AmstradComputerUser38-0188.pdf

January 1988

E1.25

Plus: What's in the 'Amsters Cage

Adventurers ﬁx, pokes and hints, 41

serious software solutions,

news, views and much more.

The Ofﬁcial Amstrad Home Computing Magazine

Norway N OR 2 0 .0 0 Sp a in 3 0 0 Pta s T u rke y 1 6 5 0 T L D e o m a rk Kr. 3 1 .0 0 N e w Z e a la n d Pi1 5 4 .9 5 R e c

MASTERF E. III

FOR THE AMSTRAD CPC 6128 (ALSO CPC 464/664 WITH DK PTRONICS 64K RAM)

FIRMLY ESTABLISHED

ALL THIS POWER

MASTERFILE III is now ﬁ rmly established as

THE ﬁling system for the CPC6128. It has received

rapturous reviews and we could paper the walls of

our new ofﬁces with our customers' letters of

appreciation.

This is no toy thrown together in BASIC and half-

tested, but real machine-coded computing power

professionally constructed. We have had IBM and

Apricot users beg us for a MASTERFILE for their

machines — when they had seen the earlier CPC

MASTERFILE. All this power is yours for

£39.95.

For the beneﬁt of newcomers to the CPC machines:

MASTERFILE III is a powerful and ﬂexible data

ﬁling and retrieval system. All "database" systems

require that your data is organised into ﬁelds and

records. Unlike most, MASTERFILE does not

commit you to ﬁeld lengths or formats, since ALL

data is variable-length and optional. Files are not

pre-formatted, and only used bytes are saved to

disc. Also, unlike the rest, MASTERFILE allows

multiple user-deﬁned ways of viewing/printing

your data. And unique in its price range, MASTER-

FILE offers RELATIONAL FILE options, where-

by common data can be entered just once and

shared by many records. Maximum ﬁeld size is

240, maximum ﬁelds per record is over 50, and

maximum ﬁ le size is 64K. Room for 1,000 full

names and addresses, for example. Only one disc

drive is required. It is menu-driven throughout, and

comes with detailed illustrated manual, and exam-

ple ﬁles.

For those who already have an earlier MASTER-

FILE, we offer updates; please telephone for

details. You will be amazed at the performance

improvements and extra functions.

strit-a- PCW users: be patient, MASTERFILE 8000

will be ready early in 1987 AnIntr

MASTERCALC 128 SPREADSHEET

We also have one of the fastest and friendliest

spread-sheet programs around, MASTERCALC

128. Its special features include: individual tailor-

ing of column widths and precision ; relocatable

formulae; split-screen option; automatic cursor

advance; text output to printer, or to disc for

interface with PROTEXT or TASWORD; hi-res

graphic histogram of any three rows. MASTER-

CALC 128 runs on CPC6128, or CPC464/664 with

DIOronics RAM. The price is just £33.00

SO VERY VERSATILE

Just about ANY kind of information can be

handled by MASTERFILE. You can EXPORT the

data to other systems (e.g. PROTEXT/MERGE and

TASWORD). You can even merge your own USER

BASIC to MASTERFILE for customised ﬁ le

processing, or build new ﬁles from other computer

sources. The speed of SEARCH of MASTERFILE

is second to none. Records can be sorted ascending/

descending, character or signed numeric, even

embedded keys such as surnames. Other functions

are ﬁeld-to-ﬁeld calculations, and several-across

label printing. We simply don't have room to list all

the features; give us a call if you are still in doubt

of the power of MASTERFILE III.

/610(

loa5

Ste m

(

UT.

CIII

3460

111%

k)46

4411

5310 4I0 4971p

1100

1515

3014

1022

2?on

041

2 NIB

260) 215! 1010

!EMI

201

114t

c4SE

SIOD

con

vso

.!Int

11,176 1610

43126 11153

6(01

6100

6346

IM O

4;46

(TAO

4SO4

T• 4 ) 10 6664

11111

th• a tik ot t• 01

T P er eikee• I

S %atm"

SPECIAL OFFER

You can save .E10 by taking MASTERFILE III and

MASTERCALC 128 for a combined price of just

£62.95.

Prices include VAT and P&P to anywhere in

Europe. Elsewhere please add 20% for air-mail

service. ACCESS/VISA/MASTERCARD welcome,

written or telephoned, quoting card expiry date.

Make cheques payable to "Campbell Systems".

Our normal response is return of post, 1st class.

CAMPBELL SYSTEMS Dept. (ACU)

7 Station Road, EPPING, Essex CM16 4HA,

England. Tel: (0378) 77762/3.

Somoorg o f D im n e ss •tte t,

Raker

Oel.criptioo

licrotioroller. HP lE lle 4 32k POP ranstrad

CP C 101 E 119.110

NI tte611116“. IZM I IS IO • tio%c &stria

CP C UZI Ca11.00

Pi" interlace and 1st de toe. 1' lotteall

1 C111.15

In matrix pribetee S tites lecol ton,trad

P M P M IN

S '

S 95

Executive lerielea,e

1ei

ler

OM R'

Wire paper clip

I I. 1 s- 11 S I'll 111C

Attmott Int Rocklin*

tri

0 T• lecom 11213E

COP S DO

Pinot. ler %in le• feed

te r wt It* jt

, k

CaRipei

E I

C - 10

CE 68 80

ear

Olivetti Leterra ]ﬁ

ae I-

lrCrl

'Noe.* t or , ,I.ctric

Okct• timn

•free miter

Pa rce l sca le

Microcomputer. 110

Letter Ica le

Total*:

I. t teonl - M E I E II1 for moon

MENU,

Phi I ios S I B

Phi I Li, 45311 E 3E 1.88

Salter 2S OP

(

111 00

Silica, Tronspec

21 11.

(II BB

ES M . Z . V I., at

Wonmatter 1790.

AliZEIZIMENZIWY.M.18:11111ZERIMTMM

REVIEWS

1111;11t

Trantor

If we described this as

"the best Amstrad

program ever" it would

sound like a cliché, but it

would also be true.

The ofﬁcial magazine for all

users of Amstrad computers

REGULARS

FEATURES

News

Amstrad launches a new

portable, plus the User

show visits Manchester.

Cage Page

lan Hoare surveys the

letters pages within

Micronet and traps the

problem of bell tinkle.

Cherry Paint

Who needs colour in a

drawing package?

International

Gallup chart

Your monthly run-down

on what is the in-thing

to have in Arnold's

memory.

Letters

Lots of people giving

things away, even if it is

only an opinion.

Adventures

Nova and Haunted

House show that GAC

makes adventure writing

easy, while Infocom

shows how the experts

do it.

Basic tutor

Jeff Walker advises you

to learn about deﬁned

functions.

Karate

For only E2.99 you too

can kick another sprite in

the face.

Fighting Games

Why should anyone use

a twig when they could

have a sword? Jeremy

Clarkson muses on this

and other problems.

Freddy Hardest

Comic space adventure

with karate, shooting

and a bit of brainwork.

PROGRAMMING

Road Runner

Beep Beep! the fastest

bird on two legs gets

trapped inside a video

game.

Big Screen

It takes some pretty

clever programming to

get 32 lines on one

screen. Luckily ZZKJ is a

clever programmer.

Assembly Point

Programming advice,

with the arcade game

Stix as an example.

Assembly programming

advice for binary

brainboxes.

Editorial and Advertising ofﬁ ces:

169 Kings Road, Brentwood,

Essex CM14

Tel: 0277

0277 234434 (Advertising)

Telec om Gold: 72;MAG021

Published by Avralite Ltd, 35/38 St.

Petersgate, Stockport SK1 1HL.

News t ra cle d ist rib u t io n : D ia m o n d -Eu ro p re ss Sa le s

& D ist rib u t io n L t d , U n it t , Bu rg e ss R o a d e vyh o u se

la n e . H a st in g s Ea st Su sse x T N 3 5 4 N A

Tel 0 4 2 4 4 3 0 4 2 2 .

Applications

Advice

A hotch-potch of

problems solved for

those users who save

time and money with

their computers.

Editor: Simon Rockman

Assistant: Elaine Rawling

Advertisement Manager:

Julian Harriott

[ABC I

63.519

Jan J uno 190

Am st ra d is a re g ist e re d t ra d e m a rk a n d w it h t h e

title Am st ra d C o m p u t e , U se r, is u se d w it h t h e

permission o f Am st ra d p lc. N o p a d o f t h is

publication m a y b e p ro d u ce d w it h o u t p e rm issio n .

WNle e ve ry e f f o rt is m a d e t o e n su re t h e a ccu ra cy

of a l) f e a t u re s a rid list in g s w e ca n n o t a cce p t a n y

hability f o r a n y m ist a ke s o r m isp rin t s. T h e w o w s

and o p in io n s e xp re sse d a re n o t n e ce ssa rily t h o se o f

Am st ra d o r Am so f t b u t t e p t e se n t w o w s o f o u r

many re a d e rs, u se rs, a n d co n t rib u t o rs. M a t e rie l f o r

publication is o n ly a cce p t e d o n a n a ll-rig h t s b a sis.

We re g re t t h a t Am st ra d C o m p u t e r U se r ca n n o t

enter in t o p e rso n a l co rre sp o n d e n ce .

Avra t iro L W 1 9 8 8

Hairy Hackers

Programs made easier

with pokes-a-plenty.

Superball

A simple listing

for you to type

in. And if that

doesn't improve your

keyboard skills, then

playing the game will.

74 P

man.

Amstrad User January 1988

Page 3

Brunitiord

Brun Word offers considerable ﬂexibility.. excellent

spelling checker, very easy to use data ﬁle - CWTA

Brun Word is a very competent programme - AMT1X

'Real value for money.. user friendly and fast

- - Amstrad

••• SUPERB WORD PROCESSOR PROGRAMME •••

Amazingly last response

• Frrter features

Bru n Wo rd

• Bru n Wo o d is re co g ru se d a s u n b e a ta b le with its su p e rb syste m o f

pustitying b u t, it h a s an e xce lle n t editor, a continuous 'se e what wit b e

printed* d isp la y, co rn p ru h e n s, o onnter fa ciliﬁe s a n d m sPo n cts &m e e t

in sta n tly to a li ro u tin e s

• T ru e rise n and Ove rwriﬁs • T o u ch typ in g sp e e d • F a st b lo ck sa ve ,

move. ce p y, in se rt & d e le te • Qu ick lo ca l e ch u n g with wo rd d e le te

, undetets • Ad kista b le m a n g o s a n d T ABS • lrista n t wo rd wra p •

GoluntnLins

Unbeat

en text appearance

ull ph

" Displays true print format

"LIGHTNING SPEED SPELL CHECK PROGRAMME•0rdElthitiry• • toticrrtin

- Checks 2500 words per minute (CPC6128) Instant look up (CPC6128)

••• INTELLIGENT DATAFILE PROGRAMME •••

: Alphabetical, numerical or data sorting Intelligent mail merge

20 ﬁelds with user deﬁned headings Intelligent label printing

All three Programmes together on 3in Disc £25.00

For CPC464, CPC664 or CPC6126 - State which machine

code • lie le menus • Sin g le ch a ra cte r embedded onnter .b o rn m a n d s

• Pa g e th ro w m a rke rs • M u ltip le co p ie s • Od d e ve n p a g e h e a d e ra l

footers with p a g e numbers •P4 ﬁ le prinang lu ll fa cilite s • Prin t

spe ciﬁe d pages • F u ll p ro n to ' features work with a n y p rin te r • T ru e wo rd

count • T ru e &p la y su p e n tu b scrip t n u m b e rs • U se r d e ﬁn e d p rin t

cha ra cte rs • T ire d o ye s fa cility.

7 DaysFr eeTr i al

Our free trial is a great success! Ring us 9am to 7pm and we will send

you BrunWord 6128 or 464 (Disc) for 7 days free trial.

N E W- Di scExtension- NEW

• Format Disc - tests for data before formatting

• Edit Directory - Erase, Unerase, Rename, DIR, SYS, RIO, R/Vii

• Archive Disc - Save whole disc to tape. C30 takes one whole disc

• Retrieve Disc - Return tape to disc. Shows CAT in just 10 seconds

• Copy Disc to Disc • All without leaving Brun Word

Di sc - £9.00 or £5.00 If ordered on BrunWord disc

Bru n Sp o l l i

Brio n Sp e ll is th e fa ste st a n d m o st co n vie n e ro C PC sp e llin g

checker Eve n th e 4 6 4 ve rsio n is ta ste r th a n Pro sp e t o n R OM .

Bru n Sp e ll 4 6 4 is su p e rch a rg e d to 1 7 0 0 wo rd se e n u ee. in d u cin g

dicaonary lo a d n g tim e but Bru n Sp e ll 6 1 2 8 a d e champion a t 2500

words p e r m in u te . Bru n sp e ll 6 1 2 0 e n d th e 3 0 .1 :0 0 wo rd cictio n a ry

are lo a d e d o r th e sa m e tim e a s BrunVVord a n d th e to lo a d in g

lim e is o n ly 1 0 se co n d s. Via

Prospeil o n R OM !

DataFille

ﬁl i n g p r o g r a m m e with ve ry fa st a cce ss Bru n Wo rd ra m iﬁe s th e te xt

untended p ie d to rm a ts u sin g Bru n Wo rd

,. . ...,

r i me isru n wore,orep•ree

• T a ke a s On e xa m p le th e ju stiﬁca tio n p ro ce ss T a so m n d u se s a n o u t

&lie d m e th o d wh e re sp a ce s a re added o n ly from th e rig h t hand sid e .

The h a s th e e ﬂe ct o f m a kin g th e lin e s a p p e a r L O stre tch a cro ss M e

page, T h e T a swo rd syste m sh o u ld be m u ch faster but o n it Tesword

bikes 1 9 seconds fo r a 3 0 5 word p a ra g ra p h wh ile e ru n Wo h d ta ke s fu st

1 5 se co n d s

Taa We ll h a s a sim ila rly ClIsePPointrig p e rfo rm a n ce T h e te xt o f o u r

tree to o ke t wa s ch e cke d b y T a ssp e e a lte r th e 3 7 unknown wo rd s

had been se rve d , a n d rt to o k a staggering le m in u te s a n d 3 1 se co n d s

ix th e 3455 OfOra S Bru n Sp e li to o k ju st 1 m in u te 21 se co n d s 'o r th e

• sa m e

before p n n b rig . L a b e ls. re p o rts, p e rso n a lise d le tte rs - D a ta ile h a s j

[

Send cheque/postal order to:-

Brunning Software

34 Helston Road,

Chelmsford, Essex, CMi

mieprK,, (0 2 4 5 3 2 5 2 8 5 4 t 2 .4 1 -4 io u rn )

UtilleMs Unlimited!

We'v e brought together the very best non-games programs

culled from past issues of Amstrad Computer User.

These clever programs cover animation, business, music,

games hacks, and much more. Whatever your interest,

there's something here for you - and at a very special price.

In some cases you will need to refer to the issue of ACU in

which the programs appeared. In the list below these are

shown by * followed by the month, You can send for the

eight issues at the special price of C6.60 by using the order

form.

Elite Disc Hack - add millions of credits or Elite status

to your commander.

Justin's Scroll - discover how the experts program a

scrolling landscape.

RSX Lister list all RSXes including those which have

been soft loaded.

Printer Spooler - carry on using the computer while

the printer is working.

Epson Dump - produce hard copies of the screen

display on the DMP2000/3000.

Organ - turn your micro into an impressive musical

keyboard.

ZX Loader - load Spectrum binary ﬁles into your CPC.

* July 1986.

Homespread - prepare your budget with this simple

but ﬂ exible spreadsheet. * May 1986.

Amgraph produce bar graphs, pie charts from a

table of numbers. * November 1985.

Diary - bring some order to your busy lifestyle (disc

only. * May 1985.

Mode 3 - Mode 0 with four colours in only 8k, with

accompanying demos. * January 1986.

Animator - become the new Walt Disney. Built-in

'tweening' facility. * April 1988

Trace - re-direct the trace output to a window or

printer. * December 1986.

Sorcery Plus Hack - modify the sprites and increase

your survival chances. * January 1986

Chord Finder - learn the difference between a suspen-

ded and ﬂattened chord. * September 1985.

Jet Set Willy Hack inﬁ nite lives and a magic teleport

facility. * September 1985.

Double Height Print - expand your horizons with

these tall characters. * September 1985.

Only E2.95 with a new subscription

or subscription renewal

Tape price 17.95

Only E3.95 with a new subscription

or subscription renewal

Disc price E9.95

All programs work on Amstrad CPC 464, CPC 664

and CPC 6128 computers. You can list and adapt all

the Basic ﬁles - an excellent way to improve your

programming skills.

TO ORDER PLEASE USE THE FORM ON PAGE 73

Amstrad's

take-away

triumph

WITH his E399 Portable PC

Alan Sugar surprised even

the best-informed Amstrad

watchers. The PPC is a Por-

table PC, which matches the

speciﬁcation of the PC 1512 —

with a couple of important

additions,

Designed for use in both

the home and the ofﬁce the

new Amstrad is bigger than a

laptop computer, like the Z88

or Tandy Model 100, but

smaller than the Compaq

portables.

It will run off batteries for

up to eight hours, from an

NC transformer, a car ciga-

rette lighter, a special expan-

sion box, or an Amstrad PC

monitor.

The machine is fully PC

compatible, uses 3,5in discs,

an 8086 processor at 8Mhz

and comes with 512k or 640k

of Ram.

The display is an LCD sup-

ertwist panel which will run

standard IBM text displays

and CGA graphics with four

levels of stipple. A PC 1640

monitor can be plugged in to

give a colour display.

BUILT-IN

MODEM

a 23 character by 12 line

phonebook.

Micronet 800 was also

attracting a fair number of

CPC communications

devotees with its new Cage

Communications Rom for

CPC users.

The E30 package —

designed to work with a var-

iety of CPC serial interfaces —

gives the CPC communi-

cations capabilities mirroring

software costing ﬁve times

the price on other machines.

Also unveiled at the show

was Mini Ofﬁce Professional

for the PCW — an enhanced

version of the highly-

successful Mini Ofﬁce II

package for the CPC. One of

the many new features is an

option for accessing Prestel

Staying with the communi-

cations side of things,

Bradford-based Pace Micro

Technology was demon-

heavy, but it bridges the gap

between lap-top and lug-

gable.

Amstrad envisages the

market as being distinctly

yuppie — managers who

have a PC at work and want

to take the computer home

or on business trips, or the

salesman who needs to work

out costings on the move.

The range looks like this:

PPC512 512k, one 3,51n

disc drive, E399; PPC512

512k two 3.5in disc drives,

£499; PPC640 640k, one disc

drive and modem, £499;

PPC640 640k, two disc drives

and modem, £499 (all prices

excluding VAT).

The new computer will be

shown to the public at the

Amstrad Computer show in

January. Unfortunately — he

says with a vested interest —

even this remarkable

machine failed to help

Amstrad as shares tumbled

in line with the rest of the

stockmarket, to see the com-

pany value halved in less

than a week.

All go

spacious environs of the

G•Mex centre, the Amstrad

Computer Show has a lot of

space for exhibitors — and

show-goers — to move

around in, writes Gold.

Despite the chilly autumn

weather, more than 70

exhibitors turned out on the

day, to give the show-going

public-a run for their money.

Over on the Arnor stand,

trade was brisk in the com-

pany's Protext word process-

ing software for the PC and

PCW series.

Arnor's sales and mar-

keting manager Geoff Kipps-

Bolton has a few plans up his

sleeve for the coming

months, including a

premium version of Protext —

Protext Professional — for

about E129.95.

''Protext will continue to

be available for the foresee-

able future", he said,

"but Protext Professional will

have a lot of bells and

whistles added to it".

Kempston Data unveiled

its Jeeves desk-accessory

package for the PCW series.

The software runs concur-

rently with most CP/M pro-

grams such as Wordstar and

Supercalc, and functions in a

manner similar to Borland's

Sidekick on the PC.

Jeeves costs E69,95 —

which includes the cost of a

Kempston mouse — and

gives several on-screen

accessories including disc

management and operations

access, a calculator, digital

clock and calendar, as well as

Busy at the show Pace

MD &wry Rubery

strating its 1200 baud full

duplex version of the Pace

Linnet modem.

The £239.95 modem is

fully Hayes-compatible and

essentially an upgrade of the

existing V21/23 linnet

Supporting the Linnet on

the CPC series, Pace was

supplying the Amstrad CPC/

Commstar interface for just

E39 at the show — compared

with a full retail price of E60•

Although that price was a

show-only special, its worth

contacting the company to

see what special offers its

doing on the CPC communi-

cations front.

Siren Software sold out of

its CPC Eprom programmer.

At E49,95, the unit can pro-

gram 8 and 16k eprom (eras-

able programmable read

One of the features which

makes the PPC remarkable is

the built-in modem, which

runs at 300, 1200/75, 1200

and 2400 baud. It is fully

Hayes compatible, which

means that it will work with

the majority of PC communi-

cations packages.

Modems to this speciﬁ-

cation often cost several

hundreds of pounds by

themselves, The PPC640,

which has the modem and

an extra 128k ram, costs just

£100 more than the standard

computer.

At 12Ib the PPC is quite

Amstrad User January 1988

in North

AFTER several successful

northern events, the

Amstrad Computer Show

moved to G-Mex exhibition

centre in Manchester for its

October event. ACU sent

Steve Gold along to inves-

tigate what was on offer...

After moving to the

Y14-

Page 5

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: