[ NEW ARRIVALS ] PageStream Disks: I never knew there was so much OK Help here guys. I have had just arrive PageStream 3.1 from Soft-Logik and I guess I am somewhat overwhelmed by the number of disks I have here. No doubt there is more than one version here and so any idea what came with the original and what is later editions. Here is the list: Amiga v3.0i Disks 1 to 7 Disks 1 to 5 Amiga v3.3a Wordsworth Filter Amiga PPD disks 1 and 2 Text FX Amiga WorldFlags Disks 1 and 2 The box talks about PageStream3.1 and the manual is dated 1997. So what exactly do I have here... Can't recall what year I got my cover disk. [ NEXT ] InterOffice2.0: The name of precision We are talking about the InterOffice Suite of software that is InterWord, InterSpread, InterBase and InterTalk. Sadly, although boxed didn't come with the manuals. I am assuming that each of the applications came with its own book. Dunno. [ NEXT ] Digita: Organising stuff Digita were an amazing company for the Amiga. They constantly delivered class products of a most professional quality. They even produced newsletters and the like to inform their user base. Such easy software to use, and so user friendly. Today arrived another application of theirs that I hadn't got. This being Organiser complete with manual. I am pretty sure, that I had a cover disk version of this, which had limited entries. Dunno. Just great to have the real thing. [ NEXT ] Atari ST BASIC: Heavy Stuff My goodness, I needed my iron tablets today before grappling with the software box for the Atari, ST BASIC. With this you get the 332 page book of the revised edition for use with.... [ scratches head ] ' Metacomco Basic '. Evidently this is very similar to mainstream BASIC albeit with drop down menus. What you get are the three panes.. List - Output and Command Never used BASIC in this manner, but certainly looks an interesting way display the command lines.. With it came two disks both called UK Language Disk, though one is 1986 and the other 1987. The 1987 is Rev D so I am guessing a later version. The software was created by Digital Research who created the GEM software. [ END ]
[ NEW ARRIVALS ] OutRun: It's Hip It's Hot Outrun for the Spectrum 48/128 +2 and +3 on cassette must have ported to so many platforms. Just shows that a very simple racing driving game can be very successful. The game is by Sega no less and dated 1986 ' Beware this babe's hot ' [ NEXT ] Lara: On the Saturn Sega again and this time its Lara and Tomb Raider on the Sega Saturn. She looks so old hat on the cover given that I am currently playing Anniversary on the PS2. I could never work out why the Saturn had these larger CD cases. Maybe they wanted them to sit like books on bookshelves. [ NEXT ] Wipeout: by Psygnosis We all know of Psygnosis. Few that play games seriously won't have ventured too far on any platform without coming across these guys. There are few games that will last the test of time longer than WipeOut, except perhaps WipeOut 2097. Magic games to be honest. ' Its 2052 AD. Anti gravity racing has become the worlds most popular sport. F3600 Race League is where its at. Tracks stretch across terrain in every corner of the world ' Another game on the Sega Saturn. [ NEXT ] DREAMLANDS: Silmarils Three for the price of one here with three classic Silmarils games in one heavy box. Ishar Legends of the Fortress, Transarctica and Storm Master. Probably one of my best loved games of all times was Ishar 2. Sitting every night through cold winters nights huddled next to the Amiga playing Ishar is how I recall Christmas 1993. I have played the other games in the series, and already possess Legend of Fortress, but I just couldn't pass up the chance of these other two Silmarils classics. The guys at Silmarils were never short of a good idea or two and were most creative in their gameplay. Transarctica is a huge steam train which you plan and build as you steam across an ice locked landscape. Storm Master on the other hand is just that... A game about mastering the storms as you build a flying machine in the land of Eolia. Great times these for the Amiga, and always new and interesting slants on games available... Sadly Silmarils lost the plot with Robinsons Requiem, but hey everyone has a bad day. [ NEXT ] SPY vs SPY : Challenging Software More like challenging to get hold of. I managed to get two versions of the game for the C64, one in a small cassette case called The Island Caper and the other in the classic larger box. Game by Mike Riedel, and which even today is a classic. Like OutRun this has been ported to so many platforms. For those that didn't know, these black and white dressed secret agents first appeared in MAD magazine, the creation of Antonia Prohias.... in 1960. Beyond Software were the first to bring Spy vs Spy to the computer gaming world. ... The most interesting aspect is the concept of ' Simulvision ' which provides split screen for two players. [ END ]
[ NEW ARRIVALS ] HyperBook: The free-form personal information manager Gold Disk from Canada no less: HyperBook is a revolutionary new concept in computer software. It's a database, a word processor, a graphics program, and much more. HyperBook is a free-form personal information manager that let's you create, combine and customise many forms of data in ways that make sense to you, With HyperBook you can create specially tailored applications including interactive presentations for point-of-sale or training and customised databases such as personal calendars and phone books... With HyperBook you create on-screen pages of information quickly and easily. Type text in multiple fonts, import IFF pictures, or draw directly onto the page. Pick up text or graphics and move it around. Scale pictures to any size.... And the date 1990... Most impressive. [ NEXT ] Photogenics: Almathera The ultimate 24-bit graphics and manipulation package. For the Amiga A1200 and A4000 series. With the amazing array of features included with this application there are few paint packages that can equal or even rival Photogenics: Natural Paint Tools, Image Processing Effects, vast array of supported image types and many other features. Complete in a handy ring binder boxed. Credits: Paul Nolan, Jolyon Ralph, Keith Smith and Jason G Doig. Copyright Almathera: 1995. [ end ]
[ NEW ARRIVALS ] Illustrating BASIC: Donald Alcock This book is so cute. All hand written with simple sketches to explain the concepts of BASIC programming. I love the way the whole book is produced like a note book. Dated 1977 with reprints 79, 80 and 81. ' My book is informal in language and unusual in presentation. Rather than write a justification I would only remark that a careful reader might disgnose a severe astigmatism in my eye and persistent shake in my hand '.....To my sons Andrew and Gavin. When you start reading this you just can`t put the thing down. And you just find yourself reaching for your old Spectrum. [ NEXT ] Dark Blue : Commodore 64 Users Manual I have seen many copies of the C64 Users Manual but none to dreary as this one. With just the deep blue cover ' Published by Commodore Business Machines Inc ' all in all a very uninviting book. Mostly about the language of BASIC and less inspiring than the previous publication. [ NEXT ] The Working Commodore 64: That's Better This is a library of practical subroutines and programs by none other than David Lawrence. Dated 1983. 176 pages of ... you guessed it more BASIC command structures. Life on the computer needed tremendous imagination as with so much code you rarely joyed in the graphics till you pressed the old RUN function. [ NEXT ] 40 Educational Games for the Commodore 64: By Vince Apps. Not sure that that's a serious name or not. And so what do you think this book is filled with... You guessed it, more BASIC coding. Vince App's was a regular contributor to journals such as Popular Computing Weekly, Home Computing Weekly. Remember him... er no. [ NEXT ] Mastering the Commodore 64: by AJ Jones and GJ Carpenter 372 pages of....... glorious BASIC coding. Evidently there is an interesting chapter here.. ' an introduction to machine code programming on the 6510 and the use of a machine code monitor for simple machine code programs, including a programming model for the 6510. There are examples using interrupts and other RAM vectors. The use of KERNAL routines is described with useful examples ' Thank goodness for that, I hear you say... [ NEXT ] Computer Programming in BASIC by E Huzan Amazingly not much code here, more explanation of what BASIC is all about. Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code is a widely used programming language in education commerce and industry, particularly for mini-and microcomputers, and by hobbyists. 1981 and quite informative this. Actually giving some useful and practical explanations without bombarding you with pages of code. [ NEXT ] Commodore 64 Computing: by Ian Sinclair You have probably spotted the theme of these recently acquired books.... A desire to give myself to brain damage through induced BASIC overload. Not sure this was such a good idea. Whilst this concentrates on the programming side of things there is a very useful opening chapter on some basic C64 operational issues.. Did you know that an interesting feature of the 64 is that it can transmit signals to the sound section of the TV receiver in addition to the picture circuits. This can be a useful ' attention getter ' for the programmer... duh ! [ END ]
[ NEW ARRIVAL ] The Commodore 386SX-20: Looking strangely like an A4000d OK this is freaky. This is an actual 386 PC based Commodore in what was termed slimline design. Thing is the chassis and the front panel look remarkably like the A4000, complete with 3 slot lower section and sloping top bezel. The colour of the unit has the look and feel of the 4000d. I know that the 4000 was made from old cases, and I can`t help thinking that what I have here is the basis of that computer. As I say, kinda creepy. Just taken the case apart ... Quite clean. The old barrel battery will need removing. The memory is rather like the modules found on the GVP cards. They are in pairs left and right to the side of the case. The hard drive is a Quantum ProDrive. A small daughter board rises to the centre and there is quite a hefty sized graphics card attached. I have switched her on and whoo hoo she works. She has lost the boot configuration cus the battery died yonks ago. Commodore 80386SX BIOS Rev 1.03 Copyright 1985-1990 Commodore Electronics Ltd Copyright 1985-1990 Pheonix Technologies Ltd 640K Base Memory 04096K Extended Works fine... I just plugged in my MSDOS 6.22 setup disk and I have the blue screen asking me to back up before continuing with set up... So no problems. Looking good. Another classic machine to add. Something of a curiosity. [ END ]
Just giggling here, realising that the Grapevine Amiga Disk mag
is more about jokes than computing. But reading through the
101most hated things for 1991...
13. Atari ST owners, who don't accept that the ST is crap !
..... Not very informative this though sometimes amusing.
Something's I don't understand
77 Pack Disk Rippers
78 People who do cli compacts ( Utils exempt )
79 Coders who don't use register names in their codes
80 Coders that don't use allocmem and just trash mem
81 Coders who don't turn off sprites properly
82 People who crunch utils with absolute address packers
83 Absolute packers
duh !
Of the 101 most hated things I like 102
102 People who can't count
By Death/Destiny and Batfink/Quartz
I do like the review of the toilets at Granada Service Stations
OK OK... I have been on disk 2 of my collection now for over
an hour, I have about 50 000 disks here, I guess this is going
to take a long time.... :-)
scuzz
[ response from Amigan Paul Q ]
I am sure Paul won`t mind me quoting his responses:
[ quote ]
> Just giggling here, realising that the Grapevine Amiga Disk mag
> is more about jokes than computing.
Ah, Grapevine... I love that mag! Read every issue cover to
cover (or should that be disk to disk?)
If you look on the disks there are often hidden text files
with extras not in the main mag!
> 13. Atari ST owners, who don't accept that the ST is crap !
It was fairly crap, it has to be said... The graphics
hardware has major issues and the OS was a port of GEM,
not the most well designed graphical OS.
> Something's I don't understand
> 77 Pack Disk Rippers
Demo groups used to make "pack disks", basically disks with
lots of stuff compressed onto them. Maybe a two or three
games, a selection of utils or music etc. Lamers would rip
them and distribute them under their own name.
> 78 People who do cli compacts ( Utils exempt )
Some people would try to save space on floppy disks by
compressing basic command line programs like "dir", "rename",
"del" etc. It was annoying because every time one of these
basic commands was used, it would have to be decompressed and
so ran quite slowly. The gains were quite low as well, as most
of these commands were small to begin with.
The "Utils exempt" bit is because it often was worth
compressing larger programs like "ed" or music mod players
because there were big gains.
> 79 Coders who don't use register names in their codes
CPUs have a number of registers, which are like tiny bits
of memory that can only store one number but are very fast.
The 68000 series has 8 data registers and 8 address registers.
Most of the work the CPU does involves these registers, only
accessing memory to load or save results because memory is
very slow in comparison.
Wikipedia probably has a better explanation.
Anyway, some coders find it hard to just refer to the
registers as d0..d7 and a0..a7, so they give them names in
their coder like "counter", "repetitions", "x_coordinate"
etc. This is considered the height of lameness as any real
coder will just understand the raw assembly code.
They have a point really, I mean even a child could
understand this:
moveq #0, d0
moveq #0, d1
loop:
move.w (a0)+, d0
add.l d0, d1
dbra d2, loop
> 80 Coders that don't use allocmem and just trash mem
Some early apps (like the original Sound Tracker IIRC)
didn't bother asking the operating system for memory,
they just took over the entire machine and used what they
liked. This caused two problems. First, it usually meant
that you couldn't quit the program and even if you did your
OS would probably just crash and all your data would be
corrupted anyway. Secondly it caused problems with expanded
machines as the software either would not recognise extra
RAM or it would assume it was in the wrong place, or sometimes
it would not work with certain peripherals.
> 81 Coders who don't turn off sprites properly
Another one that affects quitting back to the OS. If sprites
were left on by default the OS would not clear them and
they would be left stuck on the screen.
> 82 People who crunch utils with absolute address packers
Another OS issue. Basically it's similar to 80, only even
worse. Absolute packers can only load programs into a fixed
memory address, they don't support asking the OS for memory
nicely.
> 83 Absolute packers
See above.
Regards,
Paul
[ end quote ]
Amigan Steven gave me this to reflect on
[ quote ]
Hi Scuzz,
> 77 Pack Disk Rippers
> 78 People who do cli compacts ( Utils exempt )
Boot to a cli and for example ask you to "press 1" for this,
"2" for that etc, rather than selecting them from a coded
menu or WB.
> 79 Coders who don't use register names in their codes
People not using d0-d7 or a0-a7 in their code
eg: move.w #4,d0
> 80 Coders that don't use allocmem and just trash mem
Failing to allocate memory and just stuffing your data
into a randomly picked memory location without knowing
what was there before or indeed saving its contents so
you can restore it later. This would be a prime
cause of programs trashing the machine (crashing for example)
or things just getting messed up (your display for example)
> 81 Coders who don't turn off sprites properly
Hiding hardware sprites such as the mouse pointer for
example is fairly common, but if you do not do it
correctly your sprites may (or may not) appear when they
should.
> 82 People who crunch utils with absolute address packers
Using a program like PowerPacker to crunch a file, but making
that file expand the utility to a fixed memory location
(which may or may not exist on your machine, or which could
contain data from another program which is now just about to
be trashed by the expanding utility). Most normal people use
relative addressing so it can expand to any free memory
location rather that a fixed one.
> 83 Absolute packers
In relation to the above, it would be the actual cruncher
itself, but instead of allowing the user to select the
decrunch mode, it will always use absolute address
decrunching routines.
Hope that helps clear up some of your misunderstandings over
the terms :)
Kind Regards,
Steven.
[ end quotes ]
scuzz
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