AmigaShopper00-Apr91.pdf

Your complete

and exhaustive

guide to floppy

disk drives - the

first of many

indispensable

buyers' guides

is on... page V

SNEAK PREVIEW • APRIL 1991 • FREE WITH AMIGA FORMAT

Our team of expert programmers guide

you through the complexities of assembly

language, Basic and C ............. page 32

Your guide to

free software

provides the

most detailed

coverage yet of

the massive

Public Domain

scene..page 31

We don't just tell you what's the best

software and hardware to buy, we even

show you how to use it.............page 1S

Monthly tutorials to help you get the most

out of the software that has taken the

programming world by storm... page 26

Whatever your problem with the

Amiga we will help. Get in touch with

our panel of experts............. page 8

O UR PERFORMANCE

& SUPERIOR QUALITY...

...RESTS ON OUR NAME!

When it comes to mice and scanners, Naksha clearly lead

the way. Naksha build mice and scanners with high precision

designs and the very best components.

The Naksha Upgrade Mouse is silky smooth, operating at a high

280dpi resolution. Supplied with Mouse Mat and Pocket. No Cables

— No Fuss. Simply plug in and go.

Naksha Scanners with a switchable resolution between 200 and

400dpi halftones and dual roller tracking, remain straight and true. Naksha

Scanners come supplied with interface, "express IT ” software and either

Degas Elite* or Deluxe Paint II*.

The Naksha Mouse and Scanner are available for both the Commodore

Amiga and the Atari ST range of computers.

For further information call (0925) 56398 OR any of our distributors listed below for your nearest

dealer OR visit any Dixons, Harrods, Selfridges, Bentalls or Makro store.

Degas Elite supplied for Atari. Deluxe Paint II supplied for Amiga.

Naksha (U.K.) Limited, 29 The Wharf, Warrington WA1 2HT. Tel: 0925 56398 Fax: 0925 574375

GEM (0279 442842)• CENTRESOFT(021 625 3399)• SDL(081 300 3399)• ZCL(0543 414817) • LAZER(0404 46660) HB MARKETING (0753 686000)

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LEISURESOFT (0604 768711)

LIBERTY (0753 586805)

COLUMBUS (0457 860300)

AV MARKETING (0279 452733)

Trade marks and Registered Trade Marks are acknowledged

CONTENTS

WHAT'S IN STORE

News

WHCOMI TO AMIGA SHOm t

Welcome to the only monthly magazine totally dedicated to the serious side

of the Amiga. This special issue is a sneak preview of the fact-packed, hard

hitting, value-for-money magazine that will appear at a newsagent near

you every month from April 4. We can only give you a taste of the wealth

of news, reviews, tips and guides that await you, but our exhaustive test of

floppy drives should whet your appetite for the joys to come. Just imagine,

over 75,000 words and at least 116 pages every month for just 99p!

The floppy-drive test is an example of the comprehensive and ruthless

buyers' guides we will be conducting every month, covering hardware and software, to identify the best buys

for you. The rest of this special issue gives you a taste of the monthly columns we willl be featuring. They

will be joined in issue one by columns on video, comms, music, hardware projects and much more.

We can bring you this unrivalled store of Amiga information because we've assembled the most

experienced magazine team of Amiga experts ever. Consultant editors Jeff Walker, Mark Smiddy and Phil

South are three of the most respected Amiga journalists, now forming an unbeatable team that will give you

the most authoritative reviews and helpful tutorials available.

Amiga Shopper is packed with useful editorial. We've stripped out the expensive production costs so

we can cram in as much valuable information as possible. There are no expensive colour games pages

because there are no games pages at all!

My name is Bob Wade, I'm the Editor and, having spent 18 months editing our sister magazine Amiga

Format, I'm confident we can give you the serious Amiga magazine you've been asking for. Why don't you

write to me and tell me what you want from Amiga Shopper ? If you want to be where the news happens

first, the reviews are exhaustive, the help unlimited and the bargains the best - then be here!

If it's happening, if it's new, you will

get the full, detailed story here first.

Amiga Answers

Whatever your problem, our experts

are on hand to help solve it for you.

Disk drives on test

The most comprehensive, exhaustive

and destructive floppy drive test ever.

Find out which is the best buy for you.

Desktop publishing

Is Professional Page 2 the best DTP

program yet? W e've got the facts.

Business

Get down to really serious business

and put your Amiga to real hard work.

Graphics

Can you be as good as W alt with

Disney Software's Animation Studio ?

AMOS

Invaluable tips and advice on using

this hugely successful programming tool.

I / s

t — L

/td

Subscriptions

A never to be repeated bargain offer

on Amiga Shopper itself. Don't miss it!

COMING IN ISSUE ONE-ON SALE APRIL 4

Programming

From beginner to expert, our in-depth

tutorials offer you invaluable help.

Hard drives on test

W e will be putting all the hard disk drives

through their paces and recommending the

best buys. If you're planning to buy a hard

drive, this is the only guide you will need.

Video

Find out how the Amiga is taking the video

production world by storm - and how you can

be a part of this exciting revolution.

Public domain

Expert opinion on what you should

buy and from where you should buy it.

SPECIALS

W e w i l l a ls o b e r u n n in g r e g u la r

f e a tu r e s o n th e s e f a s c in a t in g a r e a s o f

th e A m ig a w o r l d :

REGULARS

In a d d i t i o n t o t h e c o lu m n s in th is

s p e c ia l is s u e , w e w i l l h a v e m o n t h ly

c o lu m n s o n a l l th e f o l l o w i n g s u b je c ts :

i ’i . U . f r . A

Jlj/j V i l l i ')

Shows

W e will tell you which shows are on, what will

be there and then whether it was worth going.

Comms

Keep yourself in touch with the world of

modems and find out who is worth calling.

'•i&'mm'wtmr m mmJ Jtm iiidr

Whatever your problem with tho

Amiga, our loam of exports will

solve it for you. Your questions can

bo about any sort of hardware or

software as long as they are to do

with the Amiga. If our panel can't

tome up with the answer then no-

one can. Turn to page 8 for some

examples. So get those queries and

tips coming in to:

Amiga Answers, Amiga Shopper,

30 Monmouth Street, Bath BA1 2BW

Hardware projects

Make your very own handy hardware add-ons

with the help of our special projects features.

Education

Not only reviews, but loads of useful advice

on how best to educate with your Amiga.

Books

Find the books that really deliver the hard info

and avoid those that are just plain doorstops.

User groups

Get active and involved with other users of

the world's best and most versatile computer.

CDTV

Is CD software going to take the Amiga by

storm or w ill it be a white elephant? W e will

be reporting on all the new developments.

Music

W e will show you how to make beautiful

noise and what gear to make it with.

A M IG A SHOPPER • SNEAK PREVIEW O APRIL 1991

A M IG A

NEWS

Sifting on a

KUMA SPREADING OUT

b y C lif f R a m s h a w

High-powered Amiga users previously dissatisfied with

available spreadsheet packages should take a look at K-

Spread 4, the newly released top-end spreadsheet from

Kuma Computers.

As well as offering features present on earlier

versions, such as the ability to read and write Lotus files

and user-defined functions, K-Spread 4 can draw graphs

and remember sequences of user commands as macros.

K-Spread 4 is available for £99.95. Owners of K-

Spread 2 can obtain an upgrade for £40.

Other Kuma products scheduled for release in March

include Amiga versions of a range of clip art previously

only available for PCs, Macs and STs.

The technically minded can look forward to 'Intuition:

A Practical Guide for Amiga Programmers' by Mike

Nelson, which aims to explain the more arcane elements

of the Amiga's graphics interface. It costs £14.95

Finally, K-Roget, the thesaurus-on-a-disk based on

Longman's Pocket edition, is the subject of a promotion till

the end of June. During this time it will be available for

£29.95 rather than for the normal price of £49.95.

Kuma Computers » 0 7 3 4 844335.

Bodega Bay

s v R o b W a d p

b y B o b W a d e

Bodega Bay is not as you

might think a seaside

resort; it is in fact a brand

new modular expansion

console from America's

California Access.

Designed to give the

A 50 0 owner the same

expansion capability as

on the A 2000, but at a

lower cost, it is to be

distributed in the UK by

the Amiga

Scotland. The

though not yet

should be about £350.

The console does not

require any internal fitting

to the 500. It just plugs in

and has its own built-in

power supply that

dispenses with the A 500's

and the monitor's so

everything operates from

one power switch.

The unit gives you

access to four A2000-

compatible card ex

pansion slots into which

you can plug hard disk

cards, RAM expansions,

etc. Three of the four are

also IBM compatible so,

with a Bridgeboard

attached, IBM-compatible

software

Centre

price,

fixed,

WRITING ALL OVER THE WORLD

by Cliff Ramshaw

Multilingual Amiga users can look forw ard to

the release this month of German and Swedish

versions of Arnor's Protext 5 w ord processor.

As well as coming w ith the relevant spell

dictionary, the program reports all status and

error messages in the appropriate language.

In addition, French, German and

Swedish dictionaries are now available for use

w ith Protext at £34.50 each. More dictionaries

are planned fo r the future and include Dutch,

Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.

Arnor ® 0733 68909.

D efinitely the s ty lis h place to plo n k y o u r m onitor.

E xpandability and price cou ld make it a firs t resort.

can be run. This is further

aided by two extra drive

bays in which you can

install

of the Amic

delighted with

Bay and joked that

only problem found with it

so far was "that we just

can't

uga Centre is

vith the Bodega

the

5 .2 5 "

3.5"

floppy drives.

The console provides

a good platform for

placing the monitor on - a

welcome solution for 500

owners with restricted

desk space. Martin Lowe

find

anything

it's

incompatible with".

Amiga Centre Scotland

w 031-557 4242

California Access

* 0 1 0 1 408 378 03 40

and

hardware

POWER HARD DRIVE

by Mark Smiddy

P o w e r C o m p u tin g h a s a n n o u n c e d

a n e w S lim lin e 4 0 M b h a r d d r iv e .

A n IDE ( in te g r a te d d r iv e

e le c tr o n ic s ) l o w p o w e r m e c h a n is m

a f f o r d s t h e u n it its c o m p a c t siz e

( 2 3 0 x 1 0 0 x 3 0 m m s ) a n d a v o id s th e

n e e d f o r a c o o lin g f a n .

F u ll c o m p a t ib ili t y w i t h th e

A m ig a 's A u t o C o n fig s y s te m a llo w s

t h e d r i v e t o a u t o b o o t w h e n u s e d

w i t h K ic k s t a r t 1 .3 . U n u s u a lly , t h e

S lim lin e h a s a n i n t e r n a lly f it t e d

in te r fa c e in s te a d o f t h e d ir e c t ly

m o u n t e d m e t h o d . The d r i v e is th e n

a tt a c h e d b y a r u n o f r ib b o n c a b le .

T his s a v e s d e s k s p a c e b u t m a k e s

R A M e x p a n s io n im p o s s ib le .

T he s y s te m w i l l b e b u n d le d w i t h

ICD U t ilit ie s , m a k in g in s t a lla t io n

a n d b a c k u p s a s p a in le s s a s

p o s s ib le . A f u l l r e v i e w w i l l a p p e a r

in AS, is s u e 1.

P o w e r C o m p u tin g » 0 2 3 4 2 7 3 0 0 0

BERLIN HOSTS

AMIGA SHOW

b y P e te r J o n e s in B e lg iu m

Amiga '91 Berlin will take place at the

Berliner Messe convention complex in

Berlin from April 25 - 28. All the 5,000-

square metre exhibition space has

been taken and more than 80 exhibitors

w ill be attending, including the

show's two official sponsors:

Commodore Buromaschinen GmbH and

A m ig a/M ag azi n / M&T.

Expected attendance this year is

estimated at around 4 0 ,0 0 0 people,

compared to a record 6 7 ,000 at the

show in Cologne last autumn.

Ticket prices are 12 Deutschmarks

for students and 17 DM for adults.

Discounted tickets can be purchased in

advance at 10 DM for students and 15

DM for adults.

For further show details contact AMI

Shows Europe w 01 0 49 81 06 31093

H UMAN R EAD / W RITE E RRORS

b y Cliff Ram shaw

Parents worried about declining standards of literacy in

schools can now give their children a little extra help

with LCL's Reading W riting Course for the Amiga.

Aimed at three to eight-year-olds, the course has

been designed with the National Curriculum in mind and

covers material up to attainment target five. Il is the latest

in a series of courses

produced by LCL

covering such subjects

as maths, English and

French, all available

for the Amiga.

The course

uses colour graphics,

animation and music to

enliven the learning

process. It consists of

24 programs, two

books and an audio

A package to help send kids tape and costs £24.

quite literately back to school. LCL w 0491 579345.

A M IG A SHOPPER • SNEAK PREVIEW • APRIL 1991

A M IG A

NEWS

PICTURE DISK

MANDARIN MAGIC

b y C lif f R a m s h a w

M a n d a r in S o f t w a r e , m a k e r o f A M O S , is s e t to

r e le a s e t h e Funschool Magic Storybook - a n

a n im a te d r e a d in g p a c k a g e a im e d a t f iv e t o

se v e n a n d s e v e n t o t w e lv e - y e a r - o ld s .

The f ir s t p a c k a g e , d e s c r ib e d b y M a n d a r in

a s c o n t a in in g ' a li t t le b i t o f m a g ic ', s h o u ld b e

a v a ila b l e b y m id - A p r il , a n d w i l l in c lu d e

'G o ld ilo c k s a n d t h e T h re e B e a r s '. F u r th e r

s to r ie s o n a d d i t i o n a l d a t a d is k s a r e p la n n e d .

A F re n c h v e r s io n o f Funschool 3 is a ls o

p la n n e d . A s w i t h t h e E n g lis h v e r s io n , it

c o n s is ts o f s ix in d iv i d u a l p r o g r a m s d e a lin g

w i t h su c h s u b je c ts a s n u m b e r s , s p e llin g a n d

r e a d in g . Funschool is s o ld in t h r e e s e p a r a te

p a c k a g e s f o r t h e u n d e r - f iv e , f iv e t o s e v e n a n d

o v e r s e v e n a g e g r o u p s .

A ls o in t h e p ip e lin e a r e F re n c h , G e r m a n

a n d A m e r ic a n

b y B o b W a d e

Most people have heard

of photo libraries, but

now Nik Williams

Broadcast has introduced

the first Amiga-based

picture library. Called

Pictureware, for £4.99

you will receive a disk

containing five digitised

pictures of extraordinarily

high quality.

This novel idea is

made possible by the use

of a broadcast-quality

camera to digitise the

pictures with Digi-View . It

produces quality on

screen images that can

easily be mistaken for a

still TV picture.

Pictureware is the

brainchild of Nik

Williams and he thinks

the possibilities for it and

similar ventures are

tremendous. Apart from

Pictureware he specialises

in film and video work for

T his im p ressive ly clear d ig itis e d im age o f Vietnam is

ju s t one e n try in the firs t Am iga pictu re library.

( u s in g

NTSC

r a t h e r t h a n

PAL

television, so he should

know impressive graphics

when he sees them.

All the pictures in the

library were actually

taken by Nik and so far

he has the following list of

two-disk sets, each set

costing £9 or £4 .99 for

one disk:

Marinas

African animals, pets,

rocky coastlines, beaut

iful sunsets, people,

motorbikes, views of

Vietnam, children,

silverback gorilla, African

famine, art in photo

graphy, the nude, hippos,

African pygmies and film

crew on location.

Nik Williams Broadcast

* 0792 470503

v id e o ) v e r s io n s o f th e A M O S in t e r p r e t e r .

A M O S f a n s w i l l s o o n b e a b le t o g e t t h e ir

h a n d s o n t h e A M O S C o m p ile r , w h ic h s h o u ld

b e a v a ila b l e b y A p r i l. C la im e d t o b e

c o m p a t ib le w i t h a ll A M O S p r o g r a m s , i t s h o u ld

t y p ic a lly d o u b le t h e ir e x e c u t io n s p e e d .

M a n d a r in 's s o f t w a r e d e v e lo p m e n t te a m

h a s b e e n jo in e d b y M a r c D a w s o n , f o r m e r l y o f

s o f t w a r e h o u s e E ld ritc h th e C a t. H e jo in s a s

s e n io r p r o je c ts m a n a g e r .

M a n d a r in S o f t w a r e n 0 6 2 5 8 7 8 8 8 8 .

and

boats,

Edwardian

photographs.

BETTER BY

AMIGA DESIGN

b y P e te r J o n e s in B e lg iu m

A SCAN OR A MOUSE

b y C lif f R a m s h a w

Colourful Collection

b y C lif f R a m s h a w

G r a b b in g c o lo u r im a g e s f o r th e

A m ig a w i l l s o o n b e le ss b o t h e r

w i t h t h e r e le a s e o f 'T h e C o m p le te

C o lo u r S o lu t io n ' b y R o m b o .

T he p a c k a g e b u n d le s

t o g e t h e r s o f t w a r e a n d e q u ip m e n t

p r e v io u s ly s o ld s e p a r a te ly : V id i-

A m ig a , V id iC h r o m e - A m ig a a n d

V id i-R G B . V id i- A m ig a d ig it is e s th e

in c o m in g s ig n a l in m o n o c h r o m e ;

V id i-R G B f ilt e r s t h e s ig n a l in t o r e d ,

g r e e n a n d b lu e c o m p o n e n ts so

i t c a n b e c o n v e r te d in t o a

c o lo u r im a g e b y V id iC h r o m e . The

p a c k a g e

Pandaal Marketing is

releasing the DAATAmouse

onto an already crowded

market. It works with both the

Amiga and Atari and has a

resolution of 280 dots per

inch. Price is £39.99.

Also new from Pandaal is

the DAATAscan Pro, a hand

held scanner already familiar

to Atari users. The Amiga

version is supplied with

editing software that creates

monochrome and grey scale . .

IFF files for use in DTP or aerodynam ic rodent?

paint programs. Scanning resolution can be selected from 100,

200, 300 or 400 dpi. Pandaal Marketing » 0234 855666

Toronto-based Ditek International has

released its 2D and 3D CADD program,

DynaCADD, for the Amiga.

Described as "the most powerful,

professional CADD solution for the

Am iga", the manufacturer claims its use of

a context-sensitive on-line help feature and

a sophisticated graphical user interface

helps to significantly reduce the learning

curve associated with CADD programs.

Minimum requirement is a 68 02 0, a

math co-processor, 2M b of RAM and a

hard drive. RRP is £ 6 5 0 plus VAT.

Contact Expressworks » 02 52 726255.

is th is the w o rld ’s firs t

c o m e s

c o m p le te

w i t h

PhotonPaint a t £ 1 7 9 .

R o m b o « 0 5 0 6 4 1 4 6 3 1 .

GET OFF TO A DATAFLYER by Bob Wade and Cliff Ramshaw

Trilogic now has available the

new Dataflyer SCSI interface

card from Expansion Systems

in the US. Currently only the

A1500/A2000 compatible

version of the card is in stock

at £89.99, but the A500

version is expected to follow

as soon as it is available.

The card is compatible

with most SCSI drives on

the market. SCSI - Small

Computer Systems Interface -

is the industry standard for

Amiga and other hard drives.

It comes with a bare

controller card, but Trilogic

can supply one of a variety

of SCSI<ompatible drives

already fitted. Typically, the

card with a 49Mb drive will

cost £349.99.

Once installed, the drive can

be configured to autoboot,

removing the tiresome need to

replace the Workbench disk

every time you power up.

The software required for

installing and configuring the

drive is supplied.

The A500 version, when

it becomes more freely

available, will be more

expensive as it will come with

a chassis of its own

Of particular interest to

A500 owners will be the

option of an addon 4/8Mb

memory card. This makes for

a useful feature as an

additional drive takes up the

slot normally used for memory

expansion beyond IMb.

Trilogic

» 0274 691115 CD

A M IG A SHOPPER • SNEAK PREVIEW • APRIL 1991

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