you'll meet The Ferryman, cheat Death and lace the nine- headed Hydra. Myth includes the famous Magnetic Scrolls parser and graphics and is included In the price of membership - Help-Line. Manned weekdays unW 8pm and Sundays. The Help-Line can help you solve most problems on most adventures • Gnome Ranger. Level 9's brilliant 3-part adventure or a Surprise Alternative. UK Membership costs £22.00 including six issues ol Confidential. Myth, the Help-Line. Gnome Ranger and membership of Special Reserve 16 49 -II T?*9 'S 49 119* •i** K19 f 149 '149 '24* «»4» i|49 1349 1*49 l?99 •191 15 99 16*9 ISA* 1**9 IS 49 1S99 '?** .ISA* <J*9 '*» 17*9 '•90 <S49 '*» ii 9* || h 14 9* IS99 1**B IJ49 <S99 1*1* tJB* 111* <999 ««• ■»** M 99 .7.41 '2*9 11 49 Ji 49 14*9 1149 <»*> 1J99 16 49 '6 9* 'S W I'M "A* ■ S 49 15 99 It 99 14*9 '6*9 1649 'I Vi U99 ItfJ MO0NWALKCH , MRhCLI NEUROMANCER NEVER MMD NINJA WARRADRS NORTH AND SOUTH OBLIT(RAlri" C*l iMPEHIUM OMEGA OMNi (- »y BASKETBALL OHM-PLAY morse fiacmq ON St AUGHT OO/t OH B'TOl ')lliNUERBOlT tW* RAffON WOLF OUILANOS P*7 THUNDERBOLT 'MPfRBOY PAUL GASGOM SOCCER PAA-i M SCROLL&I PERSONAL N'GM'MARF PHANTASIE 1 iSSi. t>'_niA PHOTON PA*JI^D|-MEG| PC1IONARY PLANET FALL Pi AYfn MANAGER POLICE OUEST 1 (SIERRA) •OPULOV5 "49 •> «* 15 49 4 IS 'S99 IS 99 IJ« 16*4 1799 149* ' 3 Ii • 7*9 '149 S4 <#> •6 41 1999 13 99 ISI 1(3' Myth Quotes "An excellent adventure... witty, cunning and just plain good fun! It you liked Fish! you'll probably like this, because they're very similar in style: you may even prefer Myth, it's that goodl" Amiga Format -Myth is destined to become a classic." Crash Magazine i Myth Reviews Crash Smash 91%, CU 90%, Amiga Formal 87%, TGM 85% POPULOUS PROMISE D LANDS 7 n POWER ORIF* IS 99 POYrttJOBOIAf 19 49 PRECIOU5UETAICOU !*«• PREDATOR is 99 PRO TENNIS TOUR '94* RROTEITlVP 64 99 PUiUSHERS OHOd DESKTOP PUBLI5"l'MlGi H49 QUARTERBACK '7 99 QUEST FOR THE T9AESIRD '6 99 OUt STROM I (SSri 17 49 RALLY CROSS r.HA, , ENGE li 9* REBEL CHARGE AT CRICK 199* RED OKI NINO |S8n . 199* RC" DANGEROUS IS 49 SONY 3.5" DS'DD DISK 79p IBJJ If 4* ROBOCOP 15*9 RCC* N ROLL . FIUN THE GAUNTLET . 1C49 SAINT AND OREMC _ MM SCAt>EGMOST<lEYEL9) 13 49 SCRABBLE D£ Lint IJ99 St AST ALKER jNF OCOVi 19 99 9"ADOW Of TM BEAST 19 99 S"i,OH t SSI) ., , 1*** SlilNOBi ij n SMOfrt* .INFOCOM <B9* SMOOT E M OP CON5TR « T 1919 SlL»WORM <3M SA4CITV 174* SPACE ACE J? 4* SPACE 0K5T 1 ,6IERRAi 9119 SPELL BOOK 16YEARSI '1*9 WELL BOOK .7- VEARSi 1349 ft.l BREAKER 1 WOCOM. 1990 SPHERICAL \j 99 . ' BLAZE 1* 49 H'AR CCAAUANO :5SF| it** ?'A0Y1A"3 !R(OG" Utt STAItCROSS IMlOCOWl 1* 99 STAROLiDER I IBB 5TATiONrAu UNF-OCOMl '9*9 5IEE. «J*9 STEVE DAVIS SNOOKER <3 49 &TORMLORO IS 49 •TRjDtR . (14* STRYI i f aa jTIINT CAR RACER 15 9* IUP1 n L E AfiuE SOCCER IS 4* jL*1R WlADf RBT'< is 99 S*t'CMBL*C* 1999 SWORDS O* TWIIOMT It 4* ■>;■<-..•., <i9t -HE .OSTPATROt 16U 'Hf NEW/EA1ANOSTORV 1S9* THE STORY » FAR VEX 1 '399 '"'fjb '0 CD *TH NUtAKFCS 114* THWGS TO OOWIT" WOROS *14» TIME '7 4* 1IME 6 MAQ'K (LEVEL 9i i]49 TIN-IN ON THE MOON 13 9* TOWER OF BABEL 16 41 TRIAD VOL 3 jCOHP9-ATTONt '4 99 TRIVIA. PURSUIT 13 9* TURBO 13 99 TuRBO OUTRUN 1619 UNINVITED 1199 LPRVf RSA1 MILITARY SIM I* 99 iWTOUChABlM _ is 99 VETTE 'CORVETTE) t6 4* VIRUS ■; 1- WAR *t MIDDLE EARTH H 49 WATERLOO IS 90 WA.Nt GREI/KY hOCKEY 19 99 WEHO DREAMS is** WSHBRfWifRilNFOCOMi i* 99 |*TNESS,1N(OCOM| WORKBENCH 1 J 1149 ■ENOMORPH IS 41 XENON it MEGAflLAST 1S4| XYBOTS i?99 JORKZEMO.lNFOCOMi 1*9* Amiga specials AFTERBURNER MB B*Al 6.9B BALUST1I _ EM B4TTLECHE9S 1DM CAPTAIN BLOOD 6*9 CHAMP BASEBALL 9 » CHAMP BASKETBALL 5.99 CHAMP FOOTBALL 4» CHRONO OUEST 949 DEFENDER Of THE CROWN.. 8 49 0EJAVU 1249 DRAGON NINJA 9 4* EDDIE EDWARD SUPR SKI fl 49 ELIMINATOR (NOT 13] 399 EUTE...__, 1341 FALCON MISSION DISK , FOOTBALL MANAGER ? FM? EXPANSION KIT OMO RUSH' (SIERRA) GOLDEN PATH „ MELLF1RE ATTACK HIT DISKS VOLUME J HOSTAGES KULT 899 LEATHERNECKS 999 MEN AC£ an MILENNIUM 33 9 99 NEBULUS 599 NIGEL MANSELL'S G PRIX 4 99 PACLAND , 7.49 PASSING SHOT (TENNIS) 6 99 PURPLE SATURN DAY 7 49 REALGHOSTBUSTERS .7 49 ROCKET RANGER 9 99 RUNNING MAN .149 SHADOWOATE 1049 SKYCHJUM __.„.. S 99 SPACE OUE5T I (SJERRAi 199 SPACE QUEST : (StERRAi 12.49 8 49 4» 9.9* S99 .149 9 49 149 ..T-49 HY PERFORCE & ARTIFICIAL DREAMS TWHPACX 7J9 INGRID'S BACK (LEVEL 91 7 99 KARTING GRAND PRIX 4 49 KING OF CHICAGO 9.49 KINGS OUE5T?(SiERflAi 9.99 KINGS OUEST K5IERRA) 6 99 KHISTAL 9.99 SPEEDBALL STARGLIDtfl STRIKE FORCE HARRIER SWORD OF SODAN TEENAGE OUEEH TETRIS ^ THREE STOOGES TMUNDERBiROS TIME BANDIT TRIAD VOL1 1URB0CUP TV SPORTS FOOTBALL VIXEN V0VAGEH WHIRLIGIG WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT (I MEG: 899 S.49 5.49 0.49 Jam .4.49 0.99 0 49 6 49 .9.49 049 13 49 .4*9 949 • 0.49 4', PHOTON PAINT 6.49 H30tT*»piiBT»9>t^ 600204. Please note that ilwe is a surcrarge ol 50p per game (or orctors placed by telephone Order Form Non-members please add the membership fee Special Reserve membership £5 UK, £6 EEC or £7 World or ! Name QflfcW Secrets membersh ip £2 2 UK. £25 EEC or £30 World | Address *" h Gnon,e Ran 6« r Mj* |^ | or w* Surprise Alternative and Myth | | AMCOMP Phone No.^ •5.257'3.57'3.07"TAPE i Post Code Computer ! Payable to: Special Reserve or Official Secrets P.O. Box 847 T Harlow, CM21 9PH I Spec* R«*fv* and Ortioat Seciets aw trading nam** ol inter Mediales Ltd Reg Office ? Soufn Block Th* Mailings SavYpnaoewonri. Herts CM?i 9PG Registered >n England Numb** 20S47I3 VAT reg no 4?4 8S32 51 Item Item TOTAL W Credit card expiry date_ 'CHEQUE'POSTAl ORDER/* ACCE S&'VISA (Including dywocr Mastercard and Eurocard! " Deietfl wn©<o aopiicaDle 0ve«sea5 ordert musl be paid Oy crodit card Prices include UK Postage and Packing EEC order* please add ?0p per item Wond o'ders please add Z i 50 per ile*n h-bruury 19S0 .AMIGA COMPttTlNG 63 Design the game of your dreams Aivitra - me Game Creator is like nothin^ouVeever seen before on the Amiga. Developed by the author of the number one, best- selling STOS, AMOS stretches the Amiga to its limits. Now for the very first time you can access the awesome power of your computer with bewildering ease. Here's just some of the things you can do: ► Screens • Define and display up to eight screens each with its own resolution, size in x and y, position on TV, colour palette, and even in HAM, half-brite or dual playheld • Clone a screen's data to another screen to create multi- player games with ease • Scroll a screen simply by changing the screen offset. By overlapping different screens you can create multi-level parallax scrolling • Load an IFF picture to create a screen or overlay it onto an existing screen ► Sprites • Create sprites with ease using the feature- packed sprite editor • Display your creations as either hardware or software (BOB) sprites • Move up to a staggering 400 sprites at once thanks to AM OS's intelligent routines. AMOS will even snap to- gether hardware sprites automatically when the image requires more than four colours or exceeds 16 pixels in the x-axis • Animate as many BOBs (Blitter OBjects) as memory will , allow, definable to any size and displayed at lightning speeds with automatic screen buffering >AMAL • Use the AMOS Animation Language to create complex sequences for sprites or screens which compile at run- time and work on interrupt - up to 64 seque • Define sequences using the flexible range of commands or from the AMAL creator accessory ► Music • Play Sound tracker or GMC (Games Music Creator) tunes on interrupt • Access the Amiga's sound chip directly • Edit music with the easy-to-use music accessory ► Miscellaneous • Modify the copper list using the built-in commands or insert your own unique list _ • Access the Amiga's graphic primitives • Move screen areas around at blitter speed • Super-fast window and text routines ► Editor • Use the sophisticated scrolling editor to create programs with lockable procedures, no line numbers and multi- statement lines • Choose from more than 400 different commands to produce the results you want with the minimum of fuss • Hold up to four programs and 1 2 accessories in memory at once • Store music, sprites, IFF picture files and so on in memory banks which you can load and save independently of your program • Add new commands with ease (3D routines for example) • Port STOS programs to your Amiga • Works on the A500 with a single drive • Supports hard disc drives ► What you get AMOS Basic, sprite editor, sprite grabber, music editor, copper list editor, example games, Basic manual. Accesso- ries manual, reference card - all for just £49.95! The world of ST With sales in excess of 35,000 units, STOS has to be one of the biggest-selling packages for the Atari ST. Users have written shoot em ups, role playing games, ad- ventures, dental databases, financial programs - and scientists in Toronto use STOS to conduct lightning research! In the shops you'll find STOS Compiler, STOS Maestro (for sampled sound ), STOS Sprites 600, Games Galore (a collection of four great STOS games) - and soon ST owners will be able to buy STOS Musi- cian, STOS Vidi Digitizer, and more. Again Again's Gilbert - Escape from Drill was written in STOS as was Fun School 2. Three other educational software houses are currently using STOS to create innovative teaching aids. r □ Please send me more information about AMOS - The Game Creator □ Please send a demo d isc. I enclose a cheque / postal order for £2 payable to Mandarin Software. Name Address Postcode Send to: Mandarin Software, Europa House, Adlington Park, Adlington, Macclesfield SKW 4NP. I G4 AMIGA COMPUTING February 1990 ■ PROGRAMMING > interrupt. The next three lines deter- mine whether the interrupt has been generated by our copper list or not, because level 3 inlorrupts can be generated by other system functions as well. If it is not a copper interrupt, then the interrupt is passed on to the original interrupt handler routine in rom. This is done by a direct jump ut the end of the interrupt routine. However, this interrupt address is calculated by the program and will be correct for whatever version of Kickstarl you may care to use. We then have space for our interrupt code. In this example we are just changing the foreground and background colours by -2 and 1 respectively every 50th of a second, hence the colourful effect. After our lines of interrupt code we jump into the level 3 routine in rom. just in case the rom routine does anything important. I don't think il does in Kickstart 1.2 or 1.3, but it doesn't do any harm to jump in anyway, and it may be necessary for future Kickstarts. Now we move back to the main code and, assuming you have got bored of the Jeff Minter style colour changes and have squashed your mouse button, the program carefully shuts down and rebuilds AmigaDos for you. FIRST we put our old level 3 interrupt address - the rom address we read from $6c earlier - back into Sbc. For good measure we then disable copper interrupts, as we like to return things to the way we found them. Next we put our old copper list address back into the Workbench copper list pointer. This re-enables the good old CLI screen. We close the graphics library we opened earlier and re-enable multi-tasking with a Permitf). Now we are ready to return to CLI. The last thing to do is clear do - MOVEQ #0.d0 is faster way to do it than CLR.L do. When a program exits to CLI, the value in do is returned as the error code. It is a good way to pass parameters back to the CLI. but we don't particularly want an error code with our demos. Then wo RTS and return back to AmigaDos. If you find that il doesn't work and you get the good old strobing power light and red boxes, then you know that it's vour code at fault. With this routine set up, all you need to change each time is your interrupt routine, the copper list and the number of bitplanes you initially set up. • NEXT MONTH: Some special effects you can use from your inter- rupts, plus the practical side of getting sound and graphics into your programs. Travel the globe with the best In simulation software: UFO". Flight Simulator'", ThundcrChoppcr". Jet", and | jf Stealth Mission ". Discover the world with Scenery Disks, Flight Controls I, and other supplements to our integrated flight line! UFO. Flight Simulator ThundcrChoppcr. Jet. Stealth Mlttlon and Flight ControJi I arr trademark* ©I SobLOGIC Corp IBM Mierm thuwn Other computer vctlont may vary. soMOGIC AWinwri I Stilt XMKiA COMfl'TIM. tiS THE MR WORLD'S LARGEST CHAIN OF ^EXECUTIVE DIAMOND' DIAMOND PACK 1 ALL OUR AMIGA A5O0 PACKS CONTAIN MACHINES WITH THE FOLLOWING STANDARD FEATURES • 512K RAM • Built-in Speech Synthesis • 1 Meg Disk Drive • Two Operation Manuals • 4096 Colours • Operating System Disks • Multi Tasking • All Appropriate Connecting • Mouse Cables AMIGA 500 + Batman the Movie + New Zealand Story * F18 Interceptor + Buggy Boy + Ikari Warriors ♦ Barbarian + Thunder Cats +Terrorpods * Art of Chess + Wizball • Mercinary Compendium ■* Sanity Fight + Amegas * Deluxe Paint II + Microswitch Joystick + 10 Blank 3.5" Disks ♦ Mouse Mat + _ _ _ _ _ Amiga Dust Cover + C'JQQ 1111 Tutorial Disk .TV 4m\JWm\J\J Modulator INC VAT + DELIVERY SAVE EVEN MORE WITH DIAMONDS MEGA DIAMOND PACK 2 ORD PROCESSING PACKAGE Exclusive to Diamond AMIGA A500 PHILLIPS HIGH RES. 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TEL 0926 3121S5 SOUTHAMPTON (DIAMOND COMPUTERS) 114 LODGE RD. SOUTHAMPTON. 5012GS TEL: 0703 232777 LONDON (LAN COMPUTERS) 1045-1047 HIGH RD, CHAD WELL HEATH, ROMFORD ESSEX TEL 01-597 8851 BRISTOL (DIAMOND COMPUTERS) 227 FILT0N AVE, HORF-IELD, BRISTOL TEL 0272 693545 DIAMOND COMPUTER SYSTEMS LTD BALLINA. KILLAL0E, COUNTY CLARE, SOUTHERN IRELAND TEL 061 76125 /\ MIGABASIC works - and thai is about all that can be said of it. It will do what you ask, but only if it really feels like it. and it will never do it nearly as fast as you'd like it to. It's hardly surprising then, that a variety of other Basics have sprung up; compiled ones like HiSoft Basic Compiler and interpreted ones like GFA-Basic. which now has a separate compiler. But they aren't cheap, so what the world in general has been waiting for is an extension library which gives AmigaBasic what it Anyone who has played with AmigaBasic for more than five minutes will know that it has a few bricks missing. Stewart C. Russell looks at a package which sets out to fill in the holes should have had all along. The waiting is now over. HiSoft. in conjunction with SunSmile Software in the States, has released Extend. This wondrous wad of longwords won't actually make the daily running of AmigaBasic any quicker - what it does is to allow the Basic programmer full access to Intuition without having to open every Amiga library in rom and on disc. And this is a good thing. Extend is a disc-based library like Translator.library and Diskfont.library. You put in your Libs: directory. To use libraries AmigaBasic needs to access the relevant bmap file, and HiSoft provides the Extend. bmap file for this purpose. The usual problem with using library functions and routines from Basic is that they need oodles of code to get them working. Basic and C variable types are different, one tiny error in the protocol will result in a Guru. Believe me, I know - I've been there. Extend vl.3 contains 50 functions and subprograms. The majority of them deal with menus, requesters and gadgets, while some others deal with fonts, IFF and scrolling. The latter might seem strange as AmigaBasic does have a scroll command: unfortunately it is bugged. If you've ever tried loading and saving IFF screen images from Basic you will know how difficult, and above all. slow it can be. Extend's SavelFF routine saves the day. A 16 colour med-res display can be saved to ram about 60 times faster than a Basic routine would. SavelFF also compresses the data, so the resultant file is often less than a third of the size the uncompressed data would be. There's also LoadlFF. which quickly loads your image on to a screen that you specif)-. It is here that Extend shows its transatlantic origins - if you don't have a PAL screen open for a 256 line PAL image, Extend creates a very crushed 256 line NTSC interlaced Extend your HiSoft Extend Command summary BITP05 - Returns current x.y coordinates in th* currant biunao. BUSY - Change the mouse potntar to the word Walt. CHANGE - Change a window tit)*. CHECK - Poll a sanaa of gadgets. CHECKSUB - Check for a submenu selection. CLEARBUFFER - Clear out a string gadget's content*. CL0SELI8 - Oe-allocate all memory allocated for all gadgets. COMMANDKEY - Assign a hotkey sequence to a menu item. CREDITS - Display Fitend credits. DISKSPACE - Return the dish space free and useable. DOS - Execute any valid AnlgaDos command. EXISTS - Check to see if a file e«lst*. FILESIZE - Returns the size of a file. FONT - Set the current window with the desired font. fREEMFM - De-allocate all aoeory allocated with the Memory conaund. GADBCOtOOR - Set the drawing attributes for all gadget borders. GADGET - Put a gadget on the Basic window. GA0TC0LCOR - Set the text attributes for all gadgets. GETFILES - Display a file requester and proapt for mouse input. GEIIMPuT - Activate a string gadget for string input. GETSTRING - Return contents of a string gadget. 10A0IFF - Loads and displays a standard IFF screen. MAT - Change the highlighting attribute for a menu. MEMORY - Get a block of allocated system aaaory. HSCREEM - Move the currant screen up or down. 68 AMIGA COMPUTING February IMI ■ REVIEW ■ Soupod-up menus screen, which looks awful. Ah well, we can'I have everything. Serious headbangers can use (he ViewHAM command to have a look at HAM images. Unfortunately Extend lets you look, but not touch - HAM is too complicated for Basic to keep track of. This isn't strictly true; HAM from Basic has been done, but the routine is huge, very slow and suffers from colour banding problems, so it's not viable. There are a few other functions for fonts, external commands, tile handling, memory allocation, and even a routine to produce a "Wait" mouse pointer. Setting up the library for uso is very simple, all the work is done by one command to initialise the current window. Extend is as forgiving as it can be, given AmigaDos's somewhat capricious nature, but if it says in the manual that a function called incorrectly will cause a crash, you'd better believe it. Some routines must be slowed down with the PTIME command to allow AmigaBasic to catch up. Thankfully most of those are not speed critical, so the extra second or so won't be noticed. AMIGABASIC, despite being a bit of a dog. does handle menus fairly well. Extend goes much further - it allows subitems on menu items, and hotkey shortcuts, like Right-Amlga-Q for Quit for instance. On top of this you can define exactly how you want menu items coloured and highlighted. Most powerfully of all, you can set up mutually exclusive items. This is useful, say, if your program has a load option and you want to disable the save option while the data is loading. Now if you need anything more complex, you've outgrown anything AmigaBasic could ever do. Extend gives you submenus and hotkeys, a major omission from AmigaBasic The manual is good, written in that weary but snappy style which gets a bit old after a while. It does the job though, and it's packed with examples, which are also present on the disc — one example for every command. What, for me. makes Extend so good is that you can use it in your programs and then distribute them witfabUt any complications. The downfall of Basic extenders for many of the 8 bit machines was caused by their non- distributable status, but Extend has none of these problems - HiSoft and SunSmile have made Extend. library and Extend. bmap freely distributable. And because you can use Extend with the HiSoft Basic Compiler, you can now write good code in Basic and hold your head high. Easy Gadgets THE real giveaway that a program uses Basic is that there is a complete lack of gadgets, or at least, proper Intuition ones. Here. SunSmile gives as good a reason as any to use the latter allow for the input of text, the word plethora In describing its You can make them as big, small, options. Both boolean and string dull or garish as you tike - just as gadgets are supported. The former long as you remember to remove allow program options to be activated, them all before the program is exited. offgad - Disable a gadget. OMOAD - Enabla a gadget. PROTECT - Protect a Baste string. PTIHE - Pass soma tlM. PUTSTRING - Put a atrlnfl Into a string gadget's buffer. REFRESH - Attempts to refraah tha current output «lndo». PEMOVEGAD - Remove a gadget from a Basic window. REQCOLOR - Altar tha te«t colours of requester text. REQUEST - Prompt the user with a requester. SAVE IFF - Save the current screen In standard IFF format. SETHILIQHT - Sets the highlighting for gadgets. SETSTYLE - Set text attributes (Italics, bold, etc.) SETSUB - Set the position of a submenu. SETWINDOW - Passes Extend important Info about the Basic window, SRFQ.COi.0R - Altar the text colours of the custom string requester. 5REQUEST - Set the details for requester text and position. STATUS - Determine the status of a string gadget. SUBCOLOR - Set colour attributes for all submenus. submenu - Assign a submenu to a menu item. TOOGlEOFF - Switch a select gadget to the Off position. TOGO I EC* - Switch a select gadget to the On poaltlon. VERSION - Returns the current Extend version number. VIEWHAM - Load and display a HAH screen. MAITOAO - Walts until a specified gadget 1a not active. XSCROLL - Scroll whole or part of a bitmap. ■ ,«itf>itt <> LIBRARY 'this if ntotisary for BASIC st art her* to shorten REQUEST lint e$=$ADD<n«SKHR$<8>) MS,n«fl,Ml3,hiU) |:ELSt MINT HO Point and click - flexible and easy to code February 1990 AMIGA COMPUTING 69 ■ REVIEW ■ Spil and polish PROGRAMS often have lo ask the user Yes or No questions, such as whether it's OK to format the hard drive or not. This is where requesters come in. With Extend it's just as easy to produce a pretty little system requester as it is to use an unpretty "INPUT Y/N" statement. Thoy both do the same job, but the requester looks Far better and is resistant to turnipheads trying to input garbage. If the program processes any amount of data you'll want to ask the user for a filename in the nicest possible way. Unfortunately, the Extend file requester is really quite an appalling kludge. Instead of using the standard ARP file requester, which most of us (including HiSoft) know and love, SunSmile has gone for its own rather feeble offering. It doesn't even have a scroll bar or a device selection list, so if you're looking for a file from a hard drive you have to edit the string gadget and then System requesters will give your Basic programs that professional look click on the down arrow repeatedly to find tint file you want. It refuses to be put on a lo-res screen (the ARP one can be coaxed to do this) even though it is narrow enough to do so. It also doesn't update the directory list at every access - this can sometimes bo good, if you've got a very full disc, or can sometimes be a pain, if you want to access a file you've just written. SunSmile could do itself a groat service by replacing the Extend file requester with something better. It's better than nothing, but it's not good enough. KKI'OKTCAKI) Extend HiSoft 0525 718181 £19.95 EASE OF USE.... Straight forward, hut not for the complete novice. Could do with a better file requester. SPEED. Very fast, especially when. IFF is involved. Some functions have to be slowed down or AmigaBasic misses them. H^^^^^^H Superb value. Lots of useful features at a low price. Plus you can freely distribute your programs written with its use. OVERALL Extend makes Basic a viable proposition. Comprehensive, fast and cheap ~ every AmigaBasic programmer needs it. f t lMMlOMLSOfWM i _ M 1 SPELLBOOK Simple 'o use. Mouse controlled spelling game Forget the keyboard Improves hand'eye co ord Extremely effective and entertatning educational program Two age ranges A 6 and 7* £19.95 THINGS TO DO WITH WORDS 3 programs to consolidate spelling word and sentence structure Anagrams: rearrange the words. Word Hunt: discover words within words. Jumbled Sentences: make sense from sentences Mouse controlled with no keyboard distraction £19.95 THINGSTO DO WITH NUMBERS Maths from a different angle* Time Teller Tell the time using the mouse 12 hour and 24 hour clock. All Aboard: multiplication and division needed to answer these. Book Search: subtraction and addition handling small numbers. £19.95 SPELLING PACKS 4-6 or 7+. Two complete alphabets of words and pictures on 2 disks. Expand the words on offer through 'Spellbook! Gain Inspiration to design your own pictures with Alphabet Creator £14.95 SPELLBOOK ALPHABET CREATOR compatible with Degas & Neochrome - allows the creation of unlimited words and pictures - comes with P.D. Neoondisk £9.95 VISA 9 Quarry Hill Road Tonbridge Kent TN9 2RN Pteoie »«nd m« : ST Amiga SPELLBOOK (4-6) □ 7MJ Q Q THINGS TO DO WITH WORDS □ □ □ THINGS TO DO WITH NUMBERS □ □ □ SPELLBOOK ALPHABET CREATOR □ □ □ SPELLING PACKS (4-6) □ 7+d Q □ NAME ADDRESS Please make cheques and POs payable to Softstuff and send to 19 Quarry Hill Rood Tonbrldg» Kent TN9 2PN Tel: 0732 351234 70 AMIGA COMPUTING Febman 1090 MAIL ORDER 5A DOG'S HEAD STREET, IPSWICH, SUFFOLK (RETAIL) SOFTSELLERS 6 BOND STREET, IPSWICH, SUFFOLK IP4 1JB MAIL ORDER MA OSBORNE STREET, COLCHESTER, ESSEX (RETAIL) 24 HR. MAIL ORDER PURCHASE LINE (0473) 257158/210605 FAX NO. 0473 213457 5lh Gear 3D Pool Addklaa Golden Show Altorsd Beast A&tarolh , A.P.B. _ Actio" Punier . Action 1 or 2 (Conpllation) Aquaventura AieiiM ape Hammer Balance o) Pow*r 1990 .... Barbarian II (Palace) . Barbarian II (Psygnoala) Bantok Knight* BMfcrflhrM Balrnan (The Movie) P. 67ily.il Banwk „ Bfcodwych Bfcodwycn Data Dak* .... Blood Moray « Beach Vol lay Baraevaliey Bade Warnor Bad Company BUM of AuatraJtz Bobo Claw HO Chaot Stnkee Back „ Catile Warrior CaBWnOI Gam** Cafia) Conflict Europe Cominenlal Circus Cianoi* o» Wrath . Carthage ..... Corvette Chicago 90 Commando Chamber* ol Shaolln Chessmaster 2000 Day ol (he Viper Day* ol the Pharaoh Da/k*k>B Die Hard Dragon Ninja Dragon* ol Flame ■ m e*tw* H ** . ,**»-» Dungaon WasMt „ Dungeon Master Editor Dreadnought Demon* Tomb Dragon Spirit Dark Fusion.... Orakkan Dynamite Dux ,„ n -m- Doubie Dragon II Dog* ol War Dynamic Debugger ERe ™ Epoch Eye <* Hercules - Eye ol Horn* _ Flash Dragon F29 Aotallator _ FigSleafth Fighter F!6 Combat Pilot Faicon Falcon Mission Dak* ... Ferrari Formula One Footbaler ol the Year Forgotten Worlds Fas! Lane.™, Frankenstein .-. - Future War* Fghimg Soccer Fiendah Freddy ....... Tighter Bomber Fir»t Contact Germni Wing , Giants (Complation) ... GoWregona Domain Grand Monster Slam ... Grd Iron 1399 15.99 16 99 1699 16.99 13.99 15.99 II BJ 24.99 .13.99 15.99 16.99 16.99 16.99 16.99 16.99 15.99 16.99 16.99 1299 l&gg i>;99 13.99 15.99 15.99 15 90 .12.99 ■ | BB .13.99 1699 1399 16 99 16 99 .1399 .16 99 .15 99 .19.99 .12.99 .12.99 .1599 . 15.99 .15.99 ! <; Bfl 1699 .16 99 . 1699 . 1699 1699 .9.99 13.99 .13.99 l&M 13.99 •'i 99 . 1699 .1399 \2M 15.99 15.99 15.99 16.99 15 99 13.99 1699 .15.99 15.99 19 09 13 99 16.99 13 99 13.99 12.99 1? 99 1699 1699 10.99 IBM 15,99 13.99 1999 12.99 13 99 1599 ****•» »« m ■ m »-« »*ea Grim Blood Gho*tbu*ters H Gun*h0 _._ Game* Summer Edition ... Gieenooace Garry Lineker S. SkiQa Gore Galaxy Force , Ghoul* and Gho*t* .... Highway Patrol Hiffsfar Hard DrMng ... HALE Heavy Melal „_ Hound ol Shadow _ Hot Shot - Indiana Jonas (Lucas Firm) Indiana Jones (US Gold) .... invanhoa ~ Infection ,,,, mn , Iron Tracker Intestaiton Interphase intematttnal Athletic* It Came trom th* Desert Impost Die Miston II Jack Boot Jack The Ripper. Km, Kick 0*1..™ Kick Oil Exira Time Kryetai Keel the Thiol Killing Game Show ... K nigh dot ce Laser Squad Licence 10 KK legend ol Djel Lrtsuie SuR Larry Lightlorce (Compiation) Lombard n.A,C. Rally _ .. ... Lord* ol Ihe Raing Sun . — . „ .-.. — ... Last Nm|a II Lost Patrol Liverpool Lancaster Lasl Stuniman . Mane Mission . Microprose Soccer Mr Hal — . Male Johnson Moonwafker Murder in Venice. Maim Mamaders MOVinter Nin^a Warnor... 13 99 .1699 .15.99 ..1399 .15.99 ... 1399 . 1699 .16.99 . 16.99 .15.99 _ 16 99 .13.99 • j N 16.99 16.99 ...1399 .16.99 ... 13.99 . 16.99 .12.99 .12.99 ...16.99 ...15.99 .12.99 . 19.99 . 1699 ...16.99 ... 12.99 ...15.99 ...12.99 9.99 ... 19.99 ...16.99 1399 15.99 1299 1399 16 99 1999 16.99 16.99 1999 16.99 1699 1599 **•***•**«**•*»• ************ New Zealand Story North and South .... Neu romancer „_ Never mnd „ Operation ThunderboS Oriental Onslaught Oo*e Outrun Europe Papa-boy PmoaH MafC Police Quest II .. _ .. Pool* ol Radiance , _. Populoua ~__ _ Populous Data Disk* Powerdrome _ Precious Maul (Cornpilaiion) ... Pramer Coliaciion (Comp.lalion) PenjonaJ Knlghtmare Predator Playar Manager P47 Powerdrttl „ Passing Shot „ Pctonary „„ Panic Stat on 1299 1699 „ 15 99 .. 15.99 1299 1699 ..15.99 .1699 .1599 . 13.99 .. 16.99 .15.99 . 16.99 .13.99 ...16.99 ...15.99 ..13 99 . 1599 ...10.99 ...12.99 .1699 ... 16.99 ...16.99 ...16 99 998 ...16.99 ... 16,99 ...19.99 i j N ...15.99 ... 12.99 ... 1598 ...15.99 ...16.99 1699 IUB ia—a**saeaai Qua/a Quarter Back Quest lor Time B«d Red Head Renegade Rick Dangerous Robocop Rocket Ranger Run the Gauntlet R.V.F. Honda Red Storm Rising ...,_„. Rainbow Islands Risk Raly Cross .... Rock and Roll S.E.U.C.K Skldz Space Savage Snyi Sinder Silkworm S*rwooK ■ *»****«*•«•*••*»«* **•*•*■ wfti Space Age Space Que*! Ill Speedball Steve Davi Snooker S.T.OJ3 . Story So Far 1 (Compilation) Story So Far 3 (Compilation) Slur* Car _ , Shmott Street Fighting Man _ Scroll Sword ot Twil.ght Switchblade - Starwars Compilation , Shufliepuck Cala - Super ScrarrtNe Simulator .... Super Wonderboy . SJpheed _ Stoepng Gods Lie Soldier 2000 5layer — Siormlord Shadow ol the Beast Star Blue Super Oulrflet .. Super League Soccer Super Car* Sim City „ — Samt and Graavsla ,,■,—■„ Seven Gates ol Jambaia Star Corrsnand Survivor _ — Sieilar Crusade ■ ., ■ . , , Triad II {Compiation) Tesl Dnva II TV Spon* Footbal Trivial Puraul (Famly Edllon) Take Em Out The Cycle* Tower ol Babel ..__„ ...„_. Tin! n _ ,.— Thnll time Platinum (Compttalion) Terry"* B-g Adventure Trrva. ,r,,i m i mi i i, Tiapliftnartt Turbo Outrun .. UBimale Go* Ultmaie Dane Universe III ... LMouahabJaa UMS II UlUma V - vg iiame Varminator — — ... War In Middle Earth ... Waertto W.E.C.LeMana Warp _ Winner* (Compsaton) Xenophobe Xenon II ***■*■• sat it* aaaaHaaeawAaaeaaa 15.99 13.99 19.99 16.99 ■ •: N 15.99 1699 19.99 16.99 15.99 1599 1599 13.99 12.99 13.99 IBJfl 13.99 13.99 ia M 16.99 .13.99 .13.99 20 08 1BJB isja .12.00 . 1299 .12.99 1599 .13.99 . 13.99 .12.99 19-08 .1399 '699 13.99 .1399 . 1699 .19.00 l&BJ 1299 13.99 .1399 2499 .13.99 1599 1699 .13.99 ,10X00 13 99 1599 1999 .15.99 24.99 ■ B 90 1699 .1999 1699 .1299 .1699 1599 . 12.00 IS 99 12.00 15.99 ■5 99 ICJB 11 99 1399 12 99 1B90 15.99 1599 10.00 1399 15.99 16.99 12 99 .10.00 1599 iB.ee CMtUUES AND POSTAL ORDERS PAYABLE TO SOFTSELLERS POST AND PACKING FREE IN UK. OVERSEAS! 1 SO per item Sub|ccl to availabihly and price chaitqc without notice Not all titles released at tunc ol going to press Shop prices may vary, but personal callers can claim advertised discounts on production ol cut oH slip TITLE COMP COST ^"V\j>$^ TOTAL COST £ Name Address... ***** **« *******»**••**-*»***»***»-**-»***---»* . ' - - - pa a** taatBH »••••* *•*■»•#»■*■•■••*•***•****•• •**•■■•••*****»**•••••**■ X(J I NO* » tn HiiHiHwimitH mi h«hi r hi mmm n* t H t *» *tttn *«■»**.» ******** Have you ordered from us before YesD No □ • AMC February hvbruun I99U AMIGA COKWl 'llSC 71 PUBLIC DOMAIN LIBRARIES All supply the same disks - don't they? SOFTViLLE COLLECTION We have collected the best from around the world and compiled them into our own collection, so good other libraries sell them as is! Now over 400 disks - select from the BEST! A NEW FORCE ON THE AMIGA - UGA AvBilobte exclusively Irom SOFTVLLE Below is a small selection USONl- II m*# L«AjJ Ln« DUELLING, EJJXTR IC DR EA M. WU/ d iha DF.SrXT USON2- S SooLi wig* i«k*liAj NEVTJtENDfK; 5TC«X RCOOCC? fTULL 11 IE KYT1 IM USUD1- U mt*l?y h«hi™ pKturta inmr^ol b ■ liklaho* Grtal hin* jiiji akr.g m ifey ibuwl USUD4- S'dMha* fran The Dark Urt', w» of Eufnc— taadL* hnlwy ana*, brink* USLID5- lUmlau alkWhoar a* TJertinslion dodlandi' plcfurw * pr*i lure) pUy» ilongL UMUS3 - 10 ircmi tuni uwJialci SJJ BUH B1A. GAME OVER, FUTURE TRIE POWERFUL UMUS7 - Some of (he bad Amlp mukiana wiok lhaae ftr iha d»k. » ft™ 1 UMUSU- Tutura mirror sound'**'. I (Ml lunaa inchaW. gr»al mh to iitui yai UUYT*. - I iiral frmo'i Liduifca TTARCKCPS, ANCm I(R. Ml\GAP>CTUKE at t fc UIMT1I- ( S raa< damo'i Lnchxiar ROGER RAWUT, OVERLOAD, ACJD COO, COOL UANIMZ- 2 ■nimUiQM, SIXMF and UGA toga TWo <e* Iha «iy tai you'U w* an your Amiga. UAN1MS- 1 animations, IIAPPY GUY, WINDOW and F1S MIRROR - incradUal USPEQ- 7OUNDMCNIT0R phu athan, bob wtlae yoir ova great mop far your damo'at USPEC10 TIieMUSCCCMPOSERplwocnwrter. ale Pan itowa Thunderbiaji da«m USmai-CAME MUSIC CREATOR plus Oharx. hrillianl pna>i»m and utib'tiaa. F.Tcr wondered where to eel those rci.lv unusual utilities from? UUTUJ-BOOTEK DBWEARD. MASTER! ICON LA & SNIP- IT BACKCH.MUSIC. CRUNCHER. SHOWFONT& BOOTCONTKOL, BOOTUNE, BOBCDnOH.Kat UUTlLt-MOlHIL£ PLAYER GRAND BOOT MOUSLBACK. BOOTCOPY. BROWSER. POINTER ANIMATOR. FINDF1LE. DE-RtONlSER. MAKEPLAY, MAKECOPY ate UUT1L7-PLST CREATOR. BOOTLEG. BOOTUP. GET FAST, BOUNCEPlC. BOOTIOADER. SCROLLMAKUL BOOTCONTKOL SUHJIV1EV* V1RUSHUNT. PMLSLTED If you want to know more about the BEST Send S.A.E. (28p Mump) and state AMIGA for your FREE 80 page catalogue DISK PRICES 1 ■.■Vim. D1C ach 6 to 9 data- £2.75 aach 1 0 or more diaka - £ZS0 each | Prion include £>■*, 1 at Claw Petf, nan lafaal Mail and pfMSK ankn kmm»I retire mn drapairi«4 una day. GUARANTEED Dcduci I 1 (nun atmv prima if wmJIrn yuur o*o blank 6ak» SO, YOU COLLECT DEMO'S DO YOU? ISOF2M - DEATSTAR MEGADEMO • Simply the BEST - 2diski • £5 SOF254 • The WALKER demo, brilliant anixnation - lmcg version |S0F255 - The WALKER2 demo, the legend continuei - lmcg version. iOF206 - NORTH STAR/FAIRLK3HT Megadcmo3 - 2diski - £5 !OF205 - ROBO-COP demo, sampled from the imash hit moviel ISOF260 - MUSIC MODULES for use with GHOSTWRITER (Uspec4) SOF267 - PHALANX BEATBOX • Loads of IMJarrc type songs! ISOF274 - PHOENIX MEGADEMO 1 - One of the best demo compilations get this for your collection now! JOF277 • SARGON MEGADEMO - Fabulous loading screen, love it! ISOF278 - ALCATRAZ MEGADEM03 - Brilliant selection 1 SOF308 - MAHONEY/KAKTUS music/demo disk with over 40! songs ISOF318 - MADE LN HEAVEN from KYLIE MINOGUE - Very good sample and very popular now - 2disks - £5 IOF327 - GOLDISK (EMI of Ivory) more great music how do they do it? •OF347 - QUADLITE MEGADEMO/JUKEBOX 64, very different! ISOF352 - VISION MEGADEMO, some more brilliant graphics/music on this, their latest demo disk. ISOF35S - IT yALKMAN MUSIC DISK, one of the very latest, and one of the very best around. PLUS we have the largest collection of FRED FISH disks in the country, the latest sent to ui monthly from the man himself. WE ALSO STOCK The F.A.UG, SLIPPED DISK, PANORAMA, A.RD.C collections and a selection from the AMICUS collection. So, if you want CHOICE and SERVICE, come to SOFTViLLE, BRfTAINS NO.l DISTRIBUTER SOFTViLLE Unit 5, Stratfield Park, Elettra Ave, Walerloovillc, Hants P07 7XN. 24hr Orderlinc on 0705 266509 Fax 0705 251884 COME TO THE PROFESSIONALS!!!! ED NOW TAKEN 2 Williams Clowes Street Burslem Stoke on Trent ST6 3AP Tel: 0782 575043 AMIGA SPECIAL OFFERS AMIGA XMAS OFFERS AMIGA XMAS OFFERS AMIGA XMAS OFFERS Street Fighter Road Blasters Drum Studio ... Joe Blade ... Joe Blade 2 Into Eao>es Nesl war Machine Hollywood Poker Kartlng Grand Prta ... Ice Hockey Grid Start . Destroyer .... Sub Battle Sim NeDulous Custodian Netner World . Turoo Cup (♦ car) Fight Path 737 Jin iter Corruption LED Storm Strip Poker 2*.. Rocket Ranger Flmtstones Pacland IK* RType Afterburner — . Melenium 2.2 - — Elite Roger Rabbit Saint and Greavsay — Peter Beardsley Soccer Time Scanner. Fire Power . 9 99 999 5.99 5.99 9.99 4.99 6.99 8.99 8.99 8.99 9.99 9.99 7.99 — 6.99 699 7.99 4.99 Space Quest Leather Goddess — . Pnantam Fighter - Police Quest Outrun World Class Leaderboard Soldier of Light.™ _~™ Alien Syndrome Heti'ire Attack „ Star Goose - Wicked Dungeon Master (1Meg) ... Fernandez Must Die ... Blasteroids Phobia Football Manager 2... FM2 Epansion Kit ... Warlocks Quest Gold Runner _„ Gold Runner 2 ... Leather Necks... Running Man Jug 3 Stooges Baros Tale Space Quest 3 Dominator . .. Phantasm ■■IMiaiaa m + ......... - ......... - Hyper Dome Manhunter In NY Gold Rush Pioneer Plague ... Foundations Waste _ Portal F29 Retaliator Xenon 2. ... •«*«* ♦ Player Manager „ ™ .9.99 4.99 .4.99 .999 799 ...7.99 .7 99 ...7.99 .2.99 .4.99 ...5.99 15.95 .5.99 .6 99 .. 6 99 . 9 99 . 5.99 ...3.99 .4.99 .5.99 .6 99 6.99 ...5.99 ...6.99 ...7.99 19 99 5.99 .3.99 .3.99 .9.99 .9.99 ...4.99 ...4.99 .699 '699 1499 1399 H Wt P IH m i HI I I ■■■■■■awl Dogs ot War .„,_„___„ Commando... On Slaught Double Dragon 2 . Postman Pat Fun School 2 Under 6 Fun School 2 6-8 _ Fun School 2 8-12 Bioodmoney Robbeary Indy Jones LastCrusaoe Ferrari Formula One Cabal _ Take Em Out Super WonderOoy Interphase Fallen Angel Forgotten Worlds Lombard Rally Microprose Soccer .... Nortn and South Days ol the Pnaraoft . Beast (Shadow of) .„ Space Ace — „ Hard Drwin Chase HQ Chambers ol Srtaolin Toobin Continental Circus Bomber Manchester United Fighting Soccer Sim City Stridor Vigilante Grand Pnx Master.. Stella Crusade — „ Star Command Turbo 13 99 __13 99 -15 99 14.99 7.99 1299 12.99 - 1299 15.99 4.99 16.95 -.16.95 -1695 9.99 15.95 15.99 13.95 13 95 14 99 15 95 15.95 15 95 24 95 - 29 95 15.95 15.95 1599 14.95 1395 16 95 15 95 15 95 2695 595 9.99 1599 27.95 „ 23.95 Turbo Outrun Tusker Myth _ Space Quest 2 Lancaster _ Hound ol Shadow™ Paperboy Grand Prbt Circuit Ivon Hoe Light Force Ghostbusters 2 The Untouchables- Bloodwych Beach Volly Batman trie Movie Galaxy Force Rally Cross Chalt Falcon Falcon Mission Discs Populous — . Populous Scenery Disc D'agon Spirit Bubble Bobbie 2 . Robocop 15.95 .15.95 .15.95 9.99 .13 95 ...16 95 1399 1699 16 99 1699 1699 1699 1599 16 99 1699 6.99 1399 18 99 1395 16 95 7.95 ......1395 .^15 95 New Zealand Story ... Stunt Car Racer Honda RVF F16 Combat Pilot Strike Force Harrier Proprietors FA ana ......16 95 —.15 95 — 1595 - 15.95 1595 4.99 ft A Beech 12.95 We oher i UM reliable service Cheque's P.O. s Ic CASTLE SOFTWARE Any games not listed phone our Hotline now on 0782 575043 Please stole Amiga when ordering Al orders under £6 00 require 75p towards PsP. Over C6.00P&PFrM 72 AMIGA COMPUTING February WW CALL US FOR YOUR BEST POSSIBLE PRICE AMIGA 500 AMIGA 500 From £259 AMIGA 500 BAT PACK WITH DPAINT II, BATMAN THE MOVIE. F18 INTERCEPTOR. NEW ZEALAND STORY TV MOD. E315 A500 * TV MODULATOR * RETURN OF THE JEDI - CUSTODIAN - MERCENARY - WARLOCKS QUEST - ZYNAPPS - HELLBENT - POWERPLAY- ELIMINATOR - 23 PUBLIC DOMAIN GAMES £315 PHILIPS 8833 MONITOR COMMODORE 1081 MONITOR COMMODORE 1084s MONITOR RAM EXPANSION SECOND DRIVE MANNESMANN TALLY LASER 6 ppm, 5,000 pages per month MT905 300,000 page engine life £950 Hewlett Packard Laserjet Series II emulation INCLUDES ON SITE MAINTENANCE ATARI ST ATAR1 1 MB EXPLORER PACK ATAR1 1 MB + SM 1 24 MONITOR SUPER PACK 21 GAMES + ORGANISER SOFTWARE DATABASE SPREADSHEET WP £189 £165 £199 £99 £75 £220 £320 £290 TEL 715989 and CALL IN TO OUR EXTENSIVE SHOWROOM IN POOLE, DORSET SHOWROOM OPEN MONDAYS TO SATURDAYS 9.30 to 6pm and WE STOCK A FULL RANGE OF AMIGA SOFTWARE PRINTERS COMMODORE PCs PC10SD PC10DD PC20HD PC40SD PC40HD MONO £499 £589 £779 £1,065 £1,393 COLOUR £599 £739 £959 EGA £749 £875 £1,089 £1,270 £1,587 COMMODORE B2000 XT BRIDGE BOARD + PHILLIPS 8833 + 29 MB HARD DISK £1 ,249 9 PIN MY81 £110.00 EPSON LX800 £150.00 CIT1200 £120.00 KXP1081 £120.00 STAR LC 10 C1 35.00 CIT180E £145.00 SEIKOSHA 1 -80A £115.00 STARLC10(COL) £195.00 24 PIN SEIKOSHA SL80A £235.00 STAR LC24-10 £255.00 NECP2200 £255.00 EPSON LQ500 £255 00 KXP1124 £255.00 AMSTRAD LQ3500 £175.00 LASER BROTHER HL8 £1.400.00 CANON LP08 £1.275.00 STAR LASER 8 £1.230.00 KXP4450 £1.350.00 HERMES 800 £1,099.00 HP LASER JET II £1.270.00 MY905 £950.00 INKJET CANON BJ130 INKJET PRINTER £575.00 SOFTWARE All accessories low low prices Full software list inc: LOTUS ASHTON TATE DIGITAL (GEM) Multimate Smart Wordstar WordPerfect SACE MICROSOFT Supercalc Ventura Ability Clipper All Epson Printers AIIBrother Printers All NEC Printers AIIToshibaPnnters/Lasers HP/RolanoyCalcomp Plotters Minimum All Hewlett Packard Lasers AJIAmstrad Printers 20% discount 20% Discount 25% Discount POA 20% Discount Discount POA 25 U Urn ALL PRICES EXCLUDE VAT 406 ashley road, parkstone, poole, COURIER DELIVERY £5 Dorset telex 41445 jemeg MUSIC on the Amiga comes of age with Music-X from Microlllusions. Instead of an average- to-good sequencing package, we are treated to a superlative sequencer, plus a whole host of utilities which integrate perfeclly to provide a complete music editing workstation. Music-X makes full use of the Amiga's multi-tasking environment to provide four packages in one -a Sequencer, a Midi Filter, a Sampler Playback and Editing system plus a Patch Editor and Librarian. The Sequencer mimics a cassette recorder, using conventional Play, Fast-Forward, Rewind and Record controls. Assuming you have a Midi interface and keyboard connected, to begin recording you just hit Record and start playing — a metronome signal can be routed through the Amiga's sound channels to keep you in time. There's no need to frot if you don't have any music hardware - you can use the internal Amiga sound channels. Once you have finished laying down your first track you can slip into the editor page to correct any errors that may have crept in. Here you have a choice - the Bar Editor or the Event Editor. The former is a graphical masterpiece that displays all the Midi information, not just notes, in a colour-coded grid form. A musical keyboard up the left hand side of the screen shows which note is which and the horizontal axis is labelled in time units. The whole screen scrolls from right to left displaying the next section under scrutiny. Altering a note is a move-the-mouse-and-click affair, cutting and pasting large sections is just as simple. From this editor, transposing notes and altering individual Midi channels can bo easily done. The quantise module is also accessible from here, although it operates in a slightly different way Musica ex machina So you wanna be a rock star? John Kennedy investigates the package that is leading the Amiga Midi revolution 74 AMIGA COMI'I TING h<-bruan t99ll ■ REVIEW ■ Yesterday from Ihat on other sequencers. A quantiser will tidy up any slight variations in timing and duration lhat you may have inadvertently introduced while entering your tune. The Music-X quantiser operates on notes that have already been stored in memory, instead of the more usual quantise-while-you-play system used on other packages. The Music-X uljuliljliuuuliuliuu Splitting the keyboard - play the drums at one end. and the cello at the other. system is better because it allows little variations to be introduced to stop the music sounding totally on timo. hence losing all vestiges of sounding human. The Event Editor differs from the Bar Editor in that it displays the recorded sequence in memory as a long list of Midi information, or events, As a result it looks very complicated, but is perfect for correcting mistooks with absolute accuracy. As well as being able lo map any output channel on to any other from the Sequencer screen, Music-X allows complete redefinition of incoming Midi signals. Producing keyboard splits whereby different parts of the keyboard tan send information on different Midi channels is only the start. All Midi MIDI, or Musical Instrument Digital Interface, is one of the greatest success stories of modern electronics. Back in the old days, some manufacturers realised that a standard protocol for inter-connecting musical instruments was needed to replace the rather haphazard "CV and Gate" analogue system they were using. After lots of meetings and expensive lunches, the Midi standard was finally decided upon. Soon all the new keyboards and electronic drum kits started having funny little 5-pin DIN sockets on the back. The Midi interface was a true digital system - a fast serial interface like the RS232 we all know and love. And it was going to change modern music dramatically. Midi could send details of notes to be played, their volumes, which voices to use and. in fact, anything that could be represented digitally. Since all the new synthesisers were digital by design, this meant nearly everything thai could be played by hand could be represented by a string Irish rock band Meanwhile In Czechoslovakia. They used an ST until Music-X came along of serial data. The similarity between Midi and a normal computer serial interface was soon exploited by computer enthusiasts in a way in which the early Midi designers had not even dreamed of. Now that computers can generate and control Midi signals the pop charts will never be the same again. events can be split between channels, allowing almost total control of a music system from a single keyboard. This provides even the simplest Midi keyboard with capabilities usually only found on considerably more expensive models, A total of 16 IFF or Sonix samples can be loaded and re-tuned from the sample Playback screen. Their volume envelopes can also be edited using a cute graphical system. The sound channels of the Amiga will provide up to four different sounds at once, although the sample to be played can be changed between the 16 in memory at any time. The use of internal samples means that it is possible for the user with no external hardware to compose and play tunes, although the range of Hello, goodbye We can work it out MIDI works by assigning each instrument a channel number between 0 and 15 - or sometimes 1 and 16 - rather like an address in computer memory terms. When the instrument recognises its ciannel request it pays special attention and gets ready to play a note or do whatever the Midi signal asks. Sometimes a synthesiser can respond to more than one channel at once, allowing it to play several tracks totally independently using different voices. THERE are throe types of Midi socket - the IN. the OUT and the THRU. The IN receives incoming Midi signals, the OUT sends them out and the THRU echoes any incoming signals received at the IN socket. Thus a keyboard needs at least an OUT socket and a sound module needs an IN socket. In practice most equipment has at least one of each lo allow information to be passed both ways. If you have a large number of keyboards, modules and drum machines you can arrange them daisychain fashion, where the IN of one unit is connected to the OUT of the other, and so on until the ring is complete. This tends to be frowned upon because each link in the chain delays the signals a little. Alternatively you could drive each unit with a direct IN/OUT signal and use the THRU to carry the signal to units such as Drum machines which don't need to send any information back. AMHiA CUMf'TIKC. February I""" 7S IP'S s jj ■ 7- — 2 — la i a * 6 S3 , 2 mj S..« W ^ 5 I r~ w — ■ be ? % 'i 2 | z 1 > OS i £ ■ REVIEW ■ ► sampled sounds supplied is. (□ say the least, small. Of course, the wonderful IFF standard means that lots of PD sounds are out there just waiting for you to use them. All programmable synthesisers can hold several voices internally. This is fine until the batteries run out on the keyboard or you run out of room to store your latest sound-patch. The Librarian page allows you to download all the voice data, save it on disc and re-load it at a later date. This is nothing new, but being able to do it from within a sequencer package is a large step forward. From this part of Music-X is also possible to edit the sounds by means of a Patch Editor. As each synthesiser creates and stores its sounds differently, supplying an editor for each keyboard is impossible. Editors for specific machines will be available in the future at ridiculously low prices, but in the meantime a horrible hex dump is available for you to experiment with. Midi timing can be internal, external or taken from the television and cinema industry standard SMPTE signal by moans of some optional hardware. The internal clock is the system most users will use. With a resolution of 1/192, or a quarter note, it's unlikely that a more accurate clock will be needed. Documentation takes the form of a well written 4B0-page epic which takes you by the hand through all the facilities and yet works well as a reference guide. A utilities disc is provided to help install Music- X on your hard drive, should you be lucky enough to own one. Also on this disc are programs to convert Music-X files to a standard Midi file format and to convert Smus files to Music-X format. All that is missing is a stand-alone program to play Midi files. Add-on modules are promised which will extend yet further Music- X's many capabilities. One of the first available should a proper music printing module to provide a top rate hardcopy of your carefully edited music. What about a module to add an automatic Stock-Aitken- Waterman facility? Should only take about 5k... With so many facilities available from within the one program, Midi musicians have never had it so good. The use of the Amiga sound channels moans that even if you don't have any Midi hardware you will still be able to produce music of superb quality. Music-X is the ultimate sound package. If you are in the least bit interested in music on the Amiga, you must buy it. With a little help from my friends ONCE you get bored with the samples supplied with Music-X. or want to expand on the number of sounds you can play at once, you will need to acquire some extra musical hardware. First you will need a Midi interface - Music-X does not come with one. Interfaces are available from many sources for around £30. All these interfaces are practically identical, they only provide a connec- tion between the Midi signals and the Amiga's serial port by means of an Opto-isolator. Get the cheapest one you can. or if you are feeling adventur- ous, build your own. If you buy. make sure the one you choose has at least one Midi IN, one Midi THRU and as many Midi OUTs as possible. Mine is a DIY job that cost less than a tenner to build and sports an IN. a THRU and three OUT*. There is now a whole range of Midi instruments available starting from about £100. The now classic Casio CZ101 can be picked up for between £100-£200 secondhand. It has four or eight channels of sound, which you can edit freely to produce all sorts of weird effects' The CZ1000 is identical oxcept it has a full-size keyboard instead of the little fiddly one on the 101. There are also lots of small The Casio CZ100Q, the Amiga and Music-X - all you need to annoy the neighbours keyboards available in the £100-£300 range that offer a collection of pre-set sounds and a built- in drum kit. Some of these keyboards sound very nice and may provide a good starting point for your introduction to Midi. Have a play with them next time you are in Boots and see what you think. Never worry if you can't play a tune - with Music-X vou will be able to edit the notes with the mouse until you got it right. For those more used to wind instruments, you can get a Midi saxaphone from Casio. Casio even produces a Midi guitar, so the old excuse that goos "But I can't play a keyboard" doesn't wash any more. MQGA COMPUTING February 1990 77 ■ TOP HEADING I Era Snap Scroll O i> Repeat Mil. 12.178 D IIPAUSE ►PLAY •RECORD STEP BACK Gnd:ll9 Laying down a drum track with the Music-X sequencer Come together WHEN the Midi standard took off. sequencers to exploit it were soon available. A sequencer stores notes and drum patterns, not as sound but as the Midi signals needed to trigger thorn. Once the Midi signals are stored in memory they can be manipulated in all sorts of ways. Early sequencers were small boxes that consisted of little more than record and playback buttons. With the introduction of computers it is now possible to store, display and edit the individual Midi signals using the sort of Cut and Paste techniques used in word processing or graphics packages. Getting better AFTER using a small keyboard you may get bitton by the bug and want to upgrade to a slightly more sophisticated system. Since with a Midi system you really only need one keyboard - the "mother" keyboard - why waste money on buying another synthesiser? Using this line of thinking, manufacturers have started to release modules which contain nothing more than some sound electronics, some Midi IN/OUT signals and a multi-channel audio signal to connect to your tape recorder or amplifier. One of the cheapest is the new Cheetah system called the MSBOO. It retails at around £200. The one I heard at the PC Show last October certainly gave a sound that I would like to experiment with. Cheetah also produces various other modules and drum machines, as well as a complete range of mother Let it be THE ST used to be the computer to interface with Midi equipment, thanks to its Midi IN and OUT sockets. This was rather a good marketing ploy by Atari, but the tables are turning. Anyone using Midi at all seriously will need a Midi THRU and more than one Midi OUT. making an external interface on an ST just as necessary as on the Amiga. The Amiga starts to score heavily with its built-in sound capability. It has a sampler system as an integral part of its design - no uprated Spectrum chips here. This means you have an extra four channels of sound straight away. Where the Amiga wins hands down is with its multi-tasking operating system. Flipping from one utility to another is child's play and totally impossible on a lesser machine. With Music-X and a Midi interface, the Amiga can now be tho heart of the ■ORTCARI) Music-X Microlllusions 0480 496497 RRP £199*vat. but shop around, we've seen it on offer at £20 less lhan that, inc. vat. EASE OF USE... Using idi sequencers will never be simple, but Music-x is the best yet. SPEED :ii l lllllin il i i More sinc'ing options than a submarine. Nothing takes any time to do. muni VALUE ^^^^Ul Nothing comes close at this price point on any machine. OVIJtAU. 97% In a class of its own. All things come to he who waits. Music-X was worth waiting for. ?B AMIGA COMPUTING February 1990 £24.95 inc VAT from your dealer oSo Produced by RGB STUDIOS • Distributed by DIGIPRO LTD Max the Hax presents the collected wisdom of the greatest games players on earth - all of them Amiga Computing readers The NEIL MANSELL says: To avoid demerits keep your Finger on (he siren, this has the added advantage of getting other cars out of the way. Go straight to the station if you catch the criminal. You don't have to worry about your quota. Never miss the opportunity to enter either the car or donut shop. Don't, however, get gas unless you need it because it slows you down. Hitting a sign or building results in a demerit. Opponent S i I i h ( l s • ■ i j \ ► 1 1 r* Litterbugs 1 Helps 1 Hitchers 1 Honkers 2 Do per 3 Drunks 3 Table showing how many times you have to hit a car with your siren on Nilltle Reward UffontH i Resistance Freddy Freak S1.000 Selling drugs 2 Candy Goodbody $2,000 Hooking 3 Bernie Gasman $3,000 Arson 4 Resistance of each turget will to win RICHARD HADDEN says: If you get a high score type ZBACKDOOR with no spaces instead of your name into the high score table. You will start the next game with infinite lives and energy. HO AMIGA COMftrilSC hnbrudiv mmi ■ HINTS ■ RICHARD HEATH says: This, like Impact, was written by an errant Monty Python Fan. There is a lo! of it about. Pause the game and typo SPINYNORMAN. This will give you infinite lives, but get comfortable first because it will still take you about three quarters of an hour to finish the game. 1 — — — MATT BURT says: Here's one for Cave Runner which was on the Amiga Computing Cover disc last November. Got to level two. which is oasy enough, then type SUB B BOYS including the spaces. Tho screen will flash bluo then Fl gives nine lives, F2 sets the timer to 99 - useful for level D and F3 exits the current level and starts the next. P IjI -f ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ i naa aaaaa aaa RICHARD HEATH says: It's simple, just got on to the high score table and type Green Crystal. Press Fl a few times to keep your lives topped up. If you can't be bothered to go through tho long, slow-moving levels press F8 to skip them one by one. Write to Max GAME KILLER is always on the lookout for hot tips, so if you have found a cheat mode, bug or written a poke then drop it in the post - on disc if it is a long listing. If your work is used I'll send you a game draw at random from the goodie box and a Konix joystick. To speed up getting the prize to you please cut out, photocopy or copy this form. It will be used as the address label to send out your parcel so ploaso write neatly. May all your bugs be simple ones. 1 have supplied tips/pokes/rheats for Name Address. / confirm that the information I have supplied is mine, it hasn't been published elsewhere and I hawn't sent it to anyone else. Send this form to Max -The Hacks' Tennant, Game Killer. Amiga Computing. Second Floor. North House, 78-84 Ongar Boad. Brentwood. Essex, CM15 BBC. Signature. Date Mmiary I M0 AMH.'A (X)MPI Tl,\(; flj Desktop Pu bhsb & Prese Nations mg 1990 YEARBOOK — " ,u KMcea 1990 DTP YEARBOOK The Desktop Publishing Yearbook 1990 is an invaluable buyer's guide containing the most detailed survey available ot hardware, software and services in the electronic publishing field. And there are clearly-written "how-to" articles fof both the newcomer to Desktop Publishing and the experienced user. Articles cover software, laser and other electronic printers, matrix printers, digitisers and scanners, training and forms creation, bureau services, word processors, and many other key topics including the emerging desktop presentations technology. Whether you're a beginner or professional and would like to find out more about the exciting possibilities of DTP, then this book has all the information you need. Send for your copy today. 1990 Yearbook now available Save over £5 on RRP Our price Including UK postage £14.95 To order please use the form on Page 113 Undet-6i Learning has never been such fun! Fun School 2 has been a tremendous Success with more than 60, (KM) copies sold to date -even reaching Number 5 in the Cullup lull-price software chart! Each packconwinsrigVi/colourfuland exciting programs designed by a team of educationalists, a colourful button badge and detailed Instructions giving educational help. The computer iiself monitors the child's progress. The skill level - initially set by you - is automatically adjusted to suit your child's ability. Now children can enjoy using your computer while ihcy learn at their own pace. Give your children an unfair advantage with Fun School 2! "The number one rhoire in mti school" - The Micro User 'Fantastic!' - New Atari User "It is fun, and your rhttii unit almost certainly learn too. - Amstrad Action "Full marks to Database' - Amstrad User On sale at top dealers nationwide and selected branches of IVII Smith and Boots sub/eel to availability Order by telephone on 051-357 2961, or send your name, addrevi, postcode and product code number together with a cheque payable to Database Software or your Access/Visa number and iis expiry dale. Postage free in the UK. Add £2 per program for Europe & Eire (£5 Overseas). Send to: Database Direct, FWCEPOST, FJlesmen- Port, South Wirrat L65 3FJL 6 8 yean Prices from £9.95 Formal Under 6s 6-8 years Over 3s Tape Disc Tope Disc Tope Disc Spectrum 9094 9095 9096 9097 9098 9099 Commodore 64 9064 9065 9066 9067 9068 9069 Amstrad (PC 9179 9180 9181 9182 9183 9184 BBC Wiao/flecftoft 2239 2242 2245 2249 BBC B+/Maste* 40 Trock 2240 2243 BBC B+/*toste» 80 Track 2241 2244 2250 Atari ST 9192 9193 9194 Amiga 9842 9843 9844 PC 5.25" 5764 5765 5766 PC 3.5' 5767 5768 5769 Archimedes 2900 2901 2902 8-bit formats: £9.95 tcassettel £12.95 tdixc) 1 6/32-bit formats {ST, Amiga. fC, Arthimrdrsl: £19.95 finite quote the fnndiift nxle nu Wttl tat thnwn abmv\ wftfH \»" MK DATABASE EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE /\fecu Products A host of new features in Version 1.05 HiSoft BASIC on the Amiga has already proved its worth for thousands ot people because of its speed, its compatibility with AmigaBASIC and QuickBASIC on the PC and its ease of use. Now we've added features that make HiSoft BASIC irresistible. Version 1 .05 gives you: • Even more compatibility with AmigaBASIC making it simplicity itself to compile all your existing programs into super-fast, stand-alone machine code. • Linking with assembler and C programs. Now you can use externaf functions and sub-programs from either assembly-language or C programs, giving BASIC a power you will find hard to believe. • Extended editor for 1 M users with automatic upper-casing of BASIC reserved words as you type them in, making for clear, easy-tounderstand program listings. Remember that HiSoft BASIC is not just an incredibly fast compiler producing compact, very fast machine code but it is a complete programming environment - you create and edit your programs just like you do with an interpreter but then, when you run your program, it is automatically compiled to give the best of all worlds. One package, one price. HiSoft BASIC 1.05 still costs only E79.95 inclusive. Upgrades are available to existing registered users at E5. Invaluable libraries for HiSoft BASIC The Extend package is available at last! The Amiga is a difficult comouter to program and AmigaBASIC offers little help in using the gadgets, menus and requesters that the operating system supports. Extend gives you an extensive library of sub-programs and functions that is available from both AmigaBASIC and HiSoft BASIC to fill these gaps. Extend allows full control over the system gadgets, menus and sub-menus, requesters, windows, IFF-format files and much more. It comes complete with over 50 pages of documentation packed with clear examples of the usage of the library and, of course, the library itself (and examples} on disk. All for £19.95 inclusive. Now you can extend the power of your Amiga's BASIC with this great new package. Also available for the Amiga are: HiSoft Devnac version 2 (£59.95), the most complete and reliable system for assembly language programming on the Amiga and it works on all Amigas I unlike some other assemblers we could argue about!); Lattice C 5.04 (£229), the ultimate C package - very fast with everything you need including a global optimiser and extensive. 2-volume documentation. All software should he available from your local dealer. In case of difficulty, vou can order directly from HiSoft by phone, using your Access or Visa card or by mail, using Access. Visa, a cheaue or postal orders. Our prices include VAT and shipping within the UK. HiSoft, The Old School, Greenfield, Bedford MK45 5DE. Tel: (0525) 718181, Fax: (0,525) 713716 Joloyon Ralph, hacker extraordinaire, adjudicates in a battle between a young upstart and an established friend I I NTIL recently there has only been one assembler worth using on the Amiga - HiSoft Devpac. There have been other assemblers. The Metacomco one is now out of date and terribly slow and difficult to use and Kuma's K-Seka, favourite of the European demo writers, is more of a monitor with a little assembler Argasm thrown in. Now there is a new challenger: ArgAsm from Argonaut Software. I've never thought that assemblers are slow. Indeed the reason I started programming in assembler in the first place was because after a couple of weeks of coding in C 1 got bored of waiting for compilers and linkers and all the other disc-spinning, time- wasting progletts to finish, only to toll me I'd left off a squiggly bracket from the end of line six. What I needed was a language where I could make changes to my program and see the results almost instantly. I was, of course, used to Basic, where all one has to do is type Polished performer DEVPAC V2.14 consists of a blue and white plastic ring- binder containing a 154 page manual, the two unprotected program discs and a pocket 68000 reference guide. Initially 1 thought this 66000 guide was a cheap gimmick, but looking through it I found that it contains all the useful pages from the Motorola 66000 programmers reference manual, a book I needn't have bought now. It won't teach you machine code, but it's an invaluable guide for any programmer. The Devpac manual is comprehensive, covering setting up your system to run the assembler, an introduction to the editor, assembler and debugger, plus a good set of appendices covering everything from AmigaDos error codes to a bibliography- It is well presented and easy to follow. The first program disc is a slightly cut-down workbench, containing the assembler, debugger and editor, all in the C directory, along with the include files and some example programs. The examples are fairly simple and unimaginitive, but are a good introduction to using the Devpac assembler and editor. The second disc contains various alternative include files and the Arp includes (Amigados Replacement Project), allowing you to use Arp requesters in your programs. Most of the time you will only need the first disc, leaving your external drive free for your source disc. Devpac HiSoft 0525 71B1B1 £59.95 EASE OF USE.... Assemble to Memory and lump lo Error options help a lot. und Monam2 is without doubt the best machine code monitor/debugger on the Amiga. SPEED Fast enough for most. Experienced coders may have to twiddle their thumbs or juggle for a few moments. VALUE The excellent manual, 68000 pocket book and powerful monitor/debugger make this the best value Amiga assembler on the market. ()\ I HM I H4"„ There is always room for improvement. A faster upgrade is promised. But probably won't reach Argasm's speed. ftj AMIGA COMPUTING February 1990 ■ REVIEW ■ Devpac in the program and run the thing. Devpac did the business. I typed in my code, assembled it, and it was there, ready to run. in about 30 seconds. HiSoft has since released an upgrade, Devpac 2. This is faster and has more options than the version I first used. It can now assemble directly to memory instead of only to a disc file, which means you can assemble code and test it without having to leave the editor. Jez San of Argonaut Software was one of Devpac's greatest fans. He used it to write, among other things, the ST and Amiga vorsions of Stargliders 1 and 2. But Devpac was not fast enough for Jez, so he wrote his own assembler called ArgAsm 68000. It claims to be the fastest Amiga assembler, being able to assemble your code before you've even finished typing it. Well, almost. Since ArgAsm is designed to out- perform Devpac it is not surprising that it is compatible with the Hisoft assembler, even down to understanding Devpac's ST directives. What is surprising is that it is also compatible with Metacomco and Cape assemblers. Total compatibility with three things which are not compatible with each other is, of course, impossible. Common sense is the usual solution to this problem. And this means Argasm does not suffer some of Devpac and Fast and furious ARGASM 68000 comes in a yellow and black plastic ring- binder. The manual is shorter than the Devpac one at 69 pages - not always a bad thing, but this time it is. It doesn't go into nearly as much detail as the Devpac manual and gives me the impression that it was written in a hurry. Not only is it short, but it seems to miss out several features of the assembler all together - the Assemble to Binary File function, for example. Hopefully a future release of the software will contain a completely new one. The program comes on two unprotected discs. The first contains the assembler. Arg, and the editor, ArgEd. You do not get a debugger with ArgAsm. The manual recommends the best debugger to use is Monam2. the one supplied with HiSoft's Devpac 2. As this is not available separately from Devpac, you would have to buy both assembler packages to use ArgAsm with its recommended monitor. The first ArgAsm disc boots up into an Amiga shell, better than Devpac which drops you out into a CL1. The second disc contains the include files and some example source files, which are a little more interesting than the HiSoft offerings. Putting the include files on the second disc is a pain if you only have two drives, because you will presumably have to have the assembler in dfO: and the disc with the includes in dfl:, leaving no drive free to store your source files. KKI'OKT CARD ArgAsm 6B00U Argonaut 01-906 3744 £59.95 EASE OF USE .... Newcomers to assembler may have trouble because of lack of a good m onitor/debugger. SPEED Can 't be beaten for speed. Assembling is exceptionally quick. This is the reason the program was written. VALUE No monitor/debugger means you 'II have to shell out again, even if it's only for a shareware one. HiSoft will sell you Monam for C39.95. OVERALL 87",, ArgAsm has been designed to beat Devpac. With the time and effort Argonaut has put in it would have been surprising if it had failed. February 1990 A MIC A COMPimNG 85 ■ REVIEW ■ Capo's nasty idiosyncrasies. There is no ST version of Argasm, although one programmer has offered to do the conversion for free just to got the speed. This is a real bonus. It means the program has been designed without being fettered by conversion considerations, and with the Amiga in mind. The Argonaut program has better support of the AmigaDos link file formats in that it allows expressions containing extornal references wi'hin brackets. Copper instructions are built in - again the kind of feature you wouldn't expect unless the program was produced by Amigaphiles. Commercial realities mean that programmers do have to cater for the ST, and Argasm has an option to produce raw binary files suitable for porting down. On loading the two programs the first thing I noticed is that they look almost identical. They also share most of the same function and control keys, which makes converting to ArgAsm a lot easier for Devpac users like myself. ArgAsm's editor. ArgEd. is definitely the smarter of the two. You can split tho window into two separate ones, horizontally or vertically, and subdivide each of these windows into two more. I spent quite a while dividing windows up into even smaller windows before I remembered that I was meant to be reviewing the package. Having one window displaying the end of your source and another displaying the beginning is useful. It saves having to jump around your source code all the time. This is mado especially useful by the ability to cut and paste between windows. ArgAsm's editor is faster than the Devpac one because it uses the blitter ASSEMBLE TO OEVPAC V2.I4 A1QA5M vl .0 MOVES. 1 MOVES. S MOVES. S MOVES. S Nothing Memory OfO: RAM: 1? Baca 12 a*ca 19 Baca 1 I . S IKI 3.2 MM 12 aaca nBdOBd > 1 mag ZOWEE.S 20WCE.S ZOWEE.5 ZOMEE . S Ma thing H—Bf> OFO: HAM: o.s * IKI tl.S a»ca 14 aaca 4 aaca IS a oca naadad ' 1 nag two fHaa —rm t»atad. moves. s oonatatad of 6,000 llnaa Of tho milructtnn MOVE. I 1)2345. dO. Howovar. thaaa aorl of laat 'Mm do not aiwayo gtva realistic roaulta. ao tha moor cm coda for tha Aoiga computing ?ooaa Oamo «*a> •lao taatad. Thla aourea Includoa INCBIW ftlaa raad from tha hard driva In Doth caaaa. for text handling. However, a similar speed can be approached with Devpac editor by running FastFonts (FF). which comes with Workbench 1.3. or BlitzFonts. which was on the January cover disc. fez doesn't like waiting, so Arg's search and replace is significantly faster, there is an expression evaluator to save digging under papers for a programmer's calculator and the save function can remember all the windows and settings so that getting going when you start up is as quick and automatic as possible. On Devpac the sleepy bubbles pointer has been replaced by a little hourglass. Argonaut definitely has tongue in corporate cheek with its animated equivalent. The main selling point of ArgAsm is its speed. It claims to be five to 15 times faster than Devpac 2. As I never take anybody's word for anything, I did my own tests on the two assemblers. The first thing to note about these tests is that ArgAsm has no Assemble to Memory option. In Devpac 2 you can assemble a file to memory and test it, still within the assembler. The nearest you get to this in ArgAsm is assembling to a ram file. If you only have a 1 meg machine you will soon find that you haven't got enough memory to assemble. If you do have enough memory to save it to ram. you then have to switch to a shell window and run the program from there to test it. Both of the test files 1 used could not assemble to a ram file on a 1 meg Amiga. Both assembled to memory easily in Devpac 2. Because there is no Assemble to Memory option in ArgAsm. and there is not enough ram in a 1 meg Amiga to assemble anything much over 300k as source and object to a ram file, the only way to test your programs in ArgAsm on a two drive. 1 meg Amiga is to assemble to floppy. This can take longer with ArgAsm than assembling to memory on Devpac 2. ArgAsm is fast, although 1 don't thinl. Argonaut is being entirely reasonable about the performance *j»ia« Vtr % i aa i U gawiaM f g> lift 1HI •«aMa-fwaia M iin f c f i.tMi.iM|pft c [.!!.>• alii.- : .id i-i i-fitien E-eeutabl* Dependant Normal Screen tPrinltrW Disk HeMory Assenblv Options SHAJlT Is current screticurteni ;No then branch ;Ditftt*y Screen! Masert it Into CoFper tt&.l SCHWI.BH2.PH ,'Screen? : logical mt.l SCHW1.A1 ;AMrjss U Clear fltVIT: nOVE. I SCHW1.DI ;llse screen? t Br IN Col' 1 Hf «. 27721 HOVt.L OMfHlCSBMC.W I mi HI CoIimbM Sue 122(1 Devpac s assembly options include Assemble to Memory ArgAsm's Optimise f unction will try to speed up the execution of your code 86 AMIGA COMPtlTlSC February 19911 THIRD COAST TECHNOLOGIES LTD Amiga ASOO Basic pack (Includes ASOO, TV Modulator, WorkUencri, utilities, Manuals. Basic. Tutorial £369 00 Amiga ASOO * BatpacK E369.00 Amiga A500* Batman Pick ♦ Tertstar Option _ £386.00 AMIGA A50Q & AMIGA 2000 HARD DRIVES & HARD CARDS Xetec Hard Drives are the fastest hard drives for Die ASOO & A2000 Commodore ASM 22 Meg £365 00 JVS 32 Meg. Full SCSI 25 MHHseconds Head Park -£449.00 45 Meg. full SCSI 25 Milliseconds Head Park _ „„ £549.00 65 Meg. Full SCSI 25 Milliseconds Head Park £699.00 85 Meg. Full SCSI 25 Milliseconds Head Par* £799.00 109 Meg. Full SCSI 25 Milliseconds Head Park £999.00 251 Meg. Full SCSI 25 Milliseconds Head Park £1995.00 22 Meg. Full SCSI 25 Milliseconds Head Park __________ £399.00 45 Meg. Full SCSI 25 Milliseconds Head Park _ £499.00 SO Meg. Full SCSI 25 Milliseconds Head Park „ £599.00 65 Meg. Full SCSI 25 Milliseconds Head Park £649.00 85 Meg. Full SCSI 25 Milliseconds Head Park £799.00 109 Meg. FuH SCSI 25 Milliseconds Head Part £949.00 251 Meg. FuH SCSI 25 Milliseconds Head Part £1899 00 A20D0 HARD DRIVES AMIGA A500 & A2000 RAM UPGRADES Amiga A500 1 Meg Ram Upgrade (Inc clock & switch) £79.99 Amiga ASOO 2 Meg Internal Ram Expansion (populated) ______________ £339.00 Amiga A500 2 Meg Internal Ram Expansion (unpopulated) £149.00 Amiga A500 4.0 Meg Internal Ram Expansion £699.00 Amiga A500 8.0 Meg Internal Ram Expansion __ £1099.00 Star LC-10 Mono Printer £169.99 Star LC-10 Colour Printer £215.00 Star LC-24-10 _ £199 99 NEW PRODUCTS Professional Monochrome DlglDser Low Medium and High Res £149 99 RGB Splitter tor colour cameras allows full colour digitising £99 99 Minlgen Amiga ASOO & A2000 Genlock _..._ _ £95.99 Professional Genlock Overscan, Fader, built In RGB Splitter too many features to list _ E499 00 Rendale 8802 Genlock £195 00 Merotejt Teletext Adaptors buQt In tuner „„ _..E139 99 X- Specs 3D Glasses, excellent for Cad Cam Liquid Crystal shuttering gives a whole new outlook on your Amiga ...__„___._._._.__._.. £149.99 Processor Accelerators MHz Accelerator Wit support MC68881 . Oilers between 45-50% more performance whilst maintaining complete compatabiilty with software 8-16 MHz switch £149 99 Replacement Amiga Mouse A500 & A2000 £24.99 A-Max Mac Emulator Roms ,,, , , , „, £249.99 ..£149.99 ...£349.00 ....£519 00 Amiga A200O 8 Meg Expansion Board (Unpopulated) Amiga A2000 B Meg Expansion Populated 2 Megs Amiga A2000 8 Meg Expansion Populated 4 Megs .. Amiga ASM Upgrade Chips , , . ,. £11.00 D.I.V. kits to Interface embedded SCSI hard drive or IBM PC ST506 drive to Amiga A500 or Amiga A2000 Trumpcard Includes power supply, enclosure, software, auto-boot roms. Will accept 3.25 incn embedded SCSI drive any opacity. Simply plugs into side of A50G can draw power from machine or external source. Up to 4 megs of desk cacne or system memory can be Installed Offers transfer rales up to twice that of A5M. Board can be removed and used In A2000 at a later date offering future expansion _£199 99 ALF MFM drive kit for ASOO. Offers support of ST506 IBM PC Orrves. Available with or without power supply and enclosure. Host board and controller available. Entire kit Including Enclosure host board and controller auto boot roms cables and software __ £299.99 ALF RLL kit available at the same price for people with RLL IBM ST506 type drives -£299 99 ASOO ALF controller and host board without power supply and enclosure £199.99 A500 ALF host board wilt accept standard PC hard card full software including enclosure for host _„ , „_ £129 99 Toolbox 3 slot or 2 slot box available, allows the ASOO user to have A2000 power at ASOO pnces. the toolbox dips onto the side of the ASOO and allows support of A2000 products on the ASOO. eg: 8 meg ram board, hard card. 66020 accelerator board. Features 2 or 3 slots 40 watt supply, on/off power. £299 00 THIRD COAST TECHNOLOGIES Unit 8, Bradley Hall Trading Estate, Standish, Wigan WN6 OXQ Tel: 0257 472444 Fax: 0257 426577 We accept Bank Drafts, Company and Personal Cheques and also Access and Visa Cards All prices Include VAT at 15%. A full warranty Is offered on all products. VIM FOR YOUR COMMODORE FROM TRILOGIC ■ AMIGA AUDIO DIGITISER U TRILOGIC - NEW, CHOOSE MONO OR STEREO VERSION w v | Both Amiga audio Oigitisers give superb performance, unsurpassed at the once No software ts supplied, since Ihey are fully compatible with Perfect Sound, Prosound Designer. Audomaster. and Datel's Prosampler Sampling rates up to 60KHi are possible depending upon the software. An audio lead is supplied for connecting (o the headphone socket or line output of a radio personal stereo, keyooard etc. full instructions are included, and the mono version also has an L.E.D overload indicator A public domain "Sound Workshop" disk ts available which has demo versions ol Audiomaster & Perfect Sound etc. MONO DIGITISER E27 99 POST FREE SOUND WORKSHOP DISK ADAPTOR FOR AlOOO STEREO DIGITISER £37.99 FREE WITH DIGITISER £2 00 EXTERNAL 3.5" DISK DRIVES • 880K FORMATTED CAPACITY • THROUGH POST • VERY OUIET OPERATION • SLIMLINE STEEL CASE • LOW POWER CONSUMPTION 3.5" DRIVE WITH ON.OFF SWITCH E79 99 POST FREE AMIGA MONITOR & PRINTER LEADS RGB TV & MONITOR LEADS We have leads io connect all AMIGAS to your TV or colour monitor provided it has an RGB input socket All toads give a much ceanjr picture than using the AMIGA MODULATOR, permit ALL 4096 colours ft* to be displayed and include the audc lead (to give stereo with stereo tv'sV ORDER AL 1 FOR TV's WITH 21 PIN EURO (SCART) SOCKET. FITS PHILIPS. FIDELITY. SONY. GRUNDlG. NORMENEDE. ETC ORDER AL 2 FOR FERGUSON TV's WITH 7 or 8 PIN DIN SOCKET. MODELS MCOl & MC05. ETC ONLY £10.99 ORDER AL 4 FOR HITACHI £ GRANADA TV's WITH 7 PIN DIN SOCKET MODELS CPT1444, ETC ONLY £10.99 AMIGA TO MULTISYNC MONITOR (analogue RGB) ALII MANV OTHER AMIGA MONITOR/TV LEADS LISTED IN OUR FREE CATALOGUE OUR LEADS ARE GUARANTEED TO WORK WHERE OTHERS DON'T' LEA05 ALSO AVAILABLE FOR ATARI ST RANGE PLEASE CONSULT US IF IN DOUBT NEW - MONITOR SHARER SHARE 2 COMPUTERS WITH ONE TV;MONITOR Plug-m the scarf leads from any two computers eg AMIGA & ST. and connect the SHARER to the tv or monitor's scart socket Jus1 press - . the switch to mslantty 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 L9M long AMP 1 ONLY £6.99 3.0Ml0ft_ AMP 3 ONLY £9.99 AMIGA A 500 BBC EMULATOR LEAD BE1 ONLY £7.99 AMIGA ASOO TO SERIAL (RS232) PRINTER 1 5m RSI ONLY £9.99 AMIGA ASOO TO MODEM (25W 0') 1.5m RS6 ONLY £9 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 ADC 3 ONLY £8.99 EXTERNAL DRIVE SWITCH FOR DFl * DF2 ADE4 ONLY £10.99 PLEASE STATE WHICH AMIGA YOU HAVE WHEN ORDERING MOUSE/JOYSTICK SWITCHER MO MOTE UNPLUGGING MOUSE WHEN JOYSTICK REQUIRED EXTENDS THE PORT FOR EASIER ACCESS SAVES WEAR I TEAR ON THE MOUSE PORT PUSHBUTTON SWTCH CAN BE OPERATED "'if N THE COMPUTER 15 ON NEW COMPACT DESIGN £12 99 Order 3S AMIGA MINI STEREO AMPLIFIERS MINIAMP 2 combines a mini stereo power amp with two neat speaker units which connect directly to your AMIGA Thev are ideal for use with mono TV's & monitors. & simply plug In tor instant stereo sound You'll De amareo at the difference MINIAMP 2 WITH REMOTE VOLUME CONTROL K ALL LEADS ONLY £19 99 MINIAMP 4 comprises separate 4 watts per channel high Quality mmi stereo amplifier with loudspeaker headphone socket, separate speaker units with 4" twin cone drivers, mains power pack & connecting lead lor AMIGA. v CAN BE USED AS WALKMAN' BOOSTER A WITH OTHER COMPUTERS MINIAMP 4 STEREO AMPLIFIER SPEAKER SYSTEM MA4 £34 99 NEW - AMIGA MIDI INTERFACES MIDI INTERFACE 1 FOR ASOO 2000 OR AlOOO MIF1 £29.99 This has MIDI IN. OUT & THRU sockets MIDI INTERFACE 2 FOR ASOO'2000 OR AlOOO . MIF2 £34.99 * ^» This has MIDI IN MIDI OUT MIDI THRU plus 2 UNIQUE switchable MIDI OUTTHRU SOCKETS to save you having to swap MIDI leads when using more than one MIDI instrument FREE MIDI LEAD WITH BOTH INTERFACES SUNDRY ITEMS - BARGAIN PRICES SONY 3.5" DISKS 100% Guaranteed DS/DD disks Lowest Prices Per 10 £12.99 I Postage Lowest Prices Per 25 £28.49 Post Free Lowest Prices Per SO £55 99 Post Free Lowest Prices Per 100 £99.99 Post Free 3 ' DISK BOX FOR 40 DISK5 SMOKED LID. LOCKABLE, DSB4 ONLY £8.49 3 * " DISK BOX FOR 80 DISKS SMOKED LID LOCKABLE DS86 ONLY £9.99 A500 DUSTCOVER ANTISTATIC TYPE ADC1 ONLY £4.99 A4 NON-SLIP MOUSEPAD. AFMl ONLY £4.99 WE ALSO STOCK AM I GAS PCv PRINTERS MONITORS, HARD DISKS MEMORY EXPANSIONS VIDEO DKHTISERS SELECTED SOFTWARE t BOOKS - PHONE FOR OUR FREE 20 PAGE CATALOGUE TRADE ENQUIRIES WELCOME Please KM 7 *P Mt postage ' packing to orders uncter f 15 00 TRILOGIC I REE CATALOGUE WITH ALL ORDERS f "Wf SS Pftivf Rv tl 99 f «»> TRILOGIC. Unit 1 enouirhs _T 0274 678062 253 New Works Road. Bradtord BD12 OOP. 1 Tel 0274 691115 \ 1*3 UMUHTIi ON All ITOft MTKNT P CAiH. OHQM fVAlLI ID tlUXIC It KIT-U IC* IXKKT OKM\ I CMQACClUOtVi. ADC f I ttDOV R* TURBOSOFT Dept (Amiga Computing) 41 South Street Leighton Buzzard Beds. LU78NT MAIL ORDER ONLY TEL: 0525 377974 FAX: 0525 852278 NEW RELEASES HOT NEWS Par* Meneo* f> Doom'* fieveng* Hound Olf ■ Font <.-.:■ r [VlQD [ jrop*an Sioe> Imqi* Pod Dl R*3*v* - Drejo^oiri*-* OpMMR TrunCttWl AQOOU Go-0*> S*oe U US II _ Commeroc •«.n C-v^N taniari - — Shy* CnmHO Out Street Bee 'mi tint „.,... Gtotmutlvt li Uerijnttr m Sar f Moon Tta*er VtTDW i.mnoe t*»iWiexei i Rah HmMm — — GtWt H Ghot* TirtoOwi .... For Gamed RM 00- We- Onww Ferae , ,n .„_,,.. K eB QrWBraW i P«7-Thi»w»WI UN UN 15 » IB 99 •6 99 16 M 13 09 13 99 1999 1699 1699 ... 1699 1699 1699 1k99 13 99 1599 15 09 1990 ... 13.99 1599 1399 <5 99 i59B ifi90 1690 K M <S99 <699 1599 <S99 HM 16 99 1S99 '399 1599 1«99 '•99 1*99 '6 99 16 99 13 99 <3 9V <6 99 '6 9B 13 99 10. 11. 12. 13. U. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20 21. 22 23 24 2S 26 27. 28 29 30 •ii ii iti i tt«iii ■■• TOP 30 CHART Hani Drfvin _ Continental Circus SdoOo* o* !•><* 0t>ai! Kick Of! Xtra Time „ Pro Tennii Pro Xenon II „_,„.„_„_„_., Lord* ol the Ruing Sun Slum Car Racer Sim City „.._ , Kenny DeJgltih II Altered Bean ___ „ Damodat Beach Volley ._ Space Ace . — Imarphaaa A.P.S. ~_ Bornbaf Batman The Movie MfiTomoai Pfcl_— Gaiia'a Super Soccer Tutkar Cab*,_ __. Law Squad Nonn and Souti „.._ F. Freddy 1 * Big Top Fun Storm Lord _.,„._ Po*er Dn'tl Future Ware 61399 C1399 C23 99 ... C7 99 CI 6 99 £1699 .-...£19 99 ....-£16 99 £1999 £12 99 £1699 ...-.£15 99 — £16 99 £26 99 -....£1699 -..£13 99 £1999 .£16 99 £19.99 £18 99 ..-.£14.99 £16 99 £1699 £1699 £1699 £16.99 -...£16 99 ...-£1399 ...-£16 99 £26 99 TRIAD-ONLY E13.99 Barbarian. Stanjltder, Datender ol the Crown COMPUTER HITS II-0NIY U.M Tatn*. BiacK Shadow. Golden Path. Joe Biad. PRECIOUS METAL -ONLY £15.99 Captatn Blood. Xenon. Arkanoid II. Crazy Cari ART & SOUND A Otum Big Band Sri Pa»m .... Studio 24 _.„„ Track 24 Photon Pant Deiuie Paint Dahlia Muse Con«. Set „. De*j»e Vtdao ,„. An* Pans I Ant Pan* II Taiiipin Adv Creator . AM O.S Fantavuion — - Siudto Meg* Pro Sound Owigner £27.99 .£139 99 £1*99 £134.99 £59 99 £69 99 £59 99 152 99 ess £7.50 £7.50 ...£18 99 C34 99 £26.99 £52 99 £52 99 TOP 30 SPECIALS 1 Alternate Realty 2 Brian Ck)ugl> * FocTOall 3. SlnpPokBf II. ._ 4 Football Manager II 5. Krwal ZZ~ 6 Outrun „,„.- 7. Padand _ 8 Runnog Man 9. Thunderb.rd* „.._ 10 Warlock* Ou.lt , 1 1 Roger Rebel .,„.,.,„.,„ 12. TV5ooni Football _ 13 GaWragons Domain 14. Ca*ino Rouletla 15. World Cla»* Leademoaid 16 Trivial Pursuit* New Beginning. .. 17. Time Scanner .-._..._.„„ _, 18 Blasteroida _ If, Shadowgaie 20 Peter Beardsley* 21. Emmanueile 22 Rocket Ranger 23 Sorcaror Lord ,.„.._ ?t Baroarian Ultimate Warrior 25 Phobai™ 26. Spaedba* 27 Da/kCaate 26. Fernandez Wu*l Oe . 29 BUmarh ,„ 30. Hunt For Red Octooar EB 99 £6.99 re 99 £699 £999 £699 . £7.99 £7.99 -..£6.99 99 ...£6.99 £1299 £8 99 . £3.99 ...E6.99 ..£7.99 £6 99 ,C7,M £9 99 £5 99 £9 99 £1299 ... £6.99 i6 96 7.99 £1 0.99 u H £5.99 £899 9 99 PREMIER COLLECTION II-0NLY E1B.99 Eliminator. Cuitodiar. Backlash. Mercenary PREMIER COLLECTION-ONLY £12 « E'olon. Nebulus.Netherworid, Zynap* LIGHT FORCE-ONLY 116.99 Voyaoar, R-Typa. Batman -Capea Crusader, IK- UTILITIES & BUSINESS A-Ma» (Mac-Emulaior) £109 99 A Ma« with 1 28K Roma £209.99 D*vpae2.. , C44 99 OtacalC. _.- £27 99 GF A Banc V3 £39 99 HlsoU Baste . £59.99 Protect V.4 , _ £69 99 LarnceCV.5 — £164 99 Ma*» Beacon s Typing E19 99 Kmoword* V.2 £37.99 EDUCATIONAL Dl*cover the Aiohabet -E14.99 Discover Number* £14 99 Fun School 2 Under 6 -....£13 99 Fun School 2 6 B E13.99 Fun School 2 6. _ £13 99 Please Note: Some Titles may not oe releasefl. * These wtli be despatched within 24 hours of release, subject to availability. Please make Cheques & Postal Orders payable to: TURBOSOFT P&P in UK FREE elsewhere please add £2.00 per item. N.B. Please state make of computer when ordering CLASSIC COLLECTION 30 PW Anocne Ranger BertkKneei CotoeeueCheo* X ■■ ■ DOdOWO^oon Obqot Nm)t Di-gw Uetw (1 Ueg) (X-a»on UattB' E*nr _ ''B"i SfTUllO-l Mo->r«JO0 Pomt Pro «>ro» Ouen T«Be Peok InTWd "eiy ,.. Uo-aSoccf Sceneiy Dec 7. 9o- ii Scenes Ok Mom or Euooe 5i«>e DM! ' Wer n Meo» Ea* OperaBonWM , MbMH Bumam ArCNDeUDD* ■ Ben»»o> Oartoala, Dreaon's L*> (i Mea) 1 ■->■ ■ Fenen Fonrula I 119 M C5 99 C.6 99 C'5 99 C'399 C'5 99 C'5 99 CT.99 obm C1499 C1T99 C<599 C'599 '■->■>■ CO 98 C'399 C'3 99 C'599 CI 5 99 C599 C'699 C'6 99 C'6 99 C'399 e:4« CIS 99 C'6 99 Gram PniCMia ,.„ .C699 K,"ooo-ofErv/ervj _ C'1.99 RBdeBRanaar--., C2099 T"V*I Punwa C1399 SeM at Satan M , —.CUM U'nj IV . C1699 McKiKM* GoOruSh „ M-rnun»reiNeeiV0* HocofB* K*» San/ Kick 0« 1 1 oi acne" Wo<iC» Koi OB-garou! Dtoofl Monev kkfly Jo^i iawmre TesiOnveH Ginswo Minoumi?.. C'6 99 Eifl M C'6 99 C'6 99 C'099 C'?99 C'399 C'599 E19 M i-r. M Cll M C'599 Ell M CI r. NEW HI-TEK MONITOR FILTER I STOCK MODELS : COMMODORE 1081 ALL OTHER TYPES TO ORDER 1084S : PHILLIPS 8833 : 8854 : ATARI SC1224 H TOTALLY ELIMINATES MONITOR GLARE H ENHANCES ON SCREEN COLOURS H MAKES INTERLACE MODE TOTALLY VIABLE H RESOLVES LONG EXPOSURE ADVERSE EFFECTS B PROTECTS FROM R.S.I. (EYE STRAIN) 11 INCREASES IMAGE SHARPNESS OUR HIGH QUALITY FILTER IS MADE FROM OPTICAL GRADE 3 MIL ACRYLIC SPECIALLY TINTED. rTS UNIQUE FILTERING QUALITIES HAVE BEEN EXTENSIVELY TESTED AND APPROVED BY AMIGA USER GROUPS, DOCTORS. HIGH SCHOOLS AND GOVERNMENT OFFICES. LOW COMMUNITY SERVICE PRICE $a 59.95 - £26 INC P&P MADE IN AUSTRALIA 10 YEAR GUARANTEE HI-TEK EUROPE LTD. CROWN SHIELD HOUSE. 143 ST LEONARDS ROAD. WINDSOR BERKSHIRE SL4 3DW. UK TEL: 0753 851269 or FAX 0753 850897 Credit Card Orders Same Day Shipping AUSTRALIA-NEW ZEALAND OCEANIA HARRIS HI-TEK PTY LTD P.O. BOX 112. ERINA N S W. 2250 AUSTRALIA TEL OR FAX 043 852051 / 02671 1856 Credit Card Orders Same Day Shipping "Can't wait?" "OK go to Australia's top Computer Retailers". Harvey Norman Discounts. MONITOR TYPE 0 PLEASE DEBIT MY CREDIT CARD VISA - MASTERCARD - BANKCARD □ OR □ □ U.K. & EUROPE EXPIRY DATE CHEQUES, P.O.'S, EUROCHEQUES. PLEASE MAKE PAYABLE TO HI-TEK EUROPE LTD AUSTRALIA & N.2. TO HARRIS HI-TEK PTY LTD. MR /MS/MRS SURNAME INITIALS SIGNATURE ADDRESS. POST CODE TELEPHONE No IN CASE OF QUERIES HH AMIGA COMPirriMG February 1000 REVIEW ■ > increase over Devpar. 2. Any assembler is limited by the speed of the Amiga's drives when assembling to or from floppy. And as ArgAsm relies on assembling this way, you lose the advantage of speed. Where ArgAsm comes into its own is on very large files. For these you are talking at least 1.5 megabytes of ram and a fast hard drive. Games programmers will find ArgAsm invaluable because assembling lo memory is not something Ihoy use. ArgAsm would seem to work best for assembling lo floppy - and that is what it was written for. a fast assembler to use for the development of future Argonaut games like Hawk, the new flight simulation soon to be published by Electronic Arts, No only is Argasm fast, it is aimed at programmers who want to write programs which run fast. To this end Argasm will display instruction cycle timings and flag settings to help optimise your code. A valuable Devpac option missing from ArgAsm is lump to Error. If you assemble a file and there are, say. three errors in it, by selecting Jump to Error you can go to each line in turn which contains an error and alter it or add more code. This will be implemented in future versions, if only because the programmers at Argonaut want it. ArgAsm has an option on the assemble screen to edit lines with errors while assembling. It is supposed to stop assembling when an error is found, allow you to correct it. and then continue assembling. This option did not seem to do anything on my review copy and 1 could find no mention of it in the manual. I assume it is a feature to be added at a later date. One of the irritating things about Devpac is that it refuses to load a source file larger than the buffer size set previously. ArgAsm has fixed this. Any size source file can be loaded into ArgEd - it automatically sets the buffer size. However, on Devpac 2 the buffer allocated to the assembled code is set automatically, but on ArgAsm you have to set the buffer manually. And if you haven't set a buffer large enough. ArgAsm is limited in what it can expand, and sometimes refuses to assemble. No one writes perfect code first lime, especially when just starting off. To aid this problem Devpac comes with a monitor. Monam2. This can either be used inside the assembler environment or as a stand-alone monitor/debugger. The debugger has a status screen at the top giving information about the current state of the registers, and it allows you lo browse through memory disassembling, single stepping or just hunting around for Ascii text. You can even load source code lo into a separate window to allow you to examine the source while you debug the assembled code. Once you get used to Monam2 - and il is very different from every other monitor 1 have used on the Amiga - you will find it invaluable in helping debug your code. Even Argasm 's superior error messages can't compete. HiSoft has promised a faster Devpac. Argonaut will undoubtedly release an ArgAsm with more features. Perhaps by then the gap will have closed. So which assembler should you buy? Well, if you are learning to program in machine code and have had little experience with assemblers, you should definitely go for Devpac 2. The documentation is excellent and you will get everything you need in the one package. If you are already an Amiga machine code programmer and find your current assembler too slow, you should look at ArgAsm. It certainly is the fastest assembler available for the Amiga. Frbruan I'JttO AMICA COMF1 'TI.KG 89 DISK DRIVES AMIGA EXTERNAL DRIVES ★ 3 1/2' 1 Meg. 880k Format ★ As above plus ★ On-Off Switch ★ Through Port SPECIAL PRICE £74.99 ★ 51/4' Half Height * Spec as above SPECIAL PRICE £95.99 ATARI EXTERNAL DRIVES ★ 3 1/2" 1 Meg. 720k Format ★ Super Slim ★ Very Quiet ★ Teac Drive Mechanism SPECIAL PRICE £78.99 ★ 51/4" Half Height ★ Very Quiet ★ Teac Drive Mechanism SPECIAL PRICE £99.99 Benchmark DISKS AND BOX OFFER 20 3 1/2' DS/DD 135TPI + 80 Cap. Box £20.00 40 3 1/2' DS/DD 135TPI + 80 Cap. Box £34.50 50 3 1/2" DS/DD 135TPI + 80 Cap. Box £40.00 70 3 1/2" DS/DD 135TPI + 80 Cap. Box £54.00 All disks 100% certified & guaranteed 135TPI All boxes inc Lock & Dividers DISK BOXES dockable) 3 1/2- -50 Capacity £5.25 3 1/2" -100 Capacity £6.95 3 1 /„ II Benchmark DISKS AND DS/DD 135TPI 25 £17.80 50 £34.80 100 £63.25 200 £117.88 400 £223.68 600 £319.13 1000 £503.13 ACCESSORIES Mouse Mat Rigid £4.50 Above price only with other purchases ALL PRICES INCLUDE VAI & P&P. UK & BFPO ORDERS ONLY Cheques and Postal Orders to: 24 HOUR 0RDERLINE 0597 877B4 Manor Court Supplies Ltd Dept. AMC02, Glen Celyn House, Penybont, LlanrJrindod Wells. Powys. LD1 5SY Tel: 0597 87792 EDUCATION AND GOVERNMENT ORDERS WELCOME Mail Order Offers You know how expensive it is to replace your batteries when they run down. Even with rechargeable batteries you stillhave to wait 1 4 hours for a full charge. We have solved the problem with the unique superfast powerful battery and charger kit. This amazing device will completely charge four standard AA size rechargeable batteries in under 2 hours and each battery can be recharged at least 1 ,000 times. Further, for a limited period we can sell the charger and four rechargeable batteries at the staggeringly low cost of £19.95 (plus£1 p&p). It caiit pay, fat cteefy UAtt/uH cveefe Place your order today, using the form on Page 1 13 CEf TENSTAR PACK fflLC; WORTH OVER £229! FREE! - AMEGAS - by Players FREE! - ART OF CHESS - by SPA HAMUMnj I' FREE!- BARBARIAN, UlT WARRIOR by Palace FREE!- INSANITY FIGHT • by Microcteal MERCENARY ffffg- MERCENARY COMP by Nuvagen fffCg^TFRRORPO DS - by Psygnosis Commodore £346 •VAT= £399 INCLUDES FREE UK DELIVERY i new breed ol technologically are now emerging as the new The Amiga 500 is one of advanced computers, which standard lor home computing, based .around the new Motorola 66000 chip The A500 has 51?K RAM and a iMbyie double sided disk drive built-in It can be connected directly to a wide range ol monitors, or to a domestic TV set through a TV modulator Designed with the user m mind, the A500 features a user friendly WIMP environment and comes supplied wilh a Iree mouse And. when you buy your Amiga from Silica Shop, the UK's Nol Amiga specialists, you will experience an after sa>es service that is second to none, including a technical support helpline and tree newsletters and price lists Return the coupon below tor our current information pack, which will give details ol the Silica service and the very latest Silica Amiga offers e&oe WHY SILICA SHOP? EMore you Moat wnen id Buy vou' new Commotio* Amig* cumpuiwi ** lugoeSI fOu tOn(4e> »*r, CVeM'v W"tH( (Ob Du( H ere M*»i' c^yrpf<n w«o te« 3«er you a computer ■ hrw rwpnuaii wo -w lap len *t»ma IiHet Th*«» v* 'EWtP C0mpe"'WS wr>0 « n Oh»> • woe rano* a* p'ukm '<* yo»* ojnwt.it' aa w»" at ««p*n adnoe »"d itp w«*n »:>. "«M <1 't*'" i ONI* 0**f company wnc ran provide li» I MQ.nl 'a"0» r( Afuji rrllMQ p»tH*j(t» " IIW UK > lull I""* Amiga •pfCdUH ' '"i" " rvaiptma ana -"-3«ii" u«i suppoi mending iiw "r*i r\«c\ and e*ocni'« ONoa'M to youi floo> at long at re >ra»it »\\& you pu'tnaw your comsuie- tnai one wnpen» it S«ca >"i0 Wa na*a t**" NtDHM W rna name rjtmpM< inlrl 1 w i»» «eat era nn now ewim ra meat o.r cuMcmen renui»*m*"t» wifn an Kiuracy and urvwuanoing wncn is second ro boh m#*» ere |..n wiw it v» inir a» a* car u"e* yOu me «n/U STOCK RANGE The tarc-ast woe ot Amtga «*at»? pertphntai* accessories booas and software n th» UK AFTER SALES SUPPORT: The ttafl M Smca Snop are dedicated (0 fietp you to gel toe best from youi Amiga FREE NEWSLETTERS: Mailed a-reci 10 your rvom* H toon as we print Ihom. 'eaiuung offers and latest releases FREE OVERNIGHT DELIVERY: On ail Hardware orders shipped to SiliC* Shop customers withm the UK mainland PRICE MATCH PROMISE: Wn will normally maich our competitors o'fers on a same product same pr>ce basis «?££ TECHNICAL HELPLINE: FUM time team ol Am,aa technical e*pcns to ne'P you o»tn your technics* guenes Bui dont |i,st taxe ou' MOta lo* it Complete and return the coupon tte 10* tor Our latest Amiga Merature and bog>n to i'ip*ii-rfe tne Sidca Snop specialist Amiga service PHOTOH PAI A500 Computer TV Modulator Photon Paint TenStar Pack TOTAL RHP: LESS DISCOUNT: PACK PRICE TIM £399.99 £24.99 £69.95 £229.50 £724.43 £325.43 £399 ihiita.'.ii A500 Computer 1084S Colour Monitor Photon Paint TenStar Pack TOTAL RRP: LESS DISCOUNT: PACK PRICE mum £399.99 £299.99 £69.95 £229.50 £999.43 £350.43 £649 FREE FROM SILICA Wnen you buy the Amiga 500 from Silica Snop you *ih nol only get a nigh, power value lor money computer. *e * II alio give you some spectacular tree g>Rt F<w C an we are now including a TV modulatO' with every A SCO stand alone 'eyboau so you can plug your Amiga straight mio your TV at home (the modu4tor not nciuded w<th the A500*A tOMS pad as it r» not required lo* use with monitors) Secondly we nave added a tree copy ol Photon Paint, an advanced graptves paciiage wi"» ar« RBP ot C6B 95 Last land by no means Vast'l. so inal you can at up and running iiiaignt away we are givmg away me sensational TENSTAR GAMES PACK with ewery A5Q0 purch4jeo at S'l.ca Shop This paca features ten top Amiga Hies ■ '■ have a combined RRP o' near;» t?10' Return the coupon tor oetans FREE TEHSTAR PACK When you buy your Amiga 500 tram Silica Shop, we want to ma«t tu>e you get the be»i Oeai pom bit Trull it why we ire gixng away fie TENSTAR GAMES PACK worth nearly 1230 absolutely 'PEE wid W A500 pu'Chasea t»om us Tne TenStar Games Pac» inc- ludes ten tines tor ine A50Q awen vtdi'iduany pacaaged in ■is own cas^ig vein miiructon* Amegae Art Of Chess Barbarian, Ull Warrior Buggy Boy Ikah Warriors Insanity Fight Mercenary Comp Terrorpods ThunOercats Wirbali TOTAL RRP: £229.50 HC V*T if you airaedy uvm v Amioa comp.iar ana would <*r lo t* logma'ao 0" mw>"ig nu m v Am<gi um< wt us *"ow Wa wa am pwawd lo send you copwa el our pnew urn and rawswite^ *HE( Of Charge it become ••eiiaWa Couple" "w coupon and raium hiddui Sidcup ry^ncn ana fwqi ■•pe'>anc«o ■ swciaiiil Amiqa seice mal n sweond to nonr Silica Shop Lid, Dopl AMCOM 2/90 1-4 The Mews. Hathorley Road, Sidcup, Kent DAM PLEASE SEND ME FREE LITERATURE ON THE AMIGA 4 4DXA IIGA | SILICA SHOP: Mr /Mrs/Ms An dress Initials Surname SIDCUP Mail Order) 01-309 1111 1-4 The Mews. Hatherley Road. Stdcup. Kent. DA14 4DX OPtN •■ -- -.) ' lAte NIGHT "-i'J> ^.i.- LONDON 01-580 4000 52 Tottenham Court Road. London. WtP OBA OPEN Af OA/ SA f 9 Jflem - 6* OOpm LATf NIGHT LONDON 01-629 1234 exl 3914 Sel'ntjget list floor', 0*lo'd Street, London. kV IA IAB OPEN KtON SAT ftim € OOpi" LATE NIGHT THuRSOA V On-n Hpnt Postcode Do you already own a computer so «h-ch one do you own 1 J Pen Pal for Amiga Intergrated Word Processor and Database Manager System. Word Processor Features: * • Open up to 4 documents at a time. • Find, Find Next, Replace, Find & Replace Next, Find & Replace All. • 100,000 word main spelling dictionary, and user defined dictionary. • Word, sentance, character counts with average and maximums. • Document readability index. • Left, right, centre & decimal tabs. • Ruler settings by paragraph thatinclude paragraph indents, tab stops, left & right margin settings, and paragraph alignment. • Horizontal and vertical rulers. • Headers and Footers. • Odd / Even pages. • Go directly to any page in document. • Multiple fonts, sizes, colours, and styles. Supports up to 200 fonts. • Fonts are arranged by both name and sizes for easy access. • Subscripts and superscripts. •Left, right, centre, and full justification of paragraphs. • Automatic date, and page number. • Forced page breaks. • Cut, Copy, Paste, Clear, and Undo. • Full Page View. • Mail Merge. • Import IFF Pictures, brushes, and clip art of different sizes, colours, and resolutions including HAM. ► Automatic, real-time, flow of text around graphics - even while typing. • Reduce, enlarge, and resize pictures. • Draw lines, boxes, and borders as graphic objects. ■ Specify box fill colour, line colour, line weight, and line fill colour. ' Depth arrange objects front to back. > Cut/Copy/Paste objects from one document to another or within the same document. Database Manager Features: • Open up to 4 databases at a time. • Sort and Search database. • Locate and Remove Duplicate data. • Print columnar reports with sort breaks, sub-totals, and final totals. • Print labels, 1-8 across page. • 9 data types including calculations. • Data type checking during data entry. • Cut, Copy, Paste. • Transfer data between databases. • Delete multiple records. • Saved report formats. Pen Pal 1.1.4 - PAL |El|Utii-]i^PS;Kt,'M;ci&boi!» Manual 12 friaiq Era 2L i- STARTDC DGTWTIOK Umrap your Mrm*4ffl and lay i I flat on the pink, antistatic hm in which it m shipped. Be sure to save al original packing materials. Do not install the board before reading all the instructions in C OS? placement of its conponen Next, nake a copy of the the copy to perform your in a safe place. Database Item; 1H t Dwelling Location FeH< I 1 House San Francisco 2 House San Clenente 3 I House Halibu ', \ Penthouse Centurv Citv IH i h System Requirements: • Amiga Computers with 1 megabyte of RAM • RRPei29.95incVAT • UK Exclusive PAL version Data Liberation Ltd 5 St Johns Road, Sandown, Isle of Wight. P036 8ER ■win: a lAiMi'imsc n-imun tmm ■ LETTERS ■ Surf's up. An' dis Surf is Ezra Surf, li s my job lo sort your scribblin's and tome up with an answer (o any grief I he Amiga gives ya. So if you've gol something lo say, say il lo me. I'm a first name kinda guy. so please don'l hide behind initials. Il's loo suit. Hesl tellers will be sen! prizes of up lo -100 so get a ropy of Prolexl inlo your drive pronlo. Drop me a line at Ezra Surfs Poslbox [ESP), Amiga Computing. Second Floor. North House, 78-84 Ongar Road. Brentwood, Essex, CM 15 9BG. Translation trouble WHAT a fab magazine you have. I am studying HND computing and need to know if there is a version of Pascal for the Amiga which will enable ine to run any TVrbo Pascal programs (PC1512) if I connect a 5.25in drive- Tom Davidson, London SW17. No worries. First to read the IBM format discs you need a 5.25in drive. £99.95 from Club 68000 (01- 977 9596). You'll need some soft- ware to read the daft 360k format. Club 68000 can furnish you with this for £39.95. Lastly you'll need a Turbo Pascal type compiler. Getting hold of the Metacomco one can be tough 'cos they don't answer the phones. HiSoft is working on a suitable program, expect it some- time around March. Call HiSoft on 0525 718181 Telly addict COULD you give me info on a high quality 16in TV with a Scart con- nector? It needs to support all Amiga modes, like a monitor to show 4,096 colours and 80 columns. Less importantly stereo sound (not nicam), remote control and Teletext. I need a TV/monitor in one due to lack of space. Is it possible to connect a modulator to a B2000, and finally what is the official Commodore retail price for a base B2000? Dave Thomson, Broughly Ferry, Dundee. // 's impossible to keep track of the latest models of televisions. These days they nearly all have Scart inputs. Separate sound channels are rarer, and you are probably better off running a couple of leads to your hi-fi or using a sound booster like the one in last month 's project. Yes, you can use a modulator with a 2000, although the quality will suffer. The official price is £1489.25, digging trough the ads in this mag you should find one for under £800. Because of some of the cheap monitor bundles you might be better off getting an A2000. Commodore or Philips monitor and the Microtext adaptor. This costs £143.75 and lets you use the monitor as a TV as well as giving you teletext. Fixing a hole HELP! please, please help me. Lot me explain my problem. Before getting an Amiga 1 was a dedicated PC user. My friend bought an Amiga. Two months later I had one. I play keyboards and already know that Midi exists. I looked Empty article I AM WRITING to romplain about the Build a better Basic article writ- ten by lohn Kennedy in the October issue of Amiga Computing. The whole of the first page was devoted to a juvenile piece of rub- bish of no relevance whatsoever to programming. If Amiga Computing cannot fill its pages with "carefully researched and finely crafted into upgrading my PC for use with my keyboard. This turned out too expensive. Then along came the Amiga A500, a Casio CZ250S Midi-com- patible keyboard and a Midi inter- face with all the necessary leads. The problem is software. So many different packages, different prices. What do I buy? I need a pro- gram with which to input keyboard parts, preferably without having to enter in the information note by note. Oh yes, and it needs to speak English, not Mandarin Chinese. Obviously the lower the price the better. The reason I am writing to Amiga Computing is because of the instructional prose" thon 1 suggest that they be left blank. A Stevenson, Middlesborough, Cleveland. Can't please everyone. One man's juvenile piece of rubbish is another's party manifesto. Because I know it will make you happy I am sending you some blank pieces of paper. article Smash and Grab in October's magazine. At least your magazine doesn't just rovtow games. Tun Thompson, Wibsey, Bradford. Thought you were going to break out into song there. Music-X can- not be beaten. One day there will be a cheaper version but you can go grey waiting for the next ver- sion, of everything. Take the plunge. Shop around for the best price. Datel does a nifty Midi inter- face for £34.95. Give them a call an 0782 744707. Raised hackles YOUR C-light review in the October issue is the worst review I've read. The writer seems like he has just finished two years of using his Amiga solely as a word proces- sor. He talks of C-Light as if it was the only ray tracing package avail- able for the Amiga. A reasonable review would give a comparison with other 3D paint packages, and not with supercom- puters. It's totally untrue that this is the most that can be achieved with the hardware, as the reviewer thinks. Turbo Silver, for example, is not only faster but allows you to deter- mine how much light will be reflected and its colour, and how much light will pass through an object, its colour and the bending of light when it passes through, and more. Scupll 3D is a bit faster already, but the new XL version would ► February 1990 AMIGA COMPUTINti 93 ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★*★★★★★★★★★★★★★*★★★★★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ * ★ 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 CHECK OUT OUR NEW LOW LOW PRICES 3Vi 3.5" DISCS & BOXES 3Vj 25 3.5" DS-DD 135 TPI WITH 100 CAPACITY LOCKABLE STORAGE BOX £20 95 35 3.5" DS-DO 135 TPI WITH 100 CAPACITY LOCKABLE STORAGE BOX £30.95 45 3.5" DS-DD 135 TPI WITH 100 CAPACITY LOCKABLE STORAGE BOX £34 95 55 3.5" DS-DD 135 TPI WITH 100 CAPACITY LOCKABLE STORAGE BOX £40 95 65 3.5" DS-DD 135 TPI WITH 100 CAPACITY LOCKABLE STORAGE BOX £44 95 75 3.5" DS-DD 135 TPI WITH 100 CAPACITY LOCKABLE STORAGE BOX £49.95 150 3.5" DS-DD 135 TPI WITH 2, 100 CAPACITY LOCKABLE STORAGE BOXES £89.95 OUR 3.5" DISCS ARE VERY CAREFULL Y SELECTED TO GIVE YOU 100% ERROR FREE PERFORMANCE. EACH DISC IS OFFERED WITH OUR 100% MONEY BACK GUARANTEE AND IS SUPPLIED WITH LABELS 5 1 /4 5.25" DISCS & BOXES 5V4 25 5.25" DS-DD 96 TPI WITH 100 CAPACITY LOCKABLE STORAGE BOX £1 1.50 50 5.25" DS-DD 96 TPI WITH 100 CAPACITY LOCKABLE STORAGE BOX £16.50 75 5.25" DS-DD 96 TPI WITH 100 CAPACITY LOCKABLE STORAGE BOX £22 50 100 5.25" DS-DD 96 TPI WITH 100 CAPACITY LOCKABLE STORAGE BOX £28 50 200 5.25" DS-DD 96 TPI WITH 100 CAPACITY LOCKABLE STORAGE BOXES £52 99 OUR 5.25" DISCS ARE VERY CAREFULL Y 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 3.5" DISCS 10 DSHD 3.5" DISCS £18.99 30 DS HD 3.5" DISCS WITH 50 CAPACITY BOX £52.99 50 DS HD 3,5" DISCS WITH 100 CAPACITY BOX £81 .99 100 DSHD 3.5" DISCS WITH 100 CAPACITY BOX ...£139.99 150 DS HD 3.5" DISCS WITH 100 CAPACITY BOX ...£174.99 ITY 5.25" DISCS 25 555* DS HD 1 .6Mb plus 50 BOX £1 9.99 50 525' DS HD 1 .6Mb plus" 100 BOX £37.99 75525' DSHD 1.6Mb plus 100 BOX £53.99 100 525' DS HD 1 ,6Mb plus 100 BOX £69.99 150 525" DSHDl.6Mbplus2.100 BOX £94.99 200 525" DS HD 1.6Mb plus 2,100 BOX £119.99 STOP PRESS - STOP PRESS - STOP PRESS For all you bulk buyers oul there we have some unrepeatable FIRST COME - FIRST SERVED OFFERS 3.5" DS-DD 135 TPI 100% error free top quality discs 100 DS DD 135 TPI £59.99 200 DS DD 135 TPI £100.00 250 DS DD 135 TPI £120.00 350 DS DD 135 TPI £158.00 500 DS DD135 TPI £210.00 1000 DS DD 135 TPI £425.00 ACCESSORIES Do you also know we sell, DISC DRIVES, DATA SWITCHES. U.P.S Power Supplies, Printer Buffers all at incredibly cheap prices. For more details and to save yourself LOADSAMONEE RING US NOW!! PRICE & QUALITY GUARANTEE We pride ourselves on offering you the very Highest Quality products at the best possible prices. H you should ever see a comparible product offered cheaper in this magazine DO NOT HESITATE give us a call because we wont match it. WE WILL BEAT IT - GUARANTEED ■D. OFFICE SUPPLIES 18 CRESCENT WAY, FARNBOROUG H, KENT BR6 9LS TELESALES HOTLINES: 0689-61400 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Trade Accounts Welcome All prices include VAT and Delivery UK Education Orders Welcome ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★it******* Starting trouble make it several times faster. C- Light's originality is in its user interface. Apart from that, a list of options available with the program would have been helpful. Does the 640'256 resolution allows for ray tracing using dithering? So please let someone who knows his business review soft- ware packages. No more wrong statements, like "as fast as you can get considering the hardware". These kind of packages always beg for comparative reviews. Eyal Teler, lerusalem, Israel The magazine has several ray trac- ing experts, yet the editor made the very wise. I think {crawl, crawl, can I have a pay risel decision to give C-Light to someone who both understood the techie side of ray tracing and hadn't been spoiled by playing with more expensive pro- grams. C-Light doesn't look too hot if you have used Sculpt-Animate 4D. but then Sculpt is eight times the price. It is aimed at someone who just wants to tinker and for that reason it was renewed by the right person. Bargain binder AFTER reading issue 6 volume 2 I could not help to notice that you quoted to your Finnish friend £4.95 for the binders. Yet on the order form in the same issue it is priced at £5,95. Is it cheaper in Europe than it is in the United Kingdom? M| Taylor, Pontefract, W Yorks. Yes, that was a special price for Kalle Saariaho because he doesn't pick holes when I make a silly mis- take. Besides, that was before I started. It was the editor's fault. Animatics antics HELLO, I'm new to computing. I want to be able to assemble a story- board and 3D animatics in memory and then download into a domestic VCR for a showreel. Here are my problems so far: Memory and compatibility. The Commodore A590 looks tempting with expandability to 2 meg. However, would this memory clash with future expansion in the slot THE Amiga was a giant leap into the unknown for me. Unfortunately 1 haven't come on very far. I can load all my discs, play games, I have read the manual but it gets really confusing. I've done a dir of just about every disc I own, why I couldn't say, it just looks good on the screen! What I need is a book or disc tutorial that takes it a step at a time for someone who can only turn on the machine and load a disc. I want under the Amiga? Would I have any syncing errors if I spread a sequence between them before editing downloading? Since I've heard certain hard discs have access times equalling ram speeds should I buy a larger hard disc (bigger than 20MB) and not worry too much about large ram expansion? Finally have you heard of a domestic video which will enable me to accurately edit and sync my animatics with sound? Any help would be biblical in its proportion, may your seed to fruitful etc.. Simon Bunn, Worthing, West Sussex. You are talking serious money when dealing with editing video. And a domestic system probably won't be man enough for the job. No. not even one of the flash new S-VUS ones. Put your bank man- ager on danger money. Animation needs ram. There are no problems with using the half meg internal expansion with an Beware bandits which byte FOLLOWING your letter page section in the September issue, I feel that I must write in to warn Roger Fenton and any other readers who have bought Wizball. Mr Fenton complained that after completing a level the computer locked up and you replied that this was because the game was an ST port. I suf- fered Irom an identical prob- lem. Then I got a copy of Virus X. My Wizball disc was infected with the Byte Bandit virus, which causes the screen to turn black and the system to crash at various times - exactly the bugs that Mr Fenton described. to be able to program and do graph- ics and everything, but don't know where to start. I followed one of your features to teach you how to use say trans- lates and I thought it was great when my Amiga spoke to me, The other thing is when the manual talks about the Say speech synthesiser it says you have a choice of voices, but even when I change the pitch it sounds exactly the same. Amiga connected to an A590 and 2 meg. I do it all the time and would recommend this route. The A590 hard drive is a bit slow and small. Look at replacing the mechanism within the drive. Video bods are wise to sync problems and have a protocol called SMPTE which can handle it. You are lucky in that there is a good dealer not far from you who understands these problems. Contact DigiPro on 0703 703030. Born in the USA SOME couple months ago I bought an American Amiga A500 second hand. Silkworm won't work. When I inserted the disc into drive, the drive spins, the screen goes red and the disc whirrs continuously. When I tried to access it from Workbench the disc claimed to be unreadable. I have sent Ihe disc back twice with no joy, and 1 know the software works on other Amigas. 1 have been assured by manv Don't ask me how the virus got there. I got the game with the tester pack when I bought my Amiga, and I saw the cello- phane wrapping taken off the pack, so it could not be because the shop had used it tor demonstration purposes or anything. On a lighter note, after read- ing your section on buying discs. I get mine from a place called Midland Microsoft which are only £6.99 for 10. They also have a brand number on the back, and of the 20 I have bought, none have been faulty. Remember, death to all virus writers. Love the Jolyon Ralph Machine code tutorials. Keep up the great mag! Jonathan Heron, Gostorth, Newcastle Upon Tyne This could be me. so what are the correct pitch and speed for speech variations? Thanks for your help. Pennie Jones , RAF Bruggen BFPO. The Amiga for Beginners, from Abacus for £12.95 is a good place to start. The Computer Store has it in stock. Call on 021-770 0468. people that there is no difference between British and American machines, but there seems no other explanation as to why Silkworm does not load. Please can you help? Is there a chip that needs replac- ing? Surely it can't be serious, as all other commercial software works with no problems. Tony Corvesor. Kettering, Northants. Many people are wrong. There are substantial differences between US Amigas and those used in the old world. The principal difference is that European (PALI Amigas can display 256 lines in the non-inter- laced mode while American INTSCI Amigas can only show 200 lines. This means some programs mil fall off the bottom. Your local Commodore service centre can fix all this by changing some of the chips and crystals to translate a machine. Sometimes a company only has the rights to sell a game in one country. To stop you calling America and ordering games you aren't supposed to be able to get here on your Visa card the software houses "fix" the game so that it will only work on certain national- ities of machine. This may well mean that you 'I! have trouble with British software. Overrated? XENON 11 deserves high praise indeed, but I do feel that 100 per cent is over the top. A score of 100 per cent must surely signify perfec- tion, and a game which one will be playing forever. Although the game is quite amazing. 1 am sure that you will agree that the mark is unrealistic. So in future can you tell Jeff Walker to remember not to get car- 17Bit Software That Bit Better Than The Rest! THE UKs LARGEST AMIGA ONLY USER-CLUB WITH OVER 9,000 MEMBERS, AND A REPUTATION SECOND TO NONE FOR SERVICE 17Bit have one of the largest PD Selections around and prices start from just £2 per disc* fully inclusive of all postage and packaging costs. All PD used is the best around, you would be amazed at the ease of use and quality of it all ... so good other libraries use the discs and claim they have compiled them! So make sure you deal with the people in the know . . . And we don't just handle PD, we supply all the latest software at amazing prices to members, give out hints, tips and help with all sorts of problems and much more ... Subscribe to the best Disc-Magazine around ... NEWSFLASH (from 17Bit/UGA) - Only £2.99 per Issue! Join now! Quickstart + Pack: Utility Disc, Demo Disc, Catalogue Disc and an issue of our Disc-Magazine PLUS Membership for just £6.50! 17BU Software, PO Box 97, Wakefield WF1 1XX, UK TELEPHONE 0924 366982 'Individual discs £230, 10 discs for £20 inclusive of all postage, packing and quality media FTMACHIN AMIGA HARDWARE A500 BAT PACK Amiga 500(13 ROM) Mouse . P.S.U. Modulator • Leads Workbench 13 Banc I 3 > Extras The Very Flrtt Tutorial tnt/oduaion to ffie A50O WBi 3 Supplement Amiga Basic Batman, interceptor New Zealand Story Deluxe Paint II C372.W A500 PACK ♦ Pot* I plus tht totlcnvirvg: Ikan Warnora . insanity Fight Mercenary I * Art o* C"os* Terr orpldi - Tbundefcais Barbarian - Buggy Boy Amegas . Wiiball Photon Pamt €394 W SOFTMACHIHE STARTER PACtt Uoum m Mouse Bracket 10 TDK MF2DO Disks 80 CapaciTy Ois* Storage Box 3 5* Head Cleaner A500 Dull Cover ONLY £25- *Wwi pu>0iaM(t —V any Amiga cirvu a- Otlar l»n»»»0 m ■ uanar pack a— Amipxi puduuMl ALL PRICES INCLUDE V.A.T. AND DELIVERY (UK. ONLY) Couner "Overseas 'ate* on reQuen See our edvartlaemanl in next or la tt month'a Amiga Computing for Peripherals' Acca • MM Bj Book* A2000 SYSTEM 1 Amiga 2000 A 1Q64S Monitor A2000 20Mb Hard Drive PHONE • While Bocks lay A20OO SYSTEM 2 AmtgaHKM A1 0(WS Monitor A2088 PC- XT Brtdgeboard A2092 20Mb MS-DOS Hard Drive PHONE • While stocks last 1 A2000 , P0A A2000 .A10845 POA A2024 Hi Res Mono Morilor P OA A2010 Internal Onve POA A2090 20MD Harrj On* POA A2093 HMbAVbootOnvi . POA «M5 40Mb A/boot Dnve POA A?092 20Mb MS-DOS Drive POA A208B PC-XT Bndgeboard POA A228G PC -AT Sndgeaoard POA A205B Ram Expansion P OA A,620 6M?CvS8aat POA A2621 Unix Cart POA AJ300 Genlodl P OA. A2350 Prof Video Adaplor P.0A A2Q32 PAL Corrp Via Card POA SOFTWARE Wono Psocehinc E«£etlenc* Kind Words 2 Proleil Pretext filet Pretext Office Pro Write 2 5 Tanscnpl , , Worfl Perfect ScnbSe Platinum . Amiga 500 . A1084S £62499 ASM 20Mb Hard Dme £372 99 A5Q1 Ram EMJjniiotVCkCft.. £134 95 AS M ModuUlor £2 4 99 MPSI230Prmtef £139 99 AlOWS Colour Monitor £251 99 A1900M Mono Monitor £99 99 AlOIOD-JkDnve £9t 99 Al 352 Mouse £33 99 OA T AS At E 5 AcQuijit.cn 13 „,___, K-Oafj El 92 80 £35 50 Me rohene Rlat MicuWie Filer Pies Suptrbase Perioral SuperQase Personal 2 Supe rMsc Professional ES3 N £123 95 £4135 £66 50 £166 95 Sprcadbmeeti KSpnsid2 Mwplan A 500 Miuoun Plus Suoerpljn t43 n RING £133 55 L^S !!-J Languages/Compile as/Etc ap. i A-Reu Aaec C Developer A/tec C Professional _ Artec Cscd Benchmark Moduli 2 Benchmark C Libraries 0evoac2 GfABas*V3 Huoft Base K-Seka Assembler Lattice C V5 £99 95 £36 30 £137.15 E99 65 £61 25 £13250 £70 60 £43 60 £47 55 £57 35 tX SC £174 75 UTtUTltl C 136 95 £36 35 £69 95 £1R70 £24 95 £70 60 £32 50 El 77 40 £41 40 A Ma> £134 95 A Mil wlti Horns ArrsM _ E24B.M £28 65 Asfai Caligralonis ,. .. E47 75 8a D , , £32 50 BSC EmuUlor Bulcher 2 £39 95 £?fl 65 Curtate , CyQnus Ed Professional £32 50 £70 60 Disk 2 Disk £39 95 Du?Oos £39 95 DVskmasIer . £39 95 Enhancer fWB 1 3J Fact II „ £1385 £2485 Fancy 30 Fonts GomtV30 £39 95 GnooN , £24 85 HiSoft Extend __™ interchange £15 75 £39 S5 wiercnange Obetts t £17 25 l/change Mod V30VFinF £17 25 LUunge Mod V3D/Turt» £17 25 Kara fonts ___._™ £55 35 KGadgel £21 95 K-Poget Dons Fonts, E35 50 £47 75 MaiHhol Plus £35 50 Newsletter Fonts .„,,__. £24 B5 Power wtndows V? 5 £55 35 Propel 0 Quarterback £32 50 £47 75 Sluoio FonU Superback ,„.„„., £24 85 E41 95 Ten Ed Pirn ... £55 35 The Cafligrapher £70 60 Transformer X-Copy V2 £26 35 CIA M ptii Top Puiuihiiis Ofy Desk Pacesetter Protessional Page Publishers Choice £B3 20 RING E193 50 £78 75 Home Office Kit £11665 |CADAifl*PMICi7AAIMATI0l. Amrragc E62 95 An- mate 30 £97 35 Anirratcrf/lmaoe*rOraw £55 00 •Archriectural Design £23 20 C-Ughl £39 95 Cormc setter ~ £39 95 Com* Setter Clip Art £1725 Delme Pami III £60,50 Deluit Pnotoua £5315 Delme Prml II £38 55 Deluxe Productions E104 35 DeliaeV1dto_ E53 15 Design 30 £62 95 Dwji Pari 3 £55 35 &0>wortci £78 75 Draw 2000 £17295 fanlavision £32 30 forms in f*gM 2 RING 'Future Design „, .E23 20 'Human Design £23 20 kon Punt £18 20 impacl £55 35 'Interior Des.gn £23 20 InlroCAD _.. £47 75 Lights Camera Action' £5155 •McrcootOeugn E23 20 Modeler 30 £62 95 Movie Setter £39 SS Page ripper , FVX £93 50 Photon Pawl 2 £60 95 Please ring (or prlcil/ivilUblltty on any haro\*are/srjnware/perlpherBls not lined. (Full price list on request) Please mahe cheque s/posial orders payable to SOFTMACHINE. All prioas are Inclusiva ot VAT. Al prion tubiacl to change without notice). Al items subfea to availability. E.ft O.E. SOFTMACHINE Dept. AMC 2, 36 Guernsey Road, Sunderland SR4 9RR. Telephone: 091 385 7426 PlXmale £39 95 Provisional Draw £108 75 Pro Video Plus £193 50 Sculpt 30 £66 B0 Sculpt40., £36745 Sculpt 4D Junior . £103 80 The Director _ £47 75 The Director's Toolkit £28 65 Turbo Silver £108 75 TV Show £70 60 TV Text £7060 Video Effects 30 £123 95 Video Genenc Maslflr £55 35 Video Tiler £86 20 Video Wipe Master £55 35 Videoscape3D £123 95 X-CAO Designer £89 75 X-CAD Professional ._ £352 80 ?<*l'ooa £86 85 'slate Sculpt or V<rJeoscaDe , Mutic A Drum Audiomaster 2 Oeluxe Music Or T s KCS Dyru.ti-: Oruira Oynafnx Studio ifiiant Music Music X Opus 1 Pro Midi Studio Sonu Sound Oasis Studio Magic Synthia Track 24 □2 50 £62 95 £5315 £154 50 £47 75 £116 35 £20 25 £184 IS £79 95 £11135 £5- K eta k £69 £74 70 £74 95 COH.MUNICATIOM A Talk III BBS PC RubyComm Ruby Comm Plus £70 60 £33 50 £54 65 SING ACCOUNTI Areru Accounts £140 95 Desk Top Budget £32 50 Home Accounts £2195 Personal Accounts Plus £24 95 Small Business Accounts RING 90 AMIGA COMPIfflXC Februan l*t<HI ■ LETTERS Where in the world I HAVE noticed that there is a bug in the Kickstart roms. Occasionally the computer boots up with the CLI screen in the NTSC screen mode, not allowing the display or mouse pointer go past line 200 and forcing you to reset. All one has to do is to copy the program called reset from the c directory of the October disc of Amiga Computing to your Workbench disc and change the startup sequence to run it. Then if you boot up your Amiga one day and it has not booted up in PAL your Amiga will reset itself. I think many Amiga owners are sick of commercial games coming out in the American NTSC screen format in England and Europe. We are stuck with a horrible black band at the bottom of the screen 56 pixels deep. There have been documented methods of telling whether a machine is PAL or NTSC since it does not lake all that much extra effort to program a piece of software that utilises the PAL Amigas. Anyway, there is no excuses for software houses when the Kickstart 1.4 operating system comes out lor Amigas. since it will have built-in software to detect whether a machine is NTSC or PAL. HrWMUu, Morden, Surrey. Quite agree. Although even when 1.4 does appear there are still going to be a million Amigas out there with 1.2 and 1.3, so this won 't he a reliable way ol telling where your Amiga is. P'raps they ought to fit them with homing beacons. > ried away, and give more realistic scores. David Fairweather, Blackburn. Lancashire. OK, feff wonts to know if you have problems with the 10,000 holes? His latest rating is for your letter. He gives it minus several million. If it makes you feel any better a couple of continental mags gave Xenon I1 100 per cent as well. Name that tune DO YOU know if thore are any PD discs containing an assembler source of a Aegis Sonix (SMUS) play routine? If you know about any could you please print which one in your mag and could you please also explain how SMUS files are stored? Thanks for an excellent mag. Joel Hargen, Norway. IVni'ie there seem to be quite a few PD players for Sonix tunes - the program ewn comes with one - none of which include source. Since Aegis has gone into liquida- tion and disappeared down a plug- hole I can t think of anyone to call. Box o' tricks AT the moment I have an A500 wilh memory expansion which I bought in Germany. The problem is I want to upgrade to a B2000. I've been hearing rumours about a kit on sale in Germany which allows you to transform the A500 into a fully operational B2000 and won- dered if in all your wealth of knowledge and experience (creep creep} you knew anything about it Dave TAirnbull, Newbury. Berks. Vahobs expansion boxes are available; Bytes and Pieces sell the AX-S which takes Amiga 2000 and PC cards. For more details call them on 0253 734218. However as a rule the timing signals on the expansion boxes aren't as reliable as those on a proper 2000, so some card manufacturers, Microbiotics for one, area i keen on them. You really are best off getting a 2000 if you need to use add-ons. Pathetic printer ! RECENTLY bought an NEC PC8023 printer. However none of the printer drivers on Workbench 1,3 will work. I have tried to cus- tomise my own with a PD printer driver generator but was unsuc- cessful because of the very techni- cal nature of the program and lack of data on the printer. 1 wonder if anyone can help with details of where 1 could obtain a driver? Garry Cogman. Norwich, Norfolk. Give up, NEC was distinctly unhelpful. Companies which haven't heard of the Amiga I can sorta handle. NEC not knowing if an 8023 is a printer or a portable computer I cannot. The call did yield the information that the 8023 is a bit of an odd-ball and not com- patible with anything decent. From A to B WHAT is the difference between the Amiga A2000 and the Amiga B2000? Can you get an Amiga 2000 with the ECS? I have seen an advert for the B2000 which has 1 meg of chip ram. Will most soft- ware on the Amiga 500 run on the Amiga B2000? Chris Denman, Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey. All 2000s are A2000s. but some are more equal than others. Commodore changed the design of the original frevision A) board lio revision B) and some dudes call these B2000S. ECS is a two chip set. The first, Agnus, gives 1 meg of chip ram. The second, Denise, gives new screen modes when used with the {still} forthcoming 1.4 version of AmigaDos. So no. you can't get ECS yet. The situation wouldn't be so confused if a sawdust-for-brains columnist in a weekly magazine hadn't got it all wrong. A few games don't scan the keyboard properly. This means they don't work on A2000s but the problem is quite rare. Pondering Pretext READING the November article about printing from Protext we could not understand a word. For instance >OC - what is it? Where do you put it? How do you put it? We are no good at programming and do not understand much that is written in your articles, so please think of those less fortunate and explain things step by step in easy to follow instuctions. Also could wo have more short listings to type in demonstrating the Amiga's potential. We have found in the past that copying list- ings helps us to understand Basic programming much more easily. Richard Gray, Norwich, Norfolk. Go and make a good, hot, strong cup of tea. While the kettle is boil- ing take another look at the November article. OC stands for Output Character. This sends a number to the printer. It could pro- duce a letter or make the printer go into a special mode. Try the example on page 96. What happens? Small letters right. Now sit down at your Amiga, drink your tea and work through the arti- cle slowly. Virus victim? WHEN I borrow software from my friend I load it up to see black lines and dots come up on my monitor. I looked it up on my virus killer. Nothing came up and only some- times it comes up with black lines. Could it be a virus? What is the best virus killer I can get? If you kill a virus from the memory can it still be there? If 1 could not get rid of it what would I have to do? Alan Young BFPO 114. Hmmm. Sounds much more like a hardware problem to me. I suspect you have a sick Denise custom chip. Do the lines look like those on page 89 of the September issue? If you are feeling brave, and the machine is not under warranty. New crew 1 have been reading your articles and have progressed very far. 1 have learnt so much from them that I have almost finished my very first Amiga demo. Our newly- formed crew is called Meltdown the members are: Coding - Club 2000 (me!). Music - Art'n' Image and Conz. Grafix - ArtV Imago and H-Angel. Spreader - Bruno. Duncan Chambers. South Shields, Tyne and Wear. AMIGA COMPUTING February 1990 9? A.P.B £12.75 Barborion II £15.75 Batman: The Movie £15.75 Beoch Volley £15.75 Blode Warrior £16.45 Cabal !.£14!95 Chicago 90 £13.45 Demon's Tomb £12.75 Dynamic Debugger £16.45 Fiendish Freddies Big Top o' Fun £16.45 Future Wars £15.75 Gemini Wing £12.75 Ghostbusters II £16.45 Gridiron "Z..Zz]6A5 Hard Drivin' £16.45 Highway Patrol £15.75 Horse Racing £16.45 Infestation £16.45 Interphase £16.45 Iron Tracker £12.75 It Come from the Desert £ 1 9.45 •von hoe £15.75 J'9 Saw £13.45 Keef the Thief £16.45 Knighrforce £16.45 Laser Squad £13.45 life & Death £16^45 Motrix Marauders £13.45 Neuromoncer £ 1 6.45 Never Mind £13.45 Operation Thunderbolt £16.45 Populous: Promised Lands £16.45 Power Drift £16.45 Shadow of the Beast £2 1 .95 Silkworm .„„-$ 12*75 SimCiry £21.45 Star Blaze £13.45 Strider £1 0<75 S'ryx £12.75 Super League Soccer £16.45 Super Quintet £15.75 Swords of Twilight £16.45 The Lost Patrol '.['.Z\ 5.75 The New Zealand Story £15.75 The Untouchables £16.45 Toobin £16.45 T'iad II £15.75 Xenon II Megoblast £15.45 Xenophobe £16.45 Xenon Technology, Dept. AC 71 Wadham Road, North End, Portsmouth, Hants. P02 9ED » (0705) 670878 ■B' Commodore A590 20MB Hard Drive £349.95 Commodore A590 CMOS RAM Chips xl (128k) £13.95 Commodore A590 CMOS RAM Chips x4 (5 1 2k/0.5MB) £49.95 Commodore A590 CMOS RAM Chips x8 ( 1 024k/ 1 MB) £99.95 Commodore A590 CMOS RAM Chips x 1 2 (1 536k/ 1 .5MB) £149.95 Commodore A590CMOS RAM Chips x16 (2048k/2MB) £199.95 External Floppy Disk Drive £74.95 Cordless Mouse £1 17.95 Commodore A501 512k/0.5MB RAM Expansion £98.95 Minigen ; £99.95 Commodore A520 Modulator £22.95 Commodore MPS 1200S Serial Printer £159.95 Mouse Mat £3.25 Dust Cover £3.20 Mouse House £2.95 External 3.5" Drive DS/DD £69.95 Konix Navigator Joystick £9.45 Konix Speed King Joystick £8.45 Sure Shot Zip Stick £ 1 2 45 10 DS/DD 3.5- Disks .....'.....£6.50 SPECIAL OFFERS'! Any less and we'll be giving them away. "And why not?" I hear you ask! Because we're not as stupid as the competition looks!! virj^"* ^'J*^ "l^l l A hOU '* to "S^'DJ •* F1RST ClASS P°» *» «" «• disposed when released. All prices shown are fully JrtcWe of VAT postage pockoglng and o full guarantee (please add CI 10 per Item overseas). Please make cheques or postal orders payable to "Xenon Technology" To o'dfr limply write on a piece of paper, your name, postal address, a telt^n. number (if ^ VAT^^i£ P NunX ° " ° pop it m (he post (not forgetting of course our nome on the front of the envelope and a stamp| Proprietor: Steve Lowe Noft: %mnQn j9chnoiogy „ ^ Qfder 0n , v 9H AMIGA CO\mm\(; February fSW THE POWER DRIVE INCLUDING BATMAN THE MOVIE INTERCEPTOR • NEW ZEALAND STORY OELUXE PAINT II • AMIGA BASIC • MOUSE 3 MANUALS • MODULATOR AMIGA EXTRAS 1-3 BASIC 1-2 * WORKBENCH 1-3 THE VERY FIRST (ENGLISH/ plus 10 EXTRA TITLES including BARBARIAN • MERCENARY - IKARI WARRIORS Jl CABLES Sold S»p*iatHi £699 |Iift»l m*y ml •RtiXfT A/C AVAIIABU £399 £17 month" 2h MICROSNIPS CERTIFIED (RROR FREE 3'/," DSDO DISKS SONY V/T OSDD IBOXEO IN I0i| LOCKABU MULTIPURPOSE OISK BOX (Holdi 40 Vfi" DISKS) LOCKABLE AND STATIC DISK BOX (Holds BD 3%" DISKS) 50 3 DISK LABELS & DISK BOX SPONGY MOUSE MAT LUXURY DUST COVER SUITABLE FOR AMIGA PHILIPS 6833 DUST COVER BOWTriORPE SURGE PROTECTOR PLUG APOLLO 4-WAY ANTI SUHGE TRAILING SOCKET PANASONIC I0BI RIBBON STAR NL 10 RIBBON 2 STAR IC 10 MONO RIBBON 2 STAR LC-10 COLOUR RIBBON 2.000 SHEETS 60gm MICROPERF f ANfOLD 2.000 SHEETS BOgm PLAIN FANFOLO 1.000 SHEETS BOfltn MICROPERF £23 50 £1899 £895 £695 £2.99 £595 £7.95 £895 £11 95 £24.95 £4.95 lof £9.95 lor £9.95 £795 £15 95 £13 95 £10 95 Number 1 3'/ 2 " DISK IN THE WORLD TDK CAME TOP OVERALL IN 11 CATEGORIES TDK MF-2DD : 33 95IOM0 £14.50 MONITORS PHILIPS 8833 MED RES COl MONITOR £249 00 COMMODORE 1084 COLOUR £239 00 PHILIPS PROFESSIONAL COLOUR £2B9 95 BARGAIN BUY!!! Q-TECT/ 2 " IMG DRIVE for A500/1000 and 2000 LOW POWfR CONSUMPTION fXCtllfNT R'W PERfQRMAHCE • SUMSIZE • • HIGHLY RELIABLE only £79.95 \tt Instant Credit Available - Ask for Details UK Postage and Packaging ilams undar £50 add 11 liami under £100 add £5 lltmi o«t> £100 add f 10 Iw Countf Oalnrary Includes dthvtry (o you tht day aflat d* tpatcti OvtrieaicuitD"i«i Emopf Full price ihown will ttw :an<age and packaging Non- European add b% to total The Power Drive from Power Compulmg sets new standards in performance and quality for your Commodore Amiga'" or Atari ST IV computer at a price thai leaver our competitors behind! THE FACTS PC880 Amiga Super Slim Case 880K Formatted Thru Port Isolating Switch 12 Month Guarantee PC720 Atari ST Super Slim Case 720K Formatted Built in 240v PSU* On/Off Switch 12 Month Guarantee Both Power Drive* include cables and instrut lions •tht? 7201 takes US power from the SI Computer Power Drives are available by mail order direct from Power Compuhng or at better computer retailers. Look out lor the bright red box! Mail Order Hotline 0800 581742 Free Call! Power Computing Ltd 44A Stanley St • Bedford • MK41 7RW 0234-273000 Trade distribution iiUi: 01 -300-3399 '"All I r a d c m a r k * are acknowledged 37 Seaview Road, Wallasey, Merseyside L45 4QN. 051-630 3013 051-630 5396 051-691 2008 Fax 051-639 2714 THE ONE ON THE RIGHT IS HANDLING STOLEN GOODS. If you are involved in software piracy then you are breaking the law. THIS CAMPAIGN IS ORGANISED BY ELSPA EUROPEAN LEISURE SOFTWARE PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION Any information on piracy should be passed to The Federation Against Software Theft. Telephone 01-240 6756 PIRACY IS THEFT ■ LETTERS ■ you could open it up and make sure all the chips are properly seated in their sockets by giving them a gentle push. Otherwise take your Amiga to a computer doctor who hill make it better for you. Hred mouse IN his letter in the November issue V,S. Kirby's said that if you put a 1mm piece of card on the leaf con- tacts in the mouse this will improve the button's response. This is all right for a while, but eventually the paper wears down and so the buttons become unre- sponsive. Ian Wickham, Cheshunt. Herts. Fun for four Corporal Elsdon had a query about Gauntlet 2 last month and I have the answer. I have got Gauntlet 2 and I bought a four player adaptor from Softsollers (0473 257158/210605) for £5.95. All you have to do is plug this into the par- allel port and then you can play with four players, [erry Spencer. Mill Hill. London. Great, thanks now he and his friends can rush around mazes, killing monsters and shooting at each other. Which will make such a change from his day job. Tall order 1 OWN a 1 meg 500 with a second disc and shiny new Star LC24-10 printer. Please could you recom- mend a good piece of DTP soft- ware, for less than £350. which fulfils most of my requirements. It must be used as a Wysiwyg word processor and print out 24- pin quality art and graphics in a similar way to the Protext signature in the November issue, I need to print out results like those obtained from X-CAD Designer, reviewed in the )uly issue with fonts in all sizes and styles, making the best use of the 24 pins. Brian Buckley, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. Wow. you want a lot out of a pro- gram. Using any DTP program as a Wysiwyg wordprocessor is going to Happy memories WELL this is the fourth issue of Amiga Computing I've bought, and so far you seem to be maintaining a high standard. Now, on to the seri- ous stuff. I've already figured out that the half meg provided with the machine is woefully inadequate for serious use, so I now face the expense of a ram upgrade. Looking through the mag I noticed Third Coast Technologies advertising a 1.8 meg internal hoard, and I've seen other compa- nies with the same sort of thing. However, before 1 splash out and buy one, is it safe? Can the A500 provide enough be painfully slow. And it isn't really the right solution to the problem. Pagestream might do what you want but the last version the experts here saw (a while ago mind} was buggy and oh. so slow. ProPage 1.3 has not yet come in for review, but is reputed to have top notch dot matrix printer sup- port. Call the importers. HB Marketing, on 0895 444433 and see what they have to say. It's the one I'd go for. Shame you want something easy to use 'cos TeX gives the best results - after six months learning to use it. Lost adventure WHAT has happened to the bril- liant adventure section you had? It was great and informative, but now there isn't a trace of it in your mag- azine. Is it possible to buy the discs from back issues separately or would I have to buy the magazine as well? Can you please advise me on whether I should buy a second disc drive or Commodore's 20 meg hard Sharp eyed I READ your excellent maga- zine, the November issue, for the first time the other day. Your games reviews are very good, but whatever happened to the Beach Volley review? Was it perhaps zapped by aliens, or was it just left out to encourage readers to read the power for the extra ram without overloading? Where would the extra ram fit into the memory map? Is a battery backed up clock worth the extra money? Will the new super Agnus chip be able to recog- nise one of theso boards as chip ram and use all or part of it for pro- grams? Cecil Banks, Southampton, Hants Safe is not quite the right term. And it depends on your system. Commodore says an Amiga is OK with an extra 512k and disc drive. But means one of their massively drive? I would like both, but at the moment I can only afford ono of them. I already have a ram expan- sion. One last thing. What happened to the review of Beach Volley last month? It was listed among the games that were reviewed but the review did not appear in the maga- zine. Graham H v. Blackball, Edinburgh. lit didn't get enough mail about adventures. Perhaps if we get more requests from people like you we could start one up again. Discs from the August to January issues are available at £1.50 each from Protoscan Ltd. Amiga Computing Cover Disc. Burrel Road, St. Ives. PE17 4LE. A second floppy drive costs about £70, a hard drive £400. They an n't really comparable. If you can afford it go for the hard drive. Well done on spotting the Beach Volley mistake. There wasn't room to squeeze it in when we came to put the magazine together. It shows you read the mag very carefully magazine from cover to cover? If so. do we really need any encouragement? Terence McGrath, Fairfield, Liverpool. Not bad, not at all bad. There is nothing tor it. I'll have to send you a prize (or observa- tion. power hungry floppies not the nice efficient drives folks like Ex-esham sell. So there is a fair stack of power left over. You'll need to find out what chips the expansion you are inter- ested in uses but 1 can't think that there will be any problem. U might run a bit warm. A battery backed up clock doesn't cost much and is well worth having. The super Agnus (American Tourist or FANG2 as some call her} can access 1 meg of chip ram but you will need to cut some tracks on the board. Use a sharp knife and get a grown-up to help you.. Red letter day YOUR disc should have solved my problems as 1 do a lot of word pro* cessing using only the CU Ed facil- ity- But I was disappointed to find the Protext version on the September's free disc would not print out on my Star LClO colour printer. I have tried every printer selec- tion possible even altering the DIP switched, but to no avail. Is this because this version will not drive this particular printer or because my Amiga A500 has insufficient memory to use the program? If is has insufficient memory, does this mean the full version of Protext would also be unrsable without a memory upgrade? Susan Kirke, Sunnyside, Newcastle Upon Tyne. The LC-10 colour is quite capable of producing black and white type. Use the Epson driver and set the switches to the Epson settings and all should be tickety-boo. Amor does supply a version of Protext which works in 512k but for seri- ous use you should get an extra half meg. Get knitted! I'VE found a wonderful program which I thought you might enjoy (see enclosed package!. It is easy to use and produces beautiful results. However, it is not fully Amiga compatible, so I have also sent AMIGA COMPUTING February 1990 101 All prices inclu VA T and Delivery AMIGA ACCESSORIES MlnlGEN Genlock adapter M , £95 00 Omega Projects MIDI Interface, Including 30" serial cable £29.95 Contnver Hi-Res Mouse. Includes Mouse Mai A Pocket £22.95 A500 Dust Cover E4 95 ITT CP3228 16.5" FST TV/Monitor inc. rom/conlrol & cable '!!!!"&29.00 Philips CM8833 14-cotour moniior. suits lor Amiga 500 £229.00 GFA BASIC Version 3 H . "49 qq Home Accounts „ tie 95 Kind Words Version 2 £37.95 Superbase Personal „ H £69.00 Superbase Professional „ £179.00 Super-Plan M £74.95 Track 24 (MIDI sequencer package) „ E60 00 Word Perfect _ H £163.00 A-IV1AX MACINTOSH EMULATOR I An AMIGA COMPUTING Gold Medal «4nrw - sHows Amiga users to emulate a Mac Plus In order to run Apple Mac and Mac Plus software. Mac disks can be read directly In when en e*lemal Mac Drive is connected to the cartridge I hardware. Runs at least as last as a Mac Plusl Software compatible with the A -Mai Includes MacPaint. MacDraw (V1&2). MacWrite. Psgemaker (VI 42) plus afi versions ol System. A -Max without 2 x Use 128K ROMs - C 129 00 A-Msx WITH 2 x Mac 128K ROMs ....... £349.00 nclude VAT delivery & cable Only £169.00 Colour version also available, Only £215.00 Prices Include 2 extra black ribbons free of charge. i pin printer, the Star LC10 provides 4 MLQ tonta (96 prlnc combinations) at Mcpa and 144cpe draft Includes 4K butler and IBUparalal Inter- lace, front panel operation, plus paper parking. aJtowng single sheets to be used wllhout removing iraaor paper Star LC24-10 mutator* 24pin pnmer. super low price Star LC24-1S wide carrlago version of LC24- 10. 200/ 67 ops £409 00 LC15 wide carnage verston 0* LC10. l80/45cps £329 00 LC-10 Mk.ll faster version ol LC10. I80/45COS £199 00 OHvetU DM100S 9-pin 10" prtnter 200'30cpe Inc 1 yearon-sne warranty I C129 95 Panasonic KXPlOfll rebatta . Kufdy Opln 10" printer 120/24 cps £159.00 Panasonic KXP1 iBO super new feature-packed multifont 9 pin 11" £'79.00 Panasonic KXPl 124 new good specification mur atont 24 pin 1 1* NEC P2200 budget 24 ptn I6e756cps „ £27900 Epson LX400 (was LX800) 10* 180/25 cps £179.00 Epson LOS60 good 24pln 150/60 ops E319.00 CiUian 120O budget 9 pin primer 120opB _ £139.00 DOUBLE TAKE! PYE 15" TV MONITOR (MODEL 2325J Miph ouasty medium ra aofcjnon colour TViirtondor now available to suit Dm Amtpa. Foanxo* leMnt hi tnta-red ramoat control. SCART connector. video/Audio input and hand- phone output connectors. 39 tuner presets, ertsmri aerial connector and a loop atrial. Supplied with connection cable. ONLY £269.00 price includes VAT. delivery and cable AMIGA 500 LOW COST RAM UPGRADE ONLY £69.00 W 512K RAM/CLOCK EXPANSION FEATURES : ft Direct replacement for the A501 expansion -Ct Auto-recharglng battery backed Real-time Clock ft Compact unit size : Ultra-neat design ft Uses only 4 D-RAMs for High Reliability ft Low power consumption RAM expansion without clock, only ... £59.00 3.5" EXTERNAL DRIVES using Teac / Citizen drive mechanisms • Suits Amiga 500 or Amiga 1000 • Teac / Citizen drive mechanism • On / Off switch on row of drive • Throughporl connector • One megabyte unformatted capacity • Slimline design • Very quiet • Long cable for location either side of computer • Full 12 months guarantee Ultra low price! £69.95 Inc. VAT and delivery vortex system 2000 40 Mb hard disks These high specification units Oder versatile high capacity storage suitable for use with the Amiga 500 or 1000. Auiobooting capability, a formatted capacity of over 42Mb, with an average access time of 45ms. Includes cables. Amiga interface module, plus utilities software including hard disk backup. System 2000 40Mb Hard Disk Package £499.00 Low Cost 5.25' External Drive The RFS42C Is a high quality 555" drive compatible to ihe Amiga. Capable of a number of configuraltons including 40780 track switching, 3607 7?0K format, giving full Transformer' compatibility. Colour matched to the Amiga, quiet in operation, and includes a throughporl connector. £114.95 TSS VAT delivery VSSllSHISfSM 3.5" Disks 10 Bulk packed DS/DD 3.5" disks with labels, fully guaranteed £ 9.95 25 bulk disks as above £22.95 1 0 disks as above with plastic case £1 1 .95 25 disks as above, with 40 capacity lockable storage unit £29.95 Kodak DS/DD 3.5" disks, top quality storage media. Box of 10 £17.95 EveshanifinTro5 All prices include VAT and delivery. Express Courier delivery £5.00 extra. Send cheque, Postal Order ^ or ACCESS/VISA card details Evesham Micros Ltd 63 BRIDGE STREET EVESHAM WORCS WR11 4SF £> 0386-765500 fax 0386-765354 (^■Pfl Phone us with your wilmd ACCESS or VISA MUM card details on : E^J^ 0386-765500 Govt, rduc A PLC ordrn wrlrumr Sam* da; dnpalch wbtnrrrr pmitbk All joodii wbjecl In availability, E.&O.E. Open In calk ra * dark 'J0-5J0 R 'if «' " H pe " hon! R,ud - Ctfleridp, Birmingham DM .'BH Tft: Oil 4SS 45 64 .bo „ . 5 (ilioon Ruad. Cambridge CBI 2H\ Td: 0223 32J89S ■ LETTERS ■ Open chequebook, and repeat after me... UNTIL recently I have had do problem with my internal disc drive. Approximately two months ago I started to get requesters say- ing (hat the disc in dfO: had a read/write error When 1 used the CLI command info there would be a number in the errs column. The unusual thing is. when 1 put the same disc in dfl: and type info, no number appears in the errs column. Do you have any idea what could be causing the problems, as > some pieces of hardware that you might find useful. Have fun and enjoy yourself. (Oh by the way, I have assumed that you have grasped the art of knitting from try- ing out a few of your own stitches and patterns.) Let me know how you get on! 1 have actually assumed that you can't knit, but hope you now know how I feel when I read articles such as Through the Square Window, AC Vol 1 No 9. Before buying my Amiga 1 was totally computer illit- erate. By now 1 have just about learnt my alphabet and am having a go at 2 and 3 letter words. Please could you run a regular spot for complete beginners, or at least provide a glossary of terms and abbreviations. I have found the process of learning a very frustrating experi- ence, the manual provided with the A500 is good in places but just doesn't work in others. I am reluctant to buy books which are expensive, without being sure they are any good. Libraries don't have any for the Amiga, and magazines such as yours are written for people who know what they are doing. Software comes without instruc- tions or with very poor ones - they frequently assume you know how to play the game. Please help the beginners. Anne Scotney, Loughborough, Leics, Thanks for the needles and wool. No, I can't knit, but they made fine improvised chopsticks for gobbling susi. And they made your point brilliantly. When you live and breath Amigas all day, every day. it is often easy to forget that there are new users. And it is for you that we have provided this month's free booklet. I hope you enjoy it. the drive is so bad I cannot boot up sometimes. Simon Colley, Camberley. Surrey. /. too. have a similar problem. It is the sign of a dying drive. And it is a real downer. Shop around for repair prices. Shield Computer Services in Manchester seem pretty reasonable guys at 55 quid flat rate. Call them on 061-747 3185. Little letter THE Protext demo has turned out to be one of the most useful pro- grams I have. Although not one of (he friendliest ones around, it is quite powerful. I've managed to create a small but useable dictio- nary, and I'm quite pleased. The 2k limit seems to have been just as helpful. I use Protext solely for writing letters to computer mag- azines, and I usually tend to write long stories instead of going straight to the point, The 2k limit doesn't let me do that (lucky for you). The only really annoying faults are Pretext's inability to cope with file names containing spaces in its catalogue mode, and that it doesn't work with a Workbench more than 640 pixel wide. Eyal Teler, (erusalem, Israel Yes, keeping your letters short is great, it doesn't help when you send five in each envelope. Serial sergeant I'M the proud owner of an A500 (well my wife is). The problem is I have a printer which I have used with a Tandy. The printer is a Tandy OWP-210 daisywheel which worked perfectly with the other system. As the printer was very expensive I would like to use it on the Amiga, but cannot seem to get it to work. Could you please assist me with this problem? What cable connec- tions? Sgt B V Matthews, RAF Gaton BFPO. The printer is a straightforward Centronics, so a PC printer lead should work perfectly well. Good dealer I write to sing the praises of one of the companies that advertises in Amiga Computing. At the Commodore show I bought a Micromegs ram expansion. A cou- ple of months later my son bought a game that refused to work with the expansion module in, so I removed it and afterwards could not get the computer to "see" it. When I rang MAST, the person I spoke to was Mr Tony Thompson who made it quite apparent that he was committed to customer ser- vice. Not only did he arrange for an immediate replacement to be sent (trusting me to roturn the faulty unit), he actually sent several good- ies and the latest specification board with an external disabling switch. Graham Callaghan, Christchurch, Dorset High TeX price SOME of your readers might be familiar with TeX, the mathemati- cal typesetting package that is available in the public domain for the likes of the PC, Atari ST and so on. I am therefore wondering why TeX only seems to be available for Amiga owners if they are prepared to spend £125? Is there a genuine PD version of TeX that I don't know about? Seekers of high quality branded discs could do worse than going along to their local university's computer supplies. Edinburgh University sells Sony discs to non- students for 65p each. Stephen ) Richards, Barnton, Edinburgh While the TeX compiler is PD the fonts and printer drivers are not. There is a version without the drivers - but with a screen pre- \iewer -on a Fish disc. The version The Text Formatting Company IOt-806 1944) sells repKsents a lot of addi- tional work. Watching the defectives THERE seems to be so many differ- ent types on the market, all offering different features. Monitors I mean. I understand that Commodore has stopped making the stereo 1Q84S monitor and replaced it with the old mono 1084. What is the dif- ference between the Philips CMB833 and CM8832 models? Is the CM8832 capable of accepting stereo sound? Which monitor do you recommend? Well the answers to some of those questions may seem blind- ingly obvious to you. but to me they pose a problem, and I'd value your help with them. Stuart Law son, Ulverston, Cumbria. The line about the 10B4S being stopped has a h/g/i BEL J suspect it comes from a salesman with a lot of old stock to shift. Whatever you buy don't buy it from him. It isn't true. Philips makes the monitor in the Commodore box so there isn't much to choose between the 8833 and 1084S. Buy whichever is cheaper. BEl? Oh. Bovine Excrement Index. Michael Jackson competition THE answer to the Michael Jackson Moonwalker competition question "Who is he and what is the name of the film" is, of course. J of f Walker (is this the one from the Walker demo?) NO???? What do you mean - NO!!!! Oh, you said Moon-walker. Well, sorry about this, but I just didn't know where to write. Couldn't you say "write your let- ters to magazine to find an address which looks right. And could you please write the name of the prod- uct you're reviewing on the con- tents page. I often search for a certain review through my maga- zines, and it helps greatly if I can see it on the contents page. Eyal Teler, lerusalem, Israel Hey, hang on a sec already, this is your third letter this month. Are you making a bid for a take-over? I do put my address on the letters page. You want I put vour address at the top? Eyal Teler's Postbox perhaps? Even though you got the answer to the question wrong we put your entry in the correct entries box, and sneaking a look over ]eff s shoulder at the winners list I noticed that you were one of the winners. AMIGA COMPUTING February 1990 103 LETTERS ■ Bugs or broken? PLEASE could help me with two problems. The first is thai our unexpanded Amiga A500 is unreliable. We have sent it away lor repair with only a slight improvement. Please could you tell me il the follow- ing faults are normal. • Workbench 1.2 can be crashed by putting files into Ram disc. • Pretext develops errors, such as not enough memory lo sort files, disappearing menus, and numerous Guru messages. All these happen after you incur a system (usually disc) error. • Amiga Basic also crashes quite frequently. There are a few other prob- lems, but these are the most frequent and troublesome. Have you any suggestions lor the best course of action lo solve them. The second point is that I need a good budget Eprom blower and assembler for the Z80 series. I hope to be able to create software on the Amiga to run in a separate Z80 sys- tem. Any advice you could give would be much appreciated. Sam Hugh. Wigan. Lancashire. Only one of your faults is nor- mal. AmigaBasic crashes it asked to do anything moder- ately taxing. The solution is to call Hisoft on 0525 7181B1 and order a copy of the Basic com- piler. While you should upgrade your Workbench 1.2 to 1.3 - if only to get the excellent man- ual - there is no reason why 1.2 should give you problems and neither should Protext. so I'd advise you to take the machine to a dealer who can run some tests on it. Most Eprom blowers accept serial input, although I can't find any details of an Amiga- specific one. A friend has been looking for a 280 cross assem- bler for a while and the best solution he has come up with is to use the public domain CP/M emulator and run a Z80 assem- bler under that. Seventeen Bit Software on 0924 366982 should be able to furnish you with the emulator. Time warp Compatibility crisis WHEN I bought a copy of War in Middle Earth and I was most disap- pointed to find that it wouldn't load. It was my memory expansion which was causing the problem. I had believed that this problem only existed in older games written before expansions became popular Apparently not! A further problem was caused by my A590 hard disc which grabs some memory on startup. This was solved by disabling the autobool rams. Now Silkworm works perfectly without all this bother, as do a number of other games so the prob- lem is not insoluble. How about introducing a compatibility guide as part of the usual ratings roundup? This would enable those of us with extra ram to avoid buy- ing such poorly written software and would put pressure on soft- ware houses to tackle this annoy- ing problem. On the serious software front, how about a series of reviews com- paring the best in various cate- gories. No prizes for guessing which word processor would win. just how much are Arnor paying you for all the publicity? Over the top or what! Mark Hadlev, Fulford. York Testing everything on oil config- urations of machine with different roms, quantities of ram and peripherals would take forever. Commodore Technical offers soft- ware houses a testing service, but since this takes a day for each pro- gram and we review more than 20 programs a month it would not give the people caged up in the review room time to write or play the games. - although some other mags don't seem to bother with playing their review copies so here is my guide to what works as a rule: Everything which should, works on a vanilla A500 except Timescanner (and that is the kindo thing our guys spot). Add an extra drive and you may need to unplug it for some programs. Add memory and you may need to unplug it for some very naughty games. Club 68000 does an expansion with a switch which is dead useful, There are some programs which will do the same thing. KillFastMem on the October cover disc is one. The richer you get the more grief you gonna have. 'TJs true that money can 't buy happiness. Hard drives gobble ram and have auto- boot roms again most programs can handle this unless they expect to sit in a specific area of memory. Anything from America should he kosher, stuff from Germany is sus- pect. Buy a 2000 and you really have rich kid problems. The keyboard timing is different. Now there is a proper way to scan the keyboard and "the way which works on my A500". Listen to what the man says and the program will work. This is the second most com- mon compatibility problem and as so few people play games on A2000s it isn't a megq worry. So what wins the prize for being the hardware most programs hate? It is the add-on processor. The 68020 and 68030 have a little bit of memory inside 'em called a cache. This reads chunks of pro- gram ready for the rest of the chip to run. So if the chip changes the chunk in proper memory after it has been read the chip doesn't get to hear of it. and everything falls in a heap. This is called self-modifying code. This is a no-no. Partly because it causes problems and partly because it is frighteninglv difficult to debug. Sometimes pro- grammers want to write unread- able code, particularly when working on disc protection rou- tines. Otherwise the crackers wouldn 1 have a challenge. So the protectors use self-modifying code. This is really annoying because it means that games which would run much better on a faster Amiga won 't even load. I like the idea of serious round- ups, but then who am I to make policy decisions? I pass it on to the powers that be. BROWSING through back numbers I came across a couple of points which may be of interest to you and readers. In an article about a fancy monochrome high-res moni- tor. Simon Rockman implies that there is a problem in getting Protext to fill an interlaced screen with its default window. I use a flickerfixer and a Multisync II and found this problem too. However, I contacted Mark Tilley (the author of Protext) at Arnor and almost by return of post ho sent me a 'fixed' version which will produce a full window on an interlaced screen. I am writing this on such a screen which gives me nearly a full A4 (some 50-odd lines). Used on a monochrome long persistence monitor, the window is slightly larger than can be attained with the Multisync. While not exactly in the Viking league, this version puts Prolexl streets ahead of any opposition, IBM or other- wise, for the price and gives credit lo Arnor for prompt responsive- Secondly in your letters page, Keith Stark of Bury St Edmunds, had a grumble about the Beebulator in that it couldn't be copied. Well, that may be, but it can be installed on a hard disc. I have played about with one for about three months and was not aware of the copy- protection. I just installed it. I can't recall how I did it but I can assure you il works. Sorry Ihal these responses are a bit late, but 1 trust they are useful com- ments. John Stanley Wistaston, Crewe. Time and tide wait for no man. And while they are waiting the rest of us get around to some de-bug- ging. It was as a direct result of Simon's review and o number of messages on the truly wonderful Cix modem service, that Arnor fixed Protext. When the article was written the statement was correct Ihonest your honour). The same is true of the Beebulator. The first 1,000 copies were protected. But thanks to sev- eral complaints, of which the letter in Amiga Computing, was one. Commodore changed to an unpro- tected version. And that is what you buy today. Well done, Commodore. Public Domain Software for the Amiga from £3 per disk all inclusive * Over 500 disks! * Membership not necessary * Fast Service We have one of the largest collections ol PO software for the Amiga In the UK. We currently stock: O FISH 1-204 O AMICUS 1-26 O SLIPPED DISK 1-40 O FAUG HOTMIX 1-75 O PANORAMA 1-71 OAUGE 1-25 OT-BAG 1-23 All the above are C3 each 4 1 FREE when you order 10 2 catalogue disks available at ?5 which give details of the above collections HARDWARE: External Disk Drive CBS. 95 Amiga A 500 £360 All prices are fully Inclusive of VAT * JOIN THE CLUB! interested In [olnlng our user club? Write or phone for details * Our own special selection £4.00 each O AP01 #6 0.1 HELP Confused by CLI7 Ihii one * lor you > APOL #7 LANGUAGES Lnp. Prolog. Looo. forth ) APOL /fi AMIGA DISK DOCTOR Us laving programs! ■ ) APOL #U BEET ARCADE GAMES O APOL #15 BEST BOARD GAMES Backgammon. Othello. VaMjee «c O APOL #T7 BUSINESS COLLECTION Editor. Spreadsheet S Ditatnse O APOL Ml DATABASES Keep Hack ol your iUIi O APOL M2 ADVENTURES Vol 2 Castle A grtprtc adventure & several tail aoVentum O APOL #43 C COMPILER ASSEMBLER AND LINKER i> APOL M4 WOAO PROCESSING Word Processor & Spellchecker i APOL M5PUCVE 4 STRATEGY GAMff: ^ APOL M8 MAGNIFICENT FORCE II 20 Great Tunes > APOL «? FRACTAL GENERATORS O APDL/S3 UNKNOWN 5 OEMOS Supeitj eye-poppinrj demos wilh grot music > APDL #57 JUNGLE COMMAND MjshiI Invasion 3 O APDL 'SACHET SOLACE SHAREWARE EXTRAVAGANZA Some of the bef. shareware programmes on easy-to-use menu dnven disc 5 SPECIAL Sunrik (1 MB) Superb PO game for thou with 1Mb 3 disci £6 00 Write o» phone lor a FREE List El TEL: 0983 79 496 ACCOUNTS Arena In! Accounts 1MB 179 95 Desk Top Budget 34 96 Home Accounts 23 92 Panmead Modules (each) 39 79 Peteoriai Tu Ptarwier 3*96 SBACashIMb 59 SO SBA XlralMb 59 82 BOOKS & CONSUMEABLES Please call COMMUNICATIONS A Talk 3 59 80 B8SPC ___„_. 88 78 KComm2 23 9? Ruby Comm (View.Term) 68 77 COMPUTER AIDED OESIGH Design 30 1MB 57 96 Draw 2000 149 96 Professional Draw 1MB 99 82 X Cad Designer 1MB 79 81 X Cad Prol 1 5MB 339 94 DATABASE MANAGERS Acijursrlion 159 85 Data Retrieve Pro 179 86 MailsholPtus 37 95 Mcro Base _______ 17 94 Mierotehe Filer Plus 117 76 Microfiche Ft)* 49 91 Piodala 54 97 Race Horse Form Master 39 79 Supertose Personal 39 79 Superbase Personal 2 62 79 5uperbase Professional 159 85 Who What When Where 29 90 DESKTOP PUBLISHERS PageSettir 59 90 Pagesfeam 1MB 129 95 Professional Page 1MB. 174 80 EOITORS CygnusEd Professional 59 80 GRAPHICS AmmaoK Effects 1MB 54 9 7 C Light Ray Tracing 39 79 Com* Setter 1MB 39 79 Deluie Patnt 3 1MB 57 96 Defuie V-deo 54 97 DigiPamt3 54 97 Elan Perlomar ... _ 44 85 Movie Setter _ 51 SB Photon Paint 2 1MB 57 96 Parnate Image Enhancer 38 87 Sculpt 3D XL 99 6? Sculpt 4D Pro! 1MB 329 82 Sculpt Amman 4D Junior 79.81 The Director Language 39 79 tuitjo Si'vei Ray Ttactng 99 82 Video Studio Toots 89 93 Zottrope Ammatcn 1 MB 79 81 tWSffi 21 3 Sw«ch64 66 3 5* NEC Drive Swnch/ Thru ...lwiu-lfi 512K A500 RAM Clock' S«*ch ' * Ma> Mac Emulatoi No Roms ., -i , ■ i, A4 Flat Bed Scanner Hard Disk 69 92 76 82 11983 459 77 iscr /? W Casio MT240 Midi Rybrd 12995 Oigi Vie* Gold Digrtiscr Mdi Master Internet... M-niaen Genlock Vdi Amiga PAL D-gitiscr PACKAGES AppeliMi (Gold Disk) graphics Starter (Aeon) Home_ Office Kit (DiseCo) 1 19 83 10994 34 96 9982 99 B2 29 90 54 97 Pub Chc.ce (DittCo) Slartcf Kit (OistcCo) The Worki Platinum (MSS) PROGRAMMING Artec C Oeveioper Nvpaj ! mtratsi Hisofl Basic Compiltt Lattice C 5 Complete Moduli 2 Developer 68 77 59 80 134 78 139 84 .4186 57 96 169 97 109 94 SOUND Delu.eMus* Const Kit 49 91 inetant Music ___ 22 77 Music X (UK version) 179 85 Studio Mag* 49 91 SPREADSHEET 8 DGCalc MasipianSQO _..74j Superplar, 1MB .. 67 85 yWptttmwtim) 69 92 A/nigiDOS Toolbox 37.95 Ami** For Beginners 29 90 ARcu Language 34 96 BAD Disk Opt miser 31 97 BBC Emulator 39 79 Calligrapher . 64 86 Disk\lasler Housekeeper 37 95 DOS 2 no-:, Rtj rrwAr 29 M face*?™' ' 3 SAWjM " d,1 J $ Goml 3 Guru Interceptor 27 83 MAC 2 DOS Masterpiece fonti 129 95 Muldtsk Workbench UtihsS6 1 2 Pro*ct D Backup/Editor 30 8? Superback 2 39 79 Virus Inletl. Protection . 34 96 WordPerfect Library . 88 09 X Copy 2 Backuc-tdBor 17 94 Your Family Tree Gen 34 96 WORDPROCESSORS Kindwords 2 Microteatl . Prote.t 64 86 Senbbk (Platinum) 41 86 Transcript 32 89 Wordperlect 159 85 Richard Howe 8 Aogili Hammed Applied Rsair ch Kernel Corve f aimhoutt. Chile BrttH. Vintner. P03I 2U, U.K. POSTAGE: UK Free. Etch Bern undtr 1kg Euiope f4, World £10 CHEQUES: London Sterling Payable to A R K please EXPORT 8 BFPO: Remove UK VAT I.Price/1 15) V . A. T.: All prices mdudtU.K VAT al 15% PHONE Monday lo Saturday Sam to 7pm DESPATCH: Usually wrthsi 48 hours PRICES: Are subiect to change OVER 1800 AMIGA PRODUCTS LISTED THE AMIGA PD LIBRARY Dept. AMC, 72 Glencoe Road, Sheffield. S2 2SR PD Hotline 0742-588429 |9am-9pm) DELTABASE A DELT ABASE companies can produce the software to use Analogue Yoke Joystick for Right Sim II. Similar lo a light aircraft control it rocks from side lo side tor aileron move* ment and slides in and out lor elevator controls £29.95 DELIA 3A - A light action ana- logue (Oystick with lire buttons Introduced so that software Meantime this also will only run llighl SIM DELIA 38 - A unique last light hand held switched joystick with fingertip control which will have you still nipping around the screen, when the upngnt/sucker brigade are nursing their aching wnsts , _E14 95 AMI-CAT - Mouse eliminator loystick tor where a suitable surface cannot be lound, AMI-CAT will provide variable speed control ol mouse software. II you point the stick, the mouse pointer/cursor etc will move in thai direction. The speed is proportional to the degree of deflection When the stick is released the mouse pointer remains stationary £29 95 SIMULATOR Sublog-c Fl.ght S.m II £27.95 SOFTWAHE Scenery Discs £15.95 VOLTMACE Unit 9. Bondor Business Centre London Road. BakJock, SG7 6HP Telephone 0462 894410 Prices incfudo VAT & 1st class post Dealer A Distributor terms available E3 dataplex COMPUTERS £LTD ^> 10 Petersfield Avenue, Slough, BeiHshire SL2 5DN Tel: 0753 35557 Fax: 0753 51 11 22 CorWllions ol isle AH prices delude VAT and de- livery charges E&OE all pnc*s subject lo change without notice Al colled ions made by prior ar - rangement from our wareftouie Please add £t .VAT lor consum- ables and £a*VAT lor all other items lor neat day delivery AMIGA HARDWARE WOO Complete A500.TV Modulator AMO.Phibcjs Utd Col AMIGA 500 BATMAN PACK - includes • Amiga MO computer . TV Modulator . • Batman Movm Game ■ FIB FIkjM Simulator Game • Paint II • Now Zealand Story ■ Dauplei oiler ot Free Joystick PRICE ONLY AMIGA ACCESSORIES A501-512K Flam . clock Free Ming it bought with Amiga 500 TV Modulator Mouse Mai - Ameja to Philips lead Ameja to Printer lead CMckshot II Turbo Joysllcll OATAPIFJI DRIVES IMB IS* t^Mnul DrtM ..... 1Mb 3 5" Internal Drve 1MbS 25-FtoppyDrw AMIGA HARD DRIVES ?0Mb Dnve A500/1000 30Mb ASOO/1 000. 40Mb Dnvi A500/1000 60MD Dnve ASOO/1000 Please nng for othei capacity dirves PHILIPS MONITORS CMSaU 14" KGBA^BSCol Mon BWSOZir Green Monitor BM75H f3'AmberMonilor CMMS2 Hi Res Col Mon PRINTERS Amitrad LO3500 01 Amstrad OMP4000 Amitrad LQ5000 Dl Dot Mitrti Range Citom 1200 Cilittn 1B0E — „„.„ H**7to* Swfl 24 CokHH upgrade for Swift All Cittfen pnnters come wth 2 year wai 27900 255 00 46500 Mouse 317.00 MOO 19 00 400 1000 1000 1000 M 00 S3 00 99 00 329 00 529 00 458 00 910 00 199 00 79 00 6900 24900 119.00 17500 295 00 11500 127 00 255 00 42 00 amy Epson U400 Epson FX 1060 Epson LO. 400 Epson LO5S0 Epson LOB50 EpmLOM Epson LQ1060 Hewlett Pacbrd ■r Qu>et|et Quietiet* _ Desk^el Mmi e — — — , Paint* Ruggid Wrtttr Al Hewlett Packard Printers come w*h months onsae warranty 139 00 405 00 t95 00 255 00 3?5 00 5180" 649 CO 25500 334 00 399 00 438.00 524 00 Ma oo B64 00 12 BiotherM1109 . . £235 Brothei U1209 E169 £260 Brother Ml 224 Brothei M1913 Brother Ml 709 ■ mi 33 cj« i nn Mono 13500 Star IC10 Colour 168 00 Star LC24-10 iimnntrntt faH 22SOO NEC P2200 NEC P6.B0 Crurxtti 234.00 389.00 NEC P7.136 Character Colour Upgrade tut „.,.., w ,. Panascn* OiPIOfll 499 00 .80.00 12B0O IPKUI oner while pmubMc OP11Z4 itocss lasi .229 .00 In* Utfl SheeHeeder 89.00 PjimoncKJPtieO.-™, Panasonc KXP1592 Panason< KXP1595 Panasonc KXP1540 144.00 253 00 31900 404 00 NEW Minnesmann Tally MT81 (Cot Matrn) 11500 Bfcesffl.rdc- 62 00 SefialLf 4900 RIBBONS Various ribbons in dock, please can (or prices Filt, Froiiuionil ind fff/f/enf npiki cimttaul. Xwfc O M P U T I N G in association with SIM CITY You are in control of a city. Build the metropolis. Live your imperialist dreams. Can you rule for 100 years? The thinking man's Populous. SAVE £51 R RP £29.99 OUR PRICE £24.99 The fate of the world lies in your hands. Magic, animation and monsters add up to a game which no role-playing enthusiast should miss. SAVE £5! RRP £29.99 OUR PRICE £24.99 Buy both and save £ PLEASE USE THE ORDER FORM ON PAGE 113 106 AMIGA COMPl -ri\C February 1H90 TIN TIN From cartoon to computer game with graphics to match. Help TlnTin and friends on their quest to reach the moon. Snowy is on your side, but watch out for the evil Colonel Boris. Blistering Barnacles! Order either Tin Tin or Kult (but not both) for the stunning price of £4 - but only when you subscribe to Amiga Computing Lively, colourful and challenging. The unexpected humour and puzzles promise many sleepless nights PLEASE USE THIS ORDER FORM COMPUTING SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM Valid to February 28, 1990 Please tick the appropriate box Please register my subscription to Amiga Computing: 12 MONTH SUBSCRIPTION New Renewal UK Europe & Eire Overseas Airmail £24.95 £34.95 £49 95 9566 9570 9572 9567 9571 9573 24 MONTH SUBSCRIPTION Maw Renewal UK Europe & Eire Overseas Airmail £54.95 £63.95 £91.95 9568 9674 9576 tern 9575 9577 Orders received by January 1 1 will commence with March issue I would like to take advantage of ONE of your special offers: Tin Tin or Kult £4.00 £4.00 9*48 9449 Payment: please Indicate method (/) Chequo/Eurocnequa made payable to Database Publication* Lid. Aoow«A»a»twca/d^ufocaTd^d«ycardn/taafl>>f>n6a 1_I_L No. I I I I I l_L E*piry Date / 1 1 1 Name Signed Address Post Code Daytime telephone number in case ol queries Send to: Database Direct, FREE POST, Ellesmere Port, South Wirral L65 3EB <n 0 nam? needed ■ pomd <n uk) Order at anytime, of (he day or nig hi Don I kstgm lo give four name, addrees and end* cam number Odma bf pAone. Ml -357 1 275 Orders bf fax 061-157 2113 OrOmn by UtmUnk: UAQOOl Gf*ralEnQutnm: 051-357 2M1 AM2 February 1990 AMIGA COMPUTING 10? Hampshire Micros 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 file compatible with other versions of TEX. Printer drivers are available for most printer types and the complete 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 £1 25 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 SUFFIELD WORKS, 1 SUFFIELD ROAD, LONDON N15 5JX TEL: 01-802 4470 STAR LC10 Black nObon £4.00 • VAT % Colour ribbon E6.00 . VAT MONO Z 129.00 t VAT COLOUR £169.00 . VAT [with cable & paper) Philips IMBooj £189.00 . VAT 1 C9A 111 Ll/ L t 1 U £194.00 * VAT Amiga 500* Mod £279.00 * VAT Citizen 120D £104.00 ♦ VAT Amiga 500 Bat Pk £312.00 ♦ VAT Epson LX400 £129.00 ♦ VAT Tenslar pack with AS00 £17.39 Commodore AS01 upgrade £99.00 Cumini CAX54 (1M) 3.5" £69.00 All prices include Cable & Paper Panasonic KXP1081 £119.00* VAT DISKETTES (llfellme warranty) (100% certified error free) 10 3.5* 135tpl OS/OD £5.60 + VAT 5035- 135tpl DS/DD £26.30 ♦ VAT 100 3.5" 1 35tpi DS/D0 £52.00 * VAT 50 Disk Dox hmp,e & lock £4.30 . VAT 100 Disk box hinge & lock .... £6 80 . VAT Panasonic KXP1180 £139.00 * VAT Pnone for our full catalog uertiest price. Fast service & 12 months guarantee Prices subject to change. We are closed Saturday Postaga £1 .00 WAT (£1 .15). Securer £7.00 1 VAT (£8.06) Hampshire Microcomputers Unit 11 , Kingdom Park, Segensworth. Titchfield. Hants P0 15 5TJ. Tel:0489 885911 (Fax 885651) W^M Larger Items by Securtcor iLr x ^ Amiga Amiga Amiga Amiga Amiga Amiga The U.% Amiga Users group is the Largest Amiga only user group in the world We are now in our fourth year and are the most estaBlished and experienced Amiga user group in the U.% 'We have over 1,500 members and are aSCe to offer an unrivalled level of support. Our members receive a 60* page bi-montfdy newsletter packed with articles of interest at att levels, we have a massive library of puBCic domain software and run an Amiga only Bulletin Board We offer our memBers superB discounts on aH hardware,software and Books- ^ne U.%A.U.Q. is the group to belong to regardless of your age or level of experience, our aim Being to provide support and encouragement to everyone. 'Why not join us and start to appreciate what Amiga computing is all about. 0 066 Software for u'limn sports eitihu\iii~ POOLSWINNER n foul s i 'ki Die iii>\ I'kiHik \\i KI\(iK\ S*> »m MASSIVE DATABASE Poofcwmner i* I wphuticalrd Pool, prediction It ramrt complete with I he large*! database available • UOOO matihe» over 10 >f *rv PREDICTS Not)u« SCOREDRAWS.bul NO-SCORES. AWAY5 and HOMES loo. Predklion* are bawd on many factor* _. recenl form, I he mauivr database, current league Handing, goal Koring rale*, and draw average* leach factor it independently *wilchable by lh« uml SUCCESSFUL Selec gUAiifllEE Ihat Pooliwuiner perform* tignlft- canity better than chance. LEAGUE AND NON-LEACUE matches are coveted '»*V FULL LEAGUE TABLES anr automatical!* generated ** mult* are entered. AUTOMATIC FIXTURE GENERATION ! FUlum (or Englbh and Scottish League mate he* are general cd automatically hv Pool*winnn'* *i*lcr ptogram HXCEN— • FIXGEN :NoneedIo*trugglefor hour* to gel the li«ture I ivt inlo Ihr fcZO.jU computer ■ ju*i type in ihr dair. 1 ugrn cnniain* the complete Pc*il*wmner future liil lor Ihr whole year 1 * league *oc<*T. >hibti*hnl undrr Mtlh Fi*gen terwr fwi the footMl iMgue. ami the Scailah f i*'iMI Lu^uc* POOLS PERM PLUS Mll'IIIMK MM) luDltlAI | .11 Mil S I'l KM WUlMK • Whether youuwi wienlif k bet, or family birthday*, PPP wilt check the performance glany bel over the yean, revealing which week* it won pnae*- le»l your theories, or compare permV performance. Complete wilh 5 year* coupon re*ultv • Alto you can w Pool* Trrm Plus lo (heck your perm lor winning £26. 00 line* each week; the program come* complele with 20 top perm*. COURSEWINNER vs II I'l Ml KM'IAH'I U K rHIM.KWl The ORIGINAL, and Mill Ihe BEST computer punter'* aid. Counewinner V3 u*e* all the mo*l important tocm poinlm hMM lorm. %peed ratings, prue money. cour»e Uallukt. jockey lorm .trainer lorm rlc> lo give • detailed fltnimrn! ol rvciy runner'* chanceL nol jual a lip. ■ Vital ttalUlin of all Briiuh couraet (Draw advantage. Top Tralnmand lockey* tt(> are included in ihedalaba**. £26.00 1 Include* both FLAT and NATIONAL HUNT vmionv All anuUNr/if IBM ' AM7QA. ATARI ST. Arruf PCW Selec Software 62 Aliriiu'hani Rd. (i*llr>. ('hvadlc *» war* »/n"t' »" ••1 ll" lull IN ill he*hirrSKH4l)P mi >ili-jni Ii-IOftMM-7425 »W AMIGA COMPUTING February 1990 0530 411485 ASHCOM RAM expansion without clock £73.95 24 HOUR ANSWERING SERVICE 44C256-12 DYNAMIC RAMS £10 inc. VAT each All prices include VAT and Dai ivory. British made. Trade Enquiries Welcome. Please make cheques & PO's payable to Ashcom ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 512K RAM Expansion with Clock for Amiga 500 Features: RealTime Clock with High Capacity NICAD Battery Backup Memory Disable Switch Low Power Consumption Latest Technology 1MBit RAMS Low Chip Count for High Reliability Direct Replacement for A501 Expansion ONLY £79.95 Only from ASHCOM, 10 The Green, Ashby-De-La-Zouch, Leicestershire, LE6 5JU Telephone: (0530) 411485 RAMSOFT FORMERL Y 16 BIT SOFTWARE UNIT 1 DRAKE HOUSE 160 0RAKE STREET. ROCHDALE LANCS 0161 6 IPX TEL: 0706 43519 A500 BAT PACK A500, TV modulator, Joystick. Deluxe Pain Interceptor. New Zealand Story. & Batman The Movie £359.00 A500 BAT PACK + This pack as above plus Ten Star Pack 1 : Amegas, 2: Art o' Chess. 3: Barbarian. A. Buggy Boy, 5: Ikan Warriors. 6 Insanity Flight. 7 Mercenary Comp. 8 Terrorptffls. 9 Thunaercats. io Wizbaii R.S. PRICE! £379.00 Commodore 1084S E254.00 Philips CM8B33! £229.00 ALL MONITORS INCLUDES LEADS' BASIC PACK This pack as above mmus Bat Pack Only a lew left at this price £349.00 PHILIPS CMB833 E215.00 if purchased with any Amiga ROM UPGRADE Upgrade your 1 2 Kickstan new i .3 'oms now available £29.00 PRINTERS Star LClOMono Star LClOCol £165 00 £215.00 SEIKOSHA ALL MODELS AVAILABLE ALL OUR PRINTER PRICES ARE INCLUSIVE OF LEADS NEC IMeg 3.5* E»l. Onva. low power, throughout. sMmlme. ONLV £79.95 Universal mon>lDr TV SUnOt locfcate base ONLV CM Joysticks Konu Navigator £12.95 Ouotshot II Turbo C9M ACCESS VISA & STVLE WELCOME Pleat* note. All our pnces includ* VAT ft Courier delivery. All Items despatched within 24hrs Dependant on availability ft cheque clearance, prices subject to change without notice at any time Alt pricea shown are 'or mail order only. E- ft O.E '5 Amiga DOS Our* Raterenre [AbNOUft) 5 Motorala 68000 Programme's Ret Man (Motorola) - „ „.„ ■> 1001 Thing* To Do With Your Amiga (Tab) C9.95 <9 _...E9.95 <9 -CB95 «» CI2.95 Kiekstart Guide to me Am»ja (Ariadne) - — „' „.„■. O .- C12B5 * Elementary Amiga BASC (Computel) (0) — _ i Amiga Machine Language (Abacus) (D) , „ „ O CI 2.95 O C12B5 O CI295 -i Amiga Piogrammers Guide (Computel) , J Amiga DOS Reference Guide (Computel) _ _ Amiga Tricks and Tip* (Abacus) (D) ■3 Inside Amiga Graphics (Compute 1 ) (0) - _ «> „ CI * 95 ;|«> — cia.es «» CI 4 05 •O CI 4.95 4 Amiga C tor Beginners (Abacus) (D) -._.-,_™™ «> CI 4.95 * C1495 •o cu.es 4 Amiga DOS - ft Out (Abacus) (D) e> Advanced Amiga BASIC (Compute'i (D) .„ ..„„, O - C1695 => cie.es 3 Computer Viruses - A High Tec* Oteaie (Abacus-NEWI) ■3 Amiga Users Guide to Graphics. Sound. Telecom (Bantam) J Becoming an A/ruga Artist (Scon-Foresman - Newl) _ J Amiga 30 Graphics Programming m BASIC (Abacus - NEW) (0) Amiga Machine lang Programming Guide (Compute!) (D) O UnngDelmePelni II (Compute') ...... _ ^ Learning C - &aph*cs on Amiga ft Atari ST (Compute") (D) „„■,.- O Amiga BASIC - Inside ft Out (Abacus) (0) , Amiga M<o-osoR BASIC Programmers Guide (Scott-Poreman) « ti6.es •» m cie.es o ~™ cie.es ■a - ct7.es *» „ CI7.05 O CI 7 95 <» , £1795 «» £18.95 «» £18.95 •9 ... £1095 => Amiga DOS Manual (Bantam) -,-„.„„, , ■> Programming the 68000 (SyDei) _,_„ •9 £22-95 O - £22.95 ■) Amiga D*k Drivee - Insida ft Out (Abacus) (D) O Programmers Guide to the Anvga (Sybe*) •J Amiga Programmers Handbook (Sybea) O Amiga Programmers Handbook. Vol 2 (Svbei) 4 Amiga ROM Kernel Ret. Man.: Includes ft Autodocs (A W MEW') 4 £24.95 O E24 95 « C24 95 * — C24.05 4 - £29.95 -> Amiga System Programmers Guide (Abacus) (0) ^> Amiga Graphics Insida ft Out Abacus (New) •9 £29 95 «* C2B.BS <3 C29 95 BOOKS MARKED (0) HAVE ft DISK AVAILABLE. IS 95 DISK MAY BE PURCHASED SEPARATELY RAMSOFT EXTRAS RAM EXPANSION - 512K CARTRIDGE: - WITH CLOCK COS 00 SOFTWARE SPECIALS BEAST:- ""FALCON MISSION DISK:- CI2.» "" PROMISED LANDS:- £7.90 ALTEREO BEAST:- C17.B9 ""KNIGHT ORC:- C9.99 ""BLACK MAGIC- 19.99 ' ' • PLIASt MUG fOH PRICt 0M OTHER RTLtS... ALL PRICES ARE INCLUSIVE OF POSTAGE Mail Order Offers Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing Learn 1o typo quickly, willy and perfectly - the tun way! This is an artificial mielitgence software system from the writers of Chessmasler 2000 - winner ol the US Chess Federation Computer Chess Championship. It checks your progress lesson by lesson, every step ot the way, through a typing course tailored to your individual needs. Mavis makes the learning (un when creating your lessons by selecting quotes from history's greatest writers, countless riddles, rhymes, jokes and hundreds ol fascinating facts from the Guinness Book of World Records It you feel your typing could be bettor, tfu's is the ideal way fo learnt RRP £29.99 OUR PRICE £24.99 MiniGEN - Genlock SAVE £15 The MiniGEN takes the output from your Amiga and combines it with an external source such as TV. video or camera, to give a rock- steady image This is the ideal way to overlay titles or animation created with packages such as Zoetrope. One* you've plugged In your Mini GEN you'll be well on the way to having your own professional Desktop Video system! RRP £113.85 OUR PRICE £98.85 AMIGADOS: A Dabhand Guide Is a comprehensive guide to mo Commodore amiga's disc Operating System (Versions i .2 and i .3). It provides a unique perspective on this powerful system in a way which will be welcomed by the beginner and the experienced user alike. Rather than simply reiterating the Amiga manual, This book takes a genuinely different approach to understanding and using the Amxja and contains a wealth of practical hands-on advice and hints and tips. The many features of this book include: • Ful coverage of Amiga DOS t 3 functions • Filing «r* and wntout the Wc-kbench • The Arnica's hierarcheal f iling system • Pathnames and Dew* names • The Amga's nuiusking capabilities • The ArrigaOOS sown actor • AmigaDOS commands • Batch processing • Amga Error code rJescriptons • How to create near systems decs • Use of the RAM daa • Using ArnfcjaDOS witi C Amiga Computing approved reading E14.95 SOFTWARE SUPERMARKET Each month we scour the Amiga marketplace to find special reader offers with a difference - either the pnee is lower than youll normally find, or (fa an excellent product that's not easily found. Now, alter many weeks of elimination we have narrowed these products down to those few we think represent the best value, or are the most innovative or powerful. However, there are still more than we can fit in this section, so over the next few months we will be discontinuing some lines to make room for new ones. To make sure you don't miss out on any ol these exceptional oilers, place your order soon. Remember, we can only guarantee to supply goods up to the dale WordPerfect SAVE £50 This Is THE word processor for the Amiga, tt features all the power and flexibility of the PC version, and Is specially adapted to the strengths of the Amiga Itself. WordPerfect works the way you do. Il can be controlled with either the mouse or function keys, and you can display up to We text columns, side by side on a screen Plus, all the extra features so often missing from other word processors are tulfy implemented - such ss footnotes, endnotes, a thesaurus, spelling checker, mail merger, over 200 pnntors supported - and FREE SUPPORT is available should you need 1, // you're in any way serious about word processing WordPerfect is the program you need. And with a £50 saving it represents exceptional value lor money. RRP £228.85 OUR PRICE £178.85 Publishers' Choice Whether you are designing a simple flyer, creating a newsletter, banners, posters, or even producing a magazine, Publisher's Choice offers a comprehensive solution to your Desktop Publishing and presentation requirements. With the program you can easily combine text in a variety ol styles, m multiple columns and with customised graphics It comes with over 200 professionally designed images, and high quality "Headline" fonts. In fact. Publishers' Choice combines the Kmdwords 2.0 wordprocessor. PageSetter i .2 page composition package, Anises' Choice an program, and the Headline fontpack Because the Amiga is multi-tasking you can have all the programs working on the screen at the same time, or just use them individually as powerful stand-alone programs RRP C99.99 OUR PRICE £79.99 SBA Xtra with both qSTY SBA Xtra Is designed for the many small businesi ' credit and cash customers, who need a system tor providing quick lists of Debtors and Creditors and Individual account histories, without the effort ot keeping a complicated Sales and Purchase Ledger system. Among Hs many features are; * Daybooks * VAT report! * Account group reports * Transaction ItaUrtga by batch or icccunt heading a Constants on-acr**n updit* of cash position aid profit figur* * Profit and loaaiUtwnanU * Balance ahaat * Trial Balance * Budgets * Full audit trail What the press say "SBA Xtra la a winner In the low-coat accounting stakes." - What Personal Computer "It you're running a small business, SBA Xtra should be just fine for you. "-PC User RRP 114.95 OUR PRICE £89.95 SAVE £24 X-CAD Designer Probably the moat powerful and comprehensive Amiga Cad program available. X-CAD Designer la a full- featured, professional, two- dimensional design and draughting tool suitable for draughtsman, designers and engineers alike. It's also Ideally priced for education and technical training organisations. tt features an easy-to-use and learn pull-down menu system and a comprehensive tutorial guide - so that even a beginner to Cad can gat going vary quickly. The combination ol X-CAD Designer and the Amiga create one of the most cost- effective and flexible Cad workstations you can buy RRPC113.85 OUR PRICE £89.85 TO ORDER PLEASE USE THE FORM ON PAGE 113 JW AMIGA COMPUTING February 1990 EXCLUSIVE! Just now good is Protext? '...merely the best wordprocessor for the Amiga', -***•«'*' * Amiga Computing, January 1989 RRP £99.95 OUR PRICE £79.95 SAVE £20 Protext is acknowledged by many as THE word procossore lor most home micros, and the Amiga version is no exception. What you get with Amiga Protext is a powerful workhorse with a proven track record. Plus a saving of £20 oft the retail price of the new version 4> Press commenls Sonte ol Prolvtt * Icnluics Automiae i •tomuang ol tad Pap» BmM tiwm dung adOnq Can ipil aw* n ya, lyp* 0»tr 70.000 »ort Engirt akScrury Umo r*co(d mod* Foonote Mini IW corilguralon pcgran fcrto Intant lor pogran ad Ing F« and tut* fan an] ri0aa POMfUlDJlRWytiallr Bai modt lor awlrg coUwm Et* lw Rm u j im< Ktyboerd a moiM oparaton "For power and value lor money, I don't think that Prolexl 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 il lo be*. - Microns! "Anyone with a professional interest in words is l*ely to find it pays dividends". - PC Business World "It is a refreshing change to review an inexpensive WP package which lives up to every expectation" - Which PC "Prolext deserves lo be ihe system by which all other word processors are judged". - Your Computer "The groal strength ol the package is its ease ol use". - CPC Computing ■Deserves very serious consideration". - Amstrad Professional Computing Keyboard dust cover (A500) £4.95 Protect your Amiga with this top- quality cover made from clear, water-resistant vinyl, irs bound with strong cotton and features the Amiga Computing logo. The perfect desktop environ- ment for your mouse with its specially- designed, perfect- gnp surface. It ensure much smoother movement, gives super-positive control and protects your table top from scratches Binder £5.95 Twelve rods hokJ your issues •n place and keep them in pnsnne condition mi this smart PVC omder. Disc storage box £4.95 This luxury paddefl box is the ideal storago medium, holding up to FIFTY 3.5" discs Mail Order Offers Home Accounts Day by Day Home Account* ha* been designed to make full use of th* Amiga's feature*, giving you the widest range of home accounting facilities available at this price. The program lets you set budgets and control up to 13 separate accounts, with optional printouts of any data Within seconds of loading you data disc you can check your budget or any account, and oven display or print the data in bar or pie charts. RRP £54.90 OUR PRICE £34.90 Day by Day replaces your manual system for diary, business organiser, notepad, planner, reminder and so on. It's suitable for both business and home applications, including numerous useful functions which serve every requirement. it's suitable for both business and home applications, including numerous useful functions which serve every requirement. Among its many features are: •Cr Ca*fHJer«JaryyptanfMtf it Cfflegores such ss briks. birthdays and loners ft ACpOfitment sorting ft 'urgent' note board ft 'Overdue' notes board •ft Advance notes ol forthcoming events ft Updating ol regular appomimenis * Compmflensfve search factlfly ft Auiomaiic iBmmoors ft At-a-giance week and mown ummares ft Pnnt cpiOT ft Grouping ol related messages Both of these powerful programs are excellent value on their own. but if you buy this exclusive combination package we'll knock Cl 5 off the combined retail price. Need some extra discs? There's always a demand for spare Amiga discs - and at Amiga Computing we have lots we will be happy to sell off at a really exceptional price. They are all discs that have been prepared as monthly cover discs, but they are brand new and have never been used. Look at theee price*: 5 for £7.50! 25 for £20! You will receive a random selection of discs - from when we started offering cover discs last August to date. L D 0 □ Batman the Movie computer game at a knock-out price [23 ONLY £14.95 Place your order NOW - this exceptional otter rs only available whilst stocks last February loan AMH.A COMI'l TIXC III ^g^ff«t Mail Order Offers When you're developing software, the last thing you want is to hang around for ages while your assembler processes your code - when you could be getting on with further program development. But now all that waiting's a thing of the past, because ArgAsm from Argonaut Software is a revolutionary machine code development system. It assembles at an incredible rate of 250,000 lines a minute! 7 at least five times faster than anything else, and over 100 times faster than the original Commodore assembler - and it remains fully compatible. 6 What's more, ArgAsm is the first assembler to be compatible with all the three major assemblers; Assem, Oevpac and Cape. So if you're looking to upgrade, the chances are you'll be instantly right at home with ArgAsm. And for a limited period we're exclusively knocking £5 off the recommended price. gJT If you 're serious about \ producing professional qualify software - fast, \ (his is THE assembler for S you. But remember, this v, is a limited offer, so to J be sure of yopr copy /T place your order today. f J ArgAsm Probably the fastest assembler ever for the Amiga! Exclusive price for readers of IMPUTING £ 54.9 5 RRP £59.95 SAVE £5! 4 ( I ASSEMBLER EDITOR 1 Place your order today, using the form on Page 113 — i Ottert luDfect 10 avmlatntty Al subecnptc** include cmw dmc C-OMPUTING Back issues August 1 969-January 1089 bundle tcia.oo 9880 TAOd C3 Europe ft Efre / C12 Owua 'August 1989 £3.10 9714 ' September 1989 £3.10 9715 'October 1989 £3.10 9716 ' November 1989 £3.10 9717 ' December 1989 £3.10 9718 -January 1989 £3.10 9719 hdudaa oovetdaK Cover Old August-January £9.00 9881 | Protext Version 4 la—tMQU 111) £79.95 9530 DTP Yearbook 1990 (see pay* 82) £1495 9862 Casio Pocket TV400 colour TV £94.95 Plus post and packing ei 50 9865 Battery charger (see page &) £19.95 9661 Plus post and packing C 1 .50 Amiga DABhand Guide A comprehensive guide to tfie Amiga's disc operating system (versions 1 .2 and 1 .3) £14.95 9866 Amiga cover discs S assorted discs 25 aasof ted discs £7.50 9887 £20.00 9888 READER OFFERS Valid to 282.90 Mall Order offers (seepage 110/111) Publishers Choice £79.99 9867 Mini-Gen £96.85 9869 Word Perfect 4.1 version 178.85 9670 * Cad £89 85 9871 Small Business Aces Xtra £89.95 9073 Mavis Beacon Typing £24.90 9074 Home Accounts/Day by Day £34.90 905f Sim City 106) £24 99 9883 Drakkhen «"W< 106) £24.99 9884 Sim City and Drakk hen (see page 106) jtfftftj t £44.99 9885 Batman - The Movie Game ftee/moe ill) £19.99 Tank Attack 9882 £19.99 9648 ArgAsm (seepage 112) £54 95 9058 Dust covers £4 95 9507 Mouse mats £4.95 9500 Binders £5.95 Disc boxes 9509 [ £4 95 9060 Addition lor postage: Europe A Eire add £3 Overseas add £5 Unless otherwise indicated TOTAL Send to: Database Direct, FREEPOST, ENesmere Port, South Wlrral L65 3EB (No tUmp rwaOM I posted in UK) Products arm normal? despatched *r*hin 48 noun ot race** but dewvery or certain lira coukt take upio?6 day* Payment: please indicate method (✓) ] Ch«tqu»EurochequB made payaob io DtUu* Dir«cl Acc^Ma*lerca/dturocjml^*c«ycaniVi»*Conn«l No. I I | I E«Wry Data I I I 1 I L / 1 1 Order at any time of l he day or night Dont target to gtve your name. i and credit card number Orders by phono OS 1-357 1275 Ordera by Fa* 05 1 -35 7 IS 1 3 Od*s by UtroL M : MA GO0 1 QarmalEnquinee 051-157 2M1 Name Signed Address Daytime telephone number in case of queries Post Cod* AM? TWO WAYS TO ENSURE YOU GET ^Please reserve me a copy of Amiga Computing^ magazine every month until further notice. COMPUTING EVERY MONTH 1. Complete and mail subscription form on Page 107. 2. Hand this form to your newsagent. □ I will collect □ I would like it delivered to my home Name: .... Address: Postcode: Note to newsagent: Amiga Computing should be obtainable from your local wholesaler. If not, contact Circulation Manager on 0424 430422 February 1990 AMIGA COMPUTING 113 COMPUTERWISE BRIGHTON AMIGA SPECIALISTS WE HAVE 100s OF SOFTWARE TITLES (MANY ARE NOW DISCOUNTED). 800KS AND PERIPHERALS IN STOCK AT ALL TIMES. CALL IN TODAY FOR YOURS £1000 INSTANT CREDIT AVAILABLE TO PERSONAL CALLERS 0273 674626 OPEN 10 AM TO 6 PM MONDAY TO SATURDAY 44 GEORGE STREET. KEMPTOWN. BRIGHTON OPPOSITE THE AMERICAN EXPRESS BUILDING ASOO's ★ £54.05 FIXED PRICE REPAIR ★ ST's Includes parts, labour, full service and V.A.T., 12 month warranty, 7 day turnround (Subject to our terms of trade, copies available on request.) Collection can be arranged £1 1 50 extra. All our engineers are fully experienced in 16 bit techology Don't risk damaging your ST. Ask about our all inc. Ram and Drive Upgrades Repairs undertaken on Amiga 2000, Atari Mega ST, Printers. Monitors, V.D.UVs etc. and most Business & Home Computers SHIELD COMPUTER SERVICES LTD 50 Fhxton Road, Urmston, Manchester M31 3AB Tel: 061-747 3185 Fax: 061-747 0515 MAKE YOUR AMIGA EARN! Yes making money with your Amiga becomes inadenlal when you know how Your micro is, it only you knew it, a gokJ mine. The size and make is irrelevant Make the initial effort NOW by starting your own HOME BASED BUSINESS. This may be the most important move you will ever make! REMEMBER: You'll never get nch by digging someone else's "ditch". Anyone in the country, including YOU, can become very nch In a relatively short period of time just by doing a few basic things! It's more rewarding than playing games. The benefits are many and vahed. Full or pad time. For FREE details send S.A.E. to: 31 PILTON PLACE (AM2) KING AND QUEEN STREET WALWORTH, LONDON SE17 1DR ADVERTISERS' INDEX 17 Bit Software _ 96 Accolade 21 Alternative 30 Amiga PD Library 95 Amigalex. 108 Amiga Users Group 108 Applied Research Kernel 95 Amor 8 Ashcom 109 Byteback „ 53 Castle Software 72 Club 68000 14 Compost 38 Computer Bookshop 115 Computer Express ~.~ 49 Compulerwise 114 Cumana » 6 Database Educational Software ...82 Data Liberation 56 Dataplex 95 Datel Elcclronics 10-13 Diamond Computers 66.67 Digicom 45 Digipro 27 Digita International 33 Evesham Micros 102 First nfljQE o i MiMiti" *36 Futureplace Computers 48 Hampshire Micro Computers ....108 Harris Hi-Tek 88 Hi-Sofl 83 Homebased Business 1 14 HSV Computer Services 62 I n f o^riini t.s hhi.m. 2 Jem Computers 73 KLR Electronics 20 Mandarin Software 64 Manor Court Supplies 90 MD Office Supplies 104 Memory Expansion Systems 35 Merlin Express 46 Microsnips 99 Midland Microsoft 57 Ocean Software 116 Overseas Media 3 Power Computing. 99 Ramsoft 65 RGB Studios 79 Rise Time Electronics 70 Rombo 109 Selec Software 108 Shield Computer Services 114 Silica Shop 91 Siren Software 92 SK Marketing 40 Softmachine ~ 96 Softsellers ...... 71 SoftvillePD 72 Special Reserve „ 63 Sublogic Corporation 65 Third Coast Technologies 87 Trilogic « 87 Turbosoft 88 Virgin Mastertronic 50 Voltmace 95 WTS Electronics 114 Xenon Technology 98 rc OMPUTER REPAIRS ATARI ST/ AMIGA STOP PRESS; A500 512K RAM upgrade ewitchable £74 * FIRST AID FOR TECHNOLOGY Simply send your machine along with a £15 diagnostic fee aim. you will be sent a written " J~ quotation for the cost of \V repairing your machine. \\ ★ lYPMMKRr£45. 1 WEEK TURNAROU: W.T.S. ELECTRONICS LTD, CHAUL END LANE, LUTON, BEDS LU4 8EZ Tel: 0582 491949 (4 LINES). Fax: 0582 505900 114 AMIGA COMPUTING lebnun 1990 Amiga C for Advanced Programmers An advanced guide to programming the Amiga us<ng the C language Amiga Graphics Inside & Out A comprehensive book for understanding and using Amiga graphics AmlQS C for Advanced Programmers - contains a wealth of Information from the pros: how compilers, assemblers and linkers work, designing and programming user friendly interfaces using Intuition, combining assembly languagu and C code together. Includes complete source code for a working text editor. April IQ89 about 3S0pp AmigaDOS Inside & Out Amiga Tricks & Tips Amiga Graphics - Inside G on in depth treatment ofthe . graphic features and function access these graphic feature Amiga BASIC or C. Learn groi programming in C with oxam lines, rectangles, polygons, c Contains a complete descript graphic system -- View. View bitmaps, screens, and windo May «89 about 450pp - — * i L Ints. dmore. Amiga tPort. Inside and Out ■TKlopthguoeto aDOS ar*) the Cl I Amiga C for Beginners A PiacnraiQjtte o feorrtrg ?rCLi] 1st AmigaDOS - Inside f> Out - covers AmigaOOS in depth so llwl you can use many or its advanced capabilities for practical applications. Includes complete reference section detailing all of the DOS commands, information on using the DOS editors - ED and EDIT, creating end using script files and taking advantage ofthe Amiga's multitasking features. 2B0pp Amigs Machine Language - is a thorough introductiun tn Abacus Tricks & Tips - hero is a large collection or useful and Important programming techniques Ihat makes working with your Amiga friendlier and easier. Presents dozens of tips on accessing libraries from BASIC, making and using custom character sets, using AmigaDOS. important 88000 memory locations, and much more. Amiga Machine Language An hi i. lit a sir ; - inside D Out — is THE definitive step-by step guide to programming the Amiga in BASIC. Each BASIC command is fully described and detailed. Some of the topics covered include files and file handling, using pull- down menus, sensing the mouse, handling windows, drawing charts and using the speech commands Techniques far advanced BASIC programmer s. 554pp Amiga C for Beginner* - on Introduction to lu. iminy il « lefiguage of choice <»i rang Amiga programmers. UnlikHObSer books, the examples here arl specifically geared to thu Amin,. Explain- r . lenguoge elements nfthte popular language so that you'llboabu- •< use the C library raut^^^frm how ttm cMxnpilor wol ?BOpp c*r-*Amg3 Covers BBOOO mlcroprc arohitecture and addressing modes, making speech and sound from mochine language and more. This book is also a perfect companion to our AssomPru machine language devulopment softwaro. 264pp # Amiga System Programmer - * Guide- .,h,jt goes on inside ihn Amiga. hardware and software aspects ofthe Amiga. Covers the EXEC and Its structuro, handling I/O requests and the Interrupts, managing the Amiga's resources ond multitasking functions, more. CoriHidered by manv to be e standard refbrBnce far all Amiga programmers. 438pp Amiga System Programmer's Guide A awiprahsnsvB gua» to the rnar wfcirgs of yoj Amga Abacus Mm U.K. DISTRIBUTOR: COMPUTER BOOKSHOP LTD. 30 LINCOLN RD, OLTON. BIRMINGHAM B27 6PA CALL 021 706 1188 FOR YOUR NEAREST STOCKIST