AmstradComputerUser27-0287.pdf

The Ofﬁcial Amstrad Magazine

£1.00

February 1987

AMSTRA

COMPUTER USER

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PCW Protext,

Arnor's ﬁnest

PC programming

I 11

Plus: Type-in games, Machine code tutor,

Red Boxes, Pokes, news and reviews

Norway NOK 20.00, Spain 300 Ptas, Turkey 1650 TL, Denmark Kr. 31.00, New Zealand NZSA. 95 Am

MASTERFILE III

FOR THE AMSTRAD CPC

, 6128

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 ofﬁ ces with our customers' letters of

appreciation.

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 ﬁ eld size is

240, maximum ﬁ elds 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.

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

09.95.

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.

Infritt PCW users: be patient, MASTERFILE 8000

will be ready early in 1987 ***

MASTERCALC 128 SPREADSHEET

We also have one of the fastest and friendliest

spread-sheet programs around, MASTERCALC

128. Its unique 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

DK'tronics 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 ﬁ eld-to-ﬁ eld 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.

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SPECIAL OFFER

You can save E10 by taking MASTERFILE III and

MASTERCALC 128 for a combined price of just

E62.95.

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.

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6190.010

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CONTENTS

It 'Awl's) 0'0

1 Idled

20 Combat

A program-it-yourself two player

listing for you to key in.

23 Maths makes

pictures

Programs don't have to be long to

give good results, says Bill Headly.

35 Assembly point

Save space in ram and on disc by

compacting your screens.

42 Snake

A fun game for the CPC464, written

in machine code.

47 MS-DOS

Looking after your directories can

make the PC user's life much easier.

70 Sniper

Improve your aim with this type-in

game.

73 Technicolour PC

Who knows the secrets of the

PC's 16 colour mode?

5 News

7 Letters

13 Hairy Hacker

17 Gallup chart

27 Adventures

,61

1.1

31 Z Basic

Get extra Zzzzip by compiling your

PC Basic programs.

54 Red Boxes

Control your home electronically,

with Reds under your bed, and in

the hall, and in the kitchen, and

66 Protext PCW

The "best ever" CPC word

processor has joined up with Joyce.

Is it a happy marriage? Simon

Rockman checks it out,

39 Gauntlet vs the rest

Dandy and Storm, Gauntlet and

Druid are all very similar, so which

one should you buy?

56 Top Gun

You can be Tom Cruise, but don't

forget to avoid the danger zone.

75 Games reviews

Cohn, Nigel and Liz, joysticks in one

hand, pen in another, test the latest

offerings

60 Ye Gods

Chris Wood checks out the world of

the play-by-modem game

AMSTRAD

COMPUTER USER

Editoria l a n d Ad ve rtisin g o fﬁ ce s:

169 Kin g s R o a d , Bre n two o d , Esse x C h 1 1 4 4 EF .

Tel 0 2 7 7 -2 3 4 4 5 9 (Ed it o ria l), 0 2 7 7 2 3 4 4 3 4 (Ad ve rt isin g )

Telecom Go ld . 7 2 M AG0 2 1

Published by Aurstite Ltd, 38/38 St. Petersgate. Stockport Ski

News t ra d e d ist rib u t io n ; D t e m o n d -Eo ro p re ss Sa ie s & D o st rib u t io n L t d ,

Unit I Bu rg e ss R e e d , le yn o u se L a n e . H a st in g s. Ea st 5 4 isse r T H 3 5 4 N R .

Tel: 0 4 2 4 4 3 0 4 2 2

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 t it le

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

of Am st ra d C o n su m e r Ele ct ro n ics p lc. N o p a rt o f t h is

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

Wh ile 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 o f

all f e a t u re s a n d list in g s w e ca n n o t a cce p t a n y lia b ilit y

for a n y m ist a ke s o r m isp rin t s. T h e vie w s a n d o p in io n s

expressed 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 re p re se n t t h e vie w s o f o u r m a n y re a d e rs.

owners, m e m b e rs a n d co n t rib u t o rs. 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 e n t e r in t o p e rso n a l

correspondence

Avralite Ltd 1987.

Editor: Sim o n R o ckm a n

Ad ve rt ise m e n t M a n a g e r! Ja n a R a ta n

Ad ve rt ise m e n t Assista n t! L o rra in e D a y

The o fﬁ cia l m a g a zin e fo r a lt

users o f Am stra d co m p u te rs

Amstrad User February 1087

Page 3

Enter into the exciting and dangerous

world of the International Motorcycle

Racing Championship with this superb

simulation featuring a major circuit from

each of 12 countries and split screen

graphics, giving both players ﬁrst person

perspective.

Available on Amstrad CPC Cassette-0.99

Amstrad CPC Disk — t:14.99

Coming soon for Commodore 64/128, Atari ST

and IBM computers.

„

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,,,..„„ A i

s,--A iz

‘

---

The very ﬁrst antibiotic software Bactron

Th is very addictive, it could become a drug;

do not exceed the stated dose.Guide Bactron

through the maze of organs and arteries in

the body, combating harmful bacteria and

viruses by releasing healing enzymes.

Available on Amstrad CPC Cassette-0.99

Amstrad CPC Disk —E14.99

Control MGT — A jet powered magnetic

tank — through a weird and frozen world

of puzzles and surprises.

"The graphics are brilliant.. .very

atmospheric"

"A great game...! could play for hours"

"The puzzles are ingenious"

— AMTIX!

Available on Amstrad CPC Cassette-0.99

Amstrad CPC Disk E14.99

Coming soon for Atari ST

MAIL ORDER: ACTIVISION (UK) LTD.,

23 POND STREET, HAMPSTEAD,

LONDON NW3 2PN

••••••••'-

reels Distributed by

Activision UK 1 Ltd.

AMSTRAD

••••••••

NEWS

New name for

Amstrad as it

takes to the skies

CDS Kicks off

The company we know as Amstrad has

changed its name. The old title of

Amstrad Consumer Electronics Plc has

been shortened to just Amstrad Plc.,

retaining the important bit which is

derived from Alan Michael Sugar

TRADing.

The renamed company has some-

thing to celebrate with the award of the

world's largest television contract to

British Satellite Broadcasting tBSB), a

consortium which is backed by Virgin,

Pearson (who own the Financial

Times), Granada TV, Anglia TV and

Amstrad Plc.

The contract gives the consortium

the right to run three direct broadcast

by satellite channels. Two of these -

NOW, a 24 hour news channel run with

the support of ITN, and a Disney-style

entertainment channel - will be free,

paid for by advertising. The third chan-

nel will show recent cinema ﬁlms and

will be paid for by subscription. This is

expected to cost about E2.50 a week.

BSB won the contract in the face of

stiff competition from four other

consortia. The channels will be moni-

tored by the IBA, who look after the

public interest on ITV.

The DBS system is expensive. Each

of the ﬁve members of the consortium

will have to raise E100 million for initial

funding, and they are looking for fur-

ther investors.

A start up capital of E500 million

may sound a lot but there is a lot to be

done before the three year project

starts transmission.

The scheme should create up to

25,000 jobs in the ﬁrst ﬁve years. FISB

have the contract for 15 years but they

need to launch one, maybe two, satel-

lites ﬁ rst, each costing around £100

million.

The Space Shuttle accident and

failures in the French-led Ariane

rocket project have left a long queue of

would-be satellite owners waiting. BSB

expects to spend E100 million on

making programmes in the ﬁrst year,

The customers' costs are much more

down to earth. A small satellite dish of

around 45cm in diameter and a special

decoder is expected to cost around

E200. One day Amstrad may build the

decoder into televisions as standard.

This is very much cheaper than the

Board games and computers don't usu-

ally mix — there have been some

dreadful games which prove that.

However CDS has shown it can be done

with Brian Clough's Football Fortunes.

The game is similar to Monopoly in

that you have to control a team and

make as much money as possible.

As you win matches you move up the

league, the more successful you are the

bigger the gate and the more money

you make. You can then re-invest this

in better players, but be sure to balance

your team.

The computer takes on the role of

dice-thrower and "chance" cards as well

as working out the results of matches

and your rating as a manager.

You don't need to understand much

about football, or even like the game.

Also it may help if you've never heard

of any of the players since you don't mix

money and emotion. Not if you want to

win.

The game needs at least two players

and is available for the CPC, PCW and

PC computers at prices between E14.95

and £24.95 depending on the format.

You can contact. CDS on 0302 21134.

Arnor lingo

launch

Once upon a time there was a computer

language, and for want of a better

name it was called A. Then someone

improved on it and so it was dubbed B.

Then two people improved on that.

One called the new language - you

guessed it - C and the other broke with

tradition and called the new language

BCPL.

They are all efﬁcient, structured and

powerful and they are all very difﬁ cult

to master. But, so we are told, the effort

is worthwhile, the end result being pro-

grams which run fast but take less time

to develop than machine code.

CPC owners will know that the best

place to stick a language is in a rem, so

that is what Arnor has done with the

new BCPL program.

So as not to leave out PCW owners

there is a disc version for them. Full

details from Arnor on 01-684 8009.

Brian Clough trying his

hand at soccer "monopoly"

current 200cm type of dish and receiver

which costs around £1,500 to install.

Viewers who get cable TV will not need

any extra equipment.

With the low cost of dishes and

decoders satellite TV is expected to

grow more rapidly than did either

colour TV or the use of video recorders.

Lord Thomson of Fleet said after the

opening of Scottish Independent Tele-

vison that it was "just like having a

licence to print your own money". The

new scheme should prove to be

Amstrad's biggest moneyspinner yet.

Amstrad User February 1987

Page 5

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