Vol. 1 No. 9 November 1986 Atari User Revealed: The easy way to save screens to disc Reported: Leonard Tramiel answers your questions Reviewed: Deep Space, Arena, Back-Pack, Fast ST Basic AUTHORITATIVE • DEFINITIVE • COMPREHENSIVE Books and Software for the A ATARI st Anatomy of the ATARI ST £12.95 The definitive guidetotheSI Important hardware and programming information. Valuable to both the professional programmer and the ST novice olike. The world's standard database. Powerful, easy and with all the documentation and applications you could ever wish to buy. dBASE II ATARI ST £119 ,fl ATARI ST Graphics and Sound £12.95 Learn how to create graphics and use the built-in sound facilities of your Atari ST. Examples are written in BASIC, C, LOGO, and Modula 2. Packed with ATARI ST dozens of hints Tricks and Tips and applications for all ST owners. £12.95 Learn how to make brilliant graphics; refine your BASIC, assembler and C programs. Advanced programming techniques. An interactive, computer aided design tool to automate the planning and design of printed circuit boards layouts. PC Board Designer £299 ATARI ST Machine Language £12.95 Introduction to highspeed world of 66000 machine language on Atari ST. Includes step-by-step programming and solutions to typical problems. FIRST PUBLISHING LTD Unit 20B, Horseshoe Road, Horseshoe Park, Pangbourne, Berkshire RG8 7SW Tel: 07357 5244 Tx: 848854 Please send me copies copies copies TOTAL □ Cheque D Fbstal Order D Credit Card Name Address . ft>st Code Tel no. Access/Visa Card No. Expiry Date AV1l-'86 The GEM Programmer's Reference presents detailed information on GEM, with examples written in both C and 68000 assembly language GEM on the ATARI ST £12.95 Using compre- hensive and valuable 'tips and tricks' anyone, from an Atari first-timer to an experi- enced ST Graphics user, will be able to make use of the fantastic graphics available on the ST, ATARI SI Graphic Applications £12.95 dBASE II Tricks and Tips £14.95 Written to supplement, not replace, the dBASE II manual. Information invaluabtetofhe dBASE novice and experienced programmer alike. Packed with sam pies and suggestions for al types of usage Data Becker Books and SoUware 'rom FIRST PUBLISHINE LTD FIRST SOFTWARE LTD. VISA AST Figures, figures -and statistics FIGURES seem to feature high in the minds of Atari's UK management at thes time of the year. Perhaps this has something to do with the sudden departure of Max Bambridge and Rob Harding — we'll never know. But with Atari going public with 4.5 million shares at $12 a throw, the income from the share sate will go a long way towards paying off Warners, plus a few major creditors. And still leave something to add to the £20 million Atari has left in the kitty worldwide. What Jack Tramiel and family have done with Atari in the past 18 months is little short of amazing. They've taken the name and the 1984 series of machines - one video games machine and two computers that reputedly cost twice as much to manufacture as they sold for - and brought out a whote new range of 68000 machines. On top of that, they've redesigned the 2600 game machine, the 400/800 series (now seen as the 65XE and 130XE) and made money on all their systems. Since launching the 520ST tast July and the 1 040ST in March of this year. Atari has shipped 1 50,000 ST units worldwide. As a rough guide, 60,000 of them went to the US, 25,000 went to West Germany and the other 65,000 were sold to the rest of the world - which includes Britain. That figure isn't too disappointing - despite Atari UK's initial target figures of 50,000 a month for Britain alone - especially when compared with Commodore's Amiga sales of less than 100,000 worldwide. But remember we're talking about worldwide sales of the ST here. The widespread distribution of STs makes it a tough market for software publishers. It's hard to even identify good distribution, much less promote products efficiently. But it's just good enough to take the ST seriously as a viable format, pa rticularly given Atari's vague future product plans. Remember that everybody was writing off Trarmel's Commodore in 1 982 and 1 983 when it was selling most of its computers in Europe. It's a safe bet that Tramiel will use Europe to build up his overseas sales so that Atari will be strong enough to take on the US mass merchandisers in earnest. ** * A TARI hasn 't been sitting stillin the new-product area. Last month the company introduced a two and four megabyte version of its S T computers at the PCW Show in London, upsetting a fair number of its US enthusiasts as it did so. Maybe Tramiel unvefled the new machines in London as an indicator of the prestige he places in European sales. From what we hear from the US r these machines are stifi under development at Atari's research labs-. The company has great plans for the ST, Coming up at Comdex in the States will be several new ST-based packages, which is probably when we'll get our first peek at the higher-memory machines in their full glory. Real show-stoppers will of course be the so called TT units - 3T stood for Sixteen/Thrrty two bits, now TT stan ds for fuJI Thirty two/Thirty two bits. According to the latest Jeaks and rumours from the States, the TT module will come in the form of a two inch high box with built-in 3.5in disc drive, an integral psu, a bracket for a half-height hard disc, detached keyboard and sJngle in-line memory modules, a la Apple Macintosh. As yet it's unclear whether the company will have an additional ST with on-board blitter chip, or whether the new ST series will include the chip as standard. Atari is also working on a Unix box, packaged in the same case as above, that will turn the ST 68000 processor into a dedicated graphics unit and unload the logic into fts own 68020 (or even 68030) processor. Pricing? That's anyone's g uess, but I 'II wager that the Unix box will set you back around the €800 mark, to which must be added £1,200 for a 2Mb ST plus the cost of a sensible monochrome display unit. When that system becomes available (early 1987 maybe?). Atari will turn into a pretty competitive workstation manufacturer. • •* DON'T take any of the above as a guarantee of what's upcoming in the real Atari world. While most of these machines have been seen in prototype form, either by the show-going public or by US software houses, you never know what can happen with Jack Tramiel at the helm. By the way, don't expect Sig Hartmann to be pushing the new ST/TT machines — inside word from Atari is that he's calling major companies and urging them to buy existing ST packages on corporate accounts,' rather than promoting the- new machines. • Steve ' Gold reporting -—November 1 986 Atari ST User- SOFTWARE EXPRESmill Come and see vs at THE ATARI USER SHOW THE NOVOTEL NOVEMBER 28th~3Q In ON STANDS 51-53 514-516 Alum Rock Road, Alum Rock, Birmingham Tel.: 021-328 3585 MAGAZINES & BOOKS ANALOG — ANTIC — ATARI USER — FAS.T.E.R. - PAGE 6 — ST USER START NOW IN! £14.95 FOR MAGAZINE & DISK BACK ISSUES OF ANALOG & ANTIC — PHONE US & HAGGLE!! NEW! ST GRAPHICS & SOUND. ST MACHINE LANGUAGE. AND MANY MOREI — SEND FOR A COMPLETE LIST. HARDWARE 20 MEG. HARD DISK, 520 STM, 520 STM + (1 MEG), 1040 ST, CUMANA 1 MEG. DRIVES (SINGLE & DOUBLE), NEW ATARI PRINTERS: XMM 801 (8-BIT), SMM 804 (1 6-BIT), HABA ST DIGITISER (PRO VERSION) £249.95 REAL TIME CLOCK CARTRIDGE £49.95. WE ALSO SUPPLY STANDS, COVERS CABLES, DISKS AND DISK BOXES. WEARENOWDEALERS FOR CASIO CZ230SSYNTHESISER -BUILTIN RHYTHM UNIT- 100 INSTRUMENTS - IDEAL FOR USE WITH THE ATARI ST COMPUTERS 8-BIT SOFTWARE B-GRAPH CRUSADE IN EUROPE WARRIORS OF RAS REPLAY TECHNICOLOUR DREAM PRINT SHOP COMPANION DIGI-DRUM BOULDERDASH II ATARI WRITER PLUS SYNCALC QUESTRON PARTY QUIZ BASIC XE ULTIMA IV SPY VS SPY II MAC-65 POLAR PIERRE PITST0P II ROM CARTRIDGES - TRACK & FIELD (INC. CONTROLLER), FINAL LEGACY, TENNIS. ROBOTRON —ALL £9.95 MILLIPEDE £17.95 ST SOFTWARE SILENT SERVICE £24.95 PAINTWORKS £34.95 LEADER BOARD £24.95 ANIMATOR £29.95 FLIGHT SIM.ll PHONE ALTERNATIVE £29,95 WINTER GAMES £24.95 MACRO MANAGER £39.95 PHANTASIE(SSI) £39.95 K-SWITCH £29.95 CAD-3D £49.95 K-MINSTREL £29.95 ARENA £29.95 K-RESOURCE £39.95 DEEP SPACE £34.95 TREESOFT RECORDER £79.95 THUNDER £39.9f STAR GLIDER £24.95 COMING SOON! % XL/XE 520 STM/ 1040 ST PLANETARIUM PLANETARIUM i HARDBALL STAR RAIDERS LEATHER GODDESS" BATTLE ZONE MOONMIST* JOUST SHANG-RI-LA* SUPER HUEY GHOSTBUSTERS (Cassette) DEGAS ELITE •INFOCOM BERING 1ST WORD PLUS PHONE BEFORE ORL Please send me your Price List (Autumn) TO CHECK OUR LA TEST ! NVITED. T PRICE OFFERS c DEALER ENQUIRIES 1 ALL PRICES INCLUDE V A 9 ""*"' ~ November 1986 A I own an XL/XE/520/1O40/NONE tore ST User AST * THE tremendous interest in the new blitter for the ST has been reflected in my mailbag this month. A lot of you want to know exactly what the Line-A routines that the blitter's supposed to speed up actually do. Well when the Atari software engineers were designing the ST they realised that before they could start work on Gem itsslf they would have to develop a set of very basic but powerful routines to do such simple things as plot a point, draw a line or fill a shape, These routines were named the Line-A routines after the machine code instruction that calls thorn. Every screen operation on the ST uses them. When Gem opens a window or 1st Word scrolls the screen the Line-A routines are being used. So with a blitter installed you will find a marked increase in speed of nearly all screen operations in software that uses these routines. For only £69 the blitter represents a significant step forward in the ST's specification and shows that Atari isn't going to sit back without developing "the ST further. * * * Another common question from readers concerns the advent of the ST 2080 and 41 60 - should they trade in their old models or is there an upgrade? By the time you read this Advanced Systems and Techniques (AST) will have memory boards available that increase the memory of your 520 1o 2Mb and your 1040 to 4Mb, These will have to be fitted by AST and should cost no more than the difference between the price of your current machine and the new models. The only significant omission from an upgraded machine will be the lack of a blitter socket This simply means that instead of buying the plug-in version of the blitter you will buy the solder-in one. In fact AST should be able to fit a blitter chip at the same time as the upgrade. * -k * Jon Bradbury from Sheffield asks three questions that have become ST "standards". ST Fi\je»liners My apologies to Cameron Rattray whose name was omitted from fit's excellent Line Pattern ST five-liner in the September issue of Atari ST User. White on the subject keep sending in your five-liners, problems and hints. They make fascinating reading. Don 't forget that as well as writing to me at the usual address I can he contacted through Prestef box number 614568383 and at box 72.-MAGQQ1 on Telecom Gold or MicroLink. It's much faster with a blitter Here are the definitive answers after which, as editors say, correspondence on this subject is closed. Firstly Jon asks if it is possible to connect both monochrome and colour monitors to the ST at once? The problem is not simple. If you wish to have bolh monitors turned on, and thereby switch among all three screen modes at leisure, the answer is no. When the ST is turned on it looks to see if a monochrome monitor is connected. If it is, it ignores the colour monitor and will only operate in high resolution mode. You could have both monitors connected at once via a Y-socket connector and then turn on the one you wish to use at the time. This might work, but I find that it is probably simpler just to plug in the monitor you require and leave the other unconnected. Next on Jon's list is a question relating to the Alt+Help method of producing screen dumps. For the best results the pixels/line setting on the Install Printer desk accessory should be set to 960 dots, Finally he asks if it is possible to connect a modulator to the ST models without one so you can use a TV. Although Atari will not offer this service I know of at least one company working on a solution. The cost is likely to be about £70 to £90, I'll keep you informed of progress. * * * Jeff Cuckson from Northern Ireland asks if you can run IBM software on an ST. There are in fact two ways. Firstly it is possible to buy a 5.25in disc drive from AST which allows you to read and write IBM format discs. This means you can load data into an ST program created on your IBM. The other solution is to wait for the IBM emulator box which Atari is now developing. This will allow most I B M prog ram s to run happily on an ST. Atari has yet to set a release date or price for the emulator, but my guess Is that it will be released next spring for between £250 and £500. Send your Atari ST queries to: ANDREW BENNETT, Atari ST User, Europa House, 68 Chester Road, Hazel Grove, Stockport SK7 5IMY. November 1986 Atari ST User ■ 1 Reviewed En ATARI User, September 1986 by Peter Knowles and Roger WIer. "You get a complete development system — everything necessary to produce commercial quality software is provided . . . Clearly, Megamax C compiles faster and produces much smaller files- These are great advantages, and may well prove to be the overriding consideration to many prospective buyers — together with its friendly front-end shell and complete manuals" ■ Full K &R implementation. ■ Grapnic shell. ■ Extensive library, float, single and double precision. ■ Easy access to all GEM resources such as DIALOGUE BOXES, ICONS, drop-down MENUS, GEMDOS, AES and VDI. ■ Labour saving single command MAKE to compile, link and run. ■ Compiler, code improver, linker, librarian. ■ Disassembler and Editor. ■ Up to 6 times faster than other C compilers. ■ Easy to use. ■ Source Disc available. Recommended Retail Price £157.55 inc. Official bodies and volume discount available. European dealer enquiries welcome. AS & T1 MEGABYTE DRIVES AS & T Disc Drives are 80 track, double sided disc drives, offering 720k of storage capacity (one Megabyte unformatted). The drives are daisy chained to the standard ATARI drive, sharing the same PSU. 3.5 inch drive (1MB) £ 99 Twin 3.5 inch drives (2MB), free plinth £199 5y 4 inch drive (1MB) £124 SH204. 20MB Winchester £660 SF354, 500k drive £138 SF314, 1MB drive £175 ST COMPUTERS WITH 1, 2 AND 4 MEGABYTES OF RAM Why buy an ordinary 520 or 1040 ST when for a little extra, you can get right now ST computers with 1 , 2 or 4 Megabytes of R A M? AS & T specialises i n professional support for the ST range, We are a registered Service Centre and can provide you with efficient backup. TWO MEGABYTE 520 STM £730 FOUR MEGABYTE 1040 STF ..£1440 Upgrading existin. for details. STs is possible. Please ring MAKE IT MOVE By Avila Associates TRUE ANIMATION of your NEO and DEGAS PICTURES. (Fade, Zoom, Wipe, Move etc.) Ideal for creating moving cartoons, point of sale demonstrations. ONLY £39.95 Advanced Systems and Teehniq ues (AS&T) Ltd, 87 Bournemouth Park Road,Souihend-on- Sea, EMexSS25JJ. W^' ST Computers: All ST Computers come with a (fee software package comprisi ng GEM, TOS, First Word. BASIC. LOGO. NEOCHROME. HI mi System 1 : 520 STM (51 2K RAM) High resolution monochrome monitor. SF354 (500K) drive C5S0 System 2: 520 STM (51 2K RAM) Phi Hips Medium resolution Colour monitor. SF354 (500K) drive .£740 System 3; 1040 STF ( 1 024K RAM) High resolution monochrome monitor, Built-in 1MB drive £790 System 4: 1040 STF (1024K RAM) Medium f&Solution Colour monitor, Built-in 1MB drive £949 System 5: 520 STM TWO MB (2048K RAM) High resolution monochrome monitor, SF354 (500K) drive £958 System 6: 520 STM TWO MB (2048K RAM) Medium resolution Colour monitor, Twin drives (2MB), plinth ..£1149 System 7: 1040 STF FOUR MB (4096K RAM) Philips Medium resolution Colour monitor, Built-in 1MB drive ,.£1749 System 8: 1040 STF FOUR MB <4096K RAM) High resolution Colour monitor. High resolution monochrome monitor, Built-in 1MB floppy drive, SH204 20MB Winchester ....£2700 5 20 STW N0V / only £330 PLYNTHS 1. CASED ATARI DRIVES 2. UNCASED 3'4" DRIVES NOW AVAILABLE SYNSOFPS GENERAL LEDGER Module 1 .1 User defined password protection* Up to 50 Departments insist « company allowed • 8O00t active account numbers • 500 active cheque payment accounts* Database size limited oy disc space only 'Supports the hard cisk • Several databases on one disc possible • Printouts inciude> Balanceaheet. Income statement, Trial Balance clc. Supplied in a ring fender wallet. Software updates ana upgrade to sales, purcnaso and general ledger version tor registered usors (1st quarter 19871. ONLY £59.95 520STM+(1 MEG RAM) £415 520STM & AST1 000 £415 Monitors: SM125 monochrome high res £135 Philips CM8533 Colour Medium resolution £299 Atari Colour H High resolution £399 Plinths Plinth for two SF drives £23 Printers Atari SM 804. 80 cps , £199 _ MP165.160CPS,NLQ £229 ™ Juki 5510. 160 cps NLO £289 Star NL1 160 Cps. NLQ £259 . Star NB-15. 136 col. 300 cps drall Letter Quality 100 cps £1099 Juki 6i00daisy wheel £285 Printerload ..... £15 Software Major titles irom Kuma, Melacomco. Microdeal. Atari, Cashlink. Haba, Silica' Distribution. Please allow 7 days (or items not In stock. Books & Consumables A range of books on the ST. diskeltes, printer paper, sticky labels etc.. .are always available in our shop. How to Order: All our prices include VAT at 15^. Vou can pay (or any hem listed above by cheque, bankers draft, postal orders MAO£ PAYABLE TO AS&T. orcredit cards (Access and Visa). System Package price on other combinations is possible. We can source virtually any hardware and software (or your ST. Please let us give you a quote. If you order by phone, please ring: SOUTHEND-ON-SEA (0702) 618 201 (5 lines) AUTHORISED ATARI DEALERS ORDER FORM ■- • ■*•""? Name: ... Address: -- ,....,„.,.„,. ....... Items: Total Please add carriage £2.50exceptdriue£5. bulky items £7 (printer, computer etc) Our shop is open to the public Monday to Friday 9 am (Sat. 1 1 am) to 5.30 pm We reserve me right to change prices and speculations without notice. Send to: Advanced Systems and Techniques <A54T) Ltd 87 Boumemoutfi Parte Rood Southcnd-on-Sea Essex SSB51I WW YOU CM WRITE 4 EXPEMT SYSTEMS 0/V THTST The complete Artificial Intelligence development environment for the ST Cambridge LISP is unique and perhaps the most powerful lan- guage yet to become available for she ST. It combines an interpreter and compiler providingacompleteenvironmentforlearning and using LISP, the language of Artificial Intelligence. The interpreter makes it easy for you to learn LISP and to lest and debug your progra ms as you go along. Once debugged, the com- piler makes your programs run efficiently and quickly. Cambridge Lisp Features Integrated interpreter and compiler ► 16 Megabyte address space ► Rational Arithmetic ► Trig lunctions ► Integers of any size ► Floating point arithmetic ► Vectors ► Full Tracing ► Large numbers of built-in functions ► Will run on a 520 ST but we recommend the use of 1 Mbyte of RAM Cambridge LISP has the computing power of very much larger and expensive systems. It comes complete with a full interface to GEM functions, example programs and a comprehensive, step-by step manual, all for £149.95 — THECCOMPILER' — THE PROFESSIONALS M I BM Compatible C Compiler >-.--.. for the ST Because GEM and TOS routines are written in C, using the C language is important to programmers who wish to use all the fea- tures and power of the ST Lattice C is compatible with Lattice C compilers on the IBM-PC and other micros, this means structured, powerful and portable programming. Lattice C is a full Kernighan and Ritchie implementation with floating point arithmetic, macros, powerful datatypes, separ- ate compilation and a number of optimizations to produce fast and compact code. Lattice C includes a complete interface to GEM VDI and AES functions and comes with comprehensive libraries of UNIX and utility functions. All the features of the ST - icons, windows, gra- phics etc. can be used. Modules written in assembler or other high level languages can be linked into Lattice C programs. Lattice C includes Menu +, screen editor and a comprehen- sive user manual, all for £98.95. LATTICE C "I felt most comfortable with the completeness and speed of Lattice C." Atari ST User July 1986. rcETRconco 26 PORTLAND SQUARE, BRISTOL BS28RZ, UK. TELEPHONE: BRISTOL (0272) 428781 5353E Scolts Vaffey Drive. California 95066. USA. Tel: 1-800-252-6382 Lattice is a traflemaiH ol IAHICE INC. GEN MS Isa tedenurhol DIGITAL SESEARCH INC. UNIX is 3 ifademarkol AT<T Hell Uboratoffes. IBM isa iraOematkoi InifimaitoiBl Business Marinas. ■WAember 1 585 Atari ST User- AST Program: Deep Space Price: £23.99 Supplier: Psygnosis, Port of Liverpool Building, Pier Head, Liverpool L3 1BY. Tel: 05T-647 8120 CALLING all Trekkies. While you're waiting for Elite to arrive, you might like to try your hand as a -freelance intergalactic bounty hunter. In your instrument-rich Strlx fighter, you too could boldly go whore no player hes gone before. Action starts in the Al-Nair system, the least dangerous of five hostile star systems. Entry to each of the other progressively more perilous systems is gained by flying through the appropriate stargate — if you can find it. The idea is to roam through space, earning credits by blasting enemy craft and taking prisoners. The full-screen view is from the cockpit of your fighter which is controlled by a combination of mouse and joystick or keyboard. The easiest way is to use the joystick for steering and firing and the mouse for everything else. The cockpit is lavish enough to make Captain Kirk bite his phaser in envy. Among the technological paraphernalia at the top of the screen are a clock, energy readout, alert indicator and a small status display for system messages. An array of controls is Said out along the bottom of the screen. In the middle is the console which has two moving parts - a speed lever for velocity and a control column for direction. To the left is the ship's multi-purpose computer, which, when switched on, causes a green display screen to appear. Information is shown on this when any of the six options have been selected - long range map. auto scoop, navigation computer, drones, communi- cations and battle damage report. The communications facility gives a more detailed version of any status messages. The drone option lets you order fuel, repairs and quark bombs from travelling drones provided you have enough credits. Scoop shows the position of the ship's auto scoop — for capturing aliens — in relation to nearby objects. The damage report is self- explanatory. The long range map is a split-screen display, showing the view from above and behind your fighter. Various coloured dots indicate the position and identity of alien ships, drones, planets, stargates, and so on. A small cross on each of the split displays can be moved to set the course. The navigation computer displays the distance to a set destination and a picture best described as a series of nested squares which must be kept lined up to stay on course. Over to the right is a function pod. This lets you move the viewing window without disturbing the course, look aft, change weaponry. Space graphics are out of this world set shields and fire retro rockets. Finally, over to the far right is the short range scanner which slides up and can display the relative positions of any objects up to five magnitudes away. There are a number of competent sound effects - engin es, weapons, alarm signals a nd so on. What impressed me most about Deep Space were the spectacular solid 3D graphics, which are both colourful and fast. Watching a chunky alien ship coming straight at you or flying around a planet and its moon really takes some beating for visual excitement. While the game is certainly graphically stunning, it is also quite difficult to play mostly because of the implementation of the long range map. Trying to distinguish one particular dot of a particular colour from among the many swirling around on the small map screen makes course setting and navigation a bit of a nightmare. And unlike most flight simulators, the joystick control has been implemented upside down. When you push forward on the stick the ship goes up instead of down - that takes some getting used to. If you can master the navigational elements, Deep Space will provide thrills and challenge for a good while to come. And those graphics really are out of this world. Sound 8 Graphics 10 Payability ... ...,« „. 7 Value for money ......»..•.••.•«•—••••- « •■■• 8 Overall 1 8 Reviewed by Bob Chappell November 198$ Atari ST Usar. AST Animation excels in the Arena Reviewed by Bob Chappell Program: Arena Price: £24.99 Supplier: Psygnosis, Port of Liverpool Buifd/ng. Pier Head, Liverpool, L3 1BY. Tel: 051-647 8120 THE usual drawback with athletics simul- ation programs is that the animation of the athletes often bears little resemblance to the real thing. Not so with Arena - the graphics and animation are astounding, the most realistic you're likely to see this side of the Olympic Games. The detail and accuracy of the movements has to be seen to be believed- And the participants are no miniature representations either — these athletes are large size, Arena features six different track and field events which may be played in any Order- 100 metres, long jump, high jump, pole vault, shot put and javelin. Up to four players can take part — there are no computer controlled contestants, The competition takes place against the background of a well-filled stadium. Flags ripple in the breeze and an occasional tracksuit-clad figure can be seen warming up in the distance. One or more smartly dressed officials adorn the middle ground while the athlete stands ready in the foreground. All events move from left to light over several screens - there is no scrolling. When the athlete or object, a javelin for example, reaches the right pis L'J:,i . hand side of the screen the picture is instantly replaced by another showing entry from the left. While horizontal scrolling would have been more effective, this method works well enough. Control of the athlete is accomplished by keyboard pounding - what a shame there's no joystick option. The keyboard is I ikely to take a lot of hammering and if there's too much frenzied play, replacing the ST keyboard is going to be a lot more expensive than buying another joystick. Any one key from each of two different groups at either end of the keyboard must be hit alternately and quickly to build up the athlete's speed. Hitting the spacebar at a crucial moment causes a further action, such as releasing the javelin. In every event, points are scored for performance and only one player is ever on the track at a time. The player signals his readiness to start by clicking the mouse button. In the 1 m etres. th e clock begins when the starter fires his pistol. Break too early and he fires again to signal a false start. In the high jump and pole vault, the bar can be raised or lowered to any height within reason. Any foul ups during the approach cause the red flag to be waved. One unusual feature of this simulation is the use of speech bubbles. If the athlete is kept hanging around at the starting line, he will pass a com ment. At the end of each attempt, the ath lete and an odd-looking adjudicator who pops up both swap sarcastic remarks. Though these comments are fun at first, they eventually become wearisome. I'd have preferred an option to suppress them. There are one or two small bugs. A ghost i mage of the pointer occasionally remains at the point where you last left it and there are spelling mistakes in the bubbles (for example "appathy" and "conceed"). The vaulter's pole seems to have shrunk in the wash, tool There are few sound effects but you'll hardly notice that. What will make you sit up is the excellence of the animation. Arena is good fun. especially if there are a few people playing. Sound 7 Graphics ., , ;... fO P/ayabfJ/ty , . , „..„S Value for money ,.■.......,,...„„„.„„„„„„ 7 Overall „...„ Q THE BASIC INTERPRETER FOR THE ATARI ST A new and very fast BASIC interpreter ROM cartridge for the Atari ST computers. This 128K program has been written specifically for the Atari ST computers and so makes full use of (and gives the programmer full access to) all the special features of this machine. Based around BBC BASIC, but considerably extended. FAST BASIC is a modern structured programming Language. It is the ideal environment for those who want to experiment with the ST and to find out about GEM and 68000 assembly etc. SPEED With an average PCW benchmark speed of 1.8 seconds. ("Is is the fastest BASIC available ffastcr than any other PCW have tested) and compares with 14 for a normal BBC. See table for other comparisons. EDITOR Full GEM based scrolling editor Is included. Supports search and replace, cut, copy, paste and very fast scrolling speeds. "Multiple programs may be held in memory at once, and each program can have Its own editing window and associated icon. PROGRAM SIZE There Is no limit to program size, odier than available memory, and there is no speed degradation for running large programs as there Is on many other interpreters. Strings may be up to 64K long, arrays may be over 64K. ASSEMBLER Similar in concept to BBC BASIC, this allows mixing of assembly language and BASIC together. The assembler can assemble at over 50,000 lines per minute making; it one of the fastest available. Macro and condiUonal assembly facilities combined with one of the best editors around make this a superior altemaUve to many dedicated assemblers. STRU CTURED Fast BASIC supports REPEAT.. UNIT L. WHILE.. WEND and multiline IF.. THEN. .ELSE constructs. Also named procedures and functions and memuiy indirection^;; ensure that FAST BAS'C supports \ many of the best icatures of languages like PASCAL or C. bul without the drawbacks. GEM Direct and full access Is given to tne ST (graphics such as circle, arc. pic. area filling etc. In addition there are a range of keywords for contolllng the menus, icons and windows. It Is possible to write programs that present the user with a perfectly standard OEM type Interface. t:OMR\RISONS MACHINE TIME IBM AT "...it positively flies." "Students of structured ramming will be well pleased.." "Perhaps the most staggering advantage of Fast BASIC over the official lingo concerns using the various facilities offered by GEM." "...it's a vast improvement on Atari BASIC." Papular Computing Weekly IBM PC BBCB AMSTRAD SINCLAIR QL COMMODORE 128 SPECTRUM FAST BASIC FAST BASIC INCLUDES: •ROM Cartridge it uses no RAM. does not have to be loaded from RAM and offers instant start-up. •Example disc containing a range of example programs from simple loops la complete GEM examples, •Comprehensive spiral bound manual- Compatible with all 520 and 1040ST computers 6.8 16.8 14.8 14.7 15.6 4-0.1 54.8 1.8 'The Fast BASIC package 'provides a complete system for the home programmer: the language is beautifully structured." "The cartridge spans the gap between high level and low level programming languages and combines Some excellent high level structures. ..It seems to have the advantages of languages like C and Pascal, without the restrictions. 1 ' "Bear in mind the fact that the cheapest assembler for the ST costs £39.95. this can only leave you to conclude that Fast BASIC really is phenomenal value for money." i ST User magazine Price £89.90 Inc. VAT and postage. Available from all good Atari dealers or directly from Computer Concepts. EXPRESS ORDERS m [\ rjealcrenquiricavvelcoined. fc COITipUter CODCGptS Goddesden Pface-Hemel Hempitead,Herts,HP2 6EX,England. Telephone <0 442 ) ( 63937 November 1986 Atari ST User— Paul Woakes AST i___^^^^ HH Product: Back-Peck Price: €89.90 Supplier: Computer Concepts, Gdddesden Place, Heme! Hempstead, Herts HP2 6EX. Tel: 0442 63933 O N E of the most useful features of the Atari ST's desktop is its ability to access accessory programs — from simple clocks to complete spreadsheets — from the desk menu. There are two main constraints on their use. Firstly, only six can be on the desk menu at once. Secondly, memory can become in short supply if you use some of the more hungry accessories, especially in 520STs and STMs. Back-Pack is a new desk accessory from Computer Concepts, which sets out to solve both of these problems while supplying the user with nine accessories. Back-Pack is supplied on a cartridge which simply plugs into the rom port on the side of the ST. A. small program which initialises the cartridge must be placed on your boot disc. Thereafter choosing the Back-Pack option from the desk menu brings up a list of the nine accessories. Click on one of these and you're in that program. The Calculator can operate in two modes. The scientific mode gives a full range of features from sin, cos and tan to factorial and reciprocal. In programmer mode, the calculator offers logical operations and bit shifting as well as the facility to look up the Gem code of the next key The Large Clock offers time, date, dual time and up to four alarms with digital or analog display. The times and alarms are set by simply clicking on arrows which change the hours and More on your deskt • • minutes. When an alarm goes off. a bell sounds and a relevant dialog is displayed. A press of the Escape key and the alarm turns off. Another, simpler clock is also available, The Mini Clock appears as a small window which you can move to any position on the screen. When you select the Diary, the current month is displayed In calendar format You then select the day that you wish to examine and click on it The diary window will now show your chosen day. The times for the day are shown as half hourly intervals. You can type in the various appointments for that day and then save them to disc for later reference. Twelve small icons at the side of the display represent various categories that a particular day might include such as important letters, a birthday or a journey. The Notepad can store up to 3 1 pages of text, which you can easily flip through and edit using a combination of mouse a:nd keyboard. It can be stored on your boot disc, so that it is. there Bach-Pack: The desktop in use Reviewed by' Andrew Bennett - — rVffWnfrffr '936 Atari ST User- AST when you next use your ST. The Typewriter allows you to send Escape and oiher special codes direct to the printer, or assign thern to the 10 function keys. You can also position the printer's head using a slider that you control with the mouse. Using the typewriter can bypass the short comings of some of the word processors that are available for the ST. Choosing the Printer Buffer option allows you to set up a buffer of any size, up to the full amount of free memory. It works by intercepting text sent to the printer and storing it in the block of memory you set aside. Instead of long delays while you wait for the printer to print text, it is simply moved into the block and you can resume working almost straight away. Back-Pack then sends the text to the printer while you work on something else. The Address Book window consists of a list of the letters of the alphabet down one side, just like an address book. Clicking on one of these causes The window to display the first entry beginning with that letter. A display consists of information such as name, address, telephone number and a small area for notes. You use the find option to search the address book for the entries. You can then view the records that contain that information or print them out using the report option. The Ram Disc allows you to set aside a part of memory as a super fast disc drive. It can be any one of eight sizes ranging from 1 28k to 3072k if you have a 4160ST. You have the choice of which drive tfie ram disc will be a nd which files to load automatically when the ST is booted. Parameters such as ram disc size and information such as the diary and address book contents are saved to disc so that they don't have 1o be altered even/time that you turn on your ST. The documentation cannot be faulted. The 20 page manual supplied with Back-Pack is excellent and provides everything you would wish to know about the cartridge. My only criticisms of Back-Pack are that it doesn't have a built-in battery for the clock, ■which must be reset every time the ST is reset and that the cartridge port is not duplicated which means that a clock card cannot be plugged in at the same time as Back-Pack. Is Back-Pack good value for money? Well there are some ram discs on the market which alone cost £29.95 and printer buffers which cost £19-95. At £49.95 Back-Pack includes both and offers seven other very useful accessories. Overall it's an excellent product which promises to give its money's worth. NEXUS EPROM DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM Tne Ngxus EPROM Development system is an EPH0W simulator/programmer (or the Atari ST range of computer;. It plugs imp tne cartriflge port and will allow you lr>: o Develop ST cartridge software without ever having to program an EPROM. o Use your ST es a professional 68000 hardware development system. O Blow EPHOWs 16 bits wide or B bits wide (depending on target system architecture). ~ Manipulate data between its 64K of EPROM simulation RAM and the ST's dish drive(sj and serial port in binary and a variety ot hex fofmals. Ot far higher specification than probably any available dedicated EPROM program mcr/simuiatcr. amongst tne system's features are: internal (ST) and external (target system) EPROM simulation with 64k of static RAM. the first ever true 16 bit slmulator/programm or, LS and MS EPROMs programmed simultaneously in two 2IP sockets, automatic iransoarent 'spilt and shuttle', intelligent programming of all EPROMs 8k and aoovo. SlO style GEM window on simulation RAM or EPROM(s> including slider, icon manipulation etc. E<flt, Locate a Value, Block Move. Fill/Clear. Checksums, Blank check. Program Check. Automatic or Manual Verify. External EPROM Simulation autonomous Jrom ST operation, on-board Vpp generation etc. In the Atari tradition o( "Power without the Price" th« total coal Of Ihe complete system, with professional GEM software and user guide is only £175.00, Far Mvrfy ol yod Him EPROM DnabpmaM SylIM hf nnrn of poR. uod ch.OM.P0 In E20U5 I* ntiudt VAT. P&P to: Nexus Technical Services Limited 38 Melrose Avenue, Reading RQ6 2BN Tel: (0734) 664559 Alio aiailaSie: Sockets ST cartfrtf* boeids to laVe tour EPROMs 8k ot abort fefl. 4 < 27256 = 128k) - ukoa eat all tannine pan &jgna!s. £14.75 inc. VAT, P&P 28 pin OIL plug to 28 pin OIL ptog EPROM simulation \raii llwo rtqvsind lo> ruemsl IB bit simulation). £11.50 Inc. VAT, PSP SERIOUS BUSINESS or SERIOUS HOBBY h BUR SERVICE 00ESN1 STOP AT JUST GMNG COMPETITIVE PRICES ANO A fASI FRItNOLY SERVICE WHY NOT JOIN OUR COMPUTER GfWJP VOU CHOOSE THE PRICE YOU MY. PLEASE PHONE FOR DETAILS. LARGE RANGE OF ATARI ST SOFTYv'ARF.'HAROVi'ARL' BOOKS AVAILABLE. ATARI ST KEYHCfABOS MUSIC ACCESSARIES AtHtsiosiMMuiisiasrai Pi>M* Cu4CZ30! . Uidt.DuM Ptwe ArihioiOSTT Pftwe MEWAlin tfw*'fl.3ajn«h»s PMflt PRIMERS OI-SC DRIVES CwoiPAIOHQaHlO, „ ,„., ptflot AianSOOKTIMt Ptam CmwA-Sbti'MOIBDipi .....Mom ai3ti2cvan ( iaonw.„.,. Plow .:...;,.... Ph»fl| £p«flLX3aMQiea>iiepi p*,,* CtniulMtUMt EpHnfXS&jfAIDS „.-.. PMn XECM Profe»>;nii ItatU Pioro E[MciJX-90Pnnt»'.ip»| PhH* Jnti55ltt5520 ...FBom JttiUtjrK*Cot:ui-|& Riore MIZlOOttlOD ,... FIioib MP1SV20D Phtae 3.5't3Sii.SSOO(ioitO-.. Fht-e OIGiTIHBS/SAMPUIIS REPAJRCDVH {1YPICAI IVAN Ml Ml H9p> Vdca'Sesftd Dipt'ie -■■■ HibSbPrrnilKWicVidte. Ptlw* ?4HR RS SF0H5E MALVTENANCe/ Ph&w INSUPAM CI HjtOli Pdtrl Teehtc SouM ., PhWB sorrwAREyso'QKS'Crc (ud tovisw MONirOPS Au.iSFtMSWMOftflW PhW* A:,nCobuiMmiwi ,,.,,., IIPGRAOES. CASES. 01Y PROJECTS. ETC. fdil«,CTMUOHrV,MM PlWt SI2K-IMto FHOt* P(i.>oiSS33<SHBMOjI! .... .. . . Pflwe SoofKVtaaOTViMomiw PtiMt aCMP-fttebomi Until Fhow So:(KVU42«ipal»UujMI Phwi Cute far MiirauMc/etc Ptaif IV MfJvliTetflfftiVtto'frMM PRICES EXCLUDE VAI & CARWAK. PtEASE tElEPHOSF. IF YOU CANNOT SEE Till PftOQtKIS YOU WANT AND 10 C0.W 1RM LATEST PfilCtS. CIEARJACS Of 010 STOCK LINES - PX EQUIPMENT ETC. - TELEPHONE WE ALSO OfflR BUSINESS CONSULTANCY,' RM'fTC. - FOR FUftlMER IH'OHAWTION AND RiguiAfi COMPRiHSN$i« PfllCf IISTS.WCWS LrTTEBS EIC WN'ACIl- £S K.E.C.M.€3r KNIGHT ELECTRONICS (COMPUTERS* MUSICI 8 WESTWOOD UNE. WELLING. KENT DA16 2HE. TELEPH-ONE: 01-301 3745 CALLERS BY APPOINTMENT ONLY PLEASE I24HR ANSWeRPHOP.E|f VAT RECISTPATBON NO. 427 0353 73 TELEX 895II82QE COMS m- Navofnijer 1.986 Aiari ST User- AST HAVE you ever wished to dump a screen on to disc? This would allow you to save and edit screens from other people's programs. Here's a program to do just that. You can now capture to disc any screen and than use an editing utility to alter all or part of it to your satisfaction. One of the nice features of the operating system of the Atari ST is the ability to dump the screen to a p rinter. For th ose of you who may not have seen this facility, pressing the Alt and Help keys simultaneously will cause the computer to temporarily stop its current program and print a replica of the screen on an attached dot matrix printer. It would be very useful to have the same facility to save screens to disc. In fact this utility replaces the in-built routines to dump to printer with ones that dump the screen to a disc file compatible with Degas. For those of you not interested in the actual process involved. Listing I is a Basse program that creates the appropriate machine code program on disc when run. Simply type it in - save it before running to be sure - then place a formatted disc with some room on it in drive A and run the program. A few seconds later you will have a file called DUMPIT.PRG on your disc. Simply run DUMPIT.PRG like any other application, by double clicking on its icon. When you have been returned to the desktop run the application you wish to get your picture from. Then press Alt+Help when you want the picture dumped. If you want another picture later press Alt+Help again and another picture will be dumped. They will be titled DUMPA. DUMPB. DUMPC and so on. As written, Listing II is the source 68000 assembly language code for the routine. It will always dump your picture out to drive B. If you prefer Drive A simply change the B : in the last line to A:. In the basic listing, however, the picture will always be sent to drive A. If you change the 41 in line 1 190 to 42 it will always save to disc B. The file written is in Degas format, For those of you who do not have this excellent graphics program, a baste utility to convert Degas pictures to Neochrome was primed in the May 1986 issu e of A l&ri S T User. The original routine to dump to a printer runs in the "vertical blank" period of the operating system. If you're pressing Alt+Help it jumps to a routine to send a bit-image of the screen to a dot matrix printer. Meanwhile, the application that was running will be "frozen" until it is finished or until Alt+Help is pressed again. Jt will then restart from where it left off. The application that is running should therefore continue undis- turbed. The first problem to be overcome was that of where to put the routine. On an ST most programs are relocatable. That is. they can be put into any memory location when loaded. The operating system decides exactly where Dump a screen on to disc depending on memory configuration, other programs already in memory - such as desktop accessories — and reserved memory, for such things as ram discs and printer buffers. Therefore no site in memory can be considered as completely safe. However, the graphics screen bit-mapped memory resides at the top of ram and leaves a few pages just above it untouched which seem to be relatively safe. They are, for 8 bit users, the ST equivalent of page 6. Listing I moves the routine up above the screen. Asset up it's correct on a 520STorSTM. If you have a 1 Mb machine you should make the changes mentioned at the start of Listing I. Basically the program is divided into two parts. When run the first part puts the second part (which is the heart of the utility) into its proper location above screen memory. It also moves the filename to be used to a location above this, hooks the routine up to the vertical blank and returns you to the desktop. It first puts the processor into supervisor mode as we are going to mess about with addresses illegal in user mode. It saves the stack pointer in a register IB Keith Watterson shows you how » REM !HP1 3 REH 4 RE* 5 REM b MM 7 REH a per 1 H£K • SAVE SCREEN TO DISC I" SfcGAS FOfcHAI • • »» I'EITH HIVTIEPSON * t • ■ 1»1B 0**«KS PLEASE E»«N3*:i • • IIMf 0Oi 22332 TO 224eB * I LINES IB2e,!U5G,1113. • > 1 l4t9,;iHO. tiOtti H? 10 0= • 30 4tt so fcO 7S BO 98 IBU 110 :BB3 loio 10 30 iB4a ■ese lO&Q new n je iico u*o l ISO lies II70 utra ll*?B 1293 CPEPi"*" , 1 . "Of 3UfIPlT . KRii" . I F1EL0*I, I AS CCSEI CMECkSLFl-iifFCft I»l 10 333 read Dniftiiy-voLi n i*M'--oi»rornCHEWSuftoCHta5un*tf put«"Chr» <v:» LUG! CODEt-F-UTIiFUT Id N6'T I IF CHECKBUHOS3332 IMEN PRINT •*RRO*<. IN OATA PLEABE CHECfc-iGOTO II PWIWT -DATA 0*" CL03E S data f^ifi.oa.aa ,ei t :c, oa, oo.ee. oo,aa,£3, e«, arc, as, on data ee.BB.eo.na .ai.ua.ea^ ,aa .au.ai.ea, n ,ny ,zf .SC iiata oe.20.4E.il ,sc,ep,2c,eo,?o,7c.ao.e?,FD,oa,*5,DB DATA 4:l,FA,aO,;E.20.3C.e©.eO,OO.C9,ia,I>9.Sl.CS,FF.FC DATA 83, F9.0B, 06 ,01, IE, M,7C,M. 87, PE.W.'JS.IC.BB, (4 DATA I ^, Dll, 5l.CIJ.FF. PC, M, 79,00,00.04. 36. DBi'C, 00, It DATA iO,BA,2F,06,H'.W:,e«,:a,»E,«l.SC.eF-'l2,l»T,4E.*l data 4A,'9.eo l ea.o4.eE.Ae.!4a,B&,co,^!.fi:,< r ' r ,'' r ,w,ea DATA &4,E£,aQ,E7,FF.FE,l2.39,eQ>,Ff'.a::,6&.a;.4I,etl,a3 data 4s,a», i8,39,co,FF.e2.ai.«S'.4e.ia. j''.»a.'v,(i?,Ki data Ei l 4w,se,io,a*,Qo.a3 1 as,a5 ( 2:,22.ia,rc,-i5,«.Gi DATA B6.0l.3e.vl . IJ.U 1 ,BB. B?.«£ ,OA,2e,QC.04,ea i .»3.M0 DATA Oa, 23,32, 40.41, eu.Ua.i • ,B2, 48,34, 3C.03. OF, 32. ie uaia ja.Bi.ea, 43.02, 4 5, oa. 87, 12.es. 3&. 01. 62. 43,3a.?? DAI A t;!,C.',51.t«,FF.EA.42,&7.2a.7C,a0.a7«FE,0iil,;*,Ka * daia ;r,Ji:,'M l :ic,4£,«i.30,9F.'tft.4a,oP,3C.CQ.;u.!8,3o DATA «',M,V 1 M,M,M,7D,3?,lF,a4,W,TC.Bfl.4a.-Ve,«l Off OF. FC.'O3,W,eil,0C,.W,B4,3r,W,»S,3e. 46,41, DF.FC DATA BO. 30, 02,44, 10. 39. BB. B'.fE .'&•,£&, 00. 00,01 ,13,C0 UATA fla,07,a=£.Oo,eC,DF,?F,FF,*E,75,«*l ,3A,4«,SS,*D,Sfl DATA 4i t ;£.-S(s l 49 1 se,oo,oo,eo.oo.BO,ea,26,oo Listing I Novembcf 199$ Atari ST User. E it w ■ ,,.- ' ' l " i -'''; >: :- '**/ .,'.:: -V' ATARI S affitf* *tf> ^ ANCO SOFTWARE. 4 WEST GATE HOUS E. S PITAL STREET, DARTFORD, KENT DA1 2EH. Telephone: 0322 925 13/92518 Mailorder: Payment by Cheque, P.O.. Via or Access. 24 Hour Credit Card Service: 0322.522631 . Telex: 892758 ANCO <3. 1 AST to be safe. Then a loop follows which moves the dump routine to just above screen memory- It then finds the address of the queue of Vertical Blank Routines waiting to be done between each display of the screen (50 times/second), which is stored in location $456. This address is then replaced with that of the routine. Finally the processor is put back into user mode, the pointer to the old stack is restored and a call to return to the desktop with trap#1 is made. The routine itself is now being called every 1/50th of a second in every vertical blank. It starts by looking for iheAlt+Help combination. If not present then it exits immediately from the vertical blank and the application running will not be affected. However, if it does detect Alt+Help it then continues and begins by tell ing t he system the screen dump is finished so that it will not continually repeat dumping screens one after another. To be on the safe side again, the processor registers are saved on the stack just in case they are used by the application. The screen resolution is read from $ff8260 and stored in d 1 (it is AN £>ed with 3 to tidy it up). The screen location is stored in a4. in case the application is not using the normal $78000 for its display, then the screen resol ution is put in the last figure of the filename. The resolution is then stored 34 bytes before the screen. The colour registers are tidied up - to correct for the difference between the Gem and the operating system's registers - and stored in the 32 bytes (one word per colour) below screen memory. The filename is now read and a file created in this name, the memory from 34 bytes before the screen and the screen itseif is then dumped to that file and the file closed. Thus a file compatible with Degas pictures in the correct mode is created- The seventh letter in the filename is incremented so the next dump will be saved in a different file, the registers are restored from the stack and the routine exited. Voila! You should now have a Degas screen clump on disc and the original program should still be running untouched. The utility should work with the vast majority of programs. However, if the main program disables the keyboard, or if the vertical blanks are used in some way it may not work or even occasionally crash the machine, forcing you to reboot. So be warned! 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[ 00.06 •av* 010 stack IP Wfc (MVO.H Isr,- tfl.dS •9.03 than up now- 1 HCFdBO.ae put prog and 1 . h BfT.flS lea UQI.aS above iciw HVt. b tf3 ( 'all- la* HJ'tlpcl ,al WVK.H dl,d3 «iovo . 1 »f in-BtBrt-1 da tun in counter <d&> andl • h oove.b B»77 ,05 OJ,<al)» reiaci «o"i.D !-]>•, <aOi* move progras do' 02,CQl_lOOp da" <je . r «i oc • >av» a i dure •• lii • llanani-.affi $»: adOr o* Ftt*n<MHf nOvn . 1 ■*7FE00,al put it aoave Mrian Btr.K -Upi nova.n •SB.dB Dytac to itova SID"*- 1 -•7«£a2.a.O andr o« <Liana«>p <_luapi "uvo.O <aS>-, (all* TtCVB. 1 #«i-<BBl Mrl dO„<_loe>p neve trap aer«aia,-iap> ■ 1 no yea. ■4S6,afl P'oq'«b hooks up to addq. 1 aa.sp •Ma. ■?e.*8 tne vol and -Queue tst.- oe ™v-. 1 .2. taOl point It to i*y P'"9 Df>l an it de,d« ■tit H arrer 04 - <,i._|,*ndlB nove. 1 d*,-lBpl go Dae'- to u»tr nut)* ■WVa •tup*r ,— I9D) -iti old ateci pointer "OVt.l aa,-l«pl buf*i»r trap ■ 1 aovB.i asrei*,-iBpi langeh •80Q.1 •»,ap AOvD.W da,— ispi *ilB_n-ndi* "»'»■- ■*rita,-lBp! clr -<sp> * lr*B ai trap ■1 bach to oeavtop aoOil ■U,»r ■■ Eno of nam prog -~ raat hat 'oIIom la relocated) »Bo« v.deo BOH « "»'"•- da,-(«p) »»"." -qlo-B.-l.pl ■tart t tr'Mp aOd-1 • 1 tttVB pi lag ALT /Help sreacsa?? «.ID ttni ■..12 no tnM a>it V5I novo. b ■7PEeb.au .tnc'*flanaw* l--tl^ »ove, — M-l,p<laQ tel 1 ays-te* acr/Suna Bono idni.b al.iia taoveA. d&-d7'*B-*6 t -••P' •avo roO/Olan used "OWC.B dB,«7rCU nuv-.tj *'«8260„dl 9>t Ra'wm't Axolullan •*.t: "dvon. iWI-iOO-07'aO-.i?. a '•UQ-B '-W« •nOi . •» e»3,dl wx'i'tS't rt» Clr.l dO j Mova.t> »(*S20!,0B 1in Mu » man d& •nw-fa H»0203,&a 1 1 1 wn *.<« : dc.o i<iD<tnprt.Pi«.».U 1 iftfAiff // November 1386 Aran ST User- Andre Willey reviews Computer Concepts' Fast ST and Basic acclaims it as a winner Fast Basic lives up to its name Program: Fast ST Basic Pace: £89.99 Supplier: Computer Concepts, Gaddesden Pface, Hemel Hempstead, Herts HP2 6EX. IF you ask any now ST owner what their main complaint about the machine is, the chances are that they will say it is the Basic Ata ri provided. Not that the specification on pap er is all that bad, but for a machine of this power most people wero expecting] some- thing a little better. Add the fact that it is riddled with bugs and perhaps the complaint is justified. Atari has made various promises about an improved version of its Basic, but I suspect that the ground has been cut from under it by the release of Computer Concepts' incredible Fast ST Basic. Rather than attempting to follow Atari's strategy and model its Basic on the long-in-the-tooth Microsoft implementation. Computer Concepts has opted to base its new language on the latest structured Basics and has supplemented this with complete access to the Gem functions previously only available via PEEKs and POKES. The first thing you notice when opening the box is that Fast Basic comes in cartridge form instead of on disc. This has many advantages, not the least of which are that it loads instantly, is more reliable and leaves much more available memory for your programs. The cartridge appears as a special icon on the desktop - you can call up Fast Basic in the same way as you would a file from a disc. Once Fast Basic is loaded you are confronted with the main display. This differs from Atari Basic in that there are only two main windows, for the editor and the output. All your programs are composed via the editor, which features full mouse or cursor key control plus cut, copy, paste, search, replace and a whole host of other text manipulation and deletion commands. The editor still falls into the same trap as Atari Basic - that of having long lines hidden under the right hand scroll bar. Perhaps it would have been better to have opted for a word processor type window where long lines wrap at the edge of the window rather than at the 80 column mark- Text and graphics will normally be displayed in the output window, although you can specify a working area anywhere on the screen - even outside of the window or over the menu bar. There is. in fact, one other window you can use — invoked only if you call it from a pull-down menu - which allows you to enter direct commands, This method is quite a change from standard Basic where even program lines are entered in immediate mode, but you can quickly adapt to it. It is certainly a lot faster and more efficient to work with than the constant window opening and closing you will be used to if you've tried to do anything serious with Atari Basic. Since the cartridge format leaves so much free memory, Fast Basic makes the most of it by allowing you to have up to 1 programs resident at one time. These each have their own redefinable icon on the desktop and may be called at will. The default allocation is 32k per segment, but you may increase or decrease that to suit each program in turn. You can thus allocate a large workspace to a small program that needs a lot of data, and still not be wasteful with a large program that uses very little external data. All this information, including the icon, is stored with the program when you save it to disc. Any segment may call another, and you can copy between segments with ease via the clipboard icon. The only limitation is that the segments cannot multitask - that is, only one segment can be running at a time. Moving on to the language itself, the most obvious thing is that the majority of Fast Basic programs do not have line numbers. if you think about it, line numbers were introduced in the days before decent on-screen editors were available. Once you have full cut and paste editing they become a hindrance rather than an asset. You can use them but they will act more like labels than the sequenced line numbers you are used to. Your programs can be extremely well structured. There are procedures with full parameter passing and local variables, WHILE ...WEND loops, SWITCH ... CASE. .. ENDSWITCH structures. IF ...THEN ... ELSE . . . END.IF constructs and many others. Indeed, the whole language syntax is based around the very popular BBC Basic used in many schools around the country. Variables may be of a wide variety of types - 8, 16 or 32 bit integer, single precision decimal, double precision decimal, string, or arrays of any of the basic types. You may also use indirect addressing instead November 1986 Atari ST User- AST of variables - removing the need for such commands as PEEK and POKE. Simply enclose an address or formula in curly brackets and it becomes a pointer to a memory location, which may be given or returned in any of the standard numeric formats. Operators are equally well provided for, with all the normal maths functions covered, plus bit shifting, bit logic. Boolean logic, integer division and MOD calculation. Full double precision equivalents of functions such as LOG, SIN, COS, SQR and so on are provided, making double precision a much more useful mathematical "tool. However, any computer language is much more than this, and it's hard to know where to begin when describing the features in detail. The manual devotes over 320 of its 400-odd pages to the various commands, and I couldn't hope to cover them all here. Needless to say, just about every command you could ever ask for is supplied, plus a good many others besides. There are commands for cursor movement, for drawing boxes, circles, ellipses, arcs and polygons and for fill and line patterns. Others handle text font type, size, colour and direction setting as well as blit functions which will transfer any portion of memory or screen data to anywhere else, even altering the format of the data, Timing functions such as date (US and UK format), time (12 or 24 hour clocks), real-time counters (in 200th of a second intervals) are offered, as are commands for disc directory, active drive count and folder creation. Other commands cover file handling -random or serial byte or record access — including size and free disc space checking, string handling functions such MID$. LEFTS, RIGHTS, FORMATS (a more powerfuf version of the old PRINT USING command), mouse control and detection operations ... the list goes on and on. 0* particular interest are some of the psue do-variables used. These act like variables to your program, but control much wider aspects of the machine. They include PHYSBASE and LOGBASE which allow you to read or change the address used to generate the screen display and SYSDATE- the current system date. SCREEN- WIDTH and SCREENHEIGHT tell you the current screen coordinate range, and hence the current resolution. There is also a set of commands to control the Gem functions. With a little practice and knowledge of the workings of the Gem interface, you can create and manipulate pull-down menus and dialog boxes from Basic which will return their results directly to your program, to be dealt with accordingly. Many examples of these functions are on the disc provided with the package. This is probably j ust as well , beca use the manual does n't really go into much detail in these areas. The manual's biggest failing is probably the No. Atari 8 bit CBM 64 Spec- trum BBC 128k ST Basic Fast ST Basic Normal OSS t 2.02 1.06 1.4 4.5 0.5 0.91 0.145 2 6.5S 2.02 10.5 8.1 2.3 3.08 0.5B 3 18.88 7.52 19.2 20.1 5.7 5.98 1.305 4 22.1:4 7.84 20.0 19.5 5-8 7.6 1.46 5 25.74 8.6 21-0 22.9 6.4 8.81 1.51 6 39.74 15.52 32.2 52.6 10.3 14.9 2.535 7 60.38 23.8 51.6 71.0 16.2 21.75 4.13 8 421.1 55.14 116.0 240.0 28.2 1 1.44 2.735 Avg 74.57 15.18 34.0 54.8 9.4 9.31 1.806 Figure J: Benchmark timings af various Basic languages (in seconds) la ck of explanation of object trees, without which many of the Gem commands are almost useless. It tells us; "While the subject is not complicated, a thorough treatment of object trees is beyond the scope of this manual." However, a good look through the Neo file converter program on the demo disc will certainly help, since it is entirely controlled by a re-defined menu bar and the mouse, complete with file selector boxes. While graphics were more than amply taken care of, I was a little disappointed with the sound control - the DOSOUND command is a joke when compared to the rest of the language. It requires only one parameter— the address of a block of memory containing sound data which will be played as a background task. The manual gives no documentation at all as to what each reqister does and there are no $ ltd rili U\i Lilt *un Swci.I ■>vBWBHS,fiCS '"' Milt \ lti% is lw rti isiwr rail \ f»o »( i»* if ihp enhus k'words I- v d!(«S it tmi* position n ths \ utut www. S« to b«t *f'*it V it thfr nitti tnato* H MM first. ; Biei3»it8" £ secies fw Hch £iT£ | ( «Mt?,US MLUIE i.feV* 9 FW crifM* = I It 2 aWWE jr*t*tft fflmm direct commands for ADSR setting of the quality of the sound, though there is a BEEP and single note play command. Following the BBC Basic tradition once again. Computer Concepts has also included a full 68000 assembler. Basic variables and procedure calls can both be used with assembler and a number of psuedo-ops are available. These include space reservation, include files and full control of output format and listing type. While not quite a macroassembler, it fulfils its function very well indeed. Once again the manual is lacking at this point and if you want to use this Aovo/nher 1986 Atori ST User- m AST w---_ I ..- feature you'll certainly have to buy yourself a book ort 68000 machine code. However, features aside, the best is still to come. Fast ST Basic was called that for a reason — the execution speed is something that has to be seen to be believed. For example, a FOR. ..NEXT loopi from 1 to 1000 will execute in just over a tenth of a second. Atari's ST Basic takes almost one full second lo do the same job, and the 8 bit machine takes more than two seconds. In comparison, a Spectrum takes four and a half seconds. ' Figure I gives a complete rundown of the performances of different machines and Basics against that of Fast Basic, and as you will see it beats everything else by a factor of five. For interest, I have also included the benchmark times for the 8 bit Atari running OSS's Basic XE, which, as you can see, improves its performance considerably. In conclusion, if you own an ST — even if you are mainly a C or machine code programmer - you should have a copy of Fast ST Basic. Even the advanced users will appreciate the usefulness of being able to drop into a straightforward fast and reliable language for working out quick routines and manipulating data. In fact, I don't know of a Basic on any other machine which is so feature packed and yet still so easy to use. There didn't appear to be any bugs to speak of, but the language is so vast and complex that only time will tell. It did crash once while opening a window with the mouse, but that could have been due to my not having the cartridge inserted properly. Computer Concepts has a real winner here - but wouldn't it have been so much better if Atari had provided us with something similar in the first place? SUPERTEC ATARI USER OFFERS ::* : : »3£? ' . es [UUI iff i*£ .91 UflG£ 0f ^wGi; 6©. O' &^« & V*g*& su «ss° v*»r.^* vasm &W fO^flSH* -f uerfi &f* PLUS 1^ if ipidw SO '0JR "soioo £B3£ POST YOUR ORDER ORCALL7QNYOWYEftOV02G9 2823CB^ ""-luoepm ^ n ^Mc es ^-v MO BAUD 'M pfeasesend me the Slews ma<Ked. I enclose Cneque/Posiai order for the full amount, including VATS. , OR Dew my Acee$5 Cam Number; E3 ■"• »•■ SUPEHTECLTD. 1 CORNWALLIS HOUSE, HOWARD CHASE, BASILOON, ESSEX, SS14 3BB Tel: 0268282308 ■-. Qt, RUtBMlMtOT ■■ -■ ' ".■: -..., t*»Oiro^m:o^} '-■■ ii n: '■! •rwi'vp, -- Ezsootisa ,- rasog :■ iili'Sr « , mm ■ aaoa ST' 11 Name. AOttesS. Signature:, Posicode^. PLEASE AaOW 2S DAYS FOR DELIVERY ^~ November 1386 Atari ST User- WHICH is best. Atari or Commodore? That's the prime topic on many American bulletin boards at the moment, with both 8 and 16 bit machines under the spotlight. Firstly I should declare my interest: I'm a ggmes programmer with long time experience on the Commodore 64 and more recently the Atari 8 bit and ST, and frankly the Commodore 64 is not a superior machine to the Atari 800. as most salesmen would have you believe. I used to try to persuade people considering a computer to buy a Commodore 64 instead of an Atari 800 because J believed the Com- modore was a superior machine, but since that time I have become very familiar with the 8 bit Ataris and have found that for many applications they are far better than the C64. If you need proof just go to the software department at your nearest computer shop and compare the products available for both machines. 80 to 90 per cent of the time the Atari version will be much better then the Commodore. Even if the latter has room for improvement, the C64 version could not be as good as the Atari version due to the C64's in-built limitations. On the 16 bit side Atari also has the edge. After nearly a year of sales for the ST and slightly less time for the Amiga, we are seeing the ST leading the field despite the fact that, at first glance, the Amiga is a better machine. While the Amiga is a ■wonderful machine, and, in certain departments, superior to the ST (Shush, you heretics at the back I), it cannot match the ST in terms of sheer value for money. This one factor dominates the comparison and means that while the ST has sold and sold in the US, the Amiga has never quite shifted from the esoteric hobbyist and vertical computer markets. Don't take my word for it, take the recently issued report from Consumer Reports, the US equivalent of Which?, the Consumers Association magazine. Consumer Reports has tested the Commodore Amiga and the Atari 520ST and found both machines to be "easy to use and graphically dazzling". But which machine is best? Consumer Reports gives a slight edge to the ST for home and business users. The magazine notes that when compared to the Amiga, the ST is cheaper, has a colour display that is more-suited for text work and comes bundled with a better set of software packages. On the other hand. Consumer Reports claims that the Amiga's more impressive technical attributes (extra colours, better animation, additional sound channels and higher speed) may make the computer more attractive to hobbyists. This isn't a view that I share, but only time will tell. Now that we're all convinced that the ST is the best, let's have a look what's in store for us all in the upper echelons of the ST range. Most people's eyes are firmly focused on November of this year, when Atari is rumoured to be launching the long-awaited TT range of 68O00 machines. The TT is based around the 68020 cpu which will perform tasks that the 68000 processor will, but very much faster. Contrary co what many people think, the TT will be a co-processor unit which will fit into the 1040 machines. In providing a dual-processor environment for the ST, Atari has in many ways countered several ad- vantages that the Amiga held. Coupled with the $100 blitter upgrade, which will run ST graphic applications up to five times faster than a non-blittered ST, the TT co-processor unit will put the ST into the Amiga league - but at a much more sensible price. This brings us to another interest- ing point- What about all those people who bought 520ST mach- ines? Sad to say, the word is that they're getting left behind. The 520ST, as well as being the first ST to hit the streets, is being viewed simply as a base machine for the ST series. As such it was a non-expandable unit (or not as easily expanded as later models in the range). It is possible to expand the 520ST's memory with third party memory upgrades, but this leaves very little room inside the caseforany further extras that Atari has up its corporate sleeves- There-fore I'd advise those 520ST owners who wish to expand their machines with extra memory and the blitter to consider upgrading to at least the 1 040ST as soon as possible, before the second-hand value of the 520 drops too much. And with that happy thought for all you Atari 52 OST owners, I shall leave you for this month. November !986 Atsri ST Oser- m 1ST Choice for the ATARI A ST IstMail £29.95 1st Mail™ Irom GST is a mail merge program which is compatible with all versions of 1st Ward™, Jt wB allow you to combine your wort processor with all of the popular database programs currently available on the Atari ST. With 1st Mail you tar produce multiple copies of any 1st Word document Its only limit will be your imagination! Written by GST. C Compiler £5995 This C Compiler offers unbeatable value lor money (or GEM software development The package includes an editor, subset C compiler, assembter, Sifter end full GEM libraries.. Written by GST. Macro Assembler £39.95 Tins Macro Assembler is the lines! M68O00 assembler avafeble on any PC. The package consists ol an editor, macro assembler, linker and a library ol structured macros. Written by GST. Now improved with a comprehensive demonstration program. Fractal Generator £19.95 Fractal Generator explores trie intmtafy compter, and Tieautrhil fractal geometry ol the Mandelbrot Set Full CSTC and assembler source code is included for Ae enthusiast. Written by GST. We are proud to ha associated with Antic Publishing, well known in the U.S. for its high quality and innovative ranqe of software for the Atari. CAD -3D £49,95 Design 3D solid w wire frame objects wilh your GEM mouse compatible! Written by: Tom Hudson Uccnsud by Antic ■PuMshing Inc. Flash £39.35 Complete GFM based telecommunications. Programmable. graphs. Written by: Joe Cbkacsa and Abn Page Ixeosetl by Antic PubianiiB Inc MapsandLegends--TheCartographBr £29.95 Generate Maps and SateSte views ol the Earth. Select tram dcHefenl jaojectiore and mau types Fu»f GEM based. Ueonsad by Anlic Pubfahmg Inc. StarStruck - The Astrologer £24.95 Create detafed astrological charts using nine different iHuie systems. GEM Unfed makes it easy. Written by: Hnwy Kddtis. licensed by Antic Publishing Inc. C.O.Lfl. Gbject Editor £24,95 Graphic design and software sprite editor for programmers using by Antic Pubferring I Red Alert cig.cs Defend against MRVfi iCBMs and subfeunthed msstes. An unnerving SOI Construction Set Written toy: Dam Matejfca and Stanley Crane, licensed by Antic Publishing Inc. A«* ic Electric Software Limited, Unit 8; Cf omwel! B usiness Centre, New Road, St Eves, Cambs PE17 4BG England. Tel: (0480) 66433 Telex: 81113 PM PROF G. Telefax: 10954) 80318. AST AMONG the many prominent Atari figures visiting the recent PCW show was Leonard Tramie), vice president in charge of software development. Andrew Sennet took the opportunity to get authoritative answers to the ques- tions our readers have been asking. Q One of the most exciting developments for the ST range has been the advent of the blitter. f-fow exactly does it work? A The Witter works by automatically speeding up the ST's Line-A routines by a factor of between three and five times. This means thai ail programs that use these routines, either directly or indirectly, will have faster graphics. A program can also check to see if there is a blitter installed in the ST and use it to move memory around much faster than is otherwise possible. Q, On the Amiga, the blitter can only move graphics memory. Is there any such limit on the A tari blitter? A Mo. There is no special graphics memory in the ST, therefore the blitter can operate on all memory whether it is being used for graphics or not. Theoretically it can move up to 16mb of memory at any one time. The ST's upper limit of 4Mb of ram is the restriction. Q How will the blitter be packaged? A It will come in two forms. There's a version that will simply plug into the newer 1 040 and the 2080 and 4160. It also comes ready to be soldered on to the back of one of the chips inside the older 1 040s and the. 520. A n ew set of roms will be included in the price of around £70. Either W3y. fitting will have to be carried out by dealers. Q There are rumours of a graphics chip in the works. What can you telJ us about that? A The graphics chip will offer extra graphics modes which will have a greatly increased colour range and offer higher resolutions. Like the blitter chip, it will be offered as a dealer-fittable upgrade. Q How accurate is the talk of 1024 by 1024 resolution? N X A Tramiel software... A To talk of 1024 by 1024 is unrealistic. Any new graphics chip will offer resolutions in roughly the same x and y proportions as at present. The chip will supply new graphics modes on top of those already available. Programs will simply be able to check if the new chip is there and then use the new modes where applicable, Q. What can you say about Amy - the rumoured music! synthesiser chip for the ST? A Amy is a sound synthesiser chip which has ca pabilities as yet unseen on one chip. It was the first end user project started by the old Atari (pre- Tramiel) after the 800XL Atari set out to develop a custom chip of great complexity but had limited resources and poor development tools. The achite cture was brilliant but th e ea rly versions of the chips simply didn't work. When we took over Atari we saw Amy as an excellent potential product. We have sold the design to a company that I cannot name just yet and they are hoping to have the final working chips ready soon. Q. What form will the 32 bit workstation take? A It will be a co-processor unit which will simply attach to the ST. Its greater processing speeds will allow existing programs to operate much faster. Q. The 20Mb hard disc unit for the ST Is now available. Origins fly ft w&s supposed to be a WMb unit for around £500 - what happened? — Wovemaei 1986 Atari ST Vw m AST A It simply wasn't possibl that end user pric?- to build a unit for Q At one time. Atari was rumoured to be buying faulty 20Mb units and writing software to allow them to be used as 10Mb drives. What happened to that idea? A It simply didn't prove practical. We believe that £850 is a reasonable price to pay for a 20Mb drive. Q What is the current state of the CD-ROM player for the ST? A We still intend to sell a CD-ROM unit for the ST which will include an encyclopedia in the future when the end-user price is low enough, about $500. Q. Atari appears to be selling STs across the entire globe, /s any one area doing better than the others? A I haven't got the exact figures, but probably our best sales are in Germany. Q. To clear up a point of much argument whai does ST actuafly stand for? A It doesn't and never has stood for Sarn Tramiel. It stands for Sixteen/Thirty two. It derives its name from the 68000 which is a 1 6/32 bit processor. Q Is the new black and white monitor on the swivel stand, the SM125. the new standard? A Yes. The SM 1 24 wi II no longer be made. Q Do you intend to drop the 520ST, as Apple did with the 128k Macintosh? A We have no intention to do so. We believe that 51 2k of memory is a good amount for a base machine. Q. Do you intend to include a modulator inside the 1040ST? A We are constantly listening to the market place. If enough people want a modulator then we will strongly considerit, ■ CALL US TODAY 5G- AND WE'RE ON OUR WAY YOUR ST MAN IN HIS BIG WHITE VAN We prefer to personally deliver and install your Atari 1040 ST The best of both worlds Mail order convenience with personal service. You are investing in a quality product. Demand quality backup. Part exchange: Finance: Upgrades: Printers: Disc drives S.T. SOFTWARE RETAIL SHOPS 8 BIT SOFTWARE BATH COMPUTER SHACK 8 Chelsea Road, Lower Weston, Bath, Avon 0225 310300 TROWBRIDGE COMPUTER SHACK 8Timbrell Street, Trowbridge.Wilts , 02214 67299 s ;NovambBr 1 985 Atari SJ USC- THE 'STATE OF THE ART! Whether you want to create simple designs or complex professional presentations, ART DIRECTOR has everything you need— and more. The unique dou bl e- scree n fac i lity a Hows you to create pictures In the 'lap panel' and odd further graphics and text from fhe selection of fonts supplied below to produce a standard A4 piece of artwork. This can be previewed as a complete 'page' onscreen, in colour and in shades of grey, too, so you know how the finished prinf-ou t will look. The list of features in ART DIRECTOR is al most endless, but here's a fewfowhelyourappeHte: • Turn any part of your design into a brush • Distort any element of a picture • Completely mouse and icon driven • Sixteen colours in each of two palettes avoiloble atony time— you can assimilate between the two, as well • Use time-cycling to run test animation sequences • Smudge, smear, scrape, rotate, shave - all the tools of the professional graphics artist ore at you* disposal [ THE AMAZING MOVING PICTURE SHOW! For home movi e-making and professional animation studios, FILM DIRECTOR allows you to create and assemble on screen every element ot an a nimared sequence -characters, background scenery, soundtrack - the iof ! The picture elemenis, or fragments, can be constructed as ART DIRECTOR or NEOCHROME fifes, and thedatadisRsimply transferred for use under the Fi LM DIREGTOR software. The film projection speed isadjustable, and each sequence can be up lo 2,000frames long, With a suitable adaptor*, the finished product can men be output on to a standard video recorder ■Contact usfor details These ore some ot the things you can do; * Cut, displace, reflect, invert, copy, and enlarge picture elements in Individual frames * Change, mix and fill with colours • Zoom editat plxeE level * Projecfthenimforward or backward, olnarmat speed, in slow motion, orstepbystep • Add the music ond sound provided ♦ Ca pfion individual frames or seajuences i ot frames for presentations Maxwell House, 74 WorshlpStreel, London EC2A2EN Tel: 01 -377 4645 Fax: 01-377 0022 Telex; 866048 BPCCG ART DIRECTOR ond FILM DIRECTOR designed and programmed by CINOROMiOCl kSCFTWAflE TEES LID FREE CATALOGUE and lull price list. Call now for your issue - [=■ ' v .- '., V » '- power ".■ > •'--; *K^m •■■^ ■ m* amiss*- I v .'— ' VAT wiirt Colour Monitor £735.00 S20STM 0<sk Drives «,,. 520* 1040 Package INCLUDES »^E» GEM CESK W T Printers * CITIZEN 120 D Crtutn 1J0O with 130 rpc EPSON LX86 120 CPS Near Letter Qualiiy now also .IBM company. Vftjtety of Fonts, Quad density bu .mage graphics comos standard with Centronics interface. ^ NEW . 4P °° fig liable m* ww «o opeww. 6 e Stananffl 83 column u aThornflh.Soecd.lOWonergv pH^^ipecdotiasept. fttt? e S 8 I.LD9'*"e« n 9' ,n,&<t mode a- The or cut-Shoot IS' ftpivun v"" "T— aOHcrsw"p ha super script. eut> sc iipi teUBBHieaprtiW mode are *>«> and full l|«»WK«ion go Taraphic modes ore availaMff CBoS ammiwd sod inpriht buffer can e-'Sl s!muttan«ou«v *7K input butler searmatd can be 5SS £S stable a. *«« emofi^we-conflDnw.'tai'C an uos"BO c, " ,9ma "?.'' a J chBtticte' ta"! I* irnefnwue« . S IBM and EPW« SSTSe 1 "* MWN UK DISTRIBUTOR SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY PRICE Uffl €229.00 -'i PRINTER STAND fits ncanv any width of printer. Allows paper storage *mJgiv-os ideal ve«ing position, Can Also be UBM tor computers and nvoniio's. Sled construction prevents bending pr PusHing £180* SPECIAL OFFER FEATURE KX-P T080 DOT MATRIX PRINTER The Panasonic KX-P 1 080 impact dot .matrix printer is Ideal for MpljCBtlO ns that requ ire econo m- '"ihtghguohiv pfimirta.it offers a variety of prim modes, all producing crisp dearly formed characters. Wide choice of print sires indudes semi -compressed and comn-ipressod leven in near-letter quality printing). Operator accessible print mode selector adds convenience. For a reliable printer at an affordable price-, the KX-P 1080 is always a IMftdlOto. £)5goo SERVICES We have a comprehensive range of spares for the ST. Backed by our in-housu Service Department. m i 1 '■!■£ w TCL ATARI 5 sssss £750.00 »nc. v»t & TCL ATARI 6 — ^ M ^_^_^^ *S.V *T Special Promo Packs From A ATARI 6aus ™ M ,| ? srai .-'• ^-^'A TAXAN KP810 The 80 column primer with 1 40 CPS Draft and NLQ with friction and tractor feed oferi ng 9 INT characler sels, Long Life cartridge ribbon and standard Centronics interface £229.00 KP910 £399.00 STAR NL-10 Fine Naar-Letier-OuBlity, 100% com patio irirv and total reliability all inoneeasy to use printer For quality, ease of operation and dopondabl lity. nothingoeats: the St ar NL-10. Ycu> 931 outstanding print quality at 120 cos In draft mode and 30 cps in near letter quality. Plus, the sleek NL-10 oilers hill compatibility w itn moa popular computers through plug in interface cartridges. Just insert the appropriate oJug in ifiterface car- tridge foryourlBM -PC. COrnmod ore. Apoi<! He or other parallel compute" and your Star NL-10 is ready to print. Touch a button on the control panel to set the print Often 13 choices), to select the typeface and to print in either draft or NLQ mode. You can even set left and right margins, moke top of form settings and control forward and reverse feed in the smallest pitori/77 1 £229,00 DAISYWHEEL PRINTERS GUENDATA DWP 1120 witn optional tractor/sheet feeder and 13' paper width facility. This Dosywheel printer with 20 CPS has 96 character prinuvhee! compatible with the QUME. Standard Centronics interface, (optional RS232 C) £169.00 * Accessories * LISTING PAPER IT X SVi 2000 £14,00 Teleprinter Roll £4 so Teleprinter Roll Holder £14 00 PRINTER LABELS 1000 90 x 36mm 1 across £5,70 ?0W 90 x 36mm 2 across £12.00 SF354 £130.00 : ^MBVTE3W-0iskDrive SF314 169 00 1 M8VTE 3W Disk Drive SH212 £750.00 20 MBYTE Winchester Orive SM12S £130,00 '2' High Resolution Monochrome Monitor with tilt two 1 swivel stand SCI 424 £349.00 Id" Medium Resolution CofOUr 1 Monitor Primer Lead for ST Series £12.00 ATARI SOFTWARE Laroe rango of Atari software- Call now! For your Free Catalogue How to Order. You can purchase any of the Items Hated. AH you hove to do is write you' requirements on a sheet of pep«r. and wa will despatch your good s wtttiin Z* hours, subject 10 availability. Please add the following emount* for Postego and Packing. Hems below £10.00 add Ci.50 Items below £50.00 ad0E2|0 rtenis below £100.00 add £330 ItemS over £100,00 "~ 1 Cll 5% add £3.00 overtiuu.vu omw - IUK Mainland only) ,rii-»w include VAT ai 1 1 1 AH prices Inciuuo •"• u< 'Mo Hidden Extras Prices correct ai time Of going to press but subject to change without notice. Ptease make cheques payable 10 . TWILLSTAR COMPUTERS LTD. Acces-s/Vtse Card Holders: Welcome. Call now on:- 01-571 5938 or5745271 C RED|T^py7^^ ■*.&£&& ^3% . -_ ' / ' v ~ ^^ 1 * l-.i\- CaMTOTORSlTP APEX HOUSE. BLANDFORD ROAD, NORWOOD GREEN. SOUTHALL, MIDDX UB2 4ND Tel: 01-574 5271 01-571 5938 Telex: 25247TelexG,attoTIL m November 1366Atdri ST User AST • Smiles all round for schools ST THE Atari 520ST is an ideal computer for use with young children in primary school. Its power and open architecture have already made an impression in university departments but the ease of use and the friendliness of its programs make it a natural choice for schools, The iconic environment is easy to understand and operate and even the most inexperienced child can load programs, copy discs and generally manage the computer environment with virtually no help. The confidence they display reflects their new opinion of themselves as competent operators — they run the computer not the other way around. The computer becomes a tool to think and work with. Even playing with the colours on the control panel teaches them about the primary and comple- mentary colour combinations. The mouse is vital for young children. Its physical movement across the table helps them interact with the computer both physically and conceptually. One school where Atari STs are in regular classroom use is Southmead Primary School in Wimbledon. Here the children are already familiar with computers and each classroom has a micro of its own as part of the basic equipment. The school is in a project set up by the Inner London Education Authority to explore th e effect of computers on children's learning. The children are familiar with the normal educational computers such as the BBC Micro with its non-standard operating system and the RML 480Z which uses CP/M. The latter is a good operating system but it has serious drawbacks for children as the commands are not easy to explain. Pressing B to boot the machine is easy enough but if anything goes wrong the error messages resemble Ancient Greek. The children are continually asking what to do next or what went wrong. The better programs are menu <$> s ! \ UiJ 1 __■: '■:'.' v^W/ driven. These give the children the feeling they are in control of the computer but still the teacher is found leaning over the computer pressing a key to solve a problem that the children could not be expected to understand. The delivery of an Atari 520ST changed the children's attitudes towards computers overnight. The first response was a physical one. The teacher would still lean over the group of children working on the computer, but now arms gently rose to prevent him intervening. The children had expectations and these included the possibility that they would be able to solve the problems without the teacher's help. This independence was exactly what we had expected, but fatted to get, with the early computers in school. With the ST, instead of asking their teachers for help, the children actively discouraged adult involvement, prefer- ring to find solutions to the problems they encountered themselves. They soon began to use it to undertake all the normal tasks of copying files, running programs and erasing unwanted information. Using the Gem environ- ment made it possible to involve more children, so these taks were not reserved for the computer-literate few. The computer curriculum in primary school is already well defined. Programming in Logo, word processing and databases form the basis of the work in the classroom. Specific educational programs do lead to topics, and also serve to reinforce concepts, but their use is declining. More and more schools are using the computer as a tool to extend the children's ability rather than to instill facts. Included with the ST is a fine version of Logo. The children were disappointed when they discovered the screen was only black and white Alan Coode describes how the ST is well suited to primary education Self pprtraints by Degas: Now the children cart produce exciting computer imeges . ^Novembei 1980 Atari ST User — m BYTE BACK ATARI ST SOFTWARE SPECIALIST! GAMES Sofgitder Mercenary Rogue Winter Games Leader Board Deep Space A/ena Joust Brataccas Hadver Hacker II Little Comp-. Electronic Pool f^ajorMoton Time Bandit Lands ol Havoc Phanias*© & Sera Service ST Karate Spaed Sta&dn Sundog Mean 18 Hippo Backgammon Word Irx Word Colourspace Univftrso2ST ADVENTURES Ultima 2 Pawn Leather Goddesses Trinity Hitch Hikers Guide M.F. Voyaging 2wfcl.llortll Doaoiina Batyhoo Enchanter Sorcerer Spe?breaker Kings Quest II Temple ot A pshai Borrowed Time MindsJiadow BlackCauldron Winnie the Pooh UTILITIES Art Director Pain works The Mus* Studio Past Basic Animator Kissed RamdiskySpoolflr First Word Plus dBase II ST Accounts. ST Accounts Tnmhase VIP Pro LANGUAGES Lattice C Macro Assembler Modula2ST Pro Fortran Pro Pascal HARDWARE Osks SSDD 500K x 10Boxed VififlOflifrl-ser Rainbird Novaoen Epy* Epyx Access Psygnosis Psyanosis Ata/i Psygnosis Activision Aclivlsicn Activision Microdeal Microdoal Microdea! Microdeal SSI Micropjose Paradox Paradox Accolade Accolade Hippo Bayvtew Uamasott Qmniirind Siena Ftainoird Infocom Infocom tnfoeorn hfocom htocom Irioccni Inlrxom Infocom Infocom hfocom :pyx Activision Acti vision Sierra &erra Mirrorsoh Actrvision Activisjon C. Concept Microdeal Microdoal Talent Atari Corp Ashton Cashtink Chipsofi Talent vip Tech. Motacomco Moiacomco Modula2 Prospeio Prospero RRP ONLY 24.9$ 21 24.95 21 3935 34 39.95 34 24.95 21 34.95 a 2995 25 29.95 35 3495 29 24.95 21 2495 21 3499 25 19.95 17 19.95 17 29.95 25 19.95 17 39.95 34 39.95 34 24.95 21 19.95 17 2995 25 443S 38 39.95 34 33.95 29 19.95 17 6995 59 RRP ONLY 29.95 25 24.95 21 299S 25 Haba 29.95 34.95 29.9S 29.95 29.95 29.95 29.95 29.95 29.95 24.95 24.99 2495 2995 24 .9S RRP 4995 3495 34.95 89.95 2995 2995 2435 RRP 9995 119.00 13925 172.00 B9.95 19435 RRP 99.95 49.95 99.95 147.95 14795 RRP 19.50 299.00 25 29 25 25 25 23 25 25 25 21 21 21 25 21 ONLY 42 29 29 78 25 25 21 ONLY as 99 238 146 78 165 ONLY 85 43 85 125 125 ONLY 18 260 AND MUCH MORE. NEW TITLES EVERY WEEKf LOTS OF FREE SOFTWARE NOW AVAILABLE! All PRCES INCLUDE VAT AND FIRST CLASS POST TELEPHONE (0636) 79097 FOR PERSONAL ASSISTANCE SendCheou&POlo: BYTEBACK QUALITY SOFTWARE at SOFTER PRICES! WHY PAY MORE - FOR LESS! FOR USE WTTH ALL COMPUTERS IN THE ATARI ST SERIES HOTTEST SELLING ST PRODUCT IN THE USA l I l Jtl REAL TIME CLOCK CARTRIDGE [Constantly keeps time and date accurate to the second. Plugs info cartridge port. Software included to set system clock and calendar. Never lose track of files again. £49.95 ATARI ST TOOLKIT ROBTEK TOOLKIT eonsisls of 6 utilities that use the GEM environment. They will help you inavery simple way toget more speed and power from .your St co mputer. # PRINTER SPOOLER: This utility makes it possible to use your computer while you are printing. # RAM DISK: This utility will speed up your file operations, saving you hours oFtime. # DISK COPY: Is a utility that helps you make backups and formal disks at a much easier and faster speed than normal O DISK UTILITIES Are a set of three programs that will help you to control and organise your disk directories. Is is nov; ve ry easy to keep an accurate library of all your disks. £ 29.95 P IATARIST-KEY Marvelously versatile GEM Desk Accessory for Function-key I macros. Customize 20 function keys (normal and shift) for up lo 2000 keystrokes from wfouian/applicatton. Save and load settings £24.93 I THE 8 TRACK PROFESSIONAL MIDI SEQUENCER Equal to a professional recording studio. Includes step-time I recording, auto-coirect, edit phrases, filter, auto punch-tn for track editing, MIDI set. includesm]l and easy to use tutorial hints and tips. £149.95 I ATARI MACRO MANAGER Gives you the ULTIMATE personal time management tool for your I daily work environment. Nov/ you can incorporate true desktop organization, information mgmt., time accounting and auto dialing to your Atari ST computer system . . . and do it all in coniunction with I most other ST programs Robtek's version of sidekick £39.95 I ATARI COLOR WRITER GEM-based. fu!! featured, word processor. Also includes multicolor screen text, and high-lighting capability. Multiple ways to select a [screen block. Unique inservteplace mode. Search Colorfeature and much more. £29.95 i ATARI DB-CALC An excellent easy lo use database with, built In calculating facili lies specially designed to take full advantage of the Gem Environment and ether elegam features built into your ST computer. "Best I data base- programme of the year in Holland and Belgium". £49.95. VERSIONS IN FRENCH, GERMAN AND SPANISH i COMING SOON GAMES COMPENDIUM AND ACCOUNTS PACKAGE I fio&iet ltd.. unit 4. blewtih Business Ce!*ipl<», Si fchns {load, fetarvutfa Mic*lxTW76NL Tel DIR«74?5? 20a SPRING GARDENS, NEWARK, NOTTS NG24 4UW November 1 986 A(*ri ST User - AST The story unfolds in one of the booklets produced by SovtlWBBd pupils but they soon perked up when they saw how printoutof a page to collect the raw data, filling in clear and sharp the images were. A lead was the boxes as they interview or collect. Searching bought to link the ST to a Microvitec colour the records for patterns is easy. The layout monitor and Logo leapt into colour. The sheer provides the support young children^ need to speed of the turtle as it raced around the screen amazed the children. It made the other versions of Logo on lesser machines look positively snail-like. Logo programs were translated! into DR Logo and tried out on the ST. The debugging process provided many hours of problem solving which the children relished. Along with Logo, the bundled software included two programs which made the perfect package for primary aged children - DB Master, a simple yet powerful database program and 1st Word, a word processor. Children are natural collectors -turn out any 1 year old's pockets and you will find a variety of "useful" objects apparently not conforming to any predetermined need. Harnessing this primitive urge to collect and impose order provides many excellent opportunities for learning. However, if collecting and entering data on a computer were as simple as putting bits of string and conkers into a 10 year old's pocket little educational benefit would corns from it.. Likewise if sorting the data and planning a database becomes such an intellectual exercise that children don't have the motivation to carry the task through, few children will benefit from using it. Unfortunately databases have been either too simple to be of use to children, or so conceptually difficult that they have found them daunting rather than illuminating. What was needed was a database flexible enough to allow information to be entered in a child-like way, but powerful enough to enable the children to find out worthwhile and relevant information. DB Master fits this bill perfectly. The children understand what they are doing as the records are designed as pages. They can even use a , ^.,. . *Novemii$r J $86 Ami 5T User enable them to think in a complex and abstract way. They can see where to put the information and, more importantly, what information is required. At school there are databases on pond life, designed and managed by the childen. The numbers of all their bikes, as marked by the police, form another child-managed database. All the books the children read are entered, and a reading record is presented to both teacher and child at the end of the year. The children are now actively looking for what to record and what they can find out. This never happened with the database programs available on the RML or the BBC. Writing using a computer opens a whole new horizon for children. It has been common practice in schools for a considerable time to get the children to make drafts of their work, starting with the rough draft of ideas and culminating in a finished, copied-out piece of work subsequently "published" or displayed. Although this helps the children to learn, it is labourious to copy out a draft of a piece time and again, often for the sake of one or two mistakes. What is important is the process of review and this can be done effectively using the co mputer with out the risk of making writing an onerous task. One program has made writing on the Atari really different from writing on any other computer. Thunder, from Batteries Included, is a spell checker which checks the words as they are entered, It works with any Gem based program and lets the children use the words they need without worrying about the spelling. This helps them improve their written expression while they AST 1 learn to spell by seeing the correctly spelt words presented as they make an error. The program is large and is able to present a range of alternative words. Selecting the correct one means the children have to recognise the correct spelling which helps them learn to spell in the most effective manner possible. Desktop publishing is a growth area in business computing. There is no doubt that it would fulfill a real and useful purpose in any school but the drawback is price, Systems can cost as much as £5000 and this is well outside the budget of most schools. Producing newspapers and magazines provides vital information for parents and gives children a real reason for writing. The ST with the addition of a photocopier - laser printers are still too expensive - gives the children and teachers at Southmead a simple publishing system. The writing is u ndertaken using 1 st Word printed out on a dot matrix printer and the titles added using Degas. The cue and paste process does depend on traditional scissors and glue but the finished effect is quite professional. The children produce a weekly school newspaper full of information and local news. Notes home to the parents are designed and written by the teachers on the ST. and the head produces the governors' report and the school booklet. One group of children wrote and illustrated stories which were then printed out and the pictures coloured. They were sold in the local children's bookshop. No doubt the future will see laser printers and more complete software in schools, but the ST with its high resolution screen offers enormous advantages over the normal school micros for publications. It's only when you see children using programs such as Degas to produce exciting artistic designs that you realise the patience they had when they had only the cursor controlled drawing programs on the RML 480Z. The pictures they produce using Degas reflect their confidence and soon printouts become illustr- ations mounted on the wall or stuck into books. - . — * — pj.l -•> B-e si-vf-j — --. BUI: t>™ OM 91 1 !■!• ttltp* m Mors action from the Southmead pupils Using the mirrors to reflect the patterns teaches them more about symmetry than any number of work cards. Geometric shapes and number squares are drawn and school notices have been transformed. A new program, Make It Move, allows the children to take pictures from Degas and animate them - a poor man's Channel 4 graphics system. Items picked out can be made to zoom, fade or move acrossthe screen- Make it Move uses icons to help the children prepare a script. The end result is remarkable and adds the dimension of movement to their drawings. Children are interested in computers. Teachers recognise this and know that the curriculum will be radically altered 1 in the near future by this new technology. The children starting school today will, when they leave full tim e education, enter a very differen t world - but attitudes still need to change. Too much time is spent using computers in school for trival tasks. Simple programs which don't extend or stretch the chiid's imagination or intellect are all too common. The proliferation of these programs stems from two sources. When computers were introduced teachers were encouraged to think that they should program the machines themselves- This was fine up to a poi nt and many teachers have produced fine simulation-type programs — but teaching; is a full time occupation. Many of the programs written by teachers for use in their own classrooms were snapped up by- publishers and distributed to an audience for which they were neither intented or suited. Also the machines available when the Government decided to put them into schools were not as sophisticated as the ST, nor had they enough memory to allow the programmer to provide the simple interface vital if the child is to use the machine effectively. Asa result programs which were easy to explain and simple to run were preferred to those which could extend and educate. These two factors mean that computers, perhaps the most exciting tool for education since the book, are being used all too frequently to reinforce impoverished educational theories. In many ways school computing is only just beginning now the Atari ST is available. The domination of the BBC Micro and RMLhas led to a lot of software being developed and this represents a considerable investment for schools. Adopting a new machine often means buying new software. However, a complete BBC Micro environment has been developed for the ST This will be attra ctive to schools with a lot of BBC software. The Atari ST strength is not, however, as a lookalike. It offers a complete new experience for children in school but it is also adaptable enough to incorporate the best of the previous machines. Just as it took over this year's ( Personal Computer WorJd Show so it will begin to dominate educational computing and give children real computer power. November 1986 Atari ST Cssr- jJW 1 1 \ S20ST PACKAGES Tn«M(»r-M Aboard cowoonty&JtSW (-VAT-E389) e-^a «i««tt" W "iW»U»' *"C ^"5". oiiowinfl ,oj W connect il lu en.onWiary domwfce TV &-r Irx «eyDO*r<l It aupplli-I wll> SI2K RAM. a DiOUU dim; a (fe*ict el a»" C%as eonieintnp appi>eaiw» sort warn ; cr i iimiipo u*«lod fiC" Alugus) f 1th IMS. wo ha-o iv'i' KKi'i pieU -.He] i rr-a com b I na liens al ins SfO£T>M .e/boa'd »«tn a '-* W&yi* SF354 Ainil dn* di,.# »^8 »ft A Or, monitor (etttvj' r*ie iAcnr> SMI 3*. 6£ Colour CM3A5I3). TalOSO PilcVflB** »"•* "P ,Q S? 00 »mi» ditcoiini on a system, tt pu'enased ltc<" SHIea. :,-ny .vio coma with ow 'r** "S> STARTER HI* All Of in* i>*e» pnctaatiownui tnectioitimJvSoi VAT.- UPGRADE TO 1G24K RAM v.'- ur ptOSlM to bo aC-u In utior a 1 Mbyte U]>fl'Bde an Km stoiroaiis S3-1S' "&ybo»"l to loclooio tin i-tumti'y Horn Al?& to a miesft» U24K. II lias i tut' i .jsr — irinniv ana id n>ai'ab'e (<om Silica. nt an •dd<t>or»< retail pric* ol oiuy £3?* Wi |*YAI '£100], Any Of !ta I nt ptcitl can Bo up3'l"*W » IMDytf for only. C10O Ti» I Mbyte ST ollcs a to* n«ce alternates to ttw 'Mil but aisn g'iB) you tiB- bsnalTI ol an Pf "Viouia loKtiol neimnnv tlttadon intr 1W0>|. £100 DISCOUNT l DISK DRIVE M cam tfcCGS pack2':mohci} £150 DISCOUNT ? DISK DRIVES ■* MONITOR ftS* DIK6 Me"* Monitor Afparn*' f'»ew . Paak Price-. CSS? £1*9 Et*9 £200 DISCOUNT 2 DISK DRIVES * MONITOR * PRINTER p*cks»"m<;no; Keytoe'd D-5« Dine M* pl»a Mon&Monttof |Prii>ia*tSVL'6:-ti Pack Price £399 £1*9 CjW :io« PACK1 Kaiboa'd DitK Ori.o Norm*! Price Pack PtKe £3BS Egg £.y.6 ■ • w PACK 3 (COiOUfU Kfl-(D0»O Din Drue DiHOnra .Ccou' MonilOT ftWrna/'Vi-*' P«KP'IW E3A9 E149 packs (colour; OlU DflvP Cecour Moiitot Naomi Pficc Cocci"?! 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TIM C*n bo o>«0 M a UiMfww ("..ii-.i'.-ion 00.0 amnii- ai9.n0 ajviom. or can suwo.1 ■ "itinf'Amo I fAmpiimr **■■ l*e/nmai In- ia*DST>P k«yboa*0 -fill) ln;eQiai iMD flntH diFva coou only COM |-VAT-(»03.IB1 Asm- lOaOBf-F -0? <r>.<TiufaciurA4 ■KiWIy Mttn bu-iinSDO UOO "i- ir«iO. il iKH>* noi eomfwiitinnni'mt-Outntortat uin«ithnOo"»-i»»: TV. insie*) i( fKQunoi a inoniVo». Tneio 4re.Uii»-.*»" >nonno"» avallaiila, ait>-l inn Dri:-;; '; ; "i-n IMOwiln i."iM0 mot"ior» "'ir an ulUn-i KXOKcyOOJi'-'l'-iiliOi.JMOftiTOf ■ -tStOfVAT- CttaeS! !ft4Q Ko.OfO • '''i* >m mwio •wo.i.eo' ~ti9vl-WV: ZCH&MI ;0*Q KC,!K>«'0" • iOi* »« C0I&W n<mv'f" ■ "## (•VAT~crpX/.«8> KUCttfytoam • "00 ™<o , ^r -BWfo'- i"o»o t'VtT-cii4a.a$i T.i" lMOST-f int'uam aMOylo *••■ HAM M i"ui' OD D .IMBj'lS abulia s.QM olal. Oliw ar-l main* ttatijlnim—. to'-ii lulu i"'o |ng ln.ytircaf<i in glw* A iQiripMI •"(■ xyliin unit w.»I> i->T, one main* WOO. Tna 1PS0ST-C il t^api.ad-Klirv a (01 of gptivdni itifU* WwfU nn our awn I'ltiCSilie" '&TSTAH7.E8 HACK' CMI ntorot" nOKioiil oraicnol StueaiSiWip lor a uaitnomtratleA 1-0 Tn« mibwi. H>tnnrl*y KeM, biocup, Kant. OsAia ID1 1»T ■■i;."-il->" Mlo" =l'"«l. OiptnQlun. K«nl, BHO DUt .Inn Mouia [1.1 ni»i»|. a»r Voil in "am Coon A.I. I.nmioi. Wl iJ-lfiMU-I (III Hivm). O-tmQ H"»»<, London. W1A I All ATARI REDUCED PRICES 1 Alan'S ST ptuwinl COf<iuMI* lua now (it:,- '_;-;'j!i^*ii_>o bO".n In the OS A anil Europe Tna mnun attracuo'i of mo ST isno* i! Ihe '**«« 10" inG*i8y •men tnoa; tompjit-ti iwncnt gtiing 6v»n p'*'«n a^o oui^-oij unn a po-xcrlulBiecT at a vofy mofl^st pi** Triors vo taw ooiorU ST Baekna« ! niMi.aPtH hpfn Silica *l it (odaoeJ pnee (utt"«' <-n">ancnfl l"o "m Voiao to* Money- iopuut>or, in aoe-iio« *a »'b j? ,,n 9 •**y * PR£E.5>lc<a "ST STAHIEHKKt'-vi'nevery52voi t (KO ST pu'CliOIcd At 5Vd<«SMip Thrao I ai'Ct w^only b*SVBll*blB tc a lirpl"cd D"noo ar<) coevwenco on IKA/Cft. PC? iv £■« TO fl BUSINESS Tne tint CeW"* s^owi ao""^ 1 ol mo nowbt.sliiC3iprodi.«l5»ni<tn nnveOwn recemly laitiofiaa liv the Aib'i ST'ango. Ilgivasan iTiOcatiQo Ot tlto-STi poicft«itn»oo'neianuyit'»too*lngtOin-iw ■fKnyobH »w-WJl«y»«oin: CP/M EMULATOR IBM COMPATIBILITY 20MbytQj HARD OISK VT100 fiMULATOB LOTUS 133" CLONE MICROSOFT WRITE dBASE III CLONE dBASB IT Any ST co<r«UMf tvlll pioytQeitt oio' «il» a *(*¥ D"-*u»tul al9«i. iiti!lfc/q a va»I mnge ot appltmliona, particularty '" '"■ b"^"" *ond. Many saUtrite cOfnpinicj naic BCl" qtaldi lo iKOQn«o tt lc ils buimen WiiTiiiAi. am) h»iai pfoOjced prpaisnis toi We ST mMch K*'"«* in* rottntai. Ir- afld'tit-i. tf^ie ">• ww;l p^^Mal aflfl W*«* HMw» bNotning available to add toiboSTi 'Pawc For Buiinait'. Softwo now ...jiiati* iiy-tudet OBUin. > dBASE 1H done «*«ll m HftO Baw, * aBASE II clone, id lad. Rfti Soliwut M-o "ff* ajnefed AiMen Taw't I c. d >Qi"al OBASc II pisgiam "11 l^« ST. In MiMlen. PC InKrcocvn is a VTI00 •Smlnter wnlcit aitabloi ycj to 010 any ST »? y wiaf «6 a lamina" coniiccaKl to a mainfreitie or mini CWiei ptogf«ma 1 delude a po«oili.l accaun;* paciiaap by Castlini and n ictus l-Z-a 1 * elono ca))M VIP PiaiaMionai. Mlcioaoli bira announced ITinl !r*" conorlui wend ryocMW WiertsW y,'ptC -ill iwe M ftvipyb!* »i 7i? ST W*ny paciaMf am avui'QB'*) lot voiy jF<Ci'<. "*m»t applical'cint cnctucno a pcaeKi.-I CAD (Can'puiai «io"Bd Ooti^n) proa'am eal*d Eaoy Om-.irem nfcs'*ph. |« aodltain. in'o re a an onoir«onng tool oatltd PC Bono Designee bj Asuui Soitwaie whien will onaB'« ih*> uaof 10 ■Tojlgn pnnica elituit ■Maids For fuftfwr <iHj£a pi Hon inn ST can fidp in yeu'Buiinds. miu»o invcoj^un bBicw Wo will bo p iiMwi K) aonot you cui tatmi neMietU' s-'d p'-» tdr Pff/Cf MATCH PROMISE Viv tops you will Una tfvii me wmtmalion o< ou' l#- pricfls. hiee doli**"/ swiee. FH6E Sla>Ief *Z *.->a ill*? J3I61 lu»d/t KC be efl<Mflh tonusle you ouy yoU' AUiloQuipmcnt Iftjot Side* SStJR. II '.iacjd; iheia '.om-iMnj you wan lo pufcna&e. and >ou lind one -0* ou' W" W '1C* aWer^S it fli a hwer pnee. 9*i» eoniaei 0*en Pjvwb lOtlico M*asof v. 01 cue ot uio if letaJea BIS" in eu> Wl«a oepanmoni; 'When vou.teMphcne uo. plpain p'p'leo b» "rith our oampotltoii name. a3d<TM anO to'ipl'ci 1 numbof. ?t»iiulfl(j oui corooetKc las tr* gooes m aioc. »« pontic to. malert h» oilc (on 'a lanvt product -samnpiu* t»it*l»J ana sliil pionide youwitn Our noinual IrfnOclivoiy. 'ou will alio be ontilf*4 loau"<uil iKter 1 ulfa tenlcc, in6hio*-iB 'fw wrpviwt i"fl iw>n'wi neipur^ ivppon. I me Sorti «aM you »n co AnynAei e *ie 'O' you' *«■'! p*odun*. So tJiop a iicot. ct'e. U. « 'autiosputpd "a 1 Ami snnc«4i ATARI El 3JiJU;\3}JDP LlfJiJ WE ARE THE UK'S NOI ATARI SPECIALISTS AiSiiins m no>* ban n auccmuJuliy Ptdlcated 10 Atan ei** tuntu men BiodvslB fm) app-<a<#a on mo UK IMAGCI. Wecnn altne-ute-oj' aucCBM lately 10 llW Aian ap+cU^ial-on mnlcn wo practice and) to the iiie' bpde-u p ho pio>'-d« !"■■• -J ■>- --■-" "■ '■ <-'.'■•" you buy a pseceol Alan rtorfwoie *' - ii|il| i y&u « ' : ^« fully n.-Dpo* IM. On ' mailir^i ghi r^ news ot wtlwaio icteaaw «no d0"*oom>#ni6 "III 'nop you up ta c«e «itn in* Aisn market and ou'" feet"""**! SuppO'l t«am ana aaloa atafl are at fio tna ol me tCap^cn lire to ri;ai with ysuf itidftkvfti mo luiipiy youi Bvefy need. Wiift ouf "looeiillii blw. >W Aim 10 «wo tldCMi ol ail ino avaJiablo Atart ha'flaia'e. joliaVto. DU'lpneiat) and a^cnso'ias. We «no sloe* B wide ranae ot Aiail dedicatod boots SnO llfOugn ut, mo OKnan en out nil cansuCiocnbe to ir-r'ai American Ataii de«a»iB0 magjiliiot Wo cad pionOe 1 luS Kfvce to all Atari o*ihys Atirj na no* llimty <auainnotl m '.ra UK'* NUMBER ONE Atain acectrHttt* H*i* »<• }u*l lortne 01 l»vott-igo— e con oltorTOci' custc^e'a FREE STARTER Kl WITH EVERY 520 & 104O ST I PURCHASED AT SILICA SHOP RETURN THE COUPON FOR DETAILS] iSILICA SHOP LTD, 1-4 The Mews, Hatheriey Road, Sidcup, Kent, DAM 4DX SEND FOR FREE ATARI ST LITERATURE • FBEEPOSTaPACKtKGON MAIL ORDEHS t FR.E6 NEXT DAY" DELIVERT • INFORMATION WAILING SERVICE « 7ECHNICAL SU PPORT TEAM .HIGHLY COMPETITIVE PRICES -AFTER SALES SAJPPO-fiT SERVICE • REPAIR SERVICE ON ATARI PRODUCTS If you would at* foba-nro.WUva* on our Kion'.ig «4l ai i/i Aun ctfropuiBt owner, ot M a «f»n *-itofMled In duymp an Ataif fnacfWu. l>f UK * ■ ■ - tV* mil '-- J'.' ir.'-'i hi '■•p > "-i up to data ■•Wi new AtaW atnatfoCMWlHa lit* ol cAaipe . So, nrlum IIW coupon le€*t "mi Oegln eape^wiUnei a apeo'au'al Alarl aeo^cc Ilat Ji aecond to noe. SILICA HOTLINE 01-309 1111 I I I S I I I I PLEASllEHD ME FREE LITERATURE ON THE NEW RANGE OF ATARI ST COMPUTERS M0MnnHK Aiamz ir.iliis: 5 U mp<nc: Postcode; Do you .-"■.« ■:■ own a . ..■■ •■■>■■ i - < ilKi,-nt-."dioiHi»^Buonn? ■^S If anyone says our 104C there are over 600 way ,"-""~ — - — The 1Mb 1040STE This is rhe scare of the art 16/32 bit technology at an unbeatable price. The American magazine 'Byte' commented, "for some time to come the 1040STF will be the clear leader in price/performance." As for software, the doubting Thomas should simply take a look at our latest software catalogue. And bear in mind too that the 1040STF will also run software written on several other operating systems, including CP/M. The grand total is something over 600 software titles covering all categories — accounts, programming languages, word processors, communications, graphics, CAD/CAM and scores of vertical applications. The 1040STF, with Gem, mouse-driven icon and window presentation, makes the software fast to use and easy to store. The tides are also economical to buy. DSTF lacks software, is to prove him wrong. _. ir^ ^&m up* ■\--. The 1040STF has a 1024K RAM integral 1Mb double-sided 3 1 /;" disk drive, two-button mouse and built-in power supply. Basic and Logo programming languages, graphics programme and word processor complete the package. With 12" monochrome monitor, we recommend it sells for £799 excluding VAT, saving you at least £1600 against its nearest rival. The price of our 14" colour system is a remarkably low £999 excluding VAT. Prove the sceptics wrong. Find out about the Atari 1040STF and its software for yourself. For the name of your nearest dealer, ring Teledata on O1-200O2O0. AATARI Power Without the Price ® ™ HOMEVIEW 520 STM BATTERY BACKED CLOCK # Internal Fitting * 99% Plug in leaves cartridge port free for other software # FREE FITTING # if ordered with any of our Atari ST Packs. Price £39.95 See our other Advertisement Hot Line 01-691 0207 RING HOMEVIEW NOW 296 Brockley Road, Brockley. London SE4 2RA REQUIRED URGENTLY ATARI ST PROGRAMMERS Please contact: Mr A.K.GUPTA ANCO SOFTWARE, 35 WEST HILL, DARTFORD, KENT Tel: 0322 9251 3/9251 8 BUSY BEE Arena Brgbocas DeeofpKB Ka«ei Planed Saasafce* Rouge RltyWn F2S.W £23.95 £28.95 £2035 £2035 £19.03 EI9.CQ C20.95 E3S.CQ De-cpad Lcaif-?* Gs&sss MawMson Pawn Triniy Wislspfingw Sar Older C45.00 C24.O0 E2S.M E17.C0 FJ0.95 £59.00 £2*00 £24.00 E26.C0 We personally guarantee to deliver your goods or money back. PSiP included. Overseas add £l per item. Most goods delivered within a week from receipt of order. Please make cheques/ P.O. {Sterling or\iy) payable to Busy Bee 4 Mitchell Street.Leven, Fife KY8 4H J Telephone (0333) 28935 MPC SOFTWARE Eniarlslnrnont LeaOarbodtd LiRe CoitpUttr Poopts Ccic-jispaco rhaPawn SUvgltfat Trno Btrda Lands o? Havoc Sundog Musplos Hiich Hf<«S GunJo ZkuWrtas Biack Cauidtan HM-9.11 B-aftaeu* Carets Mines hadew Zcrtl ZOftll ZC* III STK3/K6 ST S«ca Station SI PtoioCor STWar2ono ST Hi* Fj.ijl gr ATARI ST SOFTWARE E21 £29 CI 7 C21 £2' 626 CI 7 £26 CI7 C26 £21 EH £21 C30 £17 £21 £21 £36 £26 £26 £21 E2I E17 El7 £17 CI7 Shuffle l! £21 £17 £21 Ttva OaWr^a £17 C17 Batfjnco £26 SmpPosw «7 El7 SpacoPloi £17 WaST £11.50 STGo« £17 WaM&;st Phor-fl Bra&a £17 BUSINESS STtecoynls £135 Thu-*6sf £34 K-Gfapri £34 £25 £76 K-Oaia MS Hao^vtiet £50 K-Wotd £-12 MtaMV Mai CtMPavroll £26 £170 DB'k Datv £SO K-S(y««l C-12 utilities DEGAS Fan Basic Flam MaCaooinca Lr» Motacotrco C Me(acomca Pasta! Melaco>Tco Aswmbiai MaUcomai &CPL Meiac&Tco Msh* MtftWPfflco Menu* Mcredoa! H8S WChtionUiiilioi R'0S«o KssM CiscFtop CaWrdj/ DOSSlie-l DovoaoST PflTsona) Pascal K-Seka M-Dak SoltSretf Soti-wcot a M-Dtft £34 e?a £34 £135 ees £77 £43 cas £<U £19 £2S £26 £43 £17 £Sfl £26 £20 £26 W3 £65 £43 £11.50 £11.53 £17 RAM OixJPnrt Spcolet £21 MANY MORE HARDWARE A*i5»ST.MKAtcai0 £W) AIM BM SI« - SiWh Ae *ve C443 Ataii23Sr.«2Cflcfift«*aMw> Italia KM Aiaii«5T*(.2(fKa7«ACfW^UwiW f&W AwiKMOST-F Pro* Currjna CW3W Strata SI flee Aba t|» CununaCM3S3DuS?5Tft9e*va £JK •m^j - S«J» CfiC #W £1650 .»jti->i. r-jjjiip, .-J-.?! tun ttdi' bckacw oa»> u»a» tc jfeattjtfti Mdissftos Epson LXB(rrtM Ph^rt TVMon* EfeW<* S12D £13 era CM C210 £17 El 5 £S Postage Free on afi orders, All Computers delivered by Tree coutiof service in UK. All prices Jnciutfe VAT. SendChequeiPO X>: MPC SOFTWARE, 72 JULIAN ROAD, WEST BRIDGFORD, NOTTINGHAM NG2 5AN. Tel: (0602) 820106 All prices corrects* timo of going to pess. ESOE. ATARI SI. SOFTWARE AUTHORS With You Really Get The Best Deal High percentage of GROSS receipts for royalties. Your product marketed throughout the world by Microdeal & their associates — Michtron — PSL. High level RR. for your products with press reviews, exhibitions, WORLDWIDE, advertising WORLDWIDE. Technical support from our own authors both in the U.K. & U.S.A. Why invent the wheel twice? * Hardware on loan or at subsidised price together with copies of ST magazines/books from around the world. When considering a publisher for your Atari products — remember T^jTllTUU^l' is No 1 on » ELECTRONIC fUBUSHING Kitfirf^aS^ ^" ^' ^ vnies Managing Director SjflSR £ Microdeal Ltd Box 68 St Austell 7 >SWrsV Cornwall PL25 4YB Tel 0726 68020 Ell m November 1986 Atari ST tf se , £&££ If you've written any useful or interesting five line programs in either Basic or Logo, why not send them in to our five- liners section for ST owners? We pay £25 for each one published. Simply send a copy AST on disc along with a clear listing and good explanatory notes to: ST Five -Liners, Atari User, Furopa House, 68 Chester Road, Hazel Grove, Stockport SK7 5NY. PRIME numbers have had a fasci- nation for man since before , the firs! simple abaccus was "W^**** five-liner will ask you for the first nU rt will then display all of the prime numbers between two and that number. Line Breakdown 10 Requests the maximum number for primes. , 20 Sets up the two loops to check each number to see if it .spnme. 30 Checks for the prime number. 40 Prints out the prime numbers. 50 Loops back to line 20. IF N/M«INT(N/M) THEN GOTO 50 NEXT M: PRINT N, NEXT N Prime number generator from CHI-YEUNG CHOY Floating point fixer from JIM TAYLOR THE ST's Basic has several bugs and inconsistencies, some of which lie in the area of mathematics. If you have ever tried to use floating point mathematics you will have seen the problem. Even simple operations such as addition and subtraction can produce unexpected results. This five-liner is a demonstration of how to work around these difficulties and how to use floating point maths successfully to two significant fig- ures, but using string variables to store the numbers. Una Breakdown 1 Inputs a value for l/and converts it into a string. 20 Separates the decimal from the integer part of V. 30 Tests for a rounding error and corrects the problem. 40 Places the decimal part into string OS. 50 Prints out the corrected number. 10 20 30 40 50 INPUT VsS*^LEFT*(STR*(V) • - THEN 0=0*10050* = ". B»+MID$<STR*<D> ,2,1) *>«V-ABS<V).L-INT(V)rD-V-L+.005:L«lNT(L+D) ' .2,3) V$=S*+L$+l>$ : PR! NT V November >966 Alori ST User ® Following the unprecedented success of Braloccos, Psygnosisare pleased loonnounce ihe bunch of two new products foflhecdlourversions of the Atari ST ondthe5!2k Amiga. DEEP SPAiZ HSHL3H* The ultimate interstellor war game. A full 800k of machine code harnessing the raw power of the68000 processor to bring unique 3D solid graphics to the microcomp uter. Become o mercenary of the future in sea rch for wealth; pilot on awesomefighti ng machine; travel storsysiems-lookingfor adventure . . . the experience of deep space. 1 « ■ r...'-* ul - 1 • ■ .J--- fit* I 1 "A *" A R N A The classic sports simulation. Humour, competition and muiti-player rivalry, enhance what can only be SPjh , S S^Phics of unsurpassed realism. Become on athlete, compete with your friends, only the most skilled will ultimately win. No other product has mono ged to capture the 68000 processor to achieve this leve ofgraphlcalsophisticatiors. . o^. PLEASE RUSH ME fOR ATARI St WlTHSm RAM &COLOURT.V. MONITOR 1COPIESOF DEEP SPACE 4ff34.9S INC VAT rjCOPIESOFARENASCMBSiNCVAT FOnATARISrWiTH31!knAM4COL0URORB/W r.COPIESOF BRATACCAS SXW95INCVAT FOfl AMIGA WITHsiZk Ram _J COPIES OF DEEP SPACE <&E34 MINC VAT " ;COPIESOFARENA,0£2»»5!NCVAT Z: COPIES OF BRATACCAS ^ t34 95INC VAT FORhUC(NTOSHWITHS1?kRAM IJCOPlESOFBRATACCASigf^S.gSINC VAT Su*E«**STCatD CAfl05AlXS|iME 051-227 4800 TOTAL |c I | c I c | c I c Li 1 f ■c post coupon nowto: psygnosis, freepost, li verpool u 3ab united ktngdom. Tick ihi* box toi turuier tn>ooitaiiim |_J Oversea s customer pioase sod El 50 PS P lEaCLQSECHeGUtfP.Q.FOflE ' MJ1 n PLEASE DEBIT MY ACCESS -VISA COele!»asnecOsM<y) CARD HO Signal u^e Namo ■ Add cess