|------------------------ Acorn News Service -------------------------|
| http://www.acornusers.org/ANS/ |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
| The Acorn News Service is an independent service. |
| It is in no way connected with, or supported by Acorn Group PLC. |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
| ISSUE 17 3 October 1998 |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Editor: E.Abrahams ------ eytan@acornusers.org |
| Sub-Editor: J.Sears ------ james@acornusers.org |
| Webmaster: R.Hesketh ------ richard@acornusers.org |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
| To send in your news items or comments, use the ANS website, |
| or e-mail them to ans@acornusers.org. |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
| >> Random site pick this issue: http://www.pocketinfo.org/ << |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
| ANS.....Better than ever before! |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
Contents
--------
1) Editorial
2) General News
3) Commercial News
4) PD/Shareware News
5) ANS information
Editorial
---------
Well, we all know what has happened, so ANS have decided not to include
all the press releases in this issue, as it would not only triple the
size of ANS, but also bore many people. It's absolutely fantastic that
so many companies are sticking to the Acorn market.
The postings to the list server should have pointed everyone in the
right direction to find the latest and best news on the Acorn
situation. The website that is being hosted in association with ANS and
Convergence has been in great demand over the past two weeks. For
example, our busiest three days saw over 800 people visit the site!
A great deal of support is still needed, so we call upon all companies
and prominent figures involved in this matter, to drop us a line
whenever possible on the latest developments to: ans@acornusers.org.
For those who have short memory, or have deleted the e-mail THE Phoenix
information website is located at: http://www.acornusers.org/phoenix/
Be there, or miss out!
Enjoy,
Eytan.
General News
------------
1) Acorn Arcade
News from Acorn Arcade - a round-up of all the latest games scene news
and gossip!
With the current Acorn crisis to one side for a moment, things have
been developing nicely in the games market over the past weeks. R-Comp
have now released Descent, the 3D action game set sometime in the
future and are still working on Acorn Quake and HoMM2. Artex are still
hard at work over in Germany at their forthcoming titles, TEK and Iron
Dignity. A stunning Iron Dignity rolling demo appeared on the Acorn
User 200th issue CD-ROM which is now available for download from Acorn
Arcade along with the TEK movie trailer, which totals about 4MB in
size, but both are well worth obtaining.
Descent preview http://www.acornarcade.com/cgi-bin/go-aa?news/descent/
Coverage of current Acorn situation and downloads of TEK, Ankh and
Iron Dignity demos: http://www.acornarcade.com/
Keep on gaming!
Alasdair (Acorn Arcade Editor)
2) Tracking Acorn's Share Price
Andrew Harmsworth has been tracking Acorn's share price recently, and
has created a web page dedicated to it. Recent additions include a
graph of the slide that continued even after the recovery of the FTSE.
The market appears to have reacted warmly to the news that it is their
intention now to become a /profitable/ business - even when the rest
of the Acorn community went into shock.
Andrew will keep a close watch on the price over the next few weeks as
the markets come to terms with the latest changes. For details, as
well as the latest price see:
http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/hARMsy/shr.html
3) International Forum at ArcSite
Now there is also an international (English) version of the web based
discussion forum at ArcSite (http://www.arcsite.de/forum/english/).
Also at ArcSite:
* Free homepages (CGI programs are possible).
* A web based discussion board in German or in English.
* Many links (more than 650) with a search engine.
* Search engine for some FTP servers (ArcArchie).
* German exchange for Acorn hardware and software.
Also projects, such as a web magazine, are possible. But everything
has to be Acorn related.
4) Arctic BBS update
As you all know, the calls to the BBS have dropped dramatically over
the years, this is down to the ever growing Internet and unfortunately
BBSs and sysops simply cannot compete.
Steve Pursey has taken the decision to run Arctic BBS on one line only
as from 1st October. The 903-1308 number should no longer be used and
will be cut off on the 30th September.
The ONLY number to call Arctic BBS on is 0181-903-1309 24hrs.
5) Chockcino: Java for all RISC OS machines
For the past couple of years Peter Naulls has been working on
Chockcino, a Java interpreter designed to run on all RISC OS machines,
not just RiscPCs.
Chockcino is now to the stage where we are looking for beta testers to
help polish the last bits off. If you would be interested in helping
us out, and fit the following criteria, then we'd love to hear from
you.
* Testers should have experience of Java 1.1 (not 1.0.2 as most
users will have with Acorn's Java).
* Testers should be used to Java applications as well as applets.
* Some experience of programming the WIMP would be useful, as it may
help you to make guesses as to the causes of bugs when feeding
back problems with the AWT stuff.
* Testers should be prepared not only to try out stuff they find,
but to try to write Java apps too.
* And testers should be prepared to receive updates and send
feedback across the net.
If all this sounds like you, then please send me an email.
Robin Watts, Warm Silence Software.
Robin.Watts@wss.co.uk
6) The Acorn Emulation Competition
in association with Warm Silence Software
The competition is free to all who wish to enter, with prizes a copy
of the excellent 6502Em and Z80Em, the commercial 8 bit Acorn and
Spectrum emulators, kindly donated by Warm Silence Software. These two
emulators are still being developed, with new features and improved
emulation being added all the time, making them some of the best
emulators of their respective systems available on any platform. A
copy of one of the emulators is to go to the winner and runner up.
Entry to the competition is twofold - you should visit the site below
and fill out the short form displayed. The URL is:
v
Then, to judge who should win the competition, I want you to review a
game you have played under emulation on your Acorn, and the best two
reviews win the prizes. The reviews should be interesting to the
reader and don't have to be of a superb game - I'm not looking for a
review of the the best game you can find, I'm looking for the best
review I can find of a game. So it doesn't matter if the game is good,
average or horrendously poor, or is for the very latest SNES game
running on Snes9X, or the oldest PDP-1 game running on MESS, it's the
quality of the review that counts!
After the competition has closed, the best reviews will be placed on
the Acorn Emulation site, with the authors name for all to see, with
the prize winners getting a special mention.
It will probably improve your review quite a lot if you include some
screenshots of the game along with captions describing what's
happening, you can use Glimpse to get screenshots if the emulator
you're using won't support it. It's also going to improve your review
a lot if the quality of the english is good, I won't favour reviews
using a much wider vocabulary, but with the variety of spell checkers
around these days, poor spelling is inexcusable. For those whose first
language is not English, I will of cause make allowances for grammar,
but if it's too unreadable I may give up.
You won't be marked according to the length of the review, ie the best
reviews won't necessarily be the longest, so long as it is a good read
and gives the reader an impression of the game.
Submitting your review
======================
Any screenshots you submit *must* be in either GIF or JPEG format,
preferably with the appropriate DOS extension. You can use InterGIF
and Creator to convert sprite files to these formats. Captions to the
pictures can be noted down in the text so make it clear where the
graphic should go, either with HTML tags, or for example with
"[[[place gameover.gif here]]]" half way through your review is sure
to stand out and make me put the picture in the appropriate place.
The text of your review *must* be in either HTML or ASCII text format,
if this is a problem, please contact me and I'll do my best to help.
Reviews *must* be submitted by email to DavidSharp@ThePentagon.com.
If possible you should archive the review using an archiver such as
SparkFS, PackDir or ArcFS before sending it. The preferred archive
format is ZIP files, but any of the others will do.
If you have any questions do not hesitate to email me.
Conditions
==========
* Don't worry about what you put on the form entry, I won't
discriminate against people who said they've never visited the
site before - if you're review is the best, you'll still win.
* You are allowed to send as many reviews as you like which will
give yourself more chance of winning (no need to fill the form in
several times though) and I'll take what I feel is the best of
your reviews as your entry so that one person cannot win first and
second prize.
* The closing date for the competition is November 30th. Entries
received after that date won't be eligible to win a prize. Contact
me if this causes a problem.
* The judge's decision is final.
* Since the prizes have been donated I cannot take responsibility if
the prize winners do not receive them. Though I'll do my damndest
to make sure they do.
Thanks, and I hope you enjoy entering the competition. Don't forget to
fill out the form on the site as well as sending the review.
David Sharp (DavidSharp@ThePentagon.com)
The Acorn Emulation Page
http://www.cybervillage.co.uk/acorn/emulation/
Thanks to Warm Silence Software for sponsoring the competition
http://www.wss.co.uk/
7) Acorn Emulation Page update
The Acorn Emulation Page http://acorn.cybervillage.co.uk/emulation/
has once again been updated with details of:
* Acorn Emulation Competition launch!
* Rewrite of PC Engine underway
* Emulation on the 4th AUCD
* Java v1.1 comes a step closer
* Retrocade details
* New cross development page
* New System ROM page
* New version of CPCemu in development
* Gameboy source code to be released soon
* BeebIt, new BBC emulator in development
* New version of BreadPatch released
* ZX81 emulator hidden in !CPC
* Andreas Dehmel is porting VICE
* David McEwen has released Atari 800 and MGear
* ArcNES getting significant improvements
* Virtual Gameboy Emulator being ported
* Nintendo64 emulator being ported
* ARM code versions of Marat's CPU cores in the works
* Details of the new version of Z80Em and 6502Em
* Snes9X developments - Mario Kart coming soon!
* 65Host on a StrongARM (with the cache on)
Commercial News
---------------
1) ECS
There are four new ECS products in the pipeline which would have been
launched at the show, and at the moment NewSaver is ready and on sale.
Full details of this are at the back of this month's Archimedes World,
with a time bombed copy on the cover disc. The Acorn User 200th issue
CDROM also has NewSaver as part of the ECS Website. The ECS site
itself can be found at http://www.innotts.co.uk/~ecsltd/
NewSaver costs GBP29.00 incl post and packing.
Phone: 0115 979 9684
Fax: 0115 979 9685
E-mail: ecsltd@ecsltd.co.uk
Web: http://www.innotts.co.uk/~ecsltd/
2) Archive Magazine - on line
Archive Magazine now has its own mailing list. Called Archive-on-Line,
it is intended that the list should provide subscribers to the
magazine with a forum to discuss matters of mutual interest, attempt
to resolve problems and generally extend the services offered by the
magazine, but with and immediacy which cannot be achieved from a
monthly publication.
Archive-on-Line is a moderated list for subscribers to the magazine.
If you are not currently a subscriber to the magazine and wish to join
the 'Archive-on-Line' list please include your postal address in the
body of the email to join the list. You will be sent a free copy of
the current edition and an invitation to subscribe to the magazine.
To join the list please send a message with the subject "SIGNON
archive-on-line" (no quotes) to Archive-on-Line@argonet.co.uk. You can
include a message (non subscribers to the magazine should include
their full postal address) or leave the body of the mail blank.
I can be contacted at johnson@paston.co.uk.
3) Acorn Descent Out Now!
RCI are pleased to announce (especially in the light of the recent
Acorn news) that Acorn Descent is finally available.
For those unaware of Descent, it is best described as a cross between
Quake and a (space) flight sim. Apart from one or two sprites, for
pick-ups and weapon shots, the game uses a totally polygonal engine
much like Quake as you fly your space craft through labyrinthine
corridors and huge caverns.
You take the part of a mercenary pilot hired to quash a robotic
rebellion on a lunar mining colony. Your mission - to rescue any
survivors and shut down the mine reactor using any means possible. Of
course, that's only the tip of the iceberg, and unlike many 3D games,
Descent has an evolving storyline to introduce each mission.
Descent offers a true 3D world, with 360 degrees of freedom -
corridors branch from the roof and floor, or sprout high from the
wall. Being in zero gravity, your craft can spin and fly in any
direction.
The Acorn version is very much a definitive edition of the game, with
many new features including:
* Selectable screen resolutions up to 1024x768 on current hardware.
* 8 bit (256 colours), 16 bit (32,000 colours) and 32 bit colour.
* Choice of MIDI or CD audio (using supplied Descent 2 audio CD).
* Additional control flexibility including customisable keyboard,
mouse and joystick support.
* High quality sound effects for 16MB users (8MB owners will hear
standard sound effects).
* Easy extra mission installation, either from supplied CD or from
3rd parties, including the internet
The supplied Descent pack includes:
* Descent 1
* 100+ extra missions for Descent 1
* Descent 2 audio CD
* Bonus Descent 2 / Level builder for PC card owners
Please note that the Acorn version will *only* play Descent 1 and
associated extra missions. The Descent 2 audio CD is purely for
in-game music if you don't have suitable MIDI.
Requirements
============
Acorn Descent requires the following hardware:
* RiscPC with ARM710 or higher - StrongARM *seriously* recommended.
Please note that the game is primarily intended for StrongARM
machines, with ARM710 support added in the light of the Phoebe
news. Performance on 710 machines will be adequate, but not
impressive.
* 8MB of RAM (16MB allows the use of very high resolution graphics
with high quality sound).
* 20MB of hard disc space.
* CD drive for installation and audio CD playback.
The following components are optional:
* MIDI Synth for original Descent music.
* Joystick/joypad.
Pricing
=======
Acorn Descent costs GBP30 incl VAT and UK delivery. For Europe please
add GBP2 and elsewhere GBP5 for airmail delivery. You can order by
phone, fax and email. RCI can take Visa, Mastercard, Switch, Solo,
Access, EuroCard
Address: R-Comp Interactive (RCI)
22 Robert Moffat
High Legh
Knutsford
Cheshire WA16 6PS
UK
Phone: (+44) (0)1925 755043
Fax: (+44) (0)1925 757377
Final Note
==========
Although an OEM version of Descent was rumoured to be supplied with
the original Acorn Phoebe, this is no longer the case. Acorn Descent
will only be available from RCI, and all good Acorn dealers.
4) Wrong Subscription Number in Acorn User 200
The phone number on the subscription form in the 200th issue of Acorn
User is incorrect. It's a real number, it is a subscription hotline,
but it's the wrong company and it's the wrong one.
To subscribe ring 01625 878888. A correct hotline number will be
issued shortly.
5) Werewolf Software releases ChildPlay
Werewolf Software is pleased to announce that they are sticking with
the Acorn market and is releasing yet another brand new product. The
utility ChildPlay will complement the memory management program,
RAMplify, along with our games, TANKS and Shuggy.
ChildPlay is a desktop menu system built for ease of configuration and
to provide an aesthetically pleasing desktop interface to all of your
files, applications, games and utilities. Its unique "big-button"
menus make it ideal for the use of children, at school or in the home.
ChildPlay's extra facilities, such as advanced security settings and
user database, offer the professional touch for all establishments
using Acorn computers.
The menus' buttons can link to a file, application, directory, or
another menu. All button sprites can be defined as easy as "drag 'n'
drop", and button text is displayed in a clear, bold desktop font.
Menu configuration is simply a matter of dragging the required file to
the required button. Other button options can then be defined and
refined as and when required.
Overall, ChildPlay helps make the desktop a much more friendly place,
for children and adults alike.
"My kids definitely find it easier to use the computer" - Gale Brown,
Primary School teacher.
ChildPlay costs GBP14.95 and is available now direct from Werewolf
Software. Please add GBP2 for postage and packaging. Most major credit
cards are accepted. Please call to order or send a cheque/PO.
The Werewolf Software web site http://www.werewlf.demon.co.uk/ has
just been updated and includes a demo version of ChildPlay.
6) Tau Press/Acorn User websites now open
The website for Tau Press is now open at http://www.tau-press.com/.
It is still under construction, but from here you can reach the Acorn
User magazine site, whose address is now http://www.acornuser.com/.
The old site at IDG Media's webpage still exists, but could be taken
off at any time, so please update your bookmarks.
Steve Scott will be responsible for the site design and maintenance of
both pages. In the coming months, these pages will be redesigned and
expanded to include more content. For now though, both sites are
usable.
E-mail addresses are still being worked out at present, but you will
be informed in due course.
7) Tau Press is recruiting!
Tau Press Ltd is recruiting advertising sales staff, experience is not
required, as full training in selling techniques will be given, but an
ability to talk to people is a must.
Salary from GBP10K (depending on experience) plus profit-sharing
scheme.
Tau Press Ltd publishes Acorn User magazine, and is preparing to
launch a series of new and innovative titles.
8) iSV Products - Latest new releases & special offers
Professional Typography Expert 2100
===================================
iSV products is delighted to announce the launch of our new font CD.
Containing all the fonts from Typography Volume 1 (the best selling
commercial RISC OS font CD) plus 740 new faces. Also included is a
copy of Font Designers Toolkit, FontTrixPRO and a host of other font
related applications. A database of similar PostScript font names is
also supplied. All fonts have been hinted using our new NDT Expert
hinting system.
For a limited time we will be offering a special upgrade price of only
GBP10 (plus carriage) when we receive a copy of Typography 1 in
exchange.
Check out http://members.aol.com/isvproduct/ for more details.
Special offers
==============
Due to the cancellation of Acorn World all the offers we were going to
run at the show can now be found on our website. This includes a FREE
font CD with every order (if you quote the special offer code when
ordering). Also you can find details on our very popular Designers
Solution (containing DrawWorks Designer, Mr Clippy, Penulator and of
course a copy of Typography Volume 1).
Check out http://members.aol.com/isvproduct/ for more details.
DrawChanger
===========
Earlier this year we took over DrawChanger after the closure of The
Datafile. Full information on DrawChanger and a downloadable demo
version can be found on our website.
Check out http://members.aol.com/isvproduct/ for more details.
Shows
=====
Even though Acorn World is no more you can still see us at the Acorn
Scottish Show in Glasgow and at the Acorn Midlands Show at the
National Motorcycle Museum.
PD/Shareware News
-----------------
1) Attention MIDI Users - Monolith Online
Acorn MIDI users may be interested to know that Monolith now has its
own Web site.
Monolith is a freeware suite designed for playing standard MIDI files
via an Acorn MIDI 3.14-compatible interface. It is fast, efficient,
accurate and reliable, operating on Acorn 32-bit machines from the
A-series to the latest RiscPC.
The suite can be used for all levels of MIDI support and includes:
* Simple desktop control
* A sophisticated CLI/SWI support module
* Full documentation
To find out more, please visit :
http://www.acorn-gaming.org.uk/Monolith/
2) AcornICQ uploaded
AcornICQ version 0.10 alpha has recently been uploaded. AcornICQ is
the successor of mICQ, the freeware acorn ICQ client. AcornICQ is a
total rewrite and looks now much more like the Windows version. Please
note that authorization is not yet implemented, but it is usable and
so available now. It also fixes some bugs which are in mICQ.
The download page is located at:
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Hills/5544/
Please address all mail about AcornICQ to acornICQ@hotmail.com.
3) TypeFind v2.14.0 released
A new version of TypeFind has been released. This utility can
recognise over 200 file formats from the data inside the file rather
than any file type or DOS extension which can easily be damaged or
lost. Download it now from:
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Park/4119/typefind.htm
4) FSI_Batch 2.2
FSI_Batch 2.2, the latest version of the front-end to ChangeFSI is now
online at: http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/tudor/
There are some bug fixes, but the major change is that aspect ratios
of output sprites can now be locked.
If you download the program, remember it is Shareware - proceeds to
Limavady college, and I would be more than pleased if you roam around
the site to learn about Limavady, the Gem of the Roe.
5) ExMac Macintosh File Transfer / File Examiner
The following software is now available for download from
http://www.ehorizon.demon.co.uk/
ExMac - Macintosh File Transfer Application
===========================================
ExMac is a file transfer utility designed to read, write and format
Apple Macintosh discs. ExMac provides a filer-like interface, allowing
you to transfer files and directories between Macintosh discs and RISC
OS filing systems. It provides the following facilities:
* Supports both 1440K and 720K density discs, including formatting,
though users of machines fitted with low density disc drives will
only be able to use the 720K format.
* User definable mapping of file types between the Macintosh and
Acorn platforms.
* Automatic character set mapping between the Macintosh and Acorn
platforms, including the conversion of carriage returns and
linefeeds, when transferring text files.
Please note that an unregistered version of ExMac will not allow the
formatting or transfer of files to a Macintosh disc. A registered
version will unlock these features for your use. Registration only
costs GBP10.
File Examiner v2.0 released
===========================
File Examiner is an application which allows you to visualize the
content of any file in terms of various data types and to edit such
data. Sections of files can also be extracted and deleted as required.
There is also a limited facility for editing the blocks on a floppy
diskette.
For example rather than viewing a file as hex, you can select regions
of data and view them as short, integers, longs, double, float,
characters, signed and unsigned values, etc. You can then just click
on the data type and edit it in whatever format you've chosen.
It is also possible to save a sequence of view types as an overlay,
allowing you to create a view of a file which shows the internal
record structure.
6) RC5/DES Screensaver
This add on screensaver for AlphaSave 1.25 and later runs the CLI
version of the RC5DES block cracking program when the computer has
been left idle for a certain time (specified in the screensaver
options).
It uses the CLI version because it is faster than the GUI version, so
blocks can be processed quicker. It does this by using a separate
checkpoint files so that the CLI version will never interfere with the
GUI version.
If you do not have AlphaSave, or have an outdated version, visit the
website below. For information on the RC5DES cracking program and why
you should support the project see http://www.distributed.net/ and
http://www.alphapro.demon.co.uk/Acorn/rc5des.html
Options available:
* RMKill SoundDMA
* Low-bandwidth mode
* Start ScreenBlanker
* Process RC5/DES Blocks
* Slow diagnostics only
* Fast diagnostics only
Where?
======
This screensaver is available from the Alpha Programming WWW Site:
http://www.alphapro.demon.co.uk/ in the Acorn Software -> AlphaSave
section.
7) StrongARM SWI patch
!Pcr13 has just been put on my new website, it is for StrongARM users
only and changes SWIs that some old programs construct on the stack,
into inline OS_CallASWI instructions. It knows only 8 variants, but
that seems enough to make !65Host, !Cadmust, and !InterdictorII
StrongARM compatible, (keeps fingers crossed). It also fills in some
FP instructions in !PCEM/!PCEmS.
Download at http://home.worldonline.nl/~jandboer/
8) TempDir update from Quantum Software
TempDir, the popular shareware file saver by Quantum Software has been
updated to v1.28, and is available now for download by all registered
users.
The latest update allows the user to determine the format of the dated
directory themselves, including producing ISO 8601 dated directories.
This new ability also has the side effect of allowing the user to set
!TempDir to produce a set of daily, weekly or monthly directories if
they so wish.
More details of TempDir, including information on downloading a free
evaluation copy, can be found at http://acorn.cybervillage.co.uk/qs/
9) Delirium v2.10 released
Delirium v2.10 has recently been uploaded to the Delirium web site at:
http://www.various-artists.demon.co.uk/delirium/
Delirium is the Screensaver program from Kulture which uses high
quality demo-style effects, rather than the usual moving lines/sliding
blocks savers that are commonly seen. At least an A7000 is required,
although we recommend a StrongARM RiscPC with VRAM to get the most out
of Delirium.
Also uploaded are three new savers. Two from Kulture: Substance, and
Vortex; and one third party saver: Dali Clock, by Steven Singer.
New features in V2.10 include:
* Even more configuration options.
* Improved hotkey support for showing/hiding desktop icon.
* Ability to "eat" the keypress that you use to stop the saver.
* A few minor bug fixes and tweaks.
http://www.various-artists.demon.co.uk/delirium/
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---------------
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