Description
Issue 49
| Item | Author | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Menu | Brian McConnell | |
| Magazine | Brian Leaves, Interlacing Explained | |
| Letters | Grief At Brian's Departure (Ahem!) | |
| Sam File | Ian Knight | Nice Database |
| Sensible Demo | Andrew Collier | Mc Demo - Not Soccer Related! |
| Cheats 2 | Paul Crompton | More Immoral Goings On |
| Mushies! | David Zambonini | Pacman Variation |
| Net | Tim Paveley | Text Pinched From The Net |
| E-Tunes | Andrew Collier Lee Willis | Music Done On E-Tracker featuring new player by Andrew Collier |
| Sci-Fi | Graham Goring | Sci Fi Spoors from 'Anonimity Smith' |
| Modules | Robert van der Veeke | Converted Amiga Modules |
| Fade | David Zambonini | Impressive Shoot-'Em-Up |
| Stereogram | Stewart Skardon | 3d Capers Come To Sam Again |
| Sampaint Fonts | Carol Brooksbank | Fonts For Use In Sampaint |
| Fine Line | Jason Lam | Guide The Line Through Obstacles |
| Shapes | Michael Capstick | Pattern Drawing Proggy |
Magazine
BM (My Last) Editorial
Guess what readers? No, we *don't* have Michelle Pfeiffer as a
special guest presenter; and we *aren't* slashing the price of
all FRED games to £1.99 (£1.80 for subbers). What we do have for
you is a FRED compiled without any "creative input" - ie
interference - from Colin whatsoever. That, in conjunction with
this being the last issue of FRED that'll be edited by me, would
normally mean capers galore, with all sorts of mischievous
escapades. It is highly tempting. I won't do anything though,
because Colin would only buy a big vicious dog to set on me
(eek!).
The reason, by the way, that Colin's not got any say in what
happens here is that he's off on one of his trips around
Britain, trying desperately to be the first Dundonian to visit
eah and every public house in the country. Twice. And I bet he's
not got far left to go now either... Hopefully the new editor
(and who is that? Wait and see!) will persuade/bully Colin into
writing a full and detailed account of his journey, as I know
his tales of hardship and adventure are always popular.
BM Editorial
Right. I've done enough beating about the shrubbery. I'm sure
you'll be expecting, though not necessarily wanting, a few words
about my imminent departure, and I wouldn't want to disappoint
anybody.
I first became in FRED, as some of you will know, in issue 4,
with some screens done on Flash. Looking back I don't know how I
ever persevered with such an archaic package, but I did and the
results got me my first taste of fame. Over the next few issues
I did a few things here and there, but the mag was still run by
Colin.
FRED went on its way to becoming more established, with regular
contributions. Then a rival magazine began to grow - Enceladus.
Being a profit making entity (although Graham never had sales
high enough to pay for the Relion Porsche) he was able to pay
for contributions. That, and the fact that I wanted to become
more involved higher up in the magazine creating process rather
than a "mere" contributor led to my defection to Enceladus...
BM Editorial
For about about a year and a half I stayed with Enceladus,
writing regular editorials, news articles and my own unique(ish)
brand of pages and pages of irrelevant drivel. I got paid on the
basis of how large a percentage of the mag I did, sort of, so as
you can see it was in my best interests to ramble on and on and
on, filling as much space as possible with as little content as
I could reasonably get away with. A difficult habit to break!
Then Colin MacD. approached me and offered me my chance to break
into the international world of publishing at the very top.
Naturally I was curious - intrigued even - and accepted, only to
find that my wildest dreams had been exceeded and I was to
become... THE FREDITOR!!!
FRED #27 I think was my first real issue. Those were the days of
tentative exploration, getting the feel for things. Seeing just
how offensive I could be without Colin editing things out. You
get the idea.
BM Editorial
Two years, 22 issues of FRED later, and much has changed. Then I
was a 16 year old, just beginning my final year at school. By
the time you read this I'll be 19 and in second year at uni.
Well. As long as you don't read this until mid-October, that is.
I will be 19 on the 17th of September though, and your FRED
should have popped through the letterbox sometime shortly after
that. And quel surprise, no large bottles of vodka from my FRED
readers. Blimmin' typical!
I'm still working at Wm Low, or Tesco as it is now. That's three
years I've been there. I'll be there another three too, paying
my way through uni, providing I don't get sacked for something.
Or quit, of course. Or win the pools or the Readers Digest prize
draw. Which could happen; you never know. If that does happen
you're all invited to the massive party which I'd hold in the
excellent bar which I'd buy. As long as you're old enough. That
goes without saying. We can't be seen to condone under-age
drinking, you see. Dreadful practice, and one which neither
Colin or myself ever participated in. Much.
BM Editorial
Editing FRED has been a wonderful experience. Apart from it
brightening up my CV, I've made loads of new friends, and
through necessity, learned a lot about programming. I've also
forgotten what it's like not to have really high blood pressure
and tension headaches toward the end of each month. My main
memories of FRED will undoubtedly be fond ones. Memories of the
warmth and unity felt by all SAM owners toward one another.
Sure, there's some bickering occasionally, more often than not
about whether or not some new chips can be bolted onto the SAM
to turn it into a Pentium-beater, but everybody gets on fine.
Now onto something which will interest those of you who couldn't
give a flying fig about me and my doings - the future of FRED
and the SAM. You've got your new editor, even though you don't
know who he is yet, so FRED will continue. At the end of the
day, it's up to you. While people keep writing, drawing,
composing, and of course buying, the SAM will go on and on and
on. It may yet take off in the way we all feel it deserves to.
BM Editorial
My own future is not so straightforward. Hopefully I'll get my
degree, but after that I don't have a clue what I want to do.
I'd like a career in computer graphics. On the SAM, colour-
blindness isn't too bad a handicap, but when computers have more
than 128 - and most modern ones have 16,777,216 - things get a
bit tricky. So a career in anything other than monochrome
graphics is probably not for me.
Journalism is something I think could be worth investigating. I
know I've got at least some talent for writing, and with a bit
of effort I'm sure I could lose my ineptitude for writing
concisely (most newspaper editors feel that space-wasting is not
desirable. Strange people).
I might even end up writing "serious" software for, say,
engineering purposes, or some other industrial application. At
the moment I sincerely hope not, but it could happen. As long as
I don't have to spend the rest of my life filling bread and
cakes at Wm Low/Tesco, I'll be happy!
BM Editorial
This is not the last you'll hear of me; dearie me no. I'll
definitely write something for next issue, the big 50, so you've
got that to look forward to (grin). Also, I should have a bit
more spare time, and there are a couple of little programs I've
been meaning to write for, oooh, ages. So I may well turn into a
regular contributor.
The one thing I can guarantee is that I won't start campaigning
for the compulsory re-introduction of cassette-loading software
in computing industrywide. That would be a bit silly. Because we
all know that old Speccy microdrives are the true way forward!!
Yes! Long live the microdrive!
As I bring this massive missive, this 7 page feast of an
editorial to a close, I'd like to express my gratitude for
bearing with me these two wonderful years, and wish each and
every one of you all the very best with whatever you get up to.
Thank you all, and goodbye. - BRIAN
BM News
Changing the tone completely from the previous pages, we have
loads of lovely news for you this month. Most of it is hardware
related for a change, although there is the obligatory FRED
software plug.
First of all, West Coast have announced a new "budget" SAM,
aimed at people who'd like to upgrade from a Specrum with a Plus
D to a SAM, and at SAM owners who'd like to get hold of a second
machine. The budget SAM comes with a printer interface, and an
external drive interface so that you can plug in your +D. There
isn't an internal drive, we should emphasize that. The unit
costs £109.95, and this includes postage and packaging.
It is worth pointing out that some of the cases are a little
scratched. This is because West Coast have just been given back
SAMs which were destined to be shipped out when the company went
under, and as they were bulk-packed (I think that means "without
cardboard and polystyrene") some superficial damage was
incurred. The units have been completely repackaged, and include
BM News
all the usual boxes and bags and polystyrene thingies. And
manuals, etc. You're not missing out on anything, it's just your
case which might be a little scratched. Nothing major at all.
The SAMs are guaranteed, the details of which I'm just about to
explain....
...in this second item of news. All SAMs sold from now on are to
have a 2 year guarantee, so if anything goes wrong with your
innards (your SAM's innards, anyway) within 2 years, you've
nothing to worry about! This doesn't include the disc drive, the
PSU or the keyboard; they are covered for "just" a year, which
is all you'll get in total from most companies these days. This
offer demonstrates how much confidence West Coast have in the
reliability of the SAM. I can certainly verify that in nearly
*five* years my SAM's still going fine, including the drive and
the keyboard. The PSU did play up a little, but that was sorted
out very quickly, cheaply and easily, much to the credit of
those involved. So now you can buy with confidence. (This also
applies retrospectively to all SAM Elites sold since April)
BM News
West Coast's final bit of info - yes, they're a busy group of
people - concerns disc drives. Rather than send your SAM down to
get a new one installed, there is now a cheaper alternative. You
can get hold of a kit from West Coast which allows you to Do It
Yourself. (Moans of despair from one half of the readers, yelps
of ecstasy from the techies!) For £29.95, you get all you need
to install the drive, apart from the, em, disc drive. You supply
your own one, having simply to find a compatible drive. Phone
for info on what constitutes a "compatible drive". Or, for
£64.95, they'll give you the drive as well, eliminating in one
fell swoop the need to hunt around for a compatible one. Clever,
huh?
Full instructions are supplied, obviously, but you will need
your own solder wire, a solder-sucking tool, and some hook-up
wire. Importantly, West Coast recommend that only competent
techy types with oodles of experience try this out; it's not the
most easy peasy thing in the world. It's far from impossible,
but just be warned. If you're as clumsy as me regarding things
BM News
like this, avoid it like you would if you had a really fast
Ferrari and a very nasty plague indeed was said to have entered
your town. It's important to point out that this news item
doesn't apply to SAM Elite owners, for no particular reason
other than the kit doesn't work with it.
If, after reading the past three pages, you feel an
uncontrollable urge to contact West Coast, you can do so through
Bob Brenchley of Format who, it seems, is earning himself a few
extra pennies by fronting West Coast. His address is in one of
the ads in the adverts section. Which isn't just an attempt to
get you to look at the section which changes about as often as
Colin's underwear, honest.
(That's partly true, actually: the other reason is that I can't
be bothered looking it up myself. Oh no! Wait! Colin might fire
me for such laziness. Ah! Wait; he can't! Hurrah!).
BM News
Other news concerns the latest FRED release: Waterworks 2 - This
Time It's Blimming Hard, Matey. OK, so maybe I did add the
subtitle on my own initiative. Catchy though, isn't it?
Waterworks 2 - TTIBH,M is now OUT, yes, it's been released. You
can send in your orders NOW. Price is £9.99 to normal peeps, but
of course only £9 to those sensible and undescribably sexy
people who have subscriptions to either FRED or Format.
The press release (ie Colin's scribbled note!) tells me that
Martin Bell, the programmer resonsible for all those sleepless
nights caused by the first game, has spent two years coming up
with another 19 fiendish levels. Just to re-iterate what I said
last month, there are several new additions to the list of
features, not least of which is a wee jeep for you to play about
with.
Although it's a fully independent game, and doesn't require you
to have the original, we would feel very guilty about letting
BM News
buy this game without some experience of Waterworking, as Colin
so succinctly puts it. We would take your money, but we would
feel dreadfully guilty. Truly. Anyway, to prevent us from having
too many sleepless nights, we're giving both away at the
absolutely bargain-basement price of only £15! What a barg!
I'd like to add that the original, Waterworks itself, is one of
my very favourite games on SAM. It may be a puzzle game, but
it's one where you can usually work out the puzzles through
logical, and occasionally lateral, thinking as opposed to simple
trial and error, which is all too common in puzzle games.
What higher recommendation do you want?Buy this game! It's
brill!
On a more show-related topic now, I'll repeat the details of the
Gloucester show. It's in Kedgely, not Quedgely as I said last
time. Or have I got them mixed up again? Damn. Well, it's in one
of them, and they're the same place as one another, and they're
BM News
both just outside Gloucester, so make of that what you will.
The venue is exactly the same as last time, and
the date is Saturday the 22nd October. Colin and I will be
there, and a few extras will again be down. By the way, if they
haven't got rid of their "beards" feel free to slag them up.
They might hurt you in return, or hurl abuse of their own, but
don't worry. It's all harmless really.
I'd imagine the same motley collection of SAM personalities
(using the term loosely of course. Ha ha ha) will be there. I'm
hoping to meet a few more of you there, anyway. I believe Matt
Round's said he'll put in an appearance. He'll no doubt spend
the day avoiding people who want to pester him about who he
writes such brilliant games in Gamesmaster, much as Steve Taylor
should have spent the last show avoiding the hordes who wanted
Driver tips!
One word of advice - if you think you're somebody I'll
recognise, don't assume I'll psychically work out who you are.
BM News
Like Tim Paveley did (you going to this 'un Tim?). The gimboid
chatted for half an hour and only then introduced himself (and
"Bob" Pain).
More show advice - don't ask me how to complete any levels on
Lemmings. I can't get past level 14 on Tricky! We do have the
rest of the level codes later on, but I know it's more
satisfying to know you can complete the levels yourself.
Also, if you want to exchange a FRED which has developed, say, a
sector error, or maybe a game or utility you've bought has gone
awry, try to phone in advance. It helps enormously with the
organisational side of things.
While I'm at it, feel free to bring me any spare beer you have
lying about your home.
And don't forget - bring your wallets! I'll see what fabulous
promotions I can get Colin to implement...
BM News
Remember Beeble? The game in FRED #47? Well the programmer of
that, Allan Clarkson, goes by the name of Ded Gud Software, and
is, as he puts it, "starting up properly." He is therefore in
need of more programmers, musicians, artists etc to get in touch
with a view to setting up a team. For more details write to:
Allan Clarkson,
[redacted]
***
The extras disc for Driver is now available from Revelation.
Colin gave me the list of what's on it for last issue, but I
lost that. Oops. I can't remember what's on it, but let me
assure you, if you've got Driver, you want this. I think there's
a database and a game in there, along with many other things.
BM News
Were you one of the applicants for the post of FREDitor who
didn't quite make it? Well this announcement from Darren
Blackburn may interest you...
URGENTLY WANTED: SUB-EDITORS! Due to personal commitments, the
Editor of ZAT needs volunteers to help run this well-known SAM
and Spectrum fanzine. Help is required to type up sections and
contributions and gather information as well. Users need to have
access to either PCG Wordmaster/Typeliner for Spectrum or
SC_Word pro/SC_DTP for SAM (or any DTP program on any computer
as long as they have access to a SAM or Speccy to receive files
from ZAT contributors. If possible, anyone willing to print out
pages for immediate inclusion would be appreciated. Also artists
required for interior artwork and anyone able to print out
screenshots for games/utility reviews.
The down part is that as ZAT is non-profit making, we cannot pay
for assistance.
BM News
However, like all ZAT contributors, Editor included, volunteers
will receive a free copy of every issue produced. If interested,
write for more info to:
ZAT
[redacted]
GB SAMPaint Article pt 2 by Graham Burtenshaw
If you are trying to create an animation of, say, Colin and
Brian downing a pint, then the Animation function will be
suitable since the "action" can be viewed from a single
viewpoint. You could draw an initial frame, then grab it as a
block and plot it several times in a grid. Altering each frame
slightly from the previous one will then form the animation once
you have gone through the process of defining each frame from
the Animation dialogue box.
(If you are as lazy as I am and you know the dimensions of the
frames then you could prepare the data from BASIC and then load
it into SAMPaint from the dialogue box)...
If, however, you'd prefer to create an animation of Colin
stumbling home afterwards, then the Animbrush function will be
more appropriate since it gives you control over the positioning
of the animated frames.
GB SAMPaint
Once you've defined the frames, you can either move the animated
figure directly using the mouse, or else use the drawing tools
to make him trace a circle or perhaps even a straight line.
Animbrush frames can be defined in the same sort of way as
standard Animation frames. The dialogue box is located on the
main menu and is described in the manual (ie I can't be arsed
going into it here). There are a couple of differences, however.
Although the Animbrush frames can be of differing sizes, you
can't adjust the size of a previously defined frame - so be
careful.
Also, you can set the MASK option (in the blocks area of the
main menu) in order to define Animbrush frames in the form of
graphic shapes rather than graphic blocks. Each Animbrush frame
is STORED in memory (in the area normally used for standard
Blocks/Shapes - this is why grabbing a block will clear the
Animbrush and vice versa). This also means that you can clear
the workscreens without losing the Animbrush.
GB SAMPaint
Once you have defined an Animbrush, there are two ways you can
use it. One is to click on the "Move" icon to move the Animbrush
around as if it were an ordinary block. The other is to click on
the "Animbrush" option (as opposed to "Brush"), which will allow
you to use all the drawing tools with the Animbrush.
Animbrushes can be saved from the SAVE pull-down menu (select
Block/Shape). This will save both the graphics data and
information regarding the frame dimensions etc (see the manual).
If you're intending to use animations in your own programs, then
whether you use Animation or Animbrushes in SAMPaint is up to
you - either way you will have to draw the frames and grab them
without SAMPaint's help. (Although as mentioned you could use
the files saved from SAMPaint to speed up the grabbing process).
GB SAMPaint
I essentially seem to have repeated what's in the manual... if
you're still having trouble (I know that people have been
writing in with problems vaguely related to animation but not
the specifics), write to the address given at the end.
Finally a couple of "ideas"..
(Before I forget - remember that SAMPaint won't work with
MasterBASIC booted. If you want to use RAMdiscs, load with
MasterDOS only).
If converting a screen to mode 1 or 2 from the SAVE menu using
the MONO mode, you may occasionally get a blank screen. Colin
mentioned this to me a while ago, but I didn't believe him;
since then however I realised that this could result if the Ink
and Paper are set to different mode 1/2 BRIGHT levels. Colours
0-7 are described in modes 1 and 2 as non-bright, colours 8-15
as bright. So if, eg, the Ink is set to 7 and the Paper to 8,
the conversion may not work properly.
GB SAMPaint
In such cases change either the Paper or the Ink.
(There is a reason behind all this but it would take ages to
explain and besides I'm not quite sure what it is).
Parts of digitised pictures can be enlarged without becoming
"blocky" by following this procedure: grab the part to be
enlarged as a block, rescale it as much as you like, deposited
the rescaled block on the workscreen, use the Blur window
operation to Average it and then Average-Mix it, doing several
Average operations if the rescaling is particuarly dramatic.
This will have the effect of smoothing out the edges of the
enlarged pixels whilst retaining a pixel-level degree of
"noise". The result is that the rescaled block looks as natural
as the original screen, no matter how much it has been rescaled.
Then try Merging it with a radial gradient fill to get a dodgy
old turn of the century Welsh photograph.
GB SAMPaint
Hmmm, and try Shadowing things with the colour being shadowed
set as one of the backgrounds, and Depth=1 and Displacement=-1.
(not "1" as suggested on page 32 of the manual...) Messing
around with negative Displacements can give hours of fun to you
and any passing construction workers
If you've got absolutely anything to say/ask about SAMPaint, you
can either write to FRED or directly to me at: 6 Rawlins Avenue
Worle
Weston-super-Mare
Avon BS22 0FN
or email (after the "vac") to glb2@le.ac.uk
BM Lemmings Codes
Comtinuing from last issue, these codes take you up to the very
last level of this stunning game. You'll still need to solve
that in order to get to the end screen though, so you've still
got some incentive.
Taxing
~~~~~~~~
01 If at first you don't succeed... EGFQUZIM
02 Lemmingology DHIPVZEA
03 Heaven can wait (we hope!!!!) GGJQUZGC
04 Lend a helping hand.... FGLPUZTB
05 The prison! AFNAUUMI
06 Compression method 1 ZFPAUUJL
07 Every lemming for himself!!! CEBAVUKG
08 The art gallery BEDAVUHF
09 Perseverance WEFZVUQE
10 Izzie wizzie lemmings get busy VEHZVUNH
11 The ascending pillar scenario YEJZVUOK
BM Lemmings Codes
12 Livin' on the edge XELZVULJ
13 Upsidedown world IENAVUEA
14 Hunt the nessy.... HEPZVURD
15 What an AWESOME level KDDNSUQM
16 Mary Poppins land JHBZWURP
17 X marks the spot EHDZWUKK
18 Tribute to MC Escher DHFZWUHN
19 Bomboozal GHHZWUIM
20 Walk the web rope FHJZWUFD
21 Feel the heat! AGLXWTOO
22 Come on over to my place ZGNXWTLJ
23 King of the castle CGPXWTMI
24 Take a running jump..... BHBXXTJH
25 Follow the leader... WHDWXTSC
26 Triple trouble VHFWXTPF
27 Call in the bomb squad YHHWXTQE
28 POOR WEE CREATURES! XHJWXTNL
29 How do I dig up the way? IEDAUTOO
30 We all fall down HIPVYTRD
BM Lemmings Codes
Mayhem
~~~~~~~~
01 Steel works KHLXXTIE
02 The Boiler Room JHNXXTFD
03 It's hero time! EHPWXTOG
04 The crossroads DIBWYTLJ
05 Down, along, up. In that order GIDWYTMI
06 One way or another FIFWYTJP
07 Poles apart AHHYYWSC
08 Last one out is a rotten egg! ZHJYYWPN
09 Curse of the pharaohs CHLYYWQM
10 Pillars of Hercules BHNYYWNL
11 We all fall down WGAYZWFB
12 The far side VGBXZWTB
13 The great lemming caper YGDYZWEA
14 Pea soup XGFXZWRH
15 The fast food kitchen... IGHYZWKK
BM Lemmings Codes
16 Just a minute... HGJYZWHF
17 Stepping stones KGLYZWIE
18 And then there were four... JGNYZWFD
19 Time to get up! EGPXZWOG
20 No added colours or lemmings DMGWBWGO
21 With a twist of lemming please GNBXAWOK
22 A beastII of a level FFJPSWFD
23 Going up....... AMDWAVGG
24 All or nothing ZMFVAVTB
25 Have a nice day! CMHWAVEA
26 The steel mines of Kessel BMJVAVRP
27 Just a minute (part II) WMLVAVKK
28 Mind the step... VMNVAVHN
29 Save me YMPVAVIM
30 Rendezvous at the mountain XNBVBVFD
And I hope I never have to type in another Lemmings code as long
as I live...
AJ Adventure Column
Alex Jones, 101 Keresley Road, Coventry, CV6 2JF
Welcome once again to the adventure section. I am sorry I did
not do anything for the last issue but I have had some holidays
and the weather since I came back has been too good to work in.
Firstly I would like to thank Phil Glover for his letter in
which he gave me some useful information.
The first thing is the 1994 ADVENTURERS CONVENTION which will be
held as usual at The Royal Angus Thistle Hotel in Birmingham on
Saturday, 22 October. Tickets cost £5.00 and are available from:
The Adventurers Convention
128 Merton Hall Road,
Wimbledon,
London,
SW19 3PZ.
AJ Adventure Column
It is open to all adventure players/writers and all formats,
from the Spectrum right up to full blown PC's.
I have been to a couple of these and enjoyed meeting other
adventure players. There are usually a good number of computers
set up and there is always a chance to have a go at various
games. There are also usually a decent selection of games for
sale at reasonable prices. Coffee and tea are available and the
bar is open for those of us who find it thirsty work. If you
need further information contact the organisers at the above
address.
Phil also mentioned that he and David Whitmore are thinking of
doing another Adventure Club disk, not a 'proper' issue, but a
one-off for Autumn/Winter. I'll pass on more information as I
get it.
Phil also sent me a (legal) copy of the adventure game "Curse of
the Serpent's Eye" by Martin Freemantle.
AJ Adventure Column
This was the official competition game for last years
adventurers convention. I have had a quick look at this game and
I will try to do a review of it for you for the next issue. If
you want further information you can contact Martin Freemantle
at:-
DREAM WORLD ADVENTURES,
[redacted]
Now for the next part of "Days of Sorcery". From where we left
off :-
Go east, north twice, and east twice to the crossroads, then
continue north twice, east, south, east, north twice, and then
east to the West gate of the city. Shoot the guard with the
arrow and climb the wall.
AJ Adventure Column
Drop the longbow, staff and shovel, then take the spear, helmet
and armour. Jump off the parapet and you will land in the
stable.
Go east, north, west and north into Honest Joe's Weaponry. Sell
the quiver and accept the rope in exchange. Go south and thhow
the rope over the battlements. Go east twice, north three times,
east, northeast and north into the inn. Buy a drink and then
wait around until the innkeeper offers to swap you a ruby for
your cloak. Accept his offer.
Go south, southwest, west, and south three times to the
junction, then wander around until you find the cat. Put the
collar on the cat, and leave the city by the south gate. Return
to the witch's cottage and she will give you a letter to deliver
to the Magician's Guild.......... more next time.
That's it for this issue. See my address three pages back if you
feel like writing about things adventurous.
MR INTERLACING - What the @#!$ is it?!
===================================
by Matt Round
Interlacing is a way of increasing the apparent resolution of a
raster display by alternating between two sets of images, each
of which consists of alternate scan lines of the pictures to be
shown.
I suppose that's the kind of explanation you'd get if you looked
it up in a dictionary of scientific terms; I'll try to be
slightly more helpful...
The electron beam in a TV set scans the screen 50 times per
second; I gleaned that much from the early days of using a
Speccy. So why do peop people talk about TV pictures running at
25 frames per second?!
It's all down to interlacing. Each 25 fps piccy really consists
of two 50 fps ones.
MR Interlacing
Each of those frames holds half of the scan
lines, and when they're put on the screen one after the other,
with a slight vertical offset, they 'slot together' to form a
lovely picture:
50 fps picture + 50 fps picture-> 25 fps with higher quality
------------- -------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
------------- -------------
(frame 1) + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ = ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
------------- (frame 2) -------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
------------- -------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Er... well that's the theory anyway! It's not really as
wonderful as it may sound, and is no substitute for proper
higher resolution. It's also often ignored - for example, this
text you're reading makes no use of the interlacing.
MR Interlacing
Strictly speaking you can't do interlacing on the SAM because
there's no way of knowing which set of scan lines is being
shown, so it's really just a way of getting more colours/shades
on screen.
Why bother with it at all? If you use 50 fps pictures one after
the other you're settling for the lower resolution, and scanning
the screen with a high res. 25 fps picture all in one go causes
flicker. Interlacing lets you hint at things a higher resolution
would show properly, and that's why it's used - it squeezes as
much quality as possible out of the equipment. It's a favourite
with some cheapskate PC manufacturers; they can happily quote
resolutions such as 1024x768, neglecting to mention that it's
really just a flickering 1024x384 image on a cheap monitor.
Migraine sufferers beware!
Finally, if you want to see interlacing in action look for
flickering on the top and bottom edges of clearly-defined
objects on TV.
MR Interlacing
It's also conspicuous by its absence from some
cheaply-done graphics and freeze-frames.
Matt Round/'Malevolent'
Help! Help! I'm turning into a Tomorrow's World presenter!!
* * * **** *** * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
***** ***** ***** **** * *** ***** * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * *** * * * * *
Thanks Matt. Does this means we won't be seeing "Santa Goes
Psycho - The Interlaced Re-Mix"? Multiscan monitors can handle
interlace without flicker, I think. They cost about £300, so at
that price they'd better! - BRIAN
BM Disc Contents
Goodness me - is it contents time already? Doesn't time just fly
by when you've had to type in over 30 pages of text!
SAM FILE is a database program by Ian Knight. It needs MasterDOS
and MasterBASIC, without which it's as useful as our modules
without a MOD player. This can seem quite a complex beast at
times, but with the help of the author's help document and a bit
of messing about, I'm sure you'll soon be breezing through it as
if you were born to.
SENSIBLE DEMO is not, and you could be forgiven for assuming
this, in any way related to that stunning footy game, Sensible
Soccer. Bit of a shame that, as even the SAM could maybe cope
with the not-too-heavily-scrolling game. Maybe. I don't imagine
we'll ever find out. This is "just" a machine code demo by
Andrew Collier, who seems to be learning his coding at a
horrifically fast pace. The scrolly is a little hard to read,
but I'm assured it was worse with a black background. I expect
you'll manage somehow.
BM Disc Contents
CHEATS 2 is the sequel to CHEATS 1, and is again by Paul
Crompton. I bet you can't guess what it does...
Given up? Right then - CHEATS stands for Create Highly Emotional
And Trendy Spiders, and in this Sim City affair, you must use
your skill and judgement to breed a successful race of
arachnids. In order to be considered successful, the creatures
must be constantly on the verge of hysterics, yet with a dress
sense which makes the Clothes Show look out of date and kitsch
(wait a minute... that's not that hard!). Usual controls apply,
and there's a 50 page instruction manual likely to pop through
your letter box any day now to help with the intricacies of the
game
Q: The above paragraph is:
* A: Straight up?
* B: The biggest load of bull since the record breakingly big
"Big Jim" the Fresian won "Biggest animal in show" in a show
for really obscenely large farm animals on steroids?
BM Disc Contents
Sorry. I'm in one of those moods. Did you guess that the answer
was "B"?
MUSHIES is short for Mushroom Mania and with a title like that
it has to be a game, doesn't it? Luckily, David Zambonini is in
the know about these things, and yes it is indeed a game. Not
entirely dissimilar to Pacman, you've got to move a little
fungus around a maze, avoiding the evil things. Controls are
either joystick or QSIOM. Fire/M transports you when you collect
a little T crystal. There's no front end as such, so be prepared
to start immediately. This game is not easy, by the way. If you
get to level 5 I will be very surprised.
SCI-FI is a collection of three spoofs on popular science
fiction series. The author wants to be known as Anonimity Smith,
and who am I to stop him. Let's just hope he goes on writing.
E-TUNES has a new player! Yes! Tired of my hilarious LA LA LA LA
scroller, Andrew Collier has written us a new player.
BM Disc Contents
He's even done us a scroller. That'll only last for a month
though, then I'll try and persuade the new editor to put my LA
LA LA LA one back, because you all love it - the suspense
created by the word "wrap" just builds and builds and builds and
oh! There it was! Sheer excitement.
MODS has a music module which, though I'm getting sick of
repeating myself, you can play on the MOD player on FRED #41.
You can also put it on a PC disc using KE Disc on FRED #36, and
then play it on either a PC with appropriate doobries or an
Amiga with Crossdos or something (I prefer MultiDOS - write to
me if you'd like a copy. My address will be in the music
section).
FADE is a shoot-em-up by David Zambonini. He says he doesn't
know why he called it FADE, so don't expect me to reveal the
mystery! QSIOM/joystick again. There is a wee bug in this - if
you get to the end of level thing without having lost a life,
the game goes in the huff and your SAM explodes. Or something.
BM Disc Contents
STEREOGRAM. Yes, it's another of those 3D things, this time by
Stewart Skardon, our FREDITOR contender. Whereas Andrew
Collier's printed them out onto paper though, this one generates
them on screen, so you don't have to be a printer owner to scowl
and frown and curse at these things until you go cross eyed.
Equal rights for all!
The instructions are brief. Make yourself a "template" - a
screen containing two colours, palettes 0 and 1. Big, solid
shapes work best. Pen 1 is the foreground and 0 is the
background. Load the program, by pressing L on the main menu
(well, duh!), and opt to load a template. I've stretched my
artistic ability to the limit and drawn you one already. I've
even called it TEMPLATE or TEMPLATE.$ (I forget which) just for
the hard of thinking.
Then select Generate from the Stereogram menu, come back several
hours later and voila! Vous avez un stereogram! Now you too can
join in the fun of not being to find any picture whatsoever.
BM Disc Contents
BITS N BOBS is pretty small this month. I don't know why. Must
be the weather (wet). The first item is FINELINE by Jason Lam.
It's THAT game again, where you've got to press space to move a
line up the screen, release it to let the line go down, and
avoid the objects on the screen. And please don't ask me why the
palette flashes red and black. It's Jason's program, not mine!
Next is SHAPES, a simple pattern-generating program, reminiscent
of the old days when that's about all programs on SAM did! By
Michael Capstick, it reminds me of something we did once in
primary school. We'd draw circles, then mark points at equal
distances around the circumference. Then all the points would be
joined to all the other points and the end result would be a
very nice patterny thing. The more points used, the better the
end result. Run this and you'll see what I mean. You probably
won't find it anywhere near as fascinating or sexy as I do
though.
Finally, more SAMPaint fonts from the unique Carol Brooksbank.
BM Suspense Over!
Okay, okay - the moment of truth. Who is your new editor? The
candidates themselves have known for a couple of weeks now, and
it's now time for you lot to become informed. I'll just remind
you of the candidates:
* Colin Anderton
* David Finch
* Stewart Skardon
As you'll recall, we asked you all to vote for who you thought
would make the best replacement for moi. It was very close
indeed, but the eventual winner was....... Colin Anderton! So
there's now no chance of FRED turning into a serious magazine!
Especially if Colin A gets his mates to help. The one problem is
we've got two Colins in charge. Maybe we should just call the
Mcdonald Colin "God" instead. Or we could call the Anderton
Colin "Tommy" from now on. No reason, like. Congratulations
though, Colin. We'll be hearing from you soon, I expect!
BM Next Ish
Colin Anderton probably won't be taking over next month. Colin
Macdonald (this Colins thing is annoying me already!!!) has told
me he's going to have a go to remind himself what FREDiting
feels like.
We have got some excellent stuff in store, but the line up is
far from finalised. If you've got something suitable for the big
issue 50, there's still time. In fact, you should have a good
week or so from the day this arrives. Items should be with Colin
Macdonald by 1st October. We can guarantee that they'll be
considered if they arrive on or before this date. Any later and
we might be able to use it, but it really is questionable.
Unless Colin gets a touch of the procrastinations, as I
frequently do, in which case get them in by mid-November and
you'll be fine! (joke....)
Whatever happens though, enjoy this issue, enjoy next issue, and
I'll maybe have a couple of half-century celebration words for
you! - BRIAN
BM Credits
Editor: Brian "This is it! Freedom at last! Hurrah!" McConnell
Thanks to:
Ian Knight Anonimity Smith
W Tippins David Zambonini
Andrew Collier Stewart Skardon
Paul Crompton Matt Round
Lee Willis Graham Burtenshaw
Jason Lam Michael Capstick
Carol Brooksbank Derek Marriott
Contact FRED at: Phone: 0382 - 535963
[redacted] >>>==>>>================>>>==>>>
>>====>> Music Section! >>====>>
>>>==>>>================>>>==>>>
BM Music Section
I thought that seeing as it is my last issue I may as well put
at least some effort into doing a final music section. So this
month we've reviews of Oasis' and Orbital's new CDs, as well as
a definitive list of all-time classic CDs (in my opinion).
Oasis - Definitely Maybe
Hands up who's never heard of Oasis? Anybody? No. Thought not.
Some of you might not have heard much of their music though, and
that will explain away any FRED readers who don't have the new
album.
A Manchester band, they've taken the music industry by storm
despite sounding "baggy" - the term given to bands like the
Happy Mondays (yuck) a few years back. Don't let that put you
off though - nobody else seems to be holding it against them!
Oasis have a very solid collection of songs, the quality of
which shines through any undesirable categorising given to them.
BM Oasis - Definitely Maybe
Already comparisons are being made with the Stone Roses (from
here referred to as the SRs). This seems a little premature,
given that the latter's debut is tremendous even now. Definitely
Maybe is good, but I just can't see it gaining the status of the
SR's effort.
The sound is quite similar to that of the SRs, though it's more
poppy. The songs are less abstract too, less pretentious than
the SRs. They could be called less ambitious as well, but let's
not be nasty.
The two outstanding songs are Live Forever (most recent single)
and Slide Away. The album is consistently good though, something
I haven't experienced since Pearl Jam's last album.
I'll avoid a tacky pun on the title; we've had too many "no
Maybe about it - this is Definite"s already in magazines. Let's
just say it's a fine album. 8 out of 10.
BM Orbital - Snivelisation
I bought this album purely and simply on the basis that Select,
who rarely put a foot wrong, gave it 5 out of 5. I had heard one
Orbital song before, and wasn't really sure what to make of it.
There are three sorts of "techno" - there's the sort you can
dance to, the sort that the compilation shelves are filling up
with at an astonishing rate (ie ambient), and this.
"Intelligent" techno, music that just happens to sound
technological. You can't dance to this (not without maximum
awkwardness, anyway), and it's too full of goings on to be
classed as ambient.
It's also very variable. There is no consistency in style here.
'Tis a veritable portfolio of music styles. Unfortunately, this
is its downfall. When you want ambient, you put on The Orb, safe
in the knowledge that ambient's what you'll get for the next
hour or so. When you want in-yer-face hardcore techno you listen
to some 200bpm Euro import by some loony.
BM Orbital - Snivelisation
What I'm saying is that this doesn't compliment a particular
mood, other than "Hmmm, I feel like listening to a very clever,
sophisticated, polished CD whose songs don't really gel together
at all."
Full of clever bits, and the odd good tune, but it simply
doesn't work for me. 6 out of 10.
The Time Frequency (TTF) - Dominator
TTF are a very well known dance band up here in Scotland; I
don't know about "down South", but I believe the two countries
differ greatly in this area of music. Maybe that's hopelessly
wrong and TTF are a household name in England too. I don't know.
This is a much maligned type of music - handbag house, charty
dance. Usually I would agree, but there was something about the
singles that I liked, so I bought this, the album.
.
BM TTF - Dominator
Depending on whether or not you like or loathe dance music in
general, you'll either love or hate this. Obvious enough.
Pretty standard dance music, arguably formulaic to the point of
despair. But I love it! Two crap songs, a couple of OK ones, and
the rest are great! Don't know how I'll feel about
it in a month or three, but for now it's excellent. It's the
musical equivalent of a formulaic Hollywood movie: you know the
plot is soooo corny, but you still leave the cinema feeling
good. It's also brilliant music to work out to! 8 out of 10.
*****
As I may have said earlier, I will try to do music sections
whenever I'm able to afford new CDs. Which, seeing as my grant's
been cut by nearly £400 next year, may not be too often! We'll
see though. In the meantime, I've compiled a list of the CDs in
my collection that I consider invaluable. Compare notes or use
them as a buying guide for yourself. It's up to you.
BM CDs - Guaranteed Excellence!
Artist - Title
Boo Radleys - Giant Steps
Buffalo Tom - Let Me Come Over
Dinosaur Jr - Bug
Faith No More - The Real Thing
Angel Dust
Flaming Lips - Hit To Death In The Future Head
Guns N Roses - Appetite For Destruction
Use Your Illusion Vol I, II
Jesus And Mary Chain - Psychocandy
Darklands
Jesus Jones - Doubt
Lemonheads - It's A Shame About Ray
Come On Feel The Lemonheads
Ministry - Psalm 69
Nirvana - Nevermind
Pearl Jam - Ten
Vs
BM CDs - Guaranteed Excellence!
Pixies - Doolittle
Bossanova
Trompe Le Monde
Primal Scream - Screamadelica
Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magic
Revolting Cocks - Linger Fickin' Good
Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
Stone Roses - Stone Roses
Superchunk - No Pocky For Kitty
Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque
World of Twist - Quality Street
Moby - The Story So Far
One Dove - Morning Dove White
The Orb - Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld
UFORB (shocker!!!!)
Underworld - Dubnobasswithmyheadman
BM Disclaimer
That was a list of totally stunning albums. If something isn't
there, it does not mean it's crap. For example, the Suede CD is
very good, but it's not totally brilliant in the way that the
Lemonheads' It's A Shame About Ray is. You'll know of certain
items in your own music collection that just stand out somehow.
I hope that helps you with some cash spending! There's 34 CDs
there, which at an average price of £12 will set you back
somewhere in the region of £400. A lot of lolly! Jeez. I've just
calculated that I've probably spent over £1300 on my CD
collection! And it will have cost under £200 to produce the
whole lot. Hum. I suppose I should quit buying them. (Never!!!)
Well, before I do leave you at long last, here's my address in
case anybody wants to write, be it about music (especially
music!), SAM, graphics (Aesthetix lives on!), the Amiga, or just
general nonsense. Feel free to enclose HMV gift vouchers...
[redacted]
DM Concert Review by Derek Marriott
Whitesnake + Pride & Glory
When I bought the tickets for this I didn't know Whitesnake were
going to be there. I would certainly never have guessed that
Pride & Glory could be at the same concert as shampoo metallers
Whitesnake. For those who don't know, P & G are a sort of black
metal/country and western mix led by Zakk Wylde, an escaped Ozzy
Osbourne guitarist.
First of all P & G wandered onto the stage, beer in hand, no
special effects or clever lighting, just lots of beer. They are,
after all, the band of beers. Zakk bounced his bottle of beer
against his guitar's strings to make sure it was working,
casually retuned his bottom string (2 frets flat) and played
what he calls country rock - somewhere between Black Sabbath and
Lynrd Skynyrd.
Best songs were Toe'n the Line, Horse Called War, Shine On and
Chosen One. They also played an outstanding version of Black
DM Concert Review
Sabbath's War Pigs [Faith No More did that too! - Ed] - even the
Whitesnake fans clapped along with that one.
Zakk handed a bottle of beer to the crowd and wandered off
again. I must admit that I didn't see the start of Whitesnake
due to being at the bar. But heard it. Whitesnake were LOUD!
This was the Greatest Hits Tour - I spotted no new songs. An
interesting addition to the set was Don't Leave Me This Way from
Coverdale Page, which really stood out. I'd rather hear Jimmy
Page than Adrian Vandenburg, but there you go. If you're a
Whitesnake fan you may disagree. They also played OI! (which we
know well, obviously (!)) with drum and guitar solos.
They played a fairly long encore and by the end had played every
Whitesnake song I'd ever heard. At this point I should say that
I don't really like Whitesnake, and I wasn't the only one there
to see P & G; the bar was fairly full during Whitesnake, but
then again so was the hall, which wasn't so for P & G.
DM Concert Review
Overall, a good night. At £16 this was one of the most expensive
Wolverhampton concerts ever, but if you actually wanted to see
both bands it would still be good value.
Letters & Reviews
BM Brian's Last Letters Section
Gee. The last time I have to try and think up plausible answers
for questions I really haven't the faintest idea how to answer.
What a shame!
I will miss it though. Through careful prodding and coaxing,
some of you are starting to write a load of complete tosh, which
is just how I like it! Take Colin Anderton for example. I bet he
was a timid little train-spotting, 7 stone dweeb. Now look at
him (or imagine him, anyway). I bet he's a *real* man now. And
all because of a few carefully chosen words from yours truly. Oh
the modesty of the great yet imminently retiring editor.
I'm now going to have problems getting this oh-so- inflated head
of mine out the door. Your letters of support, praise, and
reminiscence are much appreciated. A few cash donations or beer
tokens wouldn't have gone amiss, but never mind. The letters
will do. I'm not in a question answering mood really, so I'll
just let you read some nice friendly chatty letters, just for a
change. - BRIAN
Letter from Colin Anderton
Dear Brian,
Well well. This is almost certainly the last letter I write to
you (or at least while you're FREDitor. You never know, if I get
hold of your address...). I'm sure I speak for everyone when I
say how glad, erm, I mean, upset we all are to see you go. I
hope you'll still contribute though.
As this is your last issue, I have a few questions.
1) Do you like Colin MacDonald?
2) How am I able to access higher memory in machine code and at
the same time use line interrupts in connection with the Z80B
processor?
3) Question 2 didn't make sense, did it?
Letter from Colin Anderton
4) Whose letters have you enjoyed reading, editing and replying
to the most? (Hint, hint)
5) Is it a nice day out? It is here.
Goodbye Brian. Have a wonderful time at Uni, and I hope you get
incredibly bored in your new found free time.
Yours sincerely,
COLIN ANDERTON
BM Reply to Colin Anderton
Taking your questions in a similar order to that in which they
were asked:
5) No. It is pouring. It was sunny earlier on, but now it's
raining very heavily. And it's windy. Damn curries.
2) Obviously you haven't read your SAM manual - it's in the
chapter entitled "Very Easy Things. So Easy That Even A
Confused Haddock Can Manage Them, Immediately After Getting
Lobotomised. Even Easier Than BOOTing Your SAM" (Big title,
no?) Tsk. Oh well - here goes. All you have to do is stand on
a table (crowded libraries are ideal) and yell "Strubb Ching
Frood Ping Ferp Ferp Coooooo-eeeeeeeee!" whilst slapping
yourself with a bright red (and the colour's important here)
paintbrush which has been dipped in treacle. Told you 'twas
easy.
3) Twice a day, thrice on tomatos. Please matron, you wicked
thing.
BM Reply to Colin Anderton
4) The Bank's. Their letters are always a good read, and they
have a terrific sense of humour. Sometimes, though, they can
get a bit carried away and start exaggerating. Tsk, eh?
1) Yes - when he pays me...
Just think Colin - it could be that someday YOU have the task of
replying to MY letters! Cool! Only once the votes have been
counted shall we know for sure though; David or Stewart might
have the joyous task. And I'll think up some really evil
questions, too.
Will you be in Gloucester on the 22nd October then? With your
posse of scoundrels and generally dodgy people? If so, see ya
there!
- BRIAN
Letter from Matt Round
Dear FRED,
Firstly, a couple of cheats (Boris Becker and Mike Atherton?):
Santa Goes Psycho: Press CNTRL and X during the game to jump to
the hardest part of the game.
Infection: Press ! during the game; you then only have
to destroy one blob to complete that level.
How's the toe, Brian? If you're thinking about using a more
glamourous story you can always say it's the result of some
David Mellor type over-exertion...
The new licence sounds promising, and I'm sure Colin's bursting
to announce it but is remaining resolutely tight-lipped about
the whole thing, even when faced with trying to get off the
phone to have his dinner!
Letter from Matt Round
It seems nothing short of a fortnight in the Bahamas with an
exotic dancer and a crate of scotch [try Miller beer - BRIAN]
will get the info out of him before everything's sorted out!
FOR SALE:
* Citizen 120-D printer. Standard 9-pin Epson FX compatible
printer, so it works with Flash!, SAMPaint, DTP pack etc. Very
good condition (I've even got the box, manual etc.), very cheap
to run (ribbons are about £2.50 and last ages, and the one in it
is still OK) and comes complete with a tractor-feed unit which
you can clip on if you want to use continuous paper.
* Games (all nicely-boxed originals): Prince of Persia, Escape
from the Planet of the Robot Monsters, Pipemania, Klax, Football
Director 2, Defenders of the Earth, Sphera, Famous Five,
Multipack 1 (Futureball & SAM Strikes Out), Mind Games 1, Mind
Games 2, Laser Squad (Spectrum).
Letter from Matt Round
I'm open to any offers, especially for the whole lot. Call 0248
352471 and ask for Matt, any time except mornings!
I can't believe someone tried to sell Nick Symes a BJ 10sx for
£299! I was paying over-the-odds at £210 here in Bangor! The
BJ200 is the one to get if you need a sheet-feeder, but as far
as I know it's got exactly the same 360dpi output resolution. As
for refills, well, sometimes they're fine, sometimes it's a big
hassle and the quality suffers. I suppose you can refill a
cartridge once but I wouldn't push my luck and go beyond that;
unlike most other printers', the BJ head is meant to be
disposable so it's very unlikely to be made to last!).
I'm surprised that Nick's gone for The Secretary - it's an
ordinary - good, but ordinary - character-based word processor
which uses the printer's own fonts. SC_WORD pro allows
proportional spacing with high resolution, software - based
fonts (anyone who's used PCs will know there's a similar
difference between DOS-based and Windows-based word procs).
Letter from Matt Round
Well, I suppose I'd better finish this off and get back to doing
some graphics (I'm working on a few things, including a 'proper'
game which will hopefully be finished soon. I won't say any
more coz it'll just be edited out anyway!)...
Matt Round/'Malevolent'
BM Reply to Matt Round
We've had a bit of a dry spell in FRED recently as far as Matt's
concerned, but I can tell you all now that it'll be worth it
when you see what he's got up his sleevies! Don't miss next
issue. Yeah. As if you'd even DARE!
The toe's fine now, thanks. Good as new. I still can't play any
major piano concertos with it, but I'm coping. I'm most shocked
at the suggestion that I'd get involved in unsavoury encounters
with actresses. As if. (Fwor though, eh? Eh? Nudge nudge?
Fwoooor!)
Mike Atherton cheating? No, no. He was just, erm, stroking the
ball. He was you know.
I know what the licences are. I could even tell you, and Colin
probably wouldn't notice. So. You wanna know? How badly? Really
really desperate? Gut-wrenchingly, sleep-inhibitingly curious?
Tough. Ha ha ha.
BM Reply to Matt Round
You know, if I didn't know you better, Matt, I'd swear that you
tried to sneak an advert into that letter. Obviously somebody of
your high standing wouldn't even think of such a thing though.
£300 for a BJ10sx is kind of steep. I think we ought to tell
thingummy from Watchdog.
Having just bought several dozen Compugraphic fonts for
Wordworth on the Amiga, I can verify that they do indeed look
stunning. As they're stored as a description (ie O is a big
circle, P is a line with a semi-circle at the top. Simplistic
examples, but you get the idea), they can be output at the
maximum definition of the printer. Which is 360 dpi if you've
got a Canon BJ.
Does SC_Word pro use Compugraphics or some other standard?
Anybody know? And why doesn't Steve ever reply to the questions
we always have about his piggin' packages!!!!
Well, cheerio, and I'll see you in Gloucester! - BRIAN
Postcard from Stefan Drissen
Hi there guys, I don't know why I'm sending you a card. I'm
supposed to be on holiday. I must be mad!
BM Reply to Stefan Drissen's Postcard
Hmmm, yes. Good point there Stefan, and one which I'm sure we'll
all have great cause to think about. Obviously the complexity of
the issue prevents me from giving an immediate, off-the-cuff
response, but my instincts tell me that you may well be correct.
I hope you don't mind me printing your postcard, but it's my
last issue (in case you missed the fact) and I thought to myself
"What's an issue of FRED with no hint of our favourite Dutch New
Zealander?" He didn't send anything though, so we'll have to
feature you instead. Boom boom!
I don't suppose you're coming over for more toothpaste polos...?
(Don't worry readers; private (ish) joke). - BRIAN
Letter from Allan Clarkson
Dear Colin/Brian/New Editor, [impatient young thing - ED]
Thanks for FRED #47. And, erm, 50k Music file? [On Allan's
excellent Beeble - ED again] Ah. Em. I had no idea it was so
big! I must confess that I never bothered looking at it 'cos it
didn't interfere with the program. Actually I did it on The
Sound Machine (bad buy!), and what really bothers me is that the
music isn't that good anyway! If you'd asked I would have cut
out the interrupt driven music and put in sound effects instead.
But, you didn't, so.... I'm sorry that the rest of the disc was
so small, but that's the price you pay for a quality (!) piece
of software! Now you can all stop blaming me.
Ho ho ho. [Oi! That's my line! - Yup, ED again!]
So. Doug Murdoch's cursors don't work, eh? Well, neither do
mine. In fact I wrote the whole of Beeble without any cursors.
Note to Doug - does your CNTRL key work? Mine doesn't. Dougie
and I will have to fight for peace, justice and programs that
Letter from Allan Clarkson
don't use cursors. Either that or just get them fixed. Do you
know just how much hassle it is to have to retype a whole line
just to fix one little mistake at the end?
Oh, and a tip for bubblejet owners - when you get up and think
that you might be using the printer, switch it on and leave it
on all day. Every time you switch it on, the printer does a head
clean which wastes a fair bit of ink. So don't switch it off and
on all the time - leave it on all day. Info courtesy of my next
door neighbour.
Confidential bit here; all three candidates were good but ****
**** gets my vote. Which city/town/village/hamlet/hole-in-the-
ground does he come from?
The Phantom Disc Filler
BM Reply to Allan Clarkson
Don't worry about taking up too much space; as long as it's not
too ridiculous. If it was too much I'm afraid we'd have ignored
you. A small note to people in general - we can't go about
tweaking all the items we get. Well. I can't. The new editor
might. But if something takes up far, far too much space or too
many directory entries it will more than likely be left to rot
in a disc box for all eternity.
Same applies to games based on mines. We've had far too many of
them lately, and while they are all fun and great and all that,
they are all pretty similar. We haven't had a Worm type game for
a while, mind you...
If my cursors died, editing text on Outwrite might become
slightly tedious, verging on impossible with a bit of soul-
destroying thrown in. Thanks for the BJ tip as well, Allan.
Oh yes - Colin Anderton's from Evesham, David Finch comes from
Yorkshire somewhere, and Stewart hails from Surrey... - BRIAN
Letter from Doug Murdoch's GF, Jill Angus
(Subtitle: Doug's Big Surprise!)
It was roughly a year ago that you last heard from me - the
phantom girlfriend of your "lifetime fan" Douglas Murdoch.
Again, Douglas knows nothing of this correspondence (I'm hoping
to achieve maximum embarrassment!) and will wonder in awe how I
obtained the address from the late Your Sinclair (Lord, how that
magazine is missed. I had to plead with Douglas not to frame the
last copy to put on his wall).
I'll get to the point: to wish my Noodle-doodle, Dougie-woogie-
woo-woo, Dinky Dums, (Gee. He'll really hate me after all this)
a VERY HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY.
However, this letter would not be complete if I didn't mention
the sincere sadness that Douglas and I share in the future
absence of our friend, Brian.
Brian, I can't hide the fact that I've no interest in computing.
Letter from Jill Angus
I can't even load the SAM Coupe without something bleeping at
me, but I feel that spiritually our souls are on the same plane.
Many, many evenings have been spent philosophising in wonder at
how you manage to study Computer Science, work at Wm Low *and*
edit this heavenly, sacred disc. Neither you nor Colin will have
to make small talk with Satan [Eh?!! - ED], your work for FRED
is undoubtedly the best thing that ever happened to Douglas.
Joking aside, guys really are appreciated for the time you spend
on the magazine.
Unfortunately, our family possesses an Apple Mac and for all its
"user-friendliness", at the end of the day I do not have any
chatty communication with an elite group of faithful users. Even
though my version of Lemmings takes no time to load between
levels, I miss that time, man; it gave me space to ponder over
life's little mysteries, such as "Are Lemmings really all the
same sex? And if so, how come there are so many of them?"
I hope I fully embarrassed Douglas (my little petal). Jill
BM Reply to Jill Angus
We're probably being a bit cruel to Douglas here. What the hell
though. It's a larf! Happy birthday though Doug. Or should I say
"Dougie Woogie Woo Woo?" (Giggle)
I'm glad you (and hopefully one or two others!) have enjoyed
reading FRED. I love getting letters like this one. I don't have
a clue what the bit about Satan was, but I'll assume it was a
compliment!
Balancing a part-time job, a weighty studying schedule and FRED
wasn't too hard - who needs sleep after all? No, that's mainly
why I'm giving up FRED; lack of time. FRED did significantly eat
into time I would otherwise have spent doing homework (honest!).
I'm lucky it didn't affect me too much in 1st year, which was
largely revision and so not too bad.
Finally, I'm not the expert on Lemming anatomy, but who knows
what Lemmings get up to when they're not being manipulated by
sadistic game players...? - BRIAN
Letter from "Bob" Pain
Dear Brian,
Seeing as this could be your last issue as editor of the
excellent FRED, I thought that it would be nice to write a
goodbye (ish) sort of letter. Yes indeed, it was way, way back
that I first wrote, and apart from the odd joke here or there it
has been fun writing to you (as editor). OK, so your annoying
habit of calling me "Bob" isn't one of the happiest memories
I'll have, but (without exception) all my letters have been well
received, and politely answered. So what can I say???
I'm sure it won't just be me that'll miss you, and your brand of
humour. FRED has been (at times) very funny, and the Editorial
is one of my favourite parts of the magazine (seriously!). I
hope the new editor will maintain some of this humour. I would
give a (small) sum of money so that you could have a drink on
me, but (as you know) sending money by post isn't a highly
brilliant idea.
Letter from Rob Pain (That better?)
Sorry about getting sentimental and nostalgic, but FRED just
won't be the same without you. I'm sure I can speak for at least
500 or so FRED readers when I say this, but I'm sorry to see you
leaving. Anyway, good luck with your degree (or whatever it is
that you're doing).
Now, with the mushy stuff out of the way, I can get down to
business. A few questions if I may (and don't say in your reply
that I may not), and also if I can remember them that is!!!
(Sound of head crunching noisily against a wall in a mad effort
to remember certain questions).
Oh well. I've forgotten them for the moment, so your job will be
nice and easy for once. (A couple of days later). I still can't
remember what I was going to ask, so I suppose I'd better sign
off for another month. If FRED49 isn't your last issue as
editor, I doubt I'll write another letter for ish 50, so bye.
BM Reply to Bob Pain
Hi Bob. Had I known of your dislike of the name "Bob" I would
surely have made even more effort to use it. So it's just as
well you didn't tell me earlier! It could be worse though. Bobby
Wobby Woo Woo has a nice ring, don't you agree...?
If you or anybody else with more money than sense (er, no
offense Rob!) feels the need to buy me a pint or two, please
feel free to do so - cheques should be sent to Colin but made
payable to Brian McConnell, otherwise the chances are that I'd
never be any the wiser about their very existence!
You could always just come along to the Gloucester show with a
few beers (Bud's my beer of choice, incidentally). Then we could
have a nice big party! We could turn all the 17 year olds and
under out slightly early - about 11:00 am - and get plastered!
Cool! And I'm sure Colin wouldn't mind losing several squillion
pounds worth of trade, as long as we enjoyed ourselves.
Well. I'll see you at the show. If you're there. Byeeee! - BRIAN
Letter from Jason Lam
Dear Brian/Colin,
1)- Is the SAM meant to be splash resistant in some way? I think
CRASH said it can withstand coffee being poured over it,
though it's not guaranteed. If this is so, then it may help
the SAM Coupe computer to be sold more quickly.
2)- And can you switch off the keys for controlling the joystick
so that the 6,7,8,9,0 keys can be used for something else?
And can you make one of the SHIFT and/or SYMBOL keys from
its little chum on the other side of the keyboard, like on
the Amiga? And what about the two full stop keys? How about
the one on the right used as a fire button?
3)- Also can you use the BEEP command and the POW, ZAP, ZOOM
and BOOM commands in conjunction with the SOUND command so
we have EIGHT CHANNEL MUSIC?!
4)- Can we have an arcade game in pixel perfect MODE 3?
Letter from Jason Lam
We had Sphera in MODE 2, and a mining game in MODE 1.
5)- What happened to the Kaleidoscope? (the wicked thing that
gave SAM super colour palettes, about 32000 or something).
Was it any good? Have people used it on FRED programs?
Please fill me in!
6)- What about the SAM digitiser? Is that any good? What does it
look like? How do I use it? I might buy it or something.
7)- Has anyone sent in what the SAM Midi program worth £39.99
can do? Please fill me in again.
8)- Will Streetfighter II, Mortal Kombat, Streets of Rage 1-3,
Strider, FIFA Soccer, Micro Machines 1 & 2, and Purge be
released on SAM?
BM Reply to Jason Lam
Oh my goodness! Questions questions questions! And to think I
said I wouldn't answer any... In chronological order, just to
redress the balance after the capers in the first reply:
1)- I haven't got a clue. To be honest though, I don't think
we're going to shift many SAM's on the basis that you can pour
hot drinks over it to your heart's content anyway.
2) & 3) - Let's just say I would be very surprised indeed if
somebody managed it...
4)- Yup; if somebody can be bothered programming it. Parts of
Footy Director 2 (well, the main menu) were in MODE 3 but I
don't imagine that counts, somehow.
5)- I think it's safe to say it wasn't a roaring success. Forget
it.
6)- Dunno. This is the first I've heard of it!
BM Reply to Jason Lam
7)- Nope. And I don't have the faintest idea what it's capable
of.
8)- I know this will come as a huge shock, and please forgive me
for any undue trauma or stress suffered as a result, but
_/ _/ _/_/_/ _/
_/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/
_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/
_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/
_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/
_/ _/_/ _/ _/ _/
_/ _/ _/ _/
_/ _/ _/_/_/ _/
And Purge was released. They changed the name to Parallax.
That's all. No great conspiracy to defraud SAM owners from the
"real" purge!
- BRIAN
Letter from W Tippins
Dear Brian,
Concealed within this tatty envelope, you will surely find two
delightful pictures, colourfully drawn by the illustrious master
of all things graphic using SAMpaint, which by the way must be
bought by every SAM owning body out there as it is really cool.
Apart from the animation, which is destinctly naff.
Oh! How I mourn your folly, master of Fred! I have reason to
believe that you are disappointed at the pitifull retail of
Lemmings. And I know why. Yes. The problem with Lemmings is that
although is an exellent game and truly deserves to be highly
polished and mounted on the wall of every home, we have all
played the game on our buddies' Amigas and are now bored with
it.
What you should have done before bringing out such a license is
to have started with older, less common games which have been
generally accepted as exellent, such as Gauntlet.
Letter from W Tippins
In addition you must get your programming people to blatantly
clone more popular styles of game - a Super Mario or Street
Fighter 2 style game would surely go down a treat with the
public and once you had one such game you would have all the
appropriate programming techniques laid out for the next. But
please - PLEASE - NO MORE NAFF PUZZLISH GAMES WITH PUNY
MINISCULE GRAPHICS IN WHICH YOU HAVE TO THINK!
What the public really wants is a mindless combat game whith
large, colourfull graphics. Abandon the ageing spectrumish
typical 8-bit style of game and follow the lead given by the
consoles that you despise so much (A conversion of The Bard's
Tale would not go amiss either). I can personally guarantee that
you will feel a better person for it, people will love you for
your body, not just your personality, and the world will be
awash with peace and harmony.If any of the above do not occur, I
shall stand atop Buckingham Palace in full public view ,slay
Prince Edward, and eat his still-beating heart shortly before
feeding myself into a Kenwood Blender.
BM Reply to W Tippins
I suppose you could have a point there about Lemmings. If that
is the case though, why were people so persistent in finding out
if it was ever going to be released or not? I don't know for
sure though. You could be right. Using my most often used
statement, if at the end of the day we don't sell enough copies
of Lemmings, we aren't going to be able to get the licences we
want, which isn't going to do the SAM any good in the long run.
It's all very well suggesting Streetfighter 2 games, but do you
really think the SAM could cope with anything other than the
simplest of sprites? The Spectrum version of Streetfighter II
apparently went down fairly well, but if we produced a
monochrome game it would impress people about as much as, well,
the Speccy version!
Something like Mario could well be possible on SAM. It was done
on an 8-BIT originally, after all. We need somebody to do the
programming though, so any offers...?
- BRIAN
BM That's All Folks!
And thus we come to the end of my very last letters section. I'd
hate to think just how many letters, queries and general insults
I've responded to, but it's probably a lot. I wonder if I can
sue Colin for the RSI, brought on by so much typing, which I'll
undoubtedly get later in in life?
Before I go I'll just thank you all for all your letters over
the past two years, especially the less serious ones which I
always enjoy replying to more than questions about why a souped
up SAM is the most feasible thing since having buses stop at bus
stops. God. That debate probably still isn't over!
Well, I think that's all I'm going to say. I could, of course,
go on for pages, reminiscing and being all misty eyed, but I
won't. It'd just bore you all. So I'll just say "goodbye".